now began to honour his Valour above his Fathers But the Tyde is spent the Prince of Chivalry dyes the brave Commanders wasted and the French too fickle to continue subject to the English longer then needs must tack about for another Adventure and make it plaine that France is too bigg to be Garrison'd by England and that it will cost England more to hold it then to have it His Religion was more to the purpose then of any of his Predecessors since the Norman times he reflected upon God in common events more ordinarily then the generall streame of the Clergy did in those dayes He loved if not adored devout men and their prayers and yet intentively disclaimed opinion of merits in the Creature Hee saw the Pope through and through loved him but little feared him lesse and yet lost neither Honour nor Power thereby His cheife policy at home was to be much at home great with his People and they great with him what the Parliament did he accounted well done he never questioned their Power though he was over-reached in questioning their Wisedome For he that shall preferr his owne wisedome above that of the Parliament must needs thinke himselfe extreamly Wise and so much the more to know himselfe to be such But the worst of his fate was to live to his Winter age and after fifty yeares Reigne or more to dye in his minority under the rule of a Woman of none of the best fame after hee had so long enjoyed the honour of greatest note in the Christian World in his dayes Such was not Richard the Second though the onely Son of that famous Cheiftaine the Black Prince of Wales a renouned Son of a renouned Father but as a Plant transplanted into a Savage soyle in degree and disposition wholly degenerate retained a tincture of the light inconstancy of his Mother and the luxuriousnesse of his Great Grandfather Edward the Second and running his course came to his end His entrance however by colour of Inheritance yet was a greater adventure then his Predecessors that came in by election upon the designation of his Father by his last Will say some For this man came in upon many disadvantages both of time and person The times were very troublesome the Kingdome new wrapped up in a double Warr abroad and which is worse flooded with distractions at home contracted partly by his Predecessors weaknesses in his decrepit estate partly by a new interest of Religion sprung up against the Papall Tyranny from the Doctrine of Wickleiff all which required a very wise Man and a brave Commander in both which the King fayled Religion now began to dawne through the foggs of Romish usurpations and superstitions ayded thereto by a Scisme in the triple Crowne that continued forty yeares with much virulency abroad and with as bad influence upon our Myters at home Some of whom were called Clementines others Vrbanists and yet none of them all worthy of eyther of the Names in their proper signification The Laity though lookers on yet were not quiet For though Liberty be a hopefull thing yet its dangerous to them that are not a Law to themselves especially in matter of Opinion for that arraines the rule and layes the way open to licentiousnesse And now that the Liberty from the Keyes began to be taught as a duty of Religion the inferiour sort meet with Doctrines of licentiousnesse upon mistake of the notion and will acknowledge no rule now they must be all at liberty and thus sprang up the insurrection of the Servants and Bond-men against their Lords and Masters under Cade and Strawe that might have brought the Common wealth into a hideous Chaos had not the Lords and Great Men betimes bestirred themselves and the King shewed an extraordinary spirit or rather a kinde of rage that put it selfe forth beyond the ordinary temper of his minde Much of this mischeife was imputed to Wickleiffs Doctrine for it is an ordinary thing to proclaime all evills concurring with the very joynt of Reformation to be the proper fruits thereof but I looke upon it as a fruit of corruption that indeavours to stopp the breath of Reformation in the birth and there is somewhat of a hidden influence from Above in the thing for it was not onely the Cupp of England to be thus troubled but France and other places had their portion sutable The Kings minority rendred him unequall unto these contrary motions he was in his eleventh yeare when he entred the Throne and which was worse his yeares came on faster then his Parts but his worke posted before them all The common helpe of Protectors left him yet more unhappy for they were prepossessed with strong ingagements of particular Interests and so were eyther not wise enough or not good enough for all This brought forth a third inconvenience the change of Protectorship and that change of Affaires and Interests an uncertaine good that brings forth a certaine evill for variety of Instruments and Interests move severall wayes and though the end be one the difference concerning the way many times doth as much hinder the Journey as so many blocks in the way The Protectorship was thrice changed the Kings Unkles had the first essay any one of them was bigg enough for one Kingdome but all of them together were too great to make one Protector The Duke of Lancaster would have done well alone if he had been alone and that work alone but he being somewhat ingaged with the Wickleiffists and so intangled with the Clergy and other restlesse spirits and drawne off by his private ayme at the Crowne of Castile saw this worke too much and so he warily withdrew himselfe leaving the Directory to a Committee of Lords a soveraine Plaister questionlesse where the times are whole but not for these distractions wherein even the Committee it selfe suffered its share Thus the breach is made the wider and for a cure of all the Government is committed into one hand wherein the Earle of Warwick acquitted himselfe well for he was wise enough to observe such as the people most honoured And thus passed over the two first yeares of the Kings Reigne The remainder of the Kings minority was rather in common repute then in true account For the King however young took little more from the Protector then he saw meet to collour his own commands with opinion of Regularity and so his will came to full strength before his wisdome budded Thus lifted up he sets himself above all interests of Parliament Protectors Councellors Unkles wise Men and Law leaving them all to be rules for those below And so long as the Kings desire is thus served he is content to be reputed a Minor and be as it were under protection of others though not under their direction and is content to continue thus untill his two and twentieth year Some might thinke him very moderate had hee been moderate but he forbears suing out his
the Houses its true that sad Presidents have beene of later times in that kinde and so for want of due attendance Parliaments have been inforced to adjourn to prevent a worse inconvenience but these are infirmities better buried in silence then produced as Arguments of power seeing its evident that Kings themselves were no greater gainers thereby then an Angry man is by his passions It is true also that Kings may make Lords and Corporations that may send their Burgesses to the Parliament and thus the King may make as many as he will as the Pope did with the Bishops in the Councill of Trent yet cannot he unmake them when he pleases nor take the Members from the Parliament without attainder and forfeiture according to the knowne Law Neither can all these Instances prove that the Kings of England have the sole and supreame Power over the Parliament Nor did the Parliament in these times allow of any such Authority and therefore proceeded for the reforming of themselves by themselves in many particulars as the Statutes do hold forth And first in the point of Elections for an error in that is like an error in the first Concoction that spoiles the whole Nutriment they ordained that the Election of Knights shall be at the next County Court after the Writ delivered to the Sheriffe That in full Court betweene the houres of eight and nine in the morning Proclamation shall be made of the day and place of the Parliament That the Suters duely summoned and others there Present shall then proceed to the Election notwithstanding any Prayer or Commandement to the contrary That the names of the Persons elected whether present or absent they be shall be returned by Indenture betweene the Sheriffe and the Elizors and that a Clause to that end shall be added to the Writ of Summons This was enough to make the Sheriffe understand but not to obey till a penalty of one hundred pound is by other Lawes imposed upon him and a yeares imprisonment without Baile or Mainprise besides damages for false return in such Cases and the party so unduely returned Fined and deprived of all the wages for his service Thus the manner of Election is reduced but the Persons are more considerable For hitherto any man of English blood promiscuously had right to give or receive a Vote although his residency were over the wide World But the Parliament in the time of Henry the Fifth reduced these also whether they were such as did chuse or were chosen unto their proper Counties or else rendered them uncapable to Vote or serve for any County And the like Order was made for the Burroughs Viz. That no Person must serve for any City or Burrough nor give Vote in Electing such as shall serve for that Towne unlesse they be both Free and Resiants within that City or Burrough A Law no lesse wholsome then seasonable For the times of Henry the Fourth had taught men to know by experience That a King that hath Souldiers scattered over the Kingdome can easily sway the County-Courts and make Parliaments for their owne tooth Yet this was not enough For all Elizors though of the meanest sort yet are still able to doe as much hurt with their Vote as those of the best sort both for wisedome and publique minde can doe good by theirs This made Elections much subject to parties and confusions and rendered the Parliament much lesse considerable A remedy hereunto is provided in the minority of Henry the Sixth Viz. That no man should give his Vote in Elections in the County unlesse he hath forty shillings yearely in Free Lands or Tenements and this is to be testified upon Oath of the Party And more plainly it is ordered within two yeares after that each Elizor shall have Frank Tenement of that vallue within the same County And thus the Freemen yeilded up their liberty of Election to the Free-holders possibly not knowing what they did Neverthelesse the Parliament well knew what they did this change was no lesse good then great For first these times were no times for any great measure of Civility The Preface of the Statute shewes that the meanest held himself as good a man as the greatest in the Countrey and this tended to parties tumults and bloodshed Secondly where the multitude prevaile the meaner sort are upon the upper hand and these generally ignorant cannot judge of Persons nor Times but being for the most part led by Faction or Affection rather then by right Understanding make their Elections and thereby the Generall Councell of this Nation lesse generous and noble Thirdly there is no lesse equity in the change then policy for what can be more reasonable then that those men onely should have their Votes in Election of the Common Councell of the Kingdome whose Estates are chargeable with the publique Taxes and Assessements and with the wages of those persons that are chosen for the publique Service But above all the rest this advancing of the Free-holders in this manner of Election was beneficiall to the Free-men of England although perchance they considered not thereof and this will more clearly appeare in the consideration of these three particulars First it abated the power of the Lords and great men who held the inferiour sort at their Devotion and much of what they had by their Vote Secondly it rendered the body of the people more brave for the advancing of the Free-holder above the Free-man raiseth the spirit of the meaner sort to publique regards and under a kinde of Ambition to aspire unto the degree of a Free-holder that they may be some what in the Common-wealth and thus leaving the meanest rank sifted to the very branne they become lesse considerable and more subject to Coercive power whiles in the mean time the Free-holder now advanced unto the degree of a Yeoman becomes no lesse carefull to maintain correspondency with the Lawes then he was industrious in the attaining of his degree Thirdly by this means now the Law makes a separation of the inferiour Clergy and Cloystered people from this service wherein they might serve particular ends much but Rome much more For nothing appeareth but that these dead Persons in Law were neverthelesse Fsee-men in Fact and lost not the liberty of their Birth-right by entering into Religion to become thereby either Bond or no Free-Members of the people of England Lastly as a binding plaister above the rest First a Negative Law is made that the Persons elected in the County must not be of the degree of a Yeoman but of the most noted Knights Esquires or Gentlemen of the Countrey which tacitely implies that it was too common to advance those of the meaner sort whether by reason of the former wasting times Knights and Esquires were grown scant in number or by reason of their rudenesse in account Or it may be the Yeomanry grew now to feel their strength and meant not to be further
Parliament is looked upon as the cheif supporters in the maintaining both the Honour and Power of that Authority that otherwise would fall under contempt A work that must be done with a curious touch or a cleare hand or they must look for the like Censure to that of a King to a great Lord that Crowned him My Lord I like your work very well but you have left the print of your fingers upon my Crown Such was the condition of these times wherein a Child and two Women are the cheifs but ever under the correction and direction of the Common Councel in matters of common concernment Two things declare the point the course of the Title of the Crown and the order of the powers thereof The Title ever had a Law which was at the Helm although diversly expounded Kings ever loved the rule of inheritance and therefore usually strained their Pedegree hard to make both ends meet though in truth they were guilty oftentimes to themselves that they were not within the degrees The People ever loved the Title of Election and though ever they joyned it to the Royall blood and many times to the right Heire to make the same pass more currant without interruption of the first love between them and their Princes yet more often had they Kings that could not boast much of their birth-right in their first entry into their Throne Of three and twenty Kings from the Saxons time foure of the former had no Title by inheritance the two Willams Henry the first and King Steven of two others Viz. Henry the second and Richard the first had right of birth yet came in by compact The seventh which was King John had no title but election The eight Viz. Henry the third came in a Child and contrary to compact between the Nobility and the French Lewes the ninth and tenth succeeded as by unquestionable Title of discent yet the Nobles were preingaged The eleventh which was Edward the third in his entry eldest Son but not Heire for his Father was alive but his Successor was his Heire its true there were other Children of Edward the third alive that were more worthy of the Crown but they were too many to agree in any but a Child that might be ruled by themselves Three next of the ensuing Kings were of a collatterall line Their two Successors Viz. Edward the fourth and Edward the fifth were of the right line yet Edward the fourth came in by dissesin and Edward the fifth by permission Richard the third and Henry the seventh were collatterall to one another and to the right blood Henry the eighth though when he was King might claime from his Mother yet came in as Heire to his Father And if Edward the sixth was right Heire to the House of Yorke by his Grand-Mother yet cannot the Crown be said to descend upon the two Sisters neither as Heires to him nor Henry the eighth nor to one another so long as the Statute of their illigittimation remained which as touching Queen Mary was till three Months after her entry upon the Throne and as touching Queen Elizabeth for ever for that Virago provided for her self not by way of repeale as her Sister had done but more tenderly regarding the Honour of her Father and the Parliament then to mention their blemishes in Government by doing and undoing She overlooked that Act of Henry the Eighth and the Notion of Inheritance and contented her self with her Title by the Statute made by her Father in his thirty fifth yeare which to her was a meere purchase and was not ashamed to declare to all the World that She did have and hold therby and that it was high Treason for any Subject to deny that the course of the Crown of England is to be ordered by Act of Parliament And this power did the Parliament exercise not onely in ordering the course of the Crown to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth so far as to dis-inherit and dis-able any person who should pretend Right to the Crown in opposition to the Right of Queen Elizabeth and upon this point onely did the whole proceedings against Mary Queen of Scots depend who claimed to be and doubtless was Heir unto Henry the eighth after the determination of his right Line and yet She was put to death for pretending Right by the Common Law in opposition to the Act of Parliament True it is that this Doctrine doth not down well with those that do pretend to Prerogative aided as they say by the Act of Recognition made to King James and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which do make much parly concerning Inheritance and Heirs nevertheless it is as true that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future nor doth the same cross the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the course of the Common Law for after Ages Nor do the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance hold forth any such Obligation unto Heirs otherwise then as supposing them to be Successors and in that relation onely And therefore was no such Allegiance due to Edward the sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth untill they were actually possessed of the Crown as may appear by the Oath formed by the Statute of Henry the eighth touching their Succession Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Edward the sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth untill those Heirs were actually possessed of the Crown and so were Kings and Queens as by express words in the severall Statutes do appear Nor did the Recognition by the Parliament made to Queen Elizabeth declare any ingagement of the People to assist and defend her and the Heirs of her Body otherwise then with this Limitation Being Kings and Queens of this Realm as by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear And lastly had these Oaths bin otherwise understood the Crown had by the vertue of them been pre-ingaged so as it could never have descended to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth or King James but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the sixth for ever Secondly the same power that the Parliament exercised in ordering the course of succession in the Crown they exercised likewise in determining and distributing the Powers and Priviledges belonging to the same for these Times were full of Novelties The Crown had formerly fitted a childes head more then once but it never tried to fit a Womans head since the Saxon Times till now that it must make triall of two France might afford us a trick of the Salique Law if it might finde acceptance And the unsettled estate of the People especially in matter of Religion might require the wisest man living to sit at the Helm and yet himself not sufficient to steer a right course to the Harbour Nevertheless the Parliament having the Statute of Henry the
have a Parliament wherein the People should have no more Religion then to beleive nor Learning then to understand his sense nor wisedome then to take heed of a Negative Vote But it befell otherwise for though it was called the Lack-learning Parliament yet had it well enough to discern the Clergies inside and Resolution enough to enter a second claime against the Clergies Temporalties and taught the King a Lesson That the least understanding Parliaments are not the best for his purpose For though the wisest Parliaments have the strongest sight and can see further then the King would have them yet they have also so much wisedome as to look to their own skins and commonly are not so venterous as to tell all the World what they know or to act too much of that which they doe understand But this Parliament whether wise or unwise spake loud of the Clergies superfluous Riches and the Kings wants are parallel'd therewith and that the Church-men may well spare enough to maintaine fifteen Earles fifteen hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Esquires and one hundred Hospitalls more then were in his Kingdome This was a strong temptation to a needy and couragious Prince but the Arch-Bishop was at his elbow the King tells the Commons that the Norman and French Cells were in his Predecessors time seized under this colour yet the Crowne was not the richer thereby he therefore resolves rather to add to then diminish any thing from the maintenance of the Clergy Thus as the King said he did though he made bold with the Keyes of Saint Peter for he could distinguish between his owne Clergy and the Romane The People are herewith put to silence yet harbour sad conceits of the Clergy against a future time which like a hidden fire are not onely preserved but increased by continuall occasions and more principally from the zeal of the Clergy now growing fiery hot against the Lollards For that not onely the People but the Nobles yea some of the Royall blood were not altogether estranged from this new old way whether it was sucked from their Grand-Father Duke John or from a Popular strain of which that House of Lancaster had much experience I determine not These were the Dukes of Bedford and Glocester Bedford was first at the Helme of Affaires at home whiles the King acted the Souldiers part in France as ill conceited of by the Clergy as they sleighted by him At a Convocation once assembled against the Lollards the Duke sent unto their Assembly his Dwarfe as a great Lollard though he was a little Man and he returned as he went even as Catholique as any of them all Non tam dispectus à Clero quam ipse Clerum despiciens atque eludens This and some other sleights the Clergy liked not they therefore finde a way to send him into France to be a Reserve to his Brother And in his roome steps forth Humphrey Duke of Glocester that was no lesse coole for the Romane way then he Henry the Fifth was not more hearty in Romes behalf for although he was loath to interrupt his Conquest abroad with contests at home yet he liked not of advancements from Rome insomuch as perceiving the Bishop of Winchester to aspire to a Cardinals Hat he said that he would as well lay aside his own Crowne as allow the Bishop to take the Hat Nor was he much trusted by the Clergy who were willing he should rather ingage in the Wars with France then minde the Proposalls of the Commons concerning the Clergies Temporalties which also was renued in the Parliament in his dayes Above all as the Lancastrian House loved to looke to its own so especially in relation to Rome they were the more jealous by how much it pretended upon them for its favour done to their House And therefore Henry the Fourth the most obleiged of all the rest looked to the Provisors more strictly then his Predecessors had and not only confirmed all the Statutes concerning the same already made but had also provided against Provisors of any annuall Office or Profit or of Bulls of Exemption from payment of Tythes or from Obedience Regular or Ordinary and made them all punishable within the Statute and further made all Licenses and Pardons contrary thereto granted by the King void against the Incumbent and gave damages to the Incumbent in such vexations for the former Lawes had saved the right to the true Patron both against Pope and King And thus the English Kings were Servants to the Church of England at the charges of Rome whiles the Popedome being now under a wasting and devouring Scisme was unable to help it selfe and so continued untill the time of Henry the Sixth at which time the Clergy of England got it selfe under the power and shadow of a Protector a kinde of Creature made up by a Pope and a King This was the Bishop of Winchester so great a Man both for Birth parts of Nature Riches Spirit and Place as none before him ever the like for he was both Cardinall Legate and Chancellour of England and had gotten to his aide the Bishop of Bathe to be Lord Treasurer of England Now comes the matter concerning Provisors once more to be revived First more craftily by collogueing with the Nobility who now had the sway in the Kings minority but they would none An answer is given by the King that he was too young to make alteration in matters of so high Concernment yet he promised moderation The Clergy are put to silence herewith and so continue till the King was six yeares elder and then with Money in one hand and a Petition in the other they renue their Suit but in a more subtill way For they would not pretend Roâ—e but the English Churches liberties they would not move against the Statutes of Praemuniri but to have them explained it was not much they complained of for it was but that one word Otherwhere which say they the Judges of the Common Law expound too largely not onely against the Jurisdiction of the Holy Sea but against the Jurisdiction of the English Prelacy which they never intended in the passing of those Lawes Their Conclusion is therefore a Prayer That the King will please to allow the Jurisdiction of their Ecclesiasticall Courts and that Prohibitions in such Cases may be stopped But the King either perceiving that the Authority of English Prelacy was wholly dependent on the Sea of Rome and acted either under the shadow Legatine or at the best sought an Independent power of their own Or else the King doubting that the calling of one word of that Statute into question that had continued so long might indanger the whole Law into uncertainty declined the matter saving in the moderation of Prohibitions Thus the English Clergy are put to a retreat from their reserve at Rome all which they now well saw yet it was hard to wean them The Cardinall of Winchester was a
presumption and complaint of credit after it is entered is sufficient Record to ground proceedings in this Case to attache the Party to answer But by this Law a Triall is introduced that neither resteth upon any peremptory accusation or proofe of witnesse but meerly upon Inquisition upon the Oath and Conscience of the Party suspected which in the later dayes hath been called the triall upon the Oath Ex Officio for such was the triall allowed by the Canon in these times as appeares in the Constitutions of Otho and the Decrees of the Arch-Bishop Boniface by whom it was indeavoured to be obtruded upon the Laity about the times of Henry the Third or Edward the First but even the Clergy then withstood it as Lindwood confesseth And Otho in his very Constitution doth hold this forth by that Clause of his Nonobstante obtenta consuetudine Secondly this Law doth indeavour to introduce a new Judge with a power to Fine and Imprison according to discretion and a Prison allowed to him as his own peculier and yet the Writ De cautione admittenda still held its power to regulate that discretion as formerly it had done which by the way may render the power of this Law suspitious Thirdly the Clergy are not content to have the Estates and Liberties of the bodies of the People at their discretion but they must also have their lives although no Free-mans life could by the Fundamentall Lawes of this Kingdome come to question but by the judgement of his Peeres nor could the Clergy by their owne Canons interesse sanguine Viz. They cannot put any man to death but by this Law they may send any man to death by a Sentence as sure as death Tradatur potestati seculari And such a death not as the Civill Magistrate is wont to execute by a speedy parting of the Soul from the Body by losse of blood stop of breath or such like but the Clergy must have blood flesh bones and life and all even to the edge of nonentity it self or they are not satisfied And thus the Writ De comburendo Haeretico entered into the World True it is that some sparks of this fire are found in former times and Bracton toucheth upon such a Law in Case of a Clerk convict for Apostacy Primo degradetur post per manum Laicalem Comburatur which was indeed the Canon and that by his own Confession for it is grounded upon one Secundum quod accidit in the Synod at Oxford under Arch-Bishop Becket but that Case concerneth a Clerk who by his Profession hath put himselfe under the Law of the Canon and it was onely in Case of Apostacy himself being turned Jew and this also done upon a sudden pang of zeale and power of an Arch-Bishop that would know no Peere nor doe we finde any second to this President by the space of two hundred yeares next ensuing neither doth the Decree of Arch-Bishop Peckham who was not long after Becket treating about Apostacy in Lay-men mention any other punishment then that they are to be reclaimed Per censuras Ecclesiasticas nor yet that of Arch-Bishop Arundell amongst the Constitutions at Oxford not long before this Statute who treating about the crime of Heresie he layes the Penalty upon the forfeiture of goods with a Praesertim as if it were the Grand punishment And Lindwood in his glosse upon that place setting down the Censures against Heresie Hodie sunt saith he damnandi ad mortem as if it were otherwise but as yesterday Fourthly the next indeavour is to bring the Cognifance of all wholly to the Ecclesiasticall Court without further appeale for so the words concerning Conviction of Heresie are Whereupon credence shall be given to the Diocessan of the same place or his Ordinary in that behalfe These changes I say were indeavoured to be brought upon the Government of this Kingdome and yet the Law for all this suffered no change nor did the House of Commons however the name is thrust into the English Ordinary Print ever yeild unto the passing of the same but in the Parliament next ensuing complained thereof and protested they would not be bound by such Lawes whereto the House of Commons had not given their consent and this dashed the Law quite out of countenance although it holds the place still amongst the number for within foure yeares after the Clergy bring in another Bill of the same nature in generall though varying in some particulars but the same was again rejected All the strength therefore of this Law resteth upon the King and House of Lords ingaged by the Clergy to whom they trusted for their Religion for Book-learning was with them of small account and no lesse by the King who knew no better way to give them content that gave him so much as to set the Crowne upon his head nor to discharge his Royall word passed by the Earles of Northumberland and Westmerland in his behalf unto the Convocation Viz. That they were sent to declare the Kings good will to the Clergy and Church Liberties and that he was resolved to defend all the Liberties of the Church by his Kingly Power and to punish Hereticks and the Churches Enemies in such manner as the Clergy should thinke meete and therefore desired their dayly Prayers for his owne and the Kingdomes safety And yet for all this the People were not of this minde no small part of the Kingdome being overspread with these Opinions After Henry the Fourth comes Henry the Fifth and he also makes another assay the former opinions then knowne onely by the generall name of Heresie are now baptized by the new name of Lollardry and grown so overspreading that all the troubles of these times are still imputed to them It was indeed the Devills old and common trick thus to inrage earthly powers against these men although he be hereby but an instrument in the hand of the Cheif Builder that in laying a sure foundation doth as well ramme downe as raise up for the malice of these men made the People of God to multiply Henry the Fifth also published a Law to this same That all Persons in place of Government shall sweare to use their diligence to destroy all Heresies and Errors called Lollardries That all Lollards convict by the Clergy left to the seculer power according to the Lawes of Holy Church shall forfeit their Lands and Tenements to their Lords And the King to have the yeare and day and waste and all his Goods and Chattels If the Lord be the Ordinary the King shall have all No forfeiture to be till the Delinquent be dead They shall be found by Indictment before the Justices of the Peace This Indictment being found shall be sent to the Ordinary with the Prisoner The Indictment shall not be for Evidence but onely for Information These are the Principall things contained in this Law which by the manner of the Composure seemeth to be of an
Money possibly when he had no need and paying them againe thereby to gain credit for greater sums of which he intended not so suddain returne Then he charges them home with Benevolences a trick gained in right of his Wife from her Father for he hoped that the Person of Richard the third was now become so abominable as his Laws would be the lesse regarded But in this course he gained nothing but winde then as Edward the fourth he falls upon Malevolences of penall Lawes things made in terrorem to scare men to obedience rather then to compell them but are now executed Ad angorem and the people find that he is but a word and a blow with them and thus serving his Prerogative with Power and his Purse with his Prerogative he made all serve his owne turne Humanitatem omnem vicente periculo In the feild he alwayes put his Wisdome in the Van for as he was parcimonious in expences of Money so much rather of Blood if he could prevaile by wit Generally he was the first in armes to make men beleeve he was more ready to fight then they Thus he many times gained the advantage of his adversaries and sometimes came off without blowes In the Battell he did put on courage as he did his armor and would dare to adventure just as far as a Generall should as if he had ever regard of his Crown rather then of the honor of a forward Souldier which neverthelesse was also so dear to him as he is seldome found in the reare although his judgment commanded in cheife rather then his courage In the Throne he is much more wise because he was willing it should be known In doing Justice he is seldome suspected unlesse where himselfe is party and yet then he is also so shamfaced as he would ever either stalk behinde some Law that had a semblance to his ends or when he meant to step out of the way he would put his Ministers before not so much that his finenesse might be known but his royalty For the Lion hunts not his own prey nor is it regall for a King to be seen in catching of mony though he be understood besides it was needlesse he had Lords Bishops Judges and other instruments of malevolent aspect as so many furies outwardly resembling men for the Common-wealth but working for the common mischeife like some pictures one way looking right and another looking wrong and thus the King comes lawfully by what he catched though his instruments did not and must be still holden for a good King though it be his hard hap to have ill Servants Take him now amongst the People he is alike to all yea in some things that might seem to brush upon the Kings owne traine for he had some of his suite that were not altogether of his minde and these he would spare to the Course of Justice if need were as it befell in the Case of the Duke of Suffolk whom he suffered to be tried at the Kings Bench bar for a murther done upon a meane person and by such meanes obtained the repute of a Zealous Justiciar as if Justice had been his principall vertue All this suited well with his maine end for he that will milk his cattell must feed them well and it incourages men to gather and lay up when they have Law to hold by what they have His religion I touch upon in the last place as most proper to his temper for it was the last in his thought though many times the first in the acting but where it stood in his way he turned it behinde him he made Church-men his instruments that the matter might better relish for who wil expect ought save well from men of religion and then if the worst come he was but misled by such as in common reason ought to be trusted And it is his unhappynesse to meet with Clergy men to serve a turn and a Pope to give his benediction to aâ—l Nor was this Gratis for there were as many mutuall ingagements between the Clergy and him as any of his Predecessors of the hous of Lancaster besids Lastly it may wel be supposed however wise this King seemed to be that many saw through him which procured him a troublesome reigne though many times occasioned by his owne interposing in forraine Interests wherein he suffered more from others then they from him Amongst the rest the Dutches of Burgundy though a Woman shee were mated him with Phantomes and apparitions of dead bodyes of the House of Yorke the scare whereof put the King and all his people in allarme and striking at idle shadows slew one another All which together with the appearances of Collections Taxes and other accoutrements to furnish such imployments were enough to disturb that ease and rest that the King aimed to enjoy make him burdensome to his People and both himselfe and them weary of each other and so he went down to the grave with but a dry funerall leaving no better testimony behinde him then that he was a cunning man rather then a wise English King and though he died rich yet is he since grown into debt to the Pen-men of his story that by their owne excellency have rendred him a better King then he was HEnry the Eight was a conception in whom the two Bloods of Yorke and Lancaster did meete both of them unconquered both of them predominant and therefore no wonder if he was a man beyond the Ordinary proportion of other men in stature of body and in qualities of mind not disproportionable It s regularly true that great bodies move slowly but it holds not where much spirit is and it was the condition of this Prince to have a Spirit of the largest size that acted him into motion with no lesse speed then mighty Power This himselfe understood right well and therefore might be haughty upon a double title both of purchase and inheritance nor did he faile of expectation herein for he could not endure that man that would owne his right in competition with the Kings aimes and therefore would have his Kingdome be like his doublet to keep him warme and yet sit loose about him that he might have elbow room suitable hereunto were his undertakings invited thereunto by the inordinate motions or rather commotions of his neighbouring Princes for it was now full Sea in all Countries and though England was inferiour to some of them yet the King held it dishonorable for him not to adventure as far as the bravest of them and in the end outwent them all What he wanted in number he supplyed in courage wherein he so exceeded that he avoyded dangers rather out of judgment then feare His thoughts resolutions indeavors and actions were all the birth of occasion and of each other as if he had obtained a generall Passe from Providence with warranty against all Counterguards whatsoever His Wisdome served him to espy present opportunities rather then to foresee
Councels and unto that had also a binding Power in making Lawes Decrees and Decretalls out of his own breast but this was gotten by plunder he never had any right to headship of the Church nor to any such Power in right of such preferment nor was this given to the King as head of the Church but with such limitations and qualifications that its evident it never was in the Crowne or rightly belonging thereto First nigh three yeares after this recognition by the Clergy in their Convocation it is urged upon them and they passe their promise In verbo sacerdotii And lastly it is confirmed by Act of Parliament that they shall never make publish or execute any new Canon or constitution provinciall or other unlesse the Kings Assent and License be first had thereto and the offences against this Law made punishable by fine and imprisonment So as the Clergy are now holden under a double bond one the honor of their Preisthood which binds their Wills and Consciences the other the Act of Parliament which bindes their Powers so as they now neither will nor can start Neverthelesse there is nothing in this Law nor in the future practise of this King that doth either give or assert any power to the King and Convocation to binde or conclude the Clergy or the People without an Act of Parliament concurring and inforcing the same And yet what is already done is more then any of the Kings Predecessors ever had in their possession A second Prerogative was a definitive power in point of doctrine and worship For it is enacted that all Determinations Declarations Decrees Definitions Resolutions and Ordinances according to Gods word and Christs Gospell by the Kings advise and confirmation by Letters Patents under the great Seale at any time hereafter made and published by the Arch-Bishops Bishops and Doctors now appointed by the King or the whole Clergy of England in matters of the Christian faith and lawfull rights and ceremonies of the same shall be by the People fully beleeved and obeyed under penalties therein comprized Provided that nothing be done contrary to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme A Law of a new birth and not an old Law newly revived or restored This the present occasion and the naturall constitution of the Law do fully manifest The occasion was the present Perplexity of the People for in stead of the Statute Ex officio which was now taken away the six articles commonly called the six stringed whip was gotten into power by a more legall and effectuall originall The Parliament had heard the cries of the People concerning this and having two things to eye at once one to provide for the Peoples liberty and further security against forrain pretentions the other which was more difficult for the liberties of the consciences of multitudes of men of severall opinions which could not agree in one judgement and by discord might make way for the Romish party to recover its first ground and finding it impossible for them to hunt both games at once partly because themselves were divided in opinion and the bone once cast amongst them might put their own co-existence to the question and partly because the worke would be long require much debate and retard all other affaires of the Common-wealth which were now both many and weighty In this troubled wave they therefore wisely determine to hold on their course in that worke which was most properly theirs and lay before them And as touching this matter concerning doctrine they agreed in that wherein they could agree Viz. To refer the matter to the King and Persons of skill in that mistery of Religion to settle the same for the present till the Parliament had better leisure the People more light and the mindes of the People more perswaded of the way Thus the Estates and Consciences of the People for the present must indure In deposito of the King and other Persons that a kind of Interim might be composed and the Church for the present might enjoy a kind of twilight rather then lye under continuall darknesse and by waiting for the Sun rising be in a better preparation thereunto For the words of the Statute are that all must be done without any partiall respect or affection to the Papisticall sort or any other sect or sects whatsoever Unto this agreement both parties were inclined by diverse regards For the Romanists though having the possession yet being doubtfull of their strength to hold the same if it came to the push of the Pike in regard that the House of Commons wanted faith as the Bishop of Rochester was pleased to say in the House of Lords and that liberty of conscience was then a pleasing Theame as wel as libertie of Estates to all the People These men might therefore trust the King with their interests having had long experience of his Principles And therefore as supream Head they held him most meete to have the care of this matter for still this title brings on the Vann of all these Acts of Parliament On the other side that party that stood for reformation though they began to put up head yet not assured of their owne Power and being so exceedingly oppressed with the six Articles as they could not expect a worse condition but in probabililty might finde a better they therefore also cast themselves upon the King who had already been well baited by the German Princes and Divines and the outcries of his owne People and possibly might entertain some prejudice at length at that manner of woship that had its originall from that Arch enemy of his Head-ship of the Church of England Nor did the issue fall out altogether unsutable to these expectations For the King did somewhat to unsettle what was already done and abated in some measure the flame and heat of the Statute although nothing was established in the opposite thereto but the whole rested much upon the disposition of a King subject to change As touching the constitution of this Law that also shewes that this was not derived from the ancient right of the Crowne now restored but by the positive concession of the People in their representative in regard it is not absolute but qualified and limited diversly First this power is given to this King not to his successors for they are left out of the act so as they trusted not the King but Henry the eighth and what they did was for his owne sake Secondly they trusted the King but he must be advised by Councell of men of Skill Thirdly they must not respect any sect or those of the Papisticall sort Fourthly all must be according to Gods Word and Christs Gospel And Lastly nothing must be done contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And thus though they trusted much yet not all nor over long For it was but a temporary Law and during the present condition of affaires Nor did the King or People
were by the Law Judges of the matter in fact as well as the King yet in the conclusion the King only was of the Quorum all this yet further appears in the penalty for by a Provisor it is moderated as to all forfeitures of Life Limb or Estate and in the conclusion extended only to Fine and Imprisonment unlesse in some cases mentioned and excepting offences against Proclamations made by the King or his Successors concerning Crimes of Heresie For it is the first clause of any positive Law that ever intimated any power in the King of such Cognisance and punishment of Heresie too weake a principle it is to settle a prerogative in the King and his Successors as supream head of the Church thus by a side winde to carry the keyes of Life and Death at their girdle and yet a better ground cannot I find for the martyrdome of diverse brave Christians in those times then this touch of a Law glancing by All which passing Sub silentio and the Parliament taking no notice thereof made way for the Statute 32. H. 8. ca. 26. Formerly mentioned to come more boldly upon the Stage This was one wound to the legislative power of the Parliament thus to divide the same Another ensues that in its consequence was no lesse fatall to that power which remained and it was wrought by some Engine that well saw that the disease then so called grew to be epidemicall amongst the more considerable party in the Kingdome that the Lady Jane Seymor now Queene was no freind to the Romanists that she was now with child which if a Sonn as it proved to be was like to be Successor in the Throne and be of his Mothers Religion and so undoe all as in the issue all came so to passe To prevent this neverthelesse they fancy a new conceit that Lawes made by English Kings in their minority are lesse considerately done then being made in riper yeares And so by that one opinion countenanced a worse which was that the Legislative power depended more upon the judgment of the King then the debates and results of the Parliament a notion that would down exceeding well with Kings especially with such an al-sufficient Prince as Henry the eight conceived himself to be upon this ground a Law is made to enable such of the Kings Successors by him appointed as shall be under the age of twenty and foure yeares when Lawes by him are made to adnull the same by Letters Patents after such Prince shall attaine the said age of twenty foure yeares Thus the Armes of the Parliament are bound from settling any Reformation let them intend it never so much a Muse is left open for the Romish Religion still to get in when the Season proves more faire The Parliament was now in its minority and gives occasion to the Reader to bewaile the infirmities of the excellency of England A fourth advance of Prerogative concerned the executive Power in the Government of the Church This had formerly much rested in the Prelacy and that upon the cheife Praelatissimo at Rome now there is found in England a Prelater then he the Pope was already heheaded and his head set upon the Kings shoulders To him it is given to nominate all Bishops and Arch-Bishops within his dominions by long desire and that the party once elected shall sweare fealty and then shall be consecrated by Commission and invested but if upon the long desire no election be certified within twelve dayes the King shal by Commission cause his own Clerke to be consecrated and invested The occasion that first brought in this President was the accesse of Cranmer to the See at Canterbury for though the head-ship had beene already by the space of two yeares translated from Rome to England and yet the course of Episcopizing continued the same as formerly it had beene I mean as touching the point of Election For though in their originall Bishops were meerely Donatives from the Crowne being invested by delivery of the Ring and pastoral staffe and untill King Johns time the Canonicall way of Election was disallowed yet King John by his Charter De communi consensu Baronum granted that they should be eligible which also was confirmed by diverse publique Acts of Parliament in after times and now by this Law last recited and with this way the King was contented for the space of six yeares for the Reformation intended by the King was not done at once but by degrees and therefore though this course of long desire was brought into use yet the Parliament being of six yeares continuance a necessary thing in times of so great change of policy began this course of Election by giving the King Power to nominate and allowing of the Pope Power to grant to such his Bulls or Pall at his owne will otherwise they should be consecrated by Commission without his consent this at the first the Popes concurrence was not excluded though his Negative was In this posture of Affaires comes Cranmer to be consecrated Arch-Bishop And being nominated therunto by the King the wily Pope knowing the Kings aime meaned not to withstand least he should loose all but granted the Pall as readily as it was desired so as Cranmer is thus far Arch-Bishop of Canterbury without all exception yet he must go one step further and take the old oath to the Pope which the King allowed him to do Pro more and which he did Renitente conscientia say some and with a salvo say others and all affirme it was done Perfunctoriè like some worne Ceremony or civill Complement Neverthelesse it was not so soone turned over the Arch-Bishop loved not the Office the King loved no partnorship in this matter and it was evident to all that no man could serve these two Masters any longer an agreement is soon concluded in Parliament to exclude the Popes Power quite out of this game and all is left to be done by the King and his Commissioners by the Law formerly propounded In all this the Pope is the looser the English Clergy the savers for the Pall cost Cranmer nine hundred markes And the Crown is the great gainer for hereby the King got the men sure to him not onely by their own acknowledgment and submission but also by a Statute Law And lastly by Oath which to make sure was treble twined once upon their first submmission in the Kings twenty second yeare when they had beene under Premuniri Secondly soone after the decease of Queene Katherine Dowager in the twenty sixth yeare which Oath was more compleat then the former containing First A Renunciation of all fealty to the Pope or any sorraine Power Secondly an obligation to adheare to the cause of the King and his Successors Thirdly a disavowing of the Pope otherwise then as another Bishop or fellow Brother Fourthly an ingagement to observe all Lawes already established against the Popes Power Fifthly A disavowing of all appeales to
Chancellor hath his Conscience the Arch-Bishop brings Religion the Judges bring Law so as its probable nothing will be done but according to Justice Conscience Religion and Law a very faire mixture but that there was a Treasurer in the Case yet the successe answered not expectation the Persons offended were many times inferiour and their estates not great the Offenders more meane and of desperate fortunes for great men were too wise to try this new way or to tast of their entertainment Therefore within nine yeares the Judges of Assize are betrusted with all and that Court so continued for as many yeares more and then the King marked out one Crime amongst the rest for his owne tooth belonging to the great men onely for they onely are able to commit the Crime and to give recompence sutable to the Kings Appetite It is giving of Liveries and Retainders a sore evill in the eyes of a jealous King tending to draw the inferiour sort to honour and admire and be of the suit of those of the greater sort and then beware the Crown These therefore must be tried before the King himself and his Councell that he may know whom he is to feare and of whom to take heed And herewith is a strange power given to summon upon a meere Suspition To proceed without information To examine the Defendant upon Oath and make him his own Accuser To punish according to discretion by fine and Imprisonment and thus the King and his Councell have gotten a power under colour of Liveries and Retainders to bring the whole Kingdome to be of their Livery or else they can suspect whom they please apprehend whom they suspect put him presently to the rack of confession and so into prison till he hath satisfied both displeasure and jealousie and covetousnesse it self Never was England before now in so low a degree of thraldome bound under a double knot of self-accusing and arbitrary Censure and this out-reached not onely in matters meerly civill tending to the common Peace but was intruded also into matters Ecclesiasticall in order to the Peace of the Church All bound unto the good behaviour both in Body and Soul under perill of losse of all that a man hath deare to him in this World The plot of all this was first laid by Henry the seventh and was followed by Henry the eighth who put that into practise which his Father had in designe being led thereto by such a skilfull Guid as Cardinall Woolsie was who though of meane Birth yet of a Spirit above a King and equall to the Popedome strained the string of Prerogative to its utmost heighth and then taught the King to play thereon which he did after his blunt manner till his dying day And thus though the Clergy are brought a Peg lower and the Nobility advanced higher yet was it the pollicy of these Kings to make them all of their own Livery and Retaindership to keep them in an upper region looking on the poore Commons at a distance far below and well it was for the Commons thus to be till the influence of these blazing Stars grew cooler CHAP. XXXII Of the Militia IT may fall within the verge of opinion that the guilty Title of Henry the seventh to the Crowne of England galled his minde with jealousie the greatest part of his Reigne Whether it were that he had not declared himself so fully upon his Title by his Wife or that as yet he feared some unknown Plantagenet would arise and put his Crown to the question This made him skilfull in the point of Fortification wherein he likewise spent the greatest part of his Reigne not so much by force of Armes for he cared not much for that noise well knowing that Peace is the safer condition for a King that comes in by power but principally by way of gaining Concessions and acknowledgment from the Subjects a Musick that he much delighted to heare well knowing it would conclude those amongst them that knew too much and instruct them that knew too little and so in time he should passe for currant amongst them all It was no hard matter for the King to accomplish this the greater part of the Kingdome being pre-ingaged unto his Title and of them many depending upon him for livelyhood if he failed they must look to loose all But the present occasion urged more importantly the Title to the Crown was already put to the question by the pretentions of one that named himself Duke of Yorke And it s now high time for the Law to declare it self to direct the People in such a Case What shall the People do where Might overcomes Right or if dayes come like those of Henry the sixth wherein the Subjects should be between two millstones of one King in Title and another King in possession for whom must they take up Armes if for Edward the fourth then are they Traitors to Henry the sixth if for Henry the sixth then are they Traitors to Edward the fourth and so now if for Henry the seventh then they may be Traitors to the Duke of Yorke if for the Duke of Yorke then are they Traitors to Henry the seventh For though the Duke of Yorke was said to be but a contrivance of the House of Burgundy yet a great part both of the great men and others were of another opinion and the King himself was not very certaine of his condition for the space of six years thereby This puts the Title of allegiance and that power of the Militia to the touch at length both King and Parliament come to one Conclusion consisting of three particulars First that the King for the time being whether by right or wrong ought to have the Subjects Allegiance like to that of the wise Councellor of that brave King of Israell Whom the Lord and his People and all the men of Israell chuse his will I be And this is not onely declared by the expresse words in the Preface of the Law but also by the Kings own practise for he discharged such as aided him against Richard the third then King by pardon by Parliament but such as aided him being King by declaration of the Law Secondly that this Allegiance draweth therewith ingagement for the defence of that King and Kingdome Thirdly that the discharge of this Service whereto the Subjects are bound by allegiance ought not to be imputed unto them as Treason Nor shall any person be impeached or attainted therefore the first and the last of these need no dispute The second is more worthy of consideration in the particular words set downe in the Statute Viz. That the Subjects are to serve their Prince in his Warres for the defence of him and the Land against every rebellion Power and Might reared against him and with him to enter and abide in Service in Battell Wherein two things are to be considered the Service and the time or occasion The Service is to serve the Prince