1
^^5
ird Volume
O F T H E
STORY
OF THE
ilEFORMATION
O F T H E
C?)Urcl) of England.
By Gilbert Burnet, M. A,
Being a Supplement to the Abridg-
ment of the ^wo former Volumes.
The Second Edition.
LONDON:
Printed for 7. Wahhoey J. and J, Knaporty
D. Alid'wintery A. Bettefivorthy R. Robinfony
y. Oshorn and T". Longman^ B, Motte, and
A. Ward, Mdccxxviii.
■l?#
].,"hh<ii riii'h'.fli,;t In- hViirr^.,
C, THE
P HISTORY
OF
THE REFORMATION
OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
GILBERT BURNET, D.D.
LATE LORD BISHOP OF SARUM.
IN SIX VOLUMES :
VOL. IL — PART L
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR W. BAYNES AND SON,
PATERNOSTER BOW ; AND
H. S. BAYNES AND CO., EDINBURGH.
1825.
37S'
LONDON :
PUINTBD BY CHARLES WOOD,
Poppin's Coart, Fleet Street.
HISTORY
T HE REFORMATION
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
PART n.
OF THE PROGRESS MADE IN IT TILL THE.
SETTLEMENT OF IT IN THE BEGINNING OF
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S REIGN.
PREFACE.
The favourable reception which the former part of this work
bad, together with the new materials that were sent me from
noble and worthy hands, have encouraged me to prosecute
it, and to carry down the History of the Reformation of this
church, till it was brought to a complete settlement in the
beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, which I now offer to
the world.
The great zeal of this age for what was done in that,
about religion, has made the History of it to be received
and read with more than ordinary attention and care : and
many have expressed their satisfaction in what was formerly
published, by contributing several papers of great conse-
quence to what remained : and since I found no part of the
first volume was more universally acceptable, than that
wherein I was only a transcriber, I mean the Collection of
Records and Authentic Papers, which I had set down in
confirmation of the more remarkable and doubtful parts of
the History, I continue the same method now. I shall
repeat nothing here that was in my former preface ; but refer
the reader to such things as concern this History in general,
and my encouragement in the undertaking and prosecution
of it, to what is there premised to the whole work : and
therefore I shall now enlarge on such things as do more
particularly relate to this volume.
The papers that were conveyed to me from several hands
are referred to, as the occasion to mention them occurs in
the History, with such acknowledgments as I thought best
became this way of writing, though far short of the merits
of those who furnished me with them. But the storehouse
from whence I drew the greatest part both of the History
and Collection, is the often-celebrated Cotton Library ; out
of which, by the noble favour of its truly learned owner,
Sir John Cotton, I gatheted all that was necessary for com-
posing this part, together with some few things which had
escaped me in my former search, and belong to the first
part : and those I have mixed in the Collection added to
this volume upon such occasions as I thought most pertinent.
But among all the remains of the last age, that are with
great industry and order laid up in that treasury, none pleased
me better, nor were of more use to me, than the journal of
b
vi PREFACE.
King Edward's reign, written all with his own hand, with
some other papers of his, which I have put by themselves in
the beginning of the Collection : of these I shall say nothing
here, having given a full account of them in the history of
his reign, to which 1 refer the reader. I find most of our
writers have taken parcels out of them, and Sir John Hey-
ward has transcribed from them the greatest part of his book ;
therefore I thought this a thing of such consequence, that
upon good advice I have published them all, faithfully copied
from the originals.
But as others assisted me towards the perfecting this part,
so that learned divine, and most exact inquirer into historical
learning, Mr. Fulman, rector of Hampton Meysey in Glou-
cestershire, did most signally oblige me, by a collection of
some mistakes I had made in the former work. He had for
many years applied his thoughts with a very searching care
to the same subject, and so was able to judge more critically
of it than other readers. Some of those had escaped me,
others had not come within my view ; in some particulars
my vouchers were not good, and in others I had mistaken my
authors. These I publish at the end of this volume, being
neither ashamed to confess my faults, nor unwilling to ac-
knowledge from what hand 1 received better information.
My design in writing is to discover truth, and to deliver it
down impartially to the next age ; so I should think it both
a mean and criminal piece of vanity to suppress this dis-
covery of my errors. And though the number and conse-
quence of them had been greater than it is, I should rather
have submitted to a much severer penance, than have left
the world in the mistakes I had led them into : yet I was not
a little pleased to find that they were neither many nor of im-
portance to the main parts of the History ; and were chiefly
about dates, or small variations in the order of time. I hope
this part has fewer faults, since that worthy person did pur-
sue his former kindness so far as to review it beforehand :
and with great judgment to correct such errors as he found
in it : those I had formerly fallen into made me more careful
in examining even the smallest matters. Yet, if after all
my care, and the kind censures of those who have revised
this work, there is any thing left that may require a further
retractation, I shall not decline to make it so soon as I see
there is need of it, being, I hope, raised above the poor
vanity of seeking my own reputation by sacrificing truth
to it.
Those to whose censure I submitted this whole History in
both its parts, were chiefly three great divines, whose lives
are such examples, their sermons such instructions, their
writings such unanswerable vindications of our church, and
PREFACE. vii
their whole deportment so suitable to their profession, that
as I reckon my being admitted into some measure of friend-
ship with them among the chief blessings of my life, so I
know nothing can more effectually recommend this work,
than to say that it passed with their hearty approbation,
after they had examined it with that care, which tlieir great
zeal for the cause concerned in it, and their goodness to the
author, and freedom with him, obliged them to use. They
are so well known, that, without naming them, those of this
age will easily guess who they are ; and they will be so well
known to posterity, by their excellent writings, that the
naming them is so high an advantage to my book, that I
much doubt whether it is decent for me to do it. One of
them, Dr. Lloyd, is now, while I am writing, by his majesty's
favour promoted to the bishopric of St. Asaph : a dignity to
which how deservedly soever his great learning, piety, and
merit, have advanced him, yet I particularly know how far
he was from any aspirings to it. It was he I described in
my former preface, that engaged me first to this design, and
for that reason he has been more than ordinarily careful to
examine it with that exactness that is peculiar to him. The
other two are the reverend, learned, and judicious deans of
Canterbury and St. Paul's, Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stilling;
fleet, too well known to receive any addition from the cha-
racters I can give of them.
Others gave me supplies of another sort, to enable me to
go through with an undertaking that put me to no small
expense. I am not ashamed to acknowledge, that the strait-
ness of my condition made this uneasy to me, being destitute
of all public provision : but I should be much ashamed of
my ingratitude, if 1 did not celebrate their bounty who have
taken such care of me as not to leave this addition of charge
on one who lives not without difficulties. 1 must again
repeat my thanks for the generous kindness, protection, and
liberal supplies, of Sir Harbottle Grimstone, master of the
rolls, this being the sixth year of my subsistence under him,
to whom I must ever acknowledge that I am more beholden
than to all men living. The noble Mr. Boyle, as he employs
both his time and wealth for the good of mankind, for which
he considers himself as chiefly born, and which he has pro-
moted, not only in his own excellent writings, that have
made him so famous over all the world, but in many other
designs that have been chiefly carried on at his cost), so
hath he renewed his kindness to me in largesses suitable to
so great a mind. Others were also pleased to join their
help. The Right Honourable the Lord Finch, now lord high
chancellor of England, whose great parts, and greater virtues,
are so conspicuous, that it were a high presumption in me
riii PKEFACE.
to say any thing in his commendation, being in nothing more
eminent than in his zeal for and care of this church, thought
it might be of some importance to have its history well
digested, and therefore, as he bore a large share of my ex-
pense, so he took it more particularly under his care, and
under all the burthens of that high employment which he
now bears, yet found time for reading it in manuscript, of
which he must have robbed himself, since he never denies
it to those who have a right to it on any public account:
and hath added such remarks and corrections as are no small
part of any finishing it may be judged to have. The Lord
Russel, the inheritor of that zeal for true religion, and the
other virtues that have from the first beginnings of the
Reformation, in a continued entail, adorned that noble
family of Bedfoid, beyond most others of the kingdom, did
espouse the interests of the protestant religion in this par-
ticular, as he has done on all other more public occasions ;
and by a most liberal supply encouraged me to prosecute
this undertaking. That worthy counsellor, whose celebrated
integrity and clear judgment have raised him so high in his
profession, Anthony Keck, Esq., did also concur in easing me
of the charge that searching, copying, and gathering materials,,
put me to : and having received as much from these my noble
benefactors, as did enable me to carry on my design, I did
excuse myself at other persons' hands, who very generously
offered to supply me in the expense which this work brought
with it. That was done in a most extraordinary manner by
the right honourable the earl of Halifax ; whom, if 1 reckon
among the greatest persons this age has produced, 1 am sure
all that know him will allow that I speak modestly of him :
he, indeed, offered me the yearly continuance of a bounty
that would not only have defrayed all this expense, but have
been an entire and honourable subsistence to me ; and
though my necessities were not so pressing as to per-
suade me to accept it, yet so unusual a generosity doth
certainly merit the highest acknowledgments 1 can make
for it.
But I now turn to that which ought to be the chief subject
of this preface, to remove the prejudices, by which weak
and unwary persons have been prepossessed in their judg-
ments concerning the Reformation, during that period of it
that falls within this volume. I know the duty of an his-
torian leads him to write as one that is of neither party, and
I have endeavoured to follow it as carefully as I could, neither
concealing the faults of the one party, nor denying the just
praises that were due to any of the other side ; and have
delivered things as I found them, making them neither better
nor worse than indeed they were : but now that I am not
PREFACE. ix
yet entered into that province, and am here writirig my owa
thoughts, and not relating the actions of other men, 1 hope
it will be judged no indecent thing to clear the reader's
mind of those impressions, which may either have already
biassed him too much, or may, upon a slight reading of what
follows, arise in his thoughts ; unless he were prepared and
armed with some necessary reflections, which every one that
may possibly read this History has not had the leisure, or
other opportunities, to make to such a degree as were needful.
It is certainly an unjust way of proceeding, in any that is
to be a judge, to let himself be secretly possessed with such
impressions of persons and things as may bias his thoughts :
for where the scales are not well adjusted, the weight can-
not be truly reckoned. So that it is an indirect method to
load men's minds with prejudices, and not to let them into
the trial of truth, till their inclinations are first swayed such
a way. I deny not but in matters of religion most com-
monly men receive such notions, before they can well ex-
amine them, as do much determine them in the inquiries
they make afterwards, when their understandings grow up
to a fuller ripeness : but those preoccupations, if rightly
infused, are rather such as give them general notions of
what is good and honest in the abstracted ideas than con-
cerning matters of fact : for every wise and pious man must
avoid all such methods of instruction as are founded on
falsehood and craft : and he that will breed a man to love
truth, must form in him such a liking of it, that he may
clearly see he would bribe him into no opinion or party by
false or indirect arts : but since men are generally so apt to
let some easy notions enter into their minds, which will pre-
engage their affections, and for most part those who set
themselves to gain proselytes do begin with such arts, it will
not be amiss to give the reader such an account of these as
may prepare him against them, that so he may with a clearer
mind consider what is now to be delivered to him, concern-
ing the reformation of religion among us.
1 shall begin with that which is most commonly urged :
that the whole church being one body, the changes that
were made in religion did break that unity, and dissolve the
bond by which the catholic church is to be knit together,
and that therefore the first reformers began, and we still
continue, a schism in the church.
In answer to this it is to be considered, that the bishops
and pastors of the church are obliged to instruct their peo-
ple in the true faith of Christ, according to the Scriptures :
the nature of their function, being a sacred trust, binds them
to this ; they were also at their consecration engaged to it,
by a formal sponsion, according to the questions and answers
63
X PREFACE.
that are in the Roman pontifical to this day. Pastors owe
it as a debt to their people, to teach them according to the
Scriptures : they owe a charity to their brethren, and are
to live with them in the terms of brotherly love and friendly
correspondence ; but if that cannot be had on easier terms
than the concealing necessary truths, and the delivering
gross errors to those committed to their charge, it is certain
that they ought not to purchase it at so dear a rate. When
the pastors of this church saw it overrun with errors and
corruptions, they were obliged by the duty they owed to
God and to their people to discover them, and to undeceive
their misled flocks. It is of great importance to maintain
peace and unity ; but if a party in the church does set up
some doctrines and practices that do much endanger the
salvation of souls, and make advantages by these, so that
there is no hope left to gain them by rational and softer
methods, then, as St. Peter was to be withstood to his face
in a lesser matter, much more are those, who pretend no
higher than to be his successors, to be withstood, when the
things are of great moment and consequence. When here-
sies sprung up in the primitive church, we find the neigh-
bouring bishops condemned them without staying for the
concurrence of other churches ; as in the case of Samosate-
nus, Arius, and Pelagius : and even when the greatest part
of the church was become Semi-arian, and many great
councils, chiefly that at Arminum, consisting of above eight
hundred bishops, as some say, had through ignorance and
fear complied, the orthodox bishops did not forbear to in-
struct those committed to their care according to the true
faith. A general concurrence is a thing much to be laboured
for ; but when it cannot be had, every bishop must then do
his duty so as to be answerable to the chief bishop of souls.
So that, instead of being led away by so slight a prejudice,
we must turn our inquiries to this, Whether there were
really such abuses in the church as did. require a reforma-
tion "{ and whether there was any reason to hope for a more
general concurrence in it? In the following History, the
reader will see what corruptions were found to be both in
the doctrine and worship of this church : from whence he
may infer what need there was of reformation. And it is
very plain, that they had no reason to expect the concurrence
of other churches ; for the council of Trent had already
made a great progress, and it was very visible, that, as the
court of Rome governed all things there, so they were re-
solved to admit of no effectual reformation of any consider-
able matters ; but to establish, by a more formal decision,
those errors and abuses, that had given so much scandal to
the Christian world for so many ages.
PREFACE. xi
Tfak being the true state of the case, it is certaia, that if
there were really great corruptions, either in belief or man-
ners in this church, then the bishops were bound to reform
them : since the backwardness of others in their duty could
not excuse them from doing theirs, when they were clearly
convinced of it. So that the reader is to shake off this pre-
judice, and only to examine whether there was really such
need of a reformation? Since, if that be true, it is certain
the bishops of this as well as of other churches were bound
to set about it ; and the faultiness of some could be no ex-
cuse to the rest.
The second prejudice is, that the Reformation was begun
and carried on, not by the major part of the bishops and
clergy, but by a few selected bishops and divines, who,
being supported by the name of the king's authority, did
frame things as they pleased ; and by their interest at court
got them to be enacted in parliament : and after they had
removed such bishops as opposed them, then they procured
the convocation to consent to what was done : so that, upon
the matter, the Reformation was the work of Cranmer, with
a few more of his party, and not of this church, which never
agreed wholly to it, till the bishops were so modelled as to
be compliant to the designs of the court. In short, the
resolution of this is to be taken from a common case ; when
the major part of a church is, according to the conscience of
the supreme civil magistrate, in an error, and the lesser part
is in the right. The case is not hard, if well understood ;
for in the whole Scripture there is no promise made to the
major part of the pastors of the church ; and there being no
Divine promise made about it, it is certain that the nature
of man is such, that truth separated from interest hath few
votaries : but when it is opposite to it, it must have a very
small party. So that most of those things which needed re-
formation, being such as added much to the wealth and
power of the clergy, it had been a wonder, indeed, if the
greater part had not opposed it. In that case, as the smaller
part were not to depart from their sentiments, because op-
posed in them by a more numerous party that was too
deeply concerned in the matter; so it was both natural for
them, and very reasonable, to take sanctuary in the authority
and protection of tlie prince and the law. That princes
have an authority in things sacred, was so universally
agreed to in King Henry's reign, and was made out upon
such clear evidence of reason and precedents, both in the
Jewish state, and in the Roman empire when it turned
Christian, that this ground was already gained. It is the
first law in Justinian's code, made by Theodosius when he
came to the empire, That all should everywhere, under
xii PREFACE.
severe pains, follow that faith which was received by Da-
masus, bishop of Rome, and Peter of Alexandia. And why
might not the king and laws of England give the like autho-
rity to the archbishops of Canterbury and York 1
When the empire, and especially the eastern part of it,
had been, during the reign of Constantius, and Valens suc-
ceeding him after a short interval, so overspread with Arian-
ism, it is scarce to be imagined hovv it could have been re-
formed in any other manner : for they durst not, at first, trust
it to the discretion of a synod ; and yet the question then on
foot was not so linked with interest, being a speculative
point of divinity, as those about which the contests were in
the beginning of the Reformation.
It is not to be imagined how any changes in religion can
be made by sovereign princes, unless an authority be lodged
with them of giving the sanction of a law to the sounder
though the lesser part of a church : for as princes and law-
givers are not tied to an implicit obedience to clergymen,
but are left to the freedom of their own discerning, so they
must have a power to choose what side to be of,where things
are much inquired into. The jurisdiction of synods or
councils is founded either on the rules of expediency and
brotherly correspondence, or on the force of civil laws ; for
when the Christian belief had not the support of law, every
bishop taught his own flock the best he could, and gave his
neighbours such an account of his faith, at or soon after his
consecration, as satisfied them, and so maintained the unity
of the church. The formality of synods grew up in the church
from the division of the Roman empire, and the dignity of
the several cities ; which is a thing so well known, and so
plainly acknowledged by the writers of all sides, that it
were needless imposing on the reader's patience to spend time
to prove it. Such as would understand it more perfectly, will
find it in De Marca the late archbishop of Paris's books,
De Concordia Imperii and Sacerdotii, and in Blondell's
works, De la Piimaute de I'Eglise. None can imagine there
is a Divine authority in that which sprung from such a be-
ginning. The major part of synods cannot be supposed to
be, in matters of faith, so assisted from Heaven, that the
lesser part must necessarily acquiesce in their decrees, or
that the civil powers must always measure their laws by
their votes : especially where interest does visibly turn the
scales. And this may satisfy any reasonable man as to this
prejudice ; that if Archbishops Cranmer and Holgate, the
two primates and metropolitans of this church, were in the
right in the things that they procured to be reformed, though
the greater part of the bishops, being biassed by base ends,
and generally both superstitious and little conversant in
PREFACE. xin
the true theological learning, did oppose them, and they
were thereby forced to order matters so, that at first they
were prepared by some selected bishops and divines, and
afterwards enacted by king and parliament, this is no just
exception to what was so managed. And such a reforma-
tion can no more be blasted by being called a parliament-
religion, than the reformations made by the kings of Israel,
without or against the majority of the priests, could be ble-
mished by being called the king's religion.
A third prejudice is, that the persons who governed the
affairs at court were weak or ill men : that the king being
under age, things were carried by those who had hirn in
their power. And for the two great ministers of that reign,
or rather the administrators of it, the duke of Somerset and
Northumberland, as their violent and untimely deaths may
seem to be effects of the indignation of Heaven for what
they did ; so they were both eminently faulty in their admi-
nistration, and are supposed to have sought too much their
own ends. This seems to cast a blemish on their actions,
and to give some reason to suspect the things were not good,
which had such instruments to advance them.
But this prejudice, compounded of many particulars,
when taken to pieces, will appear of no force to blast the
credit of what they did. By our law the king never dies,
and is never young nor old ; so that the authority of the king^
is the same, whether administered by himself or by his go-
vernors, when he is under age: nor are we to judge of mea
by the events that befal them. These are the deepest se-
crets of Divine Providence, into which it is impossible for
men of limited understandings to penetrate : and if we
make judgments of persons and things by accidents, we shall
very often most certainly conclude falsely. Solomon made
the observation, which the series of human affairs ever since
hath fully justified, that there are just men to whom it hap-
pens according to the work of the wicked ; and wicked men
to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous :
and the inquirmg into these seemingly unequal steps of
God's governing the world is a vanity. As for the duke of
Northumberland, the Reformation is not at all concerned in
him : for if we believe what he said, when there was the
least reason to suspect him, on the scaffold, he was all the
while a papist in his heart. And so no wonder if such a
man, striking in for his own ambitious aads with that which
was popular, even against the persuasions of his conscience,
did very ill things. The duke of Somerset was indeed
more sincere ; and though he was not without his faults
(which we may safely acknowledge, since the man of infal-
libility is not pretended to be without sin), yet these were
xiv PREFACE.
not such heinous transgressions, but rather such as human
infirmity exposes most men to when they are raised to a
high condition. He was too vain, too much addicted to his
own notions, and, being a man of no extraordinary parts, he
was too much at the disposal of those who by flatteries and
submissions insinuated themselves into him ; and he made
too great haste to raise a vast estate to be altogether inno-
cent : but 1 never find him charged with any personal disor-
ders, nor was he ever guilty of falsehood, of perverting jus-
tice, of cruelty, or of oppression. He was so much against
the last of these, that he lost the affections of the nobility
for being so careful of the commons, and covering them
from the oppression of their landlords. The business of his
brother, though it has a very ill appearance, and is made
to look worse by the lame account our books give of it,
seems to have been forced on him : for the admiral was a
man of most incurable ambition, and so inclined to raise dis-
turbance, that, after so many relapses and such frequent
reconciliations, he still breaking out into new disorders, it
became almost necessary to put him out of a capacity of
doing more mischief. But if we compare the duke of So-
merset with the great ministers even in the best courts, we
shall find him better than most of them ; and if some few
have carried their prosperity better, many more, even of
those who are otherwise recorded for extraordinary persons,
have been guilty of far greater faults. He who is but a
little acquainted with history, or with the courts of princes,
must needs know so much of this argument, that he will
easily cure himself of any ill effects which this prejudice
may have on him.
A fourth prejudice is raised from the great invasions
which were then made upon the church-lands, and things de-
dicated to pious uses ; which is a thing hated by men of all
religions, and branded with the odious names of sacrilege
and robbing of God ; so that the spoils of religious houses
and churches seem to have been the secret motives that at
first drew in and still engage so many to the Reformation.
This has more weight in it than the former, and therefore
deserves to be more fully considered.
The light of nature teaches, that those who are dedi-
cated to the service of God, and for instructing the people,
ought to be so well provided for, that they may be delivered
from the distractions of secular cares, and secured from
the contempt which follows poverty ; and be furnished with
such means as may both enable them to know that well
wherein they are to instruct others, and to gain such an in-
terest in the affections of those among whom they labour,
as modest hospitality and liberal alms-giving may procure.
PREFACE. XV
In this all nations and religions have so generally agreed,
that it may be well called a law of nations, if not of nature.
Had churchmen been contented with this measure, it is very
probable things had never run to the other extreme so much
as they have done. But as the pope got to himself a great
principality, so the rest of his clergy designed to imitate
him in that as much as was possible : they spared no pains,
nor thought they any methods too bad that could set foi-ward
these projects. The belief of purgatory, and the redeeming
of souls out of it by masses, with many other public cheats
imposed on the world, had brought the wealth of this and
other nations into their hands. Upon the discovery of this
imposture, it was but a reasonable and just proceeding of
the government to reassume those lands, and dispose other-
wise of them, which had been for most part fraudulently
drawn from the former ages : for indeed the best part of the
soil of England being in such ill hands, it was the interest
of the whole kingdom to have it put to better uses. So that
the abbeys being generally raised and endowed by the effi-
cacy of those false opinions, which were infused into the
people, I can see no just exception against the dissolu-
tion of them, with the chantries, and other foundations of
like superstition ; and the fault was not in taking them away,
but in not applying a greater part of them to uses truly re-
ligious.
But most of these monasteries had been enriched by that
which was indeed the spoil of the church : for in many
places the tithes which belonged to the secular clergy were
taken from them, and by the authority of papal bulls were
given to the monasteries. This was the original of the great-
est mischief that came on this church at the Reformation :
the abbots having possessed themselves of the tithes, and
having left to those who served the cure, either some small
donative or stipend, and at best the small tithes or vicarage,
those whc purchased the abbey-lands from the crown in the
former reign had them with no other charge reserved for
the incumbents but that small pittance that the abbots had
formerly given them : and this is now a much less allowance
than the curates had in the times of popery : for though
they had now the same right by their incumbency that they
then had, yet in the time of superstition, the fees of obits,
exequies, soul-masses, and such other perquisites, did fur-
nish them so plentifully, that, considering their obligation
to remain unmarried, they lived well, though their certain
maintenance v/as but small : but these things falling off by
the Reformation, which likewise leaves the clergy at liberty
in the matter of marriage, this has occasioned much igno-
rance and scandal among the clergy. I shall not enter into
xvi PREFACE.
the debate about the Divine right of tithes : this I am sure
of, a decent maintenance of the clergy is of natural right,
and that it is not better looked to is a public reproach to the
whole nation ; when, in all other religions and nations,
those who serve at the altar live by it. The ancient allow-
ances for the curates in market-towns being generally so
small, because the number and wealth of the people made
the perquisites so considerable, has made those places to be
too often but ill supplied : and what way this makes for the
seducers of all hands, when the minister is of so mean a
condition, and hath so incompetent a maintenance, that he
can scarce secure himself from extreme want and great
contempt, 1 leave it to every man to judge.
This is as high a contempt of religion and the gospel as
any can be, and is one of those things for which this nation
has much to answer to God ; that now, in one hundred and
twenty years time, so little has been done by public autho-
rity for the redress of such a crying oppression. Some pri-
vate persons have done great things this way, but the pub-
lic has yet done nothing suitable to the occasion : though
their neighbour nation of Scotland has set them a very good
example ; where, by the great zeal and care of King James,
and the late blessed king, acts and orders of parliament have
been made for examining the whole state of the clergy, and
for supplying all poor livings so plentifully, that in glebe
and tithes ail benefices are now raised to at least fifty
pounds sterling yearly. What greater scorn can be put on
religion, than to provide so scantily for those that are trusted
with the care of souls, that some hundreds of parishes in
England pay not 10/. a year to their pastors, and perhaps
some thousands not fifty 1 This is to be numbered among
those crying sins that are bringing down vengeance on us,
since by this many souls are left to perish, because it is not
possible to provide them with faithful and able shepherds.
I shall not examine all the particular reasons that have ob-
structed the redress of this mischief, but those concerned in
it may soon find some of them out in themselves. And here
I acknowledge a great and just prejudice lies against our
Reformation, which no man can fully answer. But how
faulty soever we may be in this particular, they of the
church of Rome have little reason to object it to us, since
the first and true occasion of it was of their own doing.
Our fault is, that, at the dissolution of the monasteries, res-
titution was not made to the parish priests of what the popes
had sacrilegiously taken from them. And now that we are
upon the utter extirpation of popery, let us not retain this
relic of it. And I pray God to inspire and direct his majesty
and his two houses of parliament effectually to remove this
PREFACE. xvn
just, and, for aught I know, only great scandal of our
English Reformation.
A fifth prejudice, which seems to give ill impressions of
our Reformation, is, that the clergy have now no interest in
the consciences of the people, nor any inspection into their
manners ; but they are without yoke or restraint. All the
ancient canons for the public penance of scandalous offen-
ders are laid aside, and our clergy are so little ad nitted to
know or direct the lives and manners of their flocks, that many
will scarce bear a reproof patiently from them : our ecclesias-
tical courts are not in the hands of the bishops and their
clergy, but put over to the civilians, where too often fees
are more strictly looked after than the correction of manners.
I hope there is not cause for so great a cry ; but so it is, these
courts are much complained of; and public vice and scan-
dal are but little inquired after, or punished ; excommunica-
tion is become a kind of secular sentence, and is hardly now
considered as a spiritual censure, being judged and given
out by laymen, and often upon grounds which, to speak mo-
derately, do not merit so severe and dreadful a sentence.
There are, besides this, a great many other abuses, brought
in in the worst times, and now purged out of some of the
churches of the Roman communion, which yet continue,
and are too much in use among us ; such as pluralities, non-
residences, and other things of that nature • so that it may
be said, that some of the manifest corruptions of popery,
where they are recommended by the advantages that accom-
pany them, are not yet thoroughly purged out, notwithstand-
ing all the noise we have made about reformation in mat-
ters much more disputable, and of far less consequence.
This whole objection, when all acknowledged, as the
greatest part of it cannot be denied, amounts indeed to this,
that our Reformation is not yet arrived at that full perfec-
tion that is to be desired. The want of public penance, and
penitentiary canons, is indeed a very great defect : our
church does not deny it, but acknowledges it in the preface
to the Office of Commination. It was one of the greatest
glories of the primitive church,- that they were so governed,
that none of their number could sin openly without public
censure, and a long separation from the holy communion ;
which they judged was defiled by a promiscuous admitting
of all persons to it. Had they consulted the arts of policy,
they would not have held in converts by so strict a way of
proceeding, lest their discontent might have driven them
away, at a time when to be a Christian was attended with
so many discouragements, that it might seem dangerous, by
so severe a discipline, to frighten the world out of their com-
munion- But the pa&tora of that time resolved to follow
c
xviii PREFACE.
the rules delivered them by the apostles, and trusted God
with the success, which answered and exceeded all their
expectations : for nothing convinced the world more of the
truth of that religion, than to see those trusted with the care
of souls watch so effectually over their manners, that for some
sins, which in these loose ages in which we live pass but
for common effects of human frailty, men were made to ab-
stain from the communion for many years, and did cheer-
fully submit to such rules as might be truly medicinal for
curing those diseases in their minds.
But, alas ! the churchmen of the latter ages being once
vested with this authority, to which the world submitted as
long as it saw the good effects of it, did soon learn to
abuse it ; and to bring the people to a blind subjection to
them. It was one of the chief arts by which the papacy
swelled to its height : for confessors, instead of bringing
their penitents to open penance, set up other things in the
room of it ; pretending they could commute it, and in the
name of God accept of one thing for another ; and they
accepted of a penitent's going, either to the holy war, or,
which was more holy of the two, to one of the pope's wars
against heretics, or deposed princes ; and gave full pardons
to those who thus engaged in their design. Afterwards
(when the pope had no great occasion to kill men, or the
people no great mind to be killed in his service) they ac-
cepted of money, as an alms to God : and so all public
penance was laid down, and murder or merchandise was set
up in its room. This being the state of things at the Re-
formation, it is no wonder if the people could not be easily
brought to submit to public penance ; which had been for
some ages entirely aside : and there was reason why they
should not be forward to come under the yoke of their
priests, lest they should have raised upon that foundation
such a tyrannical dominion over them as others had for-
merly exercised. This made some reformed churches be-
yond sea bring in the laity with them into their courts ;
which if they had done merely as a good expedient, for re-
moving the jealousy which the world then had of ecclesias-
tical tyranny, there was no great objection to have been
made to it; but they made the thing liable to very great
exception, when they pretended a divine institution for
those lay- elders. Here in England, it is plain the nation
would not bear such authority to be lodged with the clergy
at first ; but it will appear, in the following work, that a
platform was made of an ecclesiastical discipline, though the
bishops had no hope of reducing it into practice till the king
should come to be of age, and pass a law for the authorizing
of it : but he dying before this was effected, it was not pro-
PREFACE. xix
secuted with that zeal that the thing required in Queen
Elizabeth's time : and then those who in theirexile were taken
with the models beyond seas, contending more to get it put
in the method of other churches, than to have it set up in
any other form, that contention begat such heat, that it took
men off from this and many other excellent designs. And
whereas the presbyters were found to have had anciently a
share in the government of the churches, as the bishop's
council and assistants, some of them that were of hot tem-
pers demanding more than their share, they were by the im-
moderate use of the counterpoise kept out of any part of
ecclesiastical discipline ; and all went into those courts
commonly called the spiritual courts ; without making dis-
tinction between those causes of testaments, marriages, and
such other suits, that require some learning in the civil and
canon law, and the other causes of the censures of the
clergy and laity, which are of a more spiritual nature, and
ought indeed to be tried only by the bishops and clergy ; for
they are no small part of the care of souls, which is in-
cumbent on them : and by them only excommunications
ought to be made, as being a suspension from the sacred
rights of Christians, of which none can be the competent
judges but those to whom the charge of souls is committed.
The worst that can be said of all these abuses is, that they
are relics of popery, and we owe it to the unhappy contests
among ourselves that a due correction has not been yet given
to them.
From hence one evil has followed, not inferior to those
from whence it flows, that the pastoral charge is novv looked
on by too many, rather as a device only for instructing peo-
ple, to which they may submit as much as they think fit,
than as a care of souls, as indeed it is; and it is not to be de-
nied, but the practice of not a few of us of the clergy has
confirmed the people in this mistake ; who consider our
functions as a method of living, by performing divine offices,
and making sermons, rather than as a watching over the
souls of the flocks committed to us, visiting the sick, reprov-
ing scandalous persons, reconciling differences, and being
strict at least in governing the poor, whose necessities will
oblige them to submit to any good rules we shall set them
for the better conduct of their lives. In these things does the
pastoral care chiefly consist, and not only in the bare per-
forming of offices, or pronouncing sermons, which every one
almost may learn to do after some tolerable fashion. If men
had a just nation of this holy function, and a right sense of
it before they were initiated into it, those scandalous abuses
of plurality of benefices with cure (except where they are so
poor and contiguous, that both can scarce maintain one in-
Kx PREFACE.
cumbent, and one man can discharge the duty of both very
well), non-residences, and the hiring out that sacred trust to
pitiful mercenaries at the cheapest rates, would soon fall off.
These are things of so crying a nature, that no wonder if the
wrath of God is ready to break out upon us. These are
abuses that even the ch urch of Rome , after all her impudence,
is ashamed of; and are at this day generally discounte-
nanced all France over. Queen INIary here in England, in
the time of popery, set herself effectually to root them out :
and that they should be still found among protestants, and in
so reformed a church, is a scandal, that may justly make us
blush. All the honest prelates at the council of Trent en-
deavoured to get residence declared to be of divine right, and
so not to be dispensed with upon any consideration whatso-
ever : and there is nothing more apparently contrary to the
most common impressions which all men have about matters
of religion, than that benefices are given for the office to
which they are annexed : and if in matters of men's estates,
or of their health, it would be a thing of high scandal for one
to receive the fees, and commit the work to the care of some
inferior or raw practitioner, how much worse is it to turn
over so important a concernment, as the care of souls must
be confessed to be, to mean hands 1 And to conclude, those
who are guilty of such disorders have much to answer for,
both to God, for the neglect of those souls for which they
are to give an account, and to the world, for the reproach
they have brought on this church and on the sacred functions,
by their ill practices. Nor could the divisions of this age
ever have risen to such a height, if the people had not been
possessed with ill impressions of some of the clergy, from
those inexcusable faults, that are so conspicuous in too many
that are called shepherds ; "who clothe themselves with the
wool, but have not fed the flock ; that have not strengthened
the diseased, nor healed the sick, nor bound up that which
was broken, nor brought again that which was driven away,
nor sought that which was lost, but have ruled them with
force and cruelty." And if we would look up to God, who
is visibly angry with us, and has made us base and con-
temptible among the people, we should find great reason to
reflect on those words of Jeremy, " The pastors are become
brutish, and have not sought the Lord ; therefore they shall
not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered."
But I were very unjust if, having ventured on so plain and
necessary a reprehension, I should not add, that God has
not so left this age and church, but there is in it a great
number in both the holy functions, who are perhaps as emi-
nent in the exemplariness of their lives, and as diligent in
their labours, as has been in anyone church in any age since
PREFACE. xxi
miracles ceased. The humility and strictness of life in many
of our prelates, and some that were highly born, and yet
have far outgone some others from whom more might have
been expected, raises them far above censure, though per-
haps not above envy. And when such think not the daily
instructing their neighbours a thing below them, but do it
with as constant a care as if they were to earn their bread
by it ; when they are so affable to the meanest clergymen
that come to ihem ; when they are so nicely scrupulous
about those whom they admit into holy orders ; and so large
in their charities, that one would think they were furnished
with some unseen ways ; these things must raise great
esteem for such bishops, and seem to give some hopes of bet-
ter times. Of all this I may be allowed to speak the more
freely, since I am led to it by none of those bribes, either of
gratitude, or fear, or hope, which are wont to corrupt men
to say what they do not think : but I were much to blame
if, in a work that may perhaps live some time in the world,
I should only find fault with what is amiss, and not also ac-
knowledge what is so very commendable and praiseworthy.
And when I look into the inferior clergy, there are, chiefly
about this great city of London, so many, so eminent, both
for the strictness of their lives, the constancy of their la-
bours, their excellent and plain way of preaching (which
is now perhaps brought to as great a perfection as ever was
since men spoke as they received it immediately from the
Holy Ghost), the great gentleness of their deportment to
such as differ from them, their mutual love and charity, and,
in a word, for all the qualities that can adorn ministers or
Christians, that if such a number of such men cannot prevail
with this debauched age, this one thing to me looks more
dismally than all the other affrighting symptoms of our con-
dition — that God having sent so many faithful teachers,
their labours are still so ineffectual.
I have now examined all the prejudices that either occur
to my thoughts, or that I have not met with in books or dis-
courses, against our Reformation ; and 1 hope, upon a free
inquiry into them, it will be found that some of them are of
no force at all, and that the other, which are better grounded,
can amount to no more than this, that things were not
managed with that care, or brought to that perfection, that
were to be desired : so that all the use we ought to make of
these objections, is to be directed by them to do those things
which may complete and adorn that work, which was
managed by men subject to infirmities, who neither could
see every thing, nor were able to accomplish all that they
had projected, and saw fit to be done.
But from the matter of the following history another ob-
c 3
xxii PREFACE.
jection of another sort may arise, which, though it has no
relation to the reformation, yet leaves no small imputation
on the nation, as too apt to change, and be carried about
with every religion in vogue ; since, in little more than
twenty years time, there were four great changes made in
religion ; and in all these the main body of the nation
turned with the stream : and ft was but a small number that
stood firm, and suffered for their: consciences. But if the
state of the nation be well considered, there will be nothing
in all this so strange as at first view it may perhaps appear :
for in the times of popery the people were kept in such pro-
found ignorance, that they knowing nothing of religion be-
yond the outward forms and pageantry, and being liighly
dissatisfied with the ill lives of the clergy, and offended with
their cruelty against those that contradicted their opinions,
it is no wonder that they were inclined to hear preachers of
any sort, who laid out to them the reasons of the doctrine
they delivered, and did not impose it on them in gross, as
the others had done. These teachers, being also men of in-
nocent tempers and good lives, and being recommended to
the compassion of the nation by their sufferings, and to their
esteem by their zeal and readiness to run all hazards for
their consciences, had great advantages to gain on the be-
lief and affections of the people. And, to speak freely, I
make no doubt but if the Reformation had been longer a
hatching under the heat of persecution, it had come forth
perfecter than it was. This disposition of the people, and
King Henry's quarrelling with the pope, made the way easy
for the first change : but then the severities about the supre-
macy on one hand, and the six articles on the other, made
people to stagger and reel between the two religions. And
all people being fond of new things, and the discoveries of
the impostures of the priests and lewdness of the monks in-
creasing their dislike of them, it was no wonder the Reforma-
tion went on with so little tumult and precipitation till King
Edward's time. But though there were then very learned
and zealous divines, who managed and carried on the
changes that were made, yet still the greater part of the
clergy was very ignorant and very corrupt ; which was oc-
casioned by the pensions that were reserved out of the rents
of the suppressed monasteries to the monks during their
lives, or till they were provided with livings. The abbey-
lands that were sold, with the charge of these annexed to
them, coming into the hands of persons who had no mind to
have that burthen lie longer on them, they got these monks
provided with benefices, that so they might be eased of that
charge. And for the other abbeys that still remained with
the crown, the same course was taken : for the monks w«re
PREFACE. xxiii
put into all the small benefices that were in the king's gift.
So that the greatest part of the clergy were such as had been
formerly monks or friars, very ignorant for the most part, and
generally addicted to their former superstition, though other-
wise men that would comply with any thing rather than
forfeit their livings. Under such incumbents nothing but
ignorance and unconcernedness in religion could prevail.
By this means it was that the greater pait of the nation was
not well instructed, nor possessed with any warmth and sin-
cere love to the Reformation, which made the following
change under Queen Mary more easily effected. The pro-
ceedings in King Edward's time were likewise so gentle and
moderate, flowing from the calm temper of Archbishop
Cranmer, and the policy of others, who were willing to ac-
cept of any thing they could obtain, hoping that time would
do the business, if the overdriving it did not precipitate the
whole affair : that it was an easy thing for a concealed pa-
pist to weatner the difficulties of that reign. There were
also great scandals given by the indiscretion of many of the
new preachers. The misgovernment of affairs under the
duke of Somerset, with the restless ambition of the duke of
Northumberland, did alienate the nation much from them ;
and a great aversion commonly begets an universal dislike
of every thing that is done by those whom we hate.
All these tilings concurred to prepare the minds of the
people to the change made by Queen Mary : but in her
reign popery did more plainly discover itself in the many
repeated burnings, and the other cruelties then openly exer-
cised : the nation was also in such danger of being brought
under the uneasy yoke of Spanish government, and they
were many of them in fear of losing their new-gotten church-
lands. These things, together with the loss of Calais in the
end of her reign, which was universally much resented as a
lasting dishonour to the nation, raised in them a far greater
aversion to her government, and to every thing that had
been done in it, than they had to the former. The genius
of the English leads them to hate cruelty and tyranny : and
when they saw these were the necessary concomitants of
popery, no wonder it was thrown out with so general an
agreement, that there was scarce any considerable oppo-
sition made to it, except by some few of their clergy, who,
having changed so often, were ashamed of such repeated re-
cantations : and so resolved at last to stand their ground ;
which was the more easy to resolve on under so merciful a
prince, who punished them only by a forfeiture of their
benefices : and that being done, took care of their subsistence
for the rest of their lives ; Bonner himself not being excepted,
though so de^ly dyed in the blood of so many innocents.
xxiv PREFACE.
All these things laid together, it will not seem strange
that such great alterations were so easily brought about in
so short a time. But from the days of Queen Elizabeth,
that the old raonks were worn out, and new men better edu-
cated were placed in churches, things did generally put on
a new visage : and this church has since that time continued
to be the sanctuary and shelter of all foreigners, and the
chief object of the envy and hatred of the popish church, and
the great glory of the Reformation ; and has wisely avoided
the splitting asunder on the high points of the Divine de -
crees, which have broken so many of the reformed beyond
sea ; but in these has left divines to the freedom of their
several opinions : nor did she run on that other rock, of de-
fining at first so peremptorily the manner of Christ's presence
in the sacrament, which divided the German and the Hel-
vetian chnrches ; but in that did also leave a latitude to
men of different persuasions. From this great temper it
might have reasonably been expected, that we should have
continued united at home ; and then for things sacred, as
well as civil, we had been out of the danger of what all our
foreign enemies could have contrived or done against us.
But the enemy, while the watchman slept, sowed his tares
even in this fruitful field ; of which it may be expected I
should give some account here, and the rather because 1 end
this work at the time when those unhappy differences first
arose ; so that I give them no part in this history : and yet
I have, in the search I made, seen some things of great im-
portance, which are very little known, that give me a clearer
light into the beginnings of these differences than is com-
monly to be had ; of which I shall discourse so as becomes
one who has not blindly given himself up to any party, and
is not afraid to speak the truth even in the most critical
matters.
There were many learned and pious divines in the begin-
ning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, who, being driven beyond
sea, had observed the new models set up in Geneva, and
other places, for the censuring of scandalous persons, of
mixed judicatories of the ministers and laity : and these, re-
flecting on the great looseness of life which had been uni-
versally complained of in King Edward's time, thought such
a platform might be an effectual way for keeping out a re-
turn of the like disorders. There were also some few rites
reserved in this church, that had been either used in the
primitive church, or, though brought in of later time, yet
seemed of excellent use to beget reverence in holy perform-
ances ; which had also this to be said for them, that the
keeping these still was done in imitation of what Christ and
his apostles did, in symboliring vnth the Jewish rites, to
PREFACE. XXV
gain the Jews thereby as much as could be ; so it was judged
necessary to preserve these, to let the world see, that, though
corruptions were thrown out, yet the reformers did not love
to change only for change sake, when it was not otherwise
needful : and this they hoped might draw in many, who
otherwise would not so easily have forsaken the Roman com-
munion. Yet these divines excepted to those, as compliances
with popery ; and though they professed no great dislike to
the ceremonies themselves, or doubt of their lawfulness, yet
were they against their continuance, upon that single ac-
count, which was indeed the chief reason why they were
continued. But all this debate was modestly managed, and
without violent heat or separation : afterwards some of the
queen's courtiers had an eye to the fair manors of some of
the greater sees, and, being otherwise men of ill tempers and
lives, and probably of no religion, would have persuaded the
queen, that nothing could unite all the reformed churches
so effectually, as to bring the English church to the model
beyond sea ; and that it would much enrich the crown, if
she took the revenues of bishoprics and cathedrals into her
own hands. This made those on the other hand, who laid
to heart the true interest of the protestant religion, and
therefore endeavoured to preserve this church in that strong
and well-modelled frame to which it was brought (particu-
larly the Lord Burleigh, the wisest statesman of that age,
and perhaps of any other), study how to engage the queen
out of interest to support it : and they demonstrated to her,
that these models would certainly bring with them a great
abatement of her prerogative : since, if the concerns of
religion came into popular hands, there would be a power
set up distinct from hers, over which she could have no au-
thority.
This she perceived well, and therefore resolved to main-
tain the ancient government of the church : but by this
means it became a matter of interest ; and so these differ-
ences, which might have been more easily reconciled before,
grew now into formed factions ; so that all expedients were left
unattempted which might have made up the breach : and it
becoming the interest of some to put it past reconciling, this
was too easily effected. Those of the division, finding they
could not carry their main design, raised all the clamours
they could against the churchmen ; and put in bills into the
parliament against the abuses of pluralities, non-residences,
and the excesses of the spiritual courts. But the queen
being possessed with this, that the parliaments meddling in
these matters tended to the lessening of her authority, of
which she was extremely sensible, got all these bills to he
thrown out. If the abuses, that gave such occasion to the
xxvi PREFACE.
malcontented to complain, had been effectually redressed,
that party must have had little to work on : but these things
furnished them with new complaints still. The market-
towns being also ill-provided for, there were voluntary con-
tributions made for lectures in these places. The lecturers
were generally men that overtopped the incumbents in dili-
gent and zealous preaching, and they, depending on the
bounty of the people for their subsistence, were engaged to fol-
low the humours of those who governed those voluntary contri-
butions. All these things tended to the increase of the party ;
which owed its chief growth to the scandalous maintenance
of the ministers of great towns, for which reason they were
seldom of great abilities ; and to the scandals given by the
pluralities and non-residence of others that were over-pro-
vided. Yet the government in civil matters was so steady
all the queen's reign, that they could do no great thing,
after she once declared herself so openly and resolutely
against them.
But upon King James's coming to the crown, and the di-
visions that came to be afterwards in parliaments, between
the too too-often-named parties for the court and country,
and clergymen being linked to the interests of the crown, all
those who in civil matters opposed the designs of the court
resolved to cherish those of the division, under the colour of
their being hearty protestants, and that it was the interest
of the reformed religion to use them well, and that all pro*
testants should unite : and indeed the differences between
them were then so small, that, if great art had not been
used to keep them asunder, they had certainly united of their
own accord. But the late unhappy wars engaged those, who
before only complained of abuses, into a formed separation,
which still continues, to the greater danger and disgrace of
the protestant religion. I shall not make any observations
on latter transactions, which fall within all men's view ;
but it is plain, that from the beginning there have been la-
boured designs to make tools of the several parties, and to
make a great breach between them ; which lays us now so
open to our common enemy. And it looks like a sad fore-
runner of ruin, when we cannot, after so long experience of
the mischievous effects of these contests, learn to be so wise
as to avoid the running on those rocks, on which our fathers
did so unfortunately split ; but, on the contrary, many steer
as steadily towards them, as if they were the only safe har-
bours where they may securely weather every storm.
But being now to lead the reader into so agreeable a pros-
pect, as I hope the Reformation of the church will be to
him, I will hold him yet a little longer before I open it, and
desire him, for his bettw preparation to it, to reflect on the
PREFACE. xxvii
nature of religion in general, and of the Christian in par-
ticular. That religion is chiefly designed for perfecting the
nature of man, for improving his faculties, governing his ac-
tions, and securing the peace of every man's conscience, and
of the societies of mankind in common, is a truth so plain,
that, without further arguing about it, all will agree to it.
Every part of religion is then to be judged by its relation to
the main ends of it : and since the Christian doctrine was
revealed from Heaven, as the most perfect and proper way
that ever was for the advancing the good of mankind,
nothing can be a part of this holy faith but what is propor-
tioned to the end for which it was designed. And all the
additions that have been made to it, since it was first de-
livered to the world, are justly to be suspected ; especially
where it is manifest at first view that they were intended to
serve carnal and secular ends. What can be reasonably
supposed in the papacy, where the popes are chosen by such
intrigues, either of the two crowns, the nephews of the former
pope, or the craft of some aspiring men, to entitle them to
infallibility or universal jurisdiction 1 What can we think
of redeeming souls out of purgatory, or preserving them from
it by tricks, or some mean pageantry, but that it is a foul
piece of merchandise 1 What is to be <|aid of implicit obe-
dience, the priestly dominion over consciences, the keeping
the Scriptures out of the people's hands, and the worship of
God in a strange tongue : but that these are so many arts
to hoodwink the world, and to deliver it up into the hands
of the ambitious clergy ? What can we think of the super-
stition and idolatry of images, and all the other pomp of
the Roman worship, but that by these things the people are
to be kept up in a gross notion of religion, as a splendid
business, and that the priests have a trick of saving them,
if they will but take care to humour them, and leave that
matter wholly in their hands 1 And, to sum up all, what can
we think of that constellation of prodigies in the sacrament
of the altar, as they pretend to explain it, and all really to
no pujpose, but that it is an art to bring the world by whole-
sale to renounce their reason and sense, and to have a most
wonderful veneration for a sort of men, who can with a word
perform the most astonishing thing that ever was?
I should grow too large for a preface, if I would pursue
this argument as far as it will go. But if, on the other
hand, we reflect on the true ends of this holy religion, we
must needs be convinced that we need go nowhere else out
of this church to find them ; but are completely instructed
in all parts of it, and furnished with all the helps to advance
us to that which is indeed " the end of our faith, the salva-
tion of our souls." Here we have the rules of holy obedience,
xxviii PREFACE.
and the methods of repentance and reconciliation for past
sins, clearly set before us : we believe all that doctrine which
Christ and his apostles delivered, and the primitive' church
received : we have the comfort of all those sacraments which
Christ instituted, and in the same manner that he appointed
them : all the helps to devotion that the gospel offers are in
every one's hand. So what can it be that should so extra-
vagantly seduce any who have been bred up in a church so
well constituted, unless a blind superstition in their tem-
per, or a desire to get heaven in some easier method than
Christ has appointed, do strangely impose on their under-
standings, or corrupt their minds. Indeed, the thing is so
unaccountable, that it looks like a curse from Heaven on
those who are given up to it for their other sins ; for an or-
dinary measure of infatuation cannot carry any one so far
in folly. And it may be laid down for a certain maxim, that
such as leave us have never had a true and well-formed no-
tion of religion, or of Christianity in its main and chief de-
sign^; but take things in parcels, and, without examining
them, suffer themselves to be carried away by some preju-
dices, which only darken weaker judgments.
But if it is a high and unaccountable folly for any to
forsake our communion, and go over to those of Rome, it is
at the same time an inexcusable weakness in others, who
seem full of zeal against popery, and yet upon some incon-
siderable objections do depart from the unity of this body,
and form separated assemblies and communions; though
they cannot object any thing material, either to our doctrine
or worship : but the most astonishing part of the wonder is,
that in such differences there should be so little mutual for-
bearance or gentleness to be found ; and that these should
raise such heats, as if the substance of religion were con-
cerned in them. This is of God, and is a stroke from Heaven
on both sides for their other sins : we of the church-com-
munion have trusted too much to the supports we receive
from the law, we have done our duties too slightly, and
have minded the care of souls too little ; therefore God, to
punish and awaken us, has suffered so many of our people
to be wrested out of our hands : and those of the separation
have been too forward to blood and war, and thereby have
drawn much guilt on themselves, and have been too com-
pliant with the leaders of their several factions, or rather
apt to outrun them. It is plain, God is offended with us
all, and therefore we are punished with this fatal blindness,
not to see at this time the things that belong to our peace.
And this leads me to reflections of another sort, with
which I shall conclude this preface, which I have now drawn
out to a greater length than at first I intended. It is appa-
PREFACE. xxix
rent the wrath of God hangs over our heads, and is ready to
break out upon us. The symptoms of our ill condition are as
sad as they are visible : and one of the worst is, that each
sort and party is very ready to throw the guilt of it off them
selves, and cast it on others with whom they are displeased :
but no man says, What have I done ? The clergy accuse
the laity, and the laity condemn the clergy. Those in the
city charge the country, and the country complains of the
city : every one finds out somewhat wherein he thinks he is
least concerned, and is willing to fix on that all the indig-
nation of Heaven, which, God knows, we ourselves have
kindled against ourselves. It cannot be denied, since it is
so visible, that universally the whole nation is corrupted,
and that the gospel has not had those effects among us
which might have been expected, after so long and so free a
course as it has had in this island. Our wise and worthy
Erogenitors reformed our doctrine and worship ; but we
ave not reformed our lives and manners. What will it
avail us to understand the right methods of worshipping
God, if we are without true devotion, and coldly perform
public offices without sense and affection, which is as bad
as a bead-roll of prayers, in whatever language they be pro-
nounced 1 What signifies our having the sacraments purely
administered among us, if we either contemptuously neglect
them, or irreverently handle them, more perhaps in com-
pliance with law, than out of a sense of the holy duties in-
cumbent on us 1 For what end are the Scriptures put in our
hands, if we do not read them with great attention, and
order our lives according to them 1 And what does all preach-
ing signify, if men go to church merely for form, and hear
sermons only as set discourses, which they will censure or
commend as they think they see cause, but are resolved
never to be the better for them? ]f to all these sad con-
siderations we add the gross sensuality and impurity that is
so avowedly practised that it is become a fashion, so far is
it from being a reproach ; the oppression, injustice, intem-
perance, and many other immoralities, among us ; what can
be expected, but that these abominations, receiving the
highest aggravation they are capable of from the clear light
of the gospel, which we have so long enjoyed, the just judg-
ments of Heaven should fall on us so signally as to make us
a reproach to all our neighbours. But as if all this were
not enough to fill up the measure of our iniquities, many
have arrived at a new pitch of impiety, by defying Heaven
itself, with their avowed blasphemies and atheism : and if
they are driven out of their atheistical tenets, which are in-
deed the most ridiculous of any in the world, they set up
d
3txx PREFACE.
their rest on some general notions of morality and natural
religion, and do boldly reject all that is revealed : and
where they dare vent it (alas .' where dare they not do hi)
they reject Christianity and the Scriptures with open and
impudent scorn, and are absolutely insensible of any obli-
gation of conscience in any thing whatsoever : and even in
that morality which they, for decency's sake, magnify so
much, none are more barefacedly and grossly faulty. 'I'his
is a direct attempt against God himself; and can we think
that he will not visit for such things, nor be avenged on
such a nation 1 And yet the hypocrisy of those who disguise
their flagitious lives with a mask of religion, is perhaps a
<legree above all ; though not so scandalous till ihe mask
falls off, and that they appear to be what they truly are.
When we are all so guilty, and when we are so alarmed by
the black clouds that threaten such terrible and lasting
storms, what may be expected but that we should be gene-
rally struck with a deep sense of our crying sins, and turn to
God with our whole souls ? But if, after all the loud awaken-
ings from Heaven, we will not hearken to that voice, but
will still go on in our sins, we may justly look for unheard-of
calamities, and such miseries as shall be proportioned to our
offences ; and then we are sure they will be great and won-
derful.
Yet if, on the other hand, there were a general turning to
God, or at least if so many were rightly sensible of this, as,
according to the proportion that the mercies of God allow,
did some way balance the wickedness of the rest, and if
these were as zealous in the true methods of imploring
God's favour, as others are in procuring his displeasure ;
and were not only mourning for their own sins, but for the
sins of others ; the prayers and sighs of many such might
dissipate that dismal cloud which our sins have gathered ;
and we might yet hope to see tlie gospel take root among us ;
since that God, who is author of it, is merciful, and full of
compassion, and ready to forgive ; and this holy religion,
which by his grace is planted among us, is still so dear to
him, that if we by our own unworthiness do not render our-
selves incapable of so gi'eat a blessing, we may reasonably
hope that he will continue that which at first was by so
many happy concurring providences brought in, and was,
by a continued series of the same indulgent care, advanced
by degrees, and at last raised to that pitch of perfection
which few things attain in this world. But this will best
appear in the ensuing history, from which I fear I may have
too long detained the reader.
10th September, 1680.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
Of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth,
Page
KING Edward's birth and baptism 1
His education and temper , 2
Cardan's character of him ib .
A design to create him prince of Wales 3
King Henry dies and he succeeds ' 4
King Henry's will ib.
Debate about choosing a protector 5
The earl of Hertford is chosen 6
It is declared in council ib.
The bishops take out commissions 7
Reasons for a creation of peers 8
Affairs of Scotland 10
Laymen in ecclesiastical dignities ib.
Images taken away in a church in London 11
The progress of image-worship 12
Many pull down images 14
Gardiner is offended at it , ib.
The protector writes about it ib.
Gardiner writes to Ridley about them 15
Commissions to the justices of peace 16
The form of coronation changed ib.
King Henry's burial 17
Soul-masses examined ib.
A creation of peers 19
The king is crowned ib.
The lord chancellor is turned out ib.
The protector made by patent 22
The affairs of Germany 24
Ferdinand made king of the Romans 25
The diet at Spire ib.
Emperor makes peace with France and with the Turk ib.
And sets about the ruin of the protest ib.
Protestant princes meet at Frankfort 27
Duke of Saxe, and Landgrave of Hesse, arm 29
xxxii CONTENTS.
Pa?e
Peace between England and France 29
Francis the First dies 30
A reformation set about in England 31
A visitation resolved on 33
Some homilies compiled 35
Injunctions for the visitation 36
Injunctions for the bishops 37
Censures passed upon them 38
Protector goes into Scotland 40
Scotland said to be subject to England ib.
Protector enters Scotland 43
Makes offers to the Scots ib.
The Scots' defeat at Musselburgh 44
Protector returns to England 46
The visitors execute the injunctions 47
Bonner protests and recants ib.
Gardiner would not obey ib.
His reasons against them ib.
He complains to the protector 49
The Lady Mary complains also ,51
The protector writes to her ib.
The parliament meets ib.
An act repealing severe laws ' 52
An act about the communion 53
Communion in both kinds 54
Private masses put down 55
An act about the admission of bishops 56
Ancient ways of electing bishops ...• 57
An act against vagabonds 69
Chantries given to the king 60
Acts proposed, but not passed 61
The convocation meets ib.
And makes some petitions ib.
The clergy desire to have representatives in the house of
commons 62
The grounds of that , ,.,... ib.
The affairs of Germany 66
Duke of Saxe taken ib.
The archbishop of Cologn resigns 67
A decree made in the diet 68
Proceedings at Trent ,69
The council removed to Bologna ib.
The French quarrel about Bulloigne 70
The protector and the admiral fall out ib.
Anno 1548.
Gardiner is set at liberty ,73
Marquis of Northampton sues a divorce ib.
CONTENTS. xxxiii
Page
The arguments for it. 74
A progress in the Reformation 77
Proclamation against innovation 78
All images taken away 79
Restraints put on preachers 80
Some bishops and doctors examine the public offices
and prayers ib.
Corruptions in the office of the communion 82
A new office for the communion 84
It is variously censured 85
Auriculai confession left iiidifFerent ib.
Chantry lands sold 88
Gardiner falls into new ti oubles 89
He is ordered to preach 91
But gives offence, and is imprisoned 92
A catechism set out by Cranmer 93
A further reformation of public offices 94
A new Liturgy resolved upon 95
The changes made in it 96
Preface to it 103
Reflections made on it 105
All preaching forbid for a time 106
Affairs of Scotland ib.
The queen of Scots sent to France 108
The siege of Hadingtoun ib.
A fleet sent against Scotland 109
But without success ib.
The siege of Hadingtoun raised 110
Discontents in Scotland HI
The affairs of Germany 112
The book of the Interim .^ 113
Both sides offended at it . . . i ib.
Calvin writes to the protector 115
Bucer writes against Gardiner ib.
A session of parliament 116
Act for the marriage of the clergy ib.
Which was much debated , 117
Arguments for it from Scripture ib.
And from the fathers 118
The reasons against it examined 120
An act confirming the Liturgy 122
Censures passed upon it 123
The singing of psalms set up ib ,
Anno 1549.
An act about fasts 124
Some bills that did not pass 126
A design of digesting the common law into a body .... ib.
xxxlv CONTENTS.
The admiral's attainder .* 127
He was sent to the Tower 128
The matter referred to the parliament 129
The bill against him passed 130
The warrant for his execution 131
It is signed by Cranmer ib.
Censures upon that 132
Subsidies granted 133
A new visitation , ib
All obey the laws except Lady Mary 135
A treaty of marriage for her ib.
The council required her to obey 136
Christ's presence in the sacrament examined ib.
Public disputations about it 138
The manner of the presence explained 140
Proceedings against anabaptists 145
Of these there were two sorts ib.
Two of them burnt 146, 147
Which was much censured 147
Disputes concerning infant baptism 148
Predestination much abused ib.
Tumults in England 149
Some are soon quieted 150
The Devonshire rebellion 151
Their demands ib.
An answer sent to them 152
They make new demands 153
"Which are rejected ib.
The Norfolk rebellion 154
The Yorkshire rebellion ib.
Exeter besieged 155
It is relieved, and the rebels defeated 156
The Norfolk rebels are dispersed ib.
A general pardon 157
A visitation of Cambridge ib.
Dispute about the Greek pronunciation 158
Bonner in new troubles 159
Injunctions are given him ib.
He did not obey them ib.
He is proceeded against 160
He defends himself 161
He appeals 165
But is deprived 166
Censures passed upon it ib.
The French fall into Bulloigne 168
111 success in Scotland 169
The affairs of Germany 170
A faction against the protector 171
CONTENTS. Mxv
Page
Advices about foreign afftdrs J27
Paget sent to the emperor 173
But can obtain nothing 175
Debates in council ib.
Complaints of the protector 176
The counsellors leave him 177
The city of London joins with them 178
The protector offers to submit 179
He is accused, and sent to the Tower 181
Censures passed upon him 182
The papists much lifted up ib.
But their hopes vanish 183
A treaty with the emperor ib.
A session of parliament 184
An act against tumults ib.
And against vagabonds ib.
Bishops move for a power of censuring 185
An act about ordinations 186
An act about the duke of Somerset ib.
The Reformation carried on 187
A book of ordinations made 188,
Heath disagrees to it, and is put in prison ib.
Interrogations added in the new book 190
Bulloigne was resolved to be given to the French 191
Pope Paul the Third dies 192
Cardinal Pole was elected pope ib.
Julius the Third chosen 193
Anno 1550.
A treaty between the English and French 194
Instructions given to the English Ambassador ib.
Articles of the treaty 195
The earl of Warwick governs all 196
Ridley made bishop of London ib.
Proceedings against Gardiner 197
Articles sent to him ib.
He signed them with exceptions 198
New articles sent him ib.
He refuses them, and is hardly used 199
Latimer advises the king about his marriage ib.
Hooper made bishop of Gloucester 200
But refuses the episcopal garments ib.
Upon that, great heats arose ib.
Bucer's opinion about it 201
And Peter ^Martyr's ib.
A German congregation at London , 203
Polydore Virgil leaves England ib
A review made of the Common Prayer-Book ib.
xxxvi CONTENTS.
Bucer's advice concerning it 203
He writ a book for the king 205
The king studies to reform abuses 206
He keeps a Journal of his reign 207
Ridley visits his diocess ib.
Altars turned to communion tables 20ft
The reasons given for it 209
Sermons on working-days forbidden 2 10
The affairs of Scotland ib.
And of Germany 211
Anno 1551.
The compliance of the popish clergy 213
Bucer's death and funeral 215
His character , 216
Gardiner is deprived , . . . ib.
Which is much censured 217
Hooper is consecrated ^ 218
Articles of Religion prepared ib.
An abstract of them , 219
Corrections in the Common Prayer-Book 222
Reasons of kneeling at the communion 224
Orders for the king's chaplains 225
The Lady Mary has mass still ib.
The king is earnest against it 227
The council w^rote to her about it ib.
But she was intractable 228
And would not hear Ridley preach 230
The designs of the eavl of Warwick 231
The sweating sickness 232r
A treaty for a marriage with the daughter of France. . ib.
Conspiracy against the duke of Somerset 233
The king is alienated from him 285
He is brought to his trial ib.
Acquitted of treason, but not of felony 237
Some others condemned with him 238
The seal is taken from the Lord Rich 239
And given to the bishop of Ely ib.
Churchmen being in secular employments much cen-
sured ib.
Duke of Somerset's execution 242
His character 244
Affairs of Germany 245
Procceedings at Trent 246
Anno 1552.
A session of parliament 248
The Common Prayer-Book confirmed ib^
I
CONTENTS. xxxTii
Pju?e
Censures passed upon it 249
An act concerning treasons 250
An act about fasts and holy-days ib.
An act for the married clergy 252
An act against usury ib.
A bill against simony not passed 254
The entail of the duke of Somerset's estate cut off ib.
The commons refuse to attaint the bishop of Duresme
by bill 255
The parliament is dissolved i . . . . 256
A reformation of the ecclesiastical courts is consi-
dered 257
The chief heads of it 259
Rules about excommunication 264
Projects for relieving the poor clergy 265
Heath and Day deprived 266
The affairs of Ireland 267
A change in the order of the garter 269
Paget degraded from the order 271
The increase of trade ib.
Cardan passes through England 275
The affairs of Scotland ib.
The affairs of Germany 275
Proceedings at Trent 276
An account of the council there 278
A judgment of the histories of it ib.
The freedom of religion established in Germany 279
The emperor is much cast down 280
Anno 1553.
A regulation of the privy council 281
A new parliament ib.
The bishopric of Duresme suppressed, and two new
ones were to be raised 282
A visitation for the plate in churches 283
Instructions for the president in the north 284
The form of the bishops' letters patents 285
A treaty with the emperor 287
The king's sickness 289
His care of the poor ib.
Several marriages 290
He intends to leave the crown to Lady Jane Gray .... ib.
Which the judges opposed at first 291
Yet they consented to it, except Hales 292
Crannier is hardly prevailed with ib.
The king's sickness becomes desperate ib.
His last prayer 293
His death and character ib.
xxxviii CONTENTS,
BOOK 11.
The Life and Reign of Queen Mary.
Page
Queen Mary succeeds, but is in great danger 297
And retires to Suffolk ib.
She writes to the council 298-
But they declare for the Lady Jane. , ib.
The Lady Jane's character ib.
She unwillingly accepts the crown 29&
The council write to Queen Mary ib.
They proclaim the Lady Jane queen 300
Censures passed upon it ib.
The duke of Northumberland much hated 302
The council send an army against Mary ib.
Ridley preaches against her 303
But her party grows strong 2K)4
The council turn, and proclaim her queen ib.
The duke of Northumberland is taken 3C'5
Many prisoners are sent to the Tower ib.
The queen comes to London , ib.
She was in danger in her father's time 306
And was preserved by Cranmer ib.
She submitted to her father , 307
Designs for changing religion ► ib.
Gardiner's policy ib.
He is made chancellor 308
Duke of Northumberland and others attainted 309
He at his death professes he had been always a papist. . 310
His character. . , ib.
King Edward's funeral 311
The q'.een declares she will force no conscience 312
A tumult at Paul's ib.
A proclamation against preaching . . , 313
Censures passed upon it , ib.
She uses those of Suffolk ill ib.
Consultations among the reformed 315
Judge Hales barbarously used ib.
Jsonner's insolence 316
Cranmer declares against the mass 317
Cranmer and Latimer sent to the Tower , 318
Foreigners sent out of England ib.
Many English fly beyond sea 319
The queen rewards those who had servad her i 320^
She is crowned, and discbarges a tax ,. 32i
CONTENTS. xxxix
Page
A parliament summoned 321
The reformed bishops thrust out of the house of lords. . 322
Great disorders in elections ib.
An act moderating severe laws 323
The marriage of the queen's mother confirmed 324
Censures passed upon it 325
The queen is severe to the Lady Elizabeth ib.
King Edward's laws about religion repealed ib.
An act against injuries to priests 326
An act against unlawful assemblies ib.
Marquis of Northampton's second marriage broken. . . . 327
The duke of Norfolk's attainder annulled '. . ib.
Cranraer and others attainted 328
But his see is not declared void ib.
The queen resolves to reconcile with Rome 329
Cardinal Pole sent legate 330
But is stopped by the emperor 331
The queen sends to him ib.
His advice to the queen . * 332
Gardiner's methods are preferred 333
The house of commons offended with the queen's mar-
riage then treated about 334
The parliament is dissolved ib.
1,200,000 crowns sent to corrupt the next parliament . . ib.
Proceedings in the convocation 335
Disputes concerning the sacrament 336
Censures passed upon them 341
Anno 1554.
Ambassadors treat with the queen for her marriage. ... ib.
Articles agreed on 342
The match generally disliked ib.
Plots to oppose it are discovered 343
Wiat breaks out in Kent ib.
His demands , 344
He is defeated and taken 345
The Lady Jane and her husband executed 346
Her preparations for death 347
The duke of Suffolk is executed 348
The Lady Elizabeth is unjustly suspected 349
Many severe proceedings « ib.
The imposture in the wall ib.
Instructions for the bishops 350
Bishops that adhere to the reform deprived 352
The mass everywhere set up 353
Books against the married clergy , 354
A new parliament 355
The queen's regal power asserted ib.
xl CONTENTS.
Page
The secret reasons for that act 355
Great jealousies of the Spaniards 357
The bishopric of Duresme restored ib.
Disputes at Oxford 358
With Cranmer 359
And Ridley 360
And Latimer 361
Censures passed upon them 362
They are all condemned ib.
The prisoners in London give reasons why they would
not dispute 364
King Philip lands 365
And is married to the queen 366
He brings a great treasure with him ib.
Acts of favour done by him 367
He preserves the Lady Elizabeth ib.
He was little beloved 368
But much magnified by Gardiner ib.
Bonner's carriage in his visitation 369
No reordination of those ordained in King Edward's
time 370
Bonner's rage 371
The sacrament stolen 372
A new parliament ib.
Cardinal Pole's attainder repealed ib.
He comes to London . . i 373
And makes a speech to the parliament ib.
The queen is believed with child ib.
The parliament petition to be reconciled 374
The cardinal absolves them " 375
Laws against the see of Rome repealed ib.
A proviso for church-lands 376
A petition from the convocation ib.
An address from the inferior clergy 377
Laws against heretics revived 378
. An act declaring treasons ib.
Another against seditious words 379
Gardiner in great esteem 380
The fear of losing the church-lands ib.
Consultations how to deal with heretics 381
Cardinal Pole for moderate courses ib.
But Gardiner is for violent ones 382
To which the queen is inclined 383
Anno 1555.
They begin with Rogers and others 384
Who refusing to comply are judged ib.
Rogers and Hooper burnt 386
CONTENTS. x\i
Page
Sanders and Taylor burnt 387
These cruelties are much censured 388
Reflections made on Hooper's death ib.
The burnings much disliked 389
The king purges himself 390
A petition against persecution ib.
Arguments to defend it 391
More are burnt 392
Ferrar and others burnt 393
The queen gives up the church-lands 394
Pope Julius dies, and Marcellus succeeds 395
Paul the Fourth succeeds him 396
English ambassadors at Rome ib.
Instructions sent for persecution 397
Bonner required to burn more 398
The queen's delivery in vain expected ib.
Bradford and others burnt 399
Sir Thomas More's works published 404
His letter of the nun of Kent ib.
Ridley and Latimer burnt 406
Gardiner's death and character 410
The temper of the parliament is much changed 411
The queen discharges tenths and first-fruits 412
An act against those that fled beyond sea rejected 413
An act debarring a murderer from the benefit of clergy
opposed 414
Sir Anthony Kingston put in the Tower ib.
Pole holds a convocation 415
The heads of his decrees ib.
Pole's design for reforming of abuses 417
Pole will not admit the Jesuits to England 419
Philpot's martyrdom 420
Foreign aff'airs ib.
Charles the Fifth's resignation 421
Cranmer's trial 423
He is degraded 425
He recants 426
He repents of it 428
His martyrdom 429
His character. ib.
Others suffer on the like account 431
A child born in the fire, and burnt 432
The Reformation grows 434
Troubles at Frankfort among the English there ib.
Pole is made archbishop of Canterbury 435
Some religious houses are endowed 436
Records are razed 437
Vol. II, Part 1. e
xlii CONTENTS.
Page
Endeavours for the abbey of Glastonbury 437
Foreign affairs 439
The pope is extravagantly proud ib.
He dispenses with the French king's oath 440
And makes w3.t with Spain 441
Anno 1557.
A visitation of the universities 442
The persecution set forward ib.
A design for setting up the Inquisition 444
Burnings for religion 445
Lord Stourton hanged for murder 448
The queen is jealous of the French 449
The battle of St. Quintin 451
The pope offended with Cardinal Pole ib.
He recals him 452
The queen refuses to receive Cardinal Peito 453
A peace between the pope and Spain ib.
A war between England and Scotland 454
The affairs of Germany 455
A persecution in France 456
Anno 1558.
Calais is besieged 457
And it and Guisnes are taken 458
Sark taken by the French 460
And retaken strangely ib.
Great discontents m England • • ib.
A parliament is called 461
King of Sweden courts the Lady Elizabeth 463
But is rejected by her ib.
She was ill used in this reign 464
The progress of the persecution 466
The methods of it 467
An expedition against France 468
Many strange accidents '. . . ib.
A treaty of peace 469
The battle of Graveling 476
Many protestants in France ib.
Dolphin marries the queen of Scots ib.
A convention of estates in Scotland 471
A parliament in England 472
The queen's sickness and death ib.
Cardinal Pole dies ib.
His character 473
The queen's character 474
CONTENTS. xliii
BOOK III.
Of the settlement of the Reformation of Religion in the beginning
of Queen Elizabeth's reign.
Page
Queen Elizabeth succeeds 476
And comes to London 477
She sends a dispatch to Rome ib.
But to no effect ib.
King Philip courts her 478
The queen's council 479
A consultation about the change of religion ib.
A method proposed for it 480
Many forward to reform 482
Parker named to be archbishop of Canterbury 483
Anno 1559.
Bacon made lord keeper 484
The queen's coronation ib.
The parliaments meets 485
The treaty of Cambray 486
A peace agreed on with France 487
The proceedings of the parliament 488
An address to the queen to marry 489
Her answer to it ib.
They recognize her title 490
Acts concerning religion ib.
The bishops against the supremacy 492
The beginnning of the high commission 493
A conference at Westminster 494
Arguments for the Latin service 495
Arguments against it 496
The conference breaks up 498
The liturgy corrected and explained 499
Debates about the act of uniformity 500
Arguments for the changes then made 501
Bills proposed, but rejected 503
The bishops refuse the oath of supremacy 504
The queen's gentleness to them ib.
Injunctions for a visitation 505
The queen desires to have images retained , ib.
Reasons brought against it 506
The heads of the injunctions 507
Reflections made on them 508
The first high commission < 509
f
xliv CONTENTS.
Page
Parker's unwillingness to accept of the archbishopric of
Canterbury 611
His consecration •• 513
The fable of the Nag's-head Confuted 614
The articles of religion prepared 516
An explanation of the presence in the sacrament ib.
The translation of the Bible 617
The beginnings of the divisions 519
The Reformation in Scotland ib.
Mill's martyrdom 6"20
It occasions great discontents 521
A revolt at St. John's Town 522
The French king intends to grant them liberty of reli-
gion 523
But is killed 524
A truce agreed to ib.
The queen regent is deposed ib.
The Scots implore the queen of England's aid 525
Leith besieged by the English ib.
The queen regent dies 526
A peace is concluded 527
The Reformation settled by parliament ib.
Francis the Second dies 529
The civil wars of France ib.
The wars of the Netherlands 530
The misfortunes of the queen of Scotland 631
Queen Elizabeth deposed by the pope 532
Sir Fr. Walsingham's letter concerning the queen's pro-
ceeding with papists and puritans ib.
The conclusion 536
THE
HISTORY
OP
THE REFORMATION.
PART II.
OF THE PROGRESS MADE IN IT TILL THE SETTLEMENT
OF IT IN THE BEGINNING OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S
KEIGN.
BOOK I.
Of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth.
(1547.) EDWARD, the sixth king of England of that name,
was the only son of King Henry the Eighth, by his best be-
loved Queen Jane Seymour, or St. Maur, daughter to Sir
John Seymour, who was descended from Roger St. Maur,
that married one of the daughters and heirs of the Lord
Beauchamp. of Hacche. Their ancestors came into Eng-
land with William the Conqueror; and had, at several
times, made themselves considerable by the noble acts they
did in the wars. He was born at Hampton Court, on the
I2th day of October, being St. Edward's eve, in the year
1537, and lost his mother the day after he was born* ; who
died, not by the cruelty of the chirurgeons ripping up her
belly to make way for the prince's birth (as some writers
gave out, to represent King Henry barbarous and cruel in
all his actions ; whose report has been since too easily fol-
lowed) ; but, as the original letters that are yet extant,
show, she was well delivered of him, and the day following
• The Queen died on the 14th, say Hall, Stow, Speed, and Herbert-
on the 15th, saith Heminings; on the 17fh, if the letter of the physil
clans be tme in Fuller's Church History, p. 422, which was copied froni
its original, in the Cotton Library: on the 24th of October, jn »
journal written by Cecil; that was.'in twelve days after King Edward's
birth ; so it is in the Herald's Office.
Vol. II, Part I. B
2 HISTORY OF
was taken with a distemper, incident to women in that con-
dition, of which she died.
He was soon after christened, the archbishop of Canter-
bury and the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk being his god-
fathers, according to his own Journal ; though Hall says,
the last was only his godfather when he was bishopped.
He continued under the charge and care of the women till
he was six years old. and then he was put under the govern-
ment of Dr. Cox and Mr. Cheek : the one was to be his pre-
ceptor for his manners, and the knowledge of philosophy
and divinity ; the other for the tongues and mathematics.
And he was also provided with masters for the French, and
all other things becoming a prince the heir of so great
a crown.
He gave very early many indications of a good disposition
to learning, and of a most wonderful probity of mind ; and,
above all, of great respect to religion, and every thing re-
lating to it. So that, when he was once in one of his child-
ish diversions, somewhat being to be reached at, that he and
his companions were too low for, one of them laid on the
floor a great Bible that was in the room to step on ; which
he beholding with indignation, took up the Bible himself,
and gave over his play for that .time. He was in all things
subject to the orders laid down for his education, and pro-
fited so much in learning, that all about him conceived
great hopes of extraordinary things from him, if he should
live : but such unusual beginnings seemed rather to threaten
the too early end of a life, that, by all appearance, was
likely to have produced such astonishing things. He was
so forward in his learning, that, before he was eight years
old, he wrote Latin letters to his father, who was a prince
of that stern severity, that one can hardly think those about
his son durst cheat him by making letters for him. He used
also at that age to write both to his godfather, the arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and to his uncle, who was first made
Viscount Beauchamp, as descended from that family, and
soon after earl of Hartford. It seems Queen Catherine
Parr understood Latin, for he wrote to her also in the same
language. But the full character of this young prince is
given us by Cardan, who wrote it after his death, and in
Italy, where this prince was accoimted a heretic, so that
there was nothing to be got or expected by flattering him ;
and yet it is so great, and withal so agreeing in all thmgs to
truth, that as I shall begin my Collection of Papers at the
end of this volume with his words in Latin (Collect. No. i),
so it will be very fit to give them here in English.
" All the graces were in him. He had many tongues when
THE REFORMATION. 3
he was yet but a child : together with the English, his natu-
ral tongue, he had both Latin and French ; nor was he igno-
rant, as I hear, of the Greek, Italian, and Spanish, and per-
haps some more. But for the English, French, and Latin,
he was exact in them ; and apt to learn every thing. Nor
was he ignorant of logic, of the principles of natural philo-
sophy, nor of music. The sweetness of his temper was
such as became a mortal ; his gravity becoming the majesty
of a king ; and his disposition suitable to his high degree.
In sum, that child was so bred, had such parts, was of such
expectation, that he looked like a miracle of a man. These
things are not spoken rhetorically, and beyond the truth,
but are indeed short of it." And afterwards he adds, " He
was a marvellous boy : when 1 was with him, he was in the
fifteenth year of his age, in which he spoke Latin as politely
and as promptly as I did. He asked me, what was the sub-
ject of my books, de Rerum Varietate, which I had dedicated
to him 1 I answered, that in the first chapter I gave the
true cause of comets, which had been long inquired into,
but was never found out before. What is it 1 said he. I said,
it was the concourse of the light of wandering stars. He
answered, how can that be, since the stars move in different
motions 1 how comes it that the comets are not soon dissi-
pated, or do not move after them according to their motions 1
To this I answered, they do move after them, but much
quicker than they, by reason of the different aspect, as we
see in a crystal, or when a rainbow rebounds from the wall ;
for a little change makes a great difference of place. But
the king said, how can that be, where there is no subject to
receive that light, as the wall is the subject for the rainbowl
To this I answered, that this was as in the milky way, or
where many candles were lighted, the middle place where
their shining met was white and clear. From this little
taste it may be imagined what he was. And, indeed, the'
ingenuity and sweetness of his disposition had raisfed in all
good and learned men the greatest expectation of him pos-
sible. He began to love the liberal arts before he knew
them, and to know them before he could use them : and in
him there was such an attempt of nature, that not only Eng-
land, but the world, has reason to lament his being so early-
snatched away. How truly was it said of such extraordinary
persons, that their lives are short, and seldom do they come
to be old ! He gave us an essay of virtue, though he did not
live to give a pattern of it. When the gravity of a king was
needful, he carried himself like an old man ; and yet he was
always affable and gentle, as became his age. He played
on the lute ; he meddled in affairs of state ; and for bounty.
4 HISTORY OF
he did in that emulate his father ; though he even, when he
endeavoured to be too good, might appear to have been bad :
but there was no ground of suspecting any such thing in the
son, whose mind was cultivated by the study of philosophy."
It has been said, in the end of his father's life, that he
then designed to create him prince of Wales : for though he
was called so, as the heirs of this crown are, yet he was not
by a formal creation invested with that dignity. This pre-
tence was made use of to hasten forward the attainder of the
duke of Norfolk, since he had many offices for life, which
the king intended to dispose of, and desired to have them
speedily filled, in order to the creating of his son prince of
Wales. In the mean time his father died, and the earl of
Hartford and Sir Anthony Brown were sent by the council
to give him notice of it, being then at Hartford, and to bring
him to the Tower of London ; and having brought him to
Enfield, with his sister, the Lady Elizabeth, they let him
know of his father's death, and that he was now their king.
On the 3Ist of January the king's death was published in
London, aifd he proclaimed king.
At the Tower, his father's executors, with the rest of the
privy council, received him with the respects due to their
king : so tempering their sorrow for the death of their late
master with their joy for his son's happy succeeding him,
that by an excess of joy they might not seem to have forgot
the one so soon, nor to bode ill to the other by aii extreme
grief. The first thing they did was the opening King
Henry's will ; by which they found he had nominated six-
teen persons to be his executors, and governors to his son,
and to the kingdom, till his son was eighteen years of age.
These were the archbishop of Canterbury ; the Lord
Wriothesley, lord chancellor ; the Lord St. John, great
master of the household ; the Lord Russel, lord privy-seal ;
the earl of Hartford, lord great chamberlain ; the Viscount
Lisle, lord admiral ; Tonstall, bishop of Duresme ; Sir
Anthony Brown, master of the horse ; Sir William Paget,
secretary of state ; Sir Edward North, chancellor of the
court of augmentations; Sir Edward Montague, lord chief
justice of the common pleas ; Judge Bromley, Sir Anthony
Denny, and Sir W'illiam Herbert, chief gentlemen of the
privy -chamber ; Sir Edward Wotton, treasurer of Calais;
and Dr. Wotton, dean of Canterbury and York. These, or
the major part of them, were to execute his will, and to ad-
minister the affairs of the kingdom. By their consent were
the king and his sisters to be disposed of in marriage : but
with this difference, that it was only ordered that the king
should marry by their advice ; but the two sisters were so
THE REFORMATION. 5
limited in their marriage, that they were to forfeit their
right of succession if they married without their consent ;
it being of far greater importance to the peace and interest
of the nation who should be their husbands if the crown did
devolve on them, than who should be the king's wife. And
by the act passed in the thirty- fifth year of King Henry, he
was empowered to leave the crown to them, with what limit-
ations he should think fit. To the executors, the king
added, by his will, a privy-council, who should be assisting
to them. These were, the earls of Arundel and Essex ; Sir
Thomas Cheyney, treasurer of the household ; Sir John
Gage, comptroller ; Sir Anthony Wingfield, vice-chamber-
lain ; Sir William Petre, secretary of state ; Sir Richard
Rich, Sir John Baker, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Sey-
mour, Sir Richard Southwell, and Sir Edmund Peckham.
The king also ordered, that if any of the executors should
die, the survivors, without giving them a power of substi-
tuting others, should continue to administer affairs. He
also charged them to pay all his debts, and the legacies he
left, and to perfect any grants he had begun, and to make
good every thing that he had promised. The will being
opened and read, all the executors, Judge Bromley and the
two Wottons only excepted, were present, and did resolve
to execute the will in all points, and to take an oath for their
faithful discharge of that trust.
But it was also proposed, that for the speedier dispatch
of things, and for a more certain order and direction of all
affairs, there should be one chosen to be head of the rest, to
■whom ambassadors and others might address themselves.
It was added, to caution this, that the person to be raised to
that dignity should do nothing of any sort without the
advice and consent ofthe greater part of the rest. But this
was opposed by the lord chancellor ; who thought that the .
dignity of his office, setting him next the archbishop of Can-
terbury, who did not much follow secular affairs, he should
have the chief stroke in the government ; therefore, he
pressed that they might not depart from the king's will in
any particular, neither by adding to it, nor taking from it.
It was plain, the late king intended they should be all alike
in the administration, and the raising one to a title or
degree above the rest was a great change from what he had
ordered. And whereas it was now said, that the person to
be thus nominated was to have no manner of power over the
rest, that was only to exalt him into a high dignity with the
less envy or apprehension of danger ; for it was certain
great titles always make way for high power. But the earl
of Hartford had so great a party among them, that it was
B3
6 HISTORy OF
agreed to, the lord chancellor himself consenting, when he
saw his opposition was without effect, that one should be
raised over the rest in title, to be called the protector of the
king's realms, and the governor of his person. The next
point held no long debate, who should be nominated to thfs
high trust ; for they unanimously agreed, that the earl of
Hartford, by reason of his nearness of blood to the king, and
the great experience he had in affairs, was the fittest person.
" So he was declared protector of the realm, and governor
to the king's person ; but with that special and express
condition, that he should not do any act but by the advice
and consent of the other executors, according to the wilt
of the late king." Then they all went to take their oaths ^
but it was proposed, that it should 'be delayed till the next
day, that so they might do it upon better consideration.
More was not done that day ; save that the lord chancellor
was ordered to deliver up the seals to the king, and to
receive them again from his hands 5 for King Henry's seal
was to be made use of, either till a new one was made,
or till the king was crowned: he was also ordered to renew
the commissions of the judges, the justices of peace, the
presidents of the North and of Wales, and of some other
officers. This was the issue of the first council day under
this king : in which the so easy advancement of the earl of
Hartford to so high a dignity gave great occasion to censure,
it seeming to be a change of what King Henry had designed,
But the king's great kindness to his uncle made it pass
so smoothly ; for the rest of the executors, not being of
the ancient nobility, but courtiers, were drawn in easily to
comply with that which was so acceptable to their young
king : only the lord chancellor, who had chiefly opposed
it, was to expect small favour at the new protector's hands.
It was soon apparent what emulation there was between
them : and the nation being then divided between those
who loved the old superstition, and those who desired a
more complete reformation, the protector set himself at
the head of the one, and the lord chancellor at the head
of the other party.
The next day the executors met again, and first took their
oaths most solemnly for their faithful executing the will :
they also ordered all those who were by the late king named
privy-councillors to come into the king's presence, and there
they declared to the king the choice they had made of his
uncle ; who gave his assent to it: it was also signified to the
lords of the council, who likewise, with one voice, gave
their consent to it : and dispatches were ordered to be sent
to the emperor, the French king, and the regent of Flanders,
THE REFORMATION. 7
giving notice of the king's death, and of the constitution of
the council, and the nomination of the protectar during the
minority of their young king. All dispatches were ordered
to be signed only by the protector ; and all the temporal
lords, with all the bishops about the town, were commanded
to come and swear allegiance to the king. On the 2d
of February, the protector was declared lord treasurer
and earl marshal, these places having been designed for
him by the late king upon the duke of Norfolk's attainder.
Letters were also sent to Calais, Builoigne, Ireland, the
marches of Scotland, and most of the counties of England,
giving notice of the king's succession, and of the order
now settled. The will was also ordered to be enrolled, and
every of the executors was to have an exemplification
of it under the great seal ; and the clerks of council were
also ordered to give to every of them an account of all things
done in council under their hands and seals : and the
bishops were required to take out new commissions of
the same form with those they had taken out in King
Henry's time, (for which see page 345 of the former Part),
only with this difference, that there is no mention made of
a vicar-general in these commissions, as was in the former,
there being none after Cromwell advanced to that dignity.
Two of these commissions are yet extant ; one taken out by
Cranmer, the other taken out by Bonner. But this was
only done by reason of the present juncture, because the
bishops being generally addicted to the former superstition,
it was thought necessary to k-cep them under so arbitrary a
power as that subjected them to ; for they hereby held their
bishoprics only during the king's pleasure, and were to
exercise them as his delegates in his name, and by his
authority. Cranmer set an example to the rest, and took
out his commission, which is in the Collection (No. ii) : but
this was afterwards judged too heavy a yoke, and therefore
the new bishops that were made by this king were not put
under it (and so Ridley , w hen made bishop of London m Bon-
ner's room, was not required to take out any such commis-
sion) ; but they were to hold their bishoprics during life.
There was a clause in the king's will, requiring his execu-
tors to make good all that he had promised in any manner of
ways. Whereupon Sir William Paget, Sir Anthony Denny,
and Sir William Herbert, were required to declare what
they knew of the king's intentions and promises ; the former
being the secretary, whom he had trusted most, and the
other two those that attended on him in his bedchamber
during his sickness ; though they were called gentlemen of
the privy-chamber ; for the service of the gentlemen of the
bedchamber was not then set up. Paget declared, that,
8 HISTORY OF
when the evidence appeared against the duke of Norfolk,
and his son the earl of Surrey, the king, who used to talk
oft in private with him alone, told him, that he intended to
bestow their lands liberally ; and since, by attainders and
other ways, the nobility were much decayed, he intended
to create some peers ; and ordered him to write a book
of such as he thought meetest : who thereupon proposed the
earl of Hartford to be a duke ; the earl of Essex to be
a marquis ; the Viscount Lisle to be an earl ; the Lords St.
John, Russel, and Wriothesley to be earls ; and Sir Thomas
Seymour, Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir Richard Rich, Sir
William Wiiloughby, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Edmund.
Sheffield, Sir John St. Leiger, Sir Wymbish, Sir
Vernon of the Peak, and Sir Christopher Danby,
to be barons. Paget also proposed a distribution of the
duke of Norfolk's estate: but the king liked it not, and
made Mr. Gates bring him the books of that estate ; which
being done, he ordered Paget " to tot upon the earl of
Hartford" (these are the words of his deposition) a thousand
marks ; on the Lord Lisle, St. John, and Russel, 200/.
a year ; to the Lord Wriothesley 100/. and for Sir Tho-
mas Seymour 300/. a year ; but Paget said it was too little,
and stood long arguing it with him ; yet the king ordered
him to propose it to the persons concerned, and see how
they liked it. And he putting the king in mind of Denny,
who had been oft a suitor for him, but he had never yet
in lieu of that obtained any thing for Denny ; the king
ordered 200/. for him, and four hundred marks for Sir
William Herbert, and remembered some other likewise :
but Paget having, according to the king's commands, spoken
to those who were to be advanced, found that many of them
desired to continue in their former ranks, and thought
the lands the king intended to give were not sufficient
for the maintenance of the honour to be conferred on them j
which he reported to the best advantage he could for every
man, and endeavoured to raise the king's favour to thein as
high as he could. But while this was in consultation,
the duke of Norfolk, very prudently apprehending the ruin
of his posterity, if his lands were divided into many hands,
out of which he could not so easily recover them ; whereas,
if they continued in the crown, some turn of affairs might
again establish his family ; and, intending also to oblige the
king by so unusual a compliment, sent a desire to him that
he would be pleased to settle all his lands on the prince
(the now king), and not give them away : for, said he,
according to the phrase of that time, " they are good and
stately gear." This wrought so far on the king, that he
resolved to reserve them for himself, and to reward his
THE REFORMATION. 9
seivants some other way. Whereupon Paget pressed him
once to resolve on the honoui-s he would bestow, and what
he would give with them, and they should afterwards con-
sider of the way how to give it. The king, growing still
worse, said to him, " that, if aught came to him but good, as
he thought he could not long endure, he intended to place
them all about his son, as men whom he trusted and loved
above all other ; and that, therefore, he would consider them
the more." So, after many consultations, he ordered the
book to be thus filled up : " The earl of Hartford to be earl
marshal and lord treasurer, and to be duke of Somerset,
Exeter, or Hartford, and his son to be earl of W iltshire,
with 800/. a year of land, and 300/. a year out of the next
bishop's land that fell void ; the earl of Essex to be marquis
of Essex ; the Viscount Lisle to be earl of Coventry ;
the Lord VVriothesley to be earl of Winchester ; Sir Thomas
Seymour to be a baron and lord admiral ; Sir Richard
Rich, Sir John St. Ledger, Sir William Willoughby, Sir
Edward Sheffield, and Sir Christopher Danby, to be
barons; with yearly revenues to them, and several other
persons," And having, at the suit of Sir Edw. North,
promised to give the earl of Hartford six of the best
prebends that should fall in any cathedral, except deaneries
and treasurerships ; at his suit he agreed that a deanery and
a treasurership should be instead of two of the six preben-
daries. And thus, all this being written as the king had
ordered it, the king took the book and put it in his pocket,
and gave the secretary order to let every one know what he
had determined for them : but before these things took
effect the king died. Yet being, on his death-bed, put in
mind of what he had promised, he ordered it to be put
in his will, that his executors should perform every thing
that should appear to have been promised by him. All
this Denny and Herbert confirmed, for they then waited in
his chamber ; and, when the secretary went out, the king
told them the substance of what had passed between them,
and made Denny read the book over again to him ; where-
upon Herbert observed, that the secretary had remembered
all but himself: to which the king answered, he should not
forget him ; and ordered Denny to write 400/. a year for
him. All these things being thus declared upon oath,
and the greatest part of them having been formerly signified
to some of them, and the whole matter being well known and
spread abroad, the executors, both out of conscience to -
the king's will, and for their own honours, resolved to fulfil
what the king had intended, but was hindered by death to
accomplish. But, being apprehensive both of wars with
the emperor and French king, they resolved not to lessen
10 HISTORY OF
the king's treasure nor revenue, nor to sell his jewels
or plate, but to find some other ways to pay them ; and this
put them afterwards on selling the chantry-lands.
The business of Scotland was then so pressing, that
Balnaves, who was agent for those that had shut themselves
within the castle of St. Andrew's, had this day 1180/.
ordered to be carried to them for a half year's pay to the
soldiers of that garrison : tl\ere were also pensions appointed
for the most leading men in that business. The earl of
Rothes' eldest son had 280/., Sir James Kircaldy had 200/.,
and many others had smaller pensions allowed them, " for
their amity," as it is expressed in the council- books. That
day (Feb. 6) the lord protector knighted the king, being
authorized to do it by letters-patents. So it seems, that
as the laws of chivalry required that the king should receive
knighthood from the hand of some other knight; so it
was judged too great a presumption for his own subject
to give it, without a warrant under the great seal. The
king, at the same time, knighted Sir John Hublethorn,
the lord mayor of London. When it was known abroad
what a distribution of honour and wealth the council had re-
solved on, it was much censured ; many saying, that it was
not enough for them to have drained the dead king of all his
treasure, but that the first step of their proceedings in their
new trust was to provide honour and estates for themselves ;
whereas it had been a more decent way for them to have
reserved their pretensions till the king had come to be
of age. Another thing in the attestations seemed much
to lessen the credit of the king's will, which was said to be
signed the 30th of December, and so did bear date : whereas
this narration insinuates, that it was made a very little
while before he died, not being able to accomplish his
design in those things which he had projected ; but it was
well known that he was not so ill on the 30th of December.
It may perhaps seem strange, that the earl of Hart-
ford had six good prebends promised him ; two of these
being afterwards converted into a deanery and a trea-
surership. But it was ordinary at that time : the Lord
Cromwell had been dean of Wells ; and many other secular
men had these ecclesiastical benefices without cure con-
ferred on them ; for which, there being no charge of souls
annexed to them, this might seem to be an excuse. Yet
even those had a sacred charge incumbent on them ia
the cathedrals ; and were just and necessary encourage-
ments, either for such as by age or. other defects were
not fit for a parochial charge, and yet might be otherwise
capable to do eminent service in the church; or for the
support of such as in their parochial labours did serve
THE REFORMATION. 11
so well as to merit preferment, and yet perhaps were so
meanly provided for as to need some farther help for their
subsistence. But certainly they were never intended for
the enriching of such lazy and sensual men, who, having
given themselves up to a secular course of life, had little of
a churchman but the habit and name ; and yet used to
rail against sacrilege in others, not considering how guilty
themselves were of the same crime, enriching their families
with the spoils of the church, or with the goods of it, which
were put into their hands for better uses : and it was no
wonder, that, when clergymen had thus abused these endow-
ments, secular men broke in upon them ; observing plainly,
that the clergy who enjoyed them made no better use
of them than laics might do. Though, instead of reforming
an abuse that was so generally spread, they, like men
that minded nothing more than the enriching of themselves,
took a certain course to make the mischief perpetual, by
robbing the church of those endowments and helps it
had received from the munificence of the founders of its
cathedrals, who were generally the first Christian kings
of this nation ; which, had it been done by law, would have
been a thing of very bad consequence ; but as it was done,
was directly contrary to the Magna Charta, and to the
king's coronation oath.
But now, they that were weary of the popish superstitions
observing that Archbishop Cranmer had so great a share of
the young king's affection, and that the protector and
he were in the same interests, began to call for a further
reformation df religion ; and some were so full of zeal for it,
that they wonld not wait on the slovi^ motions of the state.
So the curate and churchwardens of St. Martin's, in Iron-
monger-lane, in London, took down the images and pictures
of the saints, and the crucifix out of their church, and
painted many texts of Scripture on the walls ; some of them,
'' according to a perverse translation," as the complaint has
it ; and in the place where the crucifix was, they set up the
king's arms, with some texts of Scripture about it : upon
this the bishop and lord mayor of London complained
to the council. And the curate and churchwardens, being
cited to appear, answered for themselves ; that the roof
of their church being bad, they had taken it down, and that
the crucifix and images were so rotten, that when they
removed them they fell to powder : that the charge they had
been at in repairing their church was such, that they could
not buy new^ images : that they had taken down the images
in the chancel, because some had been guilty of idolatry
towards them. In conclusion, they said, what they had
done was with a good intention, and if they had in any
12 HISTORY OF
thing done amiss, they asked pardon, and submitted them-
selves. Some were for punishing them severely ; for all
the papists reckoned that this would be a leading case to all
the rest of this reign; and if this was easily passed over,
others would be from that remissness animated to attempt
such things everywhere. But, on the other hand, those at
court who had designed to set forward a reformation, had a
mind only so far to check the heat of the people as to keep
it within compass, but not to dishearten their friends too
much. Cranmer and his party were for a general removing
of all images ; and said, that, in ihe late king's time, order
being given to remove such as were abused to superstition ;
upon that there were great contests in many places what
images had been so abused, and what not ; and that these
disputes would be endless unless all were taken away.
In the purest times of Christianity they had no images at
all in their churches. One of the first councils, namely,
that at Elvira, in Spain, made a canon against the painting
what they worshipped on the walls. Epiphanius was highly
offended when he saw a veil hanging before the door of
a church with a picture on it, which he considered so little
as not to know well whose picture it was, but thought
it might be Christ's, or some other saint's ; yet he tore
it, and gave them of that place money to buy a new veil in
its room. Afterwards, with the rest of the pomp of hea-
thenism, images came to be set up in churches ; yet so
as that there was no sort of worship paid to them. But
in the time of pope Gregory the First, many went into
extremes about them ; some were for breaking them, and
others worshipped them ; that pope thought the middle way
best, neither to break, nor to worship them, but to keep
them only to put the people in mind of the saints. After-
wards, there being subtle questions started about the unity
of Christ's person and will, the Greek emperors generally
inclined to have the animosities, raised by these, removed
by some comprehensive words to which all might consent ;
which the interest of state, as T/ell as religion, seemed
to require: for their empire every day declining, all methods
for uniting it were thought good and prudent : but the
bishops were stiff and peremptory ; so in the sixth general
council they condemned all who differed from them : upon
this the emperors that succeeded would not receive that
council, but the bishops of Rome ordered the pictures of all
the bishops, who had been at that council, to be set up
in the churches ; upon which the emperors contended
against these or any pictures whatsoever in churches :
and herein that happened which is not unusual, that one
controversy rising occasionally out of another, the parties
THE REFORMATION. 13
forsake the first contest, and fall into sharp conflicts about
the occasional differences. For now the emperors and popes
quarrelled most violently about the use of images, and
ill names going a great way towards the defaming an opinion,
the popes and their party accused all that were agailst
images as favouring Judaism, or Mahometanism, which
was then much spread in Asia and Africa : the emperors
and their party accusing the others of gentilism and hea-
thenish idolatry. Upon this occasion, Gregory the J bird
first assumed the rebellious pretension to a pov/er to depose
Leo, the emperor, fiom all his dominions in Italy. There
was one general council at Constantinople that condemned
the use or worship of images ; and soon after another at
Nice did establish it ; and yet, at the same time, Charles
the Great, though not a little linked in interest to the bishops
of Rome, holding both the French and imperial crowns by
the favour of the popes, wrote, or employed Alcuinus (a
most learned countryman of ours, as these times went),
to write in his name against the worship of images. And in
a council at Frankfort it was condemned, which was also
done afterwards in another council at Paris. But in such
ages of ignorance and superstition, any thing that wrought
so much on the senses and imaginations of the people was
sure to prevail in conclusion : and this had, in a course
of seven more ages, been improved, by the craft and
impostures of the monks, so wonderfully, that there was no
sign of Divine adoration that could be invented that was
not applied to these images. So in King Henry's time that
temper was found, that such images, as had been abused to
superstition, should be removed ; and, for other images,
external worship, such as kneeling, censing, and piaying
before them, was kept up ; but the people were to be taught
that these were not at all intended to the image, but to that
■which was represented by it ; and upon this there was
much subtle arguing. Among Cranmer's papers, 1 have
seen several arguments for a moderate use of images. But
to all these they opposed the second commandment, as
plainly forbidding all visible objects of adoration, together
with what was in the Scriptures against the idolatry of
the heathens, and what the fathers had written against
the gentiles ; and they added, that how excusable soever
that practice might have been in such dark and barba-
rous ages, in which the people knew little more of Divine
matters than what they learned from their images, yet
the horrible abuses that followed on the bringing them into
churches, made it necessary now to throw them all out. It
was notorious that the people every where doted on them.
Vol.. IT, Part I. C
14 HISTORY OF
and gave them divine honour : nor did the clergy, who were
generally too guilty themselves of such abuses, teach them
now to distinguish aright ; and the acts of worship that
that were allowed were such, that beside the scandal such
worship had in it, and the danger of drawing people into
idolatry, it was in itself inexcusable to cfFer up such external
parts of religious adoration to gold or silver, wood or stone.
So Cranmer, and others, being resolved to purge the church
of this abuse, got the worst part of the sentence, that some
had designed against the curate and churchwardens, to be
mitigated into a reprimand ; and, as it is entered in the
council-books, " In respect of their submission, and of some
other reasons which did mitigate their offence (these were
Cranmer's arguments against images), they did pardon their
imprisonment, which was at first determined, and ordered
them to provide a crucifix, or at least some painting of it till
one were ready, and to beware of such rashness for the
future." But no mention is made of the other images.
The carriage of the council in this matter discovering the
inclinations of the greatest part of them ; and Dr. Ridley
having in his Lent sermon preached against the superstition
that was generally had to images and holy-water, it raised
a great heat over England : so that Gardiner, hearing that,
on May-day, the people of Portsmouth had removed and
broken the images of Christ and the saints, writ about it,
with great warmth, to one Captain Vaughan, that waited on
the protector, and was then at Portsmouth. " He desired to
know whether he should send one to preach against it;
though he thought that was the casting precious stones to
hogs, or worse than hogs, as were these Lollards. He said,
that Liither had set out a book against those who removed
images, and himself had seen them still in the Lutheran
churches ; and he thought the removing images was on de-
sign to subvert religion and the state of the world : he argues
for them from the king's image on the seal, Caesar's image
on the coin brought to Christ, the king's arms carried by the
heralds : he condems false images : but for those that were
against true images, he thought they were possessed with
the devil." Vaughan sent his letter to the protector, with
one from Gardiner to himself*, who finding the reasoning
in it not so strong but that it might be answered, wrote to
him himself: " That he allowed of his zeal against innova-
tions, but that there were other things that needed to be
looked to as much. Great difference there was between the
civil respect due to the king's arms, and the worship given
* The letters are in Fox'g Acts aod Monuments.
THE REFORMATION. 15
to images. There had been a time in which the abuse of
the Scriptures was thought a good reason to take them from
the people, yea, and to burn them : though he looked on
them as more sacred than images : which, if they stood
merely as remembrances, he thought the hurt was not
great ; but it was known that for the most part it was other-
wise ; and, upon abuse, the brazen serpent was broken,
though made at God's commandment: and it being pre-
tended that they were the books of the people, he thought
the Bible a much more intelligible and useful book. There
were some too rash, and others too obstinate. The magi-
strate was to steer a middle course between them ; not con-
sidering the antiquity of things so much, as what was good
and expedient." Gardiner writ again to the protector, com-
plaining of Bale and others, who published books to the
dishonour of the late king ; and that all were running after
novelties; and often inculcates it, that things should be
kept in the state they were in, till the king were of age ;
and, in his letters, reflects both on the aichbishop of Can-
terbury and the bishop of Duresme, for consenting to such
thinr.s.
But finding his letters had no effect on the protector, he
wrote to Ridley : " That, by the law of Moses, we were no
more bound not to have images than not to eat blood-
puddings. Image and idol might have been used promiscu-
ously in former times, as king and tyrant were ; yet there
was a great difference between these, according to the
notions we now have. He cites Pope Gregory, who was
against both adoring and breaking them ; and says, the
worship is not given to the image, so there is no idolatry,
but to him represented by it; and as the sound of speech
did by the ear beget notions in us, so he did not see but the
sight of an image might stir up devotion. He confessed there
had been abuses, as there is in every thing that is in men's
hands : he thinks imagery, and graving, to be of as good use
for instruction, as writing or printing : and because Ridley
had also preached against the superstition of holy-water to
drive away devils, he added, that a virtue might be in water,
as well as in Christ's garment, St. Peter's shadow, or Elisha's
staff. Pope Marcellus ordered Equitius to use it : and the
late king used to bless cramp-rings both of gold and silver,
which were much esteemed everywhere; and when he was
abroad, they were often desired from him. This gift he
hoped the young king would not neglect. He believed the
invocation of the name of God might give such a virtue to
holy-v/ater as well as to the water of baptism." For Rid-
ley's answer to this, I never saw it ; so these things must
16 HISTORY OF
here pass without any reply : though it is very probable an
ordinary reader will, with a very small measure of common
sense and learning, see how they might have been answered.
The thing most remarkable here is about these cramp-rings,
which King Henry used to bless, of which I never met with
any thing before I saw this letter ; but since I understand
the office of blessing of these rings is extant, as it was pre-
pared for Queen Mary's use, as shall be told in her reign, it
must be left to conjecture, whether he did it as a practice of
former kings, or whether, upon his being made supreme
head, he thought fit to take on him, as the pope did, to con-
secrate such things, and send them about ; where, to be
sure, fancy and flattery would raise many stories of the won-
derful effects of what he had so blessed : and, perhaps, these
might have been as true as the reports made of the virtues
of Agnus Dei's, touched beads, blessed pebbles, with such
other goodly ware, which the friars were wont to carry about
and distribute to their benefactors as things highly sanctified.
This I set down more fully, and have laid some things
together that fell not out till some months after this, being
the first step that was made towards a reformation in this
reign.
Upon this occasion, it is not unlikely, that the council wrote
their letters to all the justices of peace of England, on the
12th of February, letting them know that they had sent down
new commissioners to them, for keeping the peace: order-
ing them to assemble together, and first to call earnestly on
God for his grace to discharge their duties faithfully, accord-
ing to the oaths which they were to take ; and that they
should impartially, without corruption or sinister affection,
execute their office, so that it might appear that they had
God and the good of their king and country before their
eyes : and that they should divide themselves into the several
hundreds, and see to the public peace ; and that all vaga-
bonds anil disturbers of the peace should be duly punished ;
and that once every six weeks they should write to the lord
protector and council, the state in which the county was,
till they were otherwise commanded. That which was sent
into the county of Norfolk will be found in the Collection
(No. iii).
But now the funeral of the deceased kin<r, and the corona-
tion of his son, were to be dispatched. In the coronation
ceremonies that had been formerly used, there were some
things that did not agree with the present laws of the land ;
as the promise made to the abbots for maintaining their lands
and dignities. They were also so tedious, that a new form
was ordered to be drawn, which the reader will find in the
THE REFORMATION. 17
Collection (No. iv). The most material thing in it is the first
ceremony, whereby the king being showed to the people at
the four corners of the stage, the archbishop was to demand
their consent to it ; and yet in such terras as should demon-
strate he was no elective prince ; " for he being declared
the rightful and undoubted heir, both by the laws of God
and man, they were desired to give their good wills and
assents to the sarae,,as by their duty of allegiance they were
bound to do." This being agreed on the 13th of February,
on the day following King Henry's body was, with all the
pomp of a royal funeral, removed to Syon, iu the way to
Windsor. There great observation was made on a thing that
was no extraordinary matter : he had been extreme corpu-
lent ; and dying of a dropsy, or something like it, it was no
wonder if, a fortnight after, upon so long a motion, some
putrid matter might run through the coffin. But Syon having
been a house of religious women, it was called a signal
mark of the displeasure of Heaven, that some of his blood
and fat dropped through the lead in the night : and to make
this work mightily on weak people, it was said, that the dogs
licked it next morning. This was much magnified in com-
mendation of Friar Peto, afterwards made cardinal, who (as
was told in page 200 of the former Part) had threatened him
in a sermon, at Greenwich, " that the dogs should lick his
blood." Though, to consider things more equally, it had
been a wonder indeed if it had been otherwise. But having
met with this observation in a MS, written near that time, I
would not envy the world the pleasure of it. Next day he
was brought to Windsor, and interred in St. George's chapel.
And he having by his will left that church 6001. a yeai for
ever for two priests to say mass at his tomb daily, for four
obits yearly, and a sermon at every obit, with 10/. to the
poor, and for a sermon every Sunday, together with the
maintenance of thirteen poor knights ; the judges were con-
sulted how this should be well settled in law : who advised,
that the lands which the king had given should be made over
to that college by indentures tripartite ; the king being one
party, the protector and other executors a second, and the
dean and chapter of Wmdsor a third party. These were to
be signed with the king's hand, and the great seal put to
them, with the hands and seals of all the rest; and then
patents were to be given for the lands, founded on the king's
testament, and the indentures tripartite.
But the pomp of this business ministered an 0( casion of
inquiring into the use and lawfulness of soul-masses and
obits, which came to be among the first things that were re-
formed. Christ had instituted the sacrament to be cele-
C3
18 HISTORY OF
brated in remembrance of his death ; and it was a sacrament
only to those who did participate in it : but that the conse-
crating the sacrament could be of any use to departed souls,
seemed a thing not easy to be conceived : for if they are the
prayers of the living that profit the dead, then these would
have done as well without a mass. But the people would
not have esteemed bare prayers so much, nor have paid so
dear for them. So that the true original of soul-masses was
thought to have been only to increase the esteem and wealth
of the clergy. It is true, in the primitive church, there was
a commemoration of the saints departed in the daily sacri-
fice (so they termed the communion), and such as had given
any offence at their death were not remembered in it : so
that for so slight an offence as the leaving a priest tutor to
one's children, which might distract them from their spiritual
care, one's name was to be left out of that commemoration
in Cyprian's time ; which was a very disproportioned punish-
ment to that offence, if such commemorations had been
thought useful or necessary to the souls departed. But all
this was nothing to the private masses for them, and was
indeed nothing at first but an honourable mention of such as
had died in the faith. And they, believing then generally
that there was a glorious thousand years to be on earth, and
that the saints should rise, some sooner and some later,
to have their part in it, they prayed in general for their quiet
rest, and their speedy resurrection. Yet these prayers grow-
ing, as all superstitious devices do, to be more considered,
some began to frame an hypothesis to justify them by ; that
of the thousand years being generally exploded. And in St.
Austin's lime they began to fancy there was a state of punish-
ment even for the good in another life, out of which some
were sooner and some later freed, according to the measure
of their repentance for their sins in this life. But he tells us,
this was taken up without any sure ground, and that it was
no way certain. Yet by visions, dreams, and tales, the
belief of it was so far promoted, that it came to be generally
received in the next age after him ; and then, as the people
were told that the saints interceded for them, so it was
added, that they might intercede for their departed friends.
And this was the foundation of all that trade of soul masses
and obits. Now the deceased king had acted like one who
did not believe that these things signified much : otherwise
he was to have but ill recei)tion in purgatory, having, by the
subversion of the monasteries, deprived the departed souls
of the benefit of the many masses that were said for them in
these houses : yet it seems, at his death, he would make the
matter sure ; and to show he intended as much benefit to the
THE REFORMATION. 19
liviDs as to himself, being dead, he took care that there
should be not only masses and obits, but so many sermons
at Windsor, and a frequent distribution of alms for the relief
of the poor. But, upon this occasion, it came to be examined
what value there was in such things. Yet the archbishop
plainly saw, that the lord chancellor would give great oppo-
sition to every motion that should be made for any further
alteration ; for which he and all that party had this specious
pretence always in their mouths. That their late glorious
king was not only the most learned prince, but the most
learned divine in the world (for the flattering him did not
end with his life), and that therefore they were at least to
keep all things in the condition wherein he had left them,
till the king were of age. And this seemed also necessary
on considerations of state ; for changes in matter of religion
might bring on commotions and disorders, which they, as
faithful executors, ought to avoid. But to this it was an-
swered, that as their late king was infinitely learned (for
both parties flattered him, dead as well as living), so he had
resolved to make great alterations, and was contriving how
to change the mass into a communion : that therefore they
were not to put off a thing of such consequence, wherein the
salvation oi people's souls were so much concerned, but
were immediately to set about it. But the lord chancellor
gave quickly great advantage against himself to his enemies,
who were resolved to make use of any error he might be
guilty of, so far as to ease themselves of the trouble he was
like to give them.
The king's funeral being over, order was given for the
creation of peers. The protector was to be duke of Somerset ;
the earlof Essex to be marquis of Northampton; the Viscount
Lisle to be earl of Warwick ; the Lord W riothesley, earl of
Southampton : beside the new creation of the Lords Seymour,
Rich, Willoughby of Parham, and Sheffield : the rest, it
seems, excusing themselves from new honours, as it appeared
from the deposition of Paget, that many of those, on whom
the late king had intended to confer titles of honour, had
declined it formerly. On the 20th of February, being
Shrove-Sunday, the king was crowned by the archbishop of
Canterbury, according to the form that was agreed to. The
protector serving in it as lord steward, the marquis of Dorset
as lord constable, and the earl of Arundel as earl marshal,
deputed by the protector. A pardon was proclaimed, out of
V. hicb the duke of Norfolk, Cardinal Pole, and some others,
were excepted.
The first business of importance, after the coronation, was
the lord chancellor's fall ; who, resolving to give himself
wholly to matters of state, had, on the IBth of February,
20 HISTORY Of
put the great seal to a commission, *' directed to Sir Robert
Southwell, master of the rolls, John Tregonnel, Esq. master
of chancery, and to John Oliver, and Anthony Bellasis,
clerks, masters of chancery ; setting forth, that the lord
chancellor being so employed in the affairs of state that
he could not attend on the hearing of causes in the court of
chancery, these three masters, or any two of them, were
empowered to execute the lord chancellor's office in that
court, in as ample manner as if he himself were present ;
only their decrees were to be brought to the lord chancellor
to be signed by him, before they were enrolled." This
being done without any warrant from the lord protector,
and the other executors, it was judged a high presumption
in the lord chancellor thus to devolve on others that power
which the law had trusted in his hands. The persons
named by him increased the offence which this gave, two
of them being canonists, so that the common lawyers looked
upon this as a precedent of very high and ill consequence.
And being encouraged by those who had no good will
to the chancellorj they petitioned the council in this matter,
and complained of the evil consequences of such a com-
mission, and set forth the fears that all the students of the
law were under, of a change that was intended to be made
of the laws of England. The council remembered well
they had given no warrant at all to the lord chancellor
for the issuing out any such commission • so they sent
it to the judges, and required them to examine the com-
mission, with the petition gounded upon it ; who delivered
their opinions on the last of Februajy, that the lord chan-
cellor ought not, without warrant from the council, to have
set the seal to it ; and that by his so doing he had by
the common law forfeited his place to the king, and was
liable to fine and imprisonment at the king's pleasure.
This lay sleeping till the 6th of March, and then the judges'
answer being brought to the council, signed with all their
hands, they entered into a debate how far it ought to be
punished. The lord chancellor carried it very high : and
as he had used many menaces to those who had petitioned
against him, and to the judges for giving their opinions
as they did ; so he carried himself insolently to the pro-
tector, and told him, he held his place by a better authority
than he held his ; that the late king, being empowered to it
by act of parliament, had made him not only chancellor,
but one of the governors of the realm during his son's
minority ; and had by his will given none of them power
over the rest, to throw them out at pleasure ; and that,
therefore, they might declare the commission void if they
pleased, to which he should consent ; but they could not
THE REfORiMATION. 21
for such an error turn him out of his office, nor out of
his share of the government. To this it was answered, that,
by the late king's will, they, or the major part of them,
were to administer till the king was of age : that this
subjected every one of them in particular to the rest : that
otherwise, if any of them broke out into rebellion, he might
pretend he could not be attainted, nor put from the govern-
ment. Therefore it was agreed on, that every of them
in particular was subject to the greater part. Then the
lord chancellor was required to show what wan ant he
had for that he had done. Being now driven from that
which he chiefly relied on, he answered for himself, that he
had no warrant ; yet he thought by his office he had power
to do it : that he had no ill intention in it, and therefore
submitted himself to the king's mercy, and to the gracious
consideration of the protector and the council ; and desired,
that, in respect of his past services, he might forego his
office with as little slander as might be ; and that as to
his fine and imprisonment, they would use moderation :
so he was made to withdraw. "The counsellors (as it
is entered in the council book) considering in their con-
sciences his abuses sundry ways in his office, to the great
prejudice and utter decay of the common laws, and the
prejudice that might follow by the seals continuing in
the hands of so stout and arrogant a person, who would
as he pleased put the seals to such commissions without
warrant, did agree, that the seal should be taken from
him, and he be deprived of his office, and be further fined,
as should be afterwards thought fitting ; only they excused
him from imprisonment." So he being called in, and heard
say all he could think of for his own justification, they
did not judge it of such importance as might move them
to change their mind. Sentence was therefore given, that
he should stay in the council -chamber and closet till the
sermon was ended ; that then he should go home with
the seal to Ely House, where he lived ; but that after
supper, the Lord Seymour, Sir Anthony Brown, and Sir
Edward North, should be sent to him, and that he should
deliver the seal into their hands ; and be from that time
deprived of his office, and confined to his house during
pleasure, and pay what fine should be laid on him. To all
which he submitted, and acknowledged the justice of their
sentence. So the next day, the seal was put into the Lord
St. John's hands *, till they should agree on a fit man to be
• " 29 Jiinii sigillum magnum Will. Pawlet Militi Domino S. Jo. de
Basing, liberatum fecit. Fat. I, Edw. VI, p. 4." — Dugdal. Orig. Jurid.
22 HISTORY OF
lord chancellor ; and it continned with him several months^
On the day following, the late king's will being in his hands
for the granting of exemplifications of it under the great
seal, it was sent for, and ordered to be laid up in the
treasury of the Exchequer : and the earl of Southampton
continued in his confinement till the ^Qth of June ; but then
he entered into a recognizance of 4000/. to pay what fine
they should impose on him, and upon that he was dis-
charged of his imprisonment. But in all this sentence they
made no mention of his forfeiting his being one of the
late king's executors, and of the present king's governors ;
either judging, that, being put in these trusts as he was
lord chancellor, the discharging him of his office did by
consequence put an end to them ; or, perhaps, they were
not willing to do any thing that might seem to change
the late king's will ; and therefore, by keeping him under
the fear of a severe fine, they chose rather to oblige him
to be absent, and to carry himself quietly, than by any
sentence to exclude him from his share in that trust ; which
I incline the rather to believe, because 1 find him afterwards
brought to council without any order entered about it;
so that he seems to have come thither rather on a former
right than on a new choice made of him. Thus fell the
lord chancellor, and in him the popish party lost their chief
support, and the protector his most emulous rival. The
reader will find the commission, with the opinion of the
J'udges about it, in the Collection (No. v), from which
le will be better able to judge of these proceedings against
him ; which were summary, and severe, beyond the usage
of the privy-council, and without the common forms of
legal processes. But the council's authority had been
raised so high, by the act mentioned in page 340 of the
former Part, that they were empowered sufficiently for
matters of that nature.
That which followed, a few days after, made this be
the more censured, since the lord protector, who hitherto
held his office but by the choice of the rest, and under great
restrictions, was now resolved to hold it by patent, to which
the late chancellor had been unwilling to consent. The
pretence for it was, that the foreign ministers, the French
ambassador in particular, desired to be satisfied concerning
his power, and how far they might treat with him, and
depend on the assurances and promises he gave. So the
protector and council did, on the 13th of March, petition
the king that they might act by a commision under the
great seal, which might empower and justify them in what
they were to do. And that was to be done in this manner :
THE REFORMATION. 23
the king and the lords were to sign the warrant for it, upon
which the Lord St. John (who, though he had the keeping
of the great seal, was never designed to be lord keeper, nor
was empowered to hear causes) should set the seal to it.
The original warrant was to be kept by the protector,
and exemplifications of it were to be given to foreign minis-
ters. To this order Sir Thomas Cheyney set his hand, upon
what authority I do not so clearly see, since he was none of
the executors. By this commission (which will be found in
the Collection, No. vi) it is set forth, " That the king, being
under age, was desired by divers of the nobles and prelates
of the realm to name and authorize one above all others
to have the charge of the kingdom, with the government
of his person : whereupon he had formerly, by word of
mouth, named his uncle to be protector and governor of his
person; yet, for a more perfect declaration of that, he
did now ratify and approve all he had done since that
nomination, and constituted him his governor, and the
protector of his kingdom, till he should attain the full age of
eighteen years ; giving him the full authority that belonged
to that office, to do every thing as he by his wisdom should
think for the honour, good, and prosperity of the king and
kingdoms ; and, that he might be furnished with a council
for his aid and assistance, he did, by the advice of his uncle
and others, nobles, prelates, and wise men, accept of these
persons for his counsellors, the archbishop of Canterbury,
the Lord St. John, president, the Lord Russell, lord privy-
seal, the marquis of Northampton, the earls of Warwick
and Arundel, the Lord Seymour, the bishop of Duresme,
the Lord Rich, Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir John Gage, Sir
Anthony Brown, Sir Anthony Wingfield, Sir William
Paget, Sir William Petre, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir John Baker,
Doctor Wotton, Sir Anthony Denny, Sir William Herbert,
Sir Edward North, Sir Edward Montague, Sir Edward Wot-
ton, Sir Edmund Peckham, Sir Thomas Bromley, and Sir
Richard Southwell : giving the protector power to swear
such other commissioners as he should think fit : and that
he, with so many of the council as he should think meet,
might annul and change what they thought fitting ; re-
straining the council to act only by his advice and consent."
And thus was the protector fully settled in his power, and
no more under the curb of the co-executors, who were now
mixed with the other counsellors, that, by the late king's
will, were only to be consulted with as they saw cause. But
as he depressed them to an equality with the rest of the
counsellors, so he highly obliged the others, who had been
formerly under them, by bringing these equally with thera
24 HISTORY OF
into a share of the government. He had also obtained to
himself a high authority over them ; since they could do no-
thing without his consent ; but he was only bound to call for
so many of them as he thought meet, and was not limited
to act as they advised, but clothed with the full regal power ;
and had it in his hands to oblige whom he would, and to
make his party greater by calling into the council such as he
should nominate. How far this was legal I shall not inquire.
It was certainly contrary to King Henry's will. And that
being made upon an act of parliament, which empowered
him to limit the crown and the government of it at his
pleasure, this commission, that did change the whole govern-
ment during the king's minority, seems capable of no other
defence, but that, it being made by the consent of the major
part of the executors, it was still warrantable even by the
will, which devolved the government on them, or the major
part of them.
All this I have opened the more largely, both because
none of our historians have taken any notice of the first con-
stitution of the government during this reign, and being
ignorant of the true account of it, they have committed
great errors : and because, having obtained, by the favour of
that most industrious collector of the transactions of this age,
Mr. Rushworth, the original council-book, for the two first
years of this reign, I had a certain authority to follow in it ;
the exactness of that book being beyond any thing lever met
with in all our records. For every council-day the privy-
counsellors that were present set their hands to all that was
ordered, judging so great caution necessary when the king
was under age. And therefore 1 thought this a book of too
great consequence to lie in private hands : so the owner
having made a present of it to me, I delivered it to that
noble and virtuous gentleman. Sir John Nicolas, one of the
clerks of the council, to be kept with the rest of their
books.
And having now given the reader a clear prospect of
the state of the court, I shall next turn to the affairs that
were under their consideration. That which was first
brought before them was concerning the state of Germany.
Francis Burgartus, chancellor to the duke of Saxe,with others
from the other princes and cities of the empire, were sent
over, upon the news of the former king's death, to solicit for
aids from the new king toward the carying on the war with
the emperor. In order to the clearing of this, and to give a
just account of our councils in reference to foreign affairs,
especially the cause being about religion, I shall give a short
view of the state of Germany at this time. The emperor,
THE REFORMATION. 25
having formed a design of an universal monarchy, laid hold '
on the differences of religion in Germany, as a good mean to
cover what he did, with the specious pretence of punishing
heresy, and protecting the catholics. But before he had
formed this design, he procured his brother (Jan. 11, 1531)
to be chosen king of the Romans, and so declared his succes-
sor in the empire : which he was forced to do, being obliged
to be much in Spain and his other hereditary dominions ;
and being then so young as not to enter into such deep
counsels as he afterwards laid. But his wars in Italy put
him oft in ill terms with the pope ; and being likewise
watched over in all his motions by Francis I and Henry VIII,
and the Turk often breaking into Hungary and Germany, he
was forced to great compliances with the princes of the
empire ; who, being animated by the two great crowns, did
enter into a league for their mutual defence against all ag-
gressors. And at last, in the year 1544 (Feb. 20), in the
diet held at Spire, the emperor, being engaged in war with
France and the Turk, both to secure Germany, and to ob-
tain money of the princes, was willing to agree to the edict
made there ; which was, that till there was a free council in
Germany, or such an assembly, in which matters of reli-
gion might be settled, there should be a general peace, and
none was to be troubled for religion; the free exercise of
both religions being allowed ; and all things were to continue
in the state they were then in. And the imperial chamber
at Spire was to be reformed : for the judges of that court be-
ing all papists, there were many processes depending at the
suit of the ecclesiastics against the protestant princes, who
had driven them out of their lands : and the princes ex-
pecting no fair dealing from them, all these processes were
now suspended, and the chamber was to be filled up with
new judges, that should be more favourable to them. They,
obtaining this decree, contributed very liberally to the wars
the emperor seemed to be engaged in ; who, having his trea-
sure thus filled, presently made peace both with France,
and (Sept. 24, 1544) the Grand Signior (Oct. 1545), and
resolved to turn his wars upon the empire, and to make use
of that treasure and force they had contributed, to invade
their liberties, and to subdue them entirely to himself. Up-
on this, he entered into a treaty with the pope, that a coun-
cil should be opened in Trent ; upon 'which he should re-
quire the princes to submit to it, which, if they refused to
do, he should make war on them. The pope was to assist
him with ten thousand men, besides heavy taxes laid on his
clergy ; to which he willingly consented. But the emperor,
knowing that if religion were declared to be the ground of
Voi,. II, Pakt I. D
26 HISTORY OF
the war, all the protestants would unite against him, who
were the much greater number of the empire ; resolved to
divide them among themselves, and to pretend somewhat
else than religion as the cause of the war. There were then
four of the electors of that religion; the count palatine, the
duke of Saxe, the marquis of Brandenburg, and the arch-
bishop of Colen ; besides the landgrave of Hesse, the duke
of Wirtemberg, and many lesser princes ; and almost all the
cities of the empire. Bohemia, and the other hereditary
dominions of the house of Austria, were also generally
of the same religion. The northern kings and the Swiss
cantons were firmly united to them : the two crowns of
England and France were likewise concerned in interest to
support them against the Austrian family. But the emperor
got France and England engaged in a war between them-
selves : so that he was now at leisure to accomplish his de-
signs on the empire ; where some of the princes being ex-
tremely old, as the count palatine, and Herman, archbishop
of Colen; others being of soft and inactive tempers, as .the
marquis of Brandenburg ; and others discontented and am-
bitious, as Maurice of Saxony, and the brothers of Branden-
burg ; he had indeed none of the first rank to deal with,
but the duke of Saxe and the landgrave of Hesse, who were
both great captains, but of such different tempers, that,
where they were in equal command, there was no great pro-
bability of success. The former was a prince of the best
composition of any in that age : he was sincerely religious,
and one of the most equally tempered men that was then
alive ; neither lifted up with success, nor cast down with
misfortunes : he had a great capacity, but was slow in
his resolutions. The landgrave, on the other hand, had
much more heat, was a quicker man, and of an impatient
temper, on which the accidents of life made deep impressions.
When the emperor began to engage in this design, the
pope, being jealous of his greatness, and desirous to entangle
him in a long and expenseful war, published the secret
ends of the league ; and opened the council in Trent in No-
vember, 1545, where a few bishops and abbots, with his
legates presiding over them, usurped the most glorious title
of the most holy ecumenical council, representing the catholic
church. They entered, by such slow steps as were directed
from Rome, into the discussion of articles of doctrine ;
which were, as they were pleased to call it, explained to
them by some divines, for most part friars, who amused the
more ignorant bishops with the nice speculations with
which they had been exercised in the schools ; where hard
and barbarous words served in good stead to conceal some
THE REFORMATION. 27
things not so fit to be proposed barefaced, and in plain
terms. The emperor, having done enough towards his de-
sign, that a council was opened in Germany, endeavoured
to keep them from determining points of doctrine, and
pressed them to examine some abuses in the government of
the church, which had, at least, given occasion to that great
alienation of so many from the see of Rome and the clergy.
There were also divers wise and learned prelates, chiefly
of Spain, who came thither full of hopes of getting these
abuses redressed. Some of them had observed, that, in all
times, heresies and schisms did owe their chief growth to the
scandals, the ignorance, and negligence of the clergy,
which made the laity conceive an ill opinion of thera, and
so disposed them both in inclination and interest to cherish
such as opposed them ; and therefore they designed to have
many great corruptions cast out: and observing that
bishops' non-residence was a chief occasion of all those
evils, they endeavoured to have residence declared to be of
Divine right ; intending thereby to lessen the power of the
papacy, which was grown to that height, that they were
slaves to that see, taxed by it at pleasure, and the care of
their dioceses extorted out of their hands by the several
ranks of exempted priests ; and also to raise the episcopal
authority to what it was anciently, and to cut off all those
encroachments which the see of Rome had made on them,
at first by craft, and which they still maintained by their
power. But the court of Rome was to lose much by all re-
formations, and some cardinals openly declared, that every
reformation gave the heretics great advantages, and was a
confession that the church had erred, and that these very
things so much complained of were the chief nerves of the
popedom, which, being cut, the greatness of their court
must needs fall : and therefore they did oppose all these
motions, and were still for proceeding in establishing the
doctrine. And though the opposing a decree to oblige all to
residence was so grossly scandalous that they were ashamed
of it, yet they intended to secure the greatness of the court
by a salvo for the pope's privilege and dignity in granting
dispensations. These proceedings at Trent discovered what
was to be expected from that council, and alarmed all the
protestants to think what they were to look for, if the em-
peror should force them to submit to the decrees of such an
assembly ; where those, whom they called heretics, could
expect little, since the emperor himself could not prevail so
far as to obtain or hinder delays, or to give preference for
matters of discipline to points of doctrine. So the pro-
testants met at Frankfort, Jan. 1546, and entered into coun-
28 HISTORY OF
cils for their common safety, in case any of them should be
disturbed about religion ; chiefly for preserving the elector
of Colen, whom the pope had cited to Home for heresy.
They wrote to the emperor's ministers, that they heard from
all hands that the emperor was raising great forces, and de-
signing a war against them ; who thought themselves
secured by the edict of Spire, and desired nothing but the
confirmatioh of that, and the regulation of the imperial
chamber, as was then agreed on. A meeting being proposed
between the emperor and the landgrave, the landgrave went
to him to Spire, where the emperor denied he had any
design of a war, with which the other charged him : only he
said he had, with great difficulty, obtained a council in Ger-
many, and therefore he hoped they would submit to it.
But after some expostulations on both hands, the landgrave
left him ; and now the thing was generally understood,
though the emperor did still deny it, and said he would
make no war about religion, but only against the disturbers
of the peace of the empire. By this means he got the
elector palatine to give little or no aid to the other princes.
The marquis of Brandenburg was become jealous of the
greatness of Saxe, and so was at first neuter ; but after-
wards openly declared for the emperor : but Maurice, the
duke of Saxe's near kinsman, who, by that duke's means,
was settled in a fair principality, which his uncle George
had left him, only on condition that he turned papist,
notwithstanding which he got him to be possessed of it, was
inade use of by the emperor as the best instrument to work
his ends. To him, therefore, he promised the electoral
dignity, with the dominions belonging to the duke of Saxe,
if he would assist him in the war against his kinsman, the
present elector ; and gave him assurance, under his hand
and seal, that he would make no change in religion, but
leave the princes of the Augsburg Confession the free exer-
cise of their religion. And thus the emperor singled out the
duke of Saxe and the landgrave from the rest, reckoning
wisely, that if he once mastered them, he should more easily
overcome all the rest. He pretended some other quarrels
against them, as that of the duke of Brunswick, who,
having begun a war with his neighbours, was taken prisoner,
and his dominions possessed by the landgrave. That, with
some old quarrels, was pretended the ground of the war :
upon which the princes published a writing, to show that it
was religion only, and a secret design to subdue Germany,
that was the true cause of the war ; and those alleged were
sought pretences to excuse so infamous a breach of the faith,
and of the public decrees : that the pope, who designed the
THE REFORMATION. 29
destruction of all of that confession, had set on the emperor
to this, who easily laid hold on it, that he might master the
liberty of Germany : therefore ihey warned all the princes
of their danger. I'he emperor's forces being to be drawn to-
gether out of several places in Italy, Flanders, Burgundy,
and Bohemia, they whose forces lay nearer had a great
advantage, if they had known how to use it : for in June
(1546) they brought into the field seventy thousand foot
and fifteen thousand horse, and might have driven the
emperor out of Germany had they proceeded vigorously at
first. But the divided command was fatal to them ; for
when one was foi action, the other was against it. So they
lost their opportunity, and gave the emperor time to gather
all his forces about him, which were far inferior to theirs in
strength : but the emperor gained by time, whereas they,
who had no great treasure, lost much. All the summer, and
a great deal of the winter, was spent without any consider-
able action, though the two armies were often in view one
of another. But in the beginning of the winter (July 20,
1546), the emperor having proscribed the duke of Saxe, and
promised to bestow the principality on Maurice, he fell into
Saxony, and carried a great many of the cities, which were
not prepared for any such impression. This made the
duke separate his army, and return to the defence of his
own country (Nov. 23), which he quickly recovered, and
drove Maurice almost out of all his own principality. The
states of Bohemia also declared for the elector of Saxony
(Jan. 7, 1546).
This was the state of affairs there. The princes thought
they had a good prospect for the next year, having medi-
ated a peace between the crowns of England and France,
whose forces falling into Flanders, must needs have bred a
great distraction in the emperor's councils. But King
Henry's death gave them great apprehensions, and not with-
out cause : for when they sent hither for an aid in money to
carry on the war, the protector and council saw great dan-
gers on both hands : if they left the Germans to perish, the
emperor would be then so lifted up, that they might expect
to have an uneasy neighbour of him ; on the other hand,
it was a thing of great consequence to engage an infant king
in suclj a war. Therefore their succours from hence were
like to be weak and very slow. Howsoever, the council or-
dered Paget to assure them, that within three or four months
they should send fifty thousand crowns to their assistance ;
which was to be covered thus : — the merchants of the Still-
yard were to borrow so much of the king, and to engage to
bring home stores to that value ; they, having the money
D3
30 HISTORY OF
should send it to Hamburgh, and so to the duke of Saxe. But
the princes received a second blow in the loss of Francis I
of France ; who, having lived long in a familiarity and
friendship with King Henry, not ordinary for crowned heads,
was so much affected with the news of his death, that he was
never seen cheerful after it. He made royal funeral rites to
be performed to his memory in the church of Notre Dame ;
to which the clergy (who, one would have thought, should
have been glad to have seen his funeral celebrated in any
fashion) were very averse. But that king had emancipated
himself to a good degree from a servile subjection to them,
and would be obeyed. Pie outlived the other not long, for
he died the last of March (1547). He was the chief patron
of learned men, and advancer of learning, that had been
for many ages. He was generally unsuccessful in his wars,
and yet a great commander. At his death he left his son an
advice to beware of the brethren of Lorraine, and to depend
much on the counsellors whom he had employed. But his son,
upon his coming to the crown, did so deliver himself up to
the charms of his mistress, Diana, that all things were or-
dered as men made their court to her ; which the ministers
that had served the former king scorning to do, and the bro-
thers of the house of Lorraine doing very submissively, the
one were discharged of their employments, and the other
governed all the councils. Francis had been often fluctuat-
ing in the business of religion. Sometimes he had resolved
to shake off the pope's obedience, and set up a patriarch in
France ; and had agreed with Henry VIII to go on in the
same councils with him. But he was first diverted by his
alliance with Clement VII ; and afterwards by the ascend-
ant which the cardinal of Toumon had over him, who en-
gaged him at several times into severities against those that
received the Reformation : yet he had such a close eye up-
on the emperor's motions, that he kept a constant good
understanding with the protestant princes, and had no doubt
assisted them if he had lived. But upon his death new
counsels were taken ; the brothers of Lorraine were furiously
addicted to the interests of the papacy, one of them being a
cardinal, who persuaded the king rather to begin his reign
with the recovery of Bulloigne out of the hands of the
English ; so that the state of Germany was almost desperate
before he was aware of it. And, indeed, the Germans lost
so much in the death of these two kings, upon whose assist-
ance they had depended, that it was no wonder they were
easily overrun by the emperor. Some of their allies, the
cities of Dim and Frankfort, and the duke of Wirtemberg,
submitting themselves to the emperor's mercy, the rest were
THE REFORMATION. 31
much disheartened ; which is a constant forerunner of the
ruin of a confederacy. Such was the state of religion
abroad.
At home men's minds were much distracted. The people,
especially in market towns and places of trade, began ge-
nerally to see into many of the corruptions of the doc-
trine and worship, and were weary of them. Some preached
against some abuses : Glasier, at Paul's-cross, taught that
the observance of Lent was only a positive law ; others
went further, and plainly condemned most of the former
abuses : but the clergy were as ranch engaged to defend
them. They were for the most part such as had been bred
in monasteries and religious houses. For, there being
pensions reserved for the monks, when their houses were
surrendered and dissolved, till they should be otherwise pro-
vided, the court of augmentations took care to ease the
king of that charge, by recommending them to such small
benefices as were at the king's disposal ; and such as pur-
chased those lands of the crown, with that charge, of pay-
ing the pensions to the monks, were also careful to ease
themselves by procuring benefices for them. The benefices
were generally very small, so that in many places three or
four benefices could hardly aflford enough for the mainten-
ance of one man : and this gave some colour for that abuse
of one man's having many benefices that have a care of
souls annexed to them ; and that not only where they are so
contiguous, that the duty can be discharged by one, and so
poor that the maintenance of both will scarce serve for the
encouragement of one person, but even where they are vei^y
remote, and of considerable value. This corruption, that
crept in, in the dark ages of the church, was now practised
in England out of necessity. By an act made in King
Henry the Eighth's time, none might hold two benefices with-
out a dispensation ; but no dispensation could enable one to
hold three : yet that was not at this time much considered.
The excuses made for this were, that, in some places, they
could not find good men for the benefices ; but in most places
the livings were brought to nothing : for while the abbeys
stood, the abbots allowed those whom they appointed to
serve the cure in the churches that belonged to them (which
were in value above the half of England) a small stipend,
or some little part of the vicarage tithes ; and they were
to raise their subsistence out of the fees they had by the sa-
craments, and other sacramentals ; and chiefly by the sing-
ing masses for the poor that died ; for the abbeys had the
profit of it from the rich : and masses went generally for two-
pence, a groat was thought a great bounty : so they all con-
32 HISTORY OF
eluded themselves undone, if these things were withdrawn.
This engaged them against any reformation, since every step
that was made in it took their bread out of their mouths ; but
they, being generally very ignorant, could oppose nothing
with the force of reason or learning. So, although they were
resolved to comply with any thing rather than forfeit their
benefices, yet in their hearts they abhorred all reformation,
and murmured against it where they thought they might do
it safely : some preached as much for the old abuses as
others did against them. Dr. Peru, at St. Andrew's Under-
shaft, justified the worsjiip of images on the 23d of April :
yet on the 19th of June he preached a recantation of that
sermon. Besides these, there were great prelates, as Gardi-
ner, Bonne/, and Tonstall, whose long experience in affairs,
they being often employed in foreign embassies, together
with their high preferment, gave them great authority ; and
they were Jigainst all alterations in religion. But that was
not so decent to profess ; therefore they set upon this pre-
tence, that, till the king, their supreme head, were of age, so
as to consider things himself, all should continue in the state
in which King Henry had left them : and these depended on
the Lady Mary, the king's eldest sister, as their head, who
now professed herself to be in all points for what her father
had done ; and was very earnest to have every thing enacted
by him, but chiefly the six articles, to continue in force.
On the other hand, Cranmer, being now delivered from
that too awful subjection that he had been held under by
King Henry, resolved to go on more vigorously in purging
out abuses. He had the protector firmly united to him in
this design. Dr. Cox and Mr. Cheek, who were about the
young king, were also very careful to infuse right principle*
of religion into him ; and as he was very capable of under-
standing what was laid before him, so he had an early liking
to all good and generous principles, and was of so excellent
a temper of mind, that as he naturally loved truth, so the
great probity of his manners made him very inclinable to
love and cherish true religion. Cranmer had also several
bishops of his side ; Holgate, of York ; Holbeck, of Lincoln ;
Goodrick, of Ely; and, above all, Ridley*, elect of Ro-
chester, designed for that see by King Henry, but not con-
secrated till September this year. Old Latimer was now
* In the commission granted for the examination, whether the mar-
quis of Northampton could lawfully marry after the divorcement of his
wife, Anne, for adultery, bearing date three months after the death of
Kintv Henry, even May 7, 1 Edward VI, Holbecli was bishop of Ro-
chester, and not at Uiat time translated to Lincoln,
THE REFORMATION. 33
discharged of his imprisonment, but had no mmd to relurn
to a more public station, and did choosffe rather to live
private, and employ himself in preaching. He was kept by
Cranmer at Lambeth, where he spent the rest of his days,
till he was imprisoned in Queen Mary's time, and attained
the glorious end of his innocent and pious life. But the ap-
prehensions of his being restored again to his old bishopric,
put Heath, then bishop of Worcester, into great anxieties;
sometimes he thought, if he consented to the Reformation,
then Latimer, who left his bishopric on the account of the six
articles, must be restored, and this made him join with the
popish party : at other times, when he saw the house of
commons moved to have Latimer put in again, then he
joined in the councils for the Reformation, to secure friends
to himself by that compliance *. Others of the bishops were
ignerant and weak men, who understood religion little, and
valued it less ; and so, although they liked the old supersti-
tion best, because it encouraged ignorance most, and that
was the only sure support of their power and wealth, yet
they resolved to swim with the stream. It was designed by
Cranmer and his friends to carry on the Reformation but by
slow and safe degrees, not hazarding too much at once.
They trusted in the providence of God, that he would assist
them in so good a work. They knew the corruptions they
were to throw out to be such that they should easily satisfy
the people with what they did ; and they had many learned
men among them, who had now, for divers years, been
examining these matters. There were also many that de-
clared they had heard the late king express his great regret
for leaving the state of religion in so unsettled a condition ;
and that he had resolved to have changed the mass into a
communion, besides many other things. And in the act of
parliament which he had procured (see page 340, first Part),
for giving force and authority to his proclamations, a pro-
viso was added, that his son's counsellors, while he should
be under age, might set out proclamations of the same
authority with those which were made by the king himself.
This gave them a full power to proceed in that work ; in
which they resolved to follow the method begun by the late
king, of sending visitors over England, with injunctions and
articles. They ordered them six several circuits or precincts.
The first was London, Westminster, Norwich, and Ely :
the second, Rochester, Canterbury, Chichester, and Win-
chester: the third, Sarum. Exeter, liath, Bristol, and
Gloucester: the fourth, York, Durham, Carlisle, and
• Journal of the House of Coinmons.
34 HISTORY OF
Chester : the fifth, Peterborough, Lincoln, Oxford, Coventry,
and Litchfield : and the sixth, Wales, Worcester, and
Hereford. For every circuit there were two gentlemen, a
civilian, a divine, and a register*. They were designed to
be sent out in the beginning of May ; as appears by a letter
to be found in the Collection (No. vii), written the 4lh of
May, to the archbishop of York. (There is also in the re-
gisters of London another of the same strain.) Yet the vi-
sitation being put off' for some months, this inhibition was
suspended on the 16th of May, till it should be again re-
newed. The letter sets forth, that the king being speedily
to order a visitation over his whole kingdom, therefore
neither the archbishop nor any other should exercise any
jurisdiction while that visitation lasted. And since the
minds of the people were held in great suspense by the con-
troversies they heard so variously tossed in the pulpits, that,
for quieting these, the king did require all bishops to preach
nowhere but in their cathedrals; and that all other clergy-
men should not preach but in their collegiate or parochial
churches, unless they obtained a special licence from the
king to that effect. The design of this was to make a dis-
tinction between such as preached for the reformation of
abuses, and such as did it not. The one were to be
encouraged by licences to preach wherever they desired to
do it ; but the others were restrained to the places where
they were incumbents. But that which, of all other things,
did most damp those who designed the Reformation, was
the misery to which they saw the clergy reduced, and the
great want of able men to propagate it over England : for
the rents of the church were either so swallowed up by the
suppression of religious houses, to whom the tithes were ge-
nerally appropriated, or so basely alienated by some lewd
or superstitious incumbents, who, to preserve themselves,
being otherwise obnoxious, or to purchase friends, had given
away the best part of their revenues and benefices ; that
there was very little encouragement left for those that
should labour in the work of the Gospel. And though many
projects were thought on for remedying this great abuse,
yet those were all so powerfully opposed, that there was no
hope left of getting it remedied, till the king should come to
be of age, and be able, by his authority, to procure the
churchmen a more proportioned maintenance.
• This rule was not observed ; in some circuits there were four visi-
tors; in others six; in some no civilians; in some two divines; in
some one gentleman; and in some three. — See Cranmer's Men.
p. 146,
THE REFORMATION. 36
Two things only remained to be done at present. The
one was, to draw up some homilies for the instruction of the
people, which might supply the defects of their incumbents,
together with the providing them with such books as might
lead them into the understanding of the Scripture. The
other was to select the most eminent preachers they could
find, and send them over England with the visitors, who
should, with more authority, instruct the nation in the
principles of religion. Therefore some were appointed to
compile those homilies: and twelve were at first agreed on,
being about those arguments which were in themselves of
the greatest importance. The first * was about the use of the
Scriptures. The second, of the misery of mankind by sin.
Third, of their salvation by Christ. Fourth, of true and
lively faith. Fifth, of good works. Sixth, of Christian love
and charity. Seventh, against swearing, and chiefly per-
jury. Eighth, against apostacy, or declining from God.
Ninth, against the fear of death. Tenth, an exhortation to
obedience. Eleventh, against whoredom and adultery,
setting forth the state of marriage, how necessary and
honourable it was. And the twelfth, against contention,
chiefly about matters of religion. They intended to set out
more afterwards ; but these were all that were at this time
finished. The chief design in them was to acquaint the
people with the method of salvation, according to the Gos-
pel ; in which there were two dangerous extremes, at that
time, that had divided the world. The greatest part of the
ignorant commons seemed to consider their priests as a sort
of people, who had such a secret trick of saving their souls,
as mountebanks pretend in the curing of diseases ; and that
there was nothing to be done but to leave themselves in their
hands, and the business could not miscarry. This was the
chief basis and support of all that superstition which was so
prevalent over the nation. The other extreme was of some
corrupt gospellers, who thought, if they magnified Christ
much, and depended on his merits and intercession, they
could not perish, which way soever they led their lives. In
these homilies, therefore, special care was taken to rectify
these errors. And the salvation of mankind was, on the
one hand, wholly ascribed to the death and sufferings of
Christ, to which sinners were taught to fly, and to trust to it
only, and to no other devices, for the pardon of sin. They
were, at the same time, taught that there was no salvation
through Christ, but to such as truly repented, and lived ac-
* These titles are not as they are in the original book ; they are only
abridged.
36 HISTORY OF
cording to the rules of the Gospel. The whole matter was
so ordered, to teach them, that, avoiding the hurtful errors
on both hands, they might all know the true and certain way
of attaining eternal happiness. For the understanding the
New Testament, Erasmus's Paraphrase, which was trans-
lated into English, was thought the most profitable and
easiest book. Therefore, it was resolved, that, together with
the Bible, there should be one of these in every parish church
over England. They next considered the articles and in-
junctions that should be given to the visitors. I'he greatest
part of them were only the renewing what had been ordered
by King Henry, during Cromwell's being vicegerent, which
had been much neglected since his fall : for as there was no
vicegerent, so there were few visitations appointed after his
death by the king's authority ; but the executing former in-
junctions was left to the several bishops, who were, for the
most part, more careful about the six articles than about
the injunctions.
" *So now, all the orders about renouncing the pope's
power, and asserting the king's supremacy, about preach-
ing, teaching the elements of religion in the vulgar tongue,
about the benefices of the clergy, and the taxes on them for
the poor, for scholars, and their mansion-houses, with the
other injunctions for the strictness of churchmen's lives, and
against superstitions, pilgrimages, images, or other rites of
that kind, and for register books, weie renewed. And to
these, many others were added : as that curates should take
down such images as they knew were abused by pilgrimages
or offerings to them ; but that private persons should not do
it: that, in the confessions in Lent, they should examine all
people, whether they could recite the elements of religion in
the English tongue : that at high mass they should read the
epistle and gospel in English ; and every Sunday and holy-
day they should read at matins one chapter out of the New
Testament, and at even-song another out of the Old, in
English : that the curates should often visit the sick, and
have many places of the Scripture in English in readiness
wherewith to comfort them : that there should be no more
processions about churches, for avoiding contention for pre-
cedence in them : and that the Litany, formerly said in the
processions, should be said thereafter in the choir in
English, as had been ordered by the late king : that the
holy-day being instituted at first that men should give them-
selves wholly to God, yet God was generally more dis-
honoured upon it than on the other days, by idleness,
* Tho injunctions are abstracted only, not the articles.
THE REFORMATION. 37
drunkenness, and quarrelling, the people thinking that they
sufficiently honoured God by hearing mass and matins,
though they understood nothing of it to their edifying :
therefore, thereafter the holy-day should be spent according
to God's holy will, in hearing and reading his holy word, in
public and private prayers, in amending their lives, receiv-
ing the communion, visiting the sick, and reconciling them-
selves to their neighbours ; yet the curates were to declare
to their people, that in harvest- time they might, upon the
holy and festival days, labour in their harvest : that curates
were to admit none to the communion who were not recon-
ciled to their neighbours : '^that ail dignified clergymen
should preach personally twice a year: that the people
should be taught not to despise any of the ceremonies not
yet abrogated, but to beware of the superstition of sprinkling
their beds with holy-water, or the ringing of bells, or using
of blessed candles for driving away devils: that all monu-
ments of idolatry should be removed out of the walls or
windows of churches, and that there should be a pulpit in
every church for preaching : that there should be a chest
with a hole in it for the receiving the oblations of the people
for the poor, and that the people should be exhorted to
alms-giving, as much more profitable than what they for-
merly bestowed on superstitious pilgrimages, trentals, and
decking of images : that all patrons, who disposed of their
livings by simoniacal pactions, should forfeit their right for
that vacancy to the king: that the homilies should be read:
that priests should be used charitably and reverently for
their office sake : that no other primer should be used but
that set out by King Henry : that the prime and the hours
should be omitted where there was a sermon or homily :
th^t they should, in bidding the prayers, remember the king
their supreme head, the queen dowager, the king's two sis-
ters, the lord protector, and the council, the lords, the
clergy, and the commons of the realm : and to pray for souls
departed this life, that, at the last day, we with them may
rest both body and soul. All which injunctions weie to be
observed, under the pains of excommunication, sequestra-
tion, or deprivation, as the ordinaries should answer it to
the king, the justices of peace being required to assist
them."
Besides these, there were otl^er injunctions given to the
bishops, " that they should see the former put in execution,
and should preach four times a year in their dioceses ; once
at their cathedral, and three times in other churches, unless
they had a reasonable excuse for their omission. That
their chaplains should be able to preach God's word, and
Vol. II, Part I. E
38 HISTORY OF
should be made labour oft in it: that they should give
orders to none but such as would do the same ; and if any
did otherwise, that they should punish him, and recal their
licence." These are the chief heads of the injunctions,
which being so often printed, I shall refer the reader, that
would consider them more carefully, to the collection of
these and other such curious things made by the right reve-
rend father in God, Anthony Sparrow*, now lord bishop of
Norwich.
These being published, gave occasion to those who
censured all things of that nature to examine them.
The removing images that had been abused, gave great
occasion of quarrel ; and the thing being to be done by the
clergy only, it was not like that they, who lived chiefly by
such things, would be very zealous in the removing them.
Yet, on the other hand, it was thought necessary to set
some restraints to the heats of the people, who were
otherwise apt to run too far, where bounds were not set
to them.
The article about the strict observance of the holy-day
seemed a little doubtful, whether by the holy-day was to be
understood only the Lqrd's-day, or that and all other church
festivals. The naming it singularly the holy-day, and in the
end of that article adding festival days to the holy- day,
seemed to favour their opinion that thought this strict ob-
servance of the holy-day was particularly intended for the
Lord's-day, and not for the other festivals. And, indeed,
the setting aside of large portions of time on that day for
our spiritual edification, and for the service of God, both in
public and private, is so necessary for the advancement of
true piety, that great and good effects must needs follow on
it. But some came afterwards, who, not content to press
great strictness on that day, would needs make a con-
troversy about the morality of it, and about the fourth com-
mandment, and framed many rules.for it, which were stricter
than themselves or any other could keep, and so could only
load men's consciences with many scruples. This drew an
opposition from others, who could not agree to these severities,
and these contests were, by the subtlety of the enemies of the
power and progress of religion, so improved, that instead of
all men's observing that time devoutly as they ought, some
took occasion, from the strictness of their own way, to cen-
sure all as irreligious, who did not in every thing agree to
their notion concerning it : others, by the heat of contradic-
* These articles are not in Bishop Sparrow's collection, but were
printed anno 1547.
THE REFORMATION. 39
tion, did too much slacken this great bond and instrument of
religion ; which is since brought under so much neglect,
that it is for the most part a day only of rest from men's bodily
labours, but perhaps worse employed than if they were at
work : so hard a thing it is to keep the due mean, between
the extremes of superstition on the one hand, and of irreli-
gion on the other.
The corruption of lay patrons, in their simoniacal bar-
gains, was then so notorious, that it was necessary to give a
check to it, as we find there was by these injunctions. But
whether either this, or the oath afterwards appointed to be
taken, has effectually delivered this church of that great
abuse, I shall not determine. If those who bestow benefices
did consider, that, the charge of souls being annexed to them,
they shall answer to God severely for putting so sacred a
trust in mean or ill hands, upon any base or servile accounts,
it would make them look a little more carefully to a thing
of so high consequence ; and neither expose so holy a thing
to sale, nor gratify a friend or servant by granting them the
next advowson, or be too easily overcome with the solicita-
tions of impudent pretenders.
The form of bidding prayer was notbegun by King Henry,
as some have weakly imagined ; but was used in the times
of popery, as will appear by the form of bidding the beads in
King Henry the Seventh's time, which will be found in the
Collection (No. viii) , where the way was, first for the
preacher to name and open his text, and then to call on the
people to go to their prayers, and to tell them what they
were to pray for ; after which, all the people said their beads
in a general silence, and the minister kneeled down like-
wise, and said his. All the change King Henry the Eighth
made in this was, that the pope and cardinals' names being
left out, he was ordered to be mentioned with the addition
of his title of supreme head, that the people hearing that oft
repeated by their priests, might be better persuaded about
it, but his other titles were not mentioned. And this order
was now renewed. Only the prayer for departed souls was
changed from what it had been. It was formerly in these
words: "Ye shall pray for the souls that be departed,
abiding the mercy of Almighty God, that it may please him,
the rather at the contemplation of our prayers, to grant them
the fruition of his presence ;" which did imply their being
in a state where they did not enjoy the presence of God ;
which was avoided by the more general words now pre-
scribed.
The injunctions given the bishops directed them to that,
which, if followed carefully, would be the most effectual
40 HISTORY OF
means of reforming, at least the next age, if not that
wherein they lived. For if holy orders were given to none,
but to those who are well qualified, and seem to be inter-
nally called by a Divine vocation, the church must soon
put on a new face : whereas, when orders are too easily
given, upon the credit of emendicated recommendations or
titles, and after a slight trial of the knowledge of such can-
didates, without any exact scrutiny into their sense of
things, or into the disposition of their minds ; no wonder if,
by the means of clergymen so ordained, the church lose
much in the esteem and love of the people, who, being pos-
sessed with prejudices against the whole society for the
faults which they see in particular persons, become an easy
prey to such as divide from it.
Thus were the visitors instructed, and sent out to make
their circuits,, in August, about the time that the protector
made his expedition into Scotland. For the occasion of it I
shall refer the reader to what is already said in the former
part of this work. Before they engaged deeper in the war.
Sir Francis Brian was sent over to France, to congratulate
the new king, and to see if he would confirm those proposi-
tions that were agreed to during his father's life, and if he
would pay the pension that was to be given yearly till
BuUoigne was restored ; and chiefly to obtain of him to be
neutral in the war of Scotland ; complaining of that nation,
that had broken their faith w ith Engl and in the matter of the
marriage *. To all which the French king answered, that
for these articles they mentioned, he thought it dishonourable
for him to confirm them , and said his father's agent,
Poligny, had no warrant to yield to them ; for by them the
Epglish were at liberty to fortify what they had about
Bulloigne, which he would never consent to ; that he was
willing to pay what was agreed to by his father, but would
have first the conditions of the delivery of Bulloigne made
more clear ; as for the Scots, they were his perpetual allies,
whom he could not forsake if they were in any distress.
And when it was pressed on him, and his ambassador at
London, that Scotland was subject to the crown of England,
they had no regard to it. When the council desired the
French ambassador to look on the records which they should
bring him for proving their title, he excused himself, and
said, his master would not interpose in a question of that
nature, nor would he look back to what was pretended to
have been done two or three hundred years ago, but was to
take things as he found them ; and that the Scots had re-
• Thuanus.
THE REFORMATION. 41
cords likewise to prove their being a free kingdom. So the
council saw they could not engage in the war with Scotland,
without drawing on a war with France ; which made them
try their interest with their friends, this year, to see if the
marriage could be obtained. But the castle of St. Andrew's
was now lost, by the assistance that Leo Strozi brought from
France. And though they in England continued to send
pensions to their party (for in JMay 1300/. was sent down
by Henry Balnaves, and in June 125/. was sent to the earl
of Glencairn for a half year's payment of his pension), yet
they could gain no ground there ; for the Scots now thought
themselves safer than formerly ; the crown of England being
in the hands of a child, and the court of France being much
governed by their queen dowager's brothers. They gave
way to the borderers to make inroads ; of whom about two
thousand fell into the western marches, and made great de-
predations. The Scots in Ireland were also very ill neigh-
bours to the English there. There were many other com-
plaints of piracies at sea, and of a ship royal that robbed
many English ships ; but how these came to be* complained
of, I do not see, for they were in open war, and I do not find
any truce had been made. The French agent at London
pressed much that there might be a treaty on the borders
before the breach were made wider. But now the protector
had given orders for raising an army, so that he had no
mind to lose that summer ; yet to let the French k'ng see
how careful they were of preserving his friendship, they ap-
pointed the bishop of Duresme and Sir Robert Bowes, to
give the Scotch commissioners a meeting on the borders the
4th of August ; but with these secret instructions, that if
the Scots would confirm the marriage, all other things should
be presently forgiven, and peace be immediately made up ;
but if they were not empowered in that particular, and
offered only to treat about restitutions, that then they should
immediately break off the treaty. The bishop of Duresme
was also ordered to carry down with him the exemplifica-
tions of many records, to prove the subjection of the crown
of Scotland to England ; some of these are said to have been
under the hands and seals of their kings, their nobles, their
bishops, abbots, and towns. He was also ordered to search
for all the records that were lying at Duresme, where many
of them were kept, to be ready to be showed to the Scots
upon any occasion that might require it. The meeting on
the borders came to a quick issue, for the Scottish commis-
sioners had no power to treat about the marriage. But
Tonstall, searching the registers of his see, found many
writings of great consequence to clear that subjection, of
£3
42 HISTORY OF
which the reader will see an account, in a letter he writ to
the council, in the Collection of papers (No. ix). The most
remarkable of these was, the homage King William of Scot-
land made to "Henry the Second, by which he granted, that
all the nobles of his realm should be his subjects, and do
homage to him : and lliat all the bishops of Scotland should
be under the archbishops of York ; and that the king of Eng-
land should give all the abbeys and honours in Scotland, at
the least they should not be given without his consent, with
many other things of the like nature. It was said, that the
monks in those days, who generally kept the records, were
so accustomed to the forging of stories and writings, that
little credit was to be given to such records as lay in their
keeping. But having so faithfully acknowledged what was
alledged against the freedom of Scotland, 1 may be allowed
to set down a proof on the other side, for my native country,
copied from the original writing yet extant, under the hands
and seals of many of the nobility and gentry of that king-
dom. It is a letter to the pope ; and it was ordinary, that
of such public letters there were duplicates signed ; the one
of which was sent, and the other laid up among the records,
of which I have met with several instances : so that of this
letter the copy which was reserved, being now in noble
hands, was communicated to me, and is in the Collection
(No. x) : it was upon the pope's engaging with the king of
England to assist him to subdue Scotland that they writ to
him, and did assert most directly that their kingdom was at
all times free and independent. But now, these questions
being waved, the other difi'erence about the marriage was
brought to a sharper decision.
On the 21st of August the protector took out a commission
to be general, and to make war on Scotland, and did devolve
his power during his absence on the privy-council : and ap-
pointed his brother to be lord lieutenant for the south, and
the earl of Warwick (whom he carried with him) lord lieu-
tenant for the north ; and left a commission of array to the
marquis of Northampton for Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk;
to the earl of Arundel, for Sussex, Surry, Hampshire, and
"Wiltshire ; and to Sir Thomas Cheyney, for Kent : all this
was in case of any invasion from France. Having thus
settled affairs during his absence, he set out for Newcastle,
having ordered his troops to march thither before ; and
coming thither on the 27th of that month, he saw his army
mustered on the 28th, and marched forward to Scotland.
The Lord Clinton commanded the ships that sailed on as
the army marched; which was done, that provisions and
ammunition might be brought by them from Newcastle or
THE REFORIVIATION. 43
Berwick, if the enemy should at any time fall in behind
their army. He entered into Scotch ground the 2d of Sep-
tember, and advanced to the Paths the 5th ; where the
passage being narrow and untoward, they looked for an
enemy to have disputed it, but found none ; the Scots haying
only broken the ways, which in that dry seasori signified
not much, but to stop them some hours in their march.
When they had passed these, some little castles, Dunglas,
Thornton, and Innerwick, having but a few ill-provided
men in them, surrendered to them. On the 9th they came
to Falside, where there was a long fight m several parties,
in which there were one thousand three hundred of the
Scots slain.* And now they were in sight of th^ Scotch
army, which was for numbers of men one of the greatest
that they had ever brought together, consisting of thirty
thousand men ; of which ten thousand were commanded
by the governor, eight thousand by the earl of Angus, eight
thousand by the earl of Huntley, and four thousand by the
earl of Argyle, with a fair train of artillery, nine brass, and
twenty-one iron guns. On the other side, the English army
consisted of about fifteen thousand foot, and three thousand
horse, but all well appointed. The Scots were now heated
with the old national quarrel to England. It was given out,
that the protector was come with his army to carry away
their queen, and to enslave the kingdom. And for the en-
couraging of the army it was also said, that twelve galleys
and fifty ships were on the sea from France, and that they
looked for them every day.
The protector, finding an army brought together so soon,
and so much greater than he expected, began to be in some
apprehension, and therefore he writ to the Scots to this
effect ; that they should remember they were both Chris-
tians, and so should be tender of the eflPusion of so much
blood ; that this war was not made with any design, but for
a perpetual peace, by the marriage of their two princes,
which they had already agreed, and given their public faith
upon it ; and that the Scots were to be much more gainers
by it than the English : the island seemed made for one
empire ; it was pity it should be more distracted with such
wars, when there was so fair and just a way offered for
uniting it ; and it was much better for them to marry their
queen to a prince of the same language, and on the same
continent, than to a foreigner.; but if they would not agree
to that, he offered that their queen should be bred up among
Ihera, and not at all contracted, neither to the French, nor
to any other foreigner, till she came of age, that by the
consent of the estates she might choose a husband for her-
44 HISTORY OF
self: if they would agree to this, he would immediately
return with his army out of Scotland, and make satisfaction
for the damages the country had suffered by the invasion.
This proposition seems to justify what the Scotch writers
say, though none of the English mention it, that the pro-
tector, what for want of provisions, and what from the
apprehensions he had of so numerous an army of the Scots,
was in great straits, and intended to have returned back to
England, without hazarding an engagement; but the Scots
thought they were so much superior to the English, and that
they had them now at such a disadvantage, that they re-
solved to fall upon them next day. And that the fair offers
made by the protector might not raise division among them,
the governor, having communicated these to a few whom
he trusted, was by their advice persuaded to suppress them :
but he sent a trumpeter to the English army, with an offer
to suffer them to return without falling upon them ; which
the protector had reason to reject, knowing that so mean an
action, in the beginning of his administration, would have
quite ruined his reputation ; but to this, another that came
with the trumpeter added a message from the earl of Hunt-
ley, that the protector and he, with ten or twenty of a side,
or singly, should decide the quarrel by their personal valour.
The protector said, this was no private quarrel, and the
trust he was in obliged him not to expose himself in such a
way ; and therefore he was to fight no other way but at the
head of his army. But the earl of Warwick offered to accept
the challenge. The earl of Huntley sent no such challenge,
as he afterwards purged himself when he heard of it. For
as it was unreasonable for him to expect the protector should
have answered it, so it had been an affronting the governor
of Scotland to have taken it off of his hands, since he was
the only person that might have challenged the protector
on equal terms. The truth of the matter was, a gentleman,
that went along with the trumpeter, made him do it without
warrant, fancying the answer to it would have taken up
some time, in which he might have viewed the enemy's camp.
On the 10th of September the two armies drew out, and
fought in the field of Pinkey near Musselburgh. The Eng-
lish had the advantage of the ground. And in the begin-
ning of the action, a cannon ball from one of the English
ships killed the Lord Grames' eldest son, and twenty-five
men more, which put the earl of Argyle's highlanders into
such a fright, that they could not be held in order. But
after a charge given by the earl of Angus, in which the
English lost some few men, the Scots gave ground ; and the
English observing that, and breaking in furiously upon
THE REFORMATION. 46
them, the Scots threw down their arms and fled : the Eng-
lish pursued hard, and slew them without mercy. There
were reckoned to be killed about fourteen thousand, and
one thousand five hundred taken prisoners, among whom
was the earl of Huntley, and five hundred gentlemen ; and
all the artillery was taken. Tliis loss quite disheartened
the Scots, so that, they all retired to Strivling, and left the
whole country to the protector's mercy ; who, the next day,
went and took Leith ; and the soldiers in the ships burnt
some of the sea towns of Fife, and retook some English
ships that had been taken by the Scots, and burnt the rest.
They also put a garrison in the isle of St. Columba in the
Frith, of about two hundred soldiers, and left two ships to
w^ait on them. He also sent the earl of Warwick's brother.
Sir Ambrose Dudley, to take Broughty, a castle in the mouth
of Tay ; in which he put two hundred soldiers. He wasted
Edinburgh, and uncovered the abbey of Holyrood-house,
and carried away the lead and the bells belonging to it :
but he neither took the castle of Edinburgh, nor did he go
on to Strivling, where the queen with the stragglers of the
army lay. And it was thought, that, in the consternation
wherein the late defeat had put them, every place would
have yielded to him ; but he had some private reasons that
pressed his return, and made him let go the advantages that
were now in his hands, and so gave the Scots time to bring
succours out of France ; whereas he might easily have made
an end of the war now at once, if he had followed his suc-
cess vigorously. The earl of Warwick, who had a great
share in the honour of the victory, but knew that the errors
in conduct would much diminish the protector's glory, which
had been otherwise raised to an unmeasurable height, was
not displeased at it. So on the 18th of September the pro-
tector drew his army back into England ; and having re-
ceived a message from the queen and the governor of Scot-
land offering a treaty, he ordered them to send commissioners
to Berwick to treat with those he should appoint. As he
returned through the Merch and Teviotdale, all the chief
men in those counties came in to him, and took an oath to
King Edward, the form whereof will be found in the Col-
lection (No. xi), and delivered into his hands all the places
of strength in their counties. He left a garrison of two
hundred in Home Castle, under the command of Sir Edward
Dudley ; and fortified Roxburgh, where, for encouraging
the rest, he wrought two hours with his own hands, and put
three hundred soldiers and two hundred pioneers into it,
giving Sir Ralph Bulmer the command. At the same time
46 HISTORY OF
the earl of Lenox and the Lord Wharton made an inroad by
the west marches, but with little effect.
On the 29th of September the protector returned into
England full of honour, having in all that expedition lost
not above sixty men, as one that then writ the account of it
says • the Scotch writers say he lost between two and three
hundred. He had taken eighty pieces of cannon, and bridled
the two chief rivers of the kingdom by the garrisons he left
in them ; and had left many garrisons in the strong places
on the frontier. And now it may be easily imagined how
much this raised his reputation in England ; since men
commonly make auguries of the fortune of their rulers, from
the successes of the first designs they undertake. So now
they remembered what he had done formerly in Scotland ;
and how he had in France, with seven thousand men, raised
the French army of twenty thousand, that was set down
before Bulloigne, and had forced them to leave their ord-
nance, baggage, and tents, with the loss of one man only,
in the year 1544 ; and that next year he had fallen into
Picardy, and built Newhaven, with two other forts there :
so that they all expected great success under his govern-
ment. And, indeed, if the breach between his brother and
him, with some other errors, had not lost him the advantages
he now had, this prosperous action had laid the foundation
of great fortunes to him.
He left the earl of Warwick to treat with those that should
be sent from Scotland ; but none came, for that proposition
had been made only to gain time. The queen-mother there
was not ill pleased to see the interest of the governor so
much impaired by that misfortune, and persuaded the chief
men of that kingdom to cast themselves wholly into the
arms of France, and to offer their young queen to the Dau-
phin, and to think of no treaty with the English : so the
earl of Warwick returned to London, having no small share
in the honour of this expedition. He was son to that Dud-
ley, who was attainted and executed the first year of King
Henry the Eighth's reign: but whether it was that the king
afterwards repented of his severity to the father, or that he
was taken with the qualities of the son, he raised him by
many degrees to be admiral and Viscount Lisle. He had
defended Bulloigne, when it was in no good condition,
against the Dauphin, whose army was believed fifty thousand
strong ; and when the French had carried the basse-town,
he recovered it, and killed eight hundred of their men ; the
year after that, being in command at sea, he offered the French
fleet battle ; which they declining, he made a descent upon
THE REFORMATION. 47
Normandy with five thousand men, and having burnt and
spoiled a great deal, he returned to his ships with the loss
only of one man. And he showed he was as fit for a court
as a camp ; for being sent over to the French court upon
the peace, he appeared there with much splendour, and
came off with great honour. He was indeed a man of great
parts, had not insatiable ambition,with profound dissimula-
tion, stained his other noble qualities.
The protector at his return was advised presently to meet
the parliament (for which the writs had been sent out before
he went into Scotland), now that he was so covered with
glory, to get himself established in his authority, and to do
those other things which required a session. He found the
visitors had performed their visitation, and all had given
obedience. And those who expounded the secret provi-
dences of God with an eye to their own opinions, took great
notice of this ; that on the same day in which the visitors
removed, and destroyed most of the images in London, their
armies were so successful in Scotland, in Pinkey field *. It
is too common to all men to magnify such events much,
when they make for them ; but if they are against them,
they turn it off by this, that God's ways are past finding
out : so partially do men argue where they are once engaged.
Bonner and Gardiner had showed some dislike of the in-
junctions. Bonner received them with a protestation that
he would observe them, if they were not contrary to God's
law and the ordinances of the church. Upon which Sir
Anthony Cook, and the other visitors, complained to the
council ; so Bonner was sent for, where he offered a submis-
sion, but full of vain quiddities (so it is expressed in the
council book). But they not accepting of that, he made
such a full one as they desired, which is in the Collection
(No. xii) : yet, for giving terror to others, he was sent to lie
for some time in the prison called the Fleet. Gardiner see-
ing the Homilies, was also resolved to protest against them.
Sir John Godsave, who was one of the visitors, wrote to him
not to ruin himself, nor lose his bishopric by such an action :
to whom he wrote a letter, that has more of a Christian and
of a bishop in it, than any thing I ever saw of his. He ex-
presses, in handsome terms, a great contempt of the world,
and a resolution to suflfer any thing rather than depart from
his conscience : besides that (as he said), the things being
against law, he would not deliver up the liberties of his
country, but would petition ap;ainst them : this letter will be
found in the Collection (No. xiii) ; for I am resolved to sup-
* Acts and Monuments.
48 HISTORY OF
press nothing of consequence, on what side soever it maybe.
On the 25th of September it being informed to the council,
that Gardiner had written to some of that board, and had
spoken to others many things in prejudice and contempt of
the king's visitation, and that he intended to refuse to set
forth the homilies and injunctions, he was sent for to the
council ; where, being examined, he said, he thought they
were contrary to the word of God, and that his conscience
would not suffer him to observe them. He excepted to
one of the homilies, that it did exclude charity from justify-
ing men, as well as faith ; this he said was contrary to the
book set out in the late king's time, which was afterwards
confirmed in parliament in the year 1542 : he said further,
that he could never see one place of Scripture, nor any an-
cient doctor that favoured it : he also said, Erasmus's Para-
phrase was bad enough in Latin, but much worse in English,
for the translator had oft out of ignorance, and oft out of de-
sign, misrendered him palpably, and was one that neither
understood Latin nor English well. He offered to go to Ox-
ford to dispute about justification with any they should send
him to, or to enter in conference with any that would under-
take his instruction in town. But this did not satisfy the
council ; so they pressed him to declare what he intended to
do when the visitors should be with him: he said, he did
not know ; he should further study these points, for it would
be three weeks before they could be with him ; and he was
sure he would say no worse, than that he should obey them
as far as could consist with God's law and the king's. The
council urged him to promise that he would, without any
limitation, set foith the homilies and the injunctions ;
which he refusing to do, was sent to the Fleet. Some days
after that, Cranmer went to see the Dean of St. Paul's, hav-
ing the bishops of Lincoln and Rochester, with Dr. Cox and
some others with him. He sent for Gardiner thither, and
entered into discourse with him about that passage in the
homily, excludingcharity out of our justification ; and urged
those places of St. Paul, " that we are justified by faith
without the works of the law :" he said his design in that
passage was only to draw men from trusting in any thing
they did ; and to teach them to trust only to Christ. But
Gardiner had a very diflTerent notion of justification : for, as
he said, infants were justified by baptism, and penitents by
the sacrament of penance ; and that the conditi ns of the
justifying of those of age were charity as well as faith, as
the three estates make a law, all joined together ; for by this
simile he set it out in the report he writ of that discourse to
the lord protector, reckoning the king one of the three estates
THE REFORMATION. 49
(a way of speech very strange, especially in a bishop, and a
lawyer). For Erasmus it was said, that though there were
faults in the paraphrase, as no book besides the Scriptures is
without faults, yet it was the best for that use they could
find ; and they did choose rather to set out what so learned
a man had written, than to make a new one, which m-^ht
give occasion to more objections ; and he was the most in-
different writer they knew. Afterwards Cranmer, knowing
what was likely to work most on him, let fall some words
(as Gardiner writ to the protector) of bringing him into the
privy- council, if he would concur in what they were carry-
ing on : but that not having its ordinary effect on him, he
was carried back to the Fleet.
There were also many complaints brought by some clergy-
men, of such as had used them ill for their obeying the king's
injunctions, and for removing images. Many were upon
their submission sent away with a severe rebuke ; others, that
offended more heinously, were put in the Fleet for some
time, and afterwards, giving bond for their good behaviour,
were discharged. But upon the protector's return, the
bishop of Winchester writ him a long letter in his own vin-
dication. " He complained of the visitors proceeding in his
absence in so great a matter. He said the injunctions were
contrary to themselves, for they appointed the homilies to
be read, and Erasmus's paraphrase to be put in all churches :
so he selected many passages out of these, that were con-
trary to one another. He also gathered many things out of
Erasmus's Paraphrase that were contrary to the power of
princes, and several other censurable things in that work,
which Erasmus wrote when he was young, being of a far
different strain from what he writ when he grew older, and
better acquainted with the world. But he concluded his
letter with a discourse of the extent of the king and council's
power (Collect. No. xiv), which is all I transcribed of it,
being very long, and full of things of no great consequence.
He questions how far the king could command against com-
mon or statute laws ; of which himself had many occasions
to be well informed. Cardinal \\ olsey had obtained his
legantine power at the king's desire ; but notwithstanding
that, he was brought into a praimtnire ; and the lawyers,
upon that argument, cited many precedents of judges that
were fined when they transgressed the laws, though com-
manded by warrants from the king : and Earl Typteft, who
was chancellor, lost his head for acting upon the king's
warrant against law. In the late king's time, the judges
would not set fines on the breakers of the king's proclama-
tions, when they were contrary to law, till the act concern-
VoL. 11. Part I. F
50 HISTORY OF
ing them was passed, about which there were many hot words
whcQ it was debated. He mentions a discourse that passed
between him and the Lord Audley in the parliament, con-
cerning the king's supremacy. Audley bid him look at the
act of supremacy, and he would see the king's doings
were restrained to spiritual jurisdiction : and by another act
no spiritual law could take place against the common law,
or an act of parliament : otherwise the bishops would strike
in with the king, and, by means of the supremacy, would
order the law as they pleased : but we will provide, said he,
that the prosmunire shall never go off of your backs. In some
late cases he heard the judc^es declare what the king might do
against an act of parliament, and what danger they were in,
that meddled in such matters. These things being so fresh
in his memory, he thought he might write what he did to the
lords of the council." But by this it appears, that no sort
of men is so much for the king's prerogative, but, when it
becomes in any instance uneasy to them, they will shelter
themselves under the law. He continued afterwards, by
many letters to the protector, to complain of his ill usage :
*' That he had been then seven weeks in the Fleet vsathout
servants, a chaplain, or a physician : that, though he had his
writ of summons, he was not suffered to come to the parlia-
ment, which might be a ground afterwards of questioning
their proceedings. He advised the protector not to make
himself a party in these matters, and used all the insinua-
tions of decent flattery that he could invent, with many sharp
reflections on Cranmer, and stood much on the force of
laws, that they could not be repealed by the king's will.
Concerning which, he mentions a passage that fell out be-
tween Cromwell and himself before the late king. Crom-
well said, that the king might make or repeal laws as the
Roman emperors did, and asked his opinion about it, whe-
ther the king's will was not a law 1 To which he answered
facetiously, that he thought it was much better for the king
to make the law his will, than to make his will a law." But
notwithstanding all his letters (which are printed in the
second volume of Acts andMonum. edit. 1641), yet he con-
tinued a prisoner till the parliament was over, and then, by
the act of pardon, he was set at liberty. This was much cen-
sured as an invasion of liberty ; and it was said, those at
court durst not suffer him to come to the house, lest he had
confounded them in all they did : and the explaining justifi-
cation with so much nicety, in homilies that were to be read
to the people, was thought a needless subtlety. But the
former abuses, of trusting to the acts of charity that men
did, by which they fancied they bought heaven, made
THE REFORMATION. 61
Cranmer judge it necessary to express the matter so nicely ;
though the expounding those places of St. Paul was, as
many thought, rather according to the strain of the Ger-
mans, tlian to the meaning of those Epistles. And, upon
the whole matter, they knew Gardiner's haughty temper,
and that it was necessary to mortify him a little, though the
pretence on which they did it seemed too slight for such
severities. But it is ordinary, when a thng is once re-
solved on, to make use of the first occasion that offers for
effecting it. The party that opposed the Reformation, find-
ing these attempts so unsuccessful, engaged the Lady
Mary to appear for them : she, therefore, wrote to the pro-
tector, that she thought all changes in religion, till the king
came to be of age, were very much contrary to the respect
they owed the memory of her father, if they went about to
shake what he had settled ; and against their duty to their
young master, to hazard the peace of his kingdom, and en-
gage his authority in such points before he was capable of
judging them. 1 gather this to have been the substance of
her letter, from the answer which the protector wrote, which
is in the Collection (No. xv). In it he wrote, " That he be-
lieved her letter flowed not immediately from herself, but
from the instigation of some malicious persons. He protests
they had no other design, but the glory of God, and the
honour and safety of the king ; and that what they had
done was so well considered, that all good subjects ought
rather to rejoice at it, than find fault with it. And whereas
she had said, that her father had brought religion to a godly
order and quietness, to which both spirituality and tempo-
rality did, without compulsion, give their assent ; he remem-
bers her what opposition the stiff-necked papists gave him,
and what rebellions they raised against him, which he won-
ders how she came so soon to forget ; adding, that death had
prevented him before he had finished those godly orders
which he had designed ; and that no kind of religion was
perfected at his death, but all was left so uncertain, that it
must inevitably bring on great disorders, if God did not help
them ; and that himself and many others could witness
what regret their late master had, when he saw he must die
before he had finished what he intended. He wondered that
she, who had been well bred, and v;as learned, should
esteem true religion, and the knowledge of the Scriptures,
newfangledness or phantasy. He desired she would turn
the leaf, and look on the other side, and would, with an
humble spirit, and by the assistance of the grace of God,
consider the matter better."
Thus things went on till the parliament met, which was
52 HISTORY OF
summoned to meet the 4th of November. The day before it
met, the protector gave too public an instance how much
his prosperous success had lifted him up. For, by a patent
under the great seal*, he was warranted to sit in parliament
on the right hand of the throne, and was to have all the
honours and privileges that, at any time, any of the uncles
of the kings of England, whether by the father's or mother's
side, had enjoyed ; with a non obstante to the statute of pre-
cedence. The Lord Rich had been made lord chancellor on
the •24th of Octobert. On the 10th of November, a bill was
brought in for the repealing several statutes. It was read
the second time on the 12th, and the third time on the 16th
day. On the 19lh, some provisoes were added to it, and it
was sent down to the commons, who sent it up the 24th of
December, to which the royal assent was given. The com-
mons had formed a new bill for repealing these statutes,
which, upon some conferences, they were willing to let fall ;
only some provisoes were added to the old one ; upon which
the bishops of London, Duresme, Ely, Hereford, and Chi-
chester, dissented. The preamble of it sets forth, "That
nothing made a government happier, than when the prince
governed with much clemency, and the subjects obeyed out
of love. Yet the late king, and some of his progenitors,
being provoked by the unruliness of some of their people,
had made severe laws ; but they, judging it necessary now
to recommend the king's government to the affections of the
people, repealed all laws that made anything to be treason,
but what was in the act of 25 Edward the Third ; as also
two of the statutes about Lollardies, together with the act of
the six articles, and the other acts that followed in explana-
tion of that. All acts in Kin^ Henry the Eighth's time, declar-
ing any thing to be felony that was not so declared before,
were also repealed, together with the acts that made the
king's proclamations of equal authority with acts of parlia-
ment. It was also enacted, that all who denied the king's
supremacy, or asserted the pope's, in words, should, for the
first offence, forfeit their goods and chattels, and suffer impri-
sonment during pleasure ; for the second offence should in-
cur the pain of prcrmunire ; and for the third offence, be at-
tainted of treason. But, if any did in writing, printing, or
by any overt act or deed, endeavour to deprive the king of
his estate, or titles, particularly of his supremacy ; or to con-
fer them on any other, after the 1st of March next, he was
• Rot. Pat. 1. Reg. 7. Part.
■ t " Rich Miles Domiims Rich constitutus Cancellarius Angliffi
30 Nov. Pat. 1 Edw. VI, P. 3. M. 14." Vugdal, Orig. Jurid,
THE REFORMATION. 63
to be adjudged guflty of high treason : and if any of the heirs
of the crown should usurp upon another, or did endeavour to
break the succession of the crown, it was declared high trea-
son ia them, their aiders and abettors ; and all were to enjoy
the benefit of clergy, and the privilegesof sanctuary, as they
had it before King Henry the Eighth's reign, excepting only
such as were guilty of murder, poisoning, burglary, robbing
on the highway, the stealing of cattle, or stealing out of
churches or chapels. Poisoners were to suffer as other mur-
derers. None w ere to be accused of words, but within a
month after they were spoken. And those who called the
French king by the title of King of France, were not to be
esteemed guilty of the pains of translating the king's autho-
rity or titles on any other." This act was occasioned by a
speech that Archbishop Cranmer had in convocation*, in
which he exhorted the clergy to give themselves much to
the study of the Scripture, and to consider seriously what
things were in the church that needed reformation, that so
they might throw out all the popish trash that was not yet
cast out. Upon this, some intimated to him, that, as long as
the six articles stood in force, it was not safe for them to de-
liver their opinions. This he reported to the council,* upon
which they ordered this act of repeal. By it, the subjects
were delivered from many fears they were under, and had
good hopes of a mild government ; when, instead of procur-
ing new severe laws, the old ones were let fall. The council
did also free the nation of the jealousies they might have of
them by such an abridgment of their own power ; but others
judged it had been more for the interest of the government to
have kept up these laws still in force, but to have restrained
the execution of them. This repeal drew on another, which
was sent from the commons on the 20th of December, and
was agreed to by the lords on the 21st. It was of an act in
the twenty-eighth year of the last king, by which all laws
made while his son was under twenty-four years of age,
might be, by his letters-patents, after he attained that age,
annulled, as if they had never been: which they altered
thus — that the king, after that age, might, by his letters-
patents, void any act of parliament for the future ; but could
not so void it from the beginning as to annul all things done
upon it between the making and annulling of it, which were
still to be lawful deeds.
The next bill of a public nature was concerning the sacra-
ment, which was brought in, and read the first time, on the
* In Cor. Ch. Coll. Canib. among Parker's papers.
F3
54 HISTORY OF
12th of November ; the second time on ^he 15th, and was
twice read on the 17th. And on the 24lh a bill was brought
in for the communion to be received in both kinds ; on the
3d of December it was read the second time, and given to the
protector ; on the 5th read again, and given to two judges ;
on the 7th it was read again, and joined to the other bill
about the sacrament : and on the 10th the whole bill was
agreed to by all the peers, except the bishops of London,
Hereford, Norwich, Worcester, and Chichester, and sent
down to the commons. On the 17th, a proviso was sent
after it, but was rejected by the commons, since the lords
had not agreed to it. On the 20th it was sent up agreed to,
and had afterwards the royal assent. " By it, first, the value
of the holy sacrament, commonly called the sacrament of
the altar, and in the Scripture the supper and table of the
Lord, was set forth, together with its first institution ; but it
having been of late marvellously abused, some had been
thereby brought to a contempt of it, which they had ex-
pressed in sermons, discourses, and songs (in words not fit
to be repeated) ; therefore, whosoever should so oflfend after
the Jst of May next, was to suflfer fine and imprisonment at
the king's pleasure ; and the justices of the peace were to
take information, and make presentments of persons so of-
fending, within three months after the oflfences so committed,
allowing them witnesses for their own purgation. And it
being more agreeable to Christ's first institution, and the
practice of the church for five hundred years after Christ,
that the sacrament should be given in both the kinds of
bread and wine, rather than in one kind only ; therefore it
was enacted, that it should be commonly given in both kinds,
except necessity did otherwise require it. And it being also
more agreeable to the first institution and the primitive
practice, that the people should receive with the priest, than
that the priest should receive it alone ; therefore, the day
before every sacrament, an exhortation was to be made to
the people, to prepare themselves for it, in which the bene-
fits and danger of worthy and unworthy receiving were to be
expressed ; and the priests were not without a lawful cause
to deny it to any who humbly asked it."
This was an act of great consequence, since it reformed
two abuses that had ciept into the church. The one was,
the denying the cup to the laity ; the other was, the priest's
communicating alone. In the first institution it is plain,
that, as Christ bade all drink of the cup, and his disciples
all drank of it, so St. Paul directed every one to examine
himself, that he might " eat of that bread, and drink of that
THE REFORMATION. 55
cup." From thence the church, for many ages, continued
this practice ; and the superstition of some, who received only
in one kind, was severely censured ; and such were appointed
either to receive the whole sacrament, or to abstain wholly.
It continued thus till the belief of the corporal presence of
Christ was set up ; and then the keeping and carrying
about the cup in processions not being so easily done, some
began to lay it aside. For a great while the bread was given
dipped in the cup, to represent a bleeding Christ, as it is in
the Greek church to this day. In other places the laity had
the cup given them, but they were to suck it through pipes,
that nothing of it should fall to the ground. But since they
believed that Christ was in every crumb of bread, it was
thought needless to give the sacrament in both kinds ; so in
the council of Constance, the cup was ordered to be denied
the laity, though they acknowledged it to have been insti-
tuted and practised otherwise. To this the Bohemians
would never submit ; though to compel them to it much
blood was shed in this quarrel. And now in the Reforma-
tion, this was everywhere one of the first things with which
the people were possessed, the opposition of the Roman
church herein to the institution of Christ being so mani-
fest.
At first this sacrament was also understood to be a com-
munion of the body and blood of Christ, of which many
were to be partakers : while the fervour of devotion lasted,
it was thought a scandalous and censurable thing if any had
come unto the Christian assemblies, and had not stayed to
receive these holy mysteries ; and the denying to give any
one the sacrament was accounted a very great punishment ;
so sensible were the Christians of their ill condition when
they were hindered to participate of it. But afterwards,
the former devotion slackening, the good bishops in the
fourth and fifth centuries complained often of it, that so few
came to receive ; yet the custom being to make oblations be-
fore the sacrament, out of which the clergy had been main-
tained during the poverty of the church, the priests had
a great mind to keep up the constant use of these obla-
tions, and so persuaded the laity to continue them, and to
come to the sacrament, though they did not receive it : and,
in process of time, they were made to believe, that the
priest received in behalf of the whole people. And whereas
this sacrament was the commemoration of Christ's sacrifice
on the cross, and so, by a phrase of speech, was called a
sacrifice, they came afterwards to fancy, that the priest's
consecrating and consuming the sacrament was an action of
56 HISTORY OF
itself expiatory, and that both for the dead and the living-.
And there rose an infinite number of several sorts of masses ;
some were for commemorating the saints, and those were
called the masses of such saints; others for a particular
blessing, for rain, health, &c., and indeed for all the acci-
dents of human life, where the addition or variation of a col-
lect made the difference: so that all that trade of massing
was now removed. An intimation was also made of exhort-
ations to be read in it, which they intended next to set
about. These abuses in the mass gave great advantages to
those who intended to change it into a communion. But
many, instead of managing them prudently, made unseemly
jests about them, and were carried by a lightness of temper
to make songs aud plays of the mass ; for now the press
went quick, and many books were printed this year about
matters of religion ; the greatest number of them being con-
cerning the mass, which were not wiitten in so decent and
grave a style as the matter required. Against this act only
live bishops protested. Many of that order were absent
from the parliament, so the opposition made to it was not
considerable.
The next bill brought into the house of lords was concern-
ing the admission of bishops to their sees by the king's let-
ters-patents ; which, being read, was committed to the arch-
bishop of Canterbury's care on the 5th of November, and
was read the second time on the 10th, and committed to
some of the judges ; and was read the third time on the 28th
of November, and sent down to the commons on the 5th of
December. There was also another bill brought in, con-
cerning the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the bishops' courts,
on the 17th of November, and passed, and sent down on the
13th of December. But both these bills were put in one,
and sent up by the commons on the 20th of that month, and
assented to by the king. By this act it was set forth, " that
the way of choosing bishops, by congt d'tlire, was tedious
and expenseful ; that there was only a shadow of election in
it ; and that therefore bishops should thereafter be made by
the king's letters-patents, upon which they were to be con-
secrated : and whereas the bishops did exercise their autho-
rity, and carry on processes in their own names, as they were
wont to do in the time of popery ; and since all juris-
diction, both spiritual and temporal, was derived from
the king, that therefore their courts and all processes should
be from henceforth carried on in the king's name, and be
sealed by the king's seal, as it was in the other courts of
common law, after the 1st of July next ; excepting only the
THE REFORMATION. 67
archbishop of Canterbury's* courts, and all collations,
presentations, or letters of orders, which were to pass under
the bishops' proper seals as formerly." Upon this act great
advantages were taken to disparage the Reformation, as sub-
jecting the bishops wholly to the pleasure of the court.
At first, bishops were chosen and ordained by the
other bishops in the countries where they lived. The apos-
tles, by that spirit of discerning, which was one of the ex-
traordinary gifts they were endued with, did ordain the first
fruits of their labours ; and never left the election of pas-
tors to the discretion of the people : indeed, when they were
to ordain deacons, who were to be trusted with the distri-
bution of the public alms, they appointed such as the peo-
ple made choice of; but when St. Paul gave directions to
Timothy and Titus, about the choice of pastors, all that de-
pended on the people by them was, that they should be
"blameless and of good report:" but afterwards, the
poverty of the church being such, that churchmen lived
only by the free bounty of the people, it was necessary to
consider them much ; so that, in many places, the choice
began among the people ; and, in all places, it was done by
their approbation and good liking. But great disorders
followed upon this, as soon as, by the emperors turning
Christians, the wealth of church benefices made the pastoral
charge more desirable ; and the vast numbers of those who
turned Christians with the tide brought in great multitudes
to have their votes in these elections. The inconvenience
of this was felt early in Phrygia, where the council of
Laodicea made a canon against these popular elections :
yet, in other parts of Asia, and at Rome, there were great
and often contests about it. In some of these many men
were killed. In many places the inferior clergy chose their
bishops ; but in most places the bishops of the province
made the choice, yet so as to obtain the consent of the clergy
and people. The emperors, by their laws, made it neces-
sary that it should be confirmed by the metropolitans :
they reserved the elections of the great sees to themselves,
or at least the confirmation of them. Thus it continued
till Charles the Great's time , but then the nature of church
employments came to be much altered : for though the
church had predial lands, with the other rights that be-
longed to them, by the Roman law, yet he first gave bishops
and abbots great territories, with seme branches of royal
jurisdiction in them, who held these lands of him, according
• The archbishop might only use Wb own name and seal for faculties
aod dispensations, being, in all other cases, as much restrained as other
bishops.
58 HISTORY OF
to the feudal laws. This, as it carried churchmen off from
the humility and abstraction from the world, which became
their function, so it subjected them much to the humours and
interests of those princes on whom they had their depend-
ence. The popes, who had made themselves heads of the
hierarchy, could not but be glad to see churchmen grow rich
and powerful in the world ; but they were not so well
pleased to see them made so much the more dependent on
their princes ; and, no doubt, by some of those princes that
were thus become patrons of churches, the bishoprics were
either given for money, or charged with reserved pensions.
Upon this, the popes filled the world with the complaints of
simony, and of enslaving churchmen to court interests ; and
so would not suffer them to accept of investitures from their
princes, but set up for free elections, as they called them,
which, they said, were to be confirmed by the see apostolic.
So the canons, secular or regular, in cathedral churches,
were to choose the bishops, and their election was to be con-
firmed at Rome : yet princes, in most places, got some hold
of those elections, so that still they went as they had a mind
they should ; which was often complained of as a great
slavery on the church, and would have been more univer-
sally condemned, if the world had not been convinced that
the matter would not be much the better, if there should
have been set up either the popular or synodical elections, in
which faction was like to sway all. King Henry had conti-
nued the old way of the elections by the clergy, but so
as that it seemed to be little more than a mockery ; but now
it was thought a more ingenuous way of proceeding to have
the thing done directly by the king, rather than under the
thin covert of an involuntary election.
For the other branch, about ecclesiastical courts, the
causes before them, concerning wills and marriages, being
matters of a mixed nature, and which only belong to these
by the laws of the land, and being no parts of the sacred
functions, it was thought no invasion of the sacred offices to
have these tried in the king's name. J3ut the collation of
benefices, and giving of orders, which are the chief parts of
the episcopal function, were to be performed still by the
bishops in their own names. Only excommunication, by a
fatal neglect, continued to be the punishment for contempts
of these courts ; which, belonging only to the spiritual cog-
nizance, ought to have been reserved for the bishop, with
the assistance of his clergy : but the canonists had so con-
founded all the ancient rules about the government of the
church, that the reformers being called away by considera-
tions that were more obvious and pressing, there was not
that care taken in this that the thing required. And these
THE REFORMATION. 59
errors or oversights in the first concoction have, by a con-
tinuance, grown since into so formed a strength, that it
is easier to see what is amiss, than to know how to rec-
tify it.
. On the 29th of November the bill against vagabonds was
brought in : by this it was enacted, " That all that should
anywhere loiter without work, or without offering themselves
to work, three days together, or that should run avvay from
work, and resolve to live idly, should be seized on ; and
whosoever should present them to a justice of peace, was to
have them adjudged to be his slaves for two yeais; and
they were to be marked with the letter V, imprinted with a
hot iron on their breast." A great many provisoes follow
concerning clerks so convict, which show that this act was
chiefly levelled at the idle monks and friars, who went about
the country, and would betake themselves to no employ-
ment ; but finding the people apt to have compassion on
them, they continued in that course of life ; which was of
very ill consequence to the stale. For these vagrants did
everywhere alienate the people's minds from the govern-
ment, and persuaded them that things would never be well
settled, till they were again restored to their houses. Some
of these came often to London, on pretence of suing for their
pensions ; but really to practise up and down through the
country : to prevent this, there was a proclamation set out
on the 18th of September, requiring them to stay in the
places where they lived, and to send up a certificate where
they were to the court of augmentations i who should
thereupon give order for their constant payment. Some
thought this law against vagabonds was too severe, and
contrary to that common liberty, of which the English
nation has been always very sensible, both in their own and
their neighbours' particulars. Yet it could not be denied
but extreme diseases required extreme remedies ; and per-
haps there is no punishment too severe for persons that are
in health, and yet prefer a loitering course of life to an
honest employment. There followed in the act many ex-
cellent rules for providing for the truly poor and indigent in
the several places where they were born, and had their
abode. Of which this can only be said, that as no nation
has laid down more effectual rules for the supplying the
poor than England, so that indeed none can be in absolute
want ; so the neglect of these laws is a just and great re-
proach on those, who are charged with the execution of
them, when such numbers of poor vagabonds swarm every-
where, without the due restraints that the laws have ap-
pointed.
60 HISTORY Of
On the 6th of December the bill for giving the chantries
to the king was brought into the house of lords : it was read
the second time on the 12th, the third time on the 13th, and
the fourth lime on the 14th of that month. It was much
opposed, both by Cranmer on the one hand, and the popish
bishops on the other. The late king's executors saw they
could not pay his debts, cor satisfy themselves in their own
pretensions, formerly mentioned, out of the king's revenue,
and so intended to have these to be divided among ;hem.
Cranmer opposed it long : for the cleigy being much im-
poverished by the sale of the impropriated tithes, that ought
in all reason to have returned into the church, but, upon the
dissolution of the abbeys, were all sold among the laity; he
saw no probable way remaining for their supply, but to save
these endowments till the king were of age, being confident
he was so piously disposed, that they should easily persuade
him to convert them all to the bettering of the condition of
the poor clergy, that were now brought into extreme misery :
and therefore he was for reforming and preserving these
foundations till the king's full age. The popish bishops
liked these endowments so well, that, upon far different
motives, they were for continuing them in the state they
were in. But those who were to gain by it were so many
that the act passed ; the archbishop of Canterbury, the
bishops of London, J)uresme, Ely, Norwich, Hereford,
Worcester, and Chichester dissenting. So it being sent
down to the house of commons, was there much opposed by
some burgesses; who represented that the boroughs, for
which they served, could not maintain their churches, and
other public works of the guilds and fraternities, if the rents
belonging to them were given to the king ; for these were
likewise in the act. This was chiefly done by the burgesses
of Lynn and Coventry ; who were so active, that the whole
house was muchset against that part of the bill for the guild
lands : therefore those who managed that house for the
court, took these off by an assurance, that their guild lands
should be restored to them : and so they desisted from their
opposition, and the bill passed on the promise given to
them, which was afterwards made good by the protector.
In the preamble of the act it is set forth, " That the great
superstition of Christians, rising out of their ignorance of the
true way of salvation by the death of Christ, instead of
which they had set up the vain conceits of purgatory, and
masses satisfactory, was much supported by trentals and
chantries. And since the coriverting these to godly uses,
such as the endowing of schools, provisions for the poor, and
the augmenting of places in the universities, could not be
THE REFORMATION. 61
done by parliament, they therefore committed it to the care
of the king : and then, reciting the act made in the thirty-
seventh year of his father's reign, they give the king all such
chantries, colleges, and chapels, as were not possessed by
the late king, and all that had been in being any time these
five years last past ; as also all revenues belonging to any
church, for anniversaries, obits, and lights; together virith
all i^uild lands, which any fraternity of men enjoyed, for
obits, or the like ; and appoint these to be converted to the
maintenance of grammar schools, or preachers, and for the
increase of vicarages" After this followed the act giving
the king the customs known by the name of tonnage and
poundage, besides Some other laws, of matters that are not
needful to be remembered in this history. Last of all came
the king's general pardon, with the common exceptions,
among which one was of those who were then prisoners in
the Tower of London, in which the duke of Norfolk was in-
cluded. So, all business being ended, the parliament was
prorogued from the 24th of December to the 20th of April
following.
But, having given this account of these bills that were
passed, I shall not esteem it an unfruitful piece of history to
show what other bills were designed. There were put into
the house of lords two bills that were stifled ; the one was,
for the use of the Scriptures, which came not to a second
reading ; the other was, a bill for erecting a new court of
chancery for ecclesiastical and civil causes, which was com-
mitted to some bishops and temporal lords, but never more
mentioned. The commons sent up also some bills, which
the lords did not agree to : one was about benefices, with
cure and residence ; it was committed, but never reported.
Another was, for the reformation of divers laws, and of the
courts of common law ; and a third was, that married men
niight be priests, and have benefices : to this the commons
did so readily agree, that it being put in on the 19th of De-
cember, and read then for the first time, it was read twice the
next day, and sent up to the lords on the 21st : but, being
read there once, it was like to have raised such debates,
that, it being resolved to end the session before Christmas,
the lords laid it aside.
But while the parliament was sitting, they were not idle
in the convocation ; though the popish party was yet so
prevalent in both houses, that Cranmer had no hopes of
doing any thing, till they were freed of the trouble which
some of the great bishops gave them. The most im-.
portant thing they did was the carrying up four petitions
to the bishops, which will be found in the Collection
Vol. II, Part I. G
62 HISTORY OF
(No. xvi) : — First, that, according to the statute made in
the reign of the late king, there might be persons empowered
for reforming the ecclesiastical laws. The- second, that, ac-
cording to the ancient custom of the nation, and the tenor
of the bishops' writ to the parliament, the interior clergy
might be admitted again to sit in the house of commons, or
that no acts concerning matters of religion might pass with-
out the sight and assent of the clergy. The third, that,
since divers prelates, and other divines, had been in the late
king's time appointed to alter the service of the church, and
had made some progress in it, that this might be brought to
its full perfection. The fourth, that some consideration
might be had for the maintenance of the clergy, the first
year they came into their livings, in which they were
charged with the first fruits ; to which they added, a desire
to know whether they might safely speak their minds about
religion, without the danger of any law. For the first of
these four petitions, an account of it shall be given here-
after. As to the second, it was a thing of great con-
sequence, and deserves to be farther considered in this
place.
Anciently, all the freemen of England, or at least those
that held of the crown in chief, came to parliament ; and
then the inferior clergy had writs as well as the superior,
and the first of the three estates of the kingdom were the
bishops, the other prelates, and the inferior clergy. But
when the parliament was divided into two houses, then the
clergy made likewise a body of their own, and sat in con-
vocation, which was the third estate : but the bishops hav-
ing a double capacity, the one of ecclesiastical prelature, the
other of being the king's barons, they had a right to sit with
the lords as a part of their estate, as well as in the convoca-
tion. And though by parity of reason it might seem that
the rest of the clergy, being freeholders as well as clerks,
had an equal right to choose, or be chosen, into the house of
commons ; yet, whether they were ever in possession of it,
or whether, according to the clause priKinonentes in the
bishops' writ, they were ever a part of the house of com-
mons, is a just doubt ; for, besides this assertion in the peti-
tion that was mentioned, and a more large one in the second
petition which they presented to the same purpose, which is
likewise in the Collection (No. xvii), I have never met with
any good reason to satisfy me in it. There was a general
tradition in Queen Elizabeth's reign, that the inferior
clergy departed from their right of being in the house of
commons, when they were all brought into the pra:munv-e
upon Cardinal Wolsey's legantine power, and made their
THE REFORMATION. 63
submission to the king : but that is not credible ; for as
there is no footstep of it, which in a time of so much writing
and printing must have remained, if so great a change had
been then made ; so it cannot be thought, that those who
made this address but seventeen years alter that submission
(many being alive in this who were of that convocation,
Polydore Virgil in particular, a curious observer, since
he was maintained here to write the History of England),
none of them should have remembered a thing that was so
fresh, but have appealed to writs and ancient practices.
But though this design of bringing the inferior clergy into
the house of commons did not take at this time, yet it was
again set on foot in the end of Queen Elizal^eth's reign, and
reasons were offered to persuade her to set it forward ; which
not being then successful, the same reasons were again
offered to King James, to induce him to endeavour it. The
paper that discovers this was communicated to me by Dr.
Borlase, the worthy author of the History of the Irish
Rebellion : it is corrected in many places by the hand of
Bishop Eavis, then bishop of London, a man of great worth.
This, for the affinity of the matter, and the curiosity of the
thing, I have put into the Collection (No. xviii), with a
large marginal note, as it was designed to be transcribed for
King James : but whether tliis matte/ was ever much con-
sidered, or lightly laid aside, as a thing unfit and impracti-
cable, does not appear ; certain it is, that it came to nothing.
Upon the whole matter, it is not certain what was the
power or right of these proctors of the clergy in former
times : some are of opinion *, that they were only assistants
to the bishops, but had no voice in either house of parlia-
ment ; this is much confirmed by an act passed in the par-
liament of Ireland in the twenty-eighth year of the former
reign, which sets forth in the preamble, " That though the
proctors of the clergy were always summoned to parliament,
yet they were no part of it ; nor had they any right to vote
in it, but were only assistants in case matters of controversy
or learning came before them, as the convocation was in
England, which had been determined by the judges of
England after much incjuiry made about it: but the proc-
tors were then pretending to so high an authority, that no-
thing could pass without their consents ; and it was pre-
sumed they were set on to it by the bishops, whose chap-
lains they were for the most part : therefore they were by
that act declared to have no right to vote."
From this some infer, they were no other in England, and
• Coke, 4 Inst. 3, 4.
64 HISTORY OF
that they were only the bishops' assistants and council :
but as the clause prcemonentes in the writ seems to make
them a part of the parliament, so these petitions suppose
that they sat in the house of commons anciently, where it
cannot be imagined they could sit, if they came only to be
assistants to the bishops; for then they must have sat in
the house or" lords rather, as the judges, the masters of
chancery, and the king's council do. Nor is it reasonable
to think they had no voice, for then their sitting in parlia-
ment had been so insignificant a thing, that it is not likely
they would have used such endeavoars to be restored to it ;
since their coming to parliament upon such an account must
have been only a charge to them.
There is against this opinion an objection of great force,
from the acts passed in the twenty-first year of Kichard the
Second's reign. In the second act of that parliament it is
said, " That it was first prayed by the commons, and that
the lords spiritual, and the proctors of the clergy- did
assent to it ; upon which the king, by the assent of all the
lords and commons, did enact it." The twelfth act of that
parliament was a repeal of the whole parliament that was
held in the eleventh year of that reign ; and concerning it,
it is expressed, " That the lords spiritual and temporal, the
proctors of the clergy, and the commons, being severally
examined, did all agree to it." From hence it appears, that
these proctors were then not only a part of the parliament,
but were a distinct body of men, that did severally, from all
the rest, deliver their opinions. It may seem strange, that,
if they were then considered as a part of either house of
parliament, this should be the only time in which they
should be mentioned as bearing their share in the legislative
power. In a matter that is so perplexed and dark, I shall
presume to oflfer a conjecture, which will not appear perhaps
improbable. In the 171st page of the former Part, I gave
the reasons that made me think the lower house of convo-
cation consisted at first only of the proctors of the clergy ;
so that, by the proctors of the clergy, both in the statute of
Ireland, and in those made by Richard II, is, perhaps, to
be understood, the lower house of convocation; audit is
not unreasonable to think, that upon so great an occasion
as the annulling a whole parliament, to make it pass the
better, in an age in which the people paid so blind a sub-
mission to the clergy, the concurrence of the whole repre-
sentative of the church might have been thought necessary.
It is generally believed, that the whole parliament sat
together in one house before Edward the Third's time, and
then the inferior clergy were a part of that body without
THE REFORMATION. 65
question. But when the lords and commons sat apart, the
clergy likewise sat in two houses, and granted subsidies as
well as the temporality. It may pass for no unlikely con-
jecture, that the clause pra:monentes was first put in the
bishops' writ for the summoning of the lower house of con-
vocation, consisting of these proctors ; and afterwards, though
there was a special writ for the convocation, yet this might
at first have been continued in the bishops' writ by the
neglect of a clerk, and from thence be still used ; so that it
seems to me most probable, that the proctors of the clergy
were, both in England and Ireland, the lower house of con-
vocation. Now before the submission which the clergy made
to King Henry, as the convocation gave the king great sub-
sidies, so the whole business of religion lay within their
sphere. But after the submission, they were cut off from
meddling with it, except as they were authorized by the
king ; so that, having now so little power left them, it is no
wonder they desired to be put in the state they had been in
before the convocation was separated from the parliament ;
or at least that matters of religion should not be determined
till they had been consulted, and had reported their opinions
and reasons. The extreme of raising the ecclesiastical power
too high in the times of popery, had now produced another,
of depressing it too much. For seldom is the counterpoise
so justly balanced, that extremes are reduced to a well-
tempered mediocrity.
For the third petition, it was resolved that many bishops
and divines should be sent to Windsor to labour in the matter
of the church service ; but that required so much considera-
tion, that they could not enter on it during a session of parlia-
ment. And for the fourth, what answer was given to it doth
not appear.
On the 29th of November a declaration was sent down
from the bishops concerning the sacraments being to be re-
ceived in both kinds ; to which Jo. Taylour, the prolocutor,
and several others, set their hands ; and being again brought
before them, it was agreed to by all without a contradictory
vote ; sixty-four being present, among whoni I find Polydore
Virgil was one. And on the 17th of Deceinber the propo-
sition concerning the marriage of the clergy was also sent
to them, and subscribed by thirty-five aflfirmatively, and by
fourteen negatively; so it was ordered, that a bill should be
drawn concerning it. I shall not here digress to give an
account of what was alleged for or against this, reserving
that to its proper place, when the thing was finally settled.
And this is all the account I could recover of this convo-
cation ; I have chiefly gathered it from some notes, and other
G 3
66 HISTORY OF
papers, of the then Dr. Parker (afteiwards archbishop of
Canterbury), which are carefully preserved with his other
MSS, in Corpus Christi College library, at Cambridge. I'o
which library I had free access by the favour of the most
learned master, Dr. Spencer, with the other worthy fellows
of that house : and from thence I collected many remarkable
things in this History.
The parliament being brought to so good a conclusion, the
protector took out a new commission, in which all the ad-
dition that is made to that authority he formerly had is,
that in his absence he is empowered to substitute another, to
whom he might delegate his power.
And thus this year ended in England : but as they were
carrying on the Reformation here, it was declining apace in
Germany. The duke of Saxe and the landgrave were this
year to command their armies apart. The duke of Saxe kept
within his own country, but having there unfortunately di-
vided his forces, the emperor overtook him near the Alb at
Muiberg; where the emperor's soldiers crossing the river,
and pursuing him with great fury, after some resistance, in
which he himself performed all that could be expected from
so great a captain, was taken prisoner (April 24), and his
country all possessed by Maurice, who was now to be in-
vested with the electoral dignity. He bore his misfortunes
with a greatness and equality of mind that is scarce to be
paralleled in history. Neither could the insolence with
which the emperor treated him, nor the fears of death to
which he adjudged him, nor that tedious imprisonment
which he suffered so long, ever shake or disorder a mind,
that was raised so far above the inconstancies of human
affairs. And though he was forced to submit to the hardest
conditions possible, of renouncing his dignity and dominions,
some few places being only reserved for his family ; yet no
entreaties nor fears could ever bring him to yield any thing
in niatters of religion. He made the Bible his chief com-
panion and comfort in his sharp afflictions ; which he bore
so, as if he had been raised up to that end, to let the world
see how much he was above it. It seemed unimitable ; and
therefore engage'd Thuanus, with the other excellent writers
of that age, to set it out with all the advantages that so un-
usual a temper of mind deserved: yet had those writers
lived in our age, and seen a great king, not overpowered by
a superior prince, but by the meanest of his own people,
and treated with equal decrees of malice and scorn, and at
last put to death openly, with the pageantry of justice ; and
yet bearing all this with such invincible patience, herotcal
courage, and most Christian submission to God, they had
THE REFORMATION. 67
yet found a nobler subject for their eloquent pens : but he
saved the world the labour of giving a just representation of
his behaviour in his sufferings, having left his own portraiture
drawn by himself in such lively and lasting colours.
The landgrave of Hesse saw he could not long withstand
the emperor's army, now so lifted up with success; and
therefore was willing to submit to him on the best terms
that his sons-in-law, the elector of Brandenburg and Mau-
rice of Saxe, could obtain tor him ; which were very hard,
only he was to enjoy his liberty, without any imprisonment,
and to preserve his dominions. But the emperor's minis-
ters dealt most unfaithfully with him in this ; for in the
German language there was but one letter difference, and
that only inverted, between perpetual imprisonment, and
any imprisonment (ewig for emig) ; so, by this base artifice,
he was, when he came and submitted to the emperor, de-
tained a prisoner. He had not the duke of Saxe's temper,
but was out of measure impatient, and did excl>iim of his ill
usage ; but there was no remedy, for the emperor was now
absolute. All the towns of Germany, IMadeburg and Breme
only excepted, submitted to him, and redeemed his favour
by great sums of money, and many pieces of ordnance. And
the Bohemians weie also forced to implore his brother's
mercy, who, before he would receive them into his hands,
got his revenue to be raised vastly : and now the empire was
wholly at the emperor's mercy. Nothing could withstand
him, who had in one year turned out two electors. For
Herman, bishop of Colen, as he was before condemned by
the pope (April 16, 1546), so was also degraded from that
dignity by the emperor; and Adolph, whom he had pro-
cured to be made his coadjutor, was declared elector. Many
of his subjects and neighbour princes offered their service, if
he would stand to his own defence ; but he was very old,
and of so meek a temper, that he would suffer no blood to
be shed on his account ; and therefore withdrew peaceably
tb a retirement (Nov. 4), in which he lived four years, till
his death. His brother, that was bishop of Munster and
dean of Bonne, who had gone along with him in his reform-
ation, was also turned out; and Gropper was made dean,
who was esteemed one of the learnedest and best men of the
clergy at this time. He is said to have expressed a generous
contempt of the highest dignity the see of Rome could bestow
on him, for he refused a cardinal's hat when it was offered
him ; yet in this matter he had not behaved himself as be-
came so good a man, and so learned a divine : for he had
consented to the changes which had been made, and was
in a correspondence with Martin Bucer, whom Heiman
68 HISTORY OF
brought to Colen (as will appear by an excellent letter of
Bucer's to him, which will be found in the Collection, No. xix,
concerning that matter) ; by which it is plain he went along
with them from the beginning. But it seems he did it covertly
and fearfully, and was afterwards drawn off, either by the
love of the world, or the fears of the cross ; of which it ap-
pears Bucer had then some apprehensions, though he ex-
pressed them very modestly. Gropper's memory being in
such high esteem, and this letter being found among Bucer's
papers, I thought the publishing of it would not be unac-
ceptable, though it be of a foreign matter.
Germany being thus under the power and dread of the
emperor, a diet was summoned to Augsburg : where the
chief church was taken from the protestants, and put into
the cardinal of Augsburg's hands, to have the mass set up
again in it ; though the town was so much protestant, that
they could find none that would come to it, but some poor
people who were hired. The emperor, among other propo-
sitions he put into the diet, pressed this, that all differences
in religion, which had so distracted Germany, might be
removed. Tl e ecclesiastical princes answered, that the
only way to effect that, was to submit to the general council
that was at Trent : those that were for the Augsburg con-
fession said, they could submit to no council where the pope
presided, and where the bishops were sworn to obey him ;
but would submit to it, if that oath were dispensed with,
and their divines admitted to defend their opinions, and all
the decrees that had been made were again considered. In
this difference of opinion, the emperor thought, that if the
whole matter should be left to his discretion, to which all
should be bound to submit, he would then be able to de-
termine it as he pleased. So he dealt privately with the
electors palatine and Saxe ; and, as they published it after-
wards, gave them secret assurances about the freedom of
their religion, and that he only desired this to put him in a
capacity of dealing on other terms with the pope : upon
which they consented to a decree, referring the matter of
religion wholly to his care. But the deputies from the cities,
who looked on this as a giving up of their religion, could
not be wrought to do it, without conditions, which they put
into another writing, as explanatory of the submission : but
the emperor took no notice of that, and only thanked them
for their confidence in him ; and so the decree was published.
All this was in some sort necessary for the emperor, who
was then in very ill terms with the pope about the business
of Placentia : for the pope's natural son, Petrus Aloisius,
being killed by a conspiracy (Sept. 10), the governor of
THE REFORMATION. 69
Milan had seized on Placentia, which made the pope be-
lieve the emperor was accessary to it ; for which the reader
is referred to the Italian historians. The pope saw the em-
peror in one summer delivered of a war, which he had hoped
would have entangled him his whole life ; and though in
decency he could not but seem to rejoice, and did so no
doubt, at the ruin of those whom he called heretics, yet he
was not a little grieved to see the emperor so much exalted.
At Trent the legates had been oft threatened and affronted
by the emperor's ambassadors and bishops, who were set on
reforming abuses, and lessening the power of the see of
Rome : so they had a mind to break up the council ; but
that would have been so scandalous a thing, and so resented
by the emperor, that they resolved rather on a translation
into some town of the pope's, to which it was not likely the
imperialists would follow them ; and so at least the council
would be suspended, if not dissolved. For this remove, they
laid hold on the first colour they could find. One dying of
a malignant fever, it was given out, and certified by phy-
sicians, that he died of the plague ; so in all haste they
translated the council to Bologna (April 21). The imperial-
ists protested against it, but in vain ; for thither they went.
The emperor was hereby quite disappointed of his chief
design, which was to force the Germans to submit to a
council held in Germany ; and therefore no plague appearing
at Trent, he pressed the return of the council thither : but
the pope said, it was the council's act, and not his ; and that
their honour was to be kept up ; that therefore such as
stayed at Trent were to go first to Bologna, and acknowledge
the council, and they should then consider what was to be
done : so that now all the hope the Germans had was, that
this difference between the pope and emperor might give
them some breathing ; and time might bring them out of
these extremities into which they were then driven. Upon
these disorders the foreign reformers, who generally made
Germany their sanctuary, were now forced to seek it else-
where. So Peter Martyr, in the end of November this year,
was brought over to England, by the invitation which the
archbishop of Canterbury sent him in the king's name. He
was born in Florence, where he had been an Augustinian
monk. He was learned in the Greek and the Hebrew, which
drew him on him the envy of the rest of his order, whose
manners he inveighed oft against. So he left them, and
went to Naples, where he gathered an assembly of those
who loved to worship God more purely. This being made
known, he was forced to leave that place, and went next to
Lucca, where he lived in society with Trernellius and Zan-
70 HISTORY OF
chius : but being also in danger there, he went to Zurich
with Bernardinus Ochinus, that had been one of the most
celebrated preachers of Italy, and now forsook his former
superstitions. From Zurich he went to Basil ; and from
thence, by Martin Bucer's means, he was brought to Stras-
burg, where Cranmer's letter found both him and Ochinus.
The latter was made a canon of Canterbury, with a dis-
pensation of residence ; and by other letters-patents forty
marks were given yearly to him, and as much to Peter
Martyr.
There had been this year some differences between the
English and French concerning the fortifications about Bul-
loigne. 1 he English were raising a great fort by the harbour
there. This being signified to King Henry by Caspar Co-
ligny, afterwards the famous admiral of France, then gover-
nor of the neighbouring parts to Bulioigne, it was complained
of at the court of England. It was answered, that this was
only to make the harbour more secure ; and so the works
were ordered to be vigorously carried on : but this could
not satisfy the French, who plainly saw it was of another
sort than to be intended only for the sea. The king of
France came and viewed the country himself, and ordered
Coligny to raise a fort on a high ground near it, which was
called the ChastUian fort, and commanded both the English
fort and the harbour. But the protector had no mind to
give the French a colour for breaking with the English ; so
there was a truce and further cessation agreed on, in the
end of September. Ihese are all the considerable foreign
transactions of this year in which England was concerned.
But there was a secret contrivance laid at home of a high
nature, which, though it broke not out till the next year,
yet the beginnings of it did now appear.
The protector's brother, Thomas Seymour, was brought
to such a share in his fortunes, that he was made a baron,
and lord admiral : but this not satisfying his ambition, he en-
deavoured to have linked himself into a nearer relation with
the crown, by marrying the king's sister, the Lady Eliza-
beth ; but, finding he could not compass that, he made his
addresses to the queen dowager ; who, enjoying now the
honour and wealth the late king had left her, resolved to
satisfy herself iir her next choice, and entertained him a
little too early ; for they were married so soon after the
king's death, that it was charged afterwards on the admiral,
that, if she had brought a child as soon as might have been
after the marriage, it had given cause to doubt whether it
had not been by the late king ; which might have raised
great disturbance afterwards. But being thus married to
THE REFORMATION. 71
the queen, he concealed it for some time, till he procured a
letter from the king, recommending him to her for a husband :
upon which they declared their marriage, with which the
protector was much offended. Being thus possessed of great
wealth, and being husband to the queen dowager, he studied
to engage all that were about the king to be his friends ; and
he corrupted some of them by his presents, and forced one
on Sir John Cheek. That which he designed was, that
whereas in former times, the infant kings of England had
had governors of their persons, distinct from the pro-
tectors of their realms ; which trusts were divided between
their uncles, it being judged too much to join both in one
person, who was thereby too great ; whereas a governor of
the king's person might be a check on the protector ; he
would, therefore, himself be made governor of the king's
person, alleging, that since he was the king's uncle, as well
as his brother, he ought to have a proportioned share with
him in the government. About Easter, this year, he first
set about this design, and corrupted some about the king,
who should bring hiin sometimes privately through the gallery
to the queen's lodgings; and he desired they would let him
know when the king had occasion for money, and that they
should not always trouble the treasury, for he would be ready
to furnish him ; and he thought a young king might be taken
with this. So it happened, that the first time Latimer
preached at court, the king sent to him to know what pre-
sent he should make him : Seymour sent him 40/. but said,
he thought 20/. enough to give Latimer, and the king might
dispose of the rest as he pleased. Thus he gained ground
with the king, whose sweet nature exposed him to be easily
won by such artifices.
It is generally said, that all this difference between the
brothers was begun by their wives ; and that the protector's
lady, being offended that the younger brother's wife had the
precedence of her, which she thought belonged to herself,
did thereupon raise and inflame the differences. But in all
the letters that I have seen concerning this breach, I could
could never find any such thing once mentioned : nor is it
reasonable to imagine, that the duchess of Somerset should
be so foolish as to think that she ought to have the prece-
dence of the queen dowager*. Therefore I look upon this
story as a mere fiction ; though it is probable enough there
might, upon some other accounts, have been some animosi-
♦ She is acknowledged to liave been an insolent and ambitious woman,
and to have liad great, power over her husband; and was the chief cause
of procuring an act of parliament for the disinheriting, and excluding
from his honours, his children by his former wife.
72 HISTORY Of
ties between the two high-spirited ladies, which might have
afterwards been thought to have occasioned their husbands'
quarrel.
It is plain, in the whole thread of this affair, that the pro-
tector was at first very easy to be reconciled to his brother,
and was only assaulted by him ; but bore the trouble he
gave him with much patnence for a great while ; though in
the end, seeing his factious temper was incurable, he laid
off nature too much when he consented to his execution :
yet all along till then, he had rather too much encouraged
his brother to go on, by his readiness to be, after every
breach, reconciled to him. When the protector was in Scot-
land, the admiral then began to act more avowedly, and
was making a party for himself; of which Paget took notice,
and charged him with it in plain terms. He asked him, why
he would go about to reverse that, which himself and others
had consented to, under their hands "? Their family was now
so great, that nothing but their mutual quarrelling could do
them any prejudice : but there would not be wanting officious
men to inflame them, if they once divided among them-
selves ; and the breaches among near friends commonly
turn to the most irreconcilable quarrels. Yet all was in-
effectual ; for the admiral was resolved to go on, or to perish
in the attempt. It was the knowledge of this which forced
the protector to return from Scotland so abruptly and dis-
advantageously, for the securing of his interest with the king,
on whom his brother's artifices had made some impression.
Whether there was any reconciliation made between them
before the parliament met is not certain • but during the
session, the admiral got the king to write, with his own hand,
a message to the house of commons, for the making of him
governor of his person ; and he intended to have gone with
it to the house, and had a party there, by whose means he
was confident to have carried his business. He dealt also
with many of the lords and counsellors to assist him in it.
W^hen this was known, before he had gone v/ith it to the
house, some were sent to him, in his brother's name, to see
if they could prevail with him to proceed no further. He
refused to hearken to them, and said, that if he were crossed
in his attempt, he would make this the blackest parliament
that ever was in England. Upon that he was sent for by
order from the council, bat refused to come. Then they
threatened him severely, and told him, the king's writing
was nothing in law, but that he who had procured it was
punishable for doing an act of such a nature, to the disturb-
ance of the government, and for engaging the young king in
it ; so they resolved to have sent him to the Tower, and to
THE REFORMATION. 73
have turned him out of all his offices. But he submitted
himself to the protector and council ; and his brother and
he seemed to be perfectly reconciled. Yet, as the pro-
tector had reason to have a watchful eye over him, so it was
too soon visible that he had not laid down, but only put off
his high projects till a fitter conjuncture : for he began the
next Christmas to deal money again among the king's
servants, and was, on all occasions, infusing into the king a
dislike of every thing that was done, and did often persuade
him to assume the government himself. But the sequel of
this quarrel proved fatal to him, as shall be told in its
proper place. And thus ended the year 1547.
(1548.) On the 8th of January next year, Gardiner was
brought before the council : where it was told him, that his
former offences being included in the king's general pardon,
he was thereupon discharged ; a grave admonition was
given him to carry himself reverently and obediently, and
he was desired to declare whether he would receive the in-
junctions and homilies, and the doctrine to be set forth,
from time to time, by the king and clergy of the realm. He
answered, he would conform himself as the other bishops
did, and only excepted to the homily of justification, and
desired four or five days to consider of it. What he did
at the end of that time does not appear from the council-
book, no farther mention being made of this matter ; for the
clerks of council did not then enter every thing with that ex-
actness that is since used. He went home to his diocess,
where there still appeared in his whole behaviour ^reat ma-
lignity to Cranmer, and to all motions for reformations ; yet
^e gave such outward compliance, that it was not easy to
find any advantage against him, especially now since the
council's great power was so much abridged.
In the end of January, the council made an order con-
cerning the marquis of Northampton, which will oblige me
to look back a little fo5 the clear account of it. This lord,
who was brother to the queen dowager, had married Anne
Bouchier, daughter to the earl of Essex, the last of that
name ; but she being convicted of adultery, he was divorced
from her; which, according to the law of the ecclesiastical
courts, was only a separation from bed and board. Upon
which divorce it was proposed, in King Henry's time, to
consider what might be done in favour of the innocent
person, when the other was convicted of adultery. So, in
the beginning of King Edward's reign, on the 7th of May, a
commission was granted to the archbishop of Canterbury,
the bishops of Duresme and Rochester (this was Holbeck,
who was not then translated to I^incoln), to Dr. Ridley, and
Vol. 11, Part 1. H
74 HISTORY OF
six more, ten in all, of whom six were a quorum, to try
whether the Lady Anne was not by the word of God so law-
fully divorced, that she was no more his wife, and whether
thereupon he might not marry another wife. This being a
new case, and of great importance, Cranmer resolved to
examine it with his ordinary diligence, and searched into
the opinions of the fathers and doctors so copiously, that his
collections about it grew into a large book (the original
whereof 1 have perused*); the greatest part of it being
written, or marked and interlined with his own hand.
This required a longer time than the marquis of North-
ampton could stay ; and, therefore, presuming on his great
power, without waiting for judgment, he solemnly married
Elizabeth, daughter to Brooke, Lord Cobham. On the 28th
of January, information was brought to the council of this,
which gave great scandal, since his first marriage stood yet
firm in law. So he, being put to answer for himself, said,
he thought that by the word of God he was discharged of his
tie to his former wife ; and the making marriages indissolu-
ble was but a part of the popish law, by which it was
reckoned a sacrament ; and yet the popes, knowing that
the world would not easily come under such a yoke,
had, by the help of the canonists, invented such distinctions,
that it was no uneasy thing to make a marriage void among
them : and that the condition of this church was very hard,
if, upon adulteries, the innocent must either live with the
guilty, or be exposed to temptations to the like sins, if a se-
paration was only allowed, but the bond of the marriage
continued undissolved. But since he had proceeded so far
before the delegates had given sentence, it was ordered, that
he and his new wife should be parted ; and that she should
be put into his sister the queen dowager's keeping, till the
matter were tried, whether it was according to the word of
God or not ; and that then further order should be given in
it. Upon this the delegates made haste, and gathered their
arguments together : of which I shall give an abstract, both
for the clearing of this matter (concerning which, not many
years ago, there were great debates in parliament), and
also to show the exactness of the proceedings in that
time.
Christ condemned all marriages upon divorces, except
in the case of adultery, which seemed manifestly to allow
them in that case. And though this is not mentioned by St.
Mark, and St. Luke, yet it is enough that St. Matthew has
it. Christ also defined the state of marriage to be that in
* Ex MSS. D. Stillirigfleet.
THE REFORMATION. 75
which " two are one flesh ; " so that when either of the two
hath broken that union, by becoming one with another per-
son, then the marriage is dissolved. And it is oft repeated
in t(xe Gospel, that married persons have power over one
another's boaies, and that they are to give due benevolence
to each other ; which is plainly contrary to this way of
separation without dissolving the bond. St. Paul, putting
the case of an unbeliever departing from the partner in
marriage, says, The believing party, whether brother or
sister, is not under bondage in such a case ; which seems a
discharge of the bond in case of desertion : and certainly
adultery is yet of a higher nature. But against this was
alleged, on the other side, that our Saviour's allowing
divorce in the case of adultery was only for the Jews, to
whom it was spoken, to mitigate the cruelty of their law, by
which the adulteress was to be put to death ; and therefore
he yielded divorce in that case, to mitigate the severity of
the other law. But the apostle, writing to the Gentile
Christians at Rome and Corinth, said, the wife was " tied
by the law to the husband, as long as he lived." And that
other general rule, " Whom God hath joined together, let
no man put asunder," seems against the dissolving the bond.
To this it was answered, that it is against separating as well
as dissolving ; that the wife is tied to her husband, but if he
ceaseth to be her husband, that tie is at an end. That our
Saviour left the wife at liberty to divorce her husband for
adultery, though the law of Moses had only provided, that
the adulterous wife, and he who defiled her, were to die ;
but the husband who committed adultery was not so pu-
nishable : therefore our Saviour had, by that provision, de-
clared the marriage to be clearly dissolved by adultery.
From hence they went to examine the authorities of the
fathers. Hermes was for putting away the adulteress, but so
as to receive her again upon repentance. Origen thought
the wife could not marry again after divorce. Tertullian
allowed divorce, and thought it dissolved the marriage as
much as death did. Epiphanius did also allow it. And
Ambrose, in one place, allows the husband to marry after
divorce for adultery, though he condemns it always in the
wife. Basil allowed it on either side upon adultery.
Jerome, who condemns the wife's marrying, though her hus-
band were guilty of adultery, and who disliked the husband's
marrying again, though he allowed him to divorce upon
adultery, or the suspicion of it ; yet, when his friend Fabiola
had married after a divorce, he excuses it, saying, it was
better for her to marry than to burn. Chromatins allowed
of second marriages after divorce : and so did Chrysostome,
76 HISTORY OF
though he condemned them in women so divorcing. St.
Austin was sometimes for a divorce, but against marriage
upon it ; yet in his Retractations, he writ doubtfully of his
former opinion. In the civil law the Christian emperors
allowed the power of divorcing both to husband and wife,
with the right of marrying afterwards. Nor did they re-
strain the grounds of divorce only to adultery, but permitted
it in many other cases ; as, if the wife were guilty of treason,
had treated for another husband, had procured an abortion,
had been whole nights abroad, or had gone to see the public
plays without leave from her husband, besides many other
particulars ; against which, none of the fathers had writ,
nor endeavoured to get them repealed. All these laws
were confirmed by Justinian, when he gathered the laws
into a body, and added to it where they were defective. In
the canon law, it is provided, that he whose wife is defiled
must not be denied lawful marriage. Pope Gregory denied
a second marriage to the guilty person, but allowed it to the
innocent after divorce. Pope Zachary allowed the wife of
an incestuous adulterer to be married, if she could not con-
tain. In the canon law, the council of Tribury is cited, for
allowing the like privilege to the husbands. By the council
of Elvira, a man that finds that his wife intends to kill him
may put her away, and marry another ; but she must never
marry. The council of ArleS recommended it to husbands,
whose wives were found in adultery, not to marry during
their lives. And that at Elvira denied the sacrament to a
wife who left an adulterous husband, and married another ;
but she might have the communion when her first husband
died : so the second marriage was accounted good, but only
indecent. But the council of Milevi forbids both man and
wife to marry after divorce. All these were collected by
Cranmer, with several very important reflections on most of
the quotations out of the fathers. With these there is another
paper, given in by one who was against the dissolving the
bond, in which there are many quotations brought, both
from the canon law and the fathers, for the contrary opinion.
But most of the fathers there cited are of the latter ages : in
which the state of celibate had been so exalted by the
monks, that, in all doubtful cases, they were resolved still
to prefer that opinion which denied liberty for further
marriages. In conclusion, this whole question was divided
into eight queries, which were put to some learned men
(who these were does not appear) ; and they returned their
answer in favour of the second marriage^ which will be
found in the Collection (No. xx). In the end, sentence was
given, allowing the second marriage in that case ; and by
THE REFORMATION. 77
consequence confirming the marquis of Northampton's
marriage to his second wife, who, upon that, was suffered to
cohabit with him. Yet, four years aftfer, he was advised to
have a special act of parliament for confirming this sen-
tence ; of which mention shall be made in its due time and
place.
The next thing that came under consideration, was the
great contradiction that was in most of the sermons over
England. Some were very earnest to justify and maintain
all the old rites that yet remained ; and others were no less
hot to have them laid aside. So that in London, especially,
the people were wonderfully distracted by tliis variety
amon^' their teachers. The ceremonies of Candlemas, and
their observance of Lent, with the rites used on Palm-Sun-
day, Good-Friday, and Easter, were now approaching.
Those that were against them, condemned them as super-
stitious additions to the worship of God, invented in the
dark ages, when an outward pageantry had been the chief
thing thai was looked after. But others set out the good use
that might be made of these things, and taught, that, till they
were abolished by the king's authority, they ought to be still
observed. In a visitation that had been made (when I can-
not learn, only it seems to have been about the end of King
Henry's reign), it had been declared, that fasting in Lent
was only a positive law. Several directions were also given
about the use of the ceremonies, and some hints, as if they
were not to be long continued : and all wakes and Plough-
Mondays were suppressed, since they drew great assemblies
of people together, which ended in drinking and quarrelling.
These I have also inserted in the Collection (No. xxi),
having had a copy of the articles, left at the visitation of the
deanery of Doncaster, communicated to me by the favour of
a most learned physician, and curious antiquary. Dr. Na-
thaniel Johnston, who sent me this with several other papers,
out of his generous zeal for contributing every thing in his
power to the perfecting of this work.
The country people generally loved all these shows,
processions, and assemblies, as things of diversion ; and
judged it a dull business only to come to church for
divine worship, and the hearing of sermons; therefore they
were much delighted with the gaiety and cheerfulness of
those rites. But others, observing that they kept up all
these things, just as the heathens did their plays and festi-
vities for their gods, judged them contrary to the gravity
and simplicity of the Christian religion, and therefore were
earnest to have them removed. This was so effectually re-
pre%ented to the council by Cranmer, that an order was
H3
78 HlSrORY OF
sent to him about it. He sent it to Bonner, who, being
dean of the college of bishops, in the province of Canter-
bury, was to transmit all such orders over the whole pro-
vince. By it, the carrying of candles on Candiemas-day,
of ashes on Ash-Wedndesday, and palms on Palm,-Sunday,
were forbid to be used any longer. And this was signified
by Bonner to Thirleby, bishop of \\ estminster, on the 28th
of June, as appears by the register.
After this, on the 6th of February, a proclamation was
issued out against such as should, on the other hand, rashly
innovate, or persuade the people from the old accustomed
rites, under the pains of imprisonment and other punish-
ments, at the king's pleasure ; excepting only the formerly-
mentioned rites; to which are added, the creeping to the
cross on Good-Friday, taking holy bread and water, and any
othei, that should be afterwards, at any time, certified by
the archbishop of Canterbury to the other bishops, in the
king's name, to be laid aside. And for preventing the mis-
chiefs occasioned by rash preachers, none were to preach
without licence from the king or bis visitors, the archbishop
of Canterbury, or the bishop of the diocess where they
lived ; excepting only incumbents preaching in their own
parishes. Those who preached otherwise were to be impri-
soned till order was given for their punishment : and the in-
ferior magistrates were required to see -to the execution of
these orders. This proclamation, which is in the Collection
(No. xxii), was necessary for giving authority to the arch-
bishop of Canterbury's letters, which were censxu-ed as a
great presumption for him, without any public order, to
appoint changes in saered rites. Some observed, that the
council went on making proclamations with arbitrary punish-
ments, though the act was repealed that had formerly given
so great authority to them. To this it was answered, that
the king, by his supremacy, might still, in matters of re-
ligion, make new orders, and add punishments upon the
transgressors ; yet this was much questioned, though univer-
sally submitted to.
On the IJth of February, there was a letter sent from the
council to the archbishop, for a more considerable change
(No. xxiii). There were everywhere great heats about the
removing of images, which had been abused to superstition :
some afhrming, and others denying, that their images had
been so abused. There were, in the churches, some images
of so strange a nature, that it could not be denied that they
had been abused. Such was the image of the blessed
Trinity, which was to be censed, on the day of the Innocents,
by him that was made the bishop of the children: tkis
THE REFORMATION. 79
ahows it was used on other days, ia which it is like it was
censed by the bishop where he was present. How this
image was made, can only be gathered from the prints that
were of it at that time : in which the Father is represented
sitting, on the one hand, as an old man with a triple crown
and rays about him ; the Son, on the other hand, as a young
man with a crown and rays ; and the blessed Virgin be-
tween them, and the emblem of the Holy Ghost, a dove,
spread over her head : so it is represented in a fair book of
the Hours according to the use of Sarum, printed anno 1526.
The impiety of this did raise horror in most men's minds,
when that inconceivable mystery was so grossly expressed.
Besides, the taking the Virgin into it was done in pursu-
ance to what had been said by some blasphemous friars, of
her being assumed into the Trinity. In another edition of
these, it is represented by three faces formed in one head.
These things had not been set up by any public warrant ;
but having been so long in practice, they stood upon the ge-
neral plea, that was for keeping the traditions of the church :
for it was said, that the promises made to the church were
the same in all ages ; and that therefore every age of the
church had an equal right to them. But for the other
images, it was urged against them, that they had been all
consecrated with such rites and prayers, that it was certain
they were every one of them superstitious ; since it was
prayed, that they might be so blessed and consecrated, that
whosoever worshipped them might, by the saints' prayers
and aid, whom they represented, obtain every thing that he
desired. So they resolved on an entire removal of all
images. And the protector, with the council, wrote to
Cranraer, that for putting an end to all these contests, and
that the living images of Christ might not quarrel about the
dead ones, it was concluded they should all of them be
taken down : and he was to give order to see this executed
in his own diocess, and to transmit it to the other bishops,
to be in like manner executed by them. There were also
orders given, that all rich shrines, with all the plate belong-
ing to them, should be brought into the king's use ; and that
the clothes that covered them should be converted to the use
of the poor. This gave Gardiner, and those of his party, a
new affliction : for in his diocess he had been always on their
side that were for keeping up the images. But they all sub-
mitted ; and so the churches were emptied of all those pic-
tures and statues which had been for divers ages the cnief
objects of the people's worship.
. And now the greatest care of the reformers was, to find
the best men they could, who should be licensed by the
80 HISTORY OF
king's authority to preach. To whom the council sent
letter, ia the beginning of May (No. xxiv), intimating, that,
by the restraint put on preaching, they only intended to put
an end to the rash contentions of indiscreet men, and not to
extinguish the lively preaching of the pure word of God,
made after such sort as the Holy Ghost should, for the time,
put in the preacher's mind. They are therefore charged to
preach sincerely ; and with that caution and moderation,
that the time and place shall require : and, particularly,
that they should not set on the people to make innovations,
or to run before those whom they should obey ; but should
persuade them to amend their lives, and keep the command-
ments of God, and to forsake all their old superstitions.
And for the things not yet changed, they ought to wait
patiently, and to conclude that the prince did either allow
or suffer them : and in delivering things to the people, they
were ordered to have a special regard to what they could
bear.
But this temper was not observed. Some plainly con-
demned it as a political patching, and said, why should not
all these superstitions be swept away at once 1 To this it
was answered by others, that, as Christ forbade the pulling
up of the tares, lest with them they should pull up good
wheat ; so, if they went too foiwardly to the changing of
things, they might in that haste change much for the worse.
And great care was to be had not to provoke the people too
much, lest, in the infancy of the king, or in some ill con-
juncture of affairs, they might be disposed to make commo-
tions. And the compliances that both Christ and his
apostles gave to the Jews, when they were to abrogate the
Mosaical law, were often insisted on. It was said, if they,
who were clothed with a power of miracles, for the more
effectual conviction of the world, condescended so far, it was
much more reasonable for them, who had not that autho-
rity over men's consciences, and had no immediate signs
to show from heaven, to persuade the people rather by de-
grees to forsake their old mistakes, and not to precipitate
things by an over haste.
This winter there was a committee of selected bishops
and divines appointed for examining all the offices of the
church, and for reforming them. Some had been, in King
Henry's time, employed in the same business, in which they
had made a good progress, which was now to be brought to
a full perfection. Therefore the archbishops of Canterbury
and York, the bishops of London, Duresme, Worcester,
Norwich, St. Asaph, Salisbury, Coventry, and Litchfield,
Carlisle, Bristol, St. David's, Ely, Lincoln, Chichester,
1
Lit I
Lo 1
THE REFORMATION. 81
Hereford, Westminster, and Rochester ; with Doctors Cox,
May, Tailor, Heins, Robertson, and Redmayn ; were ap-
pointed to examine all the offices of the church, and to
consider how far any of them needed amendment.
The thing they first examined was the sacrarnent of the
eucharist ; which, being the chief symbol of Christian com-
munion, was thought to deserve their chief care. And here
they managed their inquiries in the same manner that was
used in the former reign ; in which, when any thing was
considered in order to a change, it was put into several
queries, to which every one in commission was to give his
answer in writing. It is no wonder if the confusions that
followed, in Queen Mary's reign, have deprived us of most
of these papers ; yet there is one set of thein preserved, re-
lating to some questions about the priest's single communi-
cating ; \\ hether one man's receiving it can be useful to
another? what was the oblation or sacrifice that was made
of Christ in the mass 1 wherein the mass consisted ? when
the priest's receiving alone began? whether it was conve-
nient to retain that, and continue masses satisfactory for
departed souls 1 whether the gospel ought to be taught at
the time of the mass ? whether it were convenient to have
it all in a known tongue, or not 1 and when the reserving or
hanging up of the sacrament first began '! To these the
bishops made their several answers. Some answered them
all : others answered only a few of them ; it is like suspending
their opinions about those which they answered not. The
bishops of London, Worcester, Chichester, and Hereford,
gave in their answers once in one paper together ; but after-
wards they joined with the bishops of Norwich and St.
Asaph, and all those six gave a joint answer in one paper.
Those are not all subscribed, as those which 1 inserted in the
former volnme were : or at least the papers I have are not
the originals. But Crann.er's hand is over every one of
tliem, marking the name of the bishop to whom they be-
longed ; and Dr. Cox hath set his hand and seal to his
answer. By tliese, which are in the Collection (No, xsv),
the reader will perceive how generally the bishops were ad-
dicted to the old superstition, and how few did agree in all
things with Craniner. It may be thought, that these ques-
tions were given out before the act of parliament passed, in
which the priests' single communicating is turned into a
communion of more. Yet by that act it was only provided,
that all who came to receive should be admitted ; but priests
were not forbid to consecrate, if none were to communicate,
which was the thing now inquired into.
It is certain there was no part of worship more corrupted
82 HISTORY OF
than this sacrament was. The first institution was so plain
and simple, that, except in the words, " This is my body,"
there is nothing which could give a colour to the corruptions
that were afterwards brought in* The heathens had their
mysteries, which the priests concealed with hard and dark
words, and dressed up with much pomp ; and thereby sup-
ported their own esteem with the people ; since they looked
on these to be of so high a nature, that all those who had
the ordering of them were accounted sacred persons. The
primitive Christians retained the first simplicity of Divine
institutions for some ages ; but afterwards, as their number
increased, they made use of some things not unlike those
the heathens had practised, to draw the Gentiles more easily
into their belief ; since external shows made deep impres-
sions in the vulgar. And those that were thus brought over
might afterwards come to like these things for their own
sakes, which were at first made use of only to gain the
world. Others, finding some advantage in such services,
that were easy, and yet appeared very pompous, that they
might cover great faults by countenancing and comply-
ing with the follies that were in vogue, contributed liberally
to the improvement of them. And after the Roman em-
perors turned Christians, much of that vast wealth, of
which they and their people were masters, was brought into
the church, and applied to these superstitions. Yet it be-
came not so universally corrupted till, by the invasion of the
Goths, Vandals, and other barbarous nations, the Roman
empire was broken and divided into many kingdoms. These
new conquerors were rude and ignorant, wholly given to
sensible things ; and learning being universally extinguished,
gross superstition took place ; for more refined superstitions
would not serve the turn of darker ages. But as they
grew in ignorance, they continued in the belief and prac-
tice of more absurd things.
The high opinion they justly had of this sacrament being
much raised by the belief of the corporal presence of Christ
in it, which came in afterwards, then the dull wits of the
priests, and the wealth of the people, were employed to
magnify it with all the pomp possible. All the vessels and
garments belonging to it were consecrated and anointed
with much devotion ; the whole office was in an unknown
tongue : a great part of it was to be secretly whispered, to
make it appear the more wonderful charm : but chiefly the
words of consecration were by no means to be heard by the
people ; it being fabled, that when the words were spoken
aloud, some shepherds had repeated them over their bread,
which was thereupon presently turned into flesh. Besides
THE REFORMATION. 83
that, it was but suitable that a change which was not to be
seen, should be made by words not to be heard. The priest
was not to approach it, but after so many bowings, crossings,
and kissings of the altar ; and all the while he went through
with the office, the people were only now and then blessed
by a short blessing, "The Lord be with you," and even
that in Latin. Then, after consecration, the bread was
lifted up, and all the people worshipped it, as if Christ had
appeared in the clouds. It was oft exposed on the altar,
and carried about in processions, with the ceremonies of
carrying flambeaux before it, which the greatest persons
accounted it an honour to do ; the priest that carried it all
the while going pompously under a rich canopy.
This was also thought most effectual for all the accidents
of life. And whereas it was first only intended to be a com-
memoration and communion of the death of Christ ; that
seemed almost forgotten, but it was applied to all other ends
imaginable. That which brought in most custom was tren-
tals, which was a method of delivering souls out of pur-
gatory, by saying thirty masses a year for them. And
whereas it was observed, that men, on the anniversaries of
their birth-days, wedding, or other happy accidents of
their lives, were commonly in better humour, so that favours
were more easily obtained ; they seemed to have had the
same opinion of God and Christ. So they ordered it, that
three of these should be said on Christmas-day, three on
Epiphany, three on the Purification of the blessed Virgin,
three on the Annunciation, three on the Resurrection, three
on the Ascension, three on Whit Sunday, three on Trinity-
Sunday, three on the Assumption of the blessed Virgin, and
three on her birth day ; hoping that these days would be the
mnUia tempora, when God and Christ, or the blessed Virgin,
Avould be of easier access, and more ready to grant their de-
sires. Yet the most unaccountable part of all was the
masses on the saints' days, praying that the intercession of
the saint might make the sacrifice acceptable ; that the
saint, for whose honour these oblations were solemnly
offered, would by his merits procure them to be accepted,
and that the sacrifice might bring to them a greater indul-
gence, being offered up by the suffrages of the saint. If the
sacrifice was of Jesus Christ, and was of its own nature ex-
piatory, how this should be done in honour to a saint, and
become of greater virtue by his intercession, was a thing very
hard to be understood. There were many pieces of ridi-
culous pageantry also used in it, as the laying the host in the
sepulchre they made for Christ on Good-Friday ; and that,
not only the candles that were to burn at the Easter cele-
84 _ HISTORY OF
bration, but the very fire that was to kindle them, was par-
ticularly consecrated on Easter-eve. Some masses were be-
lieved to have a peculiar virtue in them : for, in the mass-
book printed at London, anno 1500, there is a mass for
avoiding sudden death, which Pope Clement made in the
college with all his cardinals, and granted to all who heard
it two hundred and seventy days of indulgence, charging
them that they should hold in their hand a burning candle
all the while it was saying, and for five days after should
likewise hold a candle, kneeling during the whole mass ;
and to those that did so, sudden death should do no harm.
And it is added, that this was certain and approved ia
Avignon, and all the neighbouring places. All this I have
opened the more largely, to let the reader plainly under-
stand, what things were then in this sacrament that required
reformation : and I have gathered these things out of the
mass-book then most used in England, and best known
by the name of the " Missal after the use of Sarum."
The first step these deputed bishops and divines made,
was to reform this. But they did not at once mend every
thing that required it, but left the oflfice of the mass as it
was, only adding to it that which made it a communion. It
began first with an exhortation, to be used the day before,
which differs not much from that now used ; only, after the
advice given concerning confession, it is added, that such as
desired to make auricular confession, should not censure
those who were satisfied with a general confession to
God ; and that those who used only confession to God
and to the church, should not be offended with those who
used auricular confession to a priest ; but that all should
keep the rule of charity, every man being satisfied to follow
his own conscience, and not judging another man's in things
not appointed by God. After the priest had received the
sacrament, he was to turn to the people and read an eKhor-
tation to them ; the same we now use, only a little varied in
words. After that followed a denunciation against sinners,
requiring them who were such, and had not repented, to
withdraw, lest the devil should enter into them as he did
into Judas : then, after a little pause, to see if any would
withdraw, there was to follow a short exhortation, with a
confession of sins, and absolution, the very same which we
do yet retain. Then those texts of Scripture were read which
we yet read ; followed with the prayer, " We do not pre-
sume," &c. After this, the sacrament was to be given in
both kinds : first, to the ministers then present, and then to
all the people, with these words, " The body of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body
THP: rvEFORMATION. 85
unto everlasting life ; " and " The blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy soul unto
everlasting life." ^Vhen all was done, the congregation was
to be dismissed with a blessing. The bread was to be such
as had been formerly used, and every one of the breads so
consecrated was to be broken in two or more pieces ; and
the people were to be taught, that there was no diifereuce in
the quantity they received, whether it were small or great ;
but that in each of them they received tiie whole body of
Christ. If the wine that was at first consecrated did not
serve, the priest was to consecrate more ; but all to be with-
out any elevation. This office, being thus finished, was
set forth with a proclamation, reciting, that whereas the
parliament had enacted that the communion should be
given in both kinds to all the king's subjects, it was now
ordered to be given in the form here set forth, and all were
required to receive it with due reverence, and Christian be-
haviour, and with such uniformity as might encourage the
king to go on in the setting forth godly orders for reforma-
tion, which he intended most earnestly to bring to effect by
the help of God : willing his subjects, not to run before his
direction, and so by their rashness to hinder such things :
assuring them of the earnest zeal he had to set them
forth, hoping they would quietly and reverently tarry for it.
This Avas published on the 8th of March ; and on the
13th, books were sent to all the bishops of England, requir-
ing them to send them to every parish in their diocess, that
the curates might have time, both to instruct themselves
about it, and to acquaint their people with it ; so that by the
next Easter it might be universally received in all the
churches of the n?tion. This was variously censured.
Those that were for the old superstition were much troubled
to have confession thus left indiflferent, and a general con-
fession of sins to be used, with which they apprehended the
people would, for the most part, content themselves. 'In the
Scripture there was a power of binding and loosing sins
given to the apostles. And St. James exhorted those to
whom he wrote, to confess their faults to one another.
Afterwards penitents came to be reconciled to the church,
when they had given public scandal, either by their apostacy
or ill life, by an open confession of their sins ; and after some
time of separation from the other pure Christians in. worship,
and an abstention from the sacrament, they were admitted
again to their share of all the privileges that were given in
common to Christians. But, according to the nature of their
sing, they were, besides the public confession, put under
tuch rules as might be most proper for curing these ill indi-
VoL. IT, PartI. I
86 HISTORY OF
nations in them ; and according to the several ranks of sins,
the time and degrees of this penitence was proportioned.
And the councils that met in the fourth and fifth centuries
made the regulating these penitentiary canons the chief
subject of their consultations. In many churches there
were penitentiary priests, who were more expert in the
knowledge of these rules, and gave directions about them,
which were taken away in Constantinople upon the indis-
cretion of which one of them had been guilty. For secret
sins there was no obligation to confess, since all the canons
were about public scandals; yet for these, the devout
people generally went to their priests for their counsel, but
were not obliged to it ; and so went to them for the distem-
pers of their minds, as they did to physicians for the dis-
eases of their bodies.
About the end of the fifth century, they began, in some
places, to have secret penances, either within monasteries,
or other places which the priests had appointed ; and upon
a secret confession and performing the penance imposed,
absolution was also given secretly : whereas, in former
times, confession and absolution had been performed openly
in the church. In the seventh century it was everywhere
practised, that there should be secret penance for secret
sins ; which Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury., did first
bring into a method, and under lules. But about the end
of the eighth century, the commutation of penance, and ex-
changing it for money, or other services to the church, came
to be practised ; and then began pilgrimages to holy places,
and afterwards the going to the holy war ; and all the seve-
rities of penance were dispensed with to such as undertook
these. This brought on a great relaxation of all ecclesiasti-
cal discipline. Afterwards croisades came in use, against
such princes as were deposed by popes ; and to these was
likewise added, to encourage all to enter into them, that all
rules of penitence were dispensed with to such as put on
that cross. But penitence being now no more public, but
only private, the priests managed it as they pleaseeK and so
by confession entered into all men's secrets, and by abso-
lution had their consciences so entirely in their power, that
the people were generally governed by them. Yet, because
the secular priests were commonly very ignorant, and were
not put under such an association as was needful to manage
those designs, for which this was thought an excellent
engine ; therefore the friars were employed everywhere to
hear confessions, and to give absolutions. And to bring in
customers to them, two new things were invented : the one
was, a reserving of certain cases, in which such as were
THE REFORMATION. 87
guilty of theui could not be absolved but by the popes, or
those deputed by them ; and the friars had faculties in the
pope's name to absolve in these cases : the other was, on
some occasion the use of certain new secrets, by which men
were to obtain great indulgences; either by saying such
prayeis, or performing such impositions ; and these were all
trusted to the friars, who were to trade with them, and
bring all the money they could gather, by that means, to
Home. They being bred up to a voluntary poverty, and
expecting great rewards for their industry, sold those secrets
with as much cunning as mountebanks use in selling their
tricks ; only here was the difference, that the ineffectualness
of the mountebanks' medicines was soon discovered, so their
trade must be but short in one place; whereas the other
could not be so easily found out ; the chief piece of the reli-
gion of those ages being to believe all that their priests
taught them. Of this sort the reader will find in the Collec-
tion (No. xxvi) an essay of indulgences, as they were
printed in the Hours after the use of Sarum, which were set
down in English, though the prayers be all Latin, that
so all the people might know the value of such ware. Those
had been all, by degrees, brought from Rome, and put into
people's hands, and afterwards laid together in their offices.
By them, indulgences of many years, hundreds, thousands,
and millions of years, and of all sins whatsoever, were
granted to such as devoutly said such collects ; but it was
always understood, that they must confess and be absolved,
which is the meaning of those expressions concerning their
being in a state of grace. And so the whole business was a cheat.
And now all this trade was laid aside, and confession of
secrets sins was left to all men's free choice ; since it was
certain that the confession to a priest was nowhere enjoined
in the Scriptures. It was a reasonable objection, that, as
secret confession and private penance had worn out the
primitive practice of the public censuring of scandalous
persons, so it had been well if the reviving of that discipline
had driven out these later abuses ; but to let that lie unre-
stored, and yet to let confession wear out, was to discharge
the world of all outward restraints, and to leave them to
their full liberty, and so to throw up that power of binding
and loosing, which ought to take place, chiefly in admitting
them to the sacrament. This was confessed to be a great
defect, and effectual endeavours were used to retrieve it,
though without success ; and it was openly declared to be a
thing which they would study to repair; but the total disuse
of all public censure had made the nation so unacquainted
with it, that, without the effectual concurrence of the civil
08 HISTORY OF
authority, they could not compass it. And though it wa«
acknowledged to be a great disorder in the church, yet, as
they could not keep up the necessity of private conlession,
since it was not commanded in the gospel ; so the generality
of the clergy being superstitious men, whose chief influence
on the people was by those secret practices in confession,
they judged it necessary to leave that free to all people, and
to represent it as a thing to which they were not obliged, and
in the place of that ordered the general confession to be made
in the church, with the absolution added to it. For the
power of binding and loosing, it was by many thought to be
only declarative , and so to be exercised, when the gospel
was preached, knd a general absolution granted, according
to the ancient forms. In which forms the absolution was a
prayer that God would absolve ; and so it had been still
used in the absolution which was given on Maunday-Thurs-
day ; but the formal absolution given by the priest in his
own name, " I absolve thee," was a late invention to raise
their authority higher, and signified nothing distinct from
those other forms that were anciently used in the church.
Others censured the words in distributing the two kinds
in the Lord's supper : the body being given for the preserv-
ing the body, and the blood of Christ for preserving the soul.
1 his was thought done on design to possess the people with
a high value of the chalice, as that which preserved their
souls ; whereas the bread r/as only for the preservation of
their bodies. But Cranmer, being ready to change any
thing for which he saw good reason, did afterwards so alter
it, that in both it was said, " Preserve thy body and soul :"
and yet it stands so in the prayer, ** We do not presume,"
&c. On all this I have digressed so long, because of the
importance of the matter, and for satisfying the scruples that
many still have upon the laying aside of confession in our
reformation.
Commissions were next given to examine the state of the
chantries and guildable lands : the instruction about them
will be found in the Collection (No. xxviii ), of which I need
give no abstract here ; for they were only about the methods
of inquiring into their value, and how they were possessed,
or what alienations had been made of them.
The protector and council were now in much trouble.
The war with Scotland they found was like to giow charge-
able, since they saw it was supported from France. There
was a rebellion also broke out in Ireland ; and the king was
much indebted: nor could they expect any subsidies from
the parliament ; in which it had been said, that they gave
the chantry lands, that they might be delivered from aH
THE REFORMATION. 89
subsidies : therefore the parliament was prorogued till win-
ter. Upon this the whole council did, on the 17th of April,
unanimously resolve, that it was necessary to sell 5000/. a
year of chantry lands for raising such a sum as the king's
occasions required ; and Sir Henry Mildmay was appointed
to treat about the sale of them.
The new communion book was received over England
without any opposition. Only complaints were brought of
Gardiner, that he did secretly detract from the king's pro-
ceedings : upon v/hich the council took occasion to reflect
on all his former behaviour : and here it was remeinbered,
how, at tirst, upon his refusing to receive the king's injunc-
tions, he had been put in the Fleet ; where he had been as
well used as if it had been his own house (which is far
contrary to his letters to the protector, of which mention
has been already made) ; and that he, upon promise of
conformity, had been discharged. But when he was come
home, being forgetful of his promises, he had raised much
strife and contention, and had caused all his servants to be
secretly armed and harnessed, and had put public affronts
on those whom the council sent down to preach in his dio-
cess; for in some places, to disgrace them, he went into the
pulpit before them, and warned the people to beware of such
teachers, and to receive no other doctrine but what he had
taught them. Upon this he had been sent for a second time,
but again, upon his promise of conformity, was discharged,
and ordered to stay at his own house in London. That
there he had continued still to meddle in public matters ; of
which, being again admonished, he desired that he might be
suffered to clear himself of all misrepresentations that had
been made of him, in a sermon which he should preach be-
fore the king, in which he should openly declare how well
he was satisfied with his proceedings : yet it is added, that
in his sermon, where there was a wonderful audience, he
did most arrogantly meddle with some matters that were
contrary to an express command given him both by word of
mouth and by letters ; and, in other matters, used such
words as had almost raised a great tumult in the very time,
and had spoken very seditiously concerning the policy of
the kingdom. So they saw that clemency wrought no good
effect on him ; and it seeming necessary to terrify others by
their proceedings with him, he was sent to the Tower, and
the door of his closet was sealed up : thus it is entered in
the council book, signed E. Somerset, T. Cantuarien, W. St.
John's, J. Russel, and T. Cheyney. Yet, it seems, this order
was not signed when it was made, but some years after : for
the Lord Russel signed first Bedford, but remembering, that,
13
m HISTORY OF
at the time when this order was made, he had not that title,
therefore he dashed it out (but so as it still appears} and
signed, J. Russel.
The account that Gardiner himself gives of this business
is*, that being discharged upon the act of pardon, he was
desired to promise that he would set forth the Homilies ; and
a form was given him to which he should set his hand ; but
he, considering of it a fortnight, returned, and said he could
not subscribe it: so he was confined to his house. Then
Ridley and Mr. Cecil (afterwards the great Lord Burleigh,
lord treasurer to Queen Elizabeth, at that time secretary to
the protector) were sent to him, and so prevailed, that he
did set his hand to it. But, upon some complaints that were
made of him, he was sent for after Whit-Sunday, and ac-
cused, that he had carried palms, had crept to the cross, and
had a sepulchre on Good-Fiiday, which was contrary to the
king's proclamations ; all which he denied, and said, he had
and would still give obedience to what the king should com-
mand. That of afironting the king's preachers was objected
to him ; to which he answered, telling matter of fact how it
was done, but he does not in his writing set it down. Then
it was complained, that, in a sermon, he had said. The
apostles came away rejoicing from the council, the council,
the council ; repeating it thus, to make it seem applicable
to himself: this he denied. Then it was objected, that he
preached the real presence in the sacrament, the word real
not being in Scripture ; and so it was not the setting forth
the pure word of God : he said, he had not used the word
real, only he had asserted the presence of Christ, in such
words as he had heard the archbishop of Canterbury dis-
pute for it against Lambert, that had been burnt. He was
commanded to tarry in London : but he desired, that, since
he was not an offender, he might be at his liberty. He com-
plained much of the songs made of him, and of the books
written against him, and particularly of one Philpot, in
Westminster, whom he accounted a madman.
Then he relates, that Cecil came to him, and proposed to
him to preach before the king, and that he should write his
sermon ; and also brought him some notes which he wished
him to put in his sermon ; he said, he was willing to preach,
but would not write it, for that was to preach as an offender ;
nor would he make use of notes prepared by other men.
Then he was privately brought to the protector, none but
the Lord St. John being present, who showed him a paper
containing the opinion of some lawyers, of the king's power,
and of a bishop's authority, and of the punishment of dis-
• Fox'k Act» «nd Monnment*.
THE REFORMATION. 91
obeylag the king ; but he desired to speak with those law-
yers, and said, no subscription of theirs should oblige him
to preach otherwise than as he was convinced. The pro-
tector said, he should either do that, or do worse. Secretary
Smith came to him to press him further in some points, but
what they were is not mentioned. Yet, by the other papers
in that business, it appears, they related to the king's autho-
rity when under age, and for justifying the king's proceed-
ings in what had been done about the ceremonies, and that
auricular confession was indifferent. So the contest between
him and the protector ended ; and there was no writing re-
quired of him, but he left the whole matter to him, so that
he should treat plainly of those things mentioned to him by
Cecil. He chose St. Peter's day, because the gospel agreed
to his purpose. Cecil showed him some notes, written with
the king's hand, of the sermons preached before him ; espe-
cially what was said of the duty of a king; and warned
him, that, whenever he named the king, he should add,
" and his council." To this he made no answer ; for though
he thought it wisely done of a king to use his council, yet
being to speak of the king's power according to Scripture,
he did not think it necessary to add any thing of his coun-
cil ; and hearing by a confused report some secret matter,
he resolved not to meddle with it. Two days before he
preached, the protector sent him a message, not to meddle
with those questions about the sacrament, that were yet in
controversy among learned men ; and that therefore he was
resolved there should be no public determination made of
them beforehand in the pulpit. He said, he could not forbear
to speak of the mass, for he looked on it as the chief foundation
of the Christian religion ; but he doubted not that he should
so speak of it, as to give them all content: so, the day follow-
ing, the protector writ to him (as will be found in the Col-
lection, No. xxviii), requiring him, in the king's name, not
to meddle with those points, but to preach concerning the
articles given him, and about obedience, and good life,
which would afford him matter enough for a long sermon ;
since the other points were to be reserved to a public con-
sultation : the protector added, that he held it a great part
of his duty, under the king, not to suffer wilful persons to
dissuade the people from receiving such truths as should be
set forth by others : but Gardiner pretended that there was
no controversy about the presence of Christ. And so, the
next day, he took his text out of the gospel for the day,
•' Thou art Christ," &c. In his sermon (of which 1 have
seen large notes*) he expressed himself very fully concern-
* Parker'i MSS Ex ('. Ch. Col. Cant.
9-2 HISTORY OF
ing the pope's supremacy as justly abolished, and the sup-
pression of monasteries and chantries ; he approved of the
king's proceedings ; he thought images might have been
well used, but yet they might be well taken away. He ap-
proved of the sacrament in both kinds, and the taking away
that great number of masses satisfactory, and liked well the
new order for the communion : but he asserted largely the
presence of Christ's flesh and blood in the sacrament : upon
which many of the assembly, that were indiscreetly hot on
both sides, cried out, some approving, and others disliking
it. Of the king's authority under age, and of the power of
the council in that case, he said not a word ; and upon that
he was imprisoned.
The occasion of this was, the popish clergy began gene-
rally to have it spread among them, that, though they had
acknowledged the king's supremacy, yet they had never
owned the council's supremacy. That the council could
only see to the execution of the laws and orders that had
been made, but could not make new ones ; and that, there-
fore, the supremacy could not be exercised till the king, in
whose person it was vested, came to be of age to consider of
matters himself. Upon this the lawyers were consulted ;
who did unanimously resolve, that the supremacy being an-
nexed to the regal dignity, was the same in a king under
age, when it was executed by the council, that it was in a
king at full age ; and therefore, things ordered by the council
now, had the same authority in law that they could have
when the king did act himself. But this did not satisfy the
greater part of the clergy ; some of Avhom, by the high
flatteries that had been given to kings in King Henry's time,
seemed to fancy that there were degrees of divine illumina-
tion derived unto princes by the anointing them at the coro-
nation ; and these not exerting themselves till a king attained
to a ripeness of understanding, they thought the supremacy
was to lie dormant while he was so young. The protector
and council endeavoured to have got Gardiner to declare
against this, but he would not meddle in it : how far he
might set forward the other opinion, I do not know. These
proceedings against him were thought too severe, and with-
out law ; but he being generally hated, they were not so
much censured as they had been, if they had fallen on a
naore acceptable man.
And thus were the orders made by the council generally
obeyed ; many being terrified with the usage Gardiner met
with, from which others inferred what they might look for,
if they were refractory, when so great a bishop was so
treated.
THE REFORMATION. 98
Tha next thing Cranmer set about was the compil-
ing a Catechism *, or large instruction of young persons in
the grounds of the Christian religion. In it, he reckons
the two first commandments but one ; though he says many
of the ancients divided them in two : but the division was of
no great consequence, so -no part of the decalogue were
suppressed by tlie church. He showed, that the excuses
the papists had for images were no other than what the
heathens brought for their idolatry ; who also said, they did
not worship the image, but that only which was repiesented
by it. He particularly takes notice of the image of the Tri-
nity. He shows how St. Peter would not suffer Cornelius,
and the angel would not suffer St. John, to worship them.
The believing that there is a virtue in one image more than
in another, he accounts plain idolatry. Ezekias broke the
brazen serpent, when abused, though it was a type or image
of Christ, made by God's command, to which a miraculous
virtue had been once given. So now there was good reason
to break images, when they had been so abused to supersti-
tion and idolatry ; and when they gave such scandal to Jews
and Mahometans, who generally accounted the Christians
idolaters on that account. He asserts, besides the two sacra-
ments of baptism and the Lord's supper, the power of re-
conciling sinners to God, as a third ; and fully owns the
Divine institution of bishops and priests ; and wishes that
the canons and rights of public penitence were again restored ;
and exhorts much to confession, and the people's dealing
with their pastors about their consciences, that so they
miglit, upon knowledge, bind and loose according to the gos-
pel. Having finished this easy, but most useful work, he
dedicated it to the king : and in his epistle to him complains
of the great neglect that had been, in former times, of cate-
chising; and that confirmation had not been rightly admi-
nistered, since it ought to be given only to those of age, who
understood the principles of the Christian doctrine, and did
upon know ledge, and with sincere minds, renew their bap-
tismal vow. From this it will appear, that, from the begin-
ning of this reformation, the practice of the Roman church
in the matter of images was held idolatrous. Cranmer's zeal
for restoring the penitentiary canons is also clear ; and it is
plain, that he had now quite laid aside those singular
opinions which he formerly held of the ecclesiastical func-
tions ; for now, in a work which was wholly his own, without
* This C-trechism was first made in Latin by auother, but traodatcd
by Crauuwr's order, and it was reviewed by him.
94 HISTORY OF
the concurrence of any others, he fully sets forth their
Divine institution.
All these things made way for a greater work, which these
selected bishops and divines, who had laboured in the setting
forth of the office of the communion, were now preparing ;
which was, the entire reformation of the whole service of
the church. In order to this, they brought together all
the offices used in England. In the southern parts, those
after the use of Sarum were universally received, which
were believed to have been compiled by Osmund, bishop of
Sarum. In the north of England they had other offices,
after the use of York : in South Wales, they had them after
the use of Hereford : in North Wales, after the use of
Bangor : and in Lincoln, another sort of an office proper to
that see.
In the primitive church, when the extraordinary gifts
ceased, the bishops of the several churches put their offices
and prayers into such a method, as was nearest to what
they had heard or remembered from the apostles. And
these liturgies were called by the apostles' names, from
whose forms they had been composed ; as that at Jerusalem
carried the name of St. James, and that of Alexandria
the name of St. Mark ; though those books that we have
now under those names are certainly so interpolated, that
they are of no great authority ; but in the fourth century we
have these liturgies first mentioned. The council of Lao-
dicea appointed the same office of prayers to be used in the
mornings and evenings. The bishops continued to draw up
new additions, and to put old forms into other methods;
but this was left to every bishop's care, nor was it made the
subject of any public consultation, till St. Austin's time ;
■when, in their dealings with heretics, they found they took
advantages from some of the prayers thai were in some
churches : upon this, he tells us, it was ordered, that there
should be no prayers used in the church, but upon common
advice ; after that the liturgies came to be more carefully
considered. Formerly, the worship of God was a pure and.
simple thing ; and so it continued till superstition had so in-
fected the church, that those forms were thought too naked,
unless they were put under more artificial rules, and dressed
up with much ceremony. Gregory the Great was the first
that took much care to make the church music very regular ;
and he did also put the liturgies in another method than had
been formerly used: yet he had no such fondness of his
own composures, but left it to Austin the monk, whom he
sent over into England, when he consulted him in it, either
1
THE REFORMATION. 95
to use the Roman or French rituals, or any other, as he
should find they were most likely to edify the people. After
this, in most sees, there were great variations ; for, as any
prelate came to be canonized, or held in high esteem by the
people, some private collects, or particular forms that he
had used, were practised in his, or perhaps, as his fame
spread, in the neighbouring dioceses. In every age there
were notable additions made ; and all the writers almost, in
the eighth and ninth centuries, employed their fancies to
find out mystical significations for every rite that was then
used ; and so, as a new rite v^as added, it was no hard mat-
ter to add some mystery to il. This had made the office swell
out of measure, and there was a great variety of them ;
missals, breviaries, rituals, pontificals, portoises, pies, gra-
duals, antiphonals, psalteries, hours, and a great many more.
Every re»igious order had likewise their peculiar rites, with
the saints days that belonged to their order, and services for
tliem ; and the understanding hov/ to officiate was become so
hard a piece of the trade, that it was not easy to learn it
exactly, without a long practice in it. So now it was re-
solved to correct and examine these.
I do not find it was ever brought under consideration,
whether they should compose a form for all the parts of
Divine worship, or leave it to the sudden and extemporary
heats of those who were to officiate, which some have called,
since that time, the worshipping by the Spirit : of this way
of serving God they did not then dream ; much less that
the appointing of forms of prayer was an encroaching on
the kingly office of Christ ; but thought, whatever praying
in the Spirit might have been in the apostles' time (where
yet every man brought his psalms, which are a sort of
prayers as well as praises, and these look like some written
composures, as St. Paul expresses it), that now, to pray with
warm aflfection and sincere devotion was spiritual worship ;
and that where it was the same thing that was to be daily
asked of God, the using the same expressions was the sign of
a steady devotion, that was fixed on the thing prayed for ;
whereas the heat that new words raised, looked rather like
a warmth in the fancy. Nor could it agree with the princi-
ples of a reformation, that was to divest the churchmen of
that unlimited authority which they had forrnerly exercised
over men's consciences, to leave them at liberty to make
the people pray after them, as they pleased ; this being as
great a resignation of the people, when their devotion de-
pended on the sudden heats of their pastors, as the former su-
perstition had made of their faith and conscience to them.
Ho it being resolved to bring the whole worship of God under
96 HISTORY OF
set forms, they set one general rule to themselves (which
they afterwards declared), of changing nothing for novelty's
sake, or merely because it had been formerly used. They
resolved to retain such things as the primitive church had
practised, cutting off such abuses as the later ages had
grafted on them ; and to continue the use of such other
things, which though they had been brought in not so early,
yet were of good use to beget devotion ; and were so much
recommended to the people, by the practice of them, that
the laying these aside would, perhaps, have alienated them
from the other changes they made. And therefore they re-
solved to make no change without very good and weighty
reasons ; in which they considered the practice of our
Saviour, who did not only comply with the rites of Judaism
himself, but even the prayer he gave to his disciples was
framed according to their forms ; and his two great institu-
tions of baptism, and the eucharist, did consist of rites that
had been used among the Jews. And since he, who was de-
livering a new religion, and was authorized in the highest
manner that ever any was, did yet so far comply with re-
ceived practices, as from them to take those which he sancti-
fied for the use of his church ; it seemed much fitter for
those who had no such extraordinary warrant to give them
authority in what they did, when they were reforming
abuses, to let the world see they did it not from the wanton
desire of change, of any aft'ectation of novelty : and with
those resolutions they entered on their work.
In the search of the former offices, they found an infinite
deal of superstition in the consecrations of water, salt,
bread, incense, candles, fire, bells, churches, images, altars,
crosses, vessels, garments, palms, flowers ; all looked like
the rites of heathenism, and seemed to spring from the same
fountain. \\ hen the water or salt were blessed, it was ex-
pressed to be to this end, that they might be health both to
soul and body, and devils (who might well laugh at these
tricks which they had taught them) were adjured not to
come to any place where they were sprinkled ; and the holy
bread was blessed, to be a defence against all diseases and
snares of the devil ; and the holy incense, that devils might
not come near the smoke of it, but that all who smelled at
it might perceive the virtue of the Holy Ghost ; and the
ashes were blessed so, that all who were covered with them
might deserve to obtain the remission of their sins. All
those things had drawn the people to such confidence in
them, that they generally thought , that without those harder
terms of true holiness, they might, upon such superstitious
observances, be sure of heaven. So all these they resolved to
THE REFORMATION. 97
cast out, as things which had no warrant in Scripture, and
were vain devices to draw men away from a lively applica-
tion to God through Christ, according to the method of the
gospel. Then the many rites in sacramental actions were
considered, all which had swelled up to an infinite heap :
and as some of these, which had no foundation in Scripture,
were thrown out, so the others were brought back to a greater
simplicity. In no part of religion was the corruption of the
former offices more remarkable, than in the priests' granting
absolution to the living and the dead. To such as confessed,
the absolution was thus granted ; " I absolve thee in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost:" to
which this was added," And I grant to thee, that all the in-
dulgences given, or to be given thee, by any prelate, with the
blessings of them, all the sprinklings of holy water, all the
devout beatings of thy breast, the contritions of thy heart,
this confession, and all thy other devout confessions, all thy
fastings, abstinences, almsgivings, watchings, disciplines,
prayers, and pilgrimages, and all the good thou hast done, or
shalt do, and all the evils thou hast suffered, or shalt suf-
fer, for God ; the passions of our Lord Jesus Christ, the me-
rits of the glorious and blessed Virgin Mary, and of all other
saints, and the suffrages of all the holy catholic church, turn
to thee for the remission of these, and all other thy sins, the
increase of thy merits, and the attainment of everlasting re-
wards." When extreme unction was given to dying persons,
they applied it to the ears, lips, nose, and other parts, with
this prayer; " By this holy unction, and his own most ten-
der mercy, and by the intercession of the blessed Virgin, and
all the saints, may God pardon thee whatever thou hast
sinned, by thy hearing, speaking, or smelling ;" and so in
the other parts. And when the dead body was laid in the
grave, this absolution was said over it ; " The Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave to St. Peter, and his other disciples, power
to bind and loose, absolve thee from all the guilt of thy sins ;
and in so far as is committed to my weakness, be thou
absolved before the tribunal of our Lord, and may thou have
eternal life, and live for evermore." This was thought the
highest abuse possible ; when, in giving the hopes of heaven,
and the pardon of sins, which were of all the other parts of re-
ligion the most important, there were such mixtures : and that
•which the Scriptures had taught could be only attained by
Jesus Christ, and that upon the sincere belief and obedience
of his gospel, was now ascribed to so many other procuring
causes. 'ITiese things had possessed the world with that con-
ceit, that there was a trick for saving souls, besides that plain
method which Christ had taught ; and that the priests had
Vol.. II, Pakt I. K
98 HISTORY OF
the secret of it in their hands ; so that those who would not
come under the yoke of Christ, and be saved that way,
needed only to apply themselves to priests, and purchase
their favour, and the business would be done.
There were two other changes, which run through the
whole offices ; the one was, the translating them into a
vulgar tongue. The Jewisii worship was either in Hebrew,
or, after the captivity, in the Syriac, the vulgar tongues of
Palestine. The apostles always officiated in the tongues
that were best understood : so that St. Paul did copiously
censure those, who, in prayers or psalms, used any language
that was not understood. And Origen, Basil, with all the
fathers that had occasion to mention this, took notice, that
every one in their own tongue worshipped God. After the
rending of the Roman empire by the Goths, and other bar-
barous nations, the Roman tongue did slowly mix with their
tongues, till it was much changed, and altered from itself by
degrees ; yet it was so long a doing that, that it was not
thought necessary to translate the liturgy into their lan-
guages. But in the ninth century, when the Slavons were
converted, it being desired that they might have divine
office? in their own language, while some opposed it, a voice
was said to be heard, "Let every tongue praise God;"
upon which, Pope John the Eighth writ to Methodius, their
bishop, that it might be granted ; and founded it on St.
Paul's Epistle to the Connthi ns, and on these words of
David, " Let every tongue praise the Lord." And in the
fourth council of Lateran it was decreed, that bishops, who
lived in places where they were mixed with Greeks, should
provide fit priests for performing divine offices, according to
the rites and languages of those to whom they ministered :
but the Roman church, though so merciful to the Greeks and
Slavons, was more cruel to the rest of Europe ; and since
only Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, had been written on the
cross of Christ by Pilate, they argued that these lan-
guages were thereby consecrated ; though it is not easy to
apprehend what holiness could be derived into these tongues,
by Pilate', who ordered these inscriptions. It was also pre-
tended, that it was a part of the communion of saints, that
everywhere the worship should be in the same tongue. But
the truth was, they had a mind to raise the value of the
priestly function, by keeping all divine offices in a tongue
not understood : which in people otherwise well seasoned
with superstition, might have that effect ; but it did very
much alienate the rest of the world from them. There was
also a vast number of holy-days formerly observed, with so
many prayers and hymns belonging to them, and so many
THE REFORMATION. 99
lessons that were to be lead ; which were many of them
su^h impudent forgeries, that the whole breviary and missal
being full of these, a great deal was to be left out. Theie
is in the whole breviary scarce one saint, but the lessons
concerning him contain some ridiculous legend, such as
indeed could not be well read in a vulgar tongue without
the scorn and laughter of the hearers ; and for most part the
prayers and hymns do relate to these lying stories. Many of
the prayers and hymns were also in such a style, that the
pardon of sin, grace, and heaven, were immediately desired
from the saints, as if these things had come from their
bounty, or by their merits, or were given by them only ; of
which the reader shall have a little tasie in the Collection
(iSo. xxix), in some of the addresses made to them.
The reformers having thus considered the corruptions
of the former offices, were thereby better prepared to frame
new ones. But the priests had officiated in some garments,
which were appropriated to that use, as surplices, copes,
and other vestments ; and it was long under consideration
whether these should continue. It was objected, that
these garments had been parts of the train of the mass,
and had been superstitiously abused, only to set it off with
the more pomp. On the other hand it was argued, that as
white was anciently the colour of the priests' garments in
the Mosaical dispensation, so it was used in the African
churches in the fourth century : and it was thought a natu-
ral expression of the purity and decency that became
priests : besides, the clergy were then generally extreme
poor, so that they could scarce afford themselves decent
clothes ; the people also, running from the other extreme of
submitting too much to the clergy, were now as much in-
clined to despise them, and to make light of the holy func-
tion ; so that if they should officiate in their own mean gar-
ments, it might make the divine offices grow also into con-
tempt. And therefore it was resolved to continue the use of
them ; and it was said, that their being blessed, and used
superstitiously, gave as strong an argument against the
use of churches and bells ; but that St. Paul had said,
"That every creature of God was good;" and even the
meat of the sacrifice offered to an idol, than which there
could be no greater abuse, might lawfully be eaten ; there-
fore they saw no necessity, because of a former abuse, to
throw away habits that had so much decency in them,
and had been formerly in use.
In the compiling the offices, they began with morning
and evening prayer : these were put in the same form they
are now, only there was no confession nor absolution ; the
100 HISTORY OF
ofhce beginning with the Lord's Prayer. In the Commu-
nion Service, the Ten Commandments were not said, as they
are now ; but in other things it was very near what it ii
now. All that had been in the order of the communion for
merly mentioned was put into it : the offertory was to be
made of bread, and wine mixed with water. Then was said
the prayer for the state of Christ's church, in which they
gave thanks to God for his wonderful grace, declared in his
saints, in the blessed Virgin, the patriarchs, apostles,
prophets, and martyrs ; and they commended the saints
departed to God's mercy and peace, that at the day of the
resurrection we with them might be set on Christ's right
hand. To this, the consecratory prayer which we now
use was joined as a part of it ; only with these words, that
are since left out, " With thy Holy Spirit vouchsafe to
bless and sanctify these thy gifts and creaures of bread and
wine, that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy
most dearly-beloved Son," &c. To the consecration was
also joined the prayer of thanksgiving now used. After the
consecration, all elevation was forbidden, which had been
first used as a rite expressing how Christ was lifted up on
the cross ; but was, after the belief of the corporal presence,
made use of to show the sacrament, that the people might all
fall down and worship it. And it was ordered, that the
whole office of the communion, except the consecratory
prayer, should be used on all holy-days, when there was no
communion, to put people in mind of it, and of the suffer-
ings of Christ. The bread was to be unleavened, round,
but no print on it, and somewhat thicker than it was for-
merly : and though it was anciently put in the people's
hands, yet, because some might carry it away and apply it
to superstitious uses, it was ordered to be put by the priest
into theirmouths. It is clear that Christ delivered it into
the hands of the apostles, and it so continued for many
ages, as appears by several remarkable stories of holy men
carrying it with them in their journeys. In the Greek
church, where the bread and wine were mingled together,
some began to think it more decent to receive it in little
spoons of gold, than in their hands ; but that was con-
demned by the council in Ti ullo : yet soon after they began
in the Latin church to appoint men to receive it with their
hands, but women to take it in a linen cloth, which was
called their dominical. But when the belief of the corporal
presence was received, then a new way of receiving was in-
vented among other things to support it : the people were
now no more to touch that which was conceived to be the
flesh of their Saviour, and therefore the priest's thumb and
1
THE REFORMATION. 101
fingers were particularly anointed, as a necessary disposition
for so holy a contact ; and so it was by them put into the
mouths ot the people. A litany was also gathered, consist-
ing of many short petitions, interrupted by suffrages between
them : and was the same that we still use, only they had
one suffrage that we have not, to be delivered from the
tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all his detestable
enormities.
In baptism there was, besides the forms which we still
retain, a cross at first made on the child's forehead and
breast, with an adjuration of the devil to go out of him,
and come at him no more. Then the priest was to take the
child by the right hand, and to place him within the font ;
there he was to be dipped thrice, once on the right side,
once on the left, and once on the breast, which was to be
discreetly done ; but if the child were weak, it was sufficient
to sprinkle water on his face. Then was the priest to put a
white vestment or chrysome on him, for a token of inno-
cence, and to anoint him on the head, with a prayer for the
unction of the Holy Ghost. In confirmation, those that
came were to be catechised, which, having in it a formal
engagement to make good the baptismal vow, was all that
was asked (the Catechism then was the same that is now,
only there is since added an explanation of the sacraments) ;
this being said, the bishop was to sign them with the cross,
and to lay his hands on them, and say, " I sign thee with
the sign of the cross, and lay my hands on thee, in the name
of the Father," &c. The sick, who desired to be anointed,
might have the unction on their forehead, or their breast
only ; with a prayer, that as their body was outwardly
anointed with oil, so they might receive the Holy Ghost,
with health, and victory over sin and death. At funerals,
they recommended the soul departed to God's mercy, and
prayed that his sins might be pardoned, that he might be
delivered from hell and carried to heaven, and that his body
might be raised at the last day.
They also took care, that those who could not come, or be
brought to church, should not therefore be deprived of the
use of the sacraments. The church of Rome had raised the
belief of the indispensable necessity of the sacraments so
high, that they taught they did ex opere operate, by the very
action itself, without inward acts, justify and confer grace,
unless there were a bar put to it by the receiver ; and the
first rise of the questions about justification seems to have
come from this : for that church teaching that men were
justified by sacramental actions, the reformers opposed this,
and thought men were justified by the internal acts of the
K3
102 HISTORY OF
mind ; if they had held at this, the controversy might har
been managed with much greater advantages ; which they
lost, in a great measure, by descending to soine minuter
subtleties. In the church of Rome, pursuant to their belief
concerning the necessity of the sacraments, women were
allowed in extreme cases to baptize ; and the midwives
commonly did it ; which might be the beginning of their
being licensed by bishops to exercise that calling. And they
also believed, that a simple attrition with the sacraments
was sufficient for salvation in those who were grown up ;
and upon these grounds the sacraments were administered
to the sick.
In the primitive church they sent portions of the sacra-
ment to those who were sick, or in prison ; and did it
not only without pomp or processions, but sent it often
by the hands of boys and other laics, as appears from the
famed story of Serapion ; which, as it shows they did not
then believe it was the very flesh and blood of Christ ; so,
when that doctrine was received, it was a natural effect of
that belief to have the sacrament carried by the priest him-
self with some pomp and adoration. The ancients thought
it more decent and suitable to the communion of saints to
ftonsecrate the elements only in the church, and to send
portions to the sick, thereby expressing their communion
with the rest. The reformers, considering these things,
steered a middle course : they judged the sacraments neces-
sary, where they could be had, as appointments instituted
by Christ ; and though they thought it more expedient to
have all baptisms done in the church at the fonts, than
in private houses, thereby signifying that the baptized were
admitted to the fellowship of that church ; yet, since our
Saviour had said, that " Where two or three are gathered
together he will be in the midst of them ; " they thought it
savoured too much of a superstition to the walls or fonts of
churches, to tie this action so to these, that where children,
either through infirmity or the sharpness of weather, could
not be, without danger, carried to church, they should be
denied baptism. But still they thought public baptism
more expressive of the communion of the saints, so that they
recommended it much, and only permitted the other in
cases of necessity. This has since grown to a great abuse ;
many thinking it apiece of state to have their children bap-
tized in their houses ; and so bringing their pride with them
even into the most sacred performances. There may be
also a fault in the ministers, who are too easily brought to
do it : but it is now become so universal, that all the endea-
vours of some of our bishops have not been able to bring it
er I
THE REFORMATION. 103
back to the first design of not baptizing in private houses,
excepting only where there was some visible danger in
carrying the children to church.
As for the other sacrament, it was thought by our reformers,
that, according to the mind of the primitive church, none
should be denied it in their extremities : it never being more
necessary than at that time to use all means that might
strengthen the faith, and quicken the devotion of dying per-
sons ; it being also most expedient that they should then
profess their dying in the faith, and with a good conscience,
and in charity with all men : therefore they ordered the
communion to be given to the sick, and that, before it were
so given, the priest should examine their consciences : and
upon the sincere profession of their faith, and the confession
of such sins as oppressed their consciences, with the doing
of all that was then in their power for the completing of their
repentance, as the forgiving injuries, and dealing justly with
all people, he should give them the peace of the church in
a formal absolution, and the holy eucharist. But that they
might avoid the pomp of vain processions on the one hand,
and the indecencies of sending the sacrament by common
hands on the other, they thought it better to gather a congre-
gation about the sick person, and there to consecrate and
give the sacrament to that small assembly ; where, as Christ's
promise, of being in the midst of two or three that were
gathered together in his name, should have put an end to
the weak exceptions some have made to these private com-
munions ; so, on the other hand, it is to be feared that the
greater part retain still too much of the superstition of popery ;
as if the priest's absolution, with the sacrament, and some
slight sorrow for sin, would be a sure passport for their
admittance to heaven ; which it is certain can only be had
upon so true a faith as carries a sincere repentance with a
change of heart and life along with it : for to such only the
mercies of God through the merits of Jesus Christ are ap-
plied in all ordinary cases.
To all this they prefixed a preface concerning ceremonies,
the same that is still before the Common Prayer Book ; in
which preface they make a difference betvveen those cere-
monies that were brought in with a good intent, and were
afterwards abused ; and others that had been brought in
out of vanity and superstition at first, and grew to be more
abused ; the one they had quite rejected, the other they had
reformed, and retained for decency and edification. Some
were so set on their old forms, that they thought it a great
matter to depart from any of them ; others were desirous to
innovate in every thing ; between both which they had kept
104 HISTORY OF
a mean. The burthen of ceremonies in St. Austin's days
was such, that he complained of them then as intolerable,
by which the state of Christians was worse than that of the
Jews; but these were swelled to a far greater number since
his days, which did indeed darken religion, and had brought
Christians under a heavy yoke : therefore, they had only
reserved such as were decent, and apt to stir up men's minds
with some good signification. Many ceremonies had been
so abused by superstition and avarice, that it was necessary
to take them quite away ; but since it was fit to retain some
for decency and order, it seemed better to keep those which
were old, than to seek new ones. But those that were kept
were not thought equal with God's law, and so were, upon
just causes, to be altered ; they were also plain, and easy to
be understood, and not very subject to be abused. Nor did
they in retaining these condemn other nations, or prescribe
to any but their own people. And thus was this book made
ready against the next meeting of parliament.
In it, the use of the cross was retained, since it had been
used by the ancient Christians, as a public declaration that
they were not ashamed of the cross of Christ. Though they
acknowledged this had been strangely abused in the latter
ages, in which the bare use of the cross was thought to have
some magical virtue in it : and this had gone so far, that in
the Roman Pontifical it was declared, that the crosier-stafF
was to be worshipped with that supreme degree of adora-
tion, called Latvia : but it was thought fit to retain it in some
parts of worship ; and the rather, because it was made use
of among the people to defame the reformers, that they had
no veneration for the cross of Christ : and therefore, as an
outward expression of that in the sacrament of baptism, and
in the office of confirmation, and in the consecration of the
sacramental elements, it was ordered to be retained ; but
with this difference, that the sign of the cross was not made
with the opinion of any virtue or efficacy in it to drive away
evil spirits, or to presei-ve one out of dangers, which were
thought virtues that followed the use of it in the Roman
church ; for in baptism, as they used the sign of the cross,
they added an adjuration to the evil spirit not to violate it j
and in the making it said, ** Receive the sign of the cross
both in thy forehead and in thy heart, and take the faith of
the heavenly precepts." Thus a sacramental virtue was
pretended to be affixed to it ; which the reformers thought
could not be done without a warrant from a Divine institu-
tion, of which it is plain there was none in Scripture : but
they thought the use of it only as an expression of the belief
of the church, and as i badge of Christianity, with such
THE REFORMATION. 105
words added to it as could import no moro, was liable to
no exception. This seems more necessary to be well ex-
plained, by reason of the scruples that many have since
raised against sircificant ceremonies, as if it were too great
a presumption iu any church to appoint such, since these
seem to be of the nature of sacraments. Ceremonies that
signify the conveyance of a Divine grace and virtue are
are indeed sacraments, and ought not to be used without an
express institution in Scripture ; but ceremonies that only
signify the sense we have, which is sometimes expressed as
significantly in dumb shows as in words, are of another
kind ; and it is as much within the power of the church to
appoint such to be used, as it is to order collects or prayers,
words and sigus being but different ways of expressing our
thoughts. The belief of Christ's corporal presence wais yet
under consideration : and they, observing wisely how the
Germans had broken by their running too soon into contests
about that, resolved to keep up still the old general expres-
. sions, of the sacraments being the whole and true body of
Christ, without coming to a more particular explanation of
it. The use of oil, on so many occasions, was taken from
the ancient Christians, who, as Theophilus says, began early
to be anointed ; and understood those words of St. Paul, of
God's anointing and sealing, literally. It was also anciently
applied to the receiving of penitents : but it was not used
about the sick, from the apostles' times till about the tenth
century ; and then, from what St. James writ to those in the
dispersion, of sending for the elders to come to such as were
sick, who should anoint them with oil, and their sins should
be forgiven them, and they should recover ; they came to
give it to those that were dying, but not while there was
any hope of life left in them. Though it is clear, that what
St. James writ related to that extraordinary gift of healing,
by imposition of hands, and anointing with oil, which yet
continued in the church when he writ that Epistle. And
it is plain, that this passage in St. James was not so under-
stood by the ancients, as it is now in the Roman church;
since the ancients, though they used oil on many other oc-
casions, yet applied it not at all to the sick till after so many
ages, that gross superstition had so disposed the world to
new rites, that there could be no discovery or invention
more acceptable than the addition of a new ceremony,
though they were then much oppressed with the old ones.
The changes that were made, and those that were de-
signed to be made, occasioned great heats everywhere.
And the pulpits generally contending with one another, to
restrain that clashing, the power of granting licences to
106 HISTORY OF
preach was taken from the bishops of each diocess, so that
none might give them but the king and the archbishop of
Canterbury : yet that not proving an effectual restraint, on
the 23d of September a proclamation is said to have come
out, setting forth, that whereas according to former procla-
mations none was to preach but such as had obtained licences
from the king or the archbishop ; yet some of those that were
so licensed, had abused that permission, and had carried
themselves irreverently, contrary to the instructions that
were sent them : therefore the king, intending to have shortly
an uniform order over all the kingdom, and to put an end to
all controversies in religion ; about which some bishops and
other learned men were then assembled ; and though many
of the preachers so licensed had carried themselves wisely,
to the honour of God, and the king's great contentation ;
yet, till the order now preparing should be set forth, he did
inhibit all manner of persons to preach in any public audi-
ence ; to the intent that the clergy might apply themselves
to prayer, for a blessing on what the king was then about to
do ; not doubting but the people would be employed likewise
in prayer, and hearing the Homilies read in their churches,
and be ready to receive that uniform order that was to be
set forth ; and the inferior magistrates were required to see
to the execution of this. I never met with any footstep of
this proclamation, neither in records, nor in letters, nor in
any book written at that time : but Mr. Fuller has printed
it, and Dr. Heylin has given an abstract of it from him. If
Fuller had told how he came by it, it might have been
further examined. But we know not whether he saw the
printed proclamation, or only a copy of it : and if he saw
but a copy, we have reason to doubt of it ; for that might
have been only the essay of some projecting man's pen. But
because I found it in those authors, I thought best to set it
down as it is, and leave the reader to judge of it.
Having thus given an account of the progress of the Refor-
mation this summer, I shall now turn to transactions of state,
and shall first look towards Scotland. The Scots gaining
time the last winter, and being in daily expectation of suc-
cours from France, were resolved to carry on the war. The
governor began the year with the siege of Broughty Castle, a
little below Dundee : but the English that were in it defended
themselves so well, that after they had been besieged three
months, the siege was raised, and only so many were left
about it as might cover the country from their excursions.
The English, on the other side, had taken and fortified
Hadingtoun ; and were at work also at Lauder to make it
strong : the former of these lying in a plain, and in one of
THE REFORMATION. 107
the most fruitful counties of Scotland, within twelve miles
of Edinburgh, was a very fit place to be kept as a curb upon
the country. About the end of May, six thousand men
were sent from France under the command of Dessie ; three
thousand of these were Germans, commanded by the Rhine-
grave; two thousand of them were French, and a thousand
were of other nations : they landed at Leith ; and the gover-
nor having gathered eight thousand Scots to join with them,
they sat down before Hadingtoun ; and here the Scottish
nobility entered into a long consultation about their affairs.
The protector had sent a proposition to them, that there
might be a truce for ten years (but whether he offered to
remove the garrisons does not appear). This he was forced
to upon many accounts. He saw the war was like to last
long, and to draw on great expense, and would certainly
end in another war with France ^ he durst not any more go
from court, and march himself at the head of the army, and
leave the king to.the practices of his brother : there were
also great discontents in England ; many were offended
with the changes made in religion ; the commons complained
generally of oppression, and of the enclosing of grounds, of
which the sad effects broke out next year : he began to la-
bour under the envy of the nobility ; the clergy were almost
all displeased with him ; and the state of affairs in Ger-
many made it necessary to join with the king of France
against the emperor. All this made him very desirous of
such a peace with Scotland, as might, at least, preserve the
queen from being disposed of for ten years. In that time,
by treaty and pensions, they might hope to gain their ends
more certainly than by a war, which only inflamed the
Scots against them ; according to the witty saying of one of
the Scots, who, being asked what he thought of the match
with England, said, he knew not how he should like the
marriage, but he was sure he did not like the way of wooing.
On the other hand, the French pressed the Scots to send their
young queen into France, in the ships that had brought
over their forces ; who should be married to the dauphin,
and then they might depend on the protection of France.
Many were for accepting the proposition from England
(particularly all those who secretly favoured the reforma-
tion) ; they thought it would give them present quiet, and
free them from all the distractions which they either felt, or
might apprehend, from a lasting war with so powerful an
enemy ; whereas the sending away of their queen would put
them out of a capacity of obtaining a peace, if the war this
year proved as unsuccessful as it was the last ; and the de-
fence they had from France was almost as bad as the inva-
108 HISTORY OF
sions of the English, for the French were very insolent, and
committed great disorders. But all the clergy were so ap-
prehensive of their ruin by the marriage with England, that
they never judged themselves safe till the thing was out of
their power, by the sending their queen into France : and
it was said, that when once the English saw the hopes of
the marriage irrecoverably lost, they would soon grow weary
of the war ; for then the king of France would engage in
the defence of Scotland with his whole force, so that no-
thing would keep up the war so much as having their
queen still among them. To this many- of the nobility
yielded, being corrupted by money from France; and the
governor consented to it, for which he was to be made duke
of Chastelherault in France, and to have an estate of twelve
thousand livres a year : and so it was agreed to send their
queen away. This being gained, the French ships set sail
to sea, as if they had been to return to France ; but sailed
round Scotland by the Isles of Orkney, and came into Dun-
briton Frith, near to which the queen was kept, in Dun-
briton Castle ; and receiving her from thence, with an
honourable convoy that was sent to attend on her, they
carried her over to Britaigne in France, and so by easy
i'ournies she was brought to court, where her uncles received
ler with great joy, hoping by her means to raise and es-
tablish their fortunes in France.
In the mean time the siege of Kadingtoun wz5 carried on
with great valour on both sides. The French were as-
tonished at the courage, the nimbleness, and labours, of the
Scotch highlanders, who were half naked ; but capable of
great hardships, and used to run on with marvellous swift-
ness *. In one sally which the besieged made, one of those
got an Englishman on his shoulders, and carried him away
with that quickness, that nothing could stop him ; and
though the Englishman bit him so in the neck, that as soon
as he had brought him into the camp, he himself fell down
as dead, yet he carried him off; for which he was nobly
rewarded by Dessie. The English defended themselves no
less courageously ; and though a recruit of about one thou-
sand foot, and three hundred 'horse, that was sent from
Berwick, led by Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Thomas Palmer,
was so fatally intercepted, that they were almost all to a
man killed, yet they lost no heart. Another party of about
three hundred escaped the ambush laid for them, and got into
the town, with a great deal of ammunition and provisions,
pf which the besieged were come to be in want : but at the
• TTiuanus.
THE REFORMATION. 100
same time, both Homecastle and Fascastle were lost : the
former was taken by treachery ; for some coming in as de-
serters, seeming to be very zealous for the English quarrel,
and being too much trusted by the governor, and going often
out to bring intelligence, gave the Lord Home notice, that,
on that side where the rock was, the English kept no good
watches, trusting to the steepness of the place ; so they
agreed that some should come and climb the rock, to whom
they should give assistance ; which was accordingly done,
and so it was surprised in the night. The governor of Fas-
castle had summoned the country people to bring him in
provisions ; upon which (by a common stratagem) soldiers
coming as countrymen, threw down their carriages at the
gates, and fell on the sentinels ; and so, the signal being
given, some that lay concealed near at hand, came in time
to assist them, and took the castle.
The protector, till the army was gathered together, sent a
fleet of ships to disturb the Scots, by the descents they
should make in divers places ; and his brother being ad-
miral, he commanded him to go to his charge. He landed
first in Fife, at St. Minins ; but there the queen's natural
brother, James, afterwards earl of Murray, and regent of
Scotland, gathered the country people together, and made
head against them. The English were twelve hundred, and
had brought their cannon to land ; but the Scots charged
them so home, that they forced them to their ships : many
were drowned, and many killed: the Scots reckoned the
number of the slain to be six hundred, and a hundred pri-
soners taken. The next descent they made was no more
prosperous to them : for, landing in the night at Montrose,
Erskine, of Dun, gathered the country together, and divided
them in three bodies, ordering one to appear soon after the
former had engaged : the enemy, seeing a second and a
third body come against them, apprehending greater num-
bers, run back to their ships ; but with so much loss, that,
of eight hundred who had landed, the third man got not
safe to the ships again. So the admiral returned, having
got nothing but loss and disgrace by the expedition.
But now the English army came into Scotland, com-
manded by the earl of Shrewsbury : though both the Scotch
writers and Thuanus say, the earl of Lennox had the chief
command ; but he only came with the earl of Shrewsbury,
as knowing the country and people best, and so being the
fitter both to get intelligence, and to negociate, if there was
room for it. The Scots were by this time gone home for the
most part ; and the nobility, with Dessie, agreed that it was
not fit to put all to hazard, and therefore raised the siege of
Vol. n, Part L L
no HISTORY OF
Hadingtoun, and marched back to Edinburgh (Aug. 20).
The Lord Gray, with a great part of the English anny, fol-
lowed him in the rear, but did not engage him into any great
action ; by which a good opportunity was lost, for the
French were in great disorder. The English army came
into Hadingtoun : they consisted of about seventeen thou-
sand men ; of which number seven thousand were horse,
and three thousand of the foot were German landsknights,
whom the protector had entertained in his service. These
Germans were some of the broken troops of the Protestant
army, who, seeing the state of their own country desperate,
offered their service to the protector. He too easily enter-
tained them ; reckoning, that, being Protestants, they
would be sure to him, and would depend wholly on himself :
but this proved a fatal counsel to him, the English having
been always jealous of a standing, but much more of a fo-
reign, force about their prince : so there was great occasion
given by this to those who traded in sowing jealousies
among the people. The English, having victualled Hading-
toun and repaired the fortifications, returned back into their
own country ; but had they gone on to Edinburgh, they had
found things there in great confusion : for DessiC; when he
got thither, having lost five hundred of his men in the re-
treat, went to quarter his soldiers in the town ; but the pro-
vost (so is the chief magistrate there called) opposed it.
The French broke in with force, and killed him and his son,
with all they found in the streets, men, women, and chil-
dren : and, as a spy, whom the English had in Edinburgh,
gave them notice, the Scots were now more alienated from
the French than from the English. The French had carried
it very gently till the queen was sent away ; but reckoned
Scotland now a conquered country, and a province to
France : so the Scots began, though too late, to repent the
sending away of the queen. But it seems the English had
orders not to venture too far ; for the hopes of the marriage
were now ^one, and the protector had no mind to engage
in a war with France. These things happened in the be-
ginning of October. Dessie, apprehending that at Hading-
toun they were now secure, the siege being so lately raised^
resolved to try if he could carry the place by surprise. The
English from thence had made excursions as far as Edin-
burgh ; in one of which the French fell on them, pursued
them, and killed about two hundred, and took six score pri-
soners, almost within their works. Soon after, Dessie marched
in the night, and surprised one of their outworks, and was
come to the gates ; where the place had been certainly lost,
if it had not been for a French deserter, who knew, if he
THE REFORMATION. Ill
were taken, what he was to expect : he therefore fired one
of the great cannon, which, being discharged amongst the
thickest of the French, killed so many, and put the rest in
such disorder, that Dessie was forced to quit the attempt.
From thence he went and fortified Leith, which was then but
a mean village ; but the situation of the place being recom-
mended by the security it now had, it soon came to be one
of the best-peopied towns in Scotland. From thence he in-
tended to have gone on, to take Broughty Castle, and to re-
cover Dundee, which were then in the hands of the Eng-
lish : but he was ordered by the queen regent to make an
inroad into England. There, after some slight engagements,
in which the English had the worst, the Scotch and French
came in as far as Newcastle, and returned loaded with
spoil ; which the French divided among themselves, allow-
ing the Scots no share of it. An English priest was taken,
who bore that disgrace of his country so heavily, that he
threw himself on the ground, and would not eat, nor so much
as open his eyes, but lay thus prostrate till he died. This
the French, who seldom let their misfortunes afflict them,
looked on with much astonishment. But at that time the
English had fortified Inch-keith, an island in the Frith, and
put eight hundred men in it. Seventeen days after that,
Dessie brought his forces from Leith, and recovered it ;
having killed four hundred English, and forced the rest to
surrender.
Thus ended this year, and with it Dessie's power in
Scotland : for the queen-mother and the governor had made
great complaints of him at the court of France, that he put
the nation to vast charge to little purpose ; so that he was
more uneasy to his friends than his enemies : and his last
disorder at Edinburgh had, on the one hand, so raised the
insolence of the French soldiers, and, on the other hand, so
alienated and inflamed the people, that, unless another were
sent to command, who should govern more mildly, there
might be great danger of a defection of a whole kingdom : for
now the seeds of their distaste of the French government
were so sown, that men came generally to condemn their
sending the queen away, and to hate the governor for con-
senting to it, but chiefly to abhor the clergy, who had
wrought it for their own ends.
Monsieur de Thormes u as sent over to command ; and
Monluc, bishop of V^alence, came with him to govern the
counsels, and be chancellor of the kingdom : he had lately
returned from his embassy at Constantinople. He was one
of the wisest men of that time, and was always for naode-
rate counsels in matters of religion ; which made him be
112 HISTORY OF
sometime suspected of heresy : and, indeed, the whole
sequel of his life declared him to be one of the greatest men
of that age ; only his being so long, and so firmly united to
Queen Katharine IMedici's interest, takes off a great deal of
the high character which the rest of his life has given of
him : but he was at this time unknown, and ill represented
in Scotland ; where they, that looked for advantages from
their alliance with France, took it ill to feee a Frenchman
sent over to enjoy the best office in the kingdom. The
queen mother herself was afraid of him : so to avoid new
grounds of discontent, he left the kingdom, and returned
into France.
Thus ended the war between Scotland and England this
year, in almost an equal mixture of good and bad success.
The English had preserved Hadingtoun, which was the
chief matter of thrs year's action : but they had been at
great charge m the war, in which they were only on the
defensive ; they had lost other places, and been unsuccess-
ful at sea ; and, which was worst of all, they had now lost
all hopes of the marriage, and were almost engaged in a
war with France, which was like to fall on the king, when
his affairs were in an ill condition, his people being divided
and discontented at home, and his treasure much exhausted
by this war.
The state of Germany was at this time most deplorable :
the pope and emperor continued their quarrelling about the
translation of the council. Mendoza at Rome, and Velasco
at Bologna, declared, in the emperor's name, that a council
being called by his great and long endeavours for the quiet-
ing of Germany, and he being engaged in a war to get it to
be received ; and having procured a submission of the em-
pire to the council, it was, upon frivolous and feigned
causes, removed out of Germany, to one of the pope's
towns ; by which the Germans thought themselves disen-
gaged of their promise, which was to submit to a council in
Germany ; and therefore that he protested against it, as an
unlawful meeting, to whose decrees he would not submit ;
and that if they did not return to Trent, he would take care
of settling religion some other way. But the pope, being
encouraged by the French king, was not ill pleased to see
the emperor anew embroil himself with the Germans, and
therefore intended the council should be continued at Bo-
logna. Upon this the emperor ordered three divines. Julius
Flugius, bishop of Naumburg, Michael Sidonius, and Isle-
bius Agricola, to draw a form of religion. The" two former
had been always papists, and the latter was formerly a Pro-
testant, but was believed to be now corrupted by the em-
THE REFORM /VTION. U3
peror, that the name of one of the Augsburg confession
might make what they were set out pass the more easily.
They drew up all the points of religion, in a book, which
was best known by the name of the Interim, because it was
to last during that interval, till a general council should
meet in Germany. In it, all the points of the Romish doc-
trine were set forth in the smoothest terms possible ; only
married men might officiate as priests, and the communion
was to be given in both kinds. The book being thus pre-
pared, a diet was summoned to Augsburg in February, where
the first thing done was the solemn investiture of Maurice
in the electorate of Saxony. He had been declared elector
last year by the emperor, before Wirtemberg; but now it
was performed with great ceremony on the 24th of February,
which was the emperor's birth-day : John Frederick looking
*on with his usual constancy of mind. All he said was,
" Now they triumph in that dignity, of which they have
against justice and equity spoiled me ; God grant they may
enjoy it peaceably and happily, and may never need any
assistance from me or my posterity." And, without express-
ing any further concern about it, he went to his studies,
which were almost wholly employed in the Scriptures.
The book of the Interim being prepared, the elector of
Brandenburg sent for Martin Bucer, who was both a learned
and moderate divine, and showed it him. Bucer having
read it, plainly told him, that it was nothing but downright
popery, only a little disguised ; at which the elector was
much offended, for he was pleased with it ; and Bucer, not
without great danger, returned back to Strasburg. On the
15th of March, the book was proposed to the diet ; and the
elector of Mentz, without any order, did, in all the princes'
names, give the emperor thanks for it ; which he interpreted
as the assent of the whole diet ; and after that would not
hear any that came to him to stop it, but published it as
agreed to by the diet.
At Rome and Bologna it was much condemned, as a high
attempt in the emperor to meddle with points of religion ;
such as dispensing with the marriage of priests, and the
communion in both kinds : wherefore some of that church
writ against it : and matters went so high, that wise men of
that side began to fear the breach between the emperor and
them might, before they were aware, be past reconciling ;
for they had not forgot that the last pope's stiffness had lost
England, and they were not a little afraid they might now
lose the emperor. But if the pope were offended for the
concessions in these two particulars, the protestants thought
they had much greater cause to dislike it, since in all other
L3
114 HISTORY OF
controverted points it was against them. So that several of
that side writ likewise against it ; but the emperor was now
so much exalted with his success, that he resolved to go
through with it, little regarding the opposition of either hand.
The new elector of Saxony went home, and offered it to his
subjects; but they retused to receive it, and said (as Sir
Philip Hobbey, then ambassador from England at the empe-
ror's court, writ over (Cotton Library, Titus, B. ii), that they
had it under the emperor's hand and seal, that he should
not meddle with matters of religion^^but only with reforming
the commonwealth, and that if their prince would not pro-
tect them in this matter, they should find another v\ ho would
defend them from such oppression. An exhortation for the
receiving of it was read at Augsburg ; but they also refused
it. Many towns sent their addresses to the emperor, de-
siring him not to oppress their consciences. But none was
of such a nature as that from Linda, a little town near Con-
stance, which had declared for the emperor in the former
war : they returned answer, that they could not agree to the
Interim, without incurring eternal damnation ; but to show
their submission to him in all other things, they should not
shut their gates, nor make resistance, against any he should
send, though it were to spoil and destroy their town. This
let the emperor and his council see how difficult a work it
would be to subdue the consciences of the Germans. But
his chancellor Grandvil pressed him to extreme counsels,
and to make an example of that town, who had so perempto-
rily refused to obey his commands : yet he had little reason
to hope he should prevail on those who were at liberty, when
he could work so little on his prisoner, the duke of Saxe.
Tor he had endeavoured, by great offers, to persuade him to
agree to it, but all was in vain ; for he always told them that
kept him, that his person was in their power, but his con-
science was in his own, and that he would not on any terms
depart from the Augsburg Confession : upon this he was
severely used, his chaplain was put from him, with most of
his servants ; but he continued still unmoved, and as cheer-
ful as in his greatest prosperity. The Lutheran divines
entered into great disputes how far they might comply.
Melancthon thought that the ceremonies of popery might
be used, since they were of their own nature indifferent.
Others, as Amstorfius, Illiricus, with the greatest part of the
Lutherans, thought the receiving the ceremonies would make
way for all the errors of popery ; and though they were of
their own nature indifferent, yet they ceased to be so, when
they were enjoined as things necessary to salvation. But
the emperor going on resolutely, many divines were diiven
THE REFORMATION. 115
away ; some concealed themselves in Germany, others fled
into Switzerland, and some came over into England.
When the nev\s of the changes that were made here in
England were carried beyond sea, and, after Peter Martyr's
being with Cranmer, were more copiously written by him to
his friends ; Calvin and M. Bucer, who began to think the
Reformation almost oppressed in Germany, now turned their
eyes more upon Encland. Calvin writ to the protector oji
the 29th of October, encouraging him to go on notwithstand-
ing the wars ; as Hezekias had done in his reformation. He
lamented the heats of some that professed the gospel, but
complained that he heard there were few lively sermons
preached in England ; and that the preachers recited their
discourses coldly. He much approves a set-form of prayers,
whereby the consent of all the churches did more manifestly
appear: but he advises a more complete reformation: he
taxed the prayers for the dead, the use of chrism and extreme
unction, since they were nowhere recommended in Scripture.
He had heard that the reason why they went no further was,
because the times could not bear it ; but this was to do the
work of God by political maxims ; which though they ought
to take place in other things, yet should not be followed in
matters in which the salvation of souls was concerned. But,
above all things, he complained of the great impieties and
vices that were so common in England, as swearing, drink-
ing, and uncleanness ; and prayed him earnestly that these
things might be looked after.
Martin Bucer writ also a discourse, congratulating the
changes then made in England, which was translated into
English by Sir Philip Hobbey's brother. In it he answered
the book that Gardiner had written against him ; which he
had formerly delayed to do, because King Henry had desired
he would let it alone till the English and Germans had
conferred about religion. That book did chiefly relate to
the marriage of the clergy : Bucer showed from many
fathers, that they thought every man had not the gift of
chastity, which Gardiner thought every one might have that
pleased. He taxed the f pen lewdness of the Romish clergy,
who being much set against marriage, which was God's or-
dinance, did gently pass over the impurities which the for-
bidding it had occasioned among themselves. He particu-
larly taxed Gardiner himself, that he had his rents payed
him out of stews : lie taxed him also for his state and pomp-
ous way of living, and showed how indecent it was for a
churchman to be sent in embassies : and that St. Ambrose,
though sent to make peace, was ashamed of it, and thought
it unbecoming the priesthood. Both Fagius and he being
116 HISTORY OF
forced to leave Germany, upon the business of the Interim,
Cranraer invited them over to England ; and sent them to
Cambridge, as he had done Peter Martyr to Oxford. But
Fagius, not agreeing with this air, died soon after ; a man
greatly learned in the oriental tongues, and a good ex-
pounder of the Scripture.
This being the state of affairs both abroad and at home, a
session of parliament was held in England on the 24th of
November, to which day it had been prorogued from the
15th of October, by reason of the plague then in London.
The first bill that was finished, was that about the marriage
of the priests. It was brought into tiie house^f commons
the 3d of December, read the second time on the 5th, and
the third time the 6th. But this bill being only that married
men might be made priests, a new bill was framed, that,
besides the former provision, priests might marry : this was
read the first time the 7ih, the second time the 10th, and was
fully argued on the 11th, and agreed to on the 12th, and sent
up to the lords on the 13th of December. In that house it
stuck as long, as it had been soon dispatched by the com-
mons. It lay on the table till the 9th of February, then it
was read the first time, and the 11th the second time; on
the 16th it was committed to the bishops of Ely and West-
minster, the lord chief justice, and the attorney general :
and on the 19th of February it was agreed to ; the bishops
of London, Duresme, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worces-
ter, Bristol, Chichester, and Landaff, and the Lords Morley,
Dacres, Windsor, and Wharton, dissenting. It had the royal
assent, and so became a law. The preamble sets forth,
" That it were better for priests and other ministers of the
church to live chaste and without marriage ; whereby they
might better attend to the ministry of the gospel, and be less
distracted with secular cares : so that it were much to be
wished, that they would of themselves abstain. But great
filthiness of living, with other inconveniences, had followed
on the laws that compelled chastity, and prohibited marriage ;
so that it was better they should be suffered to marry than
be so restrained : therefore all laws and canons that had
been made against it, being only made by human authority,
are repealed. So that all spiritual persons of what degree
soever might lawfully marry, providing they married accord-
ing to the order of the church : but a proviso was added,
that, because many divorces of priests had been made after
the six articles were enacted, and that the women might
have thereupon married again, all these divorces, with every
thing that had followed on them, should be confirmed."
There was no law that passed in this reign with more con-
THE REFORMATION. 117
tradiction and censure than this, and therefore the reader
may expect the larger account of this matter.
The unmarried state of the clergy had so much to be said
for it, as being a course of life that was more disengaged
from secular cares and pleasures, that it was cast on the
reformers everywhere as a foul reproach, that they could
not restrain their appetites, but engaged in a life that drew
after it domestic cares, with many other distractions : this
was an objection so easy to be apprehended, that the people
had been more prejudiced against the marriage of the clergy,
if they had not felt greater inconveniences by the debau-
cheries of priests, who, being restrained from marriage,
had defiled the beds, and deflowered the daughters, of their
neighbours, into whose houses they had free and unsus-
pected access; and whom, under the cloak of receiving
confessions, they could more easily entice. This made
them that they were not so much wrought on by the
noise of chastity (when they saw so much and so plainly
to the contrary) as otherwise they would have been by a
thing that sounded so well : but, on the other nand, there
was no argument which the reformers had more considered.
There were two things upon which the question turned : the
one was, the obligation that priesthood brought with it to
live unmarried ; the other was, the tie they might be under
by any vow they had made. For the former, they consi-
dered, that God, having ordained a race of men to be
priests under Moses's law, who should offer up expiatory
sacrifices for the sins of the Jews, did not only not forbid
marriage, but made it necessary, for that oflfice was to de-
scend by inheritance ; so that priesthood was not incon-
sistent with that state. In the IS'ew Testament, some of the
qualifications of a bishop and deacon are, their being the
husband of one wife, and their having well ordered their
house, and brought up their children : St. Peter and other
apostles were married ; it was thought St. Paul was so like-
wise ; Aquila was certainly married to Priscilla, and car-
ried her about with him. Our Saviour, speaking of the help
that an unmarried state was to the kingdom of God, recom-
mended it equally to all ranks of men as they could bear it.
St. Paul said, " Let every man have his own wife; it is
better to marry than to burn ;" and, " marriage is honour-
able in all ;" and the forbidding to marry is reckoned by him
a mark of the apostacy of the latter times ; so that the
matter seemed clear from the Scriptures.
In the first ages, Saturninus, Basilides, Montanus, No-
vatus, and the Eucratites, condemned marriage as a state
of liberty more than was fit for Christians. Against those
118 HISTORY OF
was asserted, by the primitive fathers, the lawfulness of
marriage to all Christians without discrimination ; and they,
who entering into holy orders forsook their wives, were se-
verely condemned by the apostolical canons, and by the
council of Gangra. in the beginning of the fourth, and the
council of TruUo in the latter end of the seventh, or rather
in the beginning of the eighth age. Many great bishops in
these times lived still with their wives, and had children by
them; as namely, both Nazianzen's and Basil's fathers:
and Hilary of Poictiers, when banished to Phrygia, and
very old, writing to his own daughter Abra, bid her ask her
mother the meaning of those things which she by reason of
her age understood not ; by wiiich it appears that his
daughter was then very young, and by consequence born to
him after he was a bishop. In the council of Nice, it being
proposed that clergymen should depart from their wives,
Paphnutius, though himself unmarried, opposed it as an
unreasonable yoke. And Heliodorus, bishop of Trica, the
author of the first of those love fables now known by the
name of romance's, being suspected of too much lascivious-
ness, and concerned to clear himself of that charge, did
first move that clergymen should be obliged to live single,
vv^hich, the historian says, they were not tied to before, but
bishops, as they pleased, lived still with their wives. The
fathers in those times extolled a single life very high, and
yet they all thought a man once married might be a bishop,
though his wife were yet living ; they did not allow it, in-
deed, to him that had married twice ; but for this they had
a distinction, that if a man had been once married before
his baptism, and again after his baptism, he was to be
understood to be in the state of a single marriage : so that
Jerome, who writ warmly enough against second marriages,
yet says, ad Oceanum, that the bishops in his age, who
were but once married in that sense, were not to be num-
bered ; and that more of these could be reckoned than
were at the council of Ariminura, who are said to have
been eight hundred bishops. It is true, that in that age they
began to make canons against the marriage of those who
were in orders, especially in the Roman and African
churches ; but those were only positive laws of the church,
and the frequent repeating of those canons shows, that even
there they were not generally obeyed. Of Synesius we
read, that when he was ordained priest, he declared that
he would not live secretly with his wife as some did, but
that he would dwell publicly with her, and wished that
he might have many children by her. In the eastern church
all their clergy below the order of bishops are usually mar-
THE REFORMATION. 119
ried before they be ordained ; and afterwards live with their
wives, and have children by them, without any kind of
prohibition. In the western church the married clergy are
taken notice of in many of the Spanish and Galilean synods,
and the bishops'and priests' wives are called episcopal and
presbyterce. In most of the cathedrals of England, the
clergy were married in the Saxon times, but, as was shown,
page 29 of the first Part, because they would not quit
their wives, they were put out, not of sacred orders, but
only out of the seats they were in, and those weie given to
the monks. When Pope Nicholas had pressed the celibate
of the clergy ia the ninth century, there was great opposi-
tion made to it, chiefly by Huldericus bishop of Augsburg,
who was held a saint notwithstanding this opposition.
Restitutus, bishop of London, lived openly with his wife ;
nor was the celibate of the clergy generally imposed till
Pope Gregory the Seventh's time, in the eleventh century ;
who, projecting to have the clergy depend wholly on him-
self, and so to separate them from the interests of those
Erinces in whose dominions they lived, considered, that, by
aving wives and children, they gave pledges to the state
where they lived, and reckoned, that, if they were free
from this incumbrance, then their persons being sacred,
there would be nothing to hinder, but that they might do
as they pleased in obedience to the pope's, and opposition
to their own prince's orders. The writers near Giegory the
Seventh's time called this a new thing, against the mind of
the holy fathers, and full of rashness in him, thus to turn
out married priests. Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury,
did not impose celibate on the clergy in the villages, but
only on those that lived in towns, and on prebendaries. But
Anselm carried it further, and simply imposed it on all the
clergy ; yet himself laments, that sodomy was become then
very common, and even public ; which was also the com-
plaint of Petrus Damiani, in Pope Gregory's time. Ber-
nard said, that that sin was frequent among the bishops in
his time, and that this, with many other abominations, was
the natural effect of prohibiting marriage. This made abbot
Panormitan wish that it were left to men's liberty to marry
if they pleased. And Pius the Second said, there might
have been good reasons for imposing celibate on the clergy,
but he believed there were far better reasons for taking away
those laws that imposed it. Yet, even since those laws have
been made, Petrarch had a licence to marry, and keep his
preferments still. Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury,.
Richard, bishop of Chichester, and Geofrey, bishop of Ely,
are said to have had wives ; and though there were not so
120 HISTORY OF
many instances of priests marrying after orders, yet if there
were any thing in the nature of priesthood, inconsistent by
the law of God with marriage, then it was as unlawful for
them to continue in their former marriages, as to contract
a new one. Some few instances were also gathered out of
church history, of bishops and priests marrying after orders ;
but as these were few, so there was just reason to contro-
vert them.
Upon the whole matter, it was clear that the celibate of
the clergy flowed from no law of God, nor from any gene-
ral law of the church ; but the contrary, of clergymen's
living with their wives, was universally received for many
ages. As for vov/s, it was much questioned how f^r they
did bind in such cases. It seemed a great sin to impose
such on any, when they were yet young, and did not well
know their own dispositions. Nor was it in a man's power
to keep them. For continence being one of those graces
that are promised by God to all that ask it, as it was not in
a man's power, without extreme severities on himself, to
govern his own constitution of body, so he had no reason
to expect God should interpose, when he had provided
another remedy for such cases. Besides, the promise made
by clergymen, according to the rites of the Roman ponti-
fical, did not oblige them to celibate. The words were,
** Wilt thou fellow chastity and sobriety V to which the
subdeacon answered, " I will." By chastity, was not to
be understood a total abstinence from all, but only from un-
lawful embraces ; since a man might live chaste in a state
of marriage, as well as out of it. But whatever might be
in this, the English clergy were not concerned in it ; for
there was no such question nor answer made in the forms of
their ordination : so they were not by any vow precluded
from marriage. And for the expediency of it, nothing was
more evident, than that these laws had brought in much
uncleanness into the church, and those who pressed them
most had been signally noted for these vices. No prince in
the English history lewder than Edgar, that had so pro-
moted it. The legate that in King Henry the Second's time
got that severe decree made, that put all the married clergy
from their livings, was found the very night after (for the
credit of the celibate) in bed with a whore. On this sub-
ject many indecent stories were gathered, especially by
Bale, who was a learned man, but did not write with that
temper and discretion that became a divine. He gathered
all the lewd stories that could be raked together to this pur-
pose ; and the many abominable things found in the monas-
teries were then fresh in all men's memories. It was also
THE REFORMATION. 121
ftbserved, that the unmarried clergy had been, as much as
the married could be, intent upon raising the families, and
the enriching of their nephews and kindred (and sometimes
of their bastards ; witness the present Pope Paul III, and
not long before him Alexander VI); so that the married
clergy could not be tempted to more covetousness than had
appeared in the unmarried. And for the distraction of do-
mestic affairs, the clergy had formerly given themselves up
to such a secular course of life, that it was thought nothing
could increase it ; but if the married clergy should set them-
selves to raise more than a decent maintenance for their
children, such as might fit them for letters or callings,
and should neglect hospitality, become covetous, and ac-
cumulate livings and preferments, to make estates for their
children ; this might be justly curbed by new laws, or
rather the renewing of the ancient canons, by which clergy-
men were declared to be only entrusted with the goods of
the church for public ends, and were not to apply them to
their own private uses, nor to leave them to their children
and friends.
Thus had this matter been argued, in many books that
were written on this subject, by Poinet and Parker, the one
afterwards bishop of Winchester, and the other archbishop
of Canterbury; also by Bale, bishop of Ossory, with many
more. Dr. Ridley, Dr. Taylor (afterwards bishop of Lin-
coln), Dr. Benson, and Dr. Redmayn, appeared more con-
fidently i^ it than many others ; being men that were re-
solved never to marry themselves, who yet thought it neces-
sary, and therefore pleaded (according to the pattern that
Paphnutius had set them), that all should be left to their
liberty in this matter.
The debate about it was brought into the convocation,
where Dr. Redmayn's authority went a great way. He
was a man of great learning aAd probity, and of so much
gi eater weight, because he did not in all points agree with
the reformers : but, being at this time sick, his opinion was
brought under his hand, which will be found in the Col-
lection (No. XXX ) copied from the original. It was to
this purpose, " That though the Scriptures exhorted priests
to live chaste, and out of the cares of the world, yet the
laws forbidding them marriage were only canons and con-
stitutions of the church ; not founded on the word of God :
and therefore he thought, that a man once married might
be a priest : and he did not find the priests in the church of
England had made any vow against marriage ; and there-
fore he thought, that the king and the higher powers of the
church might take away the clog of perpetual continence
Vol. II, Part I. M
m HISTORY OF
from the priests, and grant that such as could not, or would
not contain, might marry once, and not be put from their
holy ministration." It was opposed by many in both houses,
but carried at last by the major vote. All this I gather
from what is printed concerning it ; for I have seen no re-
mains of this, or of any of the other convocations that came
afterwards in this reign ; the registers of them being de-
stroyed in the fire of London. This act seemed rather a
connivance, and permission of the clergy to marry, than
any direct allowance of it ; so the enemies of that state of
life continued to reproach the married clergy still ; and
this was much heightened by many indecent marriages,
and other light behaviour of some priests. But these
things made way for a more full act concerning this mat-
ter, about three years after.
The next act that passed in this parliament was about
the public service ; which was put into the house of com-
mons on the 9th of December, and the next day was also
put into the house of lords : it lay long before them, and
was not agreed to till the 15th of January. The earl of
Derby, the bishops of London, Duresme, Norwich, Car-
lisle, Hereford, Worcester, Westminster, and Chichester,
and the Lords Dacie^ and Windsor, protesting. The pre-
amble of the act sets forth, " That there had been several
forms of service, and that of late there had been great
difference in the administration of the sacraments and
other parts of Divine worship : and that the most effectual
endeavours could not stop the inclinations of many to de-
part from the former customs : which the king had not
punished, believing they flowed from a good zeal. But,
that there might be an uniform way over all the kingdom,
the king, by the advice of the lord protector and his coun-
cil, had appointed the archbishop of Canterbury, with
other learned and discreet bishops and divines, to draw an
order of divine worship, having respect to the pure religion
of Christ taught in the Scripture, and to the practice of
the primitive church, which they, by the aid of the Holy
Ghost, had with one uniform agreement concluded on:
wherefore the parliament having considered the book, and
the things that were altered or retained in it, they gave
their most humble thanks to the king for his care about it :
and did pray, that all who had formerly offended in these
matters, except such as were in the Tower of London, or
the prison of the Fleet, should be pardoned ; and did enact,
that from the feast of Whit-Sunday next, all divine offices
should be performed according to it, and that such of the
clergy as should refuse to do it* or continue to officiate in
THE REFORMATION. 123
any other manner, should upon the first conviction be im-
prisoned six months, and forfeit a year's profit of their be-
nefice : for the second oflTence forfeit all their church pre-
ferments, and suflfer a year's imprisonment : and for the
third offence should be imprisoned during life. And all
that should write, or put out things in print against it, or
threaten any clergymen for using it, were to be fined in 10/.
for the first offence, 20/. for the second, and to forfeit all
their goods, and be imprisoned for life, upon a third
offence. Only at the universities they might use it in Latin
and Greek, excepting the office of the communion. It was
also lawful to use other psalms or prayers taken out of the
Bible, so those in the book were not omitted." This act
was variously censured by those who disliked it. Some
thought it too much, that it was said the book was drawn
by the aid of the Holy Ghost : but others said this was not
to be so understood as if they had been inspired by extra-
ordinary assistance ; for then there had been no room for
any correction of what was now done : and therefore it
was only to be understood in that sense, as all good mo-
tions and consultations are directed or assisted by the secret
influences of God's Holy Spirit, which do oft help good
naeu, even in their imperfect actions, where the good that
is done is justly ascribed to the grace of God. Others cen-
sured it, because it was said to be done by uniform agree-
ment ; and the three bishops that were employed -in the
drawing of it, protested against it. These were the bishops
of Hereford, Chichester, and Westminster ; but these had
agreed in the main parts of the work, though in some few
particulars they were not satisfied, which made them dis-
sent from the whole.
The proviso for the psalms and prayers taken out of the
Bible, was for the singing psalms, which were translated
into veise, and much sung by all who loved the Reforma-
tion, and were in many places used in churches. In the
ancient church the Christians were much exercised in re-
peating the Psalms of David : many had them all by
heart, and used to be reciting them when they went about
their work ; and those who retired into a monastical course
of life, spent many of their hours in repeating the Psalter.
ApoUinaris put them in verse, as being easier for the me-
mory. Other devout hymns came to be also in use.
Nazianzen among the Greeks, and Prudentius among the
Latins, laboured on that argument with the greatest suc-
cess. There were other hymns that were not put in verse ;
the chief of which were, that most ancient hymn which we
use now after the sacrament, and the celebrated Ambrosian
124 HISTORY OF
hymn that begins Te Deum laudamus. But as, when the
worship of the departed saints came to be dressed up with
much pomp, hymns were also made for their honour ; and
the Latin tongue, as well as prosody, being then much de-
cayed ; these came to be cast into rhymes, and were written
generally in a fantastical affected style : so now at the Re-
formation, some poets, such as the times afforded, translated
David's Psalms into verse ; and it was a sign by which
men's affections to that work were everywhere measured,
whether they used to sing these, or not. But as the poetry
then was low, and not raised to that justness to which it is
since brought, so this work, which then might pass for a to-
lerable composure, has not been since that time so reviewed
or changed as perhaps the thing required : heoce it is, that
this piece of Divine worship, by the meanness of the verse,
has not maintained its due esteem. Another thing, that
some thought deserved to be considered in such a work, was,
that many of the Psalms, being such as related more spe-
cially to David's victories, and contained passages in them
not easily understood, it seemed better to leave out these,
which it was not so easy to sing with devotion, because the
meaning of them either lay hid, or did not at all concern
Christians.
(1549.) The parliament was adjourned from the 22d of
December to the 2d of January. On the 7th of January
the commons sent an address to the protector, to restore La-
timer to the bishopric of Worcester : but this took no effect,
for that good old man did choose rather to go about and
preach, than to engage in a matter of government, being
now very ancient*. A bill was put in by the lords for ap-
pointing of parks, and agreed to, the earl of Arundel only
dissenting ; but being sent down to the commons, it was
upon the second reading thrown out, yet not so unanimously
but that the house was divided about it.
On the 4th of February a bill was put in against eating
flesh in Lent, and on fasting days ; it was committed to the
archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Ely, Worcester,
and Chichester ; and sent to the commons on the 16th, who
sent it up on the 7th of March, with a proviso to which the
lords agreed. In the preamble it is said, " That though it is
clear by the word of God, that there is no day, nor kind of
meat, purer than another, but that all are in themselves
alike ; yet many out of sensuality had contemned such absti-
nence as had been formerly used ; and since due absti-
nence was a mean to virtue, and to subdue men's bodies
♦ Jour. Proc.
THE REFORMATION. 126
to their soul and spirit, and was also necessary to encourage
the trade of fishing, and for saving of flesh ; therefore, all
former laws about fasting and abstinence were to be after
the 1st of May repealed : and it was enacted, that from the
1st of May none should eat flesh on Fridays, Saturdays,
Ember-days, in Lent, or any other days that should be de-
clared fkh-days, under several penalties. A proviso was
added, for excepting such as should obtain the king's
licence, or were sick, or weak, and that none should be in-
dicted but within three months after the oflfence."
Christ had told his disciples, that when he should be
taken from them, then they should fast. Accordingly the
primitive Christians used to fast oft, more particularly
before the anniversay of the passion of Christ, which ended
in a high festivity at Easter. Yet this was differently ob-
served, as to the number of days. Some abstained forty
days, in imitation of Christ's fast ; others only that week ;
and others had only an entire fast from the time of Christ's
death till his resurrection. On these fasts they eat nothing
till the evening, and then they eat most commonly herbs and
roots. Afterwards the Fridays were kept as fasts, because
on that day Christ suff'ered. Saturdays were also added in
the Roman church, but not without contradiction. Ember-
weeks came in afterwards, being some days before those
Sundays in which orders were given. And a general rule
being laid down, that every Christian festival should be pre-
ceded by a fast*, thereupon the vigils of holy-days came,
though not so soon, into the number. But this, with the
other good institutions of the primitive times, became dege-
nerate ; even in St. Austin's time, religion came to be
placed in these observances, and anxious rules were made
about them. Afterwards in the church of Rome they were
turned into a mockery ; for as on fast-days they dined, which
the ancients did not, so the use of the most delicious fish,
dressed in the most exquisite manner, with the richest wines
that could be had, was allowed ; which made it ridiculous.
So now they resolved to take off the severities of the former
laws, and yet to keep up such laws about fasting and absti-
nence as might be agreeable to its true end: which is, to
subdue the flesh to the spirit, and not to gratify it by a
change of one sort of diet into another, which may be
both more delicate and more inflaming. So fond a thing is
superstition, that it will help men to deceive themselves by
the slightest pretences that can be imagined.
* The festivals between Easter and the Ascension-day were not so,
on the pretended reawa that tlje bridegroom wem with them; as also
Michaelmas.
M3
126 HISTORY OF
It Mras much lamented then, and there is as much cause
for it still, that carnal men have taken advantages from the
abuses that were formerly practi-ed, to thrown off good and
profitable institutions : since the frequent use of fasting,
with prayer and true devotion joined to it, is perhaps one of
the greatest helps that can be devised, to advance one to a
spiritual temper of mind, and to promote a holy course of
life : and the mockery that is discernible in the way of some
men's fasting, is a very slight excuse for any to lay aside the
use of that which the Scriptures have so much recom-
mended.
There were other bills put into both houses, but did not
pass. One was, for declaring it treason to marry the king's
sisters, without consent of the king and his council; but
it was thought that King Henry's will, disabling them from
the succession in that case, would be a stronger restraint ;
and so it was laid aside. Another bill was put in for eccle-
siastical jurisdiction. Great complaints were made of the
abounding vices and immoralities, which the clergy could
neither restrain nor punish ; and so they had nothing left
but to preach against them, which was done by many with
great freedom. In some of these sermons, the preachers ex-
pressed their apprehensions of signal and speedy judgments
from Heaven, if the people did not repent ; but their sermons
had no great efiect, for the nation grew very corrupt,
and this brought on them severe punishments. The temporal
lords were so jealous of putting power in churchmen's hands,
especially to correct those vices of which themselves per-
haps were most guilty, that the bill was laid aside. The
pretence of opposing it w^as, that the greatest part of the
bishops and clergy were still papists in their hearts ; so that
if power were put into such men's hands, it was reasonable
to expect they would employ it chiefly against those who
favour the Reformation, and would vex them on that score,
though with pretences fetched from other things.
There was also put into the house of commons a bill for
reforming of processes at common law, which was sent up
by the commons to the lords ; but it fell in that house. I have
seen a large discourse written then upon that argument ; in
which it is set forth, that the law of England was a barba-
rous kind of study, and did not lead men into a finer sort of
learning, which made the common lawyers to be generally
so ignorant of foreign matters, and so unable to negotiate in
them; therefore it was proposed, that the common and
statute laws should be, in i litation of the Roman law,
digested into a body under titles and heads, and put in good
Latin. But this was too great a design to be set on, or
finished, under an infant king. If it was then necessary, it
THE REFORMATION. 127
will be readily acknowledged to be much more bo now, the
volume of our statutes being so much swelled since that time :
besides the vast number of reports and cases, and the plead-
ings growing much longer than formerly : yet whether this
is a thing to be much expected or desired, 1 refer it to the
learned and wise men of that robe.
The only act that remains of this session of parliament,
about which I shall inform the reader, is the attainder of the
admiral. The queen dowager, that had married him, died
in September last, not without suspicion of poison. She was
a good and virtuous lady, and in her whole life had done
nothing unseemly, but the marrying him so indecently, and
so soon after the king's death. There was found among her
papers a discourse written by her, concerning herself, enti-
tled, '* The Lamentation of a Sinner," which was published
by Cecil, who writ a preface to it. In it she, with great.sin-
cerity, acknowledges the sinful course of her life for many
years, in which she, relying on external performances, such
as fasts and pilgrimages, was all that while a stranger to the
internal and true power of religion, which she came after-
wards to feel by the study of the Scripture, and the calling
upon God for his Holy Spirit. She explains clearly the no-
tion she had of justification by faith, so that holiness neces-
sarily followed upon it, but lamented the great scandal given
by many gospellers : so were all those called, who were given
to the reading of the Scriptures.
She being thus dead, the admiral renewed his addresses to
the Lady Elizabeth, but in vain ; for as he could not ex-
pect that his brother and the council would consent to it, so
if he had married her without thaA^, the possibility of suc-
ceeding to the crown was cut off by King Henry's will.
And this attempt of his occasioned that act to be put in,
which was formerly mentioned, for declaring the marrying
the king's sisters, without consent of council, to be treason.
Seeing he could not compass that design, he resolved to carry
away the king to his house of Holt, in the country ; and so
to displace his brother, and to take the government into his
own hands. For this end, he had laid in magazines of arras,
and listed about ten thousand men in several places, and
openly complained, that his brother intended to enslave the
nation, and make himself master of all ; and had therefore
brought over those German soldiers. He had also entered
into treaty with several of the nobility, that envied his bro-
ther's greatness, and were not ill pleased to see a breach
between them, and that grown to be irreconcileable. To
these he promised, that they should be of the council, and
that he would dispose of the king in marriage to one of their
daughters : the person is not named. The protector had
138 HISTORY OF
often told him of these things, and warned him of the dan-
ger into wqich he would throw himself by such ways ; but
he persisted still in his designs, though he denied and ex-
cused them as long as was possible. Mow his restless ambi-
tion seeming incurable, he was on the 19th of January sent
to the Tower. The original warrant, signed by all the
privy-couucil, is in the council-book formerly mentioned ;
where the earl of Southamption signs with the rest : who
was now, in outward appearance, reconciled to the protec-
tor. On the day following the admiral's seal of his office
was sent for, and put into Secretary Smith's hands. And
now many things broke out against him ; and particularly a
conspiracy of his with Sir W. Shavington, vice-treasurer of
the mint at Bristol, who was to have furnished him with
10,000/. and had already coined about 10,000/. false money,
and had clipped a great deal more, to the value of 40,000/.
in all ; for which he was attainted by a process at common
law, and that was confirmed in parliament, Fowler, also,
that waited in the privy-chamber, with some few others,
were sent to the Tower. Many complaints being usually
brought against a sinking man, the Lord Russell, the earl of
Southampton, and Secretary Petre, were oidered to receive
their examinations And thus .the business was let alone
till the 28th of February, in which time his brother did
again try if it weie possible to bring him to a better temper :
and as he had, since their first breach, granted him 800/. a
year in land, to gain his friendship ; so means were now
used to persuade him to submit himself, and to withdraw
from court, and from all employment. But it appeared that
nothing could be done to him, that could cure his ambition,
or the hatred he cairied to his brother. And therefore, on
the •22d of February, a full report was made to the council of
all the things that were informed against him ; consisting
not only of the particulars formerly mentioned, but of many
foul misdemeanours in the discharge of the admiralty : seve-
ral pirates being entertained by him, who gave him a share
of their robberies, and whom he had protected, notwith-
standing the complaints made by other princes ; by which
the king was in danger of a war from the princes so com-
plaining. The whole charge consists of thirl y-three articles,
which will be found in the Collection (No. xxxi). The par-
ticulars, as it is entered in the council-book, were so mani-
festly proved, not only by witnesses, but by letters under his
own hand, that it did not seem possible to deny them. Yet
he had been sent to, and examined, by some of the council,
but refused to make a direct answer to them, or to sign those
answers that he had made. So it was ordered, that the next
day all the privy-council, except the archbishop of Canter-
THE REFORMATION. 129
bury, and Bh John Baker, speaker to the house of commons,
who was engaged to attend in the house, should go to the
Tower, and examine hira. On the 23d the lord chancellor, with
the other counsellors, went to him, and read the articles of
his charge, and earnestly desired him to make plain answers
to them, excusing himself where he could, and submitting
himself in other things ; and that he would show no obsti-
nacy of mind. He answered them, that he expected an open
trial, and his accusers to be brought face to face. All the
counsellors endeavoured to persuade him to be more tract-
able, but to no purpose. At last the lord chancellor required
him, on his allegiance, to make his answer. He desired
they would leave the articles with him, and he would consi-
der of them, otherwise he would make no answer to them.
But the counsellors resolved not to leave them with him, on
those terms. On- the 24th of February, it was resolved in
council, that the whole board should, after dinner, acquaint
the king with the state of that affair, and desire to know of
him whether he would have the law to take place ; and
since the thing had been before the parliament, whether he
would leave it to their determination : so tender they were
of their young king, in a case that concerned his uncle's
life. But the king had begun to discern his seditious tem-
per, and was now much alienated from him.
When the counsellors waited on him, the lord chancellor
opened the matter to the king, and delivered his opinion for
leaving it to the parliament. Then every counsellor by
himself spake his mind, all to the same purpose. Last of all
the protector spake : he protested this was a most sorrowful
business to him ; that he had used all the means in his
power to keep it from coming to this extremity ; but were it
son or brother he must prefer his majesty's safety to them,
for he weighed his allegiance more than his blood : and that
therefore he was not against the request that the other lords
had made ; and said, if he himself were guilty of such of-
fences, he should not think he were worthy of life ; and the
rather, because he was of all men the most bound to his
niajesty, and therefore he could not refuse justice. The
king answered them in these words: " We perceive that
there are great things objected and laid to my lord admiral,
my uncle, and they tend to treason ; and we perceive that
you require but justice to be done : we think it reasona-
ble, and we will, that you proceed according to your request."
Which words (as it is marked in the council-book ) coming so
suddenly from his grace's moulh, of his own motion, as the
lords might well perceive, they were marvellously rejoiced,
and gave the king most hearty praise and thanks ; yet re-
130 HISTORY OF
solved, that some of both houses should be sent to the admi-
ral, before the bill should be put ia against him, to see what
he could or would say. All this was done to try if he could
be brought to a submission. So the lord chancellor, the earls
of Shrewsbury, Warwick, and Southampton, and Sir John
Baker, Sir Thomas Cheyney, and Sir Anthony Denny, were
sent to him. He was long obstinate, but after much per-
suasion was brought to give an answer to the first three arti
cles, which will be found in the Collection at the end of the
articles : and then on a sudden he stopped, and bade them
be content, for he would go no further ; and no entreaties
would work on him, either to answer the rest, or to set his
hand to the answers he had made.
On the 25th of February the bill was put in for attainting
him, and the peers had been so accustomed to agree to such
bills in King Henry's time, that they did easily pass it.
All the judges, and the king's douncil, delivered their
opinions, that the articles were treason. Then the evidence
was brought : many lords gave it so fully, that all the rest
with one voice consented to the bill ; only the protector, for
natural pity's sake, as is in the council-book, desired leave
to withdraw. On the 27th the bill was sent down to the
commons, with a message, that if they desired to proceed as
the lords had done, those lords that had given their evidence
in their own house, should come down and declare it to the
commons. But there was more opposition made in the
house of commons. Many argued against attainders in ab-
sence, and thought it an odd way, that some peers should rise
up in their places in their own house, and relate somewhat
to the slander of another, and that he should be thereupon
attainted : therefore it was pressed, that it might be done
by a trial, and that the admiral should be brought to the
bar, and be heard plead for himself. But on the 4th of
March a message was sent from the king, that he thought it
was not necessary to send for the admiral : and that the
lords should come down and renew before them the evidence
they had given in their own house. This was done ; and so
the bill was agreed to by the commons in a full house,
judged about four hundred, and there were not above ten or
twelve that voted in the negative. The royal assent was
given on the 5th of March. On the 10th of March, the
council resolved to press the king that justice might be done
on the admiral : and since the case was so heavy and
lamentable to the protector (so it is in the council-book),
though it was also sorrowful to them all, they resolved to
proceed in it so that neither the king, nor he, should be
further troubled with it. After dinner they went to the
THE REFORMATION. 131
king, the protector being with them. The king said, he
bad well observed their proceedings, and thanked them for
their great care of his safety, and commanded them to pro-
ceed in it without further molesting him or the protector :
and ended, " I pray you, my lords, do so." Upon this they
ordered the bishop of Ely to go to the admiral, and to in-
struct him in the things that related to another life ; and to
prepare him to take patiently his deserved execution. And
on the 17th of March, he having made report to them of his
attendance on the admiral, the council signed a warrant for
his execution, which will be found in the Collection
(No. xxxii), to which both the lord protector and the arch-
bishop of Canterbury set their hands. And on the 20th his
head was cut off. What his behaviour was on the scaffold
I do not find *.
Thus fell Thomas Lord Seymour, lord high admiral of
England, a man of high thoughtsfof great violence of tem-
per, and ambitious out of measure. The protector was
much censured forgiving way to hisexecution,by those who
looked only at that relation between them, which they
thought should have made him still preserve him. But
others, who knew the whole series of the affair, saw it was
scarce possible for him to do more for the gaining his bro-
ther than he had done. Yet the other being a popular
notion, that it was against nature for one brother to destroy
another, was more easily entertained by the multitude, who
could not penetrate into the mysteries of state. But the
way of proceeding was much condemned ; since to attaint
a man without bringing him to make his own defence, or to
object what he could say to the witnesses that were brought
against him, was so illegal and unjust, that it could not be
defended. Only this was to be said for it, that it was a
little more regular than pailiamentaiy attainders had been
formerly ; for here the evidence upon which it was founded
was given before both houses.
One particular seemed a little odd, that Cranmer signed
the warrant for his execution ; which being in a cause of
blood, was contrary to the canon law. In the primitive
times, churchmen had only the cure of souls lying on them,
together with the reconciling of such differences as might
otherwise end in suits of law before the civil courts, which
were made up of infidels. When the empire became Chris-
* There is a very remarkable account of his death and behaviour, in
Bishop Latimer's fourth sermon, edit. 1, p. .56 (left out of the follow-
ing editions), where, amongst other things, he says, "He [the admi-
ral] dyed very dangerously, yrksomelye, horryblye."
132 HISTORY OF
tian, these judgments, which they gave originally on s6
charitable an account, were by the imperial laws made to
have great authority ; but further than these, or the care of
widows and orphans, they were forbid, both by the council
of Chalcedon, and other lesser councils, to meddle in secular
matters. Among the endowments made to some churches,
there were lands given, where the slaves, according to the
Roman law, came within the patrimony of these churches,
and by that law masters had power of life and death over
their slaves.
In some churches this power had been severely exercised,
even to maiming and death, which seemed very indecent in
a churchman. Besides, there was an apprehension that
some severe churchmen, who were but masters for life,
might be more profuse of the lives of such slaves, than those
that were to transmit them to their families. Therefore, to
prevent the Avaste that would be made in the church's patr'-
mony, it was agreed on, that churchmen should not pro-
ceed capitally against any of their vassals or slaves. And
in the confusions that were in Spain, the princes that pre-
vailed had appointed priests to be judges, to give the greater
reputation to their courts. This being found much to the
prejudice of the church, it was decreed in the fourth
council of Toledo, that priests, who were chosen by Christ
to the ministry of salvation, should not judge in capital
matters, unless the prince should swear to them, that he
would remit the punishment : and such as did otherwise,
were held guilty of blood-shedding, and were to lose their
degree in the church. This was soon received over all the
western church ; and arguments were found out afterwards
by the canonists to prove the necessity of continuing it ;
from David's not being suffered to build the temple, since
he was a man of blood ; and from the qualification required
by St. Paul, in a bishop, that he should be no striker ; since
he seemed to strike, that did it either in person, or by
one v^hom he deputed to do it. But when afterwards
Charles the Great, and all the Christian princes in the
west, gave their bishops great lands and dominions ; they
obliged them to be in all their councils, and to do them such
services as they required of them by virtue of their tenures.
The popes, designing to set up a spiritual empire, and to
bring all church lands within it, required the bishops to
separate themselves from a dependence on their princes, as
much as it was possible : and these laws, formerly made
about cases of blood, were judged a colour good enough
why they should not meddle in such trials ; so they procured
these cases to be excepted. But it seems Cranmer thought
THE REFORMATION. 133
his conscience was under no tie from those canons, and
so judged it not contrary to his functions to sign that order.
The parliament was on the 14th of March prorogued to
the 4th of November, the clergy having granted the king a
subsidy of six shillings in the pound, to be paid in three
years. In the preamble of the bill of subsidy they acknowr-
ledged the great quietness they enjoyed under him, having
no let nor impediment in the service of God. But the laity
set out their subsidy with a much fuller preamble, of the
great happiness they had by the true religion of Christ ;
declaring that they were ready to forsake all things rather
than Christ ; as also to assist the king in the conquest of
Scotland, which they call a part of his dominion : therefore
they give twelvepence in the pound of all men's personal
estates, to be paid in three years.
But now to look into matters of religion : there was, im-
mediately after the act of uniformity passed, a new visita-
tion, which, it is probable, went in the same method that
was observed in the former. There were two things much
complained of; the one was, that the priests read the
prayers generally with the same tone of voice that they had
used formerly in the Latin service ; so that it was said, the
people did not understand it much better than they had
done the Latin formerly. This I have seen represented in
many letters; and it was very seriously laid before Cran-
mer by Martin Bucer. The course taken in it was, that in
all parish churches the service should be read in a plain
audible voice ; but that the former way should remain in
cathedrals, where there were great choirs, who were well
acquainted with that tone, and where it agreed better with
the music that was used in the anthems. Yet even there,
many thought it no proper way in the Litany, where the
greatest gravity was more agreeable to such humble ad-
dresses, than such a modulation of the voice, which to those
unacquainted with it seemed light, and for others that were
more accustomed to it, it seemed to be rather xise that had
reconciled them to it, than the natural decency of the
thing, or any fitness in it to advance the devotion of their
prayers. But this was a thing judged of less importance :
It was said, that those who had been accustomed to read in
that voice, could not easily alter it : but as those dropped
off and died, others would be put in their places, who
would officiate in a plainer voice. Other abuses were more
important. Some used in the communion service many of
the old rites, such as kissing the altar, crossing themselves,
lifting the book from one place to another, breathing on
the bread, showing it openly before the distribution, with
Vol. II, Part I. N
134 HISTORY OF
some other of the old ceremonies. The people did also
continue the use of their praying by beads, wliich was called
an innovation of Peter the Hermit, in the twelfth century.
By it, ten Aves went for one Paternoster, and the reciting
these so oft in Latin, had come to be almost all the devotion
of the vulgar ; and, therefore, the people were ordered to
leave that unreasonable way of praying, it seeming a most
unaccountable thing, that the reciting the angel's salutation
to the blessed Virgin should be such a high piece of divine
worship ; and that this should be done ten times, for one
prayer to God, looked so like preferring the creature to
the Creator, that it was not easy to defend it from an
* appearance of idolatry. The priests were also ordered to
exhort the people to give to the poor. The curates were
required to preach and declare the catechism, at least every
sixth week : and some priests continuing secretly the use of
soul masses, in which, for avoiding the censure of the law,
they had one to communicate with them, but had many of
these in one day ; it was ordered, that there should be no
selling of the communion, in trentals, and that there should
be but one commuaion in one church, except on Easter-day
and Christmas ; in which the people coming to the sacra-
ment in greater numbers, there should be one sacrament in
the morning, and another near noon. And there being great
abuses in churches, and church-yards, in which, in the times
of popery, markets had been held, and bargains made, that
was forbid, chiefly in the time of divine service or sermon.
These instructions, which the reader will find in the Col-
lection (No. xxxiii), were given in charge to the visitors.
Cranmer had also a visitation about the same time, in which
the articles he gave out are all drawn according to the
king's injunctions. By some questions in them, they seem
to have been sent out before the parliament, because the
book of service is not mentioned : but the last question save
one being of such as contemned married priests, and refused
to receive the sacrament at their hands, I conceive that
these were compiled after the act concerning their marriage
was passed, but before the feast of Whit-Sunday following,
for till then the Common -Prayer-Book was not to be re-
ceived. There were also orders sent by the council to the
bishop of London, to see that there should be no special
masses in St. Paul's church ; which, being the mother
church, in the chief city of the kingdom, would be an ex-
ample to all the rest ; and that, therefore, there should be
only one communion at the great altar, and that at the time
when the high mass was wont to be celebrated, unless some
desired a sacrament in the morning, and then it was to be
THE REFORMATION. 135
celebrated at the high altar. Bonner, who resolved to com-
ply in every thing, sent the council's letter to the dean
and residentiaries of St. Paul's, to see it obeyed : and,
indeed, all England over the book was so universally re-
ceived, that the visitors did return no complaint from any
corner of the whole kingdom. Only the Lady Mary con-
tinued to have mass said in her house ; of which the coun-
cil being advertised, writ to her to conform herself to the
laws, and not to cast a reproach on the king's government ;
for the nearer she was to him in blood, she was to give the
better example to others ; and her disobedience inight
encourage others to follow her in that contempt of the king's
authority. So they desired her to send to them her comp-
troller, and Dr. Hopton, her chaplain, by whom she should
be more fully advertised of the king and council's pleasure.
Upon this she sent one to the emperor to interpose for her,
that she might not be forced to any thing against her con-
science.
At this time there was a complaint made at the emperor's
court, of the English ambassador Sir Philip Hobby, for using
the new Common-Prayer-Book there : to which he an-
swered, he was to be obedient to the laws of his own prince
and country ; and as the emperor's ambassador had mass at
his chapel at London, without disturbance, though it was
contrary to the law of England, so he had the same reason
to expect the like liberty. But the emperor espousing the
interest of the Lady Mary, both Paget (who was sent over
ambassador-extiaordinary to him upon* his coming into
Flanders) and Hobby promised, in the king's name, that he
should dispense with her for some time, as they afterwards
declared upon their honours, when the thing was further
questioned: though the emperor and his ministers pre-
tended, that without any qualification it was promised, that
she should enjoy the free exercise of her religion. The em-
peror was now grown so high with his success in Germany,
and that at a time when a war was coming on with France,
that it was not thought advisable to give him any offence.
There was likewise a proposition sent over by him to the
protector and council, for the Lady Mary to be married to
Alphonso, brother to the king of Portugal (Cotton Lib.
Galba, B. xii). The council entertained it : and though the
late king had left his daughters but 10,000/. a-piece, yet
they offered to give with her 100,000 crowns in money, and
20,000 crowns worth of jewels. The infant of Portugal was
about her own age, and offered 20,000 crowns jointure.
But this proposition fell ; on what hand I do not know.
The Lady Mary writ on the 22d of June to the council, that
136 HISTORY OF
she could not obey their late laws ; and that she dul not
esteem them laws, as made when the king was not of age,
and contrary to those made by her father, which they were
all bound by oath to maintain. She excused the not send-
ing her comptroller (Mr. Arundel), and her priest : the one
did all her business, so that she could not well be without
him ; the other was then so ill that he could not travel.
Upon this the council sent a peremptory command to these,
requiring them to come up, and receive their orders. The
Lady Mary wrote a second letter to them on the 27th of
June, in which she expostulated the matter with the coun-
cil. She said she was subject to none of them, and would
obey none of the laws they made ; but protested great
obedience and subjection to the king. When her officers
came to court, they were commanded to declare to the
Lady Mary, that though the king was young in person, yet
his authority was now as great as ever : that those who have
his authority and act in his name are to be obeyed ; and
though they as single persons were her humble servants, yet
when they met in council, they acted in the king's name,
and so were to be considered by all the king's subjects as if
they were the king himself: they had indeed sworn to obey
the late king's laws, but that could bind them no longer
than they were in force ; and being now repealed, they were
no more laws ; other laws being made in their room : there
was no exception in the laws, all the king's subjects were
included in them ; and for a reformation of religion made
when a king was under age, one of the most perfect that
was recorded in Scripture was so carried on, when Josiah
was much younger than their king was : therefore they gave
them in charge to persuade her grace (for that was her
title) to be a good example of obedience, and not to
encourage peevish and obstinate persons by her stiffness.
But this business was for some time laid aside.
And now the Reformation was to be carried on to the
establishing of a form of doctrine, which should contain the
chief points of religion. In order to which, there was
this year great inquiry made into many particular opi-
nions, and chiefly concerning the presence of Christ in the
sacrament. There was no opinion for which the priests con-
tended more ignorantly and eagerly, and that the people
generally believed more blindly and firmly, as if a strong
belief were nothing else but winking very haid. The
t)rie>ts, because they accounted it the chief support now
eft of their falling dominion, which being kept up, might in
time retrieve all the rest. For while it was believed, that
their character qualified them for so strange and mighty a
«
THE REFORMATION. 137
performance, they must needs be held in great reverence.
The people, because they thought they received the very
flesh of Christ, and so (notwithstanding our Saviour's ex-
press declaration to the contrary, that "the flesh profiteth
nothing") looked on those who went about to persuade
them otherwise, as men that intended to rob them of the
greatest privilege they had. And therefore it was thought
necessary to open this fully, before there should be any
change made in the doctrine of the church.
The Lutherans seemed to agree with that which had been
the doctrine of the Greek church, that in the sacrament
there was both the substance of bread and wine, and
Chiist's body likewise. Only many of them defended it by
an opinion that was thought akin to the Eutychian heresy,
that his human nature, by virtue of the union of the God-
head, was everywhere : though even in this way it did not
appear that there was any special presence in the sacrament,
more than in other things. Those of Switzerland had, on
the other hand, taught, that the sacrament was only an insti-
tution to commemorate the suff'erings of Christ. This,
because it was intelligible, was thought by many too low
and mean a thing, and not equal to the high expressions
that are in the Scripture, of its being the communion of the
body and blood of Christ. The princes of Germany saw
what mischief was like to follow on the diversity of opinions
in explaining the sacrament : and as Luther, being impa-
tient in his temper, and too much given to dictate, took it
very ill to see his doctiine so rejected ; so, by the indecent
way of writing m matters of controversy, to which the Ger-
nians are too much inclined, this difl'erence turned to a diiect
breach among them. The landgrave of Hesse had laboured
much to have these diversities of opinion laid asleep,
since nothing gave their common enemies such advantage as
their quarrelling among themselves. Martin Bucer was of
a moderate temper, and had found a middle opinion in this
matter, though not so easy to be understood. He thought
there was more than a remembrance, to wit, a communica-
tion, of the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament ; that
in general a real presence ought to be asserted, and that the
way of explaining it ought not to be anxiously inquired
into : and with him Calvin agreed, that it was truly the body
and blood of Christ, not figuratively, but really present.
The advantage of these general expressions was, that
thereby they hoped to have silenced the debates between
the German and Helvetian divines, whose doctrine came like-
wise to be received by many of the civies of the empire, and
by the Elector Palatine. And among Martin Bucer' s
N3
138 HISTORY OF
papers, I met with an original paper of Luthei's (which will
be found in the Collection, No. xxxiv), in which he was
willing to have that difference thus settled : " Those of the
Augsburg Confession should declare, that in the sacrament
there was truly bread and wine ; and those of the Helvetian
Confession should declare, that Christ's body was truly pre-
sent : and so, without any further curiosities in the way of
explaining it, in which divines might use their liberty, the
difference should end." But how this came to take no
effect, I do not understand. It was also thought that this
way of expressing the doctrine would give least offence ;
for the people were scarce able to bear the opinion of the
sacrament's being only a figure : but wherein this real
presence consisted was not so easy to be made out. Some
explained it more intelligibly in a sense of law, that in the
sacrament there was a real application of the merit of
Christ's death, to those who received it worthily ; so that
Christ as crucified was really present : and these had this to
say for themselves, that the words of the institution do not
call the elements simply Christ's body and blood, but his
body broken, and his blood shed, and that therefore Christ
was really present as he was crucified, so that the import-
ance of really wdiS effectually. Others thought all ways of
explaining the manner of the presence were needless curio-
sities, and apt to beget differences : that therefore the doc-
trine was to be established in general words; and, to save
the labour both of explaining and understanding it, it was
to be esteemed a mystery. This seems to have been
Bucer's opinion, but Peter Martyr inclined more to the
Helvetians.
There were public disputations held this year, both at
Oxford and Cambridge, upon this matter. At Oxford the
popish party did so encourage themselves by the indul-
gence of the government, and the gentleness of Cranmer's
temper, that they became upon this head insolent out of
measure. Peter Martyr had read in the chair concern-
ing the presence of Christ in the sacrament, which he
explained according to the doctrine of the Helvetian
churches ; Dr. Smith did upon this resolve to contradict
him openly in the schools, and challenge him to dispute on
these points ; and had brought many thither, who should by
their clamours and applauses run him down ( Antiq. Oxon.) :
yet this was not so secretly laid, but a friend of P. Martyr's
brought him word of it before he had come from his house,
and persuaded him not to go to the schools that day, and so
disappoint Smith. But he looked on that as so mean a
thing, that he would by no means comply with it. So he
?
THE REFORMATION. 139
went to the divinity schools : on his way one brought him a
challenge from Smith to dispute with him, concerning the
eacharist. He went on and took his place in the chair,
where he behaved himself with an equal measure of courage
and discretion : he gravely checked Smith's presumption,
and said, he did not decline a dispute, but was resolved to
have his reading that day, nor would he engage in a public
dispute without leave from the king's council : upon this a
tumult was like to rise ; so the vice-chancellor sent for
them before him : P. Martyr said, he was ready to defend
every thing that he had read in the chair in a dispute ; but
he would manage it only in Scripture-terms, and not in the
terms of the schools.
This was the beating the popish doctors out of that which
was their chief strength ; for they had little other learning
but a sleight of tossing some arguments from hand to hand,
with a gibberish kind of language, that sounded like some-
what that was sublime ; but had really nothing under it.
By constant practice they were very nimble at this sort of
legerdemain, of which both Erasmus and Sir Thomas More,
with the other learned men of that age, had made such
sport, that it was become sufficiently ridiculous : and the
protestants laid hold on that advantage which such great
authorities gave them to disparage it. They set up another
way of disputing from the original text of the Scripture in
Greek and Hebrew, which seemed a more proper thing in
matters of divinity, than the metaphysical language of the
schoolmen.
This whole matter being referred to the privy council,
they appointed some delegates to hear and preside in the
disputation : but 33r. Smith being brought into some trouble,
either for this tumult, or upon some other account, was
forced to put in sureties for his good behaviour : he, desiring
that he might be discharged of any further prosecution,
made the most humble submission to Cranmer that was
possible ; and being thereupon set at liberty, he fled out of
the kingdom : it is said he went first to Scotland, and from
thence to Flanders. But not long after this Peter Martyr
had a disputation before the commissioners sent by the king,
who were the bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Cox, then chancellor
of the university, and some others ; in which Tresham,
Chadsey, and Morgan, disputed against these three pro-
positions : — 1. In the sacrament of thanksgiving there is no
transubstantiation of bread and wine in the body and blood
of Christ. 2. The body or blood of Christ is not carnally or
corporally in the bread and wine ; nor, as others use to say, •
under the bread and wine. 3. The body and blood of Christ
140 HISTORY OF
are united to the bread and wine sacraraentally.— -Ridley
was sent also to Cambridge, with some others of the king's
commissioners, where, on the 20th, 24th, and 27th of
June, there were public disputations on these two posi-
tions : —
" Transubstantiation cannot be proved by the plain and
manifest words of Scripture ; nor can it be necessarily
collected from it, nor yet confirmed by the consent of
the ancient fathers.
" In the Lord's supper there is none other oblation and
sacrifice, than of a remembrance of Christ's death, and of
thanksgiving."
Dr. Madew defended these ; and Glyn, Langdale, Sedg-
wick, and Young, disputed against them the first day ; and
the second day Glyn defended the contiary propositions,
and Peru, Grindal, Gest, and Pilkington, disputed against
them. On the third day the dispute went on, and was sum-
med up in a learned determination by Ridley against the
corporal presence. There had been also a long disputation
in the parliament on the same subject ; but of this we have
nothing remaining, but what King Edward writ in his jour-
nal. Ridley had, by reading Bertram's book of the body
and blood of Christ, been first set on to examine well the
old opinion concerning the presence of Christ's very flesh
and blood in the sacrament : and, wondering to find that in
the ninth century that opinion was so much controverted,
and so learnedly writ against by one of the most esteemed
men of that age, began to conclude, that it was none of the
ancient doctrines of the church, but lately brought in, and
not fully received till after Bertram's age. He commu-
nicated the matter with Cranmer, and they set themselves
to examine it with more than ordinary care. Cranmer after-
wards gathered all the arguments about it into the book
which he writ on that subject, to which Gardiner set out an
answer, under the disguised name of Marcus Constantius ;
and Cranmer replied to it. I shall offer the reader, in short,
the substance of what was in these books, and of the argu-
ments used in the disputations, and in many other books
which were at that time written on this subject.
Christ in the institution took bread, and gave it. So that
his words, " This is my body," could only be meant of
the bread : now the bread could not be his body literally.
Jle himself also calls the cup, " The fruit of the vine." St.
Paul calls it, " The bread that we break," and " the cup
that we bless ; " and speaking of it after it was blessed,
calls it, " that bread and that cup." For the reason of that
expression, " This is my body j " it was considered, that
THE REFORMATION. 141
the disciples, to whom Christ spoke thus, were Jews ; and
that tliey, being accustomed to the Mosaical rites, must
needs have understood his words in the same sense they
did JMoses's woids, concerning the paschal lamb, which is
called the Lord's passover. It was not that literally, for the
Lord's passover was the angel's passing by the Israelites
when he smote the first-born of the Egyptians ; so the
lamb was only the Lord's passover as it was the memorial
of it : and thus Christ, substituting the eucharist to the pas-
chal lamb, used such au expression, calling it his body, in the
same manner of speaking as the lamb was called the Lord's
passover. This was plain enough, for his disciples could
not well understand him in any other sense than that to
which they had been formerly accustomed. In the Scrip-
ture many such figurative expressions occur frequently.
In baptism, the other sacrament instituted by Christ, he
is said to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire : and
such as are baptized are said to put on Christ : which were
figurative expressions. As also, in the sacrament of the
Lord's supper, the cup is called " the new testament in
Christ's blood," which is an expression full of figure.
Farther, it was observed, that that sacrament was instituted
for a remembrance of Christ, and of his death : which
implied that he was to be absent at the time when he was
to be remembered. Nor was it simply said, that the ele-
ments were his body and blood ; but that they were his
body broken, and his blood shed ; that is, they were these,
as suffering on the cross : which as they could not be un-
derstood literally, for Christ did institute this sacrament be-
fore he had suffered on the cross ; so now Christ must be
present in the sacrament, not as glorified in heaven, but as
suffering on his cross. From those places where it is
said, that Christ is in heaven, and that he is to continue
there ; they argued, that he was not to be any more upon
earth. And those words in the 6th of St. John, of eating
Christ's flesh, and drinking his blood, they said were to be
understood not of the sacrament ; since many receive the
sacrament unworthily, and of them it cannot be said that
they have " eternal life in them ; " but Christ there said of
them that received him in the sense that was meant in that
chapter, that " all that did so eat his flesh had eternal life
in them ; " therefore these words can only be understood
figuratively of receiving him by faith, as himself there
explains it : and so, in the end of that discourse, finding
some were startled at that way of expressing himself, he
gave a key to the whole, when he said " his words were
spirit and life," and that " the flesh profited nothing, it was
142 HISTORY OF
the spirit that quickened." It was ordinary for him to teach
in parables ; and the receiving of any doctrine, being oft ex^
pressed by the prophets by the figure of " eating and drink-
ing," he, upon the occasion of the people's coming to him
after he had fed them with a few loaves, did discourse of
their believing, in these dark expressions ; which did not
seem to relate to the sacrament, since it was not then insti-
tuted. They also argued, from Christ's appealing to the
senses of his hearers, in his miiacles, and especially in his
xliscourses upon his resurrection, that the testimony of sense
was to be received, where the object was duly applied, and
the sense not vitiated. They also alleged natural reasons
against a body's being in more places than one, or being in
a place in the manner of a spirit, so that the substance of a
complete body could be in a crumb of bread or diop of wine ;
and argued, that since the elements after consecration would
nourish, might putrefy, or could be poisoned, these things
clearly evinced, that the substance of bread and wine re-
mained in the sacrament.
From this they went to examine the ancient fathers. Some
of them called it bread and wine ; others said, it nourished
the body, as Justin Martyr; otheis, that it was digested in
the stomach, and went into the draught, as Origen. Some
called it a figure of Christ's body ; so Terlullian, and St.
Austin : others called the elements types and signs ; so al-
most all the ancient lituigies, and the Greek fathers gene-
rally. In the creeds of the church it was professed, that
Christ still sat on the right hand of God ; the fathers argued
from thence, that he was in heaven and not on earth. And
the Marcionites, and other heretics, denying that Christ had
a true body, or did really sufl^er ; the fathers appealed in
that to the testimony of sense, as infallible. And St. Austin
giving rules concerning figurative speeches in Scripture ; one
IS this, that they must be taken figuratively, where in the
literal sense the thing were a crime ; which he applies to
these words of " eating Christ's flesh, and drinking his
blood." But that on which they put the stress of the whole
cause, as to the doctrine of the fathers, was the reasoning
that they used against the Eutychians, who said that Christ's
body and human nature was swallowed up by his divinity.
The Eutychians, arguing from the eucharist's being called
Christ's body and blood, in which they said Christ's presence
did convert the substance of the bread and wine into his
own flesh and blood ; so, in like manner, said they, his God-
head had converted the manhood into itself: against this,
Gelasius, bishop of Home, and Theodoret, one of the learned-
est fathers of his age, argue in plain words, that the sub-
THE REFORMATION. ' 14S
stance of the bread and wine remained, as it was formerly, in
its own nature and form ; and from their opinion of the pre-
sence of Christ's body in it, without converting the elements,
they turned the argument to show how the Divine and human
nature can be together in Christ, without the one's being
changed by the other. Peter Martyr had brought over with
him tiie copy of a letter of St. Chrysostom's, which he found
in a iNIS at Florence, written to the same purpose, and on
the same argument : which was the more remakable, be-
cause that Chrysostom had said higher things in his sermons
and commentaries, concerning Christ's being present in the
sacrament, than any of all the fathers ; but it appeared by
this letter, thst those high expressions were no other than
rhetorical figures of speech to beget a great reverence to this
institution : and from hence it was reasonable to judge, that
such were the like expressions in other fathers, and that
they were nevertheless of Chrysostom's mind touching the
presence of Christ in this sacrament. That epistle of his
does lie still unpublished, though a very learned man now
in France has procured a copy of it : but those of that
church know the consequence that the printing of it would
have, and so it seems are resolved to suppress it if they can.
From all these things it was plain, that though the fathers
believed there was an extraordinary virtue in the sacrament,
and an unaccountable presence of Christ in it, yet they
thought not of transubstantiation, nor any thing like it. But
when darkness and ignorance crept into the church, the
people were apt to believe any thing that was incredible ;
and were willing enough to support such opinions as turned
religion into external pageantry. The priests also, knowing
little of the Scriptures, and being only or chiefly conversant
in those writings of the ancients that had highly extolled
the sacrament, came generally to take up the opinion of the
corporal presence ; and, being soon apprehensive of the great
esteem it would bring to them, cherished it much. In the
ninth century, Bertram, Rabanus, Maurus, Amalarius, AI-
cuinus, and Joannes Scotus, all writ against it : nor were
any of them censured or condemned for these opinons. It
was plainly and strongly contradicted by some homilies that
were in the Saxon tongue, in which not a few of Bertrams
words occur: particularly in that which was to be read in
the churches on Easter-day. But in the eleventh or twelfth
century it came to be universally received ; as indeed any
thing would have been that much advanced the dignity of
priesthood. And it was farther advanced by Pope Innocent
the Third, and so established in the fourth council of Late-
ran ; that same council, in which the rooting out of heretics.
144 HISTORY OF
and the pope's power of deposing heretical princes, and
giviug their dominions to others, were also decreed.
But there was another curious remark made of the pro-
gress of this opinion. When the doctrine of the corporal
presence was first received in the western church, they be-
lieved that the whole loaf was turned into one entire body
of Jesus Christ : so that in the distribution one had an eye,
a nose, or an ear; another a tooth, a finger, or a toe ; a
third a coUop, or a piece of tripe ; and this was supported
by pretended miracles suited to that opinion, for sometimes
the host was said to bleed, parts of it were also said to be
turned to pieces of flesh. This continued to be the doctrine
of the church of Kome for near three hundred years. It
appears clearly in the renunciation which they made Be-
rengarius swear. But when the schoolmen began to form
the tenets of that church by more artificial and subtle rules ;
as they thought it an ungentle way of treating Christ to be
thus mangling his body, and eating it up in gobbets, so the
maxims they set up about the extension of matter, and of
the manner of spirits filling a space, made them think of a
more decent way of explaining this prodigious mystery.
They taught, that Christ was so in the host and chalice, that
there was one entire body in every crumb and drop : so that
the body was no more broken ; but, upon every breaking of
the host, a new whole body flew oflf from the other parts,
which yet remained an entire body, notwithstanding that
diminution. And then the former miracles, being contrary
to this conceit, were laid aside, and new ones invented,
fitted for this explanation, by which Christ's body was be-
lieved present after the manner of a spirit. It was given
out, that he sometimes appeared as a child all in rays upon
the host, sometimes with angels about him, or sometimes in
his mother's arms. And that the senses might give as little
contradiction as was possible, instead of a loaf they blessed
then only wafers, which are such a shadow of bread as might
more easily agree with their doctrine of the accidents of bread
being only present : and, lest a larger measure of wine might
have encouraged the people to have thought it was wine
still, by the sensible effects of it, that came also to be denied
them.
This was the substance of the arguments that were in
those writings. But an opinion that had been so generally
received was not of a sudden to be altered : therefore they
went on slowly in discussing it, and thereby did the better
dispose the people to receive what they intended afterwards
to establish concerning it. And this was the state of religion
for this year.
THE REFORMATION. 146
At this time there were many anabaptists in several parts
of England. They were generally Germans, whom the re-
volutions there had forced to change their seats. Upon
Luther's first preaching in Germany, there arose many, who,
building on some of his principles, carried things much fur-
ther than he did. The chief foundation he laid down was, that
the Scripture was to be the only rule of Christians. Upon
this many argued, that the mysteries of the Trinity, and
Christ's incarnation and sufferings, of the fall of man, and the
aids of grace, were indeed philosophical subtilties, and only
pretended to be deduced from Scripture, as almost all opi-
nions of religion were ; and therefore they rejected them.
Among these the baptism of infants was one. They held
that to be no baptism, and so were re-baptized : but from
this, which was most taken notice of, as being a visible
thing, they carried all the general name of anabaptists. Of
these there were two sorts most remarkable. The one was,
of those who only thought that baptism ought not to be given
but to those who were of an age capable of instruction, and
.who did earnestly desire it. This opinion they grounded on
"the silence of the New Testament about the baptism of
children : they observed, that our Saviour commanding the
apostles to baptize, did join teaching with it ; and they
said, the great decay of Christianity flowed from this way
of making children Christians before they understood what
they did. These were called the gentle, or moderate ana-
baptists. But others, who carried that name, denied al-
most all the principles of the Christian doctrine, and were
men of fierce and barbarous tempers. They had broke out
into a general revolt over Germany, and raised the war called
the rustic war : and possessing themselves of Munster, made
one of their teachers, John of Leyden, their king, under the
title of the king of the New Jerusalem. Some of them set
up a fantastical, unintelligible way of talking of religion,
which they turned all into allegories : these being joined in
the common name of anabaptists with the other, brought
them also under an ill character.
On the 12th of April there was a complaint brought to the
council, that, with the strangers that were come into Eng-
land, some of that persuasion had come over, 'and were
disseminating their errors, and making proselytes : so a
commission was ordered (Rot. Pat. Par. 6. 3. Reg.) for the
archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Ely, Worcester,
Westminster, Chichester, Lincoln, and Rochester, Sir Wil-
liam Petre, Sir Thomas Smith, Dr. Cox, Dr. May, and some
others, three of them being a quorum, to examine and .=earch
after all anabaptists, heretics, or contemners of the Com-
VoL. II, Part I. O
146 HISTORY OF
mon Prayer. They were to endeavour to reclaim them, to
enjoin them penance, and give them absolution: or, if they
were obstinate, to excommunicate and imprison them, and
to deliver them over to the secular power to be farther pro-
ceeded against. Some tradesmen in London were brought
before these commissioners in May, and weve persuaded to
abjure their former opinions ; which were, " That a man rege-
nerate could not sin • that though the outward man sinned,
the inward man sinned not ; that there was no Trinity of
persons ; that Christ was only a holy prophet, and not at all
God ; that all we had by Christ was, that he taught us the
way to heaven ; that he took no flesh of the Virgin ; and
that the baptism of infants was not profitable." One of
those who thus abjured was commanded to carry a faggot
next Sunday, at St. Paul's, where there should be a sermon
setting forth his heresy. But there was another of these ex-
treme obstinate ; Joan Bocher, commonly called Joan of
Kent. " She denied that Christ was truly incarnate of the
Virgin, whose flesh being sinful, he could take none of it:
but the Word, by the consent of the inward man in the Vir-
gin, took flesh of her :" these were her words. They took
much pains about her, and had many conferences with her ;
but she was so extravagantly conceited of her own notions,
that she rejected all they said with scorn : whereupon she
was adjudged an obstinate heretic, and so left to the secular
power: the sentence against her will be found in the Col-
lection (No. xxxv). This being returned to the council, the
good king was moved to sign a warrant for burning her, but
could not be prevailed on to do it ; he thought it a piece of
cruelty, too like that which they had condemned in papists,
to burn any for their consciences. And in a long discourse
he had with Sir J. Cheek, he seemed much confirmed in that
opinion. Cranmer was employed to persuade him to sign
tke warrant. He argued from the law of Moses, by which
blasphemers were to be stoned : he told the king, he made a
great difference between errors in other points of divinity, and
those which were directly against the Apostles' Creed :
that these were impieties against God, which a prince, as
being God's deputy, ought to punish ; as the king's de-
puties were obliged to punish offences against the king's per-
son. These reasons did rather silence than satisfy the young
king, who still thought it a hard thing (as in truth it was) to
proceed so severely in such cases : so he set his hand to the
warrant, with tears in his eyes, saying to Cranmer, That if
he did wrong, since it was in submission to his authority, he
should answer for it to God. This struck the archbishop
with much horror, so that he was very unwilling to have the
THE REFORMATION. 14T
sentence executed. And both he and Ridley took the
woman then in custody to their houses, to see if they could
persuade her: but she continued, by jeers and other inso-
lences, to carry herself so contemptuously, that at last the
sentence was executed on her, the 2d of May the next year,
Bishop Scory preaching at her burning : she carried herself
then, as she had done in the former parts of her process,
very indecently, and in the end was burnt.
This action was much censured, as being contrary to the
clemency of the gospel ; and was made oft use of by the
papists, who said, it was plain, that the reformers were only
against burning, when they were in fear of it themselves.
The woman's carriage make her be looked on as a frantic
person, fitter for Bedlam than a stake. People had gene-
rally believed that all the statutes for the burning heretics
had been lepealed : but now, when the thing was better con-
sidered, it was found that the burning of heretics was done
by the common law, so that the statutes made about it were
only for making the conviction more easy, and the repealing
the statutes did not take away that which was grounded on a
writ at common law. To end all this matter at once : two
years after this, one George Van Pare, a Dutchman, being
accused for saying that God the Father was only God, and
that Christ was not very God, he was dealt with long to ab-
jure, but would not : so on the 6th of April, 1551, he was
condemned in the same manner that Joan of Kent was, and
on the 25th of April was burnt in Smithfield. He suffered
with great constancy of mind, and kissed the stake and fag-
gots that were to burn him. Of this Pare I find a popish
writer saying, That he was a man of most wonderful strict
life ; that he used not to eat above once in two days ; and
before he did eat would lie some time in his devotion pros-
trate on the ground. All this they made use of to lessen
the credit of those who had suft'ered formerly ; for it was
said, they saw now that men of harmless lives might be put
to death for heresy by the confession of the reformers them-
selves : and in all the books published in Queen Mary's
days, justifying her severity against the protestants, these
instances were always made use of : and nopart of Cranmer's
life exposed him more than this did. It was said, he had
consented both to Lambert's and Anne Askew's death, in
the former reign, who both suffered for opinions which he
himself held now : and he had now procured the death of
these two persons ; and when he was brought to suffer him-
self afterwards, it was called a just retaliation on him. One
thing was certain, that what he did in this matter flowed
from no cruelty of temper in him, no man being fvirther from
148 HISTORY OF
that black disposition of mind ; but it was truly the eflfect
of those principles by which he governed himself.
For the other sort of anabaptists, who only denied infant
baptism, I find no severities used to them : but several books
were written against them, to which they wrote some an-
swers. It was said, that Christ allowed little children to be
brought to him, and said, " of such was the kingdom of
heaven," and blessed them : now if they were capable of
the " kingdom of heaven," they must be regenerated ; for
Christ said none but such as were "born of water and of the
Spirit" could enter into it, St. Paul had also called the
children of believing parents holy ; which seemed to re-
late to such a consecration of them as was made in baptism.
And baptism being the seal of Christians, in the room of
circumcision among the Jews, it was thought the one was as
applicable to children as the other. And one thing was ob-
served, that the whole world in that age having been bap-
tized in their infancy, if that baptism was nothing, then
there were none truly baptized in being ; but all were in the
state of mere nature : now it did not seem reasonable that
men who were not baptized themselves should go and
baptize others: and therefore the first heads of that sect, not
being rightly baptized themselves, seemed not to act with
any authority when they went to baptize others. The practice
of the church, so early begun, and continued without dis-
pute for so many ages, was at least a certain confirmation of
a thing which had (to speak moderately) so good foundations
in Scripture for the lawfulness, though not any peremptory,
but only probable proof for the practice of it.
These are all the errors in opinion that I find were taken
notice of at this time. There was another sort of people, of
whom all the good men in that age made great complaints.
Some there were called gospellers, or readers of the gospel,
who were a scandal to the doctrine they professed. In
many sermons 1 have oft met with severe expostulations
with these, and heavy denunciations of judgments against
them. But I do not find any thing objected to thein, as to
their belief, save only that the doctrine of predestination
having been generally taught by the reformers, many of this
sect began to make strange infererences from it ; reckoning,
that since every thing was decreed, and the decrees of God
could not be frustrated, therefore men were to leave them-
selves to be carried by these decrees. This drew some into
great impiety of life, and others into desperation. The Ger-
mans soon saw the ill efiects of this doctrine. Luther
changed his mind about it, and Melancthon openly writ
against it : and since that time the whole stream of the Lu-
THE REFORMATION. 149
theran churches has run the other way. But both Calvin
and Bucer were still for maintaining the doctrine of these
decrees ; only they warned the people not to think much of
them, since they were secrets which men could not pene-
trate into ; but they did not so clearly show how these con-
sequences did not flow from such opinions. Hooper, and
many other good writers, did often dehort people from en-
tering into these curiosities ; and a caveat to that same pur-
pose was put afterwards into the article of the church about
predestination.
One ill effect of the dissoluteness of people's manners
broke out violently this summer, occasioned by the in-
closing of lands. While the monasteries stood, there were
great numbers of people maintained about these houses ;
their lands were easily let out, and many were relieved by
them. But now, the numbers of the people increased much,
marriage being universally allowed; they also had more
time than formerly, by the abrogation of many holidays,
and the putting down of processions and pilgrimages ; so
that, as the numbers increased, they had more time than
they knew how to bestow. Those who bought in the rhurch-
lands, as they everywhere raised their rents, of which old
Latimer made great complaints in one of his court sermons,
so they resolved to inclose their grounds, and turn them to
pasture : for trade was then rising fast, and corn brought
not in so much money as wool did. Their flocks also being
kept by few persons in grounds so inclosed, the landlords
themselves enjoyed the profit which formerly the tenants
made out of their estates : and so they intended to force
them to serve about them at any such rates as they would
allow. By this means the commons of England saw they
were like to be reduced to great misery. This was much
complained of, and several little books were written about it.
Some proposed a sort of Agrarian law, that none might have
farms above a set value, or flocks above a set number of two
thousand sheep ; which proposal I find the young king was
much taken with, as will appear in one of the discourses he
wrote with his own hand. Tt was also represented, that
there was no care taken of the educating of youth, except
of those who were bred for learning ; ancfraany things were
proposed to correct this : but in the mean time the commons
saw the gentry were like to reduce them to a very low con-
dition.
The protector seemed much concerned for the commons,
and oft spoke against the oppression of landlords. He was
naturally just and compassionate, and so did heartily es-
pouse the cause of the poor people, which made the nobility
03
160 HISTORY OF
and gentry hate him much. The former year, the commons
about Hampton-Court petitioned the protector and council,
complaining, that whereas the late king in his sickness had
inclosed a park there, to divert himself with private easy
game, the deer of that park did overlay the country, and it
was a great burthen to them ; and therefore they desired that
it might be disparked. The council, considering that it
was so near Windsor, and was not useful to the king, but a
charge rather, ordered it to be disparked, and the deer to be
carried to Windsor ; but with this proviso, that if the king
when he came of age desired to have a park there, what
they did should be no prejudice to him. There was also a
commission issued out to inquire about inclosures and farms,
and whether those who had purchased the abbey-lands kept
hospitality, to which they were bound by the grants they
had of them; and whether they encouraged husbandry.
But I find no effect of this. And indeed there seemed to
have been a general design among the nobility and gentry to
bring the inferior sort to that low and servile state to which
the peasants in many other kingdoms are reduced. In
the parliament an act was carried in the house of lords for
imparking grounds, but was cast out by the commons : yet
gentlemen went on everywhere taking their lands into their
own hands, and inclosing them.
In May the commons did rise first in Wiltshire ; where
Sir William Herbert gathered some resolute men about him,
and dispersed them, and slew some of them. Soon after
that, they rose in Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Gloucester-
shire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Leices-
tershire, Worcestershire, and Rutlandshire ; but by fair per-
suasions the fury of the people was a little stopped, till the
matter should be represented to the council. The protector
said, he did not wonder the commons were in such distem-
pers, they being so oppressed, that it was easier to die once
than to perish for want : and therefore he set out a procla-
mation, contrary to the mind of the whole council, against
all new inclosures ; with another, indemnifying the people
for what was past, so they carried themselves obediently for
the future. Commissions were also sent everywhere, with
an unlimited power to the commissioners to hear and deter-
mine all causes about inclosures, highways, and cottages.
The vast power these commissioners assumed was much com-
plained of; the landlords said it was an invasion of their pro-
perty, to subject them thus to the pleasure of those who were
sent to examine the matters, without proceeding in the ordi-
nary courts according to law. The commons being encou-
raged by the favour they heard the protector bore them, and
THE REFORMATION. 161
not able to govern their heat, or stay for a more peaceable
issue, did nse again, but were anew quieted. Yet the pro-
tector being opposed much by the council, he was not able to
redress this grievance so fully as the people hoped. So in
Oxfordshire and Devonshire they rose again, and also in
Norfolk and Yorkshire. Those in Oxfordfshire were dissi-
pated by a force of fifte,en hundred men, led against them by
the Lord Gray. Some of them were taken and hanged by mar-
tial law, as being in a state of war ; the greatest part ran
home to their dwellings.
In Devonshire the insurrection grew to be better formed ;
for that county was not only far from the court, but it was
generally inclined to the former superstition, and many of
the old priests run in among them. They came together on
the 10th of June, being Whit-Monday ; and in a short
time grew to be ten thousand strong. At court it was hoped
this might be as easily dispersed as the other risings were :
but the protector was against running into extremities, and
so did not move so speedily as the thing required. He, after
some days, at last sent the Lord Russel with a small force to
stop their proceedings. And that long, remembering well
how the duke of Norfolk had, with a very small army,
broken a formidable rebellion in the former reign, hoped
that time would likewise weaken and disunite these ; and,
therefore, he kept at some distance, and offered to receive
their complaints, and to send them to the council. But
these delays gave advantage and strength to the rebels, who
were now led on by some gentlemen ; Arundel,' of Cornwall,
being in chief command among them ; and in answer to the
Lord Russel, they agreed on fifteen articles (before this they
drew up their demands in seven articles), the substance of
which was as follows : —
" 1. That all the general councils, and the decrees of their
forefathers, should be observed.
" 2. That the act of the six articles should be again i»
force.
" 3. That the mass should be in Latin, and that the priests
alone should receive.
" 4. That the sacrament should be hanged up, and wor-
shipped ; and those who refused to do it should suffer as
heretics.
" 5. That the sacrament should only be given to the people
at Easter, in one kind.
" 6. That baptism should be done at all times.
" 7. That holy bread, holy water, and palms be again
used ; and that images be set up, with all the other ancient
ceremonies.
152 HISTORY OS
" 8. That the new service should be laid aside, since it
was like a Christmas game ; and the old service again should
be used, with the procession in Latin.
" 9. That all preachers in their sermons, and priests in
the mass, should pray for the souls in purgatory.
" 10. That the Bible should be called in, since otherwise
the clergy could not easily confound the heretics.
"11. That Dr. Moreman, and Crispin, should be sent to
them, and put in their livings.
" 12. That Cardinal Pole should be restored, and made
of the king's council.
" 13. That every gentleman might have only one servant
for every hundred marks of yearly rent that belonged to
him.
" 14. That the half of the abbey and church lands should
be taken back, and restored to two of the chief abbeys in
every county ; and all the church-boxes for seven years
should be given to such houses, that so devout persons might
live in them, who should pray for the king and the common-
wealth.
" 15. And that for their particular grievances, they should
be redressed, as Humphrey Arundel and the mayor of Bod-
myn should inform the king, for whom they desired a safe
conduct."
These articles being sent to the council, the archbishop of
Canterbury was ordered to draw an answer to them, which
I have seen, corrected with his own hand *. The substance
of it was, that their demands were insolent, such as were
dictated to them by some seditious priests : they did not
know what general councils had decreed, nor was there any
thing in the church of England contrary to them, though
many things had been formerly received which were
so ; and for the decrees, they were framed by the popes
to enslave the world, of which he gave several in-
stances.
For the six articles, he says, they had not been carried in
parliament, if the late king had not gone thither in person,
and procured that act ; and yet, of his own accord, he
slackened the execution of it.
To the third, it was strange that they did not desire to
know in what terms they worshipped God ; and for the
mass, the ancient canons required the people to communi-
cate in it, and the prayers in the office of the mass did still
imply that they were to do it.
• Ex MS. Col. C. C. eantab.
THE REFORMATION. 153
For the hanging up and adoring the host, it was but lately
set up by Popes Innocent and Honorius, and in some places
it had never been received.
For the fifth, the ancient church received that sacrament
frequently, and in both kinds.
To the sixth, baptism in cases of necessity was to be ad-
ministered at any time ; but out of these cases, it was lit to
do it solemnly ; and in the ancient church it was chiefly
done on the eves of Easter and Whit-Sunday, of which usage
some footsteps remained still in the old oflfices.
To the seventh, these were late superstitious devices:
images were contrary to the Scriptures, first set up for re-
membrance, but soon after made objects of worship.
To the eighth, the old sei"vice had many ludicrous things
in it ; the new was simple and grave ; if it appeared ridicu-
lous to them, it was as the gospel was long ago, foolishness
to the Greeks.
To the ninth, the Scriptures say nothing of it : it was a
superstitious invention, derogatory to Christ's death.
To the tenth, the Scriptures are the word of God, and the
readiest way to confound that which is heresy indeed.
To the eleventh, these were ignorant, superstitious, and
deceitful persons.
To the twelfth, Pole had been attainted in parliament for
his spiteful writings and doings against the late king.
To the thirteenth, it was foolish and unreasonable; one
servant could not do a man's business, and by this many
servants would want employment.
To the fourteenth, this was to rob the king, and those who
had these lands of him ; and would be a means to make so
foul a rebellion be remembered in their prayers.
To the fifteenth, these were notorious traitors, to whom
the king's council was not to submit themselves.
After this, they grew more moderate, and sent eight arti-
cles : — 1. Concerning baptism. 2. About confirmation.
3. Of the mass. 4. For reserving the host. 5. For holy
bread and water. 6. For the old service*. 7. For the
single lives of priests. 8. For the six articles: and con-
cluded, God save the king, for they were his, both body and
goods. To this there was an answer sent in the king's name,
on the 8th of July (so long did the treaty with them hold),
in which, after expressions of the king's affection to his
people, he taxes their rising in arms against him their king
as contrary to the laws of God : he tells them, that they are
abused by their priests, as in the instance of baptism, which,
♦ That the service might be snng, or said, iu the choir.
164 HISTORY OF
according to the book, might, necessity requiring it, be done
at all times: that the changes that had been set out, were
made after long and great consultation ; and the worship of
this church, by the advice of many bishops and learned
men, was reformed, as near to what Christ and his apostles
had taught and done as could be ; and all things had been
settled in parliament. But the most specious thing that
misled them being that of the king's age, it was showed
them, that his blood, and not his years, gave him the crown ;
and the state of government requires, that at all times there
should be the same authority in princes, and the same obe-
dience in the people. It was all penned in a hi^h threaten-
ing style, and concluded with an earnest invitation of them
to submit to the king's mercy, as others that had risen had
also done, to whom he had not only showed mercy, but
granted redress of their just grievances ; otherwise they
might expect the utmost severity that traitors deserved.
But nothing prevailed on this enraged multitude, whom
the priests inflamed with all the artifices they could imagine ;
and among whom the host was carried about by a priest on
a cart, that all might see it. But when this commotion was
thus grown to a head, the men of Norfolk rose the 6th of
July, being led by one Ket, a tanner. These pretended
nothing of religion, but only to suppress and destroy the
gentry, and to raise the commons, and to put new counsellors
about the king. They increased mightily, and became twenty
thousand strong, but had no order nor discipline, and com-
mitted many horrid outrages. The sheriff of the county
came boldly to them, and required them, in the king's name,
to disperse and go home ; but had he not been well mounted,
they had put him cruelly to death. They came to Mous-
hold-hill, above Norwich, and were much favoured by many
in that city. Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury,
carne among them, and preached very freely to them, of
their ill lives, their rebellion against the king, and the
robberies they daily committed ; by which he was in great
danger of his life. Ket assumed to himself the power of
judicature ; and under an old oak, called from thence the
Oak of Reformation, did such justice as might be expected
from such a judge, and in such a camp. The marquis of
Northampton was sent against them, but with orders to keep
at a distance from them, and to cut off' their provisions ; for
so it was hoped, that without the shedding much blood they
might come to themselves again. When the news of this
rising came into Yorkshire, the commons there rose also :
t)eing further encouraged by a prophecy, that there should
be no king nor nobility in England ; that the kingdom should
1
THE REFORMATION. 155
be ruled by four governors, chosen by the commons, who
should hold a parliament, in commotion, to begin at the
south and north seas. This they applied to the Devonshire
men on the south seas, and themselves on the north seas.
They, at their first rising, fired beacons, and so gathered the
country, as if it had been for the defence of the coast ; and
meeting two gentlemen, with two others with them, they,
without any provocation, murdered them, and left their
naked bodies unburied. At the same time that England
was in this commotion, the news came that the French king
had sent a great army into the territory of BuUoigne ; so
that the government was put to the most extraordinary
straits.
There was a fast proclaimed in and about London : Cran-
nier preached on the fast day at court. I have seen the
greatest part of his sermon, under his own hand ; and it is
the only sermon of his I ever saw *. It is a very plain un-
artificial discourse ; no shows of learning or conceits of wit
in it : but he severely expostulated in the name of God with
his hearers, for their ill lives, their blasphemies, adulteries,
mutual hatred, oppression, and contempt of the gospel ; and
complained of the slackness in punishing these sins, by which
the government became in some sort guilty of them. He
set many passages of the Jewish story before tliem, of the
judgments such sins drew on, and of God's mercy in the
unexpected deliverances they met with upon their true re-
pentance. But he chiefly lamented the scandal given by
many who pretended a zeal for religion, but used that for a
cloak to disguise their other vices : he set before them the
fiesh example of Germany, where people generally loved to
hear the gospel, but had not amended their lives upon it ; for
which God had now, after many years' forbearance, brought
them under a severe scourge : and intimated his apprehen-
sions of some signal stroke from Heaven upon the nation, if
they did not repent.
The rebels in Devonshire went and besieged Exeter, where
the citizens resisted them with great courage : they set fire
to the gates of the city, which those within fed with much
fuel, for hindering their entry, till they had raised a rampart
within the gates ; and when the rebels came to enter, the
fire being spent, they killed many of them. TJae rebels also
wrought a mine, but the citizens countermined, and poured
in so much water as spoiled their powder. So, finding they
could do nothing by force, they resolved to lie about the
town, reckoning that the want of provision would make it
* Ei MS. Col. C.C.Cantab.
156 HISTORY OF
soon yield. The Lord Russel, having but a small force with
him, stayed a while for some supplies, which Sir William
Herbert was to bring him from Bristol. But, being afraid
that the rebels should inclose him, he marched back from
Honnington, where he lay ; and finding they had taken a
bridge behind him, he beat them from it, killing six hundred
of them without any loss on his side. By this he understood
their strength, and saw they could not stand a brisk charge,
nor rally when once in disorder. So the Lord Gray, and
Spinola, that commanded some Germans, joining him, he
returned to raise the siege of Exeter, which was much strait-
ened for want of victuals. The rebels had now shut up the
city twelve days : they within had eat their horses, and
endured extreme famine, but resolved to perish rather than
fall into the hands of those savages ; for the rebels were,
indeed, no better. They had blocked up the ways, and left
two thousand men to keep a bridge which the king's forces
were to pass. But the Lord Russel broke' through them, and
killed about one thousand of them ; upon that, the rebels
raised the siege, and retired to Lanceston. The Lord Russel
gave the citizens of Exeter great thanks, in the king's name,
tor their fidelity and courage, and pursued the rebels, who
were now going off in parties, and were killed in great
numbers. Some of their heads, as Arundel, and the mayor
of Bodmyn, Temson and Barret, two priests, with six or
seven more, were taken and hanged : and so this rebellion
was happily sudued in the west, about the beginning of
August, to the great honour of the Lord Russel, who, with
a very small force, had saved Exeter, and dispersed the
rebels' army, with little or no loss at all.
But the marquis of Northampton was not so successful in
Norfolk ; he carried about eleven hundred men with him,
but did not observe the orders given him, and so marched
on to Norwich. The rebels were glad of an occasion to
engage with him, and fell in upon him the next day with
great fury ; and the town not being strong, he was forced to
quit it, but lost one hundred of his men in that action,
among whom was the Lord Sheffield, who was much la-
mented. The rebels took about thirty prisoners, with which
they were much lifted up. This being understood at court,
the earl of Warwick was sent against them with six thou-
sand foot and fifteen hundred horse, that were prepared for
an expedition to Scotland : he came to Norwich, but was
scarce able to defend it ; for the rebels fell often in upon him,
neither was he well assured of the town : but he cut off their
provisions ; so that the rebels, having wasted all the country
about them, were forced to remove ; and tj^en he followed
THE. REFORMATION. 157
them with his horse : they turned upon him, but he quickly
routed them, and killed two thousand of them, and took
Ket, their captain, with his brother, and a great many
more. Ket was hanged in chains at Norwich the next
January.
The rebels in Yorkshire had not become very numerous,
not being above three thousand in all ; but hearing of the
defeating of those in other parts, they accepted of the offer
of pardon that was sent them ; only some few of the chief
ringleaders countinued to make new stirs, and were taken,
and hanged in York the September following.
When these commotions were thus over, the protector
pressed that there might be a general and free pardon
speedily proclaimed for quieting the country, and giving
their affairs a reputation abroad. This was much opposed
by many of the council, who thought it better to accomplish
their several ends, by keeping the people under the lash,
than by so profuse a mercy ; but the protector was resolved
on it, judging the state of affairs required it. So he gave
out a general pardon of all that had been done before the
21st of August, excepting only those few whom they had in
their hands, and resolved to make public examples. Thus
was England delivered from one of the most threatening
storms that at any time had broke out in it ; in which de-
liverance the great prudence and temper of the protector
seems to have had no small share. Of this whole matter,
advertisement was given to the foreign ministers, in a letter
which will be found in the Collection (No. xxxvi).
There was this year a visitation of the university of Cam-
bridge. Ridley was appointed to be one of the visitors, and
to preach at the opening of it ; he thereupon writ to May,
dean of St. Paul's, to let him know what was to be done at
it, that so his sermon might be adjusted to their business.
He received answer, that it was only to remove some super-
stitious practices and rites, and to make such statutes as
should be found needful. But when he went to Cambridge,
he saw the instructions went further : they were required to
procure a resignation of some colleges, and to unite them
with others, and to convert some fellowships appointed for
encouraging the study of divinity, to the study of the civil
law : in particular, Clare-hall was to be suppressed ; but
the master and fellows would not resign, and after two days'
labouring to persuade them to it, they absolutely refused to
do it. Upon this, Ridley said, he could not with a good
conscience go on any further in that matter ; the church was
already so robbed and stripped, that it seemed there was a
design laid down by some, to drive out all civility, learning.
Vol. U. Part I. P
168 HISTORY OF
and religion out of the nation ; therefore, he declared he
would not concur in such things, and desired leave to be
gone. The other visitors complained of him to the protector,
that he had so troubled them with his barking (so inde-
cently did they express that strictness of conscience in him),
that they could not go on in the king's service : and because
Clare- hall * was then full of northern people, they imputed
his unwillingness to suppress that house to his partial affection
to his countrymen ; for he was born in the bishopric of Du-
resme. Upon this the protector wrote a chiding letter to
him : to it he wrote an answer, so suitable to what became
a bishop, who would put all things to hazard rather than do
any thing against his conscience, that I thought it might do
no small right to his memory, to put it, with the answer
which the protector wrote to him, in the Collection (No.lix,
Ix). These, with many more, I found among his majesty's
papers of state, in that repository of them commonly called
the Paper-Office ; to which I had a free access, by a warrant
which was procured to me from the king, by the right honour-
able the earl of Sunderland, one of the principal secretaries
of state, who very cheerfully and generously expressed his
readiness to assist me in any thing that might complete the
History of our Reformation. That office was first set up by
the care of the earl of Salisbury, when he was secretary of
state, in King James's time ; which, though it is a copious
and certain repertory for those that are to write our history,
ever since the papers of state were laid up there ; yet, for
the former times, it contains only such papers as that great
minister could then gather together ; so that it is not so com-
plete in the transactions that fall within the time of which I
wrote.
There was also a settlement made of the controversy con-
cerning the Greek tongue. There had been in King Henry's
time a great contest raised concerning the pronunciation of
the Greek vowels. That tongue was but lately come to any
perfection in England, and so no wonder the Greek was
pronounced like English, with the same sound and aper-
tures of the mouth : to this, Mr. Cheek, then reader of that
tongue in Cambridge, opposed himself, and taught other
rules of pronunciation. Gardiner was, it seems, so afraid of
every innovation, though ever so much in the right, that he
contended stiffly to have the old pronunciation retained :
and Cheek, persisting in his opinion, was either put from
* The two colleges of Clare-hall and Trinity-hall could not be brought
to surrender, in order to the unitin? them : some were for doing it by
the king's absolute power: to this Ridley would not agree, and for this
h« was complained of.
THE REFORMATION. 158
the chair, or willingly left it, to avoid the indignation of so
great and so spiteful a man as Gardiner was, who vvas then
chancellor of the university *. Cheek wrote a book in vin-
dication of his way of pronouncing Greek ; of which this
must be said, that it is very strange to see how he could
write with so much learning and judgment on so bare a sub-
ject. Redmayn, Poinet, and other learned men, were of
his side, yet more covertly : but Sir Thomas Smith, now
secretary of state, writ three books on the same argument,
and did so evidently confirm Cheek's opinion , that the dis-
pute vvas now laid aside, and the true way of pronouncing
the Greek took place ; the rather, because Gardiner was in
disgrace, and Cheek and Smith were in such power and
authority : so great an influence had the interests of men ia
supporting the most speculative and indifferent things.
Soon after this, Bonner fell into new troubles ; he con-
tinued to oppose every thing as long as it was safe for him
to do it, while it wais under debate, and so kept his interest
with the papists ; but he complied so obediently with all the
laws and orders of council, that it was not easy to find any
matter against him. He executed every order that was sent
him so readily, that there was not so much as ground for
any complaint ; yet it was known he was, in his heart,
against every thing they did, and that he cherished all that
were of a contrary mind. The council being informed, that,
upon the commotions that were in England, many in Lon-
don withdrew from the service and communion, and fre-
quented masses, which was laid to his charge, as being neg-
ligent in the execution of the king's laws and injunctions ;
they writ to him on the 23d of July, to see to the correcting
of these things, and that he should give good example him-
self. Upon which, on the 26th following, he sent about a
charge to execute the order in this letter, which he.said he
was most willing and desirous to do. Yet it was still ob-
served, 'that whatsoever obedience he gave, it was against
his heart. And therefore, he was called before the council
the 11th of August. There a writing was delivered to him,
complaining of his remissness ; and particularly, that where-
as he was wont formerly on all high festivals to officiate
himself, yet he had seldom or never done it since the new
service was set out : as also, that adultery was openly prac-
tised in his diocess, which he took no care, according to his
pastoral office, to lestrain or punish : therefore, he was
* Cheek was not put from the chair, nor did he part with it, till after
he was sent for by the king to iustmct the prince. — See tlie Life of
Nicholas Carr, p. 69.
m HISTORY OF
strictly charged to see these things reformed. He was also
ordered to preach on Sunday come three weeks at St. Paul's
Cross : and that he should preach there once a quarter for
the future, and be present at every sermon made there,
except he were sick ; that he should officiate at St. Paul's at
every high festival, such as were formerly called majus
duplex, and give the communion ; that he should proceed
against all who did not frequent the common-prayer, nor
receive the sacrament once a year, or did go to mass ; that
he should search out and punish adulterers ; that he should
take care of the reparation of churches, and paying tithes,
in his diocess, and should keep his residence in his house in
London. As to his sermon, he was required to preach
against rebellion, setting out the heinousness of it ; he was
also to show what was true religion, and that external cere-
monies were nothing in themselves, but that in the use of
them men ought to obey the magistrate, and join true devo-
tion to them ; and that the king was no less king, and the
people no less bound to obey, when he was in minority,
than when he was of full age.
On the 1st of September, being the day appointed for him
to preach, there was a great assembly gathered to hear him.
He touched upon the points that were enjoined him, except-
ing that about the king's age, of which he said not one
word. But since the manner of Christ's presence in the
sacrament was a thing which he might yet safely speak of,
he spent most of his sermon on the" asserting the corporal
presence ; which he did with many sharp reflections on
those who were of another mind. There were present,
among others, William Latimer, and John Hooper, soon
after bishop of Gloucester, who came and informed against
him ; that, as he had wholly omitted that about the king's
age, so he had touched the other points but slightly, and
did say many other things which tended to stir up disorder
and dissension. Upon this, there was a commission issued
out to Cranmer and Ridley, with the two secretaries of
state, and Dr. May, dean of St, Paul's, to examine that
matter *. They, or any two of them, had full power by this
commission to suspend, imprison, or deprive hira, as they
should see cause. They were to proceed in the summary
way, called in their courts de pUmo,
On the 10th of September, Bonner was summoned to ap-
pear before them at Lambeth. As he came into the place
where they sat, he carried himself as if he had not seen
them, till one pulled him by the sleeve to put off his cap to
* Rot. Pat. 1 1 . Par. 3 Reg.
THE REFORMATION. 161
the king's commissioners ; upon which he protested he had
not seen them, which none ot them could believe. He spake
slightingly to them of the whole matter, and turned the dis-
course off to the mass, which he wished were had in more
reverence*. When the witnesses were brought against
him, he jeered them very undecently, and said the one
talked like a goose, and the other like a woodcock, and de-
nied all they said. The archbishop asked him, whether he
would refer the matter in proof to the people that heard
him 1 and so asked, whether any there present had heard
him speak of the king's authority when under age? Many
answered, " No, no." Bonner looked about and laughed,
saying, "Will you believe this fond people?" Some he
called dunces, and others fools, and behaved himself more
like a madman than a bishop. The next day he was again
brought before them. Then the commission was read. The
archbishop opened the matter, and desired Bonner to an-
swer for himself : he read a protestation which he had pre-
pared, setting forth, that since he had not seen the commis-
sion, he reserved to himself power to except either to his
judges or to any other branch of the commission, as he
should afterwards see cause. In this he called it a pre-
tended commission, and them pretended judges, which
was taxed as irreverent ; but he excused it, alleging, that
these were terms of law which he must use, and so not be
precluded from any objections he might afterwards make
use of. The bill of complaint was next read, and the two
informers appeared with their witnesses to make it good.
But Bonner objected against fhem, that they were notorious
heretics, and that the ill will they bore him was, because
he had asserted the true presence of Christ in the sacrament
of the altar ; that Hooper in particular, had, in his sermon,
that very day on which he had preached, denied it ; and
had refuted and mis-recited his sayings, like an ass, as he
was an ass indeed ; so ill did he govern his tongue. Upon
this, Cranmer asked him, whether he thought Christ was in
the sacrament with face, mouth, eyes, nose, and the other
lineaments of his body 1 and there passed some words be-
tween them on that head : but Cranmer told him, that was
not a time and place to dispute ; they were come to execute
the king's commission. So Bonner desired to see both it
and the denunciation, which were given him : and the court
adjourned till the 13th.
Secretary Smith sat with them at their next meeting,
which he had not done the former day, though his name
• Regist. Bonner.
P 3
162 HISTORY OF
was in the commission : upon this Bonner protested, that,
according to the canon law, none could act in a commission
but those who were present the first day in which it was
read. But to this it was alleged, that the constant practice
of the kingdom had been to the contrary 5 that all whose
names were in any commission might sit and judge, though
they had not been present at the first opening of it. This
protestation being rejected, he read his answer in writing to
the accusation. He first objected to his accusers, that they
were heretics in the matter of the sacrament ; and so were,
according to the laws of the catholic church, under excom-
munication, and therefore ought not to be admitted into any
Christian company. Then he denied that the injunctions
given to him had been signed, either with the king's hand or
signet, or by any of his council. But, upon the whole mat-
ter, he. said, he had in his sermon condemned the late re-
bellion in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Norfolk, and had set
forth the sin of rebellion according to several texts of Scrip-
ture ; he had also preached for obedience to the king's
commands, and that no ceremonies that were contrary to
them ought to be used ; in particular, he had exhorted the
people to come to prayers, and to the communion, as it was
appointed by the king, and wondered to see them so slack
in coming to it, which he believed flowed from a false opi-
nion they had of it. And therefore he taught, according
to that which he conceived to be the duty of a faithful pas-
tor, the true presence of Christ's body and blood in the
sacrament ; which was the true motive of his accusers in
their prosecuting him thus. But though he had forgot to
speakof the king's power under age, yet he had said that
which necessarily inferred it ; for he had condemned the
late rebels for rising against their lawful king, and had ap-
plied many texts of Scripture to them, which clearly im-
plied, that the king's power was then entire, otherwise they
could not be rebels.
But to all this it was answered, that it was of no great
consequence who were the informers, if the witnesses were
such that he could not except against them ; besides, they
were empowered by their commission to proceed ex officio;
so that it was not necessary for them to have any to accuse.
He was told, that the injunctions were read to him in coun-
cil by one of the secretaries, and then were given to him by
the protector himself ; that afterwards they were called for,
and that article concerning the king's power before he came
to be of age being added, they were given him again by se-
cretary Smith, and he promised to execute them. He was
also told, that it was no just excuse for him to say he had
?
THE REFORMATION. 163
forgot that about the king's power, since it was the chief
thing pretended by the late rebels, and was mainly in-
tended by the council in their injunctions ; so that it was a
poor shift for him to pretend he had forgot it, or had spoken
of it by a consequence.
The court adjourned to the 10th day ; and then Lati-
mer and Hooper offered to purge themselves of the charge
of heresy, since they had never spoken nor written of
the sacrament but according to the Scripture : and whereas
Bonner had charged them, that on the 1st of September they
had entered into consultation and confederacy against him,
they protested they had not seen each other that day, nor
been known to one another till some days after. Bonner,
upon this, read some passages of the sacrament out of a book
of Hooper's, whom he called " that varlet." But Cranmer
cut off the discourse, and said, it was not their business to
determine that point ; and said to the people, that the bishop
of London was not accused for any thing he had said about
the sacrament. Then Bonner, turning to speak to the
people, was interrupted by one of the delegates, who told
him he was to speak to them, and not to the people ; at
which some laughing, he turned about in great fury, and
said, "Ah woodcocks! woodcocks!" But to the chief
point he said, he had prepared notes of what he intended to
say about the king's power in his minority, from the in-
stances in Scripture of Achaz, and Osias, who were kings at
ten ; of Solomon and Manasses, who reigned at Iwelve ; and
of Josias, Joachim, and Joas, who began to reign when they
were but eight years old. He had also gathered out of the
English history, that Henry the Third, Edward the Ihird,
Richard the Second, Henry the Sixth, and Edward the
Fifth, were all under age ; and even their late king was but
eighteen when he came to the crown ; and yet all these were
obeyed as much before as after they were of full age. But
these things had escaped his memory, he not having being
much used to preach. There had been also a long bill sent
him from the council to be read, of the defeat of the rebels,
which, he said, had disordered him ; and the book in which
he had laid his notes fell out of his hands when he was
in the pulpit : for this he appealed to his two chaplains.
Bourn and Harpsfield, whom he had desired to gather for
him the names of those kings who reigned before they were
of age. For the other injunctions, he had taken care to
execute them, and had sent orders to his archdeacons to see
to them : and, as far as he understood, there were no masses,
nor service in Latin, within his diocess, except at the Lady
Mary's, or in the cl^apels of ambassadors. But the dele-
164 HISTORY OF
gates required him positively to answer, whether he had
obeyed that injunction about the king's authority or not ;
otherwise they would hold him as guilty ; and if he de-
nied it, they would proceed to the examination of the wit-
nesses. He refusing to answer otherwise than he had done,
they called the witnesses, who were Sir John Cheek and
four more, who had their oaths given them ; and Bonner
desiring a time to prepare his interrogatories, it was granted.
So he drew a long paper of twenty interrogatories, every
one of them containing many branches in it, full of all the
niceties of the canon law ; a taste of which may be had from
the third in number, whicli is, indeed, the most material of
all. The interrogatory was, " Whether they, or any of
them, were present at his sermon; where they stood, and
near whom ; when they came to it, and at what part of his
sermon ; how long they tarried ; at what part they were
offended; what were the formal words, or substance of it ;
who with them did hear it ; where the other witnesses stood,
and how long they tarried, or when they departed"?"
The court adjourned to the 18th of September : and then
there was read a declaration from the king, explaining
their former commission, chiefly in the point of the denun-
ciation, that they might proceed either that way, or ex officioy
as they saw cause : giving them, also, power finally to de-
termine the matter, cutting off all superfluous delays.
Bonner gave in also some other reasons, why he should not
be obliged to make a more direct answer to the articles
objected against him : the chief of which was, that the
article about the king's age was not in the paper given him
by the protector, but afterwards added by Secretary Smith,
of his own head. Cranmer admonished him of his irrever-
ence, since he called them always his pretended judges.
Smith added, that though proctors did so in common mat-
ters, for their clients, yet it was not to be endured in such a
case, when he saw they acted by a special commission from
the king. New articles were given him, more explicit and
plain than the former, but to the same purpose. And five
witnesses were sworn upon these, who were all the clerks of
the council, to prove that the article about the king's age
was ordered by the whole council, and only put in writing
by Secretary Smith, at their command. He was appointed
to come next day, and make his answer. But on the 19lh,
two of his servants came, and told the delegates, that he
was sick, and could not attend. It was therefore ordered,
that the knight-marshal should go to him, and if he were
sick, let him alone ; but if it were not so, should bring him
before them next day. On the 20th, Bonner appearing.
THE REFORMATION. 165
answered as he had done formerly ; only he protested, that
it was his opinion, that the king was as much a king, and
the people as much bound to obey him, before he was of
age as after it. And after that. Secretary Smith having
taken him up more sharply than the other delegates, he
protested against him as no competent judge, since he had
expressed much passion against him, and had not heard him
patiently, but had compared him to thieves and traitors,
and had threatened to send him to the Tower to sit with Ket
and Arundel ; and that he had added some things to the in-
junctions given him by the protector, for which he was now
accused, and did also proceed to judge him, notwithstand-
ing his protestation, grounded on his not being present when
the commission was first opened and received by the court.
But this protestation also was rejected by the delegates ;
and Smith told him, that whereas he took exception at
his saying that he acted as thieves and traitors do, it was
plainly visible in his doings : upon which, Bonner, being
much inflamed, said to him. That, as he was secretary of
state and a privy-counsellor, he honoured him ; but as he
was Sir Thomas Smith, he told him he lied, and that he de-
fied him. At this the archbishop chid him, and said, he de-
served to be sent to prison for such irreverent carriage. He
answered, he did not care whither they sent him, so they
sent him not to the devil, for thither he would not go ; he
had a few goods, a poor carcass, and a soul ; the twoforrner
were in their power, but the last was in his own. After this,
being made to withdraw, he, when called in again, put in
an appeal from them to the king, and read an instrument of
it, which he had prepared at his own house that morning ;
and so would n^ake no other answer, unless the secretary
should remove. For this contempt he was sent to the pri-
son of the Marshalsea ; and as he was led away, he broke
out in great passion, both against Smith and also at Cran-
mer, for suffering heretics to infect the people, which he re-
quired him to abstain from, as he would answer for it to God
and the king.
On the 23d he was again brought before them, where,
by a secQud instrument, he adhered to his former appeal.
But the delegj^tes said, they would go on and judge him,
unless there came a supersedeas from the king ; and so re-
quired him to answer those articles which he had not yet
answered, otherwise they would proceed against him ascwt-
tumux, and hold him as confessing. But he adhered to his
appeal, and so would answer no more. New matter was also
brought, of his going out of St. Paul's in the midst of the
sermon on the 15th of the month, and so giving a public dis-
166 HISTORY OF
turbance and scandal ; and of his writing next day to the
lord mayor, not to suffer such preacheis to sow their ill doc-
trine. This was occasioned by the preacher's speaking
against the corporal presence of Christ in the sacrament.
But he would give the court no account of that matter ; so
they adjourned to the 27th, and from that to the 1st of
October. In that time great endeavours were used to per-
suade him to submit, and to behave himself better for the
future ; and upon that condition he was assured he should be
gently used. But he would yield to nothing. So, ou the 1st
of October, when he was brought before them, the arch-
bishop told him, they had delayed so long, being unwilling
to proceed to extremities with him, and therefore wished
him to submit. But he read another writing, by which he
protested, that he was brought before him by force, and that
otherwise he would not have come, since, that having ap-
pealed from them, he looked on them as his judges no more.
He said, that he had also written a petition to the lord chan-
cellor, complaining of the delegates, and desiring that his
appeal might be admitted ; and said, by that appeal it was
plain that he esteemed the king to be clothed with his full
royal p>ower, now that he was under age, since he thus ap-
pealed to him. Upon which, the archbishop, the bishop of
Rochester, Secretary Smith, and the dean of St. Paul's, gave
sentence against him ; that since be had not declared the
king's power while under age in his sermon, as he was com-
manded by the protector and council, therefore the arch-
bishop, with the consent and assent of his colleagues, did
deprive him of the bishopric of London. Sentence being
thus given, he appealed again by word of mouth. The
court did also order him to be carried to prison, till the king
should consider further of it. This account of his trial is
drawn from the register of London, where all these particu-
lars are inserted. From thence it was that Fox printed
them. For Bonner, though he was afterwards commissioned
by the queen to deface any records that made against the
catholic cause, yet did not care to alter any thing in this
register after his re-admission in Mary's time. It seems he
was not displeased with what he found recorded of himself
in this matter.
Thus was Bonner deprived of his bishopric of London.
This judgment, as all such things are, was much censured :
it was said, it was not canonical, since it was by a commis-
sion from the king, and since secular men were mixed with
clergymen in the censure of a bishop. To this it was an-
swered, that the sentence being only of deprivation from the
see of London, it was not so entirely an ecclesiastical cen-
THE REFORMATION. 167
sure, but was of a mixed nature, so that laymen might joia
in it ; and since he had taken a commission from the king
for his bishopric, by which he held it only during the king's
pleasure, he could not complain of this deprivation, which
was done by the king's authority. Others, who looked fur-
ther back, remembered that Constantine the emperor had ap-
pointed secular men to inquire into some things objected to
bishops, who were called cognitores, or triers; and such had
examined the business of Cecilian, bishop of Carthage, even
upon an appeal, after it had been tried in several synods, and
given judgment against Donatus and his party. The same
Constantine had also by his authority put Eustathius out of
Antioch, Athanasius out of Alexandria, and Paul out of Con-
stantinople : and though the orthodox bishops complained of
these particulars, as done unjustly at the false suggestion of
the Arians, yet they did not deny the emperor's authority in
such cases. Afterwards, the emperors used to have some
bishops attending on them in their comiiatvs, or court, to
whose judgment they left most causes, who acted only by
commission from the emperor. So Epiphanius was brought
to condemn Chrysostom at Constantinople, who had no au-
thority to judge him by the canons. Others objected, that
it was too severe to deprive Bonner for a defect in his me-
mory : and that therefore they should have given him a new
trial in that point, and not have proceeded to censure him on
such an omission, since he protested it was not on design,
but a pure forgetfulness ; and all people perceived clearly it
had been beforehand resolved to lay him aside, and that
therefore they now took him on this disadvantage, and so
deprived him. But it was also well known, that all the pa-
pists infused this notion into the people, of the king's hav-
ing no power till he came to be of age ; and he being cer-
tamly one of them, there was reason to conclude, that what
he said for his defence was only a pretence, and that it was
of design that he had omitted the mentioning the king's
power when under age. The adding of imprisonment to his
deprivation was thought by some to be an extreme accumu-
lation of punishments. But that was no more than what he
drew upon himself by his rude and contemptuous behaviour.
However, it seems that some of these objections wrought on
Secretary Petre, for he never sat with the delegates after the
first day, and he was now turning about to another
party.
On the other hand, Bonner was little pitied by most that
knew him. He was a cruel and fierce man ; he understood
little of divinity, his learning being chiefly in the canon
law. Besides, he was looked on generally as a man of no
188 HISTORY OF •
principles. All the obedience he gave, either to the laws or
the king's injunctions, wasthousht a compliance against his
conscience, extorted by fear. And his indecent carriage
during his process had much exposed him to the people : so
that it was not thought to be hard dealing, though the pro-
ceedings against him were summary and severe. Nor did
his carriage afterward during his imprisonment discover much
of a bishop or a Christian : for he was more concerned to
have puddings and pears sent him, than for any thing else.
This 1 gather from some original letters of his to Richard
Leechmere, Esq. in Worcestershire (which were communi-
cated to me by his heir lineally descended from him, the
worshipful Mr. Leechmere,now the senior bencher of the Mid-
dle Temple), of which I transcribed the latter part of one, that
will be found in the Collection (No. xxxvii). In it he de-
sires a large quantity of pears and puddings to be sent him ;
otherwise, he gives those to whom he writes an odd sort of
benediction, very unlike what became a man of his charac-
ter ; he gives them " to the devil, to the devil, and to all the
devils," if they did not furnish him well with pears and pud-
dings. It may, perhaps, be thought indecent to print such let-
ters, being the privacies of friendship, which ought not to be
made public ; but I confess, Bonner was so brutish and so
bloody a man, that I was not ill pleased to meet with any
thing that might set him forth in his natural colours to the
world.
Thus did the affairs of England go on this summer, within
the kingdom ; but it will be now necessary to consider the
state of our affairs in foreign parts. The king of France,
finding it was very chargeable to carry on the war wholly in
Scotland, resolved this year to lessen that expense, and to
make war directly with England, both at sea and land. So
he came in person with a great army, and fell into the
country of Bulloigne, where he took many little castles
about the town ; as Sellaque, Blackness, Hambletue, New-
haven, and some lesser ones. The English writers say,
those were ill provided, which made them be so easily lost :
but Thuanus says, they were all very well stored. In the
night they assaulted Bullingberg, but were beat off: then
they designed to burn the ships that were in the harbour,
and had prepared wild-fire, with other combustible matter,
but were driven away by the English. At the same time,
the French fleet met the English fleet at Jersey ; but as King
Edward wTites in his diary, they were beat off with the loss
of one thousand men ; though Thuanus puts the loss wholly
on the English side. The French King sat down before
Bulloigne in September, hoping that the disorders then in
THE REFORMATION. 169
England would make that place be ill supplied, and easily
yielded. The English finding Bullingberg was not tenable
razed it, and retired into the town ; but the plague broke
into the French camp, so the king left it under the command
of Chastilion. He endeavoured chiefly to take the pier,
and so to cut off the town from the sea, and from all com-
munication with England ; and after a long battery he gave
the assault upon it, but was beat off. There followed many
skirmishes between him and the garrison, and he made
many attempts to close up the channel, and thought to have
sunk a galley full of stones and gravel in it ; but in all these
he was still unsuccessful : and therefore, winter coming on,
the siege was raised : only the forts about the town, which
the French had taken, were strongly garrisoned ; so that
Bulloigne was in danger of being lost the next year.
In Scotland, also, the English affairs declined much this
year. Thermes, before the winter was ended, had taken
Broughty Castle, and destroyed almost the whole garrison.
In the southern parts, there was a change made of the lords-
wardens of the English marches ; Sir Robert Bowes was
complained of, as negligent in relieving Hadingtoun, the for-
mer year ; so the Lord Dacres was put in his room ; and the
Lord Gray, who lost the great advantage he had when the
French raised the siege of Hadingtoun, was removed, and
the earl of Rutland was sent to command. The earl made
an inroad into Scotland, and supplied Hadingtoun plenti-
fully with all sorts of provisions necessary for a siege. He
had some Germans and Spaniards with him ; but a party of
Scotch horse surprised the Germans' baggage ; and Romero,
with the Spanish troop, was also fallen on, and taken, and
almost all his men were cut off. The earl of Warwick was
to have marched with a more considerable army this summer
into Scotland, had not the disorders in England diverted him,
as it has been already shown. Thermes did not much more
this year ; he intended once to have renewed the siege of
Hadingtoun ; but when lie understood how well they were
furnished, he gave it over. But the English council, find-
ing how great a charge the keeping of it was, and the country
all about it being destroyed, so that no provisions could be
had, but what were brought from England, from which it
was twenty-eight miles distant, resolved to withdraw their
garrison, and quit it, which was done on the 1st of October ;
so that the English having now no garrison within Scotland
but Lauder, Thermes sat down before that, and pressed it
so, that, had not the peace been made up with France, it
had fallen into his hands.
Vol. II, Part I. Q
170 HISTORY OF
Things being in this disorder both at home and abroad,
the protector had nothing to depend on, but the emperor's
aid ; and he was so ill satisfied with the chane;es that had
been made in religion, that much was not to be expected
from him. The confusions this year occasioned that change
to be made in the office of the daily prayers; where the
answer to the petition, " Give peace in our time, O Lord,"
which was formerly, and is siill continued, was now made,
" Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only
thou, O God." For now, the emperor, having reduced all
the princes, and most of the cities of Germany, to his obe-
dience, none but Magdeburg and Breame standing out, did,
by a mistake incident to great conquerors, neglect those ad-
vantages which were then in his hands, and did not prose-
cute his victories ; but leaving Germany, came this summer
into the Netherlands, whither he had ordered his son, Prince
Philip, to come from Spain to him, through Italy and Ger-
many, that he might put him into possession of these pro-
vinces, and ixiake them swear homage to him. Whether, at
this time, the emperor was beginning to form the design of
retiring, or whether he did this only to prevent the mutinies
and revolts that might fall out upon his death, if his son
were not in actual possession of them, is not so certain.
One thing is memorable in that transaction, that was called
the IcEtus introitus, or the terms upon which he was received
prince of Brabant, to which the other provinces had been for-
merly united into one principality : after many rules and li-
mitations of government, in the matter of taxes, and public
assemblies, the not keeping up of forces, and governing them
not by strangers, but by natives, it was added, " that if he
broke these conditions, it should be free for them not to obey
him, or acknowledge him any longer, till he returned to
govern according to their laws *." This was afterwards the
chief ground on which they justified their shaking off the
Spanish yoke, all these conditions being publicly violated.
At this time there were great jealousies in the emperor's
family ; for as he intended to have had his brother resign his
election to be king of the Romans, that it might be trans-
fened on his own son ; so there were designs in Flanders,
which the French cherished much, to have Maximilian,
Ferdinand's son, the most accomplished and virtuous prince
that had been for many ages, to be made their prince. The
Flemings were much disgusted with the queen regent's
government, who, when there was need of money, sent to
Bruges and Antwerp, ordering deputies to be sent her from
• Cott. Lib. GalbH, B. 12.
THE REFORMAllON. 171
JFlanders and Brabant ; and when they were come, she told
them what money must be raised ; and if they made any
objections, she used to bid them give over merchandizing
with the emperor, for he must and would have the money he
asked ; so that nothing remained to them, but to see how to
raise what was thus demanded of them, rather than desired
from them. This, as the English ambassador wrote from
Bruges, seemed to be the reason that moved the emperor
to make his son swear to such rules of government ; which
the sequel of his life showed he meant to observe in the
same manner that his father had done before him. At the
same time, in May this year, I find a secret advertisement
was sent over fiora France to the English court, that there
was a private treaty set on foot between that king and the
princes of Germany, for restoring the liberty of the empire;
but that the king of France was resolved to have BuUoigne
in his hands before he entered on new projects : therefore, it
was proposed to the protector to consider, whether it were
not best to deliver it up by a treaty, and so to leave the king
of F>ance free to the defence of their friends in the empire ;
for I find the consideration of the protestant religion was the
chief measure of our counsels all this reign.
Upon this there was great distraction in the counsels at
home ; the protector was inclined to deliver up Bulloigne
for a sum of money, and to make peace both with the
French and Scots. The king's treasure was exhausted,
affairs at home were in great confusion, the defence of Bul-
loigne was a great charge, and a war with France was a
thing of that consequence, that, in that state of affairs, it
was not to be adventured on. But, on the other hand, those
who hated the protector, and measured counsels more by
the bravery than the solidity of them, said, it w^ould be a
reproach to the nation to deliver up a place of that conse-
quence, which their late king, in the declining of his days,
had gained with so much loss of men and treasuie ; and to
sell ttiis for a little money was accounted so sordid, that
the protector durst not adventure on it. Upon this occasion
I find Sir William Paget (being made comptroller of the
king's household, which was then thought an advancement
from ttie office of a secretary of state) made a long dis-
course, and put it in writing * : the substance of it was, to
balance the dangers in which England was at that time.
The business of Scotland and Bulloigne drew France into a
quarrel against it : on the account of religion, it had no
reason to expect much from the emperor. The interest of
♦ Cott. Lib. Titus, B. 2.
172 HISTORY OF
England was then to preserve the protestants of Germany,
and, therefore, to unite with France ; which would be
easily engaged in that quarrel against ;the emperor. He
proposed a firm alliance with the Venetians, who were then
jealous of the emperor's progress in Italy, and would be
ready to join against him, if he were thoroughly engaged
in Germany ; and by their means, England was to make up
un agreement with France. On the other hand, William
Thomas, then a clerk of the council, wrote a long discourse
of other expedients * ; he agreed with Paget as to the ill
state of England, having many enemies, and no friends.
The north of England was wasted by the incursion of the
Scots : Ireland was also in an ill condition, for the natives
there did generally join with the Scots, bemg addicted to
the old superstition. The emperor was so set on reducing
all to one religion, that they could expect no great aid from
him, unless they gave him some hope of returning to the
Roman religion. But the continuance of the war would
undo the nation : for if the war went on, the people would
take advantage from it to break out into new disorders ; it
would be also very dishonourable to deliver up, or rather to
sell, the late conquests in France. Therefore he proposed,
that, to gain time, they should treat with the emperor, and
even give him hopes of re-examining what had been done
in religion ; though there was danger even in that of dis-
heartening those of Magdeburg, and the few remaining
protestants in Germany ; as also, they might expect the
emperor would be highly enraged when he should come to
find that he had been deluded : but the gaining of time was •
then so necessary, that the preservation of the nation de-
pended on it. For Scotland, he proposed, that the governor
of that kingdom, should be pressed to pretend to the crown,
since their queen was gone into a strange country : by this
means Scotland would be for that whole age separated from
the interests of France, and obliged to depend on England ;
and the French were now so hated in Scotland, that any
who would set up against them would have an easy work,
especially being assisted by the nearness of England : and
for Ireland, he proposed, that the chief heads of families
should be drawn over, and kept at court : and that England
thus being respited from foreign war, the nation should be
armed and exercised, the coin reformed, treasure laid up,
and things in the government at home that were uneasy
should be corrected.
Thus I have opened the counsels at that time, as I found
• Cott. Lib. Vespasian, D. 18.
THE REFORMATION. 173
them laid before me in these authentic papers, from which I
drew them. The result of their consultation was to send
over Sir William Paget to join with Sir Philip Hobbey,
then resident at the emperor's court. His instructions will
be found in the Collection (No. xxxviii) : the substance of
them was, that the treaty between the emperor and the late
king should be renewed with this king, and confirmed by
the prince and the states of Flanders ; that some ambiguous
passages in it should be cleared ; that the emperor would
comprehend Bulloigne within the league defensive, and so
protect it, England being ready to offer any thing reciprocal
in the room of it. He was also to show their readiness to
agree with the emperor concerning the Lady Mary's marriage j
to adjust some differences occasioned by the complaints
made of the admiralty, and about trade ; to show the rea-
son of the messages that passed between them and France ;
and to engage, that, if the emperor would heartily assist
them, they would never agree with France. Paget was
also to propose, as of himself, that Bulloigne should be put
into the emperor's hands upon a reasonable recompence.
Thus was Paget instructed, and sent over in June, this
year : but the emperor put him off with many delays, and
said, the carrying of his son about the towns in Flanders
and Brabant, with the many ceremonies and entertainments
that followed it, made it not easy for him to consider of
matters that required such deep consultation. He put him
off from Brussels to Gaunt, and from Gaunt to Bruges :
but, Paget growing impatient of such delays, since the
French were inarched into the BuUoignese, the brshop of
Arras (son to Giandvil, that had been long the emperor's
chief miuister), who was now like to succeed in his father's
room, that was old and ijifirm, and the two presidents of
the emperor's councils, St. Maurice and Yiglias, came to
Sir William Paget, and had a long communication with
him and Hobbey ; an account whereof will be tound in the
Collection (No. xxxix), in a dispatch from them to the
Protector.
They first treated of an explanation of some ambiguous
words in the treaty, to which the emperor's ministers pro-
mised to bring them an answer : then they talked long of
the matters of the admiralty ; the emperor's ministers said,
no justice was done in England upon the merchants' com-
plaints, Paget said, every mariner came to the protector,
and if he would not solicit their business, they run away
with a complaint that there was no justice ; whereas, he
thought, that as they meddled with no private matters, so
the protector ought to turn all these over upon the courts
y 3
174 HISTORY OF
that were the competent judges. But the bishop of Arras
said, there was no justice to be had in the admiralty courts,
who were, indeed, parties in ail these matters : Paget said,
there was as much justice in the English admiralty courts
as was in their's ; and the bishop confessed, there were
great corruptions in all these courts. So Paget proposed,
that the emperor should appoint two of his council to hear
and determine all such complaints in a summary way, and
the king should do the like in England. For the confirma-
tion of the treaty, the bishop said, the emperor was willing
his son should confirm it : but, that he would never sue to
his subjects to confirm his treaties : and he said, when it
was objected that the treaty with France was confirmed by
the three estates, that the prerogative of the French crown
was so restrained that the king could alienate nothing of
his patrimony, without the parliament of Paris, and his
three estates. He; believed the king of England had a
greater prerogative ; he was sure the emperor was not so
bound up ; he had fifteen or sixteen several parliaments,
and what work must he be at, if all these must descant on
his transactions 1 When this general discourse was over,
the two presidents went away, but the bishop of Arras
stayed with him in private. Paget proposed the business of
Bulloigne : but the bishop, having given him many good
words in the general, excepted much to it, as dishonourable
to the emperor, since Bulloigne was not taken when the
league was concluded between the emperor and England ;
so that, if he should now include it in the league, it would be
a breach of faith and treaties with France ; and he stood
much on the honour and conscience of observing these
treaties inviolably. So this conversation ended ; in which
the most remarkable passage is that concerning the limita-
tions on the French crown, and the freedoms of the English ;
for at that time the king's prerogative in England was judged
of that extent, that I find in a letter written from Scotland,
one of the main objections made to the marrying their queen
to the king of England was, that an union with England
would much alter the constitution of their government, the
prerogatives of the kings of England being of a far larger
extent than those in Scotland.
Two or three days after the former conversation, the
emperor's ministers returned to Paget's lodging, with answer
to the propositions which the Engtish ambassadors had
made ; of which a full account will be found in the Collec-
tion (No. xl), in the letter which the ambassadors wrote
upon it into England. The emperor gave a good answer to
some of the particulars, which were ambiguous in former
^
THE REFORMATION. 175
treaties. For the confirmation of the treaty he offered,
that the prince should join in it ; but since the king of Eng-
land was under age, he thought it more necessary that the
parliament of England should confirm it. To which Paget
answered, that their kings, as to the regal power, were the
same in all the conditions of life ; and therefore, when the
great seal was put to any agreement, the king was abso-
lutely bound by it. If his ministers engaged him in ill trea-
ties, they were to answer for it at their perils ; but howso-
ever, the king was tied by it. They discoursed long about the
administration of justice, but ended in nothing ; and as for
the main buiness about Bulloigne, the emperor stood on his
treaties with the French, which he could not break : upon
which, Paget said to the bishop, that his father had told him
they had so many grounds to quarrel with France, that he
had his sleeve full of them, to produce when there should be
occasion to make use of them. But finding the bishop's
answers were cold, and that he only gave good words, he
told him, that England would then see to their own security :
and so he took that for the emperor's final answer, and
thereupon resolved to take his leave, which he did soon
after, and came back into England. But at home the coun-
sels were much divided, of which the sad effects broke out
soon afterward.
It was proposed in council, that the war with Scotland
should be ended , for it having been beguft and carried on
only on design to obtain the marriage, since the hopes of
that were now so far gone, that it was not in the power of
the Scots themselves to retrieve them, it was a vain and
needless expense, both of blood and money, to keep it up :
and since Bulloigne was, by the treaty, after a few more
years, to be delivered up to the French, it seemed a very
unreasonable thing, in the low state to which the king's af-
fairs were driven, to enter on a war, in which they had little
reason to doubt but they should lose Bulloigne, after the new
expense of a siege and another year's war. The protector
had now many enemies, who laid hold on this conjuncture
to throw him out of the government. The earl of South-
ampton was brought into the council, but had not laid down
his secret hatred of the protector ; and did all he could to
make a party against him. The earl of Warwick was the
fittest man to work on ; him, therefore, he gained over to
his side, and having formed a confidence in him, he showed
him that he had really got all those victories for which the
protector triumphed : he had won the field of Pinkey, near
Musselburgh, and had subdued the rebels of Norfolk ; and,
176 HISTORY OF
as he had before defeated the French, so, if he were seilt
over thither, new triumphs would follow him , but it was
below him to be second to any : so he engaged him to quar-
rel in every thing with the protector, all whose wary motions
were ascribed to fear or dulness. To others he said, what
fi'iendship could any expect from a man who had no pity on
his own brother 1 But that which provoked the nobility
most was the partiality the protector had for the commons
in the insurrections that had been this summer : he had also
given great grounds of jealousy, by entertaining foreign
troops in the king's wars ; which, though it was not objected
to him, because the council had consented to it, yet it was
whispered about, that he had extorted that consent. But
the noble palace he was raising in the Strand (which yet car-
ries his name), out of the ruins of some bishops' houses and
churches, drew as public an envy on him as any thing he
h?d done. ]t was said, that when the king was engaged in
such wars, and when London was much disordered by the
plague, that had been in it for some months, he was then
bringing architects from Italy, and designing such a palace
as had not been seen in England. It was also said, that
many bishops and cathedrals had resigned many manors ta
him, for obtaining his favour. Though this was not done
without leave obtained from the king; for in a grant of
some lands made to him by the king on the 11th of July, in
the second year of his reign*, it is said, that these lands
were given him as a reward of Lis services in Scotland, for
which he was offered greater rewards ; but that he, refusing
to accept of such grants as might too much impoverish the
crown, had taken a licence to the bishop of Bath and Wells
for his alienating some of the lands of that bishopric to
him : he is in that patent called, " by the grace of God"^
duke of Somerset, which had not of late years been ascribed
to any but sovereign princes. It was also said, that many of
the chantry lands had been sold to his friends at easy rates,
for which they concluded he had great presents ; and a
course of unusual greatness had raised him up too high, so
that he did not carry himself towards the nobility with that
equality that they expected from him.
All these things concurred to beget him many enemies ;
and he had very few friends, for none stuck firmly to hini,
but Paget, and secretary Smith, and especially Cranmer,
who never forsook his friend. All that favoured the old
wperstition were his enemies ; and seeing the earl of Soutb-
* Rot. Pat. 4. Par. 2 Reg.
1
THE REFORMATION. 177
amp ton heading the party against him, they all run into it.
And of the bishops that were for the Reformation, Goodrich,
of Ely, likewise joined to them : he had attended on the
admiral in his preparations for death, from whom, it seems,
he drank in ill impressions of the protector : all his enemies
saw, and he likewise saw it himself, that the continuance of
the war must needs destroy him ; and that a peace would
confirm him in his power, and give him time and leisure to
break through the faction that was. now so strong against
him, that it was not probable he could master it without the
help of some time. So in the council, his adversaries de-
livered their opinions against all motions for peace : and
though, upon Paget's return from Flanders, it appeared to
be very unreasonable to carry on the war ; yet, they said,
Paget had secret instructions to procure such an answer,
that it might give a colour to so base a project. The officers,
that came over from those places that the French had taken,
pretended, as is common for all men in such circumstances,
that they wanted things necessary for a siege ; and though
in truth it was quite contrary (as we read in Thuanus), yet
their complaints were cherished and spread about among the
people. The protector had also, against the mind of the
council, ordered the garrison to be drawn out of Hading-
toun ; and was going, notwithstanding all their opposition,
to make peace with France ; and did in many things act by
his own authority, without asking their advice, and often
against it. This was the assuming a regal power, and seemed
not to be endured by those who thought they were in all
points his equals. It was also said, that when, contrary to
the late king's will, he was chosen protector, it was with
that special condition, that he should do nothing without
their consent ; and though, by the patent he had for his
office, his power was more enlarged (which was of greater
force in law than a private agreement at the council-table),
yet even that was objected to him, as a high presumption in
him to pretend to such a vast power. Thus, all the month
of September, there were great heats among them : several
persons interposed to mediate, but to no effect: for the
faction against him was now so strong, that they resolved to
strip him of his exorbitant power, and reduce him to an
equality with themselves. The king was then at Hampton-
Court, where also the protector was, with some of his own
retainers and servants about him, which increased the
jealousies ; for it was given out, that he intended to carry
away the king. So on the 6th of October, some of the council
met at Ely-house : the Lord St. John, president, the earls of
Warwick, Arundel, and Southampton, Six Edward North,
178 HISTORY OF
Sir Richard Southwell, Sir Edmund Pecham, Sir Edward
Wotton, and Dr. \\'otlon ; and secretary Petre being sent
to them in the king's name, to ask what they met for, joined
himself likewise to them. They sat as the king's council,
and entered their proceedings in the council-book, from
whence I draw the account of this transaction.
These being met together, -and considering the disorders
that had been lately in England, the losses in Scotland and
France, laid the blame of all on the protector," who, they
said , was given up to other counsels so obstinately, that he
would not hearken to the advices they had given him, both
at the board and in private ; and they declared, that, having
intended that day to have gone to Hampton-Court for a
friendly communication with him, he had raised many of the
commons to have destroyed them, and had made the king
set his hand to the letters he had sent for raising men ; and
had also dispersed seditious bills against them ; therefore
they intended to see to the safety of the king and the king-
dom. So they sent for the lord mayor and aldermen of Lon-
don, and required them to obey no letters sent them by the
protector, but only such as came from themselves. They
also writ many letters to the nobility and g«ntry over Eng-
land, giving them an account of their designs and motives,
and requiring their assistance. They also sent for the
lieutenant of the Tower, and he submitted to their orders.
Next day, the lord chancellor, the marquis of Northamp-
ton, the earl of Shrewsbury, Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir John
Gage, Sir Ralpk Sadler, and the lord chief-justice Monta-
gue, joined with them. Then they wrote to the king a letter
(which is in the Collection, ]\o. xli), full of expressions of
their duty and care of his person, complaining of the duke
of Somerset's not listening to their counsels, and of his
gathering a force about him for maintaining his wilful doings :
they owned that they had caused Secretary Petre to stay
with them, and in it they endeavoured to persuade the king,
that they were careful of nothing so much as of his preserva-
tion. They also wrote to the archbishop of Canterbury, and
to Sir William Paget, to see to the king's person, and that
his own servants should attend on him, and not those that
belonged to the duke of Somerset. But the protector, hear-
ing of this disorder, had removed the king to Windsor in all
haste ; and had taken down all the armour that was either
there or at Hampton- Court, and had armed such as he could
gather about him for his preservation.
The council at London complained much of this, that the
kirig should be carried to a place where there were no pro-
visions fit for him. So they ordered all things that he might
THE REFORMATION. 179
need to be sent to him from London. And on the 8th of
October they went to Guildhall, where they gave an account
of their proceedings to the common-counctl of the city : and
assure«» them, they had no thoughts of altering the religion,
as was given out by their enemies, but intended only tho
safety of the king, and the peace of the kingdom ; and lo
these ends desired their assistance. The whole common-
council, with one voic?,, declared, they thanked God for the
good intentions they had expressed, and assured them they
would stand by them with their lives and goods. At Wind-
sor, when the protector understood that not only the city but
the lieutenant of the Tower, of whom he had held himself
assured, had forsaken him, he resolved to struggle no longer :
and though it is not improbable, that he, who was chiefly
accused for his protecting the commons, might have easily
gathered a great body of men for his own preservation ; yet
he resolved rather to give way to the tide that was now
against him. So he protested before the king and the few
counsellors then about him, that he had no design against
any of the lords : and that the force he had gathered was
only to preserve himself from any violent attempt that might
be made on his person : he declared, that lie was willing to
submit himself; and therefore proposed, that two of those
lords should be sent from London, and they, with two of
those that were yet about the king, should consider what
might be done, in whose determinafion he would acquiesce :
and desired, tliat whatsoever was agreed on should be con-
firmed in parliament (Collect. No. xlii). Hereupon there
was sent to London a warrant under the king's hand, for
any two of the lords of the council that were there to come
to Windsor with twenty servants a-piece, who had the king's
faith for their safety in coming and going : and Cranmer,
Paget, and Smith, wrote to them to dispose them to end the
matter peaceably, and not follow cruel counsels, nor to be
misled by them who meant otherwise than they professed, of
which they knew more than they would then mention. This
seemed to point at the earl of Southampton.
On the 9th of October the council at London increased by
the accession of the Lord Russel, the Lord Wentworth, Sir
Anthony Brown, Sir Anthony Wingfield, and Sir John Baker,
the speaker of the house of commons. For now those who
had stood off awhile, seeing the protector was resolved to
yield, came and united themselves with the prevailing party :
so that they were in all two-and-twenty. They were in-
formed, that the protector had said, that if they intended to
put him to death, the king should die first; and if they
would famish him, they should famish the king first : and
180 HISTORY OF
that he had armed his own men, and set them next to the
king's person, and was designing to carry him out of Wind-
sor, and, as some reported, out of the kingdom : upon which
they concluded, that he was no more fit to be protector.
But of those words no proofs being mentioned in the council
books, they look like the forgeries of his enemies to make
him odious to the people. The council ordered a proclama-
tion of their proceedings to be printed, and writ to the Lady
Mary and the Lady Elizabeth, acquainting them with what
they had done. They also wrote to the king (as will be
found in the Collection, No. xliii), acknowledging the many
bonds that lay on them, in gratitude both for his father's
goodness to them and his own, to take care of him. They
desired he would coi^Lider they were his whole council,
except one or two ; and were those whom his father had
trusted with the government ; that the protector was not
raised to that power by his father's will, but by their choice,
with that condition that he should do all things by their
advice ; which he had not observed, so that they now
judged him most unworthy of these honours : therefore they
earnestly desired they might be admitted to the king's pre-
sence, to do their duties about him, and that the forces
gathered about his person might be sent away, and the duke
of Somerset might submit himself to the order of council.
They also wrote to the archbishop and Sir William Paget
(which is in the Collection, No. xliv), charging them, as
they would answer it, that the king's person might be well
looked to ; that he should not be removed from Windsor ;
and that he should be no longer guarded by the duke of
Somerset's men (as they said he had been, of which they
complained severely), but by his own sworn servants ; and
they required them to concur in advancing the desire they
had signified by their letter to the king, protesting that they
would do with the duke of Somerset as they would desire
to be done by, and with as much moderation and favour as
in honour they could : so that there was no reason to appre-
hend from them such cruelty as they had mentioned in their
letters. These were sent by Sir Philip Hobbey, who was
returned from Flanders, and had been sent by the king to
London on the day before. Upon this, Cranmer and Paget
(as is entered in the council book) persuaded both the king
and the protector to grant their desire. The protector's
servants were dismissed, and the king's were set about
his person. And Cranmer, Paget, and Smith, wrote to the
council at London, that all they had proposed should be
granted : they desired to know whether the king should be
brought to London, or stay at Windsor ; and that three of
1
THE REf ORMATIOX. 181
the lords might be sent thither, who should see all things
done according to their minds ; and for other things they
referred them to Hobbey, that carried the letter (which is in
the Collection, No. xlv). Upon this the council sent Sir
Anthony Wingfield, Sir Anthony St. Leiger, and Sir J. Wil-
liams, to Windsor, with a charge to see that the duke of
Somerset should not withdraw before they arrived, and that
Sir Thomas Smith the secretary, Sir Michael Stanhop, Sir
John Thynn, Edward Wolfe, and William Cecil, should be
restrained to their chambers till they examined t'aem. On
the r2th of October the whole council went to Windsor, and
coming to the king, they protested that all they had done
was out of the zeal and affection they had to his person and
service. The king received them kindly, and thanked them
for their care of him, and assured them that he took all they
had done in good part. On the 13th day they sat in council,
and sent for those who were ordered to be kept in their
chambers ; only Cecil was let go. They charged them, that
they had been the chief instruments about the duke of
Somerset in all his wilful proceedings ; therefore they turned
Smith out of his place of secretary, and sent him with the
rest to the Tower of London. On the day following the
protector was called before them, and articles of misde-
meanours and high treason were laid to his charge (which
will be found in the Collection, No. xlvi). The substance
of them was, that, being made protector on condition that he
should do nothing without the consent of the other executors,
he had not observed that condition, but had treated with
ambassadors, made bishops and lord- lieutenants, by his own
authority ; and that he had held a court of requests in his
own house, and had done many things contrary to law ; had
embased the coin ; had in the matter of inclosures set out
proclamations, and given commissions, against the mind of
the whole council : that he had not taken care to suppresi
the late insurrections, but had justified and encouraged them :
that he had neglected the places the king had in France, by
which meins they were lost : that he had persuaded the
king that the lords who met at London intended to destroy
him, and had desired him never to forget it, but to revenge
it, and had required some young lords to keep it in his re-
membrance ; and had caused those lords to be proclaimed
traitors : that he had said, if he should die, the king should
die too : that he had carried the king so suddenly to Wind-
sor, that he was not only put in great fear, but cast into a
dangerous disease : that he had gathered the people, and
armed them for war ; and had armed his friends and servants,
and left the king's servants unarmed : and that he intended*
VoT.. II, Part 1. R
182 HISTORY OF
to fly to Jersey, or Guernsey. So he was sent to the Towey,
being conducted thither by the earls of Sussex and Hunting-
ton. That day the king was carried back again to Hampton-
Court ; and an order was made, that six lords should be the
governors of his person ; who were, the marquis of Nor-
thampton, the earls of Warwick and Arundel, the Lords
St. John, Russel, and Wentworth. Two of those were in
their course to attend constantly on the king.
And thus fell the duke of Somerset from his high offices
and great trust. The articles objected to him seem to say
as much for his justification as the answers could do, if they
were in my power. He is not accused of rapine, cruelty, or
bribery ; bnt only of such things as are incident to all men
that are of a sudden exalted to a high and disproportioned
greatness. W hat he did about the coin was not for his own
advantage, but was done by a common mistake of many
governors, who, in the necessity of their affairs, fly to this
as their last shift, to draw out their business as long as is
possible ; but it ever rebounds on the government to its
great prejudice and loss. He bore his fall more equally
than he had done his prosperity : and set himself in his im-
prisonment to study and reading : and falling on a book
that treated of patience, both from the principles of moral
philosophy and of Christianity, he was so much taken with
it, that he ordered it to be translated into English, and writ
a preface to it himself, mentioning the great comfort he had
found in reading it, which had induced him to take care
that others might reap the like benefit from it. Peter Martyr
writ him also a long consolatory letter, which was printed,
both in Latin and in an ^English translation : and all the
reformed, both in England and abroad, looked on his fall as
a public loss to that whole interest, which he had so steadily
set forward.
But, en the other hand, the popish party were much
lifted up at his fall ; and the rather, because they knew the
earl of Southampton, who they hoped should have directed
all aflfairs, was entirely theirs. It was also believed, that
the earl of Warwick had given them secret assurances ; so
it was understood at the court of France, asThuanus writes.
They had also, among the first things they did, gone about
to discharge the duke of Norfolk of his long imprisonment,
in consideration of his great age, his former services, and
the extremity of the proceedings against him, which were
said to have flowed chiefly from the ill oflSces the duke of
Somerset had done him. But this was soon laid aside. So
now the papists made their addresses to the earl of War-
wick. The bishop of Winchester wrote to him a hearty
r
THE REFORMATION. 183
congratulation, rejoicing that the late tyranny (so he called
the duke of Somerset's administration) was now at an end :
he wished him all prosperity, and desired, that, when he
had leisure from the great affairs that were in so unsettled
a condition, some regard might be had of him. The bi-
shop of London, being also in good hopes, since the Pro-
tector and Smith, whom he esteemed his chief enemies,
were now in disgrace, and Cranra,er was in cold if not in ill
terms with the earl of Warwick, sent a petition that his
appeal might be received, and his process reviewed. Many
also began to fall off from going to the English service, or
the communion ; hoping that all would be quickly undone
that had been settled by the duke of Somerset. But the
earl of Warwick, finding the king so zealously addicted to
the carrying on of the Reformation, that nothing could re-
commend any one so much to him, as the promoting it fur-
ther would do, soon forsook the popish party, and was
seemingly the most earnest on a further reformation that
was possible. I do not find that he did write any answer to
the bishop of Winchester. He continued still a prisoner.
And for Bonner's matter, there was a new court of dele-
gates appointed to review his appeal, consisting of four
•civilians and four common lawyers ; who, having examined
it, reported, that the process had been legally carried on,
and the sentence justly given, and that there was no good
reason why the appeal should be received ; and therefore
they rejected it. This being reported to the council, they
sent for Bonner in the beginning of February, and declared
to him that his appeal was rejected, and that the sentence
against him was in full force still.
But the business of Bulloigne was that which pressed
them most. They misdoubting, as was formerly shown,
that Paget had not managed that matter dexterously and
earnestly with the emperor, sent, on the 18th of October,
Sir Thomas Cheyney and Sir Philip Hobbey to him, to en-
treat him to take Bulloigne into his protection ; they also
sent over the earl of Huntington to command it, with the
addition of a thousand men for the garrison. When the
ambassadors came to the emperor, they desired leave to
raise two thousand horse and three thousand foot in his do-
minions for the preservation of Bulloigne. The emperor
gave them very good words, but insisted much on his
league with France, and referred them to the bishop of Ar-
ras, who told them plainly the thing could not be done *.
So Sir Thomas Cheyney took his leave of the emperor, who,
at parting, desired him to represent to the king's council
• Cotton Libr. Galba, B. 12.
184 HISTORY OF
how neceesary it was to consider matters of religion again,
that so they might be all of one mind ; for, to deal plainly
with them, till that were done, he could not assist them so
effectually as otherwise he desired to do. And now the
council saw clearly, they had not beea deceived by Paget
in that particular, and therefore resolved to apply them-
selves to France for a peace. But now the earl of Warwick
falling off wholly from the popish party, the earl of
Southampton left the court in great discontent. He was
neither restored to his office of chancellor, nor made lord
treasurer (that place, which was vacant by the duke of
Somerset's fall, being now given to the Lord St. John, who
soon after was made earl of Wiltshire) ; nor was he made
one of those who had charge of the king's person. So he
began to lay a train against the earl of Warwick ; but he
was too quick for him, and discovered it : upon which he
left the court in the night, and it was said he poisoned him-
self, or pined away with discontent, for he died in July
after.
So now the Reformation was ordered to be carried on :
and there being one part of the Divine offices not yet re-
formed, that is, concerning the giving orders, some bishops
and divines, brought now together by a session of parlia-
ment, were appointed to prepare a book of ordination.
But now 1 turn to the parliament, which sat down on the
4th of November. In it a severe law was made against un-
lawful assemblies : that if any, to the number of twelve,
should meet together unlawfully for any matter of state,
and, being required by any lawful magistrate, should not
disperse themselves, it should be treason : and if any broke
hedges, or violently pulled up pales, about inclosures, with-
out lawful authority, it should be felony. It was also made
felony to gather the people together without warrant, by
ringing of bells, or sound of drums and trumpets, or the
firing of beacons. There was also a law made against pro-
phecies concerning the king or his council, since by these
the people were disposed to sedition : for the^first offence,
it was to be punished by imprisonment for a year, and 10/.
■ fine : for the second, it was imprisonment during life, with
the forfeiture of goods and chattels. All this was on the ac-
count of the tumults the former year, and not with any
regard to the duke of Somerset's security, as some have
without any reason fancied : for he had now no interest in
the parliament, nor was he in a condition any more to ap-
prehend tumults against himself, being stripped of his so
niucli envied greatness. Another law was made against
vagabonds, relating, that the former statute made in this
reign being too severe, was by that means not executed : so
n
THE REFORMATION. 186
it was repealed, and the law made in King Henry the
Eighth's reign put in force : provisions were laid down for
relieving the sick and impotent, and setting the poor, that
were able, to work : that once a month there should be
everywhere a visitation of the poor by those in office, who
should send away such as did not belong to that place, and
those were to be carried from constable to constable, till
they were brought to such places as were bound to see to
them. There was a bill brought in for the repealing of a
branch of the act of uniformity, but it went no further than
one reading.
On the 14th of November the bishops made a heavy com-
plaint to the lords, of the abounding of vice and disorder,
and that their power was so abridged, that they could
punish no sin, nor oblige any lo appear before them, or to
observe the orders of the church. This was heard by all
the lords with great regret, and they ordered a bill to be
drawn about it. On the 18th of November a bill was
brought in, but rejected at first reading, because it seemed
to give the bishops too much power. So a second bill was
appointed to be drawn by a committee of the hou e. It was
agreed to, and sent down to the commons, who laid it aside
after the second reading. They thought it better to renew
the design that was in the former reign, of two-and- thirty
persons being authorized to compile the body of ecclesias-
tical laws ; and when that was prepared, it seemed more
proper, by confirming it, to establish ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion, than to give the bishops any power, while the rules of
their courts were so little determined or regulated : so an
act passed, empowering the king to name sixteen persons of
the spirituality, of whom four should be bishops, and six-
teen of the temporality, of whom four should be common
lawyers, who within three years should compile a body of
ecclesiastical laws ; and those, being nothing contrary to
the common and statute laws of the land, should be pub-
lished by the king's warrant, under the great seal, and have
the force of laws in the ecclesiastical courts. Thus they
took care that this should not be turned over to an uncer-
tain period, as it had been done in the former reign, but
designed that it should be quickly finished. The bishops of
that time were generally so backward in every step to a
reformation, that a small number of them were made neces-
sary to be of this commission. The effect that it had shall
be afterwards opened.
(1650.) There was a bill brought into the house of com-
mons, that the preaching and holding of some opinions
should be declared felony : it passed with them, but was
R3
185 HISTORY OF
1
laid aside by the lords. A bill for the form of oi dainiug
ministers was brought into the house of lords, and was
agreed to, the bishops of Duresme, Carlisle, Worcester,
Chichester, and Westminster, protesting against it. The
substance of it was, that such forms of ordaining ministers
as should be set forth by the advice of six prelates and six
divines, to be named by the king, and authorized by a war-
rant under the great seal, should be used after April next,
and no other. On the second of January a bill was put in
against the duke of Somerset, of the articles formerly men-
tioned, with a confession of them signed by his hand. This
he was prevailed with to do, upon assurances given that he
should be gently dealt with, if he would freely confess, and
submit himself to the king's mercy. But it was said by
some of the lords, that they did not know whether that con-
fession was not draw n from him by force : and that it might
be an ill precedent to pass acts upon such papers, without
examining the party, whether he had subscribed them
freely and uncompelled : so they sent four temporal lords
and four bishops to examine him concerning it. And the
day following the bishop of Coventry and Litchfield made
the leport, that he thanked them for that kind message, but
that he had freely subscribed the confession that lay before
them. He had made it on his knees before the king and
council, and had signed it on the 13th of December. He
protested his offences had flowed from rashness and indis-
cretion, laiher than malice, and that he had no treasonable
design against the king or his realms. So he was fined by
act of parliament in 2,000/. a year of land, and he lost all
his gocds and offices. Upon this he wrote to the council,
acknowledging their favour in bringing oft' his matter by a
fine : he confessed, that he had fallen into the frailties that
oiten attend on great places, but what he had done amiss
was rather for want of true judgment, than from any ma-
licious meaning : he humbly desired they would interpose
with the king for a moderation of his fine, and that he might
be pardoned and restored to favour ; assuring them, that for
the future he should carry himself so humbly and obediently,
that he should thereby make airends for his former follies.
This was much censured by many, as a sign of an abject
spirit : others thought it was wisely done in him, once to
get out of prison on any terms, since the greatness of his
former condition gave such jealousy to his enemies, that
unless he had his pardon, he would be in continu.il danger,
as long as he was in their hands. So on the 6th of February
he was set at liberty, giving bontl of 10,000/. for his good
behaviour ; and being limited that he should stay at the
THE REFORiMATlON. 187
king's house of Sheen, or his own of Sion, and should not go
four miles from them, nor come to the king or the council,
unless he were called : he had his pardon on the 16th of
February, and carried himself after that so humbly, that
his behaviour, with the kind's great kindness to him, did so
far prevail, that on the 10th of April after he was restored
into favour, and sworn of the privy-council. And so this
storm went over him much more gently than was expected ;
but his carriage in it was thought to have so little of the
hero, that he was not much considered after tiiis.
But to go on with the business of the parliament. Re-
ports had been spread, that the old service would be again
set up : and these were much cherished by those who still
loved the former superstition ; who gave out, that a change
was to be expected, since the new service had been only the
act of tlie duke of Soraeiset. Upon this the council wrote
o;i Christmas-day a letter to all the bishops of England,
to this effect ; " That whereas the English service had been
devised by learned men, according to the Scripture, and the
use of the primitive church ; therefore, for putting away
those vain expectations, all clergymen were required to
deliver to such as should be appointed by the king to receive
them, all antiphonales, missals, grayles. processionals,
manuals, legends, pies, portuasses, journals, and ordinals,
after the use of Sarum, Lincoln, York, or any other private
use : requiring them also to see to the observing one uniform
order in the service set forth by the common consent of the
realm : and particularly to take care, that there should
be everywhere provision made of bread and wine for
the communion on Sunday." This uill be found in the
Collection (No. xlvii). J3uttogive amore public declaration
of their zeal, an act was brought into parliament about
it, and was agreed to by all the lords ; except the earl
of Darby, the bishops of Duresme, Coventry and Litchfield,
Carlisle, Woicester, Westminster, and Chichester, and the
l^rds Morley, Stourton, Windsor, and Wharton. By it,
not only all the books formerly n.entioned were to be
destroyed, but all that had any image that had belonged to
any church or chapel were required to deface it before
the last of June; and in all the primers set out by the
late kintr, the prayers to the saints v.ere to be dashed
out. There was also an act for a subsidy to be paid in one
year, for which there was a release granted of a branch
of the subsidy formerly given. I.ast of all came the king's
general pardon, out of which those in the Tower, or other
prisons, on the account of the state, as also all anabaptists,
were excepted.
188 HISTORY OF
Thus were all matters ended, and on the 1st of February
the parliament was prorogued. Only in the house of
commons there was a debate that deserves to be remem-
bered. It seems, that before this time the eldest sons of
peers were not members of the house of commons : and Sir
Francis Kussel becoming, by the death of his elder brother,
heir-apparent to the Lord Kussel ; it was on the 21st
of January carried, upon a debate, that he should abide in
the house as he was before. So it is entered in the original
journal of the house of commons, which was communicated
to me by Mr. Surle and jMr. Clark, in whose hands it is now,
and is the first journal that ever was taken in that house.
But it may be expected that I should next give an account
of the forms of ordination now agreed on. Twelve were
appointed by the council to prepare the book ; among
whom Heath, bishop of Worcester, was one, but he would
not consent to the reformations that were proposed in it : so
on the 8th of February he was called before the council,
and required to agree to that which all the rest had con-
sented to. But he could not be prevailed with to do it.
Wherefore on the 4th of March he was committed to the
Fleet, because (as it is entered in the council books) that he
obstinately den-ied to subscribe the book for the making
of bishops and priests. He had hitherto opposed every
thing done towards reformation in parliament, though he
had given an entire obedience to it when it was enacted.
He was a man of a gentle temper and great prudence, that
understood affairs of state better than matters of religion.
But now it was resolved to rid the church of those compilers,
who submitted out of fear, or interest, to save their bene-
fices ; but were still ready, upon any favourable conjuncture,
to return back to the old superstition.
As for the forms of ordination, they found, that the
Scripture mentioned only the imposition of hands and
prayer. In the apostolical constitutions, in the fourth
council of Carthage, and in the pretended works of Denis
the Areopagite, there was no more used. Therefore all
those additions of anointing, and giving them consecrated
vestments, were later inventions : but most of all, the
conceit, which from the time of the council of Florence was
generally received, that the rites by which a priest was
ordained, were the delivering him the vessels for conse-
crating the eucharist, with a power to offer sacrifices to
God for the dead and the living. This was a vain novelty,
only set up to support the belief of transubstantiation : and
had no ground in the Scriptures, nor the primitive practice.
So they agreed on a form of ordaining deacons, priests, and
THE REFOKMATION. 180
bisJiops, wlucU is the same we yet use, except in some
few words that have been added since in the ordination of a
priest, or bishop. For there was then no express mention
made in the words of ordaining them, that it was for the one
or the other office : in both it was said, " Receive thou the
Holy Ghost, in the name of the Father," (Sec. But that
having been since made use of to prove both functions
the same, it was of late years altered, as it is now. Is'or
were these words, being the same in giving both orders, any
ground to infer that the church esteemed them one oider ;
the rest of the office showing the contrary very plainly.
Another difference between the ordination book set out
at that time, and that we now use, was, that the bishop
was to lay his one hand on the priest's head, and with his
other to give him a Bible, with a chalice and bread in it^
saying the words now said at the delivery of the Bible, lu
the consecration of a bishop there was nothing more than
what is yet in use, save that a staff was put into his hand,
with this blessing, " Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd."
By the rule of this ordinal, a deacon was not to be ordained
before he was twenty-one, a priest before he was twenty-
four, nor a bishop before he was thirty years of age.
In this, ritual all those superadded rites were cut oflF,
which the later ages had brought in to dress up these
performances with .the more pomp : whereof we have since
a more perfect account than it was possible for them then
to have. For in our age, Morinus, a learned priest of
the Oraiorian order, has published the most ancient rituals
he could find ; by which it appears, how these offices
swelled in every age by some new addition. About the
middle of the sixth century, they anointed and blessed the
priest's hands in some parts of France : though the Greek
church never used anointing, nor was it in the Roman
church two ages after that: for Pope Nicolaus the First
plainly says, it was never used in the church of Rome. In
the eighth century, the priest's garments were given with a
special benediction for the priest's offering expiatory sacri-
fices : it was no ancienter that that phrase was used in
ordinations : and in that same age there was a special
benediction of the priest's hands used before they were
anointed ; and then his head was anointed. This was taken
partly from the Levitical law, and partly because the
people believed that their kings derived the sacredness
of their persons from their being anointed : so the priests
having a mind to have their persons secured and exempted
from all secular power, were willing enough to use this rite
in their ordinations: and in the tenth century, when the
190 HISTORY OF
belief of transubstantiation was received, the delivering
of the vessels for the eucharist, with the power of offering
sacrifices, was brought in, besides a great many other rites.
So that the church did never tie itself to one certain foim
of ordinations ; nor did it always make them with the same
prayers ; for what was accounted anciently the form of
ordination, was in the later ages but a preparatory prayer
to it.
The most considerable addition that was made in the
book of ordinations, was the putting questions to the persons
to be ordained ; who, by answering these, make solemn
declarations of sponsions and vows to God. The first
question when one is presented to orders, is, " Do you trust
that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take
upon you this office and ministration, to serve God, for the
promoting his glory, and for the edifying of his people ?"
To which he is to answer, He trusts he is. It has been oft
lamented, that many come to receive orders before ever they
have seriously read over these questions, and examined
themselves whether they could, with a good conscience,
make the answers there prescribed : since it is scarce cre-
dible that men of common honesty would lie in the presence
of God, on so great an occasion : and yet it is too visible,
that many have not any such inward vocation, nor have
ever considered seriously what it is. If it were well appre-
hended, that heat that many have to get into orders would
soon abate ; who perhaps have nothing in their eye but
some place of profit, or benefice, to which way must be
made by that preceding ceremony : and so enter into or-
ders, as others are associated into fraternities and corpora-
tions, with little previous sense of that holy character they
are to receive, when they thus dedicate their lives and la-
bours to the service of God in the gospel. In the primitive
church the apprehension of this made even good and holy
men afraid to enter under such bonds ; and therefore they
were often to be dragged almost by force, or catched at
unawares, and be so initiated: as appears in the lives of
those two Greek fathers, Nazianzen and Chrysostom. If
men make their first step to the holy altar by such a lie (as
is their pretending to a motion of the Holy Ghost, concern-
ing which they know little, but that they have nothing at
all of it), they have no reason to expect that blessing which
otherwise attends on such dedications. And it had been
happy for the church, if all those that are authorized to con-
fer orders had stood on' this more critically, and not been
contented with a bare putting these questions to those who
come to be ordained ; but had used a d^e strictness before-
'
THE REFORMATION. 191
hand, suitable to that grave admonition of St. Paul's to
Timothy, " Lay hands suddenly on no man, and be not par-
taker ot other men's sins." v
In the sponsions made by the priests, they bind them-
selves to " teach the people committed to their charge, to
banish away all erroneous doctrines, and to use both public
and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick
as the whole, within their cures, as need shall require, and
as occasion shall be given." Such as remember that they
have plighted their faith for this to God, will feel the pas-
toral care to be a load indeed, and so be far enough from re-
linquishing it, or hiring it out perhaps to a loose or igno-
rant mercenary. I'hese are the blemishes and scandals
that lie on our church, brought on it partly by the cor-
ruption of some simoniacal patrons, but chiefly by the neg-
ligence of some, and the faultiness of other clergymen ,
which could never have lost so much ground in the nation,
upon such trifling accounts as are the contests since raised
about ceremonies, if it were not that the people, by such
palpable faults in the persons and behaviour of some church-
men, have been possessed with prejudices, first against them,
and then, upon their account, against the whole church : so
that these corrupt churchmen are not only to answer to God
for all those souls, within their charge, that have perished
through their neglect, but, in a great degree, for all the mis-
chief of the schism among us ; to the nourishing whereof
they have given so great and palpable occasion. The im-
portance of these things made me judge they deserved this
digression, from which I now turn to other affairs.
The business of BuUoigne lay heavy on the council.
The French had stopped all communication between Calais
and it ; so that it was not easy to supply it from thence.
The council, to rid the nation of the foreigners, sent them all
to Calais, with three thousand English, and resolved to force
a way through, if it came to extremities : but at this time
both the French and English were well disposed to a peace.
The king of France knew the emperor intended to go into
Germany next summer, so he longed to be at liberty to wait
on his motions. The English council, that opposed the deli-
very of Bulloigne chiefly to throw off the duke of Somerset,
that being done, were all convinced that it was not worth
the cost and danger of a war : only they stood on the inde-
cency of yielding it ; especijdly, they having raised such cla-
mours against the protector, when he went about the deliver-
ing it up. So they made great shows of preparations to de-
fend it, but, at th^ same time, were not unwilling to listen
to propositions of peace. One Guidotti, a Florentine, that
lived in England, was employed by the constable of France,
192 HISTORY OF
Montmorency, to set on a treaty ; yet he was to do it with-
out owning he had any orders from that king. He went of-
ten to and again between Paris and London, and at last it
was resolved, on both sides, that there should be a treaty.
But at this time there was a great change of affairs in Italy.
Pope Paul the Third, having held that see fifteen years, died
the 10th of November, in the eighty-second year of his age,
inuch broken in mind at the calamity of his family, the
killing of his son, the loss of Placentia, and the ingratitude
of his grandchild. Upon his death, all the cardinals, being
gathered from Bologna, Trent, and other neighbouring
places, entered the conclave ; where one that is to have
such a share in the following part of this work was so much
concerned, that it will be no impei tinent digression to give
an account of it. There were great animosities between the
Imperialists and die French: Cardinal. Farnese had also
many votes that followed him ; so that these three factions
were either of them strong enough to exclude any that was
unacceptable to them. Cardinal Pole was set up by Farnese,
as a moderate Imperialist, who had carried it so well at
Trent, that they saw he would not blindly follow the empe-
ror. He had lived many years at Viterbo, where he was
made legate, after he had given over his practices against
England. There he gave himself wholly to the study of
divinity, not without some imputations of favouring heresy.
For one Antonino Flaminio, that was also suspected of Lu-
theranism, lived with him. Tremellius, that learned Jew
who had been baptized in his house, was also known to in-
cline that way ; and many, who left their monasteries and
went to Germany, used to stay some time with him on their
way, and were well received by him ; nor would he proceed
against any suspected of heresy. There was cause enough
to raise suspicion in a less jealous people than Italians. Yet
the vast zeal that he had shown for the exaltation of the pa-
pacy made all those things be overlooked. He was sent one
of the Pope's legates to Trent, vhere he asserted the Ger-
man doctrine of justification by faith : but upon the empe-
ror's setting out the Interim, he wrote freely against it. He
was, indeed, a man of an easy and generous temper, but
much in the power of those whom he loved and trusted.
Farnese, therefore, looking on him as one that would be
governed by him, and that was acceptable to the Imperial-
ists, and not much hated by the French, the Cardinal of
Guise being his friend, resolved to promote him : and, by
the scrutiny they made, it was found that they were within
two of the number that was requisite. But he seemed so
little concerned at it himself, that he desired them not to
THE REFORMATION. 193
make too much haste in a thing of thai nature, for that dig-
nity was rather to be undertaken with fear, than to be am-
bitiously desired. The cardinals, who had heard of such
things among the ancient Romans, but had seen few such
modern instances, and who valued men by nothing more
than their ambitious aspiring, imputed this either to dulness
or hypocrisy. He liimself seemed nothing affected with it,
and did not change his behaviour, and carried it with an
equality of mind that became one who had divided his time
between philosophy and divinity. Caraffa, that hated him,
did all he could to alienate the conclave from him ; he ob-
jected to him, not only heresy, but also the suspicion of in-
continence, since he bred up a nun who was believed to be
his daughter. Of these things he coldly purged himself;
he showed, that he had suffered so much ou the account of
religion in his own country, that he was beyond the suspicion
of heresy, and he proved that the girl, whom he maintained
among the nuns, was an Englishman's daughter, to whom he
had assigned an allowance. Caraffa prevailed little, and
the next night the number was complete : so that the cardi-
nals came to adore him, and make him pope ; but he, re-
ceiving that with his u>ual coldness, said, it was night, and
God loved light better than darkness, therefore he desired to
delay it till day came. The Italians, who, whatever judge*
they may be about the qualifications of such a pope as is ne-
cessary for their affairs, understood not this temper of mind,
which in bett^ times would have recommended one with
the highest advantages, shrunk all from him . and, after
some intrigues usual on such occasions, chose the Cardinal
de Monte, afterwards Pope Julius the Third ; who gave a
strange omen of what advancements he intended to make,
when he gave his own hat, according to the custom of the
popes, who bestow their hats before they go out of the con-
clave, on a mean servant of his, who had the charge of a
monkey that he kept ; and being asked what he observed in
him to make him a cardinal, he answered, as much as the
cardinals had seen in him to make him pope. But it was
commonly said, that the secret of this promotion was an un-
natural affection to him. Upon this occasion I shall refer
the reader to a letter which I have put in the Collection
(No. xlvii), written by Cardinal V\ olsey, upon the death of
Pope vVdrian the Sixth, to get himself chosen p'pe ; it sets
out so naturally the intrigues of that court on such occasions,
that though it belongs to the former volume, yet, having fal-
len upon it since I published it. I thought it would be no
unacceptable thing to insert in this volume, though it does
not belong to it. It will demonstrate how likely it is, that a
\^0L. II, Part I. S
IM HISTORY Of
bishop chosen by such arts should be the infallible judge of
controversies and the head of the church.
And now to return to England. It was resolved to send
ambassadors to France ; who were, the Lord Russel, Paget,
now made a lord, Secretary Petre, and Sir John Mason.
Their instructions will be found in the Collection (No.
xlviii). The substance of them was, they were not to stick
about the place of treaty, but to have it at Calais, or Bul-
loigne, if it might be : they were to agree to the delivery up
of Bulloigne, but to demand, that the Scotch queen should
be sent back, for perfecting the marriage formerly agreed on ;
that the fortifications of Nev\ haven and Blackness should
be ruinated ; that the perpetual pension agreed to King
Henry should still be paid, together with all arrears that
were due before the wars ; they were only to insist on the
last, if they saw the former could not be obtained ; they
were ta agree the time and manner of the delivery of Bul-
loigne to be as honourable as might be. For Scotland, they
being also in war with the emperor, the king of England could
not make peace with them, unless the emperor, his ally, who
had made war on them upon his account, were also satisfied :
all places there were to be offered up, except Roxburgh and
Aymouth. If the French spoke any thing of the king's
marrying their king's daughter Elizabeth, they were to put
it off; since the king was yet so young. They were also, at
first, to agree to no more but a cessation. So they went over
on the 21st of January. The French commissioners ap-
pointed to treat with them were, Rochpot, Chastilion, Mor-
tier, and De Sany ; who desired the meeting might be near
Bulloigne, though the English endeavoured to have it
brought to Guisnes. Upon the English laying out their de-
mands, the French answered them roundly, that, for deliver-
ing up the queen of Scots, they would not treat about it, nor
about a perpetual pension ; since as the king was resolved
to marry the Scotch queen to the dauphin, so he would give
no perpetual pension, which was in effect to become a tri-
butary prince ; but for a sum of money, they were ready to
treat about it. As to Scotland, they demanded that all the
places that had been taken should be restored, as well Rox-
burgh and Aymouth, as' Lauder and Dunglasse. The latter
two were soon yielded to, but the commissioners were li-
mited as to the former. There was also some discourse of
razing the fortifications of Alderney and Sark, two small
islands in the Channel, that belonged to England ; the latter
was in the hands of the French, who were willing to yield it
up, so the fortifications both in it and Alderney were razed.
Upon this, there were second instructions sent over from the
THE REFORMATION. 195
council (which are in the Collection, No. xlix), that they
should so far insist on the keeping of Roxburgh and Ay-
mouth, as to break up the conference upon it ; but if that
did not work on the French, they should yield it rather than
give over the treaty. They were also instructed to require
hostages from the French till the money was all paid, and to
offer hostages on the part of England till Bulloigne was de-
livered : and to struggle in the matter of the isles all they
could, but not to break about it. Between the giving the
first and second instructions, the Lord St. John was created
earl of Wiltshire, as appears by his subscriptions. The com-
missioners finished their treaty about the end of February,
on these articles : on condition that all claims of either side
should be reserved as they were at the beginning of the war.
This was a temper between the English demand of all the
arrears of King Henry's pension, and the French denial of
it ; for thus the king reserved all the right he had before the
war. Bulloigne was to be dehvered within six months,
with all the places about it, and the ordnance, except what
the English had cast since they had it : for which surrender
the French were to pay four hundred thousand crowns
(then of equal value with the English noble), the one half
three days after the town was in their hands, and the other
in the August after. There was to be a peace with Scotland ;
and Roxburgh and Aymouth, Lauder and Dunglasse, were
to be 1 azed ; and there was to be a free trade between Eng-
land, France, and Scotland. Six hostages were to be given
on either side ; all the English were to be sent back upon
the delivery of the town : and three of the French on the
first, and the rest on the second payment. The French hos-
tages were, the duke of Enghein, the marquis de Mean, son
to the duke of Gui«e, Montmorency, son to the Constable, the
duke of Tremoville, the vicedam of Chartres, and Henandy,
son to Annebault, the admiral. On the ILnglish side were,
the duke of Suffolk, the earl of Hartford, the earl of Shrews-
bury, the earl of Arundel's son the Lord Strange,' and the
Lord Matravers. So was the peace concluded ; all the
articles in it were duly performed, and the hostages delivered
back. It was proclaimed in London on the 29th of March,
being confirmed by both the kings. Only it was much ob-
served, that when it was to be confirmed in England, the
earl of Warwick, on pretence of sickness, was absent : those
who began to conceive great jealousies of him, thought this
was to make a show to the people that he abhorred so dis-
honourable a thing, as himself had oft called it during the
duke of Somerset'$ administration, and that therefore he
196 HISTORY Of
would not by his presence seem to consent to it, though
had signed all theordeis for it.
And now was the king entering in the fourth year of his
reign, free from all wars, which had hitherto much distracted
his government. So the council was more at leisure to settle
the affairs at home. But the earl of Warwick, beginning to
form great designs, resolved first to make himself popular,
by calling all that had meddled in the king's affairs to a
strict account ; and either to make them compound for great
sums, by which the king's debts should be paid, or to keep
them under the lash till he made them subservient to his
ends. He began with the earl of Arundel, to whose charge
many things beimr laid, he submitted himself to a fine of
12,000/. to be paid in twelve years. This was the more taken
notice of, because Southampton, Arundel, and he, with Sir
Richard Southwell, master of the rolls, had been the chief
contrivers of the duke of Somerset's fall : Southampton was
driven away, Arundel fined, and Southwell was soon after
put in the Fleet for dispersing some seditious bills. This
wrought much on the vulgar, who imputed it to a secret
curse on those who had conspired against the duke of Somer-
set; and the delivery of Bulloigne made it yet more plain,
that the charge against him was chiefly grounded on malice.
After Arundel's disgrace, all the duke of Somerset's friends
made their compositious, and were discharged. Sir Thomas
Smith, Sir Michael Stanhop, Thomas Fisher, and \\illiam
Gray, each of them acknowledged they owed the king
3000/., and Sir Jo. Thynn submitted to 6000/. fine.
But 1 shall next prosecute the narration of what concerned
the church. It was now resolved to fill the see of London :
Ridley, being esteemed both the most learned, and most
thoroughly zealous for the Reformation, was pitched on to
be the man. So on the 21st of February he was writ for,
and on the ■i4th he was declared bishop of London and
Westminster, and was to have 1000/. a year of the rents of
the bishopric ; and for his further supply was dispensed with to
hold a prebendary of Canterbury and Westminster. It was
thought needless to have two bishoprics so near one another ;
and some, gaping after the lands of both, procured this
union. But 1 do not see any reason to think, that, at any
time in this reign, the suppression of the deaneries and pre-
bends in cathedrals was designed, For neither in the sup-
pression of the bishoprics of Westminster, Gloucester, or
Duresme, was there any attempt made to put down the
deaneries or prebendaries in the.>e places : so that I look on
this as a groundless conceit, among many others that pass
he 1
THE REFORMATION. 197
concerning this reign. For Thirleby of Westminster, there
was no cause given to throw him out ; for he obeyed all the
laws and injunctions when they came out, though he gene-
rally opposed them when they were making. So, to make
way for him, William Reps, the bishop of Norwich, was
prevailed with to resign, and he was promoted to that see,
vacant (as his patent has it) by the free resignation of
William, the former bishop. And the same day, being the
1st of April, Ridley was made bishop of London and West-
minster. Both were, according to the common form, to be
bishops durante vita naturali, during life.
'Ihe see of Winchester had been two years as good as
vacant, by the long imprisonment of Gardiner, who had
been now above two years in the Tower. When the book
of Common- Prayer was set out, the Lord St. John, and
secretary Petre, were sent with it to him, to know of him
whether he would conform himself to it or not ; and they
gave him great hopes, that, if he would submit, the pro-
tector would sue to the king for mercy to him. He answered,
that he did not know himself guilty of any thing that needed
mercy ; so he desired to be tried for what had been objected
to him, according to law. For the book, he did not think
that while he was a prisoner he was bound to give his
opinion about such things; it might be thought he did it
against his conscience, to obtain his liberty ; but if he were
out of prison, he should either obey it, or be liable to punish-
ment according to law. Upon the duke of Somerset's fall,
the lord treasurer, the earl of Warwick, Sir William Herbert,
and secretary Petre, were sent to him (Fox says, this was
on the 9th of July, as likewise King Edward in his Journal :
but they must be in an error ; for Gardiner in his answer
says, that, upon the duke of Somerset's coming to the Tower,
he looked to have been let out within two days, and had
made his farewell feast ; but when these were with him, a
month or thereabout had passed ; so it must have been in
November the former year). They brought him a paper, to
which they desired he would set his hand. It contained,
first, a preface, which was an acknowledgment of former
faults, for which he had been justly punished : there were
also divers articles contained in it, which were touching the
king's supremacy; his power of appointing or dispensing
with holy-days and fasts ; that the book of Common-Prayer
set out by the king and parliament was a most Christian and
godly book, to be allowed of by all bishops and pastors in
England, and tl)at he should both in sermons and discourses
commend it to be observed ; that the king's power was com-
plete now when under age, and that all owed obedience to
S3
198 HISTORY OF
liiin now, as much as if he were thiity or forty years old j
that the six articles were justly abrogated, and that the king
had full authority to correct and reform what was amiss in
the church, both in England and Ireland. He only excepted
to the preface, and offered to sign ail the articles, but would
have had the preface left out. They bid him rather write
on the margin his exceptions to it ; so he writ, that he could
not with a good conscience agree to the preface, and with
that exception he set his hand to the whole paper. The
lords used him with great kindness, and gave him hope that
his troubles should be quickly ended. Herbert and Petre
came to him some time after that, but how soon is not so clear,
and pressed him to make the acknowledgment without ex-
ception ; he refused it, and said, he would never defame
himself, for when he had done it, he v/as not sure but it
might be made use of against him as a confession. Two or
three days after that, Kidley was sent to him, together with
the other tv-'O, and they brought him new articles. In this
paper the ac'knowiedgment was more general than in the
former: it was said here in the preface, that he liad been
suspected of not approving the king's proceedings; and
being appointed to preach, had not done it as he ought to
liave done, and so deserved the king's displeasure, for which
he was sorry : the articles related to the pope's supremacy,
the suppression of abbeys and chantries, pilgrimages, masses,
images, the adoring the sacrament, the communion in both
kinds, the abolishing the old books, and bringing in the new
book of service and that for ordaining of priests and bishops,
the completeness of the Scripture, and the use of it in the
vulgar tongue, the lawfulness of clergymen's marriage, and
to Erasmus's Paraphrase, that it had been on good considera-
tions ordered to be set up in churches. He read all these,
and said, he desired first to be discharged of his imprison-
ment, and then he would freely answer them all, so as to
stand by it, and suffer if he did amiss; but he would trouble
himself with no more articles while he remained in prison,
since he desired not to be delivered out of his troubles in
the way of mercy, but of justice. After that, he was brought
before the council, and the lords told him they sat by a
special commission to judge him, and so required him to
subscribe the articles that had been sent to him. He prayed
them earnestly to put him tp a trial for the grounds of his
imprisonment, and when that was over he would clearly
answer them in all other things; but he did not think he
could subscribe all the articles after one sort, some of them
being about laws already made, which he could not qualify,
others of them being matters of learning, in which he might
THE REFORMATION. 199
lise more freedom : in conclusion, he desired leave to take
them with him, and he would consider how to answer them.
But they required him to subscribe them all, without any
qualification, which he refused to do. Upon this the fruits
of his bishopric were sequestered, and he was required to
conform himself to their orders within three months, upon
pain of deprivation ; and the liberty he hadof walking ih some
open galleries, when the duke of Norfolk was not in them,
was taken from him, and he was again shut up in his chamber*
All this was much censured, as being contrary to the
liberties of Englishmen, and the forms of all legal proceed-
ings. It was thought very hard to put a man into prison
upon a complaint against him ; and, without any further
inquiry into it, after two years' durance, to put articles to
him. And they which spoke freely, said it savoured too
much of the Inquisition. But the canon law not being
rectified, and the king being in the pope's room, there were
seme things gathered from the canon law, and the way of
proceeding ex officio, which rather excused than justified
this hard measure he met with. The sequel of this business
shall be related in its proper place.
This Lent, old Latimer preached before the king. The
discourse of the king's marrying a daughter of France had
alarmed all the reformers, who rather inclined to a daughter
of Ferdinand, king of the Romans. (To a marriage with
her it is no wonder they all wished well, for both Ferdinand
and his son Maximihdn were looked upon as princes that in
their hearts loved the Reformation, and the son was not only
the best prince, but accounted one of the best men of the
age.) But Latimer, in his sermon, advised the king to marry
in the l>ord ; and to take care that marriages might not be
made only as bargains, which was a thing too frequently
done, and occasioned so much whoredom and divorcing in
the nation. He run out in a sad lamentation of the vices of
the time, the vanity of women, the luxury and irregularity
of men : he complained that many were gospellers for love
of the abbey and chantry lands : he pressed, that the disci-
pline of the church, and the excommunicating of scandalous
persons, might be again set up : he Jidvised the king to be-
ware of seeking his pleasure too much, and to keep none
about him who would serve him in it : he said, he was so
old, that he believed he should never appear there more, and
therefore he discharged his conscience freely : he complained
the king's debts were not paid, and yet his officers lived high,
made great purchases, and built palaces: he prayed them
all to be good to the king, and not to defraud the poor trades-
men that wrought for his stores, who were ill paid. This I
200 HISTORY Of
set down, not so much to give an account of that sermon,
as of the state of the court and nation, which he so freely
discoursed of.
Wakeman, that had been abbot of Tewksbury, and was
after made bishop of Gloucester, died in December last
year ; and on the 3d of July this year, Hooper was, by
letters-patents, appointed to be his successor. Upon which
there followed a contest, that has since had such fatal con-
sequences, that of it we may say with St. James, '* How
great a matter hath a little fire kindled !" It has been already
shown, that the vestments used in Divine service were ap-
pointed to be retained in this church : but Hooper refused
to be consecrated in the episcopal vestments. The grounds
he went on were, that they were human inventions, brought
in by tradition or custom, not suitable to the simplicity of
the Christian religion : that all such ceremonies were con-
demned by St. Paul, as beggarly elements : that these vest-
ments had been invented chiefly for celebrating the mass
with much pomp, and had been consecrated for that efl^ect ;
therefore he desired to be excused from the use of them.
Cranmer and Ridley, on the other hand, alledged, that tra-
ditions in matters of faith were justly rejected, but in
matters of rites and ceremonies custom was oft a good argu-
ment for the continuance of that which had been long
used. Those places of St. Paul did only relate to the
observance of the Jewish ceremonies, which some in the
apostles' times pleaded were still to be retained, upon the
authority of their first institution by Moses : so this implying
that the Messias was not yet come, in whom all these had
their accomplishment, the apostles did condemn the use of
them on any such account ; though when the bare observing
them, without the opinion of any such necessity in them,
was likely to gain the Jews, they both used circumcision,
and purified themselves in the temple : if then they, who
had such absolute authority in those matters, did conclescend
so far to the weakness of the Jews ; it was much more be-
coming subjects to give obedience to laws in things indiffer-
ent. And the abuse that had been formerly was no better
reason to take away the use of these vestments, than it was
to throw down churches, and take away the bells, Jbeeause
the one had been consecrated, and the other baptized, with
many superstitious ceremonies. Therefore, they required
Hooper to conform himself to the law. Cranmer, who, to
his other excellent qualities, had joined a singular modesty
and distrust of himself, writ about this difference to Bucer,
reducing it to these two plain questions : " Whether it was
lawfiil, and free from any sin against God, for the ministei's
THE REFORMATION. 301
«f tire church of England to use those garments in which
they did then officiate ; since they were required to do it by
the magistrate's command'? And whether he that affirmed
that it was unlawful, or on that account refused, to use those
vestments, did not sin against God, 'calling that unclean
which Cod had sanctified, and the magistrate required;
since he thereby disturbed the public^rder of the kingdom?"
To this Bucer writ a large answer on the 8th of December
this year. He thought, that those who used these garments
ought to declare they did not retain them as parts of Moses's
law, but as things commanded by the law of the land : he
thought every creature of God was good, and no former
abuse could make it so ill that it might not be retained ;
and since these garments had been used by the ancient
fathers before popery, and might still be of good use to the
weak, when well understood, and help to maintain the minis-
terial dignity, and to show that the church did not of any
lightness change old customs, he thought the retaining them
was expedient ; that so the people might, by seeing these
vestments, consider of the candour and purity that became
them : and, in this sense, he thought to the pure all things
were pure ; and so the apostles complied in many things
with the Jews. Upon the whole matter, he thought they
sinned who refused to obey the laws in that particular. But
he added, that since these garments were abused by some to
superstition, and by others to be matter of contention, he
wished they were taken away, and a more complete refor-
mation established. He also prayed that a stop might be
■put to the spoiling of churches, and that ecclesiastical dis-
cipline against offenders might be set up : For (said he) un-
less these manifest and horrid sacrileges be put down, and
the complete kingdom of Christ be received, so that we all
submit to his yoke, how intolerably shall the wrath of God
break out on this kingdom ! The Scripture sets many such
examples before our eyes, and Germany offers a most dread-
ful prospect of what England might look for.
He writ also to Hooper upon the same argument. He
wished the garments were removed by law, but argued fully
for the use of them till then : he lamented the great corrup-
tions that were among the clergy, and wished that all good
men would unite their strength against these, and then
lesser abu es would be more easily redressed. He also
answered Hooper's objections on the principles formerly
laid down. Peter Martyr was also v/rote to ; and, as he
wrote to Bucer, he was fully of his mind, and approved of
all he had wrote about it. And he added these words,
which I shall set down in his own terms, copied from the
202 HISTORY OF
original letter : Qua de Hopero ad me scrihis, non potuerunt
non videri mira ; certe illis auditU absiupui. Sed bene habet,
quod episcopi literas meas viderunt ; unde invidia ego quidem
sum liberatus. Ecce iliius catisa sicjacet, ut melim'ibus et piis
nequaquam probetar. Dolet, dolet, idq;mihi gravissime, talia
inter evangelii jyrofessores contingere, ILle toto hoc tempore,
cum illi sit inter dicta concio, non videtur posse quiescere : sua.
fidei confessionem edidit, qua rursus multorum animos exacer-
havit : deinde queritur de consUiariis, et fortasse, quod mihi non
refert, de Jiobis: Deus felicem catastrophen non Icctis actibus
imponat. In English : " What you wrote to me about
Hooper could not but seem wonderful to me ; when I heard
it I was struck with it. It was well that the bishops saw
ray letters, by which I am freed from their displeasure.
His business is now at that pass, that the best and most
pious disapprove of it. I am grieved, and sadly grieved,
that such things should fall out among the professors of the
gospel. All this while in which he is suspended from
preaching, he cannot be at rest • he has set out a profession
of his faith, by which he has provoked many ; he complains
of the privy-counsellors, and perhaps of us too, of which he
said nothing to me. God give a happy issue to these un-
comfortable beginnings." This I set down more fully, that
it may appear how far either of these divines were from
cherishing such stiffness in Hooper. He had been chaplain
to the duke of Somerset, as appeared by his defence of him-
self in Bonner's process ; yet he obtained so much favour of
the earl of Warwick, that he wrote earnestly in his behalf
to the archbishop to dispense with the use of the garments,
and the oath of canonical obedience at his consecration *.
Cranmer wrote back, that he could not do it without incur-
ring a pr«mu /tire. So the king was moved to write to him,
warranting him to do it, without any danger which the law
could bring on him for such an omission. But though this
was done on the 4th of August, yet he was not consecrated
* The oath of canonical obedience (as printed in the form of conse-
cration, anno 1549), is so unexceptionable, that there seems to be no
ground for scruple, it being only a promise of all due reverence and
obedience to the archbishop, &c.' It seems to have been the oath of
supremacy, which at that time contained expressions more liable to
exception, being a kind of et eetera-odth, requiring obedience •• to acts
and statutes, made or to be made;" itnd concluding with "So heipe
me God, all saintes," &c.
Fuller, who was once of opinion that it was the oath of canonical
obedience that Hooper scrupled, yet altered his opinion ( Worthies, in
Somersetshire, p. 22), upon these, or such like reasons. Parsons
expressly says it was the oath of supremacy. D« tribua Convera. par. 3.
c. 6. s. 68.
^
THE REFORMATION. 203
till March next year ; and in the meanwhile it appears by
Peter Martyr's letters, that he was suspended from preach-
ing.
This summer, John Alasco, with a congregation of Ger-
mans t that fled from their country upon the persecution
raised there, for not receiving the Interim, was allowed to
hold his assembly at St. Austin's in London. The congre-
gation was erected into a corporation. John Alasco was to
be superintendant, and there were four other ministers as-
sociated with him. For the curiosity of the thing, I have
put the patents in the collection (No.li). There were also
three hundred and eighty of the congregation made deni-
zens of England, as appears by the records of their patents.
But Alasco did not carry himself with that decency that
became a stranger who was so kindly received ; for he wrote
against the orders of this church, both in the matter of the
habits, and about the posture in the sacrament, being for
sitting rather than kneeling.
This year, Polydore Virgil, who had been now almost
forty years in England, growing old, desired leave to go
nearer the sun, which was granted ; and in consideration of
the public service he was thought to have done the nation
by his history, he was permitted to hold his archdeaconry of
Wells and his prebend of Nonnington, notwithstanding his
absence out of the kingdom (Rot, Pat. 4 Ed. 6. 2 Part).
On the 26th of June, Poinet was declared bishop of Ro-
chester, and Coverdale was made coadjutor to Veysy, bi-
shop of Exeter.
About the end of this year, or the beginning of the next,
there was a review made of the Common-Prayer-Book ;
several things had been continued in it, either to draw in
some of the bishops, who, by such yielding, might be pre-
vailed on to concur in it ; or in compliance with the people,
who were fond of their old superstitions. So now a review
of it was set about : Martin Bucer was consulted in it, and
Alesse, the Scotch divine, mentioned in the former part,
translated it into Latin for his use. Upon which, Bucer
wrote his opinion, which he finished the 6th of January, in
the year following. The substance of it was, that he found
all things in the common service and daily prayers were
clearly according to the Scriptures. He advised, that in
t They wdfc most of them Netlierlanders, or French (only a few
Germans), and consequently, not concerned with tlie Interim ; and the
language they ofticiated in wiis tlie Low German and French, &c. —
Utenhov. Narrat. de Institut. et Dissipat, Belgarium, &c. p. 12, 28,
&c. Those that went off with Alasco were Low Germans, French,
English, or Scots. lb. p. 22.
204 HISTORY OF
cathedrals tho choir might not be too far separated from the
congregation, since in some places the people could not hear
them read prayers. He wished there were a strict disci-
pline to exclude scandalous livers froin the sacrament : he
wished the old habits might be laid aside, since some used
them superstitiously, and otbers contended much about
them : he did not like the halt' office of communion, or se-
cond service, to be said at the altar when there was no
sacrament. He was offended with the requiring the people
to receive at least once a year, and would have them pressed
to it much more frequently : he disliked that the priests
generally read prayers with no devotion, and in such a voice
that the people understood not what they said : he would
have the sacrament delivered into the hands, and not put
into the mouths, of the people : he censured praying for the
dead, of which no mention is made in the Scripture, nor by
Justin IMartyr, an age after : he thought that the prayer,
that the elements might be to us the body and blood of Christ,
favoured transubstantiation too much ; a small variation
might bring it nearer to a Scripture form. He complained
that baptism was generally in houses, which being the re-
ceiving infants into the church, ought to be done more pub-
licly. The hallowing of the water, the chrism, and the
white garment, he censured, as being too scenical. He ex-
cepted to the exorcising the devil, and would have it turned
to a prayer to God ; that authoritative way of saying, " I
adjure," not being so decent. He thought the godfathers
answering in the child's name not so well as to answer in
their own, that they should take care in these things all they
could : he would not have confirmation given upon a bare
recital of the catechism, but would have it delayed till the
persons did really desire to renew the baptismal vow: he
would have catechising every holy-day, and not every
sixth Sunday ; and that people should be still catechised,
after they were confirmed, to preserve them from ignorance :
he would have all marriages to be made in the full congre-
gation : he would have the giving unction to the sick, and
praying for the dead, to be quite laid aside ; as also the
offering the chrisoms at the churching of women: he ad-
vised, that the communion should be celebrated four times
a year: he sadly lamented the want of faithful teachers,
and intreated the archbishop to see to the men^ng of this,
and to think on some stricter ways of examinin*those who
were to be ordained, than barely the putting of some ques-
tions to them. All this 1 have gathered out the more largely,
that it may appear how carefully things were then con-
'
THE 11I:F0RMAT10N. 205
sldered ; and that, almost in every particular, the most ma-
terial things which Bucer excepted to were corrected after-
wards.
But, at the same time, the king having taken such care
of him, that hearing he had suffered in his health last winter,
by the want of a stove, such as is used in Germany, he had
sent him 20/. to have one made for him ; he was told, that
the king would expect a new-year's gift from him, of a book
made for his own use : so, upon that occasion, he wrote a
book, entitled, " Concerning the Kingdom of Christ." He
sets out in it the miseries of Germany, which, he says, were
brought on them by their sins, for they would bear no dis-
cipline : nor were the ministers so earnest in it as was
fitting ; though in Hungary it was otherwise. He writes
largely of ecclesiastical discipline, which was intended
chiefly for separating ill men from the sacrament, and to
make good men avoid their company, whereby they might
be ashamed : he presses much the sanctification of the
Lord's day, and of the other holy days, and that there
might be many days of fasting ; but he thought Lent had
been so abused, that other times for it might be more expe-
dient. He complains much of pluralities and non-residence,
as a remainder of popery, so hurtful to the church, that in
many places there were but one or two, or few more ser-
mons in a whole year ; but he thought that much was not
to he expected from the greatest part of the clergy, unless
the king would s,et himself vigorously to reform these things.
Lastly, he would have a complete exposition of the doctrine
of the church digested, and set out ; and he proposed divers
laws to the king's consideration : as,
1. For catechising children.
2. For sanctifying holy-days.
3. For preserving churches for God's service, not to be
made places for walking, or for commerce.
4. To have the pastoral function entirely restored to what
it ought to be ; that bishops, throvv-ing off all secular cares,
should give themselves to their spiritual employments : he
advises that coadjutors mi^ht be given to some, and a coun-
cil of presbyters be appomted for them all. It was plain,
that many of them complied with the laws against their
nainds ; these he would have deprived. He advises rural
bishops to h ^ set over twenty or thirty parishes, who should
gather their clergy often together, and inspect them closely :
and that a provincial synod should meet twice a year,
where a secular man in the king's name should be ap-
pointed to observe their proceedings.
5. For restoring church lands, that all who served the
Vol. II, Part L T
206 HISTORY OF
church might be well provided: if any lived in luxury
upon their high revenues, it was reasonable to make thein
use them better, but not to blame or rob the church for their
fault.
6. For the maintenance of the poor, for whom, anciently,
a fourth part of the church's goods was assigned.
The 7th was about marriage. That the prohibited de-
grees might be well settled ; marriage, without consent of
parents, annulled ; and that a second marriage might be
lawful after a divorce, which he thought might be made for
' adultery, and some other reasons.
8. For the education of youth.
9. For restraining the excess of some people's living.
10. For reforming and explaining the laws of the land,
which his father had begun.
11. To place good magistrates ; that no office should be
sold, and that inferior magistrates should often give an
account to the superior, of the administration of their
offices.
12. To consider well who were made judges.
13. To give order that none should be put in prison upon
slight offences.
The 14th was for moderating of some punishments : chiefly,
the putting thieves to death, which was too severe ; whereas,
adultery was too slightly passed over : though adultery be
a greater wrong to the suffering party than any theft, and
so was punished with death by Moses's law.
This book was sent to the young king : and he having re-
ceived it, set himself to write a general discourse about a
reformation of the nation, which is the second among the
discourses written by him, that follow the journal of his
reign *. In it he takes notice of the corrections of the book
of the Liturgy, which were then under consideration ; as,
also, that it was necessary there should be a rule of church
discipline, for the censures of ill livers ; but he thought that
power was not to be put into the hands of all the bishops at
that time. From thence he goes on to discoure of the ill
state of the nation, and of the remedies that seemed proper
for it. The first he proposes was the education of youth;
next, the correction of some laws ; and there either broke it
off, or the rest of it is lost : in which, as there is a great
discovery of a marvellous probity of mind, so there are
strange hints, to come from one not yet fourteen years of
age : and yet it is all written with his own hand, and in
such a manner, that any who shall look on the original, will
* Coll. K. Edw. Remains, No. ii.
THE REFORMATION. 207
clearly see it was his own work : the style is simple, and
suitable to a child. Few men can make such composures,
but somewhat above a child will appear in their style ; which
makes me conclude it was all a device of his own.
This year the king began to write his Journal himself:
the first three years of his reign are set down in a short way
of recapitulating matters ; but this year he set down what
was done every day, that was of any moment, together with
the foreign news that were sent over : and oftentimes he
called to mind passages some days after they were done ;
and some time after the middle of a month he tells what
was done in the beginning of it, which shows clearly it was
his own work : for if it had been drawn for him by any that
were about him, and given him only to copy out for his
memory, it would have been more exact ; so that there re-
mains no doubt with me but that it was his own originally.
And therefore, since all who have writ of that time, have
drawn their informations from that Journal ; and though
they have printed some of the letters he wrote when a child,
which are indeed the meanest things that ever fell from him ;
yet, except one little fragment, nothing of it has been yet
published : I have copied it out entirely, and set it before my
Collection *. I have added to it some other papers that were
also writ by him : the first of these is in French ; it is a col-
lection of many passages out of the Old Testament against
idolatry, and the worshipping of images, which he dedicated
to his uncle, being then protector : the original, under his
own hand, lies in Trinity College, in Cambridge, from whence
I copied the preface, and the conclusion, which are printed
in the Collection, after his Journal.
There was nothing else done of moment this year, in re-
lation to the church, save the visitation made of the diocess
of London, by Ridley, their new bishop : but the exact time
of it is not set down in the register : it was, according to
King Edward's Journal, some time before the 26th of June ;
for he writes, that, on that day, Sir Jo. Yates, the high-
sheriff of Essex, was sent down with letters to see the bishop
of London's injunctions performed, which touched the pluck-
ing down of superaltaries, altars, and such-like ceremonies
and abuses ; so that the visitation must have been about the
beginning of June. The articles of it are in Bishop Sparrow's
Collection : they are concerning the doctrines, and lives,
and labours, and charities, of the clergy ; viz. whether they
spake in favour of the bishop of Rome, or against the use
of the Scripture, or against the book of Common-Prayer 1
* Coll. K. Edw. Remains, No. i.
208 HISTORY OF
Whether they etirred up sedition, or sold the communion, or
trentah, or used private masses anywhere? Whether any
anabaptists, or others, used private conventicles, with differ-
ent opinions and forms from those established! Whether
there were any that said the wickedness of the minister took
away the effect of the sacraments, or denied repentance to
such as sinned after baptism ? Other questions were about
baptisms and maniages. Whether the curates did visit the
sick, and bury the dead, and expound the Catechism, at
least some part of it, once in six weeks 1 Whether any
observed abrogated holy-days, or the rites that were now
put down?
To these he added some injunctions, which are in the
Collection (No. lii): most of them relate to the old super-
stitions, which some of the priests were still inclinable to
practise, and for which they had been gently, if at all, re-
proved by Bonner. Such were, washing their hands at the
altar, holding up the bread, licking the chalice, blessing
their eyes with the paten or sudary, and many other relics
of the mass. The ministers were also required to charge
the people oft to give alms, and to come oft to the com-
munion, and to carry themselves reverently at church : but
that which was most new was, that there having been great
contests about the form of the Lord's board, whether it
should be made as an altar, or as a table ; therefore, since
the form of a table was more like to turn the people from
the superstition of the popish mass, and to the right use of
the Lord's supper, he exhorted the curates and church-
wardens to have it in the fashion of a table, decently cover-
ed ; and to place it in such part of the choir or chancel as
should be most meet, so that the ministers and communi-
cants should be separated from the rest of the people ; and
that they should put down all by-altars.
There are many passages among ancient writers, that
show their communion-tables were of wood, and that they
were so made as tables, that those who fled into churches
for sanctuary did hide themselves under them. The name
altar came to be given to these generally, because they ac-
counted the eucharist a sacrifice of praise, as also a com-
memorative sacrifice of the oblation which Christ made of
himself on the cross. From hence it was, that the commu-
nion-table was called also an altar. But now it came to be
considered, whether, as these terms had been on good reason
brought into the church, when there was no thought of the
corruptions that followed; so, if it was not fit, since they
did still support the belief of an expiatory sacrifice in the
mass, and the opinion of transubstantiation, and were always
THE REFORMATION. 209
but figurative forms of speech, to change them ; and to do
that more eflPectually, to change the form and place of them.
Some have fondly thought, that Ridley gave this injunction
after the letter which the council wrote to him in the end of
November following. But as there was no set time to begin
a visitation after that time this year, so the style of the in-
junctions shows they were given before the letter : the in-
junction only exhorts the curates to do it, which Ridley
could not have done in such soft words, after the council
had required and commanded him to do it : so it appears,
that the injunctions were given only by his episcopal power ;
and that afterwards, the same matter being brought before
the council, who were informed, that in many places there
had been contests about it, some being for keeping to their
old custom, and others being set on a change, the council
thought fit to send their letter concerning it to Ridley on the
24th of November following. The letter sets out, that altars
were taken away in divers places, upon good and godly con-
siderations, but still continued in other places ; by which there
rose much contention among the king's subt^cts : therefore,
for avoiding that, they did charge and command him to give
substantial order through all his diocess, for removing all
altars, and setting up tables everywhere for the communion
to be administered in some convenient part of the chancel ;
and, ihdit these orders might be the better received, there
were reasons sent with the letters, which he was to cause
discreet preachers to declare, in such places as he thought
fit, and that himself should set them out in his own cathedral,
if conveniently he could.
The reasons * were, to remove the people from the super-
stitious opinions of the popish mass ; and because a table
was a more proper name than an altar, for that on which
the sacrament was laid : and whereas, in the book of Com-
mon Prayer, these terms are promiscuously used, it is done
without prescribing any thing about the form of them, so
that the changing the one into the other did n>;t alter any
part of the Liturgy. It was observed, that altars were
erected for the sacrifices under the law, which ceasing, they
were also to cease ; and that Christ had instituted the sacra-
ment, not at an altar, but at a table : and it had been ordered
by the preface to the book of Common-Prayer, that if any
doubt arose about any part of it, the determining of it should
be referred to the bishop of the diocess. Upon these reasons,
therefore, was this change ordered to be made all over Eng-
land, which was universally executed this year.
♦ These reasons were drawn up bv Ridley.
T3
210 HISTORY OF
There began this year a practice, which might seem in
itself not only innocent, but good, of preaching sermons and
lectures on the week-days, to which there was great running
from neighbouring parishes. This, as it begat emulation in
the clergy, so it was made use of as a pretence for many to
leave their labour, and gad idly about. Upon complaint,
therefore, made of it, Ridley had a letter sent to him from
the council, against all preaching on working-days, on which
there should only be prayers. How this was submitted to
then is not clear ; but it cannot be denied, that there have
been, since that time, excesses on all hands in this matter ;
while some have, with great sincerity and devotion, kept up
these in market-towns, but others have carried them on with
too much faction, and a design to detract from such as were
not so eminent in their way of preaching. Upon these
abuses, while some rulers have studied to put all such per-
formances down, rather than to correct the abuses in them,
great contradiction has followed on it ; and the people have
been possessed with unjust prejudices against them, as hin-
derers of the \rord of God, and that opposition has kept up
the zeal for these lectures ; which, nevertheless, since they
have been more freely preached, have of late years produced
none of the ill effects that did follow them formerly, when
they were endeavoured to be suppressed.
And thus I end the transactions about religion this year.
The rest of the affairs at home were chiefly for the regulat-
ing of many abuses that had grown up, and been nourished
by a long continuance of war. All the foreign soldiers were
dismissed ; and though the duke of Lunenburg had offered
the king ten thousand men to his assistance, and desired to
enter into a treaty of marriage for the Lady Mary, they only
thanked him for the offer of his soldiers, of which they,
being now at peace with all their neighbours, had no need ;
and since the proposition for marrying the Lady Mary to
the Infant of Portugal was yet in dependence, they could
not treat in that kind with any other prince till that over-
ture was some way ended. There were endeavours also for
encouraging trade, and reforming the coin. And at the
court things began to put on a new visage ; for there was no
more any faction : the duke of Somerset and the earl of
Warwick being now joined into a near alliance, the earl's
eldest son, the Lord Lisle, marrying the duke's daughter ;
so that there was a good prospect of happy times.
In Scotland, the peace being proclaimed, the government
was now more entirely in the hands of the duke of Castel-
herault, who gave himself up wholly to the counsels of his
base brother, who was archbishop of St. Andrew's ; and he
THE REFORMATION. 211
was so abandoned to his pleasures, that there was nothing
so bad that he was ashamed of ; he kept another man's wife
openly for his concubine : there were also many excesses in
the government : which things, as they alienated all people's
minds from the clergy, so they disposed them to receive the
new doctrines, which many teachers were bringing from
England, and prepared them for the changes that followed
afterwards. The queen-mother went over into France, in
September, pretending it was to see her daughter, and the
rest of her kindred there: where she laid down the method
for the wresting of the government of Scotland out of the
governor's hands, and taking it into her own.
The emperor appointed a diet of the empire to meet in
the end of July, and required all to appear personally at it,
except such as were hindered by sickness, of which they
were to make faith upon oath ; and at the same time he
proscribed the town of Magdeburg ; but the magistrates of
that town set out a large manifesto for their own vindication,
as they had done the former year. They said, " They were
ready to give him all the obedience that they were bound to
by the laws of the empire : they were very apprehensive of
the mischiefs of a civil war : they were not so blind as to
think they were able to resist the emperor's great armies,
lifted up with so many victories, if they trusted only to their
own strength : they had hitherto done no act of hostility to
any, but what they were forced to for their own defence. It
was visible, the true ground of the v/ar of Germany was
religion, to extinguish the light of the gospel, and to subdue
them again to the papal tyranny ; for the artifices that were
formerly used to disguise it did now appear too manifestly,
so that it was not any more denied . but it would be too late
to see it when Germany was quite oppressed. In civil mat-
ters, they said, they would yield to the miseries of the time ;
but St. Peter had taught them, that it was better to obey
God than man ; and, therefore, they were resolved to put
all things to hazard, rather than to make shipwreck of
faith and a good conscience." There were tumults raised
in Strasburg, and divers other towns, against those who set
up the mass among them ; and, generally, all Germany
was disposed to a revolt, if they had had but a head to lead
them.
The emperor had also set out a very severe edict in Flan-
ders when he left it, against all that favoured the new doc-
trines, as they were called ; but the execution of this was
stopped at the intercession of the town of Antwerp, when
they perceived the English were resolved to remove from
thence, and carry their trade to some other place. When the
212 HISTORY OF
diet was opened, the emperor pressed them to submit to the
council, which the new pope had removed back to Trent.
Maurice, of Saxe, answered, he could not submit to it, un-
less all that had been done formerly in it should be reviewed,
and the divines of the Augsburg confession were both heard
and admitted to a suffrage, and the pope should subject
himself to their decrees, and dispense with the oath which
the bishops had sworn to him : on these terms he would
submit to it, and not otherwise. This was refused to be
entered into the registers of the diet by the elector of Mentz ;
but there was no haste, for the council was not to sit till the
next year. The emperor complained much, that the Interim
was not generally received ; to which it was answered by
the princes, that it was necessary to give the people time to
overcome their former prejudices. All seemed to comply
with him ; and Maurice did so insinuate himself into him,
that the siege of Magdeburg being now formed, and a great
many princes having gathered forces against it, among whom
the duke of Brunswick and the duke of Mecklenburg were
the most forward, yet he got himself declared, by the diet,
general of the empire, for the reduction of that place, and
he had one hundred thousand crowns for undertaking it, and
sixty thousand crowns a month were appointed for the ex-
pense of the war. He saw well, that if Magdeburg were
closely pressed, it would soon be taken, and then all Ger-
many would be brought to the emperor's devotion, and so
the war would end in a slavery ; but he hoped so to manage
this small remainder of the war, as to draw great effects
from it. This was a fatal step to the emperor, thus to trust
a prince who was of a different religion, and had a deep
resentment of the injury he had done him, in detaining his
father-in law, the landgrave of Hesse, prisoner, against the
faith he had given him : but the emperor reckoned, that, as
long as he had John duke of Saxe in his hands, Maurice
durst not depart from his interests, since it seemed an easy
thing for him to repossess the other of his dominions and
dignity. Thus was the crafty emperor deluded, and now
put that, upon which the completing of his great designs
depended, into the hands of one that proved too hard for
him at that in which he was such a master, cunning and
dissimulation.
In these consultations did this year end. In the begin-
ning of the next year (1551), there was a great complaint
brought against Dr. Oglethorp, afterwards bishop of Carlisle
under Queen JMary, and now president of Magdalen College
in Oxford. But he, to secure himself from that part of the
complaint that related to religion, being accused as one that
^
THE REFORMATION. 213
rreui against the new book of service, and the king's other
proceedings, signed a paper (which will be found in the
Collection, No. liii), in which he declared, " that he had
never taught any thing openly against those, but that he
thought them good, if well used : and that he thought the
order of religion now set forth to be better and much nearer
the use of the apostolical and primitive church, than that
which was formerly : and that, in particular, he did ap-
prove of the communion in both kinds, the people's commu-
nicating always with the priest, the service iu Fnglish, and
the homilies that had been set forth : and that he did reject
the lately received doctrine of transub-tautiation, as being
not agreeable to the Scriptures, or to ancient writers : but
he thought there was an inconceivable presence of Christ's
body in the sa' rament, and that therefore it should be re-
ceived not without great examination beforehand." So com-
pliant was he now, though he became of another mind in
Queen Mary's time ; yet then he was more moderate than
the greatest part of those who did now comply most servilely.
In particular, Dr. Smith had written a book for the celibate
of priests, and had opposed all the changes that had been
made : he was brought to London upon the complaints that
were sent up against him from Oxford, but, after a whiles
imprisonment, he was set at liberty, giving surety for his
good behaviour : and carried himself so obediently after it,
that Cranmer got his sureties to be discharged : upon which
he writ him a letter as full of acknowledgment as was pos-
sible : which is in the Collection (\o.liv). " He protested
he should retain the sense of it as long as he lived: he
wished that he had never written his book of the celibate of
priests, which had been printed against his will : he found
he was mistaken in that which was the foundation of it all,
that the priests of England had taken a vow against
marriage : he desired to see some of the collections Cranmer
had made against it." (It seems Cranmer was inquiring
after a MS of Ignatius's Epistles, for he tells him, " they
were in Magdalen College library.") "He acknowledged
the archbishop's great gentleness toward all those who had
been complained of for religion in that university : and pro-
tested, that for his own part, if ever he could serve his basest
servant, he would do it ; wishing that he might perish if he
thought otherwise than he said : and wished him long life
for the propagation and advancement of the Christian
doctrine." Soon after he writ another letter to Cranmer, in
which he cited some passages out of Austin concerning his
retractations ; and professes he would not be ashamed to
make the like, and to set forth Christ's true religion; and
214 HISTORY OF
called, in St. Paul's words, " God to be a witness against
his soul if he lied." He had also in the beginning of this
reign made a recantation sermon of some opinions he had
held concerning the mass ; but what these were. King
Edward's Journal (from whence 1 gather it) does not
inform us*. Day, bishop of Chichester, did also now so far
comply, as to preach a sermon at court against transubstan-
tiation, though he had refused to set his hand to the book of
Common-Prayer, before it was enacted by law. For the
principle that generally run among the popish party was,
that though they would not consent to the making of such
alterations in religion, yet, being made, they would give
obedience to them, which Gardiner plainly professed : and
it appeared in the practice of all the rest. This was cer-
tainly a gross sort of compliance, in those who retained the
old opinions, and yet did now declare against them; and,
in the worship they offered up to God, acted contrary
to them ; which was the highest degree of prevarication
both with God and man that was possible. But Cranmer
was always gentle and moderate. He left their private con-
sciences to God : but thought, that if they gave an external
obedience, the people would be brought to receive the
changes more easily ; whereas the proceeding severely
against them might have raised more opposition. He was
also naturally a man of bowels and compassion, and did
not love to drive things to extremities : he considered that
men who had grown old in some errors could not easily lay
them down, and so were by degrees to be worn out of them.
Only in the proceedings against Gardiner and Bonner, he
was carried beyond his ordinary temper. But Gardiner he
knew to be so inveterate a papist, and so deep a dissembler,
that he was for throwing him out, not so much for the parti-
culars objected to him, as upon the ill character he had of
him. Bonner had also deceived him so formally, and had
been so cruel a persecutor upon the statute of the six arti-
cles, and was become so brutal and luxurious, that he
judged it necessary to purge the church of him. And the
sees of London and Winchester were of such consequence,
* The particulars were, 1. Concerning submission to governors in
church and state; 2. Concerniin,' unwritten traditions; 3. Concerning
the sacrifice of the mass, &c. as may be seen in his retraction, printed
at London in 1547, entitled, «' A godly and f.:ithful Retraction, made
and published at Paul's Cross in London, anno 1&47» 16th May; by
Master Richard Smith, D.D. and reader of tlie King's Majesties Lec-
ture in Oxfoi-d, revoking therein certain errors and faults, by him com-
mitted in some of his books." It was repeated at Oxford, July 24fh,
the same year.
THE REFORMATION. 215
that he was induced, for having these well supplied, to
stretch a little inthese proceedings against those dissembling
bishops.
In the beginning of March he lost his friend JMartin Bucer,
on whose assistance he had depended much, in what re-
mained yet to be done. Bucer died of the stone, and
griping of the guts. Bradford, who will be mentioned in the
next book with much honour, waited most on him in his
sickness. He latnentedmuch the desolate state of Germany,
and expressed his apprehensions of some such stroke coming
upon England, by reason of the great dissoluteness of the
people's manners, of the want of ecclesiastical discipline,
and the general neglect of the pastoral charge. He was
very patient in all his pain, which grew violent on him ; he
lay oft silent, only after long intervals cried out sometimes,
*' Chastise me. Lord, but throw me not off in mine old age."
He was, by order from Cranmer and Sir John Cheek, buried
with the highest solemnities that could be devised, to ex-
press the value the university had for him. The vice chan-
cellor, and all the graduates, and the mayor, with all the
town, accompanied his funeral to St. Mary's ; where, after
prayers, Haddon, the university orator, made such a speech
concerning him, and pronounced it with that affection, that
almost the whole assembly shed tears. Next Dr. Parker,
that had been his most intimate friend, made an English
sermon in his praise, and concerning the sorrowing for our
departed friends. And the day following, Dr. Kedmayn,
then master of Trinity College, made another sermon con-
cerning death : and in it gave a full account of Bucer's life
and death. He particularly commended the great sweet-
ness of his temper to all, but remarkably to those who dif-
fered from him. Iledmayn and he had differed in many
things, both concerning justification and the influences of
the divine grace. But he said, as Bucer had satisfied hki
in some things, so he believed if he had lived he had satis-
fied him in more ; and that he being dead, he knew none
alive from whom he could learn so much. This character
given him by so grave and learned a man, who was in many
points of a different persuasion from him, was a great com-
mendation to them both. And Redmayn was, indeed, an
extraordinary person. All in the university, that were emi-
nent either in Greek or Latin poetry, did adorn his coffin
with epitaphs : in which they expressed a very extraordi-
nary sense of their loss : about which one Carr* writ a copi-
* Nicholas Carr, regius professor of the Greek tongue, and a great
restorer of learning in that university.
216 HISTORY OF
ous and passionate letter to Sir John Cheek. But Peter
Martyr bore his death with the most sensible sorrow that
could be Imagined ; having in him lost a father, and the only
intimate friend he had in England. He was a very learned,
judicious, pious, and moderate person. Perhaps he was
inferior to none of ail the reformers for learning : but for
real, for true piety, and a most tender care of preserving
unity among the foreign churches, Melancthon and he,
without any injury done the rest, may be ranked apart by
themselves. He was m.uch opposed by the popish party at
Cambridge , who, though they complied with the law, and
so kept their places, yet, either in the way of argument, as
it had been for dispute's sake, or in such points as were not
determined, set themselves much to lessen his esteem. Nor
was he furnished naturally with the quickness that is neces-
sary for a dispute, from which they studied to draw advan-
tages : and therefore Peter Martyr writ to him to avoid all
public disputes with them : for they did not deal candidly
on these occasions. They often kept up their questions till
the hour of the di--pule, that so the extemporary faculty of
h.m who was to preside might be the more exposed ; and
right or wrong they used to make exclamations, and run
away with a triumph. In one of his letters to Bucer, he
particularly mentions Dr. Smith for an instance of this. It
was that Smith he said who writ against the marriage of
priests, and yet was believed to live in adultery with his
man's wife. This letter was occasioned by the disputes
that were in August the former year, between Bucer and
Sedgwick, Young and Peru, about the authority of the
Scripture, and the church. Which disputes Bucer intend-
ing to publish, caused them to be writ out, and sent the
copy to them to be corrected, offering them, that if any thing
was omitted that they had said, or if they had ariy thing else
to say which was forgot in the dispute, they might add it :
but they sent back the papers to him without vouchsafing to
read them. At Ratisbone he had a conference with Gar-
diner, who was then King Henry's ambassador: in which
Gardiner broke out into such a violent passion, that as he
spared no reproachful words, so the company thought he
would have fallen on Bucer and beat him : he was in such
disorder, that the little vein between his thumb and fore-
finger did swell and palpitate, which Bucer said he had
never before that observed in any person in his life.
But as Bucer was taken away by death, so Gardiner was
some time before put out, which was a kind of death ;
though he had afterwards a resurrection fatal to very many.
There was a commission issued out to the archbishop ; the
n
I'HE REFORMATION. 817
Vishops of London, Ely, and Lincoln; Secretary Petre;
Judge Hales ; Griffith Leyson and John Oliver, two civi-
lians ; and Goodrick and Gosnold, tw^o masters of chancery,
to preceed against Gardiner for his contempt in the rnat-
ters formerly objected to him. He put in a compurgation,
by wiiich he endeavoured to show there was malice borne
to him, and conspiracies against him, as appeared by the
business of Sir Henry Koevet, mentioned in the former part,
and the leaving him out of the late king's will, which he
said was procured by his enemies. He complained of his
long imprisonment without any trial, and that articles of
one sort after another were brought to him: so that it was
plain he was not detained for any crime, but to try if such
usage could force him to do any thing that should be imposed,
on him. He declared, that what order soever were set out
by the king's council, he should never speak against it, but
to the council themselves ; and that though he could not
give consent to the changes before they were made, he was
now well satisfied to obey them ; but he would never make
any acknovi^ledgment of any fault. The things chiefly laid
against him were, that, being required, he refused to
preach concerning the king's power when he was under
age ; and that he hsbd affronted preachers sent by the king
into his diocess ; and had been negligent in obeying the
king's injunctions ; and continued, after all, so obstinate,
that he would not confess hli fault nor ask the king mercy.
His crimes were aggravated by this, that his timely assert-
ing the king's power under age might have been a great
mean for preventing the rebellion and effusion of blood j
which had afterwards happened, chiefly on that pretence, to
which his obstinacy had given no small occasion. Upon this,
many witnesses were examined ; chiefly the duke of Somer-
set, the earls of Wiltshire and Bedford, who deposed against
him. But to this he answered, that he was not required to
do it by any order of council, but only in a private dis-
course, to which he did not think himself bound to give obe-
dience. Other witnesses were also examined on the other
particulars. But he appealed from the delegates to the
ting in person. Yet his judges, on the IBtli of April, gave
sentence against him ; by which, for his disobedience and
.contempt, they deprived him of his bishopric. Upon that he
renewed his protestation and appeal : anc' so his process
ended, and he was sent back to the Tow^r, v/here he lay till
Queen Mary discharged him.
The sarrie censures, with the same justifications, belong
both to this and Bonner's business ; so I shall repeat no-
thing that was formerly said. He had taken a commission.
Vol. U, Part I. U
218 HISTORY OF
as well as Bonner, to hold his bishopric only during the
king's pleasure ; so they both had the less reason to com-
plain, which way soever the royal pleasure was signified to
them. Eight days after, on the 26th of April, Poinet was
translated from Rochester to Winchester; and had two
thousand marks a year in lands assigned him out of that
wealthy bishopric for his subsistence. Dr. Scory was made
bishop of Rochester. Veysey, bishop of Exeter, did also
resign, pretending extreme old age ; but he had reserved
485/. a year in pension for himself, during life, out of the
lands of the bishopric ; and almost all the rest he had basely
alienated, taking care only of himself, and ruining his suc-
cessors. Miles Coverdale was made bishop of Exeter. So
that now the bishoprics were generally filled with men well
affected to the Reformation. The business of Hooper was
now also settled. He was to be attired in the vestments
that were prescribed, when he was consecrated, and when
he preached before the king, or in his cathedral, or in any
public place ; but he was dispensed with upon other occa-
sions. On these conditions he was consecrated in March :
for the writ for doing it bears date the 7th of that month.
So now the bishops being generally addicted to the purity of
religion, most of this year was spent in preparing articles,
which should contain the doctrine of the church of Eng-
land.
Many thought they should have begun first of all with
those. But Cranmer upon good reasons was of another mind,
though much pressed by Bucer about it. Till the order of
bishops was brought to such a model, that the far greater
part of them would agree to it, it was much fitter to let that
design go on slowly, than to set out a profession of their be-
lief, to which so great a part of the chief pastors might be
obstinately averse. The corruptions that were most impor-
tant were those in the worship, by which men, in their im-
mediate addresses to God, were necessarily involved in un-
lawful compliances, and these seemed to require a more
speedy reformation. But for speculative points, there was
not so pressing a necessity to have them all explained, since
in these men might, with less prejudice, be left to a freedom
in their opinions. It seemed also advisable to open and
ventilate matters in public disputations and books written
about them for some years, before they should go too hastily
to determine them : lest, if they went too fast in that affair,
it would not be so decent to make alterations afterwards ;
nor could the clergy be of a suddenbrought to change their
old opinions. Therefore, upon all these considerations, that
work was delayed till this yeat ; in which they set about it,
THE REFORMATION. %]9
and finished it, before the convocation met in the next Fe-
bruary. In what method they proceeded for the compiling of
these articles, whether they were given out to several
bishops and divines to deliver opinions concerning them, as
was done formerly, or not, it is not certain. I have found it
often said, that they were framed by Cranmer and Ridley ;
which I think more probable : and that they were by them
sent about to others, to correct or add to them as they saw
cause. They are in the Collection (No. Iv), with the dif-
ferences between these and those set out in Queen Eliza-
beth's time marked on the margin.
They began with the assertion of the blessed Trinity, the
incarnation of the Eternal Word, and Christ's descent into
hell ; grounding this last on those words of St. Peter, of his
" preaching to the spirits that were in prison." The next
article was about Christ's resurrection. The fifth, about the
Scriptures containing all things necessary to salvation : so
that nothing was to be held an article of faith that could
not be proved from thence. The sixth, that the Old Testa-
ment was to be kept still.
The 7th, for the receiving the three creeds, the Apostles',
the Nicene, and Athanasius' Creed : in which they went
according to the received opinion, that Athanasius was the
author of that Creed, which is now found not to have been
compiled till near three ages after him.
The 8th makes original sin to be the corruption of the
nature of all men descending from Adam ; by which they
had fallen from original righteousness, and were by nature
given to evil : but they defined nothing about the deriva-
tion of guilt from Adam's sin.
The yth ; For the necessity of prevailing grace, with-
out which we have no free will to do things acceptable to
God.
The 10th ; About Divine grace, which changeth a man,
yet puts no force on his will.
The llth; That men are justified by faith only; as was
declared in the Homily.
The 12th ; That works done before grace are not without
sin.
The 13th ; Against all works of supererogation.
The I4th ; That all men, Christ only, excepted, are guilty
of sin.
The 15th ; That men who have received grace may sin
afterwards, and rise again by repentance.
The 16th ; That the blaspheming against the Holy Ghost
is, when men out of malice and obstinacy rail against God's
220 HISTORY OF
word, though they are convinced of it, yet persecuting it :
which is unpardonable.
The 17th ; That predestination is God's free election of
those, whom he afterwards justifies : which, though it be
matter of great comfort to such as consider it aright, yet
it is a dangerous thing for curious and carnal men to pry
into : and it being a secret, men are to be governed by God's
revealed will. 1 hey added not a word of reprobation.
The l8th ; Thai only the name of Christ, and not the law
or light of nature, can save men.
The 19th i That all men are bound to keep the moral
Jaw.
The 20th ; That the church is a congregation of faithful
men, who have the word of God preached, and the sacra-
ments rightly administered : and that the church of Rome,
as well as other particular churches, have erred in matters
of faith.
The 21st ; That the church is only the witness and keeper
of the word of God : but cannot appoint any thing con-
trary to it, nor declare any articles of faith without warrant
from it.
The 22d; That general councils may not be gathered
without the consent of princes : that they may err and have
erred in matters of faith : and that their decrees in matters
of salvation have strength only as they are taken out of the
Scriptures.
The 23d ; That the doctrines of purgatory, pardons, wor-
shipping of images and relics, and invocation of saints, are
without any warrant, and contrary to the Scriptures.
The 24th ; That none may preach or minister the sacra-
ments, without he be lawfully cdled by men who have law-
ful authority.
The 25th ; That all things should be spoken in the church
in a vulgar tongue.
The 26th ; 1 hat there are two sacraments, which are
not bare tokens of our profession, but effectual signs of God's
good will to us , which strengthen our faith, yet not by vir-
tue only of the work wrought, but in those who receive
them worthily.
The 27th ; That the virtue of these does not depend on
the minister of them.
The 28th ; That by baptism we are the adopted sons of
God ; and that infant baptism is to be commended, and in
any ways to be retained.
The 29th ; That the Lord's supper is not a bare token of
love among Christians ; but is the communion of the body
THK REFORMATION. 2-il
and blood of Christ : that the doctrine of transubstantiation
is contrary to Scripture, and hath given occasion to much
superstition : that a body being only in one place, and
Christ's body being in heaven, therefore there cannot be a
real and bodily presence of his flesh and blood in it : and
that this sacrament is not to be kept, carried about, lifted up,
nor worshipped.
The 30th ; That there is no other propitiatory sacrifice,
but that which Christ offered on the cross.
The 31st; That the clergy are not by God's command
obliged to abstain from marriage.
The 32d ; That persons rightly excommunicated are to be
looked on as heathens, till they are by penance reconciled,
and received by a judge competent.
The 33d ; It is not necessary that ceremonies should be
the same at all times : but such as refuse to obey lawful cere-
monies, ought to be openly reproved as offending against
law and order, giving scandal to the weak.
The 34th ; That the Homilies are godly and wholesome,
and ought to be read.
The 35th ; That the book of Common Prayer is not re-
pugnant, but agreeable to the gospel ; and ought to be re-
ceived by all.
The 36th ; That the king is supreme head under Christ
that the bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in England
that the civil magistrate is to be obeyed for conscience' sake
that men may be put to death for great offences : and that it
is lawful for Christians to make war.
The 37th ; That there is not to be a community of all men's
goods ; but yet every man ought to give to the poor accord-
ing to his ability.
The 38th; That though rash swearing is condemned,
yet such as are required by the magistrate may take aji
oath.
The 39th ; That the resurrection is not already past, but
at the last day men shall rise with the same bodies they now
have.
The 40th; That departed souls do not die, nor sleep
with their bodies, and continue without sense till the last day.
The 41st ; That the fable of the millenaries is contrary to
Scripture, and a Jewish dotage.
The last condemned those who believed that the damned,
after some time of suffering, sliall be saved.
Thus was the doctrine of the church cast into a short and
plain form : in which they took care both to establish the po-
sitive articles of religion, and to cut off the errors formerly
introduced in the time of popery, oi of late broached by the
U3
222 HISTORY Of
anabaptlstB and enthusiasts of Germany : avoiding the
niceties of schoolmen, or the peremptoriness of the writers
of controversy , leaving, in matters that are more justly con-
trovertible, a liberty to divines to follow their private opi-
nions, without thereby disturbing the peace of the church.
There was in the ancient church a great simplicity in
their creeds, and the exposition of the doctrine. But after-
wards, upon the breaking out of the Arian and other
heresies, concerning the person of Jesus Christ, as the ortho-
dox fathers were put to find out new terms to drive the here-
tics out of the equivocal use of those formerly received, so
they too soon grew to love niceties, and to explain mysteries
■with similes, and other subtilties which they invented : and
councils afterwards were very liberal in their anathematisms
against any who did not agree in all points to their terms or
■ways of explanation. And though the council of Ephesus
decreed, that there should be no additions made to the creed,
they understood that not of the whole belief of Christians,
but only of the creed itself ; and did also load the Christian
doctrine with many curiosities. But though they had ex-
ceeded much, yet the schoolmen getting the management of
the doctrine, spun their thread much finer : and did easily
procure condemnations, either by papal bulls or the decrees
of such councils as met in those times, of all that differed
from them in the least matter. Upon the progress of the
Reformation, the German writers, particularly Osiander,
Illiricus, and Amstorfius, grew too peremptory, and not only
condemned the Helvetian churches for differing from them in
the manner of Christ's presence in the sacrament, but were
severe to one another for lesser punctilios; and were
at this time exercising the patience of the great and learned
Melancthon, because he thought, that, in things of their
own nature indifferent, they ought to have complied with
the emperor. This made those in England resolve on com-
posing these articles with great temper in many such points.
Only one notion, that has been since taken up by some,
seems not to have been then thought of ; which is, that these
were rather articles of peace than of belief : so that the sub-
scribing was rather a compromise not to teach any doctrine
contrary to them, than a declaration that they believed ac-
cording to them. There appears no reason for this conceit,
no such thing being then declared ; so that those who sub-
scribed, did either believe them to be true, or else they did
grossly prevaricate.
The next business in which the reformers were employed
this year was, the correcting the Common-Prayer Book, and
the making some additions, with the changing of such par-
THE REFORMATION. 223
ticulars as had been retained only for a time. The most con-
siderable additions were, that in the daily service they pre-
pared a short, but most simple and grave, form of a general
confession of sins; in the use of which they intended, that
those who made this confession should not content them-
selves with a bare recital of the words, but should join with
them in their hearts a particular confession of their private
sins to God. To this was added, a general absolution, or
pronouncing, in the name of God, the pardon of sin to all
those who did truly repent, and unfeignedly believe the gos-
pel : for they judged, that if the people did seriously practise
this, it would keep up in their thoughts frequent reflections
on their sins ; and it was thought, that the pronouncing a
pardon upon these conditions might have a better effect on
the people, than that absolute and unqualified pardon which
their priests were wont to give in confession : by which ab-
solution, in times of popery, the people were made to believe
that their sins were thereupon certainly forgiven, than which
nothing could be invented that would harden them into a
more fatal security, when they thought a full pardon could
be so readily purchased. But now they heard the terms, on
which only they could expect it, every day promulgated to
them. The otheraddition was also made, upon good conside-
ration, in the office of the communion, to which the people
were observed to come without due seriousness or prepara-
tion ; therefore, for awakening their consciences more feel-
ingly, it was ordered, that the office of the communion
should begin with a solemn pronouncing of the Ten Com-
mandments, all the congregation being on their knees, as if
they were hearing that law anew ; and a stop to be made at
every Commandment, for the people's devotion, of implor-
ing mercy for their past offences, and grace to observe it
for the time to come. This seemed as eft'ectual a mean as
they could devise, till church penitence were again set up,
to beget in men deep reflections on their sins, and to pre-
pare them thereby to receive that holy sacrament worthily.
The other changes were, the removing of some rites which
had been retained in the former book , such as the use of
oil in confirmation, and extreme unction, the prayers for souls
departed, both in the communion-service, and in the oflfice
of burial ; the leaving out some passages in the con-
secration of the eucharist that seemed to favour the belief of
the corporal presence, with the use of the cross in it, and
in confirmation ; with some smaller variations : and, indeed,
they brought the whole Liturgy to the same form in which it
is now, except some inconsiderable variations, that have
been since made for the clearing of some ambiguities.
224 HISTORY OF
In the office of the communion, they added a rubric con^
cerning the posture of kneeling, which was appointed to
be still the gesture of communicants. It was hereby de-
clared, that that gesture was kept up, as a most reverent
and humble way of expressing our great sense of the mer-
cies of God in the death of Christ there communicated to
us, but that thereby there was no adoration intended to the
bread and wine, which was gross idolatry : nor did they
think the very flesh and blood of Christ were there present,
since his body, according to tlie nature of all other bodies,
could be only in one place at once ; and so, he being now in
heaven, could not be corporally present in the sacrament.
This was, by Queen Elizabeth, ordered to be left out of the
Common Prayer-Book, since it might have given offence to
some otherwise inclinable to the communion of the church,
who yet retained the belief of the corporal presence. But
since his present majesty's restoration, many having ex-
cepted to the posture, as apprehending something like ido-
latry or superstition might lie under it, if it were not rightly
explained ; that explication which was given in King Ed-
ward's time was again inserted in the Common-Prayer-
Book.
For the posture, it is most likely that the first institution
vvras in the table-gesture, which was, lying along on one
side ; but it was apparent in our Saviour's practice, that the
Jewish church had changed the posture of that institution of
the passover, in whose room the eucharist came. For though
Moses had appointed the Jews to eat their paschal lamb
standing, with their loins girt, with staves in their hands,
and shoes on their feet ; yet the Jews did afterwards change
this into the common table-posture ; of which change^
though there is no mention in the Old Testament, yet we see
it was so in our Saviour's time ; and since he complied with
the common custom, we are sure that change was not crimi-
iial. It seemed reasonable to allow the Christian church the
like power in such things with the Jewish ; and as the Jews
thought their coming into the promised land might be a
warrant to lay aside the posture appointed by Moses, which
became travellers best ; so, Christ being now exalted, it
seemed fit to receive this sacrament with higher marks of
outward respect than had been proper in the first institution,
when he was in the state of humiliation, and his Divine
glory not yet so fully revealed : therefore, in the primitive
church they received standing, and bcHding their body, in a
posture of adoration. But how soon that gesture of kneel-
ing came in, is not so exactly observed, nor is it needful to
know. But, surely, there is a great want of ingenuity io
THE REFORMATION. 225
them that are pleased to apply these orders of some latter
popes for kneeling at the elevation, to our kneeling ; when
ours is not at one such part, which might be more liable to
exception, but during the whole office ; by which, it is one
continued act of worship, and the communicants kneel all the
while. But of this no more needs to be said than is ex-
pressed in the rubric, which occasioned this digression.
I'hus were the reformations both of doctrine and worship
prepared : to which, all I can add of this year is, that there
were six eminent preachers, chosen out to be the king's
chaplains in ordinary ; two of those were always to attend
at court, and four to be sent over England to preach and in-
struct the people. In the first year, two of these were to go
into Wales, and the other two into Lancashire : tlie next
year, two into the marches of Scotland, and two into York-
shire : the third year, two into Devonshire, and two into
Hampshire; and the fourth year, two into Norfolk, and two
into Kent and Sussex : these were Bill, Harley, Pern, Grin-
dal, Bradford, and Knox. Ihese, it seems, were accounted
the most zealous and readiest preachers of that time, who
were thus sent about as itinerants, to supply the defects of
the greatest part of the clergy, who were generally very faulty.
The business of the Lady Mary was now taken up with
more heat than formerly. The emperor's earnest suit, that
she might have mass in her house, was long rejected ; for it
was said, that as the king did not interpose in the matters of
the emperor's government, so there was no reason for the em- —
peror to meddle in his affairs. Yet, the state of England
making his friendship at that time necessary to the king, and
he refusing to continue in his league, unless his kinswoman
obtained that favour, it was promised, that, for some time,
in hopes she would reform, there should be a forbearance
granted. The emperor's ambassadors pressed to have a
licence for it under the great seal ; it was answered, that be-
ing against law, it could not be done, 'i hen they desired to
have it certified under the king's hand, in a letter to the em-
peror ; but even that was refused ; so that they only gave
a promise for some time by word of mouth, and Pa-
get and Hobby, who had been the ambassadors with the
emperor, declared they had spoken of it to him with the
same limitations. But the emperor, who was accustomed
to take for absolute what was promised only under condi-
tions, wrote to the Lady Mary, that he had an absolute pro-
mise for the free exercise of her religion ; and so she pre-
tended this when she was at any time questioned about it.
The two grounds she went on were, that she would follow
HISTORY OF
^
the ancient and universal way of worship, and not a new in-
vention that lay within the four seas : and that she would
continue in that religion in which her father had instructed
her. To this the king sent an answer, telling her, that she
was a part of this church and nation, and so must conform
herself to the laws of it ; that the way of worship now set
up was no other than what was clearly consonant to the
pure word of God ; and the king's being young was not to
be pretended by her, lest she might seem to agree with the
late rebels. After this, she was sent for to court, and pains
were taken to instruct her better : but she refused to hear
any thing, or to enter into reasonings ; but said, she would
still do as she had done. And she claimed the promise that
was said to be made to the emperor ; but it was told her,
that it was but temporary and conditional. Whereupon,
the last summer she was designing to fly out of England ;
and the king of Fran<:e gave Sir John Mason, the English
resident, notice, that the Regent of Flanders had hired one
Scipperus, who should land on the coast of Essex, as if it
had been to victual his ship, and was to have conveyed her
away. Upon this information, order was given to see well
to the coast ; so the design being discovered, nothing could be
eifected. It was certainly a strange advice to carry her away,
and no less strange in the king's ministers to hinder it, if
there was ct that time any design formed to put her by her
succession : for if she had been beyond sea at the king's
death, it is not probable that she could have easily come to
the crown. The emperor's ambassador solicited for her vio-
lently, and said, he would presently take leave, and protest
that tiiey had broken their faith to his master, who would re-
sent the usage of the Lady Mary as highly as if it were
done immediately to himself. The counsellors having no
mind to draw a new war on their heads, especially from so
victorious a prince, were all inclined to let the matter fall.
There was also a year's cloth lately sent over to Antwerp ;
and fifteen hundred quintals of powder, with a great deal of
armour, bought there for the king's use, was not come over ;
so it V as thought by no means advisable to provoke the
emperor, while they had such effects in his ports ; nor were
they very willing to give higher provocations to the next heir
of the crown ; therefore, they all advised the king not to do
more in that matter at present, but to leave the Lady Mary
to her discretion, who would certainly be made more cau-
tious by what she had met with, and would give as little
scandal as was possible by her mass : but the king could
not be induced to give wjvy to it, for Jie thought the mass.
I
THE REFORMATION. 227
was impious and idolatrous : so he would not consent to the
continuance of such a sin. Upon this the council ordered
Cranmer, Ridley, and Poinet, to discourse about it with
him : they told him, that it was always a sin in a prince to
permit any sin ; but to give a connivance, that is, not to
punish.was not always a sin, since sometimes a lesser evil con-
nived at might prevent a greater. He was overcome by this ;
yet not so easily, but that he burst forth in tears, lamenting
his sister's obstinacy, and that he must suffer her to continue
in so abominable a way of worship, as he esteemed the
mass. So he answered the emperor's agents, that he should
send over an ambassador to clezu* that matter; and Dr.
Wotton was dispatched about it, who carried over attesta-
tions from all the council concerning the qualifications of
the promise that had been made ; and was instructed to press
the emperor not to trouble the king in his affairs at home in
his own kingdom. If the Lady Mary was his kinswoman,
she was the king's sister and subject. He was also to offer,
that the king would grant as much liberty for the mass in
his dominions, as the emperor would grant for the English
service in his dominions. But the emperor pretended, that
when her mother died, she left her to his protection, which
he had granted her, and so must take care of her : and the
emperor was so exalted with his successes, that he did not
easily bear any contradiction. But the council being farther
offended with her for the project of going beyond sea, and
being now less in fear of the emperor, since they had made
peace with France, resolved to look more nearly to her ; and
finding that Dr. Mallet and Barkley, her chaplaiiis, had said
mass in one of her houses when she was not in it, they or-
dered them to be proceeded against. Upon which, in De-
cember, the last year, she wrote earnestly to the council to
let it fall. By her letter it appears, that Mallet used to be
sometimes at his benefice, where it is certain he could offi-
ciate no other way but in that prescribed by law ; so it
seems his conscience was not very scrupulous. The council
wrote her a long answer, which, being in the style of a
churchman, seems to have been penned either by Cranmer
or Ridley : in which letter they fully cleared the matter of
the promise : then they showed how express the law was,
with which they could not dispense, and how ill-grounded
her faith, as she called it, was. They asked her, what war-
rant there was in Scripture, that the prayers should be in an
unknown tongue, that images should be in the church, or
that the sacrament should be offered up for the dead. They
told her, that in all questions about religion, St. Austin, and
the other ancient doctors, appealed to the Scripture ; and if
228 HISTORY OF
she would look into these, she would soon see the errors
of the old superstition, which were supported by false mi-
racles and lying stories, and not by Scripture or good autho-
rity. They expressed themselves in terms full of submis-
sion to her, but said, they were trusted with the execution of
the king's laws, in which they must proceed equally ; so they
required her, if the chaplains were in her house, to send
them to the sheriff of Essex. But it seems they kept out of
ihe way, and so the matter slept till the beginning of May
this year, that Mallet was found, and put in the Tower, and
convicted of his offence. Upon this, there passed many let-
ters between the council and her ; she earnestly desiring to
have him set at liberty, and they as positively refusing to
do it.
In July, the council sent for Rochester, Inglefield, and
Walgrave, three of her chief officers, and gave them instruc-
tions to signify the king's express pleasure to her, to have
■the new service in her family ; and to give the like charge
to her chaplains, and all her servants, and to return with an
answer. In August they came back, and said, she was
much indisposed, and received the message very grievously.
She said, she would obey the king in all things, except
where her conscience was touched ; but she charged them
to deliver none of their message to the rest of her family ; in
which they, being her servants, could not disobey her,
especially when they thought it might prejudice her
health. Upon this, they were sent to the Tower. The
lord chancellor. Sir Anthony Wingfield, and Sir William
JPetre, were next sent to her, with a letter from the king, and
instructions from the council, for the charge they were to
give to her and her servants. They came to her house of
Copthall in Essex. The lord chancellor gave her the king;'s
letter, which she received on her knees v and said, she paid
that respect to the king's hand, and not to the matter of the
letter, which she knew proceeded from the council; and
when she read it, she said, " Ah ! Mr. Cecil took much
pains here " (he was then secretary of state in Dr. Wot-
ton's room). So she turned to the counsellors, and bid them
deliver their message to her. She wished them to be short,
for she was not well at ease, and would give them a short
answer, having writ her mind plainly to the king with her
own hand. The lord chancellor told her, that all the coun-
cil were of one mind, that she must be no longer suffered to
have private mass, or a form of religion different from what
was established by law. He went to read the names of those
who were of that mind, but she desired him to spare his
pains, she knew they were all of a sort. They next told her.
THE REFORMATION. 229
they had order to require her chaplain to use no other
service, and her servants to be present at no other, than
what was according to law. She answered, she was the
king's most obedient subject and sister, and would obey him
in every thing but where her conscience held her ; and
would willingly suffer death to do him service : but she
would lay her head on a block rather than use any other form
of service than what had been at her father's death ; only
she thought she was not worthy to suffer death on so good
an account. AVhen the king came to be of age, so that he
could order these things himself, she would obey his com-
mands in religion ; for although he, " good sweet king,"
(these were her words) had more knowledge than any of his
years, yet he was not a fit judge in these matters ; for if ships
were to be set to sea, or any matter of pohcy to be deter-
mined, they would not think him fit for it, much less could
he be able to resolve points of divinity. As for her chap-
lains, if they would say no mass, she could hear none ; and
for her servants, she knew they all desired to hear mass :
her chaplains might do what they would, it was but a
whiles imprisonment : but for the new service, it should
never be said in her house ; and if any were forced to say it,
she would stay no longer in the house. When the coun-
sellors spake of Rochester, Inglefield, and Walgrave, who
bad not fully executed their charge, she said it was not the
wisest counsel to order her servants to control her in her
own house ^ and they were the honester men not to do such
a thing against their consciences. She insisted on the pro-
mise made to the emperor, which she had under his hand,
whom she believed better than them all : they ought to use
her better for her father's sake, who had raised them all al-
most out of nothing. But though the emperor were dead, or
would bid her obey them, she would not change her mind,
and she would let his ambassador know how they used her.
To this they answered, clearing the mistake about the pro-
mise, to which she gave little heed. They told her, they
had brought one down to serve as her comptroller in Ro-
chester's room : she said she would choose her own servants,
and if they went to impose any on her she would leave the
house. She was sick, but would do all she could to live ;
but if she died, she would protest they were the causes of
it ; they gave her good words, but their deeds were evil.
Then she took a ring from her finger, and on her knees gave
it to the lord chancellor, to give to the king as a token from
her, with her humble commendations ; and protested much
of her duty to him ; but she said, this will never be told him.
The counsellors went from her to her chaplains, and de-
Vor,. II, Part I. X
230 HISTORY OF
m
livered their message to them, who promised they would
obey. Then they charged the rest of the servants in like
mamier, and also commanded them to give notice if those
orders were broken. And so they went to go away. Bat as
they were in the court the Lady Mary called to them from
her window, to send her comptroller to her ; for she said,
that now she herself received the accounts of her house, and
knew how many loaves were made of a bushel of meal, to
which she had never been bred, and so was weary of that
office ; but if they would needs send him to prison, she said,
*' I beshrew him if he go not to it merrily, and with a good
will ; " and concluded, " I pray God to send you to do well
in your souls and bodies, for some of you have but weak
bodies." This is the substance of the report these counsel-
lors gave when they returned back to the court on the 29th
of August. By which they were now out of all hopes of
prevailing with her by persuasions or authority ; so it was
next considered, whether it was fit to go to further extremi-
ties with her. How the matter was determined, I do not
clearly find ; it is certain the Lady Mary would never admit
of the new service, and so I believe she continued to keep
her priests, and have mass ; but so secretly, that there was
no ground for any public complaint. For I find no further
mention of that matter than what is made by Ridley, of a
passage that befel him in September next year.
He went to wait on her, she living then at Hunsden ;
where she received him at first civilly, and told him, she re-
membered of him in her father's time, and at dinner sent
him to dine with her officers. After dinner he told her,
he came not only to do his duty to her, but to oflTer to preach
before her next Sunday : she blushed, and once or twice de-
sired him to make the answer to that himself. But when
he pressed her further, she said, the parish church would
be open to him if he had a mind to preach in it ; but neither
she nor any of her family should hear him. He said, he
hoped she would not refuse to hear God's word : she said,
she did not know what they called God's word, but she was
sure that was not now God's word that was called so in her
father's days. He said, God's word was the same at all
times. She answered, she was sure he durst not for his ears
have avowed these things in her father's time which he did
now ; and for their books, as she thanked God she never
had, so she never would read them. She also used many
reproachful words to him, and asked him, if he was of the
council : he said not. She replied, he might well enough be,
as the council goes now a-daysj and so dismissed him,
thanking him for coming to see her, but not at all for offer-
I
THE REFORMATION. 231
icg to preach before her. Sir Thomas Wharton, one of her
officers, carried him to a place where he desired him to
drink, which Ridley did ; but reflecting on it, said, he had
done amiss, to drink in a place where God's word was re-
jected : for if he had remembered his duty, he should upon
that refusal have shaken the dust off his feet, for a testimony
against the house, and have departed immediately. 1 hese
words he was observed to pronounce with an extraordinary
concern, and went away much troubled in his mind. And
this is all I find of the Lady Mary during this reign. For
the Lady Elizabeth, she had been always bred up to like the
Refo'^mation ; and Dr. Parker, who had been her mother's
chaplain, received a strict charge from her mother a
little before her death, to look well to the instructing her
daughter in the principles of true religion ; so that there is
no doubt to be made of her cheerlul receiving all the
changes that had been established by law.
And this is all that concerns religion that falls within this
year. But now a design came to be laid, which, though it
broke not out for some time, yet it was believed to have had
a great influence on the fall of the duke of Somerset. The
earl of Warwick began to form great projects for himself,
and thought to bring the crown into his family. The king
was now much alienated from the Lady Mary ; the privy-
council had also embroiled themselves so with her, that he
imagined it would be no hard matter to exclude her from ,
the succession. There was but one reason that could be
pretended for it, which was, that she stood illegitimated by
law ; and that therefore the next heirs in blood could not
be barred their right by her ; since it would be a great blot
on the honour of the English crown to let it devolve on a
bastard. This was as strong against the Lady Elizabeth,
since she was also illegitimated by a sentence in the spiritual
court, and that confirmed in parliament ; so if their jealousy
of the elder sister's religion, and the fear of her revenge,
moved ihem to be willing to cut her off from the succession,
the same reason that was to be used in law against her, was
also to take place against her sister. So he reckoned that
these two were to be passed over, as being put both in the
act of succession, and in the late king's will, by one error,
'i'he next in the will were the heirs of the French queen by
Charles Brandon, who were the duchess of Suffolk and her
sister : though 1 have seen it often said, in many letters and
writings of that time, that all that issue by Charles Brandon
was illegitimated ; since he was certainly married to one
Mortimer, before he married the queen of France, which
Mortimer lived long after his marriage to that queen, so that
HISTORY OF
all her children were bastards : some say he was divorced
from his marriage to Mortimer, but that is not clear to
me*.
This year, the sweating sickness, that had been formerly,
both in Henry the Seventh's and the late king's reign, broke
out with that violence in England, that many were swept
away by it. Such as were taken with it died certainly
if they slept, to which they had a violent desire ; but if it
took them not off in twenty-four hours, they did sweat out
the venom of the distemper ; which raged so in London,
that in one week eight hundred died of it. It did also
spread into the country, and the two sons of Charles Bran-
don by his last wife, both dukes of Suffolk, died within a
day of each other, and were both buried in the chancel of
Bugden church, they dying at the bishop's house. So that
title was fallen. Their sister by the half blood was married
to Gray, lord marquis of Dorset. So she being the eldest
daughter to the French queen, the earl of Warwick resolved
to link himself to that family, and to procure the honour of
the dukedom of Suffolk to be given to the marquis of Dorset,
who was a weak man, and easily governed. He had three
daughters : the eldest was Jane, a lady of as excellent
qualities as any of that age ; of great parts, bred to learning,
and much conversant in Scripture; and of so rare a temper
of mind, that she charmed cdl who knew her ; in particular
the young king, about whom she was bred, and who had
always lived with her in the familiarities of a brot'ner. The
earl of Warwick designed to marry her to Guildford, his
fourth son then living, his three elder being already married ;
and so to get the crown to descend on them if the king
should die, of which, it is thought, he resolved to take care.
But apprehending some danger from the Lady Elizabeth's
title, he intended to send her away : so an ambassador was
dispatched to Denmark, to treat a marriage for her with
that king's eldest son.
To amuse the king himself, a most splendid embassy was
sent to France, to propose a marriage for the king to that
king's daughter Elizabeth, afterwards married to Philip of
Spain. The marquis of Northampton was sent with this
proposition, and with the order of the garter. With him
* Charles Brandon first married Margaret, one of the daughters of
John Nevil, Marquis Montaj,'ue, \vidowof Sir John Mortimer; secondly,
Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, by whom he had issue, after
marriage, Mary, wedded to Thomas Stanley, Lord Monteagle; thirdly,
Mary, queen of France, as Sir William Dugdale hath it in the text,
though, in the scheme subjoined by him, the order is inverted:—
I.Anne; 2. Margaret, but rtpwdiafa; S.Mary.
ced 1
THE REFORMATION. 233
Aent the earls of Worcester, Rutland, and Ormond; the
l^rds Lisle, Fitzwater, Bray, Abergaveny, and Evers ; and
the bishop of Ely, who was to be their mouth : with them
went many gentlemen of quality, who with their train made
up near five hundred. King Henry received the garter with
great expressions of esteem for the king. The bishop of Ely
told him, they were come to desire a more close tie between
these crowns by marriage, and to have the league made
firmer between ihem in other particulars. To which the
cardinal of Lorrain made answer in his way of speaking,
which was always vain, and full of ostentation. A com-
mission was given to that cardinal, the constable, the duke
of Guise, and others, to treat about it.
The English began first, for form's sake, to desire the
queen of Scots. But that being rejected, they moved for
the daughter of France, which was entertained ; but so that
neither party should be bound in honour and conscience,
till the lady were twelve years of age. Yet this never
taking effect, it is needless to enlarge further about it; of
which the reader will find all the particulars in King Ed^
ward's Journal. The king of,F ranee sent another very noble
embassy into England, with the order of St. Michael to the
king, and a very kind message, that he had no less love to
him than a father could bear to his own son. He desired
the king would not listen to the vain rumours which some
malicious persons might raise to break their friendship ; and
wished there might be such a regulation on their frontiers,
that all differences might be amicably removed. To this
the young king made answer himself, " That he thanked his
good brother for his order, and for the assurances of his love,
which he would always requite. For rumours, they were
not always to be credited, nor always to be rejected: it
being no less vain to fear all things, than it was dangerous
to doubt of nothing : and for any differences that might
arise, he should be always ready to determine them by
reason, rather than force, so far as his honour should not be
thereby diminished." Whether this answer was prepared
beforehand, or not, I cannot tell ; 1 rather think it was ;
otherwise, it was extraordinary for one of fourteen to talk
thus on the sudden.
But while this was carrying on, there was a design laid
to destroy the duke of Somerset. He had such access to the
king, and such freedoms with him, that the earl of Warwick
had a mind to be rid of him, lest he should spoil all his pro-
jects. The duke of Somerset seemed also to have designed
in April this year, to have got the king again in his power :
And dealt with the Lord Strange, that was much in his
X3
234 HISTORY OF
favour, to persuade him to marry his daughter Jane, and
that he would advertise him of all that passed about the
king. But the earl of Warwick, to raise himself and all his
friends higher, piocured a great creation of new honours.
Gray was made duke of Suffolk, and himself duke of Nor-
thumberland; for Henry Piercy, the last earl of Northumber-
land, dying without issue, his next heirs were the sons of
Thomas Piercy that had been attainted in the last reign for
the Yorkshire rebellion. Pawlet, then lord treasurer, and
earl of Wiltshire, was made marquis of Winchester; and
Sir William Herbert, that had married the marquis of Nor-
thampton's sister, was made earl of Pembroke. The Lord
Russel had been made earl of Bedford last year, upon his
return from making the peace with the French ; Sir 'J'homas
Darcy had also been made Lord Darcy. The new duke of
Northumberland could no longer bear such a rival in his
greatness as the duke of Somerset was, who was the only
person that he thought could take the king out of his hands.
So, on the 17th of October, the duke was apprehended, and
sent to the Tower ; and with him the Lord Gray ; Sir Ralph
Vane, who had escaped over the river, but was taken in a
stable in Lambeth, hid under the straw : Sir Thomas Palmer
and Sir Thomas Arundel were also taken, yet not sent at
first to the Tower, but kept under guards in their chambers.
Some of his followers, Hamond, Nudigate, and two of the
Seymours, were sent to prison. The day after, the duchess
of Somerset was also sent to the Tower, with one Crane and
his wife, that had been much about her, and two of her
chamber-women. After these, Sir Thomas Holdcroft, Sir
Miles Partridge, Sir Michael Stanhop, Wingfield, Ban-
nister, and Vaughan, were all made prisoners. The evi-
dence against the duke was, that he had made a party for
getting himself declared protector in the next parliament,
which the earl of Rutland did positively affirm ; and the
duke did so answer it, that it is probable it was true. But
though this might well inflame his enemies, yet it was n»
crime. But Sir Thomas Palmer, though imprisoned with
him as a complice, was the person that ruined him. He had
been before that brought secretly to the king, and had told
- him, that, on the last St. George's day, the duke appre-
hending there was mischief designed against him, thought
to have raised the people, had not Sir William Herbert
assured him he should receive no harm ; that lately he in-
tended to have the duke of Northumberland, the marquis
of Northampton, and the earl of Pembroke, invited to din-
ner at the Lord Paget's, and either to have set on them by
the way, or to have killed them at dinner ; that Sir Ralph
THE REFORMATION. 235
Vane had two thousand men ready ; that Sir Thomas Arun-
del had assured the Tower, and that all the gendarmourie
were to be killed. The duke of Somerset, hearing Palmer
bad been with the king, challenged him of it, but he de-
nied all. He sent also for secretary Cecil, and told him be
suspected there was an ill design against him : to which the
secretary answered, if he were not m fault, he might trust to
his innocency ; but if he were, he had nothing to say but to
lament him.
All this was told the king with such circumstances, that
he was induced tq believe it ; and the probity of his dis-
Eosition wrought in him a great aversion to his uncle, when
e looked on him as a conspirator against the lives of the
other counsellors ; and so he resolved to leave him to the
law. Palmer, being a second time examined, said, that Sir
Ralph Vane was to have brought two thousand men, who,
with the duke of Somerset's one hundred horse, were on a
muster-day to have set on the gendarmourie ; that being
done, the duke resolved to have gone through the city, and
proclaimed liberty, liberty ! and if his attempt did not suc-
ceed, to have fled to the Isle of Wight, or to Pool. Crane
confirmed all that Palmer had said ; to which he added,
that the earl of Arundel was privy to the conspiracy, and
that the thing had been executed, but that the greatness of
the enterprise had caused delays, and sometimes diversity of
advice : and that the duke, being once given out to be sick,
had gone privately to London, to see what friends he could
make. Hammond, being examined, confessed nothing, but
that the duke's chamber at Greenwich had been guarded in
the night by many armed men. Upon this evidence, both
the earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget were sent to the
Tower. The earl had been one of the chief of those who
had joined with the earl of Warwick to pull down the pro-
tector ; and being, as he thought, ill rewarded by him, was
become his enemy. So this part of the information seemed
very credible. The thing lay in suspense till the 1st of
December, that the duke of Somerset was brought to his
trial ; where the marquis of Winchester was lord steward.
The peers that judged him were twenty-seven in number :
the dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland, the marquis of
Northampton, the earls of Derby, Bedford, Huntingdon,
Rutland, Bath, Sussex, Worcester, Pembroke, and the vis-
count of Hereford ; the Lords Abergaveny, Audley, Whar-
ton, Evers, Latimer, Borough, Souch, Stafford, Wentworth,
Darcy, Stourton, Windsor, Cromwell, Cobham, and Bray.
The crimes laid against him were cast into five several in-
dictments, as the king has it in his Journal ; but the record
236 ^ HISTORY OF
mentions only three, whether indictments or articles is not
so clear. That he had designed to have seized on the king's
person, and so have governed all affairs ; and that he, with
one hundred others, intended to have imprisoned the earl of
Warwick, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and that he
had designed an insurrection in the city of London. Now
by the act that passed in the last parliament, if twelve
persons should have assembled together to have killed any
privy-counsellor, and upon proclamation they had not dis-
persed themselves, it was treason ; or if such twelve had
been by any malicious artifices brought together for any riot,
and being warned did not disperse themselves, it was felony,
without benefit of clergy or sanctuary. It seemed very
strange that the three peers, Northumberland, Northampton,
and Pembroke, who were his professed enemies, and against
the first of whom it was pretended in the indictment that
he had conspired, should sit his judges ; for though by the
law no peer can be challenged in a trial, yet the law of
nations, that is superior to ail other laws, makes that a man
cannot be judge in bis own cause : and, which was very
unusual, the lord chancellor, though then a peer, was left
out of the number; but it is likely the reconciliation between
the duke of Somerset and him was then suspected, which
made him not be called to be one of his judges.
The duke of Somerset being, it seems, little acquainted
with law, did not desire counsel to plead, or assist him in
point of law, but only answered to matters of fact. He
prefaced, that he desired no advantage might be taken
against him, for any idle or angry word that might have at
any time fallen from him. He protested he never intended
to have raised the northern parts, but had only, upon some
reports, sent to Sir William Herbert to be his friend : that
he had never determined to have killed the duke of Nor-
thumberland, or any other person, but had only talked of it,
without any intention of doing it : that for the design of
destroying the gendarmourie, it was ridiculous to think that
he with a small troop could destroy so strong a body of men,
consisting of nine hundred ; in which, though he had suc-
ceed, it could have signified nothing : that he never designed
to raise any stirs in London, but had always looked on it as
a place where he was most safe : that his having men about
him in Greenwich was with no ill design, since, when he
could have done mischief with them, he had not done it, but
upon his attachment rendered himself a prisoner without
any resistance. He objected also many things against the
witnesses, and desired they might be brought face to face.
He particulaily spoke much against Sir Thomas Palmar, the
THE REFORMATION. 237
chief witness. But the witnesses were not brought, only
their examinations were read. Upon this, the king's counsel
pleaded against him, that to levy war was certainly treason ;
that to gather men with intention to kill privy-counsellors
was also treason ; that to have men about him to resist the
attachment was felony ; and to assault the lords, or contrive
their deaths, was felony. Whether he made any defence
in law or not, does not appear : for the material defence is
not mentioned in all the accounts I have seen of it ; which
was, that these conspiracies, and gatherings of the king's
subjects, were only treasonable and felonious, after they
had been required to disperse themselves, and had refused
to give obedience : and in all this matter, that is never so
much as alleged, no, not in the indictment itself, to have
been done. It is plain it was not done ; for if any such pro-
clamation, or charge, had been sent him, it is probable he
would either have obeyed it, or gone into London, or to the
country, and tried what he could have done by force ; but
to have refused such a command, and so to have come
within the guilt of treason, and yet not to stir from his
house, are not things consistent.
When the peers withdrew, it seems the proofs about his
design of raising the north, or the city, or of the killing the
gendarmes, did not satisfy them ; for all these had been,
without question, treasonable : so they only held to that
point of conspiring to imprison the duke of Northumberland.
If he, with twelve men about him, had conspired to do that,
and had continued together after proclamation, it was cer-
tainly felony ; but that not being pretended, it seems there
was no proclamation made. The duke of Suffolk was of
■opinion, that no contention among private subjects should
be on any account screwed up to be treason. The duke of
Northumberland said, he would never consent that any
practice against him should be reputed treason. After a
great difference of opinion, they all acquitted him of treason,
but the greater number found him guilty of felony. When
they returned him not guilty of treason, all the people, who
were much concerned for his preservation, shouted for joy,
so loud, and so long, that they were heard at Charing-cross :
but the joy lasted not long, when they heard that he was
condemned of felony, and sentence was thereupon given,
that he should die as a felon.
The duke had carried himself all the while of the trial
with great temper and patience ; and though the king's
counsel had, in their usual way of pleading, been very bitter
against him, perhaps the rather, that thereby they might
recommend themselves to the duke of Northumberland;
238 HISTORY OF
yet he never t^ok notice of these reflections, nor seemed
much affected with them. When sentence was given, he
thanked the lords for their favour, and asked pardon of the
dukes of Northumberland, Northampton, and Pembroke,
for his ill intentions against them ; and made suit for his life,
and for his wife and children : from thence he \\ as carried
back to the Tower. Whether this asking the lords' pardon
had in it a full confession of the crime charged on him, or
was only ^ compliment to them, that they might not obstruct
his pardon, is but a matter of conjecture. He confessed he
had spoken of killing them, and this made it reasonable
enough for him to ask their pardon ; so that it does not im-
ply a confession of the crime. All people thought, that
being acquitted of treason, and there being no felonious action
done by him, but only an intention of one, and that only of
imprisoning a peer, proved, that one so nearly joined to the
king in blood, would never be put to death on such an oc-
casion. But, to possess the king much against him, a story
was brouglit him, and put by him in his Journal, that at the
duke's coming to the Tower, he had confessed that he had
hired one Bartuile to kill the lords ; and that Bartuile, him-
self, acknowledged it, and that Hammond knew of it. But,
whether this was devised to alienate the king wholly from
him, or whether it was true, I can give no assurance. But
though it was true, it was felony in Bartuile, if he were
the king's servant ; but not in the duke, who was a peer *.
Yet, no doubt, this gave the king a very ill opinion of his
uncle^ and so made him more easily consent to his execution :
since all such conspiracies are things of that inhuman and
barbarous cruelty, that it is scarce possible to punish them
too severely. But it is certain, that there was no evidence
at all of any design to kill the duke of Northumberland,
otherwise the indictment had not been laid against him only
for designing to seize on and imprison him, as it was ; the
conspiring to kill him not being so much as mentioned in
the indictment : but it was maliciously given out to possess
the world, and chiefly the king, against him.
The king also, in his letter to Barnaby Fitzpatrick, who
was likely to be his favourite, and was then sent over for his
breeding into France, wrote, that the duke seemed to have
acknowledged the felony, and that after sentence he had
confessed it, though he had formerly vehemently sworn the
contrary ; from whence it is plain that the king was persuaded
of his being guilty. Sir Michael Stanhop, Sir Thomas Arun-
del, Sir Ralph Vane, and Sir Miles Partridge, were next
« See the indictment, Colte's Entries, foJ. 482.
THE REFORMATION. 239
brought to their trials : the first and the last of these were
little pitied : for, as all great men have people about them,
who make use of their greatness only for their own ends,
without regarding their masters' honour, or true interest, so
they were the persons upon whom the ill things which had
been done by the duke of Somerset were chiefly cast. But
Sir Thomas Arundel was much pitied, and had haid measure
in his trial, which began at seven o'clock in the morning
and continued till noon : then the jury went aside, and they
did not agree on their verdict till next morning, when those
who thought him not guilty, yet, for preserving their own
lives, were willing to yield to the fierceness of those who
were resolved to have him found guilty. Sir Ralph Vane
was the most lamented of them all : he had done great ser-
vices in the wars, and was esteemed one of the bravest
gentlemen of the nation. He pleaded for himself, that he
had done his country considerable service during the wars ;
though now, in time of peace, the coward and the courageous
were equally esteemed. He scorned to make any submissions
for life. But this height of mind in him did certainly set
forward his condemnation : and, to add more infamy to him
in the manner of his death, he and Partridge were hanged,
whereas the other two were beheaded.
The duke of Somerset was using means to have the king
better informed and disposed towards him, and engaged* the
lord chancellor to be his friend ; who thereupon sent him an
advertisement of somewhat designed against him by the
council, and being in haste, wrote only on the back of his
letter, " To the duke ;" and bid one of his servants carry it
to the Tower, without giving him particular directions to the
duke of Somerset. But his servant having known of the
familiarities between his master and the duke of Norfolk,
who was still in the Tower, and knowing none between him
and the other duke, carried the letter to the duke of Norfolk.
"When the lord chancellor found the mistake at night, he
knew the duke of Norfolk, to make Northumberland his
friend, would certainly discover him ; so he went in all haste
to the king, and desired to be discharged of his office, and
thereby prevented the malice of his enemies : and upon this
he fell sick, either pretending he was ill, that it might raise
the more pity for him, or perhaps the fright in which he was
did really cast him into sickness. So the seal was sent for
by the marquis of Winchester, the duke of Northumberland,
and the Lord Darcy, on the 2lst of December, and put into
the hands of the bishop of Ely, who was made keeper during
pleasure ; and when the session of parliament came on, he
was made lord chancellor. But this was much censured :
240 HISTORY OF
when the Reformation was first preached in England, Tin-
dal, Barnes, and Latimer, took an occasion, from the great
pomp and luxury of Cardinal Wolsey, and the secular em-
ployments of the other bishops and clergymen, to represent
them as a sort of men that had wholly neglected the care of
souls, and those spiritual studies and exercises that disposed
men to such functions, and only carried the names of bishops
and churchmen to be a colour to serve their ambition and
coyetousness ; and this had raised great prejudices in the
minds of the people against those who were called their
pastors, when they saw them fill their heads with cares, that
were at least impertinent to their callings, if not inconsistent
with the duties that belonged to them. So now, upon Good-
>rick.'s being made lord chancellor , that was a reformed bishop,
it was said by their adversaries, these men only condemned
secular employments in the hands of churchmen, because
their enemies had them ; but changed their mind" as soon as
any of their own party came to be advanced to them. But,
as Goodrick was raised by the popish interest in opposition
to the duke of Somerset, and to Cranmer, that was his firm
friend, so it appeared in the beginning of Queen Mary's
reign, that he was ready to turn with every tide ; and that,
whether he joined in the Reformation only in compliance to
the time, or was persuaded in his mind concerning it ; yet
he had not that sense of it that became a bishop, and was
one of those who resolved to make as much advantage by it
as he could, but would suflTer nothing for it. So his practice
in this matter is neither a precedent to justify the like in
others, nor can it cast a scandal on those to whom he joined
himself, Christ being spoke to, to divide an inheritance be-
tween two brethren, said, " Who made me a judge or a
divider?" St. Paul, speaking of churchmen, says, " No
man that warreth entangleth himself with the aff"airs of this
life ;" which was understood by St. Cyprian, as a perpetual
rule against the secular employments of the clergy. There
are three of the apostolical canons against it ; and Cyprian,
reckoning up the sins of his time, that had provoked God to
send a persecution on the church, names this, that many
bishops, forsaking their sees, undertook secular cares ; in
which he was so strict, that he thought the being tutor to
orphans was a distraction unsuitable to their character ; so
that one priest leaving another tutor to his children, because,
by the Roman law, he, to whom this was left, was obliged
to undergo it, the priest's name, who made that testament,
was appointed to be struck out of the list of those churchmen
who had died in the faith, and were remembered in the
daily offices. Samosatanus is represented as one of the first
THE REFORMATION. ««
eminent churchmen that involved himself much in secular
cares. Upon the emperors' turning Christian, it was a natural
effect of their conversion for them to cherish the bishops
much, and many of the bishops became so much in love
with the court and public employments, that canons vi^ere
made against their going to court, unless they were called ;
and the canaliis, or road to the court, was kept by the bishop
of Rome, so that none might go without his warrant. Their
meddling in secular matters was also condemned in many
provincial councils, but most copiously and amply by the
general council at Chalcedon. It is true, the bishops had
their courts for the arbitration of civil differences; which
were first begun upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians,
against their going to law before unbelievers, and for sub-
mitting their suits to some among themselves. The reasons
of this ceased when the judges in the civil courts were be-
come Christians; yet these episcopal audiences were still
continued after Constantine's time, and their jurisdiction
.was sometimes enlarged, and sometimes abridged, as there
,was occasion given. St. Austin, and many other holy bishops,
grew weary even of that, and found, that the hearing causes,
ias it took up much of their time, so filled their heads with
thoughts of another nature than what properly belonged to
them.
The bishops of Rome and Alexandria, taking advantage
.from the greatness and wealth of their sees, began first to
establish a secular principality of the church : and the con-
fusions that fell out in Italy after the fifth century, gave the
bishops of Rome great opportunities for it, which they irn-
proved to the utmost advantage. The revolutions in Spain
.gave a rise to the Spanish bishops meddling much in all
civil matters ; and when Charles the Great and his son had
given great territories and large jurisdictions to many sees
,and monasteries, bishops and abbots came, after that, not
only to have a share in all the public councils of most of
the states of J^urope, to which their lands gave them a right,
but to be chiefly employed in all affairs and offices of state.
The ignorance of these ages made this in a manner neces-
sary ; and church preferments were given as rewards to men
who had served in the state, in embassie»», or in their princes'
courts of justice ; so that it was no wonder if men, advanced
upon that merit, continued in their former method and course
of life. Thus the bishops became, for the greatest part, only
;a sort of men who went in peculiar habits, and upon some
high festivities performed a few offices ; but for the pastoral
care, and all the duties incumbent on them, they were uni-
versally neglected ; and that seriousness, that abstraction
y^i. II, Tart I. Y
2^ HISTORY OF
•from the world, that application to study and religious exer-
cises, and chiefly the care of souls, which became their
function, seemed inconsistent with that course of life which
secular cares brought on men who pursued them : nor was
it easy to persuade the world that their pastors did very
much aspire to heaven, when they were thrusting themselves
so indecently into the courts of princes, or ambitiously pre-
tending to the administration of matters of state ; and it
was always observed, that churchmen, who assumed to them-
selves employments, and an authority that was eccentric to
their callings, suffered so much in that esteem, and lost so
much of that authority, which of right belonged to their
character and office.
But to go on with the series of affairs. There was all
possible care taken to divert and entertain the king's mind
with pleasing sights, as will appear by his Journal ; which
it seems had the effect that was desired, for he was not
mucfi concerned in his uncle's preservation.
An order was sent for beheading the duke of Somerset on
the 22d of January (1552), on which day he was brought to
the place of execution on Tower-hill. His whole deport-
ment was very composed, and no way changed from what it
had ordinarily been: he first kneeled down, and prayed;
and then he spake to the people in these words .
" Dearly beloved friends — I am brought here to suffer
death, albeit that I never offended against the king neither
by word nor deed, and have been always as faithful and
true to this realm, as any man hath been. But, forsomuch
as I am by law condemned to die, I do acknowledge myself,
as well as others, to be subject thereto ; wherefore, to testify
ray obedience which I owe unto the laws, I am come hither
to suffer death ; whereunto I willingly offer myself, with
most hearty thanks to God, that hath given me this time of
repentance, who might, through sudden death, have taken
away my life, that neither I should have acknowledged him,
nor myself. Moreover, there is yet somewhat that I must
put you in mind of, as touching Christian religion, which,
so long as I was in authority, I always diligently set forth,
and furthered to my power ; neither repent I me of my
doings, but rejoice therein, sith that now the state of Chris-
tian religion cometh most near unto the form and order of
the primitive church, which thing I esteem as a great benefit
given of God, both to you and me ; most heartily exhorting
you all, that this which is most purely set forth to you, you
will with like thankfulness accept and embrace, and set out
the same in your living ; which thing if you do not, without
doubt greater mischief and calamity will follow."
THE REFORMATION. - 243
When he had gone so far, there was an extraordinary
noise heard, as if some house had been blown up with gun-
powder ; which frighted all the people, so tdat many ran
away, they knew not for what: and the relator, who tar-
ried still, says, it brought into his remembrance the asto-
nishment that the band was in that came to take our Saviour,
who thereupon fell backwards to the ground. At the same
time Sir Anthony Brown came riding towards the scaffold,
and they all hoped he had brought a pardon ; upon which
there was a general shouting, " Pardon, pardon, God save
the King!" many throwing up their caps; by which the
duke might well perceive how dear he was to the people;
But as soon as these disorders were over, he made a sign to
them with his hand to compose themselves, and then went on
in his speech thus : —
" Dearly beloved friends, there is no such matter here
in hand, as you vainly hope or believe. It seemeth thus
good unto Almighty God, whose ordinance it is meet and ne-
cessary that we all be obedient to. Wherefore I pray you
all to be quiet, and to be contented with my death ; which
I am most willing to suffer. And let us now join in prayer
to the i^ord for the preservation of the king's majesty, unto
whom hitherto I have always showed myself a most faithful
and firm subject. I have always been most diligent about
his majesty, in his affairs both at home and abroad ; and no
less diligent in seeking the common commodity of the whole
realm (upon this the people cried out, it was most true) ;
unto whose majesty I wish continual health, with all felicity
and all prosperous success. Moreover, I do wish unto all his
counsellors the grace and favour of God, whereby they may
rule in all things uprightly with justice ; unto whom I ex-
hort you all in the Lord to show yourselves obedient, as it
is your bounden duty, under the pain of condemnation ; and
also most profitable for the preservation and safeguard of the
king's majesty. Moreover, forasmuch as heretofore I have
had affairs with divers men, and hard it is to please every
man, therefore, if there have been any that have been of-
fended or injured by me, 1 most humbly require and ask
him forgiveness ; but especially Almighty God, whom
throughout all my life I have most grievously offended :
and all other whatsoever they be that have offended me,
1 do with my whole heart forgive them." Then he de-
sired them to be quiet, lest their tumults might trouble
him; and said, "Albeit the spirit be willing and ready,
the flesh is frail and wavering ; and through your quiet-
ness 1 shall be much more quieter. Moreover, 1 desire
you all to bear me witness, that I die here in the faith of
244 HISTORY OF
Jesus Christ, desiring you to help me with your prayers
that I may persevere constant in the same to my life's end.'
Then Dr. Cox, who was with him on the scaffold, put a
paper in his hand, which was a prayer he had prepared for
him. He read it on his knees ; then he took leave of all
about hina, and undressed himself to be fitted for the axe.
In all which there appeared no change in him, only his face
was a little ruddier than ordinary : he continued calling,
*' Lord Jesus, save me," till the executioner severed his head
from his body.
Thus fell the duke of Somerset : a person of great virtues,
eminent for piety, humble and affable in his greatness, sin-
cere and candid in all his transactions. He was a better
captain than a counsellor: had been oft successful in his un-
dertakings, was alway careful of the poor and the oppressed,
and, in a word, had as many virtues, and as few faults, as
most great men, especially when they were so unexpectedly
advanced, have ever had. It was generally believed, that
all this pretended conspiracy, upon which he was con-
demned, was only a forgery. For both Palmer and Crane,
the chief witnesses, were soon after discharged, as were also
Bartuile and Hamond, with all the rest that had been made
prisoners on the pretence of this plot. And the duke of
Northumberland continued after that in so close a friend-
ship with Palmer, that it was generally believed he had
been corrupted to betray him. And, indeed, the not bring-
ing the witnesses into the court, but only the depositions,
and the parties sitting judges, gave great occasion to con-
demn the proceedings against him. For it was generally
thought, that all was an artifice of Palmer's, who had put
the duke of Somerset in fears of his life, and so got him to
gather men about him for his own preservation ; and that he
afterwards, being taken with him, seemed through fear to
acknowledge all that which he had before contrived. This
was more confirmed by the death of the other four formerly
mentioned, who were executed on the 26th of February, and
did all protest they had never been guilty of any design,
either against the king, or to kill the lords. Vane added,
that his blood would make Northumberland's pillow uneasy
to him. The people were generally much affected with this
execution ; and many threw handkerchiefs into the duke of
Somerset's blood, to preserve it in remembrance of him. One
lady, that met the duke of Northumberland when he was
led through the city in Queen Mary's reign, shaking one of
these bloody handkerchiefs, said, " Behold, the blood of
that worthy man, that good uncle of that excellent king,
which was shed by thy malicious practice, doth now begin
k
THE REFORMATION. 245
apparently to revenge itself on thee." Sure it is, that Nor-
thumberland, as having maliciously contrived this, was
ever after hated by the people.
]Jut, on the other hand, great notice was taken, that the
duke of Norfolk (who, with his son the earl of Surrey,
were believed to have fallen in all their misery by the duke
of Somerset's means) did now outlive him, and saw him fall
by a conspiracy of his own servants, as himself and his son
had done. The proceeding against his brother was also re-
membered, for which many thought the judgments of God
had overtaken him. Others blamed him for being too apt
to convert things sacred to his own use, and because a great
part of his estate was raised out of the spoils of many
churches : and some late writers have made an inference
from this, upOii his not claiming the benefit of clergy, that
he was thus left of God not to plead that benefit, since he
had so much invaded the rights and revenues of the church.
But in this they showed their ignorance : for by the statute,
that felony of which he was found guilty was not to be
purged by clergy. Those who pleased themselves in com-
paring the events in their own times, with the transactions
of the former ages, found out many things to make a pa-
rallel between the duke of Somerset and Humphrey the
good duke of Gloucester in Henry the Sixth's time ; but I
shall leave the reader in that to his own observation.
Now was the duke of Northumberland absolute at court,
all offices being filled with those that were his associates.
But here I stop to give a general view of affairs beyond sea
this year (1551), though I have a little transgressed the
bounds of it, to give an account of the duke of Somerset's
fall altogether. The siege of Magdeburg went on in Ger-
many. But it was coldly followed by Maurice, who had
now other designs. He had agreed with the French king,
who was both to give him assistance, and to make war on
the emperor, at the same time when he should begin. Fer-
dinand was also not unwilling to see his brother's greatness
lessened ; for he was pressing him, not without threatenings,
to lay down his dignity as king of the Romans, and thought
to have established it on his son. All the other princes of
Germany were also oppressed by him, so that they were dis-
posed to enter into any alliance for the shaking oflP of
that yoke. Maurice did also send over to try the inclina-
tions of England ; if they would join with him, and con-
tribute 400,000 dollars towards the expense of a war, for
the preservation of the protestant religion, and recovering the
liberty of Germany. The ambassadors were only sent to
Y 3
246 HISTORY OF
try the king's mind, but were not empowered to conclude
any thing. They were sent back with a good answer, that
the king would most willingly join in alliance with them
that were of the same religion with himself; but he desired,
that the matter of religion might be plainly set down, lest,
under the pretence of that, war should be made for other
quarrels. He desired them also to communicate their de-
signs with the other princes, and then to send over others
more fully empowered. Maurice, seeing such assistances
ready for him, resolved both to break the emperor's designs,
and, by leading on a new league against him, to make him-
self more acceptable to the empire, and thereby to secure the
electoral dignity in his family. So, after Magdeburg had en-
dured a long siege, he, giving a secret intimation to some men
in whom they confided, persuaded them, about the end of
November, to surrender to him ; and then broke up his
army : but they fell into the dominions of several of the po-
pish princes, and put them under very heavy contributions.
This alarmed all the empire ; only the emperor himself, by
a fatal security, did not apprehend it, till it came so near
him, that he was almost ruined before he dreamed of any
danger.
This year the transactions of Trent were remarkable.
The pope had called the council to meet there, and the
1st of May this year there was a session held. There was a
war now broken out between the pope and the king of
Prance on this occasion. The pope had a mind to have
Parma in his own hands : but that prince, fearing that he
would keep it, as the emperor did Placentia, and so he should
be ruined between them, implored the protection of France,
and received a French garrison for his safety. Upon this,
the pope cited him to Rome, declaring him a traitor if he
appeared not : and this engaged the pope in a war >yith
France. At first he sent a threatening message to that king,
that if he would not restore Parma to him, he would take
France from him. Upon this the king of France protested
against the council of Trent, and threatened that he would
call a national council in France. The council was ad-
journed to the 10th of September. In the mean while the
emperor pressed the Germans to go to it. So Maurice, and
the other princes of the Augsburg Confession, ordered their
divines to consider of the matters which they would pro-
pose to the council. The electors of Mentz and Trier went
to Trent. But the king of France sent the abbot of Bello-
sana thither, to make a protestation, that by reason of the
war that the pope had raised, he could not send his bishops
THE REFORMATION. 247
to the council ; and that therefore he would not observe
their decrees (for they had declared in France, that absent
churches were not bound to obey the decrees of a council :
for which many authorities were cited from the primitive
time). But at Trent they proceeded for all this,and appointed
the articles about the eucharist to be first examined : and the
presidents recommended to the divines to handle them ac-
cording to Scripture, tradition, and ancient authors, and tof
avoid unprofitable curiosities. The Italian divines did not
like this : for they said, to argue so, was but an act of the
memory, and was an old and insufficient way, and would
give great advantage to the Lutherans, who were skilled in
the tongues ; but the school learning was a mystical and
sublime way, in which it was easier to set off or conceal mat-
ters, as was expedient. But this was done to please the
Germans : and, at the suit of the emperor, the matter of
communicating in both kinds was postponed, till the Ger-
man divines could be heard. A safe conduct was desired by
the Germans, not only from the emperor, but from the coun-
cil. For at Constance, John Huss and Jerome of Prague
were burnt, upon this pretence, that they had not the coun-
cil's safe conduct ; and therefore, when the council of Basil
called for the Bohemians, they sent them a safe conduct, be-
sides that wMch the emperor gave them. So the princes
desired one in the same form that was granted by those of
Basil. One was granted by the council, which in many
things differed from that of Basil ; particularly in one clause,
that all things should be determined according to the Scrip-
tures, which was in that safe conduct of Basil, but was now
left out. In October an ambassador from the elector of
Brandenburg came to Trent, who was endeavouring to get
his son settled in the archbishopric of Magdeburg, which-
made him more compliant. In his first address to the coun-
cil, he spoke of the respect his master had to the fathers in
it, without a word of submitting to their decrees. But in
the answer that was made in the name of the council, it was
said, they were glad he did submit to them, and would obey
their decrees. This being afterwards complained of, it was
said, that they answered him according to what he should
have said, and not according to what he had said. But in
the mean while the council published their decrees about
the eucharist ; in the first part of which they defined, that
the way of the presence could hardly be expressed, and yet
tney called transubstantiation a fit terra for it. But this
might be well enough defended, since that was a thing as
hard to be either expressed or understood, as any thing they
could have thought on. They went on next to examin*
248 HISTORY OF
confession and penitence. And now, as the divines handled
the matter, they found the gatheiing proofs out of Scripture
grew endless and trifling ; for there was not a place in Scrip-
ture where I confess was to be found, but they drew it in to
prove auricular confession. From that they went on to ex-
treme unction. But then came the ambassadors of the duke
of Wittemberg, another prince of the Augsburg Confession,
and showed their mandate to the emperor's ambassadors j
who desired them to carry it to the presidents ; but they re-
fused to do that ; since it was contrary to the protestation,
which the princes of their confession had made against a
council in which the pope should preside. On the 25th of
IMovember they published the decree of the necessity of au-
ricular confession, that so the priest might thereby know how
to proportion the penance to the sin. It was much censured,
to see it defined that Christ had instituted confession to a
priest, and not showed where or how it was instituted.
And the reason for it, about the proportioning the penance,
was laughed at, since it was known what slight penances
were universally enjoined to expiate the greatest sins. But
the ambassadors of Wittemberg moving that they might
have a safe conduct for their divines to come and propose
their doctrine ; the legate answered, that they would not
upon any terms enter into any disputation with them ; but if
tiieir divines had any scruple in which they desired satisfac-
tion, with a humble and ©bedient mind, they should be
heard. And for a safe conduct, he thought it was a distrusting
the council to ask any other than what was already granted.
Soon after this, there arrived ambassadors from Strasburg,
and from other five cities, and those sent from the duke of
Saxe were on their journey : so the emperor ordered his am*
bassadors tQ study to gaint time till they came ; and then an
effectual course must be taken for compassing that about
which he had laboured so long in vain to bring it to a happy
conclusion. And thus this year ended.
(1552.) The parliament was opened on the 23d of Ja-
nuary, and sat till the 15th of April. So I shall begin this
year with the account of the proceedings in it. The first act
that was put into the house of lords, was an order to bring
men to divine service ; which was agreed to on the 26th,
and sent down to the commons, who kept it long before they
sent it back. On the 6th of April, when it was agreed to,
the earl of Derby, the bishops of Carlisle and JNorwich, and
the Lords Stourton and Windsor, dissented. The lords af-
wards brought in another bill, for authorising a new Com-
mon-Prayer-Book, according to the alterations which had
been agreed on the former year. This the commons joined'
THE REFORMATION. 24Sr
to the former, and so put both in one act. By it was first
set forth, " That an order of Divine service being published,
many did wilfully abstain from it, and refused to come to
their parish churches ; therefore all are required, after the
feast of AUhallows next, to come every Sunday and holy-
day to common prayers, under pain of the censures of the
church. And the kmg, the lords temporal, and the com-
mons, did in God's name require all archbishops, bishops,
and other ordinaries, to endeavour the due execution of that
act, as they would answer before God for such evils
and plagues with which he might justly punish them
for neglecting that good and wholesome law : and they
were fully authorised to execute the censures of the
church on all that should offend against this law. To which
is added, that there had been divers doubts raised about the
manner of the ministration of the service, rather by the
curiosity of the minister and mistakers, than of any other
worthy cause : and that for the better explanation of that,
and for the greater perfection of the service, in some places,
where it was fit to make the prayer and fashion of service
more earnest and fit to stir Christian people to the true
honouring of Almighty God ; therefore, it had been by the
command of the king and parliament perused, explained,
and made more perfect. They also annexed to it the foim of
making bishops, priests, and deacons ; and so appointed this-
new book of service to be everywhere received after the
feast of All-Saints next, under the same penalties that had
been enacted three years before, when the former book was
set out.'^
It was upon this act said by the papists, that the Reforma-
tion was likely to change as oft as the fashion did ; since they
seemed never to be at a point in any thing, but new models
were thus continually framing. To which it was answered,
that it was no wonder that the corruptions which they had been
introducing forabove a thousand years, weie not all discovered
or thrown out at once ; but now the business was brought to
a fuller perfection, and they were not like to see any more
material changes. Besides, any that would take the pains
to compare the offices that had been among the papists,
would clearly perceive, that in every age there was such an
increase of additional rites and ceremonies, that though the
old ones were still retained, yet it seemed there would be
no end of improvements and additions. Others wondered
why the execution of this law was put off so long as till the
end of the year. All the account I can give of this is,
that it was expected that by that time the new body of the
ecclesiastical laws, which was now preparing, should be
^m. HISTORY OF
finished : and therefore, since this act was to be executed hf
the clergy, the day in which it was to be enforced was so
long delayed, till that reformation of their laws were con-
cluded.
On the 8th of February, a bill of treasons was put in, and
agreed to by all the lords, except the Lord Wentwonh. It
was sent down to the commons, where it was long disputed :
and many sharp things were said of those who now bore the
sway ; that whereas they who governed in the beginning of
this reign had put in a bill foi lessening the number of such
oftences, now they saw the change of councils, when severer
laws were proposed. The commons at last rejected the bill,
and then drew a new one, which was passed. By it they
enacted, " That if any should call the king, or any of his
heirs named in the statute of the thirty-fifth of his father's
reign, heretic, schismatic, tyrant, .infidel, or usurper of the
crown ; for the first offence they should forfeit their goods
and chattels, and be imprisoned during pleasure ; for the
second, should be in a iprctmunire ; for the third should be
attainted of treason : but any who should advisedly set
that out in printing or writing, was for the first offence to be
held a traitor. And that those who should keep any of the
king's castles, artillery, or ships, six days after they were
lawfully required to deliver them up, should be guilty of
treason : that men might be proceeded against for treasons
committed out of the kingdom, as well as in it. They added
a proviso, that none should be attainted of treason on this
act, unless two witnesses should come, and to their face
aver the fact for which they were to be tried, except such as
without any violence should confess it ; and that none
should be questioned for any thiiig said or written, but with-
in three months after it was done."
This proviso seems clearly to have been made with rela-
tion to the proceeding against the duke of Somerset, in
which the witnesses were not brought to aver the evidence
to his face, and by that means he was deprived of all the be-
nefit and advantage which he might have had by cross-exa-
mining them. It is certain, that though some false witnesses
have practised the trade so much, that they seem to have
laid off all shame, and have a brow that cannot be daunted ;
yet, for the greatest part, a bright serenity and cheerfulness
attends innocence, and a lowering dejection betrays the
guilty, when the innocent and they are confronted together.
On the 3d of March a bill was brought into the lords for
holy-days and fasting days, and sent down to the commons
on the 15th of March, by whom it was passed, and had the
royal assent. In the preamble it was set forth, " That mea
1
o
THE REFORMATION. 561
are not at all times so set on the performance of religious
duties as they ought to be ; which made it necessary that
there should be set times in which labour was to cease, that
men might on these days wholly serve God; which days
were not to be accounted holy of their own nature, but
were so called, because of the holy duties then to be set
about : so that the sanctification of them was not any ma-
gical virtue in that time, but consisted in the dedicating
them to God's service : that no day was dedicated to any
saint, but only to God, in remembrance of such saints : that
the Scripture had not determined the number of holy-days,
but that these were left to the liberty of the church. There-
fore they enact, that all Sundays, with the days marked in
the calendar and liturgy, should be kept as holy- days : and
the bishops weie to proceed by the censures of the church
against the disobedient." A proviso was added, for the
observation of St. George's feast by the knights of the gar-
ter ; and another, that labourers or fishermen might, if
need so required, work on those days either in or out of
harvest. The eves before holy-days were to be kept as
fasts ; and in Lent, and on Fridays and Saturdays, absti-
nence from flesh was enacted : but if a holy-day fell to be
on a Monday, the eve for it was to be kept on Saturday,
since Sunday was never to be a fasting day. But it was ge-
nerally observed, that in this and all such acts, the peo-
ple were ready enough to lay hold on any relaxation made by
it, but did very slightly observe the stricter parts of it : so
that the liberty left to tradesmen to work in cases of neces-
sity was carried further than it was intended, to a too
public profanation of the time so sanctified ; and the other
parts of it, directing the people to a conscientious observing
of £uch times, was little minded.
On the 5th of ISIarch, a bill concerning the relief of the
poor was put into the house of lords : the form of passing it
has given occasion to some to take notice, that though it
is a bill for taxing the subjects, yet it had its birth in the
lords' house, and was agreed to by the commons. By it the
churchwardens were empowered to gather charitable col-
lections for the poor ; and if any did refuse to contribute, or
did dissuade others from it, the bishop of the diocess was to
proceed against them. On the 9th of jNIarch the bishops
put in a bill for the security of the clergy from some ambi-
guous words that were in the submission which the convo-
cation had made to King Henry, in the twenty-first year of
his reign ; by which they were under a pramunire if they
did any things in their courts contrary to the king's preroga-
tive ; which was thought hard, since some through igno-
262 HISTORY OF
ranee might transgress. Therefore it was desired, that no
prelate should be brought under a premunire, unless they
had proceeded in any thing after they were prohibited by
the Icing's writ. To this the lords consented, but it was let
fall by the commons.
There was another act brought in for the marriage of the
clergy, which was agreed to by the lords; the earls of
Shrewsbury, Derby, Rutland, and Bath, and the Lords
Abergaveny, Stourton, Monteagle, Sands, Windsor, and
Wharton, protesting against it. The commons also passed
it, and it was assented to by the king. By it was set forth,
" That many look occasion from words in the act formerly
made about this matter, to say, that it was only permitted,
as usury and other unlawful things were, for the avoiding
greater evils ; who thereupon spoke slanderously of such mar-
riages, and accounted the children begotten in them to be
bastards, to the high dishonour of the king and parliament,
and the learned clergy of the realm, who had aetermined,
that the laws against priests' marriages were most unlaw-
ful by the law of God ; to whi h they had not only given
thejr assent in the convocation, but signed it with all their
hands. These slanders did also occasion, that the word of
God was not heard wiih due reverence ; whereupon it was
enacted, that such marriages, made according to the rules
prescribed ia the book of service, should be esteemed good
and valid, and that the children begot in them should be in-
heritable acccording to law."
The marquis of Northampton did also put in a bill for con«
firming his marriage, which was passed ; only the earl of
Derby, the bishops of Carlisle and Norwich, and the Lord
Stourton, dissented. By it, '*tbe marriage is declared law-
ful, as, by the law of God, indeed it was ; any decretal,
canon, ecclesiastical law, or usage to the contrary notwith-
standing." This occasioned another act, that no man might
put away his wife, and marry another, unless he were for-
merly divorced ; to which the bishop of Norwich dissented ;
because he was of opinion, that a divorce did not break the
marriage-bond. But this bill fell in the house of commons,
being thought not necessary, for the laws were already
severe enough against such double marriages.
By another act, the bishopric of Weshninster was quite
suppressed, and reunited to the see of London ; but the col-
legiate church, with its exempted jurisdiction, was still con-
tinued. Another bill was put in against usury, which was
sent from the lords to the commons, and passed by both, and
assented to. By it, an act passed in parliament in
Jjje thirty-seventh y-ear of the late king's reign, " That none
THE REFORMATION. 263
might take above twenty per cent, for money lent, was re-
pealed ; which, they say, was not intended for the allowing
of usury, but for preventing further inconveniences : and
since usury was, by the word of God, forbidden, and set
out in divers places of Scripture as a most odious and detest-
able vice, which yet many continued to practise, for the
filthy gain they made by it ; therefore, from the 1st of May,
all usury, or gain for money lent, was to cease ; and whoso-
ever continued to practise to the contrary were to suffer im-
prisonment, and to be fined at the king's pleasure."
This act has been since repealed, and the gain for money
lent has been at several times brought to several regulations.
It was much questioned, whether these prohibitions of
usury, by Moses, were not judicial laws, which did only
bind the nation of the Jews, whose land being equally di-
vided among the families by lot, the making gain by lending
money was forbid to them of that nation: yet it did not
seem to be a thing of its nature sinful, since they might take
increase of a stranger. The not lending money on use was
more convenient for that nation, which, abounding in people,
and being shut up in a narrow country, they were necessa-
rily to apply themselves to all the ways of industry for their
subsistence ; so that every one was, by that law of not
lending upon use, forced to employ his money in the way of
trade or manufacture, for which they were sure to have
vent, since they lay near Tyre and Sidon, that were then the
chief places of traffic and navigation of the world ; and
without such industry the soil of Judea could not possibly
have fed such vast numbers as lived on it ; so that it seemed
clear, that this law in the Old Testament properly belonged
to that policy. Yet it came to be looked on by many
Christians as a law of perpetual obligation : it came also to
be made a part of the canon law, and absolution could not
be given to the breakers of it without a special faculty from
Rome. But, for avoiding the severity of the law, the in-
vention of mortgages was fallen on ; which, at first, were
only purchases made, and let back to the owner, for such
rent as the use of the money came to ; so that the use was
taken as the rent of the land thus bought : and those who
had no land to sell thus, fell upon another way ; the borrower
bought their goods, to be paid within a year (for instance,
110/.) and sold them back for a sum to be presently laid
down as they should agree (it may be 100/.) : by this me&ns
the one had 100/. in hand, and the other was to have 10/. or
more at a year's end : but this, being in the way of sale,
was not called usury. This law was looked on as impossible
to be observed in a country like England ; and it could not
Vol. II, Part I. Z
'«54 HISTORY OF
easily appear where the immorality lay, of lending money
upon moderate gain, such as held proportion to the value of
the land, provided that the perpetual rule of Christian
equity and chaiity were observed ; which is, not to exact
above the proportion duly limited by the law, and lo be
merciful in not exacting severely of persons, who, by inevit-
able accidents, have been disabled from making payment.
This digression 1 thought the more necessary, because of the
scruples thai many good and strict persons have still in that
matter.
Another act passed both houses, against all simoniacal
pactions, the reservation of pensions out of benefices, and
the granting advowsons while the incumbent was yet alive.
It was agreed to by the lords ; the earls of Derby, Rutland,
and Sussex, the viscount Hereford, and the lords Monteagle,
Sands, Wharton, and Evers dissenting. But, upon what
reason 1 do not know, the bill was not assented to by the
king, who, being then sick, there was a collection made of
the titles of the bills which were to have the royal assent,
and those the king signed, and gave commission to some
lords to pass them in his nf>me. These abuses have been
oft complained of, but there have been still new contrivances
found out to elude all laws against simony ; either bargains
being made by the fi lends of the parties concerned without
their express knowledge, or bonds of resignation given, by
which incumbents lie at the ir.ercy of their patrons ; and in
these the faultiness of some clergymen is made the colour of
imposing such hard terms upon others, and of robbing the
church oftentimes by that means.
There was a private bill put in about the duke of Somer-
set's estate, which had been by act of parliament entailed
on his son, in the twenty-third year of the last king's reign.
On the 3d of March it was sent to the house of commons,
signed by the king ; it was for the repeal of that act. Whe-
ther the king was so alienated from his uncle, that this ex-
traordinary thing was done by him for the utter ruin of his
family, or not, 1 cannot determine ; but I rather incline to
think it was done in hatred to the duchess of Somerset, and
her issue ; for the estate was entailed on them by that act
of parliament, in prejudice of the issue of the former mar-
riage, of whom are descended the Seymours of Devonshire :
who were disinherited and excluded from the duke of So-
merset's honours by his patents, and from his estate by act
of parliament ; partly upon some jealousies he had of his
former wife, but chiefly by the power his second wife had
over him. This bill of repeal was much opposed in the
house, though sent to them in so unusual a way by the king
THE REFORMATION. 255.
himself; and though there was, on the 8th of March, a mes-
sage sent from the lords, that they should make haste to-
wards an end of the parliament, yet still they stuck long
upon it ; looking on the breaking of entails that were made
by act of parliament as a thing ot such consequence, that it
dissolved the greatest security that the law of England gives
for property. It was long argued by the commons, and was
fifteen several days brought in; at last a new bill was de-
vised, and that was much altered too ; it was not quite ended
till the day before the parliament was dissolved : but near
the end of the session, a proviso was sent from the lords to be
added to the bill, confirming the attainder of the duke and
his complices. It seems his enemies would not try this at
first, till they had by other things measured their strength in
that house, and finding their interest grew there, they adven-
tured on it ; but they mistook their measures, for the com-
mons would not agree to it. In conclusion, the bill of repeal
was agreed to. But whereas there had been some writings
for a marriage between the earl of Oxford's daughter and the
duke of Somerset's son, and a bill was put in for voiding
these ; upon a division of the house, the 28th of March, there
were sixty-eight that agreed, and sixty-nine that rejected
it : so this bill was cast out. By this we see what a thin
house of commons there was at that time, the whole being
but a hundred and thirty-seven members. But this was the
natural effect of a long parliament, many of those who were
at first chosen being infirm ; and others not willing to put
themselves to the charge and trouble of such constant and
long attendance. It is also from hence clear how great an
interest the duke of Somerset had in the affections of the par-
liament.
Another bill gave a more evident discovery how hateful
the duke of Northumberland was to them. The bishop of
Duresme was, upon some complaint brought against him of
misprision of treason, put into the Tower about the end of
December, last year. What the particulars were I do not
find ; but it was visible that the secret reason was, that he
being attainted, the duke of Northumberland intended to
have had the dignities and jurisdiction of that principality
conferred on himself: so that he should have been made
count palatine of Duresme. Tonstall had in all points given
obedience to every law, and to all the injunctions that had
been made : but had always in parliament protested against
the changes in religion ; which he thought he might with a.
good conscience submit to and obey, though he could not
consent to them : only in the matter of the corporal presence
266 HISTORY OF
be was Rtill of the old persuasion, and wrote about it. But
the Latin style of his book is much better than the divinity
and reasonings in it. So what he would have done, if he
had been required to subscribe the articles that were now
agreed on, did not appear ; for he was all this while prisoner.
There was a constant good correspondence between Cran-
mer and him : though in many things they differed in opi-
nion ; yet Tonstall was both a man of candour and of great
moderation, which agreed so well with Cranmer's temper,
that no wonder they lived always in good terms. So when
the bill for attainting him as guilty of misprision of treason
was passed in the house of lords, on the 31st of March, be-
ing put in on the 28th, Cranmer spoke so freely against it,
that the duke of Northumberland and he were never after
that in friendship together. What his arguments were 1
could not recover ; but when he could do no more, he pro-
tested against it, being seconded only by the Lord Stourton.
How it came to pass that the other popish lords and bishops
that protested against the other acts of this parliament, did
not join in this, I cannot imagine : unless it was, that they
were the less concerned foi Tonstall, because Cranmer had
appeared to be so much his friend, or were awed by their
fear of offending the duke of Northumberland. But when
the bill was carried down to the commons, with the evi-
dences against him, which were some depositions that had
been taken, and brought to the lords, they, v/ho were re-
solved to condemn that practice for the future, would not
proceed upon it now. So on the 5th of April they ordered
the privy-counsellors of their house to move the lords, that
his accusers and he might be heard face to face: and that
not being done, they went no further in the bill.
By these indications the duke of Northumberland saw
how little kindness the house of commons had for him. The
parliament had now sat almost five years, and being called
by the duke of Somerset, his friends had been generally
chosen to be of it. So that it was no wonder, if upon his fall
they were not easy to those who had destroyed him : nor
was there any motion made for their giving the king a sup-
ply. Therefore the duke of Northumberland thought it ne-
cessary for his interest to call a new parliament. And ac-
cordingly on the 15th of April the parliament was dissolved ;
and it was resolved to spend this summer in making friends
all over England, and to have a new parliament in the
opening of the next year.
The convocation at this time agreed to the articles of reli-
gion that Were prepared the last year : which, though they
THE REFORMATION. «57
have been often printed, yet, since they are but short, and
of so great consequence to this History, I have put them into
the Collection, as was formerly told.
Thus the reformation of doctrine and worship was brought
to its perfection, and they were not after this in a tittle
mended or altered in this reign, nor much afterwao-ds ; only
some of the articles were put in more general words under
Queen Elizabeth. ;
Another part of the reformation was yet unfinished, an(l'
it was the chief work of this year ; that was, the giving rules
to the ecclesiastical courts, and for all things relatmg to
the government of the church, and the exercise of the seve-
ral functions in it. In the former volume it was told, that
an act had passed for this effect ; yet it had not taken effect,
but a commission was made upon it, and those appointed by
King Henry had met and consulted about it, and had made
some progress in it, as appears by an original letter of Cran-
mer's to that king, in the year 1545, in which he speaks of
it as a thing then almost forgotten, and quite laid aside ; for
from the time of the six articles till then, the design of the
Reformation had been going backward. At that time the
king began to reassume the thoughts of it, and was resolved
to remove some ceremonies, such as the creeping to the cross,
the ringing of bells on St. Andrew's eve, with other supersti-
tious practices ; for which Cranmer sent him the draught of
a letter to be written in the king's name to the two arch-
bishops, and to be by them communicated to the rest
of the clergy. In the postscript of his letter he com-
plains much of the sacrilegious waste of the cathedral church
of Canterbury, where the dean and prebendaries had been
made to alienate many of their manors upon letters obtained
by courtiers from the king, as if the lands had been desired
for the king's use : upon which they had surrendered those
lands, which were thereupon disposed of to the courtiers
that had an eye upon them. This letter should have come
in the former volume, but I had not seen it then, so I took
hold on this occasion to direct the reader to it in the Collec-
tion (No. Ixi).
It was also formerly told, that an act had passed in this
reign to empower thirty-two persons, who should be named
by the king, to make a reformation of the ecclesiastical laws,
which was to be finished in three years. But the revolutions
of affairs, and the other more pressing things that were still
uncompleted, had kept them hitherto from setting to that
work. On the 11th of November last year, a commission
was given to eight persons to prepare the matter for the re-
view of the two-and-thirty, that so it might be more easily
Z3
358 HISTORY OF
compiled, being in a few hands, than could well be done iS
so many had been to set about it. These eight were, the
archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Ely ; Dr. Cox
and Peter Martyr, two divines ; Dr. May and Dr. Taylor,
two doctors of the law ; and John Lucas and Richard Good-
rick, two commoti lawyers. But on the 14th of November,
the commission was renewed, and the bishop of London was
named in the room of the bishop of Ely ; one Traheron * in
the room of May ; and Gosnald in Goodrick's room. These,
it seems, desiring more time than one year to finish it in,
for two of the years were now lapsed, in the last session of
the parliament they had three years more time offered them.
But it seems tlie work was- believed to be in such a forward-
ness, that this continuation was not judged necessary, foi
the royal assent was not given to that act. After the par-
liament was ended, they made haste with it. But I find it
said in the preface to the book, as it was printed in Queen
Elizabeth's reign, that Cranmert did the whole work almost
himself: which will justify the character that some give of
him, that he was the greatest canonist then in England. Dr.
Haddon, who was the king's professor of civil law in the
university of Cambridge, and Sir Jo. Cheek, were employed
to put it in Latin. And they did so imitate the style of the
Roman laws, that any who reads the book will fancy him-
self to be reading a work of the purer ages of that state,
when their language was not yet corrupted with those bar-
barous terms which the mixture of other nations brought in,
and made it nowhere more nauseously rude than in the ca-
non law.
The work was digested and cast into fifty-one titles, to
bring it near the number of the books of the Pandects, into
which Justinian had digested the Roman law. It was pre-
pared by February this year, and a commission was granted
to thirty-two persons, of whom the former eight were a part :
consisting of eight bishops, eight divines, among whom John
Alasco was one, eight civilians, and eight common lawyers.
They were to revise, correct, and perfect the work, and so to
present it to the king. They divided themselves into four
classes, eight to a class ; and every one of these was to pre-
pare his corrections, and so to communicate them to the
rest. And thus was the work carried on and finished ; but
before it received the royal confirmation the king died, and
this fell with him : nor do I find it was ever since that time
• Bartliolomew Traheron, afterward made lecturer of divinity nt
Frankford, on the new molding of the congregation there, in Qnccu
Mary's days; and dean of Chichester, in Queen Elizabeth's.
t Cranuier'spart is thns expressed, SHtnvfcE Seifotii prtrfuit.
THE REFORMATION. 255
taken up, or prosecuted, with the care that a thing of such
consequence deserved: and therefore I shall n/Ot think it
improper for me, having before showed what was done, in
the next place to give an account of what was then intended
to be done ; and is now very fit to be well considered.
The first title was of the Trinity, and the catholic faith ;
in which those who denied the Christian religion were to
suffer death, and the loss of their goods. The books of
Scripture were numbered, those called Apocryphal being
left out of the canon ; which, though they were read in the
church, it was only for the edification of the people, but not
for the proof of the doctrine. The power of the church was
subjected to the Scriptures : the four general councils were
received ; but all councils were to be examined by the
Scripture ; as were also the writings of the fathers, who
were to be much reverenced ; but, according to what them-
selves have written, they were only to be submitted to when
they agreed with the Scriptures.
The second title contains an enumeration of many here-
sies, viz. against the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Scriptures,
about original sin, justification, the mass, purgatory ; and
censured those who denied magistracy to be lawful, or as-
serted the community of goods, or wives ; or who denied the
pastoral office, and thought any might assume it at plea-
sure ; or who thought the sacraments naked signs, who
denied the baptism of infants, or thought none could pos-
sibly be saved that were not baptized ; or who asserted
transubstantiation, or denied the lawfulness of marriage,
particularly in the clergy; or who asserted the pope's
power ; or such as excused their ill lives by the pretence of
predestination, as many wicked men did : from which and
other heresies all are dissuaded, and earnestly exhorted to
endeavour the extirpation of them.
The third was about the judgments of heresy before the
bishop of the diocess, even in exempted places. They were
to proceed by witnes es ; but the party, upon fame, might
be required to purge himself: if he repented, he was to
make a public profession of it in those places where he had
spread it ; and to renounce his heresy, swearing never to
return to it any more : but obstinate heretics were to be
declared infamous, incapable of public trust, or to be wit-
nesses in any court, or to have power to make a testament ;
and were not to have the benefit of the law : clergymen
falling into heresy were not to return to their benefices,
unless the circumstances were such that they required
it ; and thus all capital proceedings for heresy were laid
down.
260 HISTORY OF
The fourth was about blasphemy, flowing from hatred or
rage against God, which was to be punished as obstinate
heresy was.
The fifth was about the sacraments of baptism and the
Lord's supper. To which is added, that imposition of hands
is to be retained in the ordination of pastors ; that marriages
are to be solemnly made ; that those who renew their bap-
tismal vow be confirmed by the bishop ; and that the sick
should be visited by their pastors.
The sixth was about idolatry, magic, witchcraft, or con-
sulting with conjurors ; who were to be arbitrarily punished,
if they submitted ; otherwise, to be excommunicated.
The seventh was about preachers ; whom the bishops
were to examine carefully, before they licensed them ; and
were once a year to gather together all those who were
licensed in their dioceses, to know of them the true state
of their flocks ; what vices abounded, and what remedies
were most proper. Those who refused to hear sermons,
or did make disturbance in them, were to be separated from
the communion. It seems it was designed, that there
should be in every diocess some who should go round a
precinct, and preach like evangelists, as some then called
them.
The eighth was about marriage, which was to be after
asking banns three Sundays, or holy-days. Those who
were marrried in any other form, than that in the book of
service, were not to be esteemed lawfully married : those
who corrupted virgins, were to be excommunicated, if they
did not marry them ; or, if that could not be done, they
were to give them the third part of their goods, besides
other arbitrary punishments. Marriages made without
the consent of parents or guardians were declared null.
Then follow the things that may void marriages ; they are
left free to all : polygamy is forbidden ; marriages made by
force are declared void ; mothers are required to suckle their
children.
The ninth is about the degrees of marriage. All those in
the Levitical law, or those that are reciprocal to them, are
forbidden : but spiritual kindred was not to hinder mar-
riage, since there was nothing in Scripture about it, nor was
there any good reason for it.
The tenth was about adultery. A clergyman guilty of it
was to forfeit all his goods and estate to his wife and
children ; or, if he had none, to the poor, or some pious use;
and to lose his benefice, and be either banished, or impri-
soned during life. A layman was to restore his wife's
portion, and to give her the half of his goods, and be impri-
THE REFORMATION. 161
soned, or banished, during life. Wives that were guilty,^
were to be in like manner punished. But the innocent
party might marry again ; yet such were rather exhorted, if
they saw hope of amendment, to be reconciled to the of-
fending party. No marriage was to be dissolved without a
sentence of divorce. Desertion, long absence, capital en-
mities, where either party was in hazard of their life, or the
constant perverseness or fierceness of a husband against his
wife, might induce a divorce : but little quarrels might not
do it ; nor a perpetual disease, relief in such a misery being
one of the ends of marriage. But all separation from bed
and board, except during a trial, was to be taken away.
The eleventh was about admission to ecclesiastical bene-
fices. Patrons were to consider, the choice of the person-
was trusted to them, but was not to be abused to any sacri-
legious or base ends : if they did otherwise, they were to-
lose their right for that time. Benefices were not to be
given, or promised, before they were void ; nor let lie desti-
tute above six months, otherwise they were to devolve to
the bishop. Clergymen, before their ordination, were to be
examined by the archdeacons, with such other triers as the
bishop should appoint to be assistjint to them, and the
bishop himself was to try them, since this was one of the
chief things upon which the happiness of the church de-
pended. The candidate was 'co give an oath to answer sin-
cerely, upon which he was to be examined about his doc-
trine, chiefly of the whole points of the catechism, if he
understood them aright : and what knowledge he had of
the Scriptures : they were to search him well whether he
held heretical opinions : none was to be admitted to more
cures than one ; and all privileges for pluralities were for
ever to cease ; nor was any to be absent from his cure,
except for a time, and a just cause, of which he was to
satisfy his ordinary. The bishops were to take great care to
allow no absence longer than was necessary : every one was
to enter upon his cure within two months after he was
instituted by the bishop. Prebendaries, who had no parti-
cular cure, were to preach in the churches adjacent to
them. Bastards might not be admitted to orders, unless
they had eminent qualities. But the bastards of patrons
were upon no account to be received, if presented by them.
Other bodily defects, unless such as did much disable them,
or made them very contemptible, were not to be a bar to
any. Beside the sponsions in the office of ordination, they
were to swear that lliey had made no agreement to obtain
the benefice to which they were presented, and that if they
come to know of any made by other on their account, they
202 HISTORY OF
should signify it to the bishop ; and that they should not do
any thing to the prejudice of their church.
The twelfth and thirteenth were about the renouncing or
changing of benefices.
The fourteenth was about purgation upon common fame,
or when one was accused for any crime, which was proved
incompletely, and only by presumptions. The ecclesiastical
courts might not re-examine any thing that was proved in
any civil court ; but upon a high scandal a bishop might
require a man to purge himself, otherwise to separate him
from holy things. The form of a purgation was, to swear
himself innocent; and he was also to have four compurga-
tors of his own rank, who were to swear, that they believed
he swore true : upon which the judge was to restore him to
his fame. Any that were under suspicion of a crime, might
by the judge be required to avoid all the occasions from
vyhich the suspicion had risen : but all superstitious purga-
tions were to be rejected.
The fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth, were
about dilapidations, the letting of the goods of the church,
the confirming the former rules of election in cathedrals
or colleges, and the collation of benefices. And there was
to be a purgation of simony, as there should be occasion
for it.
The nineteenth was about divine offices. In the mornings
on holy-days, the Common-Prayer was to be used, with the
communion service joined to it. In cathedrals, there was
to be communion every Sunday and holy-day ; where the
bishop, tlie dean, and the prebendaries, and all main-
tained by that church, were to be present. There was no
sermon to be in cathedrals in the morning, lest that might
draw any from the parish churches ; but only in the after-
noons. In the anthems, all figured music, by which the
hearers could not understand what they sung, was to be
taken away. In parish churches there were only to be
sermons in the morning ; but none in the afternoon, except
in great parishes. All who were to receive the sacrament
were to come the day before, and inform the minister of it ;
who was to examine their consciences and their belief. On
holy-days, in the afternoon, the catechism was to be ex-
plained for an hour. After the evening prayers, the poor
were to be looked to ; and such as had given open scandal
were to be examined, and public penitence was to be en-
joined them : and the minister, with some of the ancients
of the parish, were to commune together about the state of
the people in it : that if any carried themselves indecently,
they might be first charitably admonished ; and, if that did
THE REFORMATION. 263
not prevail, subjected to severer censures : but none were
to be excommunicated, without the bishop were first in-
formed, and had consented to it. Divine offices were not
to be performed in chapels, or private houses, lest the
churches should, under that pretence, be neglected, and
errors more easily disseminated ; excepting only the houses
of peers and persons of great quality, who had numerous
families ; but in these, all things were to be done according
to the book of Common- Prayer.
The twentieth was about those that bore office in the
church ; sextons, churchwardens, deacons, priests, and
rural deans. This last was to be a yearly office : he that
was named to it by the bishop, being to watch over the
manners of the clergy and people in his precinct, was to
signify the bishop's pleasuie to them, and to give the
bishop an account of his precinct every sixth month. The
archdeacons were to be general visitors over the rural deans.
In every cathedral, o:.e of the prebendaries, or one procured
by them, was thrice a week to expound some part of the
Scriptures. The bishops were to be over all, and to re-
member that their authority was given to them for that end,
that many might be brought to Christ, and that such as had
gone astray might be restored by repentance. To the
bishop all were to give obedience according to the word of
God. 1 he bishop was to preach often in his church ; was
to ordain none for rewards, or rashly ; was to provide good
pastors, and to deprive bad ones ; he was to visit his diocess
every year, or oftener, as he saw cause ; but then he was to
do it at his own charge : he was to have yearly synods, and
to confirm such as were well instructed. His family was to
consist of clergymen, whom he should bring up to the ser-
vice of the church (so was St. Austin's, and other ancient
bishops' families constituted) : this being a great means to
supply the great want of good and faithful ministers. Their
wives and children were also to avoid all levity or vain
dressing. They were never to be absent from their dio-
cesses, but upon a public and urgent cause : and when they
grew sick or infirm, they were to have coadjutors. If they
became scandalous or heretical, they were to be deprived
by the king's authority. The archbishops were to exercise
the episcopal function in their diocess ; and were once to
visit their whole province, and to oversee the bishops, to
admonish them for what was amiss, and to receive and
judge appeals, to call provincial synods upon any great
occasion, having obtained warrant from the king for it.
Every bishop was to have a synod of his clergy some time
in Lent, so that they might all return home before Palm-
264 HISTORY OF
Sunday. They were to begin with the Litany, a sermon,
and communion ; then all were to withdraw into some pri-
vate place, where they were to give the bishop an account
of the state of the diocess, and to consult of what required
advice ; every priest was to deliver his opinion, and the
bishop was to deliver his sentence, and to bring matters to as
speedy a conclusion as might be ; and all were to submit to
him, or appeal to the archbishop.
The twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-
fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-
eighth, and twenty- ninth titles, are about churchwardens,
universities, tithes, visitations, testaments, ecclesiastical
censures, suspension, sequestration, deprivation.
The thirtieth is about excommunication ; of which, as
being the chief ecclesiastical censure, I shall set down their
scheme more fully.
Excommunication they reckon an authority given of God
to the church, for removing scandalous or corrupt persons
from the use of the sacraments, or fellowship of Christians,
till they give clear signs of their repentance, and submit to
such spiritual punishments, by which the flesh may be sub-
dued, and the spirit saved. This was trusted to churchmen,
but chiefly to archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, deans, and
any other appointed for it by the church. None ought to
be excommunicated but for their obstinacy in great faults ;
but it was never to be gone about rashly ; and, therefore,
the judge who was to give it, was to have a justice of peace
with him, and the minister of the parish where the party
lived, with two or three learned presbyters, in whose pre-
sence the matter was to be examined, and sentence pro-
nounced, which was to be put in writing. It was to be
intimated in the parish where the party lived, and in the
neighbouring parishes, that all persons might be warned to
avoid the company of him that was under excommunication :
and the minister was to declare what the nature and conse-
quences of excommunication were, the person so censured
being cut ofF from the body of Christ : after that, none was
to eat, or drink, or keep company with him, but those of his
own family : whosoever did otherwise, if being admonished
they continued in it, were also to be excommunicated. If
the person censured continued forty days without express-
ing any repentance, it was to be certified into the chancery,
and a writ was to issue for taking and keeping him in prison
till he should become sensible of his offences ; and when he
did confess these, and submitted to such punishments as
should be enjoined, the sentence was to be taken ofF, and
the person publicly reconciled to the church. And this was
THE REFORMATION. 265
to take place against those, who, being condemned for capi-
tal offences, obtained the king's pardon, but were notwith-
standing to be subject to church censures.
Then follows the office of receiving penitents. They
were first to stand without the church, and desire to be
again received into it, and so to be brought in : the minister
was to declare to the people the heinousness of sin, and the
mercies of God in the fjospel, in a long discourse, of which
the form is there prescribed : then he was to show the peo-
ple, that as they were to abhor hardened sinners, so they
were to receive, with the bowels of true charity, all sincere
penitents : he was next to warn the person, not to mock
God, and deceive the people, by a feigned confession ; he
was thereupon to repeat, first, a general confession, and
then more particularly to name his sin, and to pray to God
for mercy to himself, and that none by his ill example might
be defiled ; and finally to beseech them all to forgive him,
and to leceive him again into their fellowship : then the
minister was to ask the people, whether they would grant
his desires, who were to answer, they wculd ; then the
pastor was to lay his hand on his head, and to absolve him
from the punishment of his offences, and the bond of ex-
communication ; and so to restore him to his place in the
church of God. Then he was to lead him to the commu-
nion-table, and there to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to
God for reclaiming that sinner. For the other titles, they
relate to the other parts of the law of those courts, for which
I refer the reader to the book itself.
How far any of those things, chiefly the last about ex-
communication, may be yet brought into the church, I
leave to the consultations of the governors of it, and of the
two houses of parliament. It cannot be denied, that vice
and immorality, together with much impiety, have overrun
the nation ; and though the charge of this is commonly
cast on the clergy, who certainly have been in too many
places wanting to their duty ; yet, on the other hand, they
nave so little power, or none at all, by law, to censure even
the most public sins, that the blame of this great defect
ought to lie more universally on the whole body of the
nation, that have not made effectual provision for the re-
straining of vice, the making ill men ashamed of their ways,
and the driving them from the holy mysteries, till they
change their course of life.
There was another thing proposed tliis year for the cor-
recting the great disorders of clergymen, which were occa-
sioned by the extreme misery and poverty to which they
were reduced. There were some motions made about it in
Vol.. II, Part I. 2 A
266 HISTORY OF
parliament, but they took not effect : so one wrote a book
concerning it, which he dedicated to the lord chancellor,
then the bishop of Ely. He showed, that without re-
wards or encouragements few would apply themselves to
the pastoral function, and that those in it, if they could not
subsist by it, must turn to other employments : so that at
that time, many clergymen were carpenters, and tailors, and
some kept alehouses. It was a reproach on the nation, that
there had been so profuse a zeal for superstition, and so
much coldness in true religion. He complains of many of
the clergy, who did not maintain students at the universities
according to the king's injunctions ; and that in schools and
colleges, the poor scholars' places were generally filled with
the sons of the rich ; and that livings were most scandalously
sold ; and the greatest part of the country clergy were so
ignorant, that they could do little more than read. But
there was no hope of doing any thing effectually for redress-
ing so great a calamity, till the king should be of age him-
self to set forward such laws as might again recover a com-
petent maintenance for the clergy.
This year, both Heath, of Worcester, and Day, bishop of
Chichester, were put out of their bishoprics. For Heath,
it has been already said, that he was put in prison for re-
fusing to consent to the book of Ordinations. But for Day,
whether he refused to submit to the new book, or fell into
other transgressions, I do not know. Both these were after-
wards deprived, not by any court consisting of churchmen,
but by secular delegates, of whom three were civilians, and
three common lawyers, as King Edward's journal informs
us. Day's sentence is something ambiguously expressed,
in the patent that Scory, bishop of Rochester, had to suc-
ceed him ; which bears date the 24th of May, and mentions
his being put there in the room of George, late bishop of
that see, who had been deprived, or removed from it. In
Jane following, upon Holbeach, bishop of Lincoln's death,
Taylor, that had been dean of Lincoln, was made bishop.
This year the bishopric of Gloucester was quite suppressed,
and converted into an exempted archdeaconry : and Hooper
was made bishop of Worcester. In the December before,
Worcester and Gloucester had been united, by reason of
their vicinage and their great poverty, and that they were
not very populous ; so they were to be for ever after one
bishopric with two titles, as Coventry and Litchfield, and Bath
and Wells, were ; and Hooper was made bishop of Wor-
cester and Gloucester. But now they were put into ano-
ther method, and the bishop was to be called only bishop of
Worcester. In all the vacancies of sees, there were a great
f
THE REPORMATION. 267
many of their best lands taken from them : and the sees
that before had been profusely enriched, were now brought
to so low a condition, that it was scarce possible for the
bishops to subsist : and yet, if what was so taken from them
had been converted to good uses, to the bettering the con-
dition of the poor clergy over England, it had been some
mitigation of so heinous a robbery ; but these lands were
snatched up by every hungry courtier, who found this to
be the easiest way to be satisfied in his pretensions : and
the world had been so possessed with the opinion of their
excessive wealth, that it was thought they never could be
made poor enough.
This year a passage fell out relating to Ireland, which
will give me occasion to look over to the affairs of that
kingdom. The kings of England had formerly contented
themselves with the title of lords of Ireland; which King
Henry the Eighth, in the thirty-third year of his reign, had,
in a parliament there, changed into the title of a kingdom.
But no special crown or coronation was appointed, since it
was to follow the crown of England. The popes and the
emperors have pretended, that the conferring titles of sove-
reign dignity belonged to them. The pope derived his
claim from what our Saviour said, " That all power in hea-
ven and in earth was given to him," and by consequence to
his vicar. The emperors, as being a dead shadow of the
Roman empire, which title, with the designation of Caesar,
they still continued to use, and pretended, that as the
Roman emperors did anciently iiiake kings, so they hnd
still the same right : though, because those emperors made
kings in the countries which were theirs by conquest, it
was an odd stretch to infer{ that those who retained nothing
of their empire but the name, should therefore make kings
in countries that belonged not to them : and it is certain,
that every entire or independent crown or state may make
for or within itself what titles it pleases. But the authority
the crown of England had in Ireland was not tiien so entire
as, by the many rebellions that have fallen out since, it is
now become. The heads of the clans and names had the
conduct of all their several tribes, who were led on by them
to what designs they pleased : and though within the
English pale the king was obeyed, and his laws executed
almost as in England ; yet the native Irish were an un-
civilized and barbarous nation, and not yet brought under
the yoke; and for the greatest part of Ulster, they were
united to the Scots, and followed tlieir interests.
There had been a rebellion in the second year of thia
reign. But Sir Anthony St. Leiger, theo deputy, being
268 HliSTOKY UF
recalled, and Sir Edward Bellinghame sent in his room, he
subdued O'Canor and O'Moie, that were the chief authors
of it : and not being willing to put things to extremities,
when England was otherwise distracted with wars, he per-
suaded them to accept of pensions of 100/. a-piece, and so
they came in and lived in the English pale. But the winter
after, there was another rebellion designed in Ulster, by
O'Neal, O'Donnel, O'Docart, and the heads of some other
tribes ; who sent to the queen dowager of Scotland to pro-
cure them assistance from France, and they would keep up
the disorders in Ireland. The bishop of Valence, being
then in Scotland, was sent by her to observe their strength,
that he might accordingly persuade the king of France to
assist them. He crossed the seas, and met with them, and
with Wauchop, a Scotchman, who was the bishop of Ar-
magh of the pope's making, and who, though very short-
sighted, was yet esteemed one of the best at riding post in
the world. Ihey set out all their greatness to the French
bishop, to engage him to be their friend at the court of
France : but he seemed not so well satisfied of their ability
to do any great matter, and so nothing followed on this.
One passage fell out here, which will a little discover the
temper of that bishop. When he was in O'Docart's house,
he saw a fair daughter of his, whom he endeavoured to have
corrupted, but she avoided him carefully. Two English
gray-friars, that had fled out of England for their religion,
and were there at that time, observing the bishop's inclina-
tions, brought him an English whore, whom he kept for
some time. She one night looking among his things, found
a glass full of somewhat that was very odoriferous, and
poured it all down her throat: which the bishop perceiving
too late, fell into a most violent passion ; for it had been
presented to him by Soliman the Magnificent, at his leaving
that court, as the richest balm in Egypt ; and was valued
at two thousand crowns. The bishop was in such a rage,
that all the house was disturbed with it ; whereby he dis-
covered both his lewdness and passion at once. This is
related by one that was then with him, and was carried
over by him to be a page to the Scotch queen, Sir James
Melvil, who lived long in that court, under the constable of
France, and was afterwards much employed by the Prince
F^lector Palatine in many negotiations ; and coming home
to his own country, was sent on many occasions to the court
of England, where he lived in great esteem. He in his old
age wrote a narrative of all the affairs that himself had been
concerned in, which is one of the best and perfectest pieces
of that nature that I have seen. The original is yet extant
?
THE REFORMATION. 269
under his own hand in Scotland : a copy of it was showed
me by one descended from him, from which I shall discover
many considerable passages, though the affairs in which he
was most employed were something later than the time of
which I am to write. But to return to Ireland. Upon the
peace made with France and Scotland, things were quieted
there : and Sir Anthony St. Leiger was, in August 1550,
again sent over to be deputy theie. For the Reformation,
it made but small progress in that kingdom. It was re-
ceived among the English, but I do not find any endeavours
M'ere used to bring it in among the Irish. This year Bale
was sent into Ireland. He had been a busy writer upon all
occasions, and had a great deal of learning, but wanted
temper, and did not write with the decency that became a
divine, or was suitable to such matters; which it seems
made those, who recommended men to preferment in this
church, not think him so fit a person to be employed here in
England. But the bishopric of Ossery being void, the king
proposed him to be sent thither. So in August this year
Dr. Goodaker was sent over to be bishop of Armagh, and
Bale to be bishop of Osseiy. There were also two other,
who were Irishmen, to be promoted. When they came
thither, the archbishop of Dublin intended to have conse-
crated them according to the old pontifical ; for the new
book of ordination had not been yet used among them.
Goodaker and the two others were easily persuaded to it,
but Bale absolutely refused to consent to it : who being as-
sisted by the lord chancellor, it was carried, that they
should be ordained according to the new book. When
Bale went into his diocess, he found all things there in dark
popery ; but before he could make any reformation there,
King Edward's death put an end to his and all such de-
signs.
In England nothing else that had any relation to the Re-
formation passed this year, unless what belongs to the
change made in the order of the garter may be thought to
relate to it. On the 23d of April the former year, being
St. George's day, a proposition was made to consider the
order and statutes, since there was thought to be a great
deal of superstition in them ; and the story upon which the ,
order was founded, concerning St. George's fighting with
the dragon, looked like a legend formed in the darker ages,
to support the humour of chivalry, that was then very high
in the world. And as the story had no great credibility in
itself, so i^was delivered by no ancient author. Nor was it
found that there had been any such saint : there being
among ancient writers none mentioned of that name, but
2 A 3
^70 HISTORY OF
George gf Alexandria, the Arian bishop, that was put in
when Athanasius was banished. Upon this motion in the
former year, the duke of" Somerset, the marquis of North-
ampton, and the earls of Wiltshire and Warwick, were
Appointed to review the statutes of the order. So this year
he whole order was changed ; and the earl of Westmore-
land and Sir Andrew Dudley, who were now to be installed,
were the first that were received according to the new
model (which the reader will find in the Collection, as it
was translated into Latin out of the English, by the king
himself, written all with his own hand, and it is the third
paper after his Journal*). The preamble of it sets forth
the noble design of the order, to animate great men to gal-
lant actions, and to associate them into a fraternity, for their
better encouragement and assistance ; but says, it had been
much corrupted by superstition, therefore the statutes of it
were hereafter to be these : —
It was no more to be called the order of St. George, nor
was he to be esteemed the patron of it ; but it was to be
called the order of the garter. The knights of this order
were to wear the blue riband or garter as formerly ; but at
the collar, instead of a George, there was to be on one side
of the jewel a knight carrying a book upon a sword point,
on the sword to be written Protectio, on the book Verbum
Dei ; on the reverse, a shield, on which should be written
Fides; to express their resolution both with oflPensive and
defensive weapons to maintain the word of God. For the
rest of the- statutes I shall refer the reader to the paper I
mentioned. But this was repealed by Queen Mary, and so
the old rules took place again, and do so still. This design
seems to have been chiefly intended, that none but those of
the reformed religion might be capable of it ; since the
adhering to and standing for the Scriptures was then taken
to be the distinguishing character between the papists and
the reformers.
This is the sum of what was either done or designed this
year with relation to religion. As for the state, there was a
strict inquiry made of all who had cheated the king in the
suppression of chantries, or in any other thing that related
to churches ; from which the visitors were believed to have
embezzled much to their own uses ; and there were many
suits in the star-chamber about it. Most of all these persons
had been the friends or creatures of the duke of Somerset :
and the inquiry after these things seems to have been more
out of hatred to him, than out of any design to make the
* King Edward's Remains, No. iii.
THE REFORMATION. 271
king llie richer by what should be recovered tor his use.
But on none did the storm break more severely than on the
Lord Paget. He had been chancellor ot the duchy of Lan-
caster, and was charged with many misdemeanours in that
office, for which he was fined in 6000L But that which was
most severe was, that on St. George's eve he was degraded
from the order of the garter, for divers offences ; but chiefly,
because he was no gentleman, neither by father's or mother's
side. His chief offence was his greatest virtue. He had
been on all occasions a constant friend to the duke of Somer-
set ; for which the duke of Northumberland hated him
mortally, and so got him to be degraded to make way for his
own son. This was much censured, as a barbarous action,
that a man who had so long served the crown in such public
negotiations, and was now of no meaner blood than he was
when King Henry first gave him the order, should be so dis-
honoured, being guilty of no other fault, but what is common
to most courtiers, of enriching himself at his master's cost ;
for which his fine was severe enough for the expiation. But
the duke of Northumberland was a person so given up to
violence and revenge, that an ordinary disgrace did not
satisfy his hatred.
Sir Anthony St. Leiger, another kight of the order, was at
the same time accused, upon complaint sent from the arch-
bishop of Dublin in Ireland, for some high words that he
had used. But these being examined, he was cleared, and
admitted to his place among the knights of the garter. Many
others that were obnoxious came in, upon this violent prose-
cution, to purchase the favour of Northumberland, who was
much set on framing a parliament to his mind, and so took
those methods which he thought likeliest to work his ends.
It being ordinary for men of insolent and boisterous tempers,
who are generally as abject when they are low, as they ai'e
puffed up with prosperity, to measure other people by them-
selves ; therefore, knowing that the methods of reason and
kindness would have no operation on themselves, and that
height and severity are the only ways to subdue them, they
use that same way of gaining others which they find most
effectual to themselves.
This year the king went on, in paying his debts, reforming
the coin, and other ways that might make the nation great
and wealthy. And one great project was undertaken, which
has been the chief beginning and foundation of the great
riches and strength of shipping, to which this nation has
attained since that time. iVom the days of King Henry the
Third the free towns of Germany, who had assisted him in
his wars, obtairted great privileges in England : they weie
272 HISTORY OF
made a corporation, and lived together in the 6till-yard
near the bridge. They had in Edward the Fourth's time
been brought into some trouble, for carrying their privileges
further than their charter allovi^ed them : and so judgment
w^as given that they had forfeited it, but they redeemed
themselves out of that, by a great present which they made
to the king. That which chiefly supported them at court
was, that they, trading in a body, were not only able to take
the trade out of all other persons' hands, by underselling
them, but they had always a great stock of money ; and so,
when the government was in a strait, they were ready, upon
a good security, to lend great sums : and on lesser occasions
could obtain the favour of a statesman by the presents they
made him. But now trade was raised much above what if
had been, and courts becoming more magnificent than for-
merly, there was a greater consumption, particularly of cloth,
than had ever been known. The discovery of the Indies
had raised both trade and navigation, so that there was a
quicker circulation of the wealth of the world, than had
been in former ases.
Antwerp and Hamburgh, lying both conveniently, the one
in the mouth of the Elbe, and the other near the mouth of
the Rhine, which were the two greatest rivers that fell into
those seas, the merchants of those two cities at that time
had the chief trade of the world. The English began to
look on those easterlings with envy. All that was imported
or exported came for the most part in their bottoms: all
markets were in their hands, so that commodities of foreign
growth were vented by them in England, and the product of
the kingdom was bought up by them. And all the nation
being then set much on pasture, they had much advanced
their manfacture ; insomuch that their own wool, which had
been formerly wrought at Antwerp, was now made into cloth
in England, which the Still-yard men obtained leave to carry
away. At first they shipped not above eight cloths in a year,,
after that a hundred, then a thousand, then six thousand ;
but this last year there were shippe 1 in their name forty-four
thousand cloths ; and not above eleven hundred by all others
that traded within England.
The merchant-adventurers found they could not hold out,
unless this company was broken. So they put in their com-
plaint against them in the beginning of this year, to which
the Still-yard men made answer, and they replied. Upon
this, the council made a decree, that the charter was broken,
and so dissolved the company. Those of Hamburg and
Lubeck, and the regent of Flanders, solicited the council to
have this redressed, but in vain ; for the advantage the
THE REFORMATION. 273
nation was to have by it was too visible to admit of any
interposition. But the design of trade being thus set on
foot, another project of a higher nature followed it. The
war was now begun between the emperor and the king of
France ; and that, with the persecution raised in Flanders
against all that leaned to the doctrine of the protestants,
made many there think of changing their seals. It was
therefore proposed here in England to open a free trade,
and to appoint some mart towns, that should have greater
privileges and securities for encouraging merchants to live
in them, and should be easier in their customs than they
were anywhere else. Southampton for the cloth trade, and
Hull for the northern trade, were thought the two fittest
places. And for the advantages and disadvantages of this
design, I find the young king had balanced the matter
exactly ; for there is a large paper all written with his own
hand, containing what was to be said on both sides. But
his death, and Queen Mary's marrying the prince of Spain,
put an end to this project : though all the addresses her
husband made, seconding the desires of the easterlings,
could never prevail to the setting up of that company again.
If the reader would understand this matter more i)erfectly,
he may find a great deal of it in the king's Journal, and in
the fourth paper that follows it*; where the whole aflFair
seems to be considered on all hands : but men that know
merchandise more perfectly will judge better of these
things.
This summer, Cardan, the great philosopher of that age,
passed through England. He was brought from Italy on
the account of Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrew's, who
was then desperately sick of a dropsy. Cardan cured him
of his disease : but being a man much conversant both in
astrology and magic, as himself professed, he told the arch-
bishop, that though he had at present saved his life, yet he
could not change his fate ; for he was to die on a gallows.
In his going through England he waited on King Edward,
where he was so entertained by him, and observed his ex-
traordinary parts and virtues so narrowly, that on many oc-
casions he wrote afterwards of him, with great astonishment,
as being the most wonderful person he had ever seen.
But the mention of the Scotch archbishop's sickness leads
me now to the affairs of Scotland. The queen had passed
through England from France to Scotland last yeir. In her
passage she was treated by the king with all that respect
that one crowned head could pay to another. The particu-
• King Edward's Remains, No. iv.
274 HISTORY OF
lai-s are in his Journal, and need not be recited here. When
she came home, she set herself much to persuade the gover-
nor to lay down the government, that it might be put in her
hands ; to which he, being a soft man, was the more easily
induced, because his brother, who had great power over
him, and was a violent and ambitious man, was then so
sick, that there was no hope of his life. He had also re-
ceived letters from France, in such a style, that he saw he
must either lay down the government, or not only lose the
honour and pension he had there, but be forced to struggle
for what he had in his own country. Whether the French
understood any thing by their spies in the court of England,
that it had been proposed there to persuade him to pretend
to the crown, and were therefore the more earnest to have
the government out of his hands, [ do not know : but though
I have seen many hundreds of letters that passed in those
times between England and Scotland, I could not find by
any of them that he ever entered into any treaty about it.
It seems his base brother had some thoughts of it. For
when he was so far recovered that he could inquire after
news, and heard what his brother had done, he flew out in a
passion, and called him " a beast for parting with the govern-
ment, since there was none but a lass between him
and the crown." I set down his own words, leaving a space
void for an epithet he used of the young queen, scarce decent
enough to be mentioned. There had been a great consulta-
tion in France what to do with the queen of Scotland. Her
uncles pressed the king to marry her to the dauphin : for
thereby another kingdom would be added to France, which
would be a perpetual thorn in the side of England ; she had
also some prospect of succeeding to the crown of England ;
so that on all accounts it seemed the best match in Europe
for the dauphin. But the wise constable had observed,
that the Spaniards lost by their dominions that lay so remote
from the chief seat of their government, though these were
the richest countries in Europe ; namely, Sicily, Naples,
Milan, and the Netherlands : and wisely apprehended, that
France might suffer much more by the accession of such a
crown, which not only was remote, but where also the
country was poor, and the people not easily governed. It
would be a vast charge to them, to send navies, and to pay
armies there : the nobility might when they would, by con-
federating with England, either shake off the I rench govern-
ment, or put them to a great expense to keep it : so that
whereas Scotland had been hitherto, by a pension, and some-
times by a little assistance, kept in a perpetual alliance with
France, he apprehended by such an union it might become
THE REFORMATION. 275
their enemy, and a great weight on their government. This
the constable pressed much, both out of his care of his
mastei's interest, and in opposition to the house of Guise.
He advised the king rather to marry her to some of his sub-
i'ects, of whom he was well assured, and to send her and
ler husband home into Scotland; by which means the per-
petual amity of that kingdom might be preserved on easy
terms. But the king was so possessed with the notion of the
union of that crown to France, that he gave no ear to this
wise advice : thinking it flowed chiefly from the hatred and
enmity which he knew the constable bore the family of Guise.
This the constable himself told Melvil, from whose narrative
I have it. The queen-mother of Scotland being possessed of
the government, found two great factions in it. The head of
the one was the archbishop, who now recovering, and finding
himself neglected, and the queen governed by other councils,
set himself much against her, and drew the clergy for the
most part into his interests. The other faction was of those
who hated him and them both, and inclined to the Reforma-
tion. They set up the prior of St. Andrew's, who was their
young queen's natural brother, as their head ; and by his
means offered their service to the queen, now made regent :
they offered that they would agree with her to send the
matrimonial crovi'n to the dauphin, and consent to the union
of both kingdoms : only they desired her protection from
the violence of the clergy, and that they might have secretly
preachers in their houses to instruct them in the points of
religion. This offer the queen readily accepted of, and so
by their assistance carried things till near the end of her
regency with great moderation and discretion. And now
the affairs of Scotland were put in a channel, in which they
held long steady and quiet, till about six years after this,
that, upon the peace with the king of Spain, there were
cruel councils laid down in France, and from thence sent
over into Scotland, for extirpating heresy. But of that we
shall discourse in its proper place.
As for the affairs of Germany, there was this year a great
and sudden turn of things there ; with which the emperor
was surprised by a strange supineness, that proved as fatal
to him as it was happy to the empire ; though all the world
besides saw it coming on him. Upon the delivery of Mag-
deburg, Maurice of Saxe's army, pretending lliere was an
arrear due to them, took up their winter quarters near Saxe,
in the dominions of some popish princes : where they were
very unwelcome guests. The sons of the landgrave, being
required by their father, pressed the duke of Saxe on his
honour to free their father, or to become their prisoner in his
2?6 HISTORY OF
room, since they had his faith for his liberty : so he went to
them, and oflPered them his person ; but though he did not
trust them with his whole design, yet he told them so much
that they were willing to let him go back. The emperor's
counsellors were alarmed with what they heard from all
hands. And the duke of Alva (well known afterwards by
his cruelties in the Netherlands) advised him to send for
Maurice to come and give an account of all those suspicious
passages, to take the army out of his hands, and to take such
securities from him, as might clear all the jealousies, for
which his carriage had given great cause. But the bishop
of Arras was on the other hand so assured of him, that he
said, the giving him any suspicion of the emperor's distrust
might really engage him into such designs ; and that such
deep projects as they heard he was in, were too fine conceits
for Dutch drunken heads. He also assured them, he had
two of his secretaries in pension, so that he was advertised
of all his motions. But the duke of Saxe came to know
that those his secretaries were the emperor's pensioners ;
and dissembled it so well, that he used them in all appear-
ance with more confidence than formerly : he held all his
consultations in their presence, and seemed to open his heart
so to them, that they possessed the bishop with a firm confi-
dence of his sincerity and steadiness to the emperor's inte-
rests. Yet his lingering so at the town of JMagdeburg, with
the other dark passages concerning him, made the emperor
conceive at last a jealousy of him, and he wrote for him to
come and clear himself: then he refined it higher ; for hav-
ing left orders with the ofl^icers whom he had made sure to
him, to follow with the army in all the haste they could ; he
himself took post, with as small a train as his dignity could
admit of, and carried one of those corrupted secretaries with
him : but on the way he complained of pains in his side, so
that he could not hold on his journey : but sent forward his
secretary, who gave such an account of him, that it, together
with his coming so readily a great part of his way in so se-
cure a manner, made the emperor now lay down all his
former distrusts. The emperor wrote to Trent, and to many
other places, that there was no cause of fear from Maurice.
And Maurice, to colour the matter more completely, had
sent his ambassadors to Trent, and had ordered Melanc-
thon, and his other divines, to follow them slowly, that, as
soon as the safe conduct was obtained, they might go on and
defend their doctrine.
Upon their coming to Trent, and proposing their desires,
that all might be again considered, the legates rejected the
proposition with much scorn. The emperors, ambassadors,
I
THE REFORMATION. 277
and prelates, pressed that they might be well received. The
archbishop of Toledo showed how much Christ had borne
with the scribes and pharisees ; and that, in imitation of
him, they ought to leave nothing undone that mii^ht gain
upon them. So it was resolved, that the council should
make a protestation, that the usage they gave them was out
of charity, which is above all law ; since it was against the
decretals to have any treaty with professed heretics. At
the same time, the imperialists dealt no less earnestly with
the ambassadors from the protestant princes, not to ask too
much at once, but to go on by degrees ; and assured them
they had a mind to lessen the pope's greatness as much as
they had. The ambassadors' first step was to be for obtain-
ing a safe conduct. They excepted to that which the coun-
cil had given, as different from that the council of Basil had
sent to the Bohemians, in four material points. The first
was, that their divines should have a decisive voice. Se-
condly, that all points should be determined according to
the Scriptures: and according to the fathers, as they were
conformable to those. Thirdly, that they should have the
exercise of their religion within their own houses. Fourthly,
that nothing should be done in contempt of their doctrine.
So they desired that the safe conduct might be word for
word the same with that of Basil.
Jiut the legates abhorred the name of that council, that
Jjad endeavoured so much to break the power of the pope-
dom, and had consented to that extraordinary safe conduct
only to unite Germany, and to gain them by such compli-
ance to be of their side against the pope. Yet the legates
pronlised to consider of it. The ambassadors were received
in a congregation, which differed from a session of the coun-
cil, just as a committee of a whole house of parliament
differs from the house when set according to its forms.
They began their speech with this salutation, " Most reve-
rend and most mighty fathers and lords:" they added a
cold compliment, and desired a safe conduct. At this time,
the pope, hearing that the emperor was resolved to bring on
the old designs of some councils for lessening his greatness,
and that the Spanish bishops were much set on it, united
himself to France, and resolved to break the council as soon
as it was possible ; and therefore he ordered the legates to
proceed in the decision of the doctrine, hoping that the pro-
testants would despair of obtaining any thing, and so go
away. So the safe conduct they had desired was not
granted them, and another was offered in its room, contain-
ing only full security for their persons. Upon this secuiity,
such as it was, divines came both from Wirtemberg and the
Vol. II, Paht I. 2 B
J78 HISTORY OF
town of Strasburg. But as they were going on to treat of
matrimony, the war of Germany broke out, and the bishops
of the empire, with the other ambassadors, immediately
went home. The legates laid hold on this so readily, that,
though the session was to have been held on the 2d of May,
they called an extraordinary one on the 28th of April, and
suspended the council for two years.
And being to have no other occasion to say any thing
more of this council, I shall only add, that there had been a
great expectation over Christendom of some considerable
event of a general council, for many years. The bishops
and princes had much desired it, hoping it might have
brought the differences among divines to a happy composure :
and have settled a reformation of those abuses, which had
been long complained of, and were still kept up by the court
of Rome, for the ends of that principality that they had
assumed in sacred things. The popes, for the same reasons,
were very apprehensive of it, fearing that it might have
lessened their prerogatives ; and, by cutting off abuses that
brought in a great revenue to them, have abridged their pro-
fits. But it was, by the cunning of the legates, the dissen-
sions of princes, the great number of poor Italian bishops,
and the ignorance of the greatest part of the other, so ma-
naged, that, instead of composing differences in religion,
things were so nicely defined, that they were made irrecon-
cilable. All those abuses, for which there had been nothing
but practice, and that much questioned before, were now,
by the provisos and reservations, excepted for the privileges
of the Roman see, made warrantable. So that it had, in all
particulars, an issue quite contrary to what the several par-
ties concerned had expected from it, and has put the world,
ever since, out of the humour of desiring any more general
councils, as they are accustomed to call them. The history
of that council was written with as much life, and beauty,
and authority, as had been ever seen in any human writing,
by Friar Paul of Venice, within half an age of the time in
which it was ended, when the thing was yet fresh in men's
memories, and many were alive who had been present : and
there was not one in that age that engaged to write against
it. But about forty years after, when Father Paul, and all
his friends who knew from what vouchers he wrote, were
dead, Pallavicini, a Jesuit, who was made a cardinal for
this service, undertook to answer him by another history of
that council, which, in many matters of fact, contradicts
Father Paul : upon the credit, as he tells us, of some jour-
nals and memorials of such as were present, which he pe-
rused, and cites upon all occasions. We see that Rome
THE REFORMATION. 279
hath been, in all ages, so good at forging those things which
might be of use to its interests, that we know not how to
trust that shop of false wares, in any one thing that comes
out of it. And, therefore, it is not easy to be assured of the
truth and genuineness of any of the materials, out of which
the Jesuit composed his work: but as for the main thread of
the story, both his and Father Paul's accounts do so agree,
that whosoever compares them will clearly see, that all
things were managed by intrigues, and secret practices ; so
that it will not be easy for a man of common sense, after he
has read over Pallavicini's history, to fancy that there was
any extraordinary influence of the Holy Ghost hovering over
and directing their councils. And the care they took for
palliating all the corruptions then complained of was so ap-
parent, that their historian had no other way by which to
excuse it, but to set up a new hypothesis, which a French
writer since has wittily called the cardinal's new gosyel ;
" That there must be a temporal principality in the church ;
that all things which support that principality are to be at
least tolerated, though they be far contrary to the primitive
patterns, and to the first delivery of the gospel by Christ and
his apostles, 'i hat which was then set up he accounts a
state of infancy, to which milk was proper ; but the church
being since grown to its full state and strength, other things
are now necessary for the maintaining and preserving of it."
But to return to Maurice : he, having possessed the em-
peror with an entire confidence in him, gathered his army
together, took Augsburg, with many other imperial cities,
and displaced the magistrates which the emperor had put in
them-, and restored their old ones, with the banished minis-
ters • so that every thing began to put on a new face. Ferdi-
nand, king of the Romans, did mediate, both on his own
account, for the Turks were falling into Hungary ; and on
the empire's, for the king of France was come with a great
army to the confines of the empire : and the constable, pre-
tending that he only desired passage through the town of
Metz, entered it, and possessed himself of it. Toul and
Verdun fell also into his hands : and the French were endea-
vouring to be admitted into Strasburg. The emperor was
now in great disorder : he had no army about him ; those he
had confided in were declared against him ; his own brother
was not ill pleased at his misfortune ; the French were like
to gain ground on his hereditary dominions. Being thus
perplexed and irresolved, he did not send a speedy answer
to Maurice's demands, which he had sent by his brother,
for the setting of the landgrave at liberty, restoring the free-
doms of the empire, and particularly in matters of religion.
280 HISTORY OF
But, to lose no time the mean while, Maurice marched
on to Inspruch, where the emperor lay : and surprised a
pass to wliich he had trusted, so that he was within two miles
of him before he was aware of it. Upon this, the emperor
rose from supper in great haste, and, by torch-light, fled
away to make his escape into Italy. He gave the duke of
Saxe his liberty ; but he generously resolved to follow him
iri this his calamity, and perhaps he was not willing to owe
his liberty to his cousin Maurice. Thus all that design,
which the emperor had been laying so many years, was now
broken off on a sudden : he lost all the advantages he had of
his former victories, and was forced to set the prisoners at
liberty, and to call in the proscriptions ; and, in conclusion,
the e^dict of Passaw was made, by which the several princes
and towns were secured in the free exercise of their reli-
gion.
I have made this digression, which I thought not disagree-
able to the matter of my history, to give account of the ex-
treme danger in which religion was in Germany, and how
strangely it was recovered ; in which he, who had been the
chief instrument of the miseries it had groaned under, was
now become its unlooked-for deliverer. I have enlarged on
some passages that are in none of the printed histories, which
I draw from Melvil's Memoirs, who says he had them from
the elector palatine's own mouth.
But the emperor's misfortunes redoubled on him : for,
having made peace in the empire, he would, against all rea-
son or probability of success, sit down before Metz. But the
duke of Guise defended the place so against him, and the
time of the year was so unseasonable, being in December,
that, after a great loss of men, and vast expense of treasure,
he was forced to raise his siege. From thence he retired into
Flanders, where his afflictions seized so violently on him,
that, for some time, he admitted none to come near him:
some said he was frantic ; others, that he was sullen and
melancholy. The English ambassadors, at Brussels, for many
weeks could learn nothing certain concerning him. Here, it
is said, he began to reflect on the vanity of the world ; when
he, who had but a year before given law to Christendom,
was now driven to so low an ebb, that, as he had irreco-
verably lost all his footing in Germany, so, in all other
things, his counsels were unlucky. It was one of the nota-
blest turns of fortune that had been in many siges, and gave
a great demonstration both of an over-ruling Providence,
that disposes of all human affairs at pleasure, and of a par-
ticular care that God had of the Reformation, in thus reco-
vering it when it Seemed gone without h(^e in Germany.
THE REFORMATION. 281
These reflections made deep impressions on his mind, and
were believed to have first possessed him w^ith the design,
which, not lontf after, he put in execution, of laying down
his crowns, and retiring to a private course of life. In his
retirement, having time to consider things more impartially,
he was so mueh changed in his opinion of the protestant reli-
gion, that he, who hitherto had been a most violent opposer
of it, was suspected of being turned to it before he died.
Thus ended this year ; and now I come to the last and fatal
year of this young king's life and reign (1553). The first
thing done in it was, a regulation of the privy-council,
which was divided into so many committees, and every one
of these had its proper work, and days appointed for the re-
ceiving and dispatching of all affairs. In all these things a
method was prescribed to them, of which the reader will
see a full account in the sixth paper of those that follow King
Edward's journal * ; which paper, though it is not all writ-
ten with his hand, as the others be, yet it is in so many
places interlined by him, that he seems to have considered
it much, and been well pleased with it. His second parlia-
ment was opened on the 1st of March. On the 6th of March
it was moved in the house of commons, to give the king two-
tenths and two-fifteenths, with a subsidy for two years : it
was long argued at first, and at the passing the bill it was
again argued, but at last the commons agreed to it. The
preamble of it is a long accusation of the duke of Somerset,
for involving the king in wars, wasting his treasure, engaging
him in much debt, embasing the coin, and having given
occasion to a most terrible rebellion. In fine, considering
the great debt the king was left in by his father, the loss he
put himself to in the reforming the coin, and they finding his
temper to be set wholly on the good of his subjects, and not
on enriching himself, therefore they gave him two-tenths
and two-fifteenths, with one subsidy for two years. Whe-
ther the debate in the house of commons was against the sub-
sidies in this act, or against the preamble, cannot be cer-
tainly known : but it is probable the debate, at the engross-
ing the bill, was about the preamble, which the duke of
Northumberland and his party were the more earnestly set
on, to let the king see how acceptable they were, and how
hateful the duke of Somerset had been. The clergy did also,
for an expression of their affection and duty, give the king six
shillings in the pound of their benefices. There was also a
bill sent down from the lords. That none might hold any spi-
• King Edward's Remains, No. vi.
2B3
282 HISTORY OF
ritual promotion, unless he were either priest or deacon ; but
after the third reading it was cast out. The reason of it
was, because many noblemen and gentlemen's sons had
prebends given them, on this pretence, that they intended
trf fit themselves by study for entering into orders ; but they
kept these, and never advanced in their studies: upon
which the bishops prevailed to have the bill agreed to by
the lords, but could carry it no further.
Another act passed for the suppressing the bishopric of
Duresme, which is so strangely misrepresented by those who
never read more than the title of it, that I shall therefore
give a more full account of it. It is set forth in the
preamble, " That that bishopric being then void of a pre-
late, so that the gift thereof was in the king's pleasure ; and
the compas of it being so large, extending to so many shires
so far distant, that it could not be sufficiently served by one
bishop ; and since the king, according to his godly disposi-
tion, was desirous to have God's holy word preached in
these parts, which were wild and barbarous, for lack of
good preaching and good learning ; therefore he intended to
have two bishoprics for that diocess : the one at Duresme,
which should have two thousand marks revenue ; and ano-
ther at Newcastle, which should have one thousand marks
revenue; and also to found a cathedral church at New-
castle, with a deanery and chapter, out of the revenues of
the bishopric : therefore the bishopric of Duresme is utterly
extinguished and dissolved, and authority is given for letters
patents to erect the two new bishoprics, together with the
deanery and chapter at Newcastle : with a proviso, that the
rights of the deanery, chapter, and cathedral of Duresme,
should suffer nothing by this act."
When this bill is considered, that dissolution that was
designed by it will not appear to be so sacrilegious a thing
as some writers have represented it. For whosoever under-
stands the value of old rents, especially such as these were
near the marches of an enemy, where the service of the
tenants in the war made their lands be set at very low
rates, will know, that three thousand marks of rent being
reserved, besides the endowing of the cathedral, which
could hardly be done under another thousand marks, there
could not be so great a prey of that bishopric as has been
imagined. Ridley, as himself writes in one of his letters,
was named to be bishop of Duresme, being one of the na-
tives of that country ; but the thing never took effect. For
in May, and no sooner, was the temporality of the bishopric
turned into a county-palatine, and given to the duke of
t
THE REFORMATION. 283
Northumberland. But the king's sickness, and soon after
his death, made that, and all the rest of these designs, prove
abortive.
How Tonstall was deprived, I cannot understand. It
was for misprision of treason, and done by secular men,
for Cranmer refused to meddle in it. I have seen the com-
mission given by Queen Mary to some delegates to examine
it ; in which it is said, that the sentence was given only by
laymen ; and that Tonstall, being kept prisoner long in the
Tower, was brcjught to his trial, in which he had neither
counsel assigned him, nor convenient time given him for
clearing himself; and that after divers protestations, they
had, notwithstanding his appeal, deprived him of his
bishopric. He was not only turned out, but kept prisoner,
till Queen Mary set him at liberty.
At the end of this parliament the king granted a free
pardon ; concerning which this only is remarkable, that
whereas it goes for a maxim, that the acts of pardon must
be passed without changing any thing in them, the com-
mons, when they sent up this act of pardon to the lords,
desired that some words might be amended in it ; but it is
not clear what was done, for that same day the acts were
passed, and the parliament was dissolved.
In it the duke of Northumberland had carried this point,
that the nation made a public declaration oi their dislike of
the duke of Somerset's proceedings ; which was the more
necessary, because the king had let fall words concerning
his death, by which he seemed to reflect on it with some
concern, and looked on it as Northumberland's deed. But
the act had passed with such difficulty, that either the duke
did not think the parliament well enough disposed for him ;
or else he resolved totally to vary from the measures of the
duke of Somerset, who continued the same parliament long,
whereas this that was opened on the first was dissolved on
the last day of March.
Visitors were soon after appointed to examine what
church plate, jewels, and other furniture, was in all cathe-
dTak and churches ; and to compare their accounts with the
inventories made in former visitations ; and to see what was
embezzled, and how it was done. And, because the king
was resolved to have churches and chapels furnished with
that that was comely and convenient for the administration
of the sacraments ; they were to give one or two chalices of
silver, or more, to every church, chapel, or cathedral, as
their discretions should direct them ; and to distribute
comely furniture for the communion-table, and for sur-
plices; and to sell the rest of the linen, and give it to the
284 HISTORY OF
poor ; and to sell copes and altar-cloths, and deliver all
the rest of the plate and jewels to the king's treasurer, Sir
Edmund Pecham. This is spitefully urged by one of our
writers, who would have his reader infer from it, that the
king was ill-principled as to the matters of the church, be-
cause, when this order was given by him, he was now in
the sixteenth year of his age. But if all princes should be
thus judged by all instructions that pass under their hands,
they would be more seveiely censured than there is cause.
And for the particular matter that is changed on the me-
mory of this younp: prince, which, as it was represented to
him, was only a calling for the superfluous plate, and other
goods, that lay in churches, more for pomp than for use ;
though the applying of it to common uses, except upon ex-
treme necessities, is not a thing that can be justified ; yet it
deserved not so severe a censure ; especially the instruc-
tions being signed by the king in his sickness ; in which it
is not likely that he minded affairs of that kind much, but set
his hand easily to such papers as the council prepared for him.
These instructions were directed, in the copy that I have
perused, to the earl of Shrewsbury, lord -president of the
North ; upon which occasion I shall here make mention of
that which I know not certainly in what year to place,
namely, the instructions that were given to that earl when
he was made president of the North. And I mention them
the rather, because there have been, since that time, some
contests about that office, and the court belonging to it.
There was by his instructions a council to be assistant to
him ; whereof some of the members were at large, and not
bound to attendance, others were not to leave him without
licence from him : and he was in all things to have a nega-
tive voice in it. For the other particulars, I refer the
reader to the copy, which he will find in the Collection
(No. Ivi). One instruction among them belongs to religion ;
that he and the other counsellors, when there were at any
time assemblies of people before them, should persuade
them to be obedient chiefly to the laws about religion, and
especially concerning the service set forth in their own
mother tongue. There was also a particular charge given
them concerning the abolished power of the bishop of Rome,
whose abuses they were, by continual inculcation, so to beat
into the minds of the people, that they might well appre-
hend them, and might see that those things were said to
them from their hearts, and not from their tongues, only for
form's sake. They were also to satisfy them about the
abrogation of many holy days appointed by the same
bishop, T°ho endeavoured to persuade the world that he
THE REFORMATION. 285
could make saints at his pleasure : which, by leading the
people to idleness, gave occasion to many vices and incon-
veniences. These instructions were given after the peace
was made with Scotland ; otherwise there must have been a
great deal in them relating to that war ; but the critical time
of them 1 do not know.
This year Haiiey was made bishop of Hereford, instead of
Skip, who died the last year. And he being the last of those
who were made so by letters patents, I shall give the reader
some satisfaction concerning that way of making bishops.
The patents began with the mention of the vacancy of the
see, by death or removal : upon which the king, being in-
formed of the good qualifications of such an one, appoints-
him to be bishop, during his natural life^ or so long as he
shall behave himself well : giving him power to ordain and'
deprive ministers, to confer benefices, judge about wills,
name officials and commissaries, exercise ecclesiastical ju-
risdiction, visit the clergy, inflict censures, and punish scan-
dalous persons, and to do all the other parts of the episcopal
function that were found by the word of God to be com-
mitted to bishops ; all which they were to execute and do in
the king's name and authority. After that, in the same
patent, follows the restitution of the temporalities* The day
after, a certificate, in a writ called a significavit, was to be
made of this, under the great seal, to the archbishop, with
a charge to consecrate him.
The first that had his bishopric by the king's patents was
Barlow, that was removed from St. David's to Bath and
Wells. They bear date the 3d of February, in the second
year of the king's reign : and so Ferrar bishop of St. David's
was not the first, as some have imagined, for he was made
bishop the 1st of August that year. This Ferrar was a rash,
indiscreet man, and drew upon himself the dislike of the
prebendaries of St. David's. He was made bishop upon the
duke of Somerset's favour to him ; but last year many articles
were objected to him : some as if he had incurred a praemu-
nire for acting in his courts, not in the king's but his own
name, and some for neglecting his charge ; and some little
indecencies were objected to him, as going strangely ha-
bited, travelling on foot, whistling impertinently, with many
other things, which, if true, showed in him much weakness
and folly. The heaviest articles he denied | yet he was
kept in prison, and commissioners were sent into Wales to
examine witnesses, who took many depositions against him.
He lay in prison till Queen Mary's time ; and then he was
kept in on the account of his belief. But his sufllering af-
terwards for his donscience, when Morgan, who had been
'2b6 HISTORY OF
his chief accuser before on those other articles, being then
made his judge, condemned him for heresy, and made room
for himself to be bishop by burning him, did much turn peo-
ple's censures from him upon his successor.
By these letters patents it is clear, that the episcopal func-
tion was acknowledged to be of Divine appointment, and
that the person was no other way named by the king than as
lay-patrons present to livings ; only the bishop was legally
authorized, in such a part of the king's dominions, to execute
that function which was to be derived to him by imposition of
hands. Therefore here was no pretence for denying that
such persons were true bishops, and for saying, as some have
done, that they were not from Christ, but from the king.
Upon this occasion it will not be improper to represent to
the reader how this matter stands according to law at this
day, which is the more necessary, because some superficial
writers have either misunderstood or misrepresented it. The
act that authorized those letters patents, and required the
bishops to hold their courts in the king's name, was repealed
both by the 1 Mar. chap. 2. and 1 and 2 Phil, and Mary,
chap. 8. The latter of these, that repealed only a part of it,
was repealed by the 1 Eliz. chap. 1, and the former by the
1 Jac. chap. 25. So some have argued, that since those sta-
tutes which repealed this act of Edward the Sixth, 1 par.
chap. 2, are since repealed, that it stands now in full force.
This seems to have some colour in it, and so it was brouglit in
question in parliament in the fourth year of King James ; and
great debate being made about it, the king appointed the two
chief justices to search into the matter : they, upon a slight
inquiry, agreed, that the statute of Edward the Sixth was in
force by that repeal ; but the chief baron, and the other
judges, searching the matter more carefully, found that the
statute had been in effect repealed by the first of Eliz. chap.
1 (Coke, 2 Inst. p. 684, 685), where the act of the 25 Hen.
VllI, concerning the election and jurisdiction of bishops,
as formerly they had exercised it, was revived : so that, be-
ing in full force, the act of Edward the Sixth that repealed
it was thereby repealed. To this all the learned men of the
law did then agree ; so that it was not thought so rnuch as
necessary to make an explanatory law about it, the thing be-
ing indeed so clear, that it did not admit of any ambiguity.
In May this year the king, by his letters patents, autho-
rized all schoolmasters to teach a new and fuller catechism,
compiled by Alexander Nowel.
These are all the passages in which the church is conceined
this year. The foreign negociations were important; for
now the balance beg^ to turn to the French side ; therefore
THE REFORMATION. 287
the council resolved to mediate a peace between the French
and the emperor. The emperor had sent over an ambassa-
dor in September last year, to desire the king would consi-
der the danger in which Flanders was now, by the French
king's having Metz, with the other towns in Lorrain, which
did, in a great measure, divide it from the assistance of the
empire : and therefore moved, that, according to the ancient
league between England and the house of Burgundy, they
would enter into a new league with him. Upon this occa-
sion the reader will find how the secretaries of state bred
the king to the understanding of business v.'ith relation to the
studies he was then about : for Secretary Cecil set down all
the arguments for and against that league, with little notes
on the margin, relating to such topics from whence he
brought them, by which it seems the king was then learn-
ing logic. It is the fifth of those papers aftei his Journal *.
It was resolved on to send Sir Richard Morison with in-
structions to compliment the emperor upon his coming into
Flanders, and to make an offer of the king's assistance against
the Turks, who had made great depredations that year both
in Hungary, Italy, and Sicily. If the emperor should up-
on that complain of the French king, and say that he had
brought in the Turks, and should have asked assistance
against him ; he was to move the emperor to send over an
ambassador to treat about it, since he that was then resident
in England was not very acceptable. These instructions
(which are in the Collection, i\o. Ivii), were signed in
September, but not made use of till January this year;
and then new orders were sent to propose the king to be a
mediator between France and the emperor : upon which the
bishop of Norwich and Sir Philip Hobbey were sent over to
join with Sir Richard Morison ; and Sir William Pickering
and Sir Thomas Chaloner were se it into France. In May
the emperor fell sick, and the English ambassador could
learn nothing certainly concerning him ; but then the queen
of Hungary and the bishop of Arras treated with them.
The bishop of Arras complained that the French had begun
the war, had taken the emperor's ships at Barcelona, had
robbed his subjects at sea, had stirred up the princes of
Germany against him, had taken some of the towns of the
empire from him, while the French ambassadors were all the
while swearing to the emperor, that their master intended
nothing so much as to preserve the peace : so that now, al-
though the French were making several overtures for peace,
they could give no credit to any thing that came from them.
* King Edward's Remains, No. v.
HISTORY OF
In fine, the queen and bishop of Arras promised the Eng-
lish ambassadors to let the emperor know of the king's offer-
ing himself to mediate ; and afterwards told them, that the
emperor delayed giving answer till he were well enough to
xlo-it'himseif.
Oa the 26th of May, the ambassadors wrote over, that
there was a project sent thein out of Germany of an alliance
between the emperor, Ferdinand king of the Romans, the
king of 'England, and the princes of the empire. They did
not desire that ihe king should offer to come into it of his
own accord ; but John Frederick of Saxe would move Fer-
dinand to invite the king into it : this way they thought
would .^ve least jealousy. They hoped the emperor would
easily agree to the conditions that related to the peace of
Germany, since he was now out of all hopes of making him-
self master of it. The princes neither loved nor trusted
him ; but loved his brother, and relied much on England.
But the emperor having proposed that the Netherlands
should be included in the perpetual league of the empire,
they would not agree to that, unless the quotas of their con-
bution were much changed : for these provinces were like to
be the seats of wars, therefore they would not engage for
their defence, but upon reciprocal advantages and easy
\Vhen the English ambassadors in tl>e court of France de-
sired to know on what terms a peace might be mediated,
they found they were much exalted with their success : so
that (as they wrote over on the 1st of May) they demanded
the restitution of Milan, and the kingdoms of Sicily, Naples,
and Navarre,the sovereignty of Flanders, Artois, and the tov/n
of Tournay ; they would also have Siena to be restored to
its liberty, and Metz, Toul, and Verdun, to continue under
the protection of France. These terms the council thought
so unreasonable, that, though they wrote them over as news
to their amljassadors in Flanders, yet they charged them not
to pioposethem. But the queen of Hungary asked them
what propositionsthey had for a peace, knowmg already what
they were, and from thence studied to inflame the ambassa-
dors, 3ince it appeared how little the French regarded their
mediation, or the peace of Christendom, when they asked
such high and extravagant things upon a little success.
On the 9th of June the emperor ordered the ambassadors
to be brought into his bedchamber, whither they were car-
ried by the queen of Hungary. He looked pale and lean ;
but his eyes were lively and his speech clear. They made
him a compliment upon his sickness, which he returned with
another for their long attendance. Upon the matter of their
"
THE REFORMATION. 289
'embassy, he said, the king of France had begun the war,
and must likewise begin the propositions of peace : but he
accepted of the king's ofler veiy kindly, and said they should
always find in him great inclinations to a just peace. On
the 1st of July the council wrote to their ambassadors. First,
assuring them that the king was still alive, and they hoped
he should recover ; they told them they did not find that the
French would offer any other terms than those formerly
made : and they continued still in that mind, that they could
not be offered by them as mediators ; yet they ordered them
to impart them unto the emperor as news, and carefully to
observe his looks and behaviour upon their opening of every
one of them.
But now the king's death broke off this negotiation, to-
gether with all his other affairs. He had, last year, first the
measles, and then the small-pox, of which he was perfectly,;
recovered. In his progress he had been sometimes violent in
his exercises, which had cast him into great colds ; but these
■went off, and he seemed to be well after it. But in the be-
ginning of January this year, he was seized with a deep
cough, and all medicines that were used did rather increase
than lessen it ; upon which a suspicion was taken up and
spread over all the world (so that it is mentioned by most of
the historians of that age), that some lingering poison had
been given him; but more thon rumours, and some ill-
favoured circumstances, I could never discover concern-
ing this. He was so ill when the parliament met, that he
was not able to go to Westminster ; but ordered their first
meeting and the sermon to be at Whitehall. In the time of
his sickness, Bishop Ridley preached before him, and took
occasion to run out much on works of charity, and the obli-
gation that lay on men of high condition to be eminent in
good works. This touched the king to the quick ; so that
Eresently after sermon he sent for the bishop ; and after he
ad commanded him to sit down by him and be covered, he
resumed most of the heads of the sermon, and said he looked
on himself as chiefly touched by it : he desired him, as he
had already given him the exhortation in general, so to di-
rect him how to do his duty in that particular. The bishop,
astonished at this tenderness in so young a prince, burst forth
in tears, expressing liow much he was overjoyed to see such
inclinations in him ; but told him he must take time to think
on it, and craved leave to consult with the lord mayor and
court of aldermen. So the king wrote by him to them to
consult speedily how the poor should be relieved. They con-
sidered there were three sorts of poor; such as were so by
natural infirmity or folly, as impotent persons, and madmen.
Vol, II, Part I. 2C
290 HISTORY OF
or ideots ; such as were so by accident, as sick or maimed
persons ; and such as by their idleness did cast themselves
into poverty. So the king ordered the Gray friars' church
near Newgate, with the revenues belonging to it, to be a
house for orphans ; St. Bartholomew's, near Smithfield, to
be an hospital ; and gave his own house of Bridewell, to be
a place of correction and work for such as were wilfully idle.
He also confirmed and enlarged the grant for the hospital of
St. Thomas, in Sou'ihvvaik, which he had erected and en-
dowed in August last. And when he set his hand to these
foundations, which was not done before the 26th of June,
this year, he thanked God, that had prolonged his life till he
had finished that design. So he was the first founder of
those houses, which, by many great additions since that
time, have risen to be among the noblest in Kurope.
He expressed, in the whole course of his sickness, great
submission to the will of God, and seemed glad at the ap-
proaches of death ; only the consideration of religion and
the church touched him much ; and upon that account he
said he was desirous of life. About the end of May, or be-
gining of June, the duke of Suffolk's three daughters were
married : the eldest. Lady Jane, to the Lord Guilford Dud-
ley, the fourth son of the duke of ]\orthumberland (who
was the only son whom he had yet unmarried) : the second,
the Lady Catharine, to the earl of Pembroke's eldest son,
the Lord Herbert : the third, the Lady JMary, who was
crooked, to the king's groom porter, Martin Keys. The duke
of Northumberland married his two daughters, the eldest
to Sir Henry Sidney, son to Sir William Sidney, that had
been steward to the king, when he was prince ; the other
was married to the Lord Hastings, son to the earl of Hunt-
ington. The people were mightily inflamed against this in-
solent duke, for it was generally given out, that he was sacri-
ficing the king to his own extravagant ambition. He seemed
little to regard their censures, but attended on the king most
constantly, and expressed all the care and concern about him
that was possible- And finding that nothing went so near
his heart as the ruin of religion, which he apprehended
would follow upon his death, when his sister Mary should
come to the crown ; upon that, he and his party took ad-
vantage to propose to him to settle the crown by his letters
Satents on the Lady Jane Gray. How they prevailed with
im to pass by his sister Elizabeth, who had been always
much in his favour, I do not so well understand. But the
king "being wrought over to this, the duchess of Sufl^olk,
who was next in King Henry's will, was ready to devolve
her right on her daughter, even though she should come af-
1
is 1
THE REFORMATION. 291
lerwards to have sons. So on the 11th of June, Mountague,
that was chief- justice of the common pleas, and Baker and
Bromley, two judges, with the king's attorney and solicitor,
were commanded to come to council. 1 here they found the
king with some privy-counsellors about him. The king told
them, he did now apprehend the danger the kingdom might
be in, if upon his death his sister Mary should succeed ; who
might marry a stranger, and so change the laws and the reli-
gion of the realm. So he ordered some articles to be read to
them, of the way in which he would have the crown to
descend. They objected, that the act of succession, being
an act of parliament, c6uld not be taken away by any such
device : yet the king required them to take the articles, and
draw a book according to them : they asked a little time to
consider of it. So having examined the statute of the first
year of this reign, concerning treasons, they found that it \4 as
treason, not only after the king's death, but even in his life,
to change the succession. Secretary Petre, in the mean
while, pressed them to make haste: when they came again
to the council, they declared they could not do any such
thing ; for it was treason ; and all the lords should be
guilty of treason if they went on in it. Upon which, the
duke of Northumberland, who was not then in the council-
chamber, being advertised of this, came in great fury, call-
ing Mountague a traitor, and threatened all the judges ; so
that they thought he would have beaten them. But the
judges stood to their opinion. They were again sent for, and
came, with Gosnald added to them, on the 15th of June.
The king was present, and he somewhat sharply asked them.
Why they had not prepared the book as he had ordered
them t They answered, That whatever they did would be of
no force without a parliament. The king said, he intended
to have one shortly. Then Mountague proposed, that it
might be delayed till the parliament met. But the king said,
he would have it first done, and then ratified in parliament ;
and therefore he required them on their allegiance to go
about it ; and some counsellors told them, if they refused to
obey that, they were traitors. This put them in a great con-
sternation •; and old Mountague, thinking it could not be
treason whatever they did in this matter while the king lived,
and at worst, that a pardon under the great seal would se-
cure him, consented to set about it, if he might have a com-
mission requiring him to do it, and a pardon under the great
seal when it was done. Both these being granted him, he
was satisfied. The other judges being asked if they would
concur, did all agree, being overcome with fear, except Gos-
nald, who still refused to do it. But he also, being sorely
292 HISTORY OF
threatened, both by the duke of Northumberland and the
earl of Shrewsbury, consented to it the next day. So they
put the entail of the crown in form of law, and brought it to
the lord chancellor to put the seal to it. They were all re-
quired to set their hands to it, but both Gosnald and Hales
refused. Yet the former was wrought on to do it, but the
latter, though a most steady and zealous man for the Refor-
mation, would upon no consideration yield to it : after that,
the lord chancellor, for his security, desired that all the
counsellors might set their hands to it ; which was done on
the 31st of June by thirty-three of them ; it is likely, in-
cluding the judges in the number. But Cranmer, who came
often to council after the duke of Somerset's fall, was that
day absent on design. Cecil, in a relation which he made
one write of this transaction, for clearing himself after-
wards, says, that when he had heard Gosnald and Hales de-
clare how much it was against law, he refused to set his hand
to it as a counsellor, and that he only signed as a witness to
the king's subscription. But Cranmer still refused to do it
after they had all signed it, and said he would never consent to
the disinheriting of the daughters of his late master. Many
consultations were had to persuade him to it. But he could
pot be prevailed on, till the king himself set on him ; who
used many arguments, from the danger religion would other-
wise be in, together with other persuasions ; so that, by his
reasons, or rather importunities, at last he brought him to it.
But whether he also used that distinction of Cecil's, that he
did it as a witness, and not as a counsellor, I do not know :
but it seems probable, that if that liberty was allowed the
one, it would not be denied the other.
But though the settling this business gave the king great
content in his mind, yet his distemper jather increased than
abated ; so that the physicians had no hope of his recovery :
upon which, a confident woman came, and undertook his
cure, if he might be put into her hands. This was done^
and the physicians were put from him, upon this pretence,
that they having no hopes of his recovery, in a desperate
case desperate remedies were to be used. This was said to
be the duke of Northumberland's advice in particular ; and
it increased the people's jealousy of him, when they saw
the king grow very sensibly worse every day after he came
under the woman's care : which becoming so plain, she was
put from him, and the physicians were again sent for, and
took |him into their charge. But if they had small hopes
before, they had none at all now. Death thus hastening on
him, the duke of Northumberland, who knew he had done
but half his work, except he had the king's sisters in his
THE REFORMATION. 293
hands, got the council to write to them in the king's name,
inviting them to come and keep him company in his sickness.
But as they were on the way, on the 6th of July, his spirits
and body were so sunk, that he found death approaching;
and so he composed himself to die in a most devout manner.
His whole exercise was in short prayers and ejaculations.
The last that he was heard to use was in these words:
" Lord God, deliver me out of this miserable and wretched
life, and lake me among thy chosen; howbeit, not my will
but thine be done. Lord, I commit my spirit to thee. O
Lord, thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with
thee : yet for thy chosen's sake send me life and health, that
I may truly serve thee. O my Lord God, bless my people,
and save thine inheritance ; O Lord God, save thy chosen
people of England ; O Lord God, defend this realm from
papistry, and maintain thy true religion, that 1 and my
people may praise thy holy name, for Jesus Christ his sake."
Seeing some about him, he seemed troubled, that they were
so near and had heard him: but with a pleasant counte-
nance he said, he had been praying to God. And soon
after, the pangs of death coming on him, he said to Sir
Henry Sidney, who was holding him in his arms ; " I am
faint. Lord, have mercy on me, and receive my spirit ;"
and so he breathed out his innocent soul. The duke of North-
umberland, according to Cecil's relation, intended to have
concealed his death for a fortnight, but it could not be done.
Thus died King Edward the Sixth, that incomparable
young prince. He was then in the sixteenth year of his
age, and was counted the wonder •of that time. He was
not only learned in the tongues, and other liberal sciences,
but knew well the state of his kingdom. He kept a book,
in which he wrote the characters that were given him, of
all the chief men of the nation, all the judges, lord-lieute-
nants, and justices of the peace over P^ngland : in it he
had marked down their way of living and their zeal for
religion. He had studied the matter of the mint, with the
exchange, and value of money ; so that he understood it
well, as appears by his Journal. He also understood forti-
fication, and designed well. He knew all the harbours and
ports, both of his own dominions, and of France and Scot-
land; and how much water they had, and what was the
way of coming in to them. He had acquired great know-
ledge in foreign affairs ; so that he talked with the ambas-
sadors about them in such a manner, that they filled all the
world with the highest opinion of him that was possible ;
which appears in most of the histories of that age. He had
great quickness of apprehension; and being mistrustful of
2C3
2d4 HISTORY OF
his memory, used to take notes of almost every thing be
heard : he wrote these first in Greek characters, that those
about him might not understand them ; and afterwards
wrote them out in his Journal. He had a copy brought him
of every thing that passed in council, which he put in a chest,
and kept the key of that always himself.
In a word, the natural and acquired perfections of his
mind were wonderful ; but his virtues and true piety were
yet more extraordinary. He was such a friend to justice,
that, though he loved his uncle the duke of Somerset much,
yet when he was possessed of a belief of his designing to
murder his fellow counsellors, he was alienated from him :
and being then but fourteen, it was no wonder if that was
too easily infused in him. His chief favourite was Barnaby
Fitz Patrick, to whom he wrote many letters and instructions
when he sent him to be bred in France. In one of his letters
to him, he wrote, that he must not think to live like an am-
ba^ador, but like a private gentleman, who was to be ad-
vanced as he should deserve it. He allowed him to keep
but four servants : he charged him to follow the company of
geatlemen, rather than of ladies: that he should not be
superfluous in his apparel : that he should go to the cam-
paign, and observe well the conduct of armies, and the for-
tification of strong places : and let the king know always
when he needed money, and he would supply him. Ail
these, with many other directions, the king wrote with his
own hand : and at his return, to let him see he intended to
raise him by degrees, he gave him a pension only of one
hundred and fifty pounds. This Fitz Patrick did afterwards
fully answer the opinion this young king had of him. He
was bred up with him in his learning ; and, as it is said,
had been his whipping boy, who, according to the rule of
educating our princes, was always to be whipped for the
king's faults. He was afterwards made by Queen Elizabeth
baron of Upper Ossory, in Ireland, which was his native
country.
King Edward was tender and compassionate in a high
measure : so that he was much against the taking away the
lives of heretics ; and therefore said to Cranmer, when he
persuaded him to sign the warrant for the burning of Joan
of Kent, That he was not willing to do it, because he thought
that was to send her quick to hell. He expressed great
tenderness to the miseries of the poor in his sickness, as
hath been already shown. He took particular care of the
suits of all poor persons ; and gave Dr. Cox special charge
to see that their petitions were speedily answered, and used
otf to consult with him how to get their matters set forward.
THE KEFQRMATION. 295
He was an exact keeper of his word : and therefore, as
appears by his Journal, was most careful to pay his debts,
and to keep his credit ; knowing that to be the chief nerve
of government : since a prince that breaks his faith, and
loses his credit, has thrown up that which he can never
recover, and made himself liable to perpetual distrusts, and
extreme contempt.
He had above all things a great* regard to religion. He
took notes of such things as he heard in sermons, which
more specially concerned himself; and made his measures
of all men by their zeal in that matter. This made him so
set on bringing over his sister Mary to the sarne persuasions
with himself ; that when he was pressed to give way to her
having mass, he said, That he would not only hazard the
loss of the emperor's friendship, but of his life, and all he
had in the world, rather than consent to what he knew was
a sin : and he cited some passages of Scripture that obliged
kings to root out idolatry ; by which he said he was bound
in conscience not to consent to her mass ; since he believed
it was idolatry ; and did argue the matter so learnedly with
the bishops, that they left him, being amazed at his know-
ledge in divinity. So that Cranmer took Cheek by the hand
upon it, and said, He had reason all the days of his life to
rejoice that God had honoured him to breed such a scholar.
All men who saw and observed these qualities in him,
looked on him as one raised by God for most extraordinary
ends ; and when he died, concluded that the sins of England
must needs be very great, that had provoked God to take
from them a prince under whose government they were
likely to have seen such blessed times. He was so affable
and sweet-natured, that all had free access to him at all
times ; by which he came to be most universally beloved,
and all the high things that could be devised were said by
the people to express their esteem of him. The fable of the
phoenix pleased most ; so they made his mother one phoenix,
and him another, rising out of her ashes. But graver men
compared him to Josiah ; and long after his death I find
both in letters and printed books they commonly named him
Our Josias : others called him Edward the Saint.
A prince of such qualities, so much esteemed and loved,
could not but be much lamented at his death ; and this
made those of the Reformation abhor the duke of Northum-
berland, who they suspected had hastened him to such an
untimely end : which contributed, as much as any thing, to
the establishing of Queen INlary on the throne ; for the
people reckoned none could be so unworthy to govern, as
those who had poisoned so worthy a prince^ and so kind a
296 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.
master. I find nothing of opening his body for giving satis-
faction about that which brought him to his end ; though
his lying unburied till the 8th of August, makes it probable
that he was opened.
But indeed the sins of England did at this time call
down from Heaven heavy curses on the land. They are
sadly expressed in a discourse that Ridley writ soon after,
under the title of the Lamentation of England : he says.
Lechery, oppression, pride, covetousness, and a hatred and
scorn of religion, were generally spread among all people :
chiefly those of the higher rank. Cranmer and he had been
much disliked : the former for delivering his conscience so
freely on the duke of Somerset's death ; and both of them
for opposing so much the rapine and spoil of the goods of
the church, which was done without law or order. Nor
could they engage any to take care of relieving the poor,
except only Dobbs, who was then lord mayor of London.
These sins were openly preached against, by Latimer, Lever,
Bradford, and Knox, who did it more severely, and by others
who did it plainly, though more softly. One of the main
causes Ridley gives of all these evils, was, that many of
the bishops, and most of the clergy, being all the while
papists in heart, who had only complied to preserve their
benefices, took no care of their parishes, and were rather
well pleased that things were ill managed. And of this
that good bishop had been long very apprehensive, when he
considered the sins then pievailing, and the judgments which
they had reason to look for ; as will appear by an excellent
letter, which he sent about to his clergy to set them on to
such duties as so sad a prospect required : it will be found
in the Collection (No. Iviii) ; and though it belongs to the
former year, yet I choose rather to bring it in on this occa-
sion. These things having been fully laid open in the former
parts of this work, I shall not insist on them here, having
mentioned them only for this cause, that the reader may
from hence gather, what we may still expect, if we continue
guilty of the same or worse sins, after all that illumination
and knowledge with which we have been so long blessed in
these kingdoms.
BOOK II.
The Life and Reign of Queen Mary.
(1553.) Upon the death of King Edward, the crown de-
volved, according to King Henry's will, and the act of par-
liament made in the thirty-fifth year of his reign, on his
eldest sister, the now Qlieen Mary. She was on her way to
London, in obedience to the letters that had been wrote to
her, to come and comfort her brother in his sickness; and
was come within half a day's journey of the court, when she
received an advertisement from the earl of Arundel, that
her brother was dead ; together with an account of what
was done about the succession. The earl also informed her,
that the king's death was concealed, on design to entrap her
before she knew of it ; and therefore he advised her to re-
tire. Upon this, she knowing that the duke of Northumber-
land was much hated in Norfolk, for the great slaughter he
had made of the rebels, when he subdued them in the third
year of the last reign ; therefore chose to go that way to the
castle of Framlingham in Suffolk : which place being near
the sea, she might, if her designs should miscarry, have an
opportunity from thence to fly over to the emperor, that was
then in Flanders.
At London, it seems, the whole business of setting up the
Lady Jane had been carried very secretly ; since if Queen
Mary had heard any hint of it, she had certainly kept out of
the way, and not adventured to have come so near the
town. It was an unaccountable error in the party for the
Lady Jane, that they had not, immediately after the seal
was put to the letters patents, or at furthest, presently after
the king's death, sent some to make sure of the king's
sisters ; instead uf which they thus lingered, hoping they
would have come into their toils, in an easier and less vio-
lent way. On the 8th of July, they wrote to the English am-
bassadors at Brussels the news of the king's death, but said
nothing of the succession. On the 9th of July they per-
296 HISTORY OF
ceived the king's death was known •. for Queen Mary wrote
to them, from Kenning Hall, that she understood the king
her brother was dead ; which how sorrowful it was to her,
God only knew, to whose will she did humbly submit her
will. The provision of the crown to her, after his death, she
said was well known to them all ; but she thought it strange,
that he being three days dead, she had not been advertised of
it by them. She knew what consultations were against her,
and what engagements they had entered into ; but was will-
ing to take all their doings in good part, and therefore she
wrote, that she was ready to remit and pardon all that was
past, to such as would accept of it, and required them to
proclaim her title to the crown in London.
Upon this letter, they saw the death of the king could no
loHger be concealed ; so the duke of Suffolk, and the duke
of Northumberland, went to Durham House, where the
Lady Jane lay, to give her notice of her being to succeed to
the crown, in the room of the deceased king. She received the
news with great sorrow for King Edward's death; which was
not at all lessened, but rather increased, by that other part
of their message, concerning her being to succeed him.
She was a lady that seemed indeed born for a great
fortune ; for as she was a beautiful and graceful person, so
she had great parts, and greater virtues. Her tutor was
Dr. Elmer, believed te be the same that was afterwards
made bishop of London, by Queen Elizabeth. She had
learned from him the i-,atin and Greek tongues to great per-
fection ; so that, being of the same age with the late king,
she seemed superior to him in those languages. And hav-
ing acquired the helps of knowledge, she spent her time
much in the study of it. Roger Ascham, tutor to the Lady
Elizabeth, coming once to wait on her at her father's house
in Leicestershire, found her reading Plato's works in Greek,
when all the rest of the family were hunting in the park.
He asked her, how she could be absent from such pleasant
diversions 1 She answered. The pastimes in the park were
but a shadow to the delight she had in reading Plato's Phe-
don, which then lay open before her , and added, that she
esteemed it one of t'ne greatest b.esslngs that God ever gave
her, that she had sharp parents, and a gentle schoolmaster,
which made her take delight in nothing so much as in her
study. She read the Scriptures much, and had attained
great knowledge in divinity. But with all these advajQtagcs
of birth and parts she was so humble, so gentle, and pious,
that all people both admired and loved her, and none naore
than the late king. She had a mind wonderfully raised
above the world ; and at the age wherein others are but
THE REFORMATION. 299
imbibing the notions of philosophy, she had attained to the
practice of the highest precepts of it. She was neither lifted
up with the hope of a crown, nor cast down when she saw
her palace made afterwards her prison ; but carried herself
with an equal temper of mind, in those great inequalities of
fortune that so suddenly exalted and depressed her. All the
passion she expressed in it was, that which is of the noblest
sort, and is the indication of tender and generous natures,
being much afFe(?ted with the troubles her father and hus-
band fell in, on her account.
The mention of the crown, when her father, with her
father-in-law, saluted her queen, did rather heighten her
disorder upon the kii^g's death. She said, she knew, by the
laws of the kingdom, and by natural right, the crown waste
go to the king's sisters ; so that she was afraid of burthen-
ing her conscience, by assuming that which belonged to
them ; and that she was unwilling to enrich herself by the
spoils of others. But they told her, all that had been done
was according to the law, to which all the judges and coun-
sellors had set their hands. This, joined with their persua-
sions, and the importunities of her husband, who had more of
his father's temper than of her philosophy in him, at length
prevailed with her to submit to it : of which her father-in-
law did afterwards say in council, she was rather, by entice-
ment of the counsellors, and force, made to accept of the
crown, than came to it by her own seeking and request.
Upon this, order was given for proclaiming her queen the
next day. And an answer was wrote to Queen Mary, signed
by the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord chancellor, the
dukes of Suflblk and Northumberland; the marquisses of
Winchester and Northampton ; the earls of Arundel, Shrews-
bury, Huntington, Bedford, and Pem.broke ; the Lords Cob-
ham and Darcy ; Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir Richard Cot-
ton, Sir William Petre, Sir William Cecil, Sir John Cheek,
Sir John Mason, Sir Edward North, and Sir Robert Bowes,
in all one-and-twenty ; letting her know, " That Queen Jane
was now their sovereign, according to the ancient laws of
the land, and the late kind's letters patents, to whom they
were now bound by their allegiance. They told her, that the
marriage between her father and mother was dissolved by
the ecclesiastical courts, according to the laws of God and
the land. That many noble universities in Christendom
had consented to it ; that the sentence had been confirmed
in parliaments, and she had been declared illegitimate, and
uninheritable to the crown- They therefore required her to
give over her pretences, and not to disturb the government ;
and promised, that if she showed herself obedient, she
300 HISTORY OF
should find them all ready to do her any service which ill
duty they could."
The day following they proclaimed Queen Jane. The
proclamation will be found in the Collection (No. i). It
sets forth, "That the late king had, by his letters patents,
limited the crown, that it should not descend to his two sis-
ters, since they were both illegitimated by sentences in the
spiritual courts, and acts of parliament, and were only his
sisters by the half-blood, who (though it were granted they
had been legitimate) are not inheritable by the law of Eng-
land. It was added, that there was also great cause to fear,
that the king's sisters might marry strangers, and so change
the laws of the kingdom, and subject it to the tyranny of the
bishops of Rome, and other foreign laws. For these reasons
they were excluded from the succession ; and the Lady
Frances, duchess of Suffolk, being next the crown, it was
provided, that if she had no sons at the death of the king,
the crown should devolve immediately on her eldest daugh-
ter Jane, and after her and her issue, to her sisters ; since
she was born within the kingdom, and already married in it ;
therefore she was proclaimed queen, promising to be most
benign and gracious to all her people, to maintain God's
holy word, and the laws of the land, requiring all the sub-
jects to obey and acknowledge her." When this was pro-
claimed, great multitudes were gathered to hear it ; but there
were very few that shouted with the acclamations ordinary
on such occasions. And whereas a vintner's boy did some
way express his scorn at that which was done, it was ordered,
that he should be made an example the next day, by being
set on a pillory, and having his ears nailed to it, and cut off
from his head ; which was accordingly done ; a herald in
his coat reading to the multitude, that was called together
by sound of trumpet, the nature of his offence.
Upon this, all people were in great distraction ; the pro-
clamation, opening the new queen's title, came to be
variously descanted on. Some, who thought the crown
descended by right of blood, and that it could not be limited
by parliament, argued, that the king having his power from
God, it was only to descend in the natural way of inherit-
ance ; therefore they thought the next heir was to succeed.
And whereas the king's two sisters were both, by several
sentences, and acts of parliament, declared bastards ; and
whether that was well judged or not, they were to be
reputed such as the law declared them to be, so long as it
stood in force ; therefore they held, that the queen of Scot-
land was to succeed ; who, though she pretended this upon
Queen Mary's death, yet did not claim now, because, by the
1
THE REFORMATiOX. 301
papal law, the sentence against Queen Mary was declared
null. Others argued, that though a prince were named by
an immediate appointment from Heaven, yet he might
change the course of succession, as David did, preferring
Solomon before Adonijah : but this, it was said, did not be-
long to the kings of England, whose right to the crown,
with the extent of their prerogative, did not come from any
divine designation, but from a long possession, and the laws
of the land : and that therefore the king might by law limit
the succession, as well as he and other kings had, in some
points, limited the prerogative (which was clearly Sir
Thomas JMore's opinion) ; and that therefore the act of par-
liament, for the succession of the king's sisters, was still
strong in law. It was also said, that if the king's sisters
were to be excluded for bastardy, all Charles Brandon's
issue were in the same predicament ; since he was not law-
fully married to the French queen, his former wife Mortimer
being then alive, and his marriage with her was never dis-
solved (for though some English writers say they were
divorced^ yet those who wrote for the queen of Scots' title,
in the next reign, denied it) ; but in this the difference was
great between them ; since the king's sisters were declared
bastards in law ; whereas, this against Charles Brandon's
issue was only a surmise. Others objected, that if the
blood gave an indefeasible title, how came it that the Lady
Jane's mother did not reign 1 It is true, Maud the empress,
and Margaret countess of Richmond, were satisfied that
their sons, Henry the Second, and Henry the Seventh,
should reign in their rights ; but it had never been heard of,
that a mother had resigned to her daughter, especially
when she was yet under age. But this was imputed to the
duke of Suffolk's weakness, and the ambition of the duke of
Northumberland. That objection concerning the half-
blood, being a rule of common law in the families of subjects,
to cut off from step-mothers the inclinations and advantages
of destroying their husbands' children, was not applicable
to the crown : nor was that of one's being born out of the
kingdom, which was hinted at to exclude the queen of Scot-
land, thought pertinent to this case : since there was an
exception made in the law for the king's children, which
was thought to extend to all their issue. But all people
agreed in this, that though by act of parliament King
Henry was empowered to provide or limit the crown, by his
letters patents ; yet that was a grant particularly to him, and
did not descend to his heirs : so that the letters patents made
by King Edward could have no force to settle the crown,
and much less when they did expressly contradict an act of
Vol. II, Part I. 2D
302 HISTORY OF
parliament. The proceeding so severely against the vintner's
boy was imputed to the violent temper of the duke of
Northumberland. And though, when a government is
firm, and factions are weak, the making some public exam-
ples may intimidate a faction otherwise disheartened ; yet
severities, in such a juncture as this, when the council
had no other support but the assistance of the people,
seemed very unadvised ; and all thought it wafs a great error
to punish him in that manner.
This made them reflect on the rest of Northumberland's
cruelties ; his bringing the duke of Somerset, with those gen-
tlemen that suffered with him, to their end, by a foul con-
spiracy ; but above all things, the suspicions that lay on
him, of being the author of the late king's untimely death,
enraged the people so much against him, that without con-
sidering what they might suffer under Queen Mary, they
generally inclined to set her up.
The Lady Jane was proclaimed in many towns near
London, yet the people were generally running to Queen
Mary : many from ]\orfolk came to her, and a great body
of Suffolk men gathered about her, who were all for the Re-
formation. They desired to know of her, whether she would
alter the religion set up in King Edward's days ; to whonx
she gave full assurances, that she would never make any in-
novation or change, but be contented with the private
exercise of her own religion. Upon this they were all pos-
sessed with such a belief of her sincerity, that it made them
resolve to hazard their lives and estates in her quarrel. The
earls of Bath and Sussex raised forces, and joined with her ;
so did the sons of the Lord Wharton and Mordant ; with
many more.
Upon this the council resolved to gather forces for the
dispersing of theirs, and sent the earl of Huntington's
brother to raise Buckinghamshire, and others to other parts,
ordering them to meet the forces that should come from
London, at Newmarket. It was at first proposed to send
the duke of Suffolk to command them ; but the Lady Jane
was so much concerned in her father's preservation, that
she urged he might not be sent ; and he, being but a soft
man, was easily excused. So it fell next on the duke of
Northumberland, who was now much distracted in his mind.
He was afraid, if he went away, the city inight declare for
Queen Mary ; nor was he well assured of the council, who
seemed all to comply with him, rather out of fear than good
will. Cecil would not officiate as secretary, as himself re-
lates ; the judges would do nothing ; and the duke plainly
saw, that if he had not (according to the custom of our
THE REFORMATION. 303
princes, on their first coining to the crown), gone with the
Lady Jane, and the council, into the Tower, whereby he
kept them as prisoners, the council were inclined to desert
him. This divided him mxich in his thoughts. The whole
success of his design depended on the dispersing of the
queen's forces : and it was no less necessary to have a man
of courage continue still in the Tower. There was none-
there whom he could entirely trust, but the duke of Suffolk,
and he was so mean spirited, that he did not depend much
on him. But the progress the queen's forces made pressed
him to go, and make head against her. So he laid all the
heavy charges he could on the council, to look to Queen
Jane, and to stand firmly to her interests ; and left London
on the 14ih of July, marching out with two thousand horse
and six thousand foot. But as he rode through Bishopsgate
Street and Shoreditch, though there were great crowds
looking on, none cried out to wish him success, which gave
a sad indication how ill they were affected to him.
The council wrote to the emperor, by one Shelly, whom
they sent to give notice of the Lady Jane's succession, coin-
plaining that the Lady Mary was making stirs, and that his
ambassador had officiously meddled in their affairs ; but that
they had given orders for reducing the Lady Mary to her
duty. They also desired the continuance of his friendship,
and that he would command his resident to carry himself as
became an ambassador. Sir Philip Hobbey was continued
ambassador there ; the others were ordered to stay and pro-
secute the mediation of the peace ; but the emperor would
not receive those letters ; and in a few days there went
over others from Queen Mary.
Ridley was appointed to set out Queen Jane's title, in a
sermon at Paul's ; and to warn the people of the dangers
they would be in, if Queen Mary should reign : which he
did, and gave an account in his sermon of what had passed
between him and her, when he went and oflfered to preach
to her. At the same time the duke of JN'orthumberland, at
Cambridge, where himself was both chancellor of the
university and steward of the town, made the vice chan-
cellor preach to the same purpose. But he held in more ge-
neral terms, and managed it so, that there was no great
offence taken on either hand.
But now the queen had made her title be proclaimed at
Norwich; and sent letters all over England, requiring the peers,
and some others of great quality, to come to her assistance.
Some ships had been sent about, to lie on that coast for in-
tercepting her, if she should fly away ; but those who
commanded them were so dealt with, that instead of acting
304 HISTORY OF
against her, Uiey declared for her. Sir Edward Hastings
having raised four thousand men in Buckinghamshire,
instead of joining with the duke of Northumberland, went
over with them into her service. Many were also from all
places every day running to ber, and in several counties of
England she was proclaimed queen. But none came in to
the duke of Northumberland, so he v/rote earnestly to the
lords at London to send him more supplies.
They understanding, from all the corners of England, that
the tide grew everywhere strong for the queen, entered into
consultations how to redeem their past faults, and to recon-
cile themselves to her. The earl of Arundel hated North-
umberland on many accounts. The marquis of Winchester
was famous for his dexterity in shifting sides, always to his
own advantage. To them joined the earl of Pembroke, the
inore closely linked to the interests of the Lady Jane, since
his son had married her sister; which made him the
inore careful to disentangle himself in time. To those, Sir
Thomas Cheyney, warden of the cinque ports, and Sir
John Mason, with the two secretaries, came over. It was
said that the French and Spanish ambassadors had desired
an audience in some place in the city ; and it was proposed
to give it in the earl of Pembroke's house ; who being the
least suspected, it was agreed to by the duke of Suffolk,
that they should be suffered to go from the lower thither.
They also pretended, that since the duke of Northumber-
land had written so earnestly for new forces, they must go
and treat with my lord mayor and the city of London about
it. But as soon as they were got out, the earl of Arundel
pressed them to declare for Queen IMary ; and, to persuade
them to it, he laid open all the cruelty of Northumberland,
under whose tyranny they must resolve to be enslaved,
if they would not now shake it off. The other consenting
readily to it, they sent for the lord mayor, with the recorder,
and the aldermen ; and having declared their resolutions to
them, they rode together into Cheapside, and there pro-
claimed Queen Mary, on the 19th of July : from -thence
they went to St. Paul's, where Te Deum was sung. An
order was sent to the Tower, to require the duke of Suffolk
to deliver up that place, and to acknowledge Queen Mary :
and that the Lady Jane should lay down the title of queen.
To this, as her father submitted tamely, so she expressed
no sort of concern in losing that imaginary glory, which
now had for nine days been rather a burthen, than any mat-
ter of joy to her. They also sent orders to the duke of
Northumberland to disband his forces, and to carry himself
as an obedient subject to the queen. And the earl of
THE REFORMATIOX. 30&
Arundel, with the Lord Paget, were sent to give her an
account of it, who continued still at Framlingham in
Suffolk.
The duke of Northumberland had retired back to Cam-
bridge, to stay for new men from London ; but, hearing how
matters went there, before ever the council's orders came to
him, he dismissed his forces, and went to the market-place,
and proclaimed the queen, flinging up his own hat for joy,
and crying, " God save Queen Mary." But the earl of
Arundel being sent by the queen to apprehend him ; it is
said, that when he saw him, he fell abjectly at his feet to
beg his favour. This was like him, it being not more
unusual for such insolent persons to be most basely sunk
with their misfortunes, than to be out of measure blown up
with success. He was on the 25th of July sent to the Tower,
with the earl of Warwick his eldest son, Ambrose and Henry
two of his other sons. Some other of his friends were made
prisoners, among whom was Sir Thomas Palmer, the wicked
instrument of the duke of Somerset's fall, who was become
his most intimate confident ; and Dr. Sands the vice-chan-
cellor of Cambridge.
Now did all people go to the queen to implore her mercy.
She received them all very favourably, except the marquis
of Northampton, Dr. Ridley, and Lord Robert Dudley.
The first of these had been a submissive fawner on the duke
of Northumberland ; the second had incurred her displea-
sure by his sermon, and she gladly laid hold on any colour
to be more severe to him, that way might be made for
bringing Bonner to London again ; the third had followed
his father's fortunes. On the 27th, the lord chief justices,
Cholmley and Montague, were sent to the Tower ; and the
day after, the duke of Suffolk and Sir John Cheek went after
them ; the Lady Jane and her husband being still detained
in the Tower. J hree days after, an order came to set the
duke of Suffolk at liberty, upon engagement to return to
prisun when the queen required it, for it was generally
known that he had been driven on by Dudley : and as it
was believed, that he had not been faulty out of malice, so
his great weakness made them little apprehensive of any
dangers from him ; and therefore the queen being willing to
express a signal act of clemency at her first coming to the
crown, it was thought best to let it fall on him.
Now did the queen come towards London, being met on
the way by her sister Elizabeth, with a thousand horse, who
had gathered about her, to show their zeal to maintain both
their titles, which in this late contest had been linked
together. She made her entry to London on the 3d of
2D 3
306 HISTORY OF
August, with great solemnity and pomp. When she came
to the Tower, the duke of Norfolk, who had been almost
seven years in it ; Gardiner, the bishop of Winchester, that
had been five years there ; the duchess of Somerset, that had
been kept there near two years ; and the Lord Courtney
(whom she made afterv^ards earl of Devonshire), that was
son to the marquis of Exeter, and had been kept there ever
since his father was attainted, had their liberty granted
them. So now she was peaceably settled in the throne,
without any effusion of blood ; having broken through a
confederacy against her, which seemed to be so strong, that
if he that was the head of it had not been universally
odious to the nation, it could not have been so easily dissi-
pated. She was naturally pious and devout, even to super-
stition ; had a generous disposition of mind, but much
corrupted by melancholy, which was partly natural in her,
but much increased by the cross accidents of her life, both
before and after her advancement ; so that she was very
peevish and splenetic towards the end of her life. When
the differences became irreconcilable between her father and
mother, she followed her mother's interests, they being
indeed her own ; and for a great while could not be per-
suaded to submit to the king ; who, being impatient of con-
tradiction from any, but especially from his own child, was
resolved to strike terror in all his people, by putting her
openly to death : which her mother coming to know, wrote
her a letter of a very devout strain, which will be found in
the Collection (No. ii). In which, "she encouraged her
to suffer cheerfully, to trust to God, and keep her heart
clean. She charged her, in all things, to obey the king's
commands, except in the matters of religion. She sent her
two Latin books, the one of the Life of Christ (which was
perhaps the famous book of '1 homas a Kempis), and the
other St. Jerome's Letter. She bid her divert herself at the
virginals or lute, but above all things to keep herself pure,
and to enter into no treaty of marriage till tliese ill times
should pass over ; of which her mother seemed to retain
still good hopes." This letter should have been in my
former volume, if I had then seen it, but it is no improper
place to mention it here. At court, many were afraid to
move the king for her; both the duke of Norfolk and Gar-
diner looked on, and were unwilling to hazard their own in-
terests to preserve her. But (as it was now printed, and
both these appealed to) Cranmer was the only person that
would adventure on it. In his gentle way, he told the king,
that she was young and indiscreet, and therefore it was no
wonder if she obstinately adhered to that which her mother.
THE REFORMATION. 337
and all about her, had been infusing into her for many
years : but that it would appear strange if he should for this
cause so far forget he was a father, as to proceed to extremi-
ties with his own child : that if she were separated from her
mother, and her people, in a little time there might be
ground gained on her; but to take away her life would
raise horror through all Europe against him. By these
means he preserved her at that time.
After her mother's death, in June following, she changed
her note ; for, besides the declaration she then signed,
which was inserted in the former part of this work, she wrote
letters of such submission, as show how expert she was at
dissembling. Three of these to her father, and one to Crom-
well, 1 have put in the Collection (No. iii, iv, v, and vi) ;
" in which she, with the most studied expressions, declaring
her sorrow for her past stubbornness, and disobedience to
his most just and virtuous laws, implores his pardon, as
lying prostrate at his feet : and considering his great learn-
ing and knowledge, she puts her soul in his hand, resolving
that he should for ever thereafter direct her conscience,
from which she would never vary." This she repeats in
such tender words, that it shows she could command her-
self to say any thing that she tliought fit for her ends. And
when Cromwell wrote to her, to know *' what her opinion
was about pilgrimages, purgatory, and relics ; she assures
him she had no opinion at all, but such as she should
receive from the king, who had her whole heart in his keep-
ing ; and he should imprint upon it, in these and all other
matters, whatever his inestimable virtue, high wisdom, and
excellent learning, should think convenient for her." So
perfectly had she learned that style, that she knew was most
acceptable to him. Having copied these from the originals,
I thought it not unfit to insert them, that it may appear how
far those of that religion can comply, when their interest
leads them to it.
From that time this princess had been in all points most
exactly compliant to every thing her father did. And after
his death, she never pretended to be of any other religion,
than that which was established by him : so that all she
pleaded for, in her brother's reign, was only the continuance
of that way of worship, that was in use at her father's death.
Rut now, being come to the crown, that would not content
her ; yet, when she thought where to fix, she was dis-
tracted between two different schemes that were pre-
sented to her.
On the one hand, Gardiner and all that party were for
bringing religion back lo what it had been at King Henry's
308 HISTORY OF
death ; and afterward, by slow degrees, to raise it up to what
it had been before his breach with the papacy. On the
other hand, the queen, of her own inclination, was much
disposed to return immediately to the union of the catholic
church, as she called it : and it was necessary for her to do
it, since it was only by the papal authority that her illegiti-
mation was removed. To this it was answered, that all
those acts and sentences that had passed against her, might
be annulled, without taking any notice of the pope.
Gardiner, finding these things had not such weight with her
as he desired (for she looked on him as a crafty temporizing
man), sent over to the emperor, on whom she depended
much, to assure him, that if he would persuade her to make
him chancellor, and to put affairs into his hands, he should
order them so, that every thing she had a mind to, should be
carried in time. But Gardiner understood she had sent for
Cardinal Pole ; so he wrote to the emperor, that he knew
his zeal for the exaltation of popedom would undo all ;
therefore he pressed him to write to the queen for moderat-
ing her heat, and to stop the cardinal's coming over. He
said, that Pole stood attainted by law, so that his coming
into England would alarm the nation. He observed, that
upon a double account they were averse to the papacy : the
one was, for the church-lands, which they had generally
bought from the crown on very easy terms, and they would
not easily part with them. The other was, the fear they had
of papal dominion and power, which had been now for
about twenty-fi"ve years set out to the people, as the most
intolerable tyranny that ever was. Therefore he said, it was
necessary to give them some time to wear out these preju-
dices ; and the precipitating of councils might ruin all. He
gave the emperor also secret assurances of serving him in all
his interests. All this Gardiner did the more warily,
because he understood that Cardinal Pole hated him as a
false and deceitful man. Upon this the emperor wrote to
the queen several letters with his own hand, which are so
hardly legible, that it was not possible for me, or some
others to whom I have showed them, to read them so well
as to copy them out : and one that was written by his sister,
the queen of Hungary, and signed by him, is no better ; but
from many half sentences I find, that all was with a design
to temper her, that she should not make too much haste, nor
be too much led by Italian counsels. Upon the return of
this message, the seal, which had been taken from Good-
rick, bishop of Ely, and put for some days in the keeping of
Hare, master of the rolls, was, on the 13th of Aueust, given
to Gardiner, who was declared lord chancellor of England,
THE REFORMATION. 309
and the conduct of affairs was chiefly put in his hands. So
thnt now the measure of the queen's councils was to do
every thing slowly, and by such sure steps as might put them
less in hazard.
The first thing that was done was, the bringing the duke
of Northuraberiand to his trial. The old duke of Norfolk
was made lord high steward ; the queen thinking it fit to put
the first character of honour on him, who had suffered so
much for being the head of the popish party. And here a
subtle thing was started, which had been kept a great secret
hitherto. It was said, the duke of Norfolk had never been
truly attainted; and that the act against him was not a true
act of parliament ; so that, witliout any pardon or resti-
tution in blood, he was still duke of Norfolk *. This he had
never mentioned all the last reign, lest that should have
procured an act to confirm his attainder. So he came now
in upon his former right, by which all the grants that had
been given of his estate were to be declared void by com-
mon law. The duke of Northumberland, with the marquis
of Northampton and the earl of Warwick, were brought to
their trials. The duke desired two points might be first
answered by the judges, in matter of law. The one,
AVhether a man, acting by the authority of the great seal,
and the order of the privy council, could thereby become
guilty of treason 1 The other was. Whether those \vho had
been equally guilty with him, and by vvhose direction and
commands he had acted, could sit his judges 1 To these the
judges made answer. That the great seal of one that was
not lawful queen, could give no authority nor indemnity to
those that acted on such a warrant : and that any peer that
was not, by an attainder upon record, convicted of such ac-
cession to his crime, might sit his judge, and was not to be
challenged upon a surmise or report. So these points, by
which only he could hope to have defended himself, being
thus determined against him, he confessed he was guilty,
and submitted to the queen's mercy. So did the marquis of
Northampton, and the duke's son, the earl of Warwick,
who (it seems by this trial) had a writ for sitting in the
house of peers. They were all three found guilty. Judg-
ment also passed next day, in a jury of commoners, against
Sir John Gates, and his brother Sir Henry ; Sir Andrew
Dudley, and Sir Thomas Palmer, confessing their indict-
ments. But of all these it was resolved, that only the duke
of Northumberland, and Sir John Gates and Sir Thomas
* In the session of this parlinmeist a private act passed to qiake voW
the dnke of Norfolk's attainder.
310 HISTORY OF
Palmer, should be made examples : Heath, bishop of Wor-
cester, was employed to instruct the duke, and to prepare
him for his death. Whether he had been always in heart
what he then professed, or whether he only pretended it,
hoping that it might procure him favour, is variously re-
ported : but certain it is, that he said, he had been always
a catholic in his heart ; yet this could not save him. He
was known to be a man of that temper, so given both to re-
venge and dissimulation, that his enemies saw it was neces-
sary to put him out of the way, lest, if he had lived, he
might have insinuated himself into the queen's favour, and
then turned the danger upon them. So the earl of Arundel,
now made lord steward of the household, with others,
easily obtained that his head should be cut off, together
with Sir John Gates's and Sir Thomas Palmer's.
On the 22d of August he was carried to the place of
execution. On the way, there was some expostulation be-
tween Gates and him ; they, as is ordinary for complices in
ill actions, laying the blame of their miseries on one
another : yet they professed they did mutually forgive, and
so died in charity together. It is said, that he made a long
speech, accusing his former ill life, and confessing his
treasons. But that part of it which concerned religion is
only preserved. In it he exhorted the people to stand to the
religion of their ancestors, and to reject that of later date,
which had occasioned all the misery of the foregoing thirty
years ; and desired, as they would prevent the like for the
future, that they would drive out of the nation those trum-
pets of sedition, the new preachers ; that for himself, what-
ever he had otherwise pretended, he believed no other reli-
gion than that of his forefathers; in which he appealed to
his ghostly father, the bishop of Worcester, then present
with him ; but, being blinded with ambition, he had made
wreck of his conscience, by temporizing, for which he pro-
fessed himself sincerely penitent. So did he, and the other
two, end their days. Palmer was little pitied, as being
believed a treacherous conspirator against his former master
and friend, the duke of Somerset.
Thus died the ambitious duke of Northumberland. He
had been, in the former part of his life, a great captain, and
had the reputation of a wise man : he was generally success-
ful, and they that are so are always esteemed wise. He was
an extraordinary man in a lower size, but had forgot him-
self much when he was raised higher, in which his mind
seemed more exalted than his fortunes. But as he was
transported, by his rage and revenge, out of measure, so he
was as servile and mean ih his submissions. Fox, it seems.
THE REFORMATION. 311
was informed, that he had hopes given him of his life, if he
should declare himself to be of the popish religion, even
though his head were laid on the block : but which way
soever he made that declaration, either to get his life by it,
or that he had really been always what he now professed ; it
argued that he regarded religion very little, either in his
life or at his death. But whether he did any thing to hasten
the late king's death, I do not find it was at all inquired
after : only those who considered, how much guilt disorders
all people, and that they have a black cloud over their
minds, which appears either in the violence of rage, or the
abjectness of fear, did find so great a change in his deport-
ment, in these last passages of his life, from what was in the
former parts of it, that they could not but think there was
some extraordinary thing within him from whence it
flowed.
And for King Edward's death, those who had affairs now
in their hands were so little careful of his memory, and
indeed so glad of his death, that it is no wonder they made
little search about it. It is rather strange that they allowed
him such funeral rites. For the queen kept a solemn
exequy, with all the other remembrances of the dead, and
masses for him, used in the Roman church, at the Tower, on
the 8th of August, the same day that he was buried at
Westminster. The lord treasurer (who was the marquis of
Winchester, still continued in that trust), the earls of
Shrewsbury and Pembroke, being the principal mourners.
Day, that was now to be restored to his see of Chichester,
was appointed to preach the funeral sermon : in which he
commended and excused the king, but loaded his govern-
ment severely ; and extolled the queen much, under whom
he promised the people happy days. It was intended that
all the burial rites should have been according to the old
forms that were before the Reformation. But Cranmer op-
posed this vigorously, and insisted upon it, that as the king
himself had been a zealous promoter of that Reformation,
so the English service was then established by law : upon
this he stoutly hindered any other way of officiating, and
hiinself performed all the offices of the burial * ; to which
he joined the solemnity of a communion. In these, it may
be easily imagined, he did every thing with a very lively
* It is highly improhable that Cranmer, who was then under displea-
sure, and was confined to his liouse, and soon after to the Tower, should
be allowed to perform these offices in such manner. Godwin (anno
1553) Annul, shys, " Coucionem habente Daio Cicester. Episcopo, qui
etiani sacrum peregit vemacula usus Anglican£i, et Eucharistiam prse-
«*n(ibus exhibuit," &c. See HoUngshed likewise, vol. ii, p. 1089.
312 HISTORY OF
sorrow ; since as he had loved the king beyond expression,
so he could not but look on his funeral as the burial of the
Reformation, and, in particular, as a step to his own.
On the 12th of August the queen made an open declara-
tion in council, that, although her conscience was stayed
in the matters of religion, yet she was resolved not to com-
pel or strain others, otherwise than as God should put into
their hearts a persuasion of that truth she was in ; and this
she hoped should be done by the opening his word to them,
by godly, virtuous, and learned preachers. Now ail the
deprived bishops looked to be quickly placed in their sees
again. Bonner went to St. Paul's on the 13th of August,
being Sunday, whereBourn.that was his chaplain, preached
before him. He spoke honourably of Bonner, with sharp
reflections on the proceedings against him in the time of
King Edward. This did much provoke the whole audience,
who, as they hated Bonner, so codld not bear to hear any
thing said that seemed to detract from that king. Here-
upon there was a great tumult in the church ; some called
to pull him down, others flung stones, and one threw a dag-
ger towards the pulpit, with that force, that it stuck fast in
the timber of it ; Bourn, by stooping, saved himself from
that danger : and Rogers and Bradford, two eminent
preachers, and of great credit with the people, stood up, and
gently quieted the heat : and they, to deliver Bourn out of
their hands, conveyed him from the pulpit to a house
near the church.
This was such an accident as the papists would have de-
sired ; for it gave them a colour to proceed more severely,
and to prohibit preaching, which was the first step they in-
tended to make. There was a message sent to the lord
mayor, to give a strict charge, that every citizen should take
care of all that belonged to him, and see that they went to
their own parish church, and kept the peace : as also to ac-
quaint them with what the queen had declared in council,
on the 13th of August. And, on the 18th, there was pub-
lished an inhibition in the queen's name to this effect:
" that she, considering the great danger that had come to
the realm, by the differences in religion, did declare for
herself, that she was of that religion that she had professed
from her infancy, and that she would maintain it during her
time, and be glad that all her subjects would charitably re-
ceive it. Yet she did not intend to compel any of her sub-
jects to it, till public order should be taken in it by common
assent ; requiring all, in the mean while, not to move sedi-
tion or unquietness till such order should be settled ; and
not to use the name of papist or heretic, but to live together
THE EEFORMATfON. 313
in love, and in the fear of God: but if any made as-
semblies of the people, she would take care they should be
severely punished : and shestraitly charged them, that none
should preach, or expound Scripture, or print any books, or
plays, without her special licence. And required her sub-
jects, that none of them would presume to punish any on
pretence of the late rebellion, but as they should be autho-
rized by her : yet she did not thereby restrain any from in-
forming against such offenders. She would be most sorry to
have cause to execute the severity of the law, but she was
resolved not to suffer such rebellious doings to go un-
punished ; but hoped her subjects would not drive her to the
extreme execution of the laws."
When this was published, it was much descanted on. The
profession she made of her religion to be the same it had
been from her infancy, showed it was not her father's reli-
gion, but entire popery, that she intended to restore. It was
also observed, that whereas before she had said plainly
she would compel none to be of it ; now that was qualified
vvith this, till public order should be taken in it : which was,
till they could so frame a parlian ent, that it should concur
with the queen's design. The equal forbidding of assem-
blies, or ill n^mes, oh both sides, was thought intended to be
a trap for the reformed, that they should be punished if they
offended, but the others were sure to be rather encouraged.
The restraint of preaching without licence, was pretended
to be copied from what had been done in King Edward's
time : yet then there was a liberty left for a long time to all
to preach in their own churches, only they might preach no-
where else without a licence : and the power of licensing
was also lodged at first with the bishops in their several dio-
ceses, and at last with the archbishop of Canterbury, as well
as with the king : whereas now, at one stroke, all the pulpits
of England, that were in the hands of the reformed, were
brought under an interdict ; for they were sure to obtain no
licences. }3ut the cunningest part of these inhibitions was,
the declaring that the queen would proceed with rigour
against all that were guilty of the late rebellion, if they
should provoke her : many about London had, some way or
other, expressed themselves for it, and these were the hot-
test among the reformed : so that here was a sharp threat-
ening hang ever them, if they should express any more zeal
about religion.
When this was put out, the queen understanding that in
Suffolk those of that profession took a little more liberty
than their neighbours, presuming on their great merit, and
the queen's promises to them ; there was a special letter
Vol. II, Pak r I. 2 E
314 HISTORY OF
sent to the bishop of Norwich's vicar, himself being at Brus-
sels, to see to the execution of these injunctions, against any
that should preach without licence. Upon this, some came
from Suffolk to put the queen in mind of her promise. This
was thought insolent, and she returned them no answer,
but that they, being members, thought to rule her that was
their head ; but they should learn, that the members ought
to obey the head, and not to think to bear rule over it. One
of these had spoken of her promise with more confidence
than the rest ; his name was Dobbe ; so he was ordered to
stand three days in the pillory, as having said that which
tended to the defamation of the queen. And from hence all
saw what a severe go\>ernment they were to come under, in
which the claiming of former promises, that had been made
^by the queen when she needed their assistance, was to be
accounted a crime. But there was yet a more unreasonable
severity showed to Bradford and Rogers, who had appeased
the tumult the Sunday before, and rescued the preacher
from the rage of the people. It was said, that their appeas-
ing it so easily showed what interest they had with the peo-
ple, and was a presumption that they had set it on ; so,
without any further proof, the one was put in the Tower,
and the other confined to his house.
But now the deprived bishops, who were, Bonner of Lon-
don, Gardiner of Winchester, Tonstal of Duresme, Heath
of Worcester, and Day of Chichester, were to be restored
to their sees. I have only seen the commission for restoring
Bonner and Tonstal ; but the rest were no doubt in the
same strain, with a little variation. The commission for
Bonner, bearing date the 22d of August, was directed to
some civilians, setting forth, that he had petitioned the
queen to examine the appeal he had made from the dele-
gates that had deprived him ; and that therefore, the sen-
tence against him being unjust and illegal, he desired it
might be declared to be of no effect. Upon which these did,
without any great hesitation, return the sentences void, and
the appeals good. So thus they were restored to their sees.
But, because the bishopric of Duresme was by act of parlia-
ment dissolved, and the regalities of it, which had been
given to the duke of Northumberland, were now, by his at-
tainder, fallen into the queen's hand, she granted Tonstal
letters patents, erecting that bishopric again of new ; making
mention, that some wicked men, to enrich themselves by it,
had procured it to be dissolved.
On the 29th of August commission was granted to Gardi-
ner to give licences under the great seal to such grave,
learned, and discreet persons, as he should think meet and
THE REFORMATION. 315
able to preach God's word. All who were so licensed, were
qualified to preach in any cathedral or parochial church, to
which he should think it convenient to send them. By this
the reformers were not only out of hope to obtain any li-
cences, but likewise saw a way laid down for sending such
men as Gardiner pleased into all their pulpits, to infect
their people. Upon this they considered what to do. If
there had been only a particular interdiction of some private
persons, the considerations of peace and order being of a
more public nature than the consequence of any one man's
open preaching could be, they judged it was to be submitted
to : but in such a case, when they saw this interdiction was
general, and on design to stop their mouths till their ene-
mies should seduce their people, they did not think they
were bound in conscience to give obedience. Many of them
therefore continued to preach openly ; others, instead of
preaching in churches, were contented to have only the
prayers and other service there ; but, for instructing their
people, had private conferences with them. The council,
hearing that their orders had been disobeyed by some in
London, two in Coventry, and one in Amersham, they were
sent for, and put in prison. And Coverdale bishop of Exe-
ter, and Hooper of Gloucester, being cited to appear before
the council, they came and presented themselves on the
29th and 30th of August ; and on the 1st of September
Hooper was sent to the Fleet, and Coverdale appointed to
wait their pleasure.
At this time the popish party, growing now insolent over
England, began to be as forward in making changes before
the laws warranted them, as those of the Reformation had
been in King J^dward's time ; so that, in many places, they
set up images, and the Latin service, with the old rites
again. This was plainly against law : but the council had
no mind to hinder it ; but, on the other hand, encouraged
it all they could. Upon which Judge Hales, who thought
he might with the more assurance speak his mind, having
appeared so steadily for the queen, did, at the quarter ses-
sions in Kent, give a charge to the justices to see to the
execution of King Edward's laws, which were still in force
and unrepealed. Upon this he was, without any regard to
his former zeal, put, first, into the King's Bench : from
thence he was removed to the Counter, and after that to the
Fleet : v\ here the good old man was so disordered with the
cruelties that the warden told him were contrived against
all that would not change their religion, that it turned his
brain, so that he endeavoured to have killed himself with a
315 HISTORY OF
penknife.* He was after that, upon his submission, set at
liberty; but never came to himself ageiin : so he, not being
well looked to, drowned himself. This, with the usage of
the Suffolk men, was much censured ; and from thence it
was said, that no merits or services could secure any from
the cruelties of that religion. And it appeared in another
signal instance how the actions of men were not so much
considered as their religion. The lord chief justice Monta-
gue, who had very unwillingly drawn the letters patents for
the Lady Jane's succession, was turned out of his place,
kept six weeks in prison, fined in a thousand pounds, and
some lands^that had been given him by King Edward, were
taken from him ; though he had sent his son with twenty
men to declare for the queen, and had a great family of se-
venteen children, six sons and eleven daughters : whereas
Judge Bromley, that had concurred in framing the letters
patents, without any reiuctancy, was made lord chief jus-
tice. The true reason was, Bromley was a papist in his
heart, and Montague was for the Reformation.
In many other places, where the people were popishly
affected, they drove away their pastors. At Oxford, Peter
Martyr was so ill used, that he was forced to fly for his safety
to Lambeth, where he could not look for any long protec-
tion, since Cianmer himself was every day in expectation of
being sent to prison. He kept himself quiet, and was con-
triving how to give some public and noble testimonies to
the doctrine that he had so long professed, and indeed had
been the chief promoter of in this church. But his quiet be-
haviour was laid hold on by his enemies, and it was given
out, that he was resolved to comply with every thing the
queen had a mind to. So I find Bonner wrote to his friend
Mr. Lechmore, on the 6th of September, in that letter which
is in the Collection (No. vii). " He gives him notice, that
the day before he had been restored to his bishopric, and
Ridley repulsed ; for which he is very wiity. Ridley had a
steward for two manors of his, whose name was Shipside,
his brother-in-law ; upon which he plays as if he had been
Sheep's-head. He orders Lechmore to look to his estate,
* Hales changed his religion : so Fox, vol. iii, p. 967. " Judge
Hales never fell into that inconvenience before he had consented to
papistry." This probably was one srreat occasion of his melancholy,
^nd Fox nioreexpressly, in the first edition of his book, p. 1116, says —
" He was cast forthwith into a great repentance of the deed, and info a
terror of conscience." And Bradford (Letters of the Martyrs, p. 384)
proposes him as an example of one " that was fearfully left of Goi to
onrailnjonition."
I
THE REFORMATION. 317
and he should take care at the n6xt parliament that both
the Sheeps-heads and the Calves-heads should be used as
they deserved. He adds that Cranmer, whom in scorn he
calls Mr. Canterbury, was become very humble, and ready
to submit himself in all things ; but that would not serve his
turn : and it was expected that he should be sent to the
Tower that very day." These reports being brought to
Cranmer, some advised him to fly beyond seas : he said, he
would not dissuade others from that course, now that they
saw a persecution rising ; but, considering the station he
was in, and the IjP'^d he had in all the changes that were
made, he thought i; . j indecent a thing for him to fly, that
no entreaties should ever persuade him to it. So he, by Pe-
ter Martyr's advice, drew up a writing, that I have put in
the Collection (.No. viii) in Latin, as it was at that
time translated. The substance of it was to this effect ;
" That as the devil had at all times set on his instruments
by lies to defame the servants of God, so he was now more
than ordinarily busy. For whereas King Henry had begun
the correcting of the abuses of the mass, which his son had
brought to a further perfection ; and so the Lord's supper
was restored to its first institution, and was celebrated ac-
cording to the pattern of the primitive church : now, the
devil intending to bring the mass again into its room, as be-
ing his own invention, liad stirred up some to give out, that
it had been set up in Canterbury by his the said Cranmer's
order ; and it was said, that he had undertaken to sing mass
to the queen's majesty, both at King Edward's funeral, at
Paul's, and other places : and though for these twenty
years he had despised all such vain and false reports as
were spread of him, yet now he thought it not fit to lay
under such misrepresentations. Therefore he protested to
all the world, that the mass was not set up at Canterbury by
his order; but that a fawning hypocritical monk (this was
Thornton, suffragan of Dover) had done it without his know-
ledge: and for what he was said to have undertaken to
the queen, her majesty knew well how false that wcis ; offer-
ing, if he might obtain her leave for it, to maintain, that
every thing in the communion service that was set out by.
their most innocent ahd good King Edward, was according
to Christ's institution, and the practice of the apostles and
the ancient church for many ages ; to which the mass was
contrary, being full of errors and abuses : and although
Peter Martyr was by some called an ignorant man, he, with
him or other four or five, such as he should choose, would
be ready to defend not only their Book of Common-Prayer,
2E3
318 HISTORY OF
and the other rites of their service, but the whole doctrine
and order of religion, set forth by the late king, as more
pure, and more agreeable to the word of God, than any sort
of religion that had been in England for a thousand years be-
fore it: provided that all things should be judged by the
Scriptures, and that the reasonings on both sides should be
faithfully written down."
This he had drawn, with a resolution to have made a pub-
lic use of it : but Scory, who had been bishop of Chichester,
coming to him, he showed him the paper, and bid him con-
sider of it. Scory indiscreetly gave copies of it ; and one of
these was publicly read in Cheapside, on the 5th of Septem-
ber. So, on the 8th of that month, he was called before the
star-chamber, and asked whether he was the author of that
seditious bill, that was given out in his name ; and if so,
whether he was sorry for it. He answered, that the bill
was truly his ; but he was very sorry it had gone from him
in such a manner ; for he had resolved to have enlarged it
in many things, and to have ordered it to be affixed to the
doors of St. Paul's, and of the other churches in London,
with his hand and seal to it. He was at that time, contrary
to all men's expectation, dismissed. Gardiner plainly saw
he could not expect to succeed him, and that the queen had
designed that see for Cardinal Pole, so he resolved to protect
and preserve Cranmer all he could. Some moved, that he
should be only put from his bishopric, and have a small pension
assigned him, with a charge to keep within a confinement,
and not to meddle with matters of religion. He was gene-
rally beloved for the gentleness of his temper ; so it was
thought, that proceeding severely with him might alienate
some from them, and embroil their affairs in the next parlia-
ment. Others objected, that if he, who had been the chief
promoter of heresy, was used with such tenderness, it would
encourage the rest to be more obstinate. And the queen,
who bad forgotten the services he did her in her father's
time, remembering rather that he had pronounced the sen-
tence of divorce against her mother, was easily induced to
proceed severely. So on the 13th of September, both he and
Latimer were called before the council ; Latimer was that
day committed : but Cranmer was respited till next day, and
then he was sent to the Tower, both for matters of treason
against the queen, and for dispersing of seditious bills.
Tylor, of Hadlee, and several other preachers, were also
put in prison ; and upon an information brought against
Horn, dean of Duresme, he was sent for.
The foreigners, that were come over upon public faith and
THE REFORMATION. 319
encouragement, were better used; for Peter Martyr was
preserved from the rage of his enemies, and suffered to go
beyond sea. There was also an order sent to John a Lasco
and his congregation to be gone ; their church being taken
from them, and their corporation dissolved. And a hundred
and seventy-five of them went away in two ships to Den-
mark, on the 17th of September, with all their preachers,
except two, who were left to look to those few which stayed
behind ; and, being engaged in trade, resolved to live in
England, and follow their consciences in the matters of re-
ligion in private, with the assistance of those teachers. But
a Lasco, after a long and hard passage, arriving at Den-
mark, was as ill received there as if it had been a popish
country, when they understood that he and his company
were of the Plelvetian confession : so that, though it was
December, and a very severe winter, they were required to
be gone within two days, and could not obtain so much as
liberty to leave their wives or children behind them till
they could provide a place for them. From thence they
went, first to Lubeck, then to Wismar and Hamburgh, where
they found the disputes about the manner of Christ's pre-
sence in the sacrament had raised such violent animosities,
that, after much barbarous usage, they were banished out of
all those towns, and could find no place to settle in till
about the end of March, that they came to Friesland, where
they were suffered to plant themselves.
Many in England, seeing the government was set on se-
vere courses so early, did infer, that this would soon grow
up to an extreme persecution ; so that above a thousand
persons fled beyond seas : most of them went in the com-
pany, and as the servants, of French protestants, who,
having come over in King Edward's time, were now re-
quiredi as the Germans had been, to return into their own
country. The council, understanding this, took care that
no Englishman should escape out of their hands ; and
therefore sent an ctder to the ports, that none should be
suffered to go over as Frenchmen but those who brought
certificates from the French ambassador. Among those
that had got over, some eminent divines went ; who, either
having no cures, or being turned out of their benefices,
were not under such ties to any flock : so that they judged
themselves disengaged, and therefore did not, as hirelings,
leave their flock to the persecution then imminent, but
rather went to look after those who had now left England.
The chief of those tliat went at first were, Cox, Sands,
Grindal, and Horn. Cox was without any good colour
320 HISTORY OF
turned out, both of his deanery of Christ-church, and his
prebendary at Westminster. He was put into the Mar-
shalsea, but on the 19th of August was discharged. Sands
was turned oui for his sermon before the duke of Northum-
berland, at Cambridge : on what account Grindal was
turned out, I know not. Horn, soon after he got beyond
sea, printed an apology for his leaving his country : he
tells, that he heard there were some crimes against the state
objected to him, which made him come up from Duresrae
to clear himself. It was said, that three letters had been
written to him in the queen's name, requiring him to come
up, and intimating that they were resolved to charge him
with contempt, and other points of state. He protests that
he had never received but one, which was given him on
the road ; but seeing how he was like to be used, he with-
drew out of England ; upon which he takes occasion in that
discourse to vindicate the preachers in King Edward's time,
against whom it was now objected, that they had neglected
fasting and prayer, and had allowed the people all sorts of
liberty. This, he said, was so false, that the ruling men in
that time were much offended at the great freedom which
the preachers the«n took, so that many of them would hear
no more sermons : and he says for himself, that though
Tonstall was now his great enemy, he had refused to ac-
cept of his bishopric, and was ill used and threatened for
denying to take it.
All these things tended much to inflame the people.
Therefore great care was taken^ first, to oblige all those
noblemen who had assisted the queen at her coming to the
crown ; since a grateful acknowledgment of past services is
the greatest encouragement, both to the same persons to
renew them, and to others to undertake the like upon new
occasions. The earl of Arundel was made lord steward ;
Sir Edward Hastings was made master of the horse, and
afterwards Lord Hastings ; Sir John Gage, lord chamber-
lain ; Sir John Williams, who had proclaimed the queen in
Oxfordshire, was made Lord Williams ; and Sir Henry
Jerningham, that first gathered the men of Norfolk about
her, was made captain of her guard : but RatclifF, earl of
Sussex, had done the most considerable service of them all ;
for to him she had given the chief command of her army,
and he had managed it with that prudence, that others
were thereby encouraged to come in to her assistance ; so
an unusual honour was contrived for him, that he might
cover his head in her presence : which passed under the
great seal the 2d of October ; he being the only peer of
THE REFORMATION. 321
England on whom this honour was ever conferred, as far as
I know *. The like was granted to the Lord Courcy, baron
of Kingsale, in Ireland, whose posterity enjoy it to this day ;
but 1 am not so well informed of that family, as to know by
which of our kings it was first granted. The queen having
summoned a parliament to meet the 5th of October, was
crowned on the 1st of that month, by Gardiner ; who with
ten other bishops, all in their mitres, copes, and crosiers,
performed that ceremony with great solemnity ; Day
preaching the coionation sermon ; who, it seems, was ac-
counted the best preacher among them ; sinas he was or-
dered to preach both at the late king's funeral, and now
again at the coronation.
But Gardiner had prepared a largess of an extraordinary
nature for the queen to distribute that day among her
people, besides her general pardon : he caused a proclama-
tion to be published, which did set forth, " that whereas
the good subjects of England had always exhibited aid to
their princes, when the good of the public, and honour of
the realm, required it; and though the queen, since her
coming to the crown, found the treasury was marvellously
exhausted, by the evil government of late years, especially
since the duke of Xorthumbeiland bare rule; though she
found herself charged vvith divers great sums of her father
and brother's debts, which for her own honour, and the
honour of the realm, she determined to pay in times conve-
nient and reasonable ; yet having a special regard to the
welfare of her subjects, and accounting their loving hearts
and prosperity the chiefest treasure which she desired, next
to the favour and grace of God ; therefore, since in her
brother's last parliament, two tenths, two fifteenths, and a
subsidy both out of lands and goods, were given to him for
paying his debts, which were now due to her ; she of her
great clemency did fully pardon and discharge these sub-
sidies ; trusting her said good subjects will have loving con-
sideration thereof for their parts, whom she heartily requires
to bend themselves wholly to God, to serve him sincerely,
and with continual prayer, for the honour and advance-
ment of the queen and the common-wealth.
And thus matters were prepared for the parliament;
which was opened the 5th of October. In the writ of sum-
• Dr. Fuller assures us, in his Church History, ' ook Ix, p, 167, that
he had seen a charter (printed by King Henry the Eighth, the 16th of
July, in the eighteenth of his reign, and confirmed by act of pari a-
inent, to Franc s Brown, a commoner, giv ng him leave to put on his
tap in the presence of the king mA his heirs ; and not to put it oft', but
'"or his own eai^e and plea»uri'.
322 HISTORY OF
mons, and all other writs, the queen retained still the title
of supreme head. Taylor, bishop of Lincoln, and Harley,
bishop of Hereford, came thither, resolving to justify their
doctrine. Most of the other reformed bishops were now in
prison : for, besides those formerly mentioned, on the 4th
of October, the archbishop of York was put in the Tow^er,
no cause being given, but heinous oflences only named in
general. When the mass begun, it is said, that those two
bishops withdrew, and were upon that never suffered to
come to their places again. But one Fox, the clerk of the
council in Queen Elizabeth's time, reports this otherwise,
and more probably ; that Bishop Taylor took his place in
his robes, but refusing to give any reverence to the mass,
was violently thrust out of the house. He says nothing of
Harley, so it is probable that he followed the other. The
same writer also informs us, that, in many places of the
country, men were chosen by force and threats ; in other
places those employed by the court did by violence hinder
the commons from coming to choose ; in many places false
returns were made ; and that some were violently turned
out of the hcnise of commons : upon which reasons he con-
cludes that it was no parliament, since it was under a force ;
and so might be annulled, as the parliament held at Coven-
try, in the 38th year of King Henry the Sixth, was, upon
evidence of the like force, declared afterwards to be no par-
liament. The journals of the house of lords in this parlia-
ment are lost ; so there is no light to be had of their pro-
ceedings, but from the imperfect journals of the house of
commons.
On the second day of the session, one moved in the
house of commons for a review of King Edward's laws.
But that, being awhile argued, was at this time laid aside,
and the bill for tonnage and poundage was put in. Then
followed a debate upon Dr. Nowell's being returned from
Loo, in Cornwall, whether he, being a prebendary of West-
minster, could sit in that house 1 and the committee being
appointed to search for precedents, it was reported, that
he, being represented in the convocation house, could not
be a member of that house *, so he was cast out. The bill
of tonnage and poundage was sent up to the lords, who sent
it down to the commons to be reformed in two provisos that
were not according to former precedents. How far this
was contrary to the rights of the commons, who now say
that the lords cannot alter a bill of money, I am not able to
* Tretfonnel, a prebendary of Westminster, sat in the house in tU«'
second sessions of this parliament.
THE REFORMATION. 323
lietermine. The only public bill that passed in this short
session was for a declaration of treasons and felonies; by
which it was ordained, that nothing should be judged trea-
son, but what was within the statute of treasons in the
twenty-fifth of Edward the Third ; and nothing should be
so judged felony, that was not so before the first year of
King Henry the Eighth, excepting from any benefit of this
act, all such as had been in prison for treason, petty treason,
or misprision of treason, before the last of September ; who
were also accepted out of the queen's pardon at her corona-
tion. Two private bills also passed : the one for the restoring
of the wife of the late marquis of Exeter, who had been at-
tainted in the thirty-second year of King Henry's reign ;
and the other for her son Edward Courtney, earl of Devon-
shire. And so the parliament was prorogued from the 21st
to the 24th of October, that there might be a session of par-
liament consisting only of acts of mercy ; though this re-
peal of additional treasons and felonies was not more than
what had passed in tiie beginning of King Edward's reign,
without the clog of so severe a proviso, by which many
were cut off from the favour designed by it.
Some have thought, that since treasons had been reduced,
by the second act of Edward the Sixth, to the standard of
the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, that therefore there
was somewhat else designed by this act, than barely the
repealing some late severe acts, which, being done the first
of Edward the Sixth, needed not be now repealed, if it im-
ported no more. And since this act, as it is worded, men-
tions, or rather excepts, those treasons that are declared
and expressed in the twenty- fifth of Edward the Third,
they have inferred, that the power of parliaments, declar-
ing the treasons ex post facto, which was reserved by that
statute, is hereby taken away, and that nothing is now to
be held treason, but what is enumerated in that statute.
Yet this is still liable to debate ; since the one may be
thought to be declared and expressed in general words, as
well as the other specialties are in more particular words ;
and is also still in force. So nothing seems comprehended
within this repeal, but the acts passed in King Edward's
reign, declaring other crimes to be treason : some are added
in the same act, and others in that of the third and fourth
of his reign, chap. 5. Nor is it likely that, if the parlia-
ment had intended to have delivered the subjects from
the apprehensions of all acts of attainder, upon a declara-
tion of new treasons, they would not have expressed it more
plainly ; since it must have been very grateful to the na-
324 HISTORY OF
tion, which had groaned heavily under arbitrary attainders
of late years.
When the parliament met again, the first bill the com-
mons entered on, was that of tonnage and poundage, which
they passed in two days. Then was the bill about King
Henry's marriage with the queen's mother sent down on
the 26th by the lords, and the commons passed it on the
28th : so strangely was the stream turned, that a divorce,
that had been for seven years much desired by the nation,
was now repealed upon fewer days' consultation. In the
preamble it was said, "That truth, how much soever ob-
scured and borne down, will in the end break out : and
that therefore they declared, that King Henry the Eighth,
being lawfully married to Queen Catharine, by the consent
of both their parents, and the advice of the wisest men in
the realm, and of the best and notablest men for learning in
Christendom, did continue that state twenty years, in which
God blessed them with her majesty and other issue, and a
course of great happiness : but then a very few malicious
persons did endeavour to break that happy agreement be-
tween them, and studied to possess the king with a scruple
in his conscience about it ; and, to support that, caused
the seals of some universities to be got against it, a few
persons being corrupted with money for that end. They
had also, by sinistrous ways and secret threatenings, pro-
cured the seals of the universities of this kingdom ; and,
finally, Thomas Cranmer did most ungodly, and against
law, judge the divorce, upon his own unadvised understand-
ing of the Scriptures, upon the testimonies of the universi-
ties, and some bare and most untrue conjectures ; and that
was afterwards confirmed by two acts of parliament, in
which was contained the illegitimacy of her majesty : but
that marriage not being prohibited by the law of God, and
lawfully made, could not be so broken ; since, what God hath
joined together, no man could put asunder : all which they
considering, together with the many miseries that had
fallen on the kingdom since that time, which they did es-
teem plagues sent from God for it ; therefore they declare
that sentence givefi by Cranmer to be unlawful, and of no
force from the beginning : and do also repeal the acts of
parliament that had confirmed it."
By this act, Gardiner had performed his promise to the
queen, of getting her illegitimation taken ofl^, without any
relation to the pope's authority. But, in the drawing of it,
he showed that he was past all shame ; when he could
frame such an act, of a business which himself had so vio-
THE REFORMATION. 325
lenlly and servilely promoted. The falsehood of that pre-
tence of corrupting universities has been shown in the
former volume ; but it was all they had now to say. The
laying it all upon Cranmer was as high a pitch of malice
and impudence as could be devised : for, as Gardiner had
been setting it on, long before Cranmer was known to King
Henry, so he had been joined with him in the commission,
and had given his assent to the sentence which Cranmer
gave. Nor was the divorce grounded merely upon Cran-
mer's understanding of the Scriptures, but upon the fullest
and most studied arguments, that had perhaps been in any
age brought together in one particular case ; and both
•houses of convocation had condemned the marriage before
his sentence. But because in the right of his see he was
legate to the pope, therefore, to make the sentence stronger,
it went only in his name, though he had but a small share
in it, compared to what Gardiner had.
By this act, there was also a second illegitimation brought
on the Lady Elizabeth, to whom hitherto the queen had
been very kind, using her on all occasions with the tender-
ness of a sister : but from this time forwards she handled
her more severely. It was perhaps occasioned by this act,
since before they stood both equally illegitimated ; but now
the act that legitimated the queen making her most cer-
tainly a bastard in law, the queen might think it now too
much to use her as she had done formerly. Others suggest
a more secret reason of this distaste. The new earl of De-
vonshire was much in the queen's favour, so that it was
thought she had sonae inclinations to marry him ; but he,
either not presuming so high, or really having an aversion
to her, and an inclination to her sister, v/ho, of that mode-
rate share of beauty that was between them, had much the
better of her, and was nineteen years younger, made his
addresses with more than ordinary concern to the Lady
Elizabeth, and this did bring them both in trouble, as shall
be afterwards shown.
The next bill that was sent from the lords 1o the com-
mons, was for the repealing King Edward's laws about
religion. It was sent down on the 3lst of October, and
argued six days in the house of commons : but in the end it
was carried, and sent back to the lords. The preamble of
it sets forth the great disorders that had fallen out in the
nation by the changes that had been made in religion, from
that which their forefathers had left them by the authority
of the catholic church : thereupon all the laws that had
been made in King Edward's time about religion were now
repealed, and it was enacted, that, from the 5IOth-of T>e-
Vol. II, Tart I. 2. V
326 HISTORY OF
cember next, there should be no other form of divine service
but what had been used in the last year of King Henry the
Eighth, leaving it free to all till that day, to use either the
books appointed by King Edward, or the old ones, at their
pleasure.
Another act was passed, which the commons sent up to
the lords, against all those who by any overt act should
molest Of disquiet any preacher, because of his office, or for
any sermon that he might have preached ; or should any
way disturb them when they were in any part of the divine
offices, that either had been in the last year of King Henry,
or should be afterwards set forth by the queen ; or should
break or abuse the holy sacrament, or break altars, crucifixes,
or crosses : those that did any of these things should be pre-
sented to the justices of peace, and be by them put in prison,
where they should lie three months, or till they were
penitent for their offences ; and if any rescued them, they
should be liable to the same punishment. But to this a
proviso was added by the lords, that this act should no
way derogate from the authority of the ecclesiastical
laws and courts, who might likewise proceed upon such
offences : and a certificate from the ordinaries, that such
offenders were punished by them, being brought to the
justices of peace, they were to proceed no further, or if the
justices made a certificate that they had punished ihem ac-
cording to law, the ordinary might not punish them a
second time. But the commons were now so heated, that
they sent up another bill to the lords against those who came
not to church, nor to sacraments, after the old service should
be again set up ; the inflicting of the punishments in these
cases being left to the ecclesiastical courts. This fell in the
house of lords, not so much from any opposition that was
made, as that they were afraid of alarming the nation too
much, by many severe laws at once.
Another law was made for securing the public peace
against unlawful and rebellious assemblies : that if any, to
the number of twelve or above, sh(flild meet to alter any
thing of religion established by law, and being required
by any, having the queen's authority, to disperse them-
selves, should continue after that an hour together, it
should be felony : or if that number met to break hedges or
parks, to destroy deer or fish, &c. and did not disperse upon
proclamation, it should be felony : or if any, by ringing of
bells, drums, or firing of beacons, gathered the people
together, and did the things before-mentioned, it was felony :
if the wives or servants of persons so gathered carried
meat, money, or weapons to them, it should be felony;
THE REFORMATION. 827
and if any above the number of two, and wiihin twelve,
should meet for these ends, they should suffer a year's im-
prisonment : empowering the sheriffs or justices to gather
the country for the resistance of persons so offending,
with penalties on all, between eighteen and sixty, that,
being required to come out against them, should refuse
to do it. When this act was known, the people then saw
clearly how they had been deceived by the former act,
that seemed so favourable, repealing all acts of new
treasons and felonies ; since there was so soon after it an
act passed that renewed one of the severest laws of the last
reign, in which so many things, that might flow from
sudden heats, were made felonies, and a great many new
and severe provisos were added to it. The queen's dis-
charge of the subsidy was confirmed by another act.
There followed two private acts, which occasioned more
debate than the public ones had done : the one was, the
repeal of the act that had confirmed the marquis of North-
ampton's marriage ; it was much argued in the house of
commons, and on the 28th of November it was agreed to.
It contains, that the act of confirming the divorce, and the
second marriage, were procured more upon untrue surmises
and private respects, than for any public good, and increase
of virtue : and that it was an encouragement for sensual
persons to practise by false allegations, that they might be
separated from their wives, rather than a precedent to in-
duce people to live with their wives in a godly sort ; there-
upon the act was repealed, and declared void and of no
effect. In this it seems, the arguments that were against it
in the house of commons had so moderated the style of it,
that it was not repealed as an act sinful in itself, but it was
only declared, that in that particular case the divorce was
unlawfully made : for it is reasonable to believe that the
bishops had put in the first draught of the bill a simple re-
peal of it, and of all such divorces, founded on the indisso-
iubleness of the marriage bond.
The other act was aoout the duke of Norfolk, for declaring
his attainder void. The patentees that had purchased some
parts of his estate from the crown, desired to be heard to
plead against it. But the session of the parliament being
near at an end, the duke came down himself to the house of
commons on the 4th of December, and desired them
earnestly to pass his bill ; and said, that the difference be-
tween him and the patentees was referred to arbiters, and if
they could not agree it, he would refer it to the queen.
It was long argued after that, but in the end it was agreed
to. It sets forth, that the act by which he was attainted had
no special matter in it, but only treasons in general, and a
336 HISTORY OF
pretence, that, out of the parliament's care for the king, and
his son the prince, it was necessary to attaint him : that the
reasons they pretended were, his using coats of arms, which
he and his ancestors had and might lawfully use. It further
says, that the king .died the next night after the commission
was given for passing the bill ; and that it did not appear,
that the king had given his assent to it : that the commis-
sion was not signed by the king's hand, but only by his
stamp ; and that was put to the nether end, and not to the
upper part of the bill, which showed it was done in disorder ;
and that it did not appear that those commissioned for it
had given the royal assent to it. Upon which considerations,
that pretended act is declared void and null by the common
lawsof the land. And it is further declared, that the law
was, and ever hath been, that the royal assent should be
given, either by the king being present, or, in his absence,
by a commission under the great seal, signed with his hand,
and publicly notified to the lords and commons.
The last act, of which I shall give an account, was the
confirmation of the attainders that had been made. On the
13th of November, Archbishop Cranmer, the Lord Guildford
Dudley, and the Lady Jane his wife, with two other sons of
the duke of Northumberland (which were all, except the
Lord "Robert, who was reserved for greater fortunes), were
brought to their trial. These all confessed their indict-
ments. Only Cranmer appealed to those that judged him,
how unwillingly he had consented to the exclusion of the
queen ; that he had not done it, till those whose profession
it was to know the law had signed it : upon which he sub-
mitted himself to the queen's mercy. But they were all
attainted of high treason, for levying war against the queen,
and conspiring to set up another in her room. So these
judgments, with those that had passed before, were now
confirmed by act of parliament.
And now Cranmer was legally divested of his archbishop-
ric, which was hereupon void in law, since a man that is
attainted can have no right to any church benefice ; his life
was also at the queen's mercy. Eut it being now designed
to restore the ecclesiastical exemption and dignity to
what it had been anciently, it was resolved, that he should
be still esteemed archbishop, till hewere solemnly degraded,
according to the canon law. The queen was also inclined
to give him his life at this time, reckoning, that thereby she
was acquitted of all the obligations she had to him ; and was
resolved to have him proceeded against for heresy, that so
it might appear she did not act out of revenge, or on any
personal account. So all that followed on this against
Cranmer was a sequestration of all the fruits of his arch-
THE REFORMATION. 329
bishopric ; himself was slill kept in prison. Nor were the
other prisoners proceeded against at this time. The queen
was desirous to seem willing to pardon injuries done against
herself, but was so heated in the matters of religion, that
she was always inexorable on that head.
Having given this account of public transactions, I must
relate next what were more secretly carried on ; but, break-
ing out at this time, occasioned the sudden dissolution of the
parliament.
Cardinal Dandino, that was then the pope's legate at the
emperor's court, sent over Commendone (afterwards a car-
dinal), to bring him a certain account of the queen's inten-
tions concerning religion ; he gave him in charge, to en-
deavour to speak with her in private, and to persuade her
to reconcile her kingdom to the apostolic see. This was to
be managed with great secrecy, for they did not know whom
to trust in so important a negociation : it seems, they neither
confided in Gardiner, nor in any of the other bishops.
Commendone, being thus instructed, went to Newport,
where he gave himself out to be the nephew of a merchant
that was lately dead at London ; and hired two servants to
whom he was unknown, and so he came over unsuspected
to London. There he was so much a stranger, that he did
not know to whom he should address himself. By accident
he met \\ ith one Lee, a servant of the queen's, that had fled
beyond sea during the former reign, and had been then
known to him ; so he trusted him with the secret of his
business in England. He procured him a secret audience
of the queen, in which she freely owned to him her resolu-
tion of reconciling her kingdom to the see of Rome, and so of
bringing all things back to the state in which they had been
before the breach made by her father : but she said, it was
absolutely necessary to manage that design with great pru-
dence and secrecy, lest in that confusion of affairs, tlie dis-
covery of it might much disturb her government, and ob-
struct her design. She wrote by hini to the pope, giving
him assurance of her filial obedience, and so sent Commen-
done to Rome. She also wrote by him to Cardinal Pole,
and ordered Commendone to move the pope, that he
might be sent over with a legatine power. Yet he that
wrote that cardinal's life insinuates, that the queen had
another design in desiring that Pole might be sent over ; for
she asked him, whether the pope might not dispense with
the cardinal to marry, since he was only in deacon's
orders 1 Before Commendone left England, he saw the
duke of Northumberland executed, and soon after he made
all the haste that was possible to carry those acceptable
•2F3
330 HISTORY- OF
tidings to Borne > and, by his dexterity in this uegociation.
he laid the foundation of those great fortunes, to which he
was afterwards advanced. There was no small joy in the
consistory, when the pope and the cardinals understood,
that a kingdom, from which they had drawn so much wealth
in former times, was now to become again tributary to them.
So there was a public rejoicing for three days, in which the
pope said mass himself, and distributed his ordinary largess
of indulgences, of which he was the more bountiful, because
he hoped they should come in credit again, and be purchased
at the rates at which they had been formerly sold. Yet, in
the consistory, Commendone did not positively say he was
sent by the queen, that being only communicated to the
pope; all he told the cardinals was, tiiat he understood,
from very good hands, that the queen was very well disposed
to that see, and that she desired, that a legate might be sent
over with full powers. Many of the cardinals thought this
was too bare a message ; and that it was below the papal
dignity to send a legate, till the pope was earnestly desired
to do it, by an express message, and an embassy sent by the
queen. But it was said, that Commendone had said nothing
but by the queen's express orders, who was yet in so un-
settled a condition, that, till she held a session of parlia-
ment, it might much endanger her to appear openly in such
a matter : they were to remember, how England had been
lost by too much stiffness formerly ; and they were to
imitate the shepherd in the parable, who left his ninety-
nine sheep to seek the one that was strayed. So it was
granted, that Pole should go legate, with a full power. But
rardiner, coming to know this, sent to the emperor to stop
his journey ; assuring him, that things were going well on,
and that his coming over would spoil all. At this time the
emperor began to think of marrying his son Philip to the
queen, who, though she was above nine years older than he,
yet being but thirty- seven years old, was not out of hopes of
having children. The emperor saw, that if England were
united to the Spanish crown, it would raise the monarchy to
a great height, they should have all the trade of the
world in their hands, and so enclose France, that it
seemed as probable a step to the universal monarchy, as
that he had lately lost in Germany. When this match was
first proposed I do not know; but I have read some parts of
a letter concerning it (for it is not all legible), which was
written by the queen of Hungary, and signed by the em-
peror, in the beginning of November ; this, though it was
not the first proposition, yet seems to have followed soon
after it. The queen entertained the motion easily, not
on.
THE REFORMATION. 331
trusting to the affections of her people, nor thinking it pos-
sible to have the papal authority set up, nor the church-
lands restored, without a foreign force to assist her. It is
said, and I have shown some ground to believe, that she
had some inclinations to Cardinal Pole ; and that the em-
peror fearing that might be a hinderance to his design,
therefore the cardinal's coming over was stopped, till the
queen was married to his son Philip. But of this I find no
certain footsteps. On the contrary, Gardiner, whose eye
was chiefly upon the archbishopric of Canterbury, would
rather have promoted Pole's pretensions to the queen, since
her marrying a subject, and not a stranger, would have
made the government much easier, and more acceptable to
the people ; and it would have been the best thing he could
do for himself if he could have persuaded her to marry
him, who alone was like to stand between him and that
dignity.
The true account of it is, the emperor pressed her first to
settle the state, and consummate her marriage ; and that
wo]uld more easily make way for what was to follow : for
Gardiner had assured him, the bringing in of the papal
power, and making up the marriage, both at once, would
be things of such ill digestion, that it would not be easy to
carry them together ; and therefore it was necessary to let a
considerable interval go between. This being resolved on,
it was apparent the marriage ought to go first, as that
which would give them more strength to conclude the
other. And this was the true reason of stopping Cardinal
Pole * ; which the emperor at first did by his own authority,
but afterwards got the queen to send one to him to the
same purpose. She sent Goldwell (afterwards bishop of
St. Asaph) to him with the two acts that were passed, for
the justifying of her mother's marriage, and for bringing all
things back to the state in which they were at her father's
death. Thereby she let him see, that she was going for-
ward in the business for which he was sent ; but withal she
told him, that the commons, in passing those acts, had ex-
pressed great aversion to the taking of the supremacy from
the crown, or the restoiiog of the pope's power; and that
they were much alarmed to hear he was coming over legate ;
and it prejudiced her afl^airs, that the message she had sent
by Commendone had been published in the consistory.
* Cardinal Pole was stopped hi his journey by Mcndoza, sent post to
him from the emperor, desiring him not to proceed in his journey;
upon which lie went back to Dilling, a town belonging to the cardinal
ofAusbourg.
332 HISTORY OF
Therefore she desired him to keep out of England till he
were further advertised. But, to let him see how much she
depended on his councils, she desired he would send her a
list of such persons as should be made bishops ; for many
were now to be turned out. To this (besides the answer
which he mi-ht have written to herself, that I have not
seen) he wrote a copious answer, in a tedious paper of
instructions, which he gave to Goldwell, the conclusion
of which, summing up his whole' mind fully, enough, 1
thought sufficient to put into the Collection (No. ix), for the
instructions are extremely long, and very full of words
to little purpose. They seem to be of his own hand writing,
but of that 1 am not well assured, having seen nothing else
of his hand, except his subscription.
The substance of it was this : " He rejoiced much at the
two acts that v.'ere passed, but yet he censures them both,
because he observed some defects in them : in the act for
confirming her mother's marriage, he found fault that there
was no mention made of the pope's bulls, by the authority
of which only it could be a lawful marriage. In the other,
he did not like it, that the worship of God and the sacra-
ments were to be as they were in the end of her father's
reign ; for then the people were yet in a state of schism,
ana schismatics have no right to the sacraments ; the
pope's interdict still lay on the nation, and till that were
taken off, none could without sin either administer or re-
ceive them. He told her, that Commendone had said no-
thing in her name to the consistory, but had spoken to them
only on the reports which, he said, he had heard of her from
good hands ; and it was necessary to say somewhat, in order
to the sending a legate : that many in the consistory had op-
posed the sending of him, because there was no express de-
sire sent about it ; but it was carried, that he should come
over with very full graces, and power to reconcile the king-
dom on very easy terms. He also told her, he was afraid,
that when the pope and cardinals should hear that he was
stopped, they would repent their benignity, and take this
as an affront, and recall him and his powers, and send
ariother that would not be so tender of the nation, or bring
with him such full powers : that, to prevent this, he had sent
one to the pope and cardinals, to mitigate their displeasure,
by letting them know, he was only stopped for a little while,
till the act of attainder that stood against him was repealed ;
and to make a show of going forward he had sent his house-
hold stuff to Flanders, but would stay where he was, till he
had further orders. He said, he knew this flowed chiefly
from the emperor, who was for using such political courses
THE REFORMATION. 333
as himself had followed in the business of the interim, and
was earnest to have the state settled, before she meddled
with religion : he had spoken with his confessor about it,
and had convinced him of the impiety of such courses, and
sent him to work on him. He also told the queen, he was
afraid carnal policy might govern her too much, and that
she might thereby fall from her simplicity in Christ, in which
she had hitherto lived. He encouraged her therefore to put
on a spirit of wisdom and courage, and to trust in God, who
had preserved her so long, and had settled heron the throne
in so unlooked-for a manner. He desired she would
show as much courage in rejecting the supremacy, as her
father had done in acquiring it. He confessed he knew
none in either house of parliament fit to propose that matter :
the spiritualty had all complied so far, had written and de-
clared for it so much, that it could not flow from them
decently ; and the temporally being possessed of the church-
lands, would not willingly move it : therefore he thought it
best for herself to go to the parliament, having before- hand
acquainted some few, both of the spiritualty and tem-
poralty, with her design ; and that she should tell both
nouses, she was touched in her conscience, that she and -her
people were in a schism from the catholic church and the
apostolic see ; and that therefore she had a legate to come
over to treat about it; and should thereupon propose that
the attainder might be taken off from him, that he might be
capable to come on that message. And he protested, that
he had never acted against the king, or kingdom, but only
with design to reduce them to the unity of the church,
neither before nor after the attainder : and whereas some
might apprehend a thraldom from the papacy, she might
give them assurance, that they should see all things so well
secured, that there should no danger come to the nation from
it ; and he assured them that he, for his part, should take
as much care of that, as any of all the temporally could de-
sire. What recommendations he sent, for the sees that
were to be declared vacant, 1 do not know."
When this dispatch of his was brought into England,
Gardiner, by the assistance of the emperor, convinced the
queen that his method was impracticable, and that the
marriage must be first dispatched ; and now Gardiner and
he did declare open enmity to one another. Gardiner
thought him a weak man, that might have some speculative
knowledge of abstracted ideas, but understood not the
world, nor the genius of the English nation. Pole, on the
other hand, thought him a false man, that made conscience
of nothing, and was better at intrigues and dissimulation.
334 HISTORY OF
than the government of the church : but the emperor saw
Gardiner had so prudently managed this parliament, that
he concluded his measures were rather to be followed than
the cardinal's.
In the house of commons it was given out, that it was
necessary to gain the queen to the interest of the nation,
and to turn her from foreign councils and aid, by being easy
to her in the matter of religion, and therefore they were ready
both to repeal the divorce, and King Edward's laws. But
when they saw the design of the marriage and uniting with
Rome was still carried on, they were all much alarmed : so
they sent their speaker, and twenty of their house with him,
with an earnest and humble address to her, not to marry a
stranger. This had so inflamed the house, that the court
saw more could not be expected from them, unless they
were satisfied in that point : so on the 6th of December the
parliament was dissolved. Upon that Gardiner sent to the
einperor to let him know, that the marriage was like to meet
with such opposition, that, unless extraordinary conditions
were offered, which all should see were much to the ad-
vantage of the English crown, it could not be carried without
a general rebellion. He also assured him, that if great sums
of money were not sent over to gratify the chief nobility and
leading men in the country, both for obliging them to his
interest, and enabling them to carry elections for the next
parliament, the opposition would be such, that the queen
must lay down all thoughts of marrying his son. Upon this
the emperor and his son resolved to offer what conditions
the English would demand ; for Philip reckoned, if he once
had the crown on his head, it would be easy for him, with
the assistance which his other dominions might give him, to
make all these signify little. And, for money, the emperor
borrowed twelve hundred thousand crowns (which in Eng-
lish money was 400,000/. for the crown was then a noble),
and promised to send it over to be distributed as Gardiner
and his ambassadors should think fit : but he made his son
bind himself to repay him that sum, when he had once at-
tained the crown of England. And this the emperor made
so little a secret, that when a year after, some towns in
Germany, that had lent a part of the money, desired to be
repaid ; he answered them, that he had lent his son twelve
hundred thousand crowns to marry him to the queen of Eng-
land, and had yet received of him only three hundred thou-
sand crowns ; but he had good security for the rest, and the
merchants were bound to pay him 100,000/. sterling : and
therefore he demanded a little more time of them. All this
was printed soon after at Strasburgh by the English there,
THE REFORMATION'. 335
in a book, which they sent over to England j in which both
the address made by the commons in parliament, and this
answer of the emperor to the towns, are mentioned. And
that whole discourse (which is in the form of an address to
the queen, the nobility, and the commons) is written with
such gravity and simplicity of style, that, as it is by much
the best I have seen of this time, so in these public trans-
actions there is no reason to think it untrue, lor the things
which it relates are credible of themselves : and though the
Slim there mentioned was very great, yet he that considers
that England was to be bought with it, will not think it an
extraordinary price. In that discourse it is further said,
that, as Gardiner corrupted many by bribes, so, in the court
of chancery, common justice was denied to all but those
wlio came into these designs.
Having thus given an account of what was done in parlia-
ment, I shall next show how the convocation proceeded.
J3onner being to preside in it, as being the first bishop of the
province of Canterbury, appointed John Harpsfield his chap-
lain to preach ; who took his text out of the twentieth of
the Acts (verse 28), " Feed the flock." He run out in his
bidding prayers most profusely on the queen's praises, com-
paring her to Deborah, Esther, Judith, Mary the sister of
Martha, and the Virgin Mary, with all the servilest flatteries
he could invent : next he bid them pi ay for the Lady Eliza-
beth ; but when he came to mention the clergy, he enlarged
in the praises of Bonner, Gardiner, Tonstal, Heath, and
Day, so grossly, that it seems the strains of flattering church-
men at that time were very coarse ; and he run out so copi-
ously in them, as if he had been to deliver a panegyric and
not to bid the beads. In his sermon he inveighed against
the late preachers, for not observing fasts, nor keeping Lent,
and for their marriages, which he severely condemned.
Weston, dean of Westminster, was presented prolocutor
by tlie lower house, and approved of by Bonner. Whether
any of the bishops that had been made in King Edward's
time sat among them, I do not know ; but in the lower house
there was great opposition made. There had been care
taken ihat there should be none returned to the convocation
but such as would comply in all points. But yet there
came six non-compliers, who, being deans or archdeacons,
had a right to sit in the convocation. These were, Philpot,
archdeacon of Winchester ; Philips, dean of Rochester ;
Haddon, dean of Exeter ; Cheyney, archdeacon of Here-
ford ; Ailmer, archdeacon of Stow •, and Young, chanter of
St. David's. W^eston, the prolocutor, proposed to them, on
the 18th of October, that there had been a catechism printed
336 HISTORY OF
in the last year of King Edward's reign in the name of that
synod, and, as he understood, it was done without their con
sents, which was a pestiferous book, and full of heresies ;
tiiere was likewise a very abominable Book of Common-
Prayer set out ; it was therefore the queen's pleasure that
they should prepare such laws about religion as she would
ratify with her parliament. So he proposed, that they
should begin with condemning those books, particularly
the articles in them contrary to the sacrament of the
altar : and he gave out two questions about it, Whether in
the sacrament, upon the sanctification of the bread and wine,
all their substance did not vanish, being changed into the
body and blood of Christ ? and. Whether the natural body
of Christ was not corporally present in the eucharist, either
by the transubstantiation of the elements into his body and
blood, or by the conjunction of concomitance, as some ex-
pressed it 1 The house was adjourned till the 20th, on which
day every man was appointed to give in his answer to these
questions. AH answered and subscribed in the affirmative,
except the six before mentioned. Philpot said, whereas it
was given out that the catechism was not approved by the
convocation, though it was printed in their name, it was a
mistake ; for the convocation had authorized a number of
persons to set forth ecclesiastical laws, to whom they had
committed their synodal authority ; so that they might well
set out such books in the name of the convocation. He also
said, that it was against all order, to move men to subscribe
in such points before they were examined : and since the
number of these on the one side was so unequal to those on
the other side, he desired that Dr. Ridley, Mr. Rogers, and
two or three more, might be allowed to come to the convo-
cation. This seemed very reasonable, so the lower house
proposed it to the bishops. They answered, that these per-
sons being prisoners, they could not bring them ; but they
should move the council about it. A message also was sent
from some great lords, that they intended to hear the dispu-
tation : so the house adjourned till the 23d.
There was then a great appearance of noblemen and
others. The prolocutor began with a protestation, that by
this dispute they did not intend to call the truth in doubt, to
which they had all subscribed ; but they did it only to satisfy
the objections of those few who refused to concur with them.
But it was denied to let any prisoners or others assist them ;
for it was said, that that being a dispute among those of the
convocation, none but members were to be heard in it. Had-
don and Ailmer, foreseeing they should be run down with
clamour and noise, refused to dispute : Young went away :
1
n-
THE REFORMATION. 337
Cheyney being next spoke to, did propose his objections ;
that St. Paul calls the sacrament bread after the consecra-
tion ; that Origen said it went into the excrement ; and
Theodoret said, the bread and wine did not in the sacrament
depart from their former substance, form, and shape. More-
man was called on to answer him : he said, that St. Paul
calling it bread was to be understood thus, the sacrament or
form of bread. To Origen's authority he answered nothing ;
but to Theodoret he said, the word they render substance
stood in a more general signification, and so might signify
accidental substance. Upon this, Ailmer, who had resolved
not to dispute, could not contain himself, but said the Greek
word ovffia, could not be so understood, for the following
words of form and shape belonged to the accidents, but that
only belonged to the substance of the elements. Upon this
there followed a contest about the signification of that word.
Then Philpot struck in, and said. The occasion of Theo-
doret's writing plainly showed that was a vain cavil ; for
the dispute was with the Eutychians, whether the body and
human nature of Christ had yet an existence distinct from
the Divine nature 1 The Eutychians said it was swallowed
up by his Godhead ; and argued from some expressions used
concerning the sacrament, as if the presence of Christ in it
had swallowed up the elements : against which, Theodoret,
according to the orthodox doctrine, argued to prove, that
there was in Christ a human nature not swallowed up ; and
said, that as in the sacrament, notwithstanding the union of
Christ with the elements, they did not depart from their
substance, form, and shape ; so the human nature of
Christ was not absorbed by its union to the Godhead. So
it plainly appeared this v/ord substance stood for the nature
of the elements. Moreman being straitened in answering
this, Philpot said, if he had not an answer ready, he would
desire him to think on one against their next meeting ; upon
this the prolocutf)r checked him, as if he were bragging too
soon. He insisted on his argument, but was commanded to
be silent. Haddon upon that proposed another argument,
from these words of our Saviour, " The poor you have
always with you, but me you have not always;" that there-
fore his body was not in the sacrament. To this the prolo-
locutor answered, that Chri-t was not to be always with us
so as to receive our alms, which is all that was intended by
that place : but Haddon brought a copious citation out of
St. Augustine, applying that very place to prove that Christ's
natural presence was no more on earth after his ascension
into heaven. To this Dr. Watson opposed another place of
St. Augustine, and some dispute was about those places :
Vol. II, Part I. 2 G
338 HISTORY OF
after that, Haddon read more authorities of fathers, assert-
ing that Christ was in heaven and not on earth ; the words
of the institution did plainly express it, both because the
sacrament was to be in remembrance of Christ, and because
it was to continue until his coming again. But to this they
said, he was not on earth in a bodily manner ; and they
endeavoured to take away the force of the argument from
the words, until his coming again, by some other acceptations
of the word until. But Haddon asked them, whether they
thought Christ did eat his own natural body, when he in-
stituted and took the sacrament 1. they said, he did. Upon
that he answered, that that was so absurd that he thought
it needless to argue more with those who could yield it,
and so he sat down. Philpot argued, that Christ could not
receive his own body in the sacrament, since it was given
for the remission of sins, of which he was not capable,
having no sin. Weston answered, he might receive it as
well as be baptized ; but Philpot answered, he was baptized,
as he said himself, to be an example to others. So ended
this day's dispute.
On the 25th, Philpot, who was ordered to begin that day,
had prepared a long discourse in Latin : but Weston in-
terrupted him, and said, he must make no speech, he was only
to propose his arguments, and that in English ; though it had
been before ordered that the dispute should be in Latin : then
Philpot went to explain what sort of presence he would dis-
pute against, and what he allowed. Here Weston again in-
terrupted him, and bid him form his argument. Upon that
he fell down on his knees, and begged of the lords and pri-
vy counsellprs that were present, that he might have leave
to speak his mind, which they granted him : so he said,
for their sacrifice of the mass, he would prove that it
was no sacrament at all, and that Christ was no way present
in it ; which if he should not do, before the queen and her
council, against any six that would maintain the contrary, he
should be willing to be burnt before tjie court gates. Upon
this there was great outcrying, that he w^as mad, and talked
idly ; and Weston threatened to send him to prison. But
this noise being laid, and he claiming the privilege of the
house for the freedom of speech, was required to go on to an
argument. Then he proved that Christ was in heaven ; for
himself said, " I leave the world, and go to my Father :" and
to prove there was no ambiguity in these words, he observed,
that his disciples said upon this, " Now thou speakest
plainly, without any parable." It was answered by Dr.
Chedsey, that those words were only meant of his visible as-
cension, but did not exclude his invisible presence ; and he
"
THE REFORMATION. 339
Cited some words of Chrysostom's, that Christ took his flesh
mth him, and also left his flesh behind him. Weston and
the rest said, that authority was unanswerable ; and for
awhile would not hear his answer : but Philpot^howed him,
that Chrysostom's words must be understood in a large sense,
as believers are said to be flesh of his flesh ; for that iather ap-
plies that also to baptism, irom these words, " As many as
are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ;" so the flesh
that Christ left on earth, according to him, is not the corpo-
ral presence in the sacrament. Upon this. Pye, dean of Chi-
chester, whispered somewhat to the prolocutor, who there-
upon said to Philpot that he had disputed enough. He an-
swered, that he had a dozen of arguments, and they were
enjoining him silence before he got through one of them.
They threatened to send him to prison if he spoke more.
He said, that was far from the promise they had made of
hearing them fully, and from what was preached last Sun-
day at Paul's, that all things should be answered in this dis-
putation. But Pye said, he should be answered another
way. Philpot replied, there was a company of them now
got together, who had heretofoie dissembled with Cod and
the world ; and were now met to suppress God's truth, and
to set forth false devices, which they were not able to
maintain. After this, Ailmer stood up, and brought many
authorities out of Greek authors, to prove that ovaia in The-
odoret, could only be understood of the suhitance of bread
and wine ; and Moreman desired a day's time to consider of
them. Then Peru, though he had subscribed with the rest,
brought some arguments against transubstantiation ; i'oi
which the prolocutor chid him, since he had before sub-
scribed. Ailmer answered, that it was against the freedom
of the house, for any one to be so chid for deliveiing his con-
science. It was now become late, so they adjourned to the 27th.
Then they again disputed about Theodoret's words, where
Haddon showed, that he said the symbols retained the same
substance that they had before. After that Cheyney fell
to argue about those words ; he acknowledged a real pre-
sence, but denied transubstantiation, and pressed Theodo-
ret's authority so close, that Watson said he was a Nestorian ;
and if Theodoret, who was but one, was of their side, there
were above a hundred fathers against them. Upon this Chey-
ney quoted Irenaeus, who had said that our flesh was nou-
rished by the bread and wine in the sacrament. He also cited
Hesychius, who said, that in the church of Jerusalem, the sym-
bols that were not consumed in the communion were burnt af-
terwards : he desired to know, whether the ashes were the
body of Christ, or what it was that was burnt 1 To all this
340 HISTORY OF ^
Harpsfield made a long answer concerning God's omnipo-
tence, and the weakness of men's understandings, that could
not comprehend Divine mysteries. But Cheyney still asked,
what it was that was burnt 1 Harpsfield replied, it was
either the substance of bread, or the body of Christ ; and af-
terwards said it was a miracle. At that Cheyney smiled,
and said, then he could say no more. Weston asked, whe-
ther there was not enough said in answer to these men's ob-
jections 1 Many of the clergy cried out, "Yes, yes;" but
the multitude, with repeated cries, said, " No, no." Wes-
ton said , he spake to those of the house, and not to the rude
multitude. Then he asked those divines, whether they
would now for three days answer the arguments that should
be put to them { Haddon, Cheyney, and Ailmer, said they
would not ; but Phil pot offered to do it. Weston said, he
was a madman, and fitter to be sent to Bedlam. Philpot said,
he that carried himself with so much passion, and so little in-
differency, deserved a room there much better. Weston,
neglecting him, turned to the assembly, and said, they might
see what sort of men these were, whom they had now an-
swered three days ; but though they had promised it, and
the order of disputation did require it, that they should an-
swer in their turn three days, they now declined it. Up-
on that, Ailmer stood up and answered, that they had made
no such promise, nor undertaken any such disputation : tut
being required to give their reasons, why they would not
subscribe with the rest, they had done it, but had received no
answer to them, and therefore would enter into no further
disputation before such judges, who had already determined
and subscribed those questions. So the house was adjourned
to the 30th ; and then Philpot appeared to answer, but de-
sired first leave to prosecute his former argument, and urged,
that since Christ as man is like us in all things without sin,
therefoie, as we are restrained to one place at a time, so is
Christ but in one place, and that is heaven ; for St. Peter
says, " The heavens must contain him till the restitution of
all things." To this it was answered, that Christ being God,
his omnipotence was above our understanding ; and that to
shut him iu one place was to put him in prison. Philpot
said, he was not speaking of his Divine nature, but that as
he was man he was like us ; and for their saying that Christ
was hot to be imprisoned in heaven, he left to all men to
judge whether that was a good answer or not. Much dis-
course following upon this, the prolocutor commanded him to
come no more into the house. He answered, he thought
himself happy to be out of their company. Others sug-
gesting to the prolocutor, that it would be said the meeting
THK REFORMATION. 341
was not free, if men were put out of the house for speaking
their minds ; he said to him, he might come, so he were de-
cently habited, and did not speak but when he commanded
him. To tiiis he answered, that he had rather be absent al-
together. Weston concluded all by saying. You have the
word, but we have the sword: truly pointing out wherein
the strength of both causes lay.
This was the issue of that disputation, which was soon af-
ter printed in English ; and in Latin by Volerandus Pola-
nus, and is inserted at large in Fox's Acts and Monuments.
What account the other side gave of it 1 do not find. But
upon all such occasions, the prevailing party, when the in-
equality was so {Usproportioned, used to carry things with so
much noise and disorder, thai it was no wonder the re-
formers had no mind to engage in this dispute. And those
who reflected on the way of proceeding in King Edward's
time, could not but confess things had been managed with
much more candour and equality. For in this very point there
had been, as was formerly shown, disputes for a year toge-
ther, before there was any determination made ; so that all
men were free at that time to deliver their opinions without
any fear, and then the disputes were in the universities,
where, as there were a great silence and collection of books,
so the auditors were more capable of being instructed by
them : but here the point was first determined and then dis-
puted ; and this was in the midst of the disorder of the
town, where the privy-council gave all possible encourage-
ment to the prevailing party.
The last thing I find done this year was, the restoring
Veysey to be bishop of Exeter, which was done on the 28th
of December. In his warrant for it under the great seal it
is said, that he, for some just troubles both in body and
mind, had resigned his bishopric to King Edward, to which
the queen now restored him. And thus ended this year.
Foreign affairs did not so much concern religion as they had
done in the former reign ; which, as it made me give some
account of them then, so it causes me now not to prosecute
them so fully.
(1554.) In the beginning of the next year, the emperor
sent over the count of Egmont and some other ambassadors, to
make the proposition and treaty of marriage betwixt his son
and the queen. In the managing of this treaty Gardiner had
the chief hand, for he was now the oracle at the council-
board. He had thirty years' experience in aflairs, a great
knowledge of the courts of Christendom, and of the stats of
Enfi[land, and had great sagacity ,with a marvellous cunning,
which was not always regulated by the rules of candour
2G3
342 HISTORY Oh'
and honesty. He, in drawing the articles of the marriage,
had a double design ; the one was, to have them so framed
that they might easily pass in parliament ; and the other
was, to exclude the Spaniards from having any share in the
government of England, which he intended to hold in his
own hands. So the terms on which it was agreed were
these : —
The queen should have the whole government of England,
with the giving of offices and benefices, in her own hands ;
so that though Philip was to be called king, and his name
was to be on the coin, and the seals, and in writs, yet
her hand was to give force to every thing without his. Spa-
niards should not be admitted into the government, nor to
any offices at court. The laws should not be altered, nor the
pleadings put into any other tongue. The queen should not
be made to go out of England, but upon her own desire.
The children born in the marriage should not go out of Eng-
land, but by the consent of the nobility. If the queen out-
lived the prince, she should have 60,000/. a year out of his
estate; 40,000^ out of Spain, and 20,000/. of it out of the Ne-
therlands, If the queen had sons by him, they should succeed,
both to her own crowns, and the Netherlands, and Bur-
gundy ; and if the Archduk 
