The King did also set forward the Printing of the English Bible which was finished this year at London by Grafton the Printer who Printed 1500 of them at his own Charge This Bible Cromwel presented to the King and procured his Warrant allowing all his Subjects in all his Dominions to read it without controul or hazard For which the Arch-Bishop wrote Cromwel a Letter of most hearty thanks dated the 13th of August Who did now rejoyce that he saw this day of Reformation which he concluded was now risen in England since the Light of Gods word did shine over it without any Cloud The Translation had been sent over to France to be Printed at Paris the workmen in England not being judged able to do it as it ought to be Therefore in the year 1537. it was recommended to Bonners care who was then Ambassador at Paris and was much in Cromwels favour who was setting him up against Gardiner He procured the King of France's leave to Print it at Paris in a large Volume but upon a complaint made by the French Clergy the Press was stopt and most of the Copies were seized on and publickly burnt but some Copies were conveyed out of the way and the work-men and fourms were brought over to England where it was now finished and published And Injunctions were given out in the Kings name by Cromwel to all Incumbents to provide one of these Bibles and set it up publickly in the Church and not to hinder or discourage the reading of it but to encourage all persons to peruse it as being the true lively word of God which every Christian ought to believe embrace and follow if he expected to be saved And all were exhorted not to make contests about the Exposition or sense of any difficult place but to refer that to men of higher judgment in the Scriptures Then some other Rules were added about the Instructing the people in the Principles of Religion by teaching the Creed the Lords Prayer and ten Commandments in English And that in every Church there should be a Sermon made every quarter of an year at least to declare to the people the true Gospel of Christ and to exhort them to the works of Charity Mercy and Faith and not to trust in other mens works or Pilgrimages to Images or Relicks or saying over Beads which they did not understand since these things tended to Idolatry and Superstition which of all offences did most provoke Gods Indignation They were to take down all Images which were abused by Pilgrimages or offerings made to them and to suffer no Candles to be set before any Image only there might be Candles before the Cross and before the Sacrament and about the Sepulchre And they were to Instruct the people that Images served only as the Books of the un-learned to be remembrances of the Conversations of them whom they represented but if they made any other use of Images it was Idolatry for remedying whereof as the King had already done in part so he intended to do more for the abolishing such Images which might be a great offence to God and a danger to the Souls of his Subjects And if any of them had formerly Magnified such Images or Pilgrimages to such purposes They were ordered openly to recant and acknowledg that in saying such things they had been led by no ground in Scripture but where deceived by a vulgar error which had crept into the Church through the Avarice of those who had profit by it They were also to discover all such as were Letters of the reading of Gods word in English or hindred the Execution of these Injunctions Then followed orders for keeping of Registers in their Parishes for Reading all the Kings Injunctions once every quarter at least That none were to alter any of the Holy-days without directions from the King And all the Eves of the Holy-days formerly abrogated were declared to be no Fasting-days The Commemoration of Thomas Becket was to be clean omitted The kneeling for the Avies after Sermon were also forbidden which were said in hope to obtain the Popes Pardon And whereas in their Processions they used to say so many Suffrages with an Ora pro nobis to the Saints by which they had not time to say the Suffrages to God himself they were to teach the people that it were better to omit the Ora pro nobis and to sing the other Suffrages which were most necessary and most effectual These Injunctions struck at three main Points of Popery containing encouragements to the vulgar to Read the Scriptures in a known tongue and putting down all worship of Images and leaving it free for any Curate to leave out the Suffrages to the Saints So that they were looked on as a deadly blow to that Religion But now those of that party did so Artificially comply with the King that no advantages could be found against any of them for their disobedience The King was Master at home and no more to be disobeyed He had not only broken the Rebellion of his own Subjects and secured himself by Alliance from the dangers threatned him by the Pope but all their expectations from the Lady Mary were now clouded For on the 12th of October 1537. Queen Iane had born him a Son who was Christned Edward the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being one of his God-Fathers This very much encouraged all that were for Reformation and disheartned those who were against it But the joy for this young Prince was qualified by the Queens death two days after which afflicted the King very much for of all his Wives she was the dearest to him And his grief for that loss is given as the reason why he continued two years a Widower But others thought he had not so much tenderness in his Nature as to be much or long troubled for any thing Therefore the slowness of his Marrying was ascribed to some reasons of State But the Birth of the Prince was a great disappointment to all those whose hopes rested on the Lady Maries succeeding her Father Therefore they submitted themselves with more than ordinary Compliance to the King Gardiner was as busie as any in declaiming against the Religious Houses and took occasion in many of his Sermons to commend the King for suppressing them The Arch-Bishop of York had recovered himself at Court And I do not find that he interposed in the Suppression of any of the Religious Houses except Hexham about which he wrote to Cromwel that it was a great Sanctuary when the Scots made Inroads And so he thought that the continuing of it might be of great use to the King He added in that Letter that he did carefully silence all the Preachers of Novelties But some of these boasted that they would shortly have Licences from the King as he heard they had already from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but he desired Cromwel to prevent that mischief This is all that I
correspondence with the King fell to the ground with her but he may well cite Cochleus an Author of the same honesty with himself from whose writings we may with the like security make a judgment of Forreign Matters as we may upon Sanders's testimony believe the account he gives of English Affairs 90. He tells us among other things done by the King and picks it out as the only instance he mentions of the King's Injunctions that the People should be taught in Churches the Lord's Prayer the Ave the Creed and the Ten Commandments in English It seems this Author thought the giving these Elements of Religion to the People in the vulgar Tongue a very heinous Crime when this is singled out from all the rest 91. That being done he says there was next a Book published called Articles appointed by the King's Majesty which were the six Articles This shews that he either had no information of English Affairs or was sleeping when he wrote this for the Six Articles were not published soon after the Injunctions as he makes it by the same Parliament and Convocation but three years after by another Parliament They were never put in a Book nor published in the King's Name they were Enacted in Parliament and are neither more nor less than 25 lines in the first Impression of that Act so far short come they of a Book 92. He reckons up very defectively the differences between the Church of Rome and the Doctrine set forth by the King's Authority but in one point he shews his ordinary wit for in the sixth particular he says He retained the Sacrament of Order but appointed a new Form of Consecrating of Bishops This he put in out of malice that he might annul the Ordinations of that time but the thing is false for except that the Bishops instead of their Oaths of Obedience to the Pope which they formerly swore did not swear to the King there was no other change made and that to be sure is no part of the Form of Consecration 93. He resolved once to speak what he thought was Truth tho it be treasonable and impious and says Upon these changes many in Lincolnshire and the Northern parts did rise for Religion and the Faith of Christ. This was indeed the motive by which their Seditious Priests misled them yet he is mistaken in the time for it was not after the six Articles were published but almost three years before it Nor was it for the Faith of Christ which teaches us to be humble subject and obedient but because the King was removing some of the corruptions of that Faith which their false Teachers did impiously call the Faith of Christ. 94. He says The King did promise most faithfully that all these things of which they complained should be amended This is so evidently false that it is plain Sanders resolved dextrously to avoid the speaking of any sort of Truth for the King did fully and formally tell them he would not be directed nor counselled by them in these Points they complained of and did only offer them an Amnesty for what was past 95. Then he reckons up 32 that died for the defence of the Faith They were attainted of Treason for being in actual Rebellion against the King and thus it appears that Rebellion was the Faith in his sense and himself died for it or rather in it having been starved to death in a Wood to which he fled after one of his rebellious Attempts on his Soveraign in which he was the Pope's Nuncio 96. He says The King killed the Earl of Kildare and five of his Uncles By this strange way of expressing a legal Attainder and the execution of a Sentence for manifest Treason and Rebellion he would insinuate on the Reader a fancy that one of Bonner's cruel fits had taken the King and that he had killed those with his own hand The Lord Herbert has fully opened that part of the History from the Records that he saw and shews that a more resolved Rebellion could not be than that was of which the Earl of Kildare and his Uncles were guilty But because they sent to the Pope and Emperor for assistance the Earl desiring to hold the Kingdom of Ireland of the Pope since the King by his Heresie had fallen from his Right to it Sanders must needs have a great kindness for their memory who thus suffered for his Faith 97. He says Queen Iane Seimour being in hard labour of Prince Edward the King ordered her Body to be so opened by Surgeons that she died soon after All this is false for she had a good Delivery as many Original Letters written by her Council that have been since printed do shew but she died two days after of a distemper incident to her Sex 98. He sets down some Passages of Cardinal Pole's Heroical Constancy which being proved by no Evidence and not being told by any other Writer whom I ever saw are to be lookt on as the flourishes of the Poet to set off his Hero 99. He would perswade the World that the Marquess of Exceter the Lord Montacute and the rest that suffered at that time died because they were believed to dislike the King 's wicked Proceedings and that the Countess of Sarum was beheaded on this single account that she was the Mother of such a Son and was sincerely addicted to the Catholick Faith and that she was condemned because she wrote to her Son and for wearing in her Breast the Picture of the five Wounds of Christ. The Marquess of Exceter pretended he was well satisfied with the King's Proceedings and was Lord Stewart when the Lords Darcy and Hussie were tried and he gave judgment against them But it being discovered that he and other Persons approved of Cardinal Pole's proceedings who endeavoured to engage all Christian Princes in a League against the King pursuant to which they had expressed themselves on several occasions resolved when a fit opportunity offered it self to rebel it was no wonder if the King proceeded against them according to Law And for the Countess of Sarum tho the legality of that Sentence passed against her cannot be defended yet she had given great offence not only by her correspondence with her Son but by the Bulls she had received from Rome and by her opposing the King's Injunctions hindring all her Tenants to read the New Testament or any other Books set out by the King's order And for the Picture which was found among her Cloaths it having been the Standard of the Rebellion and the Arms of England being found on the other side of it there was just ground to suspect an ill design in it 100. He says The Images which the King destroyed were by many wonderful Works of God recommended to the Devotion of the Nation All the wonder in these Works was the knavery of some jugling Impostors and the simplicity of a credulous multitude of
Preheminence of the See of Rome flowed only from the Laws of men so there was now good cause to repeal these for the Pope as was said in the Council of Basil was only Vicar of the Church and not of Christ so he was accountable to the Church The Council of Constance and the Divines of Paris had according to the Doctrine of the Ancient Church declared the Pope to be subject to a General Council which many Popes in former Ages had confessed And all that the Pope can claim even by the Canon-Law is only to call and preside in a General Council but not to overrule it or have a Negative vote in it The Power of Councils did not extend to Princes Dominions or Secular Matters but only to points of Faith which they were to declare and to Condemn Hereticks nor were their Decrees Laws till they were Enacted by Princes Upon this he enlarged much to show that though a Council did proceed against a King with which they then Threatned the King that their Sentence was of no force as being without their Sphere The determination of Councils ought to be well considered and examined by the Scriptures and in matters indifferent men ought to be left to their freedom he taxed the severity of Victors Proceedings against the Churches of the East about the day of Easter And concluded that as a Member of the Body is not cut off except a Gangrene comes in it so no part of the Church ought to be cut off but upon a great and inevitable cause And he very largely showed with what moderation and charity the Church should proceed even against those that held errors And the Standard of the Councils definitions should only be taken from the Scriptures and not from mens Traditions He said some General Councils had been rejected by others and it was a tender point how much ought to be deferred to a Council some Decrees of Councils were not at all obeyed The Divines of Paris held that a Council could not make a new Article of Faith that was not in the Scriptures And as all Gods Promises to the people of Israel had this condition implyed within them If they kept his Commandments so he thought the Promises to the Christian Church had this condition in them If they kept the Faith Therefore he had much doubting in himself as to General Councils and he thought that only the word of God was the Rule of Faith which ought to take place in all Controversies of Religion The Scriptures were called Canonical as being the only Rules of the Faith of Christians and these by appointment of the Ancient Councils were only to be read in the Churches The Fathers SS Ambrose Ierome and Austin did in many things differ from one another but always appealed to the Scriptures as the common and certain standard And he cited some remarkable passage out of St. Austin to show what difference he put between the Scriptures and all the other Writings even of the best and holiest Fathers But when all the Fathers agreed in the Exposition of any place of Scripture he acknowledged he looked on that as flowing from the Spirit of God and it was a most dangerous thing to be wise in our own Conceit Therefore he thought Councils ought to found their decisions on the word of God and those expositions of it that had been agreed on by the Doctors of the Church Then he discoursed very largely what a person a Judge ought to be he must not be Partial nor a Judge in his own Cause nor so much as sit on the Bench when it is tryed lest his presence should over-awe others Things also done upon a common error cannot bind when the error upon which they were done comes to be discovered and all human Laws ought to be changed when a publick visible inconvenience follows them From which he concluded that the Pope being a Party and having already passed his Sentence in things which ought to be examined by a General Council could not be a Judge nor sit in it Princes also who upon a common mistake thinking the Pope Head of the Church had sworn to him finding that this was done upon a false ground may pull their Neck out of his Yoke as every man may make his escape out of the hands of a Robber And the Court of Rome was so corrupt that a Pope though he mean't well as Hadrian did yet could never bring any good design to an issue the Cardinals and the rest of that Court being so engaged to maintain their Corruptions These were the Heads of that Discourse which it seems he gave them in writing after he had delivered it but he promised to entertain them with another Discourse of the Power the Bishops of the Christian Church have in their Sees and of the Power of a Christian Prince to make them do their duty but that I could never see and I am afraid it is lost All this I thought necessary to open to show the State of the Court and the Principles that the several Parties in it went upon when the Reformation was first brought under Consideration in the third Period of this Kings Reign to which I am now advanced The end of the Second Book EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI D. THOMAE CRANMERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIâ—NSIS HHolbein pinxit Natus 1489 Iuly 2. Consecratus 1533 Mar. 30. Martyrio Coronatus 1556 Mar. 21. 〈…〉 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th THe King having passed through the Traverses and tossings of his Sute of Divorce and having with the concurrence both of his Clergy and Parliament brought about what he had projected seem'd now at ease in his own Dominions But though matters were carryed in Publick Assemblies smoothly and successfully yet there were many secret discontents which being fomented both by the Pope and the Emperors Agents wrought him great trouble so that the rest of his life was full of vexation and disquiet All that were zealously addicted to that which they called the Old Religion did conclude that what-ever firmness the King expressed to it now was either pretended out of Policy for avoiding the Inconveniences which the fears of a Change might produce or though he really intended to perform what he professed yet the Interests in which he must embarque with the Princess of Germany against the Pope and the Emperor together with the Power that the Queen had over him and the credit Cranmer and Cromâ—ell had with him would prevail on him to change some things in Religion And they look'd on these things as so complicated together that the change of any one must needs make way for change in more since that struck at the Authority of the Church and left people at liberty to dispute the Articles of Faith This they thought was a Gate opened to Heresie
or Monk of this House have any Child or Boy laying or privily accompanying with him or otherwise haunting unto him other than to help him to Mass. Also that the Brethren of this House when they be sick or evil at ease be seen unto and be kept in the Infirmary duly as well for their sustenance of Meat and Drink as for their good keeping Also that the Abbot or President keep and find in some University one or two of his Brothers according to the Ability and Possessions of this House which Brethren after they be learned in good and holy Letters when they return home may instruct and teach their Brethren and diligently preach the Word of God Also that every day by the space of one hour a Lesson of Holy Scripture be kept in this Covent to which all under pain by this said President to be moderated shall resort which President shall have Authority to dispense with them that they with a low and treatable voice say their long hours which were wont to be sung Also that the Brethren of this House after Divine Service done read or hear somewhat of Holy Scripture or occupy themself in some such like honest and laudable exercise Also that all and every Brethren of this House shall observe the Rule Statutes and laudable Customs of this Religion as far as they do agree with Holy Scripture and the Word of God And that the Abbot Prior or President of this Monastery every day shall expound to his Brethren as plainly as may be in English a certain part of the Rule that they have professed and apply the same always to the Doctrine of Christ and not contrariwise and he shall teach them that the said Rule and other their Principles of Religion so far as they be laudable be taken out of Holy Scripture and he shall show them the places from whence they were derived and that their Ceremonies and other observances of Religion be none other things than as the first Letters or Principles and certain Introductions to true Christianity or to observe an order in the Church And that true Religion is not contained in Apparel manner of going shaven Heads and such other marks nor in silence fasting up-rising in the night singing and such other kind of Ceremonies but in cleanness of mind pureness of living Christ's Faith not feigned and brotherly Charity and true honouring of God in Spirit and Verity And that those above-said things were instituted and begun that they being first exercised in these in process of time might ascend to those as by certain steps that is to say to the chief point and end of Religion and therefore let them be diligently exhorted that they do not continually stick and surcease in such Ceremonies and Observances as tho they had perfectly fulfilled the chief and outmost of the whole true Religion but that when they have once past such things they endeavour themselves to higher things and convert their minds from such external Matters to more inward and deeper Considerations as the Law of God and Christian Religion doth teach and show And that they assure not themselves of any Reward or Commodity any wise by reason of such Ceremonies and Observances except they refer all such to Christ and for his sake observe them and for that they might thereby the more easily keep such things as he hath commanded as well to them as to all Christian People Also that the Abbot and President of this Place shall make a full and true reckoning and accompt of his Administration every year to his Brethren as well of his Receipts as Expences and that the said Accompt be written in a great Book remaining with the Covent Also that the Abbot and President of this House shall make no waste of the Woods pertaining to this House nor shall set out unadvisedly any Farmes or Reversions without the consent of the more part of the Convent Also that there be assigned a Book and a Register that may copy out into that Book all such Writings word by word as shall pass under the Convent-Seal of this House Also that no Man be suffered to profess or to wear the Habit of Religion in this House e're he be 24 years of Age compleat And that they entice nor allure no Man with suasions and blandyments to take the Religion upon him Item that they shall not shew no Reliques or feigned Miracles for encrease of Lucre but that they exhort Pilgrims and Strangers to give that to the Poor that they thought to offer to their Images or Reliques Also that they shall suffer no Fairs or Markets to be kept or used within the limits of this House Also that every Brother of this House that is a Priest shall every day in his Mass pray for the most happy and most prosperous estate of our Sovereign Lord the King and his most noble and lawful Wife Queen Ann. Also that if either the Master or any Brother of this House do infringe any of the said Injunctions any of them shall denounce the same or procure to be denounced as soon as may be to the King's Majesty or to his Visitor-General or his Deputy And the Abbot or Master shall minister spending Mony and other Necessaries for the way to him that shall so denounce Other Spiritual Injunctions may be added by the Visitor as the place and nature of the Comperts shall require after his discretion Reserving Power to give more Injunctions and to examine and discuss the Comperts to punish and reform them that be convict of any notable Crime to search and try the Foundations Charters Donations Appropriations and Muniments of the said Places and to dispose all such Papistical Escripts as shall be there found to the Right Honourable Mr. Thomas Cromwell General-Visitor to the King 's said Highness as shall seem most expedient to his high wisdom and discretion III. Some Particulars relating to the Dissolution of Monasteries Section I. The Preamble of the Surrender of the Monastery of Langden OMnibus Christi fidelibus c. Willielmus Dyer Abbas Monasterii Beatae Mariae Virginis S. Thomae Martyris de Langden in Com. Kent ejusdem loci Conventus Ordinis Praemonstrat capitulum dictae domus plene facientes ejusdemque domus quae in suis fructibus redditibus provenien even emolumen non mediocriter deteriorata est quasi in totum diminuta ingentique aere alieno obruta oppressa gravata extitit statum usque adeo matura deliberatione diligenti tractatu considerantes ponderantes pensantes quod nisi celeri remedio regia provisione huic Monasterio sive Prioratui quippe quod de ejus fundatione personatu existit brevi succuratur provideatur funditus in Spiritualibus Temporalibus annihiletur per praesentes damus concedimus c. The rest follows in the ordinary form of Law but the ordinary Preamble in most Surrenders is Omnibus Christi fidelibus c. Nos Salutem Sciatis
THE Historie of the REFORMATION of the CHURCH of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Ric Chiswell Whitehall May 23. 1679. THis Book entituled The History of the Reformation of the Church of ENGLAND having been perused and approved by Persons of eminent Quality and several Divines of great Piety and Learning who have recommended it as a Work very fit to be made publick as well for the Usefulness of the Matter as for the Industry and Integrity the Author hath used in compiling of it the Honourable Mr. SECRETARY COVENTRY doth therefore allow it to be Printed and Published IO. COOKE THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England The First Part OF THE Progress made in it during the Reign OF K. Henry the VIII By GILBERT BVRNET LONDON Printed by T. H. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXIX TO THE KING SIR THE first step that was made in the Reformation of this Church was the restoring to your Royal Ancestors the Rights of the Crown and an entire Dominion over all their Subjects of which they had been disseised by the craft and violence of an unjust Pretender to whom the Clergy though your Majesties Progenitors had enriched them by a bounty no less profuse than ill-managed did not only adhere but drew with them the Laity over whose Consciences they had gained so absolute an Authority that our Kings were to expect no Obedience from their people but what the Popes were pleased to allow It is true the Nobler part of the Nation did frequently in Parliament assert the Regal Prerogatives against those Papal invasions yet these were but faint endeavours for an ill-executed Law is but an unequal match to a Principle strongly infused into the Consciences of the people But how different was this from the teaching of Christ and his Apostles They forbad men to use all those Arts by which the Papacy grew up and yet subsists They exhorted them to obey Magistrates when they knew it would cost them their Lives They were for setting up a Kingdom not of this World nor to be attained but by a holy and peaceable Religion If this might every-where take place Princes would find Government both easie and secure It would raise in their Subjects the truest courage and unite them with the firmest charity It would draw from them Obedience to the Laws and Reverence to the persons of their Kings If the Standards of Justice and Charity which the Gospel gives of doing as we would be done by and loving our Neighbours as our selves were made the measures of mens actions how steadily would Societies be governed and how exactly would Princes be obeyed The design of the Reformation was to restore Christianity to what it was at first and to purge it of those Corruptions with which it was over-run in the later and darker Ages GREAT SIR This work was carryed on by a slow and unsteady Progress under King Henry the VIII it advanced in a fuller and freer course under the short but blessed Reign of King Edward was Sealed with the blood of many Martyrs under Queen Mary was brought to a full settlement in the happy and glorious days of Queen Elizabeth was defended by the learned Pen of King Iames but the established frame of it under which it had so long flourished was overthrown with your Majesties blessed Father who fell with it and honoured it by his unexempled Suffering for it and was again restored to its former beauty and order by your Majesties happy Return What remains to compleat and perpetuate this Blessing the composing of our differences at home the establishing a closer correspondence with the Reformed Churches abroad the securing us from the restless and wicked practices of that Party who hoped so lately to have been at the end of their designs and that which can only entitle us to a Blessing from God the Reforming of our manners and lives as our Ancestors did our Doctrine and Worship All this is reserved for your Majesty that it may appear that your Royal Title of Defender of the Faith is no empty sound but the real strength and Glory of your Crown For attaining these ends it will be of great use to trace the steps of our first Reformers for if the land-marks they set be observed we can hardly go out of the way This was my chief design in the following sheets which I now most humbly offer to your Majesty hoping that as you were graciously pleased to command that I should have free access to all Records for composing them so you will not deny your Royal Patronage to the History of that Work which God grant your Majesty may live to raise to its perfection and to compleat in your Reign the Glory of all your Titles This is a part of the most earnest as well as the daily Prayers of May it please Your Sacred Majesty Your Majesties most Loyal most Faithful and most devoted Subject and Servant G. BVRNET THE CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME BOOK I. A Summary View of King Henry the Eighths Reign till the Process of his Divorce was begun in which the State of England chiefly as it related to Religion is opened Page 1. BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katherine and of what passed from the 19th to the 25th year of his Reign in which he was declared Supream Head of the Church of England Page 34. BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Page 179. COLLECTION OF RECORDS c. Ad Librum Primum Page 3. Ad Librum Secundum Page 9. Ad Librum Tertium Page 131. An Appendix concerning the Errors and Falsehoods in Sanders's Book of the English Schism Page 273. ADDENDA Page 305. ERRATA in the Historical part PAge 12. Line 6. Margent for 15. read 1st p. 49. l. 19. for chiefly r. clearly p. 54. l. 15. for 10. r. 13. p. 103. l. 32. Abisha r. Abishag p. 109. l. 47. had r. has p. 115. l. 10. having r. had p. 126. l. 9. before officiate r. did p. 151. l. 31. speak r. spake p. 173. l. 31. dele a. p. 186. l. 25. Pachon r. Pachom p. 198. l. 8. co r. to p. 203. l. 41. then r. that p. 205. l. 20. being her last words r. her last words being p. 235. l. 44. that so r. so that p. 239. l. 33. was r. is p. 259. l. 42. As r. All. p. 264. l. 15. down r. out p. 275. l. 5. no r. on p. 283. l. 49. in that r. that in l. 51. the great charges of r. of the great charges p. 284. l. 21. person r. prison p. 327. l. 31. desertion r. discovery p. 333. Marginal Note resentments r. preâ—erments Informers r. Reformers p. 344. l. 22. before he r. that p. 369. l. 5. utrumque r. utcumque Some Literal faults and mistakes in the Punctuation the Reader will more easily Correct THE
PREFACE THere is no Part of History better received than the Account of great Changes and Revolutions of States and Governments in which the Variety of unlooked-for Accidents and Events both entertains the Reader and improves him Of all Changes those in Religion that have been sudden and signal are enquired into with the most searching Curiosity where the Salvation of Souls being concern'd the better sort are much affected and the Credit Honour and Interest of Churches and Parties draw in these who though they do not much care for the Religious part yet make noise about it to serve other Ends. The Changes that were made in Religion in the last Century have produc'd such effects everywhere that it is no wonder if all persons desire to see a clear account of the several steps in which they advanced of the Counsels that directed them and the Motives both Religious and Political that enclined men of all conditions to concur in them Germany produced a Sleidan France a Thuanus and Italy a Frier Paul who have given the World as full satisfaction in what was done beyond Sea as they could desire And though the two last lived and died in the Communion of the Church of Rome yet they have delivered things to Posterity with so much Candour and Evenness that their Authority is disputed by none but those of their own Party But while Forreign Churches have such Historians ours at home have not had the like good fortune for whether it was that the Reformers at first presumed so far on their Legal and calm proceedings on the continued Succession of their Clergie the Authority of the Law and the Protection of the Prince that they judged it needless to write an History and therefore employed their best pens rather to justifie what they did than to deliver how it was done or whether by a meer neglect the thing was omitted we cannot determine True it is that it was not done to any degree of Exactness when matters were so fresh in mens memories that things might have been opened with greater Advantages and vouch'd by better Authority than it is to be expected at this distance They were soon after much provok'd by Sanders History which he published to the World in Latine yet either despising a writer who did so impudently deliver falshoods that from his own Book many of them may be disproved or expecting a Command from Authority they did not then set about it The best account I can give of their silence is that most of Sanders Calumnies being levelled at Queen Elizabeth whose birth and parents he designed chiefly to disgrace it was thought too tender a point by her wise Counsellors to be much enquired into it gave too great credit to his Lies to answer them an answer would draw forth a Reply by which those Calumnies would still be kept alive and therefore it was not without good reason thought better to let them lie unanswered and despised From whence it is come that in this age that Author is in such Credit that now he is quoted with much assurance most of all the writers in the Church of Rome relie on his testimony as a good authority The Collectors of the General History of that Age follow his thred closely some of them transcribe his very words One Pollini a Dominican published an History of the Changes that were made in England in Italian at Rome Anno. 1594. which he should more ingenuously have called a Translation or Paraphrase of Sanders History and of late more candidly but no less maliciously one of the best pens of France has been employed to translate him into their language which has created such prejudices in the minds of many there that our Reformation which generally was more modestly spoken of even by those who wrote against it is now look'd on by such as read Sanders and believe him as one of the foulest things that ever was Fox for all his Voluminous Work had but few things in his eye when he made his Collection and designed only to discover the Corruptions and Cruelties of the Roman Clergie and the Sufferings and Constancy of the Reformers But his work was written in haste and there are so many defects in it that it can by no means be called a Compleat History of these times though I must add that having compared his Acts and Monuments with the Records I have never been able to discover any errors or prevarications in them but the utmost fidelity and exactness Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury designed only in his account of the British Antiquities to do justice and honour to his See and so gives us barely the life of Cranmer with some few and general hints of what he did Hall was but a superficial Writer and was more careful to get full informations of the Cloaths that were worn at the Interviews of Princes Iusts Tournaments and great Solemnities than about the Counsels or secret Transactions of the time he lived in Holingshead Speed and Stow give bare Relations of things that were Publick and commit many faults Upon their scent most of our later Writers have gone and have only collected and repeated what they wrote The Lord Herbert judged it unworthy of him to trifle as others had done and therefore made a more narrow search into Records and original Papers than all that had gone before him and with great fidelity and industry has given us the History of King Henry the Eighth But in the Transactions that concern Religion he dwells not so long as the matter required leaving those to men of another Profession and judging it perhaps not so proper for one of his condition to pursue a full and accurate Deduction of those matters Since he wrote two have undertaken the Ecclesiastical History Fuller and Heylin The former got into his hands some few Papers that were not seen before he published them but being a man of fancie and affecting an odd way of writing his work gives no great Satisfaction But Doctor Heylin wrote smoothly and handsomly his Method and Stile are good and his work was generally more read than any thing that had appeared before him but either he was very ill informed or very much led by his Passions and he being wrought on by most violent prejudices against some that were concerned in that time delivers many things in such a manner and so strangely that one would think he had been secretly set on to it by those of the Church of Rome though I doubt not he was a sincere Protestant but violently carried away by some particular conceits In one thing he is not to be excused That he never vouched any Authority for what he writ which is not to be forgiven any who write of Transactions beyond their own time and deliver new things not known before So that upon what grounds he wrote a great deal of his Book we can only conjecture and many in their guesses are not apt to be very favourable
of whom some perhaps were damn'd Souls and others were never in being These arts being detected and withal their great Viciousness in some places and in all their great abuse of the Christian Religion made it seem unfit they should be continued But it was their dependence on the See of Rome which as the state of things then was made it necessary that they should be supprest New Foundations might have done well and the scantness of those considering the number and wealth of those which were suppressed is one of the great blemishes of that Reign But it was in vain to endeavour to amend the old ones Their numbers were so great their Riches and Interests in the Nation so considerable that a Prince of Ordinary mettal would not have attempted such a design much less have compleated it in Five years time With these fell the Superstition of Images Reliques and the Redemption of Souls out of Purgatory And those Extravagant Addresses to Saints that are in the Roman Offices were thrown out only an Ora pro nobis was kept up and even that was left to the liberty of Priests to leave it out of the Litanies as they saw cause These were great preparations for a Reformation But it went further and two things were done upon which a greater Change was reasonably to be expected The Scriptures were Translated into the English tongue and set up in all Churches and every one was admitted to read them and they alone were declared the Rule of Faith This could not but open the eyes of the Nation who finding a profound silence in these writings about many things and a direct opposition to other things that were still retained must needs conclude even without deep Speculations or nice Disputing that many things that were still in the Church had no ground in Scripture and some of the rest were directly contrary to it This Cranmer knew well would have such an operation and therefore made it his chief business to set it forward which in Conclusion he happily effected Another thing was also established which opened the way to all that followed That every National Church was a Compleat Body within it self so that the Church of England with the Authority and Concurrence of their Head and King might examine and Reform all Errors and Corruptions whether in Doctrine or Worship All the Provincial Councils in the ancient Church were so many Precedents for this who condemned Heresies and Reformed abuses as the occasion required And yet these being all but parts of one Empire there was less reason for their doing it without staying for a General Council which depended upon the pleasure of one man the Roman Emperor than could be pretended when Europe was divided into so many Kingdoms By which a common Concurrence of all these Churches was a thing scarce to be expected and therefore this Church must be in a very ill Condition if there could be no endeavours for a Reformation till all the rest were brought together The Grounds of the new-Covenant between God and man in Christ were also truly stated and the terms on which Salvation was to be hoped for were faithfully opened according to the New-Testament And this being in the strict notion of the word the Gospel and the glad tidings preached through our Blessed Lord and Saviour it must be confessed that there was a great Progress made when the Nation was well instructed about it though there was still an alloy of other Corruptions embasing the Purity of the Faith And indeed in the whole progress of these changes the Kings design seemed to have been to terrifie the Court of Rome and cudgel the Pope into a Compliance with what he desired for in his heart he continued addicted to some of the most extravagant Opinions of that Church such as Transubstantiation and the other Corruptions in the Mass so that he was to his lives end more Papist than Protestant There are two Prejudices which men have generally drunk in against that time The one is from the Kings great Enormities both in his personal Deportment and Government which make many think no good could be done by so ill a man and so cruel a Prince I am not to defend him nor to lessen his faults The vastness and irregularity of his Expence procured many heavy Exactions and twice extorted a publick Discharge of his debts embased the Coin with other Irregularities His proud and impatient Spirit occasioned many cruel proceedings The taking so many lives only for denying his Supremacy particularly Fisher's and More 's the one being extreme old and the other one of the Glories of his Nation for Probity and Learning The taking advantage from some Eruptions in the North to break the Indempnity he had before proclaimed to those in the Rebellion even though they could not be proved Guilty of those second disorders His extreme Severity to all Cardinal Pool's Family his cruel using first Cromwel and afterwards the Duke of Norfolk and his Son besides his un-exampled Proceedings against some of his Wives and that which was worst of all The laying a Precedent for the subversion of Iustice and oppressing the clearest Innocence by attaining men without hearing them These are such remarkable blemishes that as no man of ingenuity can go about the whitening them so the poor Reformers drunk so deep of that bitter cup that it very ill becomes any of their followers to endeavour to give fair Colours to those red and bloody Characters with which so much of his Reign is stained Yet after all this sad enumeration it was no new nor unusual thing in the methods of Gods Providence to employ Princes who had great mixtures of very gross faults to do signal things for his Service Not to mention David and Solomon whose sins were expiated with a severe Repentance it was the bloody Cyrus that sent back the Iews to their Land and gave them leave to re-build their Temple Constantine the Great is by some of his Enemies charged with many blemishes both in his Life and Government Clovis of France under whom that Nation received the Christian Faith was a monster of Cruelty and Perfidiousness as even Gregory of Tours represents him who lived near his time and nevertheless makes a Saint of him Charles the Great whom some also make a Saint both put away his wife for a very slight cause and is said to have lived in most unnatural lusts with his own Daughter Irene whom the Church of Rome magnifies as the Restorer of their Religion in the East did both contrary to the Impressions of Nature and of her Sex put out her own Sons eyes of which he died soon after with many other execrable things And whatever Reproaches those of the Church of Rome cast on the Reformation upon the account of this Kings faults may be easily turned back on their Popes who have never failed to court and extol Princes that served their ends how gross and scandalous soever their
things in which if these excuses do not wholly clear them yet they very much lessen their Guilt And after all this it must be Confessed they were men and had mixtures of fear and human infirmities with their other excellent Qualities And indeed Cranmer was in all other points so extraordinary a person that it was perhaps fit there should be some ingredients in his Temper to lessen the Veneration which his great worth might have raised too high if it had not been for these feeblenesses which upon some occasions appeared in him But if we examine the failings of some of the greatest of the Primitive Fathers as Athanasius Cyril and others who were the most zealous asserters of the Faith we must conclude them to have been nothing inferiour to any that can be charged on Cranmer whom if we consider narrowly we shall find as eminent vertues and as few faults in him as in any Prelate that has been in the Christian Church for many Ages And if he was prevailed on to deny his Master through fear he did wash off that stain by a sincere Repentance and a patient Martyrdome in which he expressed an eminent resentment of his former frailty with a pitch of Constancy of mind above the rate of modern Examples But their vertues as well as their faults are set before us for our instruction and how frail soever the vessels were they have conveyed to us a treasure of great value The pure Gospel of our Lord and Saviour which if we follow and govern our lives and hearts by it we may hope in easier and plainer paths to attain that Blessedness which they could not reach but through scorching flames and if we do not improve the Advantages which this light affords we may either look for some of those trials which were sent for the exercise of their Faith and Patience and perhaps for the punishment of their former Compliance or if we escape these we have cause to fear worse in the Conclusion EFFIGIES HENRICI VIII D. G ANGLIAE GALL. ET HIB REGIS DEFENSORIS FIDEI HHolbein pinxit Natus 1491 Iun 28. Patri Successit in Regno 1509 Apr. 22. Obijt 1547 8 Ian 28. Anno Aetat 57. pag. 1. Printed for Ricâ— Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St. Pauls Church yard THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK I. A Summary View of King Henry the Eighth's Reign till the Process of his Divorce was begun in which the State of England chiefly as it related to Religion is opened ENGLAND had for a whole Age felt the Miseries of a long and cruel War between the Two Houses of York and Lancaster during which time as the Crown had lost great Dominions beyond Sea so the Nation was much impoverished many Noble Families extinguisht much Blood shed great Animosities every-where raised with all the other Miseries of a lasting Civil War But they now saw all these happily composed when the Two Families did unite in King Henry the Eighth In his Fathers Reign they were rather cemented and joyned than united whose great Partiality to the House of Lancaster from which he was Descended and Severity to the Branches of the House of York in which even his own Queen had a large share together with the Impostors that were set up to disturb his Reign kept these heats alive which were now all buried in his grave and this made the Succession of his Son so universally acceptable to the whole Nation who now hoped to revive their former pretensions in France and to have again a large share in all the Affairs of Europe from which their Domestick Broils had so long excluded them There was another thing which made his first coming to the Crown no less acceptable which was that the same day that his Father died he ordered Dudley and Empson to be committed to the Tower His Father whether out of Policy or Inclination or both was all his life much set on the gathering of Treasure so that those Ministers were most acceptable who could fill his Coffers best and though this occasioned some Tumults and disposed the People to all those Commotions which fell out in his Reign yet he being successful in them all continued in his course of heaping up Money Towards the end of his Life he found out those Two Instruments who out-did all that went before them and what by vexatious Suits upon Penal but obsolete Laws what by unjust Imprisonments and other violent and illegal proceedings raised a general odium upon the Government and this grew upon him with his years and was come to so great a height towards the end of his Life that he died in good time for his own quiet For as he used all possible endeavours to get Money so what he got he as carefully kept and distributed very little of it among those about him so that he had many Enemies and but few Friends This being well considered by his Son he began his Government with the disgrace of those Two Ministers against whom he proceeded according to Law all the other inferiour Officers whom they had made use of were also Imprisoned When they had thus fallen many and great Complaints came in from all parts against them they also apprehending the danger they were like to be in upon their Masters Death had been practising with their Partners to gather about them all the Power they could bring together whether to secure themselves from popular Rage or to make themselves seem considerable or formidable to the new King This and other Crimes being brought in against them they were found guilty of Treason in a legal Trial. But the King judged this was neither a sufficient Reparation to his Oppressed People nor Satisfaction to Justice Therefore he went further and both ordered Restitution to be made by his Fathers Executors of great Sums of Money which had been unjustly extorted from his Subjects and in his first Parliament which he Summoned to the Twenty first of Ianuary following he not only delivered up Empson and Dudley with their Complices to the Justice of the Two Houses who attainted them by Act of Parliament and a little after gave order for their Execution but did also give his Royal assent to those other Laws by which the Subject was secured from the like Oppressions for the future and that he might not at all be suspected of any such Inclinations as his Father had to amass Treasure he was the most magnificent in his Expence of any Prince in Christendom and very bountiful to all about him and as one extreme commonly produces another so his Fathers Covetousness led him to be Prodigal and the vast Wealth which was left him being reckoned no less then 1800000 l. was in Three years dissipated as if the Son in his expence had vied Industry with his Father in all his Thrift Thomas Earl of Surrey afterwards Duke of Norfolk to shew how compliant he
jests about Confession praying to Saints Holy Water and the other Ceremonies of the Church were complained of And the last Articles contained sharp reflexions on some of the Bishops as if they had been wanting in their Duty to suppress such things This was clearly levelled at Cranmer Latimer and Shaxton who were noted as the great Promoters of these opinions The first did it prudently and solidly The second zealously and simply And the third with much indiscreet pride and vanity But now that the Queen was gone who had either raised or supported them their Enemies hoped to have advantages against them and to lay the growth of these opinions to their charge But this whole Project failed and Cranmer had as much of the Kings favour as ever for in stead of that which they had projected Cromwell by the Kings order coming to the Convocation Declared to them that it was the Kings pleasure that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church should be Reformed by the Rules of Scripture and that nothing was to be maintained which did not rest on that Authority for it was absurd since that was acknowledged to contain the Laws of Religion that recourse should rather be had to Glosses or the Decrees of Popes than to these There was at that time one Alexander Alesse a Scotch-man much esteemed for his Learning and Piety whom Cranmer entertained at Lambeth Him Cromwell brought with him to the Convocation and desired him to deliver his opinion about the Sacraments He enlarged himself much to Convince them that only Baptism and the Lords Supper were Instituted by Christ. Stokesley Bishop of London answered him in a long Discourse in which he shewed he was better acquainted with the Learning of the Schools and the Canon-Law than with the Gospel He was Seconded by the Arch-Bishop of York and others of that Party But Cranmer in a long and learned Speech shewed how useless these niceties of the Schools were and of how little Authority they ought to be and discoursed largely of the Authority of the Scriptures of the use of the Sacraments of the uncertainty of Tradition and of the Corruption which the Monks and Friars had brought into the Christian Doctrine He was vigorously seconded by the Bishop of Hereford who told them the world would be no longer deceived with such Sophisticated stuff as the Clergy had formerly vented The Laity were now in all Nations studying the Scriptures and that not only in the vulgar Translations but in the original Tongues and therefore it was a vain imagination to think they would be any longer governed by those arts which in the former Ages of Ignorance had been so effectual Not many days after this there were several Articles brought in to the upper House of Convocation devised by the King himself about which there were great debates among them The two Arch-Bishops heading two Parties Cranmer was for a Reformation and with him joyned Thomas Goodrich Bishop of Ely Shaxton of Sarum Latimer of Worcester Fox of Hereford Hilsey of Rochester and Barlow of St. Davids But Lee Arch-Bishop of York was a known favourer of the Popes Interests which as it first appeared in his scrupling so much with the whole Convocation of York the acknowledging the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England so he had since discovered it on all occasions in which he durst do it without the fear of losing the Kings favour So he and Stokesley Bishop of London Tonstâ—ll of Duresm Gardiner of Winchester Longland of Lincoln Sherburn of Chichester Nix of Norwich and Kite of Carlisle had been still against all changes But the King discovered that those did in their hearts love the Papal Authority though Gardiner dissembled it most artificially Sherburn Bishop of Chichester upon what inducement I cannot understand resigned his Bishoprick which was given to Richard Sampson Dean of the Chappel a Pension of 400 l. being reserved to Sherburn for his Life which was confirmed by an Act of this Parliament Nix of Norwich had also offended the King signally by some correspondence with Rome and was kept long in the Marshalsea and was convicted and found in a Premunire The King considering his great Age had upon his humble submission discharged him out of Prison and pardon'd him But he died the former year though Fuller in his slight way makes him fit in this Convocation For by the 17th Act of the last Parliament it appears that the Bishoprick of Norwich being vacant the King had recommended William Abbot of St. Bennets to it but took into his own hands all the Lands and Manours of the Bishoprick and gave the Bishop several of the Priories in Norfolk in exchange which was confirmed in Parliament I shall next give a short abstract of the Articles about Religion which were after much consultation and long debating agreed to First All Bishops and Preachers must instruct the people to believe the whole Bible and the three Creeds that made by the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian and interpret all things according to them and in the very same words and condemn all Heresies contrary to them particularly those condemned by the first four general Councils Secondly Of Baptism the people must be instructed That it is a Sacrament instituted by Christ for the Remission of sins without which none could attain Everlasting Life And that not only those of full Age but Infants may and must be Baptized for the pardon of Original sin and obtaining the gift of the Holy Ghost by which they became the Sons of God That none Baptized ought to be Baptized again That the opinions of the Anabaptists and Pelagians were detestable Heresies And that those of ripe Age who desired Baptism must with it joyn Repentance and Contrition for their sins with a firm Belief of the Articles of the Faith Thirdly Concerning Penance they were to instruct the people that it was instituted by Christ and was absolutely necessary to Salvation That it consisted of Contrition Confession and Amendment of Life with exterior works of Charity which were the worthy Fruits of Pennance For Contrition it was an inward shame and sorrow for sin because it is an offence of God which provokes his displeasure To this must be joyned a Faith of the mercy and goodness of God whereby the penitent must hope that God will forgive him and repute him justified and of the number of his Elect Children not for the worthiness of any merit or work done by him but for the only Merits of the Blood and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ. That this Faith is got and confirmed by the Applicatition of the Promises of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments And for that end Confession to a Priest is necessary if it may be had whose Absolution was instituted by Christ to apply the promises of Gods Grace to the penitent Therefore the people were to be taught That the Absolution is spoken by an Authority
of Iuly a Bill was brought in for moderating the Statute of the six Articles in the Clauses that related to the marriage of the Priests or their Incontinency with other Women On the 17th it was agreed by the whole House without a contradictory vote and sent down to the Commons who on the 21th sent it up again By it the pains of Death were turned to forfeitures of their Goods and Chattels and the rents of their Ecclesiastical promotions to the King On the 20th of Iuly a Bill was brought in concerning a Declaration of the Christian Religion and was then read the first 2d and 3d time and passed without any opposition and sent down to the Commons who agreeing to it sent it up again the next day It contained that the King as Supream Head of the Church was taking much pains for an Union among all his Subjects in matters of Religion and for preventing the further progress of Heresie had appointed many of the Bishops and the most learned Divines to declare the principal Articles of the Christian Belief with the Ceremonies and way of Gods service to be observed That therefore a thing of that weight might not be rashly done or hasted through in this Session of Parliament but be done with that care which was requisite Therefore it was Enacted that whatsoever was determined by the Arch-Bishops Bishops and the other Divines now Commissionated for that effect or by any others appointed by the King or by the whole Clergy of England and published by the Kings Authority concerning the Christian Faith or the Ceremonies of the Church should be believed and obeyed by all the Kings Subjects as well as if the particulars so set forth had been ennumerated in this Act any Custom or Law to the Contrary notwithstanding To this a strange Proviso was added which destroyed the former Clause That nothing should be done or determined by the Authority of this Act which was contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom But whether this Proviso was added by the House of Commons or originally put into the Bill does not appear It was more likely it was put in at the first by the Kings Council for these contradictory Clauses raised the Prerogative higher and left it in the Judges power to determine which of the two should be followed by which all Ecclesiastical matters were to be brought under Tryals at Common Law for it was one of the great designs both of the Ministers and Lawyers at this time to bring all Ecclesiastical Matters to thâ— Cognizance of the Secular Judge But another Bill passed which seems a little odd concerning the circumstances of that time That whereas many Marriages had been annulled in the time of Popery upon the pretence of Precontracts or other degrees of kindred than those that were prohibited by the Law of God Therefore after a Marriage was consummated no pretence of any pre-contract or any degrees of kindred or alliance but those mentioned in the Law of God should be brought or made use of to annull it since these things had been oft pretended only to dissolve a Marriage when the parties grew weary of each other which was contrary to Gods Law Therefore it was Enacted that no pretence of precontract not consummated should be made use of to annull a Marriage duly solemnized and consummated and that no degrees of kindred not mentioned by the Law of God should be pleaded to annull a Marriage This Act gave great occasion of censuring the Kings former proceedings against Queen Anne Boleyn since that which was now condemned had been the pretence for dissolving his Marriage with her Others thought the King did it on design to remove that Impediment out of the way of the Lady Elizabeth's succeeding to the Crown since that judgment upon which she was Illegitimated was now indirectly censured And that other branch of the Act for taking away all prohibitions of Marriages within any degrees but those forbidden in Scripture was to make way for the Kings Marriage with Katherine Howard who was Cousin German to Queen Anne Boleyn for that was one of the prohibited degrees by the Canon Law The Province of Canterbury offered a Subsidy of four shillings in the pound of all Ecclesiastical preferments to be payed in two years and in that acknowledgment of the great liberty they enjoyed by being delivered from the Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome and in recompencâ— the great charges of the King had been at and was still to be at in building Havens Bullwarks and other Forts for the defence of his Coasts and the security of his Subjects This was confirmed in Parliament But that did not satisfie the King who had husbanded the money that came in by the sale of Abbey Lands so ill that now he wanted money and was forced to aske a subsidy for his Marriage of the Parliament this was obtained with great difficulty For it was said That if the King was already in want after so vast an income especially being engaged in no Warr there would be no end of his necessities nor could it be possible for them to supply them But it was answered that the King had laid out a great Treasure in fortifying the Coast and though he was then in no visible Warr yet the charge he was at in keeping up the Warr beyond Sea was equal to the expence of a Warr and much more to the advantage of his people who were kept in peace and plenty This obtained a Tenth and four 15ths After the passing of all these Bills and many others that concerned the publick with several other Bills of Attaindor of some that favoured the Popes Interests or Corresponded with Cardinal Pool which shall be mentioned in another place the King sent in a General Pardon with the Ordinary Exceptions and in particular excepted Cromwel the Countess of Sarum with many others then in person Some of them were put in for opposing the Kings Supremacy and others for transgressing the Statute of the six Articles On the 24th of Iuly the Parliament was dissolved And now Cromwel who had been six weeks a Prisoner was brought to his Execution He had used all the endeavours he could for his own preservation Once he wrote to the King in such melting terms that he made the Letter to be thrice read and seemed touched with it But the charms of Katharine Howard and the endeavours of the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Winchester at length prevailed So a Warrant was sent to cut off his Head on the 28th of Iuly at Tower-hill When he was brought to the Scaffold his kindness to his Son made him very cautious in what he said he declined the purging of himself but said he was by Law condemned to die and thanked God for bringing him to that death for his offences He acknowledged his Sins against God and his offences against his Prince who had raised him from a base degree
have given to the Reformation born down this Proposition and turned all the Kings Bounty and Foundations another way These new Foundations gave some credit to the Kings proceedings and made the Suppression of Chantries and Chappels go on more smoothly But those of the Roman party beyond Sea censured this as they had done all the rest of the Kings Actings They said it was but a slight Restitution of a small part of the goods of which he had robbed the Church And they complained of the Kings encroaching on the Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Church by dismembring Dioceses and removing Churches from one Jurisdiction to another To this it was answered that the necessities which their practices put on the King both to â—ortifie his Coast and Dominions to send money beâ—ond Sea for keeping the War at a distance from himself and to secure his quiet at home by easie grants of these Lands made him that he could not do all that he intended And for the Division of Dioceses many things were brought from the Roman Law to shew That the Division of the Ecclesiastical â—urisdiction whether of Patriarches Primates Metropolitans or Bishops was Regulated by the Emperors of which the Ancient Councils always approved And in England when the Bishoprick of Lincoln being judged of too great an Extent the Bishoprick of Ely was taken out of it it was done only by the King with the consent of his Clergy and Nobles Pope Nicolas indeed officiously intruded himself into that matter by sending afterwards a Confirmation of that which was done But that was one of the great Arts of the Papacy to offer Confirmations of things that were done without the Popes For these being easily received by them that thought of nothing more than to give the better countenance to their own Acts the Popes afterwards founded a Right on these Confirmations The very receiving of them was pretended to be an acknowledgment of a Title in the Pope And the matter was so artificially managed that Princes were noozed into some approbation of such a pretence before they were aware of it And then the Authority of the Canon-Law prevailing Maxims were laid down in it by which the most tacite and inconsiderate Acts of Princes were construed to such senses as still advanced the greatness of the Papal pretensions This business of the new Foundations being thus setled the matters of the Church were now put in a method and the Bishops Book was the standard of Religion So that whatsoever was not agreeable to that was judged Heretical whether it leaned to the one side or the other But it seems that the King by some secret Order had chained up the party which was going on in the Execution of the Statute of the six Articles that they should not proceed capitally Thus matters went this year and with this the Series of the History of the Reformation made by this King ends for it was now digested and formed into a Body What followed was not in a Thred but now and then some remarkable things were done sometimes in favour of the one and sometimes of the other party For after Cromwel fell the King did not go on so steadily in any thing as he had done formerly Cromwel had an Ascendant over him which after Cardinal Wolseys fall none besides himself ever had They knew how to manage the Kings uneasie and imperious humor But now none had such a Power over him The Duke of Norfolk was rich and brave and made his Court well but had not so great a Genius so that the King did rather trust and fear than esteem him Gardiner was only a Tool and being of an abject Spirit was employed but not at all reverenced by the King Cranmer retained always his candor and simplicity and was a great Prelate but neither a good Courtier nor a States-man And the King esteemed him more for his vertues than for his dexterity and cunning in business So that now the King was left wholly to himself and being extream humorous and impatiâ—nt there were more errors committed in the last years of his Government than had been for his whole Reign before France forsook him Scotland made War upon him which might have been fatal to him if their King had not dyed in the beginning of it leaving an Infant Princess but a few days old behind him And though the Emperor made peace with him yet it was but an hollow agreement Of all which I shall give but slender hints in the rest of this Book and rather open some few particulars than pursue a Continued Narration since the matter of my Work failes me In May the 33d year of the Kings Reign a new Impression of the Bible was finished and the King by Proclamation Required all Curates and Parishioners of every Town and Parish to provide themselves a Copy of it before All-Hallowtide under the penalty of forfeiting forty Shillings a month after that till they had one He declared that he set it forth to the end that his people might by Reading it perceive the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Observe his Commandments obey the Laws and their Prince and live in Godly Charity among themselves But that the King did not thereby intend that his Subjects should presume to expound or take arguments from Scripture nor disturb Divine Service by reading it when Mass was Celebrating but should read it meekly humbly and reverently for their Instruction Edification and Amendment There was also care taken so to Regulate the Prices of the Bibles that there should be no exacting on the Subjects in the Sale of them And Bonner seeing the Kings mind was set on this ordered six of these great Bibles to be set up in several places of St. Pauls that all persons who could read might at all times have free access to them And upon the Pillars to which these Bibles were chained an Exhortation was set up admonishing all that came thither to read That they should lay aside vain-glory hypocrisie and all other corrupt affections and bring with them Discretion good Intentions Charity Reverence and a quiet behaviour for the Edification of their own Souls but not to draw multitudes about them nor to make Expositions of what they read nor to read aloud nor make noise in time of Divine Service nor enter into Disputes concerning it But people came generally to hear the Scriptures read and such as could read and had clear voices came often thither with great Crowds about them And many set their Children to School that they might carry them with them to St. Pauls and hear them read the Scriptures Nor could the people be hindred from entring into disputes about some places for who could hear the words of the Institution of the Sacrament Drink ye all of it or St. Pauls Discourse against worship in an unknown tongue and not from thence be led to consider that the people were deprived of the Cup which by
the Kingdom fell into the hands of the Churchmen The Bishops looked more after the affairs of the State than the concerns of the Church and were resolved to maintain by their cruelty what their Predecessors had acquired by fraud and impostures And as Lesly himself confesses there was no pains taken to instruct the people in the principles of Religion nor were the Children at all Catechised but left in ignorance and the ill lives of the Clergy who were both covetous and lewd disposed the people to favour those that preached for a Reformation The first that suffered in this Age was Patrick Hamilton a person of very noble blood his Father was Brother to the Earl of Arran and his Mother Sister to the Duke of Albany so nearly was he on both sides related to the King He was provided of the Abbey of Fern in his youth and being designed for greater preferments he was sent to travel but as he went thorough Germany he contracted a friendship with Luther Melanction and others of their Perswasion by whose means he was instructed in the points about which they differed from the Church of Rome He returned to Scotland that he might communicate that knowledg to others with which himself was so happily enlightned And little considering either the hindrance of his further Preferment or the other dangers that might lie in his way he spared not to lay open the Corruptions of the Roman Church and to shew the Errours that had crept into the Christian Religion He was a man both of great learning and of a sweet and charming conversation and came to be followed and esteemed by all sorts of people The Clergy being enraged at this invited him to St. Andrews that there might be Conferences held with him about those points which he condemned And one Frier Campbel Prior of the Dominicans who had the reputation of a Learned man was appointed to treat with him They had many Conferences together and the Prior seemed to be convinced in most points and acknowledged there were many things in the Church that required Reformation But all this while he was betraying him So that when the Abbot looked for no such thing he was in the night time made Prisoner and carried to the Arch-Bishops Castle There several Articles were objected to him about Original Sin Free-will Justification Good Works Priestly Absolution Auricular Confession Purgatory and the Popes being Antichrist Some of these he positively adhered to the others he thought were disputable points yet he said he would not condemn them except he saw better reasons than any he had yet heard The matter was referred to 12 Divines of the University of whom Frier Campbel was one And within a day or two they censured all his Tenets as Heretical and contrary to the Faith of the Church On the first of March Judgment was given upon him by Beaton Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews with whom sate the Archbishop of Glasgow the Bishop of Dunkeld Brichen and Dunblan five Abbots and many of the inferior Clergy They also made the whole University old and young sign it He was declared an obstinate Heretick and delivered to the Secular Power The King had at that time gone a Pilgrimage to Ross and the Clergy fearing lest nearness of blood with the Intercessions which might be made for him should snatch this prey out of their hands proceeded that same day to his Execution So in the afternoon he was brought to the Stake before St. Salvators Colledg He stripped himself of his Garments and gave them to his man and said he had no more to leave him but the example of his death That he prayed him to keep in mind For though it was bitter and painful in mans Iudgment yet it was the entrance to Everlasting life which none could inherit that denied Christ before such a Congregation Then was he tied to a Stake and a great deal of fewel was heaped about him which he seemed not to fear but continued lifting up his eyes to heaven and recommending his soul to God When the train of Powder was kindled it did not take hold of the Fewel but only scorched his hand and the side of his face This occasioned some delay till more powder was brought from the Castle during which time the Friers were very troublesome and called to him to turn and pray to our Lady and say Salve Regina None was more officious than Frier Campbel The Abbot wished him often to let him alone and give him no more trouble But the Frier continuing to importune him he said to him Wicked man thou knowest that I am not an Heretick and that it is the truth of God for which I now suffer So much thou didst confess to me in private and thereupon I appeal thee to answer before the Iudgment Seat of Christ. By this time more powder was brought and the fire was kindled He cried out with a loud voice How long O Lord shall darkness oppress this Realm how long wilt thou suffer this Tyranny of Men and died repeating these words Lord Iesus receive my Spirit The patience and constancy he expressed in his sufferings made the Spectators generally conclude that he was a true Martyr of Christ in which they were the more confirmed by Frier Campbells falling into great despair soon after who from that turned frantick and died within a year On this I have insisted the more fully because it was indeed the beginning of the Reformation in Scotland and raised there an humour of inquiring into points of Religion which did always prove fatal to the Church of Rome In the University it self many were wrought on and particularly one Seaton a Dominican Frier who was the Kings Confessor He being appointed to preach the next Lent at St. Andrews insisted much on these points That the Law of God was the only Rule of Righteousness that Sin was only committed when Gods Law was violated that no man could satisfie for Sin and that pardon was to be obtained by unfeigned repentance and true faith But he never mentioned Purgatory Pilgrimages Merits nor Prayers to Saints which used to be the Subjects on which the Friers insisted most on these occasions Being gone from St. Andrews he heard that another Frier of his own Order had refuted these Doctrines So he returned and confirmed them in another Sermon in which he also made some reflections on Bishops that were not Teachers calling them Dumb-Dogs For this he was carried before the Arch-Bishop but he defended himself saying that he had only in St. Pauls words said a Bishop should teach and in Esaias words that such as did not teach were Dumb-doggs but having said this in the general he did not apply it to any Bishop in particular The Arch-Bishop was netled at this answer yet resolved to let him alone till he should be brought into disgrace with the King And that was soon done for the King being a licentious Prince and Frier Seaton having
rest And he asked the Arch-Bishops opinion about it Who answered him That it was a good resolution but entreated the King to consider well what Heresie was and not to condemn those as Hereticks who stood for the Word of God against humane Inventions But after some discourse the King told him he was the man who as he was informed was the chief Encourager of Heresie and then gave him the Articles that were brought against him and his Chaplains both by some Prebendaries of Cantâ—rbâ—ry and the Justices of Peace in Kent When he read them he kneeled down and desired the King would put the matter to a Tryal He acknowledged he was still of the same mind he was of when he opposed the Six Articles but that he had done nothing against them Then the King asked him about his Wife He frankly confessed he had a Wife but said That he had sent her to Germany upon the passing the Act against Priests having Wives His candor and simplicity wrought so on the King that he discovered to him the whole Plot that was laid against him and said That instead of bringing him to any Tryal about it he would have him try it out and proceed against those his Accusers But he excused himself and said it would not be decent for him to sit Judge in his own Cause But the King said to him he was resolved none other should Judge it but those he should name So he named his Chancellor and his Register to whom the King added another And a Commission being given them they went into Kent and sate three weeks to find out the first Contrivers of this Accusation And now every one disowned it since they saw he was still firmly rooted in the Kings esteem and favour But it being observed that the Commissioners proceeded faintly Cranmers friends moved that some man of Courage and Authority might be sent thither to canvass this Accusation more carefully So Doctor Lee Dean of York was brought up about All-hallâ—â—tid and sent into Kent And he who had been well acquainted with the Arts of discovering secrets when he was one of the visitors of the Abbeys managed it more vigorously He ordered a search to be made of all suspected persons among whose Papers Letters were found both from the Bishop of Winchester and Doctor Lonâ—â—â— and some of those whom Cranmer had treated with the greatest freedom and kindness in which the whole Plot against him was discovered But it was now near the Session of Parliament and the King was satisfied with the discovery but thought it not fit to make much noise of it And he received no addresses from the Arch-Bishop to prosecute it further who was so noted for his Clemency and following our Saviours Rule of Doing good for evil that it was commonly said The way to get his favour was to do him an injury These were the only Instances in which he expressed his resentments Two of the Conspirators against him had been persons signally obliged by him The one was the Bishop Suffragan of Dover the other was a Civilian whom he had imployed much in his business But all the notice he took of it was to shew them their Letters and to admonish them to be more faithful and honest for the future Upon which he freely forgave them and carryed it so to them afterwards as if he had absolutely forgotten what they had contrived against him And a person of Quality coming to him about that time to obtain his favour and assistance in a Sute in which he was to move the King he went about it and had almost procured it but the King calling to mind that he had been one of his secret accusers asked him whether he took him for his friend he answered that he did so Then the King said the other was a Knave and was his mortal Enemy and bid him when he should see him next call him a Knave to his Face Cranmer answered that such Language did not become a Bishop But the King sullenly commanded him to do it yet his modesty was such that he could not obey so harsh a Command And so he passed the matter over When these things came to be known all persons that were not unjustly prejudiced against him acknowledged that his behaviour was sutable to the Example and Doctrine of the meek and lowly Saviour of the World And very well became so great a Bishop and such a Reformer of the Christian Religion who in those sublime and extraordinary Instances practised that which he taught others to do The year in which this fell out is not exprest by those who have recorded it but by the concurring circumstances I judge it likeliest to have been done this year Soon after this the Parliament met that was Summoned to meet the 14th of Ianuary in the 35th year of the Kings Reign in which the Act of the Succession of the Crown passed Which contains That the King being now to pass the Seas to make War upon his Ancient Enemy the French King and being desirous to settle the Succession to the Crown It is Enacted that in default of Heirs of Prince Edwards body or of Heirs by the Kings present Marriage the Crown shall go to the Lady Mary the Kings Eldest Daughter and in default of Heirs of her body or if she do not observe such limitations or conditions as shall be declared by the Kings Letters Patents under his great Seal or by his last Will under his hand it shall next fall to the Lady Elizabeth and her heirs or if she have none or shall not keep the conditions declared by the King it shall fall to any other that shall be declared by the Kings Letters Patents or his last Will Signed with his hand There was also an Oath devised instead of those formerly sworn both against the Popes Supremacy and for maintaining the Succession in all points according to this Act which whosoever refused to take was to be adjudged a Traitor and whosoever should either in words or by writing say any thing contrary to this Act or to the peril and slander of the Kings heirs limited in the Act was to be adjudged a Traitor This was done no doubt upon a secret Article of the Treaty with the Emperor and did put new life into the Popish party all whose hopes depended on the Lady Mary But how much this lessened the Prerogative and the Right of Succession will be easily discerned the King in this affecting an unusual extent of his own Power though with the diminution of the Rights of his â—uccessors There was another Bill about the qualifying of the Act of the six Articles that was sent divers times from the one House to the other It was brought to the Lords the 1st of March and read the first time and stuck till the 4th when it was read the second time on the 5th it was read the third time and passed and was sent down
durst adventure on making any complaints against her Yet the Kings distempers encreasing and his peevishness growing with them he became more uneasie and whereas she had frequently used to talk to him of Religion and defend the Opinions of the Reformers in which he would sometimes pleasantly maintain the Argument now becoming more impatient he took it ill at her hands And she had sometimes in the heat of discourse gone very far So one night after she had left him the King being displeased vented it to the Bishop of Winchester that stood by And he craftily and maliciously struck in with the Kings anger and said all that he could devise against the Queen to drive his resentments higher and took in the Lord Chancellor into the design to assist him They filled the Kings head with many stories of the Queen and some of her Ladies and said They had favoured Anne Askew and had Heretical Books amongst them and he perswaded the King that they were Traitors as well as Hereticks The matter went so far that Articles were drawn against her which the King Sigâ—ed for without that it was not safe for any to Impeach the Queen But the Lord Chancellor putting up that Paper carelesly it dropt from him And being taken up by one of the Queens Party was carryed to her Whether the King had really designed her ruin or not is differently represented by the Writers who lived near that time But she seeing his hand to such a Paper had reason to conclude her self lost Yet by advice of one of her Friends she went to see the King who receiving her kindly set on a Discourse about Religion But she answered that women by their first Creation were made subject to men and they being made after the Image of God as the Women were after their Image ought to instruct their Wives who were to learn of them and she much more was to be taught by his Majesty who was a Prince of such excellent Learning and Wisdom Not so by St. Mary said the King you are become a Doctor able to Instruct us and not to be Instructed by us To which she answered That it seemed he had much mistaken the freedom she had taken to argue with him since she did it partly to engage him in discourse and so put over the time and make him forget his pain and partly to receive Instructions from him by which she had profited much And is it even so said the King then we are friends again So he embraced her with great affection and sent her away with very tender assurances of his constant Love to her But the next day had been appointed for carrying her and some of her Ladies to the Tower The day being fair the King went to take a little air in the Garden and sent for her to bear him company As they were together the Lord Chancellor came in having about forty of the Guard with him to have arrested the Queen But the King stept aside to him and after a little discourse he was heard to call him Knave Fool and Beast and he bade him get him out of his Sight The Innocent Queen who understood not that her danger was so near studied to mitigate the Kings displeasure and interceded for the Lord Chancellor But the King told her she had no reason to plead for him So this design miscarried which as it absolutely disheartned the Papists so it did totally alienate the King from them and in particular from the Bishop of Winchester whose sight he could never after this endure But he made an humble Submission to the King which though it preserved him from further punishment yet could not restore him to the Kings favour But the Duke of Norfolk and his Son the Earl of Surrey fell under a deeper Misfortune The Duke of Norfolk had been long Lord Treasurer of England He had done great services to the Crown on many signal Occasions and success had always accompanied him His Son the Earl of Surrey was also a brave and noble person Witty and Learned to an high degree but did not command Armies with such Success He was much provoked at the Earl of Hertfords being sent over to France in his room and upon that had said That within a little-while they should smart for it with some other expressions that savoured of Revenge and a dislike of the King and a hatred of the Counsellors The Duke of Norfolk had endeavoured to ally himself to the Earl of Hertford and to his Brother Sir Thomas Seimour perceiving how much they were in the Kings favour and how great an Interest they were like to have under the succeeding Prince And therefore would have engaged his Son being then a Widower to Marry that Earls Daughter And pressed his Daughter the Dutchess of Richmond Widow to the Kings Natural Son to Marry Sir Thomas Seimour But though the Earl of Surrey advised his Sister to the Marriage projected for her yet he would not consent to that designed for himself nor did the Proposition about his Sister take effect The Seimours could not but see the Enmity the Earl of Surrey bore them and they might well be jealous of the Greatness of that Family which was not only too big for a Subject of it self but was raised so high by the dependence of the whole Popish Party both at home and abroad that they were like to be very dangerous Competitors for the chief Government of Affairs if the King were once out of the way whose disease was now growing so fast upon him that he could not live many weeks Nor is it unlikely that they perswaded the King that if the Earl of Surrey should marry the Lady Mary it might embroil his Sons Government and perhaps ruine him And it was suggested That he had some such high project in his thoughts both by his continuing unmarried and by his using the Armes of Edward the Confessor which of late he had given in his Coat without a Diminution But to compleat the Duke of Norfolks ruin his Dutchess who had complained of his using her ill and had been separated from him about four years turned Informer against him His Son and Daughter were also in ill terms together So the Sister Informed all that she could against her Brother And one Mrs Holland for whom the Duke was believed to have an unlawful affection discovered all she knew but all amounted to no more than some passionate Expressions of the Son and some Complaints of the Father who thought he was not beloved by the King and his Councellors and that he was ill used in not being trusted with the secret of affairs And all persons being encouraged to bring Informations against them Sr. Richard Southwell charged the Earl of Surreâ— in some points that were of a higher nature which the Earl denied and desired to be admitted according to the Martial Law to fight in his shirt with Southwel But that not being granted he and his
than they were wont to be letten for to the intent to have great sums of ready Mony before hand 55. Item Whether he do enforce compel or constrain his Brethren or any of them to consent to the sealing of any Leases Grants Farm-Holds Annuities Corrodies or any other Alienations 56. Item Whether the Plate and Jewels or any part or parcel thereof or of any other moveable Goods of this House be laid to pledg sold or alienated for a time or for ever for what cause and to whom or otherwise imbezled or consumed 57. Item Whether the Master of this House be wont to give under his Seal of Office or Covent-Seal Farms Corrodies Annuities or Offices to his Kinsfolk Alliances Friends or Acquaintance for term of years or otherwise to the hurt hindrance dammage and impoverishment of this House 58. Item Whether he be wont to grant any Patent or Covent-Seal without the consent of his Brethren 59. Item Whether the Covent-Seal of this House be surely and safely kept under three Keys that is to say one remaining and being in the custody of the Master and the other two in the custody of two Seniours 60. Item Whether the Muniments and Evidences of the Lands Rents and Revenues of this House be safely kept from Vermine and Moistness 61. Item Whether the Master do keep Hospitality according to the ability of his House and in like manner as other Fathers hereof have done heretofore 62. Item Whether the Master of this House in receiving any Novice being of willing and toward mind to enter into Religion hath demanded or received or convented to receive any Mony Rewards or any other temporal Commodities of him so entring or willing to enter or of any other his Friends and whether for not promising granting or giving such Rewards or Gifts any hath been repelled and not received 63. Item Whether the Novices and other received into Religion have a Preceptor and Master deputed unto them to teach them Gramar and good Letters 64. Item Whether any Seniour of this House be deputed to declare inform and instruct them their Rules and whereunto they shall be bounden to observe and keep after their Profession 65. Item Whether any of you have taken upon him the Habit and Profession of your Religion chiefly for the intent hope or trust to be made Head and Master of this House 66. Item Whether the Master of this House in giving any Advocation Nomination Presentation or Collation of any Parsonage Vicarage Chapel or Benefice of the Patronage and Gift this House do take or use to take any manner Pension Portion or other Commodity or Gains or else doth make any Convention or Compaction whereby any lucre may ensue to him in that behalf 67. Item Whether he do receive or use to receive the Fruits and Revenues of every such Benefice vacant or use to borrow any Mony of him to whom he intendeth to give such Benefice unto expresly covenanting or intending that he so obtaining the said Benefice shall freely and clearly remit the said Mony so borrowed 68. Item What and how many Benefices the Master of this House doth occupy and keep in his own hands 69. Item Whether the same Benefices be appropriate and united to this House by sufficient authority 70. Item Whether the Master of this House doth make distributions amongst the Parishoners of the Benefices appropriate and doth keep and observe all and singular other Provisions and Ordinances specified and expressed in the Appropriations of the same Benefices Exhibeant omnes singulas Appropriationes una cum Ordinationibus Dotationibus Vicariatuum 71. Item Whether he do promote unto such Benefices as be of his Gift sufficient and able Persons in Learning Manners and Vertue 72. Item Whether any Brother of this House do serve any Parish-Church being appropriate and united to the same and how many Churches appropriate be so served 73. Item Whether the Master of this House hath and possesseth any Benefice with Cure or any other Dignity with his Abbey Si aliquod tale habet Dispensationem exhibeat 74. Item Whether the Master of this House at any time since he was first made Abbot or Master did know or believe that he was Suspended or Excommunicate either by the Law or by any Judg and whether he knowing or supposing himself so to be did sing Mass in the mean time and before he was absolved In Visitatione Monialium ad Praemissa addantur haec 75. Item Whether this Monastery hath good and sufficient Enclosure and whether the Doors and Windows be diligently kept shut so that no Man can have any entry into the same or any part thereof at inconvenient times Propter quod necessarium erit Visitatori circumire Monasterium ac videre rimare dispositionem aedificiorum an sint aliqua loca pervia per quae secrete intrari possit una secum habeat Abbatissam cum duabus aut tribus senioribus Monialibus a quibus tum interroget an ostia Monasterii singulis quibusque noctibus sub clavibus clausa teneantur quae earum Monialium senio confectarum vel an Abbas ipsa clavium custodiam tempore nocturno habeant teneant nam non est tutum clavium custodiam Iunioribus committere 76. Item Whether Strangers both Men and Women useth commonly to have communication with the Sisters of this House without license of the Abbess or Prioress specially in secret places and in the absence of their Sisters 77. Item Whether any Sister of this House were professed for any manner of compulsion of her Friends and Kinsfolks or by the Abbess or Prioress 78. Item Whether any of the Sisters of this House useth to go forth any whither out of the Precinct thereof without special license of their Abbess or Prioress 79. Item Whether any Sister doth use her Habit continually out of her Cell 80. Item Wherein every one of you occupieth her self beside the time of Divine Service 81. Item Whether any Sister of this House hath any familiarity with Religious Men Secular Priests or Lay-Men being not near of kin unto them 82. Item Whether any Sister of this House hath been taken and found with any such accustomably so communing and could not shew any reasonable cause why they so did 83. Item Whether any of you doth use to write any Letters of Love or lascivious fashion to any Person or receive any such or have any privy Messengers coming and resorting unto you or any of you with Token or Gifts from any manner secular Person or other 84. Item Whether any of you doth use to speak with any manner of Person by night or by day by Grates or back Windows or other privy Places within this Monastry without license of your Head 85. Item Whether the Confessor of this House be a discreet Man of good learning vertue and honest behaviour of good name and fame and whether he hath been always so taken 86. Item How oftimes in the year the Sisters of
this House useth to be Confessed and Communicate Restat pro Ecclesiis Collegiatis Hospitalibus Ecclesiis Cathedralibus Parrochialibus Ecclesiis Episcopo Archiepiscopo pro ordine Ierosolomitarum Exhibeant omnia scripta munimenta Inventaria Scedulas quascunque unde aliquid cognitionis eorum reformationi Monasteriorum sive domorum utilitati necessariae explicari aut quoquo modo colligi possit II. General Injunctions to be given on the King's Highness's behalf in all Monastries and other Houses of whatsoever Order or Religion they be FIrst That the Abbot Prior or President and all other Brethren of the Place that is visited shall faithfully truly and heartily keep and observe and cause teach and procure to be kept and observed of other as much as in them may lie all and singular Contents as well in the other of the King's Highness Succession given heretofore by them as in a certain Profession lately sealed with the Common Seal and subscribed and Signed with their own hands Also that they shall observe and fulfil by all the means that they best may the Statutes of this Realm made or to be made for the suppression and taking away of the usurped and pretensed Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome within this Realm and for the assertion and confirmation of the Authority Jurisdiction and Prerogative of our most noble Sovereign Lord the King and his Successors and that they shall diligently instruct their Juniors and Youngers and all other committed to their Cure That the King's Power is by the Laws of God most excellent of all under God in Earth and that we ought to obey him afore all other Powers by Godâ—â— Prescript and that the Bishop of Rome's Jurisdiction or Authority heretofore usurped by no means is founded or established by Holy Scripture but that the same partly by the craft and deceit of the same Bishop of Rome and by his evil and ambitious Canons and Decretals and partly by the toleration and permission of Princes by little and little hath grown up and therefore now of most right and equity is taken away and clean expelled out of his Realm Also that the Abbot Prior or President and Brethren may be declared by the King 's Supream Power and Authority Ecclesiastical to be absolved and loosed from all manner Obedience Oath and Profession by them heretofore perchance promised or made to the said Bishop of Rome or to any other in his stead or occupying his Authority or to any other Forreign Prince or Person And nevertheless let it be enjoined to them that they shall not promise or give such Oath or Profession to any such Forreign Potentate hereafter And if the Statutes of the said Order Religious or Place seem to bind them to Obedience or Subjection or any other Recognizance of Superiority to the said Bishop of Rome or to any other Forreign Power Potentate Person or Place by any ways such Statutes by the King's Graces Visitors be utterly annihilate broken and declared void and of none effect and that they be in no case bounden or obligate to the same and such Statutes to be forthwith utterly put forth and abolished out of the Books or Muniments of that Religion Order or Place by the President and his Brethren Also that no Monk or Brother of this Monastery by any means go forth of the Precinct of the same Also that Women of what state or degree soever they be be utterly excluded from entring into the Limits or Circuit of this Monastery or place unless they first obtain license of the King's Highness or his Visitor Also that there be no entring into this Monastery but one and that by the great fore-gate of the same which diligently shall be watched and kept by some Porter specially appointed for that purpose and shall be shut and opened by the same both day and night at convenient and accustomed hours which Porter shall repel all manner Women from entrance into the said Monastery Also that all and singular Brethren and Monks of this Monastery take their refections altogether in a place called the Misericorde such days as they eat Flesh and all other days in their Refectory and that at every Mess there sit four of them not of duty demanding to them any certain usual or accustomed duty or portion of Meat as they were wont to do but that they be content with such Victuals as is set before them and there take their Refections soberly without excess with giving due thanks to God and that at every such Refection some Chapter of the New Testament or Old by some of the said Brethren be read and recited to the other keeping silence and giving audience to the same Also that the Abbot and President do daily prepare one Table for himself and his Guests thither resorting and that not over-sumptuous and full of delicate and strange Dishes but honestly furnished with common Meats At which Table the said Abbot or some Senior in his stead shall sit to receive and gently entertain the Strangers the Guests Also that none of the Brethren send any part of his Meat or the leavings thereof to any Person but that there be assigned an Almoner which shall gather the Leavings both of the Covent and Strangers Tables after that the Servants of the House have had their convenient Refections and distribute the same to poor People amongst whom special consideration be had of such before other as be Kinsfolk to any of the said Brethren if they be of like power and debility as other be and also of those which endeavour themselves with all their will and labour to get their living with their hands and yet cannot fully help themselves for their chargeable Houshold and multitude of Children yet let not them be so cherished that they shall leave labour and fall to idleness with consideration also specially to be had of them which by weakness of their Limbs and Body be so impotent that they cannot labour and by no means let such Alms be given to valiant mighty and idle Beggars and Vagabonds as commonly use to resort about such places which rather as drove-Beasts and Mychers should be driven away and compelled to labour than in their idleness and lewdness against the form of the King's Graces Statute in this behalf made cherished and maintained to the great hindrance and damage of the Common-Weal Also that all other Almses or Destributions due or accustomed to be made by reason of the Foundation Statutes or customes of this place be made and given as largely and as liberally as ever they were at any time heretofore Also that the Abbot Prior or President shall find Wood and Fewel sufficient to make Fire in the Refectory from Allhallow-even to Good-Friday Also that all the Brethren of this House except the Abbot and such as be sick or evil at ease and those that have fulfilled their Iubilee lie together in the Dormitory every one by himself in several Beds Also that no Brother
Nunnery Yorksh. no Subscriptions 3. September Haughmond Can. August Sallop the Abbot and 10 Mon. 9. Nunnkeling Nunnery Yorksh. no Subscription but the Seal 10. Nunniton Nunnery the Prioress 27 Crosses for Subscript 12. Ulnescroft Liecestersh the Prior and 11 Friers 15. Marrick Nunnery Yorksh. the Prioress 15. Burnham Nunnery Bucks the Abbess and 9 Nuns 19. St. Bartholomew Smithfield the Prior. 25. October Edmundsbury Bened. Suffolk the Abbot and 44 Monks 4. November A Commission for the surrender of St. Allborrough Chesh. 7. Berkin Nunnery Essex the Abbess 14. Tame Oxfordsh Bp. * Reonen and 16 Monks 16. Osney ibid. id and 12 Monks 17. Godstow Nunnery Oxfordsh subscribed by a Notary 17. Studley Nunnery Oxfordsh signed as the former 19. Thelsford Norfolk the Prior and 13 Monks 16. February Westminster Bened. the Abbot and 27 Monks 16. Ianuary A Commission to the Arch-Bpp of Canterb. for taking the Surrender of Christ's-Church Canterb. 20. March And another for the surrender of Rochester both dated 20. March Waltham Benedict Essex the Abbot and 17 Monks 23. St. Mary Watte Gilber Bpp. of Landaffe Commend 8 Friers and 14 Nuns  There is also in the Augmentation-Office a Book concerning the Resignations and Suppressions of the following Monasteries St. Swithins Winchester 15. November St. Mary Winchester 17. Wherewell Hampshire 21. Christ's Church Twinham the Commendator thereof is called Episcopus Neopolitanus 28. Winchelcomb 3. December Ambrose Bury 4. St. Austins near Bristol 9. Billesswick near Bristol 9. December Malmesbury 15. Cirencester 19. Hales 24. St. Peter's Glocester 2. Ianuary Teuksbury 9. There are also several other Deeds enrolled which follow St. Mary-Overhay in Southwark 14. October St. Michael near Kingston upon Hall Carthus 9. November Burton upon Trent Staffordsh 14. Hampol Nunnery Yorksh. 19. St. Oswald Yorksh. 20. Kirkstall Yorksh. 22. Pomfret Yorksh. 23. Kirkelles Yorksh. 24. Ardyngton Yorksh. 26. Fountains Yorksh. 26. St. Mary York 29. St. Leonard York 1. December Nunnapleton Nunnery Yorksh. 5. St. Gelmans Selbe Yorksh. 6. Melsey Yorksh. 11. Malton Yorksh. 11. Whitby Yorksh. 14. Albalanda Northumb. 18. Montgrasse Carthus Yorksh. 18. Alnewick Premonstrat Northumb. 22. Gisburne August Yorksh. 22. Newshame Dunelme 29. St. Cuthberts Cathedral of Duresme 31. St. Bartholomew Nunnery in Newcastle 3. Ianuary Egleliston Richmondsh 5. St. Mary Carlile Cumber 9. Hoppa Premonst Westmorland 14. St. Werburg Chester 20. St. Mary Chester a Nunnery 21. St. Peters Shrewsbury 24. St. Milburg Winlock Salop. 26. Section IV. IT seems there was generally a Confession made with the Surrender Of these some few are yet extant though undoubtedly great care was taken to destroy as many as could be in Queen Mary's time That long and full one made by the Prior of St. Andrews in Northampton the Preamble whereof is printed by Fuller and is at large printed by Weaver is yet preserved in the Augmentation-Office There are some few more also extant six of these I have seen one of them follows FOrasmuch as we Richard Green Abbot of our Monastery of our Blessed Lady St. Mary of Betlesden and the Convent of the said Monastery do profoundly consider That the whole manner and trade of living which we and our pretensed Religion have practised and used many days does most principally consist in certain dumb Ceremonies and other certain Constitutions of the Bishops of Rome and other Forinsecal Potentates as the Abbot of Cistins and therein only noseled and not taught in the true knowledg of God's Laws procuring always Exemptions of the Bishops of Rome from our Ordinaries and Diocesans submitting our selves principally to Forinsecal Potentates and Powers which never came here to reform such disorders of living and abuses as now have been found to have reigned amongst us And therefore now assuredly knowing that the most perfect way of living is most principally and sufficiently declared unto us by our Master Christ his Evangelists and Apostles and that it is most expedient for us to be governed and ordered by our Supream Head under God the King 's most noble Grace with our mutual assent and consent submit our selves and every one of us to the most benign Mercy of the King's Majesty and by these presents do surrender c. The Surrender follows in common form Signed by the Abbot Subprior and 9 Monks 25. Septemb. Regni 30. There are others to the same purpose Signed by the Guardian and seven Franciscans at Alisbury the 1st of October By the Franciscans at Bedford the 3d of October The Franciscans in Coventry the 5th of October And the Franciscans in Stamford the 8th of October And the Carmelites in Stamford on the same day which I shall also insert the former four agreeing to it FOrasmuch as we the Prior and Friers of this House of Carmelites in Stamford commonly called the White Friers in Stamford in the County of Lincoln do profoundly consider that the perfection of Christian living doth not consist in some Ceremonies wearing of a white Coat disguising our selves after strange fashions dockying and becking wearing Scapulars and Hoods and other-like Papistical Ceremonies wherein we have been most principally practised and noseled in times past but the very true way to please God and to live a true Christian Man without all hypocrisy and feigned dissimulation is sincerely declared to us by our Master Christ his Evangelists and Apostles being minded hereafter to follow the same conforming our self to the Will and Pleasure of our Supream Head under God on Earth the King's Majesty and not to follow henceforth the superstitious Traditions of any Forinsecal Potentate or Power with mutual assent and consent do submit our selves unto the Mercy of our said Sovereign Lord and with the like mutual assent and consent do surrender c. Signed by the Prior and 6 Friers Section V. Of the manner of suppressing the Monasteries after they were Surrendred THe Reader will best understand this by the following account of the Suppression of the Monastery of Teuksbury copied from a Book that is in the Augmentation-Office which begins thus THe Certificate of Robert Southwell Esquire William Petre Edward Kairne and Iohn London Doctors of Law Iohn Ap-rice Iohn Kingsman Richard Paulet and William Bernars Esquires Commissioners assigned by the King's Majesty to take the Surrenders of divers Monasteries by force of his Grace's Commission to them 6 5 4 or 3 of them in that behalf directed bearing date at his Highness's Palace of Westminster the 7 th day of Novemb. in the 31 year of the Reign of our most dread Sovereign Lord Henry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England and of France Defender of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in Earth immediately under Christ Supreme Head of the Church of England of all and singular their Proceedings as well in and of these Monasteries by his Majesty appointed to be altered as of others to be dissolved according to the tenour purport and effect of his Graces said Commission with Instructions to them