the Rebels camp 21 Espousals of James King of Scotland and Lady Margaret 118 Exchanges unlawful prohibited 40 Exceter besieged by Perkin 102 the Loyalty of the Town 103 the Town rewarded with the King 's own Sword 105 Execution of Humphrey Stafford 12 John a Chamber and his fellow-Rebels at York 41 Sir James Tyrril murderer of King Edward's two Sons 71 of divers others 75 Sir William Stanley 77 Rebels 79 Perkin's company 81 Audley and Cornish Rebels 96 another counterfeit Earl of Warw. 110 Perkin Warbeck 111 the Mayor of Cork and his Son ibid. Earl of Warwick ibid. F. FAme ill affected 97 Fame entertained by divers the reasons of it 70 Fame neglected by Empson and Dudley 119 Fear not safe to the King 79 Fines 43 Without Fines Statute to sell Land 58 Flammock a Lawyer a Rebel 92 Flemings banished 75 Flight of King Henry out of Britain into France wherefore 34 Forfeitures and Confiscations furnish the King's wants 9 17 Forfeitures aimed at 45 76 Forfeitures upon Penal Laws taken by the King which was the blot of his times 80 Fortune various 16 22 Forwardness inconsiderate 96 Fox made Privy Counsellor 10 made Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal ib. his providence 98 Free-fishing of the Dutch 129 Title to France renewed by the King in Parliament 56 Frion joyns with Perkin 68 First-fruits 10 In forma Pauperis a Law enacted for it 84 G. GAbato Sebastian makes a Voyage for Discovery 107 Gordon Lady Katherine wife to Perkin 87 Granado vindicated from the Moors 60 Guard Yoomen first instituted 7 Gifts of the French King to King Henry's Counsellors and Souldiers 64 Gratitude of the Pope's Lègate to King Henry 42 H. HAllowed Sword from the Pope 101 Hatred of the People to the King with the main reason of it 12 Hearty Acclamations of the People to the King 〈◊〉 King Henry his Description 133 c. his Piety 1 60 he hath three Titles to the Kingdom 2 Hereticks provided against a rare thing in those times 115 Hern a Counsellor to Perkin 101 Hialas otherwise Elias to England how 98 Holy War 114 Hopes of gain by War 64 Hostages redeemed by the King 10 Houses of Husbandry to be maintained to prevent the decay of People 45 Histories defects in them what 46 I. IAmes the Third King of Scotland his distress and death 42 Idols vex God and King Henry 105 John Egremond Leader of the Rebels 41 Inclosures their manifest inconveniencies and how remedied 44 Ingratitude of Women punished 85 Innovation desired 12 Incense of the People what 118 Instructions of Lady Margaret to 〈◊〉 66 Intercursus Magnus 91 Intercursus Malus ibid. 129 Invectives of Maximilian against the French King 〈◊〉 Invectives against the King and Council 79 Improvidence of King Henry to prevent his troubles 12 14 Improvidence of the French 82 Jointure of Lady Katherine how much 117 Jointure of Lady Margaret in Scotland how much 119 Joseph a Rebel 92 Ireland favoureth York Title 15 Ireland receiveth Simon the Priest of Oxford with his counterfeit ibid. Irish adhere to Perkin 68 Jubile at Rome 114 Juno i. e. the Lady Margaret so called by the King's friends 65 K. KAtherine Gordon Perkin's Wife royally entertained by K. Hen. 104 Kent loyal to the King 81 94 The King the publick Steward 36 Kings their miseries 50 King of Rakehels Perkin so called by King Henry 103 The King's Skreen who 92 King of France Protector of King Henry in his trouble 133 Kingdom of France restored to its integrity 25 King of France buys his Peace of King Henry 64 King of Scots enters England 87 again 98 Knights of the Bath 95 Knights of Rhodes 〈◊〉 King Henry Protector of the Order 115 L. LAncaster Title condemned by Parliament 3 Lancaster House in possession of the Crown for three Descents together 〈◊〉 Lambert Simnel See Counterfeit 13 Laws enacted in Parliament 38 Divers Laws enacted 123 Law charitable enacted 84 A good Law enacted ibid. A Law of a strange 〈◊〉 83 A Law against carrying away of Women by violence the reasons of it 39 Law of Poynings 79 Laws Penal put in execution 80 A Legate from the Pope 42 preferred to be Bishop in England by King Henry ibid. his gratitude to King Henry ibid. Lenity of the King abused 101 Letters from the King out of France to the Mayor of London 64 A Libel 55 Libels the causes of them 79 Libels the females of Sedition ibid. Libels the Authors executed ibid. A Loan from the City to the King repaid 46 London entred by King Henry in a close Chariot wherefore 5 London in a tumult because of the Rebels 95 London purchase Confirmation of their Liberties 124 M. MAlecontents their effects 40 Margaret of Burgundy the fountain of all the mischief to K. Henry 18 she entertains the Rebels 41 69 she a Juno to the King 65 she instructs Perkin 66 Lady Margaret desired in Marriage by the Scottish King 108 Manufacture forein how to be kept out 36 123 Marriage of King Henry with Lady Elizabeth 10 of the French King with the Duchess of Britain 55 of Prince Arthur 116 Mart translated to Calice the reasons of it 74 Maintenance prohibited by Law 38 Merchants of England received at Antwerp with procession and great joy 91 A memorable Memorandum of the King 121 Military power of the Kingdom advanced how 44 Mills of Empson and Dudley what and the gains they brought in 124 Mitigations 120 Money bastard employments thereof repressed 36 Money left at the King's death how much 132 Morton made Privy Counsellor 10 made Archbishop of Canterbury ib. his Speech to the Parliament 32 Morton's Fork 58 Morton author of the Union of the two Roses 114 Moors expelled Granado 61 Murmuring 14 Murmurs of the People against the King 70 Murther and Manslaughter a Law concerning it in amendment of the common Law 39 Murther of King Edward the Fifth 85 Murther of a Commissioner for the Subsidy 93 N. NAvigation of the Kingdom how advanced 45 Neighbour over-potent dangerous 34 Bad News the effect thereof in Souldiers 63 Nobility neglected in Council the ill effects of it 32 Nobility few of them put to death in King Henry's time 134 North the King's journey thither for what reasons 11 O. OAth of Allegiance taken 9 Oath enforced upon Maximilian by his Subjects 46 Oath kept ibid. Obedience neglected what follows 42 First Occasion of a happy Union 109 Obsequies for the French King performed in England ibid. Obsequies to Tyrants what 1 An Ominous answer of the King 119 An Ominous Prognostick 129 Opinions divers what was to be done with Perkin 105 Orator from the Pope met at London-Bridge by the Mayor 101 Order of the Garter sent to Alphonso 64 Ostentation of Religion by the King of Spain 60 Over-merit prejudicial to Sir William Stanley 73 Outlawries how punished 120 Oxford Earl fined for breach of the Law 121 P. PAcificator King Henry between the French King and Duke of Britain 32 Pardon
proclaimed by the King 9 11 16 A Parliament called speedily 7 A Parliament called for two reasons 33 another 122 Parliaments advice desired by the King 33 35 56 Passions contrary in King Henry joy and sorrow with the reasons of both 36 Peace pretended by the French King 29 Peace to be desired but with two conditions 33 Peace concluded between England and France 64 People how brought to decay the redress of it by the King 44 Pensions given by the King of France 64 A Personation somewhat strange 65 A great Plague 12 Edward Plantagenet Son and Heir of George Duke of Clarence 4 Edward Plantagenet shewed to the People 17 Plantagenet's Race ended 195 Perkin Warbeck History of him 65 his Parentage 68 God son to K. Edward the Fourth ibid. his crafty behaviour 65 69 favoured by the French King 68 by him discarded 69 favoured by the Scottish King 85 he yieldeth and is brought to the Court 106 set in the Stocks 109 executed at Tyburn 111 A Pleasant passage of Prince Arthur 118 Policy to prevent War 26 A point of Policy to defend the Duchy of Britain against the French 29 34 Policy of State 26 Pope sows seeds of War 54 Pope Ambassador to him 24 Poynings Law in Ireland 79 Priest of Oxford Simon 13 Pretence of the French King 28 29 Prerogative how made use of 133 Price of Cloth limited 45 Prisoners Edward Plantagenet 4 Prince of Orange and Duke of Orleance 37 Maximilian by his Subjects 46 Priviledges of Clergy abridged 39 Priviledges of Sanctuary qualified in three points 24 Proclamation of Perkin what effect 90 Protection for being in the King's service limited 58 Proverb 104 Providence for the future 43 Q. QUeen Dowager 13 enclosed in the Monastery of Bermondsey 16 her variety of Fortune ibid. Queens Colledge founded in Cambridge 17 Q. Elizabeth Crowned after two years 24 Queen Elizabeth's death 119 R. REbellion of Lord Lovel and Staffords 11 Rebellion in Yorkshire 41 Rebellion how to be prevented 35 Rebellion how frequent in King Henry's time 42 Rebellion of the Cornishmen 92 Rebels but half-couraged men 96 Religion abused to serve Policy 122 Remorse of the King for oppression of his People 131 Restitution to be made by the King 's Will 132 Return of the King from France 64 Retribution of King Henry for Treasure received of his Subjects 43 Revenge divine 1 Revenge of Blood 122 Reward proposed by Perkin 111 Richard the Third a Tyrant 1 Richard slain at Bosworth-field ibid. this 〈◊〉 Burial ibid. murder of his two Nephews 2 jealous to maintain his Honour and Reputation ibid. hopes to win the People by making Laws ibid. this Virtues overswayed by his Vices 2 yet favoured in Yorkshire 40 Riches of King Henry at his death 132 Riches of Sir William Stanley 76 Richmond built upon what occasion 106 Riot and Retainers suppressed by Act of Parliament 123 Rome ever respected by King Henry 42 A Rumour false procuring much hatred to the King 12 Rumour false enquired after to be punished 23 Rumour that the Duke of York was alive first of the King 's own nourishing 37 S. SAnctuary at Colneham could not protect Traytors 12 Sanctuary-priviledges qualified by a Bull from the Pope in three points 24 Saturday observed and fancied by King Henry 5 96 Saying of the King when he heard of Rebels 41 Scottish men voyded out of England 58 Service of 〈◊〉 92 Simon the Priest 13 Skreens to the King who 92 A Sleight ingenious and taking good effect in War 〈◊〉 Sluce besieged and taken ibid. Soothsayers Prediction mistaken 〈◊〉 Speeches 32 49 53 Speech of the King to Parliament 55 Speech of Perkin 85 Speech conditional doth not qualifie 〈◊〉 of Treason 77 Speeches bitter against the King 64 Sparks of Rebellion neglected dangerous 〈◊〉 Spies from the King 72 Sprites of what kind vexed K. Henry 65 Stanley Sir William crowns King Henry in the field 〈◊〉 motives of his falling from the King 77 is appeached of Treason 70 is confined examined and consesseth 〈◊〉 is beheaded 77 Reasons which aliènated the King's affections 78 Star-Chamber Court confirmed in certain cases 38 Star-Camber Court described what Causes belong to it ibid. Statute of Non-claim 43 Steward publick the King 36 Strength of the Cornishmen 96 Spoils of Bosworth-field 78 Spoils as water spilt on the ground 97 Subsidy denied by the inhabitants of Yorkshire and Durham the reason wherefore 40 Subsidies denied by the Cornishmen 92 Subsidy Commissioner killed 93 Subsidy how much 91 Swart Martin 19 Sweating Sickness 6 the manner of the cure of it ibid. Sweating Sickness the interpretation the People made of it 23 T. ATale pleasant concerning the King 137 Terrour among the King's Servants and Subjects 67 Tyrrell Sir James a murderer of King Edward's two Sons 71 Tyrell executed 122 Thanks of the King to the Parliament 32 Thanksgiving to God for the Victory 1 23 24 61 Three Titles to the Kingdom meet in King Henry 2 Title to France stirred 54 by the King himself 55 Treasure to be kept in the Kingdom 45 Treasure raised by the King how 23 31 120 Treasure inordinately affected by the King 121 Treasure how increased 124 Treasure left at the King's death how much 132 Trade the increase thereof considered 36 Trade in decay pincheth 90 Traytors taken out of Sanctuary 12 Tower the King's lodging wherefore 75 A Triplicity dangerous 94 Triumph at the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth to King Henry 10 Truce with Scotland 25 Tyrants the Obsequies of the People to them 1 V. VIctory wisely husbanded by the French 37 Victory at Black-heath 96 Union of England and Scotland its first original 98 Voyage of King Henry into France 63 Voyage for Discovery 107 Urswick Ambassador 65 Usury 40 W. VVAlsingham Lady vowed to by King Henry 20 Wards wronged 120 War between the French King and the Duke of Britain 30 War the fame thereof advantagious to King Henry 31 War gainful to the King 91 War pretended to get money 57 War of France ended by a Peace where at the Souldiers murmur 64 White Rose of England 69 104 Wilford counterfeit Earl of Warwick 110 A Wives affection 129 Woodvile voluntarily goes to aid the Duke of Britain 31 Woodvile slain at St. Albans in Britain 62 Wolsey employed by the King 130 Women carried away by violence a Law enacted against it the reasons 39 Womens ingratitude punished by Law 84 Y. YEomen of the Guard first instituted 7 Yeomanry how maintained 44 York House and Title favoured by the People 3 12 York Title and Line depressed by King Henry 4 10 York Title favoured in Ireland 15 Yorkshire and Durham deny to pay the Subsidy 49 THE HISTORY Of the Reign of KING HENRY The SEVENTH AFter that Richard the Third of that Name King in Fact only but Tyrant both in Title and Regiment and so commonly termed and reputed in all times since was by the Divine Revenge favouring the Design of an Exil'd man overthrown and slain at
Bosworth-field There succeeded in the Kingdom the Earl of Richmond thence-forth stiled Henry the Seventh The King immediately after the Victory as one that had been bred under a devout Mother and was in his nature a great observer of Religious Forms caused Te Deum Laudamus to be solemnly sung in the presence of the whole Army upon the place and was himself with general Applause and great Cries of Joy in a kind of Militar Election or Recognition saluted King Mean-while the Body of Richard after many Indignities and Reproaches the Dirigies and Obsequies of the common People towards Tyrants was obscurely Buried For though the King of his Nobleness gave charge unto the Fryers of Leicester to see an Honourable Interrment to be given to it yet the Religious people themselves being not free from the Humours of the Vulgar neglected it wherein nevertheless they did not then incurr any mans blame or Censure No man thinking any Ignominy or Contumely unworthy of him that had been the Executioner of King Henry the Sixth that innocent Prince with his own hands the Contriver of the death of the Duke of Clarence his Brother the Murderer of his two Nephews one of them his Lawfull King in the Present and the other in the Future failing of him and vehemently suspected to have been the Impoisoner of his Wife thereby to make vacant his Bed for a Marriage within the Degrees forbidden And although he were a Prince in Militar Virtue approved jealous of the Honour of the English Nation and likewise a good Law-maker for the ease and solace of the common People yet his Cruelties and Parricides in the Opinion of all men weighed down his Virtues and Merits and in the opinion of Wise men even those Virtues themselves were conceived to be rather feigned and affected things to serve his Ambition than 〈◊〉 Qualities ingenrate in his Judgement or Nature And therefore it was noted by men of great Understanding who seeing his after Acts looked back upon his former Proceedings that even in the time of King Edward his Brother he was not without secret Trains and Mines to turn Envy and Hatred upon his Brother's Government as having an Expectation and a kind of Divination that the King by reason of his many Disorders could not be of long Life but was like to leave his Sonnes of tender years and then he knew well how easie a step it was from the place of a Protector and first Prince of the Blood to the Crown And that out of this deep root of Ambition it sprang that as well at the Treaty of Peace that passed between Edward the Fourth and Lewis the Eleventh of France concluded by Enterview of both Kings at Piqueny as upon all other Occasions Richard then Duke of Glocester stood ever upon the side of Honour raising his own Reputation to the disadvantage of the King his Brother and drawing the eyes of all specially of the Nobles and Soldiers upon himself as if the King by his voluptuous Life and mean Marriage were become Effeminate and less sensible of Honour and Reason of State than was fit for a King And as for the Politique and wholesom Laws which were Enacted in his Time they were interpreted to be but the Brocage of an Usurper thereby to wooe and winne the Hearts of the People as being conscious to himself that the true Obligations of Soveraignty in him failed and were wanting But King Henry in the very entrance of his Reign and the instant of time when the Kingdom was cast into his Arms met with a Point of great difficulty and knotty to solve able to trouble and confound the Wisest King in the newness of his Estate and so much the more because it could not endure a Deliberation but must be at once deliberated and determined There were fallen to his Lot and concurrent to his Person three several Titles to the Imperial Crown The first the Title of the Lady Elizabeth with whom by precedent Pact with the Party that brought him in he was to Marry The second the Antient and long disputed Title both by Plea and Arms of the House of Lancaster to which he was Inheritour in his own Person The third the Title of the Sword or Conquest for that he came in by Victory of Battel and that the King in possession was slain in the field The first of these was fairest and most like to give contentment to the People who by Two and twenty Years Reign of King Edward the Fourth had been fully made capable of the clearness of the Title of the White-Rose or House of York and by the milde and plausible Reign of the same King toward his latter time were become affectionate to that Line But then it lay plain before his Eyes that if he relyed upon that Title he could be but a King at Curtesie and have rather a Matrimonial than a Regal Power the Right remaining in his Queen upon whose decease either with Issue or without Issue he was to give place and be removed And though he should obtain by Parliament to be continued yet he knew there was a very great difference between a King that holdeth his Crown by a civil Act of Estates and one that holdeth it Originally by the Law of Nature and Descent of Blood Neither wanted there even at that time secret Rumors and whisperings which afterwards gathered strength and turned to great Troubles that the two young Sons of King Edward the Fourth or one of them which were said to be destroyed in the Tower were not indeed Murthered but conveyed secretly away and were yet living which if it had been true had prevented the Title of the Lady Elizabeth On the other side if he stood upon his own Title of the House of Lancaster inherent in his Person he knew it was a Title condemned by Parliament and generally prejudged in the common Opinion of the Realm and that it tended directly to the Dis-inherison of the Line of York held then the indubiate Heirs of the Crown So that if he should have no Issue by the Lady Elibabeth which should be Descendents of the Double-Line then the Ancient flames of Discord and Intestine Wars upon the Competition of both Houses would again return and revive As for Conquest notwithstanding Sir William Stanly after some Acclamations of the Soldiers in the Field had put a Crown of Ornament which Richard wore in the Battel and was found amongst the Spoils upon King Henry's Head as if there were his chief Title yet he remembred well upon what Conditions and Agreements he was brought in and that to claim as Conqueror was to put as well his own Party as the rest into Terrour and Fear as that which gave him Power of Disannulling of Laws and disposing of Mens Fortunes and Estates and the like points of Absolute Power being in themselves so harsh and odious as that William himself commonly called the Conqueror however he used and exercised the Power of a
and safe Opinion and Advice mixed with Law and Convenience which was That the Knights and Burgesses attainted by the course of Law should forbear to come into the House 'till a Law were passed for the Reversal of their Attaindors It was at that time incidently moved amongst the Judges in their Consultation what should be done for the King himself who likewise was attainted But it was with unanimous consent Resolved That the Crown takes away all defects and stops in Blood and that from the time the King did assume the Crown the Fountain was cleared and all Attaindors and Corruption of Blood discharged But nevertheless for Honours sake it was Ordained by Parliament that all Records wherein there was any memory or mention of the King's Attaindor should be defaced cancelled and taken off the File But on the part of the King's Enemies there were by Parliament attainted the late Duke of Glocester calling himself Richard the Third the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Surrey Viscount Lovel the Lord Ferrers the Lord Zouch Richard Ratcliff William Catesby and many others of degree and quality In which Bills of Attaindors nevertheless there were contained many just and temperate Clauses Savings and Proviso's well shewing and foretokening the Wisdom Stay and Moderation of the King's Spirit of Government And for the Pardon of the rest that had stood against the King the King upon a second advice thought it not fit it should pass by Parliament the better being matter of Grace to impropriate the Thanks to himself using only the Opportunity of a Parliament time the better to disperse it into the Veins of the Kingdom Therefore during the Parliament he Published his Royal Proclamation offering Pardon and Grace of Restitution to all such as had taken Arms or been participant of any Attempts against him so as they submitted themselves to his Mercy by a Day and took the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to him Whereupon many came out of Sanctuary and many more came out of Fear no less guilty than those that had taken Sanctuary As for Money or Treasure the King thought it not seasonable or fit to demand any of his Subjects at this Parliament both because he had received satisfaction from them in matters of so great Importance and because he could not remunerate them with any General Pardon being prevented therein by the Coronation-Pardon passed immediately before but chiefly for that it was in every mans Eye what great Forfeitures and Confiscations he had at that present to help himself Whereby those Casualties of the Crown might in reason spare the Purses of his Subjects especially in a time when he was in Peace with all his Neighbours Some few Laws passed at that Parliament almost for form sake amongst which there was One to reduce Aliens being made Denizens to pay Strangers Customs and another to draw to himself the Seisures and Compositions of Italian Goods for not employment being Points of Profit to his Coffers whereof from the very Beginning he was not forgetful and had been more happy at the Latter End if his early Providence which kept him from all necessity of Exacting upon his People could likewise have attemp'red his nature therein He added during Parliament to his former Creations the Innoblement or Advancement in Nobility of a few others The Lord Chandos of Britain was made Earl of Bath and Sir Giles Dawbeny was made Lord Dawbeny and Sir Robert Willoughby Lord Brook The King did also with great Nobleness and Bounty which Virtues at that time had their turns in his Nature restore Edward Stafford eldest Son to Henry Duke of Buckingham attainted in the time of King Richard not only to his Dignities but to his Fortunes and Possessions which were great to which he was moved also by a kind of Gratitude for that the Duke was the man that moved the first Stone against the Tyranny of King Richard and indeed made the King a Bridge to the Crown upon his own Ruins Thus the Parliament brake up The Parliament being dissolved the King sent forthwith Money to redeem the Marquess Dorset and Sir John Bourchier whom he had left as his Pledges at Paris for Money which he had borrowed when he made his Expedition for England And thereupon he took a fit occasion to send the Lord Treasurer and Master Bray whom he used as Counsellor to the Lord Mayor of London requiring of the City a Prest of six thousand Marks But after many Parlees he could obtain but two thousand Pounds Which nevertheless the King took in good part as men use to do that practise to borrow Money when they have no need About this time the King called unto his Privy-Council John Morton and Richard Fox the one Bishop of Ely the other Bishop of Exceter vigilant men and secret and such as kept watch with him almost upon all men else They had been both versed in his Affairs before he came to the Crown and were partakers of his adverse Fortune This Morton soon after upon the death of Bourchier ' he made Archbishop of Canterbury And for Fox he made him Lord Keeper of his Privy-Seal and afterwards advanced him by Degrees from Exceter to Bath and Wells thence to Durham and last to Winchester For although the King loved to employ and advance Bishops because having rich Bishopricks they carried their Reward upon themselves yet he did use to raise them by steps that he might not lose the profit of the First-fruits which by that course of Gradation was multiplied At last upon the Eighteenth of January was Solemnized the so long expected and so much desired Marriage between the King and the Lady Elizabeth which Day of Marriage was celebrated with greater Triumph and Demonstrations especially on the Peoples part of Joy and Gladness than the days either of his Entry or Coronation which the King rather noted than liked And it is true that all his life time while the Lady Elizabeth lived with him for she dyed before him he shewed himself no very indulgent Husband towards her though she was beautiful gentle and fruitful But his aversion towards the House of York was so predominant in him as it found place not only in his Wars and Councils but in his Chamber and Bed Towards the middle of the Spring the King full of confidence and assurance as a Prince that had been Victorious in Battel and had prevailed with his Parliament in all that he desired and had the Ring of Acclamations fresh in his Ears thought the rest of his Reign should be but Play and the enjoying of a Kingdom Yet as a wise and watchful King he would not neglect any thing for his Safety thinking nevertheless to perform all things now rather as an Exercise than as a Labour So he being truly informed that the Northern parts were not only Affectionate to the House of York but particularly had been Devoted to King Richard the Third thought it would be a Summer well spent to visit
from the one out of desire and from the other out of dissimulation about the negotiation of Peace The French King mean-while invaded Britain with great Forces and distressed the City of Nantes with a strait Siege and as one who though he had no great Judgement yet had that that he could Dissemble home the more he did urge the prosecution of the War the more he did at the same time urge the solicitation of the Peace Insomuch as during the Siege of Nantes after many Letters and particular Messages the better to maintain his dissimulation and to refresh the Treaty he sent Bernard Daubigney a person of good quality to the King earnestly to desire him to make an end of the business howsoever The King was no less ready to revive and quicken the Treaty and thereupon sent three Commissioners the Abbot of Abbington Sir Richard Tunstal and Chaplain Urswick formerly employed to do their utmost endeavours to manage the Treaty roundly and strongly About this time the Lord Woodvile Uncle to the Queen a valiant Gentleman and desirous of Honour sued to the King that he might raise some Power of Voluntaries under-hand and without licence or pasport wherein the King might any ways appear go to the ayd of the Duke of Britain The King denyed his request or at least seemed so to do and 〈◊〉 strait Commandment upon him that he should not stir for that the King thought his Honour would suffer therein during a Treaty to better a Party Nevertheless this Lord either being unruly or out of conceit that the King would not inwardly dislike that which he would not openly avow sailed secretly over into the Isle of 〈◊〉 whereof he was Governour and levied a fair Troop of four hundred men and with them passed over into Britain and joyned himself with the Duke's forces The news whereof when it came to the French Court put divers Young bloods into such a fury as the English Ambassadors were not without peril to be outraged But the French King both to preserve the Priviledge of Ambassadors and being conscious to himself that in the business of Peace he himself was the greater dissembler of the two forbad all injuries of fact or word against their Persons or Followers And presently came an Agent from the King to purge himself touching the Lord Woodvile's going over using for a principal argument to demonstrate that it was without his privity for that the Troops were so small as neither had the face of a Succour by Authority nor could much advance the Britains Affairs To which Message although the French King gave no full credit yet he made fair weather with the King and seemed satisfied Soon after the English Ambassadors returned having two of them been likewise with the Duke of Britain and found things in no other terms than they were before Upon their return they informed the King of the state of the Affairs and how far the French King was from any true meaning of Peace and therefore he was now to advise of some other course Neither was the King himself 〈◊〉 all this while with credulity meerly as was generally supposed but his Errour was not so much facility of belief as an ill-measuring of the Forces of the other Party For as was partly touched before the King had cast the business thus with himself He took it for granted in his own judgement that the War of Britain in respect of the strength of the Towns and of the Party could not speedily come to a period For he conceived that the Counsels of a War that was undertaken by the French King then Childless against an Heir-apparent of France would be very faint and slow And besides that it was not possible but that the state of France should be embroyled with some troubles and 〈◊〉 in favour of the Duke of Orleance He conceived likewise that Maximilian King of the Romans was a Prince warlike and potent who he made account would give succours to the Britains roundly So then judging it would be a work of Time he laid his Plot how he might best make use of that Time for his own affairs Wherein first he thought to make his vantage upon his Parliament knowing that they being affectionate unto the Quarrel of Britain would give Treasure largely Which Treasure as a noise of War might draw forth so a Peace succeeding might coffer up And because he knew his People were 〈◊〉 upon the business he chose rather to seem to be deceived and 〈◊〉 asleep by the French than to be backward in himself considering his Subjects were not so fully capable of the reasons of State which made him hold back Wherefore to all these purposes he saw no other expedient than to set and keep on foot a continual Treaty of Peace laying it down and taking it up again as the occurrence required Besides he had in consideration the point of Honour in bearing the blessed person of a Pacificator He thought likewise to make use of the Envy that the French King met with by occasion of this War of Britain in strengthning himself with new Alliances as namely that of Ferdinando of Spain with whom he had ever a consent even in Nature and Customs and likewise with Maximilian who was particularly interessed So that in substance he promised himself Money Honour Friends and Peace in the end But those things were too fine to be fortunate and succeed in all parts for that great affairs are commonly too rough and stubborn to be wrought upon by the finer edges or points of Wit The King was likewise deceived in his two main grounds For although he had reason to conceive that the Council of France would be wary to put the King into a War against the Heir-apparent of France yet he did not consider that Charles was not guided by any of the principal of the Blood or Nobility but by mean men who would make it their Master-piece of Credit and Favour to give venturous Counsols which no great or wise man durst or would And for Maximilian he was thought then a Greater-matter than he was his unstable and necessitous Courses being not then known After Consultation with the Ambassadors who brought him no other news than he expected before though he would not seem to know it till then he presently summoned his Parliament and in open Parliament propounded the Cause of Britain to both Houses by his Chancellor Morton Archbishop of Canterbury who spake to this effect MY Lords and Masters The King's Grace our Sovereign Lord hath commanded me to declare unto you the Causes that have moved him at this time to summon this his Parliament which I shall do in few words craving Pardon of his Grace and you all if I perform it not as I would His Grace doth first of all let you know that he retaineth in thankful memory the Love and Loyalty shewed to him by you at your last Meeting in Establishment of his Royalty freeing and discharging
to the number of eight thousand choise men and well armed who having a fair wind in few hours landed in Britain and joyned themselves forthwith to those Briton Forces that remained after the Defeat and marched straight on to find the Enemy and encamped fast by them The French wisely husbanding the possession of a Victory and well acquainted with the Courage of the English especially when they are fresh kept themselves within their Trenches being strongly lodged and resolved not to give Battel But mean-while to harrass and weary the English they did upon all advantages set upon them with their Light-horse wherein nevertheless they received commonly loss especially by means of the English Archers But upon these Atchievements Francis Duke of Britain deceased an accident that the King might easily have foreseen and ought to have reckoned upon and provided for but that the Point of Reputation when news first came of the Battel lost that somewhat must be done did over-bear the Reason of War After the Duke's decease the principal persons of Britain partly bought partly through faction put all things into confusion so as the English not finding Head or Body with whom to joyn their Forces and being in jealousie of Friends as well as in danger of Enemies and the Winter begun returned home five Months after their landing So the Battel of Saint Alban the death of the Duke and the retire of the English Succours were after some time the causes of the loss of that Duchy which action some accounted as a blemish of the King's Judgement but most but as the misfortune of his times But howsoever the temporary Fruit of the Parliament in their Ayd and Advice given for Britain took not nor prospered not yet the lasting Fruit of Parliament which is good and wholesom Laws did prosper and doth yet continue to this day For according to the Lord Chancellor's admonition there were that Parliament divers excellent Laws ordained concerning the Points which the King recommended First the Authority of the Star-Chamber which before subsisted by the ancient Common-Laws of the Realm was confirmed in certain Cases by Act of Parliament This Court is one of the sagest and noblest Institutions of this Kingdom For in the distribution of Courts of Ordinary Justice besides the High Court of Parliament in which distribution the King's-Bench holdeth the Pleas of the Crown the Common-Place Pleas-Civil the Exchequer-Pleas concerning the King's Revenue and the Chancery the Pretorian power for mitigating the rigour of Law in case of extremity by the conscience of a good man there was nevertheless always reserved a high and preheminent power to the King's Council in Causes that might in example or consequence concern the state of the Common-wealth which if they were Criminal the Council used to sit in the Chamber called the Star-Chamber if Civil in the White-Chamber or White-Hall And as the Chancery had the Pretorian power for Equity so the Star-Chamber had the Censorian power for Offences under the degree of Capital This Court of Star-Chamber is compounded of good Elements for it consisteth of four kinds of Persons Counsellors Peers Prelates and chief Judges It discerneth also principally of four kinds of Causes Forces Frauds Crimes various of Stellionate and the Inchoations or middle acts towards Crimes capital or heinous not actually committed or perpetrated But that which was principally aimed at by this act was Force and the two chief Supports of Force Combination of Multitudes and Maintenance or Headship of Great persons From the general peace of the Countrey the King's care went on to the peace of the King's House and the security of his great Officers and Counsellors But this Law was somewhat of a strange composition and temper That if any of the King's Servants under the degree of a Lord do conspire the death of any of the King's Council or Lord of the Realm it is made Capital This Law was thought to be procured by the Lord Chancellor who being a stern and haughty man and finding he had some mortal Enemies in Court provided for his own safety drowning the envy of it in a general Law by communicating the priviledge with all other Counsellors and Peers and yet not daring to extend it further than to the King's Servants in Check-roll lest it should have been too harsh to the Gentlemen and other Commons of the Kingdom who might have thought their ancient Liberty and the clemency of the Laws of England invaded If the will in any case of Felony should be made the deed And yet the reason which the Act yieldeth that is to say That he that conspireth the death of Counsellors may be thought indirectly and by a mean 〈◊〉 conspire the death of the King himself is indifferent to all Subjects as well as to Servants in Court But it seemeth this sufficed to serve the Lord Chancellor's turn at this time But yet he lived to need a General Law for that he grew afterwards as odious to the Countrey as he was then to the Court. From the peace of the King's House the King's care extended to the peace of Private Houses and Families For there was an excellent Moral Law molded thus The taking and carrying away of Women forcibly and against their will except Female-Wards and Bond-Women was made Capital The Parliament wisely and justly conceiving that the obtaining of Women by force into Possession howsoever afterwards Assent might follow by Allurements was but a Rape drawn forth in length because the first Force drew on all the rest There was made also another Law for Peace in general and repressing of Murthers and Man-slaughters and was in amendment of the Common Laws of the Realm being this That whereas by the Common Law the King's Suit in case of Homicide did expect the Year and the Day allowed to the Parties Suit by way of Appeal and that it was found by experience that the Party was many times compounded with and many times wearied with the Suit so that in the end such Suit was let fall and by that time the matter was in a manner forgotten and thereby Prosecution at the King's Suit by Indictment which is ever best Flagrante crimine neglected it was Ordained That the Suit by Indictment might be taken as well at any time within the Year and the Day as after not prejudicing nevertheless the Parties Suit The King began also then as well in Wisdom as in Justice to pare a little the Priviledge of Clergy ordaining That Clerks convict should be burned in the hand both because they might taste of some corporal Punishment and that they might carry a Brand of Infamy But for this good Acts sake the King himself was after branded by Perkin's Proclamation for an execrable breaker of the Rites of Holy Church Another Law was made for the better Peace of the Countrey by which Law the King's Officers and Farmors were to forfeit their Places and Holds in case of unlawful Retainer or partaking in Routs and
The Male-contents of his own Kingdom have not been Base Popular nor Titulary Impostors but of an higher nature The King of Spain doubt ye not will 〈◊〉 with us not knowing where the French King's Ambition will stay Our Holy Father the Pope likes no Tramontanes in Italy But howsoever it be this matter of Confederates is rather to be thought on than reckoned on For God forbid but England should be able to get Reason of France without a Second At the Battels of Cressy Poictiers Agent-Court we were of Our selves France hath much People and few Soldiers They have no stable Bands of Foot some good Horse they have but these are Forces which are least fit for a Defensive War where the Actions are in the Assailant's choice It was our Discords only that lost France and by the Power of GOD it is the good Peace which we now enjoy that will recover it GOD hath hitherto blessed my Sword I have in this time that I have Reigned weeded out my bad Subjects and tryed my good My People and I know one another which breeds Confidence And if there should be any bad Blood left in the Kingdom an Honourable Forein War will vent it or purifie it In this great Business let me have your Advice and Ayd If any of you were to make his Son Knight you might have ayd of your Tenants by Law This concerns the Knighthood and Spurs of the Kingdom whereof I am Father and bound not only to seek to maintain it but to advance it But for matter of Treasure let it not be taken from the Poorest sort but from those to whom the Benefit of the War may redound France is no Wilderness and I that profess good husbandry hope to make the War after the Beginnings to pay it self Go together in GOD's Name and lose no time for I have called this Parliament wholly for this Cause THus spake the King But for all this though he shewed great forwardness for a War not only to his Parliament and Court but to his Privy Council likewise except the two Bishops and a few more yet nevertheless in his secret intentions he had no purpose to go through with any War upon France But the truth was that he did but traffick with that War to make his Return in money He knew well that France was now entire and at unity with it self and never so mighty many years before He saw by the tast that he had of his Forces sent into Britain that the French knew well enough how to make War with the English by not putting things to the hazard of a Battel but wearing them by long Sieges of Towns and strong fortified Encampings James the Third of Scotland his true Friend and Confederate gone and James the Fourth that had succeeded wholly at the devotion of France and ill affected towards him As for the Conjunctions of Ferdinando of Spain and Maximilian he could make no foundation upon them for the one had Power and not Will and the other had Will and not Power Besides that Ferdinando had but newly taken breath from the War with the Moors and merchanded at this time with France for the restoring of the Counties of Russignon and Perpignian oppignorated to the French Neither was he out of fear of the Discontents and ill blood within the Realm which having used always to repress and appease in person he was loth they should find him at a distance beyond Sea and engaged in War Finding therefore the Inconveniences and Difficulties in the prosecution of a War he cast with himself how to compass two things The one how by the declaration and inchoation of a War to make his Profit the other how to come off from the War with saving of his Honour For Profit it was to be made two ways upon his Subjects for the War and upon his Enemies for the Peace like a good Merchant that maketh his gain both upon the Commodities Exported and Imported back again For the point of Honour wherein he might suffer for giving over the War he considered well that as he could not trust upon the ayds of Ferdinando and Maximilian for supports of War so the impuissance of the one and the double proceeding of the other lay fair for him for occasions to accept of Peace These things he did wisely fore-see and did as artificially conduct whereby all things fell into his lap as he desired For as for the Parliament it presently took fire being affectionate of old to the War of France and desirous afresh to repair the dishonour they thought the King sustained by the loss of Britain Therefore they advised the King with great alacrity to undertake the War of France And although the Parliament consisted of the first and second Nobility together with principal Citizens and Townsmen yet worthily and justly respecting more the People whose Deputies they were than their own private Persons and finding by the Lord Chancellor's Speech the King's inclination that way they consented that Commissioners should go forth for the gathering and levying of a Benevolence from the more able sort This Tax called Benevolence was devised by Edward the Fourth for which he sustained much Envy It was abolished by Richard the Third by Act of Parliament to ingratiate himself with the people and it was now revived by the King but with consent of Parliament for so it was not in the time of King Edward the Fourth But by this way he raised exceeding great summs Insomuch as the City of London in those days contributed nine thousand pounds and better and that chiefly levied upon the wealthier sort There is a Tradition of a Dilemma that Bishop Morton the Chancellor used to raise up the Benevolence to higher Rates and some called it his Fork and some his Crotch. For he had couched an Article in the Instructions to the Commissioners who were to levy the Benevolence That if they met with any that were sparing they should tell them That they must needs have because they laid up and if they were spenders they must needs have because it was seen in their port and manner of living So neither kind came amiss This Parliament was meerly a Parliament of War for it was in substance but a Declaration of War against France and Scotland with some Statutes conducing thereunto As the severe punishing of Mortpayes and keeping back of Soldiers Wages in Captains The like severity for the departure of Soldiers without licence Strengthning of the Common Law in favour of Protections for those that were in the King's service And the setting the gate open and wide for men to Sell or Mortgage their Lands without Fines for Alienation to furnish themselves with Money for the War And lastly the avoiding of all Scottish-men out of England There was also a Statute for the dispersing of the Standard of the Exchequer throughout England thereby to size Weights and Measures and two or three more of less importance After the Parliament
that the Earl compounded for no less than fifteen thousand Marks And to shew further the Kings extreme Diligence I do remember to have seen long since a Book of Accompt of Empson's that had the King's hand almost to every Leaf by way of Signing and was in some places Postilled in the Margin with the King's hand likewise where was this Remembrance Item Received of such a one five Marks for the Pardon to be procured and if the Pardon do not pass the Money to be re-paid except the party be some other-ways satisfied And over against this Memorandum of the King 's own hand Otherwise satisfied Which I do the rather mention because it shews in the King a Nearness but yet with a kind of Justness So these little Sands and Grains of Gold and Silver as it seemeth helped not a little to make up the great Heap and Bank But mean while to keep the King awake the Earl of Suffolk having been too gay at Prince Arthur's Marriage and sunk himself deep in Debt had yet once more a mind to be a Knight-Errant and to seek Adventures in Forein parts And taking his Brother with him fled again into Flanders That no doubt which gave him Confidence was the great Murmur of the People against the King's Government And being a Man of a light and rash Spirit he thought every Vapour would be a Tempest Neither wanted he some Party within the Kingdom For the Murmur of People awakes the Discontents of Nobles and again that calleth up commonly some Head of Sedition The King resorting to his wonted and tryed Arts caused Sir Robert Curson Captain of the Castle at Hammes being at that time beyond Sea and therefore less likely to be wrought upon by the King to flie from his Charge and to feign himself a servant of the Earl's This Knight having insinuated himself into the Secrets of the Earl and finding by him upon whom chiefly he had either Hope or Hold advertised the King thereof in great secrecy But nevertheless maintained his own Credit and inward trust with the Earl Upon whose Advertisements the King attached William Courtney Earl of Devonshire his Brother-in-Law married to the Lady Katherine Daughter to King Edward the Fourth William de la Pole Brother to the Earl of Suffolk Sir James Tirrel and Sir John Windham and some other meaner Persons and committed them to Custody George Lord Abergaveny and Sir Thomas Green were at the same time apprehended but as upon less Suspition so in a freer Restraint and were soon after delivered The Earl of Devonshire being interessed in the blood of York that was rather Feared than Nocent yet as One that might be the Object of others Plots and Designs remained Prisoner in the Tower during the King's life William de la Pole was also long restrained though not so straitly But for Sir James Tirrel against whom the Blood of the Innocent Princes Edward the Fifth and his Brother did still cry from under the Altar and Sir John Windham and the other meaner ones they were attainted and executed the two Knights beheaded Nevertheless to confirm the Credit of Curson who belike had not yet done all his Feats of Activity there was published at Paul's Cross about the time of the said Executions the Pope's Bull of Excommunication and Curse against the Earl of Suffolk and Sir Robert Curson and some others by name and likewise in general against all the Abettors of the said Earl Wherein it must be confessed that Heaven was made too much to bow to Earth and Religion to Policy But soon after Curson when he saw time returned into England and withal into wonted Favour with the King but worse Fame with the People Upon whose return the Earl was much dismayed and seeing himself destitute of hopes the Lady Margaret also by tract of Time and bad Success being now becom cool in those attempts after some wandering in France and Germany and certain little Projects no better than Squibs of an Exiled man being tired out retired again into the Protection of the Arch-Duke Philip in Flanders who by the death of Isabella was at that time King of Castile in the right of Joan his Wife This year being the Nineteenth of his Reign the King called his Parliament Wherein a man may easily guess how absolute the King took himself to be with his Parliament when Dudley that was so hateful was made Speaker of the House of Commons In this Parliament there were not made any Statutes memorable touching publick Government But those that were had still the Stamp of the King's Wisdom and Policy There was a Statute made for the disannulling of all Patents of Lease or Grant to such as came not upon lawful Summons to serve the King in his Wars against the Enemies or Rebels or that should depart without the King's licence With an exception of certain Persons of the Long-robe Providing nevertheless That they should have the King's Wages from their House till their return home again There had been the like made before for Offices and by this Statute it was extended to Lands But a man may easily see by many Statutes made in this King's time that the King thought it safest to assist Martial Law by Law of Parliament Another Statute was made prohibiting the bringing in of Manufactures of Silk wrought by it self or mixt with any other Thred But it was not of Stuffs of whole piece for that the Realm had of them no Manufacture in use at that time but of Knit-Silk or Texture of Silk as Ribands Laces Cawls Points and Girdles c. which the people of England could then well skill to make This Law pointed at a true Principle That where forein materials are but Superfluities forein Manufactures should be prohibited For that will either banish the Superfluity or gain the Manufacture There was a Law also of Resumption of Patents of Gaols and the Reannexing of them to the Sherifwicks Priviledged Officers being no less an Interruption of Justice than Priviledged Places There was likewise a Law to restrain the By-laws or Ordinances of Corporations which many times were against the Prerogative of the King the Common-law of the Realm and the Liberty of the Subject being Fraternities in Evil. It was therefore Provided that they should not be put in Execution without the Allowance of the Chancellor Treasurer and the two Chief-Justices or three of them or of the two Justices of Circuit where the Corporation was Another Law was in effect to bring in the Silver of the Realm to the Mint in making all clipped minished or impaired Coins of Silver not to be currant in payments without giving any Remedy of weight but with an exception only of a reasonable wearing which was as nothing in respect of the incertainty and so upon the matter to set the Mint on work and give way to New Coins of Silver which should be then minted There likewise was a long Statute against Vagabonds wherein two things
admitted to intimate familiarity and made use of their counsels and endeavours as if he had advanced them to no other end but to depress them Wolsey had his turn Cromwell succeeds whose sudden downfal there want not those who attribute to God's Justice inflicted on him for the Sacriledge whereof he was reported to be the Author committed in the subversion of so many Religious Houses And indeed even they who confess the rouzing of so many unprofitable Epicures out of their dens and the abolishing of Superstition wherewith the Divine Worship had by them been polluted to have been an act of singular Justice and Piety do notwithstanding complain of the loss of so many stately Churches dedicated to God's service the goods whereof were no otherwise employed than for the satisfaction of private mens covetousness and although many have abused the Vail of Religion yet was that Monastical life instituted according to the pious example of antient Fathers that they who found themselves unfit for the execution of worldly affairs as many such there are might in such their voluntary retirements spend their days in Divine Writings or Meditations and are verily perswaded that for the taking away of these things God was offended both with the King and Cromwell But Sleidan peradventure comes nearer the matter touching the immediate cause of his death About this time saith he the King of England beheadeth Thomas Cromwell whom he had from fortunes answerable to his low parentage raised to great Honours repadiates the Lady Ann of Cleve and marrieth Catharine Howard Daughter to the Lord Edmond Howard who was Brother to the Duke of Norfolk Cromwell had been procurer of the Match with Ann. But the King loving Catharine is thought to have been perswaded by her to make away Cromwell whom she suspected to be a Remora to her advancement The actions of Kings are not to be sifted too nearly for which we are charitably to presume they have reasons and those inscrutable But let us see the process of this Divorce Six months this conjugal band lasted firm without scruple the King and Queen giving daily testimonies of their mutual love On the twentieth of June the Queen is willed to remove from London where the King stayed by reason of the Parliament to Richmond a place pretended in regard of the situation and air to be more for her health On the sixth of July Reasons are proposed by certain Lords purposely sent to the lower House of Parliament demonstrating the invalidity of the King's Marriage with the Lady Ann so that it was lawful for them both to marry where they pleased The same reasons are alledged in the convocation-Convocation-House and generally approved Whereupon the Queen also whether forced or willing consenting the Parliament pronounced the Marriage void What the allegations were is uncertain Some relate disability by reason of some defects to be objected to her which seems the more probable for that in her Letters wherein she submitted her self to the judgment and determination of the Parliament she affirmed that the King never knew her carnally Whether for this or for that Nature having not over-liberally endowed her with Beauty but a private woman she became and as such not enduring to return to her friends with dishonour she lived upon some Lands assigned her by the King who always used her respectively until the fifteenth of July Anno 1557 at what time she ended her discontented life and lieth buried at Westminster on the South side of the Quire in a Tomb not yet finished Scarce had the resolution of the Convocation-House and the Decree concerning it passed both Houses when this lusty Widower with as good success as before marrieth his fifth Wife Catharine Howard When their Nuptials were celebrated is not known but on the eighth of August in Royal habiliments she shewed her self as Queen The fautors of Reformation were much dismayed at the sudden unqueening of Ann fearing not without cause lest it proving occasion of enmity between Henry and the Princes of Germany he must of necessity rely on them who misliked our divorce from Rome But the King proceeding still in the course he had begun like a torrent bearing all before him not only caused three Anabaptists to be burned but also many sincere Professors of the Truth for not subscribing to the Six Articles Among whom three Divines were most eminent viz. Robert Barnes Doctor of Divinity Thomas Gerard and William Jerome Bachechelors who by Parliament unheard being condemned for Heresie were on the one and thirtieth committed to the torments of the merciless fire At the same time and place three other Doctors of Divinity viz. Powel Able and Fetherston were hanged for denying the King's Supremacy the sight whereof made a French-man cry out in these words Deus bone quomodo hic vivunt gentes suspenduntur Papistae comburuntur Antipapistae Good God how do the people make a shift to live here where both Papists are hanged and Antipapists burned In August the Prior of Dancaster and six other for defending the Institution of the life Monastical a crime now become as capital as the greatest being also condemned by Act of Parliament were hanged The same day with the Lord Cromwell the Lord Hungerford was also Beheaded As their causes were divers so died they alike differently Cromwell's conscience quietly welcomed death to the other suffering for that most unnatural crime of Sodomy death presented it self with that horror that the apprehension of it made him as impatient as if he had been seised with a frenzy ANNO DOM. 1541. REG. 33. THe late Yorkshire Rebellion was not so throughly quenched but it again began to shew it self but by the punishment of the chief Incendiaries it was quickly suppressed Fourteen of the Conspirators were put to death Leigh a Gentleman Thornton a Yeoman and Tattershall a Clothier at London Sir John Nevil and ten others at York Which Commotion whether raised in favour of Religion or being suspected that it had any abettors beyond the Seas is thought to have hastened the death of the long since condemned Countess of Sarisbury who on the seven and twentieth of May was Beheaded in the Tower The eight and twentieth of June the Lord Leonard Grey Deputy of Ireland did on the Tower Hill publickly undergo the like punishment He was Son to the Marquis of Dorset near allied to the King and a brave Martial man having often done his Countrey good service But for that he had suffered his Nephew Gerard Fitz-Gerard Brother to Thomas lately executed proclaimed enemy to the Estate to make an escape and in revenge of some conceived private injury had invaded the Lands of the King's friends he was arraigned and condemned ending his life with a resolution befitting a brave Souldier The same day Thomas Fines Lord Dacres of the South with some other Gentlemen for the death of one Busbrig slain by them in a fray was hanged at Tyburn Many in
would send him into his Countrey with the honorable Title and Authority of a Legate And now he feigned to himself a double hope of a Kingdom if not Secular at least Ecclesiastical by virtue of his authority Legatine and the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury Queen Mary had her Education for some years under Margaret Countess of Salisbury the Mother of Pool who was then a Child and that by Queen Catharine's means who intended as it was thought to marry her Daughter the Lady Mary to one of the Countesses Sons thereby to strengthen her Daughters claim to the Crown if it should happen that Henry should decease without other lawful Issue the Countess being Daughter to George Duke of Clarence who was Brother to Edward the Fourth The Cardinal whether for this or some other reasons knowing himself to be in dear esteem with the Queen was confident if not of the Crown by Marriage yet at least of all advantages of her Favour Neither was he therein deceived for Mary having obtained the Crown earnestly sued unto him to restore himself to his Countrey and the Pope not ignorant how much he would advantage the Apostolick See at the Queens request dispatched him with most ample Authority But the Emperour having a Project on foot for his Son was somewhat jealous of the Cardinal and therefore began seriously to treat with Cardinal Dandino the Pope's Legate with him for the conclusion of a Peace between him and the French that so he might give a stop to Pool whose coming into England the Emperour's affairs being not yet setled might peradventure make all fly asunder Dandino to gratifie Charles by Franciseo Commendono sends Letters to Pool advising him not to set forth as yet forasmuch as this Legacy undertaken without the Emperour's consent was displeasing and the English Nation for the most part especially the Londoners did so hate the name of the Pope of Rome that his Legacy would be held in contempt among them A Legate therefore was not to be employed unto them until perswasions had brought them to a better temper Pool having received these Letters in his Cloister thought it fitting to expect his Holiness pleasure The Pope not brooking the increase of the Emperour's greatness by the addition of such Estates and fretting that Dandino had presumed to stay the Cardinal recalled Dandino and conferred on Pool alone the Legacy both into England for the one affair and to the Emperour and the French for the Treaty of a Peace He willingly undertaking it presently set forward from Trent certifying the Emperour and the French of his large Commission The Emperour perceiving that these devices would be no longer availeable sent Don Juan de Mendoza unto him with Letters wherein he plainly discovered his fear that the Cardinal's premature arrival in England might prove an obstacle to his proceedings there which were great and hopeful Wherefore it was his desire that he should either there attend his pleasure or if he would needs go further he might come to Liege and there expect the event of his designs The Cardinal upon receipt of these Letters returns to Dilling not far from Trent certifies his Holiness of the whole carriage of the Business and sends expostulatory Letters to the Emperour shewing therein what an indignity it was to Apostolick See that his Holiness Legat sent upon a Treaty of Peace and to reduce a Kingdom to the obedience of the Church should so disgracefully with contempt to his Holiness and that by the Emperour's command be detained in the midst of Germany in the sight of the Enemies of the Church That great Divine Domingo Soto Ordinary Preacher to the Emperour was then at Dilling By him he perswades the Emperour not to hinder this Legation being it would so much hazard the estate of the Church but especially of the Kingdom of England At length with much ado and that not until the Emperour had intelligence that the Articles concerning his Son's Marriage were agreed on he obtained leave to come to Brussels but on this condition that he should there reside until the Emperour were assured that the Marriage between Philip and Mary were Solemnized So to Brussels he came where having saluted the Emperour who received him very courteously and that time might not pass unprofitably with him he begins to put in execution one part of his Legation which was to draw the Emperor and the King of France to some indifferent terms of Peace The Emperour professing that he would not reject Peace upon any reasonable conditions the Cardinal goes into France to treat with Henry concerning the same thing Who made as fair shews as did the Emperour but their minds exulcerated with inveterate hate made all his pains fruitless Henry at his departure embracing him signified the sorrow he had conceived that he had not sooner occasion to be acquainted with his worth For had he truly know him his endeavours should have been totally for his advancement to the Papacy A little after his return to Brussels came the Lords Paget and Hastings Ambassadors to the Emperour from their Majesties of England who signified their joint-longing to see the Cardinal and therefore desired he might be forthwith dismissed that by virtue of his Authority he might rectifie the Church of England wonderfully out of tune by reason of the Schism wherewith it had been afflicted So in September he had leave to go for England but was by contrary winds detained at Calais until November in which month he at length arrived at Dover His entertainment was most honourable the Kings and Nobles alike striving to manifest their joy And because being in the year 1539 by Parliament declared Enemy to the Estate and by the same Law condemned to die the Estates then assembled in Parliament repealed that Act and restored him to his Blood the Kings themselves coming to the House extraordinarily for the confirmation of the Act before his arrival at London A little after his coming both Houses were sent for to the Court where the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellour having in the presence of the Kings and the assembly spoken something concerning the Cardinal's grateful arrival the Cardinal himself began a long Oration in English wherein He acknowledged how much he was bound to the Kings and the Estates of the Realm by whose favour those Laws for his Exile and Proscription were repealed and he once more made a Native of the Land He was bound by the Laws of Gratitude to endeavour the requital of this Benefit whereto an occasion happily offered it self The late Schism had separated them from the Union of the Church and made them exiles from Heaven by the Authority conferred on him by the Pope St. Peter's Successor Christ's Vicar he would bring them back into the Fold of the Church the sole means of attaining their celestial Heritage Wherefore he exhorted them ingenuously to acknowledge the Errours of these later years and to detect them with sincere alacrity
was more to the holding of the Parliament which began but seven days after It was a Pestilent-Feaver but as it seemeth not seated in the Veins or Humors for that there followed no Carbuncle no purple or livid Spots or the like the Mass of the Body being not tainted only a malign Vapour flew to the Heart and seised the Vital Spirits which stirred Nature to strive to send it forth by an extreme Sweat And it appeared by Experience that this Disease was rather a Surprize of Nature than obstinate to Remedies if it were in time looked unto For if the Patient were kept in an equal temper both for Clothes Fire and Drink moderately warm with temperate Cordials whereby Natures work were neither irritated by Heat nor turned back by Cold he commonly Recovered But infinite Persons dyed suddenly of it before the manner of the Cure and attendance was known It was conceived not to be an Epidemick Disease but to proceed from a Malignity in the Constitution of the Air gathered by the predispositions of Seasons and the speedy Cessation declared as much On Simon and Jude's Even the King dined with Thomas Bourcchier Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Cardinal and from Lambeth went by Land over the Bridge to the Tower where the morrow after he made Twelve Knights-Bannerets But for Creations he dispensed them with a sparing Hand For notwithstanding a Field so lately fought and a Coronation so near at hand he only created Three James Earl of Pembrook the King's Uncle was created Duke of Bedford Thomas the Lord Stanley the King's Father-in-Law Earl of Derby and Edward Courtney Earl of Devon though the King had then nevertheless a purpose in himself to make more in time of Parliament bearing a wise and decent respect to Distribute his Creations some to honour his Coronation and some his Parliament The Coronation followed two days after upon the Thirtyeth day of October in the year of our Lord 1485. At which time Innocent the Eighth was Pope of Rome Frederick the Third Emperour of Almaine and Maximilian his Son newly chosen King of the Romans Charles the Eighth King of France Ferdinando and Isabella Kings of Spain and James the Third King of Scotland with all which Kings and States the King was at that time in good Peace and Amity At which Day also as if the Crown upon his Head had put Perils into his Thoughts he did institute sor the better Security of his Person a Band of Fifty Archers under a Captain to attend him by the name of Yeomen of his Guard and yet that it might be thought to be rather a matter of Dignity after the imitation of that he had known abroad than any matter of Diffidence appropriate to his own Case he made it to be understood for an Ordinance not Temporary but to hold in Succession for ever after The Seventh of November the King held his Parliament at Westmister which he had Summoned immediately after his coming to London His Ends in calling a Parliament and that so speedily were chiefly three First to procure the Crown to be entayled upon himself Next to have the Attaindors of all of his Party which were in no small Number reversed and all Acts of Hostility by them done in his Quarrel remitted and discharged and on the other side to attaint by Parliament the Heads and Principals of his Enemies The Third to calm and quiet the fears of the rest of that Party by a General Pardon not being ignorant in how great danger a King stands from his Subjects when most of his Subjects are conscious in themselves that they stand in his danger Unto these three special Motives of a Parliament was added that he as a prudent and moderate Prince made this Judgement That it was fit for him to hasten to let his People see that he meant to govern by Law howsoever he came in by the Sword and fit also to reclaim them to know him for their King whom they had so lately talked of as an Enemy or Banished man For that which concerned the Entayling of the Crown more than that he was true in his own Will that he would not endure any mention of the Lady Elizabeth no not in the nature of Special-Intail he carried it otherwise with great Wisdom and measure For he did not press to have the Act penned by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoided to have it by new Law or Ordinance but chose rather a kind of middle-way by way of Establishment and that under covert and indifferent words That the inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. which words might equally be applied That the Crown should continue to him but whether as having former Right to it which was doubtful or having it then in Fact and Possession which no man denyed was left fair to Interpretation either way And again for the limitation of the Entail he did not press it to go further than to himself and to the Heirs of his Body not speaking of his right Heirs but leaving that to the Law to decide so as the Entail might seem rather a personal Favour to him and his Children than a total Dis-inherison to the House of York And in this form was the Law drawn and passed Which Statute he procured to be confirmed by the Pope's Bull the year following with mention nevertheless by way of Recital of his other Titles both of Descent and Conquest So as now the wreath of Three was made a wreath of Five for to the three first Titles of the two Houses or Lines and Conquest were added two more the Authorities Parliamentary and Papal The King likewise in the Reversal of the Attaindors of his Partakers and discharging them of all Offences incident to his service and succour had his Will and Acts did pass accordingly In the passage whereof exception was taken to divers Persons in the House of Commons for that they were Attainted and thereby not legal nor habilitate to serve in Parliament being disabled in the highest degree And that it should be a great incongruity to have them to make Laws who themselves were not Inlawed The truth was that divers of those which had in the time of King Richard been strongest and most declared for the King's Party were returned Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament whether by care or recommendation from the State or the voluntary inclination of the People many of which had been by Richard the Third attainted by Outlawries or otherwise The King was somewhat troubled with this For though it had a grave and specious Shew yet it reflected upon his Party But wisely not shewing himself at all moved therewith he would not understand it but as a Case of Law and wished the Judges to be advised thereupon who for that purpose were forthwith Assembled in the Exchequer-Chamber which is the Council-Chamber of the Judges and upon deliberation they gave a grave
the chiefest and whose Abbots had voices among the Peers in the higher House of Parliament are these St. Peter's in Westminster St. Alban's St. Edmundsbury St. Benet's of Hulme Berdney Shrewsbury Crowland Abingdon Evesham Glocester Ramsey St. Augustine's in Canterbury Selbey Peterborough St. Maries in Tork Tewksbury Reding Battel Winchcomb Hide by Winchester Cirencester Waltham Walmesbury Thorney St. John's in Colchester Coventrey Tavestock The King that he might some way supply the want of the suffrages of so many learned and wise men in the Parliament House as also that of so great a prey he might consecrate if not the tenth to Hercules at least some part to God according to his promise erected some new Bishopricks whereof one was at Westminster a place so near and contiguous to London that it might rather seem a part of the Suburbs thereof than a distinct City But a City it is and so ennobled with many stately Monuments that for Beauty it contendeth with most in Christendom In it are the chief Seat of the Prince and Palaces of the Nobility the chief seats of Justice in the Land the most magnificent Church wherein are interred most of our Kings and Nobles whose sumptuous Monuments render it unparallel'd even by the World Another was at Oxford in the Colledge founded by Cardinal Wolsey The rest at Peterborough Bristol Chester and Glocester Westminster was by Queen Mary again reduced to an Abbey and furnished with Monks of St. Benet's Order whom Queen Elizabeth again expelled and converted the Revenues of the Bishoprick to the maintenance of Scholars and other pious uses As for the other Sees they remain to this day From those antient Cathedral Churches wherein Monks were seated nothing was taken away only Canons were placed there instead of Monks as likewise in the Cathedral Churches of the new erected Bishopricks The Churches wherein antiently canons and Prebendaries were instituted are In ENGLAND York London Lincoln Sarisbury Exceter Wells Lichfield Hereford 〈◊〉 In WALES St. David's Landaff Bangor St. Asaph The CATHEDRALS founded with Monks were Canterbury Winchester Ely Norwich Worcester Rochester Duresm Carlile The new SEES where primarily were Abbeys are Oxford Bristol Glocester Chester Peterborough So there are six and twenty Bishopricks within this Realm and in every Cathedral Archdeacons Prebendaries and other Ministers as also a Dean who governs the rest unless it be in St. David's where the Chanter and Eandaf where the Archdeacon is Head of the Chapter These things thus ordered the King still jealous lest it should be conceived that he had forsaken the Religion of his Fathers began to thunder out against the maintainers of new Tenets and much against Cranmer's will by Parliament enacted the Law of the Six Articles the summ whereof was I. That if any one should deny the True and Real presence of the Body of CHRIST in the Sacrament or should maintain That the substance of Bread and Wine remained after the words of Consecration pronounced by the Priest he should be burned as an Heretick II. If any should deny the Sacrament to be sufficiently administred under one Species only III. Or should hold it lawful for Priests to be married but much more he that having entred into holy Orders should presume to take a Wife IV. Or that Chastity vowed upon mature deliberation was not to be kept V. Or that private Masses ought not to be celebrated in the Church of England or elsewhere VI. Or that Auricular Confession was not expedient he should for his errours undergo loss of life by hanging These Laws like those of Drace written in Blood were the destruction of multitudes and silenced those who had been hitherto furtherers of Reformation Among whom Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Schaxton Bishops the one of Worcester the other of Salisbury were remarkable who that they might quietly enjoy themselves the Parliament being scarce dissolved did both on one day viz. the first of July resign their Bishopricks Latimer who for the freedom of his conscience could as willingly resign his life as he did this rich Bishoprick being burned for it in Queen Maries reign after his Resignation taking off his Rochet being a merry conceited man with a little leap lifted himself from the ground saying that He felt himself much more light and quick now he had freed himself of so great a burthen Henry in regard of his wiving disposition had long continued a Widower And that he should at length marry the consideration of his Estate being surrounded with Enemies passionate in the Pope's cause perswaded him Wherein he also gave ear to Cromwell who advised him to combine with those Estates whom the burthen of the Pope's tyranny had forced to the same courses and like fears By whose assistance he might countermine the secret practices of Rome A counsel without doubt good and befitting the times but producing the effects of Ill ones proving as is thought Pernicious to the Giver For the treatise of such a Match in September came into England Frederick Duke and Elector of Saxony Frederick Duke of Bavaria Otho Henry Count Palatine of Rhine and the Chancellour of the Duke of Cleve with some others who were for eight days Royally entertained by the King at Windsor where the Marriage with Ann Sister to the Duke of Cleve being concluded they returned to their own Countries This year died Margaret Queen of Scotland Sister to King Henry who was buried at the Charterhouse in the Town of St. John near the Tomb of James the First ANNO DOM. 1540. REG. 32. ON the Eve of the Circumcision the Lady Ann of Cleve destinated to the King's Bed arrived at Dover was on the third of January triumphantly received at Greenwich and on the Feast of the Epiphany ritely married to the King On the twelfth of March Henry Bourchier Earl of Essex the antientest Earl of the Realm thrown by an unruly young Horse which he sought to break brake his neck By whose death the Inheritance was devolved to his Daughter and from her deceasing without Issue to the Family of Deureux which Family in regard of their claim by descent was by Queen Elizabeth advanced to the Earldom of Essex But in the mean time Cromwell yet chief in the King's favour was on the eighteenth of April created Earl of Essex And here behold the frailty of Human affairs The current of few years had from very mean beginnings brought Cromwell to the height of Honour insomuch that his happiness was admired by all envied by many But Fortune intending a Tragedy he is unexpectedly apprehended sitting at the Council-Table and committed to the Tower where he continued until his Execution For in this Parliament begun the twelfth of April he is accused of Treason and Heresie without being brought to his answer condemned and on the twenty eighth of July beheaded This King may well be censured of cruel inconstancy who could so easily dispense with the death of those whom he had
the Judges and chief Lawyers of the Realm at his left hand sate the Temporal Lords and behind them the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber Lambert being brought to the Bar Day Bishop of Chichester by the King's appointment made an Oration wherein he declared the cause of this meeting saying That Lambert having been accused of Heresie before his Ordinary had made his Appeal unto the King as if expecting from his Majesty more favour for Heresie than from the Bishop So that he now found it to be true whereof he had been oft informed That the credulous People were verily perswaded that his Majesty abhorring the Religion of his Ancestors had embraced the new Tenets lately broached in Germany True it was the tyranny of the Court of Rome had been troublesom to his Predecessors but to Him intolerable and therefore had He shaken it off That Religion might no longer patronize Idleness He had expelled Monks who were no other than Drones in the Bee-hive He had taken away the idolatrous worship of Images had permitted to his Subjects the reading and knowledge of God's Word hitherto prohibited by the Church of Rome lest their wiles and cozenages should be discovered And had made reformation in some other things peradventure of less moment which no man could deny would much redound to the good both of Church and Commonwealth But as for other things He had determined there should be no change in the Church during his Reign Which his Resolution He now intended publickly to manifest His Majesty's desire was That the Delinquent renouncing his Errours should suffer himself to be received into the bosom of the Church To which end partly and partly to shew that He thirsted not after any one's blood out of his elemency He had procured the presence of those Grave and Learned men meaning the Bishops who by Authority and force of Arguments should if it were possible bring back this strayed Sheep into the Fold of the Church But if he perversly oppugned the Truth and all perswasions notwithstanding became immoveable He would by this man's exemplary punishment make known what others should in the like Case expect and instruct the Judges and Magistrates what they ought to do therein The Bishop having ended the King demanded of Lambert What he thought of the presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament Whose answer being little to the King 's liking reasons and arguments were produced as if a Disputation in the Schools and not a Justiciary Session had been appointed Five whole hours this Disputation lasted the King being as it were Prior Opponent Archbishop Cranmer also and nine other Bishops forcibly pressing upon poor Lambert But neither this course nor the battery of threats and terrours prevailing against his constancy the King commanded the Lord Cromwell to pass sentence of condemnation upon him by virtue whereof within a day or two after he was burned Neither this dreadful Sentence nor his torturing death did any way appale him which he so little regarded that going to his death he merrily took his Breakfast with some Gentlemen into whose company he chanced as if he had been going to some sportful Game rather than his Execution ANNO DOM. 1539. REG. 31. ON the third of March Sir Nicholas Carew Knight of the Garter and Master of the Horse was beheaded for being of Counsel with the Marquess of Exceter and the Lord Mountague And on the eight and twentieth of April a Parliament began wherein Margaret Countess of Salisbury Mother to Cardinal Pool and Daughter to George Duke of Clarence who was Brother to Edward the Fourth was attainted of high Treason and condemned without hearing and with her the Cardinal her Son Gertrude Widow to the Marquess of Exceter Sir Adrian Fortescue and Sir Thomas Dingley Dingley and Fortescue were beheaded on the tenth of July and the Countess being then aged threescore and ten years suffered two years after In the same Parliament it was Enacted That the King might erect new Episcopal Sees in opportune places of the Realm For the performance whereof and of some other things no less specious the late dissolution of those Abbeys whereon the King seised was confirmed and all Religious Houses as yet unsuppressed were granted to the King for ever Upon notice whereof many either out of guilt of conscience or desirous to purchase the King's favour surrendred their charge even before they were required And first of all the Abbot and Convent of St. Albans the first Abbot of the Realm as St. Alban was the first Martyr which Honour was conferred on this House by Pope Adrian the Fourth whose Father had long lived a Monastical life therein forsake their rich Abbey seated near the ruins of Verolamium once a great and antient City and leave it to the mercy of the Courtiers Which dereliction afforded matter of example to many other few enjoying that security of conscience that they durst lay claim to their own Only three were found whose innocence made them so regardless of threats promises or reward that they could never be induced to betray the goods of their Churches to the merciless impiety of sacrilegious Harpies Which three were John Bech Abbot of Colchester in Essex Hugh Faringdon Abbot of the Abbey of Reding built by Henry the First for the place of his Sepulture and Richard Whiting Abbot of Glastonbury one of the stateliest and antientest Monasteries of Europe being first builded by Joseph of Arimathea who buried the Body of our Saviour Christ and is himself there interred as is also beside some Saxon Kings that most renowned King Arthur whose glorious Acts had they been undertaken by a fit Historian would have ranked him among the antient Worthies without the help of a fabulous Romance Against these men therefore other courses not availing that one was taken of administring the Oath of Supremacy which they refusing are as enemies to the Estate condemned of high Treason Bech was hanged at Colchester and Faringdon with two Priests named Rug and Ognion at Reding Whiting a man very aged and by reason thereof doating scarce perceiving that he had been condemned returning from the place of Judgment which was in the Bishop's Palace at Wells distant from Glastonbury four miles with conceit that he was restored to his Abbey was suddenly rapt up to the top of the Tor a Hill that surveys the Countrey round about and without leave of bidding his Convent farewel which he earnestly begged was presently hanged the stain of ingratitude sticking fast to the authors of this speedy execution of whom the poor Abbot is reported to have better deserved With Whiting were two Monks also executed named Roger James and John Thorn their Bodies all drawn and quartered and set up in divers places of the Countrey The punishment of these few so terrified the rest that without more ado they permitted all to the King's disposal The number of those that were supprest is not easily cast But the names of