not applied to these Images So in King Henry's time that temper was found that such Images as had been abused to Superstition should be removed and for other Images external Worship such as kneeling censing and praying before them was kept up but the People were to be taught that these were not at all intended to the Image but to that which was represented by it And upon this there was much subtle arguing Among Cranmers Papers I have seen several Arguments for a moderate use of Images But to all these they opposed the second Commandment as plainly forbidding all visible Objects of Adoration together with what was in the Scriptures against the Idolatry of the Heathens and what the Fathers had written against the Gentiles And they added that how excusable soever that practice might have been in such dark and barbarous Ages in which the People knew little more of Divine Matters than what they learned from their Images yet the horrible abuses that followed on the bringing them into Churches made it necessary now to throw them all out It was notorious that the People every where doted on them and gave them Divine Honour Nor did the Clergy who were generally too guilty themselves of such abuses teach them how to distinguish aright and the Acts of Worship that were allowed were such that beside the scandal such Worship had in it and the danger of drawing People into Idolatry it was in it self inexcusable to offer up such external parts of Religious Adoration to Gold or Silver Wood or Stone So Cranmer and others being resolved to purge the Church of this abuse got the worst part of the Sentence that some had designed against the Curate and Church-wardens to be mitigated into a Reprimend and as it is entred in the Council Books In respect of their submission and of some other Reasons which did mitigate their offence These were Cranmers Arguments against Images they did pardon their Imprisonment which was at first determined and ordered them to provide a Crucifix or at least some painting of it till one were ready and to beware of such rashness for the future But no mention is made of the other Images The carriage of the Council in this matter discovering the inclinations of the greatest part of them Many begin to pull down Images and Dr. Ridley having in his Lent-Sermon preached against the Superstition that was generally had to Images and Holy Water it raised a great heat over England So that Gardiner hearing that on May-day the People of Portsmouth had removed and broken the Images of Christ and the Saints writ about it with great warmth to one Captain Vaughan that waited on the Protector and was then at Portsmouth He desired to know whether he should send one to preach against it though he thought that was the casting Precious Stones to Hogs or worse than Hogs as were these Lollards He said that Luther had set out a Book against those who removed Images At which Gardiner is much offended and himself had seen them still in the Lutheran Churches and he thought the removing Images was on design to subvert Religion and the state of the World he argues for them from the Kings Image on the Seal Caesars Image on the Coin brought to Christ the Kings Arms carried by the Heralds he condemns false Images but for those that were against true Images he thought they were possest with the Devil Vaughan sent his Letter to the Protector with one from Gardiner to himself who finding the reasoning in it not so strong but that it might be answered wrote to him himself That he allowed of his zeal against Innovations The Protector writ to him about it The Letters are in Fox's Acts and Monuments but that there were other things that needed to be looked to as much Great difference there was between the Civil respect due to the Kings Arms and the Worship given to Images There had been a time in which the abuse of the Scriptures was thought a good reason to take them from the People yea and to burn them though he looked on them as more sacred than Images which if they stood meerly as Remembrancers he thought the hurt was not great but it was known that for the most part it was otherwise and upon abuse the Brazen Serpent was broken though made at Gods Commandment and it being pretended that they were the Books of the People he thought the Bible a much more intelligible and useful Book There were some too rash and others too obstinate The Magistrate was to steer a middle Course between them not considering the Antiquity of things so much as what was good and expedient Gardiner writ again to the Protector complaining of Bale and others who published Books to the dishonour of the late King and that all were running after Novelties and often inculcates it that things should be kept in the state they were in till the King were of Age and in his Letters reflects both on the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Duresme for consenting to such things Gardiner writ to Ridley who had preached against Images But finding his Letters had no effect on the Protector he wrote to Ridley That by the Law of Moses we were no more bound not to have Images than not to eat Blood-Puddings Image and Idol might have been used promiscuously in former times as King and Tyrant were yet there was a great difference between these according to the Notions we now have He cites Pope Gregory who was against both adoring and breaking them and says the Worship is not given to the Image so there is no Idolatry but to him represented by it and as the sound of Speech did by the Ear beget Notions in us so he did not see but the sight of an Image might stir up devotion He confessed there had been abuses as there is in every thing that is in Mens Hands he thinks Imagery and Graving to be of as good use for instruction as Writing or Printing and because Ridley had also preached against the Superstition of Holy Water to drive away Devils he added That a Vertue might be in Water as well as in Christs Garment St. Peters Shadow or Elisha's Staff Pope Marcellus ordered Equitius to use it and the late King used to bless Cramp-Rings both of Gold and Silver which were much esteemed every where and when he was abroad they were often desired from him This Gift he hoped the young King would not neglect He believed the Invocation of the Name of God might give such a Vertue to Holy Water as well as to the Water of Baptism For Ridley's Answer to this I never saw it so these things must here pass without any Reply though it is very probable an ordinary Reader will with a very small measure of common Sense and Learning see how they might have been answered The thing most remarkable here is about these Cramp-Rings which King Henry
down on the 13th of December But both these Bills were put in one and sent up by the Commons on the 20th of that Month and assented to by the King By this Act it was set forth That the way of choosing Bishops by Conge d'Eslire was tedious and expenceful that there was only a shadow of Election in it and that therefore Bishops should thereafter be made by the Kings Letters Patents upon which they were to be consecrated And whereas the Bishops did exercise their Authority and carry on Processes in their own Names as they were wont to do in the time of Popery and since all Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal was derived from the King that therefore their Courts and all Processes should be from henceforth carried on in the Kings Name and be sealed by the Kings Seal as it was in the other Courts of Common-Law after the first of July next excepting only the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Courts and all Collations Presentations or Letters of Orders which were to pass under the Bishops proper Seals as formerly Upon this Act great advantages were taken to disparage the Reformation as subjecting the Bishops wholly to the pleasure of the Court. At first The ancient ways of electing Bishops Bishops were chosen and ordained by the other Bishops in the Countries where they lived The Apostles by that Spirit of discerning which was one of the extraordinary gifts they were endued with did ordain the first Fruits of their Labours and never left the Election of Pastors to the discretion of the People Indeed when they were to ordain Deacons who were to be trusted with the distribution of the publick Alms they appointed such as the People made choice of but when St. Paul gave directions to Timothy and Titus about the choice of Pastors all that depended on the People by them was that they should be blameless and of good report But afterwards the poverty of the Church being such that Church-men lived only by the free bounty of the People it was necessary to consider them much so that in many Places the choice began among the People and in all Places it was done by their approbation and good liking But great disorders followed upon this as soon as by the Emperors turning Christians the Wealth of Church-benefices made the Pastoral Charge more desirable and the vast numbers of those who turned Christians with the Tide brought in great Multitudes to have their Votes in these Elections The inconvenience of this was felt early in Phrygia where the Council of Laodicea made a Canon against these Popular Elections Yet in other parts of Asia and at Rome there were great and often Contests about it In some of these many Men were killed In many Places the inferior Clergy chose their Bishops But in most Places the Bishops of the Province made the choice yet so as to obtain the consent of the Clergy and People The Emperors by their Laws made it necessary that it should be confirmed by the Metropolitans They reserved the Elections of the great Sees to themselves or at least the Confirmation of them Thus it continued till Charles the Great 's time But then the nature of Church-employments came to be much altered For though the Church had Predial Lands with the other Rights that belonged to them by the Roman Law yet he first gave Bishops and Abbots great Territories with some branches of Royal Jurisdiction in them who held these Lands of him according to the Fewdal Laws This as it carried Church-men off from the humility and abstraction from the World which became their Function so it subjected them much to the Humours and Interests of those Princes on whom they had their dependance The Popes who had made themselves Heads of the Hierarchy could not but be glad to see Church-men grow rich and powerful in the World but they were not so well pleased to see them made so much the more dependent on their Princes and no doubt by some of those Princes that were thus become Patrons of Churches the Bishopricks were either given for Money or charged with reserved Pensions Upon this the Popes filled the World with the complaints of Simony and of enslaving Church-men to court Interests and so would not suffer them to accept of Investitures from their Princes but set up for free Elections as they called them which they said were to be confirmed by the See-Apostolick So the Canons Secular or Regular in Cathedral Churches were to choose the Bishops and their Election was to be confirmed at Rome yet Princes in most Places got some hold of those Elections so that still they went as they had a mind they should Which was oft complained of as a great slavery on the Church and would have been more universally condemned if the World had not been convinced that the matter would not be much the better if there should have been set up either the Popular or Synodical Elections in which Faction was like to sway all King Henry had continued the old way of the Elections by the Clergy but so as that it seemed to be little more than a mockery but now it was thought a more ingenuous way of proceeding to have the thing done directly by the King rather than under the thin covert of an involuntary Election For the other Branch about Ecclesiastical Courts The Causes before them concerning Wills and Marriages being matters of a mixed nature and which only belong to these by the Laws of the Land and being no parts of the Sacred Functions it was thought no Invasion of the Sacred Offices to have these tried in the Kings Name But the Collation of Benefices and giving of Orders which are the chief parts of the Episcopal Function were to be performed still by the Bishops in their own Names Only Excommunication by a fatal neglect continued to be the punishment for contempts of these Courts which belonging only to the Spiritual Cognisance ought to have been reserved for the Bishop with the assistance of his Clergy But the Canonists had so confounded all the Ancient Rules about the Government of the Church that the Reformers being called away by Considerations that were more obvious and pressing there was not that care taken in this that the thing required And these errors or oversights in the first concoction have by a continuance grown since into so formed a strength that it is easier to see what is amiss than to know how to rectifie it On the 29th of November the Bill against Vagabonds was brought in An Act against Vagabonds By this it was Enacted That all that should any where loiter without work or without offering themselves to work three days together or that should run away from work and resolve to live idly should be seized on and whosoever should present them to a Justice of Peace was to have them adjudged to be his Slaves for two years and they were to be marked with the Letter V. imprinted
and to all the Devils if they did not furnish him well with Pears and Puddings It may perhaps be thought indecent to print such Letters being the privacies of friendship which ought not to be made publick but I confess Bonner was so brutish and so bloody a Man that I was not ill pleased to meet with any thing that might set him forth in his natural Colours to the World Forreign Affairs Thus did the Affairs of England go on this Summer within the Kingdom but it will be now necessary to consider the state of our Affairs in Forreign Parts The King of France finding it was very chargeable to carry on the War wholly in Scotland resolved this year to lessen that Expence and to make War directly with England both at Sea and Land So he came in person with a great Army and fell into the Country of Bulloigne The French take many Places about Bulloigne where he took many little Castles about the Town as Sellaque Blackness Hambletue Newhaven and some lesser ones The English Writers say those were ill provided which made them be so easily lost but Thuanus says they were all very well stored In the night they assaulted Bullingberg but were beat off then they designed to burn the Ships that were in the Harbour and had prepared Wild-fire with other combustible Matter but were driven away by the English At the same time the French Fleet met the English Fleet at Jersey but as King Edward writes in his Diary they were beat off with the loss of 1000 Men though Thuanus puts the loss wholly on the English side The French King sate down before Bulloigne in September hoping that the disorders then in England would make that Place be ill supplied and easily yielded the English finding Bullingberg was not tenable razed it and retired into the Town but the Plague broke into the French Camp so the King left it under the command of Chastilion He endeavoured chiefly to take the Pierre and so to cut off the Town from the Sea and from all communication with England and after a long Battery he gave the Assault upon it but was beat off There followed many Skirmishes between him and the Garrison and he made many attempts to close up the Channel and thought to have sunk a Galley full of Stones and Gravel in it but in all these he was still unsuccessful And therefore Winter coming on the Siege was raised only the Forts about the Town which the French had taken were strongly garrisoned so that Bulloigne was in danger of being lost the next year In Scotland also the English Affairs declined much this year Thermes The English insuccessful in Scotland before the Winter was ended had taken Broughty Castle and destroyed almost the whole Garrison In the Southern Parts there was a change made of the Lords Wardens of the English Marches Sir Robert Bowes was complained of as negligent in relieving Hadingtoun the former year so the Lord Dacres was put in his room And the Lord Gray who lost the great advantage he had when the French raised the Siege of Hadingtoun was removed and the Earl of Rutland was sent to command The Earl made an Inroad into Scotland and supplied Hadingtoun plentifully with all sorts of Provisions necessary for a Siege He had some Germans and Spaniards with him but a Party of Scotch Horse surprised the Germans Baggage and Romero with the Spanish Troop was also fallen on and taken and almost all his Men were cut off The Earl of Warwick was to have marched with a more considerable Army this Summer into Scotland had not the disorders in England diverted him as it has been already shewn Thermes did not much more this Year He intended once to have renewed the Siege of Hadingtoun but when he understood how well they were furnished he gave it over But the English Council finding how great a charge the keeping of it was and the Country all about it being destroyed so that no Provisions could be had but what were brought from England from which it was 28 Miles distant resolved to withdraw their Garrison and quit it which was done on the first of October So that the English having now no Garrison within Scotland but Lauder Thermes sate down before that and pressed it so that had not the Peace been made up with France it had fallen into his Hands Things being in this disorder both at home and abroad the Protector had nothing to depend on but the Emperors Aid and he was so ill satisfied with the Changes that had been made in Religion that much was not to be expected from him The confusions this year occasioned that Change to be made in the Office of the daily Prayers where the Answer to the Petition Give Peace in our time O Lord which was formerly and is still continued was now made Because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou O God The state of Germany For now the Emperor having reduced all the Princes and most of the Cities of Germany to his obedience none but Magdeburg and Breame standing out did by a mistake incident to great Conquerors neglect those advantages which were then in his hands and did not prosecute his Victories but leaving Germany came this Summer into the Netherlands whither he had ordered his Son Prince Philip to come from Spain to him thorough Italy and Germany that he might put him into possession of these Provinces and make them swear Homage to him Whether at this time the Emperor was beginning to form the design of retiring or whether he did this only to prevent the Mutinies and Revolts that might fall out upon his death if his Son were not in actual possession of them is not so certain One thing is memorable in that Transaction that was called the Laetus Introitus or the terms upon which he was received Prince of Brabant to which the other Provinces had been formerly united into one Principality after many Rules and Limitations of Government in the matter of Taxes and publick Assemblies Cott. Library Galba B. 12. the not keeping up of Forces and governing them not by Strangers but by Natives it was added That if he broke these Conditions it should be free for them not to obey him or acknowledge him any longer till he returned to govern according to their Laws This was afterwards the chief ground on which they justified their shaking off the Spanish Yoke all these Conditions being publickly violated Jealousies arise in the Emperors Family At this time there were great jealousies in the Emperors Family For as he intended to have had his Brother resign his Election to be King of the Romans that it might be transferred on his own Son so there were designs in Flanders which the French cherished much to have Maximilian Ferdinands Son the most accomplish'd and vertuous Prince that had been for many Ages to be made their Prince The
to that See vacant as his Patent has it by the free resignation of William the former Bishop And the same day being the first of April Ridley was made Bishop of London and Westminster Both were according to the common Form to be Bishops durante vita naturali during Life Proceedings against Gardiner The See of Winchester had been two years as good as vacant by the long imprisonment of Gardiner who had been now above two years in the Tower When the Book of Common-Prayer was set out the Lord St. John and Secretary Petre were sent with it to him to know of him whether he would conform himself to it or not and they gave him great hopes that if he would submit the Protector would sue to the King for mercy to him He answered That he did not know himself guilty of any thing that needed mercy so he desired to be tried for what had been objected to him according to Law For the Book he did not think that while he was a Prisoner he was bound to give his Opinion about such things it might be thought he did it against his Conscience to obtain his liberty but if he were out of Prison he should either obey it or be liable to punishment according to Law Upon the Duke of Somersets Fall the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Warwick Sir William Herbert and Secretary Petre were sent to him Fox says this was on the 9th of July but there must be an error in that for Gardiner in his Answer says That upon the Duke of Somersets coming to the Tower he looked to have been let out within two days and had made his farewel Feast but when these were with him a Month or thereabout had passed so it must have been in November the former year They brought him a Paper to which they desired he would set his Hand It contained first a Preface which was an acknowledgment of former faults for which he had been justly punished There were also divers Articles contained in it Some Articles are sent to him which were touching the Kings Supremacy his Power of appointing or dispencing with Holy-days and Fasts that the Book of Common-Prayer set out by the King and Parliament was a most Christian and Godly Book to be allowed of by all Bishops and Pastors in England and that he should both in Sermons and Discourses commend it to be observed that the Kings Power was compleat now when under Age and that all owed Obedience to him now as much as if he were thirty or forty years old that the six Articles were justly abrogated and that the King had full Authority to correct and reform what was amiss in the Church both in England and Ireland He only excepted to the Preface and offered to Sign all the Articles but would have had the Preface left out They bid him rather write on the Margent his Exceptions to it so he writ that he could not with a good Conscience agree to the Preface and with that Exception he set his Hand to the whole Paper The Lords used him with great kindness Which he Signed with some Exceptions and gave him hope that his troubles should be quickly ended Herbert and Petre came to him some time after that but how soon is not so clear and pressed him to make the acknowledgment without exception he refused it and said he would never defame himself for when he had done it he was not sure but it might be made use of against him as a Confession Two or three days after that Ridley was sent to him together with the other two and they brought him new Articles In this Paper the acknowledgment was more general than in the former It was said here in the Preface that he had been suspected of not approving the Kings Proceedings and being appointed to preach had not done it as he ought to have done and so deserved the Kings displeasure for which he was sorry The Articles related to the Popes Supremacy New Articles sent to him the suppression of Abbies and Chantries Pilgrimages Masses Images the adoring the Sacrament the Communion in both kinds the abolishing the old Books and bringing in the new Book of Service and that for ordaining of Priests and Bishops the compleatness of the Scripture and the use of it in the Vulgar Tongue the lawfulness of Clergy-mens Marriage and to Erasmus's Paraphrase that it had been on good considerations ordered to be set up in Churches He read all these and said he desired first to be discharged of his imprisonment and then he would freely answer them all so as to stand by it and suffer if he did amiss but he would trouble himself with no more Articles while he remained in Prison since he desired not to be delivered out of his troubles in the way of Mercy but of Justice After that he was brought before the Council and the Lords told him they sate by a special Commission to judge him and so required him to subscribe the Articles that had been sent to him He prayed them earnestly to put him to a Trial for the grounds of his Imprisonment and when that was over he would clearly answer them in all other things but he did not think he could subscribe all the Articles after one sort some of them being about Laws already made which he could not qualifie others of them being matters of Learning in which he might use more freedom In conclusion he desired leave to take them with him and he would consider how to answer them But they required him to subscribe them all without any qualification But he refusing to Sign them which he refused to do Upon this the Fruits of his Bishoprick were sequestred and he was required to conform himself to their Orders within three Months upon pain of deprivation and the liberty he had of walking in some open Galleries Was hardly used when the Duke of Norfolk was not in them was taken from him and he was again shut up in his Chamber All this was much censured as being contrary to the liberties of English-men and the Forms of all legal Proceedings It was thought very hard to put a Man in Prison upon a complaint against him and without any further enquiry into it after two years durance to put Articles to him And they which spoke freely said it savoured too much of the Inquisition But the Canon Law not being rectified and the King being in the Popes room there were some things gathered from the Canon Law and the way of proceeding ex officio which rather excused than justified this hard measure he met with The sequel of this business shall be related in its proper place Latimers advice to the King concerning his Marriage This Lent old Latimer preached before the King The discourse of the Kings marrying a Daughter of France had alarum'd all the Reformers who rather enclined to a Daughter of Ferdinand King of the Romans To a
afraid of burdening her Conscience by assuming that which belonged to them and that she was unwilling to enrich her self by the spoils of others But they told her all that had been done was according to the Law to which all the Judges and Counsellors had set their Hands This joined with their Persuasions and the Importunities of her Husband who had more of his Fathers temper than of her Philosophy in him at length prevailed with her to submit to it Of which her Father-in-Law did afterwards say in Council She was rather by enticement of the Counsellors and force made to accept of the Crown then came to it by her own seeking and request Upon this order was given for proclaiming her Queen the next day And an Answer was writ to Queen Mary signed by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor the Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland the Marquesses of Winchester and Northampton the Earls of Arundel Shrewsbury Huntington Bedford and Pembrook the Lords Cobham and Darcy Sir Thomas Cheyney Sir Robert Cotton Sir William Petre Sir William Cecil Sir John Cheek Sir John Mason Sir Edward North and Sir Robert Bowes in all one and twenty Council writes to Q. Mary letting her know That Queen Jane was now their Soveraign according to the Ancient Laws of the Land and the late King's Letters Patents to whom they were now bound by their Allegiance They told her That the Marriage between her Father and Mother was dissolved by the Ecclesiastical Courts according to the Laws of God and of the Land That many noble Universities in Christendom had consented to it That the Sentence had been confirmed in Parliaments and she had been declared illegitimate and uninheritable to the Crown They therefore required her to give over her Pretences and not to disturb the Government and promised that if she shewed her self Obedient she should find them all ready to do her any Service which in Duty they could The day following they proclaimed Queen Jane Lady Jane proclaimed Queen Collection Number 1. The Proclamation will be found in the Collection It sets forth That the late King had by his Letters Patents limited the Crown that it should not descend to his two Sisters since they were both illegitimated by Sentences in the Spiritual Courts and Acts of Parliament and were only his Sisters by the Half-Blood who though it were granted they had been legitimate are not inheritable by the Law of England It was added That there was also great cause to fear that the King's Sisters might marry Strangers and so change the Laws of the Kingdom and subject it to the Tyranny of the Bishops of Rome and other Forreign Laws For these Reasons they were excluded from the Succession and the Lady Frances Dutchess of Suffolk being next the Crown it was provided that if she had no Sons at the death of the King the Crown should devolve immediately on her eldest Daughter Jane and after her and her Issue to her Sisters since she was born within the Kingdom and already married in it Therefore she was proclaimed Queen promising to be most benign and gracious to all her People to maintain God's Holy Word and the Laws of the Land requiring all the Subjects to obey and acknowledg her When this was proclaimed great multitudes were gathered to hear it but there were very few that shouted with the Acclamations ordinary on such Occasions And whereas a Vintner's Boy did some-way express his scorn at that which was done it was ordered that he should be made an Example the next day by being set on a Pillory and having his Ears nail'd to it and cut off from his Head which was accordingly done a Herauld in his Coat reading to the multitude that was called together by sound of Trumpet the nature of his Offence Censures past upon it Upon this all People were in great distraction The Proclamation opening the new Queen's Title came to be variously descanted on Some who thought the Crown descended by right of Blood and that it could not be limited by Parliament argued that the King having his Power from God it was only to descend in the natural way of Inheritance therefore they thought the next Heir was to succeed And whereas the King 's two Sisters were both by several Sentences and Acts of Parliament declared Bastards and whether that was well judged or not they were to be reputed such as the Law declared them to be so long as it stood in force therefore they held that the Queen of Scotland was to succeed who though she pretended this upon Queen Mary's Death yet did not claim now because by the Papal Law the Sentence against Queen Mary was declared Null Others argued that though a Prince were named by an immediate appointment from Heaven yet he might change the course of Succession as David did preferring Solomon before Adonijah But this it was said did not belong to the King 's of England whose right to the Crown with the extent of their Prerogative did not come from any Divine Designation but from a long Possession and the Laws of the Land and that therefore the King might by Law limit the Succession as well as he and other Kings had in some Points limited the Prerogative which was clearly Sir Thomas More 's Opinion and that therefore the Act of Parliament for the Succession of the King's Sisters was still strong in Law It was also said That if the Kinâ—'â— Sisters were to be excluded for Bastardy all Charles Brandon's Issue were in the same predicament since he was not lawfully married to the French Queen his former Wife Mortimer being then alive and his Marriage with her was never dissolved for though some English Writers say they were divorced yet those who wrote for the Queen of Scots Title in the next Reign denied it But in this the difference was great between them since the King's Sisters were declared Bastards in Law whereas this against Charles Brandon's Issue was only a Surmise Others objected That if the Blood gave an Indefeasible Title How came it that the L. Jane's Mother did not Reign It is true Maud the Empress and Margaret Countess of Richmond were satisfied that their Sons Henry the Second and Henry the Seventh should reign in their Rights but it had never been heard of that a Mother had resigned to her Daughter especially when she was yet under Age. But this was imputed to the Duke of Suffolk's weakness and the Ambition of the Duke of Northumberland That Objection concerning the Half-Blood being a Rule of Common Law in the Families of Subjects to cut off from Step-Mothers the Inclinations and Advantages of destroying their Husbands Children was not thought applicable to the Crown Nor was that of Ones being born out of the Kingdom which was hinted at to exclude the Queen of Scotland thought pertinent to this Case since there was an Exception made in the Law for the King's Children which was thought to
business which himself had so violently and servilely promoted The falsehood of that pretence of corrupting Vniversities has been shewn in the former Volumn but it was all they had now to say The laying it all upon Cranmer was as high a pitch of malice and impudence as could be devised for as Gardiner had been setting it on long before Cranmer was known to King Henry so he had been joyned with him in the Commission and had given his assent to the Sentence which Cranmer gave Nor was the Divorce grounded meerly upon Cranmers understanding of the Scriptures but upon the fullest and most studied Arguments that had perhaps been in any Age brought together in one particular case and both Houses of Convocation had condemned the Mariage before his sentence But because in the right of his See he was Legate to the Pope therefore to make the Sentence stronger it went only in his name though he had but a small share in it compared to what Gardiner had By this Act there was also a second Illegittimation brought on the Lady Elizabeth The Queens carries severely to the Lady Elizabeth to whom hitherto the Queen had been very kind using her on all occasions with the tenderness of a Sister but from this time forwards she handled her more severely It was perhaps occasioned by this Act since before they stood both equally illegittimated but now the Act that legitimated the Queen making her most certainly a Bastard in Law the Queen might think it now too much to use her as she had done formerly Others suggest a more secret reason of this distast The new Earl of Devonshire was much in the Queens favour so that it was thought she had some inclinations to marry him but he either not presuming so high or really having an aversion to her and an inclination to her Sister who of that moderate share of beauty that was between them had much the better of her and was nineteen years younger made his Addresses with more than ordinary concern to the Lady Elizabeth and this did bring them both in trouble as shall be afterwards shewn The next Bill that was sent from the Lords to the Commons The Laws made by King Edward repealed was for the repealing King Edward's Laws about Religion It was sent down on the 31st of October and argued six days in the House of Commons but in the end it was carried and sent back to the Lords The Preamble of it sets forth the great disorders that had fallen out in the Nation by the changes that had been made in Religion from that which their Fore-fathers had left them by the Authority of the Catholick Church thereupon all the Laws that had been made in King Edwards time about Religion were now repealed and it was Enacted that from the 20th of December next there should be no other Form of Divine Service but what had been used in the last year King of Henry the 8th leaving it free to all till that day to use either the Books appointed by King Edward or the old ones at their pleasure Another Act was passed which the Commons sent up to the Lords An Act against the affronting Priests against all those who by any overt Act should molest or disquiet any Preacher because of his Office or for any Sermon that he might have Preached or should any way disturb them when they were in any part of the Divine Offices that either had been in the last year of King Henry or should be afterwards set forth by the Queen or should break or abuse the holy Sacrament or break Altars Crucifixes or Crosses those that did any of these things should be presented to the Justices of Peace and be by them put in Prison where they should lye three Months or till they were penitent for their Offences and if any rescued them they should be liable to the same punishment But to this a Proviso was added by the Lords that this Act should no way derogate from the Authority of the Ecclesiastiâ—â—l Laws and Courts who might likewise proceed upon such Offences and a Certificate from the Ordinaries that such Offenders were punished by them being brought to the Justices of Peace they were to proceed no further or if the Justices made a Certificate that they had punished them according to Law the Ordinary might not punish them a second time But the Commons were now so heated that they sent up another Bill to the Lords against those who came not to Church nor to Sacraments after the old Service should be again set up the inflicting of the Punishments in these cases being left to the Ecclesiastical Courts This fell in the House of Lords not so much from any opposition that was made as that they were afraid of allarming the Nation too much by many severe Laws at once An Act against unlawful Assemblies Another Law was made for securing the publick Peace against unlawful and rebellious Assemblies that if any to the number of twelve or above should meet to alter any thing of Religion established by Law and being required by any having the Queens Authority to disperse themselves should continue after that an hour together it should be Felony or if that number met to break Hedges or Parks to destroy Deer or Fish c. and did not disperse upon Proclamation it should be Felony or if any by ringing of Bells Drums or firing of Beacons gathered the People together and did the things before mentioned it was Felony if the Wives or Servants of Persons so gathered caried Meat Money or Weapons to them it should be Felony and if any above the number of two and within twelve should meet for these ends they should suffer a years imprisonment empowering the Sheriffs or Justices to gather the Country for the resistance of Persons so offending with Penalties on all between eighteen and sixty that being required to come out against them should refuse to do it When this Act was known the People then saw clearly how they had been deceived by the former Act that seemed so favourable repealing all Acts of new Treasons and Felonies since there was so soon after it an Act passed that renewed one of the severest Laws of the last Reign in which so many things that might flow from sudden heats were made Felonies and a great many new and severe Proviso's were added to it The Queens discharge of the Subsidy was confirmed by another Act. The Marquess of Northampton's 2d Marriage is annulled There followed two private Acts which occasioned more Debate than the publick ones had done The one was the repeal of the Act that had confirmed the Marquess of Northamptons Marriage It was much argued in the House of Commons and on the 28th of November it was agreed to It contains that the Act of confirming the Divorce and the second Marriage was procured more upon untrue surmises and private respects than for any publick good and increase
of vertue and that it was an encouragement for sensual Persons to practise by false allegations that they might be separated from their Wives rather then a Precedent to induce People to live with their Wives in a godly sort thereupon the Act was repealed and declared void and of no effect In this it seems the Arguments that were against it in the House of Commons had so moderated the Stile of it that it was not repealed as an Act sinful in it self but it was only declared that in that particular case the Divorce was unlawfully made for it is reasonable to believe that the Bishops had puâ— in the first draught of the Bill a simple repeal of it and of all such Divorces founded on the indissolubleness of the Marriage Bond. And the Duke of Norfolks Attainder The other Act was about the Duke of Norfolk for declaring his Attainder void The Patentees that had purchased some parts of his Estate from the Crown desired to be heard to plead against it But the Session of the Parliament being near at an end the Duke came down himself to the House of Commons on the 4th of December and desired them earnestly to pass his Bill and said that the difference between him and the Patentees was referred to Arbiters and if they could not agree it he would refer it to the Queen It was long argued after that but in the end it was agreed to It sets forth that the Act by which he was Attainted had no special matter in it but only Treasons in general and a pretence that out of the Parliaments care for the King and his Son the Prince it was necessary to attaint him That the Reasons they pretended were his using Coats of Arms which he and his Ancestors had and might lawfully use It further says That the King died the next night after the Commission was given for passing the Bill and that it did not appear that the King had given his Assent to it That the Commission was not signed by the King's hand but only by his Stamp and that was put to the neather end and not to the upper part of the Bill which shewed it was done in disorder and that it did not appear that these commissioned for it had given the Royal Assent to it Upon which Considerations that pretended Act is declared void and null by the common Laws of the Land And it is further declared That the Law was and ever hath been that the Royal Assent should be given either by the King being present or in his absence by a Commission under the Great Seal signed with his hand and publickly notified to the Lords and Commons The last Act of which I shall give an account was the Confirmation of the Attainders that had been made On the 3d of November Cranmer and others attainted Arch-Bishop Cranmer the Lord Guilford Dudley and the Lady Jane his Wife with two other Sons of the Duke of Northumberland which were all except the Lord Robert who was reserved for greater Fortunes were brought to their Trial. These all confessed their Endictments Only Cranmer appealed to those that judged him how unwillingly he had consented to the exclusion of the Queen that he had not done it till those whose profession it was to know the Law had signed it upon which he submitted himself to the Queen's Mercy But they were all attainted of High-Treason for levying War against the Queen and conspiring to set up another in her room So these Judgments with those that had passed before were now confirmed by Act of Parliament And now Cranmer was legally devested of his Arch-Bishoprick But the See of Canterbury is not declared void which was hereupon void in Law since a Man that is attainted can have no right to any Church-Benefice his Life was also at the Queen's Mercy But it being now designed to restore the Ecclesiastical Exemption and Dignity to what it had been anciently it was resolved that he should be still esteemed Archbishop till he were solemnly degraded according to the Canon Law The Queen was also inclined to give him his Life at this time reckoning that thereby she was acquitted of all the Obligations she had to him and was resolved to have him proceeded against for Heresy that so it might appear she did not act out of revenge or on any personal account So all that followed on this against Cranmer was a Sequestration of all the Fruits of his Arch-Bishoprick himself was still kept in Prison Nor were the other Prisoners proceeded against at this time The Queen was desirous to seem willing to pardon Injuries done against her self but was so heated in the Matters of Religion that she was always inexorable on that Head Having given this Account of Publick Transactions I must relate next what were more secretly carried on but breaking out at this time occasioned the sudden Dissolution of the Parliament Cardinal Dandino The Queen treats about a Reconciliation with Rome that was then the Pope's Legate at the Emperor's Court sent over Commendone afterwards a Cardinal to bring him a certain Account of the Queen's Intentions concerning Religion he gave him in charge to endeavour to speak with her in private and to persuade her to reconcile her Kingdom to the Apostolick See This was to be managed with great secrecy for they did not know whom to trust in so important a Negotiation It seems they neither confided in Gardiner nor in any of the other Bishops Commendone being thus instructed went to Newport where he gave himself out to be the Nephew of a Merchant that was lately dead at London and hired two Servants to whom he was unknown and so he came over unsuspected to London There he was so much a Stranger that he did not know to whom he should address himself By accident he met with one Lee a Servant of the Queen's that had fled beyond Sea during the former Reign and had been then known to him so he trusted him with the Secret of his Business in England He procured him a secret Audience of the Queen in which she freely owned to him her Resolution of reconciling her Kingdom to the See of Rome and so of bringing all things back to the state in which they had been before the Breach made by her Father but she said It was absolutely necessary to manage that Design with great Prudence and Secresy lest in that Confusion of Affairs the discovery of it might much disturb her Government and obstruct her Design She writ by him to the Pope giving him assurance of her filial Obedience and so sent Commendone to Rome She also writ by him to Cardinal Pool and ordered Commendone to move the Pope that he might be sent over with a Legatine Power Yet he that writ that Cardinal's Life insinuates that the Queen had another design in desiring that Pool might be sent over for she ask'd him Whether the Pope might not dispence with the
therefore I need not grope his mind herein neither did I mean any such thing hereby As to your Answer to the order of Justice I see not that the Emperor hath so much cause to complain of lack of Justice in his Subjects Cases as ye seem to set forth for hitherto there hath not any Man complained in our Country and required Justice unto whom the same hath been denied And although some Man abiding the order of our Law or having had some Sentence that pleased him not hath complained hither of delay or lack of Justice ye must not therefore by and by judg that he saith true or that there is not uprightness or equity used in our Country for we have there as ye have here and else-where Ministers that are wise and well-learned in our Law and Men of honesty and good Conscience who deal and proceed justly as the order of the Law leadeth them without respect to favour or friendship to any Man And as for the Jewellers Case that ye moved ye must understand that as ye have Laws here in your Country for the direction of your Common-Wealth so have we also in ours whereby amongst the rest we do forbid for good respect the bringing in or transporting forth of certain Things without the King 's safe conduct or License And although as ye alleadged before the Treaty giveth liberty to the Subjects of either Prince to traffique into the others Country it is not for all that meant hereby that they shall not be bound to observe the Law and Order of the Country whereunto they Traffique for this liberty is only granted for the security of their Persons to go and come without impeachment and maketh them not for all that Lawless And whereas further it is provided by our Law that in certain things to be granted by the King the same Grant must pass under the Great Seal Then if any of those things pass under any other Seal they be not of due force until they have also passed the Great Seal of England wherefore if the Jeweller either by negligence or covetousness of himself or of those he put in trust did not observe this Order but thereto contrary for sparing a little Cost did presume to bring in his Jewels before his License came to the Great Seal me thinketh neither he nor any other can have just cause to say that he was wronged if according to our Laws he were sentenced to lose the same and yet after he was thus condemned more to gratify the Emperor than for that I took it to be so reasonable I my self was a Suitor to my Lord Protector 's Grace for some Recompence to be made to the Jeweller's Wife whom we knew and none other to be Party for she followed the Suit she presented the Petitions in her Name were they made and finally she and none others was by the Emperor's Ambassador commended unto us I have seen the Sentence quoth he and do mislike nothing so much therein as that the Man is condemned and named to have been present at the time of his Condemnation when indeed he was dead a good while before He was present quoth I in the Person of his Wife who was his Procurator and represented himself and I know that those before whom this Matter passed are Men both Learned and of good Conscience and such as would not have done herein any thing against Right and Order of Law The Sentences that are given in our Country by the Justices and Ministers they are just and true and therefore neither can we nor will we revoke them for any Man's pleasure after they have once passed the Higher Court from whence there is no further appellation no more than you will here call back such final Order as hath been in any case taken by your High Court of Brabant And the cause why we for our part misliked not this order of Justice was for the better establishment of the Amity and to avoid the continual Arrests that are made on our poor Men to the end also that this sort of Suiters might be the sooner dispatched without troubling either my Lord Protector in England or you here when you are busied in other Affairs of more importance And as concerning the Comprehension of Bulloign in good Faith because we thought that if the same should happen to be taken from the King's Majesty by force as I trust it shall not the loss should be common and touch the Emperor almost as near as us We thought good for the better security thereof to move this Comprehension which we take to be as necessary for the Emperor as us And though we are not so wise and well seen in your things as your selves are yet do we look towards you and guess of your Affairs afar off and perhaps do somewhat understand the state of the same whereof I could say more than I now intend But ye say this is the Emperor's Resolution herein We take it as an Answer and shall do accordingly Marry whereas you stick so much upon your Honour in breaking your Treaties with the French I remember Monsieur Granvela your Father at my being with him did not let to say That he had his Sleeve full of Quarrels against the French whensoever the Emperor list to break with them Yea so have we indeed quoth he but the time is not yet come we must temporize our things in this case as the rest of our Affairs lead us Ye say well quoth I ye have reason to regard chiefly the well-guiding of your own things and yet me thinketh some respect ought to be given to Friends But seeing this is your Answer I will reply no more thereto Yet one thing Monsieur d' Arras quoth I I moved to your Father which ye make no mention of and I would gladly know your mind in which is the granting of safe Conducts to the common Enemy which the Treaty by plain and express words forbideth either Prince to do Indeed Monsieur Ambassadeur quoth he the words of the Treaty are as ye say plain enough and yet the Matter were very strait if it should be taken in such extremity for hereafter in time of War ye might happen to have need of Wood Canvas or Wine and we of the like and other necessaries and if in such Cases the Princes should not have Prerogative to grant safe Conducts it shall be a great inconvenience and a thing not hereafter seen howbeit the Emperor for his part will not I think stick much hereupon but observe the plain meaning of the Treaty Nevertheless I cannot say any thing expresly on his behalf herein because Monsieur Granvela spake nothing thereof And yet did we move him of it quoth I and he bad us grant none and the Emperor for his part would not grant any No more hath he done quoth he sithence his coming into this Country nor intendeth not hereafter He needeth not quoth I for those that have been
King Edward the 6th by the same Act limited and appointed to remain to the Lady Mary his eldest Daughter and to the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten And for default of such Issue the Remainder thereof to the Lady Elizabeth by the Name of the Lady Elizabeth his second Daughter and to the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten with such Conditions as should be limited and appointed by the said late King of worthy memory King Henry the 8th our Progenitor our Great Uncle by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his last Will in writing signed with his Hand And forasmuch as the said Limitation of the Imperial Crown of this Realm being limited as is afore-said to the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth being illegitimate and not lawfully begotten for that the Marriage had between â—he said late King King Henry the 8th our Progenitor and Great Uncle and the Lady Katherine Mother to the said Lady Mary and also the Marriage had between the said late King King Henry the 8th our Progenitor and Great Uncle and the Lady Ann Mother to the said Lady Elizabeth were clearly and lawfully undone by Sentences of Divorce according to the Word of God and the Ecclesiastical Laws and which said several Divorcements have been severally ratified and confirmed by Authority of Parliament and especially in the 28th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th our said Progenitor and Great Uncle remaining in force strength and effect whereby as well the said Lady Mary as also the said Lady Elizabeth to all intents and purposes are and been clearly disabled to ask claim or challenge the said Imperial Crown or any other of the Honours Castles Manours Lordships Lands Tenements or other Hereditaments as Heir or Heirs to our said late Cousin King Edward the 6th or as Heir or Heirs to any other Person or Persons whatsoever as well for the Cause before rehearsed as also for that the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth were unto our said late Cousin but of the half Blood and therefore by the Ancient Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm be not inheritable unto our said late Cousin although they had been born in lawful Matrimony as indeed they were not as by the said Sentences of Divorce and the said Statute of the 28th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th our said Progeâ—â—â—or and Great Uncle plainly appeareth And forasmuch also as it is to be thought or at the least much to be doubted that if the said Lady Mary or Lady Elizabeth should hereafter have or enjoy the said Imperial Crown of this Realm and should then happen to marry with any Stranger born out of this Realm that then the said Stranger having the Government and Imperial Crown in his Hands would adhere and practise not only to bring this Noble Free Realm into the Tyranny and Servitude of the Bishops of Rome but also to have the Laws and Customs of his or their own Native Country or Countries to be practised and put in ure within this Realm rather than the Laws Statutes and Customs here of long time used whereupon the Title of Inheritance of all and singular the Subjects of this Realm do depend to the peril of Conscience and the uttersubversion of the Common-Weal of this Realm Whereupon our said late dear Cousin weighing and considering within himself which ways and means were most convenient to be had for the stay of the said Succession in the said Imperial Crown if it should please God to call our said late Cousin out of this transitory Life having no Issue of his Body And calling to his remembrance that We and the Lady Katharine and the Lady Mary our Sisters being the Daughters of the Lady Frances our natural Mother and then and yet Wife to our natural and most loving Father Henry Duke of Suffolk and the Lady Margaret Daughter of the Lady Elianor then deceased Sister to the said Lady Frances and the late Wife of our Cousin Henry Earl of Cumberland were very nigh of his Graces Blood of the part of his Fathers side our said Progenitor and great Uncle and being naturally born here within the Realm And for the very good Opinion our said late Cousin had of our said Sisters and Cousin Margarets good Education did therefore upon good deliberation and advice herein had and taken by his said Letters Patents declare order assign limit and appoint that if it should fortune himself our said late Cousin King Edward the Sixth to decease having no Issue of his Body lawfully begotten that then the said Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Confines of the same and his Title to the Crown of the Realm of France and all and singular Honours Castles Prerogatives Privileges Preheminencies and Authorities Jurisdictions Dominions Possessions and Hereditaments to our said late Cousin K. Edward the Sixth or to the said Imperial Crown belonging or in any wise appertaining should for lack of such Issue of his Body remain come and be to the eldest Son of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten being born into the World in his Life-time and to the Heirs Males of the Body of such eldest Son lawfully begotten and so from Son to Son as he should be of vicinity of Birth of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten being born into the World in our said late Cousins Life-time and to the Heirs Male of the Body of every such Son lawfully begotten And for default of such Son born into the World in his life-time of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten and for lack of Heirs Males of every such Son lawfully begotten that then the said Imperial Crown and all and singular other the Premises should remain come and be to us by the Name of the Lady Jane eldest Daughter of the said Lady Frances and to the Heirs Males of our Body lawfully begotten and for lack of such Issue then to the Lady Katherine aforesaid our said second Sister and the Heirs Male of her Body lawfully begotten with divers other Remainders as by the same Letters Patents more plainly and at large it may and doth appear Sithence the making of our Letters Patents that is to say on Thursday which was the 6th day of this instant Month of July it hath pleased God to call unto his infinite Mercy our said most dear and entirely beloved Cousin Edward the Sixth whose Soul God pardon and forasmuch as he is now deceased having no Heirs of his Body begotten and that also there remaineth at this present time no Heirs lawfully begotten of the Body of our said Progenitor and great Uncle King Henry the Eighth And forasmuch also as the said Lady Frances our said Mother had no Issue Male begotten of her Body and born into the World in the life-time of our said Cousin King Edward the Sixth so as the said Imperial Crown and other the Premises to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining
Offices and the Parties so refusing were subjected to no other Danger nor was the Oath to be put to them a second Time It is true if any did assert the Authority of any Forreign Potentate that was more penal Yet that was not as our Author represents it for the first Offence there was a forfeiture of ones Goods or in case of Poverty one Years Imprisonment the second Offence brought the Offender within a Premunire and the third was Treason 5. He says The Change that was made Pag. 258. of the Title of Supream Head into that of Supream Governor deceived many yet others thought that the Queen might have thereby assumed an Authority for Administring the Sacraments but to clear all Scruples she in the first Visitation ordered it to be thus explained that she thereby pretended to no more Power than what her Father and Brother had exercised In the first Visitation ordered by the Queen there was an Injunction given Explanatory to the Oath of Supremacy declaring that she did not pretend to any Authority for the Ministry of Divine Service in the Church and challenged nothing but what had at all times belonged to the Crown of England which was a Soveraignty over all manner of Persons under God so that no Forreign Power had any Rule over them and so was willing to acquit such as took it in that sense of all the Penalties in the Act. So that it is plain she assumed nothing but the Royal Authority and was ready to accept of such Explications as might clear all Ambiguities 6. He reckons among the Laws that were made this for one Pag. 259. that Bishops should hold their Sees only during the Queen's Pleasure and exercise no other Authority but only as they derived it from her The Laws he reckons were those made by King Henry now revived but this Law is falsly recited in both the parts of it for the Bishops were to hold their Sees as all others do their Free-holds without any dependence on the Queen's Pleasure and were to exercise their Jurisdiction in their own Names and according to the Ecclesiastical Laws and were not forced to take Commissions to hold their Bishopricks during the Queen's Pleasure as had been done both in King Henry and King Edward's Time Pag. 263. 7. After a long discourse against the Queen's Supremacy he says The Laws concerning it and other Points of Religion did pass with great difficulty in the House of Lords all the Bishops opposing them and those Noblemen in particular who had gone to Rome upon the Embassy Queen Mary sent thither did very earnestly disswade it It is true all the Bishops did oppose them tho both Tonstal Heath Thirleby and some others had consented to and written for King Henry's Supremacy which was at least as to the manner of expressing it of a higher strain than that to which the Queen did now pretend They had also submitted to all the Changes that had been made in King Edward's Time For the Temporal Lords none dissented from the Act of Supremacy but the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Viscount Montacute so the opposition was small where so few entred their Dissents and of these only the Viscount Montacute had been at Rome sent thither by Queen Mary It is true the Marquess of Winchester and the Lords Morley Stafford Dudley Wharton Rich and North dissented from the Bill for the Book of Common Prayer and some other Acts that related to the Reformation but these being but few in number were far short of those that were for them and it is clear the Queen left the Peers wholly to their freedom since the Marquess of Winchester notwithstanding his Dissent continued to hold that great Office of Lord Treasurer in which he had been put in King Edward's Time and which he had kept all Queen Mary's Reign till his Death fourteen Years after this this may perhaps be justly censured as looking too like a remissness in the Matters of Religion when he that dissented to the Reformation was yet so long employed in the greatest Trust in the Kingdom but certainly this is none of the Claws to know the Lioness by 8. He says The Queen gave the Earl of Arundel some hopes that she would marry him and so perswaded him to consent to the Laws now made but afterwards slighted him and declared she would live and die a Virgin The Journals of Parliament shew how false this is for the Address was made to the Queen persuading her to marry to which she made the Answer set down by our Author on the 6th of February and the Act of Supremacy with the other Acts concerning Religion passed in April thereafter so that the Queen after so publick a Declaration of her unwillingness to marry could not have deluded the Earl of Arundel with the hopes of it Ibid. 9. He says She wrought on the D. of Norfolk by promising him a Dispensation in the Business of his Marriage which he could not obtain of the Pope It is not like the Duke of Norfolk was denied any such Dispensation from Rome nor are there any Dispensations granted in England for marrying in the forbidden Degrees Cousin Germans are the nearest that may marry The obtaining a License for that at Rome is a matter of course so the Fees are but paied and the Law allows that to all in England Nor are there any Dispensations in Matrimonial Matters except concerning the Time the Place or the asking of Banes and it is not likely these were ever denied to any at Rome As for his long Excursion concerning that Duke's Death it not falling within the compass of my History I shall not follow him in it 10. He says The Protestants desired a publick Disputation Pag. 266. so the Queen commanded the Bishops to make ready for it they refused it a great while since that seemed to make the Faith of the Church subject to the judgment of the ignorant Laity but at last they were forced to yield to it and the Points were Communion in both kinds Prayer in a known Tongue and the like The Act of Council has it otherwise By it we see that the Arch-Bishop of York being then a Privy Councellor did heartily agree to it and undertook that the rest of his Brethren should follow the Orders that were made by the Council concerning it tho it is not to be denied but some of the Bishops were secretly dissatisfied with it as they had good reason since a publick Disputation was like to lay open the weakness of their Cause which was never so safe as when it was received in gross without descending to troublesome Enquiries concerning it The Communion in both kinds was not one of the Articles 11. He says Bacon a Lay-man was Judg Ibid. the Arch-Bishop of York sitting next to him only for forms-sake Bacon was not Judg the whole Privy-Council were present to order the Forms of the Debate and he as the first of
Ranks and thought the Lands the King intended to give were not sufficient for the maintenance of the Honour to be conferred on them which he reported to the best advantage he could for every Man and endeavoured to raise the Kings favour to them as high as he could But while this was in consultation the Duke of Norfolk very prudently apprehending the ruin of his Posterity if his Lands were divided into many Hands out of which he could not so easily recover them whereas if they continued in the Crown some turn of Affairs might again establish his Family and intending also to oblige the King by so unusual a Complement sent a desire to him that he would be pleased to settle all his Lands on the Prince the now King and not give them away for said he according to the Phrase of that Time They are good and stately Gear This wrought so far on the King that he resolved to reserve them for himself and to reward his Servants some other way Whereupon Paget pressed him once to resolve on the Honours he would bestow and what he would give with them and they should afterwards consider of the way how to give it The King growing still worse said to him That if ought came to him but good as he thought he could not long endure he intended to place them all about his Son as Men whom he trusted and loved above all other and that therefore he would consider them the more So after many Consultations he ordered the Book to be thus filled up The Earl of Hartford to be Earl Marshal and Lord Treasurer and to be Duke of Somerset Exeter or Hartford and his Son to be Earl of Wiltshire with 800 l. a year of Land and 300 l. a year out of the next Bishops Land that fell void the Earl of Essex to be Marquess of Essex the Viscount Lisle to be Earl of Coventry the Lord Wriothesly to be Earl of Winchester Sir Tho. Seimour to be a Baron and Lord Admiral Sir Richard Rich Sir Jo. St. Leiger Sir William Willoughby Sir Ed. Sheffield and Sir Christopher Danby to be Barons with yearly Revenues to them and several other Persons And having at the Suit of Sir Edw. North promised to give the Earl of Hartford six of the best Prebends that should fall in any Cathedral except Deanries and Treasurerships at his suit he agreed that a Deanry and a Treasurership should be in stead of two of the six Prebendaries And thus all this being written as the King had ordered it the King took the Book and put it in his Pocket and gave the Secretary order to let every one know what he had determined for them But before these things took effect the King died Yet being on his Death-bed put in mind of what he had promised he ordered it to be put in his Will that his Executors should perform every thing that should appear to have been promised by him All this Denny and Herbert confirmed for they then waited in his Chamber and when the Secretary went out the King told them the substance of what had passed between them and made Denny read the Book over again to him whereupon Herbert observed that the Secretary had remembred all but himself to which the King answered He should not forget him and ordered Denny to write 400 l. a year for him All these things being thus declared upon Oath and the greatest part of them having been formerly signified to some of them and the whole matter being well known and spread abroad the Executors both out of Conscience to the Kings Will and for their own Honours resolved to fulfil what the King had intended but was hindred by death to accomplish But being apprehensive both of Wars with the Emperour and French King they resolved not to lessen the Kings Treasure nor Revenue nor to sell his Jewels or Plate but to find some other ways to pay them and this put them afterwards on selling the Chantry Lands The Affairs of Scotland The business of Scotland was then so pressing that Balnaves who was Agent for those that had shut themselves within the Castle of St. Andrews had this day 1180 l. ordered to be carried to them for an half years pay to the Soldiers of that Garrison There were also Pensions appointed for the most leading Men in that Business The Earl of Rothes eldest Son had 280 Pound Sir James Kircaldy had 200 and many others had smaller Pensions allowed them for their amity as it is expressed in the Council Books 1547. Feb. 6. the King Knighted That day the Lord Protector Knighted the King being authorized to do it by Letters Pattents So it seems that as the Laws of Chivalry required that the King should receive Knighthood from the Hand of some other Knight so it was judged too great a presumption for his own Subject to give it without a Warrant under the Great Seal The King at the same time Knighted Sir John Hublethorn the Lord Major of London When it was known abroad what a distribution of Honour and Wealth the Council had resolved on it was much censured many saying that it was not enough for them to have drained the dead King of all his Treasure but that the first step of their proceedings in their new Trust was to provide Honour and Estates for themselves whereas it had been a more decent way for them to have reserved their Pretensions till the King had come to be of Age. Another thing in the Attestations seemed much to lessen the credit of the Kings Will which was said to be Signed the 30th of Decemb. and so did bear date whereas this Narration insinuates that it was made a very little while before he died not being able to accomplish his design in these things which he had projected but it was well known that he was not so ill on the 30th of December Secular Men had their Ecclesiastical Dignities It may perhaps seem strange that the Earl of Hartford had six good Prebends promised him two of these being afterwards converted into a Deanry and a Treasurership But it was ordinary at that time The Lord Cromwell had been Dean of Wells and many other Secular Men had these Ecclesiastical Benefices without Cure conferred on them For which there being no charge of Souls annexed to them this might seem to be an excuse Yet even those had a sacred charge incumbent on them in the Cathedrals and were just and necessary encouragements either for such as by Age or other defects were not fit for a Parochial Charge and yet might be otherwise capable to do eminent service in the Church or for the support of such as in their Parochial labours did serve so well as to merit preferment and yet perhaps were so meanly provided for as to need some farther help for their subsistence But certainly they were never intended for the enriching of such lazy and sensual Men who having given themselves up
to a secular course of life had little of a Church-man but the Habit and Name and yet used to rail against Sacriledge in others not considering how guilty themselves were of the same crime enriching their Families with the Spoils of the Church or with the Goods of it which were put into their Hands for better uses And it was no wonder that when Clergy-men had thus abused these Endowments Secular Men broke in upon them observing plainly that the Clergy who enjoyed them made no better use of them than Laicks might do Though in stead of reforming an abuse that was so generally spread they like Men that minded nothing more than the enriching of themselves took a certain course to make the mischief perpetual by robbing the Church of those Endowments and Helps it had received from the Munificence of the Founders of its Cathedrals who were generally the first Christian Kings of this Nation which had it been done by Law would have been a thing of very bad consequence but as it was done was directly contrary to the Magna Charta and to the Kings Coronation Oath But now they that were weary of the Popish Superstitions observing that Arch-bishop Cranmer had so great a share of the young Kings affection and that the Protector and he were in the same Interests began to call for a further Reformation of Religion and some were so full of zeal for it that they would not wait on the slow motions of the State Images removed without Authority out of one Church in London So the Curate and Church-wardens of St. Martins in Ironmonger-lane in London took down the Images and Pictures of the Saints and the Crucifix out of their Church and painted many Texts of Scripture on the Walls some of them according to a perverse Translation as the Complaint has it and in the place where the Crucifix was they set up the Kings Arms with some Texts of Scripture about it Upon this the Bishop and Lord-Major of London complained to the Council And the Curate and Church-wardens being cited to appear answered for themselves That the Roof of their Church being bad they had taken it down and that the Crucifix and Images were so rotten that when they removed them they fell to powder That the charge they had been at in repairing their Church was such that they could not buy new Images That they had taken down the Images in the Chancel because some had been guilty of Idolatry towards them In conclusion they said what they had done was with a good intention and if they had in any thing done amiss they asked pardon and submitted themselves Some were for punishing them severely for all the Papists reckoned that this would be a leading Case to all the rest of this Reign and if this was easily passed over others would be from that remisness animated to attempt such things every where But on the other hand those at Court who had designed to set forward a Reformation had a mind only so far to check the heat of the People as to keep it within compass but not to dishearten their Friends too much Cranmer and his Party were for a general removing of all Images and said that in the late Kings time order being given to remove such as were abused to Superstition Upon that there were great Contests in many Places what Images had been so abused and what not and that these Disputes would be endless unless all were taken away In the purest Times of Christianity they had no Images at all in their Churches One of the first Councils namely that at Elvira in Spain An account of the Progress of Image-worship made a Canon against the painting what they worshiped on the Walls Epiphanius was highly offended when he saw a Vail hanging before the door of a Church with a Picture on it which he considered so little as not to know well whose Picture it was but thought it might be Christs or some other Saints yet he tore it and gave them of that Place Money to buy a new Vail in its room Afterwards with the rest of the pomp of Heathenism Images came to be set up in Churches yet so as that there was no sort of Worship payed to them But in the time of Pope Gregory the first many went into extremes about them some were for breaking them and others worshiped them That Pope thought the middle way best neither to break nor to worship them but to keep them only to put the People in mind of the Saints Afterwards there being subtle Questions started about the Unity of Christs Person and Will the Greek Emperours generally inclined to have the animosities raised by these removed by some comprehensive words to which all might consent which the Interest of State as well as Religion seemed to require for their Empire every day declining all methods for uniting it were thought good and prudent But the Bishops were stiff and peremptory So in the sixth general Council they condemned all who differed from them Upon this the Emperours that succeeded would not receive that Council but the Bishops of Rome ordered the Pictures of all the Bishops who had been at that Council to be set up in the Churches Upon which the Emperours contended against these or any Pictures whatsoever in Churches And herein that happened which is not usual that one Controversie rising occasionally out of another the Parties forsake the first Contest and fall into sharp Conflicts about the occasional differences For now the Emperours and Popes quarrelled most violently about the use of Images and ill Names going a great way tomards the defaming an Opinion the Popes and their Party accused all that were against Images as favouring Judaism or Mahometanism which was then much spread in Asia and Africk The Emperours and their Party accusing the others of Gentilism and Heathenish Idolatry Upon this occasion Gregory the third first assumed the Rebellious Pretension to a Power to depose Leo the Emperour from all his Dominions in Italy There was one General Council at Constantinople that condemned the use or worship of Images and soon after another at Nice did establish it and yet at the same time Charles the Great though not a little linked in Interest to the Bishops of Rome holding both the French and Imperial Crowns by the favour of the Popes wrote or imployed Alcuinus a most learned Country-man of ours as these times went to write in his Name against the Worship of Images And in a Council at Frankfort it was condemned which was also done afterwards in another Council at Paris But in such Ages of Ignorance and Superstition any thing that wrought so much on the senses and imaginations of the People was sure to prevail in conclusion And this had in a Course of seven more Ages been improved by the craft and impostures of the Monks so wonderfully that there was no sign of Divine Adoration that could be invented that was
with a hot Iron on their Breast A great many Provisoes follow concerning Clerks so convict which shew that this Act was chiefly levelled at the idle Monks and Friars who went about the Country and would betake themselves to no employment but finding the People apt to have compassion on them they continued in that course of life Which was of very ill consequence to the State For these Vagrants did every where alienate the Peoples Minds from the Government and perswaded them that things would never be well setled till they were again restored to their Houses Some of these came often to London on pretence of suing for their Pensions but really to practise up and down through the Country To prevent this there was a Proclamation set out on the 18th of September requiring them to stay in the Places where they lived and to send up a Certificate where they were to the Court of Augmentations who should thereupon give order for their constant payment Some thought this Law against Vagabonds was too severe and contrary to that common liberty of which the English Nation has been always very sensible both in their own and their Neighbours particulars Yet it could not be denied but extream Diseases required extream Remedies and perhaps there is no punishment too severe for Persons that are in health and yet prefer a loitering course of life to an honest employment There followed in the Act many excellent Rules for providing for the truly poor and indigent in the several Places where they were born and had their abode Of which this can only be said That as no Nation has laid down more effectual Rules for the supplying the Poor than England so that indeed none can be in absolute want so the neglect of these Laws is a just and great reproach on those who are charged with the execution of them when such numbers of poor Vagabonds swarm every where without the due restraints that the Laws have appointed On the 6th of December the Bill for giving the Chantries to the King was brought into the House of Lords An Act giving the Chantries to the King It was read the second time on the 12th the third time on the 13th and the fourth time on the 14th of that Month. It was much opposed both by Cranmer on the one hand and the Popish Bishops on the other The late Kings Executors saw they could not pay his Debts nor satisfie themselves in their own pretensions formerly mentioned out of the Kings Revenue and so intended to have these to be divided among them Cranmer opposed it long For the Clergy being much empoverished by the Sale of the impropriated Tithes that ought in all reason to have return'd into the Church but upon the dissolution of the Abbies were all sold among the Laity he saw no probable way remaining for their supply but to save these Endowments till the King were of Age being confident he was so piously disposed that they should easily perswade him to convert them all to the bettering of the Condition of the poor Clergy that were now brought into extream misery And therefore he was for reforming and preserving these Foundations till the Kings full Age. The Popish Bishops liked these Endowments so well that upon far different Motives they were for continuing them in the state they were in But those who were to gain by it were so many that the Act passed the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Duresme Ely Norwich Hereford Worcester and Chichester dissenting So it being sent down to the House of Commons was there much opposed by some Burgesses who represented that the Boroughs for which they served could not maintain their Churches and other publick Works of the Guilds and Fraternities if the Rents belonging to them were given to the King for these were likewise in the Act. This was chiefly done by the Burgesses of Linn and Coventry who were so active that the whole House was much set against that part of the Bill for the Guild-Lands Therefore those who managed that House for the Court took these off by an assurance that their Guild-Lands should be restored to them And so they desisted from their opposition and the Bill passed on the promise given to them which was afterwards made good by the Protector In the Preamble of the Act it is set forth That the great superstition of Christians rising out of their ignorance of the true way of Salvation by the death of Christ in stead of which they had set up the vain conceits of Purgatory and Masses satisfactory was much supported by Trentals and Chantries And since the converting these to godly uses such as the endowing of Schools Provisions for the Poor and the augmenting of Places in the Universities could not be done by Parliament they therefore committed it to the care of the King And then reciting the Act made in the 37th year of his Fathers Reign they give the King all such Chantries Colledges and Chappels as were not possessed by the late King and all that had been in being any time these five years last past as also all Revenues belonging to any Church for Anniversaries Obits and Lights together with all Guild-Lands which any Fraternity of Men enjoyed for Obits or the like and appoint these to be converted to the maintenance of Gramar-Schools or Preachers and for the encrease of Vicarages After this followed the Act giving the King the Customs known by the Name of Tonnage and Poundage besides some other Laws of Matters that are not needful to be remembred in this History Last of all came the Kings general Pardon with the common mon Exceptions among which one was of these who were then Prisoners in the Tower of London in which the Duke of Norfolk was included So all business being ended the Parliament was Prorogued from the 24th of December to the 20th of April following Acts that were proposed but not carried But having given this account of these Bills that were passed I shall not esteem it an unfruitful piece of History to shew what other Bills were designed There were put into the House of Lords two Bills that were stifled The one was for the use of the Scriptures which came not to a second reading The other was a Bill for erecting a new Court of Chancery for Ecclesiastical and Civil Causes which was committed to some Bishops and Temporal Lords but never more mentioned The Commons sent up also some Bills which the Lords did not agree to One was about Benefices with Cure and Residence It was committed but never reported Another was for the Reformation of divers Laws and of the Courts of Common-Law and a third was that married Men might be Priests and have Benefices To this the Commons did so readily agree that it being put in on the 19th of December and read then for the first time it was read twice the next day and sent up to the Lords on the 21st But
Dutchess of Somerset should be so foolish as to think that she ought to have the precedence of the Queen Dowager Therefore I look upon this Story as a meer Fiction though it is probable enough there might upon some other accounts have been some Animosities between the two high-spirited Ladies which might have afterwards be thought to have occasioned their Husbands quarrel It is plain in the whole thread of this Affair that the Protector was at first very easie to be reconciled to his Brother and was only assaulted by him but bore the trouble he gave him with much patience for a great while though in the end seeing his factious temper was incurable he laid off Nature too much when he consented to his Execution Yet all along till then he had rather too much encouraged his Brother to go on by his readiness to be after every breach reconciled to him When the Protector was in Scotland the Admiral then began to act more avowedly and was making a Party for himself of which Paget took notice and charged him with it in plain terms He asked him why he would go about to reverse that which himself and others had consented to under their Hands Their Family was now so great that nothing but their mutual quarrelling could do them any prejudice But there would not be wanting officious Men to inflame them if they once divided among themselves and the Breaches among near Friends commonly turn to the most irreconcilable Quarrels Yet all was ineffectual for the Admiral was resolved to go on and either get himself advanced higher or to perish in the Attempt It was the knowledge of this which forced the Protector to return from Scotland so abruptly and disadvantageously for the securing of his Interest with the King on whom his Brothers Artifices had made some impression Whether there was any reconciliation made between them before the Parliament met is not certain But during the Session the Admiral got the King to write with his own Hand a Message to the House of Commons for the making of him the Governour of his Person and he intended to have gone with it to the House and had a Party there by whose means he was confident to have carried his business He dealt also with many of the Lords and Counsellors to assist him in it When this was known before he had gone with it to the House some were sent to him in his Brothers Name to see if they could prevail with him to proceed no further He refused to hearken to them and said That if he were cross'd in his attempt he would make this the blackest Parliament that ever was in England Upon that he was sent for by Order from the Council but refused to come Then they threatned him severely and told him the Kings Writing was nothing in Law but that he who had procured it was punishable for doing an Act of such a nature to the disturbance of the Government and for engaging the young King in it So they resolved to have sent him to the Tower and to have turned him out of all his Offices But he submitted himself to the Protector and Council and his Brother and he seemed to be perfectly reconciled Yet as the Protector had reason to have a watchful Eye over him so it was too soon visible that he had not laid down but only put off his high Projects till a fitter conjuncture For he began the next Christmas to deal Money again among the Kings Servants and was on all occasions infusing into the King a dislike of every thing that was done and did often perswade him to assume the Government himself But the sequel of this Quarrel proved fatal to him as shall be told in its proper place And thus ended the Year 1547. On the 8th of Jan. 1548. Jan. 8. next year Gardiner was brought before the Council Where it was told him that his former Offences being included in the Kings general Pardon he was thereupon discharged a grave admonition was given him to carry himself reverently and obediently and he was desired to declare whether he would receive the Injunctions and Homilies and the Doctrine to be set forth from time to time by the King and Clergy of the Realm He answered he would conform himself as the other Bishops did and only excepted to the Homily of Justification and desired four or five days to consider of it What he did at the end of that time does not appear from the Council-Book no farther mention being made of this matter for the Clerks of Council did not then enter every thing with that exactness that is since used He went home to his Diocess where there still appeared in his whole behaviour great malignity to Cranmer and to all motions for Reformation yet he gave such outward compliance that it was not easie to find any advantage against him especially now since the Councils great Power was so much abridged The Marquess of Northampton sues a Divorce for Adultery In the end of Jan. the Council made an Order concerning the Marquess of Northampton which will oblige me to look back a little for the clear account of it This Lord who was Brother to the Queen Dowager had married Anne Bourchier Daughter to the Earl of Essex the last of that Name But she being convicted of Adultery he was divorced from her which according to the Law of the Ecclesiastical Courts was only a separation from Bed and Board Upon which Divorce it was proposed in King Henry's time to consider what might be done in favour of the Innocent Person when the other was convicted of Adultery So in the beginning of King Edward's Reign on the 7th of May a Commission was granted to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Duresme and Rochester this was Holbeack who was not then translated to Lincoln to Dr. Ridley and six more ten in all of whom six were a Quorum to try whether the Lady Anne was not by the Word of God so lawfully divorced that she was no more his Wife and whether thereupon he might not marry another Wife This being a new Case and of great importance Cranmer resolved to examine it with his ordinary diligence and searched into the Opinions of the Fathers and Doctors Ex MSS. D. Stillingfleet so copiously that his Collections about it grew into a large Book the Original whereof I have perused the greatest part of it being either written or marked and interlined with his own Hand This required a longer time than the Marquess of Northampton could stay and therefore presuming on his great Power without waiting for Judgment he solemnly married Eliz. Daughter to Brooke Lord Cobham On the 28th of Jan. Information was brought to the Council of this which gave great scandal since his first Marriage stood yet firm in Law So he being put to answer for himself said he thought that by the Word of God he was discharged of his tie to
Christs Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament Upon which many of the Assembly that were indiscreetly hot on both sides cried out some approving and others disliking it Of the Kings Authority under Age and of the Power of the Council in that Case he said not a word and upon that he was imprisoned The occasion of this was the Popish Clergy began generally to have it spread among them that though they had acknowledged the Kings Supremacy yet they had never owned the Councils Supremacy That the Council could only see to the execution of the Laws and Orders that had been made but could not make new ones and that therefore the Supremacy could not be exercised till the King in whose Person it was vested came to be of Age to consider of Matters himself Upon this the Lawyers were consulted who did unanimously resolve that the Supremacy being annexed to the Regal Dignity was the same in a King under Age when it was executed by the Council that it was in a King at full Age and therefore things ordered by the Council now had the same Authority in Law that they could have when the King did act himself But this did not satisfie the greater part of the Clergy Some of whom by the high Flatteries that had been given to Kings in King Henry's time seemed to fancy that there were degrees of Divine Illumination derived unto Princes by the anointing them at the Coronation and these not exerting themselves till a King attained to a ripeness of understanding they thought the Supremacy was to lie dormant while he was so young The Protector and Council endeavoured to have got Gardiner to declare against this but he would not meddle in it How far he might set forward the other Opinion I do not know These Proceedings against him were thought too severe and without Law but he being generally hated they were not so much censured as they had been if they had fallen on a more acceptable Man And thus were the Orders made by the Council generally obeyed many being terrified with the usage Gardiner met with from which others inferred what they might look for if they were refractory when so great a Bishop was so treated The next thing Cranmer set about was the compiling of a Catechisme or large instruction of young Persons in the Grounds of the Christian Religion In it he reckons the two first Commandments but one Cranmer sets out a Catechisme though he says many of the Ancients divided them in two But the division was of no great consequence so no part of the Decalogue were suppressed by the Church He shewed that the excuses the Papists had for Images were no other than what the Heathens brought for their Idolatry who also said they did not worship the Image but that only which was represented by it He particularly takes notice of the Image of the Trinity He shews how St. Peter would not suffer Cornelius and the Angel would not suffer St. John to worship them The believing that there is a vertue in one Image more than in another he accounts plain Idolatry Ezekias broke the Brazen Serpent when abused though it was a Type or Image of Christ made by Gods command to which a miraculous Vertue had been once given So now there was good reason to break Images when they had been so abused to superstition and Idolatry and when they gave such scandal to Jews and Mahometans who generally accounted the Christians Idolaters on that account He asserts besides the two Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper the Power of reconciling Sinners to God as a third and fully owns the Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests and wishes that the Canons and Rites of publick Penitence were again restored and exhorts much to Confession and the Peoples dealing with their Pastors about their Consciences that so they might upon knowledge bind and loose according to the Gospel Having finished this easie but most useful work he dedicated it to the King And in his Epistle to him complains of the great neglect that had been in former times of Catechising and that Confirmation had not been rightly administred since it ought to be given only to these of Age who understood the Principles of the Christian Doctrine and did upon knowledge and with sincere minds renew their Baptismal Vow From this it will appear that from the beginning of this Reformation the Practice of the Roman Church in the matter of Images was held Idolatrous Cranmer's zeal for restoring the Penitentiary Canons is also clear and it is plain that he had now quite laid aside those singular opinions which he formerly held of the Ecclesiastical Functions for now in a Work which was wholly his own without the concurrence of any others he fully sets forth their Divine Institution All these things made way for a greater Work which these selected Bishops and Divines who had laboured in the setting forth of the Office of the Communion were now preparing which was the entire Reformation of the whole Service of the Church In order to this they brought together all the Offices used in England In the Southern Parts A General Reformation of all the Offices of the Church is set about those after the use of Sarum were universally received which were believed to have been compiled by Osmund Bishop of Sarum In the North of England they had other Offices after the use of York In South-Wales they had them after the use of Hereford In North-Wales after the use of Bangor And in Lincoln another sort of an Office proper to that See In the Primitive Church when the extraordinary Gifts ceased the Bishops of the several Churches put their Offices and Prayers into such a Method as was nearest to what they had heard or remembred from the Apostles And these Liturgies were called by the Apostles Names from whose Forms they had been composed as that at Jerusalem carried the Name of St. James and that of Alexandria the Name of St. Mark though those Books that we have now under these Names are certainly so interpolated that they are of no great Authority But in the fourth Century we have these Liturgies first mentioned The Council of Laodicea appointed the same Office of Prayers to be used in the Mornings and Evenings The Bishops continued to draw up new Additions and to put old Forms into other Methods But this was left to every Bishops care nor was it made the Subject of any publick Consultation till St. Austins time when in their dealings with Hereticks they found they took advantages from some of the Prayers that were in some Churches Upon this he tells us it was ordered that there should be no Prayers used in the Church but upon common advice after that the Liturgies came to be more carefully considered Formerly the Worship of God was a pure and simple thing and so it continued till Superstition had so infected the Church that those Forms were thought too naked
repealed and it was Enacted That from the first of May none should eat Flesh on Fridays Saturdays Ember-days in Lent or any other days that should be declared Fish-days under several Penalties A Proviso was added for excepting such as should obtain the Kings Licence or were sick or weak and that none should be indicted but within three Months after the Offence Christ had told his Disciples that when he should be taken from them then they should fast Accordingly the Primitive Christians used to fast oft more particularly before the Anniversary of the Passion of Christ which ended in a high Festivity at Easter Yet this was differently observed as to the number of days Some abstained 40 days in imitation of Christs Fast others only that Week and others had only an entire Fast from the time of Christs death till his Resurrection On these Fasts they eat nothing till the Evening and then they eat most commonly Herbs and Roots Afterwards the Fridays were kept as Fasts because on that day Christ suffered Saturdays were also added in the Roman Church but not without contradiction Ember-weeks came in afterwards being some days before those Sundays in which Orders were given And a General Rule being laid down that every Christian Festival should be preceded by a Fast thereupon the Vigils of Holy-days came though not so soon into the Number But this with the other good Institutions of the Primitive times became degenerate even in St. Austins time Religion came to be placed in these observances and anxious Rules were made about them Afterwards in the Church of Rome they were turned into a Mockery for as on Fast-days they dined which the Ancients did not so the use of the most delicious Fish drest in the most exquisite manner with the richest Wines that could be had was allowed which made it ridiculous So now they resolved to take off the severities of the former Laws and yet to keep up such Laws about Fasting and Abstinence as might be agreeable to its true end which is to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit and not to gratifie it by a change of one sort of diet into another which may be both more delicate and more inflaming So fond a thing is Superstition that it will help Men to deceive themselves by the slightest Pretences that can be imagined It was much lamented then and there is as much cause for it still that carnal Men have taken advantages from the abuses that were formerly practised to throw off good and profitable Institutions since the frequent use of Fasting with Prayer and true Devotion joyned to it is perhaps one of the greatest helps that can be devised to advance one to a spiritual temper of Mind and to promote a holy course of Life And the mockery that is discernable in the way of some Mens Fasting is a very slight excuse for any to lay aside the use of that which the Scriptures have so much recommended Some Bills were rejected There were other Bills put in into both Houses but did not pass One was for declaring it Treason to marry the Kings Sisters without consent of the King and his Council but it was thought that King Henry's Will disabling them from the Succession in that case would be a stronger restraint and so it was laid aside Another Bill was put in for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Great Complaints were made of the abounding of Vices and Immoralities which the Clergy could neither restrain nor punish and so they had nothing left but to preach against them which was done by many with great freedom In some of these Sermons the Preachers expressed their apprehensions of signal and speedy Judgments from Heaven if the People did not repent but their Sermons had no great effect for the Nation grew very corrupt and this brought on them severe punishments The Temporal Lords were so jealous of putting power in Church-mens hands especially to correct those vices of which themselves perhaps were most guilty that the Bill was laid aside The pretence of opposing it was that the greatest part of the Bishops and Clergy were still Papists in their Hearts so that if Power were put into such Mens hands it was reasonable to expect they would employ it chiefly against those who favoured the Reformation and would vex them on that score though with Pretences fetched from other things A design for digesting the Common Law into a Body There was also put into the House of Commons a Bill for reforming of Processes at Common Law which was sent up by the Commons to the Lords but it fell in that House I have seen a large Discourse written then upon that Argument in which it is set forth that the Law of England was a barbarous kind of Study and did not lead Men into a finer sort of Learning which made the Common Lawyers to be generally so ignorant of Forreign Matters and so unable to negotiate in them therefore it was proposed that the Common and Statute Laws should be in imitation of the Roman Law digested into a Body under Titles and Heads and put in good Latin But this was too great a Design to be set on or finished under an Infant King If it was then necessary it will be readily acknowledged to be much more so now the Volume of our Statutes being so much swell'd since that time besides the vast number of Reports and Cases and the Pleadings growing much longer than formerly yet whether this is a thing to be much expected or desired I refer it to the learned and wise Men of that Robe The only Act that remains of this Session of Parliament The Admirals Attainder about which I shall inform the Reader is the Attainder of the Admiral The Queen Dowager that had married him died in September last not without suspition of Poison She was a good and vertuous Lady and in her whole Life had done nothing unseemly but the marrying him so indecently and so soon after the Kings death There was found among her Papers a Discourse written by her concerning her self entituled The Lamentation of a Sinner which was published by Cecil who writ a Preface to it In it she with great sincerity acknowledges the sinful course of her Life for many years in which she relying on External Performances such as Fasts and Pilgrimages was all that while a Stranger to the Internal and True Power of Religion which she came afterwards to feel by the study of the Scripture and the calling upon God for his Holy Spirit She explains clearly the Notion she had of Justification by Faith so that Holiness necessarily followed upon it but lamented the great scandal given by many Gospellers So were all these called who were given to the reading of the Scriptures She being thus dead The Queen Dowager dying he courted the Lady Eliz. the Admiral renewed his Addresses to the Lady Elizabeth but in vain for as he could not expect that his Brother and the Council
should be sent to the Admiral before the Bill should be put in against him to see what he could or would say All this was done to try if he could be brought to a Submission So the Lord Chancellor the Earls of Shrewsbury Warwick and Southampton and Sir John Baker Sir Tho. Cheyney and Sir Anth. Denny were sent to him He was long obstinate but after much perswasion was brought to give an Answer to the first three Articles which will be found in the Collection at the end of the Articles and then on a sudden he stopt and bade them be content for he would go no further and no entreaties would work on him either to answer the rest or to set his Hand to the Answers he had made On the 25th of Feb. the Bill was put in for attainting him The Bill passed in both Houses and the Peers had been so accustomed to agree to such Bills in King Henry's time that they did easily pass it All the Judges and the Kings Council delivered their Opinions that the Articles were Treason Then the Evidence was brought many Lords gave it so fully that all the rest with one Voice consented to the Bill only the Protector for natural pities sake as is in the Council-Book desired leave to withdraw On the 27th the Bill was sent down to the Commons with a Message That if they desired to proceed as the Lords had done those Lords that had given their Evidence in their own House should come down and declare it to the Commons But there was more opposition made in the House of Commons Many argued against Attainders in absence and thought it an odd way that some Peers should rise up in their Places in their own House and relate somewhat to the slander of another and that he should be thereupon attainted therefore it was pressed that it might be done by a Trial and that the Admiral should be brought to the Barr and be heard plead for himself But on the fourth of March a Message was sent from the King that he thought it was not necessary to send for the Admiral and that the Lords should come down and renew before them the Evidence they had given in their own House This was done and so the Bill was agreed to by the Commons in a full House judged about 400 and there were not above ten or twelve that voted in the negative The Royal Assent was given on the 5th of March. On the 10th of March the Council resolved to press the King that Justice might be done on the Admiral and since the Case was so heavy and lamentable to the Protector so it is in the Council-Book though it was also sorrowful to them all they resolved to proceed in it so that neither the King nor he should be further troubled with it After Dinner they went to the King the Protector being with them The King said he had well observed their Proceedings and thanked them for their great care of his safety and commanded them to proceed in it without further molesting him or the Protector and ended I pray you my Lords do so Upon this they ordered the Bishop of Ely to go to the Admiral and to instruct him in the things that related to another Life and to prepare him to take patiently his deserved Execution And on the 17th of March he having made report to them of his attendance on the Admiral the Council Signed a Warrant for his Execution which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 32. to which both the Lord Protector and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury set their Hands And on the 20th his Head was cut off March 20. The Admiral beheaded What his behaviour was on the Scaffold I do not find Thus fell Tho. Lord Seimour Lord high Admiral of England a Man of high thoughts of great violence of temper and ambitious out of measure Censures past upon it The Protector was much censured for giving way to his Execution by those who looked only at that relation between them which they thought should have made him still preserve him But others who knew the whole Series of the Affair saw it was scarce possible for him to do more for the gaining his Brother than he had done Yet the other being a Popular Notion that it was against Nature for one Brother to destroy another was more easily entertain'd by the Multitude who could not penetrate into the Mysteries of State But the way of Proceeding was much condemned since to attaint a Man without bringing him to make his own defence or to object what he could say to the Witnesses that were brought against him was so illegal and unjust that it could not be defended Only this was to be said for it that it was a little more regular than Parliamentary Attainders had been formerly for here the Evidence upon which it was founded was given before both Houses And on Cranmers signing the Warrant for his Execution One Particular seemed a little odd that Cranmer Signed the Warrant for his Execution which being in a Cause of Blood was contrary to the Canon Law In the Primitive Times Church-men had only the Cure of Souls lying on them together with the reconciling of such differences as might otherwise end in Suits of Law before the Civil Courts which were made up of Infidels When the Empire became Christian these Judgments which they gave originally on so charitable an account were by the Imperial Laws made to have great Authority but further than these or the care of Widows and Orphans they were forbid both by the Council of Chalcedon and other lesser Councils to meddle in Secular Matters Among the Endowments made to some Churches there were Lands given where the Slaves according to the Roman Law came within the Patrimony of these Churches and by that Law Masters had Power of Life and Death over their Slaves Laws against Church-mens medling in Matters of Blood In some Churches this Power had been severely exercised even to maiming and death which seemed very indecent in a Church-man Besides there was an Apprehension that some severe Church-men who were but Masters for life might be more profuse of the Lives of such Slaves than those that were to transmit them to their Families Therefore to prevent the wast that would be made in the Churches Patrimony it was agreed on that Church-men should not proceed capitally against any of their Vassals or Slaves And in the Confusions that were in Spain the Princes that prevailed had appointed Priests to be Judges to give the greater reputation to their Courts This being found much to the prejudice of the Church it was decreed in the fourth Council of Toledo that Priests who were chosen by Christ to the Ministry of Salvation should not judge in Capital Matters unless the Prince should swear to them that he would remit the punishment and such as did otherwise were held guilty of Blood-shedding and were to
and indeed all England over the Book was so universally received that the Visitors did return no complaint from any corner of the whole Kingdom All received the new Service except the Lady Mary Only the Lady Mary continued to have Mass said in her House of which the Council being advertised writ to her to conform her self to the Laws and not to cast a reproach on the Kings Government for the nearer she was to him in Blood she was to give the better example to others and her disobedience might encourage others to follow her in that contempt of the Kings Authority So they desired her to send to them her Comptroller and Dr. Hopton her Chaplain by whom she should be more fully advertised of the King and Councils Pleasure Upon this she sent one to the Emperor to interpose for her that she might not be forced to any thing against her Conscience At this time there was a Complaint made at the Emperours Court The Ambassador at the Emperors Court not suffered to use it of the English Ambassador Sir Philip Hobby for using the new Common-Prayer-Book there To which he answered He was to be obedient to the Laws of his own Prince and Country and as the Emperors Ambassador had Mass at his Chappel at London without disturbance though it was contrary to the Law of England so he had the same reason to expect the like liberty But the Emperor espousing the Interest of the Lady Mary both Paget who was sent over Ambassador Extraordinary to him upon his coming into Flanders and Hobby promised in the Kings Name that he should dispense with her for some time as they afterwards declared upon their Honours when the thing was further questioned though the Emperor and his Ministers pretended that without any Qualification it was promised that she should enjoy the free exercise of her Religion The Emperor was now grown so high with his success in Germany A Treaty of Marriage for the Lady Mary and that at a time when a War was coming on with France that it was not thought advisable to give him any offence There was likewise a Proposition sent over by him to the Protector and Council Cotton lib. Galba B. 12. for the Lady Mary to be married to Alphonso Brother to the King of Portugal The Council entertained it and though the late King had left his Daughters but 10000 l. a-piece yet they offered to give with her 100000 Crowns in Money and 20000 Crowns worth of Jewels The Infant of Portugal was about her own Age and offered 20000 Crowns Jointure But this Proposition fell on what hand I do not know She writ to the Council concerning the new Service The Lady Mary writ on the 22d of June to the Council that she could not obey their late Laws and that she did not esteem them Laws as made when the King was not of Age and contrary to those made by her Father which they were all bound by Oath to maintain She excused the not sending her Comptroller Mr. Arundel and her Priest the one did all her business so that she could not well be without him the other was then so ill that he could not travel Upon this the Council sent a peremptory Command to these requiring them to come up and receive their Orders The Lady Mary wrote a second Letter to them on the 27th of June in which she expostulated the matter with the Council She said She was subject to none of them and would obey none of the Laws they made but protested great Obedience and Subjection to the King When her Officers came to Court they were commanded to declare to the Lady Mary that though the King was young in Person yet his Authority was now as great as ever that those who have his Authority and act in his Name are to be obeyed and though they as single Persons were her humble Servants yet when they met in Council they acted in the Kings Name Who required her to obey as other Subjects did and so were to be considered by all the Kings Subjects as if they were the King himself they had indeed sworn to obey the late Kings Laws but that could bind them no longer than they were in force and being now repealed they were no more Laws other Laws being made in their room There was no exception in the Laws all the Kings Subjects were included in them and for a Reformation of Religion made when a King was under Age one of the most perfect that was recorded in Scripture was so carried on when Josiah was much younger than their King was therefore they gave them in charge to perswade her Grace for that was her Title to be a good example of obedience and not to encourage peevish and obstinate Persons by her stiffness But this Business was for some time laid aside And now the Reformation was to be carried on to the establishing of a Form of Doctrine which should contain the chief Points of Religion In order to which there was this Year great enquiry made into many particular Opinions The manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament examined and chiefly concerning the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament There was no Opinion for which the Priests contended more ignorantly and eagerly and that the People generally believed more blindly and firmly as if a strong Belief were nothing else but winking very hard The Priests because they accounted it the chief support now left of their falling Dominion which being kept up might in time retrieve all the rest For while it was believed that their Character qualified them for so strange and mighty a Performance they must needs be held in great reverence The People because they thought they received the very Flesh of Christ and so notwithstanding our Saviours express Declaration to the contrary that the Flesh profiteth nothing looked on those who went about to perswade them otherwise as Men that intended to rob them of the greatest Priviledge they had And therefore it was thought necessary to open this fully before there should be any change made in the Doctrine of the Church The Lutherans seemed to agree with that which had been the Doctrine of the Greek Church that in the Sacrament there was both the Substance of Bread and Wine and Christs Body likewise Only many of them defended it by an Opinion that was thought a-kin to the Eutychian Heresie that his humane Nature by vertue of the union of the God-head was every where though even in this way it did not appear that there was any special Presence in the Sacrament more than in other things Those of Switzerland had on the other hand taught that the Sacrament was only an Institution to commemorate the Sufferings of Christ This because it was intelligible was thought by many too low and mean a thing and not equal to the high expressions that are in the Scripture of its being the Communion of the Body
Philosophical Subtilties and only pretended to be deduced from Scripture as almost all Opinions of Religion were and therefore they rejected them Among these the Baptism of Infants was one They held that to be no Baptism and so were re-baptiz'd but from this which was most taken notice of as being a visible thing they carried all the general Name of Anabaptists Of whom there were two sorts Of these there were two sorts most remarkable The one was of those who only thought that Baptism ought not to be given but to those who were of an Age capable of Instruction and who did earnestly desire it This Opinion they grounded on the silence of the New Testament about the Baptism of Children they observed that our Saviour commanding the Apostles to baptize did joyn Teaching with it and they said the great decay of Christianity flowed from this way of making Children Christians before they understood what they did These were called the gentle or moderate Anabaptists But others who carried that Name denied almost all the Principles of the Christian Doctrine and were Men of fierce and barbarous tempers They had broke out into a general revolt over Germany and raised the War called The Rustick War and possessing themselves of Munster made one of their Teachers John of Leyden their King under the Title of the King of the new Jerusalem Some of them set up a fantastical unintelligible way of talking of Religion which they turned all into Allegories These being joyned in the common Name of Anabaptists with the other brought them also under an ill Character On the 12th of April there was a Complaint brought to the Council that with the Strangers that were come into England some of that Perswasion had come over and were disseminating their Errours and making Proselites Rot. Pat. Par. 6. â— Râ—g So a Commission was ordered for the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Ely Worcester Westminster Chichester Lincoln and Rochester Sir William Petre Sir Tho. Smith Dr. Cox Dr May and some others three of them being a Quorum to examine and search after all Anabaptists Hereticks or contemners of the Common-Prayer They were to endeavour to reclaim them to enjoyn them Penance and give them Absolution or if they were obstinate to excommunicate and imprison them and to deliver them over to the Secular Power to be farther proceeded against Some Tradesmen in London were brought before these Commissioners in May and were perswaded to abjure their former Opinions which were That a Man regenerate could not sin that though the outward Man sinned the inward Man sinned not That there was no Trinity of Persons That Christ was only a Holy Prophet and not at all God That all we had by Christ was that he taught us the way to Heaven That he took no Flesh of the Virgin and that the Baptism of Infants was not profitable One of those who thus abjured was commanded to carry a Faggot next Sunday at St. Pauls where there should be a Sermon setting forth his Heresie But there was another of these extream obstinate Joan Bocher commonly called Joan of Kent She denied that Christ was truly incarnate of the Virgin whose Flesh being sinful he could take none of it but the Word by the consent of the inward Man in the Virgin took Flesh of her these were her words They took much pains about her and had many Conferences with her but she was so extravagantly conceited of her own Notions that she rejected all they said with scorn whereupon she was adjudged an obstinate Heretick and so left to the Secular Power The Sentence against her will be found in the Collection Collection Number 3â— This being returned to the Council the good King was moved to Sign a Warrant for burning her but could not be prevailed on to do it he thought it a piece of cruelty too like that which they had condemned in Papists to burn any for their Consciences And in a long Discourse he had with Sir Jo. Cheek he seemed much confirmed in that Opinion Cranmer was employed to perswade him to Sign the Warrant He argued from the Law of Moses by which Blasphemers were to be stoned He told the King he made a great difference between Errors in other Points of Divinity and those which were directly against the Apostles Creed that these were impieties against God which a Prince as being Gods Deputy ought to punish as the Kings Deputies were obliged to punish offences against the Kings Person These Reasons did rather silence than satisfie the young King who still thought it a hard thing as in truth it was to proceed so sevâ—rely in such Cases so he set his hand to the Warrant with Tears in his Eyes saying to Cranmer That if he did wrong since it was in submission to his Authority he should answer for it to God This struck the Arch-bishop with much horror so that he was very unwilling to have the Sentence executed And both he and Ridley took the Woman then in custody to their Houses to see if they could perswade her But she continued by Jeers and other Insolencies to carry her self so contemptuously that at last the Sentence was executed on her the second of May the next Year An Anabaptist burnt Bishop Scory preaching at her burning she carried her self then as she had done in the former parts of her Process very undecently and in the end was burnt This Action was much censured as being contrary to the clemency of the Gospel and was made oft use of by the Papists who said it was plain that the Reformers were only against Burning when they were in fear of it themselves The Womans carriage made her be look'd on as a frantick Person fitter for Bedlam than a Stake People had generally believed that all the Statutes for burning Hereticks had been repealed but now when the thing was better considered it was found that the burning of Hereticks was done by the Common Law so that the Statutes made about it were only for making the Conviction more easie and the Repealing the Statutes did not take away that which was grounded on a Writ at Common Law To end all this matter at once two years after this one George Van Pare a Dutch-man being accused for saying that God the Father was only God and that Christ was not very God he was dealt with long to abjure but would not so on the 6th of April 1551. he was condemned in the same manner that Joan of Kent was and on the 25th of April was burnt in Smithfield Another burnt He suffered with great constancy of mind and kissed the Stake and Faggots that were to burn him Of this Pare I find a Popish Writer saying That he was a Man of most wonderful strict Life that he used not to eat above once in two days and before he did eat would lie sometime in his devotion prostrate on the ground All this they made use of to
examine that matter They or any two of them had full power by this Commission to suspend imprison or deprive him as they should see cause They were to proceed in the Summary way called in their Courts De plano On the 10th of September Bonner was summoned to appear before them at Lambeth He is proceeded against As he came into the place where they sate he carried himself as if he had not seen them till one pulled him by the sleeve to put off his Cap to the Kings Commissioners upon which he protested he had not seen them which none of them could believe He spake slightingly to them of the whole matter and turned the discourse off to the Mass which he wished were had in more reverence When the Witnesses were brought against him Regist Bonner he jeered them very undecently and said the one talked like a Goose and the other like a Woodcock and denied all they said The Arch-bishop asked him whether he would refer the matter in proof to the People that heard him and so asked whether any there present had heard him speak of the Kings Authority when under Age His insolent behaviour Many answered No No. Bonner looked about and laughed saying Will you believe this fond People Some he called Dunces and others Fools and behaved himself more like a Mad-man than a Bishop The next day he was again brought before them Then the Commission was read The Arch-bishop opened the Matter and desired Bonner to answer for himself He read a Protestation which he had prepared setting forth that since he had not seen the Commission he reserved to himself power to except either to his Judges or to any other Branch of the Commission as he should afterwards see cause In this he called it a pretended Commission and them pretended Judges which was taxed as irreverent but he excused it alledging that these were terms of Law which he must use and so not be precluded from any Objections he might afterwards make use of The Bill of Complaint was next read and the two Informers appeared with their Witnesses to make it good But Bonner objected against them that they were notorious Hereticks and that the ill Will they bore him was because he had asserted the true Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar that Hooper in particular had in his Sermon that very day on which he had preached denied it and had refuted and mis-recited his Sayings like an Asse as he was an Asse indeed so ill did he govern his Tongue Upon this Cranmer asked him whether he thought Christ was in the Sacrament with Face Mouth Eyes Nose and the other Lineaments of his Body and there passed some words between them on that Head but Cranmer told him that was not a time and place to dispute they were come to execute the Kings Commission So Bonner desired to see both it and the denunciation which were given him and the Court adjourned till the 13th Secretary Smith sate with them at their next Meeting which he had not done the former day though his Name was in the Commission Upon this Bonner protested that according to the Canon Law none could act in a Commission but those who were present the first day in which it was read But to this it was alledged that the constant practice of the Kingdom had been to the contrary that all whose Names were in any Commission might sit and judge though they had not been present at the first opening of it This Protestation being rejected he read his Answer in writing to the Accusation He first objected to his Accusers His Defences that they were Hereticks in the matter of the Sacrament and so were according to the Laws of the Catholick Church under Excommunication and therefore ought not to be admitted into any Christian Company Then he denied that the Injunctions given to him had been signed either with the Kings Hand or Signet or by any of his Council But upon the whole matter he said he had in his Sermon condemned the late Rebellion in Cornwall Devon-shire and Norfolk and had set forth the Sin of Rebellion according to several Texts of Scripture He had also preached for obedience to the Kings Commands and that no Ceremonies that were contrary to them ought to be used in particular he had exhorted the People to come to Prayers and to the Communion as it was appointed by the King and wondered to see them so slack in coming to it which he believed flowed from a false opinion they had of it And therefore he taught according to that which he conceived to be the duty of a faithful Pastor the true Presence of Christs Body and Blood in the Sacrament which was the true Motive of his Accusers in their prosecuting him thus But though he had forgot to speak of the Kings Power under Age yet he had said that which necessarily inferred it for he had condemned the late Rebels for rising against their lawful King and had applied many Texts of Scripture to them which clearly implied that the Kings Power was then entire otherwise they could not be Rebels These are rejected But to all this it was answered That it was of no great consequence who were the Informers if the Witnesses were such that he could not except against them besides they were impow'red by their Commission to proceed ex Officio so that it was not necessary for them to have any to accuse He was told that the Injunctions were read to him in Council by one of the Secretaries and then were given to him by the Protector himself that afterwards they were called for and that Article concerning the Kings Power before he came to be of Age being added they were given him again by Secretary Smith and he promised to execute them He was also told that it was no just excuse for him to say he had forgot that about the Kings Power since it was the chief thing pretended by the late Rebels and was mainly intended by the Council in their Injunctions so that it was a poor shift for him to pretend he had forgot it or had spoken of it by a consequence The Court adjourned to the 16th day And then Latimer and Hooper offered to purge themselves of the Charge of Heresie since they had never spoken nor written of the Sacrament but according to the Scripture and whereas Bonner had charged them that on the first of September they had entred into consultation and confederacy against him they protested they had not seen each other that day nor been known to one another till some days after Bonner upon this read some Passages of the Sacrament out of a Book of Hoopers whom he called that Varlet But Cranmer cut off the discourse and said it was not their business to determine that Point and said to the People that the Bishop of London was not accused for any thing he had said about the Sacrament Then
having examined it reported that the Process had been legally carried on and the Sentence justly given and that there was no good reason why the Appeal should be received and therefore they rejected it This being reported to the Council they sent for Bonner in the beginning of February and declared to him that his Appeal was rejected and that the Sentence against him was in full force still But the Business of Bulloigne was that which pressed them most Ambassadors sent to the Emperor They misdoubting as was formerly shewn that Paget had not managed that matter dexterously and earnestly with the Emperor sent on the 18th of October Sir Tho. Cheyney and Sir Phil. Hobbey to him to entreat him to take Bulloigne into his protection they also sent over the Earl of Huntington to command it with the addition of a thousand Men for the Garrison When the Ambassadors came to the Emperor they desired leave to raise 2000 Horse and 3000 Foot in his Dominions for the preservation of Bulloigne Cotton Libr. Galba B. 12. The Emperor gave them very good words but insisted much on his League with France and referred them to the Bishop of Arras who told them plainly the thing could not be done So Sir Tho. Cheyney took his leave of the Emperor who at parting desired him to represent to the Kings Council how necessary it was to consider matters of Religion again that so they might be all of one mind for to deal plainly with them till that were done he could not assist them so effectually as otherwise he desired to do And now the Council saw clearly they had not been deceived by Paget in that Particular and therefore resolved to apply themselves to France for a Peace But now the Earl of Warwick falling off wholly from the Popish Party The Earl of Southampton leaves the Court. the Earl of Southampton left the Court in great discontent He was neither restored to his Office of Chancellor nor made Lord Treasurer that Place which was vacant by the Duke of Somersets Fall being now given to the Lord St. John who soon after was made Earl of Wilt-shire nor was he made one of those who had charge of the Kings Person So he began to lay a Train against the Earl of Warwick but he was too quick for him and discovered it upon which he left the Court in the night and it was said he poisoned himself or pined away with discontent for he died in July after A new Office for Ordinations So now the Reformation was ordered to be carried on and there being one part of the Divine Offices not yet reformed that is concerning the giving Orders some Bishops and Divines brought now together by a Session of Parliament were appointed to prepare a Book of Ordination A Session of Parliament But now I turn to the Parliament which sate down on the 4th of November In it a severe Law was made against unlawful Assemblies that if any An Act against Tumultuary Assemblies to the number of twelve should meet together unlawfully for any matter of State and being required by any lawful Magistrate should not disperse themselves it should be Treason and if any broke Hedges or violently pulled up Pales about Inclosures without lawful Authority it should be Felony It was also made Felony to gather the People together without Warrant by ringing of Bells or sound of Drums and Trumpets or the firing of Beacons There was also a Law made against Prophecies concerning the King or his Council since by these the People were disposed to sedition for the first offence it was to be punished by Imprisonment for a year and 10 l. Fine For the second it was Imprisonment during Life with the forfeiture of Goods and Chattels All this was on the account of the Tumults the former year and not with any regard to the Duke of Somersets security as some have without any reason fancied for he had now no Interest in the Parliament nor was he in a condition any more to apprehend Tumults against himself being stript of his so much envied greatness And against Vagabonds Another Law was made against Vagabonds relating That the former Statute made in this Reign being too severe was by that means not executed so it was repealed and the Law made in King Henry the 8th's Reign put in force Provisions were laid down for relieving the Sick and Impotent and setting the Poor that were able to work That once a month there should be every where a Visitation of the Poor by those in Office who should send away such as did not belong to that Place and those were to be carried from Constable to Constable till they were brought to such Places as were bound to see to them There was a Bill brought in for the repealing of a Branch of the Act of Uniformity but it went no further than one reading On the 14th of November the Bishops made a heavy complaint to the Lords of the abounding of vice and disorder The Bishops move for a reviving of Ecclesiastical Censures and that their Power was so abridged that they could punish no sin nor oblige any to appear before them or to observe the Orders of the Church This was heard by all the Lords with great regret and they ordered a Bill to be drawn about it On the 18th of November a Bill was brought in but rejected at first reading because it seemed to give the Bishops too much Power So a second Bill was appointed to be drawn by a Committee of the House It was agreed to and sent down to the Commons who laid it aside after the second reading They thought it better to renew the design that was in the former Reign of two and thirty Persons being authorized to compile the Body of Ecclesiastical Laws and when that was prepared it seemed more proper by confirming it to establish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction than to give the Bishops any Power while the Rules of their Courts were so little determined or regulated So an act passed empow'ring the King to name fixteen Persons of the Spiritualty of whom four should be Bishops and sixteen of the Temporalty of whom four should be common Lawyers who within three years should compile a Body of Ecclesiastical Laws and those being nothing contrary to the Common and Statute Laws of the Land should be published by the Kings Warrant under the Great Seal and have the force of Laws in the Ecclesiastical Courts Thus they took care that this should not be turn'd over to an uncertain Period as it had been done in the former Reign but designed that it should be quickly finished The Bishops of that time were generally so backward in every step to a Reformation that a small number of them was made necessary to be of this Commission The effect that it had shall be afterwards opened There was a Bill brought in to the House of Commons That the Preaching and holding
Servants and to return with an answer In August they came back and said she was much indisposed and received the Message very grievously She said she would obey the King in all things except where her Conscience was touched but she charged them to deliver none of their Message to the rest of her Family in which they being her Servants could not disobey her especially when they thought it might prejudice her health Upon this And sent some to her they were sent to the Tower The Lord Chancellor Sir Ant. Wingfield and Sir William Petre were next sent to her with a Letter from the King and Instructions from the Council for the charge they were to give to her and her Servants They came to her House of Copthall in Essex The Lord Chancellor gave her the Kings Letter which she received on her Knees and said she payed that respect to the Kings Hand and not to the matter of the Letter which she knew proceeded from the Council and when she read it she said Ah! Mr. Cecil took much pains here he was then Secretary of State in Dr. Wottons room So she turned to the Counsellors and bid them deliver their Message to her She wished them to be short for she was not well at ease and would give them a short answer having writ her mind plainly to the King with her own Hand The Lord Chancellor told her that all the Council were of one mind that she must be no longer suffered to have private Mass or a Form of Religion different from what was established by Law He went to read the Names of those who were of that mind but she desired him to spare his pains she knew they were all of a sort They next told her they had order to require her Chaplains to use no other Service and her Servants to be present at no other than what was according to Law She answered She was the Kings most obedient Subject and Sister and would obey him in every thing but where her Conscience held her and would willingly suffer death to do him service but she would lay her Head on a Block rather than use any other Form of Service But she was Intractable than what had been at her Fathers death only she thought she was not worthy to suffer death on so good an account When the King came to be of Age so that he could order these things himself she would obey his Commands in Religion for although he Good sweet King these were her words had more knowledge than any of his years yet he was not a fit Judge in these matters for if Ships were to be set to Sea or any matter of Policy to be determined they would not think him fit for it much less could he be able to resolve Points of Divinity As for her Chaplains if they would say no Mass she could hear none and for her Servants she knew they all desired to hear Mass her Chaplains might do what they would it was but a whiles Imprisonment but for the new Service it should never be said in her House and if any were forced to say it she would stay no longer in the House When the Counsellors spake of Rochester Inglefield and Walgrave who had not fully executed their charge she said it was not the wisest Counsel to order her Servants to controul her in her own House and they were the honester Men not to do such a thing against their Consciences She insisted on the Promise made to the Emperor which she had under his Hand whom she believed better than them all they ought to use her better for her Fathers sake who had raised them all almost out of nothing But though the Emperor were dead or would bid her obey them she would not change her mind and she would let his Ambassador know how they used her To this they answered clearing the mistake about the Promise to which she gave little heed They told her they had brought one down to serve as her Comptroller in Rochesters room She said she would choose her own Servants and if they went to impose any on her she would leave the House She was sick but would do all she could to live but if she died she would protest they were the causes of it they gave her good words but their deeds were evil Then she took a Ring from her Finger and on her Knees gave it to the Lord Chancellor to give to the King as a Token from her with her humble Commendations and protested much of her duty to him but she said this will never be told him The Counsellors went from her to her Chaplains and delivered their Message to them who promised they would obey Then they charged the rest of the Servants in like manner and also commanded them to give notice if those Orders were broken And so they went to go away But as they were in the Court the Lady Mary called to them from her Window to send her Comptroller to her for she said that now she her self received the accounts of her House and knew how many Loaves were made of a Bushel of Meal to which she had never been bred and so was weary of that Office but if they would needs send him to Prison she said I beshrew him if he go not to it merrily and with a good Will and concluded I pray God to send you to do well in your Souls and Bodies for some of you have but weak Bodies This is the substance of the Report these Counsellors gave when they returned back to the Court on the 29th of August By which they were now out of all hopes of prevailing with her by perswasions or Authority So it was next considered whether it was fit to go to further extremities with her How the matter was determined I do not clearly find it is certain the Lady Mary would never admit of the new Service and so I believe she continued to keep her Priests and have Mass but so secretly that there was no ground for any publick complaint For I find no further mention of that matter than what is made by Ridley of a Passage that befel him in September next year He went to wait on her she-living then at Hunsden Nor would she hear Bishop Ridley preach where she received him at first civilly and told him she remembred of him in her Fathers time and at Dinner sent him to dine with her Officers after Dinner he told her he came not only to do his Duty to her but to offer to Preach before her next Sunday She blushed and once or twice desired him to make the Answer to that himself But when he pressed her further she said the Parish-Church would be open to him if he had a mind to preach in it but neither she nor any of her Family should hear him He said he hoped she would not refuse to hear Gods Word She said She did not know what they called
him he was now in the 16th Year of his Age. But if all Princes should be thus judged by all Instructions that pass under their Hands they would be more severely censured than there is cause And for the particular matter that is charged on the Memory of this young Prince which as it was represented to him was only a calling for the superfluous Plate and other Goods that lay in Churches more for pomp than for use though the applying of it to common uses except upon extream necessities is not a thing that can be justified yet it deserved not so severe a censure especially the Instructions being Signed by the King in his sickness in which it is not likely that he minded Affairs of that kind much but set his Hand easily to such Papers as the Council prepared for him These Instructions were directed in the Copy that I have perused Instructions for the President of the North. to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord President of the North upon which occasion I shall here make mention of that which I know not certainly in what Year to place namely the Instructions that were given to that Earl when he was made President of the North. And I mention them the rather because there have been since that time some Contests about that Office and the Court belonging to it There was by his Instructions a Council to be assistant to him whereof some of the Members were at large and not bound to attendance others were not to leave him without licence from him and he was in all things to have a negative Voice in it For the other Particulars I refer the Reader to the Copy which he will find in the Collection Collection Number 56. One Instruction among them belongs to Religion that he and the other Councellors when there was at any time Assemblies of People before them should perswade them to be obedient chiefly to the Laws about Religion and especially concerning the Service set forth in their own Mother-Tongue There was also a particular charge given them concerning the abolished Power of the Bishop of Rome whose abuses they were by continual inculcation so to beat into the minds of the People that they might well apprehend them and might see that those things were said to them from their Hearts and not from their Tongues only for Forms sake They were also to satisfie them about the abrogation of many Holy-days appointed by the same Bishop who endeavoured to perswade the World that he could make Saints at his pleasure which by leading the People to idleness gave occasion to many vices and inconveniences These Instructions were given after the Peace was made with Scotland otherwise there must have been a great deal in them relating to that War but the Critical time of them I do not know This Year Harly was made Bishop of Hereford instead of Skip who died the last Year And he being the last of those who were made so by Letters Patents The Form of the Bishops Letters Patents I shall give the Reader some satisfaction concerning that way of making Bishops The Patents began with the mention of the vacancy of the See by death or removal upon which the King being informed of the good qualifications of such a one appoints him to be Bishop during his natural Life or so long as he shall behave himself well giving him power to ordain and deprive Ministers to confer Benefices judge about Wills name Officials and Commissaries exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction visit the Clergy inflict Censures and punish scandalous Persons and to do all the other parts of the Episcopal Function that were found by the Word of God to be committed to Bishops all which they were to execute and do in the Kings Name and Authority After that in the same Patent follows the restitution of the Temporalties The day after a Certificate in a Writ called a Significavit was to be made of this under the Great Seal to the Arch-bishop with a Charge to consecrate him The first that had his Bishoprick by the Kings Patents was Barlow that was removed from St. Davids to Bath and Wells They bear date the third of February in the second Year of the Kings Reign and so Ferrar Bishop of St. Davids was not the first as some have imagined for he was made Bishop the first of August that Year This Ferrar was a rash indiscreet Man and drew upon himself the dislike of the Prebendaries of St. Davids He was made Bishop upon the Duke of Somersets favour to him But last Year many Articles were objected to him some as if he had incurred a Praemunire for acting in his Courts not in the Kings but his own Name and some for neglecting his Charge and some little indecencies were objected to him as going strangely habited travelling on foot whistling impertinently with many other things which if true shewed in him much weakness and folly The heaviest Articles he denied yet he was kept in Prison and Commissioners were sent into Wales to examine Witnesses who took many Depositions against him He lay in Prison till Queen Maries time and then he was kept in on the account of his Belief But his suffering afterwards for his Conscience when Morgan who had been his chief Accuser before on those other Articles being then made his Judge condemned him for Heresie and made room for himself to be Bishop by burning him did much turn Peoples Censures from him upon his Successor By these Letters Patents it is clear that the Episcopal Function was acknowledged to be of Divine appointment and that the Person was no other way named by the King than as Lay-Patrons present to Livings only the Bishop was legally authorized in such a part of the Kings Dominions to execute that Function which was to be derived to him by Imposition of Hands Therefore here was no pretence for denying that such Persons were true Bishops and for saying as some have done that they were not from Christ but from the King Upon this occasion it will not be improper to represent to the Reader how this matter stands according to Law at this day which is the more necessary because some superficial Writers have either mis-understood or mis-represented it The Act that authorized those Letters Patents and required the Bishops to hold their Courts in the Kings Name was repealed both by the 1 Mar. Chap. 2. and 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary Chap. 8. The latter of these that repealed only a part of it was repealed by the 1 Eliz. Chap. 1. and the former by the 1 Jac. Chap. 25. So some have argued that since those Statutes which repealed this Act of Edward the 6th 1. Par. Chap. 2. are since repealed that it stands now in full force This seems to have some colour in it and so it was brought in question in Parliament in the fourth year of King James and great debate being made about it the King appointed the two Chief Justices
same Writer also informs us that in many places of the Country Men were chosen by Force and Threats in other places those imployed by the Court Great disorder in Elections did by violence hinder the Commons from coming to chuse in many places false Returns were made and that some were violently turned out of the House of Commons upon which reasons he concludes that it was no Parliament since it was under a Force and so might be annulled as the Parliament held at Coventry in the 38th year of King Henry the 6th was upon Evidence of the like Force declared afterwards to be no Parliament The Journals of the House of Lords in this Parliament are lost so there is no light to be had of their proceedings but from the imperfect Journals of the House of Commons On the second day of the Session one moved in the House of Commons for a review of King Edwards Laws But that being a while argued was at this time laid aside and the Bill for Tonnage and Poundage was put in Then followed a Debate upon Dr. Nowell's being returned from Loo in Cornwal whether he being a Prebendary of Westminster could sit in that House and the Committee being appointed to search fot Precedents it was reported that he being represented in the Convocation House could not be a Member of that House so he was cast out The Bill of Tonnage and Poundage was sent up to the Lords who sent it down to the Commons to be reformed in two proviso's that were not according to former Precedents How far this was contrary to the Rights of the Commons who now say that the Lords cannot alter a Bill of Money I am not able to determine The only publick Bill that passed in this short Session was for a Declaration of Treasons and Felonies An Act for moderating some severe Laws by which it was ordained that nothing should be judged Treason but what was within the Statute of Treasons in the twenty fifth of Edward the third and nothing should be so judged Felony that was not so before the 1st year of King Henry the eight excepting from any benefit of this Act all such as had been in Prison before the last of September who were also excepted out of the Qeens Pardon at her Coronation Two private Bills also passed the one for the restoring of the Wife of the late Marquess of Exeter who had been Attainted in the 32 year of King Henry's Reign and the other for her Son Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire And so the Parliament was Prorogued from the 21 to the 24 of October that their might be a Session of Parliament consisting only of Acts of Mercy though this Repeal of additional Treasons and Felonies was not more than what had passed in the beginning of King Edwards Reign without the clogg of so severe a proviso by which many were cut off from the Favour designed by it Some have thought that since Treasons had been reduced by the second Act of Edward the 6th to the standard of the 25th of Edward the third that therefore there was somewhat else designed by this Act then barely the repealing some late severe Acts which being done the 1st of Edward 6th needed not be now repealed if it imported no more And since this Act as it is worded mentions or rather excepts those Treasons that are declared and expressed in the 25th of Edward the 3d they have inferred that the power of Parliaments declaring of Treasons ex Post facto which was reserved by that Statute is hereby taken away and that nothing is now to be held Treason but what is ennumerated in that Statute Yet this is still liable to Debate since the one may be thought to be declared and expressed in general words as well as the other specialties are in more particular words and is also still in force So nothing seems comprehended within this Repeal but the Acts passed in King Edwards Reign declaring other Crimes to be Treason some are added in the same Act and others in that of the 3d and 4th of his Reign chap. 5. Nor is it likely that if the Parliament had intended to have delivered the Subjects from the apprehensions of all Acts of Attainder upon a Declaration of new Treasons they would not have expressed it more plainly since it must have been very grateful to the Nation which had groaned heavily under Arbitrary Attainders of late years When the Parliament met again the first Bill the Commons entred on was that of Tonnage and Poundage which they passed in two days The Mariage of Queen Katherine to King Henry Confirmed Then was the Bill about King Henry's Marriage with the Queens Mother sent down on the 26th by the Lords and the Commons passed it no the 28th so strangly was the stream turned that a Divorce that had been for seven years much desired by the Nation was now repealed upon fewer days consultation In the Preamble it was said That truth how much soever obscured and born down will in the end break out and that therefore they declared that King Henry the 8th being lawfully married to Queen Katherine by the consent of both their Parents and the advice of the wisest Men in the Realm and of the best and notablest Men for learning in Christendom did continue that state twenty years in which God blessed them with her Majesty and other issue and a course of great happiness but then a very few malicious Persons did endeavour to break that happy agreement between them and studied to possess the King with a scruple in his Conscience about it and to support that caused the Seals of some Vniversities to be got against it a few Persons being corrupted with money for that end They had also by sinistrous ways and secret threatnings procured the Seals of the Vniversities of this Kingdom and finally Thomas Cranmer did most ungodlily and against Law judge the Divorce upon his own unadvised understanding of the Scriptures upon the Testimonies of the Vniversities and some bare and most untrue conjectures and that was afterwards confirmed by two Acts of Parliament in which was contained the Illegitimacy of her Majesty But that Marriage not being prohibited by the Law of God and lawfully made could not be so broken since what God hath joyned together no Man could put asunder all which they considering together with the many miseries that had fallen on the Kingdom since that time which they did esteem Plagues sent from God for it therefore they declare that Sentence given by Cranmer to be unlawful and of no force from the begining and do also repeal the Acts of Parliament that had confirmed it By this Act Gardiner had performed his Promise to the Queen of getting her Illegitimation taken off Which was much Censured without any relation to the Popes Authority But in the drawing of it he shewed that he was past all shame when he could frame such an Act of a
consent This could not come in time to Rome vvhereon the 23d of that month Caraffa vvas chosen Pope who was called Paul the Fourth Paul the 4th chosen Pope and vvho vvas as different from his Predecessor as any Man could be He had put on an appearance of great strictness before and had set up a Religious Order of Monks called Theatines But upon his coming to the Popedom he put on the greatest Magnificence possible and was the highest Spirited and bloodiest Pope that had been since Julius the Second's Time He took it for a great Honour that on the day of his Election the English Ambassadors entred Rome The English Embassadors come to Rome with a great Train of 140 Horse of their own Attendants On the 23 of June in the first Consistory after he was Crowned they were heard They fell prostrate at his Feet and acknowledged the Steps and Faults of their Schism enumerating them all for so the Pope had ordered it confessing they had been ungrateful for the many Benefits they had received from that Church and humbly asking pardon for them The Pope held some Consultation whether he should receive them since in their Credentials the Queen stiled her self Queen of Ireland that Title being assumed by King Henry in the Time of Schism It seemed hard to use such Ambassadors ill but on the other hand he stood upon his Dignity and thought it belonged only to his See to erect Kingdoms therefore he resolved so to temper the Matter that he should not take notice of that Title but should bestow it as a Mark of his Favour So on the 7th of June he did in private erect Ireland into a Kingdom and conferred that Title on the King and Queen and told them that otherwise he would not suffer them to use it in their Publick Audience And it is probable it was the Contest about this that made the Audience be delaied almost a month after their Arrival This being adjusted he received the Ambassadors graciously and pardoned the whole Nation and said That in Token of his esteem of the King and Queen he gave them the Title of the Kingdom of Ireland by that Supream Power which he had from God who had placed him over all Kingdoms to supplant the Contumacious and to build new ones But in his private Discourses with the Ambassadors he complained that the Church-Lands were not restored which he said was by no means to be endured The P. presses the restoring of the Church Lands for they must render all back to the last farthing since they belonged to God and could not be kept without their incurring Damnation He said he would do any thing in his power to gratifie the King and Queen but in this his Authority was not so large as to prophane the things dedicated to God This would be an Anathema and a Contagion on the Nation which would bring after it many Miseries History of the Council of Trent therefore he required them to write effectually about it he repeated this to them every time he spake to them and told them also that the Peter-pence must be paid in England and that he would send a Collector to raise it he himself had been imployed in that office when he was young and he said he was much edified to see the forwardness of the People especially those of the meaner sort in paying it and told them they must not expect S. Peter would open Heaven to them so long as they usurped his Goods on Earth The Ambassadors seeing the Pope's haughty temper that he could endure no contradiction answered him with great submission and so gained his Favour much but knew well that these things could not be easily effected and the Viscount Montacute was too deeply concerned in the matter himself to sollicit it hard for almost his whole Estate consisted of Abby Lands Thus was this business rather laid over than fully setled But now to return to the Affairs in England Instructions sent to the Justices for earching after all susâ—ected of Heresie There came Complaints from all places that the Justices of Peace were remiss in the matters of Religion and particularly in Norfolk that these things were ill looked to So Instructions were sent thither which will be found in the Collections requiring the Justices to divide themselves into ten or twelve Districts that they might more narrowly look into all particulars Collect. Numb 19. that they should encourage the Preachers sent to instruct that County and turn out such as did not come to Church or conform in all things but chiefly the Preachers of Heresie that the Justices and their Families should be good examples to the rest that they should have one or two in every Parish to be secretly instructed for giving information of every thing in it and should look strictly to all vagabonds that wandred about and to such as spread false reports This was thought to have so much of the Inquisition in it that it was imputed to the Counsels of the Spaniards And they seem'd to have taken their pattern from the base Practices of those called Delatores that are set out by Tacitus as the greatest abuse of Power that ever was practised by the ill Emperors that succeeded Augustus who going into all companies and complying with what might be acceptable to them engaged Men into discourses against the State and then gave such Informations against them which without their discovering themselves by being brought to prove them were made use of to the ruin of the accused Persons This was certainly very contrary to the freedom of the English temper and helpt to alienate them the more from the Spaniards But it may be easily imagined that others were weary of severities when Bonner himself grew averse to them He complained Bonner grows unwilling to persecute any more that the matter was turned over upon him the rest looking on and leaving the execution of these Laws wholly to him So when the Justices and Sheriffs sent up Hereticks to him 1554. But is required to proceed by the King and Queen he sent them back and refused to meddle further Upon which the King and Qâ—een writ to him on the 24th of May complaining of this and admonished him to have from henceforth more regard to the Office of a good Pastor and Bishop and when such Offenders were brought to him to endeavour to remove them from their Errors or if they were obstinate to proceed against them according to Law This Letter he caused to be put in his Register from whence I copied it and have placed it in the Collections Coll. Number 20. Whether he procured this himself for a colour to excuse his Proceedings or whether it was sent to him by reason of his slackness is not certain but the latter is more probable for he had burnt none during five weeks but he soon redeemed that loss of time The Queens delivery is expected
when they were proceeding so severely against Men for their Opinions to spare one that was guilty of so foul a Murder killing both Father and Son at the same time But it is strange that neither his Quality nor his former zeal for Popery could procure a change of the Sentence from the more infamous way of hanging to beheading which had been generally used to Persons of his Quality It has been said and it passes for a Maxim of Law That though in Judgments of Treason the King can order the Execution to be by cutting off the Head since it being a part of the Sentence that the Head shall be severed from the Body the King may in that Case remit all the other parts of the Sentence except that yet in Felonies the Sentence must be Executed in the way prescribed by Law and that if the King should order beheading in stead of hanging it would be Murder in the Sheriff and those that Execute it So that in such a Case they must have a Pardon under the Great Seal for killing a Man unlawfully But this seems to be taken up without good Grounds and against clear Precedents For in the former Reign the Duke of Somerset though condemned for Felony yet was beheaded And in the Reign of King Charles the first the Lord Audley being likewise condemned for Felony all the Judges delivered their Opinons that the King might change the Execution from hanging to beheading which was done and was not afterwards questioned So it seems the hanging the Lord Stourton flowed not from any scruple as to the Queens Power of doing it lawfully but that on this occasion she resolved to give a publick Demonstration of her Justice and Horror at so cruel a Murder and therefore she left him to the Law without taking any further care of him On the last of February he was sent from London with a Letter to the Sheriff of Wilt-shire to receive his Body and execute the Sentence given against him and his Servants which was accordingly done as has been already shewn Upon this the Papists took great advantage to commend the strictness and impartiality of the Queens Justice that would not spare so zealous a Catholick when guilty of so foul a Murder It was also said That the killing of Mens Bodies was a much less crime than the killing of Souls which was done by the Propagators of Heresie and therefore if the Queen did thus execute Justice on a Friend for that which was a lesser degree of Murder they who were her Enemies and guilty of higher Crimes were to look for no mercy Indeed as the Poor Protestants looked for none so they met with very little but what the Cardinal shewed them and he was now brought under trouble himself for favouring them too much it being that which the Pope made use of to cover his malice against him Now the War had again broken out between France and Spain and the King studied to engage the English to his assistance The Queen had often complained to the French Court that the Fugitives who left her Kingdom had been well entertained in France She understood that the practises of Wiat and of her other rebellious Subjects were encouraged from thence particularly of Ashton who went often between the two Kingdoms and had made use of the Lady Elizabeths Name to raise Seditions as will appear by a Letter that is in the Collection Collection Number 34. which some of the Council writ to one that attended that Princess She was indeed the more strictly kept and worse used upon that occasion But besides it so happened that this Year one Stafford had gone into France and gathered some of the English Fugitives together and with Money and Ships that were secretly given him by that Court had come and seized on the Castle of Scarborough from whence he published a Manifesto against the Queen that by bringing in the Spaniards she had fallen from her Right to the Kingdom of which he declared himself Protector The Earl of Westmorland took the Castle on the last of April and Stafford with three of his Complices being taken suffered as Traitors on the 28th of May. The Queen becomes jealous of the French His coming out of France added much to the Jealousie though the French King disowned that he had given him any assistance But Dr. Wotton who was then Ambassador there resolved to give the Queen a more certain discovery of the inclinations of the French that so he might engage her in the War as was desired by Philip He therefore caused a Nephew of his own to come out of England whom when he had secretly instructed he ordered him to desire to be admitted to speak with the French King pretending that he was sent from some that were discontented in England and desired the French Protection But the King would not see him till he had first spoken with the Constable So Wotton was brought to the Constable and Melvill from whose Memoirs I draw this was called to interpret The young man first offered him the Service of many in England that partly upon the account of Religion partly for the hatred they bore the Spaniards were ready if assisted by France to make stirs there The Constable received and answered this but coldly and said He did not see what Service they could do his Master in it Upon which he replied They would put Calais into his Hands The Constable not suspecting a Trick started at that and shewed great joy at the Proposition but desired to know how it might be effected Young Wotton told him there were a thousand Protestants in it and gave him a long formal Project of the way of taking it with which the Constable seemed pleased and had much discourse with him about it he promised him great Rewards and gave him directions how to proceed in the Design So the Ambassador having found out what he had designed to discover sent his Nephew over to the Queen who was thereupon satisfied that the French were resolved to begin with her if they found an opportunity Her Husband King Philip finding it was not so easie by Letters or Messages to draw her into the War came over himself about the 20th of May and stayed with her till the beginning of July And denounces War In that time he prevailed so far with her and the Council that she sent over a Herauld with a formal Denunciation of War who made it at Rhemes where the King then was on the seventh of June Soon after she sent over 8000 Men under the Command of the Earl of Pembroke to joyn the Spanish Army that consisting of near 50000 Men sate down before St. Quintin The Constable was sent to raise the Siege with a great Force and all the chief Nobility of France When the two Armies were in view of one another The great defeat given the French at St. Quintin the Constable intended to draw back his Army but by
more meanly of the resistance made by the Lord Gray than of that made by the Lord Wentworth for there went out of Guisnes about 800 Soldiers whereas there went not out of Calais above 300. But one of our own Writers magnifies the Lord Gray and speaks dishonourably of the Lord Wentworth adding which was an Invention of his own that he was attainted for the losing of Calais All that Historians ground for it is only this that there was indeed a Mock-citation issued out against the Lord Wentworth to which he could not appear being not freed from his imprisonment by the French all this Reign but he came over in the beginning of the next when the Treaty of Peace being on foot he obtained his liberty and was tried by his Peers in the first Parliament in Queen Elizabeths Reign and acquitted It was as he alledged for himself his misfortune to be employed in a Place where he had not so much as a fourth part of that Number of Men that was necessary to hold out a Siege But in the declinations of all Governments when losses fall out they must be cast on those that are entrusted to excuse those who are much more guilty by neglecting to supply them as the Service required Among the Prisoners one of the chief was Sir Edward Grimston the Comptroller of Calais and a Privy-Counsellor He had often according to the duty of his Place given advertisement of the ill condition the Garrison was in But whether those to whom he writ were corrupted by French Money or whether the Low state of the Queens Treasury made that they were not supplied is not certain It was intended he should not come over to discover that and therefore he was let lie a Prisoner in the Bastile and no care was taken of him or the other Prisoners The Ransome set on him was so high that having lost a great estate which he had purchased about Calais he resolved not to do any further prejudice to his Family by redeeming his liberty at such a rate and intended either to continue a Prisoner or make his escape He lay above two years in the Bastile and was lodged in the top of it at the end of that time he procured a File and so cut out one of the Bars of the Window and having a Rope conveyed to him he changed Clothes with his Servant and went down on the Rope which proving a great deal too short he leaped a great way and having done that before the Gates were shut made his escape without being discovered But his Beard which was grown long made him fear he should be known by it Yet by a happy Providence he found in the Pockets of his Servants Cloaths a pair of Scissars and going into the Fields did so cut his Beard that he could not have been known and having learnt the Art of War in the Company of the Scotch Guard de Mauche he spake that Dialect So he passed as a Scotch Pilgrim and by that means escaped into England And there he offered himself to a Trial where after the Evidence was brought his Innocence did so clearly appear that the Jury were ready to give their Verdict without going from the Bar. So he was acquitted and lived to a great Age dying in his 98th Year He was Great-Grand-father to my Noble-Patron and Benefactor Sir Harbotle Grimston which has made me the more willing to enlarge thus concerning him to whose Heir I owe the chief opportunities and encouragements I have had in composing this Work Now the Queen had nothing left of all those Dominions that her Ancestors had once in France but the Isles of Jersey Gernsey Alderney and Sarke The last of these being a naked Place only inhabited by some Hermites but having the advantage of a Harbour the French made themselves Masters of it Sarke taken by the French The strength of it consisted in the difficulty of the ascent the little Fort they had being accessible but in one place where two could only go up a-breast So an ingenious Fleming resolved to beat them out of it He came thither and pretending he had a Friend dead in his Ship offered them a good Present if he might bury him within their Chappel The French consented to it if he would suffer himself and his Men to be so narrowly searched that they might not bring so much as a Knife a-shoar This he consented to And retaken by an Ingenious Stratagem and as he landed with his Coffin the French-men were to send some to his Ship to receive the Present So the Coffin being carried into the Chappel and the French apprehending nothing from unarmed Men the Coffin was opened which was full of good Arms and every man furnishing himself they broke out upon the French and took them all as their Companions in the Ship did those who went a-board to bring the Present The news of the loss of Calais filled England with great discontent Great discontents in England Those who were otherwise dissatisfied with the conduct of Affairs took great advantages from it to disparage the Government which the Queen had put into the Hands of Priests who understood not War and were not sensible of the Honour of the Nation It was said they had drained her Treasury by the restitutions and foundations they got her to make and being sensible how much the Nation hated them they had set the Queen on other ways of raising Money than by a Parliament so that never did the Parliament meet with greater disorder and trouble than now But that loss affected none so deeply as the Queen her self who was so sensible of the dishonour of it that she was much oppressed with melancholly and was never cheerful after it Those who took on them to make Comments on Divine Providence expounded this loss as their affections led them Those of the Reformation said it was Gods heavy Judgment upon England for rejecting the light of his Gospel and persecuting such as still adhered to it But on the other hand the Papists said Calais could not prosper since it had been a Receptacle of Hereticks where the Laws against them had never been put in execution King Philip as soon as he heard of this loss wrote over to England desiring them to raise a great Force with all possible hast and send it over to recover Calais before it was fortified and he would draw out his Army and joyn with them for if they did not retake it before the season of working about it came on it was irrecoverably lost Upon which there was a long Consultation held about it They found they could not to any purpose send over under 20000 Men the Pay of them for five Months would rise to 170000 l. Garrisons and an Army against the Scots and securing the Coasts against the French would come to 150000 l. The setting out of a Fleet and an Army by Sea would amount to 200000 l. and yet all
the Government in his own Name but put it into the hands of his Mother the Cardinal of Lorrain and the Duke of Guise The Constable was put from the Court the Princes of the Blood were not regarded but all things were carried by the Cardinal and his Brother between whom and the Queen-Mother there arose great misunderstandings which proved fatal to the Queen of Scotland for she being much engaged with her Uncles and having an Ascendant over her Husband did so divide him from his Mother that before he died she had only the shadow of the Government This she remembred ever after against her daughter-in-Daughter-in-Law and took no care of her afterwards in all her Miseries But the Prince of Conde with the Admiral and many others resolving to have the Government in their Hands engaged some Lawyers to examine the point of the King's Majority These writ several Books on that Subject to prove that two and twenty was the soonest that any King had been ever held to be of Age to assume the Government and that no Strangers nor Women might be admitted to it by the Law of France but that it belonged to the Princes of the Blood during the King's Minority who were to manage it by the Advice of the Courts of Parliament and the three Estates So that the Design now concerted between these great Lords to take the King out of their hands who disposed of him was grounded on their Laws Yet as this Design was laying all over France Papists and Protestants concurring in it it was discovered by a Protestant who thought himself bound in Conscience to reveal it Upon this the Prince of Conde and many others were seized on and had not the King's Death in the beginning of December 1560 saved him the Prince himself and all the Heads of that Party had suffered for it But upon his Death Charles the Ninth that succeeded him being but eleven Years Old the King of Navarre was declared Regent and the Queen Mother who then hated the Cardinal of Lorrain united her self to him and the Constable and drew the weak Regent into her Interests Upon this some Lawyers examining the Power of the Regents found that the other Princes of the Blood were to have their share of the Government with him and that he might be checkt by the Courts of Parliament and was subject to an Assembly of the three Estates In July the next Year there was a severe Edict passed against the Protestants to put down all their Meetings and banish all their Preachers The Execution of it was put into the hands of the Bishops but the greater part of the Nation would not bear it So in January thereafter another Edict passed in a great Assembly of the Princes of the Blood the Privy Counsellors and eight Courts of Parliament for the free exercise of that Religion requiring the Magistrates to punish those who should hinder or disturb their Meetings Soon after this the Duke of Guise and his Brother reconciled themselves to the Queen Mother and resolved to break that Edict This was begun by the Duke of Vassy where a Meeting of the Protestants being gathered his Servants disturbed them they began with reproachful Words from these it went to Blows and throwing of Stones and by one of them the Duke was wounded for which his Men took a severe Revenge for they killed sixty of them and wounded two hundred sparing neither Age now Sex After this the Edict was every-where broken Many Lawyers were of Opinion that the Regent could not do it and that the People might lawfully follow the next Prince of the Blood in defence of the Edict Upon this his Brother the Prince of Conde gathered an Army In the beginning of the War the King of Navarre was killed at the Siege of Roan so that by the Law the Prince of Conde ought to have succeeded him in the Regency and thus the Wars that followed after this could not be called Rebellion since the Protestants had the Law and the first Prince of the Blood of their side to whom the Government did of right belong Thus began the Civil Wars of France which lasted above thirty Years in all which time the Queen of England by the Assistance she sent them sometimes of Men but for the most part of Mony and Ammunition did support the Protestant Interest with no great Charge to her self And by that she was not only secured from all the Mischief which so powerful a Neighbour could do her but had almost the half of that Kingdom depending on her The Wars of the Netherlands The State of the Netherlands afforded the like Advantages in those Provinces where the King of Spain finding the Proceedings of the Bishops were not effectual for the Extirpation of Heresy their Sees being so large intended to have founded more Bishopricks and to have set up the Courts of Inquisition in those Parts and apprehending some opposition from the Natives he kept Garrisons of Spaniards among them with many other things contrary to the Laetus Introâ—â—us that had been agreed to when he was received to be their Prince The People finding all Terms broken with them and that by that Agreement they were disengaged from their Obedience if he broke those Conditions did shake off his Yoke Upon which followed the Civil Wars of the Netherlands that lasted likewise above thirty Years To them the Queen gave assistance at first more secretly but afterwards more openly and as both they and the French Protestants were assisted with Men out of Germany which were generally led by the brave but seldom fortunate Casimir Brother to the Elector Palatine so the mony that payed them was for most part furnished from England And thus was Queen Elizabeth the Arbiter of all the Neighbouring parts of Christendom She at Home brought the Coin to a true Standard Navigation prospered Trade spread both in the Northern Seas to Arch-Angel and to the East and West Indies and in her long Wars with Spain she was always Victorious That great Armada set out with such assurance of Conquest was what by the Hand of Heaven in a Storm what by the unweildiness of their Ships and the nimbleness of Ours so shattered and sunk that the few remainders of it returned with irrecoverable shame and loss to Spain again She reigned in the Affections of her People and was admired for her Knowledg Vertues and Wisdom by all the World She always ordered her Councils so that all her Parliaments were ever ready to comply with them for in every thing she followed the true Interest of the Nation She never asked Subsidies but when the necessity was visible and when the Occasions that made her demand any vanished she discharged them She was admired even in Rome it self where Sixtus the Fifth used to speak of her and the King of Navarre Vita de Sisto 5. as the only Princess that understood what it was to Govern and profanely wished he might enjoy her
Herbert Edward North. Number 4. The Order for the Coronation of King Edward Sunday the 13th of Febr. at the Tower c. THis day the Lord Protector and others his Executors Ex Libro Concilii whose Names be hereunto subscribed upon mature and deep deliberation had among them did finally resolve That forasmuch as divers of the old Observances and Ceremonies afore-times used at the Coronations of the Kings of this Realm were by them thought meet for sundry respects to be corrected and namely for the tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's Majesty being yet of tender Age fully to endure and bide out And also for that many Points of the same were such as by the Laws of the Realm at this present were not allowable The King's Majesty's Coronation should be done and celebrated upon Shrove-Sunday next ensuing in the Cathedral Church of Westminster after the Form and Order ensuing First The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall shew the King to the People at four parts of the great Pulpit or Stage to be made for the King and shall say on this wise Sirs Here I present King Edward rightful and undoubted Inheritor by the Laws of God and Man to the Royal Dignity and Crown Imperial of this Realm whose Consecration Inunction and Coronation is appointed by all the Nobles and Peers of this Land to be this day Will ye serve at this time and give your good-wills and assents to the same Consecration Inunction and Corronation as by your Duty of Allegiance ye be bound to do The People to Answer Yea Yea Yea King Edward King Edward King Edward This done the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being revested as he should go to Mass with the Bishops of London and Winchester on both sides with other Bishops and the Dean of Westminster in the Bishop's absence to go in order before the King the King shall be brought from his Seat by them that assisted him to the Church to the high Altar where after his Prayer made to God for his Grace he shall offer a Pall and a pound of Gold 24 pound in Coin which shall be to him delivered by the Lord Great Chamberlain Then shall the King fall groveling before the Altar and over him the Arch-Bishop shall say this Collect Deus humilium c. Then the King shall rise and go to his Chair to be prepared before the Altar his Face to the Altar and standing one shall hold him a Book and the Arch-Bishop standing before the King shall ask him with a loud and distinct Voice in Manner and Form following Will ye grant to keep to the People of England and others your Realms and Dominions the Laws and Liberties of this Realm and others your Realms and Dominions I grant and promit You shall keep to your strength and power to the Church of God and to all the People holy Peace and Concord I shall keep You shall make to be done after your Strength and Power equal and rightful Justice in all your Dooms and Judgments with Mercy and Truth I shall do Do you grant to make no Laws but such as shall be to the Honour and Glory of God and to the Good of the Common-Wealth and that the same shall be made by the consent of your People as hath been accustomed I grant and promit Then shall the King rise out of his Chair and by them that before assisted him be led to the High Altar where he shall make a solemn Oath upon the Sacrament laid upon the said Altar in the sight of all the People to observe the Premisses and laying his Hand again on the Book shall say The things which I have before promised I shall observe and keep So God help me and those Holy Evangelists by Me bodily touched upon this Holy Altar That done the King shall fall again groveling before the High Altar and the said Arch-Bishop kneeling before him shall with a loud Voice begin Veni Creator Spiritus c. Which done the said Arch-Bishop standing shall say over the King Te invocamus and at the end shall kneel again and then shall the King rise and be set in the Chair again and after a little pause he shall rise and assisted with those that did before that Office go again to the High Altar where he shall be uncloathed by his Great Chamberlain unto his Coat of Crimson Satin which and also his Shirt shall be opened before and behind on the Shoulders and the bowght of the Arms by the said Great Chamberlain to the intent that on those Places he be anointed and whiles he is in the anointing Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Herbert must hold a Pall over him And first The said Arch-Bishop shall anoint the King kneeling in the Palms of his Hands saying these words Vngas Manus with this Collect Respice Omnipotens Deus After he shall anoint him in the Brest in the midst of his Back on his two Boughts of his Arms and on his Head making a Cross and after making another Cross on his Head with Holy Chrism saying as he anointeth the places aforesaid Vngatur Caput ungantur scapulae c. During which time of Unction the Quire shall continually sing Vngebant Regem and the Psalm Domine in virtute tua laetabitur Rex And it is to be remembred that the Bishop or Dean of Westminster after the King's Inunction shall dry all the Places of his Body where he was anointed with Cotton or some Linnen Cloth which is to be burnt And furthermore the places opened for the same is to be cloathed by the Lord Great Chamberlain and on the King's Hands shall be put by the said Arch-Bishop of Canterbury a pair of Linnen Gloves which the Lord Great Chamberlain shall before see prepared This done the King shall rise and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall put on the King a Tabert of Tanteron-white shaped in manner of a Dalmatick and he shall put up on the King's Head a Quoif the same to be brought by the Great Chamberlain Then the King shall take the Sword he was girt withal and offer it himself to God laying it on the Altar in token that his Strength and Power should first come from God And the same Sword he shall take again from the Altar and deliver to some great Earl to be redeemed of the Bishop or Dean of Westminster for 100 s. which Sword shall be born naked afterwards before the King Then the King being set in his Chair before the Altar shall be crowned with St. Edward's Crown and there shall be brought by the Bishop or Dean of Westminster Royal Sandals and Spurs to be presently put on by the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Spurs again immediately taken off that they do not encumber him Then the Arch-Bishop with all the Peers and Nobles shall convey the King sustained as before again into the Pulpit setting him in his Siege Royal and then shall
the Arch-Bishop begin Te Deum Laudamus which done the Arch-Bishop shall say unto the King Sta retine a modo locum And the King being thus set all the Peers of the Realm and Bishops holding up their Hands shall make unto him Homage as followeth first the Lord Protector alone then the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor so two and two as they be placed J. N. become your Liege Man of Life and Limb and of earthly Worship and Faith and Truth I shall bear unto you against all manner of Folks as I am bound by my Allegiance and by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm So help us God and Allhallowes And then every one shall kiss the King 's left Cheek which done all they holding up their hands together in token of their Fidelity shall with one Voice on their knees say We offer to sustain and defend you and your Crown with our Lives and Lands and Goods against all the World And then with one Voice to cry God save King Edward which the People shall cry accordingly Then shall the King be led to his Travers to hear the High Mass and so depart home crowned in Order as he set forth accordingly E. Hertford T. Cantuarien Tho. Wriothesley Cancel W. St. John J. Russel John Lisle Cuth Duresme Anthony Brown W. Paget Anthony Denny W. Herbert Number 5. The Commission for which the Lord Chancellor was deprived of his Office with the Opinion of the Judges concerning it Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 49. EDwardus sextus Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae supremum Caput dilectis fidelibus Consiliariis suis Roberto Southwell Militi custodi ac Magistro Rotulorum Cancellariae nostrae Johanni Tregonwell Armigero uni Magistrorum Cancellariae nostrae praedictae dilectis sibi Johanni Olyver Clerico Antonio Bellasis Clerico Magistris ejusdem Cancellariae nostrae salutem Quia praedilectus fidelis consanguineus noster Thomas Comes Southampton Cancellarius noster Angliae nostris arduis negotiis ex mandato nostro continuo intendens in eisdem adeo versatur quod ad ea quae in Curia Cancellariae nostrae in causis materiis inter diversos ligeos subditos nostros ibidem pendentibus tractand audiend discutiend terminand Sicut ut fieri debeant ad presens non sufficiat volentes proinde in ejusdem Cancellarii nostri absentia omnibus ligeis subditis nostris quibuscunque quascunque materias suas in Curia Cancellariae nostrae praedictae prosequentibus plenam celerem justitiam exhiberi ac de fidelitatibus providis circumspectionibus vestris plenius confidentes assignavimus vos tres duos vestrum ac tenore praesentium damus vobis tribus duobus plenam potestatem autoritatem audiendi examinandi quascunque materias causas Petitiones coram nobis in Cancellaria nostra inter quoscunque ligeos subditos nostros nunc pendentes in posterum ibidem exhibend pendend easdem materias causas Petitiones juxta sanas vestras discretiones finaliter terminand debitae executioni demandand partesque in materiis sive causis vel Petitionibus illis nominatis specificatis ad testes alios quoscunque quos vobis fore videbitur evocandos quoties expedire videbitis coram vobis tribus vel duobus vestrum evocandos ipsos eorum quemlibet debite examinari compellend diesque productorios imponend assignand processusque quoscunque in ea parte necessarios concedend fieri faciend contemptus etiam quoscunque ibidem commissos sive perpetratos debite castigand puniend caeteraque omnia singula faciend exequend quae circa praemissa necessaria fuerint seu quomodolibet opportuna Et ideo vobis mandamus quod circa promissa diligenter attendatis ac ea faciatis exequamini cum effectu Mandamus etiam tenore praesentium omnibus singulis Officiariis Ministris nostris curiae nostrae praedictae quod vobis tribus duobus vostrum in executione praemissorum diligenter intendant prout decet Volumus enim per praesentes concedimus quod omnia singula judicia sive finalia decreta per vos tres vel duos vestrū super hujusmodi causis sive materiis reddend seu fiend sicut esse debeant tanti consimilis valoris effectus efficaciae roboris virtutis ac si per Dominum Cancellarium Angliae Curiae Cancellariae praedictae reddita seu reddenda forent proviso semper quod omnia singula hujusmodi judicia seu finalia decreta per vos tres vel duos vestrum virtute praesentium reddend seu fiend manibus vestris trium vel duorum vestrum subscribantur consignentur superinde eadem judicia sive decreta praefato Cancellario nostro praesententur liberentur ut idem Cancellarius noster antequam irrotulentur eadem similiter manu sua consignet In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Westmonast 18 die Feb. Anno Regni nostri primo THE said Students referring to the consideration of the said Protector and Council what the granting out of the said Commission without warrant did weigh Forasmuch as the said Protector and Council minding the surety of the King's Majesty and a direct and upright proceeding in his Affairs and the observation of their Duties in all things as near as they can to his Majesty with a desire to avoid all things which might offend his Majesty or his Laws and considering that the said Commission was none of the things which they in their Assemblies in Council at any time since the Death of the King's Majesty late deceased did accord to be passed under the Great Seal have for their own Discharges required us whose Names be under-written for the Opinion they have of our knowledge and experience in the Laws of this Realm to consider the said Case of making of the said Commission without warrant and after due consideration thereof to declare in writing to what the said Case doth weigh in Law We therefore whose Names be under-written after mature and advised consultation and deliberation thereupon do affirm and say for our Knowledges and Determinations That the said Chancellor of England having made forth under the Great Seal of England without any Warrant the Commission aforesaid hath done and doth by his so doing offend the King's Majesty hath and doth by the Common Law forfeit his Office of Chancellor and incurreth the Danger Penalty and Paiment of such Fine as it shall please the King's Majesty with the advise of the said Lord Protector and Council to set upon him for the same with also Imprisonment of his Body at the King's Will In Witness whereof we have set our Names to this Present the last day of February in the first Year of the Reign of our
never defame them so much to be seen to fear it And of what strength an Act of Parliament is the Realm was taught in the case of her that we called Queen Ann where all such as spake against her in the Parliament-House although they did it by special Commandment of the King and spake that was truth yet they were fain to have a Pardon because that speaking was against an Act of Parliament Did you never know or here tell of any Man that for doing that the King our late Soveraign Lord willed devised and required to be done He that took pains and was commanded to do it was fain to sue for his Pardon and such other also as were doers in it and I could tell who it were Sure there hath been such a Case and I have been present when it hath been reasoned That the doing against an Act of Parliament excuseth not a Man even from the Case of Treason although a Man did it by the King's Commandment You can tell this to your remembrance when you think further of it and when it cometh to your remembrance you will not be best content with your self I believe to have advised me to enter the breach of an Act of Parliament without surety of Pardon although the King command it and were such indeed as it were no matter to do it at all And thus I answer the Letters with worldly civil Reasons and take your Mind and Zeal towards me to be as tender as may be and yet you see that the following of your Advice might make me lose my Bishoprick by mine own Act which I am sure you would I should keep and so would I as might stand with my Truth and Honesty and none otherwise as knoweth God who send you heartily well to fare Number 14. The Conclusion of Gardiner's Letter to the Protector against the lawfulness of the Injunctions Cotton Libr. Vesp D. 18. VVHether the King may command against the Common Law or an Act of Parliament there is never a Judg or other Man in the Realm ought to know more by experience of that the Lawyers have said than I. First My Lord Cardinal had obtained his Legacy by our late Soveraign Lord's Request at Rome yet being it was against the Laws of the Realm the Judges censured the Offence of Premunire which Matter I bore away and take it for a Law of the Realm because the Lawyers said so but my Reason digested it not The Lawyers for the confirmation of their Doings brought in a Case of my Lord Typtest an Earl he was and learned in Civil Laws who being Chancellor because in execution of the King's Commission he offended the Laws of the Realm he suffered on Tower-Hill they brought in the Examples of many Judges that had Fines set on their Heads in like case for transgression of the Laws by the King's Commandment and this I learned in this Case Since that time being of the Council when many Proclamations were devised against the Carriers out of Corn when it came to punishing the Offenders the Judges would answer it might not be by the Laws because the Act of Parliament gave liberty Wheat being under a price Whereupon at the last followed the Act of Proclamations in the passing whereof were many large words When the Bishop of Exeter and his Chancellor were by one Body brought into a Premunire I reasoned with the Lord Audley then Chancellor so far as he bad me hold my peace for fear of entring a Premunire my self But I concluded that although I must take it as of their Authority that it is Common Law yet I could not see how a Man authorised by the King as since the King's Majesty hath taken upon him the Supremacy every Bishop is that Man could fall in a Premunire I reasoned once in the Parliament House where was free Speech without danger and there the Lord Audley Chancellor then to satisfie me because I was in some secret estimation as he knew Thou art a good Fellow Bishop quoth he look the Act of the Supremacy and there the King's doings be restrained to Spiritual Jurisdiction And in an other Act No Spiritual Law shall have place contrary to a Common Law or an Act of Parliament And if this were not quoth he the Bishops would enter in with the King and by means of his Supremacy order the Law as you listed but we will provide quoth he that the Premunire shall never go off your Heads This I bare away there and held my peace Since that time in a Case of Jewels I was fain with the Emperor's Ambassador Chapinius when he was here and in the Emperor's Court also to defend and maintain by Commandment that the King's Majesty was not above his Laws and therefore the Jeweller although he had the King's Bill signed yet it would not serve because it was not obtained after the Order of the Law in which Matter I was very much troubled Even this time twelve-month when I was in Commission with my Lord great Master and the Earl of Southampton for the altering of the Court of Augmentations there was my Lord Montague and other of the King 's Learned Council of whom I learned what the King might do against an Act of Parliament and what danger it was to them that medled It is fresh in my Memory and they can tell whether I say true or no and therefore being learned in so notable Causes I wrote in your absence therein as I had learned by hearing the Common Lawyers speak whose Judgments rule these Matters howsoever my reason can digest them When I wrote thereof the Matter was so reasonable as I have been learned by the Lawyers of the Realm that I trusted my Lords would have staied till your Graces return Number 15. A Letter from the Duke of Somerset to the Lady Mary in the beginning of King Edward's Reign Madam my humble Commendations to your Grace premised THese may be to signify unto the same Cotton Libr. Faustin C. 2. that I have received your Letters of the second of this present by Jane your Servant reknowledging my self thereby much bound unto your Grace nevertheless I am very sorry to perceive that your Grace should have or conceive any sinister or wrong Opinion in me and others which were by the King your late Father and our most gracious Master put in trust as Executors of his Will albeit the truth of our doings being known to your Grace as it seemeth by your said Letter not to be I trust there shall be no such fault found in us as in the same your Grace hath alleadged and for my part I know none of us that will willingly neglect the full execution of every Jot of his said Will as far as shall and may stand with the King our Master's Honour and Surety that now is otherwise I am sure that your Grace nor none other his Faithful Subjects would have it take place not doubting but our Doings and
Proceedings therein and in all things committed to our Charge shall be such as shall be able to answer the whole World both in honour and discharge of our Consciences And where your Grace writeth that the most part of the Realm through a naughty Liberty and Presumption are now brought into such a Division as if we Executors go not about to bring them to that stay that our late Master left them they will forsake all Obedience unless they have their own Will and Phantasies and then it must follow that the King shall not be well served and that all other Realms shall have us in an Obloquy and Derision and not without just cause Madam as these words written or spoken by you soundeth not well so can I not perswade my self that they have proceeded from the sincere mind of so vertuous and so wise a Lady but rather by the setting on and procurement of some uncharitable and malicious Persons of which sort there are too many in these days the more pity but yet we must not be so simple so to weigh and regard the Sayings of ill-disposed People and the Doings of other Realms and Countries as for that Report we should neglect our Duty to God and to our Soveraign Lord and Native Country for then we might be justly called evil Servants and Masters and thanks be given unto the Lord such hath been the King's Majesty's Proceedings our young Noble Master that now is that all his faithful Subjects have more cause to render their hearty thanks for the manifold Benefits shewed unto his Grace and to his People and Realm sithence the first day of his Reign until this hour than to be offended with it and thereby rather to judg and think that God who knoweth the Hearts of all Men is contented and pleased with his Ministers who seek nothing but the true Glory of God and the Surety of the King's Person with the Quietness and Wealth of his Subjects And where your Grace writeth also That there was a Godly Order and Quietness left by the King our late Master your Graces Father in this Realm at the time of his Death and that the Spiritualty and Temporalty of the whole Realm did not only without compulsion fully assent to his Doings and Proceedings specially in Matters of Religion but also in all kind of Talk whereof as your Grace wrote ye can partly be witness your self at which your Graces Sayings I do something marvel For if it may please you to call to your remembrance what great Labours Travels and Pains his Grace had before he could reform some of those stiff-necked Romanists or Papists yea and did not they cause his Subjects Rise and Rebel against him and constrained him to take the Sword in his hand not without danger to his Person and Realm Alas why should your Grace so shortly forget that great Outrage done by those Generations of Vipers unto his Noble Person only for God's Cause Did not some of the same ill kind also I mean that Romanist Sect as well with his own Realm as without conspire oftentimes his Death which was manifestly and oftentimes proved to the confusion of some of their privy Assisters Then was it not that all the Spiritualty nor yet the Temporalty did so fully assent to his Godly Orders as your Grace writeth of Did not his Grace also depart from this Life before he had fully finished such Orders as he minded to have established to all his People if death had not prevented him Is it not most true that no kind of Religion was perfected at his Death but left all uncertain most like to have brought us in Parties and Divisions if God had not only helpt us And doth your Grace think it convenient it should so remain God forbid What regret and sorrow our late Master had the time he saw he must depart for that he knew the Religion was not established as he purposed to have done I and others can be witness and testify and what he would have done further in it if he had lived a great many know and also I can testifie And doth your Grace who is learned and should know God's Word esteem true Religion and the knowledg of the Scriptures to be new-fangledness and fantasie For the Lord's sake turn the Leaf and look the other while upon the other side I mean with another Judgment which must pass by an humble Spirit through the Peace of the Living God who of his infinite Goodness and Mercy grant unto your Grace plenty thereof to the satisfying of your Soveraign and your most noble Hearts continual desire Number 16. Certain Petitions and Requests made by the Clergie of the Lower House of the Convocation to the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his Grace and the residue of the Prelats of the Higher House for the furtherance of certain Articles following FIrst Ex M. S. Dr. Stillingfleet That Ecclesiastical Laws may be made and established in this Realm by thirty two Persons or so many as shall please the King's Majesty to name and appoint according to the effect of a late Statute made in 35th Year of the most noble King and of most famous Memory King Henry the 8th So that all Judges Ecclesiastical proceeding after those Laws may be without danger and peril Also that according to the Ancient Custom of this Realm and the Tenour of the King 's Writ for the summoning of the Parliament which be now and ever have been directed to the Bishops of every Diocess the Clergy of the Lower House of the Convocation may be adjoined and associate with the Lower House of the Parliament or else That all such Statutes and Ordinances as shall be made concerning all Matters of Religion and Causes Ecclesiastical may not pass without the sight and assent of the said Clergy Also that whereas by the Commandment of King Henry the 8th certain Prelats and learned Men were appointed to alter the Service in the Church and to devise other convenient and uniform Order therein Who according to the same Appointment did make certain Books as they be informed Their Request is That the said Books may be seen and perused by them for a better expedition of Divine Service to be set forth accordingly Also that Men being called to Spiritual Promotions or Benefices may have some Allowance for their necessary Living and other Charges to be sustained and born concerning the same Benefices in the first Year wherein they pay the first Fruits Whether the Clergy of the Convocation may liberally speak their Minds without danger of Statute or Law Number 17. A second Petition to the same purpose Ex M. S. Dr. Stillingfleet WHere the Clergy in this present Convocation assembled have made humble suit unto the most Reverend Father in God my Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and all the other Bishops That it may please them to be a Mean to the King's Majesty and Lord Protector 's Grace
that the said Clergy according to the Tenour of the King 's Writ and the Ancient Laws and Customs of this Noble Realm might have their Room and Place and be associated with the Commons in the Nether House of this present Parliament as Members of the Common-Wealth and the King 's most humble Subjects And if this may not be permitted and granted unto them that then no Statutes nor Laws concerning the Christian Religion or which shall concern especially the Persons Possessions Rooms Livings Jurisdictions Goods or Chattels of the said Clergy may pass nor be enacted the said Clergy not being made privy thereunto and their Answers and Reasons not heard The said Clergy do most humbly beseech an Answer and Declaration to be made unto them what the said most Reverend Father in God and all other the Bishops have done in this their humble Suit and Request to the end that the said Clergy if need be may chuse of themselves such able and discreet Persons which shall effectually follow the same Suit in the Name of them all And whereas in a Statute ordained and established by Authority of Parliament at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of the most excellent Prince King Henry the 8th The Clergy of this Realm submitting themselves to the King's Highness did knowledg and confess according to the Truth That the Convocations of the same Clergy have been and ought to be assembled by the King 's Writ and did promise farther in Verbo Sacerdotii that they never from thenceforth would presume to attempt alledg claim or put in use or enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincials or other or by whatsoever other Name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and License may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same And his Majesty to give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf upon pain of every one of the Clergy doing the contrary and being thereof Convict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the King 's Will. And that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm which Statute is eft-soons renewed and established in the 27th Year of the Reign of the most noble King as by the Tenour of both Statutes more at large will appear The said Clergy being presently assembled in Convocation by Authority of the King 's Writ do desire that the King's Majesty's License in writing may be for them obtained and granted according to the effect of the said Statutes authorising them to attempt entreat and commune of such Matters and therein freely to give their Consents which otherwise they may not do upon pain and peril premised Also the said Clergy desireth that such Matters as concerneth Religion which be disputable may be quietly and in good order reasoned and disputed among them in this House whereby the Verities of such Matters shall the better appear and the Doubts being opened and resolutely discussed Men may be fully perswaded with the quietness of their Consciences and the time well spent Number 18. A Paper offered to Q. Elizabeth and afterwards to K. James concerning the Inferior Clergies being brought to the House of Commons Reasons to induce her Majesty that Deans Arch-Deacons and some other of her grave and wise Clergie may be admitted into the Lower House of Parliament 1. IN former Times when Causes Ecclesiastical were either not at all Ex M.S. Dr. Borlace or else very rarely treated of in that Assembly the Clergy were thought Men most meet to consult and determine of the Civil Affairs of this Realm 2. The Supream Authority in Church Causes is not newly granted but reunited and restored to the Crown and an Order is by Law already established how all Abuses in the Church are to be reformed so as no cause concerning Religion may be handled in that House without her Majesty's special leave but with the manifest impeaching of her Prerogative Royal and contempt of the said Order 3. If it shall please her Highness to give way to this Course that Church-Matters be there debated and in part concluded How much more necessary is it now than it was in former Times that some of the Clergy should be there present at the same * In the same Paper written over to be presented to K. James this Article is thus varied It is thought the Clergie falling into a Premunire and so not in the King's Protection it did afterwards please the King to pardon them but not to restore them So began this Separation as far forth as can be collected then the Wisdom of a great Politician meeting with the Ambition of as great a Prelat wrought the continuance of the said Separation under this pretence That it should be most for the Honour of him and his Clergie to be still by themselves in two Assemblies of Convocation answerable in proportion to the two Houses of Parliament There are many other inconsiderable Amendments made by Bishop Ravis 's own hand It doth not appear why they were excluded but as it is thought either the King offended with some of them did so grievously punish the whole Body or else the Ambition of one of them meeting with the subtilty of an undermining Politick did occasion this causeless Separation 5. They are yet to this day called by several Writs directed into their several Diocesses under the Great Seal to assist the Prince in that High Court of Parliament 6. Though the Clergy and the Universities be not the worst Members of this Common-Wealth yet in that respect they are of all other in worst condition for in that Assembly every Shire hath their Knights and every incorporate Town their Burgesses only the Clergy and the Universities are excluded 7. The Wisdom and Justice of this Realm doth intend That no Subject should be bound to that Law whereunto he himself after a sort hath not yielded his Consent but the Clergy and the Universities may now be concluded by Law without their Consent without their just Defence without their Privity 8. The many Motions made so prejudicial to the State and being of the Clergy and Universities followed now with so great eagerness in that House would then be utterly silenced or soon repressed with the sober and sufficient Answers of the Clergy present 9. It would much repair the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy which now is exposed to great contumely and contempt as generally abroad in this Land so particularly in that House And whoso is religious and wise may observe That the Contempt of the Clergy is the high way to Atheism and all Prophaneness Men are Flesh and not Spirit led by ordinary outward Means and not usually overwrought by extraordinary Inspirations and therefore do easily
make your Party stronger for your Purposes aforesaid to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and great peril of the State of the Realm 16. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you have retained young Gentlemen and hired Yeomen to a great multitude and far above such number as is permitted by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm or were otherwise necessary or convenient for your Service Place or Estate to the fortifying of your self towards all your evil Intents and Purposes to the great danger of the King's Majesty and peril of the State of the Realm 17. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you had so travailed in that Matter that you had made your self able to make of your own Men out of your Lands and Rules and other your Adherents 10000 Men besides your Friends to the advancement of all your Intents and Purposes to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and the great peril of the State of the Realm 18. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you had conferred cast and weighed so much Mony as would find the said 10000 Men for a Month and that you knew how and where to have the same Sum and that you had given warning to have and prepare the said Mass of Mony in a readiness to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and great peril to the State of the Realm 19. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you have not only before you married the Queen attempted and gone about to marry the King's Majesty's Sister the Lady Elizabeth second Inheritor in remainder to the Crown but also being then let by the Lord Protector and others of the Council sithence that time both in the life of the Queen continued your old labour and love and after her death by secret and crafty means practised to atchieve the said purpose of marrying the said Lady Elizabeth to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and peril of the state of the same 20. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you married the late Queen so soon after the late King's Death that if she had conceived streight after it should have been a great doubt whether the Child born should have been accounted the late King 's or yours whereupon a marvellous danger and peril might and was like to have ensued to the King's Majesty's Succession and Quiet of the Realm 21. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you first married the Queen privately and did dissemble and keep close the same insomuch that a good space after you had married her you made labour to the King's Majesty and obtained a Letter of his Majesty's Hand to move and require the said Queen to marry with you and likewise procured the Lord Protector to speak to the Queen to bear you her favour towards Marriage by the which colouring not only your evil and dissembling Nature may be known but also it is to be feared that at this present you did intend to use the same practice in the marriage of the Lady Elizabeth's Grace 22. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you not only so much as lay in you did stop and lett all such things as either by Parliament or otherwise should tend to the advancement of the King's Majesty's Affairs but did withdraw your self from the King's Majesty's Service and being moved and spoken unto for your own Honour and for the Ability that was in you to serve and aid the King's Majesty's Affairs and the Lord Protectors you would always draw back and feign Excuses and declare plainly that you would not do it Wherefore upon the discourse of all these foresaid things and of divers others it must needs be intended that all these Preparations of Men and Mony the attempts and secret practices of the said Marriage the abusing and perswading of the King's Majesty to mislike the Government State and Order of the Realm that now is and to take the Government into his own hands and to credit you was to none other end and purpose but after a Title gotten to the Crown and your Party made strong both by Sea and Land with Furniture of Men and Mony sufficient to have aspired to the Dignity Royal by some hainous Enterprize against the King's Majesty's Person to the subversion of the whole State of the Realm 23. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you not only had gotten into your hands the strong and dangerous Isles of Silly bought of divers Men but that so much as lay in your power you travailed also to have Londay and under pretence to have victualled the Ships therewith not only went about but also moved the Lord Protector and whole Council that you might by publick Authority have that which by private fraude and falshood and confederating with Sharington you had gotten that is the Mint at Bristol to be yours wholly and only to serve your Purposes casting as may appear that if these Traiterous Purposes had no good success yet you might thither conveigh a good Mass of Mony where being aided with Ships and conspiring at all evil Events with Pirats you might at all times have a sure and safe Refuge if any thing for your demerits should have been attempted against you 24. It is also Objected and laid unto your Charge That having knowledg that Sir William Sharington Kt. had committed Treason and otherwise wonderfully defrauded and deceived the King's Majesty nevertheless you both by your self and by seeking Council for him and by all means you could did aid assist and bear him contrary to your Allegiance and Duty to the King's Majesty and the good Laws and Orders of the Realm 25. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That where you owed to Sir William Sharington Kt. a great sum of Mony yet to abet bear and cloak the great falshood of the said Sharington and to defraud the King's Majesty you were not afraid to say and affirm before the Lord Protector and the Council that the same Sharington did owe unto you a great Sum of Mony viz. 2800 l. and to conspire with him in that falshood and take a Bill of that feigned Debt into your custody 26. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you by your self and Ministers have not only extorted and bribed great Sums of Mony of all such Ships as should go into Island but also as should go any other where in Merchandise contrary to the Liberty of this Realm and to the great discouragement and destruction of the Navy of the same to the great danger of the King's Majesty and the State of the Realm 27. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That where divers Merchants as well Strangers as Englishmen have had their goods piratously robbed and taken you have had their Goods in your hands and custody daily seen in your House and distributed among your Servants and Friends without any restitution to the
Majesty's Affairs whereunto he making large Offers I began to enter with him how much your Grace and all the rest reposed themselves in the friendship of the Emperor and the good Ministry of his Father and him to the furtherance of the King's Majesty's Affairs to whom as in that behalf they shewed themselves great Friends so did they like good Servants to their Master for the prosperous success of the Affairs of the one served the turn of the other and the contrary Whereupon I discoursed largely as far as my poor Capacity would extend how necessary it was for the Emperor to aid and assist us in all things so as we are not oppressed by force or driven for want of Friendship to take such ways to keep us in quiet as both we our selves would be loath and our Friends should afterwards have peradventure cause to forethink I repeated first how we entred the Wars for your sake for the King might have made his Bargain honourable with France which no Man knew better than I how long we have endured the War and how long alone how favourable they are to our common Enemies the Scots how ungentle the French be to us and by indirect means think to consume us to make the Emperor the weaker I recited the practices of the French with the Turk with the Pope with the Germans with Denmark his Aid of the Scots and all upon intent to impeach the Emperor when he seeth time or at the least attending a good hour upon hope of the Emperor's Death the weaker that we be the easilier shall he do it if we forgoe any our Pieces on this side we must needs be the weaker and that so we had rather do than alone to keep War against Scotland and France Wherefore if they will both provide for their own Strength and give us courage to keep still that which we have the Emperor must be content to take * This is a Cipher and stands I suppose for Bulloign 13 into defence as well as other places comprehended in the Treaty which I said we meant not but upon a reasonable Reciproque What Reciproqe quoth he roundly Thereupon advise you reasonably quoth I. O quoth he I cannot see how the Emperor can honourably make a true Treaty for that Point without offence of his Treaty with France and we mean to proceed directly and plain with all Men quoth he Why quoth I we may bring you justly by and by with us if we will advertise you as I did even now put my Case Yea if your Case be true quoth he but herein we will charge your Honours and Consciences whether the Fact be so or no for your Grace shall understand that I talked in the Matter so suspiciously as though such an Invasion had been made and that you would require common Enmity In fine Sir after many Motions and Perswasions and long Discourses used on my behalf to induce them to take 13 into defence His refuge was only That they would fain learn how they might honestly answer the French albeit I shewed him some forms of Answers which he seemed not to lâ—ke yet in the end I said He was a great Doctor and as he had put the Doubt so he was learned sufficiently if he listed to assoil the same He said he would open these Matters to the Emperor and trusted to bring me such an Answer as I should have reason to be satisfied and so departed whereof as soon as we have knowledg your Grace shall be advertised accordingly And thus we beseech God to send your Grace well to do all your Proceedings Number 40. A Letter from Sir William Paget and Sir Philip Hobbey concerning their Negotiation with the Emperor's Ministers An Original IT may like your Grace be advertised That yesterday at Afternoon Cotton Libr. Galba B. 12. Monsieur d' Arras accompanied with two Presidents of the Council St. Maurice and Viglius came unto the Lodging of me the Comptroller and after some words of Office passed on either part d' Arras began to set forth the cause of their coming saying That the Emperor having at good length considered and debated the things proponed and communed of between us since my coming hither had sent them to report unto me his final Answer and Resolution to the same And first quoth he to your Case That at our being together for the revisitation of the Treaty ye put forth upon the sixth Article for the common Enmity in case of Invasion his Majesty museth much what ye should mean thereby for seeing the Case is not in ure he thinketh that doubting of his Friendship ye go about by these means to grope and feel his Mind which ye need not do he having hitherto shewed himself ready in all things to shew the King his good Brother pleasure and to observe the Treaty in all Points to the uttermost and if this Case should happen to come in ure then will he not fail to do whatsoever the Treaty bindeth him unto till when he can make no other answer therein As to your Question moved upon the sixth Article of the Treaty viz. Whether Mony be not meant as well as Men by these words Subsidiis Auxiliaribus His Majesty taketh the words to be plain enough and thinketh they cannot be otherwise interpreted than to be meant as well for Mony as Men for so doth he understand them Unto the Order that was communed upon for the Administration of Justice on both sides for matter of Spoil or Piracy upon the Sea his Majesty having weighed what is best to be done therein further he hath good cause first to complain of the over many Spoils that your Men have made on his poor Subjects and the small Justice that hath been hitherto ministred unto them herein whereof he hath continual Complaints and therefore he thinketh it were meeter e're ever any further Order shall be concluded upon that his Subjects were first recompenced of these wrongs they have sustained and the Matter brought to some equality and his People put in as much good case as yours are for I assure you quoth he the Wrongs our Men have sustained are many among the rest a poor Jeweler having gotten a safe conduct of the King that dead is to bring into England certain Jewels because after he had the King's Hand and Seal to the License he had not the same sealed also with the Great Seal of England his Jewels were taken from him and he being not present although it were so named in the Sentence condemned to lose them by the order of your Law contrary to all Equity and Justice Which seemeth strange that the King's Hand and Seal should appear to be sufficient for a greater Matter than this The Treaties also provide That the Subjects of the one Prince may frankly without impediment traffique and occupy into the other Princes Country but to shadow the Matter with all one I cannot tell who hath been agreed withal and so
the poor Man and his Heirs put from their Right which his Majesty wisheth to be considered And albeit he thinketh that the King your Master being under Age cannot himself by the order of the Law conclude upon any thing now in his Minority that shall be of due force and strength able to bind him and his Country when he shall come to his perfect Age. Yet taking that his Tutors being authorised thereto by the common Assent of your Parliament may go through and conclude upon these or like things in his Name his Majesty thinketh it will do well when his Subjects shall be recompenced of the Wrongs they have hitherto sustained that some order be devised for the administration of Justice hereafter in like Cases As touching the Confirmation of the Treaty considering that the same was first made between the Emperor and King Henry the Eighth and not ratified by the King your Master since his Father's Death his Majesty thinketh that he hath most cause to require the same Wherefore because as I told you even now he thinketh that these things the King himself should conclude upon during his Minority cannot be of sufficient force if his Tutors shall be by the Authority of your Parliament enabled thereto his Majesty is content the Treaty be confirmed by them in the King's Name and by the Prince of Spain in such form as shall be thought best for both Parties As to the comprehension of Bulloign ye must know that we have a Treaty with France as well as with you which the Emperor cannot without some touch of his Honour break without just Grounds And albeit his Majesty would be loath to see the King his good Brother forgoe either that Peece or any other Jot of his Right yet can he not enter this Defence unless he would break with France out of hand which in respect of his other Affairs he cannot yet do howbeit he will gladly assist his good Brother in any other thing the best he may and will not fail to shew him all the Pleasure he can with regard to his Honour but with Bulloign he cannot meddle at this time And here he staying Is this the Emperor's resolute and full Answer Monsieur d' Arras quoth I. Yea quoth he wherewith he prayeth the King his good Brother to rest satisfied and take it in good part Albeit quoth I I have no Commission to make any Reply thereto because it was not known to your Grace what the Emperor's Resolution should be yet in the way of talk I will be bold to say my mind herein We have Monsieur d' Arras quoth I always esteemed the Emperor's Friendship and desired the observation of the Treaties and the entertainment of the Amity as a thing necessary and common to both the Parties for the better establishment whereof and that now and in this time some good Fruit to the benefit of both might appear to the World to follow of the same I was sent hither which was the chiefest cause of my coming And because that the Amity between both Princes might be the firmer and that all Doubts being taken away no cause of Quarrel shall be left we thought best to put you in mind of the Confirmation and Revisitation of the Treaty to the intent that by the one the World might see an establishment of our Friendship by our deed and that by the other one of us might understand another and consider whether any thing were to be added for the Commodity of both Parties which I suppose standeth you as much upon to desire as it doth us And whereas ye say that the King's Majesty because he is under Age cannot conclude or go through with any thing that shall be of sufficient force I must needs tell you plainly That ye touch his Majesty's Honour over-near herein for we think that the Majesty of a King is of such efficacy that he hath even the same Authority and full Power at the first hour of his Birth that he hath thirty Years after And what your Laws are I know not but sure I am that by our Laws whatsoever is done by the King in his Minority or by his Ministers in his Name is of no less force and strength than if it had been done in time of his full Age and Years if once the Great Seal of his Realm have passed there is no Remedy but needs must he stand thereto Marry let the Ministers take heed what they do and look that they may be able to discharge themselves towards him of their Doings if he shall require account of them when he cometh to Age for it is they must answer him but he must needs stand to whatsoever they have counselled him to agree unto during his Minority And to prove that our Laws giveth him the same Authority now that he shall have when he cometh to his perfect Age if any Man either for instruction of Learning or any other Cause should presume to lay hands on or touch his Majesty in way of correction he should by Law be taken for a Traitor And if the Matter were as ye take it we should then be in a strange and evil case for neither might we conclude Peace League or Treaty nor make Laws or Statutes during the King's Minority that should be of sufficient force to bind him and his to the observation of the same But ye mistake the Matter much and therefore if the Emperor mind to proceed to this Confirmation he may or otherwise do as it shall please him And as touching my Case quoth I ye must understand I did not move it without some just ground for remembring that all your Commissioners and all ours being together at Vtrecht for the Esclarcisement of the Treaty although the words of the Treaty were plain enough and could receive none other interpretation than was there plainly written yet would ye needs understand the Article for common Enmity in case of Invasion after your own minds And whereas by the words of the Treaty no mention is made of any number and therefore with howsoever few in number the Invasion be made ought the Invaders to be taken for common Enemies Your Commissioners did nevertheless interpret the Matter at their pleasure and would needs prescribe a number of 8000 Men under which number of Invasion were made the Treaties in this case should not stand to any force And like-as ye put a doubt here where none was to be found so thought I ye might do in other things were they never so plain and that moved me to put this case to see whether ye understood this Point as ye ought to do after the literal sense and partly to know your minds therein because perhaps the Matter hath been already in ure This I say was the occasion why I put further this Question and not for any mistrust of the Emperor's Friendship whom I must confess we have always found our Well-willer and so we doubt not he will continue and
Jurisdiction against Hereticks Schismaticks and their Fautors in as large and ample manner as they were in the first Year of King Henry the Eighth 5. And that the Premises may be the better executed by the presence of Beneficed Men in their Cures the Statutes made Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth concerning Pluralities of Benefices and Non-residence of Beneficed Men by reason whereof a larger Liberty or License is given to a great multitude of Priests and Chaplains to be absent from their Benefices with Cure than was ever permitted by the Canon Laws and all other Statutes touching the same may be repealed void and abolished and that the Bishops and other Ordinaries may call all Beneficed Men to be resident upon their Cures as before the making of that Act they might have done 6. Item That the Ordinaries do from time to time make Process for punishment of all Simoniacal Persons of whom it is thought there were never so many within this Realm And that not only the Clerks but also the Patrons and all the Mediators of such Pactions may be punish'd Wherein we think good that Order were taken that the Patrons should lose their Patronage during their natural Lives according to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of this Realm 7. Item That the ancient Liberty Authority and Jurisdiction be restored to the Church of England according to the Article of the great Charter called Magna Charta at the least wise in such sort as it was in the first Year of Henry the Eighth and touching this Article we shall desire your Lordships to be with us most humble Suitors to the King 's and Queen's Majesty and to the Lord Legat for the remission of the importable Burdens of the First-Fruits Tenths and Subsidies In which Suit whatsoever advancement your Lordships shall think good to be offered unto their Majesties for the same we shall therein be always glad to do as shall be thought good 8. Item That no Attachment of Premunire be awarded against any Bishop or other Ordinary Ecclesiastical from henceforth in any Matter but that a Prohibition be first brought to the same and that it may please the King 's and Queen's Majesty to command the Temporal Judges of this Realm to explicate and declare plainly all and singular Articles of the Premunire and to make a certain Doctrine thereof 9. Item That the Statutes of the Provisors be not drawn by unjust Interpretation out of their proper Cases nor from the proper sense of the words of the same Statutes 10. Item That the Statute of Submission of the Clergy made Anno 25. of Henry the Eighth and all other Statutes made during the time of the late Schism in derogation of the Liberties and Jurisdictions of the Church from the first Year of King Henry the Eighth may be repealed and the Church restored in integrum 11. Item That the Statute made for finding of great Horses by Ecclesiastical Perâ—â—ns may likewise be repealed 12. Item That Usurers may be punish'd by the Common Laws as in times past hath been used 13. Item That those which lay violent Hands upon any Priest or other Ecclesiastical Minister being in Orders may be punish'd by the Canon Laws as in times past hath been used 14. Item That all Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons and all other having Prebends or other Ecclesiastical Promotions or Benefices from henceforth use such Priest-like Habit as the quality of his State and Benefice requireth 15. Item That Married Priests may be compelled to forsake their Women whom they took as their Wives 16. Item That an Order may be taken for the bringing up of Youth in good Learning and Vertue and that the School-Masters of this Realm may be Catholick Men and all other to be removed that are either Sacramentaries or Hereticks or otherwise notable Criminous Persons 17. Item That all exempt and peculiar Places may from henceforth be immediately under the Jurisdiction of that Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose several Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same are presently constitute and scituate And whereas divers Temporal Men by reason of late Purchases of certain Abbies and exempt Places have by their Letters Patents or otherwise granted unto them Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the said Places That from henceforth the said Jurisdiction be devolv'd to the Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same now be 18. Item Where the Mayor of London by force of a Decree made Anno of Henry the Eighth hath attributed unto him the Cognition of Causes of Tythes in London that from henceforth the same Cognition and Jurisdiction may utterly cease and be reduced immediately to the Bishop of London Ordinary there 19. Item That Tythes may be henceforth paid according to the Canon Laws 20. Item That Lands and Places impropriated to Monasteries which at the time of Dissolution and Suppression thereof were exempt from payment of Tythes may be now allotted to certain Parishes and there chargeable to pay like Tythes as other Parishoners do 21. Item That there be a streight Law made whereby the reparations of Chancels which are notoriously decay'd through the Realm may be duly repaired from time to time by such as by the Law ought to do the same and namely such as be in the King 's and Queen's Hands and that the Ordinaries may lawfully proceed in Causes of Dilapidations as well of them as of all other Parsonages Vicarages and other Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions 22. Item That Order be taken for the more speedy payment of Pensions to all Priests Pentionaries and that they may have the same without long Suits or Charges 23. Item That an Order be taken for payment of Personal Tythes in Cities and Towns and elsewhere as was â—sed in Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth 24. Item That such Priests as were lately married and refuse to reconcile themselves to their Order and to be restored to Ministration may have some special Animadversion whereby as Apostates they may be discern'd from other 25. Item That Religious Women which be married may be divorced 26. Item That in Divorces which are made from Bed and Board Provision may be made that the Innocent Woman may enjoy such Lands and Goods as were hers before the Marriage or that happened to come to her use at any time during the Marriage and that it may not be lawful for the Husband being for his Offence divorced from the said Woman to intermeddle himself with the said Lands or Goods unless his Wife be to him reconciled 27. Item That Wardens of Churches and Chappels may render their Accounts before the Ordinaries and may be by them compell'd to do the same 28. Item That all such Ecclesiastical Persons as lately have spoiled Cathedral Collegiat and other Churches of their own heads and temerity may be compelled to restore all and singular things so by them taken away or the true value thereof and farther to re-edify such things as by them are destroy'd and defac'd
as you shall be sure of my poor daily prayer for other pleasure can I not do you And thus the Blessed Trinity both bodily and ghostly long preserve and prosper you I pray you pardon me that I write not unto you of mine own hand for verily I am compelled to forbear writing for a while by reason of this Disease of mine whereof the chief occasion is grown as it is thought by the stooping and leaning on my Breast that I have used in writing And thus eft-soons I beseech our Lord long to preserve you Number 22. Directions of Queen Mary to her Council touching the Reformation of the Church out of her own Original Ex M. S. D G. Petyte FIrst That such as had Commission to talk with my Lord Cardinal at his first coming touching the Goods of the Church should have recourse unto him at the least once in a week not only for putting these Matters in execution as much as may be before the Parliament but also to understand of him which way might be best to bring to good effect those Matters that have been begun concerning Religion both touching good Preaching I wish that may supply and overcome the evil Preaching in time past and also to make a sure Provision that no evil Books shall either be printed bought or sold without just punishment Therefore I think it should be well done that the Universities and Churches of this Realm should be visited by such Persons as my Lord Cardinal with the rest of you may be well assured to be worthy and sufficient Persons to make a true and just account thereof remitting the choice of them to him and you Touching punishment of Hereticks me thinketh it ought to be done without rashness not leaving in the mean while to do Justice to such as by Learning would seem to deceive the simple and the rest so to be used that the People might well perceive them not to be condemned without just occasion whereby they shall both understand the Truth and beware to do the like And especially in London I would wish none to be burnt without some of the Councils presence and both there and every-where good Sermons at the same I verily believe that many Benefices should not be in one Man's hand but after such sort as every Priest might look to his own Charge and remain resident there whereby they should have but one Bond to discharge towards God Whereas now they have many which I take to be the cause that in most part of this Realm there is over-much want of good Preachers and such as should with their Doctrine overcome the evil diligence of the abused Preachers in the time of Schism not only by their Preaching but also by their good Example without which in mine Opinion their Sermons shall not so much profit as I wish And like-as their good Example on their behalf shall undoubtedly do much good so I account my self bound on my behalf also to shew such example in encouraging and maintaining those Persons well-doing their Duty not forgetting in the mean while to correct and punish them which do contrary that it may be evident to all this Realm how I discharge my Conscience therein and minister true Justice in so doing Number 23. Injunctions by Hugh Latimer Bishop of Worcester to the Prior and Convent of St. Mary House in Worcester 1537. Hugh by the goodness of God Bishop of Worcester wisheth to his Brethren the Prior and Convent aforesaid Grace Mercy Peace and true knowledg of God's Word from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Forasmuch as in this my Visitation L. 3 us Reg. Prior. Convent Wigorn. I evidently perceive the Ignorance and Negligence of divers Religious Persons in this Monastery to be intollerable and not to be suffered for that thereby doth reign Idolatry and many kinds of Superstitions and other Enormities And considering withal that our Soveraign Lord the King for some part of Remedy of the same hath granted by his most gracious License that the Scripture of God may be read in English of all his obedient Subjects I therefore willing your Reformation in most favourable manner to your least displeasur do heartily require you all and every one of you and also in God's behalf command the same according as your Duty is to obey me as God's Minister and the Kings in all my lawful and honest Commandments that you observe and keep inviolably all these Injunctions following under pain of the Law FIrst Forasmuch as I perceive that some of you neither have observed the King's Injunctions nor yet have them with you as willing to observe them therefore ye shall from henceforth both have and observe diligently and faithfully as well special commandments of Preaching as other Injunctions given in his Graces Visitation Item That the Prior shall provide of the Monasteries charge a whole Bible in English to be laid fast chained in some open place either in their Church or Cloister Item That every Religious Person have at the least a New Testament in English by the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord next ensuing Item Whensoever there shall be any Preaching in your Monastery that all manner of Singing and other Ceremonies be utterly laid aside in his preaching time and all other Service shortned as need shall be and all Religious Persons quietly to hearken to the Preaching Item That ye have a Lecture of Scripture read every day in English amongst you save Holy-days Item That every Religious Person be at every Lecture from the beginning to the ending except they have a necessary Lett allowed them by the Prior. Item That every Religious House have a Layman to their Steward for all former Businesses Item That you have a continual Schoolmaster sufficiently learned to teach your Grammer Item That no Religious Person discourage any manner of Lay-man or Woman or any other from the reading of any good Book either in Latin or English Item That the Prior have at his Dinner or Supper every day a Chapter read from the beginning of the Scripture to the end and that in English wheresoever he be in any of his own Places and to have edifying communication of the same Item That the Covent sit together four to one Mess and to eat together in common and to have Scripture read in likewise and have communication thereof and after their Dinner or Supper their Reliques and Fragments to be distributed to the poor People Item That the Covent and Prior provide Distributions to be ministred in every Parish whereas ye be Parsons and Proprietaries and according to the King's Injunctions in that behalf Item That all these my Injunctions be read every month once in the Chapter House before all the Brethren Number 24. A Letter of Ann Boleyn's to Gardner Ex Chartophylac Regio Mr. Stephens I thank you for my Letter wherein I perceive the willing and faithful Mind that you have to do me pleasure not doubting
may clearly see he would bribe him into no Opinion or Party by false or indirect Arts But since Men are generally so apt to let some easie Notions enter into their Minds which will pre-engage their Affections and for most part those who set themselves to gain Proselites do begin with such Arts it will not be amiss to give the Reader such an account of these as may prepare him against them that so he may with a clearer mind consider what is now to be delivered to him concerning the Reformation of Religion among us I shall begin with that which is most commonly urged that the whole Church being one Body the Changes that were made in Religion did break that Vnity and dissolve the Bond by which the Catholick Church is to be knit together and that therefore the first Reformers began and we still continue a Schisme in the Church In answer to this it is to be considered that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church are obliged to instruct their People in the true Faith of Christ according to the Scriptures The nature of their Function being a Sacred Trust binds them to this they were also at their Consecration engaged to it by a formal Sponsion according to the Questions and Answers that are in the Roman Pontifical to this day Pastors owe it as a Debt to their People to teach them according to the Scriptures They owe a Charity to their Brethren and are to live with them in the terms of Brotherly Love and Friendly Correspondence but if that cannot be had on easier terms than the concealing necessary Truths and the delivering gross errors to those committed to their charge it is certain that they ought not to purchase it at so dear a rate When the Pastors of this Church saw it over-run with errors and corruptions they were obliged by the duty they owed to God and to their People to discover them and to undeceive their misled Flocks It is of great importance to maintain Peace and Vnity but if a Party in the Church does set up some Doctrines and Practises that do much endanger the Salvation of Souls and makes advantages by these so that there is no hope left to gain them by rational and softer Methods then as St. Peter was to be withstood to his Face in a lesser matter much more are those who pretend no higher than to be his Successors to be withstood when the things are of great moment and consequence When Heresies sprung up in the Primitive Church we find the neighbouring Bishops condemned them without staying for the concurrence of other Churches as in the Case of Samosatenus Arius and Pelagius and even when the greatest part of the Church was become Semi-Arian and many great Councils chiefly that at Ariminum consisting of above 800 Bishops as some say had through ignorance and fear complied the Orthodox Bishops did not forbear to instruct those committed to their care according to the true Faith A general concurrence is a thing much to be laboured for but when it cannot be had every Bishop must then do his duty so as to be answerable to the chief Bishop of Souls So that instead of being led away by so slight a prejudice we must turn our Enquiries to this Whether there were really such abuses in the Church as did require a Reformation and whether there was any reason to hope for a more general concurrence in it In the following History the Reader will see what corruptions were found to be both in the Doctrine and Worship of this Church from whence he may infer what need there was of Reformation And it is very plain that they had no reason to expect the concurrence of other Churches for the Council of Trent had already made a great progress and it was very visible that as the Court of Rome governed all things there so they were resolved to admit of no effectual Reformation of any considerable matters but to establish by a more formal decision those errors and abuses that had given so much scandal to the Christian World for so many Ages This being the true state of the Case it is certain that if there were really great corruptions either in Belief or Manners in this Church then the Bishops were bound to reform them since the backwardness of others in their duty could not excuse them from doing theirs when they were clearly convinced of it So that the Reader is to shake off this prejudice and only to examine whether there was really such need of a Reformation since if that be true it is certain the Bishops of this as well as of other Churches were bound to set about it and the faultiness of some could be no excuse to the rest The second Prejudice is That the Reformation was begun and carried on not by the major part of the Bishops and Clergy but by a few selected Bishops and Divines who being supported by the Name of the Kings Authority did frame things as they pleased and by their Interest at Court got them to be Enacted in Parliament and after they had removed such Bishops as opposed them then they procured the Convocation to consent to what was done So that upon the matter the Reformation was the Work of Cranmer with a few more of his Party and not of this Church which never agreed wholly to it till the Bishops were so modelled as to be compliant to the designs of the Court. In short the resolution of this is to be taken from a common Case when the major part of a Church is according to the Conscience of the Supream Civil Magistrate in an Error and the lesser part is in the right The Case is not hard if well understood for in the whole Scripture there is no promise made to the major part of the Pastors of the Church and there being no Divine Promise made about it it is certain that the Nature of Man is such that Truth separated from Interest hath few Votaries but when it is opposite to it it must have a very small Party So that most of those things which needed Reformation being such as added much to the Wealth and Power of the Clergy it had been a wonder indeed if the greater part had not opposed it In thâ—t Case as the smaller part were not to depart from their Sentiments because opposed in them by a more numerous Party that was too deeply concerned in the matter so it was both natural for them and very reasonable to take Sanctuary in the Authority and Protection of the Prince and the Law That Princes have an Authority in things Sacred was so universally agreed to in King Henry's Reign and was made out upon such clear Evidence of Reason and Precedents both in the Jewish State and in the Roman Empire when it turned Christian that this ground was already gained It is the first Law in Justinians Code made by Theodosius when he came to the Empire That all should every
were under severe pains follow that Faith which was received by Damasus Bishop of Rome and Peter of Alexandria And why might not the King and Laws of England give the like Authority to the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York When the Empire and especially the Eastern part of it had been during the Reign of Constantius and Valens succeeding him after a short Interval so overspread with Arianisme it is scarce to be imagined how it could have been reformed in any other manner for they durst not at first trust it to the discretion of a Synod and yet the Question then on foot was not so link'd with Interest being a Speculative Point of Divinity as those about which the Contests were in the beginnings of the Reformation It is not to be imagined how any Changes in Religion can be made by Sovereign Princes unless an Authority be lodged with them of giving the Sanction of a Law to the sounder though the lesser part of a Church for as Princes and Law-givers are not tied to an implicite obedience to Clergy-men but are left to the freedom of their own discerning so they must have a Power to choose what side to be of where things are much enquired into The Jurisdiction of Synods or Councils is founded either on the Rules of Expediency and Brotherly Correspondence or on the force of Civil Laws for when the Christian Belief had not the support of Law every Bishop taught his own Flock the best he could and gave his Neighbours such an account of his Faith at or soon after his Consecration as satisfied them and so maintained the Vnity of the Church The formality of Synods grew up in the Church from the division of the Roman Empire and the Dignity of the several Cities which is a thing so well known and so plainly acknowledged by the Writers of all sides that it were a needless imposing on the Readers patience to spend time to prove it Such as would understand it more perfectly will find it in De Marca the late Arch-bishop of Paris's Books de Concordia Imperii Sacerdotii and in Blondells Works De la Primaute de l'Eglise None can imagine there is a Divine Authority in that which sprang from such a beginning The major part of Synods cannot be supposed to be in matters of Faith so assisted from Heaven that the lesser part must necessarily acquiesce in their Decrees or that the Civil Powers must always measure their Laws by their Votes especially where Interest does visibly turn the Scales And this may satisfie any reasonable Man as to this prejudice that if Arch-bishop Cranmer and Holgate the two Primates and Metropolitanes of this Church were in the right in the things that they procured to be reformed though the greater part of the Bishops being biassed by base ends and generally both superstitious and little conversant in the true Theological Learning did oppose them and they were thereby forced to order matters so that at first they were prepared by some selected Bishops and Divines and afterwards Enacted by King and Parliament this is no just exception to what was so managed And such a Reformation can no more be blasted by being called a Parliament-Religion than the Reformations made by the Kings of Israel without or against the Majority of the Priests could be blemish'd by being call'd the Kings Religion A third Prejudice is that the Persons who governed the Affairs at Court were weak or ill Men that the King being under Age things were carried by those who had him in their Power And for the two great Ministers of that Reign or rather the Administrators of it the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland as their violent and untimely deaths may seem to be effects of the indignation of Heaven for what they did so they were both eminently faulty in their Administration and are supposed to have sought too much their own ends This seems to cast a blemish on their Actions and to give some reason to suspect the things were not good which had such Instruments to advance them But this Prejudice compounded of many Particulars when taken to pieces will appear of no force to blast the credit of what they did By our Law the King never dies and is never young nor old so that the Authority of the King is the same whether administred by himself or by his Governours when he is under Age nor are we to judge of Men by the events that befall them These are the deepest Secrets of Divine Providence into which it is impossible for Men of limited understandings to penetrate and if we make Judgments of Persons and Things by accidents we shall very often most certainly conclude falsely Solomon made the Observation which the Series of Humane Affairs ever since hath fully justified That there are Just Men to whom it happens according to the Work of the Wicked and Wicked Men to whom it happens according to the Work of the Righteous and the enquiring into these seemingly unequal steps of Gods Governing the World is a vanity As for the Duke of Northumberland the Reformation is not at all concerned in him for if we believe what he said when there was the least reason to suspect him on the Scaffold he was all the while a Papist in his Heart And so no wonder if such a Man striking in for his own ambitious ends with that which was popular even against the perswasions of his Conscience did very ill things The Duke of Somerset was indeed more sincere and though he was not without his faults which we may safely acknowledge since the Man of Infallibility is not pretended to be without sin yet these were not such heinous transgressions but rather such as humane infirmity exposes most Men to when they are raised to an high condition He was too vain too much addicted to his own Notions and being a Man of no extraordinary Parts he was too much at the disposal of those who by flatteries and submissions insinuated themselves into him and he made too great hast to raise a vast Estate to be altogether innocent but I never find him charged with any personal disorders nor was he ever guilty of falshood of perverting Justice of Cruelty or of Oppression He was so much against the last of these that he lost the affections of the Nobility for being so careful of the Commons and covering them from the oppression of their Landlords The Business of his Brother though it has a very ill appearance and is made to look worse by the lame account our Books give of it seems to have been forced on him for the Admiral was a Man of most incurable ambition and so inclined to raise disturbance that after so many relapses and such frequent Reconciliations he still breaking out into new disorders it became almost necessary to put him out of a capacity of doing more mischief But if we compare the Duke of Somerset with the great Ministers even in
used to bless of which I never met with any thing before I saw this Letter but since I understand the Office of Blessing of these Rings is extant as it was prepared for Queen Maries use as shall be told in her Reign It must be left to conjecture whether he did it as a practice of former Kings or whether upon his being made Supream Head he thought fit to take on him as the Pope did to consecrate such things and send them about Where to be sure Fancy and Flattery would raise many Stories of the wonderful effects of what he had so blessed and perhaps these might have been as true as the Reports made of the Vertues of Agnus Deis touched Beads blessed Peebles with such other goodly Ware which the Friars were wont to carry about and distribute to their Benefactors as things highly sanctified This I set down more fully and have laid some things together that fell not out till some months after this being the first step that was made towards a Reformation in this Reign Upon this occasion it is not unlikely that the Council wrote their Letteâ—s to all the Justices of Peace of England 1547. Feb. 12. The Commission of the Justices of the Peace on the 12th of Feb. letting them know that they had sent down new Commissions to them for keeping the Peace ordering them to assemble together and first to call earnestly on God for his Grace to discharge their Duties faithfully according to the Oaths which they were to take and that they should impartially without corruption or sinister affection execute their Office so that it might appear that they had God and the good of their King and Country before their Eyes and that they should divide themselves into the several Hundreds and see to the publick Peace and that all Vagabonds and disturbers of the Peace should be duly punished and that once every six weeks they should write to the Lord Protector and Council the state in which the County was till they were otherwise commanded That which was sent into the County of Norfolk will be found in the Collection Collection Number 3. But now the Funeral of the deceased King and the Coronation of his Son were to be dispatched In the Coronation-Ceremonies that had been formerly used there were some things that did not agree with the present Laws of the Land as the Promise made to the Abbots for maintaining their Lands and Dignities They were also so tedious that a new Form was ordered to be drawn which the Reader will find in the Collection The most material thing in it is the first Ceremony Collection Number 4. whereby the King being shewed to the People at the four Corners of the Stage the Arch-bishop was to demand their Consent to it and yet in such terms as should demonstrate he was no Elective Prince for he being declared the rightful and undoubted Heir both by the Laws of God and Man they were desired to give their good Wills and Assents to the same as by their Duty of Allegiance they were bound to do This being agreed on the 13th of Feb. on the day following King Henry's Body was with all the pomp of a Royal Funeral removed to Sheen in the way to Windsor 1547. Feb. 13. King Henry buried There great observation was made on a thing that was no extraordinary matter He had been extreme corpulent and dying of a Dropsie or some thing like it it was no wonder if a fortnight after upon so long a motion some putrid Matter might run thorough the Coffin But Sheen having been a House of Religious Women it was called a signal Mark of the displeasure of Heaven that some of his Blood and Fat droped through the Lead in the night and to make this work mightily on weak People it was said that the Dogs licked it next morning This was much magnified in Commendation of Friar Peto afterwards made Cardinal who as was told Page 151. of the former Part had threatned him in a Sermon at Greenwich That the Dogs should lick his Blood Though to consider things more equally it had been a Wonder indeed if it had been otherwise But having met with this Observation in a MS. written near that time I would not envy the World the Pleasure of it Next day he was brought to Windsor and interred in St. George's Chappel And he having by his Will left that Church 600 l. a year for ever for two Priests to say Mass at his Tomb daily for four Obits yearly and a Sermon at every Obit with 10 l. to the Poor and for a Sermon every Sunday together with the maintenance of thirteen poor Knights The Judges were consulted how this should be well setled in Law Who advised that the Lands which the King had given should be made over to that Colledge by Indentures Tripartite the King being one Party the Protector and the other Executors a second and the Dean and Chapter of Windsor a third Party These were to be Signed with the Kings Hand and the Great Seal put to them with the Hands and Seals of all the rest and then Patents were to be given for the Lands founded on the Kings Testament and the Indentures Tripartite Soul-Masses examined But the Pomp of this Business ministred an occasion of enquiring into the use and lawfulness of Soul-Masses and Obits which came to be among the first things that were reformed Christ had instituted the Sacrament to be celebrated in remembrance of his Death and it was a Sacrament only to those who did participate in it but that the consecrating the Sacrament could be of any use to departed Souls seemed a thing not easie to be conceived For if they are the Prayers of the Living that profit the Dead then these would have done as well without a Mass But the People would not have esteemed bare Prayers so much nor have payed so dear for them So that the true original of Soul-Masses was thought to have been only to encrease the Esteem and Wealth of the Clergy It is true in the Primitive Church there was a Commemoration of the Saints departed in the Daily Sacrifice so they termed the Communion and such as had given any offence at their death were not remembred in it So that for so slight an offence as the leaving a Priest Tutor to ones Children which might distract them from their Spiritual care ones Name was to be left out of that Commemoration in Cyprians time which was a very disproportioned punishment to that offence if such Commemorations had been thought useful or necessary to the Souls departed But all this was nothing to the private Masses for them and was indeed nothing at first but an honourable mention of such as had died in the Faith And they believing then generally that there was a Glorious Thousand Years to be on Earth and that the Saints should rise some sooner and some later to have their part in it they
prayed in general for their quiet Rest and their speedy Resurrection Yet these Prayers growing as all superstitious devices do to be more considered some began to frame an Hypothesis to justifie them by that of the Thousand Years being generally exploded And in St. Austin's time they began to fancy there was a state of punishment even for the Good in another Life out of which some were sooner and some later freed according to the measure of their Repentance for their Sins in this Life But he tells us this was taken up without any sure ground and that it was no way certain Yet by Visions Dreams and Tales the belief of it was so far promoted that it came to be generally received in the next Age after him and then as the People were told that the Saints interceded for them so it was added that they might intercede for their departed Friends And this was the Foundation of all that Trade of Souls-Masses and Obits Now the deceased King had acted like one who did not believe that these things signified much otherwise he was to have but ill reception in Purgatory having by the subversion of the Monasteries deprived the departed Souls of the benefit of the many Masses that were said for them in these Houses yet it seems at his death he would make the matter sure and to shew he intended as much benefit to the Living as to himself being dead he took care that there should be not only Masses and Obits but so many Sermons at Windsor and a frequent distribution of Alms for the relief of the Poor But upon this occasion it came to be examined what value there was in such things Yet the Arch-bishop plainly saw that the Lord Chancellor would give great opposition to every motion that should be made for any further alteration for which he and all that Party had this specious pretence always in their Mouths That their late Glorious King was not only the most learned Prince but the most learned Divine in the World for the flattering him did not end with his Life and that therefore they were at least to keep all things in the condition wherein he had left them till the King were of Age. And this seemed also necessary on Considerations of State For Changes in matter of Religion might bring on Commotions and Disorders which they as faithful Executors ought to avoid But to this it was answered That as their late King was infinitely learned for both Parties flattered him dead as well as living so he had resolved to make great Alterations and was contriving how to change the Mass into a Communion that therefore they were not to put off a thing of such consequence wherein the Salvation of Peoples Souls was so much concerned but were immediately to set about it But the Lord Chancellor gave quickly great advantage against himself to his Enemies who were resolved to make use of any Error he might be guilty of so far as to ease themselves of the trouble he was like to give them The Kings Funeral being over The Creation of Peers order was given for the Creation of Peers The Protector was to be Duke of Somerset the Earl of Essex to be Marquess of Northampton the Viscount Lisle to be Earl of Warwick the Lord Wriothesley Earl of Southampton beside the new Creation of the Lords Seimour Rich Willoughby of Parham and Sheffield the rest it seems excusing themselves from new Honours as it appeared from the Deposition of Paget that many of those on whom the late King had intended to confer Titles of Honour had declined it formerly 1547. Feb. 20. Coronation On the 20th of Feb. being Shrove-Sunday the King was Crowned by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury according to the form that was agreed to The Protector serving in it as Lord Steward the Marquess of Dorset as Lord Constable and the Earl of Arundel as Earl Marshal deputed by the Protector A Pardon was proclaimed out of which the Duke of Norfolk Cardinal Pole and some others were excepted The first Business of importance after the Coronation The Lord Chancellor is removed from his Office was the Lord Chancellors fall Who resolving to give himself wholly to Matters of State had on the 18th of Feb. put the Great Seal to a Commission directed to Sir Richard Southwell Master of the Rolls John Tregonnel Esq Master of Chancery and to John Oliver and Anthony Bellasis Clerks Masters of Chancery setting forth that the Lord Chancellor being so employed in the Affairs of State that he could not attend on the hearing of Causes in the Court of Chancery these three Masters or any two of them were empowered to execute the Lord Chancellors Office in that Court in as ample manner as if he himself were present only their Decrees were to be brought to the Lord Chancellor to be Signed by him before they were Enrolled This being done without any Warrant from the Lord Protector and the other Executors it was judged a high presumption in the Lord Chancellor thus to devolve on others that Power which the Law had trusted in his Hands The Persons named by him encreased the offence which this gave two of them being Canonists so that the common Lawyers looked upon this as a President of very high and ill consequence And being encouraged by those who had no good will to the Chancellor they petitioned the Council in this Matter and complained of the evil consequences of such a Commission and set forth the fears that all the Students of the Law were under of a Change that was intended to be made of the Laws of England The Council remembred well they had given no Warrant at all to the Lord Chancellor for the issuing out any such Commission so they sent it to the Judges and required them to examine the Commission with the Petition grounded upon it Who delivered their Opinions on the last of Feb. That the Lord Chancellor ought not without Warrant from the Council to have set the Seal to it Feb. 28. and that by his so doing he had by the Common Law forfeited his Place to the King and was liable to Fine and Imprisonment at the Kings pleasure March 6. This lay sleeping till the sixth of March and then the Judges Answer being brought to the Council Signed with all their Hands they entred into a debate how far it ought to be punished The Lord Chancellor carried it very high and as he had used many Menaces to those who had petitioned against him and to the Judges for giving their Opinions as they did so he carried himself insolently to the Protector and told him he held his Place by a better Authority than he held his That the late King being empow'red to it by Act of Parliament had made him not only Chancellor but one of the Governours of the Realm during his Sons Minority and had by his Will given none of them Power over the rest to throw
Kingdom to cast themselves wholly into the Arms of France and to offer their young Queen to the Dolphin and to think of no Treaty with the English So the Earl of Warwick returned to London having no small share in the Honour of this Expedition He was Son to that Dudley who was attainted and executed the first year of King Henry the 8th's Reign But whether it was that the King afterwards repented of his severity to the Father or that he was taken with the qualities of the Son he raised him by many degrees to be Admiral and Viscount Lisle He had defended Bulloigne when it was in no good condition against the Dolphin whose Army was believed 50000 strong and when the French had carried the Bassetown he recovered it and killed 800 of their Men The Year after that being in Command at Sea he offered the French Fleet Battel which they declining he made a descent upon Normandy with 5000 Men and having burnt and spoiled a great deal he returned to his Ships with the loss only of one Man And he shewed he was as fit for a Court as a Camp For being sent over to the French Court upon the Peace he appeared there with much Splendour and came off with great Honour He was indeed a Man of great Parts had not insatiable ambition with profound dissimulation stained his other Noble Qualities The Protector at his return was advised presently to meet the Parliament for which the Writs had been sent out before he went into Scotland now that he was so covered with Glory to get himself established in his Authority and to do those other things which required a Session The Visitors execute the Injunctions He found the Visitors had performed their Visitation and all had given obedience And those who expounded the secret Providences of God with an Eye to their own opinions took great notice of this that on the same day in which the Visitors removed Acts and Monuments and destroyed most of the Images in London their Armies were so successful in Scotland in Pinkey Field It is too common to all Men to magnifie such Events much when they make for them but if they are against them they turn it off by this That Gods Ways are past finding out So partially do Men argue where they are once engaged Bonner and Gardiner had shewed some dislike of the Injunctions Bonner received them with a Protestation that he would observe them if they were not contrary to Gods Law and the Ordinances of the Church Upon which Sir Anthony Cook and the other Visitors complained to the Council So Bonner was sent for where he offered a submission but full of vain Quiddities so it is expressed in the Council-Book But they were not well received by Bonner Collection Number 12. But they not accepting of that he made such a full one as they desired which is in the Collection Yet for giving terror to others he was sent to lie for some time in the Prison called the Fleet. Gardiner seeing the Homilies was also resolved to protest against them Nor by Gardiner Sir John Godsalve who was one of the Visitors wrote to him not to ruine himself nor lose his Bishoprick by such an Action To whom he wrote a Letter that has more of a Christian and of a Bishop in it than any thing I ever saw of his He expresses in handsome terms a great contempt of the World and a resolution to suffer any thing rather than depart from his Conscience Besides that as he said the things being against Law he would not deliver up the Liberties of his Country but would petition against them This Letter will be found in the Collection Collection Number 13. for I am resolved to suppress nothing of consequence on what side soever it may be Sept. 15. On the 25th of September it being informed to the Council that Gardiner had written to some of that Board and had spoken to others many things in prejudice and contempt of the Kings Visitation and that he intended to refuse to set forth the Homilies and Injunctions he was sent for to the Council Where being examined he said he thought they were contrary to the Word of God and that his Conscience would not suffer him to observe them He excepted to one of the Homilies that it exclude Charity from justifying Men as well as Faith This he said was contrary to the Book set out in the late Kings time which was afterwards confirmed in Parliament in the Year 1542. he said further that he could never see one place of Scripture nor any ancient Doctor that favoured it He also said Erasmus's Paraphrase was bad enough in Latin but much worse in English for the Translator had oft out of ignorance and oft out of design misrendred him palpably and was one that neither understood Latin nor English well He offered to go to Oxford to dispute about Justification with any they should send him to or to enter in conference with any that would undertake his Instruction in Town But this did not satisfie the Council So they pressed him to declare what he intended to do when the Visitors should be with him He said he did not know he should further study these Points for it would be three weeks before they could be with him and he was sure he would say no worse than that he should obey them as far as could consist with Gods Law and the Kings The Council urged him to promise that he would without any limitation set forth the Homilies and the Injunctions which he refusing to do was sent to the Fleet. Some days after that Cranmer went to see the Dean of St. Pauls having the Bishops of Lincoln and Rochester with Dr. Cox and some others with him He sent for Gardiner thither and entred into discourse with him about that Passage in the Homily excluding Charity out of our Justification and urged those Places of St. Paul That we are justified by Faith without the Works of the Law He said his design in that Passage was only to draw Men from trusting in any thing they did and to teach them to trust only to Christ But Gardiner had a very different Notion of Justification For as he said Infants were justified by Baptism and Penitents by the Sacrament of Penance and that the Conditions of the justifying of those of Age were Charity as well as Faith as the three Estates make a Law all joyned together for by this Simile he set it out in the report he writ of that Discourse to the Lord Protector reckoning the King one of the three Estates a way of Speech very strange especially in a Bishop and a Lawyer For Erasmus it was said that though there were faults in his Paraphrase as no Book besides the Scriptures is without faults yet it was the best for that use they could find and they did choose rather to set out what so learned a Man had written
than to make a new one which might give occasion to more Objections and he was the most indifferent Writer they knew Afterwards Cranmer knowing what was likely to work most on him let fall some words as Gardiner writ to the Protector of bringing him into the Privy-Council if he would concur in what they were carrying on But that not having its ordinary effect on him he was carried back to the Fleet. There were also many complaints brought by some Clergy-men of such as had used them ill for their obeying the Kings Injunctions and for removing Images Many were upon their submission sent away with a severe rebuke others that offended more hainously were put in the Fleet for some time and afterwards giving Bond for their good behaviour were discharged But upon the Protectors return the Bishop of Winchester writ him a long Letter in his own vindication He complained of the Visitors proceeding in his absence in so great a matter He said the Injunctions were contrary to themselves for they appointed the Homilies to be read and Erasmus's Paraphrase to be put in all Churches so he selected many passages out of these that were contrary to one another He also gathered many things out of Erasmus's Paraphrase that were contrary to the Power of Princes and several other censurable things in that Work which Erasmus wrote when he was young being of a far different strain from what he writ when he grew older and better acquainted with the World But he concluded his Letter with a discourse of the extent of the King and Councils Power Collection Number 14. which is all I transcribed of it being very long and full of things of no great consequence He questions how far the King could command against Common or Statute Law of which himself had many occasions to be well informed Cardinal Wolsey had obtained his Legatine Power at the Kings desire but notwithstanding that he was brought into a Praemunire and the Lawyers upon that Argument cited many Precedents of Judges that were fined when they transgressed the Laws though commanded by Warrants from the King and Earl Typteft who was Chancellor lost his Head for acting upon the Kings Warrant against Law In the late Kings time the Judges would not set Fines on the breakers of the Kings Proclamations when they were contrary to Law till the Act concerning them was passed about which there were many hot words when it was debated He mentions a Discourse that passed between him and the Lord Audley in the Parliament concerning the Kings Supremacy Audley bid him look the Act of Supremacy and he would see the Kings doings were restrained to Spiritual Jurisdiction and by another Act no Spiritual Law could take place against the Common Law or an Act of Parliament otherwise the Bishops would strike in with the King and by means of the Supremacy would order the Law as they pleased but we will provide said he that the Praemunire shall never go off of your backs In some late Cases he heard the Judges declare what the King might do against an Act of Parliament and what danger they were in that medled in such matters These things being so fresh in his memory he thought he might write what he did to the Lords of Council But by this it appears that no sort of Men is so much for the Kings Prerogative but when it becomes in any instance uneasie to them they will shelter themselves under the Law He continued afterwards by many Letters to the Protector to complain of his ill usage That he had been then seven weeks in the Fleet without Servants a Chaplain or a Physician that though he had his Writ of Summons he was not suffered to come to the Parliament which might be a ground afterwards of questioning their Proceedings He advised the Protector not to make himself a Party in these matters and used all the insinuations of decent flattery that he could invent with many sharp reflections on Cranmer and stood much on the force of Laws that they could not be repealed by the Kings Will. Concerning which he mentions a Passage that fell out between Cromwel and himself before the late King Cromwel said That the King might make or repeal Laws as the Roman Emperors did and asked his opinion about it whether the Kings Will was not a Law To which he answered facetiously That he thought it was much better for the King to make the Law his Will than to make his Will a Law But notwithstanding all his Letters which are printed in the second Volume of Acts and Monum Edit 1641. yet he continued a Prisoner till the Parliament was over and then by the Act of Pardon he was set at liberty This was much censured as an invasion of Liberty and it was said these at Court durst not suffer him to come to the House lest he had confounded them in all they did And the explaining Justification with so much nicety in Homilies that were to be read to the People was thought a needless subtilty But the former abuses of trusting to the Acts of Charity that Men did by which they fancied they bought Heaven made Cranmer judge it necessary to express the matter so nicely though the expounding those Places of St. Paul was as many thought rather according to the strain of the Germans than to the meaning of these Epistles And upon the whole matter they knew Gardiners haughty temper and that it was necessary to mortifie him a little though the pretence on which they did it seemed too slight for such severities But it is ordinary when a thing is once resolved on to make use of the first occasion that offers for effecting it The Party that opposed the Reformation The Lady Mary dissatisfied with the Reformation finding these attempts so unsuccessful engaged the Lady Mary to appear for them She therefore wrote to the Protector that she thought all changes in Religion till the King came to be of Age were very much contrary to the respect they owed the memory of her Father if they went about to shake what he had setled and against their duty to their young Master to hazard the Peace of his Kingdom and engage his Authority in such Points before he was capable of judging them The Protector writ to her Collection Number 15. I gather this to have been the substance of her Letter from the Answer which the Protector wrote which is in the Collection In it he wrote That he believed her Letter flowed not immediately from her self but from the instigation of some malicious Persons He protests they had no other design but the Glory of God and the Honour and Safety of the King and that what they had done was so well considered that all good Subjects ought rather to rejoyce at it than find fault with it And whereas she had said That her Father had brought Religion to a godly order and quietness to which both Spiritualty
and Temporalty did without compulsion give their assent he remembers her what opposition the stiff-necked Papists gave him and what Rebellions they raised against him which he wonders how she came so soon to forget Adding that death had prevented him before he had finished these Godly Orders which he had designed and that no kind of Religion was perfected at his death but all was left so uncertain that it must inevitably bring on great disorders if God did not help them and that himself and many others could witness what regret their late Master had when he saw he must die before he had finished what he intended He wond'red that she who had been well bred and was learned should esteem true Religion and the knowledge of the Scriptures Newfangledness or Fantasie He desired she would turn the Leaf and look on the other side and would with an humble Spirit and by the assistance of the Grace of God consider the matter better Thus things went on till the Parliament met The Parliament meets which was summoned to meet the fourth of November The day before it met Novemb. 3. the Protector gave too publick an instance how much his prosperous success had lifted him up For by a Patent under the Great Seal Rot. Pat. 1. Reg. 7. Part. he was warranted to sit in Parliament on the Right Hand of the Throne under the Cloath of State and was to have all the Honours and Priviledges that at any time any of the Unkles of the Kings of England whether by the Fathers or Mothers side had enjoyed with a Non obstante to the Statute of Precedence The Lord Rich had been made Lord Chancellor on the 24th of October but whether the Protector or he opened the Parliament by any Speech does not appear from the Journal of the Lords House On the 10th of Decemb. Decemb. 10. a Bill was brought in for the repealing several Statutes It was read the second time on the 12th and the third time on the 16th day On the 19th 19. some Provisoes were added to it and it was sent down to the Commons who sent it up the 23d of December 23. Dec. to which the Royal Assent was given The Commons had formed a new Bill for repealing these Statutes which upon some Conferences they were willing to let fall only some Provisoes were added to the old one upon which the Bishops of London Duresme Ely Hereford and Chichester dissented An Act repealing former severe Laws The Preamble of it sets forth That nothing made a Government happier than when the Prince governed with much clemency and the Subjects obeyed out of love Yet the late King and some of his Progenitors being provoked by the unruliness of some of their People had made severe Laws but they judging it necessary now to recommend the Kings Government to the affections of the People repealed all Laws that made any thing to be Treason but what was in the Act of 25 of Edw. the 3d as also two of the Statutes about Lollardies together with the Act of the six Articles and the other Acts that followed in explanation of that All Acts in King Henry the 8th's time declaring any thing to be Felony that was not so declared before were also repealed together with the Acts that made the Kings Proclamations of equal Authority with Acts of Parliament It was also Enacted That all who denied the Kings Supremacy or asserted the Popes in words should for the first offence forfeit their Goods and Chattels and suffer Imprisonment during pleasure For the second offence should incur the Pain of Praemunire and for the third offence be attainted of Treason But if any did in Writing Printing or by any overt Act or Deed endeavour to deprive the King of his Estate or Titles particularly of his Supremacy or to confer them on any other after the first of March next he was to be adjudged guilty of High Treason and if any of the Heirs of the Crown should usurp upon another or did endeavour to break the Succession of the Crown it was declared high Treason in them their Aiders and Abettors And all were to enjoy the Benefit of Clergy and the Priviledge of Sanctuary as they had it before King Henry the 8th's Reign excepting only such as were guilty of Murder Poisoning Burglary Robbing on the High-way the stealing of Cattel or stealing out of Churches or Chappels Poisoners were to suffer as other Murderers None were to be accused of Words but within a Month after they were spoken And those who called the French King by the Title of King of France were not to be esteemed guilty of the Pains of translating the Kings Authority or Titles on any other In Ch. Coll. Camb. among Parkers Papers This Act was occasioned by a Speech that Arch-bishop Cranmer had in Convocation in which he exhorted the Clergy to give themselves much to the study of the Scripture and to consider seriously what things were in the Church that needed Reformation that so they might throw out all the Popish trash that was not yet cast out Upon this some intimated to him that as long as the six Articles stood in force it was not safe for them to deliver their Opinions This he reported to the Council upon which they ordered this Act of Repeal By it the Subjects were delivered from many fears they were under and had good hopes of a mild Government when in stead of procuring new severe Law the old ones were let fall The Council did also free the Nation of the jealousies they might have of them by such an abridgment of their own Power But others judged it had been more for the interest of the Government to have kept up these Laws still in force but to have restrained the execution of them This Repeal drew on another which was sent from the Commons on the 20th of December and was agreed to by the Lords on the 21st It was of an Act in the 28th year of the last King by which all Laws made while his Son was under 24 years of Age might be by his Letters Patents after he attained that Age annulled as if they had never been Which they altered thus That the King after that Age might by his Letters Patents void any Act of Parliament for the future but could not so void it from the beginning as to annul all things done upon it between the making and annulling of it which were still to be lawful Deeds The next Bill of a publick nature was concerning the Sacrament Act about the Communion Which was brought in and read the first time on the 12th of Novemb. the second time on the 15th and was twice read on the 17th And on the 24th a Bill was brought in for the Communion to be received in both kinds on the third of December it was read the second time and given to the Protector on the 5th read again and given to two
being read there once it was like to have raised such debates that it being resolved to end the Session before Christmas the Lords laid it aside But while the Parliament was sitting The Convocation meets they were not idle in the Convocation though the Popish Party was yet so prevalent in both Houses that Cranmer had no hopes of doing any thing till they were freed of the trouble which some of the great Bishops gave them The lower House made some Petitions Number 16. The most important thing they did was the carrying up four Petitions to the Bishops which will be found in the Collection 1. That according to the Statute made in the Reign of the late King there might be Persons empow'red for reforming the Ecclesiastical Laws The second That according to the ancient Custom of the Nation and the Tenor of the Bishops Writ to the Parliament the inferior Clergy might be admitted again to sit in the House of Commons or that no Acts concerning matters of Religion might pass without the sight and assent of the Clergy The third That since divers Prelates and other Divines had been in the late Kings time appointed to alter the Service of the Church and had made some progress in it that this might be brought to its full perfection The fourth That some consideration might be had for the maintenance of the Clergy the first year they came into their Livings in which they were charged with the First-fruits to which they added a desire to know whether they might safely speak their minds about Religion without the danger of any Law For the first of these four Petitions an account of it shall be given hereafter As to the second it was a thing of great consequence and deserves to be farther considered in this place Anciently all the free Men of England The Inferior Clergy desire to be admited to have Representatives in the House of Commons or at least those that held of the Crown in chief came to Parliament and then the inferior Clergy had Writs as well as the Superior and the first of the three Estates of the Kingdom were the Bishops the other Prelates and the Inferior Clergy But when the Parliament was divided into two Houses then the Clergy made likewise a Body of their own and sate in Convocation which was the third Estate But the Bishops having a double capacity the one of Ecclesiastical Prelature the other of being the Kings Barons they had a Right to sit with the Lords as a part of their Estate as well as in the Convocation And though by parity of reason it might seem that the rest of the Clergy being Freeholders as well as Clarks had an equal Right to choose or be chosen into the House of Commons yet whether they were ever in possession of it or whether according to the Clause Premonentes in the Bishops Writ they were ever a part of the House of Commons is a just doubt For besides this assertion in the Petition that was mentioned and a more large one in the second Petition which they presented to the same purpose which is likewise in the Collection Number 17. I have never met with any good reason to satisfie me in it There was a general Tradition in Queen Elizabeths Reign that the Inferior Clergy departed from their Right of being in the House of Commons when they were all brought into the Praemunire upon Cardinal Wolsey's Legatine Power and made their submission to the King But that is not credible for as there is no footstep of it which in a time of so much writing and printing must have remained if so great a change had been then made so it cannot be thought that those who made this Address but 17 years after that Submission many being alive in this who were of that Convocation Polidore Virgil in particular a curious observer since he was maintained here to write the History of England none of them should have remembred a thing that was so fresh but have appealed to Writs and ancient Practises But though this design of bringing the Inferior Clergy into the House of Commons did not take at this time yet it was again set on foot in the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign and Reasons were offered to perswade her to set it forward Which not being then successful these same Reasons were again offered to King James to induce him to endeavour it The Paper that discovers this was communicated to me by Dr. Borlace the Worthy Author of the History of the Irish Rebellion It is corrected in many places by the Hand of Bishop Ravis then Bishop of London a Man of great Worth This for the affinity of the matter and the curiosity of the thing I have put into the Collection Number 18. with a large Marginal Note as it was designed to be transcribed for King James But whether this Matter was ever much considered or lightly laid aside as a thing unfit and unpracticable does not appear certain it is that it came to nothing Upon the whole matter it is not certain what was the Power or Right of these Proctors of the Clergy in former times Some are of opinion that they were only assistants to the Bishops Coke 4. Inst 3.4 but had no Voice in either House of Parliament This is much confirmed by an Act pass'd in the Parliament of Ireland in the 28th Year of the former Reign which sets forth in the Preamble That though the Proctors of the Clergy were always summoned to Parliament yet they were no part of it nor had they any right to Vote in it but were only Assistants in case Matters of Controversie or Learning came before them as the Convocation was in England which had been determined by the Judges of England after much enquiry made about it But the Proctors were then pretending to so high an Authority that nothing could pass without their consents and it was presumed they were set on to it by the Bishops whose Chaplains they were for the most part Therefore they were by that Act declared to have no right to Vote From this some infer they were no other in England and that they were only the Bishops Assistants and Council But as the Clause Premonentes in the Writ seems to make them a part of the Parliament so these Petitions suppose that they sate in the House of Commons anciently where it cannot be imagined they could sit if they came only to be Assistants to the Bishops for then they must have sate in the House of Lords rather as the Judges the Masters of Chancery and the Kings Council do Nor is it reasonable to think they had no Voice for then their sitting in Parliament had been so insignificant a thing that it is not likely they would have used such endeavours to be restored to it since their coming to Parliament upon such an account must have been only a charge to them There is against this Opinion an
Preferments still Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury Richard Bishop of Chichester and Geofrey Bishop of Ely are said to have had Wives and though there were not so many Instances of Priests marrying after Orders yet if there were any thing in the nature of Priesthood inconsistent by the Law of God with Marriage then it was as unlawful for them to continue in their former Marriages as to contract a new one Some few Instances were also gathered out of Church History of Bishops and Priests marrying after Orders but as these were few so there was just reason to controvert them Upon the whole matter it was clear that the Coelibate of the Clergy flowed from no law of God nor from any general Law of the Church The Vows and other Reasons against it examined but the contrary of Clergy-mens living with their Wives was universally received for many Ages As for Vows it was much questioned how far they did bind in such Cases It seemed a great sin to impose such on any when they were yet young and did not well know their own dispositions Nor was it in a Mans power to keep them For Continence being none of those Graces that are promised by God to all that ask it as it was not in a Mans Power without extream severities on himself to govern his own constitution of Body so he had no reason to expect God should interpose when he had provided another remedy for such Cases Besides the Promise made by Clergy-men according to the Rites of the Roman Pontifical did not oblige them to Coelibate The words were Wilt thou follow Chastity and Sobriety to which the Sub-Deacon answered I will By Chastity was not to be understood a total abstinence from all but only from unlawful embraces since a Man might live chast in a state of Marriage as well as out of it But whatever might be in this the English Clergy were not concerned in it for there was no such Question nor Answer made in the Forms of their Ordination So they were not by any Vow precluded from Marriage And for the Expediency of it nothing was more evident than that these Laws had brought in much uncleanness into the Church and those who pressed them most had been signally noted for these Vices No Prince in the English History lewder than Edgar that had so promoted it The Legate that in King Henry the second 's time got that severe Decree made that put all the married Clergy from their Livings was found the very night after for the credit of Coelibate in bed with a Whore On this Subject many undecent Stories were gathered especially by Bale who was a learned Man but did not write with that temper and discretion that became a Divine He gathered all the lewd Stories that could be raked together to this purpose and the many abominable things found in the Monasteries were then fresh in all Mens memories It was also observed that the unmarried Clergy had been as much as the married could be intent upon the raising Families and the enriching of their Nephews and Kindred and sometimes of their Bastards witness the present Pope Paul the third and not long before him Alexander the 6th so that the married Clergy could not be tempted to more Covetousness than had appeared in the unmarried And for the Distraction of Domestick Affairs the Clergy had formerly given themselves up to such a secular course of Life that it was thought nothing could encrease it but if the married Clergy should set themselves to raise more than a decent maintenance for their Children such as might fit them for Letters or Callings and should neglect Hospitality become covetous and accumulate Livings and Preferments to make Estates for their Children this might be justly curbed by new Laws or rather the renewing of the ancient Canons by which Clergy-men were declared to be only entrusted with the Goods of the Church for publick ends and were not to apply them to their own private uses nor to leave them to their Children and Friends Thus had this Matter been argued in many Books that were written on this Subject by Poinet and Parker the one afterwards Bishop of Winchester and the other Arch-bishop of Canterbury also by Bale Bishop of Ossory with many more Dr. Ridley Dr. Taylor afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Benson and Dr. Redmayn appeared more confidently in it than many others being Men that were resolved never to marry themselves who yet thought it necessary and therefore pleaded according to the Pattern that Paphnutius had set them that all should be left to their liberty in this matter The Debate about it was brought into the Convocation where Dr. Redmayn's Authority went a great way He was a Man of great Learning and Probity and of so much greater weight because he did not in all Points agree with the Reformers but being at this time sick his opinion was brought under his Hand Collection Number 30. which will be found in the Collection copied from the Orignal It was to this purpose That though the Scriptures exhorted Priests to live chast and out of the cares of the World yet the Laws forbidding them Marriage were only Canons and Constitutions of the Church not founded on the Word of God and therefore he thought that a Man once married might be a Priest and he did not find the Priests in the Church of England had made any Vow against Marriage and therefore he thought that the King and the higher Powers of the Church might take away the Clog of perpetual continence from the Priests and grant that such as could not or would not contain might marry once and not be put from their holy Ministration It was opposed by many in both Houses but carried at last by the major Vote All this I gather from what is printed concerning it For I have seen no Remains of this or of any of the other Convocations that came afterwards in this Reign the Registers of them being destroyed in the Fire of London This Act seemed rather a connivance and permission of the Clergy to marry than any direct allowance of it So the Enemies of that state of life continued to reproach the married Clergy still and this was much heightned by many undecent Marriages and other light behaviour of some Priests But these things made way for a more full Act concerning this matter about three years after The next Act that past in this Parliament was about the publick Service which was put into the House of Commons on the 9th of December An Act confirming the Liturgy and the next day was also put into the House of Lords It lay long before them and was not agreed to till the 15th of Jan. The Earl of Derby the Bishops of London Duresme Norwich Carlisle Hereford Worcester Westminster and Chichester and the Lords Dacres and Windsor protesting The Preamble of the Act sets forth That there had been several Forms of Service and that
would consent to it so if he had married her without that the possibility of succeeding to the Crown was cut off by King Henry's Will And this Attempt of his occasioned that Act to be put in which was formerly mentioned for declaring the marrying the Kings Sisters without consent of Council to be Treason Seeing he could not compass that design he resolved to carry away the King to his House of Holt in the Country and so to displace his Brother and to take the Government into his own hands For this end he had laid in Magazines of Arms and listed about 10000 Men in several Places and openly complained that his Brother intended to enslave the Nation and make himself Master of all and had therefore brought over those German Soldiers He had also entred into Treaty with several of the Nobility that envied his Brothers greatness and were not ill pleased to see a breach between them and that grown to be irreconcilable To these he promised that they should be of the Council and that he would dispose of the King in Marriage to one of their Daughters the Person is not named The Protector had often told him of these things and warned him of the danger into which he would throw himself by such ways but he persisted still in his designs though he denied and excused them as long as was possible Now his restless ambition seeming incurable he was on the 19th of Jan. sent to the Tower The original Warrant Jan. 19. The Admiral sent to the Tower Signed by all the Privy Council is in the Council-Book formerly mentioned where the Earl of Southampton Signs with the rest who was now in outward appearance reconciled to the Protector On the day following the Admirals Seal of his Office was sent for and put into Secretary Smiths Hands And now many things broke out against him and particularly a Conspiracy of his with Sir W. Sharington Vice-Treasurer of the Mint at Bristol who was to have furnished him with 10000 l. and had already coined about 12000 l. false Money and had clipt a great deal more to the value of 40000 l. in all for which he was attainted by a Process at Common Law and that was confirmed in Parliament Fowler also that waited in the Privy Chamber with some few others were sent to the Tower Many complaints being usually brought against a sinking Man the Lord Russel the Earl of Southampton and Secretary Petre were ordered to receive their Examinations And thus the Business was let alone till the 28 of Feb. in which time his Brother did again try if it were possible to bring him to a better temper And as he had since their first breach granted him 800 l. a year in Land to gain his friendship so means were now used to perswade him to submit himself and to withdraw from Court and from all employment But it appeared that nothing could be done to him that could cure his ambition or the hatred he carried to his Brother And therefore on the 22d of Feb. a full report was made to the Council of all the things that were informed against him consisting not only of the Particulars formerly mentioned but of many foul misdemeanours in the discharge of the Admiralty several Pirates being entertained by him who gave him a share of their Robberies and whom he had protected notwithstanding the Complaints made by other Princes by which the King was in danger of a War from the Princes so complaining The whole Charge consists of 33 Articles which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 31. The Particulars as it is entred in the Council-Book were so manifestly proved not only by Witnesses but by Letters under his own Hand that it did not seem possible to deny them Yet he had been sent to and examined by some of the Council but refused to make a direct Answer to them or to Sign those Answers that he had made So it was ordered that the next day all the Privy Council except the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Sir John Baker Speaker to the House of Commons who was engaged to attend in the House should go to the Tower and examine him On the 23d the Lord Chancellor with the other Councellors went to him and read the Articles of his Charge and earnestly desired him to make plain Answers to them excusing himself where he could and submitting himself in other things and that he would shew no obstinacy of Mind He answered them That he expected an open Trial and his Accusers to be brought face to face All the Councellors endeavoured to perswade him to be more tractable but to no purpose At last the Lord Chancellor required him on his Allegiance to make his Answer He desired they would leave the Articles with him and he would consider of them otherwise he would make no Answer to them But the Councellors resolved not to leave them with him on those terms On the 24th of Feb. it was resolved in Council that the whole Board should after Dinner acquaint the King with the state of that Affair and desire to know of him whether he would have the Law to take place and since the thing had been before the Parliament whether he would leave it to their determination so tender they were of their young King in a Case that concerned his Unkles Life But the King had begun to discern his seditious temper and was now much alienated from him The Council desired the King to refer the Matter to the Parliament When the Councellors waited on him the Lord Chancellor opened the Matter to the King and delivered his Opinion for leaving it to the Parliament Then every Councellor by himself spake his mind all to the same purpose Last of all the Protector spake he protested this was a most sorrowful business to him that he had used all the means in his power to keep it from coming to this extremity but were it Son or Brother he must prefer his Majesties safety to them for he weighed his Allegiance more than his Blood and that therefore he was not against the request that the other Lords had made and said if he himself were guilty of such offences he should not think he were worthy of life and the rather because he was of all Men the most bound to his Majesty and therefore he could not refuse Justice The King answered them in these words Who consented to it We perceive that there are great things objected and laid to my Lord Admiral my Unkle and they tend to Treason and We perceive that you require but Justice to be done We think it reasonable and We Will that you proceed according to your Request Which words as it is marked in the Council-Book coming so suddenly from his Graces Mouth of his own motion as the Lords might well perceive they were marvellously rejoyced and gave the King most hearty praise and thanks yet resolved that some of both Houses
lessen the credit of those who had suffered formerly for it was said they saw now that Men of harmless Lives might be put to death for Heresie by the confâ—ssion of the Reformers themselves And in all the Books published in Queen Maries days justifying her severity against the Protestants these Instances were always made use of and no part of Cranmers Life exposed him more than this did This was much censured It was said he had consented both to Lamberts and Anne Askews death in the former Reign who both suffered for Opinions which he himself held now and he had now procured the death of these two Persons and when he was brought to suffer himself afterwards it was called a just retalliation on him One thing was certain that what he did in this matter flowed from no cruelty of temper in him no Man being further from that black disposition of Mind but it was truly the effect of those Principles by which he governed himself Disputes concerning the Baptism of Infants For the other sort of Anabaptists who only denied Infants Baptism I find no severities used to them but several Books were written against them to which they wrote some Answers It was said that Christ allowed little Children to be brought to him and said of such was the Kingdom of Heaven and blessed them Now if they were capable of the Kingdom of Heaven they must be regenerated for Christ said none but such as were born of Water and of the Spirit could enter into it St. Paul had also called the Children of believing Parents Holy which seemed to relate to such a consecration of them as was made in Baptism And Baptism being the Seal of Christians in the room of Circumcision among the Jews it was thought the one was as applicable to Children as the other And one thing was observed that the whole World in that Age having been baptized in their Infancy if that Baptism was nothing then there were none truly baptized in being but all were in the state of meer Nature Now it did not seem reasonable that Men who were not baptized themselves should go and baptize others and therefore the first Heads of that Sect not being rightly baptized themselves seemed not to act with any Authority when they went to baptize others The Practice of the Church so early begun and continued without dispute for so many Ages was at least a certain confirmation of a thing which had to speak moderately so good foundations in Scripture for the lawfulness though not any peremptory but only probable Proof for the practice of it These are all the Errors in Opinion that I find were taken notice of at this time There was another sort of People The Doctrine of Predestination much abused of whom all the good Men in that Age made great complaints Some there were called Gospellers or Readers of the Gospel who were a scandal to the Doctrine they professed In many Sermons I have oft met with severe Expostulations with these and heavy Denunciations of Judgments against them But I do not find any thing objected to them as to their belief save only that the Doctrine of Predestination having been generally taught by the Reformers many of this Sect began to make strange Inferences from it reckoning that since every thing was decreed and the Decrees of God could not be frustrated therefore Men were to leave themselves to be carried by these Decrees This drew some into great impiety of Life and others into desperation The Germans soon saw the ill effects of this Doctrine Luther changed his mind about it and Melancthon openly writ against it and since that time the whole stream of the Lutheran Churches has run the other way But both Calvin and Bucer were still for maintaining the Doctrine of these Decrees only they warned the People not to think much of them since they were Secrets which Men could not penetrate into but they did not so clearly shew how these consequences did not flow from such Opinions Hooper and many other good Writers did often dehort People from entring into these curiosities and a Caveat to that same purpose was put afterwards into the Article of the Church about Predestination One ill effect of the dissoluteness of Peoples manners broke out violently this Summer occasioned by the Inclosing of Lands Tumults in England While the Monasteries stood there were great numbers of People maintained about these Houses their Lands were easily let out and many were relieved by them But now the Numbers of the People encreased much Marriage being universally allowed they also had more time than formerly by the abrogation of many Holy-days and the putting down of Processions and Pilgrimages so that as the Numbers encreased they had more time than they knew how to bestow Those who bought in the Church-Lands as they every where raised their Rents of which old Latimer made great Complaints in one of his Court Sermons so they resolved to enclose their Grounds and turn them to Pasture for Trade was then rising fast and Corn brought not in so much Money as Wooll did Their Flocks also being kept by few Persons in Grounds so enclosed the Landlords themselves enjoyed the profit which formerly the Tenants made out of their Estates and so they intended to force them to serve about them at any such rates as they would allow By this means the Commons of England saw they were like to be reduced to great misery This was much complained of and several little Books were written about it Some proposed a sort of Agrarian Law that none might have Farms above a set value or Flocks above a set number of 2000 Sheep which Proposal I find the young King was much taken with as will appear in one of the Discourses he wrote with his own Hand It was also represented that there was no care taken of the educating of Youth except of those who were bred for Learning and many things were proposed to correct this but in the mean time the Commons saw the Gentry were like to reduce them to a very low condition The Protector seemed much concerned for the Commons and oft spoke against the oppression of Landlords He was naturally just and compassionate and so did heartily espouse the Cause of the poor People which made the Nobility and Gentry hate him much The former year the Commons about Hampton-Court petitioned the Protector and Council complaining that whereas the late King in his Sickness had enclosed a Park there to divert himself with private easie Game the Deer of that Park did overlay the Country and it was a great burden to them and therefore they desired that it might be disparked The Council considering that it was so near Windsor and was not useful to the King but a charge rather ordered it to be disparked and the Deer to be carried to Windsor but with this Proviso that if the King when he came of Age desired to have
a Park there what they did should be no prejudice to him There was also a Commission issued out to enquire about Inclosures and Farms and whether those who had purchased the Abbey-Lands kept Hospitality to which they were bound by the Grants they had of them and whether they encouraged Husbandry But I find no effect of this And indeed there seemed to have been a general design among the Nobility and Gentry to bring the Inferior sort to that low and servile state to which the Peasants in many other Kingdoms are reduced In the Parliament an Act was carried in the House of Lords for imparking Grounds but was cast out by the Commons yet Gentlemen went on every where taking their Lands into their own Hands and enclosing them Many are easily quieted In May the Commons did rise first in Wilt-shire where Sir William Herbert gathered some resolute Men about him and dispersed them and slew some of them Soon after that they rose in Sussex Hamp-shire Kent Glocester-shire Suffolk Warwick-shire Essex Hartford-shire Leicester-shire Worcester-shire and Rutland-shire but by fair perswasions the fury of the People was a little stopt till the matter should be represented to the Council The Protector said he did not wonder the Commons were in such distempers they being so oppressed that it was easier to die once than to perish for want and therefore he set out a Proclamation contrary to the mind of the whole Council against all new Inclosures with another indempnifying the People for what was past so they carried themselves obediently for the future Commissions were also sent every where with an unlimited Power to the Commissioners to hear and determine all Causes about Inclosures High-ways and Cottages The vast Power these Commissioners assumed was much complained of the Landlords said it was an Invasion of their Property to subject them thus to the pleasure of those who were sent to examine the Matters without proceeding in the ordinary Courts according to Law The Commons being encouraged by the favour they heard the Protector bore them and not able to govern their heat or stay for a more peaceable issue did rise again but were anew quieted Yet the Protector being opposed much by the Council he was not able to redress this Grievance so fully as the People hoped So in Oxford-shire and Devon-shire they rose again and also in Norfolk and York-shire Those in Oxford-shire were dissipated by a Force of 1500 Men led against them by the Lord Gray Some of them were taken and hanged by Martial Law as being in a state of War the greatest part ran home to their Dwellings In Devon-shire the Insurrection grew to be better formed But those of Devon-shire grew formidable for that County was not only far from the Court but it was generally inclined to the former superstition and many of the old Priests run in among them They came together on the 10th of June being Whit-Munday and in a short time they grew to be 10000 strong At Court it was hoped this might be as easily dispersed as the other Risings were but the Protector was against running into extremities and so did not move so speedily as the thing required He after some days at last sent the Lord Russel with a small Force to stop their Proceedings And that Lord remembring well how the Duke of Norfolk had with a very small Army broken a formidable Rebellion in the former Reign hoped that time would likewise weaken and dis-unite these and therefore he kept at some distance and offered to receive their Complaints and to send them to the Council But these delays gave advantage and strength to the Rebels who were now led on by some Gentlemen Arundel of Cornwall being in chief Command among them and in answer to the Lord Russel they agreed on fifteen Articles the Substance of which was as follows 1. That all the General Councils Their Demands and the Decrees of their Forefathers should be observed 2. That the Act of the Six Articles should be again in force 3. That the Mass should be in Latin and that the Priests alone should receive 4. That the Sacrament should be hanged up and worshiped and those who refused to do it should suffer as Hereticks 5. That the Sacrament should only be given to the People at Easter in one kind 6. That Baptism should be done at all times 7. That Holy Bread Holy Water and Palms be again used and that Images be set up with all the other ancient Ceremonies 8. That the new Service should be laid aside since it was like a Christmas Game and the old Service again should be used with the Procession in Latin 9. That all Preachers in their Sermons and Priests in the Mass should pray for the Souls in Purgatory 10. That the Bible should be called in since otherwise the Clergy could not easily confound the Hereticks 11. That Dr. Moreman and Crispin should be sent to them and put in their Livings 12. That Cardinal Pool should be restored and made of the Kings Council 13. That every Gentleman might have only one Servant for every hundred Marks of yearly Rent that belonged to him 14. That the half of the Abbey and Church-Lands should be taken back and restored to two of the chief Abbeys in every County and all the Church Boxes for seven years should be given to such Houses that so devout Persons might live in them who should pray for the King and the Common-wealth 15. And that for their particular grievances they should be redressed as Humphrey Arundel and the Major of Bodmyn should inform the King for whom they desired a safe conduct These Articles being sent to the Council the Arch-bishop of Canterbury was ordered to draw an Answer to them which I have seen corrected with his own Hand Cranmer drew an Answer to them Ex MS. Col. C. C. Cantab. The Substance of it was That their Demands were insolent such as were dictated to them by some seditious Priests they did not know what General Councils had decreed nor was there any thing in the Church of England contrary to them though many things had been formerly received which were so and for the Decrees they were framed by the Popes to enslave the World of which he gave several Instances For the Six Articles he says They had not been carried in Parliament if the late King had not gone thither in Person and procured that Act and yet of his own accord he slackened the execution of it To the third it was strange that they did not desire to know in what terms they worshiped God and for the Mass the ancient Canons required the People to communicate in it and the Prayers in the Office of the Mass did still imply that they were to do it For the hanging up and adoring the Host it was but lately set up by Pope Innocent and Honorius and in some Places it had never been received For the fifth the Ancient
Articles which he had not yet answered otherwise they would proceed against him as Contumax and hold him as Confessing But he adhered to his Appeal and so would answer no more New matter was also brought of his going out of St. Pauls in the midst of the Sermon on the 15th of the Month and so giving a publick disturbance and scandal and of his writing next day to the Lord Major not to suffer such Preachers to sow their ill Doctrine This was occasioned by the Preachers speaking against the Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament But he would give the Court no account of that matter so they adjourned to the 27th and from that to the first of October In that time great endeavours were used to perswade him to submit and to behave himself better for the future and upon that condition he was assured he should be gently used But he would yield to nothing So on the first of October when he was brought before them the Arch-bishop told him they had delayed so long being unwilling to proceed to extremities with him and therefore wished him to submit But he read another Writing by which he protested that he was brought before them by force and that otherwise he would not have come since that having appeal'd from them he looked on them as his Judges no more He said that he had also written a Petition to the Lord Chancellor complaining of the Delegates and desiring that his Appeal might be admitted and said by that Appeal it was plain that he esteemed the King to be cloathed with his full Royal Power now that he was under Age since he thus appealed to him Upon which the Arch-bishop the Bishop of Rochester Secretary Smith and the Dean of St. Pauls He is deprived from his Bishoprick gave Sentence against him that since he had not declared the Kings Power while under Age in his Sermon as he was commanded by the Protector and Council therefore the Arch-bishop with the Consent and Assent of his Colleagues did deprive him of the Bishoprick of London Sentence being thus given he appealed again by word of mouth The Court did also order him to be carried to Prison till the King should consider further of it This account of his Trial is drawn from the Register of London where all these Particulars are inserted From thence it was that Fox printed them For Bonner though he was afterward Commissioned by the Queen to deface any Records that made against the Catholick Cause yet did not care to alter any thing in this Register after his re-admission in Queen Maries time It seems he was not displeased with what he found Recorded of himself in this matter Thus was Bonner deprived of his Bishoprick of London Censures past upon it This Judgment as all such things are was much censured It was said it was not Canonical since it was by a Commission from the King and since Secular Men were mixed with Clergy-men in the censure of a Bishop To this it was answered That the Sentence being only of deprivation from the See of London it was not so entirely an Ecclesiastical Censure but was of a mixed nature so that Lay-men might joyn in it and since he had taken a Commission from the King for his Bishoprick by which he held it only during the Kings pleasure he could not complain of this deprivation which was done by the Kings Authority Others who looked further back remembred that Constantine the Emperor had appointed Secular Men to enquire into some things objected to Bishops who were called Cognitores or Triers and such had examined the business of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage even upon an Appeal after it had been tried in several Synods and given Judgment against Donatus and his Party The same Constantine had also by his Authority put Eustathius out of Antioch Athanasius out of Alexandria and Paul out of Constantinople and though the Orthodox Bishops complained of these Particulars as done unjustly at the false suggestion of the Arrians yet they did not deny the Emperors Authority in such Cases Afterwards the Emperors used to have some Bishops attending on them in their Comitatus or Court to whose Judgment they left most Causes who acted only by Commission from the Emperor So Epiphanius was brought to condemn Chrysostome at Constantinople who had no Authority to judge him by the Canons Others objected that it was too severe to deprive Bonner for a defect in his memory and that therefore they should have given him a new Tryal in that Point and not have proceeded to censure him on such an omission since he protested it was not on design but a pure forgetfulness and all People perceived clearly it had been before hand resolved to lay him aside and that therefore they now took him on this disadvantage and so deprived him But it was also well known that all the Papists infused this Notion into the People of the Kings having no Power till he came to be of Age and he being certainly one of them there was reason to conclude that what he said for his defence was only a Pretence and that it was of design that he had omitted the mentioning the Kings Power when under Age. The adding of Imprisonment to his Deprivation was thought by some to be an extream accumulation of Punishments But that was no more than what he drew upon himself by his rude and contemptuous behaviour However it seems that some of these Objections wrought on Secretary Petre for he never sate with the Delegates after the first day and he was now turning about to another Party On the other hand Bonner was little pitied by most that knew him He was a cruel and fierce Man he understood little of Divinity his Learning being chiefly in the Canon Law Besides he was looked on generally as a Man of no Principles All the obedience he gave either to the Laws or the Kings Injunctions was thought a compliance against his Conscience extorted by fear And his undecent carriage during his process had much exposed him to the People so that it was not thought to be hard dealing though the Proceedings against him were summary and severe Nor did his carriage afterward during his imprisonment discover much of a Bishop or a Christian For he was more concerned to have Puddings and Pears sent him than for any thing else This I gather from some original Letters of his to Richard Leechmore Esq in Worcester-shire which were communicated to me by his Heir Lineally descended from him the Worshipful Mr. Leechmore now the Senior Bencher of the Middle-Temple of which I transcribed the latter part of one Collection Number 37. that will be found in the Collection In it he desires a large quantity of Pears and Puddings to be sent him otherwise he gives those to whom he writes an odd sort of Benediction very unlike what became a Man of his Character he gives them to the Devil to the Devil
minds and for other things they referred them to Hobbey that carried the Letter which is in the Collection upon this the Council sent Sir Anthony Wingfield Collection Number 44. Sir Anthony St. Leiger and Sir J. Williams to Windsor with a charge to see that the Duke of Somerset should not withdraw before they arrived and that Sir Tho. Smith the Secretary Sir Michael Stanhop Sir John Thynn Edw. Wolfe and William Cecil should be restrained to their Chambers till they examined them On the 12th of October the whole Council went to Windsor and coming to the King they protested that all they had done was out of the zeal and affection they had to his Person and Service The King received them kindly and thanked them for their care of him and assured them that he took all they had done in good part On the 13th day they sate in Council and sent for those who were ordered to be kept in their Chambers only Cecil was let go They charged them that they had been the chief Instruments about the Duke of Somerset in all his wilful Proceedings therefore they turned Smith out of his Place of Secretary and sent him with the rest to the Tower of London He is accused and sent to the Tower Collection Number 45. On the day following the Protector was called before them and Articles of Misdemeanours and high Treason were laid to his charge which will be found in the Collection The Substance of them was That being made Protector on condition that he should do nothing without the consent of the other Executors he had not observed that Condition but had treated with Ambassadors made Bishops and Lord-Lieutenants by his own Authority and that he had held a Court of Requests in his own House and had done many things contrary to Law had embased the Coin had in the Matter of Inclosures set out Proclamations and given Commissions against the mind of the whole Council that he had not taken care to suppress the late Insurrections but had justified and encouraged them that he had neglected the Places the King had in France by which means they were lost that he had perswaded the King that the Lords who met at London intended to destroy him and had desired him never to forget it but to revenge it and had required some young Lords to keep it in his remembrance and had caused those Lords to be proclaimed Traitors that he had said If he should die the King should die too that he had carried the King so suddenly to Windsor that he was not only put in great fear but cast into a dangerous disease that he had gathered the People and armed them for War and had armed his Friends and Servants and left the Kings Servants unarmed and that he intended to fly to Jersey or Garnsey So he was sent to the Tower being conducted thither by the Earls of Sussex and Huntington That day the King was carried back again to Hampton-Court and an Order was made that six Lords should be the Governours of his Person who were the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Warwick and Arundel the Lords St. John Russel and Wentworth Two of those were in their course to attend constantly on the King Censures passed upon him And thus fell the Duke of Somerset from his high Offices and great Trust The Articles objected to him seem to say as much for his justification as the Answers could do if they were in my Power He is not accused of rapine cruelty or bribery but only of such things as are incident to all Men that are of a sudden exalted to a high and disproportioned greatness What he did about the Coin was not for his own advantage but was done by a common mistake of many Governours who in the necessity of their Affairs fly to this as their last shift to draw out their business as long as is possible but it ever rebounds on the Government to its great prejudice and loss He bore his Fall more equally than he had done his Prosperity and set himself in his imprisonment to study and reading and falling on a Book that treated of Patience both from the Principles of Moral Philosophy and of Christianity he was so much taken with it that he ordered it to be translated into English and writ a Preface to it himself mentioning the great comfort he had found in reading it which had induced him to take care that others might reap the like benefit from it Peter Martyr writ him also a long consolatory Letter which was printed both in Latin and in an English Translation and all the Reformed both in England and abroad looked on his Fall as a publick loss to that whole Interest which he had so steadily set forward But on the other hand The Papists much lifted up the Popish Party were much lifted up at his Fall and the rather because they knew the Earl of Southampton who they hoped should have directed all Affairs was entirely theirs It was also believed that the Earl of Warwick had given them secret Assurances So it was understood at the Court of France as Thuanus writes They had also among the first things they did gone about to discharge the Duke of Norfolk of his long imprisonment in consideration of his great Age his former Services and the extremity of the Proceedings against him which were said to have flowed chiefly from the ill Offices the Duke of Somerset had done him But this was soon laid aside So now the Papists made their Addresses to the Earl of Warwick The Bishop of Winchester wrote to him a hearty Congratulation rejoycing that the late tyranny so he called the Duke of Somersets Administration was now at an end he wished him all prosperity and desired that when he had leisure from the great Affairs that were in so unsetled a condition some regard might be had of him The Bishop of London being also in good hopes since the Protector and Smith whom he esteemed his chief Enemies were now in disgrace and Cranmer was in cold if not in ill terms with the Earl of Warwick sent a Petition that his Appeal might be received and his Process reviewed But their hopes soon vanish Many also began to fall off from going to the English Service or the Communion hoping that all would be quickly undone that had been setled by the Duke of Somerset But the Earl of Warwick finding the King so zealously addicted to the carrying on of the Reformation that nothing could recommend any one so much to him as the promoting it further would do soon forsook the Popish Party and was seemingly the most earnest on a further Reformation that was possible I do not find that he did write any Answer to the Bishop of Winchester He continued still a Prisoner And for Bonners Matter there was a new Court of Delegates appointed to review his Appeal consisting of four Civilians and four Common Lawyers who
prevailed with to do it Heath Bishop of Worcester put in Prison for not agreeing with the others appointed to draw the Book for Ordinations Wherefore on the fourth of March he was committed to the Fleet because as it is entred in the Council Books that he obstinately denied to subscribe the Book for the making of Bishops and Priests He had hitherto opposed every thing done towards Reformation in Parliament though he had given an entire obedience to it when it was enacted He was a Man of a gentle temper and great prudence that understood Affairs of State better than Matters of Religion But now it was resolved to rid the Church of those Compliers who submitted out of fear or interest to save their Benefices but were still ready upon any favourable conjuncture to return back to the old superstition As for the Forms of Ordination they found that the Scripture mentioned only the Imposition of Hands and Prayer In the Apostolical Constitutions In the fourth Council of Carthage and in the pretended Works of Denis the Areopagite there was no more used Therefore all those additions of Anointing and giving them Consecrated Vestments were later Inventions But most of all the conceit which from the time of the Council of Florence was generally received that the Rites by which a Priest was ordained were the delivering him the Vessels for consecrating the Eucharist with a Power to offer Sacrifice to God for the dead and the living This was a vain Novelty only set up to support the belief of Transubstantiation and had no ground in the Scriptures nor the Primitive Practice So they agreed on a Form of ordaining Deacons Priests and Bishops which is the same we yet use except in some few words that have been added since in the Ordination of a Priest or Bishop For there was then no express mention made in the words of Ordaining them that it was for the one or the other Office In both it was said Receive thou the Holy Ghost in the Name of the Father c. But that having been since made use of to prove both Functions the same it was of late years altered as it is now Nor were these words being the same in giving both Orders any ground to infer that the Church esteemed them one Order the rest of the Office shewing the contrary very plainly Another difference between the Ordination Book set out at that time and that we now use was that the Bishop was to lay his one Hand on the Priests Head and with his other to give him a Bible with a Chalice and Bread in it saying the words now said at the delivery of the Bible In the Consecration of a Bishop there was nothing more than what is yet in use save that a Staff was put into his Hand with this Blessing Be to the Flock of Christ a Shepherd By the Rule of this Ordinal a Deacon was not to be ordained before he was 21 a Priest before he was 24 nor a Bishop before he was 30 years of Age. The Additions brought into the Church of Rome in giving Orders In this Ritual all those superadded Rites were cut off which the later Ages had brought in to dress up these Performances with the more pomp whereof we have since a more perfect account than it was possible for them then to have For in our Age Morinus a learned Priest of the Oratorian Order has published the most ancient Rituals he could find by which it appears how these Offices swelled in every Age by some new addition About the middle of the sixth Century they anointed and blessed the Priests Hands in some parts of France though the Greek Church never used anointing nor was it in the Roman Church two Ages after that for Pope Nicolaus the first plainly says it was never used in the Church of Rome In the 8th Century the Priests Garments were given with a special Benediction for the Priests offering expiatory Sacrifices It was no ancienter that that Phrase was used in Ordinations and in that same Age there was a special Benediction of the Priests Hands used before they were anointed and then his Head was anointed This was taken partly from the Levitical Law and partly because the People believed that their Kings derived the Sacredness of their Persons from their being anointed So the Priests having a mind to have their Persons secured and exempted from all Secular Power were willing enough to use this Rite in their Ordinations and in the 10th Century when the belief of Transubstantiation was received the delivering of the Vessels for the Eucharist with the Power of offering Sacrifices was brought in besides a great many other Rites So that the Church did never tie it self to one certain Form of Ordinations nor did it always make them with the same Prayers for what was accounted anciently the Form of Ordination was in the later Ages but a preparatory Prayer to it Interrogations and Sponsions in the new Book The most considerable addition that was made in the Book of Ordinations was the putting Questions to the Persons to be ordained who by answering these make solemn Declarations or Sponsions and Vows to God The first Question when one is presented to Orders is Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration to serve God for the promoting his Glory and for the edifying of his People To which he is to answer He trusts he is It has been oft lamented that many come to receive Orders before ever they have seriously read over these Questions and examined themselves whether they could with a good Conscience make the Answers there prescribed since it is scarce credible that Men of common honesty would lie in the Presence of God on so great an occasion and yet it is too visible that many have not any such inward vocation nor have ever considered seriously what it is If it were well apprehended that heat that many have to get into Orders would soon abate who perhaps have nothing in their Eye but some Place of Profit or Benefice to which way must be made by that preceding Ceremony and so enter into Orders as others are associated into Fraternities and Corporations with little previous sense of that Holy Character they are to receive when they thus dedicate their Lives and Labours to the Service of God in the Gospel In the Primitive Church the apprehension of this made even good and holy Men afraid to enter under such Bonds and therefore they were often to be drag'd almost by force or catched at unawares and be so initiated as appears in the Lives of these two Greek Fathers Nazianzen and Chrysostome If Men make their first step to the Holy Altar by such a lye as is their pretending to a motion of the Holy Ghost concerning which they know little but that they have nothing at all of it they have no reason to expect that
the want of faithful Teachers and intreated the Arch-bishop to see to the mending of this and to think on some stricter ways of examining those who were to be ordained than barely the putting of some Questions to them All this I have gathered out the more largely that it may appear how carefully things were then considered and that almost in every particular the most material things which Bucer excepted to were corrected afterwards But at the same time the King having taken such care of him that hearing he had suffered in his health last Winter by the want of a Stove such as is used in Germany he had sent him 20 l. to have one made for him he was told that the King would expect a New-years-gift from him of a Book made for his own use So upon that occasion he writ a Book entituled Bucer writ a Book for the Kings use Concerning the Kingdom of Christ. He sets out in it the miseries of Germany which he says were brought on them by their sins for they would bear no discipline nor were the Ministers so earnest in it as was fitting though in Hungary it was otherwise He writes largely of Ecclesiastical Discipline which was intended chiefly for separating ill Men from the Sacrament and to make good Men avoid their company whereby they might be ashamed He presses much the Sanctification of the Lords-day and of the other Holy-days and that there might be many days of Fasting but he thought Lent had been so abused that other times for it might be more expedient He complains much of Pluralities and Non-residence as a remainder of Popery so hurtful to the Church that in many Places there were but one or two or few more Sermons in a whole year But he thought that much was not to be expected from the greatest part of the Clergy unless the King would set himself vigorously to Reform these things Lastly he would have a compleat exposition of the Doctrine of the Church digested and set out and he proposed divers Laws to the Kings consideration as 1. For Catechising Children 2. For Sanctifying Holy-days 3. For Preserving Churches for Gods Service not to be made Places for walking or for Commerce 4. To have the Pastoral Function entirely restored to what it ought to be that Bishops throwing off all Secular cares should give themselves to their Spiritual Employments he advises that Coadjutors might be given to some and a Council of Presbyters be appointed for them all It was plain that many of them complied with the Laws against their minds these he would have deprived He advises Rural Bishops to be set over twenty or thirty Parishes who should gather their Clergy often together and inspect them closely And that a Provincial Synod should meet twice a year where a Secular Man in the Kings Name should be appointed to observe their Proceedings 5. For restoring Church-Lands that all who served the Church might be well provided If any lived in luxury upon their high Revenues it was reasonable to make them use them better but not to blame or rob the Church for their fault 6. For the maintenance of the Poor for whom anciently a fourth part of the Churches Goods was assigned The 7th was about Marriage That the prohibited degrees might be well setled Marriage without consent of Parents annulled and that a second Marriage might be lawful after a Divorce which he thought might be made for Adultery and some other reasons 8. For the Education of Youth 9. For restraining the excess of some Peoples living 10. For reforming and explaining the Laws of the Land which his Father had begun 11. To place good Magistrates that no Office should be sold and that Inferior Magistrates should often give an account to the Superior of the Administration of their Offices 12. To consider well who were made Judges 13. To give order that none should be put in Prison upon slight offences The 14th was for moderating of some punishments chiefly the putting Thieves to death which was too severe whereas Adultery was too slightly passed over though Adultery be a greater wrong to the suffering Party than any Theft and so was punished with death by Moses Law This Book was sent to the young King And he having received it The King thinks of Reforming many abuses set himself to write a general Discourse about a Reformation of the Nation which is the second among the Discourses written by him that follow the Journal of his Reign Coll. K. Edw. Remains Number 2. In it he takes notice of the Corrections of the Book of the Liturgy which were then under consideration as also that it was neccssary there should be a Rule of Church-discipline for the censures of ill Livers but he thought that Power was not to be put into the Hands of all the Bishops at that time From thence he goes on to discourse of the ill state of the Nation and of the remedies that seemed proper for it The first he proposes was the Education of Youth next the correction of some Laws and there either broke it off or the rest of it is lost In which as there is a great discovery of a marvellous probity of mind so there are strange hints to come from one not yet fourteen years of Age. And yet it is all written with his own Hand and in such a manner that any who shall look on the Original will clearly see it was his own Work The Stile is simple and sutable to a Child few Men can make such Composures but somewhat above a Child will appear in their Stile which makes me conclude it was all a device of his own This Year the King began to write his Journal himself He writes a Journal of all Proceedings during his Reign The first three years of his Reign are set down in a short way of recapitulating matters But this Year he set down what was done every day that was of any moment together with the Forreign News that were sent over And oftentimes he called to mind Passages some days after they were done and sometime after the middle of a Month he tells what was done in the beginning of it Which shews clearly it was his own Work for if it had been drawn for him by any that were about him and given him only to copy out for his memory it would have been more exact so that there remains no doubt with me but that it was his own originally And therefore since all who have writ of that time have drawn their Informations from that Journal and though they have printed some of the Letters he wrote when a Child which are indeed the meanest things that ever fell from him yet except one little fragment nothing of it has been yet published I have copied it out entirely and set it before my Collection Coll. K. Edw. Remains Number 1. I have added to it some other Papers that were also writ by him The first
are two Sacraments which are not bare Tokens of our Profession but effectual Signs of Gods good Will to us which strengthen our Faith yet not by vertue only of the Work wrought but in those who receive them worthily The 27th That the vertue of these does not depend on the Minster of them The 28th That by Baptism we are the adopted Sons of God and that Infant Baptism is to be commended and in any ways to be retained The 29th That the Lords Supper is not a bare Token of love among Christians but is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is contrary to Scripture and hath given occasion to much Superstition that a Body being only in one place and Christs Body being in Heaven therefore there cannot be a real and bodily Presence of his Flesh and Blood in it and that this Sacrament is not to be kept carried about lifted up nor worshiped The 30th That there is no other Propitiatory Sacrifice but that which Christ offered on the Cross The 31st That the Clergy are not by Gods command obliged to abstain from Marriage The 32d That Persons rightly excommunicated are to be looked on as Heathens till they are by Penance reconciled and received by a Judge competent The 33d It is not necessary that Ceremonies should be the same at all times but such as refuse to obey lawful Ceremonies ought to be openly reproved as offending against Law and Order giving scandal to the weak The 34th That the Homilies are godly and wholesom and ought to be read The 35th That the Book of Common-Prayer is not repugnant but agreeable to the Gospel and ought to be received by all The 36th That the King is Supream Head under Christ that the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in England that the Civil Magistrate is to be obeyed for Conscience sake that Men may be put to death for great offences and that it is lawful for Christians to make War The 37th That there is not to be a community of all Mens Goods but yet every Man ought to give to the Poor according to his ability The 38th That though rash swearing is condemned yet such as are required by the Magistrate may take an Oath The 39th That the Resurrection is not already past but at the last day Men shall rise with the same Bodies they now have The 40th That departed Souls do not die nor sleep with their Bodies and continue without sense till the last day The 41st That the Fable of the Millenaries is contrary to Scripture and a Jewish dotage The last condemned those who believe that the damned after some time of suffering shall be saved Thus was the Doctrine of the Church cast into a short and plain Form in which they took care both to establish the positive Articles of Religion and to cut off the errors formerly introduced in the time of Popery or of late broached by the Anabaptists and Enthusiasts of Germany avoiding the niceties of School-men or the peremptoriness of the Writers of Controversie leaving in matters that are more justly controvertible a liberty to Divines to follow their private Opinions without thereby disturbing the Peace of the Church There was in the Ancient Church a great simplicity in their Creeds and the Exposition of the Doctrine But afterwards upon the breaking out of the Arrian and other Heresies concerning the Person of Jesus Christ as the Orthodox Fathers were put to find out new Terms to drive the Hereticks out of the equivocal use of these formerly received so they too soon grew to love niceties and to explain Mysteries with Similies and other subtilties which they invented and Councils afterwards were very liberal in their Anathematismes against any who did not agree in all Points to their Terms or ways of Explanation And though the Council of Ephesus decreed That there should be no Additions made to the Creed they understood that not of the whole Belief of Christians but only of the Creed it self and did also load the Christian Doctrine with many Curiosities But though they had exceeded much yet the School-men getting the management of the Doctrine spun their Thread much finer and did easily procure Condemnations either by Papal Bulls or the Decrees of such Councils as met in these times of all that differed from them in the least matter Upon the progress of the Reformation the German Writers particularly Osiander Illiricus and Amstorfius grew too peremptory and not only condemned the Helvetian Churches for differing from them in the manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament but were severe to one another for lesser Punctilio's and were at this time exercising the patience of the great and learned Melancton because he thought that in things of their own Nature indifferent they ought to have complied with the Emperor This made those in England resolve on composing these Articles with great temper in many such Points Only one Notion that has been since taken up by some seems not to have been then thought of which is That these were rather Articles of Peace than of Belief so that the subscribing was rather a Compromise not to teach any Doctrine contrary to them than a Declaration that they believed according to them There appears no reason for this conceit no such thing being then declared so that those who subscribed did either believe them to be true or else they did grosly prevaricate The next Business in which the Reformers were employed this Year Some Corrections made in the Common-Prayer-Book was the correcting the Common-Prayer-Book and the making some Additions with the changing of such Particulars as had been retained only for a time The most considerable Additions were That in the daily Service they prepared a short but most simple and grave Form of a general Confession of sins in the use of which they intended that those who made this Confession should not content themselves with a bare recital of the Words but should joyn with them in their Hearts a particular Confession of their private sins to God To this was added a General Absolution or Pronouncing in the Name of God the pardon of sin to all those who did truly repent and unfeignedly believe the Gospel For they judged that if the People did seriously practise this it would keep up in their thoughts frequent reflections on their sins and it was thought that the pronouncing a Pardon upon these Conditions might have a better effect on the People than that absolute and unqualified Pardon which their Priests were wont to give in Confession By which Absolution in times of Popery the People were made to believe that their sins were thereupon certainly forgiven than which nothing could be invented that would harden them into a more fatal security when they thought a full Pardon could be so readily purchased But now they heard the terms on which they could only expect it every day promulgated to them The other
Addition was also made upon good consideration in the Office of the Communion to which the People were observed to come without due seriousness or preparation therefore for awakening their Consciences more feelingly it was ordered that the Office of the Communion should begin with a solemn pronouncing of the Ten Commandments all the Congregation being on their Knees as if they were hearing that Law a-new and a stop to be made at every Commandment for the Peoples devotion of imploring mercy for their past offences and Grace to observe it for the time to come This seemed as effectual a Mean as they could devise till Church-penitence were again set up to beget in Men deep reflections on their sins and to prepare them thereby to receive that Holy Sacrament worthily The other Changes were the removing of some Rites which had been retained in the former Book such as the use of Oyl in Confirmation and Extream Unction the Prayers for Souls departed both in the Communion-Service and in the Office of Burial the leaving out some Passages in the Consecration of the Eucharist that seemed to favour the Belief of the Corporal Presence with the use of the Cross in it and in Confirmation with some smaller variations And indeed they brought the whole Liturgy to the same Form in which it is now except some inconsiderable variations that have been since made for the clearing of some Ambiguities An Aâ—count of kneeling in the Communion In the Office of the Communion they added a Rubrick concerning the posture of kneeling which was appointed to be still the gesture of Communicants It was hereby declared that that gesture was kept up as a most reverent and humble way of expressing our great sense of the Mercies of God in the death of Christ there communicated to us but that thereby there was no adoration intended to the Bread and Wine which were gross Idolatry nor did they think the very Flesh and Blood of Christ were there present since his Body according to the nature of all other Bodies could be only in one place at once and so he being now in Heaven could not be corporally present in the Sacrament This was by Queen Elizabeth ordered to be left out of the Common-Prayer-Book since it might have given offence to some otherwise inclinable to the Communion of the Church who yet retained the belief the Corporal Presence But since his present Majesties Restoration many having excepted to the Posture as apprehending some thing like Idolatry or Superstition might lie under it if it were not rightly explained that Explication which was given in King Edwards time was again inserted in the Common-Prayer-Book For the Posture it is most likely that the first Institution was in the Table-gesture which was lying along on one side But it was apparent in our Saviours Practice that the Jewish Church had changed the Posture of that Institution of the Passover in whose room the Eucharist came For though Moses had appointed the Jews to eat their Paschal Lamb standing with their Loins girt with Staves in their Hands and Shooes on their Feet yet the Jews did afterwards change this into the Common-Table-Posture of which change though there is no mention in the Old Testament yet we see it was so in our Saviours time and since he complied with the common Custom we are sure that Change was not criminal It seemed reasonable to allow the Christian Church the like Power in such things with the Jewish and as the Jews thought their coming into the Promised Land might be a Warrant to lay aside the Posture appointed by Moses which became Travellers best so Christ being now exalted it seemed fit to receive this Sacrament with higher Marks of outward respect than had been proper in the first Institution when he was in the state of Humiliation and his Divine Glory not yet so fully revealed Therefore in the Primitive Church they received standing and bending their Body in a posture of Adoration But how soon that Gesture of kneeling came in is not so exactly observed nor is it needful to know But surely there is a great want of ingenuity in them that are pleased to apply these Orders of some later Popes for kneeling at the Elevation to our kneeling when ours is not at one such part which might be more liable to exception but during the whole Office by which it is one continued Act of Worship and the Communicants kneel all the while But of this no more needs to be said than is exprest in the Rubrick which occasioned this Digression Thus were the Reformations both of Doctrine and Worship prepared To which all I can add of this Year is Some Orders given to the Kings Chaplains that there were six eminent Preachers chosen out to be the Kings Chaplains in Ordinary two of those were always to attend at Court and four to be sent over England to preach and instruct the People In the first year two of these were to go into Wales and the other two into Lancashire the next year two into the Marches of Scotland and two into York-shire the third year two into Devon-shire and two into Hamp-shire and the fourth year two into Norfolk and two into Kent and Sussex These were Bill Harle Pern Grindal Bradford the Name of the sixth is so dashed in the Kings Journal that it cannot be read These it seems were accounted the most zealous and readiest Preachers of that time who were thus sent about as Itinerants to supply the defects of the greatest part of the Clergy who were generally very faulty The Business of the Lady Mary was now taken up with more heat than formerly The Emperors earnest sute The Lady Mary continued to have Mass said in her Chappel that she might have Mass in her House was long rejected for it was said that as the King did not interpose in the matters of the Emperors Government so there was no reason for the Emperor to meddle in his Affairs Yet the state of England making his friendship at that time necessary to the King and he refusing to continue in his League unless his Kinswoman obtained that favour it was promised that for some time in hope she would reform there should be a forbearance granted The Emperors Ambassadors pressed to have a License for it under the Great Seal It was answered That being against Law it could not be done Then they desired to have it certified under the Kings Hand in a Letter to the Emperor but even that was refused So that they only gave a Promise for some time by word of mouth and Paget and Hobby who had been the Ambassadors with the Emperor declared they had spoke of it to him with the same limitations But the Emperor who was accustomed to take for absolute what was promised only under conditions writ to the Lady Mary that he had an absolute Promise for the free exercise of her Religion and so she pretended this when she
was at any time questioned about it The two Grounds she went on were that she would follow the ancient and universal way of Worship and not a new invention that lay within the four Seas and that she would continue in that Religion in which her Father had instructed her To this the King sent an Answer telling her That she was a part of this Church and Nation and so must conform her self to the Laws of it that the way of Worship now set up was no other than what was clearly consonant to the pure Word of God and the King 's being young was not to be pretended by her lest she might seem to agree with the late Rebels After this she was sent for to Court and pains was taken to instruct her better But she refused to hear any thing or to enter into any reasonings but said she would still do as she had done And she claimed the Promise that was said to be made to the Emperor But it was told her that it was but temporary and conditional Whereupon the last Summer she was designing to fly out of England and the King of France gave Sir John Mason the English Resident notice that the Regent of Flanders had hired one Scipperus who should Land on the Coast of Essex as if it had been to victual his Ship and was to have conveyed her away Upon this Information order was given to see well to the Coast so the design being discovered nothing could be effected It was certainly a strange advice to carry her away and no less strange in the Kings Ministers to hinder it if there was at that time any design formed to put her by her Succession For if she had been beyond Sea at the Kings death it is not probable that she could have easily come to the Crown The Emperors Ambassador solicited for her violently and said he would presently take leave and protest that they had broken their Faith to his Master who would resent the usage of the Lady Mary as highly as if it were done immediately to himself The Counsellors having no mind to draw a new War on their Heads especially from so victorious a Prince were all inclined to let the matter fall There was also a years Cloath lately sent over to Antwerp and 1500 Cinqtails of Powder with a great deal of Armour bought there for the Kings use was not come over So it was thought by no means advisable to provoke the Emperor while they had such effects in his Ports nor were they very willing to give higher provocations to the next Heir of the Crown Therefore they all advised the King not to do more in that matter at present but to leave the Lady Mary to her discretion who would certainly be made more cautious by what she had met with and would give as little scandal as was possible by her Mass But the King could not be induced to give way to it for he thought the Mass was impious and idolatrous The King is very earnest against it so he would not consent to the continuance of such a sin Upon this the Council ordered Cranmer Ridley and Poinet to discourse about it with him They told him that it was always a sin in a Prince to permit any sin but to give a connivance that is not to punish was not always a sin since sometimes a lesser evil connived at might prevent a greater He was overcome by this yet not so easily but that he burst forth in Tears lamenting his Sisters obstinacy and that he must suffer her to continue in so abominable a way of Worship as he esteemed the Mass So he answered the Emperors Agents that he should send over an Ambassador to clear that matter And Dr. Wotton was dispatched about it who carried over Attestations from all the Council concerning the qualifications of the Promise that had been made and was instructed to press the Emperor not to trouble the King in his Affairs at home in his own Kingdom If the Lady Mary was his Kinswoman she was the Kings Sister and Subject He was also to offer that the King would grant as much liberty for the Mass in his Dominions as the Emperor would grant for the English Service in his Dominions But the Emperor pretended that when her Mother died she left her to his protection which he had granted her and so must take care of her And the Emperor was so exalted with his Successes that he did not easily bear any contradiction But the Council being further offended with her for the project of going beyond Sea and being now less in fear of the Emperor since they had made Peace with France resolved to look more nearly to her And finding that Dr. Mallet and Berkley her Chaplains had said Mass in one of her Houses when she was not in it they ordered them to be proceeded against Upon which in December the last year she writ earnestly to the Council to let it fall By her Letter it appears that Mallet used to be sometimes at his Benefice where it is certain he could officiate no other way but in that prescribed by Law so it seems his Conscience was not very scrupulous The Council writ her a long Answer The Council writ to her of it which being in the Stile of a Church-man seems to have been penned either by Cranmer or Ridley In which Letter they fully clear'd the matter of the Promise then they shewed how express the Law was with which they could not dispense and how ill grounded her Faith as she called it was They asked her what Warrant there was in Scripture that the Prayers should be in an unknown Tongue that Images should be in the Church or that the Sacrament should be offered up for the Dead They told her that in all Questions about Religion St. Austin and the other ancient Doctors appealed to the Scripture and if she would look into these she would soon see the errors of the old Superstition which were supported by false Miracles and lying Stories and not by Scripture or good Authority They exprest themselves in terms full of submission to her but said they were trusted with the execution of the Kings Laws in which they must proceed equally So they required her if the Chaplains were in her House to send them to the Sheriff of Essex But it seems they kept out of the way and so the matter slept till the beginning of May this year that Mâ—llet was found and put in the Tower and convicted of his offence Upon this there passed many Letters between the Council and her she earnestly desiring to have him set at liberty and they as positively refusing to do it In July the Council sent for Rochester Inglefield and Walgrave three of her chief Officers and gave them Instructions to signifie the Kings express pleasure to her to have the new Service in her Family and to give the like charge to her Chaplains and all her
Gods Word but she was sure that was not now Gods Word that was called so in her Fathers days He said Gods Word was the same at all times She answered She was sure he durst not for his Ears have avowed these things in her Fathers time which he did now and for their Books as she thanked God she never had so she never would read them She also used many reproachful words to him and asked him If he was of the Council He said not She replied He might well enough be as the Council goes now a-days and so dismissed him thanking him for coming to see her but not at all for offering to preach before her Sir Tho. Wharton one of her Officers carried him to a place where he desired him to drink which Ridley did but reflecting on it said He had done amiss to drink in a place where Gods Word was rejected for if he had remembred his Duty he should upon that refusal have shaken the dust off his Feet for a Testimony against the House and have departed immediately These words he was observed to pronounce with an extraordinary concern and went away much troubled in his mind And this is all I find of the Lady Mary during this Reign For the Lady Elizabeth she had been always bred up to like the Reformation and Dr. Parker who had been her Mothers Chaplain received a strict charge from her Mother a little before her death to look well to the instructing her Daughter in the Principles of true Religion so that there is no doubt to be made of her chearful receiving all the changes that had been established by Law The Designs of the Earl of Warwick And this is all that concerns Religion that falls within this Year But now a design came to be laid which though it broke not out for some time yet it was believed to have had a great influence on the Fall of the Duke of Somerset The Earl of Warwick began to form great Projects for himself and thought to bring the Crown into his Family The King was now much alienated from the Lady Mary the Privy-Council had also embroiled themselves so with her that he imagined it would be no hard matter to exclude her from the Succession There was but one reason that could be pretended for it which was that she stood illegitimated by Law and that therefore the next Heirs in Blood could not be barred their right by her since it would be a great blot on the Honour of the English Crown to let it devolve on a Bastard This was as strong against the Lady Elizabeth since she was also illegitimated by a Sentence in the Spiritual Court and that confirmed in Parliament so if their jealousie of the elder Sisters Religion and the fear of her revenge moved them to be willing to cut her off from the Succession the same reason that was to be used in Law against her was also to take place against her Sister So he reckoned that these two were to be passed over as being put both in the Act of Succession and in the late Kings Will by one error The next in the Will were the Heirs of the French Queen by Charles Brandon who were the Dutchess of Suffolk and her Sister Though I have seen it often said in many Letters and Writings of that time that all that Issue by Charles Brandon was illegitimated since he was certainly married to one Mortimer before he married the Queen of France which Mortimer lived long after his Marriage to that Queen so that all her Children were Bastards some say he was divorced from his Marriage to Mortimer but that is not clear to me The Sweating Sickness This Year the Sweating Sickness that had been formerly both in Henry the 7th and the late King's Reign broke out with that violence in England that many were swept away by it Such as were taken with it died certainly if they slept to which they had a violent desire but if it took them not off in twenty four hours they did sweat out the venom of the distemper which raged so in London that in one week 800 died of it It did also spread into the Country and the two Sons of Charles Brandon by his last Wife both Dukes of Suffolk died within a day one of another So that Title was fallen Their Sister by the half Blood was married to Gray Lord Marquess of Dorset So she being the eldest Daughter to the French Queen the Earl of Warwick resolved to link himself to that Family and to procure the Honour of the Dukedome of Suffolk to be given the Marquess of Dorset who was a weak Man and easily governed He had three Daughters the eldest was Jane a Lady of as excellent qualities as any of that Age of great Parts bred to Learning and much conversant in Scripture and of so rare a temper of mind that she charmed all who knew her in particular the young King about whom she was bred and who had always lived with her in the familiarities of a Brother The Earl of Warwick designed to marry her to Guilford his fourth Son then living his three elder being already married and so to get the Crown to descend on them if the King should die of which it is thought he resolved to take care But apprehending some danger from the Lady Elizabeths Title he intended to send her away So an Ambassador was dispatched to Denmark to treat a Marriage for her with that Kings eldest Son To amuse the King himself a most splendid Embassy was sent to France The King treats with the French King for a Marriage with his Daughter to propose a Marriage for the King to that Kings Daughter Elizabeth afterwards married to Philip of Spain The Marquess of Northampton was sent with this Proposition and with the Order of the Garter With him went the Earls of Worcester Rutland and Ormond the Lords Lisle Fitzwater Bray Abergaveny and Evers and the Bishop of Ely who was to be their Mouth With them went many Gentlemen of Quality who with their Train made up near 500. King Henry received the Garter with great expressions of Esteem for the King The Bishop of Ely told him They were come to desire a more close tie between these Crowns by Marriage and to have the League made firmer between them in other Particulars To which the Cardinal of Lorrain made answer in his way of speaking which was always vain and full of ostentation A Commission was given to that Cardinal the Constable the Duke of Guise and others to treat about it The English began first for Forms sake to desire the Queen of Scots But that being rejected they moved for the Daughter of France which was entertained but so that neither Party should be bound in Honour and Conscience till the Lady were twelve years of Age. Yet this never taking effect it is needless to enlarge further about it of which the Reader will find
Darcy Sturton Windsor Cromwell Cobham and Bray The Crimes laid against him were cast into five several Indictments as the King has it in his Journal but the Record mentions only three whether Indictments or Articles is not so clear That he had designed to have seized on the Kings Person and so have governed all Affairs and that he with one hundred others intended to have imprisoned the Earl of Warwick afterwards Duke of Northumberland and that he had designed to have raised an Insurrection in the City of London Now by the Act that passed in the last Parliament if twelve Persons should have assembled together to have killed any Privy-Counsellor and upon Proclamation they had not dispersed themselves it was Treason or if such Twelve had been by any malicious Artifice brought together for any Riot and being warned did not disperse themselves it was Felony without benefit of Clergy or Sanctuary It seemed very strange that the three Peers Northumberland Northampton and Pembroke who were his professed Enemies and against the first of whom it was pretended in the Indictment that he had conspired should sit his Judges for though by the Law no Peer can be challenged in a Trial yet the Law of Nations that is Superior to all other Laws makes that a Man cannot be Judge in his own Cause and which was very unusual the Lord Chancellor though then a Peer was left out of the number but it is like the Reconciliation between the Duke of Somerset and him was then suspected which made him not be called to be one of his Judges The Duke of Somerset being it seems little acquainted with Law did not desire Council to plead or assist him in Point of Law but only answered to matters of Fact He prefaced that he desired no advantage might be taken against him for any idle or angry word that might have at any time fallen from him He protested he never intended to have raised the Northern Parts but had only upon some reports sent to Sir William Herbert to be his Friend that he had never determined to have killed the Duke of Northumberland or any other Person but had only talked of it without any intention of doing it that for the design of destroying the Gendarmoury it was ridiculous to think that he with a small Troop could destroy so strong a Body of Men consisting of 900 in which though he had succeeded it could have signified nothing that he never designed to raise any stirs in London but had always looked on it as a Place where he was most safe that his having Men about him in Greenwich was with no ill design since when he could have done mischief with them he had not done it but upon his Attachment rendred himself a Prisoner without any resistance He objected also many things against the Witnesses and desired they might be brought face to face He particularly spake much against Sir Tho. Palmer the chief Witness But the Witnesses were not brought only their Examinations were read Upon this the Kings Council pleaded against him that to levy War was certainly Treason that to gather Men with intention to kill Privy-Counsellors was also Treason that to have Men about him to resist the Attachment was Felony and to assault the Lords or contrive their deaths was Felony Whether he made any defence in Law or not does not appear For the material defence is not mentioned in all the accounts I have seen of it which was that these Conspiracies and gatherings of the Kings Subjects were only treasonable and fellonious after they had been required to disperse themselves and had refused to give obedience And in all this matter that is never so much as alledged no not in the Indictment it self to have been done It is plain it was not done For if any such Proclamation or Charge had been sent him it is probable he would either have obeyed it or gone into London or to the Country and tryed what he could have done by force but to have refused such a command and so to have come within the guilt of Treason and yet not to stir from his House are not things consistent When the Peers withdrew it seems the Proofs about his design of raising the North or the City or of the killing the Gandarmes did not satisfie them For all these had been without question treasonable So they only held to that Point of conspiring to imprison the Duke of Northumberland If he with Twelve Men about him had conspired to do that and had continued together after Proclamation it was certainly Felony But that not being pretended it seems there was no Proclamation made The Duke of Suffolk was of opinion that no contention among private Subjects should be on any account scrued up to be Treason The Duke of Northumberland said he would never consent that any practise against him And is acquitted of Treason but found guilty of Felony should be reputed Treason After a great difference of Opinion they all acquitted him of Treason But the greater number found him guilty of Felony When they returned him not guilty of Treason all the People who were much concerned for his preservation shouted for joy so loud and so long that they were heard at Charing-Cross But the joy lasted not long when they heard that he was condemned of Felony and Sentence was thereupon given that he should die as a Felon The Duke had carried himself all the while of the Trial with great temper and patience and though the Kings Council had in their usual way of Pleading been very bitter against him perhaps the rather that thereby they might recommend themselves to the Duke of Northumberland yet he never took notice of these reflections nor seemed much affected with them When Sentence was given he thanked the Lords for their favour and asked pardon of the Duke of Northumberland Northampton and Pembroke for his ill intentions against them and made sute for his Life and for his Wife and Children From thence he was carried back to the Tower Whether this asking the Lords pardon had in it a full Confession of the Crime charged on him or was only a complement to them that they might not obstruct his Pardon is but a matter of conjecture He confessed he had spoken of killing them and this made it reasonable enough for him to ask their pardon so that it does not imply a Confession of the Crime All People thought that being acquitted of Treason and there being no fellonious Action done by him but only an intention of one and that only of Imprisoning a Peer proved that one so nearly joyned to the King in Blood would never be put to death on such an occasion But to possess the King much against him a Story was brought him and put by him in his Journal That at the Dukes coming to the Tower he had confessed that he had hired one Bartuile to kill the Lords and that Bartuile himself acknowledged it and
them but if their Divines had any scruple in which they desired satisfaction with a humble and obedient mind they should be heard And for a safe Conduct he thought it was a distrusting the Council to ask any other than what was already granted Soon after this there arrived Ambassadors from Strasburg and from other five Cities and those sent from the Duke of Saxe were on their Journey so the Emperor ordered his Ambassadors to study to gain time till they came and then an effectual course must be taken for compassing that about which he had laboured so long in vain to bring it to a happy conclusion And thus this Year ended The Parliament was opened on the 23d of January 1552. A Session of Parliament and sate till the 15th of April So I shall begin this Year with the account of the Proceedings in it The first Act that was put into the House of Lords was for an Order to bring Men to Divine Service which was agreed to on the 26th and sent down to the Commons who kept it long before they sent it back On the 6th of April when it was agreed to the Earl of Darby the Bishops of Carlisle and Norwich and the Lords Sturton and Windsor dissented The Lords afterwards brought in another Bill for authorizing a new Common-Prayer-Book according to the Alterations which had been agreed on the former Year This the Commons joyned to the former and so put both in one Act. By it was first set forth That an Order of Divine Service being published An Act authorizing the new Common-Prayer-Book many did wilfully abstain from it and refused to come to their Parish-Churches therefore all are required after the Feast of All-hallows next to come every Sunday and Holy-day to Common-Prayers under pain of the Censures of the Church And the King the Lords Temporal and the Commons did in Gods Name require all Arch-bishops Bishops and other Ordinaries to endeavour the due execution of that Act as they would answer before God for such Evils and Plagues with which he might justly punish them for neglecting that good and wholesome Law and they were fully authorized to execute the Censures of the Church on all that should offend against this Law To which is added That there had been divers doubts raised about the manner of the Ministration of the Service rather by the curiosity of the Ministers and Mistakers than of any other worthy Cause and that for the better explanation of that and for the greater perfection of the Service in some places where it was fit to make the Prayer and fashion of Service more earnest and fit to stir Christian People to the true honouring of Almighty God therefore it had been by the Command of the King and Parliament perused explained and made more perfect They also annexed to it the Form of making Bishops Priests and Deacons and so appointed this new Book of Service to be every where received after the Feast of All-Saints next under the same Penalties that had been enacted three years before when the former Book was set out Which was much censured It was upon this Act said by the Papists That the Reformation was like to change as oft as the Fashion did since they seemed never to be at a Point in any thing but new Models were thus continually framing To which it was answered That it was no wonder that the corruptions which they had been introducing for above a thousand years were not all discovered or thrown out at once but now the business was brought to a fuller perfection and they were not like to see any more material Changes Besides any that would take the pains to compare the Offices that had been among the Papists would clearly perceive that in every Age there was such an encrease of additional Rites and Ceremonies that though the old ones were still retained yet it seemed there would be no end of new improvements and additions Others wondred why the execution of this Law was put off so long as till the end of the Year All the account I can give of this is that it was expected that by that time the new Body of the Ecclesiastical Laws which was now preparing should be finished and therefore since this Act was to be executed by the Clergy the day in which it was to be in force was so long delayed till that Reformation of their Laws were concluded An Act concerning Treasons On the 8th of February a Bill of Treasons was put in and agreed to by all the Lords except the Lord Wentworth It was sent down to the Commons where it was long disputed and many sharp things were said of those who now bore the sway that whereas they who governed in the beginning of this Reign had put in a Bill for lessening the number of such offences now they saw the change of Councils when severer Laws were proposed The Commons at last rejected the Bill and then drew a new one which was passed By it they Enacted That if any should call the King or any of his Heirs named in the Statute of the 35th of his Fathers Reign Heretick Schismatick Tyrant Infidel or Usurper of the Crown for the first offence they should forfeit their Goods and Chattels and be imprisoned during pleasure for the second should be in a Praemunire for the third should be attainted of Treason but any who should advisedly set that out in printing or writing was for the first offence to be held a Traitor And that those who should keep any of the Kings Castles Artillery or Ships six days after they were lawfully required to deliver them up should be guilty of Treason that Men might be proceeded against for Treasons committed out of the Kingdom as well as in it They added a Proviso That none should be Attainted of Treason on this Act unless two Witnesses should come and to their face averr the Fact for which they were to be tried except such as without any violence should confess it and that none should be questioned for any thing said or written but within three Months after it was done This Proviso seems clearly to have been made with relation to the Proceeding against the Duke of Somerset in which the Witnesses were not brought to averr the Evidence to his Face and by that means he was deprived of all the benefit and advantage which he might have had by cross examining them It is certain that though some false Witnesses have practised the Trade so much that they seem to have laid off all shame and have a brow that cannot be daunted yet for the greatest part a bright serenity and cheerfulness attends Innocence and a lowring dejection betrays the Guilty when the Innocent and they are confronted together On the 3d of March a Bill was brought into the Lords for Holy-days and Fasting days and sent down to the Commons on the 15th of March An Act about Fasts and Holy-days by
whom it was passed and had the Royal Assent In the Preamble it is set forth That Men are not at all times so set on the performance of Religious Duties as they ought to be which made it necessary that there should be set times in which labour was to cease that Men might on these days wholly serve God which days were not to be accounted holy of their own nature but were so called because of the Holy Duties then to be set about so that the Sanctification of them was not any Magical Vertue in that time but consisted in the dedicating them to Gods Service that no day was dedicated to any Saint but only to God in remembrance of such Saints that the Scripture had not determined the number of Holy-days but that these were left to the liberty of the Church Therefore they Enact That all Sundays with the days marked in the Calendar and Liturgy should be kept as Holy-days and the Bishops were to proceed by the Censures of the Church against the disobedient A Proviso was added for the observation of St. George's Feast by the Knights of the Garter and another That Labourers or Fisher-men might if need so required work on those days either in or out of Harvest The Eves before Holy-days were to be kept as Fasts and in Lent and on Fridays and Saturdays abstinence from Flesh was Enacted but if a Holy-day fell to be on a Mâ—nday the Eve for it was to be kept on Saturday since Sunday was never to be a Fasting-day But it was generally observed that in this and all such Acts the People were ready enough to lay hold on any relaxation made by it but did very slightly observe the stricter parts of it so that the liberty left to Trades-men to work in cases of necessity was carried further than it was intended to a too publick profanation of the time so sanctified and the other parts of it directing the People to a conscientious observing of such times was little minded On the 5th of March a Bill concerning the relief of the Poor was put into the House of Lords the Form of passing it has given occasion to some to take notice that though it is a Bill for taxing the Subjects yet it had its first birth in the Lords House and was agreed to by the Commons By it the Church-wardens were empow'red to gather charitable Collections for the Poor and if any did refuse to contribute or did disswade others from it the Bishop of the Diocess was to proceed against them On the 9th of March the Bishops put in a Bill for the security of the Clergy from some ambiguous words that were in the submission which the Convocation had made to King Henry in the 21st year of his Reign by which they were under a Praemunire if they did any things in their Courts contrary to the Kings Prerogative which was thought hard since some through ignorance might transgress Therefore it was desired that no Prelate should be brought under a Praemunire unless they had proceeded in any thing after they were prohibited by the Kings Writ To this the Lords consented but it was let fall by the Commons There was another Act brought in for the Marriage of the Clergy which was agreed to by the Lords An Act for the Marriagé of the Clergy the Earls of Shrewsbury Darby Rutland and Bath and the Lords Abergaveny Stourton Mounteagle Sands Windsor and Wharton protesting against it The Commons also passed it and it was assented to by the King By it was set forth That many took occasion from words in the Act formerly made about this matter to say that it was only permitted as Usury and other unlawful things were for the avoiding greater evils who thereupon spake slanderously of such Marriages and accounted the Children begotten in them to be Bastards to the high dishonour of the King and Parliament and the Learned Clergy of the Realm who had determined that the Laws against Priests Marriages were most unlawful by the Law of God to which they had not only given their Assent in the Convocation but Signed it with all their Hands These slanders did also occasion that the Word of God was not heard with due reverence whereupon it was Enacted That such Marriages made according to the Rules prescribed in the Book of Service should be esteemed good and valid and that the Children begot in them should be inheritable according to Law The Marquess of Northampton did also put in a Bill for confirming his Marriage which was passed only the Earl of Darby the Bishops of Carlisle and Norwich and the Lord Stourton dissented By it the Marriage is declared lawful as by the Law of God indeed it was any Decretal Canon Ecclesiastical Law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding This occasioned another Act That no Man might put away his Wife and marry another unless he were formerly divorced to which the Bishop of Norwich dissented because he was of opinion that a Divorce did not break the Marriage-Bond But this Bill fell in the House of Commons being thought not necessary for the Laws were already severe enough against such double Marriages By another Act the Bishoprick of Westminster was quite suppressed and re-united to the See of London but the Collegiate Church with it s exempted Jurisdiction An Act against Usury was still continued Another Bill was put in against Usury which was sent from the Lords to the Commons and passed by both and assented to By it an Act passed in Parliament in the 37th year of the late Kings Reign That none might take above 20 per Cent. for Money lent was repealed which they say was not intended for the allowing of Usury but for preventing further inconveniences and since Usury was by the Word of God forbidden and set out in divers places of Scripture as a most odious and detestable vice which yet many continued to practise for the filthy gain they made by it therefore from the first of May all Usury or gain for Money lent was to cease and whosoever continued to practise to the contrary were to suffer imprisonment and to be fined at the Kings pleasure This Act has been since repealed and the gain for Money lent has been at several times brought to several regulations It was much questioned whether these Prohibitions of Usury by Moses were not judicial Laws which did only bind the Nation of the Jews whose Land being equally divided among the Families by Lot the making gain by lending Money was forbid to them of that Nation yet it did not seem to be a thing of its nature sinful since they might take encrease of a Stranger The not lending Money on use was more convenient for that Nation which abounding in People and being shut up in a narrow Country they were necessarily to apply themselves to all the ways of Industry for their subsistence so that every one was by that Law of not lending upon use forced
to search into the matter they upon a slight enquiry agreed that the Statute of Edw. the 6th was in force by that Repeal but the Chief Baron and the other Judges searching the matter more carefully found that the Statute had been in effect repealed by the first of Eliz. Ch. 1. where the Act of the 25 Hen. 8. Coke 2. Inst P 684 685. concerning the Election and Jurisdiction of Bishops as formerly they had exercised it was revived so that being in full force the Act of Edw. the 6th that repealed it was thereby repealed To this all the Learned Men of the Law did then agree so that it was not thought so much as necessary to make an explanatory Law about it the thing being indeed so clear that it did not admit of any ambiguity In May this Year the King by his Letters Patents authorized all School-masters to teach a new and fuller Catechisme compiled as is believed by Poinet These are all the Passages in which the Church is concerned this Year The Forreign Negotiations were important For now the ballance began to turn to the French side therefore the Council resolved to mediate a Peace between the French and the Emperor The Emperor had sent over an Ambassador in September last year to desire the King would consider the danger in which Flanders was now by the French Kings having Metz with the other Towns in Lorrain which did in a great measure divide it from the assistance of the Empire and therefore moved that according to the ancient League between England and the House of Burgundy they would enter into a new League with him Upon this occasion the Reader will find how the Secretaries of State bred the King to the understanding of business with relation to the Studies he was then about for Secretary Cecil set down all the Arguments for and against that League with little Notes on the Margent relating to such Topicks from whence he brought them King Edwards Remains Number 5. by which it seems the King was then learning Logick It is the fifth of those Papers after his Journal It was resolved on to send Sir John Morison A Treaty with the Emperor with Instructions to complement the Emperor upon his coming into Flanders and to make an offer of the Kings assistance against the Turks who had made great Depredations that year both in Hungary Italy and Sicily If the Emperor should upon that complain of the French King and say that he had brought in the Turks and should have asked assistance against him he was to move the Emperor to send over an Ambassador to treat about it since he that was then Resident in England was not very acceptable These Instructions which are in the Collection were Signed in September Collection Number 57. but not made use of till January this year And then new Orders were sent to propose the King to be a Mediator between France and the Emperor Upon which the Bishop of Norwich and Sir Phil. Hobbey were sent over to joyn with Sir John Morison and Sir William Pickering and Sir Tho. Chaloner were sent into France In May the Emperor fell sick and the English Ambassadors could learn nothing certainly concerning him but then the Queen of Hungary and the Bishop of Arras treated with them The Bishop of Arras complained that the French had begun the War had taken the Emperors Ships at Barcelona had robbed his Subjects at Sea had stirred up the Princes of Germany against him had taken some of the Towns of the Empire from him while the French Ambassadors were all the while swearing to the Emperor that their Master intended nothing so much as to preserve the Peace so that now although the French were making several Overtures for Peace they could give no credit to any thing that came from them In fine the Queen and Bishop of Arras promised the English Ambassadors to let the Emperor know of the Kings offering himself to mediate and afterwards told them that the Emperor delayed giving answer till he were well enough to do it himself On the 26th of May the Ambassadors writ over that there was a Project sent them out of Germany of an Alliance between the Emperor Ferdinand King of the Romans the King of England and the Princes of the Empire They did not desire that the King should offer to come into it of his own accord but John Frederick of Saxe would move Ferdinand to invite the King into it This way they thought would give least jealousie They hoped the Emperor would easily agree to the Conditions that related to the Peace of Germany since he was now out of all hopes of making himself Master of it The Princes neither loved nor trusted him but loved his Brother and relied much on England But the Emperor having proposed that the Netherlands should be included in the perpetual League of the Empire they would not agree to that unless the Quota's of their Contribution were much changed for these Provinces were like to be the Seats of Wars therefore they would not engage for their defence but upon reciprocal advantages and easie terms When the English Ambassadors in the Court of France desired to know on what terms a Peace might be mediated they found they were much exalted with their success so that as they writ over on the first of May they demanded the restitution of Millan and the Kingdoms of Sicily Naples and Navarre the Sovereignty of Flanders Artois and the Town of Tournay they would also have Siena to be restored to its liberty and Metz Toul and Verdun to continue under the Protection of France These terms the Council thought so unreasonable that though they writ them over as News to their Ambassadors in Flandars yet they charged them not to propose them But the Queen of Hungary asked them what Propositions they had for a Peace knowing already what they were and from thence studied to inflame the Ambassadors since it appeared how little the French regarded their Mediation or the Peace of Christendome when they asked such high and extravagant things upon a little success On the 9th of June the Emperor ordered the Ambassadors to be brought into his Bed-Chamber whither they were carried by the Queen of Hungary He looked pale and lean but his Eyes were lively and his Speech clear They made him a Complement upon his Sickness which he returned with another for their long attendance Upon the matter of their Embassy he said the King of France had begun the War and must likewise begin the Propositions of Peace But he accepted of the Kings Offer very kindly and said They should always find in him great inclinations to a just Peace On the first of July the Council writ to their Ambassadors First assuring them that the King was still alive and they hoped he should recover they told them they did not find that the French would offer any other terms than those formerly made and
they continued still in that mind that they could not be offered by them as Mediators yet they ordered them to impart them unto the Emperor as News and carefully to observe his looks and behaviour upon their opening of every one of them But now the Kings death broke off this Negotiation The Kings sickness together with all his other Affairs He had last year first the Measels and then the Small-Pox of which he was perfectly recovered In his Progress he had been sometimes violent in his Exercises which had cast him into great Colds but these went off and he seemed to be well after it But in the beginning of January this year he was seized with a deep Cough and all Medicines that were used did rather encrease than lessen it upon which a suspition was taken up and spread over all the World so that it is mentioned by most of the Historians of that Age that some lingering Poison had been given him but more than Rumours and some ill-favoured Circumstances I could never discover concerning this He was so ill when the Parliament met that he was not able to go to Westminster but ordered their first meeting and the Sermon to be at White-hall In the time of his sickness Bishop Ridley preached before him and took occasion to run out much on Works of Charity and the obligation that lay on Men of high Condition to be eminent in good Works This touched the King to the quick So that presently after Sermon he sent for the Bishop His care of the Relief of the Poor And after he had commanded him to sit down by him and be covered he resumed most of the Heads of the Sermon and said he looked on himself as chiefly touched by it he desired him as he had already given him the Exhortation in general so to direct him how to do his duty in that Particular The Bishop astonished at this tenderness in so young a Prince burst forth in Tears expressing how much he was overjoyed to see such inclinations in him but told him he must take time to think on it and craved leave to consult with the Lord Major and Court of Aldermen So the King writ by him to them to consult speedily how the Poor should be relieved They considered there were three sorts of Poor such as were so by natural infirmity or folly as impotent Persons and Mad-men or Ideots such as were so by accident as sick or maimed Persons and such as by their idleness did cast themselves into poverty So the King ordered the Gray-friars Church near Newgate with the Revenues belonging to it to be a House for Orphans St. Bartholomews near Smith-field to be an Hospital and gave his own House of Bridewell to be a Place of Correction and Work for such as were wilfully idle He also confirmed and enlarged the Grant for the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwark which he had erected and endowed in August last And when he set his Hand to these Foundations which was not done before the 26th of June this Year He thanked God that had prolonged his Life till he had finished that design So he was the first Founder of those Houses which by many great Additions since that time have risen to be among the Noblest in Europe He expressed in the whole course of his sickness great submission to the Will of God and seemed glad at the approaches of death only the consideration of Religion and the Church touched him much and upon that account he said he was desirous of Life About the end of May Several Marriages or beginning of June the Duke of Suffolks three Daughters were married The eldest Lady Jane to the Lord Guilford Dudley the fourth Son of the Duke of Northumberland who was the only Son whom he had yet unmarried The second the Lady Katharine to the Earl of Pembroke's eldest Son the Lord Herbert The third the Lady Mary who was crooked to the Kings Groom-Porter Martin Keys The Duke of Northumberland married his two Daughters the eldest to Sir Henry Sidney Son to Sir William Sidney that had been Steward to the King when he was Prince the other was married to the Lord Hastings Son to the Earl of Huntington The People were mightily inflamed against this insolent Duke for it was generally given out that he was sacrificing the King to his own extravagant ambition He seemed little to regard their Censures but attended on the King most constantly and expressed all the care and concern about him that was possible And finding that nothing went so near his Heart as the ruine of Religion which he apprehended would follow upon his death when his Sister Mary should come to the Crown He is perswaded to leave the Crown to the Lady Jane Upon that he and his Party took advantage to propose to him to settle the Crown by his Letters Patents on the Lady Jane Gray How they prevailed with him to pass by his Sister Elizabeth who had been always much in his favour I do not so well understand But the King being wrought over to this the Dutchess of Suffolk who was next in King Henry's Will was ready to devolve her Right on her Daughter even though she should come afterwards to have Sons So on the 11th of June Mountague that was Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Baker and Bromley two Judges Which the Judges at first opposed with the Kings Attorney and Solicitor were commanded to come to Council There they found the King with some Privy-Councellors about him The King told them he did now apprehend the danger the Kingdom might be in if upon his death his Sister Mary should succeed who might marry a Stranger and so change the Laws and the Religion of the Realm So he ordered some Articles to be read to them of the way in which he would have the Crown to descend They objected that the Act of Succession being an Act of Parliament could not be taken away by any such device yet the King required them to take the Articles and draw a Book according to them they asked a little time to consider of it So having examined the Statute of the first Year of this Reign concerning Treasons they found that it was Treason not only after the Kings death but even in his Life to change the Succession Secretary Petre in the mean while pressed them to make hast When they came again to the Council they declared they could not do any such thing for it was Treason and all the Lords should be guilty of Treason if they went on in it Upon which the Duke of Northumberland who was not then in the Council-Chamber being advertised of this came in great fury calling Mountague a Traitor and threatned all the Judges so that they thought he would have beaten them But the Judges stood to their Opinion They were again sent for and came with Gosnold added to them on the 15th of June The King was
present and he somewhat sharply asked them Why they had not prepared the Book as he had ordered them They answered That what ever they did would be of no force without a Parliament The King said He intended to have one shortly Then Mountague proposed that it might be delayed till the Parliament met But the King said He would have it first done and then ratified in Parliament and therefore he required them on their Allegiance to go about it and some Counsellors told them if they refused to obey that they were Traitors This put them in a great consternation and old Mountague thinking it could not be Treason what ever they did in this matter while the King lived and at worst that a Pardon under the Great Seal would secure him consented to set about it if he might have a Commission requiring him to do it and a Pardon under the Great Seal when it was done Both these being granted him he was satisfied The other Judges But through fear all yielded except Judge Hales being asked if they would concur did all agree being overcome with fear except Gosnald who still refused to do it But he also being sorely threatned both by the Duke of Northumberland and the Earl of Shrewsbury consented to it the next day So they put the Entail of the Crown in Form of Law and brought it to the Lord Chancellor to put the Seal to it They were all required to set their Hands to it but both Gosnald and Hales refused Yet the former was wrought on to do it but the latter though a most steady and zealous Man for the Reformation would upon no consideration yield to it After that the Lord Chancellor for his Security desired that all the Counsellors might set their Hands to it which was done on the 21st of June by thirty three of them it is like including the Judges in the Number But Cranmer as he came seldom to Council after the Duke of Somersets Fall so he was that day absent on design Cecil in a Relation which he made one write of this Transaction for clearing himself afterwards says That when he had heard Gosnald and Hales declare how much it was against Law he refused to set his Hand to it as a Counsellor and that he only Signed as a Witness to the Kings Subscription But Cranmer still refused to do it after they had all Signed it and said he would never consent to the disinheriting of the Daughters of his late Master Many Consultations were had to perswade him to it Cranmer was very hardly brought to consent to it But he could not be prevailed on till the King himself set on him who used many Arguments from the danger Religion would otherwise be in together with other Perswasions so that by his Reasons or rather Importunities at last he brought him to it But whether he also used that distinction of Cecils that he did it as a Witness and not as a Counsellor I do not know but it seems probable that if that liberty was allowed the one it would not be denied the other The Kings sickness becomes desperate But though the setling this business gave the King great content in his mind yet his Distemper rather encreased than abated so that the Physicians had no hope of his recovery Upon which a confident Woman came and undertook his Cure if he might be put into her Hands This was done and the Physicians were put from him upon this pretence that they having no hopes of his recovery in a desperate Case desperate Remedies were to be used This was said to be the Duke of Northumberlands advice in particular and it encreased the Peoples jealousie of him when they saw the King grow very sensibly worse every day after he came under the Womans care which becoming so plain she was put from him and the Physicians were again sent for and took him into their charge But if they had small hopes before they had none at all now Death thus hastening on him the Duke of Northumberland who knew he had done but half his work except he had the Kings Sisters in his Hands got the Council to write to them in the Kings Name inviting them to come and keep him company in his sickness But as they were on the way on the sixth of July his Spirits and Body were so sunk that he found death approaching and so he composed himself to die in a most devout manner His whole exercise was in short Prayers and Ejaculations The last that he was heard to use was in these words Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life His last Prayer and take me among thy Chosen Howbeit not my Will but thine be done Lord I commit my Spirit to thee O Lord thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosens sake send me Life and Health that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God bless my People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy chosen People of England O Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and my People may praise thy Holy Name for Jesus Christ his sake Seeing some about him he seemed troubled that they were so near and had heard him but with a pleasant countenance he said he had been praying to God And soon after the Pangs of death coming on him he said to Sir Henry Sidney who was holding him in his Arms I am faint Lord have mercy on me and receive my Spirit and so he breathed out his Innocent Soul The Duke of Northumberland according to Cecils Relation intended to have concealed his death for a fortnight but it could not be done His Death and Character Thus died King Edward the sixth that incomparable young Prince He was then in the sixteenth Year of his Age and was counted the wonder of that Time He was not only learned in the Tongues and other Liberal Sciences but knew well the State of his Kingdom He kept a Book in which he writ the Characters that were given him of all the chief Men of the Nation all the Judges Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace over England in it he had marked down their way of living and their zeal for Religion He had studied the matter of the Mint with the Exchange and value of Money so that he understood it well as appears by his Journal He also understood Fortification and designed well He knew all the Harbours and Ports both of his own Dominions and of France and Scotland and how much Water they had and what was the way of coming in to them He had acquired great knowledge in Forreign Affairs so that he talked with the Ambassadors about them in such a manner that they filled all the World with the highest opinion of him that was possible which appears in most of the Histories of that Age. He had great quickness of apprehension and
had been long very apprehensive when he considered the sins then prevailing and the Judgments which they had reason to look for as will appear by an excellent Letter which he sent about to his Clergy to set them on to such Duties as so sad a Prospect required It will be found in the Collection Collection Number 58. and though it belongs to the former Year yet I choose rather to bring it in on this occasion These things having been fully laid open in the former parts of this Work I shall not insist on them here having mentioned them only for this cause that the Reader may from hence gather what we may still expect if we continue guilty of the same or worse sins after all that illumination and knowledge with which we have been so long blest in these Kingdoms The END of the First BOOK MARIA ANGLIAE HISPANIAE ct REGINA R. White sculp Nata 18 Feb 1516 Regnare cepit 6. to HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE Julij 1553. Obijt 17.mo Novemb 1558 Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S. t Pauls Church yard BOOK II. THE LJFE AND REIGN OF Queen MARY UPon the Death of King Edward the Crown devolved 1553. Q. Mary succeeds but is in great danger according to King Henry's Will and the Act of Parliament made in the 35th Year of his Reign on his Eldest Sister the now Queen Mary She was on her way to London in obedience to the Letters that had been writ to her to come and comfort her Brother in his Sickness and was come within half a days Journey of the Court when she received an Advertisement from the Earl of Arundel that her Brother was dead together with an account of what was done about the Succession The Earl also informed her that the King's Death was concealed on design to entrap her before she knew of it and therefore he advised her to retire Upon this she knowing that the Duke of Northumberland was much hated in Norfolk for the great slaughter he had made of the Rebels when he subdued them in the third Year of the last Reign And retires to Suffolk therefore chose to go that way to the Castle of Framlingham in Suffolk Which Place being near the Sea she might if her Designs should miscarry have an opportunity from thence to fly over to the Emperor that was then in Flanders At London it seems the whole Business of setting up the Lady Jane had been carried very secretly since if Queen Mary had heard any hint of it she had certainly kept out of the way and not adventured to have come so near the Town It was an unaccountable Error in the Party for the Lady Jane that they had not immediately after the Seal was put to the Letters Patents or at furthest presently after the King's Death sent some to make sure of the King's Sisters instead of which they thus lingred hoping they would have come into their Toils in an easier and less violent way On the 8th of July they writ to the English Ambassadors at Brussels the news of the King's Death but said nothing of the Succession On the 9th of July they perceived the King's Death was known for Queen Mary writ to to them She writes to the Council from Kenning-Hall that she understood the King her Brother was dead which how sorrowful it was to her God only knew to whose Will she did humbly submit her Will. The Provision of the Crown to her after his Death she said was well known to them all but she thought it strange that he being three days dead she had not been advertised of it by them She knew what Consultations were against her and what Engagements they had entred into but was willing to take all their Doings in good part and therefore did give Pardon for all that was past to such as would accept of it and required them to proclaim her Title to the Crown in London Upon this Letter they saw the death of the King could no longer be concealed so the Duke of Suffolk and the Duke of Northumberland went to Durham-House where the Lady Jane lay to give her notice of her being to succeed to the Crown in the room of the deceased King She received the News with great sorrow for King Edward's Death Who declare for the Lady Jane which was not at all lessened but rather encreased by that other part of their Message concerning her being to succeed him Lady Jane's Character She was a Lady that seemed indeed born for a great Fortune for as she was a beautiful and graceful Person so she had great Parts and greater Vertues Her Tutor was Dr. Elmer believed to be the same that was afterwards made Bishop of London by Queen Elizabeth She had learned from him the Latin and Greek Tongues to great â—erfection so that being of the same Age with the late King she seeâ—ed superior to him in those Languages And having acquired the helps of Knowledg she spent her time much in the study of it Roger Ascham Tutor to the Lady Elizabeth coming once to wait on her at her Father's House in Leicestershire found her reading Plato's Works in Greek when all the rest of the Family were hunting in the Park He asked her How she could be absent from such pleasant Diversions She answered The Pastimes in the Park were but a shadow to the delight she had in reading Plato's Phedon which then lay open before her and added That she esteemed it one of the greatest Blessings that God ever gave her that she had sharp Parents and a gentle School-master which made her take delight in nothing so much as in her Study She read the Scriptures much and had attained great knowledg in Divinity But with all these Advantages of Birth and Parts she was so humble so gentle and pious that all People both admired and loved her and none more than the late King She had a Mind wonderfully raised above the World and at the Age wherein others are but imbibing the Notions of Philosophy she had attained to the practice of the highest Precepts of it She was neither lifted up with the hope of a Crown nor cast down when she saw her Palace made afterwards her Prison but carried her self with an equal temper of Mind in those great inequalities of Fortune that so suddenly exalted and depressed her All the Passion she expressed in it was that which is of the noblest sort and is the indication of tender and generous Natures being much affected with the Troubles her Father and Husband fell in on her account The mention of the Crown when her Father with her father-in-Father-in-Law saluted her Queen did rather heighten her disorder upon the King's Death She said She knew by the Laws of the Kingdom Her unwillingness to accept of the Crown and by natural Right the Crown was to go to the King's Sisters so that she was
any Pardon or restitution in Blood he was still Duke of Norfolk This he had never mentioned all the last Reign lest that should have procured an Act to confirm his Attainder So he came now in upon his former Right by which all the Grants that had been given of his Estate were to be declared void by Common Law The Duke of Northumberland with the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Warwick were brought to their Trials The Duke desired two Points might be first answered by the Judges in matter of Law The one Whether a Man acting by the Authority of the Great Seal and the Order of the Privy Council could become thereby guilty of Treason The other was Whether those who had been equally guilty with him and by whose Direction and Commands he had acted could sit his Judges To these the Judges made answer That the Great Seal of one that was not lawful Queen could give no Authority nor Indempnity to those that acted on such a Warrant and that any Peer that was not by an Attainder upon Record convicted of such accession to his Crime might sit his Judg and was not to be challenged upon a Surmise or Report So these Points by which only he could hope to have defended himself And condemned being thus determined against him he confessed he was guilty and submitted to the Queen's Mercy So did the Marquess of Northampton and the Duke's Son the Earl of Warwick who it seems by this Trial had a Writ for sitting in the House of Peers they were all three found guilty Judgment also passed next day in a Jury of Commoners against St. John Gates and his Brother Sir Humphrey Sir Andrew Dudley and Sir Thomas Palmer confessing their Indictments But of all these it was resolved that only the Duke of Northumberlrnd and Sir John Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer should be made Examples Heath Bishop of Worcester was employed to instruct the Duke and to prepare him for his Death At his Death he professes he had been always a Papist Whether he had been always in heart what he then professed or whether he only pretended it hoping that it might procure him favour is variously reported but certain it is that he said he had been always a Catholick in his Heart yet this could not save him He was known to be a Man of that temper so given both to revenge and dissimulation that his Enemies saw it was necessary to put him out of the way lest if he had lived he might have insinuated himself into the Queen's favour and then turn'd the danger upon them So the Earl of Arundel now made Lord Steward of the Houshold with others easily obtained that his Head should be cut off together with Sir John Gates's and Sir Thomas Palmers On the 22d of August he was carried to the Place of Execution On the way there was some expostulation between Gates and him They as is ordinary for Complices in ill Actions laying the blame of their Miseries on one another Yet they professed they did mutually forgive and so died in Charity together It is said that he made a long Speech accusing his former ill Life and confessing his Treasons But that part of it which concerned Religion is only preseved In it he exhorted the People to stand to the Religion of their Ancestors and to reject that of latter date which had occasioned all the misery of the foregoing thirty Years and desired as they would prevent the like for the future that they would drive out of the Nation these Trumpets of Sedition the new Preachers that for himself what-ever he had otherwise pretended he believed no other Religion than that of his fore-fathers in which he appealed to his Ghostly Father the Bishop of Worcester then present with him but being blinded with Ambition he had made wreck of his Conscience by temporising for which he professed himself sincerely penitent So did he and the other two end their days Palmer was little pittied as being believed a treacherous Conspirator against his former Master and Friend the Duke of Somerset His Character Thus died the ambitious Duke of Northumberland He had been in the former parts of his Life a great Captain and had the reputation of a wise Man He was generally successful and they that are so are always esteemed wise He was an extraordinary Man in a lower size but had forgot himself much when he was raised higher in which his Mind seemed more exalted than his Fortunes But as he was transported by his Rage and Revenge out of measure so he was as servile and mean in his Submissions Fox it seems was informed that he had hopes given him of his Life if he should declare himself to be of the Popish Religion even though his Head were laid on the Block but which way soever he made that Declaration either to get his Life by it or that he had really been always what he now professed it argued that he regarded Religion very little either in his Life or at his Death But whether he did any thing to hasten the late King's Death I do not find it was at all enquired after Only those who considered how much Guilt disorders all People and that they have a black Cloud over their Minds which appears either in the violence of Rage or the abjectness of Fear did find so great a change in his deportment in these last Passages of his Life from what was in the former parts of it that they could not but think there was some extraordinary thing within him from whence it flowed King Edwards Funeral And for King Edward's Death those who had Affairs now in their Hands were so little careful of his Memory and indeed so glad of his Death that it is no wonder they made little search about it It is rather strange that they allowed him such Funeral Rites For the Queen kept a solemn Exequie with all the other Remembrances of the Dead and Masses for him used in the Roman Church at the Tower on the 8th of August the same day that he was buried at Westminster the Lord Treasurer who was the Marquess of Winchester still continued in that Trust the Earls of Shrewsbury and Pembrook being the principal Mourners Day that was now to be restored to his See of Chichester was appointed to preach the Funeral Sermon In which he commended and excused the King but loaded his Government severely and extolled the Queen much under vvhom he promised the People happy days It was intended that all the Burial Rites should have been according to the old Forms that were before the Reformation But Cranmer opposed this vigorously and insisted upon it That as the King himself had been a zealous promoter of that Reformation so the English Service was then established by Law upon this he stoutly hindred any other way of officiating and himself performed all the Offices of the Burial to which he joined the solemnity
Preacher from the Rage of the People It was said that their appeasing it so easily shewed what Interest they had with the People and was a presumption that they had set it on so without any further Proof the one was put in the Tower and the other confined to his House But now the deprived Bishops who were Bonner of London Gardiner of Winchester Tonstall of Duresm Heath of Worcester The Popish Bishops restored and Day of Chichester were to be restored to their Sees I have only seen the Commission for restoring Bonner and Tonstall but the rest were no doubt in the same strain with a little variation The Commission for Bonner bearing date the 22th of August was directed to some Civilians setting forth that he had petitioned the Queen to examine the Appeal he had made from the Delegates that had deprived him and that therefore the Sentence against him being unjust and illegal he desired it might be declared to be of no effect Upon which these did without any great hesitation return the Sentences void and the Appeals good So thus they were restored to their Sees But because the Bishoprick of Duresm was by Act of Parliament dissolved and the Regalities of it which had bin given to the Duke of Northumberland were now by his Attainder fallen into the Queen's hand She granted Tonstall Letters Patents erecting that Bishoprick again of new making mention that some wicked Men to enrich themselves by it had procured it to be dissolved On the 29th of August Commission was granted to Gardiner to give Licences under the Great Seal to such Grave The Consultations among the Reformed Doctors Learned and discreet Persons as he should think meet and able to preach God's Word All who were so licensed were qualified to preach in any Cathedral or Parochial Church to which he should think it convenient to send them By this the Reformers were not only out of hope to obtain any Licences but likewise saw a way laid down for sending such Men as Gardiner pleased into all their Pulpits to infect their People Upon this they considered what to do If there had been only a particular Inderdiction of some private persons the considerations of Peace and Order being of a more publick nature than the consequence of any one Man's open Preaching could be they judged it was to be submitted to but in such a case when they saw this Interdiction was general and on design to stop their mouths till their Enemies should seduce the People they did not think they were bound in Conscience to give Obedience Many of them therefore continued to preach openly others instead of Preaching in Churches were contented to have only the Prayers and other Service there but for instructing their People had private Conferences with them The Council hearing that their Orders had been disobeyed by some in London two in Coventry and one in Amersham they were sent for and put in Prison And Coverdale Bishop of Exeter and Hooper of Glocester being cited to appear before the Council they came and presented themselves on the 29th and 30th of August and on the first of September Hooper was sent to the Fleet and Coverdale appointed to wait their pleasure At this time the Popish Party growing now insolent over England began to be as forward in making Changes before the Laws warranted them as these of the Reformation had been in King Edward's time so that in many places they set up Images and the Latin Service with the old Rites again This was plainly against Law but the Council had no mind to hinder it but on the other hand encouraged it all they could Upon which Judg Hales The barbarous usage of Judg Hales who thought he might with the more assurance speak his mind having appeared so steadily for the Queen did at the Circuits in Kent give a Charge to the Justices to see to the execution of King Edward's Laws which were still in force and unrepealed Upon this he was without any regard to his former Zeal put first into the Marshalsea from thence he was removed to the Counter and after that to the Fleet where the good old Man was so disordered with the Cruelties that the Warden told him were contriving against all that would not change their Religion that it turned his Brain so that he endeavoured to have kill'd himself with a Penknife He was after that upon his Submission set at liberty but never came to himself again so he not being well looked to drowned himself This with the usage of the Suffolk-Men was much censured and from thence it was said that no Merits or Services could secure any from the Cruelties of that Religion And it appeared in another signal Instance how the Actions of Men were not so much considered as their Religion The Lord Chief Justice Mountague who had very unwillingly drawn the Letters Patents for the Lady Jane's Succession was turned out of his Place kept six weeks in Prison fined in a Thousand pounds and some Lands that had been given him by King Edward were taken from him tho he had sent his Son with Twenty Men to declare for the Queen and had a great Family of Seventeen Children six Sons and eleven Daughters whereas Judg Bromley that had concurred in framing the Letters Patents without any reluctancy was made Lord Chief Justice The true Reason was Bromley was a Papist in his heart and Mountague was for the Reformation In many other places where the People were Popishly affected they drove away their Pastors At Oxford Peter Martyr was so ill used that he was forced to fly for his safety to Lambeth where he could not look for any long protection Cranmer declared openly against the Mass since Cranmer himself was every day in expectation of being sent to Prison He kept himself quiet and was contriving how to give some Publick and Noble Testimonies to the Doctrine that he had so long professed and indeed had bin the chief promoter of in this Church But his quiet behaviour was laid hold on by his Enemies and it was given out that he was resolved to comply with every thing the Queen had a mind to So I find Bonner wrote to his Friend Mr. Lechmore on the 6th of September Bonners Insolence Coll. Numb 7. in that Letter which is in the Collection He gives him notice that the day before he had bin restored to his Bishoprick and Ridley repulsed for which he is very witty Ridley had a Steward for two Manours of his whose name was Ship-side his Brother-in-law upon which he plays as if he had bin Sheeps-head He orders Lechmore to look to his Estate and he should take care at the next Parliament that both the Sheepsheads and the Calves-heads should be used as they deserved He adds that Cranmer whom in scorn he calls Mr. Canterbury was become very humble and ready to submit himself in all things but that would not serve his turn and it
And if the Arch-duke Charles Philip's only Son died they should succeed to all Her and His Dominions If she had only Daughters they should succeed to her Crowns and the Netherlands if they married by their Brothers consent or otherwise they should have such Portions as was ordinarily given to those of their Rank But if the Queen had no Issue the King vvas not to pretend to any part of the Government after her death but the Crown vvas to descend according to the Laws of England to her Heirs There vvas to be a perpetual League betwixt England and Spain but this was not to be in prejudice of their League with France vvhich vvas still to continue in force These were the Conditions agreed on and afterwards confirmed in Parliament by vvhich it appears the Spaniards vvere resolved to have the Marriage on any Terms reckoning that if Prince Philip vvere once in England he could easily enlarge his Authority vvhich vvas hereby so much restrained The Match generally disliked It was now apparent the Queen vvas to Marry the Prince of Spain vvhich gave an universal discontent to the vvhole Nation All that loved the Reformation saw that not only their Religion vvould be changed but a Spanish Government and Inquisition vvould be set up in its stead Those vvho considered the Civil Liberties of the Kingdom vvithout great regard to Religion concluded that England would become a Province to Spain and they saw how they governed the Netherlands and heard how they ruled Milan Naples and Sicily but above all they heard the most Inhumane things that ever any Age produced had been Acted by them in their new conquest in the West-Indies It was said what might they expect but to lye at the mercy of such Tyrannical Masters who would not be long kept within the Limits that were now prescribed All the great conditions now talked of were but the guilding the Pill but its operation would be fatal if they once swallowed it down These things had Influence on many But the chief Conspirators were the Duke of Suffolk Plots to oppose it Sir Thomas Wiat and Sir Peter Carew The one was to raise the Mid-land Counties the other to raise Cornwal and Wiat was to raise Kent Hoping by rising in such remote places so to distract the Government that they should be able to engage the Commons who were now as much distasted with the Queen as they had been formerly fond of her Are discovered But as Carew was carrying on his Design in the West it came to be discovered and one that he had trusted much in it was taken upon that Carew fled over into France Wiat was in Kent when he heard this but had not yet laid his Business as he intended Therefore fearing to be undone by the Discovery that was made he gathered some Men about him and on the 25th of January went to Maidston There he made Proclamation Wiat breaks out that he intended nothing but to preserve the Liberty of the Nation 1554. and keep it from coming under the Yoke of Strangers which he said all the Council one or two excepted were against and assured the People that all the Nobility and chief Men of England would concur with them He said nothing of Religion but in private assured those that were for the Reformation that he would declare for them One Roper came and declared him and his Company Traitors but he took him with some Gentlemen that were gathering to oppose him From thence he went to Rochester and writ to the Sheriff of Kent desiring his Assistance against the Strangers for there were already as he said an hundred Armed Spaniards landed at Dover The Sheriff sent him word That if he and those with him had any Suits they were to make them to the Queen on their knees but not with Swords in their hands and required them to disperse under pain of Treason Wiat kept his Men in good order so that they did no hurt but only took all the Arms they could find At the same time one Isley and Knevet gathered People together about Tunbridg and went to join with Wiat. The Queen sent down a Herald to him with a Pardon if he would disperse his Company in 24 hours but Wiat made him deliver his Message at the end of Rochester Bridg and so sent him away The High Sheriff gathered together as many as he could and shewed them how they were abused by Lyes there was no Spaniards landed at all and those that were to come were to be their Friends and Confederates against their Enemies Those that he brought together went to Gravesend to meet the Duke of Norfolk and Sir Hen. Jerningham who were come thither with 600 Men from London and they hearing that Knevet was in his way to Rochester went and intercepted and routed him sixty of his Men were killed the rest saved themselves in the Woods The News of this disheartned Wiat much who was seen to weep and called for a Coat which he stuffed with Angels designing to have escaped But the Duke of Norfolk marching to Rochester with 200 Horse and 600 Foot commanded by one Bret they were wrought on by a pretended Desertor Harper who seemed to come over from Wiat he persuaded the Londoners The Londoners revolt that it was only the preservation of the Nation from the Spaniards that they designed and it was certain none would suffer under that Yoke more than they This had such an effect on them that they all cried out We are all English Men and went over to Wiat. So the Duke of Norfolk was forced to march back And now Kent was all open to Wiat who thereupon sent one to the Duke of Suffolk pressing him to make haste and raise his Country but the Bearer was intercepted Upon that the Earl of Huntington was sent down with some Horse to seize on him The Duke was at all times a mean-spirited Man but it never appeared more than now For after a faint endeavour to raise the Country he gave it over and concealed himself in a privat House but was betrayed by him to whom he had trusted himself into the hands of the Earl of Huntington and so was brought to the Tower Wiat's Party increasing they turned towards London As they came to Debtford Sir Edward Hastings and Sir Thomas Cornwallis came to them in the Queen's Name to ask what vvould content them Wiat desired that he might have the Command of the Tower that the Queen might stay under his Guard and that the Council might be changed Upon these extravagant Propositions Wiat's Demands there passed high words and the Privy Counsellors returned to the Queen After this she vvent into Guild-hall and there gave an account of her Message to Wiat and his Answer And for her Marriage she said she did nothing in it but by advice of her Council and spoke very tenderly of the love she bore to her People and to that City
writ a Letter full of severe expostulations and threatnings for his Apostacy but it had no effect on him It is of an extraordinary strain full of Life in the Thoughts and of Zeal if there is not too much in the expressions The Night before her Execution she sent her Greek Testament which she had always used to her Sister with a Letter in the same Language in which in most pathetick Expressions she sets out the value that she had of it and recommended the study and practice of it earnestly to her She had also composed a very devout Prayer for her Retirements and thus had she spent the last moments of her Life She expressed great tenderness when she saw her Husband led out first but soon overcame it when she considered how closely she was to follow him He had desired to take leave of her before he died but she declined it since it would be rather an encrease of Grief than any addition of Comfort to them She said she hoped they would shortly meet and be united in a happier State and with a setled Countenance she saw them bring back the beheaded Body to the Chappel where it was to be buried When she was brought to the Scaffold which was raised for her within the Tower to prevent the compassion which her dying more publickly might have raised she confessed she had sinned in taking the Queen's Honour when it was given her she acknowledged the Act was unlawful as was also her consenting to it but she said it was neither procured nor desired by her She declared that she died a true Christian and hoped to be saved only by the Mercy of God in the Blood of Christ She acknowledged that she had too much neglected the Word of God and had loved her self and the World too much for which that punishment had come justly to her from God but she blessed him that had made it a means to lead her to Repentance Then having desired the Peoples Prayers she kneeled down and repeated the 51 Psalm Then she undressed her self and stretched out her Head on the Block and cried out Lord into thy hands I recommend my Spirit and so her Head was cut off EFFIGIES IANAE GRAIAE HENRICI VIII PRONEPTIS EX SORORE R. White sculp Nata 1537. cc Guildfordice Dudley Conjugata 1553. Maij Regina Declaritur 1553 Iul 10. Capite Plectitur 1553 4. Feb 12. Printed for Richd. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church yard The Earl of Devonshire and the Lady Elizabeth The Lady Elizabeth unjustly suspected for Plotting came to be suspected of the Plot as if the rising in the West had been set on by the Earl with design if it had succeeded to have married the Lady Elizabeth and put her in the Queen's Room Wiat did at his death clear them of any occasion to his Confederacies Yet the Queen who was much alienated from her Sister upon old Scores was not unwilling to find a pretence for using her ill so she was made a Prisoner And the Earl of Devonshire had upon the account formerly mentioned offended the Queen who thought her kindness ill requited Many deserve proceedings when she saw he neglected her and preferred her Sister so he was again put into Prison Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was also charged with that same Guilt and broughr to his Trial which lasted Ten hours But was acquitted by the Jury Upon which they were cast into Prison and severely Fined some in 2000 l. and some in a 1000 Marks This was fatal to his Brother Sir John who was cast by the Jury upon the same Evidence that his Brother had been acquitted But he protested his innocence to the last Sir John Cheek had got beyond Sea finding he was also suspected and sought after and both Sir Peter Carew and he hoping that Philip would be glad at his first admission to the Crown of England to shew Acts of Favour went into Flanders where upon assurances given of Pardon and Mercy they rendered themselves But upon their coming into England they were both put into the Tower Carew made his escape and was afterwards employed by Queen Elizabeth in her Affairs in Ireland Cheek was at this time discharged but upon some new Offence he was again taken in Flanders in May 1556. and was prevailed upon to renounce his Religion and then he was set at liberty but was so sadly affected at the unworthiness of that Action that it was believed to have cast him into a Languishing of which he soon after died There was a base Imposture set up at this time of one that seemed to speak from a Wall with a strange sort of voice Many seditious things were uttered by that voice which was judged of variously Some called it the Spirit of the Wall The Imposture of the Spirit in the Wall Some said it was an Angel that spake And many marvellous things were reported of it But the matter being narrowly enquired into it was found to be one Elizabeth Crofts a Girle who from a private hole in the Wall with the help of a Whistle had uttered those words She was made to doe Pennance openly at Pauls for it But by the account then Printed of it I do not find any Complices were found except one Drake to whom no particular Character is added So it seems it was a Trick laid Betwixt these two for what purpose I cannot find Sure enough in those Times it was not laid to the charge of the Preachers of the Reformation Which I the rather take notice of because of the Malignity of one of our Historians who has laid this to the charge of the Zuinglian Gospellers tho all the proof he offers for casting it on them is in these words For I cannot consider this but as a Plot of theirs And sets it up in opposition to the notorious Imposture of the Maid of Kent mentioned in the former Volume and sayes Let not the Papists be more charged with that since these were now as faulty The two instructions to the Bishops Col. Number 10. The Nation being now settled the Queen did next give Instructions to the Bishops to proceed to visit the Clergy according to some Articles which she sent them which will be found in the Collections In those after a long and invidious Preamble of the disorders that had been in the time of King Edward she commanded them to execute all such Ecclesiastical Laws as had been in force in her Father's Reign That the Bishops should in their Courts proceed no more in the Queen's Name That the Oath of Supremacy should be no more Exacted of any of the Clergy That none suspect of Heresie should be admitted to Orders That they should endeavour to repress Heresie and punish Hereticks That they should suppress all naughty Books and Ballads That they should remove all married Clergy men and separate them from their Wives but for those that renounced their Wives they might put
them into some other Cure or reserve a Pension out of their Benefice for them That no religious Man who had professed Chastity should be suffered to live with his Wife That care should be taken of vacant Churches That till they were provided the people should go to the Neighbouring Churches That all the Ceremonies Holy-days and Fasts used in King Henry's time should be again observed That those who were ordained by the new Book in King Edwards time not being ordained in very deed The Bishop if they were otherwise sufficient should supply vvhat vvas vvanting before and so admit them to Minister That the Bishops should set forth an uniform Doctrine of Homilies and compel the people to come to Church and hear Divine Service That they should carefully look to all School-masters and Teachers of Children And that the Bishops should take care to set forth the Premises vvith all kind of Vertue godly Living and good Example Proceedings against the Bishops that adhered to the Reformation and endeavour to keep down all sort of Vice These vvere Sign'd on the 4 of March and Printed and sent over the Kingdom But to make the Married Bishops Examples of the severity of their proceedings the Queen gave a special Commission to Gardiner Tonstall Bonner Parfew Bishop of St. Asaph Day and Kitchin of Landaffe making mention that vvith great grief of heart she had heard that the Archbishop of York the Bishops of St. Davids Chester and Bristol had broken their Vows and defiled their Function by contracting Marriage therefore those or any three of them are empowered to call them before them and if the Premises be found to be true Col. Number 11. 12. to deprive and turn them out of their Bishopricks This I have put into the Collection with another Comission to the same Persons to call the Bishops of Lincoln Glocester and Hereford before them in whose Patents it was provided that they should hold their Bishopricks so long as they behaved themselves well and since they by preaching Erroneous Doctrine and by inordinate Life and Conversation as she credibly understood had carried themselves contrary to the Laws of God and the Practice of the universal Church these or any two of them should proceed against them either according to Ecclesiastical Canons or the Laws of the Land and declare their Bishopricks void as they vvere indeed already void Thus vvere Seven Bishops all at a dash turned out It was much censured that there having been Laws made allowing Marriage to the Clergy the Queen should by her own Authority upon the repealing these Laws turn out Bishops for things that had been so well warranted by Law for the Repeal was only an Annulling of the Law for the Future but did not void it from the beginning so that however it might have justified proceedings against them for the Future if they had lived with their Wives yet it could not warrant the punishing them for what was past And even the severest Popes or their Legates who had pressed the Coelibate most had always before they proceeded to deprive any Priests for Marriage left it to their choice whether they would quit their Wives or their Benefices but had never summarily turned them out for being married And for the other Bishops it was an unheard of way of procedure for the Queen before any process was made to empower Delegates to declare their Sees void as they were indeed aIready void This was to give Sentence before hearing And all this was done by vertue of the Queens Supremacy for tho she thought that a sinful and Schismatical Power yet she was easily perswaded to use it against the Reformed Clergy and to turn them out of their Benefices upon such unjust and Illegal pretences So that now the proceedings against Gardiner and Bonner in which were the greatest Stretches made that had been in the last Reign were far outdone by those new Delegates For the Archbishop of York tho he was now turned out yet he was still kept Prisoner till King Philip among the Acts of Grace he did at his coming over procured his Liberty But his See was not filled till February next for then Heath had his Conge d'elire On or before the 18th of March this Year were those other Sees declared Vacant For that day did the Conge d'elire go out to the Deans and Chapters of St. Davids Lincoln Hereford Chester Glocester and Bristol sor Morgan White Parfew Coates Brookes and Holyman Goodrick of Ely died in April this Year He seems to have complied with the time as he had done often before for he was not at all cast into any trouble which it cannot be imagined he could have escaped since he had put the great Seal to the Patents for the Lady Jane if he had not Redeemed it by a ready consenting to the changes that were to be made He was a busie secular spirited Man and had given himself up wholly to Factions and Intrigues of State so that tho his opinion had always leaned to the Reformation it is no wonder if a man so tempered would prefer the keeping of his Bishoprick before the Discharge of his Conscience Thirleby of Norwich was Translated to Ely and Hopton was made Bishop of Norwich But Scory that had been Bishop os Chichester tho upon Day 's being restored he was turned out of his Bishoprick did comply meerly He came before Bonner and Renounced his Wife and did Penance for it and had his Absolution under his Seal the 14th of July this Year which is in the Collection Number 13. But it seems this was out of fear for he soon after fled out of England and lived beyond Sea untill Queen Elizabeth's days and then he came over But it was judged indecent to restore him to his former See where it is likely this Scandal he had given was known and so he was made Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Bath and Wales Barlow was also made to Resign as appears by the Conge d'elire for Bourn to succeed him dated the 19th of March. Therein it is said that the See wss Vacant by the Resignation of the former Bishop tho in the Election that was made on the 28th of March it is said the See was vacant by the Removal or Deprivation of their former Bishop But I incline to believe it truer that he did resign since he is not mentioned in the Commissions formerly spoken of But that was not all for at this time a Book was set out in his Name whether written by him or Forged and laid on his Name I cannot judge in which he retracts his former errours and speaks of Luther and Oecolampadius and many others with whom he says he had familiarly conversed with great bitterness He also accuses the Gospellers in England of Gluttony Hypocrisie Pride and ill Nature And indeed it is one of the most Virulent Invectives against the Reformation that was written at that time But it is not likely
if he had turned so heartily as the Strain of that Book runs that he would have been quite thrown out especially since he had never Married so I rather look on it as a Forgerie cast on his Name to disgrace the Reformation He fled beyond Sea where he lived till the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and then it seems there was some offence taken at his former behaviour for he was not restored to Bath and Wales but put into Chichester that was a much meaner Bishoprick Thus I have given a clear account and free of all Partiality or Reservation of the changes made in the most of the Sees in England The two Arch-Bishops Cranmer and Holgate the Bishops Ridley Poinet Scory Coverdale Taylor Harvey Bird Bush Hooper Ferrar and Barlow were all removed Rochester was void and Griffins was put into it this April Goddrick dying now Thirleby succeeded him and Sampson of Coventry and Litchfield dying soon after Bayn succeeded him So here were sixteen new Bishops brought in which made no small change in the Church The Mass every where set up When this done the Bishops went about the executing of the Queen's Injunctions The New Service was every-where cast out and the Old Ceremonies and Service were again set up In this Business none was so hot as Bonner for the Act that repealed King Edward's Laws being agreed to by the Commons to whom the Lords had sent it he without staying for the Royal Assent did that very Night set up the Old Worship at Pauls on St. Katherines day and it being the custom that on some Holy Days the Quire went up to the Steeple to sing the Anthems that fell to be on that Night which was an antick way of beginning a form of Worship to which the People had been long disused And the next Day being St. Andrew's he did officiate himself and had a solemn Procession The most eminent Preachers in London were either put in Prison or under Confinement and as all their Mouths had been stopt by the prohibiting of Sermons unless a License were obtained so they were now to be fallen on for their Marriages Parker estimates it that there were now about 16000 Clergy-Men in England and of these 12000 were turned out upon this account some he says were deprived without Conviction upon common Fame some were never cited to appear and yet turned out Many that were in Prison were cited and turned out for not appearing though it was not in their Power Some were induced to submit and quit their Wives for their Livings They were all summarily deprived Nor was this all but after they were deprived they were also forced to leave their Wives which piece of severity was grounded on the Vow that as was pretended they had made though the falshood of this Charge was formerly demonstrated To justify this severity of Procedure many were set to write against the Marriage of the Clergy Books against the marriage of the Clergy Smith of whom I made mention in the former Book that had then so humbly recanted and submitted did now appear very boldly and reprinted his Book with many Additions But the most studied Work was set out by Martin a Doctor of the Laws It was certainly for most part Gardiner's Work and I have seen the Proof Sheets of a great part of it dasht and altered in many places by Gardiner's hand This Martin had made his Court to Cranmer in former times He had studied the Law at Bourges where Francis Balduin one of the celebrated Lawyers of that time had publickly noted him for his lewdness as being not only over-run himself with the French Pox but as being a Corrupter of all the University which Balduin certified in a Letter to one in England that took care to print it It was also printed that Bonner had many Bastards and himself was believed to be the Bastard of one Savage a Priest in Leicestershire that had been Bastard to Sir John Savage of Cheshire Which Priest by Elizabeth Frodshum the Wife of one Edmond Bonner had this Edmond now Bishop of London and it seems his Mother did not soon give over those her lewd Courses for Wymsly Arch-Deacon of London was another of her Bastards That Kennel of the uncleanness of the Priests and Religious Houses was again on this occasion racked and exposed with too much indecency for the married Priests being openly accused for the impurity and sensuality of their Lives thought it was a just piece of self-defence to turn these Imputations back on those who pretended to Chastity and yet led most irregular Lives under that appearance of greater strictness This was the state in which things were when the New Parliament A New Parliament met on the 2d of April Gardiner had before-hand prepared the Commons by giving the most considerable of them Pensions some had 200 and some a 100 l. a Year for giving their Voices to the Marriage The first Act that passed seemed of an odd nature and has a great Secret under it The Speaker of the House of Commons brought in a Bill declaring That whereas the Queen had of right succeeded to the Crown but because all the Laws of England had been made by Kings The Regal Power asserted to be in a Queen as well as a King and declared the Prerogatives to be in the King's Person from thence some might pretend that the Queen had no right to them it was therefore declared to have been the Law that these Prerogatives did belong to the Crown whether it were in the hands of Male or Female and whatsoever the Law did limit and appoint for the King was of right also due to the Queen who is declared to have as much Authority as any other her Progenitors Many in the House of Commons wondered what was the intention of such a Law and as People were at this time full of jealousie The Secret Reasons for that Act. one Skinner a Member of the House who in Queen Elizabeth's time took Orders and was made Dean of Duresm said he could not imagine why such a frivolous Law was desired since the thing was without dispute E M. SS D. Gul. Petyt and that that which was pretended of satisfying the People was too slight he was affraid there was a trick in these words That the Queen had as great Authority as any of her Progenitors on which perhaps it might be afterwards said She had the same Power that William the Conqueror exercised in seizing the Lands of the English and giving them to Strangers which also Edward the First did upon the conquest of Wales He did not know what relation this might have to the intended Marriage therefore he warned the House to look well to it so a Committee being appointed to correct it such words were added as brought the Queen's Prerogative under the same Limitations as well as it exalted it to the height of her Progenitors But one Fleetwood afterwards
Recorder of London told the Earl of Leicester the secret of this in Queen Elizabeth's Time who writ down his Discourse and from thence I have copied it There was one that had been Cromwell's Servant and much employed by him in the suppression of Monasteries he was a Man of great Notions but very busy and factious so having been a great stickler for the Lady Jane he was put in the Fleet upon the Queen's first coming to the Crown yet within a month he was discharged but upon the last Rising was again put up and indicted of High Treason He had great Friends and made application to one of the Emperor's Ambassadors that was then the Chancellor of the Dutchy of Milan and by his means he obtained his Liberty Being brought to him he shewed him a new Plat-form of Government which he had contrived for the Queen She was to declare her self a Conqueror or that she having succeeded to the Crown by Common Law was not at all to be limited by the Statute Laws since those were only restrictions upon the Kings but not on the Queens of England and that therefore all those Limitations of the Prerogative were only binding in the Persons of Kings but she was free from them Upon this he shewed how she might establish Religion set up the Monasteries raise her Friends and ruin her Enemies and Rule according to her Pleasure The Ambassador carried this to the Queen and seemed much pleased with it but desired her to read it carefully and keep it as a great Secret As she read it she disliked it and judged it contrary to the Oath she had made at her Coronation and thereupon sent for Gardiner and charged him as he would answer before the Judgment-Seat of God at the general Day of the Holy Doom that he would consider the Book carefully and bring her his Opinion of it next day which fell to be Maundy Thursday So as the Queen came from her Maundy he waited on her into her Closet and said these words My good and most gracious Lady I intend not to pray your Highness with any humble Petitions to name the Devisers of this new invented Plat-form but here I say That it is pity that so noble and vertuous a Lady should be endangered with the pernicious Devices of such lewd and subtil Sycophants for the Book is naught and most horrible to be thought on Upon this the Queen thanked him and threw the Book into the Fire and charged the Ambassador that neither he nor any of his Company should receive more such Projects from any of her People This made Gardiner apprehended that if the Spaniards began so soon to put such Notions into the Queen's Head they might afterwards when she was in their Hands make somewhat of them and therefore to prevent such Designs for the future he drew the Act in which though he seemed to do it as an Advantage to the Queen for the putting of her Title beyond dispute yet he really intended nothing by it but that she should be restrained by all those Laws that the former Kings of England had consented to And because King Henry the Seventh though his best right to the Crown flowed from his Marriage to the Heir of the House of York had yet taken the Government wholly into his own hands he fearing lest the Spaniards should pretend to such a Power by the Authority which Marriage gives the Husband over the Wife got the Articles of the Marriage to be ratified in Parliament by which they not only confirmed those agreed on but made a more full explanation of that part of them which declared the entire Government of the Kingdom to belong only to the Queen To this the Spaniards gave too great an occasion Great Jealousies of the Spanish Power by publishing King Philip's Pedigree whom they derived from John of Gaunt They said this was only done to conciliate the favour of the Nation by representing him not a stranger but a Native But this gave great offence concerning which I have seen a little Book that vvas then printed It was there said That King Henry the Seventh came in pretending only to marry the Heir of the House of York But he was no sooner on the Throne than he declared his own Title and kept it his whole Life So it vvas said the Spaniard vvould call himself Heir of the House of Lancaster and upon that Pretension would easily wrest the Power out of the Queen's hands who seemed to mind nothing but her Devotions This made Gardiner look the better to the securing of the Liberties of the Crown and Nation so that it must be acknowledged that the preserving of England out of the hands of the Spaniards at that time seems to be almost vvholly owing to him In this Parliament the Marquess of Northampton vvas restored in Blood And the Act for restoring the Bishoprick of Duresm The Bishoprick of Duresm restored not having gone through the last Parliament vvhen it vvas dissolved vvas now brought in again The Town of Newcastle opposed it much vvhen it came down to the Commons But the Bishop of Duresm came to them on the 18th of April and gave them a long account of all his Troubles from the Duke of Northumberland and desired that they would dispatch his Bill There vvere many Proviso's put into it for some that vvere concerned in Gateside but it vvas carried in the House That instead of these Proviso's they should send a Desire to him recommending those Persons to his Favour So upon a Division there vvere 120 against it and 201 for it After this came the Bill confirming the Attainders of the Duke of Suffolk and fifty eight more vvho vvere attainted for the late Rebellion The Lords put in a Proviso excepting Entailed Lands out of their Forfeitures but the Commons rejected the Proviso and passed the Bill Then did the Commons send up a Bill for reviving the Statutes made against Lollardy vvhich being read twice by the Lords vvas laid aside The Commons intended next to have revived the Statute of the Six Articles but it did not agree vvith the Design at Court to take any notice of King Henry's Acts so this vvas let fall Then they brought in another Bill to extirpate Erroneous Opinions and Books but that vvas at the third reading laid aside After that they passed a particular Bill against Lollardy in some Points as the eating of flesh in Lent but that also being sent up to the Lords was at the third reading laid aside by the major part of the House so forward were the Commons to please the Queen or such Operation had the Spanish Gold on them that they contrived four Bills in one Session for the prosecution of those they called Hereticks But to give some content on the other hand they passed a Bill that neither the Bishop of Rome nor any other should have any Power to Convene or trouble any for possessing Abbey Lands This was sent up to
Priest said all these things should be amended speedily and knowing that a good Dinner was the best way to temper Bishop Bonner he desired him to go and dine at his House but Bonner took it so ill Bonner's rage that Hadham which was one of his own Churches was an ill Example to those about it that he lost all patience and reaching at Dr. Bricket that was the Parson's Name to beat him he misguided the stroke which fell on Sir Thomas Josselin's Ear with great force Fecknam then Dean of Pauls in Dr. May's room studied to appease Josselin and said to him That the Bishop's being so long in the Marshalsea had so disordered him that in his Passion he knew not what he did but when he came to himself he would be sorry for what he had done Josselin answered he thought now that he was taken out of the Marshalsea he should be carried to Bedlam But Bonner continued in his Fury and though he had purposed to stay at his House there some days and had ordered Provisions to be made yet he would needs be gone though it disordered the rest of his Visitation for he came to every place sooner than he intended or had given notice The Carvers and makers of Statues had now a quick Trade for Roods and other Images which were to be provided for all Places Bonner had observed that in most Churches the Walls were painted with places of Scripture and in many places there were Passages written that either favoured the Marriage of the Clergy or were against the Corporal Presence and the Sacrifice of the Mass and the multiplicity of the Ceremonies of the Church So he did at his return send out Episcopal Letters on the 24th of October to raze all those Paintings Upon this it was generally said That the Scriptures must be dasht out to make way for the Images since they were so contrary one to another that they could not decently stand together There were many ludicrous things every where done in derision of the old Forms and of the Images Many Poems were printed with other ridiculous Representations of the Latin Service and the Pageantry of their Worship But none occasioned more laughter than what fell out at Pauls the Easter before the custom being to lay the Sacrament into the Sepulchre at the Even Song on Good-Friday and to take it out by break of day on Easter Morning At the time of the taking of it out the Quire sung these words Surrexit non est hic He is risen he is not here The Sacrament stollen But then the Priest looking for the Host found it was not there indeed for one had stollen it out which put them all in no small disorder but another was presently brought in its stead Upon this a Ballad followed that their God was stollen and lost but a new one was made in his room This Railery was so salt that it provoked the Clergy much They offered large Rewards to discover him that had stollen the Host or had made the Ballad but could not come to the knowledg of it But they resolved e're long to turn that mirth and pleasantness of the Hereticks into severe mourning And thus Matters went on to the 11th of November A New Parliament when the third Parliament was summoned In the Writ of Summons the Title of Supream Head of the Church was left out though it was still by Law united to the other Royal Titles And therefore this was urged in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign as a good reason for annulling that Parliament since it was not called by a lawful Writ Now was Cardinal Pool allowed to come into England The Emperor had this Summer brought him to Flanders where to make a-mends for the rudeness of stopping him on his way he desired him to mediate a Peace between France and him but that had no effect It soon appeared that all things were so well prepared by Gardiner's Policy and the Spanish Gold that it would be an easy Matter to carry every thing in this Session The Lord Paget and the Lord Hastings were sent from the King and Queen to bring the Cardinal over At the opening of the Parliament it was an unusual sight to see both King and Queen ride in state and come into it with two Swords of State and two Caps of Maintenance carried before them The Swords were carried one by the Earl of Pembroke the other by the Earl of Westmoreland and the Caps by the Earls of Arundel and Shrewsbury The first Bill put into the Lords House was the Repeal of the Attainder of Cardinal Pool The Attainder of Cardinal Pool repealed it began on the 17th and was sent down to the Commons on the 19th who read it three times in one day and sent it up This Bill being to be passed before he could come into England it was questioned in the House of Commons Whether the Bill could be passed without making a Session which would necessitate a Prorogation It was resolved it might be done so on the 22d the King and Queen came and passed it It set forth that the only reason of his Attainder was because he would not consent to the unlawful Separation and Divorce between King Henry and his most godly vertuous and lawful Wife Queen Katherine Therefore they considering the true and sincere Conscience of the Cardinal in that Point and his other many godly Vertues and Qualities did repeal that Act. He comes to Eondon On the 24th he came to London but without the Solemnities of a Legates Entry because the Pope's Authority was not yet set up by Law What Cardinal Pool Instructions were I do not know nor is it fully understood by Learned Men what was the Power of a Legat a Latere in those Days But I found in the King 's Paper Office the Original Bull of Cardinal Beaton's Legatine Power in Scotland which it seems was intercepted by some of the King's Ships in the passage bâ— Sea thither or was sent up to London by those who killed him anâ— possessed themselves of his Castle and Goods And I having mentioned this Bull to those Learned Men by whose direction I have governed my self in this Work I did by their advice give it a room in the Collection Col. Number 17. though it be large since no doubt Cardinal Pool's Bull was in the same form In it the Reader will clearly perceive what Authoâ—iâ—â— was lodged in the Legats to overthrow and dispense with almost all tâ—â— Rules and Canons of the Church only some peculiar things which were more conspicuously scandalous were still reserved to the Apostolick See it self whose singular Priviledg it has been always esteemed to dispense with the best things and allow of the worst so the Pretenders to those Graces payed proportionably for them this Authority was too Sacred to be trusted even to a Legat it being the Prerogative of the Popes themselves to be the most eminent
Transgressors of all Canons and Constitutions The Cardinal first declared what his Designs and Powers were to the King and Queen and then on the 27th a Message was sent to the Parliament to come and hear him deliver his Legation which they doing he made them a long Speech And makes a Speech to the Parliament inviting them to a Reconciliation with the Apostolick See from whence he was sent by the common Pastor of Christendom to reduce them who had long strayed from the Inclosure of tâ—â— Church This made some emotion in the Queen which she fondly thought was a Child quickned in her Belly this redoubled the Joy some not sparing to say The Queen is believed to be with Child that as John Baptist leaped in his Mothers Belly at the Salutation of the Virgin so here a happy Omen followed on this Salutation from Christ's Vicar In this her Women seeing that she firmly believed her self with Child flattered her so far that they fully persuaded her of it Notice was given of it to the Council who that night writ a Letter to Bonner about it ordering a Te Deum to be sung at St. Pauls and the other Churches of London and that Collects should be constantly used for bringing this to a happy perfection All that night and next day there was great joy about the Court and City On the 29th the Speaker reported to the Commons the substance of the Cardinal's Speech and a Message coming from the Lords for a Conference of some of their House with the Lord Chancellor four Earls four Bishops and four Lords to prepare a Supplication for their being reconciled to the See of Rome it was consented to and the Petition being agreed on at the Committee was reported and approved of by both Houses It contained an Address to the King and Queen EFFIGIES REGINALDI POLI CARDINALIS R White sculp Natus Anno 1500. Maij. cc Cardinalis S. Marioe in Cosmedin 1536. Maij 22 Consecr Archiepisc Cantuariensis 1555 6. Mar 22. Obijt 1558. Nov 17. Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church yard That whereas they had been guilty of a most horrible Defection and Schism from the Apostolick See The Parliaments Petition to be reconciled to the See of Rome they did now sincerely repent of it and in sign of their Repentance were ready to repeal all the Laws made in prejudice of that See therefore since the King and Queen had been no way defiled by their Schism they pray them to be Intercessors with the Legat to grant them Absolution and to receive them again into the Bosom of the Church So this being presented by both Houses on their Knees to the King and Queen they made their Intercession with the Cardinal who thereupon delivered himself in a long Speech He thanked the Parliament for repealing the Act against him The Cardinal makes a long Speech and making him a Member of the Nation from which he was by that Act cut off In recompence of which he was now to reconcile them to the Body of the Church He told them The Apostolick See cherished Britain most tenderly as the first Nation that had publickly received the Christian Faith The Saxons vvere also afterwards converted by the means of that See and some of their King 's had been so devoted to it that Offa and others had gone to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles That Adrian the fourth an English Pope had given Ireland to the Crown of England and that many mutual Marks of reciprocal kindness had passed between that common Father of Christendom and our Kings their most beloved Sons but none more eminent than the bestowing on the late King the Title of Defender of the Faith He told them That in the Unity with that See consisted the happiness and strength of all Churches that since the Greeks had separated from them they had been abandoned by God and vvere now under the Yoke of Mahometans That the Distractions of Germany did further demonstrate this but most of all the Confusions themselves had felt ever since they had broken that Bond of Perfection That it vvas the Ambition and Craft of some who for their privat Ends began it to vvhich the rest did too submissively comply and that the Apostolick See might have proceeded against them for it by the assistance of other Princes but had stayed looking for that Day and for the Hand of Heaven He run out much on the commendation of the Queen and said God had signally preserved her to procure this great Blessing to the Church At last he enjoined them for Penance to repeal the Laws they had made and so in the Pope's Name And grants them Absolution he granted them a full Absolution vvhich they received on their Knees and he also absolved the vvhole Realm from all Censures The rest of the day vvas spent vvith great solemnity and triumph all that had been done vvas published next Sunday at Pauls There vvas a Committee appointed by both Houses to prepare the Statute of Repeal which vvas not finished before the 25th of December and then the Bishop of London only protesting against it because of a Proviso put in for the Lands which the Lord Wentworth had out of his Bishoprick it vvas agreed to and sent to the Commons They made more hast vvith it for they sent it back the 4th of January with a desire that twenty Lines in it vvhich concerned the See of London and the Lord Wentworth might be put out and two new Proviso's added One of their Proviso's vvas not liked by the Lords who drew a new one to vvhich the Viscount Montacute and the Bishops of London and Coventry dissented The twenty Lines of the Lord Wentworth's Proviso vvere not put out but the Lord Chancellor took a Knife and cut them out of the Parchment and said Now I do truly the Office of a Chancellor the word being ignorantly derived by some from Cancelling It is not mentioned in the Journal that this vvas done by the Order of the House but that must be supposed otherwise it cannot be thought the Parliament vvould have consented to so unlimited a Power in the Lord Chancellor as to raze or cut out Proviso's at his pleasure The Act of Repealing all Laws against that See By the Act is set forth their former Schism from the See of Rome and their Reconciliation to it now upon vvhich all Acts passed since the 20th of Henry the Eighth against that See were specially enumerated and repealed There it is said that for the removing of all Grudges that might arise they desired that the following Articles might through the Cardinal's Intercession be established by the Pope's Authority 1. That all Bishopricks Cathedrals or Colleges now established might be confirmed for ever 2. That Marriages made within such degrees as are not contrary to the Law of God but only to the Laws of the Church might be confirmed and the Issue
by them declared legitimate 3. ' That all Institutions into Benefices might be confirmed 4. ' That all Judicial Processes might be also confirmed A Proviso for Church-Lands And finally That all the Settlements of the Lands of any Bishopricks Monasteries or other Religious Houses might continue as they were without any trouble by the Ecclesiastical Censures or Laws And to make this pass the better a Petition was procured from the Convocation of Canterbury A Petition from the Convocation about it setting forth That whereas they being the Defenders and Guardians of the Church ought to endeavour with all their strength to recover those Goods to the Church which in the Time of the late Schism had been alienated yet having considered well of it they saw how difficult and indeed impossible that would prove and how much it would endanger the publick Peace of the Realm and the Unity of the Church therefore they preferring the publick Welfare and the Salvation of Souls to their own privat Interests did humbly pray the King and Queen to intercede with the Legat that according to the Powers given him by the Pope he would settle and confirm all that had been done in the alienation of the Church and Abbey Lands to which they for their Interests did consent and they added an humble Desire That those things which concerned the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Liberty might be re-establish'd that so they might be able to discharge the Pastoral Cure committed to them Upon this the Cardinal granted a full Confirmation of those things ending it with a heavy charge on those who had the Goods of the Church in their hands that they would consider the Judgments of God that fell on Belshazar for his prophane using the Holy Vessels though they had not been taken away by himself but by his Father And he most earnestly exhorted them that at least they would take care that out of the Tithes of Parsonages or Vicarages those who served the Cures might be sufficiently maintain'd and encouraged This was confirmed in Parliament where also it was declared That all Suits about these Lands were only to be in the Queen's Courts and not in the Ecclesiastical Courts and if any should upon the pretence of any Ecclesiastical Authority disturb the Subjects in their possession they were to fall into a Premunire It was also declared that the Title of Supream Head never of right belonged to the Crown yet all Writings wherein it was used were still to continue in force but that hereafter all Writings should be of force in which either since the Queen 's coming to the Crown or afterwards that Title should be or had been omitted It was also declared that Bulls from Rome might be executed that all Exemptions that had belonged to Religious Houses and had been continued by the Grants given of them were repealed and these Places were made subject to the Episcopal Jurisdiction excepting only the Privileges of the two Universities the Churches of Westminster and Windsor and the Tower of London But for encouraging any to bestow what they pleased on the Church the Statutes of Mortmain were repealed for twenty Years to come provided always that nothing in this Act should be contrary to any of the Rights of the Crown or the Ancient Laws of England but that all things should be brought to the State they were in at the 20th Year of her Father's Reign and to continue in that condition For understanding this Act more perfectly An Address made by â—he Inferior Clergy I shall next set down the Heads of the Address which the Lower House of Convocation made to the Upper for most of the Branches of this Act had their first rise from it I have put it in the Collection Coll. Numb 16. having found it among Arch-Bishop Parker's Papers In it they petitioned the Lords of the Upper House of Convocation to take care that by their consent to the settlement of the Church Lands nothing might be done in prejudice of any just Title they had in Law to them as also it being said in the Grant of Chantries to King Edward that Schools and Hospitals were to be erected in several parts of the Kingdom they desired that some regard might be had to that Likewise that the Statutes of Mortmain might be repealed and whereas Tithes had been at all times appointed for the Ecclesiastical Ministry therefore they prayed that all Impropriations might be dissolved and the Tithes be restored to the Church They also proposed 27 Articles of things meet to be considered for the Reformation of the Church Namely That all who had preached any Heretical Doctrine should be made openly to recant it that Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament the late Service Books with all Heretical Books should be burnt and all that had them should be required to bring them in otherwise they should be esteemed the favourers of Heresy That great care should be had of the Books that were either printed or sold That the Statutes made against Lollards might be revived and the Church restored to its former Jurisdiction That all Statutes for Pluralities and Non-residence might be repealed that so Beneficed Men might attend on their Cures That Simoniacal Pactions might be punished not only in the Clergy that made them but in the Patrons and in those that mediated in them that the Liberties of the Church might be restored according to the Magna Charta and the Clergy be delivered from the heavy Burdens of First-Fruits Tenths and Subsidies That there might be a clear explanation made of all the Articles of the Premunire and that none should be brought under it till there were first a Prohibition issued out by the Queen in that Particular and that disobedience to it should only bring them within that Guilt That all Exemptions should be taken away all Usury be forbid all Clergy Men obliged to go in their Habits The last was That all who had spoiled Churches without any Warrant might be obliged to make restitution The Laws against Hereticks revived The next Act that was brought in was for the reviving the Statutes made by Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth against Hereticks of which an account was given in the first Book of the former Part. The Act began in the House of Commons who as was observed in the former Parliament were much set on Severities It was brought in on the 12th of December and sent up to the Lords on the 15th who pasied it on the 18th of that month The Commons put in also another Bill for voiding all Leases made by married Priests It was much argued among them and the first Draught being rejected a new one was drawn and sent up to the Lords on the 19th of December but they finding it would shake a great part of the Rights of the Church Lands that were made by Married Priests or Bishops laid it aside Thus did the servile and corrupted House of Commons
the hope of that relief and comfort that Soul-Masses might bring them in Purgatory would prevail with many of them to make at least great if not entire Restitutions This Point being carried by those who did not understand what future danger their Estates were in but considered the present Confirmation and the other Advantages which they were to have for consenting to this Act all the rest passed with no opposition The Act about the proceeding against Hereticks passed more easily than any thing that had been proposed So it seems the opposition that was made to other Acts came not from any that favoured the Reformation otherwise this would have found some resistance But now it was the only way to the Queen's Favour and to Preferment to run down that which was called Heresy Consultations about the way of dealing with Hereticks After the Dissolution of the Parliament the first thing taken into consideration was what way to proceed against the Hereticks Cardinal Pool had been suspected to favour the Protestants but seemed now to be much alienated from them and therefore when Tremellius who had declared himself a Protestant came to him at Brussels he would not see him though he was his God-father He came over into England much changed from that freedom of Conversation he had formerly practised he was in reserves to all People spoke little and had put on an Italian Temper as well as behaviour he brought over two Italians Priuli and Ormaneto who were his only Confidents He was a Man of a generous and good disposition but knew how jealous the Court of Rome would be of him if he seemed to favour Hereticks therefore he expressed great detestation of them Nor did he converse much with any that had been of that Party but the late Secretary Cecil who though he lived for the most part privatly at his House near Stamford where he afterwards built a most sumptuous House and was known to favour the Reformation still in his Heart yet in many things he complied with the Time and came to have more of his confidence than any English Man The Cardinal professed himself an Enemy to extream Proceedings The Cardinal is for moderate Courses He said Pastors ought to have Bowels even to their straying Sheep Bishops were Fathers and ought to look on those that erred as their sick Children and not for that to kill them He had seen that severe Proceedings did rather inflame than cure that Disease There was a great difference to be made between a Nation uninfected where some few Teachers came to spread Errors and a Nation that had been over-run with them both Clergy and Laity The People were not so violently to be drawn back but were to have time given them to recover out of those Errors into which they had been led by the Compliance and Writings of their Prelats Therefore he proposed that there should be a strict Reformation of the Manners of the Clergy carried on He had observed in every Country of Christendom that all the best and wisest Men acknowledged that the Scandals and Ignorance of the Clergy had given the entrance to Heresy So he moved that there might be a reviving of the Rules of the Primitive Church and then within a little time Men might by degrees be brought over I have not found that he proposed the receiving the Council of Trent which is the more strange since he had been himself one of the Legats at the first Session of it but it seems it was not thought seasonable to propose it till the Council were first ended and dissolved On the other hand Gardiner But Gardiner is for violent ones who had no great sense of Ecclesiastical Matters but as they served Intrigues of State and being himself of such a temper that severe Proceedings wrought much on him judged that the executing the Laws against the Lollards was that in which they were chiefly to trust He was confident the Preachers then in Prison were Men of such tempers that if they saw they were to be burnt they would comply or if they stood out and were burnt that would so terrify the rest that the whole Nation would soon change He remembred well how the Lollards grew in England only upon Cardinal Wolsey's slackning the execution of the Laws against them And upon the passing of the Statute of the Six Articles many submitted so that if King Henry had not discouraged the vigorous execution of that Act all had turned He did not deny but a Reformation of the Clergy was a good and fit mean but said that all Times could not bear such things and if they went to reform their Manners the Hereticks would from thence take advantage of raising clamours against a scandalous Clergy which would encrease rather than lessen the aversion the People had to their Pastors So Gardiner complained that Pool by his intention of coming over too hastily had almost precipitated all things and now by his gentle proceedings would as much prejudice them another way All these Reasonings were such as became a Man of Gardiner's temper which being servile and abject made him measure others by himself He was also at this time highly provoked by the reprinting of his Books of True Obedience which he had writ in the Time of King Henry and to which Bonner had made the Preface In these Books Gardiner had not only argued against the Pope's Supremacy and for the Kings but had condemned the King's Marriage with Queen Katherine calling it often incestuous and unlawful and had justified the King's Divorcing her and marrying his most godly and vertuous Wife Queen Ann. This being reprinted in Strasburg was now conveighed into England and it was acknowledged to be a handsome piece of Spite in the reformed thus to expose him to the World But though this netled him much yet he was confident enough and excused himself that he had erred through fear and weakness as St. Peter had done though it was an unreasonable thing to compare an Error of near thirty Years continuance to the sudden denial of St. Peter that was presently expiated with so true and sincere a Repentance To which the Queen inclined Between these two Councils the Queen would have a mean way taken to follow both in part She encouraged Pool to go on in the correcting the Manners of the Clergy and likewise pressed Gardiner to proceed against the Hereticks She also sent Ambassadors to Rome who were the Viscount Montacute the Bishop of Ely and Sir Edward Carn one to represent every State of the Kingdom to make her Obedience to the Pope and to obtain a Confirmation of all those Graces Cardinal Pool had granted in his Name 1555. On the 23d of January all the Bishops went to Lambeth to receive the Cardinal's Blessing and Directions He wished them to return to their Cures and treat their Flocks with all gentleness and to endeavour rather to gain them that way than to use
punishment rather than put himself in danger of Everlasting Burnings by such an Apostacy So the Fire was set to him which consumed him to Ashes Hooâ—er burnt at Glocester For Hooper after they had degraded him they resolved to send him to Glocester At which he much rejoiced hoping by his Death to confirm their Faith over whom he had been formerly placed He was carried thither in three days After he came he had one days interval given him which he spent in Fasting and Prayer Some came to perswade him to accept of the Queen's Mercy since Life was sweet and Death was bitter He Answered The Death that was to come after was more bitter and the Life that was to follow was more sweet As some of his Friends parted with him he shed some Tears and told them All his Imprisonment had not made him do so much On the 9th he was led out to his Execution where being denied leave to speak but only to pray in the strain of a Prayer he declared his belief Then the Queen's Pardon being shewed him he desired them to take it away He prayed earnestly for strength from God to endure his Torment patiently and undressed himself and embraced the Reeds When he was tied to the Stake with Iron Chains he desired them to spare their pains for he was confident he should not trouble them The Fire was put to him but the Wood being green burnt ill and the Wind blew away the flame of the Reeds He prayed oft O Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me and receive my Soul and called to the People for the Love of God to bring him more Fire for the Fire was burning his neather Parts but did not reach his Vitals The Fire was renewed but the Wind still blew it away from rising up to stifle him so that he was long in the Torment The last words he was heard to say were Lord Jesus receive my Spirit One of his Hands dropped off before he died with the other he continued to knock on his Breast some time after and was in all near three quarters of an hour a burning Next these was Sanders condemned Sanders burnt at Coventry and sent to Coventry to be burnt where he suffered on the 8th of February He had been made a Prisoner for Preaching notwithstanding the Queen's Prohibition and was condemned for refusing to conform to the New Laws When he was led out to the Stake a Pardon was likewise offered him But he said He held no Heresies but the blessed Gospel of Christ and that he would never recant When he came to the Stake he embraced it and said Wellcome the Cross of Christ wellcome Everlasting Life and so he was burnt Dr. Taylor followed next who was Parson of Hadley And Taylor at Hadley Some of his neighbouring Priests came to Hadley and resolved to say Mass in his Church He went thither and openly declared against it but was by violence thrust out of the Church Gardiner being informed of this writ for him to come up Many of his Friends wished him to go out of the way He said He must follow Christ the good Shepherd who not only fed his Flock but died for it He was old and thought he should never be able at any other time to do his good God such Service as he was then called to so he went with much chearfulness Gardiner received him with his ordinary Civilities of Traitor Villain Heretick and Knave He answered He was none of these and put Gardiner in mind of the Oaths he had sworn both to King Henry and King Edward Gardiner said An unlawful Oath was not to be kept and charged him for hindring Mass to be said at his Church He said He was by Law Parson of Hadley and no Man had a right to come thither and defile his Church and People with Idolatry After some Discourse on that Head he was sent to the Kings Bench Prison and being carried before the Council on the 22d of January he refused to turn After that he was condemned and degraded And it was resolved to send him to Hadley to be burnt there All the way he expressed great chearfulness When he was brought to the Stake he said to the People he had taught them nothing but God's Holy Word and was now to Seal it with his Blood But one of the Guard struck him over the Head and made him give over speaking Then he went to his Prayers and so to the Stake where he was put in a Pitcht Barrel as the Faggots were laying about him one flung a Faggot at his Head which broke it and fetch'd a great deal of Blood but all he said was Oh Friend I have harm enough what needed that He repeated the 51 Psalm in English at which one of the Guard struck him over the Mouth and bid him speak Latin He continued in his Ejaculations to God till the Fire was kindled and one of the Guard cut him in the Head with his Halbert so that his Brains fell out This was done on the 9th of February Bradford was also at the same time condemned but his Execution was respited Soon after the Condemnation of these Men fix others were apprehended on the account of Heresy By this Gardiner saw that what he had expected did not follow for he thought a few severe instances would have turned the whole Nation but finding he was disappointed Gardiner is disiappointed he would meddle no more in the condemning of them but left the whole matter wholly to Bonner who undertook it chearfully being naturally savage and brutal and retaining deep resentments for what had befallen himself in King Edwards time These Cruelties are much considered The whole Nation stood amazed at these Proceedings and the burning of such Men only for their Consciences without the mixture of any other thing so much as pretended against them And it was look't upon as a horrible cruelty because those Men had acted nothing contrary to the Laws For they were put in Prison at first for smaller matters and there kept till those Laws were past by which they were now burnt So that remembring Gardiners Plea for himself in his imprisonment when he desired to be first Tried and discharged in the particular for which he was committed before new matter was brought against him all Men saw now how much more justly those men might have demanded the like at his hands But now the spirit of the two Religions shewed it self In King Edwards time Papists were only turned out of their Benefices and at most imprisoned and of those there were but very few but now that could not serve turn but barbarous Cruelties must be executed on innocent Men only for their Opinions One piece of Severity was taken notice of among the rest The Council sent for those who were to be burnt in the Country and required of them a promise to make no Speeches otherwise they threatned to cut out
but in vain At this time the Nation was in expectation of the Queen's Delivery And on the third of May the Bishop of Norwich writ a Letter to the Earl of Sussex of which I have seen the Original that news was brought him from London that the Queen had brought forth a Noble Prince for which he had Te Deum solemnly sung in his Cathedral and in the other Churches thereabout He adds in the Postscript that the News was confirmed by two other Hands But tho this was without any ground the Queen continued still in her opinion that she was with Child and on the 29th of May Letters were written by the Council to the Lord Treasurer to have Money in readiness that those who were appointed to carry the joyful news of the Queens happy Delivery might be speedily dispatched In the beginning of June she was believed to be in Labour and it flew over London again that she had brought forth a Son The Priests had setled all their hopes on that so they did every where sing Te Deum and were transported into no small Extasies of Joy One more officious than the rest made a Sermon about it and described all the lineaments of their young Prince but they soon found they were abused It was said that they had been deceived and that the Queen had no great Belly But Melvil in his Memoirs says he was assured from some of her Women that she did cast forth at several times some Moles and unformed pieces of flesh So now there was small hopes of any Issue from her This encreased the sowrness of her temper and King Philip being so much younger than she growing out of conceit with her did not much care for her but left her some months after He saw no hope of Children and finding that it was not possible for him to get England in his hands without that gave over all his Designs about it so having lived with her about fifteen months after their first Marriage he found it necessary to look more after his Hereditary Crown and less after his Matrimonial one and henceforth he considered England rather as a sure Ally that was to adhere firmly to his Interests than as a Nation which he could ever hope to add to his other Crowns All these things concurred to encrease the Queen's Melancholy Humours and did cast her into an ill state of Health so that it was not probable she could live long Gardiner upon that set himself much to have the Lady Elizabeth put out of the way but as it was formerly said King Philip preserved her Proceedings against Hereticks And thus Affairs went on as to Civil matters till the meeting of the next Parliament in October following But I now return to the Proceedings against the poor men called Hereticks who were again after a short intermission brought to new Sufferings John Cardmaker 1555. that had been Divinity-Reader at S. Pauls and a Prebendary at Bath and John Warne an Upholster in London were both burnt in Smithfield on the 30th of May for denying the Corporal presence being proceeded against ex Officio On the 4th of June there was a piece of Pageantry acted on the Body of one Tooly who being executed for a Robbery did at his death say something that savoured of Heresy upon which the Council writ to Bonner to enquire into it and to proceed according to the Ecclesiastical Laws He thereupon form'd a Process cited the dead Body to answer the Points objected to him but he to be sure neither appearing nor answering was condemned and burnt After this on the 10th of June Thomas Hawkes a Gentleman in Essex who had lived much in the Court was also burnt at Coxhall and on the same day John Simpson and John Ardeley two Husbandmen were also burnt in Essex Thomas Watts a Linen-Draper was burnt at Chelmsford On the 9th Nicholas Chamberlain a Weaver was burnt at Colchester and on the 15th Thomas Osmond a Fuller was burnt at Manning-tree and the same day William Bamford a Weaver was burnt at Harwich These with several others had been sent up by the Earl of Oxford to Bonner because they had not received the Sacrament the last Easter and were suspected of Heresie and Articles being given to them they were upon their Answers condemned and sent to be burnt in the places where they had lived But upon this occasion The Council writ to the Lords in Essex to gather the Gentry and assist at these Burnings the Council fearing some Tumult or violent Rescue writ to the Earl of Oxford and the Lord Rich to gather the Country and to see the Hereticks burnt The Earl of Oxford being some way indisposed could only send his People to the Lord Rich who went and obeyed the Orders that had been sent him for which Letters of Thanks were written to him and the Council understanding that some Gentlemen had come to the burning at Colchester that had not been writ to but as the words of the Letter have it had honestly and of themselves gone thither writ to the Lord Rich to give them the Council's thanks for their Zeal I find in the Council Books many Entries made of Letters writ to several Counties to the Nobility and Gentry to assist at these Executions and such as made excuses were always after that looked on with an ill eye and were still under great jealousy After these followed the Execution of Bradford in July Bradford's Martyrdome He had been condemned among the first but was not burnt till now He had been a Prebendary of St. Pauls and a celebrated Preacher in the end of King Edwards days He had preserved Bourn in the tumult at Pauls-Cross and that afternoon preaching at Bow-Church he severely reproved the people for the disorder at Pauls but three days after was put in Prison where he lay removed from one Prison to another near three years where-ever he came he gained so much on the Keepers that they suffered Preach and give the Sacrament to his Fellow Prisoners He was one of those that were carried before the Council on the 22d of January where Bonner accused him of the Tumult at Pauls though all he pretended to prove it by was that his way of speaking to the People shewed he thought he had some Authority over them and was a presumption that he had set on the Sedition Bradford appealed to God that saw his Innocency and how unworthily he was requited for saving his Enemies who rendered him evil for good At last refusing to conform himself to the Laws he was condemned with the rest on the 31. of Jan. where that Rescue was again laid to his Charge together with many Letters he had written over England which as the Earl of Darby informed the Parliament had done more hurt than he could have done if he had been at liberty to Preach He said since he understood that they acted by a Commission which was derived from
lived long mad he took a conceit that he would see an Obit made for himself and would have his own Funeral Rites performed to which he came himself with the rest of the Monks and prayed most devoutly for the Rest of his own Soul which set all the Company on weeping Two days after he sickned of a Feaver of which he died on the 21st of September 1558. A rare and great instance of a mind surfeited with the Pomps and Glories of the World seeking for that Quiet in retirement which he had long in vain searched after in Palaces and Camps And now I return to the Affairs of England The 21st of March was Cranmer Cranmer's Tryal brought to the end of all his Afflictions and received his Crown On the 12 of September the former year Brooks Bishop of Glocester came to Oxford as the Popes Subdelegate and Martin and Story Commissioners from the King and Queen sate with him in St. Maries to judge him When he appeared before them he payed a low reverence to them that sate in the King and Queen's Name but would give none to Brooks since he sate by an Authority from the Pope to which he would pay no respect Then Brooks made a long Speech to set forth his Apostacy and Heresy his Incontinence and finally his Treason and exhorted him to repent and insinuated to him great hopes of being restored to his See upon it After this Martin made a Speech of the difference between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority When they had done Cranmer first kneeled down said the Lord's Prayer next he repeated the Apostles Creed th◠〈◊〉 told them he would never acknowledge the Bishop of Room 's Authority he owned his Allegiance to the Crown according to the Oath he had often sworn and the submitting to the Pope was directly contrary to that he could not serve two Masters He said the Bishops of Rome not only set up Pretensions that were contrary to the Power of Princes but they had also made Laws contrary to those made by God instancing it in the Worship of an unknown Tongue the denying the Chalice to the People the pretending to dispose of Crowns and exalting themselves above every Creature which shewed them not to be the Vicars of Christ but to be Antichrists since all these things were manifestly contrary to the Doctrin of Christ that was delivered in the Gospel He remembred Brooks that he had sworn to the King's Supremacy Brooks said it was to K. Henry the 8th and that Cranmer had made him swear it To which Cranmer replied that he did him wrong in that for it was done in his Predecessor Warham's time who had asserted the King's Supremacy and it was also sent to be discussed in the Universities and they had set their Hands and Seals to it and that Brooks being then a Doctor had signed it with the rest so that all this being done before he came to be Arch-Bishop it ought not to be called his deed After this Story made another Speech of the Authority of the Church magnifying the See of Rome and enlarging on those Arguments commonly insisted on and desired Brooks would put Cranmer to make a plain Answer and cut off all Debates Then followed a long Discourse between Martin and Cranmer in which Martin objected that he had once sworn to the Pope when he was consecrated but that aspiring to be Archbishop he had changed his mind in compliance to King Henry That he had condemned Lambert of Heresy for denying the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and afterwards turned to that himself To all this Cranmer answered pretending that never man came more unwillingly into a Bishoprick than he did to his That he was so far from having aspired to it that tho the King had sent one post to him to come over to be consecrated he being then in Germany yet he had delayed his Journey seven weeks hoping that in all that time the King might have forgot him That at his Consecration he publickly explained his meaning in what sense he swore to the Pope so that he did not act deceitfully in that particular And that when he condemned Lambert he did then believe the Corporal Presence which he continued to do till Dr. Ridley shewed him such Reasons and Authorities as perswaded him to change his Mind and then he was not ashamed to retract his former Opinion Then they objected his having been twice married his keeping his Wife secretly in King Henry's time and openly in King Edward's Reign his setting out Heretical Books and Articles and compelling others to subscribe them his forsaking the Catholick Church and denying Christ's Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar and disputing against it so publickly lately at Oxford He confessed his living in Marriage and that he thought it was lawful for all Men to marry and that it was certainly better to do so than to lie with other Mens Wives as many Priests did He confessed all the other Articles only he said he had never forâ—â—â—ny to subscribe After this TRâ— made a long Speech to him with many of the common Argumenâ—â— concerning the Pope's Power and the Presence in the Sacrament to which Cranmer made another large Answer Then many Witnesses were examined upon the Points they had heard Cranmer defend in the Schools and in conclusion they cited him to appear before the Pope within eighty days to answer for all those things which were now objected to him He said he would do it most willingly if the King and Queen would send him but he could not go if he were still detained a Prisoner After this he was sent back to Prison where he lay till the 14th of February this Year and then Bonner and Thirleby were sent down to degrade him Bonner desired this Imployment as a pleasant Revenge on Cranmer who had before deprived him but it was forced on the other who had lived in great friendship with Cranmer formerly and was a gentle and good natur'd Man but very inconstant and apt to change They had Cranmer brought before them and then they caused to read their Commission which declared him Contumax for not coming to Rome and required them to degrade him They clothed him in Pontifical Robes a Miter and the other Garments with a Crosier in his hand but the Robes were made of Canvass to make him shew more ridiculous in them Then Bonner made a Speech full of Jeers This is the Man that despised the Pope and is now judged by him This is the Man that pulled down Churches and is now judged in a Church This is the Man that contemned the Sacrament and is now condemned before it with other such Expressions at which Thirleby was much offended and pulled him oft by the Sleeve desiring him to make an end and challenged him afterwards that he had broke the Promise he had made to him before of treating him with respect And he was observed to weep much all the while
St. Fridiswides Bones that she might run the same Fortune with her in all Times coming While these things were doing there was great Complaints made that the Inferior Magistrates grew every where slack in the searching after and presenting of Hereticks Great Endeavours used to set forward the Persecution most vigorously they could not find in the Counties a sufficient number of Justices of Peace that would carefully look after it and in Towns they were generally harboured Letters were written to some Towns as Coventry and Rye which are entred in the Council-Books recommending some to be chosen their Majors who were zealous Catholicks It is probable that the like Letters might have been written to other Towns for the Council-Books for this Reign are very imperfect and defective But all this did not advance their design The Queen understood that the Numbers of the Hereticks rather encreased than abated so new Councils were to be taken I find it said That some advised that Courts of Inquisition like those in Spain might be set up in England In Spain the Inquisitors who were then all Dominicans received private Informations and upon these laid hold on any that were delated or suspected of Heresie and kept them close in their Prisons till they formed their Processes and by all the ways of torture they could invent forced from them Confessions either against themselves or others whom they had a mind to draw within their Toils They had so unlimited a Jurisdiction that there was no Sanctuary that could secure any from their Warrants nor could Princes preserve or deliver Men out of their Hands nor were their Prisoners brought to any publick Trial but tried in secret one of the Advocates of the Court was for Forms sake assigned to plead for them but was always more careful to please the Court than to save his Client They proceeded against them both by Articles which they were to answer and upon Presumptions and it was a rare thing for any to escape out of their Hands unless they redeemed themselves either by great Presents or by the discovery of others These had been set up first in the County of Tholouse for the extirpation of the Albigenses and were afterwards brought into Spain upon Ferdinand of Arragons driving the Moors out of it that so none of those might any longer conceal themselves in that Kingdom who being a false and crafty sort of Men and certainly Enemies to the Government it seemed necessary to use more than ordinary severity to drive them out But now those Courts examined Men suspected of Heresie as well as of Mahometanisme and had indeed effectually preserved Spain from any change in Religion This made the present Pope earnest with all the Princes of Christendome to set up such Courts in their Dominions and Philip was so much of the same mind that he resolved to have them set up in Flanders which gave the first Rise to those Wars that followed afterwards there and ended in the loss of the seven Provinces In England they made now in February a good step towards it A Design to set up the Inquisition in England For a Commission was given to the Bishops of London and Ely the Lord North Secretary Bourne Sir John Mordant Sir Francis Englefield Sir Edward Walgrave Sir Nicholas Hare Sir Tho. Pope Sir Roger Cholmly Sir Richard Read Sir Tho. Stradling Sir Rowland Hall and Serjeant Rastall Cole Dean of Pauls William Roper Randulph Cholmley and William Cook Tho. Martin John Story and John Vaughan Doctors of the Law That since many false Rumors were published among the Subjects and many Heretical Opinions were also spread among them therefore they or any three of them were to enquire into those either by Presentments by Witnesses or any other politick way they could devise and to search after all Heresies the Bringers in the Sellers or Readers of all Heretical Books they were to examine and punish all misbehaviours or negligences in any Church or Chappel and to try all Priests that did not preach of the Sacrament of the Altar all Persons that did not hear Mass or come to their Parish-Church to Service that would not go in Processions or did not take Holy Bread or Holy Water and if they found any that did obstinately persist in such Heresies they were to put them into the Hands of their Ordinaries to be proceeded against according to the Laws giving them full Power to proceed as their Discretions and Consciences should direct them and to use all such means as they could invent for the searching of the Premisses empow'ring them also to call before them such Witnesses as they pleased and to force them to make Oath of such things as might discover what they sought after This Commission I have put in the Collection Collection Number 33. It will shew how high they intended to raise the Persecution when a Power of such a nature was put into the Hands of any three of a number so selected Besides this there were many subordinate Commissions issued out This Commission seems to have been granted the former Year and only renewed now for in the Rolls of that Year I have met with many of those subaltern Commissions relating to this as superior to them And on the eighth of March after this a Commission was given to the Arch-bishop of York the Bishop Suffragan of Hull and divers others to the same effect but with this limitation that if any thing appeared to them so intricate that they could not determine it they were to refer it to the Bishop of London and his Colleagues who had a larger Commission So now all was done that could be devised for extirpating of Heresie except Courts of Inquisition had been set up to which whether this was not a previous step to dispose the Nation to it the Reader may judge I shall next give an account of the Burnings this Year On the 15th of January six Men were burnt in one Fire at Canterbury and at the same time Proceedings against the Hereticks two were burnt at Wye and two at Ashford that were condemned with the other six Soon after the fore-mentioned Commission two and twenty were sent up from Colchester to London yet Bonner though seldom guilty of such gentleness was content to discharge them As they were led through London the People did openly shew their affection to them above a thousand following them Bonner upon this writ to the Cardinal that he found they were obstinate Hereticks yet since he had been offended with him for his former Proceedings he would do nothing till he knew his pleasure This Letter is to be found in Fox But the Cardinal stopt him and made some deal with the Prisoners to Sign a Paper of their professing that they believed that Christs Body and Blood was in the Sacrament without any further explanation and that they did submit to the Catholick Church of Christ and should be faithful Subjects to the King
from Rome This Storm against Pool went soon over by the Peace that was made between Philip and the Pope of which it will not be unpleasant to give the Relation The Duke of Guise having carried his Army out of Italy the Duke of Alva marched towards Rome and took and spoiled all Places on his way When he came near Rome all was in such confusion that he might have easily taken it but he made no assault The Pope called the Cardinals together and setting out the danger he was in with many Tears said he would undauntedly suffer Martyrdome which they who knew that the trouble he was in flowed only from his restless ambition and fierceness could scarce hear without laughter The Duke of Alva was willing to treat A Peace made between the Pope and the King of Spain The Pope stood high on the Points of Honour and would needs keep that entire though he was forced to yield in the chief matters he said rather than lose one jot that was due to him he would see the whole World ruined pretending it was not his own Honour but Christs that he sought In fine the Duke of Alva was required by him to come to Rome and on his Knees to ask pardon for invading the Patrimony of the Church and to receive Absolution for himself and his Master He being superstitiously devoted to the Papacy and having got satisfaction in other things consented to this So the Conqueror was brought to ask pardon and the vain Pope received him and gave him Absolution with as much haughtiness and state as if he had been his Prisoner This was done on the 14th of September and the news of it being brought into England on the 6th of October Letters were written by the Council to the Lord Major and Aldermen of London requiring them to come to St. Pauls where high Mass was to be said for the Peace now concluded between the Pope and the King after which Bonfires were ordered One of the secret Articles of the Peace was the restoring Pool to his Legatine Power The beginnings of a War between England and Scotland War being now proclaimed between England and France the French sent to the Scotish Queen Regent to engage Scotland in the War with England Hereupon a Convention of the Estates was called But in it there were two different Parties Those of the Clergy liked now the English Interest as much as they had been formerly jealous of it and so refused to engage in the War since they were at Peace with England They had also a secret dislike to the Regent for her kindness to the Heretical Lords On the other hand those Lords were ready enough to gain the protection of the Regent and the favour of France and therefore were ready to enter into the War hoping that thereby they should have their Party made the stronger in Scotland by the entertainment that the Queen Regent would be obliged to give to such as should fly out of England for Religion Yet the greater part of the Convention were against the War The Queen Regent thought at least to engage the Kingdom in a defensive War by forcing the English to begin with them Therefore she sent D'Oisel who was in chief command to fortifie Aymouth which by the last Treaty with England was to be unfortified So the Governour of Berwick making Inroads into Scotland for the disturbing of their Works upon that D'Oisel began the War and went into England and besieged Warke Castle The Scotish Lords upon this met at Edenburgh and complained that D'Oisel was engaging them in a War with England without their consent and required him to return back under pain of being declared an Enemy to the Nation which he very unwillingly obeyed But while he lay there the Duke of Norfolk was sent down with some Troops to defend the Marches There was only one Engagement between him and the Kers but after a long dispute they were defeated and many of them taken The Queen Regent seeing her Authority was so little considered writ to France to hasten the Marriage of her Daughter to the Dolphin for that he being thereupon invested with the Crown of Scotland the French would become more absolute Upon this a Message was sent from France to a Convention of Estates that sate in December to let them know that the Dolphin was now coming to be of Age and therefore they desired they would send oversome to treat about the Articles of the Marriage They sent the Arch-bishop of Glasgow the Bishop of Orkney the Prior of St. Andrews who afterwards was Earl of Murray the Earls of Rothes and Cassils the Lord Fleeming and the Provosts of Edenburgh and Mountrose some of every Estate that in the Name of the three Estates they might conclude that Treaty These Wars coming upon England when the Queens Treasure was quite exhausted it was not easie to raise Money for carrying them on They found such a backwardness in the last Parliament that they were afraid the supply from thence would not come easily or at least that some favour would be desired for the Hereticks Therefore they tried first to raise Money by sending Orders under the Privy Seal for the borrowing of certain Sums But though the Council writ many Letters to set on those Methods of getting Money yet they being without if not against Law there was not much got this way so that after all it was found necessary to summon a Parliament to assemble on the 20th of January In the end of the Year the Queen had Advertisements sent her from the King that he understood the French had a design on Calais but she either for want of Money or that she thought the place secure in the Winter did not send these Supplies that were necessary and thus ended the Affairs of England this Year In Germany there was a Conference appointed The Affairs of Germany to bring matters of Religion to a fuller settlement Twelve Papists and twelve Protestants were appointed to manage it Julius Pflugius that had drawn the Interim being the chief of the Papists moved that they should begin first with condemning the Heresie of Zuinglius Melancthon upon that said it was preposterous to begin with the condemnation of errors till they had first setled the Doctrines of Religion Yet that which the Papists expected followed upon this for some of the fiercer Lutherans being much set against the Zuinglians agreed to it This raised heats among themselves which made the Conference break up without bringing things to any issue Upon this occasion Men could not but see that Artifice of the Roman Church which has been often used before and since with too great success When they cannot bear down those they call Hereticks with open force their next way is to divide them among themselves and to engage them into Heats about those lesser matters in which they differ hoping that by those animosities their endeavours which being united would
Deputies from the Towns one from every Town only Edenburgh sends two were the third Estate Anciently all that held Lands of the Crown were summoned to Parliaments as well the greater as the lesser Barons But in King James the first 's time the lesser Barons finding it a great charge to attend ou such Assemblies desired to be excused from it and procured an Act of Parliament exempting them and giving them power to send from every County two three four or more to represent them but they afterwards thought this rather a Charge than a Priviledge and did not use it so that now the second Estate consisted only of the Nobility But the Gentry finding the prejudice they suffered by this and that the Nobility grew too absolute procured by King James the sixth's favour an Act of Parliament restoring them to that Right of sending Deputies two from every County except some small Counties that send only one But according to the Ancient Law none has a Vote in the Elections but those who hold Lands immediately of the Crown of such a value The difference between a Parliament and a Convention of Estates is that the former must be summoned forty days before it sits and then it meets in State and makes Laws which are to be prepared by a Committee of all the Estates called the Lords of the Articles but a Convention may be called within as few days as are necessary for giving notice to all parts of the Nation to make their Elections They have no Power of making Laws being only called for one particular Emergent which during the division of the Island was chiefly upon the breaking out of War betwixt the two Nations and so their Power was confined to the giving of Money for the occasion which then brought them together In the Convention now held after much debate and opposition whether they should consent to the demand made by the Ambassador sent from France it was carried that the Dolphin should be acknowledged their King great assurances being given that this should be only a bare Title and that he should pretend to no Power over them So the Earl of Argile and the Prior of St. Andrews who had been the main sticklers for the French Interest upon the promises that the Queen Regent made them that they should enjoy the free exercise of their Religion were appointed to carry the Matrimonial Crown into France But as they were preparing for their Journey a great revolution of Affairs fell out in England A Session of Parliament in England The Parliament met on the fifth of November On the seventh the Queen sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and ordered him to open to them the ill condition the Nation was in for though there was a Treaty begun at Cambray yet it was necessary to put the Kingdom in a posture of defence in case it should miscarry But the Commons were now so dissatisfied that they could come to no resolution So on the 14th day of November the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of Shrewsbury and Pembroke the Bishops of London Winchester Lincoln and Carlisle the Viscount Mountacute the Lords Clinton and Howard came down to the House of Commons and sate in that place of the House where the Privy-Counsellors used to sit The Speaker left his Chair and he with the Privy-Counsellors that were of the House came and sate on low Benches before them The Lord Chancellor shewed the necessity of granting a Subsidy to defend the Nation both from the French and the Scots When he had done the Lords withdrew but though the Commons entred both that and the two following days into the debate they came to no issue in their Consultations The Queen had never enjoyed her health perfectly since the false conception that was formerly spoken of The Queens sickness upon which followed the neglect from her Husband and the despair of Issue that encreased her Melancholly and this receiving a great addition from the loss of Calais and the other misfortunes of this Year she by a long declination of Health and decay of her Spirits was now brought so low that it was visible she had not many days to live and a Dropsie coming on her put a conclusion to her unhappy Reign And death and unfortunate Life on the 17th of November in the 43d Year of her Age after she had reigned five Years four Months and eleven Days At the same time Cardinal Pool Cardinal Pool dies as if one Star had governed both their Nativities was also dying and his end being hastened by the Queens death he followed her within sixteen hours in the 59th Year of his Age. He left his whole estate to Aloisi Prioli a Noble Venetian with whom he had lived six and twenty years in so entire a friendship that as nothing could break it off so neither was any thing able to separate them from one anothers company Prioli being invited by Pope Julius to come and receive a Cardinals Hat preferred Pools company before it and as he had supplied him in his necessities in Italy so he left his Country now to live with him in England Pool made him his Executor But Prioli was of a more Noble temper than to enrich himself by his Friends Wealth for as he took care to pay all the Legacies he left so he gave away all that remained reserving nothing to himself but Pools Breviary and Diary And indeed the Cardinal was not a Man made to raise a Fortune being by the greatness of his Birth and his excellent Vertues carried far above such mean designs He was a Learned His Character Modest Humble and good natured Man and had indeed such Qualities and such a Temper that if he could have brought the other Bishops to follow his Measures or the Pope and Queen to approve of them he might have probably done much to have reduced this Nation to Popery again But God designed better things for it so he gave up the Queen to the Bloody Councils of Gardiner and the rest of the Clergy It was the only thing in which she was not led by the Cardinal But she imputed his Opinion in that Particular rather to the sweetness of his Temper than to his Wisdom and Experience and he seeing he could do nothing of what he projected in England fell into a languishing first of his mind that brought after it a decay of his Health of which he died I have dwelt the more copiously on his Character being willing to deny to none of whom I write the Praises that are due to them and he being the only Man of that whole Party of whom I found any reason to say much good I was the more willing to enlarge about him to let the World see how little I am biassed in the account I give by Interest or Opinion So that if I have written sharply of any others that have been mentioned in
he said they were Mathew Mark Luke and John that were still shut up for the People longed much to see them abroad She answered him as pleasantly she would first talk with themselves and see whether they desired to be set at such liberty as he requested for them A Consultation about the change of Religion Now the two great things under Consultation were Religion and Peace For the former some were appointed to consider how it was to be Reform'd Beal a Clerk of the Council gave advice to Cecil that the Parliaments under Queen Mary should be declared void the first being under a force as was before related and the Title of Supream Head being left out of the Summons to the next Parliament before it was taken away by Law from whence he inferred that both these were not lawfully held or duly summoned and this being made out the Laws of King Edward were still in force but this was laid aside as too high and violent a way of proceeding since the annulling of Parliaments upon little errors in Writs or some particular disorders was a Precedent of such consequence that to have proceeded in such a manner would have unhinged all the Government and security of the Nation More moderate Courses were thought on The Queen had been bred up from her Infancy with a hatred of the Papacy and a Love to the Reformation But yet as her first Impressions in her Fathers Reign were in favour of such old Rites as he had still retained so in her own Nature she loved State and some Magnificence in Religion as well as in every thing else She thought that in her Brothers Reign they had stript it too much of external Ornaments and had made their Doctrine too narrow in some Points therefore she intended to have some things explained in more general terms that so all Parties might be comprehended by them She inclined to keep up Images in Churches and to have the manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament left in some general words that those who believed the Corporal Presence might not be driven away from the Church by too nice an Explanation of it Nor did she like the Title of Supream Head she thought it imported too great a Power and came too near that Authority which Christ only had over the Church These were her own private thoughts She considered nothing could make her Power great in the World abroad so much as the uniting all her People together at home Her Fathers and her Brothers Reign had been much distracted by the Rebellions within England and she had before her Eyes the Instance of the Coldness that the People had expressed to her Sister on all occasions for the maintaining or recovering of the Dominions beyond Sea Therefore she was very desirous to find such a Temper in which all might agree She observed that in the Changes formerly made particularly in renouncing the Papacy and making some Alterations in Worship the whole Clergy had concurred and so she resolved to follow and imitate these by easie steps There was a long Consultation had about the Method of the Changes she should make The substance of which shall be found in the Collection in a Paper where in the way of Question and Answer A Method of doing it proposed Collection Number 1. the whole design of it is laid down This Draught of it was given to Sir William Cecil and does exactly agree with the account that Cambden gives of it That Learned and Judicious Man has written the History of this Queens Reign with that Fidelity and Care in so good a Stile and with so much Judgment that it is without question the best part of our English History but he himself often says that he had left many things to those who should undertake the History of the Church therefore in the Account of the beginnings of this Reign as I shall in all things follow him with the credit that is due to so extraordinary a Writer so having met with some things which he did not know or thought not necessary in so succinct a History to enlarge on I shall not be afraid to write after him though the Esteem he is justly in may make it seem superfluous to go over these matters any more It seemed necessary for the Queen to do nothing before a Parliament were called The Heads of it for only from that Assembly could the affections of the People be certainly gathered The next thing she had to do was to ballance the dangers that threatned her both from abroad and at home The Pope would certainly excommunicate and depose her and stir up all Christian Princes against her The King of France would lay hold of any opportunity to embroil the Nation and by the assistance of Scotland and of the Irish might perhaps raise troubles in her Dominions Those that were in Power in Queen Maries time and remained firm to the old Superstition would be discontented at the Reformation of Religion the Bishops and Clergy would generally oppose it and since there was a necessity of demanding Subsidies they would take occasion by the discontent the People would be in on that account to inflame them and those who would be dissatisfied at the retaining of some of the old Ceremonies would on the other hand disparage the Changes that should be made and call the Religion a Cloak'd-Papistry and so alienate many of the most zealous from it To remedy all these things it was proposed to make Peace with France and to cherish those in that Kingdom that desired the Reformation The Curses and Practises of Rome were not much to be feared In Scotland those must be encouraged who desired the like change in Religion and a little Money among the Heads of the Families in Ireland would go a great way And for those that had borh Rule in Queen Maries time ways were to be taken to lessen their credit throughout England they were not to be too soon trusted or employed upon pretence of Turning but those who were known to be well affected to Religion and the Queens Person were to be sought after and encouraged The Bishops were generally hated by the Nation It would be easie to draw them within the Statute of Praemunire and upon their falling into it they must be kept under it till they had renounced the Pope and consented to the Alterations that should be made The Commissions of the Peace and for the Militia were to be carefully reviewed and such Men were to be put in them as would be firm to the Queens Interests When the Changes should be made some severe punishments would make the rest more readily submit Great care was to be had of the Universities and other publick Schools as Eaton and Winchester that the next Generation might be betimes seasoned with the Love and Knowledge of Religion Some learned Men as Bill Parker May Cox Whitehead Grindall Pilkington and Sir Thomas Smith were to be ordered
on the Dead or cast the burthen of it wholly upon her Sister But she assured them if ever she married she would make such a Choice as should be to the satisfaction and good of her People She did not know what credit she might yet have with them but she knew well she deserved to have it for she was resolved never to deceive them Her People were to her in stead of Children and she reckoned her self married to them by her Coronation They would not want a Successor when she died and for her part she should be well contented that the Marble should tell Posterity HERE LIES A QUEEN THAT REIGNED SO LONG AND LIVED AND DIED A VIRGIN She took their Address in good part and desired them to carry back her hearty thanks for the care the Commons had of her The Journals of the House of Lords are imperfect so that we find nothing in them of this matter yet it appears that they likewise had it before them for the Journals of the House of Commons have it marked that on the fifteenth of February there was a Message sent from the Lords desiring that a Committee of thirty Commoners might meet with twelve Lords to consider what should be the Authority of the Person whom the Queen should marry The Committee was appointed to treat concerning it but it seems the Queen desired them to turn to other things that were more pressing for I find nothing after this entred in the Journals of this Parliament concerning it On the ninth of February the Lords past a Bill for the Recognizing of the Queens Title to the Crown They recognize her Title to the Crown It had been considered whether as Queen Mary had procured a former Repeal of her Mothers Divorce and of the Acts that passed upon it declaring her Illegitimate the like should be done now The Lord Keeper said The Crown purged all defects and it was needless to look back to a thing which would at least cast a reproach on her Father the enquiring into such things too anxiously would rather prejudice than advance her Title So he advised that there should be an Act passed in general words asserting the lawfulness of her descent and her Right to the Crown rather than any special Repeal Queen Mary and her Council were careless of King Henry's Honour but it became her rather to conceal than expose his Weakness This being thought both Wise and Pious Council the Act was conceived in general Words That they did assuredly believe and declare that by the Laws of God and of the Realm she was their lawful Queen and that she was rightly lineally and lawfully descended from the Royal Blood and that the Crown did without all doubt or ambiguity belong to her and the Heirs to be lawfully begotten of her Body after her and that they as representing the Three Estates of the Realm did declare and assert her Title which they would defend with their Lives and Fortunes This was thought to be very wise Council for if they had gone to repeal the Sentence of Divorce which passed upon her Mothers acknowledging a Precontract they must have set forth the force that was on her when she made that Confession and that as it was a great dishonour to her Father so it would have raised discourses likewise to her Mothers prejudice which must have rather weakned than strengthened her Title And as has been formerly observed this seems to be the true reason why in all her Reign there was no Apology printed for her Mother There was another Act passed for the restoring of her in Blood to her Mother by which she was qualified as a private Subject to succeed either to her Grand-fathers Estate or to any others by that Blood But for the matters of Religion the Commons began The Acts that were passed concerning Religion and on the fifteenth of February brought in a Bill for the English Service and concerning the Ministers of the Church On the 21st a Bill was read for annexing the Supremacy to the Crown again and on the 17th of March another Bill was brought in confirming the Laws made about Religion in King Edwards time and on the 21st another was brought in That the Queen should have the Nomination of the Bishops as it had been in King Edwards time The Bill for the Supremacy was past by the Lords on the 18th of March the Archbishop of York the Earl of Shrewsbury the Viscount Mountacute and the Bishops of London Winchester Worcester Landaffe Coventry and Litchfield Exeter Chester and Carlisle and the Abbot of Westminster dissenting But afterwards the Commons annexed many other Bills to it as that about the Queens making Bishops not according to the Act made in King Edwards time but by the old way of Elections as it was Enacted in the 25th Year of her Fathers Reign with several Provisoes which passed in the House of Lords with the same dissent By it all the Acts past in the Reign of King Henry for the abolishing of the Popes Power are again revived and the Acts in Queen Maries time to the contrary are repealed There was also a Repeal of the Act made by her for proceeding against Hereticks They revived the Act made in the first Parliament of King Edward against those that spoke irreverently of the Sacrament and against private Masses and for Communion in both kinds And declared the Authority of Visiting Correcting and Reforming all things in the Church to be for ever annexed to the Crown which the Queen and her Successors might by her Letters Patents depute to any Persons to exercise in her Name All Bishops and other Ecclesiastieal Persons and all in any Civil Imployment were required to swear that they acknowledged the Queen to be the Supream Governour in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within her Dominions that they renounced all Forreign Power and Jurisdiction and should bear the Queen Faith and true Allegiance Whosoever should refuse to swear it was to forfeit any Office he had either in Church or State and to be from thenceforth disabled to hold any Imployment during Life And if within a Month after the end of that Session of Parliament any should either by discourse or in writing set forth the Authority of any Forreign Power or do any thing for the advancement of it they were to forfeit all their Goods and Chattels and if they had not Goods to the value of twenty Pounds they were to be Imprisoned a whole year and for the second offence they were to incur the Pains of a Praemunire and the third offence in that kind was made Treason To this a Proviso was added That such Persons as should be Commissioned by the Queen to Reform and Order Ecclesiastical Matters should judge nothing to be Heresie but what had been already so Judged by the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four General Councils or by any other General Council in which such Doctrines
but one night hoping they would beget a New Alexander the Great between them But if that had been and the Child had taken after the Father it would have been more like Alexander the Sixth Notwithstanding all the Attempts of Rome against her Person and Government she still lived and triumphed In the first ten Years of her Reign all things were carried with such moderation that there was no stir about Religion Pope Pius the Fourth reflecting on the capricious and high Answer his mad Predecessor had made to her Address sent one Parpalia to her in the second Year of her Reign to invite her to join her self to that See and he would disanul the Sentence against her Mothers Marriage confirm the English Service and the use of the Sacrament in both Kinds But she sent the Agent word to stay at Brussels and not to come over The same Treatment met Abbot Martinengo who was sent the Year after with the like Message From that Time all Treaty with Rome was entirely broken off Pius the Fourth proceeded no further but his Successor Pius the Fifth resolved to contrive her Death as he that writ his Life relates Catena The unfortunate Queen of Scotland upon the Wars in her Country was driven to seek shelter in England where it was at first resolved to use her well and to restore her to her Crown and Country as will appear by two Papers which for their Curiosity being Originals I have put into the Collection Coll. Numb 12. The one is the Advice that Sir Henry Mildmay gave about it the other is a long Letter written concerning it by the Earl of Leicester to the Earl of Sussex They were given me by that most ingenious and vertuous Gentleman Mr. Evelyn who is not satisfied to have advanced the knowledg of this Age by his own most useful and successful Labours about Planting and divers other ways but is ready to contribute every thing in his Power to perfect other Mens Endeavours But while the English Council intended to have used the Queen of Scotland well her own officious Friends by the frequent Plots that were in a Succession of many Years carried on sometimes by open Rebellion as in the North of England and in Ireland but more frequently by secret Attempts brought on her the Calamities of a long Imprisonment and Death in the Conclusion Her Death was the greatest blemish of this Reign being generally censured by all the Age except by Pope Sixtus the Fifth Vita de Sisto 5. who was a Man that delighted in cruel Executions and so concluded her to be a happy Woman that had the pleasure to cut off a Crowned Head But Queen Elizabeth's own preservation from the many Designs that were against her Life made it in some sort if not necessary yet more excusable in her especially that unfortunate Queen having her self cherished the Plot of Babington and Ballard and having set her hand to the Letters that were written to them about it though she still denied that and cast the blame of it on her Secretaries who as she said had gotten her hand to them without her Knowledg The Pope had deposed the Queen as will appear by his Sentence which I have put in the Collection Coll. Num. 13. and the Queen of Scotland being the next Heir to the Crown and a zealous Papist those of that Religion hoped by destroying the Queen to set her in her room which put England in no small disorder by Associations and other means that were used for preserving the Queen and destroying the Popish Interest The Rebellions and Plots in England and Ireland were not a little supported by the Assistance of King Philip of Spain who did all he could to embroil the Queen's Affairs at home though still without Success But the steps of the Queen's Proceedings both against Papists and Puritans are so set out by her great and wise Secretary Sir Francis Walsingham in so clear a manner that I shall set it down here as a most important piece of History being written by one of the wisest and most vertuous Ministers that these latter Ages have produced He wrote it in French to one Monsieur Critoy a French-man of which I have seen an English Copy taken as is said from the Original SIR Walsingham's Letter concerning the Qâ—een's proceedings against both Papists and Puritans WHereas you desire to be advertized touching the proceedings here in Ecclesiastical Causes because you seem to note in them some Inconstancy and Variation as if we inclined sometimes to one side and sometimes to another and as if that Clemency and Lenity were not used of late that was used in the beginning all which you imputed to your own superficial understanding of the Affairs of this State having notwithstanding her Majesty's doings in singular Reverence as the real Pledges which she hath given unto the World of her Sincerity in Religion and of her Wisdom in Government well meriteth I am glad of this Occasion to impart that little I know in that matter unto you both for your own Satisfaction and to the end you may make use thereof towards any that shall not be so modestly and so reasonably minded as you are I find therefore her Majesty's Proceedings to have been grounded upon two Principles The one that Consciences are not to be forced but to be won and reduced by force of Truth with the aid of Time and use of all good means of Instruction and Perswasion The other that Causes of Consciences when they exceed their bounds and grow to be matter of Faction loose their Nature and that Sovereign Princes ought distinctly to punish their Practices and Contempt though coloured with the pretence of Conscience and Religion According to these Principles her Majesty at her coming to the Crown utterly disliking the Tyranny of Rome which had used by Terror and Rigour to settle Commandments of Mens Faiths and Consciences Though as a Princess of great Wisdom and Magnanimity she suffered but the exercise of one Religion yet her proceedings towards the Papists was with great Lenity expecting the good Effects which time might work in them and therefore her Majesty revived not the Laws made in the 28th and 35th of her Fathers Reign whereby the Oath of Supremacy might have been offered at the King's Pleasure to any Subject so he kept his Conscience never so modestly to himself and the refusal to take the same Oath without further Circumstances was made Treason But contrariwise her Majesty not liking to make Windows into Mens Hearts and secret Thoughts except the abundance of them did overflow into overt and express Acts or Affirmations tempered her Law so as it restraineth every manifest disobedience in impugning and impeaching advisedly and maliciously her Majesties supreme Power maintaining and extolling a Forreign Jurisdiction And as for the Oath it was altered by her Majesty into a more grateful Form the hardness of the Name and Appellation of Supreme Head was
Queen declares she will force no Conscience pag. 245. A Tumult at Pauls ibid. A Proclamation against Preaching ibid. Censures passed upon it pag. 246. She uses those of Suffolk ill ibid. Consultations among the Reformed pag. 247. Judge Hales barbarously used ibid. Cranmer declares against the Mass pag. 248. Bonners insolence ibid. Cranmer and Latimer sent to the Tower pag. 250. Forreigners sent out of England ibid. Many English fly beyond Sea ibid. The Queen rewards those who had served her pag. 251. She is Crowned and discharges a Tax ibid. A Parliament summoned pag. 252. The Reformed Bishops thrust out of the House of Lords ibid. Great disorders in Elections ibid. An Act moderating severe Laws pag. 253. The Marriage of the Queens Mother Confirmed ibid. Censures passed upon it pag. 254. The Queen is severe to the Lady Elis. ibid. King Edwards Laws about Religion repealed pag. 255. An Act against injuries to Priests ibid. An Act against unlawful assemblies ibid. Marquess of Northamptons 2d Marriage broken pag. 256. The Duke of Norfolks Attaindor annulled ibid. Cranmer and others attainted pag. 257. But his See is not declared void ibid. The Queen resolves to reconcile with Rome ibid. Cardinal Pool sent Legate pag. 258. But is stopt by the Emperor pag. 259. The Queen sends to him ibid. His advice to the Queen pag. 260. Gardiners methods are preferred pag. 261. The House of Commons offended with the Queens Marriage then treated about ibid. The Parliament is dissolved ibid. 1200000 Crowns sent to corrupt the next Parliament pag. 262. Proceedings in the Convocation ibid. Disputes concerning the Sacrament ibid. Censures passed upon them pag. 283. 1554. Ambassadors treat with the Queen for her Marriage ibid. Articles agreed on ibid. The Match generally disliked p. 284. Plots to oppose it are discovered ibid. Wiat breaks out in Kent ibid. His Demands p. 286. He is defeated and taken ibid. The Lady Jane and her Husband Executed p. 271. Her preparations for Death ibid. The Duke of Suffolk is Executed p. 272. The Lady Elis is unjustly suspected p. 273. Many severe proceedings ibid. The Imposture in the Wall ibid. Instructions for the Bishops p. 274. Bishops that adhere to the Reform deprived ibid. The Mass every where set up pag. 276. Books against the married Clergy pag. 277. A New Parliament ibid. The Queens Regal Power asserted ibid. The secret Reasons for that Act. ibid. Great jealousies of the Spaniards pag. 279. The Bishoprick of Duresm restored ibid. Disputes at Oxford pag. 280. With Cranmer pag. 281. And Ridley pag. 282. And Latimer pag. 283. Censures passed upon them ibid. They are all Condemned ibid. The Prisoners in London give reasons why they would not dispute pag. 284. King Philip Lands pag. 286. And is Married to the Queen ibid. He brings a great Treasure with him ibid. Acts of favour done by him pag. 287. He preserves the Lady Elizabeth ibid. He was little beloved pag. 288. But much Magnifyed by Gardiner ibid. Bonners carriage in his Visitation ibid. No reordination of those Ordained in King Edward's time pag. 289. Bonners rage pag. 290. The Sacrament stollen pag. 291. A New Parliament ibid. Cardinal Pools Attaindor repealed ibid. He comes to London pag. 292. And makes a speech to the Parliament ibid. The Queen is believed with Child ibid. The Parliament petition to be reconciled pag. 293. The Cardinal absolves them ibid. Laws against the See of Rome repealed pag. 294. A Proviso for Church Lands ibid. A Petition from the Convocation ibid. An Address from the inferior Clergy pag. 295. Laws against Hereticks revived pag. 296. An Act declaring Treasons ibid. Another against seditious words ibid. Gardiner in great esteem pag. 297. The fear of losing the Church Lands ibid. Consultations how to deal with Hereticks pag. 298. Cardinal Pool for moderate courses pag. 299. But Gardiner is for violent ones ibid. To which the Queen is inclined pag. 300. 1555. They begin with Rogers and others ibid. Who refusing to comply are judged pag. 301. Rogers and Hooper burnt pag. 302. Sanders and Taylor burnt pag. 303. These cruelties are much censured pag. 304. Reflections made on Hoopers Death ibid. The Burnings much disliked pag. 305. The King Purges himself ibid. A Petition against persecution ibid. Arguments to defend it pag. 306. More are Burnt pag. 307. Ferrar and others Burnt pag. 308. The Queen gives up the Church Lands ibid. Pope Julius dies and Marcellus succeeds pag. 309. Paul the 4th succeeds him pag. 310. English Ambassadors at Rome ibid. Instructions sent for persecution pag. 311. Bonner required to Burn more pag. 312. The Queens delivery in vain expected ibid. Bradford and others Burnt pag. 313. Sir Thomas Mores works Published pag. 316. His Letter of the Nun of Kent ibid. Ridley and Latimer Burnt pag. 318. Gardiners Death and Character pag. 320. The temper of the Parliament is much changed pag. 322. The Queen discharges tenths and first fruits ibid. An Act against those that fled beyond Sea rejected pag. 323. An Act debarring a Murderer from the benefit of Clergy opposed ibid. Sir Anthony Kingston put in the Tower pag. 324. Pool holds a Convocation ibid. The heads of his Decrees ibid. Pools design for Reforming of abuses pag. 326. Pool will not admit the Jesuits to England pag. 327. Philpots Martyrdome pag. 328. Forreign affairs ibid. Charles the 5ths Resignation pag. 329. Cranmers Tryal pag. 332. He is degraded pag. 333. He recants ibid. He repents of it pag. 334. His Martyrdome pag. 335. His Character ibid. Others suffer on the like account pag. 337. A Child born in the Fire and burnt ibid. The Reformation grows pag. 338. Troubles at Frankfort among the English there pag. 339. Pool is made Arch-bishop of Canterbury pag. 340. Some Religious Houses are endowed ibid. Records are razed pag. 341. Endeavours for the Abbey of Glassenburg ibid. Forreign Affairs pag. 342. The Pope is extravagantly proud ibid. He dispenses with the French Kings Oath pag. 343. And makes War with Spain pag. 344. 1557. A Visitation of the Vniversities pag. 345. The Persecution set forward pag. 346. A Design for setting up the Inquisition pag. 347. Burnings for Religion pag. 348. Lord Stourton hanged for Murder pag. 350. The Queen is jealous of the French pag. 351. The Battel at St. Quintin pag. 352. The Pope offended with Cardinal Pool ibid. He recalls him pag. 353. The Queen refuses to receive Cardinal Peito ibid. A Peace between the Pope and Spain pag. 354. A War between England and Scotland ibid. The Affairs of Germany pag. 355. A Persecution in France pag. 356. 1558. Calais is besieged ibid. And it and Guisnes are taken pag. 357. Sark taken by the French pag. 358. And retaken strangely pag. 359. Great discontents in England ibid. A Parliament is called pag. 360. King of Sweden courts the Lady Elizabeth pag. 361. But is rejected by her ibid. She was ill used in this Reign pag. 362. The Progress of the Persecution pag. 363. The Methods of it pag.
Keep and to fill the space between the Keep and the said outward Wall with the foresaid Bullwark and to raise the Old Keep that it might defend the Town Also he was bid to make Parson's Bullwark where it is now round without Flankers both pointed and also with six Flankers to bear hard to the Keep Atwood and Lambert were sent to take view of Allderny Silly Jernsey Gernsey and the Isle of Gitto. The Duke of Somerset with five others of the Council went to the Bishop of Winchester to whom he made this Answer I having deliberately seen the Book of Common-Prayer although I would not have made it so my self yet I find such things in it as satisfieth my Conscience and therefore I will both execute it my self and also see other my Parishioners to do it This was subscribed by the foresaid Counsellors that they heard him say these words 16. The Lord Marquess Mr. Herbert the Vicedam Henandie and divers other Gentlemen went to the Earl of Warwick's where they were honourably received and the next day they ran at the Ring a great number of Gentlemen 19. I went to Debtford being bidden to Supper by the Lord Clinton where before Supper I saw certain Men stand upon the end of a Boat without holding of any thing and ran one at another till one was cast into the Water At Supper Monsieur Vicedam and Henandie supped with me After Supper was there a Fort made upon a great Lighter on the Thames which had three Walls and a Watch-Tower in the midst of which Mr. Winter was Captain with forty or fifty other Souldiers in Yellow and Black To the Fort also appertained a Gallery of Yellow Collour with Men and Ammunition in it for defence of the Castle Wherefore there came four Pinaces with their Men in White handsomely dressed which intending to give assault to the Castle first drove away the Pinace and after with Clods Squibs Canes of Fire-Darts made for the nonce and Bombards assaulted the Castle and at length came with their Pieces and burst the outer Walls of the Castle beating them off the Castle into the second Ward who after issued out and drove away the Pinaces sinking one of them out of which all the Men in it being more than twenty leaped out and swam in the Thames Then came the Admiral of the Navy with three other Pinaces and won the Castle by Assault and burst the top of it down and took the Captain and under Captain Then the Admiral went forth to take the Yellow Ship and at length clasped with her took her and assaulted also her top and won it also by compulsion and so returned home 20. The Mayor of London caused the Watches to be encreased every night because of the great Frays and also one Alderman to see good Rule kept every night 22. There was a privy search made through all Sussex for all Vagabonds Gipsies Conspirators Prophesiers all Players and such like 24. There were certain in Essex about Rumford went about a Conspiracy which were taken and the Matter stayed 25. Removing to Greenwich 23. Sir John Yates Sheriff of Essex went down with Letters to see the Bishop of London's Injunctions performed which touched plucking down of Superaltaries Altars and such like Ceremonies and Abuses 29. It was appointed that the Germans should have the Austin-Friars for their Church to have their Service in for avoiding of all Sects of Anabaptists and such-like 17. The French Queen was delivered of a third Son called Monsieur d' Angoulesme 13. The Emperor departed from Argentin to Augusta 30. John Poynet made Bishop of Rochester and received his Oath July 5. There was Mony provided to be sent into Ireland for payment of the Souldiers there and also Orders taken for the dispatch of the Strangers in London 7. The Master of Arskin passed into Scotland coming from France Also the French Ambassador did come before Me first after shewing the Birth of Monsieur d' Angoulesme afterward declaring That whereas the French King had for my sake let go the Prisoners at St. Andrews who before they were taken had shamefully murdered the Cardinal he desidered that all Scots that were Prisoners might be delivered It was answered That all were delivered Then he moved for one called the Arch-Bishop of Glasgow who since the Peace came disguised without Pasport and so was taken It was answered That we had no Peace with Scotland such that they might pass our Countrey and the Master of Erskin affirmed the same 8. It was agreed that the 200 that were with Me and 200 that were with Mr. Herbert should be sent into Ireland Also that the Mint should be set a set a work that it might coin 24000 l. a Year and so bear all my Charges in Ireland for this Year and 10000 l. for my Coffers 9. The Earl of Warwick the Lord Treasurer Sir William Herbert and the Secretary Petre went to the Bishop of Winchester with certain Articles signed by Me and the Council containing the confessing of his Fault the Supremacy the establishing of Holy Days the abolishing of six Articles and divers other whereof the Copy is in the Council-Chest whereunto he put his Hand saving to the Confession 10. Sir William Herbert and Secretary Petre were sent unto him to tell him I marvelled that he would not put his Hand to the Confession To which he made answer That he would not put his Hand to the Confession for because he was Innocent and also the Confession was but the Preface of Articles 11. The Bishop of London the Secretary Petre Mr. Cecil and Goderick were commanded to make certain Articles according to the Laws and to put in the Submission 12. It was appointed That under the Shadow of preparing for the Sea-Matters there should be sent 5000 l. to the Protestants to get their good Will 14. The Bishop of Winchester did deny the Articles that the Bishop of London and the other had made 13. Sir John Yates was sent into Essex to stop the going away of the Lady Mary because it was credibly informed that Scipperus should steal her away to Antwerp divers of her Gentlemen were there and Scipperus a little before came to see the Landing-places 16. It was appointed that the two hundred with the Duke of Somerset and two hundred with the Lord Privy-Seal and four hundred with Master St. Legier should be sent to the Sea-Coast 17. It was agreed that on Wednesday next We should go in one day to Windsor and dine at Sion 18. It was thought best that the Lord Bowes should tarry in his Wardenship still and the Earl of Warwick should tarry here and be recompensed 19. The Bishop of VVinchester was sequestred from his Fruits for three months 20. Hooper was made Bishop of Glocester The Merchants were commanded to stay as much as they could their Vent into Flanders because the Emperour had made many streight Laws against them that professed the Gospel 21. A Muster was
Fortifications at Calais and Barwick should be payed it was agreed that beside the Debt of the Realm 80000 l. there should be 40000 l. coined three ounces Fine nine of Allay and 5000 pound weight should be coined in a Standard of seven ounces Fine at the least 17. Soperantio came as Ambassadour from Venice in Daniel Barbaro's Place 16. I accepted the Order of Monsegnieur Michael by promise to the French Ambassador 17. My Lord Marquess of Northampton came to Nants with the Commissioners and all those Noblemen and Gentlemen that came over-Sea with him 20. Upon Advertisement of Scipperus coming and rigging of certain Ships in Holland also for to shew the Frenchmen pleasure at their coming all the Navy that lay in Gillingham-water was appointed to be rigged and furnished with Ordnance and lay in the River of Thames to the intent that if Scipperus came afterward he might be met with and at least the Frenchmen should see the force of my Navy 22. The Lady Mary sent Letters to the Council marvelling at the Imprisonment of Dr. Mallet her Chaplain for saying of Mass before her Houshold seeing it was promised the Emperor's Ambassadour she should not be molested in Religion but that she and her Houshold should have the Mass said before them continually 24. They answered That because of their Duties to King Countrey and Friends they were compelled to give her answer That they would see not only him but also all other Mass-Sayers and breakers of Order straitly punished And that as for promise they had nor would give none to make her free from the punishment of the Law in that behalf 18. Chastilion came to my Lord Marquess and there banqueted him by the way at two times between Nantes and Chasteau Brian where the King lay 15. Mendoza a Gentleman of the King's Chamber was sent to him to conduct him to the Court. 19. My Lord Marquess came to Chasteau-Brian where half a mile from the Castle there met him with an hundred Gentlemen and brought him to the Court booted and spur'd to the French King 20. The French King was invested with the Order of the Garter in his Bed-Chamber where he gave a Chain to the Garter worth 200 l. and his Gown dressed with Auglets worth 25 l. The Bishop of Ely making an Oration and the Cardinal of Lorrain making him Answer At Afternoon the Lord Marquess moved the French King to the Marriage of the Scots Queen to be consummate for whose hearing he appointed two Commissioners 21. The Cardinal of Lorrain and of Chastilion the Constable the Duke of Guise c. were appointed Commissioners on the part of France who absolutely denied the first Motion for the Scotch Queen saying Both they had taken too much Pains and spent too many Lives for her Also a conclusion was made for her Marriage to the Dolphin Then was proponed the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth the French King's eldest Daughter to which they did most chearfully assent So after they agreed neither Party to be bound in Conscience nor Honour till she were twelve Years of Age and upwards Then they came to the Dote which was first asked 1500000 Scutes of France at which they made a mock after for donatio propter nuptias they agreed that it should be as great as hath been given by the King my Father to any Wife he had 22. Our Commissioners came to 1400000 of Crowns which they refused then to a Million which they denied then to 800000 Crowns which they said they would not agree to 23. Then our Commissioners asked what they would offer First they offered 100000 Crowns then 200000 which they said was the most and more than ever was given Then followed great Reasonings and showing of Presidents but no nearer they would come 24. They went forward unto the Penalties if the Parties misliked after that the King's Daughter were twelve and upwards which the French offered 100000 50000 Crowns or promise that she should be brought at her Father's Charge three months before she were twelve sufficiently Jewelled and stuffed Then Bonds to be delivered alternatively at London and at Paris and so forth 26. The Frenchmen delivered the foresaid Answers written to my Commissioners July 1. Whereas certain Flemish Ships twelve Sail in all six tall Men of War looking for eighteen more Men of War went to Diep as it was thought to take Monsieur le Mareschal by the way order was given that six Ships being before prepared with four Pinnaces and a Brigantine should go both to conduct him and also to defend if any thing should be attempted against England by carrying over the Lady Mary 2. A Brigandine sent to Diep to give knowledg to Monsieur le Mareschal of the Flemings coming to whom all the Flemings vailed their Bonnet Also the French Ambassador was advertised who answered That he thought him sure enough when he came into our Streams terming it so 2. There was a Proclamation signed for shortning of the fall of the Mony to that day in which it should be proclaimed and devised that it should be in all places of the Realm within one day proclaimed 3. The Lord Clinton and Cobham was appointed to meet the French at Gravesend and so to convoy him to Duresme-place where he should lie 4. I was banqueted by the Lord Clinton at Debtford where I saw the Primrose and the Mary Willoughby launched The Frenchmen landed at Rie as some thought for fear of the Flemings lying at the Lands-end chiefly because they saw our Ships were let by the Wind that they could not come out 6. Sir Peter Meutas at Dover was commanded to come to Rie to meet Monsieur le Mareschal who so did and after he had delivered his Letters written with Mine own Hand and made my Recommendations he took order for Horses and Carts for Monsieur le Mareschal in which he made such Provision as was possible to be for the suddain 7. Monsieur le Mareschal set forth from Rie and in his Journey Mr. Culpepper and divers other Gentlemen and their Men to the number of 1000 Horse well furnished met him and so brought him to Maidston that Night Removing to Westminster 8. Monsieur le Mareschal came to Mr. Bakers where he was very well feasted and banqueted 9. The same came to my Lord Cobhams to Dinner and at night to Gravesend Proclamation made that a Testourn should go at 9 d. and a Groat at 3 d. in all Places of the Realm at once At this time came the Sweat into London which was more vehement than the Old Sweat for if one took cold he died within three hours and if he escaped it held him but nine hours or ten at the most also if he slept the first six hours as he should be very desirous to do then he roved and should die roving 11. It grew so much for in London the 10th day there died 100 in the Liberties and this day 120 and also one of my Gentlemen another of
debating or when I would This last month Monsieur de Termes with 500 Frenchmen came to Parma and entred safely afterward certain issued out of the Town and were overthrown as Scipiaro Dandelot Petro and others were taken and some slain after they gave a Skirmish entred the Camp of Gonzaga and spoiled a few Tents and returned 15. Sir Robert Dudley and Barnabe sworn two of the six ordinary Gentlemen The last month the Turks Navy won a little Castle in Sicily 17. Instructions sent to Sir James Croftes for divers purposes whose Copy is in the Secretary's hands The Testourn cried down from 9 d. to 6 d. the Groat from 3 d. to 2 d. the 2 d. to 1 d. the Penny to an Half-penny the Half-penny to a Farthing c. 1. Monsieur Termes and Scipiero overthrew three Ensigns of Horsemen at three times took one dispatch sent from Don Fernando to the Pope concerning this War and another from the Pope to Don Fernando Discomfited four Ensigns of Footmen took the Count Camillo of Castilion and slew a Captain of the Spaniards 22. Removing to Windsor 23. Rochester c. returned denying to do openly the charge of the Lady Mary's House for displeasing her 26. The Lord Chancellor Mr. Comptroller the Secretary Petre sent to do the same Commission 27. Mr. Coverdale made Bishop of Exeter 28. Rochester c. sent to the Fleet. The Lord Chancellor c. did that they were commanded to do to my Sister and her House 31. Rochester c. committed to the Tower The Duke of Somerset taking certain that began a new Conspiracy for the destruction of the Gentlemen at Okingam two days past executed them with Death for their Offence 29. Certain Pinaces were prepared to see that there should be no conveyance over-Sea of the Lady Mary secretly done Also appointed that the Lord Chancellor Lord Chamberlain the Vice-chamberlain and the Secretary Petre should see by all means they could whether she used the Mass and if she did that the Laws should be executed on her Chaplains Also that when I came from this Progress to Hampton-Court or Westminster both my Sisters should be with Me till further Order were taken for this purpose September 3. The French Ambassador came to declare first how the Emperor wronged divers of his Masters Subjects and Vassals arrested also his Merchants and did cloakedly begin War for he besieged Mirandula round about with Forces he had made in the French King's Country Also he stayed certain French Ships going a fishing to the New-found-land Furthermore he set out a dozen of Ships which bragged they would take the Dowager of Scotland which thing staied her so long at Diep Whereupon his Master had taken the whole Fleet of Antwerp conveying it to his Countrey into his Ports by 20 Ships he had set forth under Baron de la Garde Also minded to send more help to Piedmont and Mirandula For this cause he desired that on my Coasts the Dowager might have safe passage and might be secured by my Servants at the Sea-Coast if any chance should happen He was willed to put it in writing he shewed how the Turks Navy having spoiled a piece of Sicily went to Malta and there took an Isle adjacent called Gozo from thence they went to Tripoly In Transilvania Rosto-Bassa was leader of the Army and had spoiled it wholly In Hungary the Turks had made a Fort by the Mines to get them Magdeburg was freshly victualled and Duke Maurice came his way being suspected that he had conspired with them there 4. It was answered to the French Ambassador That the Dowager should in all my Ports be defended from Enemies Tempest and likewise also Thanks were given for the News 5. The Emperor's Ambassador came to require That my Sister Mary's Officers should be restored to their Liberty and she should have her Mass till the Emperor was certified thereof It was answered That I need not to answer except I list because he spake without Commission which was seen by the shortness of the time since the committing of her Officers of which the Emperor could not be advertised He was willed no more to move these Piques in which he had been often answered without Commission He was answered That the Emperor was by this time advertised although the Matter pertained not to him Also that I had done nothing but according to a King's Office herein in observing the Laws that were so Godly and in punishing the Offenders The Promise to the Emperor was not so made as he pretended affirmed by Sir Philip Hobbey being at that time their Ambassador 6. Deliberation touching the Coin Memorandum That there were divers Standards nine ounces fine a few eight ounces fine as ill as four because although that was fine yet a Shilling was reckoned for two Shillings six ounces very many four ounces many also three ounces 130000 l. now of late Whereupon agreed that the Testourn being called to six Pence four with help of six should make ten fine eight fine with help of nine being fewer than those of eight should make ten ounces fine the two ounces of Allay should quit the charges of Minting and those of three-pence being but few should be turned to a Standard of four of Farthings and Half-pence and Pence for to serve for the poor People because the Merchants made no Exchange of it and the Sum was not great Also to bear the Charges for because it was thought that few or none were left of nine ounces fine eight ounces were naught and six ounces were two ways devised one without any craft the other was not fully six of which kind was not a few 9. A Proclamation set forth touching the Prices of Cattel of Hogs Pigs Beeves Oxen Muttons Butter and Cheese after a reasonable price not fully so good cheap as it was when the Coin was at the perfectest but within a fifth part of it or thereabouts 10. I removed to Farnham 12. A Proclamation set forth touching the Coin That whereas it was so that Men for Gain melted down the Nine-pence Testourn continually and the Six-pence also there should no Person in any wise melt it down upon pain to incur the Penalty of the Laws 13. A Letter directed to the Lord Treasurer the Lord Great Master and the Master of the Horse to meet at London for the ordering of my Coin and the paiment of my Debts which done to return and make report of their Proceedings 11. War proclaimed in Britain between the Emperor and the French by these Terms Charles Roy d' Espaigne et Duc de Milan leaving out Emperor 10. Four Towns taken by the French Souldiers that were the Emperor 's in Piedmont Guerra from Amiens also the Emperor's Country there was spoiled and 120 Castles or Fortresses taken Proclamation made in Paris touching the Bulls that no Man should go for them to Rome Other Ships also taken by Prior de Capua Merchants to the number of a dozen Prior de Capua
was sent for home 23. The Lord Gray was chosen Deputy of Calais in the Lord Willowby's place who was thought unmeet for it 24. Sir Nicholas Wentworth was discharged of the Portership of Calais and one Cotton was put into it In consideration of his Age the said Sir Nicholas Wentworth had 100 l. Pension 26. Letters were sent for the discharge of the Men of Arms at Michaelmass next following 27. The young Lords Table was taken away and the Masters of Requests and the Serjeants of Arms and divers other extraordinary Allowances 26. The Duke of Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton the Lord Chancellor Mr. Secretary Petre and Mr. Secretary Cecil ended a Matter at Eaton-College between the Master and the Fellows and also took order for the amendment of certain superfluous Statutes 28. Removing to Hampton-Court 29. Two Lawyers came from the French King to declare what things had passed with the Englishmen in the King's Privy-Council what and why against them and what was now in doing and with what diligence Which when they had eloquently declared they were referred to London where there should speak with them Mr. Secretary Petre Mr. Wotton and Sir Thomas Smith whereby then was declared the Griefs of our Merchants which came to the Sum of 50000 l. and upwards to which they gave little answer but that they would make Report when they came home because they had yet no Commission but only to declare us the Causes of things done The first day of this month the Emperor departed from Augusta toward Vlmes and thanking the Citizens for their stedfast sticking to him in these perrilous Times he passed by them to Strasburg accompanied only with 4000 Spaniards 5000 Italians 12000 Almains and 2000 Horsmen and thanking also them of Strasburg for their good-will they bore him that they would not let the French King come into their Town he went to Weysenberg and so to Spires and came thither the 23 d of this month Of which the French King being advertised summoned an Army to Metz and went thitherward himself sent a Pay of three months to Marquess Albert and the Rhinegrave and his Band also willing him to stop the Emperor's Passage into these Low-Countries and to fight with him 27. The Matter of the Debatable was agreed upon according to the last Instructions 26. Duke Maurice with 4000 Footmen and 1000 Horsemen arrived at Vienna against the Turks 21. Marquess Hans of Brandenburg came with an Army of 13000 Footmen and 1500 Horsemen to the Emperor's Army and many Almain Souldiers encreased his Army wonderfully for he refused none October 3. Because I had a pay of 48000 l. to be paid in December and had as yet but 14000 beyond Seas to pay it withal the Merchants did give me a Loan of 40000 l. to be paid by them the last of December and to be repaied again by Me the last of March The manner of levying this Loan was of the Clothes after the rate of 20 s. a Cloth for they carried out at this Shipping 40000 Broad-Clothes This Grant was confirmed the 4th day of this month by a company assembled of 300 Merchant-Adventurers 2. The Bullwarks of Earth and Boards in Essex which had a continual allowance of Souldiers in them were discharged by which was saved presently 500 l. and hereafter 700 or more 4. The Duke D'alva and the Marquess of Marigna set forth with a great part of the Emperor's Army having all the Italians and Spaniards with them towards Treves where the Marquess Albert had set ten Ensigns of Launce-Knights to defend it and tarried himself with the rest of his Army at Landaw besides Spires 6. Because Sir Andrew Dudley Captain of Guisnes had indebted himself very much by his Service at Guisnes also because it should seem injurious to the Lord Willowby that for the Contention between him and Sir Andrew Dudley he should be put out of his Office therefore it was agreed That the Lord William Howard should be Deputy of Calais and the Lord Gray Captain of Guisnes Also it was determined that Sir Nicholas Sturley should be Captain of the new Fort at Barwick and that Alex. Brett should be Porter and one Roksby should be Marshal 7. Upon report of Letters written by Mr. Pickering how that Stuckley had not declared to him all the while of his being in France no one word touching the Communication afore specified and declared also how Mr. Pickering thought and certainly advertised that Stuckley never heard the French King speak no such word nor never was in credit with him or the Constable save once when he became an Interpreter between the Constable and certain English Pioneers He was committed to the Tower of London Also the French Ambassador was advertised how we had committed him to Prison for that he untruly slandered the King our good Brother as other such Runnagates do daily the same This was told him to make him suspect the English Runnagates that be there A like Letter was sent again to Mr. Pickering 8. Le Seigneur de Villandry came in Post from the French King with this Message First That although Mr. Sidney's and Mr. Winter's Matters were justly condemned yet the French King because they both were my Servants and one of them about me was content gratuito to give Mr. Sidney his Ship and all the Goods in her and Mr. Winter his Ship and all his own Goods Which Offer was refused saying We required nothing gratuito but only Justice and Expedition Also Villandry declared That the King his Master wished that an Agreement were made between the Ordinances and Customs of England and France in Marine Affairs To which was answered that our Ordinances were nothing but the Civil Law and certain very old Additions of the Realm That we thought it reason not to be bound to any other Law than their old Laws which had been of long time continued and no fault found with them Also Villandry brought forth two new Proclamations which for things to come were very profitable for England for which he had a Letter of Thanks to the King his Master He required also Pardon and Releasement of Imprisonment for certain Frenchmen taken on the Sea-Coast It was shewed him they were Pirats Now some of them should by Justice be punished some by Clemency pardoned and with this Dispatch he departed 11. Horne Dean of Durham declared a secret Conspiracy of the Earl of Westmoreland the Year of the apprehension of the Duke of Somerset How he would have taken out Treasure at Midleham and would have robbed his Mother and sold 200 l. Land and to please the People would have made a Proclamation for the bringing up of the Coin because he saw them grudg at the fall He was commanded to keep this Matter close 6. Mr. Morison Ambassador with the Emperor declared to the Emperor the Matter of the Turks before specified whose Answer was He thanked us for our gentle Offer and would cause the Regent to
the loss of things they buy but the most part of true Gentlemen I mean not these Farming Gentlemen nor Clarking Knights have little or nothing increased their Rents yet their House-keeping is dearer their Meat is dearer their Liveries dearer their Wages greater which thing at length if speedy Remedy be not had will bring that State into utter Ruin Quod absit The Artificers work falsly the Clothiers use deceit in Cloth the Masons in Building the Clockmakers in their Clocks the Joiner in his working of Timber and so forth all other almost to the intent they would have Men oftner come to them for amending their Things and so have more Gain although at the beginning they take out of measure The Merchants adventure not to bring in strange Commodities but loiter at home send forth small Hoyes with two or three Mariners occupy exchange of Mony buy and sell Victual steal out Bullion Corn Victual Wood and such-like things out of the Realm and sell their Ware unreasonably The Husbandmen and Farmers take their Ground at a small Rent and dwell not on it but let it to poor Men for triple the Rent they take it for and sell their Flesh Corn Milk Butter c. at unreasonable prices The Gentleman constrained by Necessity and Poverty becometh a Farmer a Grasier or a Sheep-master The Grasier the Farmer the Merchants become Landed-men and call themselves Gentlemen though they be Churls yea the Farmer will have ten Farms some twenty and will be a Pedlar-Merchant The Artificer will leave the Town and for his more Pastimes will live in the Country yea and more than that will be a Justice of Peace and will think scorn to have it denied him so Lordly be they now-a-days for now they are not content with 2000 Sheep but they must have 20000 or else they think themselves not well they must have twenty mile square their own Land or full of their Farms and four or five Crafts to live by is too little such Hell-hounds be they For Idle Persons there were never I think more than be now the Wars Men think is the cause thereof such Persons can do nothing but Rob and Steal but slack execution of the Laws hath been the chiefest sore of all the Laws have been manifestly broken the Offenders banished and either by Bribery or foolish Pity escaped punishment The Dissention and Disagreement both for private Matters and also in Matters of Religion hath been no little cause but the principal hath been the disobedient and contentious talking and doing of the foolish and fond People which for lack of teaching have wandered and broken wilfully and disobediently the Laws of this Realm The Lawyers also and Judges have much offended in Corruption and Bribery Furthermore they do now-a-days much use to forestall not only private Markets of Corn and Victual whereby they enhaunce the price thereof but also send to the Sea too aboard Ships and take the Wine Sugar Dates or any other Ware and bring it to London where they sell at double the price What shall I say of those that buy and sell Offices of Trust that impropriate Benefices that destroy Timber that not considering the sustaining of Men of their Corn turn Till Ground to Pasture that use excess in Apparel in Diet and in building of Inclosures of Wastes and Commons of those that cast false and seditious Bills but that the thing is so tedious long and lamentable to entreat of the Particulars that I am weary to go any further in the Particulars wherefore I will cease having told the worst because the best will save it self Now I will begin to entreat of a Remedy The Ill in this Common-Wealth as I have before said standeth in deceitful working of Artificers using of Exchange and Usury making vent with Hoyes only into Flanders conveying of Bullion Lead Bell-mettle Copper Wood Iron Fish Corn and Cattel beyond Sea inhauncing of Rents using no Arts to live by keeping of many Sheep and many Farms idleness of People disobedience of the lower sort buying and selling of Offices Impropriations Benefices turning Till Ground to Pasture exceeding in Apparel Diet and Building enclosing of Commons casting of ill and seditious Bills These Sores must be cured with these Medicines or Plaisters 1. Good Education 2. Devising of good Laws 3. Executing the Laws justly without respect of Persons 4. Example of Rulers 5. Punishing of Vagabonds and idle Persons 6. Encouraging the Good 7. Ordering well the Customers 8. Engendring Friendship in all parts of the Common-Wealth These be the chief Points that tend to order well the whole Common-Wealth And for the first as it is in order first so it seemeth to be in dignity and degree for Horace saith very wisely Quo est muta recens servabit odorem Testa diu With whatsoever thing the New Vessel is imbued it will long keep the savour saith Horace meaning That for the most part Men be as they be brought up and Men keep longest the favour of their first bringing up Wherefore seeing that it seemeth so necessary a thing We will shew our device herein Youth must be brought up some in Husbandry some in Working Graving Gilding Joining Printing making of Clothes even from their tenderest Age to the intent they may not when they come to Man's Estate loiter as they do now adays and neglect but think their Travail sweet and honest And for this purpose would I wish that Artificers and others were either commanded to bring up their Sons in like Trade or else had some Places appointed them in every good Town where they should be Apprentices and bound to certain kind of Conditions Also that those Vagabonds that take Children and teach them to beg should according to their demerits be worthily punished This shall well ease and remedy the deceitful working of Things disobedience of the lower Sort casting of Seditious Bills and will clearly take away the Idleness of People 2. Devising of good Laws I have shewed my Opinion heretofore what Statutes I think most necessary to be enacted this Sessions nevertheless I would wish that beside them hereafter when time shall serve the superfluous and tedious Statutes were brought into one Sum together and made more plain and short to the intent that Men might the better understand them which thing shall much help to advance the profit of the Common-Wealth 3. Nevertheless when all these Laws be made established and enacted they serve to no purpose except they be fully and duly executed By whom By those that have authority to execute that is to say the Noblemen and the Justices of Peace Wherefore I would wish that after this Parliament were ended those Noblemen except a few that should be with Me went to their Countries and there should see the Statutes fully and duly executed and that those Men should be put from being Justices of Peace that be touched or blotted with those Vices that be against these new Laws to be established for
no Man that is in fault himself can punish another for the same offence Turpe est Doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum And these Justices being put out there is no doubt for execution of the Laws Desunt caetera Number 3. A Reformation of the Order of the Garter Translated out of English into Latin by King Edward EEwardus sextus Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex c. Cotton Libr. Nero C. 10. Omnibus qui praesentes videbunt Literas Salutem Serenissimi Majores nostri Reges Angliae deliberantes secumipsis cogitantes de eo officio quo uti debeant erga Deum Patriam eos qui suae ditioni erant subjecti satis facile invenerunt nihil tam ad suum officium pertinere quam ut bonos fortes magnanimos prudentes claros viros pro singularibus eorum meritis honore gloriaque afficerent amicitiam societatem consensionem quandam in bonis rebus inter omnes praecipue vero inter pares foverent Honorem enim ut certe est praemium virtutis judicabant concordiam vero fundamentum auctricem rerumpublicarum existimabant Haec igitur illis perpendentibus optimum visum est constituere societatem coetum aut conventum aliquem eorum qui in domesticis pacis negotiis optime se gesserant in militaribus pugnis fortiter prudenter se exercuerant Hosque voluerunt in signum concordiae unitatis Tibias fascia quadam circumligare quasi eo facto divulgantes sese non dubitare Patriae Religionis Domini causa vitam bona profundere eamque ob causam Ordinem Garterii nominaverunt Quem quidem Ordinem omnium voce celebratum serpens ille humano generi infestus Satanas conspiciens tantopere ad virtutem homines incitare conatus est poenitus delere In quo tantum elaboravit tam diligenter praedam quaesivit tam ingeniose callide homines decepit ut tandem repliverit decreta hujus Societatis multis ambiguis superstitiosis Papisticis inter se contrariis sententiis Putandum enim erit quod si Evangelii lux non apparuisset de isto Ordine penitus actum fuisset saltem de his rebus in Ordine in quo bonorum nomen meruissent Indies enim crevit malum Nos autem summopere commoti antiquitate magnificentia pulchritudine hujus Ordinis omnibus viribus elaboravimus ad eum reducendum ad statum pristinum Quapropter in caetu quodam celebrato die Anno Dom. 1551 Regni vero nostri Ubi permulti Milites ejusdem Ordinis aderant constitutum erat a nobis Autoritate eorundem Militum quod hi articuli infrascripti firmissime observabuntur ut hujus Ordinis Decreta 1. Primum Conclusum Statutumque existit quod hic ordo posthac appellabitur Ordo Garterii non Ordo Sancti Georgii nec idem Georgius amplius posthac appellabitur nec nominabitur Patronus Ordinis ne ille honor qui soli Deo debeatur cuidam creaturae attribuatur 2. Item Milites circumligabunt Tibias Garteriis ut vulgo dicunt quibus inscribunt haec verba Honi soit qui mal y pense in collis autem cathenarum more gerent equitem sculptum altera manu tenentis gladium penetrantem librum in quem gladium scribetur Protectio in Librum vero Verbum Dei altera autem Clipeum in quem inscribetur Fides hac re significantes se concordes protectores Verbi Divini Fideles existere Cum enim ab Georgio eodem auferetur honor ille quod Patronus amplius Ordinis non erit Milites non amplius gestabunt eundem divum post Festum Michaelis proxime sequentis 3. Arma tamen Ordinis maneant in eodem Statu quo antea manere sunt solita viz. Crux rubea in Campo Argenteo 4. Numerus Militum erunt 24 praeter praefectum si enim plures existant tum minori in honore habebitur Collegam esse Ordinis hi autem Milites jam existunt 5. Quod Rex Angliae Haeredes Successores ejus erunt hujus Ordinis Praefecti quemadmodum solitum est antehac Et quia saepe oriuntur ambiguitates contentiones mutationes temporum propter quas aut tolli aut definiri aut adjungi debent aliqua decreta hujus Ordinis saepe etiam in mortuorum Militum locum alii substituantur necesse est Idcirco conclusum est quod licet eidem Regi Angliae aliqua tali re mota Advocatis sex ex Sociis Ordinis cum eorum consensu celebrato in loco aliquo mutare definire addere aut detrahere ab hoc Ordine ut illis bonum videbitur etiam eligere in numerum Militum alios omnes qui sunt generosi insignia gestantes a parte Patrum Matrum per tres progenies sive generationes quoscunque arbitrabuntur maxime idoneos 6. Omnes hi qui rei sunt inventi Capitalium Criminum aut ignave a praelio aufugerunt aut Notabili Crimine sunt contaminati quanquam mors illis non infligatur tamen Milites Ordinis esse desinent Aequum enim qui esse potest enim qui insigni foedo aliquo vitio sit contaminatus in bonorum Societate aut caetu manere Capitalia vero sint Crimina pro quibus leges judicant debere mortis paenam subire 7. Si autem idem Ordinis praefectus intelligat locum aliquem vacuum existere tum mittet ad Milites vicinos propinquos ut certo quodam die adsint hasque literas mittet triduum ante diem celebrandi caetus nisi forte adsint plus quam sex Milites 8. Qui Milites Congregati in caetu quodam vestibus Ordinis induti si locus aliquis sit vacuus scribent unusquisque nomina trium Principium viz. Imperatorum Regum Archiducum Ducum Marchionum Comitum aut Vicecomitum nomina tria Baronum sive Dominorum nomina trium Militum Aureatorum quos Baccalaureos Milites vulgo dicunt 9. Cum nomina sunt scripta tum Rex Angliae Ordinis praefectus ex eorum numero eliget quem maxime idoneum arbitrabitur ex antiqua illustrique familia natum aut qui suis gestis praeclaris nomen famam honorem summum acquisiverit nam in electione Militum divitias respicere nullo modo oportet sed virtutem generis Nobilitatem primo autem in loco virtutem 10. Miles electus cum proxime adsit adducetur in Domum ubi caetus celebratur per duos Collegas Ordinis Praefectus induet eum cathena sive Collario Rosarum circumligatorum fasciis cum sculpta equitis imagine ut praedixi appendente duo vero Collegae fascia sive ut vulgo dicunt Garterio tibiam circumligabunt Tradetur etiam electo Militi liber horum decretorum 11. Miles vero electus ibit Windesoram Praefectus Ordinis mittet ad illum substitutum suum duos coadjutores qui collocabunt eum si fieri possit sine
he shall be received in the Confines of the Realm of Scotland and conducted from Shire to Shire unto his coming to the Parliament and what the King doth allow him for his Diet every day unto the Court and also what Diet and Allowance he hath being at the Parliament both in Bread and Wine Wax and Candle for his time of his abode there and of his Conduct in his return home And where King William King of Scots made Homage to King Henry the Second and granted That all the Nobles of his Realm should be his Subjects and make Homage to him and all the Bishops of his Realm should be under the Arch-Bishops of York And the said King William delivered to the said King Henry the Castles of Roxburgh Edinburgh and the Castle of Barwick as is found in my Register and that the King of England should give all Abbeys and Honours in Scotland or at least they should not be given without his Counsel I do find in the confirmation of the same out of the old Registers of the Priors of Duresm Hommage made by the Abbots Priors and Prioresses of Scotland to King Edward the First in French which I do send herewith Also I do send herewith in French how King Edward the First was received and taken to be Supream Lord in Scotland by all those that pretended Title to the Crown of Scotland as next Heirs to the King that was then dead without Issue and the compromise of them all made unto the said King Edward the First to stand to his Judgment which of all them that did claim should have the Crown of Scotland The Transcript of which Compromise in French was then sent by the said King Edward under the Seal of the King's Exchequer in green Wax to the Prior of Duresm to be registred for a perpetual Memory that the Supremity of Scotland belonged to the Kings of England which yet the Chapiters of Duresm have to shew which thing he commandeth them to put in their Chronicles And touching the second part of your Letter where you will me to advertise you what I have seen in the Premisses so it is that I was commanded by mine old Master of famous memory King Henry the 8th to make search among the Records of his Treasury in the Receipt for Solemnities to be done at his Coronation in most solemn manner according to which commandment I made search in the said Treasury where I fortuned to find many Writings for the Supremacy of the King to the Realm of Scotland and among others also a Writing with very many Seals of Arms of Scots confessing the right of the Supremacy to the King of England which Writings I doubt not may be found there I have also sent a Copy of a Book my self have of Homages made to the Kings of England by the Kings of Scotland which the Chancellor of England in King Henry the Sevenths days had gathered out of the King's Records which I doubt not but out of the King's Records and Ancient Books the same may be found again by my Lord Chancellor and the Judges Furthermore your Grace and you the Right Honourable Lords of the Council shall understand That in making much search for the Premisses at the last we found out of the Registers of the Chapters of Duresm when it was a Priory the Copy of a Writing by which King Edward the Second doth renounce such Superiority as he had in the Realm of Scotland for him and his Heirs to Robert King of Scots then being as will appear by a Copy of the same which I do send you herewith making mention in the end of the said Writings of a Commission that he gave to Henry the Lord Percy and to William the Lord Souch under his Letters Patents to give his Oath upon the same And after the said Writing we found also in the said Book a Renunciation of the said King Edward of a Process that he had commenced before the Bishop of Rome against Robert King of Scots and his Subjects for breaking their Oath to him as will appear by the Copy thereof which I do send also herewith And touching the said Renunciation of King Edward the Second to the Superiority of the Realm of Scotland I have often heard it spoken of by Scots but I did never see the form of it in writing until I see it now which thing it is not unlikely but the Scots have under the Seal of the said King Edward Whereunto answer is to be made That a King renouncing the right of his Crown cannot prejudice his Successors who have at the time of their entry the same whole right that their Predecessors had at their first entry as Men learned in the Civil Law can by their learning shew And furthermore search is to be made in the King's Records in the Treasury whether Homages have been made sithence King Edward the Second's Time that is to say in the Times of King Edward the Third King Richard the Second King Henry the Fourth King Henry the Fifth and King Henry the Sixth In which Times if any Homage can be found to be made it shall appear the same Renunciation to have taken none effect in the Successors and Ancient Right to be continued again For after King Edward the Fourth and King Henry the Sixth strove for the Crown I think none Homage of Scotland will be found for then was also lost Gascoigne and Guienne in France It is also to be remembred that when the Body of King Henry the Fifth was brought out of France to be buried at Westminster the King of Scots then being came with him and was the chief Mourner at his Burial which King of Scots whether he made any Homage to King Henry the Fifth in his Life-time or to King Henry the Sixth at his Coronation it is to be searched by the Records of that time This is all that can be found hitherto by all most diligent search that I could make in my Records here and if any more can be found it shall be sent with all speed And thus Almighty preserve your Grace and your Honourable Lordships to his Pleasure and yours From Ackland the 15th of October 1547. Your Graces most humble Orator at Commandment Cuth Duresme Number 10. A Letter from the Scotish Nobility to the Pope concerning their being an Independent Kingdom An Original Literae directae ad Dominum Summum Pontificem per Communitatem Scotiae 1320. SAnctissimo Patri in Christo Ex Autogr. apud Ill. Com. de H. ac Domino D. Johanni Divina Providentia Sacrosanctae Romanae Universalis Ecclesiae Summo Pontifici filii sui humiles devoti Duncanus Comes de Fife Thomas Ranulph Comes Moraviae D. Manniae Vallis Annandiae Patricius de Dumbar Comes Marchiae Malisius Comes de Straherne Malcolmus Comes de Levenex Willielmus Comes de Ross Magnus Comes Cathaneae Orcadiae Willielmus Comes Sutherlandiae Walterus Senescallus Scotiae Willielmus
nobis virtutem faciet ad nihilum rediget Hostes nostros Serenitatem ac Sanctitatem vestram conservet Altissimus Ecclesiae suae Sanctae per tempora diuturna Datum apud Monasterium de Aberbroth in Scotia 6 die Aprilis Anno gratiae Millesimo trecentesimo vicesimo Anno vero Regni Regis nostri supradicti quintodecimo Number 11. The Oath given to the Scots who submitted to the Protector YOu shall bear your Faith to the King's Majesty Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 139. our Soveraign Lord Edward the Sixth c. till such time as you shall be discharged of your Oath by special License And you shall to the uttermost of your power serve his Majesty truly and faithfully against all other Realms Dominions and Potentates as well Scots as others You shall hear nothing that may be prejudicial to his Majesty or any of his Realms or Dominions but with as much diligence as you may shall cause the same to be opened so as the same come to his Majesty's Knowledg or to the knowledg of the Lord Protector or some of his Majesty's Privy-Council You shall to the uttermost of your possible Power set forwards and advance the King's Majesties Affairs in Scotland for the Marriage and Peace Number 12. The Protestation of the Bishop of London made to the Visitors when he received the King's Majesties Injunctions and Homilies Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 110. I Do receive these Injunctions and Homilies with this Protestation That I will observe them if they be not contrary and repugnant to God's Law and the Statutes and Ordinances of this Church The Submission and Revocation of the same Bishop made before the Lords of the Kings Majesty's Council presently attending upon his Majesty's Person with the subscription of his Name thereunto VVHere I Edmund Bishop of Lodon have at such time as I received the King's Majesty's my most dread Soveraign Lord's Injunctions and Homilies at the Hands of his Highness Visitors did unadvisedly make such Protestation as now upon better consideration of my duty of Obedience and of the ill Example that may ensue to others thereof appeareth to me neither reasonable nor such as might well stand with the Duty of an humble Subject forasmuch as the same Protestation at my request was then by the Register of that Visitation enacted and put in Record I have thought it my bounden Duty not only to declare before your Lordships That I do now upon better consideration of my Duty renounce and revoke my said Protestation but also most humbly beseech your Lordships that this my Revocation of the same may likewise be put in the same Records for a perpetual Memory of the Truth Most humbly beseeching your good Lordships both to take order that it may take effect and also that my former unadvised doings may by your good Mediations be pardoned of the King's Majesty Edmund London Number 13. Gardiner's Letter to Sir John Godsalve concerning the Injunctions Ex MS. Col. C. C. Cantab. Mr. Godsalve after my right hearty Commendations with like thanks for the declaration of your good mind towards me as you mean it although it agreeth not with mine Accompt such as I have had leasure to make in this time of Liberty since the Death of my late Soveraign Lord whose Soul Jesu pardon For this have I reckon'd that I was called to this Bishoprick without the offence of God's Law or the King 's in the attaining of it I have kept my Bishoprick these sixteen Years accomplished this very day that I write these my Letters unto you without offending God's Law or the King 's in the retaining of it howsoever I have of frailty otherwise sinned Now if I may play the third part well to depart from the Bishoprick without the offence of God's Law or the King 's I shall think the Tragedy of my Life well passed over and in this part to be well handled is all my care and study now how to finish this third Act well for so I offend not God's Law nor the King's I will no more care to see my Bishoprick taken from me than my self to be taken from the Bishoprick I am by Nature already condemned to die which Sentence no Man can pardon nor assure me of delay in the execution of it and so see that of necessity I shall leave my Bishoprick to the disposition of the Crown from whence I had it my Houshold also to break up and my bringing up of Youth to cease the remembrance whereof troubleth me nothing I made in my House at London a pleasant Study that delighted me much and yet I was glad to come into the Country and leave it and as I have left the use of somewhat so can I leave the use of all to obtain a more quiet it is not loss to change for the better Honesty and Truth are more leef to me than all the Possessions of the Realm and in these two to say and do frankly as I must I never forbare yet and in these two Honesty and Truth I take such pleasure and comfort as I will never leave them for no respect for they will abide by a Man and so will nothing else No Man can take them away from me but my self and if my self do them away from me then my self do undo my self and make my self worthy to lose my Bishoprick whereat such as gape might take more sport than they are like to have at my hands What other Men have said or done in the Homilies I cannot tell and what Homilies or Injunctions shall be brought hither I know not such as the Printers have sold abroad I have read and considered and am therefore the better instructed how to use my self to the Visitors at their repair hither to whom I will use no manner of Protestation but a plain Allegation as the Matter serveth and as Honesty and Truth shall bind me to speak for I will never yield to do that should not beseem a Christian Bishops ought never to lose the Inheritance of the King's Laws due to every English Man for want of Petition I will shew my self a true Subject humble and obedient which repugneth not with the preservation of my Duty to God and my Right in the Realm not to be enjoined against an Act of Parliament which mine intent I have signified to the Council with request of redress in the Matter and not to compel me to such an Allegation which without I were a Beast I cannot pretermit and I were more than a Beast if after I had signified to the Council Truth and Reason in words I should then seem in my Deeds not to care for it My Lord Protector in one of such Letters as he wrote to me willed me not to fear too much and indeed I know him so well and divers others of my Lords of the Council that I cannot fear any hurt at their hands in the allegation of God's Law and the King 's and I will
Duke refuse to agree hereunto we must think him to remain in his naughty and detestable determination The Protectorship and Governance of your most Royal Person was not granted him by your Father's Will but only by agreement first amongst us the Executors and after of others Those Titles and special Trust was committed to him during Your Majesty's Pleasure and upon condition he should do all things by advice of Your Council Which condition because he hath so many times broken and notwithstanding the often speaking to without all hope of amendment we think him most unworthy those Honours or Trust Other particular things too many and too long to be written to Your Majesty at this time may at our next access to Your Royal Presence be more particularly opened consulted upon and moderated for the conservation of Your Majesty's Honour Surety and good Quiet of Your Realms and Dominions as may be thought most expedient Number 44. Letters from the Lords at London to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Sir William Paget c. MY Lords after our most hearty Commendations Ex Libro Concilii we have received your Letters by Mr. Hobbey and heard such Credence as he declared on the King's Majesty's and your behalfs unto us The Answers whereunto because they may at more length appear to you both by our Letters to the King's Majesty and by report also of the said Mr. Hobbey we forbear to repeat here again most heartily praying and requiring your Lordships and every of you and nevertheless charging and commanding you in the King's Majesty's Name to have a continual earnest watch respect and care to the surety of the King's Majesty our natural and most gracious Soveraign Lord's Person and that he be not removed from his Majesty's Castle of Windsor as you tender your Duties to Almighty God and his Majesty and as you will answer for the contrary at your uttermost perils We are moved to call earnestly upon you herein not without great cause and amongst many others we cannot but remember unto you That it appeareth very strange unto us and a great wonder unto all true Subjects that you will either assist or suffer his Majesty's most Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke of Somerset's Men sequestred from his own old sworn Servants It seemeth strange that in his Majesty's own House Strangers should be armed with his Majesty's own Armour and be nearest about his Highness Person and those to whom the ordinary Charge is committed sequestred away so as they may not attend according to their sworn Duties If any ill come hereof you can consider to whom it must be imputed once the Example is very strange and perilous And now my Lords if you tender the preservation of his Majesty and the State join with us to that end we have written to the King's Majesty by which way things may soon be quietly and moderately compounded In the doing whereof we mind to do none otherwise than we would be done to and that with as much moderation and favour as honourably we may We trust none of you have just cause to note any one of us and much less all of such cruelty as you so many times make mention of One thing in your Letters we marvel much at which is that you write that you know more than we know If the Matters come to your knowledg and hidden from us be of such weight as you seem to pretend or if they touch or may touch his Majesty or the State we think you do not as you ought in that you have not disclosed the same unto us being the whole State of the Council And thus praying God to send you the Grace to do that may tend to the surety of the King's Majesty's Person and tranquility of the Realm we bid you heartily farewel c. Number 45. An Answer to the former Letter An Original Ex Libro Concilii IT may like your good Lordships with our most hearty Commendations to understand That this morning Sir Philip Hobbey hath according to the Charge given him by your Lordships presented your Letters to the King's Majesty in the presence of us and all the rest of his Majesty's good Servants here which was there read openly and also the others to them of the Chamber and of the Houshold much to their Comforts and ours also and according to the Tenours of the same we will not fail to endeavour our selves accordingly Now touching the marvel of your Lordships both of that we would suffer the Duke of Somerset's Men to guard the King's Majesty's Person and also of our often repeating this word Cruelty although we doubt not but that your Lordships have been throughly informed of our Estates here and upon what occasion the one hath been suffered and the other proceeded yet at our convening together which may be when and where pleaseth you we will and are able to make your Lordships such an account as wherewith we doubt not you will be satisfied if you think good to require it of us And for because this Bearer Master Hobbey can particularly inform your Lordships of the whole discourse of all things here we remit the report of all other things to him saving that we desire to be advertised with as much speed as you shall think good whether the King's Majesty shall come forthwith thither or remain still here and that some of your Lordships would take pains to come hither forthwith For the which purpose I the Comptroller will cause three of the best Chambers in the great Court to be hanged and made ready Thus thanking God that all things be so well acquieted we commit your Lordships to his tuition From Windsor the 10th of Octob. 1549. Your Lordships assured loving Friends T. Cant. William Paget T. Smith Number 46. Articles objected to the Duke of Somerset 1. THat he took upon him the Office of Protector upon express condition That he should do nothing in the King's Affairs but by assent of the late King's Executors or the greatest part of them 2. That contrary to this condition he did hinder Justice and subvert Laws of his own Authority as well by Letters as by other Command 3. That he caused divers Persons Arrested and Imprisoned for Treason Murder Man-slaughter and Felony to be discharged against the Laws and Statutes of the Realm 4. That he appointed Lieutenants for Armies and other Officers for the weighty Affairs of the King under his own Writing and Seal 5. That he communed with Ambassadors of other Realms alone of the weighty Matters of the Realm 6. That he would taunt and reprove divers of the King 's most honourable Councellors for declaring their Advice in the King 's weighty Affairs against his Opinion sometimes telling them that they were not worthy to sit in Council and sometimes that he â—eed not to open weighty Matters to them and that if they were not agreeable to his Opinion he would discharge them 7.
That against Law he held a Court of Request in his House and did enforce divers to answer there for their Freehold and Goods and did determine of the same 8. That being no Officer without the advice of the Council or most part of them he did dispose Offices of the King's Gift for Mony grant Leases and Wards and Presentations of Benefices pertaining to the King gave Bishopricks and made sales of the King's Lands 9. That he commanded Alchimie and Multiplication to be practised thereby to abase the King's Coin 10. That divers times he openly said That the Nobility and Gentry were the only cause of Dearth whereupon the People rose to reform Matters of themselves 11. That against the mind of the whole Council he caused Proclamation to be made concernig Inclosures whereupon the People made divers Insurrections and destroyed many of the King's Subjects 12. That he sent forth a Commission with Articles annexed concerning Inclosures Commons High-ways Cottages and such-like Matters giving the Commissioners authority to hear and determine those causes whereby the Laws and Statutes of the Realm were subverted and much Rebellion raised 13. That he suffered Rebels to assemble and lie armed in Camp against the Nobility and Gentry of the Realm without speedy repressing of them 14. That he did comfort and encourage divers Rebels by giving them Mony and by promising them Fees Rewards and Services 15. That he caused a Proclamation to be made against Law and in favour of the Rebels that none of them should be vexed or sued by any for their Offences in their Rebellion 16. That in time of Rebellion he said That he liked well the Actions of the Rebels and that the Avarice of Gentlemen gave occasion for the People to rise and that it was better for them to die than to perish for want 17. That he said The Lords of the Parliament were loath to reform Inclosures and other things therefore the People had a good cause to reform them themselves 18. That after declaration of the Defaults of Bulloign and the Pieces there by such as did survey them he would never amend the same 19. That he would not suffer the King's Pieces of Newhaven and Blackness to be furnished with Men and Provision albeit he was advertised of the Defaults and advised thereto by the King's Council whereby the French King was emboldned to attempt upon them 20. That he would neither give Authority nor suffer Noblemen and Gentlemen to suppress Rebels in time convenient but wrote to them to speak the Rebels fair and use them gently 21. That upon the 5th of October the present Year at Hampton-Court for defence of his own private Causes he procured seditious Bills to be written in counterfeit Hands and secretly to be dispersed into divers parts of the Realm beginning thus Good People intending thereby to raise the King's Subjects to Rebellion and open War 22. That the King's Privy-Council did consult at London to come to him and move him to reform his Government but he hearing of their Assembly declared by his Letters in divers places that they were high Traitors to the King 23. That he declared untruly as well to the King as to other young Lords attending his Person That the Lords at London intended to destroy the King and desired the King never to forget but to revenge it and desired the young Lords to put the King in remembrance thereof with intent to make Sedition and Discord between the King and his Nobles 24. That at divers times and places he said The Lords of the Council at London intended to kill me but if I die the King shall die and if they famish me they shall famish him 25. That of his own head he removed the King so suddenly from Hampton-Court to Windsor without any provision there made that he was thereby not only in great fear but cast thereby into a dangerous Disease 26. That by his Letters he caused the King's People to assemble in great numbers in Armour after the manner of War to his Aid and Defence 27. That he caused his Servants and Friends at Hampton-Court and Windsor to be apparelled in the King's Armour when the King's Servants and Guards went unarmed 28. That he intended to fly to Gernsey or Wales and laid Post-horses and Men and a Boat to that purpose Number 47. A Letter written by the Council to the Bishops to assure them That the King intended to go forward in the Reformation By the KING RIght Reverend Father in God Right trusty and well-beloved Regist Cran. Fol. 56. we greet you well Whereas the Book entituled the Book of Common Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England was agreed upon and set forth by Act of Parliament and by the same Act commanded to be used of all Persons within this our Realm Yet nevertheless we are informed that divers unquiet and evil-disposed Persons sithence the apprehension of the Duke of Somerset have noised and bruited abroad That they should have again their old Latin Service their Conjured Bread and Water with such-like vain and superfluous Ceremonies as though the setting forth of the said Book had been the only Act of the said Duke We therefore by the advice of the Body and State of our Privy-Council not only considering the said Book to be our Act and the Act of the whole State of our Realm assembled together in Parliament but also the same to be grounded upon the Holy Scripture agreeable to the Order of the Primitive Church and much to the re-edifying of our Subjects to put away all such vain expectation of having the Publick Service the Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies again in the Latin Tongue which were but a preferment of Ignorance to Knowledg and Darkness to Light and a preparation to bring in Papistry and Superstition again have thought good by the advice aforesaid to require and nevertheless straitly do command and charge you That immediately upon the receipt hereof you do command the Dean and Prebendaries of your Cathedral Church the Parsons Vicar or Curat and Church-wardens of every Parish within your Diocess to bring and deliver unto you or your Deputy any of them for their Church or Parish at such convenient place as you shall appoint all Antiphonals Missals Graylles Processionals Manuels Legends Pies Portasies Journals and Ordinals after the use of Sarum Lincoln York or any other private use And all other Books of Service the keeping whereof should be a lett to the using of the said Book of Common Prayers and that you take the same Books into your hands or into the hands of your Deputy and them so to deface and abolish that they never after may serve either to any such use as they were provided for or be at any time a lett to that godly and uniform Order which by a common Consent is now set forth And if
We are accounted Righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works or deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith is a most wholesome Doctrine and very full of comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification in that sense wherein it is set forth in the Homily of Justification is the most certain and most wholesome Doctrine for a Christian Man XII Of Good Works Albeit the Good Works which are the Fruits of Faith and follow after Justification cannot put away our Sins and endure the severity of God's Judgment yet are they pleasing and acceptable unto God in Christ and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a Tree discerned by the Fruit. XII Works before Justification Works done before the Grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make Men meet to receive Grace or as the School Authors say deserve Grace of Congruity yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the nature of Sin XIII Works of Supererrogation Voluntary Works besides over and above God's Commandments which they call Works of Supererrogation cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety for by them Men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do but that they do more for his sake than of bounden Duty is required Whereas Christ saith plainly When you have done all that are commanded to you say we are unprofitable Servants XIV None but Christ without Sin Christ in the truth of our Nature was made like unto us in all things sin only excepted from which he was clearly void both in his Flesh and in his Spirit He came to be a Lamb without spot who by Sacrifice of himself once made should take away the Sins of the World and Sin as St. John saith was not in him But all we the rest although baptized and born in Christ yet offend in many things and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us XV. Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost Not every deadly Sin willingly committed after Baptism is Sin against the Holy Ghost and unpardonable Wherefore the grant of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from Grace given and fall into sin and by the Grace of God we may arise again and amend our Lives And therefore they are to be condemned which say They can no more sin as long as they live here or deny the * Place of Forgiveness place of Penance to such as truly repent XVI The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is then committed when any Man out of malice and hardness of heart doth wilfully reproach and persecute in an hostile manner the Truth of God's Word manifestly made known unto him Which sort of Men being made obnoxious to the Curse subject themselves to the most grievous of all wickednesses from whence this kind of Sin is called unpardonable and so affirmed to be by our Lord and Saviour XVII Of Predestination and Election Predestination unto Life is the everlasting Purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret unto us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen * In Christ out of Man-kind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation as Vessels made to Honour Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose by his Spirit working in due season they through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they are made Sons of †God by Adoption they are made like the Image of ‖ His. the only begotten Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy they attain to everlasting felicity As the godly consideration of Predestination and Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly Persons and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the Works of the Flesh and their Earthly Members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly Things as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their Faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God So for curious and carnal Persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfal whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desparation or into wretchlesness of most unclean living no less perilous than desparation Furthermore * Left out though the Decrees of Predestination be unknown to us yet must we receive God's Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture and in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the Word of God XVIII Everlasting Salvation to be obtained only in the Name of Christ They also are to be had accursed that presume to say That every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved XIX All Men are bound to keep the Precepts of the Moral Law Although the Law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not bind Christian Men nor the Civil Precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any Common-Wealth yet notwithstanding no Christian Man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral Wherefore they are not to be heard which teach that the Holy Scriptures were given to none but to the Weak and brag continually of the Spirit by which they do pretend that all whatsoever they preach is suggested to them though manifestly contrary to the Holy Scripture XX. Of the Church The Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful Men in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Livings and manner of Ceremonies but also in Matters of Faith XXI Of the Authority of the Church The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority
and Blood and Country might not more weigh with some Men than Godliness and Reason but the truth is Country in this Matter whatsoever some Men do suggest unto your Grace shall not move me and that your Grace shall well perceive for I shall be as ready as any other first thence to expel some of my own Country if the Report which is made of them can be tried true And as for that your Grace saith of Flesh and Blood that is the favour or fear of Mortal Man Yea marry Sir that is a Matter of weight indeed and the truth is alas my own feebleness of that I am afraid but I beseech your Grace yet once again give me good leave wherein here I fear my own frailty to confess the Truth Before God there is no Man this day leaving the King's Majesty for the Honour only excepted whose favour or displeasure I do either seek or fear as your Grace's favour or displeasure for of God both your Grace's Authority and my bound Duty for your Grace's Benefits bind me so to do So that if the desire of any Man's favour or fear of displeasure should weigh more with me than Godliness and Reason Truly if I may be bold to say the Truth I must needs say that I am most in danger to offend herein either for desire of your Grace's favour or for fear of your Grace's displeasure And yet I shall not cease God willing daily to pray God so to stay and strengthen my frailty with holy Fear that I do not commit the thing for favour or fear of any Mortal Man whereby my Conscience may threaten me with the loss of the favour of the Living God but that it may please him of his gracious Goodness howsoever the World goes to blow this in the Ears of my Heart Deus dissipavit ossa eorum qui Hominibus placuerint And this Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis And again Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus Wherefore I most humbly beseech your Grace for God's Love not to be offended with me for renuing of this my Suit unto your Grace which is that whereunto my Conscience cannot well agree if any such thing chance in this Visitation I may with your Grace's Favour have license either by mine absence or silence or other-like means to keep my Conscience quiet I wish your Grace in God honour and endless felicity From Pembrook-Hall in Cambridg June 1. 1549. Your Grace's humble and daily Orator Nich. Roffen Number 60. The Protector 's Answer to the former Letter Ex Chartophylac Kegio AFter our right hearty Commendations to your Lordship we have received your Letters of the first of June again replying to those which we last sent unto you And as it appeareth ye yet remaining in your former Request desires if things do occur so that according to your Conscience ye cannot do them that you might absent your self or otherwise keep silence We wâ—uld be loth any thing should be done by the King's Majesty's Visitors otherwise than Right and Conscience might allow and approve And Visitation is to direct things to the better not to the worse to ease Consciences not to clog them Marry we would wish that Executors thereof should not be scrupulous in Conscience otherwise than Reason would Against your Conscience it is not our will to move you as we would not gladly do or move any Man to that which is against Right and Conscience and we trust the King's Majesty hath not in this Matter And we think in this ye do much wrong and much discredit the other Visitors that ye should seem to think and suppose that they would do things against Conscience We take them to be Men of that Honour and Honesty that they will not My Lord of Canterbury hath declared unto us that this maketh partly a Conscience unto you that Divines should be diminished That can be no cause for first the same was met before in the late King's Time to unite the two Colleges together as we are sure ye have heard and Sir Edward North can tell And for that cause all such as were Students of the Law out of the new-erected Cathedral Church were disappointed of their Livings only reserved to have been in that Civil College The King's Hall being in manner all Lawyers Canonists were turned and joined to Michael-House and made a College of Divines wherewith the number of Divines was much augmented Civillians diminished Now at this present also if in all other Colleges where Lawyers be by the Statutes or the King's Injunctions ye do convert them or the more part of them to Divines ye shall rather have more Divines upon this change than ye had before The King's College should have six Lawyers Jesus College some the Queen's College and other one or two apiece And as we are informed by the late King's Injunctions every College in Cambridg one at the least all these together do make a greater in number than the Fellows of Clare-Hall be and they now made Divines and the Statutes in that reformed Divinity shall not be diminished in number of Students but encreased as appeareth although these two Colleges be so united And we are sure ye are not ignorant how necessary a Study that Study of Civil Law is to all Treaties with Forreign Princes and Strangers and how few there be at this present to do the King's Majesty's Service therein For we would the encrease of Divines as well as you Marry Necessity compelleth us also to maintain the Science and we require you my Lord to have consideration how much you do hinder the King's Majesty's Proceedings in that Visitation if now you who are one of the Visitors should thus draw back and discourage the other ye should much hinder the whole Doings and peradventure that thing known maketh the Master and Fellows of Clare-Hall to stand the more obstinate wherefore we require you to have regard of the King's Majesty's Honour and the quiet performings of that Visitation most to the Glory of God and Benefit of that University the which thing is only meant in your Instructions To the performing of that and in that manner we can be content you use your Doings as ye think best for the quieting of your Conscience Thus we bid you right-heartily farewel From Richmond the 10th of June 1549. Your loving Friend E. Somerset Number 61. A Letter of Cranmer's to King Henry the 8th concerning a further Reformation and against Sacrilege Ex Chartophylac Regio IT may please your Highness to be advertised that forasmuch as I might not tarry my self at London because I had appointed the next day after that I departed from your Majesty to be at Rochester to meet the next Morning all the Commissioners of Kent at Sittingbourn therefore the same Night that I returned from Hampton-Court to Lambeth I sent for the Bishop of Worcester incontinently and declared unto him all your Majesty's Pleasure in
now be and remain to us in our Actual and Royal Possession by Authority of the said Letters Patents We do therefore by these Presents signify unto all our most loving faithful and obedient Subjects That like-as we for our part shall by God's Grace shew our Self a most gracious and benign Soveraign Queen and Lady to all our good Subjects in all their just and lawful Suits and Causes and to the uttermost of our Power shall preserve and maintain God's most Holy Word Christian Policy and the good Laws Customs and Liberties of these our Realms and Dominions so we mistrust not but they and every of them will again for their parts at all Times and in all Cases shew themselves unto Us their natural Liege Queen and Lady most faithful loving and obedient Subjects according to their bounden Duties and Allegiance whereby they shall please God and do the things that shall tend to their own preservation and sureties willing and commanding all Men of all Estates Degrees and Conditions to see our Peace and accord kept and to be obedient to our Laws as they tender our Favour and will answer for the contrary at their extream Perils In witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at our Tower of London the tenth day of July in the first Year of our Reign God save the Queen Number 2. A Letter sent by Queen Katherine to the Lady Mary her Daughter Ex MS. Norfolcianis in Col. Cresham DAughter I heard such tidings this day that I do perceive if it be true the time is near that Almighty God will provide for you and I am very glad of it for I trust that he doth handle you with a good Love I beseech you agree to his Pleasure with a merry Heart and be you sure that without fail he will not suffer you to perish if you beware to offend him I pray God you good Daughter to offer your self to him if any pangs come to you shrive your self first make your self clean take heed of his Commandments and keep them as near as he will give you Grace to do for then are you sure armed And if this Lady do come to you as it is spoken if she do bring you a Letter from the King I am sure in the self-same Letter you shall be commanded what you shall do Answer you with few words obeying the King your Father in every thing save only that you will not offend God and lose your Soul and go no further with Learning and Disputation in the Matter and wheresoever and in whatsoever Company you shall come obey the King's Commandments speak few words and meddle nothing I will send you two Books in Latin one shall be de Vita Christi with the Declaration of the Gospels and the other the Epistles of St. Hierome that he did write always to Paula and Eustochium and in them trust you shall see good things And sometimes for your Recreation use your Virginals or Lute if you have any But one thing specially I desire you for the love that you owe unto God and unto me to keep your Heart with a chaste Mind and your Body from all ill and wanton Company not thinking nor desiring any Husband for Christ's Passion neither determine your self to any manner of living until this troublesome time be past for I dare make you sure that you shall see a very good end and better than you can desire I would God good Daughter that you did know with how good a Heart I do write this Letter unto you I never did one with a better for I perceive very well that God loveth you I beseech him of his goodness to continue it And if it shall fortune that you shall have no Body to be with you of your Acquaintance I think it best you keep your Keys your self for whosoever it is so shall be done as shall please them And now you shall begin and by likelihood I shall follow I set not a rush by it for when they have done the uttermost they can then I am sure of the amendment I pray you recommend me unto my good Lady of Salisbury and pray her to have a good Heart for we never come to the Kingdom of Heaven but by Troubles Daughter wheresoever you become take no pain to send to me for if I may I will send to you By your loving Mother Katherine the Queen Number 3. A humble Submission made by Queen Mary to her Father Anno 1536. An Original MOst humbly prostrate before the Feet of your most excellent Majesty your most humble faithful and obedient Subject Cotton Libr. Otho C. 20. which hath so extreamly offended your most gracious Highness that mine heavy and fearful Heart dare not presume to call you Father nor your Majesty hath any cause by my deserts saving the benignity of your most blessed Nature doth surmount all Evils Offences and Trespasses and is ever merciful and ready to accept the Penitent calling for Grace in any convenient time Having received this Thursday at Night certain Letters from Mr. Secretary as well advising me to make my humble submission immediately to your Self which because I durst not without your gracious License presume to do before I lately sent unto him as signifying that your most merciful Heart and fatherly Pity had granted me your Blessing with condition that I should persevere in that I had commenced and begun and that I should not eft-soons offend your Majesty by the denial or refusal of any such Articles and Commandments as it may please your Highness to address unto me for the perfect trial of my Heart and inward Affection For the perfect declaration of the bottom of my Heart and Stomach First I acknowledg my self to have most unkindly and unnaturally offended your most excellent Highness in that I have not submitted my self to your most just and vertuous Laws And for mine Offences therein which I must confess were in me a thousand fold more grievous than they could be in any other living Creature I put my self wholly and entirely to your gracious Mercy at whose hand I cannot receive that punishment for the same that I have deserved Secondly To open mine Heart to your Grace in these things which I have heretofore refused to condescend unto and have now written with mine own hand sending the same to your Highness herewith I shall never beseech your Grace to have pity and compassion of me if ever you shall perceive that I shall privily or apertly vary or alter from one piece of that I have written and subscribed or refuse to confirm ratify or declare the same where your Majesty shall appoint me Thirdly As I have and shall knowing your excellent Learning Vertue Wisdom and Knowledg put my Soul into your direction and by the same hath and will in all things from henceforth direct my Conscience so my Body I do wholly commit to your Mercy and fatherly Pity
desiring no State no Condition nor no meaner degree of living but such as your Grace shall appoint me knowledging and confessing That my State cannot be so vile as either the extremity of Justice would appoint unto me or as mine Offences have required or deserved And whatsoever your Grace shall command me to do touching any of these Points either for things past present or to come I shall as gladly do the same as your Majesty shall command me Most humbly therefore beseeching your Mercy most gracious Soveraign Lord and Benign Father to have pity and compassion of your miserable and sorrowful Child and with the abundance of your inestimable Goodness so to overcome mine Iniquity towards God Your Grace and Your whole Realm as I may feel some sensible Token of Reconciliation which God is my Judg I only desire without other respect To whom I shall daily pray for the preservation of Your Highness with the Queens Grace and that it may please him to send You Issue From Hunsdon this Thursday at eleven of the Clock at Night Your Graces most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 4. Another of the same strain confirming the former An Original MOst humbly obediently and gladly Cotton Libr. Otho C. 20. lying at the Feet of Your most Excellent Majesty my most dear and benign Father and Soveraign Lord I have this day perceived Your gracious Clemency and merciful Pity to have overcome my most unkind and unnatural Proceedings towards You and Your most Just and Vertuous Laws The great and inestimable Joy whereof I cannot express nor have any thing worthy to be again presented to Your Majesty for the same Your fatherly Pity extended towards me most ingrately on my part abandoned as much as in me lie but my poor Heart which I send unto Your Highness to remain in Your Hand to be for ever used directed and framed whiles God shall suffer life to remain in it at Your only pleasure most humbly beseeching Your Grace to accept and receive the same being all that I have to offer which shall never alter vary or change from that Confession and Submission which I have made unto Your Highness in the presence of Your Council and other attending upon the same for whose preservation with my most gracious Mother the Queen I shall daily pray to God whom eft-soons I beseech to send You Issue to his Honour and the Comfort of Your whole Realm From Hounsdon the 26th day of June Your Grace's most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 5. Another Letter written to her Father to the same purpose An Original Cotton Libr. Otho C. 20. MY bounden Duty most humbly remembred to Your most Excellent Majesty Whereas I am unable and insufficient to render and express to Your Highness those most hearty and humble thanks for Your gracious Mercy and fatherly Pity surmounting mine Offences at this time extended towards me I shall prostrate at Your most noble Feet humbly and with the very bottom of my Stomach beseech your Grace to repute that in me which in my poor Heart remaining in Your most noble Hand I have conceived and professed towards Your Grace whiles the Breath shall remain in my Body that is that as I am now in such merciful sort recovered being more than almost lost with mine own Folly that Your Majesty may as well accept me justly Your bounden Slave by Redemption as Your most humble faithful and obedient Child and Subject by the course of Nature planted in this Your most noble Realm so shall I for ever persevere and continue towards Your Highness in such uniformity and due obedience as I doubt not but with the help of God Your Grace shall see and perceive a will and intent in me to redouble again that hath been amiss on my behalf conformably to such Words and Writings as I have spoken and sent unto Your Highness from the which I will never vary during my Life trusting that Your Grace hath conceived that Opinion of me which to remember is mine only comfort And thus I beseech our Lord to preserve Your Grace in Health with my very natural Mother the Queen and to send you shortly Issue which I shall as gladly and willingly serve with my Hands under their Feet as ever did poor Subject their most Gracious Soveraign From Hunsdon the 8th day of July Your Grace's most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 6. A Letter written by her to Cromwell containing a full Submission to the King's Pleasure in all the Points of Religion An Original GOod Mr. Secretary how much am I bound unto you Cotton Libr. Otho C. 10. which have not only travelled when I was almost drowned in folly to recover me before I sunk and was utterly past recovery and so to present me to the face of Grace and Mercy but also desisteth not sithence with your good and wholesome Counsels so to arm me from any relapse that I cannot unless I were too wilful and obstinate whereof now there is no spark in me fall again into any danger But leaving the recital of your Goodness apart which I cannot recount For answer to the Particularities of your Credence sent by my Friend Mr. Wriothsley First Concerning the Princess so I think I must call her yet for I would be loth to offend I offered at her entry to that Name and Honour to call her Sister but it was refused unless I would also add the other Title unto it which I denied not then more obstinately than I am now sorry for it for that I did therein offend my most gracious Father and his just Laws And now that you think it meet I shall never call her by other Name than Sister Touching the nomination of such Women as I would have about me surely Mr. Secretary what Men or Women soever the King's Highness shall appoint to wait on me without exception shall be to me right-heartily and without respect welcome albeit to express my mind to you whom I think worthy to be accepted for their faithful Service done to the King's Majesty and to me sithence they came into my Company I promise you on my Faith Margaret Baynton and Susanna Clarencieux have in every condition used themselves as faithfully painfully and diligently as ever did Women in such a case as sorry when I was not so conformable as became me as glad when I enclined any thing to my Duty as could be devised One other there is that was sometime my Maid whom for her Vertue I love and could be glad to have in my Company that is Mary Brown and here be all that I will recommend and yet my estimation of this shall be measured at the King's Highness my most merciful Father's pleasure and appointment as Reason is For mine Opinion touching Pilgrimages Purgatory Reliques and such-like I assure you I have none at all but such as I shall receive from him that hath mine whole Heart
greet you well And whereas heretofore in the time of the late Reign of Our most dearest Brother King Edward the Sixth whose Soul God pardon divers notable Crimes Excesses and Faults with divers kinds of Heresies Simony Advoutry and other Enormities have been committed within this our Realm and other our Dominions the same continuing yet hitherto in like disorder since the beginning of our Reign without any correction or reformation at all and the People both of the Laity and Clery and chiefly of the Clergy have been given to much insolence and ungodliness greatly to the displeasure of Almighty God and very much to Our regret and evil contentation and to the slander of other Christian Realms and in a manner to the subversion and clear defaceing of this our Realm And remembring our Duty to Almighty God to be to foresee as much as in Us may be that all Vertue and Godly Living should be embraced flourish and encrease And therewith also that all vice and ungodly behaviour should be utterly banished and put away or at the least wise so nigh as might be so bridled and kept under that Godliness and Honesty might have the over-hand understanding by very credible report and publique fame to Our no small heaviness and discomfort that within your Diocess as well in not exempted as in exempted Places the like disorder and evil behaviour hath been done and used like also to continue and encrease unless due provision be had and made to reform the same which earnestly in very deed We do mind and intend to the uttermost all the ways We can possible trusting of God's furtherance and help in that behalf For these Causes and other most just Considerations us moving We send unto you certain Articles of such special Matter as among other things be most special and necessary to be now put in execution by you and your Officers extending to them by Us desired and the Reformation aforesaid wherein ye shall be charg'd with Our special Commandments by these our Letters to the intent you and your Officers may the more earnestly and boldly proceed thereunto without fear of any presumption to be noted on your part or danger to be incurred of any such our Laws as by your doings of that is in the said Articles contain'd might any wise grieve you whatsoever be threatned in any such Case and therefore we straitly charge and command you and your said Officers to proceed to the execution of the said Articles without all tract and delay as ye will answer to the contrary Given under our Hand at our Palace of Westminster the 4th day of March the first Year of our Reign ARTICLES 1. THat every Bishop and his Officers with all other having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall with all speed and diligence and all manner and ways to them possible put in execution all such Canons and Ecclesiasticall Laws heretofore in the time of King Henry the 8th used within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same not being direct and expresly contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm 2. Item That no Bishop or any his Officer or other Person aforesaid hereafter in any of their Ecclesiastical Writings in Process or other extra-judicial Acts do use to put in this Clause or Sentence Regia Auctoritate fulcitus 3. Item That no Bishop or any his Officers or other Person aforesaid do hereafter exact or demand in the admission of any Person to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Orders or Office any Oath touching the Primacy or Succession as of late in few Years passed hath been accustomed and used 4. Item That every Bishop and his Officers with all other Persons aforesaid have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight that no Person be admitted or received to any Ecclesiastical Function Benefit or Office being a Sacramentary infected or defamed with any notable kind of Heresy or other great Crime and that the said Bishop do stay and cause to be staied as much as lieth in him that Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions do not notably decay or take hinderance by passing or confirming of unreasonable Leases 5. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do diligently travel for the repressing of Heresies and notable Crimes especially in the Clergy duly correcting and punishing the same 6. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do likewise travel for the condemning and repressing of corrupt and naughty Opinions unlawful Books Ballads and other pernicious and hurtful devices engendring hatred among the People and discord amongst the same And that School-masters Preachers and Teachers do exercise and used their Offices and Duties without Teaching Preaching or setting forth any evil corrupt Doctrine and that doing the contrary they may be by the Bishop and his said Officers punish'd and remov'd 7. Item That every Bishop and all the other Persons aforesaid proceeding summarily and with all celerity and speed may and shall deprive or declare depriv'd and amove according to their learning and discretion all such Persons from their Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions who contrary to the state of their Order and the laudable Custom of the Church have married and used Women as their Wives or otherwise notably and slanderously disordered or abused themselves sequestring also during the said Process the Fruits and Profits of the said Benefits and Ecclesiastical Promotions 8. Item That the said Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do use more lenity and clemency with such as have married whose Wives be dead than with other whose Women do yet remain in Life And likewise such Priests as with the consents of their Wives or Women openly in the presence of the Bishop do profess to abstain to be used the more favourably in which Case after Penance effectually done the Bishop according to his discretion and wisdom may upon just consideration receive and admit them again to their former Administration so it be not in the same Place appointing them such a Portion to live upon to be paid out of their Benefice whereof they be depriv'd by discretion of the said Bishop or his Officers shall think may be spared of the said Benefice 9. Item That every Bishop and all Persons aforesaid do foresee That they suffer not any Religious Man having solemnly profest Chastity to continue with his Woman or Wife but that all such Persons after deprivation of their Benefice or Ecclesiastical Promotion be also divorced every one from his said Woman and due punishment otherwise taken for the Offence therein 10. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do take Order and Direction with the Parishoners of every Benefice where Priests do want to repair to the next Parish for Divine Service or to appoint for a convenient time till other better Provision may be made one Curat to serve Alternis Vicibus in divers Parishes and to allot to the said Curat for his Labour some portion of the Benefice that he so
be Baptized in time of necessity and they the said Parishioners reverently and devoutly to prepare themselves to receive and use the Sacraments especially the Sacrament of the Altar or to be confessed and receive at the Priest's hand the benefit of Absolution according to the laudable custom of this Realm Article 21. Item Whether they and every each of them hath diligently visited his and their Parishioners in the time of Sickness and Need and ministred Sacraments and Sacramentals to them accordingly and whether they have exhorted and monished them to have due respect to their Souls Health and also to set an Order in their Temporal Lands and Goods declaring their Debts perfectly and what is owing unto them and they so to make their Testaments and last Wills that as much as may be all trouble and business may be excluded their Wives and Children with their Friends may be holpen and succoured and themselves decently buried and prayed for and to have an honest memory and commendations for their so doing Article 22. Item Whether they and every of them have solemnized Matrimony between and his Parishioners or any other Persons the Banes not before asked three several Sundays or Holy-days or without Certificate of the said Banes from the Curat of any other Parish if any of them be of another Parish And whether touching the Solemnization and use of this Sacrament of Matrimony and also of all other the Sacraments of the Church they have kept and observed the old and laudable Custom of the Church without any innovation or alteration in any of the same Article 23. Item Whether they or every each of them upon the Sunday at the Service-time doth use to set forth and to declare unto the People all such Holy-days and Fasting-days as of Godly usage and custom hath heretofore laudably been accustomed to be kept and observed in the week following and ensuing and whether they and every of them doth observe and keep themselves the said Holy-days and Fasting-days Article 24. Item Whether the Parson or Vicar doth repair and maintain his Chancel and Mansion-house in sufficient reparation and the same being in decay whether he doth bestow yearly the fifth part of his Benefice till such time the same be sufficiently repaired doing also further his Duty therein and otherwise as by the Law he is charged and bound in that behalf distributing and doing as he is bound by the Law Article 25. Item Whether there be any Person that doth serve any Cure or minister any Sacraments not being Priest or if any do take upon them to use the Room and Office of the Parson or Vicar or Curat of any Benefice or Spiritual Promotion receiving the Fruits thereof not being admitted thereunto by the Ordinary Article 26. Item Whether they and every each of them doth go in Priestly Apparel and Habit having their Beards and Crowns shaven or whether any of them doth go in Lay-mens Habits and Apparel or otherwise disguise themselves that they cannot easily be discovered or known from Lay-men Article 27. Item Whether they or any of them have many Promotions and Benefices Ecclesiastical Cures Secular Services Yearly Pensions Annuities Farms or other Revenues now in Title or Possession and what the Names of them be and where they lie giving all good instruction and perfect information therein Article 28. Item Whether such as have Churches or Chappels appropriated or Mansions or Houses thereto appertaining do keep their Chancels and Houses in good and sufficient reparations and whether they do all things in Distributions and Alms or otherwise as by Law and good Order they ought to do Article 29. Item Whether any such as were ordered Schismatically and contrary to the old Order and Custom of the Catholick Church or being unlawfully and schismatically married after the late innovation and manner being not yet reconciled nor admitted by the Ordinary have celebrated or said either Mass or Divine Service within any Cure or Place of this City or Diocess Article 30. Item Whether any Parson or Vicar or other having Ecclesiastical Promotion doth set out the same to Farm without consent knowledg and license of his Ordinary especially for an unreasonable number of Years or with such Conditions Qualities or Manners that the same is to the great prejudice of the Church and the incumbent of the same and especially of him that shall succeed therein Article 31. Item Whether there be any Parson or Vicar Curat or Priest that occupieth buying and selling as a Merchant or occupieth Usury or layeth out his Mony for filthy Lucres-sake and Gain to the slander of the Priesthood Article 32. Item Whether they or any of them do wear Swords Daggers or other Weapons in times or places not convenient or seemly Article 33. Item Whether any Priest or Ecclesiastical Person have reiterated or renewed Baptism which was lawfully done before or invented or followed any new Fashion or Forms contrary to the Order of the Catholick Church Article 34. Item Whether the Parson Vicar or Curat do according to the Law every quarter in the Year upon one solemn Day or more that is to wit upon the Sunday or Solemn Feast when the Parishioners by the Order of the Church do come together expound and declare by himself or some other sufficient Person unto the People in the Vulgar or Common Tongue plainly truly and fruitfully the Articles of the Catholick Faith the Ten Commandments expressed in the Old Law the Two Commandments of the Gospel or New Law that is of earnest Love to God and to our Neighbour the seven Works of Mercy the seven deadly Sins with their Off-spring Progeny and Issue the seven principal Vertues and the seven Sacraments of the Church Article 35. Item Whether that every Priest having Cure do admonish the Women that are with Child within his Cure to come to Confession and to receive the Sacrament especially when their time draweth nigh and to have Water in readiness to christen the Child if necessity so require it Article 36. Item Whether Stipendiary Priests do behave themselves discreetly and honestly in all Points towards their Parson or Vicar giving an Oath and doing according to the Law and Ecclesiastical Constitutions Ordinances and laudable Customs in that behalf Article 37. Item Whether any Parson Vicar or other having any Ecclesiastical Promotion have made any alienation of any thing pertaining to their Church Benefice or Promotion what it is and what warrant they had so to do Number 16. An Address made by the Lower House of Convocation to the Upper House Ex MS. Col. Cor. C. Cant. RIght Reverend Fathers in God We the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury of the Lower House do most humbly pray your good Lordships That toughing the Submission and Order of the Lands and Possessions which sometimes did appertain to divers Bishops Cathedral Churches and to the late suppressed Monasteries Priories Colleges Chauntries and free Chappels and other Churches within this Realm and be now
in the possession of the Temporality that it may please your good Lordships by your discreet Wisdoms to foresee and provide that by this our Grant nothing pass which may be prejudicial or hurtful to any Bishop or other Ecclesiastical Person or their Successors for or concerning any Action Right Title or Interest which by the Laws of this Realm are already grown or may hereafter grow or rise to them or any of them and their Successors for any Lands Tenements Pensions Portions Tithes Rents Reversions Service or other Hereditaments which sometime appertained to the said Bishops or other Ecclesiastical Persons in the Right of their Churches or otherwise but that the same Right Title and Interest be safe and reserved to them and every of them and their Successors according to the said Laws And further whereas in the Statute passed in the first Year of Edward the Sixth for the suppressing of all Colleges c. Proviso was made by the said Statute in respect of the same Surrender that Schools and Hospitals should have been erected and founded in divers parts of this Realm for the good education of Youth in Vertue and Learning and the better sustentation of the Poor and that other Works beneficial for the Common-Weal should have been executed which hitherto be not performed according to the meaning of the said Statute it may please your good Lordships to move the King 's and the Queen 's most Royal Majesty and the Lord Cardinal to have some special consideration for the due performance of the Premises and that as well the same may the rather come to pass as the Church of England which heretofore hath been hononourably endowed with Lands and Possessions may have some recovery of so notable Damages and Losses which she hath sustained It may please their Highness with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same to repeal make frustrate and void the Statute of Mortmayn made in the seventh Year of Edward the First otherwise intituled de Religiosis and the Statute concerning the same made the 15th Year of King Richard the Second And all and every other Statute and Statutes at any time heretofore made concerning the same And forasmuch as Tythes and Oblations have been at all times assigned and appointed for the sustentation of Ecclesiastical Ministers and in consideration of the same their Ministry and Office which as yet cannot be executed by any Lay Person so it is not meet that any of them should perceive possess or enjoy the same That all Impropriations now being in the hands of any Lay Person or Persons and Impropriations made to any secular use other than for the maintenance of Ecclesiastical Ministers Universities and Schools may be by like Authority of Parliament dissolved and the Churches reduced to such State as they were in before the same Impropriations were made And in this behalf we shall most humbly pray your good Lordships to have in special Consideration how lately the Lands and Possessions of Prebends in certain Cathedral Churches within this Realm have been taken away from the same Prebends to the use of certain private Persons and in the lieu thereof Benefices of notable value impropriated to the Cathedral Churches in which the said Prebends were founded to the no little decay of the said Cathedral Churches and Benefices and the Hospitality kept in the same Farther Right Reverend Fathers we perceiving the godly forwardness in your good Lordships in the restitution of this noble Church of England to the pristine State and Unity of Christ's Church which now of late Years have been grievously infected with Heresies perverse and schismatical Doctrine sown abroad in this Realm by evil Preachers to the great loss and danger of many Souls accounting our selves to be called hither by your Lordships out of all parts of the Province of Canterbury to treat with your Lordships concerning as well the same as of other things touching the State and Quietness of the same Church in Doctrine and in Manners have for the furtherance of your godly doing therein devised these Articles following to be further considered and enlarged as to your Lordships Wisdoms shall be thought expedient Wherein as you do earnestly think many things meet and necessary to be reform'd so we doubt not but your Lordships having respect to God's Glory and the good Reformation of things amiss will no less travel to bring the same to pass And we for our part shall be at all times ready to do every thing as by your Lordships Wisdoms shall be thought expedient 1. We design to be resolved Whether that all such as have preach'd in any part within this Realm or other the King and Queen's Dominions any Heretical Erroneous or Seditious Doctrine shall be called before the Ordinaries of such Places where they now dwell or be Benefic'd and upon examination to be driven to recant openly such their Doctrine in all Places where they have preach d the same And otherwise Whether any Order shall be made and Process to be made herein against them according to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church in such Case used 2. That the pestilent Book of Thomas Cranmer late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury made against the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and the Schismatical Book called The Communion Book and the Book of Ordering of Ecclesiastical Ministers all suspect Translations of the Old and New Testament the Authors whereof are recited in a Statute made the Year of King Henry the Eighth and all other Books as well in Latin as in English concerning any Heretical Erroneous or Slanderous Doctrine may be destroyed and burnt throughout this Realm And that publick Commandment be given in all Places to every Man having any such Books to bring in the same to the Ordinary by a certain day or otherwise to be taken and reputed as a favourer of such Doctrine And that it may be lawful to every Bishop and other Ordinary to make enquiry and due search from time to time for the said Books and to take them from the Owners and Possessors of them for the purpose abovesaid 3. And for the better repress of all such pestilent Books That Order may be taken with all speed that no such Books may be printed uttered or sold within this Realm or brought from beyond the Seas or other parts into the same upon grievous pains to all such as shall presume to attempt the contrary 4. And that the Bishops and other Ordinaries may with better speed root up all such pernicious Doctrine and the Authors thereof We desire that the Statutes made Anno quinto of Richard the Second Anno secundo of Henry the Fourth and Anno secundo of Henry the Fifth against Hereticks Lollards and false Preachers may be by your Industrious Suit reviv'd and put in force as shall be thought convenient And generally that all Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Ordinaries may be restored to their Pristine
also labour to set forwards the Matter the best We may So doubt We not but if this Our good Purpose take effect both He and We and the rest of all Christendom shall have good cause to give God thanks and rejoice thereat Assuring him that if We had in our Conscience thought any other Person more fit for than Place that our said dearest Cousin We would not for any private Affection have preferred his Advancement before God's Glory and the Benefit of Christendom the furtherance whereof is We take God to Record the only thing We seek herein which moveth Us to be the more earnest in this Matter The overture whereof We have taken in hand as you may assure them on our Honour without Our said dearest Cousin's knowledg or consent And because We need not to remember the Wisdom Sincerity of Life and other godly Parts wherewith Almighty God hath endowed our said dearest Cousin the same being well enough known to Our said good Brother and his said Commissioners and the rest of the World We do refer the manner of the opening and handling of the rest of the Matter unto your own Wisdoms praying you We may understand from you as soon as ye may what answer ye shall have received herein at the said Commissioners hands Given under Our Signet at Our Honour of Hampton-Court the 30th of May the first and second Years of Our Reigns Number 19. An Order prescribed by the King and Queens Majesties unto the Justices of Peace of the County of Norfolk for the good Government of their Majesties loving Subjects within the same Shire March 26. 1555. An Original Philip R. Mary the Queen FIrst The said Justices of the Peace assembling themselves together Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. and consulting by what good Means good Order and Quietness may be best continued shall after divide themselves into eight ten or twelve parts more or less as to their discretions having regard to the quantity of the Shire and number of themselves shall seem most convenient endeavouring themselves besides their general care that every particular number may give diligent heed within their Limits appointed to them for conservation of Quietness and good Order Item The said Justices of the Peace shall not only be aiding and assisting unto such Preachers as be and shall be sent unto the said County but shall also be themselves present at Sermons and use the Preachers reverently travelling soberly with such as by abstaining from coming to the Church or by any other open doings shall appear not persuaded to conform themselves and to use such as be wilful and obstinate more roundly either by rebuking them or binding them to good bearing or committing them to Prison as the Quality of the Persons and Circumstance of their Doings may seem to deserve Item Amongst all other things they must lay special weight upon those which be Preachers and Teachers of Heresy or Procurers of secret Meetings for that purpose Item The said Justices of Peace and every of them must by themselves their Wives Children and Servants shew good example and if they shall have any of their own Servants faulty they must first begin to reform them Item The said Justices of the Peace and every of them shall as much as in them lieth procure to search out all such as shall by any means spread false Tales or seditious Rumours causing them when they shall be known to be further apprehended and punished according to the Laws Item They shall procure to have in every Parish or part of the Shire as near as may be some one or more honest Men secretly instructed to give information of the behaviour of the Inhabitants amongst or about them Item They shall charge the Constables and four or more of the most Honest and Catholick of every Parish with the order of the same Parish unto whom idle Men Vagabonds and such as may be probably suspected shall be bound to give a reckoning how they live and where they shall be come from time to time Item They shall have earnest regard to the execution and keeping of the Statutes against rebellious Vagabonds and Reteinours Ale-houses and for keeping of the Statute of Huy-and-Cry and shall give order for keeping of good and substantial Watches in places convenient the same to begin the 20th day of April next Item As soon as any Offenders for Murder Felony or other Offences shall be taken the said Justices of the Peace shall cause the matter to be forthwith examined and ordered as to Justice shall appertain according to the Tenour of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer addressed presently unto them for that purpose Finally The said Justices of Peace shall meet and consult together at the Sessions every month and more-often as occasion may require conferring among themselves upon the state of all particular parts of the Shire and taking such order for all Misorders as to their Wisdoms may seem requisite Number 20. A Letter written by the King and Queen requiring the Bishop of London to go on in the prosecution of the Hereticks Philip R. Mary the Queen RIght Reverend Father in God right trusty and well-beloved Regist Bonn. Fol. 363. We greet you well And where of late We addressed our Letters unto the Justices of the Peace within every of the Counties of this our Realm whereby amongst other Instructions given therein for the good Order and quiet Government of the Country about therein they are willed to have a special regard unto such disordered Persons as forgetting their Duties towards Almighty God and Us do lean to any Erroneous and Heretical Opinions to shew themselves conformable to the Catholick Religion of Christ's Church whom if they cannot by good admonition and fair means reform they are willed to deliver unto the Ordinary to be by him charitably travelled withal and removed if it may be from their naughty Opinions or else if they continue obstinate to be ordered according to the Laws provided in that behalf Understanding now to our no little marvel that divers of the said disordered Persons being by the Justices of the Peace for their contempt and obstinacy brought to the Ordinaries to be used as is aforesaid are either refused to be received at their hands or if they be received are neither so travelled with as Christian Charity requireth nor yet proceeded withal according to the Order of Justice but are suffered to continue in their Errors to the dishonour of Almighty God and dangerous example of others Like-as We find this Matter very strange so have We thought convenient both to signify this Our knowledg and therewith also to admonish you to have in this behalf such regard henceforth to the Office of a good Pastor and Bishop as when any such Offenders shall be by the said Justices of Peace brought unto you ye do use your good wisdom and discretion in procuring to remove them from their Errors if it may be or else in proceeding against them
if they shall continue obstinate according to the order of the Laws so as through your good furtherance both God's Glory may be the better advanced and the Common-Wealth the more quietly governed Given under Our Signet at Our Honour of Hampton-Court the 24th of May in the first and second Years of Our Reigns Number 21. Sir T. More 's Letter to Cromwell concerning the Nun of Kent Right Worshipful Ex MSS. Norfolcianis in Col. Gresham AFter my most hearty recommendation with like thanks for your Goodness in accepting of my rude long Letter I perceive that of your further goodness and favour towards me it liked your Mastership to break with my Son Roper of that that I had had communication not only with divers that were of Acquaintance with the lewd Nun of Canterbury but also with her self and had over that by my writing declaring favour towards her given her advice and counsel of which my demeanour that it liketh you to be content to take the labour and the pain to hear by mine own writing the truth I very heartily thank you and reckon my self therein right deeply beholden to you It is I suppose about eight or nine Years ago sith I heard of that Housewife first at which time the Bishop of Canterbury that then was God assoil his Soul sent unto the King's Grace a roll of Paper in which were written certain words of hers that she had as report was then made at sundry times spoken in her Trances whereupon it pleased the King's Grace to deliver me the Roll commanding me to look thereon and afterwards shew him what I thought therein Whereunto at another time when his Highness asked me I told him That in good faith I found nothing in these words that I could any thing regard or esteem for seeing that some part fell in Rithm and that God wots full rude also for any reason God wots that I saw therein a right simple Woman might in my mind speak it of her own wit well enough Howbeit I said that because it was constantly reported for a truth that God wrought in her and that a Miracle was shewed upon her I durst not nor would not be bold in judging the Matter And the King's Grace as me thought esteemed the Matter as light as it after proved lewd From that time till about Christmass was twelve-month albeit that continually there was much talking of her and of her Holiness yet never heard I any talk rehearsed either of Revelation of hers or Miracle saving that I heard say divers times in my Lord Cardinal's days that she had been both with his Lordship and with the King's Grace but what she said either to the one or to the other upon my Faith I had never heard any one word Now as I was about to tell you about Christmass was twelve-month Father Risby Friar Observant then of Canterbury lodged one night at mine House where after Supper a little before he went to his Chamber he fell in communication with me of the Nun giving her high commendation of Holiness and that it was wonderful to see and understand the Works that God wrought in her which thing I answered That I was very glad to hear it and thanked God thereof Then he told me that she had been with my Lord Legate in his Life and with the King's Grace too and that she had told my Lord Legat a Revelation of hers of three Swords that God hath put in my Lord Legat's hand which if he ordered not well God would lay it sore to his Charge The first he said was the ordering the Spirituality under the Pope as Legat. The second The Rule that he bore in order of the Temporality under the King as his Chancellor And the third she said was the medling he was put in trust with by the King concerning the great matter of his Marriage And therewithal I said unto him That any Revelation of the King's Matters I would not hear of I doubt not but the goodness of God should direct his Highness with his Grace and Wisdom that the thing should take such end as God should be pleased with to the King's Honour and Surety of the Realm When he heard me say these words or the like he said unto me That God had specially commanded her to pray for the King and forthwith he brake again into her Revelations concerning the Cardinal that his Soul was saved by her Mediation and without any other Communication went unto his Chamber And he and I never talked any more of any such manner of matter nor since his departing on the Morrow I never saw him after to my remembrance till I saw him at Paul's Cross After this about Shrovetide there came unto me a little before Supper Father Rich Friar Observant of Richmond and as we fell in talking I asked him of Father Risby how he did And upon that occasion he asked me Whether Father Risby had any thing shewed me of the Holy Nun of Kent and I said Yea and that I was very glad to hear of her Vertue I would not quoth he tell you again that you have heard of him already but I have heard and known many great Graces that God hath wrought in her and in other Folk by her which I would gladly tell you if I thought you had not heard them already And therewith he asked me Whether Father Risby had told me any thing of her being with my Lord Cardinal and I said Yea Then he told you quoth he of the three Swords Yea verily quoth I. Did he tell you quoth he of the Revelations that she had concerning the King's Grace Nay forsooth quoth I nor if he would have done I would not have given him the hearing nor verily no more I would indeed for sith she hath been with the King's Grace her self and told him me-thought it a thing needless to tell me or to any Man else And when Father Rich perceived that I would not hear her Revelations concerning the King's Grace he talked on a little of her Vertue and let her Revelations alone and therewith my Supper was set upon the Board where I required him to sit with me but he would in no wise tarry but departed to London After that night I talked with him twice once in mine own House another time in his own Garden at the Friars at every time a great space but not of any Revelations touching the King's Grace but only of other mean Folk I knew not whom of which things some were very strange and some were very childish But albeit that he said He had seen her lie in her Trance in great pains and that he had at other times taken great spiritual comfort in her Communication yet did he never tell me that she had told him those Tales her self for if he had I would for the Tale of Mary Magdalen which he told me and for the Tale of the Hostie with which as I have heard she
or any of them shall be found as well in Printers Houses and Shops as elsewhere willing you and every of you to search for the same in all Places according to your discretions And also to enquire hear and determine all and singular Enormities Disturbances Misbehaviours Misdemeanours and Negligences done suffered or committed in any Church Chappel or other hallowed Place within this Realm And also for and concerning the taking away or the with-holding of any Lands Tenements Goods and Ornaments Stocks of Mony or other things belonging to any of the same Churches and Chappels and all Accompts and Reckonings concerning the same And also to enquire and search out all such Persons as obstinately do refuse to preach the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar to hear Mass or come to their Parish or other convenient Places appointed for Divine Service and all such as refuse to go in Processions to take Holy Water or Holy Bread or otherwise do misuse themselves in any Church or other Hallowed Place wheresoever any of the same Offences have been or hereafter shall be committed within this Our said Realm Nevertheless Our Will and Pleasure is That when and as often as any Person or Persons hereafter to be called or convented before you do obstinately persist or stand in any manner of Heresy or heretical Opinions that then ye or three of you do immediately take order that the same Person or Persons so standing or persisting be delivered and committed to his Ordinary there to be used according to the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Laws And also We give unto you or three of you full Power and Authority to enquire and search out all Vagabonds and Masterless Men Barretors Quarrellers and suspect Persons Vagrant or abiding within the City of London or ten miles compass of the same and all Assaults and Affrays done and committed within the same City and Compass And further to search out all Wastes Decays and Ruines of Churches Chancels Chappels Parsonages and Vicarages in whatsoever Diocess the same be within this Realm Giving to you or any three of you full Power and Authority by virtue hereof to hear and determine the same and all other Offences and Matters above specified and rehearsed according to your Wisdoms and Consciences and Discretions willing and commanding you or three of you from time to time to use and devise all such politic ways and means for the trial and searching out of the Premises as by you or three of you shall be thought most expedient and necessary and upon enquiry and due proof had known perceived and tried out by the Confession of the Parties or by sufficient Witnesses before you or three of you concerning the Premises or any part thereof or by any other ways or means requisite to give and award such punishment to the Offenders by Fine Imprisonment or otherwise and to take such order for redress and reformation of the Premises as to your Wisdoms or three of you shall be thought meet and convenient Further willing and commanding you and any three of you in case you shall find any Person or Persons obstinate or disobedient either in their appearance before you or three of you at your calling or assignment or else in not accomplishing or not obeying your Decrees Orders and Commandments in any thing or things touching the Premises or any part thereof to commit the same Person or Persons so offending to Ward there to remain till they be by you or three of you enlarged and delivered And We give to you and any three of you full Power and Authority by these Presents to take and receive by your Discretions of every Offender or suspect Person to be convented or brought before you a Recognizance or Recognizances Obligation or Obligations to Our use of such Sum or Sums of Mony as to you or three of you shall seem convenient as well for the personal appearance before you of any such suspect Person or for the performance and accomplishment of your Orders and Decrees in case you shall think so convenient as for the sure and true paiment of all and every such Fine and Fines as shall hereafter be by you or three of you taxed or assessed upon any Offender that shall be before you or three of you duly convinced as is aforesaid to Our use to be paid at such days and times as by you or three of you shall be sealed limited or appointed And you to certifie any such Recognizance or Obligation as being taken for any Fine or Fines not fully and wholly paid before you under your Hands and Seals or the Hands and Seals of three of you into Our Court of Chancery to the intent We may be thereof duy answered as appertaineth And furthermore We give to you or three of you full Power and Authority by these Presents not only to call afore you all and every Offender and Offenders and all and every suspect Person and Persons in any of the Premises but also all such and so many Witnesses as ye shall think meet to be called and them and every of them to examine and compel to Answer and Swear upon the Holy Evangelist to declare the Truth in all such things whereof they or any of them shall be examined for the better trial opening and declaration of the Premises or of any part thereof And furthermore Our Will and Pleasure is that you or three of you shall name and appoint one sufficient Person to gather up and receive all such Sums of Mony as shall be assessed or taxed by you or three of you for any Fine or Fines upon any Person or Persons for their Offence and you or three of you by Bill or Bills signed with your Hands shall and may assign and appoint as well to the said Person for his pains in receiving the said Sums as also to your Clark Messengers and Attendants upon you for their travel pains and charge to be sustained for Us about the Premises or any part thereof such sum and sums of Mony for their Rewards as by you or three of you shall be thought expedient Willing and commanding you or three of you after the time of this Our Commission is expired to certify into our Exchequer as well the Name of the said Receiver as also a note of such Fines as shall be set or taxed before you to the intent that upon the determination of the account of the same Receiver We may be answered that that to Us shall justly appertain Willing and Commanding also all Our Auditors and other Officers upon the sight of the said Bills signed with the Hands of you or three of you to make to the said Receiver due allowance according to the said Bills upon his account Wherefore We Will and Command you our said Commissioners with diligence to execute the Premises with effect any of Our Laws Statutes Proclamations or other Grants Priviledges or Ordinance which be or may seem to be contrary to the Premises notwithstanding And
kill the Queen for which he justly suffered Of this I find nothing on Record so it must depend on our Author's Credit which is not infallible 75. He says The Imposture of Elizabeth Crofts Ibid. was set up by the Persuasion of many of the Hereticks and when it was discovered she confessed she had been set on to it by others and by one Drake in particular but they all fled In the Account that was then published of that Imposture Drake only is accused for it what he was does not appear to me for I have never found him mentioned but on this Occasion so there was no reason to transfer the private Guilt of this Conspiracy on a whole Party as our Author does though upon his Credit one of our Writers has also done it 76. He says Those in whose hands the Church-Lands were Pag. 243. had great apprehensions of their being forced to restore them because the Queen had restored all the Land that were in her hands and had again converted the Collegiat Church of Westminster into an Abbey But to prevent the ill Effects that might have followed on this the Cardinal did in the Pope's Name absolve them from all Censures for possessing those Lands and that was confirmed by Letters sent over from the Pope He observes the order of Time very exactly when he sets the Queen's restoring the Church-Lands and founding the Abbey of Westminster as the occasions of the Fears the Laity were in of being forced to restore the rest of the Church-Lands and of the Cardinal 's absolving them from all Censures for keeping them still in their hands The Order in which this was done was thus In Novemb. 1554 in the Act of Reconciliation with the See of Rome there was a special Proviso made for the Church-Lands which the Cardinal confirmed in the Pope's Name In the Year after that the Queen gave up into the Cardinal Hands all the Church-Lands that belonged to the Crown and two Years after she founded the Abbey of Westminster so little influence had these things on the other that were done before But he was grosly mistaken when he said the Pope approved All for he in plain terms refused to ratify what the Cardinal had done and soon after set out a severe Bull Cursing and Condemning all that held any Church-Lands 77. He says Pag. 244. All the Bishops being sensible of their Schismatical way of entring into their Sees did desire and obtain a Confirmation from the Pope Kitchin Bishop of Landaff only excepted who afterwards relapsed into Heresy under Queen Elizabeth and says it is likely the want of this Confirmation made him be more easily overcome This our Author wrote being a thing very probable and seldom do his Authorities for what he asserts rise higher It was also a pretty strain of his Wit to make the omitting of it fall singly on the only Bishop that conformed under Queen Elizabeth But it is certain there was no such thing done at all for if any had done it Bonner was as likely as any other since as none had been more faulty in King Henry's Time so none studied to redeem that with more servile compliances than he did yet there is nothing of this recorded in his Register which continues entire to this day Pag. 246. 78. He says The State of the Universities was restored to what it had been and Oxford in particular by Petrus a Soto's means who was in the Opinion of all much preferred to P. Martyr He that gathered the Antiquities of Oxford though no partial Writer on this occasion represents the state of that University very differently that there were almost no Divines in it and scarce any publick Lectures But when Sanders writ his Poem the Spanish Councils were so much depended on by him and his Party that it was fit to put that Complement on the Nation concerning Petrus a Soto Whether it was true or false was a Circumstance which he generously overlook'd for most part Pag. 248. 79. He says Queen Elizabeth had done many things in Queen Mary's Time both against her Person and Government He knew this was so false that there was never a Circumstance or a Presumption brought against her but the Information which Wiat gave hoping thereby to save himself and yet he denied that on the Scaffold If there had been any colour to have justified the taking away her Life both the Queen and her Counsellors were as much enclined to it as our Author himself was Ibid. 80. He says King Henry said in Parliament she was not and could not be his Daughter for a secret Reason which he had revealed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This was aptly enough said by a Writer that had emancipated himself from the Laws of Truth and Veracity to appeal to such a Story yet to have made it pass the better he should have named other Circumstances for such a thing cannot be easily believed since after Ann Boleyn's Death the King continued to treat Elizabeth still as his Daughter so that when she writ to his next Queen she subscribed Daughter she was in all things educated with the Care and State that became a King's Child and was both by Act of Parliament and by his Will declared to be so Now to think that such a King would have done all this after he had in Parliament declared that she could not be his Child is a little too coarse to be believed and so should have been supported with more than ordinary Proofs Ibid. 81. He says She came to the Crown meerly by virtue of the Act of Parliament without being Legitimated In this she and her Sister were upon the same Level for neither of them were declared Legitimate so this was not to be objected to the one more than to the other Sister Pag. 249. 82. He says Queen Mary being declared by Act of Parliament in the beginning of her Reign Legitimate and her Mothers Marriage being declared good Elizabeth was thereby of new Illegitimated yet she never repealed the Laws against her Title but kept the Crown meerly upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament without having any regard to her Birth Queen Mary came to the Crown being in the same Condition and was either a lawful Queen before that Act was made or else that Act was of no force if it had not the Royal Assent given by a lawful Queen So Queen Elizabeth was as much Queen before any such Act could have passed as afterwards and therefore since it was not necessary for the securing her Title it was a sign of her tenderness of her Father's Memory to which Queen Mary had no regard not to revive the remembrance of things that must have turned so much to his dishonour as that would have done 83. He says Pag. 250. Queen Mary not being able to prevent her Sisters Succession sent a Message to her on her Death-Bed desiring her to pay her Debts and
of a Communion In these it may be easily imagined he did every thing with a very lively sorrow since as he had loved the King beyond expression so he could not but look on his Funeral as the Burial of the Reformation and in particular as a step to his own On the 12th of August The Queen declares she will force no Man's Conscience the Queen made an open declaration in Council that although her Conscience was staied in the Matters of Religion yet she was resolved not to compel or strain others otherwise than as God should put into their Hearts a persuasion of that Truth she was in and this she hoped should be done by the opening His Word to them by godly vertuous and learned Preachers Now all the deprived Bishops looked to be quickly placed in their Sees again Bonner went to St. Pauls on the 13th of August being Sunday where Bourn that was his Chaplain preached before him He spake honourably of Bonner with sharp Reflections on the Proceedings against him in the Time of King Edward This did much provoke the whole Audience who as they hated Bonner so could not hear any thing said that seemed to detract from that King A Tumult at Pauls Cross Hereupon there was a great Tumult in the Church some called to pull him down others flung Stones and one threw a Dagger towards the Pulpit with that force that it stuck fast in the timber of it Bourn by stooping saved himself from that danger and Rogers and Bradford two eminent Preachers and of great credit with the People stood up and gently quieted the heat and they to deliver Bourn out of their hands conveyed him from the Pulpit to a House near the Church This was such an Accident as the Papists would have desired for it gave them a colour to proceed more severely and to prohibit Preaching which was the first step they intended to make There was a Message sent to the Lord Mayor to give a strict charge that every Citizen should take care of all that belonged to him and see that they went to their own Parish Church and kept the Peace as also to acquaint them with what the Queen had declared in Council on the 13th of August And on the 18th there was published an Inhibition in the Queen's Name to this effect That she An Inhibition of all preaching considering the great Danger that had come to the Realm by the Differences in Religion did delare for her self that she was of that Religion that she had professed from her Infancy and that she would maintain it during her time and be glad that all her Subjects would charitably receive it Yet she did not intend to compel any of her Subjects to it till publick Order should be taken in it by common Assent requiring all in the mean while not to move Sedition or Unquietness till such Order should be setled and not to use the Names of Papist or Heretick but to live together in Love and in the Fear of God but if any made Assemblies of the People she would take care they should be severely punished and she straitly charged them that none should preach or expound Scripture or print any Books or Plays without her special License And required her Subjects that none of them should presume to punish any on pretence of the late Rebellion but as they should be authorised by her Yet she did not thereby restrain any from informing against such Offenders She would be most sorry to have cause to execute the severity of the Law but she was resolved not to suffer such Rebellious Doings to go unpunished but hoped her Subjects would not drive her to the extream execution of the Laws When this was published which was the first thing that was set out in her Name since she had come to the Crown it was much descanted on Censures pâ—st upon it The Profession she made of her Religion to be the same it had been from her Infancy shewed it was not her Father's Religion but entire Popery that she intended to restore It was also observed that whereas before she had said plainly she would compel none to be of it now that was qualified with this till publick Order should be taken in it which was till they could so frame a Parliament that it should concur with the Queen's Design The equal forbidding of Assemblies or ill Names on both sides was thought intended to be a Trap for the Reformed that they should be punished if they offended but the others were sure to be rather encouraged The restraint of preaching without License was pretended to be copied from what had been done in King Edward's Time Yet then there was a Liberty left for a long time to all to Preach in their own Churches only they might preach no where else without a License And the power of Licensing was also lodged at first with the Bishops in their several Diocesses and at last with the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as well as with the King whereas now at one stroke all the Pulpits of England that were in the hands of the Reformed were brought under an Interdict for they were sure to obtain no Licenses But the cunningest part of these Inhibitions was the declaring that the Queen would proceed with rigour against all that were guilty of the late Rebellion if they should provoke her many about London had some way or other expressed themselves for it and these were the hottest among the Reformed So that here was a sharp threatning hanging over them if they should express any more Zeal about Religion She requites the Service of the Men of Suffolk ill When this was put out the Queen understanding that in Suffolk those of that Profession took a little more liberty than their Neighbours presuming on their great Merit and the Queen's Promises to them there was a special Letter sent to the Bishop of Norwich's Vicar himself being at Brussels to see to the execution of these Injunctions against any that should preach without License Upon this some came from Suffolk to put the Queen in mind of her Promise This was thought insolent and she returned them no other answer But that they being Members thought to rule her that was their Head but they should learn that the Members ought to obey the Head and not to think to bear Rule over it One of these had spoken of her Promise with more confidence than the rest his Name was Dobbe so he was ordered to stand three days in the Pillory as having said that which tended to the defamation of the Queen And from hence all saw what a severe Government they were to come under in which the claiming of former Promises that had been made by the Queen when she needed their Assistance was to be accounted a Crime But there was yet a more unreasonable Severity shewed to Bradford and Rogers who had appeased the Tumult the Sunday before and rescued the
made of the Boullonois who were fully payed for all past and a month to come Sir John VVallop Francis Hall and Doctor Coke were appointed Commissioners to appoint the Limits between Me and the French King 23. Removing to VVindsor 22. The Secretary Petre and the Lord Chancellour were appointed to go to the Lady Mary to cause her to come to Oking or to the Court. 25. It was appointed that half the French King's Paiment should be bestowed on paying 10000 l. at Calais 9000 l. in Ireland 10000 l. in the North 2000 l. in the Admiralty so that every Crown might go for one of our Nobles 27. Because the Rumour came so much of Scipperus coming it was appointed that they of the Admiralty should set my Ships in readiness 26. The Duke of Somerset went to set Order in Oxfordshire Sussex Wiltshire and Hampshire 28. The Lady Mary after long communication was content to come to Leez to my Lord Chancellour and then to Hunsden but she utterly denied to come to the Court or Oking at that time 31. The Earl of Southampton died 14. Andrew Dory took the City of in Africa from the Pirat Dragutte who in the mean season burnt the Country of Genoa 8. The Emperour came to Ausburg August 4. Mr. St. Legier was appointed by Letters Patents to be Deputy there and had his Commission Instructions and Letters to the Nobles of Ireland for the same purpose 5. The same Deputy departed from the Castle of Windsor 6. The Duke of Somerset departed to Redding to take an Order there 7. It was appointed that of the Mony delivered to Me by the French King there should be taken 100000 Crowns to pay 10000 l. at Calais 10000 in the North and 2000 in the Admiralty and 8000 in Ireland 8. Monsieur Henaudy took his leave to depart to Calais and so upon the Paiment to be delivered Home and Tremoville being sick went in a Horse-Litter to Dover 9. The French Ambassador came to VVindsor to sue for a Passport for the Dowager of Scotland which being granted so she came like a Friend he required 300 Horse to pass with 200 Keepers which was not wholly granted but only that 200 Horse with an 100 Keepers in one Company coming into this Realm as should be appointed should without let pass into France and not return this way 11. The Vicedam of Chartres shewed his Licence to tarry here with a Letter written to the same purpose 10. The Ambassadour of France departed not a little contented with his gentle Answers 12. Removing to Guilford 13. The Parliament was Prorogued to the 20th of February next following Mr. Cook Master of Requests and certain other Lawyers were appointed to make a short Table of the Laws and Acts that were not wholly unprofitable and present it to the Board The Lord Chancellor fell sore sick with forty more of his House so that the Lady Mary came not thither at that time 14. There came divers Advertisements from Chamberlain Ambassadour with the Queen of Hungary that their very Intent was to take away the Lady Mary and so to begin an Outward War and an Inward Conspiracy insomuch that the Queen said Scipperus was but a Coward and for fear of one Gentleman that came down durst not go forth with his Enterprise to my Lady Mary 16. The Earl of Maxwell came down to the North-Border with a good Power to overthrow the Gremes who were a certain Family that were yielded to Me but the Lord Dacre stood before his Face with a good Band of Men and so put him from his Purpose and the Gentlemen called Gremes skirmished with the said Earl slaying certain of his Men. 17. The Council appointed among themselves That none of them should speak in any Man's behalf for Land to be given Reversion of Offices Leases of Manours or extraordinary Annuities except for certain Captains who served at Bollein their Answer being deferred till Michaelmass next 18. A Proclamation that till Michaelmass all Strangers that sued for Pensions should go their way 20. Removing to Oking 15. The second Paiment of the French was paied and Henaudie and Tremoville delivered 21. 8000 l. of the last Payment was appointed to be payed to the Dispatch of Calais and 5000 at the North. 24. 10000 l. was appointed to be occupied to win Mony to pay the next Year pay the outward Pays and it was promised that the Mony should double every month 26. Removing to Oatlands 27. Andrea Doria gave a hot Assault to the Town of in Africa kept by the Pirat called Drogute but was repulsed by the Townsmen 29. The Pirat gave a hot Assault to Andrea Dorea by Night and slew the Captain of Thames with divers other notable Men. 31. The Duke Maurice made answer to the Emperour That if the Council were not free he would not come at it September 2. Maclamore in Ireland before a Rebel by the means of Mr. Baberson surrendred himself and gave Pledges 6. Mr. VVotton gave up his Secretaryship and Mr. Cecil got it of him 8. Removing from Nonsuch 13. Removing to Oatlands 22. A Proclamation was set forth by the which it was commanded 1. That no kind of Victual no Wax Tallow Candles nor no such thing should be carried over except to Calais putting in Sureties to go thither 2. That no Man should buy or sell the self-same things again except Broakers who should not have more than ten quarters of Grain at once 3. That all Justices should divide themselves into Hundreds Rapes and Wapentakes to look in their Quarters what superfluous Corn were in every Barn and appoint it to be sold at a reasonable price Also that one of them must be in every Market to see the Corn brought Furthermore whoever shipped over any Thing aforesaid to the Parts beyond Sea or Scotland after eight days following the publication of the Proclamation should forfeit his Ship and the Ware therein half to the Lord of the Franchize and half to the finder thereof whoso bought to sell again after the day aforesaid should forfeit all his Goods Farms and Leases to the use one half of the Finder the other of the King whoso brought not in Corn to Market as he was appointed should forfeit 10 l. except the Purveyours took it up or it were sold to his Neighbours 25. Letters sent out to the Justices of the Peace for the due execution thereof 18. Andrea Doria had a repulse from the Town of * Afrodisium in Africa and lost many of his Men and the Captain of Thames and nevertheless left not yet the Siege 24. Order was given for the Victualing of Calais 26. The Lord Willoughby Deputy of Calais departed and took his journey thitherward 28. The Lord Treasurer sent to London to give Order for the preservation of the City with help of the Mayor Whereas the Emperor required a Council they were content to receive it so it were free and ordinary requiring also that every Man might be restored to