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A43528 Ecclesia restaurata, or, The history of the reformation of the Church of England containing the beginning, progress, and successes of it, the counsels by which it was conducted, the rules of piety and prudence upon which it was founded, the several steps by which it was promoted or retarded in the change of times, from the first preparations to it by King Henry the Eight untill the legal settling and establishment of it under Queen Elizabeth : together with the intermixture of such civil actions and affairs of state, as either were co-incident with it or related to it / by Peter Heylyn. Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.; Heylyn, Peter, 1599-1662. Affairs of church and state in England during the life and reign of Queen Mary. 1660-1661 (1661) Wing H1701_ENTIRE; Wing H1683_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; ESTC R6263 514,716 473

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brother on the 9th and 10th she removes her Court unto Whitehall and there contin●es till it was within two or three dayes of her Coronation Which time now drawing neer at hand she passed by water to the Tower on the 27th of September accompanied by her Sister the Princesse Elizabeth and a great train of Noble Ladies made her return through the principal streets of the City on the last of the same month in most ●tately manner and the next day proceeded with the like magnificence to the Abby Church where she was met by three ●●lver Crosses and eighty singing men all in ri●h and gorgeo●s Coaps so sudden a recruit was made of these sac●ed Vestments amongst whom went the new Dean of Westminster Dr. Westo● and divers Chaplains of her own each of them ●earing in their hands some Ensign or other After them marched ten Bishops which were as many as remained of her perswasion with their Mi●ers rich Coaps and Crosier staves The Sermon was preached by Dr ●ay whom she had restored to the See of Chichester and the solemnity of the Coronation celebrated by the new Lord Chancellor Cra●ner Archbishop of Canterbury being then commited and otherwise conceived unworthy of so great an honour Till this time none more dear to her then her Sister Elizabeth whom she alwayes took with her by the hand wheresoever she went and seldome dined or supped without her But this solemnity being passed over as if she were now freed from all the fea●s of a competition she estranged her self from her in such a manner as shewed that she had formerly desited her company for some by-respects and not out of natural affection More gratef●l unto other persons who deserved well of her she preferred Henry Ratcliff Earle of S●ssex Commander Generall of her Army to the Society of the Gatter which Honour she conferred on his son Thomas after his decease and to be covered in her Presence at all times and places tending to the custome of the Grandees in the Realm of Spain Which priviledge not being very frequent in the Polit●ie of the Realm of England I find to be recorded in these following words viz. Mary by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and Ireland in earth the Supream Head o all to whom this present writing shall come sendeth Greeting in our Lord everlasting Know ye that We do give and pardon to Our wel-beloved and trusty Cosen and one of Our Privy Council Henry Earl of Sussex and Viscount Fittzwater Lord Egremond and Burnel Liberty Licence and Pardon to wear his Cap Coyfe or Night-cap or two of them at his pleasure as well in Our presence as in the presence of any other person or persons within this Our Realm or any other place of Our Dominions whatsoever during his life and these Our Letters shall be his sufficient Warrant in this behalf Given under Our Sign Manuall at Our Pallace of Westminster 2. Octob. 1 Regni With the like Royal gratitute she advance the Earl of Arundel who had deserved as well of her in the Council as the Earl of Sussex in the Camp to the Place or Office of Lord Steward investing him with all those powers and priviledges which had been form●rly exercised by the Lord Great Master whom he succeeded in Authority though not in Title Sir Edward Hastings who came over to her with 4000 men she first made Master of the Horse and Knight of the Gar●er and afterwards Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold and Lord Hastings of Louthborough Sir John Williams who had done her very good service in Buckingham and Oxford●hires ●hires she honoured with the Title of Lord Williams of Ja●e of which more hereafter Sir H●nry Jernin●ham who first appeared in Norfo●k for her she preferred to be Captain of her Guard a●soon as she came unto the Crown and toward the latter end of her Reign Sir Thomas Thre●●●m was created Lord Prior of the Order of St Johns of Jerusalem and consequently according to the old pretension the first Baron of England And as for her domestique servants who had suffered with her she thought it no unfit decorum that they should in part Reign with her also To which end she preferred Hop●on her old Chaplain to the See of Norwich R●chester to be Comp●roller of her Houshold Ing●●field to● be Master of the Wards and W●lgrave to be Master of the Wardrobe which is suffici●nt ●o de●l●re that she was willing to comply with all obligarion● and not to b● too long in debt to her greatest subjects but much lesse to her m●nial servants But in ●●gard that all these were considered for their per●onal merits not in reference only to their zeal for the Catholick Cause she was to shew some act of favour unto those of tha● party which might create a confidence in them of her good affections To which end she made choice of Sir John Gage a man most zealously addicted to the Church of Rome to be Lord Chamberlain of ●●r Houshold when she came first to the Tower to the great satisfaction of all those of that Religion And that she might in some mea●ure also ob●●ge the rest of her su●jects and make the ent●ance of her Reign the more plea●●ng to them her Coronation was accompanied with a general pardon at the least in shew Out of which all prisoners in the Tower such as remained in the Fleet together with sixty other being excepted and the re●trictions and proviso's with which it was in all parts clogged being well observed there were not many especially of those whom it most concerned that could create unto themselves any benefit by it Thus was the Civil State established on a right foundation and the succession setled most agreeably to the Laws of Nature according to the last Will and Testament of King He●ry the 8th and the Laws made in that behalfe But we shall see the pillars of the Church removed the very foundation of it shaken and the whole ●abrick of Religion so demolished that scarce one stone thereof did seem to stand upon the other without reg●rd unto the Laws and contrary to the will and purpose of King Edw●●d the 6th At the Queens first entrance into London on the thi●d of August she disc●arged Gardin●r of the Tower as she did B●●ner of the Marshelsey and Bishop T●●stall from the Kings Bench within two dayes after To make way to whose restitution to their former Sees Bishop Ridley is removed from London Bishop Poi●ct from Winchester and an Act of Parli●ment p●oc●red for the restoring of the Church of Durham to all its Lands Preheminences and Juri●dictions of which it stood divested by the l●te Act of Dissolution made in the last year of the King deceased By the like power was Coverdale displaced from the See of Exon S●ory from that of Chichester and Hooper dispossessed of that Jurisdiction whi●h he held as the Commendatory of the See
one another by the known Laws of the Land which neither Acts of Parliament nor the last Will and Testament of the King Deceased were of power to alter That the young Queen of Scots was an Alien born by Consequence uncapable of any Inheritance in the Realm of England and had besides preferred the Alliance of the French before that of His Majesty which rendered Her as unworthy as she was uncapable That for the better carrying on of that Blessed Work of Reformation the Peace and Happiness of His People the preventing of all Emergent Mischiefs and His own everlasting Fame it was not possible to make a more happy Provision then by transferring the Crown to the Lady Jane a Lady of such Excellent Virtues as were sufficient to adorn the Richest Diadem That there was no Question to be made but that His Majesty knew as well as any the admirable qualities of that Matchless Lady Her Zeal to the Religion here by Him established the agreeableness of Her Conversation with His own Affections and could not but conceive that Nation to be infinitely happier then all others which might fall under the Command of so mild a Government And finally That he was bound by His Duty to God the Light of His own Conscience and the Love He had to all His Subjects to lay aside all Natural Affections to His Father's House in respect of that great Obligation which He had to God's Glory and the true Religion following therein the Example of our Lord and Saviour who looked both for his Brothers and Sisters amongst his Disciples without relating to his nearest Kindred by Joseph or Mary By these Suggestions and Inducements he much enclined the King to hearken to his Propositions For furtherance whereof he caused such as were about Him to entertain Him with continual Discourses of the Divine Perfections and most Heavenly Graces of the Lady Jane the high Esteem in which She was with all the Subjects for Her Zeal and Piety the everlasting Fame which would wait upon Him by providing such a Successour to enjoy the Crown in whom Virtues would survive to succeeding Ages Then which no Musick could sound sweeter in the Ears of the King whom he knew to have an affectionate Sympathy with that Excellent Lady as being much of the same Age brought up in the same Studies as near to Him in the sweetness of Her Disposition as She was in Blood and of a Conversation so agreeable to Him as if They had been but the same Person in divers Habits And they all plied their Game so cunningly that the weak King not being able to withstand so many Assaults did at last condescend to that which he found not onely most conformable to their Importunities but to His own Affections also Order was taken thereupon that an Instrument should be drawn in due Form of Law for the transposing of the Crown to the Children of the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk and Daughter to Mary the French Queen one of the Sisters of King Henry His Maje●tie's ●●ther In which Instrument nothing was to be defective which either could be drawn from the Grounds of Law or the Rules of Polity to justifie and endear the Action In drawing up whereof there was none thought fitter to be used then Sir William Cecil one of the Chief Secretaries of Estate who having before served Dudlie's Turn against his old Master the Duke of Sommerset was looked on as the Readiest Man for the present Service The Pretensions taken from the Law for excluding the King's two Sisters from the Right of Succession were grounded First Upon the Invalidity of their Mother's Marriage both being made void by Legal Sentences of Divorce and those Divorces ratified by Acts of Parliament In which the said two Sisters were declared to be illegitimate and consequently uncapable of any of those Favours which were intended to them by the Act of Succession made in the thirty fifth year of the late King Henry or by the last Will and Testament of that King which was built upon it In the next Place it was pretended that the said two Sisters Mary and Elizabeth being but of half Blood to the King now Reigning admitting them to have been born in lawfull Wedlock were not in any Capacity by the Common-Law the old good Law of England to be Heirs unto Him or to Succeed in any Part of that Inheritance which came unto Him by His Father It was considered also that by the known Rules and Principles of the Common-Law no manner of Person was Inheritable to any Estate of Lands or Tenements in the Realm of England who was not born under the King's Allegiance as King of England but in the case of Naturalization by Act of Parliament Which seemed to be a sufficient Bar against all Titles and Demands for the Line of Scotland although derived from Margaret the Eldest Daughter of King Henry the Seventh And whereas the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk might seem both by the Law of Nature and the Right of Succession to have precedency in Title before her Daughter yet was no Injury offered to her in regard that she was willing to pass by all her Personal Claims for the Preferment of her Children Which Pretermissions of the Mother were neither new nor strange in the Succession to the Crown of this Kingdom Not new because the like was done by Maud the Emperess for the Advancement of her Son King Henry the Second nor strange because it h●d been lately practised in the Person of the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond in giving Way to the Preferment of King Henry the Seventh the first King of the House now Regnant The Reasons or Pretexts which seemed to be built on Polity and Point of State were first the unavoydable Danger of Reducing this Free and Noble Realm under the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome if either of the King 's two Sisters in their several Turns should marry with a Foreign Prince of that Religion or otherwise by the Transport of their own Affections submit their Scepters to the Pope It was considered also That by such Marriages not onely many Foreign Customs and Laws would be introduced but that there might follow an Abolishment of those Antient Laws upon which the Native Rights of all the Subjects seemed to have dependance Besides that possibly the Realm might hereby be annexed to some greater Kingdom of which in time it would be reckoned for a Member and consequently be reduced unto the Form of a Province to the utter Subversion of the Antient Dignity and Estate thereof Which whensoever it should happen it was neither impossible nor improbable that the People upon a just Sence of the Indignities Pressures might elect some popular and seditious man to be their King who to countenance his own unworthiness obscurity would little regard what Contumelie he cast upon the falling Family of the Kings before him To which perchance some further Countenance might be
of Eviland The sixth of August since that Time is observed amongst them for an Annual Feast in perpetual Gratitude to Almighty God for their Deliverance from the Rebels with far more Reason then many such Annual Feasts have been lately Instituted in some Towns and Cities for not being gained unto their King But though the Sword of War was Sheathed there remained work enough for the Sword of Justice in Executing many of the Rebels for a Terrour to others Arundel and the rest of the Chiefs were sent to London there to receive the recompense of their Deserts most of the Raskal Rabble Executed by Martial Law and the Vicar of St. Thomas one of the Principal Incendiaries hanged on the Top of his own Tower apparailed in his Popish Weeds with his B●ads at his Girdle The Norfolk Rebels brake not out till the twentieth of June beginning first at a place called Ail-borough but not considerable either for Strength or Number till the sixth of July when mightily encreased by Ket a Tanner of Windham who took unto himself the conducting of them These men pretended onely against Enclosures and if Religion was at all regarded by them it was rather kept for a Reserve then suffered to appear in the Front of the Battail But when their Numbers were so vastly multiplyed as to amount to twenty thousand nothing would serve them but the suppression of the Gentry the placing of New Councellours about the King and somewhat also to be done in favour of the Old Religion Concerning which they thus Remonstrate to the King or the People rather viz First That the Free-born Commonalty was oppressed by a small Number of Gentry who glutted themselves with Pleasure whilest the poor Commons wasted with dayly Labour did like Pack-Horses live in extreme Slavery Secondly That Holy Rites Established by Antiquity were abolished New ones Authorised and a New Form of Religion obtruded to the subjecting of their Souls to those Horrid Pains which no Death could terminate And therefore Thirdly That it was necessary for them to go in person to the King to place New Councellours about him during his Minority removing those who ruling as they list confounded things Sacred and Profane and regarded nothing but the enriching of themselves with the Publick Treasure that they might Riot it amidst these Publick Calamities Finding no satisfactory Answer to these proud Demands they March directly towards Norwich and possess themselves of Moushold-Hill which gave them not onely a large Prospect over but a full Command upon that City which they entered and re-entered as they pleased For what could a Weak City do in Opposition to so Great a Multitude being neither strong by Art nor Nature and therefore not in a capacity to make any Resistance Under a large Oak on the top of this Hill since called The Oak of Reformation Ket keeps his Courts of Chancery King's Bench c. forcing the neighbouring Gentry to submit to his lawless Ordinances and committing many huge Enormities under pretense of rectifying some Abuses The King sends out his Gracious Pardon which the proud Rebels entertain with Contempt and Scorn Whereupon it was resolved that the Marquess of North-hampton should be sent against them accompanied with the Lords Sheffield and Wentworth and divers Gentlemen of Note assisted by a Band of Italians under the Command of Mala-testa an Experienced Souldier The Marquess was an excellent Courtier but one more skilled in Leading a Measure then a March so that being beaten out of Norwich into which he had peaceably been admitted with loss of some Persons of Principal Quality and the firing of a great part of the City he returns ingloriously to London Yet all this while the Lord Protectour was so far from putting himself upon the Action that he suffered his most dangerous Enemy the Earl of Warwick to go against them with such Forces as had been purposely provided for the War of Scotland Who finding the City open for him entertained the Rebels with divers Skirmishes in most of which he had the better which put them to a Resolution of forsaking the Hill and trying their Fortune in a Battail in a place called Dussing-dale where they maintained a bloody Fight But at the last were broken by the Earl's good Conduct and the valiant Loyalty of his Forces Two thousand of the Rebels are reported to have been slain in the Fight and Chase the residue of them scattered over all the Country the Principals of them taken and deservedly Executed Robert Ket hanged on Norwich-Castle William his Brother on the top of Windham-Steeple nine of his chief Followers on as many Boughs of the Oak where Ket held his Courts Which great Deliverance was celebrated in that City by a Publick Thanks giving on the twenty seventh of August and hath been since perpetuated Annually on that day to these present Times The like Rising happened about this time in York-shire began by Dale and Ombler two seditious persons and with them it ended for being taken in a Skirmish before their number had amounted to three thousand men they were brought to York where they were executed with some others on the twenty first of September then next following The breaking out of these Rebellions but most especially that of Devonshire quickned the Lords of the Council to a sharper course against all those whom they suspected not to favour the King's Proceedings nor to advance the Execution of the Publick Liturgie amongst whom none was more distrusted then Bonner of London concerning whom it was informed that by his negligence not onely many People within his Diocess were very forgetfull of their Duty to God in frequenting the Divine Service then by Law established but divers others utterly despising the same did in secret places often frequent the Popish Mass. For this he is Commanded to attend the Lords of the Council on the eleventh of August by whom he was informed of such Complaints as were made against him and so dismissed with certain private Injunctions to be observed by him for the time to come And for a further Trial to be made of his Zeal and Loyalty if it were not rather for a Snare to entrap him in he was Commanded to Preach against the Rebels at Saint Paul's Cross on the first of September and there to shew the unlawfullness of taking Arms on Pretence of Religion But on the contrary he not onely touched● not upon any thing which was enjoyned him by the Council but spent the most part of his Sermon in maintenance of the Gross Carnal and Papistical presence of Christs Body and Blood in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Complaints whereof being made by William Latimer Parson of St. Laurence Poult●ey and John Hooper sometimes a Cister'ian Monk a Commission is issued out to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Rochester and Peterborough Sir Thomas Smith and Doctour May before whom he was convented at Lambeth on the tenth of the Moneth where after many
old Age with the Trouble of Business and to take that Burthen on his Shoulders which he had long before thrown off with such great Alacrity And possible enough it is that finding his Abilities more proper for the Pulpit then they were for the Consistory he might desire to exercise himself in that Imployment in which he might appear most serviceable both to God and his Church For both before and after this we finde him frequent in the Pulpit before the King and have been told of his Diligent and Constant Preaching in other places His Sermons for the most part as the use then was upon the Gospels of the Day by which he had the Opportunity of Opening and Expounding a greater Portion of the Word of God then if he had confined his Meditations to a single Text. His Entertainment generally with Arch-Bishop Cranmer where he found all necessary Accommodation and so extreamly honoured by all sorts of People that he never lost the Name of Lord and was still looked on as a Bishop though without a Bishoptick But notwithstanding the Remove of so many Bishops there still remained one Rub in the Way which did as much retard the Progress of the Reformation as any of the rest if not altogether The Princess Mary having been bred up from Her Infancy in the Romish Religion could not be won by any Arguments and perswasions to change Her Minde or permit that any Alteration should be made in those Publick Offices to which She had so long been used The King had writ many Letters to Her in hope to take Her off from those Affections which She carried to the Church of Rome The like done also by the Lords of the Council and with like Success For besides that She conceived Her Judgment built on so good a Foundation as could not easily be subverted there were some Politick Considerations which possibly might prevail more with Her then all other Arguments She was not to be told That by the Religion of the Protestants Her Mother's Marriage was Condemned That by the same She was declared to be Illigitimate and Consequently made uncapable to succeed in the Crown in Case She should survive Her Brother All which She must acknowledge to be legally and justly determined Upon these Grounds She holds Her self to Her first Resolution keeps up the Mass with all the Rites and Ceremonies belonging to it and suffers divers Persons besides her own Domestick Servants to be present at it The Emperour had so far mediated in Her behalf that Her Chaplains were permitted to Celebrate the Mass in Her Presence but with this Cautio● and Restriction That they should Celebrate the same in Her Presence onely For the transgressing of which Bounds Mallet and Barkley Her two Chaplains were Committed Prisoners in December last of which She makes Complaint to the Lords of the Council but finds as cold Return from Them as they did from Her A Plot is thereupon contrived for conveying Her out of the Realm by Stealth to transport Her from Essex where She then lay to the Court of the Queen Regent in Flanders some of Her Servants sent before Flemish Ships ready to receive Her and a Commotion to be raised in that County that in the Heat and Tumult of it She might make Her Escape The King is secretly advertised of this Design and presently dispatcheth certain Forces under Sir John Gates then newly made Lievtenant of the Band of Pensioners to prevent the Practice secures His Coasts orders His Ships to be in Readiness and speeds away the Lord Chancellour Rich with Sir William Peter to bring the Princess to the Court. Which being effected at the last though not without extream Unwillingness on Her part to begin the Journey Inglesfield Walgrave and Rochester being all of Principall place about Her on the thirtieth of October were commi●ted to Custody which adds a new Affliction to Her but there was no Remedy The Lords of the Council being commanded by the King to attend upon Her declared in the name of His Highness how long He had permitted Her the Mass that finding how unmoveable She was from Her former Courses He resolved not to endure it longer unless He might perceive some hope of Her Conformity within short time after To which the Princess Answered That Her Soul was Goa's and for Her Faith that as She could not change so She would not d●ssemble it The Council thereunto rejoyn That the King intended not to Constrain Her Faith but to restrain Her in the outward Profession of it in regard of those many dangers and inconveniences which might ensue on the Example Which enterchange of words being passed She is appointed for the present to remain with the King but neither Mall●t nor any other of Her Chaplains permitted to have speech with Her or access unto Her The Emperour being certified how all things passed sends an Ambassadour to the King with a Threatning Message even to the Denouncing of a W●r in case his Cousin the Princess Mary were not permitted to enjoy the exercise of Her own Religion To Gratifie whom in His desires the Lords of the Council generally seemed to be very inclinable they well considered of the Prejudice wh●ch must fall upon the English Merchants if they should lose their Trade in Fl●●ders where they had a whole year's cloth beside other Goods And they knew well what inconvenience must befall the King who had there 500. Quintals of Powder and good store of Armour which would be seised into the Emperour's hands and imployed against Him if any Breach should grow between them The King is therefore moved with the joynt Consent of ●he whole Board to grant the Emperour's Request and to dispence with the utmost Rigour of the Law in that particular for fear of drawing upon Himself a greater mischief But they found Him so well Studied in the Grounds and Principles of His Religion that no Consideration drawn from any Reason of State could induce Him to it It was thereupon thought fit to send the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London being both Members of that Body to try what they could do upon Him in the way of Argument By them the Point being brought unto such an Issue as might give them some hopes of being admited it was Propounded to Him as their Opinion after some Progress made in the Disputation that Though it were a sin to give Licence to sin yet a connivance of it might be allowed in case it neither were too long nor without some probable hope of a Reformation With which Nicety the young King was so unsatisfied that he declared a Resolution rather to venture Life and all things else which were dear unto Him then to give way to any thing which He knew to be against the Truth Upon which words the King expressed His inward Trouble by a flood of Tears and the Bishops on the sight thereof wept as fast as He the King conceiving Himself wronged in being
so unreasonably pres●'d and the Bishops thinking themselves neglected because unseasonably denied Thus stood they si●ent for a time each Party looking sadly on the apprehension of those Extremities which this Dispute had brought upon them as certainly the Picture of Unkindness is never represented in more lively Colours then when it breaks out betwixt those who are most tenderly affected unto one another The Bishops thereupon withdrew admiring at such great Abilities in so young a King and magnified the Name of God for giving them a Prince of such Eminent Piety This being made known unto the Council it was thought necessary to dismiss the Emperour's Embassadour with such an Answer as should both give the English time to fetch off their Goods and let his Master have the ●●st of the Winter to allay his Heats It was therefore signified unto him That The King would shortly send an Age●t to reside with the Emperour Authourised and ●●str●cted in all particulars which might beget a right Vnderstanding between both Princes Thus answered he returns to the Emperour's Court whom Wotton shortly after followeth ●ufficiently Instructed To desire the Emperour to be less violent in his requests and to Advertise him That The Lady Mary as She was His Cou●sin so She was the King's Sister and which is more His Subject ● That seeing the King was a Sovereign Prince without dependency upon any but God it was not reason that the Emperour should intermeddle either with Ordering His Subjects or directing the Affairs of His Realm But so far he was Authourised to offer That whatsoever favour the King's Subjects had in the Emperour 's Dominions for their Religion the same should the Emperour 's Subjects receive in England Further then this as the King his Master would not go so it would be a l●st labour to desire it of him This was enough to let the Emperour see how little his Threats were feared which made him the less forward in sending more Which Passages relating to the Princess Mary I have lai'd together for the better understanding how all matters stood about this time betwixt Her and the King though possibly the sending of Wotton to the Emperour might be the Work of the next year when the King's Affairs were better setled then they were at the present For the King finding the extraordinary Coldness of the Emperour when his assistance was required for Defence of Bulloign and the hot Pursuit of his Demands of a Toleration for the Family of the Lady Mary conceived it most expedient for His Affairs to unite Himself more strongly and entirely in a League with France For entrance whereunto an Hint was taken from some Words which fell from Guidolti at the Treaty of Bulloign when he propounded That in stead of the Queen of Scots whom the English Commissioners demanded for a Wife to their King a Daughter of the French King might be joyned in Mariage with Him affirming merrily That If it were a dry Peace it would hardly be durable These Words which then were taken onely for a Slight or Diversion are now more seriously considered as Many times the smallest Overtures produce Conclusions of the greatest Consequence A Solemn Embassie is thereupon directed to the Court of France the Marquess of Northhampton nominated for the Chief Embassadour associated with the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hobby Gentleman-Usher of the Order Sir William Pickering Sir Thomas Smith Principal Secretary of State and Sir John Mason Clerk of the Council as Commissioners with him And that they might appear in the Court of France with the greater Splendour they were accompanied with the Earls of Arundel Rutland and Ormond and the Lords L'isle Fitz-water Abergavenny Bray and Evers with Knights and Gentlemen of Note to the number of six and twenty or thereabouts Their Train so limited for avoiding of contention amongst themselves that no Earl should have above four Attendants no Baron above three nor any Knight or Gentleman above two a piece the Commissioners not being limited to any number as the others were Setting forwards in the Moneth of June they were met by the Lord Constable Chastition and by him Conducted to the Court lying at Chasteau Bryan the nearer to which as they approached thē greater was the concourse of the French Nobility to attend upon them Being brought unto the King then being in his Bed-chamber the Marquess first presented him in the name of his King with the Order of Saint George called The Garter wherewith he was presently Invested by Sir Philip Hobby who being an Officer of the Order was made Commissioner as it seemed for that purpose chiefly rewarded for it by that King with a Chain of Gold valued at two hundred pounds and a Gown richly trimmed with Ayglets which he had then upon his back This Ceremony being thus performed the Bishop of Ely in a short Speech Declared How desirous his Master was not onely to continue but to encrease Amity with the French King that for this end He had sent the Order of The Garter to be both a Testimony and Tye of Love between them to which purpose principally those Societies of Honour were first devised Declaring that they had Commission to make Overtures of some other matters which was like to make the Concord betwixt the Kings and their Realms not onely more durable but in all expectation perpetual and thereupon desired the King to appoint some persons enabled with Authourity to Treat with them To which it was Answered by the Cardinal of Lorrain in the name of that King That his Master was ready to apprehend and embrace all Offers tending to encrease of Amity and the rather for that long Hostility had made their new Friendship both more weak in it self and more obnoxious unto Jealousies and Distrusts and therefore promised on the King's behalf that Commissioners should be appointed to Treat with them about any matters which they had in Charge In pursuance whereof the said Cardinal the Constable Chastilion the Duke of Guise and others of like Eminent note being appointed for the Treaty the English Commissioners first prosecute their Old Demand for the Queen of Scots To which it was Answered by the French That they had parted with too much Treasure and spent too many Lives upon any Conditions to let Her go and that Conclusion had been made long before for her Marriage with the Daulphin of France The English upon this proposed a Marriage between their King and the Lady Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of France who after was Married to Philip the Second to which the French Commissioners seemed very inclinable with this Proviso notwithstanding That neither Party should be bound either in Conscience or Honour untill the Lady should accomplish twelve years of Age. And so far Matters went on smoothly but when they came to talk of Portion there appeared a vast difference between them The English Commissioners ask no more then fifteen hundred thousand Crowns but fell by one hundred thousand
Proficiency in all parts of Learning she became very dear to the young King Edward to whom Fox not onely makes Her equal but doth acknowledge her also to be His Superiour in those Noble Studies And for an Ornament superadded to Her other Perfections she was most zealously affected to the true Protestant Religion then by Law established which She embraced not out of any outward compliance with the present current of the Times but because Her own most Excellent Judgment had been fully satisfied in the Truth and Purity thereof All which together did so endear her to the King that he took great Delight in Her Conversation and made it the first step to that Royal Throne to which He afterwards designed Her in the Time of His Sickness Thus lived she in these sweet Contentments till she came unto the years of Marriage when she that never found in Her self the least Spark of Ambition was made the most unhappy Instrument of another man's Dudly of Warwick a Person of a proud deceitfull and aspiring Nature began to entertain some Ambitious thoughts when Edward first began to Reign but kept them down as long as his two Uncles lived together in Peace and Concord But having found a means to dissolve that knot occasioned by the Pride and Insolency of the Duchess of Sommerset one as ill-Natured as himself he first made use of the Protectour to destroy the Admiral and after served himself by some Lords of the Court for humbling the Lord Protectour to an equal Level with the rest of the Council Finding by this Experiment how easie a thing it was to serve his Turn by them on all other Occasions he drew unto himself the managing of all Affairs none being so hardy as to question any of his Actions and much less to cross them But not content with being looked on as the Chief in Power he is resolved to make himself the first in Place thinking no private Greatness to be answerable to so great a Merit as he had fancied in himself Thus busying his unquiet thoughts upon new Designs and passing from one imagination to another he fixed at last upon a purpose of Husbanding the Opportunities to his best Advantage in transferring the Crown into his own Family which he thought Capable enough of the highest Honours For why said he within himself should not the Son of a Dudly being the more Noble House of the two be thought as Capable of the Imperial Crown of this Realm as the Son or Grand-Childe of a Seimour Though I pretend not to be born of the Race of Kings yet I may give a King to England of my Race and Progeny on as good ground as any which derive themselves from Owen Tudor the Ancestour of the Boy now reigning That Family pretended onely from a Daughter to the House of Sommerset and there are now some Daughters of the House of Suffolk which may pretend as much as she If by a Match into that House I can finde a way to bring the Crown into mine own I shall want no Presidents at home and finde many abroad Some Dangers may present themselves in the Pursuit of this Enterprise but Dangers are to be despised as in all great Actions so chiefly when a Crown is aimed at It is resolved that I will try my Fortune in it which if it prosper to my wish I shall live Triumphantly if I sink under the Attempt I shall perish Nobly Which being concluded and resolved on he first insinuates himself into the good affections of the Marquess of Dorset whom he assisteth in his Suit for the Title of Suff●lk which without him was not to be gained exalts himself to the like Glorious Title of Duke of Northumberland that he might stand on equal ●round with the proudest of them and in a word so cunningly prepareth his Toils for the Duke of Sommerset that at the last he fell into them never to be set free again untill Death released him all which Particulars have been at large laid down in the former History And this being done he suffered the young King to wear out all the following year the better to avoid all Popular suspition that His Uncle's Death was onely hastened to make way for His. And possible it is that he might have tired it out a little longer but for a smart Jest which He put upon this Ambi●ious Minister The King took great delight in his Bow and Arrows and shooting one day at the Butt as He used to do hit the very White Well aimed my Liege said Merrily the Mighty Duke But you aimed better said the King when you shot off the head of My Vncle Sommerset which words so stang the Conscience of the guilty man that he could not think himself secure but by accelerating his Design for settling the Crown upon the Head of one of his Children according to the Plot which he had hammered in the Forge of his Wretched Brain For now the King beginning sensibly to decay he takes his time to enter into Communication with the Duke of Suffolk about a Marriage to be made betwixt the Lord Guilford Dudly his fourth Son and the Lady Jane Gray the Duke's eldest Daughter which with the rest of the Marriages before-mentioned being propounded and concluded for he was grown too great and known to be too dangerous to be denied in any reasonable Suit a day was set in which this Excellent Lady was to be transplanted into the Family of the Dudlies A day which she expected with a Virgin Modesty and after the Solemnity of the Nuptial Rites delivers Her pure Body to the chast Embraces of a Vertuous Con●ort who of all Dudlie's Brood had nothing of the Father in him All which succeeding to his wish he sets himself to the accomplishing of that Project which he had long before designed The King was now grown weak in Body and decayed in Spirits and in that weak Estate he takes his Opportunities to inculcate to Him what infinite Blessings had been derived from Him on this Church and Nation by the Blessed Reformation of Religion so happily began and brought to such Perfection by Him That it must therefore be His Care so to provide for the Continuance of those infinite Blessings that Posterity might enjoy the Benefit and Comfort of it which would gain Him a more pretious Memory amongst His Subjects then all His other Princely Virtues That nothing was more feared by all Sorts of People then that the Crown Imperial if it should please Almighty God to call Him to a Crown of Gl●ry would fall upon the Head of the Lady Mary a Princess passionately affected to the Interess of the Church of Rome and one who by Her Marriage with some Potent Prince of that Religion might Captivate the Free-Born English Nation to a Foreign Servitude That both His Sisters being born of disputed Marriages and howsoever being but his half Sisters onely and by several Ventures could neither be Heirs to Him nor to
of his death But nothing so much alienated the Queens affection from her as the difference which was between them in the cause of Religion occasioned and continued by their several interests For it concerned Queen Mary to maintain the Pope and his Religion her mothers marriage not being otherwise to be defended as good and lawful but by his authority which marriage if by his authority made good and lawfull then must the marriage of Anne Bollen be made unlawful and consequently the Princess Elizabeth must actually be made illegitimate by the same authority Upon which point as the Queen laboured nothing more than the restoring of the Pope to that Supremacy of which he had been deprived by the two last Kings so kept she a hard hand upon her sister as of a different Religion from her the visible Head of the Protestant party in the Kingdom and one whom she suspected to have more hearts amongst the Subjects than she had her self Upon the first surmise of her being privy to Wyat's conspiracy Sir Edward Hastings and some others were sent to bring her to the Court from her house at Ashrsdge where though they found her extream sick and unfit for travel yet they compelled her to go with them on the morrow after Being come unto the Court she was first kept prisoner in her chamber for the space of a fortnight neither permitted to come to the Queens presence nor suffered without much difficulty to write unto her Charged by the Bishop of Winchester and some other Lords with Wyat's practices she stoutly stood on the denyall professing her fidelity and loyalty to the Queen her sister Which notwithstanding she was conveied by water on the Sunday commonly called Palm-Sunday to the Tower of London the people being commanded to keep their Churches for fear she might be rescued and took from them who were to have the conduct of her by whom compelled to land at the private Stairs generally called The Traitors Stairs she openly affirmed That there landed as true a Subject being a Prisoner as ever landed in that place and so was brought unto the Lodgings appointed for her all doors being locked and bolted on her to her great amazement Gage Constable of the Tower and at that time Lord Chamberlain also was her bitter enemy but more for love to the Pope than for hate to her person and did not on●ly place a strong Guard about her but suffered none but those of that ragged Regiment to carry up her dyet to her Of which complaint being made to him by some of her servants he threatned to lay them in such a place where they should neither see the Sun nor Moon if they troubled him any more about it though afterwards it was otherwise ordered by the Lords of the Council Wearied with the closeness of her imprisonment she moved the Lord Cha●dois and the Lord Chamberlain the one of which was Constable and the other Lieutenant of the Tower that she might have the liberty of walking in the private Garden or at the least in the Queens Lodgings for her better health In which not able to gratifie her by their own authority the Lord Chandois obtained leave of the Lords of the Council that she might walk in the Queens Lodgings himself the Lord Chamberlain and three of the Queens Gentlewomen being still in her company permitted afterwards to enjoy the benefit of the private Garden the doors were always shut upon her and order given that no Prisoners should be suffered by their Keepers to look out of the windows so long as she was walking in it Such care there was to hinder all access unto her and opportunity of conference with her that a little Boy of four years old was threatned to be whipt for presenting her with flowers and nosegays and a command given by Gage that the Boy 's father should keep him at home and not suffer him to come thither any more But the Tower being thought to be no safe prison for a person of such eminent quality by reason of its nearness to the capital City and the great number of prisoners which were kept therein she was committed to the custody of Sir Henry Bedingfield a man of an untractable and rugged nature by whom she was conducted with a guard of soldiers to the Mannor of Woodstock which journey she began on the 19th of May being Trinity Sunday and ended by short and easie stages on the Thursday after her own servants sometimes sequestred from her by command of her Jaylor as she commonly called him the people sometimes rated and reviled by him for flocking to see her as she passed and the Lord Williams though associated in Commission with him openly quarrelled and reproached for giving her a noble Entertainment at his house of Ricolt Being brought to Woodstock she was kept under many locks and bolts a guard of Russians continually attending before her dores and the keys every night brought up to Reding field who suffered no access unto her upon any occasion Which being made known to the Lord Williams he sollicited the Queen that she might be prisoner in his house and offered to be surety for her and was in such a fair way of obtaining his sute that he caused preparations to be made for her reception but either by the interposition of the Bishop of Winchester her most mortal enemy or the sollicitation of Bedingfield who possibly might have some other end to work upon her no effect followed answerably to that expectation About this time she was advised by some of her friends to submit her self unto the Queen which they conceived would be very well taken and redound mu●h bo●h to her benefit and contentment To which she answered That she would never make any submission to them against whom she never had offended in word or deed adding withall that if she were guilty of any such offence she would crave no mercy but the Law which she was sure she should have had before that time if any thing could have been proved against he● by her greatest enemies onely she was perswaded to make a sute to the Lords of the Council that she might be suffered to write a Letter to the Queen not g●atified without mu●h difficulty in that easie sure nor otherwise gra●ified at all but that Bed●ngfiel● was to stand by her all the time she 〈◊〉 and have the keeping of her papers till she came to an end and to be made privy to the conveyan●e of those Letters when they once were written At her first comming to the Tower she had a Priest appointed to say Mass in her chamber but whether the same Priest or any other was appointed for the like office at her being at Woodstoc● I find not in the story of her life and troubles Certain it is that she resorted to the Mass both before and after and seemed not a little discontented that she could not gain so much upon the Queen by her outward
might have done so also if they had not either been well watched or trusted upon their Parol to be forth-comming as the phrase is upon all occasions And though I find the name of Pates subscribed to some of the former Sessions yet it is not to be found to this the man being of a moderate and gentle spirit and possibly not willing to engage himself in any Counsels which might prove detrimental to his native country And as for Goldnel though his zeal to Popery was strong enough to carry him beyond the Seas yet it did not carry him so far as Trent there being so many retireing places nearer home in which he might repose himself with more contentment But leaving the Fathers in Trent to expect the comming of the holy Ghost in a cloak-bag from Rome according to the common scorn which was put upon them we must prepare our selves for England first taking in our way the affairs of France which now began to take up a great part of the thoughts of the Queen and her Council The Reformed Religion had made some entrance in that kingdome during the Reign of king ●rancis the first exceedingly dispersed and propagated in most parts thereof notwithstanding the frequent Martyrdoms of particular persons the great and terrible Massacres of whole Townships Commonalties and Churches even by hundreds and thousands in divers places of the Realm To which encrease the fickle nature of the French the diligence of their Preachers and the near neighbourhood of Genev● were of great advantage all which advantages were much improved by the authority and reputation which Calvin carried in those Churches and the contentment which the people took in a form of Government wherein they were to have a share by the rules of their Discipline and thereby draw the managery of affairs unto themselves Being grown numerous in the City of Tours and not permitted to enjoy the liberty of assembling within the walls they held their meetings at a village not far off for their publick Devotions the way to which leading through the gate of St. Hugo is thought to have occasioned the name of Hugonots which others think to have been given them by reason of their frequent nightly meetings resembled by the French to the walking of a Night-spirit which they called St. Hugh but from what ground soever it came it grew in short time to be generally given as a by-name to those which professed the Reformed Religion whether in France or else-where after Calvin's platform Their numbers not diminished by so many butcheries gave them the reputation of a party both stout and active which rendred them the subject of some jealousie to the Roman Catholicks and specially to those of the House of Guise who laboured nothing more than their extirpation But this severity sorted to no other effect than to confirm them in their Doctrines and attract many others to them who disdained to see poor people drawn every day to the Stake to be burned guilty of nothing but of zeal to worship God and to save their own souls To whom were joyned many others who thinking the Guisiards to be the cause of all the disorders in the Kingdom judged it an Heroick Act to deliver it from oppression by taking the publick Administration out of their hands But nothing more encreased their party than the accession of alm●st all the Princes of the Blood of the House of Burbon the Chiefs whereof were the Duke of Vendosm who called himself King of Navarr in right of his Wife the Princes of Conde the Duke of Montpensier who finding themselves neglected by the Queen-Mother and oppressed by the Guisiards retired in no small discontments from the Court and being otherwise unable to make good their quarrels offered themselves as Leaders of the H●gonot-faction who very cheerfully submitted to their rule and conduct The better to confirm their minds they caused the principal Lawyers of Germany and France and the most famous Protestant Divines to publish in writing that without violating the Majesty of the King and the dignity of the lawful Magistrate they might oppose with Arms the violent Domination of the House of Guise who did not onely labour to suppress the true Religion and obstruct the free passage of Justice but seemed to keep the King in prison Having thus formed their Party in the minority of King ●rancis the second their first design was that a great multitude should appear before the King without Arms to demand that the severity of the judgments might be mitigated and liberty of conscience granted intending that they should be followed by Gentlemen who should make supplication against the Government of the Guisiards But the purpose being made known to the Court the King was removed from Blo●s●n ●n open Town to the strong Castle of Amboise as if he could not otherwise be safe from some present Treason After which followed a strict inquiry after all those who had a hand in the design the punishment of some and the flight of others with the conclusion taken up by the Guisian faction to settle the Spanish Inquisition in the Realm of France To pacifie the present troubles an Edict is published by the King on the 18th of March 1560 in the French account for the pardoning of all who simply moved with the zeal of Religion had ingaged in the supposed conspiracy upon condition that they disarmed within 24 hours and after that another Edict by which a general pardon was indulged to all Reformati●●● but so that all assemblies under the colour of Religion were prohibited by it and a charge laid upon the Bishops to take unto themselves the cognisance of all causes of Heresie in their several Diocesses But this so little edified with those of that party that greater tumults were occasioned by it in Provence Languedock and Poicto● To which places the Ministers of Geneva were called who most willingly came By whose Sermons the number of Protestants so increased in those Provinces and by their Agents in most others that in this year 1562. they were distributed into two thousand one hundred and fifty Churches as appeared upon a just computation of them But in the midst of these improvements the power and reputation of the side was shrewdly weakned by the falling off of Anthony Duke of Vendosme and King of 〈◊〉 who did not only openly forsake the party but afterwards joined himself in counsel and design against it with the Duke of Guise The found●ing of so great a pillar threatned a quick ruine to the fabrick if some other butteress were not found to support the same The war was carried on from one place to another but seemed to aim most at the reduction of Normand● where the Hugono●s had possessed themselves of some Towns and Cas●les by which they might be able to distress the City of Paris and thereby make a great impression on the rest of the Kingdom It was thereupon advised by Lewis Prince of Co●de the
Cardinal Chastilion and other of the principal Leaders that they should put themselves under the protection of the Queen of England wh● had not long before so seasonably relieved the Scots in the like distress No better counsel being offered nor any hope of succour to be had elsewhere the Vidame of Chartresse Governour at that time of the Port of Newhaven together with the Bayli●● of Rowen the Seneshal of Diep and others made their address unto the Queen in the name of the Prince of Conde and of all the rest of the Confederates who professed the Gospel in that Kingdom they profered to her the said Towns whereof they had charge if it would please her Majesty to further their proceedings in defence of the Gospel as they called it And seemed to justifie their offer by a publick acknowledgement that her Majesty was not only true inheritour to those Towns but also to the whole Kingdom of France But neither their coming not their message was unknown unto her who had been secretly advertised of all passages there by Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a vigilant and dexterous man who being her Majesties Resident in that Kingdom had driven the bargain before hand and made all things in readiness against their coming Nor was the Queen hard to be intreated to appear in that cause which seemed so much to her advantage She was not ignorant of the pretensions of the Queen of Scots and the practices of her Uncles of the House of Gu●se to advance her interess Who if they should possess themselves of all the strengths in the Dukedom of Normandy might from thence find an easie passage into England when she least looked for them On these and other considerations of the like importance it was agreed upon between them that the Queen should supply the Prince of Conde and his associates with a sufficient quantity of money corn and ammunition for the service of the French King against the plots and practices of the House of Guise that she should aid them with her forces both by land and sea for the taking in of such Castles Towns and Ports as were possessed by the faction of the said Duke that the said Prince of Conde and his associates should not come to any terms of peace with the opposite party without the privity and approbation of the Queen and that as well for securing the payment of all such monies as for the safe going in and out of all such forces as her Majesty should supply them with the Town and Port of Newhaven should be put unto her Majesties hands to be garrison'd by English souldiers and commanded by any person of quality whom her Majesty should authorise to keep and defend the same Immediately on which accord a Manifest was published in the name of the Queen in which it was declared how much she had preferred the peace of Christendom before her own particular intere●s that in persuance of that general affection to the publick peace she had relinquished her claim to the Town of Calais for the term of eight years when as all other Princes were restored by that Treaty to their lost estates that for the same reasons she had undertaken to preserve the Scots from being made vassals to the French without retaining any part of that Kingdom in her own possession after the service was performed that with the like bowels of commiseration she had observed how much the Queen-Mother of France was awed and the young King himself inthralled by the Guisian faction who in their names and under pretence of their authority endeavoured to root out the professors of the Reformed Religion that in persuance of that purpose they had caused such terrible massacres to be made at Vassey Paris Sene Tholouse ●loys Towers Angier● and other places that there were thought to be butchered no fewer than one hundred thousand of the naturall French between the first of March and the 20th of August then last past that with like violence and injustice they had treated such of her Majesties subjects as traded in the Ports of Bretagne whom they caused to be apprehended spoiled and miserably imprisoned such as endeavoured to preserve themselves to be cruelly killed their goods and merchandise to be seized without charging any other crime upon them but that they were H●gono●s and finally that in consideration of the Premises her Majesty could do no less than use her best endeavors for rescuing the French King and his Mother out of the power of that dangerous faction for aiding such of the French subjects as preferred the service of their King and the good of their Country before all other respects whatsoever for preserving the Reformed Religion from an universal destruction and the maintaining of her own subjects and Dominions in peace and safety Nor did she only publish the afo●esaid Manifest the better to satisfie all those whom it might concern in the reasons of her taking arms upon this occasion but she gives a more particul●● account of it to the King of Spain whom she considered as the chief Patron of the Guisian League And knowing how unsafe it was for her to appear alone in a cause of that nature and importance she deals by Knollis and other of her Agents with the Princes of Germany to give their timely assistan●e to the Prince of Conde in maintenance of that Religion which themselves professed But howsoever not expecting the success of those counsels she proceeds to the supplying of the said Prince and his party with all things necessary for the war and sends over a sufficient strength of ships arms and men as well to scour the seas as secure the land The men amounting to 6000 were divided into two equal parts of which the one was destined to the defence of Rowen and Diepe then being in the hands of the Confederates the other to take possession of the Town of Newhaven which by the Townsmen and Inhabitants was joyfully surrender'd into the hands of the English The Town commodiously seated at the mouth of the Seine and having the command of a spacious Bay in former times not much observed or esteemed But being more carefully considered of by King Francis the first he ca●sed the Bay to be inlarged the passages into i● cleared and the entrances of it to be strongly fortified which falling into the hands of any enemy might have destroyed the trade of Rowen and Paris being both built upon the River Called for this reason Franciscopolis by our Latine Writers Newhaven by the English Merchant and Haver d' Grace by reason of the beauty of it amongst the French it hath been looked on ever since as a place of consequence For her Commander in Chief she sends over the Lord Ambrose Dudley the eldest son then living of the late Duke of Northumberland whom on the 26th of December she had created Lord Lisl● and Earl of Warwick And he accordingly preparing for his passage over took shipping at Portsmouth on the 17th
amongst some of the Clergy and render'd to the Bishops by the Prolocutor and ten others of that House on the 26th of February To which some additionals being made by the first contrivers it was a second time tender'd to them by the Prolocutor in the name of the lower House of Convocation by whom it had been generally and unanimously recommended to them But the Bishops let this sleep also as they did the other More was it to the profit of the Clergy generally to make inquiry into certain Articles which by the Archbishop with the consent of all the rest of the Prelates were delivered in writing The Tenour of which Articles was 1. Whether if the Writ of Melius inquirendum be sent forth there be any likelyhood that it will return to the Queens profit 2. Whether some Benefices ratably be not less than they be already valued 3. That they enquire of the manner of dilapidations and other spoliations that they can remember to have passed upon their Livings and by whom 4. To signifie how they have been used for the levying of the arrerages of tenths and Subsidies and for how many years past 5. As also how many Benefices they find that are charged with pensions newly imposed to discharge the pensions of Religious persons 6. And lastly to certifie how many Benefices are vacant in every Diocess But what return was made upon these enquiries I find as little in the Acts of this Convocation as either in allowance of the Catechism or the Book of Discipline Religion and the State being thus fortified and secured in England it will not be amiss to see what they do in Scotland where the young Queen was graciously enclined to forget all injuries and grant more liberty to her subjects in the free exercising and enjoying of their own perswasions than she could gain unto her self For in a Parliament held in May within few months after the end of that in England the Act for oblivion formerly condescended to in the Treaty at Edenborough was confirmed and ratified but without reference to that Treaty the results whereof the Queen by no means would acknowledge to be good and valid And thereupon it was advised that the Lords should supplicate on their knees in the House of Parliament for the passing of it which was accordingly performed by them and vouchsafed by her There also past some other Acts of great advantage to the Church as affairs then stood that is to say one Act for the repairing and upholding of Parish Churches and the Church-yards of the same for burial of the dead Another against letting Parsonages Glebes or Houses into long Leases or Fee But this came somewhat of the latest a great part of the Tythes Houses and possessions which belonged to the Church having been formerly aliened or demised for a very long term by the Popish Clergy when they perceived they were not likely to enjoy them longer for themselves But on the other side no safety or protection could be found for her own Religion no not so much as in the Chapel-Royal or the Regal City In contempt whereof a force was violently committed in the month of August in the Chapel of the Palace of Holy Rood House the Whitehall of Edenborough where certain of the Queens servants were assembled for their own devotions the dores broke open some of the company haled to the next prison and the rest dispersed the Priest escaping with much difficulty by a private passage The Queen was then absent in the North but questioned Knox at her return as the cause of the uproar By which expostulation she got nothing from that fiery spirit but neglect and scorn Return we back again to France where we find some alternations of affairs between the French King and the Reingrave on the one side the English and confederate Princes on the other but so that fortune seemed most favourable to the English party The Church of Hattivil a neighbouring Village to Newhaven taken and garrison'd by the Reingrave but presently abandoned and repossessed by the English The Castle of Tankervile cunningly taken by the English and soon after regained by the Reingrave The City and Castle of Cane held with a strong Garison by the Marquiss d' Elbeuffe and besi● ged by the confederate forces both French and English and finally surrender'd to the Admiral Chastilion to the use of the Princes March the 2d After which followed the surrendry of Bayeulx Faleise St. Lods and divers other Towns and Castles The Town of Hareflew on the Seine gallantly taken by the help of the English of Newhaven on the 10th and garrison'd by such souldiers and inhabitants as was sent from thence Which fortunate successes so amazed the heads of the Guisian faction that they agreed unto an Edict of pacification by which the French Princes were restored to the Kings favor the Hugonots to the free exercise of their own Religion and all things setled for the present to their full contentment But they must buy this happiness by betraying the English whom they had brought into the Country and join their forces with the rest to drive them out of Newhaven if they would not yield it on demand Of this the Queen had secret notice and offereth by Throgmorton to deliver up Newhaven in exchange for Callis The French resolve to hold the one and recover the other so that new forces are sent over to make good the Town The French draw toward it in great numbers under the conduct of the Marshals of Brissack and Mont Morency followed not long after by the Constable himself with many other French Lords of the highest quality The siege growes close and the service very hot on both sides but the English had a fiercer enemy within the Town than any whom they found without The pes●ilence had got in amongst them and raged so terribly for the time that the living were scarce able to bury the dead And to compleat the miseries of the besieged the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Montpensier shewed themselves openly amongst the rest in the Camp of the enemies that the last act of the Tragedy might be plaid in their presence All things conspiring thus against them the English are necessitated to a capitulation by which they left the Town behind them on the 29th of July but carried the plague with them into England Which might by some be looked on as an argument of Gods displeasure on this Nation for giving aid unto the Rebels of a Christian Prince though masked with the vizard of Religion Passe we on further toward Trent where we find the Fathers in high displeasure against Queen Elizabeth exasperated by her aiding the French Hugonots against their King But more for passing the Statute above mentioned for punishing all those which countenanced and maintained the Popes authority within her dominions The Pope hereby so much incensed that he dispatched a Commission to the Fathers of Trent to proceed to an
slackned by degrees his accustomed diligence in labouring be perswasions to work on one who was resolved before hand not to be perswaded So that being weary of the Court and the court of her she was permitted for a time to remain at Hun●sdon in the County of Hartford To which place being in the Diocesse of London Bishop Ridley had recourse unto her and at first was kindly entertained But having staid dinner at her request he made an offer of his service to preach before her on the Sunday following to which she answered That the doors of the Parish Church adjoining should be open for him that h● might preach there if he li●ted but that neither she n●r any of her s●rvants would b●●her● 〈◊〉 hear him Madam said he I hope you will not refuse to hear Gods word To which she answered That she could not tell what they called Gods word that which was now called th●●●rd of God 〈◊〉 having been accounted such in the ●●yes of her father After which falling into many different expressions against the Religion then established she ●ismissed him thus My Lord said she For your gentlenesse to come and see me I thank you but for your offer to preach before me I thank 〈◊〉 n●t Which said he was conducted by Sir Th●mas W●arton one of her principall Officer● to the place where they dined by whom he was presented with a cup of wine which having drank and looking very sadly on it Surely said he 〈…〉 Which words he spake with such a vehemency of spirit a● made the hair of some of those which were present to stand an end as themselves afterward● confessed Of this behaviour of the Princesse a● the Bishop much complained in other p●a●es so most especially in a Sermon preached at St Paul's Crosse on the sixteenth of July in which he was appointed by the Lords of the Council to set forth the title of Queen Jane to whom the s●ccession of the Crown had been transferred by King Edward at the solicitation and procurement of the Duke of N●rth●mbe●land who served himself of nothing more than of her obstinate aversnesse from the reformed Religion then by law established The cunning contrivance of which plot and all that had been done in pursuance of it hath been laid down at large in the Appendix to the former book Suffice in this place to know that being secretly advertised of her brothers death she dispatched her letters of the ninth of July to the Lords of Council requiring them not only to acknowledge her just title to the Crown of this Realm but to cause pro●lamation of it to be made in the usual form which though it was denied by them as the case then stood yet she was gratified therein by the Mayor of Norwich who firs● proclaimed her Queen on the fourth day after as afterwards was done in some other places by those who did prefer the interest of King Henry's children before that of the Dud●y's But hearing of the great preparations which were made against her and finding her condition in a manner desperate when she first put her self into Fram●ngham Castle she faithfully assureu the Gentry and other inhabitants of the County of Suffolk that she would not alter the Religion which had been setled and confirmed in the Reign of her brother On which assurance there was such a confluence to her from those parts of the Kingdom that in short space she had an army of fourteen thousand fighting men to maintain her quarrel The newes whereof together with the risings of the people in other places on the same account wrought such an alteration in the Lords of the Council whom she had before solicited in vain to allow her title that on the nineteenth of July she was solemnly proclaimed Queen at Cheapside Crosse not only by their general and joint consent but by the joyful acclamations of all sorts of people But as Mariners seldome pay those vows which they make in a tempest when once they are delivered from the danger of it so Mary once established in the Royal Throne forgot the services which she received from those of Suffolk together with the promises which she made unto them in the case of Religion Insomuch that afterwards being petitioned by them in that behalf it was answered with more churlishnesse than could be rationally expected in a green Estate That members must obey their Head and not look to rule it And that she might no more be troubled with the like Petitions she caused one Dobb a Gentlemen on Windham side who had presumed to put her in remembrance of her former promise to be punished by standing in the Pillory three dayes together to be a gazing stock to all men But such is the condition of our humane nature that we are far more ready to require a favour when we stand in need of it than willing to acknowledge or requite it when our turn is served Of which we cannot easily meet with a cleerer evidence than the example of this Queen who was so far from gartifying those who had been most aiding to her in the time of her trouble that she persecuted them and all others of the same perswasions with fire and faggot as by the sequel of her story will at large appear The Life and Reign of QUEEN MARY An. Reg. Mar. 1. A. D. 1553. 1554. THe interposings in behalf of the Lady Jane being disrelished generally in most parts of the Kingdome M●ry the eldest sister of King Edward the sixt is proclaimed Queen by the Lords of the Council assi●●ed by the Lord Mayor of London and such of the Nobility as were then resident about that City on Wednesday the nineteenth day of July Ann● 1553. The Proclamation published at the Crosse in Che●p with all s●lemnities accustomed on the like occasions and entertained with joyfull acclamations by all sorts of people who feared nothing more than the pride and tyranny of the Duke of Northumberland To carry which news to the Queen at Framingham the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget are dispatched immediately by the rest of the Council and Letters are speedily posted by some private friends to the Duke at Cambridg● Who understanding how things went without expecting any order from the Lords at London dismist the remnant of his Army and presently repairing into the Market place proclaimed the Queen crying God save Queen Mary as loud as any and flinging up his cap for joy as the others did Which service he had scarce performed when Rose a Pou●suivant of Arms comes to him with instructions from the Lords of the Council subscribed by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor Goodrick the Lord Treasurer Paulet the Duke of Suffolk the Earl of Bedford Shrewsbury and Pembrook the Lord Darsie Sir Robert Cotton Sir William Peter and Sir William Cecil the two principall Secretaries Sir John Cheeck Tutor to the last King Sir John Baker Chancellor of the tenths and first fruits
of Worcester to which See 〈◊〉 Day and Heath were again restored The like course also followed for the depriving of all Dea●● D●gn●●●●●●s and Parochial Ministers who had succeeded into any of those pre●erments during the Reign of the two last Kings the old incumbe●ts whereof were then ●ound living and able to supply their places Which though it could not be objected against Dr Cox either in r●ference to his De●nry of ●hrist Church or that of 〈◊〉 both which he held at the same time yet being brought unto the Marshal●ey on the 5th of 〈◊〉 he was unjustly spoi●ed of both to make room for Dr Richard Marshall in the one and Dt Hugh Weston in the other And all this done without so much as any shew of legal processe or the conventing of the persons whom it did concern or any satisfaction given unto the Laws which in some cases favour possession more than right so strangely violated But greater was the havock which was made amongst them when there was any colour or pretence of Law as in the case of having wives or not conforming to the Queens pleasure in all points of Religion con●idering how forward and pragmatical too many were to run before the Laws in the like particular The Queen was zealous in her way and by her interesse strongly byassed to the Church of Rome But it concerned her to be wary and not to presse too much at once upon the people which generally were well affected to the Reformation Of this she had a stout experiment within very few dayes after her first entrance into London For so it hapned that Dr Bourn Arch-Deacon of London and one of the Prebends of St Paul's preaching a Sermon at the Crosse on the 13th of August inveighed in favour of Bishop Bonner who was present at it against some proceedings in the time of the late King Edward Which so incensed the people that suddenly a great tumult arose upon it some pelting him with stones others crying out aloud pull him down pull him down and one who never could be known flinging a dagger at his head which after was found sticking in a post of the Pulpit And greater had the mischief been upon this occasion if Mr Bradford and Mr Rogers two eminent Preachers in the time of King Edward and of great credit and esteem with the common people had not endeavoured to appease the enraged multitude and with great difficulty secured the Preacher in the School adjoining By reason of which tumult an Order was taken by the Lords of the Coun●il with the mayor and Aldermen of London that they calling the next day following a Common Council of the City should thereby charge every housholder to cause their children and Apprentices to keep their own Parish Churches upon the Holy dayes and not to suffer them to attempt any thing to the violating of the common peace Willing them also to signifie to the said Assembly the Queens determination uttered to them by her Highnesse the 12th of August in the Tower Which was that albeit her Grace's conscience was staid in matters of Religion yet she gratiously meant to compel or strain other mens otherwise than God should as she trusted put into their hearts a perswasion of that truth which she was in through the opening of his word unto them by godly vertuous and learned Preachers that is to say such Preachers only as were to be hereafter licenced by the Queen's authority But yet for fear that these instructions might not edifie with the common people Order was taken for preventing the like tumult on the Sunday following At what time the Sermon was preached by Dr Watson who afterwards was Bishop of Lincoln but Chaplain only at that time to the Bishop of Winchester For whose security not only many of the Lords of the Council that is to say the Lord Treasurer the Lord Privy Seal the Earl of Bedford the Earl of Pembrook the Lords Wentworth and Rich were severally desired to be there present but Gerningham Captain of the Guard was appointed with two hundred of his stourest Yeomen to stand round about him with their Halberts The Mayor had also taken Order that all the Companies in their Liveries should be present at it which was well taken by the Queen And because the comming of the Guard on the one side affrighted some and the Order of the Lords above mentioned had restrained others from comming to those publick Sermons it was commanded by the Lord Mayor that the Ancients of all Companies should give attendance at those Sermons for the time to come lest otherwise the Preachers might be discouraged at the sight of so thin an Auditory The safety of those publick Preachers being thus provided for by the Lords of the Council there next care was that nothing should be preached in private Churches contrary to the Doctrine which was and should be ●augh● at the Cross by them which were appointed to it Whereupon it was further Ordered that every Alderman in his Ward should forthwith send for the Curates of every Church within their Liberties and warn them not only to forbear preaching themselves but also not to suffer any other to preach or make any open or solemn reading of Scripture in their Churches unless the said Preachers were severally licensed by the Queen To which purpose Letters were directed also to the Bishop of Norwich and possibly to all other Bishops in their several Diocesses But nothing more discovers the true state and temper of the present time than a Proclamation published by the Queen on the 18th of August The Tenor of which is as followeth The Queen's Highnesse well remembring what great inconvenience and dangers have grown to this her Rea●m in times● past through the diversities of opinions in Questions of Religion and hearing also that now of late sithence the beginning of her most gratious Reign the same contentions be again much revived through certain false and untrue reports and rumo●rs spread by some evil-disposed persons hath thought good to give to understand to all Her Highnesse's most loving subjects her most grrtious pleasure in manner following First Her Majesty being presently by the only goodness of God setled in her just possession of the Imperial Crown of this Realm and other Dominions thereunto belonging cannot now hide that Religion which God and the world knoweth she hath ever pro●essed from her infancy hitherto Which at her Majesty is minded to observe and maintain for her self by God's grace during her time so doth her Highness much desire and would be glad the some were of all her subjects quietly and charitably entertain'd And yet she doth signifie unto all her Majestie 's loving subjects that of Her most gratious disposition and clemency Her Highness mindeth not to ●ompel any Her said subjects thereunto until such time as further Order by common assent may be taken therein Forbidding nevertheless all her subjects of all degrees at their perils to move seditions or stir
unquietness in her people by interpreting the Laws of this Realm after their brains and fantasies but quietly to continue for the time till 〈◊〉 before is said further Order may be taken and therefore willeth and str●ightly chargeth and commondeth all her good loving subjects to live together in quiet sort and Christian Charity leaving those new found devilish terms of Papist and Heretick and such like and applying their whole care study and travail to live in the fear of God exercising their conversations in such charitable and Godly doing as their lives may indeed express the great hunger and thirst of God's glory which by rash talk and words many have pretended And in so doing they shall best please God and live without danger of the Laws and maintain the tranquility of the Realm Whereof as her highness shall be most glad so if any man shall rashly presume to make any assemblies of people or at any publick assemblies or otherwise shall go about to stir the people to disorder or disquiet she mandeth according to her duty to see the same most severely reformed and punished according to her Highnese's Lawes And furthermore for asmuch as it is well known that sedition and false rumours have been nourished and maintained in this Real● by the subtilty and malice of some evil-disposed persons which take upon them without sufficient authority to preach and to interpret the word of God after their own brains in Churches and other places both publick and private and also by playing of Interludes and Printing of false fond Books and Ballads Rimes and other lewd Treatises in the English Tongue conteining Doctrine in matter now in question and controversies touching the high points and mysteries in Christian Religion which Books Ballads Rimes and Treatises are chiefly by the Printers and Stationers set out to sale to her Graces subjects of an evil zeal for lucre and covetousnesse of vile gain Her Highnesse therefore streightly chargeth and commandeth all and every of her said subjects of whatsoever state condition or degree they be that none of them presume from henceforth to preach or by way of reading in Ch●rches or other publick or pr●vate places except in Schools of the University to interpret or teach any Scriptures or any manner of points of Doctrine concerning Religion Neither also to Print any Bo●k Mat●er Ballad Rime Enterlude Processe or Treatise nor to play any Enterlude except they have her Graces special Licence in writing for the same upon pain to incur her Highnesse indignation and displeasure It cannot be denied but that this Proclamation was very cautiously and cunningly penned giving encouragement enough to those which had a mind to outrun the Law or otherwise to conform themselves to the Queen's Religion to follow their own course therein without dread or danger and yet commanding nothing contrary to the Lawes established which might give trouble or offence to the other party For hereupon many of the people shewed themselves so ready for receiving their old Religion that in many places of the Realm before any Law was made for the same they erected again their Altars and used the Masse and Latin Service in such sort as was wont to be in King Henry's time Which was so well taken by the Queen that all such as stood upon the Lawes which were made to the contrary before had a m●●k of displeasure set upon them Which being observed by some of the Clergy they were as forward as the rest in setting up the Pageants of St Catherine and St Nicholas formerly erected in the Chancels and to set forth their Processions which they celebrated in the Latin tounge with their old solemnities contrary to the Lawes and Ordinances of King Edward's time All which irregular activities in the Priest and People were sheltred under the name of setting forward the Queens proceedings And by that name the official of the Arch-Deacon of Ely gave it in charge amongst the Articles of his visitation that the Church Wardens should present all such as did disturb the Queen's proceedings in letting the Latin Service setting up of Altars saying of Mass c. But more particularly at Cambridge the Vicechancellor challenged one Pierson on the 3d. of October for officiating the communion in his own Parish Church in the English tounge and on the 26. displaced Dr Madew Master of Clare Hall for being maried though they had both as much authority on their side as the Lawes could give them In like manner some of the Popish party in King's Colledge not tarrying the making of any Law on the 28th of the same officiated the Divine Service in the Latin tounge and on the 6th of November then next following a Sermon is preached openly at St Michaels contrary to the Lawes in that behalf not as then repealed Not altogether so eager on the scent at Oxon as they were at Cambridge though with more difficulty brought at first to the Reformation Only it pleased Dr Tresham one of the Canons of Christ Church of the last foundation to cause the great bell there to be new cast and christned by the name of Mary much comforting himself with the melodious found thereof when it toll'd to Mass which Marshall the new Dean by his help and counsel had again restored But these were only the Essays of those alterations which generally were intended in all parts of the Church assoon as the times were ripe for them and the people fitted to receive them in order whereunto it was not thought sufficient to displace the Bishop● and silence the Old Protestant Preachers also unless they brought them under some exemplary punishment that others might be terrified from the outward profession of that truth out of which they could not be disputed Of Ridley's being brought prisoner to the Tower and of Coxe's committing to the Marshal●ey we have spoke before On the 22d of August Letters are sent from the Lords of the Council commanding Bishop Coverdale and Bishop Hooper to appear before them By whom after two or three appearances committed to their several Prisons the one reserved for the stake the other sent upon request to the King of Denmark On the 5th of September the like Letters are dispatched to old Bishop Latimer committed close prisoner to the Tower on the 8th day after followed the next morning by Archbishop ●ranme● whose Story doth require a more particular account of which more anon Harley of Here●ord to which he had been con●ecrated in May foregoing and ●aylor of Lincoln another of the l●●t of King Edward's Bishops were present at the opening of the Parliament on the 10th of October But no sooner was the Mass began though not then resto●ed by any Law than they left the Church For which the Bishop of Lincoln being first examined and making profession of his Faith prevented the malice of his enemies by a timely death And Harley upon information of his marriage was presently ex●luded from the Parliament House and not long after
from his B●shop●ick also Which being observed by Bishop Barlow of Wells and Scory of Chi●h●ster they withdrew themselves beyond the Seas followed not long after by Bishop Point of Winchester But Barlow made not so mu●h haste as not to be committed to the Fle●t by the Lords of the Council from whence upon some satisfaction given to the Lord Chancellor Gardiner by his discreet and moderate Answers he was not long after set at liberty and so crossed the seas resolved to trust himself no more ●o a second hazard having with so much difficulty escaped the first How it succeeded with the rest we shall see hereafter Upon which smiting of the Shepherds it is not to be wondred at i● their flo●ks 〈◊〉 s●attered Now as concerning the Archbishop the substance of his story is briefly ●his He had been a chief instrument in King Henry's time of setting forward the divorce and in King Edward's of advancing the Reformation The Queen conceived hereupon such a high displeasure It had been malice in another against the man that nothing but his death could appease the same His death is therefore fully resolved upon by Gardiner Banner and the rest of the Popish Prelates Of which the first had p●osecuted the Divorce as far as any and the second was as forward as the best in the Reformation as long as Cromwel lived to perfer and countenance him But their standings out and sufferings for it in King Edward's time were thought sufficient explations for their former errors when the good Offices which Cranmer had done for her in her Fathers ti●e were worn out of memory Die then he must but by what law he was to die proved a knot more difficult than could be speedily untied It was advised to charge him with High Treason as being privy to the plot of the Duke of Northumberland for excluding the Queen from the succession But against this it was objected that he was the last of the Council who subseribed unto it and that the Council would be wary of making that a Capital offence in him of which they were all equally guilty In the next place it was propounded to proceed against him in case of Heresie that being the most likely way to content the P●pe whose favour was to be procured by all means immaginable But the worst was that the Statutes made in the time of King Richard 2d and King Henry 4th for putting Hereticks to death had been abrogated in the time of king Henry 8th as that of the six Articles more terrible than either of the other two had been repealed by the late King Edward the 6th No better course therefore than to find some occasion for laying him up in some safe prison and when they had him there to proceed against him as time and opportunity should administer some fit matter for it About this time a bruit was raised that Cranmer to ingratiate himself with the Queen had promised to celebrate the Exequies of the deceased King according to the Rom●sh manner To clear himself of which reproach he drew up a Manifest declaring in the same that he was ready to maintain the Articles of Religion set forth by his procurement in the time of King Edward to be consonant to the word of God the Doctrine of the Apostles and the practice of the best and p●rest times These papers lying in the window in his private chamber were seen and liked by Bishop Scory by whom they were transcribed and communicated to many others Coming at last unto the knowledge of the Council the Archbishop is commanded to appear before them Interrogated about the papers and prompted by Bishop Heath who was then amongst them to let them know whether he were not sorry for it To which the Archbishop made reply that as he did not deny himself to be the author of those papers so he must needs confesse himself to be sorry that they went from him in such sort as they did For I had purposed saith he to set out the Manifest in a more large and ample manner and to have it set upon St Paul's door and the doors of all the Churches in London with my own Seal affixed unto it Upon which stout and honest answer they thought fit to dismiss him for the present it being conceived by some of the more moderate spirits that it would be punishment enough to deprive him only of his Bishoprick and to assign him sufficient maintenance upon the exhibiting of a true Inventory of his whole estate with a commandment to keep his house without medling in matters of Religion But those who better understood the mind of the Queen so ordered it that on the 14th of September he was sent to the Tower where he remained prisoner till the 3d. of November At what time he was arraigned in the Guild Hall of London together with the Lord Guilford Dadley the late Queen Jane his wife and others all of them being attainted and condemned of Treason as before was said And he lay under this attainture till the year next following when the old Statutes for putting Hereticks to death were revived in Parliament Which having furnished his adversaries with a better ground to proceed upon to the contentment of the Pope and the Queen together they waved the prosecuting of the Attaindure to an Execution and wholly fixed themselves on the point of Heresie At the hearing whereof he was right well pleased because the case was not now his own but Christs not the Queens but the Churches The severity of this beginning against the Natives gave a sufficient warning to all such strangers who had tool sanctuary here in the time of King Edward to provide betimes for their departure Amongst whom none more openly aimed at than Peter Mar●yr because none of them had given wider wounds than he to the Catholick Cause Tresham a senior Canon of Christ Church had held some points against him at his first coming thither and now he took the benefit of the times in causing both that house and many others in the University to put some publick scorn upon him Not finding any safety there he retires to Lambeth where he was sure of as much safety as that place could give him A consultation had been held by some of the more fiery spirits for his commitment unto prison But he came hither as it was well known on the publick Faith which was not to be violated for the satisfaction of some private persons It was thought fit therefore to discharge him all further imployment and to licence him to depart in peace none being more forward to furnish him with all things necessary for his going hence than the new Lord Chancellor whether in honour to his Learning or out of a desire to send him packing shall not now be questioned But less humanity was shewed unto him in his wife whose body having been buried in the Church of St Frideswide was afterwards by publick order taken out of the
grave and buried in a common dunghil About the same time also such strangers as were gathered together into the Church of John Alasco not only were necessitated to forbear their meetings but to dissolve their Congregation and to quit the Countrey Such a displeasure was conceived against them by those which governed the affairs that it was no small difficulty for them to get leave for their departure and glad they were to take the opportunity of two Danish ships and to put themselves to sea in the beginning of winter fearing more storms in England than upon the Ocean And so farwel to John Alasco It was an ill wind which brought him hit her and worse he could not have for his going back The like haste made the French Protestants also And that they might have no pretence for a long stay command was sent unto the Mayor of Rie and D●ver on the 16th of September to suffer all French Protestants to cross the seas except such only whose names should be signified unto them by the French Ambassadors But notwithstanding these removes many both Dutch and French remained still in the Kingdom some of which being after found in Wiat's Army occasioned the banishing of all the rest except Denizens and Merchants only by a publick Edict At which time many of the English departed also as well Students as others to the number of 300. or thereabouts hoping to find that freedome and protection in a forein Country which was denied them in their own The principal of those which put themselves into this voluntary exile were Katherine the last wife of Charls Brandon Duke of Suffo●k Robert Bertye Esquire husband to the Dutchess the Bishops of Winchester and Wells Sir Richard Morison Sir Anthony Cook and Sir John Cheek Dr Cox Dr Sanays and Dr Grindall and divers others of whom we shall hear more hereafter on another occasion Of all these things they neither were not could be ignorant in the Court of Rome to which the death of Edward had been swiftly posted on the wings of fame The newes of the succession of Queen Mary staid not long behind so much more welcome to Pope Julius 3d. who then held that See because it gave him some assurance of his re-admission into the power and jurisdiction of his predecessors in the Realm of England For what less was to be expected considering that she was brought up in the Catholick Religion interessed in the respects of her mother and Cosen in the first degree unto Charles the Emperour In the pursuance of which hopes it was resolved that Cardinal Pole should be sent Legate into England who being of the Royal blood a man of eminent learning and exemplary life was looked on as the fittest instrument to reduce that Kingdome The Cardinal well knowing that he stood attainted by the Lawes of the Land and that the name of Henry was still preserved in estimation amongst the people thought it not safe to venture thither before he fully understood the state of things He therefore secretly dispatcheth Commendonius a right trusty Minister by whom he writes a private Letter to the Queen In which commending first her perseverance in Religion in the time of her troubles he exhorteth her to a continuance in it in the days of her happiness He recommended also to her the salvation of the souls of her people and the restitution of the true worship of God Commendonius having diligently inform'd himself of all particulars found means of speaking with the Queen By whom he understood not only her own good affections to the See Apostolick but that she was resolved to use her best endeavours for re-establishing the Religion of the Church of Rome in all her Kingdomes Which being made known unto the Cardinal he puts himself into the voyage The newes whereof being brought to Charls who had his own design apart from that of the Pope he signified by Dandino the Pope's Nuncio with him that an Apostolick Legate could not be sent into England as affairs then stood either with safety to himself or honour to the Church of Rome and therefore that he might do well to defer the journy till the English might be brought to a better temper But the Queen knowing nothing of this stop and being full of expectation of the Cardinals coming had called a Parliament to begin on the 10th of October In which she made it her first Act to take away all Statutes passed by the two last Kings wherein certain offences had been made High Treason and others brought within the compass of a Premunire And this she did especially for Pole's security that neither he by exercising his Authority nor the Clergy by submitting to it might be intangled in the like snares in which Cardinal Wolsie and the whole Clergy of his time had before been caught It was designed also to rescind all former Statutes which had been made by the said two Kings against the jurisdiction of the Pope the Doctrine and Religion of the Church of Rome and to reduce all matters Ecclesiastical to the same estate in which they stood in the beginning of the Reign of the King her Father But this was looked upon by others as too great an enterprise to be attempted by a woman especially in a green estate and amongst people sensible of those many benefits which they enjoyed by shaking off their former vassalage to a forein power It was advised therefore to proceed no further at the present than to repeal all Acts and Statutes which had been made in derogation to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in the time of her brother which being passed in his minority when all affairs were carried by faction and strong hand contrary to the judgement of the best and soundest part of the Clergy and Laity might give a just pretence for their abrogation till all particulars might be considered and debated in a lawful Synod According to which temperament the point was carried and the Act pass'd no higher than for Repea●ing certain Statutes of the time of King Edward by which one blow she felled down all which had been done in the Reformation in seven years before For by this Act they took away all former Statutes for Administring the Communion in both kinds for establishing the first and second Liturgie for confirming the new Ordinal or form of consecrating Archbishops and Bishops c. for abrogating certain Fasts and Feastivals which had been formerly observed for authorizing the marriage of Priests and Legitimation of their children not to say any thing of that Statute as not worth the naming for making Bishops by the King's Letters Patents and exercising their Episcopal jurisdiction in the King's name only So that upon the matter not only all things were reduced to the same estate in which they stood at Edward's coming to the Crown but all those Bishops and Priests which had maried by authority of the former Statutes were made uncanonical and consequently obnoxious to
a deprivation So that for want of Canonical Ordination on the one side and under colour of uncanonical Mariages on the other we shall presently find such a general remove amongst the Bishops and Clergy as is not any where to be parallel'd in so short a time And because some affronts had been lately offered to such Priests as had been forward in setting up the Mass in their several Churches and that no small danger was incurred by Dr Bourn above mentioned for a Sermon preached at St Paul's Cross an Act was passed for the preventing of the like for the time to come Entituled An Act against offenders of Preachers and other Ministers in the Church Which two Acts were no sooner passed but they were seconded by the Queen with two Proclamations on the 5th of December By one of which it was declared That all Statutes made in the time of the late King Edward which concerned Religion were repealed by Parliament and therefore that the Mass should be said as formerly to begin on the 20th of that month And by the other it was commanded that no manner of person from thenceforth should dare to disturb the Priests in saying Mass or executing any other divine Office under the pains and penalties therein contained According unto which appointment the Mass was publickly officiated in all parts of the Kingdome and so continued during the Reign of this Queen without interruption There also past another Act wherein it was Enacted That the mariage between King Henry the 8th and Queen Katherine his first wife should be definitively cleerly and absolutely declared deemed adjudged to be and stand with God's Laws and his most Holy word and to be accepted reputed and taken of good effect and validity to all intents and purposes whatsoever that the Decree or Sentence of Divorce heretofore passed between the said King Henry the 8th and the said Queen by Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury should be deemed taken and reputed to be void and null with a repeal of all such Statutes or Acts of Parliament in which the Queen had been declared to be illegitimate The making of which Act as it did much conduce to the establishment of the Queen's estate so did it tacitly and implicitly acknowlege the supremacy to be in the Pope of Rome which could not be attained explicitly and in terms expresse as affairs then stood For since the mariage neither was nor could be reputed valid but by the dispensation of Pope Julius the 2d the declaration of the goodness and validity of it did consequently infer the Popes authority from which that dispensation issued And therefore it was well observed by the Author of the History of the Council of Trent that it seemed ridiculous in the English Nobility to oppose the restitution of the Popes supremacy when it was propounded to them by the Queen in the following Session considering that the yielding to this demand was virtually contained in their assent to the Mariage There also past another Act in which there was a clause for the invalidating of all such Commissions as had been granted in the time of the late Queen Jane and one in confirmation of the attainders of the late Duke of Northumberland Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury c. Which shews that there was somewhat in the said proceedings not so cleer in Law but that there seem'd necessity of calling in the Legislative power to confirm the same for the indempnity of those who had acted in them Together with this Parliament the Queen was pleased to summon a Convocation to the end that all matters of Religion might be first debated and concluded in a Synodical way before they were offered to the consideration of the other Assembly In the writs of which summons she retained the Title of Supream Head on earth of the Church of England c. the want whereof in those of the present Parliament occasioned a dispute amongst some of the members Whether they might lawfully proceed or not in such publick businesses as were to be propounded to them in that Session Archbishop Cranmer had been before imprisoned in the Tower of London and was detained there all the time of this Convocation so that he could not do that service to God and the Church which his place required This took for a sufficient ground to transfar the Presidentship of the Convocation upon Bonner of London privileged in respect of his See to preside in all such Provincial Synods which were either held during the vacancy of the See of Canterbury or in the necessary absence of the Metropolitan The lower house of the Clergy also was fitted with a Prolocutor of the same affections Dr Hugh Weston then newly substituted Dean of Westminster in the place of Cox being elected to that Office On Wednesday the 18th of October it was signified by the Prolocutor that it was the Queens pleasure that they of the House should debate of matters of Religion and proceed to the making of such constitutions as should be found necessary in that case But there was no equality in number between the parties and reason was of no authority where the major part had formerly resolved upon the points So partially had the elections been returned from the several Diocesses that we find none of King Edward's Clergy amongst the Clerks and such an alteration had been made in the Deans and Dignitaries that we find but six of that ranck neither to have suffrage in it that is to say James Haddon Dean of Exeter Walter Philips Dean of Rochester John Philpot Arch Deacon of Winchester John Elmer Arch Deacon of Stow in the Diocess of Lincoln Richard Cheny Arch Deacon of Hereford One more I find but without any name in the Acts and Mon who joined himself to the other five in the disputation Nor would the Prolocutor admit of more though earnestly desired by Philpot that some of the Divines which had the passing of the Book of Articles in King Edward's time might be associated with them in the defence thereof Which motion he the rather made because one of the points proposed by the Prolocutor related to a Catechism set forth in the said Kings time intituled to the said Convocation in the year 1552. Of which it was to be enquired whether or no it was the work of that Convocation But that matter being passed lightly over the main point in debate concerned the manner of Christs presence in the blessed Sacrament It was not denied by Philpot and the rest of the Protestant party that Christ was present in his Sacrament rightly ministred according to his institution but only that he was not present after the gross and carnal manner which they of the Popish party had before subscribed to Six days the disputation lasted but to little purpose for on the one side it was said by Weston and his associates that their adversaries were sufficiently confuted and all their Arguments fully answered And on the other side it was affirmed
desire to gain the more time for finishing his Book against Bishop Gardiner whi●h he alledged for himself in a Letter to one of his friends Certain it is that it had too much in it of a sinful compliance so much as might have blasted both his fame and memory to all times succeeding if he had not taken off the scandal and expiated the offence in so brave a manner And thus he dyed leaving an excellent example to all posterity as well of mans infirmity in so strange a fall as of Gods infinite grace and mercy by which he was enabled to recover his former standing These goodly Cedars of the Forest being thus ●ut down it was not to be hoped that any favour could be shown to the Shrubs and Underwoods which were grubbed up and felled without any distinction as well the yourg Sapling as the decayed and withered Tree but more in some parts than in others according to the sharpness of the Tools and the edge of the Woodman The waste so great in no place as in Bonner's wa●k who seemed to be resolved that whatsoever could not serve for Timber toward the buil●ing or re-edifying of the Papal palace should be mark'd for Puel No fewer than two hundred are reported to have been burnt within three years by this cruel and unmerciful Tyrant without discrimination of sex or age his fury reaching from John Fetty a lad of eight years old by him s●ourged to death even to Hugh Lavecork a cripple sixty eight years old whom he caused to be burned The most eminent of all which number was Mr. John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester who though of Gardiners Diocesse was condemned by B●nner Gardiner being well enough contented to find out the Game and leave it to be followed by that bloody Hunter His rage not slackned by the interposings of Alphonso a Spanish Frier inveighing sharply in a Sermon before the King against the savage and unprofitable cruelty of the English Bishops but as it seems he measured all the rest by that London-Tyrant though in most other places they were far more moderate He that came nearest to him was Doctor John Christopherson Bishop of Chichester who is recorded to have burnt no lesse than ten in one fire at Lewis and seventeen others at several times in sund●y places But still the nearer London the more the hea● insomuch that Harpsfield Archdeacon of Canterbury and Thornton the Suffragan of Dover are said to have poured out blood like water As was also done by Griffin of Rochester and Downing Chancellor of Norwich though somewhat further off from the scene of cruelty in their several Diocesses Which character I find of Bishop Bain of Coventry and Lichfield the gentle birth and breeding of Mrs. Joyce Lewis not being too high for him to reach at nor the poor condition of Joan Wast a blind woman in Darby too low for him to stoop too whom he condemned unto the fire as he did many faithfull Ministers and others of the Masculine sex But on the other side in all the Province of York I find none brought unto the Stake but George March of Chester condemned thereto by Bishop Coles and not much more to have been done in the four Welch Diocesses in which besides the burning of Bishop Farrar at Carmarthen by Bishop Morgen and of Rawlins and White at Cardiff by Bishop Kitching no extraordinary cruelty seems to have been acted In the Diocesses of Exceter Wells Peterborough and 〈◊〉 though this last the greatest in the Kingdome I find mention but of one apiece of two in that of E●y and of no mote than three apiece at Bristol and Sarisbury In those of Oxon Glocester Worcester and Hereford I find none at all which made those Counties look like the land of Goshen where there was nothing but fair weather when there was so much thunder and lightning in the rest of Aegypt Nor were these storms and tempests in other places of a short continuance but held on more or less till the death of the Queen as appeareth by those five persons which were burnt at Canterbury on the 10th of November 1558. being but one full week before the day of her own dissolution The difference was that these poor wretches were consumed by the rage of fire whereas she was caried out of the world in a deluge of water falling into a Dropsie in the time of her supposed childing of which she was never perfectly cured till she came to her grave Nor were these all that suffered in the fury of this persecution For besides those that suffered Martyrdome in the sight of the world many are thought to have been made away in prison but many more to the number of some scores or hundreds supposed to have been killed by starving stinks and other barbarous usages in their several Jayls To which if we should add a Catalogue of all those who fled the Kingdom and put themselves into a voluntary exile amounting to the number of 800. or thereabouts I suppose it may be well concluded that though many persecutions have lasted longer yet none since Dioclesian's time ever raged so terribly So terribly it raged in one particular that no persecution of the ten can af●ord a parallel Katherine Gouches a poor widdow of St. Peter's Port in the Isle of Guerns●y was noted to be much absent from the Church and her two daughters guilty of the same neglect Upon this they were presented before Jaques Amy then Dean of the Island who finding in them that they held opinions contrary to those then allowed about the Sacrament of the Altar pronounced them Hereticks and condemned them to the fire The poor women on the one side pleaded for themselves that that doctrine had been taught them in the time of King Edward but if the Queen was otherwise disposed they were content to be of her Religion This was fair but this would not serve for by the Dean they were delivered to Eli'er Gosling the then Bayliff and by him unto the fire July the 8th 1556. One of the daughters Perotine Massey she was called was at that time great with child her husband a Minister being in those dangerous times fled the Island In the middle of the flames and anguish of her torments her belly brake in sunder and her child a goodly boy fell down into the fire but was presently snatched up by one W. House one of the By standers Upon the noise of this strange accident the cruel Bayliff returned command that the poor infant must be cast again into the flames which was accordingly performed and so that pretty babe was born a Martyr and added to the number of the Holy innocents A cruelty not parallel'd in any story not heard of amongst the Nations But such was the pleasure of the Magistrate as once in the Massacre of the younger Maximinus viz. that not any issue should be left of an Heretick Parent But to go back again to Cranmer it is to
vain about it In these distractions some of the Franckfort Schismaticks desire that all divine Offices might be executed according to the order of the Church of Geneva which Knox would by no means yield unto thinking himself as able to make a Rule for his own Congregation as any Calvin of them all But that the mouths of those of Stralsburge and Zuri●k might be stopped for ever he is content to make so much use of him as by the authority of his judgment to disgrace that Liturgy which those of Zurick did contend for He knew well how he had bestirred himself in quarrelling the first Liturgy of King Edward the 6th and nothing doubteth but that the second though reviewed on his importunity would give him as little satisfaction as the other did To this intent the Order of the English Liturgy is drawn up in Latine transmitted to him by Knox and Whittingham by this infallible judgment to stand or fall The Oracle returns this answer on the 31 of January In Liturgia Angl●cana qualem mihi describitis multas vid●o tolerabiles ineptias That in the Book of England as by them described he had observed many tolerable fooleries Whi●h last words being somewhat ambiguous as all Oracles are he explicates himself by telling them That there wanted much of that purity which was to be desired in it that it contained many relicks of the dregs of Popery that being there was no manifest impiety in it it had been tolerated for a season because at first it could not otherwise be admitted But howsoever though it was lawful to begin with such beggarly rudiments yet it behoved the learned grave and godly Ministers of Christ to endeavour farther and set forth something more refined from filth and rustinesse This being sent for his determinate sentence unto Knox and Whittingham was of such prevalency with all the rest of that party that such who ●ormerly did approve did afterwards as much dislike the English Liturgy and those who at the first had conceived onely a dislike grew afterwards into an open detestation of it Those who before had been desirous that the Order of Geneva should be entertained had now drawn Knox and Whittingham unto them Mr. John Fox the Author of the Acts and Monuments contributing his approbation amongst the rest But in the end to give content to such as remained affected to the former Liturgy it was agreed upon That a mixt Form consisting partly of the Order of Geneva and partly of the Book of England should be digested and received till the first of April consideration in the mean time to be had of some other course which should be permanent and obliging for the time to come In this condition of affairs Doctor Richard Cox the late Dean of Christ-Church and Westminster first Schoolmaster and after Almoner to King Edward the sixth putteth himself into Franckfort March 13. accompanied with many English Exiles whom the cause of Religion had necessitated to forsake their Country Being a man of great learning of great authority in the Church and one that had a principal hand in drawing up the Liturgy by Law established he could with no patience endure those innovations in it or rather that rejection of it which he found amongst them He thereupon first begins to answer the Minister contrary to the Order there agreed on and the next Sunday after causeth one of his company to go into the Pulpit and read the Letany Against which doings of his Knox in a Sermon the same day inveigheth most bitterly affirming many things in the Book of England not onely to be imperfect but superstitious For the which he is not onely rebuked by Cox but forbidden to preach Wherewith Whittingham being much offended deals with some of the Magistrates from whom he procureth an Order of the 22 of March requiring That the English should conform themselves to the Rules of the French Knox had not long before published a seditious Pamphlet entituled An Admonition to Christians containing the substance of some Sermons by him preached in Eng●and in one of which he affirmed the Emperor to be no lesse an enemy to Christ that the ●yrant Nero. For this and several other passages of the like dangerous nature he is accused by Cox for Treason against the Emperor the Senate made acquainted with it and Knox commanded thereupon to depart the City who makes h●s Farewel-Sermon on the 25th of March and retires himself unto Geneva Following his blow Cox gets an order of the Senate by the means of another of the Gla●berges by which Whittingham and the rest of his faction were commanded to receive the Book of England Against which order Whi●tingham for a time opposeth encouraged therein by Goodman who for the love of Knox with whom afterwards he associated in all his practices had left the grave so●iety of those of Stralsb●rge to joyn himself unto the Sectaries of 〈…〉 But finding Cox to be too strong for them in the Senate both they and all the rest who refused conformity resolved to betake themselves to some other place as they shortly did Cox thus made Master of the field begins to put the Congregation into such order as might preserve the face and reputation of an English Church He procures Whitehead to be chosen for the principal Pa●●or appoints two Ministers for Elders and four Deacons for a●●istants to him recommends Mr. Robert Horn whom he had drawn from Zurick thither to be Hebrew-Reader Mullings to read the Greek Lecture Trahern the Lecture in Divinity and Chambers to be Treasurer for the Contributions which were sent in from time to time by many godly and well●affected persons both Dutch and English for the use of that Church Having thus setled all things answerable to his own desires he gives an account thereof to Calvin subscribed by fourteen of the chief men in that Congregation partly excusing themselves that they had proceeded so far without his consent and partly rejoycing that they had drawn the greatest part of that Church to their own opinions Calvin returns his Answer on the last of May which puts his party there on another project that is to say to have the whole business referred to some Arbitrators equally chosen on both sides But Cox was already in possession great in esteem with the chief Magistrates of the City and would by no means yield to refer that point which had already been determined to his advantage With these debates the time is taken up till the end of August at what time Whi●tingham and the rest of the faction take their leave of Franckfort Fox with some few others go to Basil but the main body to Geneva as their M●ther-City where they make choice of Knox and Goodman for their constant Preachers under which Ministry they reject the whole frame and fabrick of the Reformation made in England conformed themselves wholly to the fashions of the Church of Geneva and therewith entertain
conclude with this Address to Almighty God That as He hath restored Your Majesty to the Throne of Your Father and done it in so strange a manner as makes it seem a Miracle in the Eyes of Christendom so He would settle You in the same on so sure a Bottom that no Design of Mischievous and Unquiet Men may disturb Your Peace or detract any thing from those Felicities which You have acquired So prayeth Dread Sovereign Your Majestie 's most obedient Servant and most Loyal Subject PETER HEYLYN To the Reader READER I Here present thee with a Piece of as great variety as can be easily comprehended in so narrow a compass the History of an Affair of such Weight and Consequence as had a powerful Influence on the rest of Christendome It is an History of the Reformation of the Church of England from the first Agitations in Religion under HENRY the Eight untill the final settling and establishing of it in Doctrine Government and Worship under the Fortunate and most Glorious Reign of Queen ELIZABETH Nor hast thou here a bare Relation onely of such Passages as those Times afforded but a discovery of those Counsels by which the Action was conducted the Rules of Piety and Prudence upon which it was carryed the several steps by which it was promoted or retarded in the Change of Times together with the Intercurrence of such civil Concernments both at home and abroad as either were co-incident with it or related to it So that We may affirm of this present History as Florus doth of his Compendium of the Roman Stories Ut non tam populi unius quam totius generis humani that is to say That it contains not onely the Affairs of one State or Nation but in a manner of the greatest part of all Civil Governments The Work first hinted by a Prince of an undanted Spirit the Master of as great a Courage as the World had any and to say truth the Work required it He durst not else have grapled with that mighty Adversary who claiming to be Successour to St. Peter in the See of Rome and Vicar-General to Christ over all the Church had gained unto himself an absolute Sovereignty over all Christian Kings and Princes in the Western Empire But this King being violently hurried with the transport of some private Affections and finding that the Pope appeared the greatest Obstacle to his desires he first divested him by degrees of that Supremacy which had been challenged and enjoyed by his Predecessours for some Ages past and finally extinguished His Authority in the Realm of England without noise or trouble to the great admiration and astonishment of the rest of the Christian World This opened the first way to the Reformation and gave encouragement to those who enclined unto it To which the King afforded no small Countenance out of Politick Ends by suffering them to have the Bible in the English●ongue ●ongue and to enjoy the benefit of such Godly Tractates as openly discovered the Corruptions of the Church of Rome But for his own part he adhered to his old Religion severely persecuted those who dissented from it and dyed though Excommunicated in that Faith and Doctrine which he had sucked in as it were with his Mother's Milk and of the w●ich he shew●d himself so stout a Champion against Martin Luther in his first Quarrels with the Pope Next comes a Minor on the Stage just mild and gracious whose Name was made a Property to serve turns withall and his Authority abused as commonly it happeneth on the like occ●sions to his own undoing In his first year the Reformation was resolved on but on different ends endeavoured by some Godly B●shops and other Learned and Religious Men of the lower Clergy out of Judgment Conscience who managed the Affair according to the Word of God the Practice of the Primitive Times the general current and consent of the old Catholick Doctours but not without an Eye to such Foreign Churches as seemed to have most consonancy to the antient Forms Promoted with like Zeal and Industry but not with like Integrity and Christian Candour by some great men about the Court who under colour of removing such Corruptions as remained in the Church had cast their ●yes upon the spoil of Shrines and Images though still preserved in the greatest part of the Lutheran Churches and the improving of their own Fortunes by the ●hantery-Lands All which most sacrilegiously they divided amongst themselves without admitting the poor King to his share therein though nothing but the filling of his Coffers by the spoil of the one and the encrease of his Revenue by the fall of the other was openly pretended in the Conduct of it But separating this ●bliquity from the main Intendment the Work was vigorously carryed on by the King and his Councellours as appears clearly by the Doctrinals in the Book of Homilies and by the Practical part of Christian P●ety in the first Publick Liturgie confirmed by Act of Parliament in the second and third year of this King and in that Act and which is more by Fox himself affirmed to have been done by the especial aid of the Holy Ghost And here the business might have rested if Catvin's Pragmatical Spirit had not interposed He first began to quarrel at some passages in this Sacred Liturg●e and afterwards never left solliciting the Lord Protectour and practising by his Agents on the Court the Countrey and the Universities till he had laid the first Foundation of the Zuinglian Faction who laboured nothing more then Innovation both in Doctrine and Discipline To which they were encouraged by nothing more then some improvident Indulgence granted unto John A-Lasco Who bringing with him a mixt multitude of Poles and Germans obtained the Privilege of a Church for himself and his distinct in Government and Forms of Worship from the Church of England This gave a powerful animation to the Zuinglian Gospellers as they are called by Bishop Hooper and some other Writers to practise first upon the Church who being countenanced if not headed by the Earl of Warwick who then began to undermine the Lord Protectour first quarrelled the Episcopal Habit and afterwards inveighed against Caps and Surplices against Gowns and Tippets but fell at last upon the Altars which were left standing in all Churches by the Rules of the Liturgie The touching on this String made excellent Musick to most of the Grandees of the Court who had before cast many an envious Eye on those costly Hangings th●t Massie Plate and other rich and pre●ious Utensils which adorned those Altars And What need all this waste said Judas when one poor Chalice onely and perhaps not that might have served the turn Besides there was no small spoil to be made of Copes in which the Priest officiated at the Holy Sacrament some of them being made of Cloth of Tyssue of Cloth of Gold and Silver or embroidered Velvet the meanest being made of Silk or Sattin with
cast his eye on the Lands of Bishoppricks though there were some who thought the time long till they fell upon them Concerning which there goes a story that after the Court-Harpies had devoured the greatest part of the spoyle which came by the suppression of Abbyes they began to seek some other way to satiate that greedy Appetite which the division of the former booty had left unsatisfied and for the satisfying whereof they found not any thing so necessary as the Bishops Lands This to effect Sir Thomas Seimour is imployed as the fittest man as being in favour with the King as brother to Queen Jane his most and best beloved wife and having the opportunity of accesse unto him as being one of the Gentlemen of his Privy Chamber And he not having any good affection to Arch-Bishop Cranmer desired that the experiment should be tryed on him and therefore took his time to informe the King that my Lord of Canterbury did nothing but fell his woods letting long leases for great fines and making havock of the Royalties of his Arch-Bishopprick to raise thereby a fortune to his wife and children withall he did acquaint the King that the Arch-Bishop kept no hospitality in respect of such a large Revenue and that in the opinion of many wise men it was more meet for the Bishops to have a sufficient yearely Stipend out of the Exchequer then to be so encumbred with temporall Royalties being so great a hindrance to their Studies and Pastorall Charge and that the said Lands and Royalists being taken to his Majesties use would afford him besides the said Annuall Stipends a great yearly Revenue The King soon smelt out the Device and shortly after sent him on an Errand to Lambeth about dinner time where he found all the tables in the great Hall to be very bountifully furnished the Arch-Bishop himselfe accompanied at dinner with divers persons of Quality his Table exceeding plentifully served and all things answerable to the Port of so great a Prelate Wherewith the King being made acquainted at his coming back he gave him such a Ratle for his false information and the design which visibly depended on it that neither he nor any other of the Courtiers durst stir any further in the suite whilest King Henry lived But the King considering further of it could not think fit that such a plausible Proposition as taking to himselfe the Lands of the Bishops should be made in vaine Only he was resolved to prey further off and not to fall upon the spoyle two neere the Court for feare of having more partakers in the Booty then might stand with his profit And to this end the deales with H●lgate preferred not long before from Land●ff to the See of Yorke from whom he takes at one time no fewer then seventy Mannors and Town-ships of good old Rents given him in exchange to the like yearly value certain Impropriations Pensions Tithes and Portions of Tithes but all of an extended Rent which had accrued unto the Crown by the fall of Abbyes Which Lands he ●aid by Act of Parliament to the Dutchy of Lancaster For which see 37 Hen. 8. C●p 16. He dismembred also by these Acts certain Mannors from the See of Lo●don in fav●ur of Sir William Petie and others in the like manner from the See of Canterbury but not without some reasonable compensation or allowance for them And though by reason of his death which fol●owed within short time after there was no further alienation made in his time of the Churches Patrimoney yet having opened such a Gap and discovered this secret that the sacred Patrimony might be alienated with so little trouble the Courtie●s of King Edwards time would not be kept from breaking violently into it and making up their own fortune in the spoyle of the Bi●hopricks Of which we may ●peak more hereafter in it's proper place So impossible a thing it is for the i●l example of Great Princes not to finde followers in all ages especially where profit or preferment may be furthered by it But then it cannot be de●ied but that King Henry left the Church in many Respects in a better condition then he found it not only in order to the Reformation of Religion which none but such a Masculine Prince durst have undertaken but also in the Polity and endowments of it The M●n●steries and Religious Houses might possibly be looked upon no otherwise then as so many excrescences upon the body of the Church exempt for the most part from the Episcopall Jurisdiction wholly depending on the Pope and such as might be taken away without any derogation to the Church in Power or Patrimony But Bishopricks being more essentiall to the constitution of the same he did not only preserve as before he found them but increased their number Such of the old Cathedralls as were founded on a Prior and Covent he changed into a Corporation of secular Priests consisting of a Deane and Prebendarles according to the proportion of their yearely rents of which sort were the Churches of Canterbury Winton Durham Elie Rochester Norwich and Carlile Six of the wealthier Monasteries he turned into Episcopall Sees that is to say the Abbyes of Westminster Peter Borough Bristoll Glocester and Chester with that of O●sney for the See of the Bishop of Oxon assigning to every new Episcopall See its Deane and Chapter and unto every such Cathedrall a competent number of Quiremen and other Officers all of them liberally endowed and provided for And that the Church might be continually furnished with sufficient Seminaries he sounded a Grammer Schoole in every one of his Cathedralls either old or new with Annuall pensions to the Master and some allowance to be made to the children yearely and ordained also that in each of the two Universities there should be publick Readers in the faculties of Divinity Law and Physick and in the Greek and Hebrew Tongues all which he pensioned and endowed with l●berall Sa●aries as the times then were Besides which publique benefactions he confirmed Cardinall Wolsies Colledge in Oxon by the name of Kings Colledge first and of Christ church afterwards and erected that most beautifull pi●e of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge those being the two fa●rest and most magnificent foundations in the Christian World As for the Polity of the Church he setled it in such a manner that Arch-bishops and Bishops might be chosen confirmed and consecrated and all the Subjects be relieved in their suits and Grievances without having such Recourse to the Court of Rome as formerly had drained the Realm of so much Treasure For having by his Proclamation of the 19th of September Anno 1530. prohibited all addresses and Appeales to the Popes of Rome he prevailed so farr upon his Bishops and Clergy intangled by the Cardinalls fall in a Premunire that they acknowledged him in their Convocation to be the Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and signified as much in a Publick Instrument bearing date the
22th day of March next following Upon this ground were bu●lt the Statutes prohibiting all Appeales to Rome and for determining all Ecclesiasticall suites and controversies within the Kingdom 24. Hen. 8. cap. 1● That for the manner of declaring and consecrating of Arch-Bishops and Bishops 25. Hen. 8. Cap. 20. and the prohibiting the payment of all impositions to the Court of Rome and for obtaining all such dispensations from the see of Canterbury which formerly were procured from the Popes of Rome 25. Hen. 8. Cap. 21. and finally that for declaring the King to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England and to have all Honours and Preheminences and amongst others the first-fruits and tenths of all Ecclesiasticall promotions within the Realm which were annexed unto that Title In the forme of consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops and the rule by which they excercised their Jurisdiction there was no change made but what the transposition of the Supreme Power from the Pope to the King must of necessity infer For whereas the Bishops and Clergy in the Convocation An. 1532. had bound themselves neither to make nor execute any Canons or Constitutions Ecclesiasticall but as they were thereto enabled by the Kings Authority it was by them desired assented to by him and confirmed in Parliament that all such Canons and Constitutions Synodall and Provinciall as were before in use and neither Repugnant to the Word of God the kings Prerogative Royall or the known Lawes of the Land should remaine in force till a review thereof were made by thirty two Persons of the Kings appointment Which review not having been made from that time to this all the said old Canons and Constitutions so restrained and qualified do still remaine in force as before they did For this Consult the Act of Parliament 25. Hen. 8. Cap. 1. And this and all the rest being setled then followed finally the Act for extinguishing the Power of the Pope of Rome 28. Hen. 8 Cap. 10. which before we mentioned In order to a Reformation in points of Doctrine he first directed his Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation A●no 1537. to compile a Book containing The Exposition of the Creed the Lords Prayer the Avemary and the Ten Commandements together with an Explication of the use and nature of the seven Sacraments More cleerely in it self and more agreeable to the Truth of Holy Scripture then in former times which book being called The Institution of a Christian Ma● was by them presented to the King who liked thereof so well that he sent it by Doctor Barlow Bishop of St. Davids to King James the fifth hoping thereby to induce him to make the like Reformation in the Realm of Scotland as was made in England though therein he was deceived of his expectation But this Book having lien dormant for a certain time that is to say as long as the six Articles were in force was afterwards corrected and explained by the Kings own hand and being by him so corrected was sent to be reviewed by Arch●Bishop Cranmer by him referred with his own emendations on it to the Bishop● and Clergy then Assembled in their Convocation Anno 1543. and by them Approved VVhich care that Godly Prelate took as himselfe confesseth in a Letter to a friend of his bearing date January 25. because the book being to come out by the Kings Censure and Judgement he would have nothing in the same which Momus himselfe could Reprehend VVhich being done it was published shortly after by the name of a Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man with an Epistle of the Kings Prefixt before it in which it was commended to the Perusall of all his subjects that were Religiously disposed Now as the first book was ushered in by an injunction published in S●ptember An. 1536. by which all Curates were required to Teach the people to say the Lords Prayer the Creed the Ave●ary and the Ten Commandements in the English Tongue ●o was the second countenanced by a Proclamation which made way unto it bearing date May the sixth 1541 whereby it was commanded that the English Bible of the Larger Vollumne should publiquely be placed in every Parish-Church of the Kings Dominions And here we are to understand that the Bible having been Translated into the English Tongue by the great paines of William Tyndall who after suffered for Religion in the Reigne of this King was by the Kings Command supprest and the reading of it interdicted by Proclamation the Bishops and other Learned men advising the re●traint thereof as the times then stood But afterward the times being changed and the People better fitted for so great a benefit the Bishops and Clergy Assembled in their Convocation Anno 1536. humbly petitioned to the King that the Bible being faithfully Translated and purged of such Prologues and Marginall Notes as formerly had given offence might be permitted from thenceforth to the use of the people According to which Godly motion his Majesty did not only give Order for a new Translation but in the Interim he permitted Cromwell his Viccar Generall to set out an Injunction for providing the whole Bible both in Latine and English after the Translation then in use which was called commonly by the name of Matthews Bible but was no other then that of Tyndall somewhat altered to be kept in every ●arish Church throughout the Kingdome And so it stood but not with such a Generall observation as the case required till the finishing of the new Translation Printed by Grafton countenanced by a learned Preface of Arch-Bishop Cranmer and Authorised by the Kings Proclamation of the sixth of May as before was said Finally that the people might be better made acquainted with the Prayers of the Church it was appointed a little before the Kings going to Bolloigne Anno 1545. that the L●tany being put into the same forme almost in which now it stands should from thenceforth be said in the English Tongue So farr this King had gone in order to a Reformation that it was no hard matter for his Son or for those rather who had the Managing of Affaires during his Minority to go thorough with it In Reference to the Regall State he added to the Royal Stile these three Glorious Attributes that is to say Defender of the Faith The Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and King of Ireland In what manner he obtained the Title of Supreme Head conferred upon him by the Convocation in the year 1530. and confirmed by Act of Parliament in the 26 yeare of his Reign hath been showne before That of Defender of the Faith was first bestowed upon him by Pope Leo the tenth upon the publishing of a Book against Martin Luther which Book being presented unto the Pope by the hands of Doctor Clark afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells hath been preserved ever since amongst the choisest Rarities of the Vatican Library Certain it is that the Pope was so well pleased
unto the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster was placed in the Chair of Saint Edward the Confessour in the middest of a Throne seven steps high This Throne was erected near unto the Altar upon a Stage arising with steps on both sides covered with Carpets and Hangings of Arras Where after the King had rested a little being by certain noble Courtiers carried in another Chair unto the four sides of the Stage He was by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury declared unto the People standing round about both by God's and Man's Laws to be the Right and Lawfull King of England France and Ireland and Proclaimed that day to be Crowned Consecrated and Anointed Unto whom He demanded whether they would obey and serve or Not By whom it was again with a loud cry answered God save the King and Ever live his Majesty Which Passage I the rather note because it is observed that at the Coronation of some former Kings The Arch-Bishop went to the four squares of the Scaffold and with a loud voice asked the Consent of the People But this was at such Times and in such Cases only when the Kings came unto the Crown by Disputed Titles for maintainance whereof the Favour and Consent of the people seemed a matter necessary as at the Coronations of King Henry the Fourth or King Richard the Third and not when it devolved upon them as it did upon this King by a Right unquestioned The Coronation was accompanied as the Custome is with a general Pardon But as there never was a Feast so great from which some men departed not with empty bellies so either out of Envy or some former Grudge or for some other cause unknown six Persons were excluded from the taste of this gracious Banquet that is to say the Lord Thomas Howard Duke of N●rfolk a condemned Prisoner in the Tower Edward Lord Courtney eldest Son to the late Marquess of Exeter beheaded in the last times of King Henry the Eight Cardinal P●le one of the Sons of Margaret Countess of Salisbury proscribed by the same King also Doctour Richard Pate declared Bishop of Worcester in the place of Hierome de Nugaticis in the year 1534. and by that Name subscribing to some of the first Acts of the Councel of Trent who being sent to Rome on some Publick Imployment chose rather to remain there in perpetual Exile then to take the Oath of Supremacy at his coming home as by the Laws he must have done or otherwise have fared no better then the Bishop of Rochester who lost his head on the refusal Of the two others Fortescue and Throgmorton I have found nothing but the Names and therefore can but name them onely But they all lived to better times the Duke of Norfolk being restored by Queen Mary to his Lands Liberty and Honours as the Lord Courtney was to the Earldom of Devonshire enjoyed by many of his Noble Progenitours Cardinal Pole admitted first into the Kingdom in the capacity of a Legate from the Pope of Rome and after Cranmer's death advanced to the See of Canterbury and Doctour Pate preferred unto the actual Possession of the See of Worcester of which he formerly had enjoyed no more but the empty Title These Great Solemnities being thus passed over the Grandees of the Court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation In which they found Arch-Bishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as foreward as themselves but on different ends endeavoured by the Bishops in a pious Zeal for rectifying such thing as were amiss in God's publick Worship but by the Courtiers on an Hope to enrich themselves by the spoil of the Bishopricks To the Advancement of which work the Conjuncture seemed as proper as they could desire For First the King being of such tender age and wholly Governed by the Will of the Lord Protectour who had declared himself a friend to the Lutheran Party in the time of King Henry was easie to be moulded into any form which the authority of Power and Reason could imprint upon Him The Lord Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Doctour Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who formerly had been the greatest Sticklers at the Co●ncil-Table in Maintainance of the Religion of the Church of Rome were not long able to support it the one of them being a condemned Prisoner in the Tower as before was said and the other upon some just displeasure not named by King Henry amongst the Councellours of State who were to have the managing of Affairs in His Son's Mino●●ty Bonner then Bishop of London was absent at that time in the Court of the Emperour to whom he had been sent Embassadour by the former King And no professed Champion for the Papacy remained amongst them of whom they had cause to stand in doubt but the new Earl of South-hampton Whom when they were not able to remove from his old Opinions it was resolved to make him less both in Power and Credit so that he should not be able to hinder the pursuit of those Counsels which he was not willing to promote And therefore on the sixth of March the Great Seal was taken from him by the King's Command and for a while committed to the custody of Sir William Pawlet Created Lord St John of Basing and made Great Master of the Houshold by King Henry the Eighth And on the other side it was thought expedient for the better carrying on of the Design not onely to release all such as had been committed unto Prison but also to recall all such as had been forced to abandon the Kingdom for not submitting to the Superstitions and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Great were the Numbers of the first who had their Fetters strucken off by this mercifull Prince and were permitted to enjoy that Liberty of Conscience for which they had suffered all Extremities in His Father's time Onely it is observed of one Thomas Dobbs once Fellow of Saint John's-College in Cambridg condemned for speaking against the Mass and thereupon committed to the Counter in Bread-street that he alone did take a view of this Land of Canaan into which he was not suffered to enter It being so ordered by the Divine Providence that he died in Prison before his Pardon could be signed by the Lord Protectour Amongst the rest which were in number very many those of chief note were Doctour Miles Coverdale after Bishop of Exeter Mr. John Hooper after Bishop of Glocester Mr. John Philpot after Arch-Deacon of Winchester Mr. John Rogers after one of the Prebends of Saint Paul's and many others eminent for their Zeal and P●ety which they declared by preferring a good Conscience before their Lives in the time of Queen Mary But the bus●n●ss was of greater Moment then to expect the coming back of the Learned men who though they came not time enough to begin the work yet did they prove exceeding serviceable in the furtherance of it And therefore neither to lose time nor to press too
part●kers of the Holy Communion Which Exhortation beginning with these Words Dearly-beloved in the Lord ●ye coming to this Holy Communion c. is in effect the last of those which afterwards remained in the Publick Liturgie Then followed the Invitation thus You that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins c. proceeding to the General Confession the Absolution the Comfortable Sentences out of Holy Scripture and so unto the Prayer of Humble Address We do not presume to come to this Table c. the Distribution of the Sacrament to the People present continuing still upon their knees and finally dismissing them In the Peace of God Which Godly Form being presented to the King and the Lords of the Council and by them exceeding well approved was Published on the eighth of March together with his Majestie 's Proclamation Authorising the same and Commanding all His Loving Subjects to conform unto it in this Manner following By the King EDWARD by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and Ireland in Earth the Supreme Head To All and Singular Our Loving Subjects Greeting For so much as in Our High Court of Parliament lately holden at Westminster it was by Vs with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons there Assembled most Godly and agreeable to Christ's Holy Institution Enacted That the most Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ should from henceforth be commonly Delivered and Ministred unto all Persons within Our Realm of England and Ireland and other Our Dominions under both Kinds that is to say of Bread and Wine except necessity otherwise require lest every man fantasying and devising a sundry way by himself in the Vse of this most Blessed Sacrament of Vnity there might thereby arise any unseemly or ungodly Diversity Our pleasure is by the Advice of Our most Dear Vncle the Duke of Sommerset Governour of Our Person and Protectour of Our Realms Dominions and Subjects and other Our Privy Council that the said Blessed Sacrament be Ministred unto Our People ●nely after such Form and Manner as hereafter by Our Authority with the Advice before-mentioned is set out or declared Willing every man with due Reverence and Christian Behaviour to come to this Holy Sacrament and most Blessed Communion lest that by the unworthy receiving of such high Mysteries they become guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and so eat and drink their own Damnation but rather diligently trying themselves that they so come to this Holy Table of Christ and so be partakers of this Holy Communion that they may dwell in Christ and have Christ dwelling in them And also with such Obedience and Conformity to receive this Our Ordinance and most Godly Direction that we may be incouraged from Time to Time further to travail for the R●formation and setting forth of such Godly Orders as may be most to God's Glory the Edifying of Our Subjects and for the Advancement of true Religion which is thething We by the help of God most earnestly endeavoured to bring to effect Willing all Our Loving Subjects in the mean time to stay and quiet themselves with this Our Direction as men content to follow Authority according to the bounden Duty of Subjects and not enterprising to run before and so by their Rashness become the greatest Hinderers of such things as they more arrogantly then Godly would seem by their own Private Authority most hotly to set forward We would not have Our Subjects so much to mistake Our Judgement so much to mistrust Our Zeal as though we either would not discern what were to be done or would not do all things in due time God be praised We know both what by his Word is meet to be redressed and have an earnest mind by the Advice of Our most Dear Vncle and other of Our Privy Council with all diligence and convenient speed so to set forth the same as it may most stand with God's Glory and edifying and quietness of Our People Which We doubt not but all Our Obedient and Loving Subjects will quietly and reverendly tarry for The next Care was to see the said Order put in execution of which the Lords of the Council discharged the King and took the whole Burthen on themselves For causing a sufficient Number of the Printed Copies to be sent to each Bishop in the Realm they there withall directed Letters to them Requiring and in Hi● Majestie 's Name Commanding them and every of them to have an earnest Diligence and carefull Respect both in their own Persons and all their Officers and Ministers for causing the said Books to be so delivered to every Parson Vicar and Curate in their several Diocesses that they may have sufficient time well to instruct and advise themselves for the Distribution of the most Holy Communion according to the Order of the said Book before Easter following and that by the good Means of them the said Bishops they may be well directed to use such Good Gentle and Charitable Instructions to their simple and unlearned Parishioners as may be to their good Satisfaction Letting them further know that as the said Order was set forth to the intent there should be in all parts of this Realm and among all men one Vniform manner quietly used so that the Execution thereof did very much stand in the Diligence of them and others of their Vocation who therefore were again required to have a diligent respect unto it as they tendred the King's pleasure and would answer the contrary Which Letter bearing Da●e on the thirteenth of March was subscribed by the Arch-Bishop Cranmer the Lord Chancellour Rich the Earl of Arundel the Lords St. John and Russel Mr. Secretary Petre Sir Anthony Wingfield Sir Edward North and Sir Edward ●otton In Obedience unto whose Commands as all the Bishops did not perform their parts alike Gardiner of Winchester Bonner of London Voysie of Exeter and Sampson of Coventry and Lich-field being more backward then the rest so many Parish-Priests not being willing to Advance so good a Work laboured to disaffect the People to the present Government And to that end it was endeavoured in their Sermons to possess their Auditours with an ill opinion of the King as if he did intend to lay strange Exactions on the Subject by forcing them to pay half a Crown a piece for every one who should be Married Christened or Buried For Remedy whereof it was Ordered by Proclamation bearing Date the twenty fourth of April That none should be permitted to Preach but such as were Licenced under the Seals of the Lord Protectour or the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In the next place we must attend the King's Commissioners dispatched in the beginning of March into every Shire throughout the Realm to take a Survey of all Colleges Free-Chapels Chanteries and Brother-Hoods within the compass of the Statute or Act of Parliament
is that upon the very first Reports of a Reformation here intended Calvin had offered his Assistance to Arch-Bishop Craenmer as himself confesseth But the Arch-Bishop knew the Man and refused the Offer And it appears in one of Bishop Latimer's Sermons that there was report about this time of Melancthon's coming but it proved onely a Report And though it was thought necessary for the better seasoning of the Vniversities in the Protestant Reformed Religion that Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr two eminent Divines of the Foreign Churches should be invited to come over yet the Arch-Bishop's Letter of Invitation sent to Martin Bucer was not written till the twelfth day of October At what time the Liturgie then in hand being the chief Key to the whole Work of Reformation was in very good forwardness and must needs be compleatly finished before he could so settle and dispose his Affairs in Germany as to come for England And though Peter Martyr being either more at Leasure or less engaged or otherwise more willing to accept of the Invitation came many Moneths before the other yet neither do we finde him here till the end of November when the Liturgie had been approved of by the King and Council if it had not also passed the Approbation of both Houses of Parliament Nor was it likely that they should make use of such a Man in composing a Liturgie wherein they were resolved to retain a great part of the Antient Ceremonies who being made Canon of Christ-Church in Oxford and frequently present at Divine Service in that Church could never be prevailed with to put on the Surplice Being left therefore to themselves they were at the more liberty for following the King 's most Godly and most Wise Directions having in the first place an eye and respect to the most sincere and Pure Religion taught by the Scripture and in the second to the Vsages of the Primitive Church and making out of both one convenient and meet Order Rite and Fashion of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments to be had and used in the Realm of Engl●nd and the Principality of Wales Which being finished they all subscribed their Names unto it but Day of Chichester who would by no means have his Hand in the Subscription as is related in the Register-Book of the Parish of Petwo●th But being subscribed by all the rest it was by them with all due Reverence humbly presented to the King by whom it was received to His great Comfort and Quietness of mind as the Statute telleth us And being by him commended to the Lords and Commons then Assembled in Parliament which Parliament took beginning on the fourth day of November they did not on●ly give His Highness most hearty and lowly thanks for his Care therein but on peru●a● of the Book declared it to be done by the aid of the Holy Ghost And ther●upo● considering the Godly Prayers Orders Rites and Ceremonies in the said Book mentioned and also the reasons of Altering of those things which be altered and the retaining those things which be retained together with the Ho●our of God and the great Quiet●ess which by the Grace of God was likely to ens●e on su●h an U●iform Order in Common Prayer Rites and External Ceremonies to be used in all England and Wales in Calice and the Marches of the ●ame it was E●ac●ed That all and singular Ministers in any Cathedral or 〈◊〉 Church or other Place within this Realm of England Wales Calce and the Marches of the same or other the King's Dominions should from and after the Feast of Pentecost next coming that Interval being given for the Printing of it be bounden to say and use the Mattens Even-song Celebration of the Lord's Supper ●●mmonly ca●●ed The Mass and Administration of each of the Sacraments and all their Common and Open Prayer in such Order and Form as is mentioned in the same Book and no otherwise with several Penalties therein mentioned to be imposed on all such in their several places as either should willfully refuse to Officiate by it or hinder the Lawfull Ex●cution o● it or speak any thing in Derogation of the said Book or any thing therein contained The passing of this Act gave great Offence to those of the Romish Pa●ty not that they could except against it in regard either of the Manner or Matter of it which they acknowledged to be Consonant to the Antient Forms but b●cause it was communicated to the People in the Vulgar Tongue And this they charged as a g●eat E●rour in those Men who had the chief Hand in the Conduct of that Aff●i● beca●se that by the Rules thereof the Scriptures were to be read publ●ckly in the 〈◊〉 Tongue Which what else was it as they said but the committing so much Heavenly Treasure unto R●tten Vessels the trusting so much Excellent 〈◊〉 to such Musty B●ttles And being that there are many things in he Divine Offices of the Church quae secreta esse debent as the Cardinal telleth us which ought to have been kept as Secrets from all Vulgar knowledg it must needs be of very ill Con●equence to communicate them to all sor●s of People But certainly the Holy Ghost was able to direct the Church in ● bet●er way then such as should be subject unto Man's Exceptions And he directs the Service of the Church to be Officiated in such a Language to which the ignorant and unlearned may say Amen 1 Cor. xiv 9 16. Upon which Words it is observed by Lyra and Aquinas two as great Clerks as any in the Church of Rome That The Publick Service of the Church in the Primitive Times was in the Common Vulgar Language The like affirmed by Doctour Ha●aing as great a Stickler for that Church and the Doctrines of it as any other of his Time adding withall That it was necessary in the Primitive Times that it should be so and granting also That it were still better that the People had their Service in their own Vulgar Tongue for their better understanding of it So he in Answer to the Challenge made by Bishop Jewel Art 3. Sect. 28 and 33. And the●efore having the confession and acknowledgment of the very Adve●sa●y not onely as to the Antiquity but the Fitness also of Celebrating Divine Offices in the Vulgar Language it may be thought a loss both of Time and Travail to press the Argument any further Which n●twithstanding for the more perfect clearing of the Point in question it w●ll be found upon a very easie seach that the Jews did Celebrate their Divine Offi●es Tractatus and Oblationes as the Father hath it most commonly in the Syriack and sometimes in the Hebrew Tongue the natural Languages of that People as is affirmed by St. Ambrose upon 1 Cor. cap. 14. and out of him by Durand in his Rationale Eckius a great Servant of the Popes affirmeth in his Common Places That the Indians have their Service in the Indian Tongue and
threatned more Danger then the other To which Request He did not onely refuse to hearken except the King would promise to restore the Catholick Religion as He called it in all His Dominions but expresly commanded that neither His Men no● Ammunition should go to the Assistance of the English An Ingratitude not easie to be marked with a fitting Epithete considering what fast Friends the Kings of England had alwaies been to the House of Burgundy the Rights whereof remained in the person of Charles with what sums of Money they had helped them and what sundry Way● they had made for them both in the Nether-Lands to maintain their Authority and in the Realm of France it self to increase their Power For from the Marriage of Maximilian of the Family of Austri● with the Lady Mary of Burgundy which happened in the year 1478. unto the Death of Henry the Eight which fell in the year 1546 are just threescore and eight years In which time onely it was found on a just account that it had cost the Kings of England at the least six Millions of Pounds in the meer Quarrels of that House But the French being more assured that the English held some secret Practice with the Emperour then certain what the Issue thereof might be resolved upon a Peace with EDVVARD in hope of getting more by Treaty then he could by Force To this end one Guidolti a Florentine is sent for England by whom many Overtures were made to the Lords of the Council not as from the King but from the Constable of France And spying with a nimble Eye that all Affairs were governed by the Earl of Warwick he resolved to buy him to the French at what price soever and so well did he ply the Business that at the last it was agreed that four Ambassadours should be sent to France from the King of England to treat with so many others of that Kingdom about a Peace between the Crowns but that the Treaty it self should be held in Guisnes a Town belonging to the English in the Marches of Calice In pursuance whereof the Earl of Bedford the new Lord Paget Sir William Peter Principal Secretary of Estate and Sir John Mason Clerk of the Council were on the twenty first of January dispatched for France But no sooner were they come to Calice when Guidol●i brings a Letter to them from Mounsieur d' Rochpot one of the four which were appointed for that Treaty in behalf of the French In which it was desired that the English Ambassadours would repair to the Town of Bulloign without putting the French to the Charge and Trouble of so long a Journey as to come to Guisnes Which being demurred on by the English and a Post sent unto the Court to know the pleasure of the Council in that particular they received word for so the Oracle had directed that they should not stand upon Punctilioes so they gained the point nor hazard the Substance of the Work to preserve the Circumstances According whereunto the Ambassadours removed to Bulloign and pitch'd their Tents without the Town as had been desired for the Reception of the French that so they might enter on the Treaty for which they came But then a new D●fficulty appeared for the French would not cross the Water and put themselves under the Command of Bulloign but desired rather that the English would come over to them and fall upon the Treaty in an House which they were then preparing for their Entertainment Which being also yielded to after some Disputes the French grew confident that after so many Condescensions on the part of the English they might obtain from them what they li●ted in the main of the Business For though it cannot otherwise be but that in all Treaties of this Nature there must be some Condescendings made by the one or the other yet he that yields the first inch of Ground gives the other Party a strong Hope of obtaining the rest These Preparations being made the Commissioners on both sides begin the Treaty where after some Expostulations touching the Justice or Injustice of the War on either side they came to particular Demands The English required the payment of all Debts and Pensions concluded on between the two Kings deceased and that the Queen of Scots should either be delivered to their Hands or sent back to Her Kingdom But unto this the French replyed That the Queen of Scots was designed in Marriage to the Daulphin of France and that She looked upon it as an high Dishonour that their King should be esteemed a Pensioner or Tributary to the Crown of England The French on the other side propounded That all Arrears of Debts and Pensions being thrown aside as not likely to be ever paid they should either put the higher Price on the Town of Bulloign or else prepare themselves to keep it as well as they could From which Proposals when the French could not be removed the Oracle was again consulted by whose Direction it was ordered in the Council of England That the Commissioners should conclude the Peace upon such Articles and Instructions as were sent unto them Most of them ordinary and accustomed at the winding up of all such Treaties But that of most Concernment was That all Titles and Claims on the one side and Defences on the other remaining to either Party as they were before the Town of Bulloign with all the Ordnance found there at the taking of it should be delivered to the French for the Sum of four hundred thousand Crowns of the Sun Of which four hundred thousand Crowns each Crown being valued at the Price of six Shillings and six Pence one Moity was to be paid within three days after the Town should be delivered and the other at the end of six Moneths after Hostages to be given in the mean time for the payment of it It was agreed also in relation to the Realm of Scotland That if the Scots razed Lowder and Dowglass the English should raze Rox-borough and Aymouth and no Fortification in any of those places to be afterwards made Which Agreement being signed by the Commissioners of each side and Hostages mutually delivered for performance of Covenants Peace was Proclaimed between the Kings on the last of March and the Town of Bulloign with all the Forts depending on it delivered into the power of the French on the twenty fifth day of April then next following But they must thank the Earl of Warwick for letting them go away with that commodity at so cheap a Rate for which the two last Kings had bargained for no less then two Millions of the same Crowns to be paid unto the King of England at the end of eight years the Towns and Territory in the mean time to remain with the English Nor was young Edward backward in rewarding his Care and Diligence in expenditing the Affair Which was so represented to him and the extraordinary Merit of the Service so highly magnified
that he was made General Warden of the North gratified with a thousand Marks of good Rent in Land and the Command of an hundred Hors-men at the King's Charge Such is the Fortune of some Princes to be most Bountifull to those who are falsest to them Guidolti also was rewarded with Knighthood a Present of a thousand Crowns and an Annual Pension of as much to maintain his Honour besides a Pension of two hundred and fifty Crowns per annum which was given to his Son What R●compense he had of the Crown of France I have no where found but have good Reason to believe that he did not serve their Turn for nothing Great Care was also taken for the preventing of such Disorders as the dissolving of great Garisons and the disbanding of Armies do for the most part carry with them And to this end the Lord Clinton Governour of the Town and Territo●y of Bulloign was created Lord Admiral the Officers and Captains rewarded with Lands Leases Offices and Annual Pensions all foreign Forces satisfied and sent out of the Kingdom the Common Souldiers having all their Pay and a Moneths-Pay over dismissed into their several Countries and great Charge given that they should be very well observed till they were quietly settled at home the Light-Hors-men and Men-at-Arms put under the Command of the Marquess of North hampton then being Captain of the Band of Pensioners and finally some of the Chief Captains with six hundred Ordinaries disposed of on the Frontiers of Scotland All Things thus quieted at Home and composed Abroad in reference to the Civil State we must next see how Matters went which concerned Religion all Parties making use of the Publick Peace for the advancing of their Private and particular Ends. And the first Matter of Remark which occurs this year is the Burning of John Butcher by others called John Knell but generally best known by the Name of Joan of Kent condemned for Heresie in the year last past about the time that so many Anabaptists were convented in the Church of Saint Paul before Arch-Bishop Cranmer and his Assistants whereof mention hath been made already Her Crime was That she denied Christ to have tak●n Fl●sh from the Virgin Mary affirming as the Valentinians did of old that he onely passed through her Body as Water through the Pipe of a Conduit without participating any thing of that Body through which He passed Great Care was taken and much Time spent by the Arch-Bishop to perswade her to a better sence but when all failed and that he was upon the Point of passing Sentence upon her for persisting obstinate in so gross an Heresie she most maliciously reproached him for passing the like Sentence of Condemnation on another Woman called Ann A●kew for denying the Carnal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament telling him That he had condemned the said Ann A●kew not long before for a piece of Bread and was then ready to condemn her for a piece of Flesh. But being convicted and delivered over to the Secular Judges she was by them condemned to be burnt but no Execution done upon it till this present year The Interval was spent in using all Means for her Conversion and amendment which as it onely seemed to confirm her in her former Obstinacy so it was found to have given no small encouragement to others for entertaining the like dangerous and un-Christian Errours His Majesty was therefore moved to sign the Warrant for her Death To which when the Lords of the Council could by no means win Him the Arch-Bishop is desired to per●wade Him to it The King continued both in Reason and Resolution as before He did notwithstanding all the Arch-Bishop's Arguments to perswade the contrary the King affirming that He would not drive her headlong to the Devil and thinking it better to cha●tise her with some corporal Punishment But when the Gravity and Importunity of the Man had prevailed at last the King told him as He signed the Warrant that upon him He would lay all the Charge thereof before God Which Words of His declare sufficiently His Aversness from having any hand in shedding of that Womans Blood how justly soever she deserved it But that the Arch-Bishop's Earnestness in bringing her to exemplary Punishment should contract any such guilt in the sight of God as to subject him to the like cruel Death within few years after as some would bear the World in hand is a Surmise not to be warranted by any Principle of Piety or Rule of Charity The Warrant being signed and the Writ for Execution Sealed she was kept a whole Week before her Death at the Lord Chancellour's House daily resorted to both by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London who spared no pains to bring her to a ●ight belief in that Particular But the same Spirit of Obstinacy still continued with her and held her to the very last For being brought to the Stake in Smithfield on the second of May Dr. Sco●y not long after made Bishop of Rechester was desired to Preach unto the People who insisting on the proof of that Point for denyal whereof the obstinate Wretch had been condemned she interrupted him and told him with a very loud Voice that He lied like c. And so the Sermon being ended the Executioner was commanded to do his Office which he did accordingly And yet this terrible Execution did not so prevail as to extirpate and exterminate the like impiou● Do●ages though it suppressed them for a time For on the twenty ●ourth of April in the year next foll●wing I finde one George Paris a Dutch man to have been burnt for Arianism in the very same place Better Success had John à Lasco a Polonian born with his Congregation of Germans and other Strangers who took Sanctuary this year in England hoping that here they might enjoy that Liberty of Conscience and Safety for their Goods and Persons which their own Countrey had denyed them Nor did they fall short in any thing which their Hopes had promised them For the Lords of the Council looking on them as affl●cted Strangers and persecuted for the same Religion which was here professed interceded for them with the King And He as Gracio●sly vouchsafed to give them both Entertainment and Protection assigned them the West-part of the Church belonging to the late dissolved House of Augustine● Friers for the Exercise of Religious Duties made th●m a Corporation consisting of a Super-intendent and four other Ministers with power to fill the vacant Places by a new Succession whensoever any of them should be void by Death or otherwise the Parties by them chosen to be approved by the King and Council And this he did with a Command to the Lord M●your of London the Alderme● and Sheriffs thereof as also to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and all other Bishops of this Realm not to disturb them either in the Free Exercise of their Religion and Ecclesi●stical Government
after another till they sunk to eight The French on the other side began as low at one hundred thousand but would be drawn no higher then to Promise two that being as they affirmed the greatest Portion which ever any of the French Kings had given with a Daughter But at the last it was accorded that the Lady should be sent into England at the French King's Charges when She was come within three Moneths of the Age of Marriage sufficiently appointed with Jewels Apparel and convenient Furniture for Her House That at the same time Bonds should be delivered for Performance of Covenants at Paris by the French and at London by the King of England and That in case the Lady should not consent after She should be of Age for Marriage the Penalty should be one hundred and fifty thousand Crowns The perfecting of the Negotiation and the settling of the Ladie 's Joynture referred to such Ambassadours as the French King should send to the Court of England Appointed whereunto were the Lord Marshal of France the Duke of Guise the President Mortuillier the Principal Secretary of that King and the Bishop of Perigeux who being attended by a Train of 400. men were conducted from Graves-end by the Lord Admiral Clinton welcomed with Great Shot from all the Ships which lay on the Thames and a Vollie of Ordnance from the Tower and lodged in Suffolk-Place in South-wark From whence attended the next day to the King's House at Richmond His Majesty then remaining at Hampton-Court by reason of the Sweating Sickness of which more anon which at that time was at the Highest Having refreshed themselves that night they were brought the next day before the King to whom the Marshal presented in the name of his Master the Collar and Habit of St. Michael being at that time the Principal Order of that Realm in testimony of that dear Affection which he did bear unto him greater then which as he desired him to believe a Father could not bear unto his Natural son And then Addressing himself in a short Speech unto His Highness he desired him amongst other things not to give entertainment to Vulgar Rumours which might breed Jealousies and Distrusts between the Crowns and that if any difference did arise between the Subjects of both Kingdoms they might be ended by Commissioners without engaging either Nation in the Acts of Hostility To which the King returned a very favourable Answer and so dismissed them for the present Two or three days being spent in Feasting the Commissioners on both sides settled themselves upon the matter of the Treaty confirming what had passed before and adding thereunto the Proportioning of the Ladie 's Jointure Which was accorded at the last to the yearly value of ten thousand Marks English with this Condition interposed that if the King died before the Marriage all her Pretensions to that Jointure should be buried with him All Matters being thus brought unto an happy Conclusion the French prepared for their Departure at which Time the Marshal presented Monsieur Boys to remain as Legier with the King and the Ma●quess presented Mr. Pickering to be his Majestie 's Resident in the Court of France And so the French take leave of England rewarded by the King in such a Royal and Munificent Manner as shewed he very well understood what belonged to a Royal Suitour those which the French King had designed ●or the English Ambassadours not actually bestowed till all things had been fully settled and dispatched in England hardly amounting to a fourth part of that Munificence which the King had shewed unto the French Grown confident of his own Security by this new Alliance the King not onely made less Reckoning of the Emperour 's Interposings in the Case of Religion but proceeded more vigorously then before in the Reformation the Building up of which upon a surer and more durable Bottom was contrived this year though not established till the next Nothing as yet had been concluded positively and Dogmatically in Points of Doctrine but as they were to be collected from the Homilies and the Publick Liturgie and those but few in Reference to the many Controversies which were to be maintained against the Papists Anabaptists and other Sectaries of that Age. Many Disorders had grown up in this little time in the Officiating the Liturgie the Vestures of the Church and the Habit of Church-Men began by Calvin prosecuted by Hooper and countenanced by the large Immunities which had been given to John a Lasco and his Church of Strangers And unto these the change of Altars into Tables gave no small Encrease as well by reason of some Differences which grew amongst the Ministers themselves upon that Occasion as in regard of of that Irreverence which it ●bred in the People to whom it made the Sacrament to appear less Venerable then before it did The People had been so long accustomed to receive that Sacrament upon their Knees that no Rule or Canon was thought necessary to keep them to it which thereupon was not imprudently omitted in the Publick Rubricks The Change of Altars into Tables the Practise of the Church of Strangers and Lasco's Book in Maintainance of sitting at the Holy Table made ma●y think that Posture best which was so much countenanced And what was like to follow upon such a Liberty the Proneness of those Times to Heterodoxies and Prophaness gave just cause to fear Somewhat was therefore to be done to prevent the Mischief and nothing could prevent it better then to reduce the People to their Antient Custome by some Rule or Rubrick by which they should be bound to receive it kneeling So for the Ministers themselves they seemed to be as much at a Loss in their Officiating at the Table as the People were in their Irreverences to the Blessed Sacrament Which cannot better be expressed then in the words of some Popish Prelats by whom it was objected unto some of our chief Reformers Thus White of Lincoln chargeth it upon Bishop Ridley to omit his prophane calling of the Lord's Table in what Posture soever scituated by the Name of an Oyster-Board That when their Table was Constituted they could never be content i●placing the same now East now North now one way now another untill it pleased God of his Goodness to place it quite out of the Church The like did Weston the Prolocutour of the Convocation in the first of Queen Mary in a Disputation held with Latimer telling him with Reproach and Contempt enough that the Protestants having tur●ed their Table were like a Company of Apes that knew not which way to turn their Tails looking one day East and another West one this way and another that way as their Fancies lead them Thus finally one Miles Hubbard in a Book called The Display of Protestants doth report the Business How long say they were they learning to set their Tables to minister the Communion upon First they placed it aloft where the High
added from the Holy Scripture where Solomon is found to be preferred unto the Throne by David before Adonijah the youngest Son before the eldest a Childe before a Man experienced and well grown in years And some Examples also might be had of the like Transpositions in the Realm of Scotland in Hungary Naples and else where enough to shew that nothing had been done in this great Transaction which was not to be presidented in other Places Upon all which Considerations it was thought most agreeable to the Rules of Polity that the King by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England should so dispose of the Possession of the Crown with such Remainders and Reversions as to him seemed best as might prevent such Inconveniencies and Emergent Mischiefs as might otherwise happen which could not better be effected then by setting the Crown on the Head of the Lady Jane a Lady of a Royal Blood born in the Realm brought up in the Religion now by Law established Married already to a Person of Desert and Honour and such an one in whom all those Graces were concentred which were sufficient to adorn all the rest of Her Sex Thus Reason being thus prepared the next Care was to have the Instrument so contrived in due form of Law that nothing might be wanting in the Stile and Legalities of it which might make it any way obnoxious to Disputes and Questions For the doing whereof it was thought necessary to call in the Assistance of some of the Judges and others of His Majesties Council learned in the Laws of this Realm by whose Authority it might be thought more passable amongst the People Of all which Rank none was thought fitter to be taken into the Consultation then Sir Edward Montague not onely as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and very well experienced in His own Profession But because he being one of the Executours of the King deceased his concurrence with the rest of the Council seemed the more considerable A Letter is therefore sent unto him on the eleventh of June subscribed by the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Northumberland the Earls of Shrewsbury Bedford and Pembroke the Lord Admiral Clinton the Lord Darcie Sir John Gale Sir William Peter Sir William Cecil and Sir John Cheek By the Tenour whereof he was commanded to attend upon their Lordships the next day in the Afternoon and to bring with him Sir John Baker Chancellour of the first-Fruits and Tenths Master Justice Bromeley together with the Attorney and Sollicitour General Being brought into the King's Presence at the time appointed whom they found attended by the Lord Treasurer and some others of those who had subscribed the former Letter the King declared Himself with a weak Voice to this Effect viz. That He had considered in His Sickness of the Estate of His Realm which if it should descend on the Lady Mary who was then unmarried it might so happen that She might marry a Stranger born whereby not onely the Laws of the Realm might be changed and altered but all His own Proceedings in Religion might be also reversed That it was His Pleasure therefore that the Crown should Descend after His Decease unto such Persons a●d in such Form as was contained in certain Articles then ready to be shewed unto them to be by them digested and disposed of in due Form of Law These Articles when they had Perused and Considered of they signified unto the King that they conce●ved them to be contrary to the Act of Succession which being made in Parliament could not be Frustrated or made Ineffectual but by Parliaments onely Which Answer notwithstanding the King without allowing further time or deliberation commanded them to take the Articles along with them and give the Business a Dispatch with all speed as might be But finding greater Difficulties in it then had appeared unto their Lordships they made a Report unto them at their next Attendance that they had Considered of the King's Articles and the Act of Succession whereby it appeared man●festly that if they should make any Book concerning the King's Commandment they should not onely be in danger of Treason but their Lordships also The sum of which Report being cer●ifi●d to the Duke of Northumberland who though absent was not out of Call he came in great Rage and Fury to the Council-Chamber called the Chief Justice Traitour affirmed that he would fight in his Shirt in that Quarrel against any man living and behaved himself in such an outragious manner as put both Mountague and Justice Bromely in a very great fear that he would have struck them Cal●ed to the Court again by a Letter of the fourteenth of the same Moneth they found the King more earnest in it then He was before requiring them with a sharp Voice and a displeased Countenance to dispatch the Book according to the Articles delivered to them and telling them that He would have a Parliament shortly to Confirm the same When nothing else would serve the turn Answer was made That His C●mmandment should be obeyed upon Condition that they might be Commissionated so to do by His Majestie 's Warrant under the Great Seal of England and have a General Pardon for it when the Deed was done Not daring longer to resist and having made as good Provision as they could for their own Indemn●ty they betook themselves unto the Work digested it in form o● Law caused ●t to be Engrossed in Parchment and so dispatched it for the Seal to the Lord Chancellour Goodrick sufficiently prepared before-hand not to stick upon it B●t then appeared another Difficulty amongst the Lords of the Council some of wh●ch not well satisfied with these Proceedings appeared as backward in Subscribing to the Instrument before it went unto the Seal as the Great Lawyers had done at the first in being brought to the Employment But such was the Authority which Dudley and his Party had gained amongst them that some for fear and some for favour did Subscribe at last a Zeal to the Reformed Religion prevailing in it upon some a doubt of loosing their Church-Lands more powerfully over-swaying others and all in fear of getting the displeasure of that Mighty Tyrant who by his Power and Practices carried all before him The last that stood it out was Arch-Bishop Cranmer Who being sent for to the Court when all the Lords of the Council and most of the Judges of the Realm had subscribed the Instrument refused to put his hand unto it or to consent to the Disherison of the late King's Daughters After much Reasoning of the Case he requires a longer time of deliberation consults about it with some of the most Learned Lawyers and is finally sent for by the King who having fully set his heart upon the Business did use so many Reasons to him in behalf of Religion and plyed him with such strong Perswasions in pursuance of them that at the last he suffered himself to be overcome by His Importunities
who were appointed to revise it as before is said In the performance of which service there was great care taken for expunging all such passages in it as might give any scandal or offence to the Popish party or be urged by them in excuse for their not comming to Church and joyning with the rest of the Congregation in Gods publick Worship In the Letany first made and published by King Henry the 8th and afterwards continued in the two Litu●gies of King Edward the 6th there was a Prayer to be delivered from the tyranny and all the detestable enormities of the B●shop of Rome which was thought fit to be expunged as giving matter of scandal and dis-affection to all that party or otherwise wisht well to that Religion In the first Liturgie of King Edward the Sacrament of the Lords Body was delivered with this Benediction that is to say The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for the preservation of thy body and s●ul to life everlasting The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Which being thought by Calvin and his Disciples to give some countenance to the grosse and carnal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament which passeth by the name of Trans●bstantiation in the Schools of Rome was altered into this form in the second Liturgy that is to say Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and ●eed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving Take and drink this c. But the Revisors of the Book joyned both Forms together lest under colour of rejecting a Carnal they might be thought also to deny such a Real Presence as was defended in the Writings of the Antient Fathers Upon which ground they expunged also a whole Rubrick at the end of the Communion-service by which it was declared that kneeling at the participation of the Sacrament was required for no other reason than for a signification of the humble and grateful acknowledging of the benefits of Christ given therein unto the worthy Receiver and to avoid that prophanation and disorder which otherwise might have ensued and not for giving any adoration to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or in regard of any real and essential presence of Christs body and blood And to come up the closer to those of the Church of Rome it was ordered by the Queens Injunctions that the Sacramental Bread which the Book required onely to be made of the finest flower should be made round in fashion of the Wafers used in the time of Queen Mary She also ordered that the Lords Table should be placed where the Altar stood that the accustomed reverence should be made at the name of Jesus Musick retained in the Church and all the old Festivals observed with their several Eves By which compliances and the expunging of the passages before remembred the Book was made so passable amongst the Papi●ts that for ten years they generally repaired to their Parish Churches without doubt or scruple as is affirmed not onely by Sir Edward Coke in his speech again●t G●●net and his Charge given at the Assizes held at Norwich but also by the Queen her self in a Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham then being her Resident or Leiger-Ambassador in the Court of France the same confessed by Sanders also in his Book de Schismate And that the Book might passe the better in both Houses when it came to the Vote it was thought requisite that a Disputation should be held about some points which were most likely to be checked at the Disputants to be five Bishops and four other learned men of the one side and nine of the most lear●ed men graduated in the Schools on the other side the Disputation to begin on the 30th of March and to be holden in the Church of Westminster in the presence of as many of the Lords of the Council and of the Members of both Houses as were desirous to inform themselves in the state of the Questions The Disputation for that reason to be held in the English Tongue and to be managed for the better avoiding of confusion by a mutual interchange of writings upon every point those writings which were mutually given in upon one day to be reciprocally answer'd on another so from day to day till the whole were ended To all which points the Bishops gave consent for themselves and the rest of their party though they refused to stand unto them when it came to the tryal The points to be disputed on were three in number that is to say That it is against the word of God and the custom of the antient Church to use a Tongue unknown to the people in Common-Praier and in the administration of the Sac●aments 2. That every Church hath authority to appoint take away and change Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Rites so the same be to edification 3. That it cannot be proved by the word of God that there is in the Masse offered up a sacrifice propitiatory for the living and the dead And for the Disputants of each side they were these that follow that is to say first for the Popish party Dr. White Bishop of Winchester Dr. Bayn Bishop of Lichfield Dr. Scot Bishop of Chester and Dr. Watson Bishop of Linc●ln Dr. Fecknam Abbot of Westminster Dr. Henry Cole Dean of St. Pauls Dr. Harp●field Archdeacon of Canterbury Dr. Chadsey Prebend of St. Pa●ls and Dr. Langdale Archdeacon of Lewis in Sussex For those of the Protestant perswasion appeared Dr. Scory the late Bishop of Chichester Dr. Cox the late Dean of Westminster Dr. Sandys late Master of Katherine Hal. Mr. Horn the late Dean of Durham Mr. Elmar late Archdeacon of Stow Mr. Wh●tehead Mr. Gryndal Mr. G●est and Mr. Jewel all of which except onely Whi●ehead attained afterwards to some eminent place in the sacred Hiera●chy The day being come and the place fitted and accommodated for so great an audience the Lord Keeper Bacon takes the Chair as Moderator not for determining any thing in the points disputed but for seeing good order to be kept and that the Disputation might be managed in the form agreed on When contrary to expectation the Bishops and their party brought nothing in writing to be read publickly in the hearing of all the Auditors but came resolved to try it out by word of mouth and to that end appointed Cole to be their Spokesman For which neglect being reproved by the Lord Keeper they promised a conformity on the Monday following being the second day of April but would not stand unto it them because they would not give their Adversaries so much leisure as a whole nights deliberation to return an answer Desired and pressed by the Lord Keeper to proceed according to the form agreed on for the better satisfaction and contentment of so great an Audience it was most obstinately denyed W●tson and White behaving themselves with so little reverence or so much insolency rather as to threaten the Queen
in which provision had been made for the maintenance of it or where the people could be trained up at the least to plain-song All which particulars were either established by the Lawes or commanded by the Queens Injunctions or otherwise retained by vertue of some an●ient usages not by Law prohibited Nor is it much to be admired that such a general conformity to those antient usages was constantly observed in all Cathedral and the most part of the Parish Chur●hes considering how well they were presidented by the Court it self in which the Liturgy was officiated every day both morning and evening not only in the publick Chapel but the private Closet celebrated in the Chapel with Organs and other musical inst●uments and the most excellent voices both of men and children that could be got in all the Kingdom The Gentlemen and children in their Surplices and the Priests in Copes as o●t as they attended the Divine Service at the Holy Altar The Altar furnished with rich Plate two fair gilt Candlesticks with Tapers in them and a massie Crucifix of silver in the midst thereof Which last remained there for some years till it was broke in pieces by Pach the Fool no wiser man daring to undertake such a desperate service at the solicitation of Sir Francis Knolles the Queens neer Kinsman by the Caries and one who openly appeared in favour of the Schism at Franckfort The antient Ceremonies accustomably observed by the Knights of the Garter in their adoration toward the Altar abolished by King Edward the 6th and revived by Queen Mary were by this Queen retained as formerly in her Fathers time which made that Order so esteemed amongst forein Princes that the Emperors Maximilian and Rodolphus the French Kings Charls the 9th and Henry the 3d. together with Francis Duke of Mont Morency though of a contrary Religion to her not to say any any thing of divers Lutheran Kings and P●inces did thankfully accept of their elections into that society The solemn Sermons upon each Wednesday Friday and Sunday in the time of Lent preached by the choicest of the Clergy she devoutly heard attired in black according to the commendable custome of her Predecessors in which if any thing escaped them contrary to the Doctrine and approved Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England they were sure to hear of it for which she received both thanks and honour from her very enemies as appears by Dr. Harding's Epistle Dedicatory before his Answer to the Apology writ by Bishop Jewel Particularly when one of her Chaplains Mr. Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Pauls had spoke less reverently in a Sermon preached before her of the sign of the Cross she called aloud to him from her closet window commanding him to retire from that ungodly digression and to return unto his Text. And on the other side when one of her Divines had preached a Sermon in defence of the Real Presence on the day commonly called Good Friday Anno 1565. she openly gave him thanks for his pains and piety The Bishops and the Clergy had been but ill proficients in the school of conformity under so excellent a Mistriss if they had not kept the Church in the highest splendor to which they were invited by that great example And in this glorious posture still had lasted longer had not her Order been confounded and her Peace disturbed by some factious spirits who having had their wils at Franckfort or otherwise ruling the Pre●by●ery when they were at Geneva thought to have carried all before them with the like facility when they were in England But leaving them and their designes to some other time we must next look upon the aid which the Queen sent to those of the reformed Religion in the Realm of Scotland but carried under the pretence of dislodging such French Forces as were Garrisoned there and might have proved bad neighbours to the Kingdom of England Such of the Scots as desired a Reformation of Religion taking advantage by the Queens absence the easiness of the Earl of Arran and want of power in the Queen Regent to suppress their practices had put themselves into a Body Headed by some of the Nobility they take unto themselves the name of the Congregation managing their own affairs apart from the rest of the Kingdom and in assurance of their own strength petition to the Queen Regent and the Lords of the Council that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper might be administred in both kinds that Divine Offices might be celebrated in the Vulgar tongue and that they might have the choice of their own Ministers according to the practice as it was pretended of the Primitive times The Answer hereunto was fair and gratious but rather for the gaining of time than with a purpose to grant any of the points demanded The principal Leaders of the party well followed by the common people put themselves into Perth and there begin to stand on higher terms than before they did The news whereof occasioneth Knox to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva and joyn himself unto the Lords of the Congregation At Perth he goes into the Pulpit and falls so bitterly on Images Idolatry and other superstitions of the Church of Rome that the people in a popular fury deface all the Images in that Church and presently demolish all Religious Houses within that City This hapned about the end of May Anno 1559. and gave a dangerous example to them of Couper who forthwith on the hearing of it destroyed all the Images and pulled down the Altars in that Church also Preaching at Craile he inveighed sharply against the Queen Regent and vehemently stirred up the people to joyn together for the expulsion of the French which drew after it the like destruction of all Altars and Images as was made before at Perth and Couper The like followed on his preaching at St. Andrews also the Religious Houses being pulled down as well as the Images and laid so flat that there was nothing left in the form of a building Inflamed by the same firebrand they burned down the rich Monastery of Scone and ruined that of Camb●skenneth demolished all the Altars Images and Covents of Religious persons in Sterling Lithgo● Glascough Edenburgh make themselves Masters of the last and put up their own Preachers into all the Pulpits of that City not suffering the Queen Regent to have the use of one Church onely for her own devotions Nor staid they there but being carried on by the same ill spirit they pass an Act among themselves for depriving the Queen Regent of all place and power in the publick Government concerning which the Oracle being first consulted returned this Answer sufficiently ambiguous as all Oracles are that is to say That the iniquity of the Queen Regent ought not to withdraw their hearts from the obedience due to their Soveraigns nor did he wish any such sentence to be pronounced against her but when she should change her course and submit
holy Sacraments and partly for the Apparel of all persons Ecclesiastical by vertue of the Queens Majesties Letters commanding the same the 15th day of January c. And that they might be known to have the stamp of Royal Authority a Preface was prefixed before them in which it was expressed That the Queen had called to her remembrance how necessary it was for the advancement of God's glory c. for all her loving subjects of the state Ecclesiastical not onely to be knit together in the bonds of Uniformity touching the ministration of Gods Word and Sacraments but also to be of one decent behaviour of outward aparel that by their distinct habits they might be known to be of that holy vocation whereby the greater reverence might be● given unto them in their several Offices that thereupon she had required the Metropolitan by her special Letters that upon conference had with such other Bishops as were authorised by her Commission for causes Ecclesiastical some order might be took whereby all diversities and varieties in the premises might be taken away And finally that in obedience unto her commands the said Metropolitan and the rest there named had agreed upon the Rules and Orders ensuing which were by her thought meet to be used and followed Now in these Articles or Advertisements it was particularly enjoyned amongst other things That all Archbishops and Bishops should continue their accustomed Aparel that all Deans of Cathedral Churches Masters of Colleges all Archdeacons and other dignitaries in Cathedral Churches Doctors Batchelors of Divinity and Law having any Ecclesiastical Living should wear in their common apparel abroad a side Gown with sleeves streight at the hand without any cuts in the same and that also without any falling cape and to wear tippets of ●arsnet as was lawful for them by Act of Parliament 24 Hen. 8. That all Doctors of Physick or any other faculty having any Living Ecclesiastical or any other that may dispend by the Church 100 Marks he to be esteemed by the fruits or tenths of their Promotions or all Prebendaries whose promotions are vallued at 20 l. and upward to wear the like habit that they or all Ecclesiastical persons or other having any Ecclesiastical Living do wear the cap appointed by the Injunctions and no hats but in their journeyings that they in their journeys do wear the cloaks with sleeves put on and like in fashion to their Gowns without gards welts or cuts that in their private houses or studies they use their own liberty of comely apparel that all inferiour Ecclesiastical persons shall wear long gowns of the fashion aforesaid and caps as before is described that all poor Parsons Vicars and Cura●s do endeavour themselves to conform their aparel in like sort so soon and as conveniently as their abilities will serve for the same provided that their ability be judged by the Bishop of the Diocess and if their ability will not suffer them to buy them long gowns of the form aforesaid prescribed that then they shall wear their short gowns as before expressed that all such pe●●ons as have been or be Ecclesiastical and serve not the Ministry or have not accepted or shall refuse to accept the Oath of obedience to the Queens Majesty do from henceforth wear none of the said aparel but to go as meer lay-men till they be reconciled to obedience and who shall obstinately refuse to do the same be presented by the Ordinary to the Commissioners for causes Ecclesiastical and by them to be reformed accordingly But this belongs more properly to the year next following To return therefore where we left the next considerable action which followed on the Queens reception at Cambridge but more considerable in the consequents than in the act it self was the preferring of Sir Robert Dudley the second son then living to the Duke of Northumberland to the Titles of Lord Denbigh and Earl of Leicester which honour she conferred on him on Michaelmas day with all the Pomps and ceremonies thereunto accustomed She had before elected him into the Order of the Garter made him the Master of her Horse and Chancellor of the University of Oxon suffered him to carry a great sway in all affairs both of Court and Council and given unto him the fair Mannor of Denbigh being conceived to be one of the goodliest Territories in England as having more Gentlemen of quality which owes sure and service thereunto than any other whatsoever in the hands of a subject And now she adds unto these honors the goodly Castle and Mannor of Kenelworth part of the patrimony and possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster Advanced unto which heighth he ingrossed unto himself the disposings of all Offices in Court and State and of all preferments in the Church proving in fine so unappeasable in his malice and unsatiable in his lusts so sacrilegious in his rapines so false in promises and treche●ous in point of trust and finally so destructive of the rights and properties of particular persons that his little finger lay far heavier on the English subjects than the loins of all the Favorites of the two last Kings And that his monstrous vices most insupportable in any other than himself might either be connived at or not complained of he cloaks them with a seeming zeal to the true Religion and made himself the head of the P●ritan faction who spared no pains in setting forth his praises upon all occasions making themselves the Tromparts to this Bragadocio Nor was he wanting to caresse them after such a manner as he found most agreeable to those holy hypocrites using no other language in his speech and letters than pure-scripture phrase in which he was become as dextrous as if he had received the same inspirations with the sacred Pen-men Of whom I had not spoke so much but that he seemed to have been born for the destruction of the Church of England as may appear further in the prosecution of the Presbyterian or Puritan History whensoever any able Pen shall be exercised in it But leaving this Court-Meteor to be gazed on by unknowing men let us a●tend the Obsequies of the Emperor Ferdinand who died on the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in the year now being leaving the Empire and the rest of his Dominions to M●x●milian his eldest son whom he had before made King of the R●mans A P●ince he was who had deserved exceeding well of the Queen of England and she resolved not to be wanting to the due acknowledgment of so great a merit the after-noon of the second day of October and the fore-noon of the third are set apart by her command for this great solemnity for which there was erected in the upper part of the Quire of the said Church a goodly He●se richly garnished and set forth all the Quire being hanged with black cloth adorned with rich Scutcheons of his Arms of sundry sorts At the solemnization of which Funeral there were twelve Mourners and one that presented the Queens
Anno 1552. as also of the Review thereof by the Bishops and Clergy assembled in their Convocation under Queen Elizabeth Anno 1562. which being compared with one another will appear most plainly neither to be altogether the same nor yet much different the later being rather an explication of the former where the former seemed to be obscure or not expressed in such full and significant tearms as they after were than differing from them in such points wherein they dissented from the Romanists and some modern Hereticks But what these differences were both for weight and number the Reader may observe by seeing the Articles laid before him in their several Columns as hereafter followeth wherein the variations are presented in a different character or otherwise marked out by their several figures in the line and margin Which was first done with reference to some Annotations intended once upon the same for shewing the reason of those Additions Substractions and other alterations which were thought necessary to be made to and in King Edward's Book by the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation Anno 1562. But that design being laid aside as not so compatible with the nature of our present History the Articles shall be laid down plainly as they are in themselves leaving the further consideration of the differences which occur between them to the Reader 's care Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other learned men 1 in the Convocation held at London in the year 1552. for the avoiding of Diversitities of Opinions and stablishing consent touching true Religion Published by the Kings Authority Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year 1562. for the avoiding of Diversities of Opinions and stablishing consent tonching true Religion Publish'd by the Queens Authority I. Of Faith in the holy Trinity THere is but one living and true God everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in Unity of this Godhead there are three Persons one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the holy Ghost I. Of Faith in the holy Trinity THere is but one living and true God Everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in Unity of this Godhead there be three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the holy Ghost II. The Word of God made very Man The Son which is the Word of the Father took mans nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance So that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say the 2 Godhead Manhood were joyn'd together in one Person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very Man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice not onely for original guilt but also for actual sins of men II. Of the Word or Son of God which was made very Man The Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one Substance with the Father 2 took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin c. III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into Hell 3 For his Body lay in the Grave till his Resurrection but his Soul being separate from his Body remained with the Spirits which were detained in prison that is to say in Hell and there preached unto them as witnesseth that place of Peter III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also it is to be believed that he went down into Hell IV. The Resurrection of Christ. Christ did truly rise again from death and took again his Body with flesh bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature wherewith he ascended into heaven and there fitte●h till he return to judg all men at the last day IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ. Christ did truly rise again from death and took again his Body with flesh bones c. 5 V. Of the holy Ghost The holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son very and eternal God V. The Doctrine of the holy Scripture is sufficient to salvation Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby although sometimes it may be admitted 6 by Gods faithful people as pious and conducing unto order and decency yet is not to be required of any man that it should be 7 believed as an Article of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation VI. Of the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought necessary or requisite to salvation In the name of the holy Scripture 7 we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church that is to say Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1st of Samuel 2d of Samuel c. And the other Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners but yet doth it not apply them to establish any Doctrine such are these following The 3d. of Esdras The 4th of Esdras The Book of Tobias The Book of Judeth The rest of the Book of Hester The Book of Wisdom c. All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly received we do receive and account them Canonical VI. The Old Testament is not to be rejected The Old Testament is not to be rejected as if it were contrary to the New but to be retained Forasmuch as in the Old Testament as in the New everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ who is the onely Mediatior betwixt God and Man being both God and Man Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old Fathers did look onely ●or transitory Promises VII Of the Old Testament The Old Testament is not contra●y to the New for both in the O●d and the New Testament Everlasting life is offered Mankind by Christ c. 8 Although the Law given from G●d by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not bind Christian men nor the Civil Precepts the●eof ought of nec●ssi●y to be received in any Commonwealth yet notwithstanding no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the
of his love and goodnesse Which so prevailed that the Duke of Norfolk is sent to treat with her upon certain Instructions so ne●essary to the knowledge of her affairs in this Conjuncture that they deserve a place here and are these that follow Certain Articles and Injunctions given by the King's Highness to his right Trusty and right entirely beloved Cousen and Counsellor the Duke of Norfolk whom with certain others in his company His Majesty sendeth to the Lady Mary his Daughter for the Purposes ensuing FIrst whereas the said Lady Mary hath sundry ways with long continuance shewed her self so obstinate towards the King's Maj●sty her Soveraign Lord and Father and so disobedient to his Laws conceived and ●ade upon most just vertu●●s and godly grounds that as the wilfull disobedience thereof seemeth a monster in Nature so unlesse the mercy of his Highnesse had been most abundantly extended unto h●r by the course of his Grace's Laws and the force of his Justice sh● end●●g●red her self so far that it was greatly t● his Highnesse's regret and hearty sorrow to see and perceive how little 〈◊〉 este●meth the same extending to the losse of his favour the losse of her honour the losse of her life and undoub●edly to the indignation of Almighty God For that she neither obeyeth her Father and Soveraign nor his just and vertuous Laws aforesaid And that of late neverthelesse calling to remembrance her transgressions and offences in this p●rt towards God her Father and Soveraign Lord the King's Highnesse she hath writt●n to the same three su●d●y Letters containing a declaration of her repentance conceived for the Premises with such an humble and simple submission as she appeareth not onely to submit h●r s●lfwholly and without exception especially by the last Letter to the Laws but also for her state and condition to put her self onely to his Grace's mercy nothing desiring but mercy and forgivenesse for her offences with a reconciliation to his Grace's favour Albeit his Majesty hath been so ingrately handled and used by her as is afor● declared that the like would enforce any private person t● ab●ndon for ever such an unkind and inobedient child from their grace and favour yet such is his Majesties gracious and divine nature such is his clemency and pitty such his mercifull inclination and Princely heart that as he hath been ever ready to take pitty and comp●ssi●n of all offenders repentantly calling and crying for the same So in case he may throughly parceive the same to be in the said Lady Mary's heart which she hath put in pen and writing his Highnesse considering the imbecillity of her sex being the same is frail inconstant and easie to he perswaded by simple counsell can be right well contented to remit unto her part of his said displeasure And therefore hath 〈◊〉 this time for the certain knowledge of her heart and stomack s●●t unto her his said Cousen with others to demand and enquire of her certain Questions Her Answe●s whereunto his pleasure is they shall require and note in writing which s●all throughly decipher whether she be indeed the person she pretendeth or for any respect hath with generall words laboured to cloak the speciall matter which is repugnant and contrary to that which his Majesty hath gathered and conceived of the same 1. And first after their Accesse and Declaration of the Premises they shall for their first Question demand of her Whether she doth recognise and knowledge the King's Highnesse for her Soveraign Lord and King in the Emperiall Crown of this Realm of England and will and doth submit her self unto his Highnesse and to all and singu●ar the Laws and Statutes of this Realm as becommeth every true and faithfull Subject to do 2. Also whether she will with all her power and qualities that God hath endu'd her withall not on●ly obey keep and observe all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm but also set forth advance and maintain the same to the utmost of her power according to her bounden duty 3. Also whether she will recognise accept take and repute the King's Highnesse to be supream Head in Earth under Christ of the Church of England and utterly refuse the Bishop of Rome's pretended Power and Jurisdiction heretofore usurped in this Realm according to the Laws and Statutes of the same made and ordained in the behalf of all the King 's true Subjects humbly received admitted obeyed kept and observed And also will and do renounce and utterly forsake all manner of Remedy Interesse and Advantage by the said Bishop of Rome's Laws Processe or Jurisdiction to her in any wise appertaining or that hereafter may by any Title Colour or Mean belong grow succeed or appertain or in any case may follow or ensue 4. And whether she will and doth of her Duty and Obedience towards God her Alleigance towards the King's Highnesse and the Laws of this Realm and also of the sincere love and zeal that she beareth towards the Truth freely and franckly recognize and knowledge without any other respect both by Go●'s Law and Man's Law the Marriage heretofore had between his Majesty and her Mother to be unlawfull 5. Also Be she enquired or examined For what cause and by whose motion and means she hath continued and remained in her obstinacy so long and who did e●bold or animate her thereto with other circumstances thereof appertaining 6. Also What is the cause that she at this present time rather then at any other heretofore doth submit her selfe To these six Articles she was required to give a plain and positive answer Which plainly shews the doubtfulnesse and uncertainty of her present condition in being either forced to confesse her selfe to be illegitimate or running on the last hazzard of the Kings displeasure if she should do otherwise But wisely considering in her selfe whom she had to deal with she thought it safest to strike sale and to submit her selfe to him with whom it was not lawfull for her to dispute that point if she had been able She therefore makes a cleer acknowledgement of the four first Articles by the subscribing of her name but craved leave to demur on the two last because some persons were concern'd in them whom she was not willing to discover And by this means she gain'd so far upon the King that from that time forwards he held her in the same ranck with the rest of his children gave her her turn in the succession of the Kingdome assigned her portion of ten thousand pounds to be paid at her marriage and in the interim three thousand pounds per annum for her personal maintenance And more then this he did not do for his daughter Elizabeth notwithstanding the esteem and affection which he bare to her mother for bring●●g whom into his bed he had cancelled all the bonds of his former marriage Little or nothing more occurreth of her in the time of King Henry because there was little or nothing altered in
the face of Religion which might give her any cause of publick or personall dislike But when the great alterations hapned in the time of King Edward she then declared her selfe more openly as she might more safely in opposition to the same concerning which she thus declared her selfe in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council dated at Kenninghall June 22. An. 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I late receiv'd from you and other of the Kings Majesties Councel that you be all sorry to find so little conformity in me touching the observation of his Majestie 's Laws who am well assured I have offended no law unlesse it be a late law of your own making which in my conscience is not worthy the name of Law both for the King's honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendome besides the partiality used in the same and as my conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passeth all the rest But I am well assured that the King his Fathers Lawes were all allowed and consented to without compulsion by the whole Realm both spiritual and temporal and all the Executors sworn upon a book to fulfil the same so that it was an authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the grace of God till the King's Majesty my brother shall have sufficient years to be a judge in this matter himself Whereto my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring unto you at that time whereunto I would stand and now do assure you all that the only occasion of my stay from a tering of mine opinion is for two causes One principally for my conscience the other that the King my brother shall nor hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such alterations in his tender years And what fruits dayly grow by such changes since the death of the King my Father to every indifferent person it well appeareth both to the displeasure of God and unquietnesse of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loath to see his Highnesse take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the bes● of you all and none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble sister most tenderly to love and pray for him and unto this his Realm being born within the same with all wealth and prosperity to God's honour And if any judge of me the contrary for mine opinions sake as I trust none doth I doubt not in the end with Gods help to prove my selfe as true a natural and humble Sister as they of the contrary opinion with all their divices and altering of lawes shall prove themselves true Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Councel no more to unquiet and trouble me with matters touching my conscience wherein I am at a full point with Gods help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits but to bestow the short time I think to live in quietnesse and I pray for the King's Majesty and all you heartily wishing that your proceedings may be to God's honour the safeguard of the King's person and quietnesse of the whole Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my selfe Upon such passages of this Letter which seemed most to pinch upon them the Lords returned their Glosse or Comment but such as had more in it of an Animadversion then an Explication They signified withall how well they understood their own Authority how sensible they were of those inconveniences which the example of her inconformity to the lawes established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the subjects No favour being otherwise to be hoped for from them the Emperour is moved to intercede in her behalfe by his Ambassador then residing about the Court Upon whose earnest solicitation it was declared by the King with the consent of his Councel as appeareth by their letters to her of the 25th of December That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Masse used in her own closet for a season untill she might be better informed but so that none but some few of her own chamber should be present with her and that to all the rest of her houshold the Service of the Church should be only used For the abuse of which indulgence in saying Masse promiscuously in her absence to her houshold servants Mallet and Barkley two of her Chaplains are seized on and committed prisoners which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Councel for which consult the Acts and Mon. fol. 1213. 1214. A proposition had been made about the surrendry of B●l●oigne for a marriage betwixt her and the Prince of Portugall and the like motion made in favour of the Duke of Brunswick whilst the other treaty was depending But neither of the two succeeding to the wish of the party a plot was laid to passe her over into Flanders shipping provided to transport her some of her servants sent before and a commotion practised in the County of Essex that in the busle she might be conveyed away without any discovery But this plot being happily prevented by the care and diligence of Sir John Gates one of the Capta●ns of the Gents a'armes then lately ranged under the command of the Marquess of N●rthampton she was by him conducted much against her will to the Lord Chancellors house at Leezdi from thence to Hunsdon and at last to Westminster Much troubled at her comming thither upon the apprehension of Sir Robert Ruchest●r Sir Walgrave and Sir Francis Ingl●field servants of special trust about her and all suspected to be privy to the design for conveying her over into Flanders Much care was taken and many endeavor used by the King and Councel to win her to good conceit of the Reformation But her interest was 〈◊〉 bound up with that of the Pope that no perswasions could prevaile with her to desert that cause on which her own legi●imation and the validity of her mothers marriage did so much depend As much unprofitable pains was taken by the Emperours Agents in labouring to procure for her the exercise of her own Religion mingling some threats with their intreaties in case so great a Prince should be refused in so small a suit Which when it could not be obtained from the King by the Lords of the Councel nor by the mediation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London whom the Lords imployed to move him in it the Emperour laid aside the prosecution of a cause which he perceived he could not carry And the King
had been given before between the time of the Duke's Acknowledgment and the Sentence passed on him by the Lords and so disposed that none of the Factions might have any ground for a Complaint One of each side being taken out for these Advancements For on the nineteenth day of January William Lord St. John a most affectionate Servant to the Earl of Warwick was preferred unto the Title of Earl of Wiltshire the Lord Russell who had made himself the Head of those which were engaged on neither side was made Earl of Bedford and Sir William Paget Comptroller of his Majestie 's Houshold who had persisted faithfull to the Lord Protectour advanced to the Dignity of a Baron and not long after to the Chancellour-ship of the Dutchy of Lancaster Furnished with Offices and Honours it is to be presumed that they would finde some way to provide themselves of sufficient Means to maintain their Dignities The Lord Wentworth being a younger Branch of the Wentworths of Yorkshire had brought some Estate with him to the Court though not enough to keep him up in Equipage with so great a Title The want whereof was supplied in part by the Office of Lord Chamberlain now conferred upon him but more by the goodly Manours of Stebun●th commonly called Stepney and Hackney bestowed upon him by the King in consideration of the Good and Faithfull Services before performed For so it happened that the D●an and Chapter of St. Paul's lying at the Mercy of the Times as before was said conveyed over to the King the said two Manours on the twelfth day after Christm●ss now last past with all the Members and Appertenances thereunto belonging Of which the last named was valued at the yearly rent of 41. pounds 9. ● 4 d. The other at 140. pounds 8 ● 11. ● ob And being thus vested in the King they were by Letters Patents bearing Date the sixteenth of April then next following transferred upon the said Lord VV●ntworth By means whereof he was possessed of a goodly Territory extending on the Thames from St. Katharine's near the Tower of London to the Borders of Essex near Black-wall from thence along the River Le● to Stratford le Bow and fetching a great compass on that side of the City contains in all no fewer then six and twenty Town-ships Streets and Hamlets besides such Rows of Building as have since been added in these later Times The like provision was made by the new Lord P●get a Londoner by Birth but by good Fortune mixed with Merit preferred by degrees to be one of the Principal Secretaries to the late King Henry by whom he was employed in many Embassies and Negotiations Being thus raised and able to set up for himself he had his share in the division of the Lands of Chantery Free-Chapels c. and got into his hands the Episcopal House belonging to the Bishop of Exeter by him enlarged and beautified and called Paget-House sold afterwards to Robert Earl of Leicester from whom it came to the late Earls of Essex and from them took the name of Essex-House by which it is now best known But being a great House is no● able to keep it self he played his Game so well that he got into his possession the Manour of Beau-desart of which he was created Baron and many other fair Estates in the County of Stafford belonging partly to the Bishop and partly to the Dean and Cha●ter of Lichfield neither of which was able to contend with so great a Courtier who held the See and had the Ear of the Protectour and the King 's to boot What other Course he to●k to improve his Fortunes we shall see hereafter when we come to the last part of the Tragedy of the Duke of Sommerset For Sommerset having gained his Liberty and thereby being put into a Capacity of making use of his Friends found Means to be admitted to the King's Presence by whom he was not onely welcomed with all the kind Expressions of a Gracious Prince and made to sit down at his own Table but the same day the eighth of April he was again sworn one of the Lords of the Privy Council This was enough to make Earl Dudly look about him and to pretend a Reconciliation with him for the present whom he meant first to make secure and afterwards strike the last blow at him when he least look'd for it And that the knot of Amity might be tyed the faster and last the longer a True-Loves-Knot it must be thought or else nothing worth a Marriage was n●gotiated between John Lord Viscount L'isle the Earl's Eldest Son and the Lady Ann Seimour one of the Daughters of the Duke which Marriage was joyfully solemnized on the third of June at the King's Mannour-House of Sh●●e the King himself gracing the Nuptials with his Presence And now who could imagine but that upon the giving of such Hostages unto one another a most inviolable League of Friendship had been made between them and that all Animosities and Displeasures being quite forgotten they would more powerfully Co-operate to the publick Good But leaving them and their Ad●erents to the dark Contrivances of the Court we must leave England for a time and see how our Affairs succeeded on the other side of the Sea Where in the middle of the former Dissensions the French had put us to the Worst in the way of Arms and after got the Better in a Treaty of Peace They had the last year taken in all the Out-works which seemed the strongest Rampar●s of the Town of Bulloign but had not strength enough to venture on the Town it self provided plentifully of all necessaries to endure a Siege and bravely Garisoned by men of too much Courage and Resolution to give it up upon a Summons Besides they came to understand that the English were then Practicing with Charles the Emperour to associate with them in the War according to some former Capitulations made between those Crowns And if they found such D●ffi●ulties in maintaining the War against either of them when they fought singly by themselves there was no hope of any good Success against them should they unite and poure their Forces into France Most true it is that after such time as the French had bid Defiance to the King and that the King by reason of the Troubles and Embroilments at home was not in a Condition to attend the Affairs of France Sir William Paget was sent Ambassadour to Charles the Fifth to desire Succour of Him and to lay before Him the Infancy and several Necessities of the young King being then in the twelfth year of His Age. This desire when the Emperour had refused to hearken to they besought Him that he would at the least be pleased to take into His Hands the keeping of the Town of Bulloign and that for no longer time then untill King EDVVARD could make an End of the Troubles of His Subjects at home and compose the Discords of the Court which