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THE
HISTORY OF ENGLAND,
VOL. V.
Printed by J. & H. Cox (Brothers), 74 & 75, Great Queen Street,
Lincoln's- Inn Fields.
THE
HISTORY OF ENGLAND,
FROM THE FIRST
INVASION BY THE ROMANS
TO THE
ACCESSION OF WILLIAM AND MARY
IN 1688.
BY JOHN LINGARD, D.D.
THE FIFTH EDITION,
REVISED AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED,
IN TEN VOLUMES.
VOL. V.
LONDON:
CHARLES DOLMAN, 61, NEW BOND ST
MDCCCXLIX.
CONTENTS
OP
THE FIFTH VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
HENRY VII I.— continued.
THE KING MARRIES ANNE BOLEYN — CRANMER MADE ARCHBISHOP OF CAN-
TERBURY HE PRONOUNCES A DIVORCE BETWEEN HENRY AND CATHERINE
— THE KINO ASSUMES THE TITLE OF HEAD OF THE CHURCH — NEW TREASONS
CREATED — EXECUTIONS — PAPAL BULL AGAINST HENRY.
Henry marries Anne . . . . 3
Cranmer made archbishop . . 5
He promises a divorce .. .. 11
Birth of the Princess Elizabeth. . 13
Clement annuls the judgment
given by Cranmer . . . . 14
Wavering conduct of Henry . . 15
Interview between Clement and
Francis 16
Henry appeals to a general council 17
Final sentence of Clement . . 18
Separation of England from the
communion of Rome . . . . 19
Statutes respecting the church . . 20
And the succession to the crown 22
Execution of Elizabeth Barton . . 27
Prosecution of Bishop Fisher . . ib.
And of Sir Thomas More . . 29
New statutes and treasons . . 33
Opposition to the supremacy . . 35
Prosecutions . . . . 38
Execution of Bishop Fisher . . 41
Trial of More 42
His condemnation . . . . 44
And death 45
Papal bull against Henry . . 47
VOL. V.
VI
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II.
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
I. KING S SUPREMACY ITS NATURE CROMWELL MADE VICAR-GENERAL —
BISHOPS TAKE OUT NEW POWERS. II. DISSOLUTION OF MONASTERIES
LESSER MONASTERIES SUPPRESSED — DEATH OF QUEEN CATHERINE
ARREST, DIVORCE, AND EXECUTION OF ANNE INSURRECTION IN THE
NORTH POLE'S LEGATION GREATER MONASTERIES GIVEN TO THE KING.
— in. DOCTRINE — HENRY'S CONNECTION WITH THE LUTHERAN PRINCES —
ARTICLES INSTITUTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN DEMOLITION OF SHRINES
PUBLICATION OF THE BIBLE. IV. PERSECUTION OF LOLLARDS ANABAP-
TISTS REFORMERS TRIAL OF LAMBERT POLE*S SECOND LEGATION
EXECUTION OF HIS RELATIONS. V. STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO PARTIES
STATUTE OF THE SIX ARTICLES — MARRIAGE WITH ANNE OF CLEVES
DIVORCE FALL OF CROMWELL MARRIAGE WITH CATHERINE HOWARD
HER EXECUTION STANDARD OF ENGLISH ORTHODOXY.
Nature of the supremacy . . 49
Cromwell vicar-general . . . . 51
Bishops sue out new powers . . ib.
Dissolution of monasteries . . 53
Suppression of the lesser monas-
teries . . . . . . 56
Some are respited . . . . 57
Death of Catherine . . . . 59
Queen Anne's miscarriage . . 62
Her imprisonment . . . . 64
Her behaviour in prison. . 65
Trial of the queen . . . . 67
Cranmer pronounces a divorce . . 73
She is beheaded 76
Mary reconciled to her father . . 78
Insurrection in the northern
counties . . . . 82
The pilgrimage of grace . . . . 84
It is suppressed . . . . . . 87
Pole's legation defeated . . . . 89
Dissolution of the greater monas-
teries 91
OfFurness 92
Proceedings of the commissioners 93
Monastic property vested in the
king 96
New bishoprics established . . 99
Doctrine of the English church. . 100
Attempted union of the king with
the German reformers . . 101
It fails 104
Articles of doctrine . . . . ib.
Institution of a Christian .. 105
Envoys from the Lutheran
princes . . . . . . . . 106
Destruction of shrines . . . . 107
Tyndal's Bible 110
Matthewe's Bible .. ..Ill
Persecution of Lollards . . . . 113
Of Reformers 114
Trial of Lambert 116
Arrest and execution of the bro-
thers of Pole 120
Second legation of Pole . . . . 123
The pope orders the publication
of the bull against Henry . . ib.
Arrest and execution of Pole's
mother 125
Struggle of parties .. .. 127
Statute of the six articles . . 129
Terror of Cranmer . . . . 131
Acts of parliament . . . . 133
King's marriage with Anne of
Cleves 137
His disappointment . . . . ib.
Imprudence of Barnes . . . . 139
Cromwell's speech at the opening
of parliament . . . . . . 140
He is arrested 142
And attainted 143
King divorced from Anne . . ib.
Execution of Cromwell . . . . 148
Other executions . . . . . . 149
King marries Catherine Howard 150
She is accused of incontinency . . 151
Condemned 156
And executed . . . . . . 158
Restraint on the reading of the
Scriptures 159
Erudition of a Christian man . . 161
CONTENTS.
VI 1
CHAPTER III.
STATUTES RESPECTING WALES TRANSACTIONS IN IRELAND NEGOTIATIONS
AND WAR WITH SCOTLAND RUPTURE WITH FRANCE — PEACE TAXES
DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY CRANMER — GARDINER KING'S LAST
ILLNESS — EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF SURREY — ATTAINDER OF THE DUKE
OF NORFOLK — DEATH OF HENRY HIS CHARACTER — SUBSERVIENCY OF THE
PARLIAMENT — DOCTRINE OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE — SERVILITY OF RELIGIOUS
PARTIES.
Wales .. ... - .. ..162
Ireland 164
Rebellion of Kildare .v- . . 165
Pacification of Ireland . . . . 168
Scotland .. .. .; .. 170
Marriage of James .. ..172
Negotiations .. .. ..173
An interview refused by James . . 176
War between the two crowns . . 177
A marriage proposed between
Edward and Mary . . . . 179
It is agreed to on certain conditions 181
The treaty broken . . . . 182
Invasion of Scotland .. .. 183
Peace 184
Henry is discontented with Francis 185
Concludes a treaty with the em-
peror ib.
War with France 186
Siege of Boulogne . . 188
Francis makes peace with the
emperor . . . . . . 189
England insulted by the French
fleet 190
Peace with France . . . . 191
Taxes .. 192
Loans ib.
A benevolence 193
Adulteration of the money . . 194
Another subsidy . . . . . . ib.
Danger of Cranmer . . . . 195
And of Gardiner 197
Also of Queen Catherine . . 198
Death of Askew and others . . 201
Henry's last speech on religion. . 202
His maladies and inquietude . . 203
Rivalry between the Howards and
Seymours 204
Disgrace of Gardiner and arrest
of the Howards . . . . 205
Execution of the earl of Surrey. . 208
Confession and attainder of the
duke of Norfolk .. .. ib.
King's death 211
The king's will 212
His character 217
House of Lords 219
House of Commons . . . . 221
Flattery of the king . . . . ib.
Ecclesiastical influence of the
crown 223
Servility of the opposite parties . . 224
Extraordinary statutes . . . . 225
Prosecutions for treason. . . . 227
CHAPTER IV.
EDWARD VI.
HERTFORD IS MADE PROTECTOR AND DUKE OF SOMERSET WAR WITH SCOT-
LAND— BATTLE OF PINKENCLEUGH — PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION —
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER — LORD ADMIRAL ARRESTED AND BEHEADED
DISCONTENT AND INSURRECTIONS FRANCE DECLARES WAR — PROTECTOR
IS SENT TO THE TOWER AND DISCHARGED — PEACE DEPRIVATION OF
BISHOPS — TROUBLES OF THE LADY MARY FOREIGN PREACHERS SOMERSET
ARRESTED AND EXECUTED — NEW PARLIAMENT — WARWICK'S AMBITION —
DEATH OF THE KING.
The council of regency . . . . 231
The earl of Hertford protector . . 233
VOL. V. A
Creation of new titles
Coronation of Edward
235
237
Vlll
CONTENTS.
Address of Cranmer . , . . 238
The chancellor removed . . . . 23S
Somerset made independent of
the council . . . . fm 241
Negotiation with France. . . . 242
Treaty with the murderers of
Beaton . . . . . . . . 243
They are reduced by the governor 246
The protector invades Scotland. . 247
He returns to England .. .. 249
Religious innovations . . . . ib.
New commissions to the bishops 250
Visitation of dioceses .. ..251
Opposition of Gardiner . . . . 252
He is imprisoned. . . . 253
A parliament . . . . . . 254
Grant of chantries . . . . ib.
Repeal of new treasons . . . . 255
Petition of clergy refused . . 256
Election of bishops . . . . 258
Suppression of mendicity . \ ib.
Ecclesiastical injunctions . . 262
Gardiner sent to the Tower . . 263
Catechism and Book of Common
Praver 265
Marnage of the clergy . . 267
History of the lord admiral \\ 269
He marries the queen dowager . . 270
Wins the affection of the king . . 272
Aspires to the hand of the lady
Elizabeth .273
He is attainted of treason . . 275
And is executed . . . . .277
Resumption of hostilities with
Scotland . . . . .279
Mary carried to France . . . . 282
Shrewsbury in Scotland . . . . 283
General discontent . . 284
Insurrections .. .. \\ 285
In Oxfordshire . , . . 286
In Devonshire .. .. . 287
In Norfolk . . . . \\ 289
War declared by the king of
France . . . . . . 291
Dissensions in the cabinet . .' 293
Somerset and Warwick opposed
to each other 295
Somerset sent to the Tower . . 299
Meeting of parliament .. ..300
Submission and discharge of So-
merset 302
Peace with France and Scotland 305
Deprivation of Bonner . . . . 309
Deprivation of Gardiner .. 310
Of Day and Heath .. ..313
Troubles of the Lady Mary . . 315
Her chaplains are prevented from
saying mass 319
Execution for heresy . . . . 322
Burning of Bocher . . . . 323
Von Paris 324
Employment of foreign divines . . 325
Obstinacy of Hooper . . . . 326
New dissensions between Somer-
set and Warwick . . . . 328
Treaty of marriage between Ed-
ward and a French princess . . 330
Arrest of Somerset and his friends 332
Arrival of the dowager queen of
Scotland . . . . . . ib,
Depositions against Somerset . . 333
His trial 335
He is condemned . . . . 336
And executed . . . . . . 333
Fate of his adherents . . . . 339
Acts of parliament . . . . 341
Improvement in trials for treason 343
Prosecution of the bishop of
Durham . . . . . . 344
The English service introduced
into Ireland 345
Articles of religion . . . . 346
Code of ecclesiastical laws . . 347
Edward's last parliament . . 350
Northumberland's riches and
ambition 352
His attempt to alter the succes-
s*™ 354
Edward consents 355
Reluctance of the judges . . 357
Conduct of the archbishop . . 359
The counsellors sign it . . . . ib
The king dies .' 362'
His abilities , . . . .. ib
His religious opinions . . . 363
State of the nation during his
365
CONTENTS.
IX
CHAPTER V.
MARY.
LADY JANE GREY PROCLAIMED QUEEN — THE LADY MARY IS ACKNOWLEDGED
HER QUESTIONS TO THE EMPEROR CHARLES EXECUTION OF NORTHUM-
BERLAND—MISCONDUCT OF COURTENAY QUEEN SEEKS TO RESTORE THE
ANCIENT SERVICE — ELIZABETH CONFORMS CRANMER OPPOSES — PARLIA-
MENT INTRIGUES OF NOAILLES — INSURRECTION OF WYAT FAILURE AND
PUNISHMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS — ELIZABETH AND COURTENAY IN
DISGRACE TREATY OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN MARY AND PHILIP — RECONCI-
LIATION WITH ROME.
Intrigues of foreign courts . . 368
Proceedings of the council . . 370
Lady Jane Grey . . . . . . 371
Proclaimed queen . . . . 373
Letters between Mary and the
council . . . . . . . . 375
The adherents of Mary . . . . 377
Ridley preaches against her . . 378
Her success 379
Northumberland alarmed . . 380
The council proclaims Mary . . 381
Northumberland is arrested . . 383
The queen enters the capital . . 384
The new council 385
Proclamations . . . . . . 386
The queen consults the emperor 388
Respecting the traitors .. ..389
Their trials . . . . . . ib.
And punishment . . . . . . 391
Queen proposes to marry . . 392
The emperor offers his son . . 393
Opposition to Philip . . . . 395
Orders respecting religion . . 397
Riots 398
Elizabeth conforms . . . . 399
Cranmer's declaration . . . . 400
The pope appoints Pole his
legate 401
Meeting of parliament . . . . 402
First session 403
Second session . . . . . . 404
Restoration of the ancient service 405
Other enactments . . . . 406
Parties respecting the queen's
marriage . . . . . , 407
Intrigues of Noailles $$fg .. 408
Address to the queen . . . . 409
Courtenay conspires against her. . 410
Queen answers the address . . 412
Imperial ambassadors to conclude
the treaty 413
Rising of the conspirators .. 417
Wyat in Kent 421
Defeats the royalists . . . . 423
Queen's speech in the Guildhall 425
Progress of Wyat . . . . 426
He is made prisoner . . . . 429
Execution of Jane Grey and her
husband 430
Other executions. . . . . . 431
Arrest of Elizabeth and Courte-
nay 434
Evidence against them . . . . 436
Letters and confessions . . . . ib.
They are saved by Gardiner . . 438
Queen's conduct to Noailles . . 439
Ratification of the treaty of mar-
riage . . . . . . . . 440
Proceedings of parliament .. 441
Arrival of Philip 445
Marriage of Philip and Mary . . 446
Re-union with Rome . . . . 447
Assurance of abbey lands . . 449
Meeting of parliament . . . . 450
Arrival of Pole 451
His proceedings 452
Conduct of parliament . . . . 453
Decree of the legate . . . . 454
Alienation of church lands . . 455
Intrigues of the French ambassa-
dor 456
Acts of grace . . . . . . 458
Embassy to Rome . . . . 459
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
PERSECUTION OF THE REFORMERS SUFFERINGS OF RIDLEY AND LATIMER —
RECANTATIONS AND DEATH OF CRANMER DURATION AND SEVERITY OF
THE PERSECUTION — DEPARTURE OF PHILIP — DEATH OF GARDINER — SUR-
RENDER BY THE CROWN OF TENTHS AND FIRST-FRUITS — TREASONABLE
ATTEMPTS — WAR WITH FRANCE AND SCOTLAND — VICTORY AT ST. QUINTIN
LOSS OF CALAIS DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN.
Origin of the persecution
Laws against heresy . .
Petitions of the reformers
The first victims
Sermon of a Spanish friar
The bishops urged to do
duty
Account of Ridley . .
OfLatimer
Disputation at Oxford
their
464
465
466
467
469
470
471
472
474
Execution of Ridley and Latimer 476
Recantations of Cranmer . . ib.
His execution . . . . . . 481
Conduct of Pole ...... 482
Conduct of the Protestants . . 483
Number of the suiferers . . . . 485
Provocation given to Mary . . 486
Negotiation between France and
Spain ........ 488
Queen's supposed pregnancy . . 490
Death of Gardiner . . . . 493
Mary restores the church property 494
Dudley's conspiracy . . . . 496
Attempt to rob the treasury . . 498
Elizabeth is accused . . . . 499
Cleobury's plot ...... 500
Elizabeth wishes to escape to
France ........ 501
Her objection to marry . . . . 501
Troubles of the queen . . . . 503
Stafford's plot 508
Philip returns to England . . 509
Henry's manifesto .. ..511
Victory of St. Quintin . . . . 512
Motion of the Scots . . . . 514
Contest between Mary and the
pope . . . . . . . . 515
Loss of Calais 518
Grief of Mary and the nation . . 520
Military operations . . . . 521
Naval expedition . . . . . . 523
Mary's last sickness . . . . 524
Meeting of parliament . . . . 525
Death of the queen . . . . 526
Her character . . . . ib.
Her virtues 527
Her abilities 528
Her progresses . . . . ib.
Foundation of colleges . . . . 529
Laws 530
Commercial treaty with Russia . . 531
Dissolution of the company of the
Steelyard 533
Ireland . 534
Notes ..
537
HISTORY
OF
ENGLAND
CHAPTER I.
HENRY VIII.— (Continued).
THE KING MARRIES ANNE BOLEYN CRANMER MADE ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY HE PRONOUNCES A DIVORCE BETWEEN HENRY AND
CATHERINE THE KING ASSUMES THE TITLE OF HEAD OF THE
CHURCH NEW TREASONS CREATED EXECUTIONS— PAPAL BULL
AGAINST HENRY.
FIVE years had now rolled away since Henry first CHAP.
solicited a divorce, three since he began to cohabit A.D. 1532.
with Anne Boleyn, and still he appeared to have made
but little progress towards the attainment of his ob-
ject.1 The reader, who is acquainted with the im-
petuosity of his character, will perhaps admire his
patience under so many delays and miscarriages ; he
1 This charge of cohabitation has given offence. — See Hallam,
Const. Hist. i. 84, note. Yet, if there were no other authority, the
very case itself would justify it. A young woman between twenty
and thirty listens to declarations of love from a married man who has
already seduced her sister ; and, on his promise to abstain from his
wife and to marry her, she quits her parental home, and consents to
live with him under the same roof, where for three years she is con-
stantly in his company at meals, in his journeys, on occasions of
ceremony, and at parties of pleasure. Can it betray any great want
of candour to dispute the innocence of such intimacy between the
two lovers ? Their contemporaries seem to have had no scruple on
VOL, V. B
HENRY VTII.
CHAP, may discover its true cause in the infecundity of Anne,
A.D. J532. which had hitherto disappointed the king's most anxi-
ous wish to provide for the succession to the throne.
Instead of making her his wife, he had in September
Sept. i. last granted to her, and to the heirs male of her body
for ever, the dignity of marchioness of Pembroke, with
an annuity to her of one thousand pounds for life out
of the bishopric of Durham, and of another thousand
out of several manors belonging to the crown ; but
four months later she proved to be in a condition
to promise him an heir; and the necessity of placing
beyond cavil the legitimacy of the child induced him
to violate the pledge which he had so solemnly given
1533. to the king of France. On the 25th of January, at
an early hour, Dr. Rowland Lee, one of the royal
chaplains, received an order to celebrate mass in a
that head. "The king," writes Carlo Capello on May 13, 1532,
" loses no opportunity of despatching matters, because, as is reported,
" my Lady Anne is heavy with child— Perche, come si dice, Madama
" Anna e gravida." And again, when the marriage of Henry and
Anne was publicly announced, he writes on April 12, 1533, " that
" he had been assured not only that it was now some months
" since the marriage, but that Henry had taken a male child some
" months old together with her— Mi vien affermato za piu mese
" questa Maesta aver la sposata, e aver uno filiol di qualche mese con
' lei-" — Ragguagli of Mr. Rawdon Brown, iii. 329, 332. The last
report, that he took with her at the marriage a male child some
months old, must allude to the supposed cause of the unexpected
bounty of the king to Anne on the 1st of the preceding September
when he created her, by the name of Anne Rochford, marchioness of
Pembroke, and gave to her, and the heirs male of her body for ever
(whether legitimate or not), precedence before all other individuals
of the same rank (and consequently of the blood royal, as several
then were), with an annuity of 1,000/., to which were added other
valuable gifts.— See Chron. Catal. p. 174. The original charter is
in the Chapter-house, Westminster. It seems to me that this
limitation of the precedency to the issue male of Anne, legitimate or
not, can only be explained on the supposition that such issue
though illegitimate, already existed, and that Henry was in reality
providing for the precedency of his own son, the filiol mentioned bv
Capello. J
HENRY MARRIES ANNE. 3
room in the west turret of Whitehall. There he CHAP.
found the king attended by Norris and Heneage, two A.D. 1533.
of the grooms of the chamber, and Anne Boleyn,
accompanied by her trainbearer Anne Savage, after-
wards Lady Berkeley. We are told that Lee, when
he discovered the object for which he had been called,
made some opposition ; but Henry calmed his scruples
with the assurance that Clement had pronounced in
his favour, and that the papal instrument was safely
deposited in his closet.1
As soon as the marriage ceremony had been per-
formed, the parties separated in silence before it was
light ; and the father of Anne, now earl of Wiltshire
and Viscount Rochford, was despatched to announce
the event, but in the strictest confidence, to Francis.
At the same time he was instructed to dissuade that
king from consenting to the intended marriage of his
second son with the niece of Clement ; or, if it could
not be prevented, to prevail on him to make it a con-
dition of the marriage that the pope should proceed
no further in his censures against Henry.2 Francis
received the intelligence with sorrow. Henry's pre-
cipitancy had broken all the measures which had been
planned for the reconciliation of the English king with
the pontiff; but in answer to his complaints by Langey
his ambassador, Henry pleaded scruples of conscience,
and promised that he would conceal the marriage till
1 Burnet treats this account as one of the fictions of Sanders :
but it is taken from a manuscript history of the divorce presented
to Queen Mary, thirty years before the work of Sanders was pub-
lished (see Le Grand, ii. 110); and agrees perfectly with the
attempt to keep the marriage secret for two or three months. Lee
was made bishop of Chester, was translated to Lichfield and
Coventry, and honoured with the presidentship of Wales. — Stowe,
543.
2 Transcripts for the N. Rym. 176.
B2
4 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the month of May, by which time the interview be-
A.D. 1533,. tween Francis and Clement would have taken place.
Then, if Clement did him justice, the recent proceed-
ing would prove of no detriment ; if not, he was
determined to set the papal authority at defiance.
But, contrary to his hopes, the interview was post-
poned ; the pregnancy of the bride became visible ;
and on Easter eve orders were given that she should
receive the honours due to the queen consort. The
marriage was thus acknowledged ; still the date of its
April 12. celebration remained involved in mystery ; and, to en-
courage the notion that the child had been conceived
in wedlock, a report was artfully circulated that the
nuptials had occurred at a more early period, im-
mediately after the separation of the two kings at
Calais.1
Archbishop Warham, who had been driven from
court by the ascendancy of Wolsey, was zealously
1532. attached to the ancient doctrines and the papal au-
thority : his death in the course of the last summer
had empowered the king to raise to the first dignity in
the English church a prelate of opposite principles, and
more devoted to the will of his sovereign. Thomas
1 Hence the marriage is dated on the 14th of November, 1532,
the day when Henry and Anne sailed from Calais, by almost all our
historians. But Godwin (Annal. 51) and Stowe (Annals, 543)
have assigned it to the 25th January, the feast of the Conversion of
St. Paul ; and that they are right is incontestably proved from a
letter still extant, written by Archbishop Cranmer to his friend
Hawkins, the ambassador to the emperor. After an account of the
coronation, he proceeds thus: "But, nowe, sir, you may nott
" ymagyne that this coronacion was before her marriage, for she
" was married much about Sainte Paule's daye laste, as the condicion
" thereof dothe well appere by reason she ys nowe somewhat bigge
" with chylde. Notwithstanding yt hath byn reported thorowte a
" great parte of the realme that I maried her, which was plainly
" false : for I myself knewe not therof a fortnyght after yt was
" donne." — Archseologia. xviii. 81.
CRANMER MADE ARCHBISHOP. O
Cranmer, at the recommendation of Henry,1 had been CHAP.
taken into the family of the Boleyns, and had assisted A.D. i532.
the father and the daughter with his services and
advice : his book in favour of the divorce, the boldness
with which he had advocated the royal cause at Rome,
and the industry with which he had solicited signatures
in Italy, had raised him in the esteem of the king ;
and soon after his return he had been appointed orator
ad Csesarem, or ambassador attendant on the emperor.
Both Henry and Anne flattered themselves that, by
selecting him for the successor of Warham, they would
possess an archbishop according to their own hearts.
There was, however, one objection which might have
proved fatal to his elevation with a prince, who till
his last breath continued to enforce with the stake and
the halter the observance of clerical celibacy. Cran-
mer after the death of his wife had taken orders ; but,
during one of his agencies abroad, he had suffered
himself to be captivated with the charms of a young
woman, the niece of Osiander or of his wife, had
married her in private, and had left her in Germany
with her friends.2 Whether this marriage had come
to the knowledge of Henry, or was considered by him
invalid according to the canon law, is uncertain ; but,
" to the surprise and sorrow of many/'3 he resolved to Oct. i.
1 So at" least we are told on the very questionable authority of a
long story in Foxe, and a MS. life of Cranmer, C. C. Coll. Cam.
—See Fiddes, 469.
2 There appears some doubt as to the time of this marriage.
Godwin, in his Annals, says : Uxore jamdudum orbatus, quam
adolescens duxerat, puellae cujusdam amore irretitus tenebatur (hsec
erat neptis uxoris Osiandri) quam etiam sibi secundo connubio
jungere omnimodis decreverat (p. 49). De Praesulibus Anglicanis,
he says : Quod maxime angebat, conscientia fuit ductae uxoris,
neptis ea fuit Osiandro (p. 138).
3 Piaster opinionem et sensum multorum. — Antiq. Brit. 327.
HENRY VIII.
CHAP.
I.
raise Cranmer to the archbishopric, and appointed
A.D.A'i532. Dr. Hawkins to succeed him in the embassy. From
NovTis. Mantua, where the emperor then held his court,
1533> Cranmer returned to England ; the papal confirma-
March 3. tion was asked and obtained ; the necessary bulls were
March so. expedited in the usual manner, and in a very few days
after their arrival the consecration followed.1 But by
what casuistry could the archbishop elect, who was
well acquainted with the services expected from him,
reconcile it with his conscience to swear at his con-
secration canonical obedience to the pope, when he
was already resolved to act in opposition to the papal
authority ? With the royal approbation he called four
witnesses and a notary into the chapter-house of
St. Stephen's at Westminster, and in their presence
declared that by the oath of obedience to the pope,
which for the sake of form he should be obliged to
take, he did not intend to bind himself to any thing
1 Without noticing the question whether Crammer was eager or
reluctant to accept the dignity, I shall state the principal dates for
the satisfaction of the reader. — Aug. 24. Warham dies. Oct. 1.
Henry signs the recall of Cranmer, and appoints Hawkins to succeed
him (Transcripts for New Rymer, 174). Oct. 4, The emperor, with
whom Cranmer resides as ambassador, leaves Vienna for Italy (San-
doval, 120). Nov. 6. He fixes his residence at Mantua (Id. 124).
Nov. 18. He is still at Mantua, where he has received the official
notification of Cranmer's recall, and of the appointment of Hawkins ;
and on the same day he delivers his answer into the hands of Cran-
mer to take with him to England. Thus seven weeks have elapsed
since the date of Cranmer's recall ; for which we may safely account
by the supposition that, ignorant of the emperor's departure from
Vienna, Hawkins proceeded towards that city, instead of going
direct to Italy — Cranmer was preconized by the pope in a consistory
in January (Becchetti, viii. 234), thus leaving two months only for
his journey from Mantua to England, his acceptance of the arch-
bishopric, the mission of the proctor to Rome, and his proceedings
there. The different bulls were expedited on the 21st and 22nd
of February, and the 3rd of March, and they arrived in England
in sufficient time for the consecration on the 30th of the latter
month.
PROTEST OF CRANMER. 7
contrary to the law of God, or prejudicial to the rights CHAP.
of the king, or prohibitory of such reforms as he might A.D. 1533.
judge useful to the church of England.1 From the
chapter-house, attended by the same persons, he pro-
ceeded to the steps of the high altar, declared in their
presence that he adhered to the protestation which he
had already read in their hearing, and then took the
pontifical oath. The consecration followed ; after
which, having again reminded the same five individuals
of his previous protest, he took the oath a second time,
and received the pallium from the hands of the papal
delegates.8
This extraordinary transaction gave birth to an
animated controversy; the opponents of the arch-
bishop branding him with the guilt of fraud and
perjury, his advocates labouring to wipe away the
imputation, and justifying his conduct by the extra-
ordinary circumstances in which he was placed. I
will only observe that oaths cease to offer any security,
if their meaning may be qualified by previous protes-
1 See it in the original Latin in Strype, App. p. 9, and not in the
English translation, which is very unfaithful. By one clause he
declared that it had never been his intention to empower his proctor
to take any oath in his name contrary to the oath which he had
taken or might take to the king : and yet he must have known the
contents of the oath to be taken by the proctor, and have given him
the usual authority to take it ; otherwise the proctor would not have
been admitted to act in the court of Rome.
2 The question of the privacy or publicity of Cranmer's protest has
been set at rest by an extract from the notarial instrument in Lam-
beth MSS., 1 136, published by Mr. Todd, i. 65. It proves, beyond
the possibility of doubt, that he read the protest once only, and that
before witnesses privately assembled in the chapter-house. In the
church he did no more than say to the same witnesses that he would
swear in the sense of the protest made by him already ; but there is
no evidence that any one besides them heard his words, or that any
one else was acquainted with the contents of the protest. -It was evi-
dently his object to clothe it with all the canonical forms, but at the
same time to conceal its purport from the public.
8
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, tations, made without the knowledge of the party who
A.D. 1533. is principally interested.1
With an archbishop subservient to his pleasure,
Henry determined to proceed with the divorce. The
previous arrangements were intrusted to the industry
of Cromwell. To prevent Catherine from opposing
any obstacle to the proceedings meditated by Cranmer,
an act of parliament was passed, forbidding, under
the penalty of premunire, appeals from the spiritual
judges in England to the courts of the pontiff;2 and,
to furnish grounds for the intended sentence, the
members of the convocation were divided into two
classes, of theologians and canonists, and each was
ordered to pronounce on a question separately sub-
March 26. niitted to its decision. Of the former it was asked,
whether a papal dispensation could authorize a brother
to marry the relict of his deceased brother in the case
where the first marriage had been actually consum-
mated : of the latter, whether the depositions taken
1 The archbishop himself, in excuse of his duplicity, wrote after-
wards to Queen Mary, that his chief object was to be at liberty to
reform the church. Pole answered : " To what did this serve but
" to be foresworn before you did swear ? Other perjurers be wont
" to break their oath after they have sworn ; you break it before.
" Men forced to swear per vim et metum may have some colour of
" defence, but you had no such excuse." — Strype's Chron. App. 213.
Some of his modern apologists think that they have found a parallel
case in the protest of Archbishop Warham, who in 1532, alarmed
at the ecclesiastical innovations of the court, recorded in the strongest
terms his dissent in his own name and the name of his church, to
every statute passed or to be passed by parliament derogatory from
the authority of the Apostolic See, or subversive of the rights of the
church of Canterbury. — Wilkins, Con. iii. 746. But the resemblance
is only in the technical form and title of the instrument. Warham
proclaims his non-participation in the acts of others ; Cranmer his
resolution not to be bound by his own deed, by the oath which he
was about to take : the one will never give his consent to what he
disapproves in conscience, the other will take the oath which he
conscientiously disapproves, and will then break it.
2 Stat. of Realm, iii. 427.
PREPARATORY MEASURES. 9
before the legates amounted to a canonical proof that CHAP.
the marriage between Arthur and Catherine had been A.D. 1533.
consummated. The two questions were debated for
some days in the absence of the new archbishop : he
then took his seat : the votes were demanded ; and on
both questions answers favourable to the king were
carried by large majorities.1 As soon as the convoca- April 2.
tion had separated, a hypocritical farce was enacted
between Henry and Cranmer. The latter, as if he
were ignorant of the object for which he had been
made archbishop, wrote a most urgent letter to the April n.
king, representing the evils to which the nation was
exposed from a disputed succession, and begging to
be informed, if it were the pleasure of the sovereign
that he should hear the cause of the divorce in the
archiepiscopal court. This letter, though its language
was sufficiently humble, and sufficiently intelligible,
did not satisfy the king or his advisers ; and Cranmer
was compelled, in a second letter of the same date,
to take the whole responsibility on himself. It was,
he was made to say, a duty, which he owed to God
and the king, to put an end to the doubts respecting
the validity of Henry's marriage ; wherefore prostrate
at the feet of his majesty he begged permission to
hear and determine the cause, and called on God to
witness that he had no other object in making this
1 Among the theologians there were nineteen ayes (Burnet
strangely transformed them into nineteen universities, i. 129, but
acknowledged the error in his third volume, p. 123, oct.) arid sixty-
six noes. The majority consisted of three bishops, forty-two abbots
and priors, and the rest clergymen. Of forty-four canonists, only
six voted against Henry. The same questions were answered in the
same manner in the convocation at York, on the 13th of May, with
only two dissentient voices in each class. I may add that Carte is
certainly mistaken, when he supposes this transaction to have hap-
pened some years before.
10 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, petition than the exoneration of his own conscience
A. D. 1533. and the benefit of the realm.1 There was no longer
any demur. The king graciously assented to his re-
quest; but at the same time reminded the primate
that he was nothing more than the principal minister
of the spiritual jurisdiction belonging to the crown,
and that " the sovereign had no superior on earth,
" and was not subject to the laws of any earthly
" creature."2 It was in vain that the French ambassa-
dor remonstrated against these proceedings as contrary
to the engagements into which Henry had entered at
Boulogne and Calais. Catherine was cited to appear
before Cranmer at Dunstable, within four miles of
Ampthill, where she resided ; and a post was estab-
lished to convey with despatch the particulars of each
day's transactions to Cromwell. At the appointed
time the archbishop, with the bishop of Lincoln as
his assessor, and the bishop of Winchester and seven
May s. others as counsel for the king, opened the court, and
hastened the trial with as much expedition as was
permitted by the forms of the ecclesiastical courts.
In his letters to Cromwell the primate earnestly en-
treated that the intention of proceeding to judgment
might be kept an impenetrable secret. Were it once
to transpire, Catherine might be induced to appear,
and, notwithstanding the late statute, to put in an
appeal from him to the pontiff; a measure which
would defeat all their plans, and entirely disconcert
May 10. both himself and the counsel.3 On Saturday the
service of the citation was proved, and the queen, as
she did not appear, was pronounced " contumacious/
1 See note (A).
2 State Papers, i. 390 — 3. Collier, ii. Records, No. xxiv.
Heylin's Reformation, p. 177, edition of 1674.
THE DIVORCE PRONOUNCED. 11
On the following Monday, after the testimony of CHAP.
witnesses that she had been served with a second A.D. 1533.
citation, she was pronounced "verily and manifestly
" contumacious ;" and the court proceeded in her
absence to read depositions, and to hear arguments in
proof of the consummation of the marriage between
her and Prince Arthur. On the Saturday she received May 17.
a third citation to appear, and hear the judgment of
the court. Catherine took no notice of these pro-
ceedings ; for she had been advised to abstain from
any act which might be interpreted as an admission
of the archbishop's jurisdiction. Cranmer waited for
the first open day (it was Ascension week), and on
the Friday pronounced his judgment, that the mar-
riage between her and Henry was null and invalid,
having been contracted and consummated in defiance
of the Divine prohibition, and therefore without force
or effect from the very beginning.1
This decision was communicated to the king in a
letter from the primate, who with much gravity ex-
horted him to submit to the law of God, and to avoid
those censures which he must incur by persisting
in an incestuous intercourse with the widow of his
brother.2 But what, it was then asked, must be thought
1 Rym. xiv. 467. Wilk. Con. 759. Cranmer's letter to Haw-
kyns, Archaeol. xviii. 78. Ellis, ii. 36. State Pap. i. 394—7.
Both in the archbishop's judgment and the two statutes confirming
it, the disputed fact of the consummation of the marriage between
Arthur and Catherine is taken as proved. — Rym. ibid. Stat. 25.
Hen. VIII. c. 12, 22. It appears from Bedyl's letter to Cromwell,
that the whole process had been " devysed affore the kinges grace,"
and that " my lord of Cauntrebury handled himself very well, and
" very uprightly without eny evydent cause of suspicion to be noted
" in him by the counsel of the lady Katerine, if she had had any
" present." — State Pap. i. 395.
2 Quid vero ? says Pole in a letter to Cranmer, an non tecum
ipse ridebas, cum tanquam severus judex regi minas intentares ? —
Poli Epist. de Sac. Euch. p. 6. Cremona?, 1584.
12 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, of his present union with Anne Boleyn ? How could
he have lawfully effected a new marriage before the
former was lawfully annulled ? Was the right of
succession less doubtful now than before ? To silence
these questions Cranmer held another court at Lam-
May 28. beth, and having first heard the king's proctor, offici-
ally declared that Henry and Anne were and had
been joined in lawful matrimony ; that their marriage
was and had been public and manifest ; and that he
moreover confirmed it by his judicial and pastoral
authority.1 These proceedings were preparatory to
June i. the coronation of the new queen,2 which was per-
formed with unusual magnificence, attended by all
the nobility of England, and celebrated with pro-
cessions, triumphal arches, and tournaments. The
honours paid to his consort gratified the pride of the
king ; her approaching parturition filled him with the
hope of what he so earnestly wished, a male heir to
the crown. He was under promise to meet Francis
1 I conceive that, immediately after judgment pronounced by
Cranmer, Henry and Anne were married again. Otherwise, Lee
archbishop of York, and Tunstall bishop of Durham, must have
asserted a falsehood, when they told Catherine, that " after his
" highness was discharged of the marriage made with her, he con-
" tracted new marriage with his dearest wife, Queen Anne." — Stat.
Pap. i. 419. It is plain from all that precedes and follows this
passage, that they mean, after the divorce publicly pronounced by
Archbishop Cranmer. Of a private divorce preceding the marriage
in January, neither they nor any others, their contemporaries, had
any notion. But a second marriage after the judgment of the court
was necessary, otherwise the issue of Anne could not have been
legitimate. Henry had, indeed, been aware of the irregularity of
marrying her before a divorce from Catherine; but he justified his
conduct by declaring, that he had examined the cause in " the court
" of his own conscience, which was enlightened and directed by the
" Spirit of God, who possesseth and directeth the hearts of princes ;"
and as he was convinced that " he was at liberty to exercise and
" enjoy the benefit of God for the procreation of children in the
" lawful use of matrimony, no man ought to inveigh at this his
" doing."— Burn. iii. Rec. 64. 2 State Pap. i. 396.
BIRTH OF PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 13
again in the course of the summer ; but, unwilling to CHAP.
be absent on such an occasion, he despatched Lord A.D. 1533.
Rochford to the French court, who, having first
secured the good offices of the queen of Navarre, the
sister of the king, solicited him in the name of Anne
— for Henry wished to appear ignorant of the pro-
ceeding— to put off the intended interview till the
month of April.1 In the eighth month after the per-
formance of the nuptial ceremony Anne bore the Bev*- 7-
king a child ; but that child, to his inexpressible dis-
appointment, was a female, the princess Elizabeth,
who afterwards ascended the throne.2
As soon as Cranmer had pronounced judgment,
Catherine received an order from the king to be
content with the style of dowager princess of Wales ;
her income was reduced to the settlement made on
her by her first husband, Arthur; and those among
her dependants, who gave her the title of queen, were
irrevocably dismissed from her service. Still to every
message and menace she returned the same answer ;
that she had come a clean maid to his bed ; that she
would never be her own slanderer, nor own that she
had been a harlot for twenty years ; that she valued
not the judgment pronounced at Dunstable at a time
when the cause was still pending " by the king's
" license" at Rome ; pronounced too, not by an in-
different judge, but by a mere shadow, a man of the
king's own making ; that no threats should compel
her to affirm a falsehood ; and that " she feared not
" those which have the power of the body, but Him
1 Transcripts for N. Rymer, 178.
2 State Pap. i.407. Hall, 212. Cranmer's letter to Hawkyns,
Archaeol. xviii. 81. I may here observe that this was the last
coronation during Henry's reign. Of his four following wives not
one was crowned.
14 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. « only that hath the power of the soul." Henry had
A.D. 1533. not the heart to proceed to extremities against her.
His repudiated wife was the only person who could
brave him with impunity.1
In foreign nations the lot of Catherine became the
object of universal commiseration : even in England
the general feeling was in her favour. The men,
indeed, had the prudence to be silent ; but the women
loudly expressed their disapprobation of the divorce ;
till Henry, to check their boldness by the punishment
of their leaders, committed to the Tower the wife
of the viscount Rochford, and the sister-in-law of the
duke of Norfolk. At Rome, Clement was daily im-
portuned by Charles and Ferdinand to .do justice to
their aunt, by his own ministers to avenge the insult
offered to the papal authority ; but his irresolution of
mind, and partiality for the king of England, induced
him to listen to the suggestions of the French am-
bassadors, who advised more lenient and conciliatory
July 11. measures. At length, that he might appear to do
something, he annulled the sentence given by Cran-
mer, because the cause was at the very time pending
before himself, and excommunicated Henry and Anne,
unless they should separate before the end of Septem-
ber, or show cause by their attorneys why they claimed
to be considered as husband and wife. When Sep-
Sept. 25. tember came, he prolonged the term, at the request
of the cardinal of Tournon, to the end of October ;
and embarking on board the French fleet, sailed to
meet Francis at Marseilles, where, he was assured, a
conciliation between Henry and the church of Rome
would be effected.2
1 State Pap. i. 397—404, 415 — 420. Collier, ii. Rec. xxv.
2 Herb. 386. Burnet, i. 132. Le Grand, iii. 569. It is re-
WAVERING CONDUCT OF HENRY. 15
By the French monarch this reconciliation was CHAP.
most ardently desired, as a preliminary step to an A.D. isss.
offensive alliance against the emperor, under the
sanction of the Holy See. But the mind of Henry
perpetually wavered between fear and resentment.
Sometimes his apprehension that Clement, in a per-
sonal conference, might debauch the fidelity of his
ally, induced him to listen to the entreaties and re-
monstrances of Francis ; at other times his love of
wealth and authority, joined to his resentment for the
repeated delays and refusals of the pontiff, urged him
to an open breach with the see of Rome. In con-
formity indeed with the promise given at Calais, the
duke of Norfolk had proceeded to France accompanied
by the lord Rochford and Pawlet, Brown and Bryan, August 8.
with a retinue of one hundred and sixty horsemen ;
but he was bound by secret instructions to dissuade
the king from the intended interview, and to offer
him a plentiful subsidy, on condition that he would
establish a patriarch in his dominions, and forbid the
transmission of money to the papal treasury. Francis
replied that he could not violate the solemn pledge
which he had already given ; and doubted not that at
Marseilles, with a little condescension on each side,
every difficulty might be surmounted. The duke
took his leave, assuring the king that the only thing
which Clement could now do to reconcile himself
with Henry was to annul the marriage with the lady
markable that on the 9th of July, just two days before Clement
annulled the judgment of Cranmer, Henry gave the royal assent to
the suspended act, abolishing the payment of annates to the see of
Rome. — Stat. of Realm, iii. 387. The reason assigned for the
delay is — " that by some gen tell wayes the said exaccions myght
" have byn redressed" — and the reason for the king's assent —
" that the pope had made no answere of hys mynde therein." — Stat.
of Realm, 462.
16 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. Catherine ; yet he was so impressed with the argu-
A.D. 1533. ments of Francis, that he prevailed on his sovereign
to send two ambassadors, the bishop of Winchester
and Bryan, to supply his place at the interview. They
professed that they came to execute the orders of the
French monarch ; but were in reality unfurnished
with powers to do any act, and only commissioned to
watch the progress of the conferences, and to send
the most accurate information to their own court.
The truth was, that both Henry and Anne began to
suspect the sincerity of Norfolk, and were ignorant
whom to trust, or what measures to pursue.1
Oct. 11. About the middle of October Clement made his
public entry into Marseilles, and was followed the
next day by the king of France. The two sovereigns
met with expressions of respect and attachment ; but
the king pertinaciously refused to entertain any other
question till he had received from the pope a promise
that he would do in favour of Henry whatever lay
within the extent of his authority. To his surprise
and disappointment he now learned that the ambas-
sadors were not authorized to treat either with the
pontiff or himself; but at his solicitation they des-
patched a courier to request full powers ; and in the
interval a marriage was concluded between the duke
of Orleans, the son of Francis, and Catherine of
Medici, the pope's niece. In point of fortune it was
a very unequal match ; but the king, if we may be-
lieve his own assertion, had assented to it, in the hope
of bringing to an amicable conclusion the quarrel
between Henry and the Holy See.2 The reconcilia-
1 Burnet, Hi. 74, 75.
2 II se peut dire qu'il a pris une fille comme toute nue pour
bailler a son second fils, chose toutes fois qu'il a si volontiers et si
APPEAL TO A GENERAL COUNCIL 17
tion seems to have been proposed on this basis ; that CHAP.
each party should reciprocally revoke and forgive A.D. 1533.
every hostile measure ; and that the cause of the
divorce should be brought before a consistory, from
which all the cardinals, holding preferment or re-
ceiving pensions from the emperor, should be excluded
as partial judges. Clement had promised to return
an answer to this project on the 7th of November ;
that very morning, Bonner, who had lately arrived
from England, requested an audience ; and the same
afternoon he appealed in the name of Henry from the
pope to a general council. Both Clement and Francis
felt themselves offended. The former, besides the
insult offered to his authority, began to suspect that
he had been duped by the insincerity of the French
monarch ; the latter saw that he negotiated for Henry
without possessing his confidence ; and deemed the
appeal a violation of the hospitality due to so exalted
a guest under his own roof. Both yielded to the
suggestions of their resentment ; both afterwards re-
lented. Clement affected to believe the assertion of
the king, that the appeal opposed no new obstacle
to a reconciliation ; Francis despatched the bishop of
Bayonne, now bishop of Paris, to Henry, to complain
of his precipitation, and to request that he would con-
sent to the renewal of the negotiation which had thus
been interrupted.1
The reader is aware that this prelate possessed a
high place in the esteem of the king of England.
Henry listened to his advice, and gratefully accepted
his offer to undertake the care of the royal interests in
patiemment porte, par le bon gre qu'il pensoit avoir fait un grand
gain en faisant cette perte. — Le Grand, iii. 581.
1 Du Bellay's instructions, apud Le Grand, iii. 571 — 588. Bur-
net, iii. 82, 84. Records, p. 37 — 46.
VOL. V. C
18 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the court of Rome. Of the instructions with which he
A.D. 1533. was furnished we are ignorant; but the English agents
in that city were ordered to thank Clement for the
assurances which he had made to the king of his friend-
ship ; to object on different grounds to the expedients
which had been suggested ; to propose that the royal
cause should be tried in England, with an understand-
ing that the judgment given there should receive the
papal ratification ; and to promise that on such con-
ditions the kingdom should remain in full obedience
to the Apostolic See. They were also informed that
this was not a final resolution, but that Henry was
prepared to make greater concessions in proportion to
the readiness which Clement might show to serve him.1
Stimulated by his hopes, the bishop of Paris hastened
in the depth of winter to Rome ; the French ambas-
sador and the English agents seconded his endeavours ;
and so promising were the appearances, or so eager
was his zeal, that he deceived himself with the assur-
ances of success. To Francis he sent a list of the
cardinals who would vote for the king of England ; to
Henry he wrote in terms of exultation, exhorting him
to suspend for a few days all measures of a religious
nature which might have been brought before parlia-
ment. The friends of Charles and Catherine were not
less sanguine : at their solicitation a consistory was
held on the twenty-third of March ; the proceedings
in the cause were explained by Simonetta, deputy
1534-o auditor of the Rota ; and out of two-and-twenty car-
dinals, nineteen decided for the validity of the marriage,
and three only, Trivulzio, Pisani, and Rodolphi, pro-
posed a further delay. Clement himself had not
expected this result; but he acceded, though with
1 Apud Burnet, iii. 84.
STATUTES RESPECTING THE CHURCH. 19
reluctance, to the opinion of so numerous a majority; CHAP.
and a definitive sentence was pronounced, declaring ^ D 1534.
the marriage lawful and valid, condemning the pro-
ceedings against Catherine of injustice, and ordering
the king to take her back as his legitimate wife. The ,
imperialists displayed their joy with bonfires, dis-
charges of cannon, and shouts of Viva I'imperio, viva
1'Espagna. The bishop and his colleagues were
overwhelmed with astonishment and despair ; while
Clement himself forbade the publication of the decree
before Easter, and consulted his favourite counsellors
on the means the most likely to mollify the king of
England, and to avert the effects of his displeasure.1
But in reality it mattered little whether Clement
had pronounced in favour of Henry or against him.
The die was already cast. The moment the bishop of
Paris was departed, violent councils began to prevail
in the English cabinet ; and a resolution was taken
to erect a separate and independent church within the
realm. That prelate was indeed suffered to negotiate
with the pontiff ; but in the meantime act after act
derogatory from the papal claims was debated, and
passed in parliament ; and the kingdom was severed
by legislative authority from the communion of Rome
long before the judgment given by Clement could have
reached the knowledge of Henry.2
1 Le Grand, i. 273—276; iii. 630—638.
2 It is generally believed on the authority of Fra Paolo and Du
Bellay, the brother of the bishop of Paris, that this event was owing
to the precipitation of Clement. We are told that the prelate re-
quested time to receive the answer of Henry, which he expected
would be favourable ; that the short delay of six days was refused ;
and that two days after the sentence a courier arrived, the bearer of
the most conciliatory despatches. Now it is indeed true that the
bishop expected an answer to his letter, and probable that a courier
arrived after the sentence : but, 1. It is very doubtful that he asked
c 2
20
HENRY VIII.
CHAP. The charge of framing these bills, and of conducting
A.D. 1534. them through the two houses, had been committed to
the policy and industry of Cromwell, whose past ser-
vices had been lately rewarded with a patent for life
March so. of the chancellorship of the Exchequer. 1. The sub-
mission, which during the last year had been extorted
from the fears of the clergy, was now moulded into the
form of a statute, while the preamble, which seemed
to confine its duration to the present reign, was art-
fully omitted. In this state it passed the two houses,
received the royal assent, and became part of the law
of the land; but a most important clause had been
added to it : " that all such canons and ordinances, as
" had been already made, and were not repugnant to
" the statutes and customs of the realm, or the pre-
" rogatives of the crown, should be used and enforced,
for a delay till the courier arrived. For in his own account of the
proceedings he never mentions it ; and instead of going to the con-
sistory to demand it, was certainly absent, and went afterwards to
the pope to ask the result. 2. It is certain that the answer brought
by the courier was unfavourable ; because all the actions of Henry
about the time when he was despatched prove a determination to
separate entirely from the papal communion. 3. The judgment
given by Clement could not be the cause of that separation, because
the bill abolishing the power of the popes within the realm was in-
troduced into the Commons in the beginning of March, was trans-
mitted to the Lords a week later, was passed by them five days
before the arrival of the courier (March 20), and received the royal
assent five days after his arrival in Rome (March 30). — See Lords'
Journals, 75, 77, 82. It was not possible that a transaction in
Rome on the 23rd could induce the king to give his assent on the
30th. There was, however, appended to the least important of these
acts (that respecting the abolition of Peter-pence and licenses) a
proviso that it should not be in force before the Nativity of St. John
Baptist, unless the king by letters patent should so order it ; and
that, in the interval, he might according to his pleasure annul or
modify it. The object probably was to keep open one subject of
negotiation with Clement, and to prevent him from pronouncing
judgment. But eight days later (Ap. 7), as soon as the news from
Rome arrived, Henry, by his letters patent, ordered that act to be
put in execution. — See Stat. of Realm, iii. 471.
STATUTES RESPECTING THE CHURCH. 21
" till it should be otherwise determined according to CHAP.
" the tenor and effect of the said act." To Henry it A.D. i534.
was sufficient that he possessed the power of modifying
the ecclesiastical laws at pleasure ; that power he
never thought proper to exercise ; and the consequence
has been, that in virtue of the additional clause the
spiritual courts have existed down to the present time.
2. The provisions of the late statute, prohibiting ap-
peals to Rome in certain cases, were extended to
all cases whatsoever ; and in lieu of the right thus
abolished, suitors were allowed to appeal from the
court of the archbishop to the king in Chancery, who
should appoint commissioners, with authority to deter-
mine finally in the cause. This occasional tribunal has
obtained the name of the Court of Delegates. 3. In
addition to the statute, by which the payment of an-
nates had been forbidden, and which had since been
ratified by the king's letters patent, it was enacted that
bishops should no longer be presented to the pope for
confirmation, nor sue out bulls in his court ; but that,
on the vacancy of any cathedral church, the king
should grant to the dean and chapter, or to the prior
and monks, permission to elect the person whose
name was mentioned in his letters missive ; that they
should proceed to the election within the course of
twelve days, under the penalty of forfeiting their right,
which in that instance should devolve to the crown ;
that the prelate named or elected should first swear
fealty ; after which the king should signify the elec-
tion to the archbishop, or, if there be no archbishop,
to four bishops, requiring them to confirm the elec-
tion, and to invest and consecrate the bishop elect,
who might then sue his temporalities out of the king's
hands, make corporal oath to the king's highness and
22 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, to no other, and receive from the king's hands restitu-
A.D. 1534. tion of all the possessions and profits spiritual and
temporal of his bishopric. 4. It was also enacted,
that since the clergy had recognized the king for the
supreme head of the church of England, every kind of
payment made to the Apostolic Chamber, and every
species of license, dispensation, and grant, usually ob^
tained from Rome, should forthwith cease ; that here-
after all such graces and indulgences should be sought
of the archbishop of Canterbury ; and that if any
person thought himself aggrieved by the refusal of the
archbishop, he might by a writ out of Chancery compel
that prelate to show cause for his refusal. By these
enactments, in the course of one short session was
swept away what yet remained of the papal power in
England ; and that at a time when the judgment
pronounced at Rome was not only not known, but
probably not even anticipated by Henry.1
From the establishment of the king's supremacy the
attention of parliament was directed to the succession
to the crown ; and by another act the marriage be-
tween Henry and Catherine was pronounced unlawful
and null, that between him and Anne Boleyn lawful
and valid ; the king's issue by the first marriage was
of course excluded from the succession, that by the
second was made inheritable of the crown ; to slander
the said marriage, or seek to prejudice the succession
of the heirs thereof, was declared high treason, if the
offence were committed by writing, printing, or deed ;
and misprision of treason, if by words only ; and all the
king's subjects of full age, or who hereafter should be
of full age, were commanded to swear obedience to
1 Stat. 25 Henry VIII. 19, 20, 21.
THE SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN. 23
the same act, under the penalty of misprision of CH\P.
treason.1 A.D.1534,
This act deserves the particular notice of the reader.
For the preservation of the royal dignity, and the
security of the succession as by law established, it
provided safeguards and created offences hitherto un-
known ; and thus stamped a new character on the
criminal jurisprudence of the country. The statute
itself was indeed swept away in the course of two or
three years ; but it served as a precedent to subse-
quent legislatures in similar circumstances ; and re-
gulations, of the same nature, but enforced with
penalties of less severity, have been occasionally
adopted down to the present times.
The king had now accomplished the two objects
which had been promised by Cromwell ; he had be-
stowed on his mistress the rights of a lawful wife, and
had invested himself with the supremacy of the church.
But the opposition which he had experienced strength-
ened his passions and steeled his heart against the
common feelings of humanity. He was tremblingly
alive to every rumour ; his jealousy magnified the
least hint of disapprobation into a crime against the
state ; and each succeeding year of his reign was
stained with the blood of many, often of noble and
innocent, victims. The first who suffered were im-
plicated in the conspiracy attributed to Elizabeth
Barton and her adherents. This young woman, a,
1 Ibid. c. 22. Not content with exacting the submission of his
own subjects, Henry ordered an instrument to be drawn up, which
should be executed by the king of France, in which the latter de-
clared that Henry's first marriage was null, the second valid ; that
Mary was illegitimate, Elizabeth legitimate; and promised most
faithfully to maintain these assertions, even by force of arms if
necessary, against all opponents. It is published by Burnet from a
copy (iii. Rec. 84), but in all probability was never executed.
24 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, native of Aldington in Kent, was subject occasionally
A.D. 1534. to fits, in the paroxysms of which she often burst into
vehement and appalling exclamations, and periodically,
about the beginning of December, to a trance of a few
days' duration, after which she would narrate the
wonders that she had seen in the world of spirits,
under the guidance and tuition of an angel.1 By the
neighbours, her sufferings and sayings were attributed
to some preternatural agency ; she herself insensibly
partook of the illusion ; and Masters, the clergyman of
the parish, advised her to quit the village, and to enter
1526. the convent of St. Sepulchre in Canterbury. In her
new situation her ecstasies and revelations were mul-
tiplied ; and Archbishop Warham, at a loss to form a
satisfactory judgment, appointed Bocking, a monk of
Christchurch, her confessor. Bocking soon professed
himself a believer in her inspired character ; and both
Sir Thomas More arid Bishop Fisher appear to have
gone over to his opinion. The maid grew less cautious
in her predictions, and occasionally rose to higher and
more dangerous matters. Whilst the great cause
between Henry and Catherine was yet pending in the
court of the legates, she informed Wolsey, at the
command of her angel, that if he ventured to pro-
nounce a divorce, God would visit him with the most
dreadful chastisement ; and after Wolsey's death she
stated to her admirers, that God had shown to her an
1 A collection of these expressions had been made, and sent to the
king, who showed it to Sir Thomas More, and asked his opinion :
" I told him," says More, " that in good faith I found nothing in
" these words that I could regard or esteem. For seeing that some
" part fell in rhythm, and that, God wot, full rude also, for any
" reason that I saw therein, a right simple woman might in my
" mind speak it of her own wit well enough." — More's Letter to
Cromwell, apud Burnet, ii. Rec. p. 286. Another collection of her
visions and prophecies may be seen in Strype, i. 177.
ELIZABETH BARTON. 25
evil root buried in the earth, out of which three shoots CHAP.
had sprung ; a vision interpreted to mean, that the A.D. is34.
king, and Norfolk, and Suffolk, were now carrying
into execution the evil projects devised by the late
cardinal. She even admonished Henry in person, at
the command of her angel, that if he were to marry
Anne Boleyn, while Catherine was alive, he would
no longer be looked upon as a king by God; but
would die the death of a villein within a month, and
be succeeded on the throne by his daughter Mary.
Years had elapsed since Henry first heard of the
woman, her visions, and prophecies ; still he continued
to treat her with ridicule and contempt. But, when
he had publicly acknowledged his second marriage,
he deemed it necessary to close her mouth and pre-
vent the circulation of her predictions by severity of
punishment. Barton was taken from her convent, and
examined in private, first by Cranmer alone, and then
by Cromwell and Cranmer together. That by dint of
argument and authority they should draw from her an
admission that her supposed revelations from heaven
were the delusions of her own distempered brain, and
that she felt a gratification in communicating them to
others, is probable enough ; and, in their official re-
port, she is said to have confessed that " her predic-
" tions were feigned of her own imagination only, to
" satisfy the minds of them which resorted to her, and
" to obtain worldly praise."1 The chief of her friends
and advisers had been already apprehended : after
several examinations, all were arraigned in the Star-
chamber, and adjudged to stand during the sermon, at 1533.
~ _. .. ~ „, November.
bt. raul s Cross, and to confess the imposture. Jb rom
1 Stat. of Realm, iii. 448. Burnet, ii. Rec. 123, 286, 287 ; and
Cranmer's letter in Todd, i. 89.
26 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the cross they were led back to prison, to await the
A.D.Ii533. royal pleasure. But the king was not satisfied : he
determined that they should die ; and thus leave
behind them an awful warning to those who might
feel disposed to make him the subject of their visions
and prophecies.
1534. A bill of attainder was brought into the house of
Lords, of attainder of treason against the maid, and
her abettors, Bocking, Masters, Deering, Gold, Rich,
and Risley ; and of misprision of treason against Sir
Thomas More, the bishop of Rochester, and others
charged with having known of her predictions without
revealing them to the king. To sustain the charge of
treason, it was presumed, that the communicators of
such prophecies must have had in view to bring the
king into peril of his crown and life ; and, if this were
treason, it followed of course that to be acquainted
with such facts, and yet conceal them, amounted to
the legal offence of misprision of treason. The accused
were not brought to trial. They had already con-
fessed the imposture; and, if we may judge from
similar proceedings during this reign, it would be
contended that the traitorous object of such imposture
could not be doubted. Still to attaint without trial,
except in cases of open rebellion, was so inconsistent
with men's notions, that at the third reading the Lords
March G. resolved to inquire, whether it might stand with the
good pleasure of the king that they should send for
Sir Thomas More, and the rest of the accused, into
the Star-chamber, and inquire what defence they
could make. The answer is not recorded ; but no
defence was allowed.1 The bill was read a fourth
1 In place of a defence, Henry permitted the name of Sir Thomas
PROSECUTION OF BISHOP FISHER. 27
time and passed by the Lords, and soon afterwards by CHAP.
the Commons also. It had been written on paper; A.D. 1534,
now it was delivered to the chancellor to be reduced March~20.
into form, and engrossed on parchment ; and in this
state at the close of the session it received the royal March so.
assent. The parties attainted of treason suffered at April 21.
Tyburn, where Barton confessed her delusion, but
threw the burden of her offence on her companions in
punishment ; she had been, she said, the dupe of her
own credulity ; but then she was only a simple woman,
whose ignorance might be an apology for her conduct,
while they were learned clerks, who, instead of en-
couraging, should have detected and exposed the
illusion.1
Among those who had been charged with misprision
of treason, were two men of more elevated rank,
Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More,
lately lord chancellor. Fisher was far advanced in
age, the last survivor of the counsellors of Henry VII.,
and the prelate to whose care the countess of Rich-
mond recommended on her death-bed the youth and
inexperience of her royal grandson. For many years
the king had revered him as a parent, and was accus-
tomed to boast that no prince in Europe possessed a
prelate equal in virtue and learning to the bishop of
Rochester.2 But his opposition to the divorce gradu-
ally effaced the recollection of his merit and services ;
and Henry embraced with pleasure this opportunity
More to be scored out. So I collect, because his name is not men-
tioned after this.
1 Lords' Journal, i. 72. Hall, 219—224. Godwin, 53, 54.
2 Apol. Pol. p. 95. He adds that on one occasion the king;
turned round to him and said, " Se judicare me nunquam invenisse
" in universa peregrinatione mea, qui literis et virtu te cum Roffense
" esset comparandus." — Ibid.
28 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, of humbling the spirit, or punishing the resistance of
.D.^SSI. his former monitor.1 It was asserted that he had con-
cealed from the king his knowledge of Barton's pre-
dictions ; and Cromwell sent to him message after
message conceived in language most imperious and
unfeeling, yet tempered with an assurance that he
might obtain pardon by throwing himself without
reserve on the royal mercy. But Fisher disdained to
Jan. si. acknowledge guilt, when he knew himself to be in-
nocent. He replied that, after suffering for six weeks
under severe illness, he was unfit to stir from home ;
that to answer letters he found a very dangerous task ;
for let him write whatever he would, it was taken as
a proof " of craft, or wilfulness, or affection, or un-
" kindness;" and that "to touch upon the king's
" great matter" was to him forbidden ground. He
was unwilling to give offence, or to betray his con-
science. The consciences of others he did not con-
demn ; but he knew that he could not be saved by
any conscience but his own. Henry, however, was
Feb. 21. resolute ; the name of Fisher was included in the bill
of attainder for misprision of treason ; and the bishop
Feb. 27. deemed it necessary to address to the Lords a justifica-
tory letter, in which he contended that there could be
no offence against the law in believing on the testi-
mony of several good and learned men, that Barton
was a virtuous woman ; with this impression on his
mind he had conversed with her, and heard her say,
that the king would not live seven months after the
divorce. He had not indeed communicated this dis-
course to his sovereign ; but he had two reasons for
his silence : 1. Because she spoke not of any violence
1 I draw this inference from the peevish answer of Cromwell,
published by Burnet, i. Records ii. p. 123.
AND SIR THOMAS MORE. 29
to be offered to Henry, but of the ordinary visita- CHAP.
tions of Providence : 2. because she assured him A.D.1534.
that she had already apprized the king of the re-
velation made to her; nor had he any reason to
doubt her assertion, as he knew that she had been
admitted to a private audience. He was therefore
guiltless of any conspiracy. "He knew not, as he
" would answer before the throne of Christ, of any
"malice or evil that was intended by her or by any
" other earthly creature unto the king's highness."
But the Lords dared not listen to the voice of inno-
cence in opposition to the royal pleasure ; the bill
was read a second time, and Fisher made an attempt
to pacify the king by assuring him that, if he had not
revealed to him the prediction of Barton, it was be-
cause he knew that Henry was already acquainted
with it ; and because, after " the grevouse letters
" and moche fearful wordes" addressed to him on ac-
count of his disapproval of the divorce, he was loth
to venture into the royal presence with such a tale
pertaining to the same matter ; wherefore he begged
this only favour, that the king would free him from
his present anxiety, and allow him to prepare himself
in quiet for his passage to another world. His prayers,
however, and his reasoning were fruitless ; he was
attainted with the others, and compounded with the March so.
crown for his freedom and personalities in the sum of
three hundred pounds.1
Sir Thomas More had ceased to fill the office of
chancellor. By the king's desire he had discussed the
lawfulness of the divorce with the Doctors Lee, Cran-
mer, Fox, and Nicholas ; but the apparent weakness
1 See his original letters in Collier, ii. 87, and Arch. xxv.
89—93
30 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, of their reasoning served only to convince him of the
A.D. 1534. soundness of his own opinion ; and at his earnest
request, he was indulged in the permission to retire
from the council-chamber, as often as that subject
was brought under consideration. Still in the execu-
tion of his office he found himself unavoidably engaged
in matters which he could not reconcile with his con-
science ; and at length he tendered his resignation, on
the ground that age and infirmity admonished him to
give his whole attention to the concerns of his soul.
Henry, who had flattered himself that the repugnance
of More would gradually melt away, was aware how
much his retirement would prejudice the royal cause
in the mind of the public. But he deemed it prudent
to suppress his feelings ; dismissed the petitioner with
professions of esteem, and promises of future favour ;
May 16. gave the seals to Sir Thomas Audeley, a lawyer of less
timorous conscience ; and ordered the new chancellor,
May 27. at his installation, to pronounce an eulogy on the
merits of his predecessor, and to express the reluct-
ance with which the king had accepted his resigna-
tion.1 From the court, More repaired to his house at
Chelsea, where, avoiding all interference in politics,
he devoted his whole time to study and prayer. Of
Elizabeth Barton he had heard many speak with ap-
plause; once he had a short conversation with her
himself in a chapel at Sion House, but refused to listen
to any of her revelations ; and on another occasion he
wrote to her, advising her to abstain from speaking
of matters of state, and to confine herself to subjects
of piety in her communications with others. To her
miraculous and prophetic pretensions he appears to
1 Pole, fol. xcii. Audeley, if we may believe Marillac, the French
ambassador, was grand vendeur de justice. — Le Grand, i. 224.
OPINIONS OF FISHER AND MORE. 31
have given no credit ; but he looked upon her as a CHAP.
pious and virtuous woman, deluded by a weak and A.D. 1532,
excited imagination. His letter, however, and the
preceding interview, afforded a presumption that the
ex-chancellor was also a party in the conspiracy ; his
name was introduced into the bill of attainder; nor
was it till he had repeatedly written to the king and
to Cromwell, protesting his innocence, and explaining
the substance of his communication with the pre-
tended prophetess, and till the archbishop, the chan-
cellor, the duke of Norfolk, and Cromwell, had
solicited Henry on their knees, that he could appease
the king's anger, and procure the erasure of his name
from the list of victims enumerated in the bill.1
The authority of Fisher and More was great, not
only in England, but also on the continent ; and the
warmest opponents of the divorce were accustomed
to boast that they followed the opinions of these two
celebrated men. The experiment was now made,
whether the danger to which they had been exposed
had subdued their spirit. Within a fortnight after ^^
the attainder of Barton and her abettors, the bishop April 13.
and the ex-chancellor were summoned before the
council at Lambeth, and were asked whether they
would consent to take the new oath of succession.
But the act, the approval of which, " with all the
" whole effectes and contentes therof," was inserted in
the oath, was not confined to the succession only ; it
embraced other matters of a very questionable nature ;
it taught that no power on earth could dispense within
the degrees prohibited% in the book of Leviticus, and
1 See his letters in his printed works, p. 1423 — 1428 ; Burnet's
collection, torn. ii. p. 286 — 292; and Strype, i. App. 130; Ellis,
ii. 48.
32 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, that the marriage of Henry with Catherine had
A 0*1534. always been unlawful and of no effect. More, who
was introduced the first, offered to swear to the suc-
cession alone, but not to every particular contained
in the act, for reasons which prudence compelled him
to suppress.1 Fisher's answer was the same in sub-
stance. He divided the act into two parts. To that
which regarded the succession he made no objection,
because it came within the competence of the civil
power ; to the other part, of a theological nature, his
conscience forbade him to subscribe. Both were re-
manded, that they might have more time for consi-
Aprii 17. deration. Cranmer advised that their oaths should be
received with the limitations which they had proposed,
on the ground that it would deprive the emperor and
his adherents abroad, Catherine and her advocates at
home, of the support which they derived from the
1 He has given an interesting account of his examination in a letter.
It was intimated to him that, unless he gave the reasons for his
refusal, that refusal would be attributed to obstinacy. More. It is
not obstinacy, but the fear of giving offence. Let me have suffi-
cient warrant from the king, that he will not be offended, and I
will explain my reasons. Cromwell. The king's warrant would not
save you from the penalties enacted by the statute. More. In that
case I will trust to his majesty's honour. But yet it thinketh me,
that if I cannot declare the causes without peril, then to leave them
undeclared is no obstinacy. Cranmer. You say that you do not
blame any man for taking the oath. It is then evident that you are
not convinced that it is blameable to take it ; but you must be con-
vinced that it is your duty to obey the king. In refusing therefore
to take it, you prefer that which is uncertain to that which is certain.
More. I do not blame men for taking the oath, because I know not
their reasons and motives : but I should blame myself, because I know
that 1 should act against my conscience. And truly such reasoning
would ease us of all perplexity. Whenever doctors disagree, we
have only to obtain the king's commandment for either side of the ques-
tion, and we must be right. Abbot of Westminster. But you ought
to think your conscience erroneous, when you have against you the
whole council of the nation. More. I should, if I had not for me
a still greater council, the whole council of Christendom. — More's
Works, p. 1429, 1447.
THE KING'S SUPREMACY. 33
example of Fisher and More.1 But Henry preferred CHAP.
the opinion of Cromwell, and determined either to A.D. 1534.
extort from them an unconditional submission, or to
terrify their admirers by the severity of their punish-
ment. The oath was therefore tendered to them a April 17.
second time ; and both, on their refusal to take it,
were committed to the Tower.
Whether it were from accident or design, the form
of this oath of succession had not been prescribed by
the statute ; and Henry, taking advantage of the
omission, modelled and remodelled it at his pleasure.
From the members of parliament, and probably from
the laity (it was required from both men and women),
lie accepted a promise of allegiance to himself and his
heirs, according to the limitations in the act ; but
from the clergy he required an additional declaration
that the bishop of Rome had no more authority within
the realm than any other foreign bishop, and a recog-
nition that the king was the supreme head of the
church of England, without the addition of the quali-
fying clause, which had been in the first instance
admitted. The summer was spent in administering
the oath, in receiving the signatures of the clergy and
clerical bodies, and of the monks, friars, and nuns in
the several abbeys and convents ; and in obtaining
formal decisions against the papal authority from both
convocations and the two universities.2
In autumn the parliament assembled after the pro- NOV. 4.
rogation, and its first measure was to enact that the
king, his heirs and successors, should be taken and
reputed the only supreme heads on earth of the
1 See the letters of Fisher and Cranmer to Cromwell (Strype's
Cranmer, 13, 14.)
2 Wilk. Con. iii. 771, 774, 775. Rym. xiv. 487—527.
VOL. V. D
34 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, church of England,1 with full power to visit, reform,
A.D. 1534. and correct all such errors, heresies, abuses, contempts,
and enormities, which by any manner of spiritual
authority ought to be reformed or corrected. 2. To
remedy the defect in the late act of succession, it was
declared that the oath administered at the conclusion
of the session was the very oath intended by the legis-
lature, and that every subject was bound to take it
under the penalties of the same act. 3. It was
evident that the creation of this new office, of
head of the church, would add considerably to the
cares and fatigues of royalty ; an increase of labour
called for an increase of remuneration ; and, therefore,
by a subsequent act for " the augmentation of the
" royal estate and the maintenance of the supremacy/'
the first-fruits of all benefices, offices, and spiritual
dignities, and the tenths of the annual income of all
livings, were annexed to the crown for ever. 4. To
restrain by the fear of punishment the adversaries of
these innovations, it was made treason to wish or will
maliciously,2 by word or writing, or to attempt by
craft, any bodily harm to the king or queen, or their
heirs, or to deprive any of them of the dignity, style,
and name of their royal estates, or slanderously and
maliciously to publish or pronounce by words or
writing that the king is a heretic, schismatic, tyrant,
or infidel. 5. As an additional security a new oath
was tendered to the bishops, by which they not only
1 Without the saving clause, " as far as the law of God will
" allow."
2 It was not till after some struggle that the king yielded to the
insertion of this qualification, "maliciously." — Arch. xxv. 795. It
appears, however, that at More's trial the judges contrived to render
it useless, by declaring that a refusal to acknowledge the supremacy
was a proof of internal " malice."
IS RIGIDLY ENFORCED. 35
abjured the supremacy of the pope, and acknowledged CHAP.
that of the king, but also swore never to consent that A.D.1534.
the bishop of Rome should have any authority within
the realm ; never to appeal, nor to suffer any other
to appeal to him ; never to write or send to him
without the royal permission; and never to receive
any message from him without communicating it im-
mediately to the king. 6. If the reader think that
Henry must be now satisfied, let him recollect the
secret protest, the theological legerdemain, by which
Cranmer pretended to nullify the oath of obedience
which he was about to make to the pontiff. The
king had been indeed privy to the artifice ; but he
was unwilling that it should be played oft* upon him-
self; and on that account he now exacted from each
prelate a full and formal renunciation of every protest
previously made, which might be deemed contrary to
the tenor of the oath of supremacy.1
Penal statutes might enforce conformity ; they could
not produce conviction. The spiritual supremacy of a
lay prince was so repugnant to the notions to which
men had been habituated, that it was everywhere
received with doubt and astonishment. To dispel
these prejudices, Henry issued injunctions that the
very word "pope" should be carefully erased out of
all books employed in the public worship ; that
every schoolmaster should diligently inculcate the new
doctrine to the children intrusted to his care ; that
1 St. 26 Hen. VIII. 1, 2, 3, 13. Wilk. Con. iii. 780, 782. It
would appear that some of the prelates submitted with reluctance to
this oath, and that threats were employed to enforce obedience. —
See Archbishop Lee's letter to Cromwell (St. Pap. i. 428). He
will do any thing the king wishes, " so that our Lord bee not offended,
" and the unitie of the faiethe and of the Catholique Chyrche saved ;"
and with this he hopes " his highness wolbe content."
D 2
36 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, all clergymen, from the bishop to the curate, should
A.D.1534. on every Sunday arid holiday teach that the king was
the true head of the church, and that the authority
hitherto exercised by the popes was an usurpation,
tamely admitted by the carelessness or timidity of his
predecessors ; and that the sheriffs in each county
should keep a vigilant eye over the conduct of the
clergy, and should report to the council the names,
not only of those who might neglect these duties,
but also those who might perform them indeed,
but with coldness and indifference.1 At the same
time he called on the most loyal and learned of the
prelates to employ their talents in support of his new
dignity; and the call was obeyed by Sampson and
Stokesley, Tunstall and Gardiner ; 2 by the two former,
1 Ibid. 772. Cranmer, as the first in dignity, gave the example
to his brethren, and zealously inculcated from the pulpit what his
learning or fanaticism had lately discovered, that the pontiff was the
antichrist of the Apocalypse (Poli Ep. i. 444) ; an assertion which
then filled the Catholic with horror, but at the present day excites
nothing but contempt and ridicule.
2 Reginald Pole, that he might take no share in these transac-
tions, had retired to the north of Italy; but Henry sent him
Sampson's work, and commanded him to signify his own sentiments
on the same subject. Pole obeyed, and returned an answer in the
shape of a large treatise, divided into four books, and afterwards
entitled Pro Ecclesiastical Unitatis Defensione. Not content with
replying to the theological arguments of Sampson, he described,
in that style of declamatory eloquence in which he excelled, the
vicious parts of the king's conduct since the commencement of his
passion for Anne Boleyn. His Italian friends disapproved of this
portion of the work ; but he justified it on the ground that the fear
of shame was more likely to make impression on the mind of
Henry than any other consideration. In this perhaps he argued
correctly ; for the king, suppressing his resentment, made him ad-
vantageous offers if he would destroy the work ; and Pole himself so
far complied, that none of the injuries which he afterwards received
from Henry could ever provoke him to publish it. That he wrote
in this manner from affection, as he asserts, may be true ; but it
subjected him to the severe censures of his English friends, which
have been followed by many writers since his death. On the other
OPPOSITION TO THE SUPREMACY. 37
as was thought, from affection to the cause, by the CHAP.
latter through fear of the royal displeasure. But A.D. 1534.
though an appearance of conformity was generally
obtained, there still remained men, chiefly among the
three religious orders of Carthusians, Brigittins, and
Franciscan Observants, who were neither to be re-
claimed by argument, nor subdued by terror. Secluded
from the commerce and the pleasures of the world,
they felt fewer temptations to sacrifice their con-
sciences to the command of their sovereign ; and
seemed more eager to court the crown, than to flee
from the pains of martyrdom. When to the repri-
mand which two Friars Observants, Peyto and Elstow,
had received for the freedom of their sermons,
Cromwell added, that they deserved to be inclosed
in a sack, and thrown into the Thames, Peyto replied,
with a sarcastic smile, " Threaten such things to rich
" and dainty folk, which are clothed in purple, fare
" deliciously, and have their chiefest hopes in this
" world. We esteem them not. We are joyful that
" for the discharge of our duty we are driven hence.
" With thanks to God we know that the way to heaven
" is as short by water as by land, and therefore care
" not which way we go."1 Peyto and Elstow were
dismissed ; but it soon appeared that the whole order
hand he defended himself ably, and has found many defenders. — See
his Epistles, i. 436, 441, 456, 471 ; his Apologia ad Angl. Parlia-
mentum, i. 179; his Epistle to Edward VI. Ep. iv. 307 — 321,
340 ; Burnet, iii. Rec. 114—130; Strype, i. 188—223 ; and
Quirini, Animadversio in Epist. Shelbornii, i — Ixxx.
1 Stowe, 543. Collect. Anglo Minoritica, p. 233. Pole observes
that the three orders of Carthusians, Brigittins, and Observants (by
this name the reformed Franciscans were meant) had at that period
the greatest reputation for piety. Quosnam, he asks, habes, cum
ab iis tribus discesseris, qui non prorsus ab instituti sui authoribus
degeneraverint ? — Pole, fol. ciii. He notices the banishment of the
Observants, ibid.
38 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, was animated with similar sentiments ; and Henry
A. D. 1534. deemed it necessary to silence, if he could not subdue,
its opposition. All the Friars Observants were
ejected from their monasteries, and dispersed, partly
in different prisons, partly in the houses of the Friars
Conventuals. About fifty perished from the rigour
of their confinement; the rest, at the suggestion of
Wriothesley, their secret friend and patron, were
banished to France and Scotland.
But Henry soon proved that the late statute was
not intended to remain a dead letter. The priors of
1535. the three charter houses of London, Axiholm, and
Belleval, had waited on Cromwell to explain their
conscientious objections to the recognition of the king's
supremacy. From his house he committed them to
the Tower, and contended at their trial, that such
objections, by " depriving the sovereign of the dignity,
" style, and name of his royal estate," amounted to the
crime of high treason.1 The jury, however, would not
be persuaded that men of such acknowledged virtue
could be guilty of so foul an offence. When Crom-
well sent to hasten their determination, they de-
manded another day to deliberate : though a second
message threatened them with the punishment reserved
for the prisoners, they refused to find for the crown ;
and the minister was compelled to visit them himself,
to argue the case with them in private, and to call
intimidation to the aid of his arguments, before he
could extort from their reluctance a verdict of guilty.
May 5. J?[VQ dayS later, the priors, with Reynolds, a monk of
1 By the 26 Henry VIII. c. 1, the king was declared supreme
head of the church, with the style and title thereof ; by the same,
c. xiii., it was made high treason to attempt by words or writing to
deprive him " of the dignity, style, or name, of his royal estate."
MORE AND FISHER. 39
Syon, and Haile, a secular clergyman, suffered at Ty- CHAP.
burn; and they were soon afterwards followed by A.D. isss.
three monks from the Charterhouse, who had solicited Ju^T8.
in vain that they might receive the consolations of
religion previously to their deaths.1 On all these the
sentence of the law was executed with the most bar-
barous exactitude. They were suspended, cut down
alive, embowelled, and dismembered.2
The reader will have observed that the form of the
oath, for the refusal of which More and Fisher were
committed, had not then obtained the sanction of the
legislature. But the two houses made light of the
objection, and passed against them a bill of attainder
for misprision of treason, importing the penalty of
forfeiture and perpetual imprisonment.3 Under this NOT.'
sentence More had no other resource for the support
of life than the charity of his friends, administered by
the hands of his daughter, Margaret Roper.4 Fisher,
though in his seventieth year, was reduced to a state
1 That the offence for which they suffered was the denial of the
king's supremacy, is not only asserted by the ancient writers, but
proved by the true bill found against two of them, John Rochester
and James Whalworth, which is still extant. — Cleop. E. vi. f. 204.
See Archaeol. xxv. 84.
2 The reader may see the sufferings of these, with those of the
other Carthusian monks, in Chauncey's Historia aliquot nostri sseculi
Martyrum, Moguntise, 1550. Also in Pole's Defensio Eccles. Unit,
fol. Ixxxiv ; and his Apology to Caesar, p. 98. He bears testimony
to the virtue of Reynolds, with whom he was well acquainted, and
who, quod in paucissimis ejus generis hominum reperitur, omnium
liberalium artium cognitionem non vulgarem habebat, eamque ex
ipsis haustam fontibus (fol. ciii). — See also Strype, i. 196.
3 Stat. of Realm, iv. 527, 528.
4 From the petition of More's "poore miserable wyffe and children,"
it appears that Henry at first allowed her to retain the moveables
and the rents of the prisoner for their common support ; but that,
after the passing of the last act, every thing was taken from them.
— See it in Mr. Bruce's inedited documents relating to Sir Thomas
More (App. p. 11).
40
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, of destitution, in which he had not even clothes to
A.OJ535. cover his nakedness. But their sufferings did not
mollify the heart of the despot ; he was resolved to
triumph over their obstinacy, or to send them to the
scaffold. With this view they were repeatedly and
April so. treacherously examined by commissioners, not with
respect to any act done or any word uttered by them
May 4. since their attainder, but with regard to their private
opinions relative to the king's supremacy. If they
could be induced to admit it, Henry would have the
benefit of their example ; should they deny it, he
might indict them for high treason. Both answered
with caution; the bishop, that the statute did not
compel any man to reveal his secret thoughts ; More,
that under the attainder he had no longer any concern
with the things of this world, and should therefore
confine himself to the preparation of his soul for the
other. Both hoped to escape the snare by evading
the question; but Henry had been advised that a
refusal to answer was proof of malice, and equivalent
June 2. to a denial ; and a special commission was appointed
to try 'the two prisoners on a charge of high treason.
In the meantime news arrived that the pontiff, at a
general promotion of cardinals, had named Fisher to
the purple. To the person who brought him the
intelligence the prisoner replied, that, " If the hat were
;( lying at his feet he would not stoop to take it up ;
" so little did he set by it."1 Henry, on the other
hand, is reported to have exclaimed, " Paul may send
:< him the hat, but I will take care that he have never
" a head to wear it on." Previously to trial more
June 12. examinations took place, but nothing criminal was
elicited ; and therefore the searching and fatal ques-
1 Archseol. xxv. 99.
EXECUTION OF FISHER. 41
tions were put to each : " Would he repute and take CHAP.
" the king for supreme head of the church ? Would he A.D .^ss
" approve the marriage of the king with the most j^4
" noble queen Anne to be good and lawful ? Would
" he affirm the marriage with the lady Catherine to
"have been unjust and unlawful?" More replied,
that to questions so dangerous he could make no
answer : Fisher, that he should abide by his former
answer to the first question ; and that with respect to
the second, he would obey the act, saving his con-
science, and defend the succession as established by
law ; but to say absolutely Yea or No, from that he
begged to be excused.1 These replies sealed their
doom.
The bishop was the first placed at the bar, and June 1 7.
charged with having " falsely, maliciously, and traitor-
" ously wished, willed, and desired, and by craft
" imagined, invented, practised, and attempted to
" deprive the king of the dignity, title, and name of
" his royal estate, that is, of his title and name of
" supreme head of the church of England, in the
' Tower, on the 7th day of May last, when, contrary
'•' to his allegiance, he said and pronounced, in the
" presence of different true subjects, falsely, malici-
" ously, and traitorously, these words : The tyng oure
" soveraign lord is not supreme heddyn erthe of the chercke
" ofEnglande"'4 If these words were ever spoken, it is
plain, both from his habitual caution and the place where
the offence is stated to have been committed, that they
were drawn from him by the arts of the commissioners
1 State Papers, i. 431—6.
2 I quote these words of the indictment from Archseol. xxv. 94,
because it has been sometimes asserted that Fisher suffered, not for
the denial of the supremacy, but for other, though unknown, acts of
treason.
42
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, or their instruments, and could not have been uttered
A.D. 1535. with the malicious and traitorous intent attributed to
him.1 He was, however, found guilty and beheaded.
June 22. Whether it was that Henry sought to display his
hatred for his former monitor, or to diffuse terror by
the example of his death, he forbade the body to be
removed from the gaze of the people. The head was
placed on London Bridge ; but the trunk, despoiled of
the garments, the perquisite of the executioner, lay
naked on the spot till evening, when it was carried
away by the guards and deposited in the churchyard
of All Hallows, Barking.2
July i. The fate of Fisher did not intimidate his fellow
victim. To make the greater impression on the
people, perhaps to add to his shame and sufferings,
More was led on foot, in a coarse woollen gown,
through the most frequented streets, from the Tower
to Westminster Hall. The colour of his hair, which
had lately become grey, his face, which, though cheer-
ful, was pale and emaciated, and the staff, with which
he supported his feeble steps, announced the rigour
and duration of his confinement. At his appearance
in this state at the bar of that court in which he was
wont to preside with so much dignity, a general feel-
ing of horror and sympathy ran through the spectators.
Henry dreaded the effect of his eloquence and au-
1 It is possible that the words charged in the indictment may have
been extracted from the " certain answer which he had once given,
" and to which, if it were the king's pleasure, he was yet content to
" stand." — State Papers, i. 431. That answer prudence forbade him
to repeat before the commissioners.
2 Mortui corpus nudum prorsus in loco supplicii ad spectaculum
populo relinqui mandaverat.— Poli Apol. ad Cses. 96. Hall, 230.
Fuller, 205. In this account of Bishop Fisher, I am greatly in-
debted to a very interesting memoir by Mr. Bruce in Archseologia,
vol. xxv.
TRIAL OF MORE.
43
thority ; and therefore, as if it were meant to distract CHAP.
his attention and overpower his memory, the indict- ^0^535.
ment had been framed of enormous length and
unexampled exaggeration, multiplying the charges
without measure, and clothing each charge with a
load of words, beneath which it was difficult to dis-
cover its real meaning. As soon as it had been read,
the chancellor, who was assisted by the duke of
Norfolk, Fitzjames, the chief justice, and six other
commissioners, informed the prisoner that it was still
in his power to close the proceedings, and to recover
the royal favour by abjuring his former opinion. With
expressions of gratitude he declined the favour, and
commenced a long and eloquent defence. Though,
he observed, it was not in his power to recollect one-
third part of the indictment, he would endeavour to
show that he had not offended against the statute,
nor sought to oppose the wishes of the sovereign. He
must, indeed, acknowledge that he had always disap-
proved of the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn, but
then he had never communicated that disapprobation
to any other person than the king himself, and not
even to the king till Henry had commanded him on
his allegiance to disclose his real sentiments. In such
circumstances to dissemble would have been a crime,
to speak with sincerity was a duty. The indictment
charged him with having traitorously sought to deprive
the king of his title of head of the church. But
where was the proof? That, on his examination in
the Tower he had said, he was by his attainder become
civilly dead ; that he was out of the protection of the
law, and therefore could not be required to give an
opinion of the merits of the law ; and that his only
occupation was and would be to meditate on the pas-
sion of Christ, and to prepare himself for his own
44 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, death. But what was there of crime in such an
A.D. 1535. answer? It contained no word, it proved no deed
against the statute. All that could be objected against
him was silence ; and silence had not yet been de-
clared treason. 2. It was maintained that in different
letters written by him in the Tower he had exhorted
Bishop Fisher to oppose the supremacy. He denied
it. Let the letters be produced; by their contents
he was willing to stand or fall. 3. But Fisher on his
examination had held the same language as More, a
proof of a conspiracy between them. What Fisher had
said, he knew not : but it could not excite surprise
if the similarity of their case had suggested to each
similar answers. This he could affirm with truth,
that, whatever might be his own opinion, he had
never communicated it to any, not even to his dearest
friends.
But neither innocence nor eloquence could avert
his fate. Rich, the solicitor-general, afterwards Lord
Rich, now deposed, that in a private conversation in
the Tower, More had said : " The parliament cannot
" make the king head of the church, because it is a
" civil tribunal without any spiritual authority/' It
was in vain that the prisoner denied this statement,
showed that such a declaration was inconsistent with
the caution which he had always observed, and main-
tained that no one acquainted with the former cha-
racter of Rich would believe him even upon his oath ;
it was in vain that the two witnesses, who were
brought to support the charge, eluded the expectation
of the accuser by declaring that, though they were in
the room, they did not attend to the conversation;
the judges maintained that the silence of the prisoner
was a sufficient proof of malicious intention ; and the
jury, without reading over the copy of the indictment
HIS EXECUTION. 45
which had been given to them, returned a verdict of CHAP.
guilty. As soon as judgment of death had been A.D. 1535.
pronounced, More attempted, and, after two interrup-
tions, was suffered to address the court. He would
now, he said, openly avow, what he had hitherto
concealed from every human being, his conviction that
the oath of supremacy was unlawful. It was, indeed,
painful to him to differ from the noble lords whom he
saw on the bench ; but his conscience compelled him
to bear testimony to the truth. This world, however,
had always been a scene of dissension ; and he still
cherished a hope that the day would come when both
he and they, like Stephen and Saul, would be of the
same sentiment in heaven. As he turned from the
bar, his son threw himself on his knees and begged
his father's blessing ; and as he walked back to the
Tower, his daughter Margaret twice rushed through
the guards, folded him in her arms, and, unable to
speak, bathed him with her tears.
He met his fate with constancy, even with cheerful-
ness. When he was told that the king, as a special
favour, had commuted his punishment to decapitation,
" God," he replied, " preserve all my friends from such
" favours." On the scaffold the executioner asked his
forgiveness. He kissed him, saying, " Thou wilt ren-
" der me to-day the greatest service in the power of July 6.
" any mortal : but " (putting an angel into his hand)
" my neck is so short that I fear thou wilt gain little
66 credit in the way of thy profession." As he was not
permitted to address the spectators, he contented
himself with declaring that lie died a faithful subject
to the king, and a true Catholic before God. His head
was fixed on London Bridge.1
1 Ep. Gul. Corvini in App. ad Epis. Erasmi, p. 1763. Pole,
46 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. By these executions the king had proved that
A.D. 1535. neither virtue nor talent, neither past favour nor
past services, could atone in his eyes for the great
crime of doubting his supremacy. In England the
intelligence was received with deep but silent sorrow ;
in foreign countries with loud and general execration.1
The names of Fisher and More had long been familiar
to the learned ; and no terms were thought too severe
to brand the cruelty of the tyrant by whom they had
been sacrificed. But in no place was the ferment
greater than in Rome. They had fallen martyrs to
Ixxxix— xciii. Roper, 48. More, 242. Stapleton, Vit. Mor. 335.
Lettere di Princ. i. 134. State Trials, i. 59. edit. 1730. His death
spread terror through the nation. On the 24th of August Erasmus
wrote to Latomus, that the English lived under such a system of
terror, that they dared not write to foreigners, nor receive letters
from them. Amici, qui me subinde literis et muneribus dignabantur,
metu nee scribunt nee mittunt quicquam, neque quicquam a quoquam
recipiunt, quasi sub omni lapide dormiat scorpius (p. 1509.)
1 Ipse vidi multorum lacrymas, qui nee viderant Morum, nee ullo
officio ab eo affecti fuerant. — Ep.Corvini, p. 1769. See also Pole,
Ep. iv. 317, 318. The king of France spoke also of these execu-
tions with great severity to the ambassador, and advised that Henry
should banish such offenders rather than put them to death. Henry
was highly displeased. He replied that they had suffered by due
course of law ; and " were well worthy, if they had a thousand
" lives, to have suffered ten times a more terrible death and execu-
" tion than any of them did suffer." — Burnet, iii. Rec. 81. Several
letters were written to the ambassadors abroad, that they might
silence these reports to the king's prejudice, by asserting that both
Fisher and More had been guilty of many and heinous treasons.
But in no one instance were these treasons particularized. That
they amounted in fact to nothing more than a refusal of acknow-
ledging the king's supremacy, is plain from the indictment of
Fisher already noticed, and from that of More, which is in the in-
quisitio post mortem, lately edited by Mr. Bruce, App. 12 — 16, and
Archaeol. xxv. 370 — 4. That indictment charges him with saying, in
answer to the question of the king's supremacy, " that it was lyke a
" swerde with two edges," on May 7th and June 3rd, and of deny-
ing it to Sir Richard Rich on June 12th, and thus attempting
regem de dignitate, titulo et nomine supremi capitis in terra Angli-
canse ecclesiae penitus deprivare. No treason on any other subject
is mentioned.
PAPAL BULL AGAINST HENRY 47
their attachment to the papal supremacy ; their blood CHAP.
called on the pontiff to punish their persecutor. A.D. 1535.
Clement died ten months before, and Paul had j"^"
hitherto followed the cautious policy of his predecessor ; SePL 25*
but his prudence was now denominated cowardice;
and a bull against Henry was extorted from him by
the violence of his counsellors. In this extraordinary 1535.
instrument, in which care was taken to embody every ugust
prohibitory and vindictive clause invented by the
most aspiring of his predecessors, the pontiff, having
first enumerated the offences of the king against
the Apostolic See, allows him ninety, his fautors and
abettors sixty days to repent, and appear at Rome in
person or by attorney ; and then, in case of default
pronounces him and them excommunicated ; deprives
him of his crown ; declares his children by Anne, and
their children by their legitimate wives, incapable of
inheriting for several generations ; interdicts his and
their lands and possessions ; requires all clerical and
monastic bodies to retire out of Henry's territories ;
absolves his subjects and their tenants from the oaths
of allegiance and fidelity ; commands them to take up
arms against their former sovereign and lords ; dissolves
all treaties and alliances between Henry and other
powers as far as they may be contradictory to this
sentence ; forbids all foreign nations to trade with his
subjects, and exhorts them to capture the goods, and
make prisoners of the persons, of all such as still
adhere to him in his schism and rebellion.1
But when Paul cast' his eyes on the state of Europe,
when he reflected that Charles and Francis, the only
princes who could attempt to carry the bull into ex-
ecution, were, from their rivalry of each other, more
1 Bullar. Rom. i, 704, edit. 1673.
48 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, eager to court the friendship than to risk the enmity
A.D. 1535. of the king of England, he repented of his precipi-
tancy. To publish the bull could only irritate Henry
and bring the papal authority into contempt and
derision. It was therefore resolved to suppress it for
a time; and this weapon, destined to punish the
apostasy of the king, was silently deposited in the
papal armoury, to be brought forth on some future
opportunity, when it might be wielded with less
danger and with greater probability of success.1
1 Bullar. Rom. i. 708, edit. 1673.
49
CHAPTER II.
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
I. KING'S SUPREMACY ITS NATURE CROMWELL MADE VICAR-
GENERAL BISHOPS TAKE OUT NEW POWERS II. DISSOLUTION
OF MONASTERIES LESSER MONASTERIES SUPPRESSED DEATH OF
QUEEN CATHERINE — ARREST, DIVORCE, AND EXECUTION OF ANNE
INSURRECTION IN THE NORTH POLE*S LEGATION GREATER
MONASTERIES GIVEN TO THE KING III. DOCTRINE HENRY*S
CONNECTIONS WITH THE LUTHERAN PRINCES — ARTICLES INSTI-
TUTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN DEMOLITION OF SHRINES PUB-
LICATION OF THE BIBLE IV. PERSECUTION OF LOLLARDS
ANABAPTISTS REFORMERS TRIAL OF LAMBERT POLE'S SECOND
LEGATION EXECUTION OF HIS RELATIONS V. STRUGGLE BE-
TWEEN THE TWO PARTIES — STATUTE OF THE SIX ARTICLES
MARRIAGE WITH ANNE OF CLEVES DIVORCE FALL OF CROM-
WELL— MARRIAGE WITH CATHERINE HOWARD HER EXECUTION
STANDARD OF ENGLISH ORTHODOXY.
I. HENRY had now obtained the great object of CHAP.
his ambition. His supremacy in religious matters A.D. 153
had been established by act of parliament ; it had
been admitted by the nation at large — the members
of every clerical and monastic body had confirmed it
by their subscriptions, and its known opponents had
atoned for their obstinacy by suffering the penalties
of treason. Still the extent of his ecclesiastical pre-
tensions remained subject to doubt and discussion.
That he meant to exclude the authority hitherto ex-
ercised by the pontiffs was sufficiently evident ; but
most of the clergy, while they acknowledged the new
title assumed by the king, still maintained that the
VOL. v. E
50 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, church had inherited from her founder the power of
A.D. 1535. preaching, of administering the sacraments, and of
enforcing spiritual discipline by spiritual censures, — a
power which, as it was not derived from, so neither
could it be dependent on, the will of the civil magis-
trate. Henry himself did not clearly explain, per-
haps knew not how to explain, his own sentiments.
If on the one hand he was willing to push his eccle-
siastical prerogative to its utmost limits, on the other
he was checked by the contrary tendency of those
principles which he had published and maintained in
his treatise against Luther. In his answer to the
objections proposed to him by the convocation at
York, he clothed his meaning in ambiguous language,
and carefully eluded the real point in discussion.
" As to spiritual things," he observed, " meaning the
" sacraments, being by God ordained as instruments
" of efficacy and strength, whereby grace is of his
" infinite goodness conferred upon his people, for as
" much as they be no worldly or temporal things,
" they have no worldly or temporal head, but only
" Christ." But then with respect to those who ad-
minister the sacraments, " the persons of priests, their
" laws, their acts, their manner of living, for as much
" as they be indeed all temporal, and concerning this
" present life only, in those we, as we be called, be
" indeed in this realm caput, and, because there is no
" man above us here, supremum caput."1
Another question arose respecting the manner in
which the supremacy was to be exercised. As the
king had neither law nor precedent to guide him, it
became necessary to determine the duties which be-
longed to him in his new capacity, and to establish
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 764.
CROMWELL VICAR GENERAL. 51
an additional office for the conduct of ecclesiastical CHAP.
affairs. At its head was placed the man whose coun- ^ D. 1535
sels had first suggested the attempt, and whose in- —
dustry had brought it to a successful termination.
Cromwell already held the offices of chancellor of the
exchequer and of first secretary to the king. He was,
after some delay, appointed " the royal vicegerent,
" vicar-general, and principal commissary, with all the
" spiritual authority belonging to the king as head of
" the church, for the due administration of justice in
" all cases touching the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and
" the godly reformation and redress of all errors,
" heresies, and abuses in the said church."1 As a
proof of the high estimation in which Henry held the
supremacy, he allotted to his vicar the precedence of
all the lords spiritual and temporal, and even of the
great officers of the crown. In parliament Cromwell
sat before the archbishop of Canterbury ; he super-
seded that prelate in the presidency of the convocation.
It was with difficulty that the clergy suppressed their
murmurs when they saw at their head a man who had
never taken orders, nor graduated in any university ;
but their indignation increased when they found that
the same pre-eminence was claimed by any of his
clerks, whom he might commission to attend as his
deputy at their meetings.2
Their degradation, however, was not yet consum-
mated. It was resolved to probe the sincerity of their
submission, and to extort from them a practical ac-
knowledgment that they derived no authority from
Christ, but were merely the occasional delegates of
the crown. We have on this subject a singular letter,
1 St. 31 Hen. VIII. 10. Wilk. Con. iii. 784. Collier, ii. Rec.
p. 21. 2 Collier, ii. 119.
E 2
52 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, from Leigh and Ap Rice, two of the creatures of
A.D. 1535. Cromwell, to their master. On the ground that the
plenitude of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was vested in
him as vicar-general, they advised that the powers
of all the dignitaries of the church should be suspended
for an indefinite period. If the prelates claimed au-
thority by divine right, they would then be compelled
to produce their proofs ; if they did not, they must
petition the king for the restoration of their powers,
and thus acknowledge the crown to be the real foun-
Sept. is. tain of spiritual jurisdiction.1 This suggestion was
eagerly adopted ; the archbishop, by a circular letter,
informed the other prelates, that the king, intending
to make a general visitation, had suspended the powers
of all the ordinaries within the realm ; and these,
having submitted with due humility during a month,
presented a petition to be restored to the exercise of
their usual authority. In consequence a commission
was issued to each bishop separately, authorizing him,
during the king's pleasure, and as the king's deputy,
to ordain persons born within his diocese, and admit
them to livings ; to receive proof of wills ; to deter-
mine causes lawfully brought before ecclesiastical tri-
bunals ; to visit the clergy and laity of the diocese ;
to inquire into crimes, and punish them according
to the canon law ; and to do whatever belonged to
the office of a bishop besides those things which, ac-
cording to the sacred writings, were committed to his
charge. But for this indulgence a most singular
reason was assigned ; not that the government of
bishops is necessary for the church, but that the
king's vicar-general, on account of the multiplicity
of business with which he was loaded, could not be
1 Collier, ii. 105. Strype, i. App. 144.
DISSOLUTION OF MONASTERIES.
53
everywhere present, and that many inconveniences CHAP.
might arise, if delays and interruptions were admitted A.D. 1535.
in the exercise of his authority.1
II. Some years had elapsed since the bishop of
Paris had ventured to predict that whenever the
cardinal of York should forfeit the royal favour, the
spoliation of the clergy would be the consequence of
his disgrace. That prediction was now verified. The
example of Germany had proved that the church
might be plundered with impunity ; and Cromwell
had long ago promised that the assumption of the
supremacy should place the wealth of the clerical and
monastic bodies at the mercy of the crown.2 Hence
that minister, encouraged by the success of his former
counsels, ventured to propose the dissolution of the
monasteries ; and the motion was received with wel-
come by the king, whose thirst for money was not
exceeded by his love of power ; by the lords of the
council, who already promised themselves a consider-
able share in the spoils ; and by Archbishop Cranmer,
whose approbation of the new doctrines taught him
to seek the ruin of those establishments which proved
the firmest supports of the ancient faith. The con-
duct of the business was intrusted to the superior
cunning and experience of the favourite, who under-
took to throw the mask of religious zeal over the
injustice of the proceedings.
With this view a general visitation of the monas-
teries was enjoined by the head of the church ; com-
1 The suspension is in Collier, ii. Rec. p. 22 ; the form of resto-
ration of episcopal powers in Burnet, i. Rec. iii. No. xiv. The
latter was issued to different bishops in October (Harmer, 52). See
also Collier, ii. Rec. p. 33. A similar grant was afterwards mad
to all new bishops, before they entered on the exercise of thei
authority. 2 p0ii Apol. ad Cses. 121.
54
HENRY VIII.
CHAP.
II.
A.D. 1535,
missioners of inquiry by his lay vicar were selected ;
and to these in pairs were allotted particular districts
for the exercise of their talents and industry. The
instructions which they received breathed a spirit of
piety and reformation, and were formed on the model
of those formerly used in episcopal and legatine visita-
tions ; so that to men not intrusted with the secret, the
object of Henry appeared, not the abolition, but the
support and improvement of the monastic institute.1
But the visitors themselves were not men of high
standing or reputation in the church. They were
clerical adventurers of very equivocal character, who
had solicited the appointment, and had pledged them-
selves to effect, as far as it might be possible, the
object of that appointment, that is, the extinction of
the establishments which they should visit.2 They
1 The inquiries, amounting to eighty-six questions, were drawn
up by Dr. Layton ; and to these were added injunctions in twenty-
six articles, to be left in each house by the visitors. Both are
to be found in Cleop. E. iv. 12 — 24. The injunctions regard
the papal power, the supremacy, the succession to the crown, the
internal discipline of the monastery, its revenues, and the giving of
alms. The sixteenth teaches the difference between the ceremonies
and the substance of religious worship ; and seems to have furnished
the model for six of the surrenders published by Rymer, xiv. 610
—612.
2 I will transcribe the letter of Dr. Layton : " Pleaset yowe to
understand, that whereas ye intende shortly to visite, and belike
shall have many suiters unto yowe for the same, to be your com-
missioners, if hit might stond with your pleasure that Dr. Lee
and I might have committed unto us the north contre, and to
begyn in Lincoln dioces northwards here from London, Chester
dioces, Yorke, and so furth to the bouder of Scotlande, to ryde
downe one syde, and come up the other. Ye shall be well and
faste assuryede that ye shall nether fynde monke, chanone, &c.
that shall do the kyng's hygness so good servys, nether be so
trusty, trewe and faithful to yowe. Ther ys nether monasterie,
sell, priorie, nor any other religiouse howse in the north, but other
Dr. Lee or I have familiar acquaintance within x or xii mylls of
hyt, so that no knaverie can be hyde from us .... we know
and have experience both of the fassion of the contre and rudeness
of the pepul." — Cleop. E. iv. fol. 11.
SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES. 55
proceeded at first to the lesser houses only. There CHAP.
they endeavoured by intimidation to extort from the A.D. 1535.
inmates a surrender of their property to the king ;
and, when intimidation failed, were careful to collect
all such defamatory reports and information as might
afterwards serve to justify the suppression of the re-
fractory brotherhood. With respect to their chief
object, the visitors were unsuccessful. During the
whole winter they could procure the surrender of no
more than seven houses;1 but from their reports a
statement was compiled and laid before the parliament,
which, while it allotted the praise of regularity to the
greater monasteries, described the less opulent as
abandoned to sloth and immorality. To some men
it appeared contrary to experience that virtue should
flourish most where the temptations to vice were more
numerous, and the means of indulgence more plentiful ;
but they should have recollected that the abbots and
priors of the more wealthy houses were lords of parlia-
ment, and therefore present to justify themselves and
their communities ; the superiors of the others were
at a distance, unacquainted with the charges brought
against them, and of course unable to clear their own
characters, or to expose the arts of their accusers.
A bill was introduced, and hurried, though not with- 1536.
out opposition, through the two houses,2 giving to
the king and his heirs all monastic establishments
1 These were in Kent, Langdon, Folkstone, Bilsington, and St.
Mary's in Dover ; Merton in Yorkshire ; Hornby in Lancashire,
and Tiltey in Essex. — Ibid. 555—558. See a letter from the
visitors in Strype, i. 260.
2 Spelman tells us that it stuck long in the house of Commons,
and would not pass till the king sent for the Commons, and told
them he would have the bill pass, or take off some of their heads.
—Hist, of Sacrilege, p. 183.
56 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the clear yearly value of which did not exceed two
.\.D. 1536. hundred pounds, with the property belonging to them
both real and personal, vesting the possession of the
buildings and lands in those persons to whom the
king should assign them by letters patent, but obliging
the grantees, under the penalty of ten marks per
month, to keep on them an honest house and house-
hold, and to plough the same number of acres which
had been ploughed on an average of the last twenty
years. It was calculated that by this act about three
hundred and eighty communities would be dissolved ;
and that an addition of thirty-two thousand pounds
would be made to the yearly revenue of the crown,
besides the present receipt of one hundred thousand
in money, plate, and jewels.
This parliament by successive prorogations had now
continued six years, and, by its obsequious compliance
with every intimation of the royal will, had deserved,
if any parliament could deserve, the gratitude of the
king. To please him it had altered the succession,
had new modelled the whole frame of ecclesiastical
government, and had multiplied the prerogatives, and
added to the revenue of the crown. It was now dis-
solved ; and commissioners were named to execute
the last act for the suppression of the smaller monas-
teries. Their instructions ordered them to proceed to
each house within a particular district, to announce its
dissolution to the superior and the brotherhood, to make
an inventory of the effects, to secure the convent seal
and the title-deeds, and to dispose of the inhabitants
according to certain rules. But the statute which
vested these establishments in the king, left it to his
discretion to found them anew, — a provision which,
while it left a gleam of hope to the sufferers, drew
DESTITUTION OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS. 57
considerable sums of money into the pockets of Crom- CHAP.
well and his deputies. The monks of each community A.D. 1536.
flattered themselves with the expectation of escaping
from the general shipwreck, and sought by presents
and annuities to secure the protection of the minister
and the visitors. On the other hand, the favourites, to
whom Henry had already engaged to give or sell the
larger portion of these establishments, were not less
liberal in their offers, nor less active in their endea-
vours to hasten the dissolution.1
The result of the contest was, that more than a
hundred monasteries obtained a respite from immediate
destruction ; and of these the larger number were
founded again by the king's letters patent, though
each of them paid the price of that favour by the
surrender of a valuable portion of its possessions.
With respect to the suppressed houses, the superior
received a pension for life ; of the monks, those who
had not reached the age of twenty-four were absolved
from their vows, and sent adrift into the world with-
out any provision ; the others were divided into two
classes. Such as wished to continue in the profession,
were dispersed among the larger monasteries ; those
who did not, were told to apply to Cranmer or Crom-
well, who would find them employments suited to
their capacities. The lot of the nuns was more dis-
tressing. Each received a single gown from the king,
and was left to support herself by her own industry, or
to seek relief from the charity and commiseration of
others.2
1 Cromwell made a rich harvest during the whole time of the sup-
pression.— See letters on the subject, Cleop. E. iv. fol. 135, 146,
205, 216, 220, 257, 264, 269.
2 See Burnet, 192, 222, Rec. iii. p. 142, 157 ; Rym. xiv. 574.
Stevens has published an interesting document, containing the names
58 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. During the suppression of these establishments the
A.D. 1536. public attention had been in a great measure diverted
to a succession of most important events, — the death of
Catherine, the divorce and execution of Anne Boleyn,
and the king's marriage with Jane Seymour.
1. During the three last years Catherine with a small
establishment1 had resided on one of the royal manors.
In most points she submitted without a murmur to
the royal pleasure ; but no promise, no intimidation
could induce her to forego the title of queen, or to ac-
knowledge the invalidity of her marriage, or to accept
the offer made to her by her nephew, of a safe and
honourable asylum either in Spain or Flanders. It
was not that she sought to gratify her pride, or to
secure her personal interests ; but she still cherished a
persuasion that her daughter Mary might at some
future period be called to the throne, and on that
account refused to stoop to any concession which
might endanger or weaken the right of the princess.
In her retirement she was harassed with angry mes-
sages from the king: sometimes her servants were
discharged for obeying her orders ; sometimes were
sworn to follow the instructions which they should
receive from the court. Forest, her confessor, was
of those houses which had obtained a respite from instant destruc-
tion, the names of the persons to whom they had been granted,
and the names of such as had been confirmed or founded again at
the time when the paper was written. Forty-six had been certainly
confirmed ; the writer had his doubts respecting five others ; and out
of this number thirty-three had previously been promised by Henry
to different persons. — Stevens, Monast. ii. App. p. 17. From the
surrenders which were afterwards made, it appears that several
more in the catalogue were confirmed after the date of the docu-
ment.
1 In one of her letters she observes, that she had not even the
means of riding out. — Hearne's Sylloge, at the end of Titus Livius,
p. 77.
DEATH OF CATHERINE. 59
imprisoned and condemned for high treason ; the act CHAP.
of succession was passed to defeat her claim ; and she A.D. 1*536.
believed that Fisher and More had lost their lives
merely on account of their attachment to her cause.
Her bodily constitution was gradually enfeebled by
mental suffering ; and feeling her health decline, she
repeated a request, which had often been refused, that
she might see her daughter, once at least before her
death ; for Mary, from the time of the divorce, had
been separated from the company,1 that she might not
imbibe the principles of her mother. But at the age
of twenty she could not be ignorant of the injuries
which both had suffered ; and her resentment was
daily strengthened by the jealousy of a hostile queen,
and the caprice of a despotic father.2 Henry had the
cruelty to refuse this last consolation to the unfor-
tunate Catherine,3 who from her death-bed dictated a
short letter to " her most dear lord, king, and hus-
1 At the commencement of their separation, Catherine wrote to her
a letter of advice : " I beseech you agree to God's pleasure with a
' merry heart, and be you sure, that without fail he will not suffer
' you to perish, if you beware to offend him. . . . Answer the king's
* message with a few words, obeying the king your father in every
' thing save only that you will not offend God, and lose your soul.
' . . . And now you shall begin, and by likelyhood I shall follow.
' I set not a rush by it ; for when they have done the uttermost they
' can, then I am sure of the amendment. I pray you recommend
' me unto my good lady of Salisbury, and pray her to have a good
' heart, for we never come to the kingdom of heaven but by
' troubles." — Apud Burnet, ii. Records, p. 243.
2 One great cause of offence was that she persisted in giving to
herself the title of princess, and refused it to the infant Elizabeth,
whom she called nothing but sister. On this account she was
banished from court, and confined to different houses in the country.
— See two of her letters in Foxe, torn. ii. lib. ix. p. 131 ; and in
Hearne's Titus Livius, p. 144.
3 Cum hoc idem filia cum lacrymis postularet, mater vix extremum
spiritum ducens flagitaret, quod hostis nisi crudelissimus nunquam
negasset, conjux a viro, mater pro filia, impetrari non potuit. — Poll
Apol. ad Carol. 162.
60
HENRY VIII.
CHAP. " band." She conjured him to think of his salvation ;
A.D. 1536. forgave him all the wrongs which he had done her ;
recommended their daughter Mary to his paternal pro-
tection ; requested that her three maids might be
provided with suitable marriages, and that her other
servants might receive a year's wages. Two copies
were made by her direction, of which one was delivered
to Henry, the other to Eustachio Chapuys, the im-
perial ambassador, with a request that, if her husband
should refuse, the emperor would reward her servants.
As he perused the letter, the stern heart of Henry
was softened ; he even shed a tear, and desired the
ambassador to bear to her a kind and consoling
Jan. 8. message. But she died before his arrival ; and was
buried by the king's direction with becoming pomp in
the abbey church of Peterborough.1 The reputation
which she had acquired on the throne did not suffer
from her disgrace. Her affability and meekness, her
piety and charity, had been the theme of universal
praise ; the fortitude with which she bore her wrongs
raised her still higher in the estimation of the public.
2. Four months did not elapse before Catherine was
followed to the grave by Anne Boleyn. But their
end was very different. The divorced queen died
peaceably in her bed ; her successful rival died by the
sword of the headsman on the scaffold. The obstinacy
of Henry had secured, as long as the divorce was in
agitation, the ascendancy of Anne ; but when that
obstacle was removed, his caprice sought to throw off
the shackles which he had forged for himself. His
passion for her gradually subsided into coldness and
neglect; and the indulgent lover became at last a
! Sanders, 144. Herbert, 432. Heylin's Reform. 179. Her
will is published by Strype, i. App. 169. See note (B).
DISGRACE OF QUEEN ANNE. 61
suspicious and unfeeling master. Thus in the beginning CHAP.
of 1535 we accidentally discover her deeply in disgrace A. 0.1535.
with him, and pitifully imploring the aid of the king pebTs.
of France to reconcile her with her husband. For
that purpose she had employed Gontier, a gentleman
belonging to the French embassy, from whose despatch
we learn that on his return to England, he waited on
the king and queen at Greenwich in the withdrawing-
room after dinner. Having paid his compliment to
Henry, he presented to Anne, who was sitting at a
distance, a letter from Montmorency, the prime minis-
ter of Francis. She read it with evident marks of
disappointment and alarm. Why, she asked Gontier,
had he tarried so long ? His stay in France had en-
gendered doubts, suspicions, and strange imaginings in
the mind of the king her husband.1 It was necessary
that Montmorency and his master should remove
them immediately, for she was now on the brink of
ruin. If Francis did not take her cause in hand, she
was a distracted, a lost woman. She was in greater
pain and distress than before her marriage? But she
could not, she said, speak to him as fully as she
wished. Her agitation was too visible, and the eyes
of the king and the whole company were fixed upon
her. She dared not write to him, nor see him again, nor
1 Doutes, etranges pensemens — doutes et soupscons. — Le La-
boureur, i. 405.
2 Qu'elle ne demeure affolee et perdue ; car elle se voit proche de
cela, et plus en peine et ennuy que paravant ses espousailles. Does
not this message to Francis, that " she was in greater distress now
" than before her marriage," seem to import that she had ex-
perienced the friendly aid of the French king on some past occasion
of distress, which had been removed by her marriage. The reader
will recollect how earnestly and covertly she had requested him to
invite her, as it were spontaneously, to the interview of the two
monarchs in 1532. — See vol. iv. p. 568.
62 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, converse with him any longer. With these words,
A.D. 1535. she turned aside. Henry immediately walked into
the ball-room; the dancing began, and the queen
remained unnoticed behind.1 We have no clue to
the misunderstanding between the parties ; but it is
plain from this graphic description in the despatch of
Gontier, that Anne did not always enjoy amidst the
splendours of royalty those halcyon days which she
had anticipated.
But whatever were her griefs at that time, they
passed away, and were forgotten. She thought no
more of becoming a lost woman, and at the death of
Catherine made no secret of her joy. Out of respect
for the Spanish princess, the king had ordered his
servants to wear mourning on the day of her burial ;
but Anne dressed herself in robes of yellow silk, and
openly declared that she was now indeed a queen,
since she had no longer a competitor. In this, how-
ever, she was fatally deceived. Among her maids was
one named Jane Seymour, the daughter of a knight
of Wiltshire, who, to equal or superior elegance of
person, added a gentle and playful disposition, as far
removed from the Spanish gravity of Catherine as from
that levity of manner which Anne had acquired in the
French court. In the midst of her joy the queen
accidentally discovered Seymour sitting on the king's
1536. knee. The sight awakened her jealousy ; in a few
days she felt the pains of premature labour, and was
delivered of a dead male child. To Henry, who most
anxiously wished for a son, the birth of Elizabeth had
proved a bitter disappointment ; on this, the second
failure of his hopes, he could not suppress his vexation.
1 See Le Laboureur, i. 405. Palamedes Gontier was secretary to
Philippes de Chabot, admiral of France.
QUEEN ANNE'S MISCARRIAGE. 63
Anne is reported to have answered, that he had no CHAP
one to blame but himself, that her miscarriage had AD^S
been owing to his fondness for her maid.1
Unfortunately, if Henry had been unfaithful, she
herself, by her levity and indiscretion, had furnished
employment to the authors and retailers of scandal.
Reports injurious to her honour had been circulated at
court ; they had reached the ear of Henry, and some
notice of them had been whispered to Anne herself.
The king, eager to rid himself of a woman whom he
no longer loved, referred these reports to the council ;
and a committee was appointed to inquire into the
charges against the queen. It consisted of the lord April 25
chancellor, the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, her own
father, and several earls and judges ; who reported
that sufficient proof had been discovered to convict her
of incontinence, not only with Brereton, Norris, and
Weston, of the privy chamber, and Smeaton, the
king's musician, but even with her own brother Lord
Rochford.2 They began with Brereton, whom they Aprii28
summoned on the Thursday before May-day, and com-
mitted immediately to the Tower. The examination April 31
of Smeaton followed on the Sunday, and the next Mayi.
morning he was lodged in the same prison. On that
day the lord Rochford appeared as principal challenger
in a tilting match at Greenwich, and was opposed \y
Sir Henry Norris as principal defendant. The king
and Anne were both present ; and it is said that, in
one of the intervals between the courses, the queen,
through accident or design, dropped her handkerchief
i His trl147' ?eyHn' 26^ W^at in Sin^'s Cavendish, 443.
Darli^Tft/r ^ He had been s^°ned to the first
Wlt
64 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, from the balcony ; that Norris, at whose feet it fell,
A.D. 1536. took it up and wiped his face with it ; and that Henry
instantly changed colour, started from his seat, and
retired. This tale was probably invented to explain
what followed : but the match was suddenly inter-
rupted ; and the king rode back to Whitehall with
only six persons in his train, one of whom was Norris,
hitherto an acknowledged favourite both with him
and the queen. On the way Henry rode with Norris
apart, and earnestly solicited him to deserve pardon
by the confession of his guilt. He refused, strongly
maintaining his innocence, and, on his arrival at West-
minster, was conducted to the Tower.
Anne had been left under custody at Greenwich.
The next morning she received an order to return by
May 2. water ; but was met on the river by the lord chancellor,
the duke of Norfolk, and Cromwell, who informed her
that she had been charged with infidelity to the king's
bed. Falling on her knees, she prayed aloud that if
she were guilty, God might never grant her pardon.
They delivered her to Kyngstoue, the lieutenant of
the Tower. Her brother Rochford had already been
sent there ; Weston and Smeaton followed ; and pre-
parations were made to bring all the prisoners to im-
mediate trial.1
From the moment of her confinement at Greenwich
Anne had foreseen her fate, and abandoned herself to
despair. Her affliction seemed to produce occasional
1 Rochford, Weston, and Norris had stood high in the king's
favour. The two first often played with him for large sums at
shovelboard, dice, and other games, and also with the lady Anne. —
Privy Purse Expenses, passim. Norris was the only person whom
he allowed to follow him into his bed-chamber. — ArchaBol. iii. 155.
Smeaton, though of mean origin, was in high favour with Henry.
He is mentioned innumerable times in the Privy Purse Expenses.
ANNE'S CONDUCT IN PRISON. 65
aberrations of intellect. Sometimes she would sit CHAP.
absorbed in melancholy, and drowned in tears ; and A.D. 1536.
then suddenly assume an air of unnatural gaiety, and
indulge in immoderate bursts of laughter. To those
who waited on her she said that she should be a saint
in heaven ; that no rain would fall on the earth till
she were delivered from prison; and that the most
grievous calamities would oppress the nation in
punishment of her death. But at times her mind
was more composed ; and then she gave her attention
to devotional exercises, and for that purpose requested
that a consecrated host might be placed in her closet.
The apartment allotted for her prison was the same in
which she had slept on the night before her corona-
tion. She immediately recollected it, saying that it
was too good for her ; then falling on her knees, ex-
claimed, " Jesus, have mercy on me ! " This exclama-
tion was succeeded by a flood of tears, and that by a
fit of laughter. To Kyngstone, the lieutenant of the
Tower, she protested, " I am as clear from the com-
" pany of man, as for sin, as I am clear from you. I
" am told that I shall be accused by three men ; and
" I can say no more but nay, though you should open
" my body." Soon afterwards she exclaimed in great
anguish, " 0 ! Norris, hast thou accused me ? Thou
" art in the Tower with me ; and thou and I shall die
" together. And thou, Mark (Smeaton), thou art here
" too ; Mr. Kyngstone " (turning to the lieutenant),
" I shall die without justice." He assured her, that if
she were the poorest subject in the realm, she would
still have justice ; to which she replied with a loud
burst of laughter.
Under the mild administration of justice at the
VOL. v. F
66 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, present day, the accused is never required to condemn
A.D. 1536. himself; but in former times every artifice was em-
ployed to draw matter of proof from the mouth of
the prisoner by promises and threats, by private ex-
aminations in the presence of commissioners, and
ensnaring questions put by the warders and attendants.
Whatever was done or uttered within the walls of the
Tower, was carefully recorded, and transmitted to the
council. Mrs. Cosin, one of the ladies appointed to
wait on the queen, asked, why Norris had said to her
almoner on Saturday last, that he could swear for her
that she was a good woman. Anne replied : " Marry,
" I bade him do so ; for I asked him why he did not
" go through with his marriage ; and he made answer
" that he would tarry a time. Then, said I, you look
" for dead men's shoes ; for, if aught but good should
" come to the king " (Henry was afflicted with a
dangerous ulcer in the thigh), "you would look to
" have me. He denied it ; and I told him that I
" could undo him, if I would." But it was of Weston
that she appeared to be most apprehensive, because
he had told her that Norris frequented her company
for her sake, and not, as was pretended, to pay his
addresses to Madge, one of her maids ; and when she
reproached him with loving a kinswoman of hers more
than his own wife, he had replied that he loved her
better than both the others. When Mrs. Stonor,
another attendant, observed to her that Smeaton was
treated more severely than the other prisoners, for he
was in irons, she replied that the reason was, because
he was not a gentleman by birth ; that he had never
been in her chamber but once, and that was to play on
a musical instrument ; and that she had never spoken
ANNE DECLARES HER INNOCENCE. 67
to him from that day till the last Saturday, when she CHAP.
asked him why he appeared so sad, and he replied that A.D. 1536.
a look from her sufficed him.1
Of the five male prisoners four persisted in main-
taining their innocence before the council. Smeaton,
on his first examination, would admit only some sus-
picious circumstances ; but on the second he made a
full disclosure of guilt, and even Norris, yielding to
the strong solicitation of Sir William Fitzwilliam,
followed his example. Anne had been interrogated at
Greenwich. With her answers we are not acquainted ;
but she afterwards complained of the conduct of her
uncle Norfolk, who, while she was speaking, shook his
head, and said, " Tut, tut." She observed enigmatically,
that Mr. Treasurer was all the while in the forest of
Windsor; and added that Mr. Comptroller alone be-
haved to her as a gentleman. At times she was
cheerful, laughed heartily, and ate her meals with a
good appetite. To Kyngstone she said, " If any man
" accuse me, I can say but nay ; and they can bring
" no witness."2
I have related these particulars, extracted from the
letters of the lieutenant, that the reader may form
some notion of the state of the queen's mind during
her imprisonment, and some conjecture respecting the
truth or falsehood of the charge on which she suffered.
From them it is indeed plain that her conduct had
1 These particulars are taken from the letters of the lieutenant,
and may be seen in Herbert, 446 ; Burnet, i. 199 ; Strype, i. 280 —
283, and Ellis, ii. 53—62.
2 Strype, i. 282, and the letters of Cromwell and Baynton, Heylin,
264. I have not noticed Anne's letter to the king, supposed to be
written by her in the Tower ; because there is no reason for believing
it authentic. It is said to have been found among Cromwell's papers,
but bears no resemblance to the queen's genuine letters in language
or spelling, or writing or signature. — See Fiddes, 197.
F2
68 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, been imprudent ; that she had descended from her
A.D. I'SSG. high station to make companions of her men-servants ;
and that she had even been so weak as to listen to
their declarations of love. But whether she rested
here, or abandoned herself to the impulse of licentious
desire, is a question which probably can never be
determined. The records of her trial and conviction
have mostly perished, perhaps by the hands of those
who respected her memory ; and our judgment is held
in suspense between the contradictory and unauthen-
ticated statements of her friends and enemies. By
some we are told that the first disclosure was made
by a female in her service, who, being detected in an
unlawful amour, sought to excuse herself by alleging
the example of her mistress ; by others that the sus-
picion of the king was awakened by the jealousy of
Lady Rochford, whose husband had been discovered
either lying on, or leaning over, the bed of his sister.
But that which wrought conviction in the royal mind
was a deposition made upon oath by the lady Wing-
field on her death-bed ; of which the first lines only
remain, the remainder having been accidentally or
designedly destroyed.1 This, however, with the depo-
sitions of the other witnesses, was embodied in the
bill of indictment, and submitted to the grand juries
of Kent and Middlesex, because the crimes laid to
the charge of the prisoners were alleged to have been
May 10. committed in both counties.2 The four commoners
1 Burnet, i. 197. We still possess the most important of the
few documents seen by Burnet, and some others of which he was
ignorant, particularly Constantyne's Memoir in Archaeol. xxiii.
2 In the indictment the offence with Norris was laid on 12th Oct.
1533, that with Brereton on the 8th Dec. of the same year, with
Weston on 20th May, 1534, with Smeaton on 26th April, 1535,
with her brother on the 5th -Nov. of the same year. We are in-
ANNE TRIED AND CONDEMNED. 69
were arraigned in the court of King's Bench. Smea- CHAP.
ton pleaded guilty ; Norris recalled his previous con- A.D. 1530.
fession ; all were convicted, and received sentence of M~12.
death.1
But the case of the queen was without prece-
dent in English history ; and it was determined to
arraign her before a commission of lords, similar to
that which had condemned the late duke of Buck-
ingham. The duke of Norfolk was appointed high May 15.
steward, with twenty-six peers as assessors, and opened
the court in the hall of the Tower. To the bar
of this tribunal, the unhappy queen was led by the
constable and lieutenant, and was followed by her
female attendants. The indulgence of a chair was
granted to her dignity or weakness. The indictment
stated that, inflamed with pride and carnal desires of
the body, she had confederated with her brother,
Lord Rochford, and with Norris, Brereton, Weston,
and Smeaton, to perpetrate divers abominable treasons ;
that she had permitted each of the five to lie with
her several times ; that she had said that the king
did not possess her heart ; and had told each of them
in private, that she loved him better than any other
man, to the slander of the issue begotten between
debted to the industry of Mr. Turner for the discovery both of the
indictment, and the preceding commission among the Birch MSS.
4293.
1 The records of these trials have perished ; but, if the reader
consider with what promptitude, and on what slight presumptions
(see the subsequent trials of Dereham and Culpeper), juries in this
reign were accustomed to return verdicts for the crown, he will
hesitate to condemn these unfortunate men on the sole ground of
their having been convicted. The case of Smeaton was indeed different.
He confessed the adultery ; but we know not by what arts of the
commissioners, under what influence of hope or terror, that con-
fession was obtained from him. It should be remembered that the
rack was then in use for prisoners of Smeaton's rank in life.
70 HENEY VIII.
CHAP, her and the king ; and that she had, in union with her
A.D. 1536. confederates, imagined and devised several plots for
the destruction of the king's life. According to her
friends she repelled each charge with so much modesty
and temper, such persuasive eloquence, and convincing
argument, that every spectator anticipated a verdict
of acquittal ; but the lords, satisfied perhaps with the
legal proofs furnished by the confession of Smeaton,
and the conviction of the other prisoners, pronounced
her guilty on their honour ; and the lord high steward,
whose eyes streamed with tears whilst he performed
the unwelcome office, condemned her to be burnt or
beheaded at the king's pleasure. Anne, according to
the testimony or the fiction of a foreign poet, instantly
burst into the following exclamation : — " 0 ! Father,
" 0 ! Creator, thou knowest I do not deserve this
" death." Then addressing herself to the court, " My
" lords, I do not arraign your judgment. You may
" have sufficient reason for your suspicions ; but I
" have always been a true and faithful wife to the
" king."1 As soon as she was removed, her brother
occupied her place, was convicted on the same evidence,
and condemned to lose his head, and to be quartered
as a traitor.2
1 It is extraordinary that we have no credible account of the
behaviour of this unfortunate queen on her trial. There can be no
doubt that she would maintain her innocence, and therefore I have
admitted into the text that exclamation, which is generally attri-
buted to her. It comes to us, however, on very questionable
authority, that of Meteren, the historian of the Netherlands, who
says that he transcribed it from some verses in the Platt-Deutsch
language, by Crispin, lord of Milherve, a Dutch gentleman present
at the trial : so that Burnet himself has some doubt of its truth.
" I leave it thus," says he, " without any other reflection upon
" it, but that it seems all over credible." — Burnet, iii. 181, edit.
Nares.
2 Burnet, i. 201. 202 : iii. 119 ; St. 28 Hen. VIII. 7. It is sup-
FURTHER VENGEANCE OF PIENRY. 71
By the result of this trial the life of Anne was for- CHAP.
TT
feited to the law ; but the vengeance of Henry had A.D. 1536.
prepared for her an additional punishment in the
degradation of herself and her daughter. On the day
after the arrest of the accused, he had ordered Cran-
mer to repair to the archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth,
but with an express injunction that he should not
venture into the royal presence. That such a message
at such a time should excite alarm in the breast of
the archbishop, will not create surprise ; and the next
morning he composed a most eloquent and ingenious May 3.
epistle to the king. Prevented, he said, from address-
ing his grace in person, he deemed it his duty to
exhort him in writing, to bear with resignation this,
the bitterest affliction that had ever befallen him. As
for himself, his mind was clean amazed. His former
good opinion of the queen prompted him to think her
innocent ; his knowledge of the king's prudence and
justice induced him to believe her guilty. To him
she had proved, after the king, the best of benefactors ;
wherefore he trusted that he might be allowed to
wish and pray that she might establish her innocence ;
but, if she did not, he would repute that man a faith-
less subject, who did not call for the severest punish-
ment on her head, as an awful warning to others.
He loved* her formerly, because he thought that she
loved the gospel;1 if she were guilty, every man
posed that the charge of conspiracy against the king's life was
introduced into the indictment merely for form ; yet I observe that
the lord chancellor takes it as proved in his speech to the two
houses of parliament in presence of Henry. He reminds them twice
of the great danger to which the king had been exposed during his
late marriage, from the plots laid for his life by Anne and her ac-
complices.— Journals, p. 84.
1 From this and similar expressions the queen has been repre-
sented a Protestant. She was no more a Protestant than Henry.
72 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, would hate her in proportion to his love of the gospel.
A.D. lisa. Still he hoped that as the king had not begun the
reformation through his affection for her, but through
his love of the truth, he would not permit her mis-
conduct to prejudice that important work in his
opinion. But the alarm of the archbishop was with-
out any real foundation. Henry had no other object
than to intimidate, and by intimidating to render him
more ductile to the royal pleasure. He had already
written, but had not despatched his letter, when he
was summoned to meet certain commissioners in the
Star-chamber, who laid before him the proofs of the
queen's offence, and acquainted him with the duty
which was expected from him. He had formerly
dissolved the marriage between Henry and Catherine ;
he was now required to dissolve that between Henry
and Anne.1
It must have been a most unwelcome and painful
task. He had examined that marriage juridically;
had pronounced it good and valid ; and had confirmed
It is plain from several circumstances that his religion was hers.
The word " gospel" in the archbishop's letter meant nothing more,
or the use of it would have accelerated her ruin.
1 The letter is published by Burnet (i. 200), and certainly does
credit to the ingenuity of the archbishop in the perilous situation in
which he thought himself placed : but I am at a loss to discover
in it any trace of that high courage, and chivalrous justification of
the queen's honour, which have drawn forth the praises of Burnet
and his copiers. In the postscript the archbishop adds : " They" (the
commissioners) " have declared unto me such things, as your grace's
pleasure was they should make me privy unto ; for the which I
am most bounden unto your grace. And what communication we
had together, I doubt not but that they will make the true report
thereof unto your grace. I am exceedingly sorry that such faults
can be proved by the queen, as I heard of their relation ; and I
am and ever shall be your faithful subject." But what was this
report, which they were to make to the king from him ? The
sequel seems to show that it regarded the course to be pursued in
pronouncing the divorce.
CRANMER PRONOUNCES A DIVORCE. 73
it by his authority as metropolitan and judge. But CHAP.
to hesitate would have cost him his head. He ac- A.D. 1536.
ceded to the proposal with all the zeal of a proselyte ;
and, adopting as his own the objections to its validity
with which he had been furnished, sent copies of them
to both the king and queen, " for the salvation of
" their souls," and the due effect of law ; with a
summons to each to appear in his court, and to show
cause why a sentence of divorce should not be pro-
nounced. Never, perhaps, was there a more solemn
mockery of the forms of justice, than in the pretended
trial of this extraordinary cause. By the king Dr.
Sampson was appointed to act as his proctor ; by the
queen, the doctors Wotton and Barbour were invested
with similar powers ; the objections were read ; the
proctor on one part admitted them, those on the other
could not refute them; both joined in demanding
judgment ; and two days after the condemnation of
the queen by the peers, Cranmer, "having previously May 17.
" invoked the name of Christ, and having God alone
" before his eyes," pronounced definitively that the
marriage formerly contracted, solemnized, and con-
summated between Henry and Anne Boleyn was, and
always had been, null and void.1 The whole process
1 Several questions rose out of this judgment. 1. If it were good
in law, Anne had never been married to the king. She could not,
therefore, have been guilty of adultery, and consequently ought not
to be put to death for that crime. 2. If the same judgment were
good, the act of settlement became null, because it was based on the
supposition of a valid marriage ; and all the treasons created by that
act were at once done away. 3. If the act of settlement were still
in force, the judgment itself, inasmuch as it " slandered and im-
" pugned the marriage," was an act of treason. But Anne derived
no benefit from these doubts. She was executed, and the next
parliament put an end to all controversy on the subject by enacting,
that offences made treason by the act, should be so deemed if com-
mitted before the 8th of June ; but that the king's loving subjects
74 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, was afterwards laid before the members of the con-
^.D. 1536. vocation, and the houses of parliament. The former
presumed not to dissent from the decision of the
metropolitan ; the latter were willing that in such a
case their ignorance should be guided by the learning
of the clergy. By both the divorce was approved and
confirmed. To Elizabeth, the infant daughter of
Anne, the necessary consequence was, that she, like
her sister, the daughter of Catherine, was reputed
illegitimate.1
On the day on which Cranmer pronounced judg-
ment the companions of the queen were led to exe-
cution. Smeaton was hanged ; the other four, on
concerned in the prosecution of the queen in the archbishop's court,
or before the lords, should have a full pardon for all treasons by
them in such prosecution committed. — Stat. of Realm, iii. 656.
1 See the record in Wilkins (Con. iii. 803). Burnet, unac-
quainted with this instrument, which, he asserts, was burnt, informs
us that the divorce was pronounced in consequence of an alleged
precontract of marriage between Anne and Percy, afterwards earl
of Northumberland ; that the latter had twice solemnly denied the
existence of such contract on the sacrament ; but that Anne,
through hope of favour, was induced to confess it. That Percy
denied it, is certain from his letter of the 13th of May (Burn. i.
Rec. iii. 49) ; that Anne confessed it, is the mere assertion of the
historian, supported by no authority. It is most singular that the
real nature of the objection on which the divorce was founded is not
mentioned in the decree itself, nor in the acts of the convocation,
nor in the act of parliament, though it was certainly communicated
both to the convocation and the parliament. If the reader turn to
p. 475, 499, he will find that the king had formerly cohabited
with Mary, the sister of Anne Boleyn ; which cohabitation, accord-
ing to the canon law, opposed the same impediment to his mar-
riage with Anne, as had before existed to his marriage with Catherine.
On this account he had procured a dispensation from Pope Clement ;
but that dispensation, according to the doctrine which prevailed after
his separation from the communion of Rome, was of no force ; and
hence I am inclined to believe that the real ground of the divorce
pronounced by Cranmer, was Henry's previous cohabitation with
Mary Boleyn ; that this was admitted on both sides ; and that in
consequence the marriage with Anne, the sister of Mary, was judged
invalid. — See note (C).
ANNE'S MESSAGE TO MARY. 75
account of their superior rank, were beheaded. The CHAP.
last words of Smeaton, though susceptible of a different A.D. 1536.
meaning, were taken by his hearers for a confession
of guilt. " Masters," said he, " I pray you all, pray
" for me, for I have deserved the death." Norris was
obstinately silent ; Rochford exhorted the spectators
to live according to the gospel ; Weston lamented his
past folly in purposing to give his youth to sin, and
his old age to repentance ; Brereton, who, says an
eye-witness, was innocent if any of them were, used
these enigmatical words. " I have deserved to die,
" if it were a thousand deaths ; but the cause where-
" fore I die, judge ye not. If ye judge, judge the
« best."1
To Anne herself two days more were allotted,
which she spent for the most part in the company of
her confessor. On the evening before her death,
falling on her knees before the wife of the lieutenant,
she asked her for a last favour ; which was that Lady
Kyngstone would throw herself in like manner at the
feet of the lady Mary, and would in Anne's name
beseech her to forgive the many wrongs which the
1 Constantyne's Memoir in Archseol. xxiii. 63 — 66. It may be
observed that in none of these declarations, not even in that of
Smeaton, is there any express admission, or express denial of the
crime for which these unfortunate men suffered. If they were guilty,
is it not strange that not one out of five would acknowledge it ? If
they were not, is it not still more strange that not one of them
should proclaim his innocence, if not for his own sake, at least for
the sake of that guiltless woman who was still alive, but destined
to suffer for the same cause in a few days ? The best solution, in
my opinion, is to suppose, that no person was allowed to speak at
his execution without a solemn promise to say nothing in disparage-
ment of the judgment under which he suffered. We know that, if
the king brought a man to trial, it was thought necessary for the
king's honour that he should be convicted ; probably, when he suf-
fered, it was thought equally for the king's honour that he should
not deny the justice of his punishment.
76* HENRY VIII.
CHAP, pride of a thoughtless unfortunate woman had brought
A.D. 1536. upon her. We learn from Kyngstone himself, that
she displayed an air of greater cheerfulness than he
had ever witnessed in any person in similar circum-
stances ; that she had required him to be present
when she should receive " the good lord," to the intent
that he might hear her declare her innocence ; and
that he had no doubt she would at her execution
proclaim herself " a good woman for all but the king/'
If, however, such were her intention, she afterwards
May 19. receded from it. The next morning the dukes of
Suffolk and Richmond, the lord mayor and aldermen,
with a deputation of citizens from each company, as-
sembled by order of the king on the green within the
Tower. About noon the gate opened, and Anne was
led to the scaffold, dressed in a robe of black damask,
and attended by her four maids. With the permission
of the lieutenant, she thus addressed the spectators :
" Good Christian people, I am not come here to
" excuse or justify myself, forasmuch as I know full
" well that aught which I could say in my defence
" doth not appertain to you, and that I could derive no
" hope of life for the same. I come here only to die,
" and thus to yield myself humbly to the will of my
" lord the king. And if in life I did ever offend the
" king's grace, surely with my death do I now atone
" for the same. I blame not my judges, nor any
" other manner of person, nor any thing save the cruel
" law of the land by which I die. But be this, and
" be my faults as they may, I beseech you all, good
" friends, to pray for the life of the king, my sovereign
" lord and yours, who is one of the best princes on
" the face of the earth, and who has always treated
" me so well that better cannot be ; wherefore I sub-
ANNE IS BEHEADED. 77
" mit to death with a good will, humbly asking pardon CHAP
" of all the world." She then took her coifs from her A.
head, and covered her hair with a linen cap, saying to
her maids, " I cannot reward you for your service,
" but pray you to take comfort for my loss. Howbeit,
" forget me^not. Be faithful to the king's grace, and
" to her whom with happier fortune you may have for
" your queen and mistress. Value your honour before
" your lives ; and in your prayers to the Lord Jesus,
" forget not to pray for my soul." She now knelt
down ; one of her attendants tied a bandage over her
eyes, and, as she exclaimed, " 0 Lord God, have mercy
" upon my soul," the executioner, with one blow
of his sword, severed her head from the body. Her
remains, covered with a sheet, were placed by her
maids in an elm chest, brought from the armoury, and
immediately afterwards buried within the chapel of
the Tower.1
Thus fell this unfortunate queen within four months
after the death of Catherine. To have expressed a
doubt of her guilt during the reign of Henry, or of her
1 Compare Constantyne's Memoir, who was present, with the
letter of a Portuguese gentleman, who wrote soon afterwards to a
friend in Lisbon, in Excerpta Hist. 264. The speech in the text is
taken from him ; that in Constantyne is as follows : " Good people,
" I do not intend to reason my death, but I remit me to Christ
" wholly, in whom is my trust ; desiring you all to pray for the
" king's majesty, that he may long reign over you ; for he is a very
" noble prince, and full gently hath handled me/' In both the
substance is the same ; but probably what one has dilated the other
has condensed. Plain, however, it is that Anne, like her fellow
sufferers, chose to leave the question of her guilt or innocence pro-
blematical. I may add that the Portuguese writer is certainly in
error when he supposes Smeaton to have been beheaded ; and that
he only relates the reports of the day, when he says that the council
had pronounced the queen's daughter the child of Lord Rochford,
and that the king had owned Mary for his legitimate heir. — Ibid.
265.
78 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, innocence during that of Elizabeth, would have been
A.D. 1536. deemed a proof of disaffection. The question soon
became one of religious feeling, rather than of his-
torical disquisition. Though she had departed no
further than her husband from the ancient doctrine,
yet, as her marriage with Henry led to the separation
from the communion of Rome, the Catholic writers
were eager to condemn, the Protestant to exculpate
< her memory. In the absence of those documents
which alone could enable us to decide with truth,
I will only observe that the king must have been
impelled by some most powerful motive to exercise
against her such extraordinary, and, in one supposition,
such superfluous rigour. Had his object been (we are
sometimes told that it was) to place Jane Seymour by
his side on the throne, the divorce of Anne without
her execution, or the execution without the divorce,
would have effected his purpose. But he seems to
have pursued her with insatiable hatred. Not con-
tent with taking her life, he made her feel in every
way in which a wife and a mother could feel. He
stamped on her character the infamy of adultery and
incest ; he deprived her of the name and the right of
wife and queen ; and he even bastardized her daughter,
though he acknowledged that daughter to be his own.
If then he were not assured of her guilt, he must have
discovered in her conduct some most heinous cause
of provocation, which he never disclosed. He had
wept at the death of Catherine ; but, as if he sought
to display his contempt for the memory of Anne, he
dressed himself in white on the day of her execution,
May 20. and was married to Jane Seymour the next morning.
For two years Mary, his daughter by Catherine, had
lived at Hunsdon, a royal manor, in a state of absolute
MARY RECONCILED TO HER FATHER. 79
seclusion from society. Now, taking advantage of a CHAP.
visit from Lady Kyngstone, who had probably been A.D. 1536.
allowed to deliver the message from Anne Boleyn, she May~26.
solicited the good offices of Cromwell, and received
from him a favourable answer.1 It was not that the
heartless politician felt any pity for the daughter of
Catherine ; but he had persuaded himself that both
Mary and Elizabeth, though bastards by law, might,
if they were treated as princesses in fact, be married,
to the king's profit, into the families of some of the
continental sovereigns.2 Through his intercession she
was permitted to write to her father ; her letters, the
most humble and submissive that she could devise,
were never noticed ; she again consulted Mr. Secretary,
followed his advice, and adopted his suggestions and
corrections;3 but Henry was resolved to probe her
sincerity, and instead of an answer sent to her a de-
putation with certain articles in writing to which he
required her signature. From these her conscience
recoiled ; but Cromwell subdued her scruples by a
most unfeeling and imperious letter. He called her
" an obstinate and obdurate woman, deserving the
1 " I perceived that nobody durst speak for me as long as that
woman lived, who is now gone, whom I pray our Lord of his great
mercy to forgive. Wherefore now she is gone, I desire you for
the love of God to be a suitor for me to the king's grace Ac-
cept mine evil writing ; for I have not done so much this two year
or more ; nor could not have found the means to do it at this time
but by my Lady Kyngston's being here." — Sylloge Epist. at the
end of Titus Livius by Hearne, p. 140.
2 See a memorandum by Cromwell in Ellis, Sec. Ser. ii. 123.
3 She had said, " I have decreed simply from henceforth and wholly,
*' next to Almighty God, to put my state, continuance, and living in
" your gracious mercy." Cromwell objected to the words in italics ;
and she replied that she had always been accustomed to except God
in speaking and writing, but would follow his advice, and copy the
letter which he had sent her. — Sylloge Epist. at the end of Titus
Livius, by Hearne, p. 124, 126.
80 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. " reward of malice in the extremity of mischief; " if
A.D. 1536. she did not submit, he would take his leave of her for
ever, " reputing her the most ungrateful, unnatural,
" and obstinate person living, both to God and her
" father ; " and ended with saying, that by her disobe-
dience she had rendered herself "unfit to live in a
" Christian congregation, of which he was so con-
" vinced, that he refused the mercy of Christ if it were
June 26. " not true."1 Intimidated and confounded, she at
last consented to acknowledge that it was her duty to
observe all the king's laws ; that Henry was the head
of the church ; and that the marriage between her
father and mother had been incestuous and unlaw-
ful.2 It was then required that she should reveal the
names of the persons who had advised her former ob-
stinacy and her present submission ; but the princess
indignantly replied, that she was ready to suffer death
rather than expose any confidential friend to the royal
displeasure. Henry relented ; he permitted her to
write to him ; and granted her an establishment more
suitable to her rank.3 But though she was received
June 8. into favour, she was not restored in blood. The king
had called a parliament to repeal the last, and to pass
a new act of succession, entailing his crown on his
issue by his queen Jane Seymour. But he did not
rest here : in violation of every constitutional principle
1 Sylloge Epist. at the end of Titus Livius, by Hearne, p. 137.
2 Ibid. p. 142. State Papers, i. 455 — 459.
3 From one of her letters she appears to have been intrusted with
the care of Elizabeth. " My sister Elizabeth is in good health,
" thanks be to our Lord, and such a child toward, as I doubt not,
" but your highness will have cause to rejoice of in time coming, as
" knoweth Almighty God" (p. 131). The Privy purse expenses of
Mary at this period, for which we are indebted to Sir Frederick
Madden, exhibit proofs of a cheerful and charitable disposition, ver y
different from the character given of her by several writers.
DEATH OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. 81
he obtained a power, in failure of children by his pre- CHAP.
sent or any future wife, to limit the crown in posses- A.D. 1530.
sion and remainder by letters patent under the great
seal, or by his last will, signed with his own hand, to any
such person or persons whom he might think proper.1
It was believed that he had chiefly in view his natural
son, the duke of Richmond, then in his eighteenth
year, and the idol of his affection. But before the act
could receive the royal assent the duke died ; Henry July 24.
remained without a male child, legitimate or illegiti-
mate, to succeed him ; and a project was seriously
entertained, but afterwards abandoned, of marrying
the lady Mary to the duke of Orleans, the second son
of the French monarch, and of declaring them pre-
sumptive heirs to the crown.2
1 Stat. of Realm, iii. 659. Strype, i. Rec. 182. A multitude of
new treasons was created by this statute. It was made treason to
do any thing by words, writing, imprinting, or any exterior act or
deed, to the peril of the person of the king or his heirs ; or for the
repeal of this act, or of the dispositions made by the king in virtue
thereof; or to the slander and prejudice of his marriage with
Queen Jane or any other his lawful wife ; or by words, writing, im-
printing, or any other exterior act, to take and believe either of the
king's former marriages valid, or under any pretence to name and
call his issue by either of those marriages lawful issue ; or to refuse
to answer upon oath any interrogatories relative to any clause,
sentence, or word in this act, or to refuse to promise upon oath to
keep and observe the same act. In accordance with the spirit of this
enactment, the lord Thomas Howard, brother to the duke of Norfolk,
was attainted of high treason, by a bill introduced, and read three
times in each house on the last day of the session. His offence was
that he had privately contracted marriage with the lady Margaret
Douglas ; a sufficient proof, in the opinion of Henry, that he aspired
to the throne after the king's death. He was not executed, but
suffered to die in the Tower. The lady was also committed. Her
mother, the queen dowager of Scotland, begged of Henry to remem-
ber that she was his " nepotas, and cyster naturall unto the king,
" her derrest son." — Chron. Catal. 190. Margaret was discharged
on the death of the lord Thomas, and we shall meet with her again
as countess of Lennox, and mother of Lord Darnley.
2 Philip, duke of Bavaria, also made to her an offer of marriage
VOL. V. G
82 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. During the summer the king sought to dissipate his
A.D. 1536. grief for the death of his son in the company of his
young queen : in autumn he was suddenly alarmed by
an insurrection in the northern counties, where the
people retained a strong attachment to the ancient
doctrines ; and the clergy, further removed from the
influence of the court, were less disposed to abjure
their opinions at the nod of the sovereign. Each
succeeding innovation had irritated their discontent ;
but when they saw the ruin of the establishments
which they had revered from their childhood ; the
monks driven from their homes, and in many instances
compelled to beg their bread ; and the poor, who had
formerly been fed at the doors of the convents, now
abandoned without relief;1 they readily listened to the
declamations of demagogues, unfurled the standard of
revolt, and with arms in their hands, and under the
guidance of Makerel, abbot of Barlings, who had as-
sumed the name of Captain Cobbler, demanded the
redress of their grievances. Nor was the insurrection
long confined to the common people. The nobility
and gentry, the former patrons of the dissolved houses,
complained that they were deprived of the corrodies
reserved to them by the charters of foundation ; and
contended that, according to law, whenever these
religious corporations ceased to exist, their lands
ought not to fall to the crown, but should revert to
the representatives of the original donors. The arch-
(Privy Purse, &c. pref. xciv.) ; but Mary replied that she had no
wish to enter that religion, i.e. a married life.
1 " Whereby the service of God is not only minished, but also the
" porealty of your realm be unrelieved, and many persons be put
" from their livings and left at large, which we think is a great
" hinderance to the commonwealth." — Lincolnshire remonstrance,
apud Speed, 1033.
INSURRECTION IN THE NORTH. 83
bishop of York, the lords Nevil, Darcy, Lumley, and CHAP.
Latimer, and most of the knights and gentlemen in A.D. 1536.
the north, joined the insurgents, either through com-
pulsion, as they afterwards pretended, or through
inclination, as was generally believed. The first who
appeared in arms were the men of Lincolnshire ; and
so formidable was their force, that the duke of Suffolk, Oct. 2.
the royal commander, deemed it more prudent to
negotiate than to fight. They complained chiefly of the
suppression of the monasteries, of the Statute of Uses,1
of the introduction into the council of such men as
Cromwell and Rich, and of the preferment of the arch-
bishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and of the bishops
of Rochester, Salisbury, and St. David's, whose chief
aim was to subvert the church of Christ. Several
messages passed between the king and the insurgents : Oct. 12.
at length a menacing proclamation created dissension
in their counsels ; and, as soon as the more obstinate
had departed to join their brethren in Yorkshire, the Oct. is.
rest accepted a full pardon on the acknowledgment of
their offence, the surrender of their arms, and the
promise to maintain all the acts of parliament passed
during the king's reign.2
In the five other counties the insurrection had
assumed a more formidable appearance. From the
borders of Scotland to the Lune and the Humber, the
inhabitants had generally bound themselves by oath to
stand by each other, " for the love which they bore to
1 By the Statute of Uses was meant the statute for transferring
uses into possession, by which persons who before had the use only
of their lands, and thus lay in a great measure at the mercy of the
feoffees, became seised of the land in the same estate of which they
before had the use.— St. 27 Hen. VIII. 10.
2 Speed, 1033. Herbert, 474. State Papers, i. 462—466, 468
—470.
84
HENRY VIII.
CHAP. " Almighty God, his faith, the holy church, and the
A.D. 1536. " maintenance thereof ; to the preservation of the
" king's person and his issue ; to the purifying of the
" nobility ; and to expulse all villein blood, and evil
" counsellors from his grace and privy council ; not for
" any private profit, nor to do displeasure to any
" private person, nor to slay or murder through envy,
" but for the restitution of the church, and the sup-
" pression of heretics and their opinions/' Their
enterprise was quaintly termed the " pilgrimage of
" grace ; " on their banners were painted the image
of Christ crucified, and the chalice and host, the
emblems of their belief; and, wherever the pilgrims
appeared, the ejected monks were replaced in the
monasteries, and the inhabitants were compelled to
take the oath, and to join the army.1 The strong
castles of Skipton and Scarborough were preserved by
the courage and loyalty of the garrisons ; but Hull,
Oct. 20. York, and Pontefract admitted the insurgents ; and
thirty thousand men, under the nominal command
(the real leaders seem not to have been known) of a
gentleman named Robert Aske, hastened to obtain
possession of Doncaster. The earl of Shrewsbury,
though without any commission, ventured to arm his
tenantry, and throw himself into the town ; he was
soon joined by the duke of Norfolk, the king's lieute-
nant, with five thousand men ; a battery of cannon
protected the bridge over the river, and the ford was
1 As an instance, I will add the summons sent to the commons of
Hawkside : — " We command you and every of you to be at the Stoke-
" green beside Hawkside kirk on Saturday next by eleven of the
" clock, in your best array, as you will answer before the high Judge
" at the great day of doom, and in the pain of pulling down your
*' houses, and the losing of your goods, and your bodies to be at the
" captain's will."— Speed, 1033.
PILGRIM OF GRACE.
85
rendered impassable by an accidental swell of the CHAP.
waters. In these circumstances the insurgents con- A.D.ISSG.
sented to an armistice, and appointed delegates to
lay their demands before Henry, who had already Nov. 7.
summoned his nobility to meet him in arms at North-
ampton, but was persuaded by the duke to revoke
the order, and trust to the influence of terror and
dissension.
To the deputies the king gave a written answer, NOV. is.
composed by himself;1 to Norfolk full authority to
treat with the insurgents, and to grant a pardon to all
but ten persons, six named, and four unnamed. But
this exception caused each of the leaders to fear for
his own life : the terms were refused ; another negotia-
tion was opened ; and a numerous deputation, having
previously consulted a convocation of the clergy sitting
at Pontefract,2 proposed their demands to the royal
commissioners. They required that heretical books Dec. 6.
should be suppressed, and that heretical bishops, and
temporal men of their sect, should either be punished
according to law, or try their quarrel with the pilgrims
by battle ; that the statutes of uses, and treason of
wards, with those which abolished the papal authority,
bastardized the princess Mary, suppressed the monas-
teries, and gave to the king the tenths and first-fruits
of benefices, should be repealed ; that Cromwell the
1 It is characteristic of the author. He marvels that such
ignorant churls should talk of theological subjects to him who
" something had been noted to be learned ;" or should complain of
his laws, as if, after the experience of twenty-eight years, he did not
know how to govern a kingdom ; or should oppose the suppression
of monasteries, as if it were not better to relieve the head of the
church in his necessity, than to support the sloth and wickedness of
monks. — It is printed in Speed, 1038, and Herbert, 480.
2 Their answers to the questions proposed to them may be seen in
Strype, i. App. 179 ; Wilk. iii. 812.
86 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, vicar-general, Audeley the chancellor, and Rich the
A.D. 1536. attorney-general, should be punished as subverters of
the law, and maintainers of heresy ; that Lee and
Layton, the visitors of the northern monasteries,
should be prosecuted for extortion, peculation, and
other abominable acts ; that no man, residing north of
the Trent, should be compelled by subpoena to appear
at any court but at York, unless in matters of al-
legiance ; and that a parliament should be shortly held
in some convenient place, as at Nottingham or York.
These demands were instantly rejected by the duke, as
was an offer of pardon, clogged with exceptions, by
the insurgents. The latter immediately recalled such
of their partisans as had left their camp ; their num-
bers multiplied daily ; and Norfolk, who dreaded the
result of an attack, found it necessary to negotiate
both with his sovereign and his opponents. At length
he subdued the obstinacy of each ; and Henry offered,
the insurgents accepted, an unlimited pardon, with an
understanding that their grievances should be shortly
and patiently discussed in the parliament to be as-
Feb. sembled at York.1 But the king, freed from his
apprehensions, neglected to redeem his promise ; and
within two months the pilgrims were again under
arms. Now, however, the duke, who lay with a more
numerous force in the heart of the country, was able
to intercept their communications, and to defeat all
their measures. They failed in two successive at-
tempts to surprise Hull and Carlisle ; the lord Darcy,
Robert Aske, and most of the leaders were taken, sent
1 See Hardwicke, State Papers, p. 28, 29, &c. Henry " thought
" his honour would be much touched if he granted them a
" free pardon." On this account he was very peevish with the
duke.
THE INSURRECTION SUPPRESSED. 87
to London, and executed,1 the others were hanged by CHAP.
scores at York, Hull, and Carlisle ; and at length, A.D. 1537,
when resistance had ceased, and the royal resentment
had been satisfied, tranquillity was restored by the
proclamation of a general pardon.2
From the insurgents Henry directed his attention
to the proceedings of his kinsman, Reginald Pole.
That young nobleman, after his refusal of the arch-
bishopric of York, had obtained permission to prose-
cute his studies on the continent ; and, aware of the
storm which was gathering in England, had silently
withdrawn to the north of Italy, where he devoted him-
self exclusively to literary pursuits. But the jealousy
of the king, or the malice of his enemies, followed
him into this peaceful asylum ; and he received a royal
order to state in writing his opinion on the two impor-
tant questions of the supremacy and the divorce. For
months Pole declined the dangerous task. But the
execution of Anne Boleyn, and a repetition of the
order from Henry, induced him to obey ; and in a
lOOD*
long and laboured treatise, which was conveyed in May 23.
secrecy by a trusty messenger to the king, he boldly
condemned the divorce from Catherine as unlawful,
and the assumption of the supremacy as a departure
from the unity of the church. Of this Henry could
not reasonably complain. Pole had done his duty :
he had obeyed with sincerity the royal command;
1 Mr. Tytler, in his history of Henry (p. 382), refers to a curious
paper in the State Papers (i. 588), entitled " The saying of Robert
" Aske to me Richard Coren, out of confession afore his death," as
" illustrative of the revealing of confessions in this reign." The
mistake might be easily made by a writer unacquainted with the
peculiar language of Catholics. By " out of confession " was meant
" not in confession ;" and Coren employed the phrase to show that
he was not betraying the sacramental confession of the convict.
2 Herbert, 489.
88 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, but in addition he proceeded, in that style of rheto-
A.D. 1536. rical declamation which was habitual to him, to arraign
the misconduct of the monarch in the marriage of
a second wife pending the life of the first, and in the
judicial murder of Fisher, More, and the other sufferers,
for their conscientious refusal to swear to his supre-
macy.1 Irritable as the king was, he dissembled ; and,
in language singularly mild and gracious, ordered his
kinsman to return, that they might discuss these
questions in private to their mutual satisfaction.
Pole instantly saw the danger. Were he to set foot
in England, as long as the new statutes continued in
force, he must either abjure his opinion, or forfeit his
life. He replied, therefore, in humble and supplica-
tory terms, expressive of a hope that the king would
July 19. not be offended, if he accepted an invitation from the
pontiff to visit him in Rome. Henry disdained to
return an answer; but he employed Pole's mother
and brothers, and Cromwell and his friends in Eng-
land, to deter him from the journey ; and afterwards
the two houses of parliament joined in a letter to
dissuade him from the acceptance of office in Rome.2
1 This epistle was kept secret during the life of Henry ; after his
death it was published from a pirated copy by a bookseller in Ger-
many, which induced Pole to give a correct edition of it himself,
under the title of " Pro Ecclesiastics Unitatis Defensione Libri IV."
The asperity of his language to the king was reprehended by his
friends in Italy, and his English correspondents : his apology was,
that he deemed it a service to Henry to lay before him a represen-
tation of his conduct in all its deformity. Some on this account
have called in question the accuracy of his statements ; but in his
answer to the English parliament, he boldly defies any man to point
out a single instance of falsehood or misrepresentation in it. —
Apologia ad Anglise Parl. i. 179.
2 Neve (Animad. on Philips, 249) ridicules the idea of such a
letter ; but Pole in his answer directed to the parliament says ex-
pressly, Literas omnium vestrum nominibus subscriptas (Pol. Ep. i.
179). As no parliament was then sitting, I conceive that, like the
FIRST LEGATION OF POLE. 89
The advice from the first shook, but did not subdue, CHAP.
the resolution of Reginald ; that from the latter A.
reached him too late. Aware, indeed, that he should o
make the king his implacable enemy, and expose his
family to the resentment of an unprincipled sovereign,
he had at first refused every offer ; but he yielded
after a long resistance to the persuasion of his friend
Contarini, and the command of the pontiff ; accepted
about Christmas the dignity of cardinal ; and, before
two months had elapsed, was unexpectedly named to a
very delicate but dangerous mission.
When Paul first heard of the insurrection in the
north of England, he thought that the time was come
in which he might give publicity to the bull of excom-
munication and deposition, which he had subscribed
about two years before ; but from this measure, which
at that moment might have added considerably to the
difficulties of Henry, he was withheld by the argu-
ments and entreaties of the young Englishman. Still
a notion prevailed in the Roman court, that the rising,
even after it had been quelled, might have left a deep
impression on the mind of the king, and that during
the parliament, which he had promised to convene at
York, means might be successfully employed to re-
concile him with the Apostolic See. The imperial
cabinet strongly recommended that the charge of
opening and conducting this negotiation should be
intrusted to Pole ; the French ambassador concurred ;*
and the English cardinal was appointed legate beyond
the Alps. His instructions ordered him first to
letter formerly sent to Clement VII., it was subscribed by the lords,
and by a few commoners in the name of the lower house. Pole's
answer was addressed to parliament, because he understood that it
was to assemble at York, as had been promised, on the 30th of
March. i Pol. Ep. ii. p. 34, 35, 42.
90 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, exhort Charles and Francis to sheath their swords
A.D. 1537. against each other, and employ them only against the
Feb~i5 Turks, then to announce the pope's intention of con-
voking a general council, and lastly to proceed to the
Netherlands, where he should fix his residence, unless
circumstances should induce him to visit his own
country. Of this appointment, and of the tenor of
his instructions, Pole also informed the king. But
Cromwell, his personal enemy, possessed the ear of
the monarch ; and was soon enabled to fulfil the pre-
diction which he had uttered to Latimer, that he
would make the cardinal through vexation " eat his
" own heart." 1 As soon as Pole had entered France,
the English ambassador, in virtue of an article in the
alliance between the two crowns, required that he
should be delivered up, and sent a prisoner to Eng-
land ; and the king, though he indignantly rejected
April 22. the demand, requested Pole, by a private messenger,
not to ask for an audience, but to prosecute his jour-
ney with the utmost expedition. He soon reached
Cambray; but Henry's agent had already terrified
the court of Brussels, and the queen-regent refused
him permission to enter the imperial territory. At
the same time the king proclaimed him a traitor, fixed
a price of fifty thousand crowns on -his head, and
offered to the emperor in exchange for the person of
the cardinal an auxiliary force of four thousand men
June 7. during his campaign against France.2 Alarmed by
1 " I herde you say wons that you . wold make hym to ete hys
" owne hartt, which you have now, I trow, brought to passe, for he
" must nedes now ettehys owne hartt, and becum as hartlesse as he
" is gracelesse."— Bishop Latimer to Cromwell, Wright, Suppres.
of Monast. p. 150.
2 Dudith. Vit. Pol. No. x. xi. Becatelli, inter Ep. Poll, v. 366.
Ep. Pol., ii. p. 43, 48, 55.
DISSOLUTION OF MONASTERIES. 91
the danger to which he was exposed at Cambray, Pole CHAP.
repaired, under the protection of an escort, to Liege, A.D. 1537.
and in August was recalled to Rome. It has been Au^t~22.
said that, in accepting this mission, he sought to in-
duce the emperor and the king of France to make
war upon Henry, and that he even indulged a hope
of being able to obtain the crown for himself, as a
descendant of the house of York. These charges are
satisfactorily refuted by his official and confidential
correspondence ; * but at the same time it is plain that
one object of his mission was to confirm by his resi-
dence in Flanders the attachment of the northern
counties to the ancient faith, to supply, if it were
necessary, the leaders of the malcontents with money,
and to obtain for them the favour and protection of
the neighbouring powers.2 Hence it will not excite
surprise if Henry, who had formerly been the bene-
factor of Pole, looked on him from this moment as
an enemy, and pursued him ever afterwards with the
most implacable hatred.
The northern insurrection, instead of securing the
stability, accelerated the ruin of the remaining monas-
teries. The more opulent of these establishments had
been spared, as was pretended, on account of their
superior regularity; and of the many convents of
friars no notice at all had been taken, probably
because, as they did not possess landed property, little
plunder was to be derived from their suppression. A
1 See his letter to the cardinal of Carpi (ii. 33), to the pope
(ii. 46), to Edward VI. (torn, iv. 337), to Cromwell or Tunstall from
Cambray (Burnet, iii. 125 ; Strype, i. App. 218) ; and another
from Throckmorton, a gentleman in his suite, but at the same time
in the pay of Cromwell (Cleop. E. vi. 382). The reports of Throck-
morton were so favourable to the cardinal, that his sincerity was
suspected, and he was attainted the next year.
2 Pol. Ep. ii. Monim. prcelim. cclxvii. — cclxxix., and Ep. p. 52.
92 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, charge, however, was now made, that the monks in
A.D. 1537. the northern counties had encouraged their tenants to
join in the pilgrimage of grace ; and a commission,
under the presidency of the earl of Sussex, was ap-
pointed to investigate their conduct. As a fair speci-
men of the proceedings, I will describe the surrender
of the great monastery of Furness. All the members
of the community, with the tenants and servants, were
successively examined in private ; and the result of a
protracted inquiry was that, though two monks were
committed to Lancaster Castle, nothing could be dis-
covered to criminate either the abbot or the brother-
hood. The commissioners proceeded to Whalley;
and a new summons compelled the abbot of Furness
to reappear before them. A second investigation
was instituted, and the result was the same. In these
circumstances, says the earl in a letter to Henry,
which is still extant, " devising with myselef, yf one
" way would not serve, how and by what means the
" said monks might be ryd from the said abbey, and
" consequently how the same might be at your graceous
" pleasur, I determined to assay him as of myself,
" whether he would be contented to surrender giff
" and graunt unto (you) your heirs and assigans the
" sayd monastery : which thing so opened to the abbot
" farely, we found him of a very facile and ready
April 5. " mynde to follow my advice in that behalf." A deed
was accordingly drawn for him to sign, in which,
having acknowledged " the misorder and evil rule both
" unto God and the king of the brethren of the said
" abbey," he, in discharge of his conscience, gave and
surrendered to Henry all the title and interest which
he possessed in the monastery of Furness, its lands
and its revenues. Officers were immediately de-
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS. 93
spatched to take possession in the name of the king ; CHAP.
the commissioners followed with the abbot in their A.D. 1537.
company; and in a few days the whole community Ap~ru.
ratified the deed of its superior. The history of Fur-
ness is the history of Whalley, and of the other great
abbeys in the north. They were visited under pre-
text of the late rebellion ; and by one expedient or
other were successively wrested from the possessors,
and transferred to the crown.1
The success of the earl of Sussex and his colleagues
stimulated the industry of the commissioners in the
southern districts. For four years they proceeded
from house to house, soliciting, requiring, compelling
the inmates to submit to the royal pleasure ; and each
week, frequently each day of the week, was marked
by the surrender of one or several of these establish-
ments. To accomplish their purpose, they first tried
the milder expedient of persuasion. Large and tempt-
ing offers were held out to the abbot and the leading
members of the brotherhood ; and the lot of those
who had already complied, the scanty pittances as-
signed to the refractory, and the ample pensions
granted to the more obsequious, operated on their
minds as a warning and an inducement.2 But where
1 See the original papers in the British Museum (Cleop. E. iv.
Ill, 224, 246), copied and published by West in his History of
Furness, App. x. (4, 5, 6, 7).
2 The pensions to the superiors appear to have varied from 266/.
to 6/. per annum. The priors of cells received generally 13/. A
few, whose services had merited the distinction, obtained 20/. To
the other monks were allotted pensions of six, four, or two pounds,
with a small sum to each at his departure, to provide for his im-
mediate wants. The pensions to nuns averaged about 4/. It
should, however, be observed that these sums were not in reality
so small as they appear, as money was probably at that period of
six or seven times greater value than it is now. It was provided
that each pension should cease, as soon as the pensioner obtained
church preferment of equal value.
94 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, persuasion failed, recourse was had to severity and
A.D.1538. intimidation. 1. The superior and his monks, the
tenants, servants, and neighbours, were subjected to
a minute and rigorous examination : each was ex-
horted, was commanded, to accuse the other; and
every groundless tale, every malicious insinuation,
was carefully collected and recorded. 2. The com-
missioners called for the accounts of the house, com-
pared the expenditure with the receipts, scrutinized
every article with an eye of suspicion and hostility,
and required the production of all the moneys, plate,
and jewels. 3. They proceeded to search the library
and the private rooms for papers and books ; and the
discovery of any opinion or treatise in favour of the
papal supremacy, or of the validity of Henry's first
marriage, was taken as a sufficient proof of adhesion to
the king's enemies, and of disobedience to the statutes
of the realm.1 The general result was a real or ficti-
1 These transactions are thus described by Catherine Bulkeley,
abbess of Godstow, in a letter to Cromwell : — " Dr. London is
' soddenlye commyd unto me with a great rowte with him, and
' doth threten me and my sisters, saying that he hath the king's
' commission to suppress this house spyte of my tethe. When I
' shewyd him playne that I wolde never surrender to his hande,
' being an awncyent enemye, now he begins to intrete me, and
' invegle my sisters one by one, otherwise than I ever herde tell
' that the king's subjects had been handelyd ; and here taryeth, and
' contynueth to my grete coste and charges, and will not take my
' answere, that I will not surrender, till I know the king's gracious
' commandment, or your good lordship's .... And notwithstand-
' ing, that Dr. London, like an untrewe man, hath informed your
' lordship that I am a spoiler and a waster, your good lordship shall
' know that the contrarie is trewe.; for I have not alienatyd one
' halporthe of the goods of this monasterie movable or immovable."
— Cleop. E. iv. p. 238. Of this Dr. London Fuller says, " He was
" no great saint ; for afterwards he was publicly convicted of perjury,
" and adjudged to ride with his face to the horse-tail at Windsor
" and Ockingham" (p. 314) : to which may be added that he was
also condemned to do public penance at Oxford for incontinency
with two women, the mother and daughter. — Strype, i. 377.
RAPACITY OF THE KING. 95
tious charge of immorality, or peculation, or high CHAP.
treason. But many superiors, before the termination A-D.
of the inquiry, deemed it prudent to obey the royal
pleasure : some, urged on the one hand by fear, on
the other by scruples, resigned their situations, and
were replaced by successors of more easy and accom-
modating loyalty ; and the obstinacy of the refractory
monks and abbots was punished with imprisonment
during the king's pleasure. But the lot of these was
calculated to terrify their brethren. Some of them,
like the Carthusians, confined in Newgate, were left
to perish through hunger, disease, and neglect ; 1
others, like the abbots of Colchester, Reading, and
Glastonbury, were executed as felons or traitors.2
During these proceedings, the religious bodies, in-
1 Ellis, ii. 98. The fate of these Carthusians is thus announced
to Cromwell in a letter from Bedyl, one of the visitors : — " My very
' good lord, after my most hearty commendations — It shall please
' your lordship to understand that the monks of the Charter-house
' here at London, committed to Newgate for their treacherous
' behaviour continued against the king's grace, be almost dispatched
' by the hand of God, as it may appear to you by this bill enclosed.
* Wherefore, considering their behaviour, and the whole matter, I
' am not sorry ; but would that all such as love not the king's
' highness, and his worldly honour, were in like case. There be
' departed, Greenwood, Davye, Salte, Peerson, Greene. There be
* at the point of death, Scriven, Reading. There be sick, Jonson,
' Home. One is whole, Bird."— Cleop. E. iv. fol. 217. Ellis,
i. 76.
2 Whiting, abbot of Glastonbury, " a very sick and weakly old
" man," was sent to the Tower, examined by Cromwell, and brought to
confess that he had been privy to concealment of some of the plate
belonging to the abbey. He was then sent back, and on Nov. 16
Lord Russell wrote to Cromwell — " My Lorde, thies shal be to as-
serteyne that on Thursdaye the xiiij daye of this present moneth
the abbot was arrayned, and the next daye putt to execution with
ij other of his monkes for the robbyng of Glastonburye churche,
on the Torre Hyll, the seyde abbottes body beyng devyded in fower
partes, and heedd stryken off, whereof oone quarter stondyth
at Welles, another at Bathe, and at Ylchester and Brigewater the
rest, and his hedd uppon the abbey gate at Glaston." — State
Papers, i. 621.
96 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, stead of uniting in their common defence, seem to
A.D. 1538. nave awaited singly their fate with the apathy of
despair. A few houses only, through the agency of
their friends, sought to purchase the royal favour with
offers of money and lands; but the rapacity of the
king refused to accept a part when the whole was at
his mercy ; and a bill was brought into parliament,
1539. vesting in the crown all the property, moveable and
immoveable, of the monastic establishments, which
either had already been, or should hereafter be sup-
pressed, abolished, or surrendered.1 The advocates
of the measure painted its advantages in the most
fascinating colours. It would put an end to pauper-
ism and taxation ; it would enable the king to create
and support earls, barons, and knights ; to wage war
in future without any additional burden to the people ;
and to free the nation from all apprehension of danger
from foreign enmity or internal discontent.8
The house of Lords at that period contained twenty-
eight abbots, and the two priors of Coventry and of
St. John of Jerusalem. Though they could not be
ignorant of the real object of the bill, not one dared
to open his mouth against it, and before the next
session their respective houses, and with the houses
their right to sit as lords of parliament, had ceased to
1 It should be observed that the transfer of the monastic property,
and the suppression of the monastic orders, were not in the first in-
stance effected by legislative enactment. It had been artfully
devised that both should proceed from the monastic bodies them-
selves, who successively surrendered their property to the king, and
thus in fact dissolved their own establishments. It might, however,
be argued that, as each member possessed only a life-interest in the
property, they could not singly or collectively confer any thing more
on the sovereign ; and, therefore, the legislature came to his assist-
ance, and by positive enactment vested in him for ever all monastic
property which then was, or afterwards might be, actually in his
possession. 2 Coke, Inst. iv. 44. Strype, i. 211, 272.
INCREASE OF PAUPERISM. 97
exist. The abolition of the latter was a matter of no CHAP.
consequence ; but the suppression of the religious A.D. 1539,
houses failed to produce the benefits which had been
so ostentatiously foretold. Pauperism was found to
increase ; the monastic property was lavishly squan-
dered among the parasites of the court ; and the king,
instead of lightening the national burthens, demanded
compensation for the expense which he had incurred
in the reformation of religion. Within twelve months 154°-
May 8.
a subsidy of two-tenths and two-fifteenths was ex-
torted by him from the reluctant gratitude of his
parliament.1
By the spring of the year 1540, all the monastic
establishments in the kingdom had been torn from the
possession of the real owners by forced and illegal
surrenders.2 To soften the odium of the measure,
much has been said of the immorality practised, or
supposed to be practised, within the monasteries. It
1 Journals, 110, 111, 135. See also the preface to Stowe by
Howes. According to Bale, an ardent reformer, " A great part of
" this treasure was turned to the upholding of dice-playing, masking,
"and banqueting; yea," he adds, " (I would I could not by just
" occasion speak it) bribing, wh , and swearing." — Bale apud
Strype, i. 346.
2 As soon as an abbey was surrendered, 1. The commissioners
broke its seal, and assigned pensions to the members, 2. The plate
and jewels were reserved for the king ; the furniture and goods were
sold ; and the money was paid into the Augmentation Office, lately
established for that purpose. 3. The abbot's lodgings and the
offices were left standing for the convenience of the next occupant ;
the church, cloisters, and apartments for the monks were stripped of
the lead and every saleable article, and then left to fall in ruins. —
Burnet, i. Rec. 151. 4. The lands were by degrees alienated from
the crown by gift, sale, or exchange. From a commission in Rymer
(xiv. 653) it appears that the lands sold at twenty, the buildings at
fifteen years' purchase ; the buyers were to hold of the crown, paying
a reserved rent, equal to one-tenth of the usual rent. 5. The annual
revenue of all the suppressed houses amounted to 142, 914/. 12s. 9Jd.,
about the one-and-twentieth part of the whole rental of the kingdom,
if Hume be correct in taking that rental at three millions.
VOL. V. H
98 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, is not in human nature that in numerous societies of
A.D. 1540. men, all should be equally virtuous. The monks of
different descriptions amounted to many thousands ;
and in such a multitude there must have existed in-
dividuals whose conduct was a disgrace to their pro-
fession. But when this has been conceded on the
one hand, it ought to be admitted on the other, that
the charges against them are entitled to very little
credit. They are ex parte statements, to which the
accused had no opportunity of replying, and were
made to silence inquiry and sanctify injustice. Of the
commissioners, some were not very immaculate cha-
racters themselves ;l all were stimulated to invent and
exaggerate, both by the known rapacity of the king,
and by their own prospects of personal interest.2
There is, however, one fact, which to me appears de-
cisive on the subject. Of all the monastic bodies,
perhaps the monks of Christ-church have suffered the
most in reputation ; they are charged with habitually
indulging the most immoral and shameful propensities.
Yet, when Archbishop Cranmer named the clergy for
the service of his cathedral, he selected from these very
men no fewer than eight prebendaries, ten minor
canons, nine scholars, and two choristers. From his
long residence in Canterbury he could not be ignorant
1 As London, mentioned in note 50, and Bedyl, mentioned in note
51, who, from a letter of one of his colleagues (Fuller, 315), appears
to have been an artful but profligate man. If we believe the northern
insurgents, Layton and Lee were not much better.
2 MS. Cleop. E. iv. 106, 213. When Gifford gave a favourable
character of the house, the king maintained that he had been bribed.
The reader may see the vices ascribed to the monks of some houses
in Strype, i. 252—257 ; or Cleop. E. iv. 124, 127, 131, 134, 147 ;
and letters in favour of others, ibid. 203, 209, 210, 213, 257, 269.
Much has been written about the " blood of Hales." — See the vindi-
cation of the monks on that head by Hearne, in App, to Benedictus
Abbas, p. 751.
NEW BISHOPRICS. 99
of their previous conduct ; from respect for his own CHAP.
character, he would not surround himself with men A.D. 1540.
addicted to the most disgraceful vices.1
To lull his own conscience, or to silence the mur-
murs of his subjects, Henry resolved to appropriate a
portion of the spoil to the advancement of religion ;
and for that purpose was authorized by act of parlia-
ment to establish new bishoprics, deaneries, and col-
leges, and to endow them with adequate revenues out
of the lands of the suppressed monasteries. He seems
to have frequently amused himself with this project.
From papers extant in his own hand, it appears that
plans were devised, the revenues fixed, the incumbents
appointed on paper ; but when he attempted to ex-
ecute the design, unforeseen difficulties arose ; his
donations to others had already alienated the greater
part of the property ; and his own wants required the
retention of the remainder. Out of eighteen, the
number originally intended, only six episcopal sees,
those of Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Bristol,
Chester, and Gloucester, were established ; and even
these were at first so scantily endowed, that the new
prelates for some years enjoyed little more than a
nominal income.2 At the same time the king con-
verted fourteen abbeys and priories into cathedral and
collegiate churches, attaching to each a dean and a
certain number of prebendaries ; but was careful to
retain for himself a portion of the original possessions,
and to impose on the chapters the obligation of con-
tributing annually a certain sum to the support of the
resident poor, and another for the repair of the high-
1 See Stevens, Monast. i. 386 ; also Brown Willis, i. 37 ; Harmer
47 ; Hearne, pref. to sec. Append, to Lei. Collect, p. 84.
2 Journals, 112. Strype, i. Rec. 275. Rym. xiv. 709, 717—
736, 748, 754.
H 2
100 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, ways.1 Thus he continued to the end of his reign,
A. D. 15 10. taking from the church with one hand, and restoring
with the other, but taking largely and restoring
sparingly, extorting from the more wealthy prelates
exchanges of lands and advowsons, and in return
occasionally endowing a rectory or re-establishing a
charitable foundation. Still his treasury was empty ;
the only individuals who profited by the pillage were
the men whom he had lately raised to office and rank,
whose importunities never ceased, and whose rapacity
could never be satisfied.
III. From the time of the abolition of the papal
authority to the close of Henry's reign, the creed of
the church of England depended on the theological
caprice of its supreme head. The clergy were divided
into two opposite factions, denominated the men of
the old and the new learning. The chief of the
former was Gardiner bishop of Winchester, who was
ably supported by Lee archbishop of York, Stokesley
bishop of London, Tun stall of Durham, and Clarke of
Bath and Wells. The latter acknowledged for their
leaders, Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury, Shaxton
of Sarum, Latimer of Worcester, and Fox of Hereford.
These could depend on the powerful interest of Crom-
well the vicar-general, and of Audeley the lord chan-
cellor ; the others on that of the duke of Norfolk, and
of Wriothesley the premier secretary. But none of
the prelates on either side, warmly as they might be
attached to their own opinions, aspired to the palm of
1 They were Canterbury, Rochester, Westminster, Winchester,
Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, Chester, Burton-upon-Trent, Carlisle,
Durham, Thornton, Peterborough, and Ely. The dean and chapter
of Canterbury were enjoined to give annually to the poor 100/.,
towards the highways 40/. The others were rated in proportion. —
Rym. xv. 77.
RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 101
martyrdom. They possessed little of that firmness of CHAP
mind, of that high and unbending spirit, which gene- A
rally characterizes the leaders of religious parties ; but
were always ready to suppress, or even to abjure, their
real sentiments at the command of their wayward and
imperious master. If, on the one hand, Gardiner and
his associates, to avoid the royal displeasure, consented
to renounce the papal supremacy, and to subscribe to
every successive innovation in the established creed,
Cranmer and his friends on the other submitted with
equal weakness to teach doctrines which they disap-
proved, to practise a worship which they deemed
idolatrous or superstitious, and to consign men to the
stake for the open profession of tenets, which, there is
reason to suspect, they themselves inwardly believed.
Henry's infallibility continually oscillated between the
two parties. If his hostility to the court of Rome led
him to incline towards the men of the new learning, he
was quickly brought back again by his attachment to
the doctrines which he had 'formerly maintained in
his controversey with Luther. The bishops on both
sides acted with equal caution. They carefully studied
the inclinations of the king, sought by the most servile
submission to win his confidence, and employed all their
vigilance to defeat the intrigues and to undermine the
credit of their adversaries.
Though the refusal of the German reformers to ap-
prove of the divorce had not contributed to efface that
unfavourable impression which had been originally
made on the king's mind by the writings of Luther,
his subsequent defection from the see of Rome
prompted him to seek an union with those who for
so many years had set at defiance the authority and
censure of the pontiff. The formation of the con-
102 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, federacy at Torgau 1 had been followed by the diet of
A. D. 1529. Spire; and six princes with fourteen cities had signed
ApriTi9. a formal protest against the decree of that assembly.2
It was in vain that at the next diet of Augsburg,
Charles endeavoured to appease the Protestants by
condescension, or to intimidate them by menaces.
1530. They presented to him a confession of their faith,
refused to submit to his determination, concluded a
Dec. 22. new confederacy at Smalcald, and wrote a defence of
their proceedings to the kings of England and France.
Both returned complimentary answers ; and the latter,
in 1535, invited to his court Melancthon, the most
learned and moderate of the new teachers. The
moment the intelligence was communicated to Henry,
he despatched letters and messengers first to Germany,
and in the next place to Paris ; those to intercept
Melancthon on his journey, these to prevail on him, if
he had reached France, to come forward without in-
terruption to England.3 What might be the king's
object, it were idle to cbnjecture ; but the elector of
Saxony was persuaded by the policy or jealousy of
Luther to detain Melancthon within his own territory.
Soon afterwards, Henry sent to the Protestant princes
at Smalcald an embassy, consisting of the bishop of
Hereford, Archdeacon Heath, and Dr. Barnes, to re-
1 See vol. iv. p. 471.
* This instrument displays in strong colours the intolerance of the
first reformers. The decree, among other things, forbade any
person, layman or ecclesiastic, to employ violence and constraint in
matters of religion, to abolish the mass by force, or to prohibit,
command, or compel any one to assist at it. They replied, that they
could not consent to this article ; that conscience forced them to
abolish the mass ; nor would they permit any of their subjects to be
present at it. — Sleidan, 1. vi. p. 80. It was from this protestation
that the reformers acquired the name of Protestants.
3 Mr.Coxe has printed the original letters in his Life of Melancthon,
p. 371, 384.
MISSION FROM THE GERMAN REFORMERS. 103
present to them that, as both he and they had defied CHAP.
the authority of the pontiff, it might be for their A.D. 1*530.
mutual interest to join in one common confederacy.
But the Germans, assuming a lofty tone, required that
he should subscribe to their confession of faith, and 1535.
should advance, partly as a loan, partly as a present,
the sum of one hundred, or if it were necessary, of two
hundred thousand crowns ; and, as a reward for his
compliance, offered to him the title of head of the
league, and promised not to obey any decrees of the
bishop of Rome, nor to acknowledge any council con-
voked by the pontiff without the consent of the king.
Henry took a long interval to reply, and consulted
Gardiner, at that time his ambassador in France, who,
anxious to wean his sovereign from this heterodox
connection, opposed the demands of the princes with
much art and ability. Why was Henry, he asked, to
subscribe to their confession of faith ? Had he eman-
cipated himself from the usurped authority of the
pontiff, to put his neck under the yoke of the German
divines ? " It would be rather a change of a bond of
" dependence, than a riddance thereof." The word of
God authorized the king to make all necessary re-
formation in religious matters ; but now his hands
were to be tied, till he should ask and obtain the con-
sent of the princes at Smalcald. In the next place,
those princes were incompetent to conclude such a
league. The emperor was the head of the German,
on the same grounds as Henry was the head of the
English church ; nor could the subjects of the one
lawfully make religious treaties with a foreign prince,
with greater right than those of the other. At all
events, the king ought to require from them, as pre-
liminary concessions, the approbation of his divorce,
104 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, and the acknowledgment of his supremacy ; two points
A.D. 1535. to which Gardiner well knew that the Germans would
never accede. Had he been present, there can be
little doubt that, by thus appealing to the king's
favourite prejudices, he would have broken off the
1536. negotiation altogether ; as it was, Henry replied by
March 12. thanking them for their good will, and consenting to
aid them with money on certain conditions ; but he
required that a deputation of German divines should
previously repair to England, and, in conjunction with
the English theologians, should fix the firm basis
of a thorough reformation. After some discussion,
April 24. Melancthon, with certain divines, received an order to
visit Henry; but the order was revoked as soon as
the unfortunate end of Anne Boleyn was known in
Germany. The reformers suspected that the king
was not sincere in his religious professions ; and that
now, when the original cause of dissension was re-
moved, he would seek a reconciliation with both the
emperor and the pontiff.1
Soon afterwards, the lower house of convocation de-
nounced to the higher fifty-nine propositions extracted
from the publications of different reformed writers.
The subject instantly attracted the notice of the head
of the church ; and Henry, with the aid of his the-
ologians, compiled a book of " Articles," which was
presented to the convocation by Cromwell, and sub-
scribed by him and the other members. It may be
divided into three parts. The first declares that the
belief of the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and
1 See Collier, ii. Records, p. 23; and Strype, i. Rec. 157 — 163.
In a letter written by Cromwell on this occasion, he says, " The king,
" knowing himself to be the learnedest prince in Europe, he thought
" it became not him to submit to them, but he expected they should
" submit to him." — Burnet, iii. 112.
ARTICLES OF DOCTRINE. 105
the Atlianasian Creed, is necessary for salvation ; the CHAP.
second explains the three great sacraments of baptism, A.D. 1535.
penance, and the altar, and pronounces them the
ordinary means of justification ; the third teaches
that, though the use of images, the honouring of the
saints, the soliciting of their intercession, and the
usual ceremonies in the service, have not in them-
selves the power to remit sin, or justify the soul, yet
they are highly profitable, and ought to be retained. —
Throughout the work, Henry's attachment to the
ancient faith is most manifest ; and the only conces-
sion which he makes to the men of the new learning,
is the order for the removal of abuses, with perhaps
the omission of a few controverted subjects. The
vicar-general immediately issued injunctions, in the
name of the king, that " the Articles " should be read
to the people in the churches without any comment ;
and that, until the next Michaelmas, no clergyman July 12.
should presume to preach in public unless he were a
bishop, or spoke in the presence of a bishop, or were
licensed to teach in the cathedral, at the peril of the
bishop.i
By these articles, Henry had now fixed the land-
marks of English orthodoxy ; for the better informa-
tion of his subjects, he ordered the convocation " to
" set forth a plain and sincere exposition of doctrine."
The task was accomplished by the publication of a
work entitled, " The godly and pious Institution of
" a Christian Man," subscribed by the archbishops,
bishops, archdeacons, and certain doctors of canon and
civil law, and pronounced by them to accord "in all
" things with the very true meaning of Scripture." 2
It explains in succession the creed, the seven sacra-
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 804—808, 817—823. 2 Ibid. 830.
106 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, merits, which it divides into three of a higher, and four
A.D. 1536. of a lower order, the ten commandments, the Pater-
noster and Ave Maria, justification, and purgatory. It
is chiefly remarkable for the earnestness with which
it refuses salvation to all persons out of the pale of
the Catholic church, denies the supremacy of the
pontiff, and inculcates passive obedience to the king.
It teaches that no cause whatever can authorize the
subject to draw the sword against his prince ; that
sovereigns are accountable to God alone ; and that
the only remedy against oppression is to pray that
God would change the heart of the despot, and induce
him to make a right use of his power.1
The design of a conference between the English
and German divines was soon afterwards revived,
chiefly at the instigation of Cranmer. Had the
archbishop openly called in question any of "the
" Articles " lately determined by Henry, he would
probably have paid with his head the forfeit of his
presumption ; but he conceived that foreigners might
venture to defend their own creed without giving
offence; and flattered himself with the hope that
their reasoning might make impression on the theolo-
gical obstinacy of the king. Burkhard, vice-chancellor
to the elector of Saxony, Boyneburg, doctor of laws,
and Myconius, superintendent of Saxe-Gotha, arrived
in England in the spring of 1538 ; and frequent confer-
ences were held between them and a commission of
divines appointed by Henry. But the policy of Cran-
mer was disappointed. His German missionaries were
not deficient in zeal or learning, but it was their lot
August 5. to labour on an ungrateful soil. As a last effort, they
laid before the king a detailed statement of the rea-
1 Collier, ii. 139—143.
DESTRUCTION OF SHRINES. 107
sons on which they grounded their demand of the CHAP.
concession of the cup to the laity, of the abrogation A.D. 1*538.
of private masses, and of the permission of marriage
to the priesthood ; but Henry, having, with the aid of
the bishop of Durham, condescended to answer their
arguments, thanked them for their trouble, granted
them permission to return home, and promised to
bear honourable testimony to their learning, zeal, and
talents.1
Their departure was a severe mortification to the
men of the new doctrine. Still, however, the spirit
of innovation continued to make a slow but steady
progress ; and, though it might not keep pace with
their wishes, afforded them grounds to hope for a
favourable result. The king redeemed his pledge of
" the removal of abuses." By his order, a number of
holidays were abolished, which he considered super-
fluous, as far as regarded religion, and injurious, inas-
much as they restrained the industry of the people.
The clergy were enjoined to admonish their parishioners,
that images were permitted only as books for the in-
struction of the unlettered ; that to abuse them for
any other purpose was idolatry ; and that the king
intended to remove whatever might be the " occasion
" of so great an offence to God, and so great a danger
" to the souls of his loving subjects."2 For this pur-
1 Both papers are printed by Burnet, i. Addenda, p. 332 — 360.
See others on the subject in Strype, i. Rec. 258 — 262.
2 Wilkins, Con. iii. 816,823,826. One of the principal roods,
called Darvel Gatheren, was brought from Wales to London to be
employed at the execution of Dr. Forest ; because there was an old
saying, that Darvel Gatheren would one day burn a forest. The
doctor belonged to the convent of Observant Friars at Greenwich,
and was confessor to Queen Catherine, a fact of itself sufficient to
set aside all the ill-defined charges against him in the letters of
Lyst, a discontented lay brother, to Cromwell and the lady mar-
108
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, pose shrines were demolished ; genuine or supposititious
A.DHi538. relics were burnt ; and the most celebrated roods and
images were broken into fragments, or given to the
flames. To make the greater impression, the royal
agents conducted their operations with much parade
and solemnity, and employed every engine to detect
and expose the real or pretended frauds by which
the devotion of the people had been attracted towards
particular churches. Whatever credit may be due to
reports originating with men whose great object it
was to bring the religious orders into disrepute, and
to terrify them into the surrender of their property,1
there is one proceeding, which, on account of its
singularity and absurdity, deserves the attention of
the reader. It had been suggested that, as long as
quess (Anne Boleyn) in 1532 and 1533. (See them in Ellis, 3rd
series, ii. 245 — 270.) Forest was a powerful opponent of the
divorce, and sent away by the king's order from Greenwich to a con-
vent in the north. In 1538 he was brought back to London, and
condemned (in what court is not mentioned) to suffer as a traitor
and a heretic. For this purpose a double gallows was erected in
Smithfield. In the midst, Forest was suspended by chains passed
round his waist and under his arms ; in front, on a platform, sat the
lord mayor, and several of the privy council ; and from a pulpit on
the side, preached Latimer, bishop of Worcester. The bishop
ended with an offer of pardon from the king to Forest, if he would
recant. This the friar refused : a slow fire was kindled under him :
he remained constant in his resolution ; and was consumed with
the rood. The heresy for which he was burnt is plain from the
lines affixed to the gallows : —
" Forest the friar,
That infamous liar,
That wilfully will be dead,
In his contumacy,
The gospel doth deny,
The king to be supreme head."
See Sanders, 138, 163 ; Hall, 232 ; Burnet, i. 358 ; Wood, Athene,
i. 42.
1 Most of these tales depend at present on the very questionable
authority of William Thomas, the author of II Pelerine Inglese, who
has led Burnet into a multitude of errors. — See Collier, ii. 149.
CITATION OF ST. THOMAS. 109
the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury should remain CHAP.
in the calendar, men would be stimulated by his A.D.I 538.
example to brave the ecclesiastical authority of their
sovereign. The king's attorney was therefore in- April 24.
structed to exhibit an information against him ; and
" Thomas Becket, some time archbishop of Canter-
" bury," was formally cited to appear in court and
answer to the charge. The interval of thirty days,
allowed by the canon law, was suffered to elapse ;
still the saint neglected to quit the tomb in which he
had reposed for two centuries and a half; and judgment
would have been given against him for default, had
not the king, of his special grace, assigned him a
counsel. The court sat at Westminster ; the attorney- June n.
general and the advocate of the accused were heard ;
and sentence was finally pronounced, that Thomas,
some time archbishop of Canterbury, had been guilty
of rebellion, contumacy, and treason ; that his bones
should be publicly burnt, to admonish the living of
their duty by the punishment of the dead ; and that
the offerings which had been made at his shrine, the
personal property of the reputed saint, should be for-
feited to the crown, i A commission was accordingly August 11.
issued ; the sentence was executed in due form ; and
the gold, silver, and jewels, the spoils obtained by the August 19.
demolition of the shrine, were conveyed in two pon-
derous coffers to the royal treasury. Soon afterwards Nov- 16-
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 835, 836. As we have only translations of the
citation and judgment made by foreigners, I might have doubted
the authenticity of these instruments, were they not alluded to by
the king in his proclamation of Nov. 16 : "Forasmuch as it
" appeareth now clearly that Thomas," &c. (ibid. 848), and by
Paul III. in his bull of Dec. 17 : In judicium vocari, et
tanquam contumacem damnari, ac proditorem declarari fecerat. —
Ibid. 841.
110 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, a proclamation was published, stating that, forasmuch
A.D. isas. as it now clearly appeared, that Thomas Becket had
been killed in a riot excited by his own obstinacy and
intemperate language, and had been afterwards canon-
ized by the bishop of Rome as the champion of his
usurped authority, the king's majesty thought it ex-
pedient to declare to his loving subjects, that he
was no saint, but rather a rebel and traitor to his
prince, and therefore strictly charged and commanded
that he should not be esteemed or called a saint, that
all images and pictures of him should be destroyed,
the festivals in his honour be abolished, and his name
and remembrance be erased out of all books, under
pain of his majesty's indignation, and imprisonment at
his grace's pleasure.1
In another, and more important point, the arch-
bishop proved equally fortunate. Some years had
passed since William Tyndal, a tutor in a family of
Gloucestershire, but of suspicious orthodoxy, had fled
into the Netherlands, where he printed a version of
the New Testament of his own composition. The
zeal of Warham was alarmed ; he admonished the
provincial bishops to destroy all the copies of this
Oct. 24. version to be found in their dioceses, and purchased,
at his own cost, the copies remaining in the hands of
the publisher.2 But the destruction of one impression
led only to the production of many. Editions in dif-
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 841. Another proclamation of similar import
was issued in the next month. — Burnet, iii. Rec. 152.
2 The expense was 66/. 9s. 4d.— Ellis, 3rd ser. ii. 86—92. I sus-
pect that the stories in Hall, Burnet, and others, respecting the
purchase of an edition by Bishop Tunstall in 1529, have no other
foundation than this purchase by Archbishop Warham in 1527.
Tunstall's commission to the archdeacons was issued in obedience to
Warham's letter, and is dated on the same day, Oct. 24, 1526.
TYNDAL'S BIBLE. Ill
ferent forms, some with, some without notes, were CHA.P.
issued on speculation, from different presses in the A.D. 1520,
Netherlands ; and Tyndal, continuing his labours,
published a version of some parts of the Old Testa-
ment. Henry now deemed it proper to come for-
ward as defender of the faith. His first object was
to get into his possession the translator himself; over-
tures were made to the exile, to induce him to return
to his country, and orders were sent to the king's
agents to seize his person and hurry him by force
on board a ship bound to England. When these
attempts failed, a consultation was held with the
bishops and certain divines from the two universities,
and a royal proclamation was published, ordering all May 25.
copies of the versions of the New or Old Testaments
to be delivered up ; declaring that in respect of the
malignity of the times, it was better that the Scrip-
tures should be explained by the learned than exposed
to the misapprehension of the vulgar ; and promising
that, if it should hereafter appear that erroneous
opinions were forsaken, and the present version was
destroyed, the king would provide a new translation
by the joint labours of great, learned, and catholic
persons.1
This promise was not forgotten by Cranmer, who
had witnessed the success with which so powerful
a weapon had been wielded by the reformers in
Germany. He often ventured to recall it to the
royal recollection ; his endeavours were seconded by Dec. 19.
the petition of the convocation and the recommenda-
tion of Cromwell ; and Grafton and Whitechurch,
two printers, obtained the royal license to publish 1537.
a folio edition of the Bible, in English. It bore the
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 706, 735, 740.
112 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, name of Thomas Matthewe, a fictitious signature ; and
A.D. 1537. was made up of the version by Tyndal, and of another
by Coverdale, printed very lately, as it was thought,
at Zurich. Injunctions were now issued, that a Bible
of this edition should be placed in every church at
the joint expense of the incumbent and the parishioners,
and that any man might have the liberty of reading
in it at his pleasure, provided he did not disturb the
preacher in his sermon, nor the clergyman during the
153g service. Soon afterwards this indulgence was ex-
Nov. 13. tended from the church to private houses ; but Henry
was at all times careful to admonish the readers,
that, when they met with difficult passages, they
should consult persons more learned than themselves ;
and to remind them, that the liberty which they en-
joyed was not a right to which they possessed any
claim, but a favour granted " of the royal liberality
" and goodness/'1
IV. The king, like all other reformers, made his
own judgment the standard of orthodoxy ; but he
enjoyed an advantage, which few besides himself could
claim, the power of enforcing obedience to his de-
cisions. That the teachers of erroneous doctrine
ought to be repressed by the authority of the civil
magistrate, was a maxim which at that period had
been consecrated by the assent and practice of ages.
No sooner had Constantine the Great embraced
Christianity, than he enacted against dissenters from
the established creed the same punishments which
his pagan predecessors had inflicted on those who
apostatized from the religion of their fathers.2 His
1 Wilk. Con.iii. 776, 811, 843, 847, 856.
2 Socrat. p. 32. Sozom. p. 38, 72, 90, edit. Vales. S. Aug.
contra ep. Parmen. 1. 1, c. 7.
PROSECUTIONS FOR HERESY. 113
example was repeatedly followed by succeeding em- CHAP
Perors ; it was adopted without hesitation by the . „"•„„
princes of the northern tribes, who, after their con- —
version, were accustomed to supply from the imperial
Constitutions the deficiencies of their own scanty legis-
lation. Hence religious intolerance became part of
the public law of Christendom : the principle was
maintained, the practice enforced, by the reformers
lemselves ;« and, whatever might be the predominant
etnne, the dissenter from it invariably found himself
subject to civil restrictions, perhaps to imprisonment
and death. By Henry the laws against heresy were
executed with equal rigour both before and after his
quarrel with the pontiff. In his third and thirteenth
years the teachers of Lollard ism had awakened by their
intemperance the zeal of the bishops; and the kin*
by proclamation charged the civil magistrates to lend
eir aid to the spiritual authorities. Of the numbers
rought before the primate and the bishops of London
Lincoln, almost all were induced to abjure • a
few of the more obstinate forfeited their lives.' Lol-
lard1Sm, however, presented but little cause for alarm ;
was the progress of Lutheranism in Germany
which first taught the bishops to tremble for the
security of their church. Curiosity led men to peruse
the writings of the reformer and his partisans; the
usal occasionally made converts, and the converts
VOL. V. j
114 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, laboured to diffuse the new light with all the fervour
A. D. 1539. of proselytism. They were not content to propagate
their doctrine by preaching : the Bible, as the reader
has just seen, was translated and printed beyond the
sea ; and books were published which condemned
the creed of the established church, ridiculed the
ceremonies of its worship, and satirized the lives of its
ministers. Henry, as defender of the faith, thought
himself bound in honour to protect with the sword
those doctrines which he had supported with his pen.
When the convocation condemned TyndaPs Bible
1530. as an unfaithful version, and the other works as teem-
ing with errors and slander, the king by proclamation
forbade them to be imported, sold, or kept ; and
ordered the chancellor, justices, and inferior officers
to make oath that "they would give their whole
" power and diligence to destroy all errors, and would
" assist the bishops and their commissaries as often
" as they should be required."1 Numerous arrests
and abjurations followed ; and four or five unfortunate
men who, having obtained a pardon, reverted to their
former practice of selling the prohibited works, were,
on the second conviction, condemned to the flames.2
In 1533 the elevation of Cranmer to the archiepis-
copal dignity, the divorce of Catherine, and the sub-
sequent abolition of the papal authority, inspired the
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 727—739. In consequence of this oath, Sir
Thomas More frequently gave his aid in causes of heresy. Foxe
from the reports of the reformers accuses him of unnecessary cruelty,
and has induced some modern writers to brand him with the name
of persecutor. It is, however, but fair to hear his defence. " Of
" al that ever came into my hand for heresye, as helpe me God, had
" never any of them any stripe or stroke given them, so much as a
" fylyppe on the forehead." — Apol. c. 36, p. 901.
2 With Foxe (ii. 223, 237—249) should be read Sir Thomas
More's Confutation of Tyndal, 344—350.
PROSECUTION FOR HERESY. 115
advocates of innovation with the hope of impunity; CHAP.
but experience taught them, to their cost, that they A.D. 1530.
had as much to fear now from the head of the church,
as they had before from the defender of the faith ;
and that the prelates of the new learning were not
less eager than those of the old to light the fagot
for the punishment of heresy. The first victims were,
John Frith, who maintained that it was not necessary
to believe or deny the doctrine of the real presence, J533
and Hewet, a tailor, who had determined to believe July 22.
and speak, to live and die, with John Frith.1 The
succeeding years were employed chiefly in the punish-
ment of those who denied the king's supremacy, and
in the contest with the northern insurgents ; but
1 .).>.).
when in 1535 a colony of German Anabaptists landed May 25.
in England, they were instantly apprehended ; and
fourteen, who refused to recant, were condemned to
the flames. The fate of these adventurers did not
1 Foxe, ii. 251, 256. Hall, 225. Parson's Three Conversions,
part iii. 45 — 59. Cranmer gives the following account of Frith and
Hewet, in his letter to Mastyr Hawkins (Archseol. xviii. p. 81).
One Fryth which was in the Tower in pry son, was appoynted by
the kyng's grace to be examyned befor me, my lorde of London,
my lorde of Wynchester, my lorde of Suffolke, my lorde chan-
celloure, and my lorde of Wyltshire, whose opynion was so notably
erroneouse, that we culde not dispatche hym ; but was fayne to
leve hym to the determynacion of his ordinarye, which ys the
bishop of London. His said opynion ys of such nature, that he
thoughte it not necessary to be beleved as an article of our faythe,
that ther ys the very corporall presence of Christe within the oste
and sacramente of the alter ; and holdeth of this poynte moste
after the opynion of Oecolampadious. And suerly I myself sent
for hym iii or iiii tymes to perswade hym to leve that his imagi-
nacion ; but for all that we culd do therein, he woulde not apply
to any counsaile : notwithstandyng he ys nowe at a fynall ende
with all examinacions, for my lorde of London hathe gyven sen-
tance, and delyvered hym to the secular power, where he looketh
every day to go to the fyer. And ther ys condempned with
hym one Andre we a tayloure of London for the said self- same
opynion."
i2
116 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, alarm their brethren abroad ; in 1538 more mission-
L.D^ISSS. aries followed; and the king ordered Cranmer, with
N~9 three other prelates, to call them before him, to ad-
monish them of their errors, and to deliver the
refractory to the secular magistrate. Four of the
number abjured ; one man and a woman expiated
their obstinacy at the stake.1
1539. But of all the prosecutions for heresy, none excited
greater interest than that of Lambert, alias Nicholson,
a clergyman in priest's orders, and schoolmaster in
London ; nor is it the least remarkable circumstance
in his story, that of the three men who brought him
to the stake, Taylor, Barnes, and Cranmer, two pro-
fessed, perhaps even then, most certainly later, the
very doctrine for which they prosecuted their victim,
and all three suffered afterwards the same or nearly
the same punishment.2 Lambert had been imprisoned
on a charge of heresy by Archbishop Warham, and had
1 Stowe, 570, 575. Collier, ii. Records, 46. Wilk. Con. iii.
836. It is remarkable that Barnes, wrho was burnt soon afterwards,
was one of the commissioners.
2 It is not easy to ascertain the real sentiments of the English
reformers at a time when the very suspicion of heterodoxy might
have cost them their lives. Knowing the king's attachment to the
doctrine of the real presence, they deemed it prudent to elude, and,
if possible, to suppress all controversy on that subject. Thus
Cranmer conjured Vadianus to be silent ; because " dici non
' potest, quantum hsec tarn cruenta controversia maxime
' apud nos bene current! verbo evangelii obstiterit." — Strype's Cran,
App. p. 47, anno 1537. And Foxe observes of Barnes, that
' although he did otherwise favour the gospel, he seemed not
' greatly to favour this cause, fearing peradventure that it would
' breed some let or hindrance among the people to the preaching
' of the gospel." — Foxe, ii. 355. Cranmer's promptitude to reject
the doctrine of the real presence, when he could do it with safety,
has provoked a suspicion that he did not sincerely believe it before :
but Burnet and Strype conceive that he held the Lutheran tenet
of consubstantiation at this period ; and I am inclined to think the
same from the tenor of the two letters already quoted, — that to
Hawkins, and the other lo Vadianus.
TRIAL OF LAMBERT. 117
escaped by the timely death of that prelate : but his CHAP.
zeal despised the warning ; and, urged by an uncon- A.D^SS
querable passion for controversy, he presented to
Dr. Taylor a written paper containing eight reasons
against the belief of the real presence. Taylor consulted
Barnes ; Barnes disclosed the matter to Cranmer ; and
Cranmer summoned the schoolmaster to answer for
his presumption in the archiepiscopal court. The
particulars of his examination have not been pre-
served ; but he appealed from the metropolitan to the
head of the church ; and the king gladly embraced
the opportunity of exercising in person the judicial
functions attached to his supremacy. On the ap-
pointed day he took his seat on the throne clothed in
robes of white silk; on his right were placed the
bishops, the judges, and the sages of the law ; on his
left the temporal peers and the officers of the house-
hold. The proceedings were opened by Sampson,
bishop of Chichester, who said that though the king
had abolished the papal authority, ejected the monks
and friars, and put down superstition and idolatry, he
neither meant to trench on the ancient doctrines, nor
to suffer the faith of his fathers to be insulted with
impunity. Henry rose, and in a mild and conciliatory
tone, inquired of the accused whether he were still
attached to his former opinion. Having received an
answer in the affirmative, he made a long and argu-
mentative harangue against the first of the reasons
contained in the writing which Lambert had presented
to Taylor. He was followed by the bishops, seven in
number, to each of whom had been allotted the re-
futation of one of the remaining objections. Lambert
occasionally attempted to answer his opponents ; but
he seemed overpowered with terror, and gave no proof
118 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, of that ability and learning for which he had been
A.DHi539. extolled by his partisans. Five hours were employed
by the several disputants, Henry, Cranmer, Gardiner,
Tunstall, Stokesley, Sampson, and two others ; when
the king asked him, " What sayest thou now, after the
" instructions of these learned men ? Art thou satis-
" fied ? Wilt thou live or die ?" The prisoner replied,
that he threw himself on the mercy of his majesty.
" Then/' said the king, " thou must die, for I will not
"be the patron of heretics;" and Cromwell, as the
vicar-general, arose, and pronounced the usual judg-
NOV. 20. ment in cases of heresy.1 Lambert met his fate
with the constancy of a man who was convinced that
he suffered for the truth ; Henry, who had expected
to make him a convert, was consoled for his disap-
pointment by the praise which his flatterers lavished
on his zeal, his eloquence, and his erudition.2
But while the king was employing his authority in
1 If any thing after this exhibition can surprise the reader, it will
be the praise which is bestowed on it by Cromwell himself in a letter
to Wyatt, the ambassador in Germany. " The king's majesty presided
at the disputation, process, and judgment of a miserable heretic
sacramentary, who was burnt the 20th of November. It was
wonderful to see how princely, with how excellent gravity, and
inestimable majesty his highness exercised there the very office of
supreme head of the church of England ; how benignly his grace
essayed to convert the miserable man ; how strong and manifest
reasons his highness alleged against him. I wish the princes and
potentates of Christendom to have had a meet place to have seen
it."—Collier, ii. 152.
2 Godwin (67) and Foxe (ii. 355 — 358) have given long accounts
of this trial, but I have deserted them, where I could obtain better
authority. Lambert's arguments were eight, not ten, as appears
from the speech of Sampson (not Day), bishop of Chichester, pub-
lished by Strype (App, 43). Henry's tone was not intimidating but
conciliatory, if we may believe Cromwell in the last note ; and the
prisoner showed no ability, but considerable terror, according to Hall,
who was present (Hall, 233). The story told by Foxe, of Cromwell
sending for Lambert to his house, and asking his pardon, is irrecon-
cilable with his letter to Wyatt.
THE POPE AGAINST HENRY. 119
support of the ancient doctrines, the court of Rome CHAP.
threatened to visit his past transgressions with the A.D. 1539.
severest punishment in its power. Paul had formerly
indulged a hope that some fortunate event might bring
Henry back to the communion of the Apostolic See ;
and that expectation was encouraged by a succession
of occurrences which seemed to favour his views. The
publication of " the Articles " showed that the king
was not disposed to dissent from the pontiff on doc-
trinal matters : the death of Catherine and the execu-
tion of Anne Boleyn removed the first and principal
cause of the schism ; and it was thought that the
northern insurrection would convince Henry of the
danger of persisting in his apostasy. But if his passion
for Anne originally provoked, his avarice, ambition,
and resentment now conspired to perpetuate the
quarrel. Far from accepting offers of reconciliation,
he appeared to seek opportunities of displaying his
hostility, and by his agents at different courts laboured
to withdraw all other sovereigns from the communion
of Rome. Paul was perplexed by the opposite
opinions of his advisers. Many condemned the sus-
pension of the censures against Henry as inconsistent
with the honour and the interest of the pontiff, while
others continued to object the disgrace and impolicy
of publishing a sentence without the power of carrying
it into execution. The great obstacle arose from the
difficulty of appeasing the resentments, and reconciling
the claims of the emperor and the king of France.
After years of contention in the cabinet and in the
field, neither had obtained the mastery over the other ;
and if Charles had defeated the attempts of his adver-
sary on Milan and Naples, Francis, by allying himself
with the Protestants of Germany, and calling to his
120 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, aid the naval forces of Turkey, had been able to
A.D. 1539. paralyze the superior power of Charles. Wearied at
length by hostilities without victory, and negotiations
without peace, they listened to the entreaties and ex-
hortations of Paul ; a truce of ten years was concluded
1538. , _^
June is. under the papal mediation at Nice ; and the pontiff
embraced the favourable opportunity to sound the dis-
position of the two monarchs relatively to the conduct
of Henry. From both he received the same answer,
that if he would publish the bull, they would send
ambassadors to England to protest against the schism ;
would refuse to entertain the relations of amity with a
prince who had separated himself from the Catholic
church ; and would strictly forbid all commercial
intercourse between their subjects and the English
merchants.1
The substance of these negotiations was soon con-
veyed to Henry by the spies whom he maintained at
different courts ; and, to disconcert the counsels of his
enemies, he instructed his ambassadors abroad to excite
by tempting offers the hopes, and inflame by artful
suggestions the jealousy, of both Francis and Charles;
while at home, that he might be provided for the event,
he ordered his navy to be equipped, the harbours to
be put in a state of defence, and the whole population
to be called under arms.2
Among those who had accompanied the pontiff to
Nice, was Cardinal Pole, whom both the emperor and
the king had received with marked distinction, and
1 Though the cardinals Farnese and Pole repeatedly mention the
protestation in their letters, they do not explain its object, because
it was sufficiently known to their correspondents. I have, however,
collected it from detached passages, and have no doubt that it is
faithfully represented above.
2 Hall, 234.
EXECUTIONS. 121
whom Henry believed to be the original author of the CHAP.
present combination against him. The cardinal, in- A.D.
deed, under the protection of foreign powers, might
defy the malice of his persecutor ; but his mother, and
brothers, and relatives, remained in England ; and
these were now marked out for victims by the jealousy,
or the resentment, of the monarch. Becket, usher,
and Wrothe, sewer of the royal chamber, proceeded on
a mission to Cornwall, ostensibly to visit their friends,
in reality to collect matters for accusation against
Henry Courtenay, marquess of Exeter, and his ad-
herents and dependants.1 In a short time Sir Geoffrey
Pole, a brother of the cardinal, was brought before the
council and committed. His arrest was followed by Nov. 3.
that of another brother, the lord Montague, of their
mother the countess of Salisbury, of the marquess and
marchioness of Exeter, and of Sir Edward Neville,
the brother of Lord Abergavenny.2 Courtenay was
grandson to Edward IV., his mother being Catherine,
daughter of that monarch ; and the Poles were grand-
sons to George, duke of Clarence, the brother of Ed-
ward, their mother being Margaret, the daughter of
Clarence and the countess of Salisbury. On this account
both families were revered by the ancient adherents of
the house of York ; and had not their loyalty been
proof against ambition, they might have taught the
king, during the northern insurrection, to tremble for
the security of his crown.3 On the last day of the Dec. 31.
1 See the instructions to Becket and Wrothe in Arch. xxii. 24.
All doubt respecting the lines between the 3rd and 4th articles may
be removed by reference to the letter in Ellis, ii. 104.
2 Ellis, ii. 96.
3 Maximo erant numero, et illorum sanguini et nomini plusquam
deditissimi. Quo tempore non solum illi in suo malo resistere
facultatem maximam habuissent, sed ilium cum omnium commodo si
122
HENRY VIII.
CHAP.
II.
1539.
Jan. 3.
year the marquess and the lord Montague were ar-
A.D. 1538. raigned before their peers, and three days later the
commoners before juries of their equals, on a charge of
having devised to maintain, promote, and advance one
Reginald Pole, late dean of Exeter, the king's enemy
beyond the seas, and to deprive the king of his royal
state and dignity. The overt act charged against the
marquess (probably the case of the others might be
similar) was that he had been heard to say, " I like
" well of the proceedings of Cardinal Pole : I like not
" the proceedings of this realm. I trust to see a
" change in the world. I trust once to have a fair
" day on the knaves which rule about the king. I
" trust to give them a buffet one day."1 It would
require some ingenuity to extract treason from these
words, even if they had been proved ; but both peers
and jury had only to do the bidding of their imperious
master ; and all the accused, being found guilty, re-
jan. 9. ceived judgment of death. Geoffrey Pole saved his
life, as it was supposed, by revealing the secrets of his
March 3. companions in misfortune ;2 the rest were beheaded, as
was also Sir Nicholas Carew, master of the horse, for
being of counsel to the marquess. A commission then
proceeded to Cornwall, and two Cornish gentlemen,
March 16. Kendall and Quintrell, suffered death on the charge of
having said, some years before, that Exeter was the
heir apparent, and should be king, if Henry married
Anne Boleyn, or it would cost a thousand lives.3
These executions, particularly of noblemen so nearly
voluissent, oppugnandi, et tyrannide eiiciendi. — Apol. Poli ad Car.
p. 112.
1 Howell's State Trials, iii. 367.
2 He was probably sent out of the kingdom ; for he obtained a
full pardon and permission to return in the next reign. — Burnet,
"i. 186. 3 Ellis, ii. 107.
SECOND LEGATION OF POLE. 123
allied to Henry in blood, on a charge so ill defined and CHAP.
improbable, excited a general horror ; and the king, A.D. 1539,
in his own vindication, ordered a book to be published
containing the proofs of their real or pretended
treason.1
The pontiff, encouraged by the promises of Charles isss.
and Francis, to which had now been joined those of
the king of the Romans and of the king of Scotland, Dec. 25.
revoked the suspension, and ordered the publication
of the bull.2- At the same time Cardinal Pole was
despatched on a secret mission to the Spanish and
French courts ; but his arrival had been anticipated
by the English agents : neither Charles nor Francis
would incur the hostility of Henry by being the first
to declare himself; and both equally prohibited the
publication of the bull within their dominions.3 To
the cardinal at Toledo Charles replied, that there 1539.
. . February.
were other matters which more imperiously required
his attention ; the progress made by the Turks in
Hungary, and the hostile disposition of the Protestants
in Germany ; that the latter, were he to provoke Henry,
would solicit and obtain pecuniary aid out of those
treasures which the king of England had acquired by
1 Lord Herbert observes that he could never discover the particular
offences of these lords ; only that the secretary in a letter to one of
the ambassadors says that the accusations were great, and duly
proved, and that another person says they had relieved the cardinal
with money. — Herb. 502. See one of these letters in Ellis, ii. 109.
Such circulars were always sent on similar occasions in vindication
of the king's conduct. The cardinal himself maintains that if they
had entertained any designs against the king, they would have
shown them during the insurrection ; and adds that he had sought
in vain in the king's book for some proof against them ; — sed nihil
tandem invenire potui, nisi id quod liber tacet et quod ipse diu
judicavi, odium tyranni in virtutem et nobilitatem. — Apol. Poli, 118.
2 Bullar. Rom. 708.
3 I cannot find any proof that it was ever published at all.
124 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the suppression of the monasteries ; that nevertheless he
A.D. 1539. was willing to fulfil his engagements, to make the pro-
testation, and to interrupt all commercial intercourse,
but on this condition, that the king of France should
cordially join in the undertaking, and adopt at the same
time the same measures. Pole returned, and from Avig-
non sent a confidential messenger to Francis, from whom
he received an answer equally cold and unpromising,
that he was indeed anxious to perform his promise to
the pontiff, but he could not rely on the mere word of
the emperor ; that he requested the legate not to enter
his dominions till he could bring with him some cer-
tain document as a pledge of the imperial sincerity ;
and that in such case he should be willing to join his
forces with those of Charles and the king of Scotland,
to attempt the conquest of England ; and in event of
success, to divide it among the three powers, or to
establish a new sovereign in the place of Henry.1
The negotiation continued for some months ; Francis
persisting in his refusal to receive the legate without
the pledge demanded from Charles, and Charles to
give that pledge till the legate had been received by
Francis as well as by himself. The pontiff, who saw
that he was deluded by the insincerity of the two
monarchs, recalled Pole to Rome ; and the papal
court, abandoning all hope of succeeding by intimida-
tion, submitted to watch in silence the course of
political events.2
1 If this suggestion had been thrown out before, and come to the
knowledge of Henry, it would account for the late executions. He
could fear no competitor whom they might set up, unless he were
of the house of York.
2 For these particulars consult the letters of Cardinal Pole (ii.
p. 142—199, 232) ; those of Cardinal Farnese, from Toledo (ibid,
cclxxxiv. cclxxxvii.) ; Pole's instructions, cclxxix. ; Beccatelli's life
of Pole in the same work (v. 365) ; and Pallavacini's account, drawn
ARREST OF POLE'S MOTHER. 125
The part which the cardinal had taken in the ne- CHAP.
gotiation inflamed the hatred of Henry. Judgment of A.D! 1539.
treason was pronounced against him ; foreign princes
were solicited to deliver him up ; and he was con-
stantly beset with spies, and, as he believed, with
ruffians hired to take his life. At home, to wound
him in the most tender part, Henry ordered his
mother, the venerable countess of Salisbury, to be
arrested and examined by the earl of Southampton
and the bishop of Ely ; but she behaved with such
firmness of character, such apparent consciousness of
innocence, as completely disconcerted her accusers.
Unable to extract from her admissions sufficient
matter for a criminal prosecution, Cromwell consulted
the judges, whether a person accused of treason might
not be attainted without a previous trial or confession.
They replied that it would form a dangerous pre-
cedent ; that no inferior tribunal would venture on so
illegal a proceeding ; but that the court of parliament
was supreme, and an attainder by parliament would be
good in law.1 This was sufficient for the king, who
from the letters of different legates and nuncios (Pallav. i. 399).
Pole, to excuse his conduct in this legation, assures Edward VI.
that his chief object was, to induce these princes to employ all their
interest with Henry in favour of religion ; but acknowledges that he
wished them, in case the king refused to listen to them as friends, to
add menaces, and to interrupt the commerce with his subjects. He
asserts, however, that he had no desire to injure him in reality, nor
ever attempted to excite them to make war upon him — hoc ego nun-
quam profecto volui, neque cum illis egi. — Ep. ad Edvard. torn. iv.
p. 337. He might, indeed, have hoped that these measures would
persuade or intimidate Henry; but he must also have known, that if
they had been pursued, they would lead to discontent within the
kingdom, and to war without ; and that such results were contem-
plated by those who employed him. Che tutti d'accordo levariano
il commertio d'Inghilterra, con la qual via pensavasi, che le genti, di
quel regno havessero a tumultuare. — Becat. 367. That there was
some expectation of war, appears also from the letter of Farnese,
supra. i Coke, Inst. iv. 37.
126 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, sought not justice but revenge; and in a bill of at-
A.D. 1539. tainder, containing the names of several individuals
who had been condemned in the lower courts, were
introduced those of Pole's mother the countess, of his
June 28. nephew the son of Lord Montague,1 and of Gertrude,
relict of the marquess of Exeter, though none of them
had confessed any crime, or been heard in their own
defence. With the fate of the young man we are not
acquainted ; the marchioness obtained a pardon at the
Dec. 21. expiration of six months ;2 and it was hoped that the
king would extend the same mercy to the countess.
She was more than seventy years of age, the nearest
to him in blood of all his relations, and the last in a
direct line of the Plantagenets, a family which had
swayed the English sceptre through so many genera-
tions. Henry kept her in the Tower, probably as a
hostage for the behaviour of her son, or her friends ;
but at the end of two years, on account of some pro-
vocation in which she could have had no share, ordered
M]a5412-7 her to be put to death. In the prison and on the
scaffold she maintained the dignity of her rank and
descent ; and when she was told to lay her head on
the block, " No/' she replied, " my head never com-
" mitted treason ; if you will have it, you must take
" it as you can." She was held down by force ; and
while the executioner performed his office, exclaimed,
" Blessed are they who suffer persecution for righteous-
1 I observe that our historians are ignorant of the attainder, and
even of the existence, of the son of Lord Montague. Yet Pole could
not have been mistaken. Nee vero solam damnatam mulierem
septuagenarian!, qua nullam, excepta filia, propinquiorem habet ; et,
ut ille ipse, qui earn damnavit, ssepe dicere solebat, nee regnum illud
sanctiorem habuit feminam, sed cum nepote suo, filio fratris mei
puero, spe reliqua stirpis nostrse.— Ep. Poli, ii. 197
2 Rym. xiv. 652.
STRUGGLE OF THEOLOGICAL PARTIES. 127
" ness' sake." Her death, or rather murder, which CHAP
seemed to have no rational object, proclaimed to the X.D.I
world that the heart of the king was not less steeled —
to the feelings of relationship and humanity, than
it was inaccessible to considerations of justice and
honour ; and proved an awful admonition to his sub-
jects, that nothing short of unlimited obedience could
shield them from the vengeance of their sovereign.1
V. For some time Cromwell and Cranmer had
reigned without control in the council. The duke of
Norfolk, after the submission of the insurgents, had
retired to his estates in the country ; and Gardiner, on
his return from an honourable exile of two years in
foreign courts, had repaired, without even seeing the
king, to his bishopric of Winchester.2 But the gene-
ral understanding between the pontiff and the Catholic
sovereigns, and the mission of Pole to the emperor
and the king of France, had awakened serious appre-
hensions and new projects in the mind of Henry. He
determined to prove to the world that he was the
decided advocate of the ancient doctrines : Gardiner
was recalled to court, and ordered to preach during
the Lent at St. Paul's Cross ; and the duke of Norfolk
was commissioned to conduct the business of the
crown as the prime minister, in the house of peers.
As soon as the parliament assembled, a committee of May 5.
spiritual lords was appointed to examine the diversity
of opinions on religious subjects ; but on every question
the members divided five against four, the bishops of
1 See Pole's letter to the cardinal of Burgos. He concludes, quod
autem ad me ipsum attinet, etiam honore auctus hujus mortis genere
videor, qui deinceps martyris me filium (quod certe plus est quam
ullo regio genere ortum esse) nunquam verebor dicere (iii. 36, 76).
2 Le Grande, ii. 223.
128
HENRY VIII.
CHAP. York, Durham, Carlisle, Bath, and Bangor, against
A.D. i54i. Cromwell and the prelates of Canterbury, Salisbury,
and Ely. The king waited eleven days for their de-
cision ; his patience was exhausted ; and the duke,
having remarked that no result was to be expected
from the labours of the committee, proposed to the
consideration of the house six questions respecting the
eucharist, communion under one kind, private masses,
the celibacy of the priesthood, auricular confession,
and vows of chastity. The debate was confined to the
spiritual peers, while the others, even Cromwell and
Audeley, observed a prudent and respectful silence.
May 19. On the second day the king himself came down to the
house, and joined in the debate ; to resist the royal
theologian required a degree of courage unusual in the
prelates of that day ; and Cranmer and his colleagues,
who had hitherto led the opposition, now, with the
exception of the bishop of Salisbury, owned themselves
vanquished and convinced by the superiority of his
reasoning and learning.1
1 On the testimony of Foxe we are told that the archbishop per-
sisted in his opposition to the last (Foxe, ii. 372. Burnet, i. 258) ;
but this statement not only seems irreconcilable with the Journals,
but is contradicted by a document of far higher authority. We
know not the name of the writer, but he was a lord of parliament,
had been present at the discussions, and thus describes the proceed-
ings at the very time when they took place. " Notwithstanding my
' lord of Canterbury, my lord of Ely, my lord of Salisbury, my lords
' of Worcester, Rochester, and St. Davyes, defended the contrary a
' long time, yet finally his highness confounded them all with
' goodlie learning. York, Durham, Winchester, London, Chichester,
' Norw^iche, and Carlisle, have showed themselves honest and well
' learned men. We of the temporalty have been all of one opinion ;
' and my lord chancellor (Audeley) and my lord privy seal (Crom-
' well) as good as we can devise. My lord of Canterbury and all
' his bishops, have given their opinions, and have come in to us,
' save Salisbury, who yet continueth a lewd fool." — Cleop. E. v.
p. 128. It was probably Cranmer's consciousness of having on this
occasion sacrificed his own convictions to the will of the king, and
THE SIX ARTICLES. 129
Immediately after a short prorogation Henry, flat- CHAP.
tered with his victory, sent a message to the Lords, A.D. 1*541.
congratulating them on the unanimity which had been M^O.
obtained, and recommending the enactment of penal-
ties against those who should presume to disturb it
by preaching the contrary doctrines. Two separate
committees were appointed, with the same instructions
to each, to prepare a bill in conformity with the royal
suggestion. One consisted, and it must appear a most
singular selection, of three converts to the cause, the
prelates of Canterbury, Ely, and St. David's, and the
other of their warmest opponents, the bishops of York,
Durham, and Winchester. Instead of choosing be-
tween the two bills, which they presented, the Lords
submitted both to the king, who gave the preference June 2.
to that which had been drawn by the second com-
mittee j1 and this, as soon as the clergy in the lower
house of convocation had reported their assent to the
articles, was introduced by the chancellor, passed by
the Lords and Commons, and received the royal June 5, 7
assent.2 It begins by reciting the six articles to which
his knowledge that others had done the same, which induced him to
assert to the Devonshire insurgents that " if the king's majesty had
" not come personally into the parliament house, those laws had never
" passed " (Strype, App. 92) ; and to remind Gardiner, that " how
" that matter was enforced by some persons, they new right well,
" that were there present." — Defence against Gardiner, 286.
1 It is supposed that it had been drawn up with the privity of the
king, as there is extant a bill nearly similar in Henry's own hand.
It is published by Wilkins, iii. 848.
2 As a week intervened between the appointment of the committee
and the introduction of the bill, Burnet supposes that it met with
great opposition in the council (i. 258). But this is a gratuitous
supposition. The committees sat on Saturday, May 31. On
Monday, June 2, their bills were probably offered to the king ; on
Tuesday, Cromwell submitted the six articles to the consideration of
the clergy ; on Thursday their answer was returned ; and on Satur-
day the chancellor brought the bill into the house of Lords. — See
VOL. V. K
130 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the parliament and convocation had agreed: 1. That
A.D. 1541. m the eucharist is really present the natural body of
Christ, under the forms, and without the substance, of
bread and wine ; 2. That communion, under both
kinds, is not necessary ad salutem ; 3. That priests
may not marry by the law of God ; 4. That vows of
chastity are to be observed ; 5. That private masses
ought to be retained ; 6. That the use of auricular
confession is expedient and necessary. Then follow
the penalties : 1. If any person write, preach, or dis-
pute against the first article, he shall not be allowed
to abjure, but shall suffer death as a heretic, and for-
feit his goods and chattels to the king; 2. If he
preach in any sermon or collation, or speak openly
before the judges against any one of the other five, he
shall incur the usual penalties of felony; but if he
only hold contrary opinions, and publish them, he shall
for the first offence be imprisoned at the king's
pleasure, and shall forfeit his lands during life, and his
goods for ever ; for the second he shall suffer death ;
3. The act pronounces the marriages of priests or nuns
of no effect, orders such persons so married to be sepa-
rated ; and makes it felony if they cohabit afterwards ;
4. It subjects priests, living carnally with women, or
nuns with men, to imprisonment and forfeiture on the
first conviction, and to death on the second : and
lastly, it enacts that persons contemptuously refusing
to confess at the usual times, or to receive the sacra-
July i. ment, shall for the first offence be fined and imprisoned,
and for the second be adjudged felons, and suffer the
punishment of felony.1
Journals, 113, 114, 116 ; and the acts of the convocation, Wilk.
Con. iii. 845.
1 Stat. of Realm, iii. 739—741.
CRANMER IN DIFFICULTIES. 131
Such were the enactments of this severe and barba- CHAP.
rous statute. It filled with terror the teachers and A.D.
advocates of the new doctrines, who saw from the
king's temper that their only security was silence and
submission to the royal will. Latimer and Shaxton,
the bishops of Worcester and Salisbury, who by the
intemperance of their language had given offence,
resigned spontaneously or at the king's requisition,
their respective sees.1 But no one had greater cause
of alarm than Cranmer. The reader will recollect
that before his promotion to the archiepiscopal dignity,
he had married a kinswoman of Osiander, in Germany.
At a convenient time she followed him to England,
where she bore him several children. He was too
prudent to acknowledge her publicly : but the secret
quickly transpired ; and many priests, emboldened by
the impunity, imitated the example of the metro-
politan. As the canons, which imposed celibacy on
the priesthood, had never been abrogated, the head of
the church thought it his duty to notice these trans-
gressions, and by a circular letter ordered the bishops
to make inquiries in their dioceses, and either to im-
prison the offenders, or to certify their names to the
council.2 Two years later appeared a proclamation,
ordering all priests, "who had attempted marriages
" that were openly known," to be deprived of their ]53g
benefices, and reputed as laymen ; and threatening NOV. 16.
1 Godwin, Annals, p. 70. De Prasul. Ang. i. 353 ; ii. 49. The
French ambassador says that both refused their assent. Et deux
eveques, principaux auteurs des . . . . et doctrines nouvelles, pour
n'avoir voulu souscrire a edits, ont este privez de leurs evechez. — Le
Grand, ii. 199. Latimer asserted in 1546 that " he left his bishoprick
" beeng borne in hande by the Lord Crumwel that it was his Majestes
" pleasure he shuld resigne it, which his Majesty aftre denyed, and
" pitied his condicion." — State Pap. i. 849.
2 Wilk. Con. iii. 826.
K 2
132 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, that all who should marry after that notice should
A.D. 1538. suffer punishment and imprisonment at his grace's
pleasure.1
Though neither of these orders reached the arch-
bishop, they convinced him that he stood on very
slippery ground. To save himself, he had recourse to
every expedient which his ingenuity could supply.
First, with becoming humility he submitted to the
superior judgment of Henry such reasons against the
law of clerical celibacy as had occurred to his mind ;
he then suggested the expediency of a royal declara-
tion imposing silence on the subject, and leaving every
man to the dictates of his own conscience ; and at
length he boldly proposed, that the lawfulness of the
marriage of priests should be debated in the univer-
sities before impartial judges, on the condition that, if
judgment were given against his opinion, its advocates
should suffer death ; if in its favour, the canonical
prohibition should be no longer enforced. To these
solicitations of Cranmer was added the reasoning of his
friend Melancthon, who, in a long and declamatory
epistle, undertook the difficult task of convincing the
obstinacy of the king. But neither argument, nor
solicitation, nor artifice, could divert Henry from his
purpose. The celibacy of the priesthood was made one
of the six articles ; and Cranmer saw with dismay that
his marriage was reputed void in law, and that subse-
quent cohabitation would subject him to the penalty of
1539. death. In haste he despatched his children with their
mother to her friends in Germany, and wrote to the
king an apology for his presumption in having opposed
the opinion of his majesty. Henry, appeased by his
1 Strype's Cranmer, A pp. No. viii.
2 Burnet, i. Records, Nos. iv. vi.
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. 133
submission, returned a gracious and consoling answer CHAP.
by the duke of Norfolk and Cromwell, the vicar- A.D. 1539.
general.1
Cromwell, who had been created a baron in 1536,
still continued to possess considerable influence in the
royal councils. His services were still wanted to per-
fect the great work of the dissolution of monasteries ;
and by professing himself an early convert to the
doctrine of the six articles, and labouring to procure
proselytes among the bishops,2 he had avoided the
displeasure of his sovereign. It has been already
noticed that before the prorogation of parliament, all
the property, real or moveable, of the religious houses
" which had been already or might be hereafter dis-
" solved, suppressed, or surrendered, or had or might
" by any other means come into the hands of the king,"
was vested in Henry and his heirs for ever, with
authority to endow new bishoprics out of it according
to his or their pleasure. This act affected the interests
of only one class of subjects; but to it was added
another, which lay prostrate at the foot of the throne
the liberties of the whole nation. It declared that
the king for the time being should possess the right
of issuing, with the advice of his council, proclamations
which ought to have the effect of acts of parliament ;
adjudged all transgressors of such proclamations to
suffer the imprisonment, and pay the fines expressed in
them ; and made it high treason to leave the realm in
order to escape the penalty.3 It was not without con-
1 Antiq. Brit. 333.
2 Constantyne's Memoir, Archseol. xxiii. 63.
3 St. 31 Hen. VIII. 8. Thus Cromwell nearly accomplished his
favourite doctrine, which he had formerly inculcated to Pole, and
frequently maintained before Henry. " The Lord Cromwell," says
Gardiner, in one of his letters, " had once put in the king's head to
134
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, siderable difficulty that this act was carried through the
A.b?i»39. two houses ; but both the men of the old and of the
new learning, jealous of each other, concurred in every
measure which they knew to be pleasing to the sove-
reign ; and the consent of the other members was
obtained by the introduction of a nugatory exception
in favour of statutes then in being, and saving the
inheritances, offices, liberties, goods, chattels, and lives
of the king's subjects.1 At the same time Henry
celebrated his triumph over the court of Rome by a
naval exhibition on the Thames. Two gallies, deco-
rated with the royal, the other with the pontifical
arms, met on the river ; a stubborn conflict ensued ; at
length the royalists boarded their antagonist ; and the
figures of the pope and the different cardinals were
successively thrown into the water, amidst the ac-
clamations of the king, of his court, and of the
citizens.2
" take upon him to have his will and pleasure regarded for a law ;
" and thereupon I was called for at Hampton Court. And as he was
' very stout, Come on, my lord of Winchester, quoth he, answer the
king here, but speak plainly and directly, and shrink not, man.
Is not that, quoth he, that pleaseth the king, a law ? Have ye not
that in the civil laws, quod principi placuit, &c. ? I stood still,
and wondered in my mind to what conclusion this would tend.
The king saw me musing, and with gentle earnestness said, Answer
him whether it be so or no. I would not answer the Lord Crom-
well, but delivered my speech to the king, and told him, that I
had read of kings that had their will always received for law ; but
that the form of his reign to make the law his will was more sure
and quiet : and by this form of government ye be established, quoth
I, and it is agreeable with the nature of your people. If you begin
a new manner of policy, how it may frame no man can tell. The
king turned his back, and left the matter." — Foxe, ii. 65.
1 Stat. of Realm, iii. 726. Marillac, in his account of it to the
king of France, says, Laquelle chose, Sire, a este accorde avec grandes
difficultez, qui orit este debattues long terns en leurs assemblies, et
avec peu de contentment, par ce qu'on voit de ceux qui y ont prete
leur consentment. — Apud le Grand, ii. 206.
2 It was, says Marillac, un jeu de pauvre grace, et de moindre
invention. — Ibid. 205.
ANNE OF CLEVES. 135
Notwithstanding these appearances, Cromwell, when CHAP.
he considered his real situation, discovered abundant A. 0.1539.
cause for alarm. Henry in public had affected to
treat him always with neglect, sometimes with insult ;
but these affronts he had borne with patience, knowing
that they proceeded not from displeasure on the part
of the king, but from unwillingness to have it thought
that he stood in need of the services of the minister.
Now, however, it was plain that the ancient doctrines
had assumed a decided ascendancy in the royal mind ;
the statute of the Six Articles had been enacted con-
trary to his wish, and, as far as he dared disclose him-
self, contrary to his advice ; his friends were disgraced
and dispirited ; his enemies active in pursuit of the
king's favour ; and it was useless for him to seek sup-
port from the ancient nobility, who had long borne his
superior elevation with real though dissembled im-
patience. In these circumstances, he turned his eyes
towards the Lutheran princes of Germany, with whom
he had long maintained a friendly though clandestine
correspondence; but the plan which he adopted to
retrieve his credit served only, from the capricious
disposition of the king, to accelerate his downfal.
Henry had been a widower more than two years.
In 1537, Jane Seymour, his third queen, bore him Oct. 12.
a male child, afterwards Edward VI., and in less than
a fortnight expired. His grief for her loss, if he were Oct. 24.
capable of feeling such grief, seemed to be absorbed
in joy for the birth of a son;1 and in the very next
1 To Francis, who had congratulated him on the birth of a son, he
announced her death in the following unfeeling manner : " II a
" semble bon a la divine providence, de mesler cette ma grande joye
" avec 1'amaritude du trespas de celle qui m'avoit apporte ce bon-
" heur. De la main de votre bon frere, Henry." — Le Grand, ii.
185.
136 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, month he solicited the hand of Marie, the duchess
A.D. 1539. dowager of Longueville. He was enamoured with
her gentleness, her mental acquirements, and, above all,
with the largeness of her person ; not that he had seen
her himself, but that he gave full credit to a confi-
dential agent, who had artfully insinuated himself into
her family. Marie, however, preferred a more youth-
ful lover, James, king of Scotland ; but Henry would
admit of no refusal, nor believe the king of France,
who assured him that she was contracted to James.
During five months he persecuted her with his suit,
an(^ wnen s^e sa^e^ fr°m ^ne shores of France to join
her husband, betrayed his chagrin by refusing the
permission which she asked, to land at Dover, and
travel through his dominions. A daughter of Ven-
dome was then offered ; but Henry deemed it beneath
him to take for a wife a woman who had been pre-
viously rejected by his nephew of Scotland ; and he
was prevented from marrying one of the two sisters
of Marie, because Francis would not gratify his caprice
by exhibiting them before him at Calais, and allowing
him to make his choice.1 These attempts of the
English king to procure a wife from France alarmed
the jealousy of the emperor, who, to divert him from
this purpose, proposed to him to marry Christina, relict
of Sforza, late duke of Milan, and to give his daughter
Mary to Don Louis, infant of Portugal. The sug-
gestion was received with pleasure. Ambassadors
September. nastened to Spain, but could not prevail on Charles
to settle Milan on the infant, a condition required
by Henry. Other ambassadors repaired to the Low
1 Disant qu'il semble qu'on veuille par dela faire des femmes
comme de leurs guilledins, qui est en assembler une bonne quantite
et les faire trotter pour prendre celuy qui ira le plus a Taise. —
Lettre a M. de Castillon, apud Le Grand, iii. 638.
THE KING'S DISAPPOINTMENT. 1*37
Countries, where Christina resided with Anne, queen CHAP.
of Hungary, and regent of the Netherlands. The A.D. 1533.
duchess was "a goodly personage, of stature higher than Q^Q.
" either of the envoys, a very good woman's face, and
" competently fayre, very well favored, and a lyttle
" browne." But the regent was so slow and dilatory
in the negotiation, that Henry put an end to it ab-
ruptly, because he suspected the offer to have been a
mere feint ; and aware, " that time slippeth and flyeth
" marvellously away," he would not defeat his object
of procuring, if possible, " more increase of issue to the
" assurance of his succession."1 Under these repeated
disappointments, he was the more ready to listen to
the suggestions of Cromwell, who proposed to him
Anne, sister of William, the reigning duke of Cleves,
and one of the Protestant princes of Germany. The
English envoys reported to the king that Anne was
both tall and portly, qualifications which he deemed
essential in his wife ; of her beauty he was satisfied by
a flattering portrait from the pencil of Hans Holbein ;2 1539.
and his assent to their union was readily obtained by a
splendid embassy from the German princes. On the
day on which Anne was expected to land at Dover, Dec. 31.
the king rode in disguise to meet her at Rochester,
that he might steal a first glance, and, as he expressed
it, " might nourish love." His disappointment was
evident. She was indeed tall and large as his heart 1540
could wish ; but her features, though regular, were Jan- l-
coarse, her manners ungraceful, her figure ill-propor-
tioned. He shrunk back, and took time to compose
himself before he was announced. As she bent her
1 Chron. Catal. 204—212.
2 He painted both Anne and her sister Emily, that the king might
make his choice. — Herb. 221. Ellis, ii. 122.
138 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, knee, he raised her up, and saluted her ; but he could
A.D. 1*540. not prevail upon himself to converse with her, or to
deliver the presents which he had brought for her 5
and after a few minutes, retiring to his chamber, sent
for the lords who had accompanied her from Dover.1
The next morning he hastened back to Greenwich ; a
council was summoned ; and Cromwell received orders
to devise some expedient to interrupt the marriage.
Two days passed in fruitless consultation ; Anne was
required to swear that she was not pre-engaged to any
other person ; her conductors were subjected to re-
peated interrogatories ; and the king at length, unpro-
vided with any reasonable excuse, and afraid of adding
the German princes to his other enemies, after the
passionate exclamation, " Is there no other remedy,
" but that I must needs against my will put my neck
" into the noose ? " was persuaded by Cromwell to
submit to the ceremony. They cohabited for some
June 6. months ; but Anne had none of those arts or qualifica-
tions which might have subdued the antipathy of her
husband. He spoke only English or French ; she
knew no other language than German. He was passion-
ately fond of music ; she could neither play nor sing.
He wished his consort to excel in the different amuse-
ments of his court ; she possessed no other acquire-
ments than to read, and write, and sew with her
needle. His aversion increased ; he found fault with
her person ; persuaded himself that she was of a
perverse and sullen disposition ; and openly lamented
1 " He was marvaillously astonied and abashed.'* He sent the
presents the next morning, viz. a partlet, sable skins to wear round
the neck, and a muffley furred, with as cold a message as might be.
— Strype, i. 307. On the ring which he gave her was inscribed the
following allusion to the fate of Anne Boleyn : " God send me well
" to kepe."— Loseley MSS.
CROMWELL'S SPEECH. 139
his fate in being yoked for life with so disagreeable a CHAP.
companion.1 A. D. 1540.
This unfortunate marriage had already shaken the
credit of Cromwell ; his fall was hastened by a theolo-
gical quarrel between Dr. Barnes, one of his depen- Feb. 14.
dants, and Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. In a
sermon at St. Paul's Cross, the prelate had severely
censured the presumption of those preachers who, in
opposition to the established creed, inculcated the
Lutheran tenet of justification by faith without works.
A fortnight later, Dr. Barnes, an ardent admirer of Feb. 28.
Luther, boldly defended the condemned doctrine from
the same pulpit, and indulged in a scurrilous invective
against the bishop. The king summoned the preacher
before himself and a commission of divines, discussed
with him several points of controverted doctrine, pre-
vailed on him to sign a recantation, and enjoined him
to preach on the same subject a second time on the
first Sunday after Easter. Barnes affected to obey.
He read his recantation before the audience, publicly April 4.
asked pardon of Gardiner, and then, proceeding with
his sermon, maintained in still stronger terms the very
doctrine which he had recanted. Irritated by this
insult, the king committed him to the Tower, with
Garret and Jerome, two preachers who, placed in
similar circumstances, had thought proper to follow
his example.2
It was generally believed that Henry's resentment
against Barnes would beget suspicions of the orthodoxy
of the minister, by whom Barnes had hitherto been
1 See the depositions of the king and Cromwell in Burnet, i. Rec.
193 — 197 ; and of several lords in Strype, i. Rec. 307 — 315 ; and
the letter of Wotton, Ellis, ii. 122.
2 Foxe, ii. 441—443. Hall, 241. Burnet, i. 296. Rec. iii.
No. xxii.
140 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, protected ; and so confidently did Cromwell's enemies
A Dn{540> anticipate his disgrace, that his two principal offices,
those of vicar-general and keeper of the privy seal,
were already, according to report, shared between
Tunstall, bishop of Durham, and Clarke, bishop of
Bath, prelates of the old learning, who had lately been
introduced into the council.1 The king, however,
subdued or dissembled his suspicions ; and, to the
surprise of the public, Cromwell, at the opening of
April 12. parliament, took his usual seat in the house of Lords,
and delivered a royal message. It was, he said, with
sorrow and displeasure that his majesty beheld the
religious dissensions which divided the nation ; that on
the one hand presumption and liberty of the flesh, on
the other attachment to ancient errors and superstitions,
had generated two factions, which reciprocally branded
each other with the opprobrious names of papists and
heretics; that both abused the indulgence which of
his great goodness the king had granted them, of read-
ing the Scriptures in their native tongue, these to in-
troduce error, those to uphold superstition ; and that
to remedy such evils, his majesty had appointed two
committees of prelates and doctors, one to set forth a
pure and sincere declaration of doctrine, the other to
determine what ceremonies ought to be retained, what
to be abolished ; had strictly commanded the officers
of the crown, with the judges and magistrates, to
put in execution the laws already made respecting
religion ; and now required the aid of the two houses
to enact penalties against those who should treat with
irreverence, or explain rashly and erroneously, the
holy Scriptures.2
The vicar-general now seemed to monopolize the
1 Le Grand, i. 285. 2 Journals, 129.
ARREST OF CROMWELL. 141
royal favour. He had obtained a grant of thirty CHAP.
manors belonging to suppressed monasteries ; the title .\.D. 1*540.
of earl of Essex was revived in his favour;1 and the A~J~^7>
office of lord chamberlain was added to his other ap-
pointments. He continued, as usual, to conduct in
parliament the business of the crown. He introduced APril J8.
two bills, vesting the property of the Knights Hos-
pitallers in the king, and settling a competent jointure
on the queen ; and he procured from the laity the May 29.
almost unprecedented subsidy of four tenths and fif-
teenths, besides ten per cent, on their income from
lands, and five per cent, on their goods ; and from
the clergy a grant of two tenths, and twenty per cent,
on their incomes for two years.2 So far indeed was
he from apprehending the fate which awaited him,
that he committed to the Tower the bishop of Chi-
chester and Dr. Wilson, on a charge of having relieved
prisoners confined for refusing the oath of supremacy,
and threatened with the royal displeasure his chief
opponents, the duke of Norfolk, and the bishops of
Durham, Winchester, and Bath.3
But Henry in the meantime had ascertained that
Barnes was the confidential agent of Cromwell ; that
he had been employed in secret missions to Germany ;
and that he had been the real negotiator of the late
marriage with Anne of Cleves. Hence the king easily
persuaded himself that the insolence of the agent
arose from confidence in the protection of the patron ;
that his vicar-general, instead of watching over the
1 The last earl, Henry Bourchier, had been killed by a fall from
his horse, March 12, 1540.-— Stowe, 579.
2 Wilk. Con. 850, 863. Stat. of Realm, iii. 812.
3 Le Grand, i. 286. See also a letter from the bishop of Chi-
chester in the Tower to Cranmer, dated June 7, in Strype, i. Rec.
257.
142 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, purity of the faith, had been the fautor of heretics;
L.i)Hi540. and that his own domestic happiness had been sacri-
— ficed by his minister to the interests of a religious
faction. He now recollected that when he proposed
to send Anne back to her brother, he had been dis-
suaded by Cromwell; and he, moreover, concluded, from
the sudden change in her behaviour, that his intention
of procuring a divorce had been betrayed to her by
the same minister.1 The earl seems to have had no
June 10. suspicion of his approaching fate. On the morning of
the tenth of June he attended in his place in the
house of Lords ; at three the same afternoon he was
arrested at the council-board on a charge of high
treason.2 The offences of which he was afterwards
accused may be ranged under three heads. As min-
ister, it was said, that he had received bribes, and
encroached on the royal authority by issuing commis-
sions, discharging prisoners, pardoning convicts, and
granting licenses for the exportation of prohibited
merchandise ; as vicar-general, he was charged with
having betrayed his duty by not only holding heretical
opinions himself, but also by protecting heretical
preachers, and promoting the circulation of heretical
books ; and lastly, to fix on him the guilt of treason,
it was alleged, that on one particular occasion he had
expressed a resolution to fight against the king, if it
were necessary, in support of his religious opinions.3
1 Cromwell acknowledged that he had advised the change in her
conduct ; but denied that he had done so after the king had confided
his secret to him. — See his letter in Burnet, iii. Rec. 161.
2 Journals, 143.
3 Burnet, Rec. iii. No. 16. Mount was instructed to inform the
German princes that Cromwell had threatened to strike a dagger
into the heart of the man who should oppose the Reformation ;
which was interpreted to mean the king. — Burnet, iii. 162.
KING DIVORCED FROM ANNE. 143
He was confronted, at his request, with his accusers in CHAP.
presence of the royal commissioners, but was refused A. D. 1510.
the benefit of a public trial before his peers.1 The
court preferred to proceed against him by bill of
attainder ; a most iniquitous measure, but of which he
had no right to complain, as he had been the first to
employ it against others. Cranmer alone ventured to
interpose in his behalf; but his letter to the king was
penned with his usual timidity and caution, rather
enumerating the past services of Cromwell, than at-
tempting to vindicate him from the charge on which
he had been arrested.2 Five days later the archbishop June 19-
deemed it prudent to go along with the stream, and
on the second and third readings gave his vote in
favour of the attainder. The bill passed through the
house of Lords, and probably through the house of
Commons, without a dissentient voices
The disgrace of Cromwell was quickly followed by
the divorce of the queen. On the first communication
of Henry's intention she fainted to the ground; but
recovering herself, was persuaded by degrees to submit
the question to the decision of the clergy, and to be
satisfied with the new title of the king's adopted sister.
In the council several consultations were held, and
different resolutions were taken. At first great re-
liance had been placed on a precontract of marriage
1 See the duke of Norfolk's letter, Burnet, iii. Records, 74. It is
remarkable that Cromwell was the first who perished in consequence
of his own practice. He had first introduced condemnation by act
of attainder, without trial, in the case of the countess of Salisbury ;
but she was still alive, and was not executed till the year after the
execution of Cromwell. In the same letter the duke tells us that
Catherine Howard, though his niece, was his great enemy ; an asser-
tion which does not confirm the supposition of Hume, that he em-
ployed her to ruin Cromwell by her insinuations to Henry.
2 Herbert, 519.
3 Journals, 146. The act is published by Burnet, i. Rec. iii. xvi.
144 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, between the princess and the marquess of Lorraine ;
A.DHi540. but when it was considered that both parties were
children at the time, and had never since ratified the
act of their parents, this plea was abandoned ; and it
was determined to rest the king's case on the misre-
presentation which had been made to him as to her
person, and the want of consent on his part both at
the celebration, and ever since the celebration of the
July 6. marriage.1 In pursuance of this plan the chancellor,
the archbishop, and four other peers successively ad-
dressed the house of Lords. It had been their lot,
they said, to be instrumental in negotiating the late
marriage ; it was now their duty to state that from
more recent information they doubted its validity. In
such a case, where the succession to the crown was
concerned, too great security could not be obtained ;
wherefore they moved that all the particulars should,
with the royal permission, be laid before the clergy in
convocation, and their decision as to the validity or
invalidity of the marriage should be required. A de-
putation was next requested and obtained from the
lower house ; and the temporal lords and commoners
proceeding to the palace, humbly solicited the king's
permission to submit to his consideration a subject of
great delicacy and importance. Henry assented, being
aware that they would propose to him nothing which
was unreasonable or unjust. Having heard their
petition from the mouth of the chancellor, he replied,
that it was indeed an important question ; but that he
could refuse nothing to the estates of the realm ; that
the clergy were learned and pious, and would, he had
1 Dr. Clarke had been sent to open the business to the duke of
Cleves ; and on his journey received no fewer than three sets of in-
structions, each differing from the other. — See Herbert, 520, 521.
SUBMISSION OF ANNE. 145
no doubt, come to an upright decision ; and that, as CHAP.
far as regarded himself, he was ready to answer any A.D. 1540.
question which might be put to him, for he had no
other object in view but the glory of God, the welfare
of the realm, and the triumph of truth.1
By the convocation the inquiry was referred to a July 7.
committee, consisting of the two archbishops, of four
bishops, and eight divines, who either found the ma-
terials ready to their hands, or were urged to ex-
traordinary diligence by the known wish of the
monarch. To receive depositions,2 to examine wit-
nesses, to discuss the merits of the case, to form their
report, and to obtain the approbation of the whole
body, was the work of but two short days. Not July 9.
a voice was heard in favour of the marriage; it
was unanimously pronounced void on the following
grounds : —
1. There was no certainty that the alleged pre-
contract between Anne and the marquess of Lorraine
had been revoked in due form of law ; and in con-
sequence the validity of her subsequent marriage with
Henry was, and the legitimacy of her issue by him
would be, doubtful.
2. The king had required that this difficulty should
be removed previously to his marriage. It might be
considered as an indispensable condition; whence it
was inferred that as the condition had failed, the
marriage, which depended on that condition, must be
void.
1 Lords' Journals, p. 153. It is amusing that the whole of this
farce is described, just as it was afterwards acted, in a letter from
the council to Clarke, dated July 3, three days before it took place.
—Herb. 521.
2 They have been published partly by Burnet, i. Rec. 193, 197,
and partly by Strype, i. Rec. 307—315.
VOL. V. L
146 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. 3. It was contended that, if Henry had selected
A.D^MO. Anne for his wife, he had been deceived by exagge-
rated accounts of her beauty ; if he had solemnized his
nuptials with her, he had been compelled by reasons
of state ; but he had never given that real consent
which was necessary to impart force to the contract,
either by any internal act of the will during the cere-
mony, or after the ceremony by the consummation of
the marriage. It is not possible that such arguments
could satisfy the reason of the members. From the
benefit of the two first Henry had excluded himself
by his own act in proceeding to the celebration of the
ceremony ; and the last, were it admitted in its full
extent, would at once deprive of force every treaty
between sovereigns. But the clergy in convocation,
like the lords and commons in parliament, were the
obsequious slaves of their master. The first decided
July is. in obedience to his will ; the second passed an act
confirming that decision ; and then assimilating the
marriage of Henry with Anne to his former marriages
with his first and second queens, they subjected to the
penalties of treason every man who should by writing,
imprinting, or any exterior act, word or deed, directly
or indirectly, accept, believe, or judge, that it was law-
ful and valid.1 The German princess — she had neither
friend nor adviser — submitted without complaint to
her lot. By Henry's command she subscribed a letter
to him, in which she was made to admit the non-con-
, summation of the marriage, and to acquiesce in the
judgment of the convocation. But the letter was
written in English ; and it was possible that subse-
quently, as Henry expressed it, " she might play the
" woman," revoking her assent, and pleading in justi-
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 850—855. Stat. of Realm, iii. 781.
DOCTRINE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. 147
fication her ignorance of the language. She was, CHAP.
therefore, assailed with presents from the king, and A.D. 1540.
with advice from his commissioners ; a version of her
former letter in German, and a letter to her brother
written in the same language, and containing the same
admissions, were laid before her ; and she was induced
to copy both with her own hand, and to forward them Jul> 1(5.
to those to whom they were addressed.1 He then de-
manded back the ring which he had given to her at
their marriage, and on the receipt of it professed him-
self satisfied. They now called each other brother and
sister, and a yearly income of three thousand pounds,
with the palace of Richmond for her residence, amply
indemnified the degraded queen for the loss of a
capricious and tyrannical husband.2
The session was now hastening to a close, and little
progress had been made by the committees, appointed
at the recommendation of Cromwell, to frame a de-
claration of doctrine for the belief, and an order of
ceremonies for the worship, of the English church.
To give the authority of parliament to their subse-
quent labours, it was enacted that such ordinances as
they or the whole clergy of England should afterwards
publish with the advice and approbation of the king,
should be fully believed, obeyed, and performed, under
the penalties to be therein expressed. At the same
1 State Pap. i. 635 — 646. Henry attached great importance to
the German letters. " Oneless," he writes to the duke of Suffolk,
' these letters be obteyned, all shall remayn uncerteyn, upon a
' woman's promise that she wilbe no woman ; the accomplissement
' whereof in her behalf is as difficile in the refrayning of a woman's
' will upon occasion, as in chaunging of her womanyssh nature,
' which is impossible." — Ibid. 640.
2 Rym. xiv. 710. Her income was made to depend on her re-
maining within the realm. — Ibid. She died at Chelsea, July 16,
1557. See her will, in which she professes to die a Catholic, in
Excerp. Hist. 295.
L2
148 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, time the rigour of the statute of the Six Articles was
.D^IMO. mitigated in that clause which regarded the incon-
tinence of priests or nuns ; and forfeiture of lands
and goods was substituted in place of the penalty of
death.1
From the moment of his arrest, Cromwell had
laboured without ceasing to save his life. He denied
with the strongest asseverations that he was a traitor,
or a sacramentary, or a heretic ; he admitted that he
had occasionally transgressed the limits of his au-
thority, but pleaded in excuse the number of the
offices which he held, and the impropriety of troubling
at every moment the royal ear ; he descended with
seeming cheerfulness to every submission, every dis-
closure which was required of him ; he painted in
striking colours his forlorn and miserable condition,
and solicited for mercy in terms the most pathetic,
and perhaps more abject than became his character.2
Unfortunately, among his papers had been found his
clandestine correspondence with the princes of Ger-
juiy 24. many ;3 the king would listen to no plea in favour of
a man who had betrayed his confidence to strangers ;
and on the fourth day after the bill of attainder had
July 28. received the royal assent he was led to execution. On
the scaffold he asked pardon of his sovereign, and
admitted that he had been seduced by the spirit of
error ; but protested that he had returned to the truth,
and should die in the profession of the Catholic faith,
1 St. 32 Henry VIII. 10, 26.
2 See his letters to Henry, Burnet, i. Rec. 193; iii. Rec. 161.
The reader will be astonished at the number of oaths, &c. with
which he maintains his innocence. " May God confound him ; may
" the vengeance of God light upon him ; may all the devils in hell
" confound him," and similar imprecations continually recur.
3 Marillac, apud le Grand, ii. 215.
OTHER EXECUTIONS. 149
meaning probably that faith which was now established CHAP.
by law.1 If a tear were shed at his death, it was in A.D. IMO.
secret, and by the preachers who had been sheltered
under his protection. The nobility rejoiced to be
freed from the control of a man, who by cunning and
servility had raised himself from the shop of a fuller to
the highest seat in the house of Lords ; the friends of
the church congratulated themselves on the fall of its
most dangerous enemy ; and the whole nation con-
sidered his blood as an atonement for the late enor-
mous and impolitic tax, imposed at a time when the
king had incurred no extraordinary expense, and when
the treasury was filled, or supposed to be filled, with
the spoils of the suppressed monasteries.
Two days later, the citizens were summoned to be-
hold an execution of a more singular description. By
law the Catholic and the Protestant were now placed
on an equal footing in respect to capital punishment.
If to admit the papal supremacy was treason, to reject
the papal creed was heresy. The one could be ex-
piated only by the halter and the knife ; the other led
the offender to the stake and the fagot. It was in
vain that the German reformers pleaded in favour of
their English brethren ; and that Melancthon, in a
long letter, presumed to question the royal infallibility.
The king continued to hold with a steady hand the
balance between the two parties. During the parlia-
ment, Powel, Abel, and Featherstone, had been at-
1 Hall, 242. Stowe, 580. His speech, like others on similar
occasions, left his guilt or innocence as problematical as before. He
came to die, not to clear himself. He thanked God for*havin
brought him to that death for his offences ; for he had always
a sinner. He had offended his prince, for which he asked forgj
ness, and God, of whom he prayed all present to ask forgivenes
him.
150 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, tainted for denying the supremacy; Barnes, Garret,
A. D. 1540. and Jerome, for maintaining heterodox opinions.1 They
Juty~so. were now coupled, Catholic and Protestant, on the
same hurdles ; drawn together from the Tower to
Smithfield, and while the former were hanged and
quartered as traitors, the latter were consumed in the
flames as heretics. Still, if we consider the persecut-
ing policy of the age, and the sanguinary temper of
the king, we shall perhaps find that from this period
fewer persons suffered than might have been expected.
The commissions, indeed, which Cromwell had men-
tioned at the opening of parliament, were issued, in-
quests were taken, and informations laid ; but terror
had taught men to suppress their real sentiments ;
and of those whose imprudence brought them under
suspicion, the least guilty were dismissed on their
recognizances for each other; and most of the rest
embraced the benefit of abjuration granted by the
law.2
Henry did not long remain a widower after his
divorce from Anne of Cleves. The Lords humbly
besought him, as he tendered the welfare of his
people, to venture on a fifth marriage, in the hope
that God would bless him with more numerous issue ;
and within a month Catherine, daughter to the late
August s. Lord Edmund Howard, and niece to the duke of
1 These three did not maintain any doctrines against the six
articles, but (if we may judge from their recantation), that the man
who has been justified, cannot fall from grace ; that God is the
author of sin, that it is not necessary to pardon offences ; that good
works are not profitable to salvation, and that the laws are not to be
obeyed for conscience' sake. — See the recantation, Burnet, i. Rec. iii.
No. xxii.
4 During the remainder of Henry's reign, Foxe reckons ten
Protestants, Dodd fourteen Catholics, who suffered, after those
mentioned above.
MARRIES CATHERINE HOWARD. 151
Norfolk, appeared at court with the title of queen. CHAP.
Catherine had been educated under the care of the A.D. 1540.
dowager duchess of Norfolk, and first attracted the
royal notice at a dinner given by the bishop of Win-
chester. She possessed nothing of that port and
dignity which Henry had hitherto required. But her
figure, though small, was regular; her manner easy
and graceful, and " by a notable appearance of honour,
** cleanness, and maidenly behaviour she won the king's
" heart."1 For more than twelve months he lavished
on her tokens of his affection ; but the events, to
which she owed her elevation, had rendered the re-
formers her enemies, and a discovery, which they
made during her absence with the king in his progress
as far as York, enabled them to recover their former
ascendancy, and deprived the young queen of her
influence and her life.2
A female, who had been one of her companions
under her grandmother's roof, but was now married in
Essex, had stated to Lascelles, her brother, that to her
knowledge, Catherine had admitted to her bed, " on
" an hundred nights*" a gentleman of the name of Dere-
ham, at that time page to the duchess. Lascelles — at
whose instigation, or through what motive is un-
known— carried this most extraordinary tale to Arch-
bishop Cranmer. Cranmer consulted his friends the
chancellor and the lord Hertford ; and all three
determined to secure the person of Lascelles, and
1 Letter of Council in Herb. 532. She is called parvissima puella
(Burnet, iii. 147). What then was the age of this very little girl ?
2 I am aware that there is no direct evidence of any plot ; but, if
it be considered with whom the following inquiry originated, and with
what art it was conducted, it is difficult to resist the suspicion of a
political intrigue, having for its object to effect the downfal of the
dominant party, by procuring, not indeed the death, but the divorce
of the queen.
152 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, to keep the matter secret till the return of the royal
A.D. IMG. party. Henry and Catherine reached Hampton Court
Oc~29. against the feast of All Saints ; on that day " the king
NOV. i. « receive(j his maker, and gave him most hearty thanks
" for the good life he led and trusted to lead with his
NOV. 2. "wife;"1 on the next, whilst he was at mass, the
archbishop delivered into his hands a paper containing
the information obtained in his absence. He read it
with feelings of pain and distrust ; an inquiry into its
truth or falsehood was immediately ordered ; first
Lascelles was examined ; then his sister in the country ;
next Dereham himself; and afterwards several other
persons. All this while Catherine was kept in igno-
rance of the danger which threatened her; but one
NOV. 10. morning the king left the court ; and the council,
waiting on her in a body, informed her of the charge
which had been made against her. She denied it in
their presence with loud protestations of innocence ;
but on their departure fell into fits, and appeared
frantic through grief and terror. To soothe her mind,
the archbishop brought her an assurance of mercy from
Henry ; and, repeating his visit in the evening, when
she was more tranquil, artfully drew from her a pro-
mise to reply to his questions "faithfully and truly,
" as she would answer at the day of judgment, and by
" the promise which she made at her baptism, and by
" the sacrament which she received on All Hallows
" day last past." Under this solemn adjuration she
admitted that, notwithstanding the precautions taken
by the duchess, Dereham had been in the habit of
coming at night or early in the morning to the apart-
ment allotted to the females ; that he brought with him
wine and fruit for their entertainment ; and he often
1 Letter of Council, Herb. 532.
DEREHAM AND CULPEPPER. 153
behaved with great freedom and rudeness, and that on CHAP.
three occasions he had offered some violence to her A.D. 1540.
person. This was the result of two examinations, in N^712.
which Cranmer laboured to procure evidence of a pre-
contract between Catherine and Dereham. Had he
succeeded, she might have saved her life by submit-
ting to a divorce ; but the unfortunate queen deprived
herself of this benefit by constantly maintaining that
no promise had been made, and that " al that Derame
" dyd unto her, was of his importune forcement and in
" a maner violence, rather than of her fre consent and
« wil."1
The following day the judges and counsellors as-
sembled in the Star-chamber, where the chancellor
announced to them the presumed guilt of the queen,
read in support of the charge select passages from the
evidence already procured, and intimated, in addition,
that more important disclosures were daily expected.*
At Hampton Court the same course was followed in
the presence of all persons of " gentle birth," male and
female, who had been retained in her service. Cathe-
rine herself was removed to Sion House, where two Nov. 13.
apartments were reserved exclusively for her accom-
modation, and orders were given that she should be
treated with the respect due to her rank. In anticipa-
tion of her attainder, the king had already taken pos-
session of all her personal property ; but he was
graciously pleased to allow her six changes of apparel,
1 See the archbishop's letter to the king in State Pap. 1. 691 ;
her confession in Burnet, App. Ixxi., and the letter in Herb. 532.
2 He suppressed all the passages which might be construed in
favour of pre-contract, and that because " they might serve for her
" defence." — State Pap. 692, 694. It was now the king's intention
to proceed against her for adultery, which was incompatible with a
pre-contract.
154 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, and six French hoods with edgings of goldsmiths'
A.D. 1540. work, but without pearl or diamond.1
If there was no pre-contract between Catherine and
Dereham, nothing but her death could dissolve the
marriage between her and the king. Hence it became
necessary to prove her guilty of some capital offence ;
and with this view a rigorous inquiry was set on foot
respecting her whole conduct since she became queen.
It was now discovered that not only had she admitted
Dereham to her presence, but had employed him to
perform for her the office of secretary ; and that at
Lincoln, during the progress, she had allowed Cul-
pepper, a maternal relation and gentleman of the
privy chamber, to remain in company with her and
Lady Rochford from eleven at night till two in the
morning. The judges were consulted, who replied,
that considering the persons implicated, these facts, if
proved, formed a satisfactory presumption that adultery
NOV. so. had been committed. On this and no better proof,
the two unfortunate gentlemen, were tried, and found
guilty of high treason. Their lives were spared for
ten days, with the hope of extorting from them addi-
tional information respecting the guilt of the queen.
But they gave none, probably had none to give.
Dec. 10. Dereham was hanged and quartered ; Culpepper, out
of regard to his family, was beheaded.2
But these were not the only victims. The king's
resentment was extended to all those individuals who
1 State Papers, 695.
2 Ibid. 701. It has been sometimes said that both confessed the
adultery. But of that there is no proof; and it cannot be doubted
that, if it were so, their confession would have been distinctly stated
in the bill of attainder, as the best evidence of their crime. That
it is false, as far as regards Dereham, will be plain from the next
note.
CHARGES AGAINST CATHERINE. 155
had been, or might have been, privy to the intimacy CHAP.
between Catherine and Dereham in the house of the A.D. 1540.
duchess. He argued that, contrary to their duty, they
had allowed their sovereign to marry a woman guilty
of incontinence ; they had thus exposed his honour to
disgrace, his life to danger from the intercourse which
might afterwards take place between her and her
paramour ; and had therefore, by their silence, com-
mitted an offence amounting at least to misprision of
treason. On this charge the duchess herself, with
her daughter the countess of Bridgewater,1 the lord Dec. 9, 10,
William Howard and his wife, and nine other persons
of inferior rank, in the service of the duchess, were
committed to the Tower ; where the royal commis-
sioners laboured by frequent and separate examina-
tions, by menaces and persuasion, and, in one instance
at least, by the application of torture, to draw from
them the admission that they had been privy to
Catherine's incontinence themselves, and the charge
of such privity in their companions. The duchess and
her daughter, who persisted in the denial of any know-
ledge or even suspicion of misconduct in their young
relative, were reserved, in punishment of their ob-
stinacy, to be dealt with by the justice of parliament ;
the commoners were brought to trial on the same day ; Dec. 22.
among whom all the females confessed the offence
1 The duchess had taken some papers out of Dereham's trunks in
her house. Henry was so irritated, that he charged her with trea-
son : the judges dissented : he replied that there was as much reason
to convict her of treason as there had been to convict Dereham.
' They cannot say that they have any learning to maynteign that
' they have a better ground to make Deram's case treason, and to
* presume that his comyng agayn to the queene's servyce was to an
' ill intent of the renovacion of his former noughtie lif, then they
' have in this case to presume that the brekyng of the coffres was to
' th'intent to conceile letters of treason." — State Pap. 700.
156 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. wjth many tears and supplications for mercy ; the lord
A.D. 1540. William boldly put himself on his country, but was
induced by the court to withdraw his plea before the
conclusion ; his fellow-prisoner, Damport, refusing to
follow his example, was tried and found guilty. All
were condemned to forfeiture and perpetual imprison-
ment.1
For some time we have lost sight of Catherine;
at the beginning of the year we meet with her again
at Sion House, with a parliament sitting, and a sweep-
jan?2i. mo kill of attainder before it, including both the queen
and all her companions in misfortune. If we consider
that the attainder against her could be sustained only
on the ground of adultery, we shall not be surprised
that the Lords sought to learn from her what she could
say to that particular charge. For this purpose they
Jan. 28. appointed a committee to wait on her with Henry's
permission, and to exhort her to speak the truth with-
out fear or reservation ; to remember that the king
was merciful, as the laws were just ; and to be per-
suaded that the establishment of her innocence would
1 State Pap. 726. " We have finished our worke this daye moche
" to his majestes honor :" that is, we have procured the conviction of
all the accused. From these letters it appears that the moment an
individual was committed, the king's officers discharged his house-
hold, and seized his clothes, furniture, money, jewels, and cattle, that
they might be secured for the crown in the event of his attainder ;
that no time was lost in bringing him to trial, because, if he died
before conviction, the king would lose the forfeiture; that in the
present case the accused were indicted almost immediately, " that
" the parliament might have better grownde to confyske theyr
" gooddes, if any of them should chawnce before they re atteyndour to
" die " (ibid. 705), and that the proofs brought at the trial consisted
of copies of confessions made by others, and the testimonies of the
commissioners themselves. Thus at the trials of the lord William
and Damport, the witnesses examined were not persons originally
acquainted with the facts, but the master of the Rolls, the attorney
and solicitor general, and three of the king's counsel, who had taken
the examinations.
EXECUTION OF THE QUEEN". 157
afford joy, and that even the knowledge of the truth CHAP.
would afford relief to the mind of her husband. But A D i541
of this the privy council disapproved ; another plan
was proposed ; and after some delay the bill was read Feb. 6.
again, hastened through the two houses, and brought
to the Lords by the chancellor signed by the king, with
the great seal appended to it. Whilst the officer Feb. n.
proceeded to summon the attendance of the Commons,
the duke of Suffolk with some others reported, that
they had waited on the queen, who "acknowledged
" her offence against God, the king, and the nation,"
expressed a hope that her faults might not be visited
on her brothers and family, and begged as a last favour
that she might divide a part of her clothes among her
maids.1 By this time the Commons had arrived, and
the royal assent was immediately read in due form.
The act attainted of treason the queen, Dereham and
Culpepper as her paramours, and Lady Rochford as
aider and abettor ; and of misprision of treason both
all those who had been convicted of concealment in
court, and also the duchess of Norfolk and the countess
of Bridge water, though no legal proceedings whatso-
ever had been taken against them.2
The tragedy was now drawing to a close. Catherine
had already been conducted to the Tower ; two days
1 The reader will observe that in this confession, which is entered
on the Journals (i. 176), there is no direct mention of adultery, the
only treason that Catherine was charged with having committed.
Can we believe that, if she could have been brought to confess it,
Suffolk would not have stated it broadly and unequivocally ? Again,
why was this statement withheld till the house had passed the bill;
and, when it was made, why did not Suffolk wait for the presence of
the Commons ? It is also singular that the statement of the earl of
Southampton, who had accompanied Suffolk to the queen, is omitted.
The clerk has begun the entry with these words, " hoc etiam ad-
" jiciens ;" but, unaccountably, adds nothing.
2 Journals, i. 168, 171, 172, 176. Stat. of Realm, iv. 854.
158 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, after the passing of the act, and six months after her
A. D. i54i. marriage, she was led to execution, together with her
F~W companion, the lady Rochford. They appeared on
the scaffold calm and resigned, bidding the spectators
take notice that they suffered justly for " their offences
" against God from their youth upward, and also
" against the king's royal majesty very dangerously."
The meekness and piety of their demeanour seem to
have deeply interested the only person present, who
has transmitted to us any account of their last mo-
ments. " Theyer sowles," he writes, " I doubt not,
" be with God ; for they made the moost godly and
" Christyan's end that ever was hard tell of, I thinke,
" since the world's creation." '
To attaint without trial had of late become custom-
ary ; but to prosecute and punish for that which had
not been made a criminal offence by any law, was
hitherto unprecedented. To give, therefore, some
countenance to these severities, it was enacted in the
very bill of attainder that every woman, about to be
married to the king or any of his successors, not
being a maid, should disclose her disgrace to him
under the penalty of treason ; that all other persons
1 Otwell Johnson's letter to his brother, in Ellis, ii. 128. In this
confession on the scaffold the queen evades a second time all mention
of the alleged adultery. She employs the very same ambiguous and
unsatisfactory language which Suffolk had employed in the house of
Lords. Could this be accidental? or was not that particular form
enjoined by authority, that she might not seem to impeach *' the
" king's justice ?" On a review of the original letters in the State
Papers, of the act of attainder, and of the proceedings in parliament,
I see no sufficient reason to think her guilty ; and, if she was inno-
cent, so also must have been the lady Rochford. Like her pre-
decessor Anne Boleyn, she fell a victim to the jealousy or resentment
of a despotic husband ; but in one respect she has been more for-
tunate. The preservation of documents respecting her fate enables
us to estimate the value of the proofs brought against her ; our
ignorance of those brought against Anne renders the question of her
guilt or innocence more problematical.
USE OF THE BIBLE RESTRAINED. 159
knowing the fact and not disclosing it, should be CHAP.
subject to the lesser penalty of misprision of treason ; A.D. 1*541,
and that the queen, or wife of the prince, who should
move another person to commit adultery with her, or
the person who should move her to commit adultery
with him, should suffer as a traitor.1
The king's attention was next directed to his duties
as head of the church. He had formerly sanctioned
the publication of an English version of the Bible, and
granted permission to all his subjects to read it at
their leisure ; but it had been represented to him, that
even the authorized version was disfigured by unfaith-
ful renderings, and contaminated with notes calculated
to mislead the ignorant and unwary ; and that the
indiscriminate lecture of the holy volumes had not
only generated a race of teachers who promulgated
doctrines the most strange and contradictory, but had
taught ignorant men to discuss the meaning of the
inspired writings in alehouses and taverns, till, heated
with controversy and liquor, they burst into injurious
language, and provoked each other to breaches of the
peace. To remedy the first of these evils, it was 1543
enacted, that the version of Tyndal should be disused Ma? 12-
altogether as " crafty, false, and untrue," and that the
authorized translation should be published without
note or comment ; to obviate the second, the permis-
sion of reading the Bible to others in public was
revoked ; that of reading it to private families was
confined to persons of the rank of lords or gentlemen ;
and that of reading it personally and in secret was
granted only to men who were householders, and to
females of noble or gentle birth. Any other woman,
or any artificer, apprentice, journeyman, servant, or
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 859.
160 HENRY VIII.
labourer, who should presume to open the sacred
A. D. 1543. volume, was made liable for each offence to one
month's imprisonment.1 The king had already issued
a proclamation forbidding the possession of Tyndal's or
Coverdale's versions, or of any book or manuscript
containing matter contrary to the doctrine set forth by
authority of parliament ; ordering all such books to be
given up before the last day of August, that they
might be burnt by order of the sheriff or the bishop ;
and prohibiting the importation " of any manner of
" Englishe booke concernyng any matter of Christin
" religion " from parts beyond the sea.2
It was not, however, the king's intention to leave
the flock committed to his charge without a competent
supply of spiritual food. The reader will recollect
that Cromwell in 1540 had announced the appoint-
ment of two committees of prelates and theologians
to compose a new code of doctrine and ceremonies.
Certain questions had been proposed to each person
separately, and their answers were collated and laid
before the king.3 To make the new work as perfect
1 St. 34 Hen. VIII. 1. The king at the same time was authorized
to make any alterations in this act which he might deem proper.
2 Chron. Catal. 228. The persons whose writings are condemned
by name are Frythe, Tyndall, Wiclif, Joye, Roye, Basyle, Beale,
Barnes, Coverdale, Tournour, and Tracy. — Ibid.
3 Of these answers some have been published ; others are to be
found in the British Museum (Cleop. E. 5). Those by Cranmer
prove that on every subject he had made a greater proficiency in the
new learning than any of his coadjutors ; but his opinion respecting
orders appears extremely singular, when we recollect that he was
archbishop of Canterbury. The king, he says, must have spiritual
as well as civil officers, and of course has a right to appoint them ;
in the time of the apostles the people appointed, because they had
no Christian king, but occasionally accepted such as might be recom-
mended to them by the apostles, "of their own voluntary will, and
" not for any superiority that the apostles had over them ; " in the
appointment of bishops and priests, as in that of civil officers, some
ceremonies are to be used, " not of necessity, but for good order
THE KING'S BOOK. 161
as was possible, three years were employed ; it was at CHAP.
last published with the title of " A necessary Doctrine A.D. 1543.
" and Erudition for any christned Man :" and, to dis-
tinguish it from " the Institution/' the former expo-
sition of the same subject, it was called the King's
Book. It is more full, but teaches the same doctrines,
with the addition of transubstantiation, and the suf-
ficiency of communion under one kind. The new creed April so.
was approved by both houses of convocation;1 all
writings or books in opposition to it were prohibited ;
and by the archbishop it was ordered to be published
in every diocese, and studied and followed by every
preacher.2 From that period till the accession of the
next sovereign, " the King's Book " continued to be
the only authorized standard of English orthodoxy.
" and seemly fashion : " nevertheless, " he, who is appointed bishop
" or priest, needeth no consecration by the Scripture ; for election or
" appointing thereto is sufficient." Aware, however, that it was
difficult to reconcile these principles with the declaration which he had
signed in the preceding year (Wilk. Con. iii. 832), or with such as
he might be compelled to sign hereafter, he very prudently added,
" this is mine opinion and sentence at this present : which neverthe-
" less I do not temerariously define, but refer the judgment thereof
" to your majesty." — Strype, 79, App. p. 48, 52. Burnet, i. Coll.
p. 201. Collier, ii. Records, xlix.
1 Wilk. Con. iii. 868. As if it were meant to probe to the quick
the sincerity of the prelates suspected of leaning to the new doc-
trines, the chapters on the two obnoxious tenets of transubstantia-
tion, and communion under one kind, were subjected to the revision
and approbation of the archbishop, and the bishops of Westminster,
Salisbury, Rochester, and Hereford, three of whom were reformers.
Per ipsos exposita, examinata, et recognita. — Ibid.
2 Strype, 100.
VOL. V. M
162
CHAPTER III.
STATUTES RESPECTING WALES TRANSACTIONS IN IRELAND NE-
GOTIATION AND WAR WITH SCOTLAND RUPTURE WITH FRANCE
PEACE TAXES DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY CRANMER
GARDINER KING'S LAST ILLNESS EXECUTION OF THE EARL
OF SURREY ATTAINDER OF THE DUKE OF NORFOLK DEATH OF
HENRY HIS CHARACTER SUBSERVIENCY OF THE PARLIAMENT
DOCTRINE OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE — SERVILITY OF RELIGIOUS
PARTIES.
CHAP. THAT the reader might follow without interruption
A.D. 1543. the progress of the Reformation in England, I have
confined his attention in the preceding pages to those
occurrences which had an immediate tendency to
quicken or restrain the spirit of religious innovation.
The present chapter will be devoted to matters of
foreign and domestic policy: 1. The extension of the
English jurisprudence throughout the principality of
Wales : 2. The rebellion and pacification of Ireland :
3. The negotiations and hostilities between the crowns
of England and Scotland : and 4. The war, which
Henry declared against "his good brother, and per-
" petual ally," the king of France. These events will
lead to the close of the king's reign.
1. As Henry was descended from the Tudors, a
Welsh family, he naturally directed his attention to
the native country of his paternal ancestors. It might
be divided into two portions, that which had been
originally conquered by the arms of his predecessors,
and that which had been won by the courage and
WALES AND IRELAND. 163
perseverance of the individuals afterwards called the CHAP.
lords marchers. The former had been apportioned A.D. 1543.
into shires, and was governed by the laws of England ;
the latter comprised one hundred and forty-one districts
or lordships, which had been granted to the first con-
querors, and formed so many distinct and independent
jurisdictions. From them the king's writs, and the
king's officers were excluded. They acknowledged no
other laws or customs than their own. The lords,
like so many counts palatine, had their own courts,
civil and criminal, appointed their own officers and
judges, punished or pardoned offences according to
their pleasure, and received all the emoluments arising
from the administration of justice within their respec-
tive domains. But the great evil was, that this mul-
titude of petty and separate jurisdictions, by holding
out the prospect of impunity, proved an incitement to
crime. The most atrocious offender, if he could only flee
from the scene of his transgression, and purchase the
protection of a neighbouring lord, was sheltered from
the pursuit of justice, and at liberty to enjoy the fruit
of his dishonesty or revenge.
The king, however, put an end to this mischievous
and anomalous state of things. In 1536 it was en-
acted, that the whole of Wales should thenceforth be
united and incorporated with the realm of England ;
that all the natives should enjoy and inherit the same
rights, liberties, and laws, which were enjoyed and
inherited by others the king's subjects ; that the
custom of gavel-kind should cease ; that the several
lordships' marchers should be annexed to the neighbour-
ing counties ; that all judges and justices of the peace
should be appointed by the king's letters patent; that
no lord should have the power to pardon any treason,
M2
164 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, murder, or felony committed within his lordship ; and
A. D. 1543. that the different shires in Wales, with one borough
in each, should return members to parliament. Most
of these regulations were extended to the county
palatine of Chester.1
2. When Henry ascended the throne, the exercise
of the royal authority in Ireland was circumscribed
within very narrow limits, comprising only the princi-
pal seaports, with one-half of the five counties of
Louth, Westmeath, Dublin, Kildare, arid Wexford ;
the rest of the island was unequally divided among
sixty chieftains of Irish, and thirty of English origin,
. who governed the inhabitants of their respective
domains, and made war upon each other, as freely
and as recklessly as if they had been independent
sovereigns.2 To Wolsey it appeared that one great
cause of the decay of the English power was the
jealousy and the dissension between the two rival
families of the Fitzgeralds and the Butlers, under
their respective chiefs, the earls . of Kildare, and of
Ormond or Ossory. That he might extinguish or re-
press these hereditary feuds, he determined to intrust
the government to the more impartial sway of an
2o English nobleman, and the young earl of Kildare, who
April, had succeeded his father, was removed from the office
of lord deputy, to make place for the earl of Surrey,
afterwards duke of Norfolk. During two years the
English governor overawed the turbulence of the Irish
lords by the vigour of his administration, and won the
esteem of the natives by his hospitality and munificence.
1522- But when Henry declared war against France, Surrey
1 Stat. of Realm, 536, 555, 563. In the county of Merioneth
there was no borough which returned a member ; but in that of
Pembroke there were two, Pembroke and Haverfordwest.
2 See a contemporary memoir in St. Pap. ii. 1 — 31.
REBELLION IN KILDARE. 165
was recalled to take the command of the army; and CHAP.
the government of Ireland was conferred on Butler, A.D. 1522.
earl of Ossory. Ossory was soon compelled to resign ^^"25
it to Kildare ; Kildare transmitted it to Sir William
Skeffington, an English knight, deputy to the duke of
Richmond ; and Skeffington, after a short interval,
replaced it in the hands of his immediate predecessor.
Thus Kildare saw himself for the third time invested 1532.
with the chief authority in the island ; but no longer
awed by the frowns of Wolsey, who had fallen into
disgrace, he indulged in such acts of extravagance,
that his very friends attributed them to occasional
derangement of intellect.
The complaints of the Butlers induced Henry to call 1534.
the deputy to London, and to confine him in the
Tower. At his departure the reins of government
dropped into the hands of his son, the lord Thomas,
a young man in his twenty-first year, generous, violent,
and brave.1 His credulity was- deceived by a false
report that his father had been beheaded ; and his
resentment urged him to the fatal resolution of bidding
defiance to his sovereign. At the head of one hundred June n.
and forty followers he presented himself before the
council, resigned the sword of state, the emblem of
his authority, and in a loud tone declared war against
Henry VIII., king of England. Cromer, archbishop
of Armagh, seizing him by the hand, most earnestly
besought him not to plunge himself and his family
into irremediable ruin ; but the voice of the prelate
was drowned in the strains of an Irish minstrel who,
in his native tongue, called on the hero to revenge the
blood of his father ; and the precipitate youth, unfurl-
ing the standard of rebellion, commenced his career
1 Hall, 226. Herbert, 415.
166 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. with laying waste the rich district of Fingal. A gleam
A.D. 1534. of success cast a temporary lustre on his arms ; and
his revenge was gratified with the punishment of the
supposed accuser of his father, Allen, archbishop of
Dublin, who was surprised and put to death by the
July 26. Geraldines. He now sent an agent to the emperor,
to demand assistance against the man who by divorc-
ing Catherine had insulted the honour of the imperial
family ; and wrote to the pope, offering to protect
with his sword the interests of the church against an
apostate prince, and to hold the crown of Ireland of
the Holy See by the payment of a yearly tribute. But
fortune quickly deserted him. He was repulsed from
the walls of Dublin by the valour or despair of the
citizens ; Skeffington, the new deputy, opposed to his
undisciplined followers a numerous body of veterans ;
Oct. 16. his strong castle of Maynouth was carried by assault,
and the lord Leonard Gray hunted the ill-fated in-
surgent into the fastnesses of Munster. Here by the
1535.
March 23. advice of his friends he offered to submit; but his
simplicity was no match for the subtlety of his op-
ponent ; he suffered himself to be deceived by assur-
ances of pardon, dismissed his adherents, accompanied
August 20. Gray to Dublin, and thence sailed to England, that he
might throw himself at the feet of his sovereign.1
Henry was at a loss in what manner to receive him.
Could it be to his honour to allow a subject to live
1 Sponte se in regis potestatem, accepta impunitatis fide dedit
.... fidem publicam qua se tueri jure potest, habet. — Poll ep. i.
481. Skeffington, indeed, says that he had surrendered " without
" condition." — St. Pap. 274. But that he was prevailed upon to
do so by assurances of pardon is plain from the letter of the Irish
council (p. 275), that of Norfolk (277), and the answer of Henry, " if
" he had beene apprended after suche sorte as was convenable to his
" deservyngs, the same had beene much more thankfull, and better
" to our contentacion." — Ibid. 280.
INNOVATIONS IN IRELAND.
167
who had taken up arms against him ? But then, was it CHAP.
for his interest to teach the Irish that no faith was to A.D. 1535,
be put in the promises of his lieutenants ? l He com-
mitted Fitzgerald to the Tower; soon afterwards
Gray, who had succeeded Skeffington, perfidiously
apprehended the five uncles of the captive at a ban-
quet ; and the year following all six, though it is said Feb. 3.
that three had never joined in the rebellion, were
beheaded in consequence of an act of attainder passed
by the English parliament.2 Fitzgerald's father had
already died of a broken heart, and the last hopes of
the family centred in Gerald, the brother of Thomas,
a boy about twelve years old. By the contrivance of
his aunt, he was conveyed beyond the reach of Henry,
and intrusted to the fidelity of two native chieftains,
O'Neil and O'Donnel. Two years later he had the
April.
good fortune to escape to the continent, but was
followed by the vengeance or the policy of the king,
who demanded him of the king of France, and after-
wards of the governor of Flanders, in virtue of pre-
ceding treaties. Expelled from Flanders, he was, at
the recommendation of the pope, Paul III., taken
under the protection of the prince bishop of Liege,
and afterwards into the family of his kinsman Cardinal
Pole, who watched over his education, and provided
for his support till at length he recovered the honours
and the estates of his ancestors, the former earls of
Kildare.3
1 See Audeley's Advice, St. Pap. i. 446; Norfolk's, ii. 277.
2 Stat. of Realm, iii. See a letter of Fitzgerald from the Tower,
stating his miserable condition, and that he must have gone naked,
" but that pore prysoners of ther gentylnes hathe sumtyme gevyn
" me old hosyn, and shoys, and old shyrtes." — St. Pap. 403.
3 Godwin, 62, 63. Herbert, 415—417, 491. Raynald, xxxii.
592.
168 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. Henry's innovations in religion were viewed with
A.D.1533. equal abhorrence by the indigenous Irish and the
descendants of the English colonists. Fitzgerald,
aware of this circumstance, had proclaimed himself
the champion of the ancient faith;1 and after the
imprisonment of Fitzgerald, his place was supplied by
the zeal of Cromer, archbishop of Armagh. On the
other hand, the cause of the king was supported by a
more courtly prelate, Brown, who, from the office of
1535 provincial of the Augustinian friars in England, had
March 12. been raised to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin, in
reward of his subserviency to the politics of Cromwell.
1536 But Henry determined to enforce submission. A par-
May i. liament was summoned by Lord Gray, who had suc-
ceeded Skeffington ; and, to elude the opposition of
the clergy, their proctors, who had hitherto voted in
the Irish parliaments, were by a declaratory act pro-
nounced to be nothing more than assistants, whose
advice might be received, but whose assent was not
required.2 The statutes which were now passed were
copied from the proceedings in England. The papal
authority was abolished ; Henry was declared head of
the Irish church ; and the first-fruits of all ecclesi-
astical livings were given to the king. But ignorance
of the recent occurrences in the sister island gave
occasion to a most singular blunder. One day the
parliament confirmed the marriage of the king with
Anne Boleyn ; and the next, in consequence of the
arrival of a courier, declared it to have been invalid
from the beginning. It was, however, more easy to
procure the enactment of these statutes, than to enforce
their execution. The two races combined in defence
1 Pro pontificis authoritate in Hibernia arma sumpserat. — Pole,
ibid. 2 Irish St. 28 Henry VIII. 12.
PACIFICATION OF IRELAND. 169
of their common faith ; and repeated insurrections CHAP.
exercised the patience of the deputy, till his brilliant A.D. 1536.
victory at Bellahoe broke the power of O'Neil, the
northern chieftain, and confirmed the ascendancy of
the royal cause. This was the last service performed
by Lord Gray. He was uncle by his sister to the
young Fitzgerald, and therefore suspected of having
connived at his escape. This, with numerous other
charges from his enemies, was laid before the king ;
and he solicited permission to return, and plead his June 12.
cause in the presence of his sovereign. The petition
was granted ; but the unfortunate deputy soon found
himself a prisoner in the Tower, and was afterwards
arraigned under the charge of treason for having aided june 25.
and abetted the king's rebels. Oppressed by fear, or
induced by the hope of mercy, he pleaded guilty ; and
his head was struck off by the command of the thank-
less sovereign, whom he had so often and so usefully June 28.
served.1
After the departure of Gray, successive but partial
insurrections broke out in the island. They speedily
subsided of themselves ; and the new deputy, Sir
Anthony Saintleger, found both the Irish chieftains
and the lords of the pale anxious to outstrip each
other in professions of obedience to his authority. A
parliament was assembled ; Ireland from a lordship Jan. 25.
was raised to the higher rank of a kingdom ; Henry
was declared head of the church, regulations were
made for the administration of justice in Connaught
and Munster ; and commissioners were appointed with
1 Godwin, 73. " As he was come of high lineage, so was he a
" right valiant and hardy personage ; although now his hap was to
" lose his head." — Stowe, 582. See the charges in State Papers,
iii. 248.
170 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, power to hear and determine all causes which might
A.r>!i542. be brought before them from the other provinces.1
The peerage of the new kingdom was sought and
obtained, not only by the lords who had hitherto ac-
knowledged the authority of the English crown, but
even by the most powerful of the chieftains, who,
1543 though nominally vassals, had maintained a real in-
juiy i. dependence ; by Ulliac de Burg, now created earl
of Clanricard ; by Murrogh 0' Brian, made earl of
Thomond ; and by the redoubted O'Neil, henceforth
lo4Z.
Sept. i. known by his new title of earl of Tyrone.2 These,
with the chief of their kindred, swore fealty, consented
to hold their lands by the tenure of military service,
and accepted from their sovereign houses in Dublin
for their accommodation, as often as they should at-
tend their duty in parliament. Never, since the first
invasion of the island by Henry II., did the English
ascendancy in Ireland appear to rest on so firm a basis
as during the last years of Henry VIII.
3. To explain the several causes which successively
contributed to produce the rupture between Henry
and his nephew the king of Scotland, it will be neces-
sary to revert to the period of the great battle of
Pavia. The intelligence of the captivity of Francis
extinguished at once the hopes of the French faction
in Scotland ; and the earl of Angus, with the aid of
the English monarch, obtained possession of the young
king James V., and with him the exercise of the
royal authority. Margaret, the queen-dowager, had
long ago forfeited the confidence of her royal brother ;
an intercepted letter, which she had lately written to
the duke of Albany, estranged him from her for ever.
1 Irish St. 33 Henry VIII. 1. Chron. Catal. p. 232.
2 Rym. xiv. 797—801 ; xv. 7.
RUPTURE WITH SCOTLAND. 171
He willingly suffered her to be deprived even of the CHAP.
nominal authority which remained to her ; Angus A.D. 1525.
consented to a divorce ; she married her paramour,
afterwards created Lord Methven, and silently sunk
into the obscurity of private life. But her son, though
only in his seventeenth year, felt the thraldom in
which he was detained by the Douglases, and anxi-
ously sought to obtain his liberty, and exercise his
authority. At length, he eluded the vigilance of his May.
keepers, levied an army, and drove his enemies beyond
the borders ; where Angus remained for years, an exile
from his own country, and the pensioner of England.
The young king, notwithstanding his relationship to
Henry, seems to have inherited the political sentiments
of his fathers, and sought to fortify himself against the
ambition of his powerful neighbour by the friendship
of the emperor and of the king of France. In 1532
the two crowns were unintentionally involved in hos-
tilities by the turbulence of the borderers ; tranquillity 1534
was restored by the good offices of Francis, the com- May is.
mon friend of the uncle and nephew ; and James was
even induced to solicit the hand of the princess Mary.
But it was at a time when only a few months had
elapsed since the divorce of Henry from Catherine ; and
the king, who had formerly offered, now refused his
consent to a marriage which might afterwards lead the
king of Scots to dispute the succession with the chil-
dren of Anne Boleyn. This refusal induced James to
seek a wife from some of the foreign courts, while the
English monarch vainly endeavoured to make his
nephew a proselyte to his new doctrine of the ecclesi-
astical supremacy of princes within their respective
kingdoms. For this purpose he sent to James a 1535.
treatise on that subject, with a request that he would
172 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, seriously weigh its contents ; and solicited at the same
A.D. 1535. time permission for his agent Barlow, bishop elect of
St. David's, to preach to the Scottish court. The
present was received with an air of indifference, and
instantly delivered to one of the prelates ; and the
English missionary, finding every pulpit closed against
him, vented his discontent in letters to Cromwell, in
which he denominated the clerical counsellors of
James, " the pope's pestilent creatures, and very limbs
"of the devil."1
Henry now requested a personal interview at York ;
but James, who feared to trust himself in the hands of
his uncle, eluded the demand by proposing a meeting
1536. of the three kings of England, France, and Scotland,
at some place on the continent.2 Soon afterwards, he
concluded a treaty of marriage with Marie de Bour-
bon, a daughter of Vendome ; but unwilling to rely
Sept. 10. on the report of his ambassadors, he sailed to Dieppe,
and visited his intended bride, whose appearance dis-
appointed his expectations. Disguising his feelings,
he hastened to be present at the expected battle be-
tween the French and Imperial armies in Provence ;
but was met by Francis on Mount Tarare, in the
1537
Jan. i. vicinity of Lyons. The two monarchs repaired to
Paris ; Marie was forgotten ; and James married
Madeleine, the daughter of the French king, a beau-
tiful and accomplished princess, who was even then in
1 Pinkerton, ii. 327. " The Doctrine of a Christian Man " was
not published till after this period ; the book sent was probably either
Gardiner's treatise De Vera Obedientia, or another, De Vera Dif-
ferentia Regise potestatis et Ecclesiastics ; both of which had been
printed the year before.
2 According to a minute of the English council, " he not only
" brake with th* appoyntment made for the entrevue, but for the
" pretence of his cause therein alleaged that it was said, he shuld be
" betrayed, if he preceded in the same." — St. Pap. 535.
MARRIAGE OF JAMES. 173
a decline, and died within fifty days after her arrival CHAP.
in Scotland. During some time her husband appeared A.D. 1537.
inconsolable for her loss ; the next year he married j^~;.
another French princess, Marie, duchess dowager of 1538.
Longueville, and daughter to the duke of Guise ; the Jan' 10*
same lady who had declined the offer of the king of
England.1
The king of Scots, satisfied with his own creed, re-
fused to engage in theological disputes ; and the pon-
tiff, to rivet him more closely to the communion of the
Apostolic See, bestowed a cardinal's cap on the most
able and most favoured of his counsellors, David Bea-
ton, abbot of Arbroath, afterwards bishop of Mirepoix,
and lastly archbishop of St. Andrew's. During his
journey James had noticed the terms of execration in
which foreigners reprobated the rapacity and cruelty
of his reforming uncle ; and his gratitude for the at-
tentions and generosity of Francis inclined him to
espouse and support the politics of the French court.
When Paul had at last determined to publish the
sentence of deprivation against Henry, James signified
his assent, and promised to join with Charles and
Francis in their endeavours to convert or punish the
apostate monarch.2
Henry, whose pensioners swarmed in every court,
was quickly apprized of these dispositions, and, as soon
as he had learned the real object of Cardinal Pole's
legation to the emperor and the king of France, de- April',
spatched Ralph Sadler, one of the gentlemen of his
privy chamber, as his ambassador to Edinburgh. This
1 Leslie, 426.
2 Habebit regem Scotiae, et hie novura creatum cardinalem
Scotum. — Instruc. pro Card. Polo apud Quirini, ii. Mon. Prael.
174 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, minister assured the king of Scots, that the warlike
A.D. 1539. preparations in England were not designed against
him, but against the pope and his associates ; exhorted
him, instead of giving credit to the assertions of his
clergy, to examine the foundations of the papal claims,
which he would find to be nothing more than an usurp-
ation of the rights of sovereigns ; requested him not
to permit the bull against his uncle to be published, or
executed within his dominions; and reminded him,
that Henry was a nearer relation to him than any
other prince, and that, though it was not required of
him to renounce his engagements with the king of
France, it was his interest to abstain from measures,
of which he might afterwards repent.1
What effect these remonstrances might have pro-
duced is uncertain ; but, as neither Charles nor Francis
attempted to enforce the papal bull, their inactivity
induced the king of Scots to preserve the relations of
amity with his uncle. Henry, however, continued to
grow more jealous both of the religious opinions of
James, and of his connection with the French court.
If a few Scottish refugees, the partisans of the new
doctrine, flattered him with the hope that their
sovereign would imitate him in assuming the su-
premacy of the church, he was harassed on the other
hand with reports, that the king of Scots urged with
assiduity the improvement of his artillery ; that he had
promised support to the malcontents in the northern
1 Sadler's State Papers, 50 — 56. Mr. Clifford, on the authority
of Mr. Pinkerton (Hist. ii. p. 374), has allotted this negotiation to
the year 1541 ; but it is evident from Sadler's instructions, that they
were composed after Cardinal Pole had failed with the emperor, and
while it was doubtful whether he would succeed or not with the king
of France (Sadler's Papers, p. 53) ; i. e. between the end of
January and the beginning of April, 1539.
NEGOTIATIONS. 175
counties ; and that he suffered ballads derogatory from CHAP.
the honour of Henry, and prophecies predictive of his A.D. 1539.
downfal, to be circulated on the borders. Another
effort to convert James was made through the agency
of Sadler. The ostensible object of that minister was
to present to the king half a dozen stallions, sent to
him by his uncle ; but he was ordered to solicit a
private audience, and a promise that the conversation
should not be divulged. Sadler then read to James 1540.
an intercepted letter from Beaton to his agent at
Rome, from which he inferred that it was the aim of
the cardinal to subject the royal authority to that of
the pope.1 But the king laughed at the charge, and
said that the cardinal had long ago given him a copy
of the letter. The envoy then observed that Henry
was ashamed of the meanness of his nephew, who kept
large flocks of sheep, as if he were a husbandman, and
not a sovereign. If he wanted money, let him supply
himself from the riches of the church ; he need only
make the experiment, and he would find in the dis-
solute lives of the monks and churchmen reasons to
justify himself in following the example of England.
James replied that he had sufficient of his own, with-
out invading the property of others ; that if he wanted
more, the church would cheerfully supply his wants ;
that, if among the clergy and monks there were some
who disgraced their profession, there were also many
whose virtues deserved praise ; and that it did not
1 James had committed two clergymen to prison. Beaton, in his
letter, said he should labour to have them delivered to him, as their
ordinary judge.— Sadler's Papers, p. 14. This, and a petition for
that purpose, were the foundation of the charge. James replied,
" As for those men, they are but simple, and it was but a small
" matter ; and we ourselves made the cardinal the minister both to
" commit them, and to deliver them " (p. 43).
176 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, accord with his notions of justice to punish the inno-
A.D. 1540. cent equally with the guilty. Sadler proceeded to
show the advantage which the king would derive from
the friendship of Henry, in preference to that of
Francis ; to hold out a prospect of his being inserted
in the act of succession after Prince Edward ; and to
exhort him to meet his uncle at York, and enter into
a more particular discussion of these subjects. He
answered with general expressions of affection and
gratitude, but adroitly declined the meeting. The
envoy in his letters ascribed the failure of his mission
to the jealousy of the clergy. The principal of the
nobility were, if we may believe him, sufficiently in-
clined to enrich themselves at the expense of the
church. But their ignorance excluded them from
the royal councils ; and James was compelled to
give his confidence to clergymen, who naturally op-
posed every measure which might lead to the loss
of their privileges, or to the diminution of their in-
comes.1
1541. In the next year the Scottish parliament, as if it
meant to stigmatize the proceedings of that of Eng-
land, passed several laws in support of the ancient
doctrines and of the papal supremacy. The cardinal
soon afterwards left Scotland, to proceed through
France to Rome. If his departure revived the jea-
lousy of the king of England, who suspected that a
league was in agitation against him, it suggested at
the same time a hope that the obstinacy of James
might be subdued, when it was no longer upheld by
the presence and counsels of the prelate. An inter-
view at York was proposed for a third time ; the lord
William Howard, the English envoy, flattered his
1 Sadler's Papers, 3 — 49.
WAR BETWEEN THE TWO CROWNS. 177
master with a prospect of success ; and Henry left CHAP.
London on his road into Yorkshire. But James, who A.D.IMI.
feared that, if he once put himself in the power of his
uncle, he should not be permitted to return without
either renouncing his alliance with France, or abjuring
the authority of the pope, refused to leave his own
kingdom ; and Henry, having waited more than a
week for his arrival at York, returned in discontent Sept. 26.
to London, and would scarcely condescend to hear the
apology offered by the Scottish ambassadors.1
The English cabinet now determined to accomplish
by force what it had in vain attempted by artifice and
persuasion. Paget was first employed to sound the
disposition of the king of France ; whose answer,
though unsatisfactory to Henry, showed that, in the
present circumstances, little aid could be expected by
Scotland from her ancient ally. In August forays i-r>42.
were reciprocally made across the borders ; and each
nation charged the other with the first aggression ;
but the Scots had the advantage, who at Haldenrig
defeated three thousand cavalry under the earl of
Angus and Sir Robert Bowes, and made most of
the captains prisoners. Enraged at this loss, the king
published a declaration of war, in which he claimed
the superiority over the Scottish crown, and ordered
the duke of Norfolk to assemble a numerous army at
York ; but James, who had made no preparation for
war, arrested his march by opening a negotiation ; and
1 Hall, 248. Leslie, 432, 433. The refusal of James was nobilium
consiliis (Id.). Lethington says that Henry intended to have
limited the succession to James and his heirs, but was so irritated
by the answer of that prince, that he passed over the Scottish line
entirely in his will. — Haynes, 373. It appears, however, from a
minute in council, that as early as in 1537 Henry was desirous of
" taking awaye the remayndre hanging on the king of Scottes." —
State Papers, 546.
VOL. V.. N
178 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, detained Norfolk at York, till Henry, impatient of
A.D. 1542. delay, sent him a peremptory order to enter Scotland.
Oct~2i. The duke crossed the borders, and gave to the flames
two towns and twenty villages ; but on the eighth
day, constrained by want, or by the inclemency of the
Oct. 28. season, he returned to Berwick. James with thirty
thousand men had advanced as far as Fala, to meet
the invaders. On the intelligence of their retreat, he
proposed to follow them into England ; but it was
objected that he had yet no heir, and that, if the same
misfortune were to befal him which had deprived
Scotland of his father at Flodden, the kingdom would
be exposed to the ambition of his uncle. Compelled
NOV. i. to dismiss his army, he repaired to the western
marches, and ordered Lord Maxwell to enter England
with ten thousand men, and to remain there as many
days as the duke of Norfolk had been in Scotland.
NOV. 25. Maxwell crossed the borders ; and the next day was
opposed by Sir Thomas Wharton, the English warden.
Whether it was that the Scots, as their historians say,
refused to fight, because the command had been taken
from Maxwell and given to Sinclair, the royal fa-
vourite ; or that, as was reported in England, they
believed the attack to proceed from the whole of
Norfolk's army, both the men and their leaders fled
in irremediable confusion ; twenty-four pieces of artil-
lery, the whole of the royal train, fell into the hands of
the enemy ; and two earls, five barons, and two hun-
dred gentlemen, with eight hundred of their followers,
were made prisoners. This cruel and unlooked-for
stroke subdued the spirit of James. From the neigh-
bouring castle of Carlaveroc he hastened to Edinburgh,
Dec. 14. and thence to the solitude of Falkland, where a fever,
aided by anguish of mind, overcame the strength of his
PARTIES IN SCOTLAND. 179
constitution. A week before his death, his queen was CHAP.
delivered of a female child, who, under the name of A.D. 1542.
Mary, was proclaimed his successor on the Scottish
throne.1
These unexpected events opened a new scene to the
ambition of Henry, who determined to marry his son
Edward to the infant queen of Scotland ; and, in con-
sequence of that marriage, to demand, as natural tutor
of the young princess, the government of the kingdom.
He communicated his views to the earl of Angus, and Dec 19.
to his brother, Sir George Douglas, who had long been
pensioners on his bounty ; and to the earls of Cassilis
and Glencairn, the lords Maxwell, Fleming, Somerville,
Oliphant, and Gray, who had been made prisoners at
the late battle of Solway Moss. The first through
gratitude, the others through the hope of liberty,
promised their concurrence ; and both, as soon as the 1543.
latter had given hostages for their return into captivity,
if the project should fail, proceeded with expedition to
Edinburgh.
There, soon after the death of the king, Cardinal
Beaton had published a will of the deceased monarch,
by which the regency was vested in himself and three
other noblemen ; but this instrument, whether it was 1542.
real or supposititious, was disregarded by the lords as-
sembled in the city. James Hamilton, earl of Arran, Dec. 22.
and presumptive heir to the throne, was declared
governor during the minority of the queen ; and the
cardinal appeared to acquiesce in an arrangement,
which he had not the power to disturb. But this T1543-
Jan. 16.
1 Hall, 248— 255. Holins. 957. Herbert, 542, 545, 546. Leslie,
432 — 437. James, in a letter to Paul III., quoted by Mr. Pinkerton,
ii. 383, says that the real cause of the war was his refusal to abandon
the communion of Rome.
N 2
180 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, seeming tranquillity vanished on the arrival of the
A. D. IMS. exiles and captives from England; by whose agency
the Scottish nobility was divided into two powerful
factions. The English faction consisted of Angus and
his associates, with their adherents ; but most of these
cared little for the interests of Henry, provided they
could recover their sons and relatives, whom they had
delivered as hostages. Their opponents were guided
by the queen-mother, the cardinal, and the earls of
Huntley, Murray, and Argyle, and could depend on
the aid of the clergy, the enemies of religious innova-
tion, and on the good wishes of the people, hostile
from education and interest to the ascendancy of
England.1 The new governor wavered between the
two parties. The opposition which he had experienced
from the cardinal threw him at first into the arms of
the English faction ; his conviction that the success of
their plans would endanger his chance of succeeding to
the throne, naturally led him to seek a reconciliation
with their adversaries. Henry, indeed, to fix him in
his interest, offered to the son of Arran the hand of
his daughter Elizabeth ; but the penetration of the
governor easily discovered that the real object of the
king was to prevent, what otherwise might in all pro-
bability be accomplished, the marriage of that young
nobleman with the infant queen. At first, however,
he declared in favour of Henry, and imprisoned the
cardinal on a fictitious charge of having persuaded the
1 Sir George Douglas told Sadler, that to obtain the government
for Henry was impossible. " For," quoth he, " there is not so little
" a boy but he will hurl stones against it ; and the wives will handle
'« their distaffs, and the commons universally will rather die in it,
" yea, and many noblemen and all the clergy be fully against it." —
Sadler's State Papers, 70. " The whole realm murmureth, that they
" would rather die than break their old league with France." —
Ibid. 163.
EFFORTS OF HENRY. 181
duke of Guise to levy an army for the support of his CHAP
daughter, the queen dowager, against the claim of the A.D. 1543.
governor.1 A parliament was then called, which, Ma^h~i3.
though it approved the proposal of peace and marriage,
refused, as unwarrantable, the other demands of
Henry ; which were, that he should have the custody
of the young queen, the government of the kingdom,
and the possession of the royal castles during the
minority. The king had received the proposals of
the Scottish envoys with indignation and scorn ; and
despatched again his agent, Sir Ralph Sadler, to March 20
reprimand Angus and his associates, for their apathy in
the royal service, and their breach of promise. They
replied that they had obtained as much as in the
present temper of the nation it was possible to obtain ;
that if the king would be content for the present, he
might afterwards effect his purpose step by step ; but
that, if his impatience refused to wait, he must invade
the kingdom with a powerful army, and would find
them ready to assist him to the extent of their power.
Henry endeavoured to shake by bribes and threats the
resolution of the governor ; but Arran was not to be
diverted from the strict line of duty. He then called
on his Scottish adherents to seize the person of the
infant queen and convey her to England ; but the
strength of the fortress and the vigilance of the
governor bade defiance to both force and treachery.
The king's obstinacy at last yielded to the conviction,
that every day added to the strength of his enemies ; July i.
and after three months of angry altercation, he con-
1 This fictitious charge disproves the story so often repeated of the
late king's will having been forged by the cardinal. Had there been
the least proof of such a crime, it would have been eagerly brought
forward in justification of his imprisonment.
182 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, descended to sign two treaties. By the first, peace
A.D. IMS. was concluded between the kingdoms ; by the second,
it was agreed that Mary should marry Edward ; that,
as soon as she had completed her tenth year, she
should be sent into England ; and that in the mean-
while six noblemen should be surrendered as hostages
to Henry.1
During this protracted negotiation Cardinal Beaton
had by private treaty procured his liberty ; and the
hopes of the French party were kept alive by repeated
supplies of ammunition and money from France. But
nothing created greater alarm in the governor than
April. the arrival of Matthew Stuart, earl of Lennox, who,
on the ground that Arran was an illegitimate child,
claimed the regency for himself as the next in the
line of succession. With his aid the cardinal secured
the northern division of Scotland, obtained possession
of the young queen, and removed her from Linlithgow
to the strong castle of Stirling.^ Arran now began
to seek a reconciliation ; the terms were easily ar-
Sept. 3. ranged with Beaton ; nine days after the ratification
of the English treaty they met as friends ; and the
Sept. 9. next week assisted together at the coronation of Mary.
Henry instantly determined upon war ; 3 and his cause
received an accession of strength from the hesitation
and subsequent defection of Lennox, whose enmity to
1 Rym. xiv. 786, 797 ; xv. 4. Sadler's State Papers, 62 — 275.
2 Henry, who had before attempted to get possession of her person
by stratagem, and now feared she might be carried away to France,
offered the governor the aid of an English army, and promised, in
case Arran's son should marry Elizabeth, to make the father " by
" force of our title and superiority, the king of the rest of Scotland
" beyond the firth." — Sadler, p. 248. But the governor replied,
that " Marry, all his lands and living lay on this side of the firth,
" which he would not gladly exchange for any living beyond the
" firth " (p. 256). 3 Ibid. 308.
THE TREATY BROKEN. 183
the governor dissolved his connection with the car- CHAP
ill.
A. D. 1543.
dinal ; and whose passion for Margaret Douglas, the
daughter of Angus, and niece of Henry, ultimately
impelled him to join the friends of the king of Eng-
land.1 These had bound themselves by a common oct.25.
instrument to live and die in defence of each other ;
but the lords Maxwell and Somerville were arrested
by the governor, and on the latter was found a copy
of the bond, and a letter to Henry in which they
solicited his assistance. Urged by the representations
of Marco Grimani, the papal legate, and of La Brosse,
the French ambassador, the governor determined to
make war on his opponents ; and convened a parlia-
ment, in which the adherents of England were accused Dec. 3.
of treason, and the late treaty was pronounced void,
because Henry had not only delayed to ratify it, but
had sanctioned incursions across the borders, and had
seized several merchant-ships, the property of the
citizens of Edinburgh.2
Though Arran solicited a renewal of the negotiation,
the English king was determined to make him feel the
weight of his resentment. In May, Seymour, earl of 1544.
Hertford, and uncle of Prince Edward, arrived in the
Frith with an army of ten thousand men, and required
the immediate surrender of the young queen. On the May 4.
refusal of Arran, he landed his troops at Leith ;
marched to Edinburgh, where he was joined by five May 5.
thousand horse from Berwick ; and the next morning May 6.
forced open one of the gates. Four days were devoted
to plunder and conflagration : but the castle defied his
efforts ; the governor, with Angus, Maxwell, and Sir
George Douglas, whom he had released from confine-
ment, was actively employed in collecting troops ; and
1 Sadler, p. 314. 2 Ibid. 275—351. Leslie, 445—448.
184
HENRY VIII.
CHAP. Hertford deemed it prudent to return before his re-
A.D. 1544. treat should be interrupted by a superior force. The
M^y~i6. fl^t having set fire to Leith, demolished the pier, and
swept the coast on each side the Frith as far as Stir-
ling, sailed for Newcastle : the army directing its
May is. route through Seton, Haddington, and Dunbar, gave
these towns to the flames, and reached Berwick with
inconsiderable loss.1
1545. The war from this period continued for two years.
Ivers, the English warden of the middle marches, lost
his life with many of his followers in an unsuccessful
action at Ancram ; and the governor, though aided by
five thousand French troops, was compelled to retire
from the fortress of Wark. Lennox had obtained the
hand of Margaret Douglas, on condition that he should
surrender to Henry his castle of Dumbarton ; but the
governor and garrison expelled him with ignominy,
and afterwards delivered it up to his rival. This cir-
cumstance, added to the submission of several of the
English partisans in the western counties of Scotland,
so irritated Henry, that, in a moment of passion, he
ordered the hostages at Carlisle to be put to death,
May so. and clandestinely gave his sanction to a conspiracy for
1546. the assassination of the cardinal.2 At length the Scots
June 7.
were comprehended in the treaty of peace between
England and France, and though the conditions of
that comprehension became the subject of dispute, the
remaining six months of Henry's reigri were not dis-
turbed by open hostilities.3
1 Leslie, 450, 451. Holins. 962, 963. Journal of expedition in
" Illustrations of Reign of Queen Mary," p. 3.
2 " His highness reputing the fact not meet to be set forward ex-
" pressly by his majesty, will not seem to have to do in it ; and yet,
" not misliking the offer, thinketh good that they be exhorted to pro-
" ceed." We owe our knowledge of this fact to Mr. Tytler, v. 389.
3 Rym. xv. 94, 98. Epist. Reg. Scot. ii. 354.
HENRY'S QUARREL WITH FRANCIS. 185
III. The reader will recollect, that the king of CHAP.
France had complained of Henry's marriage with A. 0.1546.
Anne Boleyn, as of a violation of his promise ; and
that Henry retorted, by objecting to Francis the sup-
port which he gave to the papal authority.1 This
dissension, though it might weaken, did not dissolve,
the friendship which had so long subsisted between
them ; but fresh bickerings ensued ; the tempers of
the two princes became reciprocally soured ; each
wished to chastise what he deemed the caprice, the
ingratitude, and the perfidy of the other ; and it was
at last evident that war would be declared by the
first who could persuade himself that he might do it
with impunity.
The emperor had watched, and nourished by his
ambassadors, this growing disaffection of the king of
England. After the death of his aunt Catherine, and
the execution of her rival Anne Boleyn, he contended
that as the original cause of the misunderstanding
between the two crowns had ceased to exist, nothing
ought to prevent the renewal of their former friend-
ship. There was, however, an objection, which for
some years opposed an insuperable barrier to his
wishes. The honour of the imperial family demanded
1 Burnet (iii. Rec. 84) had published an instrument, in which
Francis is made to declare, that in his opinion, the marriage with
Catherine has been void from the beginning, but that with Anne is
valid ; that all the judgments pronounced by the pope are false,
unjust, and of no effect ; and then to bind himself and his successors,
under the forfeiture of his or their goods or chattels, to maintain the
same opinion on all occasions. It has, however, neither signature '
nor date ; and is evidently nothing more than a mere form " de-
" vised," as is said on the back of it, in England, but never exe-
cuted in France. From Cardinal Pole we learn, that to Henry's
most earnest solicitations, the French monarch replied, that he would
still be his true and faithful friend, " but only as far as the altar."
— Pole, fol. cviii.
186 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, that the Princess Mary should be restored in blood, as
B. 1546. tne legitimate child of her father ; and the pride of
Henry refused to bend to an act which would be a
tacit acknowledgment that he had wronged her mo-
ther. An expedient was at length adopted to the
satisfaction of both parties. Mary was restored by act
of parliament to her place in the succession, but with-
out any formal mention of her legitimacy ; an accom-
modation which was brought about by the necessities
of the emperor on the one hand, and by the resent-
ments of the king on the other. The former, induced
by his losses in the campaign of 1542, and the latter,
eager to punish the interference of Francis in the
affairs of Scotland, concluded a treaty by which it was
1543. agreed, 1. That they should jointly require the French
king to recede from his alliance with the Turks ; to
make reparation to the Christians for all the losses
which they had suffered in consequence of that alli-
ance ; to pay to the king of England the arrears of his
pension, and to give to him security for the faithful
payment of it in future : 2. And that, if Francis did
not signify his assent within forty days, the emperor
should reclaim the duchy of Burgundy, Henry the
possessions of his ancestors in France, and that each
should be ready to support his right at the head of
a powerful army.1
June. In consequence of these engagements two heralds,
Garter and Toison d'or, received instructions to pro-
ceed to the French court ; but Francis refused to
listen to demands which he deemed insulting to his
honour; the messengers could not obtain permission
to cross the borders ; and the allied sovereigns re-
solved to consider the conduct of their adversary as a
1 Rym. xiv. 768—780. Chron. Catal. 232.
RUPTURE WITH FRANCE. 187
denial of justice, and equivalent to a declaration of CHAP.
war. The Imperialists in Flanders having received a A.D. 1543.
reinforcement of six thousand Englishmen under Sir Au^ 3.
John Wallop, formed the siege of Landreci ; while
Charles, with a more numerous force, overran the
duchy of Cleves, and compelled the duke, the partisan
of France, to throw himself at the feet of his natural
sovereign. From Cleves the emperor proceeded to Oct. 20.
the camp before Landreci; and Francis hastened at
the same time to relieve the place. The grand armies
were in presence of each other ; and a general and
decisive engagement was daily expected ; but the
French monarch, having amused the attention of the
enemy with an offer of battle, threw supplies of men
and provisions into the town, and immediately with-
drew. The Imperialists were unable to make any
impression on the rear of the retreating army ; the November.
English, who pursued with too much precipitation,
suffered a considerable loss.1
The allies derived little benefit from this campaign ;
but Henry promised himself more brilliant success in
the next, in which he intended to assume the com-
mand at the head of a numerous and disciplined army.
During the winter he was visited by Gonzaga, the Dec. zi.
viceroy of Sicily, with whom it was arranged that the
emperor should enter France by Champaign, the king
of England by Picardy; and that both, instead of
besieging towns, should march with expedition to
Paris, where they should unite their forces, and from
the capital dictate the law to their adversary. The
Imperialists were the first in the field ; Luxembourg
and Ligny opened their gates ; and St. Dizier sur-
1 Godwin, 76. Stowe, 585. Du Bellay, 547.
188 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, rendered after a siege of six weeks.1 In June the
A. D. 1544. first division of the English army landed at Calais;
Juty~i4. and in tne middle of July, Henry saw himself within
the French frontier, at the head of 30,000 English-
men and of 15,000 Imperialists. Had he complied
with his engagement to advance towards the capital,
the French monarch would have been at the mercy of
the allies : but the king was seduced by the prospect
of conquest ; the example of Charles, who had already
taken three fortresses, seemed to offer an apology for
his conduct ; and he ordered the army to form at the
same time the two sieges of Boulogne and Montreuil.
July 25. It was in vain that the imperial ambassador during
eleven clays urged him to advance ; or that the em-
peror, to give him the example, avoiding the fortified
towns, hastened along the right bank of the Marne
towards Paris. Henry persisted in his resolution, and
was detained more than two months before the walls
of Boulogne.
It chanced that in the Dominican convent at Sois-
sons was a Spanish monk, called Guzman, of the same
family as the confessor of Charles. Through him
Francis conveyed to the emperor his secret wish for
an accommodation. That prince immediately as-
sented ; conferences were opened ; and a courier was
sent to receive the demands of Henry. But when the
terms of the allies were made known, they appeared
so exorbitant, that the French council advised their
sovereign to prefer the risk of continuing the war.
Charles, during the negotiation, had not slackened the
Sept. 9. rapidity of his march, and was now arrived at Chateau
Thierri, almost in the vicinity of Paris. Francis,
1 Godwin, 578,581.
REDUCTION OF BOULOGNE. 189
alarmed for the fate of his capital, solicited a renewal CHAP.
of the conferences ; and separate ambassadors were A.D. 1544.
appointed to treat with the emperor and with Henry.
The former of these princes had many reasons to wish
for peace. His ally, the king of England, showed no
disposition to join him; the French army between
him and Paris daily increased ; and his own forces
were without pay or provisions. In these circum-
stances he consented to renew the same offers which
he had made, and which Francis had refused, before
the war. During the negotiation the news of the
surrender of Boulogne arrived. The king of France Sept. 13-
hastened to accept the conditions ; and the moment
they were signed, recalled his ambassadors from the
English camp. By the treaty of Crespi the two Sept- 19-
princes agreed to forget all former injuries, to restore
their respective conquests, to join their forces for the
defence of Christendom against the Turks, and to
unite their families by the marriage of Charles, the
second son of Francis, with a daughter of the emperor,
or of his brother Ferdinand king of the Romans. Had
Charles lived to complete this marriage, it might have
been followed by the most important results ; but he
died within a few months, and the treaty of Crespi
made little change in the existing relations among the
great powers of Europe. Henry having garrisoned
Boulogne, raised the siege of Montreuil, and returned Sept. so.
to England.1
During the winter Francis had leisure to attend to
1 See the king's letter, and his Journal, in Rymer, xv. 50 — 58 ;
Du Bellay, 590, 591 ; Sepulveda, ii. 503—510 ; Godwin, 77—79 ;
Mem. de Tavannes, 70. A general order was given to return thanks
to God for the taking of Boulogne " by devoute and generall proces-
" sion in all the towns and villages." — The council to Lord Shrews-
bury, Sept. 19, 1544.
190 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the war with his only remaining adversary. The plan
A.D. 1544. which he formed embraced two objects ; to acquire
such a superiority by sea as might prevent the trans-
mission of succour to the English forces in France ;
and with a numerous army by land to besiege and
reduce, not only Boulogne, which he had so lately
lost, but also Calais, which for two centuries had been
1545. severed from the French crown. With this view, he
ordered every ship fit for war to assemble in the ports
of Normandy, while a fleet of twenty-five gallies was
conducted by the baron De la Garde from the Medi-
terranean to the mouth of the Seine. To oppose his
design, fortifications had been raised on the banks of
the Thames, and on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and
Hampshire ; and sixty ships of war had been collected
at Portsmouth by Dudley Lord Lisle, high admiral of
England. The French fleet, amounting to one hun-
dred and thirty-six sail, under the command of Anne-
July 16. baut, left the coast on the sixteenth of July, and on
July is. the second day anchored at St. Helen's. Lisle, who
had been forbidden to risk a close engagement with so
superior a force, after a brisk but distant cannonade,
retired into the harbour ; and Henry, who had re-
paired to Portsmouth, had the mortification to behold
a foreign fleet braving him to the face, and riding
triumphant in the Channel. The next day the French
admiral formed his line in three divisions, and sent his
gallies to insult the enemy in the mouth of the port.
During the cannonade, the Mary Rose, carrying seven
hundred men, was sunk under the eyes of the king ;
but the moment the tide turned, the English bore
down on the aggressors, who instantly fled towards
their own fleet. Annebaut was prepared to receive
them ; but Lisle, faithful to his instructions, recalled
PEACE WITH FRANCE. 191
his ships, and, safe within the port, bore with patience CHAP.
the taunts and the triumph of his enemy. A.D. 1545.
Foiled in these attempts to provoke a battle, the
French admiral summoned a council of war, in which
a proposal to seize and fortify the Isle of Wight was
made and rejected ; and the next morning the whole July 20.
armament stood out to sea, made occasional descents
on the coast of Sussex, and at length anchored before
Boulogne. Lisle, having received a reinforcement of
thirty sail, was ordered to follow. The hostile fleets
soon came in presence of each other ; some time was
spent in manoeuvring to obtain the advantage of the
wind ; and at length, after the exchange of a few August 16.
shots, they separated, and retired into their respective
harbours.1
This expedition might gratify the vanity of the
French monarch ; but it did not secure to him what
he expected, an overwhelming superiority by land.
He had indeed prevented the junction of a body of
lansquenets in the pay of Henry, had laid waste the
Pays d'Oie, and had gained the advantage in a few
rencounters. Yet he had been unable to erect the
fortresses, with the aid of which he expected to reduce
the garrisons of Calais and Boulogne ; and during the
winter his army had been thinned by the ravages of a
pestilential disease. Both princes became weary of a
war which exhausted their treasures without any re-
turn of profit or glory. A short armistice was employed '546.
in negotiations for peace; and it was finally agreed,
that Francis should pay to Henry and his successors
the pension due by the treaty of 1 525 ; that commis-
sioners should be appointed by the two monarchs to
1 Du Bellay, 596. Mem. de Montluc, xxii. 304—344. State
Papers, i. 782—834.
192 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, determine the claim of the latter to a debt of 512,022
A.D. 1546. crowns ; that at the termination of eight years, the
king of England should receive the sum of two
millions of crowns as a compensation for arrears of
pensions, and the charges of repairing and preserving
the fortifications of Boulogne ; and that on the pay-
ment of these sums, that town, with its dependencies,
should be restored to the king of France.1
It had been hitherto the general opinion, that
Henry was the most opulent monarch in Europe ; his
late wars with Scotland and France revealed the inex-
plicable secret of his poverty. The plate and jewels
which he had collected from the religious houses, and
the enormous sums which he had raised by the sale of
their property, seemed to have been absorbed in some
invisible abyss : the king daily called on his ministers
for money ; and the laws of the country, the rights of
the subject, and the honour of the crown, were equally
sacrificed to supply the increasing demands of the
treasury. In 1543 he had obtained a subsidy almost
]543 unprecedented in its amount. The clergy had given
May 12. him for three years ten per cent, on their incomes,
after the deduction of the tenths already vested in the
crown ; and the laity granted him a tax on real and
personal property to be paid by instalments in three
years, rising gradually from fourpence to three shillings
in the pound.2 But the returns had disclosed the
value of each man's estate ; and soon afterwards all
1 Rymer, xv. 94. Me*m. de Tavannes, xxvi. 80.
2 The rates were as follows : —
s. d. s. d.
From II. to 5/., in goods 0 4 inlands, fees, and annuities 0 8
Do. 5 to 10 0 8 1 4
Do. 10 to 20 1 4 2 0
Do. 20 and upwards ... 2 0 3 0
All foreigners paid double rates.— St. 34 Henry VIII. 27.
ADULTERATION OF MONEY. 193
persons rated at fifty pounds per annum, received a CHAP.
royal letter demanding the advance of a sum of money A.D. 1544.
by way of loan. Prudence taught them to obey ; but AU^~H(
their hope of repayment was extinguished by the
servility of parliament, which at once granted to the
king all those sums that he had borrowed from any of
his subjects since the thirty-first year of his reign.1
After this act of dishonesty it would have been idle to
solicit a second loan ; he therefore demanded presents
under the name of a benevolence, adopting again some 1545.
of the expedients which had been attempted under
the administration of Wolsey, and had failed through
the spirited opposition of the people. But in the
course of a few years the bloody despotism of Henry
had quenched that spirit ; the benevolence was raised
without difficulty ; and the murmurs of the sufferers
were effectually silenced by the timely punishment of
two of the aldermen of London, who had presumed to
complain. One of them, Richard Reed, was imme- Jan. 27.
diately sent to the army in Scotland, where he was
made prisoner in the first engagement, and was com-
pelled by his captors to pay a heavy fine for his ransom ;
the other, Sir William Roach, was on> a charge of March is.
seditious words committed to prison, whence he was
liberated after a confinement of three months, but
probably not before he had appeased the king by a
considerable present.2
1 Sanders, 203. State Pap. i. 766. Lords' Journals, 265. Even
if the king had paid all, or any part, of these sums, the money so
paid was to be refunded ; but the present holders of the royal securi-
ties could recover from the sellers the consideration which had been
given for them.— St. 45 Henry VIII. 12.
2 Sanders, 203,204. Stowe, 588. Herbert, 587. The sum thus
raised amounted to 70,723/. 18s. lOd. — Strype, i. App. 333. Lon-
don, York, Durham. Northumberland and Westmoreland are not
included.
VOL. V. O
194 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. With the same view, Henry adulterated the purity
A.D. 1545. of the coin ; a plan by which, while he defrauded the
public, he created numberless embarrassments in the
way of trade, and involved his successors in almost
inextricable difficulties. At his accession the ounce of
gold, and the pound of silver, were each worth forty
shillings : having raised them by successive proclama-
tions to forty-four, forty-five, and forty-eight shillings,
he issued a new coinage with a considerable quantity
of alloy, and contrived at the same time to obtain
possession of the old money, by offering a premium to
those who would bring it to the Mint. Satisfied with
the result of this experiment, he rapidly advanced in
the same career. Before the end of the war his coins
contained equal quantities of silver and of alloy ; the
year after, the alloy exceeded the silver in the propor-
tion of two to one. The consequence was, that his
successors found themselves compelled to lower the
nominal value of his shillings, first from twelvepence
to ninepence, and then to sixpence, and finally to
withdraw them from circulation altogether.1
During these operations in debasing the coin, the
three years allotted for the payment of the last subsidy
expired ; and the king again laid his wants before his
Dec. 24. parliament, and solicited the aid of his loving subjects.
The clergy granted fifteen per cent, on their incomes,
during two years ; the laity two tenths and fifteenths,
with an additional subsidy from real and personal pro-
perty, which they begged him to accept, " as it pleased
" the great king Alexander to receive thankfully a
" suppe of water of a poor man by the high way side."2
As this, however, did not satisfy his rapacity, parlia-
1 Sanders, 204. Stowe, 587. Herbert, 191, 572. Folkes, 27.
Fleetwood, 53. 2 St. of Realm, 1016.
DANGER OF CRANMER. 195
ment subjected to his disposal all colleges, chantries, CHAP.
and hospitals in the kingdom, with all their manors, A.D. 1545.
lands, and hereditaments, receiving from him in return
a promise, that he would not abuse the confidence of
his subjects, but employ the grant to the glory of God
and the common profit of the realm. This was the
last aid given to the insatiate monarch. As early as the
twenty-sixth year of his reign, it was asserted by those
who had made the calculation from official documents,
that the receipts of the Exchequer under Henry had
even then exceeded the aggregate amount of all the
taxes upon record, which had been imposed by his
predecessors. But that sum, enormous as it must have
been, was more than doubled before his death, by
subsidies and loans which he was careful not to repay,
by forced benevolences and the debasement of the
currency, and by the secularization of part of the
clerical, and of the whole of the monastic possessions.1
During these transactions the court of Henry was
divided by the secret intrigues of the two religious
parties, which continued to cherish an implacable
hatred against each other. The men of the old learn-
ing naturally looked upon Cranmer as their most
steady and most dangerous enemy ; and, though he
was careful not to commit any open transgression of
the law, yet the encouragement which he gave to the
new preachers, and the clandestine correspondence
1 Etenim interfui ipse, cum fide dignissimi, qui tabulas publicas,
in quas rationes tributorum sunt relatse vidissent, et rationem iniis-
sent, hoc mihi ante aliquot annos sanctissime asseverarent, ita se rem
habere ; quse ille unus accepit, majorem summam efficere, quam
omnia omnium tot retro sseculis tributa. — Apol. Reg. Poli, p. 91.
Defen. Eccl. Unit. fol. Ixxxii. Barbaro (Report to Venetian Senate,
ann. 1551) gives the particulars of his receipts from his thirty- fourth
to his forty-seventh year, amounting to the gross sum of 10,320,000/.
0 2
196 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, which he maintained with the German reformers,
A.D. 1545. would have proved his ruin, had he not found a friend
and advocate in his sovereign. Henry still retained a
grateful recollection of his former services, and felt no
apprehension of resistance or treason from a man who,
on all occasions, whatever were his real opinions or
wishes, had moulded his conscience in conformity to
the royal will. When the prebendaries of Canterbury
lodged an information against him, the king issued a
commission to examine, not the accused but the ac-
cusers ; of whom some were imprisoned ; all were
compelled to ask pardon of the archbishop.1 In the
house of Commons Sir John Gostwick, representative
for Bedfordshire, had the boldness to accuse him of
heresy ; but the king sent a message to the " varlet,"
that if he did not immediately acknowledge his fault,
he should be made an example for the instruction of
his fellows. On another occasion Henry had con-
sented to the committal of the archbishop ; but after-
wards he revoked the permission, telling the council
that Cranmer was as faithful a man towards him as
ever was prelate in the realm, and one to whom he
was many ways beholden ; or, as another version has
it, that he was the only man who had loved his
sovereign so well as never to have opposed the royal
pleasure.2 In like manner Gardiner, from his ac-
knowledged abilities arid his credit with the king, was
to the men of the new learning a constant object of
1 Strype's Cranmer, 110 — 122.
2 Ibid. 123 — 126. Sanders, p. 78. Umim esse tarn suarum
partium amantem, qui nulla unquam in re ipsius defuerit voluntati.
Neque id solum prsestitit in iis rebus, quse Lutheranis jucunde ac-
ciderent, verum sive quern comburi oportebat hseresis nomine, sive
sacerdotem uxore spoliari, nemo erat Cranmero in ea re exequenda
diligentior. — Vit. Cran. MS. apud Le Grand, ii. 103.
GARDINER IS ACCUSED. 197
apprehension and jealousy. To ruin him in the royal CHAP
estimation, it was pretended that he had communi- A.D.
cated with the papal agents through the imperial
ministers; and that, while he pretended to be zeal-
ously attached to the interests of the king, he had in
reality made his peace with the pontiff. But it was
in vain that the accusation was repeatedly urged, and
that Gardiner's secretary was even tried, convicted,
and executed, on a charge of having denied the supre-
macy ; the caution of the bishop bade defiance to the
wiles and the malice of his enemies. Aware of the
danger which threatened him, he stood constantly on
his guard ; and though he might prompt the zeal, and
second the efforts of those who wished well to the
ancient faith, he made it a rule never to originate any
religious measure, nor to give his opinion on religious
subjects, without the express command of his sove-
reign.1 Then he was accustomed to speak his mind
with boldness ; but though he might sometimes offend
the pride, still he preserved the esteem, of Henry,2
1 Modern writers have ascribed to his counsels all the measures
adopted by Henry against the reformers. Yet Gardiner often denies
it in his letters. " The earl of Southampton (Wriothesley) did," he
says, " many things, while he was chancellor, touching religion,
" which misliked me not. But I did never advise him so to do, nor
" made on him the more for it, when he had done. He was one of
" whom by reason I might have been bold ; but I left him to his
" conscience." — Apud Foxe, ii. 66.
2 On this subject I will transcribe a passage from one of his
letters, because it serves to elucidate the character of the king.
This fashion of writing his highness (God pardon his soul) called
whetting : which was not at all the most pleasant unto me, yet
when I saw in my doings was no hurt, and sometime by the oc-
casion thereof the matter was amended, I was not so coy as always
to reverse my argument : nor, so that his affairs went well, did I
ever trouble myself whether he made me a wanton or not. And,
when such as were privy to his letters to me, were afraid I had
been in high displeasure (for the terms of the letters sounded so),
yet I myself feared it nothing at all ; I esteemed him, as he was, a
198 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, who, unmoved by the suggestions of adversaries, con-
A.D. 1545. tinued to employ him in affairs of state, and to con-
sult him on questions of religion. As often indeed as
he was absent on embassies to foreign courts, Cranmer
improved the favourable moment to urge the king to a
further reformation. He was heard with attention ;
he was even twice desired to form the necessary plan,
to subjoin his reasons, and to submit them to the royal
consideration ; still, however, Henry paused to receive
the opinion of Gardiner ; and, swayed by his advice,
rejected or suspended the execution of the measures
proposed by the metropolitan.1
1544. At the death of Lord Audeley, a zealous partisan of
the new teachers, the office of chancellor was given to
Lord Wriothesley, who, though he affected an equal
friendship for the two parties, was in reality attached
to the ancient faith. But, if the power of the re-
formers was weakened by this change, their loss had
been amply compensated by the influence of Henry's
sixth queen, Catherine Parr, relict of the late Lord
Latimer ;2 who with her brother, now created earl of
" wise prince, and whatsoever he said or wrote for the present, he
' would afterwards consider the matter as wisely as any man, nor
' either hurt or inwardly disfavour him that had been bold with
' him. Whereof I serve for a proof : for no man could do me hurt
' during hi« life. And when he gave me the bishopric of Win-
' chester, he said he had often squared with me, but he loved me
' never the worse ; and for a token thereof he gave me the bishopric.
' * • ' • I was reported unto him, that I stooped not, and was stub-
' born : and he commended unto me certain men's gentle nature, as
' he called it, that wept at every of his words : and methought that
' my nature was as gentle as theirs ; for I was sorry when he was
' moved. But else I know, when the displeasure was not justly
' grounded in me, I had no cause to take thought." — Ap. Foxe, ii. 60.
1 Herbert, 565, 591. Strype's Cranmer, 130, 136.
2 The king married her, after a widowhood of more than a year,
on the 12th of July, 1543. The ceremony was performed by Gar-
diner, bishop of Winchester, in the queen's privy closet at Hampton
Court, under license from the archbishop, who had dispensed with
QUEEN CATHERINE IN PERIL. 199
Essex, and her uncle, created Lord Parr of Horton, CHAP.
zealously promoted the new doctrines. But her A.D. IMS,
zeal, whether it was stimulated by confidence in her Dec 2s.
own powers, or prompted by the suggestions of the
preachers, quickly transgressed the bounds of pru-
dence. She not only read the prohibited works;
she presumed to argue with her husband, and to dis-
pute the decisions of the head of the church. Of all
men, Henry was the least disposed to brook the
lectures of a female theologian, and his impatience of
contradiction was exasperated by a painful indisposi-
tion, which confined him to his chamber. The chan-
cellor and the bishop of Winchester received orders to
prepare articles against Catherine ; but the intelligence
was immediately, perhaps designedly, conveyed to the
queen, who, repairing to a neighbouring apartment,
fell into a succession of fits, and during the intervals
made the palace ring with her cries and lamentations.
Henry, moved with pity, or incommoded with the
noise, first sent his physician, and was afterwards
carried in a chair, to console her. In the evening she
waited on him, in the company of her sister, and
adroitly turning the conversation to the subject of
religion, took occasion to express her admiration of
his learning, and the implicit deference which she paid
to his decisions. " No, no, by St. Mary," he exclaimed,
" I know you too well. Ye are a doctor, Kate." She
replied, that if she had sometimes presumed to differ
from him, it had not been to maintain her own
opinions, but to amuse his grace ; for she had ob-
served, that, in the warmth of argument, he seemed
to forget the pain which tormented him. " Is it so,
the publication of banns and all contrary ordinances for the honour
and weal of the realm. — See Chron. Catal. 238.
200 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, "sweetheart?" said Henry; "then we are friends
in
A.D. 1513. " again." The following morning the chancellor came
with a guard to take her into custody, but was re-
manded with a volley of reproaches ; and the queen,
taught by her past danger, was afterwards careful not
to irritate the theological sensibility of her husband.
It is, however, a question among the more ancient
writers, whether the king was in earnest. By some
the proceeding has been represented as a scheme of
his own contrivance, to wean his wife from an attach-
ment to doctrines which might in the sequel conduct
her to the stake or the scaffold.1
The books, the perusal of which had led the queen
into danger, had been introduced to the ladies at court
through the agency of two females, Anne Bocher, and
Anne Kyme. With Bocher we shall meet again in
the next reign, when she will be condemned to the
flames by Archbishop Cranmer. Kyme, who had aban-
doned her husband to exercise the office of an apostle
June 19. under her maiden name of Askew, had been committed
to Newgate by the council, "for that she was very
" obstinate and heady in reasoning on matters of
" religion."2 There she might perhaps have escaped
further notice, had not the theological jealousy of the
king been provoked by the imprudent and contuma-
cious conduct of Dr. Crome. He had given offence by
a sermon, in which he maintained that no one could
approve of the dissolution of monasteries, and at the
same time admit the usefulness of prayers for the
dead. Henry considered this assertion as a censure
on himself ; and Crome, to appease the king, offered
to recant at St. Paul's Cross. There he disappointed
1 Herbert, 622.
2 See Council Book, Harl, MSS. 256, fol. 224.
DEATH OF ASKEW AND OTHERS. 201
the royal expectation by a reassertion of the obnoxious CHAP.
doctrine; was called before the council on that ac- A. 0.1543.
count, and subsequently accused several of his friends
and advisers.i Numerous examinations followed ;
those who submitted to a recantation were remanded
to prison ; the more obstinate were sent before the
ecclesiastical court, of which the archbishop was
probably the chief judge;2 and that court excom-
municated them as incorrigible heretics, and delivered
them over to the civil power. Among the former
were Latimer, and Crome himself, who by submission
escaped the flames ; the sufferers were Askew,3 Adlam July 16.
a tailor, Otterden a priest, and Lascelles a gentleman
at court. Shaxton, the deprived bishop of Salisbury,
was to have shared with them the honour of martyr-
dom ; but his courage shrunk from the fiery ordeal,
and he not only recanted, but preached the sermon at
1 State Papers, i. 842 — 851. Burnet, ii. 572. This persecution
has been attributed by some writers to the king's advisers ; but from
the official correspondence it appears that they were only agents
under him, carefully apprizing him by letter of the daily proceedings,
and never venturing to take any step but by his express order.
2 See Anne Bocher's address to Cranmer at her trial in the next
reign.
3 In the narrative transmitted to us by Foxe as the composition of
this unfortunate woman, she is made to say : " My lord chancellor
" and Master Rich [why the name of Bishop Gardiner has since been
" substituted for Master Rich, in several editions, I know not] took
" pains to rack me with their own hands, till I was nigh dead." —
Foxe, ii. 578. Foxe himself adds, that when Knivet the lieutenant,
in compassion to the sufferer, refused to order additional torture, the
chancellor and Rich worked the rack themselves. To me neither
story appears worthy of credit. For, 1. Torture was contrary to law,
and therefore was never inflicted without a written order subscribed
by the lords of the council. 2. The person who attended on such
occasions to receive the confession of the sufferer was always some
inferior officer appointed by the council, and not the lord chancellor
or other members of that body. 3. There is no instance of a female
being stretched on the rack, or subjected to any of those inflictions
which come under the denomination of torture. — See Mr. Jardine's
" Reading on the use of Torture."
202 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the execution of his former associates, pitying their
A.D. 1543. blindness, and exhorting them to follow his example,
His conformity was rewarded with the mastership of
St. Giles's hospital in Norwich.1
As long as Henry enjoyed health, he was able, by
the interposition of his authority, and by occasional
acts of severity, to check the diffusion of the new
doctrines ; but as his infirmities increased, he found
it a more difficult task, and, in his last speech to the
parliament, he complained bitterly of the religious
dissensions which pervaded every parish in the realm.
It was, he observed, partly the fault of the clergy,
some of whom were " so stiff in their old mumpsimus,
" and others so busy in their new sumpsimus," that
instead of preaching the word of God, they were em-
ployed in railing at each other ; and partly the fault
of the laity, whose delight it was to censure the pro-
ceedings of their bishops, priests, and preachers. " If
" you know," he added, " that any preach perverse
" doctrine, come and declare it to some of our council,
" or to us, to whom is committed by God the authority
" to reform and order such causes and behaviours ;
" and be not judges yourselves of your own fantas-
" tical opinions and vain expositions ; and although
" you be permitted to read holy scripture, and
" to have the word of God in your mother tongue,
" you must understand it is licensed you so to do,
" only to inform your conscience, and inform your
" children and families, and not to dispute, and
" to make scripture a railing* and taunting stock
" against priests and preachers. I am very sorry to
" know and hear, how irreverently that precious jewel,
1 Ellis, iii. 177. Collier, ii. 212. Stowe, 592. Foxe, ii. 578.
State Pap. i. 868, 875.
HENRY'S SPEECH ON RELIGION. 203
" the word of God, is disputed, rhymed, sung, and CHAP.
" jingled in every alehouse and tavern, contrary to A.D. 1543.
" the true meaning and doctrine of the same ; and yet
" I am as much sorry that the readers of the same
" follow it in doing so faintly and coldly. For of this
" I am sure, that charity was never so faint among
" you, and virtuous and godly living was never less
" used, nor God himself among Christians never less
" served. Therefore, as I said before, be in charity
" with one another, like brother and brother, and love,
" dread, and serve God, to which I, as your supreme
" head and sovereign lord, exhort and require you."1
The king had long indulged without restraint in the
pleasures of the table. At last he grew so enormously
corpulent, that he could neither support the weight of
his own body, nor remove without the aid of machinery
into the different apartments of his palace. Even the
fatigue of subscribing his name to the writings which
required his signature, was more than he could bear ;
and to relieve him from this duty three commissioners 1545.
were appointed, of whom two had authority to apply August 31-
to the papers a dry stamp, bearing the letters of the
king's name, and the third to draw a pen furnished
with ink over the blank impression.2 An inveterate
ulcer in the thigh, which had more than once threat-
ened his life, and which now seemed to baffle all the
skill of his surgeons, added to the irascibility of his
temper ; and his imagination was perpetually haunted
with apprehensions for the future safety of Edward his
1 Hall, 160.
2 Rym. xv. 100, 102. The names of the commissioners were
A. Denny, John Gate, and W. Clerc, and their authority was to last
from August 31, 1546, to May 10, 1547. They were ordered to
deliver to the king at the end of every month, a schedule of the in-
struments stamped, which schedules are in the State Paper Office.
204 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, son and heir, a young prince who had scarcely com-
A.D. IMG. pleted his ninth year. The king had no near relation
of the blood royal, to whom he could intrust the care
of the boy ; nor could Edward's natural guardians, his
uncles, boast of any other influence than what they
derived from the royal favour. Two of these, Thomas
and Edward, had for some years resided at court : but
the former had risen to no higher rank than that of
knight ; the latter, though he had been created earl
of Hertford, and appointed lord chamberlain, was pos-
sessed of little real power, and unsupported by family
alliances. They enjoyed, however, one advantage, of
which the king himself was probably ignorant. They
were known to favour the new doctrines ; and all
those who bore with reluctance the yoke of the Six
Articles, looked impatiently to the commencement of
a new reign, when they hoped that the young king,
under the guidance of his uncles, would not only sheath
the sword of persecution, but also adopt the reformed
creed.
There had for some time existed a spirit of acrimo-
nious rivalry between the Seymours and the house of
Howard. The aged duke of Norfolk witnessed with
indignation their ascendancy in the royal favour, and
openly complained that the kingdom was governed by
new men, while the ancient nobility were trampled in
the dust. His son Henry, earl of Surrey, could not
forgive the earl of Hertford for having superseded him
in the command of the garrison of Boulogne ; and had
been heard to foretell that the time of revenge was
not far distant. On the one hand the father and son
were the most powerful subjects in the realm, and
allied by descent to the royal family ; on the other,
though they had strenuously supported the king in his
ARREST OF THE HOWARDS. 205
claim of the supremacy, they were on all other points CHAP.
zealous patrons of the ancient doctrines. Hence the A.D. 1540.
ruin or depression of the Howards became an object
of equal importance to the uncles of the prince and
the men of the new learning ; to those, that they
might seize and retain the reins of government during
the minority of their nephew ; to these, that they
might at length throw from their necks that intolera-
ble yoke, the penal statute of the Six Articles.1
The rapid decline of the king's health in the month
of November admonished the Seymours and their as-
sociates to provide against his approaching death.
Repeated consultations were held ; and a plan was
adopted to remove out of their way the persons whose
power and talents they had the greatest reason to fear,
the duke of Norfolk with his son, and Gardiner bishop
of Winchester. Of the charge brought against the Dec. 2.
bishop, we are ignorant. But he prudently threw him-
self on the king's mercy ; and Henry, though he did
not immediately receive him into favour, was pleased,
to the disappointment of his enemies, to accept his
submission.2 The fate of the two Howards was more
calamitous. While the royal mind, tormented with
pain, and anxious for the welfare of the prince, was
alive to every suggestion, their enemies reminded the
1 Norfolk himself in the Tower, and ignorant of the cause of his
imprisonment, seems to attribute it to the reformers. " Undoubt-
" edly," he says to the king, " I know not that I have offended any
" man, or that any man was offended with me, unless it were such
" as are angry with me, for being quick against such as have been
" accused for sacramentaries." — Apud Herbert, 628.
2 The occasion of the king's displeasure appears to have been a
refusal of the bishop to assent to an exchange of lands of his
bishopric. — St. Pap. i. 883. Gardiner afterwards maintained that
this was the work of a conspiracy formed against him ; and offered
to prove his assertion by witnesses in a court of justice. — Burnet,
ii. 165.
206 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, king of their power and ambition, of their hatred of
A.D. 1546. the Seymours, and of the general belief that Surrey
had refused the hand of the daughter of Hertford be-
cause he aspired to that of the lady Mary.
Henry's jealousy was alarmed ; the council received
orders to inquire into their conduct ; their enemies
were invited to furnish charges against them ; and
every malicious insinuation was accepted by the cre-
dulity, and exaggerated by the fears, of the sick
monarch, till at last he persuaded himself that a
conspiracy existed to place the reins of government
in the hands of the Howards during his illness, and
to give them the custody of the prince in the event of
his death.1 The earl was examined before the council
on the same day with the bishop of Winchester. He
defended himself with spirit, and offered in scorn to
fight his accuser in his shirt. Soon afterwards the
duke was summoned to court ; and, on his arrival,
Dec. 12. both father and son, ignorant of each other's arrest,
were conveyed about the same time to separate cells
in the Tower.
The next day the duke's houses, his plate and all his
personal property, were seized by the royal commis-
sioners. Not only several of his servants, but his
mistress, Elizabeth Holland, and even his daughter,
the duchess of Richmond, relict of the king's natural
son, were sent in custody to London to be examined
before the council ; and after a long investigation,
conducted with all that inquisitorial rigour common in
this reign, the charges selected out of the depositions
were laid before Henry. Of these the principal were,
that the duke bore on his escutcheon in the first
1 The ambassadors at foreign courts were instructed that such was
their crime. — Herbert, 617.
EXECUTION OF SURREY. 207
quarter the arms of England with a label of silver, CHAP.
which belonged of right to the king's son ; that the A.D. IMG.
earl had introduced into his the armorial bearings of
Edward the Confessor, which had never been borne by
his ancestors ; that both had sought to marry the
duchess of Richmond to the brother of the earl of
Hertford, " wishing her to endear herself into the
" king's favour, that she might rule as others had
" done ;" 1 and that Surrey had said, " If the king die,
" who should have the rule of the prince but my father
" or I?" In the judgment of Henry the two first
articles proved an intention on the part of the Howards
of claiming the crown, when occasion might serve, to
the disherison of the prince ; the others, an attempt to
rule the king and his son, and thus possess themselves
of the government of the realm. The judges agreeing
with the king, pronounced them sufficient to sustain
an indictment for high treason ; and despatches, ac-
cording to custom, were forwarded to the ambassadors
in foreign parts, stating that the duke and his son had
conspired to assume the government during the king's
life, and to seize the person of the prince on the king's
death.2
The nation had witnessed with surprise the arrest
and imprisonment of these two noblemen. There was
no individual in the realm who possessed more power-
1 If the reader recollect that the duchess was the duke's daughter,
the earl's sister, and widow of the king's son, will he believe that
her father and brother would advise her "to become Henry's
" harlot ?" Yet this is the interpretation put on her words in the
paper laid before the king ! Probably she had been a great favourite
during her husband's life, and therefore they wished her to return
again to court. It was eight years since this marriage was thought
of.— St. Pap. 576.
2 Ibid. i. 889—891. Herb. 264. But see, in justification of the
earl, the patents of the 20th Richard II. to his ancestor Thomas
Mowbray.
208 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, ful claims on the gratitude of Henry than the duke of
A.Dni546. Norfolk. He had devoted a long life to the service of
his sovereign; and had equally distinguished himself
in the cabinet and in the field — in embassies of im-
portance abroad, and in employments of difficulty and
delicacy at home. His son was a nobleman of the
highest promise. To hereditary courage and the ac-
complishments of a court, Surrey added — at that
period no ordinary praise — a refined taste, and a
competent knowledge of the polite arts. His poems,
which delighted his contemporaries, will afford pleasure
to the reader of the present day. But services and
abilities weighed as nothing in the scale against the
1547. interests of the opposite party. As soon as the
holidays were over, the earl, as a commoner, was
arraigned at Guildhall on a charge of having quartered
on his shield the arms of Edward the Confessor. In
an eloquent and spirited defence, he showed that he
had long borne those arms without contradiction, and
that they had been assigned to him by a decision of
the heralds. But the fact was admitted ; the court
Jan. 19. pronounced it sufficient evidence that he aspired to
the throne ; and the jury found him guilty. Six days
later this gallant and accomplished nobleman perished
on the scaffold.1
But it was still more difficult to discover matter
against the father. For some weeks after his arrest
the duke was ignorant of the charge to be adduced
against him. It was in vain that by repeated letters
he requested to be confronted with his accusers, who-
ever they might be, in presence of the king, or at least
of the council.2 At length, after many private examina-
1 See the indictment in Nott's Life of Surrey.
2 " I am sure," he says to the king, " some great enemy of mine
ATTAINDER OF NORFOLK. 200
tions, he consented to sign a confession, which, to CHAP.
every unprejudiced mind, will appear a convincing A.D. 1547,
proof of his innocence. In it he acknowledged that, j~i"2
during his service of so many years, he had communi-
cated occasionally to others the royal secrets, contrary
to his oath ; that he had concealed the treasonable act
of his son in assuming the arms of Edward the Con-
fessor ; and that he had himself treasonably borne on
his shield the arms of England, with the difference of
a label of silver, the right of Prince Edward.1
If by this submission the duke hoped to appease the
royal displeasure, he deceived himself; in another
attempt, to defeat the rapacity of his enemies, he
proved more successful. They had already elicited
a promise from Henry, that the spoils of their victim
" hath informed your majesty of some untrue matter against me.
" Sir, God doth know that in all my life I never thought one untrue
" thought against you, or your succession ; nor can no more judge
" or cast in my mind what should be laid to my charge, than the
" child that was born this night." — " Most noble and sovereign lord,
" for all the old service I have done you in my life, be so good and
" gracious a lord unto me, that either my accusers and I together
" may be brought before your royal majesty, or if your pleasure
" shall not be to take that pains, then before your council." — Herb.
627, 628. In another he repeats his request to be confronted with
his accusers. '" My desire is to have no more favour showed to me,
" than was showed to Cromwell, I being present. He was a false
" man ; but surely I am a true poor gentleman." — Burnet, iii. Re-
cords, 190. He was examined whether he had not written in cipher
to others, whether he had not said that the bishop of Rome could
dissolve the leagues between princes, whether he was not privy to an
overture for an accommodation with the bishop of Rome made by
Gardiner, and what were the contents of a letter written by him
formerly to the bishop of Hereford, and burnt after the death of that
prelate by order of the bishop of Durham. He answered the three
first questions in the negative ; the letter he said contained the
opinion of the northern men respecting Cromwell, but did not so
much as mention the king. — Ibid. 189.
1 The confession is in Herbert, 629. In the " Memorials, &c." of
the " Howard family," by Mr. Howard of Corby, it is shown that
his ancestors had borne these arms from the time of Thomas of
Brotherton, son of Edward I.
VOL. V. JP
210 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, should in certain proportions be shared among them.1
A. D. 1547. But Norfolk, sensible that his estate, if it were pre-
served entire, might be more easily recovered by his
family, sent a petition to the king, representing it as
" good and stately gear," and requesting, as a favour,
that it might be settled on Prince Edward and his
heirs for ever. The idea pleased the sick monarch.
He assented to the petition ; and, to satisfy his
favourites, promised them an equivalent from some
other source. This disappointment, however, did
not retard their proceedings against their prisoner.
Jan. is. Instead of arraigning him before his peers, they
brought into the house of Lords a bill of attainder,
founded on his confession. It had been customary
on such occasions to wait for the royal assent till the
close of the session. But two days after the bill had
Jan. 26. passed, the king suddenly grew worse ; the prece-
dent established in the case of Catherine Howard was
adopted ; and the next morning the chancellor in-
formed the two houses, that his majesty, anxious to
fill up the offices held by the duke of Norfolk, pre-
paratory to the coronation of the prince, had appointed
certain lords to signify his assent to the act of at-
jan. 27. tainder. The commission under the sign manual was
then read ; the royal assent was given in due form ; 2
1 He ordered Paget to " tot upon the earl of Hertford " lands to
the value of 6661. 13s. 4d. per annum ; Sir Thomas Seymour 300/.,
Sir William Herbert 266/. 13s. 4d., the lords Lisle, St. John, and
Russell, and Sir Anthony Denny, 200/. each, and the lord Wrio-
thesley 100/. They were all dissatisfied with the small amount of
these grants. — Burnet, ii. 6, out of the Council Book.
2 Burnet (i. 348) tells us that Cranmer, though the king was so near
his death, withdrew to Croydon, that he might not concur in the act
of attainder, both on account of its injustice, and because he and the
duke were personal enemies. These might indeed have been reasons
why he should abstain from giving his vote ; but that they had no
Weight with the archbishop, is plain from the Journals, which inform
THE KING'S DEATH. 211
and an order was despatched to the lieutenant of the CHAP.
Tower to execute his prisoner on the following morn- A.D. 1547.
ing. Such indecent haste, at a time when the king
was lying in the agonies of death, warranted a suspicion
that there were other persons besides Henry who
thirsted for the blood of the duke. But Providence
watched over his life. Before the sun rose, Henry jan. 23.
was dead. The execution was accordingly suspended ;
and in the reign of Mary the attainder was reversed,
on the ground that the act of which he was accused
was not treason, and that Henry had not signed the
commission, in virtue of which his pretended assent
had been given.1
Of the king's conduct during his sickness, we know
little. It is said that at the commencement he be-
trayed a wish to be reconciled to the see of Rome ;
that the other bishops, afraid of the penalties, evaded
the question ; but that Gardiner advised him to con-
sult his parliament, and to commit his ideas to writing.
He was constantly attended by his confessor, the
bishop of Rochester, heard mass daily in his chamber,
and received the communion under one kind. About Dec. 11.
a month before his death he endowed the magnificent
establishment of Trinity College in Cambridge, for a
master and sixty fellows and scholars ; and afterwards
re-opened the church of the Grey Friars, which, with jan. i.
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and an ample revenue, he
gave to the city of London.
us that, instead of absenting himself, as Burnet would persuade us, he
attended in his place every time the bill was read, and on the day on
which it received the royal assent. — Journals, 285, 286, 287, 289.
1 Lords' Journals, 289. Herbert, 623— 631. Burnet, i. 345—
348. By the act 35 Henry VIII. cap. 21, the king's signature with
his own hand was required to such commission ; this, however, was
not signed with his own hand, but only stamped. — St. Pap. i. 898.
P2
212 HENRY VIII.
CHAP. Of his sentiments on his death-bed nothing can be
A.D. 1547. asserted with any degree of confidence. One account
makes him die in the anguish of despair ; according
to another he refused spiritual aid till he could only
reply to the exhortation of the archbishop by a squeeze
of the hand ; while a third represents him as expiring
in the most edifying sentiments of devotion and re-
pentance.1 He died on Friday, the 28th of January,
about two in the morning.2
Here the reader may pause to notice, as far as the
particulars have transpired, the secret machinations of
the men who during so many weeks had surrounded
the bed of the sick and dying monarch. On Christmas
day the violence of his fever had abated ; and the
next evening, sending for his will, which had already
been drawn by the chancellor, he ordered several alter-
ations to be made in the presence of the Lord Hert-
ford and of five others. Of these alterations the most
important, whether they were the result of his own
judgment, or had been suggested by the party around
him, had for their object to weed out of the list of his
executors the persons most obnoxious to his present
favourites ; namely, the duke of Norfolk, being then
a prisoner in the Tower under a charge of high treason,
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, because he was " too
1 Plusieurs gentils-hommes Anglois m'ont asseure* qu'il cut belle
repentance, et entre lez autres choses de Tinjure et crime commise
centre la dicte royne (meaning Anne Boleyn). — Thevet, Cosmog, 1.
xvi. quoted by O. E. in reply to N. D. anno 1600, p. 58.
2 Journals, 291. Rym. xv. 123. "These be to signify to you
" that our late sovereign lord the king departed at Westminster upon
" Friday last, the 28th of this instant January, about two of the
" clock in the morning ; and the king's majesty that now is, pro-
" claimed king this present last day of the same month." — The earl
of Sussex to the countess, apud Strype, ii. 11. It is, however, plain
that this is no more than a repetition of the report circulated by the
council.
THE KING'S WILL. 213
" wilful," and Thirlby, bishop of Westminster, because CHAP.
he was " schooled by Gardiner."1 After these amend- A.I). 1547
ments, the will might be divided into three parts. By
one, the king provided for the interment of his body,
the celebration of masses, and the distribution of alms
for the benefit of his soul. By a second he limited
the succession, in default of issue by his children
Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, to the descendants of
his younger sister Mary, the French queen, tacitly
excluding the Scottish line, the issue of his eldest
sister Margaret, the queen of Scotland. By the third
he appointed sixteen individuals, Hertford, and par-
tisans of Hertford, executors of his will, and privy
counsellors of his son Edward, giving to them full
power to. choose a wife for the young king, to govern
the kingdom in his name, and to confer all offices in the
gift of the crown, till that prince should have completed
his eighteenth year. Such powers had, indeed, been
conferred upon him by parliament in the twenty-eighth
and thirty-fifth years of his reign ; but these statutes
imperatively required that the instrument, by which
he exercised them, should be signed by him with his
own hand. When, however, the amended copy of the
will was laid before him for execution, he refused,
through inability perhaps, or indecision, or caprice, to
affix his signature. Time rolled on, he became daily
more feeble and incapable ; still he persisted in the
refusal till within a day or two of his death, and then
gave orders that the will should be stamped by William
Clerc, and delivered it in that state to the earl of
Hertford.2 As far as regarded its principal provisions,
1 Foxe, 815, first edition.
2 This will was deposited by order of the council in the treasury
of the Exchequer on the 9th of March, 1547 ; and thence transferred,
214
HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the absence of his signature made it a nullity ; but
A.D. 1547. ten gentlemen belonging to the court had been called
in as witnesses and were artfully, perhaps to conceal
the defect, led to attest that it had been signed by the
king with his own hand in their presence.1 The earl
about fifty years afterwards, to the chapter-house, Westminster, where
it still remains. It bears the signature Henry R. at the beginning
and at the end. From both signatures having been marked with ink,
Mr. Hallam conceived that they were made by Henry himself, and
thence concluding that the will was signed in conformity with the
statutes, declares "it to be of course extremely doubtful whether
" James I., or any of his posterity, were legitimate sovereigns in the
" sense which that word ought to bear." — Constit. Hist. i. c. vi.
But, 1 . It cannot be inferred that the signatures were made with
the king's hand, from the fact that the characters are evidently
written with a pen, because it was the duty of the commissioners to
trace with a pen and ink the impression previously left by the dry
stamp. — See p. 203.
2. It is moreover certain that the signature was stamped. In the
schedule drawn up by Clerc, one of the commissioners of the stamp,
and printed at the end of vol. i. of the State Papers, with this title,
Hereafter ensueth a bridgment of all such billes, which the king's
majesty caused me to stamp with his highnes secret stamp at
dyverse tymes and places in this moneth of Januarie, anno 38
regni, in the presence of Sir Anthonie Dennye, knyght, and Mr.
John Gate, esquier " (see p. 203, before), is the following entry : —
Your majesties last will and testament, bearing date at West-
minster the thirtie day December last past, written in a book of
paper, signed above in the beginning, and beneth in th' end, and
sealed with the signet in the presence of th' erl of Hertford, Mr.
secretarie Paget, Mr. Denny, and Mr. Harbert, and also in the
presence of certain other persons, whose names ar subscribed
with their own hands as witnesses to the same, which testament
your majesty delyvered then in our sights with your own hand to
the said erle of Hertforde as your owne dede, last will and testa-
ment, revoking and annulling all other your highnes former willes
and testaments." This entry sets that question at rest.
I have stated that the will was not executed till a short time before
the king expired. This also appears plain from Clerc's schedule ;
for the number of instruments which he stamped " at divers times
" in the month of January," and which he entered in order, amounted
to eighty-six, of which eighty-four were stamped before the will, and
only one afterwards, on the 27th, but a few hours before the king's
death. — Lords' Journals, i. 289. State Papers, i. 892.
1 The will concluded in the following manner : — " We have signed
" it with our hand in our Palys of Westminster, the thirtie day
THE CHANCELLOR'S SPEECH. 215
then took the will, as if it had been a personal trust, CHAP
into his own custody, to the exclusion of his colleagues ; A.D. 1547
and the moment that Henry expired, set out for
Hertford to announce the intelligence to the young
Edward, who then resided in the castle of that town.
There still remained a considerable difficulty to
be surmounted. How could the executors assume
the government of the kingdom, unless they openly
brought forward the instrument from which they
pretended to derive their authority? And if that
instrument were brought forward openly, in what
manner were they to guard against a discovery that
the royal signature had been formed with the stamp,
and not written with the king's own hand ? It was
resolved to prove the existence of the will without
submitting it to any man's inspection, to exhibit it in
parliament, and at the proclamation of the new sove-
reign, but to read from it those passages only which
circumstances might require. A messenger was de-
spatched the same day from the council to the earl,
who signified his approval of the plan, recommended
the utmost caution in the selection of extracts for
publication, and transmitted to his co-executors the
key of the depository, in which he had placed the
important instrument.1
By the king's death parliament was dissolved ; but
it did not suit the convenience of the party to make
that event public. On Thursday, a few hours before
" of December, in the yere of our Lord 1546. — Being present and
" called to be witnesses these persons which have written their
" names hereunder." Then follow the signatures of ten persons
called in, who, ignorant of this passage, could only bear witness to
what they had seen, the stamping and delivering of the will.—
Rymer, xv. 117.
1 See Hertford's letter written the next day at three in the morn-
ing, in Tytler's Edward and Mary, i. 15.
216 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, the time when he is said to have died, the royal assent
in
A.D. 1547. nad been given to the attainders of the duke of
Norfolk and his son; and the houses had been ad-
journed to the Saturday following. On that day they
met as usual ; the business of both was transacted
after the accustomed manner ; and,, probably to carry
on the deception, a bill was sent from the Lords to the
Commons to secure a grant of lands to Sir William
Paget, the king's principal secretary. Nothing had
yet transpired respecting Henry death ; no suspicion
of that event was hinted in parliament ; and Wrio-
thesley, the chancellor, boldly, as if he knew that the
king was still living, adjourned the house to the
Monday following.
On that day he sent for the Commons to the house
of Lords, and announced to them " the loss of their
" good master," who had died on the preceding
Friday. But he could proceed no further. His
utterance now failed him ; the tears rolled down his
cheeks ; and sobs and sighs burst in sympathy from
every part of the hall. After this outbreak of feeling
he resumed his speech. " Their beloved monarch,"
he added, " had not been unmindful of them ; he had
" amply, by his last will and testament, provided for
" their welfare and for the government of the kingdom
" during the minority of his successor." Sir William
Paget followed immediately, holding out the will
itself, and reading from it occasional passages to
gratify their curiosity : those passages principally
which limited the succession, recorded the names
of the individuals appointed executors to Henry and
privy councillors to his son, and detailed the powers
with which they were invested, the manner of dis-
1 Lords' Journals, i. 290.
CHARACTER OF HENRY. 217
charging the personal debts of the late king, and the CHAP.
legacies in money which he had left to his servants. A.D. 1547.
When Paget had done, the chancellor gave to the
Commons license to depart, but requested the Lords
to remain in the capital, that they might welcome
their young sovereign on his arrival, and give their
attendance at his coronation.* After this exhibition
it could not be expected that any man would dispute
the existence of the will, or venture to call for proof
that it had been executed in strict conformity with
the statutes.
We may now return to the defunct monarch. To
form a just estimate of the character of Henry, we
must distinguish between the young king, guided by
the counsels of Wolsey, and the monarch of more
mature age, governing by his own judgment, and with
the aid of ministers selected and fashioned by himself.
In his youth the beauty of his person, the elegance of
his manners, and his adroitness in every martial and
fashionable exercise, were calculated to attract the
admiration of his subjects. His court was gay and
splendid ; and a succession of amusements seemed
to absorb his attention ; yet his pleasures were not
permitted to encroach on his more important duties ;
he assisted at the council, perused the despatches, and
corresponded with his generals and ambassadors ; nor
did the minister, trusted and powerful as he was, dare
to act, till he had asked the opinion, and taken the
pleasure of his sovereign. His natural abilities had
been improved by study ; and his esteem for literature
may be inferred from the learned education which he
gave to his children, and from the number of eminent
scholars to whom he granted pensions in foreign
1 Lords' Journals, i. 291.
218 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, states, or on whom he bestowed preferment in his
A.D. 1547. own. The immense treasure which he inherited from
his father was perhaps a misfortune ; because it en-
gendered habits of expense not to be supported from
the ordinary revenue of the crown ; and the soundness
of his politics may be doubted, which, under the pre-
tence of supporting the balance of power, repeatedly
involved the nation in continental hostilities. Yet
even these errors served to throw a lustre round the
English throne, and raised its possessor in the eyes
of his own subjects and of the different nations of
Europe. But as the king advanced in age, his vices
gradually developed themselves ; after the death of
Wolsey they were indulged without restraint. He
became as rapacious as he was prodigal ; as obstinate
as he was capricious ; as fickle in his friendships, as he
was merciless in his resentments. Though liberal of
his confidence, he soon grew suspicious of those whom
he had trusted ; and, as if he possessed no other right
to the crown than that which he derived from the
very questionable claim of his father, he viewed with
an evil eye every remote descendant of the Planta-
genets ; and eagerly embraced the slightest pretexts to
remove those whom his jealousy represented as future
rivals to himself or his posterity. In pride and vanity
he was perhaps without a parallel. Inflated with the
praises of interested admirers, he despised the judg-
ment of others ; acted as if he deemed himself in-
fallible in matters of policy and religion ; and seemed
to look upon dissent from his opinion as equivalent to
a breach of allegiance. In his estimation, to submit
and obey were the great, the paramount duties of
subjects ; and this persuasion steeled his breast against
remorse for the blood which he shed, and led him
THE PEERS IMPOVERISHED. 219
to trample without scruple on the liberties of the CHAP.
in.
nation. A.D. 1547.
When he ascended the throne, there still existed a —
spirit of freedom, which on more than one occasion
defeated the arbitrary measures of the court, though
directed by an able minister, and supported by the
authority of the sovereign ; but in the lapse of a few
years that spirit had fled, and before the death of
Henry, the king of England had grown into a despot,
the people had shrunk into a nation of slaves.1 The
causes of this important change, in the relations be-
tween the sovereign and his subjects, may be found
not so much in the abilities or passions of the former,
as in the obsequiousness of his parliaments, his as-
sumption of the ecclesiastical supremacy, and the
servility of the two religious parties which divided the
nation.
I. The house of Peers no longer consisted of those
powerful lords and prelates, who in former periods had
so often and so successfully resisted the encroachments
of the sovereign. The reader has already witnessed
the successive steps by which most of the great
families of the preceding reigns had become extinct,
and their immense possessions had been frittered away
among the favourites and dependants of the court.
The most opulent of the peers under Henry were poor
in comparison with their predecessors ; and by the
operation of the statute against liveries, they had lost
the accustomed means of arming their retainers in
1 Quando enim unquam, non dico in Anglia, ubi semper populi
liberiores sub regum imperio fuerunt, sed omnino in aliquo Chris-
tianorum regno, auditum est, ut unus sic plus omnibus posset, et
sic omnia sure potestati ac libidini subjecta haberet, ut nullum cui-
quam contra illius voluntatem presidium in legibus constitutum esset.
sed regis nutus omnia moderaretur. — Pole, fol. ci.
220 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, support of their quarrels. In general they were new
A.D.1547. men, indebted for their present honours and estates to
the bounty of Henry or of his father ; and the proud-
est among the rest, by witnessing the attainders and
executions of others, had been taught to tremble for
themselves, and to crouch in submission at the foot of
a master, whose policy it was to depress the great, and
punish their errors without mercy, while he selected
his favourites from the lowest classes, heaping on them
honours and riches, and confiding to them the exercise
of his authority.1
2. By the separation of the realm from the see of
Rome, the dependence of the spiritual had been ren-
dered still more complete than that of the temporal
peers. Their riches had been diminished, their im-
munities taken away ; the support which they might
have derived from the protection of the pontiff was
gone ; they were nothing more than the delegates of
the king, exercising a precarious authority determin-
able at his pleasure. The ecclesiastical constitutions,
which had so long formed part of the law of the land,
now depended on his breath, and were executed only
by his sufferance. The convocation indeed continued
to be summoned ; but its legislative authority was
gone. Its principal business was to grant money ; yet
even these grants now owed their force, not to the
consent of the grantors, but to the approbation of the
other two houses, and the assent of the crown.2
1 Sic nobiles semper tractavisti, ut nullius principatu minore in
honore fuerint ; in quos, si quid leviter deliquissent, acerbissimus
fuisti ; nihil unquam cuiquam condonasti ; omnes despicatui ha-
buisti ; nullum apud te honoris aut gratise locum obtinere passus es :
cum interea semper alienissimos homines ex infima plebe assumptos
circum te habueris, quibus summa omnia deferres. — Pole,fol. Ixxxiii.
2 Journals, 156, 218, 277. The first instance which I find was
in 1540.
SUBSERVIENCY OF PARLIAMENT. 221
3. As for the third branch of the legislature, the CHAP.
commons of England, they had not yet acquired suffi- A>D
cient importance to oppose any effectual barrier to the
power of the sovereign ; yet care was taken that
among them the leading members should be devoted
to the crown, and that the speaker should be one
holding office, or high in the confidence of the minis-
ters.1 Freedom of debate was, indeed, granted ; but
with a qualification which in reality amounted to a
refusal. It was only a decent freedom ;2 and as the
king reserved to himself the right of deciding what
was or was not decent, he frequently put down the
opponents of the court, by reprimanding the " varlets "
in person, or by sending to them a threatening mes-
It is plain that from parliaments thus constituted,
the crown had little to fear ; and though Wolsey had
sought to govern without their aid, Henry found them
so obsequious to his will, that he convoked them re-
peatedly, and was careful to have his most wanton
and despotic measures sanctioned with their approba-
tion. The parliament, as often as it was opened or
closed by the king in person, offered a scene not
unworthy of an oriental divan. The form indeed
differed but little from, our present usage. The king
1 The members were in a great measure named by the crown or
the Lords. See a letter of the earl of Southampton to Cromwell,
Cleop. E. iv. 176, and another from Gardiner to the council, remind-
ing them that the house of Commons was not complete, because he
had not made returns as usual for several places (Foxe, ii. 69).
The treasurer and comptroller of the household were accustomed to
conduct the business of the crown. The former generally named the
speaker. See the Journals of the Commons for the following reigns,
p. 24, 27, 37.
2 Journals, 167. This is the first time during Henry's reign that
the request of freedom of speech is mentioned in the Journals, anno
1542.
222 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, sat on his throne ; on the right hand stood the
A.D. 1547. chancellor, on the left the lord treasurer ; whilst the
peers were placed on their benches, and the commons
stood at the bar. But the addresses made on these
occasions by the chancellor or the speaker, usually
lasted more than an hour ; and their constant theme
was the character of the king. The orators, in their
efforts to surpass each other, fed his vanity with the
most hyperbolical praise. Cromwell was unable, he
believed all men were unable, to describe the unutter-
able qualities of the royal mind, the sublime virtues of
the royal heart. Rich told him that in wisdom he
was equal to Solomon, in strength and courage to
Sampson, in beauty and address to Absalom ; and
Audeley declared before his face, that God had
anointed him with the oil of wisdom above his fellows,
above the other kings of the earth, above all his pre-
decessors ; had given him a perfect knowledge of the
Scriptures, with which he had prostrated the Roman
Goliath ; a perfect knowledge of the art of war, by
which he had gained the most brilliant victories at the
same time in remote places ; and a perfect knowledge
of the art of government, by which he had for thirty
years secured to his own realm the blessings of peace,
while all the other nations of Europe suffered the
calamities of war.
During these harangues, as often as the words " most
" sacred majesty"1 were repeated, or any emphatic
expression was pronounced, the lords rose, and the
whole assembly, in token of respect and assent, bowed
profoundly to the demi-god on the throne. Henry
1 The title of Majesty is given to Henry II. in two passages of the
" Black Book of the Exchequer," i. 133, 255 ; the most ancient in-
stances I have met with.
ECCLESIASTICAL INFLUENCE. 223
himself affected to hear such fulsome adulation with CHAP.
indifference. His answer was invariably the same ; A.D. 1547.
that he had no claim to superior excellence ; but that,
if he did possess it, he gave the glory to God, the
Author of all good gifts ; it was, however, a pleasure
to him to witness the affection of his subjects, and to
learn that they were not insensible of the blessings
which they enjoyed under his government.1
II. It is evident that the new dignity of head of the
church, by transferring to the king that authority
which had been hitherto exercised by the pontiff, must
have considerably augmented the influence of the
crown ; but in addition, the arguments by which it
was supported tended to debase the spirit of the
people, and to exalt the royal prerogative above law
and equity. When the adversaries of the supremacy
asked in what passage of the sacred writings the
government of the church was given to a layman, its
advocates boldly appealed to those texts which pre-
scribe obedience to the established authorities. The
king, they maintained, was the image of God upon
earth ; to disobey his commands was to disobey God
himself; to limit his authority, when no limit was laid
down, was an offence against the sovereign; and to make
distinctions, when the Scripture made none, was an
impiety against God. It was indeed acknowledged
that this supreme authority might be employed un-
reasonably and unjustly ; but even then to resist was
a crime ; it became the duty of the sufferer to submit ;
and his only resource was to pray that the heart of his
oppressor might be changed ; his only consolation to
reflect, that the king himself would hereafter be sum-
moned to answer for his conduct before an unerring
1 See the Journals, 86, 101, 129, 161, 162, 164, 167.
224 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, tribunal. Henry became a sincere believer in a doc-
A.D. 1547. trine so flattering to his pride, and easily persuaded
himself that he did no more than his duty in punishing
with severity the least opposition to his will. To im-
press it on the minds of the people, it was perpetually
inculcated from the pulpit ; it was enforced in books
of controversy and instruction; it was promulgated
with authority in the " Institution " and afterwards in
the " Erudition of a Christian Man."1 From that
period the doctrine of passive obedience formed a
leading trait in the orthodox creed.
III. The two great parties, into which religious
disputes had divided the nation, contributed also to
strengthen the despotic power of Henry. They were
too jealous of each other to watch, much less to resist,
the encroachments of the crown. The great object of
both was the same ; to win the favour of the king, that
they might crush the power of their adversaries ; and
with this view they flattered his vanity, submitted to
his caprice, and became obsequious slaves to his plea-
sure. Henry, on the other hand, whether it were
through policy or accident, played them off against
each other ; sometimes appearing to lean to the old,
sometimes to the new doctrines, alternately raising
and depressing the hopes of each, but never suffering
either party to obtain the complete ascendancy over
1 See Gardiner's Treatise de vera Obedientia, in the Fasciculus
rerum expetendarum, ii. 800 ; and Sampson's de Obedientia Regi
prsestanda; ibid. 820 ; also Strype, i. 111. Thus we are told in a
sermon by Archbishop Cranmer : " Though the magistrates be evil
" and very tyrants against the commonwealth, and enemies to
" Christ's religion, yet ye subjects must obey in all worldly things
" as the Christians do under the truth, and ought so to do, as long
" as he commandeth them not to do against God." — Strype's Cran-
mer, Rec. 114. See also the king's books, the Articles, the Institu-
tion, and the Erudition of a Christian Man.
EXTRAORDINARY STATUTES. 225
its opponent. Thus he kept them in a state of de- CHAP.
pendence on his will, and secured their concurrence A.D. 1547.
to every measure which his passion or caprice might
suggest, without regard to reason or justice, or the
fundamental laws of the land. Of the extraordinary
enactments which followed, a few instances may suffice.
1. The succession to the crown was repeatedly altered,
and at length left to the king's private judgment or
affection. The right was first taken from Mary, and
given to Elizabeth ; then transferred from Elizabeth
to the king's issue by Jane Seymour or any future
queen ; next restored, on the failure of issue by Prince
Edward, to both Mary and Elizabeth ; and lastly,
failing issue by them, entailed upon any person or
persons to whom it should please him to assure
it in remainder by his last will.1 2. Treasons were
multiplied by the most vexatious, and often, if
ridicule could attach to so grave a matter, by the
most ridiculous laws. It was once treason to dis-
pute, it was afterwards treason to maintain, the
validity of the marriage with Anne Boleyn, or the
legitimacy of her daughter. It became treason to
marry, without the royal license, any of the king's
children, whether legitimate or natural, or his paternal
brothers or sisters, or their issue ; or for any woman
to marry the king himself, unless she were a maid, or
had previously revealed to him her former incon-
tinence. It was made treason to call the king a
heretic or schismatic, openly to wish him harm, or to
slander him, his wife, or his issue.2 This, the most
heinous of crimes in the eye of the law, was extended
r
1 25 Hen. VIII. 22. 28 Hen. VIII. 7. 35 Hen. VIII. 2.
2 25 Hen. VIII. 22. 26 Hen. VIII. 13. 28 Hen. VIII.
32 Hen. VIII. 25. 33 Hen. VIII. 21.
VOL. V. o
226 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, from deeds and assertions to the very thoughts of men.
A.D. 1547. Its guilt was incurred by any person who should, by
words, writing, imprinting, or any other exterior act,
directly or indirectly accept or take, judge or believe,
that either of the royal marriages, that with Catherine,
or that with Anne Boleyn, was valid, or who should
protest that he was not bound to declare his opinion,
or should refuse to swear that he would answer truly
such questions as should be asked him on those dan-
gerous subjects. It would be difficult to discover,
under the most despotic governments, a law more
cruel and absurd. The validity or invalidity of the
two marriages was certainly matter of opinion, sup-
ported and opposed on each side by so many contra-
dictory arguments, that men of the soundest judgment
might reasonably be expected to differ from each
other. Yet Henry, by this statute, was authorized
to dive into the breast of every individual, to extort
from him his secret sentiments upon oath, and to
subject him to the penalty of treason, if those senti-
ments did not accord with the royal pleasure.1 3. The
king was made in a great measure independent of parlia-
ment, by two statutes, one of which put his proclama-
tions on the same footing with acts of parliament, pro-
vided they did not set aside laws actually in force, nor
enjoin the penalties of disherison or death in any cases
but those of heretical doctrine ; the other appointed a
tribunal, consisting of nine privy counsellors, with
power to punish all transgressors of such proclama-
tions.2 4. The dreadful punishment of heresy was not
1 28 Hen. VIII. c. 7.
2 31 Hen. VIII. 8. 34 Hen. VIII. 23. We learn from a letter
of Bishop Gardiner that these statutes originated from a decision of the
judges, that the council could not punish certain merchants, who had
PROSECUTIONS FOR TREASON. 227
confined to those who rejected the doctrines which had CHAP.
already been declared orthodox, but it was extended A.D. 1547,
beforehand to all persons who should teach or main-
tain any opinion contrary to such doctrines as the king
might afterwards publish. If the criminal were a
clergyman, he was to expiate his third offence at the
stake ; if a layman, to forfeit his personal property,
and be imprisoned for life.1 Thus was Henry invested,
by act of parliament, with the high prerogative of
theological infallibility, and an obligation was laid on
all men, without exception, whether of the new or of
the old learning, to model their religious opinions and
religious practice by the sole judgment of their sove-
reign. 5. By an ex post facto law, those who had
taken the first oath against the papal authority, were
reputed to have taken, and to be bound by, a second
and much more comprehensive oath, which was after-
wards enacted, and which, perhaps, had it been ten-
dered to them at first, they would have refused.2
But that which made the severity of these statutes
the more terrible, was the manner in which criminal
prosecutions were then conducted. The crown could
hardly fail in convicting the prisoner, whatever might
be his guilt or his innocence. He was first inter-
exported grain in defiance of a royal proclamation ; because they were
permitted to export it by act of parliament, as long as it was below
a particular price. — See Letter, apud Burnet, ii. Rec. 114. On this
account it was that the king required that his proclamations should
have the force of acts of parliament. The bill did not pass without
" many large words." — Ibid. When it did pass, the reason assigned
was, " that the king might not not be driven to extend his royal
" supremacy." As some check on the exercise of this new preroga-
tive, it was required that the majority of the council should advise
the proclamation ; and it was moreover declared, that such procla-
mation derived all its force " from the authority of this act," — a
declaration which preserved the superior authority of parliament.
See the statute itself.
1 34 Hen. VIII. 1. 2 35 Hen. VIII. 1.
228 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, rogated in his cell, urged with the hope of pardon to
A.D. 1547. make a confession, or artfully led by ensnaring ques-
tions into dangerous admissions. When the materials
of the prosecution were completed, they were laid
before the grand inquest ; and, if the bill was found,
the conviction of the accused might be pronounced
certain; for, in the trial which followed, the real
question submitted to the decision of the petit jury
was, which of the two were more worthy of credit — the
prisoner who maintained his innocence, or the grand
inquest which had pronounced his guilt. With this
view the indictment, with a summary of the proofs on
which it had been found, was read ; and the accused,
now perhaps for the first time acquainted with the
nature of the evidence against him, was indulged with
the liberty of speaking in his own defence. Still he
could not insist on the production of his accusers
that he might obtain the benefit of cross-examination ;
nor claim the aid of counsel to repel the taunts, and
unravel the sophistry, too often employed at that
period by the advocates of the crown.1 In this
1 I speak with diffidence on this subject ; but I conceive that the
refusal to confront the accusers with the accused grew out of the
ancient manner of administering justice, and was strictly conformable
to the practice of the courts of law. Originally there was but one
jury, that which is called the grand inquest. If the prisoner, on the
presentment of this jury, pleaded not guilty, the judge might allow
him to prove his innocence by the ordeal, afterwards by the ordeal
or battle, and lastly by his country, that is, by the verdict of a petit
jury, who should decide on the presentment by the grand inquest.
But in this case none of the former jury, or their witnesses, techni-
cally termed accusers, and identified with them, could be produced
in court ; because they were an interested party, the propriety of
whose proceedings was now upon trial ; and on that account the
names of the accusers were returned on the back of the indictment,
that they might be challenged as witnesses. It was first in the
reign of Edward VI. that the law allowed the accusers to be
brought forward ; and after that it was long before the judges could
be prevailed upon to depart from the ancient practice. — See
ATTAINDER WITHOUT TRIAL. 229
method of trial, every chance was in favour of the CHAP.
in
prosecution ; and yet it was gladly exchanged for the A.D. 1547.
expedient discovered by Cromwell, and afterward em-
ployed against its author. Instead of a public trial,
the minister introduced a bill of attainder into parlia-
ment, accompanied with such documents as he thought
proper to submit. It was passed by the two houses
with all convenient expedition ; and the unfortunate
prisoner found himself condemned to the scaffold or
the gallows, without the opportunity of opening his
mouth in his own vindication.
To proceed by attainder became the usual practice
in the latter portion of the king's reign. It was more
certain in the result, by depriving the accused of the
few advantages which he possessed in the ordinary
courts ; it enabled the minister to gratify the royal
suspicion or resentment without the danger of refuta-
tion, or of unpleasant disclosures ; and it satisfied the
minds of the people, who, unacquainted with the real
merits of the case, could not dispute the equity of a
judgment given with the unanimous assent of the
whole legislature.
Thus it was that by the obsequiousness of the par-
liament, the assumption of the ecclesiastical supremacy,
and the servility of religious factions, Henry acquired
and exercised the most despotic sway over the lives,
the fortunes, and the liberties of his subjects. Happily,
the forms of a free government were still suffered to
Mr. Reeves's HKory of English Law, ii. 268, 459 ; iv. 494—505.
At the trial of the duke of Buckingham the witnesses or accusers
were indeed brought before him. But it seems to have been a
particular indulgence ; "for the king had commanded that the laws
" should be ministered to him with favour and right." Nor does it
appear that then they were cross-examined. " Their depositions were
" read, and the deponents were delivered as prisoners to the officers
" of the Tower."— Hall, fol. 85.
230 HENRY VIII.
CHAP, exist ; into these forms a spirit of resistance to arbi-
A.D. 1547. trary power gradually infused itself ; the pretensions
of the crown were opposed by the claims of the people ;
and the result of a long and arduous struggle was
that constitution which for more than a century has
excited the envy and the admiration of Europe.
231
CHAPTER IV.
EDWARD VI.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Emperor.
Charles V.
Ks. of France.
Francis 1547
K. of Spain.
Charles V.
Henry II.
Popes.
Paul III 1549. Julius III.
Q. of Scotland.
Mary.
HERTFORD IS MADE PROTECTOR AND DUKE OF SOMERSET WAR
WITH SCOTLAND BATTLE OF PINKENCLEUGH PROGRESS OF THE
REFORMATION— BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER — LORD ADMIRAL AR-
RESTED AND BEHEADED DISCONTENT AND INSURRECTIONS
FRANCE DECLARES WAR PROTECTOR IS SENT TO THE TOWER
AND DISCHARGED PEACE DEPRIVATION OF BISHOPS TROUBLES
OF THE LADY MARY FOREIGN PREACHERS SOMERSET ARRESTED
AND EXECUTED NEW PARLIAMENT WARWICK'S AMBITION
DEATH OF THE KING.
THE reader is already acquainted with the ingenious CHAP.
device by which, at the same time that the radical A.D^54
defect in the will of the late sovereign was concealed,
the more important of its provisions were made public.
The sixteen executors to whom Henry had confided
the government of the king and kingdom, during
the minority of his son Edward, — he was only nine
years old, — were, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury ;
the lord Wriothesley, lord chancellor ; the lord
St. John, great master ; the earl of Hertford, great
chamberlain, and uncle to the young king ; the lord
232 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Russell, privy seal ; the viscount Lisle, high admiral ;
A.D. 1547. Tunstall, bishop of Durham ; Sir Anthony Brown,
master of the horse ; Sir Edward Montague, chief
justice of the Common Pleas ; Mr. Justice Bromley ;
Sir Edward North, chancellor of the court of Aug-
mentations ; Sir William Paget, chief secretary ; Sir
Anthony Denny, and Sir William Herbert, chief gen-
tlemen of the privy chamber ; Sir Edward Wotton,
treasurer of Calais ; and Dr. Wotton, dean of Canter-
bury and York. The publication of these names
provoked the murmurs of many, the surprise of all.
It was remarked that they were not only new men,
raised to honours and office by the judgment or par-
tiality of the late king, but for the most part the very
individuals who had constantly attended him during
his sickness, and had possessed exclusively the benefit
of access to his person. To aid them in cases of diffi-
culty, the will had appointed a second council, consist-
ing of twelve persons : the earls of Arundel and Essex,
Sir Thomas Cheyney, treasurer, and Sir John Gage,
comptroller of the household ; Sir Anthony Wingfield,
vice-chamberlain ; Sir William Petre, chief secretary ;
Sir Richard Rich, Sir John Baker, Sir Ralph Sadler,
Sir Thomas Seymour, another uncle of the young king,
Sir Richard Southwell, and Sir Edmund Peckham.
But these were not invested with any real authority.
They could only tender their advice on occasions when
it might be required.1
The new king was proclaimed immediately after
the publication of the will by the chancellor — on the
Monday. On the same day the executors, being as-
Jan. 31. sembled in the Tower, " resolved not only to stand to
" and maintain the last will and testament of their
i Rym. xv. 114, 116.
EARL OF HERTFORD PROTECTOR. 233
" master the late king, and every part and article of CHAP.
" the same, to the uttermost of their power, wits, and A.D.Vi547.
" cunning, but also that every one of them present
" should take a corporal oath upon a book, for the
" more assured and effectual accomplishment of the
" same."1 Scarcely, however, had they taken this
oath, when they were called upon to break it by the
ambition of the earl of Hertford ; whose partisans Feb. i.
pretended that for convenience and despatch it would
be necessary to appoint one of the council to transact
business with the foreign envoys, and to represent on
other occasions the person of the young sovereign.
By Wriothesley the project was opposed with boldness
and warmth. He appealed to the words and the
spirit of the will, by which all the executors were
invested with equal powers ; and he contended that,
by giving to themselves a superior, they would in-
validate that which was the only foundation of their
present authority. But to argue was fruitless. A
majority had been previously secured ; the chancellor
withdrew his opposition, on an understanding that the
new officer should not presume to act without the
assent of the majority of the council ; and the earl
of Hertford was immediately appointed protector of
the realm, and guardian of the king's person. His
talents were perhaps unequal to the situation ; but
two circumstances pleaded in his favour. He was
uncle to the king ; and he could not boast of royal
blood in his veins. The first naturally interested him
in the welfare of his nephew ; the second forbade him
to aspire to the throne.
In the afternoon the executors conducted Edward
1 Council-book, Harl. MS. 352. Bromley and the two Wottons
were absent.
234 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, into the chamber of presence, where all the lords
A.D. 1547. temporal and spiritual waited to receive him. Each
in succession approached the king, kissed his hand
kneeling, and said, " God save your grace." The
chancellor then explained to them the dispositions in
the will of their late sovereign, and the resolution of
his executors to place the earl of Hertford at their
head. They unanimously signified their assent ; the
new protector expressed his gratitude ; and Edward,
pulling off his cap, said, " We heartily thank you, my
" lords all ; and, hereafter, in all that ye shall have to
" do with us for any suit or causes, ye shall be heartily
" welcome." The appointment of Hertford was an-
nounced by proclamation, and was received with
transports of joy by all who were attached to the
new doctrines, or who sought to improve their for-
tunes at the expense of the church.1
In this instance the members of the council had
been driven by the ambition of Hertford to violate the
known will of their late sovereign ; in another and
more doubtful matter they were induced by views of
personal interest to execute with scrupulous exactitude
certain designs, which he was said to have formed.
By a clause in the body of the will, Henry had charged
them with the obligation of ratifying every gift, of
performing every promise, which he should have made
before his death. What these gifts and promises might
be, must, it was presumed, be known to Paget, Her-
1 Bui-net, ii. 4. Stowe, 593. Strype, 14. That the office of
protector was the object of Hertford's ambition, and that he had
previously intrigued to obtain it, is evident from a letter written to
him afterwards by Paget. " Remember what you promised me in
" the gallery at Westminster, before the breath was out of the body
" of the king that dead is ; remember what you promised me imme-
" diately after, devising with me about the place which you now
" occupy." July 7, 1549. — Apud Strype, ii. Rec. p. 109.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL. 235
bert, and Denny, who had stood high in the confidence, CHAP.
and had been constantly in the chamber, of the dying A.D. 1547.
monarch. These gentlemen were therefore inter-
rogated before their colleagues; and from their de-
positions it was inferred, that the king had intended
to give a dukedom to Hertford ; to create the earl of
Essex, his queen's brother, a marquess ; to raise the
Viscount Lisle and Lord Wriothesley to the higher rank
of earls, and to confer the title of baron on Sir Thomas
Seymour, Sir Richard Rich, Sir John St. Leger, Sir
William Willoughby, Sir Edward Sheffield, and Sir
Christopher Danby ; and that, to enable the new peers
to support their respective titles, he had destined for
Hertford an estate in land of eight hundred pounds
per annum, with a yearly pension of three hundred
pounds from the first bishopric which should become
vacant, and the incomes of a treasurership, a deanery,
and six prebends in different cathedrals ; for each of
the others a proportionate increase of yearly income ;
and for the three deponents, Paget, Herbert, and
Denny, four hundred pounds, four hundred marks,
and two hundred pounds.1 Two out of the number,
St. Leger and Danby, had sufficient virtue to refuse
the money and the honours which were « allotted to
them ; Hertford was created duke of Somerset, Essex
marquess of Northampton, Lisle earl of Warwick, Feb. 16.
Wriothesley earl of Southampton, and Seymour, Rich,
1 Burnet, ex lib. Cone. ii. 7. It is observable that the deponents
say : " The king, being on his death-bed put in mind of what he had
" promised, ordered it to be put in his will, that his executors should
" perform every thing that should appear to have been promised by
" him." — Ibid. Such a clause, indeed, appears in the body of the
will. But how could it be there, if Henry ordered it to be inserted
only when he was on his death-bed, that is, about the 28th of
January ? The will purports to have been executed four weeks
before, on the 30th of December.
236 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Willoughby, and Sheffield, barons of the same names ;
A.D. 1547. and to all these, with the exception of the two last,
and to Cranmer, Paget, Herbert, and Denny, and
more than thirty other persons, were assigned in
different proportions manors and lordships out of the
lands which had belonged to the dissolved monasteries,
or still belonged to the existing bishoprics.1 But Sir
Thomas Seymour was not satisfied ; as uncle of the
king he aspired to office no less than rank ; and, to
appease his discontent, the new earl of Warwick re-
signed in his favour the patent of high admiral, and
was indemnified with that of great chamberlain, which
Somerset had exchanged for the dignities of lord high
treasurer and earl marshal, forfeited by the attainder
of the duke of Norfolk.2 These proceedings did not
pass without severe animadversion. Why, it was
asked, were not the executors content with the au-
thority which they derived from the will of their late
master? Why did they reward themselves before-
hand, instead of waiting till their young sovereign
should be of age, when he might recompense their
services according to their respective merits ?
The interment of Henry was performed in the usual
Feb. 20. style of royal magnificence ; 3 but at the coronation of
1 See the names in Strype, ii. 78.
2 Rym. xv. 124, 127, 130. Stowe, 593.
3 The body lay in state in the chapel of Whitehall, which was
hung with black cloth. Eighty large wax tapers were kept con-
stantly burning ; twelve lords mourners sat around, within a rail ;
and every day masses and a dirge were performed. At the com-
mencement of the service, Norroy king at arms called aloud : "Of
" your charity pray for the soul of the high and mighty prince, our
" late sovereign lord, Henry VIII." On the 14th of February, the
body was removed to Sion House, on the 15th to Windsor, and the
next day was interred in the midst of the choir, near to the body of
Jane Seymour. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, preached the
sermon and read the funeral service. When he cast the mould into
the grave, saying, pulvis pulveri, cinis cineri, the lord great master,
THE KING CROWNED. 237
bis son, men observed with surprise several departures CHAP.
from ancient precedent. That the delicate health of A.D.IM
the young king might not suffer from fatigue, the
accustomed ceremony was considerably abridged ; and,
under pretence of respect for the laws and constitution
of the realm, an important alteration was introduced
into that part of the form, which had been devised by
our Saxon ancestors, to put the new sovereign in mind
that he held his crown by the free choice of the nation.
Hitherto it had been the custom for the archbishop,
first to receive the king's oath, and then, having ex-
plained the obligations of that oath, to ask the people
if they were willing to accept him on those terms, and
to obey him as their liege lord. Now the order was
inverted ; and not only did the address to the people
precede the oath of the king, but in that very address
they were reminded that he held his crown by descent,
and that it was their duty to submit to his rule. " Sirs,"
said the metropolitan, " I here present King Edward,
" rightful and undoubted inheritor, by the laws of God
" and man, to the royal dignity and crown imperial of
" this realm, whose consecration, inunction, and coro-
" nation, is appointed by all the nobles and peers of
" the land to be this day. Will ye serve at this time,
" and give your good wills and assents to the same
" consecration, inunction, and coronation, as by your
" duty of allegiance ye be bound to do ?" When the
acclamations of the spectators had subsided, the young
the lord chamberlain, the treasurer, comptroller, and gentlemen
ushers, broke their staves into three parts over their heads, and threw
the fragments upon the coffin. The psalm, " De profundis," was
then said ; and Garter king at arms, attended by the archbishop of
Canterbury and the bishop of Durham, immediately proclaimed the
style of the new sovereign. —See Sandford, 492 ; Strype, ii. Rec.
3—17 ; Hay ward, 275.
238 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Edward was led to the altar, where he took the oath,
A.D. 1547. not that of former times, but one made for the present
occasion; by which he bound himself, — "I. To the
" people of England, to keep the laws and liberties of
" the realm ; 2. To the church and the people, to
" keep peace and concord ; 3. To do in all his judg-
" ments equal justice ; 4. To make no laws but to the
" honour of God, and the good of the commonwealth,
" and by the consent of the people as had been ac-
66 customed." He was next anointed after the ancient
form ; the protector and the archbishop placed on his
head successively three crowns, emblematic of the
three kingdoms of England, France, and Ireland ; and
the lords and prelates first did homage two by two,
and then in a body promised fealty on their knees.1
Instead of a sermon, Cranmer pronounced a short
address to the new sovereign, telling him that the
promises which he had just made could not affect his
right to sway the sceptre of his dominions. That right
he, like his predecessors, had derived from God ;
whence it followed, that neither the bishop of Rome,
nor any other bishop, could impose conditions on him
at his coronation, nor pretend to deprive him of his
crown on the plea that he had broken his coronation
oath. Yet these solemn rites served to admonish him
of his duties, which were, " as God's vicegerent and
" Christ's vicar, to see that God be worshipped, and
" idolatry be destroyed ; that the tyranny of the bishop
1 Compare the ancient form in Rymer, vii. 158, with this in
Burnet, ii. Records, 93 ; and Strype's Cranmer, 142. No notice
was taken of the form of oath devised by Henry VIII. to be used
" at every coronation," by which the king bound himself to keep
only such rights of the church, and such customs of the realm, as
were " not prejudicial to his jurisdiction and imperial duty." — See it
in Ellis, vol. i. title-page.
AMBITION OF SOMERSET. 239
" of Rome be banished, and images be removed ; to CHAP.
" reward virtue, and revenge vice ; to justify the in- A.D!^;
" nocent and relieve the poor ; to repress violence, and
" execute justice. Let him do this, and he would
" become a second Josias, whose fame would remain
" to the end of days." The ceremony was concluded
with a solemn high mass, sung by the archbishop.1
As soon as Henry VI. had been crowned at the age
of eight years, his uncle, the duke of Gloucester, was
compelled to resign the office of protector, and to
content himself with the title of prime counsellor.2
But this precedent did not accord with the ambition
of Somerset, who instead of descending from the
height to which he had risen, aspired to render himself
entirely independent of his colleagues. In the at-
tempt he could rely on the cordial support of Cranmer,
and of the partisans of the reformation ; but he antici-
pated a formidable opposition from the legal know-
ledge and undaunted mind of the chancellor, the new
earl of Southampton. The conduct of that nobleman
during the last reign was an earnest of his resistance
to any measure which might tend to additional inno-
vations in religion ; and his influence had been proved
on a recent occasion, when, to the mortification of
Somerset, he had reduced the office of protector to
a mere title without actual authority. But the im-
prudence of Southampton furnished his enemies with
weapons against himself. Unable to attend at the
same time to the daily deliberations of the council,
and his duties in the Chancery, he had, without con-
sulting his colleagues, put the great seal to a commis-
sion, empowering in the king's name four masters to Feb. is
hear all manner of causes in his absence, and giving
1 Strype's Cranmer, 144. 2 Rot. Parl. iv. 337.
240
EDWARD VI.
CHAP, to their decrees the same force as if they had been
IV.
A.D. 1547. pronounced by the chancellor himself, provided that
before enrolment they were ratified with his signature.
Feb. 23. A petition against this arrangement was presented by
several lawyers at the secret suggestion of the pro-
tector ; by the council it was referred to the judges ;
and the judges twice returned the same answer, that
the chancellor, by affixing the great seal without
sufficient warrant to the commission, had been guilty
of an offence against the king, which at common law
was punishable with the loss of office, and fine and
March 6. imprisonment at the royal pleasure. In his own
defence, Southampton argued that the commission
was legal, and that he had been competent to issue
it without requesting the assent of his colleagues ;
that, even admitting it to be illegal, they could only
revoke it, to which he had no objection ; that he
held his office by patent from the late king ; and that
they, as executors, were not authorized by the will to
deprive him of it. Finding, however, that it was in vain
to contend against the majority, he made his submis-
sion, and was suffered to retire to his residence at Ely
House. The same evening he resigned the seal,
which was given to the lord St. John, and received
an order to remain a prisoner in his own house, and
to wait the decision of the council respecting the
amount of his fine.1 What precedent the chancellor
might have for his conduct is uncertain. The com-
mission, which he had issued without warrant, seems
unjustifiable ; but his deprivation for a mere error in
judgment was censured as harsh and tyrannical.
The next measure adopted by Somerset disclosed
the real cause of Southampton's disgrace.
1 Burnet, ii. 15. Records, 96.
Though
SOMERSET INDEPENDENT OF THE COUNCIL. 241
the duke possessed the title of protector, he had been CHAP
compelled to accept it on the condition that he should A.D. 1547.
never act without the assent of the majority of the
council ; now he procured letters patent under the March 12.
great seal, conferring on himself alone the whole
authority of the crown. This extraordinary instrument
confirmed his former appointment, and ratified all
his acts under it ; swept away the two separate
councils appointed by the will ; confounded the ex-
ecutors and their advisers under the common name
of counsellors to the king ; and authorized the pro-
tector to swell their number to an unlimited extent
by the addition of such persons as he might think
proper, and to select from the whole body a few
individuals, who should form the privy council. It
did not, however, bind him to follow their advice.
He was still empowered to act independently, and
in every case to decide according to his own judg-
ment, till the king should have completed his eigh-
teenth year.1 Two months had not yet elapsed since
the death of Henry ; and, in that short space, the
whole frame of government settled by his will had
been dissolved, and the authority with which he had
invested his executors had been suppressed, by the
very men to whom he had given his confidence, and
who had solemnly sworn to fulfil his intentions. It
was asked on what principle of law or reason the
present revolution had been effected. If the will
possessed any force, the executors could not transfer
to one person all those powers which it had confided
to the joint wisdom of sixteen ; if it did not, then they
1 Burnet, ii. 15. Records, 98. It was signed by Somerset him-
self, Cranmer, St. John, Russell, Northampton, Brown, and Paget,
executors, and by Cheyney, one of their advisers.
VOL. V. R
242 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, were unauthorized individuals, and imcompetent to
A.D. 1547. new-model the government of the realm.
It was observed, that the intelligence of the death
of Henry had made a deep impression on the mind
of the king of France. That monarch entertained a
notion that the duration of their lives was limited
to the same year; and sought in vain to divert his
melancholy by change of residence and the pleasures
of the chase. At the same time he appeared to feel
March io. an affection for the son of his former friend ; a pro-
posal was made and accepted to renew the alliance
between the crowns; and messengers had already
been appointed to receive the oaths of the two mon-
Marchsi. archs, when Francis expired at Rambouillet, about
two months after the death of his English brother.1
His son and successor Henry II. pursued a very
different policy, under the guidance of the duke of
Guise and the cardinal of Lorrain. He felt a deep
interest in the fortunes of the infant queen of Scot-
land ; and, when the treaty with England was offered
to him for signature, refused to shackle himself with
engagements, which might prevent him from espousing
her cause. Still appearances of amity were preserved.
As Francis had ordered a solemn service to be per-
formed for Henry in the cathedral of Paris, so, to
return the compliment, Cranmer was employed to
June 19. sing a mass of requiem for Francis in the church of
St. Paul.2 But the sequel showed that the jealousy
1 Rymer, xv. 139—142, 149.
4 Stowe, 594. The name of the ambassador was Vielleville, who
was so delighted with the national sports of bull-baiting and bear-
baiting, that he undertook to introduce these elegant amusements
among his countrymen, and took back with him a bull and bull-dogs
to France. For some years bull-baiting continued to be in high
favour, but fell into disuse during the religious wars which followed.
— Me'm. xxviii. 331.
MURDER OF BEATON. 243
of the French cabinet was not without foundation. CHAP.
IV.
The protector was at the very time busily employed A.D. 1547.
in levying troops at home; his secret agents hired
bands of discharged veterans in Germany, Italy, and
Spain; and an active correspondence was kept up
between the council and the murderers of Cardinal
Beaton in Scotland. But, to introduce these new
allies to the notice of the reader, it will be necessary
to revert to the year 1544.
It was in that year that Henry, foiled by the car-
dinal in his attempt to obtain the custody of the
young queen, despatched the earl of Hertford to invade
Scotland at the head of a powerful army.1 He had
repeatedly signified a wish to his Scottish adherents
to have Beaton seized, and sent a prisoner to England ;
and now a person named Wishart came to Hertford,
and by him was forwarded to Henry, the bearer of an
offer from Kirkaldy, the master of Rothes, and John
Charteris, " to apprehend or slee the cardinal" in one
of his journeys through Fife.2 We know not what
answer he received ; probably it was the same as was
given the next year to the earl of Cassilis, who,
having visited the king, informed Sadler, on his re-
turn to Scotland, that his friends would murder the
cardinal for a reward proportioned to their services.
Henry was unwilling to commit himself by the express
approbation of the crime ; and Sadler was instructed
to reply that, if he were in the place of Cassilis, he
1 He was instructed " to raze to the ground the castle of Edin-
' burgh, Holyrood House, Leith, and the villages, and to put man,
' woman, and child to the sword, wherever resistance was offered ;
' and then to proceed to the cardinal's town of St. Andrew's, not to
' leave there a stone or a stick standing, and not to spare a living
' creature within the same." — See these most barbarous instruc-
tions in Tytler,vi. 473.
2 Keith, 44. Tytler, vi. 456.
R 2
244 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, would do the deed, and trust to the king's gratitude
A. D. 1547. for the reward.1 They, however, required the royal
assurance; Crichton, laird of Brunston, repeated the
offer; and, though he received the same answer, con-
tinued to correspond with Henry on the subject. At
last revenge stimulated the conspirators to do that, to
which they had hitherto been tempted by the prospect
of pecuniary remuneration. Under their protection
George Wishart, perhaps the same who had conveyed
the first offer to Henry,2 had preached for some time
the new gospel, and been the exciting cause of re-
peated riots. He had the misfortune, however, to fall
into the hands of Beaton, by whose orders he was
condemned and executed at St. Andrew's, being hanged
for sedition, and burnt for heresy. To this provo-
cation was added a private quarrel between the car-
dinal and the master of Rothes, respecting an estate
in Fife ; and only two months after the death of
Wishart, that young nobleman, Kirkaldy, and others,
May 29. " were stirred up by the Lord," if we may believe
Foxe,3 to make the attempt which they had so long
meditated. Profiting of the negligence of the warder,
they entered the castle of St. Andrew's at an early
hour, and slew the cardinal in his bed-chamber. At
the first alarm the citizens hastened to the defence of
their archbishop; but, at the sight of the dead body
1 " His highness not reputing the fact mete to be set forward
" expressly by his majesty, will not seem to have to do in it, and
" yet not misliking the offer, thinketh good that Mr. Sadler
" should say that if he were in the earl of Cassillis place," &c. —
Ty tier's History of Scotland, 461. These deeds of darkness had
escaped the notice of historians during three centuries, but have been
lately exposed to the public eye by the industry and research of
Mr. Tytler.
2 This has been often asserted, and is rendered probable by the
known connection between him and all the parties to these attempts
against the cardinal. 3 Foxe, 526.
TREATY WITH THE MURDERERS. 245
suspended from a window, they retired to their homes. CHAP.
The castle had been lately fortified and provisioned; A. 0.1547.
Knox, the Scottish reformer, to show his approbation
of " the godly fact," led one hundred and forty of his
disciples to the aid of the murderers ; and a resolution
was formed by the whole body to defend themselves
against all opponents, and to solicit the protection of
the king of England. Neither did the treaty of 154G-
Campes disappoint their hopes. If the Scots were
included in it, yet Henry would only bind himself to
abstain from hostilities, provided no additional provo-
cation were given ; and, on the other side, the earl of
Arran, the governor, refused to accept of any peace,
unless the Scottish fortresses, in possession of the
English, were restored, and the murderers of Beaton
were abandoned to their fate.
After some negotiation Arran sat down before the Sept. 16.
castle ; but though he bore with patience the severity
of the winter, though he repulsed an English squadron
conveying money and military stores, the obstinacy
of the garrison defeated every attempt ; and he was at
last compelled to break up the siege, that he might
preside at a convention of the three estates in the Feb.
capital. The death of Henry made no alteration in
the policy of the English cabinet. The protector March 9.
hastily concluded two treaties with the murderers ; by
the first of which they bound themselves to procure,
with all their power, the marriage of their infant
sovereign with Edward VI., and never to surrender
the castle during her minority to any Scotsman with-
out a previous license in writing from the English
king and the protector ; by the second they engaged March 15.
to give effectual aid to the English army which should
enter Scotland, for the purpose of obtaining possession
246 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, of the young queen, and to deliver the castle to
A.D. 1547. English commissioners, as soon as she should come
into the hands of Edward VI. or the marriage be-
tween them should be solemnized. The English
government in return granted pensions to each of
the chiefs, and undertook to pay half-yearly the wages
of a garrison of one hundred and twenty men.1
The second of these treaties was hardly signed
before it was treacherously communicated to Arran.
From it he discovered the object of the protector ;
March 19. and immediately published a proclamation, ordering
all fencible men to assemble, on forty days' notice, at
a given place, with provisions for a month, that they
might be prepared to repel the threatened invasion
of their country. For greater security he applied
to the new king of France, who cheerfully confirmed
the ancient alliance between the two kingdoms, and
added a promise of succour both in men and money.
The irruptions of the English marchers had called
Arran to the borders, where he razed to the ground
the castle of Langhope, but was called from the
June, siege of Cawmyllis to St. Andrew's by the arrival of
Strozzi, prior of Capua, with a fleet of sixteen French
July 23. galleys. The combined forces besieged the castle ; a
considerable breach was made by the French artillery;
July so. and the garrison surrendered with a promise of their
lives. The prisoners were conveyed to France, and
placed at the disposal of Henry, who confined some
of them in the fortresses on the coast of Bretagne,
and sent the others, amongst whom was the celebrated
1 Rym. xv. 132, 144. The pension to the master of Rothes was
2807.'; to Kirkaldy, 2007. per annum. For the pay of the garrison,
&c., they received in February 1,1807., and in May 1,3007. —
Burnet, ii. 8, 31.
THE PROTECTOR INVADES SCOTLAND. 247
preacher John Knox, to labour in the galleys, from CHAP.
which they were not released before 1550. Arran IV- ,
* A.D 1547.
recovered his eldest son, who had been detained a —
captive ever since the assassination, and demolished
the works, that the place might not hereafter fall
into the hands of the English, and be held by them
to the terror of the open country.1
Somerset, taking with him the new earl of War-
wick, as second in command, crossed the Tweed2 at sept. 2.
the head of twenty thousand men, and directed his
march upon Edinburgh ; while the fleet of twenty-
four galleys and an equal number of store-ships, under
Lord Clinton, crept along the shore without losing
sight of the army.3 To meet this invasion Arran
had despatched the fire-cross from clan to clan, and
had ordered every Scotsman to join his standard at
Musselburgh ; but he soon found the multitude too
numerous for any useful purpose, and, having selected
thirty thousand men, dismissed the rest to their homes. Se t 9>
The two armies were soon in sight, and a bloody
rencounter between the Scottish and English cavalry
at Falside taught them to respect each other.4
1 Epist. Reg. Scot. ii. 380. Keith, 53. Leslie, 461.
2 Mr. Tytler has discovered in the State Papers that two hundred
Scottish noblemen and gentlemen had treasonably engaged to join
him in Scotland. — Hist. vi. 18 — 21.
3 See the numbers in Holinshed, 980. The instructions of the
admiral are in Chron. Catal. p. 294. The master of Ruthven was
in the fleet, who had promised to betray Perth into the hands of the
English, with the aid of his father, Lord Ruthven of Gowrie : and Sir
John Luttrell was to furnish the names of the Scots " which had
" fayled in their fayth after assurance made," that their lands might
be ravaged. — Ibid.
4 Haywood tells us that the loss of the Scots was thirteen hun-
dred men ; of the English, one Spanish hackbutter wounded, and
three cavalry officers taken in the pursuit. — Haywood, 282. Leslie,
on the contrary, says that the loss was equal, about one thousand
men on each side. — Leslie, 462.
248 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. The next morning Arran passed the Eske ; a move-
A.D. 1547. ment which led to the great battle of Pinkencleugh.
Sept"~io. The Scottish army, consisting almost entirely of foot-
men, was divided into three bodies, each of which
marching in close order, presented a dense forest of
pikes. The lord Grey, commander of the English
gens d'armes, hoping to take advantage of some appa-
rent confusion in the most advanced of these bodies,
ordered his men to charge it in flank. They paid
severely for their temerity. The bravest of them fell ;
their commander was wounded with a pike in the
mouth ; and the colours were nearly captured. This
check was, however, repaired by the steadiness of the
Italian and Spanish mercenaries, who, being mounted,
rode towards the enemy, and halting at a short dis-
tance, discharged their fire-arms into the first ranks,
whilst the archers following them sent volleys of
arrows over the heads of the mercenaries into the
more distant part of the hostile column. At the
same time a raking fire was opened on the Scots from
a galley and two pinnaces in the bay ; and a battery
of guns from a neighbouring eminence scattered
destruction amidst the dense and exposed mass. The
protector did not suffer the opportunity to escape
him. Having rallied the fugitives, he led the whole
army to the attack. The Scots wavered, broke, and
fled. The pursuit was continued for several hours,
and the slain on the part of the vanquished were said
to amount at a low computation to eight thousand
men. The earl of Huntley, chancellor of Scotland,
the lords Tester and Wemyss, and the master of
Semple, were among the prisoners.1
1 Leslie, 464. Buchan, 1. xv. Holinsh. 984. Hayward, 285.
RELIGIOUS INNOVATIONS. 249
From the field of battle the conqueror inarched to CHAP.
Leith, spent four days in plundering the town and A.D. 1547.
the neighbouring villages, and hastily retraced his
steps, followed by Arran at the head of a small but
active body of cavalry. This sudden retreat, after so
brilliant a victory, surprised both his friends and foes.
It could not originate from want of provisions, or
the intemperance of the season, or the approach of
a superior enemy. By some it was said that, intoxi-
cated with vanity, he was eager to enjoy the applause
of the people, and to receive the thanks of his
nephew ; by others it was believed that the secret
intrigues of his brother the lord admiral had induced
him to forego the advantages of victory, and to hasten
back to the court. The expedition was begun and
ended within the short period of sixteen days.
The late king was doomed to the usual fate of
despotic monarchs after their deaths. The very men
who during his life had been the obsequious ministers
of his will, were now the first to overturn his favourite
projects. Somerset and his associates had already
established a different form of government ; they now
undertook to establish a different religious creed.
Under Henry they had deemed it prudent to conceal
their attachment to the new gospel ; now, freed from
restraint, they openly professed themselves its patrons,
and aided its diffusion with all the influence of the
crown. Their zeal was the more active, as it was
stimulated by the prospect of reward. For, though
they were the depositaries of the sovereign authority,
they had yet to make their private fortunes ; and for
that purpose they looked with eagerness to the pos-
sessions of the church, from which, though much had
been torn during the havoc of the last reign, much
250 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, still remained to be gleaned.1 From the young king
A.D. 1547. they could experience no opposition now, they feared
no resentment hereafter. The men to whom his
education had been intrusted by Henry were zealous
though secret partisans of the reformed doctrines.
They had made it their chief care to transfuse the
new opinions into the mind of their royal pupil ;
Edward already believed that the worship so rigor-
ously enforced by his father was idolatrous ; and there
could be little doubt that his early prepossessions
would, as he advanced in age, acquire strength from
the industry of his teachers, and the approbation of
his counsellors.
Still, to change the established creed during his
minority must have appeared an undertaking of some
difficulty and danger. There was no certainty that
the people would pay to the protector and his advisers
that deference which had been extorted by the theo-
logical despotism of the late monarch ; and a second
pilgrimage of grace, excited by religious innovations,
might speedily overturn their authority. On this
account they determined to proceed with steady but
cautious steps. Among their own colleagues there
were only two of whose sentiments they were doubtful,
Wriothesley and the bishop of Durham. The first, as
the reader has seen, was already excluded from the
council ; pretexts were invented to confine the prelate
almost entirely to his diocese ; and the conduct of the
business was committed to the policy and moderation
of the archbishop of Canterbury.
That prelate began the attempt by giving to his
brother bishops a very intelligible hint, that the
1 Heylin, 33. Godwin, 88, 91.
ROYAL VISITATION. 251
possession of their sees depended on their compliance CHAP.
with the pleasure of the council. Arguing that his A. 0.1547,
ecclesiastical authority, since it emanated from the
crown, must have expired with the late king, he peti- Feb. 7.
tioned to be restored to his former jurisdiction, and
accepted a new commission to execute the functions
of an archbishop, till such commission should be re-
voked by the sovereign.1 Many, probably all, of his
colleagues, were compelled to follow the example of
the metropolitan.
The next step was to establish a royal visitation. May 4.
For that purpose the kingdom was divided into six
circuits, to each of which was assigned a certain
number of visitors, partly clergymen and partly lay-
men. The moment they arrived in any diocese, the
exercise of spiritual authority by every other person
ceased. They summoned before them the bishop,
the clergy, and eight, six, or four of the principal
householders from each parish ; administered the oaths
of allegiance and supremacy ; required answers upon
oath to every question which they thought proper to
put, and exacted a promise of obedience to the royal
injunctions.2 These injunctions amounted in number
to thirty-seven ; they regarded matters of religious
practice and doctrine ; and were for the most part
so framed, that, under the pretext of abolishing
abuses, they might pave the way for subsequent
innovations. With them was delivered a book of
homilies to be read in every church on Sundays and
holidays, with an order that each clergyman should
provide for himself, and each parish for the congrega-
tion, one copy of the paraphrase of Erasmus on the
1 Wilkins, iv. 2.
2 Ibid. 11, 14, 17. Collier, ii. Records.
252 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. New Testament. But the same policy which thus
A.D/1547. supplied books of instruction was careful to limit the
number of instructors ; and the power of preaching
was, by successive restrictions, confined at last to
such clergymen only as should obtain licenses from
the protector or the metropolitan.1 The object was
evident : the people heard no other doctrines than
those which were contained in the homilies, for the
most part the composition of the archbishop, or which
were delivered by the preachers, whose duty it was to
echo his opinions, and to inveigh against the more
ancient creed.
Among the prelates there was no individual whom
the men of the new learning more feared, or those of
the old learning more respected, for his erudition and
abilities, his spirit and influence, than Gardiner, bishop
of Winchester. That prelate before the visitation of
his diocese had obtained copies of the homilies and
the paraphrase, and immediately commenced a long
and animated controversy with the protector and the
archbishop. He maintained that the two books in
several instances contradicted each other ; that they
inculcated doctrines irreconcilable with the creed
established by act of parliament ; and that they
contained errors, which he deemed himself able to
demonstrate to the conviction of any reasonable man.
In his letter to the protector he urged with much
1 Wilk. iv. 27, 30. Even the very bishops could not preach in
their own dioceses without license. — See two instances in Strype,
ii. 90. Coverdale was so delighted with the injunctions, the
homilies, and the paraphrase, that he pronounced the young king to
be " the high and chief admiral of the great navy of the Lord of
" Hosts, principal captain and governor of us all under him ; the
" most noble ruler of his ship, even our most comfortable Noah,
" whom the eternal God hath chosen to be the bringer of us unto
" rest and quietness." — Apud Strype, ii. 65.
OPPOSITION OF GARDINER. 253
force, that Edward was too young to understand, CHAP
Somerset too much occupied, to study subjects of A.
controversy ; that it was imprudent to disturb the
public peace during the king's minority, for the sole
purpose of supporting the theological fancies of the
metropolitan ; that injunctions issued by the king
could not invalidate acts of parliament ; and that,
as Cardinal Wolsey had incurred a prsemunire, though
he acted under the royal license, so every clergyman,
who taught the doctrines in the homilies and para-
phrase, would be liable to the penalties enacted by
the statute of the Six Articles, though he might plead
a royal injunction in his favour. To Cranmer he wrote
in a different tone, defying him to prove the truth of
certain doctrines inculcated in the book of homilies,
and reproaching him with duplicity in now repro-
bating the opinions which he had so zealously taught
during the life of the late king.1 In consequence of
these letters he was summoned before the council,
and required to promise obedience to the royal injunc-
tions. He replied that he was not bound to answer,
unless the injunctions were tendered to him. Let
them wait till the visitors arrived in his diocese. If
he should then refuse, they might determine whether
that refusal were a contempt of the royal authority or
not. But this objection was overruled ; Cranmer
gladly embraced any pretext to silence so dangerous
1 " Which, if it had been so " (if the doctrine in the late king's
book had been erroneous), "I ought to think your grace would
not, for all princes christened, being so high a bishop as ye be,
have yielded unto. For obedire oportet Deo magis quam homini-
bus. And therefore, after your grace hath four years continually
lived in agreement of that doctrine, under our late sovereign lord,
now so suddenly after his death to write to me, that his highness
was seduced, it is, I assure you, a very strange speech." — Strype's
Cranmer, App. p. 74.
254 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, an opponent during the approaching parliament ; and
A.D. 1547. Gardiner, though he could not be charged with
any offence against the law, was committed to the
Fleet, and detained a close prisoner till the end of
the session.1
NOV. 4. The proceedings of this parliament are deserving of
the reader's attention. Many of the chantries, colleges,
and free chapels, though given to Henry VIII. by a
late act, had escaped the rapacious grasp of that
monarch. It was now proposed to place these with
all the funds destined for the support of obits, anni-
versaries, and church-lights, and all guild lands possessed
by fraternities for the same purpose, at the disposal of
the king, that he might employ them in providing for
the poor, augmenting the income of vicarages, paying
the salaries of preachers, and endowing free schools
for the diffusion of learning.2 The archbishop, aware
of the real object of the bill, spoke against it at first
with some warmth. But, as the harpies of the court
1 See the correspondence in Foxe, ii. 35 — 70. During Gardiner's
confinement, attempts were made to obtain his co-operation in the
new plan of reform. On one occasion the archbishop told him that
" he liked nothing unless he did it himself." He replied, that " he
" was not guilty of such obstinacy ; and that he had never been
" author yet of anyone thing either temporal or spiritual; for which
•' he thanked God." A hint was given that his compliance might
be rewarded with a place in the council, and an addition in his in-
come. But he answered indignantly, that his character and con-
science forbade it ; and that, " if he agreed on such terms, he should
" deserve to be whipped in every market-town in the realm, and
" then to be hanged for an example as the veriest varlet that ever
" was bishop in any realm christened." — Ibid. 64, 65.
2 Our law-books teach that, by the statute passed on this occa^
sion, lands and goods subsequently given for superstitious uses, are
forfeited to the king ; yet the operation of the statute is expressly
limited to lands and goods belonging to colleges and chantries which
existed within the five last years, or given for anniversaries, obits,
and lights kept or maintained within " the five yeres next before the
" saide first daie of this present parliament." — Stat. of Realm, iv.
25, 26. There is nothing in the act to make it prospective.
GRANT OF CHANTRIES. 255
were eager to pounce on their prey, he deemed it CHAP.
prudent to withdraw his opposition ; and it was passed A.D. 1547,
in the Lords by a triumphant majority.1 In the
Commons a strong objection was made to that clause
which went to deprive the guilds of their lands ; but
the leaders of the opposition, the members for Lynn
and Coventry, were silenced by a promise that the
crown should restore to those towns the lands of
which they might be deprived by the act. A saving
clause was added to secure to all persons such lands,
tenements, tithes, and rents, as had been already
granted to them either by the late or the present
king.2
2. But if the ministers sought to provide for the
sovereign and for themselves, they were careful to
repair many of those breaches in the constitution
which had been made by the despotism of the last
reign. All felonies created since the first of
Henry VIII. and all treasons created since the
twenty-fifth of Edward III. were at once erased
from the statute-book ; the privilege of clergy,
with the exception of a few cases, was restored ; in
convictions of treason two witnesses were required ;
the laws against the Lollards, the prohibition of
reading the Scriptures, and of printing, selling, or
retaining certain English publications ; all enactments
respecting doctrine and matters of religion, and the
statute which gave to the royal proclamations the
1 On the first division in the Lords the minority consisted of the
bishops of Canterbury, London, Ely, Norwich, Hereford, Worcester,
and Chichester. At the last Canterbury and Worcester were not in
the house, and Norwich voted with the court. — Journals, 308, 313.
2 Stat. of Realm, iv. 24. The chantries and free chapels were
valued at 2,593/. per annum, and sold for 46,2491. 14s. — Strype, ii.
Rec. 85. A great number of grammar-schools were founded chiefly
out of the chantry lands. — Id. 535.
256 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, force of law, were repealed ; and in place of the act
A.D.1547. of the twenty-eighth of the late king, which em-
powered his heir, if he were a minor at the time of
his accession, to annul afterwards all statutes passed
before he had attained the full age of twenty-four
years, was substituted another to the same effect, —
but with this proviso, that though he might deprive
them of all force after that term, he could not in-
validate them as to their effects during the inter-
mediate period.1 It should, however, be observed,
that if, by the repeal of so many statutes, every sort
of religious restraint was removed from the men of
the new learning, it was not intended to grant any
additional liberty to those of the old. The claim
of the spiritual supremacy was placed on an equal
footing with the other rights of the crown ; and to
deny that the present or any succeeding king was
head of the church was made the same kind of capital
offence, as to deny that he was head of the state. A
distinction was, however, drawn between the denial by
words and the denial by writing, imprinting, or deed.
The latter was at once an act of high treason ; the
former became so only by repetition. The first offence
was punishable with the forfeiture of all goods and
chattels, and imprisonment at the royal pleasure ; the
second subjected the offender to all the penalties of
a prsemunire ; and the third condemned him to suffer
as a traitor by the knife of the executioner.2
3. The convocation had been assembled at the
same time as the parliament ; and the members of
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 17, 18.
2 Ibid. 19. All the same punishments were enacted against any
person who should deny that the present or any succeeding king was
king of France or of Ireland, or should maintain that any other
person was or ought to be king of France or of Ireland. — Ibid.
PARLIAMENTARY MEASURES. 257
the lower house, anxious to recover their former share CHAP.
in the exercise of the legislative power, petitioned to A.D. 1547.
be united to the house of Commons, or, if that might
not be granted, to be allowed a negative on all bills
respecting religion. To this petition no answer was
returned ; but two questions concerning the lawful-
ness of marriage in the clergy, and of communion
under both kinds, were submitted to their considera-
tion. The first of these was carried in the affirmative
by a majority of almost two-thirds, and a bill in its
favour was introduced into the house of Commons ;
but its advocates, whether they apprehended an ob-
stinate opposition from the Lords, or were content
with the advantage which they had gained, permitted
the matter to sleep for the present session. The
second was approved unanimously ; and a bill was
framed on that decision. It stated, that the minister-
ing of the blessed sacrament to all Christian people
under both kinds, of bread and wine, is more agree-
able to its first institution, and more conformable to
the common practice of the apostles and the primitive
church for five hundred years ; and therefore enacts,
that the said most blessed sacrament shall be com-
monly delivered and ministered to the people under
both kinds. It permits, however, communion under
one kind, when necessity may require it; and pro-
fesses not to censure any foreign church, which may
retain the contrary practice. To neutralize the
opposition of the prelates, who were hostile to
this bill, it was artfully appended to another, which
they most anxiously sought to carry, prohibiting,
under pain of fine and imprisonment, the application
of scurrilous and offensive language to the sacrament
of the eucharist. Thus coupled together as one
VOL. v. s
258 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, act, they passed both houses, and received the royal
A. D. 1547. assent.1
4. In conformity with the opinion so often incul-
cated by Archbishop Cranmer, it was declared that all
jurisdiction, both spiritual and temporal, is derived
from the king ; and on that account the election of
bishops was withdrawn from the deans and chapters,
as a useless and unmeaning form, and vested imme-
diately in the crown ; and it was ordered that all
citations and processes of archbishops and bishops,
which used to run in their names, should thenceforth
be made in the name of the king, but tested by the
bishop, and countersigned by his commissary ; and
that all official documents issued from their courts
should be sealed, not with the episcopal, but with the
royal arms.2
5. The mendicants, who had formerly obtained
relief at the gates of the monasteries and convents,
now wandered in crowds through the country, and
by their numbers and importunities often extorted
alms from the intimidated passenger. To abate this
nuisance, a statute was enacted, which will call to the
recollection of the reader the barbarous manners of
our pagan forefathers. Whosoever "lived idly and
" loiteringly for the space of three days " came under
the description of a vagabond, and was liable to the
following punishment. Two justices of the peace
might order the letter V to be burnt on his breast,
and adjudge him to serve the informer two years
as his slave. His master was bound to provide him
with bread, water, and refuse meat ; might fix an iron
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 2. The non-contents were the bishops of
London, Norwich, Hereford, Worcester, and Chichester. — Journals,
306. 2 Stat. of Realm, iv. 3.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOMERSET. 259
ring round his neck, arm, or leg, and was authorized CHAP.
to compel him to " labour at any work, however vile A.D. 1547.
" it might be, by beating, chaining, or otherwise." If
the slave absented himself a fortnight, the letter S
was burnt on his cheek or forehead, and he became
a slave for life ; and if he offended a second time in
like manner, his flight subjected him to the penalties
of felony.1 Two years later this severe statute was
repealed.2
6. The close of this session was marked by a trans-
action without parallel in our history. The duke of August 11,
Somerset, preparatory to his expedition against the
Scots, had received from the king letters patent
explanatory of his original commission. By these
it was declared that in quality of "governor of the
" royal person, and protector of the realm and people
" during the term of the king's minority," he was the
" king's lieutenant and captain-general of war by sea
" and land, possessing all the authority of a com-
" mander-in-chief, with the power of conferring the
" honour of knighthood, of baronage, or any other
" rank of nobility in reward of military service, and of
" declaring war against, or of concluding peace with,
" any foreign power, according to his own judgment
" and discretion."3 Both these patents, by which the
whole power of the crown was vested in his person,
he had surrendered during the parliament into the
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 5. With respect to clerks convicted of
felony, they, if they were entitled to purgation in the bishop's court,
were to be slaves for one year, if not so entitled, to be slaves for five
years. — Ibid.
2 Stat. of Realm, iv. 115. Thus the statute of 22 Hen. VIII. 12,
was revived, which allowed persons to beg with the license of the
magistrates, and punish beggars without license by whipping, or the
stocks for three days and three nights.
3 Rymer, xv. 174.
s2
260 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, hands of his nephew, and had received in place of
A.D. 1547. them a new commission, which, indeed, restored to
him, with an unimportant exception, all the powers of
the former, but at the same time made the duration
of his office dependent on the good pleasure of the
king, who might at will deprive him of it by a writ
under the great seal and the sign manual. What
then could induce the protector, who was now in the
zenith of his power, to consent to so disadvantageous
an exchange ? No reason is stated. But we know
that great misgivings existed with regard to the validity
of the first commission ; because it emanated from
the council, which had not the power to create such
an office.1 This was an inherent defect, which cer-
tainly could not be cured by a second commission
proceeding in reality from the same source; but it
seems to have been thought that the appointment
would be less objectionable, if, instead of being per-
manent, it were made revocable at the king's plea-
sure ; and if it were confirmed also with the signatures
of almost every man of consequence in the realm.
The first of these expedients might be easily attained
by a change in the form of the instrument ; the second
was accomplished by the following contrivance.2 At
1 Paget writes to Somerset : "I believe, sir, if any thing chance
" amiss, that not only your grace shall give the account which have
" authority in your hands, but also such as did first assent and accord
" to give it you." — Strype, Rec. part ii. p. 111.
2 From the instrument itself it appears that it was subscribed on
the 24th of December. The omission of any mention of the sub-
scription in the Journals, shows that it did not take place before the
prorogation. I conclude that it took place immediately afterwards,
because all the lords who, according to the Journals, were in the
house, subscribed the commission in proper order, excepting the
bishop of Bath and the lord Powis, who may be supposed to have
departed immediately after the prorogation. Lord Seymour and the
bishop of St. David's were not in the house ; but subscribed the in-
LATIMER RECALLED. 261
the prorogation of parliament on December 24, before CHAP.
the members had departed, an extraordinary meeting A.D. 1547.
'was called, and the new commission was read before
those who attended. It bore already the sign manual,
and was now subscribed by Ryche, the lord chancellor,
by the other lords, both spiritual and temporal, ac-
cording to the usual order of precedency in the
house, and then by distinguished commoners, privy
councillors, judges, and most of the civil and law
officers of the crown, to the number of sixty-two
individuals. It wras certainly an improvement of the
manner in which the protectorship had been originally
conferred. Then the appointment was announced to
a meeting of the Lords, who were supposed to approve,
because no one objected : now all who were present
testified their approbation by appending their signa-
tures to the commission. To these signatures Somer-
set frequently appealed in his subsequent troubles.1
The session closed with a general pardon from the Dec- 24-
king, in consequence of which Gardiner obtained his
liberty.2
The result of this meeting of parliament cheered
the men of the new learning with the most flattering
strument. Probably they came later, for, though the bishop sub-
scribes, it is not in his proper order, but in a vacant space.
1 The commission itself with the signatures is in the possession of
William Staunton, esquire, of Longbridge House, Warwick ; and
has been published with valuable remarks by Mr. G. Nichols, in
Archaeol. xxx. 463.
2 In one of his letters, written during the session, he hints that,
if any man thought it politic to keep him from parliament, such
person ought to consider whether his forcible absence, with that of
those whom he had been used to name in the nether house, might
not afterwards be urged as an objection to the validity of the pro-
ceeding.— Foxe, ii. 69. I notice this passage, because it proves that
several boroughs at that period were so dependent on the lords and
bishops, that they not only returned the members named by such
lords, but without such nomination made no return at all.
262 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, anticipations ; but the archbishop, aware that the
A.D. 1547. great majority of the nation was still attached to the
ancient faith, deemed it prudent to moderate their*
zeal, and pursued his course with caution and perse-
Jan48i' verance. Latimer, who had resigned his bishopric
in 1539, was called from his retirement, and appointed
to preach at St. Paul's Cross. The character of the
man, the boldness of his invectives, his quaint but
animated eloquence, were observed to make a deep
impression on the minds of his hearers ; and a pulpit
was erected for him in the king's privy garden, where
the young Edward, attended by his court, listened to
sermons of an hour's duration, and admired what he
could not understand, the controversial superiority
of the preacher.1
The bishops received orders to abolish in their
respective dioceses the custom of bearing candles on
Candlemas-day, of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday,
and of carrying palms on Palm Sunday.2 The late
king had frequently commanded the removal from the
churches of all such images as had been the occasion
Feb. 24. of superstition and abuse : a proclamation now ap-
peared, which complained that these injunctions had
given birth to dissensions among the parishioners,
and required that, to restore tranquillity, all images
March 13. whatsoever should be destroyed.3 To this succeeded
an order for the public administration of the sacra-
ment under both kinds and in the English language.
To avoid offence, no alteration was made in the mass
itself; no expression liable to objection was introduced
into the new office ; but at the end of the canon, an
1 He gave to Latimer as a reward for his first sermon 20/. The
money was secretly supplied by the lord admiral.
51 Wilk. iv. 22. 3 Ibid. 23.
BISHOP GARDINER'S SERMON. 263
exhortation was ordered to be made to the com- CHAP.
•municants, a prayer followed, and the eucharist was A.D. 1548.
distributed first to the clergy, and then to the laity.
But to appease the impatience of the reformers, the
young king was made to say in the preface : " We
" would not have our subjects so much to mistake our
"judgment, so much to mistrust our zeal, as if we
" either could not discern what were to be done, or
" would not do all things in good time. God be
" praised ! we know both what by his word is meet
" to be redressed, and have an earnest mind, by the
" advice of our most dear uncle, and others of our
" privy council, with all diligence to set forth the
" same."1 The reader should recollect that this
learned and zealous theologian was ten years old.
It was soon discovered that imprisonment had not
broken the spirit of Gardiner. He was again sum-
moned before the council, and the next day, in proof
of his submission, was ordered to preach at St. Paul's
Cross, in the presence of the king, on the feast of
St. Peter. To the different subjects which were pre-
scribed to him he made no objection ; but he refused
to deliver a written discourse which was offered, or
to submit his own composition to the correction of
the council. He added that, as this was perhaps the
only opportunity which the king would have of hearing
the truth, he was determined, whatever might be the
consequence, to explain to his young sovereign the
Catholic doctrine with respect to the mass and the
eucharist. The sermon was preached, and the next June 29.
day the bishop was committed to the Tower. His June so.
discourse might be divided into three parts. With
1 Wilk. iv. 11—13.
264 EDWARD VI.
CH\P. the first, which commended the religious innovations
A.D. IMS. of the last and the present reign, even his enemies
were satisfied ; of the second, in which he maintained
that a rightful king was as much a sovereign in his
infancy as at a more mature age, they could not
complain ; though it disappointed the hopes of the
protector, who wished him to contradict a very pre-
vailing notion, that the authority of the council during
the minority did not extend to the issuing of new
injunctions, but was confined to the execution of
the existing laws. It was the third part which fur-
nished the pretext for his commitment, under the
charge of disobedience. In it he had treated of the
mass and the eucharist, though the protector had for-
bidden him in writing to touch on any controverted
matter respecting these questions. In his own justi-
fication he alleged, that he had not been guilty of
disobedience, because the letter was a private com-
munication and not an order from the king in council,
and because he had entered into no controversy, but
had confined himself to the explication of the esta-
blished doctrine of the English church, in language
similar to that employed by the archbishop in the dis-
putation with Lambert.1 His imprisonment was evi-
dently illegal ; but his absence from parliament was
not less desirable in the present than it had been in
the past year. His constancy, however, encouraged
the partisans of the ancient faith ; and in a short time
several other prelates ventured to express their dis-
approbation of the attempts of the metropolitan.
Cranmer had lately published a catechism " for the
1 The protector's letter is in Wilkins, iv. 28. The other parti-
culars are extracted from the articles against Gardiner, and his
answers in Foxe, ii. 75 — 77.
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 265
" singular profit and instruction of children and young CHAP.
" people;"1 and was now employed with a committee A.D. 1548.
of bishops and divines in the composition of a more
important work, a liturgy in the English language,
for the use of the English church ; the adoption of
which by authority of parliament would, it was hoped,
consummate the separation of the kingdom from the
communion of Rome, by destroying the similarity
which still remained in the mode of religious worship
sanctioned by the two churches. Taking the Latin
missals and breviaries for the groundwork, they
omitted such parts as they deemed superfluous or
superstitious, translated others, and by numerous addi-
tions and corrections endeavoured to meet the wishes
of the new teachers, without shocking the belief or
the prejudices of their opponents. Before Christmas
they had compiled a book of common prayer and
administration of the sacraments, and other rites and
ceremonies, after the use of the church of England.2
1 It is remarkable, that in this catechism the archbishop leans
more than usually to the ancient doctrines. He comprises the pro-
hibition of false gods and of images under one commandment ;
teaches that in the communion are received with the bodily mouth
the body and blood of Christ; inculcates in strong terms the advan-
tages of confession and absolution, and attributes the origin of
ecclesiastical jurisdiction to Christ in a manner which seems to do
away his former opinion on the same subject. — Burnet, ii. 71.
Collier, ii. 251.
2 The principal differences between this and the present book of
common prayer are to be found in the prayer of consecration (it
contained, in imitation of all the ancient liturgies, these words :
" Heare us, we beseeche thee, and with thy holy spirite and worde
" vouchsafe to bl + esse and sancti-f-fie these thy gifts and creatures
" of bread and wyne, that they maye be unto us the bodie and
" blood of thy most derely beloved sonne"), the unctions in baptism
and confirmation, the sign of the cross in matrimony, the anointing
of the sick, and prayer for the dead. The rubric also in the com-
munion service ordered, that the bread should be unleavened, that
the communicant should receive at the hand of the priest with the
266 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. To the premature judgment and early piety of the
A. D. 1549. king the completion of the work afforded "great
j^T;. " comfort and quietness of mind." He hastened to
recommend it to the notice of the lords and commons
assembled in parliament, and a bill was introduced
to abolish all other forms of worship, and establish
this in their place. The preamble states that, whereas
numerous dissensions had arisen in the kingdom from
the pertinacity with which many adhered to the old,
and others to new, forms of divine worship, the king,
abstaining of his clemency from the punishment of
the offenders, had appointed certain prelates and
learned men to compose one convenient and meet
order, rite, and fashion of common and open prayer;
by whom that important task had been accomplished
by the aid of the Holy Ghost with one uniform
agreement : l therefore the two houses, considering
the godly travail of the king and council, and the
godly prayers, orders, rites, and ceremonies of the said
book, and the reasons of altering those things which
be altered, and of retaining those which be retained,
and also the honour of God and the great quietness
likely to ensue from the use of the same, do give to
his highness most hearty and lowly thanks, and pray
that it may be enacted that after the feast of Pente-
cost all ministers of the church within the realm of
England shall be bound " to say and use the matins,
" even song, celebration of the Lord's Supper corn-
mouth, and that one individual at least in each family should com-
municate every Sunday in person or by proxy, and pay his share of
the expense.
1 This is an extraordinary assertion. There were eighteen bishops
in the committee which composed the book of common prayer
(Collier, ii. 243), and eight out of the number voted against it
(Lords' Journals, 331). Would they disapprove in the house what
they had apppoved in the committee ?
MARRIAGE OF THE CLERGY. 267
" monly called the mass, and administration of each CHAP.
" of the sacraments, and all their common and open A.D. 1549.
" prayer, after the order and form of the said book,"
and of no other ; and that if any parson, vicar, or
spiritual person, shall refuse to use it, or shall preach
or speak in derogation of it, or shall officiate with
any other form, he shall for the first offence forfeit
a year's profit of one of his preferments, with six
months' imprisonment ; for the second lose all his
preferments, with a whole year's imprisonment; and
for the third be imprisoned for life ; and if any one
ridicule the same form of worship, or menace the
minister for using it, or prevail on him to use any
other, he shall on the first conviction pay a fine of
ten pounds, on the second of twenty, and on the
third forfeit all his goods and chattels, and be impri-
soned for life.1 In the lower house the bill passed
without much difficulty ; in the higher it experienced
a warm opposition ; but " after a notable disputation Jan. 15.
" respecting the sacrament,"2 it was carried by a
majority of thirty-one to eleven.3
To this important innovation in the manner of
public worship, succeeded another not less important
in the condition of the priesthood. In the last reign
the archbishop had contended for the marriage of
the clergy with a pertinacity which might have cost
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 37, 38. A provision was added, authorizing
the singing of psalms " at any due time," by all men, whether in
the church or in private houses. — Ibid.
2 The King's Journal, 6.
3 Journals, 331. The non-contents were the earl of Derby, the
bishops of London, Durham, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester,
Westminster, and Chichester, and the lords Dacres and Wyndsor. —
Ibid. The earl of Derby, who supposed that another temporal peer had
joined in the opposition, boasted that " the nay of them four would
" be to be seen as long as the parliament-house stood." — Strype.ii. 84.
268 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, him his life : in the present he was assured of a safe
IV
A.D. 1548. and easy victory. The path had already been opened
J^" by the decision of the late convocation; and at an
Dec. 3. early period of the session a bill for the marriage of
Dec. 7. priests was introduced into the lower house. On
the third reading it was discovered that, though it
allowed laymen who had wives to take orders, it did
not permit clergymen, who had received orders, to
Dec. 10. take wives. A new bill was therefore brought in,
Dec. is. and passed after a long and stormy discussion. In
the Lords, however, for reasons now unknown, it re-
mained during two months without notice ; when a
Fe^4.9*). totally different bill was substituted in its place, and
on a division was carried by a majority of thirty-nine
Feb. 19. to twelve.1 To this bill the Commons assented. It
states that, though it were to be wished that the
clergy would observe perpetual continency, as more
becoming their spiritual character, rendering them
better able to attend to their ministry, and freeing
them from worldly cares and embarrassments, yet so
many inconveniences had arisen from compulsive
chastity, that it was deemed better to allow to those,
who could not contain, the godly use of marriage ;
wherefore it enacts, that thenceforth all laws made
by man only, and prohibitory of the marriages of
spiritual persons, shall be void and of none effect;
but that all divorces hitherto made (in consequence
of the statute of the Six Articles) shall remain valid
in law.2
Of these enactments it was natural that men should
1 Journals of Com. iv. 5. Journals of Lords, 323, 339. The
lords in the minority were the bishops of London, Durham, Norwich,
Carlisle, Worcester, Chichester, Bristol, and Landaff, and the lords
Morley, Dacres, Wyndsor, and Wharton. — Ibid.
2 Stat. of Realm, iv. 67.
SEYMOUR MARRIES THE QUEEN DOWAGER. 269
judge according to the bias given to their minds by CHAP.
their religious notions : but there was another pro- A.D. 1549.
ceeding in this parliament, which appeared to shock
the feelings of the whole nation. The protector had
a younger brother, Sir Thomas Seymour, whose ambi-
tion was equal, whose abilities were superior, to his
own. Between them a broad distinction had been
drawn by the discernment or partiality of the late
king; and while Edward had risen to the rank of
earl, had obtained the command of armies, and been
named one of the governors of his nephew, Thomas
had been left without title, and without any other
office than that of counsellor to Henry's executors.
If the latter bore with impatience the superiority of
his brother during the last reign, his discontent was
not appeased by the first measures of the present.
He had indeed obtained a grant of the manor of
Sudeley, and of other manors in eighteen different
counties ; l had been created a baron by the style of
Lord Seymour of Sudeley, and had been appointed
high admiral of England : but to his ambition these
grants and preferments appeared as nothing compara-
tively with the rank and titles of Edward, who was
protector of the realm, guardian of the royal person,
lord high treasurer, earl marshal, and duke of So-
merset. The first step towards the improvement of
his fortune was his marriage with the queen dowager.
Whether that princess be entitled to all the praises
which have been lavished on her by her panegyrists,
may fairly be doubted. Certainly she displayed no
very great sense of decorum in the precipitancy with
which, after the death of Henry, she sought a fourth
1 Strype, ii. 125. Sudeley had belonged to the abbey of Win-
chelcombe.
270 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, husband, almost before the dead body of the third
IV
A.D. 1549. was deposited in the grave. We first meet with her
at court, probably to offer her congratulations to the
new king on his accession. There she spoke in
private to Lord Seymour, who had once been her
wooer. Her words did not transpire, but on her return
home, she wrote to assure him that they did not
proceed from any sudden impulse of passion, but
from that affection which she bore to him formerly,
and which was still unimpaired.1 We next find her
watching for his arrival at the postern-gate of her
garden at Chelsea in the dead of the night, and
stealthily introducing him into her house, on condition
that he should withdraw by seven of the clock, to
avoid detection.^ From the language in her letters,
it seems that some contract of espousal soon passed
between them ; but that contract was kept a profound
secret, because, according to ancient precedents, to
marry a queen dowager without the permission of
the reigning sovereign, was a misdemeanor subjecting
the offender to fine and imprisonment. Their furtive
1 Strype, ii. 132.
2 This appears from the following passage in her letter to him :
Whan it schal be your pleasur to repayer hether, ye must take
sum payne to come erly in the mornyng, that ye may be gone
agayrie by seven a clocke; and so I suppose ye may come without
suspect. I pray you lett me have knowlege ver nyght at what
hower ye wyll come, that your porteresse may wayte at the gate
to the feldes for you. — By her that ys and schalbe your humble
true and lovyng wyffe duryng her lyf. Kateryn the Quene. K. P."
— Ellis, ii. 152. This letter has no date, but if it mean, as it
seems to mean, that till seven the darkness of the morning would
help to conceal him, it cannot have been written later than the
middle of February ; and this inference derives confirmation from the
twentieth article of the charge brought against Seymour by the
council, that his cohabitation with the queen " was so soon, that if
" she had conceived straight after, it should have been a great doubt
" whether the child born should have been accounted the late king's
" or the admiral's." — Burnet, ii. Rec. 160.
SEYMOUR'S POLICY WITH THE KING. 271
meetings, however, could not be continued with safety; CHAP
and it became a matter of the first importance to A>D> ^
procure the royal consent to their marriage.1 The
pride of Seymour recoiled from asking the favour from
his brother, the protector; but at last necessity or
opportunity led him to break the matter to Somerset,
not as if he spoke of a marriage already contracted,
but of one to which he aspired. To carry on the
deception, he solicited the good offices of the young
Edward, and of the lady Mary, that they would
induce the queen dowager to favour his suit. From
the protector and the council he received a severe
reprimand for his presumption ; Mary, with a caustic
remark, refused to interfere ; 2 but the simplicity of
Edward was easily deceived. He not only urged his
mother-in-law to marry his uncle, but later, when the
council had consented to the match, thanked her for
having, at his prayer, done that which she had, in
fact, done long before any application was made to
1 It was certainly concealed till the end of May. On the 1 7th of
that month Seymour writes to the queen from St. James's, that her
sister Anne, wife to Sir William Herbert, had joked with him about
his lodging at Chelsea. He denied it : "he only went by the garden,
" as he went to see the bishop of London's house." But " she told
" him further tokens which made him change colour." He reco-
vered, however, from his fright when he found that she had not
learned it from others, but had received it in confidence from the queen
herself. — See it in Tytler, i. 60 ; and Miss Strickland's Queens,
v. 100.
2 Mary's reply does her honour : " My lorde, in this case, if it
weer for my nereste kynsman and dereste frend on lyve, of all
other creatures in the worlde it standest leste with my poore
honore to be a medler in this matter, consyderyng whose wief her
Grace was of late — Thynke not unkyndness in me, thoughe I re-
fuse to be a medler anywayes in this matter, assuring you that
(wowyng matters set aparte, wherein I, being a mayde, am nothyng
connyng), if otherwayes it shall lye in my little power to do you
pleser, I shall be as gladde to do it, as you to requyre it." —
Ellis, ii. 150.
272 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, him.1 With the person of Catherine, Seymour be-
A.D. 1549. came master of her wealth and her dower ; but in
one thing, which he coveted, he was disappointed, —
the possession of the jewels presented to her by the
late king. These he induced her to claim as if they
had been a gift ; by the council they were reclaimed
as only a loan made to her, and were still the pro-
perty of the crown.2
The next object of the admiral was to win and
monopolize the affection of his nephew. With this
view he indulged the young Edward in all his wishes;
secretly supplied him with large sums of money,3
blamed the severity with which he was used by the
protector, hinted that he was kept under restraint
unbecoming his age and parts and dignity, and pur-
chased with presents the good-will of his preceptors,
and of the gentlemen of his chamber. From ancient
precedents, he contended, that the offices of protector
and guardian ought not to be joined in the same
person ; but that, if one belonged to the elder uncle,
the other ought to be conferred on the younger. The
king readily imbibed the opinions of the man whom
he loved ; and a resolution was taken that the nephew
should write a letter of complaint ; that the admiral
should lay it before the two houses of parliament ;
and that he should attempt, with the aid of his
partisans, to procure the guardianship for himself.
Seymour had already composed the letter for Edward,
who engaged to copy it, when the plot was betrayed
to the protector, and the lord admiral was called
1 In Strype, ii. 133. See also Seymour's attainder, Stat. of
Realm, iv. 63.
2 Haynes, 73.
3 See Edward's Confession, ibid. 74 ; Burnet, ii. Rec. 163.
HIS INTRIGUE WITH ELIZABETH. 273
before the council.1 He repelled the charge with CHAP.
haughtiness, and treated their authority with defiance. A.D. 1549.
But when the law officers declared that his offence
amounted to an attempt to overturn the established
government, and a hint had been thrown out of com-
mitting him to the Tower, his courage quickly subsided:
he condescended to acknowledge his fault; and the
two brothers mutually forgave each other. To seal
their reconciliation, an addition of eight hundred
pounds a year was made to his appointments.
But a new prospect soon opened to his ambition,
which, as it sought for power, was not to be satisfied
with money. He began to aspire to the hand of the
lady Elizabeth, the king's sister, and to condemn that
precipitate union with Catherine which excluded him
from the pursuit of so noble a prize. His attentions
to the princess were remarked ; and their familiarity
was so undisguised, that it afforded employment to the
propagators of scandal, and awakened the jealousy of
his wife, by whom he was one day surprised with 1548>
Elizabeth in his arms.2 But the queen in a short time Sept< 30-
died in childbirth ; and her death happened so oppor-
tunely for his project, that by the malice of his
enemies it was attributed to poison.3 He now re-
doubled his court to the princess;4 her governess was
1 Burnet, ii. Rec. 158. Stat. of Realm, iv. 62.
2 Haynes, 96, 99.
3 Ibid. 103, 104. Even Elizabeth notices that " she, he had
"before, ded so myskary." — Ibid. 101. "He holpe her to her
" end."— Stat. of Realm, iv. 63.
4 From the testimony of the reluctant Mrs. Ashley, Elizabeth's
governess, it appears that the courtship was not conducted in the
most delicate manner. The moment he was up, he would hasten to
Elizabeth's chamber " in his night gown, and barelegged ;" if she
were still in bed, " he wold put open the curteyns and make as
" though he wold come at hir ; " " and she wold go farther in the
" bed, so that he cold not come at hir ; " if she were up, he " wold
VOL. V. T
274 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, bribed ; her own affections were won ; but a clandestine
A.D. IMS. marriage would, by the will of her father, have an-
nulled her right to the succession ; and means were
to be devised to extort what otherwise would not be
granted, the consent of the council.1 For this pur-
pose, as it was believed, the admiral sought the friend-
ship of the discontented among the nobility, and by
condemning the measures of the government, endea-
voured to acquire the applause of the people. He
censured the employment of foreign troops in the war
against Scotland, as an innovation dangerous to the
liberties of the country ; his nephew was taught to
look with a jealous eye on the ambition of the pro-
tector ; a marriage was secretly projected between the
young king and the lady Jane Grey,2 the presumptive
" ax how she did, and strike hir upon the bak or the buttocks
" famylearly." — Ibid. 98, 99. He sent James Seymour " to recom-
" mend him to hir, and ax hir, whither hir great buttocks were grown
" any less or no." — Ibid. 100. Parry, the cofferer, says, " she told
" me that the admirall loved her but two well ; that the quene was
" jelowse on hir and him ; and that, suspecting the often accesse of
" the admiral to her, she came sodenly upon them, wher they were
" all alone, he having her in his armes." — Ibid. 96. It was reported,
not only that she was pregnant, which she declared to be " a shame-
" ful schandler " (ibid. 90) ; but also that she bore him a child.
" There was a bruit of a childe borne and miserably destroyed, but
" could not be discovered whose it was, on the report of the midwife,
" who was brought from her house blindfold thither, and so returned.
" Saw nothing in the house while she was ther but candlelight ;
" only sayd it was the child of a very fair yong ladie." MS. life
of Jane Dormer, duchess of Feria, p. 150. Elizabeth complained of
these reports, and the protector at last issued a proclamation against
them.— Ellis, ii. 153, 157.
1 Elizabeth acknowledges his proposal of marriage in a letter to
the protector for the purpose of excusing Mrs. Ashley.- — Ellis, ii.
154. Both Ashley and Parry were true to her on this occasion :
they could not be brought to admit of any thing criminal in her con-
duct. When she became queen, she rewarded them by making
Parry comptroller of the household, and keeping Ashley as a con-
fidential servant at court till her death.
2 He had prevailed on the marquess and the marchioness of Dorset
to allow the young lady to stay with the queen dowager ; after whose
HE IS ATTAINTED OF TREASON. 275
heiress to the claims of the house of Suffolk ; and the CHAP.
riches of the admiral, the number of his retainers, and A.D. IMS.
his influence in different counties, were openly vaunted
and exaggerated by himself and his friends.
The protector at length determined to crush so
dangerous a competitor. Sherington, master of the
mint at Bristol, was examined before the council, on
a charge of having amassed an enormous fortune, by
clipping the coin, issuing testoons of inferior value,1
and falsifying the entries made in his books. The
admiral, who was his creditor to the amount of three
thousand pounds, boldly defended the accused ; but
Sherington, to save his life, betrayed his advocate,
and confessed that he had promised to coin money
for Seymour, who could reckon on the services of ten
thousand men, and intended with their aid to carry
off the king, and to change the present form of the
government.2 On this confession he was found guilty, jan. 16.
death he again prevailed on them to agree that their daughter should
reside with him, promising to bring about a marriage between her
and the king. — Tyt. i. 138.
1 The testoons passed for twelve-pence, but were not intrinsically
of half the value. A new coinage was issued of sovereigns and half-
sovereigns, and of crowns and half-crowns, of the value of twenty,
ten, five shillings, and two shillings and sixpence. These were of
gold : the silver pieces were the shilling in place of the testoons, and
the half-shilling. — Strype, ii. 119, 120.
2 I have extracted these particulars from the original depositions
in the Burghley State Papers, the Records in Burnet, and the act of
attainder of Sherington. Several other particulars, mentioned by
historians, I have omitted, because they are not supported by these
documents. Nor have I given full credit to the documents them-
selves ; particularly as to the sum of money promised to him by
Sherington, and the number of men at his disposal. It has been
said that the quarrel between the two brothers was owing originally
to a quarrel between their wives ; but this again has been disputed
by some modern historians, as depending only on the assertion of
Sanders. It is, however, also mentioned by Foxe, p. 96. I am
indeed aware that the authority of Foxe is not one jot better than
that of Sanders ; but, when two violent writers of opposite parties
T 2
276 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, and attainted of high treason ; the admiral was com-
A.D.1549. mitted to the Tower, and underwent several examina-
tions, sometimes before a deputation, once before the
whole of the council. On these trying occasions he
lost nothing of his usual spirit. He heard the charges
against him with disdain, claimed to be confronted
with his accusers, and required a copy of the infor-
mation. Such demands, though consonant to the
principles of justice, were contrary to the practice
of the age ; the young king abandoned one uncle to
the jealousy or vengeance of the other, and, in
imitation of the illegal precedents of the last reign,
a bill of attainder against him was brought into
Feb. 25. the house of Lords. The judges and law officers of
the crown gave their opinion, that some of the charges
amounted to treason ; and several peers, rising in
their places, repeated the evidence which they had
already given before the council. Somerset was pre-
Feb. 27. sent at each reading of the bill. On the third it
was passed without a division, and was sent to the
other house with a message that the lords, who were
personally acquainted with the traitorous designs of
the admiral, would, if it were required, repeat their
evidence before the Commons. In that house an
unexpected opposition was made. It was contended
that to convict by bill of attainder was contrary to
law and justice ; that by the late statute the accused
had a right to be confronted with his accusers ; and
that it was unreasonable to condemn him till he
agree in the same statement, it may be presumed to have some foun-
dation in truth. The king himself notices in his Journal (p. 4), that
" the lord protector was much offended with his brother's marriage."
He might also dread the influence of Seymour over the mind of the
young Edward ; for Somerset now held his office at the king's plea-
sure, who could on any day, at the admiral's persuasion, remove
him from it.
AND IS EXECUTED. 277
had been heard in his own defence. After the second CHAP.
IV.
reading, the Lords repeated their message; and, having A.D. 1549
waited for a considerable time, requested the pro- M^"L
tector to receive the answer, and to report it to the
house the next day. But he preferred to put an end
to the discussion in the Commons by a message from
the king, declaring that it was unnecessary to hear
the admiral at the bar of the house, and repeating
the offer of the evidence of the lords. The oppo- March 4.
nents of the court were silenced; the bill passed,
and received the royal assent at the end of the March 14.
session.1
Three days later the warrant for the execution March 17.
of Seymour was signed by the council, and among
the names appear those of Somerset and Cranmer,
both of whom might, it was thought, have abstained
1 Lords' Journals, 345—347. Journals of Commons, 8. Stat. of
Realm, iv. 61. It has been alleged, in proof of the protector's
brotherly love for the admiral, " that, when the bill for the attainder
" was brought in, he desired for natural pity's sake to withdraw." —
Tyt. i. 150. Burnet, iii. 205. Undoubtedly a sense of public
decency might have drawn from him the expression of some such
wish. But is there any evidence that he did withdraw ? All the
evidence is to the contrary. From the Journals it is certain that the
bill of attainder was read on three consecutive days — the 25th, 26th,
and 27th of February ; that Somerset was present in his place on
each of those days, and that on the 27th it was passed with the
assent of all the lords (communi omnium procerum assensu.) — Lords'
Journal, i. 346. Somerset was in possession of the royal authority.
He might, if he had pleased, have prevented the introduction, or
arrested the progress of the bill. He might have proceeded accord-
ing to law, and not by attainder, according to the worst precedents
of the last reign. He might have suffered his brother to make his
defence. He might have granted to him a pardon, or have commuted
the punishment. Yet his brotherly love did not adopt any one of these
expedients. If at a later period he complained that he had been
made to believe the admiral's death necessary for his own safety,
and lamented that they had not personally explained matters to each
other, these were plainly after-thoughts in extenuation of conduct
which he could not justify, and equivalent to a confession of con-
sciousness that he had treated his brother cruelly and unnaturally.
278 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, from that ungracious office, the one on account of
A.D. 1549. his relationship to the prisoner, the other because
the canons prohibited to clergymen all participa-
March20. tion in judgments of blood.1 On the scaffold the
unhappy man loudly proclaimed his innocence; nor
will those who attentively peruse the thirty-three
charges against him, and the depositions on which
they were founded, be inclined to dispute his asser-
tion. His enmity was not against the king but
against his brother. His ambition prompted him to
seek a share of that power which Somerset had arro-
gated to himself; his influence, his intrigues, his
ascendancy over the mind of his nephew, might have
been dangerous to the authority of the protector ;
but there is no sufficient evidence that he intended
to carry off the king, or to raise a civil war within
the kingdom. It was thought that, if his offence had
been more clearly established, he might still have
obtained pardon from the charity of a brother ; and
it was suspected that Sherington had been suborned
to calumniate him, as the price of his own life; a
suspicion which was almost converted into certainty,
Nov. 5. when that offender was not only pardoned, but
restored to his former appointment, and found still
to possess a considerable fortune.2 Latimer, however,
who seems to have believed in the infallibility of the
council, undertook their defence. In a sermon
preached before the king and a numerous audience,
he severely condemned the temerity of those who
1 Burnet, ii. Rec. 164.
2 In 1550 he bought back of the king the manors and lands which
he had forfeited, for the sum of 1 2,866 J. 2s. 2d. He had been
already restored in blood, and had obtained his former office.—
Strype, ii. 199.
HOSTILITIES WITH SCOTLAND. 279
presumed to judge of the conduct of men in power, CHAP.
without being acquainted with their motives ; and A D. ^549.
justified the execution of Seymour, whom he declared
to have led a sensual, dissolute, irreligious life, and
to have died in a manner suitable to his life, " dan-
" gerously, irksomely, horribly;" whilst of Sherington
he spoke in terms of approbation, and maintained
that the fervency of his repentance entitled him to
his pardon, and made him a fit example for the en-
couragement and imitation of sinners.1 This tragedy-
has left a deep stain on the memory both of Somer-
set and of Latimer. Somerset sacrificed a brother
to ward off the danger of a rival ; Latimer prosti-
tuted his holy office to sanctify a deed of cruelty and
injustice.
We may now return to the Scottish war. The
defeat of the Scots had not subdued their antipathy
to the projected marriage between Edward and Mary.
To an unprejudiced mind, indeed, that marriage must
have appeared to offer numerous and valuable benefits
to the country; but in the opposite scale of the
1 Latimer not only arraigned the life of the admiral, but also his
death. According to the account in his sermon, as Seymour laid
his head on the block, he told the servant of the lieutenant, to bid
'his servant speed the thing that he wot of. That servant was
apprehended, and confessed that the admiral had by some means
procured ink in the Tower, had used for a pen the aiglet of a point
which he plucked from his hose, and had written two letters to the
lady Mary and lady Elizabeth, which he sewed within the sole of a
velvet shoe. The shoe was opened, and the letters were found.
Their object was to excite the jealousy of the king's sisters against
the protector as their great enemy. Hence the preacher, in full
belief of this incredible story, concluded that God had clean forsaken
him. " Whether," he adds, " he be saved or no, I leave it to God;
" but surely he was a wicked man, and the realm is well rid of him."
— See Latimer's fourth sermon in the 1st edit. Later editors,
ashamed of the passage, have thought proper to omit it. See also
Godwin, 93; Strype, i. 126.
280 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, balance were to be weighed the hereditary hatred
A.D. 1549. which divided the two nations ; the idea that Scot-
land would become a province of that kingdom which
had so often but so vainly laboured to subvert its
independence ; and the apprehension that the loss of
the national independence would be followed by the
loss of the national religion. Even among those who
were not moved by these considerations, there were
many who, with the earl of Huntley, condemned " the
" manner of the wooing." To seek the friendship of
a nation by declaring war against it, to claim the
affection of a woman by inflicting injuries on her
friends and her possessions, were novel and doubtful
experiments ; and the protector soon learned that his
brilliant victory at Pinkey had only accelerated the
evil which it was his great object to avert. In an
Feb. 8. assembly of the Scottish lords at Stirling, it was
resolved to implore the aid of France, their most
ancient and faithful ally, to offer the young queen
in marriage to the dauphin, and to propose that for
greater security she should be educated in the French
Feb. 5. court. On the other hand, Somerset had published
an address to the Scottish people in English and
Latin, imputing the evils of the war to Arran and his
advisers, who the last year had suppressed the favour-
able offers of the' English government. To whom,
he asked, would they marry their infant sovereign?
To a foreign prince? Their country would become
an appendage to a foreign crown. To a native? It
would perpetuate the quarrel between England and
Scotland. For eight hundred years no opportunity
had risen like the present. A young king and a
young queen might unite their crowns; Scotland
would preserve her laws and liberties ; and the two
HOSTILITIES WITH SCOTLAND. 281
nations would live in peace and harmony under the CHAP.
common name of Britons. A.D. 1543.
But it was chiefly on the venality of the Scottish
nobles that the protector relied for success. There
were not many among them whose patriotism was
proof against the gold of England. They secretly
subscribed the articles which he offered ; they bound
themselves by oath to the service of King Edward ;
they delivered hostages as security for the faithful
performance of their obligations.1 Still, when the
moment came, they hesitated to commit themselves ;
and when the lord Wharton and the earl of Lennox
invaded the western marches, they successively turned Feb. is.
against the invaders, and drove them with consi-
derable loss across the borders. But on the eastern
coast the lord Gray de Wilton, at the head of a
powerful army, spread the flames of war to the gates
of the capital : Dalkeith was reduced to ashes ; and
Haddington was taken, fortified, and garrisoned with
more than two thousand men, partly English and
partly Italians. Gray had scarcely begun his retreat,
when a hostile squadron anchored at Leith, having June 16.
on board three thousand German, and two thousand
French veterans, commanded by d'Esse, a brave and
experienced officer.2 Reinforced by Arran and eight
thousand Scots, d'Esse sat down before Haddington.
Batteries were raised, a breach was made; but Sir
John Wilford, the governor, defended himself with
so much skill and obstinacy, and inflicted so many
injuries on the assailants, that the Frenchman, doubt-
1 See proofs in Mr. Tytler's Hist. vi. 421 ; and Chron. Catal. 296.
2 Henry II. used to say of him : Nous sommes quatre gentils-
hommes, qui combattrons en lice, et courrons la bague contre tous
allans et venans de la France ; moy, Sansac, d'Esse, et Chas-
taigneraye, — Brantome, vii. 203. La Haye, 1740.
282 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, ful of the result, which might have proved fatal to
A.D^T^s. ms followers, refused to order an assault, and con-
— verted the siege into a blockade.1
July 7. About the same time the earl of Arran had con-
vened the three estates of the kingdom in the abbey
of Haddington. The determination of the lords at
Stirling was solemnly ratified ; treaties confirmatory
of the marriage and alliance were exchanged between
d'Oyselles, the French ambassador, and the Scottish
governor; and de Breze and Villegaignon, sailing
with four galleys in a southern direction, unexpectedly
changed their course, steered round the north of
August 7. Scotland to Dumbarton, received on board the young
queen and her household, and reached in safety the
August 13. harbour of Brest. From Brest that princess, being
in her sixth year, was conducted to St. Germain en
Laye, and contracted to her destined husband, the
dauphin of France. From this moment the original
object of the war, the acquisition of Mary, to make
her the wife of the English prince, was at an end.
The French monarch, as the representative of his
son and daughter, now king and queen of Scotland,
required that the English government should abstain
from all hostility against the Scots during the minority
of the two princes.2 Somerset returned a refusal ;
and, from the purport of his secret negotiations with
the earl of Argyle and the lord Gray, appears to have
still cherished the project of expelling the French
auxiliaries, and establishing the English authority in
Scotland.3
The distress of the garrison at Haddington had been
1 Leslie, 467. Hayward, 290.
2 Leslie, 470. Ribier, ii. 152.
3 See Fisher's instructions in Chron. Catal. 305. He gave a
pension of 2,000 crowns to Argyle, and of 1 ,000 to Gray.
DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY. 283
occasionally but scantily relieved by small parties from CHAP.
Berwick; and an attempt was made to throw a more AD^M
copious supply into the town by Sir Thomas Palmer —
and Sir Robert Bowes, at the head of two thousand
horse. By the address of the Lord Home the convoy
was surprised, and the escort taken or slain. To
repair this disaster the earl of Shrewsbury crossed the
borders with twenty-two thousand men, of whom
three ^or four thousand were German lansquenets.
But d'Esse, raising the blockade, intrenched himself August 20
at Musselburg; the earl could not provoke him to
a battle, and dared not attack him within his fortifica-
tions; and the army returned, after having supplied
the garrison with men and provisions, burnt Dunbar,
and ravaged the country.1
From this period the war continued with alternate
losses and advantages to both parties ; though, on the
whole, the balance of success inclined in favour of
Scotland. Haddington was evacuated. The allies
recovered the fortresses of Home-castle and Fast-
castle; they crossed the borders, burnt Ford and 1549.
twenty villages, and penetrated almost to the walls
of Newcastle ; they even obtained, after an obstinate
and bloody action, possession of the rock of Inch-
keith, on which Cotterel had strongly intrenched June.
himself.
D'Esse was recalled at his own solicitation or that
of the Scots,2 and left the command to Marshal de
Termes, who had lately brought a reinforcement of
thirteen hundred men. De Termes imitated the
1 Edward's Journal, 5, 6. Holinsh. 994.
and DgliShWriterS " the Sc°tS were wearied with his
an ol R
of h s h,The J «mn °me' that he demanded hi* recall on account
ot his health .- — Brant, vn. 211.
VOL. V.
*
284 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, policy of his predecessor ; and the English ascendancy
A.D.1549. gradually yielded, not so much to the power of its
adversaries, as to the influence of a series of untoward
events, which distracted the attention and exhausted
the resources of the government.
The depreciation of the currency during the late
reign had been followed by its necessary consequence,
a proportionate advance in the price of saleable
commodities. The value of land rose with the value
of its produce; and the rents of farms had been
doubled, in many instances tripled, in the course of
a few years. To the working classes this alteration
would have made little difference, had their wages
been raised in the same ratio. But it so happened
that the demand for labour had been lessened ; and
the price of labour sunk with the demand. Experi-
ence had proved to the agriculturist that the growth
of wool was more profitable than that of corn; whence
tillage was discouraged, that a larger portion of land
might be brought into pasturage ; and in most counties
thousands of labourers were excluded from their accus-
tomed employments. But if scarcity of work gene-
rated distress, that distress was augmented by the
interested though obvious policy of the landlords.
In former times, particularly on the estates of the
monks and clergy, considerable portions of land had
been allotted for the common use of the labourers and
of the poor inhabitants. But the present proprietors
had, by repeated inclosures, added many portions of
the wastes and commons to the former extent of their
farms, and thus had cut off or narrowed one great
source of support to the more indigent classes ;' and
1 In a proclamation issued the preceding year, the king is made
to complain that many villages, in which one hundred or two hun-
INSURRECTIONS. 285
in addition frequently let their lands at an advanced CHAP.
rent to " leasemongers " or middle-men, who on their A.D. 1549.
part oppressed the farmer and cottager, that they
might indemnify and benefit themselves.1
Men, under the pressure of distress, are always
prepared to arraign the conduct of their governors.
The discontented, though unable to comprehend the
arguments of controversialists, felt their own misery ;
they saw that the new proprietors of the church lands
paid not the same attention as the old to the wants of
the poor ; they coupled their own sufferings with the
innovations in religion ; and complained of that system
which had diminished their resources, and now com-
pelled them to practise a worship foreign from their
habits and feelings.2 The day approached when the
use of the old liturgy was to cease, and that of the
new to begin ; instead of the high mass, its music and
its ceremonies, with which they had been familiarized
from their infancy, they were to hear what they
deemed an inanimate service, a " mere Christmas
"play;"3 and, as if this additional provocation had
goaded them to madness, the common people rose,
almost at the same time, in the counties of Wilts,
Sussex, Surrey, Hants, Berks, Kent, Gloucester, Somer-
dred people had lived, were entirely destroyed ; that one shepherd
now dwelt where industrious families dwelt before ; and that the
realm is wasted by " bringing arable grounds into pasture, and
" letting houses, whole families, and copyholds to fall down, decay,
" and be waste." And Hales, the commissioner, in his charge
repeats these complaints, observing, that the laws which forbade any
man to keep more than 2,000 sheep, and commanded the owners of
church lands to keep household on the same, and to occupy as much
of the demesne lands in tillage as had been occupied twenty years
before, were disobeyed ; whence he asserts, that the number of the
king's subjects had been wonderfully diminished ; as appeared by
the new books of musters compared with the old, and with the
Chronicles. — Strype, ii. 92, 94.
1 Strype, ii. 141. 2 Godwin, 93. 3 Foxe, ii. 15.
286 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, set, Suffolk, Warwick, Essex, Hertford, Leicester, Wor-
A.D. 1549. cester, and Rutland. In the first of these counties,
Sir William Herbert put himself at the head of a
body of troops, dispersed the insurgents, and executed
martial law on the most guilty. In the others tran-
quillity was restored by the exertions of the resident
gentry, and the persuasions of the most moderate
among the yeomanry.1 It proved, however, a deceitful
calm, the forerunner of a more dangerous storm.
The protector had been alarmed. Without the con-
currence of the council, he appointed commissioners to
inquire into the grievances of the people, to remove
the new inclosures, and to restore the ancient com-
mons. The very intelligence revived the hopes of
the discontented ; they assembled again in numerous
bodies, and proceeded to do themselves justice without
the aid of the commissioners. In general, however,
as they acted without concert and without leaders,
the effervescence subsided of itself; but in the coun-
ties of Oxford, of Norfolk, and of Cornwall and Devon,
the risings assumed a more dangerous shape ; armies
were formed which threatened defiance to the govern-
ment ; and, if the insurrections were finally suppressed,
it was only with the aid of the foreign troops, the
bands of adventurers that had been raised in Italy,
Spain, and Germany, to serve in the war against
Scotland.
The command in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire
was given to the lord Grey, with a body of fifteen
hundred regular troops, including Spinola with his
Italians. As soon as he had been joined by the
gentlemen of the county, he marched against the
insurgents, of whom one part fled at his approach,
1 Edward's Journal, 6.
DEMANDS OF THE INSURGENTS. 287
the other was broken at the first charge. Two CHAP.
IV
hundred were made prisoners in the pursuit, and .\.D.i549.
twelve of the ringleaders were delivered to the
general, by whose order they expiated their offence
on the gallows.1
In Devonshire the new liturgy had been read for
the first time in the church of Samford Courtenay on
Whit Sunday ; the next day the parishioners compelled June 10.
the clergyman to resume the ancient service. This
contravention of the law was the signal of a general
insurrection. Humphrey Arundel, the governor of
St. Michael's Mount, put himself at its head, and in a
few days numbered under his standard ten thousand
men.
To oppose the insurgents the lord Russell, lord
privy seal, was furnished with a small body of troops,
and with three preachers, Gregory, Reynolds, and
Coverdale, who received a license from the king
to declare the word of God to the people in such
public places as the general should appoint.2 But
Russell, distrusting the inferiority of his force, and the June 23.
eloquence of his preachers, resolved to imitate the
policy of the duke of Norfolk in the late reign. He
offered to negotiate ; and the insurgents made fifteen
demands, which were afterwards reduced to eight,
requiring the restoration of the ancient service, the
re-enactment of the statute of the Six Articles, the
introduction of Cardinal Pole into the council,3 and
the re-establishment of two abbeys at least in every
1 Ibid. 7.
2 See the commission in Strype, ii. 168. Parker, afterwards arch-
bishop of Canterbury, was another preacher for the same purpose.
He harangued the Norfolk insurgents, and narrowly escaped with
i • 1 • /*
his lire.
3 Evidently on account of the high rank and extensive influence
which his family had possessed in the county.
288 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, county. To the first Cranmer composed a long and
A.D. 1549. elaborate reply ; the second was answered by a pro-
clamation in the king's name, refusing every article Jn
July 8. a tone of contempt and superiority.1 But Arundel,
while he treated, continued his operations, and sat
down before Exeter. Without cannon to make a
breach, he instructed his followers to set fire to one of
the gates ; but the inhabitants threw additional fuel
into the flames, and, while it burnt, erected a new
rampart within. A second attempt to sap the wall
was defeated by the vigilance of the besieged, who
discovered the mine, and filled it with water. The
assailants, however, were not dismayed ; by watching
the gates they prevented the introduction of provi-
sions ; and during a fortnight the inhabitants suffered
all the privations of famine.
In the meantime the council, instead of supplying
Russell with troops, had sent him nothing but pro-
July 11. clamations. By one a free pardon was granted to all
who would submit ; by a second, the lands, goods, and
chattels of the insurgents were given to any man who
July 16. could obtain possession ; a third ordered the punish-
ment of death to be inflicted by martial law on such
persons as attempted to collect any riotous or unlaw-
ful assembly ; and a fourth urged the commissioners
to put down illegal inclosures, and was accompanied
with a private admonition that it was time for them
to look to themselves, and to reform their own con-
1 The king's proclamation maybe seen in Foxe (ii. 15, 16) ; the
reply of the archbishop has been published by Strype (Life of
Cranmer, App. p. 86). In the eighth article the Cornish men " re-
" fused the English service, because certain of them understood no
" English." The archbishop replied, that neither did they under-
stand Latin : an evasive answer, for in his remarks on their third
request, he had assigned their ignorance of the Latin tongue as a
reason why they should not have the mass in Latin.
RISING IN NORFOLK. 289
duct. At length, on the fortieth day, Lord Grey CHAP.
arrived with a reinforcement of German horse and A.D. 1549.
Italian arquebusiers ; the insurgents were immediately Au^Te.
driven from the city with the loss of nine hundred
men ; an attempt to rally on Clifton Down was fol-
lowed by a more sanguinary defeat ; and a third and
last effort to oppose the royal forces at Bridgewater
completed their downfal. During the insurrection
four thousand men are said to have perished in the
field or by the hand of the executioner.1
In Norfolk the first rising was at Aldborough. It June 10-
appeared in its origin too contemptible to deserve
notice ; but it formed the nucleus round which the
discontented of the neighbouring parishes successively
arranged themselves ; and as soon as they amounted
to a formidable number, Ket, by trade a tanner, but
the lord of three manors in the county, proclaimed
himself their leader. He planted his standard on the July 6.
summit of Moushold Hill, near Norwich, erected for
himself a throne under a spreading oak, which he
called the Oak of Reformation, and established courts
of Chancery, King's Bench, and Common Pleas, in
imitation of the courts in Westminster Hall. In his
1 Edward's Journal, 7. Foxe, 15 — 17. Holinshed, 1002. Hay-
ward, 295. Strype, ii. 170. Rec. 103 — 107. During these dis-
turbances, martial law was executed in every part of the kingdom ;
and often, as we are told, with little attention to justice. Sir
Anthony Kyngstone, provost of the western army, distinguished
himself by the promptitude of his decisions, and the pleasantry with
which he accompanied them. Having dined with the mayor of
Bodmin, he asked him if the gallows were sufficiently strong. The
mayor replied that he thought so. " Then," said Kyngstone, " go
" up and try;" and hanged him without further ceremony. On
another occasion, having received information against a miller, he
proceeded to the mill, and, not finding the master at home, ordered
his servant to the gallows, bidding him be content, for it was the
best service which he had ever rendered to his master. — Speed, 1113.
Hay ward, 295.
VOL. V. U
290 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, proclamations he complained that the commons were
A.D. 1*549. ground to the dust by the oppression of the rich ; and
that a new service had been forced on the people in
opposition to the conviction of their consciences ; and
declared that, if he and his associates had taken up
arms, it was for the sole purpose of placing trusty and
noble counsellors round the king during his minority,
and of removing those " who confounded things sacred
" and profane, and regarded nothing but the enriching
" of themselves with the public treasure, that they
" might riot in it during the public calamity."1
Obeyed by twenty thousand men, he treated the
offer of a pardon with scorn ; and when the marquess
of Northampton had entered Norwich with one thou-
sand English horse, and a body of Italians under
Malatesta, he attacked the city, set one part of it
on fire, killed the lord Sheffield and one hundred
men, and compelled the marquess and his followers
to retire out of the county. The council was alarmed
and embarrassed ; troops were recalled from the army
in Scotland ; the gentlemen of the neighbouring
counties were ordered by proclamation to join the
royal forces ; and the command was given first to the
protector, and afterwards to the earl of Warwick.
That nobleman, with eight thousand men, of whom
two thousand were German horse, forced his way into
Norwich, yet so incessant were the insurgents in their
attacks, so lavish were they of life, that they often
drove the gunners from the batteries, burst open the
gates, and fought with the royalists in the streets. The
earl commanded his followers to swear on their swords
that they would never abandon the place ; and by his
perseverance was at last enabled to attain his object
i Heylin, 77. Godwin, 93.
FRANCE DECLARES WAR. 291
of removing the enemy from their advantageous posi- CHAP.
tion. Compelled by want of provisions, Ket descended A>D. 1549.
from the hill ; in Dussingdale he was overtaken by the Au "^j~27.
royal army, his followers were broken by the charge
of a large body of regular cavalry, and about two
thousand men perished in the action and the pursuit.
The remainder, however, surrounded themselves with
a rampart of waggons, and a trench fortified with
stakes ; and to an offer of pardon replied, that they
knew the fate which awaited them, and that it was
better to perish by the sword than by the halter.
The earl, still apprehensive of the result, spoke to
them himself; at his solicitation they accepted a
general pardon; and the severity of the law was
confined to the execution of Ket on Norwich Castle,
of his brother on the steeple of Windham, and of
nine others on the nine branches of the Oak of Re-
formation.1 It is to these events that we owe the
institution of the lords lieutenants of counties, who
were now appointed to inquire of treason, misprision
of treason, insurrections and riots, with authority to
levy men, and lead them against the enemies of the
king.2
So many insurrections succeeding and strengthening
each other had shaken the power of the protector:
1 Edward's Journal, 7, 8. Strype, ii. Rec. 107. Foxe, 17.
Godwin, 94. Holinshed, 1035, 1039. Hayward, 299.
2 Strype, ii. 178. At this time (July 2nd) the king by proclamation
fixed the prices of cattle. I shall extract a few instances.
From July to November to Christmas to
November. Christmas. Shrovetide.
A fat ox of largest bone ..£250
A steer or runt, ditto ....150
A heifer, ditto .......... 1 2 0
£268
168
1 3 0
£284
184
A fat sheep, large of bone, 4s. till Michaelmas, afterwards 4s. 4d.
See Strype, ii. 151.
U2
292 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, bis fall was accelerated by tbe hostile determination
A. D. 1549. of tbe king of France. From the moment that Mary
of Scotland had reached St. Germains, Somerset had
proposed to make peace with the Scots, to surrender
Boulogne to the French monarch for a sum of money,
and to unite with him in the support of the Pro-
testant interest in Germany against the overwhelming
superiority of the emperor. But he yielded against
his own conviction to the majority of the council,
who pronounced the surrender of Boulogne a measure
calculated to cover the king's government with dis-
grace. Let them rather intrust that fortress to the
protection of the emperor, and offer the crown of
Scotland to the ambition of Arran; France would
then cease to threaten England with war, and Edward
might have leisure to improve his resources, and to
provide against future contingencies.1 But the em-
peror refused to act against the faith of his treaty
with Henry ; and that prince, encouraged by the in-
surrections in England, sent to Edward a declaration
Aug. 25. of war. Immediately the French troops poured into
the Boulognnois. Sellacques was taken by storm ;
Ambleteuse surrendered after a siege of some days;
the garrison of Blackness capitulated at the first
summons; and Montalambert was evacuated before
the arrival of the enemy.2 Boulogne, indeed, defied
the efforts of the French, who were deterred by the
approach of winter from forming a regular siege ; but
there was little doubt that at the return of spring
it would fall, unless a numerous army could be col-
1 Burnet, ii. 130, 131.
2 See the particulars of the campaign in the memoirs of Vicille-
ville, xxix. 190—202 ; and the Lettres et M6moires d'estat de
Ribier, ii. 217, 240, 241, 245.
THE PROTECTOR'S POWER DIMINISHES. 293
lected for its relief. All these disasters were attri- CHAP.
TV
buted to the misconduct of the protector, whose reign A.D. 1549.
was now rapidly drawing to an end.1
1. That nobleman had sealed his own doom on
the day on which he signed the warrant for the exe-
cution of his brother ; a warrant that disclosed to his
colleagues in the council the fate which they might
expect from his vengeance, if they should afterwards
incur the suspicion of being his enemies. The natural
consequence was that they began to commune with
each other, and to forecast the most likely means of
eschewing the danger. Somerset, on the other hand,
grew every day more positive and despotic : he would
not allow his pleasure or opinion to be called in ques-
tion : if any man in the council ventured to hint doubt
or disapprobation, he was either heard with silent
scorn, or was silenced at once with the most pas-
sionate expressions. The impolicy of such conduct
was represented to the protector by his friend Sir
William Paget, in an expostulatory letter. " How-
" soever," he writes, " it cometh to pass, I cannot
" tell ; but of late your grace is grown in great
" choleric fashions, whensoever you are contraried in
" that which you have conceived in your head A
" subject in great authority, as your grace is, using
" such fashion, is like to fall into great danger and
" peril of his own person, besides that to the common-
" wealth."2 It is unnecessary to add, that this pro-
phetic warning was treated with contempt.
2. His conduct in another respect, as it was more
1 Godwin, 95. Nothing was more felt than the want of money.
It was calculated that the insurrections had cost the king 28,000/.
All the war-charges of the year, including fortifications, amounted
to 1,356,000/. — Strype, ii. 178.
2 Letter of 8th of May, 1549, in Strype, ii. Rec. i. 108.
294 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, open to the public, was universally condemned. His
A.D. 1549. very friends could offer no apology for his rapacity.
Of a simple knight with a slender fortune, he had
become by grants from the crown, some indeed under
the late king, but most since his elevation to the pro-
tectorship, and therefore of his own dictation, the
possessor of more than two hundred manors, parcels
of land, and hereditaments, situate in different parts
of the kingdom, but principally in the counties of
Wilts and Devon.1 On the other hand, that mag-
nificent pile of building, which still retains from him
the name of Somerset House, was a standing memo-
rial of his vanity and extravagance. It was said that,
to procure a convenient site for this structure, he
had demolished the parish church of St. Mary's,
and compelled the bishops of Worcester, Lichfield,
and Llandaff, to convey to him the episcopal man-
sions belonging to their respective sees ; that to fur-
nish materials he had pulled down several chapels
and religious edifices ; and that, at a time when the
kingdom, through the poverty of the exchequer, was
left almost without a soldier for its defence, he could
afford to spend the daily sum of one hundred pounds
in unnecessary buildings. This insatiate accumulation
of wealth, joined with so much vanity, and the reck-
lessness with which he sought to gratify it, could not
fail to detract from the popularity which he had pre-
viously enjoyed.
8. But that which gave the rudest shock to his
1 See grants to him Imo Edwardi, in Strype, ii. 308 ; also the
Inspeximus by Queen Elizabeth, June 2, 1572, of grants made to
him by Edward. The names of more than two hundred manors and
parcels of land in the counties of Wilts and Devon, and of twenty
more in other shires, are recited in the schedule of the lands restored
to him after his submission in 1550.
POPULARITY OF WARWICK. 295
power was his wavering and doubtful policy during CHAP
the late commotions. By his proclamations and com- A.
missions for the putting down of inclosures he had
appeared to give the sanction of his authority to the
demands of the commons : when they were actually
in arms against the royal authority he had always lent
an indulgent ear to their petitions ; and after their
defeat he had repeatedly sought to screen them from
the vengeance of the conquerors. By this he had
earned for himself among them the title of " the good
" duke," but had awakened a spirit of jealousy and
mistrust among the landholders and all those who had
reason to fear for their possessions from the turbulent
and disaffected temper of the commons. The conduct
of the earl of Warwick had been the very reverse.
His policy was to suppress by force and intimidation ;
and the vigour with which he had acted against the
insurgents of Norfolk, with the severe punishment
which he had inflicted on their leaders, had made him
the idol of the higher classes, who began to look up
to him for the preservation of their rights and pro-
perties. He was now on his return from Norfolk,
crowned with the laurels of victory, and welcomed
with the acclamations of his admirers. In the neigh-
bourhood of London several lords and councillors
joined him with their retainers in arms and new
liveries, and the whole cavalcade proceeded in martial
array through the city to his house at Ely Place.
The protector, who, with the archbishop, Paget, and
Petre and Smith, the two secretaries, was in attend-
ance on the king at Hampton Court, taking this
hostile display for a declaration of war, called by
proclamation in the king's name on all faithful sub-
jects to repair to Hampton Court in defensible array, Oct. i
296 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, for the protection of the royal person against a most
A.D. 1549. dangerous conspiracy ; while his opponents, by cir-
cular letters published on the same day, forbade
obedience to his orders, and accused him of having
neglected to pay the forces, or to provision the king's
fortresses ; of spending the public money in extravagant
erections ; of fomenting divisions between the higher
and the lower classes in the nation ; of seeking the
destruction of the nobility, and of intending ulti-
mately to substitute himself in the place of the young
sovereign.1
For some days the war was carried on between
the two parties with proclamations, placards, hand-
bills, and demands of military aid from the city ; but
the advantage was plainly on the part of Warwick,
who not only received from the lord mayor and
aldermen promises of co-operation, but, to the surprise
and dismay of his opponents, gained by threats or
promises possession of the Tower. The duke by his
summons had drawn multitudes of the common people
into the neighbourhood of Hampton Court. One day,
Oct. 6. holding Edward by the hand, he addressed them from
the gate of the base-court, in a long speech, in which
he praised their loyalty, and inveighed against the
treasonous designs of Warwick and Warwick's adhe-
rents. But a few hours later, in the dead of the
night, with five hundred armed men, he conveyed
the young king from Hampton Court to Windsor
Castle, the custody of which he intrusted to his own
retainers.
On the preceding day he had sent Sir William
1 Mr. Tytler, with his usual industry, has discovered several of
these proclamations and hand-bills in the State Paper Office. See
them in his Edward and Mary I., p. 205 — 211.
OPPOSITION TO SOMERSET. 297
Petre to Ely Place with certain proposals. Petre CHAP.
(whether willingly or by compulsion is unknown) A.D. 1*549.
remained with his colleagues, who sent back an
answer, requiring the protector to submit uncondi-
tionately, and " to be content to be ordered according
"to justice and reason;" words of ominous import,
especially to one who could not forget in what manner
he had not long ago ordered his own brother in almost
similar circumstances.1
At Windsor he found little to give him confidence.
Scarcely a gentleman had obeyed the summons to
meet him there. The commons, indeed, in Hamp-
shire and Wiltshire had begun to rise, and their
demagogues talked of marching to the aid of the
good duke : but all such projects were suddenly
checked by the arrival at Wilton and Andover of the
Lord Russell and Sir William Herbert with part of
the army which had been doing execution on the
insurgents in Devonshire. These leaders made no
secret of their adhesion to the council in London,
and from that moment the cause of the protector
became desperate. That he might disarm the hos-
tility of Warwick, he wrote to that nobleman, re-
minding him of their friendship from the time of their
youth; and, to provide for his own safety, he pro-
tested before the king that he had no design to injure
his opponents, but was willing to submit the quarrel
between him and them to four arbitrators, two to be
1 See this letter in Ellis, 2nd series, i. p. 166. The date, the
7th of October, is of importance, as it shows that Somerset had
begun to despond, and the council had assumed a decided superiority,
before either the one or the other could have received the letters
from Lord Russell and Sir William Herbert to which those events
have been attributed. The letter from the council was written on
the 7th, their letters from Andover and Wilton on the 8th and 9th
of October.
298 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, chosen by each party. This offer was communicated
A.D. 1549. to the lords in a letter from the king, who required
them " to bring these uproars to a quiet," and put
them in mind that, whatever offences the protector
might have committed, it was still in the power of
the sovereign to grant him a pardon. Cranmer,
Paget, and Smith wrote to them at the same time,
recommending forbearance, and stating that if, as was
reported, they sought the life of the duke, it was but
reasonable that, before he resigned his office, he
should know on what conditions that resignation
was expected.1 But Warwick and his friends, in the
pride of victory, would listen to no compromise. In
a proclamation, consisting of eight articles, and signed
by every councillor at Ely Place, they publicly charged
the duke with divers high crimes and misdemeanors,
and through the influence of the lord mayor and
Oct. s. sheriffs obtained from the citizens an aid of five
hundred armed men. In answer to the proposals
from Hampton Court they insisted on an uncondi-
tional surrender.2 In their reply to Edward they
accused the protector of arbitrary and tyrannical
abuse of his authority ; and in their letter to Cranmer,
Paget, and Smith, they forewarned these councillors
of the peril to which they had already exposed them-
selves by delivering the king into the hands of armed
men, not his sworn servants ; it is moreover said, but on
the credit of a very questionable document, that Sir
Philip Hoby, the bearer of their letters, made to the
duke, on their part, the most flattering promises for
the express purpose of deceiving him, and inducing
1 Stowe, 598. Burnet, iv. 298. Tytler, i. 223.
2 Burnet, iv. 299, 300. Ellis, 2nd series, ii. 175.
IS COMMITTED TO THE TOWER. 299
him to submit.1 However that may be, the arch- CHAP.
bishop and Paget deemed it their interest to transfer A.D. 1549.
their services to the more powerful party, and with
much labour prevailed on Somerset and his friends Oct. 10.
to disarm their followers, to restore the custody of the
king with that of the castle to the royal guards, and
to place themselves without reserve at the mercy of
their adversaries.2 The next day, in consequence of Oct. n.
a hint from Paget, Sir Anthony Wingfield, the vice-
chamberlain, arrived with a numerous escort to secure
the person of the duke. Warwick and his friends
followed, and were received by Edward with demon-
strations of pleasure, which showed that he was not
unwilling to be emancipated from the control of his
uncle. The Sunday passed ; and on Monday morning Oct. u.
the protector was deprived of his office in due form
by a writ under the great seal, and with the sign
manual of the king. He was then subjected to a
searching examination before the council, and com-
mitted a prisoner to the care of the earls of Hunting-
don and Southampton, who with a body of three
hundred horse conducted him to the metropolis. The
civic authorities had already been summoned to keep
watch in every ward ; and Somerset, riding between
the two earls, proceeded slowly through Holborn to
his prison in the Tower. Five of his confidential
advisers were incarcerated with him.3
1 See it in Tytler, i. 238. My suspicion is, that this story re-
specting the deception attributed to Hoby was invented afterwards
by the friends of Somerset, to extenuate the pusillanimity of his sub-
mission. Nor am I able to discover the menacing allusion to the
verbal message on which Mr. Tytler insists, p. 236.
2 See the letter in Ellis (2nd series, ii. 171), misdescribed as an
offer of terms of accommodation. It contains no such offer, but
states with great satisfaction that " all things are well acquieted" by
the submission of Somerset and his party. 3 Stowe, 600.
300 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. The confinement of Somerset filled the reformers
TV
A.D. 1549. with the most gloomy apprehensions. It was not
improbable that the policy or the resentment of
Warwick might induce him to send their patron to
the scaffold, arid to restore the ascendancy of the
ancient faith. But, whatever might be his real feel-
ings, the earl deemed it more prudent to confirm his
control over the mind, by indulging the wishes of the
young king, his repugnance to shed the blood of a
second uncle, and his prejudices against the doctrine
and the worship of his fathers. Parliament had been
Nov. 4. prorogued to the beginning of November. When it
assembled, Warwick seldom attended in his place,
and affected to leave the members to the unbiassed
exercise of their own judgment. Their first care was
to prevent the return of the disgraceful and dangerous
occurrences of the last year; and a bill was passed,
making it felony for any persons to assemble to the
number of twelve or more for the purpose of abating
the rents of farms or the price of provisions, or of
destroying houses or parks, or of asserting a right to
ways or commons, if they continued together one
hour after they had been warned to disperse by pro-
clamation from a magistrate, sheriff, or bailiff; and
raising the offence to high treason, when the object
of the meeting should be to alter the laws, or to kill
or to imprison any member of the king's council.1 At
Christmas, to extinguish the hopes of those who still
adhered to the ancient faith, a circular letter was
sent to the clergy, informing them of the king's inten-
tion to proceed with the reformation ; and command-
ing them to deliver up all books containing any
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 104.
RELIGIOUS ENACTMENTS. 301
portion of the former service, that they might be CHAP.
burnt or destroyed. But this proclamation did not A.D. 1549.
satisfy the expectations of the more zealous among
the reformers, and an act was soon afterwards passed,
subjecting every individual, either clerk or layman,
who should keep in his possession any such book, to
a fine for the first and second offence, and to impri-
sonment during the king's pleasure for the third.1
Moreover, as the church of England now possessed
a new order of common prayer and administration of
the sacraments, it was deemed proper that its minis-
ters should be ordained after a new form ; and it was
enacted, that six prelates and six other persons
learned in God's law should be appointed by the
king to compose a manner of making and conse-
crating archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons ; and
that such manner, being set forth under the great
seal before the first of April, should afterwards be
lawfully used and exercised, and none other.2 In
the upper house some of the prelates drew a frightful
picture of the national morals, and attributed the
universal prevalence of vice to the manner in which
the exercise of their jurisdiction had been suspended
or enervated by successive acts of parliament and
proclamations of the council. At their common soli-
citation leave was given to introduce a bill which
should restore to the episcopal courts a portion of
their former authority. But its provisions were
deemed to trench both on the powers now exercised
1 Stat of Realm, iv. 110. The earl of Derby, the bishops of Dur-
ham, Carlisle, Lichfield and Coventry, Worcester, Chichester, and
Westminster, and the lords Morley, Stourton, Wyndsor, and Whar-
ton, voted against it. — Journals, 384.
2 Ibid. 112. It was opposed by the bishops of Durham, Carlisle,
Worcester, Chichester, and Westminster. — Journals, 384.
302 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, by the crown, and on the liberties of the subject ;
A.D. 1549. the earl of Warwick attended in his place to oppose
it, and on the first reading it was rejected without a
division.
In the meantime the council was repeatedly occu-
pied with the fate of the noble prisoner in the Tower.
The articles prepared against him might be divided
into three classes, charging him with obstinacy, in-
capacity, and bad faith during the late insurrection,
with negligence in permitting the fortresses near
Boulogne to fall into the hands of the French, and with
presumption in rejecting the advice of the council,
though he had been raised to the protectorship on the
express condition that he should never act without its
assent.1 At length an intimation was given to him,
that, if he hoped for pardon, he must submit to a frank
Dec. 23. and unqualified acknowledgment of his guilt. The
condition, though painful to his feelings, was gratefully
accepted. On his knees he confessed his presump-
tion, negligence, and incapacity, subscribed the twenty-
nine charges against him, and earnestly implored
for mercy. Life was promised ; but on condition
that he should forfeit all his offices, his goods and
chattels, and a portion of his lands to the yearly value
of two thousand pounds. When, however, a bill of
Jan. 2. pains and penalties was introduced for this purpose,
some of the peers ventured to make an objection,
which no man would have dared to suggest during the
last reign. They observed that by their precipitancy
in such cases precedents might be established the most
dangerous to the life and liberties of the subject ; that
1 That the last charge was so far true, may be presumed from the
letters of advice previously written by Paget to Somerset, on May 8
and July 7. — Apud Strype, ii. Rec. 107 — 114.
SOMERSET PARDONED. 303
before the house could ground any proceedings on the CHAP.
confession of Somerset, it was its duty to ascertain the A.D. 1550.
motives which had induced him to sign it ; and that a
deputation ought to be appointed with power to inter-
rogate him in the Tower. To this the ministers as-
sented ; the deputation on its return reported that he
had made the confession of his own free will, and to
exonerate his conscience ; and the bill, having passed
through both houses without further opposition, re-
ceived the royal assent. Somerset, however, had the
courage to remonstrate against the severity of his
punishment ; and, in order to extenuate his offences,
appealed to the testimony of his conscience and the
uprightness of his intentions. But the council replied
with harshness and warmth ; the reprimand humbled
him to the dust ; and he signed a second and still Feb. 2.
more abject submission, in which he disclaimed all
idea of justifying his conduct, threw himself without
reserve on the mercy of his sovereign, and expressed
his gratitude to the king and the council, that they
had been content to take his property, when they
might justly have taken his life. Having given se-
curity for the payment of a heavy fine, he was dis- Feb. 6.
charged from the Tower, and received a pardon drawn Feb. 16.
in the most ample form that legal ingenuity could
devise, but with the exception of his debts to the king.1
His friends, who had been imprisoned with him, reco-
vered their liberty on similar conditions ; and as if it
had been resolved to execute justice with the strictest
impartiality, the earl of Arundel and Sir Richard
Southwell, who had been among the most active of
his opponents, were severally mulcted for different
1 Lords' Journals, 374, 375. Rym. xv. 205.
304 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, offences, the first in the sum of twelve thousand, the
A.D. 1550. other in that of five hundred pounds. This revolution
was concluded as usual by rewards to the principal
actors in it. The earl of Warwick obtained the
Feb. 2. offices of great master and lord high admiral, the
marquess of Northampton that of great chamberlain,
and the lords Russell and St. John, created earls of
Bedford and Wiltshire, were appointed lord privy
seal and lord treasurer. At the same time the earls
of Arundel and Southampton, the supposed confidants
of Warwick, were removed from the council : the
former suffered a short confinement in his own house ;
the latter, after a lingering illness, died before the end
of summer.1
While Warwick and his friends were thus employed
in humbling the power of Somerset, they were harassed
with apprehensions of the French war; and, notwith-
standing the blame which they had thrown on the late
protector, were compelled to adopt his measures, and
to submit to the surrender of Boulogne. The French
had interrupted the communication between that city
and Calais ; nor was the earl of Huntingdon able to
re-open it, though he had taken with him all the bands
of mercenaries, and three thousand English veterans.
The treasury was exhausted :2 the garrison suffered
from want of provisions ; and the enemy eagerly
expected the return of spring to commence more
1 Stowe, 603. Rym. xv. 194, 203, 208. Strype, ii. 195.
2 From the report of the senator Barbaro to the senate of Venice
(communicated by H. Howard, of Corby, esq.), it appears that the
king's income greatly exceeded his ordinary expenditure in time of
peace, the former being about 350,0007. and the latter about 225,0007.
But the war in Scotland for three years had plunged him deeply in
debt ; and we find him constantly sending messengers to Antwerp
to borrow money for short periods at high rates of interest. — See
Strype, ii. 300, 312, 313, 323.
NEGOTIATIONS. 305
active operations. A proposal was again made to CHAP.
the emperor to take Boulogne into his custody ; this A.D!!i5o
was followed by an offer to cede it to him in full
sovereignty, on condition that it should never be re-
stored to the crown of France. Both were refused ;
and, as a last resource, Antonio Guidotti, a merchant
of Florence, was employed to hint to the French
ministers that the English cabinet was not adverse to
a peace.1 With the aid of this unaccredited agent a *•• ».
secret understanding was established; ambassadors
were then named ; and the conferences were opened.
But the French, sensible of their superiority, dictated
the conditions. To the proposal, that, as an equivalent
for the surrender of Boulogne, Mary of Scotland
should be contracted to Edward, they answered that
Henry had already determined to marry her to his Feb 22
own son, the dauphin; and when it was demanded
that at least the perpetual pension from France should
be confirmed, and the arrears discharged, they indig-
nantly replied, that their king would never condescend
to pay tribute to a foreign crown ; that Henry VIII.
had availed himself of the accidental necessities of
Francis to extort a pension from him ; and that they
with equal right would avail themselves of the present
distress of the king of England to make him renounce
The English ambassadors assumed a tone equally
haughty and repulsive ; they even threatened to ter-
English writers attribute the first employment of Guidotti
rench ministry, the French to the English. " Les Anglois
•« IfcnnH » laHgUerre' &c'' m'ayant fait recherchez d'envoyer mes
deputiz. -Henry, apud Ribeir, ii. 287. It is probable that it was
so, for m reward of his services Guidotti obtained from BdwarH
pension for life of 250/. per annum for himself, and of 35 /I Os for
""^W *£• 22^ He WaS als° kniShted> and received a
or zzut. — King Edward s Journal, 11.
feee the letter of Paget, apud Strype, ii. Rec. p. 114
VOL. V. x
306 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, minate the discussions ; but their actions did not
A.D. 1550. correspond with their words; each day they receded
from some or other of their demands ; and at length
they subscribed to the terms imposed by their adver-
saries.
March 24. The treaty was prefaced by a long and fulsome
panegyric of the two kings ; Henry and Edward were
the best of princes, the two great luminaries of the
Christian world; personally they had no causes of
enmity against each other ; and if their fathers had
been divided, the relics of that hostility they were
determined to suppress for ever. With this view they
had agreed, 1. That there should be between the two
crowns a peace, league, and union, which should last
not only for their lives, but as long as time should
endure ; 2. That Boulogne should be restored to the
king of France, with the ordnance and stores which
were found in it at the time of its capture ; that in
return for the moneys already spent on the fortifica-
tions, Henry should pay to Edward two hundred
thousand crowns at the time of its delivery, and two
hundred thousand more within five months ; on con-
dition that the English should previously surrender
Dunglass and Lauder to the queen of Scots, or, if
Dunglass and Lauder were not in their possession,
should raze to the ground the fortresses of Roxburgh
and Aymouth; 3. That Scotland should be compre-
hended in this treaty, if the queen signified her ac-
ceptance of it within forty days ; and that Edward
should not hereafter make war upon her or her
subjects, unless some new cause of offence was given ;
and lastly, that all the rights, claims, and pretensions
of England against France and Scotland, or of France
and Scotland against England, should be mutually
PEACE WITH FRANCE AND SCOTLAND. 307
reserved.1 Though Warwick had signed the instruc- CHAP.
tions to the ambassadors, he absented himself under A.D. 1550.
pretence of sickness from the council on the day on
which the treaty was confirmed. By the public the
conditions were considered a national disgrace. The
sum of two millions of crowns, which Francis had
consented to give for the surrender of Boulogne at
the expiration of eight years, had been cut down to
one-fifth ; the right of enforcing the treaty of mar-
riage between Edward and Mary of Scotland had
been abandoned ; and the perpetual pension, which
Henry VIII. had accepted in lieu of his claim to the
crown of France, had been virtually surrendered. In
fact the pretensions of the former kings of England
were after this treaty suffered to sleep in silence by
their successors. They contented themselves with the
sole title of kings of France, a barren but invidious
distinction, which, after two centuries and a half, was
wisely laid aside by the grandfather of her present
majesty.
Though the partisans of the new doctrines could
depend with confidence on the support of the crown,
the late commotions had proved to them that the
reformation still rested on a very insecure founda-
tion. Eleven-twelfths of the nation retained a strong
attachment to the creed of their fathers ;~ the order
for the introduction of the new liturgy had been re-
luctantly and negligently obeyed ; the clergy, for the
1 Rym. xv. 211, 217. The queen regent of Scotland signified
her assent in due form. — Chron. Cat. 327.
2 This is acknowledged in a confidential letter from Paget to the
protector, written July 7, 1549. " The use of the old religion is
" forbidden by a law, and the use of the new is not yet printed in
" the stomachs of eleven or [o/J twelve parts of the realm, what
" countenance soever men make outwardly to please them in whom
" they see the power resteth."— Apud Strype, ii. Rec. 110.
x2
308 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, most part hostile to the cause, sought only to evade
A.D. 1550. the penalties threatened by the statute ; and the
nobility and gentry were believed to dissemble their
real sentiments, that they might earn the favour, or
escape the displeasure, of the court. In these circum-
stances the archbishop proposed to purge the church
of those prelates whose disaffection was the most
notorious ; and to supply their places with men of
approved zeal and orthodox principles. The first
on whom the experiment was hazarded was Bonner,
bishop of London, whose apathy had long been the
1549 subject of complaint, but whose caution had preserved
August 9. him from any open violation of the law. He was
summoned before the council, received a severe repri-
mand, and was ordered to perform the new service at
St. Paul's on every festival on which he and his pre-
decessors had been accustomed to celebrate the high
mass ; to proceed in his court against all reputed
adulterers, and such persons as absented themselves
from the English liturgy, or refused to communicate
according to the parliamentary form ; and that he
should preach at St. Paul's Cross on the first of
September, and afterwards once every three months,
and should be present at every other sermon which
should be made there. The subject for his first dis-
course was given to him in writing, and divided into
three parts. He was to show, 1. That "the rebels in
" Devonshire, Cornwall, and Norfolk, did not only
" deserve death as traitors, but accumulated to them-
" selves eternal damnation, even to be in the burning
" fire of hell, with Lucifer, the father and first author
" of rebellion;" 2. That in religion, God regards the
internal disposition of the heart ; that the regulation
of the external service belongs to the supreme magis-
DEPRIVATION OF BONNER. 309
trate ; that to disobey him is to disobey the command CHAP.
of God ; and that of course to assist at the mass, A.D. 1549.
which had been prohibited by royal authority, was not
to please, but to offend the Almighty ; and 3. That
the right and power of the king in his tender years
was not less than it had been in his predecessors, or
would be in himself at a more advanced age.
At the appointed day crowds assembled to hear the
prelate ; many from curiosity, some for the purpose of
censure. In his sermon, Bonner, whether it was from Sept. i.
accident or design, omitted the last part ; the omission
was observed and denounced to the council by Latimer
and Hooper, two reformed preachers; and Cranmer Sept. 8.
and Ridley, with Petre and Smith, the king's secre-
taries, and May, dean of St. Paul's, were appointed to
try and punish the refractory prelate. Bonner ap-
peared before his judges, with the undaunted air of a
man who feels conscious that he suffers in a just cause.
He had, he told them, " three things, — a few goods, a
" poor carcass, and a soul ; the two first were at their
" disposal, but the last was at his own." He objected
to his accusers that they were notorious heretics ; ex-
cepted against Smith as his known enemy ; and, in a
tone of pity and contempt, twitted the archbishop
with his subserviency to men in power, and the incon-
stancy of his religious sentiments. Being compelled
to answer upon oath the questions which were put to
him, he acknowledged the omission, but attributed it to
the imperfection of his memory, the loss of his notes,
and the interruption caused by an unexpected order
which he received, to announce from the pulpit a
victory gained over the insurgents. He contended,
however, that he had compensated for this involuntary
error by the eagerness with which he had declaimed
310 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, against the rebels ; and avowed his conviction that
A.D. 1549. his real crime, though carefully kept out of sight,
consisted in the freedom with which he had explained
the Catholic and established doctrine respecting the
sacrament of the altar. It was in vain that he pro-
tested against the authority of the court, or that he
appealed from it to the equity of the king. The
Oct. 4. archbishop pronounced the sentence of deprivation ;
and Bonner was remanded to the Marshalsea, where
he remained a prisoner till the king's death.1 To
most men the sentence appeared an act of unwarrant-
able severity ; his subsequent confinement, before he
had given any new cause of offence, was certainly
April 12. repugnant to law and justice. Ridley, one of his
judges, succeeded him in the see of London, but on
conditions which seemed to stamp a still more un-
favourable character on the whole proceeding. The
bishopric of Westminster was dissolved by royal au-
thority ; Ridley accepted its lands and revenues, in
exchange for the lands and revenues belonging to his
April 16. own church ; and these, four days later, were divided
among three of the principal lords at court, Rich, lord
chancellor ; Went worth, lord chamberlain ; and Sir
Thomas Darcy, vice-chamberlain.2
The deprivation of Bonner would, it was hoped,
intimidate and subdue the constancy of Gardiner, who
had now been for two years a prisoner in the Tower,
1 Foxe, ii. 20—42. Burnet, ii. 121—127. State Trials, i. 631.
The pretence for his imprisonment was that " the commissioners
" now perceived more in the matter than they did before, and that
" his behaviour was a greater rebellion than he was aware of."
Foxe,- 41.
2 Strype, ii. 217, 218. The yearly value of the lands resigned
by Ridley was 4SO/. 3s. 9f d., of those which he received in ex-
change, 5261. 19s. 9£d., but out of them the king reserved rents
to the amount of 100/.— Ibid.
DEPRIVATION OF GARDINER. 311
without being able to obtain a trial, or even a copy of CHAP.
the charges against him.1 He was visited by a depu- A.D. 1550.
tation from the council, and urged to subscribe a j^~9.
written form of submission. To those parts of it which
approved the Book of Common Prayer, and acknow-
ledged in the king the powers with which the statute
had invested him as the head of the church, he
did not object ; but no consideration could induce him
to confess that he had offended, or to solicit the for-
giveness of his sovereign. A second attempt was Juiyi4.
made ; but, if on this occasion the form of submission
was softened down, articles were added equally repug-
nant to the opinions and feelings of the bishop. He was
required to approve of the dissolution of monasteries,
and the secularization of ecclesiastical property, of the
homilies of Archbishop Cranmer, and the paraphrase
of Erasmus, and of every religious innovation which
had been established by act of parliament or by order
of the council. Gardiner replied, that he asked for no
favour ; he sought only a legal trial ; he was willing to
stand or fall by the law. To talk to him of subscrip-
tions in prison was unfair. Let them discharge him as
an innocent man, and he would then do whatever his
duty required; but were he to subscribe in the Tower,
it would be said that he had sacrificed his conscience to
purchase his liberty. He was next brought before the July 19.
council ; the articles were read in his presence ; and
he was asked whether he was willing to subscribe as
1 " Considerynge," says the Council Book, " the longe imprison-
ment that the bishope of Winchestere hath sustayned (since June
29th, 1548), it was now thought time he should be spokene
withall." The king's book of proceedings was sent to him, to
v -hich he replied, that " he could make no direct answere, unless
he were at libertie ; and so beinge, he would saye his con-
scyence" (fol. 99).
312 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, bis majesty had commanded. He replied, that " in
A.D. 1550. " all tilings that his majesty could lawfully command*
" he was most ready to obey ; but forasmuch as there
" were divers things required of him, that his con-
" science would not bear, therefore he prayed them to
" have him excused." Sentence was immediately
pronounced by secretary Petre, that his revenue should
be sequestrated from that day, and that, if he did not
submit within three months, reckoning each month
for a canonical monition, he should be deprived of his
Dec. 14. bishopric. At length a commission was issued to the
metropolitan, three bishops, and six laymen, to pro-
ceed against him for contempt; but he defended
himself with ability and perseverance; protested
against some of the judges and several of the wit-
nesses, as accomplices in a conspiracy against him,
which originated about the close of the last reign, and
had been continued to that day ; and brought so many
1551. proofs of his allegations, that, to prevent unpleasant
disclosures, Cranmer, on the twenty-second day, cut
short the proceedings, pronouncing him contumacious,
and adjudging him to be deprived of his bishopric.1
By order of the council, he was sent back to a meaner
Feb. is. cell in the Tower, with instructions that no man
should see him but one of the warders ; that all his
books and papers should be taken from him and exa-
mined ; and that he should be refused the use of pen,
March 8. ink, and paper.2 Poynet, bishop of Rochester, suc-
1 Compare Foxe (ii. 74 — 85), and Burnet (ii. 150, 165), with
the Council Book, Harl. MSS. 352, and the extracts published by
Mr. Ellis, in the Archaeologia, xviii. 135 — 146, 150 — 152; or
State Trials, i. 551.
2 The chief reason assigned for this severity was that " on the
" daye of his judgment given againste him, he called his judges
" heretiques and sacramentarys, they beinge there the kinge's com-
" missioneres, and of his highnes counsell." — Council Book, fol. 152.
OF DAY AND HEATH. 313
ceeded him at Winchester ; but on conditions similar CHAP.
IV
to those to which Ridley had consented on his trans- A.D. 1551.
lation to London. The new prelate surrendered to
the crown all the revenues of that wealthy bishopric,
and received in return rectories and lands to the
yearly value of two thousand marks. A large portion
of the spoil was reserved for the friends of the earl
of Warwick ; Sir Thomas Wroth was gratified with a
pension for life of one hundred pounds ; and Gates,
Hobey, Seymour, Dudley, Nevil, and Fitzwilliams
obtained still more valuable grants of lordships and
manors, for themselves and their heirs for ever.1
There were two other prelates prisoners in the
Tower. Heath, bishop of Worcester, and Day, bishop
of Chichester, both distinguished by their learning,
their moderation, and their attachment to the ancient
creed. Heath, though he had voted against the bill
for a new ordinal, was named one of the commis-
sioners ; probably for the purpose of procuring matter
of complaint against him. He disapproved of the form
devised by his eleven colleagues ; and on his refusal Feb- 8-
to subscribe it, was committed to the Fleet for con- March 4.
tempt. After an imprisonment of eighteen months,
he was called again before the council, and com- Sept. 22.
manded to subscribe under pain of deprivation in four
days ; but " he resolutely answered he could not
" fynde in his conscyence to do it ; and so, as a man
" incorrigible, he was returned to the Fleete."2 The
1 Strype, ii. 273.
2 Council Book, fol. 200. Burnet, ii. 143. This ordinal gave
rise to a fierce and acrimonious controversy between the two parties ;
the one maintaining that, though it omitted a number of ceremonies,
the inventions of later ages, it had preserved whatever according to
Scripture was necessary for the ordination of bishops, priests, and
deacons ; the other, that it had been compiled chiefly by men who
considered ordination as an unnecessary rite (see chap. ii. p. 160,
314 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, bishopric was given to Hooper, and Heath remained
A.D. 1551. till the king's death in prison. Day had offended in
a different point. As the ancient liturgy had been
commuted for the communion service, the sacrifice of
the mass for the supper of the Lord, it was proposed
to substitute in the churches tables in the place of the
altars, which, with their plate, and jewels, and decora-
tions, would supply a new harvest to the rapacity of
the royal favourites.1 The attempt was first made
by a few unauthorized individuals; it was followed
by an experiment on a larger scale in the diocese of
London, under the protection of Bishop Ridley ; and
1550 at last the council, alleging the danger of dissension,
NOV. 24. issued a general injunction to the bishops to remove
NOV. so. the altars in their respective dioceses.2 Day replied
that his conscience would not permit him to obey;
and though he was allowed four days to deliberate,
Dec. 7. though Cranmer and Ridley were commissioned to
instruct and convert him, he still answered, that he
" thought it a less evil to suffer the body to perish,
" than to corrupt the soul with that his conscience
" would not bear." He was committed for this con-
tempt to the Fleet ;3 a court of delegates the next
vear deprived him and Heath of their bishoprics;4
note); and on that account had carefully omitted what was requisite
to impart the sacerdotal character, and that it made no material
distinction between the office of priest and bishop. Under Mary
the statute authorizing the ordinal was repealed, and the ordinations
made in conformity with it were reputed invalid : under Elizabeth
it was re-enacted ; and one or two improvements were added to
meet some of the principal difficulties. In its favour, see Mason de
Ministerio Anglicano, 1. ii. c. 15, 16, 17: the chief arguments
against it have been collected by Dodd, Hist. ii. 278 — 290.
» Heylin, 95.
2 Wilk. Cone. iv. 65.
3 Council Book, fol. 140, 141.
4 Great attempts were previously made to prevail on them to con-
form. But Heath told the council that " of other inynde he thought
TROUBLES OF THE LADY MARY. 315
and both, notwithstanding this punishment, were kept
in custody till the commencement of the next A.D. 1551.
reign.1
There still remained one individual whose conver-
sion in the estimation of the reformers would have
balanced the opposition of a whole host of bishops, —
the lady Mary, the sister of Edward, and the pre-
sumptive heir to the crown. She had embraced the
first opportunity of expressing to the protector her
dislike of further innovation, and her wish that reli-
gion might, during the minority of the king, be pre-
served in the same state in which it had been left
by her royal father; but Somerset replied, that his
object was to accomplish the real intentions of
Henry, who on his death-bed had deeply regretted
that he could not live to complete the reformation.
The statute of uniformity for worship quickly supplied
him with the power of putting her constancy to the
test. Its framers appear to have taken for their
model the intolerance of the German reformers. Not
only did they introduce the new liturgy into the
national churches and chapels, but, as the reader will
remember, they had invaded the secrecy of the closet,
and enacted severe penalties against every priest who
" never to be, adding that there be many other thinges whereunto
" he would not consent, yf he were demaunded, as to take down
" alteres, and set up tables." He was then threatened with depri-
vation, if he did not submit within two days ; but he replied, " that
" he could not fynde in his conscyence to do it, and should be well
" contente to abyde such ende either by deprivacon or otherwise as
" pleased the kinge's matie." — Council Book, fol. 200.
1 Day, after two years' imprisonment, petitioned for his discharge,
on the ground that deprivation was sufficient punishment for a con-
scientious dissent from an injunction ; but added, that if this indul-
gence " were to be bought at the hazard of his conscience, he thought
" it better to want it than to purchase so poor a commodity at so
" dear a rate." His petition was refused. — Strype, ii. 391.
316 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, should celebrate, every lay man or woman who should
A.D.1551. attend where a priest celebrated mass, even in a pri-
vate house. Mary received an admonition that she
must conform to the provisions of the statute. She
June 22. replied that she did not consider it binding in con-
science ; reminded the lords that they had sworn to
observe the laws respecting religion which had been
established by her father ; hinted that they could not
with decency refuse so small an indulgence as liberty
of worship to the daughter of him who raised them
from nothing to their present rank and authority,
and at last appealed from their intolerance to the
powerful protection of her cousin the emperor. It
chanced to be the very time when the English cabinet
solicited the aid of that prince for the preservation
of Boulogne. After a short debate, policy prevailed
over fanaticism ; arid at the imperial intercession the
indulgence which Mary prayed for was reluctantly
granted. But after the conclusion of peace with
France, the friendship of Charles appeared of less im-
portance, and she was repeatedly harassed with mes-
sages from the council, and with letters from her
brother. The young king maintained that he pos-
sessed as great authority in religious matters as had
been possessed by his father ; and declared that his
love of God, and his affection for his sister, forbade
him to tolerate her obstinacy : still he preferred mild-
ness to severity, and was willing to supply her with
teachers who might instruct her ignorance and refute
her errors. Her reasoning, and complaints, and re-
monstrances, were now equally fruitless. The per-
mission which had been granted at the request of the
emperor was explained to have been limited in its
duration to a few months, and to have been confined
HER FIRMNESS. 817
to her own person, with the exclusion of her house- CHAP.
hold. The application of the ambassador in her A.D.1550.
favour was met with a prompt and peremptory re- Ap"~j~79.
fusal ; and, on a rumour of her intention to retire to August 14,
the continent, a fleet was equipped to intercept the
communication between the coast of Norfolk and the
opposite shore. Soon afterwards indictments under December.
the statute were found against two of her chaplains ;
and at the royal invitation Mary herself consented to
meet in person the lords of the council. They parted J551
mutually dissatisfied with each other. She asserted March is.
that " her soul was God's, and that she would neither
" change her faith nor dissemble her opinion : " they
replied, that "the king did not constrain her faith,
" but insisted that she should obey like a subject,
" and not rule like a sovereign."1
The next day the ambassador came to her aid with March 19.
a denunciation of war from the emperor, if Edward
should presume to violate the solemn promise which
he had given in her favour. This unexpected menace
perplexed the orthodoxy of the council. On the one
hand by precipitation they would expose to the mercy
of an enemy the goods of the English merchants, the
equipments of the gens d'armes, and fifteen hundred
quintals of gunpowder in the dep6t in Flanders : on
the other hand the young king had persuaded himself
that he could not conscientiously suffer his sister to
practise any longer an idolatrous worship, and persist
in the daily commission of a sin to damnation. The
metropolitan, with Ridley and Poynet, the two new
bishops of London and Rochester, was commissioned
to lay the spirit which he had raised; and they, to
1 Edward's Journal, 21.
318 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, convince the royal theologian, strongly maintained
A.D. 1*551. that, " though to give license to sin, was sin, yet to
" suffer and wink at it for a time might be borne, so
" all haste possible were used." With reluctance,
Edward submitted to the authority of these grave and
reverend fathers, but lamented with tears the blind
infatuation of his sifeter, whose obstinacy he could
not convince by argument, nor was suffered to restrain
by due course of law.1
The next object of the council was to gain time
for the removal of the stores and ammunition in
Flanders to an English port. With this view the
ambassador was told that the king would return an
answer by a messenger of his own ; and a month later
March 22. Dr. Wotton was despatched to represent to the em-
peror that the promise given by Edward was of a
temporary nature ; that the liturgy adopted in Eng-
land was only a revival of the service used in the
first ages ; that conformity was enjoined by a statute
which bound all men, even the king himself; and that
to overlook disobedience in the first subject in the
realm, would be to encourage disobedience in others.
At the same time, to proceed with impartiality, it was
determined to punish the offenders first in the royal
household, then in that of the princess. Of the king's
servants, Sir Anthony Brown and Serjeant Morgan
March 24. were sent to the Fleet, and Sir Clement Smith re-
May 2. ceived a severe reprimand; from the family of the
princess, Dr. Mallet, the head chaplain, was selected
for an example, and committed to close custody in
the Tower.2 An active correspondence ensued ;3 Mary
J Edward's Journal, 21. Burnet, ii. 172.
2 Edward's Journal, 24. Strype, ii. 252. Chron. Cat. 323.
3 Many of the letters which were written on this occasion are
HER SERVANTS COMMITTED. 319
demanding the enlargement of her chaplain, the CHAP.
council requiring that she should conform to the
law. At length Rochester, Waldgrave, and Inglefield,
the chief officers of her household, were commanded
to prevent the use of the ancient service in the house,
and to communicate this order to the servants and
chaplains of their mistress. Having consulted her,
they returned to the council, and offered to submit to
any punishment, rather than undertake what " they
"could not find in their hearts or consciences to
" perform." They were committed to the Tower for
contempt;1 and the lord chancellor, Sir Anthony
Wyngfield, and Sir William Petre, proceeding to August 28.
Copped Hall, in Essex, the residence of the princess,
extant. The council persist in asserting that the innovations in
religion do not affect its substance. " Our greatest change," they
say, " is not in the substance of our faith, no, not in one article of
" our creed. Only the difference is that we use the ceremonies,
" observations, and sacraments of our religion, as the apostles and
" first fathers in the primitive church did. You use the same that
" corruption of time brought in, and very barbarousness and igno-
" ranee nourished ; and seem to hold for custom against truth, and
" we for truth against custom." She declined entering into the
controversy, and contended that the king was too young to under-
stand such matters. " Give me leave," she says, " to write what I
" think touching your majesty's letters. Indeed they be signed
" with your own hand ; and nevertheless, in my opinion, not your
" majesty's in effect. Because, it is well known, that although (our
" Lord be praised) your majesty hath far more knowledge and
" greater gifts than any others of your years, yet it is not possible
" that your highness can at these years be judge in matters of
" religion. And therefore I take it that the matter in your letter
" proceedeth from such as do wish these things to take place, which
" be most agreeable to themselves, by whose doings (your majesty
" not offended) I intend not to rule my conscience." — Foxe, ii.49, 52.
Ellis, ii. 177.
1 They were to be kept in close custody, without pen, ink, and
paper, and with a servant in the cell of each prisoner to observe
his conduct. — Council Book, 194. After confinement for more than
six months, they were allowed to go to their own houses as pri-
soners, March 18th, and were set at liberty April 24th. — Strype,
ii. 256.
320 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, announced to her, her chaplains, and servants, the
A.D.1551. royal pleasure. These, after a short demur, promised
obedience : she replied : " Rather than use any other
" service than was used at the death of the late king,
" my father, I will lay my head on a block and suffer
" death. When the king's majesty 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, though he, good sweet
" king, have more knowledge than any other of his
" years, yet it is not possible that he can be a judge
" of these things. If my chaplains do say no mass, I
" can hear none. They may do therein as they will ;
" but none of your new service shall be used in my
" house, or I will not tarry in it."1
. After this period we hear no more of an affair,
which, trifling as it was in itself, seems to have been
considered of sufficient importance to endanger the
existence of the amity between England and the
imperial dominions. It is probable that Mary con-
tinued to have the mass celebrated, but in greater
privacy ; and that the council deemed it prudent to
connive at that which it soon became dangerous to
notice. An attempt to marry her to the infant of
Portugal had failed ; and the declining health of the
king directed every eye towards her as his successor.
She occasionally visited her sick brother ; and the
state which she assumed was calculated to overawe
her opponents. She was attended by one hundred
and fifty or two hundred knights and gentlemen on
horseback ; and this retinue was generally aug-
mented by the spontaneous accession of some of the
1 See the extracts from the Council Book by Mr. Ellis, printed
in the Archaeologia, xviii. 154 — 166, and Original Letters, ii. 179.
PUNISHMENT OF ERRONEOUS DOCTRINES. 321
first personages both male and female in the king- CHAP.
dom.1 A.D. 1551
Though the statutes against heresy had been re-
pealed in the first year of the king's reign, still the
profession of erroneous doctrine was held to be an
offence punishable by the common law of the realm.
It might indeed have been hoped that men who had
writhed under the lash of persecution would have
learned to respect the rights of conscience. But,
however forcibly the reformers had claimed the privi-
lege of judging for themselves under the late king,
they were not disposed to concede it to others when
they themselves came into the exercise of power.
As long, indeed, as they contended that their inno-
vations trenched not on the substance of the ancient
faith, the men of the old learning were secure from
prosecutions for heresy: they could be proceeded
against only for a breach of the Statute of Uniformity,
or for contempt of the royal authority. But among
the new teachers themselves there were several whose
discoveries were calculated to excite in the breasts
of their more o.rthodox brethren feelings of alarm and
abhorrence. Some taught that the prohibition of
bigamy was a papal invention ; and that it was lawful
for any man at his option to have one or two wives,
and for any wife to have one or two husbands ;
others, that to admit the government of a king was
to reject the government of God ; and many, that
children baptized in infancy should be afterwards re-
baptized ; that human laws were not to be obeyed ;
that no Christian ought to bear any office in the com-
monwealth ; that oaths are unlawful ; that Christ did
1 See in particular Strype, ii. 372.
VOL. V. Y
322 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, not take flesh of the Virgin ; that sinners cannot be
IV.
A.D. 1551. restored to grace by repentance ; and that all things
are and ought to be in common.1
Of these doctrines, some, by denying the incarnation,
were deemed to sap the very foundation of Chris-*
tianity, others tended to convulse the established
order of society. The lords of the council were
anxious to repel the charge of encouraging tenets
which, in the eyes of Europe, would reflect disgrace
on the English reformation ; and commissions were
repeatedly issued, appointing by letters patent the
archbishop, several prelates, and certain distinguished
divines and civilians, inquisitors of heretical pravity.
In these instruments it was asserted to be the duty of
kings, especially of one who bore the title of defender
of the faith, to check the diffusion of error by the
punishment of its abettors, — to prevent the gangrene
from reaching the more healthy parts, by the ampu-
tation of the diseased member; and, therefore, as
Edward himself could not at all times attend to this
important concern, he delegated to the inquisitors
and commissaries power to enforce the Statute of
Uniformity against all offenders, to hear and determine
all causes of heresy, and to admit the repentant to
abjuration, but to deliver the obstinate to the arm of
the civil power.2
The first who appeared before the archbishop was
Champneis, a priest who had taught that Christ was
not God, that grace was inamissible, and that the
regenerate, though they might fall by the outward,
1 Stat. 3 Ed. VI. 24. Strype, ii. 12, 90.
2 Rym. xv. 181, 250. In these commissions are inserted the
names of Cranmer, Ridley, Thurlby, Redman, Latimer, Coverdale,
Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, secretaries Petre and
Cecil, Cheek, the king's tutor, and several others.
JOAN BOCHER OF KENT. 323
could never sin by the inward, man ; he was followed CHAP.
by Puttow, a tanner, Thumb, a butcher, and Ashton, a A.D. 1551,
priest, who had embraced the tenets of Unitarianism.
Terror or conviction induced them to abjure : they
were sworn never to revert to their former opinions,
and publicly bore fagots during the sermon at St.
Paul's Cross.1 But no fear of punishment could
subdue the obstinacy of a female preacher, Joan
Bocher, of Kent. During the last reign she had ren-
dered important services to the reformers by the clan-
destine importation of prohibited books, which, through
the agency of the noted Anne Askew, she conveyed
to the ladies at court. She was now summoned 1Mg
before the inquisitors Cranmer, Smith, Cook, Latimer, April.
and Lyell, and was charged with maintaining that
" Christ did not take flesh of the outward man of the
" Virgin, because the outward man was conceived in
" sin, but by the consent of the inward man, which
" was undefiled." In this unintelligible jargon she
persisted to the last; and when the archbishop ex-
communicated her as a heretic, and ordered her
to be delivered to the secular power, she replied:
" It is a goodly matter to consider your ignorance.
" It was not long ago that you burned Anne Askew
" for a piece of bread ; and yet came yourselves soon
" afterwards to believe and profess the same doctrine
" for which you burned her ; and now, forsooth, you
" will needs burn me for a piece of flesh, and in the
" end will come to believe this also, when you have
" read the scriptures and understand them."
From the unwillingness of Edward to consent to
her execution, a year elapsed before she suffered.
It was not that his humanity revolted from the idea
1 Wilk. Con. iv. 39—42. Stowe, 596.
Y 2
324 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, of burning her at the stake : in his estimation she e-
A.D. 1549. served the severest punishment which the law could
inflict. But the object of his compassion was the
future condition of her soul in another world. He
argued that, as long as she remained in error, she
remained in sin, and that to deprive her of life in
that state was to consign her soul to everlasting
torments. Cranmer was compelled to moot the
point with the young theologian : the objection
was solved by the example of Moses, who had
condemned blasphemers to be stoned ; and the
king with tears put his signature to the warrant.
The bishops of London and Ely made in vain a
last attempt to convert Bocher. She preserved
her constancy at the very stake ; and, when the
May 2. preacher, Dr. Scory, undertook to refute her opinion,
exclaimed that " he lied like a rogue, and had
" better go home and study the scripture." '
The next victim was Von Parris, a Dutchman,
and a surgeon in London. He denied the divinity
of Christ, and, having been excommunicated by
his brethren of the Dutch church in that capital,
April 6. was arraigned before Cranmer, Ridley, May, Cover-
dale, and several others. Coverdale acted as inter-
preter : but the prisoner refused to abjure ; Cranmer
pronounced judgment, and delivered him to the
gaoler at the Compter, and a few days later the
April 24. unhappy man was committed to the flames.2
1 Wilk. Con. iv. 42, 43. Edward's Journal, 12. Heylin, 89.
Strype, ii. 214. Hayward, 276. Strype (473) labours to throw
some doubt on the part attributed to Cranmer in this prosecution,
chiefly "because he was not present at her condemnation." — Todd,
ii. 149. But that he was present, and actually pronounced the
judgment, appears from his own register, fol. 74, 75.
2 Wilk. Con. iv. 44, 45. Stowe, 605. Edward's Journal, 24.
FOREIGN RELIGIONISTS IN ENGLAND. 325
But while the expression of Unitarian sentiments CHAP.
was thus proscribed, under the penalty of death by A.D.ISSI.
burning, and the exercise of the ancient worship,
under that of a long or perpetual imprisonment, a
convenient latitude of practice and opinion was
conceded to the strangers whom the fear of per-
secution or the advantages of commerce induced
to settle in England. Foreign religionists, of every
nation and every sect, — Frenchmen and Italians,
Germans, Poles, and Scots, were assured of an
asylum in the palace of the archbishop. He procured
for them livings in the church and protection at
court ; and in return he called on them to aid his
efforts in enlightening the ignorance and dispelling
the prejudices of his own countrymen. John Knox
was appointed chaplain to the king, and itinerant
preacher throughout the kingdom ; Utenhoff and
Pierre Alexandre remained at Canterbury to purge
the clergy from the leaven of popery : Faggio,
Tremelio, and Cavalier were licensed to read lectures
on the Hebrew language at Cambridge; Martyr
and Bucer undertook to teach the new theology in
the two universities ; and Joannes a Lasco, Valeran-
dus Pollanus, and Angelo Florio were named by
patent, superintendents and preachers in the congre-
gations of strangers established in London and
Glastonbury.1 Many, however, disputed the policy
of thus authorizing independent churches of foreign
dissenters, at a time when conformity was so rigor-
ously exacted from the natives ; or of intrusting the
education of the clergy, and the revision of doctri-
nal matters, to men who, whatever might be their
1 Strype's Cranmer, 194, 234, 242. Strype's Memorials, ii,
121, 205, 240.
326 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, merit and acquirements, differed in several important
A.D. 1*551. points from the established creed, and unceasingly
laboured to assimilate in doctrine and practice the
prelatic church of England to the Calvinistic
churches abroad.
These foreigners, however, accommodated their
consciences to the existing order of things so far as
to tolerate what they hoped might be afterwards
reformed ;i but there was a native preacher of more
unbending principles, whose scruples or whose ob-
stinacy proved dangerous both to himself and to the
cause which he espoused. John Hooper, by his
activity, his fervid declamation, and his bold though
intemperate zeal, had deserved the applause and
gratitude of the well-wishers to the new doctrines.
Edward named him to the bishopric of Gloucester ;
J • > -) w .
Julys, when the preacher himself opposed an unexpected
obstacle to his own promotion. How could he swear
obedience to the metropolitan, while it was his
duty to obey no spiritual authority but that of the
scriptures? How could he submit to wear the
episcopal habits, the livery of that church which he had
so often denominated the harlot of Babylon ? Cran-
mer and Ridley attempted to convince him by
argument, and to influence him by authority ; Bucer
reminded him that to the pure all things are pure;
and Peter Martyr contended that the wearing of
episcopal habits, though meet in his opinion to be
abolished, was yet an indifferent matter, in which
the most timorous might conscientiously acquiesce :
1 I should except Knox, who had the honesty to refuse a living,
because " many things were worthy of reformation in England,
" without the reformation whereof, no minister did or could dis-
charge his conscience before God." — Strype, ii. 399.
OBSTINACY OF HOOPER. 327
on the other hand, the Helvetic divines applauded CHAP.
his consistency; the earl of Warwick conjured the A.D. 1*550.
archbishop to yield in favour of his extraordinary Av^.
merit ; and the king promised to protect that prelate
from the penalties to which he might subject himself
by swerving from the ordinal.1 But Cranmer was
unwilling to incur the danger of a premunire ; and
Hooper not only refused to submit, but published a
justification of his conduct, and from the pulpit
declaimed against the habits, the ordinal, and the
council. The new church was on the point of being
torn into fragments by the intemperance of her own
children ; when the royal authority interposed, and I5gi
committed the refractory preacher to the Fleet. In Jan. 27.
the confinement of a prison, the fervour of his
imagination gradually cooled ; the rigour of his
conscience relaxed : he condescended to put on the
polluted habit ; he took the obnoxious oath ; he
accepted from the king a patent, empowering him March,
to govern the diocese of Gloucester, and fourteen
months later was transferred to the united bishopric
of Gloucester and Worcester. By this union a
wider field was opened for the exercise of his zeal ;
but at the same time an ample source was supplied
for the rapacity of the courtiers. With a double
diocese he retained a less income ; the larger portion
of the revenues of the two sees being destined for
the men who at this period were actively employed
in carving out of the possessions of the church for-
tunes for themselves and their posterity.2
1 Council Book, 144, 147. Strype's Cranmer, 211. Memorials,
ii. Rec. 126. Burnet, ii. 152. Collier, ii. 293. Some have sup-
posed that he objected not to the oath of obedience, but to the
oath of supremacy. — Id. 307.
2 Rym. xv. 297-— 303, 320. Strype, ii. 355—357.
328 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. While the nation was thus distracted by religious
A. D. 1551. quarrels, the court was again thrown into confusion
by a new dissension between Somerset and Warwick.
The duke had come from the Tower, stripped of
office, and wealth, and influence. But the vengeance
of his enemies seemed to be satisfied ; he was allowed
to visit his nephew; that portion of his goods and
chattels which had escaped the rapacity of the
courtiers was restored to him ; his bonds and pledges
were cancelled ; and he was at last readmitted into
the council, where his rank of duke gave to him the
March 31. nominal precedence, though in point of power he
was reduced to an equality with the meanest of his
colleagues. In this state the former friendship
between him and Warwick seemed to revive ; and
their reconciliation was apparently cemented by the
union of their families, in the marriage of Lord Lisle,
the earl's eldest son, with Anne, one of the daughters
of Somerset. The king, accompanied by his court,
graced the ceremony with his presence. He rejoiced
at the restoration of harmony in his council, of
friendship between an uncle whom he loved and a
minister whom he prized : but his joy was quickly
interrupted by the renewal of their former jealousies
and dissension. Somerset could not forget what
he had suffered : Warwick dared not trust the man
whom he had injured. The duke aspired again to
Aprils, the office of protector; the earl determined not to
descend from his present superiority. Their fears
and suspicions led them to attribute to each other
the most dangerous designs : both were beset with
spies and informers ; both were deceived and ex-
asperated by false friends and interested advisers.
But Warwick possessed the advantage over his
DISSENSIONS BETWEEN SOMERSET AND WARWICK. 329
adversary in the council, which was principally com- CHAP.
posed of his associates, and in the palace, where the A.D. 1*551.
king was surrounded with his creatures. Somerset,
to aid his views, had sought, by private agents, to
secure the votes of several among the peers in the next
parliament ; and, to recover his influence with his
nephew, had requested the lord Strange, the royal
favourite, to suggest to Edward a marriage with the
lady Jane Seymour, his third daughter.1 Into the Feb. 16.
first of these attempts an inquiry was instituted, but
afterwards abandoned : the second was defeated by
the resolution of the council to demand for their
sovereign the hand of Elizabeth, the eldest daughter
of the king of France. It is probable that on this
occasion some menaces were thrown out. The lord
Grey hastily departed for the northern counties, and
Somerset had prepared to follow him, when he was
detained by the asseveration of Sir William Herbert,
that no injury was intended. A second reconciliation
ensued ; for some days costly entertainments were April 24.
1 It appears from a letter of Warwick, dated Jan. 22, and pub-
lished by Strype (ii. 278), that during the winter the council had
deliberated on a secret matter of extreme importance : that it
required the greatest " vigilance and circumspection ;" that the
chancellor and treasurer wished " to wrap it up in silence," because
it was " not expedient it should come in question ;" but that he
(Warwick) wished to be "reformed, seeing it had been so far
' debated." He makes use of these remarkable expressions : " God
' preserve our master ! If he should fail, there is watchers enough
' that would bring it in question, and would burden you and others,
' who will not now understand the danger, to be deceivers of the
' whole body of the realm with an instrument forged to execute
* your malicious meanings." He alludes undoubtedly to the will
of Henry VIII., the sole foundation of their authority. An instru-
ment was devised to supply the defect. By it Edward ratified all
the acts of the council up to that day, reappointed the same coun-
cillors during his pleasure, and invested them with full powers to dis-
charge their office. But it does not appear to have been adopted. —
Strype, ii. Rec. 139.
330 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, given alternately by the lords of each party; and the
4>*i*»L rival chiefs lavished on each other demonstrations
of friendship, while the bitterest animosity was fes-
tering in their breasts.1
The marquess of Northampton, attended by
three earls, the eldest sons of Somerset and Warwick,
May 17. and several lords and gentlemen, proceeded to Paris,
to invest the king of France with the order of the
Garter, and to seek a wife for his sovereign. His
first demand, of the young queen of Scotland, was
instantly refused ; his second, of the princess Eliza-
beth, was as readily granted. The negotiators agreed
that as soon as Elizabeth had completed her twelfth
year she should be married to Edward ; but, when
they came to the settlement of her portion, the En-
glish demanded twelve hundred thousand, the French
offered two hundred thousand crowns. This differ-
ence suspended the conclusion of the treaty for eight
weeks ; but Edward's commissioners successively low-
ered their demand, and at length, accepting the
July 19. °ffer of the opposite party, agreed to assign for her
dower lands in England to the yearly amount of
ten thousand marks, " the same as the dower of the
" most illustrious lady Catherine, daughter of Fer-
" dinand king of Castile, or of any other queen of
" England, lately married to Henry of happy memory,
" king of England."2 To return the compliment, the
French king sent to his destined son-in-law his
order of St. Michael, by the marshal St. Andre,
who was accompanied by a numerous retinue. This
minister was received on his landing by the gentlemen
of the county to the amount of one thousand horse-
1 Edward's Journal, 22, 39.
2 Ib. 25. Rym. xv. 273. Chron. Catal. 318, 320, 322.
ARREST OF SOMERSET. 331
men, and, avoiding the capital on account of the CHAP.
sweating sickness,1 visited the king at Hampton Court, A.D. 1*551,
where he was sumptuously entertained by Edward
himself, by the duke of Somerset, and by the earl
of Warwick. At his departure he received several July si.
valuable presents.2
These tranquil and festive occupations did not,
however, harmonize with the projects of revenge and
bloodshed which were secretly meditated by the two
rivals. But the timidity and imprudence of Somerset
were no match for the caution and decision of War-
wick. That nobleman was apprized of all his de-
signs : to cut off his hope of an asylum in the northern
counties, he procured for himself the general war- $ev*- 2^
denship of the Scottish marches, with all that pre-
eminence and authority which had ever been pos-
sessed by any former warden since the reign of
Richard II. ; and within a few days he was honoured °ct- n-
with the title of duke of Northumberland, which had
long been extinct in consequence of the attainder
of the lord Thomas Percy in 1537. At the same
time, to strengthen the attachment of his friends,
he prevailed on the king to create the marquess of
Dorset duke of Suffolk,3 the earl of Wiltshire mar-
1 " This sweat was more vehement than the old sweat : for, if
" one took cold, he died within three hours, and, if he escaped, it
" held him but nine hours, or ten at the most. Also if he slept the
" first six hours, as he should be very desirous to do, then he roved,
" and should die roving." — Edward's Journal, 30. The deaths in
London, on July 10th, amounted to 100; July llth, to 120; in
eleven days, from the 8th to the 19th, to 872. — Strype, ii. 277, 279.
2 I observe that the presents given by the English exceeded in
value those given by the French monarch. St. Andre" received to
the value of 3,000/. ; Northampton to that of 500/. — Journ. 32.
3 He had married Frances, the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon
duke of Suffolk, by Mary, sister of Henry VIII. Her two brothers,
Henry duke of Suffolk, and the lord Charles, had died during the
late sickness. — Strype, ii. 277.
332 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, quess of Winchester, Sir William Herbert baron of
A.D. i55i. Cardiff and earl of Pembroke, and to confer on Cecil,
Cheek, Sidney, and Nevil, the honour of knight-
hood. Somerset gradually discovered the danger
which threatened him. From the earl of Arundel
he received advice " to take good heed, for his coun-
" sels and secrets were come abroad ;" and on
application to Cecil, hitherto his creature, but now
appointed secretary to the king, he was told that, if
he were innocent, he had nothing to fear ; if guilty,
Cecil could only lament the misfortune of his former
patron. To this cold and insulting answer he re-
turned a letter of defiance ; and then closely examined
Oct. 14. Sir Thomas Palmer, who was now become to him
an object of suspicion ; and not without reason ; for
he had, in fact, already sworn an information against
him. But the duke suffered himself to be deceived
by the bold denial of the traitor ; and on the second
Oct. 10. day afterwards was arrested at court, and hurried
away to the Tower. The duchess, with her favour-
ites Crane and Crane's wife, followed him thither the
next morning ; and in a few days most of his supposed
friends and advisers, among whom were the earl of
Arundel, the lord Paget, and the lord Dacres of the
north, were safely immured in the same prison.
It now happened that the thoughts of Edward
were diverted from the approaching fate of his uncle
by the presence of a royal visitor, the queen-dowager
of Scotland, who on her way back from France to
that kingdom, had cast anchor in the harbour of
Oct. 22. Portsmouth. At the request of Henry she had ob-
tained permission to continue her journey by land ;
and, to do her honour, the gentlemen of each county
received orders to attend upon her as she passed.
INDICTMENTS AGAINST SOMERSET. 333
Her former hostility to the interests of England gave CHAP.
her no claim on the friendship of Edward; but, to A.D. 1*551.
please the king of France, it had been determined
to treat her with extraordinary respect : she was
invited to the capital, and introduced to the young
king, who met her in the great Hall, kissed her,
took her by the hand, and conducted her to her NOV. 4.
chamber. They dined together in state, and after
her departure he sent her a valuable diamond. She Nov. 6.
left London attended by a numerous retinue of ladies
and gentlemen, and at» the gate received a present
of one hundred marks from the city.1
Soon after her departure Somerset was brought to
trial. By the statute of the third and fourth of the
king it had been made treason for any persons, to
the number of forty or above, to assemble in forcible
manner " to the intent to murder, kill, or slay, take
" or imprison any of the king's most honorable privy
" council ;" and felony without benefit of clergy to
procure or stir up any persons to the committal of
such offences. In the indictments against him the
duke was charged with both the treason and the
felony, so that to his enemies it mattered little on
which he might be found guilty: since in either case, his
life would be equally in jeopardy, and equally at their
mercy. Before the trial, the marquess of Winchester
was created lord high steward, and twenty-seven
peers were summoned to attend, among whom were
numbered Northumberland, Northampton, and Pem-
broke, the three great enemies of the accused. As
it was not intended to subject the witnesses to a
vivd voce examination in open court, twenty-two
1 Edward's Journal, in Burnet by Nares, 222, 223. Strype, ii.
284. Archseol. xxviii. 168.
334 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, lords were called into the council chamber ; before
A.D.Vi*55i. whom Sir Thomas Palmer, Hammond, Crane, and
Nov~30 Newdigate, on whose depositions the counsel for
the prosecution chiefly depended, severally made
oath that in their confessions they had strictly adhered
to the truth, and said nothing through fear, compul-
sion, envy, or malice, but had favoured the prisoner
as far as their consciences would permit. Unfortu-
nately all these depositions have perished — at least, are
not known to exist.1 We have no other knowledge of
them than the little which may be gleaned from the
entries in the journal of the young king, and from a nar-
rative of the trial, which he inserted in a private letter.2
From these sources we learn that, according to the
evidence, the great object of the conspiracy was to
1 Mr. Tytler' s searches for them in the State Paper Office have
proved unsuccessful. He discovered, indeed, two confessions by the
earl of Arundel ; which, however, were not employed on Somerset's
trial ; and a paper entitled " Crane's information against the duke
" of Somerset and the earl of Arundel," which Mr. Tytler considers
as a note drawn up by one of the crown lawyers of such evidence
against Somerset as could be collected from the depositions of the
several prisoners (p. 41). But it is a paper of a very different
character. It was both then, and for several centuries, the custom
after a first examination in the Tower, to collect from the answers
all such passages as seemed to clash with each other, or to call for
explanation, or to provoke suspicion of concealment, and out of
them to form a new series of interrogations fora second examination.
Now the paper in question is plainly one of these collections. In
like manner the paper published by Sir Henry Ellis, under the title
of " Questions put to the duke of Somerset," is not a collection of
all the charges against him, but a collection of such interrogations
as had been suggested by answers to former questions, and which
were now to form the basis of a second examination. The numbers
10, 12, 14 are taken from the confessions of the earl of Arundel,
and of Crane.
2 I may remark that Edward's statement in his journal, of the
earl of Arundel's confessions, perfectly agrees with the original
confessions discovered by Mr. Tytler. Is it not then fair to conclude
that he was equally careful and correct in the accounts which he
gives of other confessions and depositions, though we cannot com-
pare them ?
TRIAL OF SOMERSET. 335
secure the persons of Northumberland, Northampton, CHAP.
and Herbert, who governed in the council, and were A.D. 1551,
the chief obstacles to the recovery by Somerset of
his former office : that for this purpose they were to
be invited by the lord Paget to an entertainment to
be given at his house in the Strand ; in which case,
if they came slenderly attended, they might be inter-
cepted and made prisoners in the way ; otherwise, be
surprised and despatched at table: that Somerset
should then raise the city, and with the aid of the
apprentices and populace get possession of the great
seal : that Vane, with his infantry and the duke's
horsemen, should attack the gens d'armes ; and that
the king, being now again in the hands of his uncle,
should publish a proclamation charging the three
councillors with treason. In addition it was sworn
that the duke nightly kept a guard of twenty armed
men near his chamber at Greenwich.
On the following morning Somerset was arraigned
before his peers, and defended himself with spirit.
The witnesses, Newdigate, Hammond, and Seymour,
were, he said, his men : they had sworn fealty to him,
and therefore ought not to be believed against him.
Palmer was a man of bad character, and totally un-
worthy of credit. Crane, if confronted with him,
would not dare to repeat his evidence. With respect
to himself, he denied that he ever meant to raise the
city of London ; if he kept a guard near his chamber
at Greenwich, it was to protect himself from illegal
violence : the idea of bringing men to attack the gens
d'armes was too extravagant to enter into a sane
mind. Of the intended banquet he knew nothing:
he never determined to kill the three members of the
council, though that had been made the subject of
336 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, conversation. So much he would not deny, but " he
IV
A.D. 1551. " had determined after the contrary."1 He main-
tained with oaths that he had never desired the lord
Strange to suggest a marriage between the king and
his daughter. Lord Strange deposed upon oath that
he had done so.
It was three in the afternoon before the lords began
to deliberate on their verdict. With respect to the in-
dictment for felony all were agreed ; but with regard
to the charge of treason, the three councillors, whose
lives the duke is said to have sought, assumed the
office of his advocates. They called upon the court
" to eschew rigour and extremity," to grant to the
accused " as much equity as mfght anywise be devised/'
and therefore to be content with a conviction on the
minor offence.2 It is probable that by this show of
moderation arid forbearance they hoped to escape the
imputation of revenge and cruelty.3 Their advice
was, however, adopted. Somerset was acquitted of
treason, but found guilty of the felony without a dis-
sentient voice.4 He was then recalled, informed of
1 Edward's Journal, 225. The king adds, " yet he seemed to
" confess he went about their death." And certainly, if that was
the best answer which he could make to the charge, it would not go
far to remove any suspicion which previously existed.
2 See the letter of the lord Steward, written on the following day,
in Tytler, ii. 63—65.
3 Edward's Journal, 225. According to the king, in his letter to
Fitzpatrick, their motive was that " men might not think they did it
" of malice." — Fuller, 429. Mr. Tytler, however, is convinced that
the real motive was, the inability of the prosecutors to prove that
the duke intended to put the councillors to death ; founding this
opinion on the notion that such was the treason in question. He is
evidently in error ; for it was no less treason " to take or imprison"
them than to kill or slay them. So that if the acquittal of treason
acquitted the duke of any intention to slay, so it did also of any in-
tention to apprehend them ; of which, however, he was convicted by
being found guilty of the felony.
4 That he was found guilty by the whole body, and not by a
SOMERSET'S REFLECTIONS IN PRISON. 337
the result by the lord Steward, and received the usual CHAP.
iv.
sentence of death for that offence. Falling on his A.D. 1*551,
knees, "he gave thanks to the court for the open
" trial, cried mercy of Northumberland, Northampton,
" and Pembroke, for his ill-meaning against them, and
" made suit for his life, wife, children, servants, and
" debts."1 The axe of the Tower was now turned
from him, and the populace observing its direction,
when he left the court, expressed their joy by repeated
acclamations, under the impression that he had been
acquitted of every offence.
After his condemnation, and in the solitude of his
cell, Somerset had leisure to compare his situation
with that of the lord admiral, in the same place, not
three years before. The duke had indeed enjoyed an
indulgence which he had refused to his unfortunate
brother — a public trial by his peers. But could he
expect that the ambition of Warwick would prove
less jealous or inexorable than his own ; that an enemy
would extend to him that mercy, which he had with-
held from one of his own blood ? He made indeed
the experiment ; but every avenue to the throne was
closed ; his nephew was convinced of his guilt, and of
majority only, is plain from the Record : quilibet eorum separatim
dixerunt quod prsedictus Edvardus nuper dux Somers. ; de feloniis
prsedictis fuit culpabilis. — Coke's Entries, fol. 482. Neither is it
true that this was only felony, when the party continued together
after proclamation to separate ; for, as has been already noticed, there
is another part of the same act, which, without mention of any pro-
clamation, makes it felony for any person, after the 12th of February,
" to stir or move others to raise or make any traitorous or rebellious
" assembly, to the intent to do, or exercise, or put in use, any of
" the things above mentioned. — Stat. of Realm, iv. 107.
1 Edward's Journal, 225. By " ill-meaning" Edward means
machinations against their lives; for in his letter to Fitzpatrick,
describing the same thing, he says : " whom he confessed he meant
" to destroy, altho' before he swore vehemently to the contrary." —
Fuller, 409.
VOL. V. Z
338 EDWARD VI.
CHA.P. the expedience of his punishment ; and he received
A.D. 1551. for answer that he must pay the forfeit of his life, but
should have a long respite to prepare himself for
death. Six weeks after his trial, the warrant for his
execution was signed ;* and at an early hour, eight in
Jan. 22. the morning, he was delivered to the sheriffs of
London, and by them conducted to the scaffold on
Tower Hill. An immense crowd had already assem-
bled. The duke's attention to the poor during his
protectorship, and his constant opposition to the sys-
tem of inclosures, had created him many friends among
the lower classes, who hastened to witness his end,
but still flattered themselves with the hope of a
reprieve. In his address from the scaffold, he said
that he had always been a true subject to the king,
and on that account was now willing to lay down his
life in obedience to the law ; that, on a review of his
past conduct, there was nothing which he regretted
less than his endeavours to reduce religion to its pre-
sent state ; and that he exhorted the people to profess
it and practise it, if they wished to escape those visi-
tations with which heaven was prepared to punish
their offences. At that moment a body of officers
with bills and halberts, who had been ordered to
attend the execution, issued from the postern ; and,
perceiving that they were behind their time, rushed
precipitately towards the scaffold. The crowd gave
way : the spectators at a distance, ignorant of the
cause, yielded to the sudden impulse of terror; and,
in their eagerness to escape from imaginary danger,
1 Rym. xv. 295. We are told that the king was kept from re-
flection by a continued series of occupations and amusements ; yet
the first of these amusements occurred on the 3rd of January, a
month after the condemnation. Such things always took place
during the Christmas holidays. — See Edward's Journal, 43.
IS EXECUTED. 339
some were trampled under foot ; others, to the number CHAP.
of one hundred, were driven into the Tower ditch ; A.D. 1552.
and many, dispersing themselves through the city,
ascribed their fright to an earthquake, to a sudden
peal of thunder, or to some miraculous and inex-
plicable indication of the divine displeasure. Order
had scarcely been restored, when Sir Anthony Brown,
a member of the council, was seen approaching on
horseback. Some one imprudently shouted, " A pardon,
" a pardon ; " and the word was quickly echoed from
mouth to mouth, till it reached the scaffold : but the
duke, after a moment's suspense, learned that he had
been deceived by the fond wishes of the spectators.
The disappointment called up a hectic colour in his
cheeks ; but he resumed his address with composure
and firmness of voice, repeating that he was a loyal
man, exhorting his auditors to love the king, and
obey his counsellors, and desiring their prayers that he
might die as he lived, in the faith of Christ. Then
covering his face with his handkerchief, he laid his
head on the block. At one stroke it was severed
from the body.1
Of the many individuals accused as the accomplices
of this unfortunate nobleman, four only, Partridge
and Vane, Stanhope and Arundel, were selected for
capital punishment. All were convicted on the same
evidence as the duke ; all at the place of execution
maintained their innocence ; and Vane, in strong
1 Edward's Journal, 45. Foxe, 98. The fanaticism of this writer
compares the tumult at the execution to what " happened unto
" Christ, when as the officers of the high priests and Pharisees
" coming with weapons to take him, being astonished, ran back-
" wards, and fell to the ground." — Ibid. The true cause is noticed
by Stowe, who was present (p. 607). See also Ellis, 2nd series, ii.
215.
z 2
340 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, language, assured the spectators that as often as
A.D. 1552. Northumberland should lay his head on his pillow, he
would find it wet with their blood. The two first died
by the hand of the hangman, the others by the axe
of the executioner. Though Paget had been the
confidential adviser of Somerset, though it was said
that at his house the intended assassination should
have taken place, he was never brought to trial. But
he made his submission, confessed that he had been
guilty of peculation in the offices which he held under
the crown, surrendered the chancellorship of the
duchy of Lancaster, was degraded from the order of
the Garter, and paid a considerable fine. The earl of
Dec. 3. Arundel, after an imprisonment of twelve months,
recovered his liberty, but not till he had acknow-
ledged himself cognizant of Somerset's intention to
make the councillors his prisoners, had resigned the
office of warden of several royal parks, and had bound
himself to pay annually to the king the sum of one
thousand marks during the term of six years. The
lord Grey and the other prisoners were successively
discharged.1
Jan. 23. The parliament met the day after the execution of
Somerset. As it had been originally summoned by
his order and under his influence, the lower house
numbered among its members several who cherished
a warm, though secret attachment to his memory.
Their opposition to the court animated their debates
with a spirit of freedom hitherto unknown; and by
1 Council Book, fol. 259. Stowe, 607, 608. Strype, ii. 310, 383.
Edward's Journal, 56. It is remarkable that all of them were by
degrees taken into favour, and obtained the remission of a part, or
of the whole of their fines. Arundel was again admitted into the
council ; and was moreover discharged of his debt to the crown, but
only four days before the king's death.
NEW BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 341
delays and amendments they retarded or defeated the CHAP.
favourite measures of the minister, till his impatience A.D. 1552.
silenced their hostility by a hasty dissolution. Of the
acts which received the royal assent, a few deserve
the reader's attention. 1. Now, for the first time,
was made a legal provision for the poor. For that
purpose the churchwardens received authority to col-
lect charitable contributions, and the bishop of the
diocese was empowered to proceed against the de-
faulters.1 2. It was about three years since the com-
position of the Book of Common Prayer had been
attributed by the unanimous assent of the legislature
to "the aid of the Holy Ghost." E^fc this solemn
declaration had not convinced the scepticism of the
foreign teachers. They examined the book with a
jealous eye; they detected passages which, in their
estimation, savoured of superstition, or led to idolatry;
their complaints were echoed and re-echoed by their
English disciples ; and Edward, at the suggestion of
his favourite instructors, affirmed that, if the prelates
did not undertake the task, the new service should
be freed from these blemishes without their assistance.
Cranmer submitted the book in a Latin translation to
the consideration of Bucer and Peter Martyr, whose
judgment or prejudice recommended several omissions,
and explanations, and improvements ;2 a committee
of bishops and divines acquiesced in most of the
animadversions of these foreign teachers; and the
book in its amended form received the assent of the
convocation. But here a new difficulty arose. It
was the province of the clergy to decide on matters
of doctrine and worship ; how then could they submit
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 131.
2 Strype's Cranmer, 209, 252, App. 154. Burnet, ii. 155.
342 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, a work approved by themselves to the revision of the
A.D. 1552. lay branches of the legislature ? To elude the incon-
venience, it was proposed to connect the amended
service and the ordinal with a bill, which was then in
its progress through parliament, to compel by addi-
tional penalties attendance at the national worship.
The clergy hoped that both forms would thus steal
through the two houses without exciting any notice ;
but their object was detected and defeated ; the
books were read through, before the act was per-
mitted to pass; and both without alteration were
allowed and confirmed. By the new statute, to
which they had been appended, the bishops were
ordered to coerce with spiritual censures all persons
who should absent themselves from the amended
form of service, the magistrates with corporal punish-
ment all those who should employ any other service
in its place. To hear, or be present at, any man-
ner of divine worship, or administration of the
sacraments, or ordination of ministers, differing from
those set forth by authority, subjected the offender on
the first conviction to imprisonment during the space
of six months, on the second during the space of one
year, and on the third during the term of his natural
life.1
3. An attempt was made by the crown to revive
some of the most objectionable acts of the late reign,
though they had been repealed in Edward's first par-
liament. The Lords without hesitation passed a bill
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 120. The dissentients to this intolerant
act were the earl of Derby, the bishops of Carlisle and Norwich, and
the lords Stourton and Wyndsor. — Journ. 421. After the passing
of the act the bishops laid aside the episcopal dress, and the pre-
bendaries their hoods, because the rubric required nothing more than
the surplice. — Collier, ii. 325.
AMENDMENTS OF THE LAW OF TREASON. 343
making it treason to call the king or any of his heirs CHAP.
a heretic, schismatic, tyrant, or usurper ; but the rigour A.D. 1552.
of the measure was mitigated by the spirit of the
Commons, who, as had been done already with respect
to the denial of the supremacy, drew a broad distinc-
tion between the different manners of committing the
offence. To brand the king with such disgraceful
appellations " by writing, printing, carving, or graving,"
as it demanded both time and deliberation, might be
assumed as a proof of malice, and call for the very
extremity of punishment ; but to do it in words only,
would often proceed from indiscretion or the sudden
impulse of passion, and therefore could not in justice
deserve so severe a retribution. On this account they
visited the first and second offence with forfeiture and
imprisonment only, and reserved for the third the
more grievous punishment of treason. The amend-
ment, however, was of small importance compared
with the provision with which it was accompanied.
The constant complaint of accused persons, that they
could not establish their innocence, because they were
never confronted with their accusers, had attracted
the public notice. The more the question was dis-
cussed, the more the iniquity of the usual method of
proceeding was condemned ; and it was now enacted,
that no person should be arraigned, indicted, con-
victed, or attainted of any manner of treason, unless
on the oath of two lawful accusers, who should be
brought before him at the time of his arraignment,
and there should openly avow and maintain their
charges against him. Thus was laid the foundation of
a most important improvement in the administration
of criminal justice; and a maxim was introduced
which has proved the best shield of innocence against
344 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, the jealousy, the arts, and the vengeance of superior
A.D. 1552. power.1
4. The utility of the last enactment was proved
even before the expiration of the session. In 1550
Nynian Mennill had accused Tunstall, bishop of Dur-
ham, of having been privy to an intended rising in the
North, but had failed of proving the charge, through
the loss of a letter written by the bishop. That letter
was now found among the private papers of the late
duke of Somerset, and Tunstall, though he maintained
that it was susceptible of the most innocent inter-
pretation, was committed by the council to the Tower,
" tnere to abide such order as his doings by the course
" of the lawe should appear to have deserved." But
Northumberland would not trust to the course of the
law. He applied to parliament by a bill " to deprive
" Tunstall of his bishopric for divers heinous offences."
It was passed by the Lords ; but the Commons, treating
it as a bill of attainder, contended that he had a right
to be confronted with his accuser, and petitioned that
both Tunstall and Mennill might be examined before
them. Edward was advised to return no answer ; and
they declined to proceed any further with the cause.
Still the bishop did not escape. He was called before
certain judges and doctors of common law, empowered
to examine him of " all conspiracies, contempts, and
" concealments, and, if he were guilty, to deprive
1552. " him of his bishopric." By them judgment of de-
privation was pronounced, and he was sent back to
the Tower, where he remained a prisoner till the
accession of the next sovereign.2
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 144.
12 Lords' Journals, 418, 425. Archbishop Cranmer and Lord
Stourton dissented (418). Journals of Commons, 21, 23. Extract
ARTICLES OF RELIGION. 345
The late statute insured the adoption of the amended CHAP.
liturgy in every diocese of the kingdom ; a French AD. 1552.
translation communicated it to the natives of Jersey
and Guernsey. But were not the king's subjects in
Ireland equally entitled to the benefit of a form of
worship in their own tongue? Undoubtedly they
were : but it had long been the object of the govern-
ment to suppress the Irish language within the Eng-
lish pale ; and, to have chosen that language for the
vehicle of religious instruction and religious worship,
would have been to authorize and perpetuate its use.
It was, I conceive, for this reason that the royal
advisers submitted to entail on themselves that re-
proach, which they had been accustomed to cast on
the church of Rome, and enjoined by proclamation
that the Irish should attend to the service in English,
a language which few among them could understand.1
By Brown, the archbishop of Dublin, and four of his
brethren, the order was cheerfully obeyed: Dowdal,
archbishop of Armagh, and the other prelates, rejected
it with scorn. The consequence was that the ancient
service was generally retained : the new was adopted
in those places only where an armed force com-
pelled its introduction. The lords of the council,
to punish the disobedience of Dowdal, took from him
the title of primate of all Ireland, and transferred
it to his more obsequious brother the archbishop of
Dublin.2
from Council Book, Archaeol. xviii. 170; and Strype, iii. 192, re-
print of 1816.
1 The lord deputy was, however, instructed " to cause the English
" to be translated into the Irish, until the people may be brought to
" understand the English0 (Chron. Cat. 311) ; but this was never
done.
2 Leland, lib. iii. c. 8. He left the country, and the king ap-
pointed him a successor ; but the new archbishop died in a few weeks,
346 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. At the same time Cranmer had the satisfaction to
IV.
A.D. 1552. complete two works of the highest importance to the
cause of the reformation, — 1. A Collection of the Arti-
cles of Religion, and 2. A Code of Ecclesiastical Con-
stitutions. 1. During the last reign he had subscribed
with the other prelates every test of orthodoxy pro-
mulgated by Henry; but after the death of that
monarch a new light appears to have burst upon his
mind ; in the homilies, the order of communion, and
the English service, he continued to recede from the
opinions which he had formerly approved; and it
became at last a problem of some difficulty to de-
termine what was or was not to be considered the
faith of the English church. To remedy the evil,
he obtained an order from the council to compose
a body of religious doctrine, which, when it had
received the royal approbation, should become the
authorized standard of orthodoxy. It was an arduous
and invidious undertaking. Why, it might be asked,
now that the scriptures were open to all, should the
opinion of any one man, or of any particular body of
men, bind the understandings of others? or why
should those who had emancipated themselves from
the authority of the pontiff be controlled in their
belief by the authority of the king ? On the other
hand, the archbishop was supported by the example
of the reformed churches abroad, and impelled by
the necessity of enforcing uniformity among the
preachers at home, who by their dissensions and
contradictions perplexed and disedified their hearers.
Cranmer proceeded in his task with caution and de-
liberation : a rough copy was circulated among his
and Dowdal recovered his see at the accession of Mary.— Strype's
Cranmer, 278.
ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS. 347
friends, and submitted to the inspection of the CHAP.
council ; the communications of others were gratefully A.D. 1552.
accepted, and carefully weighed ; even Knox, by
command of the king was consulted,1 and the work,
when it had received the last corrections, was laid
before a committee of bishops and divines. Their
approbation insured that of the king, by whose
authority it was published in forty-two articles in
Latin and English ; and by whom, a short time
before his death, it was ordered to be subscribed by
all churchwardens, schoolmasters, and clergymen.2
On this foundation rests its authority. It was never
ratified by parliament ; nor, though the printed title
makes the assertion^ does it appear to have been
sanctioned by the convocation.
2. To complete the reformation but one thing
more was now wanting, — a code of ecclesiastical laws
in abrogation of the canons which the realm had for-
merly received from the church of Rome. The idea
of such a compilation had been entertained under
Henry: it was reduced to practice under Edward.
An act had been already passed empowering the king
1 To Knox was offered a living, as a reward for his services ; this
he refused, but accepted the sum of 40/. — Privy Council Book, Oct.
27th, 1552. Strype, ii. 389.
2 Strype's Cranmer, 272, 293. Burnet, ii. 166; iii. 210—213.
Wilk. Cone. iv. 79. In the universities an oath was exacted from
every person who took any degree, that he would look on the articles
as true and certain, and would defend them in all places as agree-
able to the word of God. It will, however, require some ingenuity
to reconcile with each other the following passages in that oath :
Deo teste promitto ac spondeo, me scripturae auctoritatem hominum
judiciis pra3positurum. . .et articulos. . . .regia auctoritate in lucem
editos pro veris et certis habiturum, et omni in loco, tanquam con-
sentientes cum verbo Dei defensurum. — MSS. Col. Cor. Chr. Cant.
Miscel. P. fol. 492.
3 In the title-page the Articles are said to have been agreed to " in
" the synod of London in the year 1552."
348 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, to give the force of law to those ecclesiastical regu-
A.D. 1552. lations, which should be made by two and thirty
commissioners appointed by his letters patent, and
taken in equal proportions from the spiritualty and
temporalty of the realm. But experience showed
that the number of the commissioners was calculated
to breed diversity rather than uniformity of opinion ;
and the task was delegated in the first instance
to a sub-committee of eight persons, with the arch-
bishop at their head. The result of their labours is
in a great measure attributed to his industry and re-
search : but it was put into a new form, and couched
in more elegant language, by the pens of Cheek and
Haddon. Under the title of Reformatio Legum Ec-
clesiasticarum, it treats in fifty-one articles of all
those subjects the cognizance of which appertained
to the spiritual courts ; and, though its publication
was prevented by the premature death of the king,
it must be considered as a most interesting document,
inasmuch as it discloses to us the sentiments of the
leading reformers on several questions of the first
importance.
It commences with an exposition of the Catholic
faith, and enacts the punishment of forfeiture and
death against those who deny the Christian religion.
It then regulates the proceedings in cases of heresy,
the ceremony of abjuration, and the delivery of the
obstinate heretic to the civil magistrate, that he may
suffer death according to law. Blasphemy subjects
the offender to the same penalty. The marriages of
minors, without the consent of their parents or
guardians, and of all persons whomsoever, without
the previous publication of banns, or the entire per-
formance of the ceremony in the church according
SICKNESS OF THE KING. 349
to the Book of Common Prayer, are pronounced of CHAP.
no effect. The seducer of a single woman is com- A.D. 1552,
pelled to marry her, or to endow her with one-third
of his fortune ; or, if he have no fortune, to charge
himself with the maintenance of their illegitimate
offspring, and to suffer some additional and arbitrary
punishment. Adultery is visited with imprisonment
or transportation for life. In addition, if the offen-
der be the wife, she forfeits her jointure, and all the
advantages she might have derived from her marriage ;
if the husband, he returns to the wife her dower,
and adds to it one-half of his own fortune. But to
a clergyman, in whom the enormity of the offence
increases in proportion to the sanctity of his office,
the penalty is more severe. He loses his benefice,
and surrenders the whole of his estate, if he be mar-
ried, to the unoffending party, for the support of her
and her children ; if unmarried, to the bishop, that
it may be devoted to purposes of charity.
Divorces are allowed not only on account of adul-
tery, but also of desertion, long absence, cruel treat-
ment, and danger to health or life : in all which
cases the innocent party is permitted to marry
again, the guilty condemned to perpetual exile or
imprisonment. To these five causes is added con-
firmed incompatibility of temper; but this, though
it may justify a separation, does not allow to either
party the privilege of contracting another marriage.1
In cases of defamation, when, from the destruction
of papers or the absence of witnesses, the truth can-
not be discovered, the accused is permitted to clear
his character by his oath, provided he can produce
a competent number of compurgators, who shall
1 Reform. Leg. c. viii — xii.
350 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, swear that they give full credit to his assertion.
A.D. 1*552. Commutation of penance for money is conceded on
particular occasions ; the right of devising property
by will is refused to married women, slaves, children
under fourteen years of age, heretics, libellers, fe-
males of loose character, usurers, and convicts
sentenced to death, or perpetual banishment or im-
prisonment ; and excommunication is asserted to cut
off the offender from the society of the faithful, the
protection of God, and the expectation of future hap-
piness ; and to consign him to everlasting punishment,
and the tyranny of the devil.1
Edward had inherited from his mother a weak and
delicate constitution. In the spring of the year he
was considerably reduced by successive attacks of the
measles and the small-pox : in the latter part of the
summer, a troublesome cough, the effect of imprudent
exposure to the cold, terminated in an inflammation on
the lungs ; and, when the new parliament assembled,
the king's weakness compelled him to meet the two
houses at his residence of Whitehall. In the morning,
March i. after he had heard a sermon from the bishop of
London, 'and received the sacrament in company with
several of the lords, he proceeded in state to a
neighbouring chamber, in which the session was
opened with a speech from the chancellor, Goodrick,
bishop of Ely. Northumberland had no reason to
fear opposition from the present parliament. To se-
cure a majority in the lower house, orders had been
sent to the sheriffs to return grave and able men, and
to attend to the recommendations of the privy coun-
cillors in their neighbourhood ; and sixteen individuals,
1 See the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, published anno
1571.
EDWARD'S LAST PARLIAMENT. 351
all of them employed at court, and high in the confi- CHA.P.
deuce of the minister, had been nominated by the A. 0.1553.
king himself, in letters addressed to the sheriffs of
Hampshire, Suffolk, Berks, Bedford, Surrey, Cam-
bridge, Oxford, and Northamptonshire.1 The great
object of Northumberland was to obtain money for
the payment of the royal debts, which amounted to
a considerable sum, and could not be liquidated by
the annual sales of the chantry lands, and of the mo-
nastic possessions still held by the crown.2 A subsidy,
with two tenths and fifteenths, was granted : but
the preamble, which attributed the king's necessities
to improvident and extravagant expenditure under
the duke of Somerset, is said to have given rise in the
lower house to a long and animated debate. Another
object, perhaps of equal importance in the opinion
of the minister, was the dissolution of the bishopric
of Durham. Defeated in his attempt to procure the
deprivation of Tunstall in the last parliament by a
bill of pains and penalties, he had erected a new
court of lawyers and civilians, with power to call
the prelate before them, to inquire into all conspi-
racies, concealments, contempts, and offences with
which he might be charged, and to pronounce judg-
ment of deprivation, if his guilt should deserve such
punishment. By this new, and as it was afterwards
held, illegal tribunal, he had been stripped of all
his ecclesiastical preferments ; and, as the see of
1 Strype, ii. 394.
2 See the great amount of these sales in Strype, ii. 362, 373, 427;
App. 85 — 94. As an additional resource, commissions were issued
to seize for the treasury all the plate, jewels, and ornaments belong-
ing to the churches, leaving only as many chalices in each as might
be necessary for the administration of the sacrament, and such orna-
ments as the commissioners in their discretion should think requi-
site.— Fuller, 1. vii. 417.
352 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Durham was now held to be vacant, an act was passed
A.D.1553. for the suppression of that (Jiocese, and the establish-
ment of two others by the king's letters patent, of
which one should comprehend the county of North-
umberland, the other that of Durham. To justify
this measure was alleged the enormous extent of
the former diocese ; a hypocritical pretext employed
to turn the attention of the members from the real
object of the ministers. Within a month after the
dissolution, the bishopric was converted into a county
palatine, annexed for the present to the crown, but
destined to reward at a convenient opportunity the
services of the house of Dudley.1
Northumberland was not only the most powerful,
his rapacity had made him the most wealthy, indivi-
dual in the realm. Though his former possessions
were sufficiently ample to satisfy the ordinary avarice
of a subject, he had, during this and the two last
years, increased them by the addition of the steward-
ships of the east riding of Yorkshire, and of all the
royal manors in the five northern counties, and by
grants from the crown of Tinmouth and Alnwick in
Northumberland, of Bernard Castle in the bishopric
of Durham, and of extensive estates in the three
shires of Somerset, Warwick, and Worcester.2 He
was, moreover, warden of the three Scottish marches,
with all the authority ever enjoyed by any warden
since the reign of Richard II. Still he was aware
that he held this pre-eminence by a very precarious
tenure. The life of the king was uncertain, in all
probability was hastening to its close ; from the Lady
Mary, the presumptive heir, he had little reason to
1 Strype, ii. 507.
2 See the titles of these grants in Strype, ii. 499, 504, 507, 508.
NEW PROJECT OF SUCCESSION. 353
expect friendship or protection ; and he foresaw that, CHAP.
if he were left to the mercy of his enemies, he must A.D. 1553.
resign his offices, regorge his wealth, and perhaps
atone for his ambition on the scaffold. It became his
policy to provide against future danger, by increasing
the number, and multiplying the resources of his
adherents. His brother and sons were placed in con-
fidential situations near the throne ; every office at
court was successively intrusted to one or other among
his creatures, whose predecessors received yearly pen-
sions as the reward of their resignation, and the price
of their future services ; and, to connect with his own
the interests of other powerful families, he projected
a marriage between his fourth son, Guilford Dudley,
and the lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Mary,
sister to Henry VIII. ; a second between his own
daughter Catherine, and the lord Hastings, the eldest
son of the earl of Huntingdon ; and a third between
the lady Catherine Grey and Lord Herbert, the son of
the earl of Pembroke, who owed both his title and
property to the favour of Northumberland.1
Hitherto Edward, who had inherited a portion of
his father's obstinacy, had paid little attention to the
advice of his physicians. In the beginning of May May 5.
an unexpected improvement was observed in his
health ; he promised to submit for the future to
medical advice; and the most flattering hopes were
entertained of his recovery.2 Northumberland chose
1 Stowe, 609. There remained a third daughter, the lady Mary
Grey, who in 1565 was furtively married to Martin Keys, the gen-
tleman porter. He was the largest man, she the most diminutive
woman, at court. Elizabeth threw them both into prison. — Strype,
Annals of the Reformation, i. 477.
2 See Northumberland's letter to Cecil, dated May 7 ; Strype,
ii. App. 161 ; and the lady Mary's to the king, dated May 16,
Strype, ii. 424.
VOL. V. 2 A
354 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, this period to celebrate the marriages by which he
A Ass. sought to consolidate his power. Durham House, m
the Strand, his new residence, was a scene of
tinned festivity and amusement; the king, unable to
attend in person, manifested his approval by magn
ficent presents ; and at the same time, as if it we)
wished to conciliate the approbation of the lady Mary,
a grant was made to her of the castle of Hertford and
of several manors and parks in the counties
ford and Essex.1
After a short and delusive interval, Edward relap*
into his former weakness. The symptoms of his d
order grew daily more alarming; and it became ev
dent that his life could not be protracted beyond
June. term of a few weeks. His danger urged Northum-
berland to execute a project, which he had in all
probability meditated for some time, of placing the
crown, in the event of the king's death, on the hea
of his own son.' By act of parliament, and the wil
of the last monarch, the next heirs were the ladies
Mary and Elizabeth ; but, as the statutes pronouncing
them illegitimate had never been repealed, it was
presumed that such illegitimacy might be successfully
opposed in bar of their claim. After their exclusion,
the crown would of right descend to one of the repre-
sentatives of the two sisters of Henry VIII.— Mar-
garet, queen of Scotland, and Mary, queen of France.
Margaret was the elder, but her descendants had been
2 With whatview ? Probably to secure himself and his colleagues
from the punishment which he anticipated in a new reign, •
"having been deceivers of the whole body of the realm by a forged
•• nstrument." See his letter in p. 329, note. Might not the real
ohec Tthat letter be to remind the councillors of then- danger,
and thus predispose them to assent to the change of the succe*
which he contemplated ?
EDWARD CONSENTS.
355
overlooked in the will of the late king, and the ani- CHAP.
mosity of the nation against Scotland would readily A.D. 1553.
induce it to acquiesce in the exclusion of the Scot-
tish line. There remained then the representative of
Mary, the French queen, who was Frances, married to
Grey, formerly marquess of Dorset, and lately created,
in favour of his wife, duke of Suffolk. But Frances
had no ambition to ascend a disputed throne, and
easily consented to transfer her right to her eldest
daughter Jane, the wife of Northumberland's fourth
son, Guilford Dudley.1 Having arranged his plan, the
duke ventured to whisper it in the ear of the sick
prince; and recommended it to his approbation by
a most powerful appeal to his religious prejudices.
Edward, he said, by the extirpation of idolatry, and
the establishment of a pure system of faith and wor-
ship, had secured to himself an immortal reputation
in this, everlasting happiness in the next world. The
lovers of the gospel had promised to themselves the
long enjoyment of so invaluable a blessing; but now the
dangerous state of his health opened to them a dark
and menacing prospect. He was acquainted with the
bigotry of his sister Mary, which had hitherto set at
defiance both his persuasion and his authority. Were
she to ascend the throne, she would seize the first
opportunity to undo all that he had done; to extin-
Henry VII.
I
James IV. = Mi
of Scotland.
-Douglas,
Earl of Angus.
Louis XII. = Mary
of France.
Brandon,
Duke of
Suffolk.
Majsdalen = James V. = Mary Margaret =j5tuart, Frances = Grey, Eleanor = Clifford,
of France.
of
Lorrain.
Earl of
Lennox.
Duke of
Suffolk.
Mary, Henry.
Queen of Scotland.
Earl of
Cumber-
land.
Charles. Jane. Catherine. Mary. Margaret.
2 A 2
356 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, guish the new light, and to replunge the nation into
A. D. 1553. the darkness of error and superstition. Did he not
shudder at the very thought ? Could he answer it to
himself, would he be able to answer it before God, if
by his connivance he should permit, while he had it
in his power to avert, so direful an evil ? Let him
make a will like his father, let him pass by the lady
Mary on account of illegitimacy, and the lady Eliza-
beth, who laboured under the same defect, and then
entail the crown on the posterity of his aunt, the
French queen, whose present descendants were dis-
tinguished by their piety and their attachment to the
reformed worship.1
To these interested suggestions the sick prince, over
whose mind the duke had long exercised an unlimited
control, listened with feelings of approbation. Per-
haps he persuaded himself that he might justly assume
on his death-bed those powers which had been exer-
cised by his father Henry; perhaps he deemed it a
duty to sacrifice the rights of his sisters to the para-
mount interests of his religion. He was, however,
taught not to expose his adversaries to the resent-
ment of those whom he was about to exclude from
the succession. He took the whole responsibility on
himself; and sketched with his own pen a rough draft,
by which the crown was entailed in the first place on
" the Lady Fraunces's heirs masles," in the next on
" the Lady Jane's heirs masles," and then on the
heirs male of her sisters. But this suited not the
views of Northumberland. Not one of these ladies
had heirs male ; and of course the crown, at the
death of Edward, would not devolve on any one of that
1 Godwin, 103.
HESITATION OF THE COUNCILLORS. 357
family. A slight correction was therefore made. The CHAP.
letter " s" at the end of "Jane's" was scored out, the A.D. 1553,
words " and her" were interlined ; by which change the
instrument was made to read thus : " to the lady Jane
" and her heirs masles." Thus the wife of Guilford
Dudley became the first in the succession. A fair copy
was then made, and Edward put to it his signature,
above, below, and on each margin.1
As soon as these preparations were completed, Sir Juneii,
Edward Montague, chief justice of the Common Pleas,
Sir Thomas Bromley, another justice of the same
court, and Sir Richard Baker, chancellor of the aug-
mentations, with Gosnold and Gryffyn, the attorney
and solicitor general, received a summons to attend
the council at Greenwich. On their arrival they were June 12.
introduced to the king, who said that he had seri-
ously weighed the dangers which threatened the laws,
and liberties, and religion of the country, if the lady
Mary should inherit the crown, and marry a foreign
prince ; that, to prevent so great an evil, lie had
determined to change the order of the succession ;
and that he had sent for them to draw up a legal
instrument, according to the instructions, which he
had authorized with his signature. They attempted
to speak ; but he refused to hear any objection, and
with difficulty consented to a short respite, that they
might peruse the different acts of succession, and
deliberate on the most eligible means of accomplish-
ing the royal pleasure.
1 Strype's Cran. App. 164. The fact of the correction was first
made known by Dr. Nares, in his Life of Burghley, i. 452. The
instructions for the rest of the will were written by secretary Petre,
and dictated by Edward. He left Mary and Elizabeth annuities of
1,0001., and if they should marry by advice of the council, added
10,000/. to the portions left them by his father.— Strype, ii. 431.
358 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Two days later Montague and his companions
A DJ^553. waited on the lords of the council and informed them
that such an instrument as had been required was a
June 14.
violation of the statute of the thirty-fifth of the late
king, and would subject both those who had drawn,
and those who had advised it, to the penalties of
treason. At these words Northumberland entered
from another room, trembling with rage; he threat-
ened and called them traitors ; and declared that he
was ready to fight in his shirt with any man in so
just a quarrel. They were commanded to retire, and
the same evening received an order to attend the next
day, with the exception of the solicitor-general.
On their admission to the royal presence, Edward
sternly asked why his command had not been obeyed.
June 15. The chief justice replied that to obey would have
been dangerous to them, and of no service to his
grace ; that the succession had been settled by statute,
and could be altered only by statute; and that he
knew of no other legal expedient but the introduction
of a bill for that purpose into the next parliament.
The king replied that it was his determination to have
the deed of settlement executed now, and ratified
afterwards in the parliament summoned to meet in
September; and therefore he commanded them on
their allegiance to submit to his pleasure. Montague
began to waver : his conversion was hastened by the
threats and reproaches of the lords of the council,
who attended in a body ; and, after a short hesitation,
turning to the king, he professed his readiness to obey,
but requested that he might have under the great
seal, first a commission to draw the instrument, and
then a full pardon for having drawn it. To this
Edward assented : Bromley and Baker followed the
THEY SIGN THE ACT OF SUCCESSION. 359
example of the chief justice; but the repugnance of
Gosnold was not subdued till the following day.1 A.D. 1553.
Among the privy councillors there were some who,
though apprized of the illegality, and apprehensive
of the consequences of the measure, suffered them-
selves to be seduced from their duty by the threats
and promises of Northumberland, and by their ob-
jection to the succession of a princess who would
probably re-establish the ancient faith, and compel
them to restore the property which they had torn
from the church. The archbishop, if we may believe
his own statement, had requested a private interview
with the king, but he was accompanied by the mar-
quess of Northampton and the lord Darcy, in whose
presence Edward solicited him to subscribe the new
settlement, expressed a hope that he would not refuse
to his sovereign a favour which had been granted by
every other councillor, and assured him that, accord-
ing to the decision of the judges, a king, in actual
possession, had a power to limit the descent of the
crown after his decease. Cranmer confesses that he
had the weakness to yield against his own conviction,
" and so/' says he, " I granted him to subscribe his
" will, and to follow the same ; which when I had
" set my hand unto, I did it unfeignedly and without
" dissimulation."2
Northumberland, whether it was that he suspected
the fidelity of some among his colleagues, or that he
was unwilling to trust the success of his project to
1 See Montague's statement in Fuller, 1. viii. 2 — 5.
2 I give his words, because their meaning has been disputed. To
me he appears to say that, when he had once subscribed, he fol-
lowed the will, that is, supported it, unfeignedly and without
dissimulation. The object of his letter was to beg pardon for " con-
tenting and following the testament." — See Strype, App. 169.
360 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, the dilatory forms of office, had prepared another
A.D. 1553. paper, to which at the royal command four-and-twenty
of the counsellors and legal advisers of the crown
affixed their signatures. By it they pledged their
oaths and honour to " observe ever article contained
" in his majesty's own device respecting the succession,
"subscribed with his majesty's hand in six several
"places, and delivered to certain judges and other
" learned men, that it might be written in full order ;"
to maintain and defend it to the uttermost of their
power during their lives ; and if any man should here-
after attempt to alter it, to repute him an enemy to
the welfare of the kingdom, and to punish him ac-
cording to his deserts.1 As soon as the official instru-
ment had been prepared, it was engrossed in parch-
ment, carried to the Chancery, and authenticated
with the great seal. It then received the signatures
June 21. of the lords of the council, and of several peers, judges,
officers of the crown, and others, to the number of
one hundred and one witnesses.2
1 The subscribers were Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury ;
Thomas, bishop of Ely, chancellor; Winchester, lord treasurer;
Northumberland, great master ; Bedford, lord privy seal ; John,
duke of Suffolk ; Northampton, lord high chamberlain ; Shrewsbury,
lord president in the north ; the earl of Huntingdon; the earl of
Pembroke ; Clinton, lord admiral ; Darcy, chamberlain of the house-
hold ; Lord Cobham ; Cheyne, treasurer of the household ; Lord Rich;
Gate, vice-chamberlain ; Petre, Cheek, and Cecil, principal secre-
taries ; Montague, Baker, Gryflfyn, Lucas, and Gosnold. — See the
instrument in Strype's Cranmer, App. p. 163; Burnet, iii. Rec.
207. In defence of the subscribers, it has been supposed that they
might have been deceived ; that the original draft by Edward had
been exhibited to them ; and that they subscribed without any know-
ledge of the correction to be afterwards made in it. But this is no
more than an unfounded conjecture. None of them subsequently
alleged any such excuse ; nor could it avail them ; for even the
original draft was an infringement of the statute of the 35th of
Henry VIII., and of his alleged will, on which the council founded
their own authority.
2 See the will in Howell, 754. We have three accounts of the
THE KING'S DEATH. 361
Northumberland's next object was to secure the CHAP.
person of the lady Mary. His sons had received li- .\.D.Vi553.
censes to raise companies of horse; several petty forti- j^T22
fications on the sea-coast and the banks of the Thames
had been dismantled, to provide, without exciting
suspicion, a supply of powder and ammunition for
the Tower; forty additional warders were introduced
into that fortress ; the constable, Sir John Gage, was
superseded in the command by Sir James Croft, a
creature of the duke ; and Croft, when all was ready,
surrendered his charge to the lord Clinton, lord high
admiral. Then, to secure their prey, a letter was
written by the council to the lady Mary, requiring June so.
her by the king's order to repair immediately to court.
Had she reached London, her next removal would
have been to the Tower : but she received a friendly
hint of her danger on the road ; and hastened back
to her usual residence, Kenninghall, in the county of
Norfolk.1
We are told that at this period the care of the king
transaction, one by Sir Edward Montague, another by Cranmer,
and a third by Cecil. It may perhaps detract something from their
credit, that they are interested statements, drawn up by the writers
for the purpose of extenuating their own guilt in the estimation of
Queen Mary. Neither is it easy to reconcile them with each other,
or with known facts. Thus Cranmer says that both the king and
his council assured him that the judges had declared in favour of the
legality of the measure (Strype's Cran. App. 169): Montague, on
the contrary, tells us that he repeatedly, in his own name and that
of his colleagues, pronounced it illegal in the presence of the whole
council, and consequently of the archbishop. — Fuller, 1. viii. p. 3.
Cecil said that he refused to subscribe, when none of the others
refused : and that if he subscribed at last, it was not as an abettor
of the measure, but merely as a witness to the king's signature.
— Strype ii. 480 ; iv. 347. Yet in the instrument mentioned in the
last note, his name occurs in its proper place, not as of a witness,
but as of one who takes his oath, and promises on his honour to
maintain it. Cranmer in his statement takes credit to himself for
beine: the last who was persuaded to subscribe.
1 Strype, ii. 521. Hayward, 327.
3G2 EDWARD VI.
CHAP. Was intrusted to a female empiric, whose charms or
A.D. 1553. medicines, instead of alleviating, aggravated his suffer-
ings; and that his physicians, when they were recalled,
pronounced him to be at the point of death.i The
report originated probably with those who afterwards
accused Northumberland of having taken the life of
his sovereign. However that may be, on the first of
July 6. July the duke pretended to entertain hopes of his
recovery : on the sixth of the same month the king
expired in the evening. The event had long been ex-
pected by the nation, and the vengeance of the council
had already visited with stripes and imprisonment
several offenders, both male and female, who had
prematurely announced the intelligence.2
It would be idle to delineate the character of a
prince who lived not till his passions could develop
themselves, or his faculties acquire maturity.3 His
education, like that of his two sisters, began at a
very early age. In abilities he was equal, perhaps
1 Hay ward, 327. Heylin, 139. Rosso, 10.
2 See several instances from the Council Book in Strype, ii. 428.
On the first of July they wrote to the foreign ambassadors, " that
" his majesty was alive, whatsoever evil men did write or spread
" abroad : and, as they trusted and wished, his estate and toward-
" ness of recovery out of his sickness should shortly appear to the
" comfort of all good men." — Strype, ii. 429.
3 One part of his education was likely to have strengthened his
passions. No one was permitted to address him, not even his
sisters, without kneeling to him. " I have seen," says Ubaldini,
" the princess Elizabeth drop on one knee five times before her
" brother, before she took her place." At dinner, if either of his
sisters were permitted to eat with him, she sat on a stool and
cushion, at a distance, beyond the limits of the royal dais. — Ubaldini,
apud Von Raumer, ii. 70. Even the lords and gentlemen who
brought in the dishes before dinner, were bareheaded, and knelt
down before they placed them on the table. This custom shocked
the French ambassador and his suite ; for in France the office was
confined to pages, who bowed only, and did not kneel. — See the
Me"moires de Vieilleville, Me"m. xxviii. 319.
HIS ABILITIES. 363
superior, to most boys of his years; and his industry CHAP.
and improvement amply repaid the solicitude of his A.D. 1553.
tutors. But the extravagant praise which has been
lavished on him by his panegyrists and admirers
must be received with some degree of caution. In
the French and Latin letters, to which they appeal,
it is difficult to separate the composition of the pupil
from the corrections of the master ;J and since, to
raise his reputation, deceptions are known to have
been employed on some occasions, it may be justifi-
able to suspect that they were practised on others.
The boy of twelve or fourteen years was accustomed
to pronounce his opinion in the council with all the
gravity of a hoary statesman. But he had been pre-
viously informed of the subjects to be discussed ; his
preceptors had supplied him with short notes, which
he committed to memory ; and, while he delivered
their sentiments as his own, the lords, whether they
were aware or not of the artifice, admired and ap-
plauded the precocious wisdom with which heaven
had gifted their sovereign.2
Edward's religious belief could not have been the
result of his own judgment. He was compelled to
take it on trust from those about him, who moulded
1 These letters may be seen in Fuller, 1. vii. p. 423 ; Hearne's
Titus Livius, 115 ; and Strype, ii. App. 162. Perhaps the character
given of him by Barbaro, the Venetian ambassador, in 1551, ap-
proaches nearest to the truth. " He is of good disposition, and
' fills the country with the best expectations, because he is handsome,
' graceful, of proper size, shows an inclination to generosity, and
' begins to wish to understand what is going on ; and in the exercise
' of the mind, and the study of languages, appears to excel his com-
' panions. He is 14 years of age. This is what I am able to state
' about him." — MS. at Greystoke Castle.
2 See Strype, ii. 104. From a document in Raumer, it appears
that Northumberland was also accustomed to prepare the king for
the discussion of subjects beforehand (iii. 79).
364 EDWARD VI.
CHAP, his infant mind to their own pleasure, and infused
IV
A. D. 1553. into it their own opinions or prejudices. From them
he derived a strong sense of piety, and a habit of
daily devotion, a warm attachment to the new, and
a violent antipathy to the ancient doctrines. He be-
lieved it to be the first of his duties to extirpate
what he had been taught to deem the idolatrous wor-
ship of his fathers ; and with his last breath he wafted
a prayer to heaven for the preservation of his subjects
from the infection of " papistry."1 Yet it may be a
question whether his early death has not proved a
benefit to the church of England as it is at present
established. His sentiments, like those of his in-
structors, were tinged with Calvinism ; attempts were
made to persuade him that episcopacy was an expen-
sive and unnecessary institution ; and the courtiers,
whose appetite for church property had been whetted
rather than satisfied by former spoliations, looked
impatiently towards the entire suppression of the
bishoprics and chapters.2 Of the possessions belong-
1 Foxe, ii. 130.
2 On this subject the reader will be amused with the disinterested
advice of Hobey. In a letter of the 19th of January, 1549, he
tells the protector, that the foreign Protestants " have good hopes,
' and pray earnestly therefore, that the king's majesty will appoint
' unto the good bishops an honest and competent living, sufficient
' for their maintenance, taking from them the rest of their worldly
' possessions and dignities, and thereby avoid the vain glory that
' letteth them truly and sincerely to do their duty." From the
bishops he proceeds to the chapters. He had been told that 1,500
horsemen had mustered at Brussels to meet the prince of " Spain :
1 which," he adds, " when I heard, remembering what great ser-
' vice such a number of chosen men were able to do, specially in our
' country, wherein is so much lack of good horsemen, it caused me
' to declare, under your grace's correction, what I thought ; ear-
' nestly to wish with all my heart that, standing with the king's
' majesty's pleasure and your prudence, all the prebends within
' England were converted to the like use, for the defence of our
" country, and the maintenance of honest poor gentlemen." — Apud
Strype, ii. 88.
STATE OF THE NATION. 365
ing to these establishments, one-half had already CHAP.
been seized by the royal favourites : in the course of A.D. 1553.
a few years their rapacity would have devoured the
remainder.1
The governors and counsellors of the young king
were so occupied with plans of personal aggrandize-
ment, and the introduction of religious reform, that
they could pay but little attention to the great objects
of national polity> Under their care or negligence
England was compelled to descend from the pre-emi-
nence which she previously held among the nations of
Europe ; and her degradation was consummated at
the conferences for the restoration of Boulogne, by
the supercilious conduct of the French, and the tame
acquiescence of the English ministers. Far the ad-
vantage of commerce, the exclusive privileges enjoyed
by the corporation of the Stilyard were abolished ;
and a little before the king's death an expedition was
fitted out to discover a north-east passage to China
and India. With this view a joint-stock company
was formed, under the direction of Sebastian Cabote,
son of Cabote the celebrated navigator : three stout
ships were built at the cost of six thousand pounds ;
and Sir Hugh Willoughby, a brave and experienced
soldier, but probably no sailor, was intrusted with
the chief command. Off the northern extremity of May 10.
Norway, this little fleet was dispersed by a violent
storm. Challoner, the second in command, continued
1 By the extortion of grants and exchanges the incomes of the
richer bishoprics were reduced about two-thirds, those of the poorer
about one-half; and on the other hand eighteen free schools were
founded, the endowments of which amounted to 360/. per annum.
— Strype, ii. 535. Rec. 159. I may add, that in a patent for the
exchange of lands to the bishop of Bath and Wells, are mentioned
not only the lands, but also nativi, et nativse, et villani cum eoruin
sequelis. — Id. 554. So long did villenage continue in England.
3GG EDWARD VI.
CHAP, his course alone, keeping in sight of the land, till he
A.D. 1553. entered an immense estuary, now called the White
Sea, and found an asylum for the winter in the port
of Archangel; whence he traversed Russia to Moscow,
and, having been favourably received by the emperor
I wan Wasilejevitch, returned to Archangel, and thence
to England, with a letter from the Czar to the king
of England. Of Challoner's former companions we
know nothing more than that they reached the shore
of Nova Zembla, and afterwards landed somewhere on
the coast of Russian Lapland, where they afterwards
perished.
Within the realm poverty and discontent generally
prevailed. The extension of inclosures, and the new
practice *of letting lands at rack rents, had driven
from their homes numerous families, whose fathers
had occupied the same farms for several generations ;
and the increasing multitudes of the poor began to
resort to the more populous towns in search of that
relief which had been formerly distributed at the
gates of the monasteries.1 Nor were the national
morals improved, if we may judge from the portraits
drawn by the most eminent of the reformed preachers.
They assert that the sufferings of the indigent were
viewed with indifference by the hard-heartedness of
the rich ; that in the pursuit of gain the most bare-
faced frauds were avowed and justified ; that robbers
and murderers escaped punishment by the partiality
of juries and the corruption of judges ; that church
livings were given to laymen, or converted to the use
of the patrons ; that marriages were repeatedly dis-
1 Thus Lever exclaims : " O merciful Lord ! what a number of
"poor, feeble, halt, blind, lame, sickly, yea, with idle vagabonds
" and dissembling caitiffs mixed among them, lie and creep, begging
" in the miry streets of London and Westminster." — Strype, ii. 449.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION. 367
solved by private authority; and that the haunts of CHAP.
prostitution were multiplied beyond measure.1 How A.D. 1553.
far credit should be given to such representations,
may perhaps be doubtful. Declamations from the
pulpit are not the best historical evidence. Much in
them must be attributed to the exaggeration of zeal,
much to the affectation of eloquence. Still, when
these deductions have been made, when the invectives *
of Knox and Lever, of Gilpin and Latimer, have
been reduced by the standard of reason and experi-
ence, enough will remain to justify the conclusion,
that the change of religious polity, by removing many
of the former restraints upon vice, and enervating the
authority of the spiritual courts, had given a bolder
front to licentiousness, and opened a wider scope to
the indulgence of criminal passion.
1 The industry of Strype has collected several passages on these
subjects from the old preachers (369, 438 — 450).
368
Emp. of Ger.
Charles V. ...1558
Ferdinand.
CHAPTER V.
MARY.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Q. of Scotland. \ K. of France.
Mary. Henry II.
K. of Spain.
Charles V. ...1550
Philip II.
Popes.
Julius III., 1555. Marcellus II., 1555. Paul IV.
LADY JANE GREY PROCLAIMED QUEEN THE LADY MARY IS ACKNOW-
LEDGED— HER QUESTIONS TO THE EMPEROR CHARLES — EXECU-
TION OF NORTHUMBERLAND MISCONDUCT OP COURTENAY
QUEEN SEEKS TO RESTORE THE ANCIENT SERVICE ELIZABETH
CONFORMS CRANMER OPPOSES — PARLIAMENT INTRIGUES OF
NOAILLES — INSURRECTION OF WYAT FAILURE AND PUNISHMENT
OF THE CONSPIRATORS ELIZABETH AND COURTENAY IN DISGRACE
TREATY OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN MARY AND PHILIP RECON-
CILIATION WITH ROME.
CHAP. THE declining health of Edward had attracted the
A.D. 1553. notice of the neighbouring courts : to the two rival
sovereigns, Charles V. of Germany, and Henry II. of
France, it offered a new subject of political intrigue.
The presumptive heir to the sick king was his sister
Mary, a princess who, ever since the death of her
father, had been guided by the advice, and under
persecution had been protected by the remonstrances,
of the emperor. Gratitude, as well as consanguinity,
must attach her to the interests of her benefactor and
relative ; probably she would, in the event of her sue-
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL. 369
cession, throw the power of England into the scale CHAP.
against the pretensions of France : it was even pos- A.D. 1553.
sible that partiality to the father might induce her to
accept the son for her husband. On these accounts
both princes looked forward with considerable soli-
citude to the approaching death of Edward, and to
the result of the plot contrived by the ambition of
Northumberland .
Charles had despatched from Brussels Mont-
morency, Marnix, and Renard, as ambassadors extra- June 23.
ordinary to the English court. They came under the
pretence of visiting the infirm monarch ; but the real
object was to watch the proceedings of the council, to
study the resources of the different parties, to make
friends for the lady Mary, and, as far as prudence
would allow, to promote her succession to the
throne.1
The same reasons which induced the emperor to
favour, urged the king of France to oppose, the
interest of Mary. Aware of the design of his rival,
Henry despatched to London the bishop of Orleans,
and the Chevalier de Gye, with instructions to coun-
teract the attempts of the imperial envoys ; but the
slow progress of these ministers was anticipated by
the industry and address of Noailles, the resident
ambassador, who, though he would not commit his
sovereign by too explicit an avowal of his sentiments,
readily offered to the council the aid of France, if
foreigners should attempt to disturb the tranquillity
of the realm. The hint was sufficient. Northumber-
1 From their instructions in the collection of the papers of the
ambassador Renard, in the library of Besancon, torn. iii. fol. 1, it
appears that they were sent " devers le R. d'Angleterre, notre
" cousine la princesse, le due de Northumberland, et seigneurs du
" conseil."
VOL. V. 2 B
370 MARY.
CHAP, land saw that he had nothing to fear, but every thing
A.D. 1553. to hope, from the policy of the French monarch.1
Juiy~6. -^ was on the evening of the sixth of July that
Edward expired at Greenwich. With the view of
concealing his death for some days from the know-
ledge of the public,2 the guards had been previously
doubled in the palace, and all communication inter-
cepted between his chamber and the other apart-
ments. Yet that very night, while the lords sat in
deliberation, the secret was communicated to Mary
by a note, probably from the earl of Arundel, un-
folding the design of the conspirators. She was then
at Hoddesdon, in the neighbourhood of London, and,
had she hesitated, would by the next morning have
been a prisoner in the Tower. Without losing a
moment she mounted her horse, and rode with
the servants of her household to Kenninghall, in
Norfolk.3
The council broke up after midnight ; and Clinton,
the lord admiral, took possession of the Tower, with
the royal treasures, the munitions of war, and the pri-
soners of state. The three next days were employed
in making such previous arrangements as were thought
necessary for the success of the enterprise. While
July s. the death of Edward was yet unknown, the officers of
the guards and of the household, the lord mayor, six
aldermen, and twelve of the principal citizens, were
summoned before the council. All were informed of
the recent settlement of the crown, and required to
take an oath of allegiance to the new sovereign ; the
latter were dismissed with an injunction not to betray
1 Arabassad. de Mess, de Noailles, ii. 45, 50, 53.
2 See Alford's letter to Cecil, Strype, iv. 349.
3 Noailles, 56.
LADY JANE GREY. 371
the secret, and to watch over the tranquillity of the CHAP.
city. On the fourth morning it was determined to A.D.1553.
publish the important intelligence ; and the chief of
the lords, attended by a numerous escort, rode to
Sion House to announce to the lady Jane her suc-
cession to the throne of her royal cousin.
Jane has been described to us as a young woman
of gentle manners, and superior talents, addicted to
the study of the scriptures and the classics, but fonder
of dress than suited the austere notions of the re-
formed preachers. Of the designs of the duke of
Northumberland in her favour, and of the arts by
which he had deceived the simplicity of Edward,
she knew nothing ; nor had she suffered the dark and
mysterious predictions of the duchess to make any
impression on her mind. Her love of privacy had
induced her to solicit, what in the uncertain state of
the king's health was readily granted, permission to
leave London, and to spend a few days at Chelsea ;
she was indulging herself in this retirement, when
she received by the lady Sydney, her husband's sister, July 9-
an order from the council to return immediately to
Sion House, and to await there the commands of the
king. She obeyed ; and the next morning was visited July 10-
by the duke of Northumberland, the marquess of
Northampton, and the earls of Arundel, Huntingdon,
and Pembroke. At first, the conversation turned on
indifferent subjects, but there was in their manner
an air of respect, which awakened some uneasiness in
her mind, and seemed to explain the hints already
given to her by her mother-in-law. Soon afterwards
that lady entered, accompanied by the duchess of
Suffolk and the marchioness of Northampton ; and
the duke, addressing the lady Jane, informed her that
2 B 2
372
MARY.
CHAP, the king her cousin was dead; that before he ex-
A.D. 1553. pired, he had prayed to God to preserve the realm
from the infection of papistry, and the misrule of his
sisters Mary and Elizabeth ; that, on account of their
being bastards, and by act of parliament incapable of
the succession, he had resolved to pass them by, and
to leave the crown in the right line ; and that he had
therefore commanded the council to proclaim her, the
lady Jane, his lawful heir, and in default of her and
her issue, her two sisters, Catherine and Mary. At
the words the lords fell on their knees, declared that
they took her for their sovereign, and swore that they
were ready to shed their blood in support of her
right. The reader may easily conceive the agitation
of spirits which a communication so important and
unlocked for was likely to create in a young woman
of timid habits and delicate health. She trembled,
uttered a shriek, and sank to the ground. On her
recovery she observed to those around her, that she
seemed to herself a very unfit person to be a queen ;
but that, if the right were hers, she trusted God
would give her strength to wield the sceptre to his
honour and the benefit of the nation.
Such is the account of this transaction given, about
a month afterwards, by Jane herself, in a letter from
the Tower to Queen Mary.1 The feelings which she
1 " Le quali cose, tosto che con infinite dolore dell* animo mio
hebbi intese, quanto io restasse fuor di me stordita, e sbattuta, ne
Iascer6 testimoniare a quei Signori, i quali si trovarono present!,
che soppraggiunta da subita e non aspettata doglia, mi videro in
terra cadere, molto dolorosamente piangendo : E dichiarando poi
loro 1' insofficienza mia, forte mi rammaricai della morte d' un si
nobile principe, e insiememi risolvi a Dio, humilmente pregandolo,
e supplicandolo, che se quello che m'era dato, era dirittamente e
legittamamente mio, S.D.M. mi donasse tanta grazia e spirito,
ch'io il potesse governare, a gloria sua, e servigio, e utile di questo
reame." From her letter or confession to Mary in August soon
IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN. 373
describes are such as we might expect ; surprise at CHAP.
the annunciation, grief for the death of her royal A.D. 1*553.
cousin, and regret to quit a station in which she had
been happy. But modern writers have attributed to
her much of which she seems to have been ignorant
herself. The beautiful language which they put into
her mouth, her forcible reasoning in favour of the
claim of Mary, her philosophic contempt of the splen-
dour of royalty, her refusal to accept a crown which
was not her right, and her reluctant submission to
the commands of her parents, must be considered as
the fictions of historians, who, in their zeal to exalt
the character of the heroine, seem to have forgotten
that she was only sixteen years of age.
About three in the afternoon, the young queen was
conducted by water to the Tower, the usual residence
of our kings preparatory to their coronation. She
made her entry in state. Her train was borne by her
mother, the duchess of Suffolk ; the lord treasurer
presented her with the crown ; and her relations
saluted her on their knees. At six the same evening,
the heralds proclaimed the death of Edward and the
succession of Jane ; and a printed instrument with
her signature was circulated, to acquaint the people
with the grounds of her claim. It alleged, 1. That
though the succession, by the thirty-fifth of Henry VIII.
stood limited to the ladies Mary and Elizabeth, yet
neither of them could take any thing under that
act, because, by a previous statute of the twenty-
after her committal to the Tower. The original in English has pro-
bably perished; but we have two different translations of it in
Italian, one by Rosso in his " Successi d* Inghilterra dopo la morte
" di Odoardo sesto," published in Ferrara as early as 1560; and
another by Pollini in his Historia Eccl. della llivoluzion d' Inghil-
terra, in Roma, 1594.
374 MARY.
CHAP, eighth of the same reign, which still remained in
A.D. is53. force, both daughters had been pronounced bastards,
and incapable of inheriting the crown ; 2. That even,
had they been born in lawful wedlock, they could
have no claim to the succession after Edward, because
being his sisters only by the half-blood, they could
not inherit from him according to the ancient laws
and customs of the realm ; 3. That the fact of their
being single women ought to be a bar to their claim,
as by their subsequent marriages they might place
the sovereign power in the hands of a foreign despot,
who would be able to subvert the liberties of the
people, and to restore the jurisdiction of the bishop
of Rome; 4. That these considerations had moved
the late king to limit, by his letters patent, the in-
heritance of the crown in the first place to the lawful
issue of the duchess of Suffolk,1 her male issue, if any
were born to her during his life, otherwise to her
daughters and their issue in succession, and after
them to the daughter of the late countess of Cum-
berland, sister to the said duchess, and to her issue,
inasmuch as the said ladies were nigh to him of
blood, and " naturally born within the realm;" 5. And
that therefore the lady Jane, the eldest daughter of
the duchess of Suffolk, had now taken upon herself,
as belonging to her of right, the government of the
kingdoms of England and Ireland, and of all their
1 As the duchess of Suffolk was still living, how happened it that
the king should overlook her, to leave the crown to her daughter ?
It evidently entered into the plan of Northumberland to suppress
her claims, and probably his argument to Edward was that she had
been omitted in his father's will, though her issue had been ex-
pressly named. It was differently with respect to the elder branch,
the descendants of the queen of Scots. They had been omitted
altogether.
LETTER FROM MARY. 375
dependencies.1 To the arguments contained in this CHAP.
laboured proclamation the people listened in ominous A.D. 1553.
silence. They had so long considered Mary the pre-
sumptive heir, that they did not comprehend how her
claim could be defeated by any pretensions of a
daughter of the house of Suffolk. Not a single voice
was heard in approbation; a vintner's boy had the
temerity to express his dissent, and the next day paid
the forfeit of his folly with the loss of his ears.2
The following morning arrived at the Tower a July 11.
messenger from Mary, the bearer of a letter to the
lords, in which, assuming the style and tone of their
sovereign, she upbraided them with their neglect to
inform her of the death of her brother, hinted her
knowledge of their disloyal intention to oppose her
right, and commanded them, as they hoped for favour,
to proclaim her accession immediately in the metro-
polis, and as soon as possible, in all other parts of the
kingdom.3
This communication caused no change in their
1 Noailles, ii. 62. Burnet, ii. Rec. 239. Somer's Tracts, i. 174.
The heads of this instrument are taken out of the will of Edward VI.,
which is published in Howell's State Trials, i. 754 ; but the line
respecting the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome was an interpola-
tion. The words, "born within the realm," were added to exclude
the Scottish line.
2 The vintner's boy was nailed to the pillory by the ears, both of
which were amputated before he could be released. — Holins. 1065.
3 The following is her proclamation : —
" Marie, the Quene,
" Knowe ye, all the good subjects of this realme, that yor most
noble prince, yor soveraine Lord and King, Edwarde the vjth is
upon thursday last being the vjth of July dep'ted this worlde to
Godes mercie. And that now the most excellent princes, his sister
Marie, by the grace of God ys Quene of E. and Y. and verie owner
of the crowne, government and tytle of E. and Y. and all things
thereunto belonging, to Godes glory, the honor of the royalme of
England, and all yor comfortes. And her Highness ys not fled
thys royalme, ne intendethe to do, as ys most untruly surmised."
—Gage's Hengrave, 143.
376 MARY.
CHAP, counsels, awakened no apprehension in their minds.
A.D. 1553. Mary was a single and defenceless female, unpre-
pared to vindicate her right, without money, and
without followers. They had taken every precaution
to insure success. The exercise of the royal authority
was in their hands ; the royal treasures were at their
disposal ; the guards had sworn obedience ; a fleet of
twenty armed vessels lay in the river ; and a body of
troops had been assembled in the Isle of Wight,
ready at any moment to execute their orders. De-
pending on their own resources, contrasted with the
July 12. apparent helplessness of their adversary, they affected
to dread her flight more than her resistance, and re-
turned an answer under the signatures of the arch-
bishop, the chancellor, and twenty-one councillors,
requiring her to abandon her false claim, and to submit
as a dutiful subject to her lawful and undoubted sove-
reign.1
In a few hours the illusion vanished. The mass of
the people knew little of the lady Jane, but all had
heard of the ambition of Northumberland. His real
object, it was said, was now unmasked. To deprive
the late king of his nearest relatives and protectors,
he had persuaded Somerset to take the life of the
lord admiral, and Edward to take that of Somerset.
The royal youth was the next victim. He had been
1 Foxe, iii. 12. Strype, iii. Rec. 3. The emperor was equally
persuaded of her inability to contend with the council, and on the
28th of June advised her to offer them a pardon for all past offences,
and to consent, if they required it, that they should hold the same
offices under her, and that no change should be made in the estab-
lishment of religion. — Renard's MSS. folio 6. But when he learned
that she meant to fight for her right, he exhorted her to persevere :
puisqu'elle s'y est mise si avant, qu'elle perde la crainte, eVite de la
donner a ceux qui sont de son cote, et qu'elle passe tout outre. —
Ibid. fol. 22.
THE ADHERENTS OF MARY. 377
removed by poison to make room for the lady Jane,1 CHAP.
who, in her turn, would be compelled to yield the A.D. 1553,
crown to Northumberland himself. These reports
were circulated and believed, and the public voice,
wherever it might be expressed with impunity, was
unanimous in favour of Mary. The very day on
which the answer to her letter had been despatched
brought the alarming intelligence that she was already
joined by the earls of Bath and Sussex,2 and by the
eldest sons of the lords W barton and Mordaunt; that
the gentlemen of the neighbouring counties were
hastening to her aid with their tenants and depend-
ants ; and that in a short time a numerous and for-
midable army would be embattled under her banners.3
Northumberland saw the necessity of despatch : but
how could he venture to leave the capital, where his
presence awed the disaffected and secured the co-
operation of his colleagues ? He proposed to give the
1 This opinion was so general, that the emperor, Aug. 23, wrote
to the queen that she ought to put to death all the conspirators who
had any hand in "the death" of the late king. — Renard, apud
Griffet, xi. Renard's despatches are in three volumes in the library
at Besancon ; but the more interesting of those respecting Mary
were selected from the third volume and communicated to Griffet,
the author of the valuable notes to the best edition of Daniel's His-
tory of France. From them Griffet compiled, in a great measure,
his " Noveaux Eclaircissemens sur 1'Histoire de Marie Reine
" d'Angleterre," 12mo. Amst. et Paris, 1766, of which an English
translation was published under the title of " New Lights thrown
" upon the History of Mary, Queen of England," 8vo. London,
1771. The papers employed by Griffet were never replaced; but
those which remain bear abundant testimony to his accuracy and
fidelity.
2 Mary granted to the earl of Sussex a license to wear " his cap,
" coif, or night-cap, or two of them at his pleasure, in the royal
" presence, or in the presence of any other person." — Oct. 2, Hey-
lin's Mary, 190.
3 " Certain noblemen, knights, and gentlemen come to her to
" mayntayn her title, with also innumerable companies of the com-
" mon people." — Gage's Hengrave, 143.
378 MARY.
CHAP, command of the forces to the duke of Suffolk, whose
A.D. 1553. affection for his daughter was a pledge of his fidelity,
and whose want of military experience might be sup-
plied by the knowledge of his associates. But he
could not deceive the secret partisans of Mary, who
saw his perplexity, and to liberate themselves from his
control, urged him to take the command upon him-
self. They praised his skill, his valour, and his good
fortune ; they exaggerated the insufficiency of Suf-
folk, and the consequences to be apprehended from
a defeat ; and they prevailed upon Jane, through
anxiety for her father, to unite with them in their
entreaties to Northumberland. He gave a tardy and
July is. reluctant consent. When he took leave of his col-
leagues he exhorted them to fidelity with an earnest-
ness which betrayed his apprehensions; and, as he
rode through the city at the head of the troops, he
remarked, in a tone of despondency, to Sir John
Gates, " The people crowd to look upon us, but not
" one exclaims, God speed ye."1
From the beginning the duke had mistrusted the
fidelity of the citizens: before his departure he re-
quested the aid of the preachers, and exhorted them
to appeal from the pulpit to the religious feelings of
their hearers. By no one was the task performed
with greater zeal than by Ridley, bishop of London,
July 16. who, on the following Sunday, preached at St. Paul's
Cross before the lord mayor, the aldermen, and a
numerous assemblage of the people. He maintained
that the daughters of Henry VIII. were, by the
illegitimacy of their birth, excluded from the suc-
cession. He contrasted the opposite characters of
the present competitors, the gentleness, the piety,
1 Godwin, 106. Stowe, 610, 611.
NORTHUMBERLAND ALARMED. 379
the orthodoxy of the one, with the haughtiness, the CHAP.
foreign connections, and the popish creed of the other. A.D. 1553,
As a proof of Mary's bigotry, he narrated a chivalrous
but unsuccessful attempt, which he had made within
the last year, to withdraw her from the errors of
popery ; and in conclusion, he conjured the audience,
as they prized the pure light of the gospel, to support
the cause of the lady Jane, and to oppose the claim
of her idolatrous rival. But the torrent of his elo-
quence was poured in vain. Among his hearers there
were many indifferent to either form of worship.
Of the rest, the Protestants had not yet learned that
religious belief could affect hereditary right ; and the
Catholics were confirmed by the bishop's arguments,
in their adhesion to the interests of Mary.2
That princess, to open a communication with the
emperor in Flanders, had unexpectedly left Ken-
ninghall ; and, riding forty miles without rest, had
reached, on the same evening, the castle of Fram- July u.
lingham. There her hopes were hourly cheered with
the most gratifying intelligence. The earl of Essex,
the lord Thomas Howard, the Jerninghams, Beding-
felds, Sulyards, Pastons, and most of the neighbouring
gentlemen, successively arrived, with their tenants,
to fight under her standard.3 Sir Edward Hastings,
Sir Edmund Peckham, and Sir Robert Drury, had
levied ten thousand men in the counties of Oxford,
Buckingham, Berks, and Middlesex, and purposed to
march from Drayton for Westminster and the palace ;
1 See note (D).
2 Concionatores, quos bene multos Londini constituit, nihil profe-
cerunt : imo ne quidem egregius ille doctrina vitseque sanctitate vir
Ridlaeus episcopus aequis auribus auditus est. Utinam vir optimus
hac in re lapsus non fuisset— Godwin, 106. See Stowe, ii. 611 ;
Burnet, 238; Heylin, 184; Holinshed, 1089.
3 See note (E).
380
MARY.
CHAP, her more distant friends continued to send her pre-
A.D. 1553. sents of money, and offers of service ; Henry Jerning-
ham prevailed on a hostile squadron, of six sail, which
had reached the harbour of Yarmouth, to acknow-
ledge her authority ; and a timely supply of arms and
ammunition from the ships relieved the more urgent
wants of her adherents. In a few days Mary was
surrounded by more than thirty thousand men, all
volunteers in her cause, who refused to receive pay,
and served through the sole motive of loyalty.1
July 17. In this emergency, doubt and distrust seem to have
unnerved the mind of Northumberland, who had
marched from Cambridge, in the direction of Fram-
lingham, accompanied by his son the earl of Warwick,
by the marquess of Northampton, the earl of Hunting-
don, and the lord Grey. With an army of eight
thousand infantry, and two thousand cavalry, inferior,
indeed, in number to his opponents, but infinitely
superior in military appointments and discipline, lie
might, by a bold and immediate attack, have dispersed
the tumultuary force of the royalists, and have driven
Mary across the sea, to the court of her imperial
cousin. But he saw, as he advanced, the enthusiasm
of the people in her cause; he heard that he had
been proclaimed a rebel, and that a price had been
fixed on his head ;2 and he feared that Sir Edward
1 Noailles, ii. 94. She, however, gave orders that " where the
captains perceived any soldier wanting money, his captain should
relieve him, but in such sort, that it appeared not otherwise but
to be of his own liberality." — Journal of Council in Haynes, 157.
8 " Assuring all and everie her said subjects on the word of a
rightful queene, that whosoever taketh and bringeth the said duke
unto her presence, shall, if he be a nobleman and peer of the
realme, have 1000 pounds in land to him and his heirs ; likewise,
if he be a knight, 500 pounds lands to him and his heirs, with
the honour and advancement to nobilitie ; and also, if the same taker
and bringer be a gentleman under the degree of a knight, 500
LADY JANE GREY RESIGNS. 381
Hastings would, in a few days, cut off his communi- CHAP.
cation with the capital. At Bury his heart failed A.D. 1*553.
him. He ordered a retreat to Cambridge, and wrote
to the council for a numerous and immediate rein-
forcement. The men perceived the irresolution of
their leader; their ignorance of his motives gave
birth to the most disheartening reports ; and their
ranks wrere hourly thinned by desertion.
In the council there appeared no diminution of July is.
zeal, no want of unanimity. It was resolved to send
for a body of mercenaries, which had been raised in
Picardy, to issue commissions for the levying of troops
in the vicinity of the metropolis,1 and to offer eight
crowns per month, besides provisions, to volunteers.
But, as such tardy expedients did not meet the ur-
gency of the case, the lords proposed to separate,
and hasten to the army, at the head of their re-
spective friends and dependants. Though Suffolk had
been instructed to detain them within the walls of
the Tower, he either saw not their object, or dared
not oppose their pleasure. The next morning the juiy 19.
lord treasurer and lord privy seal, the earls of Arun-
del, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney,
and Sir John Mason, left the fortress under the pre-
tence of receiving the French ambassador at Bay-
nard's Castle, a fitter place, it was said, for that pur-
pose than the Tower.2
" marks land to him and his heirs, and the degree of a knight ; and,
"if the said taker and bringer be a yeoman, 100 pounds lands to
" him and his heirs and the degree of a squire." — From the original
in possession of Sir Henry Bedingfeld.
1 Some of them may be seen in Strype, iii. Rec. p. 4 ; in his
Cranmer, App. 165 ; and in Hearne's Sylloge, ep. 121.
2 Strype, iv. 349. Yet that very morning they had signed a
letter to Lord Rich, thanking him for his services in favour of Jane. —
Strype's Cranmer, App. 164. Did they not know that he had
already transferred them to Mary? — Haynes, i. 159.
382 MARY.
CHAP. There they were joined by the lord mayor, the re-
A.D. 1553. corder, and a deputation of aldermen, who had been
summoned by a trusty messenger ; and the discussion
was opened by the earl of Arundel, who, in a set
speech, declaimed against the ambition of Northum-
berland, and asserted the right of the two daughters
of Henry VIII. The moment he had finished, the
earl of Pembroke drew his sword, exclaiming, " If
" the arguments of my lord of Arundel do not per-
" suade you, this sword shall make Mary queen, or
" I will die in her quarrel." He was answered with
shouts of approbation, and Suffolk, who had been
sent for, signed with the others the proclamation of
Mary. The whole body then rode in procession
through the city. At St. Paul's Cross the earl
of Pembroke proclaimed the new queen amidst
the deafening acclamations of the populace. Te
Deum was sung in the cathedral ; beer, wine, and
money were distributed among the people ; and
the night was ushered in with bonfires, illumi-
nations, and the accustomed demonstrations of pub-
lic joy.1
While the earl of Arundel and the lord Paget
carried the intelligence of this revolution to Fram-
lingham, the earl of Pembroke, with his company of
the guard, took possession of the Tower. The next
July 20. morning the lady Jane departed to Sion House. Her
reign had lasted but nine days ; and they had been
days of anxiety and distress. She had suffered much
from her own apprehensions of an unfortunate result,
more from the displeasure of her husband, and the
1 Godwin, 107, 108. Stowe, 612. King's MSS. xvii. A. ix.
Rosso, 20. Their letter to the queen is in Strype's Cranmer, App.
106.
THE QUEEN ENTERS THE CAPITAL. 383
imperious humour of his mother.1 The moment she CHAP.
was gone, the lords, without any distinction of party, A.D. 1*553.
united in sending an order to Northumberland to
disband his forces, and to acknowledge Mary for his
sovereign. But he had already taken the only part
which prudence suggested. Sending for the vice-
chancellor, Dr. Sands, who, on the preceding Sunday,
had preached against the daughters of Henry, he
proceeded to the market-place, where, with tears of
grief running down his cheeks, he proclaimed the
lady Mary, and threw his cap into the air, in token
of joy. During the night he was prevented from July 22.
making his escape by the vigilance of his own men ;
and on the following morning he was arrested on a
charge of high treason, by the earl of Arundel, and
conducted, with several of his associates, to the Tower.
It required a strong guard to protect the prisoners
from the vengeance of the populace.2
1 The quarrel arose from the ambition of Guilford. After along
discussion, Jane consented to give him the crown by act of parlia-
ment : but, when she was left to herself, she repented of her facility,
and informed him that she would make him a duke, but not king.
In his anger he abstained from her company and her bed, and
threatened to go back to Sion House ; the duchess chided and up-
braided her, till she grew so alarmed, as to persuade herself they
had given her poison. "Dissi loro, che se la corona s' aspettava a
me, io sarei contenta di fare il mio marito Duca, ma non consentirei
mai di farlo Re. La qual mia risoluzione, rec6 a sua madre (essen-
dole riferto questo mio pensiero) grand' occasione di collora, e di
sdegno, dimanierache adirandosi ella meco molto malamente, e
sdegnandosene forte, persuase al suo figliuolo che non dormisse piu
meco, si come egli fece ; affermandomi pure che non volea in guisa
veruna esser ducamaRe Nel rimanente, io per me non so quel-
lo ch'l consiglio havesse determinate di fare, ma so ben di certo, che
due volte in questo tempo m' e stato dato il veleno, la prima fu in
casa la Duchessa di Nortumberland, e di poi qui in Torre, si come
io u' ho ottimi e certissimi testimoni, olireche, da quel tempo in qua,
mi son caduti tutti i peli d'addosso, E tutte queste cose 1' ho volute
dire, per testimonianza dell' innocenzia mia, e scarico della mia con-
scienza." — Pollini, p. 357, 358. Rosso, 56.
2 Stowe, 612. Godwin, 109. The number of prisoners for trial
384 MARY.
CHAP. The lady Elizabeth had taken no part in this con-
A.D. 1553. tesk To a messenger, indeed, from Northumberland,
who offered her a large sum of money, and a valuable
grant of lands, as the price of her voluntary renun-
ciation of all right to the succession, she replied, that
she had no right to renounce, as long as her elder
sister was living. But, if she did not join the lady
Jane, she did nothing in aid of the lady Mary. Under
the excuse of a real or feigned indisposition, she con-
fined herself to her chamber, that, whichever party
proved victorious, she might claim the negative merit
of non-resistance. Now, however, the contest was at
an end : the new queen approached her capital ; and
Elizabeth deemed it prudent to court the ^favour of
July 31. the conqueror. At the head of a hundred andg fifty
horse, she met her at Aldgate. They rode together
in triumphal procession through the streets, which
were lined with the different crafts in their gayest
attire. Every eye was directed towards the royal
sisters. Those who had seen Henry VIII. and Ca-
therine could discover little in the queen to remind
them of the majestic port of her father, or of the beau-
tiful features and graceful carriage of her mother.
Her figure was short and small ; the lines of care were
deeply impressed on her countenance ; and her dark
piercing eyes struck with awe all those on whom they
was twenty-seven — the dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland ; the
marquess of Northampton ; the earls of Huntingdon and Warwick ;
the lords Robert, Henry, Ambrose, and Guilford Dudley ; the lady
Jane Dudley ; the bishops of Canterbury, London, and Ely; the lords
Ferrers, Clinton, and Cobham; the judges Montague and Cholmeley,
and the chancellor of the augmentations; Andrew Dudley, John Gates,
Henry Gates, Thomas Palmer, Henry Palmer, John Cheek, John York,
knights ; and Dr. Cocks.— Haynes, 192, 193. When this list was
given to the queen, she struck out the names in italics, and reduced
the number from twenty-seven to eleven.
NEW COINAGE. *385
were fixed. In personal appearance Elizabeth had CHAP.
the advantage. She was in the bloom of youth, about A.D. 1553.
half the age of the queen. Without much pretension
to beauty, she could boast of agreeable features, large
blue eyes, a tall and portly figure, and of hands, the
elegant symmetry of which she was proud to display
on every occasion.1 As they passed, their ears were
stunned with the acclamations of the people ; when
they entered the Tower, they found kneeling on the
green, the state prisoners, the duchess of Somerset,
the duke of Norfolk, the son of the late marquess
of Exeter, and Tunstall and Gardiner, the deprived
bishops of Durham and Winchester. The latter pro-
nounced a short congratulatory address. Mary burst
into tears, called them her prisoners, bade them rise,
and having kissed them, gave them their liberty. The
same day she ordered a dole to be distributed, of
eight pence, to every poor householder in the city.
In the appointment of her official advisers, the
new queen was directed by necessity as much as
choice. If the lords who, escaping from the Tower,
had proclaimed her in the city, expected to retain
their former situations, the noblemen and gentlemen
1 They are thus described by the Venetian ambassador, in his
official communication to the senate. The queen is donna di statura
piccola, di persona magra e delicata, dissimile in tutto al padre et alia
madre ... ha gli occhi tanto vivi, che inducano non solo riverentia ma
timore. Elisabeth e piu tosto graziosa che bella, di persona grande
e ben formata, olivastra in complexione, belli occhi, e sopra tutto
bella mano, della quale ne fa professione. The writer was M. Gio.
Michele, galantissimo e virtuosissimo gentilhuomo (Ep. Poli, v.
App. 349), who, on his return to Venice, compiled an account of
England, by order of the senate. It was read in that assembly, May
13, 1537. Mr. Ellis has published a translation from the copy in the
British Museum, Nero, B. vii ; but that copy is not so full as that
in the Lansdowne MSS. DCCCXL., or one in the possession of Henry
Howard of Greystoke Castle, Esq., or another in the Barberini Library,
No. 1,208, from which the quotations are taken.
VOL. V. 2 C
386 MARY.
CHAP, who had adhered to her fortunes, when every proba-
A.D. 1553. bility was against her, had still more powerful claims
on her gratitude. She sought to satisfy both classes,
by admitting them into her council ; and to these she
successively added a few others, among whom the
August 5. chief were the bishops Gardiner and Tunstall, who,
under her father, had been employed in offices of
trust, and had discharged them with fidelity and
success. The acknowledged abilities of the former
August 23. soon raised him to the post of prime minister. He
first received the custody of the seals, and was soon
Sept. 21. afterwards appointed chancellor.1 The next to him,
in ability and influence in the council, was the lord
Paget.
Though the queen found herself unexpectedly in
debt from the policy of Northumberland, who had
kept the officers and servants of the crown three
years in arrear of their salaries,2 she issued two pro-
clamations, which drew upon her the blessings of the
August so. whole nation. By the first she restored a depreciated
currency to its original value, ordered a new coinage of
sovereigns and half-sovereigns, angels and half-angels,
of fine gold, and of silver groats, half-groats, and
pennies of the standard purity ; and charged the
whole loss and expense to the treasury. By the other
she remitted to her people, in gratitude for their
attachment to her right, the subsidy of four shillings
in the pound on land, and two shillings and eight
pence on goods, which had been granted to the crown
1 Noailles, ii. 123. Gardiner was peculiarly obnoxious to the
French ministers, from the uncourteous manner in which, on two
occasions, he had executed the harsh and imperious mandates of his
master, Henry VIII. Noailles complains, that imprisonment had
not tamed him. — Ibid.
2 Noailles, ii. 92. His object had been to attach them to his
cause, through the fear of losing their arrears.
THE QUEEN'S CORONATION. 387
by the late parliament.1 As the time of her corona- CHAP.
tion approached, the queen introduced, within the A.D. 1553.
palace an innovation highly gratifying to the younger
branches of the female nobility, though it foreboded
little good to the reformed preachers. Under Ed-
ward, their fanaticism had given to the court a sombre
and funereal appearance. That they might exclude
from it the pomps of the devil, they had strictly for-
bidden all richness of apparel, and every fashionable
amusement. But Mary, who recollected with pleasure
the splendid gaieties of her father's reign, appeared
publicly in jewels and coloured silks ; the ladies,
emancipated from restraint, copied her example ; and
the courtiers, encouraged by the approbation of their
sovereign, presumed to dress with a splendour that
became their rank in the state.2 A new impulse was
thus communicated to all classes of persons ; and
considerable sums were expended by the citizens in
public and private decorations, preparatory to the
coronation. That ceremony was performed after the
ancient rite, by Gardiner bishop of Winchester,3 and Sept. so.
was concluded in the usual manner, with a magnificent
1 Strype, iii. 8, 10. St. 1 Mary, c. xvii. Gage's Hengrave, 153.
The sovereign was to pass at thirty, the angel at ten shillings. —
Noailles, 141.
2 Elle a desja oste les superstitions, qui estoient par cydevant,
que les femmes ne portassent dorures ni habillemens de couleur,
estant elle mesme et beaucoup de sa compagnie, parses de dorures,
et habillees a la Fransoise de robes a grandz manches. — Noailles, ii.
104. Elle est Tune des dames du monde, qui prend maintenant
aultant de plaisir en habillemens (146). Les millords et jeunes
seigneurs portent chausses aultant exquises, soit de thoiles et drapz
d'or et broderies, que j'en aye peu veoir en France ne ailleurs (211).
Thus also we are assured by Aylmer that, though Henry VIII. had
left to his daughter Elizabeth rich clothes and jewels, " he knew it
" to be true that there never came gold or stone upon her head till
" her sister forced her to lay off her former soberness, and bear her
" company in her glittering gayness."
3 " It was done royally, and such a multitude of people resorted
2 c 2
388 MARY.
CHAP, banquet in Westminster Hall.1 The same day a
A.D. isss. general pardon was proclaimed, with the exception,
by name, of sixty individuals who had been committed
to prison, or confined to their own houses, by order
of council, for treasonable or seditious offences com-
mitted since the queen's accession.
But though Mary was now firmly seated on the
throne, she found herself without a friend to whom
she could open her mind with freedom and safety.
Among the leading members of her council there
was not one who had not, in the reigns of her father
or her brother, professed himself her enemy ; nor did
she now dare to trust them with her confidence, till
she had assured herself of their fidelity. In this
distress she had recourse to the prince who had always
proved himself her friend, and who, she persuaded
herself, could have no interest in deceiving her. She
solicited the advice of the emperor on three very
important questions ; the punishment of those who
had conspired to deprive her of the crown, the
choice of her future husband, and the restoration of
the ancient worship. It was agreed between them
that the correspondence on these subjects should pass
through the hands of the imperial ambassador, Simon
de Renard, and that he, to elude suspicion, should
live in comparative privacy, and very seldom make
his appearance at court.
1. To the first question Charles replied, that it
was the common interest of sovereigns that rebellion
" out of all parties of the realme to see the same, that the like had
"not been seen tofore." — Cont. of Fabyan, 557.
2 Strype, iii. 36. Stowe, 616. Holings. 1091. In the church
Elizabeth carried the crown. She whispered to Noailles, that it
was very heavy. " Be patient," he replied, " it will seem lighter
" when it is on your own head." — Renard apud Griffet, xiii.
TRIAL OF THE TRAITORS. 389
should not go unpunished; but that she ought to CHAP.
blend mercy with justice ; and, having inflicted speedy A.D. 1553.
vengeance on the chief of the conspirators, to grant a
free and unsolicited pardon to the remainder. In
compliance with this advice, Mary had selected out July 20.
of the list of prisoners seven only for immediate
trial; the duke of Northumberland, the contriver
and executor of the plot, his son the earl of Warwick,
the marquess of Northampton, Sir John Gates, Sir
Henry Gates, Sir Andrew Dudley, and Sir Thomas
Palmer, his principal counsellors and constant asso-
ciates. It was in vain that the imperial ministers
urged her to include the lady Jane in the number.
Were she spared, the queen, they alleged, could
never reign in security. The first faction that dared
would again set her up as a rival. She had usurped
the crown, and policy required that she should pay
the forfeit of her presumption. But Mary undertook
her defence. She could not, she said, find in her heart
or in her conscience to put her unfortunate cousin
to death. Jane was not so guilty as the emperor
believed. She had not been the accomplice of
Northumberland, but merely a puppet in his hands.
Neither was she his daughter-in-law ; for she had
been validly contracted to another person, before she
was compelled to marry Guilford Dudley. As for
the danger arising from her pretensions, it was but
imaginary. Every requisite precaution might be
taken, before she was restored to liberty.1
For the trial of the three noblemen, the duke of
Norfolk had been appointed high steward. When
they were brought before their peers, Northumberland August is.
submitted to the consideration of the court the fol-
1 Renard apud Griffet, xi.
390 MARY.
CHAP, lowing questions : Could that man be guilty of treason
A.D. 1553. who had acted by the authority of the prince and
council, and under the warrant of the great seal;
or could those persons sit in judgment upon him,
who, during the whole proceedings, had been his
advisers and accomplices? It was replied, that the
great seal of which he spoke was not that of the so-
vereign, but of an usurper,1 and that the lords to
whom he alluded were able in law to sit as judges,
so long as there was no record of attainder against
them. In these answers he acquiesced, pleaded
guilty, together with his companions, and petitioned
the queen that she would commute his punishment
into decapitation ; that mercy might be extended to
his children, who had acted under his direction ; that
he might have the aid of an able divine to prepare
himself for death; and might be allowed to confer
with two lords of the council on certain secrets of
state which had come to his knowledge while he was
prime minister. To these requests Mary assented.2
1 It has lately been contended that Northumberland's question
referred to the great seal affixed to Edward's new settlement of the
succession, but that the judges, to avoid the difficulty of giving a
direct answer, purposely mistook it for the great seal of Lady Jane
Grey. If this was so, it is marvellous that the duke took no notice
of the mistake. In fact, however, he must have been aware that no
great seal could be of force in his case, because the statute of the
35th of Henry VIII. c. 1, had made it high treason to do' any act
for the purpose of disturbing or interrupting the right of any person
to the succession according to the provisions of that statute ; and
Chief Justice Montague had refused to obey Edward's order to him
under the great seal to draw a new settlement, unless he should
be previously assured of a free pardon the moment that he had drawn
it. See before, p. 358.
2 Stowe, 614. Howell's State Trials, 765. Rosso, 29. Persons
(in his Wardword, p. 44) informs us that in consequence of the
last request, Gardiner and another counsellor (the informer of
Persons) visited him in the Tower. The duke earnestly petitioned
for life ; Gardiner gave him little hope, but promised his services.
Returning to court, he entreated the queen to spare the prisoner,
QUEEN PROPOSES TO MARRY. 391
Of the three lords, Northumberland alone, of the CHAP.
four commoners, who also pleaded guilty, Sir John A.D.1553.
Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer were selected for Au^~2i.
execution. The morning before they suffered, they
attended and communicated at a solemn mass in
the Tower, in presence of several lords, and of the
mayor arid aldermen. On the scaffold a few words
passed between Gates and the duke. Each charged August 22.
the other with the origin of the conspiracy ; but the
altercation was conducted with temper, and they
ended by reciprocally asking forgiveness. Northum-
berland, stepping to the rail, addressed the spectators.
He acknowledged the justice of his punishment, but
denied that he was the first projector of the treason.
He called on them to witness that he was in charity
with all mankind, that he died in the faith of his
fathers, though ambition had induced him to conform
in practice to a worship which he condemned in his
heart, and that his last prayer was for the return of
his countrymen to the Catholic church ; for, since
their departure from it, England, like Germany, had
been a prey to dissensions, tumults, and civil war.
Gates and Palmer suffered after the duke, each ex-
pressing similar sentiments, and soliciting the prayers
of the beholders.1
and had in a manner obtained her consent ; but the opposite party
in the cabinet wrote (or rather had written) to the emperor, who by
letter persuaded Mary " that it was not safe for her or the state to
" pardon his life." From Renard's despatches I have no doubt that
this account is substantially correct. See also a letter from him to
Arundel the night before his execution, in which he asks for life,
" yea the life of a dogge, that he may but lyve and kiss the queen's
" feet/' in Mr. Tierney's interesting " History and Antiquities of
" the Castle and Town of Arundel," i. 333.
1 If we may believe Foxe (iii. 13), Northumberland was induced
to make this profession of his belief by a delusive promise of pardon.
He himself asserts the contrary. " I do protest to you, good people,
" earnestly, even from the bottom of my heart, that this, which I
392 MARY.
CHAP. 2. Under the reign of Edward, Mary had spon-
A.D. 1553. taneously preferred a single life ; but, from the mo-
ment of her accession to the throne, she made no
secret of her intention to marry. Of natives, two
only were proposed to her choice, both descended
from the house of York; Cardinal Pole, and Cour-
tenay, whom the queen had recently liberated from
the Tower. The cardinal she respected for his talents
and virtues, his advocacy of her mother's right, and
his sufferings in her cause. But his age and infir-
mities forbade her to think of him for a husband.1
Courtenay was young and handsome ; his royal descent
and unmerited imprisonment (for his character was
unknown) had made him the favourite of the nation ;
and his mother, the countess of Exeter, was the indi-
vidual companion and bed-fellow of the queen. Mary
Sept. 28. at first betrayed a partiality for the young man : she
created him earl of Devon ; she sought, by different
artifices, to keep him near herself and his mother;
and she made it her study to fashion his manners,
which, during his confinement in the Tower, had been
entirely neglected. The courtiers confidently pre-
dicted their marriage ; and Gardiner promoted it with
all the influence of his station. But if Courtenay had
made any impression on the heart of the queen, it
" have spoken, is of myself, not being required nor moved thereto
" of any man, nor for any flattery, nor hope of life. And I take
" witness of my lord of Worcester here, my ghostly father, that he
" found me in this mind and opinion when he came to me." — Stowe,
615. Strype's Cranmer, App. 168. Indeed, he was known, in
Edward's reign, to have no other religion than interest, and on one
occasion spoke so contumeliously of the new service, that Archbishop
Cranmer, in a moment of zeal or passion, challenged him to a duel —
ad duellum provocaret. — Parker, Ant. Brit. 341. "He offered to
" combate with the duke."— Morrice apud Strype, 430.
1 Quant au Cardinal, je ne scay pas qui parle que la royne y cut
oppinion ; car il n'est ne d'age, ne de sancte" convenables & ce qu'elle
demande, et qui luy est propre. — Noailles, 207.
IMMORALITY OF COURTENAY. 393
was speedily effaced by his misconduct. Having once CHAP.
tasted of liberty, he resolved to enjoy it without A.D. 1553.
restraint. He frequented the lowest society ; he spent
much of his time in the company of prostitutes ; and
he indulged in gratifications disgraceful to his rank,
and shocking to the piety and feelings of the queen.
It was in vain that she commissioned a gentleman of
the court to guide his inexperience ; in vain that the
French and Venetian ambassadors admonished him
of the consequences of his folly; he scorned their
advice, refused to speak to his monitor, and pursued
his wild career, till he had entirely forfeited the
esteem and favour of his sovereign. In public she
observed, that it was not for her honour to marry a
subject ; but to her confidential friends she attributed
the cause to the immorality of Courtenay.1
The foreign princes, mentioned by the lords of the
council, were, the king of Denmark, the prince of
Spain, the infant of Portugal, the prince of Piedmont,
and the son of the king of the Romans. Mary, who
had already asked the advice of the emperor, waited
with impatience for his answer. It was obviously the
interest of Charles that she should prefer his son
Philip. His inveterate enemy, the king of France,
was in possession of the young queen of Scots ; within
1 Noailles, 111, 112, 147, 218, 220. Ceste Royne est en mau-
vaise oppinion de luy, pour avoir entendu qu'il faict beaucoup de
jeunesses, et mesme d'aller souvent avecques les femmes publicques
et de mauvaise vie, et suivre d'aultres compaignies sans regarder la
gravite et rang qu'il doibt tenir pour aspirer en si hault lieu
Mais il est si mal ayse a conduire, qu'il ne veult croire personne, et
comme celluy qui a demeure' toute sa vie dans une tour, se voyant
maintenant jouyr d'une grande liberte' il ne se peult saouller des
delices d'icelle, n'ayant aulcune craincte des choses qu'on luy mette
devant les yeulx. — Ibid. 219, 320. I have transcribed these pas-
sages, because Hume, to account for the rejection of Courtenay, has
given us a very romantic statement, for which he could have no better
authority than his own imagination.
394 MARY.
CHAP, two or three years that princess would be married to
A.D. 1553. the dauphin ; and in all probability the crown of
Scotland would be united to that of France. But if
Charles had hitherto envied the good fortune of
Henry, accident had now made him amends : the
queen of England was a better match than the queen
of Scotland ; and, if he could persuade Mary to give
her hand to Philip, that alliance would confer on him
a proud superiority over his rival. He was, however,
careful not to commit himself by too hasty an answer,
and trusted for a while to the address and influence
August 14. of Renard. That ambassador was admonished to con-
sider this as the most important but most delicate
point in his mission ; to bear in mind that the incli-
nation of a woman was more likely to be inflamed
than extinguished by opposition ; to draw to light, by
distant questions and accidental remarks, the secret
dispositions of the queen ; to throw into his conversa-
tion occasional hints of the advantages to be derived
from a foreign alliance ; and, above all, to commit no
act, to drop no word, from which she might infer
that he was an enemy to her marriage with Cour-
tenay.1 Renard obeyed his instructions : he watched
with attention the successive steps by which that
nobleman sunk in the royal estimation ; and soon an-
Sept. 20. nounced to his sovereign that Courtenay had no longer
any hold on the affections of Mary.2 Charles now
1 Car si elle y avoit fantaisie, elle ne layroit, si elle est du naturel
des autres femmes, de passer outre, et si se resentiroit a jamais de ce
que vous lui en pourriez avoir dit. — Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 38.
2 Veau par vos lettres qu'elle a si empressement reboute' Cortenay,
aux devises entretiens qui passerent entre elle et 1'eveque de Win-
cestre, lequel Cortenay toutefois etoit le plus apparent pour etre du
sang royal. — Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 48, Sept. 20. I may observe,
as a proof of the emperor's industry, that he wrote all these de-
spatches with his own hand.
THE EMPEROR OFFERS HIS SON. 395
ordered him to inform the queen that he approved of CHAP.
the reasons which had induced her to reject her young A.D. 1553.
kinsman, and was sorry that the unambitious piety of
Cardinal Pole made him prefer the duties of a clergy-
man to the highest of worldly distinctions. Still per-
haps she had no cause to regret the loss of either : a
foreign prince would bring, as a husband, a firmer
support to her throne ; and, were it that his own age
would allow him, he should himself aspire to the
honour of her hand. He might, however, solicit in
favour of others ; nor could he offer to her choice one
more dear to himself than his son, the prince of Spain.
The advantages of such an union were evident : but
let her not be swayed by his authority : she had
only to consult her own inclination and judgment,
and to communicate the result to him without fear or
reserve.1
It was soon discovered by the courtiers that Philip
had been proposed to the queen, and had not been
rejected. The chancellor was the first to remonstrate
with his sovereign. He observed to her that her
people would more readily submit to the rule of a
native than of a foreigner ; that the arrogance of the
Spaniards had rendered them odious in other nations,
and would never be borne by Englishmen ; that Philip
by his haughty carriage had already earned the dislike
of his own subjects; that such an alliance must be
followed by perpetual war with the king of France,
who would never consent that the Low Countries
should be annexed to the English crown; and that
the marriage could not be validly celebrated without
1 Nous ne voudrions choisir autre partie en ce monde que de nous
allier nous m£mes avec elle. — Mais au lieu de nous, ne lui saurions
mettre en avant personnage, qui nous soit plus cher que notre propre
fils.— Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 49. Griffet, xiv.
396 MARY.
CHAP, a dispensation from the pope, whose authority was
A.D. 1553. not yet acknowledged in the kingdom. Gardiner,
Oct 22. wno spoke the sentiments of the majority of the
council, was followed by others of his colleagues ; they
were opposed by the duke of Norfolk, the earl of
Arundel, and the lord Paget.1
On no persons did this intelligence make a deeper
impression than on the French and Venetian ambas-
sadors, who deemed it their duty to throw every
obstacle in the way of a marriage which would so
greatly augment the power of Spain. They secretly
gave advice to Courtenay ; they promised their influ-
ence to create a party in his favour ; and they laboured
to obtain in the ensuing parliament a declaration
against the Spanish match. Noailles went even fur-
ther. He intrigued with the discontented of every
description ; and, though it was contrary to the in-
structions of his sovereign, he endeavoured to propa-
gate a notion, that the rightful heir to the crown was
neither Mary, nor Elizabeth, nor Jane, but the young
queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart, daughter to the eldest
sister of Henry VIII.2
1 Noailles, i. 214. Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 48. Griffet, xvi. xix.
Par votre lettre du 23 nous avons entendu les persuasions dont ont
use les eveques de Wincestre, contreroleur, et autres nomme's en
votre lettre pour incliner la volonte de la reine envers Cortenai. II
est apparent que ce doit £t£ un jeu joue par les eveques de Wincester,
ayant reparti les argumens entre lui et les autres, pour plus efficace-
ment faire cet office. — Renard's MSS. fol. 70. Most of our his-
torians represent Gardiner as the enemy of Courtenay, and the deviser
of the Spanish match. It is, however, evident, from the despatches
of both ambassadors, that he was the friend of Courtenay, and the
great opponent of the marriage. It must also have been so under-
stood at the time ; for Persons, who never saw those despatches,
says, " Every child acquainted with that state knoweth or may learn,
" that B. Gardiner was of the contrary part or faction that favoured
" young Edward Courtenay, the earl of Devonshire, and would have
" had him to marry the queen." — Wardword, 46.
2 Noailles, 145, 157, 161, 164, 168, 194, 211, 221.
ORDERS RESPECTING RELIGION. 397
3. That attachment to the ancient faith which CHAP.
•y
Mary had shown during the reign of her brother, had A.D. 1553.
not been loosened by the late unsuccessful attempt to
identify the cause of rebellion with that of the Re-
formation. On her accession, she acquainted both
the emperor and the king of France with her deter-
mination to restore the Catholic worship. Henry
applauded her zeal, and offered the aid of his forces,
if it were necessary, towards the accomplishment of
the work; but Charles advised her to proceed with July 21.
temper and caution, and to abstain from any public
innovation till she had obtained the consent of her
parliament. It was in compliance with his wish that
she suffered the archbishop to officiate according to August 8.
the established form at the funeral of her brother in
Westminster Abbey ; but a solemn dirge and high
mass were chanted for him at the same time in the
chapel of the Tower, in the presence of the nobility
and courtiers, to the number of three hundred per-
sons.1 She issued no order for the public restoration
of the ancient service ; but she maintained that she
had a right to worship God as she pleased within her
own palace ; and was highly gratified by the com-
pliance of those who followed her example. The
proceedings against the bishops, deprived in the last
reign, were revised and reversed in a new court of
delegates, held by the royal authority ; and Gardiner,
Bonner, Tunstall, Heath, and Day recovered the pos-
session of their respective sees. The real object of
the queen could not remain a secret; the reformed
1 Noailles, 108, 129. Griffet, xi. Non se trop haster avec zele —
mais qu'elle s'accommode avec toute douceur se conformant aux de-
finitions du parlement, sans rien faire toutefois de sa personrfe qui
soit centre sa conscience, ayant seulement la messe a part^en sa.
chambre — qu'elle attende jusques elle aye opportunite de rassem" "
parlement. — Renard's MSS. in. fol. 24.
398 MARY.
CHAP, preachers from the pulpit alarmed the zeal of their
A.D. 1553. hearers ; and the Catholic clergy, trusting to the pro-
tection of the sovereign, feared not to transgress the
existing laws. A riot was occasioned by the un-
authorized celebration of mass in a church in the
horse-market. The council reprimanded and impri-
August 12. soned the priest ; and the queen, sending for the lord
mayor and aldermen, ordered them to put down all
tumultuous assemblies. But the passions of the re-
formers had been excited ; and the very next day the
peace of the metropolis was interrupted by another
ebullition of religious animosity. Bourne, one of the
royal chaplains, had been appointed to preach at St.
August is. Paul's Cross. In the course of his sermon he com-
plained of the late innovations, and of the illegal
deprivation of the Catholic prelates. " Pull him
" down," suddenly exclaimed a voice in the crowd.
The cry was echoed by several groups of women and
children; and a dagger, thrown with considerable
violence, struck one of the columns of the pulpit.
Bourne, alarmed for his life, withdrew into St. Paul's
church, under the protection of Bradford and Rogers,
two of the reformed preachers.
This outrage, evidently preconcerted, injured the
cause which it was designed to serve. It furnished
August 14. Mary with a pretext to forbid, after the example of
the two last monarchs, preaching in public without
license. The citizens were made responsible for the
conduct of their children and servants ; and the lord
mayor was told to resign the sword into the hands of
the sovereign, if he were unable to maintain the peace
August is. of the city.1 A proclamation followed, in which the
1 Journal of council in Archaeologia, xviii. 173, 174. Haynes, i.
168—170.
ELIZABETH CONFORMS. 399
queen declared that she could not conceal her religion, CHAP.
which God and the world knew that she had professed A.D. 1553.
from her infancy ; but she had no intention to compel
any one to embrace it till further order were taken by
common consent; and therefore she strictly forbade
all persons to excite sedition among the people, or to
foment dissension by using the opprobrious terms of
heretic or papist.1
The reformers now fixed their hopes on the con-
stancy of the lady Elizabeth, the presumptive heir to
the throne. They already considered her as the rival
of the queen ; and it was openly said that it would
not be more difficult to transfer the sceptre to her
hands, than it had been to place it in those of Mary.
On this account it had been proposed by some of the
royal advisers, as a measure of precaution, to put
Elizabeth under a temporary arrest; but Mary re-
fused her assent, and rather sought to weaken her
sister's interest with the reformers, by withdrawing
her from the new to the ancient worship. For some
time the princess resisted every attempt; but when
she learned that her repugnance was thought to arise,
not from motives of conscience, but from the per-
suasions of the factious, she solicited a private audi-
ence, threw herself on her knees, and excused her Sept. 2.
past obstinacy, on the ground that she had never
practised any other than the reformed worship, nor
ever studied the articles of the ancient faith. Per-
haps, if she were furnished with books, and aided by
the instructions of divines, she might see her errors,
and embrace the religion of her fathers. After this
beginning, the reader will not be surprised to learn
that her conversion was effected in the short course
1 Wilk. Con. iv. 86.
400 MARY.
CHAP, of a week. Mary now treated her with extraordinary
A.D. 1553. kindness ; and Elizabeth, to prove her sincerity, not
SeptTs. onty accompanied her sister to mass, but opened a
Dec. 2. chapel in her own house, and wrote to the emperor
for leave to purchase, in Flanders, a chalice, cross,
and the ornaments usually employed in the celebra-
tion of the Catholic worship.1
But the Protestant cause was consoled for the
defection of Elizabeth by the zeal of the archbishop.
Cranmer had hitherto experienced the lenity of the
queen. Though he had been the author of her
mother's divorce, and one of the last to abandon the
conspiracy of Northumberland, he had not been sent
to the Tower, but received an order to confine him-
self to his palace at Lambeth. In this retirement he
had leisure to mourn over the failure of his hopes, and
to anticipate the abolition of that worship which he
had so earnestly laboured to establish. But, to add
to his affliction, intelligence was brought to him that
the Catholic service had been performed in his church
at Canterbury ; that by strangers this innovation was
supposed to have been made by his order or with his
consent; and that a report was circulated of his
having offered to celebrate mass before the queen.
Cranmer hastened to refute these charges by a public
denial ; and in a declaration which, while its boldness
does honour to his courage, betrays by its asperity
the bitterness of his feelings, asserted that the mass
was the device and invention of the father of lies,
who was even then persecuting Christ, his holy word,
and his church ; that it was not he, the archbishop,
but a false, flattering, lying, and deceitful monk, who
1 Compare the despatches of Noailles, 138, 141, 160, with those
of Renard in Griffet, xi. xxiv.
POLE APPOINTED LEGATE. 401
had restored the ancient worship at Canterbury; that CHAP.
he had never offered to say mass before the queen, A.D. 1553.
but was willing, with her permission, to show that it
contained many horrible blasphemies ; and, with the
aid of Peter Martyr, to prove that the doctrine and
worship established under Edward was the same which
had been believed and practised in the first ages of
the Christian church.1 Of this intemperate declara-
tion several copies were dispersed, and publicly read
to the people in the streets. The council sent for the Sept. 8.
archbishop, and " after a long and serious debate com-
" mitted him to the Tower, as well for the treason
" committed by him against the queen's highness, as
" for the aggravating the same his offence by spread-
" ing abroad seditious bills, and moving tumults to
" the disquietness of the present state." A few days Sept. n.
afterwards, Latimer, who probably had imitated the
conduct of the metropolitan, was also sent to the
same prison for " his seditious demeanour."2
To Julius III., the Roman pontiff, the accession of
Mary had been a subject of triumph. Foreseeing the
result, he immediately appointed Cardinal Pole his
legate to the queen, the emperor, and the king of
France. But Pole hesitated to leave his retirement
at Magguzzano, on the margin of the lake of Guarda,
without more satisfactory information ; and Dandino,
the legate at Brussels, despatched to England a
gentleman of his suite, Gianfrancesco Commendone,
chamberlain to the pontiff. Commendone came from
Gravelines to London in the character of a stranger,
whose uncle was lately dead, leaving accounts of im-
portance unsettled in England. For some days he
1 Strype's Cranmer, 305.
2 Journal of Council in Archaeol. xviii. 175. Haynes, i. 183, 184.
VOL. V. 2 D
402 MARY.
CHAP, wandered unknown through the streets, carefully no-
A.D. isss. ticing whatever he saw or heard; till chance brought
him into the company of an old acquaintance of the
name of Lee, then a servant in the royal household.
Through him Commendone procured more than one
interview with Mary, and carried from her the fol-
Aug. 25. lowing message to the pope and the cardinal : that it
was her most anxious wish to see her kingdom recon-
ciled with the Holy See; that for this purpose she
meant to procure the repeal of all laws trenching on
the doctrine or discipline of the Catholic church;
that on the other hand she hoped to experience no
obstacle on the part of the pontiff, or of her kinsman
the papal representative ; and that for the success of
the undertaking it would be necessary to act with
temper and prudence ; to respect the prejudices of
her subjects ; and most carefully to conceal the least
trace of any correspondence between her and the
court of Rome.1
Such was the situation of affairs when Mary met
Oct. 5. her first parliament.2 Both peers and commoners,
according to the usage of ancient times, accompanied
their sovereign to a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost ;
the chancellor in his speech to the houses, the speaker
in his address to the throne, celebrated the piety, the
clemency, and the other virtues of their sovereign ;
1 Pallavicino, ii. 397. Quirini's Collection of Pole's Letters, iv.
111.
2 Burnet has fallen into two errors, with respect to this parlia-
ment : 1st. That Nowel, representative for Loo, in Cornwall, was
not allowed to sit, because, being a clergyman, he was represented
in the convocation, whereas the reason stated, is, that he had a voice
in the convocation. — Journals, 27. 2nd. That the lords altered the
bill of tonnage and poundage. They objected, indeed, to two pro-
visoes ; but the Commons, instead of allowing them to be altered,
withdrew the old, and introduced a new bill. — Journals, 28, 29.
MARY'S FIRST PARLIAMENT. 403
and her ears were repeatedly greeted with the loudest CHAP.
expressions of loyalty and attachment. The two ob- A.D. 1553.
jects, which at this moment she had principally at
heart, were to remove from herself the stain of ille-
gitimacy, and to restore to its former ascendancy the
religion of her fathers. To the first she anticipated
no objection ; the second was an attempt of more
doubtful result; not that her subjects, in general,
were opposed to the ancient worship, but that they
expressed a strong antipathy to the papal jurisdiction.
The new service was, indeed, everywhere established ;
but it had been embraced through compulsion rather
than conviction. Men felt for it little of that
attachment, with which spontaneous proselytes are
always inspired. Only four years had elapsed since
its introduction ; and their former habits, preposses-
sions, and opinions pleaded in favour of a worship
with which they had been familiarized from their
infancy. But the supremacy of the pontiff appeared
to them in a different light. Its exercise in England
had been abolished for thirty years. The existing
generation knew no more of the pope, his pretensions,
or his authority, than what they had learned from his
adversaries. His usurpation and tyranny had been
the favourite theme of the preachers, and the re-
establishment of his jurisdiction had always been de-
scribed to them as the worst evil which could befal
their country. In addition, it was said and believed,
that the restoration of ecclesiastical property was
essentially connected with the recognition of the papal
authority. If the spoils of the church had been at
first confined to a few favourites and purchasers, they
were now become, by sales and bequests, divided and
subdivided among thousands ; and almost every family
2 D 2
404 MARY.
CHAP, of opulence in the kingdom had reason to deprecate
A.D. 1553. a measure, which, according to the general opinion,
would induce the compulsive surrender of the whole,
or of a part of its possessions.
By the council it was at first determined to attempt
both objects by a most comprehensive bill, which
should repeal at once all the acts that had been passed
in the two last reigns, affecting either the marriage
between the queen's father and mother, or the exercise
of religion as it stood in the first year of Henry VIII.
Oct. 10. By the peers no objection was made ; but, during the
progress of the bill through the upper house, it be-
came the general subject of conversation, and was
condemned as an insidious attempt to restore the
authority of the pope. The ministers felt alarmed at
the opposition which was already organized among
the Commons ; and the queen, coming unexpectedly
Oct. 21. to the house of Lords, gave the royal assent to three
bills (the only bills which had been passed), and pro-
rogued the parliament for the space of three days.1
In the succeeding session two new bills were in-
troduced, in the place of the former ; one confirming
the marriage of Henry and Catherine, the other regu-
lating the national worship. In the first all reference
to the papal dispensation was dexterously avoided.
It stated that, after the queen's father and mother
had lived together in lawful matrimony for the space
of twenty years, unfounded scruples and projects of
1 Historians have indulged in fanciful conjectures to account for
the shortness of the session. The true reason may be discovered in
Mary's letter to Cardinal Pole of the 28th of October. Plus diffi-
cultatis fit circa auctoritatem sedis apostolic* quam verae religionis
cultum siquidem primus ordo comitiorum existimaverat con-
sultum ut omnia statuta abrogarentur Cum vero hsec deli-
beratio secundo ordini comitiorum innotuisset, statim suspicatus est
hsec proponi in gratiam pontificis, &c. — Quirini, iv. 119.
ENACTMENTS RESPECTING RELIGION. 405
divorce had been suggested to the king by interested CHAP.
individuals, who, to accomplish their design, procured A.D. 1553.
in their favour the seals of foreign universities by
bribery, and of the national universities by intrigues
and threats; and that Thomas, then newly made
archbishop of Canterbury, most ungodlily, and against
all rules of equity and conscience, took upon himself
to pronounce, in the absence of the queen, a judgment
of divorce, which was afterwards, on two occasions,
confirmed by parliament ; but that, as the said mar-
riage was not prohibited by the law of God, it could
not be dissolved by any such authority : wherefore, it
enacted that all statutes confirmatory of the divorce
should be repealed, and the marriage between Henry
and Catherine should be adjudged to stand with God's
law, and should be reputed of good effect and validity,
to all intents and purposes whatsoever. Against this
bill, though it was equivalent to a statute of bastardy
in respect of Elizabeth, not a voice was raised in
either house of parliament.1
The next motion was so framed as to elude the Oct. 28.
objections of those who were hostile to the preten-
sions of the see of Rome. It had no reference to the
alienation of church property ; it trenched not on the
ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown ; it professed to
have no other object than to restore religion to that
state in which Edward found it on his accession, and
to repeal nine acts passed through the influence of a
faction during his minority. The opposition was con-
fined to the lower house, in which, on the second
reading, the debate continued two days. But, though
the friends of the new doctrines are said to have
1 Stat. of Realm, iv. 200. Sine scrupulo aut difficultate. Mary
to Pole, Nov. 15th, Quirini, iv. 122.
40G MARY.
CHAP, amounted to one-third of the members, the bill passed,
A.I). 1553. apparently without a division.1 By it was at once
No7~8. razed to the ground that fabric which the ingenuity
and perseverance of Archbishop Cranmer had erected
in the last reign ; the reformed liturgy, which Edward's
parliament had attributed to the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, was now pronounced " a new thing,
" imagined and devised by a few of singular opinions;"
the acts establishing the first and second books of
common prayer, the new ordinal, and the administra-
tion of the sacrament in both kinds, that authorizing
the marriages of priests, and legitimating their chil-
dren, and those abolishing certain festivals and fasts,
vesting in the king the appointment of bishops by
letters patent, and regulating the exercise of the
episcopal jurisdiction, were repealed ; and, in lieu
thereof, it was enjoined that from the twentieth day
of the next month should be revived and practised
such forms of divine worship and administration of
sacraments, as had been most commonly used in
England in the last year of Henry VIII.2
By other bills passed in this parliament, all bonds,
deeds, and writings, between individuals, bearing date
during the short usurpation of the lady Jane, were
made as good and effectual in law, as if the name of
the rightful sovereign had been expressed ; and all
treasons created since the twenty-fifth of Edward III.,
with all new felonies and cases of premunire, intro-
duced since the first of Henry VllL, were abolished ;
1 Noailles says, Ce qui a demeure huict jours en merveilleuse dis-
pute : et n'a s$eu passer ce bill, que la tierce partie de ceulx du tiers
estat ne soyent demeurez de contraire opinion. — Noailles, ii. 247.
Yet the journals mention no division. — Journals, 29.
2 Quod non sine contentione, disputatione acri et summo labore
fidelium factum est. — Mary to Pole. Quirini, iv. 122.
PROJECT OF MARRIAGE. 407
but at the same time the statute of Edward VI. CHAP.
against riotous assemblies was in part revived, and A.D. 1553
extended to such meetings as should have for their
object to change, by force, the existing laws in mat-
ters of religion. To these must be added several
private bills restoring in blood those persons who had
been deprived of their hereditary rights by the iniquit-
ous judgments passed in Henry's reign,1 and one of
severity, attainting the authors and chief abettors of
the late conspiracy to exclude the queen from the
succession. It was, however, limited to the persons
whose condemnation has been already mentioned,
and to Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, Guilford
Dudley, " Jane Dudley his wife," and Sir Ambrose
Dudley, who had been arraigned and convicted on
their own confessions during the sitting of parliament.
Mary had no intention that they should suffer; but
she hoped that the knowledge of their danger would
secure the loyalty of their friends ; and, when she
signed the pardon of Northampton and Gates, gave
orders that the other prisoners should receive every
indulgence compatible with their situation.2
But that which, during the sitting of the parlia-
ment, chiefly interested and agitated the public mind,
was the project of marriage between Mary and Philip
of Spain. The court was divided into two factions.
At the head of the imperialists were the earl of
Arundel, the lord Paget, and Rochester, comptroller
of the household, all three high in the favour of the
queen : they were still opposed by Gardiner, the
chancellor, who, though he received but little support
from the timidity of his colleagues in the council, was
1 See note (F).
2 Stat. iv. 217. Journal of Council, Archseologia, xviii. 176.
408 MARY.
CHAP, in public seconded by the voices of the more clamor-
A.D. 1553. ous, if not the more numerous, portion of the people.
Protestants and Catholics, postponing their religious
animosities, joined in reprobating a measure which
would place a foreign and despotic prince on the
English throne ; and eagerly wished for the arrival of
Pole, whom rumour described as an enemy to the
Spanish match, and who was believed to possess con-
siderable influence over the royal mind.1 But their
expectations were disappointed by the policy of their
adversaries, who predicted to Mary that the presence
of a papal legate would prove the signal of a religious
war, and at the same time alarmed the emperor with
the notion that Pole was in reality a competitor with
Philip for the hand of their sovereign.2 The former
wrote to the cardinal not to venture nearer than
Brussels; the latter commissioned Mendoza to stop
him in the heart of Germany. At the instance of
that messenger he returned to Dillinghen, on the
Danube, where he received an order from the pontiff
to suspend the prosecution of his journey till he
should receive further instructions.3
It was a more difficult task to detect and defeat the
intrigues of Noailles, the French ambassador. That
minister, urged by his antipathy to the Spanish cause,
hesitated not to disobey the commands of his sove-
reign,4 and to abuse the privileges of his office. He
1 Y est il plus demand^ que je n'eusse jaraais pense, le desirans
mainctenant tant les protestants que catholiques. — Noailles, 271.
2 Noailles, 244. Griffet, xviii.
3 Pallavicino, ii. 403.
4 Je vous prie, Mons. de Noailles, comme ja je vous ay escript,
fermer du tout les oreilles a tous ces gens passionez, qui vous met-
tent partis en avant. — The king to Noailles, Nov. 9th, p. 249. I
suspect, however, that this was written merely for the purpose of
being shown to the queen, if events should render it necessary, for
INTRIGUES OF NOAILLES. 409
connected himself with Conrtenay, with the leaders CHAP.
of the Protestants, and with the discontented of every A.D. 1553.
description ; he admitted them to midnight confer-
ences in his house ; he advised them to draw the
sword for the protection of their liberties ; he raised
their hopes with the prospects of aid from France;
and he sought by statements, often false, always
exaggerated, to draw from Henry himself a public
manifestation of his hostility to the intended mar-
riage.1
The Commons, at the commencement of the second Oct. 30.
session, had been induced to vote an address to the
queen, in which they prayed her to marry, that she
might raise up successors to the throne, but to select
her husband not from any foreign family, but from the
nobility of her own realm. Noailles, who in his de-
spatches predicted the most beneficial results from
this measure, took to himself the whole of the merit.2
Mary, on the other hand, attributed it to the secret
influence of Gardiner, who, having been outnumbered
in the cabinet, sought to fortify himself with the aid
of the Commons. But the queen had inherited the
resolution or obstinacy of her father. Opposition
might strengthen, it could not shake her purpose.
She declared that she would prove a match for all the
the exculpation of Henry ; for that prince, on Jan. 26, orders him
to do exactly the contrary. II fauldra conforter soubz main les con-
ducteurs des entreprises que scavez, le plus dextrement que faire se
pourra : et s'eslargir plus ouvertment et franchement parler avecques
eulx que n'avez encores fait : en maniere qu'ilz mettent la main a
I'ceuvre (iii. 36).
1 This is evident from many of his despatches, p. 228, 302.
2 Noailles, ii. 233. The emperor also attributed the address to
Gardiner, and therefore wrote to Renard, Puisque vous cognoissez
les desseigns du chancellier tendre a continuer sa pratique pourCour-
teney, tant plus est il requis, que soyez soigneux & la contreminer, et
lui gagner, si faire se peult, la volonte. — Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 89.
410 MARY.
CH\P. cunning of the chancellor;1 and, sending the very
A.D/1553. same night for the imperial ambassador, bade him
Oct so f°U°w ner into ner private oratory, where, on her
knees at the foot of the altar, and before the sacra-
ment, she first recited the hymn Veni Creator Spi-
ritus, and then called God to witness that she pledged
her faith to Philip prince of Spain, and while she
lived would never take any other man for her husband.2
Though this rash and uncalled-for promise was kept
a profound secret, the subsequent language of the
queen proved to the courtiers that she had taken her
final resolution. The young earl of Devon, fallen
from his hopes, abandoned himself to the guidance of
his interested advisers. He was under the strongest
obligations to Mary. She had liberated him from the
prison to which he had been confined from his infancy
by the jealousy of her father and brother; she had
restored him to the forfeited honours and property of
his family ; and she had constantly treated him with
distinction above all the nobility at her court. Inex-
perience may be pleaded in extenuation of his fault ;
but, if gratitude be a duty, he ought to have been the
last person to engage in a conspiracy against his bene-
factress. Yet he listened to those who called them-
selves his friends, and urged him to the most criminal
Nov. 9. attempts. They proposed to commence with the
murder of Arundel and Paget, the most powerful
among the partisans of Philip. Perhaps if they were
removed, fear or persuasion might induce Mary to
accept the offer of Courtenay. Should she remain
obstinate, he might, in defiance of her authority, marry
Elizabeth, and repair with her to Devonshire and
Cornwall, where the inhabitants were devoted to his
1 Griffet, xxviii. 2 Ibid. xx.
COURTENAY'S CONSPIRACY. 411
family; and he would find the duke of Suffolk, the CHAP.
earl of Pembroke, many other lords, and every naval' A. D. ! 553.
and military adventurer ready to join his standard.1
But the discipline of the Tower was not calculated
to impart to the mind that energy of character, that
intrepidity in the hour of trial, which becomes a con-
spirator. Courtenay had issued from his prison timid
and cautious ; though his ambition might applaud the
scheme of his friends, he had not the courage to exe-
cute it ; and a new plan was devised, that he should NOV. 17.
take the horses from the royal stables at Greenwich,
as he was in the habit of doing for his pleasure, should
ride to an appointed place, embark in a vessel lying
in the river, and cross the sea to France ; that the
same night his adherents should assassinate Arundel
and Paget, and hasten into Devonshire ; and that the
earl should rejoin them in that county as soon as cir-
cumstances might require.2 But Noailles, aware that
the flight of Courtenay would compromise his sove-
reign, opposed the project under pretence that, the mo-
ment he left the shores of England, he might bid adieu
to the English crown. Other plans were suggested and
discussed ; but the timidity of the earl checked the NOV. 24.
eagerness of his advisers ; he gladly took hold of some
circumstances to conceive new expectations of the
royal favour, and prevailed on his friends to suspend .
their efforts, till they were better apprized of the
final determination of Mary.3
1 Noailles, ii. 246, 254. L'entreprinze est de vouloir faire
espouser audit de Courtenay madame Elizabeth, et 1'enlever et em-
mener au pays de Dampchier (Devonshire) et de Cornuailles;
les dues de Suffolk, comtes de Pembroug et de Combrelant, millord
Clynton, et plusieurs des grands seigneurs, seront de ce party. —
Id. ii. 246. He was mistaken as to all except the duke of Suffolk.
2 Noailles, ii. 258.
•' Id. 271. On Dec. 1 Noailles informs his court, that though
412 MARY.
CHAP. In the beginning of November the queen had suf-
A.D. 1553. fered much from a malady to which she was annually
subject : after her recovery it was believed that she
continued to feign indisposition, for the purpose of
postponing the unpleasant task imposed on her by
Nov. 17. the address of the Commons. But in a few days she
sent for the lower house : the speaker read the ad-
dress ; and, when it was expected that the chancellor,
according to custom, would answer in her name, she
herself replied : that, for their expressions of loyalty,
and their desire that the issue of her body might suc-
ceed her on the throne, she sincerely thanked them ;
but, in as much as they pretended to limit her in the
choice of a husband, she thanked them not. The
marriages of her predecessors had always been free,
nor would she surrender a privilege which they had
enjoyed. If it was a subject that interested the
Commons, it was one that interested her still more ;
and she would be careful in her choice, not only to
provide for her own happiness, but, which was equally
dear to her, for the happiness of her people. This
answer was received with applause, though it disap-
pointed the movers of the address.1
Elizabeth and Courtenay are proper instruments to cause a rising,
there is reason to suspect that nothing will be done, on account of
Courtenay's timidity ; who probably will let himself be taken before
he will act ; comme font ordinairement les Anglois, qui ne scavent
jamais fuyr leur malheur, ny prevenir le peril de leur vie. — Id. 289.
l Noailles, 269. Griffet, xxviii. Notwithstanding this reply of the
queen, Charles was still uneasy on account of the decided opposition
of Gardiner. To Renard's account of the address of the Commons,
and of the queen's answer, he replies : " Elle a tres bien et pertine-
" ment repondu, et nous conferrae en bonne espe'rence. Et puisque
" vous cognoissez les desseigns du chancellier tendre a continuer ses
" pratiques pour Cortenay, tant plus est il requis, que soyez soigneux
"a les contreminer." — A Bruxelles, 21 Nov. Renard's MSS. iii. 89.
If additional proof of Gardiner's opposition be desired, it may be
found in the despatches of Noailles, who, after the queen had re-
TREATY OF MARRIAGE WITH PHILIP. 413
In the meantime Elizabeth remained at court, CHAP.
•y
watched by the imperialists, and caressed by their A.D. 1553.
opponents ; one day terrified by the fear of a prison,
and the next day flattered with the prospect of a
crown. No pains were spared to create dissension
between the royal sisters ; to awaken jealousy in the
one, alarm and resentment in the other. But Eliza-
beth explained away the charges against her, and
Mary, by her conduct, belied the predictions of her
enemies.1 If she detained her sister at court till the
dissolution of the parliament, she treated her with
kindness and distinction ; and at her departure dis-
missed her with marks of affection, and a present of Dec. G.
two sets of large and valuable pearls.2
The emperor, at the suggestion of Paget, had
written to six of the lords of the council respecting
the marriage of the queen,3 and Gardiner, convinced
turned her answer to the Commons, writes to his court that, though
the cause of Courtenay seems desperate, there still remains a slender
hope in the exertions of Gardiner, who is " homme de bien, et qui
" vouldra avoir quelque regard a Futilite* de ce royaulme, sans se
"lasser tant aller, comme ont faict les aultres en leurs passions et
" affections particulieres, et m'a Ton asseure que en luy seul reste
" encore quelque petite esperence pour Courtenay." — ii. 260. Again
on Dec. 1 he informs his court " que ce chancellier a tenu bien longue-
" ment son opinion contraire." — ii. 297. Hence it is plain that
Gardiner was an obstinate opponent of the match in the cabinet, and
then only sought to make it palatable and useful to the nation, when
he found that it was not in his power to prevent it.
1 Elizabeth was said to have received nocturnal visits from
Noailles, which she convinced Mary to be false. — Noailles, 309.
On the other hand, she was told that Mary meant to declare her a
bastard by act of parliament ; and she was supposed to be in disgrace,
because the queen sometimes gave the precedence in company to the
countess of Lennox and the duchess of Suffolk, the representatives
of her aunts the Scottish and French queens. — Noailles, 234, 273.
2 Ibid. 309.
3 On 8th of October, Renard informed the emperor that he was
on terms of the most intimate confidence with Lord Paget, who
advocated with all his power the Spanish match. Charles in his
answer enclosed a letter with his own hand to Paget ; he added one
414 MARY.
CHAP, at length that to oppose was fruitless, consented to
A.D. 1554. negotiate the treaty on such terms as he deemed
requisite to secure the rights and liberties of the
nation. The counts of Egmont and Lalain, the lord
of Courrieres, and the sieur de Nigry, arrived as am-
bassadors extraordinary, and were admitted to an au-
Jan. 2. dience in presence of the whole court. When they
offered to Mary the prince of Spain for her husband,
she replied that it became not a female to speak in
public on so delicate a subject as her own marriage ;
they were at liberty to confer with her ministers, who
would make known her intentions ; but this she would
have them to bear in mind (fixing at the same time
her eyes on the ring on her finger), that her realm was
her first husband, and that no consideration should
induce her to violate that faith which she had pledged
at the time of her coronation.1
The terms, which had been already discussed be-
tween the chancellor and the resident ambassador,
Jan. 12. were speedily settled ; and it was stipulated that
immediately on the marriage Philip and Mary should
reciprocally assume the styles and titles of their re-
spective dominions; that he should aid the queen in
the government of the realm, saving its laws, rights,
privileges, and customs, and preserving to her the
full and free disposal of all benefices, offices, lands,
revenues, and fruits, which should not be granted to
any but native subjects of the realm ; that he should
settle on her a jointure of 60,000 pounds, secured on
landed property in Spain and the Netherlands ; that
the issue by this marriage should succeed according
to Gardiner, others to other lords, and one without address to be
delivered by the ambassador according to his direction. — Vol. iii.
f- 60. i Griffet, xxx.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST IT. 415
to law to England, and the territories belonging to CHAP.
the emperor in Burgundy and the Low Countries, and A.D. 1554,
(failing Don Carlos, the son of Philip, and the issue
of Don Carlos,) to the kingdoms of Spain, Lombardy,
and the two Sicilies ; and that Philip should promise
upon oath to maintain all orders of men in their rights
and privileges, to exclude all foreigners from office
in the English court ; not to carry the queen abroad
without her previous request, nor any of her children
without the consent of the nobility ; not to claim any
right to the succession if he should survive his con-
sort ; not to take from the kingdom ships, ammuni-
tion, or jewels belonging to the crown ; and, lastly,
not to engage the nation in the war between his
father and the French monarch, but to preserve, as
much as in him lay, the peace between England and
France.1
As soon as the treaty was signed, the chancellor Jan. 14.
explained the articles to the lord mayor and aldermen,
and displayed in an eloquent discourse, the many and
valuable benefits which he anticipated from an union
between their sovereign and a prince, the apparent
heir to so many rich and powerful territories. The
death of the queen without issue prevented the ac-
complishment of his predictions ; but he deserves
praise for the solicitude with which he guarded the
liberties of the nation against the possible attempts of
a foreign prince on the throne, and to his honour it
may be remarked, that, when Elizabeth thought of
marrying the duke of Anjou, she ordered her ministers
to take this treaty negotiated by Gardiner for the
model of their own.
The official annunciation of the marriage provoked
1 Rym. xv. 377—381.
416 MARY.
CHAP, its opponents to speak and act with greater freedom.
A.D.155I. They circulated the most incredible tales, and em-
ployed every artifice to kindle and inflame the public
discontent. One day it was reported that Edward
was still alive ; the next, that an army of eight thou-
sand imperialists was coming to take possession of the
ports, the Tower, and the fleet ; the private character
of Philip, and the national character of the Spaniards,
were loaded with the imputation of every vice which
could disgrace a prince or a people ; of Mary herself
it was said, that at her accession she had promised
to make no change in religion, and to marry no
foreigner, and that now, as she had broken her faith,
she had forfeited her right to the crown. Among the
leading conspirators some advised an immediate rising :
the more prudent objected the severity of the wea-
ther, the impassable state of the roads, and the diffi-
culty of collecting their followers, or of acting in
Jan. 15. concert in the midst of winter. They finally deter-
mined to wait for the arrival of Philip, who was
expected in the spring ; at the first news of his ap-
proach to arm and oppose his landing; to marry
Courtenay to the lady Elizabeth ; to place them under
the protection of the natives of Devonshire, and to
proclaim them king and queen of England. Of any
previous affection between the parties there appears
no evidence ; but Elizabeth had been taught that this
marriage was her only resource against the suspicions
of Mary and the malice of Philip, and the disappoint-
ment of Courtenay induced him to consent to a
measure which would bring the crown once more
within his grasp. Noailles now flattered himself that
he should infallibly reap the fruit of his intrigues, if
he could only keep for a few days the weak and
CONDUCT OF ELIZABETH. 417
vacillating mind of the earl firm to his engagements.1 CHAP.
The representations of the ambassador so wrought on A.D. 1554.
the king of France, that he authorized him to give to
the conspirators hope of assistance, sent him the Jan. 26.
paltry sum of five thousand crowns for the relief of the
more needy, and ordered the governors of his ports,
and the officers of his navy, to furnish such aid and
countenance as might not be deemed an open infrac-
tion of the peace between the two countries.2
The council, however, was not inattentive to the
intrigues of the ambassador, or the designs of the
factious. Paget had sent a messenger to admonish
Elizabeth of her duty to the queen,'5 and Gardiner, in
a private conference with Courtenay, extracted the
whole secret from his fears or simplicity.4 The next
1 Noailles, iii. 16, 17, 18, 22, 23. Ladicte dame Elizabeth est en
peyne d'estre de si pres esclairee ; ce qui n'est faict sans quelque
raison ; car je vous puis asseurer, sire, qu'elle desire fort de se mettre
hors de tutelle ; et a ce que j'entends, il ne tiendra que an milrod de
Courtenay qu'il ne 1'epouse, et qu'elle ne le suive jusques au pays de
Dampchier (Devonshire),.... ou ils seroient pour avoir une bonne part
a ceste couronne....Mais le malheur est tel que ledict de Courtenay
est en si grand craincte qu'il n'ose rien entreprendre. Je ne veois
moyen qui soit pour 1'empeschier sinon la faulte de cueur (ii. 310).
2 Noailles, iii. 36. This was in consequence of information car-
ried by La Marque, a special messenger, on Jan. 15, who was
instructed to show that the object of the conspirators was to place
Elizabeth and Courtenay on the throne ; for which purpose they so-
licited supplies of money and arms from France. " Ils deliberent
' d'eslever pour leur roy et royne milord de Courtenay et madame
' Elizabeth. Toutesfoyes les principaux autheurs et conducteurs de
' cette entreprinze craignent avoir grant faulte d'armes, artilherye,
' munytions, et argent, et suplyent fort humblement le roy de faire
' qu'il y s'interesse." — Noailles, iii. 23. In the printed copies the
latter part is omitted. It occurs in the MS. i. 273.
3 It was occasioned by information given by the officers of her
household, that a stranger, calling himself a pastor of the French
church, had, during the last month, had several conferences with her.
It was suspected that he was an agent of the disaffected ; and a
motion was made to confine the princess for greater security. But
the queen would not listen to it. — Griffet, xxv.
4 Noailles, iii. 31,43.
VOL. V. 2 E
418 MARY.
CHAP, day the conspirators learned that they had been be-
A.D. 1554. trayed ; yet, surprised and unprepared as they were,
they resolved to bid defiance to the royal authority, and
Thomas, brother to the duke of Suffolk, exclaimed
that he would put himself in the place of Courte-
nay, and stake his head against the crown.1 They
Jan. 25. immediately departed, the duke to arm his tenants in
Warwickshire, Sir James Croft to raise the borderers
of Wales, and Sir Thomas Wyat to put himself at the
head of the discontented in Kent ; Courtenay remained
near the queen, making a parade of his loyalty, but
mistrusted and despised.2 Elizabeth had repaired to
her house at Ash ridge. But Ashridge was thought to
be too near to the capital, and Sir James Croft begged
of her to retire to the castle of Dunnington. The
Jan. 20. very next day a letter to her from Wyat recommend-
ing a removal to the same place, was intercepted by
the government ; and she immediately received from
Mary an order or invitation in most friendly terms to
come to the palace of St. James's, where she would be
right welcome, and in much greater security than at
Ashridge or Dunnington ; a very intelligible hint that
her connection with the insurgents had been disco-
vered.3 She resolved to do neither; and alleging as an
excuse the state of her health, which rendered it dan-
1 Qu'il est delibere' de tenir son lieu, qu'il fault qu'il soit roy ou
pendu. — Noailles, iii. 48. As late as January 26, Noailles writes :
Toutes choses, graces a Dieu, sont en bon chemin : et bientost j'espere
que vous, sire, en aurez d'aultres nouvelles (iii. 45).
2 Principalement pour ce qui par les lettres de 1'ambassadeur
de France (some had been intercepted) : Ton s'apperceu comme toute
la rebellion se faisoit en faveur de Cortenai, aucteur d'icelle, et que
Elizabeth faisoit gens de guerre de son coustel. — Renard's MSS. iii.
fol. 287, 289.
3 J'ai conseille* a la dit dame pour incontinant envoyer apres
Elizabeth pour la saisir, car je craine qu'elle se retire. — Renard's
MSS. iii. fol. 286.
RISING OF THE CONSPIRATORS. 419
gerous to travel, ordered her servants to fortify the CHAP.
house and solicit the aid of her friends.1 A D {554.
In calculating the probability of success, the conspi-
rators had been misled by the late revolution. With
the exception of the duke of Suffolk and his brothers,
they reckoned among them no individual of illustrious
name or extensive influence; but they had persuaded
themselves that the nation unanimously condemned
the Spanish match, and that as public opinion had
recently driven Jane, so it would now, with equal
facility, drive Mary from the throne.* The experience
of a few days dispelled the illusion. 1. The men of
Devonshire, on whose attachment to the house of
1 At the departure of the conspirators, Elizabeth left her residence
for Ashridge, thirty miles further off. — Noailles, iii. 44. Here Croft
exhorted her to go on to Dunnington. — Foxe, iii. 794. Wyat's inter-
cepted letter to the same effect was acknowledged by him at his trial.
— Howell's State Trials, i. 863. Mary's letter to recall her to London
is in Strype, iii. 83, and Hearne, 154. That Elizabeth fortified her
house at Ashridge, and assembled armed men, is stated by Noailles,
January 26, — ou, comme on diet, se faict desja assemblee de gens a
sa devotion (iii. 44) ; and by Renard, in his letter to the emperor :
Elizabeth faisoit gens de guerre — elle se fortifie en sa maison, ou elle
est malade. — Renard's MSS. iii. fol. 287, 189. She was afterwards
examined respecting her reasons for wishing to go to Dunnington ;
at first she affected not to know that she had such a house, or that
she had ever spoken with any one on the subject ; but when Sir
James Croft was produced before her, she said : " I do remember
" that Master Hobby and mine officers, and you, Sir James, had such
" talk : but what is that to the purpose, but that I may go to mine
" own houses at all times ?" Sir James, after expressing his sorrow
to be a witness against her, falling on his knees, said, " I take God
" to record, before all your honours, I do not know any thing of that
" crime that you have laid to my charge." — Foxe, iii. 794. And yet,
Noailles, in his despatch of January 23, reckons him among the chiefs,
" les entrepreneurs," who were not dispirited, though their secret had
been betrayed. — Noailles, iii. 31 . The reader must excuse the length
and frequency of these notes. They are necessary to support a
narrative, which might otherwise be attributed to the imagination or
the partiality of the writer.
2 " The cause of this insurrection, as they boaste in all these places,
" is the Queue's manage with the prince of Spaine." — Earl of
Arundel to Lord Shrewsbury, Jan. 27.
2 E 2
420 MARY.
CHAP. Courtenay so much reliance had been placed, were the
A.D. 1554. first to undeceive the insurgents. Sir Peter Carew,
with Gibbs and Champernham, the appointed leaders,
having waited in vain for the arrival of the recreant
earl, assembled the citizens of Exeter, and proposed
to them to sign an address to the queen. It stated
that the object of the Spaniards, in coming to
England, was to oppress the natives, to live at free
quarters, and to violate the honour of females ; that
every Englishman was ready to sacrifice his life before
he would submit to such tyranny ; and that they had,
therefore, taken up arms to resist the landing of any
foreigners who should approach the western coast.
But the people showed no disposition to comply ; and,
on the arrival of the earl of Bedford, a few of the
conspirators were apprehended, the rest sought an
asylum in France. 2. Though Sir James Croft
reached his estates on the borders of Wales, he was
closely followed, and, before he could raise his tenants,
was made prisoner in his bed. 3. The duke of
Suffolk was equally unfortunate. Of his disaffection
no suspicion had been entertained. Instead of suffer-
ing with Northumberland on the scaffold, he had been
permitted, after a detention of only three days in the
Tower, to retire to his own house : the clemency of
the queen had preserved him from the forfeiture of
his property and honours ; his duchess had been
received at court with a distinction which excited the
jealousy of Elizabeth ; and Suffolk himself had given
to Mary repeated assurances of his attachment to her
person, and of his approbation of her marriage. But,
under these appearances, he concealed far different
sentiments. A precisian in point of religion, a disci-
ple of the most stern and uncompromising among the
RISING OF WYAT. 421
reformed teachers, he deemed it a duty to risk his CHAP.
life, and the fortune of his family, in the support of A.D. 1554.
the new doctrines. With his brothers, the lords John
and Thomas Grey, and fifty followers, he left Shene
for his estates in Warwickshire. To me, it seems un-
certain whether he meant, with the other conspirators,
to set up the lady Elizabeth as the competitor of
Mary, or to revive the claim of his daughter, the lady
Jane.1 In the towns through which he passed he
called on the inhabitants to rise, like their brethren
in the south, and to arm in defence of their liberties, Jan. 25.
which had been betrayed to the Spaniards. They
listened with apathy to his eloquence, and refused the
money which he scattered among them : the earl of
Huntingdon, once his fellow-prisoner in the Tower,
pursued him, by command of the queen ; and a trifling
skirmish in the neighbourhood of Coventry convinced
him that he was no match for the forces of his adver-
sary. He bade his followers reserve themselves for a
more favourable opportunity, and trusted himself to the
fidelity of a tenant, of the name of Underwood, who
concealed him within a hollow tree, and then, through
the fear of punishment, or the hope of reward, be-
trayed him to his pursuers. In less than a fortnight Feb. 10.
from his departure, he was an inmate of the Tower.
Of his brothers, John was already there, and Thomas
joined him soon afterwards.2
It was in Kent, only, that the insurrection assumed
a formidable appearance, under the direction of Sir
1 Noailles describes his brother as a partisan of the lady Elizabeth,
(iii. 48) ; yet Rosso (44, 52), Thuanus (i. 449), Stowe (622), and
Heylin (165 — 263) assert that the duke proclaimed the lady Jane
at different places on the road.
2 Griffet, xxxii. Lodge, i. 187. Rosso, 46. Stowe, 618.
Holins. 1094, 1095.
422 MARY.
CHAP. Thomas Wyat. If we may believe his own assertion,
A.D. 1554. he ought not to be charged with the origin of the
conspiracy. It was formed without his knowledge,
and was first communicated to him by the earl of
Devon ; but he engaged in it with cheerfulness, under
the persuasion that the marriage of the queen with
Philip would be followed by the death of the lady
Elizabeth, and by the subversion of the national
liberties. By the apostasy of Courtenay, he became
one of the principals in the insurrection ; and while
his associates, by their presumption and weakness,
proved themselves unequal to the attempt, he excited
the applause of his very adversaries, by the secrecy
and address with which he organized the rising, and
by the spirit and perseverance with which he con-
Jan. 24. ducted the enterprise.1 The moment he drew the
sword, fifteen hundred armed men assembled around
him ; while five thousand others remained at their
homes, ready, at the first toll of the alarum-bell, to
crowd to his standard. He fixed his head-quarters in
the old and ruinous castle of Rochester ; a squadron
of five sail, in the Thames, under his secret associate
Winter, supplied him with cannon and ammunition ;
and batteries were erected to command the passage of
the bridge, and the opposite bank of the river. Yet
fortune did not appear to favour his first attempts.
Sir Robert Southwell dispersed a party of insurgents
under Knevet ; the lord Abergavenny defeated a large
reinforcement led by Isley, another of the conspira-
Jun. 28. tors ; and the citizens of Canterbury rejected his en-
treaties and derided his threats. It required all his
1 HowelTs State Trials, i. 863. Noailles calls Wyat, ung gen-
tilhomme le plus vaillant, et asseurd de quoy j'aye jamais ony parlor
(lii. 59).
\VTAT DEFEATS THE ROYALISTS. 423
address to keep his followers together. Though he CHAP.
boasted of the succours which he daily expected from A. 0.1*554.
France, though he circulated reports of successful
risings in other parts of the country, many of the
insurgents began to waver ; several sent to the council
offers to return to their duty, on condition of pardon ;
and there is reason to believe that the main force
under Wyat would have dissolved of itself, had it been
suffered to remain a few days longer in a state of
inactivity.1
But the duke of Norfolk had already marched from jan. 26.
London, with a detachment of guards, under the com-
mand of Sir Henry Jerningham. He was immediately
followed by five hundred Londoners, led by Captain
Bret, and was afterwards joined by the sheriff of Kent
with the bands of the county. This force was far
inferior in number to the enemy ; and, what was of
more disastrous consequence, some of its leaders were
in secret league with Wyat. The duke, having in vain
made an offer of pardon, ordered the bridge to be
forced. The troops were already in motion, when jan. 29.
Bret, who led the van, halted his column, and raising
his sword, exclaimed, " Masters, we are going to fight
" in an unholy quarrel against our friends and country-
" men, who seek only to preserve us from the dominion
*' of foreigners. Wherefore I think that no English
" heart should oppose them, and am resolved for my
" own part to shed my blood in the cause of this worthy
" captain, Master Wyat." This address was seconded
by Brian Fitzwilliam ; shouts of " a Wyat ! a Wyat !"
burst from the ranks ; and the Londoners, instead of
advancing against the rebels, faced about to oppose
1 Noailles, iii. 46, 47. Lodge, i. 187. Cont. of Fabyan, 558.
Holins. 1093, 1095.
424 MARY.
CHAP, the royalists.1 At that moment Wyat himself joined
A.D. 1554. them at the head of his cavalry ; and the duke, with
his principal officers, apprehending a general defection,
fled towards Gravesend. Seven pieces of artillery fell
into the hands of the insurgents; their ranks were
recruited from the deserters ; and the whole body,
Jan. so. confident of victory, began their march in the direc-
tion of London.2
This unexpected result revealed to the queen the
alarming secret that the conspiracy had pushed its
branches into the very heart of the metropolis. Every
precaution was immediately taken for the security of
the court, the Tower, and the city ; the bridges for
fifteen miles were broken down, and the boats secured
on the opposite bank of the river ; the neighbouring
peers received orders to raise their tenantry, and
hasten to the protection of the royal person ; and
a reward of one hundred pounds per annum in land
was offered for the apprehension of Wyat. That
chieftain, with fifteen thousand men under his com-
Feb. i. mand, had marched through Dartford to Greenwich
and Deptford, when a message from the council,
inquiring into the extent of his demands, betrayed
their diffidence, and added to his presumption. In
the court and the council-room, nothing was to be
heard but expressions of mistrust and apprehension ;
some blamed the precipitancy of Gardiner in the
change of religion ; some the interested policy of the
1 Noailles, the day before the event, informed his sovereign of the
intended desertion of the officers of the Londoners. De ceux la
mesme, selon que le bruict en court, les principaulx capitaines des
gens de pied se tourneront vers icelles, quand ce viendra au besoign
(iii. 47).
2 Rosso says that the duke fell into the hands of Wyat, who be-
haved to him with respect, and told him that he was at liberty to
return to the queen, and inform her that the rising was not against
her, but against the tyranny of the Spaniards (p. 47).
THE QUEEN'S SPEECH. 425
advisers of the Spanish match ; and the imperial CHAP
ambassadors, with the exception of Renard, fearing A.
for their lives, escaped in a merchant-vessel lying in
the river.1 The queen alone appeared firm and col-
lected ; she betrayed no symptom of fear, no doubt of
the result ; she ordered her ministers to provide the
means of defence, and undertook to fix, by her con-
fidence and address, the wavering loyalty of the Lon- Feb. 2
doners.2 The lord mayor had called an extraordinary
meeting of the citizens ; and, at three in the afternoon,
Mary, with the sceptre in her hand, and accompanied
by her ladies and officers of state, entered the Guild-
hall. She was received with every demonstration of
respect, and, in a firm and dignified tone, complained
of the disobedience and insolence of the men of Kent.
At first the leaders had condemned her intended
marriage with the prince of Spain; now they had
betrayed their real design. They demanded the
custody of her person, the appointment of her council,
and the command of the Tower. Their object was
to obtain the exercise of the royal authority, and to
abolish the national worship. But she was convinced
that her people loved her too well to surrender her
into the hands of rebels. "As for this marriage," she
continued, " ye shall understand that I enterprised not
" the doing thereof, without the advice of all our privy
" council ; nor am I, I assure ye, so bent to my own
"will, or so affectionate, that for my own pleasure I
1 Noailles, iii. 53. Griffet, xxx. iii.
2 So says Renard (ibid.) and a writer inter Poli Epis. Tu, caeteris
tarn repentino tuo periculo perturbatis, animo ipsa minime fracta ac
debilitata es, sed ita te gessisti, &c. (torn. v. App. 382). Noailles, on
the contrary, says : Je me deliberay en cape de veoir de quel visaige
elle et sa compaignie y alloient, que je cogneus estre aussy triste et
desploree qu'il se peult penser (iii. 51).
426 MARY.
CHAP. " would choose where I lust, or needs must have
y
A.D. 1554. " a husband. I have hitherto lived a maid ; and
" doubt nothing, but with God's grace I am able to
" live so still. Certainly, did I think that this mar-
" riage were to the hurt of you my subjects, or the
" impeachment of my royal estate, I would never
4i consent thereunto. And, I promise you, on the
" word of a queen, that, if it shall not appear to the
" Lords and Commons in parliament to be for the
" benefit of the whole realm, I will never marry,
" while I live. Wherefore, stand fast against these
" rebels, your enemies and mine ; fear them not, for I
" assure ye, I fear them nothing at all ; and I will
" leave with you my Lord Howard and my lord
" admiral, who will be assistant with the mayor for
" your defence." With these words she departed ;
the hall rang with acclamations ; and by the next
morning more than twenty thousand men had enrolled
their names for the protection of the city.1
Feb. 3. The next day Wyat entered Southwark. But his
followers had dwindled to seven thousand men, and
were hourly diminishing. No succours had arrived
from France ; no insurrection had burst forth in any
other county ; and the royal army was daily strength-
ened by reinforcements. The batteries erected on the
walls of the Tower compelled him to leave South-
wark;2 but he had by this time arranged a plan with
some of the reformers in the city to surprise Ludgate
1 Holins. 1096. Noailles, iii. 52, 66. Foxe, Hi. 25. She spoke
with so much ease, that Foxe adds, " she seemed to have perfectly
" conned it without book." — Ibid.
3 Here his followers had pillaged the house of Gardiner, and de-
stroyed the books in his library, •• so that a man might have gone up
" to the knees in the leaves of books, cut out and thrown under
" foot/'— Stowe, 619.
WYAT ENTERS THE CITY. 427
an hour before sunrise ; and for that purpose directed CHAP.
his march towards Kingston. Thirty feet of the A.D.1554.
wooden bridge had been destroyed ; but he swam, F~^
or prevailed on two seamen to swim, across the river,
and, having procured a boat from the opposite bank,
laboured with a few associates at the repairs, while his
men refreshed themselves in the town. At eleven at
night the insurgents passed the bridge ; at Brentford
they drove in the advanced post of the royalists ; but
an hour was lost in repairing the carriage of a cannon,
and, as it became too late for Wyat to keep his ap-
pointment at Ludgate, the chief of his advisers
abandoned him in despair. Among these were Poinet,
the Protestant bishop of Winchester, who now hast-
ened to the continent ; and Sir George Harper, who
rode to St. James's, and announced the approach and
expectations of Wyat. He arrived about two hours
after midnight. The palace was instantly filled Feb. 7.
with alarm ; the boldness of the attempt gave
birth to reports of treason in the city and the court ;
and the ministers on their knees, particularly the
chancellor, conjured the queen to provide for her
own safety, by retiring into the Tower. But Mary
scorned the timidity of her advisers : from the earl of
Pembroke and Lord Clinton she received assurances
that they would do their duty; and in return she
announced her fixed determination to remain at her
post. In a council of war it was decided to place
a strong force at Ludgate, to permit the advance of
Wyat, and then to press on him from every quarter,
and to inclose him like a wild beast in the toils.1
1 Griffet, xxxv. Cum tui te hortando et obsecrando urgere non
desisterent, ut in arcem te reciperes, ne turn quidem ullius timoris
signum dedisti. — Pol. Ep. torn. v. App. 332. " It was more than
428 MARY.
CHAP. At four in the morning the drum beat to arms ; and
A.D. 1554. in a few hours the royalists under Pembroke and
Clinton amounted to ten thousand infantry and fifteen
hundred cavalry. The hill opposite St. James's was
occupied with a battery of cannon and a strong
squadron of horse ; lower down, and nearer to Charing
Cross, were posted two divisions of infantry ; and
several smaller parties were detached to different
points in the vicinity. About nine, Wyat reached
Hyde Park Corner. Many of his followers, who heard
of the queen's proclamation of pardon, had slunk away
in the darkness of the night ; the rest were appalled
at the sight of the formidable array before their eyes.
But their leader saw that to recede must be his ruin ;
he still relied on the co-operation of the conspirators
and reformers in the city ; and after a short cannonade,
seizing a standard, rushed forward to charge the
cavalry. They opened ; allowed three or four hun-
dred men to pass; and, closing, cut off the commu-
nication between them and the main body. The
insurgents, separated from their leader, did not long
sustain the unequal contest ; about one hundred were
killed, great numbers wounded, and four hundred
made prisoners. Wyat paid no attention to the battle
which raged behind his back. Intent on his purpose,
he hastened through Piccadilly, insulted the gates of
the palace, and proceeded towards the city. No
molestation was offered by the armed bands stationed
" marvel to see that day the invincible heart and constancy of the
" queen." — Holins. 1098. Renard says that she showed, tel cueur
qu'elle dit ne se vouloir retirer, si le comte de Pembroke et Clinton
vouloient faire leur devoir, et incontenent envoya devers eux, qui la
suppliarent ne bouger. — Renard's MSS. iii. 287. Rosso adds that
she had a guard of one hundred and fifty men, and beheld the charge
made by Pembroke at the distance of musket-shot.— Rosso, 50.
IS MADE PRISONER. 429
on each side of the street. At Ludgate he knocked, CHAP
and demanded admittance, " for the queen had granted A.
46 all his petitions." — " Avaunt, traitor!" exclaimed
from the gallery the lord William Howard, " thou
" shalt have no entrance here." Disappointed and
confounded, he retraced his steps, till he came oppo-
site the inn called the Bel Savage. There he halted
a few minutes. To the spectators he seemed absorbed
in thought ; but was quickly aroused by the shouts of
the combatants, and with forty companions continued
to fight his way back, till he reached Temple Bar.
He found it occupied by a strong detachment of
horse ; whatever way he turned, fresh bodies of
royalists poured upon him ; and Norroy king-at-arms
advancing, exhorted him to spare the blood of his
friends, and to yield himself a prisoner. After a
moment's pause, he threw away his sword, and sur-
rendered to Sir Maurice Berkeley, who carried him
first to the court, and thence to the Tower. There,
in the course of a few hours, he was rejoined by the
chief of the surviving conspirators. The nobility and
gentry crowded to St. James's to offer their con-
gratulations to the queen, who thanked them in warm
terms for their loyalty and courage. Two were ex-
cepted, Courtenay and the young earl of Worcester ;
who, on the first advance of the enemy, through
timidity or disaffection, had turned the heads of their
horses and fled, exclaiming that all was lost.1
- l Stowe, 620—622. Strype, iii. 89. Noailles, iii. 59, 64—69.
Courtenay et le compte d'Orcestre pour leur premiere guerre se re-
tirarent arriere centre la cour, sans coup frapper, et dirent que tout
etoit perdu, que la victoire etoit aux enemys, qu'a dte singulierement
note, et continue ce que 1'ambassadeur de France ecrivoit, que
1'emprinse se faisoit pour lui . . . . II (Courtenay) montra ce qu'il
avoit dans le cueur, dont ladite dame est fort irritee.— Kenard's
MSS. iii. 289.
430 MARY.
CHAP. At the termination of the former conspiracy, the
A. D. 1554. queen had permitted but three persons to be put to
death, — an instance of clemency, considering all the
circumstances, not perhaps to be paralleled in the
history of those ages. But the policy of her conduct
had been severely arraigned both by the emperor and
some of her own counsellors. Impunity, they argued,
encourages the factious to a repetition of their offence ;
men ought to be taught by the punishment of the
guilty, that if they presume to brave the authority of
the sovereign, it must be at the peril of their lives and
fortunes. Mary now began to admit the truth of
these maxims ; she condemned her former lenity as
the cause of the recent insurrection,1 and while her
mind was still agitated with the remembrance of her
danger, was induced to sign, on the morrow of the
Feb. s. action at Temple Bar, a warrant for the execution of
" Guilford Dudley and his wife," at the expiration
of three days. On the fatal morning the queen sent
them permission to take a last farewell of each other ;
but Jane refused the indulgence, saying, that in a
few hours they should meet in heaven. From the
window of her cell she saw her husband led to execu-
tion, and beheld his bleeding corpse brought back to
the chapel. He had been beheaded on Tower Hill, in
sight of an immense multitude ; she, on account of her
royal descent, was spared the ignominy of a public ex-
ecution. With a firm step and cheerful countenance
she mounted the scaffold, which had been erected on
the green within the Tower, and acknowledged in
1 Ledit Thomas, le second fils dudit due de Suffolk, £tant prison-
nier, a ecris lettre a ladite dame pour misericorde : mais elle est
dcterminee de passer ses affaires par la justice requise, puis qu'ils ont
mesus^ ct abuse de sa clemence et misericorde, et de incontiuent
Icur faira trancher la tete. — Ren. MSS. 289.
EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY.
431
a few words to the spectators her crime in having CHAP.
consented to the treason of Northumberland, though A.D. 1554.
she was not one of the original conspirators. " That
" device," she said, " was never of my seeking, but
" by the counsel of those who appeared to have better
" understanding of such things than I. As to the
" procurement or desire of such dignity by me, I wash
" my hands thereof before God and all you Christian
" people this day." Here she wrung her hands, then
having expressed her confidence of obtaining mercy
through the blood of Christ, requested the spectators
to assist her in that trial with their prayers, repeated
a psalm with Feckenliam, formerly abbot of West-
minster, and laid her head upon the block. At one
stroke it was severed from the body.1 Her life had
before been spared as a pledge for the loyalty of the
house of Suffolk. That pledge was indeed forfeited
by the rebellion of the duke, but it would have been
to the honour of Mary if she had overlooked the pro-
vocation, and refused to visit on the daughter the
guilt of the father. Her youth ought to have pleaded
most powerfully in her favour ; and, if it were feared
that she would again be set up by the factious as a
competitor with her sovereign, the danger might
certainly have been removed by some expedient less
cruel than the infliction of death.
The chief of the conspirators had been conveyed to
the Tower, to abide their trials ; against the common
1 Losely MSS. 122. Foxe, iii. 29. Holins. 1099. Noailles,
iii. 125. Foxe has published several letters said to be the production
of this unfortunate lady. They breathe a contempt of death, sub-
lime sentiments of piety, and a profound hatred of the ancient
creed, expressed in the most bitter language against its professors.
It is, however, difficult to believe them the unaided composition of a
young woman of seventeen.
432 MARY.
CHAP, men, who had been taken in the field, it was detcr-
A.D. 1554. mined to proceed by martial law. About fifty of
Feb~i4 those who had deserted with Bret were hanged in
different parts of the metropolis; half a dozen suf-
Feb. 15. fered in Kent ; and the remainder, amounting to four
hundred, were led to the palace with halters round
Feb. 20. their necks. Mary appeared at a balcony, pronounced
their pardon, and bade them return in peace to their
homes.1
Most of the prisoners in the Tower, on the expres-
sion of their sorrow, obtained their discharge. Of six
who were brought to the bar, Sir Nicholas Throck-
morton alone pleaded his cause with success. There
can be little doubt that he was deeply engaged in the
conspiracy ; but he claimed the benefit of the recent
statute abolishing all treasons created since the reign
of Edward III. ; disputed every point with the counsel
and the bench, and contended that no overt act of
treason had been proved against him. He was acquitted
by the jury ; but the judges, on the ground that the
verdict was contrary to law, remanded him to the
Tower, from which he was not discharged till the
next year. On the same account the jurors were
called before the Star Chamber, where some made
their submission ; the others were fined and impri-
soned.2
1 Noailles and Renard represent the sufferers as more numerous ;
but our own writers, who could not be mistaken, agree in the
number mentioned in the text.
2 We have an elaborate and copious report of this remarkable
trial. The author is unknown ; but it is an impeachment of his
credit, that he was a warm partisan of Throckmorton, or of the
cause which Throckmorton supported. This is plain from his
anxiety to exhibit the answers and speeches of the prisoner in the
most favourable light, whilst the pleadings of his opponents and the
remarks of the judges are often hastily slurred over, or perhaps
wilfully suppressed. The punishment of the jury must not be con-
EXECUTION OF CONSPIRATORS. 433
Of the five conspirators who had received judg- CHAP.
ment, Croft obtained a pardon. 1. The duke of Suf- A.DV{554.
folk fell unpitied. His ingratitude to the queen, his F^3
disregard of his daughter's safety, and his meanness in
seeking to purchase forgiveness by the accusation of
others, had sharpened the public indignation against
him. 2. Suffolk was followed to the scaffold by April 11.
Wyat, the chief support of the insurrection ; but his
weak and wavering conduct in the Tower provoked a
suspicion that he had little claim to that firmness of
mind for which, by his daring in the field, he had
obtained credit. 3. The next victim was the lord April 17.
Thomas Grey,1 a nobleman of venturous spirit and
towering ambition, who by his unbounded influence
over his brother, the duke, was believed to have
drawn him into this unfortunate enterprise. The last
who suffered was William Thomas, private secretary
to the late king. Discontent and fanaticism had May is.
urged him to the most daring attempts ; he was con-
victed of a design to murder the queen ; and, though
he stabbed himself in his prison, expired on the scaf-
fold. These executions have induced some writers to
charge Mary with unnecessary cruelty : perhaps those
who compare her with her contemporaries in similar
circumstances will hesitate to subscribe to that opi-
nion. If, on this occasion, sixty of the insurgents
were sacrified to her justice or resentment, we shall
find in the history of the next reign that, after a
sidered as a solitary instance. "The fact is," says Mr. Jardine
(Criminal Trials, i. 114), " that the judges had for centuries before
" exercised a similar authority, though not without some murmuring
" against it, and it was not till more than a century afterwards that,
" in the reign of Charles II. (1670), a solemn decision was pro-
" nounced against its legality."
1 The lord John was also condemned, but pardoned and discharged
by order of the queen.
VOL. V. 2 F
434 MARY.
CHAP, rebellion of a less formidable aspect, some hundreds
A.D. 1554. of victims were required to appease the offended
majesty of her sister.1
That princess was still at Ashridge, where we left
her a fortnight ago, labouring, or pretending to labour,
under some severe indisposition. But in that short
space much had come to light which tended to impli-
cate her in the conspiracy;2 and it was believed that
her refusal to join the queen in the capital proceeded
more from consciousness of guilt than infirmity of
body. The council resolved to enforce submission ;
but Mary insisted that, at the same time, due consi-
1 If we look at the conduct of government after the rebellions of
1715 and 1745, we shall not find that the praise of superior lenity
is due to more modern times.
2 When prisoners, to save their own lives, accuse others, their
depositions are not, separately, more worthy of credit than the con-
trary assertions of the accused. On both sides there is the same
motive for falsehood. But in the present case the charge against
Elizabeth and Courtenay is confirmed by the despatches of Noailles,
written in the months of December and January, immediately pre-
ceding the rebellion. It has, indeed, been said that Wyat, at his
death, declared both the prisoners innocent. But a little reflection
will show that nothing can be deduced from the words and conduct
of Wyat. 1. He visited Courtenay, and remained with him half an
hour in his cell. If we believe the sheriffs, he asked Courtenay's
pardon for having accused him : if we believe Lord Chandois, who
was also present, he exhorted him to confess his offence. It is plain
that, from such contradictory statements nothing certain can be
elicited. 2. It was rumoured, that on the scaffold he pronounced
both the prisoners innocent. This was reported by Noailles to his
court ; but two persons who had propagated the same story in the
city were put in the pillory, for spreading false intelligence. — His
words are said to have been : " Where it is noised abroad that I
" should accuse the lady Elizabeth, and the lord Courtenay, it is not
" so, good people ; for I assure you neither they, nor any other now
" yonder, in hold, was privy of my rising before I began, as I have
" declared no less to the queen's council ; and that is most true."
It may certainly be true ; for he rose unexpectedly, six weeks before
the time originally fixed upon. But Dr. Weston immediately said,
" Mark this, my masters, that that which he hath shown to the
" council of them in writing, is true." Wyat made no reply. Was
not this silence equivalent to an acknowledgment ? — See Stowe, 624.
QUEEN'S CONDUCT TO ELIZABETH. 435
deration should be paid to her health and her rank. CHAP.
A very kind invitation was written to her by the A.D. 1554,
queen,1 and a nobleman in high favour with the
princess, the lord William Howard, lord admiral, was Jan. 26.
commissioned with two colleagues, Hastings and Corn-
wallis, members of the council, to bring her to the
court. They were instructed to take with them two
of the queen's physicians, to ascertain her ability to
travel, and also the queen's litter for her greater con-
venience on the road. It was with the utmost reluc-
tance that Elizabeth yielded. The physicians assured
her that there was no danger ; the commissioners pro-
posed to divide the road into five short stages of about
six miles each, by which she might proceed from one
gentleman's house to another, and perform the mighty
journey of thirty miles in the course of six days.2
This arrangement, however, did not take place : a
respite of another week was granted ; and she at last
reached London in great state, " preceded by one
" hundred velvet coats, and followed by one hun-
" dred more in scarlet and silver." At Aldgate the
litter was thrown open by her order. Her features,
pale and emaciated, showed how severely she had suf-
fered from bodily disease or mental anxiety. She
was dressed entirely in white, and met with an air of
haughtiness and defiance the rude gaze of the popu-
lace. On her arrival she asked in vain for an inter-
view with the queen, and was immediately conducted
to apartments provided for her in a quarter of the
palace out of which there was no egress but through
1 Strype, iii. 130; reprint of 1816.
2 We owe the knowledge of these minute particulars to the re-
searches of Mr. Tytler (ii. 420). They are interesting, because they
show how little credit is due to the tragic description of the same
event in Foxe, 792.
2 F 2
436
MARY.
CHAP, a passage occupied by the guard. Of her numerous
A.D. 1554. suite there remained to wait upon her two of her
gentlemen, six ladies, and two servants : the rest were
lodged in the city.i
It now became a most perplexing question, in what
manner to proceed with respect to Elizabeth and
Courtenay. Of their participation in the treason of
the insurgents there could hardly exist a doubt.
Additions were daily made to the great mass of evi-
dence against them by the disclosures and confessions
of the prisoners ; besides which, the council had inter-
cepted three despatches of Noailles, the fomenter, if
not the originator, of the conspiracy,2 and had de-
rived from them detailed accounts of the plans and
resources of the leaders: they held, moreover, two
notes from Wyat to the princess ; one advising her to
remove to Donnington, and another announcing to
her his triumphant entry into Southwark : they were
also in possession of a document of more questionable
authenticity, — a letter purporting to have been written
by Elizabeth herself to the king of France. Mary,
however, grew weary of being the gaoler of her
sister. She proposed to the council that some one of
the lords should take charge of her in a private house
in the country. But no man was willing to incur the
responsibility; and an order was made for her com-
Marchi7. mittal to the Tower. She received the intelligence
with dismay, and mos£ earnestly solicited permission
to speak to, or if that could not be, to write to, the
1 Noailles, 88, 100. Renard, March 22. Foxe, 792. Strype,
iii. 150.
2 Dated 26th, 28th, and 30th of January. They were written in
cipher, the key to which Noailles thought would not be discovered.
— Noailles, p. 91, 133, 134. He was, however, mistaken. — Renard's
MS. Hi. 286.
ELIZABETH IN THE TOWER. 437
queen. The last was granted ; and in the letter said CHAP.
to have been written on that occasion, she maintained A.D. 1554,
with oaths and imprecations that she had never re-
ceived any letter from Wyat, never written a single
line to the French king, never consented to any pro-
ject that could endanger the life or crown of her
sister.1 It was a Saturday, and the barge was in
readiness to convey her to the Tower. But she con-
tinued writing till the tide would no longer serve, and
by that ingenious artifice procured a respite till the
following Monday.2
In the Tower Elizabeth abandoned herself to the
most gloomy anticipations ; she was saved from the
danger by the abilities and good offices of one, whom
it has been the fashion to describe as her bitterest
enemy. For several weeks Renard, the imperial am-
bassador, laboured incessantly to extort the queen's
consent, that the princess should be condemned and
sent to the scaffold. She was a competitor for the
crown ; she had accepted the offer of the rebels, and
ought to suffer the penalty of her treason. To spare
her was to prepare the way for another insurrection
in her favour; as long as she lived, Mary could never
sit on the throne in security ; nor could the prince of
Spain venture to set his foot on English ground with-
out danger to his person. If these representations,
1 " To this present hower," she says, " I protest afore God
(who shal juge my truethe, whatsoever malice shal devise) that I
never practised, conciled, nor consented to any thinge, that might
be prejudicial to your parson any way, or dangerous to the state
by any mene. — As for the traitor Wyat, he might paraventur writ
me a lettar : but on my faithe I never received any from him ; and
as for the copie of my lettar sent to the French kinge, I pray God
confound me eternally, if ever I sent him word, message, token, or
lettar by any menes ; — and to this my trueth I wil stand in to my
dethe." — Neve on Philips, App. No. II. Ellis, 2nd series, ii. 259.
2 Renard, March 22.
438
MARY.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1554.
April 30.
made in the name of the emperor, produced no effect,
the ambassador was aware that the failure arose from
the influence of Gardiner over the mind of the queen.
No reasoning, no remonstrances, could divert the
English minister from his purpose. He amused the
ambassador with fair words, and feigned to be of his
opinion.1 But certain accustomed forms must be
observed, and care be taken that the proceedings
should be conducted according to law and precedent ;
a task which he would take upon himself without
delay. He began with the charge against Courtenay.
The preliminary examinations were made, and the
law officers of the crown gave an opinion that the
evidence against him was sufficient to insure his con-
viction of the crime of high treason. But here Gar-
diner unaccountably paused ; and Courtenay, instead
of being brought to trial, was suffered to remain a
quiet prisoner in the Tower. With respect to the
princess Elizabeth, the same answer was always re-
turned to the inquiries of Renard, that the queen had
not yet made up her mind, but waited till more deci-
sive proof might be obtained. Mary called for the
1 In the beginning of April, during a conference between Renard
and Gardiner, in the presence of the queen, Gardiner is stated by the
ambassador to have owned that " as long as Elizabeth was alive
" there was no hope that the kingdom could be tranquil ;" and to
have said afterwards, that " if everybody went as roundly to work in
" providing the necessary remedies as he did, things would go on
" better." — Tyt. ii. 365. It is a pity that this interesting letter has
not been published, as well as others of much less interest. From
the two short extracts copied above, it has been inferred that Gar-
diner really thirsted for the blood of Elizabeth. But no such infer-
ence can be fairly deduced from them ; nor does the first of the two
prove any thing more than that the wily statesman was willing to
appear of the same opinion with the emperor. Of his real intention
with respect to the princess we may judge from the fact that he
continued after this conference to shield her, as he had done before,
from the repeated attempts of the ambassador to have her brought
to trial, and put to death.
INTRIGUES OF NOAILLES. 439
first of the intercepted despatches of Noailles, the CHAP.
document said to contain the damning proof of her A.D. 1554,
connection with the rebels, but it was not forthcoming.
The chancellor could not deny that it had originally
been in his possession ; but now, after a long search,
it could nowhere be found.1 Was it not that he had
determined to suppress it ? Were not the queen and
her minister acting in concert? For otherwise it is
difficult to understand how she could have passed over
in silence a matter so likely to provoke suspicion.
Thus the time passed on till the dissolution of parlia-
ment. The Whitsuntide holidays followed ; and the
queen repaired to her palace at Richmond, whence
she sent an order to Elizabeth to come from the
Tower by water, and join the court. A few days later
the princess was sent forward to Woodstock, which
had been selected for her residence, and where she
remained till the beginning of the next year, under
the care and superintendence of Sir Henry Beding-
feld.2 Courtenay was also liberated, and conducted
to Fotheringay Castle by Sir Thomas Tresham.
Another subject of discussion was the conduct to
be observed in relation to Noailles, whose clandestine
intrigues with the conspirators had been by them
betrayed to the council. Renard maintained to the
queen, that, by fomenting a rebellion within the realm,
he had forfeited the privilege of an ambassador ; that
1 II a confesse 1'avoir heu, et receu, mais il ne scavoit ou il 1'avoit
mis. — Renard, 1 Mai.
2 Elizabeth, after her liberation, familiarly called Bedingfeld
" her jailor." His conduct has been vindicated from the slander of
Foxe by Wharton (Life of Sir T. Pope, 75) and Miss Aikin in her
Court of Queen Elizabeth. It appears from the family papers that
Bedingfeld considered himself in favour with Elizabeth, and fre-
quently repaired to her court to pay his respects to her after she
became queen.
^GE
440 MARY.
CHAP, he ought to be sent out of England, or put under
A.D. 1554. arrest, till the pleasure of his sovereign was known ;
and that the king of France should be informed, that,
if the culprit had been treated with so much lenity,
it was not through any doubt of his guilt, but through
respect for him, whose representative he had been.
But to the majority of the council this measure ap-
peared too bold and hazardous. It might lead to a
war, which it was their object to avoid ; and they
determined to connive at his past, and to watch his
subsequent conduct. Mary, however, who knew the
secret enmity of the man, could ill disguise her feel-
ings; and on more than one occasion answered him
with an asperity of language, of the real cause of
which he appears not to have been aware.1 The
Venetian ambassador, who had seconded the attempts
of Noailles, was recalled by the senate.
The rebellion had suspended, for a few weeks, the
proceedings relative to the queen's marriage ; but in
the beginning of March the count Egmont returned
from Brussels with the ratification of the treaty on
the part of the emperor. On an appointed day the
March io. lords of the council accompanied Mary to her private
oratory; and the count was introduced by the lord
admiral and the earl of Pembroke. The queen, hav-
ing knelt before the altar, said, that she took this
solemn occasion to express her mind in their presence,
and to call on God to witness the truth of her words.
She had not determined to marry through dislike of
celibacy, nor had she chosen the prince of Spain
through respect of kindred. In the one and the
other, her chief object had been to promote the honour
of her crown, and to secure the tranquillity of her
1 Griffet, xxxviii.
PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT. 441
realm. To her people she had pledged her faith on CHAP.
the day of her coronation ; it was her firm resolve to A.D. 1554.
redeem that pledge ; nor would she ever permit affec-
tion for her husband to seduce her from the perform-
ance of this, the first, the most sacred of her duties.
After this address she exchanged the ratification of
the treaty with the ambassador : he espoused her in
the name of the prince of Spain ; and she put on her
finger a valuable ring, sent by the emperor as a pre-
sent from his son.1
The parliament had been summoned to meet at
Oxford, but was transferred to Westminster, appa- April 2.
rently at the request of the citizens.2 The chief object
of the queen was to silence the arguments of the
insurgents by the authority of the legislature. 1. The
cause of the lady Jane had been espoused by many of
the reformed preachers. They had then no objection
to a female sovereign. But the failure of their hopes
had removed the veil from their eyes ; and the more
violent had now discovered that the government of a
woman was prohibited by the word of God. In the
Old Testament it had been ordered to take the king
from the midst of the " brethren/' an expression which,
they contended, must exclude all females ; and in the
New we are taught that the man is the head of the
woman ; whence they inferred, that no woman ought
to possess the supreme authority over men.3 In con-
firmation of their doctrine they appealed to the
1 Griffet, xxxix.
2 It has been said, but groundlessly, that the queen had dissolved
the last parliament on account of the refractory spirit of the Com-
mons. Mary, in her letter to Pole, of Nov. 15, 1553, informs him
of her intention to dissolve it, because the session could not be pro-
longed at that time, and to call another in the course of three
months.— Ep. Poli, iv. 119. 3 Strype, iii. 11.
442 MARY.
CHAP, statutes of the realm. What authority did they give
A.D. 1554. to queens ? It was to kings, and to kings alone, that
they assigned the royal prerogatives, and the punish-
ment of offences against the crown. In opposition to
this dangerous notion, it was now declared, without a
dissentient voice in either house, that by the ancient
law of the land, whatever person, male or female, is
invested with the kingly office, he or she ought to
possess and exercise, in their full extent, all the pre-
eminence, jurisdiction, and powers, belonging to the
crown.1 2. To prove the policy of the intended mar-
riage with Philip against the reasoning of its adver-
saries, the members were requested to cast their eyes
on the situation of the neighbouring nations. France
and Scotland were the natural enemies of England.
Hitherto they had been connected only by treaties;
but now the young queen of Scotland was contracted
to the dauphin of France. Where was England to
find a counterpoise but in the marriage of the queen
to Philip of Spain? Let the issue of Mary Stuart
inherit the two crowns of France and Scotland. By
this marriage, the issue of the English queen would
inherit England with the Netherlands ; and that
country, in the estimation of every reasonable man,
would prove a more valuable acquisition to the Eng-
lish crown, than Scotland could ever prove to that of
France.2 But, it was objected, would not this mar-
riage place the liberties of the nation at the mercy of
a foreign despot ? Undoubtedly not. Let them exa-
mine the articles of the treaty. They had been drawn
after long and mature deliberation ; they contained
1 Stat. iv. 222.
a See a state paper in Noailles, iii. 109, 118. Also his account
of Gardiner's speech, iii. 152.
MARRIAGE ACT PASSED. 443
every security which the most ingenious could devise, CHAP.
or the most timorous could desire ; they excluded all A.D. i554,
foreigners from office; they placed the honour, the
franchises, and the rights of the natives beyond danger
or controversy. Satisfied by this reasoning, both
houses unanimously concurred in an act, confirming
the treaty of marriage, and declaring that the queen,
after its solemnization, should continue to enjoy and
exercise the sovereignty as sole queen, without any
right or claim to be given unto Philip as tenant by
courtesy, or by any other manner.1 Mary, having
thus obtained her chief object, dissolved the parlia- May 5.
merit in person, with an address, which was repeatedly
interrupted by the acclamations of the audience.
Both Lords and Commons assured her that the prince
of Spain, on his arrival, would receive a most hearty
welcome from a dutiful and affectionate people.2
Still the king of France indulged a hope that some
favourable incident might occur to interrupt the mar-
riage. He not only opened an asylum for the En-
glish rebels, who had fled from justice, but encouraged
them to fit out vessels for the purpose of cruising
against the subjects of Charles ; and he ordered his
ambassador in England to persist in his intrigues, and
to keep alive, by his promises, the hopes of the
factious.3 That minister had several warm alterca-
1 Stat. iv. 222—226. According to Noailles, Gardiner, in his
speech, had suggested that, as the queen and her sister Elizabeth only
remained of the descendants of Henry VIII., Mary, like her father,
ought to have the power of regulating the succession after her death.
— Noailles, iii. 153. If it was so, the subject was not followed up.
There is no mention of any such motion in the journals.
2 Griffet, xlvii. Que me met en entiere confidence que votre
venue par deca sera seure et aygreable.— Mary to Philip, Apr. 24th,
apud Hearne, sylloge, ep. 156.
3 One of their contrivances deserves to be mentioned. The most
extraordinary sounds were heard to issue from a wall in Aldersgate
444 MARY.
CHAP, tions with Mary. He complained, in a haughty tone,
A.D.^i554. t'hat hig despatches had been intercepted ; she, that
her rebellious subjects were countenanced and pro-
tected by his master. He, to intimidate, hinted that
at the death of Edward all the treaties between the
two crowns had expired ; she, for the same purpose,
required an explanation of his meaning, that she
might take measures for her own security. In the
mean time he saw the preparations for the marriage
proceeding with activity; and to console his chagrin,
employed his time in collecting unfounded tales for
the information of his sovereign, exaggerating the dis-
content of the nation, and describing with a sarcastic
levity, the impatience of the old woman longing for
the presence of her young husband.1 To his sorrow,
Street, intermixed with words of obscure meaning, which were im-
mediately interpreted to the crowd by persons in the secret. The
voice was believed to be superhuman, the voice of the Holy Ghost
warning a wicked and incredulous generation. The imposture was
carried on in the following manner. A man in the crowd called out,
" God save the queen ;" the voice was silent. Then another would
exclaim, " God save the princess." Amen, in a loud shrill voice
would appear to issue from the wall. Others followed, propounding
questions respecting the prince of Spain, the Spanish match, the
mass, and the several practices in the Catholic worship ; to all which,
answers were returned from the wall in abusive and seditious lan-
guage. On the second or third day, the crowd attracted by this
wonder was calculated at between fifteen and twenty thousand
persons (Mar. 14), but the lord admiral, at the head of the guards,
cleared the street, and the lord mayor followed, accompanied by two
hundred workmen, who immediately began to demolish the wall.
They had not proceeded far, when the spirit, assuming a bodily form,
crept out of a secret recess ; and was found to be a young woman of
eighteen, by name Elizabeth Crofts. She was made to confess the
imposture publicly at St. Paul's Cross, and to name her accomplices.
— Renard, Mar. 14. Strype, iii. 99, 136. Stowe, 624. Holings.
1117.
1 Noailles, iii. 195, 211, 240, 251. The geographical blunders of
this minister are often amusing. On two occasions he informs his
court that the queen is going to reside at York, because York is
situated in the neighbourhood of Bristol, where the prince of Spain
intends to land. — iii. 96.
LANDING OF PHILIP. 445
that husband in a short time arrived. He had sailed CHAP.
v.
from Corunna, and in seven days came within sight A.D. 1554.
of Southampton, escorted by the combined fleets of Juj~Ji3.
England, the Netherlands, and Spain. The morning ^ *•>•
after his arrival, the lords of the council, with a nu-
merous retinue, proceeded to the fleet, and Philip,
accompanied by the dukes of Alva and Medina Cell,
the admiral of Castile, and Don Ruy Gomez, his go-
vernor, entered the royal yacht, where he was received
by the duke of Norfolk and the earls of Arundel,
Shrewsbury, and Derby. He had already sworn to
the articles of the treaty, in presence of the lords
Bedford and Fitzwalter, the English ambassadors :
he now took an oath before the council, to observe
the laws, customs, and liberties of the realm. The
moment he set his foot on the beach, he was invested
with the insignia of the order of the Garter ; and
instantly a royal salute was fired by the batteries and
the ships in the harbour. The queen had sent him a
Spanish genet, richly caparisoned ; and, as he rode
first to the church, and thence to his lodging, the
people crowded around him to see the husband of
their sovereign. His youth, the grace of his person,1
the pleasure displayed in his countenance, charmed
the spectators : they saluted him with cries of " God
" save your grace ;" and he, turning on either side,
expressed his thankfulness for their congratulations.
Before he dismissed the English lords, he addressed
them in a Latin speech. It was not, he said, want
of men or of money, that had drawn him from his
own country. But God had called him to marry
1 " He is so well proportioned of bodi, arme, legge, and every
"othere limme to the same, as nature cannot worke a more parfect
" paterae." — Elder apud Andrews, i. 20.
446 MARY.
CHAP, their virtuous sovereign, and he was come to live
A.D. 1554. among them, not as a foreigner, but as a native Eng-
lishman. He received with pleasure their assurances
of faith and loyalty ; and promised, in return, that
they should always find him a grateful, affable, and
affectionate prince. Then turning to the Spanish
lords, he expressed a wish that, while they remained
in England, they would conform to the customs of
England ; and to give the example, drank farewell to
the company in a tankard of ale, a beverage which
he then tasted for the first time.1
Philip before he left Southampton, ordered his fleet
to sail to Flanders, and sent to the queen a present
of jewels, valued at one hundred thousand crowns.
July 25. On the festival of St. James, the patron saint of
Spain, the marriage was celebrated in the cathedral
church at Winchester, before crowds of noblemen
collected from every part of Christendom, and with a
magnificence which has seldom been surpassed.2 Im-
mediately before the ceremony, Figueroa, an imperial
counsellor, presented to Gardiner, the officiating pre-
late, two instruments, from which he said it would
appear that his sovereign, thinking it beneath the
dignity of so great a queen to marry one who was not
a king, had resigned to his son the crown of Naples
with the duchy of Milan. The bishop before he pro-
ceeded to the marriage ceremony, read aloud these
cessions and the articles of the treaty. After the
mass, the king and queen left the church, under a
canopy, walking hand in hand, Mary on the right and
Philip on the left, with two naked swords borne
1 Noailles, iii. 284. Contin. of Fabyan, 561. Pollini, 362.
Rosso, 59.
2 See a description of the whole ceremony in Rosso, p. 61.
MARRIAGE OF PHILIP AND MARY. 447
before them. They dined in public, in the episcopal CHAP.
palace ; and several days were devoted to feasting and A.D. 1554,
rejoicings.1 From Winchester the royal pair pro-
ceeded, by slow journeys, to Windsor and the metro-
polis. The city had been beautified at considerable
expense, and the most splendid pageants had been
devised to welcome their arrival. If external appear-
ances could be taken for proofs of internal feeling,
the king and queen might justly flatter themselves
that they reigned in the hearts and affections of their
subjects.
The facility with which Mary had effected her
marriage showed how much the failure of the insur-
rection had added to the power of her government ;
and she immediately resolved to attempt that which
she had long considered an indispensable duty, the
restoration of the religious polity of the kingdom to
that state in which it existed at the time of her birth.
The reader will recollect that in her first parliament
she had prudently confined her efforts to the public
re-establishment of the ancient form of worship. The
statute was carried into execution on the appointed
day, almost without opposition ; the married clergy,
according to the provisions of the canon law, were
removed from their benefices ;2 and Gardiner, with
the secret approbation of the pontiff, had consecrated
1 No one but the bishop dined at the same table with the king and
queen. On one side was placed a cupboard, containing, for show,
ninety-six large vases of gold and silver. As soon as dinner was
over, the tables were removed ; and the rest of the day was spent in
dancing.— Pollini, 373. Cabrera, 20. Rosso, 70.
2 The canon law had been restored to its former authority by the
repeal of the nine statutes in the last parliament. The clergymen
who were removed might, by conforming, recover their benefices. —
If we may judge of other dioceses from that of Canterbury, the
number of married was to that of unmarried clergymen as one to
five.— Harmer, 138.
448 MARY.
CHAP. Catholic prelates to supersede the few Protestant
A.D. is54. bishops who remained in possession of their sees.1
Thus one-half of the measure had been already ac-
complished ; the other, the recognition of the papal
supremacy, a more hazardous task, was intrusted to
the care and dexterity of the chancellor. There were
two classes of men from whom he had to fear opposi-
tion; those who felt conscientious objections to the
authority of the pontiff, and those who were hostile to
it from motives of interest. The former were not
formidable either by their number or their influence ;
for the frequent changes of religious belief had gene-
rated in the higher classes an indifference to religious
truth. Their former notions had been unsettled ;
and no others had been firmly planted in their place.
Unable or unwilling to compare the conflicting argu-
ments of polemics, they floated on a sea of uncertainty,
ready at all times to attach themselves to any form of
religion which suited their convenience or interest.8
But the second class comprised almost every opulent
family in the kingdom. They had all shared the
plunder of the church : they would never consent to
1 They were seven ; Holgate of York, Taylor of Lincoln, Hooper
of Worcester, Harley of Hereford, Ferrar of St. David's, Bush of
Bristol, and Bird of Chester. Some of them had married ; some had
been consecrated according to the new ordinal, which was held to be
insufficient ; and all had accepted their bishoprics to hold them at
the pleasure of the crown, with the clause, quam diu bene se gesse-
rint. On one, or other, or all of these grounds, they were deprived.
— Rym. xv. 370, 371.
2 This is the character of the English gentry and nobility at this
period, as it is drawn by Renard, Noailles, and the Venetian ambas-
sador, in their despatches. The latter represents them as without
any other religion than interest, and ready at the call of the sovereign
to embrace Judaism or Mohammedanism. II medesimo fariano
della Macometana, ove della Judaea, purche il re mostrassi di credere
e volere cosi, e accommodariansi a tutte, ma a quella piu facilmente
della quale ne sperassero over maggior licentia e liberta di vivere o
vero qualche utilta — MSS. Barber. 1208.
PROJECT OF REUNION WITH ROME. 449
the restoration of that jurisdiction which might call CHAP.
in question their right to their present possessions. A.D. is54.
Hence Gardiner saw that it was necessary, in the first
place, to free them from apprehension, and, for that
purpose, to procure from the pontiff a bull confirming
all past alienation of the property of the church.
This subject had from the commencement been
urged on the consideration of the court of Rome.
At first Pole, the legate, had been authorized " to
" treat, compound, and dispense," with the holders of
ecclesiastical property, as to the rents and profits
which they had hitherto received ; afterwards, this
power was extended from rents and profits, to lands,
tenements, and tithes. But Gardiner was not satis-
fied.1 He knew it to be the opinion of Pole that all June 29.
the property belonging to the parochial livings ought
to be restored ; and he feared that the words " to
" treat, compound, and dispense," might furnish the
cardinal with a pretext to call individuals before his
tribunal. The imperial court entered into the views
of the English minister; and it was determined to
detain the cardinal in Flanders,2 while Manriquez
explained the difficulty to the pontiff, in the name
of Philip and Mary. Julius, having consulted his
canonists and divines, assured the envoy that the
wishes of the king and queen should be gratified, and
shortly afterwards signed a bull, empowering the Oct. 5.
legate to give, alienate, and transfer to the present
1 Burnet, iii. Rec. 222.
2 The cardinal had been allowed to go to Brussels, and thence to
Paris, to offer the papal mediation in the war between the emperor
and the king of France. While he was there, a letter was written
to Mary by some one in his suite, dissuading her from the marriage
with Philip. Charles attributed it to the cardinal, and from th^t
moment treated him with neglect.
VOL. V. 2 G
A.
450 MARY-
possessors all property, moveable or immovable, which
had been torn from the church during the reigns of
_ i-i i
Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
The parliament had been convoked for the middl.
of November. Mary no longer regarded the murmurs
of the discontented ; she was assured of the concur-
rence of the Peers ; and, to lessen the chance of o]
position in the Commons, had ordered the sheriffs t
recommend to the electors those candidates who were
distinguished by their attachment to the ancient faith.-
The procession was opened by the commoners ;
peers and prelates followed ; and next came
and Mary, in robes of purple, the king on horseback,
attended by the lords of his household, the queen in a
litter, followed by the ladies of her establishment.
The chancellor, having taken his place in front of i
throne, addressed the two houses. The queens firs
parliament, he said, had re-established the ancient
worship, her second had confirmed the articles of her
marriage ; and their majesties expected that the third
in preference to every other object, would accomplish
the reunion of the realm with the universal church
As a preliminary step, a bill was introduced to repeal
the attainder of Cardinal Pole. It was passed wit
the greatest expedition, and the next day
i There is a letter from Cardinal Morone »**+"£*£!%
*? iKE customary for the ministers to send such ^ruction,
It was done in Edward's reign (Lansdowne MbS. m. 19) , an,
in Elizabeth's (Strype, i. 32. Clarendon Papers, 9
ARRIVAL OF CARDINAL POLE. 451
and queen attended in person to give to it the royal CHAP.
assent.1 v.
mi i IT. A-D- I55
The lord Paget, and Sir Edward Hastings, with Sir NQ— 2
William Cecil, and a numerous train of gentlemen,
had already reached Brussels to conduct the legate to
England.* At Dover he was received by the lord
Montague and the bishop of Ely ; and, as he advanced,
his retinue was swelled by the accession of the country
gentlemen, till it amounted to eighteen hundred horse.
He entered his barge at Gravesend, where he was
presented, by the earl of Shrewsbury and the bishop
of Durham, with a copy of the act repealing his at-
tainder; and fixing his cross, the emblem of his
dignity, in the prow, he proceeded by water to West- Nov. 24.
minster. The chancellor received him on his landing,
the king at the gate of the palace, and the queen at
the head of the staircase. After a short conversation,
he retired to the archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth,
which had been prepared for his residence.3
In consequence of a royal message, the Lords and
Commons repaired to the court; and, after a few Nov.28.
words from the chancellor, Pole, in a long harangue,
returned them thanks for the act which they had
passed in his favour, exhorted them to repeal, in like
, had written a most
that m addition to his former powers, he had another bull from the
3 Strype, m. 157. Ep. Poli, v Ann 9Q1 qn7 «nn
ft
2 G 2
452 MARY.
CHAP, manner, all the statutes enacted in derogation of the
A.DVi554. papal authority, and assured them of every facility on
his part to effect the reunion of the church of Eng-
land with that of Rome.1 The chancellor, having
first taken the orders of the king and queen, replied,
that the two houses would deliberate apart, and signify
their determination on the following morning.
The motion for the reunion was carried almost by
acclamation. In the Lords every voice was raised in
its favour ; in the Commons, out of three hundred
members, two only demurred, and these desisted from
their opposition the next day.2 It was determined to
present a petition in the name of both houses to the
king and queen, stating, that they look back with
sorrow and regret on the defection of the realm from
the communion of the Apostolic See ; that they were
ready to repeal, as far as in them lay, every statute
which had either caused or supported that defection ;
and that they hoped, through the mediation of their
majesties, to be absolved from all ecclesiastical cen-
sures, and to be received into the bosom of the uni-
versal church.
Nov. so. On the following day, the feast of St. Andrew, the
queen took her seat on the throne. The king was
placed on her left hand, the legate, but at greater
distance, on her right. The chancellor read the
1 Burnet tells us, that the queen was so much affected, that she
mistook her emotion for the " quickening of a child in her belly "
(ii. 292). The fact took place four days before. She sent Lord
Montague to inform the legate, che infino allora ella non havea
voluta confessare apertamente d' esser gravida ; ma que nella giunta
de sua S. R. s' havea sentito muover la creatura nel ventre, e pero
non lo poteva piu negare. On the 27th, it was publicly announced
by a circular from the council. — Foxe, iii. 88. Noailles, iv. 23.
2 Sir Ralph Bagnal (Strype, iii. 204) had refused to vote ; the
other grounded his objection on the oath of supremacy which he had
taken. — Ep. Poli, v. App. 314.
DECREE OF THE LEGATE. 453
petition to their majesties ; they spoke to the cardinal ; CHAP.
and he, after a speech of some duration, absolved " all A.D. 1554.
" those present, and the whole nation, and the domin-
" ions thereof, from all heresy and schism, and all
"judgments, censures, and penalties for that cause
" incurred ; and restored them to the communion of
" holy church in the name of the Father, Son, and
" Holy Ghost." " Amen," resounded from every part
of the hall ; and the members, rising from their knees,
followed the king and queen into the chapel, where
Te Deum was chanted in thanksgiving for the event.1
The next Sunday the legate, at the invitation of the
citizens, made his public entry into the metropolis;
and Gardiner preached at St. Paul's Cross the cele-
brated sermon, in which he lamented in bitter terms
his conduct under Henry VIII., and exhorted all, who
had fallen through his means, or in his company, to
rise with him, and seek the unity of the Catholic
church.2
To proceed with this great work, the two houses
and the convocation simultaneously presented separate
petitions to the throne. That from the Lords and
Commons requested their majesties to obtain from the
legate all those dispensations and indulgences which
the innovations made during the schism had rendered
1 Poll Ep. v. App. 315—318. Foxe, 91. Journal of Com-
mons, 38.
2 This sermon is noticed by Foxe, iii. 92. A Latin translation of
it may be seen inter Ep. Poli, v. 293, 300. Gardiner asserts, that
Henry VIII., during the rebellion in 1536, entertained serious
thoughts of seeking a reconciliation with the pontiff; and that in
1541, he employed him and Knyvett, during the diet at Ratisbon, to
solicit secretly the mediation of the emperor for that purpose. They
were, however, discovered, and Gardiner was accused of holding
communication with Contarini, the papal legate. Henry was care-
ful to hush up the matter. See some account of it in Foxe, who
knew not of Gardiner's commission, Foxe, iii. 448, 449.
454 MARY.
CHAP, necessary, and particularly such as might secure the
A.DVi554. property of the church to the present possessors with-
— out scruple of conscience, or impeachment from the
ecclesiastical courts. The other, from the clergy,
stated their resignation of all right to those possessions
of which the church had been deprived ; and their
readiness to acquiesce in every arrangement to be
made by the legate. His decree was soon afterwards
Dec. 24. published: 1. That all cathedral churches, hospi-
tals, and schools founded during the schism, should
be preserved ; 2. That all persons, who had contracted
marriage within the prohibited degrees without dis-
pensation, should remain married ; 3. That all judicial
processes, made before the ordinaries, or in appeal
before delegates, should be held valid ; and 4. That
the possessors of church property should not, either
now or hereafter, be molested, under pretence of any
canons of councils, decrees of popes, or censures of the
church ; for which purpose, in virtue of the authority
vested in him, he took from all spiritual courts and
judges the cognizance of these matters, and pro-
nounced, beforehand, all such processes and judgments
invalid and of no effect.i
1 The next year, on the 14th of July, Paul IV. published a bull,
condemning and revoking, in general terms, the alienations of church
property to secular uses. — Burnet, iii. Rec. 3. This bull, however,
did not regard the late proceedings in England ; for, egli dichiara di
parlare di quelle alienazioni, che si erano fatte senza le dovute
solennita. — Becchetti, Istoria, x. 197. But, to prevent doubts on
the subject, Pole obtained from him a bull expressly excepting the
church property in England from the operation of the second bull,
qua hujus regni bona ecclesiastica ab ejus sanctitatis revocatione
nominatim excipiuntur (Poli Ep. v. 42, Sept. 16, 1555) ; and also
" confirming his doings respecting assurance of abbey lands, &c." —
Journal of Commons, 42. It was read to both houses at the opening
of parliament on the 23rd of October. Besides this, the cardinal
obtained from him a breve declaratorium ejus bullae, qua bonorum
ecclesiasticorum alienationes rescinduntur, et confirmatorium eorum,
quae majestatibus vestris remisi. — Poli Ep. v. 85.
ALIENATION OF CHURCH LANDS. 455
In the meantime a joint committee of Lords and CHAP.
Commons had been actively employed in framing a A.D. 1555.
most important and comprehensive bill, which de- jan. 4.
serves the attention of the reader, from the accuracy
\vith which it distinguishes between the civil and
ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and the care with which
it guards against any encroachment on the part of
the latter. It first repeals several statutes by name,
and then, in general, all clauses, sentences, and articles
in every other act of parliament made since the
twentieth of Henry VIII. against the supreme au-
thority of the pope's holiness or see apostolic.1 It
next recites the two petitions, and the dispensation
of the legate ; and enacts, that every article in that
dispensation shall be reputed good and effectual in
law, and may be alleged and pleaded in all courts
spiritual and temporal. It then proceeds to state that,
though the legate hath by his decree taken away all
matter of impeachment, trouble, or danger to the
holders of church property, from any canon, or decree
of ecclesiastical judge or council ; yet, because the
title of lands and hereditaments in this realm is
grounded on the laws and customs of the same, and
to be tried and judged in no other courts than those
of their majesties, it is therefore enacted, by authority
1 Most readers have very confused and incorrect notions of the
jurisdiction which the pontiff, in virtue of his supremacy, claimed to
exercise within the realm. From this act, and the statutes which it
repeals, it follows, that that jurisdiction was comprised under the
following heads: 1. He was acknowledged as chief bishop of the
Christian church, with authority to reform and redress heresies,
errors, and abuses within the same. 2. To him belonged the in-
stitution or confirmation of bishops elect. 3. He could grant to
clergymen licenses of non -residence, and permission to hold more
than one benefice, with cure of souls. 4. He dispensed with the
canonical impediments of matrimony ; and, 5. He received appeals
from the spiritual courts.
456 MARY.
CHAP, of parliament, that all such possessors of church pro-
A.D. 1555. perty shall hold the same in manner and form as they
would have done had this act never been made ; and,
that any person who shall molest such possessors by
process out of any ecclesiastical court, either within or
without the realm, shall incur the penalty of premunire.
Next it provides, that all papal bulls, dispensations,
and privileges, not containing matter prejudicial to the
royal authority, or to the laws of the realm, may be
put in execution, used, and alleged in all courts what-
soever ; and concludes by declaring, that nothing in
this act shall be explained to impair any authority or
prerogative belonging to the crown in the twentieth
year of Henry VIII. ; that the pope shall have and
enjoy, without diminution or enlargement, the same
authority and jurisdiction which he might then have
lawfully exercised ; and that the jurisdiction of the
bishops shall be restored to that state in which it
existed at the same period. In the Lords, the bill
was read thrice in two days ; in the Commons, it was
passed after a sharp debate on the third reading.1
Thus was re-established in England the whole system
of religious polity which had prevailed for so many
centuries before Henry VIII.
The French ambassador had persuaded himself that
the great object of the emperor was to employ the
1 Stat. iv. 246 — 254. From the Journals it appears that the
subject of discussion was not so much the substance of the bill, as
some of its provisions involving particular interests. In the Lords,
Bonner, bishop of London, voted against it ; the Commons added two
provisions respecting lands to be hereafter given to the church, and
the recovery of those already taken from it ; and requested the
erasure of nineteen lines regarding the bishop of London and the
lord Wentworth. The Lords agreed, and the chancellor cut out the
nineteen lines with a knife ; yet the lord Montague, and the bishops
of London, and Lichfield and Coventry, voted against the bill in its
amended shape. — Journals, 484.
ACT OF GRACE.
457
resources of England against his adversary the king of CHAP.
France ; and that the fondness of Mary for her bus- A.D. 1*555.
band would induce her to gratify all his wishes, let
them be ever so illegal or unjust. On this account,
he continued to intrigue with the factious ; he warned
them that England would soon become a province
under the despotic government of Spain ; he exhorted
them to be on the watch, to oppose every measure
dictated by Philip, and to preserve, at every personal
risk, their liberties for their children, and the succession
to the crown for the true heir. In his despatches to
his court, he described the discontent of the nation as
wound up to the highest pitch ; the embers of revolt,
he said, were still alive ; in a few months, perhaps a
few weeks, the flame would burst forth with redoubled
violence.1 But he mistook his wishes for realities ;
his information frequently proved erroneous ; and his
predictions were belied by the event. In the present
parliament, he assured his sovereign, that, in pursuance
of the emperor's plan, the queen would ask for a
matrimonial crown for her husband, would place the
whole power of the executive government in his hands,
and would seek to have him declared presumptive heir
to the crown. What projects she might have formed,
we know not ; but it would be rash to judge of her
intentions from the malicious conjectures of Noailles ;
and the fact is, that no such measures as he describes
were ever proposed. The two houses, however, joined
in a petition to Philip, that, " if it should happen to
1 Noailles, iii. 318 ; iv. 27, 62, 76, 153. This ambassador found
that he had failed in the object of his mission, in his intrigues with
the discontented, and in the predictions with which he had amused
his court. After this, his chagrin, and his hatred of the queen and
her advisers, betray themselves in almost every page of his despatches,
and detract much from the credit which might otherwise be given to
his representations.
458 MARY.
CHAP. " the queen otherwise than well, in the time of her
A.DVi555. " travail, he would take upon himself the government
" of the realm during the minority of her majesty's
" issue, with the rule, order, education, and govern-
" ment of the said issue." The king signified his
Jan. 16. assent; and an act passed, intrusting to him the
government, till the child, if a female, were fifteen, if
a male, eighteen years old ; making it high treason to
imagine or compass his death, or attempt to remove
him from the said government and guardianship ; and
binding him, in the execution of his office, to all the
conditions and restrictions which were contained in
the original treaty of marriage.1
The dissolution of the parliament was followed by
an unexpected act of grace. The lord chancellor,
accompanied by several members of the council, pro-
jau. is. ceeded to the Tower, called before him the state
prisoners, still confined on account of the attempts
of Northumberland and Wyat, and informed them
that the king and queen had, at the intercession of
the emperor, ordered them to be discharged.2 The
1 Noailles, iv. 137. Stat. of Realm, iv. 255. An unusual
circumstance occurred about the close of the session. It was cus-
tomary for both houses to adjourn at Christmas over the holidays ;
and several members had sent for their servants and horses to visit
their families during the recess. But on the 22nd of December
orders were issued, that neither Lords nor Commons should depart
before the end of the parliament. The two houses continued to sit,
but thirty-seven members of the lower absented themselves, in op-
position to the royal command. A bill for the punishment of such
knights and burgesses as should neglect their duty passed the Com-
mons ; but the day after it had been read the first time in the Lords,
the parliament was dissolved. Griffith, however, the attorney-
general, indicted the offenders in the King's Bench. Six submitted,
the rest traversed, and the matter was suffered to die away. Lord
Coke represents them as seceding on account of their attachment to
the reformed church. — See Cobbett's Parliamentary History, i. 625,
and the Journals, p. 41.
2 They were Holgate, archbishop of York, Ambrose, Robert,
ELIZABETH AND COURTENAY. 459
same favour was extended to Elizabeth and Courtenay. CHAP.
The earl, having paid his respects to Philip and Mary, A.D. 1*555.
received a permission, equivalent to a command, to
travel for his improvement ; and having remained for
some time in the imperial court at Brussels, proceeded
to Italy, with recommendatory letters from Philip to
the princes of that country. It was reported that the
queen proposed at the same time to send Elizabeth to
Spain, that she might reside in some convent, but was
dissuaded by the policy of her husband, who, as he
had married to secure the aid of England in defence
of his dominions in the Netherlands, against the am-
bitious designs of the French monarch, now brought
forward his wife's sister as presumptive heir to the
crown, in opposition to Mary of Scotland, about to be
married to the dauphin of France. On the departure
of Courtenay, Elizabeth reappeared at court. By the
king and queen she was treated with kindness and dis-
tinction ; and, after a visit of some months, returned
to her own house in the country.1 Philip made her
a present of a diamond valued at four thousand
ducats ; to Mary he had given another valued at
eight thousand.2
In consequence of the act restoring the exercise of
the papal authority in England, the viscount Mon-
tague, the bishop of Ely, and Sir Edward Carne had
been appointed ambassadors to the Roman see. But Feb. is.
they had not proceeded far on their journey when
Julius died. In the preceding conclave the cardinal March 23.
Farnese had employed his influence to raise Pole to
Henry, and Andrew Dudley, sons to the late duke of Northumber-
land, James Croft, Nicholas Throckmorton, &c.
1 See the reports of Michele and Soriano to the Venetian senate ;
also Cabrera, 28.
2 Fenclar's Despatches, iii. 324.
460 MARY.
CHAP, the papacy ; he had even obtained one evening the
A.D. 1555. requisite number of votes ; but the English cardinal,
irresolute and unambitious, bade him wait till the fol-
lowing morning, and on that morning another can-
didate was proposed and chosen. On the present
vacancy Farnese espoused again the interests of his
friend : he procured from the French king letters in
favour of Pole ; and hastened with these documents
April 9. from Avignon to Rome. Before his arrival, at the
very opening of the conclave, Cervini was unanimously
elected, — a prelate whose acknowledged merit awak-
ened the most flattering expectations. But the new
pontiff, who had taken the name of Marcellus II.,
April 30. died within one and twenty days ; and the friends of
Pole laboured a third time to honour him with the
tiara. Philip and Mary and Gardiner employed letters
and messengers : the French king, though it was sus-
pected that he secretly gave his interest to the car-
dinal of Ferrara, promised his best services; and
Farnese, without waiting for new credentials, exhi-
bited the letters which he had brought to the last
conclave. But the cardinals, as well in the imperial
as in the French interest, refused their voices; the
former believing from past events that Pole was in
secret an object of suspicion to their sovereign, the
latter alleging that they could not vote without new
instructions in his favour. Had he been present, he
might have obtained the requisite majority of suf-
May 23. frages ; in his absence Caraffa was chosen, and took
the name of Paul IV. On the very day of the coro-
June 5. nation of this pontiff, the English ambassadors reached
Rome. Pole had foreseen that the new title of king
and queen of Ireland, assumed by Philip and Mary,
in imitation of Henry and Edward, might create some
difficulty, and had therefore requested that Ireland
EMBASSY TO ROME. 461
might be declared a kingdom before the arrival of the CHAP.
ambassadors.1 But the death of Julius, succeeded by A.D. "1555.
that of Marcellus, had prevented those pontiffs from
complying with his advice; and the first act of the
new pope, after his coronation, was to publish a bull. June 7.
by which, at the petition of Philip and Mary, he raised
the lordship of Ireland to the dignity of a kingdom.2
Till this had been done, the ambassadors waited with-
out the city: three days later they were publicly Juneio.
introduced. They acknowledged the pontiff as head
of the universal church, presented to him a copy of
the act 'by which his authority had been re-established,
and solicited him to ratify the absolution pronounced
by the legate, and to confirm the bishoprics erected
during the schism. Paul received them with kind-
ness, and granted their requests. Lord Montague and
the bishop of Ely were dismissed with the usual pre-
sents ; Carne remained as resident ambassador.3
1 Poll Ep. 1. v. ep. 5.
2 See the bull in Bsovius, Ann. Eccl. torn. xx. p. 301 ; and the
extract from Act. Consistorial. inter Poli Ep. v. 136. It was sealed
with lead ; but Pole was careful to procure a second copy sealed with
gold. (Ibid. 42. Such was the custom. Thus the bull giving to
Henry VIII. the title of Defender of the Faith has a gold seal to it.)
As the natives of Ireland had maintained that the kings of England
originally held Ireland by the donation of Adrian IV., and had lost
it by their defection from the communion of Rome, the council deli-
vered the second bull to Dr. Carey, the new archbishop of Dublin,
with orders that it should be deposited in the treasury, after copies
had been made, and circulated throughout the island. — Extract from
Council Book, Archaeol. xviii. 183.
3 The ambassadors had acted under the authority originally given
to them, to negotiate with the late pontiff; but after the departure
of Lord Montague other credentials arrived, by which they were
deputed ambassadors to the new pope. The bishop and Carne, in
consequence, went through the former ceremonial a second time, but
in a private consistory, on June 21. — See Paul's letter to the king
and queen, Poli Ep. v. 136 — 139. A very erroneous statement of
the whole transaction has been copied from Fra Paolo by most of our
historians : the above is taken from the original documents furnished
by Pole's letters.
462
CHAPTER VI.
PERSECUTION OF THE REFORMERS SUFFERINGS OF RIDLEY AND LATI-
MER RECANTATIONS AND DEATH OF CRANMER DURATION AND
SEVERITY OF THE PERSECUTION DEPARTURE OF PHILIP DEATH
OF GARDINER SURRENDER BY THE CROWN OF TENTHS AND FIRST-
FRUITS TREASONABLE ATTEMPTS WAR WITH FRANCE AND SCOT-
LAND VICTORY AT ST. QUINTIN—LOSS OF CALAIS — DEATH AND
CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN.
CHAP. IT was the lot of Mary to live in an age of religious
A.D. 1555 intolerance, when to punish the professors of erroneous
doctrine was inculcated as a duty, no less by those
who rejected, than by those who asserted the papal
authority.1 It might perhaps have been expected
that the reformers, from their sufferings under Henry
VIII., would have learned to respect the rights of
conscience. Experience proved the contrary. They
had no sooner obtained the ascendancy during the
short reign of Edward, than they displayed the same
persecuting spirit which they had formerly condemned,
burning the Anabaptist, and preparing to burn the
Catholic at the stake, for no other crime than adher-
ence to religious opinion. The former, by the existing
law, was already liable to the penalty of death ; the
latter enjoyed a precarious respite, because his belief
had not yet been pronounced heretical by any acknow-
1 This is equally true of the foreign religionists. — See Calvin, de
supplicio Serveti ; Beza, de Haereticis a civili magistratu puniendis ;
and Melancthon, in locis Com. c. xxxii. de Ecclesia.
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE OF THE AGE. 403
ledged authority. But the zeal of Archbishop Cranmer CHAP.
observed and supplied this deficiency ; and in the code AiTX 1555)
of ecclesiastical discipline which he compiled for the
government of the reformed church, he was careful
to class the distinguishing doctrines of the ancient
worship with those more recently promulgated by
Muncer and Socinus. By the new canon law of the
metropolitan, to believe in transubstantiation, to admit
the papal supremacy, and to deny justification by faith
only, were severally made heresy ; and it was ordained
that individuals accused of holding heretical opinions
should be arraigned before the spiritual courts, should
be excommunicated on conviction ; and after a respite
of sixteen days should, if they continued obstinate, be
delivered to the civil magistrate, to suffer the punish-
ment provided by law.1 Fortunately for the profes-
1 Ad extremum ad civilem magistratum ablegatur puniendus. —
Reform, leg. cont. Hseret. c. 3. To elude the inference which may
be drawn from this passage, it has been ingeniously remarked, that
" there is a wide interval between the infliction of punishment and
" the privation of life." — Mackintosh, ii. 318, not. But, 1. even
then, this passage establishes the principle of religious persecution,
that it is the duty of the civil magistrate to inflict punishment on
heretics condemned by ecclesiastical authority. 2. There cannot
be a doubt that the punishment here contemplated is the privation
of life. Such was the meaning of the words in the legal phraseology
of the age. For this we have the testimony of Cranmer himself, who
must be the best interpreter of his own language. When he con-
demned Anne Bocher to be delivered to the civil magistrate, and
officially informed Edward that she was to be deservedly punished
(condigna animadversione plectendam — Wilk. Con. iv. 44), what was
the punishment which he prevailed on the reluctant prince to inflict ?
Death by burning. When he pronounced the same sentence on Van
Parris, and gave similar information to the king (animadversione
yestra regia puniendum — Ibid. iv. 45), what did the word puniendum
import? Death by burning. Again, it has been remarked that
in a MS. copy which belonged to the archbishop (Harl. MSS.
426); after "puniendus" is added, in the hand, as is thought, of
Peter Martyr, vel ut in perpetuum pellatur exilium, vel ad seternas
carceris deprimatur tenebras (Todd, ii. 334). But it is plain that,
on revision, this suggestion was abandoned ; for it was omitted " in
464
MARY.
CHAP, sors of the ancient faith, Edward died before this code
A.D. 1555. had obtained the sanction of the legislature : by the
accession of Mary the power of the sword passed from
the hands of one religious party to those of the other ;
and within a short time Cranmer and his associates
perished in the flames which they had prepared to
kindle for the destruction of their opponents.
With whom the persecution under Mary originated
is a matter of uncertainty. By the reformed writers
the infamy of the measure is usually allotted to Gar-
diner, more, as far as I can judge, from conjecture
and prejudice than from real information. The charge
is not supported by any authentic document; it is
weakened by the general tenour of the chancellor's
conduct.1 All that we know with certainty is, that
" the later and more perfect draft of these laws, as they were com-
" pleted and finished in King Edward's reign, and were published by
" Archbishop Parker in 1571."— Strype, 134.
1 The only instance in which Gardiner was known to take any
part in the persecution will be mentioned later, and then he acted
in virtue of his office as chancellor. When at a later period Sir
Francis Hastings applied to him the epithet " bloody," Persons
indignantly answered : " Verely I beleeve that if a man should ask
any good-natured Protestant that lived in Queen Maries tyme, and
had both wit to judge and indifferency to speake the truthe without
passion, he will confesse that no one great man in that govern-
ment was further off from blood and bloodiness, or from crueltie
and revenge, than Bishop Gardiner, who was known to be a most
tender-harted and myld man in that behalf; in so much that it
was sometymes, and by some great personages, objected to him
for no small fault, to be ever full of compassion in the office and
charge that he bare : yea, to him especially it was imputed, that
none of the greatest and most knowen Protestantes in Queen
Maries reigne, were ever called to accompt, or put to trooble for
religion." — Ward-worde, p. 42. I add the following testimony
of Ascham : — " Noe bishop in Quene Marye's days wold have dealt
soe with me, for such estimac'on en those even the learnedst and
wisest men (as Gardiner, Heath, and Cardinal Poole) made of my
poore service, that although they knew perfectly that in religion
by open writing and privy talke I was contrary unto them, yett
' that, when Sir Francis Inglefield by name did note me specially at
' the councell board, Gardiner would not suffer me to be called
LAWS AGAINST HERESY. 465
after the queen's marriage this question was frequently
debated by the lords of the council ; and that their A.D. 1555.
final resolution was not communicated to her before
the beginning of November. Mary returned the fol-
lowing answer in writing : " Touching the punish-
" ment of heretics, we thinketh it ought to be done
" without rashness, not leaving in the mean time to
" do justice to such as, by learning, would seem to
" deceive the simple ; and the rest so to be used, that
" the people might well perceive them not to be con-
" demned without just occasion ; by which they shall
" both understand the truth, and beware not to do
" the like. And especially within London, I would
" wish none to be burnt without some of the council's
" presence, and both there and every where good
" sermons at the same time."1
Though it had been held in the last reign that by
the common law of the land heresy was a crime
punishable with death, it was deemed advisable to
revive the three statutes which had formerly been
enacted to suppress the doctrines of the Lollards.2 An
act for this purpose was brought into the Commons
in the beginning of the next year : every voice was in
thither, nor touched elsewhere, saying such words of me as in a
letter, though letters cannot blushe, yet should I blushe, to write
therein to your lo'pp — Winchester's good will stood not in speake-
ing fare, and wishing well, but he did indeed that forme, whereby
my wife and children shall live the better when I am gone." —
Roger Ascham to Lord Leicester, in Whitaker's History of Rich-
mondshire, p. 286. See also other instances of Gardiner's modera-
tion in Fuller, 1. viii. p. 17 ; and Strype's Life of Sir Thos. Smith,
p. 48, edit. 1820.
1 The date of this paper, which disproves the pretended dispute
between Gardiner and Pole in Hume, c. xxxvii., is evident from its
mentioning those who " have to talk with my lord cardinal at his
" first coming." It is in Collier, ii. 371. Of course Pole had not
yet arrived to hold the language attributed to him by the historian.
2 See this History, vol. iii. p. 469, 478 ; Stat. iv. 244.
VOL. V. 2 H
4G6 MARY.
CHAP, its favour ; and in the course of four days it had
VI
A.D. 1555. passed the two houses. The reformed preachers were
alarmed. The most eminent among them had long
since been committed to prison ; some as the accom-
plices of Northumberland, or Suffolk, or Wyat, others
for having presumed to preach without license, and
several on charges of disorderly or seditious conduct.
To ward off the impending danger, they composed
and forwarded petitions, including their confession of
faith, both to the king and queen, and to the lords
and commons assembled in parliament. In these
instruments they declare, that the canonical books of
the Old, and all the books of the New Testament, are
the true word of God ; that the Catholic church ought
to be heard, as being the spouse of Christ ; and that
those who refuse to hear her " obeying the word of
" her husband," are heretics and schismatics. They
profess to believe all the articles of doctrine " set
" forth in the symbols of the councils of Nice, of
" Constantinople, of Ephesus, of Chalcedon, and of
" the first and fourth of Toledo ; and in the creeds of
" the apostles, of Athanasius, of Irenaeus, of Tertullian,
" and of Damasus ; so that whosoever doth not believe
" generally and particularly the doctrine of those
" symbols, they hold him to err from the truth."
They reject free-will, merits, works of supererogation,
confession and satisfaction, the invocation of the saints,
and the use in the liturgy of an unknown tongue.
They admit two sacraments, — baptism, and the Lord's
supper ; but disallow transubstantiation, communion
under one kind, the sacrifice of the mass, and the
inhibition of marriage to the clergy. They offer to
prove the truth of their belief by public disputation ;
and are willing to submit to the worst of punish-
PERSECUTION. 467
ments, if they do not show that the doctrine of the CHAP.
church, the homilies, and the service set forth by King A..D. 1554,
Edward, are most agreeable to the articles of Chris-
tian faith. Lastly, they warn all men against sedition
and rebellion, and exhort them to obey the queen in
all matters which are not contrary to the obedience
due to God, and to suffer patiently as the will and
pleasure of the higher powers shall adjudge.1
While the ministers in prison sought to mollify
their sovereign by this dutiful address, their brethren
at liberty provoked chastisement by the intemperance
of their zeal. On the eve of the new year, Ross, a Dec. 31.
celebrated preacher, collected a congregation towards
midnight ; administered the communion, and openly
prayed that God would either convert the heart of
the queen, or take her out of this world. He was
surprised in the fact, and imprisoned with his dis- Jan. 16.
ciples ; and the parliament hastened to make it
treason to have prayed since the commencement of
the session, or to pray hereafter, for the queen's death.
It was, however, provided that all who had been
already committed for this offence might recover
their liberty, by making an humble protestation of
sorrow, and a promise of amendment.2
The new year opened to the reformed preachers
with a lowering aspect : before the close of the month
the storm burst on their heads. On the twenty- jan. 22.
second of January, the chancellor called before him
the chief of the prisoners, apprized them of the
statutes enacted in the last parliament, and put them
in mind of the punishment which awaited their dis-
obedience. In a few days the court was opened. Jan- 28.
1 Strype, iii. Rec. 42. Foxe, iii. 97.
2 Stat. of Realm, iv. 254.
2 H 2
468 MARY.
CHAP. Gardiner presided, and was attended by thirteen other
A. D. 1555. bishops, and a crowd of lords and knights. Six pri-
soners were called before them ; of whom one pre-
tended to recant; another petitioned for time; and
the other four, Hooper, the deprived bishop of Glou-
cester, Rogers, a prebendary of St. Paul's, Saunders,
rector of Allhallows, in London, and Taylor, rector of
Hadley, in Suffolk, replied, that their consciences
forbade them to subscribe to the doctrines now estab-
lished by law, and that the works of Gardiner himself
had taught them to reject the authority of the bishop
of Rome. A delay of twenty-four hours was offered
Jan. 29. them : on their second refusal they were excommuni-
cated ; and excommunication was followed by the
delivery of the recusants to the civil power. Rogers
Feb. 4. was the first victim. He perished at the stake in
Feb. s. Smithfield ; Saunders underwent a similar fate at
Feb. 9. Coventry, Hooper at Gloucester, and Taylor at Had-
ley. An equal constancy was displayed by all : and,
though pardon was offered them to the last moment,
they scorned to purchase the continuance of life by
feigning an assent to doctrines which they did 'not
believe. They were the protomartyrs of the reformed
church of England.
To give solemnity to these, the first prosecutions
under the revived statutes, they had been conducted
before the lord chancellor. But whether it was, that
Gardiner disapproved of the measure, or that he was
called away by more important duties, he never after-
wards took his seat on the bench, but transferred the
ungracious office, in the metropolis, to Bonner, bishop
of London. That prelate, accompanied by the lord
mayor and sheriffs, and several members of the council,
Feb. 9. excommunicated six other prisoners, and delivered
SERMON BY CASTRO. 469
them to the civil power. But the next day, Al- CI*fr'
phonso di Castro, a Spanish friar, confessor to A.D. 1555.
Philip, preached before the court, and, to the asto- Feb. 10.
nishment of his hearers, condemned these proceedings
in the most pointed manner. He pronounced them
contrary, not only to the spirit, but to the text of the
gospel : it was not by severity, but by mildness, that
men were to be brought into the fold of Christ ; and
it was the duty of the bishops, not to seek the death,
but to instruct the ignorance, of their misguided
brethren. Men were at a loss to account for this
discourse, whether it were spontaneous on the part
of the friar, or had been suggested to him by the
policy of Philip, or by the humanity of the cardinal,
or by the repugnance of the prelates. It made, how-
ever, a deep impression ; the execution of the pri-
soners was suspended ; the question was again debated
in the council, and five weeks elapsed before the March 16.
advocates of severity could obtain permission to re-
kindle the fires of Smithfield.1
It is not improbable that the revival of the persecu-
tion was provoked by the excesses which were, at this
time, committed by the fanaticism of some among the
gospellers,2 and by the detection of a new conspiracy
which had been organized in the counties of Cam-
bridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk. As soon as the ring-
leaders were arrested, and committed to the Tower, March is.
the magistrates received instructions to watch over
the public peace in their respective districts ; to ap-
prehend the propagators of seditious reports, the March 26.
preachers of erroneous doctrine, the procurers of secret
meetings, and those vagabonds who had no visible
1 Strype, iii. 209.
2 See examples in Strype, 210, 212.
470 MARY.
CHAP, means of subsistence ; to try, by virtue of a commission
A.D. 1555. of oyer and terminer, the prisoners charged with mur-
der, felony, and other civil offences ; and, with respect
to those accused of heresy, to reform them by admoni-
tion, but, if they continued obstinate, to send them
before the ordinary, that "they might by charitable
" instruction, be removed from their naughty opinions,
" or be ordered according to the laws provided in that
"behalf."1 In obedience to this circular, several of
the preachers, with the most zealous of their disciples,
were apprehended, and transmitted to the bishops,
who, in general, declined the odious task of proceed-
ing against them, on some occasions refusing, under
different pretexts, to receive the prisoners, on others,
__ suffering the charge to lie unheard until it was for-
gotten. This reluctance of the prelates was remarked
May 16. by the lord treasurer, the marquess of Winchester, who
May 24. complained to the council, and procured a reprimand
to be sent to Bonner, stating that the king and queen
marvelled at his want of zeal and diligence, and requir-
ing him to proceed according to law, for the advance-
ment of God's glory, and the better preservation of
the peace of the realm.2 The prelates no longer hesi-
1 Strype, iii. 213, 214. Burnet, ii. Rec. 283. Burnet tells us, ii.
347, and Hume gravely repeats the information, c. xxxvii., that this
was an attempt to introduce the Spanish inquisition. The difference
was immense. The magistrates were here commanded to send spi-
ritual offenders before the ordinary : it was the leading feature in the
inquisition, that it took the cognizance of spiritual offences from the
ordinary. In effect, the inquisition was not introduced into England
before the reign of Elizabeth, when the High Commission court was
established on similar principles, and, in a short time, obtained and
exercised the same powers as the Spanish inquisition. — See those
powers in Rymer, xvi. 291 — 297, 546 — 551.
2 Foxe, iii. 208. Strype, iii. 217. Burnet, ii. Rec. 285. From
this reprimand, I have been inclined to doubt whether Bonner really
deserved all the odium which has been heaped upon him. It cer-
tainly fell to his lot, as bishop of London, to condemn a great number
RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 471
tated ; and of the prisoners sent before them by the CHAP.
magistrates, many recanted, but many also refused to A.D. 1*555.
listen to their exhortations, and defied their authority.
Conviction followed conviction ; and the fate of one
victim served only to encourage others to imitate his
constancy. To describe the sufferings of each indivi-
dual would fatigue the patience, and torture the feel-
ings of the reader; I shall therefore content myself
with laying before him the last moments of Cranmer,
Ridley, and Latimer, the most distinguished among
the English reformers. During the preceding reign
they had concurred in sending the Anabaptists to the
stake : in the present they were compelled to suffer
the same punishment which they had so recently
inflicted.
The history of the archbishop has been sufficiently
detailed in the preceding pages. Ridley was born at
Wilmontswick in Tynedale, had studied at Cam-
bridge, Paris, and Louvain, and, on his return to Eng- 1529-
land, obtained preferment in the church by the favour
of the gospellers ; but I can find no proof that he was a persecutor
from choice, or went in search of victims. They were sent to him
by the council, or by commissioners appointed by the council (Foxe,
iii. 208, 210, 223, 317, 328, 344, 522, 588, 660, 723. Strype, iii.
239, 240) ; and as the law stood, he could not refuse to proceed, and
deliver them over to the civil power. He was, however, careful in
the proceedings to exact from the prisoners, and to put on record,
the names of the persons by whom, and a statement of the reasons for
which, they had been sent before him. — Foxe, iii. 514, 593. Several
of the letters from the council show that he stood in need of a
stimulus to goad him to the execution of this unwelcome office ; and
he complained much that he was compelled to try prisoners who were
not of his own diocese. " I am, " said he to Philpot, " right sorry
" for your trouble ; neither would I you should think that I am the
" cause thereof. I marvel that other men will trouble me with their
" matters, but I must be obedient to my betters. And I fear men
" speak of me otherwise than I deserve." — Foxe, iii. 462. Of the
council, the most active in these prosecutions, either from choice or
from duty, was the marquess of Winchester. — See Foxe, iii. 203,
208, 317.
472 MARY.
CHAP, of Cranmer. During the reign of Henry he imitated
A.D. 1*529. his patron, by conforming to the theological caprice
of the monarch ; but on the accession of Edward he
openly avowed his sentiments, and gave his valuable
Sept. 5. aid to the metropolitan. His services were rewarded
1550 Bishopric of Rochester, and, on the depriva-
Aprii i. tion of Bonner, with that of London ; and as, under
Henry, he had been employed to examine and detect
sacrament aries, so, under the son of Henry, he sat
in judgment at the condemnation of heretics.1 In
learning he was acknowledged superior to the other
reformed prelates ; and his refusal to avail himself of
the permission to marry, though he condemned not
the marriages of others, added to his reputation.
Unfortunately his zeal for the new doctrines led him
to support the treasonable projects of Northumber-
Juiy26. land; and his celebrated sermon against the claims
of Mary and Elizabeth furnished sufficient ground for
his committal to the Tower. There he had the weak-
ness to betray his conscience by conforming to the
ancient worship ; but his apostasy was severely lashed
by the pen of Bradford; and Ridley, by his speedy
repentance and subsequent resolution, consoled and
edified his afflicted brethren.2
Latimer, at the commencement of his career, dis-
played little of that strength of mind, or that stubborn-
ness of opinion, which we expect to find in the man
who aspires to the palm of martyrdom. He first
attracted notice by the violence of his declamations
against Melancthon and the German reformers ; then
professed himself their disciple and advocate; and
1 State Papers, i. 843. Wilk. Con. iv. 45.
2 " He never after polluted himself with that filthy dregs of anti-
" Christian service." — Foxe, iii. 836.
INVECTIVES OF LATIMER. 473
ended by publicly renouncing their doctrine, at the CHAP.
command of Cardinal Wolsey. Two years had not A.D. 1553.
elapsed, before he was accused of reasserting what he {^
had abjured. The archbishop excommunicated him
for contumacy ; and a tardy and reluctant abjuration 1531.
saved him from the stake. Again he relapsed; but
appealed from the bishops to the king. Henry re- 1532.
jected the appeal ; and Latimer on his knees acknow-
ledged his error, craved pardon of the convocation,
and promised amendment.1 He had, however, power-
ful friends at court, — Butts the king's physician, Crom-
well the vicar-general, and Anne Boleyn the queen
consort. By the last he was retained as chaplain.
Henry heard him preach ; and, delighted with the
coarseness of his invectives against the papal authority,
gave him the bishopric of Worcester. In this situa- 1535.
tion he was cautious not to offend by too open an
avowal of his opinions ; but the debate on the Six
Articles put his orthodoxy to the test ; and with
Cranmer he ventured to oppose the doctrine, but had 1539.
not the good fortune with Cranmer to lull the sus-
picion, of the royal theologian. Henry was, however, July i.
satisfied with his resignation of the bishopric, and
suffered him still to officiate as vicar of St. Bride's.
Yet there he contrived to involve himself in new
difficulties. He was brought with Crome and other May 9.
gospellers before the royal commissioners. They
boldly avowed their belief, and perished for it at the July 16.
stake ; he disguised his under evasive and ambiguous
language, which, though it deceived no one, saved him
from the fate of his colleagues.2 He was permitted to
850.
1 Foxe, iii. 379, 383. Wilk. Cone. iii. 748, 749.
2 See State Papers in the reign of Henry VIII., i. p. 846, 848,
474 MARY.
CHAP, languish in prison, till the death of the king and the
A.DVIi546. accession of Edward restored him to liberty and
recalled him to court. As preacher to the infant
monarch, he lashed with apparent indifference the
vices of all classes of men ; inveighed with intrepidity
against the abuses which already disfigured the new
church ; and painted in the most hideous or most
ludicrous colours the practices of the ancient worship.
His eloquence was bold and vehement, but poured
forth in coarse and sarcastic language, and seasoned
with quaint conceits, low jests, and buffoonery. Such,
however, as it was, it gratified the taste of his hearers ;
and the very boys in the streets, as he proceeded to
preach, would follow at his heels, exclaiming, " Have
" at them, Father Latimer, have at them." But it
was his misfortune, as it was that of Ridley, to aban-
don, on some occasions, theological for political sub-
jects. During the reign of Edward, he treated in the
pulpit the delicate question of the succession, and
pronounced it better that God should take away the
ladies Mary and Elizabeth, than that, by marrying
foreign princes, they should endanger the existence of
Sept. is. the reformed church. The same zeal probably urged
him to similar imprudence in the beginning of Mary's
reign, when he was imprisoned, by order of the council,
on a charge of sedition.1
March '10. From the Tower Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer,
after the insurrection of Wyat, were conducted to
Oxford, and ordered to confer on controverted points
with the deputies of the convocation and of the two
April 13. universities. The disputation was held in public on
three successive days. Cranmer was severely pressed
with passages from the fathers; Ridley maintained
1 Strype, iii. 131. Foxe, iii. 385.
DISPUTATION AT OXFORD. 475
Lis former reputation ; and Latimer excused himself, CHAP.
on the plea of old age, of disuse of the Latin tongue, A.DVi*553.
and of weakness of memory. In conclusion, Weston
the moderator decided in favour of his own church ;
and the hall resounded with cries of " vincit veritas;"
but the prisoners wrote in their own vindication to
the queen, maintaining that they had been silenced
by the noise, not by the arguments, of their oppo-
nents.1 Two days later they were again called before
Weston ; and, on their refusal to conform to the April 20.
established church, were pronounced obstinate here-
tics. From that moment they lived in daily expec-
tation of the fate which awaited them ; but eighteen
months were suffered to elapse before Brookes, bishop Sept. 12.
of Gloucester, as papal sub-delegate, and Martin and
Story as royal commissioners, arrived at Oxford, and
summoned the archbishop before them.2 The provi-
sions of the canon law were scrupulously observed ;
Cranmer had been served, as a matter of form, with Sept. n.
a citation to answer before the pontiff in the course
of eighty days, — a distinction which he owed to his
office of archbishop ; his companions, having appeared
twice before the bishops of Lincoln, Gloucester, and Sept. so.
Bristol, as commissioners of the legate, and twice
refused to renounce their opinions, were degraded
1 Cranmer, in his letter to the council, says : " I never knewe nor
heard of a more confused disputation in all my life. For albeit
there was one appoynted to dispute agaynste me, yet every man
spake hys mynde, and brought forth what hym liked without order,
and such hast was made, that no answer could be suffered to be
given." — Letters of Martyrs in Eman. Coll. No. 60, let. 3. This
is an exact counterpart to the complaints of the Catholics respecting
similar disputations in the time of Edward.
2 From the proceedings it appears that Cranmer had been ar-
raigned for high treason, had pleaded guilty, and had received judg-
ment. He said, he had confessed more than was true. — Foxe apud
Wordsworth, iii. 533.
476 MARY.
CHAP, from the priesthood, and delivered to the secular
A.D. 1555. power. It was in vain that Soto, an eminent Spanish
Oct. i. divine, laboured to shake their resolution. Latimer
refused to see him ; Ridley was not convinced by his
reasoning.* At the stake, to shorten their sufferings,
bags of gunpowder were suspended from their necks.
Oct. 16. Latimer expired almost the moment that the fire was
kindled ; but Ridley was doomed to suffer the most
excruciating torments. To hasten his death, his bro-
ther-in-law had almost covered him with fagots ; but
the pressure checked the progress of the flames ; and
the lower extremities of the victim were consumed,
while the more vital parts remained untouched. One
of the bystanders, hearing him repeatedly exclaim,
that "he could not burn," opened the pile, and an
explosion of gunpowder almost immediately extin-
guished his life. It is said that the spectators were
reconciled to these horrors, by the knowledge that
every attempt had been previously made to save the
victims from the stake;2 the constancy with which
they suffered consoled the sorrow, and animated the
zeal, of their disciples.
From the window of his cell the archbishop had
seen his two friends led to execution. At the sight
his resolution began to waver ; and he let fall some
hints of a willingness to relent, and of a desire to
confer with the legate.3 But in a short time he reco-
Nov. 6. vered the tranquillity of his mind, and addressed, in
1 Alter ne loqui quidem cum eo voluit ; cum altero est locutus,
sed nihil profecit. — Pole to Philip, v. 47.
2 De ifiis supplicium est sumptum, non illibenter, ut ferunt, spec-
tante populo, cum cognitum fuisset nihil esse praetermissum, quod ad
eorum salutem pertmeret. — Ibid.
3 Is non ita se pertinacem ostendit, aitque se cupere mecum
loqui. — Ibid. Magnam spem initio dederat, eique veniam Polus ab
ipsa regina impetraverat. — Dudith, inter Ep. Poll, i. 143.
Dec u
RECANTATIONS OF CRANMER. 477
defence of his doctrine, a long letter to the queen CHU-
en at her request was answered by Cardinal Pole ' V'L '
At Rome, on the expiration of the eighty day, the A' — *'
royal proctors demanded judgment; and Paul, in a
private consistory, pronounced the usual sentence.'
The intelligence of this proceeding awakened the
terrors of the archbishop. He had not the fortitude
to look death in the face. To save his life he fe.Vned
himself a convert to the established creed, openly
condemned his past delinquency, and, stifling the
remorse of his conscience, in seven successive instru-
ments abjured the faith which he had taught, and
approved of that which he had opposed. He first
presented his submission to the council; and, as that
submission was expressed in ambiguous language, re-
placed it by another in more ample form. When the
bishops of London and Ely arrived to perform the
ceremony of his degradation, he appealed from the
judgment of the pope to a general council; but,
efore the prelates left Oxford, he sent them two
other papers; by the first of which he submitted to
all the statutes of the realm respecting the supremacy
and other subjects, promised to live in quietness and
obedience to the royal authority, and submitted his
book on the sacrament to the judgment of the church
and of the next general council; in the second he pro-
ved to believe on all points, and particularly re-
specting the sacraments, as the Catholic church then
believe, and always had believed from the be-
Feb. 16.
a rszzs f «« fa Foxe- a
478 MARY.
CHAP, ginning.1 To Ridley and Latimer life had been
A.D. 1556. offered, on condition that they should recant ; but
when the question was put, whether the same favour
might be granted to Cranmer, it was decided by the
council in the negative. His political offences, it was
said, might be overlooked ; but he had been the cause
of the schism in the reign of Henry, and the author of
the change of religion in the reign of Edward ; and
such offences required that he should suffer " for en-
Feb. 24. " sample's sake."2 The writ was directed to the mayor
or bailiffs of Oxford, the day of execution was fixed ;
still he cherished a hope of pardon ; and in a fifth
recantation, as full and explicit as the most zealous
of his adversaries could wish, declared that he was not
actuated by fear or favour, but that he abjured the
erroneous doctrines which he had formerly maintained,
for the discharge of his own conscience, and the in-
struction of others.3 This paper was accompanied
with a letter to Cardinal Pole, in which he begged a
respite during a few days, that he might have leisure
to give to the world a more convincing proof of his
repentance, and might do away, before his death, the
March is. scandal given by his past conduct.4 This prayer was
1 The submissions are in Strype, iii. 233, 234 ; the appeal in Foxe,
iii. 556.
2 Strype's Cranmer, 385.
3 This recantation is in Foxe, iii. 559.
4 II envoy a prier M. le cardinal Polus de differer pour quelques
jours son execution, esperant que Dieu 1'inspireroit cependant : de
quoi ceste royne et susdit cardinal furent fort ayses, estimans que
par 1'exemple de sa repentance publique la religion en sera plus for-
tifi6e en ce royaulme : ayant depuis faict une confession publicque
et amende honorable et volontaire. — Noailles, v. 319. In the council-
book we meet with two entries, one of March 13, the other of
March 16, by which the printers Rydall and Copeland are ordered
to give up the printed copies of Cranmer's recantation to Cawoode,
the queen's printer, that they may be burnt. These orders, from
the dates, appear to refer to the fifth recantation. Perhaps Rydall
and Copeland had invaded the privilege of the queen's printer.
PRETENDED REPENTANCE OF CRANMER. 470
cheerfully granted by the queen; and Cranmer in a CHAP.
sixth confession acknowledged that he had been a A.D. 1*550.
greater persecutor of the church than Paul, and wished
that like Paul he might be abl6 to make amends. He
could not rebuild what he had destroyed ; but, as the
penitent thief on the cross, by the testimony of his
lips, obtained mercy, so he (Cranmer) trusted that, by
this offering of his lips, he should move the clemency
of the Almighty. He was unworthy of favour, and
worthy not only of temporal but of eternal punishment.
He had offended against King Henry and Queen
Catherine : he was the cause and author of the di-
vorce, and, in consequence, also of the evils which
resulted from it. He had blasphemed against the
sacrament, had sinned against Heaven, and had de-
prived men of the benefits to be derived from the
eucharist. In conclusion, he conjured the pope to
forgive his offences against the Apostolic See, the king
and queen to pardon his transgressions against them,
the whole realm, the universal church, to take pity of
his wretched soul, and God to look on him with mercy
at the hour of his death.1 He had undoubtedly flat-
tered himself that this humble tone, these expressions
of remorse, these cries for mercy, would move the
heart of the queen. She, indeed, little suspecting the
dissimulation which had dictated them, rejoiced at the
conversion of the sinner ; but she had also persuaded
herself, or been persuaded by others, that public justice
would not allow her to save him from the punishment
to which he had been condemned.
At length the fatal morning arrived; at an early March 21,
hour Garcina, a Spanish friar, who had frequently
visited the prisoner since his condemnation, came, not
1 See it in Strype, iii. 235.
480 MARY.
CHAP, to announce a pardon, but to comfort and prepare him
A.D. 1556. for the last trial. Entertaining no suspicion of his
sincerity, Garcina submitted to his consideration a
paper, which he advised him to read at the stake, as a
public testimony of his repentance. It consisted of
five parts; a request that the spectators would pray
with him ; a form of prayer for himself ; an exhorta-
tion to others to lead a virtuous life ; a direction to
declare the queen's right to the crown ; and a confes-
sion of faith, with a retractation of the doctrine in his
book on the eucharist. Craumer, having dissembled
so long, did not hesitate to carry on the deception.
He transcribed and signed the paper ; and, giving one
copy to the Spaniard, retained the other for his own
use. But when the friar was gone, he appears to have
made a second copy, in which, entirely omitting the
fourth article, the declaration of the queen's right, he
substituted, in lieu of the confession contained in the
fifth, a disavowal of the six retractations which he had
already made.1 Of his motives we can judge only
from his conduct. Probably he now considered him-
1 Compare Foxe, iii. 559, with Strype, iii. 236. To extenuate
the fall of Cranmer, his friends have said that either these recanta-
tions are forgeries, or that he was seduced to make them by the
artful promises of persons sent from the court for that purpose.
But this pretence is refuted by his last speech, and gives the lie to his
own solemn declaration ; for, instead of making any such apology
for himself, he owns that his confessions proceeded from a wish to
save his life. " I renounce and refuse them, as things written with
" my hand, contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart; and
" written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be; and that
" is, all such bills and papers as I have written or signed with my hand
" since my degradation, wherein I have written many things untrue."
. . . . " Always hitherto I have been a hater of falsehood and a
" lover of simplicity, and never before this time have I dissembled."
These words certainly amount to an acknowledgment that he had
written such recantations, though no promise of life had been
made to him ; indeed, it is evident from Noailles, v. 319, that he did
not openly ask for mercy, though he hoped to obtain it.
HIS EXECUTION. 481
self doubly armed. If a pardon were announced, he CHAP.
might take the benefit of it, and read the original A.D. 1550,
paper ; if not, by reading the copy he would disappoint
the expectations of his adversaries, and repair the
scandal which he had given to his brethren. At the
appointed hour the procession set forward, and, on
account of the rain, halted at the church of St. Mary,
where the sermon was preached by Dr. Cole. Cranmer
stood on a platform opposite the pulpit, appearing, as
a spectator writes, " the very image of sorrow." His
face was bathed in tears ; his eyes were sometimes
raised to heaven, sometimes fixed through shame on
the earth. At the conclusion of the sermon, he began
to read his paper, and was heard with profound silence
till he came to the fifth article. But when he recalled
all his former recantations, rejected the papal au-
thority, and confirmed the doctrine contained in his
book, he was interrupted by the murmurs and agita-
tion of the audience. The lord Williams called to
him to " remember himself, and play the Christian."
" I do," replied Cranmer ; " it is now too late to dis-
" semble. I must now speak the truth." As soon as
order could be restored, he was conducted to the stake,
declaring that he had never changed his belief ; that
his recantations had been wrung from him by the hope
of life ; and that, " as his hand had offended by writing
" contrary to his heart, it should be the first to receive
" its punishment." When the fire was kindled, to the
surprise of the spectators, he thrust his hand into the
flame, exclaiming, " This hath offended." His suffer-
ings were short ; the flames rapidly ascended above
his head, and he expired in a few moments. The
Catholics consoled their disappointment by invectives
against his insincerity and falsehood ; the Protestants
VOL. v. 2 i
482 MARY.
CHAP, defended his memory by maintaining that his con-
A.D.1556. stancy at the stake had atoned for his apostasy in the
prison.1
Historians are divided with respect to the part
which Pole acted during these horrors. Most are
willing to acquit him entirely ; a few, judging from
the influence which he was supposed to possess, have
allotted to him a considerable share of the blame. In
a confidential letter to the cardinal of Augsburg he
has unfolded to us his own sentiments without reserve.
He will not, he says, deny that there may be men, so
addicted to the most pernicious errors themselves, and
so apt to seduce others, that they may justly be put to
death, in the same manner as we amputate a limb to
preserve the whole body. But this is an extreme
case ; and, even when it happens, every gentler remedy
should be applied before such punishment is inflicted.
In general, lenity is to be preferred to severity ; and
the bishops should remember that they are fathers as
well as judges, and ought to show the tenderness of
parents, even when they are compelled to punish.
This has always been his opinion ; it was that of his
colleagues who presided with him at the council of
Trent, and also of the prelates who composed that
1 See a most interesting narrative by an eye-witness, in Strype's
Cranmer, 384. The seven recantations of Cranmer were published
by Cawoode, with Bonner's approbation, under the title of " All the
" submyssions and recantations of Thomas Cranmer, late arche-
" by shop of Canterburye, truly set forth in Latyn and English,
" agreeable to the originalles, wrytten and subscribed with his own
" hand." It has been pretended that the seventh of these is a
forgery, because it is contrary to his declaration at his death ; but
the same reason would prove that they were all forgeries, for he then
revoked them all. But that he actually wrote and subscribed a
seventh, is evident from Foxe (Acts and Mon. 559), and, as he
gave a copy so subscribed to Garcina, why should we doubt that it
was that which was published as such ?
CONDUCT OF POLE. 483
assembly.1 His conduct in England was conformable CHAP.
to these professions. On the deprivation of Cranmer, A.D. 1555.
he was appointed archbishop ; and his consecration D^Tn.
took place on the day after the death of his prede- 1556
cessor.2 From that moment the persecution ceased in March 22.
the diocese of Canterbury. Pole found sufficient
exercise for his zeal in reforming the clergy, repairing
the churches, and re-establishing the ancient discipline.
His severity was exercised against the dead rather
than the living ; and his delegates, when they visited
the universities in his name, ordered the bones of
Bucer and Fagius, two foreign divines, who had taught
the new doctrines at Cambridge, to be taken up and
burnt. But his moderation displeased the more zeal-
1 1 >. )S.
ous ; they called in question his orthodoxy ; and, in March 28.
the last year of his life (perhaps to refute the calumny),
he issued a commission for the prosecution of heretics July 7.
within his diocese. Five persons were condemned;
four months afterwards they suffered, but at a time Nov. 10.
when the cardinal lay on his death-bed, and was pro-
bably ignorant of their fate.3
It had at first been hoped that a few of these bar-
barous exhibitions would silence the voices of the
preachers, and check the diffusion of their doctrines.
In general they produced conformity to the established
worship ; but they also encouraged hypocrisy and per-
1 Poll Epist. iv. 156. See also in Foxe, iii. 659, Bonner's letter
to him of December 26, 1556, which shows that the cardinal disap-
proved of some of Bonner's proceedings against the reformers.
2 It has been said that Pole hastened the death of Cranmer, that
he might get possession of the archbishopric. But the life of Cran-
mer, after his deprivation, could be no obstacle. The fact is, that
Pole procured several respites for Cranmer, and thus prolonged his
life. — Noailles, v. 319. Dudith, inter Ep. Poli, i. 43.
3 Wilk. Con. iv. 173, 174. Foxe, iii. 750. It is a mistake to
suppose that inquisitors of heretical pravity were appointed by Pole
in the convocation of 1558. — See Wilkins, iv. 156.
2 i 2
484 MARY.
CHAP. jury. It cannot be doubted that among the higher
&.D. 1558. classes there were some who retained an attachment
to the doctrines which they professed under Edward,
and to which they afterwards returned under Eliza-
beth. Yet it will be useless to seek among the names
of the sufferers for a single individual of rank, opulence,
or importance.1 All of this description embraced, or
pretended to embrace, the ancient creed : the victims
of persecution, who dared to avow their real senti-
ments, were found only in the lower walks of life.
Of the reformed clergy a few suffered ; some, who
were already in prison, and some whose zeal prompted
them to brave the authority of the law. Others, who
aspired not to the crown of martyrdom, preferred to
seek an asylum in foreign climes. The Lutheran
Protestants refused to receive them, because they were
heretics, rejecting the corporeal presence in the sacra-
ment ;2 but they met with a cordial welcome from the
disciples of Calvin and Zwinglius, and obtained per-
mission to open churches in Strasburg, Frankfort,
Basle, Geneva, Arau, and Zurich. Soon, however, the
demon of discord interrupted the harmony of the
exiles. Each followed his own judgment ; some
retained with pertinacity the book of Common Prayer
1 Perhaps I should except Sir John Cheke, preceptor to the late
king, and to many of the nobility. Yet I suspect that his incarcera-
tion was for some other cause than religion, as he was apprehended
and brought from the Low Countries in company with Sir Peter
Carew. However, Feckenham, dean of St. Paul's, prevailed on him
to conform ; and, to show his sincerity, he persuaded, after several
discussions, twenty-eight other prisoners to follow his example, and
sat on the bench at the trial of some others. He died the next year,
if we may believe the reformed writers, of remorse for his apostasy.
—See Strype, iii. 315, Rec. 186 — 189; and a letter from Priuli
inter Ep. Poli, v. 346.
2 Vociferantem martyres Anglicos esse martyres diaboli. — Mc-
lancthon apud Heylin, 250. Pet. Martyr, ibid.
NUMBER OF THE SUFFERERS. 485
and the articles of religion published under Edward ; CHAP.
others, deriving new lights from the society of foreign A.D. 1558.
religionists, demanded a form of service less defiled
with superstition ; and with this view adopted in
their full extent the rigid principles of the Genevan
theology. Dissension, reproaches, and schisms divided
the petty churches abroad, and from them extended to
the reformed ministers at home. The very prisons
became theatres of controversy ; force was occasionally
required to restrain the passions of the contending
parties ; and the men wh6 lived in the daily expecta-
tion of being summoned to the stake for their denial
of the ancient creed, found leisure to condemn and
revile each other for difference of opinion respecting
the use of habits and ceremonies, and the abstruse
mysteries of grace and predestination.1
The persecution continued till the death of Mary.
Sometimes milder counsels seemed to prevail ; and on
one occasion all the prisoners were discharged on the
easy condition of taking an oath to be true to God and
the queen.2 But these intervals were short, and, after
some suspense, the spirit of intolerance was sure to
resume the ascendancy. Then new commissions were
issued by the crown.3 The magistrates were careful to
fulfil their instructions : and the council urged the
bishops " to reclaim the prisoners, or to deal with them
" according to law." The reformed writers have de-
scribed, in glowing colours, the sufferings, and sought
to multiply the number, of the victims; while the
Catholics have maintained that the reader should
distrust the exaggerations of men heated with en-
thusiasm and exasperated by oppression ; and that
1 Phoenix, ii. 44. 2 Strype, iii. 307. Foxe, iii. 660.
3 See similar commissions under Edward, Rymer, xv. 181 — 183,
250 — 252. Many were also issued under Elizabeth.
48G MARY.
CHAP, from the catalogue of the martyrs should be expunged
A.D. 1558. the names of all who were condemned as felons or
traitors, or who died peaceably in their beds, or who
survived the publication of their martyrdom, or who
would for their heterodoxy have been sent to the stake
by the reformed prelates themselves, had they been in
possession of the power.1 Yet these deductions will
take but little from the infamy of the measure. After
every allowance, it will be found that, in the space of
four years, almost two hundred persons perished in the
flames for religious opinion; a number, at the con-
templation of which the mind is struck with horror,
and learns to bless the legislation of a more tolerant
age, in which dissent from established forms, though
in some countries still punished with civil disabilities,
is nowhere liable to the penalties of death.
If any thing could be urged in extenuation of these
cruelties, it must have been the provocation given by
the reformers. The succession of a Catholic sovereign
had deprived them of office and power; had sup-
pressed the English service, the idol of their affections ;
and had re- established the ancient worship, which they
deemed antichristian and idolatrous. Disappointment
embittered their zeal ; and enthusiasm sanctified their
intemperance. They heaped on the queen, her bishops,
and her religion, every indecent and irritating epithet
which language could supply. Her clergy could not
exercise their functions without danger to their lives ;
a dagger was thrown at one priest in the pulpit ; a
gun was discharged at another ; and several wounds
were inflicted on a third, while he administered the
communion in his church. The chief supporters of
the treason of Northumberland, the most active among
1 See the second part of note (G).
MOTIVES OF THE QUEEN. 487
the adherents of Wyat, professed the reformed creed ; CHAP.
an impostor was suborned to personate Edward VI. ;* A.D. 1558.
some congregations prayed for the death of the queen ;
tracts filled with libellous and treasonable matter were
transmitted from the exiles in Germany;2 and succes-
sive insurrections were planned by the fugitives in
France. It is not improbable that such excesses would
have considerable influence with statesmen, who might
deem it expedient to suppress sedition by prosecution
for heresy ; but I am inclined to believe that the queen
herself was not actuated so much by motives of policy
as of conscience ; that she had imbibed the same in-
tolerant opinion, which Cranmer and Ridley laboured
to instil into the young mind of Edward : " that, as
" Moses ordered blasphemers to be put to death, so it
" was the duty of a Christian prince, and more so of
" one who bore the title of Defender of the Faith, to
" eradicate the cockle from the field of God's church, to
" cut out the gangrene, that it might not spread to the
" sounder parts." 3 In this principle both parties seem
1 His name was Fetherstone. For the first offence he was publicly
whipped ; for the repetition of it was executed as a traitor. — Stowe,
626, 628. Noailles says falsely, that he was torn to pieces by four
horses, as traitors were sometimes in France (v. 318).
2 If scurrility and calumny form the merit of a libel, it will be
difficult to find any thing to rival these publications. The reader
will meet with some samples in Strype, iii. 251, 252, 328, 388,410,
460.
3 Thus Edward was made to say, Etsi regibus quidem omnibus
nobis tamen qui fidei defensor peculiar! quodam titulo
vocitamur, maximse prse ca3teris curse esse debet, to eradicate the
cockle, &c. — Rym. xv. 182, 250. To the same purpose Elizabeth,
in a commission for the burning of heretics, to Sir Nicholas Bacon,
says, " they have been justly declared heretics, and therefore, as
corrupt members to be cut off from the rest of the flock of Christ,
lest they should corrupt others professing the true Christian faith,
.... we, therefore, according to regal function and office,
minding the execution of justice in this behalf, require you to
award and make out our writ of execution," &c Rymer,
488
MARY.
CHAP, to have agreed ; the only difference between them
A.D. 1558. regarded its application, as often as it affected them-
selves.
1555. But it is now time to turn from these cruelties to
the affairs of state. The French ambassador, when
he congratulated Philip on the marriage, had been
ordered to express an ardent wish for the continua-
tion of the amity between England and France ; and
the new king, aware of the declaration of Henry, that
he had no league but that of friendship with Mary,
coldly replied, that he should never think of drawing
the nation into a war, as long as it was for its interest
to preserve peace. This ambiguous answer alarmed
the French cabinet: it was expected that England
would in a short time make common cause with Spain
and the Netherlands against France; and Noailles
was informed that his sovereign had no objection to a
negotiation for a general peace, provided the first
motion did not appear to originate from him. Mary
offered her mediation ; Pole and Gardiner solicited
the concurrence of Charles and Henry ; and the two
monarchs, after much hesitation, gave their consent.
But pride, or policy, induced them to affect an indif-
ference which they did not feel. Many weeks passed
in useless attempts by each to draw from the other
some intimation of the terms to which he would con-
sent ; and as many more were lost in deciding on the
persons of the negotiators, because etiquette required
that all employed by the one should be of equal rank
May 22. with those employed by his opponent. At length the
congress opened at Marque, within the English pale ;
xv. 740. And again, Nos igitur ut zelator justitiae et fidei Catholicae
defensor, volentesque .... hujusmodi haereses et errores ubique
(quantum in nobis est) eradicate et extirpare, ac haereticos sic con-
victos animadversione condigna puniri, &c. — Id. xv. 741.
TRUCE WITH FRANCE. 489
where the cardinal, Gardiner, Arundel, and Paget, CHAP.
appeared as the representatives of Mary, the medi- A.D. 1555.
ating sovereign. It was soon found that a treaty was
impracticable : Charles would not abandon the inter-
ests of his ally Philibert duke of Savoy, and Henry
would not restore the dominions of that prince, unless
he were to receive Milan from the emperor. Yet the
necessities of the belligerent powers imperiously re-
quired a cessation of war ; and the English ministers, June 8.
at the conclusion of the congress, returned with the
persuasion, that, notwithstanding the insuperable ob-
jections to a peace, it would not be difficult to con- 1555.
elude a truce for several years ; which was accordingly
accomplished a few months afterwards.1
From the moment of his arrival in England, Philip
had sought to ingratiate himself with the natives. He
had conformed to the national customs, and appeared
to be delighted with the national amusements. He
endeavoured to attach the leading men to his interest,
by the distribution among them of pensions from his
own purse, under the decent pretence of rewarding the
services rendered to his wife during the insurrection ;
and, throwing aside the hauteur and reserve of the
Spanish character, he became courteous and affable,
granting access to every suitor, even to those in the
humblest condition of life, and dismissing all with
answers, expressive of his sympathy, if not promissory
of his support. In the government of the realm he
appeared not to take any active part; and, when
favours were conferred, was careful to attribute them
to the bounty of the queen, claiming for himself no
other merit than that of a well-wisher and intercessor.
But he laboured in vain. The antipathy of the Eng-
1 See the despatches of Noailles through the whole of vol. iv.
490 MARY.
CHAP, lish was not to be subdued ; personally, indeed, he was
A.D. 1555. always treated with respect, but his attendants met with
daily insults and injuries ; and when, in answer to their
complaints, he referred them to the courts of law for
redress, they replied that justice was not to be ob-
tained against the natives, through the dilatory form
of the proceedings, and the undisguised partiality of
the judges.1
Under these circumstances the king grew weary of
his stay in England, and his secret wishes were
aided by letters from his father, who, exhausted with
disease and the cares of government, earnestly en-
treated him to return ; but the queen, believing her-
self in a state to give him an heir to his dominions,
extorted from him a promise not to leave her till after
her expected delivery. The delusion was not con-
fined to herself and Philip ; even the females of her
family and her medical attendants entertained the
same opinion. Preparations were made ; public prayers
were ordered for her safety, and that of her child ;
her physicians were kept in daily attendance ; ambas-
sadors were named to announce the important intelli-
May 28. gence to foreign courts ; and even letters were written
beforehand, with blank spaces which might afterwards
be filled up with the sex of the child and the date of
the birth.2 Week after week passed away; still
Mary's expectations were disappointed; and it was
generally believed that she was in the same situation
with the lady Ambrose Dudley, who very recently had
mistaken for pregnancy a state of disease. But the
1 MS. Report of Soriano to the Venetian Senate.
• Those addressed to the emperor, the kings of France, Hungary,
Bohemia, to several queens, and to the Doge of Venice, are still in
the State Paper Office. — See Transcripts for the new Rymer, 353,
354.
THE QUEEN'S SUPPOSED PREGNANCY. 491
midwife, contrary to her own conviction, thought CHAP.
proper to encourage the hopes of the king and queen; A.DVi555.
and, on a supposition of miscalculation of time, two
more months were suffered to elapse before the delu-
sion was removed.1 Sometimes it was rumoured that
Mary had died in childbed ; sometimes that she had
been delivered of a son ; her enemies indulged in sar-
casms, epigrams, and lampoons ; and the public mind
was kept in a constant state of suspense and expecta-
tion. At last, the royal pair, relinquishing all hope, August 4.
proceeded in state from Hampton Court through
London to Greenwich ; whence Philip, after a short August 26.
stay, departed for Flanders. He left the queen with
every demonstration of attachment, and recommended Sept. 4.
her in strong terms to the care of Cardinal Pole.2
Mary consoled her grief for the absence of her
husband by devoting the more early part of each day
to practices of charity and devotion, and the afternoon
to affairs of state, to which she gave such attention as
in a short time injured her health. The king, though
occupied by the war with France, continued to exer-
cise considerable influence in the government of the
kingdom. He maintained a continual correspondence
with the ministers; and no appointment was made,
1 The queen yielded again to this delusion in the beginning of
1558, and Philip wrote to her on Jan. 21, that the announcement of
her pregnancy was " the best news which he had received in allevia-
" tion of his grief for the loss of Calais." — See Apuntamientos para
la Historia del Roy Don Felipe II., por Don Tomas Gonzalez, p. 4.
The documents quoted in that work are at Simancas.
2 Noailles, iv. 331, 334 ; v. 12, 50, 77, 83, 99, 126. Michele's
Memoir to the Senate, MSS. Barberini, 1208. The cabinet, after
his departure, consisted of the cardinal, whenever he could and would
attend (for he objected to meddle in temporal matters), the chan-
cellor and treasurer, the earls of Arundel and Pembroke, the bishop
of Ely and Lord Paget, Rochester, and Petre, the secretary. — See
the instrument of appointment in Burnet, iii. Rec. 256.
492 MARY.
CHAP, no measure was carried into execution, without bis
VI
A.D. 1555. previous knowledge and consent.1 Before his depar-
ture he had reluctantly acquiesced in the wish of the
queen, who, considering the impoverished state of the
church, judged it her duty to restore to it such eccle-
siastical property as during the late reigns had been
vested in the crown. She had renounced the supre-
macy, could she retain the wealth which resulted from
the assumption of that authority? She saw the clergy
suffering under the pressure of want, was she not
bound to furnish relief out of that portion of their
property which still remained in her hands? Her
ministers objected the amount of her debts, the poverty
of the exchequer, and the necessity of supporting the
dignity of the crown : but she replied, that " she set
" more by the salvation of her soul than by ten such
" crowns." On the opening of the parliament, to
relieve the apprehensions of the other possessors of
church property, a papal bull was read, confirming the
grant already made by the legate, and, for greater
security, excepting it from the operation of another
bull recently issued ; after which Gardiner explained
to the two houses the wants of the clergy and of the
crown, and the solicitude of the queen to make ade-
quate provision for both. He spoke that day and the
next, with an ability and eloquence that excited uni-
versal applause.2 But the exertion was too great for
his debilitated frame. His health had long been on
1 PoliEp. v. 41,44.
2 His duobus diebus ita mihi visus est non modo seipsum iis
rebus superasse, quibus caeteros superare solet, ingenio, eloquentia,
prudentia, pietate, sed etiam ipsas sui corporis vires. — Pole to Philip,
v. 46. From this and similar passages in the letters of Pole, I can-
not believe that that jealousy existed between him and Gardiner,
which it has pleased some historians to suppose.
DEATH OF GARDINER. 493
the decline; at his return from the house on the CHAP.
second day, he repaired to his chamber, and, having A.D. 1*555.
lingered three weeks, expired. His death was a sub- Nov7i2.
ject of deep regret to Mary, who lost in him a most
able, faithful, and zealous servant ; but it was hailed
with joy by the French ambassador, the factious,
and the reformers, who considered him as the chief
support of her government.1 During his illness he
edified all around him by his piety and resignation,
often observing, " I have sinned with Peter, but have
" not yet learned to weep bitterly with Peter.2 By
his will he bequeathed all his property to his royal
mistress, with a request that she would pay his debts,
and provide for his servants. It proved but an incon-
siderable sum, though his enemies had accused him
of having amassed between thirty and forty thousand
pounds.3
The indisposition of the chancellor did not prevent
the ministers from introducing a bill for a subsidy into
the lower house. It was the first aid that Mary had
asked of her subjects ; but Noailles immediately began
his intrigues, and procured four of the best speakers
among the Commons to oppose it in every stage. It
had been proposed to grant two fifteenths, with a sub-
sidy of four shillings in the pound; but, whether it
1 See note (G).
2 " He desired that the passion of our Saviour might be redde unto
" him, and when they came to the denial of St. Peter, he bid them
" stay there, for (saythe he) negavi cum Petro, exivi cum Petro, sed
" nondum flevi amare cum Petro." — Ward word, 48. Speaking of
Gardiner's sickness, Pole writes thus: Dicam quasi simul cum eo
religio et justitia laborarent, sic ab eo tempore, quo is segrotare
ccepit, utramque in hoc regno esse infirmatam, rursusque impietatem
et injustitiam vires colligere coepisse. — Poli Ep. v. 52. I give this
quotation, because it has been brought as a plain proof that Gardiner
was the very soul of the persecution !— Soames, iv. 382.
3 Ibid. 206.
494
MARY.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1555
were owing to the hirelings of Noailles, or to the policy
of the ministers, who demanded more than they meant
— to accept, Mary, by message, declined the two fif-
teenths, and was content with a subsidy of less amount
than had been originally proposed.1
The death of Gardiner interrupted the plans of the
council. That minister had undertaken to procure
the consent of parliament to the queen's plan of re-
storing the church property vested in the crown : now
Mary herself assumed his office, and, sending for a
NOV. 23. deputation from each house, explained her wish, and
the reasons on which it was grounded. In the Lords,
the bill passed with only two dissentient voices; in
the Commons, it had to encounter considerable oppo-
sition, but was carried by a majority of 193 to 126.
By it the tenths and first-fruits, the rectories, benefices
appropriate, glebe-lands, and tithes annexed to the
crown, since the twentieth of Henry VIII., producing
a yearly revenue of about sixty thousand pounds, were
resigned by the queen, and placed at the disposal of
the cardinal, for the augmentation of small livings,
the support of preachers, and the furnishing of exhi-
bitions to scholars in the universities ; but subject, at
1 The subsidy was of two shillings in the pound on lands, eight-
pence on goods to ten pounds, twelve pence to twenty pounds, and
sixteen pence above twenty (Stat. iv. 301) ; but those who paid for
lands were not rated for their personalties. Lord Talbot tells his
father, that " the common housse wold have graunted hurr ii fyf-
* tenes," but that she, " of hurr lyberalyte, refusyd it, and said, sho
' wold not take no more of them at that tyme/' — Lodge, i. 207.
' She gave thanks for the two fifteenths, and was contented to
' refuse them/' — Journal of Commons, p. 43. " We have for-
' borne to ask any fifteenths." — The queen to the earl of Bath,
in Mr. Gage's elegant " History and Antiquities of Hengrave,"
p. 154. Yet Noailles asserts that the fifteenths were refused by
parliament, and takes to himself the merit of the refusal (v. 185,
190, 252). I often suspect that this ambassador deceived his master
intentionally.
RESTORATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY. 495
the same time, to all the pensions and corrodies with CHAP.
which they had been previously encumbered.1 In A.DVi555.
consequence of this cession, Pole ordered that the
exaction of the first-fruits should immediately cease ;
that livings of twenty marks and under should be re-
lieved from the annual payment of tenths ; that livings
of a greater value should, for the present, contribute
only one twentieth toward the charges with which the
clergy were burdened ; and that the patronage of the
rectories and vicarages, previously vested in the crown,
should revert to the bishops of the respective dioceses,
who, in return, should contribute proportionably to a
present of seven thousand pounds to be made to the
king and queen.*
About the same time, that the monastic bodies
might not complain of neglect, Mary re-established the
Grey Friars at Greenwich, the Carthusians at Sheen,
and the Brigittins at Sion ; three houses, the former
inhabitants of which had provoked the vengeance of
Henry, by their conscientious opposition to his innova-
tions. The dean and prebendaries of Westminster
retired on pensions, and yielded their places to a
colony of twenty-eight Benedictine monks, all of
them beneficed clergymen, who had quitted their'
1 Stat. iv. 275. Pole, v. 46, 51, 53, 56. Some writers have said
that the queen sought to procure an act, compelling the restoration
of church property, in whatever hands it might be. The contrary is
evident from the whole tenour of Pole's correspondence.
2 Wilk. Con. 153, 175, 177. Noailles says that several bills pro-
posed by the court were rejected (v. 252) ; yet only one of them is
mentioned in the journals of either house, " against such as had de-
" parted the realm without leave, or should contemptuously make
" their abode there." It was unanimously passed by the Lords, but
was lost on a division in the Commons. — Journals, 46. I may
add, that Burnet (ii. 322) represents Story as opposing, in this
parliament, " licences" from Rome. The journals show that the
" licences" were monopolies, granted by the queen, her father, and
her brother. — Journals of Commons, p. 44.
496 MARY.
CHAP, livings, to embrace the monastic institute.1 In addi-
A.D. 1555. tion, the house of the Knights of St. John arose from
its ruins, and the dignity of lord prior was conferred
on Sir Thomas Tresham. But these renewed estab-
lishments fell again on the queen's demise ; her hos-
pital at the Savoy was alone suffered to remain. She
had endowed it with abbey lands ; and the ladies of
the court, at her recommendation or command, had
furnished it with necessaries.
While Gardiner lived, his vigilance had checked the
intrigues of the factious : his death emboldened them
to renew their machinations against the government.
Secret meetings were now held ; defamatory libels on
the king and queen, printed on the continent, were
found scattered in the streets, in the palace, and in
both houses of parliament; and reports were circu-
Dec. 4. lated that Mary, hopeless of issue to succeed her, had
determined to settle the crown on her husband after
her decease. If we may believe her counsellors, there
was no foundation for these rumours ; she had never
hinted any such design; nor, if she had, would she
have found a man to second it.2 But it was for the
interest of the French monarch that the falsehood
should be believed; and Noailles made every effort
to support its credit. Under the auspices of that
intriguing minister, and by the agency of Freitville,
a French refugee, a new conspiracy was formed, which
had for its object to depose Mary, and to raise Eliza-
beth to the throne. The conduct of the enterprise
was intrusted to Sir Henry Dudley, a relation and
1 Feckenham was again appointed abbot, but only for three years ;
for the cardinal disapproved of the ancient custom of abbots for
life ; and had sent to Italy for two monks, who might establish in
England the discipline observed in the more rigid communities
abroad. — Priuli to Beccatello, in Pole's Ep. v. app. 347.
2 Noailles, v. 174, 242, 365.
DUDLEY'S CONSPIRACY. 497.
partisan of the attainted duke of Northumberland, CHAP.
whose services had been purchased by the French A.D. 1*555.
king with the grant of a considerable pension. The Dec- 16t
connections of Dudley, with the chiefs of the gospellers
and of the discontented in the southern counties, fur-
nished well-grounded hopes of success ; assurances had
been obtained of the willing co-operation of Eliza-
beth and her friends ; and the French cabinet had
engaged to convey to England, at the shortest warn-
ing, the earl of Devon, then on his road from Brussels
to Italy. To arrange the minor details, and to pro-
cure the necessary supplies, Dudley, in disguise, sailed
to the coast of Normandy, and was followed by three Feb. 3.
more of the conspirators ; but they arrived at a most
inauspicious moment, just when the king had, in
opposition to the remonstrances of his minister Mont-
morency, concluded a truce for five years with Philip.
Henry was embarrassed by their presence. Ashamed
to appear as an accomplice in a conspiracy against a
prince with whom he was now on terms of amity, he
ordered Dudley and his companions to keep themselves Feb. 7.
concealed, and advised their associates in England,
particularly the lady Elizabeth, to suspend, for some
time, the projected insurrection. Events, he observed,
would follow more favourable to the success of the
enterprise ; at present it was their best policy to re-
main quiet, and to elude suspicion by assuming the
mask of loyalty.1
i Noailles, 232, 234, 254, 255, 256, 262, 263, 302. That the
lady Elizabeth was concerned in it, seems placed beyond dispute by
the following passage in the instructions to Noailles, after the con-
clusion of the truce : Et surtout eviter que madame Elizabeth ne se
remue en sorte du monde pour entreprendre ce que m'escrivez ; car
ce seroit tout gaster, et perdre le fruict qu'ilz peulvent attendre de
leurs desseings, qu'il est besoign traicter et mesner a la longue. —
Ibid. 299.
VOL. V. 2 K
498 MARY.
CHAP. But dilatory counsels accorded not with the despe-
A.D. 1556. rate circumstances of Kingston, Throckinorton, Udal,
Staunton, and the other conspirators ; who, rejecting
the advice of their French ally, determined to carry
into immediate execution the first part of the original
plot. To excite or foment the public discontent, they
had reported that Philip devoted to Spanish purposes
the revenue of the English crown ; though at the
same time they knew that, on different occasions, he
had brought an immense mass of treasure into the
kingdom,1 of which one portion had been distributed
in presents, another had served to defray the ex-
penses of the marriage, and the remainder, amount-
ing to fifty thousand pounds, was still lodged in the
March. Exchequer. A plan was devised to surprise the
guard, and to obtain possession of this money ; but
one of the conspirators proved a traitor to his fellows ;
of the others, several apprehended by his means paid
the forfeit of their lives, and many sought and obtained
April 28. an asylum in France. The lord Clinton, who had
May 19. been commissioned to congratulate Henry on the
Junes, conclusion of the truce, immediately demanded the
fugitives, as " traitors, heretics, and outlaws/' Mary
had recently gratified the king in a similar request ;
he could not, in decency, return a refusal, but replied,
that he knew nothing of the persons in question ; if
they had been received in France, it must have been
1 On one occasion, twenty-seven chests of bullion, each above a
yard long, were conveyed to the Tower in twenty carts ; on another
ninety -nine horses and two carts were employed for a similar pur •
pose.— Stowe, 626. Heylin, 209. Persons assures us that Philip
defrayed all the expenses of the combined fleet which escorted him
to England, and of the festivities in honour of the marriage. — Ward-
word, 108. And the Venetian ambassador informs the senate, that
the report of his spending the money of the nation was false ; he
had spent immense sums of his own. — Barber. MSS. No. 1208.
ELIZABETH ACCUSED. 499
through respect to the queen, whose subjects they had CHAP
stated themselves to be; all that he could do was to A.D.I
make inquiry, and to order that the moment they were
discovered they should be delivered to the resident
ambassador. With this illusory answer Lord Clinton
returned.1
Among the prisoners apprehended in England were
Peckham and Werne, two officers in the household of
Elizabeth, from whose confessions much was elicited
to implicate the princess herself. She was rescued
from danger by the interposition of Philip, who, de-
spairing of issue by his wife, foresaw that, if Elizabeth
were removed out of the way, the English crown, at
the decease of Mary, would be claimed by the young
queen of Scots, the wife of the dauphin of France.
It was for his interest to prevent a succession which
would add so considerably to the power of his rival,
and for that purpose to preserve the life of the only
person who, with any probability of success, could
oppose the claim of the Scottish queen. By his orders
the inquiry was dropped, and Mary, sending to her
sister a ring in token of her affection, professed to
believe that Elizabeth was innocent, and that her
officers had presumed to make use of her name with-
out her authority. They were executed as traitors ;
and the princess gladly accepted, in their place, Sir
Thomas Pope and Robert Gage, at the recommenda-
tion of the council.2
Many weeks did not elapse before the exiles in June.
1 Stowe, 628. Noailles, 313, 327, 347, 353. The object of the
French king was d'entretenir Duddelay doulcement et secrettement,
pour s'en servir, s'il en est de besoign, lui donnant moyen d'entretenir
|| aussy par dela les intelligences. — Ibid. 310.
2 MS. Life of the Duchess of Feria, 154. Strype, 297, 298.
Philopater, Resp. ad edictum, p. 70.
2 K 2
500 MARY.
CHAP. France made a new attempt to excite an insurrection.
A.D. 1556. There was among them a young man, of the name of
Cleobury, whose features bore a strong resemblance to
those of the earl of Devon. Having been instructed
in the character which he had undertaken to act, he
was landed on the coast of Sussex, assumed the name
of the earl, spoke of the princess as privy to his design,
and took the opportunity to proclaim in the church of
Yaxely, "the lady Elizabeth queen, and her beloved
July. " bed-fellow, Lord Edward Courtenay, king." There
was supposed to exist a kind of magic in the name of
Courtenay ; but the result dissipated the illusion.
The people, as soon as they had recovered from their
surprise, pursued and apprehended Cleobury, who
Sept. 20. suffered, at Bury, the penalty of his treason.1 Two
months later the real earl of Devon died of an ague in
Padua.
Though Cleobury had employed the name of Eliza-
beth, we have no reason to charge her with participa-
tion in the imposture. The council pretended, at
least, to believe her innocent ; and she herself, in a
letter to Mary, expressed her detestation of all such
attempts, wishing, that " there were good surgeons for
" making anatomies of hearts ; then, whatsoever others
" should subject by malice, the queen would be sure
" of by knowledge ; and the more such misty clouds
" should offuscate the clear light of her truth, the
" more her tried thoughts would glister to the dimming
" of their hidden malice."2 Agitated, however, by her
1 See a letter from the privy council to the earl of Bath, with a
passage from the Harl. MS. 537, in Gage's Hengrave, 158.
2 Stowe, 628. The letters are in Burnet, ii. Rec. 314 ; Strype,
iii. 335, 338. In the correspondence of Noailles with his sovereign,
to encourage these conspirators is elegantly termed, keeping la puce
& 1'oreille de la rovne.— Noailles, 309, 329.
HER OBJECTIONS TO MARRY. 501
fears, whether they arose from the consciousness of CHAP.
guilt or from the prospect of future danger, she re- A.D. 1556.
solved to seek an asylum in France, of which she had
formerly received an offer from Henry through the hands
of Noailles.1 With the motives of the king we are not
acquainted. He may have wished to create additional
embarrassment to Mary, perhaps to have in his power
the only rival of his daughter-in-law, the queen of
Scotland. But Noailles was gone; and his brother
and successor, the bishop of Acqs, appears to have
received no instructions on the subject. When the
countess of Sussex waited on him in disguise, and
inquired whether he possessed the means of transport-
ing the princess in safety to France, he expressed the
strongest disapprobation of the project, and advised
Elizabeth to learn wisdom from the conduct of her
sister. Had Mary, after the death of Edward, listened
to those who wished her to take refuge with the
emperor in Flanders, she would still have remained in
exile. If Elizabeth hoped to ascend the throne, she
must never leave the shores of England. The countess
returned with a similar message, and received again
the same advice. A few years later the ambassador
boasted that Elizabeth was indebted to him for her
crown.2
Had the princess been willing to marry, she might
easily have extricated herself from these embarrass-
ments ; but from policy or inclination she obstinately
rejected every proposal. As presumptive heir to the
crown, she was sought by different princes ; and, as
her sincerity in the profession of the ancient faith was
generally questioned, men were eager to see her
1 Camden, Apparat. 20.
2 See his letter of December 2, 1570, to Du Haillant, in Noailles,
i. 334.
502 MARY.
CHAP, united, the Catholics to a Catholic, the Protestants to
A.D. 1556. a Protestant husband. Her suitors professing the
reformed doctrines were the king of Denmark for his
son, and the king of Sweden for himself. The envoy
of the latter reached her house in disguise ; but he was
refused admission, and referred to the queen, to whom
Elizabeth averred that she had never heard the name
of his master before, and hoped never to hear it again ;
adding, that as, in the reign of Edward, she had refused
several offers, so she persisted in the same resolution
of continuing, with her sister's good pleasure, a single
woman. The Catholic suitor was Philibert, duke of
Savoy, whose claim was strenuously supported by
Philip, through gratitude, as he pretended, to a prince
who had lost his hereditary dominions in consequence
of his adherence to the interests of Spain ; but through
a more selfish motive, if we may believe politicians, a
desire to preserve after the death of Mary the existing
alliance between the English and Spanish crowns.
In despair of issue by the queen, what could he do
better than give to Elizabeth, the heir apparent, his
personal friend for a husband ? He met, however,
with an obstinate, and probably unexpected, opponent
in his wife ; and, aware of her piety, sought to remove
her objection by the authority of his confessor, and t)f
other divines, who are said to have represented the
proposed marriage as the only probable means of
securing the permanence of the Catholic worship after
her death. Overcome rather than convinced, Mary
signified her assent ; but revoked it the next day,
alleging that it was essential to marriage that it should
be free, and that her conscience forbade her to compel
her sister to wed the man of whom she disapproved.1
1 M S. reports of Michele and Soriano. Camden, 20. Buraet, ii.
TROUBLES OF THE QUEEN. 503
From .that period, the princess resided, apparently at CHAP.
liberty, but in reality under the eyes of watchful A.D. 1556.
guardians, in her house at Hatfield, and occasionally
at court. Her friends complained that her allowance
did not enable her to keep up the dignity of second
person in the realm. But it would have been folly in
the queen to have supplied Elizabeth with the means
of multiplying her adherents ; and she was, at the
same time, anxious to reduce the enormous debt of
the crown. With this view she had adopted a severe
system of retrenchment in her own household ; it
could not be expected that she should encourage
expense in the household of her sister.
But whatever were the mental sufferings of Eliza-
beth, they bore no proportion to those of Mary.
1. The queen was perfectly aware that her popularity,
which at first had seated her on the throne, had long
been on the decline. She had incurred the hatred of
the merchants and country gentlemen by the loans of
money which her poverty had compelled her to require ;
her economy, laudable as it was in her circumstances,
had earned for her the reproach of parsimony from
some, and of ingratitude from others ; the enemies of
her marriage continued to predict danger to the liber-
ties of England from the influence of her Spanish
husband ; the Protestants, irritated by persecution,
ardently wished for another sovereign ; the most
malicious reports, the most treasonable libels, even
hints of assassination, were circulated ; and men were
Rec. 325. Strype, iii. 317, 318, Rec. 189. The Spaniards at-
tributed her refusal to her dislike of Elizabeth, and the advice of
Cardinal Pole, whom they hated because he constantly opposed their
attempts to make Philip " absolute lord ; per far il re -signer abso-
" luto." Hence Grandvelt said to Soriano that the cardinal was
" no statesman, nor fit either to advise or govern." — Soriano, ibid.
504 MARY.
CHAP, found to misrepresent to the public all her actions, as
A.D. 1556. proceeding from interested or anti-national motives.
2. She began to fear for the permanency of that
religious worship which it had been the first wish of
her heart to re-establish. She saw, that the fires of
Smithfield had not subdued the obstinacy of the
dissenters from the established creed ; she knew that
in the higher classes few had any other religion than
their own interest or convenience ; and she had
reason to suspect that the presumptive heir to the
crown, though she had long professed herself a Catho-
lic, still cherished in her breast those principles which
she had imbibed in early youth. 3. On Elizabeth
herself she could not look without solicitude. It was
natural that the wrongs which Catherine of Arragon
had suffered from the ascendancy of Anne Boleyn
should beget a feeling of hostility between their re-
spective daughters. But the participation of Elizabeth
in the first insurrection had widened the breach ; and
the frequent use made of her name by every sub-
sequent conspirator served to confirm the suspicions
of one sister, and to multiply the apprehensions of the
other. In the eye of Mary, Elizabeth was a bastard
and a rival ; in that of Elizabeth, Mary was a jealous
and vindictive sovereign. To free her mind of this
burden, the queen had lately thought of declaring her
by act of parliament illegitimate and incapable of
the succession ; but the king would consent to no
measure which, by weakening the claim of Elizabeth,
might strengthen that of the dauphiness to the crown.1
1 Nel tempo della gravidanza della regina, che fu fatta venire in
corte, seppe cosi ben providere et mettersi in gratia della natione
Spagnuola, et particolarmente del Re, che da niuno poi e stata piu
favorita che da lui ; il quale non solo non velle permettere, ma si
oppose et impedi, che non fosse, come volea la regina, per atto di
THE POPE'S QUARREL WITH SPAIN.
505
Mary acquiesced in the will of her husband ; and from
that time, whenever Elizabeth came to court, treated
her in private with kindness, and in public with dis-
tinction. Yet it was thought that there was in this
more of show than of reality ; and that doubt and fear,
jealousy and resentment, still lurked within her bosom.
Lastly, the absence of her husband was a source of daily
disquietude. If she loved him, Philip had deserved it
by his kindness and attention. To be deprived of his
society was of itself a heavy affliction ; but it was
most severely felt when she stood in need of advice
and support.1 Gardiner, whose very name had awed
the factious, was no more. His place had, indeed,
been supplied by Heath, archbishop of York, a learned
and upright prelate; but, though he might equal his
predecessor in abilities and zeal, he was less known,
and therefore less formidable, to the adversaries of
the government. It is not surprising, that, in such
circumstances, the queen should wish for the presence
and protection of her husband. She importuned him
by long and repeated letters ; she sent the lord Paget
to urge him to return without delay. But Philip, to
whom his father had resigned all his dominions in
Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands, was overwhelmed
with business of more importance to him than the
tranquillity of his wife or of her government ; and, to
pacify her mind, he made her frequent promises, the
fulfilment of which it was always in his power to elude.
He had lately seen with alarm the elevation to the
parlamento directata et declarata bastarda, et consequentamente in-
habile alia successione. — Lansdowne MS., No. 840, B.
1 All these particulars respecting Elizabeth, and the troubles of
Mary, are taken from the interesting memoir of Michele, the Venetian
ambassador. — Lansdowne MSS. 840, B. fol. 155, 157, 160. Noailles
represents her as afflicted with jealousy ; but this writer declares the
contrary.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D.1556.
1555.
Oct. 25.
1556.
Jan. 6.
506 MARY.
CHAP, pontifical dignity of the cardinal Caraffa, by birth a
A.D. 1556. Neapolitan, who had always distinguished himself by
his opposition to the Spanish ascendancy in his native
country, and on that account had suffered occasional
affronts from the resentment of Ferdinand and Charles.
The symptoms of dissension soon appeared. Philip
suspected a design against his kingdom of Naples ;
and the new pontiff supported with menaces what he
deemed the rights of the Holy See. The negotiations
between the two powers, their mutual complaints and
recriminations, are subjects foreign from this history ;
but the result was a strong suspicion in the mind of
Paul, that the Spaniards sought to remove him from
the popedom, and a resolution on his part to place
himself under the protection of France. It chanced
that about midsummer, in the year 1556, despatches
were intercepted at Terracina, from Garcilasso della
Vega, the Spanish agent in Rome, to the duke of
Alva, the viceroy of Naples, describing the defenceless
state of the papal territory, and the ease with which
it might be conquered, before an army could be raised
for its defence. The suspicion of the pontiff was now
confirmed ; he ordered the chiefs of the Spanish faction
in Rome to be arrested as traitors; and instructed
his officers to proceed against Philip for a breach of
the feudal tenure by which he held the kingdom of
Naples. But the viceroy advanced with a powerful
army as far as Tivoli ; Paul, to save his capital, sub-
mitted to solicit an armistice ; and the war would
have been terminated without bloodshed, had not the
duke of Guise, at the head of a French army, hastened
1557
Feb. 5. into Italy. Henry had secretly concluded a league
with the pope soon after his accession to the pon-
tificate ; he violated that treaty by consenting to the
PEACE BROKEN BY HENRY. 507
truce with Philip for five years ; and now he broke CHAP.
the truce, in the hope of humbling the pride of the A.D. 1557.
Spanish monarch, by placing a French prince on the
throne of Naples, and investing another with the ducal
coronet of Milan.1
It seems that, in the estimation of this prince, every
breach of treaty, every departure from honesty, might
be justified on the plea of expediency.2 He had no
real cause of resentment against Mary ; and yet, from
the commencement of her reign, he had acted the
part of a bitter enemy. His object had been, first to
prevent the marriage of the queen with Philip, and
then to disable her from lending aid to her husband.
With these views he had, under the mask of friend-
ship, fomented the discontent of her subjects, had
encouraged them to rise in arms against her, and had
offered an asylum and furnished pensions to her rebels.
Having determined to renew the war with Philip, he
called on Dudley and his associates to resume their
treasonable practices against Mary. In Calais, and
the territory belonging to Calais, were certain families
of reformers, whose resentment had been kindled by
the persecution of their brethren. With these the
chiefs of the fugitives opened a clandestine corre-
spondence ; and a plan was arranged for the delivery
of Hammes and Guisnes, two important fortresses,
1 See these particulars, drawn from the original documents by
Pallavicino, ii. 436 — 476. The complaints of the duke of Alva, and
the recrimination of the college of cardinals, are in the Lettere de'
Principi, i. 190.
2 It is amusing to observe that, while Noailles perpetually accuses
Englishmen of habits of falsehood, he is continually practising it
himself, sometimes of choice, sometimes by order of his sovereign.
Thus, with respect to the league with the pope, he was instructed
to keep it secret, couvrant, niant, cachant, et desniant ladicte intel-
ligence avecques sadite sainctete. — Noailles, v. 199.
508 MARY.
CHAP, into the hands of the French.1 But the enterprise, to
A.D. 1557. the mortification of Henry, was defeated by the com-
M^h. munications of a spy in the pay of the English govern-
ment, who wormed himself into the confidence, and
betrayed the secrets, of the conspirators. Within a
few days a different attempt was made by another of
the exiles, Thomas Stafford, second son to Lord Staf-
ford, and grandson to the last duke of Buckingham.
With a small force of Englishmen, Scots, and French-
men, he sailed from Dieppe, surprised the old castle of
Scarborough, and immediately published a proclama-
Aprii24. tion, as protector and governor of the realm. He was
come, " not to work to his own advancement, touching
" the possession of the crown," but to deliver his
countrymen from the tyranny of strangers, and " to
" defeat the most devilish devices of Mary, unrightful
" and unworthy queen," who had forfeited her claim
to the sceptre by her marriage to a Spaniard, who
lavished all the treasures of the realm upon Spaniards,
and who had resolved to deliver the twelve strongest
fortresses in the kingdom to twelve thousand Spaniards.
He had determined to die bravely in the field, rather
than see the slavery of his country ; and he called on
all Englishmen, animated with similar sentiments, to
join the standard of independence, and to fight for the
preservation of their lives, lands, wives, children, and
treasures, from the possession of Spaniards. But
his hopes were quickly extinguished. Not a man
obeyed the proclamation. Wotton, the English am-
bassador, had apprized the queen of his design ; and
April 28. on the fourth day, before any aid could arrive from
France, the earl of Westmoreland appeared with a
considerable force, when Stafford, unable to defend
1 The information, given by the spy, is in Strype, iii. 358.
STAFFORD'S PLOT AND SURRENDER. 509
the ruins of the castle, surrendered at discretion.1 The CHAP.
VI.
failure of these repeated attempts ought to have un- A.D. 1557.
deceived the French monarch. Noailles and the
exiles had persuaded him that discontent pervaded the
whole population of the kingdom ; that every man
longed to free himself from the rule of Mary ; and
that, at the first call, multitudes would unsheath their
swords against her. But whenever the trial was made,
the result proved the contrary. Men displayed their
loyalty, by opposing the traitors ; arid Henry, by at-
tempting to embarrass the queen, provoked her to lend
to her husband that aid which it was his great object
to avert.
Hitherto Philip had discovered no inclination for
war. Content with the extensive dominions which had
fallen to his lot, he sought rather to enjoy the plea-
sures becoming his youth and station, and, during his
residence in England, had devoted much of his time
to the chase, to parties of amusement, and to exercises
of arms.2 The bad faith of Henry awakened his re-
sentment, and compelled him to draw the sword.
But, though the armistice had been broken in Italy,
he was careful to make no demonstration of hostilities
in Flanders, hoping by this apparent inactivity to de-
ceive the enemy, till he had collected a numerous
force in Spain, and engaged an army of mercenaries
in Germany. In March he revisited Mary, not so March 17.
much in deference to her representations, as to draw
1 Stafford's proclamation, and the queen's answer, are in Strype,
iii. Rec. 259 — 262; Godwin, 129; Heylin, 242. The pretence
that this plot was got up by Wotton, the English ambassador in
France, in order to provoke the queen to war, is improbable in itself,
and must appear incredible to those who have read, in the letters of
Noailles, his notices of the important, though hazardous enterprises
designed by the exiles. — Noailles, v. 256, 262.
2 Noailles, v. 221.
510 MARY.
CHAP. England into the war with France. It is no wonder
A.D. 1557. that the queen, after the provocations which she had
received, should be willing to gratify her husband ; but
she left the decision to her council, in which the ques-
tion was repeatedly debated. At first it was deter-
mined in the negative, on account of the poverty of
the crown, the high price of provisions, the rancour of
religious parties, and the condition in the marriage
treaty, by which Philip promised not to involve the
nation in the existing war against France. When
it was replied, that the present was a new war, and
that, to preserve the dignity of the crown, it was
requisite to obtain satisfaction for the injuries offered
to the queen by Henry, the majority of the council
proposed that instead of embarking as a principal in
the war, she should confine herself to that aid to
which she was bound by ancient treaties, as the ally
of the house of Burgundy. At last the enterprise of
Stafford effected what neither the influence of the
king, nor the known inclination of the queen, had
June 7. been able to accomplish. A proclamation was issued,
containing charges against the French monarch, which
it was not easy to refute. From the very accession of
Mary he had put on the appearance of a friend, and
acted as an adversary. He had approved of the rebel-
lion of Northumberland, and supported that of Wyat :
to him, through his ambassador, had been traced the
conspiracies of Dudley and Ashton ; and from him
these traitors had obtained an asylum and pensions ;
by his suggestions, attempts had been made to surprise
Calais and its dependencies ; and with his money
Stafford had procured the ships and troops with which
he had obtained possession of the castle of Scar-
borough. The king and queen owed it to themselves
MARY'S DEFIANCE TO HENRY. 511
and to the nation, to resent such a succession of in- CHAP.
VI.
juries, and therefore they warned the English mer- A.D.1557.
chants to abstain from all traffic in the dominions of a
monarch against whom it was intended to declare
war, and from whom they might expect the confisca-
tion of their property.1 Norroy king-at-arms was
already on his road to Paris. According to the
ancient custom he defied Henry, who coolly replied
that it did not become him to enter into altercation
with a woman ; that he intrusted his quarrel with
confidence to the decision of the Almighty ; and that
the result would reveal to the world who had the better
cause. But, when he heard of the proclamation, he
determined to oppose to it a manifesto, in which he
complained that Mary had maintained spies in his
dominions ; had laid new and heavy duties on the
importation of French merchandise, and had unne-
cessarily adopted the personal enmities of her husband.
The bishop of Acqs was immediately recalled ; at June 12,
Calais he improved the opportunity to examine the
fortifications, and remarked that from the gate of the
harbour to the old castle, and from the castle for a
considerable distance to the right, the rampart lay
in ruins. At his request Senarpont, governor of
Boulogne, repaired in disguise to the same place,
and both concurred in the opinion that its boasted
strength consisted only in its reputation, and that,
in its present state, it offered an easy conquest to a
sudden and unexpected assailant. The ambassador,
when he reached the court, acquainted his sovereign
with the result of these observations ; but at the same
time laid before him a faithful portrait of the exiles
and their adherents. The zeal of his brother had
1 Transcripts for Rymer, 359. Godwin, 129. Holins, 1133.
512 MARY.
CHAP, induced him to magnify the importance of these
A.DVi557. people. Their number was small, their influence
inconsiderable, and their fidelity doubtful. Experi-
ence had shown that they were more desirous to
obtain the favour of their sovereign by betraying each
other, than by molesting her to fulfil their engagements
to Henry.1
juiy G. Philip was now returned to Flanders, where the
mercenaries from Germany, and the troops from Spain,
had already arrived. The earl of Pembroke followed
at the head of seven thousand Englishmen ;2 and the
command of the combined army, consisting of forty
thousand men, was assumed by Philibert, duke of
Savoy. Having successively threatened Marienberg,
Rocroi, and Guise, he suddenly halted before the
town of St. Quintin on the right bank of the Somme.
Henry was alarmed for the safety of this important
place ; but it occurred to him that a supply might be
sent to the garrison over the extensive and apparently
impassable morass, which, together with the river,
covered one side of the town. On the night of the
ninth of August, the constable Montmorency marched
from La Fere, with all his cavalry and fifteen thousand
infantry ; and, about nine on the following morning,
August 10. took a position close to the marsh, in which it was
calculated that he might remain for several hours,
without the possibility of molestation on the part of
the enemy. The boats, which had been brought upon
carts, were now launched, and men, provisions, and
ammunition were embarked. But the operation con-
1 Noailles, 33, 35.
2 To equip this army, the queen had raised a loan by privy seals,
dated July 20, 31, 1556, requiring certain gentlemen in different
counties to lend her one hundred pounds each, to be repaid in the
month of November of the following year. — Strype, iii. 424.
VICTORY OF ST. QUINTIN. 513
sumed more time than had been calculated ; and the CHAP.
Spaniards, making a long detour, and crossing the A.D. 1557.
river higher up, advanced rapidly by a broad and solid
road. Their cavalry, a body of six thousand horse,
easily dispersed a weak force of reistres, the first that
opposed them, then broke the French cavalry, and
instantly charged the infantry at a moment when they
were falling back on the reserve. The confusion was
o
irremediable. The constable himself, the marshal
St. Andr6, and most of the superior officers, fell into
the hands of the conquerors ; and one-half of the
French army was either taken or slain. The Spanish
cavalry claimed the whole glory of the day. Their
infantry did not arrive before the battle was won ;
and the English auxiliaries guarded the trenches on
the other bank of the river.1
It was but a poor consolation to Henry for the loss
of his army, that many of the boats on the marsh had
contrived to reach the town, and that the garrison
with this supply was enabled to protract the siege for
another fortnight. On the arrival of Philip, who was
accompanied by the earl of Pembroke, the mines were
sprung, the assault was given, the defences after an
obstinate resistance were won, and the English auxil-
iaries, as they shared in the glory, shared also in the
spoil of the day. It was the only opportunity which
they had of distinguishing themselves during the cam-
paign ; but by sea the English fleet rode triumphant
through the summer, and kept the maritime provinces
of France in a state of perpetual alarm. Bordeaux
and Bayonne were alternately menaced ; descents
were made on several points of the coast ; and the
1 Cabrera, 157. Mergez, M6m. xli. 24. Tavannes, xxvi. 1G4.
VOL. V. 2 L
514 MARY.
CHAP, plunder of the defenceless inhabitants rewarded the
A.D. 1557. services of the adventurers.1
When Mary determined to aid her husband against
Henry, she had made up her mind to a war with Scot-
land. In that kingdom the national animosity against
the English, the ancient alliance with France, the
marriage of the queen to the dauphin, and the au-
thority of the regent, a French princess, had given to
the French interest a decided preponderance. From
the very commencement of the year, the Scots, for the
sole purpose of intimidation, had assumed a menacing
attitude ; the moment Mary denounced war against
Henry, they agreed to assist him by invading the
northern counties. The borderers on both sides re-
commenced their usual inroads, and many captures of
small importance were reciprocally made at sea. But
to collect a sufficient force for the invasion required
considerable time; before the equinox the weather
became stormy; the fords and roads were rendered
impassable by the rains ; and a contagious disease
Oct. 11. introduced itself into the Lowlands. It required
considerable exertion on the part of the queen regent
and of D'Oyselles, the ambassador, to assemble the
army against the beginning of October ; and they
found it a still more difficult task to guide the turbu-
lent and capricious humour of the Scottish nobles.
Oct. 17. When the auxiliaries from France crossed the Tweed
1 Noailles, i. 17 — 19. The success of the combined army at
St. Quintin irritated the venom of Goodman, one of the most cele-
brated of the exiles at Geneva, who, in his treatise entitled " How
" to obey or disobey," thus addresses those among the reformers,
who, " to please the wicked Jezebel," had fought on that day ; " Is
" this the love that ye bear to the word of God, O ye Gospellers ?
" Have ye been so taught in the gospel, to be wilful murtherers of
" yourselves and others abroad, rather than lawful defenders of God's
" people and your country at home? " — Apud Strype, iii. 441.
MARY AND THE POPE. 515
to batter the castle of Wark, the Scots, instead of CHAP.
fighting, assembled in council at Ecford church, where A.D. 1557.
they reminded each other of the fatal field of Flodden,
and exaggerated the loss of their ally at the battle of
St. Quintin. The earl of Shrewsbury lay before them
with the whole power of England; why should the
Scots shed their blood for an interest entirely French;
why hazard the best hopes of the country without any
adequate cause ? The earl of Huntley alone ventured
to oppose the general sentiment. He was put under
a temporary arrest ; and, in defiance of the threats, the
tears, and the entreaties of the regent, the army was
disbanded. " Thus/' says Lord Shrewsbury, " this Oct. is.
" enterprise, begun with so great bravery, ended in
" dishonour and shame/'1 It produced, however, this
benefit to France, that it distracted the attention of
the English council, and added considerably to the
expenses of the war.
At the same time, the queen, to her surprise and
vexation, found herself involved in a contest with the
pontiff. Though Pole, in former times, had suffered
much for his attachment to the Catholic creed, the
cardinal Caraffa had, on one occasion, ventured to
express a doubt with respect to his orthodoxy. That
this suspicion was unfounded, Caraffa subsequently
acknowledged;2 and after his elevation to the pope-
dom, he had repeatedly pronounced a high eulogium
on the English cardinal. Now, however, whether it
was owing to the moderation of Pole, which, to the
pope's more ardent zeal, appeared like a dereliction of
duty, or to the suggestions of those who sought to
1 See the long correspondence on the subject of this intended in-
vasion in Lodge, i. 240 — 293.
2 Pol. Ep. iv. 91 ; v. 122.
2 L 2
516 MARY.
CHAP, widen the breach between Philip and the Holy See,
A.D. 1557. Paul reverted to the suspicions which he had before
abjured. Though he wished to mask his real inten-
tion, he resolved to involve the legate in the same
disgrace with his friend the cardinal Morone, and to
subject the orthodoxy of both to the investigation of
the Inquisition. It chanced that Philip, in conse-
quence of the war, had made regulations which seemed
to trench on the papal authority ; and Paul, to mark
his sense of these encroachments, recalled his minis-
ters from all the dominions of that monarch. There
was no reason to suppose that Pole was included in
this revocation ; but the pontiff ordered a letter to
be prepared, announcing to him that his legatine
authority was at an end, and ordering him to hasten
immediately to Rome. Carne, the queen's agent,
informed her by express of the pope's intention, and
in the meantime, by his remonstrances, extorted an
illusory promise of delay. Philip and Mary expostu-
lated; the English prelates and nobility, in separate
May 21. letters, complained of the injury which religion would
May 25. receive from the measure ; and Pole himself repre-
sented that the control of a legate was necessary,
though it mattered little whether that office was exer-
cised by himself or another.1 This expression sug-
gested a new expedient. Peyto, a Franciscan friar,
eighty years of age, was the queen's confessor : him
June 14. the pope, in a secret consistory, created a cardinal ;
1 These letters may be seen in Pole's Ep. v. 27 ; Strype, iii. Rec.
231 ; Burnet, ii. 315. In them great complaint is made that the
pope should deprive the cardinal of the authority of legate, which
for centuries had been annexed to the office of archbishop of Can-
terbury. It would appear that this was a mistake ; for soon after-
wards Pole, though he no longer styled himself legatus a latere,
assumed the title of legatus natus, and kept it till his death. — Wilk.
iv. 149, 153, 171. Pol. Ep. v. 181.
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST POLE. 517
and immediately transferred to him all the powers CHAP.
which had hitherto been exercised by Pole.1 In this A.D. 1557.
emergency, Mary's respect for the papal authority did ju^e~2o.
not prevent her from having recourse to the precau-
tions which had often been employed by her prede-
cessors. Orders were issued that every messenger
from foreign parts should be detained and searched.
The bearer of the papal letters was arrested at Calais ;
his despatches were clandestinely forwarded to the
queen; and the letters of revocation were either
secreted or destroyed. Thus it happened that Peyto
never received any official notice of his preferment,
nor Pole of his recall. The latter, however, ceased to
exercise the legatine authority, and despatched Orma-
netto, his chancellor, to Rome. That messenger ar-
rived at a most favourable moment. The papal army juiy 20.
had been defeated at Palliano ; the news of the victory
at St. Quintin had arrived ; and peace was signed Sept. 14.
between Paul and Philip. In these circumstances,
the pontiff treated Ormanetto with kindness, and re-
ferred the determination of the question to his
nephew, the cardinal Caraffa, whom he had appointed Sept. 24.
legate to the king.2 When that minister reached Dec. is.
Brussels, he demanded that both Pole and Peyto
should be suffered to proceed to Rome ; Pole, that
he might clear himself from the charge of heresy,
Peyto, that he might aid the pontiff with his advice.
Philip referred him to Mary, and Mary returned a
refusal.3 At Rome proceedings against the English
1 Pol. Ep. v. 144, ex actis consistorialibus. Paul says that he had
known Peyto when he was in the family of Pole ; that from the first
he had determined to make him a cardinal ; and that he considered
him worthy of the honour, both from his own knowledge and the
testimony of others. — Ibid.
- Beccatello, 380. 3 Pallavicino, ii. 500, 502.
518 MARY.
CHAP, cardinal were already commenced ; but Pole, in strong,
A.D. lisa, though respectful language, remonstrated against the
March~3o. injustice which was done to his character ;' Peyto
April. soon afterwards died ; and the question remained in
suspense, till it was set at rest in the course of a few
months by the deaths of all the parties concerned.
The disgrace which had befallen the French arms
at St. Quintin had induced Henry to recall the duke
of Guise from Italy, and to consult him on the means
by which he might restore his reputation, and take
revenge for his loss. The reader has seen that he
had formerly attempted, through the agency of the
exiles, to debauch the fidelity of some among the in-
habitants, or the troops in garrison, at Calais. There
is reason to believe that he had at present his secret
partisans within the town ; but, however that may be,
the representations of the bishop of Acqs and of the
governor of Boulogne had taught him to form a more
correct notion of its imaginary strength ; and the
duke of Guise adopted a plan originally suggested by
the admiral Coligni, to assault the fortress in the
middle of winter, when, from the depth of the water
in the marshes, and the severity of the weather, it
appeared less exposed to danger. In the month of
December, twenty-five thousand men, with a numerous
train of battering artillery, assembled at Compiegne.
Every eye was turned towards St. Quintin. But
Jan. i. suddenly the army broke up, took the direction of
Calais, and on New Year's Day was discovered in con-
siderable force on the road from Sandgate to Hammes.
The governor, Lord Wentworth, had received repeated
warnings to provide for the defence of the place, but
1 Pol. EP. v. 31—36.
LOSS OF CALAIS. 519
he persuaded himself that the object of the enemy CHAP.
was not conquest, but plunder. The next day the A.D. 1558.
bulwarks of Froyton and Nesle were abandoned by j^~2.
their garrisons ; and within twenty-four hours the
surrender of Newhaven Bridge and of the Risbank
brought the assailants within reach of the town. A Jan. 3.
battery on St. Peter's Heath played on the wall; Jan. 4.
another opened a wide breach in the castle ; and the
commander, in expectation of an assault, earnestly
solicited reinforcements. Lord Wentworth was ad- Jan. 6.
monished that the loss of the town must infallibly
follow that of the castle ; but he rejected the appli-
cation, ordered the garrison to be withdrawn, and
appointed an engineer to blow up the towers on the
approach of the enemy. That same evening, during Jan. 7.
the ebb tide, a company of Frenchmen waded across
the haven ; no explosion took place ; and the French
standard was unfurled on the walls.1 The next morn- Jan. 8.
ing an offer of capitulation was made ; and the town,
with all the ammunition and merchandise, was surren-
dered, on condition that the citizens and garrison
should have liberty to depart, with the exception of
Wentworth himself and of fifty others. Ample supplies
of men and stores had been provided by the council ;
but they were detained at Dover by the tempestuous
state of the weather ; and no man apprehended that
a place of such reputed strength could be lost in the
space of a single week. From Calais, the duke led
his army to the siege of Guisnes. A breach was
made ; the assailants were gallantly repulsed ; but this Jan. 20.
success was purchased with the lives of so many men,
1 In excuse of Saul, the engineer, who was charged to blow up
the towers, it has been pretended that the water, dropping from the
clothes of the Frenchmen, as they passed over the train, wet the
powder, and prevented it from exploding. — See Holinshed, 1135.
520 MARY.
CHAP, that Lord Grey, the governor, evacuated the town,
A.D. 1558. and two days later surrendered the castle.1 Thus, in
Jan722. the depth of winter, and within the short lapse of
three weeks, was Calais, with all its dependencies, re-
covered by France, after it had remained in the pos-
session of the English more than two hundred years.
On whom the blame should be laid is uncertain.
Some have condemned the ministers, who, under a
mistaken notion of economy, had allowed it to be un-
provided for a siege ; others, and not without apparent
cause, have attributed the loss to disaffection and
treason.2
To men who weigh the trivial advantages which
had been derived from the possession of the place
against the annual expenses of its garrison and forti-
fications, the loss appeared in the light of a national
benefit ; but in the eyes of foreigners it tarnished the
reputation of the country, and at iiome it furnished a
subject of reproach to the factious, of regret to the
loyal. The queen felt it most poignantly; and we
may form a notion of her grief from the declarations
which she made on her death-bed, that, if her ambas-
sadors at Cercamp should conclude a peace without
procuring the restoration of Calais, they should pay
for the concession with their heads ; and that, if her
breast were opened after death, the word " Calais"
would be found engraven on her heart.3 With these
1 Lord Grey was given as a prisoner to Strozzi, who sold him to
the count of Rochefoucaut for 8,000 crowns (Brantome, art. Strozzi).
Rochefoucaut demanded and received of Grey 25,000, which served
to pay the greater part of his own ransom of 30,000 to his captor at
the battle of St. Quintin. — Mergez, 48.
2 There is a long account of the siege of Calais in Thuanus, torn. i.
part ii. p. 679, and of that of Guisnes, in Holinshed, 1137 — 1140 ;
but I have adhered to the official correspondence in the Hardwick
Papers, i. 103 — 120. See also Cabrera, Felipe Segundo, 181, 183.
3 Godwin, 134. Gonzales, from the original documents preserved
GRIEF OF MARY AND THE NATION. 521
feelings she met her parliament, and by the mouth of CHAP.
her chancellor solicited a liberal supply. The spirit A.D. 1558.
of the nation had been roused, and all men appeared Jan 20
eager to revenge the loss. The clergy granted an aid
of eight shillings in the pound, the laity one of four
shillings in the pound on lands, and of two shillings
and eightpence on goods, besides a fifteenth and tenth
to be paid before the month of November. Several
bills, against the natives of France, but savouring
more of resentment than of policy, were thrown out
by the moderation of the ministers; and the session
closed with two acts for the better defence of the
realm, of which one regulated the musters of the
militia, the other fixed the proportion of arms, armour,
and horses to be provided by private individuals.1
Some weeks before the attempt of the duke of
Guise, Philip had warned the council of his design,
and had offered for the defence of Calais a garrison of
Spanish troops. The admonition was received with
distrust ; and some of the lords hinted a suspicion
that, under the colour of preserving the place from
the French, he might harbour an intention of keeping
it for himself. He now made a second proposal, to
join any number of Spaniards to an equal number of
English, and to undertake the recovery of the town
before the enemy had repaired the works. Even this Feb. i.
offer was declined, on the ground that a sufficient
force could not be raised within the appointed time ;
that the greater part of the ordnance had been lost at
Calais and Guisnes; that raw soldiers would not be
at Simancas, in the Memorias de la real Acadamia de la Historia,
vii. 257. Madrid, 1832.
1 Journals of Lords and Commons. As the money did not come
into the exchequer immediately, the queen borrowed 20,000/. of the
citizens, at an interest of twelve per cent. — Stowe, 632.
522 MARY.
CHAP, able to bear the rigours of the season ; and that it
A.D. 1558. was necessary to keep up a respectable army at home,
to intimidate the factious, and to repress the attempts
of the outlaws.1 For these reasons the ministers pre-
ferred to fortify the coast of Devon, where Dudley
menaced a descent, and to prepare an armament suffi-
ciently powerful to surprise some port on the French
coast, as an equivalent for that which had been lost.
During the spring seven thousand men were levied,
and trained to military evolutions ; the lord admiral
collected in the harbour of Portsmouth a fleet of one
hundred and forty sail ; and Philip willingly supplied
a strong reinforcement of Flemish troops. In France
the capture of Calais had excited an intoxication of
joy. The event had been celebrated by the nuptials
of the dauphin to the young queen of Scotland ; but
it was clouded by the calamitous defeat of the marshal
July is. de Termes. He was actually engaged with the Spanish
force under the count of Egmont, on the banks of the
Aa, when the report of the cannon attracted the Eng-
lish admiral Malin, with twelve small vessels, to the
mouth of the river. Malin entered with the tide ;
brought his ships to bear on the enemy's line, and,
with the discharge of a few broadsides, threw their
right wing into disorder. The victory was completed
by the charge of the Spaniards. The French lost five
thousand men ; and De Termes, Senarpont, governor
of Boulogne, and many gallant officers, were made
prisoners. To Malin the. count proved his gratitude
by a present of two hundred captives, that he might
receive the profit of* their ransom.2
In the action on the banks of the Aa, the greatest
1 Their letter is in Strype, iii. 439.
2 Godwin, 132. Stowe, 633.
NAVAL EXPEDITION. 523
part of the garrison of Calais had perished ; and there CHAP
can be little doubt that by an immediate and vigorous A ixu
attack the town itself might have been recovered. —
But the grand expedition had previously sailed from
Portsmouth, and had already reached the coast of
Bretagne. Its object was to surprise the port of
Brest ; and we are ignorant why the lord admiral,
instead of proceeding immediately to his destination,
amused himself with making a descent in the vicinity
of Conquest. He burnt the town, and plundered the
adjacent villages ; but, in the meantime, the alarm
was given ; troops poured from all quarters into Brest ;
and his fears or his prudence induced him to return
to England, without having done any thing to raise
the reputation of the country, or to repay the expenses
of the expedition.1
After this failure the last hope of the ministers was
placed in the honour and fidelity of Philip. That
prince had joined his army of forty-five thousand men
in the vicinity of Dourlens; and Henry lay with a
force scarcely inferior in the neighbourhood of Amiens.
Instead, however, of a battle, conferences were opened August.
in the abbey of Cercamp, and both parties professed
to be animated with a sincere desire of peace. It
was evident that, if the king should yield to the de-
mands of France, Calais was irretrievably lost. But
Philip was conscious that he had led the queen into
the war, and deemed himself bound in honour to
watch no less over her interests than over his own.
He resisted the most tempting offers; he declared
that the restoration of Calais must be an indispens-
able condition ; and, at last, in despair of subduing
1 Stowe, 633.
524 MARY.
CHAP, the obstinacy of Henry, put an end to the negoti-
A.D.1558. ation.1
But the reign of Mary was now hastening to its
termination. Her health had always been delicate;
from the time of her first supposed pregnancy she was
afflicted with frequent and obstinate maladies. Tears
no longer afforded her relief from the depression of
her spirits ; and the repeated loss of blood, by the
advice of her physicians, had rendered her pale, lan-
guid, and emaciated.2 Nor was her mind more at
ease than her body. The exiles from Geneva, by the
number and virulence of their libels, kept her in a
constant state of fear and irritation ;3 and to other
causes of anxiety, which have been formerly men-
tioned, had lately been added the insalubrity of the
season, the loss of Calais, and her contest with the
pontiff. In August she experienced a slight febrile
indisposition at Hampton Court, and immediately
removed to St. James's. It was soon ascertained
that her disease was the same fever which had proved
fatal to thousands of her subjects ; and, though she
languished for three months, with several alternations
of improvement and relapse, she never recovered suffi-
ciently to leave her chamber.
During this long confinement, Mary edified all
around her by her cheerfulness, her piety, and her
resignation to the will of Providence. Her chief
1 See the official correspondence in Burnet, iii. 258 — 263.
2 Memoir of the Venetian Ambassador, fol. 157.
3 These libels provoked the government to issue, on the 6th of
June, a proclamation, stating that books filled with heresy, sedition,
and treason, were daily brought from beyond the seas, and some
covertly printed within the realm, and ordering that " whosoever
" should be found to have any of the said wicked and seditious books
" should be reputed a rebel, and executed according to martial law."
— Strype, iii. 459.
DEATH OF THE QUEEN.
525
solicitude was for the stability of that church which CHAP.
she had restored ; and her suspicions of Elizabeth's A.D. 1558.
insincerity prompted her to require from her sister an
avowal of her real sentiments. In return, Elizabeth
complained of Mary's incredulity. She was a true
and conscientious believer in the Catholic creed ; nor
could she do more now than she had repeatedly done
before, which was to confirm her assertion with her
oath.1
On the fifth of November, the day fixed at the NOV. 5.
prorogation, the parliament assembled at Westmin-
ster. The ministers, in the name of the queen, de-
manded a supply ; but little progress was made, under
the persuasion that she had but a short time to live.
Four days later the Conde de Feria arrived, the Nov. 9.
bearer of a letter to Mary from her husband. It was
an office which decency, if not affection, required ; but
Philip had the ingenuity to turn it to his own account,
by instructing the ambassador to secure for him the
good will of the heir to the crown. Though the
queen had already declared Elizabeth her successor,
Feria advocated her claim in a set speech before the
council ; and then, in an interview with the princess NOV. 10.
at the house of Lord Clinton, assured her that the
declaration of the queen in her favour had originated
with his master. A few days later, Mary ordered Jane
Dormer, one of her maids of honour, and afterwards
duchess of Feria, to deliver to Elizabeth the jewels
in her custody, and to make to the princess three
requests : that she would be good to her servants,
would repay the sums of money which had been lent
1 MS. Life of the Duchess of Feria, 156. " She prayed God that
" the earth might open and swallow her up alive, if she were not a
" true Roman Catholic." — Ibid. 129. See also Paterson's Image of
the Two Churches, 435.
526 MARY.
CHAP, on privy seals, and would support the established
A.D. 1558. church. On the morning of her death mass was cele-
NovTi7. braced in her chamber. She was perfectly sensible,
and expired a few minutes before the conclusion.1
Her friend and kinsman, Cardinal Pole, who had long
been confined with a fever, survived her only twenty-
Nov. is. two hours. He had reached his fifty-ninth, she her
forty-second year.2
The foulest blot on the character of this queen is
her long and cruel persecution of the reformers. The
sufferings of the victims naturally begat an antipathy
to the woman by whose authority they were inflicted.
It is, however, but fair to recollect what I have already
noticed, that the extirpation of erroneous doctrine was
inculcated as a duty by the leaders of every religious
party. Mary only practised what they taught. It
was her misfortune, rather than her fault, that she
was not more enlightened than the wisest of her con-
temporaries.
With this exception, she has been ranked, by the
more moderate of the reformed writers, among the
best, though not the greatest, of our princes. They
1 MS. Life of the Duchess of Feria, 128. Even the merit of
sending the jewels was claimed for Philip ; who moreover added a
present of his own, a valuable casket which he had left at Whitehall,
and which he knew that Elizabeth greatly admired. — Memorias, vii.
260.
2 Elizabeth, in her conference with Feria on the 10th, spoke with
great asperity (malissamente) of the cardinal. He had paid her no
attention, and had been to her the occasion of great annoyance. —
Ibid. 255, 257. Pole appears to have been aware of her displeasure ;
for he sent from his death-bed the dean of Worcester with a letter
to her, requesting her to give credit to what the dean had " to say
" in his behalf," and doubting not that she would " remain satisfied
" thereby."— Hearne's Sylloge, 157. Collier, Records, 88. The
moment his death was known, she sent the earl of Rutland and
Throckmorton to seize his effects for the crown. — Memorias, 257,
259.
MARY'S CHARACTER AND ABILITIES. 527
have borne honourable testimony to her virtues ; have CHAP.
allotted to her the praise of piety and clemency, of A.D. 1553.
compassion for the poor, and liberality to the dis-
tressed; and have recorded her solicitude to restore
to opulence the families that had been unjustly de-
prived of their possessions by her father and brother,
and to provide for the wants of the parochial clergy,
who had been reduced to penury by the spoliations of
the last government.1 It is acknowledged that her
moral character was beyond reproof. It extorted
respect from all, even from the most virulent of her
enemies. The ladies of her household copied the
conduct of their mistress ; and the decency of Mary's
court was often mentioned with applause by those
who lamented the dissoluteness which prevailed in
that of her successor.2
The queen was thought by some to have inherited
the obstinacy of her father ; but there was this differ-
ence, that, before she formed her decisions, she sought
for advice and information, and made it an invariable
rule to prefer right to expediency. One of the out-
laws, who had obtained his pardon, hoped to ingratiate
himself with Mary by devising a plan to render her
independent of parliament. He submitted it to the
inspection of the Spanish ambassador, by whom it was
recommended to her consideration. Sending for Gar-
1 Princeps apud omnes ob mores sanctissimos, pietatem in pau-
peres, liberalitatem in nobiles atque ecclesiasticos nunquam satis
laudata. — Camden in Apparat. 23. Mulier sane pia, clemens, mori-
busque castissimis, et usquequaque laudanda, si religionis errorem
non spectes. — Godwin, 123.
2 MS. Life of the Duchess of Feria, 114. Faunt, Walsingham's
secretary, says of Elizabeth's court, that it was a place " where all
" enormities were practised ; where sin reigned in the highest
" degree."— Aug. 6, 1583. Birch, i. 39.
528 MARY.
CHAP, diner, she bade him peruse it, and then adjured him,
A.D. 1558. as he should answer at the judgment-seat of God, to
speak his real sentiments. " Madam," replied the
prelate, "it is a pity that so virtuous a lady should
" be surrounded by such sycophants. The book is
" naught : it is filled with things too horrible to be
" thought of." She thanked him, and threw the paper
into the fire.i
Her natural abilities had been improved by educa-
tion. She understood the Italian, she spoke the
French and Spanish languages ; and the ease and
correctness with which she replied to the foreigners,
who addressed her in Latin, excited their admiration.2
Her speeches in public, and from the throne, were
delivered with grace and fluency ; and her conferences
with Noailles, as related in his despatches, show her to
have possessed an acute and vigorous mind, and to
have been on most subjects a match for that subtle
and intriguing negotiator.
It had been the custom of her predecessors to devote
the summer months to " progresses " through different
counties. But these journeys produced considerable
injury and inconvenience to the farmers, who were
not only compelled to furnish provisions to the pur-
veyors at inadequate prices, but were withdrawn from
the labours of the harvest to aid with their horses
1 This anecdote is told by Persons in one of his tracts, and by
Burnet, ii. 278.
2 Nella latina faria stupir ognuno con le risposte che da. — Michele'a
Report, MSS. Barber. 1208. He adds, that she was fond of music
and excelled on the monochord and the lute, two fashionable instru-
ments at that time. English writers also praise her proficiency in
the Latin language. She had translated for publication the para-
phrase of Erasmus on the gospel of St. John. — Warton's Sir Thomas
Pope, 57.
INCREASE OF COLLEGES.
529
and waggons in the frequent removals of the court, CHAP.
and of the multitude which accompanied it. Mary, A.D. 1553,
through consideration for the interests and comforts
of the husbandman, refused herself this pleasure ; and
generally confined her excursions to Croydon, a manor
belonging to the church of Canterbury. There it
formed her chief amusement to walk out in the com-
pany of her maids, without any distinction of dress,
and in this disguise to visit the houses of the neigh-
bouring poor. She inquired into their circumstances,
relieved their wants, spoke in their favour to her
officers, and often, where the family was numerous,
apprenticed, at her own expense, such of the children
as appeared of promising dispositions.1
During her reign, short as it was, and disturbed by
repeated insurrections, much attention was paid to the
interests of the two universities, not only by the
queen herself, who restored to them that portion of
their revenues which had devolved on the crown, but
also by individuals, who devoted their private fortunes
to the advancement of learning. At a time when the
rage for polemic disputation had almost expelled the
study of classic literature from the schools, Sir Thomas
Pope founded Trinity College, in Oxford, and made it
a particular regulation, that its inmates should acquire
" a just relish for the graces and purity of the Latin
" tongue." About three years later, Sir Thomas
White established St. John's, on the site of Bernard's
College, the foundation of Archbishop Chicheley ; and
at the same time, the celebrated Dr. Caius, at Cam-
bridge, made so considerable an addition to Gonvil
Hall, and endowed it with so many advowsons, manors,
1 MS. Life of the Duchess of Feria, p. 120.
VOL. V. 2 M
530 MARY.
CHAP, and demesnes, that it now bears his name, in conjunc-
A.DVi558. ti°n W^Q that of the original founder.
Though her parliaments were convoked for tem-
porary purposes, they made several salutary enact-
ments, respecting the offence of treason, the office
of sheriff, the powers of magistrates, the relief of the
poor, and the practice of the courts of law.1 The
merit of these may probably be due to her council ;
but of her own solicitude for the equal administration
of justice, we have a convincing proof. It had long
been complained that in suits, to which the crown
was a party, the subject, whatever were his right,
had no probability of a favourable decision, on account
of the superior advantages claimed and enjoyed by the
counsel for the sovereign. When Mary appointed
Morgan chief justice of the court of Common Pleas,
she took the opportunity to express her disapprobation
of this grievance. " I charge you, sir," said she, " to
" minister the law and justice indifferently, without
" respect of person ; and, notwithstanding the old
" error among you, which will not admit any witness
" to speak, or other matter to be heard, in favour of
" the adversary, the crown being a party, it is my
" pleasure, that whatever can be brought in favour
" of the subject may be admitted and heard. You
1 On the subject of taxation, the Venetian ambassador has the
following passage. " The liberty of this country is really singular
" and wonderful ; indeed there is no other country in my opinion less
" burthened, and more free. For they have not only no taxes of
" any kind, but they are not even thought of: no tax on salt, wine,
" beer, flour, meat, cloth, and the other necessaries of life. . . .
" Here every one indifferently, whether noble or of the common people,
" is in the free and unmolested enjoyment of all he possesses, or daily
" acquires, relating either to food or raiment, to buying or selling,
" except in those articles which he imports or exports in the way of
" traffick." — See the translation by Mr. Ellis, ii. 234.
ATTENTION TO COMMERCE. 531
" are to sit there, not as advocates for me, but as CHAP.
" indifferent judges between me and my people."1 A.D. 1553.
Neither were the interests of trade neglected during
her government. She had the honour of concluding
the first commercial treaty with Russia. Edward died
long before Challoner returned from Archangel ;c
but the letter which he brought was delivered to the
queen, and the report of the wonders which he had
seen excited an extraordinary spirit of enterprise
throughout the nation. A new company was formed
with the same Sebastian Cabote for its director, and
1 f)fi!i
was incorporated by Philip and Mary under the title Feb. 26.
of " Merchauntes Adventurers of Englande for the
" Discoveryes of Lands, Territories, Isles, and Signories
" unknown." The list of shareholders exhibits the
names of the lord high treasurer, and all the high
officers of state, of all the officers of the household, of
lords, knights, barristers, and individuals of every
rank, with the exception of clergymen and the judges.
By their charter they were empowered to discover
unknown countries by sailing " northwards, northwest-
" wards, or northeastwards, to erect the banners of
" England thereon, to subdue all maner of cities,
u townes, isles, and mayne lands of infidelity " so
discovered, and to acquire the dominion thereof for
the king and queen, and their heirs and successors for
ever. Moreover, the trade with Russia, and all the
countries which might be discovered in virtue of this
charter, was granted to the company exclusively, and
the intruder, if he were an English subject, was made
liable to fine and forfeiture ; if he were an alien, they
1 State Trials, i. 72. 2 See p. 36G.
2 M 2
532 MARY.
CHAP, were authorized to resist him as an open enemy
A.D. 1555. This was the origin of the Russian Company.1
April i. Challoner was now sent back with a letter to the
1556 czar. Sailing up the Dwina, he traversed the country
July 20. to Moscow, obtained from that prince the most flatter-
ing promises, and returned with Osep Napea Gregori-
NOV. 10. vitch, as ambassador to Mary. They reached the bay
of Pettisligo in the north of Scotland ; but during the
night the ship was driven from her anchors upon the
rocks. Challenor perished ; the ambassador saved
his life ; but his property, and the presents for the
queen, were carried off by the natives, who plundered
the wreck. Mary sent two messengers to Edinburgh
to supply his wants, and to complain of the detention
of his effects.2 No redress could be obtained ; but she
made every effort to console him for his loss. On the
borders of each county the sheriffs received him in
state ; he was met in the neighbourhood of London
by Lord Montague with three hundred horse ; and
during his stay in the capital the king and queen, the
lord mayor, and the company, treated him with ex-
traordinary distinction. He appeared, however, to
mistrust these demonstrations of kindness ; and it was
not without difficulty that he was brought to accede
to many of the demands of the merchants. At length
1557 a treatv was concluded by the address of the bishop of
May i. Ely and Sir William Petre ; and Napea was sent back
1 See charter of incorporation in the Transcripts for the new
Ryraer, p. 350.
2 Lord Wharton, in a letter from Berwick of February 28th, says,
" A great nomber in that realme ar sorye that they suffered the im-
" bassador of Russea to departe owte of the same ; he may thanke
" God that he escaped from their crewell covetouse with his lief." —
Lodge, i. 224.
ENGLISH TRADE PROTECTED. 533
to his own country, loaded with presents for himself, CHAP.
and still more valuable gifts for his sovereign. The A.D. 1557.
trade fully compensated the queen and the nation for
these efforts and expenses; and the woollen cloths
and coarse linens of England were exchanged at an
immense profit for the valuable skins and furs of the
northern regions.1
Mary may also claim the merit of having supported
the commercial interests of the country against the
pretensions of a company of foreign merchants, which
had existed for centuries in London, under the
different denominations of Easterlings, merchants of
the Hanse towns, and merchants of the Steelyard.
By their readiness to advance loans of money on
sudden emergencies, they had purchased the most
valuable privileges from several of our monarchs.
They formed a corporation, governed by its own laws ;
whatever duties were exacted from others, they paid
no more than one per cent, on their merchandise ;
they were at the same time buyers and sellers, brokers
and carriers ; they imported jewels and bullion, cloth
of gold and of silver, tapestry and wrought silk, arms,
naval stores, and household furniture ; and exported
1 Legatorum nemo unquam quisquam (sicut autumo) magnificentius
apud nostros acceptus est. — Godwin, 129. The presents which he
received for himself and his sovereign, from the king and queen, are
enumerated by Stowe, 630. Among them are a lion and lioness.
All his expenses, from his arrival in Scotland to the day on which
he left England, were defrayed by the merchants. I may here
observe, that at this time, according to the report of the Venetian
ambassador, there were many merchants in London worth fifty or
sixty thousand pounds each, that the inhabitants amounted to
180,000, and that it was not surpassed in wealth by any city in
Europe. Si puo dire per vero que puo qualla citta senza dubio
star a paragone delle piu ricche d' Europa. — MSS. Barber. 1208,
p. 137.
534 MARY.
CHAP, wool and woollen cloths, skins, lead and tin, cheese
A.D. 1552. and beer, and Mediterranean wines. Their privileges
and wealth gave them a superiority over all other
merchants, which excluded competition, and enabled
them to raise or depress the prices almost at pleasure.
In the last reign the public feeling against them had
been manifested by frequent acts of violence, and
several petitions had been presented to the council,
complaining of the injuries suffered by the English
Feb. 24. merchants. After a long investigation it was declared
that the company had violated, and consequently had
forfeited, its charter ; but by dint of remonstrances, of
presents, and of foreign intercession, it obtained, in the
July s. course of a few weeks, a royal license to resume the
traffic under the former regulations.1 In Mary's first
parliament a new blow was aimed at its privileges ;
and it was enacted, in the bill of tonnage and pound-
1554 a£e> *^at t^ie Easterlings should pay the same duties
Jan. 15. as other foreign merchants. The queen, indeed, was
induced to suspend, for a while, the operation of the
statute ;2 but she soon discerned the true interest of
Jan. 2. her subjects, revoked the privileges of the company,
and refused to listen to the arguments adduced, or the
intercession made in its favour.3 Elizabeth followed
the policy of her predecessor; the Steelyard was at
length shut up ; and the Hanse Towns, after a long
and expensive suit, yielded to necessity, and abandoned
the contest.
Ireland, during this reign, offers but few subjects to
attract the notice of the reader. The officers of
government were careful to copy the proceedings in
1 Strype, ii. 295, 296. 2 Rymer, xv. 364, 365.
y Noailles, iv. 137.
IRELAND. 535
England. They first proclaimed the lady Jane, and CHAP.
then the lady Mary. They suffered the new service A.D. 1*555.
to fall into desuetude ; Dowdall resumed the arch-
bishopric of Armagh ; the married prelates and clergy
lost their benefices ; and Bale, the celebrated bishop
of Ossory, who had often endangered his life by his
violence and fanaticism, had the prudence to withdraw
to the continent. When the Irish parliament met, it
selected most of its enactments from the English
statute-book. The legitimacy and right of the queen
were affirmed, the ancient service restored, and the
papal authority acknowledged.1 But though the laws
against heresy were revived, they wrere not carried into
execution. The number of the reformers proved too
small to excite apprehension, and their zeal too cau-
tious to offer provocation.
The lord deputy, the earl of Sussex, distinguished
himself by the vigour of his government. He re-
covered from the native Irish the two districts of
Ofally and Leix, which he moulded into counties, and
named King's County and Queen's County, in honour
of Philip and Mary. He was also careful to define,
by a new statute, the meaning of Poyning's act. It
provided that no parliament should be summoned, till
the reasons why it should be held, and the bills which
it was intended to pass, had been submitted to the
consideration, and had received the consent, of the
sovereign ; and that, if any thing occurred during the
session to make additional enactments necessary, these
should in the same manner be certified to the king,
and be approved by him, before they were laid before
1 Irish Stat. 3 & 4 Philip and Mary, 1, 2, 3, 4.
536 MARY.
CHAP, the two houses. By this act the usage \vas deter-
mined of holding parliaments in Ireland.1
l Mary's will has been published for the first time by Sir Fred.
Madden, in his " Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary/' App.
No. iv. She states that she made her will being in good health,
" but foreseeing the great dangers which by Godd's ordynance re-
" maine to all women in ther travel of children" (30 March, 1558).
Then follow several bequests, some of which are highly honourable
to her memory. She appears to have intended to do that which was
not accomplished till the reign of Charles II. She orders her exe-
cutors to provide a house in London, with an income of the clear yearly
value of four hundred marks, " for the relefe, succour, and helpe of
" pore, impotent, and aged soldiers, and chiefly those that be fallen
" into extreme poverte, having no pensyon or other pretense of
" lyvyng, or are become hurt or maymd in the warres of this realm,
" or in onny service for the defense and suerte of ther prince, and of
" ther countrey, or of the domynions therunto belonging " (p. cxci.).
Some months later (28 October, 1558), when she no longer hoped
for issue to succeed her, she added a codicil confirmatory of her
former will, with an admonition to her successor to fulfil it " accord-
" ing to her treue mind and intente, for which he or she will, no
" doubt, be rewarded of God, and avoid his divine justice pronounced
" and executed against such as be violators and breakers of wills
" and testaments." It is unnecessary to add that no attention was
afterwards paid to any part of this instrument.
537
APPENDIX.
NOTE A, p. 10.
IT is singular that there are still extant two copies of the arch-
bishop's letter, both dated on the same day, both written with his
own hand, both folded alike, addressed in the same words to the
king, sealed with the archbishop's seal, and bearing marks of having
been received ; and yet, though they are the same in substance, they
differ greatly from each other in several important passages. A
careful comparison of the discrepancies between them will, however,
disclose the whole mystery. It will show that the first letter did
not satisfy the expectation of Henry. It was not conceived in lan-
guage sufficiently submissive ; it did not fully state the extent of the
authority solicited by the primate from the new head of the church ;
nor did it declare that the motive of his petition was solely the
exoneration of his own conscience. It was as follows : —
" Please yt your Hieghnes — that wher your Graces grete cause
' of matrimony is (as it is thought) through all Christianytee
' dyvulgated, and in the mowthes of the rude and ignoraunte
' common people of this your Graces realme so talked of, that
' feawe of them do feare to reporte and saye, that thereof ys likly-
• hode hereafter to ensue grete inconvenience, daungier, and perill
' to this your Graces realme, and moche incertentie of succession ;
' by whiche things the saide ignoraunte people be not a litle of-
' fended ; — and forasmoche as yt hathe pleased Almightie God and
' your Grace of your habundant goodnes to me showed to call me
' (albeyt a poure wretche and moche unworthie) unto this hiegh
' and chargeable office of primate and archebisshope in this your
' Graces realme, wherein I beseche Almightie God to graunte me
' his grace so to use and demeane myself, as may be standing with
' his pleasure and the discharge of my conscience and to the weale of
• this Your Graces saide realme ; and consydering also the obloquie
' and brute, which daylie doith spring and increase of the clergie of
• this realme, and speciallie of the heddes and presidentes of the
' same, because they, in this behalve, do not foresee and provide
' suche convenient remedies as might expell and put out of doubt
' all such inconveniencies, perilles and daungiers as the saide rude
538 APPENDIX.
" and ignoraunte people do speke and talk to be ymmynent, I, your
* most humble Orator and Bedeman am in consideration of the
' premisses urgently constrained at this time most humbly to be-
' seche Your most noble Grace that, (1) when my office and duetie
' is, by Yours and Your predecessours sufferance and grauntes,
' (2) to directe and ordre causes spirituall in this Your Graces
' realme, according to the lawes of God and Holye Churche, (3)
' and for relief of almaner greves and infirmities of the people, Goddes
' subjectes and Yours, happening in the saide spiritual causes, to pro-
' vide suche remedie as shall be thought most convenient for their
* helpe and relief in that behalf; and because I wolde be right lothe,
' and also it shall not becom me (forasmoche as Your Grace ys my
' Prince and Sovereigne) to enterprize any parte of my office in the
' saide weightie cause (4) without Your Graces favour obteigned
' and pleasure therein first knowen — it may please the same to ascer-
' teyn me of Your Graces pleasure in the premisses, to thentent
' that, the same knowen, I may precede for my discharge afore
' God to th'execution of my saide office and duetie according to his
' calling and Yours : (5) beseching Your Hieghness moost humbly
" uppon my kneys to pardon me of this my bolde and rude letters,
" and the same to accepte and take in good sense and parte. From
" my manour at Lambith, the llth day of Aprile, in the first yere
" of my consecration."
Your Highnes most humble
Bedisman and Chaplain,
THOMAS CANTUAR.
If the archbishop thought that this letter was sufficiently compre-
hensive and submissive, he had deceived himself. The king was
dissatisfied with it on three grounds : — 1 . He had asked to know
the royal pleasure. Henry meant him to ask the royal permission or
license. 2. He had spoken of ordering and directing spiritual causes :
Henry insisted on having his cause judged and finally determined.
3. He had indeed said that he wished to perform his said office for
his discharge afore God,- but Henry required something more, words
which would exclude all idea of a previous compact between them,
and would enable him to show afterwards, if ever there were need,
that the whole proceeding originated with the new primate. Ac-
cordingly we find, that in the second copy the following corrections
have been made. At No. 1, *' my office and duty" is changed into
" the office and duty of the archbishop of Canterbury." At No. 2,
after " to direct and order" are added the words " to judge and deter-
" myn." At No. 3, the whole passage in italics is omitted. At
No. 4, after favour " license" is inserted, and "your pleasure first
" knowen, and it may please the same to ascerteyn me of your
" graces pleasure," are omitted. Then the following passage is sub-
stituted. " It may please therefore your most excellent majestic
" (considerations had to the premisses, and to my moost bounden
" duetie towards Your Highnes, your realme, succession, and pos-
APPENDIX. 539
" teritie, and for the exoneration of my conscience towardes Al-
" mightie God) to license me according to myn office and duetie to
" procede to the examination, fynall determination, and judgement in
" the saide grete cause touching your Heighnes." At No. 5, as
if the archbishop were not low enough " on his knees," he is made
to substitute the following : — " Eftsones, as prostrate at the feet of
" your majestic, beseching the same to pardon me of thes my bolde
" and rude letters, and the same to accept and take in good sense
" and parte, as I do meane ; which, calling Our Lorde to recorde, is
" onlie for the zele that I have to the causes aforcsaide, and for none
" other intent and purpose." — See State Papers, 390, 391.
It may be asked, how it appears that what I have called the
second and corrected letter, was in reality such. I answer, from
the license granted to the archbishop. — Ibid. 392. That license is
founded on the second letter, and not on the first. It embodies the
second with all its corrections ; it reminds the archbishop of the
oath with which that letter concludes, and of his " calling God to
" his recorde," of his only intent and purpose ; it commends that
intent and purpose, and states that therefore the king, inclining to
his humble petition, doth license him to proceed in the said cause,
to the examination and final determination of the same. This in-
strument places it beyond a doubt that the first petition did not
satisfy the king ; and that the archbishop was compelled to write
the second. How deeply must he have felt himself degraded, when
he submitted to this mandate of his imperious master !
NOTE B, p. 60.
On account of its relation to the funeral of Catherine, I add the
following letter from Henry to Grace, the daughter of Lord Marny,
and wife of Sir Edmond Bedingfeld. The original is in the posses-
sion of Sir Henry Bedingfeld.
" HENRY REX.
" BY THE KING.
" Right dear and welbeloved, we grete you well. And forasmuch
"as it hath pleased Almighty God to call unto his mercy out of
" this transitorie lyfe the right excellent princesse our derest sister
" the Lady Catharyne, relict, widow and dowager of our natural
" brother Prince Arthur of famous memorie, deceased, and that we
" entende to have her bodie interred according to her honour and
" estate, at the enterrement whereof, and for other ceremonies to
" be doon at her funerall, and in conveyance of the corps from Kym-
" bolton, wher it now remayneth, to Peterborough, where the same
" shall be buryed, it is requisite to have the presence of a good
" number of ladies of honor, You shall understand that we have
" appoynted youe to be there oon of the principal mourners, and
VOL. V. *
540 APPENDIX.
" therefore desire and pray you to put yourself in redynes to be in
" any wise at Kimbolton to aforsayd the 25th daye of this monthe,
" and so to attend e uppon the sayd corps tyll the same shall be
" buryed, and the ceremonies to be thereat done be finished. Let-
" ting you further wite that for the mourning apparaill of your own
" person we send you by this bearer yards black cloth, for
" 2 gentlewomen to waite upon you yards, for 2 gentle-
" men yards, for 8 yeomen yards ; all which ap-
" paraill ye must cause in the meane tyme to be made up as shall
*' appertaine. And as concernying th' abiliment of Lynen for your
" head and face we shall before the day limitted send the same unto
" youe accordingly. Given under our signet at our manor of
" Greenwich the 10th daye of January.
In another hand. "And for as moche as sithens the writing
" herof it was thought ye should be enforced to sende to London
" for making of the sayd apparail, for the more expedition we
" thought convenient to you immediately on receipt of this
" to sende your servant to our trusty and welbeloved councellor
" Sir Wn. Poulet knt comptroller of our household, living at the
" freres Augustines in London aforesaid, to whom bringing this
" letter with you (him) for a certen token that he cometh from you,
" the said cloth and certein Lynden for yr head shall be delivered
" accordinglie.
" To our right dere and
" Welbeloved the Ladye Benyngfeld."
NOTE C, p. 74.
Of so great importance was it deemed to conceal from public
knowledge the grounds on which the marriage of Henry with Anne
Boleyn was pronounced null and void, that, even in the record of
the judgment, the place which they ought to occupy is supplied by
the phrase, " quos pro hie insertis haberi volumus." — Wilk. iii. 804.
In like manner, in the new act of settlement, though the real ground
of the archbishop's judgment with respect to Henry's first marriage
is openly stated, that for the same prelate's judgment respecting the
nullity of the second is merely said to have been " certain just and
" true causes." What could have been the motive of such conceal-
ment, but a desire to spare the king's reputation ?
To my conjecture that the true cause was the previous cohabita-
tion of Henry with Mary, the sister of Anne, it has been objected by
a distinguished writer, 1. That in such case "both the statute and
" sentence must have stated as their main ground a notorious false-
" hood ; for the commerce, if at all, must have been before the act
" of settlement." I do not see how this inference can be drawn.
Neither the one nor the other assert that there was no such coha-
bitation. The archbishop in his judgment says only that the causes
APPENDIX. 541
had lately been brought to his knowledge ; the parliament, that the
impediments were unknown at the passing of a previous statute, but
since confessed by the lady Anne before the archbishop, " sitting
"judiciously for 'the same." This, plainly, is not a denial of the
fact of cohabitation, but only of that fact having been officially
brought before the archbishop and the legislature ; which, in both
cases, was true. Moreover, we are ignorant whether the unlawful
commerce between Henry and Mary Boleyn was publicly known or
not ; but it is certain, — 1 . that, in order to marry her sister, Henry
had obtained from Clement a dispensation to marry within the first
degree of affinity, ex quocumque licito seu illicito coitu proveniente,
provided the woman were not the relict of his own brother ; and
2. that such dispensation had hitherto been considered valid accord-
ing to the decision of Cranmer himself under his own hand, — Affini-
tatem impedientem, ne matrimonium contrahatur, induci quidem et
nuptiali fcedere et carnali copula, illam jure divino, hanc jure eccle-
siastico ; wherefore the pontiff could not dispense in the first case,
but could in the last. — Burnet, Rec. xxxvi. As long as Henry was
attached to Anne Boleyn this doctrine prevailed ; as soon as he
wished to be disengaged from her a new light burst forth, and it was
found that both affinities were of divine right, and, consequently,
that the impediment arising from either was beyond the reach of the
papal authority.
In the next place it is objected that, if the impediment arose out of
the intercourse between Henry and Mary Boleyn, it could not, as the
statute says, have been confessed by Anne. But it is plain that the
word confess means nothing more than that she, by her proctors
(she was not present herself), admitted in the archbishop's court
the allegation that such commerce had taken place, and that such
impediment had been the legal consequence.
But, though the ground of the divorce from Anne is not openly
stated in the new act of settlement, it is obviously implied. By
that statute it is enacted, — 1 . That, forasmuch as it was proved in the
court of the archbishop, that the lady Catherine was carnally known
by the king's brother, her marriage with the king shall be deemed
against God's law, and utterly void and adnichiled : 2. That, foras-
much as the king's marriage with the lady Anne hath been adjudged
by the archbishop of no value or effect, it shall be deemed of no
strength, virtue, or effect : 3. That, since certain impediments of
consanguinity and affinity, according to God's law, arise from the
intercourse of the two sexes, "if it chance any man to know
" carnally any woman, then all and singular persons being in any
'• such degree of consanguinity or affinity to any of the parties so
" carnally offending, shall be deemed and adjudged to be within the
" cases and limits of the said prohibitions of marriage : " and 4.
Since no man can dispense with God's law, all separations of persons,
of whatever estate or dignity, heretofore married within such de-
grees, made or to be made by authority of the bishops and ministers
of the church of England, shall be firm, good, and effectual, notwith-
542 APPENDIX.
standing any dispensation granted by, or appeal made to, the court
of Rome. — Stat. of Realm, iii. 6589.
The reader will see how ingeniously the latter part of the statute
was framed, so as to apply equally to the two marriages of the king.
1. By extending the scriptural prohibition to the affinity arising
from any carnal knowledge of a woman, whether lawful or unlawful,
it opposed the same impediment to the marriage of Anne Boleyn
with Henry as to the marriage of Henry with Catherine ; 2. by de-
claring such impediment indispensable by any power on earth, it
made the dispensation granted by Clement to Henry, to marry any
woman, even in the second degree of affinity (which was the case of
Anne Boleyn), provided she were not the relict of his brother, of no
more force than the dispensation previously granted to him by
Julius, to marry the relict of his brother ; and, lastly, by declaring
all separations of persons so married, made by the bishops of the
church of England, firm, good, and effectual, it gave the sanction of
the legislature both to the divorce from Catherine, notwithstanding
her appeal, and to that from Anne, notwithstanding the dispensation
which had been solicited by Henry himself.
NOTE D, p. 379.
The history of their interview is interesting. Ridley waited on
Mary, September 8, 1552, and was courteously received. After
dinner he offered to preach before her in the church. She begged
him to make the answer himself. He urged her again ; she replied
that he might preach, but neither she, nor any of hers, would hear
him. Ridley. " Madam, I trust you will not refuse God's word."
Mary. " I cannot tell what you call God's word. That is not
" God's word now which was God's word in my father's time."
Ridley. " God's word is all one in all times ; but is better under-
" stood and practised in some ages than in others." Mary. " You
" durst not for your ears have preached that for God's word in
" my father's time, which you do now. As for your new books,
" thank God, I never read them. I never did, nor ever will do."
Soon afterwards she dismissed him with these words : " My lord, for
" your gentleness to come and see me, I thank you ; but for your offer
" to preach before me, I thank you not." As he retired, he drank
according to custom with Sir Thomas Wharton, the steward of her
household ; but suddenly his conscience smote him ; " Surely," he
exclaimed, " I have done wrong. I have drunke in that house in
" which God's word hath been refused. I ought, if I had done my
" duty, to have shaken the dust off my shoes for a testimony against
" this house." — Foxe, ii. 131.
APPENDIX. 543
NOTE E, p. 379.
It has been asserted, on the authority of Foxe (iii. p. 12), that the
Protestants of Suffolk, before they would support the claim of Mary,
extorted from her, as an indispensable condition, a promise to make
no alteration in the religion established under Edward. Is this
statement correct ?
Foxe himself has preserved a document which seems to show that
it is not. During the persecution, these very persons presented to
the queen's commissioners a long petition in favour of their religion.
It was certainly the time for them to have urged the promise, if any
had been given. But they appear to have no knowledge of any such
thing. They do not make the remotest allusion to it. They speak,
indeed, of their services ; but, instead of attributing them to the
promise of the queen, they insinuate the contrary, by asserting that
they had supported her claim, because their religion taught them to
support the rightful heir. — Foxe, iii. 578 — 583. To me their silence
on this occasion seems conclusive.
It has been thought a confirmation of the assertion of Foxe, that
Cobb presented to the queen, soon after her accession, a supplication
in favour of the reformed creed, signed by one hundred persons, from
Norfolk. But we know not the contents of the supplication ; and
it was proved that Cobb was an impostor, and that the signatures
were forgeries. For the offence he stood in the pillory, Novem-
ber 24, 1553.
A better confirmation may be found in Noailles (iii. 16), from
whom we learn that Wyat and his accomplices charged the queen
with having broken two promises ; one not to make alterations in
religion, another not to marry a foreigner. Yet little credit can be
given to reports circulated by rebels to justify their rebellion. One
was, both probably were, fictions, the object of which was to irritate
the people.
It should, however, be observed that the emperor had advised her
to make such promise, if she found it necessary. In his instructions
to his ambassadors during Edward's illness, he says : " Et pour
" autant qu'il est vraisemblable qu'ils (the lords of the council) ne
" voudront admettre notre cousine a la couronne qu'ils ne soient as-
" sures de deux choses, Tune qu'elle ne fera changement ni au
" gouvernement, ni es choses de la religion, 1'autre qu'elle pardon-
" nera tous que pourroient avoir commis ceux qui gouver-
" nent, il sera de besoin que en ce elle ne fasse difficulte, puisque
" c'est chose en quoi elle ne peut remedier ; conservant toutefois
" quant a soi sa religion entiere inviolablement, et attendant que
" Dieu donne opportunite de peu a peu reduire par bon moyen le
" tout, que sera ce en quoi elle devra autant veiller, si Dieu lui fasse
544 APPENDIX.
" cette grace de parvenir a la couronne." — Renard, MS. iii. 6.
Hence, though there is no evidence of any specific promise being
made by the queen, it is not improbable that her partisans held out
such expectations to allure men to her standard.
On July 22, as soon as Charles had heard of her success, he ad-
vised her to do nothing to shock the opinions of her subjects:
" Qu'elle s'accommode avec toute douceur, se conformant aux de-
" finitions du parlement, sans rien faire toute fois de sa personne qui
" soit centre sa conscience et sa religion, oyant seulement la messe
" apart en sa chambre sans autre demonstration Quelle
" s'attende jusques elle aye opportunity de rassembler parlement."
—Ibid. 24.
It was probably in consequence of this advice from Charles that,
when she admonished the lord mayor on occasion of the tumult at
St. Paul's Cross, she said that " she meaned gratiously not to com-
" pell or straine other men's consciences otherwise then God should,
" as she trusted, put in their heartes a perswasyon of the truth
" thorough the openinge of his worde unto them." — Council Book,
Archaeol. xviii. 173. However, as if she were apprehensive that
advantage might be taken of these words, in a few days she published
a proclamation, in which she repeated the same, but with this
addition : " untill such time as further order by common consent
" may be taken therein." — Wilk. Con. iv. 86.
NOTE F, p. 407.
The principal persons restored were Gertrude the widow, and
Courtenay the son, of the marquess of Exeter ; Thomas Howard,
son of the earl of Surrey ; and the two daughters of Lord Montague,
who had suffered under Henry ; Edward Seymour, son to the duke
of Somerset ; and the heirs of Arundel, Stanhope, and Partridge,
who had been beheaded with Somerset, under Edward. The duke
of Norfolk, who was supposed to have been attainted on the last day
of Henry's life, did not ask for the same benefit. He denied the
validity of the attainder. The case was argued before the judges at
Serjeants' Inn. The duke produced the original act, and the com-
mission to give to it the royal assent. His counsel remarked, that,
contrary to custom, the king's signature was placed, not above, but
below the title ; and that the letters were too perfect to have been
made by a person at the point of death ; whence they inferred that
there was no sufficient evidence of the royal assent having been
given, and that of course the attainder was of no force. For greater
security, however, a bill was passed, " to avoid " the attainder.
When it was sent to the lower house, Lord Paget appeared as a
APPENDIX. 545
witness, and declared on his honour that the king did not sign the
commission, but that a servant of the name of William Clark im
pressed on it the royal stamp ; and that this was the fact appears
now from Clark's own list of instruments to which he had affixed the
stamp, ,n State Papers, i. p. 898. The patentees, who had purchased
some of the duke s property, petitioned to be heard by counsel - but
they afterwards referred the matter to arbitration; and the bill
passed.--Journals, 32. Dyer's Reports, 93. The duke had, how-
ever, taken the precaution to obtain a general pardon of all offences
from the queen.— -Rymer, xv. 337.
NOTE G, pp. 486 and 493.
It may be asked why I have omitted the affecting martyrdom of
the three women of Guernsey, and the preternatural death of Gar-
diner My answer is, that I believe neither. 1. The first rests on
the doubtful authority of Foxe, whose narrative was immediately
contradicted, and disproved by Harding. Foxe replied and
Persons wrote in refutation of that reply. I have had the patience
to compare both, and have no doubt that the three women were
hanged as thieves, and afterwards burnt as heretics ; that no one
knew of the pregnancy of one of them, a woman of loose character •
and that the child was found dead in the flames after the body of
the mother had fallen from the gibbet. The rest we owe to the ima-
gination of the martyrologist or of his informer.— See Foxe, iii
625 ; and Persons's Examination of Foxe, part ii. p. 91.
f2'*?0*?' °D the authority of an old woman, Mrs. Mondaie, widow
ol a Mr. Mondaie, some time secretary to the old duke of Norfolk
tells us that Gardiner, on the 16th of October, invited to dinner the
old duke of Norfolk ; but so eagerly did he thirst after the blood of
Kidley and Latimer, that he would not sit down to table, but kept
the duke waiting some hours, till the messenger arrived with the
news of their execution. Then he ordered dinner ; but in the midst
of his triumph God struck him with a strangury ; he was carried to
his bed in intolerable torments ; and never left it alive.— Foxe, iii.
450. Burnet has repeated the tale. — Burnet, ii. 329. Yet it is
plainly one of the silly stories palmed upon the credulity of the
martyrologist : for,
1. The old duke of Norfolk could not have been kept waiting; he
had been twelve months in his grave. He was buried October 2nd
in the preceding year.
2. Gardiner had already been ill for sometime. Noailles (v. 127)
informed his court, on the 9th of September, that the chancellor was
indisposed with the jaundice, and in some danger.
VOL. V. 2 N
546 APPENDIX.
3. On the 6th of October he was worse, and in more danger from
the dropsy than the jaundice. There was no probability that he
woidd live till Christmas (v. 150). From the 7th to the 19th he
was confined to his chamber ; and left it for the first time that day
to attend the parliament. These dates are irreconcilable with the
story in Foxe ; according to which, he must have been seized with
his disease on the 16th, and could never have appeared in public
afterwards.
END OF VOL. V.
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