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HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM
THE FALL OF WOLSEY
TO THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
VOLUME V.
EDWARD THE SIXTH.
MARY.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE FALL OF WOLSEY
^ S
TO
THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
VOLUME V.
EDWARD THE SIXTH.
MARY.
JJeto
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1893.
CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON & BDNOAV.
V *•
4 P
o
\ k £?l ^Vs>
* LH.
l3
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
EXECUTION OF THE DUKE Of SOMERSET.
PAGE
Alliance between England and France r^*O . . i
Edward is betrothed to a French Princess , . . . 3
The Emperor and the Princess Mary . . . . 5
Likelihood of War with the Empire . . . . 7
The Rise of Prices . . . . . . . . 9
The Silver Coin is called down . . . . . . 10
Fresh Issue of Base Money ... . . . . li
Proclamation of Prices .. .. .. .. 13
Partial Restoration of the Currency . . . . 14
The Sweating Sickness . . . . . . . . 15
Suppression of Bishoprics .. .. .. 18
The Princess Mary . . . . . . . . 19
Intrigues of Somerset ... . . . . . . 31
Somerset's Conspiracy . . . . . . . . 32
Evidence of Sir Thomas Palmer . . . . . . 35
Elevations in the Peerage . . . . , . 38
Arrest of Somerset . . . . r; /*/<!•.'! • • 3^
the Trial . .' i/t^o . . . . , ,,, 41
Sentence of Death . . . . . . ;v>! 44
The Execution . . . . . . . . . * 5 1
Conduct of Cranmer . . t .-(f » = • • • • 52
The Liturgy .' .* .. ,, ,. , [ ,,, 54
ri CONTENTS.
PAGE
Second Act of Uniformity . . . . . . 57
The London Hospitals . . . . . . 58
Statute of Usury . . . . . . 60
Reform of the Law of Treason . . . . . . 6 1
The Lutheran Preachers are expelled from Augsburg . . 63
The Emperor goes to Innspruck . . . . . . 65
The Council of Trent . . . . .- . ' . . 65
Duke Maurice declares against the Emperor . . 67
Peace of Passau . . . . . . 69
State of Ireland . . . . . . ..71
First Administration of Sir Anthony St Leger . . 71
Deputation of Sir Edward Bellingham . . . . 74
Character of Bellingham . . . . . . . . 79
Results of his Government . . . . . . 82
Return of St Leger . . . . . . . . 84
The Irish Mint . . . . !!-v.*>i ::*^w 85
St Leger and the Reformation . . . . . . 87
St Leger and Bellingham's Captains . . . . 87
Sir James Crofts is made Deputy . . . . TV,. I 91
The Irish Currency . . . . . . . . 91
Irish Council of Trade . . . . . . 93
Artificial Famine and General Misery . . . . 96
CHAPTER XXIX.
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
Moral Results of the Reformation . . . . . . 99
Character of Edward . . . . . . . . 101
Edward's Opinions on the State of England . . 103
Proposed Protestant Synod .. ... .. 105
Church Discipline . . . . . . . . 106
Continued Disorders in the Country . . . . 108
The Antwerp Loans . . . . . . . . no
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
The Crown Debts .. .. .. ..112
Differences with France .. .. .. ..113
England and the Empire . . . . ..117
Commissions to raise Money . . . . 119
The Churches are again spoiled . . . . 120
The Public Accounts . . . . . . ..121
A new Parliament to be called . . . . 123
A General Election . . . . . . . . 124
Nomination of the Members . . . . . . 124
The Council and the Estates of the Church . . . . 126
The Merchant Adventurers and the Fellowship of Ixm-
don Merchants . . . . . . . . 130
A Subsidy . . . . . . . . . . 134
John Knox and the Duke of Northumberland . . 136
John Knox preaches before the Court . . . . 137
Dissolution of Parliament . . . . . . 139
Prospects of Northumberland . . . . 140
The King's Illness . . . . . . 142
Siege of Metz . . . . . . . . . . 143
England offers to mediate between France and the
Empire . . . . . . . . . . 144
Renard and Noailles . . . . . . 148
Anticipations of the King's Death . . 149
Popular Good Feeling towards Mary .. .. 150
Possible Alteration of the Succession . . . . 153
Views of France . . . . . . . . 154
Northumberland determines to set Mary aside . . 157
He persuades Edward . . . . . . 159
The King's Device for the Succession . . .;';. 160
Opposition of the Council and of the Judges ". . 163
The Letters Patent . . . . . . '..164
The Signatures . . . . ' "."*'''• . . 167
Conduct of Craniner . . . . . . V.' 169
Cranmer yields to Edward's Entreaties .. :ir'!!i'.: 170
Features of the King's Disease . . . . 172
viii COMTEfrTS.
PAQB
General Discontent .-. .... . . . . 173
Edward dies .. .-.- >'«v' .. .. 175
CHAPTER XXX.
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MART.
Flight of Mary . . .' . . . . . ..177
Advice of the Flemish Ambassadors . . . . 177
Position of Northumberland . .".' .. .. 180
Lady Jane Grey . .' . . . . ' ",'... 181
Proclamation of Queen Jane . . ' * J . . 186
Letter of Mary to the Lords ....,' . . ' ". , 187
Guilford Dudley and the Crown '.', * * . . . . 190
Mary's iParty gains Strength .'."' . . . . 193
Northumberland levies Troops . . . . ..194
Lord Pembroke .'.' .. .. ..197
The Council prepare to declare for Mary . . . . 199
Revolt of the Fleet and Army . . . . ^V 200
Sunday during the Crisis V. .. .; 200
Northumberland invites a French Invasion . . . . 203
The Meeting at Baynard's Castle . ,:> ' . . . . 205
Proclamation of Mary in London . . . . . . 207
Arrest of Northumberland . . . . . . 210
The Emperor and the Queen's Marriage . . . . 213
Funeral of Edward VI. .. . . . . . . 216
The Emperor's Advice . . ?r;>.t 4 • • . . 218
Gardiner returns to the Council . . . . . . 220
The Ambassador Renard .. .. .. ..222
Mary enters London . . '. '. . . . . 224
Advice of Renard . . . . . . 226
Restoration of the deprived Bishops . . . . 227
Reduction of Expenditure . . . . 229
The Hot Gospeller . . , , . . .229
CONTENT* ix
PAGE
Mass at the Tower . . . . . . . . 233
Disputes in Council . . fm* •-! *f . . . . 233
Sermon at Paul's Cross . . . . . . 235
The Marriage Question . . . . . . . . 236
Northumberland's Trial . . . . . . . . 238
Northumberland under Sentence . . . . . . 241
The Recantation ; ." . . . . . . 243
The Executions *5r¥fa . . . . ... 245
The Reaction . . . . . . . . . . 249
The Purging of Convocation . . . . . . 252
Arrest of Latimer . . . . . . . . 253
Arrest of Cranmer •/. • • • • . . 256
General Restoration of the Mass , , . . ..257
Reginald Pole . . . . , t . , . . 258
England and the Papacy . . LutaA,- • • 260
Visit of Commendone to the Queen (J •$& •": . . 261
Difficulties in restoring the Papal Authority . . 263
The Prince of Spain proposed as the Queen's Husband 265
Parties in England . , . . . . . . 266
Elizabeth and the Mass , . , , , , . . 270
Lord Courtenay and the Queen . . . . . . 270
The Coronation Oath . . . . . . . . 273
The Coronation . . . . . . 275
The Spanish Marriage . . . . . . 276
The Queen and Renard . . . . . . :j • 278
Philip's Virtues . . . . . . .. ^;« 279
Reginald Pole . . . . . , «Tj*y»-7 uif.«o*I 280
Meeting of Parliament . . . . . . 283
Preliminary Discussion . . . . . . . . 285
The Queen's Legitimacy and the Authority of the Pope 285
Convocation . . . . . . OfcilH . . 287
Debate on the Real Presence . . . . . . 288
The Spanish Marriage . . . . :iiUtt~J . . 290
Mary's Prayer . . . . . . . . . . 292
Views of Gardiner and Paget . . , , 293
x CONTENTS.
PAGE
Impending Fate of Cranmer . . . . . . 295
Petition of the House of Commons . . . . 296
The Queen and Council . . . . . . . . 298
The Succession . . . . . . . 299
Menace of Rebellion . . . . . . 301
The Queen and Elizabeth . . . . . 302
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE
Conflicting Parties . . . . . . . . 304
Advice of Pole . . . . . . . . . . 307
The Marriage Articles . . . . . . . . 309
Opposition of the People . . . . • . . 312
Arrival of Count Egmont . . . . . . 314
The Marriage Treaty . . . . . . -.315
Alarm of France . . . . . . . . 316
Conspiracies .. .. .. .. ..317
Plans for a General Insurrection . . . . . . 318
Commencement of Disturbance . . . . . . 319
Flight of Sir Peter Carew . . . . . . 322
Conference at AUingham Castle . . . . . . 323
Rising in Kent . . . . . . . . 323
The Duke of Suffolk . . . . . . . . 326
Sir Thomas Wyatt . . . . . . . . 326
Intercepted Despatches of the French Ambassador . . 329
The Queen's Troops join Wyatt . . . . . . 331
Alarm at the Court . . . . . . . . 333
The Queen at the Guildhall . . . . . . 336
111 Success of Suffolk in the Midland Counties . . 338
Storming of Cowling Castle . . . . • • 339
State of Coventry . . . . . . . . 340
Suffolk is taken . . . . . . . . 342
CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
Wyatt at Southwark . . . . . . . . 343
Agitation of the Council . . . . . . 344
Wyatt crosses the Thames . . . . . . 347
The Night at Whitehall . . . . . . . . 349
Advance of Wyatt . . . . . . . . 351
The Insurrection fails .. .. .. --354
The Queen's Revenge . . . . . . . . 355
Lady Jane Grey the first Victim . . . . • • 357
General Havoc among the Prisoners . . . . 361
Arrest of Elizabeth . . . . . . . . 363
Parties in the Council . . . . . . . . 366
The Proxy Marriage .. .. .. '••367
Gardiner and the intended Persecution . . . . 370
Creation of Catholic Peers . . . . 371
The Eefugees in France . . . . . . . . 372
Perils of Elizabeth . . . . . . . . 376
Sentence of Wyatt . . . . . . . . 377
Elizabeth writes to the Queen . . . . . . 379
The Tower . . . . . . . . . - . , 382
Protest of the Lords . . . . . . . . 384
Renard and the Queen . . . . . . . . 384
Meeting of Parliament . . . . . . . . 385
The Marriage Bill . . . . . . . . 387
Execution of Wyatt . . . . . . . . 389
Trial and Acquittal of Throgmorton . . . . 391
The Succession. . . . . . . . . . 392
The Persecution Bills . . . . . . . . 393
Resistance of the Lay Lords . . . . • • 393
The Bills are lost '/^ ..„ .. .. ... 396
The Court and Lord Howard of Effingham . . . . 398
Elizabeth is sent to Woodstock . . . . . . 399
The Queen's Troubles . . . . . . . . 401
Philip sails from Spain . . . . . . . . 404
Philip at Southampton . . . . . . . . 405
The Wet Ride to Winchester . . . . . . 409
xli CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Marriage .. ,- ,.. ,, .. . . 410
AVar in Belgium . . . . . . . . 412
Charles V. at Xamur , . . . . . . . 413
CHAPTER XXXII.
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
Pole and the Emperor . . . . . . . . 416
The Church Lands . . . . . . . , 419
The Papal Commission . . . . . . . . 420
Objections to Pole's Return . . . . . . 422
Pole appeals to Philip . . . . . . . . 423
The Spaniards in London . . . . . . 426
Philip is weary of England . . . . . . 428
Bomier's Articles . . . . . . "... 429
Agitation in the City . . . . -•>• , • • 43°
A New Parliament .. ,. .. . ,: 432
The Elections . . . . . . . . . . 433
The Roman Question . . . . . . . . 434
An Embassy is sent to Pole . . . . . . 437
Pole's Return . . . . . . . . . . 441
The Journey . . . . , VV-,', . . . . 441
Pole at Canterbury . . . . . . . . 442
The Salutation . . , . . . . , 444
The Queen enceinte . . .1* _ . . . . 446
Speech of Pole at Whitehall . . . . . . 448
Parliament petitions for Absolution . . . . 454
St Andrew's Day ^''. '. ' . . . . . . 454
Absolution and Reconciliation of England . . . . 458
Pole writes to the Pope . . . . . . . . 460
Catholic Exultation . . . . . . . . 462
Petition of the Clergy . . . . ... . . 464
The Act of Reconciliation . . . . . . 465
CONTENTS. &
PAGE
The Passing of the Heresy Acts . . . . . , 466
Impenitence of Parliament, and Discontent of Pole . . 468
The Act of Reconciliation ' 'v-l^ .. ..470
Regency Bill . . . . . . . . . . 478
Dissolution of Parliament . . . . . . 480
The Limits of the Catholic Reaction . . . . 48 1
The Legate's Injunctions . . . . . . 484
Commencement of the Persecution . . . . 486
Trials of Hooper and Rogers . . . . . . 486
Rogers is burnt at Smithfield . . . . . . 490
Hooper is sent to Gloucester . . . . . . 491
Martyrdom of Hooper . . . . . . . . 494
Effect upon the People . . . . . . . . 497
Conspiracy and Failure . . . . . . . . 499
Renard's Advice to Philip . , . . . . 500
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE MARTYRS.
The Persecution continues ^ . . ,
Burning of William Hunter . .
Ferrars, Bishop of St David's
The Crimes of Ferrars
Ferrars is burnt
Prospects of European Peace
Proposed Conference
The Queen's expected Confinement
Litanies and Processions . .
The Child is not born
Condition of the Queen . .
Fresh Stimulus to the Persecution
Burning of Cardmaker and Warne
The Child is not born
5°4
508
508
5°9
512
5M
520
522
524
525
xiv CONTENTS.
PAOE
Change in the Queen's Prospects . . . , . . 526
Release of Elizabeth .. .. . . 528
Interview between the Sisters . . . . . . 529
Intended Abdication of the Emperor .. • *. 532
Philip leaves England . . . . . . 533
Views of the Spaniards . . . . . . • • 536
Philip on the Continent . . . . . . • • 539
The Persecution . . . . . . . . 540
Trial of Cranmer at Oxford •..„,* ,.i .. .. 542
Trials of Ridley and Latimer ! !^i .. .. 550
Ridley and Latimer are burnt . . . . • • 557
Effects of the Persecution . . . . . . 560
Paul IV. and the Church Lands . . . , . . 562
Death and Character of Gardiner . . . . . . 564
Meeting of Parliament . . . . . . . . 566
The Subsidy and the First-fruits . . . . 567
First-fruits cannot be restored to the Pope . . 569
Irritation of the Queen . . . . . . . . 5 7 1
Further Failures and Dissolution . . . . . . 571
Correspondence of Mary with Philip . . . . 573
Fate of Cranmer referred to the Pope . . . . 574
Sentence arrives from Rome . . . . • • 576
The Archbishop is condemned . . . . '-578
Pole writes to him . . . . . . 578
He wavers and recants . . . . . . . . 583
The Court nevertheless will kill him . . • . . 587
Cranmer at St Mary's Church . . . !.'; . . 588
The Sermon . . . . . . . . . . 589
The Archbishop's last Speech . . . . . . 592
His Penitence . . ..'» . . . . . . 598
His Death . . . . . . . . . \ • • 599
CHAPTER XX VIII.
THE EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET.
FRANCE and England having completed I55I.
their private understanding, special em-
bassies on both sides paraded the friendship before the
world. The Marshal St Andre came to London in splen-
dour, with a retinue of lords ; Northampton, Goodrick,1
Sir Philip Hoby, and others, carried powers to Paris to
arrange a marriage between Edward and the Princess
Elizabeth. Though France had quarrelled with the
Pope, though Henry was disclaiming an allegiance to
the Council of Trent, it was remarked that the English
ambassadors were received with processions, masses, and
litanies in approved Catholic form. In England, such
decorations of altars and churches as had escaped the mint
or the hands of the grandees, were employed to decor-
ate the royal tables on the reception of St Andre.2 The
Bishop of Ely, afterwards
Chancellor.
2 ' It was appointed that I should
receive the Frenchmen that come
hither at Westminster, when was
made preparations for the purpose,
and for garnish, of new vessels taken
out of Church stuff, mitres, golden
VOL. v. 1
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
French faction in Italy interpreted the alliance to pro-
mise a return of England to the faith. The credulous
among the English laboured to revive the old hope that
France might unite with them in schism.1 At both
Courts there was, as it were, an ostentatious declaration
that, in matters of religion, the two countries had no
intention of approximating ; on neither side would the
creed be sacrificed to the exigencies of policy.
Courtesy and mutual good offices might compensate,
however, for differences of opinion, and the English had
an opportunity for a display of integrity which passed
for magnanimous. The death of Mary Stuart would
have broken the chain by which the French held her
subjects linked to them. A Scot sent in an offer to take
her off by poison.2 But the council resisted the tempt-
ation amidst the applause of their friends ; and the
intended assassin was delivered in custody over the
Calais frontier.3
missals, primers, crosses, and rel-
iques.'— EDWARD'S Journal, June 2,
1 'There is much talk in Italy
of this marriage between our master
and France. They that would the
French to seem hig say the league is
offensive and defensive. They also
add, that one of the covenants is
that we must return to the true faith
of Holy Church, as they call it ;
that is, as we know it — to the blind
Romish synagogue. "Would God
the French King were as like to
become a right Protestant as our
•master is unlike to become a blun-
dering Popistant.' — Morryson to the
Council : MS. Germany, Edward
VI. bundle 15, State Paper Office.
2 ' One Stewart, a Scotchman,
meaning to poison the young Queen
of Scotland, thinking thereby to get
favour here, was, after he had been
awhile in the Tower, delivered over
the frontiers at Calais to the French,
to have him punished according to
his deserts.' — EDWARD'S Journal,
May 9.
3 ' Men talk in this Court that
one made oifer to your Lordships to
poison the young Scottish Queen,
and that you forthwith sent to the
F551-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET.
June.
St Andre's was a visit of ceremony; he brought
with him the order of St Michael for the young King.
The business of the connection was transacted on the
Continent.
The differences with Scotland had been adjusted on
the loth of June in a treaty in which the
engagements of 1543 for the marriage of
Edward and Mary were passed over in silence. The
French and English commissioners meeting to arrange
a new connection, found it necessary to peruse and con-
sider those engagements. The Scottish promises were
produced, and Northampton first demanded that the
contract should be fulfilled.
' To be frank and plain with you/ Montmorency
replied, ' seeing you require us so to be, the matter hath
cost us both much riches and much blood ; and so much
doth the honour of France hang thereupon, as we can-
not talk with you therein, the marriage is already con-
French King word thereof ; where-
upon the man is committed to
prison, and the young lady out of
danger. Your honours are much
increased by this your nohle fact.
Your integrities so much the more
commended, that they see many are
glad largely to hire whom they may
hy any means corrupt, and find few
complaints made against such as in
this point offer service. It is to
your Lordships' eternal praise that
ye, by this your honourable example,
do teach the King's Majesty, in
these his young years, to abhor foul
practices — a lesson better and more
worthier than is the violent catching
of the fairest kingdom that the sun
sheweth light unto. In spite of
spite here, even those are forced to
like, to allow, yea, to wonder at
things rightly done, that by no en-
treaty can mean to follow them.' —
Morryson to the Council from the
Emperor's Court : MS. Germany,
Edward VI. bundle 15, State Paper
Office. I know no keener satire on
the public morals of the age than
this passage.
4 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
eluded between her and the Dauphin, and therefore we
would be glad to hear no more thereof/1 The answer
was of course anticipated, and was perhaps precon-
certed. The King of France said that, although he
had been at war with England, ' he never enterprised
anything with worse will, nor more against his stomach.'
' He thanked God it was at an end, he trusted, for
ever/2 The English waived their claims on Mary, and
made their proposals in exchange for the hand of a
princess of France. Acquiescence in general terms was
promptly conceded ; but when the details of the ar-
rangement came under consideration, it appeared that
the French still intended to profit by the weakness and
the necessities of Edward's Government. Northampton
suggested that they should give with the princess, a-s a
moderate dowry, 1,500,000 crowns. He lowered his
terms OL. being refused, amidst shouts of laughter, to
1,400,000 crowns ; then to a million, then to 800,000,
and at last to 200,000 ; which only, ' after great reason-
ings and showings of precedents/ the French com-
missioners consented to allow. These terms, or any
terms, England was obliged to accept. Dr Wotton was
gone on his errand of defiance to Charles. The liberty
demanded for Mary Tudor had not only been refused,
and her chaplains imprisoned, but she had been in-
formed that, if she continued obstinate, she might not
herself be exempt from punishment.3 Lord Warwick
and his friends had cast in their fortune with extreme
Northampton to the Council ; TYTLER, vol. i. p. 385, &c.
2 Ibid. 3 EDWARD'S Journal, June 24.
1 55 1-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET 5
measures, and were in no condition to drive a bargain
hard.
The Emperor, however, on his side, was unable im-
mediately to fulfil his threat of declaring war ; he was
compelled to content himself with repeating it. Dr
Wotton's report of his interview has been injured, and
is in parts illegible.1 Where the letter begins to be
intelligible the conversation was turning upon the
Protestant refugees in England.
* Here/ says Wotton, ' the Emperor, by signs and
nods, willed those of his chamber to go from thence
and leave him alone with me/ He then said that he
had a great love for the King, and had every good will
to his country ; ' but the English were all now/ he said,
' so far out of the way/ that he did not know what to
do about them ; ' they did infect his own realm/
Wotton begged him to think better of the English ;
they were a people who feared God, and desired only
to know how God delighted most to be served. ' You
have well travailed/ Charles answered scornfully ; * you
say you have chosen a good way ; the world takes it for
a naughty way ; and ought it not to suffice you that ye
spill your own souls, but ye have a mind to force others
to lose theirs too. My cousin the Princess is evil
1 The surviving portions of this
despatch contain so much which is
characteristic of Charles, that the
loss of the rest is especially to be
regretted. The more so indeed be-
cause the destruction of the MS. is
not due to legitimate decay, but to
the use of ox-gall by some careless
antiquary, who, to facilitate his own
researches, wetted the ink with a
material which imparts a momentary
clearness, at the expense of making
the writing illegible afterwards for
evermore.
6 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SfXftf. [GH. 28.
handled among you, her servants plucked from her ;
and she still cried upon to leave mass, to forsake her
religion in which her mother, her grandmother, and all
our family have lived and died/
' Sacred Majesty/ Wotton answered, ' at my coming
out of England she was honourably entertained in her
own house, and had such about her as she liked : and I
think she is so still. I do not hear to the contrary/
' Yes, by St Mary,5 said Charles, ' there is to the con-
trary, and therefore say you hardly to them, I will not
suffer her to be evil handled by them— I will not suffer
it. Is it not enough that my aunt, her mother, was
evil entreated by the King that dead is, but my cousin
must be worse ordered by councillors now. I had
rather she died a thousand deaths than that she should
forsake her faith. The King is too young to skill of
such matters.'
When Wotton urged that Mary was a subject, and
must submit to the law, Charles gave the usual answer
that a law made in a minority was no law at all. The
Church had been ruined, the bishoprics plundered, the
religion of Christ set aside or altered by the violent will
of a few men who had no authority to meddle with such
things. Wotton said the changes had been discussed in
Parliament : the Emperor replied that Parliament was
no place for the discussion of any such questions.
Seeing his humour, Wotton passed unwillingly to
the second part of his instructions, and required the
license for Sir Thomas Chamberlain to use the commu-
nion service at Brussels. The Emperor said distinctly
I55I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. ^
and at once, that he would have no service used in his
dominions which was not allowed by the Church ; and
if his own ambassador was refused the mass, he should
be recalled ; ' the cases were not like ; the English
service was new and naught ; ' ' the mass was old and
approved/
'Again/ wrote Wotton, 'he went to the Lady
Mary, willing me to require your Lordships that she
might have her masses still ; if not, he would pro-
vide for her remedy: and if his ambassador was re-
strained, he had already given him orders that if the
restraint came to-day, he should to-morrow depart, and
ours as well.' ' He fell to earnest talk ; ' he spoke again
of the danger of introducing changes in Edward's in-
fancy, ' who, when he came to his years, would take
sharp account of it, and make them know what it was to
bring up a king in heresy/ Wotton answered that,
' the Lords of the Council did well understand with
what fear and danger they made the alteration ; and the
greater the peril, the more were they to be praised that
would rather venture land, life, and all than not do that
that God required at their hands.'1
The interview ended stormily. Whether war would
follow, the ambassador said he could not tell. He was
certain only that the Emperor meant him to believe
that there would be war ; arid he recommended the
council not to press matters to extremity about the
Princess for a month or two ; ' in that space it should
1 Wotton to the Council : MS. Germany, bundle 15, State Paper (Mice.
8 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28
appear whether the Emperor should need English amity,
or whether England should have cause to be afraid of
his displeasure/ The council took his advice, and mean
time the French alliance was consolidated. The Euro-
pean difficulties of the Emperor thickened. The country,
after drifting close upon a reef, escaped shipwreck, more
by a change of wind than the skill of its pilots. The
dominant factions were again at leisure to follow their
career of misgovernment.
In contemplating the false steps of statesmen, it is
difficult at all times to measure their personal responsi-
bility, to determine how much of their errors has been
due to party spirit, how much to pardonable mistake ;
how much again seems to have been faulty, because we
see but effects, which we ascribe absolutely to the con-
duct of particular men, when such effects were the result,
in fact, of influences spreading throughout the whole
circle of society. The politicians who governed Eng-
land in the minority of Edward VI., however, succeeded,
at any rate, in making themselves individually execrated,
and in bringing discredit upon the cause of which they
were the professed defenders. All over the country dis-
content, social, political, and religious, was steadily on
the increase. In the Privy Council Records are to be
found entries perpetually recurring of persons con-
spiring here, or conspiring there, and being put to
death occasionally on the spot by martial
law.1 The -orisons were full to overflowing
1 'August 31. The Duke of i a new conspiracy for the destruction
Somerset, taking certain that began of the gentlemen at Okingham, two
155'.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 9
with. Catholic recusants, who would not relinquish the
mass, or with persons guilty of ' lewd talk/ or ' seditious
words ; ' this or that prisoner, as his place was required
for another, being taken out to have his ears slit, or to
be set upon the pillory.1 The greatest of the offences
of the Government, the issue of base money, was draw-
ing to an end ; but it was ending as hurricanes end, the
worst gust being the last.
In the teeth of statutes, in defiance of proclamations,
prices rose to the level of the metallic value of the cur-
rent coin, and, at last, rose beyond it. The exchanges
ceased to be intelligible. In the absence of accessible
tests, and with coin circulating of all degrees of purity
and impurity, the common processes of buying and sell-
ing could no longer be carried on, and the council were
compelled at last to yield before the general outcry.
From the enormous quantity of base silver which
was now in circulation, the honest redemption of it
appeared, and at the time, perhaps, really was, impossi-
ble. It remained, therefore, to throw the burden
upon the country, to accept the advice of the city
merchants, and call it down to its actual value. By
this desperate remedy every holder of a silver coin
lost upon it the difference between its cost when it
passed into his hands, and its worth as a commodity in
the market. Taking an average of the whole coin in
days past executed them with death
for their offence.'— EDWARD'S Jour-
Privy Council Records, MS.
1 Especially, it would seem, in j
the months of April, May, and June,
1551, when a crisis was so near.—
10
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
May.
circulation, the proportion of alloy was fifty per cent.,
and in the end, the silver currency would have to de-
scend to half its nominal value. But the entire descent,
though inevitable, was not to be accomplished at once.
To relieve the shock (so the Government pretended),
the first fall was made a partial one. A resolution was
taken in council on the 3oth of April that the shilling
in future should pass for ninepence, and the groat for
threepence. But anxiety for the convenience
of the public was not the only cause of the de-
lay in the completion of the operation. The treasury
XV as as usual exhausted. The economy which had been
attempted in the household had been more than defeated
by the cost of the gendarmerie, as the force was called,
which the council had been obliged to raise for their
protection. The wages, food, and clothing of nine
hundred men were added to the ordinary expenditure,
and the revenue, which had been unequal to the usual
demands upon it, was now hopelessly deficient. ' Pur-
veying/ by which the Court was accustomed to supply
its necessities, by taking what it required from the
farmers at statute prices, had been forbidden by Act of
Parliament.1 The prohibition had not been observe^
for the Court, it was said, must live, and the King had
no money. The royal purveyors continued to take at
their pleasure, paying exactly half the market prices for
everything.2 But rapacity of this kind could supply
1 2 and 3 Edward VI.
2 'To show what hurt cometh
by provisions to the poor man it
shall not need ; experience doth
make it too plain. But, for ex-
ample, the purveyors alloweth for a
tSSi-1 EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. ii
but very poorly the hungry deficiency which was per-
petually growing. In April a fresh issue of base money
had been contemplated,1 but was for the moment post-
poned. The Fuggers were the resource instead ; and
being increasingly bad debtors, the Government were
made to pay for fresh accommodation by buying a hun-
dred thousand crowns' worth of rubies and diamonds.2
It was with no good humour, therefore, that they found
themselves compelled to keep their hands for the future
from the mint ; and they determined to dip once more,
and to dip deeply into the closing fountain. The fall
of the coin, as I have said, was resolved upon on the
6th of May. The intention was made known to the
public, and it was to take effect in the following July.
The second fall could be at no great distance ; it is im-
possible, therefore, that the council could have been any
longer under a delusion on the nature of the course
which they had pursued. With the consequence of it
immediately before their eyes, they issued, on the 3Oth of
May, 8o,ooo/. worth of silver, in a coin of which two-
lamb worth two shillings but twelve
pence ; for a capon worth twelve
pence, sixpence ; and so after that
rate : so that, after that rate, there
is not the poorest man that hath
anything to sell but he loseth half
in the price, besides tarrying for his
money ; which sometimes he hath,
after long suit to the officers, and
great costs suing for it ; and many
times he never hath it.' — Causes of
the dearth in England: TYTLER,
vol. i. p. 369.
1 For the amendment of the
currency, so Edward was led to be-
lieve. ' It was .appointed,' he writes,
4 to make 20,000 pound Aveight for
necessity somewhat baser, to get
gain sixteen thousand clear, by
which the debt of the realm might
be paid, the country defended from
any sudden attempt, and the coin
amended.' — EDWAKD'S Journal^
April 10.
2 Ibid. April 25.
12
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
June.
thirds was alloy ; on the 1 8th of June they
issued a further 40,000^ worth in a coin of
which three-quarters was alloy. Possibly, or rather
probably, it was put out subject to the partial deprecia-
tion of the first fall ; but every creditor of the Court,
artisan, or labourer, servant, tradesman, farmer, or
soldier was forced to receive that money at a fictitious
value, although the council knew that a further depre-
ciation was immediately and necessarily imminent.1
This was the last grasp at the departing prey, and
perhaps it transpired to the world : for so profound and
so wide was the public distrust, that when the first fall
took effect on the pth of July, prices every-
where rather rose than declined, even allow-
ing for the difference of denomination. In vain the
1 The numerous entries in ED-
WARD'S Journal on this dry subject
are curious. The King appears to
have been keeping his eyes upon the
council, and seeking information on
the subject without their knowledge.
William Thomas, Clerk of the Coun-
cil, whose name has been more than
once mentioned, was one of his se-
cret advisers ; and, I sometimes
think, may have assisted him in the
composition of his Journal. ' Upon
Friday last,' Thomas writes, in an
undated letter to the King, 'Mr
Throgmorton declared your Majes-
ty's pleasure unto me, and delivered
me withal the notes of certain dis-
courses, which, according to your
Highness' s commandment, I shall
most gladly apply, to send you one
every week, if it be possible for me
in so little time to compass it — as
indeed it were more than easy, if the
daily service of mine office required
not the great travail and diligence
that it doth. And because he told
me your Majesty would first hear
mine opinion touching the reforma-
tion of the coin, albeit that 1 think
myself both unmeet and unable to
give any judgment in so great and
Aveighty a matter without the advice
of others ; yet, since it is your High-
ness's pleasure to have it secret,
which I do much commend, I there-
fore am the bolder to enterprise the
declaration of my fantasy, trusting
that, upon this ground, better de-
vices and better effects may ensue
than my head alone can contrive.' —
1 55 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 13
council admonished the Lord Mayor, and required the
Lord Mayor to admonish the wardens of the trading
companies.1 Confidence was steadily refused to the
currency as long as the worth of the coined shilling
was artificially greater than the worth of the bullion of
which it was made. The falling process having once
begun, had to be completed with as little delay as possi-
ble, and on the I7th of August the shilling
was ordered by proclamation to pass for no
more than sixpence, the groat for no more than two-
pence,2 and all other silver coins in proportion. To
August 17.
Thomas to Edward VI.: Cotton.
MSS. Vespasian, D. 18. Printed
in STKYPE'S Memorials, vol. iv. p.
389.
1 Privy Council Records, MS.
2 The second proclamation was
drawn on the ist of August, but was
not put out till the lyth. The fol-
lowing is the text of it. In such a
matter the Government must be
heard for themselves : —
'Whereas the King's Majesty,
minding to reduce the coin of this
his Highness' s realm to a more
fineness, hath of late, for sundry
weighty considerations, partly men-
tioned in our proclamation of the
last of April last past [It was drawn
on the last of April, and issued on
the 6th of May], ordained and
established that the piece of silver
called the teston, or shilling, should
be current for nine pence, and no
more ; and the piece of silvered coin
called the groat should likewise be
current for three pence, and no
more ; minding, both at the time of
the said proclamation and sithens
also, to have reduced the coin of
this realm to a fineness by such de-
grees as should have been less bur-
denous to his Majesty, and most for
the ease of his Highness' s loving
subjects: forasmuch as sithens which
time his Majesty is sundry ways in-
formed that the excessive prices of
all victuals and all other things,
which of reason should have grown
less as the coin is amended, is rather,
by the malice and insatiable greedi-
ness of sundry men, especially such
as make their gain by buying and
selling, increased and waxen more
excessive, to the great hindrance of
the commonwealth and intolerable
burden of his Majesty's loving sub-
jects, especially of those of the poorer
sort : for the remedy whereof, no-
thing is thought more available than
the speedy reduction of the said coin
more nigher his just fineness. His
Majesty, therefore, by the advice of
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
pacify the people, to prevent curious inquiries, and also
perhaps to soften the blow to the holders of the money,
the Government declared their intention of enforcing
the Farm Statutes, and of prohibiting the exportation
of coin. A scale of prices was again issued for articles
of food, with a hope that it would now be maintained ;
and if the cost of living was ' not to be so good cheap as
when the coin was at its perfectest/ it should be ' within
a fifth part of it.'1
It was now possible to restore a pure silver currency
— possible and also necessary ; for although the depre-
ciation was calculated fairly on the average value of the
coin, the good and the bad were affected equally by the
proclamation ; and unless the whole existing circulation
was called in and recoined, to call it down was merely
the Lords and others of his High-
ness's privy council, more esteeming
the honour and estimation of the
realm, and the wealth and commodi-
ty of his Highness' s most loving
subjects, than the great profit which,
by the baseness of the coin, did and
should continually have grown to
his Majesty, hath, and by the advice
aforesaid doth, ordain that, from the
1 7th day of this present month of
August, the piece of coin called the
teston, or shilling, shall be current
within the realm of England and
the town and Marches of Calais only
for six pence sterling, and not above ;
and the groat for two pence sterling,
and not above ; the piece of two
pence for a penny, the piece of a
penny for a halfpenny, and the piece
of a halfpenny for a farthing ; and
therefore straightly chargeth and
commandeth every person of what
estate, degree, or condition he or
they may be, to pay and receive,
after the said day of the present
month, the said coins for no higher
nor no lower value or price within
this realm, upon pain of forfeiture
to his Majesty of all such money as
shall be paid or received at other
values than by this proclamation is
put forth, and also upon pain of fine
and imprisonment during his Ma-
jesty's pleasure.' — MS. Domestic,
Edward VI. vol. xiii. State Paper
Office.
1 EDWARD'S Journal.
1551.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 15
to offer a premium oil the debasement of all the pure
shillings and groats which remained in the realm. The
council saw half the truth, but unhappily only half.
They undertook to set the presses at work coining silver
at a pure standard ; an honest shilling was to be given
at the mints for every two testons, and the alloy, it was
thought, would pay the cost of the stamping.1 But
from ignorance, carelessness, or some less worthy motive,
men were left to their own discretion either to bring in
their money or leave it circulating at its new rate ; and
those who held the old coin found more advantage in
exporting it as bullion, or in melting it down to the
level of the lowest recent issues, in which a third or a
fourth part only was pure silver. Thus the people lost
their money, and prices, nevertheless, would not sub-
side. The council abstained from further peculation.
That was the extent of the amendment.
To increase the misery of the summer, there reap-
peared, in July, the strange and peculiar plague
of the English nation. The sweating sickness,
the most mortal of all forms of pestilence which have
ever appeared in this country, selected its victims ex-
clusively from among the natives of Great Britain.
If it broke out in a foreign town, it picked out the Eng-
lish residents with undeviating accuracy. The sufferers
were in general men between thirty and forty, and the
stoutest and the healthiest most readily caught the in-
fection. The symptoms were a sudden perspiration,
1 EDWARD'S Journal.
16 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
accompanied with faintness and drowsiness. Those who
were taken with full stomachs died immediately. Those
who caught cold shivered into dissolution in a few
hours. Those who yielded to the intense temptation to
sleep, though but for a quarter of an hour, awoke only
to die ; and so rapid was the operation of the disorder
that, of seven householders who one night supped together
in the city of London, six before morning were corpses.
' The only remedy was to be kept close with moderate
air, and to drink posset ale or such like for thirty hours,
and then the danger was passed.'1 'It was a terrible
time,' says Stow. ' Men lost their friends by the sweat,
and their money by the proclamation.' In London
alone eight hundred men died in one week in July.
Visitations of pestilence in Christian countries have
ever operated as a call to repentance. The effect upon
the English was heightened by the singularity which
confined the attack to themselves. The council, in an
address of profound solemnity, invited the nation to ac-
knowledge humbly the merited chastisements of Heaven :
it was not the first time, as it will not be the last, that
men have been keen- eyed to detect in others their
own faults, and to call upon the world to repent of
them.
The bishops were charged to invite all men
July 18. . -, i •
to be more diligent in prayer, and less anxious
for their personal interests ; especially to refrain their
greedy appetites from that insatiable serpent of covetous-
1 HOUNSHEP,
1 55 1-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET.
ness, wherewith, most men were so infected that it seemed
the one would devour another, without charity, or any
godly respect ' to the poor, to their neighbours, or to the
commonweal : ' this it was, the council said, l for which
God had not only now poured out this plague on them,
but had also prepared another plague that after this
life should plague them everlastingly : ' the bishops
must ' use persuasions that might engender a terror to
redeem men from their corrupt and naughty lives ; but
the clergy 'were chiefly to blame; 'the members of a
dull head could not do well ; ' ' the flocks wandered be-
cause the ministers were dull and feeble/1
The people, says Holinshed, for a time were affected
and agitated. ' They began to repent, to give alms,
and to remember God ; but as the disease ceased, so de-
votion in a short time decayed/ The council perhaps
confined their own penitence to the exhortation of
others, seeing that at the time when the disease was at
its worst, they were engaged upon their last great fraud
with the currency. Lulled by the panegyrics of the
Protestants, who saw in them all that was most excel-
lent, most noble, most devout, the Lords, or rather the
triumvirate of Warwick, Northampton, and Sir William
Herbert, who now governed England, were contented
to earn their praises by fine words, by persecuting and
1 TYTLER, vol. i. p. 404. Lord
Warwick affected to Cecil a keen re-
gret for the shortcomings of the
clergy, which he attributed to their
marriages. ' These men,' he said,
' that the King's Majesty hath of late
preferred, be so sotted of their wives
and children, that they forget both
their poor neighbours and all other
things which to their calling apper-
taineth.'— Ibid. vol. ii.
iS
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
depriving bishops inclined to be conservative, and by
confiscating and appropriating the estates of the vacated
"When Ponet was installed as the successor of
Gardiner, the estates of the bishopric of Winchester
were transferred to the Crown in exchange for a few
impropriated rectories. The woods on the lands of the
See of London were cut down and sold.1 Heath, Bishop
of Worcester, was deposed, and his place was taken by
Hooper, the See of Gloucester, which Henry had founded,
being suppressed, and the estates surrendered.2 West-
minster, another of Henry's Sees, had been suppressed
before ; while a further project was on foot to depose
Tunstal from the bishopric of Durham. The diocese
was to be divided, part to be given to the Dean of
Durham, to be endowed out of the estates of the chapter,
and part to Newcastle, with a trifling salary ; while the
princely domains of the bishopric itself were to be shared
between Warwick and his friends.
But the Protestants looked on with ad-
miration and applause. The Papists were put
out of the way. The doctrinalists were promoted to
honour. Miles Coverdale went to Exeter, in the place
of Voysey, Scory went to Rochester, Taylor to Lincoln.
When men like these were raised to dignity, what more
could be desired ?
1 STRYPE; TYTLEK.
2 RYMEE, vol. vi. part 3, p. 216.
The intention was to suppress both
Worcester and Gloucester, and to
found a new see out of the combin-
ation.— See Strype's Memorials, vol.
iv. p. 45.
15$ i.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 19
' What a swarm of false Christians have we among
us/ said the large-minded Becon ; ' gross gospellers,
which can prattle of the gospel very finely, talk much
of justification by faith, crack very stoutly for the free
remission of their sins by Christ's blood. As for their
almsdeeds, their praying, their watching, their fasting,
they are utterly banished from these gospellers. They
are puffed up with pride, they swell with envy, they
wallow in pleasures, they burn with concupiscence.
Their covetous acts are insatiable, the increasing their
substance, the scraping together of worldly possessions.
Their religion consisteth in words and disputations ; in
Christian acts and godly deeds nothing at all.' 1
Of this class of men the highest living represent-
ative was the Earl of Warwick, the ruling spirit of
the English Reformation in the phase into which it now
had drifted.
To return to the Princess Mary.
There being no longer, as it seemed, occasion to fear
the resentment of the Emperor, the council, on
the 9th of August, resolved to execute their
resolution, and put an end to her resistance with a high
hand. ' They considered how long and patiently the
King had laboured in vain to bring her to conformity.'
They ' considered how much her obstinacy and the
toleration of it endangered the peace of the realm.5
Her chaplains, therefore, should be compelled for the
future to perform in her chapel the English service
BECON' s Jewel of Joy.
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
established by law, and none other ; while Edward un-
dertook to write to his sister with his own hand. The
Flemish ambassador was informed at the same time,
that the terms of his own residence in England must be
identical with those granted to Sir Thomas Chamberlain.
He should use the mass on condition only that Chamber-
lain might use the communion.1 The Duke of Somerset
only defended Mary's interests. His name was attached
with the rest to the resolutions of the council ; 2 but as
to him the Princess had been indebted for her first
license ' to keep her sacrificing knaves about her/ 3 so
he endeavoured to prevent the withdrawal of it ; and
partly, perhaps, from good feeling, partly from op-
position to Warwick, he had begun to advocate a general
toleration.4 Somerset, in fact, was growing weary of
Protestantism, seeing what Protestantism had become.
He preferred the company of his architects and masons
to attendance at chapel and sermons ; 5 and Burgoyne,
writing to Calvin, said that he had become so lukewarm
in the service of Christ, as scarcely to have anything
less at heart than religion.6
No cause, however, at that time, could be benefited
1 Council Records, MS.
2 Ibid.
3 John ab Ulmis to Bullinger :
Zurich Letters.
4 Charges against the Duke of
Somerset : Infra.
5 Master Bradford spared not the
proudest, and among many others,
will't them to tak example be the
lait Duck of Somerset, who became
so cald in hering God's word, that
the yeir before his last apprehension
hee wald gae visit his masonis, and
wald not dingye himself to gae from
his gallerie to his hall for hearing of
a sermon. — Letter of John Knox to
the Faithful in London.
6 Burgoyne to Calvin : Zurich
Letters.
1 55 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE Of SOMERSET. 21
by tne advocacy of Somerset ; and Warwick was sup-
ported by the powerful phalanx of able and dangerous
men whose interest committed them to the Reformation
— those who had shared, or hoped to share, in the spoils
of the Church or the State — those who had divided
among them the forfeited estates of the Percies, the
Howards, the Courtenays, and the Poles, and would
support any men or any measures which would prevent
reaction.
The Princess was at Copt Hall, in Essex. On the
1 4th of August three of the officers of her household,
Sir Robert Rochester, Sir Francis Englefield, and Sir
Robert Waldegrave, were sent for by the council : the
King's letter was put in their hands, with a charge to
deliver it to their mistress. They were instructed to
inform the chaplains that the mass must cease, and to
take care, for their own part, that the order was obeyed.
At the end of a week they returned to say that the
Lady Mary was ' marvellously offended/ She had for-
bidden them to speak to her chaplains ; if they persisted,
she said she would discharge them from her service, and
she herself would immediately leave the country. She
was subject to a heart complaint, and her passion was so
violent, that they were afraid to press her further for
fear of the possible consequences. They had approached
the subject only once afterwards, ' when they not only
did not find her more conformable, but in further choler
than she was before.' They could, therefore, go no
further. She had written to her brother, and they had
brought the letter with them.
22 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
A message, Mary said in this letter, had been
brought to her by her servants on a matter which con-
cerned the salvation of her soul ; her servants were no
fit messengers for the lords to have chosen. The meanest
subjects in the realm would ill bear to receive such
treatment through their own attendants. For the letter
which Edward had written to her, it was signed indeed
with his hand, but it was not his own composition, and
he was too young to be a fit judge in such questions.
Her father had brought her up in the Catholic faith,
and she would not believe one thing and say another,
nor would she submit to rule her mind by the opinions
of the privy council. She entreated, therefore, that her
want of conformity might be tolerated till the King was
old enough to act for himself, and if this could not be,
* rather than offend God and my conscience/ she said,
* I offer my body at your will, and death shall be more
welcome than life.' l
The appeal was naturally ineffectual. The council
would not have ventured so far, had they not been de-
termined to go farther ; and with a reprimand for the
neglect of their orders, Rochester and his companions
were commanded to go back and execute them. They
refused. They were commanded again on their allegi-
ance to go, and again refused, and were committed to
the Fleet for contumacy. 'Pinnaces' were sent to cruise
between Harwich and the mouth of the Thames to pre-
vent an attempt at flight on the part of the Princess ; and
1 Privy Council Records, MS. The Lady Mary to King Edward :
ELLIS, vol. ii. p. 176, 1st series; FOXE, vol. vi.
155 1-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 23
JRich, the Lord Chancellor, Sir William Petre, and Sir
Anthony Wingfield took the ungracious office on. them~
selves. Her servants, they were directed to inform
Mary, had not returned to her, and would not return.
They had disobeyed the King's orders, and if a privy
councillor had so far misconducted himself, he would have
been equally punished. Competent officers would be
furnished for her household in their places. For the
rest, his Majesty was grieved that her conscience was so
settled in error, as he would himself express to her.1
She offered her body to be at the King's service, but no
harm was meant to her body — the King desired only that
she might have mentem sanam in corpore sano. If she had
a conscience, so had the King a conscience, and the King
must avoid giving offence to God by tolerating error.
The adventures of the new messengers, character-
1 Right dear and entirely be-
loved Sister, we greet you well, and
let you know that it grieveth us
much to perceive no amendment in
you of that which we, for God's
cause, your soul's health, our con-
science, and the common tranquillity
of the realm, have so long desired ;
assuring you that our sufferance hath
much more demonstration of natural
love than contentation of our con-
science and foresight of our safety.
"Wherefore, although you give us
occasion, as much almost as in you
is, to diminish our natural love, yet
we he loath to feel it decay, and
mean not to be so careless of you
as we be provoked. And therefore
meaning your weal, and therewith
joining a care not so be found guilty
in our conscience to God, having
cause to require forgiveness that we
have so long, for respect of love to-
wards you, omitted our bounden
duty, we send at the present the Lord
Rich, the Lord Chancellor of Eng-
land, and our right trusty and right
well-beloved Councillors, Sir An-
thony Wingfield and Sir William
Petre, in message to you touching
the order of your house, willing
you to give them firm credit in
those things they shall say to you
from us. Given under our signet.
Windsor, August 24. — Letter of
King Edward to the Lady Mary :
FOXE, vol. vi.
24 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
istic of Mary and of the times, shall be related in their
own words.
1 Having received commandment and in-
August 28.
structions from the King s Majesty,1 we re-
paired to the Lady Mary's house at Copt Hall, on the
28th instant in the morning, where, shortly after our com-
ing, I, the Lord Chancellor, delivered his Majesty's letter
to her, which she received upon her knees, saying that,
for the honour of the King's Majesty's hand wherewith
the said letter was signed, she would kiss the letters, and
not for the matter contained in them ; for the matter,
said she, I take to proceed not from his Majesty, but
from you his council.
' In the reading of the letter, which she did read
secretly to herself, she said these words in our hearing
— Ah ! good Mr Cecil took much pains here. When
she had read the letter, we began to open the matter of
our instructions unto her ; and as I, the Lord Chancel-
lor, began, she prayed me to be short, for, said she, I
am not well at ease, and I will make you a short
answer.
' After this, we told her at good length how the
King's Majesty having used all the gentle means and
exhortations that he might, to have reduced her to the
rites of religion and order of divine service set forth by
the laws of the realm, and finding her nothing conform-
able, but still remaining in her former errors, had
1 Report of the Commissioners to
the Lady Mary, August 29 : MS.
Domestic, Edward VI. vol. xiii.
State Paper Office, printed by ELLIS,
ist series, vol. ii. p. 179.
I55I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 25
resolved, by the whole estate of his Majesty's privy
council, and with the consent of divers others of the
nobility, that she should no longer use the private mass,
nor any other divine service than is set forth by the
laws of the realm ; and here we offered to show her the
names of all those which were present at this consulta-
tion and resolution. But she said she cared not for
any rehearsal of the names, for, said she, I know you to
be all of one sort therein.
1 We told her further that the King's Majesty's
pleasure was we should also give strait charge to her
chaplains that none of them should presume to say any
mass, and the like charge to all her servants that none
of them should presume to hear any mass.
' Hereunto her answer was thus —
'To the King's Majesty she was, is, and
& J J August 29.
ever will be his Majesty's most humble and
most obedient subject and poor sister, and would most
willingly obey all his commandments in anything —
her conscience saved — yea, and would willingly and
gladly suffer death to do his Majesty good. But rather
than she will agree to use any other service than was
used at the death of the late King her father, she would
lay her head on a block and suffer death. But, said
she, I am unworthy to suffer death in so good a
quarrel. When the King's Majesty, said she, shall
come to such years that he may be able to judge these
things himself, his Majesty shall find me ready to obey
his orders in religion; but now in these years, although
he, good, sweet King, have more knowledge than any
26 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
other of his years, yet it is not possible that he can be
a judge of these things. If ships were to be sent to the
sea, or any other thing to be done touching the policy
and government of the realm, I am sure you would not
think his Highness yet able to consider what were to be
done. And much less, said she, can he in these years
discern what is fit in matters of divinity. If my chap-
lains do say no mass, I can hear none ; no more can my
poor servants. But as for my servants, I know it shall
be against their will, as it should be against mine ; for
if they could come where it were said, they should hear
it with good will, and as for my priests, they know what
they have to do. The pain of your law is but imprison-
ment for a short time, and if they will refuse to say
mass for fear of that imprisonment, they may do there-
in as they will ; but none of your new service, said she,
shall be used in my house, and if any be said in it, I
will not tarry in the house.
' After this, we declared to her Grace, for what
causes the Lords of the Council had appointed Ro-
chester, Englefield, and Waldegrave, being her servants,
to open the premises unto her, and how ill and untruly
they had used themselves in the charge committed
unto them ; and beside that, how they had manifestly
disobeyed the King's Majesty's council. She said it
was not the wisest counsel to appoint her servants to
control her in her own house ; and that her servants
knew her mind therein well enough, for, of all men,
she might worse endure any of them to move her in
any such matters. And for their punishment, said
155 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 27
she, my Lords may use them as they think good ; and
if they refused to do the message unto her and her
chaplains, they be, said she, the honester men, for they
should have spoken against their own conscience.
' After this, when we had at good length declared
unto her our instructions, touching the promises which
she claimed to have been made to the Emperor, and,
besides, had opened unto her at good length all such
things as we knew and had heard therein, her answer
was, that she was well assured the promise was made
to the Emperor ;. and that the same was once granted
before the King's Majesty in her presence, there being
there seven of the council, notwithstanding the denial
thereof at her last being with his Majesty. And I
have, quoth she, the Emperor's hand testifying that
this promise was made, which I believe better than
you all of the council; and. though you esteem little
the Emperor, yet should you show more favour to me
for my father's sake, who made the more part of you
all almost of nothing. But, as for the Emperor, said she,
if he were dead, I would say as I do ; and if he would
give me now other advice, I would not follow it. Not-
withstanding, quoth she, to be plain with you, his am-
bassador shall know how I am used at your hands.
' After this, we opened the King's Majesty's plea-
sure, for one to attend upon her Grace for the supply
of Rochester's place during his absence.
'To this her answer was, that she would appoint
her own officers, and that she had years sufficient for
that purpose ; and if we left any men there, she would
28 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28
go out of her gates, for they two would not dwell in
one house. And, quoth she, I am sickly, and yet I will
not die willingly, but will do the best I can to preserve
my life. But if I shall chance to die, I will protest
openly that you of the council be the causes of my
death ; you give me fair words, but your deeds be al-
ways ill to me.
' Having said this, she departed from us into her
bed-chamber, and delivered to me, the Lord Chancellor,
a ring upon her knees, with very humble recommenda-
tions to her brother, saying, that she would die his
true subject and sister, and obey his commandment in
all things, except in these matters of religion. But
yet, said she, this shall never be told to the King's
Majesty. After her departure, we called the chaplains
and the rest of the household before us, and the chap-
lains, after some talk, promised all to obey the King's
Majesty's commandment. We further commanded
them, and every one of them, to give notice to some
one of the council, at the least, if any mass, or other
service than that set forth by the law, should hereaftei
be said in that house.
1 Finally, when we had said and done as is afore-
said, and were gone out of the house, tarrying there
for one of her chaplains, who was Hot with the rest
when we gave the charge aforesaid unto them, the
Lady Mary's Grace sent to us to speak with her one
word at a window. When we were come into the
court, notwithstanding that we offered to come up to
her chamber, she would needs speak out of the window,
155 1-] EXECUTION Of THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 29
and prayed us to -speak to the Lords of the Council
that her controller might shortly return ; for, said she,
since his departing, I take the accounts myself of my
expenses, and learned how many loaves of bread be
made of a bushel of wheat ; and I wis my father and
my mother never brought me up with baking and
brewing ; and, to be plain with you, I am weary of my
office, and, therefore, if my Lords will send mine officer
home, they shall do me pleasure ; otherwise, if they
send him to prison, I beshrew him if he go not to it
merrily and with a good will. And I pray God to
send you well to do in your souls and bodies too, for
some of you have but weak bodies/
As the moment draws near when Mary will step for-
ward to the front of the historical stage, it is time to
give some distinct account of her. She was born in
February 1515-16, and was therefore, in her thirty-sixth
year. Her face was broad, but drawn and sallow ; the
forehead large, though projecting too much at the top,
and indicating rather passion and determination than
intellectual strength. Her eyes were dauntless, bright,
steady, and apparently piercing ; but she was short-
sighted, and insight either into character or thing was
not among her capabilities. She was short and ill-
figured ; above the waist, she was spare, from continued
ill-health ; below, it is enough to say that she had inherit-
ed her father's dropsical tendencies, which were begin-
ning to show themselves. Her voice was deep like a
man's, she had a man's appetite, especially for meat ;
and in times of danger, a man's promptness of action
30 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. |CH. 28.
But she was not without a lady's accomplishments. She
embroidered well, played on the lute well; she could
speak English, Latin, French, and Spanish, and she
could read Italian ; as we have seen, she could be her
own housekeeper ; and if she had masculine energy, she
had with it a woman's power of braving and enduring
suffering.
By instinct, by temperament, by hereditary affection,
she was an earnest Catholic ; and whatever Mary be-
lieved she believed thoroughly, without mental reserva-
tion, without allowing her personal interests either to
tint her convictions or to tempt her to disguise them.
As long as Queen Catherine lived, she had braved
Henry's anger, and clung to her and to her cause. On
her mother's death she had agreed to the separation
from the Papacy as a question of policy touching no
point of faith or conscience. She had accepted the al-
terations introduced by her father; and, had nothing
else intervened, she might have maintained as a sovereign
what she had honestly admitted as a subject. Her own
persecution only, and the violent changes enforced by
the doctrinal Reformers, taught her to believe that,
apart from Rome, there was no security for orthodoxy.
In her interview with the messengers, she had shown
herself determined, downright, and unaffected, cutting
through official insincerities, and fearless of consequences,
standing out for the right as she understood it. The
moral relations of good and evil were inverted ; and be-
tween Mary, the defender of a dying superstition, and
the Lords of the Council, the patrons of liberty and
iSSi-l EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 31
right, the difference so far was as between the honest
watch-dog and a crew of prowling wolves.
The dominant faction had dragged on for two years,
through mean tyranny and paltry peculation. The
time had come when, no longer able to continue their
ill ways unmolested, they were to venture into open
crime.
The Duke of Somerset had neglected the debts of
the realm, till they were past retrieval. He had rushed
into expensive and unsuccessful wars, crippled the reve-
nue, and continued the debasement of the currency. He
had brought the country into discredit abroad ; and by
forcing forward changes in religion for which the people
were unprepared, he had thrown half England into in-
surrection. He had justly been deprived of
September.
the power which he had usurped and abused.
Yet, for the most part, he had failed in attempts which
in themselves were noble ; and the Duke of Somerset
might flatter himself that his own government showed
brightly by the side of the scarcely less rash and more
utterly ungenerous administration which had followed
on his fall. Could he have recovered the Protectorate,
it is not likely he would have profited by his past ex-
perience ; a large vanity and a languid intellect incapa-
citated him for sovereign power ; yet, in the face of the
existing state of things, he need only be moderately
blamed if he endeavoured to regain his power from the
nands by which it had been wrested from him. In the
past year he had provoked the jealousy and the suspicion of
Warwick, by interfering in favour of Gardiner ; he had
32 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [011.28.
been exposed, as in the instance of his mother's funeral,
to petty insults and mortifications; and early in the
spring of 1551 he had begun to meditate the possibility
of revenging himself. Whalley, the fraudulent receiver
of Yorkshire, one of the least reputable of his friends,
had felt the pulses of the peers with a view to his re-
storation ; 1 he became privy to Catholic conspiracies
without revealing them ; and, after his arrest, the miss-
ing link in the evidence, the want of which had saved
the Bishop of Durham from imprisonment a few months
previously, was found in his desk. The council in their
treatment of his friends provided him with unscrupulous
partisans. Sir Ralph Yane, a distinguished soldier, had
a right of pasturage by letters patent over lands which
the Earl of Warwick claimed or coveted. Warwick
sent his servants to drive Yane's cattle from the meadows ;
Yane defended his rights in arms, and was arrested and
sent to the Tower,2 as much, perhaps, because he was a
follower of the Duke, as for any offence of his own.
The confinement was soon over ; but the injury re-
mained, and Yane became ready at any moment to rise
in arms. Suspected before his intentions had assumed
a definite form, Somerset, on the 23rd of April, had
been on the point of flying, in a supposed fear of his
life, with Lord Grey, to the northern counties, to call
out the people and place himself at their head. He had
1 On the 1 6th of February
Whalley was examined before the
council ' for persuading divers no-
bles of the realm to make the Duke
of Somerset Protector at the next
Parliament, and stood to the denial,
the Earl of Kutland affirming it
manifestly.'— EDWARD'S Journal.
2 Privy Council Records, MS.
March 27, 1551.
1 55 1-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 53
been prevented only by Sir William Herbert, who as-
sured him that he was in no danger,1 and he had re-
mained to oppose Warwick in the treatment of Mary.
Unable to effect anything by legitimate opposition, he
had listened to suggestions for a general toleration in
religion ; 2 he had consulted with Lord Arundel on call-
ing a Parliament, and appealing to the country against
Warwick by proclamation ; 3 and as the design of doing
something assumed form, the Duchess of Somerset
brought into it her brother Sir Michael Stanhope, and
her half-brother Sir Thomas Arundel. Lord Strange
was set to work upon the King to induce him to break
his engagements with France, and marry Lady Jane
Seymour instead. A scheme was formed to arrest and
imprison Warwick, Northampton, and Herbert, into
which the Earl of Arundel entered eagerly and warmly,
and in which Lord Paget was, at least, a silent accom-
plice. Sir John Yorke, the Master of the Mint, was to be
1 The principal authorities for
the story of Somerset's real or sup-
posed conspiracy are the depositions
and examinations in the 131)1 volume
of -the Domestic MSS. of the reign
of Edward VI. State Paper Office ;
and the entries in EDWAKD'S Jour-
nal.
3 ' Whether did Sir Miles Par-
tridge or any other give you advice
to promise the people their mass,
holy water, with such other, rather
than to remain so unquieted?' —
Questions addressed to the Duke of
Somerset : TYTLEK, vol. ii. p. 48.
3 ' Did it proceed first from
VOL. v.
yourself or from the Earl of Arundel
to have a Parliament ? With how
many have you conferred for the
setting forth of the proclamation to
persuade the people to mislike the
Government, and specially the do-
ings of the Duke of Northumber-
land, the Earl of Pembroke, and
the Marquis of Northampton, doing
them to understand that they went
about to destroy the commonwealth,
and also had caused the King to be
displeased with the Lady Mary's
Grace, the King's sister ? '— TYT-
LEB, voL ii. p. 48.
34 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28.
taken also, ' because he could tell many pretty things ; '
and as a violent arrest might perhaps be violently re-
sisted, it was not impossible that lives might be taken
in the scuffle. Somerset himself admitted that the deaths
of Warwick and the other noblemen had been spoken
of as a contingency which might occur : an intention
that they should be killed, if he ever formed such, he
soon relinquished. His plan, so long as it was enter-
tained, was to treat the Lords as he had been treated
himself, and to call Parliament immediately, ' lest per-
adventure of one evil might happen another/ But his
mind misgave him, and his purposes were vacillating
First, there was a doubt whether Herbert should be in-
cluded in the arrest ; afterwards, according to one wit-
ness, the Duke changed his mind, ' and would meddle
no further with the apprehension of any of the council,
and said he was sorry he had gone so far with the Earl
of Arundel.' *
So the matter stood in the beginning of
October. Among those who had been privy
to the conspiracy was Sir Thomas Palmer, a soldier who
had gained some credit by desperate service in the
French wars, and had led the forlorn hope of cavalry
who sacrificed themselves at Haddington to enable sup-
plies to reach the blockaded garrison : a brave man,
but, as it seemed, a most unscrupulous one, whose serv-
ices in a dangerous enterprise might be as useful as his
fidelity was uncertain.
1 Charges against the Duke of I VI. vol. xiii. State Paper Office ;
Somerset : MS. Domestic, Edward j printed imperfectly by TYTLEK.
i 5 5 r . ] EXE CUT ION OF THE D UKE OF SOMERSE T. 35
Palmer, on the 7th of October, came to Lord War-
wick's house, and 'in my Lord's garden/ writes Ed-
ward,1 ' he declared how St George's day last past, my
Lord of Somerset, who was then going to the north, if
the Master of the Horse, Sir Win. Herbert, had not as-
sured him of his honour he should have no hurt, went
to raise the people, and the Lord Grey went before to
know who were his friends. Afterwards a device was
made to call the Earl of Warwick to a banquet with the
Marquis of Northampton and divers others, and to cut
off their heads. Also, he formed a base company about
them by the way to set upon them. He declared also,
that Sir Ralph Yane had two thousand men in readi-
ness ; Sir Thomas Arundel had assured my Lord that
the Tower was safe ; Mr Partridge should raise London,
and take the Great Seal with the apprentices ; Seymour2
and Hammond should wait upon himself, and all the
horses of the gensdarmes should be slain/
Such was Palmer's story — truth and falsehood being
mingled together ; truth, because part of it was con*
firmed by other witnesses, and confessed by the Duke
himself; falsehood, because Warwick (or Northumber-
land, as he was immediately to be) confessed before his
own death that the Duke of Somerset had through his
means been falsely accused ; and Palmer, also, befo. -
his death, declared that the evidence to which he had
sworn had been invented by Warwick, and had been
1 EDWARD'S Journal, Oct. 8.
* David Seymour ; some connection of Somerset's family.
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
maintained by himself at Warwick's request.1 Whether
Palmer's treachery for the first time acquainted Warwick
with Somerset's designs against him, or whether War-
wick had watched their growth and sprang a counter-
mine when the time was ripe, I am unable to determine.
1 The Duke of Northumberland,
before going to the scaffold, desired
an interview with Somerset's sons :
— Au quels il crya mercy de 1'injust-
ice qu'il avoit faict a leur Pere
Protecteur de 1'Angleterre, cong-
noissant avoir procure sa mort a
tort et faulsement. Palmer avant
sa mort a confesse que I'escripture
et F accusation qu'il advouche et
maintint centre la feu Protecteur
estoit fausse, fabricquec par le diet
due (de Northumberland) et advoue
par luy a la requeste du diet due.
Et y a d' estranges loix par de 9a
sur le faiet d' accusation que ce peult
faire par deux temoings, encores
qu'ils deposent singulierement et
diversement. — Simon Renard to
Charles V. : MS. Record Office.
Transcribed from the archives at
Brussels. If Palmer and Northum-
land really made these confessions,
the question whether there was or
was not foul play at the trial of the
Duke of Somerset is set at rest ; and
by adopting Renard' s story in the
text, I show of course that I think
it true ; yet I have not adopted it
without hesitation. Although there
was a general belief, in which Cran-
mer and Ridley shared, that Somer-
set had been unfairly dealt with, it
is strange that a foreign ambassador
should be the only authority for so
important a feature in the evidence
about it. Palmer's story had no-
thing in it which in itself was in-
credible or even improbable; and
unless Edward was imposed upon
(which it is hard to suppose), as to
the acknowledgments which were
made by Somerset in open court at
that time of his trial, those acknow-
ledgments confirm in substance all
that Palmer stated. Renard's letter,
too, was written when Northumber-
land had just failed in his attempt
to alter the succession ; and any
charge against him, however mon-
strous, found ready hearing among
the Queen's friends. On the other
hand, a distinct circumstantial state-
ment of a competent witness is not
to be lightly set aside, merely from
circumstantial objections. No Eng-
lish minister was better informed
than Renard of everything which
passed in London at the time of
Mary's accession. He was writing
from the spot, and he was not a per-
son to report on hearsay the flying
rumours of the hour.
I give the result of my own re-
flections upon the subject. Readers
who take an interest in the question
will judge for themselves.
£551-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 37
Certain only it is that Somerset, and Somerset's party,
were become dangerous to him. He felt, perhaps with
reason, that, if once in their power, he would find as
little mercy at their hands as he intended that they
should receive at his own ; and inasmuch as the truth,
if only the truth was known, might not ensure a con-
viction, inasmuch as the mere attempt at the overthrow
of a faction might se'em, in the eyes of the Lords who
must try Somerset, rather a virtue than a crime — some
additional atrocity had to be invented — something on
which the law spoke too plainly for evasion, and which
might diminish a sympathy otherwise likely to be
troublesome.
Palmer's revelations were kept profoundly secret,
except, it may be, froln Herbert and Northampton, and
from Edward, who, duped by the plausible zeal of
Warwick for the Protestant gospel, hearing only from
the fanatic enthusiasts who surrounded him adulation
of the Earl as a champion of the Lord, and suspicious
of his uncle as a backslider and apostate, listened and
believed with the simplicity of a boy.1 Though nothing
definite transpired, however, there were movements in
the State which created in Somerset a vague feeling of
uneasiness : a report reached him that Palmer had been
closeted with Warwick. Parliament, which was to
1 The frigid hardness with which
Edward relates in his Jotirnal and
one of his letters the proceedings
against Somerset has been com-
mented on with some sharpness.
His age — he was but fourteen — and
the miserable influences around him
might excuse a greater crime. He
believed that Somerset was guilty
in the worst sense of the word, and
with such a conviction the cold tone
was natural and right.
j8 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
have met on the T3th of October, was prorogued till
January.1 A muster of the gendarmerie was ordered
for the 8th of November; and on the nth of October
there were significant and important changes in the
peerage. Lord Dorset, Lady Jane Grey's father, was
made Duke of Suffolk; Warwick became Duke of
Northumberland; Paulet, Earl of ^ Wiltshire, Marquis
of Winchester ; and Sir William Herbert Earl of Pem-
broke.
The elevation of the men against whose power, if
not life, the late Protector was conspiring, naturally
alarmed him. He sent for Cecil (now Sir William
Cecil, and Secretary of State), and inquired if he was in
any danger. Cecil replied ' that, if he was not guilty,
he might be of good courage ; if he was, he had nothing
to say but to lament him/ It was an answer calculated
neither to soothe nor please. The Duke, says Edward,
defied Cecil, and sent for and cross-questioned Palmer.
Palmer, of course, denied that he had said anything
against him, true or false ; and he remained anxious
and uncertain till the i6th, when he appeared as usual
at the meeting of the privy council.
By this time Warwick's preparations were complete.
It is to be hoped that the full extent of his iniquity was
kept secret between himself and his instrument,, that
the council, like Edward, were his dupes. In the after-
noon of that day Somerset was arrested on a
October 16.
charge of treason, and sent to the Tower,
1 Lords' Journal.
155 1. 3 EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 39
whither he was followed immediately after by the Duchess,
Lord Arundel, Sir Thomas Arimdel, Paget, Grey, Stan-
hope, Partridge, and many more. Vane escaped across
the river, and hid himself in a stable at Lambeth ; but
he was betrayed, or discovered, in a few hours.
Palmer now enlarged his evidence. The gen-
darmerie, he said, were to have been assaulted on the
muster-day by Somerset's retinue and Sir Ralph Yane's
two thousand footmen ; the cry of liberty was to have
been raised in London ; and, in case of failure, the con-
spirators were to have fallen back on Poole or the Isle of
"Wight. Another witness supported this part of the
story ; and here, it is likely enough, that it was true.
The banquet, it was further said, where the Lords were
to have been killed, was to have been held at the house
of Lord Paget.1
The next step was to send the usual circulars to the
magistrates, informing them of the near escape of the
King and commonwealth from conspiracy ; and letters
to the same effect were sent to Pickering and Chamber-
lain, to lay before the Courts of Paris and Brussels.
Henry affected to believe — Northumberland being in
the interests of France ; 2 the Regent Mary, perhaps for
the same reason, scarcely cared to conceal her incre-
dulity.3
1 It is to be remarked that, in
the subsequent proceedings, although
the banquet was alluded to, the in-
tended scene of it was not again
mentioned. Neither Paget nor
A.rundel was tried, although, if any
plot was really formed for the mur-
der, Arundel was one of the princi-
pal persons concerned in it.
2 Pickering to the Council :
TYTLEB, vol. ii.
8 Chamberlain told her of 'his
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
The prosecution was temporarily interrupted by the
arrival and entertainment in London of Mary of Guise,
on her route from France to Scotland ; and, at the same
time, by an invitation from Maurice and the other Pro-
testant princes, to join in the great enterprise about to
be attempted against the Emperor. But the pageant
of a royal entertainment was soon over, and Warwick
and his friends were too deeply disloyal to the cause of
which they were so loud professors, to join in a religious
confederacy. Their own idea of foreign policy was the
balance of power, which no other object, divine or
human, ought to derange ; l and the Germans were put
off with an evasive answer, and at last with an equiva-
lent to a refusal.2 Northumberland's attention was
demanded for a more serious object.
Majesty's escape.' ' She said she
was sorry to hear of the Duke's so
evil behaviour ; yet was she glad
and thanked God, who had so well
preserved his Highness. But is it
true, she said, that the Duke meant
anything to the King's Majesty's
person ; demanding hy what means
he could be able to do the same,
musing much at the matter why the
Duke would shew himself so ingrate
towards the King's Majesty. The
thing, quoth she, is very strange, for
that by all reason the Duke's whole
wealth did depend upon the King's
Majesty's prosperity and welfare.' —
MS. Flanders, Edward VI. vol. i.
State Paper Office.
1 It is well explained in a- de-
spatch of Doctor Wotton, who, to do
him justice, did not aft'ect much
interest in the Reformation. France,
in spite of professions of friendship,
he looked upon as a treacherous
neighbour. ' From France/ he said,
' danger may, perhaps, be suspected,
if the Protestants, plucking their
heads out of the yoke, and labouring
to recover their oppressed liberty,
deliver the French from all fear and
suspicion of the Emperor.' To
sacrifice the Protestants, lest the
Emperor should be too much weak-
ened, to irritate the quarrels between
the Emperor and France, lest either
of them should meddle with Eng-
land, was the ignoble policy of an
English liberal Government. — Wot-
ton to Cecil : JUS. State Paper Office
2 EDWARD'S Journal, Novem-
ber, 1551, and March, 1552.
155 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 41
November was spent in a series of private
November.
examinations of the prisoners in the Tower.
Crane, the witness who had supported Palmer, declared,
on being cross-questioned, that Somerset's intentions,
whatever they were, had been abandoned. Lord
Arundel admitted reluctantly, and after many denials,
a design formed by himself and the Duke to arrest
Northumberland and Northampton at the council, and
to compel a change in the mode of government.1 Ham-
mond, one of the Duke's servants, deposed to a guard
which the Duke kept in his ante-room. A collection of
questions remain, which were addressed to the Duke
himself, though his answers are lost ; and these ques-
tions are important, as has been well observed,2 since
they contain no allusion to the intended assassination.
Other evidence was obtained also, but of an immaterial
kind. On the 3oth the witnesses were examined sever-
ally before the peers who were to sit upon the trial, and
they swore all of them that their confessions were true,
* without compulsion, fear, envy, or displeasure.' The
next morning, the first of December, at five
T)PO T
o'clock, in the winter darkness, the Duke was
brought in a barge from the Tower to Westminster
Hall. In fear of a demonstration, which the popularity
of Somerset made more than likely, an order of council
had been sent out the day before, that every household
should keep within-doors, and that in each house jne
1 Confession of Lord Arundel : MS. Domestic, Edward VI. vol. xiii.
printed partially by TYTLER.
2 By Mr TYTLER.
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
man at least should be ready with his arms, to be called
out, if order should be disturbed. But the eagerness of
the people defied the command to stay at home, and by
daybreak Palace-yard and the court before the hall were
thronged with a vast multitude, all passionately devoted
to Somerset, all execrating his rival. The court was
formed; Lord Winchester sitting as High Steward.
Twenty- six peers, Northumberland, Northampton, and
Pembroke among them, took their seats, and at nine
o'clock the prisoner was led forward to the bar.1
Under the Act of Unlawful Assemblies2
the late Protector was charged, under various
counts, with having treasonably collected men in his
house for an ill intent, as to kill the Duke of Northum-
berland ; with having devised the death of the Lords
of the Council ; with having intended to raise the city
of London to assault the Lords of the Council ; and,
finally, with having purposed to resist his arrest. On
the last three counts he was further indicted for felony.
As usual in trials for treason, the principal witnesses
December.
1 For the particulars of Somer-
set's trial, see EDWAKD'S Journal,
STOW, HOLINSHED, tlie Privy Coun-
cil Register, the papers in vol. xiii.
of the Domestic MSS. of the reign
of Edward VI., the Grey Friars'
Chronicle, and the second volume of
Mr TYTLER'S Edward and Mary.
2 3 and 4 Edward VI. cap. 5 :
If any persons to the number of
twelve or above, being assembled
together, shall practise with force of
arms unlawfully and of their own
authority to murder, kill, slay, take,
or imprison any of the King's most
honourable privy council, or unlaw-
fully to alter or change any laws
made or established by authority of
Parliament, and being commanded
by the Sheriff of the shire, or any
justice of the peace, to retire to their
own houses, shall remain together
for one hour after such proclamation,
or after that shall attempt or do anj
of the things above specified, every
such act shall be judged high treason.
IS5I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 43
were not brought into court ; their depositions, taken
down elsewhere, were read aloud. The Duke, when
called on to answer, admitted that he had collected men,
and that he had spoken of killing Northumberland and
Northampton ; but afterwards he said he * determined
the contrary/ 1 He denied an intention of raising the
city of London, or the northern counties. The story of
the banquet, he said, was altogether false. When Crane's
evidence was read, he desired that Crane might be pro-
duced in court and confronted with him. Palmer, he
said, was a worthless villain. Lord Strange was the
only witness who came forward in person. Strange
declared that Somerset had moved him to persuade the
King to break with France, and marry Lady Seymour.
This, too, Somerset denied ; but Strange persisted. The
peers withdrew. Northumberland, possibly in pretended
moderation, but more likely to ensure a condemnation,2
disclaimed a desire to press the treason charge ; for a
lighter verdict Somerset's own confession seemed suffi-
cient. On the first count, therefore, the Lords returned
a verdict of not guilty. Amidst a murmur of applause,
the sergeant- at- arms left the hall with the axe of the
Tower. The anxious crowd at the doors, mistaking his
1 And yet, says Edward, ' he
seemed to admit that he went about
their deaths.' — Journal, December,
I55i-
2 Lord Coke, commenting upon
the trial, observes that, even admit-
ting the truth of the evidence, the
verdict was not justified, because
there had been no proclamation call-
ing on the Duke and his confederates
to disperse ; and it was only by per-
sisting, after such proclamation had
been read, that his conduct came
under tbe Treason Act. Northum-
berland probably anticipated the
objection, and was contented with
an ordinary verdict of felony undef
the common law.
44
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
appearance for a final acquittal, sent up a shout again,
and again, and again, which pealed up to Charing Cross,
and was heard in Long Acre. But congratulations were
premature. Acquitted of treason, the Duke was found
guilty of felony, which would answer equally to ensure
his destruction ; l Winchester pronounced sentence of
death ; and, amidst the awful silence which followed,
the Duke fell on his knees, thanking the court for his
trial, and, unless Edward was deceived by a purposely
false report, asked Northumberland to pardon him,
confessing that he had meant his destruction.2 ' Duke
of Somerset/ Northumberland answered from his seat,
' you see yourself a man in peril of life and sentenced to
die. Once before I saved you in a like danger, nor will
I desist to serve you now, though you may not believe
me. Appeal to the mercy of the King's Majesty, which
I doubt not he will extend to you. For myself, gladly
I pardon all things which you have designed against
me, and Twill do my best that your life maybe spared/3
The truth is hard to read through such a maze of
1 Edward, writing to his friend,
Barnaby Fitzpatrick, says, 'After
debating the matter till nine of the
clock till three, the Lords went
together, and there weighing that
the matter seemed only to touch
their lives, although afterwards more
inconvenience might have followed,
and that men might think they did
it of malice, acquitted him of high
treason, and condemned him of
felony, which he seemed to have con-
fessed.' — Edward to Fitzpatrick :
printed in FULLER'S Church His-
tory.
2 Edward to Fitzpatrick : Ibid.
Edward adds, in his Journal, that
two days after, Somerset confessed
in the Tower that he had hired a
man named Bertiville to kill North-
umberland and Northampton ; that
Bertiville was arrested, and on being
examined, confessed also.
3 John ab Ulmis to Bullinger:
Epistola TIGURIN^E, p. 291.
I55I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 45
treachery. If it be true that Somerset confessed, either
in the court or the Tower, that he had really meditated
murder, he was no better than Northumberland ; interest
or sympathy is alike wasted upon either, and Palmer's
evidence may, in that case, have been exaggerated only
because the intended crime was certain, though the
proof was insufficient. Yet, if Northumberland had but
anticipated a blow which had been aimed against him-
self, his conduct would scarcely have sat so heavily on
his conscience. Scarcely, too, would Cranmer or Ridley,
unlike the pious flatterers of the now all-powerful states-
man, have risked his anger with ' shewing their con-
sciences ' in such a cause.1
But if to the historical inquirer it seems doubtful
whether the guilt was on both sides or but on one, the
world at the time entertained no such uncertainty. So
deep was the excitement, so general the suspicion of the
verdict, that it was found necessary to overawe London
two days after with a parade of the gendarmerie.
Arundel and Paget were examined in the Star Chamber
with closed doors, but a second trial was a risk too great
to be ventured.
When Parliament was prorogued in October, there
1 ' I have heard that Cranmer,
and another, whom I will not name,
were hoth in high displeasure ; the
one for shewing his conscience se-
cretly, hut plainly and fully, in the
Duke of Somerset's cause ; and both
of late, but especially Cranmer, for
repugning against the spoil of the
Church goods taken away without
law or order of justice, by command-
ment of the higher powers.' — Rid-
ley's Lamentation on the State of
England: FOXE, vol. vii. p. 573.
Ridley must be supposed to mean
himself by the ' other ' whom he
will not name.
kEIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
had been an evident dread of the humour which might
be shown by the Lower House ; and measures had been
taken to secure assistance there which might be depended
upon.1 Meantime Northumberland's friends gave out
that, on the trial, and since the trial, he had exerted
himself in Somerset's interests with unparalleled gen-
erosity. The execution was delayed perhaps to give
colour to the story, and it was reported first that the
King had granted a free pardon ; 2 next it was said that
a pardon had been offered, but that the Duke, counting
on his own or his friends' power, would not accept it,
and had flung back the generous overtures of the council
with scorn and insolence.3 The death of his brother
was brought back against him with ingenious misrepre-
sentation.4 His arrogance, it was pretended, could no
longer be endured, and, should he escape punishment,
he would throw the whole realm into confusion to
revenge himself.6
1 ' A letter to be written to the
Lord Chancellor to cause search to
be made how many of the Parliament
House be dead since the last session,
to the intent that grave and wise
men might be elected to supply their
place, for the avoiding of the mis-
order that hath been noted in sundry
young men and others of small judg-
ment. ' — Privy Council Register, MS.
October 28, 1551. The Council had
never ventured on a second trial of
the disposition of the country. The
same Parliament continued to sit
which was elected in 1547.
2 John ab Ulmis to Bullinger :
Epistolce TIQUKIZOE.
3 Burgoyne to Calvin : Ibid.
4 ' It is notorious to every one
that he was the occasion of his bro-
ther's death, who was beheaded on
his information, instigated by I
know not what hatred and rivalry.'
—Ibid. Elizabeth, a better au-
thority than Burgoyne, said that, so
anxious was Somerset to save the
admiral, that those who were deter-
mined on his death found it neces-
sary to prevent an interview between
the brothers. — Supra.
5 Burgoyne to Calvin.
EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 47
Calvin, more keen- sighted than the correspondent
who furnished him with these stories, meditated a re-
monstrance to the King, with a caution against the
advisers who were betraying him.1 In England the
general indignation could not be concealed by the loud
applauses of the revolutionists. It was likely enough
that, were Somerset free, there would be a convulsion ;
but men could not be convinced that any change would
be an evil which would deliver them from the hated
Northumberland.2
No alteration could be expected in the popular feel-
ing, and the irritation would be inflamed by longer
delay. The execution was fixed at last for the j_-2
morning of the 22nd of January. January 22.
As an attempt at rescue was anticipated, an order
of council again commanded all inhabitants of the city
or the suburbs to keep to their houses. A thousand
men-at-arms brought in from the country were drawn
up on Tower Hill, and with the gendarmerie formed a
ring round the scaffold ; but the proclamation was not
more effectual at the execution than at the trial. As
the day dawned, the great square and every avenue of
1 Addcbat ille te in animo habere
de duels morte nescis quid adversus
nostros homines scribere immo ad
regem ipsum. — Valerandus Pollanus
Joanni Calvino : Epistola TIGU-
BIN.ZE.
2 The new coinage, good as it
was, could find no favour, from the
dread and suspicion in which the
Duke of Northumberland was held.
' December 16, there was a pro-
clamation for the new coin, that no
man should speak ill of it : for be-
cause the people said divers ....
that there was the ragged staff . . .
it . .'—Imperfect Fragment in the
Grey Friars' Chronicle.
48
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28.
approach to it were thronged with spectators, pressing
on all sides against the circle of armed men.
A little before eight o'clock the Tower guard
brought up their prisoner. Somerset's countenance was
singularly handsome, and both his features and his
person were marked with an habitual expression of
noble melancholy. Amidst his many faults he was
every inch a gentleman. He was dressed in the splen-
did costume which he had worn in receptions of state.
As he stepped upon the scaffold, he knelt and said a
short prayer ; he then rose, and, bowing to the people,
spoke bareheaded.1
1 Masters and good fellows. I am come hither to die ;
but a true and faithful man as any was unto the King's
Majesty and to his realm. But I am condemned by a
law whereunto I am subject, as we all, and therefore to
show obedience I am content to die ; wherewith I am
well content, being a thing most heartily welcome to
me ; for the which I do thank God, taking it for a sin-
gular benefit as ever might have come to me otherwise.
For, as I am a man, I have deserved at God's hand
many deaths ; and it has pleased his goodness, whereas
He might have taken me suddenly, \;hat I should
neither have known Him nor myself, thus now to visit
me and call me with this present death as you do see,
1 There are several reports of
Somerset's last words. That in the
text is from an MS. printed by Sir
Henry Ellis, which is simpler and
shorter than the version given by
Foxe and Holinshed, and was most
likely the nucleus out of which the
latter accounts were expanded. I
have added one sentence, that marked
between brackets, from Burgoyne's
letter to Calvin.
(552-1 EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 49
where I have had time to remember and acknowledge
Him, and to know also myself, for the which I do thank
Him most heartily. And, my friends, more I have to
say to you concerning religion : I have been always,
being in authority, a further er of it to the glory of God
to the uttermost of my power ; whereof I am nothing
soriy, but rather have cause and do rejoice most gladly
that I have so done, for the greatest benefit of God that
ever I had, or any man might have in this world, be-
seeching you all to take it so, and to follow it on still ;
for, if not, there will follow and come a worse and great
plague/
He was still speaking, when the crowd began sud-
denly to wave and shift. Through the breathless silence
a noise was heard like the trampling of the £eet of a
large number of men approaching :^ some thought it was
a rescue, some one thing, some another ; shouts rose,
away ! away ! the packed multitude attempted to scat-
ter, and as the sound had created the alarm, the alarm
now increased the sound. Some cried that it thundered,
some that an army was coming down from heaven, some
felt the earth shake under their feet. The mystery was
merely that a company of soldiers, who had been ordered
to be at Tower Hill by eight o'clock, and had found
themselves late, were coming at a run through an ad-
joining street ; l but no one thought of looking for a
reasonable cause. ' There was a rumbling/ says Ha-
chyn,2 ' as it had been guns shooting, and great horses
1 Stow was present, and ascertained carefully the origin of the alarm.
2 MACHYN'S Diary, January 22.
VOL. V. 4
50 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
coming. A thousand fell to the ground for fear, for
that they on the one side thought no other but that
the one was killing the other ; a hundred fell into the
Tower ditch, and some ran away for fear/
In the midst of the confusion, Sir Anthony Browne
was seen forcing his horse through the throng towards
the scaffold, and above the clamour rose a shout of
'Pardon, pardon ; a pardon from the King.'
Had Somerset been deceived, it would have been a
cruel aggravation of his suffering ; but he knew North-
omberland too well.
He had stood in the front of the scaffold with his
cap in his hand, waiting till the noise should cease. At
the cry of a pardon he exclaimed : ' There is no such
thing, good people ; there is no such thing/ His voice
quieted them, and h^ went on with his address : —
' It is the ordinance of Grod thus to die, wherewith
we must be content ; [I beseech you do not grieve for
my fortunes ; keep yourselves quiet and still, and make
no disturbance, or attempt to save me, for I do not de-
sire a longer life ;] and let us now pray together for
the King's Majesty, to whose Grace I have always been
a faithful, true, and most loving subject, desirous al-
ways of his most prosperous success in all his affairs,
and ever glad of the furtherance and helping forward
of the commonwealth of his realm/
At the concluding words voices answered, ' Yes,
yes, yes/ Some one cried above the rest, ' This is found
now too true/
The Duke then drew off his rings, and gave them to
1552.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 51
the executioner. Dropping his cloak, lie unbuckled his
sword,- which he presented to the Lieutenant of the
Tower, and, after a few words with the Dean of Christ
Church, who had attended him, he loosened his shirt-
collar, and knelt quietly before the block. Three times
he was heard to say, ' Lord Jesus, save me.' The heads-
man's arm rose, fell, and all was over.
The English public, often wildly wrong on general
questions, are good judges, for the most part, of personal
character ; and so passionately was Somerset loved, that
those who were nearest the scaffold started forward to
dip their handkerchiefs in his blood. His errors were
forgotten in the tragedy of his end ; and the historian
who in his life sees much to censure, who, had he
recovered his Protectorate, would, perhaps, have been
obliged to repeat the same story of authority unwisely
caught at and unwisely used, can find but good words
only for the victim of the treachery of Northumber-
land.
In revolutions the most excellent things are found
ever in connection with the most base. The enthusiast
for the improvement of mankind works side by side with
the adventurer, to whom change is welcome, that he
may better his fortune in the scramble : and thus it is
that patriots and religious reformers show in fairest
colours when their cause is ungained, when they are a
struggling minority chiefly called upon to suffer. Gold
and silver will not answer for the purposes of a curt en cy
till they are hardened with some interfusion of courser
metal ; and truth and justice, when they have forced
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28
their way to power, make a compromise with the world,
and accept some portion of the world's spirit as the
price at which they may exercise their ever limited
dominion. So it is at the best : too often, as the devil
loves most to mar the fairest works, the good, when
success is gained, are pushed aside as dreamers, or used
only as a shield for the bad deeds of their confederates ;
they are happy if their own nature escape infection
from the instruments which they use, and from the
elements in which they are compelled to work.
While the lay ministers' of Edward VI. were ' sowing
the wind/ where the harvest in due time would follow,
Archbishop Oranmer, keeping aloof more and more
from them and their doings, or meddling in them only
to protest, was working silently at the English Prayer-
book. ISTo plunder of Church or Crown had touched the
hands of Cranmer. No fibre of political intrigue, or
crime, or conspiracy could be traced to the palace at
Lambeth. He had lent himself, it was true, in his too
great eagerness to carry out the Reformation, to the
persecution and deposition of Bonner and Gardiner ;
but his share1 had been slight in the more recent acts
1 Underbill, ' the hot gospeller,
tells in his Narrative how in the
palmy days of Northumberland he
arrested the Vicar of Stepney,
'Abbot quondam of Tower Hill,'
and carried him to Croydon before
the Archbishop. The vicar had dis-
turbed the preachers in Stepney
Church, caused the bells to be rung
when they were at sermon, and chal-
lenged their doctrine in the pulpit.
'The Archbishop was too full of
lenity,' ' a little he rebuked him,
and bid him do no more so.' The
Puritan's zeal was kindled. ' My
Lord/ said Underbill, ' methinks
you are too gentle unto so stout a
Papist.' — 'We have no law to punish
them,' said the Archbishop. — 'No
law ? my Lord,' the gospeller ex-
I552-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 53
of violence which recovered to the Catholics the hearts
of the English people ; and to the last he was considered
\)y the ultras as timid and intellectually weak.
Whether the charge of timidity was true, he had an
opportunity of showing when Edward died and North-
umberland recanted ; when the noisy tongues of the
gospellers were heard only at a safe distance, and the
so-called timid ones remained to witness to their faith
in suffering. Happily for his memory, and happily for
the Church of England, tho Archbishop was more nobly
occupied than the ( gospellers ' desired to see him.
As the translation of the Bible bears upon it the
imprint of the mind of Tyndal, so, while the Church of
England remains, the image of Cranmer will be seen
reflected on the calm surface of the Liturgy. The most
beautiful portions of it are translations from the Bre-
viary ; yet the same prayers translated by others would
not be those which chime like church bells in the ears
of the English child. The translations, and the ad-
dresses which are original, have the same silvery
melody of language, and breathe the same simplicity of
spirit. So long as Cranmer trusted himself, and would
not let himself be dragged beyond his convictions, he
was the representative of the feelings of the best among
claimed, ' if I had your authority, I
would be so hold to unvicar him, or
minister some sharp punishment
unto him. Tf ever it come to their
turn, they will show you no such
favour.' — « Well,' said the Arch-
bishop, ' if God so provide, we must |
abide it.' — ' Surely,' said Underbill,
' God will never thank you for this,
but rather take the sword from such
as will not use it upon his enemies.'
— -UNDERBILL'S Narrative, MS.
Harleian, 425.
54 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
his countrymen. With the reverent love for the past,
which could appropriate its excellencies, he could feel
at the same time the necessity for change. While he
could no longer regard the sacraments with a super-
stitious idolatry, he saw in them ordinances divinely
appointed, and therefore especially, if inexplicably,
sacred.
In this temper, for the most part, the English Church
services had now, after patient labour, been at length
completed by him, and were about to be laid before
Parliament. They had grown slowly. First had come
the primers of Henry VIII.; then the Litany was
added ; and then the first Communion-book. The next
step was the Prayer-book of 1549 ; and now at last the
complete Liturgy, which survives after three hundred
years. In a few sentences only, inserted apparently
under the influence of Ridley, doctrinal theories
were pressed beyond the point to which opinion was
legitimately gravitating. The priest was converted
absolutely into a minister, the altar in.to a table, the
eucharist into a commemoration, and a commemoration
only. But these peculiarities were uncongenial with
the rest of the Liturgy, with which they refuse to har-
monize ; and o£ the final establishment of the Church
of England, were dropped or modified.1 They were, in
* Prayer-book of 1549.
The priest shall first
receive the communion
in botli kinds, and next
deliver it to other minis-
ters, if any be there
Prayer-book 0/1552.
Then shall the minis-
ter first receive the com-
munion in both kinds
himself; and next de-
liver it to other urinis-
Prayer-book of Elizabeth.
Then shall the min-
ister first receive the
communion in both
kinds himself ; and then
proceed to deliver thp
t552.j EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OP SOMERSET. 55
fact, the seed of vital alterations, for which the nation
was unprepared; which, had Edward lived two years
longer, would have produced, first, the destruction of
the Church as a body politic, and then an after-fruit of
re-action more inveterate than even the terrible one
Prayer-book 0/1549.
Prayer-book of 1552.
Prayer-book of Elizabeth.
present, that they may-
ters, if there be any
same to the bishops,
be ready to help the
present, that they may
priests, and deacons in
chief minister, and after
help the chief minister ;
like manner, if any be
to the people. And
and after to the people
present ; and after that
when he delivereth the
in their hands, kneeling.
to the people also in
sacrament of the body of
And when he delivereth
their hands, all meekly
Christ, he shall say to
the bread, he shall say —
kneeling. And when he
every one —
delivereth the bread to
any one, he shall say —
The body of our Lord
Take and eat this in
The body of our Lord
Jesus Christ preserve
remembrance that Christ
Jesus Christ, which was
thy body and soul to
died for thee, and feed
given for thee, preserve
everlasting life.
on him in thy heart by
thy body and soul to
And the minister
faith with thanksgiv-
everlasting life. Take
delivering the sacrament
ing.
and eat this in remem-
of the blood, and giv-
And the minister that
brance that Christ died
ing every one to drink
delivereth the cup shall
for thee, and feed on him
once, and no more, shall
say—
in thy heart by faith
say—
with thanksgiving.
And the minister
that delivereth the cup
to any one shall say —
The blood of our
Drink this in re-
The blood of our Lord
Lord Jesus Christ,
membrance that Christ's
Jesus Christ, which was
which ivas shed for thee,
blood was shed for thee,
shed for thee, preserve
preserve thy body and
and be thankful.
thy body and soul to
soul to everlasting life.
everlasting life. Drink
this in remembrance
that Christ's blood was
shed for thee and be
thankful.
Similarly in the consecration of the elements, the sign of the cross was di-
rected to be used in 1549, and omitted in 1552- There were other
changes. The discerning reader will see the spirit of them in these com-
55 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
under Mary. But Edward died before the Liturgy
could be further tampered with ; and from amidst the
foul weeds in which its roots were buried it stands up
beautiful, the one admirable thing which the unhappy
reign produced. Prematurely born, and too violently
forced upon the country, it was, nevertheless, the right
thing, the thing which essentially answered to the
spiritual demands of the nation. They rebelled against
it, because it was precipitately thrust upon them ; but
services which have overlived so many storms speak for
their own excellence, and speak for the merit of the
workman.
As the Liturgy was prepared for Parliament and
people, so for the Convocation and the clergy there were
drawn up a body of articles of religion : forty-two of
them, as they were first devised ; thirty-nine, as they
are now known to the theological student. These also
have survived, and, like other things in this country,
have survived their utility, and the causes which gave
them birth. Articles of belief they have been called ;
articles of teaching ; articles of peace. Protestants who
have restored the right of private judgment, who con-
demn so emphatically the articles added by the Council
of Trent to the Christian creed, not for themselves only,
but because human beings are not permitted to bind
propositions of their own upon the consciences of be-
lievers, will scarcely pretend that they are the first. If
it be unlawful for a Catholic council to enlarge the dog-
matic system of Christianity, no more can it be permitted
to a local Church tq impose upon the judgment a series
I552-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 57
of intricate assertions' on theological subtleties which the
most polemical divines will not call vital, or on ques-
tions of public and private morality, where the con-
science should be the only guide.
The death of the Duke of Somerset was followed by
the trial and execution of Yane, Partridge, Stanhope, and
Sir Thomas Arundel. The condemnation of Arundel was
effected with great difficulty. The jury were shut up on
a day in January twenty-four hours, without
fire, food, or drink, before they would agree
upon a verdict, and the four sufferers died protesting
their innocence.
On the 30th of January Northumberland met Par-
liament.
The Prayer-book passed without difficulty. Cuth-
bert Tunstal, the last bishop who would have opposed it,
had joined Gardiner in the Towjer, the letter found
among Somerset's papers having furnished an excuse to
lay hands upon him ; and a second Act was passed for
uniformity of religious worship — persons who refused
to come to church being liable to censure or excom-
munication, those who attended any other service to
imprisonment.
A zeal was affected also for the more practical parts
of religion, the humour of the people becoming danger-
ous, and the more earnest among the Reformers insist-
ing on being heard. In a sermon before the King,
Ridley had spoken of the distress to which the spoliation
of public charities had reduced the London poor. Ed-
ward sent for him afterwards, thanked him for what he
&E1GN OF EDWARD THE SIX 77 f. [CH. 28.
February.
had said, and asked him what should be done. Too wise
to refer such a question to the council, the Bishop said
that the corporation of the city were the best persons to
consult with, and Edward wrote a letter to
Sir Richard Dobbs, the mayor, with which
Ridley charged himself. The corporation, in the last
few years, had shown in favourable contrast with the
Government. While the dependents of Somerset and
Northumberland were appropriating and absorbing
hospitals and schools, the Lord Mayor and aldermen
had founded others at their own expense ; and now, on
the invitation of the King, they proceeded in the same
direction with more effective energy. The House of the
Grey Friars was repaired and refitted for the education
of poor children, under the name of Christ's Hospital.
St Thomas's Hospital, which had been suppressed, was
purchased by the corporation for the reception of the
impotent and diseased poor. St Bartholomew's was
surrendered by the Crown into the mayor's hands, with
fresh endowments ; and the royal palace of Bridewell, a
little later, with the estate which had belonged to the
Hospital of the Savoy, was made over as a workhouse
for able-bodied labourers out of employ.1
1 HOLINSHED, STOW'S Survey of
London. Bridewell was granted by
the Crown at the particular entreaty
of Ridley, whose characteristic letter
to Cecil on the subject survives.
Good Mr Cecil,
I must be a suitor to you in our
master Christ's cause. I beseech
you be good unto him. The matter
is, sir, alas, he thath lyen too long
abroad, as you do know, without
lodging, in the streets of London,
both hungry, naked, and cold. Now
thanks be unto Almighty God, the
citizens are willing to refresh him,
and to give him both meat, drink,
clothing, and tiring. But alas, sir,
they lack lodging for him ; for in
i5$2.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET.
Not to be left too far behind by the citizens, the
Government exerted themselves in the same direction.
An Act was passed' in Parliament for the collection of
alms for the poor in every parish. The contribution.?,
were nominally voluntary, but payment might be en-
forced by the reproofs of the clergy, the censures of the
Church, and by punishment at the discretion of the
Bishop.1 The scandalous frauds in the manufacture of
woollen cloth having injured the credit of the trade,2
the sheep-farming no longer yielded its disproportionate
profits ; the tillage question could, therefore, be taken
up again with a chance of success. Commissioners
were appointed to hold district courts, to empanel
juries, and compel the owners to bring their recent
some one house they say they are fain
to lodge three families under one
roof. Sir, there is a wide large house
of the King's Majesty's called Bride-
well that would wonderful well serve
to lodge Christ in, if he might find
such good friends in the Court as
would procure in his cause. Surely,
I have so good an opinion in the
King's Majesty, that if Christ had
such faithful and hearty friends that
would heartily speak for him, he
should undoubtedly speed at the
King's Majesty's hands. Sir, I have
promised my brethren the citizens in
this matter to move you, because I
take you for one that feareth God,
and would not that Christ should lie
no more abroad in the street. There
is a rumour that one goeth about to
buy that house of the King's Ma-
jesty, and to pull it down. If there
be any such thing, for God's sake
speak you in our Master's cause. I
have written unto Mr Gates more at
large in this matter. I join you
with him and all that look for
Christ's benediction in the latter
day. If Mr Cheke was with you, in
whose recovery God be blessed, I
would surely make him in this be-
half one of Christ's special advocates,
or rather one of his principal proc-
tors ; and surely I would not be said
nay. And thus I wish you in Christ
ever well to fare. From my house
at Fulham this present Sunday.
Yours in Christ,
NIC. LONDON.
—Lansdoune MSS. 3.
1 5 Edward VI. cap. 2.
a Ibid. cap. 6.
60 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28
pastures under the plough.1 The Flanders Jews hav-
ing made the Government susceptible on money ques-
tions, they passed a Statute of Usury, which formed a
curious complement to their general administration of
the finances. By the 9th of the 37th of Henry VIII.,
the legal interest of money was limited to ten per cent.
' But this was not meant/ it was now declared,2 ' as if to
allow usury, which was a thing unlawful/ ' a vice
most odious and detestable ; ' but only ' for the avoiding
of more ill and inconvenience that before that time was
used : ' and since a sense of their duties in this matter
1 could by no godly teaching and persuasion sink into
the hearts of divers greedy, uncharitable, and covetous
persons/ it was decreed that thenceforward no interest
of any kind should be demanded or given upon any
loan, under pain of forfeiture, imprisonment, and fine.
So far all had gone smoothly. On other matters the
Commons were more suspicious and less tractable. The
forfeiture of the estates of the Duke of Somerset gave
occasion to a sharp debate. A Protestant heresy bill,
introduced 'for the protection of the King's subjects
from such heresies as might happen by strangers dwell-
ing among them/ was referred to a committee of
bishops ; but fell through and was lost.3 Northumber-
land, intending to appropriate the estates of the bishopric
of Durham, brought in a bill to deprive Tunstal, on a
charge of treason, and succeeded, in spite of Cranmer's
1 5 Edward VI. cap. 5. - Ibid. cap. 20.
Lords Journals, 5 and 6 Edward VI.
1552.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 61
opposition, in carrying it through the Lords.
The Lower House, however, required that
Tunstal's accusers should be brought face to face with
him, and that he should be heard in his defence, which
for many reasons would be inconvenient. The Duke,
therefore, withdrew his bill, and proceeded by commis-
sion, which did the work for him less scrupulously, but
did not improve his reputation. Cranmer refused to
sit, and the Bishop of Durham was deposed by a court
composed of laymen.
Still more significant was the treatment which a new
Statute of Treason received in the House of Commons.
As the administration became more detested, incendiary
pamphlets and handbills multiplied, and it was desired
to restore in some degree the sharp discipline of the last
reign. The Lords again complied.1 The Commons
rejected the Government measure, and drew another of
their own.2 In the absence of a copy of the rejected
bill, it is impossible to say what it contained ; it may
be conjectured, however, with some certainty, that it
did not contain a clause which appears in the Act as it
was finally passed, a clause providing that no person
should in future be attainted or convicted of treason
under that or any other statute, unless the charges in
1 Tt is easy to see why : there
wore but forty-seven lay peers who
had seats in this Parliament ; thirty-
one was the fullest attendance during
this session, the Catholic lords syste-
matically absenting them/selves. The
council and their friends, therefore,
being punctually at their seats, and
having bishops of their own creation
at their backs, were certain in almost
all cases of a majority.
2 Commons Journals. 5 and 6
Edward VI.
REIGN" OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
the indictment should have been first proved in the
presence of the accused by two witnesses at least.1
Northumberland's endeavours to fill the vacant seats
in the House with wise and discreet persons had been
too successful. The composition did not please him,
and on the I ^th of April the first Parliament
April 15. ~ ,*
of Edward YI. was dissolved.
Outward events, however, continued to favour him,
tempting him to believe himself irresistible, and lead-
ing him on to the fatal step which for the moment made
shipwreck of the Eeformation. The English council
had refused the application of Duke Maurice and the
princes of the League for assistance. They had declined
to take part in a movement which was to break the
power of Charles Y. in Germany for ever, and give
peace for three quarters of a century to the Lutheran
churches. Magdeburg still held out ; but the secret of
Maurice's intentions was so well kept that, although
Charles suspected him of voluntary negligence, he seems
to have entertained no serious misgivings about him.
1 'Provided always, and be it
enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that no person shall be indicted, ar-
raigned, condemned, convicted, or
attainted for any treasons that now
be, or hereafter shall be, which shall
hereafter be perpetrated, committed,
or done, unless the same offender or
offenders be thereof accused by two
lawful accusers, which said accusers,
at the time of the arraignment of
the party accused, if they be then
living, shall be brought in person
before the party so accused, and
avow and maintain that that they
have to say against the said party, to
prove him guilty of the treason or
offences contained in the bill of in-
dictment laid against the party ar-
raigned.'— 5 and 6 Edward, cap. xi.
sec. 9. The Act containing this
salutary order was repealed by the
1st of Mary, or the reform of the
English treason law would have
been antedated by a century.
I55I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 63
He had spies in the Duke's camp ; but his spies played
him false, or were themselves deceived ; and while
Maurice was corresponding with England and France,
and making preparations for a general revolt, the Em-
peror, in fancied security, had arranged to go to Inn-
spruck, to be in the neighbourhood of the Council of
Trent, when the Protestant representatives should pre
sent themselves there in the course of the winter.
On leaving Augsburg Charles ventured on a measure
of imprudent intimidation. His inability to enforce the
Interim there, even in his own presence, and under his
own eyes, had exasperated him. On the 26th
of August the Bishop of Arras sent for the Pro-
testant clergy, accused them briefly of disobedience to
the Imperial rescripts ; and requiring them to take an
oath to depart out of Germany, he ordered them at once,
and without an hour's delay, to leave their houses and
the town. In vain they appealed to the law, and
claimed the privileges of citizens. They were driven
out, and Sir Richard Morryson, writing from the spot,
describes the consequences of this high-handed tyranny.
' Men do much marvel/ he wrote to the council, ' that
M. dj Arras durst venture to do this ; more, that he
durst do it at this time ; more than all, that the Em-
peror would consent to a thing that so easily might
have turned him, his Court, yea, his whole city, to
trouble ; but what doth greedy ambition stick at, or
what doth not desperate desire force men to attempt ?
The Emperor's friends be fleeting again, his enemies
ready to do their worst ; he must, therefore, make
64 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28.
friends of Julius III., his surety so long as it lasteth.
He must do displeasure to as many as he may, so his
friend Julius be thereby pleased. The wound is yet
green, and not so felt as perhaps it will be when time
and trouble shall lay open the multitude and greatness
of these men's miseries. Men and women are at this
present so astounded at the whole of their misery that
they have no leisure to peruse the parts thereof. There
be few shops but some men or women be seen weeping
in them ; few streets but there be men in plumps, that
look as they had rather do worse than suffer their pre-
sent thraldom. On Friday last there were about a
hundred women at the Emperor's gates, howling, and
asking in their outcries where they should christen
their children, or whether their children not christened
should be taken as heathen dogs. They would have
gone to the Emperor's house, but our Catholic Spaniards
kept them out, reviling them. The Papist churches
have for all this no more customers than they had — not
ten of the townsmen in some of their greatest syna-
gogues. The churches are locked up ; the people sit
weeping at home, and do say they will beg among
Protestants, rather than live in wealth where they must
be Papists. Babes new born lie unchristened ; they
will have no Latin christening.'1
The German troops mutinied ; they were ' almost
all wont to go to the Protestant service, and talked
1 Morryson and Wotton to the Council : MS. Cypher, September I,
State Paper Office.
1 55 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 65
madly of the banishment of their preachers.'1 Fresh
companies of Spaniards were brought into the town,
and the Germans marched beyond the walls.
Having lighted the match with his own hands, the
Emperor set out for Innspruck, leaving Maurice behind
him to follow out his own plans at his leisure. The
Italian quarrel had expanded, and war with France was
now openly declared. The Turkish fleet, as in the old
times of Francis, came down into the Mediterranean as
the allies of France ; a Turkish army again threatened
Hungary ; and in the same spirit and in the same policy
the French Court concluded a secret league with the
Protestant princes. Maurice undertook to keep Charles
in play with fair words till the moment came to strike,
and, with the spring, the French troops were to enter
Germany.
Over the thin crust of the mine which was to burst
under their feet the Council of Trent recom-
menced their sessions on the ist of September.
The Italian and Spanish bishops were duly in their
places ; the German Catholics were reported as on the
way ; the Diet had undertaken for the appearance of
the Lutherans ; the French bishops had not come, and
nothing was known of them. France was the point to
which the eyes of the fathers were most anxiously turn-
ing. If France was true to the Church, her differences
with the Emperor could be soon composed, and all would
be well. But France, if the eldest child of the Church,
1 Morryson and Wotton to the Council, September I : MS. State
Paper Office.
VOL. V. 6
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
ICH. 28.
was also the prodigal child, forgetful of her duties to "her
parent. Instead of bishops, there came a letter from
the King, addressed to the assembly— not as concilium,
a holy council with authority ; but as comentua, a con-
vention of mere human individuals. With many doubts
they turned the covering over before they would ac-
knowledge the irreverent despatch with reading it.1
.When the seal was broken they found professions of the
utmost devotion to the Church, but a regret that the
Grallican prelates would not be able to attend.
The terms on which the Lutherans were to be ad-
mitted were still unsettled. To the Pope, Charles had
promised that they should appear as criminals. To
Maurice he had said ambiguously that the council should
be free. On this point Maurice made his first open
move. He now demanded that the Protestant theolo-
gians should speak and vote with the Catholic bishops,
and that the Scriptures should be the one single rule of
the controversy.2 Further, although Charles had pro-
mised the Protestants that their persons should be in no
danger, the burning of Huss by the Council
of Constance showed that Catholic prelates
October.
1 The Spanish bishops were for
refusing altogether. As a middle
course, the French ambassador was
invited to request as a favour that
the letter might be received ; but
the ambassador, with the utmost
politeness, said, that he had no com-
mission. At last a learned prelate
suggested that, if they refused a
letter which was addressed to them
as a convention, they could not
decently receive communications
from the Germans, who called tbem
concilium malignantium ; and on
the whole, therefore, it was decided
to read. — PALLAVICINO.
2 Mont to the Council : MS.
Germany, bundle 15, State Paper
Office. Compare SLEIDAN.
1 55 1.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 67
held ordinary engagements lightly when they had a
chance of destroying a heretic. Maurice had a copy
taken, therefore, of the safe-conduct extorted by Huss's
followers from the Synod of Bale, and he forwarded a
duplicate for the signature of the fathers at Trent.
The first step was followed instantly by a second.
Unpermitted by the Emperor, he made terms with
Magdeburg, conceding, under a show of fair words,
every point for which the city was contending; and
the garrison immediately took service in Mau-
-vr , P , November.
rice s own army. JN ext, having so far thrown
off the mask, he sent a formal demand for the liberation
of the Landgrave of Hesse ; the Elector Palatine, the
Duke of Mecklenburg, the King of Denmark, Albert of
Brandenburg, and Ferdinand of Austria, attaching their
signatures to the petition.
The Emperor still affected to be blind to Maurice's
attitude. It was his policy to avoid seeing what, if
forced upon him, he would be obliged to resent, and,
resenting, was for the moment unable to punish. About
the Landgrave he answered vaguely neither yes nor no.
On this and other matters he could speak best, he said,
in person, and he desired that Maurice would follow
him to Innspruck : meantime, the ambassadors of the
1 The terms of submission were
not generally made known, but the
truth was felt before it was acknow-
ledged. A letter from Hamburg
to the English council, on the 4th
of November, says: ' The city of
Magdeburg hath taken good success
in this treaty. They have a joyful
peace. Duke Maurice is their de-
fender, and hath taken all the soldiers
of the city and camp to serve him.' — •
John Brigantine to the Council:
MS. Germany, bundle 15, State
Paper Office
68
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [011.28.
Lutheran States — among them Sleidan the historian —
presented themselves at Trent to request the safe- conduct
for the divines,, and to settle the terms on which these
divines were to be present. The differences between the
intentions of one party and the expectations of the other
became at once apparent. The ambassadors gave in a
series of propositions on which their representatives ex-
pected to be heard. The Papal legates wondered at the
indecency of a desire to argue where the only fit course
was submission. The safe-conduct was drawn and
signed ; but it was altered from the Bohemian pattern,
and the ambassadors would not receive it. The Arch-
bishop of Toledo, who was acting for the Emperor, en-
deavoured to persuade them ; but he could only prevail
upon them to refer to Maurice, and Maurice ordered
them to stand to their demands, and not to yield an
inch. Fearful of provoking the Emperor, the fathers
consented to grant the ambassadors a private audience,
in which the Lutheran views could be generally stated.1
The ambassador of "Wurtemburg required a reconstitu-
tion of the council ; the Pope, he said, was a party to
the suit, and was no fit judge in his own cause. The
ambassador of Saxe insisted most on the safe-conduct,
with an express allusion to Constance and the declara-
tion of the bishops there that faith need not be kept with
heretics.2 The so-called heretics, he said, further, must
1 SLEIDAN.
2 Pallavicino exclaims angrily
that the bishops at Constance de-
clared nothing of the kind. They
ruled only that safe- conducts granted
hy temporal princes did not bind
ecclesiastical judges. The modern
Romanist will, perhaps, decline all
defence of a council which he regards
as half heretical.
1552.] EXECUTION Of THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 69
be admitted to vote ; the past resolutions of the council
must be reconsidered where they were at variance with
the Confession of Augsburg. Finally, he desired to
know what was to be said of the other resolution of the
Council of Constance, that a council was above a Pope.
This last question, says Pallavicino, drove the fathers at
once among the reefs and breakers, of which Clement
VII. long before had warned the Emperor.
Thus the time wore away till March, when the match
had burnt to the powder. Maurice moved on Augsburg,
which opened its gates to him. A French army ap-
peared on the Rhine, and Protestant Germany was once
more openly in arms.
Panic-stricken a second time, the bishops at Trent
melted like the snow before the returning sun. Maurice,
after restoring the expelled preachers, summoned a Diet
to meet at Passau in July ; and while the French took
possession of Yerdun and Metz, he himself, with the
Duke of Mecklenburg, made his way by rapid marches
into the Tyrol. Charles had invited him to Innspruck,
and to Innspruck he would go. The mountain passes
were fortified, but the hatred of the Tyrolese for the
Spaniards was so intense, that they offered their services
as guides, and betrayed the defences. The
detachments which had been set to guard them
were cut in pieces ; and so swift were the movements of
the Grerman army, that the first intimation which
Charles received that they had left Augsburg was the
sound of their guns but a few miles distant. It was
said that a mutiny among the Lanzknechte delayed the
76 REIGN- OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
last advance of Maurice, or the Emperor would have
been a prisoner. It was said, also, that Maurice was
unwilling to burden himself with so considerable a cap-
tive ; ' he had no cage large enough for such a bird/
But Charles, to save himself, had to fly through
a midnight storm. He himself weak with
gout, in a litter, his Court with such comforts as they
could carry on their backs and no more, made their way
in the darkness through the mountain valleys and across
the swollen streams to the Venetian frontier. Maurice
did not follow. He gave his troops the plunder of the
Imperial palace ; for himself, it was enough to know
that he had broken the spell which threatened
Germany with slavery. In July he dictated
the terms of the pacification of Passau ; and the Em-
peror, at war with France, with the Turks in the Medi-
terranean, and the council for which he had so long la-
boured scattered to all the winds, gave up the battle
with the Reformation. The Landgrave and John
Frederick were set free. The Confession of Augsburg
was again acknowledged. The Imperial chamber was
reorganized as the Protestants had so long demanded.
These points, few but vital, satisfied the moderate desires
of the Lutheran princes ; and making up his mind to
leave them thenceforward unmolested in their freedom,
Charles directed his remaining strength upon France.
Broken as he was, England was now finally safe
from the Emperor. In his present weakness, whatever
party were dominant in England, Puritan, Anglican, or
Papist, Charles Y. would equally be compelled to re-
i$52.] EXECUTION Of THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 7!
cognize them, so long as he had France upon his hands;
he would not only have to treat with them with courtesy,
but be glad to accept their support. The opportunity
was inviting. It tempted the Duke of Northumberland
into dreams which, so long as Charles was powerful, he
would not have dared to contemplate.
But, before I pass to the last phase of the Protestant
administration, I must say something of the fortunes
which during all this time had befallen Ireland. The
men who had run so strange a course at home, had
produced results no less astonishing in the sister coun-
try.
The Celtic and Celto-Norman chiefs, with whom
anarchy was chronic and peace the least endurable of
calamities, had for the last five years of the reign of
Henry VIII., under the mild rule of Sir Anthony St
Leger, remained in comparative quiet. The isolation of
England in the midst of enemies, the French invasion in
1545, the internecine war with the Scots, had given
them excellent opportunities for insurrection. But the
temptation left them unaffected. Companies of gallow-
glass served in Henry's camp at Boulogne, and even in
Leinster and Connaught there was a longer respite from
murder and pillage than those provinces had experienced
since the conquest.
Some part of his success St Leger owed to himself,
but he owed more to fortune. The reins were placed
in his hands, when, after a series of defeats, the Irish
lords had gone to London, and had seen for the first
time in their lives the wealth and resources of the coun-
72 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28.
try against which they had struggled ; when they had
been rewarded with peerages for the trouble which they
had occasioned, and had been permitted to appropriate,
on easy terms, the estates of the Irish monasteries.
The spoliation for a time compromised their ortho-
doxy, and committed them to English interests. It was
not till Henry was gone that Ireland resumed her na-
tural appearance. The policy of St Leger had been ' to
make things quiet ; ' l to overlook small offences so long
as the general order was unbroken, and to be contented
if each year the forms of law could be pushed something
deeper beyond the borders of the Pale. His greatest
success had been in prevailing upon an O'Toole to accept
the decent dignity of Sheriff of Wicklow. As a further
merit, and a great one, he had governed economically.
While the home exchequer was so heavily strained, the
Deputy of Ireland had made but few applications for
money— conciliation was cheaper than force, and he
had been happy in having to deal with a set of circum-
stances which enabled him to conciliate. His maxim
had been — Ireland for the Irish ; he had recommended
Henry to return to the old plan of appointing an Irish
deputy, and he had especially recommended the Earl of
Ormond.2 He had naturally not pleased every one.
The all- censorious Chancellor Allen had occasionally
found something to condemn, and even with Ormond
the deputy had not always been on terms ; but so long
1 Edward Walsh to the Duke of Northumberland : Irish MSS. Edward
VI. vol. iv. State Paper Office.
2 Correspondence of St Leger : State Papers, vol. iii.
EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 73
as Henry lived, good management and good fortune
combined on the whole in his favour, and his term of
government was creditable and happy.
But the reform gusts which were borne across St
George's Channel on the accession of the child King,
swept the strings of the Irish harp, and woke the old
music. ' If the Lords of the Council/ sighed a later
deputy, ' had letten all things alone in the order King
Henry left them, and meddled not to alter religion, the
hurley-burleys had not happened.'1 But the Protector's
mission to regenerate the world, the pillaged cathedrals,
the emptied niches, and the white- washed church walls,
rapidly stirred the jealousies of a passionate and sus-
ceptible people, and gave the chiefs, who by this time
had made themselves secure in their new properties, an
opportunity for the display of their remaining devotion.
St Leger, the pilot of the calm, was unequal to the
hurricane which instantly arose. He was recalled, and
his place was taken by Sir Edward Bellingham.
The tourist who has visited Athlone may remember,
on the edge of the town, a half-ruined castle, on which
the letters E. R. [Edwardus Rex] stand out in high and
distinct relief. It is one of the few surviving memorials
of the brief administration of a remarkable man.
Edward Bellingham, brought up originally by the
Duke of Norfolk, attracted, in 1540, the notice of
Henry VIII., and was employed by him from that time
forward in various secondary services. He was in
1 Sir James Crofts to the Council ; Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. iv.
State Paper Office.
n
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28.
Hungary with Sir Thomas Seymour when the Turks
were at Pesth. He had been on a diplomatic mission
at Brussels. He was in Wallop's army at Landrecy,
and afterwards with the Earl of Surrey at Boulogne.
His most distinguished achievement hitherto had been
when, as Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, he repulsed
the attacks of the French in 1545.
When he arrived at Dublin the English Pale was
fringed with a line of fire. The Irish harbours swarmed
with pirates. Catholic refugees, disfrocked monks,
thieves, outlaws, vagabonds, had poured across the
Channel, and, under the decent cloak of sufferers for
religion, were dispersed among the castles of the Irish.
French and Scottish agents had followed, with plans for
a French invasion, for the restoration of Gerald Fitz-
gerald, for the fortification of the Skerries, and the
maintenance there in permanence of a French fleet.1
1 Irish MSS. Edward VI. vols.
i. and ii. State Paper Office. A-
mong other French emissaries came
John de Monluc, Bishop of Valence,
accompanied by young James Mel-
ville, then a boy of fourteen. The
editor of Melville's manuscript mis-
printed the date of the visit, repre-
senting it as having taken place in
1545 ; the real date is 1547-8.
Melville represents Edward as being
on the English throne, and the
Bishop's arrival is spoken of in the
State Correspondence. In spite of
scandal, I must borrow a page from
the story.
' John de Monluc, Bishop of
Orleans, was sent ambassador from
France to the queen-mother of Scot-
land, sister of the Duke of Guise ;
and when the said ambassador was
to return to France, it pleased the
queen -mother to send me with him.
But the said Bishop went first to
Ireland, commanded thereto by the
King his master'sletter, to know more
particularly the motion and like-
lihood of the offer made by 0 'Neil,
O'Donnell, O'Docbart, and O'Car-
roll, willing to shake off the yoke of
England, and become subject to the
King of France. We shipped for
Ireland in the month of January.
"We were storm sted by the way at
EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OP SOMERSET.
To repress the insurgents who were in the field, to
prevent the spread of conspiracy, to maintain the au-
thority of the Government, Bellingham had no more
a little isle for seventeen days ; and
after great danger of the ship and
our lives, we entered Loch Foyle
in Ireland, upon Shrove Tuesday.
Ere we landed we sent one George
Paris, who had been sent to Scot-
land by the great O'Neil and his
associates, who landed at the house
of a gentleman who had married
O'Dochart's daughter, dwelling at
the side of a lake ; who came to our
ship and welcomed us, and conveyed
us to his house, where we rested
that night. The next morning
O'Dochart came and conveyed us to
his house, which was a great dark
tower, where we had cold cheer, as
herring and biscuit, for it was Lent.
There finding two English grey
friars who had fled out of England,
the said friars perceiving the Bishop
to look very kindly to O'Dochart's
daughter, who fled from him con-
tinually, they brought with them a
woman who spoke English to be
with him ; which harlot being kept
quietly in his chamber, found a
little glass within a case standing in
a window, for the coffers were all
wet with the sea waves that fell into
the ship during the storm. She,
believing it had been ordained to be
eaten because it had an odoriferous
smell, therefore she licked it clean
out, which put the Bishop in such a
rage, fhat he cried out for im-
patience, discovering his harlotry
and his choler in such a sort as the
friars fled and the woman followed.
But the Irishmen and his own serv-
ants did laugh at the matter ; for it
was a vial of the most precious balm
that grew in Egypt, which Solyman,
the Great Turk, had given in a
present to the said Bishop after he
had been two years ambassador for
the King of France in Turkey, and
was esteemed Avorth 2000 crowns.
In the time that we remained at
O'Dochart's house, his young
daughter, who fled from the Bishop,
came and sought me wherever I
was, and brought a priest with her
who could speak English ; and
offered, if I would marry her, to go
with me wherever I pleased. I
gave her thanks, but told her I was
but young, and had no estate, and
was bound for France.
' Now the ambassador met in a
secret part with O'Neil and his
associates, and heard their offers
and overtures. And the Patriarch
of Ireland did meet him there, who
was a Scotchman born, and was blind
of both his eyes, and yet had been
divers times at Rome by post. He
did great honour to the ambassador,
and conveyed him to see St Patrick's
purgatory, which is like an old coal-
pit which has taken fire, by reason
of the smoke that came out of the
hole,' &c. — Memoirs of Sir James
Melville, p. 15.
76 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH [011.28.
than 900 English men-at-arms, and 500 liglit Irish
horse ; and it is enough to say for him, that with this
small force he accomplished his task. The State Paper
Office contains many of his letters, notes, and loose
memoranda. The handwriting and the spelling are
alike frightful ; but the meaning, when at last arrived
at, conveys an impression of resolute strength, unequalled
in any other despatches of the time ; and the respect
becomes intelligible with which his name was ever
mentioned even by the Irish themselves.
For two years he governed. In that time he cut
roads through forests, and made bogs passable. Castles
rose as if by magic in the dangerous districts. The
harbours were cleared, the outlaws banished, the chiefs
not driven by cruelty, but drawn with a hand which
they could not resist, into peace. O'Connor and O'More,
two of the most troublesome, were caught, tried for
treason, and their lands taken from them. But when
Bellmgham had made them feel that he was stronger
than they, he restored O'Connor to liberty and his
estates. The laws which interfered with the marriages
of English and Irish, and forbade the inheritance of
half-breeds, were relaxed or abolished ; while mere rob-
bery, as distinct from political conspiracy, was inexorably
punished. A party of high-born marauders, who had
committed an outrage in the Pale, took refuge in
Thomond. O'Brien applied for their pardon, and O'Brien
was one of the strongest of the Irish nobles.
Bellingham answered him thus :
'Your assured friend warns you, if you list so to
1548.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 77
take it. Of this one thing I will assure you, that those
that will most entice you to take other men's causes in
hand, will be the first that shall leave you if ye have need.
As heretofore I have declared unto you, whatsoever he
be that shall, with manifest invasion, enter, burn, and
destroy the King's people, I will no more suffer it than
to have my heart torn out of my body. When the
King's subjects commit such offences, they are traitors
and rebels, and so I will take them and use them. My
Lord, this privilege I challenge, on the King my master's
duty, that what of gentleness I require touching the
King's affairs, it be taken and weighed as a command-
ment.' 1
He advised that the offenders should be sent in
upon the instant, and to advice so given it was prudent
to submit.
Lord Ormond had died, leaving his heir a minor in
England. St Leger, or some one about the council who
took the Irish view of things, thought the presence of a
chief of a clan indispensable for their good behaviour,
and sent him over. Bellingham protested. It would
have been better, he said, to have kept him where he
was, and brought him up with English habits. ( Au-
thority, it was thought, would not take place without
him. I pray God,' continued Bellingham, ' rather these
eyes of mine should be shut up than it should be proved
true ; or that during the time of my deputation, I should
not make a horse-boy sent from me to do as much as
1 Bellinghara to O'Brien ; Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. i. State Paper
Office.
78 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
any should do that brought not good authority with
him, how great soever they were in the land. I will
not say it shall be the first day ; but in small time, God
willing, it shall be done with ease/ *
There were few arrests; no hangings, except of
thieves or murderers, no forays or terrible examples —
only the resolutely expressed will of a man who intended
to be obeyed, and whom men found it wiser to obey than
to provoke. ' There was never deputy in the realm/
wrote an Irish gentleman to the Protector, ' that went
the right way as he doth, both for the setting forth of
God's word and his honour, and the honour of the King's
Majesty to his Grace's commodity and the weal of his
subjects.' 2 One special point was noted of him : a friend
of Cecil's, reporting afterwards on the state of the
country, said — ' For the short time Mr Bellingham had
the charge here he did exceeding much good, as all men
report. He was a perfect good justicer, and departed
hence with clean hands.' 3 With clean hands — the one
man in public employment of whom perhaps such words
could be used. His successes, so far as they can be seen,
were chiefly due to the woodman, the roadmaker, and
the mason. His universal, system was to make the
country passable, to build stout fortresses, and to place
in them garrisons on whom he could depend ; and, this
done, everything was done. The castle at Athlone
1 Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. i. State Paper Office.
2 Richard Brasier to the Protector : Irish MSS. Ibid.
3 Wood to Cecil : Irish MSS. Ibid.
1548.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 79
overawed the line of the Shannon ; Sir Andrew Brereton
was set down at Lecale with a colony of settlers within
view of the Earl of Tyrone ; another stronghold was
built in Roscoinmon, another at Cork ; soldiers of Bell-
ingham's own metal were placed in command, and that
was enough.
The Irish Council, unused to the presence of such
a man, were troubled with him, especially as he went
his own way, careless of traditions, and not always re-
spectful to objectors. Chancellor Allen, who had seen
other deputies fall into misfortune through neglect of his
advice, failed to understand that, while he had a right
to guide those who were less wise than himself, his
business was to obey Sir Edward Bellingham ; still less
could Allen comprehend why Sir Edward, when he ob-
truded his opinion, should ' vilipend him/
' My Lord Deputy,' he said, ' is the best man of war
that ever I saw in Ireland, having since his coming
hither done more service to the King than was done — "
after the repressing of the Geraldines — in all the
King's father's lifetime, notwithstanding all his charges/
' Nevertheless/ the Chancellor complained, ' it is as well
to have no council. He doth all himself. They be but
a shadow, as a corpse without life or spirit. He doth
all himself, and no man dare say the contrary, except
sometimes little I, and that seldom. Nay, he saith at
times that the King hath not so great an enemy in Ire-
land as the council is ; and if they were hanged, it were
a good turn. Sometimes, when he committeth a man
8o REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 28.
in anger to ward, lie will say, ' Content thyself, for I do
no worse to thee than I will do to the best of the coun-
cil if he displease me.' ' 1
Yet Allen had a true eye for merit ; he had seen
others in Belliiigham's place filling their own coffers —
making parties among the Irish, and lending them-
selves to the worst vices of the country. But Belling-
ham was pure. The Chancellor admitted that he could
see but one fault in him — that he sought ' to rule
alone.'2
In the change of religion — since a change there was
to be — the deputy proceeded with the same firmness ;
and although wilder task was never imposed on any
man than the introduction of Protestantism with a high
hand among the Irish, even here he was not wholly
unsuccessful. Fitzwilliam, a priest of St Patrick's,
and a personal friend of the deputy, said mass there
after it was prohibited. 'Mr Fitzwilliam/ he wrote,
' where I am informed that you have gone about to in-
fringe the King's Majesty's injunctions, being moved
of charity, I require you to omit so to do, and by au-
thority I command you, as a thing that may not be
suffered, you incite nor stir no such schism amongst the
King's faithful and Christian subjects ; for, if you do, as
by likelihood you are incited to do it, thinking, through
friendship, it shall be overpassed in your behalf, trust
me, as they say commonly, it shall not go with you/3
* Allen to the Council in London : Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. i.
State Paper Office.
2 Ibid. 3 Ibidt
1548.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE UF SOMERSET. 81
Sir Edward was obeyed, being a man to whom disobedi-
ence was difficult ; only it seems he gave no encourage-
ment to the preachers. It was enough if the literal
injunctions of the home Government were observed,
without consigning the pulpits to voluble rhetoricians
who turned their congregations into swarms of exasper-
ated hornets.1
1 St Leger, at the end of 1549,
informed the council ' that there
had been but one sermon made in
the country for three years, and that
by the Bishop of Meath.'— J/S.
Ibid. — That one experiment was
enough to deter Bellingham from
encouraging a second. The Bishop,
after the first venture had been made,
wrote a piteous account of the pro-
spects of Protestantism, and of his
own prospects, if he persisted.
'After most hearty commenda-
tion, in like manner I thank you for
your letter, and where by the same
ye wished me to be defended from
ill tongues — res est potius optabilis
quam speranda. Ye have not heard
such rumours as is here all the
country over against me, as my
friends doth shew me. One gentle-
woman, unto whom I did christen a
man child which beareth my name,
came in great council to a friend of
mine, desiring how she might find
means to change her child's name.
And he asked her why ? and she
said, because I would not have him
bear the name of an heretic. A
gentleman dwelling nigh unto me for-
bade his wife, which would have sent
her child to be confirmed by me, so
VOL. V.
to do, saying, his child should not
be confirmed by him that denied
the sacrament of the altar. A friend
of mine rehearsing at the market
that I would preach the next Sunday,
divers answered they would not come
thereat, lest they should learn to be
heretics. One of the lawyers declared
to a multitude that it was great pity
that I was not burned, for if I preach-
ed heresy, so was I worthy therefore ;
and if I preached right, yet was I
worthy, for that I kept the truth from
knowledge. This gentleman loveth
no sodden meat, nor can skill but
only of roasting. One of our judges
said to myself that, it should be
proved in my face that I preached
against learning. A beneficed man
of mine own promotion came unto
me weeping, and desired that he
might declare his mind unto me
without my displeasure. I said, I
was well content. My Lord, said
he, before ye went last to Dublin,
ye were the best beloved man in your
diocese that ever came into it, and
now ye are the worst beloved that
ever came here. I asked wherefore.
Why, said he, for ye have taken
open part with the heretics, and
preached against the sacrament ot
I
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH.
Thus, after he had been in Ireland a year and a
half, Walter Cowley, the Clerk of the Crown, was able
to congratulate Bellingham on having doubled 'the
King's possessions, power, obedience, and subjects in the
realm, in respect as it was at his arrival.' 'The King
having a force in each quarter of the country, will they
or nill they/ Cowley said, ' the people must obey ; ' and
if only ' they could now be also put from idleness/ 'if
they could be compelled to inhabit and fall to husbandry,
to put away their assemblies in harness, and take de-
light in wealth and quiet, Ireland in a little time would
be as obedient and quiet as Wales/
Unhappily for Ireland, perhaps fortunately for his
own reputation, Sir Edward Bellingham, in the height
of his success, was called away, it would seem by illness.
In the summer of 1549 his name disappears
from among the State Papers. In the autumn
he was dead. The effect was immediate. The chiefs
felt the rein drop loose upon their necks ; French agents
were again busy; and in the interregnum which fol-
lowed, the Irish Council found themselves less able to
do without their master than their master had been able
1549-
the altar, and deny saints, and will
make us worse than Jews. If the
county wist how, they would eat you.
He besought me to take heed of my-
self, for he feared more than he
durst tell me. He said, Ye have
more curses than ye have hairs in
your head ; and I advise you, for
Christ's sake, not to preach as I
hear ye will do. Hereby ye may
perceive what case I am in, but put
all to God. And now, as mine
especial friend, and a man to whom
my heart beareth earnest affection,
I beseech you give me your advice,
not writing your name for chance.—
The Biahop of Meath to Sir Edward
Bellingham : Irish MSS. Edward
VI. vol. i. State Paper Office.
I549-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. §3
to dispense with them. Allen having with great diffi-
culty induced the Earl of Desmond to come to him,
learnt that the country was in full relapse into disorder.
' The rough handling of the late deputy/ so Desmond
said, had placed the chiefs ' in despair ' of being able to
continue their old habits. The natural hatred to the
dominion of an alien race, the peril of religion, the
promises of assistance from France and Scotland, with
the opportunity created by the disorders in England,
had led to a general combination through the whole
island.1
The garrisons in the castles fell into loose
habits when the master's eye was off them. January.
Their wages had fallen into arrear, and they became
mutinous and profligate. There was ' neither service
nor communion within any of the walls, and there were
as many women, it was said, as there were men/2 Even
such of the Irish as professed to be loyal began to be
1 ' I asked the Earl what should
be the cause of so great a combina-
tion of the wild Irish, and how long
since the same had commenced.
Whereunto he said the same con-
spiracy was concluded amongst them
above a year past, only in the dread
of the late deputy, which, with his
rough handling of them, put them
in such despair as they all conspired
to j oin against him. To some others
of council which I heard not he
added the matter of religion. But,
for my part, beside these causes, I
judge they will the rather take the
opportunity to execute their malice,
hearing not only of the continuance
of the outward wars and loss of our
forts, and specially of the late civil
displeasures in England, but also
hope and comfort and aid of the
Scots, promised, as it is said, by the
blind bishop that came from Scot-
land out of Rome.' — Sir John Allen
to his brother; January, 1550:
Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. ii.
State Paper Office.
* St Leger to the Council,
September, 1550: MS. Ibid.
84 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28,
* haughty and strange.' A ' huge army ' of French was
expected to land in the spring of 1550 ; and, unless
the home Government could make peace with France,
their rule in Ireland was once more likely to be near
its end. But the peace, as has been related, was made.
The intrigues ceased, the Irish had no longer hopes
from abroad, and Bellingham had done his work so
effectually, that without help they durst not stir.
In August, St Leger, the peace-maker, was
August. .
restored to his place, and a new chapter in the
administration of the country was about to commence.
Ireland had long been a drain upon the English finances.
The stream was now to flow the other way, and, with an
enchanter's wand waving over the mint, it was to become
an abundant fountain of revenue. The Irish standard had
been always lower than the English. When the Eng-
lish silver was eleven ounces fine to one of alloy, the
Irish had been eight ounces fine to four of alloy. The
mines in Wicklow and Arklow having been brought
again into working in the late reign, Henry VIII. had
hoped that with the silver raised out of them, and with
a mint upon the spot,, the Irish Government might at
least pay their own expenses. But the plan had not
vet come into operation ; the Irish money had latterly
been coined in England ; and in the depreciation in the
last three years of the reign, the Irish standard had
followed the English, the harp-groats, like the latest
issues in England, being half pure and half alloy.1 On
1 State Papers, vol. iii. p. 534.
1550.] EXECUTION' OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 85
the conclusion of the peace with France, the experiment
was to be tried on a grander scale.
By a resolution of the English council, on
the 8th of July, 1550, it was determined that
a mint should be forthwith established in Ireland, and
that it should be let out to farm for twelve months on
the following conditions :-—
1. That the King should be at no manner of charge,
great or small.
2. That the King should have thirteen shillings
and fourpence clear out of every pound weight that
should be coined.
3. That the bullion to be coined should be pro-
vided from other countries, and not from England or
Ireland.
4. That by this means the sum of 24,ooo/. at the
least should be advanced to the King's Majesty within
twelve months.
5. That the King should appoint a master of assays
and a controller.1
An indenture was drawn on the 9th of
August, between the council and Martin Perry,
granting to Perry the management of the establishment
on these terms ; the money to be made was to be four
ounces fine with eight of alloy. The pound weight of
silver, if coined at a pure standard, yielded forty-eight
shillings ; with two-thirds of alloy, therefore, it would
produce one hundred and forty-four ; 2 and if the King
1 Privy Council Register. MS. I Ruding, describing the indenture
2 See RUDING, vol. ii. p. 105. I and the proportions of alloy, says
86
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
was to make twenty-four thousand pounds by receiving
thirteen shillings and fourpence on every seven pounds
four shillings that were issued, three hundred thousand
pounds' worth of base coin would be let out over the
Irish people in a single year.
Sir Edward Bellingham had shown the Irish one
aspect of English administratipn. The home Govern-
ment were preparing to show them another. The seed
was sown, the harvest would be certain, and not distant.
It would not, however, be gathered in by Sir Anthony
St Leger, whose footing in the now swollen waters was
almost instantly lost. The Lords of the Council, more
anxious for the purity of the gospel than of the currency,
charged St Leger especially to keep pace with the
movements in England. Yainly he protested that ' he
would sooner be sent to Spain/ They told him that he
must go to Ireland, there to follow his vocation of
making rough things smooth.
He went, and proceeded at once to follow his old
course of attempting to rule the Irish by pleasing them.
Among his first acts he permitted high mass to be said
at Christ's Church, in Dublin, and was himself present
at the service.1 ' To make a face of conformity he put
that the pound weight was to he
made into a hundred and forty-four
groats ; in which statement, it seems,
he must have mistaken the word.
The pound weight of pure silver
would produce a hundred and forty-
four pure groats ; hut the two
pounds of alloy, which he admits
Avere added to it, must have produced
twice as many more.
1 Sir Anthony, upon his arrival,
went to the chief church of this
nation, and there, after the old sort,
offered to the altar of stone, to the
great comfort of his too many like
Papists and the discouragement of
1550.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 87
out proclamations ' for the use of the Prayer-book ; but
the Prayer-book was not used, and the disobedience was
not noticed. The Archbishop of Dublin expostulated
St Leger put him. off with a ' Gro to, go to, your matters
of religion will mar all ; ' and placed in his hands ' a
little book to read/ which he found ' so poisoned as he
had never seen to maintain the mass, with transub-
stantiation and other naughtiness/ 1
Bellingham's captains, too, troubled the new deputy
with acting out their old instructions. Sir Andrew
Brereton, one of the best of them, had been a thorn in
the side of the Earl of Tyrone. No Bishop of Monluc,
or other doubtful ecclesiastic, could land in Ulster but
what Brereton had his eye on him ; no French emissary
could leave Tyrone's castle but what Brereton would
attempt to waylay him and relieve him of his despatches ;
and he had succeeded in intercepting one letter in which
the Earl invited a French invasion,2 and undertook
especially to betray Brereton and destroy the Lecale
colony.3
the professors of the gospel. — The
Archbishop of Dublin to the English
Council: Irish MSS. Edward VI.
vol. iii. State Paper Office.
i Ibid.
3 ' Tyrone desired the French
King to come with his power, and
if he would so prepare to do, to help
him to drive out the Jewish English-
men out of Ireland, who were such
as did nothing to the country but
cumber the same and live upon the
flesh that was in it, neither observ-
ing fast-days nor regarding the
solemn devotion of the blessed mass
or other ceremony of the Church,
the French King should find him,
the Earl, ready to help him with his
men and all the friends he could
make.' — Complaints of Sir Andrew
Brereton : Irish MSS. vol. iii. State
Paper Office.
3 Ibid.
88 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
When the expectations from France came
September.
to nothing, the Earl, unable to endure longer
so insulting a surveillance, laid a claim to Brereton's
lands, and sent a troop of kernes to drive his cattle.
The English commander, waiting till they had com-
menced work, set upon them, and cut half of them to
pieces, two brothers of Tyrone being among the slain.
St Leger's system could not prosper with a Brereton
in command of troops. The Irish lords, who appre
ciated the merits of a deputy who allowed them their
own way, waited on him at Dublin with congratulations
on his appointment, and Tyrone took the opportunity
of pressing his complaints. Brereton being called on
for explanations, drew out a statement of the Earl's mis-
doings. He came to Dublin, and being told before the
Irish Council that he was accused by Tyrone of murder,
* he said he would make answer to no traitor, threw his
book upon the board, and desired that the same might
be openly read/ The council — they shall relate their
own behaviour — ' considering the same Earl to be a frail
man, and not yet all of the perfectest subject, and think-
ing, should he know the talk of the same Mr Brereton,
having of his friends and servants standing by — for it
was in the open council-house — it might be a means to
cause him and others of his sort and small knowledge
to revolt from their duties and refuse to come to councils '
— recommended moderation. It was better to answer
Tyrone's complaint meekly. 'Such, handling of wild
men had done much harm in Ireland.' ' Thev would
1550.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 89
read the book, and do therein as should stand with their
duties.'
Presently the Earl, foaming with indignation, ap-
peared in person. ' He took the name of traitor very
unkindly/ and demanded justice ; and the end of it was
that Brereton was reprimanded and deprived of his rank;
the council apologized for his indiscretion ; and a young
St Leger of more convenient humour was sent to govern
the northern colony.1
The humouring an Irish chief at the expense of an
honest man might have been forgiven; but St Leger
was less successful than before in keeping down the ex-
penditure, and the home Government, trusting to the
supplies from the mint, sent no remittances. His ap-
plications for money were in consequence vexatiously
frequent. ' Religion' did not prosper with him; and
the reviving uncertainty of the relations between Eng-
land and France, in the winter of 1550-51, made the
presence of a stronger hand desirable. Lord Cobham
was first thought of as a fit person. On second thoughts,
however, it was determined not immediately to super-
sede St Leger. Sir James Crofts was sent over with
troops and ships under his separate command, and
brought instructions to survey the southern harbours,
and, wherever possible, to fortify them. Crofts arrived
in March, 1551. In April he went, as he was directed,
into Munster, and with him went a certain John Wood,
1 The Deputy and Co -ncil to Cecil : Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. ii.
State Paper Office.
90 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
who sent an account of the journey to Sir William
Cecil, with maps and plans.
I55I. 'In this voyage/ said Wood, ' I have seen,
4Pril- amongst others, two goodly havens at Cork
and Kinsale, as by the plots thereof shall presently ap-
pear unto you, and also a large and fruitful country of
itself; but the most thereof uninhabited, and the land
wasted by evil dissensions, that it is pity to behold:
which disorder hath continued of a long time by want
of justice, insomuch that the most part of the gentle-
men, yea, I might say all, be thieves or maintainers of
thieves, which thing themselves will not let to confess,
as I have presently heard ; and have no other way to
excuse their faults but that lack of justice forceth them
to keep such people as may resist their neighbours, an4
revenge wrong with wrong, without which they are not
able to live. Thus the poor be continually overrun,
bereft of their lives, and spoiled of their goods ; and no
marvel, for neither is God's law nor the King's knowi}
nor obeyed. The father is at war with the son, the son
with the father, brother with brother, and so forth.
Wedlock is not had in any price ; whoredom is counted
as no offence ; and so throughout the realm in effect
vice hath the upper hand, and virtue is nothing at all
regarded. The noblemen — at the least sundry of them —
hang or pardon at their pleasure, whether it be upon a
privilege granted unto them, or upon an usurped power,
I know not ; but, undoubtedly, it is needful to be re-
formed. There is no cause why these people should be
out of order more than others. They have shape and
I55I-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 91
understanding, and are meet to be framed to as good
purpose as any other the King's subjects, if the like
order were taken and executed as in England and other
commonwealths/1
Such was Ireland in 1551. But English order was
not for the moment likely to improve it. In the early
summer St Leger was finally recalled. Sir James Crofts
was appointed his successor, and entered office when the
industry of Martin Perry was about to produce its fruits.
In July the rise of prices commenced. Crofts, sur-
rounded by theorists, who assured him that the remedy
for this and all other inconveniences was abundance of
money, at first was simply perplexed. By
November the truth was so far breaking upon
him, that he protested against a continuance of the de-
basement, and entreated that the standard might be re-
stored. The mischief had only commenced ; yet even
then he represented that the soldiers could no longer
live upon their wages. The countrymen so suspected
the money, that they would not take it upon any terms.
The fortifications in the south were at a stand- still ; the
workmen demanded to be paid in silver, not in silvered
brass. ' The town of Dublin and the whole English
army would be destroyed for want of victuals if a remedy
were not provided/2
The remedy would be to cry down the money to its
true value, as had been done at home, and to issue no
1 Wood to Cecil : Irish MSS. Edward VI. vol. ii.
2 Crofts to the English Council, November i, 1551: Irish MSS.
vol. iii.
92 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
more of it — the last thing which the home Government
intended. The Irish mint was to indemnify them for
the loss of the sluices which they had been forced to
close in England. They replied to Crofts' remonstrances,
therefore, with a letter of advice.
' The beginnings of all things in which we are to
prosper/ wrote Northumberland or one of his satellites,
' must have their foundation upon God ; and, therefore,
principally, the Christian religion must, as far forth as
may, be planted and restored, the favourers and pro-
moters thereof esteemed and cherished, and the hinderers
dismayed/ This was the first point to which Crofts
was to attend. Next he was to see that the laws of the
realm should be better obeyed ; and especially that ' the
King's revenue ' should be more diligently looked to,
his rents be properly collected, his woods and forests
attended to, and the accounts of his bailiffs duly audited.
The money was a secondary question ; the reformation
of the coin was impossible, and the calling down ob-
jectionable. The deputy might consult the principal
people in the country about it ; and in the mean time
there were the jewels and plate in the churches. He
might take those ; and if he could not pay the soldiers,
he might send them away.1
Sir James Crofts was well inclined to the Reform-
ation, and under Mary almost lost his life for it. Yet,
to answer the clamours of defrauded tradesmen and
labourers, and soldiers too justly mutinous, with a text
The English Council to Sir James Crofts ; Irish MSS. vol. iii.
I55I-J EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 93
or a homily, was a task for which he had no disposition.
He was * a man not learned/ he replied ; and they had
divines for such purposes.1 ' The matter of the currency,
in his simple opinion, was so apparent, it needed not to
be consulted upon ; as a proof of which he stated that
to keep the army from starving, he had been driven,
as the council at home had been driven, to purveying.
' We have forced the people for the time/ he said, ' to
take seven shillings for that measure of corn which they
sell for a mark, and twelve shillings for the beef which
they sell for fifty-three shillings and four-pence. These
things cannot be borne without grudge, neither is it
possible it should continue/
In obedience to his orders, however, the l*$2.
deputy invited representatives of the iiidus- ai iai-v>
trious classes in Ireland to Dublin, to discuss the first
principles of commercial economy.
' I sent/ he reported after the meeting, ' for inhabit-
ants of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Drog-
heda, to know the causes of the dearth of corn and cattle,
and how the same might be remedied. I declared unto
them how the merchants were content to sell iron, salt,
coal, and other necessaries, if they might buy wine and
corn as they were wont to do. And thereof grew a con-
fusion in argument, that when the merchant should need
for his house not past two or three bushels of corn, he
could not upon so small an exchange live ; and likewise
the farmer that should have need of salts, shoes, cloth,
Crofts to Cecil : Irish MSS. Ibid.
94 ItEIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 28.
iron, hops, and such others, could not make so many
divisions of his grain, neither should he at all times
need that which the merchants of necessity must sell.
So it was that money must serve for the common ex-
change/
But why, the question then rose, must money be
only of gold and silver ? why not of leather or of brass ?
Was it for the ' sovereign virtue ' of the precious metals P
was it for their cleanliness in handling ? Plain only it
was that when the coin was pure, all men sought for it ;
when it was corrupt, all men detested it. It might have
been thought ' that, when the King's stamp was on the
coin, it should be received of every man as it was pro-
claimed/ But experience showed that it was not so ;
and experience showed further, that good and bad
money, though stamped alike, could not exist together ;
the bad consumed the good. One of the party then ob-
served keenly, ' that among merchants, when cloth, silk,
and other wares are sold, the owners do set on their
marks, and upon proof made of the goodness of the
wares and the making, with the true weight and mea-
sure, it Cometh to pass that after such credit won there
needeth no more but shew the mark, and sell with the
best ; and if the makers of such wares do after make
them worse, their trade is lost, insomuch as if after they
would reform the same fault, it will ask time before
credit be won again.7
The Government was the merchant, the coin was
the ware, the King's head was the mark. Prices had
risen with bad money. Whether it was better that
1SS2-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 93
money should be scarce or plenty the meeting would
not venture to say, only it must be pure. ' By the
whole consent of the world gold and silver had gotten
the estimation above other metals as meetest to make
money of, and that estimation could not be altered by
one little corner of the world, though it had risen but
upon a fantastical opinion, when indeed it was grounded
upon reason, according to the gifts that nature had
wrought in those metals/
The meeting concluded, therefore, that if the cur-
rency could not honestly be restored, they preferred
the least of two evils, and desired that it should be im-
mediately called down to its market valuation.1
The opinion of the country had been taken, as the
English council recommended, and the result was be-
fore them ; but either it was conveyed in too abstract a
language, or the mint had not yet yielded the full sum
which they intended to take from it. They waited for
an increase of suffering, and prices continued to rise
and rise.
' The measure of corn that was wont to be at two or
three shillings/ and when Crofts landed in March, 1551,
was 'at six shillings and eightpence/ was sold in
March, 1552, for 'thirty shillings.' 'A cow
that had been worth six shillings and eight-
pence sold for forty shillings ; six herrings for a groat ;
a cow-hide for ten or twelve shillings ; a tonne of Gas-
March.
1 Memoranda of the Irish
Council. — Sir James Crofts to the
Duke of Northumberland, Decem-
ber, 1551 : Irish MSS. Edward VI.
vol. iii. State Paper Office.
96
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 28
con wine for twelve pounds, of Spanish wine for twenty-
four pounds.' l The Irish beyond the Pale suffered the
least. ' Every lord caused his people to keep their
victuals within the country,' and the Irishman proper
had little use for money — ' he cared only for his belly,
and that not delicately.'2 In Dublin, Meath, and Kil-
dare schools were shut up ; servants were turned away,
from the cost of maintaining them ; artisans and trades-
men would take no more apprentices : at last the mar-
kets were closed. Those who before had bought little
at high prices could now buy nothing at any price ; and
fever followed in the rear of famine. 'All sorts of
people,' Crofts passionately expostulated, ' cry for re-
dress at my hands.' The actual cause of their misery
they did not know ; ' and no marvel,' ' when the wisest
were blinded ; ' but they understood that it came from
England and from English rule ; ' and now,' Crofts said,
' they do collect all the enormities that have grown in
so many years, so that there is among them such
hatred, such disquietures of mind, such wretchedness
upon the poor men and artificers, that all the crafts
must decay, and towns turn to ruin, and all things
either be in common, or each live by others' spoil ; and
thereof must needs follow slaughter, famine, and all
kinds of misery/3
1 Before the depreciation of the
currency in England Gascon wine
was sold for 4?. 135. qd. a tun ;
Spanish wine for 'jl. 8s. — 34 and 35
Henry VIII. cap. 7.
2 Crofts to Cecil: Irish MSS.
vol. iv.
3 Crofts to Cecil, March 14:
Ibid.
I552-] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 97
The people had been tried far, yet still it was not
enough. The reply which the home Government now
vouchsafed was a cargo of German Protestants, whom
they sent over to work the silver mines in "Wicklow.
When a sufficient mass of bullion had been raised, the
complaints of the Irish might be considered. The
Germans, the distracted deputy reported in return, were
idle vagabonds, not worth their keep ; the currency
would run foul till the day of judgment if he was to
wait till it was purified through labour of theirs ; and
then the council said that they were sorry, and would
hope and would see about things, but the King's Go-
vernment must be carried on, and money they had none.
But the wail of the injured people rose at last in tones
too piteous to be neglected : and in June,
June.
Northumberland made up his mind that he
could persist no longer.
Three thousand pounds' weight of bullion were sent
from the Tower to Dublin, with orders to Perry to call
down the coin, buy it in at the reduced valuation, and
make a new issue at the old standard ; l while, to turn
1 Such I endeavour in charity to
believe to be the meaning of a
vaguely-expressed entry in the Privy
Council Register. Edward, however,
in his Journal, with the date of
June 10, 1552, says: —
'Whereas it was agreed that
there should be a pay now made to
Ireland of 5000^., and then the
money to be cried down ; it was ap-
VOL. v.
pointed that 3000 Ibs. weight which
I had in the Tower should be carried
thither and coined at 3 denar fine,
and that incontinent, the coin
should be cried down.' The
question rises what Edward meant
by 3 denar fine. Was it three-
pence in the shilling, or 3 oz. fine
to 9 oz. of alloy ? or was it three-
pence in the groat? a coin more
7
kEIGN OF EDWA&D Ttt£ SIXTH.
[CH.
the current of Irish feeling, the council passed a reso-
lution to restore Gerald Fitzgerald, the hero of Celtic ro-
mance, to his estates and country.
^onest than Ireland had seen for a
century. Experience of the general
proceedings of the Government in
such matters would lead one to
choose the worst interpretation.
CHAPTER XXIX.
AMIDST the wreck of ancient institutions, the misery
of the people, and the moral and social anarchy by
which the nation was disintegrated, thoughtful persons
in England could not fail by this time to be asking
themselves what they had gained by the Reformation.
A national reformation, if the name is more than a
mockery, implies the transfer of power, power spiritual,
power political, from the ignoble to the noble, from the
incapable to the capable, from the ignorant to the wise.
It implies a recovered perception in all classes, from
highest to lowest, of the infinite excellence of right, the
infinite hatefulness of wrong.
The movement commenced by Henry VIII., judged
by its present results, had brought the country at last
into the hands of mere adventurers. The people had
exchanged a superstition which, in its grossest abuses,
prescribed some shadow of respect for obedience, for a
superstition which merged obedience in speculative be-
lief; and under that baneful influence, not only the
roo REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
higher virtues of self-sacrifice, but the commonest duties
of probity and morality, were disappearing. Private
life was infected with impurity to which the licentious-
ness of the Catholic clergy appeared like innocence. The
Government was corrupt, the courts of law were venal.
The trading classes cared only to grow rich. The mul-
titude were mutinous from oppression. Among the
good who remained unpolluted, the best were still to be
found on the Reforming side. Lever, Latimer, Ridley,
Cranmer, held on unflinching to their convictions, al-
though with hearts aching and intellects perplexed;
but their influence was slight and their numbers small ;
and Protestants who were worthy of the name which
they bore were fewer far, in these their days of pros-
perity, than when the bishops were hunting them out
for the stake. The better order of commonplace men,
who had a conscience, but no especial depth of insight —
who had small sense of spiritual things, but a strong
perception of human rascality — looked on in a stern and
growing indignation, and, judging the tree by its fruits,
waited their opportunity for reaction.
' Alas, poor child,' said a Hampshire gentleman, of
Edward, ' unknown it is to him what Acts are made
now-a-days ; when he comes of age he will see another
rule and hang up an hundred heretic knaves.' John
Bale replied to ' the frantic Papist ' with interested in-
dignation ; he wrote a pamphlet with a dedication to
Northumberland, whom he compared to Moses,1 and
1 ' Considering in your noble religious zeal in God's cause which
Grace the same mighty, fervent, and | I have diligently marked in Moses,
I552-]
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
101
earned a bishopric for his reward.1 But the words ex-
pressed a deep and general feeling ; and, had the com-
ing of age taken place, might not impossibly have proved
true. Edward showed no symptoms of wavering in re-
ligion ; but he was gaining an insight beyond his years
into the diseases of the realm, which threatened danger
to those who had abused his childhood. He had followed
and Rioted down the successive tamperings with the cur-
rency. He was aware of his debts, and of the scandal
of them ; and we have seen him seeking political inform-
ation without the knowledge of the council. He under-
stood the necessity of economizing the expenditure, of
scrutinizing the administration of the revenues, and of
punishing fraud.2 He could actively interfere but little,
but the little was in the right direction. The excessive
table allowances for the household were reduced. Irre-
gular claims for fees, which had grown up in the mi-
nority, were disallowed ; the wardrobe charges were cut
down ; the garrisons of the forts and the Irish army
were diminished, according to a schedule which Edward
himself had the reputation of devising.3 Further, he
the servant of God.' — STRYPE, vol.
iv. p. 39.
1 Ossory in Ireland.
2 See especially a remarkable
Discourse on the Reformation of
Abuses, printed by Burnet, and a
draft of provisions which Edward in-
tended for insertion in his will. —
STRYPE, vol. iv. p. 120. If Edward
really wrote or dictated those two
papers, the 'Miracle of Nature'
was no exaggerated description of
him. I am bound to add, howevei-,
that his Essays and Exercises, a
volume of which remains in MS. in
the British Museum, show nothing
beyond the ordinary ability of a
clever boy.
3 Device for the payment of the
King's Debts : STRYPE'S Memorials,
vol. iii. p. 594. Compare EDWARD'S
Journal, 1552.
loa REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
began to inquire into the daily transactions of the coun-
cil. He required notice beforehand of the business with
which the council was to be occupied, and an account
was given in to him each Saturday of the proceedings
of the week : while in a rough draft of his will which
he dictated to Sir William Petre in the year which pre-
ceded his death, he showed the silent thought with
which he had marked the events of his boyhood. Slfould
his successor, like himself, be a minor, his executors,
unlike his father's, should meddle with no wars unless
the country was invaded. They should alter no part of
' religion ; ' they should observe his ' device ' for the
payment of his debts, and use all means for their early
settlement ; and there should be no return of extrava-
gance in the household.1 More remarkable is an im-
perfect fragment on the condition of England.
Following, boylike, the Platonic analogy between
the body of the individual and the body politic, Edward
saw in all men the members of a common organization,
where each was to work, and each ought to be contented
with the moderate gratification of his own desires. The
country required an order of gentlemen ; but gentlemen
should not have so much as they had in France, where
the peasantry was of no value. In a well-ordered com-
monwealth no one should have more than the proportion
of the general stock would bear. In the body no mem-
ber had too much or too little ; in the commonwealth
every man should have enough for healthy support, not
1 STRYPE, vol. iv. p. 120.
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 103
enough for indulgence. Again, as every member of the
body was obliged ' to work and take pains/ so there
should be no unit in the commonwealth which was not
'laboursome in his vocation/ 'The gentleman should
do service in his country, the serving-man should wait
diligently on his master, the artisan should work at his
trade, the husbandman at his tillage, the merchant in
passing the tempests ; ' the vagabond should be banished
as ' the superfluous humour of the body/ ' the spittle
and filth which is put out by the strength of nature/
Looking at England, however, as England was, the
young King saw * all things out of order/ ' Farming
gentlemen and clerking knights/ neglecting their duties
as overseers of the people, ' were exercising the gain of
living.' ' They would have their twenty miles square
of their own land or of their own farms/ Artificers
and clothiers no longer worked honestly ; the neces-
saries of life had risen in price, and the labourers had
raised their wages, ' whereby to recompense the loss of
things they bought/ The country swarmed with vaga-
bonds ; and those who broke the laws escaped punish-
ment by bribery or through foolish pity. The lawyers,
and even the judges, were corrupt. Peace and order
were violated by religious dissensions and universal
neglect of the law. Offices of trust were bought and
sold; benefices impropriated, tillage- ground turned to
pasture, ' not considering the sustaining of men/ The
poor were robbed by the enclosures ; and extravagance
in dress and idle luxury of living were eating like ulcers
into the State. These were the vices of the age : nor
104 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
were they likely, as Edward thought, to yield in ai^
way to the most correct formula of justification. The
1 medicines to cure these sores ' were to be looked for in
good education, good laws, and 'just execution of the
laws without respect of persons, in the example of rulers,
the punishment of misdoers, and the encouragement of
the good/ Corrupt magistrates should be deposed, see-
ing that those who were themselves guilty would not
enforce the laws against their own faults ; and all
gentlemen and noblemen should be compelled to reside
on their estates, and fulfil the duties of their place.1
A king who at fifteen could sketch the work which
was before him so distinctly, would in a few years have
demanded a sharp account of the stewardship of the Duke
of Northumberland. Unfortunately for the country,
those who would have assisted him in commencing his
intended improvements, Lord Derby, Lord Oxford, Lord
Huntingdon, Lord Sussex, or Lord Pa get, were far
away in the country, sitting gloomily inactive till a
change of times. Ridley was working manfully, as
we have seen, in restoring the London hospitals ; bui
Cranmer, after the destruction of Somerset, shrunk from
confronting Northumberland ; and, the Liturgy being
completed, he was now spending his strength in the
pursuit of objects which were either unattainable or
would have been mischievous if attained. In the spring
of 1552 he was endeavouring to take away the reproach
of Protestantism by bringing the Reformed Churches
Discourse on the Reformation of Abuses : BURNET'S Collectanea.
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 105
to an agreement. Edward offered his kingdom as an
asylum for a Protestant synod, which might meet at
Oxford or Cambridge ; and the Archbishop wrote to
Calvin and Melancthon, entreating their support. But
oil and water would combine before Zuinglian and
Lutheran would acquiesce in common formulas. Pro-
testants, as Calvin assured him, hated each other far too
heartily.1 In. another direction his exertions were
equally unprofitable ; and he was acting here under
Calvin's advice.
The interference of the Church officials in the pri-
vate concerns of the people had been among the chief
provoking causes of the original revolt under Henry.
The laity had flung off the yoke of the clergy. The
ministers of the new order, mistaking the character of
the change, imagined that the privileges and powers of
the Catholic priesthood would be transferred to them-
selves. As teachers of ' the truth/ they were the ex-
ponents, in their own eyes, of the divine law, and they
demanded the right to punish sin by spiritual censures
— spiritual censures enforced by secular penalties.
Mankind, notwithstanding their frailties, are theo-
retically loyal to goodness ; and, could there have been
any security that the clergy would have confined their
prosecutions to acts of immorality, that desire might
perhaps have to some extent been indulged. But to the
Church of Calvin, as well as to the Church of Rome,
the darkest breach of the moral law was venial in com-
Correspondence between Cranmer, C&lvin, and Melancthon : Epis-
io6
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
par i son with errors of opinion; and the consequence
which England had to expect from a restoration of
clerical authority might be seen in the language of one
who was loudest in the demand for it. John Knox, the
shrewdest and one of the noblest of the Reformers, did
not conceal his opinion that Gardiner, Bonner, and
Cuthbert Tunstal might have been justly put to death
for nonconformity.1 But Parliament had not refused
absolutely to entertain the question. The Lords rejected,
as we have seen; a scheme which would simply replace
the bishops in the position which they had forfeited ;
but the old mixed commission of thirty-two had been
re-established for the revision of the canon law ; and in
March, 1552, the commissioners would have made some
progress, it was said, had not Ridley, and Goodrich,
Bishop of Ely, who had succeeded Lord Rich as Chan-
cellor, ' stood in the way with their worldly policy/2
The thirty- two were afterwards reduced to eight, and
in the following November a fresh commission was ap-
pointed, consisting of Cranmer, Goodrich, Coxe, and
Peter Martyr, with four lawyers and civilians. The
1 ' God's justice,' says Knox, in
his Admonition to the Faithful in
England, ' is not wont to cut off
wicked men till their iniquity is so
manifest that their very flatterers
cannot excuse it. If Stephen Gar-
diner, Cuthbert Tunstal, and butcher-
ly Bonner, false bishops of Win-
chester, Durham, and London, had,
for their false doctrines and traitor-
ous acts, suffered death when'they
justly deserved the same, then would
Papists have alleged that they were
men reformable,' &c. In the Con-
stitution of the Church of Scotland,
which was drawn under Knox's in-
fluence, to say mass, or to hear it,
was made a capital crime — under tho
authority of the text, ' The idolater
shall die the death.'
2 Micronius to Bullinger : Epis-
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 107
work was allowed to devolve on the Archbishop, who,
with the assistance of Foxe the Martyrologist, produced
the still-born volume,1 in which, as I have already men-
tioned, he claimed the continued privilege of sending
obstinate heretics to the stake ; and which remains to
show to posterity the inability of the wisest of the clergy
to comprehend their altered position. The King was
already more clear-sighted than the Archbishop of
Canterbury. He admitted the desirableness of disci-
pline ; 'so/ however, ' that those that should be execu-
tors of that discipline were men of tried honesty, wis-
dom, and judgment.' ' But because/ he said, ' those
bishops who should execute it, some for Papistry, some
for ignorance, some for age, some for their ill names, some
for all those causes, were men unable to execute disci-
pline, it was, therefore, a thing unmeet for such men/2
Meanwhile, amidst discussions on the remedies of
evils, the evils themselves for the most part continued.
Discipline could not be restored. The King's abilities
did not anticipate his majority ; the revenues were still
misapplied, the debts of the Crown still unpaid. Officials
indeed in the interests of Northumberland were per-
mitted to indemnify themselves for their services.
Bishop Ponet, for instance, composed a catechism, which
was ordered for general use, and was allowed a f mono-
poly of the printing.'3 But ordinary persons, servants,
1 The Reformatio Legum.
2 Discourse on the Reformation of Abuses : BURNET.
3 Northumberland to Cecil : MS. Domestic, Edward VI. vol. xv.
State Paper Office,
io8
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29
artisans, tradesmen in public employment, ' fed upon the
chameleon's dish/ and still cried in vain for their wages
— it might be from prison.1 Prices of provisions would
not abate. Vainly the Duke of Northumberland repri-
manded the Lord Mayor in the Guildhall — vainly but-
chers' carts were seized, and the meat was forfeited —
vainly the dealers were threatened with the loss of their
freedom and expulsion from the towns and cities ; 2 the
distrust and hatred of the administration were too
strong for menace.
The churches, the lead having been torn from the
roofs, crumbled into ruins. Parishes were still left with-
out incumbents, or still provided with curates who were
incapable or useless. ' A thousand pulpits in England
were covered with dust/ In some, four sermons had
1 The state of the ordnance de-
partment was hut a specimen of the
state of all the departments. On
the 3rd of August, 1552, the Master
of the Ordnance wrote to Cecil : —
' These be to beseech you for
God's sake, charity's sake, yea, at
this my contemplation, to help the
miseries that be in the office of the
ordnance for lack of money, as it is
high time, being daily sundry and
many poor men crying and calling
for the same, to my no little grief;
amongst the which is one named
Charles Wolmar, gunpowder maker,
now in very pitiful case, who is
presently in the Counter, for that
the rent of the house he dwelleth in
is unpaid for a year and a half,
which amounteth to 13 pounds and
odd money, which cometh by reason
there hath been no money paid in
this office a long time. The King's
Majesty is charged with the rent
thereof, being put there by the
King's appointment, both for the
making of gunpo.wder, when there
is money to set him a work, and
also to look to certain things of his
Highness's there under his charge.
I heartily pray you, seeing that the
said poor man, as is great pity, is
nevertheless troubled for this the
King's Majesty's care, to move my
Lords of the Council in that behalf.
Sir, I pray you that I may have an
answer hereof.' — MS. Domestic, Ed-
ward VI. vol. xiv. Staio Puper
Office.
2 STKYPE'S Memorials.
I552-]
NOR THUMBERLA ND'S CGNSP1RA C Y.
109
not been heard since the Preaching Friars were sup-
pressed. ' If/ said Bernard Gilpin before the Court, ' if
such a monster as Darvel Gatheren, the idol of Wales,
could have set his hand to a bill to let the patron take
the greater part of the profits, he might have had a
benefice.'1 In October, 1552, there was a menace of
rebellion.2 In December, the Government was threat-
ened with some further unknown but imminent danger,
which called out from Northumberland the most seem-
ing admirable sentiments, which he knew so well how
to affect, and could, perhaps, persuade himself that he
felt.3 In March, sp general was the disaffection, that
1 STKYPE'S Memorials.
2 Northumberland to Cecil : MS.
Domestic, vol. xiv. Edward VI.
State Paper Office.
3 He may have the benefit of
his words so far as it will extend-
He ' instantly and earnestly re-
quired the Lords of the Council to
be vigilant for the preventing of
these treasons so far as in them was
possible to be foreseen ;' ' that there-
by,' he said, ' we may to our master
and the world discharge ourselves
like honest men, which, if we do
not, having the warning that we
have which cometh more of the
goodness of God than of our search
or care, the shame, the blame, the
dishonour, the lack and reproach
should, and may justly, be laid
upon us to the world's end. The
old saying which ever among wise
men hath been holden for true,
soemeth by our proceedings to be
had either iu derision or in small
memory, being comprehended in
these words — mora trahit periculum
— beseeching your Lordships, for th-e
love of God and the love which we
ought to have to our master and
country, let us be careful, as be-
cometh men of honour, truth, and
honesty to be. For we be called in
the time of trial and trouble ; and
therefore let us show ourselves to be
as we ought to be ; that is, to be
ready, not only to spend our goods,
but our lands and lives, for our
master and our country, and to de-
spise the flattering of ourselves with
heaping riches upon riches, house
upon house, building upon building,
and all through the infection of
singvlare commodum. And let us
not only ourselves beware and fly
from it as the greatest pestilence in
the commonwealth, let us also be of
that fortitude and courage that we
be not blinded and abused by those
that be infected with these infirmi-
iid REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. (CH. ±g.
martial law was proclaimed in many parts of the
country.1
The periodic sore of bankruptcy was again running.
The revenue still clung to the hands by which it was
collected. Fines, confiscations, church plate, church
lands, mint plunder, vanished like fairy gold. The lan-
guid eiforts of the council to extricate themselves availed
only to show how helpless was their embarrassment. In
August, 1552, a bill fell due in Antwerp for 56,oob/.
Sir Thomas Gresham had been in the Low Countries in
July ; and as there was no money to meet the bill, he
brought back with him a proposal for a further post-
ponement on the usual terms ; with a condition to which
also the home Government was accustomed, that certain
wares, fustians and diamonds, should be purchased of
the lenders. Such transactions, however disguised,
could have but one meaning : the bankers sold their
jewels at their own prices ; the English Government
had to dispose of them for such prices as they would
fetch in the market.
Northumberland was absent on the Scottish Border,
and the council, freed from his authority, refused to
submit to the imposition. They instructed Gresham to
return to Antwerp and to say that the King would pay
as soon as he could, but the times were troublesome,
and he had other employment for his money : the bankers
must be reasonable, and wait.
The trader sympathized with his order. Gresham
ties.' — Northumberland to the I VI. vol. xv. State Paper Office.
Council : MS. Domestic, Edward | l STRYPE'S Memorials.
15S2-] NORTHUMBERLAND 'S CONSPIRACY.
ill
pledged his own credit for payment, and he wrote
earnestly to Northumberland, through whom bargains
of this kind could be best conducted, to save the country
from shame. It was ' neither honourable nor profitable/
he said, to put off money-lenders with a high hand.
The credit of England would ' fall as low as the credit
of the Emperor/ who was at that moment 'offering 16
per cent, for money, and could not obtain it.' ' The
King's father, who first began to take up money upon
interest, did use to take his fee penny in jewels, coppery
gunpowder, or fustian, and wares had been taken ever
since, when the King had made any prolongation/ So
long as the loans could not be repaid the system must
be continued. Thus much, however, Gresham under-
took to do. Lead was fetching a high price in Antwerp.
If the export of lead from England was forbidden, the
price would rise still higher, while at home it would fall.
The Government might take possession of the trade and
make its own profits ; while he would himself remain
on the Continent, and would watch the exchanges, and
if he could be supplied with i aoo£ a week he would
clear the Crown of its foreign debts in two years.1
Northumberland listened to the advice upon the lead
trade. He stopped the exports, and in two months
learnt to his sorrow that ' princes' affairs in the Govern-
ment of realms and merchants' trades were of two
natures.'2 The City of London extricated the Crown
1 Gresham to Northumberland :
STRYPE'S Memorials, vol. iv.
2 ' I pray you, and most heartily
require you, to have in remembrance
the restraint lately taken for the
stay of lead through the realm, that
112
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
from its embarrassments by an advance of 40,000^.
The bills were renewed, but only with a slight increase.
In August, the entire debts at Antwerp were io8,ooo/.
On the 3rd of October, after the renewal, they were
something under m,ooo/. ; while the home debts 'cer-
tainly known to be due' were, on the same 3rd of
October, 1 25,ooo/.1 The loan from the City of London
partially satisfied the foreign creditors, partially it
was applied for the payment of wages, and other
obligations at home. The home debts by November
were reduced to iO9,ooo/.2 At last, therefore, there
was an attempt to do something, though the some-
thing was but small.
But these petty difficulties were not absolutely the
results of carelessness and fraud. In this autumn of
1552, England narrowly escaped being again drawn
into the European whirlpool.
The Peace of Passau left Charles at war with France ;
and by the revised treaty of 1543, as has been often
it may be substantially considered ;
for I put you out of doubt the
clamour and exclamation grow great,
and may breed more dangers than
can now be seen. I have, since my
being in the council chamber, heard
of that matter, which maketh me
sorry that ever it was my hap to be
a meddler in it ; but shall teach me
to beware of the vayne of a dry
spring \vhile I live ; for princes'
affairs specially touching the govern-
ment of realms and merchants'
trades are of two natures ; therefore,
though they be full of devices with
appearance of profit, yet must they
be weighted with other consequences ;
as in this case as much requisite as
any matter that was in use a great
while, for such reasons as this day
were rehearsed, as knoweth the
Lord.' — Northumberland to Cecil,
November, 1552 : MS. Domestic,
Edward VI. vol. xiv. State Paper
Office.
1 Note in Cecil's hand : MS
Domestic, Edward VI. vol. xiv. State
Paper Office.
~ Second Note in Cecil's hand :
Ibid
I552-]
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
September.
said, England was bound to assist the Emperor if the
Low Countries or the Rhine provinces were invaded.
A French army had entered Luxembourg in July ; and
Charles, whose misfortunes had rendered him less scru-
pulous in connecting himself with heretics, applied
through his ambassador for the stipulated support. The
abandonment of Henry VIII. in the late war might
have exonerated Edward from compliance. The treaty
had been renewed since the Peace of Crepy ; but Charles
had left England, notwithstanding, to work its way out
of its difficulties alone j1 in the place of send-
ing help, he had himself assumed an attitude
of hostility. But either Northumberland was uncertain
of his prospects and projects at home, and desired to
conciliate the Emperor and Mary, or he was doubtful of
the intentions of France, or he was possessed by the
traditionary belief that the safety of England de-
pended on the maintenance of the balance of power.
The Emperor, without money and without friends,
was contending with difficulty against an alliance
between the Turks and the French. Ugly misunder-
standings had sprung up between the Courts of Lon-
don and Paris. The French had avenged their sup-
1 Chancellor Granvelle's defence
of the Peace of Crepy was probably
unknown in England, or it would
have spared the council all difficulty.
1 De dire,' lie wrote to the Emperor,
'que le Roy d'Angleterre par la
dicte paix pourra se malcontenter et
pretender que votre Majeste a con-
trevenu a traicte — il y a, Sire, uue
VOL. V.
maxime en matieres d'estat comme
en toutes choses, qu'il faut regarder
plus a la realite des choses que se
traictent, en y conjoignant ce qu'est
possible et faysable, selon Dieu et
raison, que de advanturer et hazarder
pour crainte de scrupules non fon-
dez.' — Granvelle to Charles V. :
Papier s d'Jttat, vol. iii. p. 27.
8
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
posed wrongs in the usual way, by seizing English
merchant ships ; and Charles's request for assistance
came at the moment when the council were besieged
with the complaints of the owners.1 From the uncertain
conduct of the council, it would seem that either there
were conflicting opinions which balanced each other,
or that one and all were perplexed and irresolute.
The ambassador was first answered evasively. He
was next told that the demand should be taken into
consideration. Then suddenly, on the siid of Septem-
ber, the council made up their minds definitely to de-
clare war against France.2 But the resolution was taken
only to be abandoned immediately, and the ambassador
was informed that the King could not, in his present
1 'It is an old saying that we
should not laugh at our neighbour
when his house is on fire. I do
every day hear more and more of
the cruel dealings of the French
against the subjects and merchants
of this realm, in such lamentable
sort that a number almost is ready
to be desperate : wherein the honour
of the prince, his council, and realm,
is vehemently touched.' — Northum-
berland to Cecil, September, 1552:
MS. Domestic, Edward VI. vol. xiv.
State Paper Office.
2 * Which things considered, we
have more regarded our faith in our
religion, our old amity and alliance
with our good brother the Emperor,
and the antient natural friendship
that hath, in all times and adversi-
ties, continued betwixt the two no-
ble houses of England and Bur-
gundy, than other worldly perils and
lacks that might, in appearance of
reason, move us to be quiet and sit
still ; and be content to declare the
French King's countries and sub-
jects common enemies to us and our
good brother the Emperor— no wise
doubting but our said good brother
will naturally, like a brother, con-
sider this our well-tried constancy
and natural love towards him. And
herein you shall declare to our said
good brother, that our desire is to
have his advice for our best means
of entry to this demonstration.' —
Minute of Instructions to Sir R.
Morryson, September 2, 1552 : MS.
Germany, Edward VI. bundle 15,
State Paper Office.
'552.J
NOR THUMB ERLAN&S CONSPIRA C Y.
embarrassments, hold himself bound by his father's
treaties. Again in a few days the scale wavered. Sir
Thomas Stukeley, a west-country gentleman, and a de-
pendent of Somerset, had escaped abroad on the arrest
of his master, and now returned with a story by which
he hoped to purchase his pardon. Being believed to be
a disaffected subject, he had been admitted, as he said,
into the French counsels, and he was able to affirm as a
certainty that Calais was about to be attacked. The
King of France himself had spoken to him of the weak
points in the defences, had pointed out the very plan of
assault, by which, six years later, Calais was actually
taken. Although, however, Henry said, ' he would in
short space recover Calais, yet to adventure the same
was in vain, otherwise than to seek the whole realm/
The Scots, therefore, were to enter Northumberland ; he
himself would land with troops at Falmouth, while the
Duke of Guise would land at Dartmouth, which he
knew to be undefended. That done 'he intended to
proclaim and restore the mass/ Stukeley told him that
' he would be twice or thrice fought withal/ Henry
said that ' he esteemed that but a peasant's fight ; ' at
all events, he would fortify both Falmouth and Dart-
mouth, and hold them in gage for Calais.1
The French were confident in themselves, in their
fortunes, in the especial graces which attended the con-
secration of their sovereign.2 Neither promises nor
1 Stukeley's Deposition : MS.
France, Edward VI. bundle 10,
State Paper Office.
2 The Cardinal of Lorraine
showed Sir William Pickering the
Holy Ampulla [St Ampull, Pick-
ering calls it, like St Cross or St
Sepulchre,] ' wherewith the King
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
alliances would stand in their way when opportunity of
aggrandizement should offer itself. If either France
or the Empire became dominant in Europe, England
would equally find an enemy in either ; and if Stukeley's
story was true, the Empire must be supported.
Again, therefore, the question of peace or war was
anxiously discussed, and, according to the official habit
Df the time, the arguments on either side were drawn
Out in form. Should the King join the Emperor? it
was asked. For the affirmative it was urged that he
was bound by treaty. The Emperor might be ruined,
or would lose Burgundy, and in that case England
would lose Calais ; the French were bringing the Turks
into Christendom, and again some redress must be
obtained for the English merchants ; the attitude of
France was suspicious and menacing, and ' enter into
war alone the King might not well ; ' finally, the Em-
peror might make peace with France exasperated by
desertion, and the Catholic powers might unite against
For the negative; the exchequer was
England.1
of France was sacred, which he
said was sent from Heaven above
a thousand years ago, and since by
miracle preserved ; through whose
virtue also the King healed les es-
crouelles.' — Pickering to the Council:
MS. Ibid.
1 While the preservation of the
holy ointment assured France of the
continued favour of Heaven, the
French preachers informed their
congregations, on analogous grounds,
that England had been forsaken.
' No wonder,' said a Jacobin monk
in a sermon at Angiers, ' that the
King of England has broken faith
with France, seeing that he had
broken 'faith with God ; disant qu'il
estoit heretique et mescliaut, et que
le peuple de France debvroit bien
louer Dieu et luy rendre graces, et
que nostre roy avoit tournu sa robe
et estoit ennemy des Franjoys.
Depuys continuant sa meschante
affection, il a diet en publique que
notre Roy d'Angleterre estoit infi-
'5S2-]
NOR THUMB ERLA NLfS CONSPIRA C Y.
117
empty : should the Emperor die, as was not unlikely,
England would be left again to fight the battle alone.
The German Protestants would be offended, and France,
after all, might not have the intentions which were
attributed to her. It might be possible so to help the
Emperor as to induce the Protestant princes to unite
also ; to make the Turks the ground of quarrel, and to
declare France an enemy of Christendom.' A war on
such terms would bo inexpensive, and England would
be strengthened by taking part in a general league.
On the other hand, such a league could not be formed
either rapidly or secretly ; and if the attempt should
be made, and fail, France would be inexpiably offended.
The ultimate resolution was to reply with a general
assurance of sympathy ; to offer active assistance against
the Turks, and so to feel the way towards a larger com-
bination. The Lutheran powers, having secured their
own liberties, were known to be looking suspiciously on
the French movements. If the Emperor would consent
to act with them, England might then go further.
Meantime she would recruit her finances, and prepare
for all contingencies.1
Charles was unable to quarrel with so meagre an
answer. He had deserved no better ; nor could Eng-
dele, ce qu'il disoit estre notoire par
ce que le don de faire miracles luy
estoit ostee ; disant que ses prede-
cesseurs Roys d'Angleterre avoient
de cousturae de guerir du raal caduc,
mais que ceste vertu luy avoit este
ostee, et ii'en guerissoit, plus a
cause de son infidelite.' — MS.
France, Edward VI. bundle 10,
State Paper Office.
1 EDWARD'S Journal, Septem-
ber, 1552. — Discussion on the War
with France, with the Instructions
to Sir Richard Morryson : Cotton.
MSS. Galba, 12.
ti8 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 29.
land afford more. He was at the moment on the Rhine,
just recovering from a severe attack of gout, and col-
lecting an army to wrest Metz from the Duke of Guise.
Fortune at that time seemed again turning in his favour.
The French invading force had been compelled to retreat
out of Lorraine, decimated by fever, Guise himself re-
maining with a few picked troops. De Roulx, the Im-
perialist general in Flanders, had carried fire and sword
to the banks of the Somme, and penetrated France to
within fifty miles of Paris, sacking houses, and burning
towns, villages, and farms. A company of English
volunteers from the Calais Pale had joined him in an
attack, which all but succeeded, upon Ambletue ; while
Albert of Brandenburg, who had quarrelled with
Maurice, and was now in the Emperor's camp, had taken
the Duke of Aumale in a skirmish.
Accounts, by competent persons, of interviews with
Charles Y. are always interesting. "When Sir Richard
Morryson waited upon him with the reply of the Eng-
lish Government to his request for assistance, ' the Em-
peror/ he said, * was at a bare table, without carpet or
anything else upon it, saving his cloke, his brush, his
spectacles, and his picktooth.' His lower lip had broken
out during his illness, and he kept ' a green leaf ' upon
it, which, adding to his ' accustomed softness in speak-
ing,' 'made his words hard to be understood/ He
listened to the message kindly, but coldly, * thinking, as
Morryson might perceive, to have heard somewhat of
joining force against another enemy of his' beside the
Turk : but he spoke warmly of England ; he talked of
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND^ S CONSPIRACY. i\g
Henry VIII., and of the regard which they had ever
entertained for each other ; and it seemed as if he was
speaking sincerely. f But he hath a face/ said Morryson,
' imwont to discover any hid affection of his heart, as
any face that ever I met with in all my life. White
colours, which, in changing themselves, are wont in
others to bring a man word how his errand is liked,
have no place in his countenance. His eyes only do
betray as much as can be picked out of him. He maketh
me often think of Solomon's saying, Heaven is high, the
earth is deep, a King's heart is unsearchable. There is
in him almost nothing that speaks besides his tongue.'1
Meantime the French King assured Sir
October.
William Pickering that in Stukeley's story
there was no word of truth. He had never thought of
attacking England since the conclusion of the peace, far
less had he spoken of it. How these foreign difficulties
might turn out was quite uncertain. Nevertheless, for
domestic purposes or for war purposes, one thing was
steadily necessary, i. e., money. Northumberland, fol-
lowing the steps of his father, who filled the treasury of
Henry VII., and brought his own head to the block, set
himself to the work with heart and goodwill. In the
autumn and winter of 1552-3, no less than nine com-
missions were appointed with this one object ; four of
which were to go again over the often-trodden ground,
and glean the last spoils which could be gathered from
the churches. In the business of plunder the rapacity
Morryson to the Council : TYTLER, vol. ii.
rao REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29
of the Crown officials had been distanced hitherto by
private peculation. The halls of country-houses were
hung with altar-cloths ; tables and beds were quilted
with copes ; the knights and squires drank their claret
out of chalices, and watered their horses in marble
coffins. Pious clergy, gentlemen, or churchwardens had
in many places secreted plate, images, or candlesticks,
which force might bring to light. Bells, rich in silver,
still hung silent in remote church- towers, or were buried
in the vaults. Organs still pealed through the aisles in
notes unsuited to a regenerate worship, and damask
napkins, rich robes, consecrated banners, pious offerings
of men of another faith, remained in the chests in the
vestries. All these were valuable, and might be secured,
and the Protestants could be persuaded into applause at
the spoiling of the house of Baal. Ridley in London
lent his hand. On the 4th of September the organ at
St Paul's was ordered into silence preparatory to removal.
On the 25th of October ' was the plucking down of all
the altars and chapels in Paul's church, with all the
tombs, at the commandment of the Bishop, and all the
goodly stone- work that stood behind the high altar.' l
The monument of John of Gaunt himself would have
gone down, had not the council stepped in to save it.
Vestments, copes, plate, even the coin in the poor-boxes,
were taken from the churches in the city.2 Some few
peals of bells were spared for a time, but only under
1 Grey friars' Chronicle.
2 It is to be said for Ilidley that he begged and obtained the linen sur-
plices, &c., for the use of the hospitals.
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 121
condition of silence. A sweep as complete cleared the
parish churches throughout the country. There was
one special commission for bells, vestments, and orna-
ments ; two for plate and jewels ; a fourth to search
private houses for church property, and, should any such
be found, to make a further profit by the fine of the
offenders. A commission, again, was to ex-
0 November.
amine into the rents of the Crown estates ^
another to sell chantry lands. The accounts of the dis-
position of all estates which had fallen to the Crown by
confiscation or Act of Parliament since the suppression
of the monasteries were to be produced and examined.
The armorial bearings of families residing south of the
Trent were to be investigated by the College of Heralds,
and illegal quarterings to be paid for by fine or forfeit.
Lastly, Northumberland himself, assisted by others on
whose discretion he could rely, undertook to examine
the accounts of the treasurer and receiver of the Court
of Augmentations and the Court of Exchequer ; of the
collectors of firstfruits and of the officers of the Duchy
of Lancaster ; and, finally, in one frightful sweep, to
call on every one who had received money in behalf of
the Crown since the year 1532 to produce his books and
submit them to an audit. Paymasters, purveyors, vic-
tuallers, engineers, architects, every one to whom money
had been paid from the treasury for the army and navy,
for the household, or for any other purpose, were in-
cluded under the same schedule. If the account-books
of twenty years of confusion, during the latter portion
of which almost all public persons, from the council
ill
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CM.
downwards, had vied with each other in the race of
rapacity, were not forthcoming and in order, they were
to be proceeded against without mercy.
The sale of chantry lands was expected to yield
40,000^. ; the surrendered lands of the bishopric of
Worcester would produce 5ooo/. more ; the church
plate and linen 20,000^. ; the confiscated estates of the
late fraudulent Master of the Rolls, and of Sir Thomas
Arundel, who had been executed as an accomplice in
Somerset's conspiracy, with a fine inflicted on Lord
Paget for the same cause, were estimated at 25,ooo/.,
' or thereabouts ; ' from 90,000^. to ioo,ooo/. might be
expected from the remaining commissions,1 could those
commissions be enforced. But setting aside the injustice
of calling suddenly for the accounts of twenty years,
when the disorders had been so universal and the
example of the ruling powers so flagrantly bad, the
conduct of Northumberland and Northumberland's
friends could bear inspection as little as any man's.
Another large sum of 40,000^. might be looked for from
the sale of the estates of the See of Durham, which was
about to be suppressed ; but these estates Northumber-
land designed for himself, and obtained a grant of them ;
and as he now really intended to pay off the Crown
debts 7 — as, in fact, he was supplying, and intended to
continue to supply, the 1 2Ool. weekly for which Gresham
1 Further Calculations of the
King's Debts and of the Means of
paying them : MS. Domestic, Ed-
ward VI. vol. xiv.
2 From a report presented in
the first year of Queen Mary, it
appeared that in the last year of
Edward he cleared off 60,000^.
1552.]
NOK THUMB ERLAND'S CONSPIRA C Y.
December.
had applied for that purpose, he was obliged to look to
other resources. A Parliament had become a
necessity, unwelcome but inevitable. A Par-
liament must meet. The blame of the public embar-
rassment could be cast upon Somerset ; and in a letter
to the council the Duke explained the arguments on
which he intended to apply for a subsidy.1 As the
subsidy, however, could not be collected till after the
next harvest, the meeting, he at first thought, might be
postponed till the following Michaelmas.2
Circumstances, or the influence of others, or the ne-
cessity of pacifying the people, forbade the anticipated
delay. The writs were sent out in January, i$$$.
and as Parliament would not grant money Januai7-
1 ' There is none other remedy/
he said, 'to bring his Majesty out
of the great debts wherein, for one
great part, he was left by his High-
ness's father, and augmented by the
wilful government of the late Duke
of Somerset, who took upon him
the Protectorship and government
of his own authority. His High-
ness, by the prudence of his father,
left in peace with all princes, sud-
denly by that man's unskilful Pro-
tectorship, was plunged in wars,
whereby his expenses were increased
unto the point of six or seven
score thousand pounds a year over
and above the charges for the
keeping of Boulogne. These things
being now so onerous and weighty
to the King's Majesty, and having
all this while been put off by the
best means we have been able to
devise, although but slender shifts,
the same is grown to such an ex-
tremity, as without it speedily bo
holpen by your wise heads, both
dishonour and peril may follow;
and seeing there is none other hon-
ourable means to reduce these evils,
I think there be no man that bear-
eth his obedient duty to his sovereign
lord and country but must conform
himself to think this way [of a Par-
liament] most honourable. The sale
of lands ye have proved ; the seek-
ing of every man's doings in office
ye mind to try ; and yet you per-
ceive all this cannot help to salve
the sore that hath been so long suf-
fered to fester for lack of looking
unto.' — Northumberland to the
Council; MS. Domestic, Edward
VI. vol. xv.
2 Ibid,
I24 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
without inquiry, and inquiry could only be faced before
interested or otherwise favourable judges, the best secur-
ity was to fill the Lower House with men who could be
depended upon. It has been maintained or assumed, by
some writers, that the election of members of Parliament
under the Tudor princes had but the form of freedom ;
that the constituencies were treated with no more respect
than if they had been deans and chapters of cathedrals,
who, though permitted to pray to Heaven to be guided
in the selection of their bishop, must nevertheless re-
ceive that guidance through the nomination of the
Crown. The account of the election of 1552-3 will
enable us to form a more discriminating judgment.
Northumberland's House of Commons was, in fact,
chosen, like the bishops, by a conge d'elire; it was a
1 convention of notables/ such as Northumberland was
pleased to direct to be elected ; but such a mode of elec-
tion is expressly stated to have been introduced on this
occasion, and if freshly introduced, did not exist before.1
How the voting was conducted does not appear ; and It
is plain that the constituencies possessed no recognized
means of enforcing their own choice; but it is plain,
also, that the experiment of nomination was tried
1 On the i6th of August, 1553, I senter le paiieracnt selon quele Dt
Simon Renard, the Flemish Am-
bassador, writing to Charles V. of
the Parliament about to be called
by Mary, consulted him in Mary's
name, ' si le diet parlement se doit
faire general, ou y appellir particu-
liers et notables du pays par rcpre-
de Northumberland V a introduict.' —
Despatches of Renard, copied from
the Archives at Brussels : MS.
Rolls House. Charles advised Mary
to trust the people as completely as
I553-]
NOR THUMB ERLA ND*S CONSPIRA C Y
as tlie general rule of an election for the first time.
A nomination Parliament, however, was on this oc-
casion actually assembled. Either a circular1 was ad-
A first draft of the circular is
in the British Museum : Lansdowne
MSS. 3.
'Trusty and well-beloved, we
greet you well. Forasmuch as we
have, for divers good considerations,
caused a summonition of a Parlia-
ment to be made, as we doubt not ye
understand the same, by our writs
sent in that behalf to you, we have
thought it meet, for the furtherance
of sr°.h causes as are to be pro-
pounded in the same Parliament for
the commonweal of our realm, that
in the election of such persons as
shall be sent to our Parliament,
either from oar counties as knights
of the shire, or from our cities and
boroughs, there be good regard had
that the choice be made of men of
gravity and knowledge in their own
counties and towns, fit for their un-
derstanding and qualities to be in
such a great council. And, there-
fore, since some part of the proceed-
ing herein shall rest in you by virtue
of your office, we do, for the great
desire we have that this our Parlia-
ment may be assembled with person-
ages out of every county of wisdom
and experience, at this present re-
commend two gentlemen of the same
county, being well furnished with all
good qualities, to be knights of that
shire, that is to say, and ,
to whom we would ye should signify
this our meaning, to the intent they
may prepare themselves to enter into
this office, being for the weal of
their country ; and likewise our plea-
sure is that ye shall, at or before the
day of the election, communicate this
our purpose to the gentlemen and
such other our subjects of the same,
being freeholders of that county, as
shall seem requisite, so as they may
both see our consideration and care
for the weal of the same shire, and
our good memory of those two per-
sonages whom we have named unto
you.'
Transversely written on the same
page, in the handwriting of North-
umberland's secretary, is a second
form, more general.
' 1 will and command you that
ye shall give notice, as well to the
freeholders of your county as to the
citizens or burgesses of any city or
borough which shall have any of our
writs for the election of citizens or
burgesses, that they shall choose and
appoint, as nigh as they possibly
may, men of knowledge and ex-
perience within their counties, cities,
or boroughs, so as, by the assembly
of such, we may, by God's goodness,
provide for the redress of the lacks in
our commonwealth more effectually
than hitherto hath been.
' And yet, nevertheless, our
pleasure is, that when our privy
council, or any of them, with their
instructions in our behalf, shall re-
126
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
dressed to the sheriffs of counties or mayors of towns,
simply naming the persons who were to be chosen, or
the electors were instructed to accept their directions
from some member of the privy council. In some in-
stances the orders of the Crown were sent direct to the
candidate himself,1 and the language in which the com-
munications were conveyed implied the most entire as-
surance .on the part of the Government that the dispo-
sition of the seats was under their control.
But for especial interference Northumberland's po-
sition especially called. The writs with the letters and
circulars were sent out on the I9th of January.
On the 1 4th, Northumberland held in his
hands a document which avowedly caused him uneasi-
ness. The threatened inquiry into the distribution of
the Church lands under Henry VIII. had not, perhaps,
been pursued ; but ' a book ' had been drawn, ' of the
charges of the present King and of his debts/ to the
production of which, without considerable modifications,
the Duke felt that he could not consent. This particu-
Jan. 14.
commend men of learning and
wisdom, in such cases their direction
be regarded and followed.'
1 ' Ye shall understand that his
Majesty is right desirous to have the
Parliament now coming to be as-
sembled of the chiefest men of
wisdom and good counsel for the
better consideration of things for the
commonwealth of this realm ; and,
therefore, amongst divers others,
hath willed us to signify unto you
this his pleasure, to have you
one of the Commons House, which
thing we also require you to foresee,
that either for the county where ye
abide ye be chosen knight, or else
otherwise to have some place in the
House like as all others of your de-
gree be appointed. And herein, if
cither his Majesty or we knew where
to recommend you, according to
your own desires, we would not fail
but provide the same.' — The Council
to Sir P. Hoby, January 19 : Har-
Iciati MtiS. 523.
1553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 127
lar bdok I have been unable to discover ; but it con-
tained, among other things, an account of the various
grants professing to have been made by Edward to his
ministers, or, in truer language, appropriated by these
ministers to their own use during Edward's reign. On
the 1 4th of January the Duke had the report in his
hands ; he sent it to the Marquis of Northampton, with
side-notes and reflections, the occasion and meaning of
which he expressed very frankly in a letter which has
fortunately survived.
' The causes/ he said, ' why I have scribbled the
book so much, is that I am of opinion that we need not
to be so ceremonious as to imagine the objections of
every froward person, but rather to burden their minds
and hearts with the King's Majesty's extreme debts and
necessities, grown and risen by such occasion and means
as can be denied by no man ; and that we need not to
seem to make account to the Commons of his Majesty's
liberality and bounti fulness in augmenting of his nobles,
or his benevolence shewed to any his good servants, lest
you might thereby make them wanton and give them
occasion to take hold of your own arguments. But as
it shall become no subject to argue the matter so far, so,
if any should be so far out of reason, the matter will
always answer itself with honour and reason to their
confuting and shame.'1
Although the ' scribbled ' document has disappeared,
the substance of it remains in a separate table of reports,
1 Northumberland to the Lord Chamberlain : MS. Domestic, Edward
VI. voL xvi.
128
RhIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
which were submitted, eventually, to a subsequent Par-
liament,1 and it explains the Duke's anxiety.
The total value of the lands which had passed from
the Crown, in the reign of Edward VI., by gift, sale, or
exchange, had been something over a million and a
half.2 Four hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds
had professedly been paid into the treasury as purchase-
money. The lands exchanged were worth 350,0007.
The value of the lands given away was 730,000^. Of
these given lands, estates to the extent of iaoo/. a year,
worth perhaps, 25,000^, went to endowments of schools
and hospitals ; 3600^. a year was reserved to the Crown
upon the rents of the rest ; and 9000^. had been paid in
money to the Crown by the recipients of the royal
bounty. On the exchanged land there was a reserva-
tion also of 1900^. a year.
After liberal deductions on these and all other im-
aginable grounds, after reasonable allowances for grants
legitimately made as a reward for services, there will
remain, on a computation most favourable to the coun-
cil, estates worth half a million — in the modern cur-
rency about five millions — which the ministers of the
Minority with their friends had appropriated — I sup-
pose I must not say stolen — and divided among them-
selves. In the different lists the names of the council
1 MS. Domestic, Edward VI.
vol. xix.
2 The annual proceeds of the
land sold were 21,304^. 14*. $d. ; the
money paid for them, 43 5, 2 7 jl. 12s.
id The average value, therefore,
was a fraction over twenty years'
purchase. The annual proceeds of
the lands given were36,746/. 15*. 8d.
wliich, on the same calculation,
would give something over 730,000^
1553-J NORTHUMBERLAND'1 S CONSPIRACY. t2$
appear nowhere as purchasers. They exchanged occa-
sionally, being nearest to the fountain, and having the
privilege of the first draught: but, in general, when
any minister of the Crown is mentioned, it is as an
object merely of unmixed liberality. The literal entries
are an imperfect guide, since it appeared, in the in-
quiries which followed the deposition of Somerset from
the Protectorate, that conveyances had been made out
in other names, to cover the extent of the appropria-
tions. From the report as it stands the Lord Paget and
Sir William Petre would seem, to have made the smallest
use of their opportunities; Lord Pembroke to have
made the best.1
With the danger of these revelations impending,
Northumberland must have doubtless felt the meeting
of Parliament an anxious occasion, notwithstanding
his care of the elections. The session opened on the
ist of March ; and, to neutralize opposition,
he had attempted to gain over, by a promise
of long- coveted concessions, the support of the old-
established guilds and corporations of the city of
London.
The sixteenth century had seen the shipwreck of
more than one time-honoured institution. The foreign
trade from the port of London had been carried on from
the time of the Norman sovereigns, down to a recent
1 MS. Domestic, Edward VI.
vol. xix. The summary at the close
of the report is made up to the death
of Edward, who is there described as
the late King. The report itself is
VOL. v.
stated to have been drawn up for
Parliament, and was probably, there-
fore, presented in the first year of
Mary.
130 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29
period, under the jurisdiction of a close body of mo-
nopolists, representatives of the various guilds and
companies, entitled the Fellowship of the London Mer-
chants. An organization which arises spontaneously
has in its origin right upon its side. It springs into
being as the answer to an acknowledged want which,
in some degree, more satisfactory or less, it contrives to
meet. It may be believed that so long as the desire
to do right among them was stronger than the desire to
grow rich, a close corporation conducted the trade of
the country with more inherent equity, and with greater
honour to the English name, than would have resulted
from general competition. But exclusive privileges
had ended, as usual, in the abuse of those privileges.
In the twelfth year of Henry VII. the Merchant Ad-
venturers, or unattached traders, petitioned for the right
which belonged to them as freeborn Englishmen of
carrying their goods into foreign countries, and selling
them as they pleased, on their own terms. ' The Fel-
/owship of London Merchants/ they said, ( for their own
singular lucre, contrary to every Englishman's liberty/
had made an ordinance among themselves that no Eng-
lishman should buy or sell in the markets of the Low
Countries without paying a fine to the Fellowship ; and
the fine had been gradually raised, till at last a demand
of forty pounds was made upon every young merchant
who was entering life before he could be permitted to
trade.
The petition of the Adventurers was heard by
Parliament. The conduct of the corporation was held
I553-]
NOR THUMB ERLANjys CONSP1RA C Y.
to be * contrary to all law, reason, charity, right, and
conscience/ Their jurisdiction was closed, and the
foreign trade was declared free.1
In the first half of the century the old-established
London houses had suffered from the competition ; and
they took advantage of the necessities of an embar-
rassed Government to make an effort to recover their
privileges.
The reputation of English goods had unquestionably
suffered in the foreign markets ; and the fraudulent
manufactures, which were in reality the natural growth
of an age of infidelity, they represented as the effect of
a disorganized intrusion of unauthorized persons into
' the feat and mystery ' of merchandise.
The fall of the exchange, notoriously due to the
debasement of the currency, they attributed with equal
injustice to the same cause ; and Northumberland, to
gain the support of so strong a body, and too happy to
rest on others the consequences of his own misdoings,
undertook, if possible, to gratify them.2
. ' 12 Henry VII. cap. 6.
2 "When the House of Commons
petitioned Henry VIII. against the
abuses of the spiritual courts, the
bishops replied to the special charges
of misconduct with a defence of the
principle on which their authority
was founded. It is amusing to find
Sir Thomas Gresham addressing
Northumberland with precisely
similar arguments. All that was
urged, either by prelate or merchant,
was most excellent, provided only
that the wisdom and honesty of the
jurisdiction which they defended
was equal to its claims and profes-
sions. ' The exchange,' wrote Gres-
ham, ' is one of the chiefest points
in the commonweal that your Grace
and the King's Majesty's Council
hath to look unto ; for, as the ex-
change riseth, so all the commodi-
ties in England falleth ; and as the
exchange falleth, so all the commo-
dities in England riseth ; as, also,
if the exchange riseth it will be the
132
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29
An Act was prepared in compliance with the request
of Sir Thomas Gresham, to limit the number of the Ad-
right occasion that all our gold and
silver shall remain within our realm.
And, to be plain with your Grace,
you shall never be able to bring this
to pass except you take away one of
the greatest occasions of the let and
stay thereof, that there shall be no
more made free of this company of
Merchant Adventurers from this day
forward. For verily they have been
and are one of the chiefest occasions
of the falling of the exchange ; as
also, for lack of experience they have
brought the commodities of our
realm clean out of reputation, as
also the merchants of the same,
which times past hath been most in
estimation of all the merchants of
the world. In the few years since
the Act was made for the new Hanse
the merchants and our commodities
hath fallen in decay, and like to
fall daily more and more, except the
matter be prevented in time. For,
as your Grace doth right well know,
where there is no order kept, all
things at length falleth to confusion.
So, an it please your Grace, how it
is possible that either a minstrel
player, or a shoemaker, or any crafty
man, or any other that hath not been
brought up in the science, to have
the present understanding of the feat
of the Merchant Adventurers; to
the which science I myself was bound
prentice eight years, to come by the
experience and knowledge that I
have ; nevertheless, I need not have
been prentice, for that I was free by
my father's copy. Albeit my father,
Sir Richard Gresham, being a wise
man, knew, although I was free by
his copy, it was to no purpose except
I was bound prentice to the same.
So that by this it may appear to
your Grace that these men that be
made free by this new Hanse, for
lack of knowledge, hath been and is
one of the chiefest occasions of the
fall of the exchange, as also hath
brought our commodities out of
reputation.
* As a further example to your
Grace, it is not passing twenty or
thirty years ago since we had for
every twenty shillings sterling thir-
ty-two shillings Flemish; and the
notable number that hath from time
to time run in headlong into the
feat of merchandise, and so entered
into credit, when they had overshot
themselves and had bound themselves
with more than their substance would
bear, then, for saving of their names,
were fain to run upon the exchange
and rechange ; and the merchants,
knowing that they had need thereof,
would not from time to time deliver
their money, but at their prices. So
that in these few years the plenty of
these new merchants, for lack of ex-
perience, substance, and credit, hath
been only the occasion that the ex-
change fell from thirty-two shillings
to 26s. 8c?., which was done afore
any fall of money passed in England.
1553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 133
venturers, and to interfere with and hamper their trade
' To make an end of this matter,
it may please you to understand till
that the King's Majesty and you,
with the rest of his Most Honourable
Council, have wholly set an order in
the premises, that you shall never
be able to bring the commodities of
this realm to such purpose as hereto-
fore hath "been ; for plenty of mer-
chants without experience is the ut-
termostly destruction of any realm
that hath the like commodities that
we have to transport, which must be
kept in reputation by merchants, or
else in process of time things will
grow to small estimation.
' Also there is another matter
which is most convenient to be
looked unto in time. And this is
to make a general stay that there
may be no retailer occupy the feat
of Merchant Adventurers, but only
to keep him, and to live upon his
retail ; and likewise the Merchant
Adventurer to occupy his feat only,
and to touch no retail, for divers
considerations of damage, as doth
daily ensue thereof ; and, for an ex-
ample, the retailer comes over with
the commodities of our realm, which,
if a cannot sell them at his price,
then a falls to bartering of them for
silks and such like merchandise, and
careth not to win by his cloth, for
that a is sure to win by the retail of
his silks. Now, the Merchant Ad-
venturer that occupyeth no retail
cometh over with our commodities
to have his gains and his living
thereby; and for that the retailer
doth sell the self commodities better
cheap than he is able to afford them,
a doth not only take away the living
of the Merchant Adventurer, but in
process of time the few numbers of
forty or fifty retailers in London
will eat out all the merchants within
our realm.'
Gresham seemed unconscious of
the practical commentary which he
was making upon his doctrine that
only men who understood their busi-
ness should be allowed to trade.
His complaint against the retailers
was merely that they were more
skilful than their competitors.
' For your Grace's better in-
struction in the matter,' he con-
tinued, ' it may please you to under-
stand that this last March there was
one Rowland Haywood and Richard
Foulkes, both retailers, as also this
last year they both came in by the
Hanse ; which parties sold here in
barter 1500 cloths of the best sort
in England and took half silks for
them; and the said cloths so sold
here was offered by the party that
bought them to sell in this town for
four pounds better cheap than any
Merchant Adventurer was able to
afford them ; which is a matter in
the commonweal to be looked upon.
In consideration whereof, the mer-
chants here with one assent have
made an Act to take effect at Mid-
summer next coming, with a proviso
so far forth as the King's Majesty
and his Most Honourable Council
be agreeable to the same, that the
134
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
with restrictions and disqualifications.1 Having thus
conciliated at least one powerful party, the Duke, on
the 6th of March, introduced his Subsidy Bill in the
House of Commons.2 The preamble was drawn by
himself or under his immediate direction. It repeated,
as the occasion for the required grant, the words of his
own letter ; and the exhaustion of the exchequer was
attributed exclusively to the recklessness of the Duke
of Somerset, and the wars into which he had plunged
the country. To relieve the country of the debt which
had been thus increased, two fifteenths and tenths were
demanded of the laity, to be paid in two years ; with an
income-tax of five per cent, on the rents of their lands
for an equal period. The clergy were required to give
ten per cent, for three years on their benefices or other
promotions.3 The debates are lost. It is known only
that the bill was long argued, notwithstanding North-
amberland's precaution, and was carried with difficulty.4
Carried it was at last ; but the House of Commons was
far from complaisant. The retrospective examination
of the public accounts had been abandoned, or if not
the examination, yet the prosecution of defaulters. A
measure, however, was introduced for an annual audit
retailer shall occupy only his retail,
and the Merchant Adventurer his
feat accordingly, to be at their
liberty betwixt this and then to take
to one of them which they shall
seem most to their profit, which in
my poor opinion seems to me a thing
most reasonable.' — Grcsham to the
Duke of Northumberland : Flanders
MSS. Edward VI. State Paper Office.
1 Note for an Act be prepared
for the Parliament : MS. Domestic,
Edward VI. vol. xvi. Ibid.
2 Commons Journals, 7 Edward
VI.
3 7 Edward VI. 12, 13.
4 BURNET.
1553-]
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
135
of the books of all collectors and receivers, with precau-
tions to prevent peculation for the future ; and so jea-
lously was the wording of the Act examined and sifted,
that it was twice drawn and redrawn before it was
finally passed.1
A creditable bill had been designed for the protec-
tion of the poor tenants of small cottages ' against the
severing of land from houses ; ' and another to prevent
the bishops and cathedral chapters from granting long
leases on the Church lands, to be renewed upon fines.
Both these measures were, unfortunately, dropped, as
leading up to inconvenient questions. Again, to pacify
the clergy after the late spoliations, a measure was
brought forward that ' no person not a deacon should
hold ecclesiastical promotions/ The Lords passed it,
but the Commons declined. The country gentlemen
refused to unclose their grasp upon the impropriated
benefices, and the bill was lost upon the third read-
ing.
A defeat on this last point Northumberland perhaps
endured with patience. It was of more consequence to
him that he was compelled to disappoint Sir Thomas
Gresham and the merchants of the city. The bill which
had been prepared in their favour was never introduced.
A bill to repeal the Act of Henry VII. was carried in
1 It is remarkable that in an
official list of measures intended to
be introduced during the session
there is no mention of this Act. It
was probably forced upon the Go-
vernment by the debates on the
subsidy. — Compare 7 Edward VI.
cap. i, with the Preparatory List :
MS. Domestic, Edward V[. vol xvi.
State Paper Office.
I36 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH, [CH. 29.
the Upper House, but the Commons were again obstinate,
and the monopoly could not be restored.1
Nor was it only in Parliament that the Duke en-
countered awkward opposition.
John Knox, who since his dismissal from France
had held a commission as a preacher in Durham and
Northumberland, was looked upon as a desirable person
to be promoted to a bishopric. The See of Rochester
was vacated in the autumn of 1552 by the translation
of Ponet to Winchester, and the Duke thought of
nominating Knox to it ; partly, he said, ' as a whetstone
to quicken the Archbishop of Canterbury, whereof he
had need/ and partly — a more singular reason — to put
an end to Knox's ministrations in the north, where he
had habitually disobeyed the Act of Uniformity, and
had not cared to conceal his objections to the Prayer-
book.2 Northumberland communicated his intentions
in a personal interview, and was not gratified at the
manner in which the intimation was received. Under
no temptation would Knox have accepted an office
which he believed to be antichristian ; but with his
hard grey eyes he looked through and through into the
heart of the second Moses of John Bale, and he could
not tell, he said, whether he were not ' a dissembler in
religion/3 In fact, he thought he could tell ; and, not
contented with refusing to take a favour at his hands,
he held it to be his duty to make known his opinions to
1 Lords' Journals, Commons' Journals, 7 Edward VI.
2 Northumberland to Cecil, October 28, 1552 : TYTLEB, vol. ii.
3 Northumberland to Cecil, December 7, 1552 : TYTLEB, vol. ii.
'553-1
NOR THUMB ERLAN&S CONSPIRA C Y.
137
the world. Preaching before the Court in the spring,
while Parliament was sitting, in the presence of the
King, Northumberland, and the council, he asked how
it was that the most godly princes had officers and chief
councillors the most ungodly, enemies to religion, and
traitors to their princes ; and quoting the characters of
Ahithophel, Shebnah, and Judas, he fastened the first
with a transparent allusion on Northumberland ; the
second he gave to Paulet, Marquis of Winchester.
Judas was present also, though he pointed less certainly
to the person whom he regarded as the counterpart of
the treacherous apostle.1 He vituperated from the
1 ' Who, I pray you, ruled the
roast in the Court all this time by
stout courage and proudness of sto-
mach ? who, I pray you, ruled all by
counsel and wit ? Shall I name the
man ? I will write no more plainly
than my tongue spake even to the
face of such as of whom I meant. I
recited the histories of Ahithophel,
Shebnah, and Judas ; of whom the
two former had high offices and
promotions, with great authority,
under Da-id and Hezekiah, and
Judas was purse-bearer unto Christ
Jesus.' 'Was David, said I, and
Hezekiah abused by crafty council-
lors and dissembling hypocrites ?
What wonder is it that a young and
innocent king be deceived by crafty,
covetous, wicked, and ungodly coun-
cillors? I am greatly afraid that
Ahithophel is councillor, that Judas
bears the purse, and that Shebnah
is scribe, controller, and treasurer.'
And yet Knox afterwards accused
himself for want of boldness. 'I
did speak of men's faults,' he says,
' so that all men might know whom
I meant; but, alas! this day my
conscience accuseth me that I spake
not as my duty was to have done — •
for I ought to have said to the
wicked man expressly by his name,
thou shalt die the death. Jeremiah
the prophet, Elijah, Elisha, Micah,
Amos, Daniel, Christ Jesus himself,
and after him his apostles, expressly
warned the bloodthirsty tyrants and
dissembling hypocrites of their dan-
ger. Why withheld we the salt?
I accuse none but myself. The
blind love that I did bear to this my
wicked carcase was the chief cause
why I was not fervent and faithful
enough. I had no will to provoke
the hatred of men against me. So
touched I the vices of men in the
presence of the greatest that they
138
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
pulpit the vices of the Court, and the worldliness of the
faction who were misgoverning the country. Since
discipline could not he restored, he, and those who felt
with him the enormity of the times, established by their
own authority this second form of excommunication.1
Northumberland, who had witnessed the fall of the
old clergy, had no intention of enduring the insolence
of the new. At the end of March Cranmer produced
in the House of Lords his reformed code of canon law.
Northumberland rose, and, turning fiercely on the Arch-
bishop, bade him attend to the duties of his office. The
clergy were going beyond their province, presuming in
their sermons to touch the doings of their superiors.
' You bishops/ he said, ' look to it at your peril. Take
heed that the like happen not again, or you and your
preachers shall suffer for it together/ The Archbishop
ventured a mild protest. He had heard no complaints
of the preachers, he said ; they might have spoken of
vices and abuses ; he did not know. ' There were vices
might see themselves to be offend-
ers ; hut yet, nevertheless, I would
not he seen to proclaim manifest
war against the manifest wicked;
whereof unfeignedly I ask God mer-
cy.'— Admonition to the Faithful
in England.
1 Knox was not always just. He
afterwards accused the Marquis of
"Winchester of having been the first
contriver of the conspiracy to set
aside Mary ; whereas, he was among
the most consistent opponents of
that conspiracy. He charged Gar-
diner with having advised the Span-
ish marriage, although there was
nothing which Gardiner so much
dreaded. Nevertheless, the power
of passing censures on the conduct
of public men, in the name of right
and wrong, is one which, in some
form or other, has existed, and ought
to exist, in every well-ordered com-
munity. The most effective and
the least objectionable instrument of
such criticism is the public press as
it is conducted at the present day in
this country.
1 553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 139
enough/ Northumberland answered violently, l no doubt
of that ; ' ' the fruits of the Gospel in this life were suf-
ficiently meagre.' 1 Assailed in the pulpit, thwarted in
the Commons, hated by the people, the haughty minis-
ter found his temper failing him, and the smooth exte-
rior less easy to maintain. ' Those about me/ he com-
plained to Cecil, ' are so slack as I can evil bear it ;
indeed, of late, but for my duty to the State, my heart
could scarce endure the manner of it.' 2 He had secured
the subsidy ; the continued sitting of a Parliament was
inconvenient when his own nominees had opposed him ;
on the last of March, within a month of the meeting, it
was dissolved.
It is a question on which much depends, yet one
which, nevertheless, there is little chance of adequately
answering, whether the fortunes of Northumberland
were not now bringing him to a point where he must
either rise higher or fall utterly, irrespective of the life
or death of the young King. The enthusiastic corre-
spondents of Bullinger assured him that Edward re-
garded the Duke as a father, and Edward by his con-
duct at the close of his life proved that his
own confidence was not yet shaken ; but the
power of English ministers rarely survived intense un-
popularity. By the accidents of the revolution, by
4 stout courage and proudness of stomach/ by dexterity,
perhaps by crime, Northumberland was become almost
1 Scheyfne to Charles V. : MS. Rolls House, transcribed from the
Brussels Archives.
2 Northumberland to Cecil : Lansdowne MSS. 3.
140
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
absolute — absolute as the able man can always make
himself in times of disorder, if he is untroubled with
moral scruples, when his competitors for power are as
unprincipled as himself, and only his inferiors in capa-
city. But, as it was only a temporary convulsion which
placed a person of so poor a type of character at the
head of the Government, so Northumberland was de-
tested while he was obeyed. Those who, like Cecil,
were treated by him with apparent cordiality, those
whom he had addressed as his friends, whom he seemed
to intrust with his most secret thoughts, felt his influ-
ence like a nightmare.1 The growing discernment, the
earnest interest in public affairs, and the consciousness
of the disorganization of the State, which Edward ex-
hibited more and more as he grew older, would have
sooner or later brought forward other ministers ; in two
years he would be of age, when inquiry could not have
been avoided ; and Northumberland's influence would
scarcely have survived the revelations which Arundel,
whom he had imprisoned, Paget, whom he had stripped
of his estates and expelled from the Order of the Garter,2
with the friends of Somerset, would have brought to
1 Northumberland's Correspond-
ence with Cecil in the State Paper
Office flows over with confidence,
public spirit, and zeal for religion,
with all those studied graces of ex-
pression, which charmed and deceived
the eager Protestants. Yet, on his
release from the Court, when Edward
was dead, and the spell was broken,
entered in his Journal ' 7
Julii libertatem adeptus sum morte
regis, ex misero aulico factus liber
et mei juris.' — Life of Burghley, by
NARES.
2 ' Chiefly,' says Edward, in his
Journal, ' because he was no gentle-
man born neither by the father's nor
the mother's side.' Revolutionary
Governments are not generally so
scrupulous about high birth.
*$53-l NORTHUMBERLAND S CONSPIRACY. 141
light when opportunity permitted. His unpopularity
in the country was a present fact, which every day be-
came more embarrassing ; and he had no friends except
among the incapable or the dreamers. Wolsey, Crom-
well, Somerset, had fallen successively from the same
height to which Northumberland had climbed ; and the
Nemesis which haunts political supremacy irregularly
obtained, would not have failed to overtake one whose
administration had been scandalous to the empire,
whose errors had arisen, not from generous weakness,
not from large purposes too unscrupulously followed,
but from a littleness of mind rarely combined with ta-
lents and with courage so considerable as those with
which the Duke must be credited. His overthrow could
not but at times have seemed likely to him, unless he
could by some means rest his power on a harder
foundation ; and therefore it was that, as Sir Richard
Morryson said, he never moved forward directly upon
any subject without looking to the possible consequences
to himself. He had played a double game with the
Emperor. After risking the peace of the kingdom on
the question of Mary's mass, he had contrived that in
private she should not further be interfered with. He
affected extreme Protestant opinions to keep his place
with the Reformers. He was Imperialist, he was French,
he had an anchor thrown out in all quarters from which
a wind might blow. However events might turn, he
had done something, or he had affected something, which
would provide him a resource should he be driven to
shift his colours.
142 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
But this uncertain attitude could not be maintained
for ever. A crisis came which compelled him to choose
his course.
Edward with varying health had arrived at the age
fatal to the male Tudors, the age at which Prince Arthur
had died, at which his brother the Duke of Richmond
had died. The cough to which he was always subject
had increased in the late winter. He dissolved Parlia-
ment in person, but immediately after he was removed
to Greenwich in a state of marked debility, and by the
end of April the gravest alarms were entertained for
his life. Philosophers, who believe that great events
are enveloped in great causes, that the future is evolved
out of the present by laws unerring as those which
regulate the processes of nature, can see in the grandest
of individual men but instruments which might easily
have been dispensed with ; and in the cracking of the
thread of a human soul but a melting raindrop, or a leaf
fluttering from a bough. Centuries, it may be, take
their complexion from these large influences ; and
broad laws of progress may shape the moulds for the
casting of eras ; but the living Englishman of the
sixteenth century would have seen in these closet
speculations but the shadow of a dream compared with
the interests which depended on the result of the illness
of a boy who was not yet sixteen. The eyes of Eng-
land, of the Emperor, of the Pope, of the King of
France, of all the civilized world, were turned with
almost equal agitation to the sick-bed at Greenwich.
The reverses of France in the autumn of 1552 had
1552.] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 143
produced a return of civility to England. Stukeley's
stories, as we have seen, were denied or explained away.
The complaints of the merchants were disposed of peace-
ably by commissioners, and the efforts and the anxieties
of the Court of Paris were directed wholly towards Metz,
where Charles in person, with the Duke of Alva and
45,000 men, had sat down to wrench his conquest from
the Duke of Guise. A winter siege was an enterprise
at which the Emperor in his better days would have
hesitated ; but since the flight from Innspruck he had
been observed to be unequal to himself ; and illness and
bad fortune had made him obstinate. On the
JNovember.
24th of November the siege was opened. The
Spaniards pushed their trenches towards the walls ; the
French pushed trenches forwards from the walls to meet
them ; and the works were so close, that besiegers and
besieged were in shot of each other's hand-guns/ The
batteries played incessantly on the city, and breaches
were opened ; but fresh walls rose behind the ruins ;
midnight sallies carried off the Imperial guns ; fever
and dysentery wasted the Imperial troops. In December
there came a frost harder than any living man remem-
bered, and the gout came back to Charles, so violently,
that Morryson ' supposed the Emperor should not much
longer need any ambassador ; there were few that could
better digest Fortune's foul play than he ; yet good-
nature might be provoked too far/1 The Spaniards
might shiver to death in their tents, but Metz could not
Morryson to Cecil, MS. Germany, bundle 15, State Paper Office.
I553.
January.
144 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
be taken ; and Charles was carried back to Luxemburg,
as lie believed, to die.
As soon as the failure was known in Eng-
Northumberland, either thinking the
opportunity a good one to increase his own influence, or
to recover for the country its weight in the councils of
Europe, offered to mediate. Sir William Pickering was
instructed to make overtures for a peace at Paris. Sir
Andrew Dudley, the Duke's brother, was sent to Luxem-
burg.1
1 Dudley and Morryson were ad-
mitted into the Emperor's bed-room.
' We found there,' wrote the latter,
1 the Prince of Piedmont, the Duke
of Alva, the Bishop of Arras, Don
Diego, M. de Vaux, the Count of
Egmont, with all those of his
chamber, it being better furnished
with hangings than ever I found it
before. Mr Dudley, after reverence
done to him at our entry, being al-
most come to his Majesty, did press
to kiss his hand ; but he, putting his
hand to his cap, not being able, as it
should seem, to put it so high as to
take it off, would not suffer him to
kiss it. Mr Dudley declared his in-
structions. The Emperor took them
in very thankful part; and not being
able to speak loud, and Mr Dudley,
by reason of his extreme cold, not
being able to hear him, did with
signs will me to mark. Whereupon
the Emperor, somewhat perceiving
the .matter, I said that Mr Dudley
was so stuffed and stopped in his
head, that he could not well hear
unless his Majesty did speak louder,
nor I well understand, unless it
would please his Majesty to speak
Italian. Whereupon, being willing-
er to speak Italian than able to speak
louder, he said to me in Italian — I
thank my good brother the King for
his friendly sending and for his noble
and princely offers, and for my part
will leave nothing undone that may
by any means either maintain or in-
crease the amity. I, for my part,
will at all times bear the King my
good brother the affection of a
father, and not fail him when my
friendship may do him profit. It is
much to his honour, and no small
praise to him, that he, so young,
hath this zeal and this care for the
quietness and concord of Christen-
dom, and such a desire to see it con-
served from the Turk's tyranny.
' And where my good brother
doth offer his travail with the spend-
ing of his treasure for the atoning of
the French King and me, I do
give him my hearty thanks for it.
1553-] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 145
The Emperor was in extremity of sickness ; so ill
that Morryson, who accompanied Dudley to his bed-
room, said that he had often seen him suffering, but
* never so nigh gone, never so dead in the face, his hand
never so lean and pale and wan/ * His eyes, that were
wont to be full of life when all the rest had yielded to
sickness, were now heavy and dull, as nigh death in
their looks/ ' as ever ' Morryson ' saw any/ The cun-
ning Arras, the iron Alva, the chivalrous Egmont,
were standing mournfully at the bed-side. The Prince
of Savoy forced a smile as the ambassadors entered, but
talked like ( a man amazed/ l
Charles roused himself with an effort. He spoke
with extreme difficulty, but with courtesy and clearness.
He thanked the English Government for their kindness,
which he said he would ever remember. But as for the
peace, he did not begin the war, and he could not with
honour be the first to propose terms on which to end it.
His ' enemy ' must speak first ; and as he spoke of his
enemy his fiery nature kindled up, and the faint voice
sounded out clear and stern.
. The same spirit was shown at Paris. Henry, too,
was ready for peace ; he would accept the advances of
the Emperor, but he would not commence ; and for the
Marry, as I did not begin the wars,
so I cannot with, mine honour make
any answer to this my good brother's
request till I understand what mine
enemy would do.
' And here, though in very deed
his Majesty was hoarse at the begin-
ning, yet, when he came to name
his enemy, he spake so loud as Mr
Dudley might hear easily what he
said.' — Morryson to the Council :
MS. Germany, Edward VI. State
Paper Office.
1 Ibid.
VOL. V. 10
146
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
first few weeks of the year, while the season caused a
compulsory armistice, the arbitration could not advance
over the first preliminaries.
Yet, if peace there was to be, both parties appeared
anxious to arrive at it through the mediation of Eng-
land. A nuncio came in February from Home, with
an offer of the Pope's services, but he could not obtain
admission into the Emperor's presence.1 The King of
France assured Pickering that, so far as he was con-
cerned, he desired nothing better than to place himself
in English hands. Yet Pickering, who was a shrewd,
clear-sighted man, at the close of a long and smooth
interview, came to a conclusion ' that England would
do well to trust neither of those princes.' They would
regard no promise, no duty, no obligation, which might
interfere with 'their own convenience.'2 He might
have added that England also was only consulting her
convenience ; but, from the correspondence of
the three Courts, there appear to have been in
each of them, as usual, separate parties with separate
policies whose views crossed and intercepted one another.
On the 2nd of April, the Bishop of Norwich and
Sir Philip Hoby went to Brussels, whither Charles had
March.
1 ' And because it will not be,'
said Morryson, ' he is in such a chafe
that there are few here that can get
leave from him to eat eggs this Lent.
If men were as wise as he is stub-
born, they might perhaps drive him
to be the suitor, and to pray them
to take his licenses, not only to eat
eggs, but to eat eggs' sons and
daughters, if they come in their
way.' — Morryson to the Council :
MS. Germany, Edward VI. State
Paper Office.
2 Pickering to the Council : MS.
France, bundle 10, State Paper
Office.
I553-]
NOR THUMB ERLAN&S CONSPIRA C Y.
»47
removed, to repeat the proposals which had been made
through Dudley.1 Morryson was recalled, but his re-
call was immediately countermanded; and in May,
Northumberland was corresponding with him on the
feasibility of the league which had been spoken of be-
fore between England, the Empire, and the German
States against France.2 At the same time he was as-
suring Boisdaulphin, the French ambassador in Eng-
land, ' that he would never bear arms unless in the
service of his own sovereign, or of his Most Christian
Majesty.3 And again, simultaneously, an agent of the
English Government in the Netherlands was privately
betraying the secrets, so far as he knew them, of Nortb
uniberland's party to Charles.4
It is at once useless and unnecessary to trace th*
complicated involutions of a general distrust. It i»
clear only that so long as they were at war, both France
and the Empire desired really the support of
England. The Emperor was exhausted.5
1 Their commission was signed
somewhat singularly by all the
Council except Northumberland. —
MS. Germany, Edward VI. State
Paper Office. 2 MS. Ibid.
3 Boisdaulphin to the King of
France : Ambassades de Noailles,
vol. ii.
4 MS. Germany, Edward VI.
State Paper Office.
5 Sir Philip Hoby sent a second
sad picture of Charles's condition to
Cecil. ' The Prince here is very
feeble and weak of body, and every
day decayeth more and more in the
same. So doth his credit in like
manner decay, both in Germany,
Italy, and all other places — nothing
beloved, but disobeyed in a manner
of all. Also out of soldiers' estima-
tion. Yea, and his proceedings in
every place go very ill forward. So
as it seeineth unto me good fortune
hath forsaken him, and he is like
every day faster and faster to diminish
in love, estimation, and power, than
presently he doth in strength of
body, all be so earnestly bent against
him so far as I can perceive.' — Hoby
to Cecil : Burleigh Papers, vol. i.
148 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [OH. 29.
France had its eye on Calais, but was in no condition,
as yet, to strike for it. Northumberland, professing to
be an impartial friend to both, was making secret and
separate overtures to each, unknown to the other. Tip
to the time that Edward's illness showed a likelihood of
terminating fatally, the Duke was uncertain in which
direction it would be most for the advantage of Eng-
land to incline the balance, while his own interests had
no special bias either way. And again, aware of the
disposition of the man with whom they had to deal,
both Charles and Henry felt the necessity of watching
the Duke ; under the ostensible pretext of meeting the
English offer of mediation, the ablest of their diplo-
matists were despatched to London to intrigue, to
watch events, to obtain information by fair means, by
foul means, by any means.
Simon Kenard, the minister of the Emperor, had
been governor of a district in Franche Comte. Un-
known, as yet, to European fame, Renard was known
to Sir Philip Hoby, who, writing to Cecil of the proba-
bility of Edward's death, and of the influence which he
might exercise over Mary, should Mary succeed, ex-
claimed, ' If England should be ruled by such a coun-
cillor, woe, woe to England, for then it would come to
ruin and destruction, and them that favour God's Word
would be in worse case than those that were in the time
of Sodom and Gomorrah.'1 Antoine dc Noailles, one of
three distinguished brothers, of old and noble family
1 Hoby to Cecil : Burkigh Papers, vol. i.
1553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 149
had served with, honour in the wars of Francis I. He
was present at the defeat of the Emperor in Provence
in 1536. Succeeding d'Annebault, as admiral of the
French fleet, it was he who despatched Villegaignon to
Scotland with the ships which brought Mary Stuart into
France ; and he was governor of Bordeaux at the time
when he was chosen by the King for the delicate mission
to England. Noailles reached London in the middle of
May. Renard not till six weeks later. From the de-
spatches of these two, and before their arrival, from
those of Scheyfne and Boisdaulphin, the ambassadors
in ordinary, is to be gathered so much as can be ascer-
tained of the secret history of the attempt of North-
umberland to alter the succession to the Crown.
No sooner was Edward known to have been removed
to Greenwich in consequence of illness, than his death
was instinctively anticipated. Only once, after his ar-
rival there, he was seen in the garden ; after that he
was confined entirely to his room. By the end of April
he was spitting blood, his disorder presenting the same
symptoms which had preceded the death of his brother
the Duke of Richmond, and the country was felt to be
on the eve of a new reign. Yast as, at such a prospect,
the excitement must have been, the accession of Mary,
should the King die, was looked forward to as a matter
of course. The long agitation of the subject, the anx-
ieties and the scandals which the uncertainty had oc-
casioned in the last reign, and the deliberate settlement
of the Crown by Act of Parliament as well as by her
father's will, in Mary's favour, had familiarized the
150 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29
minds of all men with the name of the Princess as their
fature sovereign, should Edward leave no children.
The question had been mooted, had been discussed, had
been decided ; and on grounds of public safety there
was no disposition to raise further doubt on a subject of
so much magnitude. Although a queen was a novelty
in the constitution, the people would rather submit to a
queen, and to a queen of ambiguous legitimacy, than
risk the chance of another War of the Roses
Personally Mary was popular. She had lived in re-
tirement, and her objections to the later developments
of the Reformation were well known ; but on this point
she had the support of a powerful party. The sufferings
of her mother, and the religious persecution which she
had herself undergone, had secured her the affection of
the people, which as yet she had done nothing to forfeit.
A return to communion with the See of Rome was un-
thought of. Mary herself was not supposed to desire
what, in common with the rest of the country, she had
renounced under her father. A return to the constitu-
tion of religion as her father left it, was probably the
wish of three quarters of the English nation. The or-
thodox Catholics were outraged by the imprisonment of
the bishops, and the establishment by law of opinions
which they execrated as heresy. The moderate English
party had no sympathy with a tyranny which had thrust
the views of foreign Reformers by force upon the people.
Even the citizens of London, where Protestantism had
the strongest hold, had been exasperated by the offens-
ive combination of sacrilege and spoliation with a pe-
'553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 151
dantry which could not bear the sound of the church-
bells, and regarded an organ as impious. The clergy at
the moment when the King's illness became serious
were being subjected to a compulsory subscription to the
Forty- two Articles, under pain of ejection from their
benefices ; while the universal corruption of public func-
tionaries, the sufferings of the poor, the ruin of the cur-
rency, and the embarrassment of the finances, reflected
double discredit on the opinions of which these were
considered the results. It was assumed that Mary was
English, that she would govern only through an English
Parliament and with English ministers. The tyrannv
of Rome had not been broken that it might be followed
by a more intolerable tyranny of Protestantism.
Northumberland bowed outwardly to the general
feeling. He supplied the Princess, who was then at
Hunsdon in Hertfordshire, with regular bulletins of the
King's health ; and he restored to her the arms and
quarterings which she had borne as heir-presumptive
before the divorce of her mother.1 Yet it was observed
that he was collecting money with unusual eagerness.
There were rumours of disagreement at the council-
board. It was said that Lord Pembroke had desired to
leave London, and had been forcibly compelled
to remain ; 2 and at the end of April a marriage
was announced as about to take place between Lord
Gruilford Dudley, the Duke's fourth son, a boy of seven-
teen, and Lady Jane Grey.3 Whatever may have been
1 Scheyfne to the Emperor : Scheyfne's Despatches : MS. Rolls House.
Transcript from the Brussels Archives. 2 Scheyfne. 3 Ibid.
152 RETGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [en. 29.
his internal speculations, however, Northumberland had
go far given no hints of intending a change to the privy
council. Mary's friends among the Lords were in
constant communication with Scheyfne, and through
Scheyfne with the Princess. Not a word was spoken,
not a move of importance was made, but the ambassador
had instant notice. In fact, Northumberland himself
was still hesitating. Three times in the month
of May his instructions to Sir Richard Morry-
son were altered. At the beginning there was to be
a league between England, the Empire, and the Ger-
mans. A few days later Morryson was told to go no
further with it.1 On the 24th he was informed doubt-
fully that he might feel his way towards it with the Em-
peror again. Had the Duke intended merely to throw
the Emperor off his guard, vacillation would have been
unnatural and out of place. Deliberate hypocrisy can-
not afford to be inconsistent.
It is needless to credit Northumberland with anxiety
for the public interest. He must first have endeavoured
to satisfy himself of the effects which Mary's accession
would produce upon his own fortunes. Could he have
hoped to retain his present authority, ambition for his
family would not have tempted him into an effort to set
her aside ; and he may have believed that his underhand
manoeuvring had given him a hold -on the Princess's
gratitude. But he must soon have convinced himself
that any such expectation would be disappointed. On
Instructions to Sir Richard Morryson. Cotton. MSS. Galba, 13.
1553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 153
the day that Mary set her foot upon the throne the
gates of the Tower would open ; Norfolk and Gardiner
would return to the council, and the conservative lords
to the Court. The lips of those that he had oppressed
would be opened. Somerset's murder would rise in judg-
ment against him. He knew too well ' the dead men's
bones and all uncleanness ' which lay concealed behind
the fair surface of his godly professions. Was there,
then, any hope that the succession could be changed ?
The fanatics dreaded Mary as much as Northumberland
dreaded her. However moderate might be her policy,
the best which they could look for would be toleration.
They would lose their supremacy, and the privilege of
forcing their opinions upon others. The Duke might
rely, therefore, on them and on their leaders among the
bishops. But the ultra-faction was numerically small \
and unless he could strengthen his hands with more in-
fluential support, his chances were nothing. It was
possible for him, however, to work upon many of the
laity with the phantom of reaction, which, under the
mildest form, had its terrors for those to whom, by grant
or purchase, the estates of the Church had fallen. It
was possible to work upon the superstition of the King,
who had been made bitter against his sister by the col-
lision into which he had been forced with her. The
weak Duke of Suffolk could be led away by the prospect
of a crown for his daughter ; and there were others
among the new-made lords whose influence, if not for-
tune, depended on the continuance in power of the re-
volutionary party. Above all Northumberland had
154 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
possession of the situation. He had the organized
military force of the kingdom at his disposal, which was
at this time considerable. The fleet, the arsenals, the
fortresses, the treasury were all in his hands ; and he
might count with certainty on the support of France,
which would be only too happy to prevent the Crown of
England from falling to so close a connection of the
Emperor.
These considerations (and there were others, perhaps,
which we do not know) might have seemed to the most
calculating statesman to offer a reasonable chance of
success. A desperate man, with ruin staring him in the
face if he left events to take their course — with power
for himself and the kingdom for his family if he tried
fortune and found her favourable — would have thrown
the hazard with far lighter grounds of hope. The Duke
waited, however? before he moved — before, probably, he
took his own final resolution — till it became quite cer-
tain that Edward could not recover.
The prospect of Mary becoming Queen was naturally
raising the spirits of the Imperialists. Boisdaulphin,
with Noailles, who had just arrived, was correspondingly
anxious ; Scheyfne, they saw, was ' not asleep ; ' and on
the 4th of May they pressed for a private in-
terview with the Duke. They had been long
anxious, they said, to be admitted to the King's pre-
sence. They had been answered that his illness made
it impossible for him to receive them ; but in the mean
time the longer they were kept from the Court, the. more
significant of the approaching attitude of England their
I553-]
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
'55
absence would appear. They suggested that, if they
could not see the King, the world might be made to
suppose that they had seen him. A plan was arranged.
The next day they were invited to dine at
. . May 5.
Greenwich, and as they were rising from the
table, Northampton brought a message into the room
that Edward was expecting them. They followed into
a private apartment ; and while the Court believed that
they were by the sick-bed, they were joined by North-
umberland and others of the council, who entered at
large with them on the great question of the moment.
The Duke declared that he was wholly French ; and as
the conversation went forward, he at last asked them
what they would do, were they in his (the Duke's)
position. Noailles, cautious of what he committed to
paper, informed his master that he did not fail to sug-
gest what would be most to the advantage of France.1
The same day, Edward being reported worse, and
his attendants requiring further advice, the family phy-
sician of Northumberland was called in, with a professor
of medicine from Oxford ; to these a woman was after-
wards added, who professed to be in possession of some
mysterious specific ; and before they were admitted to the
sick-room they were sworn, in the presence of Northum-
berland, Northampton, and Suffolk, to reveal to no one the
1 ' II est venu jusques a nous
domander ce que nous ferions si nous
ostions en sa place, a quoi nous
n'uvons obmis, sire, de luy respondre
et proposer tout ce que nous avons
peu juger tendre au bien faveur et
advantage de vos affaires.' — Bois-
daulpbm and Noailles to tbe King
of France : Ambassades, vol. ii. pp.
6,7.
I56
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
King's condition.1 The guard at the Tower was doubled,
and a rumour spread in London that Elizabeth had been
sent for to be married to Lord Warwick, whose wife was
to be divorced to make room for her. A few days later
Scheyfne reported that something (he knew not what)
was going forward. Five hundred men had been quietly
introduced into Windsor Castle by Northampton. He
had been privately informed that the same nobleman,
with Suffolk and two or three others, was going down
into Hertfordshire, to form a cordon silently round
Hunsdon, to take possession of Mary's person, when the
signal should be given them from London. With
evident alarm, he added that Pembroke was one of the
conspirators,2 which, 011 the 25th of May, re-
ceived a further and a strange confirmation.
On that day London was startled with three extraor-
dinary marriages — extraordinary, and, considering
the King's illness, and the rank of the ladies con-
cerned, in the highest degree indecent. Lady Cathe-
rine Dudley was married to Lord Hastings. The
two elder daughters of the Duke of Suffolk, prin-
cesses of the blood, and possible heirs of the crown,
were disposed of together; Lady Jane Grey to Lord
Guilford Dudley ; and Lady Catherine to Pembroke's
son, Lord Herbert. There had been an alarm lest Mary
or Elizabeth might make some objectionable alliance
with a foreigner. Care was taken that there should be
May 25.
1 Scheyfne.
2 Northumberland said after-
wards that Pembroke was the first
originator of the plot. This is not
likely; but the evidence does not
warrant a certain conclusion.
*553-] NORTHUMBERLAND S CONSPIRACY. i$J
no such fear on account of those who were next to them
in the order of succession. That some project was con-
cealed behind these precipitate unions, and that the
Duke had secured a powerful supporter in the Earl of
Pembroke, was no longer doubted.
Yet what the project was continued a
May 30.
mystery. On the 3oth Scheyfne wrote again
that the King was sinking slowly but surely. His
head and legs were swelling, and he could only sleep
with the assistance of opiates ; he might perhaps live
two months, but that was the longest ; while an at-
tempt, it was now certain, would be made to exclude
Mary from the throne. Religion would be one pretext,
and others could be made or found. France would
assist — bribed, so Scheyfne had been told, by the pro-
mise of Ireland. Elizabeth could be got rid of, or mar-
ried to Warwick, or Northumberland would take her,
and seize the crown for himself.1
Through the first days of June the am-
bassador's reports acquired more and more
consistency. As each step was taken he had instant
and accurate information. There had been a difficulty
in arranging the plans for the seizure of Mary. The
Lords, who were to have been her captors, had either
disagreed among themselves, or their fidelity was doubt-
ful. Northumberland and his friends were buying up
or securing all the arms in London ; ships in the river
were preparing for sea. The plan was now to wait for
1 Scheyfne to Charles V., May 30 : Rolls House MSS.
158 REJGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. |CH. 29.
the King's death, and then at once to seize the noblemen
who were expected to take Mary's side. Mary herself
was to be invited to the Tower to receive the Crown,
and then to be secured. The Duke was keeping up an
appearance of studied respect towards her. He flattered
himself that his secret had been kept, and that she
would fall without difficulty into the snare. The Tower
gates safely locked behind her, the ports were to be
closed, and the evangelical preachers were to inform the
people from the pulpits that, being illegitimate, she was
incapable of sovereignty ; that religion would be in
danger ; that the holders of Church property would be
deprived of their estates; that the Papal jurisdiction
would be restored ; and that, on constitutional grounds,
England could not be ruled over by a woman. Eliza-
beth's person would be secured with Mary's, but she
would be treated with more respect, since the Duke
might find it necessary to make use of her.
So stood the plot as it was communicated to
Scheyfne in the first week in June. But, although
Northumberland was confident of success, he was assured
privately that the opposition would be more considerable
than was anticipated. Mary was as generally popular
as the Duke was detested ; all the peers but a few, He-
formers as well as Catholics, would take her side ; they
might appear to be swimming with the stream, but they
would strike clear from it when the time came for action.
The supposed secrecy was a delusion. The conspiracy
was in every one's mouth, and the people were furious.
The Duke was accused of having sold the country to
'553-] NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 159
France; but the King of France, men said, should
never set foot in England. The jealousy with which
Edward was guarded only stimulated suspicion. Some
said that he was already dead, others that the Duke had
poisoned him ; to which the Protestants had their
answering accusation that his sister Mary had ' over-
looked ' him ; that his illness became mortal from the
day when she was last in his presence.1
In other times the popular discontent would have
expressed itself in a violent form; but London was
overawed by the ' gendarmerie/ who could have ex-
tinguished in blood any merely popular tumult. The
council had not been formally consulted, and no opinions
on either side had been officially expressed: yet none of
those who were suspected of being unfavourable to the
Duke felt their lives secure; Cecil, walking with a
friend in Greenwich Park, whispered his own mis-
givings ; for himself, he said, he would be no party to
treason, and he had resigned his office of secretary ; but
he went about ever after armed, in dread, he avowed, of
assassination; he secreted his money and papers and
prepared to fly.2
Meantime Northumberland had made important
progress ; he had persuaded Edward. Edward had
consented by a strained imitation of the precedent of
Henry VIII. to name his successor by letters patent, or
by will ; and the council and the Lords could thus be
forced into an appearance of acquiescence which they
1 Scheyfne to Charles V., May 30: Rolls Home MSS.
2 Alford to Cecil : TYTLEB, vol. ii.
i6o
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[OH. 29.
would find it difficult to refuse to the entreaties of a
dying prince. When Edward's mind was first set
working upon the subject, the extremity of his danger
was concealed from him, and Scheyfne was informed
rightly, that one of the points pressed upon his con-
sideration was the objection to a female sovereign. The
plot was altogether precipitate and inconsistent : the
Duke had resolved on nothing beyond setting Mary
aside. Some time in the beginning of June Edward
wrote with his own hand what he called ' his device for
the succession/ *
For lack of issue mak of my body to tho ioouo
malo coming of tho ioouo fomalo, ao I have after de*
olftrod i to the Lady Frances's 2 heirs males, for lauk
e£- if she have any such issue before my death : to
the Lady Janets- and her heirs males. To the Lady
Catherine's heirs males. To the Lady Mary's heirs
males. To the heirs males of the daughters which
she [_i. e. the Duchess of Suffolk] shall have hereafter.
Then to the Lady Margaret's heir's males.3 For lack of
such issue, to the heirs males of the Lady Jane's
1 It was altered by him in the
interval between the first draft and
his death, and the omissions and in-
sertions mark the progress of the
design. The reader will observe
that the words which have a pen-
stroke through them were in the
original device, and were subse-
quently crossed out. The words in
italics were insertions ; but, like the
original, were written by Edward
himself. I transcribe from the care-
ful copy printed for the Camden So-
ciety by Mr John Gough Nichols. —
Queen Jane and Queen Mary, Ap-
pendix.
2 Frances, Duchess of Suffolk,
daughter of Mary, sister of Henry
VIII. and Charles Brandon.
3 Margaret Clifford, daughter of
Eleanour, Countess of Cumberland.
«553-]
NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY.
161
daughters. To the heirs males of the Lady Catherine's
daughters ; and so forth, till you come to the Lady
Margaret's daughter^ heirs males/ l
The ' device ' tells its own story ; a female sovereign
was not contemplated, nor was Edward, when he drew
it, aware of the near approach of his death. He evi-
dently expected to live till one or both of the recent
marriages had proved fruitful ; he considered the possi-
bility of his having children of his own ; and the male
offspring of his cousins was preferred to his own
daughters, should daughters be born to him. But such
an arrangement would not have answered Northumber-
land's intention. The King was now made to feel that
he was dying. * The Lady Jane's heirs males ' were
1 The remaining clauses refer to
the Government during the Regency,
should Edward die before the heir
should be of age.
'If, after my death, the heir
male be entered into 18 years old,
then he to have the whole rule and
governance thereof.
4 But if he be under 18, then his
mother to be governess till he enters
1 8 years old: but to do nothing
without the advice and agreement of
6 parcel of a council to be appointed
by my last will to the number of 20.
' If the mother die before the
heir enter into 18, the realm to be
governed by the council, provided
that after he be 14 years all great
matters of importance be opened to
him.
VOL. v.
there were none heirs male, then th&
Lady Frances to be s-overness Re-
cent. For lack of her. then her
eldest daughters- and for lack of
them, the Ladv Margaret to be
governess after, as is aforesaid, till
some heir male be born, and then
the mother of that child to be
governess.
'And if during the rule of the
governess there die four of the coun-
cil, then shall she by her letters call
an assembly of the council within
one month following-, and choose
four more, wherein she shall hage?
voices : but after her death, thn rfi
the heir come to T/I years ol
then he bv their advice shall rhonse
them."
n
1 62 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
converted, by erasure and an insertion, into ' the Lady
Jane and her heirs male.' Her mother, Lady Frances,
was but thirty-seven years old and might still bear a
son. This contingency was anticipated by a provision
that the son, to succeed, must be born while Edward
was alive. Thus altered, the weak, incoherent, im-
practicable arrangement was submitted to the Lords as
the King's desire.
The reception of it was not favourable. The Mar-
quis of "Winchester, Lord Bedford, Sir Thomas Cheyne,
Lord Shrewsbury, and Lord Arundel made the obvious
objections that the power of bequeathing the crown had
been granted exceptionally to Henry YIIL, for peculiar
reasons ; that the disposition which had been made by
Henry had been confirmed by statute ; and that it was
grotesque to suppose that a prince under age, and un-
authorized, could set aside an Act of Parliament at his
own pleasure : 1 the French, too, whatever present face
they might please to wear, would be as little satisfied as
the Emperor ; if the late King's daughter were to be
set aside in favour of another queen, they would, sooner
or later, insist on the prior claims of Mary Stuart. The
resistance was so decided that, on the i5th of June, it
was believed that Northumberland would be driven
after all to take possession of Elizabeth and try his for-
tune thus.2
But the indispensable consent of Elizabeth herself,
perhaps, could not be obtained ; or else among the many
Scheyfne : MS. 2 Scheyfne to the Em] erov :
1 5 53-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 163
difficulties of a hazardous enterprise those attending the
substitution of Jane Grey were the least. Northumber-
land could not retreat ; the King was eager, and force
could compensate for illegality. The lives of the oppo-
sition were in Northumberland's power ; and they
hesitated, or they could not on the instant resolve on
the course which they should pursue. A promise was
made to them that Parliament should be called imme-
diately, and that any steps which might be taken,
should be subject to parliamentary revision.1 They bent,
therefore, before the immediate danger, and waited till
they could have the support of the country in taking
further measures.
The question of legality was referred to the judges.
On the nth of June Chief Justice Montague re-
ceived a letter, bearing the council' s signatures, requir-
ing him to present himself at Greenwich the following
day with Sir Thomas Bromley, Sir John Baker, and
the Attorney- and Solicitor- General. The learned body
were admitted into the King's apartment, and
. June 12.
the King, in the last stage of exhaustion, in-
formed them that during his illness he had reflected on
the condition and prospects of the country ; the Lady
Mary might marry a stranger ; the laws and liberties
of England might be sacrificed, and religion might be
changed ; he desired, therefore, that the succession
might be altered. The scheme, in the corrected form,
was read aloud in the room, and Edward required the
Scheyfne to the Emperor : MS.
164
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
judges to draw out letters patent embodying .his direc-
tions.
The judges listened, and declared unanimously that
the King demanded an impossibility. Letters patent
would have no force against an Act of Parliament. But
Edward would hear of no objections. He would have
the letters patent drawn, and drawn immediately. The
judges retired, requesting time.
The two next days the council were in close session,
the clerks and secretaries being excluded. Noailles,
since the Queen of Scots had been named as a difficulty,
had been admitted no further into confidence, and could
learn nothing of what was going forward ; only on all
sides there were notes of preparation ; the equipment
of the fleet was hastened ; a body of troops were re-
viewed in the Isle of Dogs, and forty pieces of cannon
were shipped for Guisnes and Calais ; at last an order
appeared commanding all peers and great men in Eng-
land to repair at once to London.1
Meanwhile the judges were studying the Act of
Succession, and had discovered, beyond all doubt, that,
if they obeyed the King, they would lay themselves open
to prosecution as traitors.2 They returned to
Greenwich, and repeated to the council their
inability to comply. Northumberland was absent when
they entered ; but, hearing of their arrival and of their
June 15.
1 Noailles to the King of France :
Ambassades, vol. ii. p. 34.
2 The tenth section of the Act
declares that any person going about
to undo the Act or interfere with
the succession as therein ordered,
should be guilty of high treason.
1S53-]
NOR THUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRA C Y.
165
answer, 'he came into the council chamber, being in
great rage and fury, trembling for anger ; and amongst,
his outrageous talk he called Sir Edward Montague
traitor, and said that he would fight in his shirt with
any man in the quarrel.'1 He was so savage, that the
judges thought he would strike them, if they remained
in the room. They escaped in haste ; but the
June 1 6.
next day they were again sent for. They
were introduced in the midst of dead silence. ' The
Lords looked on them with earnest countenance, as
though they had not known them/2 Not a word was
spoken till they were called to the King's bed-side.
Edward, dying as he was, ' with sharp words and
angry countenance, asked where were the letters patent?
Why had they not been drawn ? ' Montague said that
they would be useless without an Act of Parliament,
and when Edward answered that he would call a Par-
liament, the Chief Justice begged that the question
might be deferred till the meeting. But Edward would
not hear of delay. The ratification might follow ; for
the present, he chose to be obeyed. A voice at Monta-
gue's back exclaimed, if the judges still refused, they
were traitors. No lips were opened to support them ;
partly, perhaps, because the King's death-bed was not
a fit place for an altercation ; partly because opposition
at that time might have led to instant bloodshed.3
1 Montague's Narrative : printed
in FULLER'S Church History.
2 Ibid.
8 Noailles thought that at this
time the Duke had gained over his
opponents. On the lyth June,
he says, he found the council in
better spirits than he had seen them
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [OH. 29.
Bromley was timid, Baker would go with Sir Edward,
and Sir Edward was 'an old man without comfort/
They reflected that they could not be committing trea-
son by obeying the King as long as the King was alive ;
and they satisfied their consciences by resolving to med-
dle no further after he was gone. They demanded for
their greater security special instructions in writing,
and a pardon if their consent should prove to have been
a crime. This being granted, they complied. The re-
maining judges, who were next called in, agreed to the
same terms, Sir James Hales, a Protestant, alone hold-
ing out to the last. The Solicitor- General Gosnold re-
sisted long. ' How the Duke and the Earl of Shrews-
bury handled him/ says Montague, 'he can tell himself/ 1
Gosnold, too, yielded at last, and the letters patent were
drawn out, engrossed, and passed under the Great Seal.
The King's sisters were declared incapable of succeed-
ing to the Crown, as being both of them illegitimate
With a strange inconsequence of reasoning, it was added
that, even had their birth been pure, being but of half-
since his arrival. Their own ex-
planation was that the King's health
had improved. Noailles believed,
however, that their satisfaction
' provenoit plus du contentement en
quoy les milords se trouvent pom-
s'estre resolus tous en une opinion,
ou pour y parvenir ont tenu beau-
coup de journees, estant resserrez et
ne se pouvant accorder pour raison
de ce que le milord tresorier et au-
cungs aultres estoient de contrarie
volunte a celle du Due de Northum-
berland, lequel les avoit depuis unis
et faict condescendre a la sienne.'
— NOAILLES, vol. ii. p. 40. Scheyf-
ne on the contrary, was assured, and
believed, that the compliance was
throughout assumed.
1 It were curious to know —
Shrewsbury had been active in op-
position to the Duke, and, after Ed-
ward's death, was among the first
to declare against him.
'553-1
NOR THUMBERLAN&S CONSPIRA CY.
167
blood to the King, they would not be his heirs ; * and,
further, they might compromise the country by unde-
sirable marriages. The succession was therefore dis-
posed in the altered order which Edward had prescribed;
and the document being prepared, it remained only that
Northumberland should compel every one whose rank
or influence made him formidable, to commit himself to
the substitution by his signature.
On the 2 ist of June he collected at Green-
wich the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord
Chancellor, twenty- two peers, eight eldest sons of peers,
ministers, secretaries of State, judges, officers of the
household. Of all whose support would be useful, of
all whose opposition had to be dreaded, Lord William
Howard and Lord Derby alone were absent, and Lord
Derby was represented by his son. The rest came to-
gether at the Duke's bidding, and, willingly or unwill-
ingly, gave their names to his design.2
June 21.
1 'As also for that the said
Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth be
unto us but of the half-blood, and,
therefore, by the antient laws,
statutes, and customs of this realm,
be not inheritable unto us, although
they vvere legitimate, as they be not
indeed.'— Letters Patent for the
Limitation of the Crown : Queen
Jane and Queen Mary, p. 93.
? I transcribe Mr Nichols's
excellent analysis of the signa-
tures ; —
Great officers of State and
Peers :
The Archbishop of Canterbury ;
Goodrich, Bishop of Ely, Lord
Chancellor ; Marquis of Winchester,
Lord Treasurer ; Duke of Northum-
berland, Grand Master of the House-
hold ; Earl of Bedford, Lord Privy
Seal ; Duke of Suifolk ; Marquis of
Northampton ; Earls of Arundel,
Oxford, "Westmoreland, Shrewsbury,
Worcester, Huntingdon, and Pem-
broke ; Lord Clinton, Lord Darcy ;
the Bishop of London ; Lords
Abergavenny, Cobham, Greyde Wil-
ton, Windsor, Bray, Went worth,
Rich, Willoughby, and Paget.
Eldest Sons of Peers :
Lords, Waiwick, son of the Duke
1 68
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
[CH. 29.
They signed without order ; ardent Protestants side
by side with the attached friends of Mary ; city mer-
chants intermixed with privy councillors; and some
names appear in so singular a connection, that it is
hazardous to suggest the principle which guided the
of Northumberland, Fitzwalters, of
ihe Earl of Sussex, Talbot, of the
Earl of Shrewsbury, St John of
Basing, of the Marquis of Win-
chester, Russell, of the Earl of Bed-
ford, Fitzwarren, of the Earl of Bath,
Gerald Fitzgerald, heir of the earl-
dom of Kildare, Strange, son of
Lord Derby, Lord Thomas Grey,
brother of the Duke of Suffolk.
Officers of the Household :
Sir R. Cheyiie, Treasurer and
Warden of the Cinq Ports, com-
monly called Lord Warden; Sir
William Cavendish, Treasurer for
the Chamber ; Sir Richard Cotton,
Controller; Sir John Gates, Vice-
Chamberlain.
Secretaries of State :
Sir William Petre, Sir William
Cecil, Sir John Cheke.
Judges ;
Sir Roger Cholmeley, Chief
Justice of the King's Bench; Sir
Edward Montague, Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas; Henry Brad-
shaw, Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer ; Sir John Baker, Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer ; Sir Humfrey
Brown, Justice of the Common
Pleas; Sir William Portraau, Justice
of the King's Bench; Sir Robert
Bowes, Master of the Rolls.
The King's Sergeant :
James Dyer.
The Solicitor General :
John Gosnold.
Privy Councillors :
Sir John Mason, Sir Ralph
Sadler, Sir Richard Sackville, Sir
Edward North, Sir Anthony St
Leger, Sir Richard Southwell.
Knights of the Privy Chamber .
Sir Thomas Wroth, Sir Henry
Sydney, Sir Maurice Berkeley, Sir
Nicholas Throgmorton, Sir Richard
Blount, Sir Henry Gage.
[The Lord Mayor : Sir George
Barnes.
Aldermen: Sir John Gresham,
Sir Andrew Judd, Sir Richard
Dobbs, Sir Augustine Hinde, Sir
John Lambard, Sir Thomas Offley.
Sheriff of Middlesex : Sir Wil-
liam Garrard.
Sheriffs of Kent and Surrey :
Sir Anthony Brown, Sir Robert
Southwell.
Six Merchants of the Staple;
Six Merchants Adventurers.]
The mayor and the citizens did
not sign till the 8th of July.
NOR THUMBERLAN&S CONSPIRA C Y.
169
arrangement.1 The judges, when they produced the
document, again protested that it was worthless, and
they must have signed as a form ; Cecil, after long re-
fusal, wrote his name at last at the King's desire ; but
insisting, as he did it, that he signed only as a witness.
Many, perhaps, like Montague, saved their consciences
with an intention of resisting afterwards when the King
should have died. Some signed, it can hardly be
doubted, with a deliberate intention of deceiving and
betraying the Duke of Northumberland. Winchester,
Bedford, and Cheyne continued their opposition, not-
withstanding their apparent compliance ; and were in-
sisting in council, two days after, on the necessity of
maintaining the original Act of Succession.2
Cranmer, though he headed the list, was the last
who subscribed on the list of June. The Archbishop,
who had been on bad terms with the Duke since
Somerset's death, was among the latest to be informed
of his project. He, of all men, had most to fear from
the accession of the daughter of Queen Catherine ; but
Northumberland knew his disposition too well to seek
his confidence or expect his support ; 3 he had been in-
formed only as soon as his outward concurrence became
necessary. On learning the Duke's intentions, he went
1 Lord Paget, for instance, is
separated from the peers, and ap-
pears between Sir Anthony St
Leger and Sir Thomas Wroth.
2 Scheyfne to Charles V., June
23-
3 'The Duke never opened his
mouth to me to move me ; nor his
heart was not such towards me,
seeking long time my destruction,
that he wonld ever trust me in such
a matter, or think that I would be
persuaded by him.' — Cranmer to
Mary : STIIYPE'S Life of Cranmer.
170 REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
at once to Edward, and in the presence of Lord North-
ampton, remonstrated with him. Finding the King
obstinate, he requested a private audience, which the
Duke was too prudent to permit. He then endeavoured
to move the council. Northumberland told him that
the judges had acquiesced, and that it was not for him
to interfere with the King's pleasure ; * yet he continued
to hold off, and, finding his remonstrances useless, he
absented himself from Greenwich on the day of the
signature. But the Archbishop's name could not be dis-
pensed with. He was sent for, and came in only after
the rest had signed. He said that he had sworn to
maintain the will of Henry VIII. If he signed the
letters patent, he was perjured. The Duke and his
friends replied that they had sworn as well as he, and
if he had a conscience, so had they. He did not judge
their consciences, he said, but he must act for himself
by his own. He would not sign till he had again seen
his master ; and he was taken to the King's room.
Edward there assured him that the change of the
succession had the sanction of the judges ; neither him-
self nor his subjects could be bound by his father's will ;
he had a right to act for the good of the commonwealth
by his own judgment.' The Archbishop had not been
present at Montague's protest, and knew nothing of it-
He desired to see the judges himself; and the judges
having satisfied their own consciences that treason was
not treason while the King lived, now told him that he
1 STBYPE'S Life of Cranmer. - Ibid.
I553-]
NOR THUMtiERLAN&S CONSPIRA C Y.
171
might sign, if lie wished it, without breach of the law.
He returned, still hesitating, to the King's bed-side.
Edward told him he hoped that he would not stand out
alone, ' and be more repugnant to his will than all the
rest of the council ; ' and at this last appeal the Arch-
bishop yielded. Others signed with mental reservations,
of which, in their subsequent defence of themselves, they
made the most. Cranmer made no reservations, and
pretended to none. When called to account by Mary,
he said frankly that, when he signed at last, ' he did it
unfeignedly and without dissimulation.'1
The letters patent were thus completed ; but the
Duke still felt himself insecure, and those who might be
suspected of equivocating were compelled to bind them-
selves with a second chain. An engagement was at-
tached to the scheme as drawn by the King, by which
all the council, except Lord Arundel, promised that they
would maintain the succession as it was there determined,
' to the uttermost of their power,' and ' never at any
time during their lives would swerve from it.'2
The last precautions were thus taken, and the con-
spirators had then to sit still till the King's death, which
was now every day expected. Since the nth of June
' STUYPE'S Life of Cranmer.
- Qtieen Jane and Queen Mary,
p. 90. — Montague subscribed to
this, with Baker and the Attorney-
and Solicitor-General, although they
had assured the council to the last
that the letters patent were value-
less, and had, as they said, resolved
to move no step, after the King's
death, to carry them into effect. I
suppose that the bond was devised
to catch those who might have
signed with reservations, and the
judges having given their names
once, could not help themselves.
17*
REIGN OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.
.CH. 29.
he had eaten nothing; on the J4th he was thought at
one time to be gone. The care of him was now ex-
clusively committed to the nameless woman, who, when
the physicians despaired, had professed a belief that she
could effect a cure.1 But his disorder evidently grew
worse, and assumed anomalous forms ; it was said to be
an affection of the lungs ; but symptoms appeared which
could have been occasioned by no disorder of the lungs.
Eruptions came out over his skin ; his hair fell off, and
then his nails, and afterwards the joints of his toes and
fingers ; 2 and rumour said that Northumberland, having
made his arrangements, could not afford to wait, and
was hastening the natural arrival of death with poison.3
While these events were in progress, Mary, whom
the Duke believed to be ignorant of all that had passed,
VI.
1 HAYWAKD'S Life of Edward
Scheyfne.
2 SCHEYFNE.
s The suspicion that Edward was
poisoned was shared both by Catholic
and Protestant. Machyn, a contem-
porary citizen of London, says that
no one doubted it. — Diary, p. 35.
Burcher, writing to Bullinger, says :
1 That wretch, the Duke of North-
umberland, has committed an enor-
mous crime. Our excellent King
was taken off by poison ; his nails
and hair fell off,' &c. Renard, on
the 6th of August, informed Charles
V. that, by Mary's order, Edward's
body had been examined, and it was
found ' que les artoix des piedz luy
estoients tumbez et qu'il a este em-
poissonne.' — Renard's Despatches •
MS. Rolls House. The symptom^
certainly, do not resemble those of
any known disorder. On the other
hand, when a life came to an end on
which much depended, there was
always a suspicion of poison ; and
although Northumberland was not a
man to have hesitated, had the ac-
celeration of the death been import-
ant to him ha would have gained no
advantage from it in the least com-
mensurate with the crime. The
probable truth was perhaps this :
that the woman to whose exclusive
care the King was culpably com-
mitted, administered mineral medi-
cines in over- doses, and that Edward
was in fact poisoned, though not by
deliberate malice.
'553-1 NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 173
found means, though she was narrowly watched, to com-
municate with Scheyfne, and desired him to let the
Emperor know her situation, and ask his advice. On
the 23rd of June, a rising was expected in London.1
The Protestant clergy, who were the only persons that
heartily exerted themselves in the conspiracy, gave out
in their pulpits that the King was dying, and that re-
ligion would be in danger from Mary. The people
listened so ominously, that the guards at the gates were
doubled. The Duke of Norfolk, Gardiner, and the
other prisoners in the Tower, who had been allowed to
walk on the leads and in the gardens, were confined to
their rooms ; Lord Dacres, who was leaving London,
was detained, and other suspected persons were arrested ;
and on the 24th of June Scheyfne was told that
June 24.
the Duke found his embarrassments so great,
that he was giving up the game. Three quarters of the
country were determined to support Mary, and her
friends on the council sent a message through Scheyfne
to the Emperor, to say that the slightest demonstration,
on his part, in his cousin's favour, would suffice to in-
sure her accession.2
In his extremity Northumberland was obliged again
to appeal to France. It was now whispered at Paris
that, should Mary become Queen, Charles had already
destined her for Philip of Spain ; and the union of
England and Spain, under a common sovereign, was a
danger which every French statesman felt himself called
1 NOAILLES.
2 Scheyfne to Charles V. : MS. Rolls House.
174 REIGN OP EDWARD THE SIXTH. [CH. 29.
upon to make an effort to prevent. In the last
June 27. . .
week in June, therefore, iresn communications
passed between the King of France and the conspirators ;
promises were given of help, at which the Duke re-
covered heart ; he demanded a loan from the city, and
when there was hesitation, he threatened that the
voluntary loan should be a forced one. Troops were
raised in all directions ; the forts in Essex were dis-
mantled of cannon to furnish the fleet ; .and by the ist
of July twenty sail were ready armed and manned at
Greenwich to intercept any descent which might be at-
tempted from Flanders : Scheyfne comforted himself
with ascertaining that the crews had been pressed, and
were not to be depended on ; but the preparations in
London threatened to crush resistance in the capital.
On the 4th of July the King was believed
to be dead. A wan face had been seen at a
window of the palace at Greenwich ; Edward had been
lifted out of bed, and carried to the casement, that the
people might assure themselves with their own eyes that
he was living. But the suspicion was only deepened ; the
spectators believed that they had seen a corpse.1 Scheyfne
was by this time informed minutely of the circumstances
of the letters patent. Parliament was to meet in Sep-
tember, and Parliament he was assured would replace
the Princess Mary in her rights ; but the danger was
that in the mean time she would be made away with.
She had been warned by some secret friend to move
1 SCHEYFNE.
I553-J NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY. 175
further from London, if possible, to Framlmgham
Castle, in Norfolk, where she would find friends.1
On the first Sunday in the month it was observed
that the preacher at Paul's Cross ' did neither pray for
the Lady Mary's Grace, nor the Lady Elizabeth's.'2
On the Friday following the French ambassador de-
tected an unusual movement ; he had been promised an
audience, but a message was brought to put him off.
There was no longer any king in England. On the
evening of Thursday, the 6th of July, the anniversary,
as pious Catholics did not fail to observe, of the exe-
cution of Sir Thomas More, the last male child of th|
Tudor race had ceased to suffer.
1 Scheyfne to the Emperor, July 4.
2 Grey Friars' Chronicle.
CHAPTER XXX.
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
THE death of Edward VI. was ushered iii
with signs and wonders, as if heaven and
earth were in labour with revolution. The hail lay upon
the grass in the London gardens as red as blood. At
Middleton Stony in Oxfordshire, anxious lips reported
that a child had been born with one body, two heads,
four feet and hands.1 About the time when the letters
patent were signed there came a storm such as no living
Englishman remembered. The summer evening grew
black as night. Cataracts of water flooded the houses
in the city and turned the streets into rivers ; trees
were torn up by the roots and whirled through the air,
and a more awful omen — the forked lightning — struck
down the steeple of the church where the heretic service
had been read for the first time.2
The King died a little before nine o'clock on Thurs-
1 Gtey Friars' Chronicle : MA- Edward F7., printed at Venice,
1558. A copy of this rare book is
2 BAOARDO'S History of the Re-
volution in England on the Death of
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 177
day evening. His death was made a secret ; but in the
same hour a courier was galloping through the twilight
to Hunsdon to bid Mary mount and fly. Her plans
had been for some days prepared. She had been directed
to remain quiet, but to hold herself ready to be up and
away at a moment's warning. The lords who were to
close her in would not be at their posts, and for a few
hours the roads would be open. The Howards were
looking for her in Norfolk ; and thither she was to ride
at her best speed, proclaiming her accession as she went
along, and sending out her letters calling loyal English-
men to rise in her defence.
So Mary's secret friends had instructed her to act, as
her one chance. Mary, who, like all the Tudors, was
most herself in the moments of greatest danger, followed
a counsel boldly which agreed with her own opinion ;
and when Lord Robert Dudley came in the morning
with a company of horse to look for her, she was far
away. Relays of horses along the road, and such other
precautions as could be taken without exciting suspicion,
had doubtless not been overlooked.
Far different advice had been sent to her by the new
ambassadors of the Emperor. Scheyfne, who under-
stood England and English habits, and who was san-
guine of her success, had agreed to a course which had
probably been arranged in concert with him ; but on
the 6th, the day of Edward's death, Renard and M. de
Courieres, arrived from Brussels. To Renard, accus-
tomed to countries where governments were everything
and peoples nothing, for a single woman to proclaim
VOL. V. 12
I78
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30
herself Queen in the face of those who had the armed
force of the kingdom in their hands, appeared like mad-
ness. Little confidence could be placed in her supposed
friends, since they had wanted resolution to refuse their
signatures to the instrument of her deposition. The
Emperor could not move ; although he might wish well
to her cause, the alliance of England was of vital im-
portance to him, and he would not compromise himself
with the faction whose success, notwithstanding Scheyf-
ne's assurance, he looked upon as certain. Henard,
therefore, lost not a moment in entreating the Princess
not to venture upon a course from which he anticipated
inevitable ruin. If the nobility or the people desired
to have her for Queen, they would make her Queen.
There was no need for her to stir.1 The remonstrance
1 Avant nostre arrivee elle mist
en deliberation avec aulcungs de ses
plus confidens ce qu'elle debvroit
faire, advenant la dicte morte ; la
quelle treuva, que incontinant la
dicte morte decouverte, elle se deb-
voit publier royne par lettres et
escriptz, et qu'en ce faisant, elle
conciteroit plusieurs a se declairer
pour la maintenir telle, (et aussy
que y a quelque observance par de
90, que celuy ou celle qui est appele
a la couronne se doit incontinent tel
declairer et publier) pour la haine
qu'ilz portent audict due, le tenant
tiran et indigne ; s'estant absolu-
ment resolue qu'elle debvoit suyvre
ceste conclusion et conseil, aultre-
ment elle tomberoit en danger de sa
personne plus grand qu'elle n'est et
perdroit 1'espoir de parvenir a la
couronne. La quelle conclusion
avons treuve estrange, difficile, et
dangereuse, pour les raisons soub-
zcriptes : pour aultant que toutes
les forces du pays sont es mains
dudict due : que la dicte dame n'a
espoir de contraires forces ny d' as-
sistance pour donner pied a ceulx qu'
ilz adherer luy vouldroient ; que se
publiaht royne, le roy et royne de-
signes par le diet testament (encores
qu'il soit mal) prendroient fonde-
ment, de 1'invahir par la force et que
n'y aura rnoieu d'y resister si vostre
majeste ne s'en empesche; ce que
avons pese pour les grands affaires
et empeschemens qu'elle a contre les
Fran9oys et en divers lieux, que ne
semble convenir que 1'on concite en
ceste saison les Angloys contre vos-
tre Majest6 et ses pays.
'S53-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
179
agreed fully with the opinion of Charles himself, who
replied to Renard's account of his conduct with com-
plete approval of it.1 The Emperor's power was no
longer equal to an attitude of menace; he had been
taught, by the repeated blunders of Reginald Pole, to
distrust accounts of popular English sentiment ; and he
disbelieved entirely in the ability of Mary and her
friends to cope with a conspiracy so broadly contrived,
and supported by the countenance of France.2 But
Mary was probably gone from Hunsdon before advice
arrived, to which she had been lost if she had listened.
She had ridden night and day without a halt for a hun-
dred miles to Keninghall, a castle of the Howards on
the Waveney river. There, in safe hands, she would
Comme n'avons peu communi-
quer verbalement avec elle, 1'avons
advertie desdicts difficultes. . . .
Que si la noblesse ses adherens, ou
le peuple la desiroit et maintenoit
pour royne, il le pourroit demon-
strer par 1' effect ; que la question
estoit grande mesme entre barbares
et gens de telle condition que les
Angloys. . . . luy touchant ces
difficultez pour le respect de sa per-
sonne et pour suyvre la fin de la
dicte instruction qu'est de non trou-
bler le royaulme au desadvantaige
de vostre Majeste. — The Ambassa-
dors in England to the Emperor :
Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal de Gran-
velle, vol. iv. pp. 19, 20.
1 Nous avons veu par vos lectres
Padvertissement qu'avez donne soubz
main a Madame la princesse nostre
cousino, affin qu'elle ne se laisse for-
compter par ceulx qui luy persuadent
qu'elle se haste de se declairer pour
royne, que nous a semble trcs bien
pour les raisons et considerations
touschez en vosdictes lectres. — The
Emperor to the Ambassadors : Ibid,
pp. 24, 25.
2 Ne se pouvoient faire grand
fondement sur la faveur et affection
que aulcuns particuliers et le peuple
peuvent porter a nostredicte cousine,
ne fust que y en y eust plus grant
nombre ou des principaulx, n'estant
cela souffisant pour contreminer la
negociation si fondle et de si longue
main que le diet due de Northum-
berland a empris avec 1' assistance
que doubtez de France. — Ibid. pp.
25, 26.
i8o
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
July 8.
try the effect of an appeal to her country. If the nation
was mute, she would then escape to the Low Countries.1
In London, during Friday and Saturday, the death
of Edward was known and unknown. Every one talked
of it as certain. Yet the Duke still spoke of him as
living, and public business was carried on in his name.
On the 8th the mayor and aldermen were sent
for to Greenwich to sign the letters patent.
From them the truth could not be concealed, but they
were sworn to secrecy before they were allowed to leave
the palace. The conspirators desired to have Mary
under safe custody in the Tower before the mystery was
published to the world, and another difficulty was not
yet got over.
The novelty of a female sovereign, and the supposed
constitutional objection to it, were points in favour of
the alteration which Northumberland was unwilling to
relinquish. The ' device* had been changed in favour
of Lady Jane ; but Lady Jane was not to reign alone :
Northumberland intended to hold the reins tight- grasped
in his own hands, to keep the power in his own family,
and to urge the sex of Mary as among the prominent
occasions of her incapacity.2 England was still to
1 BAOARDO.
2 In the explanation given on
the following Tuesday to the Em-
peror's ambassadors, Madame Marie
was said — ' N'estre capable dudict
royaultne pour le divorce faict entre
le feu Eoy Henry et la Royne
Katherine ; se referant aux causes
aians nieu ledict divorce ; et inesme
n'estre suffisante pour V administra-
tion cTicelluy comme estant femme,
et pour la religion. — Papier 's d' Etat
du Cardinal de Granvelle, p. 28.
Noailles was instructed to inform the
King of France of the good affection
of ' the new King ' (' le nouveaulx
Roy '). He had notice of the ap-
proaching coronation of ' the King ; '
'553-1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
181
have a king, and that king was to be Guilford Dudley.
Jane Grey, eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk,
was nearly of the same age with Edward. Edward had
been unhealthily precocious ; the activity of his mind
had been a symptom, or a cause, of the weakness of his
body. Jane Grey's accomplishments were as extensive as
Edward's ; she had acquired a degree of learning rare in
matured men, which she could use gracefully, and could
permit to be seen by others without vanity or consci-
ousness. Her character had developed with their talents.
At fifteen she was learning Hebrew and could write
Greek ; at sixteen she corresponded with Bullinger in
Latin at least equal to his own ; but the matter of he?
letters is more striking than the language, and speaks
more for her than the most elaborate panegyrics of
admiring courtiers. She has left a portrait of herself
drawn by her own hand; a portrait of piety, purity,
and free, noble innocence, uncoloured, even to a fault,
with the emotional weaknesses of humanity.1 While
the effects of the Reformation in England had been
chiefly visible in the outward dominion of scoundrels
and in the eclipse of the hereditary virtues of the
national character, Lady Jane Grey had lived to show
that the defect was not in the Reformed faith, but in
the absence of all faith, — that the graces of a St Eliza-
beth could be rivalled by the pupil of Cranmer and
and in the first communication of
Edward's death to Hoby and Mor-
ryson in the Netherlands, a ' king,'
and not a ' queen/ was described as
on the throne in his place.
1 Letters of Lady Jane Grey to
Bullinger : Epistola TIGUBINA, pp.
3-7-
1 82 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY, [CH. 30.
llidley. The Catholic saint had no excellence of which
Jane Grey was without the promise; the distinction
was in the freedom of the Protestant from the hysterical
ambition for an unearthly nature, and in the presence,
through a more intelligent creed, of a vigorous and
practical understanding.
When married to Guilford Dudley, Lady Jane had
entreated that, being herself so young, and her husband
scarcely older, she might continue to reside with her
mother.1 Lady Northumberland had consented; and
the new-made bride remained at home till a rumour
went abroad that Edward was on the point of death,
when she was told that she must remove to her father-
in-law's house, till ' God should call the King to his
mercy ; ' her presence would then be required at the
Tower, the King having appointed her to be the heir to
the Crown.
This was the first hint which she had received of the
fortune which was in store for her. She believed it to
be a jest, and took no notice of the order to change her
residence, till the Duchess of Northumberland came
herself to fetch her. A violent scene ensued with
Lady Suffolk. At last the Duchess brought in Guilford
Dudley, who commanded Lady Jane, on her allegiance
as a wife, to return with him ; and, ' not choosing to be
disobedient to her husband/ she consented. The Duchess
carried her off, and kept her for three or four days a
prisoner. Afterwards she was taken to a house of the
1 Baoardo— 'who tells the story as it was told by Lady Jane herself to
Abbot Feckenham.
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
183
Duke's at Chelsea, where she remained till
July 9.
Sunday, the 9th of July, when a message was
brought that she was wanted immediately at Sion House,
to receive an order from the King.
She went alone. There was no one at the palace
when she arrived ; but immediately after Northumber-
land came, attended by Pembroke, Northampton, Hunt-
ingdon, and Arundel. The Earl of Pembroke, as he
approached, knelt to kiss her hand. Lady Northum-
berland and Lady Northampton entered, and the Duke,
as President of the Council, rose to speak.
' The King/ he said, ' was no more. A godly life
had been followed, as a consolation to their sorrows, by
a godly end, and in leaving the world he had not for-
gotten his duty to his subjects. His Majesty had prayed
on his death-bed that Almighty God would protect the
realm from false opinions, and especially from his un-
worthy sister ; he had reflected that both the Lady Mary
and the Lady Elizabeth had been cut off by Act of Par-
liament from the succession as illegitimate ; l the Lady
Mary had been disobedient to her father ; she had been
again disobedient to her brother ; she was a capital and
principal enemy of God's word ; and both she and her
sister were bastards born ; King Henry did not intend
that the crown should be worn by either of them ; King
Edward, therefore, had, before his death, bequeathed it
1 La delta maesta haveva ben
considerate un atto di Parliamento
nel quale fu gia deliberate che
qualunque volesse riconoscere Maria
overo Elizabetba sorelle per lieredi
della corona fusse tenuto traditore.
— BAOARDO.
R&IGN OF
MARY.
CCH. 30.
to his cousin the Lady Jane ; and, should the Lady Jane
die without children, to her younger sister ; and he had
entreated the council, for their honours' sake and for
the sake of the realm, to see that his will was observed/
Northumberland, as he concluded, dropt on his
knees ; the four lords knelt with him, and, doing hom-
age to the Lady Jane as Queen, they swore that they
would keep their faith or lose their lives in her defence.
Lady Jane shook, covered her face with her hands,
and fell fainting to the ground. Her first simple grief
was for Edward's death ; she felt it as the loss of a
dearly loved brother. The weight of her own fortune
was still more agitating ; when she came to herself, she
cried that it could not be ; the crown was not for her,
she could not bear it — she was not fit for it. Then,
knowing nothing of the falsehoods which Northumber-
land had told her, she clasped her hands, and, in a re-
vulsion of feeling, she prayed God that if the great
place to which she was called was indeed justly hers,
He would give her grace to govern for his service and
for the welfare of his people.1
So passed Sunday, the 9th of July, at Sion House.
In London, the hope of first securing Mary being dis-
appointed, the King's death had been publicly ac-
knowledged ; circulars were sent out to the sheriifs,
mayors, and magistrates in the usual style, announcing
1 Mr John Gough Nichols, the
accomplished editor of so many of
the best publications of the Camden
Society, throws a doubt on. the au-
thenticity of this scene, being unable
to find contemporary authority foi
it. It comes to us, through Baoardo,
from Lady Jane herself.
1553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
the accession of Queen Jane, and the troops were sworn
man by man to the new sovereign. Sir William Petre
and Sir John Cheke waited on the Emperor's ambassador
to express a hope that the alteration in the succession
would not affect the good understanding between the
Courts of England and Flanders. The preachers were
set to work to pacify the citizens; and, if Scheyfne
is to be believed, a blood cement was designed to
strengthen the new throne ; and Gardiner, the Duke of
Norfolk, and Lord Courtenay,1 were directed to prepare
for death in three days.2 But Northumberland would
scarcely have risked an act of gratuitous tyranny.
Norfolk, being under attainder, might have been put to
death without violation of the forms of law, by warrant
from the Crown ; but Gardiner was uncondemned, and
Courtenay had never been accused of crime.
The next day, Monday, the loth of July,
the royal barges came down the Thames from
Richmond ; and at three o'clock in the afternoon Lady
Jane landed at the broad staircase at the Tower, as
Queen, in undesired splendour. A few scattered groups
of spectators stood to watch the arrival; but it ap-
peared, from their silence, that they had been brought
together chiefly by curiosity. As the gates closed, the
her aids- at- arms, with a company of the archers of the
July 10.
1 Edward Lord Courtenay was
son of the executed Marquis of
Exeter and great-grandson of Ed-
ward IV. He was thrown into the
Tower with his father when a little
boy, and in that confinement, in
fifteen years, he had grown to man-
hood. Of him and his fortunes all
that need be said will unfold itself.
2 Scheyfne to Charles V., July
10 : MS. Molls House.
186 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
guard, rode into the city, and at the cross in Cheapside,
Paul's Cross, and Fleet-street they proclaimed ' that
the Lady Mary was unlawfully begotten, and that the
Lady Jane Grey was Queen/ The ill-humour of Lon-
don was no secret, and some demonstration had been
looked for in Mary's favour ; ! but here, again, there
was only silence. The heralds cried 'God save the
Queen ! ' The archers waved their caps and cheered,
but the crowd looked on impassively. One youth only,
Gilbert Potter, whose name for those few days passed
into Fame's trumpet, ventured to exclaim, ' The Lady
Mary has the better title.' Gilbert's master, one
' Mnian Sanders/ denounced the boy to the guard, and
he was seized. Yet a misfortune, thought to be provi-
dential, in a few hours befell Ninian Sanders. Going
home to his house down the river, in the July evening,
he was overturned and drowned as he was shooting
London Bridge in his wherry ; the boatmen, who were
the instruments of Providence, escaped.
Nor did the party in the Tower rest their first night
there with perfect satisfaction. In the evening mes-
sengers came in from the eastern counties with news of
the Lady Mary, and with letters from herself. She had
written to Renard and Scheyfne to tell them that she
was in good hands, and for the moment was safe. She
had proclaimed herself Queen. She had sent addresses
to the peers, commanding them on their allegiance to
come to her ; and she begged the ambassadors to tell
1 XOAILLES.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 187
her instantly whether she might look for assistance
from Flanders ; on the active support of the Emperor,
so far as she could judge, the movements of her friends
would depend.
The ambassadors sent a courier to Brussels for in-
structions ; but, pending Charles's judgment to the
contrary, they thought they had better leave Mary's
appeal unanswered till they could see how events would
turn. There was a rumour current indeed that she had
from ten to fifteen thousand men with her ; but this
they could ill believe. For themselves, they expected
every hour to hear that she had been taken by Lord
Warwick and Lord Robert Dudley, who were gone in
pursuit of her, and had been put to death.1
The Lords who were with the new Queen were not
so confident. They were sitting late at night in con-
sultation with the Duchess of Northumberland and the
Duchess of Suffolk, when a letter was brought in to
them from Mary. The Lords ordered the messenger
into arrest. The seal of the packet was broken, and the
letter read aloud. It was dated the day before, Sunday,
July 9 :—
' My Lords/ wrote Mary, ' we greet you well, and
have received sure advertisement that our deceased
brother the King, our late Sovereign Lord, is de-
parted to God's mercjr ; which news how they be
woeful to our heart He only knoweth to whose will
and pleasure we must and do submit us and all our
1 Renard to Charles V. : Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal Granvelle, vol. iv.
iS8 RElGtf OP QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
wills. But in this so lamentable a case that is, to wit,
now, after his Majesty's departure and death, concern-
ing the crown and governance of this realm of England,
that which hath been provided by Act of Parliament
and the testament and last will of our dearest father,
you know — the realm and the whole world knoweth.
The rolls and records appear, by the authority of the
King our said father, and the King our said brother,
and the subjects of this realm ; so that we verily trust
there is no true subject that can pretend to be ignorant
thereof; and of our part we have ourselves caused, and
as God shall aid and strengthen us, shall cause, our
right and title in this behalf to be published and pro-
claimed accordingly.
' And, albeit, in this so weighty a matter, it seemeth
strange that the dying of our said brother upon Thurs-
day at night last past, we hitherto had no knowledge
from you thereof; yet we consider your wisdom and
prudence to be such, that having eftsoons amongst you
debated, pondered, and well-weighed the present case,
with our estate, with your own estate, the common-
wealth, and all our honours, we shall and may conceive
great hope and trust, with much assurance in your
loyalty and service ; and therefore, for the time, we in-
terpret and take things not for the worst ; and that ye
yet will, like noblemen, work the best. Nevertheless,
we are not ignorant of your consultation to undo the
provisions made for our preferment, nor of the great
banded provisions forcible whereunto ye be assembled
and prepared, by whom and to what end God and you
15531 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 189
know ; and nature can fear some evil. But be it that
some consideration politic, or whatsoever thing else,
hath moved you thereunto ; yet doubt ye not, my Lords,
but we can take all these your doings in gracious part,
being also right ready to remit and also pardon the
same, with that freely to eschew bloodshed and venge-
ance against all those that can or will intend the same ;
trusting also assuredly you will take and accept this
grace and virtue in good part as appertaineth, and that
we shall not be enforced to use the service of other our
true subjects and friends which, in this our just and
rightful cause, God, in whom our whole affiance is, shall
send us.
' Whereupon, my Lords, we require and charge you,
and every of you, on your allegiance, which you owe to
God and us, and to none other, that for our honour and
the surety of our realm, only you will employ your-
selves; and forthwith, upon receipt hereof, cause our
right and title to the Crown and Government of this
realm to be proclaimed in our city of London, and such
other places as to your wisdom shall seem good, and as
to this cause appertaineth, not failing hereof, as our
very trust is in you ; and this our letter, signed with
our own hand, shall be your sufficient warrant/ *
The Lords, when the letter was read to the end,
looked uneasily in each other's faces. The ladies
screamed, sobbed, and were carried off in hysterics.
There was yet time to turn back ; and had the Reform -
HOUNSHED.
190
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
ation been, as he pretended, the true concern of the
Duke of Northumberland, he would have brought Mary
back himself, bound by conditions which, in her present
danger, she would have accepted. But Northumberland
cared as little for religion as for any other good thing.
He was a great criminal, throwing a stake for a crown ;
and treason is too conscious of its guilt to believe re-
treat from the first step to be possible.
Another blow was in store for him that night before
he laid his head upon his pillow. Lady Jane, knowing
nothing of the letter from Mary, had retired to her
apartment, when the Marquis of Winchester came in to
wish her joy. He had brought the crown with him,
which she had not sent for ; he desired her to put it on,
and see if it required alteration. She said it would do
very well as it was. He then told her that, before her
coronation, another crown was to be made for her husband.
Lady Jane started ; and it seemed as if for the first time
the dreary suspicion crossed her mind that she was,
after all, but the puppet of the ambition of the Duke to
raise his family to the throne. Winchester retired, and
she sat indignant l till Guilford Dudley appeared, when
she told him that, young as she was, she knew that the
crown of England was not a thing to be trifled with.
There was no Dudley in Edward's will, and, before he
could be crowned, the consent of Parliament must be
first asked and obtained. The boy-husband went whin-
ing to his mother, while Jane sent for Arundel and
1 Le quale parole io scnti con mio gran dispiacere.— BAOARDCK
!553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 191
Pembroke, and told them that it was not for her to
appoint kings. She would make her husband a duke if
he desired it ; that was within her prerogative ; but
king she would not make him. As she was speaking,
the Duchess of Northumberland rushed in with her
son, fresh from the agitation of Mary's letter. The
mother stormed ; Guilford cried like a spoilt child that
he would be no duke, he would be a king : and, when
Jane stood firm, the Duchess bade him come away,
and not share the bed of an ungrateful and disobedient
wife.1
The first experience of royalty had brought small
pleasure with it. Dudley's kingship was set aside for
the moment, and was soon forgotten in more alarming
matters. To please his mother, or to pacify his vanity,
he was called ' Your Grace/ He was allowed to preside
in the council, so long as a council remained, and he
dined alone2 — tinsel distinctions, for which the poor
wretch had to pay dearly.
The next day restored the conspirators to
their courage. No authentic accounts came
in of disturbances. London was still quiet ; so quiet,
that it was thought safe to nail Gilbert Potter by the
ears in the pillory, and after sufficient suffering, to
slice them off with a knife. Lord Warwick and Lord
Robert were still absent, and no news had come from
them — a proof that they were still in pursuit. The
1 BAOARDO.
2 Se faisoit servir de mesme. — Renard to Charles V. : MS. Rolls
House.
I92 KEIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
Duke made up his mind that Mary was watching only
for an opportunity to escape to Flanders ; and the ships
in the river, with a thousand men-at-arms on board
them, were sent to watch the Essex coast, and to seize
her, could they find opportunity. Meanwhile he him-
self penned a reply to her letter. ' The Lady Jane/ he
said, ' by the antient laws of the realm/ and ' by letters
patent of the late King/ signed by himself, and counter-
signed by the nobility, was rightful Queen of England.
The divorce of Catherine of Arragon from Henry VIII.
had been prescribed by the laws of God, pronounced by
the Church of England, and confirmed by Act of Par-
liament ; the daughter of Catherine was, therefore, ille-
gitimate, and could not inherit ; and the Duke warned
her to forbear, at her peril, from molesting her lawful
sovereign, or turning her people from their allegiance.
If she would submit and accept the position of a subject,
she should receive every reasonable attention which it
was in the power of the Queen to show to her.
During the day rumours of all kinds were flying,
but Mary's friends in London saw no reasonable grounds
for hope. Lord Robert was supposed by Renard 1 to be
on his way to the Tower with the Princess as his
prisoner ; and if she was once within the Tower walls,
all hope was over. It was not till Wednesday
morning that the Duke became really alarmed.
Then at once, from all sides, messengers came in with
unwelcome tidings. The Dudleys had come up with
Renard to Charles V. : MS. Rolls Home.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 193
Mary the day before, as she was on her way from
Keninghall to Framlingham. They had dashed forward
upon her escort but their own men turned sharp round,
declared for the Princess, and attempted to seize them ;
they had been saved only by the speed of their horses.1
In the false calm of the two preceding days, Lord Bath
had stolen across the country into Norfolk. Lord Mor-
daunt and Lord Wharton. had sent their sons ; Sir
William Drury, Sir John Skelton, Sir Henry Beding-
field, and many more, had gone in the same direction.
Lord Sussex had declared also for Mary; and, worse
than all, Lord Derby had risen in Cheshire, and was
reported to be marching south with twenty thousand
men.2 Scarcely were these news digested, when Sir
Edmund Peckham, cofferer of the household, was found
to have gone off with the treasure under his charge. Sir
Edward Hastings, Lord Huntingdon's brother, had
called out the musters of Buckinghamshire in Mary's
name, and Peckham had joined him ; while Sir Peter
Carew, the very hope and stay of the western Protest-
ants, had proclaimed Mary in the towns of Devon-
shire.
Now, when too late, it was seen how large an errol
had been committed in permitting the Princess's escape.
But it was vain to waste time in regrets. Her hasty
levies, at best, could be but rudely armed ; the Duke
had trained troops and cannon, and, had he been free to
act, with no enemies but those in the field against him,
1 Renard to Charles V. : MS. Rolls House.
2 Queen Jane and Queen Mary. Renard to Charles V.
VOL. v. 13
194
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
he had still the best of the game. But Suffolk and
Northampton, the least able of the council, were,
nevertheless, the only members of it on whom he could
rely. To whom but to himself could he trust the army
which must meet Mary in the field ? If he led the army
in person, whom could he leave in charge of London,
the Tower, and Lady Jane ? Winchester and Arundel
knew his dilemma, and deliberately took advantage of
it. The guard, when first informed that they were to
take the field, refused to march. After a communication
with the Marquis of Winchester, they withdrew their
objections, and professed themselves willing to go.
Northumberland, uneasy at their conduct, or requiring
a larger force, issued a proclamation offering tenpence a
day to volunteers who would go to bring in the Lady
Mary.1 The lists were soon filled, but filled with the
retainers and servants of his secret enemies.2
The men being thus collected, Suffolk was first
thought of to lead them, or else Lord Grey de Wilton ; 3
but Suffolk was inefficient, and his daughter could not
bring herself to part with him ; Grey was a good soldier,
but he had been a friend of Somerset, and the Duke had
tried hard to involve him with Arundel and Paget in
Somerset's ruin.4 Northampton's truth could have been
1 Grey Friars' Chronicle.
2 ' Ille impigre quidcm, utpote
cujus res agebatur, proponit magua
stipendia ; conducit mill tern partim
invitum partim perfidum ; consta-
bant enim majori ex parte satellitia
nobilium qui secreto Maria? fave-
bant.' — Julius Terentianus to John
ab Uhnis : Epistolte TIGUKIN^E, p.
243-
3 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS.
4 Ibid.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 195
depended upon, but Northampton four years before had
been defeated by a mob of Norfolk peasants. North-
umberland, the council said, must go himself — ' there
was no remedy/ No man, on all accounts, could be- so
fit as he ; 'he had achieved the victory in Norfolk once
already, and was so feared, that none durst lift their
weapons against him : ' 1 Suffolk in his absence should
command the Tower. Had the Duke dared, he would
have delayed; but every moment that he remained
inactive added to Mary's strength, and whatever he did
he must risk something. He resolved to go, and as the
plot was thickening, he sent Sir Henry Dudley to
Paris to entreat the King to protect Calais against
Charles, should the latter move upon it in his cousin's
interest.
Noailles had assured him that this and larger favours
would be granted without difficulty ; while, as neither
Renard nor his companions had as yet acknowledged
Lady Jane, and were notoriously in correspondence with
Mary, the French ambassador suggested also that he
would do wisely to take the initiative himself, to send
Renard his passports, and commit the country to war
with the Emperor.2 Northumberland would not venture
the full length to which Noailles invited him ; but he
sent Sir John Mason and Lord Cobham to Renard, with
an intimation that the English treason laws were not to
be trifled with. If he and his companions dared to
meddle in matters which did not concern them, their
1 Chronicle of Queen Jane.
2 NOAILLES, vol. ii.
196 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 30.
privileges as ambassadors should not protect them from
extremity of punishment.1
Newmarket was chosen for the rendezvous of the
army. The men were to go down in companies, in
whatever way they could travel most expeditiously,
with the guns and ammunition waggons. The Duke
himself intended to set out on Friday at dawn. In his
calculations of the chances, hope still predominated —
his cannon would give him the advantage in the field,
and he trusted to the Protestant spirit in London to
prevent a revolution in his absence. But he took the
precaution of making the council entangle themselves
more completely by taking out a commission under the
Great Seal, as general of the army, which they were
forced to sign ; and before he left the Tower, he made
a parting appeal to their good faith. If he believed
they would betray him, he said, he could still provide
for his own safety ; but, as they were well aware that
Lady Jane was on the throne by no will of her own,
but through his influence and theirs, so he trusted her
to their honours to keep the oaths which they had
sworn. ' They were all in the same guilt/ one of them
answered ; ' none could excuse themselves/ Arundel
especially wished the Duke God speed upon his way,
and regretted only that he was not to accompany him
to the field.2
This was on Thursday evening. Northumberland
1 Ajoutant menace de la rigeur de leurs lois barbares. — Renard to
Charles V. : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
2 Chronicle of Queen Jane.
'553-1 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 197
slept that night at Whitehall. The following
morning he rode out of London, accompanied
by his four sons, Northampton, Grey, and about six
hundred men. The streets were thronged with spec-
tators, but all observed the same ominous silence with
which they had received the heralds' proclamation. ' The
people press to see us/ the Duke said, ' but not one saith
God speed us/1
The principal conspirator was now out of the way ;
his own particular creatures — Sir Thomas and Sir Henry
Palmer, and Sir John Gates, who had commanded the
Tower guard, had gone with him. Northampton was gone.
The young Dudleys were "gone all but Guilford. Suffolk
alone remained of the faction definitely attached to the
Duke ; and the Duke was marching to the destruction
which had been prepared for him. But prudence still
warned those who were loyal to Mary to wait before
they declared themselves ; the event was still uncertain ;
and the disposition of the Earl of Pembroke might not
yet, perhaps, have been perfectly ascertained.
Pembroke, in the black volume of appropriations, was
.the most deeply compromised. Pembroke, in Wilts and
Somerset, where his new lands lay, was hated for his
oppression of the poor, and had much to fear from a
Catholic sovereign, could a Catholic sovereign obtain
the reality as well as the name of power ; Pembroke, so
said Northumberland, had been the first to propose the
conspiracy to him, while his eldest son had married
Chronicle of Queen Jane.
KEIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
CCH. 30
Catherine Grey. But, as Northumberland's designs
began to ripen, he had endeavoured to steal from the
Court ; he was a distinguished soldier, yet he was never
named to command the army which was to go against
Mary ; Lord Herbert's marriage was outward and
nominal merely — a form, which had not yet become a
reality, and never did. Although Pembroke was the
first of the council to do homage to Jane, Northumber-
land evidently doubted him. He was acting and would
continue to act for his own personal interests only.
With his vast estates and vast hereditary influence in
South Wales and on the Border, he could bring a
larger force into the field than any other single noble-
man in England ; and he could purchase the secure
possession of his acquisitions by a well-timed assistance
to Mary as readily as by lending his strength to buttress
the throne of her rival.
Of the rest of the council, Winchester and Arundel
had signed the letters patent with a deliberate intention
of deserting or betraying Northumberland, whenever a
chance should present itself, and of carrying on their
secret measures in Mary's favour l with greater security,
1 ' Aliqui subscripserunt, id quod
postca compertum est, ut facilius
fallerent Northumbrian, cujus con-
silio haec orania videbant fieri et
tegerent conspirationem quara ador-
nabant in auxilium Marias.' — Julius
Terentianus to John ab Ulmis : Epi-
stola TIGURIN^E, p. 242. John
Knox allowed his vehemence to
carry him too far against the
Marquis of Winchester, who un-
questionably was not one of those
who advised the scheme of Northum-
berland. In the ' aliqui ' of Julius
Terentianus, the letters of Reiiard,
of Schcyfne, enable us to identify
both him and Arundel ; but there
must have been many more, in the
council or out of it, who were acting
in concert with them.
1SS3-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 199
The other noblemen in the Tower perhaps imperfectly
understood each other. Cranmer had taken part un-
willingly with Lady Jane ; but he meant to keep his
promise, having once given it. Bedford had opposed
the Duke up to the signature, and might be supposed
to adhere to his original opinion; but he was most
likely hesitating, while Lord Russell had been trusted
with the command of the garrison at Windsor. Sir
Thomas Cheyne and Shrewsbury might be counted
among Mary's friends; the latter certainly. Of the
three secretaries, Cecil's opposition had put his life in
jeopardy ; Petre was the friend and confidant of Paget,
and would act as Paget should advise ; Cheke, a feeble
enthusiast., was committed to the Duke.
The task of bringing the council together was under-
taken by Cecil. Cecil and Winchester worked on Bed-
ford ; and Bedford made himself responsible for his son,
for the troops at Windsor, and generally for the western
counties. The first important step was to readmit
Paget to the council. Fresh risings were reported in
Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire ; 1 Sir John Williams
was proclaiming Mary round Oxford ; and on
Friday night or Saturday morning news came
from the fleet which might be considered decisive as to
the Duke's prospects. The vessels, so carefully equipped,
which left the Thames on the 12th, had been driven
into Yarmouth Harbour by stress of weather. Sir
Henry Jerningham was in the town raising men for
1 Cecil's Submission, printed by TYTLER, vol. ii.
200 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [011.30.
Mary ; and knowing that the crews had been pressed,
and that there had been desertions among the troops
before they were embarked,1 he ventured boldly among
the ships. ' Do you want our captains ? ' some one said
to him. 'Yea, marry/ was the answer. 'Then they
shall go with you/ the men shouted, ' or they shall go
to the bottom/ Officers, sailors, troops, all declared
for Queen Mary, and landed with their arms and
artillery. The report was borne upon the winds ; it was
known in a few hours in London ; it was known in the
Duke's army, which was now close to Cambridge, and
was the signal for the premeditated mutiny. * The
noblemen's tenants refused to serve their lords against
Queen Mary/2 Northumberland sent a courier at full
speed to the council for reinforcements. The courier
returned ' with but a slender answer.'3
The Lords in London, however, were still under the
eyes of the Tower garrison, who watched them narrowly.
Their first meeting to form their plans was within the
Tower walls, and Arundel said 'he liked not the air.'4
Pembroke and Cheyne attempted to escape, but failed
to evade the guard ; Winchester made an excuse to go
to his own house, but he was sent for and brought back
at midnight. Though Mary might succeed, they might
still lose their own lives, which they were inclined to
value.
On Sunday, the i6th, the preachers again
exerted themselves. Ridley shrieked against
1 Scheyfue to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
2 Chronicle of Queen Jane. 3 Ibid.
4 Cecil's Submission : TYTLEB, vol. ii.
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
201
Mary at Paul's Cross ; 1 John Knox, more wisely, at
Amersham, in Buckinghamshire, foretold the approach-
ing retribution from the giddy ways of the past years ;
Buckinghamshire, Catholic and Protestant, was arming
to the teeth ; and he was speaking at the peril of his
life among the troopers of Sir Edward Hastings.
' Oh England ! ' cried the saddened Reformer, ' now
is God's wrath kindled against thee — now hath he begun
to punish as he hath threatened by his true prophets
and messengers. He hath taken from thee the crown
of thy glory, and hath left thee without honour, and
this appeareth to be only the beginning of sorrows.
The heart, the tongue, the hand of one Englishman is
bent against another, and division is in the realm, which
is a sign of desolation to come. Oh, England, England !
if thy mariners and thy governors shall consume one
another, shalt not thou suffer shipwreck ? Oh England,
alas ! these plagues are poured upon thee because thou
wouldst not know the time of thy most gentle visitation/ 2
At Cambridge, on the same day, another notable
man preached — -Edwin Sandys, then Protestant Vice-
Chancellor of the University, and afterwards Arch-
bishop of York. Northumberland the preceding evening
brought his mutinous troops into the town. He sent
for Parker, Lever, Bill, and Sandys to sup with him,
and told them he required their prayers, or he and his
friends were like to be 'made deacons of/3 Sandys,
1 STOW.
2 Account of a Sermon at Araers-
ham : Admonition to the Faithful
in Ihigland, by JOHN KNOX.
3 Some jest, perhaps, upon a
shorn crown ; at any rate, a eu-
202 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 30.
the vice- chancellor, must address the University the
next morning from the pulpit.
Sandys rose at three o'clock in the summer twilight,
took his Bible, and prayed with closed eyes that he
might open at a fitting text. His eyes, when he lifted
them, were resting on the i6th of the ist of Joshua :
' The people answered Joshua, saying, All thou com-
mandest us we will do ; and whithersoever thou sendest
us we will go ; according as we hearkened unto Moses,
so will we hearken unto thee, only the Lord thy God
be with thee as he was with Moses/
The application was obvious. Edward was Moses,
the Duke was Joshua ; and if a sermon could have saved
the cause, Lady Jane would have been secure upon her
throne.1
But the comparison, if it held at all, held only in its
least agreeable features. The deliverers of England
from the Egyptian bondage of the Papacy had led the
people out into a wilderness where the marina had been
stolen by the leaders, and there were no tokens of a
promised land. To the Universities the Reformation
had brought with it desolation. To the people of Eng-
land it had brought misery and want. The once open
hand was closed ; the once open heart was hardened ;
the ancient loyalty of man to man was exchanged for
the scuffling of selfishness; the change of faith had
phemism for decapitation ; for Foxe,
who tells the story, says, ' and even
so it came to pass, for he and Sir
were made deacons ere it was long
after on the Tower Hill.' —Fox E,
vol. viii. p. 590.
John Gates, who was then at table, I l Ibid.
* 553-i QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MAR K 203
brought with it no increase of freedom, and less of
charity. The prisons were crowded, as before, with
sufferers for opinion, and the creed of a thousand years
was made a crime by a doctrine of yesterday ; monks
and nuns wandered by hedge and highway, as mission-
aries of discontent, and pointed with bitter effect to the
fruits of the new belief, which had been crimsoned in
the blood of thousands of English peasants. The Eng-
lish people were not yet so much in love with wretched-
ness that they would set aside for the sake of it a princess
whose injuries pleaded for her, whose title was affirmed
by Act of Parliament. In the tyranny under which the
nation was groaning, the moderate men of all creeds
looked to the accession of Mary as to the rolling away
of some bad black nightmare.
On Monday Northumberland made another effort to
move forward. His troops followed him as far as Bury,
and then informed him decisively that they would not
bear arms against their lawful sovereign. He
fell back on Cambridge, and again wrote to
London for help. As a last resource, Sir Andrew Dud-
ley, instructed, it is likely, by his brother, gathered up
a hundred thousand crowns' worth of plate and jewels
from the treasury in the Tower, and started for France
to interest Henry — to bribe him, it was said, by a pro-
mise of Guisnes and Calais, to send an army into Eng-
land.1 The Duke foresaw and dared the indignation of
the people ; but he had left himself no choice except
Renard to Charles V. : Rolls Home MSS.
204
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[ CH. 30.
between treason to the country or now inevitable de-
struction.1 When he called in the help of France he
must have known well that his ally, with a successful
army in England, would prevent indeed the accession of
Mary Tudor, but as surely would tear in pieces the paper
title of the present Queen and snatch the crown for his
own Mary, the Queen of Scots, and the bride of the
Dauphin.
But the council was too quick for Dudley. A secret
messenger followed or attended him to Calais, where he
was arrested, the treasure recovered, and his despatches
taken from him.
The counter-revolution could now be accomplished
without bloodshed and without longer delay. On
Wednesday the 1 9th word came that the Earl
of Oxford had joined Mary. A letter was
written to Lord Rich admonishing him Dot, to follow
Oxford's example, but to remain true to Queen Jane,
which the council were required to sign. Had they
refused, they would probably have been massacred.2
July 19.
1 La peine ou se retreuve ledict
due est qu'il ne se ose fier en per-
sonne, pour n'avoir faict ou donne
occasion a personne de 1'aimei*, —
que a meu envoyer en France le
Millor Dudley son frere, pour 1'as-
surer du secours que luy a este
promis par le roy de France, et le
prjer en faire demonstration pour
intimider ceulx de par dec,a. Car
encores qu'il entende qu'il degoustera
davantage ceulx du pays pour y
umener Francois, si est ce craignant
d'estre reboute de son emprinse, et
d'estre massacre du peuple et sa
generation, et que ma dicte dame
Marie ne parvienne a la couronne,
il ne respectera chose quelconque :
plustot donnera il pied aux Francois
ou peys : tel est le couraige d'ung
homme tiran, obstine, et resolu,
signamment quant il est question de
se demesurer pour regner. — Renard
to Charles V. : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv. p. 38.
2 The letter is among the Lans-
J553]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY
205
Towards the middle of the day, Winchester, Arundel,
Pembroke, Shrewsbury, Bedford, Oheyne, Paget, Mason,
and Petre found means of passing the gates, and made
their way to Baynard's Castle,1 where they sent for the
mayor, the aldermen, and other great persons of the
city. When they were all assembled, Arundel was the
first to speak.
The country, he said, was on the brink of civil war,
and if they continued to support the pretensions of Lady
Jane Grey to the crown, civil war would inevitably
break out. In a few more days or weeks the child
would be in arms against the father, the brother against
the brother ; the quarrels of religion would add fury to
the struggle ; the French would interfere on one side,
the Spaniards on the other, and in such a conflict the
triumph of either party would be almost equally in-
jurious to the honour, unity, freedom, and happiness of
England. The friends of the commonwealth, in the
face of so tremendous a danger, would not obstinately
persist in encouraging the pretensions of a faction. It
was for his hearers where they sat to decide if there
should be peace or war, and he implored them, for the
sake of the country, to restore the crown to her who
was their lawful sovereign.
downe MSS. It is in the hand of
Sir John Cheke, and dated July 19.
The signatures are Cranmer, Good-
rich, Winchester, Bedford, Suffolk,
Arundel, Shrewsbury, Pembroke,
Darcy, Paget, Cheyne, Cotton, Pe-
tre, Cheke, Baker, Bowes.
1 Fronting the river, about three-
quarters of a mile above London
Bridge. The original castle of Bay-
nard the Norman had fallen into
ruins at the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury. Henry VII. built a palace on
the site of it, which retained the
name.
206
RETGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
Pembroke rose next. The words of Lord Arundel,
he said, were true and good, and not to be gainsaid.
What others thought he knew not ; for himself, he was
so convinced, that he would fight in the quarrel with
any man ; and if words are not enough, he cried, flash-
ing his sword out of the scabbard, 'this blade shall
make Mary Queen, or I will lose my life.'1
Not a voice was raised for the Twelfth-day Queen,
as Lady Jane was termed, in scornful pity, by Noailles.
Some few persons thought that, before they took a de-
cisive step, they should send notice to Northumberland,
and give him time to secure his pardon. But it was
held to be a needless stretch of consideration ; Shrews-
bury and Mason hastened off to communicate with
Renard ; 2 while a hundred and fifty men were marched
directly to the Tower gates, and the keys were de-
manded in the Queen's name.
It is said that Suffolk was unprepared : but the
goodness of his heart and the weakness of his mind
alike saved him from attempting a useless resistance :
the gates were opened, and the unhappy father rushed
to his daughter's room. He clutched at the canopy
1 E quando le persuasion! del
conte d'Arundel non habiano luogo
appresso di voi, o questa spada fara
Reina Maria, o perdero io la vita. —
BAOARDO.
2 Renard had been prepared, by
a singular notice, to expect their
coming, and to suspect their good
faith. Ce matin, he wrote, relating
the counter-revolution to the Em-
peror ; ce matin, a bonne heure, il
y a venu une vieille femme de soix-
ante ans en nostre logis pour nous
advertir que 1'on deust faire s^avoir
a madicte dame Marie qu'elle se
donna garde de ceulx de conseil car
ils la vouloicnt tromper soubz couleur
de luy monstrer affection. — Gran-
velle Papers, vol. iv.
1 553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 207
under which she was sitting, and tore it down ; she was
no longer Queen, he said, and such distinctions were not
for one of her station. He then told her briefly of the
revolt of the council. She replied that his present
words were more welcome to her than those in which
he had advised her to accept the crown;1 her reign
being at an end, she asked innocently if she might leave
the Tower and go home.2 But the Tower was a place
not easy to leave, save by one route too often travelled.
Meanwhile the Lords, with the mayor and the
heralds, went to the Cross at Cheapside to proclaim
Mary Queen. Pembroke himself stood out to read ;
and this time there was no reason to complain of a silent
audience. He could utter but one sentence before his
voice was lost in the shout of joy which thundered into
the air. l God save the Queen/ ' God save the Queen/
rung out from tens of thousands of throats. ' God save
the Queen/ cried Pembroke himself, when he had done,
and flung up his jewelled cap and tossed his purse
among the crowd. The glad news spread like lightning
through London, and the pent-up hearts of the citizens
poured themselves out in a torrent of exultation.
Above the human cries, the long- silent church-bells
clashed again into life ; first began St Paul's, where
happy chance had saved them from destruction ; then,
one by one, every peal which had been spared caught
up the sound ; and through the summer evening and
the summer night, and all the next day, the metal
1 Baoardo to Charles V. : Molls I 2 Narrative of Edward Under-
Home MSS. I hill : Harleian MSS. 425.
208
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
tongues from tower and steeple gave voice to England's
gladness. The Lords, surrounded by the shouting
multitude, walked in state to St Paul's, where the choir
again sang a Te Deum, and the unused organ rolled out
once more its mighty volume of music. As they came
out again, at the close of the service, the apprentices
were heaping piles of wood for bonfires at the cross-
ways. The citizens were spreading tables in the streets,
which their wives were loading with fattest capons and
choicest wines ; there was free feasting for all comers ;
and social jealousies, religious hatreds, were forgotten
for the moment in the ecstasy of the common delight.
Even the retainers of the Dudleys, in fear or joy, tore
their badges out of their caps, and trampled on them.1
At a night session of the council, a letter was written
to Northumberland, which Cranmer, Suffolk, and Sir
John Cheke consented to sign, ordering him in the
name of Queen Mary to lay down his arms. If he com-
plied, the Lords undertook to intercede for his pardon.
If he refused, they said that they would hold him as a
traitor, and spend their lives in the field against him 2
While a pursuivant bore the commands of the coun-
cil to the Duke, Arundel and Paget undertook to carry
to Mary at Framlingham their petition for forgiveness,
in which they declared that they had been innocent at
heart of any share in the conspiracy,3 and had only de-
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSB. All authorities agree
in the general description of the state
of London. Renard, Noailles, and
Baoarrlo are the most explicit and
interesting.
• This letter is among the Tan-
ner MSS. in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford. It was printed by Stowe.
3 ' Our bounden duties most
1533-] Q_V KEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 209
layed coming forward in her favour from a desire to
prevent bio*, dshed.
The two lords immediately mounted and galloped off
into the darkness, followed by thirty horse, leaving the
lights of illuminated London gleaming behind them.
The Duke's position was already desperate : on the
1 8th, before the proclamation in London, Mary had felt
herself strong enough to send orders to the Mayor of
Cambridge for his arrest ; 1 and, although he had as yet
been personally unmolested, he was powerless in the
midst of an army which was virtually in Mary's service.
The news of the revolution in London first reached him
by a private hand. He at once sent for Sandys, and,
going with him to the market cross, he declared, after
humbly remembered to your excel-
lent Majesty. It may like the same
to understand, that we, your most
humble, faithful, and obedient sub-
jects, having always, God we take to
witness, remained your Highness's
true and humble subjects in our
hearts, ever since the death of our
late Sovereign Lord and master your
Highness's brother, whom God
pardon, and seeing hitherto no pos-
sibility to utter our determination
without great destruction and blood-
shed, both of ourselves and others,
till this time, have this day pro-
claimed in your city of London your
Majesty to be our true natural
sovereign liege Lady and Queen ;
most humbly beseeching your Ma-
jesty to pardon and remit our former
infirmities, and most graciously to
VOL. V.
accept our meanings, which have
been ever to serve your Highness
truly, and so shall remain with all
our power and force, to the effusion
of our blood, as these bearers, our
very good Lords, the Earls of Arun-
del and Paget, can, and be ready
more particularly to declare — to
whom it may please your excellent
Majesty to give firm credence ;
and thus we do and shall daily pray
to Almighty God for the preserva-
tion of your most royal person long
to reign over us.' — Lansdowne MSS.
3. Endorsed, in Cecil's hand, ' Copy
of the Letter of the Lords to the
Queen Mary from Baynard's Castle.'
The signatures are, unfortunately,
wanting.
1 Renard to Charles V. ; Holla
House MSS.
14
210 REIGN' OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 36.
one violent clutch at his beard, that he had acted under
orders from the council; the council, he understood,
had changed their minds, and he would change his
mind also ; therefore he cried, ' God save Queen Mary/
and with a strained effort at a show of satisfaction,
he, too, like Pembroke, threw up his cap. The Queen,
he said to Sandys, was a merciful woman, and there
would be a general pardon. ' Though the Queen grant
you a pardon/ Sandys answered, 'the Lords never
will ; you can hope nothing from those who now rule/1
It was true that he could hope nothing — the hatred
of the whole nation, which before his late treasons he
had brought upon himself, would clamour to the very
heavens for judgment against him. An hour
after the proclamation of Mary, Kouge-cross
herald arrived with the Lords' letter from London. An
order at the same time was read to the troops informing
them that they were no longer under the Duke's com-
mand, and an alderman of the town then ventured to
execute the Queen's warrant for his arrest. Northum-
berland was given in charge to a guard of his own
soldiers ; he protested, however, that the council had
sent no instructions for his detention ; and in some un-
certainty, or perhaps in compassion for his fate, the
soldiers obeyed him once more, and let him go. It was
then night. He intended to fly ; but he put it off till
the morning, and in the morning his chance was gone.
Before he could leave his room he found himself face to
FOXE, vol. viii.
1553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 21 i
face with Arundel, who, after delivering the council's
letter to the Queen, had hastened to Cambridge to se-
cure him.
Northumberland, who, while innocent of crime, had
faced death on land and sea like a soldier and a gentle-
man, flung himself at the Earl's feet. ' Be good to me,
for the love of God/ he cried ; ' consider I have done
nothing but by the consent of you and the council/
He knew what kind of consent he had extorted from the
council. ' My Lord/ said Arundel, * I am sent hither
by the Queen's Majesty ; and in her name I do arrest
you.' — ' I obey, my Lord/ the Duke replied ; ' yet show
me mercy, knowing the case as it is.' — ' My Lord/ was
the cold answer, ' you should have sought for mercy
sooner; I must do according to my commandment.'1
At the same moment Sandys was paying the penalty
for his sermon. The University, in haste to purge it-
self of its heretical elements, met soon after sunrise
to depose their vice-chancellor. Dr Sandys, who had
gone for an early stroll among the meadows to meditate
on his position, hearing the congregation-bell ringing,
resolved, like a brave man, to front his fortune ; he
walked to the Senate-house, entered, and took his seat.
' A rabble of Papists ' instantly surrounded him. He
tried to speak, but the masters of arts shouted * Traitor ; '
rough hands shook or dragged him from his chair : and
the impatient theologian, in sudden heat, drew his dag-
ger, and * would have done a mischief with it/ had not
some of his friends disarmed him.2 He, too, was handed
1 HOLINSHED. 2 FOXE, vol. viii. pp. 591-2.
212 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [011.30.
over to a guard, lashed to the back of a lame horse, and
carried to London.
Mary, meanwhile, notwithstanding the revolution
in her favour, remained a few more days at Framling-
ham, either suspicious of treachery or uncertain whether
there might not be another change. But she was
assured rapidly that the danger was at an end by the
haste with which the lords and gentlemen who were
compromised sought their pardon at her feet. On the
2 1st and 2 2nd Clinton, Grey, Fitzgerald, Or-
July 21.
mond, Fit z warren, Sir Henry Sidney, and Sir
James Crofts presented themselves and received for-
giveness. Cecil wrote, explaining his secret services,
and was taken into favour. Lord Robert and Lord
Ambrose Dudley, Northampton, and a hundred other
gentlemen — Sir Thomas Wyatt among them, who had
accompanied the Duke to Bury — were not so fortunate.
The Queen would not see them, and they were left
under arrest. Ridley set out for Norfolk, also, to con-
fess his offences ; but, before he arrived at the Court,
he was met by a warrant for his capture, and carried
back a prisoner to the Tower.
The conspiracy was crushed, and crushed, happily,
without bloodshed. The inquiry into its origin, and
the punishment of the guilty, could be carried out at
leisure. There was one matter, however, which admit-
ted of no delay. Mary's first anxiety, on feeling her
crown secure, was the burial of her dead brother, who,
through all these scenes, was still lying in his bed in
his room at Greenwich. In her first letter to the Im-
1 553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
213
perial ambassadors, the day after the arrival of Arundel
and Paget at the Court, she spoke of this as her greatest
care ; to their infinite alarm, she announced her inten-
tion of inaugurating her reign with Requiem and Dirige,
and a mass for the repose of his soul.
Their uneasiness requires explanation.
While on matters of religion there was in England
almost every variety of opinion, there was a very gener-
al consent that the Queen should not marry a foreigner.
The dread that Mary might form a connection with
some Continental prince, had formed the strongest ele-
ment in Northumberland's cause ; all the Catholics, ex-
cept the insignificant faction who desired the restoration
of the Papal authority,1 and all the moderate Protestants,
wished well to her, but wished to see her married to
some English nobleman ; and, while her accession was
still uncertain, the general opinion had already fixed
upon a husband for her in the person of her cousin
Edward Courtenay, the imprisoned son of the Marquis
of Exeter. The interest of the public in the long con-
finement of this young nobleman had invested him with
all imaginary graces of mind and body. He was the
grandchild of a Plantagenet, and a representative of the
White Eoso. He had suffered from the tyranny, and
was supposed to have narrowly escaped murder at the
1 I must again remind my readers
of the distinction between Catholic
and Papist. Three-quarters of the
English people were Catholics ; that
is, they were attached to the heredi-
tary and traditionary doctrines of
the Church. They detested, as coi
dially as the Protestants, the inter-
ference of a foreign power, whether
secular or spiritual, with English
liberty.
214
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
hands of the man whom all England most hated. Na-
ture, birth, circumstances, all seemed to point to him
as the king-consort of the realm.1 The Emperor had
thought of Mary for his son ; and it has been seen that
the fear of such an alliance induced the French to sup-
port Northumberland. • To prevent the injury which
the report, if credited in England, would have done to
her cause, Mary, on her first flight to Keninghall, em-
powered Renard to assure the council that she had no
thought at all of marrying a stranger. The Emperor
and the Bishop of Arras, in assuring Sir Philip Hoby
that the French intended to strike for the Queen of
Scots, declared that, for themselves they wished only to
see the Queen settled in her own realm, as her subjects
desired ; and especially they would prevent her either
from attempting innovations in religion without their
consent, or from marrying against their approbation.2
1 ' Adversity is a good thing. I
trust in the Lord to live to see the
day her Grace to marry such an one
as knoweth what adversity raeaneth;
so shall we have both a merciful
queen and king to their subjects ;
and would to God I might live to
have another virtuous Edward.' —
Epistle of Poor Pratt to Gilbert
Potter, written July 13 : Queen Jane
and Queen Mary, Appendix, p. 116.
The occasion of this curious epistle
was the punishment of Gilbert on
the pillory. The writer was a
Protestant, and evidently thought
the Reformation in greater danger
from Northumberland than Mary.
1 "We have had many prophets and
true preachers,' he said, ' which did
declare that our King shall be taken
away from us, and a tyrant shall
reign. The gospel shall be plucked
away, and the right heir shall be
dispossessed ; and all for our un-
thankfulness. And, thinkest thou
not, Gilbert, this world is now
come ? Yea ! truly ! and what shall
follow, if we repent not in time ?
The same God will take from us the
virtuous Lady Mary our lawful
Queen, and send such a cruel Pharaoh
as the Ragged Bear to rule us, which
shall pull and poll us, and utterly
destroy us, and bring us in great
calamities and miseries.'
2 MS. Harleian, 523.
1553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 215
But the Emperor's disinterestedness was only the
result of his despondency. While the crisis lasted,
neither Charles nor Henry of France saw their way to
a distinct course of action. Charles, on the 2Oth of
July, ignorant of the events in London, had written to
Eenard, despairing of Mary's success. Jane Grey he
would not recognize ; the Queen of Scots, he thought,
would shortly be on the English throne. Henry, con-
sidering, at any rate, that he might catch something in
troubled waters, volunteered to Lord William Howard,1
in professed compliance with the demands of Northum-
berland, to garrison Guisnes and Calais for him.
Howard replied that the French might come to Calais
if they desired, but their reception might not be to their
taste.2 The revolution of the i Qth altered the aspect of
the situation both at the Courts of Paris and of Brussels.
The accession of Mary would be no injury to France,
provided she could be married in England ; and Henry
at once instructed Noailles to congratulate the council
on her accession. Noailles himself indeed considered,
that, should she take Courtenay for a husband, the
change might, after all, be to their advantage. The
Emperor, on the other hand, began to think again of
his original scheme. Knowing that the English were
sincere in their detestation of the Papacy, and imper-
fectly comprehending the insular distinction between
general attachment to Catholic tradition and indifference
to Catholic unity, he supposed that the country really
1 Governor of Calais. • 9 r 2 NOAIM.ES,
216 REIGN- OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
was, on the whole, determined in its adherence to the
Reformed opinions. But the political alliance was still
of infinite importance to him ; and therefore he was
anxious beyond everything that the Princess, whom he
intended to persuade to break her word about her mar-
riage, should be discreet and conciliatory about religion.
He lost not a moment, after hearing that she was pro-
claimed Queen, in sending her his congratulations ; but
he sent with them an earnest admonition to be cau-
tious; to be content with the free exercise for herself of
her own creed, to take no step whatever without the
sanction of Parliament, and to listen to no one who
would advise her, of her own authority, to set aside the
Act of Uniformity. Her first duty was to provide for
the quiet of the realm; and she must endeavour, by
prudence and moderation, to give reasonable satisfaction
to her subjects of all opinions. Above all things, let
her remember to be a good Englishwoman (bonne An-
glaise).1
It was, in consequence, with no light anxiety that
Renard learnt from Mary her intention of commencing
her reign with an act which was so far at variance with
the Emperor's advice, and which would at once display
the colours of a party. To give the late King a public
funeral with a ceremonial forbidden by the law, would
be a strain of the prerogative which could not fail to
create jealousy even among those to whom the difference
between a Latin mass and an English service was not
Charles V, to Renard, July 22 : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
'553-L QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 217
absolutely vital ; and the judicious latitudinarianism to
which the lay statesmen of the better sort were inclining,
would make them dread the appearance of a disposition
that would encourage the revolutionists. She owed her
crown to the Protestants as well as to the Catholics. If
she broke the law to please the prejudices of the latter,
Renard was warned that her present popularity would
not be of long continuance.1
Yet, as the ambassador trembled to know, a care-
lessness of consequences and an obstinate perseverance
in a course which she believed to be right were the
principal features in Mary's character. He wrote to
her while she was still at Framlingham, using every
argument which ought, as he considered, to prevail.
He reminded her of the long and unavailing struggle of
the Emperor to bring back Germany out of heresy,
where the obstinacy of the Romanists had been as mis-
chievous to him as the fanaticism of the Lutherans.
' Her duty to God was of course the first thing to be
considered ; but at such a time prudence was a part of
that duty. The Protestant heresies had taken a hold
deep and powerful upon her subjects. In London alone
there were fifteen thousand French, Flemish, and
German refugees, most of them headstrong and un-
governable enthusiasts. The country dreaded any fresh
convulsions, and her Majesty should remember that she
had instructed him to tell the council that she was sus-
1 Elle sera odicuse, suspecte, et dangereuse. — Renard to the Emperor :
Rolls Home MSX.
218 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
pected unjustly, and had no thought of interfering with
the existing settlement of the realm/ *
With all his efforts, however, Renard could but
bring the Queen to consent to a few days' delay ; and
fearing that she would return to her purpose, he sent to
the Emperor a copy of his letter, which he urged him
to follow up. Charles on the 29th replied again,
lauding the ambassador's caution, and sug-
gesting an argument more likely to weigh with his
cousin than the soundest considerations of public policy.
Edward had lived and died in heresy, and the Catholic
services were intended only for the faithful sons of the
Church.2 He desired Renard to remind her that thosB
who had been her most valuable friends were known to
hold opinions far from orthodox ; and he once more im-
plored her to be guided by Parliament, and to take care
that the Parliament was free. She had asked whether
she should imitate Northumberland and nominate the
members of the House of Commons. He cautioned her
against so dangerous an example ; she might make a
selection among the towns and counties, but he advised
her to let them choose for themselves ; and if the writs
1 Renard to Queen Mary, copy
enclosed to Charles V. : Rolls House
MSS.
2 Vous avez tres bien faict do
desconseillicr a la dicte Royne qu'elle
fist les obseques du feu Roy, ce
qu'elle peult tant plus deluisser
avecque le repos de sa conscience,
puisque comme escripvez il est de-
code sonstenant jusques a la fin,
selon qu'il avoit este persuade de
depuis sa jeunesse, les opinions de
desvoyez de nostre ancienne reli-
gion : par on Ton ne peult sans
scrupule luy faire renterrement et
obseques accoustumez en nostre dicto
religion. Et est bien que 1'ayez
persuade par vostre dicte lettre a la
dicte dilation. — Charles V. to Re-
nard, July 29 : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv.
1553-1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
219
were sent into Cornwall and the North, which had re-
mained most constant to the Catholic religion, these
places might be expected to return persons who would
support her own sentiments.1
If the Emperor had been equally earnest in urging
Mary to consult the wishes of her subjects on her mar-
riage, he would have been a truer friend to her than he
proved to be. But prudential arguments produced no
effect on the eager Queen ; Renard had warned her not
to resist Northumberland ; she had acted on her own
judgment, and Northumberland was a prisoner, and she
was on the throne. By her own will she was confident
that she could equally well restore the mass, and in
good time the Pope's authority. The religious objection
to the funeral was more telling, and on this point she
hesitated. Meantime she began to move slowly towards
London, and at the end of the month she reached her
old house of Newhall in Essex, where she rested till the
preparations were complete for her entry into the city.
The first point on which she had now to make up her
mind concerned the persons with whom she was to carry
on the Government. The Emperor was again clear in
his advice, which here she found herself obliged to fol-
low. She was forced to leave undisturbed in their au-
thorities such of her brother's late ministers as had con-
tributed to the revolution in her favour. Derby, Sussex,
1 Et il seroit a esperer que y
appellant ceulx du Noort et de
Cornuailles avec les autres comme
ce sont ceulx qui sont demeurez
plus ferae en la religion, et qui ont
demonstre plus d'affection en son
endroit qu'elle trouveroit envers
iceulx pour tout ce qu'elle vouldroit
ordonner plus de faveur.— Ibicj,
2 to REIGN OF Q UEEN MARY. [en. 30.
Bath, Oxford, who had hurried to her support at Fram-
Kngham, were her loyal subjects, whom she could afford
to neglect, because she could depend upon their fidelity.
Pembroke and Winchester, Arundel and Shrewsbury,
Bedford, Cobham, Cheyne, Petre, too powerful to affront,
too uncertain to be trusted as subjects, she could only
attach to herself, by maintaining them in their offices and
emoluments. She would restore the Duke of Norfolk
to the council ; Gardiner should hold office again ; and
she could rely on the good faith of Paget, the ablest, as
well as the most honest, of all the professional statesmen.
But Norfolk was old, and the latitudinarian Paget and
the bigoted Gardiner bore each other no good will ; so
that, when the Queen had leisure to contemplate her
position, it did not promise to be an easy one. She
would have to govern with the assistance of men who
were gorged with the spoils of the Church, suspected of
heresy, and at best indifferent to religion.
In Mary's absence, the Lords in London carried on
the government as they could on their own responsibility.
On the 2 ist Courtenay was released from the Tower.
Gardiner was offered liberty, but he waited to accept it
from the Queen's own hand. He rejoined the council,
however, and on the first or second day of his return to
the board, he agitated their deliberations by requiring
the restoration of his house in Southwark, which had
been appropriated to the Marquis of Northampton, and
by reminding Pembroke that he was in possession of
estates which had been stolen from the See of Win-
chester.
'553-1 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 221
On the 25th Northumberland and Lord Ambrose
Dudley were brought in from Cambridge, escorted by
Grey and Arundel, with four hundred of the guard.
Detachments of troops were posted all along the streets
from Bishopsgate where the Duke would enter, to the
Tower, to prevent the mob from tearing him in pieces.
It was but twelve days since he had ridden out from that
gate in the splendour of his power ; he was now assailed
from all sides with yells and execrations ; bareheaded,
with cap in hand, he bowed to the crowd as he rode on,
as if to win some compassion from them ; but so recent
a humility could find no favour. His scarlet cloak was
plucked from his back ; the only sounds which greeted
his ears were, ' Traitor, traitor, death to the traitor ! '
He hid his face, sick at heart with shame, and Lord
Ambrose, at the gate of the Tower, was seen to burst
into tears.1 Edwin Sandys, Northampton, Ridley, Lord
Robert Dudley, the offending judges Cholmley and
Montague, with many others, followed in the few next
days. Montague had protested to the Queen that he*
had acted only under compulsion, but his excuses were
not fully received. Lady Northumberland went to
Newhall to beg for mercy for her sons, but Mary refused
to admit her.2
In general, however, there was no desire to press
hard upon the prisoners. Few had been guilty in the
first degree ; in the second degree so many were guilty,
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS. BAOAKDO. Grey friars'
Chronicle.
8 Benarcl to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
222
REIGiV OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
that all could not be punished, and to make exceptions
would be unjust and invidious. The Emperor recom-
mended a general pardon, from which the principal of-
fenders only should be excluded, and Mary herself was as
little inclined to harshness. Her present desire was to
forget all that had passed, and take possession of her
throne for the objects nearest to her heart. Her chief
embarrassment for the moment was from the over-loyalty
of her subjects. The old-fashioned lords and country
gentlemen who had attended her with their retainers
from Norfolk, remained encamped round Newhall, unable
to persuade themselves that they could leave her with
safety in the midst of the men who had been the minis-
ters of the usurpation.1
Her closest confidence the Queen reserved for Eenard.
On the 2 8th of July she sent for him at mid-
night. On the 2nd of August he was again
with her, and the chief subject of her thoughts was still
the funeral. * She could not have her brother committed
*to the ground like a dog/ she said. While her fortunes
were uncertain, she had allowed Renard to promise for
her that she would make no changes in religion, but
* she had now told the Lords distinctly that she would
not recognize any of the laws which had been passed in
the minority,2 and she intended to act boldly ; timidity
August 2.
1 llenard to Charles V.: Rolls
House MSS.
2 She, perhaps, imagined that
she was not exceeding her statutable
right in the refusal. The ijth of
the 28th of Henry VIII. empower-
ed any one of the heirs to the crown
named in the King's will, on arriv-
ing at the age of twenty-four, to re-
peal laws passed not only in his or
her own minority; hut under cir-
cumstances such as those which had
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
would only encourage the people to be insolent ; ' ' the
Lords were all quarrelling among themselves, and accus-
ing one another ; she could not learn the truth on any
point of the late conspiracy ; she did not know who
were guilty or who were innocent; and, amidst the
distracted advices which were urged upon her, she could
not tell whether she could safely venture to London or
not. But outward acquiescence in the course which she
chose to follow she believed that she could compel, and
she would govern as God should direct her. The Em-
peror, she added, had written to her about her marriage,
not specifying any particular person, but desiring her to
think upon the subject. She had never desired to marry
while princess, nor did she desire it now ; but if it were
for the interests of the Church, she would do whatever
he might advise/
On this last point Renard knew more of the Em-
peror's intentions than Mary, and was discreetly silent ;
on other points he used his influence wisely. He con-
strained her, with Charles's arguments, to relinquish
her burial scheme. * Edward, as a heretic, should have a
heretic funeral at Westminster Abbey ; she need not be
present, and might herself have a mass said for him in
the Tower. As to removing to London, in his opinion
actually occurred, where the first
heir had died before coming of age.
The nth of the ist of Edward VI.
modified the Act of Henry, limiting
the power of repeal to the sovereign
in whose own reign the law to be
repealed had been passed. But this
Act of Edward's was, itself, passed
in a minority, and Mary might urge
that she might repeal that as well
as any other statute passed in his
reign in virtue of the Act of her
father.
224 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30
she had better go thither at once, take possession of her
throne, and send Northumberland to trial. Her brother's
body ought to be examined also, that it might be ascer-
tained whether he had been poisoned ; and if poisoned,
by whom and for what purpose.'1
Mary rarely paused upon a resolution. Making up
her mind that, as Henard said, it would be better for
her to go to London, she set out thither the
following day, Thursday, the 3rd of August.
Excitement lent to her hard features an expression
almost of beauty,2 as she rode in the midst of a splendid
cavalcade of knights and nobles. Elizabeth, escorted by
two thousand horse and a retinue of ladies, was waiting
to receive her outside the gates. The first in her con-
gratulations, after the proclamation, yet fearful of giving
offence, Elizabeth had written to ask if it was the Queen's
pleasure that she should appear in mourning ; but the
Queen would have no mourning, nor would have others
wear it in her presence. The sombre colours which of
late years had clouded the Court, were to be banished at
once and for ever ; and with the dark colours, it seemed
for a time as if old dislikes and suspicions were at the
same time to pass away. The sisters embraced, the
Queen was warm and affectionate, kissing all the ladies
in Elizabeth's train ; and side by side the daughters of
Henry VIII. rode through Aldgate at seven in the
evening, amidst the shouts of the people, the thunder of
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls Home MSS.
2 ' La beaute de visage plus que mediocre,' are Renard' s words to
Charles
1553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 225
cannon, and pealing of church bells.1 At the Tower
gates the old Duke of Norfolk, Gardiner, Courtenay,
and the Duchess of Somerset were seen kneeling as
Mary approached. ' These are my prisoners/ she said,
as she alighted from her horse and stooped and kissed
them. Charmed by the enthusiastic reception and by
the pleasant disappointment of her anxieties, she could
find no room for hard thoughts of any one ; so far was
she softened, Renard wrote, that she could hardly be
brought to consent to the necessary execution of justice.
Against Northumberland himself she had no feeling of
vindictiveness, and was chiefly anxious that he should
be attended by a confessor ; Northampton was certainly
to be pardoned ; Suffolk was already free ; Northumber-
land should be spared, if possible ; and, as to Lady Jane,
justice forbade, she said, that an innocent girl should
suffer for the crimes of others.2
The Emperor had recommended mercy ; but he had
not advised a general indemnity, as Renard made haste
to urge. The Imperialist conception of clemency dif-
fered from the Queen's ; and the same timidity which
had first made the ambassadors too prudent, now took
the form of measured cruelty. Renard entreated that
Lady Jane should not be forgiven ; ' conspirators re-
quired to be taught that for the principals in treason
there was but one punishment ; the Duke must die, and
the rival Queen and her husband must die with him/
' We set before her ' — Renard3 s own hand is the witness
1 RENARD ; NOAILLES ; MACHYN ; Grey Friars' Chronicle.
2 Eenard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
VOL. V. 15
226
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
against him — ' the examples of Maximus and his son
Victor, both executed by the Emperor Theodosius ;
Maximus, because he had usurped the purple ; Victor,
because, as the intended heir of his father, he might
have been an occasion of danger had he lived.3 1
Looking also, as Renard was already doing, on the
scenes which were round him, chiefly or solely as they
might affect the interests of his master's son, he had
been nervously struck by the entourage which sur-
^ounded Elizabeth, and the popularity which she, as
well as the Queen, was evidently enjoying.
Elizabeth, now passing into womanhood, was the per-
son to whom the affections of the liberal party in England
most definitely tended. She was the heir-presumptive to
the crown after her sister ; in matters of religion she was
opposed to the mass, and opposed as decidedly to factious
and dogmatic Protestantism; while from the caution
with which she had kept aloof from political entangle-
ments, it was clear that her brilliant intellectual abilities
were not her only or her most formidable gifts. Already
she shared the favour of the people with the Queen. Let
Mary offend them (and in the intended marriage offence
would unquestionably have to be given), their entire
hearts might be transferred to her. The public finger
had pointed to Courtenay as the husband which Eng-
1 Et luy fust propose 1'exemple
de Maxinius et Victor son filz que
Theodose 1'Empereur feit raourir
pour s'estre attrihue le nom d'Em-
pereur par tyrannie et 1' avoir vouhi
eoiitinuer en son diet filz Victor, es-
cripvarit Phistoire que Pon fcit
mourir le filz pour le scandale et
danger qu'en eust peu advenir. —
Renard to Charles V. : Rolls Souse
MSS. For the story, see GIBBON,
cap. xxvii,
155:
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
227
land desired for the Queen. When Courtenay should
be set aside by Mary, he might be accepted by Eliza-
beth ; and Elizabeth, it was rumoured, looked upon him
with an eye of favour.1 On all accounts, therefore,
Elizabeth was dangerous. She was a figure on the
stage whom Eenard would gladly see removed ; and a
week or two later he bid Mary look to her, watch her,
and catch her tripping if good fortune would so permit :
' it was better to prevent than to be prevented/2
The Queen did not close her ears to these evil
whispers ; but for the first few days after she came to
the Tower her thoughts were chiefly occupied with reli-
gion, and her first active step was to release and to re-
store to their sees the deprived and imprisoned bishops.
The first week in August, Ponet, by royal order, was
ejected from Winchester, Ridley from London, and
Scory from Chichester. The See of Durham was recon-
stituted. Tunstal, Day, and Heath were set at liberty,
1 Renard to Charles V.: Rolls
House MSS.
2 Signantment sembleroit que
vostre majeste ne se deust confier en
Madame Elizabeth que Men a point,
et discouvrir sur ce qu'ellene se voit
en espoir d'entrer en regne, ne avoir
youlu fleschir quant au point de la
religion ny ouyr la messe ; ce que
Ton jugeoit elle deust faire pour la
respect de vostre majeste, et pour les
courtoysies dont elle use en son en-
droit encores qu'elle ny eust faict
sinon Fassister et Faccompaigner.
Et davantage Fon peult discouvrir
comme elle se maintient en la nou-
velle religion par practique, pour
attirer et gaigner a sa devotion ceulx
quilz sont de la dicie religion en s'en
aider, si elle avoit intention de
maligner ; et ja^ois Fon se pourroit
fourcompter quant a son intention,
si est en ce commencement, qu'il est
plus sure prevenir que d'estre pre-
venu et penser a ce que peult ad-
venir ; actendu que les objects sont
evidens. — Les Ambassadeurs de
FEmpereur a Marie, Eeine d'An-
gleterre : Granvelle Papers, vol. ii.
pp. 64—69.
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
August 5.
and returned to their dioceses. The Bishop of Ely was
deposed from the chancellorship, and the seals were
given to Gardiner. ' On the 5th of August/
says the Grey Friars' Chronicle, 'at seven
o'clock at night, Edmond Bonner came home from the
Marshalsea like a bishop, and all the people by the way-
side bade him welcome home, both man and woman, and
as many of the women as might kissed him ; and so he
came to Paul's, and knelt on the steps, and said his
prayers, and the people rang the bells for joy.'1
While Mary was repairing acts of injustice, Gardin-
er, with Sir William Petre, was looking into the public
accounts. The debts of the late Government had been
reduced, the currency unconsidered, to i9O,ooo/.2 A
doubt had been raised whether, after the attempt to set
aside the succession, the Queen was bound to take the
responsibility of these obligations, but Mary preferred
honour to convenience ; she promised to pay everything
as soon as possible. Further, there remain, partly in
Gardiner's hand, a number of hasty notes, written evi-
dently in these same first weeks of Mary's reign, which
speak nobly for the intentions with which both Mary
1 Chronicle of the Grey Friars of
London, p. 82.
2 August 1553. Debts of the
crown. Irish debt, 36,094^. iSs.
Household debts, 14,574^. i6s.
Further household debts, 7,450^. 5*.
Berwick debt, with the wages of the
officers, 16,639^. 185. Calais debt,
beside 17,000^. of loans and other
things, 21,184^. i os. Ordnance
Office, 3,134^. 7*. Public works,
3,2OO/. Admiralty debt, 3,923^. 4*.
Debts in the Office of the Chamber,
17,968^. Debts beyond the seas by
Sir Thomas Gresham's particular
bill, 6i,o68£. Alderney's debt,
3,028^. Scilly debt, 3,0711.— MS.
Mary, Domestic, vol. i. State Paper
Office.
1553-1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
229
and himself were setting generally to work. The ex-
penses of the household were to be reduced to the scale
of Henry VII., or the early years of Henry VIII. ; the
garrisons at Berwick and Calais were to be placed on a
more economical footing, the navy reduced, the irregu-
lar guard dismissed or diminished. Bribery was to be
put an end to in the courts of Westminster, at quarter
sessions, and among justices of the peace ; ' the laws
were to be restored to their authority without suffering
any matters to be ordered otherwise than as the laws
should appoint.'1 These first essentials having been
attended to, the famous or infamous book of sales,
grants, and exchanges of the Crown lands was to be
looked into ; the impropriation of benefices was to cease,
and decency to be restored to the parish churches, where
the grooms and game-keepers should give way to com-
petent ministers. Economy, order, justice, and reverence
were to heal the canker of profligate profanity which had
eaten too long into the moral life of England.
In happier times Mary might have been a worthy
Queen, and Gardiner an illustrious minister ; 2 but the
1 Note of things to be attended
to : MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. i.
2 Another natural feature of
these curious days was the arrest of
suspected persons ; one of whom,
Edward Underbill, the Hot Gospel-
ler, has left behind him, in the ac-
count of his own adventures, a very
vivid picture of the time. Under-
bill was a yeoman of the guard. He
had seen service in the French wars,
but had been noted chiefly for the
zeal which he had shown in the late
reign in hunting Catholics into
gaol. He had thus worked his way
into Court favour. During the brief
royalty of Jane Grey, his wife was
confined. His child was christened
at the Tower church, and Suffolk
and Pembroke were 'gossips,' and
Jane herself was godmother. The
day that Mary was proclaimed, he
2. S
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
fatal superstition which confounded religion with ortho-
dox opinion was too strong for both of them.
put out a ballad, which, as he ex-
pected, brought him into trouble.
' The next day,' he is telling his
own story, 'after the Queen was
come to the Tower, the foresaid
ballad came into the hands of Secre-
tary Bourne, who straightway made
inquiry for the said Edward, who
dwelt in Lymehurst ; which he
having intelligence of, sent the
sheriff of Middlesex with a com-
pany of bills and glaives, who came
into my house, being in my bed, and
my wife newly laid in childbed.
The high constable, whose name is
Thomas Joy, dwelled at the house
nextto me, whom the sheriff brought
also with him. He being my very
friend, desired the sheriff and his
company to stay without for fright-
ing of my wife, and he would go
fetch me unto him ; who knocked
at the door, saying, he must speak
with me. I, lying so near that I
might hear him, called unto him,
willing him to come unto me, for
that he was always my very friend
and earnest in the gospel, who de-
clared unto me that the sheriff and
a great company was sent for me.
Whereupon I rose and made me
ready to come unto him.'
k Sir, said he, I have command-
ment from the council to apprehend
you and bring you unto them.
' "Why, said I, it is now ten of
the clock at night ; you cannot now
carry me unto them.
' No, sir, said he, you shall go
with me to my house in London,
where you shall have a bed, and to-
morrow I will bring you unto them
in the Tower.
' In the name of God, quoth I,
and so went with him, requiring
him if I might understand the cause.
He said he knew none.'
Underbill, however, conjectured
that it was the ballad. He ' was
nothing dismayed ; ' and in the
morning went readily to the Tower,
where he waited in the presence
chamber talking to the pensioners.
Sir Edward Hastings passed
through, and as he saw him, ' frown-
ed earnestly.' ' Are you come ? '
said Hastings, ' we will talk with
you ere you part, I warrant you.'
They were old acquaintances. Un-
derbill had been controller of the
ordnance at Calais when Lord
Huntingdon was in command there.
The Earl being in bad health, his
brother Sir Edward was with him,
assisting in the duties of the office ;
and Underbill, being able to play
and sing, had been a frequent visitor
at the Government House. The Earl,
moreover, ' took great delight to
hear him reason ' with Sir Edward,
on points of controversy — chiefly on
the real presence — where the con-
troller of the ordnance (according to
his own account), would quote
Scripture, and Sir Edward would
' swear great oaths,' ' especially by
'553-1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
231
Edward's body was meanwhile examined. The
physicians reported that without doubt he had died of
the Lord's foot ; ' on which Under-
hill would say, ' Nay, then, it must
needs be so, and you prove it with
such oaths , ' and the Earl would
laugh and exclaim, ' Brother, give
him over, Underbill is too good for
you.'
Hastings, it seemed, could not
forgive these passages of wit, and
Underbill was to smart for them.
While he stood waiting, Secretary
Bourne came in, 'looking as the
wolf at the lamb,' and seeing the
man that he had sent for, carried
him off into the council room.
Hastings was gone, Bedford sat
as President, ' and Bedford,' says
Underbill, ' was my friend, for that
my chance was to be at the recovery
of his son, my Lord Russell, when
he was cast into the Thames by
Lymehurst, whom I received into
my house, and gate him to bed, who
was in great peril of his life, the
weather being very cold. '
Bedford, however, made no sign
of recognition. Bourne read the
ballad ; on which Underbill pro-
tested that there was no attack on
the Queen's title in it. No ! Bourne
said, but it maintains the Queen's
title with the help of an arrant
heretic, Tyndal. Underbill used
the word Papist. Sir John Mason
asked what be meant by that : ' Sir,'
he says that he replied, « I think,
if you look among the priests in
Paul's, you shall find some old
mumpsimusses there.
' Mumpsimusses, knave, said he,
mumpsimusses ! Thou art an heretic
knave, by God's blood !
' Yea ! by the mass, said the
Earl of Bath, I warrant him an
heretic knave indeed.
* I beseech your honours,' Under-
hill said, ' speaking- to the Lords
that sat at the table (for those
others stood by and were not of the
council), be my good Lords. I have
offended no laws. I have served
the Queen's Majesty's father and
brother long time, and spent and
consumed my living therein. I
went not forth against her Majesty,
notwithstanding I was commanded.'
He was interrupted by Arundel,
who said that, ' by his writing,' ' he
wished to set them all by the ears.'
Hastings re-entered at the moment,
telling the council that they must
repair to the Queen, and the Hot
Gospeller was promptly ordered to
Newgate.
The sheriff led him through the
streets, his friend Joy ' following
afar off, as Peter followed Christ.'
He wrote a few words to his wife at
the door of Newgate, asking her to
send him ' his nightgown, his Bible,
and his lute ; ' and then entered the
prison, his life in which he goes on
to describe.
In the centre of Newgate was
' a great open hall.' ' As soon as it
was supper time,' the board was
232
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
poison,1 and there was a thought of indicting the Duke
of Northumberland for his murder : hut it was relin-
quished on further inquiry ; the poison, if the physi-
cians were right, must have been administered by
negligence or accident. The corpse was then
August 6.
buried with the forms of the Church of Eng-
covered in the same hall. The
keeper, whose name was ' Alisander,'
<vith his wife, came and sat down,
and half a dozen prisoners that were
there for felony,' Underbill < being the
first that for religion was sent unto
tbat prison.' One of the felons had
served with him in France. ' After
supper,' the story continues, 'this
good fellow, whose name was Bristow,
procured me to have a bed in his
cb amber, wbo could play well upon
a rebeck. He was a tall fellow,
and after one of Queen Mary's guard ;
yet a Protestant, which he kept
secret, for else, he said, he should
not have found such favour as he did
at the keeper's hands and his wife's,
for to such as loved the gospel they
were very cruel. "Well, said Under-
bill, I have sent for my Bible, and,
by God's grace, therein shall be my
daily exercise ; I will not hide it
from them. Sir, said he, I am poor ;
but they will bear with you, for they
see your estate is to pay well ; and
I will shew you the nature and
manner of them ; for I have been
here a good while. They both do
love music very well. Wherefore
you with your lute, and I to play with
you on my rebeck, will please them
greatly. He loveth to be merry,
and to drink wine, and she also.
If you Avill bestow upon them, every
dinner and supper, a quart of wine
and some music, you shall be their
white son, and have all the favour
they can shew you.'
The honour of being ' white son '
to the governor and governess of
Newgate was worth aspiring after.
Underbill duly provided the desired
entertainments. The governor gave
him the best room in the prison, with
all other admissible indulgences.
' At last,' however, ' the evil
savours, great unquietness, with over
many drafts of air,' threw the poor
gentleman into a burning ague.
He shifted « his lodgings,' but to no
purpose ; the ' evil savours ' followed
him. The keeper offered him his
own parlour, where he escaped from
the noise of the prison ; but it was
near the kitchen, and the smell of the
meat was disagreeable. Finally, the
wife put him away in her store-closet,
amidst her best plate, crockery, and
clothes, and there he continued to
survive till the middle of September,
when he was released on bail through
the interference of the Earl of Bed-
ford. — Underbill's Narrative : Har-
Man MSS. 425.
1 Supra, p. 172.
1 553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 233
land at Westminster Abbey ; the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, who had so far been left at liberty, read the
service ; it was the last and saddest function of his
public ministry which he was destined to perform.
Simultaneously, as Mary had determined, requiems
were chanted in the Tower Chapel ; and Gardiner, in
the presence of the Queen and four hundred persons,
sung the mass for the dead with much solemnity.
The ceremony was, however, injured by a misfortune;
after the gospel the incense was carried round, and the
chaplain who bore it was married; Doctor Weston,
who was afterwards deprived of the deanery of Wind-
sor for adultery, darted forward and snatched the censer
out of the chaplain's hand. 'Shamest thou not to do
thine office/ he said, ' having a wife, as thou hast?
The Queen will not be censed by such as thou.'1 Nor
was scandal the worst part of it. Elizabeth had been
requested to attend, and had refused ; angry murmurs
and curses against the Bishop of Winchester were
heard among the yeomen of the guard ; while the Queen
made no secret of her desire that the example which
she had set should be imitated. Eenard trembled for
the consequences ; Noailles anticipated a civil war ;
twenty thousand men, the latter said, would lose their
lives before England would be cured of heresy ; 2 yet
Mary had made a beginning, and as she had begun she
was resolved that others should continue.
In the Tower she felt her actions under restraint.
1 STRYPE. z NOAILLES, vol. ii. p. in.
234
REIGN- OF QUEEN" MARY.
[CH. 30.
She was still surrounded by thousands of armed men,
the levies of Derby and Hastings, the retainers of Pem-
broke and Arundel and Bedford ; the council were spies
upon her actions ; the sentinels at the gates were a
check upon her visitors. She could receive no one
whose business with her was not made public to the
Lords, and whose reception they were not pleased to
sanction ; even Renard was for a time excluded from
her, and in her anxiety to see him she suggested that
he might come to her in disguise.1 Such a thraldom
was irksome and inconvenient. She had broken the
promise which Renard had been allowed to make for
her about religion ; she had been troubled, it is easy to
believe, with remonstrances to which she was not likely
to have answered with temper ; Pembroke absented
himself from the presence ; he was required to return
and to reduce the number of his followers ; the quarrels
which began while the Queen was at New Hall broke
out with worse violence than ever ; Lord Derby com-
plained to Renard that those who had saved her crown
were treated with neglect, while men like Arundel,
Bedford, and Pembroke, who had been parties to the
treasons against her, remained in power ; Lord Russell
1 Monseigneur, je n'ay sceu
trouver moien jusques a ceste heure
de communiquer avec la royne, ce
HIIG je deliberois faive avec 1' occasion
dcs lectres do sa Majeste, si sans
suspicion, j'eusse peu avoir acc&s,
que n'a este possible pour estre les
portes en la Tour de Londres oil
eile este logee, si gardees que u'est
possible y entrer que Ton ne soit
congneu ; elle m'avoit faict dire si
je me pouvoys desguiser et prendre
ung manteau, mais il m'a semble
pour le mieux et plus sour d'attendre
qu'elle soit a Richemont. — Renard
to Charles V. : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv. pp. 71, 72.
'553-1 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 235
was soon after placed under arrest ; Pembroke and
Winchester were ordered to keep their houses, and the
Court was distracted with suspicion, discord, and un-
certainty.1
From such a scene Mary desired to escape to some
place where she could be at least mistress of her own
movements ; her impatience was quickened by a riot at
St Bartholomew's, where a priest attempted to say mass ;
and on Saturday, the I2th of August, she removed to
Richmond. Her absence encouraged the insubordination
of the people. On Sunday, the I 3th, another
J' August 13
priest was attacked at the altar ; the vestments
were torn from his back, and the chalice snatched from
his hands. Bourne, whom the Queen had appointed
her chaplain, preached at Paul's Cross. A crowd of
refugees and English fanatics had collected round the
pulpit; and when he spoke something in praise of
Bonner, and said that he had been unjustly imprisoned,2
yells rose of ' Papist, Papist ! Tear him down ! ' A
dagger was hurled at the preacher, swords were drawn,
the mayor attempted to interfere, but he could not make
his way through the dense mass of the rioters ; and
Bourne would have paid for his rashness with his life,
had not Courtenay, who was a popular favourite, with
his mother the Marchioness of Exeter, thrown them-
selves on the pulpit steps, while Bradford sprung to his
side, and kept the people back till he could be carried off.
1 Renard to the Emperor : Rolls I 2 Renard says it was at these
House MSS. Queen Jane and Queen words that the exasperation broke
p. 15. I out,
236 REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 30.
But the danger did not end there. The Protestant
orators sounded the alarm through London. Meetings
were held, and inflammatory placards were scattered
about the streets. If religion was to be tampered with,
men were heard to say, it was better at once to fetch
Northumberland from the Tower.
Uncertain on whom she could rely, Mary
' sent for Renard, who could only repeat his
former cautions, and appeal to what had occurred in
justification of them. He undertook to pacify Lord
Derby ; but in the necessity to which she was so soon
reduced of appealing to him, a foreigner, in her emerg-
encies, he made her feel that she could not carry things
with so high a hand. She had a rival in the Queen of
Scots, beyond her domestic enemies, whom her wisdom
ought to fear ; she would ruin herself if she flew in the
face of her subjects ; and he prevailed so far with her
that she promised to take no further steps till the meet-
ing of Parliament. After a consultation with the mayor,
she drew up a hasty proclamation, granting universal
toleration till further orders, forbidding her Protestant
and Catholic subjects to interrupt each other's services,
and prohibiting at the same time all preaching on either
sfde without license from herself.
Being on the spot, the ambassador took the oppor-
tunity of again trying Mary's disposition upon the mar-
riage question. His hopes had waned since her arrival
in London ; he had spoken to Pa get, who agreed that
an alliance with the Prince of Spain was the most
splendid which the Queen could hope for ; but the time
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
237
was inopportune and the people were intensely hostile.
The exigencies of the position, he thought, might oblige
the Queen to yield to wishes which she could not oppose,
and accept Lord Courtenay ; or possibly her own in-
clination might set in the same direction; or, again,
she might wish to renew her early engagement with
the Emperor himself. The same uncertainty had been
felt at Brussels ; the Bishop of Arras, therefore, had
charged Renard to feel his way carefully and make no
blunder. If the Queen inclined to the Emperor, he
might speak of Philip as more eligible ; if she fancied
Courtenay, it would be useless to interfere — she would
only resent his opposition.1 Renard obeyed his in-
structions, and the result was reassuring. When the
ambassador mentioned the word ' marriage/ the Queen
began to smile significantly, not once, but many times :
she plainly liked the topic : plainly, also, her thoughts
were not turning in the direction of any English
husband ; she spoke of her rank, and of her unwilling-
ness to condescend to a subject ; Courtenay, the sole
remaining representative of the White Rose except the
Poles, was the only Englishman who could in any way
be thought suitable for her ; but she said that she ex-
pected the Emperor to provide a consort for her, and
that, being a woman, she could not make the first ad-
vances. Renard satisfied himself from her manner that
1 Car si elle y avoit fantasie, elle
ne laisseroit, si elle este du naturel
des autres femmes, de passer oultre,
et si se ressentiroit a jaraais de ce
que vous en pourriez avoir dit. —
Arras to Renard : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv. p. 77.
238 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 36.
if the Prince of Spain was proposed, the offer would be
most entirely welcome.1
The trials of the conspirators were now resolved up-
on. The Queen was determined to spare Lady Jane
Grey, in spite of all which Henard could urge ; but the
state of London showed that the punishment of the
really guilty could no longer be safely delayed. On
this point all parties in the council were agreed. On
Friday, the 1 8th of August, therefore, a court
of peers was formed in Westminster Hall, with
the aged Duke of Norfolk for High Steward, to try
John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, the Earl of
"Warwick, and the Marquis of Northampton, for high
treason. Forty-four years before, as the curious re-
marked, the father of Norfolk had sat on the commis-
sion which tried the father of Northumberland for the
same crime.
The indictments charged the prisoners with levying
war against their lawful sovereign. Northumberland,
who was called first to the bar, pleaded guilty of the
acts which were laid against him, but he submitted two
points to the consideration of the court.
1. Whether, having taken the field with a warrant
under the Great Seal, he could be lawfully accused of
treason.
2. Whether those peers from whom he had received
his commission, and by whose letters he had been
1 Renard to the Bishop of Arras : . Renard to Charles V., August 16:
Qranvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 79. | Holla House, MSS.
J553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
239
directed in what lie had done, could sit upon his trial as
his judges.
The Great Seal, he was answered briefly, was the
seal of a usurper, and could convey no warrant to him.
If the Lords were as guilty as he said, yet, ' so long as
no attainder was on record against them, they were
persons able in law to pass upon any trial, and not to
be challenged but at the prince's pleasure.'1
The Duke bowed and was silent.
Northampton and Warwick came next, and, like
Northumberland, confessed to the indictment. North-
ampton, however, pleaded in his defence, that he had
held no public office during the crisis ; that he had not
been present at the making of Edward's device, and had
been amusing himself hunting in the country.2 War-
wick, with proud sadness, said merely that he had
followed his father, and would share his father's for-
tunes ; if his property was confiscated, he hoped that
his debts would be paid.3
But Northampton had indisputably been in the field
with the army, and, as his judges perfectly well knew,
had been, with Suffolk, the Duke's uniform supporter
in his most extreme measures ; the Queen had resolved
to pardon him •; but the court could not recognize his
1 Queen Jane and Queen Mary.
The anomaly in the constitution of
the Court amused Renard, who com-
mented upon it to the Emperor, as
an illustration of England and the
English character. — Bolls Hoitse
MSS.
2 Renard to Charles V.: Rolls
House MSS. Queen Jane and Queen
Mary, Appendix. Baoardo says,
Northampton pleaded — Ch' egli non
si era raai messo in governo et che
sempre attese alia caccia.
3 Ibid.
240
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
ICH. 30.
excuse. Norfolk rose, in a few words pronounced the
usual sentence, and broke his wand ; the cold glimmer-
ing edge of the Tower axe was turned towards the pri-
soners, and the peers rose. Northumberland, before he
was led away, fell upon his knees ; his children were
young, he said, and had acted under orders from their
father.; to them let the Queen show mercy ; for himself
he had his peace to make with Heaven ; he entreated
for a few days of life, and the assistance of a confessor ;
if two of the council would come to confer with him, he
offered to communicate important secrets of state ; and,
finally, he begged that he might die by the axe like a
nobleman.1
On the ipth, Sir John and Sir Henry
Gates, Sir Andrew Dudley, and Sir Thomas
Palmer were tried before a special commission. Dudley
had gone with the treasonable message to France ; the
three others were the boldest and most unscrupulous of
the Duke's partisans, while Palmer was also especially
hated for his share in the death of Somerset. These
four also pleaded guilty, and were sentenced, Palmer
only scornfully telling the commissioners that they were
traitors as well as he, and worse than he.2
Seven had been condemned ; three only, the Duke,
Sir John Gates, and Palmer, were to suffer.
August 19.
1 Queen Jane and Queen Mary,
p. 17. Renard says that he asked
the council to intercede for his life.
2 So Renard states. The author
of the Chronicle of Queen Mary savs
merely that he denied that he had
borne arms against the Queen, hut
admitted that he had been with the
army.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 241
Crime alone makes death terrible : in the long list
of victims whose bloody end, at stake or scaffold, the
historian of England in the sixteenth century has to
relate, two only showed signs of cowardice, and one of
those was a soldier and a nobleman, who, in a moment of
extreme peril, four years before, had kissed swords with
his comrades, and had sworn to conquer the insurgents
at Norwich, or die with honour. < „•>[
The Duke of Northumberland, who since that time
had lived very emphatically without God in the world,
had not lived without religion. He had affected re-
ligion, talked about religion, played with religion, till
fools and flatterers had told him that he was a saint ;
and now, in his extreme need, he found that he had
trifled with forms and words, till they had grown into
a hideous hypocrisy. The Infinite of death was open-
ing at his feet, and he had no faith, no hope, no con-
viction, but only a blank and awful horror, and perhaps
he felt that there was nothing left for him but to fling
himself back in agony into the open arms of superstition.
He had asked to speak with some member of the council ;
he had asked for a confessor. In Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester, he found both.
After the sentence Gardiner visited him in the
Tower, where he poured out his miserable story ; he
was a Catholic, he said, he always had been a Catholic ;
he had believed nothing of all the doctrines for which
he had pretended to be so zealous under Edward.
' Alas ! ' he cried, ' is there no help for me ? ' ' Let me
live but a little longer to do penance for my many sins.'
VOL. V. 16
242
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
Gardiner's heart was softened at the humiliating specta-
cle ; he would speak to the Queen, he said, and he did
speak, not wholly without success ; he may have judged
rightly, that the living penitence of the Joshua of the
Protestants would have been more useful to the Church
than his death.1 Already Mary had expressed a wish
that, if possible, the wretched man should be spared ;
and he would have been allowed to live except for the
reiterated protests of Eenard in his own name and in
the Emperor's.
It was decided at last that he should die ; and a
priest was assigned him to prepare his soul. Doctor
Watts or Watson, the same man whom Cranmer long
ago had set in the stocks at Canterbury, took charge of
Palmer and the rest — to them, as rough soldiers, spirit-
ual consolation from a priest of any decent creed was
welcome.
The executions were fixed originally for
Monday the aist; but the Duke's conversion
was a triumph to the Catholic cause too important not
to be dwelt upon a little longer. Neither Northampton,
Warwick, Andrew Dudley, nor Sir Henry Gates were
aware that they were to be respited, and, as all alike
August 21.
1 The authority for this story is
Parsons the Jesuit, who learnt it from
one of the council who was present
at the interview. Parsons says, in-
deed, that Mary would have spared
the Duke ; but that some one wrote
to the Emperor, and that the Em-
peror insisted that he should he put
to death. This could not he, be-
cause there was no time for letters
to pass and repass between Brussels
and London, in the interval between
the sentence and the execution ; but
Renard says distinctly that Mary
did desire to pardon him, and that
he was himself obliged to exert his
influence to prevent it.
*553'] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 243
availed themselves of the services of a confessor and the
forms of the Catholic faith, their compliance could be
made an instrument of a public and edifying lesson.
The lives of those who were to suffer were prolonged for
twenty- four hours. On Monday morning ' certain
of the citizens of London ' were requested to be in at-
tendance at the Tower chapel, where Northumberland,
Northampton, Dudley, Henry Gates, and Palmer were
brought in ; and, ' first kneeling down, every one of
them, upon his knees, they heard mass, saying devout-
edly, with the Bishop,1 every one of them, Confiteor.'
1 After the mass was done, the Duke rose up, and
looked back upon my lord marquis, and came unto him,
asking them all forgiveness, the one after the other,
upon their knees, one to another ; and the one did
heartily forgive the other. And then they came, every
one of them, before the altar, every one of them kneel-
ing, and confessing to the Bishop that they were the
same men in the faith according as they had confessed
to him before, and that they all would die in the Catho-
lic faith.' When they had all received the sacrament,
they rose and turned to the people, and the Duke said : —
' Truly, good people, I profess here before you all,
that I have received the sacrament according to the
true Catholic faith : and the plague that is upon the
realm and upon us now is that we have erred from the
faith these sixteen years ; and this I protest unto you
all from the bottom of my heart.'
1
GARDINER.
24 ; REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
Northampton, with the rest, 'did affirm the same
with weeping tears. l
Among the spectators were observed the sons of the
Duke of Somerset.
In exhibiting to the world the humiliation of the
professors of the gospel, the Catholic party enjoyed a
pardonable triumph. Northumberland, in playing a
part in the pageant, was hoping to save his wretched
life. When it was over he wrote a passionate
AllgUSt 22.
appeal to Arundel.
' Alas, my lord/ he said, ' is my crime so heinous as
no redemption but my blood can wash away the spots
thereof ? An old proverb there is, and that most true
— A living dog is better than a dead lion. Oh that it
would please her good Grace to give me life, yea, the
life of a dog, if I might but live and kiss her feet,
and spend both life and all in her honourable service.'
But Arundel could not save him — would not have
saved him, perhaps, had he been able — and he had only
to face the end with such resolution as he could com-
mand.
The next morning at nine o'clock, Warwick and Sir
John Gates heard mass in the Tower chapel ; the two
Seymours were again present with Courtenay : and be-
fore Gates received the sacrament he said a few words
of regret to the latter for his long imprisonment, of
which he admitted himself in part the cause.2 On leav-
1 Harleian MSS. 284. Compare the account of the chronicler
Qtieen Jane and Queen Mary, pp. 18, 19.
8 ' Not for any hatred towards you,' he added, ' but for fear that harm
1 553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 245
ing the chapel Warwick was taken back to his room,
and learned that he was respited. Gates joined Palmer,
who was walking with Watson in the garden, and talk-
ing with the groups of gentlemen who were collected
there. Immediately after the Duke was brought out.
' Sir John,' he said to Gates, ' God have mercy on us ;
forgive me as I forgive you, although you and your
council have brought us hither.' ' I forgive you, my
Lord/ Gates answered, ' as I would be forgiven ; yet it
was you and your authority that was the only original
cause of all.' They bowed each* The Duke passed on,
and the procession moved forward to Tower Hill.
The last words of a worthless man are in themselves
of little moment ; but the effect of the dying speech of
Northumberland lends to it an artificial importance.
Whether to the latest moment he hoped for his life, or
whether, divided between atheism and superstition, he
thought, if any religion was true, Romanism was true,
and it was prudent not to throw away a chance, who
can tell ? At all events, he mounted the scaffold with
Heath, the Bishop of Worcester, at his side ; and then
deliberately said to the crowd, that his rebellion. and his
present fall were owing to the false preachers who had
led him to err from the Catholic faith of Christ ; the
fathers and the saints had ever agreed in one doctrine ;
the present generation were the first that had dared to
follow their private opinions ; and in England and in
Germany, where error had taken deepest root, there
might come thereby to my late young master.' — Queen Jane and Queen
Mary, p. 20.
246
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[en. 30.
had followed war, famine, rebellion, misery, tokens all
of them of God's displeasure. Therefore, as they loved
their country, as they valued their souls, he implored
his hearers to turn, all of them, and turn at once, to
the Church which they had left ; in which Church he,
from the bottom of his heart, avowed his own steadfast
belief. For himself he called them all to witness that
he died in the one true Catholic faith ; to which, if he
had been brought sooner, he would not have been in his
present calamity.
He then knelt ; ' I beseech you all/ he said again,
' to believe that I die in the Catholic faith.' He re-
peated the Miserere psalm, the psalm De Profundis, and
the Paternoster. The executioner, as usual, begged his
pardon. ' I have deserved a thousand deaths/ he mut-
tered. He made the sign of the cross upon the saw-
dust, and kissed it, then laid down his head, and
perished.
The shame of the apostasy shook down the frail
edifice of the Protestant constitution, to be raised again
in suffering, as the first foundations of it had been laid,
by purer hands and nobler spirits.1 In his better years
1 Lady Jane Grey spoke a few
memorable words on the Duke's
conduct at the scaffold. ' On Tues-
day, the 29th of August,' says the
writer of the Chronicle of Queen
Mary, f I dined at Partridge's house
(in the Tower) with my Lady
Jane, she sitting at the board' s-end,
Partridge, his wife, and my
Lady's gentlewoman. We fell in
discourse of religion. I pray you^
quoth she, have they mass in Lon-
don. Yea, forsooth, quoth I, in
some places. It may so be, quoth
she. It is not so strange as the
sudden conversion of the late Duke ;
for who could have thought, said
she, he would have so done ? It
was answered her, perchance he
thereby hoped to have hud his par-
1553.1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
247
Northumberland had been a faithful subject and a fear-
less soldier, and, with a master's hand over him, he
might have lived with integrity and died with honour.
Opportunity tempted his ambition — ambition betrayed
him into crime — and, given over to his lower nature,
he climbed to the highest round of the political ladder,
to fall and perish like a craven. He was one of those
many men who can follow worthily, yet cannot lead ;
and the virtue of the beginning was not less real than
the ignominy of the end.
Gates was the second sufferer. He, too, spoke in
the same key. He had been a great reader of Scripture,
he said, but he had not read it to be edified, but to be
seditious — to dispute, to interpret it after his private
don. Pardon ! quoth she, woe worth
him ! He hath brought me and our
stock in most miserable calamity by
his exceeding ambition ; but for the
answering that he hoped for life by
his turning, though other men be of
that opinion, I utterly am not.
For what man is there living, I pray
you, although he had been innocent,
that would hope of life in that case,
being in the field in person against
the Queen, as general, and after his
taking so hated and evil spoken of
by the Commons ; and at his coming
into prison, so wondered at as the
like was never heard by any man's
time. "Who can judge that he
should hope for pardon whose life
was odious to all men ? But what
will ye more ? Like as his life was
wicked and full of dissimulation, so
was his end thereafter. I pray God
I view no friend of mine die so.
Should I, who am young and in my
few years, forsake my faith for the
love of life? Nay, God forbid!
Much more he should not, whose
fatal course, although he had lived
his just number of years, could not
have long continued. But life was
sweet, it appeared. So he might
have lived, you will say, he did not
care how; indeed the reason is good ;
for he that would have lived in
chains to have had his life, by like
would leave no other means unat-
tempted. But God be merciful to
us, for he saith, whoso denyeth him
before men, he will not know him in
his Father's kingdom.'— Queen Jane
and Queen Mary, p. 24.
248 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
affection ; to him, therefore, the honey had been poison,
and he warned all men how they followed his ill ex-
ample ; God's holy mysteries were no safe things to
toy or play with. Gates, in dying, had three strokes
of an axe ; — ' Whether/ says an eye- witness,1 ' it was
by his own request or no was doubtful ' — remarkable
words — as if the everlasting fate of the soul depended
on its latest emotion, and repentance could be intensified
by the conscious realization of death.
Last came Sir Thomas Palmer, in whom, to judge
by his method of taking leave of life, there was some
kind of nobleness. It was he who led the cavalry
forlorn hope, at Haddington, when the supplies were
thrown in for the garrison.
He leapt upon the scaffold, red with the blood of
his companions. ' Good morning to you all, good
people/ he said, looking round him with a smile ; * ye
come hither to see me die, and to see what news I have ;
marry, I will tell you: I have seen more in yonder
terrible place [he pointed towards the Tower] than ever
I saw before throughout all the realms that ever I wan-
dered in ; for there I have seen God, I have seen the
world, and I have seen myself ; and when I beheld my
life, I saw nothing but slime and clay, full of cor-
ruption ; I saw the world nothing else but vanity, and
all the pleasures and treasures thereof nought worth ;
I saw God omnipotent, his power infinite, his mercy
incomprehensible ; and when I saw this, I most humbly
Harleian MSS. 284.
1 5 53-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 249
submitted myself unto him, beseeching him of mercy
and pardon, and I trust he hath forgiven me ; for he
called me once or twice before, but I would not turn to
him, but even now by this sharp kind of death he hath
called me unto him. I trust the wings of his mercy
shall spread over me and save me ; and I do here con-
fess, before you all, Christ to be the very Son of God
the Father, born of the Virgin Mary, which came into
the world to fulfil the law for us, and to bear our of-
fences on his back, and suffered his passion for our
redemption, by the which I trust to be saved/
Like his fellow -sufferers, Palmer then said a few
prayers, asked the Queen's forgiveness, knelt, and died.
Stunned by the apostasy on the scaffold of the man
whom they had worshipped as a prophet, the ultra-
faction among the Protestants became now powerless.
The central multitude, whose belief was undefined,
yielded to the apparent sentence of Heaven upon a
cause weakened by unsuccessful treason, and disavowed
in his death by its champion. Edward had died on the
anniversary of the execution of More ; God, men said,
had visited his people, and ' the Yirgin Mary' had been
set upon the throne for their redemption.1 Dr Watson, on
the 20th of August, preached at Paul's Cross under a
guard of soldiers ; on the 24th, two days after
the scene on Tower Hill, so little was a guard
necessary, that mass was said in St Paul's Church in
Latin, with matins and vespers. The crucifix was re-
Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House M&SS.
.150 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30,
placed in the roodloft, the high altar was re-decorated,
the real presence was defended from the pulpit, and
except from the refugees not a murmur was heard.1
Catching this favourable opportunity, the Queen charmed
the country with the announcement that the second
portion of the last subsidy granted by Parliament should
not be collected ; she gave her word that the currency
at the earliest moment should be thoroughly restored;
while she gained credit on all sides for the very moder-
ate vengeance with which she appeared to be contenting
herself. Ridley only, Renard wrote, on the 9th of
September, would now be executed ; the other prisoners
were to be all pardoned. The enthusiasm was slightly
abated, indeed, when it was announced that their for-
giveness would not be wholly free. Montague and
Bromley, on their release from the Tower, were fined
yooo/. a-piece ; Suffolk, Northampton, and other noble-
men and gentlemen, as their estates would bear. But,
to relieve the burdens of the people at the expense of
those who had reaped the harvest of the late spoliations
was, on the whole, a legitimate retribution; the moneyed
men were pleased with the recognition of Edward's
debts, and provided a loan of 25,000 crowns for the
present necessities of the Government. London streets
rang again with shouts of ' God save the Queen ; ' and
Mary recovered a fresh instalment of popularity to carry
her a few steps further.2
The refugees were the first difficulty. They were
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
2 NOAILLES ; RENARD.
1553-1 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 251
too numerous to imprison ; and the most influential
among them — men like Peter Martyr — having come to
England on the invitation of the late Government, it
was neither just nor honourable to hand them over to
their own sovereigns. But both Mary and her Flemish
adviser were anxious to see them leave the country as
quickly as possible. The Emperor recommended a
general intimation to be given out that criminals of all
kinds taking refuge in England would be liable to
seizure, offences against religion being neither specially
mentioned nor specially excepted.1 The foreign preachers
were ordered to depart by proclamation ; and Peter
Martyr, who had left Oxford, and was staying with
Cranmer at Lambeth, expecting an arrest, received,
instead of it, a safe- conduct, of which he instantly
availed himself. The movements of others were quick-
ened with indirect menaces ; while Gardiner told Henard,
with much self-satisfaction, that a few messages desiring
some of them to call upon him at his house had given
them wings.2
Finding her measures no longer opposed, the Queen
refused next to recognize the legality of the marriage of
the clergy. Married priests should either leave their
wives or leave their benefices ; and on the 29th of August,
Gardiner, Bonner, Day, and Tunstal, late prisoners in
the Tower, were appointed commissioners to examine into
the conditions of their episcopal brethren. Convocation
was about to meet, and must undergo a preliminary
1 Eenard to Queen Mary : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 65.
2 Renard to Charles V., September 9 : Rolls House MSS.
252
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[en. 30.
purification. Unhappy Convocation ! So lately the
supreme legislative body in the country, it was now
patched, clipped, mended, repaired, or altered, as the
secular Government put on its alternate hues. The
Protestant bishops had accepted their offices on Protest-
ant terms — Quamdiu se bene gesserint, on their good be-
haviour ; and, with the assistance of so pliant a clause,
a swift clearance was effected. Barlow, to avoid ex-
pulsion, resigned Bath. Paul Bush retreated from
Bristol. Hooper, ejected from Worcester by the restor-
ation of Heath, was deprived of Gloucester for heresy
and marriage, and, being a dangerous person, was com-
mitted on the ist of September to the Fleet
Ferrars, of St David's, left in prison by North-
umberland for other pretended offences, was deprived
on the same grounds, but remained in confinement.
Bird, having a wife, was turned out of Chester ; Arch-
bishop Holgate out of York. Coverdale, Ridley, Scory,
and Ponet had been already disposed of. The bench
was wholesomely swept.1
September.
1 Some of the Protestant bishops
(Cranmer, Hooper, Ridley, and Fer-
rars were admirable exceptions) had
taken care of themselves in the seven
years of plenty. At the time of the
deposition of the Archbishop of
York, an inventory was taken of the
personal property which was then in
his possession. He had ' five houses,
three very well provided, two meetly
well. ' At his house at Battersea he
had, of coined gold, 300^ ; plate
gilt and parcel gilt, 1600 oz. Mitre,
gold, with two pendants set with
very fine diamonds, sapphires, and
balists, and other stones and pearls
weigbt 125 oz. ; six great gold rings,
with very fine sapphires, emeralds,
diamonds, turquoises. ' At Cawood
he had of money goo/. ; mitres, 2.
Plate gilt and parcel gilt, 770 oz. ;
broken cross of silver gilt, 46 oz. ;
two thousand five hundred sheep ;
two Turkey carpets, as big and as
good as any subject had ; a chest
full of copes and vestments. House-
'553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
253
Sept. 4.
The English. Protestant preachers seeing that priests
everywhere held themselves licensed ex officio to speak
as they pleased from the pulpit, began themselves also,
in many places, to disobey the Queen's proclamation.
They were made immediately to feel their mistake, and
were brought to London to the Tower, the Marshalsea,
or the Fleet, to the cells left vacant by their opponents.
Among the rest came one who had borne no share in
the late misdoings, but had long foreseen the fate to
which those doings would bring him and many more.
When Latimer was sent for, he was at Stam-
ford. Six hours' notice was given him of his
intended arrest ; and so obviously his escape was desired
that the pursuivant who brought the warrant left him
to obey it at his leisure ; his orders, he said, were not to
wait. But Latimer had business in England. While
the fanatics who had provoked the catastrophe were
slinking across the Channel from its consequences,
Latimer determined to stay at home, and help to pay
the debts which they had incurred. He went quietly to
London, appeared before the council, where his ' demean-
our ' was what they were pleased to term ' seditious/ l
and was committed to the Tower. ' What, my friend/
he said to a warder who was an old acquaintance there,
' how do you ? I am come to be your neighbour again.'
hold stores : wheat, 200 quarters ;
malt, 500 quarters ; oats, 60 quart-
ers ; wine, 5 or 6 tuns ; fish and
ling, 6 or 7 hundred ; horses at Ca-
wood, four or five score ; harness
and artillery sufficient for 7 score
men.' — ST HYPE'S Cmnmer, vol. i.
p. 440.
1 Privy Council Register, MS
Mary.
254 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
Sir Thomas Palmer's rooms in the garden were assigned
for his lodging. In the winter he was left without a
fire, and, growing infirm, he sent a message to the Lieu-
tenant of the Tower to look better after him, or he should
give him the slip yet.1
And there was another besides Latimer who would
not fly when the chance was left open to him. Arch-
bishop Cranmer had continued at Lambeth unmolested,
yet unpardoned ; his conduct with respect to the letters
patent had been more upright than the conduct of any
other member of the council by whom they had been
signed ; and on this ground, therefore, an exception
could not easily be made in his disfavour. But his
friends had interceded vainly to obtain the Queen's
definite forgiveness for him ; treason might be forgotten ;
the divorce of Catherine of Arragon could never be for-
gotten. So he waited on, watching the reaction gather-
ing strength, and knowing well the point to which it
tended. In the country the English service was set
aside and the mass restored with but little disturbance.
No force had been used or needed ; the Catholic ma-
jorities among the parishioners had made the change
for themselves. The Archbishop's friends came to him
for advice ; he recommended them to go abroad ; he was
urged to go himself while there was time ; he said, ' it
would be in no ways fitting for him to go away, con-
sidering the post in which he was ; and to show that he
was not afraid to own all the changes that were by his
means made in religion in the last reign/ 2
1 FOXE. 2 STRYPE'S Cranmer.
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
255
Neither was it fitting for him to sit by in silence.
The world, misconstruing his inaction, believed him false
like Northumberland ; the world reported that he had
restored mass at Canterbury ; the world professed to
have ascertained that he had offered to sing a requiem
at Edward's funeral. In the second week of September,
therefore, he made a public offer, in the form of a letter
to a friend, to defend the communion service, and all
the alterations for which he was responsible, against any
one who desired to impugn them; he answered the
stories against himself with a calm denial ; and, though
the letter was not printed, copies in manuscript were
circulated through London so numerously that the press,
said Renard, would not have sent out more.1
1 Eenard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS. In these late times,
when men whose temper has not
been tried by danger, feel them-
selves entitled, nevertheless, by their
own innocence of large errors, to sit
in judgment on the greatest of their
forefathers, Cranmer has received no
tender treatment. Because, in the
near prospect of a death of agony,
his heart for a moment failed him,
the passing weakness has been ac-
cepted as the key to his life, and he
has been railed at as a coward and a
sycophant. Considering the position
of the writer, and the circumstances
under which it was issued, I regard
the publication of this letter as one
of the bravest actions ever deliber-
ately ventured by rnan.
Let it be read, and speak for
itself.
' As the devil, Christ's antient
adversary, is a liar and the father of
lying, even so hath he stirred his
servants and members to persecute
Christ and his true word and reli-
gion, which he ceaseth not to do
most earnestly at this present. For
whereas the most noble prince, of
famous memory, King Henry VIII.,
seeing the great abuses of the Latin
masses, reformed some things there-
in in his time, and also our late
sovereign lord King Edward VI.
took the same wholly away, for the
manifold errours and abuses thereof,
and restored in the place thereof
Christ's holy supper, accoi-ding to
Christ's own institution, and as the
Apostles in the primitive Church
used the same in the beginning, the
devil goeth about by lying to over-
throw the Lord's holy supper, and
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
The challenge was answered by an immediate sum-
mons before the council ; the Archbishop was accused
of attempting to excite sedition among the people, and
was forthwith committed to the Tower to wait, with
Ridley and Latimer, there, till his fate should be de
cided on. Meantime the eagerness with which the
country generally availed itself of the permission to
restore the Catholic ritual, proved beyond a doubt that,
except in London and a few large towns, the popular
feeling was with the Queen. The English people had
no affection for the Papacy. They did not wish for the
re -establishment of the religious orders, or the odious
domination of the clergy. But the numerical majority
to restore the Latin satisfactory
masses, a thing of his own inven-
tion and device. And to bring the
same more clearly to pass, some
have abused the name of me, Thomas,
Archbishop of Canterbury, bruiting
abroad that I have set up the mass
at Canterbury, and that I offered to
say mass before the Queen's High-
ness at Paul's Cross and I wot not
where. I have been well exercised
these twenty years, to suffer and to
bear evil reports and lies, and have
not been much grieved thereat, and
have borne all things quietly; yet
where untrue reports and lies turn
to the hindrance of God's truth,
they oe in no ways to be tolerated
and suffered. Wherefore these be
to signify to the world that it was
not I that did set up the mass at
Canteroury, but a false, nattering,
lying, and dissembling monk, which
caused the mass to be set up there
without my advice and counsel : and
as for offering myself to say mass
before the Queen's Highness, or in
any other place, I never did, as her
Grace knoweth well. But if her
Grace will give me leave, I shall be
ready to prove against all that will
say the contrary, that the Com-
munion-book, set forth by the most
innocent and godly prince King Ed-
ward VI., in his High Court of
Parliament, is conformable to the
order which our Saviour Christ did
both observe and command to be
observed, Avhich his Apostlos and
primitive Church used many years ;
whereas the mass in many things
not only hath no foundation of
Christ, his Apostles, nor the primi-
tive Church, but also is contrary to
the same, and containeth many
horrible blasphemies.'
"'5530 QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 257
among them did desire a celibate priesthood, the cere-
monies which the customs of centuries had sanctified,
and the ancient faith of their fathers, as reformed by
Henry VIII. The rights of conscience had found no.
more consideration from the Protestant doctrinalists
than from the most bigoted of the persecuting prelates ;
and the facility with which the professors of the gospel
had yielded to moral temptations, had for the time in-
spired moderate men with much distrust for them and
for their opinions.
Could Mary have been contented to pursue her vic-
tory no further, she would have preserved the hearts of
her subjects ; and the reaction, left to complete its own
tendencies, would in a few years, perhaps, have accom-
plished in some measure her larger desires. But few
sovereigns have understood less the effects of time and
forbearance. She was deceived by the rapidity of her
first success ; she flattered herself that, difficult though
it might be, she could build up again the ruined hier-
archy, could compel the holders of Church property to
open their hands, and could reunite the country to Rome.
Before she had been three weeks on the throne, she had
received, as will be presently mentioned, a secret mes-
senger from the Vatican ; and she had opened a corre
spondence with the Pope, entreating him, as an act
of justice to herself and to those who had remained
true to their Catholic allegiance, to remove the inter-
dict. l
1 Renard to Charles V., September 9 : Rolls House MSS.
VOL. v. 17
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY
[CH. 30.
Other actors in the great drama which was approach-
ing were already commencing their parts.
Reginald Pole having attempted in vain to recover
a footing in England on the accession of Edward, having
seen his passionate expectations from the Council of
Trent melt into vapour, and Germany confirmed in
heresy by the Peace of Passau, was engaged, in the
summer of 1553, at a convent on the Lago di Garda, in
re- editing his book against Henry VIII. , with an in-
tended dedication to Edward, of whose illness he was
ignorant. The first edition, on the failure of his attempt
to raise a Catholic crusade against his country, had been
withdrawn from circulation ; the world had not received
it favourably, and there was a mystery about the pub-
lication which it is difficult to unravel. In the interval
between the first despatch of the book into England as
a private letter in the summer of 1.536, and the appear-
ance of it in print at Eome in the winter of 1538-9, it
was re- written, as I have already stated, enlarged and
divided into parts. In a letter of apology which Pole
wrote to Charles V., in the summer or early autumn of
1538,* he spoke of that division as having been executed
by himself ; 2 he said that he had kept his book secret
till the Church had spoken ; but Paul having excom-
municated Henry, he could no longer remain silent ; he
dwelt at length on the history of the work which he
was then editing,3 and he sent a copy at the same time
1 Before his embassy to Spain.
2 Opus in quatuor libros sum
partitus.
8 ' Scripta quae nunc edo,' are
his own words in the apology, and
therefore, in an earlier part of this
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
259
with a letter, or he wrote a letter with the intention of
sending a copy, to James Y. of Scotland.1
But Charles had refused to move ; the book injured
Henry not at all, and injured fatally those who were
dear to Pole ; he checked the circulation of the copies,
and he declared to the Cardinal of Naples that it had
been published only at the command of the Pope — that
his own anxiety had been for the suppression of it.2
Thirteen years after this, however, writing to Edward
VI., he forgot that he had described himself to Charles
as being himself engaged in the publication; and he
assured the young King that he had never thought of
publishing the book, that he had abhorred the very
thought of publishing it ; that it was prepared, edited,
and printed by his friends at Rome during his own ab-
sence ; 3 now, at length, he found himself obliged in his
work, I said that lie published his
book himself. There is no doubt,
from the context, that in the word
scripta, he referred to that book and
to no other.
1 ' Eum ad te librum Catholice
prmceps nunc mitto, et sub nominis
tui auspiciis cujus te strenuum pie-
tatis ministrum prsebes in lucem
exire volo.' — Epistola ad Regem
Scotiae : POLI JSpistolee, vol. i. p.
174.
2 ' Qui si postea editus fuit
magis id aliorum voluntate et illius
qui mihi imperare potuit quam mea
est factunij mea vero fuit ut impres-
sus supprimeretur.' — Ibid. vol. iv.
p. 85.
3 ' Nam cum ad urbern ex His-
pania rediens libros injussu meo
typis excusos reperissem, toto volu-
mine amicorum studio et operd non
sine ejus auctoritate qui jus impe-
randi haberet in plures libros disposito
quod ego non feceram quippe qui de
ejus editione nunquara cogitassem,'
&c.
' Quid aliud hoc significavit nisi
me ab his libris divulgandis penitus
abhorruisse ut certe abhorrui.' —
Epistola ad Edwardum Sextum :
POLI Epistolce. The book being the
sole authority for some of the darkest
charges against Henry VIII., the
history of it is of some importance.
See vol. ii. of this history, appen-
dix.
This was not the only instance
260
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
own person to give it forth, because an edition was in
preparation elsewhere from one of the earlier copies;
and he selected the son of Henry as the person to whom
he could most becomingly dedicate the libel against his
father's memory.
Edward did not live to receive this evidence of Pole's
good feeling. He died before the edition was completed ;
and as soon as Northumberland's failure and Mary's ac-
cession were known at Rome, England was looked upon
in the Consistory as already recovered to the faith, and
Pole was chosen by the unanimous consent of the car-
dinals as the instrument of the reconciliation. The ac-
count of the proclamation of the Queen was
brought to the Vatican on the 6th of August
by a courier from Paris : the Pope in tears of joy drew
his commission and despatched it on the instant to the
Lago di Garda ; and on the 9th Pole himself wrote to
Mary to say that he had been named legate, and waited
her orders to fly to England. He still clung to his con-
August.
in which his recollection of his own
conduct was something treacherous.
In the apology to Charles V., speak-
ing of a war against Henry, he had
said : ' Tempus venisse video, ad te
primum missus, deinde ad Regem
Christianissimum, ut hujus scelera
per se quidem minime ohscura de-
tegam, et te Caesar a bello Turcico
abducere coner et quantum possum
suadeam ut arma tua eo convertas si
huic tanto malo aliter mederi non
possis.' For thus ' levying war
against his country,' Pole had been
attainted. The name of traitor
grated upon him. To Edward,
therefore, he wrote : ' I invited the
two sovereigns rather to win back
the King, by the ways of love and
affection, as a fallen friend and
brother, than to assail him with
arms as an enemy. This I never
desired nor did I urge any such con-
duct upon them. Hoc ego nunquam
profecto volui neque cum illis egi.' —
Epistola ad Edwardura Sextum :
Ibid.
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 261
viction that the revolution in all its parts had been the
work of a small faction, and that he had but himself ta
set his foot upon the shore to be received with an ova-
tion ; his impulse was therefore to set out without de-
lay ; but the recollection, among other things, that he
was attainted by Act of Parliament, forced him to delay
unwillingly till he received formal permission to present
himself.
Anxious for authentic information as to the state
of England and the Queen's disposition, Julius had be-
fore despatched also a secret agent, Commendone, after-
wards a cardinal, with instructions to make his way to
London to communicate with Mary, and if possible to
learn her intentions from her own lips. Eapid move-
ment was possible in Europe even with the roads of the
sixteenth century. Commendone was probably sent
from Rome as soon as Edward was known to be dead ;
he was in London, at all events, on the 8th of August,1
disguised as an Italian gentleman in search of property
which he professed had been bequeathed him by a kins-
man. By the favour of Providence,2 he fell in with an
acquaintance, a returned Catholic refugee, who had a
place in the household ; and from this man he learnt
that the Queen was virtually a prisoner in the Tower,
and that the heretics on the council allowed no one of
whose business they disapproved to have access to her.
Mary, however, was made acquainted with his arrival ;
1 He remained fifteen days, and he left for Rome the day after the
execution of Northumberland. — PALLAVICINO.
2 Caelitum ductu.
262
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 36.
a secret interview was managed, at which she promised
to do her very best in the interests of the Church ; but
she had still, she said, to conquer her kingdom, and
Pole's coming, much as she desired it, was for the mo-
ment out of the question; before she could draw the
spiritual sword she must have the temporal sword more
firmly in her grasp, and she looked to marriage as the
best means of strengthening herself. If she married
abroad, she thought at that time of the Emperor ; if she
accepted one of her subjects, she doubted — in her dis-
like of Courtenay — whether Pole might not return in a
less odious capacity than that of Apostolic Legate ; as
the Queen's intended husband the country might re-
ceive him ; he had not yet been ordained priest, and
deacon's orders, on a sufficient occasion, could perhaps
be dispensed with.1 The visit, or visits, were concealed
even from E/enard. Commendone was forbidden, under
the strictest injunctions, to reveal what the Queen might
say to him, except to the Pope or to Pole ; and it is the
more likely that she was serious in her expressions about
the latter, from the care with which she left Renard in
ignorance of Commendone's presence.
The Papal messenger remained long enough to
witness a rapid change in her position ; he saw the
restoration of the mass ; he was in London at the exe-
cution, and he learnt the apostasy, of Northumberland ;
1 ' Nee dcstiterat rcgina id ipsum
Commeudono indicare, eum percon-
tata an existimaret Pontificem ad id
legem Polo relaxaturum, cum is
nondum saccrdos sed diaconus esset,
cxtarentque hujusmodi relaxionum
exempla ingentis alicujus emolu-
ment! gratia.' — PALLAVICINO.
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
263
and he carried letters from Mary to the Pope with
assurances of fidelity, and entreaties for the absolution
of the kingdom. But Mary was obliged to say, not-
withstanding, that for the present she was in the power
of the people, of whom the majority mortally detested
the Holy See; that the Lords of the Council were in
possession of vast estates which had been alienated from
the Church, and they feared their titles might be called
in question ; l and, although she agreed herself in all
which Pole had urged (she had received his letter before
Commendone left England), yet that, nevertheless,
necessity acknowledged no law. Her heretical sister
was in every one's mouth, and might at any moment
take her place on the throne, and for the present, she
said, to her deep regret, she could not, with prudence or
safety, allow the legate to come to her.
The Queen's letters were confirmed by Commendone
himself; he had been permitted to confer in private
with more than one good Catholic in the realm ; and
every one had given him the same assurances,2 although
he had urged upon them the opposite opinion enter-
tained by Pole : 3 he had himself witnessed the disposition
with which the people regarded Elizabeth, and he was
1 Mary described her throne as,
4 acquistato per benevolenze di quei
popoli, che per la maggior parte
odiano a morte questa sancta sede,
oitre gl' interessi del beni ecclesiastic!
occupati da molti signori, che sono
del suo consiglio.' — Julius III. to
Pole : Pou Epistola, vol. iv.
2 ' Le parole che haveva inteso
da lei disse di haver inteso da per-
sone Catholice et digne di fede in
quel paese.' — Julius III. to Pole :
POLI Hpistolce, vol. iv.
3 'Et similmente espose 1' o-
pinione vostra con le ragioni che vi
movano.' — Ibid.
204
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
uii. 30.
satisfied that the Queen's alarm on this head was not
exaggerated.1
In opinions so emphatically given, the Pope was
obliged to acquiesce, and the same view was enforced
upon him equally strongly by the Emperor. Charles
knew England tolerably well; he was acquainted
perfectly well with the moral and intellectual unfitness
of the intended legate for any office which required
discretion ; and Julius, therefore, was obliged to com-
municate to the eager Cardinal the necessity of delay,
and to express his fear that, by excess of zeal, he might
injure the cause and alienate the well-affected Queen.2
Though Pole might not go to England, however, he
might go, as he went before, to the immediate neigh-
bourhood ; he might repair to Flanders, with a nominal
commission to mediate in the peace which was still
hoped for. In Flanders, though the Pope forbore to
tell him so, he would be under the Emperor's eyes and
under the Emperor's control, till the vital question of
the Queen's marriage had been disposed of, or till Eng-
land was in a calmer humour.
About the marriage Charles was more
anxious than ever; Pole was understood to
have declined the honour of being a competitor ; 3 Kenard
September.
1 Julius III. to Pole : POLI
Epistolee, vol. iv.
2 ' Onde se per questa molta dili-
gtaiza nostra, le avvenisse qualche
caso sinistro, si rovinarebbe forse (il
che Dio non voglie) ogni speranza
della reduttione di quella patria, le-
vamlo se le forze a questa buona e
Catholica regina, overo alienando
la de noi par offesa ricevuta.' —
Ibid.
8 ' Ayant le Cardinal Pole si ex-
pressement declaire qu'il n'a nul
desir de soy marier, et que nous
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
265
had iiifornied the Emperor of the present direction of
the Queen's own inclinations ; and treating himself,
therefore, as out of the question on the score of age and
infirmities, he instructed .his minister to propose the
Prince of Spain as a person whom the religious and
the political interests of the world alike recommended
to her as a husband. The alliance of England, Spain,
and Flanders would command a European suprem-
acy ; their united fleets would sweep the seas, and
Scotland, deprived of support from France, must be-
come an English province ; while sufficient guar-
antees could be provided easily for the security of
English liberties. These, in themselves, were powerful
reasons ; Eenard was permitted to increase their cogency
by promises of pensions, lands, and titles, or by hard
money in hand, in whatever direction such liberality
could be usefully employed.1
The external advantages of the connection were
obvious ; it recommended itself to the Queen from the
Spanish sympathies which she had contracted in her
blood, and from the assistance which it promised to
afford her in the great pursuit of her life. The proposal
was first suggested informally. Mary affected to find
difficulties ; yet, if she raised objections, it was only to
prolong the conversation upon a subject which de-
lighted her. She spoke of her age ; Philip was twenty-
seven, she ten years older ; she called him. ' boy ; ' she
tenons, que pour avoir si longuement
suivi 1'etat ecclesiastique, et s'ac-
commode aux choses duysant a icel-
luy et estant diacre.' — Charles V. to
Renard : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
1 Ibid.
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
feared slie might not be enough for him ; she was un-
susceptible ; she had no experience in love ; 1 with such
other phrases, which Reiiard interpreted at their true
importance. With the Queen there would be no
difficulty ; with the council it was far otherwise. Lord
Paget was the only English statesman who listened
with any show of favour.
The complication of parties is not to be easily dis-
entangled. Some attempt, however, may be partially
successful.
The council, the peers, the commons, the entire lay
voices of England, liberal and conservative alike, were
opposed to Rome ; Gardiner was the only statesman in
the country who thought a return to Catholic union
practicable or desirable ; while there was scarcely an
influential family, titled or untitled, which was not, by
grant or purchase, in possession of confiscated Church
property.
There was an equal unanimity in the dread that if
Mary became the wife of a Spanish sovereign England
would, like the Low Countries, sink into a provincial
dependency ; while, also, there was the utmost un-
willingness to be again entangled in the European war.
The French ambassador insisted that the Emperor only
desired the marriage to secure English assistance ; and
the council believed that, whatever promises might be
made, whatever stipulations insisted on, such a inar-
1 'Elle jura que jamais elle
n'avoit senti esquillon de ce que Ton
appelle amour, ny entre en pense-
ment de volupte, &c. — Renard to the
Bishop of Arras : Granvelle Papers^
vol. iv.
»553«] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 267
riage, sooner or later, would implicate them. The
country was exhausted, the currency ruined, the people
in a state of unexampled suffering, and the only remedy
was to be looked for in quiet and public economy.
There were attractions in the oifer of a powerful alliance,
but the very greatness of it added to their reluctance ;
they desired to isolate England from European quarrels,
and marry their Queen at home. With these opinions
Paget alone disagreed, while Gardiner was loudly
national.
On the other hand, though Gardiner held the re-
storation of the Papal authority to be tolerable, yet he
dreaded the return of Pole, as being likely to supersede
him in the direction of the English Church.1 The party
who agreed with the Chancellor about the marriage,
and about Pole, disagreed with him about the Pope ; while
Paget, who was in favour of the marriage, was with the
lords on the supremacy, and, as the JR/omanizing views
of the Queen became notorious, was inclining, with
Arundel and Pembroke, towards the Protestants,
No wonder, therefore, that the whole council were
in .confusion and at cross purposes. No sooner were
Charles's proposals definitely known than the entire
machinery of the Government was dislocated. Mary
represented herself to Renard as without a friend whom
she could trust ; and the letters, both of Renard and
Noailles, contain little else but reports how the Lords
were either quarrelling, or had, one after the other,
I
Renard to Charles V. : Soils House U&S.
268 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [cir. 30.
withdrawn in disgust to their country houses. Now it
was Pembroke that was gone, now Mason, now Paget ;
then Courtenay was a prisoner in his house ; then Lord
Winchester was forbidden to appear at Court : the
ministers were in distrust of each other and of their
mistress ; the Queen was condemned to keep them in
their offices because she durst not make them enemies ;
while the Stanleys, Howards, Talbots, and Nevilles were
glooming apart, indignant at the neglect of their own
claims.
The Queen herself was alternately angry and miser-
able ; by the middle of September Renard congratulated
Charles on her growing ill-humour ; the five Dudleys
and Lady Jane, he hoped, would be now disposed of, and
Elizabeth would soon follow.
Elizabeth's danger was great, and proceeded as much
from her friends' indiscretion as from the hatred of her
enemies. Every one who disliked the Queen's measures,
used Elizabeth's name. Renard was for ever hissing his
suspicions in the Queen's ear, and, unfortunately, she
was a too willing listener — not, indeed, that Renard
hated Elizabeth for her own sake, for he rather admired
her — or for religion's sake, for he had a most states-
manlike indifference to religion ; but he saw in her the
Queen's successful rival in the favour of the people, the
heir-presumptive to the crown, whose influence would
increase the further the Queen travelled on the road on
which he was leading her, and, therefore, an enemy who,
if possible, should be destroyed. An opportunity of
creating a collision between the sisters was not long
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 269
wanting. The Lords of the Council were now generally
present at mass in the royal chapel. Elizabeth, with
Anne of Cleves, had as yet refused to appear. Her re-
sistance was held to imply a sinister intention ; and on
the 2nd and 3rd of September the council were instructed
to bring her to compliance.1 Yet the days passed, the
priest sang, and the heir to the crown continued absent.
Gardiner, indeed, told Renard that she was not obdurate ;
he had spoken to her, and she had seemed to say that,
if he could convince her, her objections would cease ; 2
but they had not ceased so far ; she did not attend. In
the happiness of her first triumph Mary had treated
Elizabeth like a sister ; but her manner had relapsed into
coldness ; and the princess, at length, knowing how her
name was Inade use of, requested a private interview,
which, with difficulty, was granted. The sisters, each
accompanied by a single lady, met in a gallery with a
half-door between them. Elizabeth threw herself on
her knees. She said that she perceived her Majesty
was displeased with her ; she could not tell what the
cause might be, unless it was religion ; and for this, she
said, she might be reasonably forgiven ; she had been
educated, as the Queen was aware, in the modern belief,
and she understood no other ; if her Majesty would
send her books and teachers, she would read, she would
listen, she could say no more.
Mary, at the moment, was delighted. Like a true
Catholic, however, she insisted that obedience must pre-
1 Noailles to the King of France : Ambassades, vol. ii. p. 147.
2 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
270 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
cede faith ; come to the mass, she said, and belief will
be the reward of your submission ; make your first trial
on the mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.1
Elizabeth consented. She was present, but present
reluctantly ; pretending, as Renard said, to be ill. The
next Sunday she was again absent. The Queen, know-
ing the effect which her conduct would produce, again
sent for her, and asked her earnestly what she really
believed ; the world said that, although she had com-
plied once, her compliance was feigned, and that she
had submitted out of fear; she desired to hear the truth.
Elizabeth could reply merely that she had done as the
Queen had required her to do, with no ulterior purpose ;
if her Majesty wished, she would make a public declar-
ation to that effect.2 The Queen was obliged to receive
her answer ; but she told Renard that her sister trem-
bled as she spoke, and well, Renard said, he understood
her agitation ; she was the hope of the heretics, and the
heretics were raising their heads ; the Papists, they
said, had had their day, but it was waning ; if Eliza-
beth lived, England would again apostatize.
There was no difficulty in keeping the Queen's jea-
lousy alive against her sister. Courtenay was another
offence in the eye of the ambassador, as the rival to
Philip, who found favour with the English council.
The Queen affected to treat Courtenay as a child ; she
commanded him to keep to his house ; she forbade him
to dine abroad without special permission ; the title of
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House
2 Kenard to Charles V., September 23 : Ibid.
1553-1 QUEEN JANE AMD QUEEN MARY. 271
Earl of Devon was given to him, and he had a dress
made for him to take his seat in, of velvet and gold, but
the Queen would not allow him to wear it : 1 and yet, to
her own and the ambassador's mortification, she learnt
that he affected the state of a prince ; that he spoke of
his marriage with her as certain ; that certain prelates,
G-ardiner especially, encouraged his expectation, and
one or more of them had knelt in his presence.2 The
danger had been felt from the first that, if she persisted
in her fancy for the Prince of Spain, Courtenay might
turn his addresses to Elizabeth ; the Lords would in
that case fall off to his support, and the crown would
fall from her head as easily as it had settled there.
More afflicting to Mary than these personal griev-
ances, was the pertinacity with which the council con-
tinued, in their public documents, to describe her as
Head of the Church, the execrable title which was the
central root of the apostasy. In vain she protested ;
the hateful form — indispensable till it was taken away
by Parliament — was thrust under her eyes in every
paper which was brought to her for signature, and she
was obliged to acknowledge the designation with her
own hand and pen.
Amidst these anxieties, September wore away. Par-
liament was to open on the fifth of October, and
either before or after the meeting the Queen was to be
crowned. The ceremony was an occasion of consider-
able agitation ; Mary herself was alarmed lest the Holy
1 NOAILLES.
- llenard to Charles V., September 19 ; Rolls House MSS.
272 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [on. 30.
Oil should have lost its efficacy through the interdict ;
and she entreated Renard to procure her a fresh supply
from Flanders, blessed by the excellent hands of the
Bishop of Arras. But the oil was not the gravest diffi-
culty. As the rumour spread of the intended Spanish
marriage, libellous handbills were scattered about Lon-
don ; the people said it should not be till they had fought
for it. A disturbance at Greenwich, on the 25th of
September, extended to Southwark, where Gardiner's
house was attacked,1 and a plot was discovered to mur-
der him : in the day he wore a shirt of mail under his
robes, and he slept with a guard of a hundred men.
Threatening notices were even found on the floor of
the Queen's bed- room, left there by unknown hands.
JSToailles assured the Lords that his own Government
would regard the marriage as little short of a declara-
tion of war, so inevitably would war be the result of it ;
and Gardiner, who was unjustly suspected of being in
the Spanish interest, desired to delay the coronation till
Parliament should have met ; intending that the first
act of the assembly should be to tie Mary's hands with
a memorial which she could not set aside. She in-
herited under her father's will, by which her accession
was made conditional on her marrying not without the
consent of the council ; Parliament might remind her
both of her jwn obligation to obey her father's injunc-
tions, and of theirs to see that those injunctions were
obeyed.
1 NOAILLES ; RENARD.
I5S3-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 273
With the same object, though not with the same
object only, the Lords of the Council supported the
Bishop of Winchester. They proposed to alter the
form of the coronation oath, and to bind the Queen by
an especial clause to maintain the independence of the
English Church — a precaution, as it proved, not uu
necessary, for the existing form was already incon-
venient, and Mary was meditating how, when called on
to swear to observe the laws and constitutions of the
realm, she could introduce an adjective sub silentio ; she
intended to swear only that she would observe the JUST
laws and constitutions.1 But she looked with the gravest
alarm to the introduction of more awkward phrases ; if
words were added which would be equivalent (as she
would understand them) to a denial of Christ and his
Church, she had resolved to refuse at all hazards.2
But her courage was not put to the test. The true
grounds on which the delay of the coronation was de-
sired could not be avowed. The Queen was told that
her passage through the streets would be unsafe until
her accession had been sanctioned by Parliament, and
the Act repealed by which she was illegitimatized.
With Paget's help she faced down these objections, and
declared that she would be crowned at once ; she ap-
pointed the ist of October for the ceremony ;
on the 28th she sent for the council to at-
tempt an appeal to their generosity. She spoke to them
at length of her past life and sufferings, of the con-
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS. 2 Ibid.
VOL. v. 18
2/4
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
spiracy to set her aside, and of the wonderful Provid-
ence which had preserved her and raised her to the
throne ; her only desire, she said, was to do her duty
to God and to her subjects ; and she hoped, turning as
she spoke pointedly to Gardiner, that they would not
forget their loyalty, and would stand by her in her ex-
treme necessity. Observing them hesitate, she cried,
' My Lords, on my knees I implore you ' — and flung
herself on the ground at their feet.1
The most skilful acting could not have served Mary's
purpose better than this outburst of natural emotion ;
the spectacle of their kneeling sovereign overcame for a
time the scheming passions of her ministers ; they were
affected, burst into tears, and withdrew their opposition
to her wishes.2
On the 3Oth, the procession from the Tower to
Westminster through the streets was safely accom-
plished. The retinues of the Lords protected the Queen
from insult, and London put on its usual outward signs
of rejoicing ; St Paul's spire was rigged with yards like
a ship's mast, an adventurous sailor sitting astride on
the weathercock five hundred feet in the air : 3 there was
1 ' Devant les quelz elle se mist
a genoulx.' — Renard to Charles V. :
Rolls House MSS.
2 Ibid.
3 The Hot Gospeller, half-re-
covered from his gaol fever, got out
of bed to see the spectacle, and took
his station at the west end of St
Paul's. The procession passed so
close as almost to touch him, and
one of the train seeing him muffled
up, and looking more dead than
alive, said, There is one that loveth
her Majesty well, to come out in
such condition. The Queen turned
her head and looked at him. To
hear that any one of her subjects
loved her just then was too welcome
to be overlooked. — Underbill's Nar-
rative : MS. Harkian, 425,
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY
275
no interruption; and the next day, Arras
V October i.
having sent the necessary unction,1 the cere-
mony was performed at the Abbey without fresh bur-
dens being laid on Mary's conscience.
The banquet in the Great Hall passed off with equal
success ; Sir Edward Dymocke, the champion, rode in
and flung down his gage, and was listened to with be-
coming silence : on the whole, Mary's friends were
agreeably disappointed; only Renard observed that,
between the French ambassador and the Lady Elizabeth
there seemed to be some secret understanding ; the
princess saluted Noailles as he passed her ; Renard she
would neither address nor look at — and Renard was told
that she complained to Noailles of the weight of her
coronet, and that Noailles ' bade her have patience, and
before long she would exchange it for a crown/2
The coronation was a step gained ; it was one more
victory, yet it produced no material alteration. Rome,
and the Spanish marriage, remained as before, insoluble
elements of difficulty ; the Queen, to her misfortune,
was driven to rely more and more on Renard ; and at
this time she was so desperate and so ill-advised as to
think of surrounding herself with an Irish body-guard ;
she went so far as to send a commission to Sir George
Stanley for their transport.3
1 Arras to Renard : Granvelle
Papers, vol. iv. p. 105.
2 Renard to the Regent Mary :
Rolls House MSS.
3 ' Mary, by the grace of God,
Queen of England, &c to
all mayors, sheriffs, justices of the
peace, and other our subjects, these
our letters, hearing or seeing :
whereas we have appointed a certain
number of able men to be presently
levied for our service within our
276
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
The scheme was abandoned, but not because her
relations with her own people were improved. Before
Parliament met, an anonymous pamphlet appeared by
some English nobleman on the encroachments of the
House of Austria, and on the treatment of other coun-
tries which had fallen through marriages into Austrian
hands. In Lombardy and Naples every office of trust
was described as held by a Spaniard; the Prince of
Salerno was banished, the Prince of Benevento was a
prisoner in Flanders, the Duke of Calabria a prisoner
in Spain. Treating Mary's hopes of children as ridicul-
ous, the writer pictured England, bound hand and foot,
at the mercy of the insolent Philip, whose first step, on
entering the country, would be to seize the Tower and
the fleet, the next, to introduce a Spanish army and
suppress the Parliament. The free glorious England
of the Plantagenets would then be converted into a
prostrate appanage of the dominions of Don Carlos.
The pamphlet was but the expression of the universal
feeling. Gardiner, indeed, perplexed between his re-
ligion and his country, for a few days wavered. Gar-
diner had a long debt to pay off against the Protestants,
and a Spanish force, divided into garrisons for London
and other towns, would assist him materially.1 Partly,
realm of Ireland, and to be trans-
ported hither with diligence, we let
you wit that for that purpose we have
authorized our trusty Sir George
Stanley, Knight,' &c.— October 5,
1553. From the original Commis-
sion : Tanner MSS. go, Bodleian
Library.
1 ' J'estime qu'il desire present-
ment y veoir une bonne partie de.
1'Espaigne et Allemaigne, y tenir
grosses et fortes garuisons, pom
mortiner ce peuple, et s'en venger,'
&c. — Noailles to the King of France :
Amba&sades, vol. ii. p. 169.
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
277
however, from attachment to Courtenay, partly from
loyalty to his country, he shook off the temptation and
continued to support the opposition.1
1 A look at Gardiner, at this
time, through contemporary eyes,
assists much towards the under-
standing him. Thomas Mountain,
parson of St Michael's by the Tower,
an ultra-Reformer, had been out
with Northumberland at Cambridge.
The following story is related by
himself.
' Sunday, October 8,' Mountain
says, ' I ministered service, accord-
ing to the godly order set forth by
that blessed prince King Edward,
the parish communicating at the
Holy Supper. Now, while I was
even a breaking of bread at the
table, saying to the communicants,
Take and eat this, Drink this, there
were standing by several serving-
men, to see and hear, belonging to
the Bishop of Winchester; among
whom one of them most shamefully
blasphemed God, saying :
' Yea, by God's blood, standest
thou there yet, saying— Take and
eat, Take and drink ; will not this
gear be left yet ? You shall be made
to sing another song within these
few days, I trow, or else I have lost
my mark.'
A day or two after came an
order for Mountain to appear before
Gardiner at Winchester House.
Mountain said he would appear
after morning prayers ; but the
messenger's orders were not to leave
him, and he was obliged to obey on
the instant.
I The Bishop was standing when
i he entered, ' in a bay window, with
a great company about him ; among
them Sir Anthony St Leger, re-
appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.'
'Thou heretic,' the Bishop be-
gan ; ' how darest thou be so bold
as to use that schismatical service
still, seeing God hath sent us a
Catholic Queen. There is such an
abominable company of you, as Is
able to poison a whole realm with
heresies.'
' My lord,' Mountain replied, ' I
am no heretic, for in that way you
count heresy, so worship we the
living God.'
' God's passion,' said the Bishop,
'did I not tell you, my Lord De-
puty, how you should know a here-
tic. He is up with his living God
as though there was a dead God.
They have nothing in their mouths,
these heretics, but the Lord liveth ;
the living God ; the Lord ! the
Lord ! and nothing but the Lord.'
' Here,' says Mountain, ' he
chafed like a bishop; and as his
manner was, many times be put off
his cap, and rubbed to aiid fro up
and down the forepart of his head,
where a lock of hair was always
standing up.'
* My good Lord Chancellor,' St
Leger said to him, ' trouble not
yourself with this heretic ; I think
all the world is full of them ; God
bless me from them. But, as your
278
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
Mary, except for the cautious support of Paget.,
stood otherwise alone coquetting with her fancy, and
played upon by the skilful Renard. The Queen and
the ambassador were incessantly together, and Philip
was the never-tiring subject of conversation between
them. She talked of his disposition. She had heard,
she said, that he was proud; that he was inferior to
his father in point of ability ; and then he was young,
and she had been told sad stories about him ; if he was
of warm temperament, he would not suit her at all, she
said, considering the age at which she had arrived.1
Moreover, when she was married, she must obey as God
commanded ; her husband, perhaps, might wish to place
Lordship said, having a Christian
Queen reigning over us, I trust
there will shortly be a reformation
and an order taken with these here-
tics.' ' Submit yourself unto my
lord,' he said to Mountain, ' and you
shall find favour.'
' Thank you, sir,' Mountain an-
swered, ' ply your own suit, and let
me alone.'
A bystander then put in that the
parson of St Michael's was a traitor
as well as a heretic. He had been
in the field with the Duke against
the Queen.
' Is it even so ? ' cried Gardiner ;
'these be always linked together,
treason and heresy. Off with him
to the Marshalsea; this is one of
our new broached brethren that
speaketh against good works ; your
fraternity was, is, and ever will be
unprofitable in all ages, and good
for nothing but the fire.' — Troubles
of Thomas Mountain : printed by
STKYPE.
The portraits of Gardiner repre-
sent a fine, vehement-looking man.
The following description of him,
by Fonet, his rival in the See of
Winchester, gives the image as it
was reflected in Ponet's antipathies.
'The doctor hath a swart colour,
hanging look, frowning brows, eyes
an inch within his head, a nose,
hooked like a buzzard's, nostrils like
a horse, ever snuffing in the wind ;
a sparrow mouth, great paws like
the devil, talons on his feet like a
gripe, two inches longer than the
natural toes, and so tied with sinews
that he cannot abide to be touched.'
1 ' Que s'il vouloit estre volup-
tueux ce n'est ce quelle desire pour
estre de telle eaige.'— Renard to the
Emperor : Rolls House MS$,
I553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
279
Spaniards in authority in England, and she would have
to refuse ; and that he would not like. To all of which,
being the fluttering of the caught fly, Eenard would
answer that his Highness was more like an angel than
a man ; his youth was in his favour, for he might live
to see his child of age, and England had had too much
experience of minorities. Life, he added remarkably,
was shorter than it used to be ; sixty was now a great
age for a king; and as the world was, men were as
mature at thirty as in the days of his grandfather they
were considered at forty.1 Then touching the constant
sore — 'her Majesty/ he said, 'had four enemies, who
would never rest till they had destroyed her or were
themselves destroyed — the heretics, the friends of the
late Duke of Northumberland, the Courts of France
and Scotland, and, lastly, her sister Elizabeth. Her
subjects were restless, turbulent, and changeable as the
ocean of which they were so fond ; 2 the sovereigns of
England had been only able to rule with a hand of iron,
and with severities which had earned them the name of
tyrants ; 3 they had not spared the blood royal in order
to secure their thrones, and she too must act as they had
1 Renard to the Emperor ; Rolls
Home MSS.
2 'Vostre Majeste seit les hu-
meurs des Angloys et leur voluntez
estre forte discordantes, desireux de
nouvellete*, de mutation, et vindica-
tifz, soit pour estre insulaires, ou
pour tenir ce natural de la marine.'
— Renard to Mary : Granvelle Pa-
pers, vol. iv. p. 129.
3 'Les roys du passe on est6
forces de traicter en rigueur de jus-
tice et effusion de sang par T execu-
tion de plusieurs du royaulme, voir
du sang royal, pour s'asseurer et
maintenir leur royaulme, dont il3
ont acquis le renom de tyrans et
cruelz.' — Ibid.
280 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
acted, leaning for support, meanwhile, 011 the arm of a
powerful prince.
To these dark hints Mary ever listened eagerly.
Meantime she was harassed painfully from another
quarter.
Reginald Pole, as might have been expected from
his temperament, could ill endure the delay of his re-
turn to England. The hesitation of the Queen and the
objections of the Emperor were grounded upon argu-
ments which he assured himself were fallacious ; the
English nation, he continued to insist, was devoted to
the Holy See ; so far from being himself unpopular, the
Cornish in the rebellion under Edward had petitioned
for his recall, and had even designated him by the for-
bidden name of Cardinal ; they loved him and they
longed for him ; and, regarding himself as the chosen
instrument of Providence to repair the iniquities of
Henry VIII., he held the obstructions to his return not
only to be mistaken, but to be impious. The duty of
the returning prodigal was to submit ; to lay aside all
earthly considerations — to obey God, God's vicegerent
the Pope, and himself the Pope's representative.
Mendoza had been sent by Charles to meet Pole on
his way to Flanders, and reason him into moderation.
In return the legate wrote himself to Charles's confessor,
commanding him to explain to his master the sin which
he was committing. 'The objection to his going to
England,' as Pole understood, ' was the supposed danger
of an outbreak. Were the truth as the Emperor feared,
the Queen's first duty would be, nevertheless, to God,
1553]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY,
281
her own soul, and the souls of the millions of her sub-
jects who were perishing in separation from the Church;
for no worldly policy or carnal respect ought she to de-
fer for a moment to apply a remedy to so monstrous a
calamity.1 But the danger was imaginary — or, rather,
such danger as there was, arose from the opposite cause.
The right of the Queen to the throne did not rest on an
Act of Parliament ; it rested on her birth as the lawful
child of the lawful marriage between Henry and Cathe-
rine of Arragon. Parliament, he was informed, would
affirm the marriage legitimate, if nothing was said about
the Pope ; but, unless the Pope's authority was first
recognized, Parliament would only stultify itself; the
Papal dispensation alone made valid a connection which,
if the Pope had no power to dispense, was incestuous,
and the offspring of it illegitimate. God had made the
peaceful settlement of the kingdom dependent on sub-
mission to the Holy See,2 and for Parliament to inter-
fere and give an opinion upon the subject would be but
a fresh act of schism and disobedience.
The original letter, being in our own State Paper
1 ' Quanto grave peccato et ir-
reparabil danno sia il differir cosa
che pertenga alle salute di tante
anime, le quale mentre quel regno
sta disunite dalla Chiesa, si trovano
in manifesto pericolo della loro dan-
natione.' — Pole to the Emperor's
Confessor : MS. Germany, bundle
16, State Paper Office.
2 God, he said, had joined the
title to the Crown, ' con 1'ohedientia
della Sede Apostolica, che levata
questa viene a cader in tutto, quella
non essendo ella legitime herede del
regno, se non per la legitimation del
matrimonio della regina sua madre,
et questa non valendo senon per
1'autorita et dispensa del Papa.' —
Pole to the Emperor's Confessor ;
MS. Germany, bundle 16, State
Paper Office.
282 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY, [CH. 30.
Office, was probably given by the confessor to Charles,
and by Charles sent over to England. Most logical it
was ; so logical that it quite outwitted the intention of
the writer. While it added to the Queen's distress, it
removed, nevertheless, all objections which might have
been raised by the anti-papal party against the Act to
legitimatize her. So long as there was a fear that, by
a repeal of the Act of Divorce between her father and
mother, the Pope's authority might indirectly be ad-
mitted, some difficulty was to be anticipated ; as a new
assertion of English independence, it could be carried
with unanimous alacrity.
"What Parliament would or would not consent to,
however, would soon cease to be a mystery. The advice
of the Emperor on the elections had been, for the most
part, followed. It was obvious, indeed, that a sovereign
who was unable to control her council was in no position
to dictate to constituencies. There were no circulars to
the lords-lieutenants of counties, such as Northumber-
land had issued, or such as Mary herself, a year later, was
able to issue ; while the unusual number of members
returned to the Lower House — four hundred and thirty,
it will be seen, voted on one great occasion — shows that
the issue of writs had been on the widest scale. On the
whole, it was, perhaps, the fairest election which had
taken place for many years. In the House of Lords
the ejection of the Eeforming bishops and the restora-
tion of their opponents — the death, imprisonment, or
disgrace of three noblemen on the Reforming side, and
the return to public life of the peers who, in the late
'553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
2*3
October 5.
reign, had habitually absented themselves, had restored
a conservative majority. How the representatives of
the people would conduct themselves was the anxious
and all-agitating question. The Queen, however, could
console herself with knowing that Protestantism, as a
system of belief, had made its way chiefly among the
young ; the votes were with the middle-aged and the old.
The session opened on the 5th of October
with the ancient form, so long omitted, of the
mass of the Holy Ghost. Two Protestant bishops,
Taylor of Lincoln and Harley of Hereford, who had
been left as yet undisturbed in their sees, on the service
commencing, rose and went out ; they were not allowed
to return. Two prebendaries, Alexander Nowel and
Doctor Tregonwell, had been returned to the Lower
House; Nowel as a member of Convocation was de-
clared ineligible;1 Tregonwell being a layman was on
consideration allowed to retain his seat. These were
the only ejections which can be specifically traced, and
the silence of those who were interested in making the
worst of Mary's conduct, may be taken to prove that
they did not know of any more.2 The Houses purged
1 'Friday, October 13, it was
declared by the commissioners that
Alex. Nowel, being prebendary in
Westminster, and thereby having a
voice in the Convocation House,
cannot be a member of this House,
and so agreed by the House.' — Com-
mons Journal, I Mary.
2 Burnet and other Protestant
writers are loud- voiced with eloquent
generalities on the interference with
the elections, and the ill-treatment
of the Reforming members ; but of
interference with the elections they
can produce no evidence, and of
members ejected they name no more
than the two bishops and the two
prebends. Noailles, indeed, who
had opportunities of knowing, says
something on both points. { No fault
284
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
of these elements then settled to their work ; and plung-
ing at once into the great question of the time, the
Commons came to an instant understanding that the
lay owners of Church lands should not be disturbed in
their tenures under any pretext whatsoever.
Commendone, on returning to Rome, had disre-
garded his obligations to secrecy, and had related all
that the Queen had said to him in the open Consistory ;
from the Consistory the account travelled back to Eng-
land, and arrived inopportunely at the opening of Parlia-
ment. The fatal subject of the lands had been spoken of,
and the Queen had expressed to Commendone her inten-
tion to restore them, if possible, to the Church. The
council cross-questioned her, and she could neither deny
her words nor explain them away ; the Commons first,
the Lords immediately after, showed her that whatever
might be her own hopes or wishes, their minds on that
point were irrevocably fixed.1
No less distinct were the opinions expressed in the
Lower House on the Papacy. The authority of the
Pope, as understood in England, was not a question of
doctrine, nor was the opposition to it of recent origin
It had been thrown off after a struggle which had
doutcr, sire,' he wrote to the King
of France, ' que la dicte dame
n'obtienne presque tout ce qu'elle
vouldra en ce parlcment, de tant
qu'elle a faict faire election de ceulx
qui pourront estre en sa faveur, et
jetter quelques uns a elle suspectz.'
The Queen had probably done what
she could ; but the influence which
she could exercise must obviously
have been extremely small, and the
event showed that the ambassador
was entirely Avrong in his expecta-
tions.
1 Eenard to Charles V., October
19 : Rolls House MSS.
'553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY,
285
lasted for centuries, and a victory 1 so hardly won was
not to be lightly parted with. Lord Paget warned the
Queen that Pole's name must not be so much as men-
tioned, or some unwelcome resolution about him would
be immediately passed ; 2 and she was in hourly dread
that before they would consent to anything, they would
question her whether she would or would not maintain
the royal supremacy.3 On the other hand, if no diffi-
culties were raised about the Pope or the Church lands,
the preliminary discussion, both among Lords and Com-
mons, showed a general disposition to re-establish
religion in the condition in which Henry left it — pro-
vided, that is to say, no penalties were to attach to non-
conformity; and the Houses were ready also to take
the step so much deprecated by Pole, and pass a measurf
legitimatizing the Queen, provided no mention was tc
be made of the Papal dispensation. Some difference of
opinion on the last point had shown itself in the House
of Commons,4 but the legate's ingenuity had removed all
serious obstacles.
1 Even the most reactionary
clergy, men like Abbot Feckenham
and Doctor Bourne, had no desire,
as yet, to be re-united to Rome. In a
discussion witb Ridley in the Tower,
on the real presence, Feckenham ar-
gued that ' forty years before all the
world was agreed about it. Forty
years ago, said Ridley, all held that
the Bishop of Rome was supreme
head of the Universal Church. What
then? was Master Feckenham begin-
ning to say ; but Master Secretary
(Bourne) took the tale, and said that
was a positive law. A positive law,
quoth Ridley ; he would not have it
so ; he challenged it by Christ's
own word, by the words, ( Thou art
Peter ; thou art Cephas.' Tush,
quoth Master Secretary, it was not
counted an article of our faith.'—
FOXE, vol. vi.
2 .Renard to Charles V., October
28 : Soils House MSS.
3 Ibid. October 15 : Rolls House
MSS. 4 Ibid.
t&6 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
Again Parliament seemed determined that the Act
of Succession, and the will of Henry VIII., should not
be tampered with, to the disfavour of Elizabeth. It is
singular that Renard and probably therefore Mary,
were unaware of the position in which Elizabeth was
placed towards the crown. They imagined that her
only title was as a presumptively legitimate child ; that
if the Act of Divorce between Catherine of Arragon and
Henry was repealed, she must then, as a bastard, be cut
off from her expectations, Had Elizabeth's prospects
been liable to be affected by the legitimization of her
sister, the Queen would have sued as vainly for it as she
sued afterwards in favour of her husband. With un-
mixed mortification Renard learnt that Elizabeth, in the
eye of the law, had been as illegitimate as Mary, and
that her place in the order of succession rested on her
father's will. He flattered himself, at first, that Henry's
dispositions could be set aside ; l but he very soon found
that there was no present hope of it.
These general features of the temper of Parliament
were elicited in conversation in the first few days of the
session. The Marchioness of Exeter, during the same
days, was released from her attainder, Courtenay was re-
stored in blood, while a law, similar to that with which
Somerset commenced his Protectorate, repealed all late
treason Acts, restricted the definition of treason within
the limits of the statute of Edward III., and relieved
the clergy of the recent extensions of the Premunire.
Reuard to Charles V., October 21 : Hoik House MSS.
* 5 53-1 Q UEEN JANE AN£> Q UEEN MAR Y. 2$}
The Queen gave her assent to these three measures on
the 2 ist of October ; and there was then an interval of
three days, during which the bishops were consulted on
the view taken by Parliament of the Queen's legitimacy.
Renard told the Bishop of Norwich, Thirlby, that they
must bend to the times, and leave the Pope to his for-
tunes. They acted on the ambassador's advice. An
Act was passed, in which the marriage from which the
Queen was sprung, was declared valid, and the Pope's
name was not mentioned ; but the essential point being
secured, the framers of the statute were willing to
gratify their mistress b}^ the intensity of the bitterness
with which the history of the divorce was related.1 The
bishops must have been glad to escape from so mortify-
ing a subject, and to apply themselves to the more con-
genial subject of religion.
As soon as the disposition of Parliament had been
generally ascertained, the restoration of the mass was
first formally submitted, for the sake of decency, to the
clergy of Convocation.
The bench had been purged of dangerous elements.
The Lower House contained a small fraction of Pro-
testants just large enough to permit a controversy, and
to ensure a triumph to their antagonists.. The proceed-
ings opened with a sermon from Harpsfeld, then chap-
lain of the Bishop of London, in which, in a series of
ascending antitheses, Northumberland was described as
Holofernes, and Mary as Judith ; Northumberland was
i Mary, cap. I.
288
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[OH. 30.
Haman, and Mary was Esther ; Northumberland was
Sisera, and Mary was Deborah. Mary was the sister
who had chosen the better part: religion ceased
and slept until Mary arose a virgin in Israel, and
with the mother of God Mary might sing, ' Behold,
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.'
The trumpet having thus sounded, the lists were drawn
for the combat; the bishops sat in their robes, the
clergy stood bareheaded, and the champions appeared.
Hugh. Weston, Dean of Windsor, Dean of Westminster
afterwards, Dr Watson, Dr Moreman, and the preacher
Harpsfeld undertook to defend the real presence against
Phillips Dean of Rochester, Philpot, Cheny, Aylmer,
and Young.
The engagement lasted for a week'. The reforming
theologians fought for their dangerous cause bravely and
temperately ; and Weston, who was at once advocate
and prolocutor, threw down his truncheon at last, and
told Philpot that he was meeter for Bethlehem than for
a company of grave and learned men, and that he should
come no more into their house.1 The orthodox thus
ruled themselves the victors : but beyond the doors of-
the Convocation House they did not benefit their cause.
The dispute, according to Renard, resolved itself, in the
opinion of the laity, into scandalous railing and recrim-
ination ; 2 the people were indignant ; and the Houses of
Parliament, disgusted and dissatisfied, resumed the dis-
1 Report of the Disputation in the Convocation House. — FOXE, vol. v.
P- 395-
a Renard to Charles V., October 28 : Rolls House MSS.
1553] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 289
cussion among themselves, as more competent to con-
duct it with decency. In eight days the various changes
introduced by Edward VI. were argued in the House of
Commons, and points were treated of there, said Renard,
which a general council could scarcely resolve. At
length, by a majority, which exceeded Gardiner's most
sanguine hopes, of 350 against 80, the mass was restored,
and the clergy were required to return to celibacy.1
The precipitation with which Somerset, Cranmer,
and Northumberland had attempted to carry out the
Reformation, was thus followed by a natural recoil.
Protestant theology had erected itself into a system of
intolerant dogmatism, and had crowded the gaols with
prisoners who were guilty of no crime but Nonconform-
ity ; it had now to reap the fruits of its injustice, and
was superseded till its teachers had grown wiser. The
first Parliament of Mary was indeed more Protestant,
in the best sense of that word, than the statesmen and
divines of Edward. While the House of Commons re-
established the Catholic services, they decided, after long
consideration, that no punishment should be inflicted on
those who declined to attend those services.2 There
was to be no Pope, no persecution, no restoration of the
abbey lands, — resolutions, all of them disagreeable to
a reactionary Court. On the Spanish marriage both
Lords and Commons were equally impracticable. The
Catholic noblemen — the Earls of Derby, Shrewsbury,
Bath, and Sussex were in the interest of Courtenay.
1 Renard to Charles V., November 8 ; Rolls House MSS.
2 Ibid. Decembers.
VOL. V. 19
290 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 3d
The chancellor had become attached to him in the
Tower when they were fellow-prisoners there ; and Sir
Hobert Rochester, Sir Francis Englefield, Sir Edward
Waldegrave, the Queen's tried and faithful officers of
the household, went with the chancellor. Never, on
any subject, was there greater unanimity in England
than in the disapproval of Philip as a husband for the
Queen, and, on the 29th of October, the Lower House
had a petition in preparation to entreat her to choose
from among her subjects.
To Courtenay, indeed, Mary might legitimately ob-
ject. Since his emancipation from the Tower he had
wandered into folly and debauchery ; he was vain and
inexperienced, and his insolence was kept in check only
by the quality so rare in an Englishman of personal
timidity. But to refuse Courtenay was one thing, to
fasten her choice on the heir of a foreign kingdom was
another. Paget insisted, indeed, that, as the Queen of
Scots was contracted to the Dauphin, unless England
could strengthen herself with a connection of corre-
sponding consequence, the union of the French and
Scottish Crowns was a menace to her liberties.1 But
the argument, though important in itself, was powerless
against the universal dread of the introduction of a
foreign sovereign, and it availed only to provide Mary
with an answer to the protests and entreaties of her
other ministers.
Perhaps, too, it confirmed her in her obstinacy, and
1 RENABD.
i553-l QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 291
allowed her to persuade herself that, in following her
own inclination, she was consulting the interests of her
subjects. Obstinate, at any rate, she was beyond all
reach of persuasion. Once only she wavered, after her
resolution was first taken. Some one had told her that,
if she married Philip, she would find herself the step-
mother of a large family of children who had come into
the world irregularly. A moral objection she was
always willing to recognize. She sent for Renard, and
conjured him to tell her whether the prince was really
the good man which he had described him; Renard
assured her that he was the very paragon of the world.
She caught the ambassador's hand.
1 Oh ! ' she exclaimed, ' do you speak as a subject
whose duty is to praise his sovereign, or do you speak
as a man ? '
1 Your Majesty may take my life/ he answered, ' if
you find him other than I have told you/
' Oh that I could but see him ! ' she said.
She dismissed Renard gratefully. A few days after
she sent for him again, when she was expecting the
petition of the House of Commons. ' Lady Clarence/
one of the Queen's attendants, was the only other person
present. The holy wafer was in the room on an altar,
which she called her protector, her guide, her adviser.1
Mary told them that she spent her days and nights in
tears and prayers before it, imploring God to direct her ;
and as she was speaking her emotions overcame her ;
1 ' Elle 1'avoit toujours invoque comme son protecteur, conducteur, ct
conseilleur.'— Renard to Charles V., October 31 : Holla House MSS.
i92 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY, [CH. 30.
she flung herself on her knees with Renard and Lady
Clarence at her side, and the three together before the
altar sang the ' Yeni Creator/ The invocation was
heard in the breasts from which it was uttered. As the
chant died into silence, Mary rose from the ground as
if inspired, and announced the divine message. The
Prince of Spain was the chosen of Heaven for the virgin
Queen ; if miracles were required to give him to her,
there was a stronger than man who would work them ; the
malice of the world should not keep him from her ; she
would cherish him and love him, and him alone ; and
never thenceforward, by a wavering thought, would she
give him cause for jealousy.1
It was true that she had deliberately promised not
to do what she was now resolved on doing, but that was
no matter.
The Commons' petition was by this time
November. .
ready, but the agitation of the last scene
brought on a palpitation of the heart which for the
time enabled the Queen to decline to receive it ; while
Renard assailed the different ministers, and extracted
from them their general views on the state of the coun-
try, and the measures which should be pursued.
The Bishop of Winchester he found relaxing in his
zeal for Rome, and desiring a solid independent English
Government, the re-enactment of the Six Articles, and
an Anglican religious tyranny supported by the lords of
the old blood. Nobles and people were against the
1 Renard to Charles V., October 31 : Rolls Home MSS.
1533-1
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
203
Pope, Gardiner said, and against foreign interference of
all sorts ; Mary could not marry Philip without a Papal
dispensation, which must be kept secret, for the country
would not tolerate it ; l the French would play into the
hands of the heretics, and the Spanish alliance would
give them the game ; there would be a cry raised that
Spanish troops would be introduced to inflict the Pope
upon the people by force. If the Emperor desired the
friendship of England, he would succeed best by not
pressing the connection too close. Political marriages
were dangerous. Cromwell tied Henry YIII. to Anne
of Cleves ; the marriage lasted a night, and destroyed
him and his policy. Let the Queen accept the choice
of her people, marry Courtenay, send Elizabeth to the
Tower, and extirpate heresy with fire and sword.
These were the views of Gardiner, from whom Re-
nard turned next to Paget.
If the Queen sent Elizabeth to the Tower, Lord
Paget said, her life would not be safe for a day. Paget
wished her to be allowed to choose her own husband ;
but she must first satisfy Parliament that she had no
intention of tampering with the succession. Should she
die without children, the country must not be left ex-
posed to claims from Spain on behalf of Philip, or from
France on behalf of the Queen of Scots. His own ad-
vice, therefore, was, that Mary should frankly acknow-
1 ' II fauldra obtenir dispense du
Pape, pour le parentage, qui ne
pourra estre publique ains secrete,
autreraent le peuple se revoltcroit,
pour 1'auctorite du Pape qu'il ne
veult admettre et revoir.' — "Renard
to Charles V., November 9 : Rolls
House MSS.
294 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
ledge her sister as her presumptive successor ; Elizabeth
might be married to Courtenay, and, in default of heirs
of her own body, it might be avowed and understood
that those two should be king and queen. Could she
make up her mind to this course, could she relinquish
her dreams of restoring the authority of the Pope, of
meddling with the Church lands, and interfering with
the liberties of her people, she might rely on the loyalty
of the country, and her personal inclinations would not
be interfered with.1
Both the, lines of conduct thus sketched were con-
sistent and intelligible, and either might have been suc-
cessfully followed. But neither the one nor the other
satisfied Mary. She would have Philip, she would have
the Pope, and she would not recognize her sister. If
she insisted on choosing a husband for herself, she felt
it would be difficult to refuse her ; her object was to
surprise the council into committing themselves, and
she succeeded. On the 8th of November,
Nov. 8. ... .
when they were in session in a room in the
Dalace, Renard presented Mary in th« Emperor's name
with a formal offer of Philip's hand, and requested a
distinct answer, Yes or no. The Queen said she would
consult her ministers, and repaired in agitation to the
council-room.2 Distrusting one another, unprepared
for the sudden demand, and unable to consult in her
presence, the Lords made some answer, which she in-
1 Eenard to Charles V., November 4 : Rolls House MSS.
2 ' Visage intinride et gestes tremblans.' — Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS
I553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 295
terpreted into acquiescence : Mary returned radiant
with joy, and told the ambassador that his proposal was
accepted.
A momentary lull followed, during which
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury,
Lady Jane Grey, Lord Guilford, Lord Ambrose and
Lord Henry Dudley were taken from the Tower on foot
to the Guildhall, and were there tried, found guilty of
high treason, and sentenced to die. Lady Jane the
Queen still intended to spare ; the Dudleys she meant
to pause upon. Cranmer, in a grave, mild letter, ex-
plained what his conduct had been with respect to his
so-called treason ; but his story, creditable to him as it
was, produced no effect ; Cranmer was immediately to
be put to death. That was the first intention, though
it was found necessary to postpone his fate through a
superstitious scruple. The Archbishop had received the
pallium from Rome, and, until degraded by apostolic
authority, he could not, according to Catholic rule, be
condemned by a secular tribunal. But there was no
intention of sparing him at the time of his trial ; in a
few days, Renard wrote on the lyth of November, 'the
Archbishop ' will be executed ; and Mary triumphant,
as she believed herself, on the question nearest to her
heart, had told him that the melancholy which had
weighed upon her from childhood was rolling away ;
she had never yet known the meaning of happiness, and
she was about to be rewarded at last. *
1 Renard to Charles V., November 17 : Rolls House MSS,
296 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
The struggle had told upon her. She was looking
aged and worn,1 and her hopes of children, if she mar-
ried, were thought extremely small. But she considered
that she had won the day, and was now ready to face
the Commons ; the House had chafed at the delay :
they had talked largely of their intentions ; if the
Queen's answer was unsatisfactory, they threatened to
dissolve of themselves, and return to their counties. On
the 1 6th of November a message was brought that the
Speaker would at last be admitted to the presence. The
interview which followed, Mary thus herself described
to Renard. The council were present ; the Speaker was
introduced, and the Queen received him standing.
In an oration which she described as replete to weari-
ness with fine phrases and historic precedents, the Speaker
requested her, in the name of the commonwealth, to marry.
The succession was perplexed ; the Queen of Scots made
pretensions to the Crown ; and in the event of her
death, a civil war was imminent. Let her Majesty take
a husband, therefore, and with God's grace the king-
dom would not be long without an heir whose title none
would dispute. Yet, in taking a husband, the Speaker
said, her Majesty's faithful Commons trusted she \vould
not choose from abroad. A foreign prince had interests
of his own which might not be English interests ; he
would have command of English armies, fleets, and
fortresses, and he might betray his trust ; he might
involve the country in wars ; he might make promises
' Fort envieillie ct ag«'c.' — NOAILLES.
1 553-]
QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY.
297
and break them ; he might carry her Highness away
out of the realm ; or he might bring up her children in
foreign courts and in foreign habits. Let her marry,
therefore, one of her own subjects.
The Speaker was so prolix, so tedious, so
/-v • Nov. 10.
confused, the Queen said — his sentences were
so long drawn and so little to the purpose — that she sat
down before he had half finished. When he came to
the words ' marry a subject/ she could remain silent no
longer.
Replies to addresses of the House of Commons were
usually read by the chancellor ; but, careless of forms,
she again started, to her feet, and spoke : — !
' For your desire to see us married we thank you ;
your desire to dictate to us the consort whom we shall
choose we consider somewhat superfluous ; the Eng-
lish Parliament has not been wont to use such language
to their sovereigns, and where private persons in such
cases follow their private tastes, sovereigns may reason-
ably challenge an equal liberty. If you, our Commons,
force upon us a husband whom we dislike, it may occa-
sion the inconvenience of our death ; 2 if we marry
where we do not love, we shall be in our grave in three
months, and the heir of whom you speak will not have
been brought into being. We have heard much from
you of the incommodities which may attend our mar-
1 Renard is the only authority
for this speech, which he heard from
the Queen. Translated by him in to
French, and retranslated by myself
into English, it has, doubtless, suf-
fered much in the process.
2 ' Ceseroit procurer 1'inconve-
nient de sa mort.'
298 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 30.
riage ; we have not heard from you of the commodities
thereof — one of which is of some weight with us, the
commodity, namely, of our private inclination. We have
not forgotten our coronation oath. We shall marry as
God shall direct our choice, to his honour and to our
country's good.'
She would hear no reply. The Speaker
was led out, and as he left the room Arundel
whispered to Gardiner that he had lost his office ; the
Queen had usurped it. At the same moment the Queen
herself turned to the chancellor — ' I have to thank you,
my Lord, for this business/ she said.
The chancellor swore in tears that he was innocent ;
the Commons had drawn their petition themselves ; for
himself it was true he was well inclined towards
Courtenay ; he had known him in the Tower.
* And is your having known him in the Tower/ she
cried, ' a reason that you should think him a fitting
husband for me ? I will never, never marry him —
that I promise you — and I am a woman of my word ;
what I say I do/
'Choose where you will/ Gardiner answered, 'your
Majesty's consort shall find in me the most obedient of
his subjects.'
Mary had now the bit between her teeth, and,
resisting all efforts to check or guide her, was making
her own way with obstinate resolution.
The next point was the succession, which, notwith-
standing the humour of Parliament, should be re-
arranged, if force or skill could do it. There were four
!553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 299
possible claimants after herself, she told Renard, and
in her own opinion the best title was that of the Queen
of Scots. But the country objected, and the Emperor
would not have the English crown fall to France. The
Greys were out of the question, but their mother, the
Duchess of Suffolk, was eligible ; and there was Lady
Lennox, also, Darnley's mother, who perhaps, after all,
would be the best choice that could be made.1 Eliza-
beth, she was determined, should never, never succeed.
She had spoken to Paget about it, she said, and Paget
had remonstrated ; Paget had said, marry her to
Courtenay, recognize her as presumptive heir, and add
a stipulation, if necessary, that she become a Catholic ;
but, Catholic or no Catholic, she said, her sister should
never reign in England with consent of hers ; she was
a heretic, a hypocrite, and a bastard, and her infamous
mother had been the cause of all the calamities which
had befallen the realm.
Even Renard was alarmed at this burst of passion
He had fed Mary's suspicions till they were beyond
either his control or her own ; and the attitude of
Parliament had lately shown him that, if any step were
taken against Elizabeth without provocation on her
part, it would infinitely increase the difficulty of con-
cluding the marriage. He was beginning to believe,
and he ventured to hint to the Queen, that Paget' s
advice might be worth consideration ; but on this sub-
ject she would listen to nothing.
1 Renard to Charles V., November 28 : Rolls House MSS.
300
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 30.
Elizabeth, had hitherto, when at Court, taken pre-
cedence of all other ladies. The Queen now compelled
her to walk behind Lady Lennox and the Duchess of
Suffolk, as a sign of the meditated change ; * and the
ladies of the Court were afraid to be seen speaking to
her. But in reply to Mary's derogatory treatment the
young lords, knights, and gentlemen gathered osten-
tatiously round the princess when she rode abroad, or
thronged the levees at her house; old-established
statesmen said, in Renard's ear, that, let the Queen
decide as she would, no foreigner should reign in Eng-
land ; and Lord Arundel believed that Elizabeth's foot
was already on the steps of the throne. A large and
fast- growing party, which included more than one
member of the privy council, were now beginning to
consider as the best escape from Philip, that Courtenay
should fly from the Court, taking Elizabeth with him
— call round him in their joint names all who would
strike with him for English independence, and proclaim
the Queen deposed.
There was uncertainty about Elizabeth herself ; both
Noailles and Renard believed that she would consent to
this dangerous proposal ; but she had shown Courtenay,
hitherto, no sign of favour ; while Courtenay, on his
side, complained that he was frightened by her haughty
ways. Again, there was a serious difficulty in Courte-
1 ' Elle 1'a faict quelquefois aller
apres la Comtesse de Lennox, que
Ton appelle icy Madame Marguerite,
et Madame Frangoise, qu'est la
susdicte Duchesse de Suffolk.' —
Noailles to the King of France,
November 30.
*553-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 301
nay's character ; he was too cowardly for a dangerous
enterprise, too incapable for an intricate one, and his
weak humour made men afraid to,, trust themselves to a
person who, to save himself, might at any moment be-
tray them. Noailles, however, said emphatically that,
were Courtenay anything but what he was, his success
would be certain.1
The plot grew steadily into definite form. Devon-
shire and Cornwall were prepared for insurrection, and
thither, as to the stronghold of the Courtenay family,
Elizabeth was to be first carried. Meantime the ferment
of popular feeling showed in alarming symptoms
through the surface. The council were in continual
quarrel. Parliament, since the rebuff of the Speaker,
had not grown more tractable, and awkward questions
began to be asked about a provision for the married
clergy. All had been already gained which could be
hoped for from the present House of Commons ; and,
on the 6th of December, the session ended in
T rm i -ill December.
a dissolution. The same day a dead dog was
thrown through the window of the presence chamber
with ears cropped, a halter about its neck, and a label
saying that all the priests in England should be
hanged.
Renard, who, though not admitted, like Noailles,
into the confidence of the conspirators, yet knew the
drift of public feeling, and knew also Arundel's opinion
of the Queen's prospects, insisted that Mary should
1 Noailles to the King of France, December 6.
302 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 30.
place some restraint upon herself, and treat her sister at
least with outward courtesy ; Philip was expected at
Christmas, should nothing untoward happen in the
interval ; and the ambassador prevailed on her, at last,
to pretend that her suspicions were at an end. His own
desire, he said, was as great as Mary's that Elizabeth
should be detected in some treasonable correspondence ;
but harshness only placed her on her guard ; she would
be less careful, if she believed that she was no longer
Distrusted. The princess, alarmed perhaps at finding
herself the unconsentiiig object of dangerous schemes,
had asked permission to retire to her country house.
It was agreed that she should go ; persons in her house-
hold were bribed to watch her ; and the Queen, yielding
to Renard's entreaties, received her, when she came to
take leave, with an appearance of affection so well
counterfeited, that it called out the ambassador's ap-
plause.1 She made her a present of pearls, with a head-
dress of sable ; and the princess, on her side, implored
the Queen to give no more credit to slanders against
her. They embraced ; Elizabeth left the Court ; and,
as she went out of London, five hundred gentlemen
formed about her as a voluntary escort.2 There were
not wanting fools, says Renard, who would persuade the
Queen that her sister's last words were honestly spoken ;
but she remembers too acutely the injuries which her
1 ' La Reine a tres bien dissiraulee, en son endroict.' — Renard to Charles
V., December 8 : Rolls House MSS.
2 NOAILLES.
*55 3-] QUEEN JANE AND QUEEN MARY. 303
mother and. herself suffered at Anne Boleyn's hands ;
and she has a fixed conviction that Elizabeth, unless
she can be first disposed of, will be a cause of infinite
calamities to the realm.1
Renard to Charles V., December 8 : Rolls House MSS.
304
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
THE fears of Renard and the hopes of Noailles were
occasioned by the unanimity of Catholics and
heretics in the opposition to the marriage ; yet, so
singular was the position of parties, that this very
unanimity was the condition which made the marriage
possible. The Catholic lords and gentlemen were jea-
lous of English independence, and, had they stood alone,
they would have coerced the Queen into an abandon-
ment of her intentions : but, if they dreaded a Spanish
sovereign, they hated unorthodoxy more, and if they
permitted or assisted in the schemes of the Reformers,
they feared that they might lose the control of the situa-
tion when the immediate object was obtained. Those who
were under the influence of Gardiner desired to restore
persecution ; and persecution, which was difficult with
Mary on the throne, would be impossible under a sove-
reign brought in by a revolution. They made a fa-
vourite of Courtenay, but they desired to marry him to
the Queen, not to Elizabeth : Gardiner told the young
1553-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
305
Earl that lie would sooner see him the husband of the
vilest drab who could be picked out of the London
kennels.1
Thus, from their murmurs, they seemed to be on the
edge of rebellion ; yet, when the point of action came,
they halted, uncertain what to do, unwilling to acqui-
esce, yet without resolution to resist. From a modern
point of view the wisest policy was that recommended
by Paget. The claim of the Queen of Scots on the
throne unquestionably made it prudent for England to
strengthen herself by some powerful foreign alliance ;
sufficient precautions could be devised for the security
of the national independence; and, so far from Eng-
land being in danger of being drawn into the war on
the Continent, Lord Paget said that, if England would
accept Philip heartily, the war would be at an end.
Elizabeth of France might marry Don Carlos, taking
with her the French pretensions to Naples and Milan
as a dowry. Another French princess might be given
to the expatriated Philibert, and Savoy and Piedmont
restored with her. ' You/ Paget said to Noailles, ' by
your Dauphin's marriage forced us to be friends with
the Scots ; we, by our Queen's marriage, will force you
to be friends with the Emperor.'2
Paget, however, was detested as an upstart, and de-
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS.
* l Le diet Paget me respondict
qu'il n'estoit ja besoing d'entrer en
si grande jalousie, et que tout ainsi
que nous les avions faicts amys avec-
ques les Escossoys, ce marriage seroit
aussy cause que nous serions amys
avecques 1'Empereur.' — Noailles to
the King of France, December 26.
Compare also the letter of December
23,Ambassades, vol. ii. pp. 334—356.
20
3o6
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
tested still more as a latitudinarian ; lie could form no
party, and the Queen made use of him only to support
her in her choice of the Prince of Spain, as in turn she
would use Gardiner to destroy the Protestants ; and
thus the two great factions in the State neutralized each
other's action in a matter in which both were equally
anxious ; and Mary, although with no remarkable
capacity, without friends and ruined, if at any moment
she lost courage, was able to go her own way in spite of
her subjects.
The uncertainty was, how long so anomalous a state of
things would continue. The marriage being once decided
on, Mary could think of nothing else, and even religion
sank into the second place. Reginald Pole, chafing the
Imperial bridle between his lips, vexed her, so Renard
said, from day to day, with his untimely importunities j1
the restoration of the mass gave him no pleasure so long
as the Papal legate was an exile ; and in vain the
Queen laboured to draw from him some kind of ap-
proval. He saw her only preferring carnal pleasures to
her duty to heaven ; and, indifferent himself to all in-
terests save those of the See of Rome, he was irritated
with the Emperor, irritated with the worldly schemes
to which he believed that his mission had been sacrificed.
He talked angrily of the marriage. The Queen heard,
through Wotton the ambassador at Paris, that he had
said openly, it should never take place;2 while Peto,
1 Renard to Charles V. : No-
vember 14, November 28, December
3, December 8, December n : Rolls
House MSS.
2 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS. The Queen wrote to
1553-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
307
the Greenwich friar, who was in his train, wrote
to her, reflecting impolitely on her age, and adding
Scripture commendations of celibacy as the more
perfect state.1 It was even feared that the impatient
legate had advised the Pope to withhold the dispensa-
tions.
Mary, beyond measure afflicted, wrote to Pole at
last, asking what in his opinion she ought to do. He
sent his answer through a priest, by whom it could be
conveyed with the greatest emphasis. First, he said,
she must pray to God for a spirit of counsel and forti-
tude ; next, she must, at all hazards, relinquish th«
name of Head of the Church ; and, since she could trust
neither peer nor prelate, she must recall Parliament, go
in person to the House of Commons, and demand per-
mission with her own mouth for himself to return to
England. The Holy See was represented in his person,
and was freshly insulted in the refusal to receive him ;
the Pope's vast clemency had volunteered unasked to
pardon the crimes of England ; if the gracious offer was
not accepted, the legation would be cancelled, the
Wotton to learn his authority. The
Venetian ambassador, Wotton said,
was the person who had told him ;
but the quarter from which the in-
formation originally came, he be-
lieved, might be relied on. — Wotton
to the Queen and Council :MS. State
Paper Office.
1 ' Un des principaulx qu'il a
avec luy que se nomme William Peto,
theologien, luy a escript luy donnant
conseil de non se marrier, et vivre en
celibat ; meslant en ses lettres plu-
sieurs allegations du Yieux et Nou-
veau Testament, repetantx ou xii fois
qu'elle tombera en la puissance et
servitude du mari, qu'elle n'aura
enfans, sinon soubz danger de sa
vie pour 1'age dont elle est.' —
Renard to Charles V. : TYTLEB,, vol.
ii. p. 303,
3o8 REIGN- OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 31
national guilt would be infinitely enhanced The Em-
peror talked of prudence ; in the service of God pru-
dence was madness ; and, so long as the schism continued,
her attempts at reform were vanity, and her seat upon
the throne was usurpation. Let her tell the truth to
the House of Commons, and the House of Commons
would hear.1
' Your Majesty will see/ wrote Renard, enclosing to
Charles a copy of these advices, 'the extent of the
Cardinal's discretion, and how necessary it is that foi
the present he be kept at a distance.' The Pope was not
likely to reject the submission of England at any mo-
ment, late or early, when England might be pleased to
offer it, and could well afford to wait. Julius was wiser
than his legate. Pole was not recalled, but exhorted to
patience, and a letter or message from Rome cooled
Mary's anxieties. Meanwhile the marriage was to be
expedited with as much speed as possible ; the longer
the agitation continued, the greater the danger ; while
the winter was unfavourable to revolutionary move-
ments, and armed resistance to the prince's landing
would be unlikely so long as the season prevented large
bodies of men from keeping the field.2
The Emperor, therefore, in the beginning of Decem-
ber, sent over the draft of a marriage treaty ; and if
the security that the articles would be observed had
equalled the form in which they were conceived, the
1 Instructions of Cardinal Pole to Thomas Goldwell : Cotton
Titus, B. ii.
2 Renard dwelt much on this point as a reason for haste.
I553-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE 309
English might have afforded to lay aside their alarms.
Charles seemed to have anticipated almost every point
on which the insular jealousy would be sensitive. The
Prince of Spain should bear the title of King of Eng-
land so long, but so long only, as the Queen should be
alive ; and the Queen should retain the disposal of all af-
fairs in the realm, and the administration of the revenues,
The Queen, in return, should share Philip's titles, present
and prospective, with the large settlement of 6o,ooo/. a
year upon her for her life. Don Carlos, the Prince's
child by his first wife, would, if he lived, inherit Spain,
Sicily, the Italian provinces, and the Indies. But Bur-
gundy and the Low Countries should be settled on the
offspring of the English marriage, and be annexed to
the English Crown ; and this prospect, splendid in itself,
was made more magnificent by the possibility that Don
Carlos might die. Under all contingencies, the laws
and liberties of the several countries should be held in-
violate and inviolable.
In such a treaty the Emperor conferred everything,
and in return received nothing ; and yet, to gain the
alliance, a negotiation already commenced for the hand
of the Infanta of Portugal was relinquished. The
liberality of the proposals was suspicious, but they were
submitted to the council, who, unable to refuse to con-
sider them, were obliged to admit that they were rea-
sonable. Five additional clauses were added, however,
to which it was insisted that Philip should swear before
the contract should be completed —
i. That no foreigner, under any circumstances, should
310 REIGN OP QUEEN MARY. [cil. 31.
be admitted to any office in the royal household, in the
army, the forts, or the fleet.
2. That the Queen should not be taken abroad with-
out her own consent ; and that the children — should
children be born — should not be carried out of England
without consent of Parliament, even though among
them might be the heir of the Spanish Empire.
3. Should the Queen die childless, the Prince's con-
nection with the realm should be at an end.
4. The jewel-house and treasury should be wholly
under English control, and the ships of war should not
be removed into a foreign port.
5. The Prince should maintain the existing treaties
between England and France ; and England should not
be involved, directly or indirectly, in the war between
France and the Empire.1
These demands were transmitted to Brussels, where
they were accepted without difficulty, and further ob-
jection could not be ventured unless constraint was laid
upon the Queen. The sketch of the treaty, with the
conditions attached to it, was submitted to such of the
Lords and Commons as remained in London after the
dissolution of Parliament, and the result was a sullen
acquiescence.
An embassy was immediately announced as to be
sent from Flanders. Count Egmont, M. de Courieres,
the Count de Lalaing, and M. de Nigry, Chancellor of
the Golden Fleece, were coming over as plenipotentiaries
1 Marriage Treaty between Mary, Queen of England, and Philip of
Spain : RYMEE, vol. vi
1553 ] THE SPANISH MARRIA GE 311
of the Emperor. Secret messengers went off to Rome
to hasten the dispensations — a dispensation for Mary to
marry her cousin, and a dispensation which also was
found necessary permitting the ceremony to be performed
by a bishop in a state of schism. The marriage could
be solemnized at once on their arrival, the ambassadors
standing as Philip's representatives, while Sir Philip
Hoby, Bonner, Bedford, and Lord Derby would go to
Spain to receive the Prince's oaths, and escort him to
England. Again and again the Queen pressed haste.
Ash- Wednesday fell on the 6th of February, and in
Lent she might not marry. Eenard assured her
that the Prince should be in her arms before Septua-
gesima, and all her trials would be over. The worst
danger which he now anticipated was from some un-
pleasant collision which might arise after the Prince's
landing ; and he had advised the Emperor to have the
Spaniards who would form the retinue selected for their
meekness. They would meet with insolence from the
English, which they would not endure, if they had th^
spirit to resent it ; their dispositions, therefore, must b*
mild and forgiving.1
And yet Renard could not hide from himself, and
the Lords did not hide from Mary, that their consent
was passive only ; that their reluctance was vehement
as ever. Bedford said, if he went to Spain, he must go
without attendance, for no one would accompany him.
Lord Derby refused to be one of the ambassadors, and
Ilenard to Charles V., December n : Rolls Home MSS.
3I2
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
with Sir Edward Waldegrave and Sir Edward Hastings
told the Queen that he would leave her service if she
persisted. The seditious pamphlets which were scattered
everywhere created a vague terror in the Court, and the
Court ladies wept and lamented in the Queen's presence.
The council in a body again urged her to abandon her
intention. The Peers met again to consider the marriage
articles. Gardiner read them aloud, and Lord Windsor,
a dull Brutus, who till then had never been known to
utter a reasonable word, exclaimed, amidst general ap-
plause, ' You have told us fine things of the Queen, and
the Prince, and the Emperor ; what security have we
that words are more than words ? ' Corsairs from Brest
and Rochelle hovered in the mouth of the Channel to
catch the couriers going to and fro between Spain and
London and Brussels, and to terrify Philip with the
danger of the passage. The Duke of Suffolk's brother
and the Marquis of Winchester had been heard to swear
that they would set upon him when he landed ; and
Renard began to doubt whether the alliance, after all,
was worth the risk attending it.1 Mary, however, brave
in the midst of her perplexities, vowed that she would
relinquish her hopes of Philip only with her life. An
army of spies watched Elizabeth day and night, and the
Emperor, undeterred by Renard's hesitation, encouraged
the Queen's resolution. There could be no conspiracy
1 ' The English,' he said, 'sontsi
traietres, si inconstantes, si doubles,
si malicieux, et si faciles a esmover
qu'il ne se fault fier ; et si 1' alliance
est grande, aussi est elle hazardeuse
pour la personne de son Altesse.' —
Renard to Charles V., December 12 :
Rolls House MSS.
I553-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 313
as yet, Charles said, which could not be checked with
judicious firmness ; and dangerous persons could be ar-
rested and made secure. A strong hand could do much
in England, as was proved by the success for a time of
the late Duke of Northumberland.1
The advice fell in with Mary's own temperament ;
she had already been acting in the spirit of it. A party
of Protestants met in St Matthew's Church on the
publication of the Acts of the late session, to determine
how far they would obey them. Ten or twelve were
seized on the spot, and two were hanged out of hand.2
The Queen told Hastings and Waldegrave that she
would endure no opposition ; they should obey her or
they should leave the council. She would raise a few
thousand men, she said, to keep her subjects in order,
and she would have a thousand Flemish horse among
them. There was a difficulty about ways and means ;
as fast as money came into the treasury she had paid
debts with it, and, as far as her means extended,
she had replaced chalices and roods in the parish
churches. But, if she was poor, five millions of gold
had just arrived in Spain from the New World ; and,
as the Emperor suggested, her credit was good at Ant-
werp from her honesty. Lazarus Tucker came again to
the rescue. In November, Lazarus provided 50,000^.
for her at fourteen per cent. In January she required
ioo,ooo/. more, and she ordered Gresham to find it foi
1 Charles V. to Eenard, December 24 : Rolls House MSS.
2 Reiiard to Charles V., December 20 : Ibid.
3*4 REIGN OF Q UEEN MARY. [CH. 3 1 ,
her at low interest or high.1 Fortunately for Mary the
project of a standing army could not be carried out by
herself alone, and the passive resistance of the council
saved her from commencing the attempt. Neither
Irish mercenaries, nor Flemish, nor Welsh, as two
months after she was proposing to herself, were permit-
ted to irritate England into madness.
While Mary was thus buffeting with the waves, on
the 23rd, Count Egmont and his three companions
arrived at Calais. The French had threatened to in-
tercept the passage, and four English ships-of-war had
been ordered to be in waiting as their escort : these
ships, however, had not left the Thames, being detained
either by weather, as the admiral pretended, or by the
ill-humour of the crews, who swore they would give
the French cruisers small trouble, should they present
themselves.2 On Christmas-day ill-looking vessels were
hanging in mid-channel, off Calais harbour, but the
ambassadors were resolved to cross at all risks. They
stole over in the darkness on the night of the 26th, and
were at Dover by nine in the morning. Their retinue,
a very large one, was sent on at once to London ; snow
was on the ground, and the boys in the streets saluted
the first comers with showers of balls. The ambas-
sadors followed the next day, and were received in
silence, but without active insult. The Emperor's
choice of persons for his purpose had been judicious.
1 The Queen to Sir Thomas Gresham : Flanders MSS. Mary, State
Paper Office.
2 Noailles to the King of France, December 6 : Ambassades, vol. ii.
1553.]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
315
The English ministers intended to be offensive, but they
were disarmed by the courtesy of Egmont, who charmed
every one. In ten days the business connected with
the treaty was concluded. The treaty itself was sent to
Brussels to be ratified, and the dispensations from Home,
and the necessary powers from the Prince of Spain,
were alone waited for that the marriage might be con-
cluded in public or in private, whichever way would be
most expeditious. The Queen cared only for the com-
pletion of the irrevocable ceremony, which would bring
her husband to her side before Lent.1
The interval of delay was consumed in hunting-
parties 2 and dinners at the palace, where the courtiers
played off before the guests the passions of their eager
mistress.3 The enemies of the marriage, French and
English, had no time to lose, if they intended to prevent
the completion of it.
When the Queen's design was first publicly £^4.
announced, the King of France directed No- I0>
1 The Bishop of Arras to the
Ambassadors in England : Granvelle
Papers, vol. iv. p. 181, &c.
2 The loth day of January the
ambassadors rode unto Hampton
Court, and there they had as great
cheer as could be had, and hunted
and killed, tag and rag, with
hounds and swords. — MACHYN'S
Diary.
3 After dinner Lord William
Howard entered, and, seeing the
Queen pensive, whispered something
to her in English ; then turning to
us, he asked if we knew what he had
said ? The Queen bade him not tell,
but he paid no attention to her. Ho
told us he had said he hoped soon to
see somebody sitting there, pointing
to the chair next her Majesty. The
Queen blushed, and asked him how
he could say so. He answered that
he knew very well she liked it ;
whereat her Majesty laughed, and
the Court laughed, &c. — Egmont and
Eenard to Charles V. : Rolls Home
MSS.
316 REIGN OF QUEEN MAR\ [CH. 31.
allies to tell her frankly the alarm with which it was re-
garded at Paris. Henry and Montmorency said the
same repeatedly, and at great length, to Dr Wotton.
The Queen might have the best intentions of remaining
at peace, but events might be too strong for her ; and
they suggested, at last, that she might give a proof of
the good- will which she professed by making a fresh
freaty with them.1 That a country should be at peace
while its titular king was at war, was a situation with-
out a precedent. Intricate questions were certain to
arise ; for instance, if a mixed fleet of English and
Spanish ships should escort the Prince, or convoy his
transports or treasure, or if English ships having
Spaniards on board should enter French harbours. A
thousand difficulties such as these might occur, and it
would be wise to provide for them beforehand.
The uneasiness of the Court of Paris was not allayed
when the Queen met this most reasonable proposal with
a refusal.2 A clause, she replied, was added to the
marriage articles for the maintenance of the existing
treaties with France, and with that and with her own
promises the French Government ought to be content.
In vain Noailles pointed out that the existing treaties
would not meet the new conditions ; she was obstinate,
and both Noailles and the King of France placed the
worst interpretation upon her attitude. Philip, after
his arrival, would unquestionably drag or lead her into
his quarrels ; and they determined, therefore, to employ
1 NOAILLES. 2 Ibid.
1 554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 317
all means, secret and open, to prevent his coming, and
to co-operate with the English opposition.
The time to act had arrived. Humours were indus-
triously circulated that the Prince of Spain was already
on the seas, bringing with him ten thousand Spaniards,
who were to be landed at the Tower, and that eight
thousand Germans were to follow from the Low Countries.
Noailles and M. d'Oysel, then on his way through Lon-
don to Scotland, had an interview with a number of
lords and gentlemen, who undertook to place themselves
at the head of an insurrection, and to depose the Queen.
The whole country was crying out against her, and the
French ministers believed that the opposition had but
to declare itself in arms to meet with universal sympa-
thy. They regarded the persons with whom they were
dealing as the representatives of the national discontent ;
but on this last point they were fatally mistaken.
Noailles spoke generally of lords and gentlemen ;
but those with whom d'Oysel and himself had commu-
nicated were a party of ten or twelve of the pardoned
friends of the Duke of Northumberland, or of men
otherwise notorious among the ultra-Protestants ; the
Duke of Suffolk and his three brothers, Lord Thomas,
Lord John, and Lord Leonard Grey ; the Marquis of
Northampton ; Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the poet ; Sir
Nicholas Throgmorton ; Sir Peter Carew ; Sir Edmund
Warner, Lord Cobham's brother-in-law ; and Sir James
Crofts, the late Deputy of Ireland.1 Courtenay, who
1 Noailles and d'Oysel to the King of France, January 15 : Am-
bassades, vol. iii.
PEIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
had affected orthodoxy as long as lie had hopes of the
Queen, was admitted into the confederacy. Cornwall
and Devonshire were to be the first counties to rise,
where Courtenay would be all-powerful by his name.
"Wyatt undertook to raise Kent, Sir James Crofts the
Severn border, Suffolk and his brothers the midland
counties. Forces from these four points were to con-
verge on London, which would then stir for itself. The
French Admiral Villegaignon promised to keep a fleet
on the seas, and to move from place to place among the
western English harbours, wherever his presence would
be most useful. Plymouth had been tampered with,
and the mayor and aldermen, either really or as a ruse
to gain information, affected a desire to receive a French
garrison.1 For the sake of their cause the Protestant
party were prepared to give to France an influence in
England as objectionable in itself, and as offensive to
the majority of the people, as the influence of Spain ;
and the management of the opposition to the Queen was
snatched from the hands of those who might have
brought it to some tolerable issue, by a set of men to
whom the Spanish marriage was but the stalking-horse
for the reimposition of their late tyranny. If the Duke
1 ' Sire, tout maintenant en
achevant cette lettre, les raaire et
aldermans de Plymouth, ra'ont en-
voyu prier de vous supplier les vou-
loir prendre en votre protection,
voulans et deliberans mettre leur
ville entre vos mains, et y recepvoir
dedans telle garrison qu'il vous
plaira y envoyer; s'estans resoubz
de ne recevoir aulcunement le Prince
d'Espaigne, ne s'asservir en fa<jon
que ce soit a ses commandemens, et
s'asseurans que tons les gentilz-
hommes de 1'entour d'icy en feroient
de mesme.' — Noailles to the King
of France : Ambassades, vol. ii. p.
342.
1 554-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 319
of Northumberland, instead of setting up a rival to
Mary, had loyally admitted her to the throne which
was her right, he might have tied her hands, and secured
the progress of moderate reform. Had the great patriotic
anti-papal party been now able to combine, with no dis-
integrating element, they could have prevented the
marriage or made it harmless. But the ultra-party
plunged again into treason, in which they would suc-
ceed only to restore the dominion of a narrow and blight-
ing sectarianism.1
The conspirators remained in London till the second
week in January. Wyatt went into Kent, Peter Carew
ran down the Channel to Exmouth in a vessel of his
own, and sent relays of horses as far as Aiidover for
Courtenay, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton undertaking to
see the latter thus far upon his way. The disaffection
was already simmering in Devonshire. There was a
violent scene among the magistrates at the Christmas
quarter- sessions at Exeter. A countryman came in,
and reported that he had been waylaid and searched by
a party of strange horsemen in steel saddles, ' under the
gallows at the hill top/ at Fair-mile, near Sir Peter
Carew's house. His person had been mistaken, it seemed,
but questions were asked, inquiries made, and ugly lan-
guage had been used about the Queen. On Carew's
arrival the ferment increased. One of his lacqueys,
1 One of the projects mooted 1 Clerk of the Council. Wyatt, how-
was the Queen's murder ; a scheme I ever, would not stain the cause with
suggested hy a man from whom | dark crimes of that kind, and threat-
better things might have been ex- ened Thomas with rough handling
pected, "William Thomas, the late I for his proposal.
320
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
mistaking intention for fact, whispered in Exeter that
1 my Lord of Devonshire was at Mohun's Ottery.'1 Six
horses heavily loaded passed in, at midnight, through
the city gates. The panniers were filled with harness
and hand-guns from Sir Peter's castle at Dartmouth.2
Sir John Chichester, Sir Arthur Champernowne, Peter
and Gawen Carew, and Gybbes of Silverton had met in
private, rumour said for no good purpose ; and the
Exeter Catholics were anxious and agitated. They had
been all disarmed after the insurrection of 1549, the
castle was in ruins, the city walls were falling down.
Should Courtenay come, the worst consequences were
anticipated.
But Courtenay did not come. After Carew had left
London he became nervous ; when the horses were re-
ported to be ready, he lingered about the Court ; he
flattered himself that the Queen had changed her mind
in his favour ; and two nights before the completion of
the treaty he sat up, affecting to expect to be sent for
to marry her on the spot.3 Finding the message did
not arrive, he gave an order to his tailor to prepare a
splendid Court costume, adding perhaps some boasting
words, which were carried to Gardiner. The chancel-
lor's regard for him was sincere, and went beyond a de-
sire to make him politically useful. He sent for him,
cross- questioned him, and by the influence of a strong
1 The house of Sir Peter Ca-
rew.
2 Miscellaneous Depositions on
the State of Devonshire : MS. Do-
mestic, Mary, vol. ii. State Paper
Office.
3 Instructions to la Marque:
NOAILLES, vol. iii. p. 25, &c.
1554-
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
321
mind over a weak one, drew out as much as Courtenay
knew of the secrets of the plot.1
The intention was to delay, if possible, an open de-
claration of rebellion a few weeks longer — till the Prince
of Spain's arrival should raise the ferment to boiling
point. Gardiner, who was determined, at all events, to
prevent the Protestants from making head, informed
the Queen, without mentioning Courtenay's name, that
he had cause to suspect Sir Peter Carew. A summons
was despatched to Devonshire to require Sir Peter and
his brother to return to London : and thus either to
compel them to rise prematurely, without Courtenay's
assistance, or, if they complied, to enable the Court to
secure their persons. The desired effect was produced ;
.Carew had waded too deep in treason to trust himself
in Gardiner's hands. He wrote an excuse, yet protest-
ing his loyalty ; and he invited the inhabitants of Exe-
ter to join in a petition to the Crown against the mar-
riage, as a first step towards a rising.
But the Carews were notorious and unpopular ; the
justices of the peace at the sessions had been just occu-
pied with a Protestant outrage committed by one of
their nearest friends,2 and their true object was sus-
- Xoailles to the King of
France: ^Imbassades, vol. iii. p. 31.
2 ' On the morning of Christmas-
day came twelve neighbours of Sil-
verton, being the parish where Mr
Gybbes dwelleth, and they com-
plained to me of a cross of latten,
and of an altar-cloth stolen out of
VOL. v.
the church before that time ; and
that the cross was set up upon a
gate or upon a hedge by the way,
where the picture of Christ was
dressed with a paste or such like
tyre, and the picture of our Lady
and St John tied by threads to the
arms of the cross, like thieves.'
21
322
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
pected. The barns of Crediton were not forgotten, nor
the massacre of the prisoners at Clyst, and without
Courtenay they were powerless. Their invitation met
with no response ; and Chichester and Champernowne,
seeing how the tide was setting, washed their hands of
the connection. Sir Thomas Dennys, a Catholic gentle-
man of the county, took command of Exeter, sent ex-
press for the sheriff, Sir Richard Edgecumbe, of Cot-
teyll, to come to his help, and as well as he could he
put the city in a state of defence.1 Carew retired to
Mohun's Ottery, when an order came to Dennys from
the Court for his arrest.
Dennys, who desired Carew' s escape more than his
capture, replied that for the moment he could not exe-
cute the order. Mohun's Ottery could not be taken
without cannon, and wet weather had made the roads
impassable. Meantime he gave Sir Peter notice of his
danger ; and Sir Peter, disposing in haste of his farm
stock to raise a supply of money, crossed the country to
Weymouth, embarked in a vessel which ' Mr Walter
Raleigh ' had brought round to meet him, and sailed for
France.2
One arm of the conspiracy was thus lopped off at the
first blow. But, although Courtenay' s treachery was
known, some days elapsed before the ill success of Carew
' Mr Gybbes,' could not be actually
convicted of having been the perpe-
trator, but he was ' vehemently sus-
pected,' and, when examined, had
used 'vile words.' — Depositions of
John Prideaux : US. Mary, Domes-
tic, vol. ii. State Paper Office.
1 Ibid.
2 Depositions of John Pri-
deaux : MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. ii.
State Paper Office.
1 554.] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 323
was heard of in London. Courtenay had been trusted
only so far as his intended share in the action had made
it necessary to trust him, and the confederates were
chiefly anxious that, having broken down, he should be
incapacitated from doing further mischief by being re-
stored to the Tower. Courtenay, wrote Noailles, has
thrown away his chance of greatness, and will now
probably die miserably. Lord Thomas Grey was heard
to say that, as Courtenay had proved treacherous he
would take his place, and run his chance for the crown
or the scaffold.1
They would, perhaps, have still delayed till they had
received authentic accounts from Devonshire ; but the
arrest of Sir Edmund Warner, and one or two others,
assured them that too much of their projects
had transpired ; and on the 22nd of January
Sir Thomas Wyatt called a meeting of his friends at
Allingham Castle, on the Medway. The commons of
Kent were the same brave, violent, and inflammable
people whom John Cade, a century before, had led to
London ; the country gentlemen were generally under
Wyatt' s influence. Sir R. Southwell, the sheriff for the
year, had been among the loudest objectors in Parlia-
ment to the marriage ; and if Southwell joined in the
rising he would bring with him Lord Abergavenny.2
Lord Cobham, Wyatt' s uncle, was known to wish him
well. Sir Thomas Cheyne, the only other person of
1 NOAILLF.fi.
2 Confession of Anthony Norton : MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii. State
Paper Office.
324 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31,
weight in the county, would be loyal to the Queen, but
Wyatt had tampered with his tenants ; Cheyne could
bring a thousand men into the field, but they would desert
when led out, and there was nothing to fear from them.
Whether Southwell and Cobham would act openly on
Wyatt's side was the chief uncertainty; it was feared
that Southwell might desire to keep within the limits
of loyal opposition ; Cobham offered to send his sons,
but ' the sending of sons/ some member of the meeting
said, ' was the casting away of the Duke of Northum-
berland ; their lives were as dear to them as my lord
Cobham' s was to him ; let him come himself and set his
foot by them/ 1 The result of the conference was a
determination to make the venture. Thursday the 25th
was the day agreed on for the rising, and the gentlemen
present went in their several directions to prepare the
people.
Meantime Gardiner was following the track which
Courtenay had opened. He knew generally the leaders
of the conspiracy, yet uncertain, in the universal per-
plexity, how any one would act, he knew not whom to
trust. To send Courtenay out of the way, he
allowed a project to be set on foot for despatch-
ing him on an embassy to Brussels ; and anxious, per-
haps, not to alarm Mary too much, he simply told her
what she and Renard knew already, that treasonable
designs were on foot to make Elizabeth Queen. In
a conversation about Elizabeth the chancellor agreed
1 Confession of Anthony Norton : MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii. State
Paper Office.
1 5 54-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 325
with Renard that it would be well to arrest her without
delay. ' Were but the Emperor in England/ Gardiner
said, ' she would be disposed of with little difficulty.' l
Unfortunately, the spies had as yet detected no cause
for suspicion on which the Government could act legiti-
mately.
Mary, ignorant that she was in immediate danger,
and only vaguely uneasy, looked to Philip's coming as
the cure of her discomforts. 'Let the Prince come/
she said to Renard, ' and all will be well.' She said
she would raise eight thousand men and keep them in
London as his guard and hers ; she would send a fleet
into the Channel and sweep the French into their
harbours ; only let him come before Lent, which waa
now but a fortnight distant : ' give him my affectionate
love/ she added ; ' tell him that I will be all to him that
a wife ought to be ; and tell him, too [delightful message
to an already hesitating bridegroom], tell him to bring
his own cook with him ' for fear he should be poisoned.2
The ceremony, could it have been accomplished, would
have been a support to her ; but the forms from Home
were long in coming. On the 24th the Em-
peror was at last able to send a brief, which,
in the absence of the bulls, he trusted might be enough
to satisfy the Queen's scruples. Cuthbert Tunstal, who
had been consecrated before the schism, might officiate,
and the Pope would remove all irregularities afterwards.3
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS. • Ibid.
3 Charles V. to the Ambassadors in England, January 24 : Granvelh
Papers, vol. iv.
326
&E1GN OF QUEEN MARY.
31.
Jan. 25.
But when the letter and the brief arrived Mary was at
no leisure to be married.
Wyatt, having arranged the day for the rising, sent
notice to the Duke of Suffolk, who was still in London.
On the morning of the 25th an officer of the
Court appeared at the Duke's house, with an
intimation that he was to repair to the Queen's presence.
Suffolk was in a riding dress — * Marry ! ' he said, ( I
was coming to her Grace ; ye may see I am booted and
spurred; I will but break my fast and go.'1 The
officer retired. The Duke collected as much money
as he could lay hands on — sent a servant to warn his
brothers, and, though in bad health, mounted his
horse and rode without stopping to Lutterworth, where
on the Sunday following, Lord John and Lord Thomas
Grey joined him.
The same morning of the 25th an alarm was rung
on the church bells in the towns and villages in all parts
of Kent ; and copies of a proclamation were scattered
abroad, signifying that the Spaniards were coming to
conquer the realm, and calling on loyal Englishmen to
rise and resist them. Wyatt's standard was raised at
Rochester, the point at which the insurgent forces were
to unite ; his friends had done their work well, and in
all directions the yeomen, and the peasants rose in arms.
1 Chronicle of Queen Mary.
Baoardo says that Suffolk Avas sent
for to take command of the force
which was to he sent against Wyatt.
But Wyatt's insurrection had not
commenced, far less was any resolu-
tion taken to send a force against
him. Noailles is, doubtless, right
in saying that he was to have been
arrested. — Ambassades. vol. iii. p.
48. -
1554-J
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
327
Cheyne threw himself into Dover Castle : Southwell and
Abergavenny held to the Queen as had been feared.
Abergavenny raised two thousand men, and attacked
and dispersed a party of insurgents under Sir Henry
Isly on Wrotham Heath ; but Abergavenny 's followers
deserted him immediately afterwards, and marched to
Rochester to Wyatt. Southwell could do nothing ; he
believed that the rebellion would spread to London, and
that Mary would be lost.1
On the s6th, Wyatt, being master of Ro-
chester and the Medway, seized the Queen's
ships that were in the river, took possession of their guns
and ammunition, proclaimed Abergavenny, Southwell,
and another gentleman traitors to the commonwealth,2
and set himself to organize the force which continued
to pour in upon him. Messengers, one after another,
hurried to London with worse and worse news ; North-
ampton was arrested and sent to the Tower, but Suifolk
and his brothers were gone ; and, after all which had
1 Southwell to Sir William
Petre : MS. Mary, Domestic, State
Paper Office.
2 'You shall understand that
Henry Lord of Abergavenny ;
Robert Southwell, knight, and
George Clarke, gentleman, have
most traitorously, to the disturbance
of the commonwealth, stirred and
raised up the Queen's most loving
subjects of this realm, to [maintain
the] most wicked and devilish enter-
prise of certain wicked and perverse
councillors, to the utter confusion of
this her Grace's realm, and the per-
petual servitude of all her most lov-
ing subjects. In consideration
whereof, we SirThos. Wyatt, knight,
Sir George Harper, knight, Anthony
Knyvet, esq., with all the faithful
gentlemen of Kent, with the trusty
commons of the same, do pronounce
and declare the said Henry Lord of
Abergavenny, Robert Southwell, and
George Clarke to be traitors to God,
the Crown, and the commonwealth.'
— MS. Ibid.
328 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. |cn. 31.
been said of raising troops, when the need came for
them there were none beyond the ordinary guard. The
Queen had to rely only on the musters of the city and
the personal retainers of the council and the other peers ;
both of which resources she had but too much reason to
distrust. In fact, the council, dreading the use to which
the Queen might apply a body of regular troops, had
resisted all her endeavours to raise such a body ; Paget
had laboured loyally for a fortnight, and at the end he
assured the Queen on his knees that he had not been
allowed to enlist a man.1 Divided on all other points,
the motley group of ministers agreed to keep Mary
powerless ; with the exception of Gardiner and Paget,
they were all, perhaps, unwilling to chock too soon a
demonstration which, kept within bounds, might prove
the justice of their own objections.
The Queen, however, applied to the cor-
Jan. 27.
poration of the city, and obtained a promise
of five hundred men ; she gave the command to the
Duke of Norfolk, on whose integrity she knew that she
could rely ; and, sending a herald to Rochester with a
pardon, if the rebels would disperse, she despatched Nor-
folk, Sir Henry Jerningham, and the young Lord
Ormond, to Gravesend without waiting for an answer.
The city bands were to follow them immediately. Afraid
that Elizabeth would fly before she could be secured,
the Queen wrote a letter to her studiously gracious, in
which she told her that, in the disturbed state of the
Renard to Charles V, ; Rolls House MSS.
I554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
329
country, she was uneasy for her safety, and recommended
her to take shelter with herself in the palace.1 Had
Elizabeth obeyed, she would have been instantly
arrested ; but she was ill, and wrote that she was un-
able to move. The next day evidence came into
Gardiner's hands which he trusted would consign her
at last to the scaffold.
The King of France had sent a message to the con-
federates that he had eighty vessels in readiness, with
eighteen companies of infantry, and that he waited to
learn on what part of the coast they should effect a
landing.2 The dangerous communication had been
made known to the Court. The French ambassador had
been narrowly watched, and one of his couriers who left
London on the 26th with despatches for Paris was fol-
lowed to Rochester, where he saw, or attempted to see,
Wyatt. The courier, after leaving the town, was way-
laid by a party of Lord Cobham's servants in the dis-
guise of insurgents ; his despatches were taken from him
and sent to the chancellor, who found in the packet a
letter of Noailles to the King in cypher, and a copy of
Elizabeth's answer to the Queen. Although in the lat-
1 STRYPE, vol. v. p. 127. Mr
Tytler appeals to this letter as an
evidence of the good feeling of the
Queen towards her sister ; but many
and genuine as were Mary's good
qualities, she may not be credited
with a regard for Elizabeth. Re-
nard's letters explain her real senti-
ments, and account for her outward
graciousness. She had already con-
sulted with Renard and Gardiner on
the necessity of sending her to the
Tower ; and, on the 2Qth of January,
as the princess did not avail herself
of the Queen's proposal, Renard de-
scribes himself to the Emperor as
pressing her immediate arrest. —
Rolls House MSS.
~ Renard (o Charles V., January
29: Rolls House MSS.
330
&E1GN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
ter there was no treason, yet it indicated a suspicious
correspondence. The cypher, could it be read, might
be expected to contain decisive evidence against her.1
Saturday, Meantime the herald had not been admit-
Jan. 27. ted int() Rochester. He had read the Queen's
message on the bridge, and, being answered by Wyatt's
followers that they required no pardon, for they had
done no wrong, he retired. Sir George Harper, who
was joint commander with "Wyatt, stole away the same
evening to Gravesend, and presented himself to Norfolk.
The rebels, he said, were discontented and irresolute ; for
himself he desired to accept the Queen 's pardon, which
he was ready to earn by doing service against them ; if
the Duke would advance without delay, he would find
no resistance, and Wyatt would fall into his hands.
Sunday, The London bands arrived the following
Jan. 28. afternoon, and Norfolk determined to take
Harper's advice. The weather was 'very terrible.'
1 A letter from Gardiner to Sir
William Petre is in the State Paper
Office, part of which he wrote with
the cypher open under his eyes in the
first heat of the discovery. The
breadth and depth of the pen-strokes
express the very pulsation of his
passion: —
'As I was in hand with other
matters,' the paragraph runs, ' was
delivered such letters as in times
past I durst not have opened ; but
now, somewhat heated with these
treasons, I waxed bolder, wherein I
trust I shall be borne with ; where-
in hap helpeth me, for they be worth
the breaking up an I could wholly
decypher them, wherein I will spend
somewhat of my leisure, if I can
have any. But this appeareth, that
the letter written from my Lady
Elizabeth to the Queen's Highness,
now late in her excuse, is taken a
matter worthy to be sent into
France ; for I have the copy of it in
the French Ambassador's packet.
I will know what can be done in the
decyphering, and to-morrow remit
that I cannot do unto you.' —
Gardiner to Petre : MS. Mary, Do-
mestic, State Paper Office.
1554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGR 331
On Monday morning it blew so hard that no Monday,
boat could live ; Wyatt, therefore, would be Jan' 29-
unable to escape by the river, and an immediate advance
was resolved upon. Sir Thomas Cheyne was coming
up from Dover ; Lord William Howard was looked for
hourly, and Abergavenny was again exerting himself:
Lord Cobham had urged the Duke to wait a few days,
and had told him that he had certain knowledge from
Wyatt himself that ' the Londoners would not fight : ' 1
but Norfolk was confident ; the men had assured him of
their loyalty ; and at four o'clock on Monday afternoon
he was on the sloping ground facing towards Rochester,
within cannon-shot of the bridge. The Duke was him-
self in front, with Ormond, Jerningham, and eight
' field-pieces/ which he had brought with him. A group
of insurgents were in sight across the water, a gun was
placed in position to bear upon them ; and the gunner
was blowing his match, when Sir Edward Bray gallop-
ed up, crying out that the ' white coats/ as the London
men were called, were changing sides. The Duke had
fallen into a trap which Harper had laid for him. Turn-
ing round he saw Brett, the London captain, with all
his men, and with Harper at his side, advancing and
shouting, ' A Wyatt ! a Wyatt ! we are all English-
men ! ' The first impulse was to turn the gun upon
them ; the second, and more prudent, was to spring on
his horse, and gallop with half a dozen others for his
life. His whole force had deserted, and guns, money,
1 Norfolk to the Council from Gravesend, Sunday, January 28, Mon-
day, January 29 : MS. Domestic, Mary, State Paper Office.
J32
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY,
[CH. 31.
baggage, and five hundred of the best troops in London
fell into the insurgents' hands, and swelled their ranks.
No sooner was the Duke gone, than Wyatt in person
came out over the bridge. 'As many as will tarry
with us/ he cried, ' shall be welcome ; as many as will
depart, let them go.' Yery few accepted the latter offer.
Three parts, even of Norfolk's private attendants, took
service with the rebel leader.
The prestige of success decided all who were waver-
ing in the county. Abergavenny was wholly forsaken T
Southwell escaped to the Court ; Cheyne wrote to the
council that he was no longer sure of any one ; ' the
abominable treason of those that came with the Duke of
Norfolk had infected the whole population.' 1 Cobham
continued to hold off, but his sons came into Rochevster the
evening of the Duke's flight; and Wyatt sent a message to
the father expressing his sorrow that he had been hitherto
backward ; promising to forgive him, however, and re-
quiring him to be in the camp the next day, when the
army would march on London. Cobham still hesitating,
two thousand men were at the gates of his house2 by day-
break the next morning. He refused to lower
the drawbridge, but the chains were cut with
a cannon-shot, the gates were blown open, and the
Jan. 30.
1 * It is a great deal more than
strange,' he added, ' to see the beast-
liness of the people, to see how
earnestly they be bent in this their
most Hevilish enterprise, and will by
no means be persuaded the contrary
but that it is for the commonweal of
all the realm.' — Cheyne to the Conn,
cil : MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii.
2 Cowling Castle, a place already
famous in English Reforming his-
tory as the residence of Sir John
Oldcastle.
I554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
333
Jan. 31.
rebels were storming in when his servants forced him
to surrender. The house was pillaged; an oath was
thrust on Cobham that he would join, which he took
with the intention of breaking it ; and the rebels, per-
haps seeing cause to distrust him, carried him off to
Wyatt as a prisoner.1 That night the insur-
gents rested at Gravesend. The next day
they reached Dartford. Their actual numbers were in-
significant, but their strength was the disaffection of
London, where the citizens were too likely to follow the
example which had been set at Rochester.
Mary's situation was now really alarming : she was
without money, notwithstanding the Jews : she had no
troops ; of all her ministers Paget alone was sincerely
anxious to do her service ; for Gardiner, on the subject
of the marriage, was as unwilling as ever. It was
rumoured that the King of Denmark intended to unite
with the French in support of the revolutionists, and
Renard began calmly to calculate that, should this re-
port prove true, the Queen could not be saved. Pem-
broke and Clinton offered to raise another force in the
1 He contrived to send a letter
to the Queen the evening of the day
on which his house was taken. Af-
ter describing the scene, he added :
' If your Grace will assemble forces
in convenient numbers, they not
being above 2000 men, and yet not
500 of them able and good armed
men, but rascals and rakehells such
as live by spoil, I doubt not but
your Grace shall have the victory.'
— Cobham to the Queen : MS.
State Paper Office. But Cobham
under-estimated the numbers, and
undervalued the composition of
Wyatt's forces, perhaps intention-
ally, lienard, who is generally ac-
curate, says that the rebels at this
time amounted to three thousand ;
Noailles says, twelve or fifteen thou-
sand.
334 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
city and fight Wyatt ; but so far as Mary could tell,
they would be as likely to turn against her as to fight
in her defence ; and she declined their services. Renard
offered Gardiner assistance from the Low Countries —
Gardiner replied with extreme coldness that he had no
desire to see Flemish soldiers in England — and the
council generally were ' so strange ' in their manner,
and so languid in their action, that the ambassador
could not assure himself that they were not Wyatt 's
real instigators. Not a man had been raised to protect
the Queen, and part of her own guard had been among
the deserters at Rochester. She appealed to the honour
of the Lords to take measures for her personal safety ;
but they did nothing, and, it seemed, would do nothing ;
if London rose, they said merely, she must retire to
Windsor.
The aspect of affairs was so threatening that Renard
believed that the marriage at least would have to be re-
linquished. It seemed as if it could be accomplished
only with the help of an invading army ; and although
Mary would agree to any measure which would secure
Philip, the presence of foreign troops, as the Emperor
himself was aware, could only increase the exasperation.1
The Queen's resolution, however, grew with her dif-
ficulties. If she could not fight she would not yield ;
and, taking matters into her own hands, she sent Sir
Thomas Cornwallis and Sir Edward Hastings to Dart-
ford, with directions to speak with Wyatt, if possible,
1 Renard to the Emperor, Janu- I Emperor to Renard, February 4 :
ary 29 : Rolls House MSS. The | Granvelk Papers, vol. iv. p. 204.
IS54-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
335
alone ; to tell him that she 'mar veiled a this demeanour,'
' rising as a subject to impeach her marriage ;' she was
ready to believe, however, that he thought himself act-
ing in the interests of the commonwealth ; she would
appoint persons to talk over the subject with him, and
if it should appear that the marriage would not, as she
supposed, be beneficial to the realm, she would sacrifice
her wishes.1
The message was not strictly honest, for the Queen
had no real intention of sacrificing anything. She de-
sired merely to gain time ; and, should Wyatt refuse,
as she expected, she wished to place herself in a better
position to appeal to her subjects for help.2 But the
move under this aspect was skilful and successful ; when
Cornwallis and Hastings discharged their commission,
Wyatt replied that he would rather be trusted than
trust ; he would argue the marriage with pleasure, but
he required first the custody of the Tower, and of the
Queen's person, and four of the council must place
themselves in his hands as hostages.3
Had Wyatt, said Noailles, been able to reach Lon-
don simultaneously with this answer, he would have
found the gates open and the whole population eager to
give him welcome. To his misfortune he lingered on
the way, and the Queen had time to use his words
against him. The two gentlemen returned indignant
1 Instructions to Sir Thomas
Cornwallis and Sir Edward Hast-
ings : MS. State Paper Office.
2 Renard to the Emperor : Rolls
House MSS.
3 HOLINSHED; NOAILLES.
33* REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
at his insolence. The next morning: Count
Feb. i.
Egmont waited on Mary to say that he and
his companions were at her service, and would stand by
her to their death. Perplexed as she was, Egmont said
he found her ' marvellously firm/ The marriage, she
felt, must, at all events, be postponed for the present ;
the Prince could not come till the insurrection was at an
end ; and, while she was grateful for the offer, she not
only thought it best to decline the ambassador's kind-
ness, but she recommended them, if possible, to leave
London and the country without delay. Their party
was large enough to irritate the people, and too small
to be of use. She bade Egmont, therefore, tell the
Emperor that from the first she had put her trust in
God, and that she trusted in Him still ; and for them-
selves, she told them to go at once, taking her best
wishes with them. They obeyed. Six Antwerp mer-
chant sloops were in the river below the bridge, waiting
to sail. They stole on board, dropped down the tide,
and were gone.
The afternoon of the same day the Queen herself,
with a studied air of dejection,1 rode through the streets
to the Guildhall, attended by Gardiner and the remnant
of the guard. In St Paul's Churchyard she met Pem-
broke, and slightly bowed as she passed him. Gardiner
was observed to stoop to his saddle. The hall was
1 Vous, asseurant, sire, comme
celluy qui 1'a veu, que scai chant la
dicte dame aller au diet lieu, je me
deliberay en cape de veoir de quelle
visaige elle et sa compaignie y alloi-
ent ; que je congneus estre aussy
triste et desploree qu'ilse peult pen-
ser. — Noailles to the King of France.
Feb. i.
IS54-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 337
crowded with citizens : some brought there by hatred,
some by respect, many by pity, but more by curiosity.
When the Queen entered she stood forward on the steps,
above the throng, and, in her deep man's voice, she
spoke to them.1
Her subjects had risen in rebellion against her, she
said ; she had been told that the cause was her intended
marriage with the Prince of Spain ; and, believing that
it was the real cause, she had offered to hear and to re-
spect their objections. Their leader had betrayed in
his answer his true motives ; he had demanded posses-
sion of the Tower of London and of her own person.
She stood there, she said, as lawful Queen of England,
and she appealed to the loyalty of her great city to
save her from a presumptuous rebel, who, under specious
pretences, intended to ' subdue the laws to his will, and
to give scope to rascals and forlorn persons to make
general havoc and spoil.' As to her marriage, she had
supposed that so magnificent an alliance could not have
failed to be agreeable to her people. To herself, and,
she was not afraid to say, to her council, it seemed to
promise high advantage to the commonwealth. Mar-
riage, in itself, was indifferent to her ; she had been
invited to think of it by the desire of the country that
she should have an heir ; but she could continue happy
in the virgin state in which she had hitherto passed her
life. She would call a Parliament and the subject
should be considered in all its bearings : if, on mature
La voce grossa et quasi di huomo. — Giovanni Michele : ELLIS, vol. ii.
i
series ii.
VOL. v. 22
338 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [011.31.
consideration, the Lords and Commons of England
should refuse to approve of the Prince of Spain as a
fitting husband for her, she promised, on the word of a
Queen, that she would think of him no more.
The spectacle of her distress won the sympathy of
her audience ; the holdness of her bearing commanded
their respect ; the promise of a Parliament satisfied, or
seemed to satisfy, all reasonable demands : and among
the wealthy citizens there was no desire to see London
in possession of an armed mob, in whom the Anabaptist
leaven was deeply interfused. The speech, therefore,
had remarkable success. The Queen returned to West-
minster, leaving the corporation converted to the pru-
dence of supporting her. Twenty-five thousand men
were enrolled the next day for the protection of the
Crown and the capital ; Lord William Howard was
associated with the mayor in the command ; and Wyatt,
who had reached Greenwich on Thursday, and had
wasted two days there, uncertain whether he should
not cross the river in boats to Blackwall, arrived
Saturday, on Saturday morning at Southwark, to find
Feb. 3. the gates closed on London Bridge, and the
drawbridge flung down into the water.
Noailles, for the first time, believed now that the
insurrection would fail. Success or failure, in fact,
would turn on the reception which the midland coun-
ties had given to the Duke of Suffolk ; and of Suffolk
authentic news had been brought to London that
morning.
On the flight of the Duke being known at the Court,
1554-J
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
339
it was supposed immediately that lie intended to pro-
claim his daughter and Guilford Dudley. Rumour,
indeed, turned the supposition into fact,1 and declared
that he had called on the country to rise in arms for
Queen Jane. But Suffolk's plan was identical with
Wyatt's ; he had carried with him a duplicate of Wyatt's
proclamation, and accompanied by his brother, he pre-
sented himself in the market-place at Leicester on the
morning of Monday the 29th. Lord Hunt- Monday,
ingdon had followed close upon his track from Jan- 29-
London ; but he assured the Mayor of Leicester that the
Earl of Huntingdon was coming,, not to oppose, but to
join with him. No harm was intended to the Queen ;
he was ready to die in her defence ; his object was only
to save England from the dominion of foreigners.
In consequence of these protestations, he was allowed
to read his proclamation ; the people were indifferent ;
but he called about him a few scores of his tenants and
retainers from his own estates in the country ; and on
Tuesday morning, while the insurgents in Kent were
attacking Cowling Castle, Suffolk rode out of Leicester,
in full armour, at the head of his troops, intending first
to move on Coventry, then to take Kenilworth and
Warwick, and so to advance on London. The garrison
at Warwick had been tampered with, and was reported
to be ready to rise. The gates of Coventry he expected
1 ' The Duke has raised evil-dis-
posed persons, minding her Grace's
destruction, and to advance the Lady
Jane, his daughter, and Guilford
Dudley, her husband'— Royal Pro-
clamation : MS. State Paper Office.
Printed in the additional Notes to
Mr NICHOLS'S Chronicle of Queen
Mary. Baoardo says that the Duke
actually proclaimed Lady Jane.
34o REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
to find open. He had sunt his proclamation thither the
day before, by a servant, and he had friends within the
walls who had undertaken to place the town at his dis-
posal.
The state of Coventry was probably the state of most
other towns in England. The inhabitants were divided.
The mayor and aldermen, the fathers of families, and
the men of property, were conservatives, loyal to the
Queen, to the mass, and to ' the cause of order/ The
young and enthusiastic, supported by others who had
good reasons for being in opposition to established au-
thorities, were those who had placed themselves in cor-
respondence with the Duke of Suffolk.
Suffolk's servant (his name was Thomas Rampton),
on reaching the town, on Monday evening, made a mis-
take in the first person to whom he addressed himself,
and received a cold answer. Two others of the towns-
men, however, immediately welcomed him, and told
him that ' the whole place was at his lord's command-
ment, except certain of the town council, who feared
that, if good fellows had the upper hand, their extremi-
ties heretofore should be remembered.'1 They took
Rampton into a house, where, presently, another man
entered of the same way of thinking, and, in his own
eyes, a man of importance. ' My Lord's quarrel is right
well known,' this person said, ' it is God's quarrel, let
him come; let him come, and make no stay, for this
Office.
1 Hampton's Confession : MS. Domestic, Mary, vol. iii. State Paper
i 5 54- 1 THE SPANISH MARRIA GE. 341
town is his own. I say to you assuredly this town is
his own. I am it.J
It was now night; no time was to be lost, the
townsmen said. They urged Hampton to return at once
to Suffolk, and hasten his movements. They would
themselves read the proclamation at the market-cross
forthwith, and raise the people. Rampton, who had
ridden far, and was weary, wished to wait till the morn-
ing ; if they were so confident of success, a few hours
could make no difference : but it appeared shortly tha^
the ' good fellows ' in .Coventry were not exclusively
under the influence of piety and patriotism. If a rising
commenced in the darkness, it was admitted that ' un-
doubted spoil and peradventure destruction of many
rich men would ensue/ and with transactions of this
kind the Duke's servant was unwilling to connect him-
self.
Thus the hours wore away, and no resolution was
arrived at ; and, in the mean time, the town council had
received -a warning to be on their guard. Before day-
break the constables were on the alert, the decent citi-
zens took possession of the gates, and the conspirators
had lost their opportunity. In the afternoon Suffolk
arrived with a hundred horse under the walls, but there
was no admission for him. Whilst he was hesitating
what course to pursue, a messenger came in to say that
the Earl of Huntingdon was at Warwick. The plot for
"the revolt of the garrison had been detected, and the
whole country was on the alert. The people had no
desire to see the Spaniards in England ; but sober quiet
342 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31,
farmers and burgesses would not rise at the call of the
friend of Northumberland, and assist in bringing back
the evil days of anarchy.
The Greys had now only to provide for their per-
sonal safety.
Suffolk had an estate a few miles distan^, called
Astley Park, to which the party retreated from Coven-
try. There the Duke shared such money as he had
with him among his men, and bade them shift for them-
selves. Lord Thomas Grey changed coats with a serv-
ant, and rode off to "Wales to .join Sir James Crofts.
Suffolk himself, who was ill, took refuge with his bro-
ther, Lord John, in the cottage of one of his gamekeep-
ers, where they hoped to remain hidden till the hue
and cry should be over, and they could escape abroad.
The cottage was considered insecure. Two bowshots
south of Astley Church there stood in the park an old
decaying tree, in the hollow of which the father of Lady
Jane Grey concealed himself ; and there, for two winter
days and a night, he was left without food. A pro-
clamation had been put out by Huntingdon for
Suffolk's apprehension, and the keeper, either
tempted by the reward, or frightened by the menace
against all who should give him shelter, broke his trust
— a rare example of disloyalty — and going to Warwick
Castle, undertook to betray his master's hiding-place.
A party of troopers were despatched, with the keeper
for a guide ; and, on arriving at Astley, they found that
the Duke, unable to endure the cold and hunger longer,
had crawled out of the tree, and was warming himself
I554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
343
by the cottage fire. Lord John was discovered buried
under some bundles of hay.1 They were carried off at
once to the Tower, whither Lord Thomas Grey and Sir
James Crofts, who had failed as signally in Wales, soon
after followed them.2
The account of his confederates' failure saluted
Wyatt on his arrival in Southwark, on the Saturday,
3rd of February. The intelligence was being Feb* 3*
published, at the moment, in the streets of London ;
"Wyatt himself, at the same time, was proclaimed traitor,
and a reward of a hundred pounds was offered for his
capture, dead or alive. The peril, however, was far
from over ; Wyatt replied to the proclamation by wear-
ing his name, in large letters, upon his cap ; the success
of the Queen's speech in the city irritated the council,
who did not choose to sit still under the imputation of
having approved of the Spanish marriage. They de-
clared everywhere, loudly and angrily, that they had
not approved of it, and did not approve; in the city
itself public feeling again wavered, and fresh parties of
the train-bands crossed the water and deserted. The
behaviour of Wyatt 's followers gave the lie to the
Queen's charges against them : the prisons in South-
wark were not opened ; property was respected scru-
pulously ; the only attempt at injury was at Winchester
House, and there it was instantly repressed ; the iii-
1 Renard to the Emperor : Rolls
House MSS.
2 I follow Baoardo in the ac-
count of the Duke's capture. Re-
nard says that he was found in the
tree by a little dog : ' qu'a este"
grand commencement du miracle
pour le succes prospeve des affaires
de la dicte dame.' — Renard to the
Emperor, February 8 : MS.
344 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
habitants of the Borough entertained them with warm
hospitality ; and the Queen, notwithstanding her efforts,
found herself as it were besieged, in her principal city,
by a handful of commoners, whom no one ventured, or
no one could be trusted, to attack. So matters continued
through Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Tho
lawyers at Westminster Hall pleaded in harness, and the
judges wore harness under their robes ; Doctor Weston
sang mass in harness before the Queen ; tradesmen at-
tended in harness behind their counters. The metropolis,
on both sides of the water, was in an attitude of armed
expectation, yet there was no movement, no demonstra-
tion on either side of popular feeling. The ominous
strangeness of the situation appalled even Mary herself.1
By this time the intercepted letter of
Noailles had been decyphered. It proved, if
more proof was wanted, the correspondence between the
ambassador and the conspirators ; it explained the object
of the rising — the Queen was to be dethroned in favour
of her sister ; and it was found, also, though names were
not mentioned, that the plot had spread far upwards
among the noblemen by whom Mary was surrounded.
Evidence of Elizabeth's complicity it did not contain ;
while, to Gardiner's mortification, it showed that Cour-
tenay, in his confessions to himself, had betrayed the
guilt of others, but had concealed part of his own. In
an anxiety to shield him the chancellor pronounced the
cypher of Courtenay's name to be unintelligible. The
1 NOATLLES.
1 5 54.] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 345
Queen, placed the letter in tlie hands of Renard, by
whom it was instantly read, and the chancellor's humour
was not improved ; Mary had the mortification of feel-
ing that she was herself the last object of anxiety either
to him or to any of her council ; though Wyatt was at
the gates of London, the council could only spend the
time in passionate recriminations ; Paget blamed Gar-
diner for his religious intolerance ; Gardiner blamed
Paget for having advised the marriage; some exclaimed
against Courtenay, some against Elizabeth ; but, of
acting, all alike seemed incapable. If the Queen was
in danger, the council said, she might fly to Windsor,
or to Calais, or she might go to the Tower. ' What-
ever happens/ she exclaimed to Eenard, ' I am the wife
of the Prince of Spain ; crown, rank, life, all shall go
before I will take any other husband/1
The position, however, could not be of long con-
tinuance. Could Wyatt once enter London, he assured
himself of success ; but the gates on the Bridge con-
tinued closed. Cheyne and Southwell had collected a
body of men on whom they could rely, and were coming
up behind from Rochester. Wyatt desired to return
and fight them, and then cross the water at Greenwich,
as had been before proposed ; but his followers feared
that he meant to escape ; a backward movement would
not be permitted, and his next effort was to ascertain
whether the passage over the Bridge could be forced.
London Bridge was then a long, narrow street. The
1 Renard to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS. February 5-
346 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
gate was at the South wark extremity ; the drawbridge
was near the middle. On Sunday or Monday night
Wy&tt scaled the leads of the gatehouse, climbed into a
window, and descended the stairs into the lodge. The
porter and his wife were nodding over the fire. The
rebel leader bade them on their lives be still, and stole
along in the darkness to the chasm from which the draw-
bridge had been cut away. There, looking across the
black gulf where the river was rolling below, he saw
the dusky mouths of four gaping cannon, and beyond
them, in the torch-light, Lord Howard himself, keeping
watch with the guard : neither force nor skill could make
a way into the city by London Bridge.
The course which he should follow was determined
for him. The Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John
Brydges, a soldier and a Catholic, had looked over the
water with angry eyes at the insurgents collected within
reach of his guns, and had asked the Queen for per-
mission to fire upon them. The Queen, afraid of pro-
voking the people, had hitherto refused ; on the Mon-
day, however, a Tower boat, passing the Southwark side
of the water, was hailed by Wyatt' s sentries ; the water-
men refused to stop, the sentries fired, and one of the
men in the boat was killed. The next morning
(whether permission had been given at last,
or not, was never known), the guns on the White Tower,
the Devil's Tower, and all the bastions, were loaded and
aimed, and notice was sent over that the fire was about
to open. The inhabitants addressed themselves, in
agitation, to Wyatt ; and Wyatt, with a sudden resolu-
1 5 54-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 347
tion, half felt to be desperate, resolved to march for
Kingston Bridge, cross the Thames, and come back on
London. His friends in the city promised to receive
him, . could he reach Ludgate by daybreak on Wed-
nesday.
On Tuesday morning, therefore, Shrove Tuesday,
which the Queen had hoped to spend more happily than
in facing an army of insurgents, "Wyatt, accompanied
by not more than fifteen hundred men, pushed out of
Southwark. He had cannon with him, which delayed
his march, but at four in the afternoon he reached
Kingston. Thirty feet of the bridge were broken away,
and a guard of three hundred men were on the other
side ; but the guard fled after a few rounds from the
guns, and Wyatt, leaving his men to refresh themselves
in the town, went to work to repair the passage. A
row of barges lay on the opposite bank ; three
sailors swam across, attached ropes to them,
and towed them over; and, the barges being moored
where the bridge was broken, beams and planks were
laid across them, and a road was made of sufficient
strength to bear the cannon and the waggons.
By eleven o'clock at night the river was crossed, and
the march was resumed. The weather was still wild,
the roads miry and heavy, and through the winter night
the motley party plunged along. The Rochester men
had, most of them, gone home, and those who remained
were the London deserters, gentlemen who had com
promised themselves too deeply to hope for pardon, or
fanatics, who believed they were fighting the Lord's
348
REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y.
[cir. 31.
battle, and some of the Protestant clergy. Ponet, the
late Bishop of Winchester, was with them ; William
Thomas, the late clerk of the council ; Sir George Har-
per, Anthony Knyvet, Lord Cobham's sons, Pejham,
who had been a spy of Northumberland's on the Con-
tinent,1 and others more or less conspicuous in the worst
period of the late reign.
From the day that Wyatt came to Southwark the
whole guard had been under arms at Whitehall, and a
number of them, to the agitation of the Court ladies,
were stationed in the Queen's ante-chamber. But the
guard was composed of dangerous elements. Sir Hum-
frey Radcliff, the lieutenant, was a ' favourer of the
gospel ; ' 2 and the ' Hot Gospeller ' himself, on his re-
covery from his fever, had returned to his duties.3 No
1 The Regent Mary to the Am-
bassadors in England : Granvelle
Papers, vol . iv.
2 UNDERBILL'S Narrative.
3 Underbill, however, was too
notorious a person to be allowed to
remain on duty at such a time of
danger.
'When Wyatt -was come to
Southwark,' be says, ' the pension-
ers were commmded to watch in
armour that night at the Court. . . .
After supper, I put on my armour,
as the rest did, for we were appointed
to watch all the night. So, being
all armed, we came up into the
chamber of presence with our pole-
axes in our bands, wherewith the
ladies were very fearful. Some la-
menting, crying, and wringing their
hands, said, Alas ! there is some great
mischief toward : we shall all be de-
stroyed this night. What a sight is
this, to see the Queen's chamber full
of armed men : the like was never
seen nor beard of! Mr Norris, chief
usher of Queen Mary's privy
chamber, was appointed to call the
watch to see if any Avere lacking ;
unto whom, Moore, the clerk of our
check, delivered the book of our
names ; and when be came to my
name, What, said he, what doth be
here ? Sir, said the clerk, he is here
ready to serve as the rest be. Nay,
by God's body, said he, that heretic
shall not watch here. Givo me a
pen. So he struck my name out of
the book.'
1 554.] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 349
additional precautions had been taken, nor does it seem
that, on Wyatt's departure, his movements were watched.
Kingston Bridge having been broken, his immediate
approach was certainly unlocked for ; nor was it till
past midnight that information came to the palace that
the passage had been forced, and that the insurgents were
coming directly back upon London. Between two and
three in the morning the Queen was called from her
bed. Gardiner, who had been, with others of the
council, arguing with her in favour of Courtenay the
preceding day, was in waiting ; he told her that her
barge was at the stairs to carry her up the river, and
she must take shelter instantly at Windsor.
Without disturbing herself, the Queen sent for Re-
nard. Shall I go or stay ? she asked.
Unless your Majesty desire to throw away your
crown, Renard answered, you. will remain here till the
last extremity ; your flight will be known, the city will
rise, seize the Tower, and release the prisoners ; the
heretics will massacre the priests, and Elizabeth will be
proclaimed Queen.
The Lords were divided. Gardiner insisted again
that she must and should go. The others were uncer-
tain, or inclined to the opinion of Renard. At last
Mary said that she would be guided by Pembroke and
Clinton. If those two would undertake to stand by her,
she would remain and see out the struggle.1
They were not present, and were sent for on the
1 Renard to Charles V., February 8 : Rolls House MSS.
$$b REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 3t
spot. Pembroke for weeks past had certainly wavered ;
Lord Thomas Grey believed at one time that he had
gained him over, and to the last felt assured of his neu-
trality. Happily for Mar}^ happily, it must be said,
for England — for the Reformation was not a cause
to be won by such enterprises as that of Sir Thomas
Wyatt — he decided on supporting the Queen, and pro-
mised to defend her with his life. At four o'clock in
the morning drums went round the city, calling the
train-bands to an instant muster at Charing Cross.
Pembroke's conduct determined the young lords and
gentlemen about the Court, who with their servants
were swiftly mounted and under arms ; and by eight,
more than ten thousand men were stationed along the
ground, then an open field, which slopes from Piccadilly
to Pall Mall. The road or causeway on which Wyatt
was expected to advance, ran nearly on the site of Pic-
cadilly itself. An old cross stood near the head of St
James's Street, where guns were placed ; and that no
awkward accident like that at Rochester might happen
on the first collision, the gentlemen, who formed four
squadrons of horse, were pushed forwards towards Hyde
Park Corner.
Wyatt, who ought to have been at the gate of the
city two hours before, had been delayed in the mean time
by the breaking down of a gun in the heavy road at
Brentford. Brett, the captain of the city deserters,
Ponet, Harper, and others, urged Wyatt to leave the
gun where it lay and keep his appointment. "Wyatt,
however, insisted on waiting till the carriage could be
1554-1 THE SPANISH MARR1AG&. 3$!
repaired, although in the eyes of every one but himself
the delay was obvious ruin. Harper, seeing him obsti-
nate, stole away a second time to gain favour for him-
self by carrying news to the Court. Ponet, unambi-
tious of martyrdom, told him he would pray God for his
success, and, advising Brett to shift for himself, made
away with others towards the sea and Germany.1 It
was nine o'clock before Wyatt brought the draggled
remnant of his force, wet, hungry, and faint with their
night march, up the hill from Knightsbridge. Near
Hyde Park Corner a lane turned off; and here Pem-
broke had placed a troop of cavalry. The insurgents
straggled on without order. When half of them had
passed, the horse dashed out, and cut them in two, and
all who were behind were dispersed or captured. Wyatt,
caring now only to press forward, kept his immediate fol-
lowers together, and went straight on. The Queen's
guns opened, and killed three of his men ; but, lower-
ing his head, he dashed at them and over them ; then,
turning to the right, to avoid the train-bands, he struck
down towards St James's, where his party again separ-
ated. Knyvet, and the young Cobhams, leaving St
James's to their left, crossed the park to Westminster.
Wyatt went right along the present Pali-Mall, past the
line of the citizens. They had but to move a few steps
to intercept his passage, close in, and take him; but
not a man advanced, not a hand was lifted ; where the
way was narrow they drew aside to let him pass. At
1 Letter of William Markham : Tanner MSS. Bodleian Library,
Compare STOW.
352 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
Charing Cross Sir John Gage was stationed, with part
of the guard, some horse, and among them Courtenay,
who in the morning had been heard to say he would
not obey orders ; he was as good a man as Pembroke.
As Wyatt came up Courtenay turned his horse towards
Whitehall, and began to move off, followed by Lord
Worcester. ' Fie ! my Lord/ Sir Thomas Cornwallis
cried to him, ' is this the action of a gentleman ? ' 1 But
deaf, or heedless, or treacherous, he galloped off, calling
Lost, lost ! all is lost ! and carried panic to the Court.
The guard had broken at his flight, and came hurrying
behind him. Some cried that Pembroke had played
false. Shouts of treason rung through the palace. The
Queen, who had been watching from the palace gallery,
alone retained her presence of mind. If others durst
not stand the trial against the traitors, she said, she
herself would go out into the field and try the quarrel,
and die with those that would serve her.2
At this moment Knyvet and the Cobhams, who had
gone round by the old palace, came by the gates as the
fugitive guard were struggling in. Infinite confusion
followed. Gage was rolled in the dirt, and three of the
judges with him. The guard shrunk away into the
offices and kitchens to hide themselves. But Knyvet's
men made no attempt to enter. They contented them-
selves with shooting a few arrows, and then hurried on
to Charing Cross to rejoin Wyatt. At Charing Cross,
however, their way was now closed by a company of
1 Renard to Charles V., February 8 : Rolls House MSS.
2 HOLINSHED.
1 5 54. ] THE SPA NISH MARRIA GE. 353
archers, who had been sent back by Pembroke to pro-
tect the Court. Sharp fighting followed, and the cries
rose so loud as to be heard on the leads of the White
Tower. At last the leaders forced their way up the
Strand ; the rest of the party were cut up, dispersed, or
taken.1
Wyatt himself, meanwhile, followed by three hun-
dred men, had hurried on through lines of troops who
still opened to give him passage. He passed Temple
Bar, along Fleet Street, and reached Ludgate. The
gate was open as he approached, when some one seeing
a number of men coming up, exclaimed, ' These be
Wyatt's antients.' Muttered curses were heard among
the by-standers ; but Lord Howard was on the spot ;
the gates, notwithstanding the murmurs, were instantly
closed ; and when Wyatt knocked, Howard's voice an-
swered, ' Avaunt ! traitor ; thou shalt not come in here/
* I have kept touch,' Wyatt exclaimed ; but his enter-
prise was hopeless now. He sat down upon a bench
outside the Belle Sauvage Yard. His followers scat-
tered from him among the by-lanes and streets ; and, of
the three hundred, twenty-four alone remained, among
whom were now Knyvet and one of the young Cobhams.
With these few he turned at last, in the forlorn hope
that the train-bands would again open to let him pass.
Some of Pembroke's horse were coming up. He fought
1 The dress of the Londoners
who came with "Wyatt being the city
uniform, they were distinguished by
night march. The cry of Pembroke's
men in the fight was 'Down with
the daggle-tails ! '
the dirt upon their legs from their
VOL v. 23
354 &EIGN OF Q UEEN MA& Y. [CH. 3 i .
his way through them to Temple Bar, where a herald
cried, 'Sir, ye were best to yield; the day is gone
against you ; perchance ye may find the Queen merci-
ful/ Sir Maurice Berkeley was standing near him on
horseback, to whom, feeling that further resistance was
useless, he surrendered his sword ; and Berkeley, to save
him from being cut down in the tumult, took him up
upon his horse. Others in the same way took up Kny-
vet and Cobham, Brett and two more. The six prison-
ers were carried through the Strand back to Westminster,
the passage through the city being thought dangerous ;
and from Whitehall Stairs, Mary herself looking on
from a window of the palace, they were borne off in a
barge to the Tower.
The Queen had triumphed, triumphed through her
own resolution, and would now enjoy the fruits of vic-
tory.
Had Wyatt succeeded, Mary would have lost her
husband and her crown ; and had the question been no
more than a personal one, England could have well dis-
pensed both with her and Philip. But Elizabeth would
have ascended a throne under the shadow of treason.
The Protestants would have come back to power in the
thoughtless vindictiveness of exasperated and success-
ful revolutionists ; and the problem of the Reformation
would have been farther than ever from a reasonable
solution. The fanatics had made their effort, and they
had failed ; they had shaken the throne, but they had
not overthrown it ; the Queen's turn was come, and, as
the danger had been great, so was the resentment. She
J554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
355
had Renard at one ear protesting that, while these tur-
bulent spirits were uncrushed, the precious person of
the Prince could not be trusted to her. She had Gardi-
ner, who, always pitiless towards heretics, was savage
at the frustration of his own schemes. Renard in the
closet, Gardiner in the pulpit, alike told her that she
must show no more mercy.1 On Ash Wednesday even-
ing, after Wyatt's surrender, a proclamation . forbade
all persons to shelter the fugitive insurgents under pain
of death. The ' poor caitiffs ' were brought out of the
houses where they had hidden themselves, and were
given up by hundreds. Huntingdon came in on Satur-
day with Suffolk and his brothers. Sir James Crofts,
Sir Henry Isly, and Sir Gawen Carew followed. The
common prisons overflowed into the churches, where
crowds of wretches were huddled together till the gib-
bets were ready for their hanging ; the Tower wards
were so full that Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were
packed into a single cell ; and all the living representa-
tives of the families of Grey and Dudley, except two
young girls, were now within the Tower walls, sentenced,
or soon to be sentenced, to death.
1 ' On Sunday, the I ith of Feb-
ruary, the Bishop of "Winchester
preached in the chapel before the
Queen.' ' The preachers for the
7 years last past, he said, by divid-
ing of words and other their own
additions, had brought in many
errours detestable unto the Church
of Christ.' ' He axed a boon of the
Queen's Highness, that, like as she
faad beforetime extended her mercy
particularly and privately, [and] so
through her lenity and gentleness
much conspiracy and open rebellion
was grown .... she would now be
merciful to the body of the common-
wealth and conservation thereof,
which could not be unless the rotten
and hurtful members thereof were cut
off and consumed.' — Chronicle of
Queen Mary, p. 54.
356 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY, [CH. 31.
The Queen's blood is up at last, Renard wrote ex-
ultingly to the Emperor on the 8th of Feb-
ruary ; * ' the Duke of Suffolk, Lord Thomas
Grey, and Sir James Crofts have written to ask for
mercy, but they will find none ; their heads will fall,
and so will Courtenay's and Elizabeth's. I have told
the Queen that she must be especially prompt with
these two. "We have nothing now to hope for except
that France will break the peace, and then all will be
well/ On the I2th of February the ambassador was
still better satisfied. Elizabeth had been sent for, and
was on her way to London. A rupture with France
seemed inevitable, and as to clemency, there was no
danger of it. ' The Queen,' he said, ' had told him that
Anne of Cleves was implicated ; ' but for himself he
was sure that the two centres of all past and all possible
conspiracies were Elizabeth and Cotirtenay, and that
when their heads, and the heads of the Greys, were
once off their shoulders, she would have nothing more
to fear. The prisoners were heretics to a man ; she had
a fair plea to despatch them, and she would then settle
the country as she pleased ; 2 ' The house of Suffolk
would soon be extinct.'
The house of Suffolk would be extinct : that too, or
almost that, had been decided on. Jane Grey was
guiltless of this last commotion ; her name had not been
so much as mentioned among the insurgents ; but she
was guilty of having been once called Queen, and Mary,
1 Rolls House MSS.
2 Renard to Charles V., February 12 : Rolls House MSS.
1 554-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 357
who before had been generously deaf to the Emperor's
advice, and to Renard's arguments, yielded in her pre-
sent humour. Philip was beckoning in the distance ;
and while Jane Grey lived, Philip, she was again and
again assured, must remain for ever separated from her
arms.
Jane Grey, therefore, was to die — her execution was
resolved upon the day after the victory ; and the first
intention was to put her to death on the Friday immedi-
ately approaching. In killing her body, however, Mary
desired to have mercy on her soul ; and she
Feb. 9.
sent the message of death by the excellent
Feckenham, afterwards Abbot of Westminster, who was
to bring her, if possible, to obedience to the Catholic
faith.
Feckenham, ajjnan full of gentle and tender human-
ity, felt to the bottom of his soul the errand on which
he was despatched. He felt as a Catholic priest — but
he felt also as a man.
On admission to Lady Jane's room he told her that
she was to die the next morning, and he told her, also,
for what reason the Queen had selected him to com-
municate the sentence.
She listened calmly. The time was short, she said;
too short to be spent in theological discussion ; which,
if Feckenham would permit, she would decline.
Believing, or imagining that he ought to believe,
that, if she died unreconciled, she was lost, Feckenham
hurried back to the Queen to beg for delay ; and the
Queen, moved with his entreaties, respited the execu-
358
REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y.
[CH. 31.
tion till Monday, giving him three more days to pursue
his labour. But Lady Jane, when he returned to her,
scarcely appreciated the favour ; she had not expected
her words to be repeated, she said ; she had given up
all thoughts of the world, and she would take her death
patiently whenever her Majesty desired.1
Feckenham, however, still pressed his services, and
courtesy to a kind and anxious old man, for-
bade her to refuse them. He remained with
her to the end ; and certain arguments followed on faith
and justification, and the nature of sacraments; a record
of which may be read by the curious in Foxe.2 Lady
Jane was wearied without being convinced. The te-
dium of the discussion was relieved, perhaps, by the
now more interesting account which she gave to her
unsuccessful confessor of the misfprtune which was
bringing her to her death.3 The night before she suf-
fered she wrote a few sentences of advice to her sister
on the blank leaf of a New Testament. To her father,
knowing his weakness, and knowing, too, how he would
be worked upon to imitate the recantation of Northum-
berland, she sent a letter of exquisite beauty, in which
the exhortations of a dying saint are tempered with the
reverence of a daughter for her father.4
The iron-hearted Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John
1 BAOARDO. The writer of the
Chronicle of Queen Mary, says, ' She
was appointed to have been put to
death on Friday, but was stayed —
for what cause is not known.'
Baoardo supplies the explanation.
2 Vol. vi. pp. 415 — 417.
5 The story told by Baoardo, to
whom, it would seem, Feckenham
related it.
4 FOXE, vol. vi.
'554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE,
359
Brydges, had been softened by the charms of his pri-
soner, and begged for some memorial of her in writing.
She wrote in a manual of English prayers the following
words : —
' Forasmuch as you have desired so simple a woman
to write in so worthy a book, good Master Lieutenant,
therefore I shall, as a friend, desire you, and as a Chris-
tian, require you to call upon God to incline your heart
to his laws, to quicken you in his way, and not to take
the word of truth utterly out of your mouth. Live still
to die, that by death you may purchase eternal life, and
remember how Methuselah, who, as we read in the
Scriptures, was the longest liver that was of a man, died
at the last ; for, as the Preacher saith, there is a time to be
born and a time to die ; and the day of death is better
than the day of our birth. Yours, as the Lord knoweth,
as a friend, Jane Dudley/1
1 Chronicle of Qtteen Mary, p.
57, note. In the same manual are
a few words in Guilford Dudley's
hand, addressed to Suffolk, and a
few words also addressed to Suffolk
by Lady Jane. Mr Nichols sup-
poses that the book (it is still ex-
tant among the Harleian MSS.} was
used as a means of communicating
with the Duke when direct inter-
course was unpermitted. If this
conjecture is right, Lady Jane's
letter, perhaps, never reached her
father at all. There is some diffi-
culty about the memorial which the
Lieutenant of the Tower obtained
from her. BAOARDO says, that she
gave him a book, in which she had
written a few words in Greek, Latin,
and English.
'La Greca era tale. La morte
dara la pena al mio corpo del fallo
ma la mia anima giustificara inanzi
al conspetto di Dio la innocenza mia.
' La Latina diceva. Se la gius-
titia ha luogo nel corpo mio 1' anima
mia 1'havera nella misericordia di
Dio.
' La Inglese. II fallo e degno
di morte ma il modo della mia ig-
noranza doueva meritar pieta e ex-
cusatione appresso il mondo e alle
leggi.'
36o
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 3I
Her husband was also to die, and to die before her.
The morning on which they were to suffer he begged
for a last interview and a last embrace. It was left to
herself to consent or refuse. If, she replied, the meet-
ing would benefit either of their souls, she would see
him with pleasure ; but, in her own opinion, it would
only increase their trial. They would meet soon enough
in the other world.
He died, therefore, without seeing her again. She
saw him once alive as he was led to the scaffold, and
again as he returned a mutilated corpse in the death-
cart. It was not wilful cruelty. The officer in com-
mand had forgotten that the ordinary road led past her
window. But the delicate girl of seventeen was as
masculine in her heart as in her intellect. When her
own turn arrived, Sir John Brydges led her down to
the green ; her attendants were in an agony of tears,
but her own eyes were dry. She prayed quietly till she
reached the foot of the scaffold, when she turned to
Feckenham, who still clung to her side. ' Go now/ she
said ; ' God grant you all your desires, and accept my
own warm thanks for your attentions to me ; although,
indeed, those attentions have tried me more than
death can now terrify me.'1 She sprung up the
steps, and said briefly that she had broken the
law in accepting the crown ; but as to any guilt of
1 Andate : che nostro Signore
Dio vi content! d'ogni vostro de-
siderio, e siate sempre infinitamentc
ringratiato della compagnia che
m'havete fatta avcnga che da quella
sia stata molto piu noiata che hora
non mi spaventa la morte. — BAO-
ARDO.
1554] THE SPANISH MARRIA GE. 36 1
intention, she wrung her hands, and said she washed
them clean of it in innocency before God and man.
She entreated her hearers to bear her witness that
she died a true Christian woman ; that she looked to
be saved only by the mercy of God and the merits of
his Son : and she begged for their prayers as long as she
was alive. Feckenham had still followed her, not-
withstanding his dismissal. ' Shall I say the Miserere
psalm ? ' she said to him.1 When it was done she let-
down her hair with her attendants' help, and uncovered
her neck. The rest may be told in the words of the
chronicler : —
' The hangman kneeled down and asked her forgive-
ness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he willed
her to stand upon the straw, which doing, she saw the
block. Then she said, I pray you despatch me quickly.
Then she kneeled down, saying, Will you take it off
before I lay me down ? and the hangman answered, No,
madam. She tied a kercher about her eyes ; then, feel-
ing for the block, she said, What shall I do ; where is
it ? One of the bystanders guiding her thereunto, she
laid her head down upon the block, and stretched forth
her body, and said, Lord, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit. And so ended.'2
The same day Oourtenay was sent to the Tower, and
a general slaughter commenced of the common prisoners.
To spread the impression, gibbets were erected all over
London, and by Thursday evening eighty or a hundred
1 The 5 1st: ' Have mercy on I 2 Chronicle of Queen Mary, pp
me, oh Lord, after thy goodness.' | 58, 59.
362
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH.
bodies1 were dangling in St Paul's Churchyard, on
London Bridge, in Fleet Street, and at Charing Cross,
in Southwark and Westminster. At all crossways and
in all thoroughfares, says Noailles, ' the eye was met
with the hideous spectacle of hanging men ; ' while
Brett and a fresh batch of unfortunates were sent to
suffer at Rochester and Maidstone. Day after day, week
after week, commissioners sat at Westminster or at the
Guildhall trying prisoners, who passed with a short
shrift to the gallows. The Duke of Suffolk was sen-
tenced on the i yth ; on the 23rd he followed his
daughter, penitent for his rebellion, but constant, as she
had implored him to be, in his faith. His two brothers
and Lord Cobham's sons were condemned. William
Thomas, to escape torture, stabbed himself, but recov-
ered to die at Tyburn. Lord Cobham himself, who was
arrested notwithstanding his defence of his house,
Wyatt, Sir James Crofts, Sir William St Lowe, Sir
Nicholas Arnold, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, and, as
the council expressed it, 'a world more/ were in various
prisons waiting their trials. Those who were suspected
of being in Elizabeth's confidence were kept with their
fate impending over them — to be tempted either with
hopes of pardon, or fear of the rack, to betray their
secrets.2
1 Renard says : ' A hundred
were hanged in London and a hun-
dred in Kent.' STOW says : 'Eighty
in London and twenty-two in Kent.'
The Chronicle of Queen Mary does
not mention the number of execu-
tions in London, hut agrees with
Stow on the number sent to Kent.
The smaller estimate, in these cases,
is generally the right one.
2 On Sunday the nth of Feb-
ruary, the day on which he exhorted
1 554-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 363
13 ut, sooner or later, the Queen was determined that
every one who could be convicted should die,1 and be-
yond, and above them all, Elizabeth. Elizabeth's ill-
ness, which had been supposed to have been assumed,
was real, and as the feeling of the people towards her
compelled the observance of the forms of justice and
decency, physicians were sent from the Court to attend
upon her. On the i8th of February they
reported that she could be moved with safety ;
and, escorted by Lord William Howard, Sir Edward
Hastings, and Sir Thomas Cornwallis, she was brought
by slow stages, of six or seven miles a day, to London.2
Renard had described her to the Emperor as probably
enceinte through some vile intrigue, and crushed with
remorse and disappointment.3
To give the lie to all such slanders, when she
entered the city, the Princess had the covering of hei
litter thrown back ; she was dressed in white, her face
was pale from her illness, but the expression was lofty,
scornful, and magnificent.4 Crowds followed her along
the Queen to severity from the
pulpit, Gardiner wrote to Sir Wil-
liam Petre, 'To-morrow, at your
going to the Tower, it shall be good
ye be earnest with one little Wyatt
there prisoner, who by all likelihood
can tell all. He is but a bastard,
and hath no substance ; and it might
stand with the Queen's Highness's
pleasure there were no great account
to be made whether ye pressed him
to say truth by sharp punishment or
promise of life.' — MS. Domestic,
Mary, vol. iii. State Paper Office. I
do not know to whom Gardiner re-
ferred in the words ' little Wyatt.'
1 Renard to Charles V.: Soils
House MSS.
a The Order of my Lady Eliza-
beth's Grace's Voyage to the Court :
MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii. State
Paper Office..
3 Renard to Charles V. : Feb-
ruary 17 : Rolls House MSS.
4 ' Pour desguyser le regret
qu'elle a,' says Renard, unable to
relinquish his first conviction.
364
REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y.
[CH. 31-
tlie streets to Westminster. The Queen, when she
arrived at Whitehall, refused to see her; a suite of
rooms was assigned for her confinement in a corner of
the palace, from which there was no egress except by
passing the guard, and there, with short attendance, she
waited the result of Gardiner's investigations. Wyatt,
by vague admissions, had already partially compromised
her, and, on the strength of his words, and the discovery
of the copy of her letter in the packet of Noailles, she
would have gone direct to the Tower, had the Lords
permitted. The Emperor urged instant and summary
justice both on her and on Courtenay ; the irritation,
should irritation arise, could be allayed afterwards by an
amnesty.1 The Lords, however, insisted obstinately on
the forms of law, the necessity of witnesses and of a
trial ; and Renard watched their unreasonable humours
with angry misgivings. It was enough, he said, that
the conspiracy was undertaken in Elizabeth's interests ;
if she escaped now, the Queen would never be secure.2
In fact, while Elizabeth lived, the Prince could not
venture among the wild English spirits, and Charles was
determined that the marriage should not escape him.
1 Renard was instructed to ex-
hort the Queen : ' Que 1' execution
et chastoy de ceulx qui le meritent
se face tost; usant a 1'endroit de
Madame Elizabeth et de Cortenay
comme elle verra convenir a sa
seurete, pour apres user de cle-
mence en 1'endroit de ceulx qu'il
luy semblera, afin de tost reassurer
le surplus.' — Charles V. to Renard :
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. pp. 224,
225.
2 II est certain 1'enterprinse es-
toit en sa faveur. Et certes, sire, si
pendant que 1'occasion s'adonne elle
ne la punyt et Cortenay, elle ne sera
jamais asseuree. — Renard to Charles
V. : TYTLEB, vol. ii. p. 311.
I554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
365
As soon as the rebellion was crushed,
March.
Egmont, attended by Count Horn, returned
to complete his work. He brought with him the dis-
pensations in regular form. He brought also a fresh
and pressing entreaty that Elizabeth should be sacrificed.
An opportunity had been placed in the Queen's hand,
which her duty to the Church required that she should
not neglect ; and Egrnont was directed to tell her that
the Emperor, in trusting his son in a country where his
own power could not protect him, relied upon her
honour not to neglect any step essential to his security.1
Egmont gave his message. The unhappy Queen required
no urging ; she protested to Henard, that she could
neither rest nor sleep, so ardent was her desire for the
Prince's safe arrival.2 Courtenay, if necessary, she
could kill ; against him the proofs were complete ; as to
Elizabeth, she knew her guilt ; the evidence was grow-
ing ; and she would insist to the council that justice
should be done.
About the marriage itself, the Lords had by this
time agreed to yield. Courtenay 's pretensions could no
longer be decently advanced, and Gardiner, abandoning
a hopeless cause, and turning his attention to the
restoration of the Church, would consent to anything,
if, on his side, he might emancipate the clergy from
the control of the civil power, and re-establish per-
1 Henard to the Emperor, March
8: Rolls House MSS.
2 La quelle me respondit et
afferme qu'elle ne dort ny repose
pour le soucy elle tient de la seure
venue de son Altesse. — Renard to the
Emperor : TYTLEK, vol. ii.
366 RE2GN' OF QUEEN MAR Y. [en. 31.
secution. Two factions, distinctly marked, were now
growing in the council — the party of the states-
men, composed of Paget, Sussex, Arundel, Pembroke,
Lord William Howard, the Marquis of Winchester,
Sir Edward Hastings, and Cornwallis : the party
of the Church, composed of Gardiner, Petre, Ro-
chester, Gage, Jerningham, and Bourne. Divided on
all other questions, the rival parties agreed only no
longer to oppose the coming of Philip. The wavering
few had been decided by the presents and promises which
Egmont brought with him from Charles. Pensions of
two thousand crowns had been offered to, and were
probably accepted by, the Earls of Pembroke, Arundel,
Derby, and Shrewsbury ; pensions of a thousand crowns
were given to Sussex, Darcy, Winchester, Rochester,
Petre, and Cheyne ; pensions of five hundred crowns to
Southwell, Waldegrave, Inglefield, Wentworth, and
Grey ; l ten thousand crowns were distributed among
the officers and gentlemen who had distinguished them-
selves against Wyatt. The pensions were large, but, as
Renard observed, when Charles seemed to hesitate,
several of the recipients were old, and would soon die ;
and, as to the rest, things in England were changing
from day to day, and means of some kind would easily
be found to put an early end to the payments.2
Unanimity having been thus secured, Renard, on
the day of Egmont's arrival, demanded an audience of
the Lords, and in the Queen's presence requested their
1 Oranvclle Papers, vol. iv. p. 267.
8 Renard to Charles V., March 8 : Molls House MSS.
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE,
36?
opinion whether the condition of England allowed the
completion of the contract. The life of the Prince of
Spain was of great importance to Europe \ should they
believe in their hearts that he would be in danger, there
was still time to close the negotiation. The rebellion
having broken out and having failed, the Lords replied
that there was no longer any likelihood of open violence.
Arundel hinted, again, that the Prince must bring his
own cook and butler with him ; 1 but he had nothing
else to fear, if he could escape the French cruisers.
These assurances, combined with the Queen's secret
promises about Elizabeth, were held sufficient ; and on
the 6th of March, at three o'clock in the after-
noon, the ambassadors were conducted by
Pembroke into the presence chamber. The Queen,
kneeling before the sacrament, called it to witness that,
in consenting to the alliance with the Prince of Spain,
she was moved by no carnal concupiscence, but only by
her zeal for the welfare of her realm and subjects ; and
then, rising up, with the bystanders all in tears, she
gave her hand to Egmont as Philip's representative.
The blessing was pronounced by Gfardiner, and the
proxy marriage was completed.2 The Prince was to be
March 6.
1 Arundel nous dit qu'il con-
venoit que son alteze amena ses cuy-
seniers, sommeliers du cave, et autres
officicrs pour son bouche, que quant
aux antres luy y pourvoyeroit selon
les coustumesd'Angleterre. — Renard
to Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
2 Puis par la main de 1'Evesque
les de pra3seuti, furent dictes et pro-
noncees intelligiblement par la diet
Egmont seul et la dicte Dame. —
Ibid. Compare TYTLEB, vol. ii. p.
327. The great value of Mr Tytler's
work is diminished by the many
omissions which he has permitted
himself to make in the letters which
he has edited.
368
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31
sent for without delay, and Southampton was chosen as
the port at which he should disembark, ' being in the
country of the Bishop of Winchester/ where the people
were, for the most part, good Catholics.
Parliament was expected to give its sanction with-
out further difficulty; the opposition of the country
having been neutralized by the same causes which had
influenced the council. The Queen, indeed, in going
through the ceremony before consulting Parliament,
though she had broken the promise which she made in
the Guildhall, had placed it beyond their power to raise
difficulties ; but other questions were likely to rise
which would not be settled so easily. She herself was
longing to show her gratitude to Providence by restor-
ing the authority of the Pope ; and the Pope intended,
if possible, to recover his first-fruits and Peter's pence,
and to maintain the law of the Church which forbade
the alienation of Church property.1 The English laity
were resolute on their side to keep hold of what they
had got ; and to set the subject at rest, and to prevent
unpleasant discussions on points of theology, Paget,
with his friends, desired that the session should last but
a few days, and that two measures only should be
1 Pole's first commission granted
him powers only ' concordandi et
transigendi cum possessoribus bono-
rum ecclesiasticorum, (restitutis pri-
us si expedire videtur immobilibus
per eos indebite detentis,) super fruc-
tibus male perceptis ac bonis mobili-
bus consumptis.' — Commission grant-
ed to Reginald Pole : WILKINS'S
Concilia, vol. iv. Cardinal Morone,
writing to Pole as late as June, 1554,
said that the Pope was still unable
to resolve on giving his sanction to
the alienation.— BURNET'S Collec-
tanea.
I554-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 369
brought forward ; the first for the confirmation of the
treaty of marriage, the second to reassert the validity of
the titles under which the Church estates were held by
their present owners. If the Queen consented to the
last, her title of Head of the Church might be dropped
informally, and allowed to fall into abeyance.1
Gardiner, however, saw in the failure of the insur-
rection an opportunity of emancipating the Church,
and of extinguishing heresy with fire and sword.2 He
was preparing a bill to restore the ancient rigorous
tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts; and by his own
authority he directed that, in the writs for the Parlia-
ment, the summons should be to meet at Oxford,3 where
the conservatism of the country would be released from
the dread of the London citizens. The spirit which,
thirteen years before, had passed the Six Articles Bill
by acclamation, continued to smoulder in the slow
minds of the country gentlemen, and was blazing freely
among the lately persecuted priests. The Bishop of
Winchester had arranged in his imagination a splendid
melodrama. The session was to begin on the 2nd of
April ; and the ecclesiastical bill was to be the first to
be passed. On the 8th of March, Cranmer, Ridley,
and Latimer were sent down to the University to be
tried before a Committee of Convocation which had
already decided on its verdict ; and the Fathers of the
Reformation were either to recant or to suffer the flam-
Paget to Renard: TYTLEB,
vol. ii.
2 Par feug et sang.— Renard to
Charles V., March 14 : Rolls House
MSS.; partially printed by TYTLEK.
3 Ibid.
VOL. v. 24
370
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
ing penalties of heresy in the presence of the Legis-
lature, as the first-fruits of a renovated Church disci-
pline.
Vainly Renard protested. In the fiery obstinacy of
his determination, Gardiner was the incarnate expression
of the fury of the ecclesiastical faction, smarting, as they
were, under their long degradation, and under the ir-
ritating consciousness of those false oaths of submission
which they had sworn to a power which they loathed.
Once before, in the first reaction against Protestant
excesses, the Bishop of Winchester had seen the Six
Articles Bill carried — but his prey had then been
snatched from his grasp. Now, embittered by fresh
oppression, he saw his party once more in a position to
revenge their wrongs when there was no Henry any
longer to stand between them and their enemies. He
would take the tide at the flood, forge a weapon keener
than the last, and establish the Inquisition.1 Paget
swore it should not be.2 Charles Y. himself, dreading
a fresh interruption to the marriage, insisted that this
extravagant fervour should be checked ; 3 and the Bishop
of Arras, the scourge of the Netherlands, interceded for
moderation in England. But Gardiner and the clergy
were not to be turned from the hope of their hearts by
the private alarms of the Imperialists ; and in the heart
of the Queen religious orthodoxy was Philip's solitary
1 Establir forme d' Inquisition
contre les heretiques. — Renard to
Charles V. : Rolls House MSS.
a Ibid.
3 La chaleur exhorbitante. —
Charles V. to Renard : Granvelle
Papers, vol. iv. p. 229.
1554-1
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
371
rival. Renard urged her to be prudent in religion and
cruel to the political prisoners. Gardiner, though eager
as Renard to kill Elizabeth, would buy the privilege of
working his will upon the Protestants by sparing Cour-
tenay and Courtenay's friends. Mary listened to the
worst counsels of each, and her distempered humour
settled into a confused ferocity. So unwholesome ap-
peared the aspect of things in the middle of March that,
notwithstanding the formal contract, Renard almost
advised the Emperor to relinquish the thought of com-
mitting his son among so wild a people.1
As opposition to extreme measures was anticipated
in the House of Lords, as well as among the Commons,
it was important to strengthen the Bench of Bishops.
The Pope had granted permission without difficulty to
fill the vacant Sees ; and on the ist of April six new
prelates were consecrated at St Mary Overies, while Sir
John Brydges and Sir John Williams of Thame were
raised to the peerage.
The Protestants, it must be admitted, had exerted
themselves to make Gardiner's work easy to him. On
the 1 4th of March the -wall of a house in Aldgate
became suddenly vocal, and seventeen thousand persons
were collected to hear a message from Heaven pro-
nounced by an angel. When the people said ' God save
Queen Mary/ the wall was silent ; when they said ' God
save Queen Elizabeth/ the wall said * Amen ! ' When
1 Pour estre la plus part des
Angloys sans foy, sans loy, confuz
en la religion, doubles, inconstans,
et de nature jaloux et abhorrissans
estrangiers. — Rolls Home MSS.
3 72 REIGN OF Q UEEN MAR Y. [CH. 3 r .
they asked, 'What is the mass?' the wall said, 'It is
idolatry/ As the nation was holding its peace, the
stones, it seemed, were crying out against the reaction
But the angel, on examination, turned out to be a girl
concealed behind the plaster. Shortly after, the in-
habitants of Cheapside, on opening their shop windows
in the morning, beheld on a gallows, among the bodies
of the hanged insurgents, a cat in priestly robes, with
crown shaven, the fore-paws tied over her head, and a
piece of paper clipped round between them, representing
the wafer.
More serious were the doings of a part of the late
conspirators who had escaped to France. Peter Carew,
when he left Weymouth, promised soon to return, and
he was received at Paris with a cordiality that answered
his warmest hopes. Determined, if possible, to prevent
Philip from reaching England, the French had equipped
every vessel which they possessed available for sea, and
Carew was sent again to the coast of the Channel to
tempt across into the French service all those who, like
himself, were compromised in the conspiracy, or whose
blood was hotter than their fathers'. Every day the
Queen was chafed with the news of desertions to the
dangerous rendezvous. Young men of honourable
families, Pickerings, Strangwayses, Killegrews, Staffords,
Stauntons, Tremaynes, Courtenays, slipped over the
water, carrying with them hardy sailors from the
western harbours. The French supplied them with
arms, ships, and money ; and fast-sailing, heavily-armed
privateers, officered by these young adventurers in the
1554-
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
373
cause of freedom, were cruising on their own account,
plundering Flemish and Spanish ships, and swearing
that the Prince of Spain should set no foot on English
shores.1
1 The French and Calais corre-
spondence in the State Paper Office
contains a vast number of letters on
this subject. The following ex-
tracts are specimens : —
On the 24th of March Thomas
Corry writes to Lord Grey that
'two hundred vessels be in readi-
ness ' in the French harbours.
' There is lately arrived at Caen in
Normandy Sir Peter Carew, Sir
William Pickering, Sir Edward
Courtenay, John Courtenay, Brian
Fitzwilliam, and divers other Eng-
lish gentlemen. It is thought Sir
Peter Carew shall have charge of
the fleet. There be three ships of
Englishmen, which be already gone
to sea with Killegrew, which do
report that they serve the King to
prevent the coming of the King of
Spain.'— Calais MSS.
On the 28th of March, Edgar
Hormolden writes from Guisnes to
Sir John Bourne : ' The number of
Sir Peter Carew's retinue increaseth
in France by the confluence of such
English qui potius alicHj'ws pr&clari
facinoris quam artis bonce famam
qucerunt ; and they be so entreated
there as it cannot be otherwise con-
jectured but that they practise with
France : insomuch I have heard
credible intelligence that the said
Carew used this persuasion, 'of late,
to his companions : Are not we, said
he, allianced with Normandy ; yea !
what ancient house is either there
or in France, but we claim by them
and they by us ? why should we not
rather embrace their love than sub-
mit ourselves to the servitude of
Spain ? ' — Ibid.
April 17, Dr Wotton writes in
cypher from Paris to the Queen :
'Yesterday, an Italian brought a
letter to my lodging, and delivered
it to a servant of mine, and went his
way, so that I know not what he is.
The effect of his letter is, that for
because he taketh it to be the part
of every good Christian man to fur-
ther your godly purpose and Ca-
tholic doings, he hath thought good
to advertise me that those fugitives
of England say to their friends here
that they have intelligence of great
importance in England with some of
the chiefest on the realm, which
shall appear on the arrival of the
Prince of Spain. "Within few days
they go to Normandy to embark
themselves there, so strong, that, if
they do not let the Prince of Spain
to land, as they will attempt to do,
yet they will not fail, by the help of
them that have intelligence with
them, to let him come to London. —
French MSS. bundle xi.
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 3I.
The Queen indignantly demanded explanations of
Noailles, and, through, her ambassador at Paris, she
required the French Government to seize * her traitors/
and deliver them to her. Noailles, alarmed, perhaps,
for his own security, suggested that it might be well to
conceal Carew, and to affect to make an attempt tc
arrest him. But Henry, at once more sagacious and
more bold, replied to the ambassador that ' he was not
the Queen's hangman : ' 'these men that you require/ he
said, ' deny that they have conspired anything against
the Queen ; marry, they say they will not be oppressed
by mine enemy, and that is no just cause why I should
owe them ill- will.'1 He desired Noailles, with quiet
irony, to tell her Majesty ' that there was nothing in
the existing treaties to forbid his accepting the services
of English volunteers in the war with the Emperor : her
Majesty might remember that he had invited her to
make a new treaty, and that she had refused : ' * he
would act by the just letter of his obligations.' 2
Would her subjects have permitted, the Queen
would have replied by a declaration of war. As it was,
she could only relieve herself with indignant words.3
1 "Wotton to the Queen : French
MSS. bundle xi. State Paper
Office.
2 Noailles to the King of France ;
Ambassades, vol. iii.
3 ' When the Ambassador re-
plied that his master minded to do
justly, her Grace remembering how
those traitors be there aided, espe-
cially such of them as had con-
spired her death and were in arms in
the field against her ; and being not
able to bear those words, so con-
trary to their doings, told the Am-
bassador that, for her own part, her
Majesty minded simply and plainly
to perform as she had promised, and
might with safe conscience swear
she ever meant so ; but, for their
part, her Grace would nut swear so,
1554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
37?
But Carew and his friends might depend on support so
long as they would make themselves useful to France.
Possessed of ships' and arms, they were a constant men-
ace to the Channel, and a constant temptation to the
disaffected; and, growing bitter at last, and believing
that Elizabeth's life was on the point of being sacrificed,
they were prepared to support Henry in a second at-
tempt to seize the Isle of Wight, and to accept the
French competitor for the English crown in the person
of the Queen of Scots.1 Thus fatally the friends of the
Reformation played into the hands of its enemies. By
the solid mass of Englishmen the armed interference of
France was more dreaded than even a Spanish sovereign ;
and the heresy became doubly odious which was tamper-
ing with the hereditary enemies of the realm. In Lon-
don only the revolutionary spirit continued vigorous,
and broke out perpetually in unexpected forms. At the
beginning of March three hundred schoolboys met in a
meadow outside the city walls : half were for Wyatt
and for France, half for the Prince of Spain ; and, not
and being those arrant traitors ao
entertained there as they be, she
could not have found in her heart to
have used, in like matter, the sem-
blable part towards his master for
the gain of two realms, arid with
those words she departed.' — Gardi-
ner to Wotton : French MSS. bundle
xi.
1 On the 2Qth of April Wotton
wrote in a cypher to Mary ; ' To-
wards the end of the summer the
French King, by Peter Carew' s
provocation, intendeth to land the
rebels, with a number of Scots, in
Essex, and in the Isle of Wight,
where they mean to land easily,
and either go on, if any number of
Englishmen resort unto them, as
they say many will, or else fortify
themselves there. They council the
French King to make war against
your Highness in the right and title
of the young Queen of Scots.' — MS,
Ibid.
376 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY [CH. 31.
all in play (for evidently they chose their sides by their
sympathies), they joined battle, and fought with the
fierceness of grown men. The combat ended in the
capture of the representative of Philip, who was dragged
to a gallows, and would have been hanged upon it, had
not the spectators interfered.1 The boys were laid hands
upon. The youngest were whipped, the elder im-
prisoned. It was said that the Queen thought of gib-
beting one of these innocents in real fact, for an exam-
ple ; or, as Noailles put it, as an expiation for the sins
of the people.2
Over Elizabeth, in the mean time, the fatal net ap-
peared to be closing ; Lord Russell had received a letter
for her from Wyatt, which, though the Princess de-
clared that it had never been in her hands, he said that
he had forwarded ; and Wyatt himself was flattered
with hopes of life if he would extend his confession.
Henard carried his ingenuity farther ; he called in the
assistance of Lady Wyatt, and promised her that her
husband should be spared ; he even urged the Queen to
gain over, by judicious leniency, a man whose apostasy
would be a fresh disgrace to his cause, and who might
be as useful as a servant as he had been dangerous as a
foe.3 Wyatt, being a man without solidity of heart,
1 The execution was commenced
in earnest. The Prince, saysNoailles,
' fust souldainement mesne au gibet
par ceulx de la part du Roy et de M.
Wyatt; et sans quelques hommes
qui tout a propoz y accoururent, ils
I'eussent estrangle ; ce que se peult
clairement juger par les marques
qu'il en a et aura encores d'icy d
long temps au col.' — Noailles to
Montmorency : Ambaxsadcs, vol. iii.
2 Diet on qu'elle veult que 1'ung
d'eulx soit sacrifie pour tout le
peuple. — Ibid.
3 Ce qui faict juger a beaulcoup
de gens que Wyatt ne mourra point,
'554-1
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
377
showed signs of yielding to what was required of him ,
but his revelations came out slowly, and to quicken his
confession he was brought to his trial on the I5th of
March. He pleaded guilty to the indictment, and he
then said that Courtenay had been the instigator of the
conspiracy ; he had written to Elizabeth, he said, to ad-
vise her to remove as far as possible from London, and
Elizabeth had returned him a verbal message of thanks.
This being not enough, he was sentenced to death ; but he
was made to feel that he might still earn his pardon if
he would implicate Elizabeth more deeply ; and though
he said nothing definite, he allowed himself to drop
vague hints that he could tell more if he pleased.1
mais que la dicte dame le rendra
tant son oblige par ceste grace de
luy rendre la vie qu'elle en pourra
tirer beaulcoup de bons et grandes
services. Ce qui se faict par le
moyen dudict ambassadeur de 1'Em-
pereur par 1'advis duquel se condui-
sent aujourdhuy toutes les opinions
d'icelle dame, et lequel traicte ceste
composition avecques la femme
dudict "Wyatt a laquelle comme 1'on
diet il a asseure la vie de son diet
rnari. — Noailles to the Constable
of France, March 31. Eenard's
secrets were betrayed to Noailles by
' a corrupt secretary ' of the Flemish
embassy. — "Wotton to the Queen:
French MSS. bundle xi. State Paper
Office.
1 Noailles says; Wyatt a este
condamne a mourir ; toutesfois il
n'est encores execute et avant que
luy pronon<;er sa sentence on luy
avoit promis tant de belles choses
que vaincu par leur doulces paroles
oultre sa deliberation, il a accuse
beaulcoup de personnages et parle
au desadvantage de mylord de
Courtenay et de Madame Elizabeth.
— Noailles to d'Oysel, March 29.
The different parties were so much
interested in "Wyatt's confession,
that his very last words are sc
wrapped round with contradictions,
that one cannot tell what they were.
It is certain, however, that he did
implicate Elizabeth to some extent ;
it is certain, also, that he did not
say enough for the purposes of the
Court, and that the Court believed he
could say more if he would, for, on
Easter Sunday he communicated,
and the Queen was distressed that he
should have been allowed to partake,
while his confession was incomplete.
As to Courtenay, Renard said he
378
OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
At all events, however, sufficient evidence had been
obtained in the opinion of the Court for the committal
of the Princess to the Tower. On the day of Wyatt's
trial, the council met, but separated without a resolution ;
on Friday, the i6th, Elizabeth was examined before
them in person, and when she withdrew, Gardiner re-
quired that she should be sent to the Tower instantly.
Paget, supported by Sussex, Hastings, and Cornwallis,
said that there was no evidence to justify so violent a
measure.1 Which of you, then, said Gardiner, with
dexterous ingenuity, will be reponsible for the safe keep-
ing of her person ?
The guardian of Elizabeth would be exposed to a
hundred dangers and a thousand suspicions ; the Lords
answered that Gardiner was conspiring their destruction.
No one could be found courageous enough to undertake
the charge, and they gave their reluctant consent to his
demand. The same night Elizabeth's attendants were
removed, a hundred soldiers were picketed in
the garden below her window, and on Saturday
morning the Marquis of Winchester and Lord Sussex
waited on her to communicate her destination, and to
attend her to a barge.
March 17.
had communicated enough, ' mais
quant a Elizabeth Ton ne poult en-
cores tomber en preuves suffisantes
pour les loys d'Angleterre contre
elle.' — Renard to Charles V. : Rolls
House MSS.
1 Holinshed says that a certain
lord exclaimed that there would be
no safety for the realm until Eliza-
beth's hea'd was off her shoulders ;
and either Holinshed himself, or his
editor, wrote in the margin opposite,
the words : ' The wicked advice of
Lord Paget.' — Kenard describes so
distinctly the attitude of Paget, that
there can be no doubt whatever of
the injustice of such a charge against
him.
1554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 379
The terrible name of the Tower was like a death-
knell ; the Princess entreated a short delay till she could
write a few words to the Queen ; the Queen could not
know the truth, she said, or else she was played upon
by Gardiner. Alas ! she did not know the Queen :
Winchester hesitated ; Lord Sussex, more generous, ac-
cepted the risk, and promised, on his knees, to place her
letter in the Queen's hands.
The very lines traced by Elizabeth in that bitter
moment may still be read in the State Paper Office,1
and her hand was more than usually firm.
' If ever any one/ she wrote, ' did try this old saying
that a King's word was more than another man's oath,
I most humbly beseech your Majesty to verify it in me,
and to remember your last promise, and my last demand,
that I be not condemned without answer and due proof,
which it seems that I now am : for that without cause
proved I am by your council from you commanded to
go unto the Tower, a place more wonted for a false
traitor than a true subject : which, though I know I
deserve it not, yet in the face of all this realm appears
that it is proved ; which I pray God that I may die the
shamefullest death that any died, afore I may mean any
such thing : and to this present hour I protest, afore
God who shall judge my truth, whatsoever malice shall
devise, that I never practised, counselled, nor consented
to anything that might be prejudicial to your person
any way, or dangerous to the State by any means. And
' MS. Mary, Domestic, vol iv. Printed by ELLIS, 2nd series, vol. ii
P- 255-
380 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 31.
I therefore humbly beseech your Majesty to let me an-
swer afore yourself, and not suffer me to trust to your
councillors ; yea, and that afore I go to the Tower, if it
is possible ; if not, afore I be further condemned. How-
beit, I trust assuredly your Highness will give me leave
to do it afore I go, for that thus shamefully I may not
be cried out on, as now I shall be, yea, and without
cause. Let conscience move your Highness to take some
better way with me, than to make me be condemned in
all men's sight, afore my desert known. Also, I most
humbly beseech your Highness to pardon this my bold-
ness, which innocency procures me to do, together with
hope of your natural kindness, which I trust will not
see me cast away without desert : which what it is I
would desire no more of God than that you truly knew ;
which thing, I think and believe, you shall never by
report know, unless by yourself you hear. I have heard
in my time of many cast away for want of coming to
the presence of their prince ; and in late days I heard
my Lord of Somerset say that, if his brother had been
suffered to speak with him, he had never suffered ; but
the persuasions were made to him so great, that he was
brought in belief that he could not live safely if the
admiral lived, and that made him give his consent to
his death. Though these persons are not to be com-
pared to your Majesty, yet I pray God as evil persua-
sions persuade not one sister against the other, and all
for that they have heard false reports, and not hearken
to the truth known ; therefore, once again kneeling
with all humbleness of my heart, because I am not suf-
1554-5
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
fered to bow the knees of my body, I humbly crave to
speak with your Highness, which I would not be so
bold to desire if I knew not myself most clear, as I
know myself most true. And as for the traitor Wyatt,
he might peradventure write me a letter, but on my
faith I never received any from him ; and for the copy
of my letter sent to the French King, I pray God con-
found me eternally if ever I sent him word, message,
token, or letter by any means : l and to this my truth I
will stand to my death your Highnesses most faithful
subject that hath been from the beginning, and will be
to the end.
' ELIZABETH.
'I humbly crave but one word of answer from
yourself/
Had Elizabeth known the history of those words of
the Queen to her, to which she appealed, she would have
spared herself the trouble of writing this letter. Sussex
fulfilled his promise, and during the delay the tide
turned, and the barge could not pass London Bridge
till the following day. The Queen could not venture to
send the Princess through the streets; and in dread
lest, at the last moment, her prey should be snatched
from, her, she answered the appeal only by storming at
the bearer, and at his friends in the council. ' They
1 As soon as Noailles learnt that
his enclosure formed part of the case
against Elizabeth, lie came forward
to acquit her of having furnished
him with it; 'jurant et blaspheraant
tous les sermens du monde pour la
justification de la dicte Dame Eliza-
beth.'—Renard to Charles V., April
3 : Rolls House MSS.
3<te REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
were going no good way/ she said, ' for their lives they
durst not have acted so in her father's time ; she wished
that he was alive and among them but for a single
month/ l
At nine o'clock the next morning — it was
Sunday, Palm Sunday — the two Lords returned to
Elizabeth to tell her that her letter had failed.
As she crossed the garden to the water she threw up
her eyes to the Queen's window, but there was no sign
of recognition. What do the Lords mean, she said,
that they suffer me thus to be led into captivity ? The
barge was too deep to approach sufficiently near to the
landing-place at the Tower to enable her to step upon
the causeway without wetting her feet ; it was raining
too, and the petty inconveniences, fretting against the
dreadful associations of the Traitors' Gate, shook her
self-command. She refused to land ; then sharply re-
jecting an offer of assistance, she sprung out upon the
mud. ( Are all those harnessed men there for me ? '
she said to Sir John Gage, who was waiting with the
Tower guard. ' No, madam/ Gage answered. ' Yes/
she said, ' I know it is so ; it needed not for me, being
but a weak woman. I never thought to have come in
here a prisoner/ she went on, turning to the soldiers ;
' I pray you all good fellows and friends, bear me wit-
ness that I come in no traitor, but as true a woman to
the Queen's Majesty as any is now living, and thereon
will I take my death/ She threw herself down upon a
1 RBNARD.
1 5 54-] THE SPANISH MARRfAGE. 383
wet stone ; Lord Chandos begged her to come under
shelter out of the rain : ' better sitting here than in a
worse place/ she cried ; ' I know not whither you will
bring me.'
But it was not in Elizabeth's nature to protract a
vain resistance ; she rose, and passed on, and as she
approached the room intended for her, the heavy doors
along the corridor were locked and barred behind her.
At the grating of the iron bolts the heart of Lord Sus-
sex sank in him : Sussex knew the Queen's true feel-
ings, and the efforts which were made to lash her into
cruelty ; ' What mean ye, my Lords,' he said to Chan-
dos and Grage, ' what will you do ? ' ' she was a King's
daughter, and is the Queen's sister ; go no further than
your commission, which I know what it is.' 1
The chief danger was of murder — of some swift des-
perate act which could not be undone : the Lords who
had so reluctantly permitted Elizabeth to be imprisoned
would not allow her to be openly sacrificed, or indeed
permit the Queen to continue in the career of vengeance
on which she had entered. The executions on account
of the rebellion had not ceased even yet. In Kent,
London, and in the midland counties, day after day,
one, two, or more persons had been put to death ; six
gentlemen were, at that very moment, on their way to
Maidstone and Rochester to suffer. The Lords, on the
day of Elizabeth's committal, held a meeting while
Gardiner was engaged elsewhere ; they determined to
1 Contemporary Narrative : Harleian MSS. 419. Chronicle of Queen
Mary, p. 71. HOLINSHED.
384 REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 31.
remonstrate, and, if necessary, to insist on a change of
course, and Paget undertook to be the bearer of the
message. He found Mary in her oratory after vespers ;
he told her that the season might remind a sovereign
of other duties besides revenge ; already too much blood
had been shed ; the noble house of Suffolk was all but
destroyed ; and he said distinctly that if she attempted
any more executions, he and his friends would interfere ;
the hideous scenes had lasted too long, and, as an earnest
of a return to mercy, he demanded the pardon of the
six gentlemen.
Mary, as she lamented afterwards to Reiiard, was
unprepared ; she was pressed in terms which showed
that those who made the request did not intend to be
refused — and she consented.1 The six gentlemen
escaped ; and, following up this beginning, the council,
in the course of the week, extorted from her the release
of Northampton, Cobham, and one of his sons, with five
others. In a report to the Emperor, Henard admitted
that, if the Queen attempted to continue her course of
justice, there would be resistance ; and the party of the
chancellor, being the weakest, would in that case be
overwhelmed. It was the more necessary, therefore,
that, by one means or another, Elizabeth should be dis-
posed of. The Queen had condescended to apologize to
him for her second act of clemency, which she excused
as being an Easter custom. He said that he had re-
plied, It was not for him to find fault, if her Majesty was
1 Rcnard to Cities V., March 22 ; Rolls House MSS
r 5 54-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 385
pleased to show mercy at the holy season ; but it was
his duty to remind her that he doubted whether the
Prince could be trusted with her.
This argument never failed to drive Mary to mad-
ness ; and, on the other side, Renard applied to Gar-
diner to urge despatch in bringing Elizabeth to trial :
as long as she lived, there was no security for the Queen,
for the Prince, or for religion. Gardiner echoed the
same opinion. If others, he said, would go to work as
roundly as himself, all would be well.1
In this condition of the political atmosphere Parlia-
ment assembled on the 2nd of April. The
Oxford scheme had been relinquished as im-
practicable. The Lord Mayor informed the Queen that
he would not answer for the peace of the city in the
absence of the Court; the Tower might be surprised
and the prisoners released ; and to lose the Tower would
be to lose the crown. The Queen said that she would
1 II me repliqua que vivant Eliza-
beth il n'a espoir a la tranquillite du
Royaulme, que quant a luy si chas-
cun alloit si rondement en besoyn
comme il fait, les choses se porteroi-
ent mieux. — Renardto the Emperor,
April 3 : Rolls House MSS. From
these dark plotters, what might not
be feared ? Holinshed says that,
while Elizabeth was in the Tower, a
writ was sent down for her execution
devised, as was believed, by Gardi-
ner ; and that Lord Chandos (Sir
and in the form in which it is told
by Holinshed, it was very likely un-
true: yet, in the presence of these
infernal conversations, I think it
highly probable that, as the hope of
a judicial conviction grew fainter,
schemes were talked of, and were
perhaps tried, for cutting the knot in
a decisive manner. In revolutionary
times men feel that if to-day is theirs,
to-morrow may be their enemies' ;
and they are not particularly scru-
pulous. The anxious words of Sus-
John Brydges, the Lieutenant of the sex did not refer to the merely bar-
Tower) refused to put it in force, ring a prisoner's door.
The story has been treated as a fable, I
VOL. v. 25
$6 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
not leave London while her sister's fate was undeter-
mined.1 The Houses met, therefore, as usual, at West-
minster, and the speech from the throne was read in
Mary's presence by the chancellor.
Since the last Parliament, Gardiner said, the people
of England had given proofs of unruly humour. The
Queen was their undoubted sovereign, and a measure
would be submitted to the Lords and Commons to de-
clare, in some emphatic manner, her claim to her sub-
jects' obedience.
Her Majesty desiring, further, in compliance with
her subjects' wishes, to take a husband, she had fixed
her choice on the Prince of Spain, as a person agreeable
to herself and likely to be a valuable friend to the realm :
the people, however, had insolently and ignorantly pre-
sumed to mutiny against her intentions, and, in her
affection for the commonwealth, her Majesty had con-
sented to submit the articles of the marriage to the ap-
proval of Parliament.
Again, her Majesty would desire them to take into
their consideration the possible failure of the blood
royal, and adopt necessary precautions to secure an un-
disturbed succession to the crown. It would be for the
Parliament to decide whether the privilege which had
been granted to Henry VIII. of bequeathing the crown
by will might not be, with propriety, extended to her
present Majesty.2
Finally, and at great length, the chancellor spoke
1 RENARD 3 NOAILLES, vol. iii. p. 141.
1554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 387
of religion. The late rebellion, he said, was properly a
religious rebellion : it was the work of men who de-
spised the sacraments, and were the enemies of truth,
order, and godliness. A measure would be laid before
the legislature for the better restraint of irregular
license of opinion.
The marriage was to pass quietly. Those of the
Lords and Commons who persevered in their disap-
proval were a small minority, and did not intend to ap-
pear.1 The bill, therefore, passed both Houses by the
i ^th of April.2 The marriage articles were those ori-
ginally offered by the Emperor, with the English clauses
attached, and some explanatory paragraphs, that no
room might be left for laxity of interpretation.5 Lord
Bedford and Lord Fitzwalter had already gone to Ply-
mouth, where a ship was in readiness to carry them to
Spain.' They waited only till the parliamentary forms
were completed, and immediately sailed. Lord William
Howard would go to sea with the fleet, at his earliest
convenience, to protect the passage, and the Prince
might be expected in England by the end of May.
The bill for the Queen's authority was carried also
without objection. The forms of English law running
only in the name of a king, it had been pretended that
a queen could not be a lawful sovereign. A declara-
tory statute explained that the kingly prerogative was
the same, whether vested in male or female.4 Here.
1 Eenard to Charles V., April 7. 2 i Mary, cap. ii.
3 See the treaty of marriage between Philip and Mary in RYMER.
Mary, cap. i.
388
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31
however, unanimity was at an end. The paragraph
about the succession in the Queen's speech being obvi-
ously aimed at Elizabeth, produced such an irritation in
the council, as well as in Parliament, that Reiiard ex-
pected it would end in actual armed conflict.1
From the day of Elizabeth's imprisonment Gardiner
had laboured to extort evidence against her by fair
means or foul.2 She had been followed to the Tower
by her servants. Sir John Gage desired that her food
should be dressed by people of his own. The servants
refused to allow themselves to be displaced,3 and, to the
distress of Renard, angry words had been addressed to
Gage by Lord Howard, so that they could not be re-
moved by force.4
The temptation of life having failed, after all, to
induce Wyatt to enlarge his confession beyond his first
acknowledgments, it was determined to execute him.
On the i ith of April he was brought out of his
cell, and on his way to the scaffold he was con-
fronted with Courtenay, to whom he said something,
but how much or what it is impossible to ascertain.5
ii.
1 Y a telle confusion que 1'on
ri'attend sinon que la qucrelle se
demesle par les armes et tumults. —
.Renard to Charles V., April 22.
2 Holinshed says, Edmund Tre-
mayne was racked, and I have al-
ready quoted Gardiner's letter to
Petre, suggesting the racking of
' little Wyatt.'
3 Her Grace's cook said to him,
My Lord, I will never suffer any
stranger to come about her diet but
her own sworn men as long as I
live. — Harkian MSS. 419, and see
HOLINSHED.
4 L' Admiral s'est colere au grand
chamberlain de la Royne que a la
garde de la dicte Elizabeth et luy a
dit qu'elle feroit encores trancher
tant de testes que luy et autres s'en
repentiroient. — Renard to Charles
V., April 7 : Rolls House MSS.
5 Lord Chandos stated the same
day in the House of Lords that he
1 554.]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
389
Finding that his death was inevitable, he determined to
make the only reparation which was any longer in his
power to Elizabeth. When placed on the platform,
after desiring the people to pray for him, lamenting his
crime, and expressing a hope that he might be the last
person to suffer for the rebellion, he concluded thus : —
' Whereas it is said abroad that I should accuse my
Lady Elizabeth's Grace and my Lord Courtenay ; it is
not so, good people, for I assure you neither they nor
any other now yonder in hold or durance was privy of
my rising or commotion before I began/ l
The words, or the substance of them, were heard by
every one. . Weston, who attended as confessor, shouted,
< Believe him not, good people ! he confessed otherwise
before the council.' ' That which I said then I said/
answered Wyatt, ' but that which I say now is true/
The executioner did his office, and Wyatt' s work, for
good or evil, was ended.
All that the Court had gained by his previous con-
threw himself at Courtenay's feet
and implored him to confess the
truth. The sheriffs of London, on
the other hand, said that he en-
treated Courtenay to forgive him for
the false charges which he had
brought against him and against
Elizabeth.— FOXE, vol. vi. Com-
pare Chronicle of Queen Mary, p.
72, note.
1 So far the Chronicle of Queen
Mary, Holinshed, Stow, and the
narratives among the HarleianMSS.
essentially agree. But the chronicle
followed by Stow makes Wyatt add,
'As I have declared no less to the
Queen's council; ' whereas Foxe says
that he admitted that he had spoken
otherwise to the council, but had
spoken untruly. Noailles tells all that
was really important in a letter to
d'Oysel : * M. Wyatt eust la teste
coupee, dischargeant advant que de
mourir Madame Elizabeth et Cour-
tenay qu'il avoit aulparavant charge
de s'estre entendus en son entre-
prinse sur promesses que Ton luy
avoit faictes de luy saulver la vie.'
— NOAILLES, vol. iii.
390
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
fessions was now more than lost. London rang with
the story that "Wyatt, in dying, had cleared Courtenay
and Elizabeth.1 Gardiner still thundered in the Star
Chamber on the certainty of their guilt, and pilloried
two decent citizens who had repeated Wyatt' s words ;
but his efforts were vain, and the hope of a legal convic-
tion was at an end. The judges declared that against
Elizabeth there was now no evidence ; 2 and, even if
there had been evidence, Renard wrote to his master,
that the Court could not dare to proceed further against
her, from fear of Lord William Howard, who had the
whole naval force of England at his disposal, and, in
indignation at Elizabeth's treatment, might join the
French and the exiles.3 Perplexed to know how to
dispose of her, the ambassador and the chancellor
thought of sending her off to Pomfret Castle ; doubtless,
if once within Pomfret walls, to find the fate of the
Second Richard there ; but again the spectre of Lord
Howard terrified them.
The threatened escape of her sister, too, was but the
beginning of the Queen's sorrows. On the iyth of
April Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was tried at the Guild-
hall for having been a party to the conspiracy. The
1 Courtenay, however, certainly
was guilty ; and had "Wyatt ac-
quitted Elizaheth without naming
Courtenay, his words would have
been far more effective than they
were. This, however, it was hard
for Wyatt to do, as it would have
been equivalent to a repetition of
his accusations.
2 Les gens de loy ne treuvent
matiere pour la condamner. — Re-
nard to Charles V., April 22 : TYT-
LEU, vol. ii.
3 Ibid. And see a passage in
the MS., which Mr Tytler has omit-
ted.
'554-J
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
confessions of many of the prisoners had more or less
implicated Throgmorton. Cuthbert Yaughan, who was
out with "VVyatt, swore in the Court that Throgmorton
had discussed the plan of the insurrection with him;
and Throgmorton himself admitted that he had talked
to Sir Peter Carew and Wyatt about the probability of
a rebellion. He it was, too, who was to have conducted
Courtenay to Andover on his flight into Devonshire ;
and the evidence1 leaves very little doubt that he was
concerned as deeply as any one who did not actually
take up arms. Sir Nicholas, however, defended himself
with resolute pertinacity ; he fought through all the
charges against him, and dissected the depositions with
the skill of a practised pleader; and in the end the
jury returned the bold verdict of ' Not guilty.' Sir
Thomas Bromley urged them to remember themselves.
The foreman answered they had found the verdict ac-
cording to their consciences.
Their consciences probably found less difficulty in
the facts charged against Throgmorton than in the guilt
to be attached to them. The verdict was intended as a
rebuke to the cruelty with which the rebellion had been
punished, and it was received as an insult to the Crown.
The crowd, as Throgmorton left the Court, threw up
their caps and shouted. The Queen was ill for three
days with mortification,2 and insisted that the jurors
should be punished. They w^ere arrested, and kept as
1 It is printed at length in Ho-
LINSHED.
2 Q,ue tant altere la dicte dame
qu'elle a este trois jours malade. c.t
n'est encore bien d'elle. — Ilenard to
diaries V. : TYTLEB, vol. ii. p. 374.
392 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. LOU. 31.-
prisoners till the following winter, when they were re-
leased on payment of the ruinous fine of 2OOO/. Throg-
morton himself was seized again on some other pretext,
and sent again to the Tower. The council, or Paget' s
party there, remonstrated against the arrest ; they
yielded, however, perhaps that they might make the
firmer stand on more important matters.
Since Elizabeth could not be executed, the Court
were the more anxious to carry the Succession Bill.
Gardiner's first desire was that Elizabeth should be ex-
cluded by name ; but Paget said that this was impossi-
ble.1 As little could a measure be passed empowering
the Queen to leave the crown by will, for that would be
but the same thing under another form. Following up
his purpose, notwithstanding, Gardiner brought out in
the House of Lords a pedigree, tracing Philip's descent
from John of Gaunt ; and he introduced a bill to make
offences against his person high treason. But at the
second reading the important words were introduced,
'during the Queen's lifetime;'2 the bill was read a
third time, and then disappeared ; and Paget had been
the loudest of its opponents.3
Beaten on the succession, the chancellor, in spite of
Kenard's remonstrances, brought forward next his Re-
1 He whom you wrote of comes i would give no consent to such a
to me with a sudden and strange ! scheme.— Paget to Renard : TYT-
proposal, that, since matters against
Madame Elizabeth do not take the
turn which was wished, there should
be an Act brought into Parliament
LER, vol. ii. p. 382.
2 Lords1 Journals.
8 Renard complains of Paget's
conduct bitterly.— Renard to Charles
to disinherit her. I replied that I j V., May i : TYTLEE, vol. ii.
1 5 54-J THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 393
ligious Persecution Bills. The House of Commons went
with him to some extent ; and, to secure success in some
form or other, he introduced three separate measures,
either of which would answer his purpose — a Bill for
the restoration of the Six Articles, a Bill to re-enact the
Lollard Statute of Henry IV., De Heretico Comburendo,
and a Bill to restore (in more than its original vigour)
the Episcopal Jurisdiction. The Six Articles had so bad
a name that the first bill was read once only, and was
dropped ; the two others passed the Commons,1 and, on
the 26th of April, the Bishops' Authority Bill came be-
fore the Lords. Lord Paget was so far in advance a
his time that he could not hope to appeal with a chancv
of success to his own principles of judicious latitudinari-
anism ; but he determined, if possible, to prevent Gar-
diner's intended cruelties from taking effect, and he
spread an alarm that, if the bishops were restored to
their unrestricted powers, under one form or other the
holders of the abbey lands would be at their mercy. To
allay the suspicion, another bill was carried through the
Commons, providing expressly for the safety of the
holders of those lands ; but the tyranny of the Episcopal
Courts was so recent, and the ecclesiastics had shown
themselves uniformly so little capable of distinguishing
between right and wrong when the interests of religion
were at stake, that the jealousy, once aroused, could not
be checked. The irritation became so hot and so general
as to threaten again the most dangerous consequences ;
Commons' Journals.
394 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [ca. 31.
and Paget, pretending to be alarmed at the excitement
\vliich he had raised, urged Henard to use his influence
with the Queen to dissolve Parliament.1
Henard, who was only anxious that the marriage
should go off quietly, agreed in the desirableness of a
dissolution. He told the Queen that the reform of re-
ligion must be left to a better opportunity ; and the
Prince could not, and should not, set his foot in a coun-
try where parties were for ever on the edge of cutting
each other's throats. It was no time for her to be in-
dulging Gardiner in humours which were driving men
mad, and shutting her ears to the advice of those who
could ruin her if they pleased ; she must think first of
her husband. The Queen protested that Gardiner was
acting by no advice of hers ; Gardiner, she said, was
obstinate, and would listen to no one ; she herself was
helpless and miserable. But Renard was not to be
moved by misery. At all events, he said, the Prince
should not come till late in the summer, perhaps not
till autumn, not, in fact, till it could be seen what form
these wild humours would assume ; summer was the
dangerous time in England, when the people's blood
was apt to boil.2
Gardiner, however, was probably not acting without
Mary's secret approbation. Both the Queen and the
minister especially desired, at that moment, the passing
1 Paget to Renard; TKTLER, vol. ii. p. 382. And compare Renard's
correspondence with the Emperor during the month of April. — li'dls
House MSS.
2 Pour ce qui ordiriairement les huineurs des Angloys boulissent plus
en Peste que en autre temps.
i 5 54. j THE SPANISH MARRIA GE. 395
of the Heresy Bill, and Renard was obliged to content
himself with a promise that the dissolution should be
as early as possible. Though Parliament could not
meet at Oxford, a committee of Convocation had been
sitting there, with Dr Weston, the adulterous Dean of
Windsor, for a president. Cranmer, Ridley, and Lati-
mer had been called upon to defend their opinions,
which had been pronounced false and damnable. They
had been required to recant, and, having refused, they
were sentenced, so far as the power of the
April 20.
court extended, to the punishment of heretics.
Cranmer appealed from the judgment to Go.d Al-
mighty, in whose presence he would soon stand.
Ridley said the sentence would but send them the
sooner to the place where else they hoped to go.
Latimer said, ' I thank God that my life has been
prolonged that I may glorify God by this kind of death/
Hooper, Ferrars, Coverdale, Taylor, Philpot, and
Sandars, who were in the London prisons, were to have
been simultaneously tried and sentenced at Cambridge.
These six, however, drew and signed a joint refusal to
discuss their faith in a court before which they were to
be brought as prisoners ; and for some reason the pro-
ceedings against them were suspended. But whether
they refused or consented was of little moment to the
Bishop of Winchester; they were in his hands — he
could try them when he pleased. A holocaust of he-
resiarchs was waiting to be offered up, and before a
faggot could be lighted, the necessary powers had to be
obtained from Parliament.
396
REIGN OF QUEEN- MARY.
[CH. 31.
The Bishop, therefore, was determined, if possible,
to obtain those powers. He had the entire bench of
prelates on his side; and Lord Howard, the Earl of
Bedford, and others of the lay lords who would have
been on the side of humanity, were absent. The op-
position had to be conducted under the greatest diffi-
culties. Paget, however, fought the battle, and fought
it on broad grounds : the Bishops' bill was read twice ;
May i. on the third reading, on the 1st of May, he
May 2. succeeded in throwing it out : the Lollards'
bill came on the day after, and here his difficulty was
far greater ; for toleration was imperfectly understood
by Catholic or Protestant, and many among the peers,
who hated the bishops, equally hated heresy. Paget,
however, spoke out his convictions, and protested against
the iniquity of putting men to death for their opinions.1
The bill was read a first time on the day on which it
was introduced ; on the 4th of May it was read again,2
but it went no further. The next day Parliament was
dissolved. The peers assured the Queen that they had
no desire to throw a shield over heresy ; the common
law existed independent of statute, and the common
law prescribed punishments which could still be in-
flicted.3 But, so long as heresy was undefined, Ana-
1 Quant Ton a parle de la peyne
des heretiques, il a sollicite les sieurs
pour non y consentir, y donner lieu
apeynede mort. — Renurd to Charles
V., May i.
3 Lords* Journals.
3 There can, I think, be no
doubt that it was this which the
peers said. The statute of Henry
IV. was not passed ; yet the Queen
told Renard, ' que le peyne antienne
centre les heretiques fut agree par
toute la noblesse, et qu'ilz fairent
dire expressement et publiquement
1554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
397
baptists, Socinians, or professors of the more advanced
forms of opinion, could alone fall within the scope of
punishments merely traditional.
Renard wrote that the tempers of men were never
worse than at that moment. In the heat of the debate,
on the 28th of April, Lord Thomas Grey was executed
as a defiance to the liberal party. Gardiner persuaded
the Queen, perhaps not without reason, that he was
himself in danger of being arrested by Paget and
Pembroke ; l and an order was sent to the Lieutenant
of the Tower that if the chancellor was brought thither
under warrant of the council only, he was not to be
received.2
On the other hand, twelve noblemen and gentlemen
undertook to stand by Mary if she would arrest Paget
and Pembroke. The chancellor, Sir Robert Rochester,
qu'ilz entendoient 1'heresie estre
extirpee et punie.' The chancellor
informed Renard that, 'Although
the Heresy Bill was lost, there were
penalties of old standing against
heretics which had still the form of
law, and could be put in execution.'
And, on the 3rd of May, the privy
council directed the judges and the
Queen's learned counsel to be called
together, and their opinions demand-
ed, ' what they think in law her
Highness may do touching the cases
of Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, being
already, by both the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, judged to be
obstinate heretics, which matter is
the rather to be consulted upon, for
that the said Cranmer is already at-
tainted.' — MS. Privy Council
Register. The answer of the judges
I have not found, but it must have
been unfavourable to the intentions
of the Court. Joan Bocher was
burnt under the common law, for
her opinions were condemned by all
parties in the Church, and were
looked upon in the same light as
witchcraft, or any other profession
definitely devilish. But it was
difficult to treat as heresy, under the
common law, a form of belief which
had so recently been sanctioned by
Act of Parliament.
1 Renard to Charles V., May 13:
Rolls House MSS.
2 NOAILLES.
398 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 31.
and the Marquis of Winchester discussed the feasibility
of seizing them ; but Lord Howard and the Channel
fleet were thought to present too formidable an obstacle.
With the Queen's sanction, however, they armed in
secret. It was agreed that, on one pretence or another,
Derby, Shrewsbury, Sussex, and Huntingdon should be
sent out of London to their counties. Elizabeth, if it
could be managed, should be sent to Pom fret, as Gar-
diner had before proposed ; Lord Howard should be kept
at sea ; and, if opportunity offered, Arundel and Paget
might, at least, be secured.1
But Pomfret was impossible, and vexation thickened
on vexation. Lord Howard was becoming a bugbear
at the Court. Report now said that two of the Staffords,
whom he had named to command in the fleet, had join-
ed the exiles in France ; and for Lord Howard himself
the Queen could feel no security, if he was provoked
too far. She was haunted by a misgiving that, while
the Prince was under his convoy, he might declare
against her, and carry him prisoner to France ; or if
Howard could himself be trusted, his fleet could not.
On the eve of sailing for the coast of Spain, a mutiny
broke out at Plymouth. The sailors swore that if they
were forced on a service which they detested, both the
admiral and the Prince should rue it. Lord Howard,
in reporting to the Queen the men's misconduct, said
that his own life was at her Majesty's disposal, but he
advised her to reconsider the prudence of placing the
1 Renard tc Charles V., May 13- : TITLES, vol. ii.
I554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
399
Prince in their power. Howard's own conduct, too, was
far from reassuring. A few small vessels had been sent
from Antwerp to join the English fleet, under the
Flemish admiral Chappelle. Chappelle complained
that Howard treated him with indifference, and insulted
his ships by ' calling them cockle-shells/ If the crews
of the two fleets were on land anywhere together, the
English lost no opportunity of making a quarrel, ' hust-
ling and pushing ' the Flemish sailors ; l and, as if
finally to complete the Queen's vexation, Lord Bedford
wrote that the Prince declined the protection of her
subjects on his voyage, and that his departure was post-
poned for a few weeks longer.
The fleet had to remain in the Channel ; it could
not be trusted elsewhere ; and the necessity of releasing
Elizabeth from the Tower was another annoyance to the
Queen. A confinement at Woodstock was the furthest
stretch of severity that the country would, for the pre-
sent, permit. On the 1 9th of May, Elizabeth was taken
up the river. The Princess believed herself that she
was being carried off tanqnam ovis, as she said — as a
sheep for the slaughter. But the world thought that
she was set at liberty, and as her barge passed under
the Bridge Mary heard, with indignation, from the
palace windows, three salvoes of artillery fired from the
Steelyard, as a sign of the joy of the people.2 A letter
1 Les ont provoque a debatz,
les cerrans et poulsans. — Renard to
Charles V. : TYTLER, vol. ii. p. 413.
2 Samedy dernier Elizabeth f'ut
tire"e de la Tour et menfce a Rich-
mond ; et dois ledict Richmond
Ton 1'a conduit a Woodstock pour y
estre gardee surement jusques 1'on
4oo
RETGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 31.
from Philip would have been a consolation to her in the
midst of the troubles which she had encountered for his
sake ; but the languid lover had never written a line to
her ; or, if he had written, not a line had reached her
hand ; only a ship which contained despatches from him
for Renard had been taken, in the beginning of May, by
a French cruiser, and the thought that precious words
of affection had, perhaps, been on their way to her and
were lost, was hard to bear.
In vain she attempted to cheer her spirits with the
revived ceremonials of Whitsuntide. She marched
day after day, in procession, with canopies and banners,
and bishops in gilt slippers, round St James's, round St
Martin's, round Westminster.1 Sermons and masses
alternated now with religious feasts, now with Diriges
for her father's soul. But all was to no purpose ; she
could not cast off her anxieties, or escape from the sha-
dow of her subjects' hatred, which clung to her steps.
Insolent pamphlets were dropped in her path and in the
offices of Whitehall ; she trod upon them in the passages
of the palace ; they were placed by mysterious hands in
the sanctuary of her bedroom. At length, chafed with
a thousand irritations, and craving for a husband who
showed so small anxiety to come to her, she fled from
la fasse aller a Pomfret. Et s'est
resjouy le peuple de sa departye,
pensant qu'ello fut en liberte, et
passant par devant la Maison dcs
Stillyards ilz tirerent trois coups
d'artillerie en signe d'allegrie, que
la reyne et son conseil ont prins a
desplaisir et regret, et estimons que
Ton en fera demonstration. — Renard
to Charles V. : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv.
1 Machyn's Diary ;
Memorials of the Reformation.
1 554-] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 40!
London, at the beginning of June, to Bich-
mond.
The trials of the last six months had begun to tell
upon Mary's understanding : she was ill with hysterical
longings ; ill with the passions which Gardiner had
kindled and Paget disappointed. A lady who slept in
her room told Noailles that she could speak to no one
without impatience, and that ;;he believed the whole
world was in a league to keep her husband from her.
She found fault with every one — even with the Prince
himself. Why had he not written ? she asked again
and again. Why had she never received one courteous
word from him ? If she heard of merchants or sailors
arriving from Spain, she would send for them and ques-
tion them ; and some would tell her that the Prince was
said to have little heart for his business in England ;
others terrified her with tales of fearful fights upon the
seas ; and others brought her news of the French squad-
rons that were on the watch in the Channel.1 She
would start out of her sleep at night, picturing a thou-
sand terrors, and among them one to which all else were
insignificant, that her Prince, who had taken such wild
possession of her imagination, had no answering feeling
1 Le doubte luy est souvent
augmentee par plusieurs marchants
mariniers et aultres malcontens de
son marriage qui veuans de France
et Espaign luy desguisent et luy con-
trouvent un infinite de nouvelles es-
tranges, les ungs du peu de volunt6
que le prince a de venir par de9a, les
aultres d' avoir ouy et entendus com-
bats sur la raer, et plusieurs d' avoir
descouvert grand nombre de voisles
Francises avec grand appareil. —
Noailles to the King of France
Ambassades, vol. iii. p. 253.
VOL. v. 26
402
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 3*.
for herself — that, with her growing years and wasted
figure, she could never win him to love her.1
1 The unfortunate Queen/ wrote Henry of France,
' will learn the truth at last. She will wake too late, in
misery and remorse, to know that she has filled the
realm with blood for an object which, when she has
gained it, will bring nothing but affliction to herself or
to her people/ 2
But the darkest season has its days of sunshine, and
Mary's trials were for the present over. If the states-
men were disloyal, the clergy and the Universities ap-
preciated her services to the Church, and, in the midst
of her trouble, Oxford congratulated her on having
been raised up for the restoration of life and light to
England.3 More pleasant than this pleasant flattery
was the arrival, on the I9th of June, of the Marquis do
las Navas from Spain, with the news that by that time
the Prince was on his way.
It was even so. Philip had submitted to his un-
1 L'on m'a diet que quelques
heurcs de la nuict elle entre en tclle
resverie de ses amours et passions
que bien souvent elle se met hors de
soy, et croy que la plus grande occa-
sion de sa douleur vieut du desplaisir
qu'elle a de veoir sa personne si di-
minuee et ses ans multiplier en telle
nombre qu'ilz luy courent tous les
jours a grande interest. — Noailles
to the King of France : Ambassades,
vol. iii. p. 252.
2 Ibid. p. 255.
* Nuper cum litterarum studia
pene extincta jacerent cum salus
omnium exigua, spe dubiaque pen-
deret quis. non fortune incertos
eventus extimescebat ? Quis non in-
gemuit et arsit dolore ? Pars studia
deserere cogebantur ; pars buc illuc-
que quovis momento rapiebantur ;
nee ulli certus ordo suumve proposi-
tum diu constabat. — The happy
change of the last year was then
contrasted with proper point and
prolixity. — The University of Oxford
to the Queen : MS. Domestic, Mary,
vol. iv.
1554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 403
welcome destiny, and six thousand troops being required
pressingly by the Emperor in the Low Countries, they
attended him for his escort. A paper of advices was
drawn for the Prince's use by Henard, directing him
how to accommodate himself to his barbarous fortune.
Neither soldiers nor mariners would be allowed to land.
The noblemen, therefore, who formed his retinue, were
advised to bring Spanish musketeers, disguised in
liveries, in the place of pages and lacqueys. Their arms
could be concealed amidst the baggage. The war
would be an excuse for the noblemen being armed them-
selves, and the Prince, on landing, should have a shirt
of mail under his doublet. As to manner, he must en-
deavour to be affable : he would have to hunt with the
young lords, and to make presents to them ; and, with
whatever difficulty, he must learn a few words of Eng-
lish, to exchange the ordinary salutations. As a friend,
Renard recommended Paget to him ; he would find
Paget ' a man of sense.' 1
Philip, who was never remarkable for personal
courage, may be pardoned for having come reluctantly
to a country where he had to' bring men-at-arms for
servants, and his own cook for fear of being poisoned.
The sea, too, was hateful to him, for he suffered miser-
ably from sickness. Nevertheless, he was coming, and
with him such a retinue of gallant gentlemen as the
world has rarely seen together. The Marquis de los
Yalles, Gonzaga, d'Aguilar, Medina Celi, Antonio de
1 'Homrae d' esprit.' — Instruc- I d'Espagne : Granvelle Papers, vol.
donnees a Philippe, Prince | iv. p. 267.
404
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[cu. 31.
Toledo, Diego de Mendoza, the Count de Feria, the
Duke of Alva, Count Egmont, and Count Horn — men
whose stories are written in the annals of two worlds :
some in letters of glorious light, some in letters of
blood which shall never be washed out while the history
of mankind survives. Whether for evil or good, they
were not the meek innocents for whom Renard had at
one time asked so anxiously
In company with these noblemen was Sir Thomas
Gresham, charged with half a million of money in
bullion, out of the late arrivals from the New World ;
which the Emperor, after taking security from the
London merchants, had lent the Queen, perhaps to
enable her to make her marriage palatable by the re-
storation of the currency.1
Thus preciously freighted, the Spanish fleet, a hun-
dred and fifty ships, large and small, sailed from Co-
runna at the beginning of July. The voyage was weary
and wretched. The sea- sickness prostrated both the
Prince and the troops, and to the sea- sickness was added
the terror of the French — a terror, as it happened,
needless, for the English exiles, by whom the Prince
was to have been intercepted, had, in the last few weeks,
melted away from the French service, with the excep-
tion of a few who were at Scilly. Sir Peter Carew, for
some unknown reason, had written to ask for his pardon,
and had gone to Italy ; 2 but the change was recent and
1 Gresham's Correspondence :
Flanders MSS. State Paper Office.
The bullion was afterwards drawu
in procession in carts through the
London streets.
- Wotton' s Correspondence: French
1 5 54-] THP: SPANISH MARRIAGE. 405
unknown, and the ships stole along in silence, the orders
of the Prince being that not a salute should be fired to
catch the ear of an enemy.1 At last, on the I9th of
July, the white cliffs of Freshwater were sighted ; Lord
Howard lay at the Needles with the English fleet ; and
on Friday, the soth, at three o'clock in. the
July 20.
afternoon, the flotilla was safely anchored in
Southampton Water.
The Queen was on her way to Winchester, where
she arrived the next morning, and either in attendance
upon her, or waiting at Southampton, was almost the
entire peerage of England. Having made up their
minds to endure the marriage, the Lords resolved to
give Philip the welcome which was due to the husband
of their sovereign, and in the uncertain temper of the
people, their presence might be necessary to protect his
person from insult or from injury.
It was an age of glitter, pomp, and .pageantry ; the
anchors were no sooner down, than a barge was in
readiness, with twenty rowers in the Queen's colours of
green and white ; and Arundel, Pembroke, Shrewsbury,
Derby, and other lords went off to the vessel which
carried the royal standard of Castile. Philip's natural
manner was cold and stiff, but he had been schooled
into graciousness. Exhausted by his voyage, he ac-
cepted delightedly the instant invitation to go on shore,
MSS. State Paper Office. The
title of the Queen of Scots was, per-
haps, the difficulty ; or Carew may
have felt that he could do nothing
of real consequence, while he might
increase the difficulty of protecting
Elizabeth.
Noailles to the King of France,
July 23 : Ambassades, vol. iii
4o6 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [crt. 31.
and he entered the barge accompanied by the Duke of
Alva. A crowd of gentlemen was waiting to receive
him at the landing-place. As he stepped out — -not per-
haps without some natural nervousness and sharp
glances round him — the whole assemblage knelt. A
salute was fired from the batteries, and Lord Shrews-
bury presented him with the order of the Garter.1 An
enthusiastic eye-witness thus describes Philip's appear-
ance :—
' Of visage he is well favoured, with a broad forehead
and grey eyes, straight-nosed and of manly countenance.
From the forehead to the point of his chin his face
groweth small. His pace is princely, and gait so
straight and upright as he loseth no inch of his height ;
with a yellow head and a yellow beard ; and thus to
conclude, he is so well proportioned of body, arm, leg,
and every other limb to the same, as nature cannot
work a more perfect pattern, and, as I have learned, of
the age of 28 years. His Majesty I judge to be of a
stout stomach, pregnant-witted, and of most gentle
nature.'2
Sir Anthony Brown approached, leading a horse
with a saddle-cloth of crimson velvet, embroidered with
Antiquaries dispute whether I Office.
Philip received the Garter on board
his own vessel or after he came on
shore. Lord Shrewsbury himself
settles the important point. « I, the
Lord Steward,' Shrewsbury wrote
to "Wotton, ' at his coming to land,
presented the Garter to him.' —
French MSS. Mary, State Paper
2 John Elder to the Bishop of
Caithness : Queen Jane and Queen
Mary, appendix 10. Elder adds
that his stature was about that of a
certain ' John Hume, my Lord of
Jedward's kinsman,' which does not
help our information. Philip, how-
ever, was short,
I554-J THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 407
gold and pearls. He presented the steed with a Latin
speech, signifying that he was his Highness's Master of
the Horse ; and Philip mounting, went direct to South-
ampton church, the English and Spanish noblemen at-
tending bareheaded, to offer thanks for his safe arrival.
From the church he was conducted to a house which
had been furnished from the royal stores for his re-
ception. Every thing was, of course, magnificent. Only
there had been one single oversight. Wrought upon
the damask hangings, in conspicuous letters, were
observed the ominous words, ' Henrj^, by the Grace of
God, King of England, France, and Ireland, and
Supreme Head of the Church of England/ 1
Here the Prince was to remain till Monday to re-
cover from his voyage ; perhaps to ascertain, before he
left the neighbourhood of his own fleet, the humour of
the barbarians among whom he had arrived. In Latin
(he was unable to speak French) he addressed the Lords
on the causes which had brought him to England, the
chief among those causes being the manifest will of God,
to which he felt himself bound to submit. It was noticed
that he never lifted his cap in speaking to any one,2 but
he evidently endeavoured to be courteous. With a
stomach unrecovered from the sea, and disdaining pre-
cautions, he sat down on the night of his arrival to a
public English supper ; he even drained a tankard of
ale, as an example, he said, to his Spanish companions.3
1 BAOAKDO.
2 Non bavendo mai levato la berretta a persona. — BAOARDO.
3 NOAILLES.
4o8
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[en. 31.
July 21.
The first evening passed off well, and he retired to seek
such rest as the strange land and strange people, the
altered diet, and the firing of guns, which never ceased
through the summer night, would allow him.
Another feature of his new country awaited
Philip in the morning ; he had come from the
sunny plains of Castile; from his window at South-
ampton he looked out upon a steady downfall of July
rain. Through the cruel torrent1 he made his way .to
the church again to mass, and afterwards Gardiner
came to him from the Queen. In the afternoon the
sky cleared, and the Duchess of Alva, who had ac-
companied her husband, was taken out in a barge upon
Southampton Water. Both English and Spaniards ex-
erted themselves to be mutually pleasing ; but the
situation was not of a kind which it was desirable to
protract. Six thousand Spanish troops were cooped in
the close uneasy transports, forbidden to land lest they
should provoke the jealousy of the people ; and when,
on Sunday, his Highness had to undergo a
public dinner, in- which English servants only
were allowed to attend upon him, the Castilian lords,
many of whom believed that they had come to England
on a bootless errand, broke out into murmurs.2
Monday came at last ; the rain fell again,
and the wind howled. The baggage was sent
July 22.
July 23.
1 Crudele pioggia. — BAOARDO.
2 La Dominica Mattina se n'ando
a messa ct tomato a casa mangio in
publico servito da gli officiali eke gli
haveva data la Roina con mala sa-
tisfattione degli Spagruioli, i quali
dubitando che la cosa non andassc a
lungo, mormoravauo assai tra di
loro. — BAOAHDO.
1 5 54. ] THE SPANISH MARRIA GE. 409
forward in the morning in the midst of the tempest.
Philip lingered in hopes of a change ; but no change
came, and after an early dinner the trumpet sounded to
horse. Lords, knights, and gentlemen had thronged
into the town, from curiosity or interest, out of all the
counties round. Before the Prince mounted it was
reckoned, with uneasiness, that as many as four thou-
sand cavaliers, under no command, were collected to
join the procession.
A grey gelding was led up for Philip ; he wrapped
himself in a scarlet cloak, and started to meet his bride
— to complete a sacrifice the least congenial, perhaps,
which ever policy of state extracted from a prince.
The train could move but slowly. Two miles be-
yond the gates a drenched rider, spattered with chalk
mud, was seen galloping towards them ; on reaching the
Prince he presented him with a ring from the Queen,
and begged his Highness, in her Majesty's name, to
come no further. The messenger could not explain the
cause, being unable to speak any language which Philip
could understand, and visions of commotion instantly
presented themselves, mixed, it may be, with a hope
that the bitter duty might yet be escaped. Alva was
immediately at his master's side ; they reined up, and
were asking each other anxiously what should next be
done, when an English lord exclaimed in French, with
courteous irony, ' Our Queen, sire, loves your Highness
so tenderly that she would not have you come to her in
such wretched weather.'1 The hope, if hope there had
1 ' Sire, la Nostra Keina ama tanto I'Altezza vostra ch'clla non vo-
4io REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [ctt. 31.
been, died in its birth ; before sunset, with drenched
garments and draggled plume, the object of so many
anxieties arrived within the walls of Winchester.
To the cathedral he went first, wet as he was.
Whatever Philip of Spain was entering upon, whether
it was a marriage or a massacre, a state intrigue or a
midnight murder, his opening step was ever to seek a
blessing from the holy wafer. He entered, kissed the
crucifix, and knelt and prayed before the altar ; then
taking his seat in the choir, he remained while the cho-
risters sang a Te Deum laudamus, till the long aisles
grew dim in the summer twilight, and he was conducted
by torchlight to the Deanery.
The Queen was at the Bishop's palace, but a few
hundred yards distant. Philip, doubtless, could have
endured the postponement of an interview till morning ;
but Mary could not wait, and the same night he was
conducted into the presence of his haggard bride, who
now, after a life of misery, believed herself at the open
gate of Paradise. Let the curtain fall over the meeting,
let it close also over the wedding solemnities which fol-
lowed with due splendour two days later. There are
scenes in life which we regard with pity too deep for
words. The unhappy Queen, unloved, unlovable, yet
with her parched heart thirsting for affection, was fling-
ing herself upon a breast to which an iceberg was warm ;
upon a man to whom love was an unmeaning word, ex-
cept as the most brutal of passions. For a few months
rebbe chc pigliasse disagio di caminar per tempi cosi tristi.' — BAOARDO.
1 554-1 THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 41 1
she created for herself an atmosphere of unreality. She
saw in Philip the ideal of her imagination, and in
Philip's feelings the reflex of her own ; but the dream
passed away — her love for her husband remained ; but
remained only to be a torture to her. With a broken
spirit and bewildered understanding, she turned to
Heaven for comfort, and, instead of heaven, she saw
only the false roof of her creed painted to imitate and
shut out the sky.
The scene will change for a few pages to the Low
Countries. Charles Y. more than any other person was
responsible for this marriage. He had desired it not
for Mary's sake, not for Philip's sake, not for religion's
sake ; but that he might be able to assert a decisive pre-
ponderance over France ; and, to gain his end, he had
already led the Queen into a course which had forfeited
the regard of her subjects. She had murdered Lady
Jane Grey at the instigation of his ambassador, and
under the same influence she had done her best to de-
stroy her sister. Yet Charles, notwithstanding, was one
of nature's gentlemen. If he was unscrupulous in the
sacrifice of others to his purposes, he never spared him-
self ; and in the days of his successes he showed to less
advantage than now, when, amidst failing fortunes and
ruined health, his stormy career was closing.
In the spring he had been again supposed to be
dying. His military reputation had come out tarnished
from his failure at Metz, and while he was labouring
with imperfect success to collect troops for a summer's
campaign, Henry of France, unable to prevent the
4 1 2 REIGN OF Q UEEN MAR Y. [CH. 3 1 .
English marriage, was preparing to strike a blow so
heavy, as should enable him to dictate peace on his own
terms before England was drawn into the quarrel.
In June two French armies took the field. Pietro
Strozzi advanced from Piedmont into Tuscany. Henry
himself, with Guise, Montmorency, and half the peerage
of France, entered the Low Countries, sweeping all op-
position before him. First Marienbourg fell, then Di-
nant fell, stormed with especial gallantry. The young
French nobles were taught that they must conquer or
die : a party of them flinched in the breach at Dinant,
and the next morning Henry sat in judgment upon
them sceptre in hand ; some were hanged, the rest de-
graded from their rank : ' and whereas one privilege of
the gentlemen of France was to be exempt from taylles
payable to the Crown, they were made tayllable as any
other villains/1
From Dinant the French advanced to Namur. When
Namur should have fallen, Brussels was the next aim ;
and there was nothing, as it seemed, which could stop
them. The Imperial army under the Prince of Savoy
could but hover, far outnumbered, on their skirts. The
reinforcements from Spain had not arrived, and a battle
lost was the loss of Belgium.
In the critical temper of England, a decisive supe-
riority obtained by France would be doubly dangerous ;
and Charles, seeing Philibert perplexed into uncertain
ipovements which threatened misfortune, disregarding
1 Wotton to the Queen ; cypher : French JfSS. Man/, bundle \i.
1554-]
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE.
the remonstrances of his physicians, his ministers, and
his generals, started from his sick bed, flew to the head
of his troops, and brought them to JSTamur, in the path
of the advancing French. Men said that he was rush-
ing upon destruction ; that the headstrong humour
which had already worked him so heavy injury was
again dragging him into ruin.1 But fortune had been
disarmed by the greatness with which Charles had borne
up against calamit}^, or else his supposed rashness was
the highest military wisdom. Before Henry came up
he had seized a position at an angle of the Meuse, where
he could defend Namur, and could not be himself at-
tacked, except at a disadvantage. The French ap-
proached only to retire, and, feeling themselves unable
to force the Imperial lines, commenced a retreat.
Charles followed cautiously. An attack on Eenty
1 * You shall understand that the
Emperor hath suddenly caused his
army to march towards Namur, and
that himself is gone after in person ;
the deliberation -whereof, both of the
one and the other, is against the ad-
vice of his council, and all other
men to the staying of him. Where-
in Albert the Duke of Savoy, John
Baptiste Castaldo, Don Hernando de
Gonzaga, and Andrea Doria have
done their best, as well by letter as
by their coming from the camp to
this town, viva voce alleging to him
the puissance of his enemy, the un-
ableness as yet of his army to en-
counter with them, the danger of the
chopping of them between him and
this town, the hazard of himself, his
estate, and all these countries, in
case, being driven to fight, their
army should have an overthrow ; in
the preservation whereof standeth
the safety of the whole, and twenty
other arguments. Yet was there no
remedy, but forth he would, and
commanded them, that they should
march sans plm repliquer. His
headiness hath often put him. to
great hindrance, specially at Metz,
and another time at Algiers. This
enterprise is more dangerous than
they both. God send him better
fortune than multi ominantur.' —
Mason to Petre, Brussels, July 10 ;
German MSS. Mary, bundle 16,
State Paper Office.
4*4
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
tea. 31.
brought on an action in which the French claimed
the victory ; but the Emperor held his ground, and the
town could not be taken ; and Henry's army, from which
such splendid results had been promised, fell back on
the frontier and dispersed. The voices which had ex-
claimed against the Emperor's rashness were now as
loud in his praise, and the disasters which he was ac-
cused of provoking, it was now found that he only had
averted.1 Neither the French nor the Imperialists, in
their long desperate struggle, can claim either approval
or sympathy ; the sufferings which they inflicted upon
mankind were not the less real, the selfishness of their
rivalry none the less reprehensible, because the dis-
union of the Catholic powers permitted the Reformation
to establish itself. Yet, in this perplexed world, the
deeds of men may be without excuse, while, neverthe-
less, in the men themselves there may be something to
love, and something more to admire.
1 ' The Emperor, in these nine or
ten days following of his enemy,
hath showed a great courage, and no
less skilfulness in the war ; but
much more notably showed the same
when, with so small an army as he
then had, he entered into Namur, a
town of no strength, but commodious
for the letting of his enemy's pur-
pose, against the advice and persua-
sion of all his captains ; which, if he
had not done, out of doubt first
Liege, and after, these countries, had
had such a foil as would long after
have been remembered. By his own
wisdom and unconquered courage
the enemy's meaning that way was
frustrated.' — Mason to the Council,
Aug. 13: German MSS. Mary,
bundle 16, State Paper Office.
415
CHAPTER XXXII.
RECONCILIATION WITH ROMU.
MARY had restored Catholic orthodoxy, and her
passion for Philip had been gratified. To com-
plete her work and her happiness, it remained to bring
back her subjects to the bosom of the Catholic Church.
Reginald Pole had by this time awakened from some
part of his delusions. He had persuaded himself that
he had but to appear with a pardon in his hand to be
welcomed to his country with acclamation : he had as-
certained that the English people were very indifferent
to the pardon, and that his own past treasons had
created especial objections to himself. Even the Queen
herself had grown impatient with him. He had fretted
her with his importunities ; his presence in Elanders
had chafed the Parliament and made her marriage more
difficult ; while he was supposed to share with the Eng-
lish nobles their jealousy of a foreign sovereign. So
general was this last impression about him, that his
nephew, Lord Stafford's son, who was one of the refugees,
went to seek him in the expectation of countenance and
416
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
sympathy : and, further, he had been in correspondence
with Gardiner, and was believed to be at the bottom of
the chancellor's religious indiscretions.1 Thus his
anxiety to be in England found nowhere any answering
desire ; and Renard, who dreaded his want of wisdom,
never missed an opportunity of throwing difficulties in
the way. In the spring of 1554 Pole had gone to Paris,
where, in an atmosphere of so violent opposition to the
marriage, he had not thought it necessary to speak in
favour of it. The words which Dr Wotton heard that
he had used were reported to the Emperor; and, at last,
Renard went so far as to suggest that the scheme of
sending him to England* had been set on foot at Rome
by the French party in the Consistory, with a view of
provoking insurrection and thwarting the Imperial
policy.2
The Emperor, taught by his old experiences of Pole,
acquiesced in the views of his ambassador. If England
was to be brought back to its allegiance, the negotiation
would require a delicacy of handling for which the
present legate was wholly unfit ; and Charles wrote at
last to the Pope to suggest that the commission should
be transferred to a more competent person. Impatient
language had been heard of late from the legate's lips,
contrasting the vexations of the world with the charms
1 RENARD.
2 Que pourroit estre Ton auroit
mis en avant au consistoire cette
commission par affection particu-
liere pour plustot nuire, que servir
aux consciences ; attendu qu'ilz sont
partiaulx pour les princes Chrestiens,
et souvent meslent les cboses secu-
lieres et proplianes avec les conseils
divins et ecclesiastiques. — Renard to
Philip : Granrclle Papers, vol. iv.
1 554.] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 417
oi devotional retirement. To soften the harshness of
the blow, the Emperor said that he understood Pole was
himself weary of his office, and wished to escape into
privacy.
The respect of Julius for the legate's understanding
was not much larger than the Emperor's; but he would
not pronounce the recall without giving him an op-
portunity of explaining himself. Cardinal Morone
wrote to him to inquire whether it was true that he had
thought of retirement ; he informed him of the Em-
peror's complaints ; and, to place his resignation in the
easiest light (while pointing, perhaps, to the propriety
of his offering it), he hinted at Pole's personal unpopu-
larity, and at the danger to which he would be exposed
by going to England.
But the legate could not relinquish the passionate
desire of his life ; while, as to the marriage, he was,
after all, unjustly suspected. He requested Morone, in
reply, to assure the Pope that, much as he loved retire-
ment, he loved duty more. He appealed to the devotion
of his life to the Church as an evidence of his zeal and
sincerity ; and, although he knew, he said, that God
could direct events at his will and dispense with the
service of men, yet, so long as he had strength to be of
use, he would spend it in his Master's cause. In going
to England he was venturing upon a stormy
sea; he knew it well;1 but, whatever befell
him, his life was in God's hands.
1 He begged Morone not to sup- I mare d'lnghil terra nel quale io ho
pose him ignorant, ' quale sia il | da nangare et che fortuna et tia-
VOL. v. 27
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
May 25.
A fortnight after, lie wrote again, replying
more elaborately to the Emperor's charges.
It was true, he admitted, that in his letters to the Queen
he had dwelt more upon her religious duties than upon
her marriage : it was true that he had been backward
in his demonstrations of pleasure, because he was a per-
son of few words. But, so far from disapproving of
that marriage, he looked upon it as the distinct work of
God ; and when his nephew had come with complaints
to him, he had forbidden him his presence. He had
spoken of the rule of a stranger in England as likely to
be a lesson to the people ; but he had meant only that,
as their disasters had befallen them through their own
King Henry, their deliverance would be wrought for
them by one who was not their own. When the late
Parliament had broken up without consenting to the
restoration of union, he had consoled the Queen with
assuring her that he saw in it the hand of Providence ;
the breach of a marriage between an English king and
a Spanish princess had caused the wound which a re-
newed marriage of a Spanish King and an English
Queen was to heal.1
vagli potrei haver a sostinere per
condurre la navi in porto.'— Pole to
Morone ; Epist. REG. POL. vol. iv.
I have not seen Moron e's first letter.
The contents are to be gathered,
however, from Pole's answer, and
from a second letter of apology
which Morone wrote two months
later.
1 Serissi alia IteiHua non la
volendo contristare condolermi di
cio, che io interpretava et intendeva
che questa tardita non veuisse tanto
da lei quanto delle Providentia di
Dio, il qual habbia ordinato che si
come per discordia matrimoniale
d'un Re Inglese et d'una Regina
Hispana fu levata 1'obedientia della
chiesa de quel Regno cosi dalla con-
cordia matrimoniale d'un Re His-
«554-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
419
The defence was elaborate, and, on the whole, may
have been tolerably true. The Pope would not take the
trouble to read it, or even to hear it read ; 1 but the
substance, as related to him by Morone, convinced him
that the Emperor's accusations were exaggerated : to
recall a legate at the instance of a secular sovereign was
an undesirable precedent ; 2 and the commission was al-
lowed to stand. Julius wrote to Charles, assuring him
that he was mistaken in the legate's feelings, leaving
the Emperor at the same time, however, full power to
keep him in Flanders or to send him to England at his
own discretion.
Pole was to continue the instrument of the reconcili-
ation; the conditions under which the reconciliation
could take place were less easy to settle. The Popes,
whose powers are unlimited where the exercise of them
is convenient for the interests of the Holy See, have
uniformly fallen back upon their inability where they
have been called on to make sacrifices. The canons of
the Church forbade, under any pretext, the alienation
of ecclesiastical property ; and until Julius could relin-
quish ex animo all intention of disturbing the lay
holders of the English abbey lands, there was not
a chance that the question of his supremacy would
pano et d'una Eegina Inglese ella
vi doversc ritornare. — Pole to Mo-
rone : .Epist. EEQ. POL. vol. iv.
1 E benche S. Sanctita non
havesse patienza secundo 1'ordinario
suo di leggere o di udir la lettera,
iioudiineno le dissi talraente la sum-
ma che mostro restate satisfattissima,
e disse esser piti che certa che quella
non haveva dato causa ne all' Im-
peratore ne ad altri d' usar con lei
termini cosi extravagant!. — Morone
to Pole: BURNET'S Collectanea.
2 Ibid.
420
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
be so much, as entertained by either Lords or Commons.
The vague powers originally granted to the legate
were not satisfactory ; and Pole himself, who was too
sincere a believer in the Roman doctrines to endure
that worldly objections should stand in the way of the
salvation of souls, wrote himself to the Holy See, en-
treating that his commission might be enlarged. The
Pope in appearance consented. In a second brief, dated
June 28th, he extended the legate's dispensing powers
to real property as well as personal, and granted him
general permission to determine any unforeseen diffi-
culties which might arise.1 Ormaneto, a confidential
agent, carried the despatch to Flanders, and on Orraa-
neto's arrival, the legate, believing that his embarrass-
ments were at last at an end, sent him on to the Bishop
of Arras, to entreat that the perishing souls of the Eng-
lish people might now be remembered. The Pope had
given way ; the Queen was happily married, and the
reasons for his detention were at an end.2
Both Arras and the Emperor, however, thought
more of Philip's security than of perishing souls. Arras,
who understood the ways of the Vatican better than the
legate, desired that, before any steps were taken, he
might be favoured with a copy of these enlarged powers.
He wished to know whether the question of the pro-
perty was fairly relinquished to the secular powers in
England, and whether the Church had finally washed
1 Powers granted by the Pope to
Cardinal Pole: BURNET'S Collecta-
2 Charles V. to Eenard : Gran-
velle Papers, vol. iv.
I554-]
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
421
July.
its hands of it ; J at all events, he must examine the
brief. On inspection, the new commission was
found to contain an enabling clause indeed, as
extensive as words could make it ; but the See of
Rome reserved to itself the right of sanctioning the
settlement after it had been made ; 2 and the reserva-
tion had been purposely made, in order to leave the
Pope free to act as he might please at a future time.
Morone, writing to Pole a fortnight after the date of
the brief, told him that his Holiness was still unable to
come to a resolution ; 3 while Ormaneto said openly to
Arras, that, although the Pope would be as moderate as
possible, yet his moderation must not be carried so far
as to encourage the rest of Christendom in an evil ex-
ample. Catholics must not be allowed to believe that
they could appropriate Church property without offence,
nor must the Holy See appear to be purchasing by con-
cessions the submission of its rebellious subjects.4
1 Che gran differenza sarebbe
se fosse stata commessa la cosa o al
S. Cardinale, o alii Serenissimi
Principi. — Ormaneto to Priuli,
Jnly 31 : BUKNET'S Collectanea.
2 Salvo tamen in his, in quibus
propter rerum magnitudinera et
gravitatem haoc sancta sedes merito
tibi videretur consulcnda, nostro et
pra?fata3 sedis beneplacito et con-
firmatione. — Powers granted by the
Pope to Cardinal Pole : Ibid.
3 Nondimeno non si risolveva in
tutto, com anco non si risolveva
nella materia delli beni ecclesiastici,
sopra la qual sua Sanctita ha parlato
molte volte variamente.— Morone
to Pole, July 13 : Ibid.
4 II S9auroit bien user de mode-
ration quant aux biens occupez ;
mais que toutesfois il fauldroit que
se fust de sorte que la reste de la
Chrestiente n'en print malvais ex-
emple ; et signarnment que aucuns
Catholiques qui tiennent biens ec-
clesiastiques soubz leur main ne
voulsissent pretendre d'eulx appro-
prier avec cest exemple ; et que de
vouloir laisser les biens a ceulx qui
les occupent, il ne conviendroit pour
ce qu'il sembleroit que ce seroit
racheter, comme a deniers comptans
422
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32
August 3.
August 6.
This language was not even ambiguous;
Pole was desired to wait till an answer could
be received from England ; and the Emperor wrote to
Renard, desiring him to lay the circumstances before
the Queen and his son. He could believe, he said, that
the legate himself meant well, but he had not the same
confidence in those who were urging him forward, and
the Pope had given no authority for haste or precipitate
movements.1
The Emperor's letter was laid before a
Council of State at Windsor, on the 6th of
August ; and the council agreed with Charles that the
legate's anxieties could not for the present be gratified.
He was himself attainted, and Parliament had shown
no anxiety that the attainder should be removed. The
re-imposition of the Pope's authority was a far more
ticklish matter than the restoration of orthodoxy,2 and
the temper of the people was uncertain. The Cardinal
had, perhaps, intelligence with persons in England of a
suspicious and dangerous kind, and the execution of his
commission must depend on the pleasure of the next
Parliament. He was not to suppose that he might in-
troduce changes in the constitution of the country by
1'auctorite du siege apostolique en
ce coustel-la. — The Emperor to Re-
nard : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. pp.
282, 283.
1 Nous s^avons que le diet Car-
dinal n'a commission de presser si
chauldement en cette affaire — ains
avons heu soubz main advertisse-
ment du nunce propi-e de sa Sainc-
tete que la resolution de la commis-
sion dudict Cardinal est que toutes
choses se traictent comm'il nous
semblera pour le mieulx et qu'il
tienne cecy pour regie. — Granvelle
Papers, vol. iv.
2 Trop plus chastolleux que ccluy
de la vraye religion. — Renard to the
Emperor : Ibid. p. 287.
I554-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 423
the authority of a Papal commission, or try experiments
which might put in peril the sacred person of the Prince.1
Once more the cup of hope was dashed to the ground,
and Reginald Pole was sent back to his monastery at
Dhilinghen like a child unfit to be trusted with a dan-
ger ous plaything. In times of trial his pen was his
refuge, and in an appeal to Philip he poured out his
characteristic protest.
'For a whole year/ he wrote, 'I have been now
knocking at the door of that kingdom, and no person
will answer, no person will ask, Who is there ? It is
one who has endured twenty years of exile that the
partner of your throne should not be excluded from her
rights, and I come in the name of the vicar of the King
of kings, the Shepherd of mankind. Peter knocks at your
door ; Peter himself. The door is open to all besides.
Why is it closed to Peter ? Why does not that nation
make haste now to do Peter reverence ? Why does it
leave him escaped from Herod's prison, knocking ?
' Strange, too, that this is the house of Mary. Can
it be Mary that is so slow to open ? True, indeed, it is,
that when Mary's damsel heard the voice she opened
not the door for joy ; she ran and told Mary. But
Mary came with those that were with her in the house:
and though at first she doubted, yet, when Peter con-
tinued knocking, she opened the door ; she took him in,
she regarded not the danger, although Herod was yet
alive, and was King.
Renard to the Emperor : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 287.
424
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
' Is it joy which now withholds Mary, or is it fear ?
She rejoices, that I know, but she also fears. Yet why
should Mary fear now when Herod is dead ? The pro-
vidence of God permitted her to fear for awhile, because
God desired that you, sire, who are Peter's beloved child,
should share the great work with her. Do you, there-
fore, teach her now to cast her fears away. It is not I
only who stand here — it is not only Peter — Christ is here
— Christ waits with me till you will open and take him in.
You who are King of England, are defender of Christ's
faith ; yet, while you have the ambassadors of all other
princes at your Court, you will not have Christ's am-
bassador ; you have rejected your Christ.
'Go on upon your way. Build on the foundation
of worldly policy, and I tell you, in Christ's words, that
the rain will fall, the floods will rise, the winds will blow,
and beat upon that house, and it will fall, and great will
be the fall thereof.'1
The pleading was powerful, yet it could bear no
fruits — the door could not open till the Pope pronounced
the magic words which held it closed. Neither Philip
nor Mary was in a position to use violence or force the
bars.
After the ceremony at Winchester, the King and
Queen had gone first to Windsor, and thence the second
week in August they went to Richmond. The entry
into London was fixed for the i8th ; after which, should
it pass off without disturbance, the Spanish fleet might
1 Pole to Philip : EpisL REG. Poi..
vol.
1554
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
425
sail from Southampton Water. The Prince himself had
as yet met with no discourtesy ; but disputes had broken
out early between the English and Spanish retinues,
and petty taunts and insolences had passed among them.1
The Prince's luggage was plundered, and the property
stolen could not be recovered nor the thieves detected.
The servants of Alva and the other lords, who preceded
their masters to London, were insulted in the streets,
and women and children called after them that they
need not have brought so many things, they would be
soon gone again. The citizens refused to give them
lodgings in their houses, and the friars who had accom-
panied Philip were advised to disguise themselves, so
intense was the hatred against the religious orders.2
The council soon provided for their ordinary comforts,
but increase of acquaintance produced no improvement
of feeling.
The entry passed off tolerably. Grog and Magog
stood as warders on London Bridge, and there were the
usual pageants in the city. Renard conceived that the
impression produced by Philip had been rather favour-
able than otherwise ; for the people had been taught to
expect some monster but partially human, and they
saw instead a well-dressed cavalier, who had learnt by
this time to carry his hand to his bonnet. Yet, al-
though there were no open signs of ill-feeling, the day
1 Avecques d'aultres petits dep-
portements de mocquerie qui crois-
sent tous les jours d'nng couste et
d'aultre. — Noailles to the King of
France, August i.
2 NOAILLES, and compare Pole
to Miranda, Oct. 6 : Epicf. REG.
POL. vol. v.
42<S REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 32.
did not end without a disagreeable incident. The con-
duit in Gracechurch Street had been newly decorated :
' the nine Worthies ' had been painted round the wind-
ing turret, and among them were Henry VIII. and
Edward. The first seven carried maces, swords, or pole-
axes. Henry held in one hand a sceptre, in the other
he was presenting a book to his son, on which was
written Verbitm Dei. As the train went by, the unwel-
come figure caught the eye of Gardiner. The painter
was summoned, called ' knave, traitor, heretic,' an
enemy to the Queen's Catholic proceedings. The offens-
ive Bible was washed out, and a pair of gloves inserted
in its place.1
Nor did the irritation of the people abate. The
Spaniards, being without special occupation, were seen
much in the streets ; and a vague fear so magnified their
numbers that four of them, it was thought, were to be
met in London for one Englishman.2 The halls of the
city companies were given up for their use ; a fresh
provocation to people who desired to be provoked. A
Spanish friar was lodged at Lambeth, and it was said at
once he was to be Archbishop of Canterbury ; at the
beginning of September twelve thousand
September. .
Spanish troops were reported to be coming to
' fetch the crown.' Rumour and reality inflated each
other. The peers, who had collected for the marriage,
dispersed to their counties ; and on the loth of Septem-
1 Chronicle of Queen Mary. Contemporary Narrative : MS. Harleian,
419.
2 Chronicle of Queen Mary.
554-1 RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 427
ber, Pembroke, Shrewsbury, and Westmoreland
believed to have raised a standard of revolt at York.
Frays were continually breaking out in the streets, and
there was a scandalous brawl in the cloisters at West-
minster. Brief entries in diaries and council books tell
continually of Englishmen killed, and Spaniards hanged,
hanged at Tyburn, or hanged more conspicuously at
Charing Cross ; and on the 1 2th, Noailles reported that
the feeling in all classes, high and low, was as bad as
possible.
There was dread, too, that Philip was bent on draw-
ing England into the war. The French ambassador
had been invited to be present at the entry into Lon-
don ; but the invitation had been sent informally by a
common messenger not more than half an hour before
the royal party were to appear. The brief notice was
intended as an affront, and only after some days Noailles
appeared at Court to offer his congratulations. When
he came at last, he expressed his masters hope to Philip
that the neutrality of England would continue to be
observed. Philip answered with cold significance, that
he would keep his promise and maintain the treaties, as
long as by doing- so he should consult the interests of
the realm.1
Other menacing symptoms were also showing them-
selves : the claim for the pensions was spoken of as
likely to be revived ; the English ships in the Channel
were making the neutrality one-sided, and protecting
1 Tant et si longuement que se seroit 1'utilite et commodite de ce diet
Royaulme d' Angle terre. — Noailles to the King- of France.
428 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32
the Spanish and Flemish traders ; and Philip, already
weary of his bride, was urging on Eenard the propriety
of his hastening, like an obedient son, to the assistance
of his father. Under pretence of escort he could take
with him a few thousand English cavalry and men-at-
arms, who could be used as a menace to France, and
whose presence would show the attitude which England
was about to assume. Sick, in these brief weeks, of
maintaining the show of an affection which he did not
feel, and sick of a country where his friends were in-
sulted if he was treated respectfully himself, he was
already panting for freedom, and eager to utilize the
instruments which he had bought so dearly.1
Happily for the Queen's peace of mind, Renard was
not a man to encourage impatience. The factions in the
council were again showing themselves ; Elizabeth lay
undisposed of at Woodstock. Pomfret, Belgium, even
Hungary, had been thought of as a destination for her,
and had been laid aside one after the other, in dread of
the people. If she was released, she would again be
dangerous, and it was uncertain how long Lord Howard
would endure her detention. A plan suggested by
Lord Paget seemed, after all, to promise the best — to
marry her to Philibert of Savoy, and thus make use of
her as a second link to^ connect England with the House
of Austria. But here the difficulty would be with the
Queen, who in that case would have to recognize her
sister's rank and expectations.
1 Renard to Charles V., Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 294.
I554-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 429
The question ought in Renard's opinion to be settled
before Philip left England, and he must have faced
Parliament too, and, if possible, have been crowned.
If he went now, he could never come back ; he must
court the people ; he must play off the working
classes against the Lords ; there was ill blood be-
tween the rich and poor, let him use the oppor-
tunity.
The state of public feeling did not improve when,
at the end of September, Bonner commenced an inqui-
sition into the conduct and opinions of the clergy of his
diocese. In every parish he appointed a person or persons
to examine whether the minister was or ever had been
married ; whether, if married and separated from his
wife, he continued in secret to visit her; whether his
sermons were orthodox ; whether he was a ' brawler,
scolder, hawker, hunter, fornicator, adulterer, drunkard,
or blasphemer ; ' whether he duly exhorted his parish-
ioners to come to mass and confession ; whether he as-
sociated with heretics, or had been suspected of associat-
ing with them ; his mind, his habits, his society, even
the dress that he wore, were to be made matter of close
scrutiny.
The points of inquiry were published in a series of
articles which created an instantaneous ferment. Among
the merchants they were attributed to the King, Queen,
and Gardiner, and were held to be the first step of a con-
spiracy against English liberties. A report was spread
at the same time that the King meditated a seizure of
the Tower ; barriers were forthwith erected in the great
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
thoroughfares leading into the city, and no one was
allowed to pass unchallenged.1
The Bishop of London was called to account for
having ventured so rash a step without permission of
crown or council. He replied that he was but doing
his duty ; the council, had he communicated with them,
would have interfered with him, and in the execution
of his office he must be governed by his own conscience.2
But the attitude of the city was too decided even for
the stubborn Bonner ; he gave way sullenly, and sus-
pended the execution of his order.
Worse clouds than these nevertheless had many
times gathered over the Court and dispersed again. It
was easy to be discontented ; but when the discontent
would pass into action, there was nothing definite to be
done ; and between the leading statesmen there were
such large differences of opinion, that they could not
co-operate.3 The Court, as Renard saw, could accom-
plish everything which they desired with caution and
prudence. The humours of the people might flame out
on a sudden if too hastily irritated, but the opposite
tendencies of parties effectually balanced each other ;
and even the Papal difficulty might be managed, and
Pole might in time be brought over, if only there was
no precipitation, and the Pope was compelled to be
reasonable.
1 Reuard to the Bishop of Ar-
ras : Granvclle Papers, p. 330.
2 Same to the Emperor: Ibid.
p. 321.
3 Entre les seigneurs et gens de
la noblesse et de credit et adminis-
tration, il y a telle partialite que 1'un
ne se fie de 1'autre. — Ibid.
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
43*
But prudence was the first and last essential ; the
legate must be content to wait, and also Philip
. rv. October,
must wait. Ine winter was coming on, and
the Court, Renard said, was giving balls ; the English
and Spanish noblemen were learning to talk with one
another, and were beginning to dance with each other's
wives and daughters. The ill-feeling was gradually
abating ; and, in fact, it was not to be believed that
God Almighty would have brought about so consider-
able a marriage without intending that good should
come of it.1 The Queen believed herself enceinte, and
if her hopes were well founded, a thousand causes of
restlessness would be disposed of ; but Philip must not
be permitted to harass her with his impatience to be
gone. She had gathered something of his intentions,
and was already pretending more uncertainty than in
her heart she felt, lest he should make the assurance of
her prospects an excuse for leaving her. In a remark
able passage, Renard urged the Emperor on no account
to encourage him in a step so eminently injudicious,
from a problematic hope of embroiling England and
France. ' Let Parliament meet/ he said, ' and pass off
quietly, and in February his Highness may safely go.
1 Les choses se vont accommoder
a quoy sert la saison de 1'hiver et cc
que en la court Ton y danse souvent ;
quo les Espaignolz et Angloys com-
mencent a converser les ungs avec
les aultres et n'y a per-
Bonne qui puisse iraaginer que Dieu
ait voulu ung si grand marriage et
de telz princes, pour en esperer sinon
ung grand bien publique pour la
Chrestiente, et pour restablir et as-
seurer les estatz de vostre majeste
troublez par ses ennemia. — Renard
to the Emperor ; Granvelle
vol. iv. p. 319.
132 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
Irreparable injury may and will follow, however, should
he leave England before. Religion will be overthrown,
the Queen's person will be in danger, and Parliament
will not meet. A door will be opened for the practices
of France ; the country may throw itself in self-protec-
tion on the French alliance, and an undying hatred will
be engendered between England and Spain. As things
now are, prudence and moderation are more than ever
necessary ; and we must allow neither the King nor the
Queen to be led astra}^ by unwise impatient advisers,
who, for the advancement of their private opinions, or
because they cannot have all the liberty which they de-
sire, are ready to compromise the commonwealth.' l
So matters stood at the beginning of October, when
Parliament was about to be summoned, and the great
experiment to be tried whether England would consent
to be re-united to Catholic Christendom. The writs
went out on the 6th, and circulars accompanied them,
addressed to those who would have the conduct of the
elections, stating that, whatever false reports might
have been spread, no ' alteration was intended of any
man's possessions.' At the same time the Queen re-
quired the mayors of towns, the sheriffs, and other in-
fluential persons to admonish the voters to choose from
among themselves ' such as, being eligible by order of
the laws, were of a wise, grave, and Catholic sort ; such
as indeed meant the true honour of God and the pros-
perity of the commonwealth.' 2 These general directions
1 Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 320.
2 Royal Circular; printed in BURNET'S Collectanea.
1554] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME, 433
were copied from a form which had been in use under
Henry VII., and the citizens of London set the example
of obedience in electing four members who were in
every way satisfactory to the Court.1 In the country
the decisive failure of Carew, Suffolk, and Crofts show-
ed that the weight of public feeling was still in favour
of the Queen notwithstanding the Spanish marriage ;
and the reaction against the excesses of the Reformation
had not yet reached its limits. On the accession of
Mary, the restoration of the mass had appeared impos-
sible, but it had been effected safely and completely al-
most by the spontaneous will of the people. In the
spring the Pope's name could not be mentioned in Par-
liament ; now, since the Queen was bent upon it, and as
she gave her word that property was not to be meddled
with, even the Pope seemed no longer absolutely intoler-
able.
The reports of the elections were everywhere favour-
able. In the Upper House, except on very critical
points, which would unite the small body of the lay
peers, the Court was certain of a majority, being sup-
ported of course by the bishops, — and the question of
Pole's coming over, therefore, was once more seriously
considered. The Pope had been given to understand
that, however inconsistent with his dignity he might
1 Les lettres de la convocation
du parleraent sont este pourjectees
sur la vieille forme dont 1'ou usoit
au temps du Roy Henry septieme
pour avoir en icelluy gens de bien
Cuthcliques : et a propos et selon ce
VOL. v. 28
ceulx de Londre en publique assem-
blee out choisiz quatre personnaiges
que Ton tient estre fort saiges et
modestes. — Rciiard to the Emperor :
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 324.
434 REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y. [OH. 32.
consider it to appear to purchase English submission by
setting aside the canons of the Church, he must consent
to the English terms, or there was no hope whatever
that his supremacy would be recognized. If in accept-
ing these terms he would agree to a humiliating recon-
ciliation, only those who objected on doctrinal grounds
to the Papal religion were inclined to persist in refusing
a return of his friendship. The dream of an independ-
ent orthodox Anglicanism which had once found favour
with Gardiner was fading away. The indifferent and
the orthodox alike desired to put an end to spiritual
anarchy ; and the excommunication, though lying
lightly on the people/and despised even by the Catholic
powers, had furnished, and might furnish, a pretext for
inconvenient combinations. Singularity of position,
where there was no especial cause for it, was always to
be avoided.
These influences would have been insufficient to
have brought the English of themselves to seek for a
reunion. They were enough to induce them to accept
it with indifference when offered them on their own
conditions, or to affect for a time an outward appearance
of acquiescence.
Philip, therefore, consulted Renard, and Charles in-
vited Pole to Brussels. Renard, to whom politics were
all-important, and religion useful in its place, but in-
convenient when pushed into prominence, adhered to his
old opinion. He advised the ' King to write privately
to the Pope, telling him that he had already so many
embarrassments on his hands that he could not afford
I554-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
435
Oct. 15.
to increase them ; ' ' the changes already made were in-
sincere, and the legatine authority was odious, not only
in England, but throughout Europe;' ' the Queen, on
her accession, had promised a general toleration,1 and
it was useless to provoke irritation, when not absolutely
necessary/ Yet even Henard spoke less positively than
before. ' If the Pope would make no more re-
servations on the land question — if he would
volunteer a general absolution, and submit to conditions,
while he exacted none — if he would sanction ever^y ec-
clesiastical act which had been done during the schism,
the marriages and baptisms, the ordinations of the clergy,
and the new creations of episcopal sees — above all, if he
would make no demand for money under any pretence,
the venture might, perhaps, be made/ But, continued
Renard, ( his Holiness, even then, must be cautious in
his words ; he must dwell as lightly as possible on his
authority, as lightly as possible on his claims to be obey-
ed : in offering absolution, he must talk merely of piety
and love, of the open arms of the Church, of the exam-
ple of the Saviour, and such other generalities/ 2 Finally,
Eenard still thought the legate had better remain
abroad. The reconciliation, if it could be effected at
1 Le mandement et declaration
que vostre Majeste a faict publier
sur le point de la religion, laissant
la liberte a ling chacun pour tenir
quelle religion Ton vouldra. — Re-
nard to Philip and Mary : Granvelle
Papers, vol. iv. p. 327.
2 Et que sa Sainctete le fonde in
pietate Christiana et ecclesiastica
quia nunquam Ecclesia claudit gre-
mium, semper indulget exemplo Sal-
vatoris, et Bvangelium semper con-
solatur, semper remittit, et sur plu-
sieurs aultres fondemens genera ulx.
— Ibid. p. 326.
43^ REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
all, could be managed better without his irritating pre-
sence.
Pole himself had found the Emperor more gracious.
Charles professed the greatest anxiety that the Papal
authority should be restored. He doubted only if the
difficulties could be surmounted. Pole replied that the
obstacles were chiefly two — one respecting doctrine, on
which no concession could be made at all ; the other
respecting the lands, on which his Holiness would make
every concession. He would ask for nothing, he would
exact nothing ; he would abandon every shadow of a
claim.
If this was the case, the Emperor said, all would go
well. Nevertheless, there was the reservation in the
brief, and the Pope, however generous he might wish to
be, was uncertain of his power. The doctrine was of
no consequence. People in England believed one doc-
trine as little as another ; 1 but they hated Rome, they
hated the religious orders, they hated cardinals ; and as
to the lands, could the Church relinquish them ?2 Pole
might believe that she could ; but the world would be
more suspicious, or less easy to convince. At all events,
the dispensing powers must be clogged with no reserv-
ations ; nor could he come to any decision till he heard
again from England.
The legate was almost hopeless ; yet his time of
1 Perciocche quanto alia Doc-
trina disse che poco se ne curavano
questo tali non credendo ne all' una
ne all' altra via. — Pole to the Pope,
October 13: BUENKT'S Collectanea,
2 Disse ancbe che essendo stati
qucsti beni dedicati a Dio non era
da concedere cosi og-na cosa a quelli
che le tcnevano.— Ibid.
1554- RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 437
triumph. — such triumph as it was — had nearly arrived.
The Queen's supposed pregnancy had increased her in-
fluence ; and, constant herself in the midst of general
indecision, she was able to carry her point. She would
not mortify the legate, who had suffered for his con-
stancy to the cause of her mother, with listening to Re-
nard's personal objections ; and when the character of
the approaching House of Commons had been ascer-
tained, she gained the consent of the council
• » v /i November.
a week before the beginning of the session, to
send commissioners to Brussels to see Pole and inspect
his faculties. With a conclusive understanding on the
central question, they might tell him that the hope of
his life might be realized, and that he might return to
his country. But the conditions were explicit. He
must bring adequate powers with him, or his coming
would be worse than fruitless. If those which he already
possessed were insufficient, he must send them to Rome
to be enlarged ; l and although the Court would receive
1 The greatest and only means
to procure the agreement of the
noblemen and others of our council
was our promise that the Pope's
Holiness would, at our suit, dispense
with all possessors of any lands or
goods of monasteries, colleges, or
other ecclesiastical houses, to hold
and enjoy their said lands and goods
without any trouble or scruple ;
without which promise it had been
impossible to have had their consent,
and shall be utterly impossible to
have any fruit and good concord
ensue. For which purpose you shall
earnestly pray our said, cousin to
use all possible diligence, and say
that if he have not already, he may
so receive authority from the See
Apostolic to dispense in this manner
as the same, being now in good to-
wardness, may so in this Parliament
take the desired effect ; whereof we
see no likelihood except it may be
therewithal provided for this matter
of the lands and goods of the Church.
— Instructions to Paget and Hast-
ings, November 5 ; TYTLER, vol. ii.
p. 446.
43*
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[en. 32.
him as legate de latere, he had better enter the country
only as a cardinal and ambassador, till he could judge
of the state of things for himself.1 On these terms the
commissioners might conduct him to the Queen's pre-
sence.
The bearers of this communication were Lord Paget
and Sir Edward Hastings, accompanied, it is curious to
observe, by Sir William Cecil.2
1 TYTLER, vol. ii. p. 446.
2 Cecil had taken no formal
part in Mary's Government, but his
handwriting can be traced in many
papers of State, and in the Irish de-
partment he seems to have given his
assistance throughout the reign. In
religion Cecil, like Paget, was a
latitudinarian. His conformity un-
der Mary has been commented upon
bitterly ; but there is no occasion
to be surprised at his conduct — no
occasion, when one thinks seriously
of his position, to blame his conduct.
There were many things in the
Catholic creed of which Cecil disap-
proved ; and when his opportunity
came, he gave his effectual assistance
for the abolition of them ; but as
long as that creed was the law of
the land, as a citizen he paid the
law the respect of external obedi.
ence.
At present religion is no longer
under the control of law, and is left
to the conscience. To profess openly,
therefore, a faith which we do not
believe is justly condemned as hy-
pocrisy. But wherever public law
extends, personal responsibility is
limited. A minority is not per-
mitted to resist the decisions of the
legislature on subjects in which the
legislature is entitled to interfere ;
and in the sixteenth century opinion
was as entirely under rule and pre-
scription as actions or things. Men
may do their best to improve the
laws which they consider unjust.
They are not, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, to disobey them so long
as they exist. However wide the
basis of a Government, questions
will ever rise between .the indi-
vidual and the State — questions,
for instance, of peace or war, in
which the conscience has as much
a voice as any other subject; where,
nevertheless, individuals, if they
are in the minority, must sacri-
fice their own opinions ; they must
contribute their war taxes with-
out resistance ; if they are sol-
diers, they must take part as com-
batants for a cause of which they
are convinced of the injustice. That
is to say, they must do things which
it would be impious and wicked in
them to do, were they as free iu
their obligations as citizens as they
1554-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
They presented themselves to the Emperor, who,
after the report which they brought with them, made
no more difficulty. The enlarged powers had been sent
for three weeks before ; but there was no occasion to
wait for their arrival. They might be expected in ten
days or a fortnight, and could follow the legate to Eng-
land.1
The effect on Pole of the commissioners'
N"ov 1 1
arrival ' there needed not/ as they said them-
selves, 'many words to declare/2 His eager tempera-
are now free in the religion which
they will profess.
This was the view in which the
mass was regarded by statesmen like
Cecil, and generally by many men of
plain straightforward understanding,
who believed transubstantiation as
little as he. In Protestantism, as acon-
structive theology, they had as little
interest as in Popery ; when the al-
ternative lay between the two, they
saw no reason to sacrifice themselves
for either.
It was the view of common
sense. It was not the view of a
saint. To Latimer, also, technical
theology was indifferent — indifferent
in proportion to his piety. But he
hated lies — legalized or unlegalized
— he could not tolerate them, and he
died sooner than seem to tolerate
them. The counsels of perfection,
however, lead to conduct neither
possible, nor, perhaps, desirable for
ordinary men.
1 Charles was particular in his
inquiries of Mary's prospect of a
family. He spoke to Sir John
Mason about it, who was then the
resident ambassador : —
' Sir, quoth I,' so Mason reported
the conversation, ' I have from her-
self nothing to say, for she will not
confess the mattej till it be proved
to her face ; but by others I under-
stand, to my great joy, that her gar-
ments wax very straight. I never
doubted, quoth he, of the matter,
but that God, that for her had
wrought so many miracles, would
make the same perfect to the assist-
ing of nature to his good and most
desired work: and I warrant it shall
be, quoth he, a man-child. Be it
man, quoth I, or be it woman,
welcome it shall be ; for by that we
shall be at the least come to some
certainty to whom God shall appoint
by succession the government of
our estates.' — Mason to the King
and Queen, November 9 : TYTLEK,
vol. ii. p. 444.
2 Paget and Hastings to the
Queen ; Ibid. p. 459.
440
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
ment, for ever excited either with wild hopes or equally
wild despondency, was now about to be fooled to the top
of its bent. On the Pope's behalf, he promised every-
thing ; for himself, he would come as ambassador, he
would come as a private person, come in any fashion
that might do good, so only that he might come.
Little time was lost in preparation. Parliament
met on the I2th of November. The opening speech
was read, as usual, by Gardiner, and was well received,
although it announced that further measures would be
taken for the establishment of religion, and the mean-
ing of these words was known to every one. The first
measure brought forward was the repeal of Pole's at-
tainder. It passed easily without a dissentient voice,
and no obstacle of any kind remained to delay his ap-
pearance. Only the cautious Renard suggested that
Courtenay should be sent out of the country as soon as
possible, for fear the legate should take a fancy to him ;
and the Prince of Savoy had been invited over to see
whether anything could be done towards arranging the
marriage with Elizabeth. Elizabeth, indeed, had pro-
tested that she had no intention of marrying ; never-
theless, Renard said, she would be disposed of, as the
Emperor had advised,1 could the Queen be induced to
consent.
England was ready therefore, and the happy legate
set out from Brussels like a lover flying to his mistress.
His emotions are reflected in the journal of an Italian
1 Neantmoins il sera necessaire achever avec elle selon 1' ad vis de vostre
Majeste. — Renard to the Emperor : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
1 554.] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 441
friend who attended him. The journey com-
/ Nov. 13.
menced on Tuesday, the 13th ; the retinues of
Paget and Hastings, with the Cardinal's household,
making in all a hundred and twenty horse. The route
was by Ghent, Bruges, and Dunkirk. On the I9th
the party reached Gravelines, where, on the stream
which formed the boundary of the Pale, they were re-
ceived in state by Lord Wentworth, the Governor of
Calais. In the eyes of his enthusiastic admirers the
apostle of the Church moved in an atmosphere of mar-
vel. The Calais bells, which rang as they entered the
town, were of preternatural sweetness. The salutes
fired by the ships in the harbour were ' wonderful/
The Cardinal's lodging was a palace, and as an august-
omen, the watchword of the garrison for the night was
'God long lost is found.'1 The morning brought a
miracle. A westerly gale had blown for many Tuesday,
days. All night long it had howled through Nov- 20-
the narrow streets ; the waves had lashed against the
piers, and the fishermen foretold a week of storms. At
daybreak the wind went down, the clouds broke, a light
air from the eastward levelled the sea, and filled the
sails of the vessel which was to bear them to England.
At noon the party went on board, and their passage
was a fresh surprise. They crossed in three hours and
a half, and the distance, as it pictured itself to imagin-
ation, was forty miles.2 At Dover the legate slept.
Dio gran tempo perduto e liora | 2 Imbarcatosi adunque sua S. R.
ritrovato. — Descriptio Reductionis
Angliae : Epist. REG. POL. vol. v.
ad un hora di giorno, passo a Doure
nell' Isola in tre liore et mezza che
442 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [cH. #.
The next day Lord Montague came with the
Bishop of Ely, bringing letters of congratula-
tion from the Queen and Philip, and an intimation that
he was anxiously looked for. He was again on horse-
back after breakfast ; and as the news of his arrival
spread, respect or curiosity rapidly swelled his train. The
Earl of Huntingdon, who had married his sister, sent his
son Lord Hastings, with his tenants and servants^ as an
escort. But there was no danger. Whatever might
be the feelings of the people towards the Papal legate,
they gave to Reginald Pole the welcome due to an
English nobleman.
The November evening had closed in when the ca-
valcade entered Canterbury. The streets were thronged,
and the legate made his way through the crowd, amidst
the cries of ' God save your Grace/ At the door of the
house — probably the Archbishop's palace — where he
was to pass the night, Harpsfeld, the Archdeacon, was
standing to receive him, with a number of the clergy ;
and with the glare of torches lighting up the scene,
Harpsfeld commenced an oration as the legate alighted,
so beautiful, so affecting, says Pole's Italian friend, that
all the hearers were moved to tears. The Archdeacon
spoke of the mercies of God, and the marvellous work-
ings of his providence. He dwelt upon the history of
the Cardinal whom God had preserved through a thou-
sand dangers for the salvation of his country; and,
firing up at last in a blaze of enthusiasm, he exclaimed,
fu caniino di quavanta miglia fatto con extraordinaria prestezza. — Epi
{{KG. POJ-. vol. v.
1554-]
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
443
' Thou art Pole, and thou art our Polar star, to light us
to the kingdom of the heavens. * Sky, rivers, earth, these
disfigured walls — all things — long for thee. While
thou wert absent from us all things were sad, all things
were in the power of the adversary. At thy coming all
things are smiling, all glad, all tranquil.'1 The legate
listened so far, and then checked the flood of the ador-
ing eloquence. * I heard you with pleasure/ he said,
' while you were praising God. My own praises I do
not desire to hear. Give the glory to Him.'
From Canterbury, Richard Pate, who, as titular
Bishop of Worcester, had sat at the Council of Trent,
was. sent forward to the Queen with an answer to her
letter, and a request for further directions. The legate
himself went on leisurely to Rochester, where he was
entertained by Lord Cobham, at Cowling Castle. So
far he had observed the instructions brought to him by
Paget, and had travelled as an ordinary ecclesiastic,
without distinctive splendour. On the night of the
23rd, however, Pate returned from the Court with a
message that the legatine insignia might be displayed.
A fleet of barges was in waiting at Gravesend, where
Pole appeared early on the 24th ; and, as a gatur^ay
further augury of good fortune, he found Nov- 24-
• ' Tu es Polus, qui aperis nobis
Polum regni cselorum. Aer, flumina,
terra, parietes ipsi, omnia denique te
desiderant. Quamdiu abfuisti omnia
fuerunt tristia et adversa. In ad-
vcntu tuo, omnia rident, omnia laeta,
omnia tranquilla.' I have endea-
voured to preserve the play on the ;
word Polus, altering the meaning as
little as the necessities of translation
would allow. It has been suggested
to me that the word ' parietes ' im-
plies properly internal walls, and the
allusion was to the defacement of the
cathedral.
444 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 32.
there Lord Shrewsbury, with his early friend the Bishop
of Durham, who had come to meet him with the repeal
of his attainder, to which the Queen had given her
assent in Parliament the day before.
To the fluttered hearts of the priestly company the
coincidence of the repeal, the informality of an Act of
Parliament receiving the royal assent before the close
of a session, were further causes of admiration. They
embarked ; and the Italians, who had never seen, a
tidal river, discovered, miracle of miracles, that they
were ascending from the sea, and yet the stream was
with them. The distance to London was soon accom-
plished. They passed under the Bridge at one o'clock
on the top of the tide, the legate's barge distinguished
splendidly by the silver cross upon the bow. In a few
minutes more they were at the palace-stairs at White-
hall, where a pier was built on arches out into the river,
and on the pier stood the Bishop of Winchester, with
the Lords of the Council.
The King and Queen, were at dinner, the arrival not
being expected till the afternoon. Philip rose instantly
from the table, hurried out, and caught the legate in
his arms. The Queen followed to the head of the grand
staircase ; and when Pole reached her, she threw herself
on his breast, and kissed him, crying that his coming
gave her as much joy as the possession of her kingdom.
The Cardinal, in corresponding ecstasy, exclaimed, in
the words of the angel to the Yirgin, 'Ave Maria
gratia plena, Doininus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieri-
I554-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
445
bus.'1 The first rapturous moments over, the King,
Queen, and legate proceeded along the gallery, Philip
and Pole supporting Mary on either side, and the legate
expatiating on the mysteries of Providence.
' High thanks, indeed/ he exclaimed, 'your Majestj
owes to the favour of the Almighty, seeing that, while
he permits you to bring your godly desires to perfec-
tion, he has united at this moment in your favour
the two mightiest powers upon earth — the Majesty of
the Emperor represented in the King your husband,*
and the Pope's Holiness represented in myself/ The
Queen, as she walked, replied ' in words of sweet hu-
mility/ pouring out gentle excuses for past delays.
The legate, still speaking with ecstatic metaphor, an-
swered that it was the will of God ; God waited till the
time was mature, till he could say to her Highness,
'Blessed be the fruit of thy womb.'2
In the saloon they remained standing together for
another quarter of an hour. "When the Cardinal took
his leave for the day, the King, in spite of remonstrance,
re-attended him to the gate. Alva and the Bishop of
Winchester were in waiting to conduct him to Lambeth
1 ' Cardinalis cum reginam salu-
taret, nee ulla hum ana verba occur-
rerent tali muliere digna, Sanctis
Scripturaruin verbis abuti non vere-
batur, sed in primo congressu iisdern
quibus matrem Dei salutavit Ange-
lus, Reginam Polus ulloquitur, Ave
Maria,' &c.— Salkyns to Bullinger :
Epistola TIGUBIN.SE, p. 169.
2 ' II Signer Legato rispose che
Dio havea voluto, che fusse tardato
a tempo piu mature, perche egli
havesse potuto dire a sua Altezza
come diceva, Benedictus fructus ven-
tris tui.' — Descriptio Reduction!*
446
REIGN' OF QUEEN- MARY.
[CH. 32.
Palace, which had been assigned him. for a residence.
The See of Canterbury was to follow as soon as Cranmer
could be despatched.
Arrived at Lambeth, he was left to repose after his
fatigues and excitements. He had scarcely retired to
his apartments when he was disturbed again by a mes-
sage from the Queen. Lord Montague had hurried
over with the news that the angelic salutation had been
already answered. ' The babe had leapt in her womb.'1
Not a moment was lost in communicating the miracle
to the world. Letters of council were drawn out for
Te Deums to be sung in every church in London. The
next day being Sunday, every pulpit was made to ring
with the testimony of Heaven to the truth.
On Monday the 26th the Cardinal went to the palace
for an audience, and again there was more matter for
congratulation. As he was approaching the King's
cabinet, Philip met him with a packet of despatches.
The last courier sent to Rome had returned with un-
heard-of expedition, and the briefs and commissions in
which the Pope relinquished formally his last reserva-
tions, had arrived. Never, exclaimed the Catholic en-
thusiast, in a fervour of devout astonishment — never
since the days of the apostles had so many tokens of
divine approbation been showered upon a human enter-
prise. The moment of its consummation had arrived.2
1 Descriptio Reductionis Angliae.
2 The Queen's assurances re-
specting her child were so emphatic,
that even Noailles believed her.
Profane persons were still incredul-
ous. On Sunday the 25th, the day
after the Te Deums, Noailles says,
'S'esttrouve ung placard attach^ &
'554-]
RECONCILTA TION WITH ROME.
447
Since the thing was to be, no one wished for delay.
Three days sufficed for the few necessary preparations,
and the two Houses of Parliament were invited to be
present unofficially at Whitehall on the afternoon of
Wednesday the 28 th. In the morning there
was a procession in the city and a Te Deum at
St Paul's. After dinner, the Great Chamber was thrown
open, and the Lords and Commons crowded in as they
could find room. Philip and Mary entered, and took
their seats under the cloth of state ; while Pole had a
chair assigned him on their right hand, beyond the
edge of the canopy. The Queen was splendidly dressed,
and it was observed that she threw out her person to
make her supposed condition as conspicuous as possible.1
When all were in their places, the chancellor rose.
' My Lords of the Upper House/ he said, ' and you
my masters of the Nether House, here is present the
Right Reverend Father in God. the Lord Cardinal
Pole, come from the Apostolic See of Rome as ambas-
sador to the King's and Queen's Majesties, upon one of
the weightiest causes that ever happened in this realm,
and which pertaineth to the glory of God and your
universal benefit ; the which embassy it is their Majesties'
pleasure that it be signified unto you all by his own
mouth, trusting that you will accept it in as benevolent
and thankful wise as their Highnesses have done, and
la porte de son palais, y estant ces
mots en substance : ' serons nous si
bestes, oh nobles Angloys, que croy
renotre reyne estre enceinte si non
d'un marmot ou d'un dogue ? ' '
1 Contemporary Diary : MS.
Harkian, iv. 19.
448 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
that you will give an attent and inclinable ear to him.'
The legate then left his chair and came forward.
He was now fifty-four years old, and he had passed but
little of his life in England ; yet his features had not
wholly lost their English character. He had the
arched eye-brow, and the delicately- cut cheek, and
prominent eye of the beautiful Plantagenet face ; a long,
brown, curling beard flowed down upon his chest, which
it almost covered ; the mouth was weak and slightly
open, the lips were full and pouting, the expression
difficult to read. In a low voice, audible only to those
who were near him, he spoke as follows : — ' My Lords
all, and you that are the Commons of this present Par-
liament assembled, as the cause of my repair hither
hath been wisely and gravely declared by my Lord
Chancellor, so, before I enter into the particulars of my
commission, I have to say somewhat touching myself,
and to give most humble and hearty thanks to the
King's and Queen's Majesties, and after them to you
all — which of a man exiled and banished from this
commonwealth, nave restored me to be a member of the
same, and of a man having no place either here or
else whore within this realm, have admitted me to a
place where to speak and where to be heard. This I
protest unto you all, that though I was exiled my
native country without just cause, as God knoweth, yet
the ingratitude could not pull from me the affection
and desire that I had to your profit and to do you good.
' But, leaving the rehearsal hereof, and coming more
near to the matter of my commission, I signify unto
1554-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 449
you all, that my principal travail is for the restitution
of this noble realm to the antient nobility, and to de-
clare unto you that the See Apostolic, from whence I
come, hath a special respect to this realm above all
others ; and riot without cause, seeing that God him-
self, as it were, by providence hath given to this realm
prerogative of nobility above others, which to make
plain unto you, it is to be considered that this island
first of all islands received the light of Christ's religion.'
Going into history for a proof of this singular pro-
position, the legate said that the Britons had been con-
verted by the See Apostolic, 'not one by one, as in
other countries, as clocks denote the hours by dis-
tinction of times/ ' but altogether, at once, as it were,
in a moment/ The Saxons had brought back heathen-
ism, but had again been soon converted ; and the Popes
had continued to heap benefit upon benefit on the
favoured people, even making them a present of Ireland,
'which pertained to the See of Rome.' The country
had prospered, and the people had been happy down to
the time of the late schism ; from that unhappy day
they had been overwhelmed with calamities.
The legate dwelt in some detail on the misfortunes of
the preceding years. He then went on : ' But, when all
light of true religion seemed extinct, the churches de-
faced, the altars overthrown, the ministers corrupted,
even like as in a lamp, the light being covered yet it is
not quenched — even so in a few remained the confession
of Christ's faith, namely, in the breast of the Queen's
Excellency, of whom to speak without adulation, the
VOL. Y. 29
450 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32
saying of the prophet may be verified, ecce quasi derelicta .
and see how miraculously God of his goodness preserved
her Highness contrary to the expectation of men, that
when numbers conspired against her, and policies were
devised to disinherit her, and armed power prepared to
destroy her, yet she, being a virgin, helpless, naked,
and unarmed, prevailed, and had the victory of tyrants.
For all these practices and devices, here you see her
Grace established in her estate, your lawful Queen and
governess, born among you, whom God hath appointed
to govern you. for the restitution of true religion and
the extirpation of all errors and sects. And to confirm
her Grace more strongly in this enterprise, lo how the
providence of God hath joined her in marriage with a
prince of like religion, who, being a King of great
might, armour, and force, yet useth towards you neither
armour nor force, but seeketh you by way of love and
amity ; and as it was a singular favour of God to con-
join them in marriage, so it is not to be doubted but he
shall send them issue for the comfort and surety of this
commonwealth.
' Of all princes in Europe the Emperor hath travailed
most in the cause of religion, yet, haply by some secret
judgment of God, he hath not obtained the end. I
can well compare him to David, which, though he were
a man elect of God, yet for that he was contaminate
with blood and wars, he could not build the temple of
Jerusalem, but left the finishing thereof to Solomon who
was Rex pacificm. So it may be thought that the ap-
peasing of controversies of religion in Christendom is
1554-1 RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 451
not appointed to this Emperor, but rather to his son ;
who shall perform the building that his father had
begun, which Church cannot be builded unless uni-
versally in all realms we adhere to one head, and do
acknowledge him to be the vicar of God, and to have
power from above — for all power is of God, according
to the saying, non est potestas nisi in Deo.
' All power being of God, he hath derived that
power into two parts here on earth, which is into the
powers imperial and ecclesiastical ; and these two
powers, as they be several and distinct, so have they
two several effects and operations. Secular princes be
ministers of God to execute vengeance upon transgress-
ors and evil livers, and to preserve the well-doers and
innocents from injury and violence ; and this power is
represented in these two most excellent persons the
King's and Queen's Majesties here present. The other
power is of ministration, which is the power of keys
and orders in the ecclesiastical state ; which is by the
authority of God's word and example of the apostles,
and of all holy fathers from Christ hitherto attributed
and given to the Apostolic See .of Rome by special pre-
rogative : from which See I am here deputed legate and
ambassador, having full and ample commission from
thence, and have the keys committed to my hands. I
confess to you that I have the keys — not as mine own
keys, but as the keys of him that sent me ; and yet
cannot I open, not for want of power in me to give, but
for certain impediments in you to receive, which must
be taken away before my commission can take effect.
452 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 32
This I protest before you, my commission is not of pre-
judice to any person. I am come not to destroy, but to
build ; I come to reconcile, not to condemn ; I am not
come to compel, but to call again ; I am not come to
call anything in question already done ; but my com
mission is of grace and clemency to such as will receive
it — for, touching all matters that be past, they shall be
as things cast into the sea of forgetfuliiess.
' But the mean whereby you shall receive this benefit
is to revoke and repeal those laws and statutes which be
impediments, blocks, and bars to the execution of my
commission. For, like as I myself had neither place
nor voice to speak here amongst you, but was in all
respects a banished man, till such time as ye had re-
pealed those laws that lay in my way, even so cannot
you receive the benefit and grace offered from the Apos-
tolic See until the abrogation of such laws whereby you
had disjoined and dissevered yourselves from the unity
of Christ's Church.
' It remaineth, therefore, that you, like true Christ-
ians and provident men, for the weal of your souls and
bodies, ponder what is to be done in this so weighty a
cause, and so to frame your acts and proceedings as they
may first tend to the glory of God, and, next, to the
conservation of your commonwealth, surety, and quiet-
ness/
The speech was listened to by such as could hear it
with profound attention, and several persons were ob-
served to clasp their hands again and again, and raise
them convulsively before their faces. When the legate
I554-]
RECONC1LIA TION WITH ROME.
453
Nov. 29.
sat down, Gardiner gave him the thanks of Parliament,
and suggested that the two Houses should be left to
themselves to consider what they would do. Pole with-
drew with the King and Queen, and Gardiner exclaimed :
A prophet has ' the Lord raised up among us from
among our brethren, and he shall save us/ For the
benefit of those who had been at the further end of the
hall, he then recapitulated the substance of what had
been said. He added a few words of exhortation, and
the meeting adjourned.
The next day, Thursday, Lords and Com-
mons sat as usual at Westminster. The repeal
of all the Acts which directly, or by implication, were
aimed at the Papacy, would occupy, it was found, a con-
siderable time ; but the impatient legate was ready to
accept a promise as a pledge of performance, and the
general question was therefore put severally in both
Houses whether the country should return to obedience
to the Apostolic See. Among the Peers no difficulty
was made at all. Among the Commons, in a house of
360, there were two dissentients — one, whose name is
not mentioned, gave a silent negative vote ; the other, Sir
Ralph Bagenall, stood up alone to protest. Twenty
years, he said, ' that great and worthy Prince, King
Henry/ laboured to expel the Pope from England. He
for one had ' sworn to King Henry's laws/ and, ' he
would keep his oath.' *
1 The writer of the Italian ' De-
scription' says that Bagenall gave
way the next day. The contempor-
ary narrative among the Harlcian
MSS. says that he persisted, and re-
fused to kneel at the absolution.
454
XElGN OF QUEEN
[CH. 32.
But Bagenall was listened to with smiles. The
resolution passed, the very ease and unanimity betray-
ing the hollow ground on which it rested ; and, again,
devout Catholics beheld the evident work of super-
natural agency. Lords and Commons had received
separately the same proposition ; they had discussed it,
voted on it, and come to a conclusion, each with closed
doors, and the messengers of the two Houses encountered
each other on their way to communicate their several
decisions.1 The chancellor arranged with Pole the
forms which should be observed, and it was agreed that
the Houses should present a joint petition to the King
and Queen, acknowledging their past misconduct, en-
gaging to undo the anti-papal legislation, and entreat-
ing their Majesties, as undefiled with the offences which
tainted the body of the nation, to intercede for the
removal of the interdict. A committee of Lords and
Commons sat to consider the words in which the sup-
plication should be expressed, and all preparations were
completed by the evening.
And now St Andrew's Day was come ; a
day, as was then hoped, which would be re-
membered with awe and gratitude through all ages of
English history. Being the festival of the institution
of the Order of the Golden Fleece, high mass was sung
Nov. 30.
1 ' Mentre la casa alta mandava
a far sapere la sua conclusione alia
casa bassa, la casa bassa mandava
anch' clla per fare intendcrc il
medesimo alia casa alta, sicche i
messi s' incontrarono per via ; segno
evidentissimo che lo Spirito di Dio
lavorava in amendue i luoghi in un
tempo i di una medesima con-
formita.' — Descriptio lleductionis
Anglise.
i$54-l RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 45$
in the morning in Westminster Abbey ; Philip, Alva,
and Ruy Gomez attended in their robes, with six hun-
dred Spanish cavaliers. The Knights of the Garter
were present in gorgeous costume, and nave and tran-
sept were thronged with the blended chivalry of Eng-
land and Castile. It was two o'clock before the service
was concluded. Philip returned to the palace to din-
ner, and the brief November afternoon was drawing in
when the Parliament reassembled at the palace. At
the upper end of the great hall a square platform had
now been raised several steps above the floor ; on which
three chairs were placed as before ; two under a canopy
of cloth of gold, for the King and Queen ; a third on
the right, removed a little distance from them, for the
legate. Below the platform, benches were placed lon-
gitudinally towards either wall. The bishops sat on the
side of the legate, the lay peers opposite them on the
left. The Commons sat on rows of cross benches in
front, and beyond them were the miscellaneous crowd of
spectators, sitting or standing as they could find room.
The Cardinal, who had passed the morning at Lambeth,
was conducted across the water in a state barge by
Lord Arundel and six other peers. The King received
him at the gate, and, leaving his suite in the care of the
Duke of Alva, who was instructed to find them places,
he accompanied Philip into the room adjoining the hall,
where Mary, whose situation was supposed to prevent
her from unnecessary exertion, was waiting for them.
The royal procession was formed. Arundel and the
Lords passed in to their places. The King and Queen,
456 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 32
with Pole in his legate's robes, ascended the steps of the
platform, and took their seats.
When the stir which had been caused by their
entrance was over, Gardiner mounted a tribune ; and in
the now fast waning light he bowed to the King and
Queen, and declared the resolution at which the Houses
had arrived. Then turning to the Lords and Commons,
he asked if they continued in the same mind. Four
hundred voices answered, ' We do.' ' Will you then/
he said, ' that I proceed in your names to supplicate for
our absolution, that we may be received again into the
body of the Holy Catholic Church, under the Pope, the
supreme head thereof?' Again the voices assented.
The Chancellor drew a scroll from under his robe,
ascended the platform, and presented it unfolded on his
knee to the Queen. The Queen looked through it,
gave it to Philip, who looked through it also, and re-
turned it. The Chancellor then rose and read aloud as
follows : —
1 We, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the
Commons of the present Parliament assembled, repre-
senting the whole body of the realm of England, and
dominions of the same, in our own names particularly,
and also of the said body universally, in this our sup-
plication directed to your Majesties — with most humble
suit that it may by your gracious intercession and means
be exhibited to the Most Reverend Father in God the
Lord Cardinal Pole, Legate, sent specially hither from
our Most Holy Father Pope Julius the Third and the
See Apostolic of Rome — do declare ourselves very sorry
I554-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 457
and repentant for the schism and disobedience com-
mitted in this realm and dominions of the same, against
the said See Apostolic, either by making, agreeing, or
executing any laws, ordinances, or commandments
against the supremacy of the said See, or otherwise
doing or speaking what might impugn the same ; offer-
ing ourselves, and promising by this our supplication
that, for a token and knowledge of our said repentance,
we be, and shall be always, ready, under and with the
authority of your Majesties, to do that which shall be
in us for the abrogation and repealing of the said laws
and ordinances in this present Parliament, as well for
ourselves as for the whole body whom we represent.
Whereupon we most humbly beseech your Majesties, as
persons undefiled in the oifences of this body towards
the Holy See — which nevertheless God by his provid-
ence hath made subject to your Majesties — so to set
forth this, our most humble suit, that we may obtain
from the See Apostolic, by the said Most Heverend
Father, as well particularly as universally, absolution,
release, and discharge from all danger of such censures
and sentences as by the laws of the Church we be
fallen in ; and that we may, as children repentant, be
received into the bosom and unity of Christ's Church ;
so as this noble realm, with all the members thereof,
may, in unity and perfect obedience to the See Apos-
tolic and Pope for the time being, serve God and your
Majesties, to the furtherance and advancement of his
honour and glory.'1
1 FOXE, vol. vi. p. 571. The petition was in Latin; but, as I
458
RElGtf OF QUEEN MARY.
CCH. 32.
Having completed the reading, the Chancellor again
presented the petition. The King and Queen went
through the forms of intercession, and a secretary read
aloud, first, the legate's original commission, and, next,
the all- important extended form of it.
Pole's share of the ceremony was now to begin.
He first spoke a few words from his seat : ' Much in-
deed/ he said, ' the English nation had to thank the Al-
mighty for recalling them to his fold. Once again God
had given a token of his special favour to the realm ; for
as this nation, in the time of the Primitive Church, was
the first to be called out of the darkness of heathenism,
so now they were the first to whom God had given
grace to repent of their schism ; and if their repentance
was sincere, how would the angels, who rejoice at the
conversion of a single sinner, triumph at the recovery
of a great and noble people.'
He moved to rise ; Mary and Philip, seeing that the
crisis was approaching, fell on their knees, and the as-
sembly dropped at their example ; while, in dead silence,
across the dimly-lighted hall came the low, awful words
of the absolution.
' Our Lord Jesus Christ, which with his most pre-
cious blood hath redeemed and washed us from all our
sins and iniquities, that he might purchase unto him-
self a glorious spouse without spot or wrinkle, whom
have nowhere seen the original, I
have not ventured to interfere with
Foxe's translation. Foxe, who
could translate very idiomatically
when he pleased, perhaps relieved
his indignation on the present oc-
casion by translating as awkwardly
1554-3 RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 459
the Father hath appointed head over all his Church —
he by his mercy absolves you, and we, by apostolic au-
thority given unto us by the Most Holy Lord Pope
Julius the Third, his vicegerent on earth, do absolve and
deliver you, and every of you, with this whole realm and
the dominions thereof, from all heresy and schism, and
from all and every judgment, censure, and pain for that
cause incurred ; and we do restore you again into the
unity of our Mother the Holy Church, in the name of
the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'
Amidst the hushed breathing every tone was audible,
and at the pauses were heard the smothered sobs of the
Queen. ' Amen, amen/ rose in answer from many
voices. Some were really affected ; some were caught
for the moment with a contagion which it was hard to
resist ; some threw themselves weeping in each other's
arms. King, Queen, and Parliament, rising from their
knees, went immediately — the legate leading — into the
chapel of the palace, where the choir, with the rolling
organ, sang Te Deum ; and Pole closed the scene with
a benediction from the altar.
. * Blessed day for England/ cries the Italian de-
Bcriber, in a rapture of devotion. ' The people exclaim
in ecstasies, we are reconciled to God, we are brought
back to God : the King beholds his realm, so lately torn
by divisions, at the mercy of the first enemy who would
seize upon it, secured 011 a foundation which never can
be shaken : and who can express the joy — who can tell
the exultation of the Queen ? She has shown herself
the handmaid of the Lord, and all generations shall call
46o
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
her blessed : she has given her kingdom to God as a
thank-offering for those great mercies which He has be-
stowed upon her/ l
And the legate ; — but the legate has described his
emotions in his own inimitable manner. Pole went
back to Lambeth, not to rest, but to pour out his soul to
the Holy Father.
In his last letter he said ' he had told his Holiness
that he had hoped that England would be recovered to
the fold at last ; yet he had then some fears remaining,
so far estranged were the minds of the people from the
Holy See, lest at the last moment some compromise
might ruin all/
But the godly forwardness of the King and Queen
had overcome every difficulty ; and on that evening,
the day of St Andrew — of Andrew who first brought
his brother Peter to Christ — the realm of England had
been brought back to its obedience to Peter's See, and
through Peter to Christ. The great act had been ac-
complished, accomplished by the virtue and the labour
of the inestimable sovereigns with whom God had blessed
the world.
* And oh/ he said, ' how many things, how great
things, may the Church our mother, the bride of Christ,
promise herself from these her children ? Oh piety !
oh ! antient faith ! Whoever looks on them will repeat
the words of the prophet of the Church's early offspring ;
This is the seed which the Lord hath blessed/ How
Descriptio Rcductionis Anglite : Epist. REG. POL. vol. v.
I554-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
461
earnestly, how lovingly, did your Holiness favour their
marriage ; a marriage formed after the very pattern of
that of our Most High King, who, being Heir of the
world, was sent down by his Father from his royal
throne, to be at once the Spouse and the Son of the Vir-
gin Mary, and be made the Comforter and the Saviour
of mankind : and, in like manner, the greatest of all the
princes upon earth, the heir of his father's kingdom,
departed from his own broad and happy realms, that he
might come hither into this land of trouble, he, too, to
be spouse and son of this virgin ; for, indeed, though
spouse he be, he so bears himself towards her as if he
were her son, to aid in the reconciliation of this people
to Christ and the Church.1
4 When your Holiness first chose me as your legate,
the Queen was rising up as a rod of incense out of trees
of myrrh, and as frankincense out of the desert. And
how does she now shine out in loveliness ? What a
savour does she give forth unto her people. Yea, even
1 This amazing comparison (for
one cannot forget what Philip had
been, was, and was to be) must be
given in the original words of the
legate :
' Q,uam sancte sanctitas vestra
omni auctoritate studioque huic
matrimonio favit ; quod sane videtur
prae se ferre magnam summi illius
regis similitudinera, qui mundi
haeres a regalibus sedibus a patre
demissus fuit, ut esset virginis spon-
sus et films, et hac ratione univer-
sura ffenus humanum consolaretur ac
servaret. Sic enim hie rex maximus
omnium qui in terris sunt hares,
patriis relictis regnis de illis quidem
amplissimis ac felicissimis in hoc
turbulentum regnum de contulit,
huj usque virginis sponsus et films
est factus ; ita enim erga illam se
gerit tanquam films esset cum sit
sponsus, ut quod jam plane per fecit
sequestrem se atque adjutorem ad
reconciliandos Cbristo et Ecclesia)
bos populos prseberet.' — Pole to the
Pope : Epist. REG. POL. vol. v.
462 RE7GN- OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
as the prophet saith of the mother of Christ, ' before
she was in labour she brought forth, before she was de-
livered she hath borne a man-child/ Who ever yet
hath seen it, who has heard of the similitude of it ?
Shall the earth bring forth in a day, or shall a nation
of men be born together ? but Mary has brought forth
the nation of England before the time of that delivery
for which we all are hoping ! '
Tillable to exhaust itself in words, the Catholic en-
thusiasm flowed over in processions, in sermons, masses,
and Te Deums. Gardiner at Paul's Cross, on the Sun-
day succeeding, confessed his sins in having borne a
part in bringing about the schism. Pole rode through
the city between the King and Queen, with his legate's
cross before him, blessing the people. When
December.
the news reached Rome, Julius first embraced
the messenger, then flung himself on his knees, and said
a Paternoster. The guns at St Angelo roared in triumph.
There were jubilees and masses of the Holy Ghost, and
bonfires, and illuminations, and pardons and indulgences.
In the exuberance of his hopes, the Pope sent a nuntio
to urge that, in the presence of this great mercy, peace
should be made with France, where the King was devoted
to the Church ; the Catholic powers would then have the
command of Europe, and the heretics could be destroyed.1
One thing only seemed forgotten, that the transaction
was a bargain. The Papal pardon had been thrust up-
on criminals, whose hearts were so culpably indifferent
PALLA VICING.
1 554-1
RECONCiLIA TION WITH ROME.
463
that it was necessary to bribe them to accept it ; and
the conditions of the compromise, even yet, were far
from concluded.
The sanction given to the secularization of Church
property was a cruel disappointment to the clergy, who
cared little for Home, but cared much for wealth and
power. Supported by a party in the House of Com-
mons who had not shared in the plunder, and who en-
vied those who had been more fortunate,1 the ecclesias-
tical faction began to agitate for a reconsideration of
the question. Their friends in Parliament said that
the dispensation was unnecessary. Every man's con-
science ought to be his guide whether to keep his lands
or surrender them. The Queen was known to hold the
same opinion, and eager preachers began to sound the
note of restitution.2 Growing bolder, the Lower House
of Convocation presented the bishops immediately after
1 Renard to the Emperor : Gran-
vette Papers, vol. iv.
2 ' It was this morning told me
by one of the Emperor's council,
who misliked much the matter, that
a preacher of ours whose name he
rehearsed, beateth the pulpit jollily
in England for a restitution of abbey
lands. It is a strange thing in a
well-ordered commonwealth that a
subject should be so hardy to cry
unto the people openly such learning,
whereby your winter work may in
the summer be attempted with some
storm. These unbridled preachings
wei-e so much misliked in the ill-
governed time as men trusted in this
good governance it should have been
amended ; and so may it be when it
shall please my Lords of the Council
as diligently to consider it, as it is
more than necessary to be looked
unto. The party methinketh might
well be put to silence, if he were
asked how, being a monk, and hav-
ing professed and vowed solemnly
wilful poverty, he can with conscience
keep a deanery and three or four
benefices.' —Mason to Petre : MS.
Germany, bundle 16, Mary, State
Paper Office. It is not clear who
the offender was. Perhaps it was
Weston, Dean of Westminster and
Prolocutor of Convocation.
464 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
with a series of remarkable requests. The Pope, in the
terms on which he was reinstated, was but an orna-
mental unreality ; and the practical English clergy
desired substantial restorations which their eyes could
see and their hands could handle.
They demanded, therefore, first, that if a statute
was brought into Parliament for the assurance of the
Church estates to the present possessors, nothing should
be allowed to pass prejudicial to their claims ' on lands,
tenements, pensions, or tythe rents, which had apper-
tained to bishops, or other ecclesiastical persons/
They demanded, secondly, the repeal of the Statute
of Mortmain, and afterwards the abolition of lay in>
propriations, the punishment of heretics, the destruction
of all the English Prayer-books and Bibles, the revival
of the Act Be Hceretico Comburendo, the re-establish-
ment of the episcopal courts, the restoration of the
legislative functions of Convocation, and the exemption
of the clergy from the authority of secular magistrates.
Finally, they required that the Church should be
restored absolutely to its ancient rights, immunities,
and privileges ; that no Premunire should issue against
a bishop until he had first received notice and warning;
that the judges should define ' a special doctrine of Pre-
inunire,' and that the Statutes of Provisors should not
be wrested from their meaning.1
The petition expressed the views of Gardiner, and
was probably drawn under his direction. Had the
1 Demands of the Lower House of Convocation, December, 1554:
printed in WILKINS'S Concilia.
I554-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 46$
alienated property been no more than the estates of the
suppressed abbeys, the secular clergy would have ac-
quiesced without difficulty in the existing disposition of
it. But the benefices impropriated to the abbeys which
had been sold or granted with the lands, they looked on
as their own ; the cathedral chapters and the bishops'
sees, which had suffered from the second locust flight
under Edward, formed part of the local Anglican
Church : and Gardiner and his brother prelates de-
clared that, if the Pope chose to set aside the canons,
and permit the robbing of the religious orders, he might
do as he pleased ; but that he had neither right nor
powers to sanction the spoliation of the working bishops
and clergy. Thus the feast of reconciliation having
been duly celebrated, both Houses of Parliament became
again the theatre of fierce and fiery conflict.
There were wide varieties of opinion. The lawyers
went beyond the clergy in limiting the powers of the
Pope ; the lawyers also said the Pope had no rights
over the temporalities of bishops or abbots, deans, or
rectors ; but they did not any more admit the rights of
the clergy. The English clergy, regular and secular,
they said, had held their estates from immemorial time
under the English Crown, and it was not for any spirit-
ual authority, domestic or foreign, to decide whether an
English King and an English Parliament might inter-
fere to alter the disposition of those estates.
On other questions the clerical party were in the
ascendant ; they had a decided majority in the House
cf Commons ; in the Upper House there was a compact
VOL. V. 30
4<>6 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
body of twenty bishops ; and Gardiner held the proxies
of Lord Rich, Lord Oxford, Lord Westmoreland, and
Lord Abergavenny. The Queen had created four new
peers ; three of whom, Lord North, Lord Chandos, and
Lord Williams, were bigoted Catholics ; the fourth,
Lord Howard, was absent with the fleet, and was un-
represented. Lord North held the proxy of Lord
Worcester ; and the Marquis of Winchester, Lord
Montague, and Lord Stourton acted generally with the
chancellor. Lord Russell was keeping out of the way,
being suspected of heresy ; Wentworth was at Calais ;
Grey was at Guisnes ; and the proxies of the two last
noblemen, which in the late Parliament were held by
Arundel and Paget, were, for some unknown reason,
now held by no one. Thus, in a house of seventy-three
members only, reduced to sixty-nine by the absence of
Howard, Russell, Wentworth, and Grey, Gardiner had
thirty-one votes whom he might count upon as cer-
tain ; he knew his power, and at once made fatal use
of it.
For two Parliaments the liberal party had prevented
him from recovering the power of persecution. He did
not attempt to pass the Inquisitorial Act on which he
was defeated in the last session. But the Act to revive
the Lollard Statutes was carried through the House of
Commons in the second week in December; on the i^th
it was brought up to the Lords ; and although those
who had before fought the battle of humanity, struggled
again bravely in the same cause, this time their numbers
were too small ; they failed, and the lives of the Pro-
J554-:
RE CO ttC I LI A TION WITH ROME.
467
testants were in their enemies' hands.1 Simultaneously
Gardiner obtained for the bishops' courts their long-
coveted privilege of arbitrary arrest and discretionary
punishment, and the clergy obtained, as they desired,
the restoration of their legislative powers. The pro-
perty question alone disintegrated the phalanx of ortho-
doxy, and left an opening for the principles of liberty
to assert themselves. The faithful and the faithless
among the laity were alike participators in Church
plunder, and were alike nervously sensitive when the
current of the reaction ran in the direction of a demand
for restitution.
Here, therefore, Paget and his friends chose their
ground to maintain the fight.
It has been seen that Pole especially dreaded the
appearance of any sort of composition between the coun-
try and the Papacy. The submission had, in fact, been
purchased, but the purchase ought to be disguised. As
soon, therefore, as the Parliament set themselves to the
fulfilment of their promise to undo the Acts by which
England had separated itself from Rome, the legate re-
quired a simple statute of repeal. The Pope had granted
a dispensation ; it was enough, and it should be accepted
gratefully ; the penitence of sinners ought not to be
mixed with questions of worldly interest ; the return-
ing prodigal, when asking pardon at his father's feet,
1 ' La chambre haulte y faict
difficulte pour ce que 1'auctorite et
jurisdiction des evesques est autori-
zee et renouvellee, et que le peine
si'mble trop grief've. Mais Ton tieut
qu'ilz s'accorderont par la pluralite.'
— Eenard to the Emperor, Decem-
ber 21 : Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
463 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
had made no conditions ; the English nation must not
disfigure their obedience by alluding, in the terms of it,
to the Pope's benevolence to them.
The holders of the property, on the other hand,
thinking more of the reality than the form, were deter-
mined that the Act of Repeal should contain, as nearly
as possible, a true statement of their case. They had
made conditions, and those conditions had been reluct-
antly complied with ; and, to prevent future errors, the
nature of the compact ought to be explained with the
utmost distinctness. They had replaced the bishops in
authority, and the bishops might be made use of at some
future time, indirectly or directly, to disturb the settle-
ment. A fresh Pontiff might refuse to recognize the con-
cessions of his predecessors. The Papal supremacy, the
secularization of the Church property, and the authority
of the episcopal courts should, therefore, be interwoven
inextricably to stand or fall together ; and as the lawyers
denied the authority of the Holy See to pronounce upon
the matter at all, the legal opinion might be embodied
also as a further security.
After a week of violent discussion, the lay interest
in the House of Lords found itself the strongest. Pole
exclaimed that, if the submission and the dispensation
were tied together, it was a simoniacal compact ; the
Pope's Holiness was bought and sold for a price, he
said, and he would sooner go back to Rome, and leave
his work unfinished, than consent to an Act so derogatory
to the Holy See. But the protest was vain ; if the legate
was so anxious, his anxiety was an additional reason
I554-]
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
469
why the opposition should persevere ; if he chose to go,
his departure could be endured.1
So keen was the debate that there was not so much
as a Christmas recess. Christmas-day was kept as a
holyday. On the 26th the struggle began again, and,
fortunately, clouds had risen between the House of
Commons and the Court. Finding more difficulty than
he expected in embroiling England with France, Philip,
to feel the temper of the people, induced one of the
peers to carry a note to the Lower House to request an
opinion whether it was not the duty of a son to assist
his father. An answer was instantly returned that the
question had been already disposed of by the late Par-
liament in the marriage treaty, and the further discussion
of it was unnecessary.2 Secretary Bourne, at the in-
stigation of Gardiner, proposed to revive the claims on
the pensions ; but he met with no better reception. And
1 'Le paiiement faict instance
que, en statut de la dicte obedience
la dicte dispense soit inseree, ce que
le diet cardinal ne veult admettre, a
ce que ne serable la dicte obedience
avoir este rachetee ; et est passee si
avant la dicte difficulte que le diet
cardinal a declare qu'il retourneroit
plutot a Rome et delaisseroit la
'chose iraparfaite que consentir a
chose contre 1'auctorite dudict S.
Siege, et de si grande prejudice.' —
Renard to the Emperor, December :
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.
2 ' Ces jours passez, il y eust ung
personnaige de la haulte chambre,
auquel il sembla pour ne perdre
temps deb voir porter, (comme il fist)
un billette a, la basse par laquelle il
mettait en advant s'il n'estoit pas
raisonnable que le filz secourust le
pere, voullant dire de ce roy a 1'Em-
pereur. Ce qui fut si bien recueilly
du tiers estat, si promptment et
avecques grande raison respondu,
comme par le dernier parlement et
le traite de mariaige d'entre ce roy
et royne cela avoit este et estoit
tellement considere, qu'il n'estoit
plus besoign mettre telles cboses en
advant pour les faire entrer a la
guerre.' — -Noailles to the King of
France : Ambassades, vol. iv. p. 76.
470 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
the Court made a further blunder. Mary had become
so accustomed to success, that she assured herself she
could obtain all that she desired. The object of the
Court was to secure the regency for Philip, with full
sovereign powers, should she die leaving a child ; should
she die childless, to make him her successor. The first
step would be Philip's coronation, which had been long
talked of, and which the House of Commons was now
desired to sanction. The House of Commons returned
a unanimous refusal.1
The effects of these cross influences on the Papal
statute, though they cannot be traced in detail, must
It;55 have been not inconsiderable. At length, on
January 4. fae ^fo of January, after passing backwards and
forwards for a fortnight between the two Houses, the
Great Bill, as it was called, emerged, finished, in the
form of a petition to the Crown : —
' Whereas/ so runs the preamble,2 ' since the 2oth
year of King Henry VIII., of famous memory, much
false and erroneous doctrine hath been taught, preached,
and written, partly by divers natural-born subjects of
this realm, and partly being brought in hither from
sundrjr foreign countries, hath been sown and spread
abroad within the same — by reason whereof as well the
1 <Je vous puis dire, Sire, que
toutes ces choses ont passe bien loing
de 1'esperance qu'il avoit, puisqu'il
s'attendoit de se faire couronner,
comme despuis six jours il en avoit
ceulx de la basse chambre dndict
pavleraent qui luy ont tons d'une
voix rejette.'— jSToaillcs to the King
of France : Ambassades, vol. iv. p.
137.
particulierement faict recbercher j 2 i and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 8.
1 555.] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME, 471
spirituality as the temporality of your Highness' s realm
and dominions have swerved from the obedience of the
See Apostolic, and declined from the unity of Christ's
Church, and so have continued until such time as — -
your Majesty being first raised up by God, and set in
the seat royal over us, and then by his divine and
gracious Providence knit in marriage with the most
noble and virtuous prince the King our Sovereign Lord
your husband — the Pope's Holiness and the See Apos-
tolic sent hither unto your Majesties, as unto persons un-
defiled, and by God's goodness preserved from the com-
mon infection aforesaid, and to the whole realm, the
Most Eeverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pole,
Legate de Latere, to call us again into the right way,
from which we have all this long while wandered and
strayed; and we, after sundry and long plagues and
calamities, seeing, by the goodness of God, our own
errours, have knowledged the same unto the said Most
Reverend Father, and by him have been and are (the
rather at the contemplation of your Majesties) received
and embraced into the unity of Christ's Church, upon
our humble submission, and promise made for a declar-
ation of our repentance to repeal and abrogate such
Acts and Statutes as had been made in Parliament since
the said 2oth year of the said King Henry VIII., against
the supremacy of the See Apostolic, as in our submission
exhibited to the said most Reverend Father in God, by
your Majesties appeareth — it may like your Majesty,
for the accomplishment of our promise, that all such
laws be repealed. That is to say : —
472
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
'The Act against obtaining Dispensations from
Rome for Pluralities and non- Residence.1
* The Act that no person shall be cited out of the
Diocese where he or she dwelleth.2
1 The Act against Appeals to the See of Rome.3
' The Act against the Payment of Annates and
First-fruits to the See of Rome.4
' The Act for the Submission of the Clergy.6
' The Act for the Election and Consecration of
Bishops.6
' The Act against Exactions from the See of
Rome.7
' The Act of the Royal Supremacy.8
1 The Act for the Consecration of Suffragan Bishops.9
' The Act for the Reform of the Canon Law.10
1 The Act against the Authority of the Pope.11
' The Act for the Release of those who had obtained
Dispensations from Rome.12
' The Act authorizing the King to appoint Bishops
by Letters Patent.13
' The Act of Precontracts and Degrees of Consan-
guinity.14
' The Act for the King's Style.15
1 21 Henry VIII. cap. 13.
2 23 Ibid. cap. 9.
3 24 Ibid. cap. 12.
4 23 Henry VIII. cap. 20. The
Act was repealed, but the annates
were not restored.
5 25 Henry VIII. cap. 19.
6 25 Ibid. cap. 20.
7 25 Ibid. cap. 21.
8 26 Ibid. cap. I.
9 26 Ibid. cap. 14.
10 27 Ibid. cap. 15.
11 28 Ibid. cap. 10.
12 28 Ibid. cap. 1-6.
13 31 Ibid. cap. 9.
14 33 Ibid. cap. 38
15 35 Ibid. cap. 3.
I555-]
RECONCILIATION WITH ROME.
473
'The Act permitting the Marriage of Doctors of
Civil Law/1
In the repeal of these statutes the entire ecclesiasti-
cal legislation of Henry VIII. was swept away ; and,
so far as a majority in a single Parliament could affect
them, the work was done absolutely and with clean
completeness.
But there remained two other Acts collaterally and
accidentally affecting the See of Home ; for the repeal
of which the Court was no less anxious than for the
repeal of the Act of Supremacy, where the Parliament
were not so complaisant.
Throughout the whole reaction under Mary there
was one point on which the laity never wavered. At-
tempts such as that which has been just mentioned
were made incessantly, directly or indirectly, to alter
the succession and cut off Elizabeth. They were like
the fretful and profitless chafings of waves upon a rock.
The two Acts on which Elizabeth's claims were rested2
touched, in one or other of their clauses, the Papal pre-
rogative, and were included in the list to be condemned.
But, of these Acts, ' so much only ' as affected the See of
Rome was repealed. The rest was studiously declared
to continue in force.
Yet, with this reservation, the Parliament had gone
far in their concessions, and it remained for them to
secure their equivalent.
They reinstated the bishops, but, in giving back a
1 37 Henry VIII. cap. 17.
2 28 Ibid. cap. 7; 35 Ibid. cap. I.
474
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
power which had been so much abused, they took care
to protect — not, alas ! the innocent lives which were
about to be sacrificed — but their own interests. The
bishops and clergy of the Province of Canterbury having
been made to state their case and their claims, in a pe-
tition to the Crown, they were then compelled formally
to relinquish those claims ; and the petition and the re-
linquishment were embodied in the Act as the condition
of the restoration of the authority of the Church courts.1
In continuation, the Lords and Commons desired that,
for the removal ' of all occasion of contention, suspicion,
and trouble, both outwardly and inwardly, in men's
consciences/ the Pope's Holiness, as represented by the
legate, ' by dispensation, toleration, or permission, as the
case required,' would recognize all such foundations of
colleges, hospitals, cathedrals, churches, schools, or
bishoprics as had been established during the schism,
would confirm the validity of all ecclesiastical acts
1 ' Albeit, by the laws of the
Church, the bishops and clergy
were the defenders and protectors of
all ecclesiastical rights, and would
therefore in nature be bound to use
their best endeavours for the re-
covery of the lands and goods lost to
the Church during the late schism,
they, nevertheless, perceiving the
tenures of those lands and goods
were now complicated beyond power
of extrication, and that the attempt
to recover them might promote dis-
affection in the realm, and cause the
overthrow of the present happy set-
tlement of religion, preferring public
peace to private commodity, and the
salvation of souls to worldly posses-
sions, did consent that the present
disposition of those lands and goods
should remain undisturbed. They
besought their Majesties to intercede
with the legate for his consent, and,
for themselves, they requested, in
return, that the lawful jurisdiction
of the Church might be restored.'—
i and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 8,
sec. 31.
I555-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 475
which had been performed during the same period ; and,
finally, would consent that all property, of whatever
kind, taken from the Church, should remain to its pre-
sent possessors — ' so as all persons having sufficient con-
veyance of the said lands, goods, and chattels by the
common laws, or acts, or statutes of the realm, might,
without scruple of conscience, enjoy them without im-
peachment or trouble, by pretence of any general
council, canon, or ecclesiastical law, and clear from all
dangers of the censures of the Church/ The petitions,
both of clergy and Parliament, the Act went on to say,
had been considered by the Cardinal ; and the Cardinal
had acquiesced. He had undertaken, in the Pope's
name, that the possessors of either lands or goods should
never be molested either then or in time to come, in
virtue of any Papal decree, or canon, or council ; that
if any attempt should be made by any bishop or other
ecclesiastic to employ the spiritual weapons of the
Church to extort restitution, such act or acts were de-
clared vain and of none effect. The dispensation was
pronounced, nor could the legate's protests avail to pre-
vent it from appearing in the Statute. He was permit-
ted, only in consideration of the sacrifice, to interweave
amidst the legal technicalities some portion of his own
feeling. The impious detainers of holy things, while
permitted to maintain their iniquity, were reminded of
the fate of Belshazzar, and were urged to restore the
patiiies, chalices, and ornaments of the altars. The im-
propriators of benefices were implored, in the mercy of
476
REIGN OF QUEEN- MARY.
[CH. 32.
Christ, to remember the souls of the people, and pro-
vide for the decent performance of the services of the
churches.1
Here the Act might have been expected to end.
The nature of the transaction between the Parliament
and the Pope had been made sufficiently clear. Yet,
had nothing more been said, the surrender of their
claims by the clergy would have implied that they had
parted with something which they might have legiti-
mately required. Under the inspiration of the lawyers,
therefore, a series of clauses were superadded, explain-
ing that, notwithstanding the dispensation, 'The title
of all lands, possessions, and hereditaments in their
Majesties' realms and dominions was grounded in the
laws, statutes, and customs of the same, and by their
high jurisdiction, authority royal, and crown imperial,
and in their courts only, might be impleaded, ordered,
tried, and judged, and none otherwise : ' and, therefore,
' whosoever, by any process obtained out of any ecclesi-
1 'Et licet omnes res mobiles
ecclesiarum indistincte iis qui eas
tenent relaxaverimus, eos tamen
admonitos esse volumus ut ante ocu-
los habentes divini judicii severita-
tem contra Balthazarem Regem
Babylonis, qui vasa sacra non a se
sod a patre a tcmplo ablata in pro-
fanos usus convertit, ea propriis ec-
clesiis si extant vcl aliis restituant,
hortantes etiam et per viscera miseii-
cordiae Jesu Christ! obtestantes eos
oranes quos hrcc restangit, ut salutis
gua) non omnino immemores hoc
saltern efficiant, ut ex bonis eccle-
siasticis maxime iis quae ratione per-
sonatuum et vicariatuura populi
ministrorum sustentationi fuerint
specialiter dcstinataj seu aliis cathe-
dralibus et aliis qua3 mine extant in-
ferioribus ecclesiis curam animarum
exerceutibus, ita provideatur, ut
eorum pastores commode et honeste
juxta eorum qualitatem et statum
sustentari possint, et curam ani-
marum laudabiliter exercere.' — i
and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 8, sec.
1555-1 RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 477
astical court within the realm or without, or by pre-
tence of any spiritual jurisdiction or otherwise, contrary
to the laws of the realm, should inquiet or molest any
person or persons, or body politic, for any of the said
lands or things above specified, should incur the danger
of Premunire, and should suffer and incur the for-
feitures and pains contained in the same.' *
Yainly the clergy had entreated for a limitation or
removal of Premunire. That spectre remained unex-
orcised in all its shadowy terror ; and while it survived,
the penitence of England went no deeper than the lips,
however fine the words and eloquent the phrases in
which it was expressed. As some compensation, the
Mortmain Act was suspended for twenty years. Yet,
as if it were in reply to Pole's appeal, a mischievous
provision closed the Act, that, notwithstanding any-
thing contained in it, laymen entitled to tithes might
recover them with the same readiness as before the first
day of the present Parliament.2
Such was the great statute of reconciliation with
Rome, with which, in the inability to obtain a better,
the legate was compelled to be satisfied, and to recon-
sider his threat of going back to Italy.
This first conflict was no sooner ended than another
commenced. The Commons would not consent that
Philip should be crowned ; but, as the Queen said she
was enceinte, provision had to be made for a regency, and
a bill was introduced into the Upper House which has
I and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 8, sec. 31. - Ibid.
478
OF QUEEN MA&Y.
[OH.
not survived, but which, in spirit, was unfavourable to
the King.1 Gardiner, in the course of the debate, at-
tempted to put in a clause affecting Elizabeth,2 but the
success was no better than usual. The Act went down
to the Commons, where, however, it was immediately
cancelled. Though the Commons would give Philip no
rights as King, they were better disposed towards him
than the Lords ; and they drew another bill of their
own, in which they declared the father to be the natural
and fitting guardian of the child. The experience of
protectorates, they said, had been uniformly unfortun-
ate, and should the Queen die leaving an heir, Philip
should be Regent of the realm during the minority ; if
obliged to be absent on the Continent, he might him-
self nominate his deputy ; 3 and so long as it should
be his pleasure to remain in England, his person
should be under the protection of the laws of high
treason.
Taking courage from the apparent disposition of
the House, the friends of the Court proposed that,
should the Queen die childless, the crown should de-
volve absolutely upon him for his life.4 But in this
1 'It was suspected,' says Ee-
nard, ' que le diet act se proposoit
a maulvais fin, qu'il estoit coutre les
traictez et capitulation de marriage
pour heredjr la couronne qui veiioit
de maulvais auteurs quilz plustot
desiroient le nial dudict S. roy et in-
quietude dudict royaulme que le
bien.' — Renard to the Emperor :
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 347.
2 Ibid. p. 348.
3 'Et que en son absence il y
pourra nommer qui luy plaira.' —
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 348.
4 ' Aulcuns particuliers proposai-
ent en ladicte chambre basse que le
diet S. roy deust demeurer roy ab-
solut dudict royaulme mourant la-
dicte dame sans hoirs sa vie durant.'
—Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 348.
J555-]
RECONCILIA T10N WITH ROME.
479
they were going too far. The suggestion was listened
to coldly; and Philip, who had really calculated on
obtaining from Parliament, in some form or other, a
security for his succession, despatched Ruy Gomez to
Brussels, to consult the Emperor on the course which
should be pursued.1 On the whole, however, could the
bill of the House of Commons be carried, Renard was
disposed to be contented ; the Queen was confident in
her hopes of an heir, and it might not be worth while
to irritate the people unnecessarily about Elizabeth.2
The clause empowering Philip to govern by deputy in
his absence was especially satisfactory.3
But the peers, whom the Commons had refused to
consult on the new form of the measure, would not part
so easily with their own opinions ; they adopted the
phraseology of the Lower House, but this particular
and precious feature in it they pared away. The bill,
as it eventually passed, declared Philip Regent till his
child should be of age, and so long as he continued in
the realm ; but, at the same time, fatally for the objects
at which he was aiming, it bound him again to observe
1 ' Ruy Gomez est alle vers
1'Empereur pour faire entendre les
difficultez qu'ilz trouvent de faire
demeurer ceste couroane a son diet
filz, au cas que la royne sa fern me
allast de vie a trespaz sans enfans,
et d'aultant qu'ilz ont congneu la
volunte de ceulx cy estre bien loin
de leur intention ; et pour ce scavoir
par quelz moyens il sembiera bon
audict Empereur qu'on puisse mettre
cela en termes devant la fin de ce
parlement.' — NOAILLES.
2 ' Et quant a la declaration de
bastardise Ton n'est d'opinion qu'elle
se doige entamer aux diet parlement,
puisque 1'apparence d'heretier est
certaine et pour 1'evident et cong-
neue contrariete que seroit en toute
le royaulme.' — Renard to the Em-
peror : Granvelle Papers, p. 348.
3 Ibid.
48o
REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y.
[CH. 32.
all the articles of the marriage treaty, ' which, during
the time that he should hold the government, should
remain and continue in as full force and strength, as if
they were newly inserted and rehearsed in the present
Act.'1
The disposition of the House of Lords was the more
dangerous, because the bishops, of course, voted with
the Government, and the strength of the opposition,
therefore, implied something like unanimity in the lay
peers. The persecuting Act had been carried with
difficulty, and in the reconciliation with Home the
legate had been studiously mortified. On the succession
and the coronation the Court had been wholly baffled ;
and in the Regency Bill they had obtained but half of
what they had desired. At the least Mary had hoped
to secure for the King the free disposal of the army and
the finances, and she had not been able so much as to
ask for it. Compelled to rest contented with such
advantages as had been secured, the Court would not
risk the results of further controversy by prolonging
the session ; and on the i6th of January, at four o'clock
in the afternoon, the King and Queen came to the
House of Lords almost unattended, and with an evident
expression of dissatisfaction dissolved the Parliament.2
1 I and 2 Philip and Mary, cap.
10.
2 ' Hz sont pour cejourdhuy bien
esloignez de ce qu'ilz pensoient faire
il y a six sepmaines en ce parlement,
ou ilz faisoient compte que ne pouv-
unt couronner ce roy ou luy faire
succeder ce royaulme, a tout le
moings de luy en faire tumber 1' ad-
ministration, avecques tel pou/oir
sur les forces et finances qu il en
eust peu disposer a sa volunte.
Toutefois la chose a prins tclle issue
que pour ce coup il fault qu'il se
1555- J RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 481
I have been particular in relating the proceedings
of this Parliament, because it marks the point where
the flood tide of reaction ceased to ascend, and the ebb
recommenced. From the beginning of the Reformation
in 1529, two distinct movements had gone on side by
side — the alteration of doctrines, and the emancipation
of the laity from Papal and ecclesiastical domination.
With the first, the contemporaries of Henry VIII., the
country gentlemen and the peers, who were the heads
of families at the period of Mary's accession, had never
sympathized ; and the tyranny of the Protestants while
they were in power had converted a disapproval which
time would have overcome, into active and determined
indignation. The Papacy was a mixed question ; the
Pilgrims of Grace in 1536, and the Cornish rebels in
1549, had demanded the restoration of the spiritual
primacy to the See of St Peter, and Henry himself,
until Pole and Paul III. called on Europe to unite in a
crusade against him, had not determined wholly against
some degree of concession. In the Pope, as a sovereign
who claimed reverence and tribute, who interfered with
the laws of the land, and maintained at Rome a supreme
Court of Appeal — who pretended a right to depose
kings and absolve subjects from their allegiance — who
contente a beaucoup raoings qn'il j petitement accompaignez et sans
ne s'attendoit. aulcune ceremonie, monstrans et
1 Ce qui a tellement despleu a
cedict roy et royne, que le 16 de ce
mois ilz allerent par eau tous deulx
clorre et terminer ledict parleraent,
faisans congnoistre a ung chascun
avoir quelque grand mescontente-
ment centre 1' assemble d'icelluy.' —
Noailles to the Constable : Ambas-
r /
sur les quatre heures du soir, assez I sades, vol. iv. p. 153.
VOL. v. 31
4§2 REIGN OF QUEEN MARV. [CH. 32.
held a weapon in excommunication as terrible to the
laity as Premunire was terrible to ecclesiastics — in the
Pope under this aspect, only a few insignificant fanatics
entertained any kind of interest.
But experience had proved that to a nation cut off
from the centre of Catholic union, the maintenance of
orthodoxy was impossible : the supremacy of the Pope,
therefore, came back as a tolerated feature in the return
to the Catholic faith, and the ecclesiastical courts were
reinstated in authority to check unlicensed extravagance
of opinion. Their restored power, however, was over
opinion only ; wherever the pretensions of the Church
would come in collision with the political constitution,
wherever they menaced the independence of the tem-
poral" magistrate or the tenure of property, there the
progress of restoration was checked by the rock, and
could eat no further into the soil. The Pope and the
clergy recovered their titular rank, and in one direction
unhappily they recovered the reality of power. But
the temporal spoils of the struggle remained with the
laity, and if the clergy lifted a hand to retake them,
their weapons would be instantly wrenched from their
grasp.
If the genuine friends of human freedom had ac-
quiesced without resistance in this conclusion, if the
nobility had contented themselves with securing theii
worldly and political interests, and had made no effort
to restrain or modify the exercise of the authority which
they were giving back, they might be accused of having
accepted a dishonourable compromise. But they did
I555-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 483
what they could. They worked with such legal means
as were in their power, and for two Parliaments they
succeeded in keeping persecution at bay; they failed in
the third, but failed only after a struggle. The Pro-
testants themselves had created, by their own miscon-
duct, the difficulty of defending them ; and armed un-
constitutional resistance was an expedient to be resorted
to, only when it had been seen how the clergy would
conduct themselves. English statesmen may be par-
doned if they did not anticipate the passions to which
the guardians of orthodoxy were about to abandon
themselves. Parliament had maintained the independ-
ence of the English courts of law. It had maintained
the Premunire. It had forbidden the succession to be
tampered with. If this was not everything, it was
something — something which in the end would be the
undoing of all the rest.
The Court and the bishops, however, were for the
present absolute in their own province. The perse-
cuting Acts were once more upon the Statute Book ;
and when the realities of the debates in Parliament had
disappeared, the Cardinal and the Queen could again
give the rein to their imagination. They had called up
a phantom out of its grave, and they persuaded them-
selves that they were witnessing the resurrection of the
spirit of truth, that heresy was about to vanish from off
the English soil, like an exhalation of the morning, at
the brightness of the Papal return. The chancellor and
the clergy were springing at the leash like hounds with
the game in view, fanaticism and revenge lashing them
484 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
forward. If the temporal schemes of the Court were
thwarted, it was, perhaps, because Heaven desired that
exclusive attention should be given first to the salvation
of souls.
For all past political offences, therefore, there was
now an amnesty, and such prisoners as remained unex-
ecuted for Wyatt's conspiracy were released from the
Tower on the i8th of January. On the 25th a hundred
and sixty priests walked in procession through the
London streets, chanting litanies, with eight bishops
walking after them, and Bonner carrying the Lost.
On the 28th the Cardinal issued his first general in-
structions. The bishops were directed to call together
their clergy in every diocese in England, and to inform
them of the benevolent love of the Holy Father, and of
the arrival of the legate with powers to absolve them
from their guilt. They were to relate the Acts of the
late Parliament, with the reconciliation and absolution
of the Lords and Commons ; and they were to give
general notice that authority had been restored to the
ecclesiastical courts to proceed against the enemies of
the faith, and punish them according to law.
A day was then to be fixed on which the clergy
should appear with their confessions, and be received
into the Church. In the assignment of their several
penances, a distinction was to be made between those
who had taught heresy and those who had merely lapsed
into it.
When the clergy had been reconciled, they were
again in turn to exhort the laity in all churches and
IS55-]
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
485
cathedrals, to accept the grace which was offered to
them ; and that they might understand that they
were not at liberty to refuse the invitation, a time
was assigned to them within which their submissions
must be all completed. A book was to be kept in
every diocese, where the names of those who were
received were to be entered. A visitation was to be
held throughout the country at the end of the spring,
and all who had not complied before Easter day, or
who, after compliance, 'had returned to their vomit,
would be proceeded against with the utmost severity of
the law.1
The introduction of the Register was the Inqui-
sition under another name. There was no limit,
except in the humanity or the prudence of the bishops,
to the tyranny which they would be enabled to exer-
cise. The Cardinal professed to desire that, before
heretics were punished with death, mild means should
first be tried with them;2 the meaning which he
attached to the words was illustrated in an instant
example.
1 Instructions of Cardinal Pole
to the Bishops : BURNET'S Col-
lectanea.
2 The opinion of Pole, on the
propriety of putting men .to death
for nonconformity, was strictly or-
thodox. He regarded heretics, he
said, as rebellious children, with
whom persuasion and mild correction
should first be tried. ' Nee tamen,
negarim fieri posse,' he continued,
' ut alicujus opiniones tarn perniciosae
existant, ipseque jam corruptus tarn
sit ad corrumpendos alios promptus
ac sedulus ut non dubitarim dicere
eum e vita tolli oportere et tanquam
putridum membrum e corpore exse-
cari. Neque id tamen priusquam
ejus sanandi causS, omnis leviter me-
dendi tentata sit ratio.' — Pole to the
Cardinal of Augsburg : Epist. REG.
POL. vol. iv.
486 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
Tlie instructions were the signal for the bishops to
commence business. On the day of their
appearance, Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstal, and
three other prelates, formed a court in St Mary
0 very* s Church, in Southwark ; and Hooper, and
Rogers, a .canon of St Paul's, were brought up before
them.
Rogers had been distinguished in the first bright
days of Protestantism. He had been a fellow-labourer
with Tyndal and Coverdale, at Antwerp, in the trans-
lation of the Bible. Afterwards, taking a German
wife, he lived for a time at Wittenberg, not unknown,
we may be sure, to Martin Luther. On the accession
of Edward, he returned to England, and worked
among the London clergy till the end of the reign ;
and on Mary's accession he was one of the preachers at
Paul's Cross who had dared to speak against the
reaction. He had been rebuked by the council, and
his friends had urged him to fly, but, like Cranmer, he
thought that duty required him to stay at his post,
and, in due time, without, however, having given
fresh provocation, he was shut up in Newgate by
Bonner.
Hooper, when the unfortunate garment controversy
was brought to an end, had shown by his conduct in
his diocese that in one instance at least doctrinal fa-
naticism was compatible with the loftiest excellence.
While the great world was scrambling for the Church
property, Hooper was found petitioning the council for
leave to augment impoverished livings out of his
I555-] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 487
income.1 In the hall of his palace at Gloucester a
profuse hospitality was offered daily to those who were
most in need of it. The poor of the city were invited
by relays to solid meat dinners, and the Bishop with
the courtesy of a gentleman dined with them, and
treated them with the same respect as if they had been
the highest in the land. He was one of the first per-
sons arrested after Mary's accession, and the cross of
persecution at once happily made his peace with
Ridley. In an affectionate interchange of letters, the
two confessors exhorted each other to constancy in the
end which both foresaw, determining ' if they could
not overthrow, at least to shake, those high altitudes '
of spiritual tyranny.2 The Fleet prison had now been
Hooper's house for eighteen, months. At first, on pay-
ment of heavy fees to the warden, he had lived in
some degree of comfort ; but as soon as his deprivation
was declared, Gardiner ordered that he should be con-
fined in one of the common prisoners' wards ; where
' with a wicked man and a wicked woman ' for his com-
panions, with a bed of straw and a rotten counterpane,
the prison sink on one side of his cell and Fleet ditch
on the other, he waited till it would please Parliament
to permit the dignitaries of the Church to murder
him.3
These were the two persons with whom the Marian
persecution opened. On their appearance in the court,
1 Privy Council Register, Edward VI. MS.
2 Correspondence between Hooper and Ridley : FOXE, vol. vi.
3 Account of Hooper's Imprisonment, by himself: Ibi4.
488 REIGN- OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 32.
they were required briefly to make their submission.
They attempted to argue ; but they were told that
when Parliament had determined a thing, private men
were not to call it in question, and they were allowed
twenty- four hours to make up their minds. As they
were leaving the church Hooper was heard to say,
' Come, brother Rogers, must we two take this matter
first in hand and fry these faggots ? ' * Yea, sir, with
God's grace/ Rogers answered. ' Doubt not/ Hooper
said, ' but God will give us strength/
They were remanded to prison. The next
morning they were brought again before the
court. ' The Queen's mercy ' was offered them, if they
would recant ; they refused, and they were sentenced to
die. Rogers asked to be allowed to take leave of his wife
and children. Gardiner, with a savage taunt, rejected
the request. The day of execution was left uncertain.
They were sent to Newgate to wait the Queen's pleasure.
On the 3oth, Taylor of Hadley, Laurence Sandars,
rector of All Hallows, and the illustrious Bradford,
were passed through the same forms with the same
results. Another, a notorious preacher, called Card-
maker, flinched, and made his submission.
Rogers was to ' break the ice/ as Bradford described
Monday, it.1 On the morning of the 4th of February
Feb- 4- the wife of the keeper of Newgate came to his
bedside. He was sleeping soundly, and she woke him
with difficulty to let him know that he was wanted.
Bradford to Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer : FOXE.
1 5 55-1 RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 489
The Bishop of London was waiting, she said, to degrade
him from the priesthood, and he was then to go out and
die. Rubbing his eyes, and collecting himself, he
hurried on his clothes. ' If it be thus/ he said, ' I need
not tie my points/ Hooper had been sent for also for
the ceremony of degradation. The vestments used in
the mass were thrown over them, and were then one by
one removed. They were pronounced deposed from the
priestly office, incapable of offering further sacrifice — •
except, indeed, the only acceptable sacrifice which man
can ever offer, the sacrifice of himself. Again Rogers
entreated permission -to see his wife, and again he was
refused.
The two friends were then parted. Hooper was to
suffer at Gloucester, and returned to his cell : Rogers
was committed to the sheriff, and led out to Smithfield.
The Catholics had affected to sneer at the faith of their
rivals. There was a general conviction among them,
which was shared probably by Pole and Gardiner, that
the Protestants would all flinch at the last ; that they
had no ' doctrine that would abide the fire/ When
Rogers appeared, therefore, the exultation of the people
in his constancy overpowered the horror of his fate, and
he was received with rounds of cheers. His family,
whom he was forbidden to part with in private, were
waiting on the way to see him — his wife with nine
little ones at her side and a tenth upon her breast — and
they, too, welcomed him with hysterical cries of joy, as
if he were on his way to a festival.1 Sir Robert Ro-
1 ' Cejourclhuy a este faictc la confirmation de 1'alliance entrc lo
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
Chester was in attendance at the stake to report his
behaviour. At the last moment he was offered pardon
if he would give way, but in vain. The fire was lighted.
The suffering seemed to be nothing. He bathed his
hands in the flame as ' if it was cold water/ raised his
eyes to heaven, and died.
The same night a party of the royal guard took
charge of Hooper, the order of whose execution was ar-
ranged by a mandate from the Crown. As ' an obstinate,
false, and detestible heretic,' he was to 'be burned in the
city ' which he had infected with his pernicious
doctrines ; ' and ' forasmuch as being a vain- glorious
person, and delighting in his tongue/ he ( might per-
suade the people into agreement with him, had he
liberty to use it/ care was to be taken that he should
not speak either at the stake or on his way to it.1 He
was carried down on horseback by easy stages ; and on
the forenoon of Thursday the 7th, he dined at Ciren-
cester, ' at a woman's house who had always hated the
truth, and spoken all evil she could of him.' This
woman had shared in the opinion that Protestants had
no serious convictions, and had often expressed her
belief that Hooper, particularly, would fail if brought
Pape et ce Koyaulme par ung sacri-
fice publique et solempnel d'ung
docteur predicant nomme Kogerus,
lequel a este brule tout vif pour estre
Luthcrien ; mais il est mort persist-
nnt en son opinion, a quoy la plus
grand part de ce peuple a prins tel
plaisir qu'ilz n'ont eu craincte de luy
faire plusieurs acclamations pour
comforter son courage; et mesmes
ses enfans y ont assistes le consolan-
tes de telle facon qu'il sembloit qu'on
le menast aux nopces.'— Noailles to
Montmorency : Ambassadcs, vol. iv.
1 Mandate for the execution of
Hooper : BURNET'S Collectanea.
1555-
RECONCIL1A TION WITH ROME.
491
to the trial. She found that both in him and in his
creed there was more than she had supposed ; and ' per-
ceiving the cause of his coming, she lamented his case
with tears, and showed him all the friendship she
could/
At five in the evening he arrived at Gloucester.
The road, for a mile outside the town, was lined with
people, and the mayor was in attendance, with an
escort, to prevent a rescue. But the feeling was rather
of awe and expectation, and those who loved Hooper
best knew that the highest service which he could
render to his faith was to die for it.
A day's interval of preparation was allowed him,
with a private room. He was in the custody of the
sheriff; * and there was this difference observed between
the keepers of the bishops' prisons and the keepers of
the Crown prisons, that the bishops' keepers were ever
cruel ; the keepers of the Crown prisons showed, for
the most part, such favour as they might.'1 After a
sound night's rest, Hooper rose early, and passed the
morning in solitary prayer. In the course of
the day, young Sir Anthony Kingston, one of
the commissioners appointed to superintend the exe-
cution, expressed a wish to see him. Kingston was an
old acquaintance, Hooper having been the means of
bringing him out of evil ways. He entered the room
unannounced. Hooper was on his knees, and, looking
round at the intruder, did not at first know him.
Feb. 8.
492 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
Kingston told him his name, and then, bursting into
tears, said : —
' Oh, consider ; life is sweet and death is bitter ;
therefore, seeing life may be had, desire to live, for life
hereafter may do good.7
Hooper answered : —
' I thank you for your counsel, yet it is not so friendly
as I could have wished it to be. True it is, alas ! Master
Kingston, that death is bitter and life is sweet ; there-
fore I have settled myself, through the strength of God's
Holy Spirit, patiently to pass through the fire prepared
for me, desiring you and others to commend me to God's
mercy in your prayers.'
' Well, my Lord/ said Kingston, ' then there is no
remedy, and I will take my leave. I thank God that
ever I knew you, for God appointed you to call me,
being a lost child. I was both an adulterer and a forn-
icator, and God, by JOUT good instruction, brought me
to the forsaking of the same/
They parted, the tears on both their faces. Other
friends were admitted afterwards. The Queen's orders
were little thought of, for Hooper had won the hearts
of the guard on his way from London. In the evening
the mayor and aldermen came, with the sheriffs, to
shake hands with him. * It was a sign of their good
will/ he said, ' and a proof that they had not forgotten
the lessons which he used to teach them/ He begged
the sheriffs that there might be ' a quick fire, to make
an end shortly ; ' and for himself he would be as obedi-
ent as they could wish.
I555-]
RECONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
493
Feb. 9.
' If you think I do amiss in anything,' he said,
' hold up your fingers, and I have done ; for I am not
come hither as one enforced or compelled to die ; I
might have had my life, as is well known, with worldly
gain, if I would have accounted my doctrine falsehood
and heresy.'
In the evening, at his own request, he was left alone.
He slept undisturbed the early part of the night. From
the time that he awoke till the guard entered, he was
on his knees.
The morning was windy and wet. The
scene of the execution was an open space
opposite the college, near a large elm tree, where Hooper
had been accustomed to preach. Several thousand
people were collected to see him suffer ; some had
climbed the tree, and were seated in the storm and rain
among the leafless branches. A company of priests
were in a room over the college gates, looking out with
pity or satisfaction, as God or the devil was in their
hearts.
( Alas ! ' said Hooper, when he was brought out,
1 why be all these people assembled here, and speech is
prohibited me ? ' He had suffered in prison from
sciatica, and was lame, but he limped cheerfully along
with a stick, and smiled when he saw the stake. At
the foot of it he knelt ; and as he began to pray, a box
was brought, and placed on a. stool before his eyes,
which he was told contained his pardon if he would
recant.
1 Away with it ! ' Hooper only cried ; ' away with it ! '
494 kEIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [cH. 32.
' Despatch him, then/ Lord Chandos said, ' seeing
there is no remedy.'
He was undressed to his shirt, in the cold ; a pound
of gunpowder was tied between his legs, and as much
more under either arm ; he was fastened with an iron
hoop to the stake, and he assisted with his own hand?
to arrange the faggots round him.
The fire was then brought, but the wood was green ,
the dry straw only kindled, and burning for a few mo-
ments was blown away by the wind. A violent flame
paralyzed the nerves at once, a slow one was torture.
More faggots were thrown in, and again lighted, and
this time the martyr's face was singed and scorched ;
but again the flames sank, and the hot damp sticks
smouldered round his legs. He wiped his eyes with
his hands, and cried, ' For God's love, good people, let
me have more fire ! ' A third supply of dry fuel was
laid about him, and this time the powder exploded, but
it had been ill-placed, or was not enough. ' Lord Jesu,-
have mercy on me ! ' he exclaimed ; ' Lord Jesu, receive
my spirit ! ' These were his last articulate words ; but
his lips were long seen to move, and he continued to
beat his breast with his hands. It was Mot till after
three quarters of an hour of torment that he at last
expired.
The same day, at the same hour, Rowland Taylor
was burnt on Aldham •Common, in Suffolk. Laurence
Sandars had been destroyed the day before at Coventry,
kissing the stake, and crying, ' Welcome the cross of
Christ ! welcome everlasting life ! ' The first-fruits of
1555-J RECONCILIA flON WlTti ROME. 49$
the Whitehall pageant were gathered. By the side of
the rhetoric of the hysterical dreamer who presided in
that vain melodrama, let me place a few words addressed
by the murdered Bishop of Gloucester to his friends, a
week before his sentence.
' The grace of God be with you, amen, I did write
unto you of late, and told you what extremity the Par-
liament had concluded upon concerning religion, sup-
pressing the truth, and setting forth the untruth ; in-
tending to cause all men, by extremity, to forswear them-
selves ; and to take again for the head of the Church
him that is neither head nor member of it, but a very
enemy, as the word of God and all ancient writers do
record. And for lack of law and authority they will
use force and extremity, which have been the arguments
to defend the Pope and Popery since their authority
first began in the world. But now is the time of trial,
to see whether we fear more God or man. It was an
easy thing to hold with Christ whilst the Prince and
the world held with him ; but now the world hateth
him, it is the true trial who be his.
1 Wherefore in the name, and in the virtue, strength,
and power of his Holy Spirit, prepare yourselves in any
case to adversity and constancy. Let us not run away
when it is most time to fight. Hemember, none shall
be crowned but such as fight manfully ; and he that
endureth to the end shall be saved. Ye must now turn
your cogitations from the perils you see, and mark the
felicity that followeth the peril — either victory in this
world of your enemies, or else a surrender of this life to
496 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 32.
inherit the everlasting kingdom. Beware of beholding
too much the felicity or misery of this world ; for the con-
sideration and too earnest love or fear of either of them
draweth from God. Wherefore think with yourselves
as touching the felicity of the world, it is good ; but
none otherwise than it standeth with the favour of God ;
it is to be kept, but yet so far forth as by keeping it we
lose not God. It is good abiding and tarrying still
among our friends here, but yet so that we tarry not
therewithal in God's displeasure, and hereafter dwell
with the devils in fire everlasting. There is nothing
under God but may be kept, so that God, being above
all things we have, be not lost. Of adversity judge the
same. Imprisonment is painful, but yet liberty upon
evil conditions is more painful. The prisons stink ; but
yet not so much as sweet houses, where the fear and
true honour of God lack. I must be alone and solitary ;
it is better so to be, and have God with me, than to be
in company with the wicked. Loss of goods is great,
but loss of God's grace and favour is greater. I am a
poor simple creature, and cannot tell how to answer
before such a great sort of noble, learned, and wise men.
It is better to make answer before the pomp and pride
of wicked men than to stand naked, in the sight of all
heaven and earth, before the just God at the latter day.
I shall die by the hands of the cruel men ; but he is
blessed that loseth this life full of miseries, and findeth
the life of eternal joys. It is pain and grief to depart
from goods and friends ; but yet not so much as to de-
part from grace and heaven itself. Wherefore there is
1555] RECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 497
neither felicity nor adversity of this world that can
appear to be great, if it be weighed with the joys or
pains in the world to come.'1
Of five who had been sentenced, four were thus de-
spatched. Bradford, the fifth, was respited, in the hope
that the example might tell upon him. Six more were
waiting their condemnation in Bonner's prisons. The
enemies of the Church were to submit or die. So said
Gardiner, in the name of the English priesthood, with
the passion of a fierce revenge. So said the legate and
the Queen, in the delirious belief that they were chosen
instruments of Providence.
So, however, did not say the English lay statesmen.
The first and unexpected effect was to produce a differ-
ence of opinion in the Court itself. Philip, to whom
Renard had insisted on the necessity of more moderate
measures, found it necessary to clear himself of respons-
ibility : and the day after Hooper suffered, Alphonso a
Castro, the King's chaplain, preached a sermon in the
royal presence, in which he denounced the execution,
and inveighed against the tyranny of the bishops. The
Lords of the Council ' talked strangely ; ' and so deep
was the indignation, that the Flemish ambassador again
expected Gardiner's destruction. Paget refused to act
with him in the council any more, and Philip himself
talked more and more of going abroad. Renard, from
the tone of his correspondence, believed evidently at
this moment that the game of the Church was played
1 Hooper to his friends : FOXE, vol. vi.
VOL. v. 32
498
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
out and lost. He wrote to the Emperor to entreat that
when the King went he might not himself be left be-
hind : he was held responsible by the people for the
Queen's misdoings ; and a party of the young nobility
had sworn to kill him.1
Among the people the constancy of the martyrs had
called out a burst of admiration. It was rumoured that
bystanders had endeavoured to throw themselves into
the fire to die at their side.2 A prisoner, on examina-
tion before Bonner, was asked if he thought he could
bear the flame. You may try me, if you will, he said.
A candle was brought, and he held his hand, without
flinching, in the blaze.3 With such a humour abroad,
1 ' L'evesque de Londres avec
les autres evesques assembleez en ce
lieu pour 1' execution du statut con-
clu en dernier Parlement sur le faict
de la religion, a fait brusler trois
heretiques ; 1'ung en ce lieu et les
deux autres en pays ; et sont apres
pour continuer contre les obstinez :
dont les nobles etle peuple heretique
murmure et s'altere ; selon que 1'ay
faict entendre an roy par ung billet
par escript duquel la copie va avec
les preseutes ; et la noblesse tous-
jours desire d'avoir occasion d'at-
tirer le peuple et le faire joindre a
revolte avec elle ; etprevoys si Dieu
n'y remedie, ou que telle precipita-
tion ne se modere, les choses prend-
ront dangereux succes, et signam-
ment les partiaulx, contre le chan-
celier ne perdront ceste commodite
de vengeance. . . . Les dictes con-
seilliers se retirent de nejjroces. Pa-
get se voyant en la male grace de la
royne, et de la pluspart du conseil, se
trouve souvent au quartier dudict
Sieur roy . . le peuple parle contre la
royne estrangement .... Comme
j'entendz que Ton parle pour me
faire demeurer, et sejourner par de^a
apres le depart du roy, je n'ay pen
delaisser de supplier tres humble-
ment vostre majeste me excuser . .
je suys certain Ton me tueroit in-
continant apres ledict parlement,'
&c. — Renard to Charles V. ; Gran-
velle Papers, vol. iv. pp. 400 — 402.
2 'Et a Ton diet que plusieurs
. . . se sont voulu voluntairement
mettre sur le buche a coste de ceulx
que Ton brusloit.' — Ibid. p. 404.
3 ' Un bourgeois estant inter-
rouge par ledict evesque de Londres
se souftriroit bien le feug, respondist
qu'il en fist 1' experience : et aiant
fait apporter une chandelle allumee,
1555-1
RE CONCILIA TION WITH ROME.
499
it seemed to Renard that the Lords had only to give the
signal and the Queen and the bishops would be over-
whelmed.
He expected the movement in the spring. It is
singular that, precisely as in the preceding winter, the
deliberate intentions of moderate and competent persons
were anticipated and defeated by a partial and prema-
ture conspiracy. At the end of February a confederate
revealed a project for an insurrection, partly religious
and partly agrarian. Placards were to be issued simul-
taneously in all parts of the country, declaring that the
Queen's pregnancy was a delusion, and that she in-
tended to pass upon the nation a supposititious child ;
the people were, therefore, invited to rise in arms, drive
out the Spaniards, revolutionize religion, tear down the
enclosures of the commons, and proclaim Courtenay
King under the title of Edward VII.1 In such a scheme
the lords and country gentlemen could bear no part.
They could not risk a repetition of the popular re-
bellions of the late reign, and they resolved to wait the
issue of the Queen's pregnancy, while they watched
over the safety of Elizabeth. The project of the Court
was now to send her to Flanders, where she was to re-
main under charge of the Emperor ; if possible, she was
to be persuaded to go thither of her own accord ; if she
il meit la main dessus sans la retirer
ny se mouvoir.' — Renard to Charles
V. : Granvelle Papers, vol. vi. p.
404. The man's name was Tom-
kir.s. Foxe, who tells the story as
an illustration of Bonner's brutality,
says that the Bishop himself held
the hand. But Renard's is probably
the truer version.
1 Renard to Charles V.: Gran-
velle Papers, vol. iv. p. 403.
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 32.
could not be persuaded, she would be otherwise removed
Lord William Howard, her constant guardian, requested
permission to see and speak with her, and learn her own
feelings. He was refused ; but he went to her notwith-
standing, and had a long private interview with her ;
and the Court could only talk bitterly of his treason
among themselves, make propositions to send him to the
Tower which they durst not execute, and devise some
other method of dealing with their difficulty.1
Meantime, Philip, who had pined for freedom after
six weeks' experience of his bride, was becoming un-
manageably impatient. A paper of advice and exhort-
ation survives, which was addressed on this occasion by
the ambassador to his master, with reflections on the
condition of England, and on the conduct which the
King should pursue.
1 Your Majesty must remember/ said Renard, ' the
purpose for which you came to England. The French
had secured the Queen of Scotland for the Dauphin.
They had afterwards made an alliance with the late
King, and spared no pains to secure the support of
England. To counteract their schemes, and to obtain
a counter-advantage in the war, the Emperor, on the
accession of the Queen, resolved that your Highness
should marry her. Your Highness, it is true, might
wish that she was more agreeable;2 but, on the other
hand, she is infinitely virtuous, and, things being as
1 Renard to Charles V. : Gran-
velle Papers, vol. iv. pp. 404, 405.
2 ' Et corabien Ton pouvoit re-
querir plus tie civilite en la Reyne.
—Renard to Philip : Ibid. p. 394.
I555-]
RECONCILIA 77ON WITH ROME.
they are, your Highness, like a magnanimous prince,
must remember her condition, and exert yourself, so far
as you conveniently may, to assist her in the manage-
ment of the kingdom.
' Your Highness must consider that your departure
will be misrepresented, your enemies will speak of it as
a flight rather than as a necessary absence. The French
will be busy with their intrigues, and the Queen will
not be pleased to lose you. The administration is in
confusion, the divisions in the council are more violent
than ever. Religion is unsettled ; the heretics take
advantage of these late barbarous punishments to say,
that they are to be converted by fire, because their
enemies are unable to convince them by reason or ex-
ample. The orthodox clergy are still unreformed, and
their scandalous conduct accords ill with the offices to
which they are called.1
1 Further, your Highness will do well to weigh the
uncertainty of the succession. Should the Queen's
pregnancy prove a mistake, the heretics will place their
hopes in Elizabeth : and here you. are in a difficulty
whatever be done ; for if Elizabeth be set aside, the
crown will go to the Queen of Scots ; if she succeed,
she wi)l restore heresy, and naturally attach herself to
France. Some step must be taken about this before
you leave the country ; and you must satisfy the Queen
1 ' Les gens d'eglise ne sont re-
forniecs, il y a plusieurs abuz qui
donnent scandale et maulvaise im-
pression, et ilz ne respondent aux
offices auxquelz ilz sont appellez.' —
Renard to Philip ; Granvdlc Papers,
vol. iv. p. 395.
$01
OP QUEEN" MARY.
[crt.
tliat you will assist her in her general difficulties, as a
good lord and husband ought to do.1
' The council must be reformed, if possible, and the
number diminished ; those who remain must be invited
to renew their oaths to your Majesty. Regard must be
had to the navy, and especially to the admiral Lord
William Howard ; and above all there must be no more
of this barbarous precipitancy in putting heretics to
death. The people must be won from their errors by
gentleness and by better instruction. Except in cases
of especial scandal, the bishops must not be permitted
to irritate them by cruelty, and the legate must see that
a better example is set by the clergy themselves.2 The
debts of the Crown must be attended to ; and your Ma-
jesty should endeavour to do something which will give
you popularity with the masses. Before all things, at-
tend to the succession.
1 You cannot set aside the dispositions of King Henry
in favour of Elizabeth without danger of rebellion. To
recognize her as heir-presumptive without providing
her with a husband, who can control her, will be peril-
ous to the Queen. The mean course between the ex-
1 ' Dormer ce contenternent a la
royne d' avoir intention de asseurer
et establir ses affaires et la secourir
comme bon Seigneur et raari.'
- ' Que es choses de la religion
Ton ne use de precipitation par pu-
nition cruelle, ains avec la modera-
tion, et mansuetude requise, et dont
Peglise a tousjours use ; retirant le
peuple de 1'erreur par doctrine et
predication, et que si ce n'est un
acte scandaleux 1'on ne passe oultre
en chastoy que puisse alterer le peu-
ple et le desgouter, que la reforma-
tion requise pour le bon example,
soit introduicte sur lea gens de
1'eglise comme le legat advisera pour
le mieulx.' — Renard to Philip :
Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. p. 395.
RECOtiClLIA TION WITH ROME.
5*3
tremes will be, therefore, for your Highness to bring
about her marriage with the Prince of Savoy. It will
please the English, provided that her rights of inherit-
ance are not interfered with ; and although they will
not go to war for our quarrel, they will not in that case
be unwilling to assist in expelling the French from
Piedmont.
'If your Majesty approve, the thing can be done
without delay. At all events, before you leave the
country, you should see the Princess yourself ; give her
your advice to be faithful to her sister, and, on your
part, promise that you will be her friend, and assist her
where you can find opportunity/
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE MARTYRS.
THE protests of Renard against the persecution re-
ceived no attention.
The inquisition established by the legate was not to
commence till Easter ; but the prisons were already
abundantly supplied with persons who had been arrested
on various pretexts, and the material was ready in hand
to occupy the interval. The four persons who had first
suffered had been conspicuous among the leaders of the
Reformation ; but the bishops were for the most part
prudent in their selection of victims, and chose them
principally from among the poor and unfriended.
On the 9th of February, a weaver named Tomkins
(the man who had held his hand in the candle), Pigot,
a butcher, Knight, a barber, Hunter, an apprentice boy
of 19, Lawrence, a priest, and Hawkes, a gentleman,
were brought before Bonner in the Consistory at St
Paul's, where they were charged with denying transub-
stantiation, and were condemned to die. The indigna-
tion which had been excited by the first executions
caused a delay in carrying the sentence into effect ;
I555-J
THE MARTYRS.
505
March.
but as the menace of insurrection died away the wolves
came back to their prey. On the 9th of March,
two more were condemned also, Thomas Caus-
ton and Thomas Higbed, men of some small property in
Essex. To disperse the effect, these eight were scatter-
ed about the diocese. Tomkins died at Smithfield on
the 1 6th of March ; Causton and Higbed, Pigot and
Knight, in different parts of Essex ; Hawkes suffered
later ; Lawrence was burnt at Colchester. The legs of
the latter had been crushed by irons in one of Bonner's
prisons ; he was unable to stand, and was placed at the
stake in a chair. ' At his burning, he sitting in the fire,
the young children came about and cried, as well as
young children could speak, Lord, strengthen thy serv-
ant, and keep thy promise — Lord, strengthen thy serv-
ant, and keep thy promise.' l
Hunter's case deserves more particular mention.
The London apprentices had been affected deeply by the
Reforming preachers. It was to them that the servant
of Anne Askew ' made her moan/ and gathered sub-
scriptions for her mistress. William Hunter, who was
one of them, had been ordered to attend mass by a
priest when it was re-established ; he had refused, and
his master, fearing that he might be brought into
trouble, had sent him home to his famity at Brentwood,
in Essex.2 Another priest, going one day into Brent-
1 FOXE, vol. vi.
2 The story of Hunter was left
in writing by his brother, and was
printed by Foxe. I have already
said that whene ;er Foxe prints docu-
ments instead of relating hearsays, I
have found him uniformly trust-
worthy ; so far, that is to say, as
there are means of testing him.
$06 REIGN OF QUEEtf MARtf. [OH. 33.
wood Church, found Hunter reading the Bible there.
Could he expound Scripture, that he read it thus to
himself? the priest asked. He was reading for his
comfort, Plunter replied ; he did not take on himself to
expound. The Bible taught him how to live, and how
to distinguish between right and wrong.
It was never merry world, the priest said, since the
Bible came forth in English. He saw what Hunter
was— he was one of those who disliked the Queen's laws,
iind he and other heretics would broil for it before all
was over.
The boy's friends thought it prudent that he should
fly to some place where he was not known ; but, as soon
as he was gone, a Catholic magistrate in the neighbour-
hood required his father to produce him, on peril of
being arrested in his place ; and, after a struggle of
affection, in which the father offered to shield his son
at his own hazard, young Hunter returned and surren-
dered.
The magistrate sent him to the Bishop of London,
who kept him in prison three quarters of a year. When
the persecution commenced, he was called up for ex-
amination.
Bonner, though a bigot and a ruffian, had, at times, a
coarse good-nature in him, and often, in moments of
pity, thrust an easy recantation upon a hesitating
prisoner. He tried with emphatic anxiety to save this
young apprentice. 'If thou wilt recant/ he said to
him, ' I will make thee a freeman in the city, and give
thee forty pounds in money to set up thy occupation
'555-:
THE MARTYRS.
withal ; or I will make thee steward of mine house, and
set thee in office, for I like thee well/
Hunter thanked him for his kindness ; but it could
not be, he said : he must stand to the truth : he could
not lie, or pretend to believe what he did not believe.
Bonner said, and probably with sincere conviction, that
if he persisted he would be damned for ever. Hunter
said, that God judged more righteously, and justified
those whom man unjustly condemned.
He was therefore to die with the rest ; and on
Saturday, the 23rd of March, he was sent to suffer at
his native village. Monday being the feast of the An-
nunciation, the execution was postponed till Tuesday.
The intervening time he was allowed to spend with his
friends ' in the parlour of the Swan Inn/ His father
prayed that he might continue to the end in the way that
he had begun. His mother said, she was happy to bear
a child who could find in his heart to lose his life for
Christ's sake. ' Mother/ he answered, * for my little
pain which I shall suffer, which is but a short braid,
Christ hath promised me a crown of joy. May you not
be glad of that, mother ? '
Amidst such words the days passed. Tuesday morn-
ing the sheriff's son came and embraced him, ' bade him
not be afraid/ and ' could speak no more for weeping/
When the sheriff came himself for him, he took his
brother's arm and walked calmly to the place of exe-
cution, ' at the town's end, where the butts stood.'
His father was at the roadside as he passed. ' God
be with thee, son William f ' the old man said. ' God
508 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
be with thee, good father,' the son answered, 'and be of
good comfort ! '
When he was come to the stake, he took one of the
faggots, knelt upon it, and prayed for a few moments.
The sheriff read the pardon with the conditions. ' I
shall not recant,' he said, and walked to the post, to
which he was chained.
' Pray for me, good people, while you see me alive/
he said to the crowd.
' Pray for thee ! ' said the magistrate who had com-
mitted him, ' I will no more pray for thee than I will
pray for a dog/
' Son of God,' Hunter exclaimed, ' shine on me ! '
The sun broke out from behind a cloud and blazed in
glory on his face.
The faggots were set on fire.
' Look,' shrieked a priest, ' how thou burnest here,
so shalt thou burn in hell ! '
The martyr had a Prayer-book in his hands, which
he cast through the flames to his brother.
' William,' said the brother, ' think on the holy
passion of Christ, and be not afraid of death.'
' I am not afraid/ were his last words. ' Lord, Lord,
Lord, receive my spirit ! '
Ten days later another victim was sacrificed at
Carmarthen, whose fate was peculiarly unprovoked
and cruel.
Robert Ferrars, who twenty-seven years before
carried a faggot with Anthony Dalaber in High-street
at Oxford, had been appointed by Somerset Bishop of
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
St David's. He was a man of large humanity, justice,
and uprightness — neither conspicuous as a theologian
nor prominent as a preacher, but remarkable chiefly for
good sense and a kindly imaginative tenderness. He
had found his diocese infected with the general dis-
orders of the times. The Chapter were indulging them-
selves to the utmost in questionable pleasures ; the
Church patronage was made the prey of a nest of
Cathedral lawyers ; and, in an evil hour for himself,
the Bishop endeavoured to make crooked things straight.
After three years of struggle, his unruly canons
were unable to endure him longer, and fonvarded to the
Duke of Northumberland an elaborate series of com-
plaints against him. He was charged with neglecting
his books and his preaching, and spending his time in
surveying the lands of the See, and opening mines. He
kept no manner of hospitality, it was said, but dined at
the same table with his servants ; and his talk was ' not
of godliness/ ' but of worldly matters, as baking, brew-
ing, enclosing, ploughing, mining, millstones, dis-
charging of tenants, and such like.'
' To declare his folly in riding (these are the literal
words of the accusation) , he useth a bridle with white
studs and snaffle, white Scottish stirrups, white spurs ;
a Scottish pad, with a little staff of three quarters [of a
yard] long.
' He said he would go to Parliament on foot ; and to
his friends that dissuaded him, alleging that it was not
meet for a man in his place, he answered, I care not
for that ; it is no sin.
5ro REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33-
1 Having a son, he went before the midwife to the
church, presenting the child to the priest ; and giving
the name Samuel with a solemn interpretation of the
name,1 appointed two godfathers and two godmothers
contrary to the ordinance, making his son a monster and
himself a laughing-stock.
' He daily useth whistling of his child, and saith
that he understood his whistle when he was but three
years old ; and being advertised of his friends that men
laughed at his folly, he answered, They whistle their
horses and dogs ; they might also be contented that I
whistle my child : and so whistleth him daily, friendly
admonition neglected.
1 In his visitation, among other his surveys, he sur-
veyed Milford Haven, where he espied a seal-fish tum-
bling, and he crept down to the rocks by the water- side,
and continued there whistling by the space of an hour,
persuading the company that laughed fast at him, he
made the fish to tarry there.
' Speaking of the scarcity of herrings, he laid the
fault to the covetousness of fishers, who in time of plenty
took so many that they destroyed the breeders.
' Speaking of the alteration of the coin, he wished
that what metal soever it was made of, the penny should
be in weight worth a penny of the same metal.'
Such were the charges against Ferrars, which, not-
withstanding, were considered serious enough to re-
1 Wherefore it came to pass that Hannah bare a son, and called his
name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord, i Samuel
i, 20.
1 555-1 THE MARTYRS. 511
quire an answer ; and the Bishop consented to reply.
He dined with his servants, he said, because the hall
of the palace was in ruins, and for their comfort he al-
lowed them to eat in his own room. For his hospitality,
he appealed to his neighbours ; and for his conversation,
he said that he suited it to his hearers. He talked of
religion to religious men ; to men of the world he talked
' of honest worldly things with godly intent.' He saw
no folly in having his horse decently appointed ; and as
to walking to Parliament, it was indifferent to him
whether he walked or rode. God had given him a
child, after lawful prayer, begotten in honest marriage ,
he had therefore named him Samuel, and presented him
to the minister as a poor member of Christ's Church ; it
was done openly in the cathedral, without offending any
one. The crime of whistling he admitted, ' thinking it
better to bring up his son with loving entertainment/
to encourage him to receive afterwards more serious
lessons. He had whistled to the seal ; and ' such as
meant folly might turn it to their purpose.' He had
said that the destruction of the fry offish prevented fish
from multiplying, because he believed it to be true.
Answered or unanswered, it is scarcely credible that
such accusations should have received attention ; but
the real offence lay behind, and is indicated in a vague
statement that he had exposed himself to a premunire.
The exquisite iniquity of the Northumberland adminis-
tration could not endure a bishop who had opposed the
corrupt administration of patronage ; and the explan-
ation being held as insufficient, Ferrars was summoned
5i2 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
to London and thrown into prison, where Mary's acces-
sion found him.
Cut off in this way from the opportunities of escape
which were so long open to others, the Bishop remained
in confinement till the opening of the persecution. He
was deposed from his See by Gardiner's first commission,
as having been married; otherwise, however, Ferrars
was unobnoxious politically and personally. Being in
prison, he had been incapable of committing any fresh
offence against the Queen, and might reasonably have
been forgotten or passed over. But he had been a
bishop, and he was ready caught to the hands of the
authorities ; and Mary had been compelled unwillingly
to release a more conspicuous offender, Miles Coverdale,
at the intercession of the King of Denmark. Ferrars
was therefore brought before Gardiner on the 4th of
February. On the I4th he was sent into V/ales to be
tried by Morgan, his successor at St David's and Con-
stantine, the notary of the diocese, who had been one of
his accusers. By these judges, 011 the uth of March,
he was condemned and degraded ; he appealed to the
legate, but the legate never listened to the prayer of
heretics ; the legate's mission was to extirpate them.
On Saturday the 3Oth of March, Ferrars was brought
to the stake in the market-place in Carmarthen.1
Rawlins White, an aged Cardiff fisherman, followed
^ Ferrars. In the course of April, George
Marsh, a curate, was burnt at Chester ; and on
1 FOXE, vol. vii.
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
513
the 20th of April, a man named William Flower, who
had been once a monk of Ely, was burnt in Palace- yard,
at Westminster. Flower had provoked his own fate.
He appeared on Easter day in St Margaret's Church,
while mass was being said ; and instigated, as he per-
suaded himself, by the Holy Spirit, he flew upon the
officiating priest, and stabbed him with a dagger in the
hand ; when to the horror of pious Catholics, the blood
spurted into the chalice, and was mixed with the con-
secrated elements.1
Sixteen persons had now been put to death, and
there was again a pause for the sharp surgery to produce
its effects.
While Mary was destroying the enemies of the
Church, Julius the Third had died at the end of March,
and Reginald Pole was again a candidate for the vacant
Chair. The Courts of Paris and Brussels alike promised
him their support, but alike gave their support to an-
other. They flattered his virtues, but they permitted
Marcellus Cervino, the Cardinal of St Cross, to be elected
unanimously ; and the English legate was told that he
must be contented with the event which God had been
pleased to send.2 An opportunity, however, seemed to
offer itself to him of accomplishing a service to Europe.
For thirty-five years the two great Catholic powers
had been wrestling with but brief interruption. The
advantage to either had been as trifling as the causes
1 FOXE.
2 Noailles to the King of France,
April 5 and April 1 7. Montmorency
VOL. V
to Noailles, April 21. Noailles to
Montmorency, April 30 : Ambas-
sades, vol. iv.
33
514 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33-
of their quarrel were insignificant. Their revenues
were anticipated, their credit was exhausted, yet year
after year languid armies struggled into collision.
Across the Alps in Italy, and along the frontiers of
Burgundy and the Low Countries, towns and villages
and homesteads were annually sacked, and peasants and
their families destroyed — for what it were vain to ask,
except it was for some poor shadow of imagined honour.
Two mighty princes believed themselves justified in the
sight of Heaven in squandering their subjects' treasure
and their subjects' blood, because the pride of each for-
bade him to be the first in volunteering insignificant
concessions. France had conquered Savoy and part of
Piedmont, and had pushed forward its northern frontier
to Marienbourg and Metz : the Emperor held Lombardy,
Parma, and Naples, and Navarre was annexed to Spain.
The quarrel might have easily been ended by mutual
restitution ; yet the Peace of Cambray, the Treaty of
Nice, and the Peace of Crepy, lasted only while the
combatants were taking breath ; and those who would
attribute the extravagances of human folly to super-
natural influence might imagine that the great discord
between the orthodox powers had been permitted to
give time for the Reformation to strike its roots into
the soil of Europe But a war which could be carried
on only by loans at sixteen per cent, was necessarily
near its conclusion. The apparent recovery of England
to the Church revived hopes which the Peace of Passau
and the dissolution of the Council of Trent had almost
1 55 5-1 THE MARTYRS. 515
extinguished ; and, could a reconciliation be effected at
last, and could Philip obtain the disposal of the military
strength of England in the interests of the Papacy, it
might not even yet be too late to lay the yoke of or-
thodoxy on the Germans, and, in a Catholic inter-
pretation of the Parable of the Supper, 'compel them
to come in.'
Mary, who had heard herself compared to the Virgin,
and Pole, who imagined the Prince of Spain to be the
counterpart of the Redeemer of mankind, indulged their
fancy in large expectations. Philip was the Solomon
who was to raise up the temple of the Lord, which the
Emperor, who was a man of war, had not been allowed
to build : and France, at the same time, was not unwill-
ing to listen to proposals. The birth of Mary's child
was expected in a few weeks, when England would, as
a matter of course, become more decisively Imperialist :
and Henry, whose invasion of the Netherlands had
failed in the previous summer, was ready now to close
the struggle while it could be ended on equal and hon-
ourable terms.
A conference was, therefore, agreed upon, in which
England was to mediate. A village in the Calais Pale
was selected as the place of assembly, and Pole, Gardiner,
Paget, and Pembroke were chosen to arrange the terms
of a general peace, with the Bishop of Arras, the Car-
dinal of Lorraine, and Montmorency. The time pitched
upon was that at which, so near as the Queen could
judge, she would herself bring into the world the off-
516 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
spring which was to be the hope of England and man-
kind ; and the great event should, if possible, precede
the first meeting of the plenipotentiaries.
The Queen herself commenced her preparations with
infinite earnestness, and, as a preliminary votive offer-
ing, she resolved to give back to the Church such of the
abbey property as remained in the hands of the Crown.
Her debts were now as high as ever. The Flanders
correspondence was repeating the heavy story of loans
and bills. Promises to pay were falling due, arid there
were no resources to meet them, and the Israelite leeches
were again fastened on the commonwealth.1 Neverthe-
less, the sacrifice should be made ; the more difficult it
was, the more favourably it would be received ; and, on
the 28th of March, she sent for the Lord Treasurer, and
announced her intention. 'If he told her that her
estate would not bear it, she must reply/ she said, ' that
she valued the salvation of her soul beyond all earthly
things/ 2 As soon as Parliament could meet and give
its sanction, she would restore the first-fruits also to the
Holy See. She must work for God as God had worked
for her.
About the 2oth of April she withdrew to Hampton
Court for entire quiet. The rockers and the nurses
were in readiness, and a cradle stood open to receive the
royal infant. Priests and bishops sang Litanies through
the London streets ; a procession of ecclesiastics in cloth
1 Letters to and from Sir Thomas Gresham : MS. Flanders, Mary,
State Taper Office.
- STBYPE'S Memorials.
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
of gold and tissue, marched round Hampton Court
Palace, headed by Philip in person ; Gardiner walked
at his side, while Mary gazed from a window.1 Not
only was the child assuredly coming, but its sex was
decided on, and circulars were drawn and signed both
by the King and Queen, with blanks only for the month
and day, announcing to ministers of State, to ambas-
sadors, and to foreign sovereigns, the birth of a prince.2
On the 3oth, the happy moment was supposed to
have arrived; a message was sent off to London, an-
nouncing the commencement of the pains. The bells
were set ringing in all the churches ; Te Deum was sung
in St Paul's ; priests wrote sermons ; bonfires were
piled ready for lighting, and tables were laid out in the
streets.3. The news crossed the Channel to Antwerp,
and had grown in the transit. The great bell of the
1 MACHYN'S Diary.
2 These curious records of dis-
appointed expectations remain in
large numbers in the State Paper
Office. The following is the letter
addressed to Pole : —
Philip. — Mary the Queen.
Most Reverend Father in
God, our right trusty and right
entirely beloved cousin, We
greet you -well: And whereas
it hath pleased Almighty God,
of His infinite goodness, to add
unto the great number of other
His benefits bestowed upon us,
the gladding of us with the
happy deliverance of a prince,
for the which \ve do most hum-
bly thank Him ; knowing your
affections to be such towards us
as whatsoever shall fortunately
succeed unto us, the same can-
not be but acceptable unto you
also ; We have thought good
to communicate unto you these
happy news of ours, to the in-
tent you may rejoice with us ;
and praying for us, give God
thanks for this his work ac-
cordingly. Given under our
signet, at our house of Hamp-
ton Court, the — of — , the ist
and 2nd year of our and my
Lord the King's reign. — MS.
Mary, Domestic, vol. v. State
Paper Office.
3 Noailles to Montmorency, April
30 : Ambassades, vol. iv.
5i£ REIGtf Of QUEEN MARY. |cH. 33.
cathedral was rung for the actual birth. The vessels in
the river fired salutes. ' The Regent sent the English
mariners a hundred crowns to drink,' and, ' they made
themselves in readiness to show some worthy triumph
upon the waters.' l
But the pains passed off without result ; and
whispers began to be heard that there was, perhaps, a
mistake of a more considerable kind. Mary, however,
had herself no sort of misgiving. She assured her
attendants that all was well, and that she felt the
motion of her child. The physicians professed to be
satisfied, and the priests were kept at work at the
Litanies. Up and down the streets they marched,
through City and suburb, park and square ; torches
flared along Cheapside at midnight behind the Holy
Sacrament, and five hundred poor men and women
from the almshouses walked two and two, telling their
beads in their withered fingers : then all the boys of all
the schools were set in motion, and the ushers and the
masters came after them.; clerks, canons, bishops,
mayor, aldermen, officers of guilds.2 Such marching,
such chanting, such praying was never seen or heard
before or since in London streets. A profane person
ran one day out of the crowd, and hung about a priest's
neck, where the beads should be, a string of puddings ;
but they whipped him and prayed on. Surely, God
would hear the cry of his people.
1 Sir Thomas Gresham to the I Paper Office.
Council : MS. Flanders, Mary, State I 2 MACHYN'S Diary.
1555-1 ?ftE MARTYRS. $1$
111 the midst of the suspense the Papal
chair fell vacant again. The Pontificate of
Marcellus lasted three weeks, and Pole a third time
offered himself to the suffrages of the cardinals. The
Courts were profuse of compliments as before. Noailles
presented him with a note from Montmorency, con-
taining assurances of the infinite desire of the King of
France for the success of so holy a person.1 Philip
wrote to Rome in his behalf, and Mary condescended
to ask for the support of the French cardinals.2 But
the fair speeches, as before, were but trifling. The
choice fell on Pole's personal enemy, Cardinal Caraffa,
who was French alike in heart and brain.
The choice of a Pope, however, would signify little,
if only the child could be born ; but where was the
child ? The Queen put it off strangely. The Confer-
ence could be delayed no longer. It opened without
the intended makeweight, and the Court of France was
less inclined to make concessions for a peace. The
delay began to tell on the Bourse at Antwerp. The
Fuggers and the Schertzes drew their purse-
strings, and made difficulties in lending more money to
the Emperor.3 The Plenipotentiaries had to separate
after a few meetings, having effected nothing, to the
especial mortification of Philip and Mary, who looked to
the pacification to enable them to cure England of its
unruly humours. The Duke of Alva f so rumour insisted)
1 Noailles to Montmorency, May 15 : Ambassades, vol. iv.
2 Philip and Mary to Gardiner, Arundel, and Paget : BUKNET'S Col-
lectanea. 3 NOAILLES : Ambassades, vol. iv. p. 313.
520
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
33
was to bring across the Spanish troops which were in
the Low Countries, take possession of London, and
force the Parliament into submission.1 The English
were to be punished, for the infinite insolences in which
they had indulged towards Philip's retinue, by being
compelled, whether they liked it or not, to bestow upon
him the crown.2
But the peace could not be, nor could the child
be born ; and the impression grew daily that the Queen
had not been pregnant at all. Mary herself, who had
been borne forward to this, the crisis of her fortunes,
on a tide of success, now suddenly found her exulting
hopes closing over. From confidence she fell into
anxiety, from anxiety into fear, from fear into wildness
and despondency. She vowed that with the restoration
of the estates, she would rebuild the abbeys at her own
cost. In vain. Her women now understood her con-
dition ; she was sick of a mortal disease ; but they
durst not tell her; and she whose career had been
1 * Et la oti ladicte paix ou trefve
adviendront ledict seigneur (1'Em-
pereur) fera bientost apres repasser
en ce royaulme le due d' Alva avecque
la plus grande part de sesdictes forces
pour y fabvoriser les affaires de ce
roy.' — NOAILLES, vol. iv. p. 330.
2 'II n'est rien que 1'Empereur
ne fasse pour venir a la paix, tant il
desire avant de retourner en Es-
paigne de faire couronner son filz,
roy de ce pays. Et pensera par
meme moyen se saisir des places
fortes d'icelluy et cbastier des Ang-
loys d'infinies injures qu'ilz out faict
recepvoir aux Espagnols, mettant
grosses garnisons en ceste ville de
Londres, et aultres lieux, a quoy ces
roy et royne proposent . . . s'y
faire obeir absolument aux parle-
mens, suyvant ce qu'ilz n'ont pcu
faire par cydevant.' — Ibid. p. 332,
333-
In these reports tbe truth was
anticipated but not exceeded. It
will be seen that such projects were
really formed at a later period.
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
$21
painted out to her by the legate, as especial and super-
natural, looked only for supernatural causes of her
present state. Throughout May she remained in her
apartments waiting — waiting — in passionate restless-
ness. With stomach swollen, and features shrunk and
haggard, she would sit upon the floor, with her knees
drawn up to her face, in an agony of doubt ; and in
mockery of her wretchedness, letters were again
strewed about the place by an invisible agency, telling
her that she was loathed by her people. She imagined
they would rise again in her defence. But if they
rose again, it would be to drive her and her husband
from the country.1
After the mysterious quickening on the legate's
salutation, she could not doubt that her hopes had been
at one time well founded ; but for some fault, some
error in herself, God had delayed the fulfilment of his
promise. And what could that crime be ? The ac-
cursed thing was still in the realm. She had been
raised up, like the judges in Israel, for the extermina-
tion of God's enemies ; and she had smitten but a few
here and there, when, like the evil spirits, their name
was legion.2 She had before sent orders round among
1 ' Ladicte dame plusieurs fois
dc le jour demeure long-temps assise
a terre, Ics genoulx aussy haultz que
la teste.
'Se trouva hier fort malade et
plus que de coustume, et pour la
soulager, fust trouve a mesme heure
ensa court plusieurs lettres semees
contre son honneur,' &c. NOAILLES,
vol. iv. p. 342.
2 ' The Queen said she could not
be safely and happily delivered, nor
could anything succeed prosperously
with her, unless all the heretics in
prison were burnt ad unum! — BUR-
NET
522 REIGN OF QUEEAr MARY. [CH. 33.
the magistrates, to have their eyes upon them. On the
24th of May, when her distraction was at its height,
she wrote a circular to quicken the over-languid zeal of
the bishops.
* Right Reverend Father in God/ it ran, * We greet
you well ; and where of late we addressed our letters
unto the justices of the peace, within every of the coun-
ties within this our realm, whereby, amongst other good
instructions given therein for the good order of the
country about, they are willed to have special regard to
such disordered persons as, forgetting their duty to
Almighty God and us, do lean to any erroneous and
heretical opinions ; whom, if they cannot, by good ad-
monition and fair means, reform, they are willed to de-
liver unto the ordinary, to be by him charitably tra-
velled withal, and removed, if it may be, from their
naughty opinions ; or else, if they continue obstinate,
to be ordered according to the laws provided in that
behalf: understanding now, to our no little marvel,
that divers of the said misordered persons, being, by
the justices of the peace, for their contempt and ob-
stinacy, brought to the ordinary, to be used as is afore-
said, are either refused to be received at their hands, or,
if they be received, are neither so travelled with as
Christian charity requireth, nor yet proceeded withal
according to the order of justice, but are suffered to con-
tinue in their errors, to the dishonour of Almighty God,
and dangerous example of others ; like as we find this
matter very strange, so have we thought convenient
both to signify this our knowledge, and therewithal also
THE MARTYRS.
523
to admonish you to have in this behalf such regard
henceforth unto the office of a good pastor and bishop,
as where any such offenders shall be, by the said just-
ices of the peace, brought unto you, ye do use your
good wisdom and discretion in procuring to remove
them from their errors if it may be, or else in proceed-
ing against them, if they continue obstinate, according
to the order of the laws, so as, through your good
furtherance, both God's glory may be the better ad-
vanced, and the commonwealth more quietly governed.' l
Under the fresh impulse of this letter, fifty persons
were put to death at the stake in the three ensuing
months, — in the diocese of London, under Boiiner ; in
the diocese of Rochester, under Maurice Griffin ; in the
diocese of Canterbury, where Pole, the Archbishop
designate, so soon as Cranmer should be despatched,
governed through Harpsfeld, the Archdeacon, and
Thornton, the suffragan Bishop of Dover. Of these
sacrifices, which were distinguished all of them by a
uniformity of quiet heroism in the sufferers, that of
Cardmaker, prebendary of Wells, calls most for notice.
The people, whom the cruelty of the Catholic party
was re- converting to the Reformation with a rapidity
like that produced by the gift of tongues on the day of
Pentecost, looked on the martyrs as soldiers are looked
at who are called to accomplish, with the sacrifice of
1 BURNET'S Collectanea. This | a circular. The Bishop of London
letter is addressed to Bonner, and had not deserved to be singled out
was taken from Bonner's Register ; j to'be especially admonished for want
bu-t, from the form, it was evidently I of energy.
524 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
their lives, some great service for their country. Card-
maker, on his first examination, had turned his back
and flinched. But the consciousness of shame, and
the example of others, gave him back his courage ; he
was called up again under the Queen's mandate, con-
demned, and brought out on the 3Oth of May, to suffer
at Smithfield, with an upholsterer named Warne. The
sheriffs produced the pardons. "Warne, without looking
at them, undressed at once, and went to the stake;
Cardmaker ' remained long talking ; ' ' the people in a
marvellous dump of sadness, thinking he would recant/
He turned away at last, and knelt, and prayed ; but he
had still his clothes on ; ' there was no semblance of
burning ; ' and the crowd continued nervously agitated,
till he rose and threw off his cloak. 'Then, seeing
this, contrary to their fearful expectations, as men de-
livered out of great doubt, they cried out for joy, with
so great a shout as hath not been lightly heard a greater,
'God be praised; the Lord strengthen thee, Card-
maker; the Lord Jesus receive thy spirit.' n Every
martyr's trial was a battle ; every constant death was a
defeat of the common enemy ; and the instinctive con-
sciousness that truth was asserting itself in suffering,
converted the natural emotion of horror into admiring
pride.
Yet, for the great purpose of the Court, the burnt-
offerings were ineffectual as the prayers of the priests.
The Queen was allowed to persuade herself that she had
1 FOXE, vol. vii.
'555-]
THE MARTYRS.
525
mistaken her time by two months ; and to this hope
she clung herself, so long as the hope could last : but
among all other persons concerned, scarcely one was
any longer under a delusion ; and the clear-eyed Renard
lost no time in laying the position of affairs before his
master.
The marriage of Elizabeth and Philibert had hung
fire, from the invincible unwillingness on the part of
Mary to pardon or in any way recognize her sister ; l
and as long as there was a hope of a child, she had not
perhaps been pressed about it : but it was now abso-
lutely necessary to do something, and violent measures
towards the Princess were more impossible than ever.
"The entire future/ wrote Renard to the
Emperor, on the 27th of June, ' turns on the
accouchement of the Queen ; of which, however, there
are no signs. If all goes well, the state of feeling in
the country will improve. If she is in error, I foresee
convulsions and disturbances such as no pen can de-
scribe. The succession to the crown is so unfortun-
ately hampered, that it must fall to Elizabeth, and with
Elizabeth there will be a religious revolution. The
clergy will be put down, the Catholics persecuted, and
there will be such revenge for the present proceedings
as the world has never seen. I know not whether the
King's person is safe ; and the scandals and calumnies
which the heretics are spreading about the Queen are
June.
1 A letter of Mary's to Philip on
the subject will be given in the fol-
lowing chapter, which reveals the
disagreement which had arisen be-
tween them about this marriage.
526
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
33.
beyond conception. Some say that she has never been
enceinte; some repeat that there will be a supposititious
child, and that there would have been less delay could
a child have been found that would answer the purpose.1
The looks of men are grown strange and impenetrable ;
those in whose loyalty I had most dependence I have
now most reason to doubt. Nothing is certain, and I
am more bewildered than ever at the things which I
see going on around me. There is neither government,
nor justice, nor order; nothing but audacity and
malice.' 2
The faint hopes which Renard expressed speedily
vanished, and every one but the Queen herself not only
knew that she had no child at present, but that she
never could have a child — that her days were numbered,
arid that if the Spaniards intended to secure the throne
they must obtain it by other means than the order of in-
heritance. Could the war be brought to an end, Mary
might live long enough to give her husband an oppor-
tunity of attempting violence ; but of peace there was
no immediate prospect, and it remained for the present
1 The impression was very gen-
erally spread. Noailles mentions it,
writing on the 2oth of June to the
King of France ; and Foxe men-
tions a mysterious attempt of Lord
North to obtain a new-born child
from its mother, as having happened
within his own knowledge. The
existence of the belief, however,
proves nothing. At such a time it
was inevitable, nor was there any
good evidence to connect Lord
North, supposing Foxe's story true,
with the Court. The risk of dis-
covery would have been great, the
consequences terrible, and few peo-
ple have been more incapable than
Mary of knowingly doing a wrong
thing.
2 Renard to the Emperor, June
27 : Granvelle Papers, vol. vi.
1555 1 THE MARTYRS. 527
to make the most of Elizabeth. Setting her marriage
aside, it was doubtful whether the people would permit
her longer confinement after the Queen's disappoint-
ment ; and, willingly or unwillingly, Mary must be
forced to receive her at Court again.
The Princess was still at Woodstock, where she had
remained for a year, under the harsh surveillance of
Sir Henry Bedingfield. Lord William Howard's visit
may have consoled her with the knowledge that she
was not forgotten by the nobility ; but her health had
suffered from her long imprisonment, and the first
symptom of an approaching change in her position was
the appearance of the Queen's physician to take charge
of her.
A last effort was made to betray her into an acknow-
ledgment of guilt. ' A secret friend ' entreated her to
' submit herself to the Queen's mercy/ Elizabeth saw the
snare. She would not ask for mercy, she said, where she
had committed no offence ; if she was guilty, she desired
justice, not mercy ; and she knew well she would have
found none, could evidence have been produced against
her : but she thanked God she was in no danger of
being proved guilty ; she wished she was as safe from
secret enemies.
But the plots for despatching her, if they had ever
existed, were laid aside ; she was informed that her pre-
sence was required at Hampton Court. The rumour of
her intended release spread abroad, and sixty
gentlemen, who had once belonged to her suite,
met her on the way at Colebrook, in the hope that they
528
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
33.
might return to attendance upon her : but their coming
was premature ; she was still treated as a prisoner, and
they were ordered off in the Queen's name.
On her arrival at Hampton Court, however, the
Princess felt that she had recovered her freedom. She
was received by Lord William Howard. The courtiers
hurried to her with their congratulations, and Howard
dared and provoked the resentment of the King and
Queen by making them kneel and kiss her hand.1 Mary
could not bring herself at first to endure an interview.
The Bishop of Winchester came to her on the Queen's
behalf, to repeat the advice which had been given to
her at Woodstock, and to promise pardon if she would
ask for it.
Elizabeth had been resolute when she was alone and
friendless, she was not more yielding now. She re-
peated that she had committed no offence, and therefore
required no forgiveness ; she had rather lie in prison all
her life, than confess when there was nothing to be
confessed.
The answer was carried to Mary, and the day after
the Bishop came again. 'The Queen marvelled/ he
said, ' that she would so stoutly stand to her innocence ; '
if she called herself innocent, she implied that she had
1 Joanna of Castille, the Em-
peror's mad mother, dying soon
after, masses were said for her with
some solemnity at St Paul's. ' Aux
obs&ques que la royne commanda
estre faictes a Londres, 1' admiral
d'Angleterre demontra ouvertement
aroir quelque ressentment. do ce
qu'il disoit le roy ne luy faisoit si
bonne chiere et demonstration si
favorable qu'il avoit accoustume,
disant qu'il sc, avoit bien pourquoy
s'estoit, inferant que ce fust pour ce
qu'il avoit faict baiser les mains de
Elizabetz aux gentilhommes qui
1'avoient visitez.'
I555-J THE MARTYRS. 529
been ' unj ustly imprisoned ; ' if she expected her liberty
1 she must tell another tale/
But the causes which had compelled the Court to
send for her, forbade them equally to persist in an im-
potent persecution. They had desired only to tempt
her into admissions which they could plead in justifica-
tion for past or future severities. They had failed, and
they gave way.
A week later, on an evening in the beginning
of July, Lady Clarence, Mary's favourite attendant,
brought a message, that the Queen was expecting her
sister in her room. The Princess was led across the
garden in the dusk, and introduced by a back staircase
into the royal apartments. Almost two years had
elapsed since the sisters had last met, when Mary hid
the hatred which was in her heart behind a veil of kind-
ness. There was no improvement of feeling, but the
necessity of circumstances compelled the form of recon-
ciliation.
Elizabeth dropped on her knees. ' God preserve
your Majesty/ she said ; ' you will find me as true a
subject to your Majesty as any ; whatever has been
reported of me, you shall not find it otherwise.'
' You will not confess/ the Queen said ; ' you stand
to your truth : I pray God it may so fall out/
* If it does not/ said Elizabeth, ' I desire neither
favour nor pardon at your hands.'
' Well/ Mary bitterly answered, ' you persevere in
your truth stiffly ; belike you will not confess that you
have been wrongly punished ? '
VOL. V. 34
J30 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
* I must not say so, your Majesty/ Elizabeth replied.
' Belike you will to others ? ' said the Queen.
1 No, please your Majesty/ answered the Princess.
' I have borne the burden, and I must bear it. I pray
your Majesty to have a good opinion of me, and to think
me your true subject, not only from the beginning but
while life lasteth/
The Queen did not answer, she muttered only in
Spanish, ' Sabe Dios/ ' God knows/ and Elizabeth
withdrew.1
It was said that, during the interview, Philip was
concealed behind a curtain, anxious for a sight of the
captive damsel whose favour with the people was such
a perplexity to him.
At this time Elizabeth was beautiful ; her haughty
features were softened by misfortune ; and as it is cer-
tain that Philip, when he left England, gave special
directions for her good treatment, so it is possible that
he may have envied the fortune which he intended for
the Prince of Savoy ; and the scheme which he after-
wards attempted to execute, of making her his own
wife on the Queen's death, may have then suggested
itself to him as a solution of the English difficulty.
The magnificent girl, who was already the idol of the
country, must have presented an emphatic contrast with
the lean, childless, haggard, forlorn Mary ; and he may
easily have allowed his fancy to play with a pleasant
temptation. If it was so, Philip was far too careless of
FOXE; HOLINSHED.
'555'
THE MARTYRS.
53*
the Queen's feelings to conceal his own. If it was not
so, the Queen's haunting consciousness of her unattrac-
tiveness must have been aggravated by the disappoint-
ment of her hopes, and she may have tortured herself
with jealousy and suspicion.
At all events, Mary could not overcome her aversion.
Elizabeth was set at liberty, but she was not allowed to
remain at the Court. She returned to Ashridge, to be
pursued even there with petty annoyances.. Her first
step when she was again at home was to send for her
friend Mrs Ashley ; the Queen instantly committed
Mrs Ashley to the Fleet, and sent three other officers
of her sister's household to the Tower ; while a number
of gentlemen suspected of being her adherents, who
had remained in London beyond their usual time of
leaving for the country, were ordered imperiously to
their estates.1
But neither impatience nor violence could conceal
the fatal change which had passed over Mary's pro-
spects. Not till the end of July could she part finally
from her hopes. Then, at last, the glittering dream
1 Le diet conseil voyant que plu-
sieurs gentilhommes s'assembloient
a Londres, et commimicquoient par
ensemble, qu'ils se tenoient a Lon-
dres, centre ce qu'est accoustume en
Angleterre, qu'est que ceulx qu'ilz
eu moien ne demeurent a Londres en
1'este, ains au pays, pour la chaleur
et maladies ordinaires qu'ilz y reig-
nent, et que toutes les diets gentil-
hommes sont heretiqties, ains este
pour le plus part rebelles, les autres
parens et adherens de Elizabeth, leur
a faict faire commandement de se
retirer chascun en sa maison et se
separer ; qu'ilz ont prins mal et en
ont fait grandes doleances, en pre-
tendant qu'ilz estoient gens de bien,
qu'ilz n' estoient traistres. — Renavd
to the Emperor : Granvelle Papers,
vol. iv.
532 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
was lost for the waking truth ; then at once from the
imagination of herself as the virgin bride who was to
bear a child for the recovery of a lost world, she was
precipitated into the poor certainty that she was a
blighted and a dying woman. Sorrow was heaped on
sorrow ; Philip would stay with her no longer. His
presence was required on the Continent, where his
father was about to anticipate the death which he knew
to be near; and, after forty years of battling with the
stormy waters, to collect himself for the last great
change in the calm of a monastery in Spain.
It was no new intention. For years the Emperor
had been in the habit of snatching intervals of retreat ;
for years he had made up his mind to relinquish at some
time the labours of life before relinquishing life itself.
The vanities of sovereignty had never any particular
charm for Charles V. ; he was not a man who cared
1 to monarchize and kill with looks/ or who could feel a
pang at parting with the bauble of a crown ; and when
the wise world cried out in their surprise, and strained
their fancies for the cause of conduct which seemed so
strange to them, they forgot that princes who reign to
labour, grow weary like the peasant of the burden of
daily toil.
Many influences combined to induce Charles to delay
no longer in putting his resolution in effect.
The Cortes were growing impatient at the prolonged
absence both of himself and Philip, and the presence
of the Emperor, although in' retirement, would give
pleasure to the Spanish people. His health was so
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
533
August.
shattered, that each winter had been long expected to
be his last ; and although he would not flinch from
work as long as he was required at his post, there was
nothing to detain Philip any more in England, unless,
or until, -the succession could be placed on another
footing. To continue there the husband of a childless
Queen, with authority limited to a form, and with no
recognized interest beyond the term of his wife's life,
was no becoming position for the heir of the throne of
Spain, of Naples, the Indies, and the Low Countries.
Philip was therefore now going. He con-
cealed his intention till it was betrayed by the
departure of one Spanish nobleman after another. The
Queen became nervous and agitated, and at last he was
forced to avow part of the truth. He told her that his
father wanted to see him, but that his absence would
not be extended beyond a fortnight or three weeks ; ahe
should go with him to Dover, and, if she desired, she
could wait there for his return.1 Her consent was ob-
tained by the mild deceit, and it was considered after-
wards that the journey to Dover might be too much
for her, and the parting might take place at Greenwich.
On the 3rd of August, the King and Queen removed
for a few days from Hampton Court to Oatlands ; on the
way Mary received consolation from a poor man who
met her on crutches, and was cured of his lameness by
looking on her.2
On the 26th, the royal party came down the river
1 NOAILl.KS, Vol. V. pp. 77 — 82.
MACHYN'S Diary
534
RETGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33
in their barge, attended by the legate ; they dined at
Westminster on their way to Greenwich, and as rumour
had said that Mary was dead, she was carried through
the city in an open litter, with the King and the Car-
dinal at her side. To please Philip, or to please the
people, Elizabeth was invited to the Court before the
King's departure ; but she was sent by water to prevent
a demonstration, while the archers of the guard who at-
tended on the Queen, were in corslet and morion.1
On the 28th, Philip went. Parliament was to sit
again in October. It would then be seen whether any-
thing more could be done about the succession. On
the consent or refusal of the legislature his future mea-
sures would depend. To the Queen he left particular
instructions, which he afterwards repeated in writing,
to show favour to Elizabeth ; and doubting how far he
could rely upon Mary, he gave a similar charge to such
of his own suite as he left behind him.2 Could he obtain
it, he would take the Princess's crown for himself;
should he fail, he might marry her ; or should this too
be impossible, he would win her gratitude, and support
her title against the dangerous competition of the Queen
of Scots and Dauphiness of France.
On these terms the pair who had been
brought together with so much difficulty se-
parated after a little more than a year. The Cardinal
September.
1 NOAILLES, vol. v. pp. 98, 99,
123.
2 Elle a bonne part en la grace
dudict Seigneur Roy, lequel par
plusieurs lettres qu'il escript a la
royne sa fern me la luy recommende,
comme aussy il a faict particuliere-
ment et par soubz main aux prinoi-
paux seigneurs Espaignolz qui sont
demourez en ce lieu. — Ibid. p. 127.
1555-
THE MARTYRS.
535
composed a passionate prayer for the Queen's use during
her husband's absence.1 It is to be hoped that she was
spared the sight of a packet of letters soon after inter-
cepted by the French, in which her "husband and her
husband's countrymen expressed their opinions of the
marriage and its consequences.2 The truth, however,
1 Domine Jesu Christe, qui es
verus sponsus animse meae, verus
Rex ac Dominus meus qui me ad
Regni hujus gubernacula singulari
tua providentia ac benignitate voca-
tam, cum antea essem derelicta et
tanquam mulier ab adolescentia ab-
jecta, cum virum in matrimonium et
regni societatem expetere voluisti,
qui plus cceteris imaginem tuam
quam in sanctitate et justitia mundo
ostendisti in suis meisque actionibus
dirigendis exprimeret, et expetitum
dedisti, cujus nunc discessum moerens
defleo— quseso per ilium pretiosissi-
mum sanguinem quern pro. me sponsa
tua proque illo et omnibus in ar&
crucis effudisti, ut hunc meum dolo-
rem ita lenias, ita purges, ita tem-
peres, ut quoties ille sanctis suis
consiliis mihi adest, quoties per lit-
ter-as quse ad salutem hujus populi
tui pertinent commendat, toties ilium
preesentem esse, teque unicum con-
solatorem in medio nostro adesse
sentiam, utque in illo te semper
amem atque glorificem. Obsecro,
Domine, ut in nobis tua imago sic
indies per tuam gratiam renovetur
in conspectu populi tui, quern nobis
gubernandum commisisti, ut cum is
justitiaj tua3 severitatem, in iis quse
amiserat dum hi regnarent qui a
recta fide declinantes sanctitatem et
justitiam expulerunt, jam pridem
senserit, qua) nunc per tuam miseri-
cordiam recuperaverit sub illorum
Regno quos nunquam a recta fide
declinare es passus, cum gratiarum
actione Ia3tus intelligat ut uno ore
tarn nos quam populus noster Deum
patrem per te ejus unicum filium in
unitate Spiritus glorificemus, ad
nostram ipsorum et piorum omnium
salutem et consolationem. Amen. —
Epist. REG. POL. vol. v.
2 11 me fauldroit faire ung mer-
veilleux discours pour vous rendre
compte de tous les propoz qui font
dans les dictes lettres. Je vous
diray seulment ce qui plus tousche
et regarde le lieu ou vous estes. Et
premierement la royne a tant en-
chante et ensorcele ce beau jeune
prince son mary que de luy avoir
faict croyre ung an entier qu'elle
estoit grosse pour le retenir pres
d'elle, dont il se trouve a present si
confus et fasche qu'il nja plus de-
libere de retourner habiter ceste
terre, promettant a tous ses servi-
teurs que s'il peult estre une fois en
Espaigne qu'il n'en sortira plus a si
maulvaise occasion, &c. . . . — Le
Protonotaire de Noailles a M. de
Noailles; Ambassades, vol. v. p. 136.
536
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33.
became known in England, although in a form under
which the Queen could turn from it as a calumny.
Before the meeting of Parliament, a letter was pub-
lished, addressed to the Lords of the Council, by a cer-
tain John Bradford.1 The writer accounted for his
knowledge of the secrets which he had to tell, by saying
that he had lived in the household of one of the Spanish
noblemen who were in attendance on Philip ; that he
had learnt the language unknown to his master, and had
thus overheard unguarded conversations. He had read
letters addressed to Philip, and letters written by him
and by his confidential friends ; and he was able to say,
as a thing heard with his own ears, and seen with his
own eyes, that the ' Spaniards minded nothing less than
the subversion of the English commonwealth.' In fact,
he repeated the rumours of the summer, only more cir-
cumstantially, and with fuller details. Under pretence
of improving the fortifications, Philip intended to ob-
tain command of the principal harbours and ports ; he
would lay cannon on the land side, and gradually
bring in Spanish troops, the Queen playing into his
hands ; and as soon as peace could be made with France,
he would have the command of the fleet and the sea,
and could do what he pleased.2
1 Not the martyr ; he had been
despatched by Bonncr among the
victims of the summer ; but a per-
son otherwise unknown.
2 ' Ye will say, How could this
fellow know their counsel ? — I was
chamberlain to one of the privy
council, and with all diligence gave
myself to write and read Spanish,
which thing once obtained I kept
secret from my master and my fel-
low-servants, because I might be
trusted in my master's closet or
study, where I might read such.
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
537
' I saw/ the writer continued, * letters sent from the
Emperor, wherein was contained these privities, — that
the King should make his excuse to the Queen that he
would go to see his father in Flanders, and that imme-
diately he would return — seeing the good simple Queen
is so jealous over my son. (I term it/ said Bradford,
' as the letter doth.) ( We/ said the Emperor, ' shall
make her agree unto all our requests before his return,
or else keep him exercised in our affairs till we may
prevail with the council, who, doubtless, will be won
with fair promises and great gifts, politicly placed in
time/ In other letters I have read the cause disputed,
that the Queen is bound by the laws of God to endue
her husband in all her goods and possessions, so far as
in her lieth ; and they think she will do it indeed to the
uttermost of her power. No man can think evil of the
Queen, though she be somewhat moved when such
things are beaten into her head with gentlemen ; but
whether the crown belongs to the Queen or the realm,
the Spaniards know not, nor care not, though the Queen,
to her damnation, disherit the right heir- apparent, or
break her father's entail, made by the whole consent of
the realm, which neither she nor the realm can justly
alter.' l
writing as I saw daily brought into
the council chamber.' — John Brad-
ford to the Lords of the Council :
STRYPE'S Memorials of the Reform-
ation.
1 Elizabeth, when she came to
the throne, refused to admit that
she was under any real obligation to
Philip. She was entirely right in
her refusal. The Spaniards had
sworn, if possible, to make away
' with all those which by any means
might lay claim to the crown.'
' I call God to record,' Bradford
538
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33.
Struggle as the Queen might against such a repre-
sentation of her husband's feelings towards her, it was
continues, 'I have heard it with j
mine ears, and seen the said persons
with mine eyes, that have said, if
ever the King obtain the crown, he
would make the Lady Elizabeth safe
from ever coming to the same, or
any of our cursed nation. For they
say, that if they can find the means
to keep England in subjection, they
would do more with the land than
with all the rest of his kingdoms. I
speak not of any fool's communica-
tion, ljut of the wisest, and that no
mean persons. Yea, and they trust
that there shall means be found be-
fore that time to despatch the Lady
Elizabeth well enough by the help
of assured traitors, as they have al-
ready in England plenty, and then
they may the more easier destroy the
others when she is rid out of the
way.
' I speak not this, as some men
would take it, to move dissension ;
for that were the best way for the
Spaniards to come to their prey.
Such a time they look for, and such
a time they say some nobleman hath
promised to provide for them.
' God is my witness that my heart
will not suffer me for very shame to»
declare such vile reports as I have
heard them speak against the Queen,
and yet her Grace taketh them for
her faithful friends. The Spaniards
say, that if they obtain not the
crown, they may curse the time that
ever the King was married to a wife
so unmeet for him by natural course
of years; but and if that may be
brought to pass that was meant in
marriage-making, they shall keep
old rich robes for high festival days.
'Alas, for pity! Ye be yet in
such good estate that ye may, with-
out loss of any man's life, keep the
crown and realm quietly. If ye
will hear a fool's counsel, keep still
the crown to the right succession in
your hands, and give it to no foreign
princes. Peradventure her Grace
thinketh the King will keep her the
more company and love her the bet-
ter, if she give him the crown. Ye
will crown him to make him chaste
contrary to his nature. They have
a saying — ' The baker's daughter is
better in her goAvn than Queen
Mary Avithout the crown.' They
say, ' Old wives must be cherished
for their young fair gifts.' 'Old
wives,' they say, ' for fair words will
give all that they have.' But how
be they used afterwards ? Doth the
Queen think the King will remain in
England with giving him the realm?
The council of Spain purposeth to
establish other matters ; to appoint
in England a viceroy with a great
army of Spanish soldiers, and let the
Queen live at her beads like a good
anticnt lady.' — John Bradford to the
Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, Derby,
and Pembroke : STRYPE'S Memo-
rials, vol. vi. p. 340, &c,
1555-1
THE MARTYRS.
539
true that he had left her with a promise to return ; and
the weeks went, and he did not come, and no longer
spoke of coming. The abdication of the Emperor
would keep him from her, at least, till the end of the
winter. And news came soon which was harder still to
Lear ; news, that he, whom she had been taught to re-
gard as made in the image of our Saviour,1 was unfaith-
ful to his marriage vows.2 Bradford had spoken gener-
ally of the King's vulgar amours;3 other accounts
convinced her too surely that he was consoling himself
for his long purgatory in England, by miscellaneous
licentiousness. Philip was gross alike in all his appe-
tites ; bacon fat was the favourite food with which he
gorged himself to illness ; 4 his intrigues were on the
same level of indelicacy, and his unhappy wife was
forced to know that he preferred the society of aban-
doned women of the lowest class to hers.
The French ambassador describes her as
distracted with wretchedness, speaking to no
one except the legate. The legate was her only com-
fort ; the legate and the thing which she called religion.
Deep in the hearts of both Queen and Cardinal lay
the conviction that if she would please God, she must
avoid the sin of Saul. Saul had spared the Amalekites,
and God had turned his face from him. God had
greater enemies in England than the Amalekites.
Historians have affected to exonerate Pole from the
October.
1 Prayer written by Cardinal
Pole for Queen Mary : supra.
2 Noailles to tbe King of France,
October 21 : Ambassades, vol. v.
3 Probably all malicious lies.
— J. A. F.
4 Noailles to Montmorency,
December 5 : Ibid.
540 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
crime of the Marian persecution ; although, without
the legate's sanction, not a bishop in England could
have raised a finger, not a bishop's court could have
been opened to try a single heretic. If not with Pole,
with whom did the guilt rest ? Gardiner was jointly
responsible for the commencement, but after the first
executions, Gardiner interfered no further ; he died, and
the bloody scenes continued. Philip's confessor pro-
tested ; Philip himself left the country ; Reriard and
Charles were never weary of advising moderation, ex-
cept towards those who were politically dangerous.
Bonner was an instrument whose zeal more than once
required the goad ; and Mary herself, when she came
to the throne, was so little cruel, that she would have
spared even Northumberland himself. When the per-
secution assumed its ferocious aspect, she was exclus-
ively under the direction of the dreamer who believed
that he was born for England's regeneration. All evi-
dence concurs to show that, after Philip's departure,
Cardinal Pole was the single adviser on whom Mary
relied. Is it to be supposed that, in the horrible cru-
sade which thenceforward was the business of her life,
the Papal legate, the sovereign director of the ecclesias-
tical administration of the realm, was not consulted, or,
if consulted, that he refused his sanction ? But it is
not a question of conjecture or probability. From the
legate came the first edict for the episcopal inquisition ;
under the legate every bishop held his judicial commis-
sion ; while, if Smithfield is excepted, the most frightful
scenes in the entire frightful period were witnessed
I555-] THE MARTYRS. 541
under the shadow of his own metropolitan cathedral.
His apologists have thrown the blame on his arch-
deacon and his suffragan : the guilt is not with the
instrument, but with the hand which holds it. An
admiring biographer1 has asserted that the cruelties at
Canterbury preceded the Cardinal's consecration as
archbishop, and the biographer has been copied by Dr
Lingard. The historian and his authority have ex-
ceeded the limits of permitted theological misrepresent-
ation. The administration of the See belonged to Pole
as much before his consecration as after it ; but it will
be seen that eighteen men and women perished at the
stake in the town of Canterbury alone, — besides those
who were put to death in other parts of the diocese —
and five were starved to death in the gaol there — after
the legate's installation. He was not cruel ; but he
believed that, in the catalogue of human iniquities,
there were none greater than the denial of the Roman
Catholic Faith, or the rejection of the Roman Bishop's
supremacy ; and that he himself was chosen by Provid-
ence for the re- establishment of both. Mary was driven
to madness by the disappointment of the grotesque
imaginations with which he had inflated her ; and
where two such persons were invested by the circum-
stances of the time with irresponsible power, there is no
occasion to look further for the explanation of the dread-
ful events of the three ensuing years.
The victims of the summer were chiefly undistin-
1 PHILLIPS.
542 REIGN OF QUEEN MAkY. [CH. 33-
guished persons : Cardmaker and Bradford alone were
in any way celebrated : and the greater prisoners, the
three bishops at Oxford, the Court had paused upon —
not from mercy — their deaths had been long determined
on ; but Philip, perhaps, was tender of his person ;
their execution might occasion disturbances ; and he
and his suite might be the first objects on which the
popular indignation might expend itself. Philip, how-
ever, had placed the sea between himself and danger,
and if this was the cause of the hesitation, the work
could now go forward.
A commission was appointed by Pole in September,
consisting of Brookes, Bishop of Gloucester ; Holyman,
Bishop of Bristol ; and White, Bishop of Lincoln ; to
try Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, for obstinate heresy.
The first trial had been irregular ; the country was then
unreconciled. The sentence which had been passed
therefore was treated as non-existent, and the tedious
forms of the Papacy continued still to throw a shield
round the Archbishop.
On Saturday, the yth September,1 the
commissioners took their places under the
altar of St Mary's Church, at Oxford. The Bishop of
Gloucester sat as president, Doctors Story and Martin
appeared as proctors for the Queen, and Cranmer was
brought in under the custody of the city guard, in a
black gown and leaning on a stick.
' Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury/ cried an officer
1 FOXE says the I2th; but this is wrong. — See Cranmer's letter to
the Q,ueeii ; JENKINS, vol. i. p. 369.
1555-]
THE MARTYRS.
$41
of the court, * appear here, and make answer to that
which shall be laid to thy charge ; that is to say, for
blasphemy, incontinency, and heresy ; make answer to
the Bishop of Gloucester, representing his Holiness the
Pope/
The Archbishop approached the bar, bent his head
and uncovered to Story and Martin, who were present
in behalf of the Crown, then drew himself up, put on his
cap again, and stood fronting Brookes. ' My Lord/ he
said, ' I mean no contempt to your person, which I
could have honoured as well as any of the others ; but
I have sworn never to admit the authority of the Bishop
of Rome in England, and I must keep my oath/
The president remonstrated, but without effect, and
then proceeded to address the Archbishop, who remained
covered : 1 —
'My Lord, we are come hither at this present to
you, not intruding ourselves by our own authority, but
sent by commission, as you know, by the Pope's Holi-
ness partly ; partly from the King's and Queen's most
excellent Majesties ; not utterly to your discomfort, but
rather to your comfort if you will yourself. For we are
come not to judge you immediately, but to put you in
remembrance of that which you have been partly judged
of before, and shall be thoroughly judged of ere long.
' Neither our coming or commission is to dispute
1 Exhortation of the Bishop of
Gloucester to Thomas Cranmer:
Cotton MSS., Vespasian, A. 25. A
copy, more rounded and finished, is
given by FOXE, in his account of
Craniner's trial : but the latter has
the appearance of having been touch-
ed up afterwards.
544 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
with, you, but to examine you in matters which you have
already disputed in, taught, and written ; and of your
resolute answers in those points and others, to make re-
lation to them that shall give sentence on you. If you,
of your part, be moved to come to a uniformity, then
shall not only we take joy of our examination, but also
they that have sent us. Remember yourself then, imde
excidcris, from whence you have fallen. You have fallen
from the unity of your mother, the Holy Catholic Church,
and that by open schism. You have fallen from the
true and received faith of the same Catholic Church,
and that by open heresy. You have fallen from your
fidelity and promise towards God, in breaking your
orders and vow of chastity, and that by open apostasy.
You have fallen from your fidelity and promise towards
God's Vicar- general, the Pope, in breaking your oath
made to his Holiness at your consecration, and that by
open perjury. You have fallen from your fidelity and
allegiance towards God's magistrate, your Prince and
sovereign lady the Queen, and that by open treason,
whereof you are already attainted and convicted. Re-
member, unde excideris, from whence you have fallen,
and in what danger you have fallen.
' You were sometime, as I and other poor men, in
mean estate. God hath called you from better to better,
from higher to higher, and never gave you over till
he made you, legatum natum, Metropolitan Archbishop,
Primate of England. Who was more earnest then in
defence of the real presence of Christ's body and blood
in the sacrament of the altar than ye were ? Then was
1 5 55-] THE MARTYRS. 545
your candle shining to be a light to all the world, set
on high on a pinnacle. But after you began to fall
from the unity of the Catholic Church by open schism,
and would no longer acknowledge the supremacy of the
Pope's Holiness by God's word and ordinance; — and that
by occasion, that you, in whose hands then rested the
sum of all, being Primate, as was aforesaid, would not,
according to your high vocation, stoutly withstand the
most ungodly and unlawful request of your prince
touching his divorce, as that blessed martyr, St Thomas
of Canterbury, sometime your predecessor, did withstand
the unlawful requests of the prince of his time, but
would still not only yield and bear with things not to
be borne withal, but also set a-flame the fire already
kindled — then your perfections diminished ; then began
you, for your own part, to fancy unlawful liberty. Then
decayed your conscience of your former faith, your
former promise, the vow of chastity and discipline after
the order of priesthood ; and when good conscience was
once cast off, then followed after, as St Paul noteth,
a shipwreck in the faith. Then fell you from the faith,
and out of the Catholic Church, as out of a sure ship,
into a sea of dangerous desperation ; for out of the
Church, to say with St Cyprian, there is no hope of sal-
vation at all. To be brief; when you had forsaken
God, his Spouse, his faith, and fidelity to them both,
then God forsook you ; and as the Apostle write th of
the ingrate philosophers, delivered you up in reprolrmn
sensum, and suffered you to fall from one inconvenience
to another, as from perjury into schism, from schism
VOL. v. 35
$46 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
into a kind of apostasy, from apostasy into heresy, from
heresy into traitory, and so, in conclusion, from traitory
into the highest displeasure and worthiest indignation
of your most benign and gracious Queen.'1
When the Bishop ceased, the Crown proctors rose,
and demanded justice against the prisoner in the names
of the King and Queen.
' My Lord/ Cranmer replied, ' I do not acknowledge
this session of yours, nor yet yourself my mislawful
judge ; neither would I have appeared this day before
you, but that I was brought hither; and therefore here
I openly renounce you as my judge, protesting that my
meaning is1 not to make any answer as in a lawful judg-
ment, for then I would be silent ; but only for that I
am "bound in conscience to answer every man of that
hope which I have in Jesus Christ/
He then knelt, and turning towards the west with
his back to the court and the altar, he said the Lord's
Prayer. After which, he rose, repeated the Creed, and
said, —
' This I do profess as touching my faith, and make
my protestation, which I desire you to note ; I will never
consent that the Bishop of Rome shall have any juri*-
diction in this realm/
'Mark, Master Cranmer/ interrupted Martin, 'you
refuse and deny hrm by whose laws you do remain
in life, being otherwise attainted of high treason, and
but a dead man by the laws of the realm.'
1 The address concluded with a
prolix exhortation to repentance,
which I omit. It may be read in a
form sufficiently accurate in FOXK.
15 55-1 THE MARTYRS. 547
'I protest before God I was no traitor/ said the
Archbishop. ' I will never consent to the Bishop of
Rome, for then I should give myself to the devil. I
have made an oath to the King, and I must obey the
King by God's law. By the Scripture, the King is
chief, and no foreign person in his own realm above
him. The Pope is contrary to the Crown. I cannot
obey both, for no man can serve two masters at once.
You attribute the keys to the Pope and the sword to
the King. I say the King hath both.'
Continuing the same argument, the Archbishop
entered at length into the condition of the law and the
history of the Statutes of Provisors and Premunire :
he showed that the constitution of the country was
emphatically independent, and he maintained that no
English subject could swear obedience to a foreign power
without being involved in perjury.
The objection was set aside, and the subject of oaths
Was an opportunity for a taunt, which the Queen's
proctors did not overlook. Cranmer had unwillingly
accepted the archbishopric when the Act of Appeals
was pending, and when the future relations of England
with the See of Rome, and the degree of authority
which (if any) the Pope was to retain, were uncertain.
In taking the usual oaths, therefore, by the advice of
lawyers, he made an especial and avowed reservation of
his duty to the Crown;1 and this so-called perjury
Martin now flung in his teeth.
1 Although, the circumstances of I declaration of this kind on the part
the time called properly for an open I of Cranmer, yet every one of his pre*
543
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
. 33.
• It pleased the King's Highness/ Cranmer replied,
' many and sundry times to talk with me of the matter.
I declared, that, if I accepted the office of archbishop,
I muse receive it at the Pope's hands, which I neither
would nor could do, for his Highness was the only
supreme governor of this Church in England. Per-
ceiving that I could not be brought to acknowledge the
authority of the Bishop of Rome, the King called Doctor
Oliver, and other civil lawyers, and devised with them
how he might bestow it on me, enforcing me nothing
against my conscience, who informed him I might do it
by way of protestation. I said, I did not acknowledge
the Bishop of E/ome's authority further than as it agreed
with the word of God, and that it might be lawful for
me at all times to speak against him ; and my protest-
ation did I cause to be enrolled, and there I think it
remaineth.'
' Let your protestation, with the rest of your talk,
give judgment against you/ answered Martin. ' Nine
prima mail labes : of that your execrable perjury, and
from the time of Edward
I., must have been inducted with a
tacit understanding of the same kind.
If a bishop had been prosecuted un-
der the Statutes of Provisors, his
oath to the Papacy would have been
no more admitted as an excuse by
the Plantagenet sovereigns, than the
oath of a college Fellow to obey the
statutes of the founder would have
saved him from penalties under the
House of Hanover had he said mass
in his college chapel. Because
Cranmer, foreseeing an immediate
collision between two powers, which
each asserted claims upon him, ex-
pressed in words a qualification
which was implied in the nature of
the case — it was, and is (I regret to
be obliged to speak in the present
tense), but a shallow sarcasm to
taunt him with premeditated per-
jury.
1555 ] THE MARTYRS. 549
the King's coloured and too shamefully suffered adultery,
came heresy and all mischief into the realm/
The special charges were then proceeded with.
In reply to a series of questions, the Archbishop
said, that he had been twice married — once before, and
once after he was in orders. In the time of Henry he
had kept his wife secretly, ( affirming that it was better
for him to have his own wife, than to do like other
priests, having the wives of others ; ' and he was not
ashamed of what he had done.
He admitted his writings upon the Eucharist ; he
avowed the authorship of the Catechism, of the Articles,
and of a book against the Bishop of Winchester ; and
these books, and his conduct generally as Archbishop
of Canterbury, he maintained and defended. His
replies were entered by a notary, to be transmitted to
the Pope, and for the present the business of the court
with him was over.
'Who can stay him that willingly runneth into
perdition?' said Brookes. ' Who can save that will be
lost ? God would have you to be saved, and you refuse
it.'
The Archbishop was cited to appear at Home within
eighty days to answer to the charges which would
there be laid against him ; and in order that he might
be able to obey the summons he was returned to his
cell in Bocardo prison, and kept there in strict con-
finement.
Ridley and Latimer came next, and over them the
Papal mantle flung no protection.
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33,
They liad been prisoners now for more than two
/ears. What Latimer' s occupation had been for all
that time, little remains to show, except three letters : — -
one, of but a few lines, was to a Mrs Wilkinson,
thanking her for some act of kindness : * another, was
a general exhortation to ( all unfeigned lovers of God's
truth/ to be constant in their faith : the third, and
most noteworthy, was to some one who had an oppor-
tunity of escaping from arrest, and probable martyr-
dom, by a payment of money, and who doubted
whether he might lawfully avail himself of the chance:
there was no question of recantation ; a corrupt official
was ready to accept a bribe and ask no questions.
Latimer had not been one of those fanatics who
thought it a merit to go in the way of danger and
court persecution ; but in this present case he shared
the misgiving of his correspondent, and did ' highly
allow his judgment in that he thought it not lawful
to redeem himself from the crown, unless he would
exchange glory for shame, and his inheritance for a
mess of pottage,'
'We were created/ Latimer said, 'to set forth God's
glory all the days of our life, which we, as unthankful
sinners, have forgotten to do, as we ought, all our days
hitherto ; and now God, by affliction, doth offer us
1 If the gift of a pot of cold
water shall not be in oblivion with
God, how can God forget your mani-
fold and bountiful gifts, Avhen He
shall say unto you, ' I was in prison,
and you visited me.' God grant us
all to do and suffer while we be here
as may be to His will and pleasure,
— Latimer to Mrs Wilkinson, from
Bocardo: LATIMER'S Remains, p.
444-
1555-1 THE MARTYRS. 551
good occasion to perform one day of our life, our duty.
If any man perceive his faith, not to abide the fire, let
such an one with weeping buy his liberty until he hath
obtained more strength, lest the gospel suffer by him
some shameful recantation. Let the dead bury the
dead. Do you embrace Christ's cross, and Christ shall
embrace you. The peace of God be with you for ever.' *
Ridley's pen had been more busy : he had written
a, lamentation over the state of England ; he had
written a farewell letter, taking leave of his friends,
and taking leave of life, which, clouded as it was, his
sunny nature made it hard to part from ; he had written
comfort to the afflicted for the gospel, and he had
addressed a passionate appeal to the Temporal Lords to
save England from the false shepherds who were wast-
ing the flock of Christ. But both he and Latjmer had
looked death steadily in the face for two years, expect-
ing it every day or hour. It was now come.
On the 3Oth of September, the three Bishops took
their seats in the Divinity school. Ridley was led in for
trial, and the legate's commission was read, empowering
them to try him for the opinions which he had expressed
in the disputation at Oxford the year before, and ' else-
where in the time of perdition.' They wore to de-
grade him from the priesthood if he persisted in his
heresies, and deliver him over to the secular arm.
On being first brought before the court,
Ridley stood bareheaded. At the names of
LATIMEU'S Ramim, p. 429.
552 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
the Cardinal and the Pope, lie put on his cap, like
Cranmer, declining to acknowledge their authority.
But his scruples were treated less respectfully than the
Archbishop's. He was ordered to take it off, and when
he refused, it was removed by a beadle.
He was then charged with having denied transub-
stantiation, and the propitiatory sacrifice of the mass,
and was urged at length to recant. His opinions on
the real presence were peculiar. Christ, he said, was
not the sacrament, but was really and truly in the
sacrament, as the Holy Ghost was with the water
at baptism and yet was not the water. The subtlety
of the position was perplexing, but the knot was
cut by the crucial question, whether, after the con-
secration of the elements, the substance of bread and
wine remained. He was allowed the night to consider
his answer, but he left no doubt what that answer
would be. " The bishops told him that they were not
come to condemn him, their province was to condemn
no one, but only to cut off the heretic from the Church,
for the temporal judge to deal with as he should think
fit. The cowardly sophism had been heard too often.
Ridley thanked the court ' for their gentleness/ ' being
the same which Christ had of the high priest : ' ' the
high priest said it was not lawful for him to put any
man to death, but committed Christ to Pilate ; neither
would suffer him to absolve Christ, though he sought
all the means therefor that he might/
Ridley withdrew, and Latimer was then introduced
— eighty years old now — dressed in a threadbare
I555-] THE MARTYRS. 553
gown of Bristol frieze, a handkerchief on his head
with a night- cap over it, and over that again another
cap, with two broad flaps buttoned under the chin. A
leather belt w^as round his waist, to which a Testament
was attached ; his spectacles, without a case, hung from
his neck. So stood the greatest man perhaps then
living in the world, a prisoner on his trial, waiting to
be condemned to death by men professing to be the min-
isters of God. As it was in the days of the prophets,
so it was in the Son of man's days; as it was in the days
of the Son of man, so was it in the Reformers' days ;
as it was in ihe days of the Reformers, so will it be to
the end, so long and so far as a class of men are per-
mitted to hold power, who call themselves the commis-
sioned and authoritative teachers of truth. Latimer's
trial was the counterpart of Ridley's : the charge was
the same, and the result was the same, except that the
stronger intellect vexed itself less with nice distinc-
tions. Bread was bread, said Latimer, and wine was
wine ; there was a change in the sacrament, it was
true, but the change was not in the nature, but the
dignity. He too was reprieved for the day.
The following morning the court sat in St
Mary's Church, with the authorities of town and
university, heads of houses, mayor, aldermen, and
sheriff. The prisoners were brought to the bar. The
same questions were asked, the same answers were re-
turned, and sentence was pronounced upon them, as
heretics obstinate and incurable.
Execution did not immediately follow. The con-
554
REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y.
[<-'"• 33-
Oct. 16.
victions for which they were about to die had been
adopted by both of them comparatively late in life.
The legate would not relinquish the hope of bringing
them back into the superstition in which they had been
born, and had lived so long ; and So-to, a Spanish friar,
who was teaching divinity at Oxford in the place of
Peter Martyr, was set to work on them.
But one of them would not see him, and on the other
he could make no impression. Those whom God had
cast away, thought Pole, were not to be saved by man ; l
and the i6th of October was fixed upon as the
day on which they were to suffer. Ridley had
been removed from Bocardo, and was under the custody
of the mayor, a man named Irish, whose wife was a
bigoted and fanatical Catholic. On the evening of the
1 5th there was a supper at the mayor's house, where
some members of Ridley's family were permitted to be
present. He talked cheerfully of his approaching •' mar-
riage ; ' his brother-in-law promised to be in attendance,
and, if possible, to bring with him his wife, Ridley's
sister. Even the hard eyes of Mrs Irish were softened
to tears, as she listened and thought of what was coming.
The brother-in-law offered to sit up through the night,
but Ridley said there was no occasion ; he ' minded to
go to bed, and sleep as quietly as ever he did in his life.'
1 A Rev. P. Soto accepi litteras
Oxonio datas quibus me certiorera
facit quid cum duobus illis htereticis
egerit qui jam erant damnati, quorum
alter ne loqui quidem cum eo voluit :
cum altero est locutus sed nihil pro-
fecit, ut facile intelligatur a nemine
servari posse quos Dcus projecerit.
Itaque de illis supplicium est sump-
turn.— Pole to Philip : Epist. KEG.
POL. vol. v. p. 47.
1.555.] THE MARTYRS. 555
In the morning lie wrote a letter to the Queen. As
Bishop of London he had granted renewals of certain
leases, on which he had received fines. Bonner had
refused to recognize them, and he entreated the Queen,
for Christ's sake, either that the leases should be allowed,
or that some portion of his own confiscated property
might be applied to the repayment of the tenants.1 The
letter was long ; by the time it was finished, the sheriff's
officers were probably in readiness.
The place selected for the burning was outside the
north wall of the town, a short stone's throw from the
south corner of Balliol College, and about the same
distance from Bocardo prison, from which Cranmer was
intended to witness his friends' sufferings.
Lord Williams of Thame was on the spot by the
Queen's order ; and the city guard were under arms to
prevent disturbance. Ridley appeared first, walking
between the mayor and one of the aldermen. He was
dressed in a furred black gown, ' such as he was wont to
wear being bishop,' a furred velvet tippet about his neck,
and a velvet cap. He had trimmed his beard, and had
washed himself from head to foot ; a man evidently nice
in his appearance, a gentleman, and liking to be known
as such. The way led under the windows of Bocardo,
and he looked up ; but Soto, the friar, was with the
Archbishop, making use of the occasion, and Ridley did
not see him.2 In turning round, however, he saw
1 FOXE, vol. vii. p. 545. It is
to the discredit of Mary that, she
paid no attention to this appeal, and
left Bonner's injustice to he repaired
by the first Parliament of Elizabeth.
Commons Journals, i Elizabeth.
2 The execution, however, was
doubtless appointed to take place on
556
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33
Latimer coming up behind him in the frieze coat, with
the cap and handkerchief — the workday costume unal-
tered, except that under his cloak, and reaching to his
feet, the old man wore a long new shroud.
' Oh ! be ye there ? ' Ridley exclaimed.
' Yea/ Latimer answered. ' Have after as fast as I
can follow/
Ridley ran to him and embraced him. ' Be of good
heart, brother/ he said. ' God will either assuage the
flame, or else strengthen us to abide it.' They knelt
and prayed together, and then exchanged a few words
in a low voice, which were not overheard.
Lord Williams, the vice-chancellor, and the doctors
were seated on a bench close to the stake. A sermon
was preached, ' a scant one/ ' of scarce a quarter of an
hour ; ' and then Ridley begged that for Christ's :sake
he might say a few words.
Lord Williams looked to the doctors, one of whom
started from his seat, and laid his hand on Ridley's
lips —
' Recant/ he said, 'and you may both speak and
live.'
' So long as the breath is in my body/ Ridley an-
swered, 'I will never deny my Lord Christ and his
known truth. God's will be done in me. I commit
our cause/ he said, in a loud voice, turning to the peo-
ple, 'to Almighty God, who shall indifferently judge all.'
that spot, that Cranmer might see
it. An old engraving in FOXE'S
Martyrs represents him as on the
leads of the Tower while the burn-
ing was going forward, looking at
it, and praying.
IS5S-] THE MARTYRS. 557
The brief preparations were swiftly made. Ridley
gave his gown and tippet to his brother-in-law, and
distributed remembrances among those who were nearest
to him. To Sir Henry Lee he gave a new groat, to
others he gave handkerchiefs, nutmegs, slices of ginger,
his watch, and miscellaneous trinkets ; ( some plucked
off the points of his hose ; ' ' happy/ it was said, ' was
he that might get any rag of him/
Latimer had nothing to give. He threw off his
cloak, stood bolt upright in his shroud, and the friends
took their places on either side of the stake.
' 0 Heavenly Father/ Ridley said, ' I give unto thee
most humble thanks, for that thou hast called me to be
a professor of thee even unto death. Have mercy, 0
Lord, 011 this realm of England, and deliver the same
from all her enemies.'
A chain was passed round their bodies, and fastened
with a staple.
A friend brought a bag of powder and hung it
round Ridley's neck.
1 1 will take it to be sent of God/ Ridley said.
.' Have you more for my brother ? '
' Yea, sir/ the friend answered. ' Give it him be-
times then/ Ridley replied, ' lest ye be too late.'
The fire was then brought. To the last moment,
Ridley was distressed about the leases, and, bound as he
was, he entreated Lord Williams to intercede with the
Queen about them.
* I will remember your suit/ Lord Williams an-
swered. The lighted torch was laid to the faggots.
5$S kEtGN OF QUEEN MARY. (ctt. 33.
4 Be of good comfort, Master Ridley/ Latimer cried at
the crackling of the flames ; ' Play the man : we shall
this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in Eng-
land, as I trust shall never be put out/
( In manus tuasy Dotnine, commendo spiritum meum,'
cried E/idley. 'Momme, recipe spiritum meum*
' 0 Father of Heaven/ said Latimer, on the other
side, * receive my soul/
Latimer died first : as the flame blazed up about
him, he bathed his hands in it, and stroked his face. The
powder exploded, and he became instantly senseless.
His companion was less fortunate. The sticks had
been piled too thickly over the gorse that was under
them ; the fire smouldered round his legs, and the sens-
ation of suffering was unusually protracted. ' I cannot
burn/ he called ; ' Lord, have mercy on me ; let the fire
come to me ; I cannot burn/ His brother-in-law, with
awkward kindness, threw on more wood, which only
kept down the flame. At last some one lifted the pile
with ' a bill/ and let in the air ; the red tongues of fire
shot up fiercely,, Ridley wrested himself into the middle
of them, and the powder did its work.
The horrible sight worked upon the beholders as it has
worked since, and will work for ever, while the English
nation survives, being, notwithstanding, — as in justice to
those who caused these accursed cruelties, must never
be forgotten, — a legitimate fruit of the superstition, that,
in the eyes of the Maker of the world, an error of belief
is the greatest of crimes ; that while for all other sins
there is forgiveness, a mistake in the intellectual in-
'$55-3
MARTYRS.
559
tricaeies of speculative opinion will be punished not
with the brief agony of a painful death, but with tor-
tures to which there shall be no end.
But martyrdom was often but a relief from more bar-
barous atrocities. In the sad winter months which were
approaching, the poor men and women, who, untried
and uncondemned, were crowded into the bishops' pri-
sons, experienced such miseries as the very dogs could
scarcely suffer and survive. They were beaten, they
were starved, they were flung into dark fetid dens, where
rotting straw was their bed, their feet were fettered in
the stocks, and their clothes were their only covering,
while the wretches who died in their misery were flung
out into the fields where none might bury them.1
1 FOXB, vols. vii. viii., passim,
especially vol. vii. p. 605. Philpot's
Petition, Ibid. p. 682 ; and an ac-
count of the Prisons at Canterbury,
vol. viii. p. 255. At Canterbury,
after Pole became archbishop, his
archdeacon, Harpsfeld, had fifteen
prisoners confined together, of whom
five were starved to death ; the
other ten were burnt. But before
they suffered, and while one of those
who died of hunger still survived,
they left on record the following ac-
count of their treatment, and threw
it out of a window of the castle : —
' Be it known to all men that
shall read, or hear read, these our
letters, that we, the poor prisoners
of the castle of Canterbury, for God's
truth, are kept and lie in cold irons,
and our keeper will not suffer any
meat to be brought to us to comfort
us. And if any man do bring in
anything — as bread, butter, cheese,
or any other food — the said keeper
will charge them that so bring us
anything (except money or raiment),
to carry it thence again ; or else, if
he do receive any food of any for us,
he doth keep it for himself, and he
and his servants do spend it ; so
that we have nothing thereof : and
thus the keeper keepeth away our
victuals from us ; insomuch that
there are four of us prisoners there
for God's truth famished already,
and thus it is his mind to famish us
all. And we think he is appointed
thereto by the bishops and priests,
and also of the justices, so to famish
us ; and not only us of the said
castle, but also all other prisoners
56o
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33.
Lollard's Tower and Bonner's coal-house were the
chief scenes of barbarity. Yet there were times when
even Bonner loathed his work. He complained that he
was troubled with matters that were none of his ; the
bishops in other parts of England thrust upon his hands
offenders whom they dared not pardon and would not
themselves put to death ; and, being in London, he was
himself under the eyes of the Court, and could not evade
the work.1 Against Bonner, however, the world's voice
rose the loudest. His brutality was notorious and un-
questionable, and a published letter was addressed to
him by a lady, in which he was called the ' common cut-
throat and general slaughter- slave to all the bishops in
England.'2 ' I am credibly informed/ said this person
to him, ' that your Lordship doth believe, and hath in
secret said, there is no hell. The very Papists them-
selves begin now to abhor your bloodthirstiness, and
speak shame of your tyranny. Every child can call
you by name, and say, ' Bloody Bonner is Bishop of
London ! ' and every man hath it as perfect upon his
fingers' ends as his Paternoster, how many you for your
part have burned with fire and famished in prison this
three-quarters of a year. Though your Lordship be-
in other prisons for the like cause to
be also famished. Notwithstanding,
we write not these our letters to that
intent we might not afford to be
famished for the Lord Jesus' sake,
but for this cause and intent, that
they having no law so to famish us
in prison, should not do it privily,
but that the murderers' hearts should
be openly known to all the world,
that all men may know of what
church they are, and who is their
father.' — FOXE, vol. viii. p. 255.
1 See especially his conversation
with Philpot: FOXE, vol. vii. p.
611.
2 Godly Letter addressed to
Bonner : Ibid., p. 712.
I555-]
THE MARTYRS.
561
lieve neither heaven nor hell, neither God nor devil,
yet if your Lordship love your own honesty, you were
best to surcease from this cruel burning and murdering.
Say not but a woman gave you warning. As for the
obtaining your Popish purpose in suppressing of the
truth, I put you out of doubt, you shall not obtain it so
long as you go this way to work as you do. You have
lost the hearts of twenty thousand that were rank Papists
within this twelve months.'
In the last words lay the heart of the whole matter.
The martyrs alone broke the spell of orthodoxy, and
made the establishment of the Reformation possible.
In the midst of such scenes the new Parliament was
about to meet. Money was wanted for the Crown debts,
and the Queen was infatuated enough still to meditate
schemes for altering the succession, or, at least, for ob-
taining the consent of the legislature to Philip's coron-
ation, that she might bribe him back to her side.1
As the opening of the session approached, Elizabeth
was sent again from the Court to be out of sight and
out of reach of intrigue ; and Mary had the mortifi-
cation of knowing that her sister's passage through
London was a triumphal procession. The public en-
thusiasm became so marked at last that the Princess
was obliged to ride forward with a few servants, leaving
1 Pour Ic faire plustost retonrner
elle fera toutes choses incredible en
ce diet parlement en favour dudict
Sieur ... . L'on diet que 1'oc-
casion pour laquelle le diet parle-
ment a este assemble, ne tend a
VOL. v.
aultre fin que pour faire s'ilest pos-
sible tomber le gouvernement absolu
de ce royaulme entre les mains de ce
roy. — Noailles to the King of
France, October 21 : Awbassadcs,
vol. v.
36
562 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY, [CH. 33.
the gentlemen who were her escort to keep back the
people. Fresh alarms, too, had risen on the side of the
Papacy. Cardinal CarafFa, Paul IV. as he was now
named, on assuming the tiara, had put out a bull among
his first acts, reasserting the decision of the canons on
the sanctity of the estates of the Church, and threaten-
ing laymen who presumed to withhold such property
from its lawful owners with anathemas. In a con-
versation with Lord Montague, the English ambassador
at Rome, he had used language far from reassuring on
the concessions of his predecessor ; and some violent-
demonstration would undoubtedly have been made in
Parliament, had not Paul been persuaded to except
England especially from the general edict.
Even then the irritation was not allayed, and a
whole train of sorrows was in store for Mary from the
violent character of CaraiFa. Political Popes have al-
ways been a disturbing element in the European sys-
tem. Paul IV., elected by French influence, showed
his gratitude by plunging into the quarrel between
France and the Empire. He imprisoned Imperialist
cardinals in St Angelo ; he persecuted the Colonnas on
account of their Imperialist tendencies, levelled their
fortresses, and seized their lands. The Cardinal of
Lorraine hastened to Rome to conclude an alliance
offensive and defensive on behalf of France ; and the
Queen, distracted between her religion and her duty as
a wife, saw Philip on the point of being drawn into
parricidal hostility with his and her spiritual father.
Nay, she herself might be involved in the same ca-
15551
THE MARTYRS.
563
lamity ; for so bitter was the English humour that the
Liberal party in the council were inclined to take part
in the war, if they would have the Pope for an enemy ;
and Philip would be too happy in their support to look
too curiously to the motives of it.1
A calamity of a more real kind was also approach-
ing Mary. She was on the point of losing the only
able minister on whose attachment she could rely.
Gardiner's career on earth was about to end.
On the 6th of October, Noailles described the Bishop
of Winchester as sinking rapidly, and certain to die
before Christmas,2 yet still eager and energetic, per-
fectly aware of his condition, yet determined to work
till the last.
Noailles himself had two hours' conversation with
him on business; when he took his leave, the chan-
cellor conducted him through the crowded antechamber
to the door, leaning heavily on his arm. ' The people
thought he was dead/ he said, ' but there was some life
in him yet.'
Notwithstanding his condition, he roused himself
for the meeting of Parliament on the 2 1 st ; he even
spoke at the opening, and he was in his place in the
House of Lords on the second day of the session ; but
his remaining strength broke down immediately after,
1 Ce soit ung argument plus
grand que tout aultre pour faire
entrer ceulx cy a la guerre ouverte ;
estant ceste nation comme ung chas-
cung S£ait fort ennemie de sadict
Sainctite. — Noailles to Montmo-
rency: Ambassades, vol. v. p. 188.
2 Same to the same. — Ibid. p.
150.
564 REIGN OF QUEEN MAR Y. [CH. 33.
and he died at Whitehall Palace on the
of November. The Protestants, who believed
that he was the author of the persecution, expected that
it would cease with his end ; they were deceived in
their hopes, for their sufferings continued unabated.
In their opinion of his conduct they were right, yet
right but partially.
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was the
pupil of Wolsey, and had inherited undiminished the
pride of the ecclesiastical order. If he went with
Henry in his separation from the Papacy, he intended
that the English Church should retain, notwithstanding,
unimpaired authority and undiminished privileges.
The humiliations heaped upon the clergy by the King
had not discouraged him, for the Catholic doctrine was
maintained unshaken, and so long as the priesthood was
regarded as a peculiar order, gifted with supernatural
powers, so long as the sacraments were held essential
conditions of salvation, and the priesthood alone could
administer them, he could feel assured that, sooner or
later, their temporal position would be restored to them.
Thus, while loyal to the royal supremacy, the Bishop
of Winchester had hated heresy, and hated all who
protected heresy with a deadly hatred. He passed the
Six Articles Bill ; he destroyed Cromwell ; he laboured
with all his might to destroy Cranmer ; and, at length,
when Henry was about to die, he lent himself, though
too prudently to be detected, to the schemes of Surrey
and the Catholics upon the regency. The failure of
those schemes, and the five years of arbitrary imprison-
1 555.] THE MARTYRS. 565
ment under Edward, had not softened feelings already
more than violent. lie returned to power exasperated
by personal injury ; and justified, as he might easily
believe himself to be, in his opinion of the tendencies
of heresy, by the scandals of the Protestant adminis-
tration, he obtained, by unremitting assiduity, the re-
enactment of the persecuting laws, which he himself
launched into operation with imperious cruelty.
Yet there was something in Gardiner's character
which was not wholly execrable. For thirty years he
worked unweariedly in the service of the public; his
judgment as a member of council was generally excel-
lent; and Somerset, had he listened to his remonstrances,
might have saved both his life and credit. He was
vindictive, ruthless, treacherous, but his courage was in-
domitable. He resisted Cromwell till it became a ques-
tion which of the two should die, and the lot was as
likely to have fallen to him as to his rival. He would
have murdered Elizabeth with the forms of law or with-
out, but Elizabeth was the hope of all that he most
detested. He was no dreamer, no high-flown enthusiast,
but he was a man of clear eye and hard heart, who had
a purpose in his life which he pursued with unflagging
energy. Living as he did in revolutionary times, his
hand was never slow to strike when an enemy was in
his power ; yet in general when Gardiner struck, he
stooped, like the eagle, at the nobler game, leaving the
linen-drapers and apprentices to ' the mousing owls/
His demerits were vast ; his merits were small, yet
something.
566 RSJGtf OF QU&EM MARY. [CH. 33.
' Well, well/ as some one said, winding up his
epitaph, * Mortuus est, et sepultus est, et descendit ad
inferos ; let us say no more about him/1
To return to the Parliament. On the 23rd
of October a bull of Paul IV., confirming the
dispensation of Julius, was read in the House of Com-
mons.2 On the 29th the Crown debts were alleged as a
reason for demanding a subsidy. The Queen had been
prevented from indulging her desire for a standing
army. The waste and peculation of the late reign had
been put an end to ; and the embarrassments of the
treasury were not of her creation. Nevertheless the
change in social habits, and the alteration in the value
of money, had prevented the reduction of the expendi-
ture from being carried to the extent which had been
contemplated; the marriage had been in many ways
costly, and large sums had been spent in restoring
plundered Church plate. So great had been the dif-
ficulties of the treasury, that, although fresh loans had
been contracted with the Jews, the wages of the house-
hold were again two years in arrear.
Parliament showed no disposition to be illiberal ;
they only desired to be satisfied that if they gave money
it would be applied to the purpose for which it was de-
manded. The Subsidy Bill, when first introduced, was
opposed in the House of Commons on the ground that
the Queen would give the keys of the treasury to her
1 Special Grace appointed to have been said ut York on the Accession of
Elizabeth. — Tanner MSS., Bodleian Library.
2 Commons Journals, 2nd and 3rd Philip and Mary
THE MARTYRS.
567
November.
husband ; and after a debate, a minority of a hundred
voted for refusing the grant.1 The general spirit of the
Houses, however, was, on the whole, more generous.
Two fifteenths were voted in addition to the subsidy,
which the Queen, on her side, was able to decline with
thanks.2 The money question was settled quietly, and
the business of the session proceeded.
If her subjects were indifferent to their souls, Mary
was anxious about her own. On the nth of
November, a bill was read a first time in the
House of Lords, ' whereby the King's and Queen's
Majesties surrendered, and gave into the hands of the
Pope's Holiness, the first-fruits and tenths of all ec-
clesiastical benefices.' The reception of the measure
can be traced in the changes of form which it experi-
enced. The payment of annates to the See of Eome
was a grievance, both among clergy and laity, of very
ancient standing. The clergy, though willing to be
relieved from paying first-fruits to the Crown, were not
so loyal to the successors of St Peter as to desire to re-
store their contributions into the old channel ; while
the laity, who from immemorial time had objected on
principle to the payment of tribute to a foreign sove-
reign, were now, through their possession of the abbey
lands and the iinpropriation of benefices, immediately
1 Commons Journals, 2nd and
3rd Philip and Mary. — Noaillcs to
the Constable, October 31.
2 Commons Journ. Noailles says
that the Queen demanded the fif-
teenths, and that the Commons re-
fused to grant them. The account
in the Journals is confirmed by a
letter of Lord Talbot to the Earl
of Shrewsbury. — LODGE'S Illustra-
tions^ vol. i. p. 207.
568
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33
interested parties. On the iQth of November fifty
members of the House of Commons waited, by desire,
upon the Queen, to hear her own resolutions, and to listen
to an admonition from the Cardinal.1 On the acth a
second bill was introduced, ' whereby the King's and
Queen's Majesties surrendered and gave the first-fruits
and tenths into the hands of the laity.'2 The Crown
would not receive annates longer in any form ; and as
laymen liable to the payment of them could not con-
Ten iently be required to pay tribute to Rome, it was left
to their consciences to determine whether they would
follow the Queen's example in a voluntary surrender.
Even then, however, the original bill could not pass
so long as the Pope's name was in it, or so long as the
Pope was interested in it. As it left the Lords, it
was simply a surrender, on behalf of the Crown, of all
claims whatever upon first-fruits of benefices, whether
from clergy or laity. The tenths were to continue to
be paid. Lay impropriators should pay them to the
Crown. The clergy should pay them to the legate, by
whom they were to be applied to the discharge of the
monastic pensions, from which the Crown was to be re-
lieved. The Crown at the same time set a precedent of
sacrifice by placing in the legate's hands unreservedly
every one of its own impropriations.3
1 Mr Speaker declared the
Queen's pleasure to be spoken yester-
day, for to depart with the first-fruits
and tenths ; and my Lord Cardinal
spake for the tithes and impropria-
tions of benefices to be spiritual.—
Commons Journals, November 20:
2nd and 3rd Philip and Mary.
2 Lords Journals.
3 2nd and 3rd Philip and Mary,
cap. iv.
iSSS-J
THE MARTYRS.
569
In this form the measure went down to the Com
mons, where it encountered fresh and violent opposition.
To demand a subsidy in one week, and in the next to
demand permission to sacrifice a sixth part of the ordi-
nary revenue, was inconsistent and irrational. The
laity had no ambition to take upon themselves the bur-
dens of the clergy. On the 2 7th there was a long dis-
cussion ; * on the 3rd of December the bill was
December.
carried, but with an adverse minority of a hun-
dred and twenty- six, against a majority of a hundred
and ninety-three.2
1 Commons Journals.
2 Ibid. The temper of the op-
position may be gathered from the
language of a pamphlet which ap-
peared on the accession of Eliza-
beth.
The writer describes the clergy
as * lads of circumspection, and verily
filii Imjus sceculi! He complains of
their avarice in inducing the Queen,
' at one chop, to give away fifty
thousand pounds and better yearly
from the inheritance of her crown
unto them, and many a thousand
after, unto those idle hypocrites be-
sides.'
He then goes on : —
* And yet this great profusion of
their prince did so smally serve their
hungry guts, like starven tikes that
were never content with more than
enough ; at all their collations, as-
semblies, and sermons, they never
left yelling and yelping in pursuit of
their prey, Restore ! Restore ! These
devout deacons nothing
how some for long service and tra
vail abroad, while they sat at home
—some for shedding his blood in
defence of his prince's cause and
country, while they with safety, all
careless in their cabins, in luxe and
lewdness, did sail in a sure port
some selling his antient patrimony
for purchase of these lands, while
they must have all by gift a God's
name — they nothing regarding, ]
say, what injury to thousands, what
undoing to most men, what dangei
of uproar and tumult throughout the
whole realm, and what a weakening
to the State, should thereby arise ;
with none of these matters were they
moved a whit, but still held on their
cry, Restore ! Restore !
' And that ye may be sure they
meant nothing more than how to
have all, and that with all haste ;
after that their Pope, this seditious
Paul IV., that now is, had sent
hither his bulls and his thunderbolts
for that cause, and other (and yet
$76
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
Language had been heard in both Houses,' during
the debates, of unusual violence. Bradford's letter on
the succession was circulating freely among the mem-
bers, and the Parliament from which the Queen antici-
pated so much for her husband's interests proved the
most intractable with which she had had to deal.1 After
the difficulty which she had experienced with the first-
fruits, she durst not so much as introduce the question
of the crown.2 She attempted a bill for the restoration
of the forfeited lands of the Howards, but it was lost.3
The Duchess of Suffolk,4 with several other persons of
rank, had lately joined the refugees on the Continent ;
she attempted to carry a measure for the confiscation of
little restored, because the world, in-
deed, would not be so faced out of
their livelihood) sundry of our pre-
lates, like hardy champions, slacke
not a whit themselves to thrust lords
out of their lands, and picked quar-
rels to their lawful possessions. "Well.
Let nobility consider the case as they
list ; but, as some think, if the clergy
come to be masters again, they will
teach them a school point. Christ
taught the young man that perfec-
tion was in vade, vende, et da, not
in mane, acquire, acctimula. ' — Grace
to be said at the Accession of Eli-
zabeth : Tanner MSS., Bodleian
Library.
1 NOAILLES.
2 Michele, the Venetian ambas-
sador, ill his curious but most inac-
curate account of England during
this reign, states that the Queen had
it in her power to cut off Elizabeth
from the succession, but that she
was prevented from doing it by
Philip- Michele's information suf-
fered from the policy of Venice.
Venice held aloof from the compli-
cations of the rest of Europe, and
her representatives were punished
by exclusion from secrets of State.
The letters of Noailles might be sus-
pected, but the correspondence of
Renard with Charles V. leaves no
doubt whatever either as to tho
views of the Spaniards towards Eliza-
beth, of their designs on the crown,
or of the causes by which they were
baffled.
3 Noailles to the King of France,
December 16.
4 The witty Katherine Brandon,
widow of Henry VIII. 's Charles
Brandon, married to Richard Bertie.
She was a lady of advanced opinions,
between whom and the IJishop of
THE MARTYRS.
their property, and failed again.1 A sharp blow was
dealt also at the recovered privileges of ecclesiastics. A
man named Beiiet Smith, who had been implicated in a
charge of murder, and was escaping under plea of clergy,
was delivered by a special Act into the hands of justice.2
The leaven of the heretical spirit was still unsubdued.
The Queen dissolved her fourth Parliament on the 9th
of December ; and several gentlemen who had spoken
out with unpalatable freedom were seized and sent to
the Tower. She was unwise, thought JSToailles ; such
arbitrary acts were only making her day by day more
detested, and, should opportunity offer, would bring her
to utter destruction.
Unwise she was indeed, and most unhappy. When
the poor results of the session became known to Philip,
he sent orders that such of his Spanish suite as he had
left behind him should no longer afflict themselves with
remaining in a country which they abhorred ; he sum
moned them all to come to him except Alphonso, hk
Winchester there were some passages-
at-arras. She dressed a dog in a
rochet on one occasion, and called it
Bishop Gardiner. . .
Gardiner himself said that he
was once at a party at the Duke of
Suffolk's, and it was a question who
should take the Duchess down to
dinner. She wanted to go with her
husband ; but as that could not be,
' My lady,' said Gardiner, ' taking
me by the hand, for that my lord
would not take her himself, said
that, forasmuch as she could not sit
down with my lord whom she loved
best, she had chosen me whom she
loved worst.' — HOLINSHED.
1 Et de mesmefustrejetteaudict
parlement a la grande confusion de
ladicte dame ung aultre bill, par
lequel elle vouloit confisquer les per-
sonnes et biens de ceulx qui sout
transfuges de ce royaulme despuis
son advene ment a la couronne. —
Noailles to the King of France,
December 16 : Ambassadcs, vol. v.
2 2nd and 3rd Philip and Mary,
cap. 17.
572 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
confessor. ' The Queen wept and remonstrated ; more
piteous lamentations were never heard from woman.7
' How/ exclaimed a brother of Noailles,1 ' is she repaid
now for having quarrelled with her subjects, and set
aside her father's will ! The misery which she suffers
in her husband's absence cannot so change her but that
she will risk crown and life to establish him in the
sovereignty, and thus recall him to her side. Neverthe-
less, she will fail, and he will not come. He is weary
of having laboured so long in a soil so barren ; while
she who feels old age stealing so fast upon her, cannot
endure to lose what she has bought so dearly/
Nothing now was left for Mary but to make such
use as she was able of the few years of life which were
to remain to her. If Elizabeth, the hated Anne Boleyn's
hated daughter, was to succeed her on the throne, and
there was no remedy, it was for her to work so vigor-
ously in the restoration of the Church that her labours
could not afterwards be all undone. At her own ex-
pense she began to rebuild and refound the religious
houses. The Grey Friars were replaced at Greenwich,
the Carthusians at Sheene, the Brigittines at Sion. The
house of the Knights of St John in London was restored ;
the Dean and Chapter of Westminster gave way to Ab-
bot Feckenham and a college of monks. Yet these
touching efforts might soften her sorrow but could not
remove it. Philip was more anxious than ever about
the marriage of Elizabeth ; and as Mary could not over-
1 Francois de Noailles to Madame de Roye : Ambassades, vol. v "
'555-1
THE MARTYRS.
573
come her unwillingness to sanction by act of her own
Elizabeth's pretensions, Philip wrote her cruel letters,
and set his confessor to lecture her upon her duties as a
wife.1 These letters she chiefly spent her time in an-
swering, shut up almost alone, trusting no one but Pole,
and seeing no one but her women. If she was compelled
to appear in public, she had lost her power of self-control ;
she would burst into fits of violent and uncontrollable
passion ; she believed every one about her to be a spy
1 Among the surviving me-
morials of Mary, none is more af-
fecting than a rough copy of an
answer to one of these epistles,
which is preserved in the Cotton
Library. It is painfully scrawled,
and covered with erasures and cor-
rections, in which may be traced the
dread in which she stood of offend-
ing Philip. Demander license de
votre Haultesse, is crossed through
and altered into Supplier tres hum-
blement. "Where she had described
herself as obeissante, she enlarged
the word into tres obeissante; and
the tone throughout is most piteous.
She entreats the King to appoint
some person or persons to talk with
her about the marriage. She says
that the conscience which she has
about it she has had for twenty-four
years; that is to say, since Eliza-
beth's birth. Nevertheless, she will
agree to Philip's wish, if the realm
will agree. She is ready to discuss
it ; but she complains, so far as she
dares complain, of the confessor.
The priests trouble her, she says.
' Al fonsez especialement me pro-
| posoit questions si obscures que mon
simple enteudement ne les pouvoit
comprehendre, comme pour exemple
il me demandoit qui estoit roy au
temps de Adam, et disoit comme
j'estoy obligee de faire ceste mar-
riage par ung article de mon Credo,
mais il ne 1'exposoit. . . . Aultres
choses trop difficiles pour moy d'en-
tendre. . . . ainsy qu'il estoit im-
possible en si peu de temps de
changer. . . . conscience. . . .
Votre Haultesse escript en ses dictes
lettres que si le consent de ce roy-
aulme iroyt au contraire, Votre
Haultesse en imputeroit la coulpe en
moy. Je supplie en toute humilite
votre Haultesse de differer ceste
affaire jusques a votre retour ; et
donques Votre Haultesse sera juge si
je seray coulpable ou non. Car au-
trement je vinray en jalousie de
Votre Haultesse la quelle sera pire a
moy que mort; car j'en ay com-
mence deja d'en taster trop a mon
grand regret,' &c. — Cotton MSS.,
Titus, B. 2 : printed very incorrectly
in STEYPE'S Memorials, vol. vi. 418.
574 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
in the interest of the Lords. So disastrously miserable
were all the consequences of her marriage, that it was
said, the Pope, who had granted the dispensation for
the contraction of it, had better grant another for its
dissolution.1 Unfortunately there was one direction
open in which her frenzy could have uncontrolled scope.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, after his trial and
his citation to Borne, addressed to the Queen a singular
letter : he did not ask for mercy, and evidently he did
not expect mercy : he reasserted calmly the truth of the
opinions for which he was to suffer ; but he protested
against the indignity done to the realm of England,
and the degradation of the royal prerogative, 'when the
King and Queen, as if they were subjects in their own
realm, complained and required justice at a stranger's
hand against their own subjects, being already condemn-
ed to death by their own laws/ ' Death/ he said, ' could
not grieve him much more than to have his most dread
and gracious sovereigns, to whom under God he owed
all obedience, to be his accusers in judgment before a
stranger and outward power.' 2
1 NOAILLES.
2 Cranmerto Queen Mary : JEN-
KINS, vol. i. p. 369. This protest
was committed to Pole to answer,
who replied to it at length.
The authority of the Pope in a
secular kingdom, the legate said,
was no more a foreign power than
' the authority of the soul of man
coming from heaven in the body
generate on earth.' 'The Pope's
laws spiritual did no other but that
the soul did in the body, giving
life to the same, confirming and
strengthening the same ; ' and that
it was which the angel signified in
Christ's conception, declaring what
his authority should be, that he
should sit super domum David, which
was a temporal reign, ut confirmet
illud et corroboret, as the spiritual
laws did.'
The quotation is inaccurate. The
words in the Vulgate arc, Dabit Hit
I555-] THE MARTYRS. 575
The appeal was intended perhaps to provoke the
Queen to let him die with his friends, in whose example
and companionship he felt his strength supported. But
it could not be ; he was the spectator of their fate,
while his own was still held at a distance before him.
He witnessed the agonies of Ridley ; and the long im-
prisonment, the perpetual chafing of Soto the Spanish
friar, and the dreary sense that he was alone, forsaken
of man, and perhaps of Gfod, began to wear into the
firmness of a many-sided susceptible nature. Some
vague indication that he might yield had been commu-
nicated to Pole by Soto before Christmas,1 and the
struggle which had evidently commenced was permitted
to protract itself. If the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the father of the Reformed Church of England, could
be brought to a recantation, that one victory might win
back the hearts which the general constancy of the
martyrs was drawing off in tens of thousands. Time,,
Dominus sedem David patris ej'us :
et regnabit in domo Jacob in ceternum.
The letter contains another il-
lustration of Pole's habit of mind.
' There was never spiritual man/
he says, ' put to execution according
to the order of the laws of the
realm but he was first by the canon
laws condemned and degraded ;
whereof there be as many examples
afore the time of breaking the old
order of the realm these last years,
us hath been delinquents. Let the
records be seen. And specially this
is notable of the Bishop of ,
which, being imprisoned for high
treason, the King would not proceed
to his condemnation and punish-
ment afore he bad the Pope's bull
given him. . . .'
The historical argument pro-
ceeded smoothly up to the name,
which, however, was not and is not
to be found. Pole was probably
thinking of Archbishop Scrope, who,
however, unfortunately for the argu-
ment, was put to death without the
Pope's sanction. — Draft of a Letter
from Cardinal Pole to Cranmer:
Harleian MSS. 417.
1 Pole to Philip : Epistola REG.
POL., vol. v. p. 47.
576 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
however, wore on, and the Archbishop showed no defin-
ite signs of giving way. On the I4th of December, a
mock trial was instituted at Rome ; the report of the
examination at Oxford was produced, and counsel were
heard on both sides, or so it was pretended. Paul
IV. then pronounced the final sentence, that Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, having been ac-
cused by his sovereigns of divers crimes and misde-
meanours, it had been proved against him that he had
followed the teachings of John WiclifF and Martin
Luther of accursed memory ; 1 that he had published
books containing matters of heresy, and still obstinately
persisted in those his erroneous opinions : he was there-
fore declared to be anathema, to be deprived of his
office, and having been degraded, he was to be delivered
over to the secular arm.
There was some delay in sending the judgment to
England. It arrived at the beginning of February,
I(.-6 and on the I4th, Thirlby and Bonner went
Feb. 14. down to finish tne wort at Oxford. The
court sat this time in Christ Church Cathedral. Cran-
mer was brought to the bar, and the Papal sentence
was read. The preamble declared that the cause had
been heard with indifference, that the accused had been
defended by an advocate, that witnesses had been ex-
amined for him, that he had been allowed every oppor-
tunity to answer for himself. ' 0 Lord/ he exclaimed,
' what lies be these ! that I, being in prison and never
1 DamnatcB memories. Sentence Definitive against Thomas Cranmer :
FOXE, vol. vir
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 577
suffered to have counsel or advocate at home, should
produce witness and appoint counsel at Rome; God
must needs punish this shameless lying/
Silence would perhaps have been more dignified ;
to speak at all was an indication of infirmity. As soon
as the reading was finished, the Archbishop was form-
ally arrayed in his robes, and when the decoration was
completed, Bonner called out in exultation :
"This is the man that hath despised the Pope's
Holiness, and now is to be judged by him; this is
the man that hath pulled down so many churches, and
now is come to be judged in a church ; this is the man
that hath contemned the blessed Sacrament of the altar,
and now is come to be condemned before that blessed
Sacrament hanging over the altar ; this is the man that,
like Lucifer, sat in the place of Christ upon an altar1
to judge others, and now is come before an altar to be
judged himself/2
Thirlby checked the insolence of his companion.
The degradation was about to commence, when the
Archbishop drew from his sleeve an appeal ' to the next
Free General Council that should be called/ It had
been drawn after consultation with a lawyer, in the evi-
dent hope that it might save or prolong his life,3 and he
attempted to present it to his judges. But he was
catching at straws, as in his clearer judgment he would
1 An allusion to a scaffold in St
Paul's Church, on which Cranmer
had sat as a commissioner ; said to
2 FOXE, vol. viii. p. 73.
3 Cranmer to a Lawyer : JEN-
KINS, vol. i. p. 384.
have been erected over an altar.
VOL. v. 37
$78 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
haVe known. Thirlby said sadly that the appeal could
hot be received ; his orders were absolute to proceed.
The robes were stripped off in the usual way. The
thin hair was clipped. Bonner with his own hands
scraped the finger points which had been touched with
the oil of consecration ; ' Now are you lord no longer/
he said, when the ceremony was finished. t All this
needed not/ Cranmer answered ; * I had myself done
with this gear long ago.'
He Was led off in a beadle's threadbare gown, and a
tradesman's cap ; and here for some important hours
authentic account of him is lost. What he did, what
he said, what Was done or what was said to him, is
known only in its results, or in Protestant tradition.
Tradition said that he was taken from the cathedral to
the house of the Dean of Christ Church, where he was
delicately entertained, and worked upon with smooth
words, and promises of life. 'The noblemen,' he was
told, 'bare him good- will; he was still strong, and
might live many years, why should he cut them short ? '
The story may contain some elements of truth. But
the same evening, certainly, he was again in his cell ;
and among the attempts to move him which can be
authenticated, there was one of a far different kind ; a
letter addressed to him by Pole to bring him to a sense
of his condition.
'Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ,' so the legate addressed a prisoner in
the expectation of death,1 'hath not Gk>d* He that
1 Epist. REG. POL., vol. v. p. 248. 1 wn obliged to abridge and epitomize
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 579
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the
Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed ; for he that biddeth him
God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. There are some
who tell me that, in obedience to this command, I ought
not to address you, or to have any dealings with you,
save the dealings of a judge with a criminal. But
Christ came not to judge only, but also to save ; I call
upon you, not to enter into your house, for so I should
make myself a partaker with you ; my desire is only
to bring you back to the Church which you have de-
serted.
' You have corrupted Scripture, you have broken
through the communion of saints, and now I tell you
what you must do ; I tell you, or rather not I, but
Christ and the Church through me. Did I follow my
own impulse, or did I speak in my own name, I should
hold other language : to you I should not speak at all ;
I would address myself only to God ; I would pray him
to let fall the fire of Heaven to consume you, and to
consume witl vou the house into which you have
entered in abandoning the Church.1
' You pretend that you have used no instruments
1 Car se je n'ecoutois que les | maison ou vous avez passe en aban-
mouvemens de la nature, se je ne
vous parlois qu'en mon nom, je vous
tiendrois un autre langage an plut8t
je ne vous dirois rien ; je m'entreti-
donnant 1'Eglise. The letter was
only known to the editor of Pole's
remains in a French translation. I
do not know whether the original
endrois avec Dieu seul at je lui de- I exists, or whether it was in Latin or
raanderois de faire tomber le feu du 1 in "English.
ciel pour vous consumer avec cette i
REIGN OF QUEEK MARY.
33-
but reason, to lead men after you ; what instrument
did the devil use to seduce our parents in Paradise ? you
have followed the serpent; with guile you destroyed
your King, the realm, and the Church, and you have
brought to perdition thousands of human souls.
' Compared with you, all others who have been con-
cerned in these deeds of evil, are but objects of pity ;
many of them long resisted temptation, and yielded only
to the seductions of your impious tongue ; you made
yourself a bishop, — for what purpose, but to mock both
God and man ? Your first act was but to juggle with
your King, and you were no sooner Primate, than you
plotted how you might break your oath to the Holy
See ; you took part in the counsels of the evil one, you
made your home with the wicked, you sat in the seat
of the scornful. You exhorted your King with your
fine words, to put away his wife ; you prated to him of
his obligations to submit to the judgment of the
Church ; J and what has followed that unrighteous
sentence ? You parted the King from the wife with
whom he had lived for twenty years ; you parted him
from the Church, the common mother of the faithful ;
and thenceforth throughout the realm law has been
trampled under foot, the people have been ground with
1 The innumerable modern writ-
el s who agree with Pole on the in-
iquity of the divorce of Catherine
forget that, according to the rule
which most of us now acknowledge,
the marriage of Henry with his bro-
ther's wife really was incestuous —
really was forbidden by the laws of
God and nature ; that the Pope had
no more authority to dispense with
those laws then than he has now ;
and that if modern law is right,
Cranmer did no more than his duty.
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 581
tyranny, the churches pillaged, the nobility murdered
one by the other.
1 Therefore, I say, were I to make my own cries
heard in heaven, I would pray God to demand at your
hands the blood of his servants. Never had religion,
never had the Church of Christ, a worse enemy than you
have been ; now therefore, when you are about to suffer
the just reward of your deeds, think no more to excuse
yourself ; confess your sins, like the penitent thief upon
the cross.
1 Say not in your defence that you have done no
violence, that you have been kind and gentle in }^our
daily life. Thus I know men speak of you ; but cheat
not your conscience with so vain a plea. The devil,
when called to answer for the souls that he has slain,
may plead likewise that he did not desire their de-
struction ; he thought only to make them happy, to
give them pleasure, honour, riches — all things which
their hearts desired. So did you with your King : you
gave him the woman that he lusted after ; you gave him
the honour which was not his due, and the good things
which were neither his nor yours ; and, last and worst,
you gave him poison, in covering his iniquities with a
cloak of righteousness. Better, far better, you had
offered him courtezans for companions ; better you and
he had been open thieves and robbers. Then he might
have understood his crimes, and have repented of them ;
but you tempted him into the place where there is no
repentance, no hope of salvation.
' Turn then yourself, and repent. See yourself as
582 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
you are. Thus may you escape your prison. Thus may
you flee out of the darkness wherein you have hid your-
self. Thus may you come back to light and life, and earn
for yourself God's forgiveness. I know not how to deal
with you. Your examination at Oxford has but hardened
you ; yet the issue is with God. I at least can point
out to you the way. If you, then, persist in your vain
opinions, may God have mercy on you/
The legate, in his office of guide, then travelled the
full round of controversy, through Catholic tradition,
through the doctrine of the Sacraments and of the real
presence, where there is no need to follow him. At
length he drew to his conclusion :
* You will plead Scripture to answer me. Are you
so vain, then, are you so foolish, as to suppose that it
has been left to you to find out the meaning of those
Scriptures which have been in the hands of the Fathers
of the Church for so many ages ? Confess, confess that
you have mocked God in denying that he is present on
the altar ; wash out your sins with tears ; and in the
abundance of your sorrow you may find pardon. May
it be so. Even for the greatness of your crimes may it
be so, that God may have the greater glory. You have
not, like others, fallen through simplicity, or fallen
through fear. You were corrupted, like the Jews, by
earthly rewards and promises. For your own profit
you denied the presence of your Lord, and you re-
belled against his servant the Pope. May you see your
crimes. May you feel the greatness of your need of
inercy. Now, even now, by my mouth, Christ offers
J556-] ?#£ MARTYRS. 583
you tliat mercy ; and with the passionate hope which I
am bound to feel for your salvation, I wait your answer
to your Master's call.'
The exact day on which this letter reached the Arch-
bishop is uncertain, but it was very near the period of
bis sentence. Jle had dared death bravely while it was
distant ; but he was physically timid ; the near approach
of the agony which he had witnessed in others un-
nerved him ; and in a moment of mental and moral
prostration Oranmer may well have looked in the mirror
which Pole held up to him, and asked himself whether,
after all, the being there described was his true image
— whether it was himself as others saw him. A faith
which had existed for centuries, a faith in which gener-
ation after generation have lived happy and virtuous
lives ; a faith in which all good men are agreed, and
only the bad dispute — such a faith carries an evidence
and a weight with it beyond what can be looked for in
a creed reasoned out by individuals — a creed which had
the ban upon it of inherited execration ; which had been
held in abhorrence once by him who was now called
upon to die for it. Only fools and fanatics believe that
they cannot be mistaken. Sick misgivings may have
taken hold upon him in moments of despondency,
whether, after all, the millions who received the Roman
supremacy might not be more right than the thousands
who denied it ; whether the argument on the real pre-
sence, which had satisfied him for fifty years, might not be
better founded than his recent doubts. It is not possi-
ble for a man of gentle and modest nature to feel him-
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[CH. 33.
self the object of intense detestation without uneasy
pangs ; and as such thoughts came and went, a window
might seem to open, through which there was a return
to life and freedom. His trial was not greater than
hundreds of others had borne, and would bear with con-
stancy ; but the temperaments of men are unequally
constituted, and a subtle intellect and a sensitive organ-
ization are not qualifications which make martyrdom
easy.
Life1, by the law of the Church, by justice, by pre-
cedent, was given to all who would accept it on terms
of submission. That the Archbishop should be tempted
to recant, with the resolution formed, notwithstanding,
that he should still suffer, whether he yielded or whether
he was obstinate, was a suspicion which his experience
of the legate had not taught him to entertain.
So it was that Cranmer's spirit gave way, and he
who had disdained to fly when flight was open to him,
because he considered that, having done the most in
establishing the Reformation, he was bound to face the
responsibility of it, fell at last under the protraction of
the trial.
The day of his degradation the Archbishop had
eaten little. In the evening he returned to his cell in
a state of exhaustion : * the same night, or the next day,
he sent in his first submission,2 which was forwarded on
1 JENKINS, vol. iv. p. 129.
2 Forasmuch as the King's and
Queen's Majesties, hy consent of
Parliament, have received the Pope's
authority within this realm, I am
content to submit myself to their
laws herein, and to take the Pope
for chief head of this Church of
I556-]
THE MARTYRS.
the instant to the Queen. It was no sooner gone than
he recalled it, and then vacillating again, he drew a
second, in slightly altered words, which he signed and
did not recall. There had been a struggle in which the
weaker nature had prevailed, and the orthodox leaders
made haste to improve their triumph. The first step
being over, confessions far more humiliating could now
be extorted. Bonner came to his cell, and obtained
from him a promise in writing, l to submit to the King
and Queen in all their laws and ordinances, as well
touching the Pope's supremacy, as in all other things ;'
with an engagement further ' to move and stir all others
to do the like/ and to live in quietness and obedience,
without murmur or grudging ; his book on the Sacra-
ment he would submit to the next general council.
These three submissions must have followed one
another rapidly. On the i6th of February, two days
only after his trial, he made a fourth, and yielding the
point which he ha.d reserved, he declared that he be-
lieved all the articles of the Christian religion as the
Catholic Church believed. But so far he had spoken
generally, and the Court required particulars. In a fifth
and longer submission,1 he was made to anathematize
England so far as God's laws and
the customs of this realm will per-
mit.
THOMAS CKANMER.
1 Of this fifth submission there
is a contemporary copy among the
MSS. at Corpus Christi College,
Oxford. It was the only one known
to Foxe ; and this, with, the fact of
its being found in a separate form,
gives a colour of probability to Mr
Southey's suspicion that the rest
were forgeries. The whole collec-
tion was published by Bonner, who
injured his claims to credit by print-
ing with the others a seventh re-
cantation, which was never made,
and by concealing the real truth.
586 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [en. 33.
particularly the heresies of Luther and Zuinglius ; to
accept the Pope as the head of the Church, out of which
was no salvation ; to acknowledge the real presence in
the Eucharist, the seven sacraments as received by the
Roman Catholics, and purgatory. He professed his
penitence for having once held or taught otherwise, and
he implored the prayers of all faithful Christians, that
those whom he had seduced might be brought back to
the true fold.
The demands of the Church might have been satis-
fied by these last admissions ; but Cranmer had not yet
expiated his personal offences against the Queen and
her mother, and he was to drain the cup of humiliation
to the dregs.
A month was allowed to pass. He was left with
the certainty of his shame, and the uncertainty whether,
after all. it had not been encountered in vain.
March 18.
On the loth of March, one more paper was
submitted to his signature, in which he confessed to be
all which Pole had described him. He called himself a
blasphemer, and a persecutor ; being unable to undo his
evil work, he had no hope, he said, save in the example
of the thief upon the cross, who when other means of
reparation were taken from him, made amends to God
with his lips He was unworthy of mercy, and he de-
served eternal vengeance. He had sinned against King
But the balance of evidence I still
think is in favour of the genuineness
of the first six. The first four lead
up to the fifth, and the invention of
them after the fifth had been made
would have been needless. The
sixth I agree with Strype in con-
sidering to have been composed by
Pole, and signed by Cranmer.
THE MARTYRS. 5^7
Henry and his wife ; lie was the cause of the divorce,
from which, as from a seed, had sprung up schism,
heresy, and crime ; he had opened a window to false
doctrines of which he had been himself the most per-
nicious teacher ; especially he reflected with anguish
that he had denied the presence of his Maker in the
consecrated elements. He had deceived the living and
he had robbed the souls of the dead by stealing from
them their masses. He prayed the Pope to pardon him ;
he prayed the King and Queen to pardon him ; he
prayed God Almighty to pardon him, as he had par-
doned Mary Magdalen ; or to look upon him as, from
his own cross, He had looked upon the thief.1
The most ingenious malice could invent no deeper
degradation, and the Archbishop might now die. One
favour was granted to him alone of all the sufferers for
religion — that he might speak at his death ; speak,
and, like Northumberland, perish with a recantation on
his lips.
The hatred against him was confined to the Court.
Even among those who had the deepest distaste for his
opinions, his character had won affection and respect ;
and when it was known that he was to be executed,
there was a wide-spread and profound emotion. ' Al-
though,' says a Catholic who witnessed his death, ' his
former life and wretched end deserved a greater misery,
if any greater might have chanced to him ; yet, setting
aside his offence to God and his country, beholding the
Recantations of Thomas Cranmer : JENKINS, vol. iv. p. 393.
588 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
man without his faults, I think there was none that
pitied not his case and bewailed not his fortune, and
feared not his own chance, to see so noble a prelate, so
grave a councillor, of so long-: continued honours, after
so many dignities, in his old years to be deprived of his
estate, adjudged to die, and in so painful a death to end
his life.' l
On Saturday, the 2ist of March, Lord
"Williams was again ordered into Oxford to
keep the peace, with Lord Chandos, Sir Thomas Brydges,
and other gentlemen of the county. If they allowed
themselves to countenance by their presence the scene
which they were about to witness, it is to be remembered
that but a few years since, these same gentlemen had
seen Catholic priests swinging from the pinnacles of
their churches. The memory of the evil days was still
recent, and amidst the tumult of conflicting passions, no
one could trust his neighbour, and organized resistance
was impracticable.
The March morning broke wild and stormy. The
sermon intended to be preached at the stake was ad-
journed, in consequence of the wet, to St Mary's, where
a high stage was erected, on which Cranmer was to
stand conspicuous. Peers, knights, doctors, students,
priests, men-at-arms, and citizens, thronged the narrow
aisles, and through the midst of them the Archbishop
was led in by the mayor. As he mounted the platform
1 Death of Cranmer, related by a Bystander : Harkian MS8., 442.
Printed, with some inaccuracies, by STRYPE.
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 589
many of the spectators were in tears. He knelt and
prayed silently, and Cole, the Provost of Eton, then
took his place in the pulpit.
Although, by a strained interpretation of the law,
it could be pretended that the time of grace had expired
with the trial ; yet, to put a man to death at all after
recantation was a proceeding so violent and unusual,
that some excuse or some explanation was felt to be
necessary.
Cole therefore first declared why it was expedient
that the late Archbishop should suffer, notwithstanding
his reconciliation. One reason was ' for that he had
been a great causer of all the alterations in the realm of
England ; and when the matter of the divorce between
King Henry VIII. and Queen Catherine was commenced
in the Court of Rome, he, having nothing to do with it,
sat upon it as a judge, which was the entry to all the
inconvenients which followed/ Yet in that Mr Cole
excused him — that he thought he did it, not 'out of
malice, but by the persuasion and advice of certain
learned men/
Another occasion was, 'for that he had been the
great setter- forth of all the heresy received into the
Church in the latter times ; had written in it, had dis-
puted, had continued it even to the last hour ; and it
had never been seen in the time of schism that any man
continuing so long had been pardoned, and that it was
not to be remitted for example's sake/
' And other causes/ Cole added, ' moved the Queen
590
REIGN OF QUEEN' MARY.
[CH. 33.
and council thereto, which, were not meet and convenient
for every one to understand/ l
The explanations being finished, the preacher ex-
horted his audience to take example from the spectacle
before them, to fear God, and to learn that there was no
power against the Lord. There, in their presence, stood
a man, once ' of so high degree — sometime one of the
chief prelates of the Church — an Archbishop, the chief
of the council, the second person of the realm : of long
time, it might be thought, in great assurance, a king on
his side ; ' and now, ' notwithstanding all his authority
and defence, debased from a high estate unto a low
degree — of a councillor become a caitiff, and set in so
wretched estate that the poorest wretch would not
change conditions with him/
Turning, in conclusion, to Cranmer himself, Cole
then ' comforted and encouraged him to take his death
well by many places in Scripture ; bidding him nothing
mistrust but that he should incontinently receive that
the thief did, to whom Christ said, To-day shalt thou
be with me in Paradise. Out of Paul he armed him
against the terrors of fire, by the words, The Lord is
1 Narrative of the Execution of
Thomas Cranmer : MS. Harletan,
422. Another account gives among
the causes which Cole mentioned,
that ' it seemed meet, according to
the law of equality, that, as the
death of the Duke of Northumber-
land of late made even with Sir
Thomas More, Chancellor, that died
for the Church, so there should be
one that should make even with
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester ; and
because that Ridley, Hooper, and
Ferrars were not able to make even
with that man, it seemed that Cran-
mer should be joined with them to
fill up their part of equality.' —
FOXE, vol. viii. p. 85. JENKINS,
vol. iv. p. 133.
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 591
faithful, and will not suffer you to be tempted beyond
that which you are able to bear ; by the example of the
three Children, to whom God made the flame seem like
a pleasant joy ; by the rejoicing of St Andrew on his
cross ; by the patience of St Lawrence on the fire.' He
dwelt upon his conversion, which, he said, was the
special work of God, because so many efforts had been
made by men to work upon him, and had been made in
vain. God, in his own time, had reclaimed him, and
brought him home.
A dirge, the preacher said, should be sung for him
in every church in Oxford ; he charged all the priests
to say each a mass for the repose of his soul ; and finally,
he desired the congregation present to kneel where they
were, and pray for him.
The whole crowd fell on their knees, the Archbishop
with them ; and < I think/ says the eye-witness,1 ( that
there was never such a number so earnestly praying
together ; for they that hated him before, now loved
him for his conversion, and hopes of continuance : they
that loved him before could not suddenly hate him,
having hope of his confession; so love and hope in-
creased devotion on every side.'
' I shall not need/ says the same writer, * to describe
his behaviour for the time of sermon, his sorrowful
countenance, his heavy cheer, his face bedewed with
tears ; sometimes lifting his eyes to heaven in hope,
sometimes casting them down to the earth for shame —
1 MS. Rarleian, 422.
592 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
to be brief, an image of sorrow, the dolour of his heart
bursting out of his eyes, retaining ever a quiet and
grave behaviour, which increased the pity in men's
hearts/
His own turn to speak was now come. When the
prayer was finished, the preacher said, ' Lest any man
should doubt the sincerity of this man's repentance, you
shall hear him speak before you. I pray you, Master
Cranmer/ he added, turning to him, ' that you will now
perform that you promised not long ago ; that you
would openly express the true and undoubted profes-
sion of your faith.'
' I will do it,' the Archbishop answered.
'Good Christian people,' he began, 'my dear, be-
loved brethren and sisters in Christ, I beseech you most
heartily to pray for me to Almighty God, that he will
forgive me all my sins and offences, which be many and
without number, and great above measure ; one thing
grieveth my conscience more than all the rest, whereof,
God willing, I shall speak more ; but how many or how
great soever they be, I beseech you to pray God of his
mercy to pardon and forgive them all.'
Falling again on his knees ; —
' 0 Father of heaven,' he prayed, ' 0 Sou of God,
Redeemer of the world, 0 Holy Ghost, three Persons
and one God, have mercy upon me, most wretched
caitiff and miserable sinner. I have offended both
heaven and earth more than my tongue can express ;
whither then may I go, or whither should I flee for
succour ? To heaven I am ashamed to lift up mine
I556-} THE MARTYRS. 593
eyes, and in earth I find no succour nor refuge. What
shall I do ? Shall I despair ? God forbid ! Oh, good
God, thou art merciful, and refusest none that come to
thee for succour. To thee, therefore, do I come ; to
thee do I humble myself, saying, 0 Lord, my sins be
great, yet have mercy on me for thy great mercy.
The mystery was not wrought that God became man,
for few or little offences. Thou didst not give thy Son,
0 Father, for small sins only, but for all and the
greatest in the world, so that the sinner return to thee
with a penitent heart, as I do at this present. Where-
fore have mercy upon me, 0 Lord, whosp property is al-
ways to have mercy ; although my sins be great, yet is
thy mercy greater ; wherefore have mercy upon me, 0
Lord, for thy great mercy. I crave nothing, 0 Lord,
for mine own merits, but for thy Name's sake, and,
therefore, 0 Father of heaven, hallowed be thy Name.'
Then rising, he went on with his address : —
'Every man desireth, good people, at the time of
his death, to give some good exhortation that others
may remember after his death, and be the better there-
by ; for one word spoken of a man at his last end1 will
1 Shakspeare was perhaps thinking of this speech of Cranmer when he
wrote the magnificent lines which he placed in the mouth of the dying
Gaunt :—
4 0, but they say, the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention, like deep harmony :
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain :
For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain.
He, that no more must say, is listened more
Than they whom youth and ease have taught to gloze ;
VOL. v. 38
594 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY [CH. 33.
be more remembered than the sermons made of them
that live and remain. So I beseech God grant me
grace, that I may speak something at my departing
whereby God may be glorified and you edified.
' But it is an heavy case to see that many folks be so
doted upon the love of this false world, and be so care-
ful for it, that of the love of God or the world to come,
they seem to care very little or nothing ; therefore this
shall be my first exhortation — that you set not over-
much by this glozing world, but upon God and the
world to come; and learn what this lesson meaneth
which St John teacheth, that the love of the world is
hatred against God.
' The second exhortation is, that next unto God, you
obey your King and Queen willingly, without murmur
or grudging, not for fear of them only, but much more
for the fear of God, knowing that they be God's ministers,
appointed of God to rule and govern you, and there-
fore whosoever resisteth them resisteth God's ordin-
ance.
' The third exhortation is, that you live all together
like brethren and sisters : but, alas ! pity it is to see
what contention and hatred one man hath against an-
other, not taking each other for brethren and sisters,
but rather as strangers and mortal enemies. But I pray
you learn and bear well away the lesson, to do good to
More are men's ends marked, than their lives before
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last ;
Writ in remembrance more than things long past.'
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 595
all men as much as in you lietli, and hurt no man no
more than you would hurt your own natural brother or
sister. For this you may be sure, that whosoever
hateth his brother or sister, and goeth about maliciously
to hinder or hurt him, surely, and without all doubt,
God is not with that man, although he think himself
never so much in God's favour.
' The fourth exhortation shall be to them that have
great substance and riches of this world, that they may
well consider and weigh tli cse three sayings of the Scrip-
tures. One is of our Saviour Christ himself, who saith
that it is a hard thing for a rich man to come to heaven ;
a sore saying, and spoken of Him that knoweth the
truth. The second is of St John, whose saying is this :
He that hath the substance of this world, and seeth his
brother in necessity, and shutteth up his compassion
and mercy from him, how can he say he loveth God ?
The third is of St James, who speaketh to the covetous
and rich men after this manner : Weep and howl for
the misery which shall come upon you ; your riches doth
rot, your clothes be moth-eaten, your gold and silver is
cankered and rusty, and the rust thereof shall bear
witness against you, and consume you like fire ; you
gather and hoard up treasure of God's indignation
against the last day. I tell them which be rich, ponder
these sentences ; for if ever they had occasion to show
their charity, they have it now at this present ; the poor
people being so many, and victuals so dear; for al-
though I have been long in prison, yet have I heard of
the great penury of the poor.'
596
REIGN OF QUEEN
33-
The people listened breathless, ' intending upon the
conclusion.'
' And now/ he went on, ' forasmuch as I am come to
the last end of my life, whereupon hangeth all my life
past and all my life to come, either to live with my
Saviour Christ in joy, or else to be ever in pain with
wicked devils in hell ; and I see before mine eyes pre-
sently either heaven ' — and he pointed upwards with
his hand — ( or hell/ and he pointed downwards, ' ready
to swallow me. I shall therefore declare unto you my
very faith, without colour or dissimulation ; for now it
is no time to dissemble. I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; in every article
of the Catholic faith ; every word and sentence taught
by our Saviour Christ, his apostles, and prophets, in the
Old and New Testament.
1 And now I come to the great thing that troubleth
my conscience more than any other thing that ever I
said or did in my life, and that is the setting abroad of
writings contrary to the truth, which here I now re-
nounce and refuse,1 as things written with my hand
1 There are two original con-
temporary accounts of Cramner's
Vfords—Harleian M8S., 417 and
422, — and they agree so far almost
word for word with 'The Prayer
and Saying of Thomas Cranmer a
little before his Death,' which was
published immediately after by Bon-
iier. But we now encounter the
singular difficulty, that the con-
clusion given by Bonner is altogether
different. The Archbishop is made
to repeat his recantation, and ex-
press especial grief for the books
which he had written upon the
Sacrament.
There is no uncertainty as to
what Cranmer really said; but, in-
•asmuch as Bonner at the head of
his version of the speech has de-
scribed it as ' written with his own
hand,' it has been inferred that he
I556-]
THE MARTYRS.
597
contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and
written for fear of death to save my life, if it might be ;
and that is, all such bills and papers as I have written
and signed with my hand since my degradation, wherein
I have written many things untrue ; and forasmuch as
my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, my
hand therefore shall first be punished; for if I may
come to the fire, it shall be the first burnt. As for the
Pope, I utterly refuse him, as Christ's enemy and Anti-
Christ, with all his false doctrine ; and as for the Sacra-
ment, I believe as I have taught in my book against
the Bishop of Winchester/
So far the Archbishop was allowed to continue, be-
was required to make a copy of what
he intended to say, — that he actually
wrote what Boimer printed, hoping
to the end that his life would be
spared ; and that he would have re"
peated it publicly, had he seen that
there -was a chance of his escape.
Finding, however, that bis execution
had been irrevocably determined on,
he made the substitution at the last
moment.
' There are many difficulties in
this view, chiefly from the character
of the speech itself, which has the
stamp upon it of too evident sin-
cerity to have been composed with
any underhand intentions. The tone
is in harmony throughout, and the
beginning leads naturally to the
conclusion Avhich Cranmer really
spoke.
There is another explanation,
which is to me more credible. The
Catholics were furious at their ex-
pected triumph being snatched from
them. AVhether Cranmer did or did
not write what Bonner says he
wrote, Bonner knew that lie had not
spoken- it, and yet was dishonest
enough to print it as having been
spoken by him, evidently hoping
that the truth could be suppressed,
and that the Catholic cause might
escape the injury which the Arch-
bishop's recovered constancy must
inflict upon it. A man who was
capable of so considerable u false-
hood would not have hesitated for
the same good purpose to alter a few
sentences. Pious frauds have been
committed by more religious men
than Edmund Bonner. See the
Itecantation of Thomas Cranmer,
reprinted from Bonner's original
pamphlet : JENKINS, vol. iv. p. 393.
598 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
fore his astonished hearers could collect themselves.
* Play the Christian man/ Lord Williams at length was
able to call; ' remember yourself; do not dissemble/
* Alas ! my Lord/ the Archbishop answered, ' I have
been a man that all my life loved plainness, and never
dissembled till now, which I am most sorry for/ He
would have gone on ; but cries now rose on all sides,
' Pull him down/ ' Stop his mouth/ ' Away with him/
and he was borne off by the throng out of the church.
The stake was a quarter of a mile distant, at the spot
already consecrated by the deaths of Ridley and Lati-
mer. Priests and monks ' who did rue1 to see him go
so wickedly to his death, ran after him, exhorting him,
while time was, to remember himself/ But Cranmer,
having flung down the burden of his shame, had re-
covered his strength, and such words had no longer
power to trouble him. He approached the stake with
' a cheerful countenance/ undressed in haste, and stood
upright in his shirt. Soto and another Spanish friar
continued expostulating ; but finding they could effect
nothing, one said in Latin to the other, 'Let us go
from him, for the devil is within him/ An Oxford
theologian — his name was Ely — being more clamorous,
drew from him only the answer that, as touching his
recantation, ' he repented him right sore, because he
knew that it was against the truth/
' Make short, make short ! ' Lord Williams cried,
hastily.
1 Harleian MS., 422. Strype has misread the word into ' run,' losing
the point of the expression.
1556.] THE MARTYRS. 599
The Archbishop shook hands with his friends ; Ely
only drew back, calling, ' Recant, recant,' and bidding
others not approach him.
' This was the hand that wrote it,' Cranmer said,
extending his right arm ; ' this was the hand that wrote
it, therefore it shall suffer first punishment.' Before
his body was touched, he held the offending member
steadily in the name, 'and never stirred nor cried/ The
wood was dry and mercifully laid ; the fire was rapid
at its work, and he was soon dead. ' His friends/ said
a Catholic bystander, ' sorrowed for love, his enemies for
pity, strangers for a common kind of humanity, whereby
we are bound to one another/
So perished Cranmer. He was brought out, with
the eyes of his soul blinded, to make sport for his
enemies, and in his death he brought upon them a wider
destruction than he had effected by his teaching while
alive. Pole was appointed the next day to the See of
Canterbury ; but in other respects the Court had over-
reached themselves by their cruelty. Had they been
contented to accept the recantation, they would have
left the Archbishop to die broken-hearted, pointed at by
the finger of pitying scorn ; and the Reformation would
have been disgraced in its champion. They were
tempted, by an evil spirit of revenge, into an act unsauc-
tioned even by their own bloody laws ; and they gave
him an opportunity of redeeming his fame, and of writ-
ing his name in the roll of martyrs. The worth of a
man must be measured by his life, not by his failure
under a single and peculiar trial. The Apostle, thougr
6oo REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. [CH. 33.
forewarned, denied his Master on the first alarm of dan-
ger ; yet that Master, who knew his nature in its strength
and its infirmity, chose him for the rock on which He
would build His Church.
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