yet certain there are which believe not that it pleased the King's Grace to license it to go forth Wherefore if your Lordship's Pleasure were such that we might have it Licensed under your Privy Seal it would be a Defence at this present and in time to come for all Enemies and Adversaries of the same And forasmuch as this Request is for the maintenance of the Lord's Word which is to maintain the Lord himself I fear not but that your Lordship will be earnest therein And I am assured that my Lord of Canterbury Worcester and Salisbury will give your Lordship such Thanks as in them lieth And sure ye may be that the Heavenly Lord will reward you for the Establishment of his Glorious Truth And what your Lordship's Pleasure is in this Request if it may please your Lordship to inform my Servant I and all that love God heartily are bound to pray for your Preservation all the days of our Life At London the xxviii day of this present Month of August 1537. Your Orator while he lâ—veth Richard Grafton Grocer And as this Printer had addressed to Crumwel for the Privy Seal so he apprehended now a further need of the Corroboration of Authority upon another Account For some observing how exceeding acceptable the English Bible was to the common People were designing to print it in a less Volume and smaller Letters whereby it would come to pass that Grafton would be undersold and so he and his Creditors would be undone and besides it was like to prove a very ill Edition and very Erroneous Insomuch that Grafton affirmed they would commit as many Faults as there were Sentences in the Bible And it must needs be so because then the Printers were generally Dutchmen within the Realm that could neither speak nor write true English nor for Covetousness-sake would they allow any Learned Men at all to oversee and correct what they printed as formerly it had been printed but Paper Letter Ink and Correction would be all naught Therefore he desired one Favour more of the Lord Crumwel and that was to obtain for him of the King that none should print the Bible for three Years but himself And to move him he said he was sure the Bishop of Canterbury and other his special Friends would not be unthankful to him He urged to him that his whole Living lay upon this Point And for the better and quicker sale of his Books he desired also that by his Commandment in the King's Name every Curate might be obliged to have one â—hat they might learn to know God and to instruct their Parishioners and that every Abby should have six to be laid in several places of the Convent He wished some Commissions might be issued out to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Sarum and Worcester and they would readily cause this to be done in their Diocesses To which he earnestly added his own Arguments to provoke Crumwel to yield to his request This Letter may be found in the Appendix CHAP. XVI Many Suffragan Bishops made IT was now forbidden by the Parliament and in pursuance thereof by the Bishops in their several Diocesses that the Feast of S. Thomas a Becket the pretended Martyr should be celebrated any more nor of S. Laurence nor of divers others the Feasts of the Twelve Apostles excepted and of our Lady S. Michael and Mary Magdalene Also the Feast of the Holy Cross was forbid and commanded that none should presume to keep those Feasts Holy that is they should ring no Bells nor adorn their Churches nor go in Procession nor do other such-like things as belonged to the Celebration of Festivals So when S. Thomas's Eve came which had used constantly by the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and their Domesticks to be celebrated by Fasting Arch-bishop Cranmer took no notice of that Eve but eat Flesh and supped in his Parlour with his Family Which created much Observation it having never been seen before the Arch-bishop thinking it unworthy that a Man of that Devotion to the See of Rome and disloyalty to his natural Prince should bâ— so religiously commemorated Bishops Diocesan Consecrated March the 25 th Robert Holgate Master of the Order of Sempringham was consecrated Bishop of Landaff in the Chappel of S. Mary in the Conventual Church of Friars Preachers of the City of London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop to him Iohn Bishop of Bangor and Nicolas Bishop of Sarum assisting This Holgate was either Abbot or Prior of S. Mary Watte an House of Gilbertines which he held in Commendam and surrendred in the Year 1539. Suffragan Bishops Iune the 24 th Iohn Bird S. Th. P. Provincial of the Order of Friars Carmelites of the City of London was consecrated Suffragan of the See of Penrith in Landaff Diocess And Lewis Thomas formerly Abbot of the Monastery of Kynmer Suffragan Bishop of the See of Salop both consecrated at Lambeth by the Arch-bishop The Assistant Bishops at this Consecration not mentioned in the Register Of Bird a word or two I find him in Norwich about the Year 1531. busy with Bilney before his Death He was a Person K. Henry made use of for in the Year 1535 he with Fox the Almoner and Bedel a Clark of the Council were sent to Q. Katharine divorsed from the King to forbear the Name of Queen Which nevertheless she would not do He preached certain Sermons before the King against the Pope's Supremacy Bale in his Exposition upon the Revelations makes him to be one of the Ten Horns that shall hate the Whore Godwin asserts of him that he was once Bishop of Ossory Bale in his Centuries mentions not at all his being an Irish Bishop but naming his Preferments first calls him Episcopus Penricensis In 1539 made Bishop of Bangor and removed to Chester 1541. He was married and therefore upon Q. Mary's access to the Crown was deprived of his Bishoprick but complied with the old Religion I find him alive in the Year 1555 being then at Fulham at Bishop Bonner's and there he lodged Upon his coming he brought his Present with him a Dish of Apples and a Bottle of Wine While he was here he exhorted Mr. Hawkes Convented for pretended Heresy before Bonner to learn of his Elders and to bear with some things and be taught by the Church and not to go too far In that Queen's Reign he became Bonner's Suffragan and Vicar of Dunmow in Essex November the 4 th Thomas Morley formerly Abbot of Stanley in Sarum Diocess of the Cistertian Order was consecrated in the Chappel of Lambeth Suffragan of the See of Marlborough by the Arch-bishop assisted by Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Iohn Bishop of Rochester December the first the Arch-bishop according to the Direction of the Act for Suffragan Bishops nominated to the King two Persons out of which he might elect a
their own Houses where they received Causes Complaints and Appeals and had learned Civilians living with them that were Auditors of the said Causes before the Arch-bishop gave Sentence pretending that he held it as the Pope's Legat Urging also the great Troubles and Inconveniences it caused both to the Clergy and the Laity and that every Man must by virtue of that Court be forced up to London from the farthest part of the Land for a slanderous Word or a Trifle And that they thought it convenient if it were the King's Pleasure to continue that Court that he would settle it upon some other and not upon the Arch-bishop that so it might appear the Original of that Court was from the King and not from the Pope And lastly that it would not be safe to constitute the Arch-bishop the Pope's Legat because it would infringe the Power of the Vicar-General This was drawn up in way of Petition and Complaint either to the King or Parliament by a Combination of some of the Convocation as I suspect the Paper being writ by the Hand of the Register of the Lower House of Convocation The great Wheel we may be sure that set a moving this Device was Winchester his never-failing Adversary The King notwithstanding bad the Arch-bishop maintain his Court. And he answered all their Pleas against it and by way of Protestation affirmed that he kept not his Court by virtue of his Bull from Rome for Legat and that none could suspect that he did And that he saw no Cause but that he might keep that Court by virtue of the late Act of Parliament that gave Power to enjoy all things that were before had from the See of Rome And finally he answered that it was the King's Will and Command that he should continue his Court. To which the Convocation or rather some part of it made a Reply that may be seen in the Appendix But notwithstanding these Discouragements which were thrown in probably to hinder his good Designs the Arch-bishop vigorously prosecuted a Reformation at this Convocation Where assisted by Crumwel the King's Vicar General he earnestly laboured for the redress of several Abuses and Errors in the English Church And that not without good Success at length For after much deliberation among the Clergy there assembled and much opposition too he got a Book of divers good Articles to that purpose to be agreed upon and subscribed An account of which by and by shall follow CHAP. XI Articles of Religion NOW though I do not find the King went so far as that it should be enjoined on all the Clergy to own the Articles of this Book by their own Hands subscribed yet he published and recommended them to all his loving Subjects in general to accept and repute them to be agreeable to God's Laws and proper for the establishment of Peace and Concord And further probably in prudence the King thought not fit yet to go considering the great Disputes and Arguments that had happened in the Convocation hereupon Now because this was one of the great Services our pious Prelate contributed to the Church and was one of the first Steps made in the Reformation of the Doctrine and Worship it will not be amiss here in order to the inlightning this History to set down the Heads of this Book though it be done by others before me And notwithstanding what the Noble Author of the History of Henry VIII saith he gathered by some Records that this Book was devised by the King himself and recommended afterwards to the Convocation by Crumwel yet we have reason to attribute a great share therein to the Arch-bishop They that are minded to see a Draught of these Articles from the Original with the Royal Assent prefixed to them may have it in Dr. Fuller's Church-History Which he tells us he transcribed out of the Acts of the Convocation The Bishop of Sarum also met with an Original of them in the Cotton Library wrote out fairly as it seems for the King 's own Use and subscribed with all the Hands of the Convocation thereunto He also hath inserted the Transcript of them in the first part of his History of the Reformation In the Rebellion in the North which happened this Year 1536 chiefly raised by Priests and Friars many Copies of these Articles for the Book was printed by Barthelet did Crumwel send by the King's Order to the Duke of Norfolk the King's Lieutenant there to disperse in those Parts together with the Original Copy it self as it was signed by the Hands of the Convocation amounting to the number of 116 Bishops Abbots Priors Arch-deacons and Proctors of the Clergy Which the said Duke had order to shew unto the Clergy and others as occasion served that they might understand it was a proper Act of the Church and no Innovation of the King and a few of his Counsellors as they gave out And after he had made his use of this Original he was required to reserve it safe for the King This choice Treasure which the King himself required such care to be taken of Sir Robert Cotton afterwards procured at his no small Expence no doubt It is very fairly written in Vellam and at the bottom of the first Page is written Robertus Cotton Bruceus by Sir Robert's own Hand signifying his Value of this Monument It is still extant in that incomparable Library in the Volume Cleopatra E. 5. And there I have seen it and diligently compared it Excuse this Digression and I now proceed to the Articles themselves These Articles were of two sorts some concerning Faith and some concerning Ceremonies The former sort were digested under these five Titles following I. The Principal Articles of Faith And they were these That all those things that be comprehended in the whole Body and Canon of the Bible and in the three Creeds are true and constantly to be believed That we take and hold the same for the most holy and infallible Words of God That the Articles of the Faith contained in the Creeds are necessary to be believed for Man's Salvation That the same words be kept in which the Articles of Faith are conceived That all Opinions contrary to the Articles and which were condemned in the four first Councils are to be utterly refused II. The Sacrament of Baptism That it was instituted and ordained by Iesus Christ as necessary to Everlasting Life That by it all as well Infants as such as have the use of Reason have Remission of Sins and the Grace and Favour of God offered them That Infants and Innocents must be Baptized because the Promise of Grace and Everlasting Life pertains as well to them as to those who have the use of Reason And that therefore Baptized Infants shall undoubtedly be saved That they are to be Baptized because of Original Sin which is remitted only by Baptism That they that are once Baptized must not be
was at a stand He was translated from this imaginary Bishoprick to be Bishop of Oxford in the Year 1541. One Iohn Hatton had the Title of Episcopus Negropont He was Suffragan under the Arch-bishop of York Iohn Thornden who was several times Commissiary of Oxon while Arch-bishop Warham was Chancellor of that University was stiled Episcopus Syrinensis And hereafter in the progress of this Book we shall meet with a Bishop of Hippolitanum who assisted Arch-bishop Cranmer at his Ordinations These were but Titulary Bishops and the use of them was to supply the Diocesans absence to consecrate Churches and Church-yards and to reconcile them to assist at Ordinations and confer Orders to confirm Children and the like Sometimes these Suffragans had no Titles at all to any place but were Bishops at large Such an one named Richard Martin is met with in an old Register at Canterbury who was Guardian of the Gray-Fryars there By his last Will made 1498 he gave a Library to the Church and Covent He was Parson of Ickham and Vicar of Lyd in Kent and writ himself in the said Will Bishop of the Vniversal Church By which the Antiquarian supposed nothing else was meant but that he was a Bishop in Name endued with Orders but not with Jurisdiction Episcopal having no particular Charge to intend but generally officiating as Bishop in any part of the Christian Church This I have writ that the Reader may not be put to a stand when he shall in these Commentaries meet with some of these Titular Bishops But proceed we now to the Bishops that were this Year Consecrated Diocesan Bishops April the 11 th Nicholas Shaxton was consecrated Bishop of Sarum in the King's Chappel of S. Stephen by our Arch-bishop Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Christopher Sidoniens assisting Septemb. the 15 th was the Act of Confirmation and Election of Edward Fox Elect of Hereford and of William Barlow Prior of the Priory of Canons Regular of Bisham of the Order of S. Augustin Sarum for the Bishoprick of S. Asaph The Consecration of these two last are not inserted in the Register March the 18 th the Act of Confirmation and Election of George Brown D. D. Provincial of the Order of Friars Augustin in the City of London for the Arch-bishoprick of Dublin Consecrated March the 19 th by the Arch-bishop at Lambeth Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting Of this last-mentioned Bishop I shall take some further notice having been the first Protestant Bishop in Ireland as Cranmer was in England a great furtherer of the Reformation in that Land being a stirring Man and of good Parts and Confidence He was first taken notice of by Crumwel Lord Privy Seal and by his sole means preferred to this Dignity in the Church of Ireland upon the observation that was taken of him when he was Provincial of the Augustin Order in England advising all People to make their Application only to Christ and not to Saints Whereby he was recommended unto K. Henry who much favoured him When the King's Supremacy was to be brought in and recognized in Ireland which was the same Year wherein he was made Arch-bishop he was appointed one of the King's Commissioners for the procuring the Nobility Gentry and Clergy to reject the Pope and to own the King for Supream Head of the Church In which Commission he acted with that diligence that it was to the hazard of his Life such opposition was made to it in that Realm At which time in an Assembly of the Clergy George Dowdal Arch-bishop of Ardmagh made a Speech to them and laid a Curse upon those whosoever they were that should own the King's Supremacy Within five Years after this this Arch-bishop Brown caused all Superstitious Relicks and Images to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches in his Diocess and ordered the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to be set up in Frames above the Altar in Christ's-Church Dublin In K. Edward VI. his Reign he received the English Common-Prayer-Book into that Realm upon the King's Proclamation for that purpose after much opposition by Dowdal And it was read in Christ's-Church Dublin on Easter Day 1551. He preached also a Sermon in Christ's-Church for having the Scripture in the Mother-Tongue and against Image-worship And for this his forwardness and conformity in Religion and the perverseness of the other Arch-bishop of Ardmagh who had violently resisted all good Proceedings the Title of Primacy was taken from him and conferred upon the Arch-bishop of Dublin And Dowdal was banished or as others say voluntarily left his Bishoprick And then Goodacre sent from England with Bale for the See of Ossory succeeded In Q. Mary's days Dowdal was restored and being a great Man in this Reign expulsed Archbishop Brown from his See for being a married Man Who two or three Years after was succeeded by Hugh Corwin a Complier in all Reigns and Brown soon after died Suffragan Bishops The first of these standing in the Register of the Arch-bishop was the Suffragan of the See of Ipswich The Bishop of Norwich according to the direction of the late Act wherein the Bishop was to nominate two for Suffragan to the King and the King was to name one of them to the Arch-bishop to receive Consecration humbly signified to the King that he was destitute of the Aid of a Suffragan and so prayed him to appoint either George Abbot of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Leyston or Thomas Mannyng Prior of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Butley to be his Suffragan without mentioning for what place And on the 7 th of March in the 27 th of his Reign he sent to the Arch-bishop to make the latter Suffragan of Gipwich Who was accordingly consecrated by the Arch-bishop and invested in insigniis Episcopalibus Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting The Date not specified but probably on the same Day with the Consecration following there being the same Assistants The said Bishop of Norwich sent to the King recommending to him to be Suffragan Thomas de Castleacre of the Cluniac Order and Iohn Salisbury Prior of S. Faiths of Horsham of the Order of S. Benet both Priors of Monasteries in Norwich Diocess The King sent to the Arch-bishop to consecrate Iohn the Prior of S. Faiths for Suffragan of Thetford Accordingly he consecrated him March the 19 th Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting CHAP. X. The Audience Court THE good Arch-bishop almost every Year met with new Opposition from the Popish Clergy The late Act for abolishing the Pope's Authority and some Acts before that for restraining of Applications to Rome served them now as a Colour to strike at one of the Arch-bishop's Courts viz. that of the Audience a Court which the Arch-bishops used to hold in
their Clients Causes It was urged also that it was a great discouragement to young Men in studying the Law when there is so little prospect of Benefit thereby Lastly That it was contrary to the Civil and Canon Law that permits any Man to be Proctor for another a few excepted But this Paper notably enough written may be read at large in the Appendix And so I leave the Reader to judg of the Expediency of this Order of the Arch-bishop by weighing the Arch-bishop's Reasons with these last mentioned Surely this his Act deserved commendation for his good Intentions thereby though some lesser Inconveniences attended which no doubt he had also well considered before he proceeded to do what he did When Queen Ann on May the 2 d was sent to the Tower by a sudden Jealousy of the King her Husband The next day the Arch-bishop extreamly troubled at it struck in with many good Words with the King on her behalf in form of a Letter of Consolation to him yet wisely making no Apology for her but acknowledging how divers of the Lords had told him of certain of her Faults which he said he was sorry to hear And concluded desiring that the King would however continue his Love to the Gospel lest it should be thought that it was for her sake only that he had favoured it Being in the Tower there arose up new Matter against Queen Ann namely concerning some lawful Impediment of her Marriage with the King and that was thought to be a Pre-Contract between her and the Earl of Northumberland Whereupon the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York were made Commissioners to examine this Matter And she being before the Arch-bishop of Canterbury confessed certain just true and lawful Impediments as the Act in the 26 of Hen. VIII expresseth it but not mentioning what they were So that by that Act the said Marriage is declared never to have been good nor consonant to the Laws Yet the Earl of Northumberland being examined upon Oath before both the Arch-bishops denied it Upon the Truth of which he received also the Blessed Sacrament And the Lord Herbert saw an Original Letter to Secretary Crumwel to the same import But her Confession of it so far prevailed with the King that he would be divorced from her and with our Arch-bishop that he performed it by due Order and Process of Law And an Act passed that the Marriage between the King and Queen Ann was null and void and the Issue illegitimate The Arch-bishop granted a Licence dated Iuly the 24 th with the full Consent of Richard Withipol Vicar of Walthamstow in Essex to George Monoux Alderman of London and Thomas his Son to have the Sacrament administred in his Chappel or Oratory in his House De Moones now a Farm near Higham-hill in the said Parish of VValthamstow Indulging therein to the Wife of the said Thomas to be purified or churched in the same Chappel I the rather mention this that it may serve to recal the Memory of that pious and charitable Citizen and Draper Sir Geo. Monoux who built the fair Steeple of that Parish-Church and allowed a Salary for ever for ringing the great Bell at a certain Hour in the Night and Morning the Winter half Year He built also the North Isle of the said Church in the Glass-windows whereof is yet remaining his Coat of Arms. In the Chancel his Body was interred under a fair Altar-Monument yet standing In the Church-yard he founded an Hospital and Free-School and very liberally endowed it though now the Endowments are sadly diminished He also made a Causeway over Walthamstow-Marsh to Lockbridg over the River Lee for the conveniency of Travellers from those Parts to London and left wherewith to continue and keep it in Repair but that also is lost and the Ruins now only to be seen But enough of that The Germans conceived great hope of good to befal the Church by Cranmer's Influence and Presidency in England and took their opportunities of addressing to him This Year Martin Bucer published a large Book in Folio upon the Epistle to the Romans intituled Metaphrasis Enâ—rratio and dedicated it in a long Epistle to the Arch-bishop Wherein are sundry Expressions which will shew how well known abroad the Arch-bishop was already among the Protestants and what an excellent Bishop they looked upon him to be and how fixed their Eyes were upon him for doing great things towards a Reformation in England For thus he writ in this Epistle Te omnes praedicant animo praeditum Archiepiscopo tanti sicque ad gloriam Christi comparati regni Primate digno c. That all Men proclaimed him endowed with a Mind worthy of an Arch-bishop and Primate of so great a Kingdom and so disposed to the Glory of Christ. That he had so attained to this high Estate in Christ by his spiritual Wisdom Holiness of Life and most ardent Zeal to render Christ's Glory more illustrious that gathering together the Humble and taking pity upon the Sheepfold being indeed dispersed and scattered abroad he always sought and saved that which was lost and brought back Christ's poor Sheep to his Fold and the Pastures of everlasting Life when they had been before most miserably harassed by the Servants of Superstition and the Emissaries of the Roman Tyranny And after speaking of the King 's rooting out the Usurpation of the Pope and his pretended Jurisdiction by taking to himself the Supremacy the said Learned Man excited Cranmer to a further Reformation by telling him How easy now it would be for him and the other Arch-bishops and Bishops who were endued with the Spirit and Zeal of Christ from the remainders of the Ecclesiastical Administration to retain what might contribute to the true edifying of Consciences the saving Instruction of Youth and to the just Discipline and Polity of the whole Christian People For when the Enemies were once removed out of the way there could not then happen among us any extraordinary great Concussion of Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline or any dashing one against another as among them in Germany of necessity came to pass striving so many Years for the Church of Christ against such obstinate Enemies The Consecrations this Year were these Diocesan Bishops Iune the 10 th Richard Sampson Doctor of Decrees and Dean of the King's Chappel was elected and confirmed Bishop of Chichester by Resignation of Robert Sherburn who was now very old No Consecration set down in the Register Iune William Rugg a Monk was consecrated Bishop of Norwich This is omitted also if I mistake not in the Register Probably he was consecrated with Sampson Iuly the 2 d Robert Warton Abbot of Bermondsey was consecrated Bishop of S. Asaph at Lambeth by the Arch-bishop Iohn Bishop of Bangor and William Bishop of Norwich assisting Suffragan Bishops Octob. 20. William More B. D. consecrated Suffragan of Colchester by Iohn Bishop of
Person openly in the Church after Mass upon a Holy-day say the Lord's Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments That they twice a Quarter declare the Bands of Matrimony and the danger of using their Bodies but with such Persons as they might by the Law of God and that no privy Contracts be made as they would avoid the extream Peril of the Laws of the Realm No Diocesan Bishop Consecrated this Year Bishops Suffragans Robert Bishop of S. Asaph recommended to the King Iohn Bradley Abbot of the Monastery of Milton of the order of S. Benedict or William Pelles both Batchellors of Divinity to the Dignity of Suffragan within the Diocess Province rather of Canterbury mentioning no particular See The Bishop of Bath and Wells also recommended two to the King out of which to nominate a Suffragan to some See within the Province of Canterbury viz. William Finch late Prior of Bremar and Richard Walshe Prior of the Hospital of S. Iohn Baptist of Bridgewater April the 7 th William Finch was nominated by the King to the Arch-bishop to be Consecrated for Suffragan of Taunton and then consecrated in the Chappel of S. Maries in the Conventual Church of the Friars Preachers London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and William Suffragan of Colchester assisting And March the 23. Iohn Bradley was consecrated Suffragan of Shaftsbury in the Chancel of the Parish-Church of S. Iohn Baptist in Southampton by Iohn Bishop of Bangor by the Letters Commissional of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Iohn Ipolitanen and Thomas Suffragan of Marleborough assisting CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles THIS Year October the 6 th I meet with a Commission ad Facultates granted from the Arch-bishop to a famous Man Nicolas Wotton LL. D. a Man of great Learning and made use of by the King afterwards in divers Embassies and a Privy-Counsellor to King Henry and his three Children successively Princes of the Realm and Dean of Canterbury and York This Commission was in pursuance of a late Act of Parliament to this Tenor That in whatsoever Cases not prohibited by Divine Right in which the Bishop of Rome or Roman See heretofore accustomed to Dispence and also in all other Cases in which the Bishop or See of Rome accustomed not to dispence if so be they were not forbid by Divine Right in these Cases the Arch-bishop had Power granted him to Dispense In this Office he constituted Wotton his Commissary or Deputy for the Term of his natural Life He succeeded Edmund Boner Master of the Arch-bishop's Faculties now preferred to the Bishoprick of Hereford So that Cranmer took notice of the Merits of this Man who was so much made use of afterwards in the Church and State and was of that great Esteem and Reputation that he was thought on in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign for ABp of Canterbury In the Year 1528. he was Doctor of Laws and the Bishop of London's Official In the Year 1540 he was Resident for the King in the Duke of Cleve's Court and had been employed in the Match between the King and the Lady Ann of that House the Year before and perhaps this might be the first time he was sent abroad in the King's Business In the Year 1539 the King took occasion to be displeased with the Arch-bishop and the other Bishops of the new Learning as they then termed them because they could not be brought to give their Consent in the Parliament that the King should have all the Monasteries suppressed to his own sole use They were willing he should have all the Lands as his Ancestors gave to any of them but the Residue they would have had bestowed upon Hospitals Grammar-Schools for bringing up of Youth in Vertue and good Learning with other things profitable in the Common-wealth The King was hereunto stirred by the crafty Insinuations of the Bishop of Winchester and other old dissembling Papists And as an effect of this Displeasure as it was thought in the Parliament this Year he made the terrible bloody Act of the Six Articles Whereby none were suffered to speak a word against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon pain of being burnt to Death as an Heretick and to forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of Treason And moreover it was made Felony and forfeiture of Lands and Goods to defend the Communion in both kinds Marriage in a Priest or in any Man or Woman that had vowed Chastity or to say any thing against the necessity of Private Masses and Auricular Confession Which Articles were plainly enough designed against any that should dare to open their Mouths against these Romish Errors and especially to impose Silence and that on pain of Death upon many honest Preachers that were now risen up and used to speak freely against these Abuses and as a good means to keep the poor People still securely in their old Ignorance and Superstition But before this Act passed marvellous great struggling there was on both Parts for and against it But the side of the Favourers of the Gospel at this time was the weaker the King now enclining more to the other Party for the reason abovesaid and for other Causes Wherein I refer the Reader to the Conjectures of the Lord Herbert The Bishops disputed long in the House some for it and some against it The Arch-bishop disputed earnestly three days against it using divers Arguments to disswade passing the Act. Which were so remarkable for the Learning and Weight of them that the King required a Copy of them And though he was resolved not to alter his purpose of having this Act made yet he was not offended with the Arch-bishops freedom as knowing the Sincerity of the Man Even those in the House that dissented from him were greatly taken with the Gravity Eloquence and Learning he then shewed and particularly the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk Who told him so at his Table soon after being sent by the King to him to comfort him under his dejection for this Act with Crumwel and many other Lords The Papist Writers say he opposed it because himself was a Married Man and so it would touch him close But it is plain that there were other of these Six Articles which he utterly disliked And especially he abhorred the rigorous penalty of the Act. But hereupon he privately sent away his Wife into Germany among her Friends On this side also were beside the Arch-bishop the Bishops of Ely Sarum Worcester Rochester and St. Davids York Durham Winchester and Carlile went vigorously the other way Against the former the King himself argued with his Learning out of the Scriptures and would by all means prove these Articles thence The Parliament Men said little against this Bill but seemed all unanimous for it Neither did the Lord Chancellor Audley no nor the Lord Privy Seal
Mannor was not given to Christ-Church till after the Year 1400. Thomas Goldstone a Prior of that Church and a great Builder built the Mannor-house for a Mansion for the Priors and a Chappel annexed and a new Hall adjoining to the Dormitory and divers other Edifices there as we learn from the History of the Priors of Canterbury lately published To which we may add a Record in that Church to direct us in the Computation of the Time Viz. Anno Dom. 1508. In vigiliis S. Marci Capella dedicatur in Manerio de Lyvyngsborn procurante Thoma Goldston At the Dissolution this was alienated and given to Gage and from him it came to Arch-bishop Cranmer and his Successors And the Bargain was confirmed by Act of Parliament Anno Henr. 34. The Arch-bishop as he had opportunity preferred Learned and Pious Men in his Diocess in the Benefices of his Church and such who freely preached against the Pope and his Superstitions against Images and the Worship of them The chief of these were Nic. Ridley afterwards Bishop of London whom he made Vicar of Herne and Prebend of Canterbury and Iohn Scory afterwards Bishop of Chichester whom he made one of the six Preachers Michael Drum and Lancelot Ridley worthy Men were two more of the Six These he preferred and divers others about through his Diocess that set the Abuses of Popery open before the Peoples Eyes in their Sermons This so angred the Men of the old Religion and particularly some of his own Church in Canterbury that they detected them to the Arch-bishop by articling against them for their Doctrine This they did this Year when the Arch-bishop visited his Church And about two Years after they did so again as shall be taken notice of in due Season About this time it was that Serles and Shether two of the Six Preachers of Canterbury were by the Arch-bishop's Censure put to Recantation for some unsound Passages they had preached Which made them such Enemies to the Arch-bishop and such Contrivers of his Ruin by devising and drawing up a great number of Articles against him if they could have accomplished their Design as shall be seen hereafter under the Year 1543. It was observed of Shether at this time that after the pronouncing his Recantation or Declaration he added these words Good Christians I take God to record that I never preached any thing to you in my Life but the Truth And so in short gave himself the Lie and overthrew all the Recantation he had made before The latter end of the Year there was a Convocation Wherein one of the Matters before them was concerning the procuring a true Translation of the New Testament Which was indeed intended not so much to do such a good Work as to hinder it For having decried the present Translation on purpose to make it unlawful for any to use it they pretended to set themselves about a new One But it was merely to delay and put off the People from the common use of the Scripture As appeared plainly enough in that the Bishops themselves undertook it And so having it in their own Hands they might make what delays they pleased For in the third Session a Proposition was made for the Translation and an Assignation to each Bishop of his Task As Matthew to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Mark to the Bishop of Lincoln Luke to Winton Iohn to Ely and so of the rest But the Arch-bishop saw through all this And therefore in a Sessions that followed after told the House from the King to whom I suppose he had discovered this Intrigue that the Translation should be left to the Learned of both Universities This was a Surprize to the Bishops who all except Ely and S. David's protested against it and began to undervalue the Sufficiency of the Universities as much decayed of late and that they were but young Men and that the greatest Learning lay in the Convocation-men But the Arch-bishop roundly said that he would stick by his Master's Will and Pleasure and that the Vniversities should examine the Translation Bishops Consecrated May 29 being Sunday William Knight was Consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells by Nicolas Bishop of Rochester by Virtue of the Arch-bishop's Letters to him assisted by Richard Suffragan of Dover and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford in the Chappel of the said Bishop of Bath's House situate in the Minories without Aldgate September the 25 th Iohn Wakeman late Abbot of Teuksbury was Consecrated the first Bishop of Glocester by the Arch-bishop Edmond Bishop of London and Thomas Bishop of Westminster assisting Iohn Chambre B. D. was Consecrated first Bishop of Peterburgh Octob. 23. in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh in the Presbytery there by Iohn Bishop of Lincoln Thomas Bishop of Ely and William Bishop of Norwich by Commission from the Arch-bishop February the 19 th Arthur Bulkeley in the Chappel of Iohn Incent LL. D. Dean of St. Paul's by Iohn Bishop of Sarum by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop William Bishop of St. David's and Iohn Bishop of Glocester assisting Robert King another Abbot and Titular Bishop Reonen Suffragan to the Bishop of Lincoln was this Year Consecrated Bishop of Oxford The Date or his Consecrators I cannot assign the Act being omitted in the Arch-bishop's Register He was first a Monk of Rewly a Priory without Oxford of the Cistertian Order Then Abbot of Bruerne in Oxfordshire After Abbot of Thame of which he was also called Bishop and lastly of Oseney Both which he surrendred to the King at the dissolution of Monasteries This Man when Suffragan preached at S. Mary's in Stamford where he most fiercely inveighed against such as used the New Testament In Q. Mary's Reign he was a persecutor of the Protestants and died 1557. CHAP. XXIV The King's Book revised THE Arch-bishop was this Year among other things employed in the King's Book as it now was called that is The Erudition of any Christian Man spoken of before For the King was minded now to have it well reviewed and if there were any Errors and less proper Expressions to have them corrected and amended And so to have it recommended unto the People as a compleat Book of Christian Principles in the stead of the Scripture which upon pretence of their abuse of the King would not allow longer to be read Accordingly a Correction was made throughout the Book and the correct Copy sent to Cranmer to peruse Which he did and added his own Annotations upon various Passages in it at good length And had it not been too long I had transcribed it wholly out of a Volume in the Benet-College Library But for a taste take this that follows In the Title under his own Hand was this written Animadversions upon the King's Book Vpon the Chapter of Original Sin For the first Offence of our Father Adam No Man shall be damned for the Offences of Adam
Apostles S. Peter S. Paul S. Andrew c. The Prayer for the King nameth K. Henry VIII and his gracious Son Prince Edward In the Kalendar Thomas a Becket's Days are still retained in red Letters But I suppose that was done of course by the Printer using the old Kalendar In the same Book is a large and pious Paraphrase on Psalm LI. A Dialogue between the Father and the Son Meditations on Christ's Passion and many other things By somewhat that happened this Year the Arch-bishop proved very instrumental in promoting the Reformation of corrupt Religion in the Neighbouring Nation of Scotland which this Year had received a great Overthrow by the English Army and great Numbers of Scotish Noblemen and Gentlemen were taken Prisoners and brought up to London and after disposed of in the Houses of the English Nobility and Gentry under an easy Restraint The Earl of Cassillis was sent to Lambeth where the good Arch-bishop shewed him all Respects in providing him with Necessaries and Conveniences but especially in taking care of his Soul He detected to him the great Errors of Popery and the Reasons of those Regulations that had been lately made in Religion in England And so successful was the Arch-bishop herein that the Earl went home much enlightned in true Religion which that Nation then had a great aversion to for they highly misliked the Courses King Henry took Which Prejudices the King understanding endeavoured to take off by sending Barlow Bishop of S. Davids to Scotland with the Book of The Institution of a Christian Man Which nevertheless made no great Impression upon that People But this that happened to the Scotish Nobility that were now taken Prisoners and especially this Guest of the Arch-bishop becoming better enclined to Religion by the Knowledg they received while they remained here had a happier Effect and brought on the Reformation that after happened in that Kingdom The Parliament being summoned in Ianuary in order to the King 's making War with France whither he intended to go in Person the Arch-bishop resolved to try this Occasion to do some good Service again for Religion which had of late received a great stop His Endeavour now was to moderate the severe Acts about Religion and to get some Liberty for the Peoples reading of the Scripture Cranmer first made the Motion and four Bishops viz. Worcester Hereford Chichester and Rochester seconded him But Winchester opposed the Arch-bishop's Motion with all earnestness And the Faction combined with so much Violence that these Bishops and all other fell off from the Arch-bishop and two of them endeavoured to perswade the Arch-bishop to desist at present and to stay for a better Opportunity But he refused and followed his Stroke with as much vigour as he could and in fine by his perswasion with the King and the Lords a Bill past And the King was the rather inclined thereunto because he being now to go abroad upon a weighty Expedition thought convenient to leave his Subjects at home as easy as might be So with much struggling an Act was past intituled An Act for the Advancement of True Religion and the Abolishment of the contrary In this Act as Tindal's Translation of the Scriptures was forbidden to be kept or used so other Bibles were allowed to some Persons excepting the Annotations and Preambles which were to be cut or dashed out And the King 's former Proclamations and Injunctions with the Primers and other Books printed in English for the Instruction of the People before the Year 1540 were still to be in force which it seems before were not And that every Nobleman and Gentleman might have the Bible read in their Houses and that Noble Ladies and Gentlewomen and Merchants might read it themselves But no Men or Women under those Degrees That every Person might read and teach in their Houses the Book set out in the Year 1540 which was The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man with the Psalter Primer Pater noster Ave and Creed in English But when Winchester and his Party saw that they could not hinder the Bill from passing they clogged it with Provisoes that it came short of what the Arch-bishop intended it as that the People of all sorts and conditions universally might not read the Scriptures but only some few of the higher Rank And that no Book should be printed about Religion without the King's Allowance And that the Act of the Six Articles should be in the same Force it was before A Bishop Consecrated Iune the 25 th being Sunday Paul Bush Provincial of the Bonhommes was consecrated the first Bishop of Bristol by Nicolas Bishop of Rochester assisted by Thomas Bishop of Westminster and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford This Consecration was celebrated in the Parish-Church of Hampton in the Diocess of Westminster CHAP. XXV Presentments at a Visitation BY the Act above-mentioned the generality of the People were restrained from reading the Holy Scriptures But in lieu of it was set forth by the King and his Clergy in the Year 1543 a Doctrine for all his Subjects to use and follow which was the Book abovesaid and all Books that were contrary to it were by Authority of Parliament condemned It was printed in London by Thomas Barthelet This Book the Arch-bishop enjoined to be made publick in his Diocess as I suppose it was in all other Diocesses throughout the Kingdom and allowed no preaching or arguing against it And when one Mr. Ioseph once a Friar in Canterbury now a learned and earnest Preacher and who was afterward preferred to Bow-Church in London had attempted to preach against some things in the Book the Arch-bishop checked and forbad him For indeed there were some Points therein which the Arch-bishop himself did not approve of foisted into it by Winchester's Means and Interest at that time with the King Which Bishop politickly as well as flatteringly called it The King's Book a Title which the Arch-Bishop did not much like for he knew well enough Winchester's Hand was in it And so he told him plainly in K. Edward's Time when he might speak his Mind telling him in relation thereunto That he had seduced the King But because of the Authority of the Parliament ratifying the Book and the many good and useful Things that were in it the Arch-bishop introduced and countenanced it in his Diocess and would not allow open preaching against it The Arch-bishop about the Month of September held a Visitation in Canterbury chiefly because of the Jangling of the Preachers and the divers Doctrines vented among them according as their Fancies Interests or Judgments led them The Visitation proceeded upon the King's Injunctions and other late Ordinances And here I shall set down before the Reader some of the Presentments as I take them from an Original in a Volume that belonged to this Archbishop Wherein notice may be taken what ignorance was then in some of the Priests what
to bring the same more easily to pass some have abused the Name of Me Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury bruting abroad that I have set up the Mass at Canterbury and that I offered to say Mass before the Queen's Highness and at Paul's Church and I wot not where I have been well exercised these twenty Years to suffer and bear evil Reports and Lies and have not been mych grieved thereat and have born all things quietly Yet when untrue Reports and Lies turn to the hindrance of God's Truth they be in no wise to be tolerate and suffered Wherefore these be to signify to the World that it was not I that did set up the Mass at Canterbury but it was a false flattering lying and dissembling Monk which caused the Mass to be set up there without my Advice or Counsel And as for offering my self to say Mass before the Queen's Highness or in any othea Place I never did as her Grace knoweth well But if hâ—r Grace will give me leave I shall be ready to prove against all that will say the contrary and that the Communion-Book set forth by the most innocent and godly Prince K. Edward VI in his High Court of Parliament is conformable to the Order which our Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed and which his Apostles and Primitive Church used many Years Whereas the Mass in many things not only hath no Foundation of Christ his Apostles nor the Primitive Church but also is manifest contrary to the same and containeth many horrible Blasphemies in it And altho many either unlearned or maliciously do report that Mr. Peter Martyr is unlearned yet if the Queen's Highness will graunt thereunto I with the said Mr. Peter Martyr and other four or five which I shall choose will by God's Grace take upon us to defend that not only our Common-Prayers of the Churches Ministration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies but also that all the Doctrine and Religion by our said Soveraign Lord K. Edward VI is more pure and according to God's Word than any that hath been used in England these thousand Years so that God's Word may be the Judg and that the Reason and Profes may be set out in writing To th entent as well all the World may examine and Judg them as that no Man shall start back from their Writing and what Faith hath been in the Church these fifteen hundred Years we will joyne with them in this Point and that the Doctrine and Usage is to be followed which was in the Church fifteen hundred Years past And we shall prove that the Order of the Church set out at this present in this Church of England by Act of Parliament is the same that was used in the Church fifteen hundred Years past And so shall they never be able to prove theirs Some Copies of this Declaration soon fell into the Hands of certain Bishops who brought them to the Council The Council sent a Copy to the Queen's Commissioners Who soon after ordered him to appear before them and to bring in an Inventory of his Goods The reason as is alledged of his being ordered to bring in this Inventory was because it was then intended that he should have a sufficient Living assigned him and to keep his House and not meddle with Religion So on the Day appointed which was August 27 the Arch-bishop together with Sir Thomas Smith Secretary of State to K. Edward and May Dean of S. Pauls came before the Queen's Commissioners in the Consistory of Pauls and the Arch-bishop brought in his Inventory We are left to guess what he was now cited for I suppose it was to lay to his charge Heresy and his Marriage What more was done with him at this time I find not He retired to his House at Lambeth where he seemed to be confined For about the beginning of August as may be collected from a Letter of the Arch-bishop's to Cecyl he was before the Council about the Lady Iane's Business without all question And then with the severe Reprimands he received was charged to keep his House and be forth-coming At that time he espied Cecyl who was in the same Condemnation and would fain have spoken with him but durst not as he told him in a Letter dated August 14 as it seems out of his Love and Care of him lest his very talking with Cecyl might have been prejudicial to that Pardon which he now lay fair for But by Letter he desired him to come over to him to Lambeth because he would gladly commune with him to hear how Matters went and for some other private Causes Cecyl being now at Liâ—erty September 13 following the Arch-bishop was again summoned to appear that Day before the Queen's Council Then he appeared and was dismissed but commanded to be the next Day in the Star-Chamber And so he was The effect of which appearance was that he was committed to the Tower partly for setting his Hrnd to the Instrument of the Lady Iane's Succession and partly for the publick Offer he made a little before of justifying openly the Religious Proceedings of the deceased King But the chief Reason was the inveterate Malice his Enemies conceived against him for the Divorse of K. Henry from the Queen's Mother the blame of which they laid wholly upon him though Bishop Gardiner and other Bishops were concerned in it as deep as he In the Tower we leave the good Arch-bishop a while after we have told you that soon after the Queen coming to the Tower some of the Arch-bishop's Friends made humble suit for his Pardon and that he might have access to her but She would neither hear him nor see him Holgate also the other Arch-bishop about the beginning of October was committed to the Tower upon pretence of Treason or great Crimes but chiefly I suppose because he was Rich. And while he was there they rifled his Houses at Battersea and Cawood At his former House they seized in Gold coined three hundred Pounds in Specialties and good Debts four hundred Pounds more in Plate gilt and Parcel gilt sixteen hundred Ounces A Mitre of fine Gold with two Pendants set round about the sides and midst with very fine pointed Diamonds Saphires and Balists and all the Plain with other good Stones and Pearls and the Pendants in like manner weighing one hundred twenty five Ounces Six or seven great Rings of fine Gold with Stones in them whereof were three fine blew Saphires of the best an Emerald very fine a good Turkeys and a Diamond a Serpent's Tongue set in a Standard of Silver gilt and graven the Arch-bishop's seal in silver his Signet an old Antick in Gold The Counterpane of his Lease of Wotton betwixt the late Duke of Northumberland and him with Letters Patents of his Purchase of Scrowby Taken from Cawood and other Places appertaining to the Arch-bishop by one Ellis Markham First in ready Money nine hundred
but according to the Laws then in Force before the Parliament had repealed the Book of Common-Prayer and the rest of K. Edward's Reformation And there were forward Men in most Parishes that were very active and violent for the restoring the old Superstitions For the Queen had set forth a Proclamation which did declare what Religion She did profess in her Youth That She did continue in the same and that She minded therein to end her Life Willing all her Loving Subjects to embrace the same And this they reckoned to be sufficient Warrant to set up Mass and introduce Popish Priests and Popish Usages every-where without staying for Orders and Acts of Parliament Nor was this Change of Religion and these Miseries following it unexpected The Learned and pious Sort in King Edward's Time did reckon upon a great Calamity impending over their Heads Concluding thereupon from two Causes among others One was the corrupt Manners that generally overspred the Nation notwithstanding the Light of the Gospel and the much and earnest preaching up of Sobriety and Vertue The other was the taking off by Death divers most eminent Men the great Stays of Religion So that the Preachers did commonly in their Sermons declare and foretel what afterwards indeed fell out This Becon an Exile in his Epistle to those in England that suffered Persecution for the Testimony of Christ's Gospel spake of in these words Divers Signs had we long before besides the Godly Admonitions of the faithful Preachers which plainly declared unto us an utter subversion of the true Christian Religion to be at Hand except it were prevented by hasty and harty Repentance What shall I speak of that good and mighty Prince Edward Duke of Somerset which in the Time of his Protectorship did so banish Idolatry out of this our Realm and bring in again God's true Religion that it was a wonder so weighty a Matter to be brought to pass in so short a Time Was not the ungentle handling of him and the unrighteous thrusting him out of Office and afterwards the cruel Murthering of him a Man yea a Mirror of true Innocency and Christian Patience an evident token of God's Anger against us The sudden taking away of those most goodly and vertuous young Imps the Duke of Suffolk and his Brother by the sweating Sickness was it not also a manifest Token of God's heavy Displesure against us The Death of those two most worthy and godly Learned Men M. Paulus Fagius and D. Martin Bucer was it not a sure Prognostication some great Mishap concerning Christen Religion to be at Hand But passing over many other to come to that which is most lamentable and can never be remembred of any true English Heart without large Tears I mean the Death of our most Godly Prince and Christen King Edward VI. that true Iosias that earnest destroyer of false Religion that fervent setter up of God's true Honour that most bounteous Patron of the godly Learned that most worthy Maintainer of good Letters and Vertue and that perfect and lovely Mirror of true Nobility and sincere Godliness Was not the taking away of him alas for Sorrow a sure Sign and an evident Token that some great Evil hanged over this Realm of England Who considering these things perceived not a Shipwreck of the Christen Religion to be at Hand CHAP. III. The Arch-bishop adviseth Professors to fly THE Favourers of Religion seeing it was now determined to proceed in all manner of Severity against them began to flee into other Countries for their Safety as fast as they could Indeed there were some that made a Case of Conscience of it Among the rest one Mrs. Wilkinson a Woman of good Quality and a great Reliever of good Men. Her the Arch-bishop out of Prison advised to escape and avoid a Place where She could not truly and rightly serve God He took off with spiritual Arguments the Objections which She or others might make for their stay As their lothness to leave their Friends and Relations and that it might look like a slandering of God's Word if they should thus run away and decline the open and bold Defence of it The Letter of the Arch-bishop deserves to be read as it fell from that Venerable Prelat's own Pen. Which I have therefore put in the Appendix Though Cranmer himself refused to flee being advised by his Friends so to do because of the Reports that were abroad that he should be speedily carried to the Tower For he said It would be no ways fitting for him to go away considering the Post in which he was and to shew that he was not afraid to own all the Changes that were by his means made in Religion in the last Reign But great numbers fled some to Strasburgh some to VVesel some to Embden some to Antwerp some to Duisburgh some to Wormes some to Frankford some to Basil Zuric and Arrow in Switzerland and some to Geneva to the number of eight hundred and upwards And these are the Names of some of these Refugees BISHOPS Poynet of VVinchester Barlow of Bath and Wells Scory of Chichester Coverdale of Exon And Bale of Ossory DEANS Richard Cox Dean of Christ's Church Oxon and of Westminster Iames Haddon Dean of Exeter Robert Horn of Durham William Turner of Wells Thomas Sampson of Chichester ARCH-DEACONS Edmund Cranmer the Arch-bishop's Brother Arch-deacon of Cant. Iohn Aelmer of Stow Bullingham of Lincoln Thomas Young Precenter of S. Davids DOCTORS of Divinity and Preachers Edmund Grindal Robert King Edwin Sands Ios. Iewel Reinolds Pilkingtons two Brothers Iohn Ioseph David Whitehead Iohn Alvey Iohn Pedder Iohn Biddil Thomas Becon Robert and Richard Turner Edmund Allein Levers three Brothers Iohn Pekins Tho. Cottisford Tho. Donel Alex. Nowel with hiâ— Brother Barthol Traheron Iohn Wollock Iohn Old Iohn Medwel Ioh. Rough Iohn Knocks Iohn Appleby Iohn Perkhurst Edward Large Galf. Iones Robert Crowley Robert Wisdome Robert VVatson VVilliam Goodman Ant. Gilby VVill. VVhittingham Iohn Makebrey Hen. Reynolds Iames Perse Iugg Edmunds Cole Mounteyn two Fisher's Da. Simson Iohn Bendal Beaumont Humfrey Bentham Reymiger Bradbridg Saul c. Besides of Noble-men Merchants Trades-men Artificers and Plebeians many hundreds And God provided graciously for them and raised them up Friends in England that made large Contributions from time to time for their Relief and for the maintenance of such as were Scholars and Students in Divinity especially And great was the Favour that the Strangers shewed to their Fugitive Guests Here at home Vengeance was taken upon those that set up the Lady Iane. And the Chief of all the Duke of Northumberland was brought to Towerâ—ill to lose his Head Who indeed was cared for by no Body and was the only Instrument of putting the King upon altering the Succession and who was broadly talked of to have been the shortner of that excellent Prince's Life by Poison to make Room the sooner for his Son's Advancement who
how much soever he should extol them the greatness of the Matter would over-reach his Speech And that it was well known to all how humanely he received not him only but many other Strangers of his Order and how kindly he treated them To both these I will subjoin the Judgment of another who I cannot but conclude was well-acquainted with the Arch-bishop and a long and diligent Observer of his Demeanour in his Superintendency over the Church and that was Iohn Bale sometime Bishop of Ossory He never placed said he the Function of a Bishop in the Administration of secular Things but in a most faithful Dispensation of God's Word In the midst of wicked Babylon he always performed the part of a good Guide of Israel And among Papists that tyrannized against the Truth of Christ he governed the People of God with an admirable Prudence No Man ever so happily and steddily persisted with Christ himself in the Defence of the Truth in the midst of falsly learned Men in such imminent hazard of his Life and yet without receiving any Harm No Man did more prudently bear with some false Apostles for a time although with St. Paul he knew what most pestilent Men they were that so they might not be provoked to run into greater Rage and Madness All this that I have before written concerning this our venerable Prelate cannot but redound to his high Praise and Commendation And it is very fit such Vertues and Accomplishments should be celebrated and recorded to Posterity Yet I do not intend these my Collections for such a Panegyrick of him as to make the World believe him void of all Faults or Frailties the Condition of human Nature He lived in such critical Times and under such Princes and was necessarily involved in such Affairs as exposed him to greater Temptations than ordinary And if any Blemishes shall by curious Observers be espied in him he may therefore seem the more pardonable and his great exemplary Goodness and Usefulness in the Church of God may make ample Amends for some Errors CHAP. XXXVIII The Arch-bishop vindicated from Slanders of Papists I Have given I hope a just though imperfect Account from undoubted Records and authentick Manuscripts as well as the best published Books of the excellent Endowments of this great Prelat and of his innocent prudential and useful Behaviour in his high Place and Station So that none who impartially weighs the Premisses can conclude otherwise of him than that he was a very rare Person and one that deserves to be reckoned among the brightest Lights that ever shone in this English Church And this all the sober unprejudiced part of Posterity will believe notwithstanding the unjust Calumnies some hot-spirited Papists have cast upon his Memory I shall pass over the unhandsome Name that Feckenham gave him calling him Dolt as he did also his two other Brethren in Tribulation Ridley and Latimer Prisoners then in Oxford Men by far more Learned than himself upon occasion of Mr. Hawks esteeming them deservedly Godly and Learned Men. I shall also pass by what Bishop Boner then said of him viz. That he dared to say that Cranmer would Recant so he might have his Living As though he were a Man of a prostituted Conscience and would do any thing upon worldly Considerations But there is a late French Writer whom I cannot but take notice of with some Indignation who to shew his bigotted Zeal to the Roman Church hath bestowed this most defamatory Character upon this our Arch-bishop That he was one of the profligatest Men of England that had nothing of Christianity in him but the outward Appearances being Ambitious Voluptuous Turbulent and capable of all sorts of Intrigues Of which all that I have written is an abundant Confutation besides the severe Chastisements the right Reverend the Bishop of Sarum hath lately bestowed upon this Author Who questionless was well versed in those famous Popish Calumniators of our Reformation and of this our Arch-bishop the great Instaurator thereof and had a mind to out-do them in their Talent of throwing Dirt. Those I mean who living in the Age past did most bitterly and virulently as it fell in their way fly upon Cranmer's Memory and Fame to eclipse it to Posterity if they could namely Saunders Allen and Parsons and some others But those who reade these Memorials will be able easily to confute them and will perceive that these Men sought not so much to say what was true as what might serve the Ends of their Anger and Spight their Reports being made up for the most part of nothing but Lies and Slanders illy patched together Allen if he were the Answerer of the Execution of English Iusâ—ice saith That Cranmer was a notorious perjured and often relapsed Apostata recanting swearing and forswearing at every turn A heavy Charge but we are left to guess what these Perjuries these so often Swearings and Forswearings these Relapses and Recantations be But it is enough for them to roar out Notorious Perjuries c. But let us see what Oaths Cranmer took that might occasion his Perjuries He swore at his Consecration the usual Oath to the Pope and in his future Doings laboured to restore the King's Supremacy against the Pope's Usurpations and to promote a Reformation against the Popâ—'s Superstitions Was this one of his notorious Perjuries It is pity the doing so good a Thing should fall under so bad a Name But at the taking of that Oath did he not make a solemn Protestation openly before Publick Notaries and that entred down into Record That he intended not by the said Oath to do any thing against the Law of God the King or the Realm and their Laws and Prerogatives nor to be abridged thereby from consulting for the Reformation of Religion In which way the best Civilians then put him and assured him that by this Means he might safely without any Guilt take the Oath to the Pope Which otherwise he would not have done And truly for my part I think there was no other way to escape that Perjury that all other Bishops Elect in those Times were intangled in by swearing two contrary Oaths one to the Pope and another to the King Cranmer sware also at receiving Orders to live Chastely But he afterwards married a Wife Surely hereby he brake not his Oath but rather kept it He did likewise swear to the Succession of Q. Ann But would Allen have all that submitted to that Act of Parliament to be perjured That would reflect upon the Wisdom of the three Estates at that Time in making such an ensnaring Law and involve all sorts of People both Clergy Nobility and Gentry and all other Persons of Age in Perjury as well as the Arch-bishop excepting only two Persons More and Fisher who would not submit to this Act. And even they themselves offered to swear to the Succession it self and refused only to swear to the Preamble of
a Proctor represents him that he is Proctor for and may make or marr his Clients matier by one word speaking wel or il and that the office of a Proctor was first invented for men that might or would not intend to their own business theymself it were more consonant with reason that a man were suffered to take to his Proctor such as he lusteth and may best trust unto of his matier than be driven to commit the order of his cause being mefortune of great weight to such a one as he never knew ne saw before For whan a man is at his choise to choose him what Proctor he lust best if his matier do delay through the default of his Proctor than he can blame no body but himself For that that he would not take better heed to whom he should have committed his matier unto And whan a man is compelled to take one that he knows not if his matier do than delay he may put the blame therof to that Statute that constrained him to take such a Proctor Nevertheles though the tone of both those ways that is the same that is taken by the same Law be moche better than the tother yet the mean way betwixt both as of al other Extremes were best That is to say that nother every man unlearned or unexpert shuld forthwith be admitted to procure for every man in the said Courts lest of that there shuld be no good order but a confuse tumult there Nor yet that there shuld be so few admitted therunto that they were not able ne sufficient for the due exercise of causes there depending But most reasonable and highly expedient for the Common wele it is that it were enacted by the authority of this present Parlament that there should be as many of such as were sufficiently learned and exercised in the experience and practise of the said Courts admitted to procure there as shuld be seen convenient to my said Lord of Canterbury his Grace or other Presidents of the said Courts for the due exercise and expedition of causes there depending as it was used heretofore til the obtaining of the said Statute without prefixion of any precise nombre which for no cause may be exceded For how can a precise nombre of Proctors be prefixed when the nombre of causes can never be appoynted For causes doth grow and encrease as the nature of seasons and men doth require And therfore it were expedient that there were mo Proctors than shuld suffice admitted than fewer For better it were that some of theym shuld lack causes than causes shuld want theym And that such ones so admitted shuld not be removeable from the same their Offices at the said Juges or any other mans plesure as they were heretofore but only for certain great offences proved to be committed by theym after their admission and juged so to be of indifferent Juges chosen to examine the same by the consent of the Proctors that shal be accused therof And because that the Proctors aforesaid are al sworn at the time of their admission that they shal never after be against the Liberty jurisdiction and prerogatives of the said Courts but shal maintain and defend the same to their power And that there may be in the said Courts otherwhiles such causes depending as shuld appertaine to the Kings Gs. determination by his Royal Prerogative or such other as may be there attempted against the Juges or Presidents of the said Courts It were highly expedient as wel for the Conservation and soliciting of the Kings interest there as for the faithful and bold assistence of Proctors there to the Kings Subjects that were called thither at the instance of the said Juges or their fautors or any other person That like as his Grace hath in other his Courts temporal his Solicitors and Atturneys he shuld also have in his said Courts two Proctors or so admitted by his G. and his councel which shuld be sworn to promote and solicite his Gs. interest there and to advertise the same of any thing that shuld appertain to his Gs. prerogative and to defend such of the Kings subjects as shal desire their assistance boldly and without fear or affection of the said Juges And that the same Proctors so admitted be not removeable from the same their offices by any man but the Kings G. or his Councel Which so enacted and established shuld be the readiest means that the foresaid abuses with divers others here not rehearsed caused through the occasion of the said statute shuld be utterly taken away and justice more plainly and speedily proceed in the said Courts than heretofore hath been seen to do And the Kings subjects called thither from al parts of England shuld have plenty of counsil faithful assistance in their matters and speedy process in the same Which ought to be tendred affectantly of every man that regardeth the encrease of the Common wele and true execution of justice NUM XIX The Archbishop to the L. Crumwel giving him some account of his Visitation of his Diocess THese shal be to advertise your Lp. that since my last coming from London into Kent I have found the people of my Diocess very obstinately given to observe and keep with solemnity the hali dayes lately abrogated Wherupon I have punished divers of the Offendors and to divers I have given gentle monitions to amend But inasmuch as by examination I have perceived that the people were partly animated therto by their Curates I have given streit commandment and injunction unto al the Parsons and Vicars within my Diocess upon paine of deprivation of their benefices that they shal not only on their behalf cause the said hali dayes so abrogated from time to time not to be observed within their Cures but also shal from henceforth present to me such persons of their Parishes as wil practise in word or deed contrary to that Ordinance or any other which is or hereafter shal bee set forth by the Kings Graces authority for the redress or ordering of the doctrine or ceremonies of this Church of England So that now I suppose through this means all disobedience and contempt of the Kings Graces Acts and Ordinances in this behalf shal be clearly avoyded in my Diocess hereafter Not doubting also but if every Bp. in this realm had Commandment to do the same in their Diocess it would avoyd both much disobedience and contention in this said realm I would faine that al the enmity and grudge of the people in this matter should be put from the King and his Councel and that wee who be Ordinaries should take it upon us Or else I fear lest a grudge against the Prince and his Council in such causes of religion should gender in many of the peoples hearts a faint subjection and obedience But my Lord if in the Court you do keep such hali dayes and fasting dayes as be abrogated when shal we persuade the people to
Fox Becomes Reader of the Civil Law at Oxon. Ath. Oxoniensâ— The ABp a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension Eras. Ep. 10. lib. 27. Ep. 7. lib. 27. To Alexander Aless a Scotch-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the ABp And to the King Aless brought by Cromwel into the Convocation Where he asserts two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Atrox Schismatis crimen Ep. 36. lib. 1. Satis excusat nos istorum horribilis crudelitas quam proâ—ecto nâ—que adjuvare neque approbare debemus Ubi supra Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Hist. Res. P.I. p. 308. Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig Mâ—l Ep. p. 3â—9 Edit 1647 Cum in Templis in Scholis doctrinam gabernes Mel. Ep. 111. lib. 3. Four others recommended by Melancthon to the ABp Viz. Gualter Dryander Ep. 7. lib. 3. Dryander placed at Oxon. Ad Ann. 1555. Eusebius Menius Mel. Ep. 66. lib. 1. Iustus Ionas Sleid. lib. 7. Ep. 129. lib. 1. No. XCII Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our ABp Sends Melancthon certain publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridg Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Ep. 41. lib. 3. Sends the ABp his Enarration upon the Nicene Creed The beginning of their Acquaintance The ABp propounds a weighty Matter to Melancthon for the Union of all Protestant Churches The Diligence of the ABp in forwarding this Design Ep. 66. lib. 1. Melancthon's Judgment and Approbation thereof His Caveat of avoiding ambiguous Expressions In Ecclesia rectius est Scapham Scaphâ—m diceâ—e Renews the same Caution in another Letter Peter Martyr of this Judgment Quod Vir bonus sibi pâ—rsuasisset posse hac ratione tolli gravem quae est de hac causa Controversiam ita Ecclâ—siae pacem diâ— desideratam restitui In Vit. P. Mart. per Iosiam Sinlerâ—m Iosiaâ— Simâ—â— What Melancthon thought of the Doctrinâ— of Fate Calv. Ep. 12â— The ABp breaks his Purpose also to Calvin Calvin's Approbation thereof and Commendation of the ABp Offers his Service Excites the ABp to proceed This excellent Purpose frustrated Thinks of drâ—wing up Articles of Religion for the English Church Which he communicates to Calvin Ep. 125. And Calvin's Reply and Exhortation Blames him for having not made more Progress in the Reformation But not justly The Clergy preach against Sacriledg The University-Men declaim against it in the School And the Redress urged upon some at Court No. XCIII Calvin sends Letters and certain of his Books to the King Ep. 123. Well taken by the King and Council What the ABp told the Messenger hereupon Ep. 120. P. Martyr and the ABp cordial Friends The use the ABp made of him Ep. 127. Martyr saw the Voluminous Writings and Marginal Notes of the Arch-bishop Two Letters of Martyr from Oxford N. XCIV.XCV An instance of his Love to the Arch-bishop P. Martyr Ep. Theolog. The ABp's favour to Iohn Sleidan Procures him a Pension from the King The Paiment neglected Sleidan labours with the ABp to get the Pension confirmed by Letters Patents Sends his Commentaries to the King Designs to write the History of the Council of Trent For the King's Use. Anno 1553. Sends the King a Specimen thereof In order to the proceeding with his Commentaries desires Cecyl to send him the whole Action between K. H. VIII and P. Clement VII Bâ—cer writes to Câ—cyl in behalf of Slâ—idan No. XCVI XCVII.XCVIII.XCIX.C.CI.CII Feb. 27. 1551. Scriptae Anglic. Iohn Leland His Wives and Children His Wife survived him Sincere and modist Defence of English Catholicks MS. Life of Cranmer in Benet College Divers Cranmers Cranm. Regist. Suâ—â—er's Ant. Philpot 's Villar Cantian The AB's Stock Aslacton Whatton The Rectories whereof the ABp purchased His Chaplains Rowland Taylor His Epitaph A Sermon preached the Day after his Burning Inter Foxii MSS. Wherein the Martyr is grosly Slandered Iohn Ponet Stow. Tho. Becon Rich. Harman Rob. Watson the ABp's Steward His Secretary Ralph Morice His Parentage Well known to divers eminent Bishops Presents Turner to Chartham And stands by him in his Troubles for his faitâ—â—ul Preaching An Instance of the ABp's Kindness to this his Secretary Morice his Suit to Q. Elizabeth for a Pension His second Suit to the Queen to confirm certain Lands descended to him from his Father No. CIII He was Register to the Commissioners in K. Edward's Visitation Suffered under Q. Mary Morice supplied Fox with many material Notices in his Book Morice a cordial Friend to Latimer Fox Morice's Declaration concerning the ABp His Temperance of Nature His Carriage towards hiâ— Enemies Severe in his Behaviour towards offending Protestants Stout in God's or the King's Cause * Viz. The Erudition of a Christen Man The King sides with Cranmer against all the Bishops His great Ability in answering the King's Doubts Cranmer studied three parts of the Day Would speak to the King when none else durst Lady Mary Q. Katharine Howard His Hospitality Falsly accused of ill House-keeping The preserving the Bishops Revenues owing to the ABp The ABp vindicated about his Leases By long Leases he saved the Revenues Justified from diminishing the Rents of the See Otford Knol Curleswood Chislet-Park Pasture and Meddow Woods Corn. The best Master towards his Servants An Infamy that he was an Hostler Observations upon the ABp His Learning very profound His Library An excellent Bishop His Care of his own Diocess In the Benet-Library At the great Towns he preached often Affected not his high Stiles His diligence in reforming Religion Before his Treatise of Fasting Puts K. Henry upon a Purpose of reforming many things As long as Q. Ann T. Crumwel Bp Cranmer Mr. Denny Dr. Butts with such-like were about him and could prevail with him What Organ of Christ's Glory did more good in the Church than he As is apparent by such Monuments Instruments and Acts set forth by him in setting up the Bible in the Church in exploding the Pope with his vile Pardons in removing divers superstitious Ceremonies in bringing into order the inordinate Orders of Friars and Sects in putting Chantrey Priâ—sts to their Pensions in permitting white Meats in Lent in â—estroying Pilgrimage-Worship in abbrogating idle and superstitious Holy-days both by Acts Publick and by private Letters to Bóner Acts Monum p. 1147. a. Edit 1610. The King again purposeth a Reformation His Influence upon K. Edward A great Scripturist Ea verae Religionis cura apud Josiam nostrum imprimis Cantuariensem universum Concilium regium excubat ut in nulla re aequè laboratum sit quam ut Religionis tum Doctrina tum Disciplina ex Sacrarum Literarum Fonte purissimè bauriatur ut sentina illa Romana qua tot humanae Sordes in Ecclâ—siam Christi redâ—ndârunt sunditus obstruâ—tur Procures the publishing the English Bible The Bishops oppose it Defence of the EnglishTranslat Ch. 1. p. 4. Edit 1583. The first