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diff --git a/15537.txt b/15537.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8067876 --- /dev/null +++ b/15537.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20030 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of +3), by James Anthony Froude, et al + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) + + +Author: James Anthony Froude + +Release Date: April 4, 2005 [eBook #15537] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH, +VOLUME 1 (OF 3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Charles Aldarondo, Deirdre Menchaca, Keith Edkins, and +the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +FROUDE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND + +Henry VIII . Introduction by +W. Llewelyn Williams M.P. B.C.L. + +Volume One + +First Published 1909 + + * * * * * + +[Illuminated Frontispiece] + +CONSIDER HISTORY WITH THE BEGINNINGS OF +IT STRETCHING DIMLY INTO THE REMOTE TIME; +EMERGING DARKLY OVT OF THE MYSTERIOVS + ETERNITY: +THE TRVE EPIC POEM AND VNIVERSAL DIVINE + SCRIPTVRE...--CARLYLE + + * * * * * + +[Illuminated Title] + +THE REIGN of HENRY the EIGHTH + +by + +JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE + +VOLUME I. + +London & Toronto J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. +New York E.P. Dutton & Co + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +James Anthony Froude was born at Dartington Rectory, the youngest son of +the Archdeacon of Totnes, on April 23, 1818. His father was a clergyman of +the old school, as much squire as parson. In the concluding chapter to his +_History of England_, Froude wrote that "for a hundred and forty years +after the Revolution of 1688, the Church of England was able to fulfil with +moderate success the wholesome functions of a religious establishment. +Theological doctrinalism passed out of fashion; and the clergy, merged as +they were in the body of the nation, and no longer endeavouring to elevate +themselves into a separate order, were occupied healthily in impressing on +their congregations the meaning of duty and moral responsibility to God." +Of this sane and orthodox, but not over-spiritual, clergy, Archdeacon +Froude was an excellent and altogether wholesome type. He was a stiff Tory; +his hatred of Dissent was so uncompromising that he would not have a copy +of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ in the rectory. A stern, self-contained, +reticent man, he never, in word of deed, confessed his affection for his +youngest son. He was a good horseman, and was passionately fond of open-air +exercises and especially of hunting. His one accomplishment was drawing, +and his sketches in after years earned the praise of Ruskin. + +Cast in the same mould, but fashioned by different circumstances, the +archdeacon's eldest son, Richard Hurrell Froude, was a man of greater +intellectual brilliance and even more masterful character. He was one of +the pioneers of the Oxford Movement, and it was only his early death that +deposed him from his place of equality with Newman and Keble and Pusey. +Anthony was a sickly child, and from his earliest years lacked the loving +care of a mother. He was brought up with Spartan severity by his father and +his aunt. The most venial self-indulgence was regarded as criminal. From +the age of three he was inured to hardship by being ducked every morning in +a trough of ice-cold water. Hurrell Froude felt no tenderness for the +ailing lad. Once, in order to rouse a manly spirit in his little brother, +he took him by the heels, plunged him like another Achilles into a stream, +and stirred with his head the mud at the bottom. Froude has been accused, +and not without justice, of not feeling a proper aversion to acts of +cruelty. The horrible Boiling Act of Henry VIII. excites neither disgust +nor hatred in him; and he makes smooth excuses for the illegal tortures of +the rack and the screw which were inflicted on prisoners by Elizabeth and +her ministers. He had himself been reared in a hardy school; he had been +trained to be indifferent to pain. It may well be that his callousness in +speaking of Tudor cruelties is to be traced to the influences that +surrounded his loveless childhood and youth. + +Hurrell Froude was the idol of his younger brothers. He was a man of +brilliant parts, and a born leader of men. His hatred of Radicals and +Dissenters transcended even his father's dislike of them. His conception of +the Church differed widely from that in which the archdeacon had been +reared. To him a clergyman was a priest who belonged to a sacerdotal caste, +and who ought not "to merge himself in the body of the nation." To him the +Reformation was an infamous crime, and Henry VIII. was worse than the +Bluebeard of the nursery. His hero was Thomas a Becket. He wrote a sketch +of his life and career, which he did not live to finish. His friends +ill-advisedly published it after his death. His ideal ecclesiastical +statesman of modern times was Archbishop Laud. Charles I. was a martyr, and +the Revolution of 1688 an inglorious blunder. To the day of his death--in +spite of the harsh discipline which he received at his hands in boyhood, in +spite of wide divergence of opinion in later years in all matters secular +and religious--Froude never ceased to worship at his brother's shrine. Out +of regard for his memory, more than from any passionate personal +conviction, he associated himself while at Oxford with the Anglican +movement. His affectionate admiration for Newman, neither time nor change +served to impair. If Carlyle was his prophet in later years, his influence +happily did not affect his style. That was based on the chaste model of +Newman. He owed his early friendship with Newman to that great man's +association with Hurrell Froude. Many years after, when Freeman had +venomously accused him of "dealing stabs in the dark at a brother's almost +forgotten fame"--poor Froude's offence was that he dared to write an essay +on Thomas a Becket--he defended himself with rare emotion against the +charge. "I look back upon my brother," he said, "as on the whole the most +remarkable man I have ever met in my life. I have never seen any +person--not one--in whom, as I now think him, the excellences of intellect +and character were combined in fuller measure." + +As Froude's powers developed and matured, and as his experience of the +world broadened, he cast away his brother's yoke, and reverted more to his +father's school of thought. As his father was to him the ideal clergyman of +the Church of England, so the Church before 1828 remained to him the model +of what an established religion should be. He was a thorough Erastian, who +believed in the subordination of the Church to the state. He detested +theological doctrinalism of all kinds; he revolted against the idea that +the clergy should form a separate order. The pretensions of Whitgift and +Laud, the High Anglican school of Keble and Pusey, the whole conception of +the Church and the priesthood which underlay the Oxford Movement, were +things obnoxious to him. In a characteristic passage in the chapter on the +Massacre of St. Bartholomew he reveals his hatred and distrust of +dogmatism. "Whenever the doctrinal aspect of Christianity has been +prominent above the practical," he wrote, "whenever the first duty of the +believer has been held to consist in holding particular opinions on the +functions and nature of his Master, and only the second in obeying his +Master's commands, then always, with a uniformity more remarkable than is +obtained in any other historical phenomena, there have followed dissension, +animosity, and in later ages bloodshed. Christianity, as a principle of +life, has been the most powerful check upon the passions of mankind. +Christianity as a speculative system of opinion has converted them into +monsters of cruelty." + +Holding such decided views on doctrinalism, it might have been thought that +Froude would have visited all the warring sects of the sixteenth century +with equal judgment. No Church was more doctrinal than that of Geneva; no +Calvinist ever was more dogmatic than John Knox. But the men who fought the +battle of the Reformation in England and Scotland were, in the main, the +Calvinists; and to Froude the Reformation was the beginning of a new and +better era, when the yoke of the priest had been finally cast away. +"Calvinism," he said in one of his addresses at St. Andrews, "was the +spirit which rises in revolt against untruth." John Knox was too heroic a +figure not to rouse the artistic sense in Froude. "There lies one," said +the Regent Morton over his coffin, "who never feared the face of mortal +man." Froude has made this epitaph the text of the noblest eulogy ever +delivered on Knox. "No grander figure can be found, in the entire history +of the Reformation in this island, than that of Knox." He surpassed +Cromwell and Burghley in integrity of purpose and in purity of methods. He +towered above the Regent Murray in intellect, and he worked on a larger +scale than Latimer. "His was the voice that taught the peasant of the +Lothians that he was a free man, the equal in the sight of God with the +proudest peer or prelate that had trampled on his forefathers. He was the +one antagonist whom Mary Stuart could not soften nor Maitland deceive. He +it was who had raised the poor commons of his country into a stern and +rugged people, who might be hard, narrow, superstitious, and fanatical, but +who nevertheless were men whom neither king, noble, nor priest could force +again to submit to tyranny." Yet even here, Froude could not refrain from +quoting the sardonic comment of the English ambassador at Edinburgh: Knox +behaved, said Randolph, "as though he were of God's privy council." + +It is certain, at least, that other reformers, who were not greatly +inferior to Knox in capacity, and not at all in piety and honesty, have not +met the same generous treatment at his hands. He sneers at Hooper because +he had scruples about wearing episcopal robes at his consecration as Bishop +of Worcester, though he himself in a famous passage asserts the anomalous +position of bishops in the Church of England. Hooper, as a Calvinist, was +in the right in objecting, and though the point upon which he took his +stand was nominally one of form, there lay behind it a protest against the +Anglican conception of a bishop. He speaks slightingly of Ridley and +Ferrars, though he makes ample amends to them and to Hooper, when he comes +to describe the manner of their death. To the reformers who fled from the +Marian persecution, including men like Jewel and Grindal, he refers with +scornful contempt, though he has no word of criticism to apply to Knox for +retiring to England and to the continent when the flame of persecution was +certainly not more fierce. Latimer is one of his favourites,--a plain, +practical man, not given to abstract speculation or theological subtleties, +but one who was content to do his duty day by day without the fear of man +before his eyes. Latimer, though he was looked upon as a Protestant in the +earliest years of the English Reformation, believed in the Real Presence up +to a short time before his death. But of all English ecclesiastics Thomas +Cranmer was perhaps most to Froude's liking. Cranmer was, like Froude +himself, an artist in words. The English liturgy owes its charm and beauty +to his sense of style, his grace of expression, and his cultured piety. +That he was a great man few will be found in these days to maintain; fewer +still will believe that he deserved the scathing invective of Macaulay. But +no one can read the account given by Froude of his last years without +feeling that the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was neither +saint nor martyr. If ever there was one, he was a timeserver. He pronounced +the divorce of Catherine of Arragon, though he had sworn fealty to the +Pope. He never raised a protest against any of the political murders of +Henry VIII.--with the notable exception of his courageous attempt to save +his friend, Thomas Cromwell. Even in that case, however, he lies under the +suspicion of having interfered through fear that his own fate was involved +in that of the _malleus monachorum_. In the days of Edward VI. he aimed at +the liberty, if not at the life, of Bonner and Gardiner, without semblance +of legal right: He recanted in the reign of Mary when he thought he could +purchase his miserable life. It was only when all hope of pardon was past +that he re-affirmed his belief in the reformed faith. Indeed, he waited +until the day of his execution before withdrawing his recantation, and +confounded his enemies on the way to the stake. To a master of dramatic +narrative the last scene of Cranmer's life came as a relief and an +inspiration. "So perished Cranmer," wrote Froude, in a memorable passage: +"he was brought out, with the eyes of his soul blinded, to make sport for +his enemies, and in his death he brought upon them a wider destruction than +he had effected by his teaching while alive. Pole was appointed the next +day to the See of Canterbury; but in other respects the court had +over-reached themselves by their cruelty. Had they been contented to accept +the recantation, they would have left the archbishop to die broken-hearted, +pointed at by the finger of pitying scorn; and the Reformation would have +been disgraced in its champion. They were tempted, by an evil spirit of +revenge, into an act unsanctioned even by their own bloody laws; and they +gave him an opportunity of writing his name in the roll of martyrs. The +worth of a man must be measured by his life, not by his failure under a +single and peculiar peril. The Apostle, though forewarned, denied his +Master on the first alarm of danger; yet that Master, who knew his nature +in its strength and its infirmity, chose him for the rock on which he would +build his Church." + +With this conscious and avowed bias in favour of undogmatic Christianity, +Froude came to write the story of the transition of England from a Catholic +to a Protestant country. He was not without sympathy with the old order of +things. We cannot but feel a thrill as we read his incomparable description +of the change which was effected in men's thoughts and ideas by the +translation of the mediaeval into the modern world? "For, indeed, a change +was coming upon the world, the meaning and direction of which even still is +hidden from us, a change from era to era. The paths trodden by the +footsteps of ages were broken up; old things were passing away, and the +faith and the life of ten centuries were dissolving like a dream. Chivalry +was dying; the abbey and the castle were soon together to crumble into +ruins; and all the forms, desires, beliefs, convictions, of the old world +were passing away, never to return. A new continent had risen up beyond the +western sea. The floor of heaven, inlaid with stars, had sunk back into an +infinite abyss of immeasurable space; and the firm earth itself, unfixed +from its foundations, was seen to be but a small atom in the awful vastness +of the universe. In the fabric of habit which they had so laboriously built +for themselves, mankind were to remain no longer. And now it is all +gone--like an unsubstantial pageant faded; and between us and the old +English there lies a gulf of mystery which the prose of the historian will +never adequately bridge. They cannot come to us, and our imagination can +but feebly penetrate to them. Only among the aisles of the cathedral, only +as we gaze upon their silent figures sleeping on their tombs, some faint +conceptions float before us of what these men were when they were alive; +and perhaps in the sound of church bells, that peculiar creation of +mediaeval age, which falls upon the ear like the echo of a vanished world." +Froude was once asked what was the greatest and most essential quality of +an historian. He replied that it was imagination. It was a true and a just +saying, and Froude himself possessed the faculty in abundance. + +It was not only with the old order that Froude showed his sympathy. He is +seldom ungenerous in his references to individual Catholics, however +mistaken in his sight their opinions may have been. With Wolsey and Warham, +Fisher and More, even with Gardiner and Bonner he deals fairly and with +some amount of real sympathy. The heroic death of Campian moves him to pity +just as much as the death of Latimer; the strenuous labours of Father +Parsons to overthrow Elizabeth and Protestantism failed to remove him +beyond the pale of Froude's charitable judgment. One English Catholic alone +was reserved for the historian's harsh and sometimes petulant criticism. +For Cardinal Pole Froude felt the angriest contempt. He was descended from +the blood royal, both of England and of Wales. On his father's side he was +descended in direct line from the ancient princes of Powis; on his mother's +from the Plantagenets and the Nevilles. He was the most learned and +illustrious Englishman of his age. He had stood high in King Henry's +favour; he was destined for the greatest offices in the state. He was not +without natural ambition. Yet he forfeited all that he had--the favour of +his prince, the society of his mother whom he loved, and the kindred who +were proud of him, the hope of promotion and of power, his friends, his +home, and his country, for conscience' sake. He remained true to the +ancient faith in which he was reared. With unerring instinct he foresaw +that, once England was severed from the Papacy, it would be impossible for +king or parliament to stem the flood of the Reformation. For twenty years +he remained an exile on the continent. He returned an old and broken man, +to witness the overthrow of his cherished plans. He was repudiated by the +Pope whose authority he had sacrificed everything to maintain, and in his +old age he suffered the humiliation of being accused of heresy in the court +of Rome. He died the same day as Mary died, with the knowledge that all his +life's labours and sacrifices were come to naught, and that the dominion of +the Roman Church in England was gone for ever. Froude saw none of the +pathos or tragedy of Pole's life. To him the cardinal was a renegade, a +traitor to his country, a mercenary of the Pope, a foreign potentate, a +"hysterical dreamer," who vainly imagined that he was "the champion of +heaven, and the destroyer of heresy." + +Froude was, above all, an Englishman. His strongest sympathies went out to +the "God's Englishmen" of Elizabeth's reign, who broke the power of Rome +and Spain, and who made England supreme in Europe. In his first chapter he +describes the qualities of Englishmen with a zest and gusto that drew the +comment from Carlyle that "this seems to me exaggerated: what we call John +Bullish." He described them as "a sturdy, high-hearted race, sound in body +and fierce in spirit which, under the stimulus of those great shins of +beef, their common diet, were the wonder of the age." Carlyle's advice when +he read this passage in proof was characteristic:--"Modify a little: +Frederick the Great was brought up on beer-sops; Robert Burns on oatmeal +porridge; and Mahomet and the Caliphs conquered the world on barley meal." +But the passage stood unmodified, in spite of Froude's regard for his +master. + +How this fierce and turbulent people fought their way to world-wide empire +was a problem which Froude thought he was able to solve. It was, in the +main, because they broke down the power of the priests, and insisted on the +supremacy of state over Church. Therefore all his filial affection, his +patriotism, and his ecclesiastical prejudices were arrayed on the same +side. If history be an exact science, then Froude can lay no claim to the +title of historian. He was a brilliant advocate, a man of letters endowed +with a matchless style, writing of matters which interested him deeply, and +in the investigation of which he spent twenty years of his life. Froude +himself would have been the first to repudiate the idea that history is +philosophy teaching by examples, or that an historian has necessarily a +greater insight into the problems of the present than any other observant +student of affairs. "Gibbon," he once wrote, "believed that the era of +conquerors was at an end. Had he lived out the full life of man, he would +have seen Europe at the feet of Napoleon. But a few years ago we believed +the world had grown too civilised for war, and the Crystal Palace in Hyde +Park was to be the inauguration of a new era. Battles, bloody as +Napoleon's, are now the familiar tale of every day; and the arts which have +made the greatest progress are the arts of destruction." + +It is absurd to attack Froude on the ground that he was biassed. No man has +ever yet written a living history without being biassed. Thucydides +detested the radicalism of Cleon as heartily as Gibbon hated the +Christianity of Rome. It was once the fashion of the Oxford school to decry +Froude as being unworthy of the name of historian. Stubbs, indeed, did pay +public tribute to Froude's "great work," but he stood almost alone of his +school. Freeman for many years pursued and persecuted Froude with a +persistent malevolence which happily has no parallel in the story of +English scholarship. It is not necessary in this place to do more than +refer to that unpleasant episode. Since the publication of the brilliant +vindication of Froude in Mr. Herbert Paul's _Life_, it would be superfluous +to go into the details of that unhappy controversy. The only difference +between Froude and other historians is that Froude's partisanship is always +obvious. He was not more favourable to Henry VIII. than Stubbs was to +Thomas a Becket. But Froude openly avowed his preferences and his dislikes. +Catholicism was to him "a dying superstition," Protestantism "a living +truth." Freeman went further, and charged Froude with having written a +history which was not "_un livre de bonne joy._" It is only necessary to +recall the circumstances under which the _History_ was written to dispose +of that odious charge. In order to obtain material for his _History_, +Froude spent years of his life in the little Spanish village of Simancas. +"I have worked in all," he said in his Apologia, "through nine hundred +volumes of letters, notes, and other papers, private and official, in five +languages and in different handwritings. I am not rash enough to say that I +have never misread a word, or overlooked a passage of importance. I profess +only to have dealt with my materials honestly to the best of my ability." +Few, indeed, have had to encounter such difficulties as met Froude in his +exploration of the archives at Simancas. "Often at the end of a page," he +wrote many years after, "I have felt as after descending a precipice, and +have wondered how I got down. I had to cut my way through a jungle, for no +one had opened the road for me. I have been turned into rooms piled to the +window-sill with bundles of dust-coloured despatches, and told to make the +best of it. Often have I found the sand glistening on the ink where it had +been sprinkled when a page was turned. There the letter had lain, never +looked at again since it was read and put away." Of these difficulties not +a trace is discoverable in Froude's easy and effortless narrative. When he +was approaching the completion of his _History_, he vowed that his account +of the Armada should be as interesting as a novel. He succeeded not only +with that portion of his task, but with all the stirring story that he set +out to narrate. But the ease of his style only concealed the real pains +which he had taken. Of Freeman's charge Froude has long been honourably +acquitted. The Simancas MSS. have since been published in the Rolls Series, +and Mr. Martin Hume, in his Introduction, has paid his tribute to the care, +accuracy, and good faith of their first transcriber. Long before this +testimony could be given, Scottish historians who disagreed with Froude's +conclusions on many points,--men such as Skelton and Burton--had been +profoundly impressed with the care, skill, and conscientiousness with which +Froude handled the mass of tangled materials relating to the history of +Scotland. + +This does not mean that Froude is free from minor inaccuracies, or that he +is innocent of graver faults which flowed from his abundant quality of +imagination. He constantly quotes a sentence inaccurately in his text, +while it is accurately transcribed in a footnote. He is careless in matters +which are important to students of Debrett, as for instance, he +indiscriminately describes Lord Howard as Lord William Howard and Lord +Howard. But Froude was sometimes guilty of something worse than these +trivial "howlers." Lecky exposed, with calm ruthlessness, some of Froude's +exaggerations--to call them by no worse name--in his _Story of the English +in Ireland_. When his _Erasmus_ was translated into Dutch, the countrymen +of Erasmus accused him of constant, if not deliberate, inaccuracy. Lord +Carnarvon once sent Froude to South Africa as an informal special +commissioner. When he returned to this country he wrote an article on the +South African problem in the _Quarterly Review_. Sir Bartle Frere, who knew +South Africa as few men did, said of it that it was an "essay in which for +whole pages a truth expressed in brilliant epigrams alternates with +mistakes or misstatements which would scarcely be pardoned in a special war +correspondent hurriedly writing against time." So dangerous is the quality +of imagination in a writer! + +Truth to tell, Froude was a literary man with a fondness for historical +investigation, and an artist's passion for the dramatic in life and story. +He wrote with a purpose--that purpose being to defend the English +Reformation against the attacks of the neo-Catholic-Anglicans, under whose +influence he had himself been for a time in his youth. To him, therefore, +Henry VIII. was "the majestic lord who broke the bonds of Rome." This is +not the occasion, nor is the present writer the man, to analyse that +complex and masterful personality. Froude started to defend the English +Reformation against the vile charge that it was the outcome of kingly lust. +That charge he has finally dispelled. Henry VIII. was not the monster that +Lingard painted. He beheaded two queens, but few will be found to assert +to-day that either Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard were innocent martyrs. +People must agree to differ to the crack of doom as to the justice of +Catherine's divorce. It is one of those questions which different men will +continue to answer in different ways. But one thing is abundantly clear. If +Henry was actuated merely by passion for Anne Boleyn, he would scarcely +have waited for years before putting Queen Catherine away. Henry divorced +Anne of Cleves, but Anne, who survived the dissolution of her marriage and +remained in England for twenty years, made no complaint of her treatment, +and she has had no champions either among Catholic or Protestant writers. +Her divorce is only remembered as the occasion of the downfall of the +greatest statesman of his age, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. But in his +eagerness to proclaim the truth, Froude went on to defend a paradox. Once +free from the charge of lust,--and compared with Francis of France or +Charles V., Henry was a continent man--Henry became to Froude the ideal +monarch. + +Some one has said that Henry VIII. was the greatest king that ever lived, +because he always got his own way. If that be the test, then Henry was +indeed "every inch a king." He broke with Rome; he deposed the Pope from +his supremacy over England; he dissolved the monasteries; he sent the +noblest and wisest in England to the scaffold; he reduced Wales to law and +order and gave her a constitution; he married and unmarried as he liked; he +disposed of the succession to the throne of England by his will; and his +people never murmured. Only once, when the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out, +was his throne in any danger, and that insurrection he easily suppressed. +He made war with France; he invaded Scotland more than once, and every time +with striking success. He played his vigorous part in European politics, +and at his death he left his realm inviolate. It is an amazing record, +which might well dazzle a writer of Froude's temperament and training. But +there are dark shades in the picture, which Froude was content to make +little of, if not to ignore. He is fond of contrasting Henry's way with +conspirators with that of his daughter Elizabeth. He sneers at her +"tenderness" towards high-born traitors, and never ceases to reproach her +with her one act of repression after the Yorkshire rising. But he had not a +word to say against the tyrannical murders of Henry VIII. Elizabeth truly +boasted that she never punished opinion: Henry sent to the scaffold better +men than himself for holding academical opinions contrary to his own. +Cardinal Fisher may have been--after the publication of Chappuys's letters +it is not possible to deny that he was--technically guilty of treason. But +he was a saint and an old man past eighty, and "the earth on the edge of +the grave was already crumbling under his feet." The king spared neither +age nor worth nor innocence. He had been the familiar friend of More; he +had walked through his gardens at Chelsea leaning on his arm; More had been +his chancellor; he was still the greatest of his subjects; while frankly +admitting that he differed in opinion from the king on the question of the +royal supremacy, he promised that he would not try to influence others. +Henry was inexorable. He not only condemned him to die a traitor's +death,--he added a callous message, which still rouses the indignation of +every generous soul, that he should "not use many words on the scaffold." +Thomas Cromwell had served him as few ministers have served a king; to him +was due--or, at least, he was the capable instrument of--the policy which +has given distinction to Henry's reign; but he was delivered over to his +enemies when the king's caprice had shifted to another quarter. Even Froude +finds it difficult to excuse the execution of More and Cromwell. But, +having once made up his mind to make a hero of Henry, he goes on with it +bravely to the end. He hides nothing, he excuses nothing, he extenuates +nothing. Neither the death of the aged Countess of Salisbury or of the +gallant Earl of Surrey, nor the illegal imprisonment of the aged Norfolk, +the hero of Flodden, shakes his faith in his hero-king. He even relates, +with minute detail, how a few days before the king's death, four poor +persons, one of whom was a tailor, were burnt at the stake for denying the +Real Presence. But his final comment on it all was: "His personal faults +were great, and he shared, besides them, in the errors of his age; but far +deeper blemishes would be but scars upon the features of a sovereign who in +trying times sustained nobly the honour of the English name, and carried +the commonwealth securely through the hardest crisis in its history." + +When a young man Froude had been elected Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. +This entailed his taking holy orders, though he does not seem to have +regularly performed the duties of a clergyman. In 1849 he published his +first book, _The Nemesis of Faith_, now happily forgotten. It raised an +immediate commotion. It was denounced as heretical, and the senior tutor of +Exeter burnt it during a lecture in the College Hall. Froude resigned his +Fellowship, and his connection with the university was severed for +thirty-three years. He was one of the first to take advantage of the +alteration of the law which enabled a clergyman to resign his orders. In +1892 he went back to Oxford as Regius Professor of Modern History. "The +temptation of going back to Oxford in a respectable way," he said, "was too +much for me." He died on October 20, 1894, and on his tombstone he is +simply described, by his own wish, as Professor of Modern History in the +University of Oxford. + +The writer is indebted for information with regard to Froude's life to Mr. +Pollard's article in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, and to Mr. +Herbert Paul's admirable _Life of Froude_ (Pitman). + +W. LLEWELYN WILLIAMS. + +_November_ 16, 1908. + +The following is a list of the published works of J.A. Froude: + + Life of St. Neot (Lives of the English Saints, edited by J.H. Newman), + 1844; Shadows of the Clouds (Tales), by Zeta (_pseud._), 1847; A Sermon + (on 2 Cor. vii. 10) preached at St. Mary's Church on the Death of the + Rev. George May Coleridge, 1847; Article on Spinoza (_Oxford and + Cambridge Review_), 1847; The Nemesis of Faith (Tale), 1849; England's + Forgotten Worthies (_Westminster Review_), 1852; Book of Job + (_Westminster Review)_, 1853; Poems of Matthew Arnold (_Westminster + Review_), 1854; Suggestions on the Best Means of Teaching English + History (Oxford Essays, etc.), 1855; History of England, 12 vols., + 1856-70; The Influence of the Reformation on the Scottish Character, + 1865; Inaugural Address delivered to the University of St. Andrews, + March 19, 1869, 1869; Short Studies on Great Subjects, 1867, 2 vols., + series 2-4, 1871-83 (articles from _Fraser's Magazine, Westminster + Review_, etc.); The Cat's Pilgrimage, 1870; Calvinism: Address at St. + Andrews, 1871; The English in Ireland, 3 vols., 1872-74; Bunyan + (English Men of Letters), 1878; Caesar: a Sketch, 1879; Two Lectures on + South Africa, 1880; Thomas Carlyle (a history of the first forty years + of his life, etc.), 2 vols., 1882; Luther: a Short Biography, 1883; + Thomas Carlyle (a history of his life in London, 1834-81), 2 vols., + 1884; Oceana, 1886; The English in the West Indies, 1888; Liberty and + Property: an Address [1888]; The Two Chiefs of Dunboy, 1889; Lord + Beaconsfield (a Biography), 1890; The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, + 1891; The Spanish Story of the Armada, 1892; Life and Letters of + Erasmus, 1894; English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, 1895; Lectures + on the Council of Trent, 1896; My Relations with Carlyle, 1903. + + EDITED:--Carlyle's Reminiscences, 1881; Mrs. Carlyle's Letters, 1883. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + + I. SOCIAL CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + II. THE LAST YEARS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF WOLSEY. + + III. THE PARLIAMENT OF 1529. + + IV. CHURCH AND STATE. + + V. MARRIAGE OF HENRY AND ANNE BOLEYN. + + VI. THE PROTESTANTS. + + VII. THE LAST EFFORTS OF DIPLOMACY. + + NOTES. + + + + +HENRY VIII + +CHAPTER I + +SOCIAL CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + +In periods like the present, when knowledge is every day extending, and the +habits and thoughts of mankind are perpetually changing under the influence +of new discoveries, it is no easy matter to throw ourselves back into a +time in which for centuries the European world grew upon a single type, in +which the forms of the father's thoughts were the forms of the son's, and +the late descendant was occupied in treading into paths the footprints of +his distant ancestors. So absolutely has change become the law of our +present condition, that it is identified with energy and moral health; to +cease to change is to lose place in the great race; and to pass away from +off the earth with the same convictions which we found when we entered it, +is to have missed the best object for which we now seem to exist. + +It has been, however, with the race of men as it has been with the planet +which they inhabit. As we look back over history, we see times of change +and progress alternating with other times when life and thought have +settled into permanent forms; when mankind, as if by common consent, have +ceased to seek for increase of knowledge, and, contented with what they +possess, have endeavoured to make use of it for purposes of moral +cultivation. Such was the condition of the Greeks through many ages before +the Persian war; such was that of the Romans till the world revenged itself +upon its conquerors by the introduction among them of the habits of the +conquered; and such again became the condition of Europe when the Northern +nations grafted the religion and the laws of the Western empire on their +own hardy natures, and shaped out that wonderful spiritual and political +organisation which remained unshaken for a thousand years. + +The aspirant after sanctity in the fifteenth century of the Christian era +found a model which he could imitate in detail in the saint of the fifth. +The gentleman at the court of Edward IV. or Charles of Burgundy could +imagine no nobler type of heroism than he found in the stories of King +Arthur's knights. The forms of life had become more elaborate--the surface +of it more polished--but the life itself remained essentially the same; it +was the development of the same conception of human excellence; just as the +last orders of Gothic architecture were the development of the first, from +which the idea had worked its way till the force of it was exhausted. + +A condition of things differing alike both outwardly and inwardly from that +into which a happier fortune has introduced ourselves, is necessarily +obscure to us. In the alteration of our own character, we have lost the key +which would interpret the characters of our fathers, and the great men even +of our own English history before the Reformation seem to us almost like +the fossil skeletons of another order of beings. Some broad conclusions as +to what they were are at least possible to us, however; and we are able to +determine, with tolerable certainty, the social condition of the people of +this country, such as it was before the movements of the sixteenth century, +and during the process of those movements. + +The extent of the population can only be rudely conjectured. A rough census +was taken at the time of the Armada, when it was found to be something +under five millions; but anterior to this I can find no authority on which +I can rely with any sort of confidence. It is my impression, however, from +a number of reasons--each in itself insignificant, but which taken together +leave little doubt upon my mind--that it had attained that number by a +growth so slow as to be scarcely perceptible, and had nearly approached to +it many generations before. Simon Fish, in _The Supplication of +Beggars_,[1] says that the number of households in England in 1531 was +520,000. His calculation is of the most random kind; for he rates the +number of parishes at 52,000, with ten households on an average in each +parish. A mistake so preposterous respecting the number of parishes shows +the great ignorance of educated men upon the subject. The ten households in +each parish may, probably (in some parts of the country), have been a +correct computation; but this tells us little with respect to the aggregate +numbers, for the households were very large--the farmers, and the gentlemen +also, usually having all the persons whom they employed residing under +their own roof. Neither from this, therefore, nor from any other positive +statement which I have seen, can I gather any conclusion that may be +depended upon. But when we remember the exceeding slowness with which the +population multiplied in a time in which we can accurately measure it--that +is to say, from 1588 to the opening of the last century--under +circumstances in every way more favourable to an increase, I think we may +assume that the increase was not so great between 1500 and 1588, and that, +previous to 1500, it did not more than keep pace with the waste from civil +and foreign war. The causes, indeed, were wholly wanting which lead to a +rapid growth of numbers. Numbers now increase with the increase of +employment and with the facilities which are provided by the modern system +of labour for the establishment of independent households. At present, any +able-bodied unskilled labourer earns, as soon as he has arrived at man's +estate, as large an amount of wages as he will earn at any subsequent time; +and having no connection with his employer beyond the receiving the due +amount of weekly money from him, and thinking himself as well able to marry +as he is likely to be, he takes a wife, and is usually the father of a +family before he is thirty. Before the Reformation, not only were early +marriages determinately discouraged, but the opportunity for them did not +exist. A labourer living in a cottage by himself was a rare exception to +the rule; and the work of the field was performed generally, as it now is +in the large farms in America and Australia, by servants who lived in the +families of the squire or the farmer, and who, while in that position, +commonly remained single, and married only when by prudence they had saved +a sufficient sum to enable them to enter some other position. + +Checked by circumstances of this kind, population would necessarily remain +almost stationary, and a tendency to an increase was not of itself regarded +by the statesmen of the day as any matter for congratulation or as any +evidence of national prosperity. Not an increase of population, which would +facilitate production and beat down wages by competition, but the increase +of the commonwealth, the sound and healthy maintenance of the population +already existing, were the chief objects which the government proposed to +itself; and although Henry VIII. carefully nursed his manufactures, there +is sufficient proof in the grounds alleged for the measures to which he +resorted, that there was little redundancy of occupation. + +In a statute, for instance, for the encouragement of the linen +manufactures, it is said[2] that--"The King's Highness, calling to his most +blessed remembrance the great number of idle people daily increasing +throughout this his Realm, supposeth that one great cause thereof is by the +continued bringing into the same the great number of wares and merchandise +made, and brought out and from, the parts beyond the sea into this his +Realm, ready wrought by manual occupation; amongst the which wares one kind +of merchandise in great quantity, which is linen cloth of divers sorts made +in divers countries beyond the sea, is daily conveyed into this Realm; +which great quantity of linen cloth so brought is consumed and spent within +the same; by reason whereof not only the said strange countries where the +said linen cloth is made, by the policy and industry of making and vending +the same are greatly enriched; and a marvellous great number of their +people, men, women, and children, are set on work and occupation, and kept +from idleness, to the great furtherance and advancement of their +commonwealth; but also contrariwise the inhabitants and subjects of this +Realm, for lack of like policy and industry, are compelled to buy all or +most part of the linen cloth consumed in the same, amounting to inestimable +sums of money. And also the people of this Realm, as well men as women, +which should and might be set on work, by exercise of like policy and craft +of spinning, weaving, and making of cloth, lies now in idleness and +otiosity, to the high displeasure of Almighty God, great diminution of the +King's people, and extreme ruin, decay, and impoverishment of this Realm. +Therefore, for reformation of these things, the King's most Royal Majesty +intending, like a most virtuous Prince, to provide remedy in the premises; +nothing so much coveting as the increase of the Commonwealth of this his +Realm, with also the virtuous exercise of his most loving subjects and +people, and to avoid that most abominable sin of idleness out of the Realm, +hath, by the advice and consent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament +assembled, ordained and enacted that every person occupying land for +tillage, shall for every sixty acres which he hath under the plough, sow +one quarter of an acre in flax or hemp." + +This Act was designed immediately to keep the wives and children of the +poor in work in their own houses;[3] but it leaves no doubt that +manufactures in England had not of themselves that tendency to +self-development which would encourage an enlarging population. The woollen +manufactures similarly appear, from the many statutes upon them, to have +been vigorous at a fixed level, but to have shown no tendency to rise +beyond that level. With a fixed market and a fixed demand, production +continued uniform. + +A few years subsequent, indeed, to the passing of the Act which I have +quoted, a very curious complaint is entered in the statute book, from the +surface of which we should gather, that so far from increasing, +manufactures had alarmingly declined. The fact mentioned may bear another +meaning, and a meaning far more favourable to the state of the country; +although, if such a phenomenon were to occur at the present time, it could +admit of but one interpretation. In the 18th and 19th of the 32nd of Henry +VIII., all the important towns in England, from the Tweed to the Land's +End, are stated, one by one, to have fallen into serious decay. Usually +when we meet with language of this kind, we suppose it to mean nothing more +than an awakening to the consciousness of evils which had long existed, and +which had escaped notice only because no one was alive to them. In the +present instance, however, the language was too strong and too detailed to +allow of this explanation; and the great body of the English towns +undoubtedly were declining in wealth and in the number of their +inhabitants. "Divers and many beautiful houses of habitation," these +statutes say, "built in tyme past within their walls and liberties, now are +fallen down and decayed, and at this day remain unre-edified, and do lie as +desolate and vacant grounds, many of them nigh adjoining to the +High-streets, replenished with much uncleanness and filth, with pits, +sellers, and vaults lying open and uncovered, to the great perill and +danger of the inhabitants and other the King's subjects passing by the +same; and some houses be very weak and feeble, ready to fall down, and +therefore dangerous to pass by, to the great decay and hinderance of the +said boroughs and towns."[4] + +At present, the decay of a town implies the decay of the trade of the town; +and the decay of all towns simultaneously would imply a general collapse of +the trade of the whole country. Walled towns, however, before the +Reformation, existed for other purposes than as the centre points of +industry: they existed for the protection of property and life: and +although it is not unlikely that the agitation of the Reformation itself +did to some degree interrupt the occupation of the people, yet I believe +that the true account of the phenomenon which then so much disturbed the +parliament, is, that one of their purposes was no longer required; the +towns flagged for a time because the country had become secure. The woollen +manufacture in Worcestershire was spreading into the open country,[5] and, +doubtless, in other counties as well; and the "beautiful houses" which had +fallen into decay, were those which, in the old times of insecurity, had +been occupied by wealthy merchants and tradesmen, who were now enabled, by +a strong and settled government, to dispense with the shelter of locked +gates and fortified walls, and remove their residences to more convenient +situations. It was, in fact, the first symptom of the impending social +revolution. Two years before the passing of this Act, the magnificent +Hengrave Hall, in Suffolk, had been completed by Sir Thomas Kitson, "mercer +of London,"[6] and Sir Thomas Kitson was but one of many of the rising +merchants who were now able to root themselves on the land by the side of +the Norman nobility, first to rival, and then slowly to displace them. + +This mighty change, however, was long in silent progress before it began to +tell on the institutions of the country. When city burghers bought estates, +the law insisted jealously on their accepting with them all the feudal +obligations. Attempts to use the land as "a commodity" were, as we shall +presently see, angrily repressed; while, again, in the majority of +instances, such persons endeavoured, as they do at present, to cover the +recent origin of their families by adopting the manners of the nobles, +instead of transferring the habits of the towns to the parks and chases of +the English counties. The old English organisation maintained its full +activity; and the duties of property continued to be for another century +more considered than its rights. + +Turning, then, to the tenure of land--for if we would understand the +condition of the people, it is to this point that our first attention must +be directed--we find that through the many complicated varieties of it +there was one broad principle which bore equally upon every class, that the +land of England must provide for the defence of England. The feudal system, +though practically modified, was still the organising principle of the +nation, and the owner of land was bound to military service for his country +whenever occasion required. Further, the land was to be so administered, +that the accustomed number of families supported by it should not be +diminished, and that the State should suffer no injury from the +carelessness or selfishness of the owners.[7] Land never was private +property in that personal sense of property in which we speak of a thing as +our own, with which we may do as we please; and in the administration of +estates, as indeed in the administration of all property whatsoever, duty +to the State was at all times supposed to override private interest or +inclination. Even tradesmen, who took advantage of the fluctuations of the +market, were rebuked by parliament for "their greedy and covetous minds," +"as more regarding their own singular lucre and profit than the commonweal +of the Realm;"[8] and although in an altered world, neither industry nor +enterprise will thrive except under the stimulus of self-interest, we may +admire the confidence which in another age expected every man to prefer the +advantage of the community to his own. All land was held upon a strictly +military principle. It was the representative of authority, and the holder +or the owner took rank in the army of the State according to the nature of +his connection with it. It was first broadly divided among the great +nobility holding immediately under the crown, who, above and beyond the +ownership of their private estates, were the Lords of the Fee throughout +their presidency, and possessed in right of it the services of knights and +gentlemen who held their manors under them, and who followed their standard +in war. Under the lords of manors, again, small freeholds and copyholds +were held of various extent, often forty shilling and twenty shilling +value, tenanted by peasant occupiers, who thus, on their own land, lived as +free Englishmen, maintaining by their own free labour themselves and their +families. There was thus a descending scale of owners, each of whom +possessed his separate right, which the law guarded and none might violate; +yet no one of whom, again, was independent of an authority higher than +himself; and the entire body of the English free possessors of the soil was +interpenetrated by a coherent organisation which converted them into a +perpetually subsisting army of soldiers. The extent of land which was held +by the petty freeholders was very large, and the possession of it was +jealously treasured; the private estates of the nobles and gentlemen were +either cultivated by their own servants, or let out, as at present, to free +tenants; or (in earlier times) were occupied by villains, a class who, +without being bondmen, were expected to furnish further services than those +of the field, services which were limited by the law, and recognised by an +outward ceremony, a solemn oath and promise from the villain to his lord. +Villanage, in the reign of Henry VIII., had practically ceased. The name of +it last appears upon the statute book in the early years of the reign of +Richard II., when the disputes between villains and their liege lords on +their relative rights had furnished matter for cumbrous lawsuits, and by +general consent the relation had merged of itself into a more liberal form. +Thus serfdom had merged or was rapidly merging into free servitude; but it +did not so merge that labouring men, if they pleased, were allowed to live +in idleness. Every man was regimented somewhere; and although the +peasantry, when at full age, were allowed, under restrictions, their own +choice of masters, yet the restrictions both on masters and servants were +so severe as to prevent either from taking advantage of the necessities of +the other, or from terminating through caprice or levity, or for any +insufficient reason, a connection presumed to be permanent.[9] + +Through all these arrangements a single aim is visible, that every man in +England should have his definite place and definite duty assigned to him, +and that no human being should be at liberty to lead at his own pleasure an +unaccountable existence. The discipline of an army was transferred to the +details of social life, and it issued in a chivalrous perception of the +meaning of the word duty, and in the old characteristic spirit of English +loyalty. + +From the regulations with respect to land, a coarser advantage was also +derived, of a kind which at the present time will be effectively +appreciated. It is a common matter of dispute whether landed estates should +be large or small; whether it is better that the land should be divided +among small proprietors, cultivating their own ground, or that it should +follow its present tendency, and be shared by a limited and constantly +diminishing number of wealthy landlords. The advocates for a peasant +proprietary tell us truly, that a landed monopoly is dangerous; that the +possession of a spot of ground, though it be but a few acres, is the best +security for loyalty, giving the state a pledge for its owner, and creating +in the body of the nation a free, vigorous, and manly spirit. The advocates +for the large estates tell us, that the masses are too ill-educated to be +trusted with independence; that without authority over them, these small +proprietors become wasteful, careless, improvident; that the free spirit +becomes a democratic and dangerous spirit; and finally, that the resources +of the land cannot properly be brought out by men without capital to +cultivate it. Either theory is plausible. The advocates of both can support +their arguments with an appeal to experience; and the verdict of fact has +not as yet been pronounced emphatically. + +The problem will be resolved in the future history of this country. It was +also nobly and skilfully resolved in the past. The knights and nobles +retained the authority and power which was attached to the lordships of the +fees. They retained extensive estates in their own hands or in the +occupation of their immediate tenants; but the large proportion of the +lands was granted out by them to smaller owners, and the expenditure of +their own incomes in the wages and maintenance of their vast retinues left +but a small margin for indulgence in luxuries. The necessities of their +position obliged them to regard their property rather as a revenue to be +administered in trust, than as "a fortune" to be expended in indulgence. +Before the Reformation, while the differences of social degree were +enormous, the differences in habits of life were comparatively slight, and +the practice of men in these things was curiously the reverse of our own. +Dress, which now scarcely suffices to distinguish the master from his +servant, was then the symbol of rank, prescribed by statute to the various +orders of society as strictly as the regimental uniform to officers and +privates; diet also was prescribed, and with equal strictness; but the diet +of the nobleman was ordered down to a level which was then within the reach +of the poorest labourer. In 1336, the following law was enacted by the +Parliament of Edward III.:[10] "Whereas, heretofore through the excessive +and over-many sorts of costly meats which the people of this Realm have +used more than elsewhere, many mischiefs have happened to the people of +this Realm--for the great men by these excesses have been sore grieved; and +the lesser people, who only endeavour to imitate the great ones in such +sort of meats, are much impoverished, whereby they are not able to aid +themselves, nor their liege lord, in time of need, as they ought; and many +other evils have happened, as well to their souls as their bodies--our Lord +the King, desiring the common profit as well of the great men as the common +people of his Realm, and considering the evils, grievances, and mischiefs +aforesaid, by the common assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and other +nobles of his said Realm, and of the commons of the same Realm, hath +ordained and established that no man, of what estate or condition soever he +be, shall cause himself to be served, in his house or elsewhere, at dinner, +meal, or supper, or at any other time, with more than two courses, and each +mess of two sorts of victuals at the utmost, be it of flesh or fish, with +the common sorts of pottage, without sauce or any other sorts of victuals. +And if any man choose to have sauce for his mess, he may, provided it be +not made at great cost; and if fish or flesh be to be mixed therein, it +shall be of two sorts only at the utmost, either fish or flesh, and shall +stand instead of a mess, except only on the principal feasts of the year, +on which days every man may be served with three courses at the utmost, +after the manner aforesaid." + +Sumptuary laws are among the exploded fallacies which we have outgrown, and +we smile at the unwisdom which could expect to regulate private habits and +manners by statute. Yet some statutes may be of moral authority when they +cannot be actually enforced, and may have been regarded, even at the time +at which they were issued, rather as an authoritative declaration of what +wise and good men considered to be right, than as laws to which obedience +could be compelled. This act, at any rate, witnesses to what was then +thought to be right by "the great persons" of the English realm; and when +great persons will submit themselves of their free will to regulations +which restrict their private indulgence, they are in little danger of +disloyalty from those whom fortune has placed below them. + +Such is one aspect of these old arrangements; it is unnecessary to say that +with these, as with all other institutions created and worked by human +beings, the picture admits of being reversed. When by the accident of birth +men are placed in a position of authority, no care in their training will +prevent it from falling often to singularly unfit persons. The command of a +permanent military force was a temptation to ambition, to avarice, or +hatred, to the indulgence of private piques and jealousies, to political +discontent on private and personal grounds. A combination of three or four +of the leading nobles was sufficient, when an incapable prince sate on the +throne, to effect a revolution; and the rival claims of the houses of York +and Lancaster to the crown, took the form of a war unequalled in history +for its fierce and determined malignancy, the whole nation tearing itself +in pieces in a quarrel in which no principle was at stake, and no national +object was to be gained. A more terrible misfortune never befel either this +or any other country, and it was made possible only in virtue of that +loyalty with which the people followed the standard, through good and evil, +of their feudal superiors. It is still a question, however, whether the +good or the evil of the system predominated; and the answer to such +question is the more difficult because we have no criterion by which, in +these matters, degrees of good and evil admit of being measured. Arising +out of the character of the nation, it reflected this character in all its +peculiarities; and there is something truly noble in the coherence of +society upon principles of fidelity. Fidelity of man to man is among the +rarest excellences of humanity, and we can tolerate large evils which arise +out of such a cause. Under the feudal system men were held together by +oaths, free acknowledgments, and reciprocal obligations, entered into by +all ranks, high and low, binding servants to their masters, as well as +nobles to their kings; and in the frequent forms of the language in which +the oaths were sworn we cannot choose but see that we have lost something +in exchanging these ties for the harsher connecting links of mutual +self-interest. + +"When a freeman shall do fealty to his lord," the statute says, "he shall +hold his right hand upon the book, and shall say thus:--Hear you, my lord, +that I shall be to you both faithful and true, and shall owe my faith to +you for the land that I hold, and lawfully shall do such customs and +services as my duty is to you, at the times assigned, so help me God and +all his saints." + +"The villain," also, "when he shall do fealty to his lord, shall hold his +right hand over the book, and shall say:--Hear you, my lord, that I from +this day forth unto you shall be true and faithful, and shall owe you +fealty for the land which I hold of you in villanage; and that no evil or +damage will I see concerning you, but I will defend and warn you to my +power. So help me God and all his saints."[11] + +Again, in the distribution of the produce of land, men dealt fairly and +justly with each other; and in the material condition of the bulk of the +people there is a fair evidence that the system worked efficiently and +well. It worked well for the support of a sturdy high-hearted race, sound +in body and fierce in spirit, and furnished with thews and sinews which, +under the stimulus of those "great shins of beef,"[12] their common diet, +were the wonder of the age. "What comyn folke in all this world," says a +state paper in 1515[13] "may compare with the comyns of England in riches, +freedom, liberty, welfare, and all prosperity? What comyn folke is so +mighty, so strong in the felde, as the comyns of England?" The relative +numbers of the French and English armies which fought at Cressy and +Agincourt may have been exaggerated, but no allowance for exaggeration will +effect the greatness of those exploits; and in stories of authentic actions +under Henry VIII., where the accuracy of the account is undeniable, no +disparity of force made Englishmen shrink from enemies wherever they could +meet them. Again and again a few thousands of them carried dismay into the +heart of France. Four hundred adventurers, vagabond apprentices, from +London,[14] who formed a volunteer corps in the Calais garrison, were for +years the terror of Normandy. In the very frolic of conscious power they +fought and plundered, without pay, without reward, except what they could +win for themselves; and when they fell at last they fell only when +surrounded by six times their number, and were cut to pieces in careless +desperation. Invariably, by friend and enemy alike, the English are +described as the fiercest people in all Europe (the English wild beasts, +Benvenuto Cellini calls them); and this great physical power they owed to +the profuse abundance in which they lived, and to the soldier's training in +which every man of them was bred from childhood. The state of the working +classes can, however, be more certainly determined by a comparison of their +wages with the prices of food. Both were regulated, so far as regulation +was possible, by act of parliament, and we have therefore data of the +clearest kind by which to judge. The majority of agricultural labourers +lived, as I have said, in the houses of their employers; this, however, was +not the case with all, and if we can satisfy ourselves as to the rate at +which those among the poor were able to live who had cottages of their own, +we may be assured that the rest did not live worse at their masters' +tables. + +Wheat, the price of which necessarily varied, averaged in the middle of the +fourteenth century tenpence the bushel;[15] barley averaging at the same +time three shillings the quarter. With wheat the fluctuation was excessive; +a table of its possible variations describes it as ranging from +eighteenpence the quarter to twenty shillings; the average, however, being +six and eightpence.[16] When the price was above this sum, the merchants +might import to bring it down;[17] when it was below this price the farmers +were allowed to export to the foreign markets.[18] The same scale, with a +scarcely appreciable tendency to rise, continued to hold until the +disturbance in the value of the currency. In the twelve years from 1551 to +1562, although once before harvest wheat rose to the extraordinary price of +forty-five shillings a quarter, it fell immediately after to five shillings +and four.[19] Six and eightpence continued to be considered in parliament +as the average; [20] and on the whole it seems to have been maintained for +that time with little variation.[21] + +Beef and pork were a halfpenny a pound--mutton was three farthings. They +were fixed at these prices by the 3rd of the 24th of Hen. VIII. But the act +was unpopular both with buyers and with sellers. The old practice had been +to sell in the gross, and under that arrangement the rates had been +generally lower. Stow says,[22] "It was this year enacted that butchers +should sell their beef and mutton by weight--beef for a halfpenny the +pound, and mutton for three farthings; which being devised for the great +commodity of the realm (as it was thought), hath proved far otherwise: for +at that time fat oxen were sold for six and twenty shillings and eightpence +the piece; fat wethers for three shillings and fourpence the piece; fat +calves at a like price; and fat lambs for twelvepence. The butchers of +London sold penny pieces of beef for the relief of the poor--every piece +two pound and a half, sometimes three pound for a penny; and thirteen and +sometimes fourteen of these pieces for twelvepence; mutton eightpence the +quarter, and an hundred weight of beef for four shillings and eightpence." +The act was repealed in consequence of the complaints against it,[23] but +the prices never fell again to what they had been, although beef sold in +the gross could still be had for a halfpenny a pound in 1570.[24] Other +articles of food were in the same proportion. The best pig or goose in a +country market could be bought for fourpence; a good capon for threepence +or fourpence; a chicken for a penny; a hen for twopence.[25] + +Strong beer, such as we now buy for eighteenpence a gallon, was then a +penny a gallon;[26] and table-beer less than a halfpenny. French and German +wines were eightpence the gallon. Spanish and Portuguese wines a shilling. +This was the highest price at which the best wines might be sold; and if +there was any fault in quality or quantity, the dealers forfeited four +times the amount.[27] Rent, another important consideration, cannot be +fixed so accurately, for parliament did not interfere with it. Here, +however, we are not without very tolerable information. "My father," says +Latimer,[28] "was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own; only he had a +_farm of three or four pounds by the year_ at the uttermost, and hereupon +he tilled so much as kept half-a-dozen men. He had walk for a hundred +sheep, and my mother milked thirty kine. He was able, and did find the king +a harness with himself and his horse. I remember that I buckled on his +harness when he went to Blackheath field. He kept me to school, or else I +had not been able to have preached before the King's Majesty now. He +married my sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles, each, having brought +them up in godliness and fear of God. He kept hospitality for his poor +neighbours, and some alms he gave to the poor; and all this he did of the +said farm." If "three or four pounds at the uttermost" was the rent of a +farm yielding such results, the rent of labourers' cottages is not likely +to have been considerable.[29] + +Some uncertainty is unavoidable in all calculations of the present nature; +yet, after making the utmost allowances for errors, we may conclude from +such a table of prices that a penny, in terms of the labourer's +necessities, must have been nearly equal in the reign of Henry VIII. to the +present shilling. For a penny, at the time of which I write, the labourer +could buy as much bread, beef, beer, and wine--he could do as much towards +finding lodging for himself and his family--as the labourer of the +nineteenth century can for a shilling. I do not see that this admits of +question. Turning, then, to the table of wages, it will be easy to +ascertain his position. By the 3rd of the 6th of Henry VIII. it was enacted +that master carpenters, masons, bricklayers, tylers, plumbers, glaziers, +joiners, and other employers of such skilled workmen, should give to each +of their journeymen, if no meat or drink was allowed, sixpence a day for +the half year, fivepence a day for the other half; or fivepence-halfpenny +for the yearly average. The common labourers were to receive fourpence a +day for half the year, for the remaining half, threepence.[30] In the +harvest months they were allowed to work by the piece, and might earn +considerably more;[31] so that, in fact (and this was the rate at which +their wages were usually estimated), the day labourer, if in full +employment, received on an average fourpence a day for the whole year. +Allowing a deduction of one day in a fortnight for a saint's day or a +holiday, he received, therefore, steadily and regularly, if well conducted, +an equivalent of something near to twenty shillings a week, the wages at +present paid in English colonies: and this is far from being a full account +of his advantages. Except in rare instances, the agricultural labourer held +land in connection with his house, while in most parishes, if not in all, +there were large ranges of common and unenclosed forest land, which +furnished his fuel to him gratis, where pigs might range, and ducks and +geese; where, if he could afford a cow, he was in no danger of being unable +to feed it; and so important was this privilege considered, that when the +commons began to be largely enclosed, parliament insisted that the working +man should not be without some piece of ground on which he could employ his +own and his family's industry.[32] By the 7th of the 31st of Elizabeth, it +was ordered that no cottage should be built for residence without four +acres of land at lowest being attached to it for the sole use of the +occupants of such cottage. + +It will, perhaps, be supposed that such comparative prosperity of labour +was the result of the condition of the market in which it was sold, that +the demand for labour was large and the supply limited, and that the state +of England in the sixteenth century was analogous to that of Australia or +Canada at the present time. And so long as we confine our view to the +question of wages alone, it is undoubted that legislation was in favour of +the employer. The Wages Act of Henry VIII. was unpopular with the +labourers, and was held to deprive them of an opportunity of making better +terms for themselves.[33] But we shall fall into extreme error if we +translate into the language of modern political economy the social features +of a state of things which in no way correspond to our own. There was this +essential difference, that labour was not looked upon as a market +commodity; the government (whether wisely or not, I do not presume to +determine) attempting to portion out the rights of the various classes of +society by the rule, not of economy, but of equity. Statesmen did not care +for the accumulation of capital; they desired to see the physical +well-being of all classes of the commonwealth maintained at the highest +degree which the producing power of the country admitted; and population +and production remaining stationary, they were able to do it. This was +their object, and they were supported in it by a powerful and efficient +majority of the nation. On the one side parliament interfered to protect +employers against their labourers; but it was equally determined that +employers should not be allowed to abuse their opportunities; and this +directly appears from the 4th of the 5th of Elizabeth, by which, on the +most trifling appearance of a depreciation in the currency, it was declared +that the labouring man could no longer live on the wages assigned to him by +the act of Henry; and a sliding scale was instituted by which, for the +future, wages should be adjusted to the price of food.[34] + +The same conclusion may be gathered also, indirectly, from other acts, +interfering imperiously with the rights of property where a disposition +showed itself to exercise them selfishly. The city merchants, as I have +said, were becoming landowners; and some of them attempted to apply the +rules of trade to the management of landed estates. While wages were ruled +so high, it answered better as a speculation to convert arable land into +pasture; but the law immediately stepped in to prevent a proceeding which +it regarded as petty treason to the commonwealth. Self-protection is the +first law of life; and the country relying for its defence on an +able-bodied population, evenly distributed, ready at any moment to be +called into action, either against foreign invasion or civil disturbance, +it could not permit the owners of land to pursue for their own benefit a +course of action which threatened to weaken its garrisons. It is not often +that we are able to test the wisdom of legislation by specific results so +clearly as in the present instance. The first attempts of the kind which I +have described were made in the Isle of Wight, early in the reign of Henry +VII. Lying so directly exposed to attacks from France, the Isle of Wight +was a place which it was peculiarly important to keep in a state of +defence, and the following act was therefore the consequence:-- + +"Forasmuch as it is to the surety of the Realm of England that the Isle of +Wight, in the county of Southampton, be well inhabited with English people, +for the defence as well of our antient enemies of the Realm of France as of +other parties; the which Isle is late decayed of people by reason that many +towns and villages have been let down, and the fields dyked and made +pasture for beasts and cattle, and also many dwelling-places, farms, and +farmholds have of late time been used to be taken into one man's hold and +hands, that of old time were wont to be in many several persons' holds and +hands, and many several households kept in them; and thereby much people +multiplied, and the same Isle thereby well inhabited, which now, by the +occasion aforesaid, is desolate and not inhabited, but occupied with beasts +and cattle, so that if hasty remedy be not provided, that Isle cannot long +be kept and defended, but open and ready to the hands of the king's +enemies, which God forbid. For remedy hereof, it is ordained and enacted +that no manner of person, of what estate, degree, or condition soever, +shall take any several farms more than one, whereof the yearly value shall +not exceed the sum of ten marks; and if any several leases afore this time +have been made to any person or persons of divers and sundry farmholds, +whereof the yearly value shall exceed that sum, then the said person or +persons shall choose one farmhold at his pleasure, and the remnant of his +leases shall be utterly void."[35] + +An act, tyrannical in form, was singularly justified by its consequences. +The farms were rebuilt, the lands reploughed, the island repeopled; and in +1546, when a French army of sixty thousand men attempted to effect a +landing at St. Helen's, they were defeated and driven off by the militia of +the island and a few levies transported from Hampshire and the adjoining +counties.[36] The money-making spirit, however, lay too deep to be checked +so readily. The trading classes were growing rich under the strong rule of +the Tudors. Increasing numbers of them were buying or renting land; and the +symptoms complained of broke out in the following reign in many parts of +England. They could not choose but break out indeed; for they were the +outward marks of a vital change, which was undermining the feudal +constitution, and would by and bye revolutionise and destroy it. Such +symptoms it was impossible to extinguish; but the government wrestled long +and powerfully to hold down the new spirit; and they fought against it +successfully, till the old order of things had finished its work, and the +time was come for it to depart. By the 1st of the 7th of Henry VIII., the +laws of feudal tenure were put in force against the landed traders. +Wherever lands were converted from tillage to pasture, the lords of the fee +had authority to seize half of all profits until the farm-buildings were +reconstructed. If the immediate lord did not do his duty, the lord next +above him was to do it; and the evil still increasing, the act, twenty +years later, was extended further, and the king had power to seize.[37] Nor +was this all. Sheep-farming had become an integral branch of business; and +falling into the hands of men who understood each other, it had been made a +monopoly, affecting seriously the prices of wool and mutton.[38] Stronger +measures were therefore now taken, and the class to which the offenders +belonged was especially pointed out by parliament. + +"Whereas," says the 13th of the 25th of Henry VIII., "divers and sundry +persons of the king's subjects of this Realm, to whom God of his goodness +hath disposed great plenty and abundance of moveable substance, now of +late, within few years, have daily studied, practised, and invented ways +and means how they might accumulate and gather together into few hands, as +well great multitude of farms as great plenty of cattle, and in especial, +sheep, putting such lands as they can get to pasture and not to tillage; +whereby they have not only pulled down churches and towns and enhanced the +old rates of the rents of the possessions of this Realm, or else brought it +to such excessive fines that no poor man is able to meddle with it, but +also have raised and enhanced the prices of all manner of corn, cattle, +wool, pigs, geese, hens, chickens, eggs, and such other commodities, almost +double above the prices which hath been accustomed, by reason whereof a +marvellous multitude of the poor people of this realm be not able to +provide meat, drink, and clothes necessary for themselves, their wives, and +children, but be so discouraged with misery and poverty, that they fall +daily to theft, robbery, and other inconveniences, or pitifully die for +hunger and cold; and it is thought by the king's humble and loving +subjects, that one of the greatest occasions that moveth those greedy and +covetous people so to accumulate and keep in their hands such great +portions and parts of the lands of this Realm from the occupying of the +poor husbandmen, and so to use it in pasture and not in tillage, is the +great profit that cometh of sheep which be now come into a few persons' +hands, in respect of the whole number of the king's subjects; it is hereby +enacted, that no person shall have or keep on lands not their own +inheritance more than 2000 sheep; that no person shall occupy more than two +farms; and that the 19th of the 4th of Henry VII., and those other acts +obliging the lords of the fees to do their duty, shall be re-enacted and +enforced."[39] + +By these measures the money-making spirit was for a time driven back, and +the country resumed its natural course. I am not concerned to defend the +economic wisdom of such proceedings; but they prove, I think, conclusively, +that the labouring classes owed their advantages not to the condition of +the labour market, but to the care of the state; and that when the state +relaxed its supervision, or failed to enforce its regulations, the +labourers being left to the market chances, sank instantly in the unequal +struggle with capital. + +The government, however, remained strong enough to hold its ground (except +during the discreditable interlude of the reign of Edward VI.) for the +first three quarters of the century; and until that time the working +classes of this country remained in a condition more than prosperous. They +enjoyed an abundance far beyond what in general falls to the lot of that +order in long-settled countries; incomparably beyond what the same class +were enjoying at that very time in Germany or France. The laws secured +them; and that the laws were put in force we have the direct evidence of +successive acts of the legislature justifying the general policy by its +success: and we have also the indirect evidence of the contented loyalty of +the great body of the people at a time when, if they had been discontented, +they held in their own hands the means of asserting what the law +acknowledged to be their right. The government had no power to compel +submission to injustice, as was proved by the fate of an attempt to levy a +"benevolence" by force, in 1525. The people resisted with a determination +against which the crown commissioners were unable to contend, and the +scheme ended with an acknowledgment of fault by Henry, who retired with a +good grace from an impossible position. If the peasantry had been suffering +under any real grievances we should not have failed to have heard of them +when the religious rebellions furnished so fair an opportunity to press +those grievances forward. Complaint was loud enough when complaint was +just, under the Somerset protectorate. [40] + +The incomes of the great nobles cannot be determined, for they varied +probably as much as they vary now. Under Henry IV. the average income of an +earl was estimated at L2000 a year.[41] Under Henry VIII. the great Duke of +Buckingham, the wealthiest English peer, had L6000.[42] And the income of +the Archbishop of Canterbury was rated at the same amount.[43] But the +establishments of such men were enormous; their ordinary retinues in time +of peace consisting of many hundred persons; and in war, when the duties of +a nobleman called him to the field, although in theory his followers were +paid by the crown, yet the grants of parliament were on so small a scale +that the theory was seldom converted into fact, and a large share of the +expenses was paid often out of private purses. The Duke of Norfolk, in the +Scotch war of 1523, declared (not complaining of it, but merely as a reason +why he should receive support) that he had spent all his private means upon +the army; and in the sequel of this history we shall find repeated +instances of knights and gentlemen voluntarily ruining themselves in the +service of their country. The people, not universally, but generally, were +animated by a true spirit of sacrifice; by a true conviction that they were +bound to think first of England, and only next of themselves; and unless we +can bring ourselves to understand this, we shall never understand what +England was under the reigns of the Plantagenets and Tudors. The expenses +of the court under Henry VII. were a little over L14,000 a year, out of +which were defrayed the whole cost of the king's establishment, the +expenses of entertaining foreign ambassadors, the wages and maintenance of +the yeomen of the guard, the retinues of servants, and all necessary outlay +not incurred for public business. Under Henry VIII., of whose extravagance +we have heard so much, and whose court was the most magnificent in the +world, these expenses were L19,894 16s. 8d.,[44] a small sum when compared +with the present cost of the royal establishment, even if we adopt the +relative estimate of twelve to one, and suppose it equal to L240,000 a year +of our money. But indeed it was not equal to L240,000; for, although the +proportion held in articles of common consumption, articles of luxury were +very dear indeed.[45] + +Passing down from the king and his nobles, to the body of the people, we +find that the income qualifying a country gentleman to be justice of the +peace was L20 a year, [46] and if he did his duty, his office was no +sinecure. We remember Justice Shallow and his clerk Davy, with his novel +theory of magisterial law; and Shallow's broad features have so English a +cast about them, that we may believe there were many such, and that the +duty was not always very excellently done. But the Justice Shallows were +not allowed to repose upon their dignity. The justice of the peace was +required not only to take cognisance of open offences, but to keep +surveillance over all persons within his district, and over himself in his +own turn there was a surveillance no less sharp, and penalties for neglect +prompt and peremptory.[47] Four times a year he was to make proclamation of +his duty, and exhort all persons to complain against him who had occasion. + +Twenty pounds a year, and heavy duties to do for it, represented the +condition of the squire of the parish.[48] By the 2nd of the 2nd of Henry +V., "the wages" of a parish priest were limited to L5 6s. 8d., except in +cases where there was special licence from the bishop, when they might be +raised as high as L6. Priests were probably something better off under +Henry VIII., but the statute remained in force, and marks an approach at +least to their ordinary salary.[49] The priest had enough, being unmarried, +to supply him in comfort with the necessaries of life. The squire had +enough to provide moderate abundance for himself and his family. Neither +priest nor squire was able to establish any steep difference in outward +advantages between himself and the commons among whom he lived. + +The habits of all classes were open, free, and liberal. There are two +expressions corresponding one to the other, which we frequently meet with +in old writings, and which are used as a kind of index, marking whether the +condition of things was or was not what it ought to be. We read of "merry +England;"--when England was not merry, things were not going well with it. +We hear of "the glory of hospitality," England's pre-eminent boast,-by the +rules of which all tables, from the table of the twenty-shilling freeholder +to the table in the baron's hall and abbey refectory, were open at the +dinner hour to all comers, without stint or reserve, or question asked:[50] +to every man, according to his degree, who chose to ask for it there was +free fee and free lodging; bread, beef, and beer for his dinner; for his +lodging, perhaps, only a mat of rushes in a spare corner of the hall, with +a billet of wood for a pillow,[51] but freely offered and freely taken, the +guest probably faring much as his host fared, neither worse nor better. +There was little fear of an abuse of such licence, for suspicious +characters had no leave to wander at pleasure; and for any man found at +large and unable to give a sufficient account of himself, there were the +ever-ready parish stocks or town gaol. The "glory of hospitality" lasted +far down into Elizabeth's time; and then, as Camden says, "came in great +bravery of building, to the marvellous beautifying of the realm, but to the +decay" of what he valued more. + +In such frank style the people lived, hating three things with all their +hearts: idleness, want, and cowardice; and for the rest carrying their +hearts high, and having their hands full. The[52] hour of rising, winter +and summer, was four o'clock, with breakfast at five, after which the +labourers went to work and the gentlemen to business, of which they had no +little. In the country every unknown face was challenged and examined--if +the account given was insufficient, he was brought before the justice; if +the village shopkeeper sold bad wares, if the village cobbler made +"unhonest" shoes, if servants and masters quarrelled, all was to be looked +to by the justice; there was no fear lest time should hang heavy with him. +At twelve he dined; after dinner he went hunting, or to his farm or to what +he pleased.[53] It was a life unrefined, perhaps, but coloured with a +broad, rosy, English health. + +Of the education of noblemen and gentlemen we have contradictory accounts, +as might be expected. The universities were well filled, by the sons of +yeomen chiefly. The cost of supporting them at the colleges was little, and +wealthy men took a pride in helping forward any boys of promise.[54] It +seems clear also, as the Reformation drew nearer, while the clergy were +sinking lower and lower, a marked change for the better became perceptible +in a portion at least of the laity. The more old-fashioned of the higher +ranks were slow in moving; for as late as the reign of Edward VI.[55] there +were peers of parliament unable to read; but on the whole, the invention of +printing, and the general ferment which was commencing all over the world, +had produced marked effects in all classes. Henry VIII. himself spoke four +languages, and was well read in theology and history; and the high +accomplishments of More and Sir T. Elliott, of Wyatt and Cromwell, were but +the extreme expression of a temper which was rapidly spreading, and which +gave occasion, among other things to the following reflection in Erasmus. +"Oh, strange vicissitudes of human things," exclaims he. "Heretofore the +heart of learning was among such as professed religion. Now, while they for +the most part give themselves up, _ventri luxui pecuniaeque_, the love of +learning is gone from them to secular princes, the court and the nobility. +May we not justly be ashamed of ourselves? The feasts of priests and +divines are drowned in wine, are filled with scurrilous jests, sound with +intemperate noise and tumult, flow with spiteful slanders and defamation of +others; while at princes' tables modest disputations are held concerning +things which make for learning and piety." + +A letter to Thomas Cromwell from his son's tutor will not be without +interest on this subject; Cromwell was likely to have been unusually +careful in his children's training, and we need not suppose that all boys +were brought up as prudently. Sir Peter Carew, for instance, being a boy at +about the same time, and giving trouble at the High School at Exeter, was +led home to his father's house at Ottery, coupled between two +foxhounds.[56] Yet the education of Gregory Cromwell is probably not far +above what many young men of the middle and higher ranks were beginning to +receive. Henry Dowes was the tutor's name, beyond which fact I know nothing +of him. His letter is as follows:-- + +"After that it pleased your mastership to give me in charge, not only to +give diligent attendance upon Master Gregory, but also to instruct him with +good letters, honest manners, pastyme of instruments, and such other +qualities as should be for him meet and convenient, pleaseth it you to +understand that for the accomplishment thereof I have endeavoured myself by +all ways possible to excogitate how I might most profit him. In which +behalf, through his diligence, the success is such as I trust shall be to +your good contentation and pleasure, and to his no small profit. But for +cause the summer was spent in the service of the wild gods, [and] it is so +much to be regarded after what fashion youth is brought up, in which time +that that is learned for the most part will not be wholly forgotten in the +older years, I think it my duty to acertain your mastership how he spendeth +his time. And first after he hath heard mass he taketh a lecture of a +dialogue of Erasmus' _Colloquies_, called _Pietas Puerilis_, wherein is +described a very picture of one that should be virtuously brought up; and +for cause it is so necessary for him, I do not only cause him to read it +over, but also to practise the precepts of the same. After this he +exerciseth his hand in writing one or two hours, and readeth upon Fabyan's +_Chronicle_ as long. The residue of the day he doth spend upon the lute and +virginals. When he rideth, as he doth very oft, I tell him by the way some +history of the Romans or the Greeks, which I cause him to rehearse again in +a tale. For his recreation he useth to hawk and hunt and shoot in his long +bow, which frameth and succeedeth so well with him that he seemeth to be +thereunto given by nature."[57] + +I have spoken of the organisation of the country population, I have now to +speak of that of the towns, of the trading classes and manufacturing +classes, the regulations respecting which are no less remarkable and no +less illustrative of the national character. If the tendency of trade to +assume at last a form of mere self-interest be irresistible, if political +economy represent the laws to which in the end it is forced to submit +itself, the nation spared no efforts, either of art or policy, to defer to +the last moment the unwelcome conclusion. + +The names and shadows linger about London of certain ancient societies, the +members of which may still occasionally be seen in quaint gilt barges +pursuing their own difficult way among the swarming steamers; when on +certain days, the traditions concerning which are fast dying out of memory, +the Fishmongers' Company, the Goldsmiths' Company, the Mercers' Company, +make procession down the river for civic feastings at Greenwich or +Blackwall. The stately tokens of ancient honour still belong to them, and +the remnants of ancient wealth and patronage and power. Their charters may +be read by curious antiquaries, and the bills of fare of their ancient +entertainments. But for what purpose they were called into being, what +there was in these associations of common trades to surround with gilded +insignia, and how they came to be possessed of broad lands and church +preferments, few people now care to think or to inquire. Trade and traders +have no dignity any more in the eyes of any one, except what money lends to +them; and these outward symbols scarcely rouse even a passing feeling of +curiosity. And yet these companies were once something more than names. +They are all which now remain of a vast organisation which once penetrated +the entire trading life of England--an organisation set on foot to realise +that most necessary, if most difficult, condition of commercial excellence +under which man should deal faithfully with his brother, and all wares +offered for sale, of whatever kind, should honestly be what they pretend to +be.[58] I spoke of the military principle which directed the distribution +and the arrangements of land. The analogy will best explain a state of +things in which every occupation was treated as the division of an army; +regiments being quartered in every town, each with its own self-elected +officers, whose duty was to exercise authority over all persons professing +the business to which they belonged; who were to see that no person +undertook to supply articles which he had not been educated to manufacture; +who were to determine the prices at which such articles ought justly to be +sold; above all, who were to take care that the common people really bought +at shops and stalls what they supposed themselves to be buying; that cloth +put up for sale was true cloth, of true texture and full weight: that +leather was sound and well tanned; wine pure, measures honest; flour +unmixed with devil's dust;--who were generally to look to it that in all +contracts between man and man for the supply of man's necessities, what we +call honesty of dealing should be truly and faithfully observed.[59] An +organisation for this purpose did once really exist in England,[60] really +trying to do the work which it was intended to do, as half the pages of our +early statutes witness. In London, as the metropolis, a central council +sate for every branch of trade, and this council was in communication with +the Chancellor and the Crown. It was composed of the highest and most +respectable members of the profession, and its office was to determine +prices, fix wages, arrange the rules of apprenticeship, and discuss all +details connected with the business on which legislation might be required. +Further, this council received the reports of the searchers--high officers +taken from their own body, whose business was to inspect, in company with +the lord mayor or some other city dignitary, the shops of the respective +traders; to receive complaints, and to examine into them. In each +provincial town local councils sate in connection with the municipal +authorities, who fulfilled in these places the same duties; and their +reports being forwarded to the central body, and considered by them, +representations on all necessary matters were then made to the privy +council; and by the privy council, if requisite, were submitted to +parliament. If these representations were judged to require legislative +interference, the statutes which were passed in consequence were returned +through the Chancellor to the mayors of the various towns and cities, by +whom they were proclaimed as law. No person was allowed to open a trade or +to commence a manufacture, either in London or the provinces, unless he had +first served his apprenticeship; unless he could prove to the satisfaction +of the authorities that he was competent in his craft; and unless he +submitted as a matter of course to their supervision. The legislature had +undertaken not to let that indispensable task go wholly unattempted, of +distributing the various functions of society by the rule of capacity; of +compelling every man to do his duty in an honest following of his proper +calling, securing to him that he in his turn should not be injured by his +neighbour's misdoings. + +The state further promising for itself that all able-bodied men should be +found in work,[61] and not allowing any man to work at a business for which +he was unfit, insisted as its natural right that children should not be +allowed to grow up in idleness, to be returned at mature age upon its +hands. Every child, so far as possible, was to be trained up in some +business or calling,[62] idleness "being the mother of all sin," and the +essential duty of every man being to provide honestly for himself and his +family. The educative theory, for such it was, was simple but effective: it +was based on the single principle that, next to the knowledge of a man's +duty to God, and as a means towards doing that duty, the first condition of +a worthy life was the ability to maintain it in independence. Varieties of +inapplicable knowledge might be good, but they were not essential; such +knowledge might be left to the leisure of after years, or it might be +dispensed with without vital injury. Ability to labour could not be +dispensed with, and this, therefore, the state felt it to be its own duty +to see provided; so reaching, I cannot but think, the heart of the whole +matter. The children of those who could afford the small entrance fees were +apprenticed to trades, the rest were apprenticed to agriculture; and if +children were found growing up idle, and their fathers or their friends +failed to prove that they were able to secure them an ultimate maintenance, +the mayors in towns and the magistrates in the country had authority to +take possession of such children, and apprentice them as they saw fit, that +when they grew up "they might not be driven" by want or incapacity "to +dishonest courses."[63] + +Such is an outline of the organisation of English society under the +Plantagenets and Tudors. A detail of the working of the trade laws would be +beyond my present purpose. It is obvious that such laws could be enforced +only under circumstances when production and population remained (as I said +before) nearly stationary; and it would be madness to attempt to apply them +to the changed condition of the present. It would be well if some competent +person would make these laws the subject of a special treatise. I will run +the risk, however, of wearying the reader with two or three illustrative +statutes, which I have chosen, not as being more significant than many +others, but as specimens merely of the discipline under which, for +centuries, the trade and manufactures of England contrived to move; showing +on one side the good which the system effected, on the other the inevitable +evils under which it finally sank. + +The first which I shall quote concerns simply the sale of specific goods +and the means by which tradesmen were prevented from enhancing prices. The +Act is the 6th of the 24th of Henry VIII., and concerns the sale of wines, +the statute prices of which I have already mentioned. + +"Because," says this Act, "that divers merchants inhabiting within the city +of London have of late not only presumed to bargain and sell in gross to +divers of the king's subjects great quantities of wines of Gascony, +Guienne, and French wines, some for five pounds per tonne, some for more +and some for less, and so after the rate of excessive prices contrary to +the effect of a good and laudable statute lately made in this present +parliament; that is to say, contrary to and above the prices thereof set by +the Right Honourable Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Lord President of the +King's most honourable Council, Lord Privy Seal, and the two Chief Justices +of either bench, whereby they be fallen into the penalties limited by the +said statute; as by due proof made by examination taken is well known--but +also having in their hands great abundance of wine, by them acquired and +bought to be sold, obstinately and maliciously, since their said attemptate +and defaults proved, have refused to bargain and sell to many of the king's +subjects any of their said wines remaining and being in their hands; +purposing and intending thereby their own singular and unreasonable lucres +and profits, to have larger and higher prices of their said wines, to be +set according to their insatiable appetites and minds; it is therefore +ordained and enacted, by authority of this present parliament, that every +merchant now having, or which shall hereafter have, wines to be sold, and +refusing to sell or deliver, or not selling and delivering any of the said +wines for ready money therefore to be paid, according to the price or +prices thereof being set, shall forfeit and lose the value of the wine so +required to be bought.... For due execution of which provision, and for the +relief of the king's subjects, it shall be lawful to all and singular +justices of the peace, mayors, bailiffs, and other head officers in shires, +cities, boroughs, towns, etc., at the request of any person to whom the +said merchant or merchants have refused to sell, to enter into the cellars +and other places where such wines shall lie or be, and to sell and deliver +the same wine or wines desired to be bought to the person or persons +requiring to buy the same; taking of the buyer of the wine so sold to the +use and satisfaction of the proprietor aforesaid, according to the prices +determined by the law." + +The next which I select is the eleventh of the second and third of Philip +and Mary; and falling in the midst of the smoke of the Smithfield fires, +and the cruelties of that melancholy time, it shines like a fair gleam of +humanity, which will not lose anything of its lustre because the evils +against which it contends have in our times, also, furnished matter for +sorrow and calamity--calamity which we unhappily have been unable even to +attempt to remedy. It is termed "An Act touching Weavers," and runs: + +"Forasmuch as the weavers of this realm have, as well at this present +parliament as at divers other times, complained that the rich and wealthy +clothiers do in many ways oppress them--some by setting up and keeping in +their houses divers looms, and keeping and maintaining them by journeymen +and persons unskilful, to the decay of a great number of artificers which +were brought up in the said science of weaving, with their families and +their households--some by engrossing of looms into their hands and +possession, and letting them out at such unreasonable rents, as the poor +artificers are not able to maintain themselves, much less maintain their +wives, families, and children--some also by giving much less wages and hire +for weaving and workmanship than in times past they did, whereby they are +enforced utterly to forsake their art and occupation wherein they have been +brought up; It is, therefore, for remedy of the premises, and for the +avoiding of a great number of inconveniences which may grow if in time it +be not foreseen, ordained and enacted by authority of this present +parliament, that no person using the feat or mystery of cloth-making, and +dwelling out of a city, borough, market-town, or corporate town, shall +keep, or retain, or have in his or their houses or possession, any more +than one woollen loom at a time; nor shall by any means, directly or +indirectly, receive or take any manner of profit, gain, or commodity, by +letting or setting any loom, or any house wherein any loom is or shall be +used or occupied, which shall be together by him set or let, upon pain of +forfeiture for every week that any person shall do the contrary to the +tenor and true meaning hereof, twenty shillings." + +A provision then follows, limiting weavers living in towns to two +looms--the plain intention being to prevent the cloth manufacture from +falling into the power of large capitalists employing "hands;" and to +enable as many persons as possible to earn all in their own homes their own +separate independent living. I suppose that the parliament was aware that +by pursuing this policy the cost of production was something increased; +that cloth was thus made dearer than it would have been if trade had been +left to follow its own course. It considered, however, that the loss was +compensated to the nation by retaining its people in the condition not of +"hands," but of men; by rendering them independent of masters, who only +sought to make their own advantage at the expense of labour; and enabling +them to continue to maintain themselves in manly freedom. The weak point of +all such provisions did not lie, I think, in the economic aspect of them, +but in a far deeper difficulty. The details of trade legislation, it is +obvious, could only be determined by persons professionally conversant with +those details; and the indispensable condition of success with such +legislation is, that it be conducted under the highest sense of the +obligations of honesty. No laws are of any service which are above the +working level of public morality; and the deeper they are carried down into +life, the larger become the opportunities of evasion. That the system +succeeded for centuries is evident from the organisation of the companies +remaining so long in its vitality; but the efficiency of this organisation +for the maintenance of fair dealing could exist only so long as the +companies themselves--their wardens and their other officials, who alone, +_quisque in sua arte_, were competent to judge what was right and what was +wrong--could be trusted, at the same time being interested parties, to give +a disinterested judgment. The largeness of the power inevitably committed +to the councils was at once a temptation and an opportunity to abuse those +powers; and slowly through the statute book we find the traces of the +poison as it crept in and in. Already in the 24th of Henry VIII., we meet +with complaints in the leather trade of the fraudulent conduct of the +searchers, whose duty was to affix their seal upon leather ascertained to +be sound, before it was exposed for sale, "which mark or print, for +corruption and lucre, is commonly set and put by such as take upon them the +search and sealing, as well upon leather insufficiently tanned, as upon +leather well tanned, to the great deceit of the buyers thereof." About the +same time, the "craft wardens" of the various fellowships, "out of sinister +mind and purpose," were levying excessive fees on the admission of +apprentices; and when parliament interfered to bring them to order, they +"compassed and practised by cautill and subtle means to delude the good and +wholesome statutes passed for remedy."[64] The old proverb, _Quis custodiat +custodes_, had begun to verify itself, and the symptom was a fatal one. +These evils, for the first half of the century, remained within compass; +but as we pass on we find them increasing steadily. In the 7th and the 8th +of Elizabeth, there are indications of the truck system; and towards her +later years, the multiplying statutes and growing complaints and +difficulties show plainly that the companies had lost their healthy +vitality, and, with other relics of feudalism, were fast taking themselves +away. There were no longer tradesmen to be found in sufficient numbers who +were possessed of the necessary probity; and it is impossible not to +connect such a phenomenon with the deep melancholy which in those years +settled down on Elizabeth herself. + +For, indeed, a change was coming upon the world, the meaning and direction +of which even still is hidden from us, a change from era to era. The paths +trodden by the footsteps of ages were broken up; old things were passing +away, and the faith and the life of ten centuries were dissolving like a +dream. Chivalry was dying; the abbey and the castle were soon together to +crumble into ruins; and all the forms, desires, beliefs, convictions of the +old world were passing away, never to return. A new continent had risen up +beyond the western sea. The floor of heaven, inlaid with stars, had sunk +back into an infinite abyss of immeasurable space; and the firm earth +itself, unfixed from its foundations, was seen to be but a small atom in +the awful vastness of the universe. In the fabric of habit in which they +had so laboriously built for themselves, mankind were to remain no longer. + +And now it is all gone--like an unsubstantial pageant faded; and between us +and the old English there lies a gulf of mystery which the prose of the +historian will never adequately bridge. They cannot come to us, and our +imagination can but feebly penetrate to them. Only among the aisles of the +cathedral, only as we gaze upon their silent figures sleeping on their +tombs, some faint conceptions float before us of what these men were when +they were alive; and perhaps in the sound of church bells, that peculiar +creation of mediaeval age, which falls upon the ear like the echo of a +vanished world. + +The transition out of this old state is what in this book I have undertaken +to relate. As yet there were uneasy workings below the surface; but the +crust was unbroken, and the nation remained outwardly unchanged as it had +been for centuries. I have still some few features to add to my +description. + +Nothing, I think, proves more surely the mutual confidence which held +together the government and the people, than the fact that all classes were +armed. Every man, as I have already said, was a soldier; and every man was +ready equipped at all times with the arms which corresponded to his rank. +By the great statute of Winchester,[65] which was repeated and expanded on +many occasions in the after reigns, it was enacted, "That every man have +harness in his house to keep the peace after the antient assise--that is to +say, every man between fifteen years of age and sixty years shall be +assessed and sworn to armour according to the quantity of his lands and +goods--that is, to wit, for fifteen pounds lands and forty marks goods, a +hauberke, a helmet of iron, a sword, a dagger, and a horse. For ten pounds +of lands and twenty marks goods, a hauberke, a helmet, a sword, and a +dagger. For five pounds lands, a doublet, a helmet of iron, a sword, and a +dagger. For forty shillings lands, a sword, a bow and arrows, and a dagger. +And all others that may shall have bows and arrows. Review of armour shall +be made every year two times, by two constables for every hundred and +franchise thereunto appointed; and the constables shall present, to +justices assigned for that purpose, such defaults as they do find." + +As the archery was more developed, and the bow became the peculiar weapon +of the English, regular practice was ordered, and shooting became at once +the drill and the amusement of the people. Every hamlet had its pair of +butts; and on Sundays and holidays[66] all able-bodied men were required to +appear in the field, to employ their leisure hours "as valyant Englishmen +ought to do," "utterly leaving the play at the bowls, quoits, dice, kails, +and other unthrifty games;" magistrates, mayors, and bailiffs being +responsible for their obedience, under penalty, if these officers neglected +their duty, of a fine of twenty shillings for each offence. On the same +days, the tilt-yard at the Hall or Castle was thrown open, and the young +men of rank amused themselves with similar exercises. Fighting, or mock +fighting--and the imitation was not unlike the reality--was at once the +highest enjoyment and the noblest accomplishment of all ranks in the state; +and over that most terrible of human occupations they had flung the +enchanted halo of chivalry, decorating it with all the fairest graces, and +consecrating it with the most heroic aspirations. + +The chivalry, with much else, was often perhaps something ideal. In the +wars of the Roses it had turned into mere savage ferocity; and in forty +years of carnage the fighting propensities had glutted themselves. A +reaction followed, and in the early years of Henry VIII. the statutes were +growing obsolete, and the "unlawful games" rising again into favour. The +younger nobles, or some among them, were shrinking from the tilt-yard, and +were backward on occasions even when required for war. Lord Surrey, when +waiting on the Border, expecting the Duke of Albany to invade the northern +counties, in 1523, complained of the growing "slowness" of the young lords +"to be at such journeys,"[67] and of their "inclination to dancing, +carding, and dicing." The people had followed the example, and were falling +out of archery practice, exchanging it for similar amusements. Henry VIII., +in his earlier days an Englishman after the old type, set himself +resolutely to oppose these downward tendencies, and to brace again the +slackened sinews of the nation. In his own person he was the best rider, +the best lance, and the best archer in England; and while a boy he was +dreaming of fresh Agincourts, and even of fresh crusades. In 1511, when he +had been king only three years, parliament re-enacted the Winchester +statute, with new and remarkable provisions; and twice subsequently in the +course of his reign he returned back upon the subject, insisting upon it +with increasing stringency. The language of the Act of 1511 is not a little +striking. "The King's Highness," so the words run, "calling to his gracious +remembrance that by the feats and exercise of the subjects of his realm in +shooting in long bows, there had continually grown and been within the same +great numbers and multitudes of good archers, which hath not only defended +the realm and the subjects thereof against the cruel malice and dangers of +their enemies in times heretofore past, but also, with little numbers and +puissance in regard of their opposites, have done many notable acts and +discomfitures of war against the infidels and others; and furthermore +reduced divers regions and countries to their due obeysance, to the great +honour, fame, and surety of this realm and subjects, and to the terrible +dread and fear of all strange nations, anything to attempt or do to the +hurt or damage of them: Yet nevertheless that archery and shooting in long +bows is but little used, but daily does minish and decay, and abate more +and more; for that much part of the commonalty and poor people of this +realm, whereby of old time the great number and substance of archers had +grown and multiplied, be not of power nor ability to buy them long bows of +yew to exercise shooting in the same, and to sustain the continual charge +thereof; and also because, by means and occasions of customable usage of +tennis play, bowles, claish and other unlawful games, prohibited by many +good and beneficent statutes, much impoverishment hath ensued: Wherefore, +the King's Highness, of his great wisdom and providence, and also for zeal +to the public weal, surety, and defence of this his realm, and the antient +fame in this behalf to be revived, by the assent of his Lords Spiritual and +Temporal, and his Commons in this present parliament assembled, hath +enacted and established that the statute of Winchester for archers be put +in due execution; and over that, that every man being the king's subject, +not lame, decrepit, or maimed, being within the age of sixty years, except +spiritual men, justices of the one bench and of the other, justices of the +assize, and barons of the exchequer, do use and exercise shooting in long +bows, and also do have a bow and arrows ready continually in his house, to +use himself in shooting. And that every man having a man child or men +children in his house, shall provide for all such, being of the age of +seven years and above, and till they shall come to the age of seventeen +years, a bow and two shafts, to learn them and bring them up in shooting; +and after such young men shall come to the age of seventeen years, every of +them shall provide and have a bow and four arrows continually for himself, +at his proper costs and charges, or else of the gift and provision of his +friends, and shall use the same as afore is rehearsed." Other provisions +are added, designed to suppress the games complained of, and to place the +bows more within the reach of the poor, by cheapening the prices of them. + +The same statute[68] (and if this be a proof that it had imperfectly +succeeded, it is a proof also of Henry's confidence in the general +attachment of his subjects) was re-enacted thirty years later, at the +crisis of the Reformation, when the northern counties were fermenting in a +half-suppressed rebellion, and the catholics at home and abroad were +intriguing to bring about a revolution. In this subsequent edition of +it[69] some particulars are added which demand notice. In the directions to +the villages for the maintaining each "a pair of buttes," it is ordered +that no person above the age of twenty-four shall shoot with the light +flight arrow at a distance under two hundred and twenty yards. Up to two +hundred and twenty yards, therefore, the heavy war arrow was used, and this +is to be taken as the effective range for fighting purposes of the old +archery.[70] No measures could have been invented more effective than this +vigorous arming to repress the self-seeking tendencies in the mercantile +classes which I have mentioned as beginning to show themselves. Capital +supported by force may make its own terms with labour; but capital lying +between a king on one side resolved to prevent oppression, and a people on +the other side in full condition to resist, felt even prudence dictate +moderation, and reserved itself for a more convenient season. + +Looking, therefore, at the state of England as a whole, I cannot doubt that +under Henry the body of the people were prosperous, well-fed, loyal, and +contented. In all points of material comfort they were as well off as they +had ever been before; better off than they have ever been in later times. + +Their amusements, as prescribed by statute, consisted in training +themselves as soldiers. In the prohibitions of the statutes we see also +what their amusements were inclined to be. But besides "the bowles and the +claish," field sports, fishing, shooting, hunting, were the delight of +every one, and although the forest laws were terrible, they served only to +enhance the excitement by danger. Then, as now, no English peasant could be +convinced that there was any moral crime in appropriating the wild game. It +was an offence against statute law, but no offence against natural law; and +it was rather a trial of skill between the noble who sought to monopolise a +right which seemed to be common to all, and those who would succeed, if +they could, in securing their own share of it. The Robin Hood ballads +reflect the popular feeling and breathe the warm genial spirit of the old +greenwood adventurers. If deer-stealing was a sin, it was more than +compensated by the risk of the penalty to which those who failed submitted, +when no other choice was left. They did not always submit, as the old +northern poem shows of _Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of +Cloudislee_, with its most immoral moral; yet I suppose there was never +pedant who could resist the spell of those ringing lines, or refuse with +all his heart to wish the rogues success, and confusion to the honest men. + +But the English peasantry had pleasures of less ambiguous propriety, and +less likely to mislead our sympathies. The chroniclers have given us many +accounts of the masques and plays which were acted in the court, or in the +castles of the noblemen. Such pageants were but the most splendid +expression of a taste which was national and universal. As in ancient +Greece, generations before the rise of the great dramas of Athens, +itinerant companies wandered from village to village, carrying their stage +furniture in their little carts, and acted in their booths and tents the +grand stories of the mythology; so in England the mystery players haunted +the wakes and fairs, and in barns or taverns, taprooms, or in the farmhouse +kitchen, played at saints and angels, and transacted on their petty stage +the drama of the Christian faith. To us, who can measure the effect of such +scenes only by the impression which they would now produce upon ourselves, +these exhibitions can seem but unspeakably profane; they were not profane +when tendered in simplicity, and received as they were given. They were no +more profane than those quaint monastic illuminations which formed the germ +of Italian art; and as out of the illuminations arose those paintings which +remain unapproached and unapproachable in their excellence, so out of the +mystery plays arose the English drama, represented in its final +completeness by the creations of a poet who, it now begins to be supposed, +stands alone among mankind. We allow ourselves to think of Shakspeare or of +Raphael or of Phidias, as having accomplished their work by the power of +their own individual genius; but greatness like theirs is never more than +the highest degree of an excellence which prevails widely round it, and +forms the environment in which it grows. No single mind in single contact +with the facts of nature could have created out of itself a Pallas, a +Madonna, or a Lear; such vast conceptions are the growth of ages, the +creations of a nation's spirit; and artist and poet, filled full with the +power of that spirit, have but given them form, and nothing more than form. +Nor would the form itself have been attainable by any isolated talent. No +genius can dispense with experience; the aberrations of power, unguided or +ill-guided, are ever in proportion to its intensity, and life is not long +enough to recover from inevitable mistakes. Noble conceptions already +existing, and a noble school of execution which will launch mind and hand +at once upon their true courses, are indispensable to transcendent +excellence; and Shakspeare's plays were as much the offspring of the long +generations who had pioneered his road for him, as the discoveries of +Newton were the offspring of those of Copernicus. + +No great general ever arose out of a nation of cowards; no great statesman +or philosopher out of a nation of fools; no great artist out of a nation of +materialists; no great dramatist except when the drama was the passion of +the people. Acting was the especial amusement of the English, from the +palace to the village green. It was the result and expression of their +power over themselves, and power over circumstances. They were troubled +with no subjective speculations; no social problems vexed them with which +they were unable to deal; and in the exuberance of vigour and spirits they +were able, in the strict and literal sense of the word, to play with the +materials of life. The mystery plays came first; next the popular legends; +and then the great figures of English history came out upon the stage, or +stories from Greek and Roman writers; or sometimes it was an extemporised +allegory. Shakspeare himself has left us many pictures of the village +drama. Doubtless he had seen many a Bottom in the old Warwickshire hamlets; +many a Sir Nathaniel playing "Alissander," and finding himself "a little +o'erparted." He had been with Snug the joiner, Quince the carpenter, and +Flute the bellows-mender, when a boy we will not question, and acted with +them, and written their parts for them; had gone up with them in the +winter's evenings to the Lucy's Hall before the sad trouble with the +deer-stealing; and afterwards, when he came to London and found his way +into great society, he had not failed to see Polonius burlesquing Caesar on +the stage, as in his proper person Polonius burlesqued Sir William Cecil. +The strolling players in _Hamlet_ might be met at every country wake or +festival; it was the direction in which the especial genius of the people +delighted to revel. As I desire in this chapter not only to relate what +were the habits of the people, but to illustrate them also, within such +compass as I can allow myself, I shall transcribe out of Hall[71] a +description of a play which was acted by the boys of St. Paul's School, in +1527, at Greenwich, adding some particulars, not mentioned by Hall, from +another source.[72] It is a good instance of the fantastic splendour with +which exhibitions of this kind were got up, and it possesses also a +melancholy interest of another kind, as showing how little the wisest among +us can foresee our own actions, or assure ourselves that the convictions of +to-day will alike be the convictions of to-morrow. The occasion was the +despatch of a French embassy to England, when Europe was outraged by the +Duke of Bourbon's capture of Rome, when the children of Francis I. were +prisoners in Spain, and Henry, with the full energy of his fiery nature, +was flinging himself into a quarrel with Charles V. as the champion of the +Holy See. + +At the conclusion of a magnificent supper "the king led the ambassadors +into the great chamber of disguisings; and in the end of the same chamber +was a fountain, and on one side was a hawthorne tree, all of silk, with +white flowers, and on the other side was a mulberry tree full of fair +berries, all of silk. On the top of the hawthorne were the arms of England, +compassed with the collar of the order[73] of St. Michael, and in the top +of the mulberry tree stood the arms of France within a garter. The fountain +was all of white marble, graven and chased; the bases of the same were +balls of gold, supported by ramping beasts wound in leaves of gold. In the +first work were gargoylles of gold, fiercely faced with spouts running. The +second receit of this fountain was environed with winged serpents, all of +gold, which griped it; and on the summit of the same was a fair lady, out +of whose breasts ran abundantly water of marvellous delicious savour. About +this fountain were benches of rosemary, fretted in braydes laid on gold, +all the sides set with roses, on branches as they were growing about this +fountain. On the benches sate eight fair ladies in strange attire, and so +richly apparelled in cloth of gold, embroidered and cut over silver, that I +cannot express the cunning workmanship thereof. Then when the king and +queen were set, there was played before them, by children, in the Latin +tongue, a manner of tragedy, the effect whereof was that the pope was in +captivity and the church brought under foot. Whereupon St. Peter appeared +and put the cardinal (Wolsey) in authority to bring the pope to his +liberty, and to set up the church again. And so the cardinal made +intercession with the kings of England and France that they took part +together, and by their means the pope was delivered. Then in came the +French king's children, and complained to the cardinal how the emperour +kept them as hostages, and would not come to reasonable point with their +father, whereupon they desired the cardinal to help for their deliverance; +which wrought so with the king his master and the French king that he +brought the emperour to a peace, and caused the two young princes to be +delivered." So far Hall relates the scene, but there was more in the play +than he remembered or cared to notice, and I am able to complete this +curious picture of a pageant once really and truly a living spectacle in +the old palace at Greenwich, by an inventory of the dresses worn by the +boys and a list of the _dramatis personae_. + +The school-boys of St. Paul's were taken down the river with the master in +six boats, at the cost of a shilling a boat--the cost of the dresses and +the other expenses amounting in all to sixty-one shillings. + +The characters were-- + +An orator in apparel of cloth of gold. + +Religio, Ecclesia, Veritas, like three widows, in garments of silk, and +suits of lawn and Cyprus. + +Heresy and False Interpretation, like sisters of Bohemia, apparelled in +silk of divers colours. + +The heretic Luther, like a party friar, in russet damask and black taffety. + +Luther's wife, like a frow of Spiers in Almayn, in red silk. + +Peter, Paul, and James, in habits of white sarsnet, and three red mantles, +and lace of silver and damask, and pelisses of scarlet. + +A Cardinal in his apparel. + +Two Sergeants in rich apparel. + +The Dolphin and his brother in coats of velvet embroidered with gold, and +capes of satin bound with velvet. + +A Messenger in tinsel satin. + +Six men in gowns of grey sarsnet. + +Six women in gowns of crimson velvet. + +War, in rich cloth of gold and feathers, armed. + +Three Almeyns, in apparel all cut and holed in silk. + +Lady Peace in lady's apparel white and rich. + +Lady Quietness and Dame Tranquillity richly beseen in lady's apparel. + +It is a strange world. This was in November, 1527. In November, 1530, but +three brief years after, Wolsey lay dying in misery, a disgraced man, at +Leicester Abbey; "the Pope's Holiness" was fast becoming in English eyes +plain Bishop of Rome, held guilty towards this realm of unnumbered +enormities, and all England was sweeping with immeasurable velocity towards +the heretic Luther. So history repeats the lesson to us, not to boast +ourselves of the morrow, for we know not what a day may bring forth. + +Before I conclude this survey, it remains for me to say something of the +position of the poor, and of the measures which were taken for the solution +of that most difficult of all problems, the distinguishing the truly +deserving from the worthless and the vagabond. The subject is one to which +in the progress of this work I shall have more than one occasion to return; +but inasmuch as a sentimental opinion prevails that an increase of poverty +and the consequent enactment of poor-laws was the result of the suppression +of the religious houses, and that adequate relief had been previously +furnished by these establishments, it is necessary to say a few words for +the removal of an impression which is as near as possible the reverse of +the truth. I do not doubt that for many centuries these houses fulfilled +honestly the intentions with which they were established; but as early as +the reign of Richard II. it was found necessary to provide some other means +for the support of the aged and impotent; the monasteries not only having +then begun to neglect their duty; but by the appropriation of benefices +having actually deprived the parishes of their local and independent means +of charity.[74] Licences to beg were at that time granted to deserving +persons; and it is noticeable that this measure was in a few years followed +by the petition to Henry IV. for the secularisation of ecclesiastical +property.[75] Thus early in our history had the regular clergy forgotten +the nature of their mission, and the object for which the administration of +the nation's charities had been committed to them. Thus early, while their +houses were the nurseries of dishonest mendicancy,[76] they had surrendered +to lay compassion, those who ought to have been their especial care. I +shall unhappily have occasion hereafter to illustrate these matters in +detail. I mention them in this place only in order to dissipate at once a +foolish dream. At the opening of the sixteenth century, before the +suppression of the monasteries had suggested itself in a practical form, +pauperism was a state question of great difficulty, and as such I have at +present to consider it. + +For the able-bodied vagrant, it is well known that the old English laws had +no mercy. When wages are low, and population has outgrown the work which +can be provided for it, idleness may be involuntary and innocent; at a time +when all industrious men could maintain themselves in comfort and +prosperity, "when a fair day's wages for a fair day's work" was really and +truly the law of the land, it was presumed that if strong capable men +preferred to wander about the country, and live upon the labour of others, +mendicancy was not the only crime of which they were likely to be guilty; +while idleness itself was justly looked upon as a high offence, and +misdemeanour. The penalty of God's laws against idleness, as expressed in +the system of nature, was starvation; and it was held intolerable that any +man should be allowed to escape a divine judgment by begging under false +pretences, and robbing others of their honest earnings. + +In a country also the boast of which was its open-handed hospitality, it +was necessary to take care that hospitality was not brought to discredit by +abuse; and when every door was freely opened to a request for a meal or a +night's lodging, there was an imperative duty to keep a strict eye on +whatever persons were on the move. We shall therefore be prepared to find +"sturdy and valiant beggars" treated with summary justice as criminals of a +high order; the right of a government so to treat them being proportioned +to the facilities with which the honestly disposed can maintain themselves. + +It might have been expected, on the other hand, that when wages were so +high, and work so constant, labourers would have been left to themselves to +make provision against sickness and old age. To modern ways of thinking on +these subjects, there would have seemed no hardship in so leaving them; and +their sufferings, if they had suffered, would have appeared but as a +deserved retribution. This, however, was not the temper of earlier times. +Charity has ever been the especial virtue of Catholic States, and the aged +and the impotent were always held to be the legitimate objects of it. Men +who had worked hard while they were able to work were treated like decayed +soldiers, as the discharged pensionaries of society; they were held +entitled to wear out their age (under restrictions) at the expense of +others; and so readily did society acquiesce in this aspect of its +obligations, that on the failure of the monasteries to do their duty, it +was still sufficient to leave such persons to voluntary liberality, and +legislation had to interfere only to direct such liberality into its +legitimate channels. In the 23rd of Edw. III. cap. 7, a prohibition was +issued against giving alms to "valiant beggars," and this proving +inadequate, and charity being still given indiscriminately, in the twelfth +year of Richard II. the system of licences was introduced, and a pair of +stocks was erected by order in every town or village, to "justify" persons +begging unpermitted. The monasteries growing more and more careless, the +number of paupers continued to multiply, and this method received +successive expansions, till at length, when the Reformation was concluded, +it terminated, after many changes of form, in the famous Act of Elizabeth. +We can thus trace our poor law in the whole course of its growth, and into +two stages through which it passed I must enter with some minuteness. The +12th of the 22nd of Henry VIII., and the 25th of the 27th, are so +remarkable in their tone, and so rich in their detail, as to furnish a +complete exposition of English thought at that time upon the subject; while +the second of these two acts, and probably the first also, has a further +interest for us, as being the composition of Henry himself, and the most +finished which he has left to us.[77] + +"Whereas," says the former of these two Acts, "in all places throughout +this realm of England, vagabonds and beggars have of long time increased, +and daily do increase in great and excessive numbers, by the occasion of +idleness, mother and root of all vices; whereby hath insurged and sprung, +and daily insurgeth and springeth, continual thefts, murders, and other +heinous offences and great enormities, to the high displeasure of God, the +inquietation and damage of the king's people, and to the marvellous +disturbance of the common weal of this realm; and whereas, strait statutes +and ordinances have been before this time devised and made, as well by the +king our sovereign lord, as also by divers his most noble progenitors, +kings of England, for the most necessary and due reformation of the +premises; yet that notwithstanding, the said number of vagabonds and +beggars be not seen in any part to be diminished, but rather daily +augmented and increased into great routs or companies, as evidently and +manifestly it doth and may appear: Be it therefore enacted by the king our +sovereign lord, and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, +in this present parliament assembled, that the justices of the peace of all +and singular the shires of England within the limits of their commission, +and all other justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, and other +officers of every city, borough, or franchise, shall from time to time, as +often as need shall require, make diligent search and inquiry of all aged, +poor, and impotent persons, which live, or of necessity be compelled to +live by alms of the charity of the people; and such search made, the said +officers, every of them within the limits of their authorities, shall have +power, at their discretions, to enable to beg within such limits as they +shall appoint, such of the said impotent persons as they shall think +convenient; and to give in commandment to every such impotent beggar (by +them enabled) that none of them shall beg without the limits so appointed +to them. And further, they shall deliver to every such person so enabled a +letter containing the name of that person, witnessing that he is authorised +to beg, and the limits within which he is appointed to beg, the same letter +to be sealed with the seal of the hundred, rape, wapentake, city, or +borough, and subscribed with the name of one of the said justices or +officers aforesaid. And if any such impotent person do beg in any other +place than within such limits, then the justices of the peace, and all +other the king's officers and ministers, shall by their discretions punish +all such persons by imprisonment in the stocks, by the space of two days +and two nights, giving them only bread and water." + +Further, "If any such impotent person be found begging without a licence, +at the discretion of the justices of the peace, he shall be stripped naked +from the middle upwards, and whipped within the town in which he be found, +or within some other town, as it shall seem good. Or if it be not +convenient so to punish him, he shall be set in the stocks by the space of +three days and three nights." + +Such were the restrictions under which impotency was allowed support. +Though not in itself treated as an offence, and though its right to +maintenance by society was not denied, it was not indulged, as we may see, +with unnecessary encouragement. The Act then proceeds to deal with the +genuine vagrant. + +"And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons, being whole and +mighty in body and able to labour, be taken in begging in any part of this +realm; and if any man or woman, being whole and mighty in body, having no +land, nor master, nor using any lawful merchandry, craft, or mystery +whereby he might get his living, be vagrant, and can give none account how +he doth lawfully get his living, then it shall, be lawful to the constables +and all other king's officers, ministers, and subjects of every town, +parish, and hamlet, to arrest the said vagabonds and idle persons, and +bring them to any justice of the peace of the same shire or liberty, or +else to the high constable of the hundred; and the justice of the peace, +high constable, or other officer, shall cause such idle person so to him +brought, to be had to the next market town or other place, and there to be +tied to the end of a cart, naked, and be beaten with whips throughout the +same town till his body be bloody by reason of such whipping; and after +such punishment of whipping had, the person so punished shall be enjoined +upon his oath to return forthwith without delay, in the next and straight +way, to the place where he was born, or where he last dwelled before the +same punishment, by the space of three years; and then put himself to +labour like a true man ought to do; and after that done, every such person +so punished and ordered shall have a letter, sealed with the seal of the +hundred, rape, or wapentake, witnessing that he hath been punished +according to this estatute, and containing the day and place of his +punishment, and the place where unto he is limited to go, and by what time +he is limited to come thither: for that within that time, showing the said +letter, he may lawfully beg by the way, and otherwise not; and if he do not +accomplish the order to him appointed by the said letter, then to be +eftsoons taken and whipped; and so often as there be fault found in him, to +be whipped till he has his body put to labour for his living, or otherwise +truly get his living, so long as he is able to do so." + +Then follow the penalties against the justices of the peace, constables, +and all officers who neglect to arrest such persons; and a singularly +curious catalogue is added of certain forms of "sturdy mendicancy," which, +if unspecified, might have been passed over as exempt, but to which Henry +had no intention of conceding further licence. It seems as if, in framing +the Act, he had Simon Fish's petition before him, and was commencing at +last the rough remedy of the cart's-tail, which Fish had dared to recommend +for a very obdurate evil.[78] The friars of the mendicant orders were +tolerated for a few years longer; but many other spiritual persons may have +suffered seriously under the provisions of the present statute. + +"Be it further enacted," the Act continues, "that scholars of the +Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, that go about begging, not being +authorised under the seal of the said universities, by the commissary, +chancellor, or vice-chancellor of the same; and that all and singular +shipmen pretending losses of their ships and goods, going about the country +begging without sufficient authority, shall be punished and ordered in +manner and form as is above rehearsed of strong beggars; and that all +proctors and pardoners, and all other idle persons going about in counties +or abiding in any town, city, or borough, some of them using divers subtle, +crafty, and unlawful games and plays, and some of them feigning themselves +to have knowledge in physick, physnamye, and palmistry, or other crafty +science, whereby they bear the people in hand that they can tell their +destinies, dreams, and fortunes, and such other like fantastical +imaginations, to the great deceit of the king's subjects, shall, upon +examination had before two justices of the peace, if by provable witness +they be found guilty of such deceits, be punished by whipping at two days +together, after the manner before rehearsed. And if they eftsoons offend in +the same or any like offence, to be scourged two days, and the third day to +be put upon the pillory, from nine o'clock till eleven the forenoon of the +same day, and to have the right ear cut off; and if they offend the third +time, to have like punishment with whipping and the pillory, and to have +the other ear cut off." + +It would scarcely have been expected that this Act would have failed for +want of severity in its penalties; yet five years later, for this and for +some other reasons, it was thought desirable to expand the provisions of +it, enhancing the penalties at the same time to a degree which has given a +bloody name in the history of English law to the statutes of Henry VIII. Of +this expanded statute[79] we have positive evidence, as I said, that Henry +was himself the author. The merit of it, or the guilt of it--if guilt there +be--originated with him alone. The early clauses contain practical +amendments of an undoubtedly salutary kind. The Act of 1531 had been +defective in that no specified means had been assigned for finding vagrants +in labour, which, with men of broken character, was not immediately easy. +The smaller monasteries having been suppressed in the interval, and +sufficient funds being thus placed at the disposal of the government, +public works[80] were set on foot throughout the kingdom, and this +difficulty was obviated. + +Another important alteration was a restriction upon private charity. +Private persons were forbidden, under heavy penalties, to give money to +beggars, whether deserving or undeserving. The poor of each parish might +call at houses within the boundaries for broken meats; but this was the +limit of personal almsgiving; and the money which men might be disposed to +offer was to be collected by the churchwardens on Sundays and holidays in +the churches. The parish priest was to keep an account of receipts and of +expenditure, and relief was administered with some approach to modern +formalities. A further excellent but severe enactment empowered the parish +officers to take up all idle children above the age of five years, "and +appoint them to masters of husbandry or other craft or labour to be +taught;" and if any child should refuse the service to which he was +appointed, or run away "without cause reasonable being shown for it," he +might be publicly whipped with rods, at the discretion of the justice of +the peace before whom he was brought. + +So far, no complaint can be urged against these provisions: they display +only that severe but true humanity, which, in offering fair and liberal +maintenance for all who will consent to be honest, insists, not unjustly, +that its offer shall be accepted, and that the resources of charity shall +not be trifled away. On the clause, however, which gave to the Act its +especial and distinguishing character, there will be large difference of +opinion. "The sturdy vagabond," who by the earlier statute was condemned on +his second offence to lose the whole or a part of his right ear, was +condemned by the amended Act, if found a third time offending, with the +mark upon him of his mutilation, "to suffer pains and execution of death, +as a felon and as an enemy of the commonwealth." So the letter stands. For +an able-bodied man to be caught a third time begging was held a crime +deserving death, and the sentence was intended, on fit occasions, to be +executed. The poor man's advantages, which I have estimated at so high a +rate, were not purchased without drawbacks. He might not change his master +at his will, or wander from place to place. He might not keep his children +at his home unless he could answer for their time. If out of employment, +preferring to be idle, he might be demanded for work by any master of the +"craft" to which he belonged, and compelled to work whether he would or no. +If caught begging once, being neither aged nor infirm, he was whipped at +the cart's tail. If caught a second time, his ear was slit, or bored +through with a hot iron. If caught a third time, being thereby proved to be +of no use upon this earth, but to live upon it only to his own hurt and to +that of others, he suffered death as a felon. So the law of England +remained for sixty years. First drawn by Henry, it continued unrepealed +through the reigns of Edward and of Mary, subsisting, therefore, with the +deliberate approval of both the great parties between whom the country was +divided. Reconsidered under Elizabeth, the same law was again formally +passed; and it was, therefore, the expressed conviction of the English +nation, that it was better for a man not to live at all than to live a +profitless and worthless life. The vagabond was a sore spot upon the +commonwealth, to be healed by wholesome discipline if the gangrene was not +incurable; to be cut away with the knife if the milder treatment of the +cart-whip failed to be of profit.[81] + +A measure so extreme in its severity was partly dictated by policy. The +state of the country was critical; and the danger from questionable persons +traversing it unexamined and uncontrolled was greater than at ordinary +times. But in point of justice, as well as of prudence, it harmonised with +the iron temper of the age, and it answered well for the government of a +fierce and powerful people, in whose hearts lay an intense hatred of +rascality, and among whom no one need have lapsed into evil courses except +by deliberate preference for them. The moral substance of the English must +have been strong indeed when it admitted of such hardy treatment; but on +the whole, the people were ruled as they preferred to be ruled; and if +wisdom may be tested by success, the manner in which they passed the great +crisis of the Reformation is the best justification of their princes. + +The era was great throughout Europe. The Italians of the age of Michael +Angelo; the Spaniards who were the contemporaries of Cortez; the Germans +who shook off the pope at the call of Luther; and the splendid chivalry of +Francis I. of France, were no common men. But they were all brought face to +face with the same trials, and none met them as the English met them. The +English alone never lost their self-possession; and if they owed something +to fortune in their escape from anarchy, they owed more to the strong hand +and steady purpose of their rulers. + +To conclude this chapter then. + +In the brief review of the system under which England was governed, we have +seen a state of things in which the principles of political economy were, +consciously or unconsciously, contradicted; where an attempt, more or less +successful, was made to bring the production and distribution of wealth +under the moral rule of right and wrong; and where those laws of supply and +demand, which we are now taught to regard as immutable ordinances of +nature, were absorbed or superseded by a higher code. It is necessary for +me to repeat that I am not holding up the sixteenth century as a model +which the nineteenth might safely follow. The population has become too +large, employment has become too complicated and fluctuating, to admit of +external control; while, in default of control, the relapse upon +self-interest as the one motive principle is certain to ensue, and when it +ensues is absolute in its operations. But as, even with us, these so-called +ordinances of nature in time of war consent to be suspended, and duty to +his country becomes with every good citizen a higher motive of action than +the advantages which he may gain in an enemy's market; so it is not +uncheering to look back upon a time when the nation was in a normal +condition of militancy against social injustice; when the government was +enabled by happy circumstances to pursue into detail a single and serious +aim at the well-being--well-being in its widest sense--of all members of +the commonwealth. The world, indeed, was not made particularly pleasant. Of +liberty, in the modern sense of the word, of the supposed right of every +man "to do what he will with his own" or with himself, there was no idea. +To the question, if ever it was asked, May I not do what I will with my +own? there was the brief answer, No man may do what is wrong, either with +that which is his own or with that which is another's. Workmen were not +allowed to take advantage of the scantiness of the labour market to exact +extravagant wages. Capitalists were not allowed to drive the labourers from +their holdings, and destroy their healthy independence. The antagonism of +interests was absorbed into a relation of which equity was something more +than the theoretic principle, and employers and employed were alike +amenable to a law which both were compelled to obey. The working man of +modern times has bought the extension of his liberty at the price of his +material comfort. The higher classes have gained in luxury what they have +lost in power. It is not for the historian to balance advantages. His duty +is with the facts. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LAST YEARS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF WOLSEY + +Times were changed in England since the second Henry walked barefoot +through the streets of Canterbury, and knelt while the monks flogged him on +the pavement in the Chapter-house, doing penance for Becket's murder. The +clergy had won the battle in the twelfth century because they deserved to +win it. They were not free from fault and weakness, but they felt the +meaning of their profession. Their hearts were in their vows, their +authority was exercised more justly, more nobly, than the authority of the +crown; and therefore, with inevitable justice, the crown was compelled to +stoop before them. The victory was great; but, like many victories, it was +fatal to the conquerors. It filled them full with the vanity of power; they +forgot their duties in their privileges; and when, a century later, the +conflict recommenced, the altering issue proved the altering nature of the +conditions under which it was fought. The laity were sustained in vigour by +the practical obligations of life; the clergy sunk under the influence of a +waning religion, the administration of the forms of which had become their +sole occupation; and as character forsook them, the Mortmain Act,[82] the +Acts of Premunire, and the repeatedly recurring Statutes of Provisors mark +the successive defeats that drove them back from the high post of command +which character alone had earned for them. If the Black Prince had lived, +or if Richard II. had inherited the temper of the Plantagenets, the +ecclesiastical system would have been spared the misfortune of a longer +reprieve. Its worst abuses would have then terminated, and the reformation +of _doctrine_ in the sixteenth century would have been left to fight its +independent way unsupported by the moral corruption of the church from +which it received its most powerful impetus. The nation was ready for +sweeping remedies. The people felt little loyalty to the pope, as the +language of the Statutes of Provisors[83] conclusively proves, and they +were prepared to risk the sacrilege of confiscating the estates of the +religious houses--a complete measure of secularisation being then, as I +have already said,[84] the expressed desire of the House of Commons.[85] +With an Edward III. on the throne such a measure would very likely have +been executed, and the course of English history would have been changed. +It was ordered otherwise, and doubtless wisely. The church was allowed a +hundred and fifty more years to fill full the measure of her offences, that +she might fall only when time had laid bare the root of her degeneracy, and +that faith and manners might be changed together. + +The history of the time is too imperfect to justify a positive conclusion. +It is possible, however, that the success of the revolution effected by +Henry IV. was due in part to a reaction in the church's favour; and it is +certain that this prince, if he did not owe his crown to the support of the +church, determined to conciliate it. He confirmed the Statutes of +Provisors,[86] but he allowed them to sink into disuse. He forbade the +further mooting of the confiscation project; and to him is due the first +permission of the bishops to send heretics to the stake.[87] If English +tradition is to be trusted, the clergy still felt insecure; and the French +wars of Henry V. are said to have been undertaken, as we all know from +Shakspeare, at the persuasion of Archbishop Chichele, who desired to +distract his attention from reverting to dangerous subjects. Whether this +be true or not, no prince of the house of Lancaster betrayed a wish to +renew the quarrel with the church. The battle of Agincourt, the conquest +and re-conquest of France, called off the attention of the people; while +the rise of the Lollards, and the intrusion of speculative questions, the +agitation of which has ever been the chief aversion of English statesmen, +contributed to change the current; and the reforming spirit must have +lulled before the outbreak of the wars of the Roses, or one of the two +parties in so desperate a struggle would have scarcely failed to have +availed themselves of it. Edward IV. is said to have been lenient towards +heresy; but his toleration, if it was more than imaginary, was tacit only; +he never ventured to avow it. It is more likely that in the inveterate +frenzy of those years men had no leisure to remember that heresy existed. + +The clergy were thus left undisturbed to go their own course to its natural +end. The storm had passed over them without breaking; and they did not +dream that it would again gather. The immunity which they enjoyed from the +general sufferings of the civil war contributed to deceive them; and +without anxiety for the consequences, and forgetting the significant +warning which they had received, they sank steadily into that condition +which is inevitable from the constitution of human nature, among men +without faith, wealthy, powerful, and luxuriously fed, yet condemned to +celibacy, and cut off from the common duties and common pleasures of +ordinary life. On the return of a settled government, they were startled +for a moment in their security; the conduct of some among them had become +so unbearable, that even Henry VII., who inherited the Lancastrian +sympathies, was compelled to notice it; and the following brief act was +passed by his first parliament, proving by the very terms in which it is +couched the existing nature of church discipline. "For the more sure and +likely reformation," it runs, "of priests, clerks, and religious men, +culpable, or by their demerits openly noised of incontinent living in their +bodies, contrary to their order, be it enacted, ordained, and established, +that it be lawful to all archbishops and bishops, and other ordinaries +having episcopal jurisdiction, to punish and chastise such religious men, +being within the bounds of their jurisdiction, as shall be convict before +them, by lawful proof, of adultery, fornication, incest, or other fleshly +incontinency, by committing them to ward and prison, there to remain for +such time as shall be thought convenient for the quality of their +trespasses."[88] + +Previous to the passing of this act, therefore, the bishops, who had power +to arrest laymen on suspicion of heresy, and detain them in prison +untried,[89] had no power to imprison priests, even though convicted of +adultery or incest. The legislature were supported by the Archbishop of +Canterbury. Cardinal Morton procured authority from the pope to visit the +religious houses, the abominations of which had become notorious;[90] and +in a provincial synod held on the 24th of February, 1486, he laid the +condition of the secular clergy before the assembled prelates. Many +priests, it was stated, spent their time in hawking or hunting, in lounging +at taverns, in the dissolute enjoyment of the world. They wore their hair +long like laymen; they were to be seen lounging in the streets with cloak +and doublet, sword and dagger. By the scandal of their lives they +imperilled the stability of their order.[91] A number of the worst +offenders, in London especially, were summoned before the synod and +admonished;[92] certain of the more zealous among the learned (_complures +docti_) who had preached against clerical abuses were advised to be more +cautious, for the avoiding of scandal;[93] but the archbishop, taking the +duty upon himself, sent round a circular among the clergy of his province, +exhorting them to general amendment.[94] + +Yet this little cloud again disappeared. Henry VII. sat too insecurely on +his throne to venture on a resolute reform, even if his feelings had +inclined him towards it, which they did not. Morton durst not resolutely +grapple with the evil. He rebuked and remonstrated; but punishment would +have caused a public scandal. He would not invite the inspection of the +laity into a disease which, without their assistance, he had not the +strength to encounter; and his incipient reformation died away +ineffectually in words. The church, to outward appearance, stood more +securely than ever. The obnoxious statutes of the Plantagenets were in +abeyance, their very existence, as it seemed, was forgotten; and Thomas a +Becket never desired more absolute independence for the ecclesiastical +order than Archbishop Warham found established when he succeeded to the +primacy. He, too, ventured to repeat the experiment of his predecessor. In +1511 he attempted a second visitation of the monasteries, and again +exhorted a reform; but his efforts were even slighter than Morton's, and in +their results equally without fruit. The maintenance of his order in its +political supremacy was of greater moment to him than its moral purity: a +decent veil was cast over the clerical infirmities, and their vices were +forgotten as soon as they ceased to be proclaimed.[95] Henry VIII., a mere +boy on his accession, was borne away with the prevailing stream; and +trained from his childhood by theologians, he entered upon his reign +saturated with theological prepossessions. The intensity of his nature +recognising no half measures, he was prepared to make them the law of his +life; and so zealous was he, that it seemed as if the church had found in +him a new Alfred or a Charlemagne. Unfortunately for the church, +institutions may be restored in theory; but theory, be it never so perfect, +will not give them back their life; and Henry discovered, at length, that +the church of the sixteenth century as little resembled the church of the +eleventh, as Leo X. resembled Hildebrand, or Warham resembled St. Anselm. + +If, however, there were no longer saints among the clergy, there could +still arise among them a remarkable man; and in Cardinal Wolsey the king +found an adviser who was able to retain him longer than would otherwise +have been possible in the course which he had entered upon; who, holding a +middle place between an English statesman and a catholic of the old order, +was essentially a transition minister; and who was qualified, above all men +then living, by a combination of talent, honesty, and arrogance, to open +questions which could not again be closed when they had escaped the grasp +of their originator. Under Wolsey's influence Henry made war with Louis of +France, in the pope's quarrel, entered the polemic lists with Luther, and +persecuted the English protestants. But Wolsey could not blind himself to +the true condition of the church. He was too wise to be deceived with +outward prosperity; he knew well that there lay before it, in Europe and at +home, the alternative of ruin or amendment; and therefore he familiarised +Henry with the sense that a reformation was inevitable, and dreaming that +it could be effected from within, by the church itself inspired with a +wiser spirit, he himself fell first victim of a convulsion which he had +assisted to create, and which he attempted too late to stay. + +His intended measures were approaching maturity, when all Europe was +startled by the news that Rome had been stormed by the Imperial army, that +the pope was imprisoned, the churches pillaged, the cardinals insulted, and +all holiest things polluted and profaned. A spectator, judging only by +outward symptoms, would have seen at that strange crisis in Charles V. the +worst patron of heresy, and the most dangerous enemy of the Holy See; while +the indignation with which the news of these outrages was received at the +English court, would have taught him to look on Henry as the one sovereign +in Europe on whom that See might calculate most surely for support in its +hour of danger. If he could have pierced below the surface, he would have +found that the pope's best friend was the prince who held him prisoner; +that Henry was but doubtfully acquiescing in the policy of an unpopular +minister; and that the English nation would have looked on with stoical +resignation if pope and papacy had been wrecked together. They were not +inclined to heresy; but the ecclesiastical system was not the catholic +faith; and this system, ruined by prosperity, was fast pressing its +excesses to the extreme limit, beyond which it could not be endured. Wolsey +talked of reformation, but delayed its coming; and in the mean time, the +persons to be reformed showed no fear that it would come at all. The +monasteries grew worse and worse. The people were taught only what they +could teach themselves. The consistory courts became more oppressive. +Pluralities multiplied, and non-residence and profligacy. Favoured parish +clergy held as many as eight benefices.[96] Bishops accumulated sees, and, +unable to attend to all, attended to none. Wolsey himself, the church +reformer (so little did he really know what a reformation meant), was at +once Archbishop of York, Bishop of Winchester, of Bath, and of Durham, and +Abbot of St. Alban's. In Latimer's opinion, even twenty years later, and +after no little reform in such matters, there was but one bishop in all +England who was ever at his work and ever in his diocese. "I would ask a +strange question," he said, in an audacious sermon at Paul's Cross, "Who is +the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England, that passeth all the +rest in doing of his office?[97] I can tell, for I know him who it is; I +know him well. But now I think I see you listening and hearkening that I +should name him. There is one that passeth all the others, and is the most +diligent prelate and preacher in all England. And will ye know who it is? I +will tell you. It is the devil. Among all the pack of them that have cure, +the devil shall go for my money, for he applieth his business. Therefore, +ye unpreaching prelates, learn of the devil to be diligent in your office. +If ye will not learn of God, for shame learn of the devil."[98] + +Under such circumstances, we need not be surprised to find the clergy sunk +low in the respect of the English people. Sternly intolerant of each +other's faults, the laity were not likely to be indulgent to the vices of +men who ought to have set an example of purity; and from time to time, +during the first quarter of the century, there were explosions of temper +which might have served as a warning if any sense or judgment had been left +to profit by it. + +In 1514 a London merchant was committed to the Lollards' Tower for refusing +to submit to an unjust exaction of mortuary;[99] and a few days after was +found dead in his cell. An inquest was held upon the body, when a verdict +of wilful murder was returned against the chancellor of the Bishop of +London; and so intense was the feeling of the city, that the bishop applied +to Wolsey for a special jury to be chosen on the trial. "For assured I am," +he said, "that if my chancellor be tried by any twelve men in London, they +be so maliciously set _in favorem haereticae pravitatis_, that they will +cast and condemn any clerk, though he were as innocent as Abel."[100] +Fish's famous pamphlet also shows the spirit which was seething; and though +we may make some allowance for angry rhetoric, his words have the clear +ring of honesty in them; and he spoke of what he had seen and knew. The +monks, he tells the king, "be they that have made a hundred thousand idle +dissolute women in your realm, who would have gotten their living honestly +in the sweat of their faces had not their superfluous riches allured them +to lust and idleness. These be they that when they have drawn men's wives +to such incontinency, spend away their husbands' goods, make the women to +run away from their husbands, bringing both man, wife, and children to +idleness, theft, and beggary. Yea, who is able to number the great broad +bottomless ocean sea full of evils that this mischievous generation may +bring upon us if unpunished?"[101] + +Copies of this book were strewed about the London streets; Wolsey issued a +prohibition against it, with the effect which such prohibitions usually +have. Means were found to bring it under the eyes of Henry himself; and the +manner in which it was received by him is full of significance, and betrays +that the facts of the age were already telling on his understanding. He was +always easy of access and easy of manner; and the story, although it rests +on Foxe's authority, has internal marks of authenticity. + +"One Master Edmund Moddis, being with the king in talk of religion, and of +the new books that were come from beyond the seas, said that if it might +please his Highness to pardon him, and such as he would bring to his Grace, +he should see such a book as it was a marvel to hear of. The king demanded +who they were? He said 'Two of your merchants--George Elliot and George +Robinson.' The king appointed a time to speak with them. When they came +before his presence in a privy closet, he demanded what they had to say or +to shew him. One of them said that there was a book come to their hands +which they had there to shew his Grace. When he saw it he demanded if any +of them could read it. 'Yea,' said George Elliot, 'if it please your Grace +to hear it.' 'I thought so,' said the king; 'if need were, thou couldst say +it without book.' + +"The whole book being read out, the king made a long pause, and then said, +'If a man should pull down an old stone wall, and should begin at the lower +part, the upper part thereof might chance to fall upon his head.' Then he +took the book, and put it in his desk, and commanded them, on their +allegiance, that they should not tell any man that he had seen it."[102] + +Symptoms such as these boded ill for a self-reform of the church, and it +was further imperilled by the difficulty which it is not easy to believe +that Wolsey had forgotten. No measures would be of efficacy which spared +the religious houses, and they would be equally useless unless the bishops, +as well as the inferior clergy, were comprehended in the scheme of +amendment. But neither with monks nor bishops could Wolsey interfere except +by a commission from the pope, and the laws were unrepealed which forbade +English subjects, under the severest penalties, to accept or exercise +within the realm an authority which they had received from the Holy See. +Morton had gone beyond the limits of the statute of provisors in receiving +powers from Pope Innocent to visit the monasteries. But Morton had stopped +short with inquiry and admonition. Wolsey, who was in earnest with the +work, had desired and obtained a full commission as legate, but he could +only make use of it at his peril. The statute slumbered, but it still +existed.[103] He was exposing not himself only, but all persons, lay and +clerical, who might recognise his legacy to a Premunire; and he knew well +that Henry's connivance, or even expressed permission, could not avail him +if his conduct was challenged. He could not venture to appeal to +parliament. Parliament was the last authority whose jurisdiction a +churchman would acknowledge in the concerns of the clergy; and his project +must sooner or later have sunk, like those of his two predecessors, under +its own internal difficulties, even if the accident had not arisen which +brought the dispute to a special issue in its most vital point, and which, +fostered by Wolsey for his own purposes, precipitated his ruin. + +It is never more difficult to judge equitably the actions of public men +than when private as well as general motives have been allowed to influence +them, or when their actions may admit of being represented as resulting +from personal inclination, as well as from national policy. In life, as we +actually experience it, motives slide one into the other, and the most +careful analysis will fail adequately to sift them. In history, from the +effort to make our conceptions distinct, we pronounce upon these intricate +matters with unhesitating certainty, and we lose sight of truth in the +desire to make it truer than itself. The difficulty is further complicated +by the different points of view which are chosen by contemporaries and by +posterity. Where motives are mixed, men all naturally dwell most on those +which approach nearest to themselves: contemporaries whose interests are at +stake overlook what is personal in consideration of what is to them of +broader moment; posterity, unable to realise political embarrassments which +have ceased to concern them, concentrate their attention on such features +of the story as touch their own sympathies, and attend exclusively to the +private and personal passions of the men and women whose character they are +considering. + +These natural, and to some extent inevitable tendencies, explain the +difference with which the divorce between Henry VIII. and Catherine of +Arragon has been regarded by the English nation in the sixteenth and in the +nineteenth centuries. In the former, not only did the parliament profess to +desire it, urge it, and further it, but we are told by a contemporary[104] +that "all indifferent and discreet persons" judged that it was right and +necessary. In the latter, perhaps, there is not one of ourselves who has +not been taught to look upon it as an act of enormous wickedness. In the +sixteenth century, Queen Catherine was an obstacle to the establishment of +the kingdom, an incentive to treasonable hopes. In the nineteenth, she is +an outraged and injured wife, the victim of a false husband's fickle +appetite. The story is a long and painful one, and on its personal side +need not concern us here further than as it illustrates the private +character of Henry. Into the public bearing of it I must enter at some +length, in order to explain the interest with which the nation threw itself +into the question, and to remove the scandal with which, had nothing been +at stake beyond the inclinations of a profligate monarch, weary of his +queen, the complaisance on such a subject of the lords and commons of +England would have coloured the entire complexion of the Reformation. + +The succession to the throne, although determined in theory by the ordinary +law of primogeniture, was nevertheless, subject to repeated arbitrary +changes. The uncertainty of the rule was acknowledged and deplored by the +parliament,[105] and there was no order of which the nation, with any unity +of sentiment, compelled the observance. An opinion prevailed--not, I +believe, traceable to statute, but admitted by custom, and having the force +of statute in the prejudices of the nation--that no stranger born out of +the realm could inherit.[106] Although the descent in the female line was +not formally denied, no female sovereign had ever, in fact, sat upon the +throne.[107] Even Henry VII. refused to strengthen his title by advancing +the claims of his wife: and the uncertainty of the laws of marriage, and +the innumerable refinements of the Romish canon law, which affected the +legitimacy of children,[108] furnished, in connection with the further +ambiguities of clerical dispensations, perpetual pretexts, whenever +pretexts were needed, for a breach of allegiance. So long, indeed, as the +character of the nation remained essentially military, it could as little +tolerate an incapable king as an army in a dangerous campaign can bear with +an inefficient commander; and whatever might be the theory of the title, +when the sceptre was held by the infirm hand of an Edward II., a Richard +II., or a Henry VI., the difficulty resolved itself by force, and it was +wrenched by a stronger arm from a grasp too feeble to retain it. The +consent of the nation was avowed, even in the authoritative language of a +statute,[109] as essential to the legitimacy of a sovereign's title; and +Sir Thomas More, on examination by the Solicitor-General, declared as his +opinion that parliament had power to depose kings if it so pleased.[110] So +many uncertainties on a point so vital had occasioned fearful episodes in +English history; the most fearful of them, which had traced its character +in blood in the private records of every English family, having been the +long struggle of the preceding century, from which the nation was still +suffering, and had but recovered sufficiently to be conscious of what it +had endured. It had decimated itself for a question which involved no +principle and led to no result, and perhaps the history of the world may be +searched in vain for any parallel to a quarrel at once so desperate and so +unmeaning. + +This very unmeaning character of the dispute increased the difficulty of +ending it. In wars of conquest or of principle, when something definite is +at stake, the victory is either won, or it is lost; the conduct of +individual men, at all events, is overruled by considerations external to +themselves which admit of being weighed and calculated. In a war of +succession, where the great families were divided in their allegiance, and +supported the rival claimants in evenly balanced numbers, the inveteracy of +the conflict increased with its duration, and propagated itself from +generation to generation. Every family was in blood feud with its +neighbour; and children, as they grew to manhood, inherited the duty of +revenging their fathers' deaths. + +No effort of imagination can reproduce to us the state of this country in +the fatal years which intervened between the first rising of the Duke of +York and the battle of Bosworth; and experience too truly convinced Henry +VII. that the war had ceased only from general exhaustion, and not because +there was no will to continue it. The first Tudor breathed an atmosphere of +suspended insurrection, and only when we remember the probable effect upon +his mind of the constant dread of an explosion, can we excuse or +understand, in a prince not generally cruel, the execution of the Earl of +Warwick. The danger of a bloody revolution may present an act of arbitrary +or cowardly tyranny in the light of a public duty. + +Fifty years of settled government, however, had not been without their +effects. The country had collected itself; the feuds of the families had +been chastened, if they had not been subdued; while the increase of wealth +and material prosperity had brought out into obvious prominence those +advantages of peace which a hot-spirited people, antecedent to experience, +had not anticipated, and had not been able to appreciate. They were better +fed, better cared for, more justly governed than they had ever been before; +and though abundance of unruly tempers remained, yet the wiser portion of +the nation, looking back from their new vantage-ground, were able to +recognise the past in its true hatefulness. Thenceforward a war of +succession was the predominating terror with English statesmen, and the +safe establishment of the reigning family bore a degree of importance which +it is possible that their fears exaggerated, yet which in fact was the +determining principle of their action. + +It was therefore with no little anxiety that the council of Henry VIII. +perceived his male children, on whom their hopes were centred, either born +dead, or dying one after another within a few days of their birth, as if +his family were under a blight. When the queen had advanced to an age which +precluded hope of further offspring, and the heir presumptive was an infirm +girl, the unpromising prospect became yet more alarming. The life of the +Princess Mary was precarious, for her health was weak from her childhood. +If she lived, her accession would be a temptation to insurrection; if she +did not live, and the king had no other children, a civil war was +inevitable. At present such a difficulty would be disposed of by an +immediate and simple reference to the collateral branches of the royal +family; the crown would descend with even more facility than the property +of an intestate to the next of kin. At that time, if the rule had been +recognised, it would only have increased the difficulty, for the next heir +in blood was James of Scotland; and, gravely as statesmen desired the union +of the two countries, in the existing mood of the people, the very stones +in London streets, it was said,[111] would rise up against a king of +Scotland who claimed to enter England as sovereign. Even the parliament +itself declared in formal language that they would resist any attempt on +the part of the Scottish king "to the uttermost of their power."[112] + +As little, however, as the English would have admitted James's claims, +would James himself have acknowledged their right to reject them. He would +have pleaded the sacred right of inheritance, refusing utterly the +imaginary law which disentitled him: he would have pressed his title with +all Scotland to back him, and probably with the open support of France. +Centuries of humiliation remained unrevenged, which both France and +Scotland had endured at English hands. It was not likely that they would +waste an opportunity thrust upon them by Providence. The country might, it +is true, have encountered this danger, serious as it would have been, if +there had been hope that it would itself have agreed to any other choice. +England had many times fought successfully against the same odds, and would +have cared little for a renewal of the struggle, if united in itself: but +the prospect on this side, also, was fatally discouraging. The elements of +the old factions were dormant, but still smouldering. Throughout Henry's +reign a White Rose agitation had been secretly fermenting; without open +success, and without chance of success so long as Henry lived, but +formidable in a high degree if opportunity to strike should offer itself. +Richard de la Pole, the representative of this party, had been killed at +Pavia, but his loss had rather strengthened their cause than weakened it, +for by his long exile he was unknown in England; his personal character was +without energy; while he made place for the leadership of a far more +powerful spirit in the sister of the murdered Earl of Warwick, the Countess +of Salisbury, mother of Reginald Pole. This lady had inherited, in no +common degree, the fierce nature of the Plantagenets; born to command, she +had rallied round her the Courtenays, the Nevilles, and all the powerful +kindred of Richard the King Maker, her grandfather. Her Plantagenet descent +was purer than the king's; and if Mary died and Henry left no other issue, +half England was likely to declare either for one of her sons, or for the +Marquis of Exeter, the grandson of Edward IV. + +In 1515, when Giustiniani,[113] the Venetian ambassador, was at the court, +the Dukes of Buckingham, of Suffolk, and of Norfolk, were also mentioned to +him as having each of them hopes of the crown. Buckingham, meddling +prematurely in the dangerous game, had lost his life for it; but in his +death he had strengthened the chance of Norfolk, who had married his +daughter. Suffolk was Henry's brother-in-law;[114] chivalrous, popular, and +the ablest soldier of his day; and Lady Margaret Lennox, also, daughter of +the Queen of Scotland by her second marriage, would not have wanted +supporters, and early became an object of intrigue. Indeed, as she had been +born in England, it was held in parliament that she stood next in order to +the Princess Mary.[115] + +Many of these claims were likely to be advanced if Henry died leaving a +daughter to succeed him. They would all inevitably be advanced if he died +childless; and no great political sagacity was required to foresee the +probable fate of the country if such a moment was chosen for a French and +Scottish invasion. The very worst disasters might be too surely looked for, +and the hope of escape, precarious at the best, hung upon the frail thread +of a single life. We may therefore imagine the dismay with which the nation +saw this last hope failing them--and failing them even in a manner more +dangerous than if it had failed by death; for it did but add another doubt, +when already there were too many. In order to detach France from Scotland, +and secure, if possible, its support for the claims of the princess, it had +been proposed to marry the Princess Mary to a son of the French king. The +negotiations were conducted through the Bishop of Tarbes,[116] and at the +first conference the Bishop raised a question in the name of his +government, on the validity of the papal dispensation granted by Julius the +Second, to legalise the marriage from which she was sprung. The abortive +marriage Scheme perished in its birth, but the doubt which had been raised +could not perish with it. Doubt on such a subject once mooted might not be +left unresolved, even if the raising it thus publicly had not itself +destroyed the frail chance of an undisputed succession. If the relations of +Henry with Queen Catherine had been of a cordial kind, it is possible that +he would have been contented with resentment; that he would have refused to +reconsider a question which touched his honour and his conscience; and, +united with parliament, would have endeavoured to bear down all +difficulties with a high hand. This at least he might have himself +attempted. Whether the parliament, with so precarious a future before them, +would have consented, is less easy to say. Fortunately or unfortunately, +the interests of the nation pointed out another road, which Henry had no +unwillingness to enter. + +On the death of Prince Arthur, five months after his marriage, Henry VII. +and the father of the Princess alike desired that the bond between their +families thus broken should be re-united; and, as soon as it became clear +that Catherine had not been left pregnant (a point which, tacitly at least, +she allowed to be considered uncertain at the time of her husband's +decease), it was proposed that she should be transferred, with the +inheritance of the crown, to the new heir. A dispensation was reluctantly +granted by the pope,[117] and reluctantly accepted by the English ministry. +The Prince of Wales, who was no more than twelve years old at the time, was +under the age at which he could legally sue for such an object; and a +portion of the English council, the Archbishop of Canterbury among them, +were unsatisfied,[118] both with the marriage itself, and with the adequacy +of the forms observed in a matter of so dubious an import. The betrothal +took place at the urgency of Ferdinand. In the year following Henry VII. +became suddenly ill; Queen Elizabeth died; and superstition working on the +previous hesitation, misfortune was construed into an indication of the +displeasure of Heaven. The intention was renounced, and the prince, as soon +as he had completed his fourteenth year, was invited and required to +disown, by a formal act, the obligations contracted in his name.[119] Again +there was a change. The king lived on, the alarm yielded to the temptations +of covetousness. Had he restored Catherine to her father he must have +restored with her the portion of her dowry which had been already received; +he must have relinquished the prospect of the moiety which had yet to be +received. The negotiation was renewed. Henry VII. lived to sign the +receipts for the first instalment of the second payment;[120] and on his +death, notwithstanding much general murmuring,[121] the young Henry, then a +boy of eighteen, proceeded to carry out his father's ultimate intentions. +The princess-dowager, notwithstanding what had passed, was still on her +side willing;--and the difference of age (she was six years older than +Henry) seeming of little moment when both were comparatively young, they +were married. For many years all went well; opposition was silenced by the +success which seemed to have followed, and the original scruples were +forgotten. Though the marriage was dictated by political convenience, Henry +was faithful, with but one exception, to his wife's bed--no slight honour +to him, if he is measured by the average royal standard in such matters; +and, if his sons had lived to grow up around his throne, there is no reason +to believe that the peace of his married life would have been interrupted, +or that, whatever might have been his private feelings, he would have +appeared in the world's eye other than acquiescent in his condition. + +But his sons had not lived; years passed on, bringing with them premature +births, children born dead, or dying after a few days or hours,[122] and +the disappointment was intense in proportion to the interests which were at +issue. The especial penalty denounced against the marriage with a brother's +wife[123] had been all but literally enforced; and the king found himself +growing to middle life and his queen passing beyond it with his prayers +unheard, and no hope any longer that they might be heard. The disparity of +age also was more perceptible as time went by, while Catherine's +constitution was affected by her misfortunes, and differences arose on +which there is no occasion to dwell in these pages--differences which in +themselves reflected no discredit either on the husband or the wife, but +which were sufficient to extinguish between two infirm human beings an +affection that had rested only upon mutual esteem, but had not assumed the +character of love. + +The circumstances in which Catherine was placed were of a kind which no +sensitive woman could have endured without impatience and mortification; +but her conduct, however natural, only widened the breach which personal +repugnance and radical opposition of character had already made too wide. +So far Henry and she were alike that both had imperious tempers, and both +were indomitably obstinate; but Henry was hot and impetuous, Catherine was +cold and self-contained--Henry saw his duty through his wishes; Catherine, +in her strong Castilian austerity, measured her steps by the letter of the +law; the more her husband withdrew from her, the more she insisted upon her +relation to him as his wife; and continued with fixed purpose and immovable +countenance[124] to share his table and his bed long after she was aware of +his dislike for her. + +If the validity of so unfortunate a connection had never been questioned, +or if no national interests had been dependent on the continuance or the +abolition of it, these discomforts were not too great to have been endured +in silence. They were not originally occasioned by any latent inclination +on the part of the king for another woman. They had arisen to their worst +dimensions before he had ever seen Anne Boleyn, and were produced by causes +of a wholly independent kind; and even if it had not been so, when we +remember the tenor of his early life we need not think that he would have +been unequal to the restraint which ordinary persons in similar +circumstances are able to impose on their caprices. The legates spoke no +more than the truth when they wrote to the pope, saying that "it was mere +madness to suppose that the king would act as he was doing merely out of +dislike of the queen, or out of inclination, for another person; he was not +a man whom harsh manners and an unpleasant disposition (_duri mores et +injucunda consuetudo_) could so far provoke; nor could any sane man believe +him to be so infirm of character that sensual allurements would have led +him to dissolve a connexion in which he had passed the flower of youth +without stain or blemish, and in which he had borne himself in his trial so +reverently and honourably."[125] I consider this entirely true in a sense +which no great knowledge of human nature is required to understand. The +king's personal dissatisfaction was great: if this had been all, however, +it would have been extinguished or endured; but the interests of the +nation, imperilled as they were by the maintenance of the marriage, +entitled him to regard his position under another aspect. Even if the +marriage in itself had never been questioned, he might justly have desired +the dissolution of it; and when he recalled the circumstances under which +it was contracted, the hesitation of the council, the reluctance of the +pope, the alarms and vacillation of his father, we may readily perceive how +scruples of conscience must have arisen in a soil well prepared to receive +them--how the loss of his children must have appeared as a judicial +sentence on a violation of the Divine law. The divorce presented itself to +him as a moral obligation, when national advantage combined with +superstition to encourage what he secretly desired; and if he persuaded +himself that those public reasons, without which, in truth and fact, he +would not have stirred, were those that alone were influencing him, the +self-deceit was of a kind with which the experience of most men will +probably have made them too familiar. In those rare cases where inclination +coincides with right, we cannot be surprised if mankind should mislead +themselves with the belief that the disinterested motives weigh more with +them than the personal. + +A remarkable and very candid account of Henry's feelings is furnished by +himself in one of the many papers of instructions[126] which he forwarded +to his secretary at Rome. Hypocrisy was not among his faults, and in +detailing the arguments which were to be laid before the pope he has +exhibited a more complete revelation of what was passing in himself--and +indirectly of his own nature in its strength and weakness--than he perhaps +imagined while he wrote. The despatch is long and perplexed; the style that +of a man who saw his end clearly, and was vexed with the intricate and +dishonest trifling with which his way was impeded, and which nevertheless +he was struggling to tolerate. The secretary was to say, "that the King's +Highness having above all other things his intent and mind ever founded +upon such respect unto Almighty God as to a Christian and catholic prince +doth appertain, knowing the fragility and uncertainty of all earthly +things, and how displeasant unto God, how much dangerous to the soul, how +dishonourable and damageable to the world it were to prefer vain and +transitory things unto those that be perfect and certain, hath in this +cause, doubt, and matter of matrimony, whereupon depend so high and +manifold consequences of greatest importance, always cast from his conceit +the darkness and blundering confusion of falsity, and specially hath had +and put before his eyes the light and shining brightness of truth; upon +which foundation as a most sure base for perpetual tranquillity of his +conscience his Highness hath expressly resolved and determined with himself +to build and establish all his acts, deeds, and cogitations touching this +matter; without God did build the house, in vain they laboured that went +about to build it; and all actions grounded upon that immovable fundament +of truth, must needs therein be firm, sound, whole, perfect, and worthy of +a Christian man; which if truth were put apart, they could not for the same +reason be but evil, vain, slipper, uncertain, and in nowise permanent or +endurable." He then laboured to urge on the pope the duty of +straightforward dealing; and dwelt in words which have a sad interest for +us (when we consider the manner in which the subject of them has been dealt +with) on the judgment bar, not of God only, but of human posterity, at +which his conduct would be ultimately tried. + +"The causes of private persons dark and doubtful be sometimes," the king +said, "pretermitted and passed over as things more meet at some seasons to +be dissimuled than by continual strife and plea to nourish controversies. +Yet since all people have their eyes conject upon princes, whose acts and +doings not only be observed in the mouths of them that now do live, but +also remain in such perpetual memory to our posterity [so that] the evil, +if any there be, cannot but appear and come to light, there is no reason +for toleration, no place for dissimulation; but [there is reason] more +deeply, highly, and profoundly to penetrate and search for the truth, so +that the same may vanquish and overcome, and all guilt, craft, and +falsehood clearly be extirpate and reject." + +I am anticipating the progress of the story in making these quotations; for +the main burden of the despatch concerns a forged document which had been +introduced by the Roman lawyers to embarrass the process, and of which I +shall by-and-bye have to speak directly; but I have desired to illustrate +the spirit in which Henry entered upon the general question--assuredly a +more calm and rational one than historians have usually represented it to +be. In dealing with the obstacle which had been raised, he displayed a most +efficient mastery over himself, although he did not conclude without +touching the pith of the matter with telling clearness. The secretary was +to take some opportunity of speaking to the pope privately; and of warning +him, "as of himself," that there was no hope that the king would give way: +he was to "say plainly to his Holiness that the king's desire and intent +_convolare ad secundas nuptias non patitur negativum_; and whatsoever +should be found of bull, brief, or otherwise, his Highness found his +conscience so inquieted, his succession in such danger, and his most royal +person in such perplexity for things unknown and not to be spoken, that +other remedy there was not but his Grace to come by one way or other, and +specially at his hands, if it might be, to the desired end; and that all +concertation to the contrary should be vain and frustrate." + +So peremptory a conviction and so determined a purpose were of no sudden +growth, and had been probably maturing in his mind for years, when the +gangrene was torn open by the Bishop of Tarbes, and accident precipitated +his resolution. The momentous consequences involved, and the reluctance to +encounter a probable quarrel with the emperor, might have long kept him +silent, except for some extraneous casualty; but the tree being thus rudely +shaken, the ripe fruit fell. The capture of Rome occurring almost at the +same moment, Wolsey caught the opportunity to break the Spanish alliance; +and the prospect of a divorce was grasped at by him as a lever by which to +throw the weight of English power and influence into the papal scale, to +commit Henry definitely to the catholic cause. Like his acceptance of +legatine authority, the expedient was a desperate one, and if it failed it +was ruinous. The nation at that time was sincerely attached to Spain. The +alliance with the house of Burgundy was of old date; the commercial +intercourse with Flanders was enormous, Flanders, in fact, absorbing all +the English exports; and as many as 15,000 Flemings were settled in London. +Charles himself was personally popular; he had been the ally of England in +the late French war; and when in his supposed character of leader of the +anti-papal party in Europe he allowed a Lutheran army to desecrate Rome, he +had won the sympathy of all the latent discontent which was fermenting in +the population. France, on the other hand, was as cordially hated as Spain +was beloved. A state of war with France was the normal condition of +England; and the reconquest of it the universal dream from the cottage to +the castle. Henry himself, early in his reign, had shared in this delusive +ambition; and but three years before the sack of Rome, when the Duke of +Suffolk led an army into Normandy, Wolsey's purposed tardiness in sending +reinforcements had alone saved Paris.[127] + +There could be no doubt, therefore, that a breach with the emperor would in +a high degree be unwelcome to the country. The king, and probably such +members of the council as were aware of his feelings, shrank from offering +an open affront to the Spanish people., and anxious as they were for a +settlement of the succession, perhaps trusted that advantage might be taken +of some political contingency for a private arrangement; that Catherine +might be induced by Charles himself to retire privately, and sacrifice +herself, of her free will, to the interests of the two countries. This, +however, is no more than conjecture; I think it probable, because so many +English statesmen were in favour at once of the divorce and of the Spanish +alliance--two objects which, only on some such hypothesis, were compatible. +The fact cannot be ascertained, however, because the divorce itself was not +discussed at the council table until Wolsey had induced the king to change +his policy by the hope of immediate relief. + +Wolsey has revealed to us fully his own objects in a letter to Sir Gregory +Cassalis, his agent at Rome. He shared with half Europe in an impression +that the emperor's Italian campaigns were designed to further the +Reformation; and of this central delusion he formed the keystone of his +conduct. "First condoling with his Holiness," he wrote, "on the unhappy +position in which, with the college of the most reverend cardinals, he is +placed,[128] you shall tell him how, day and night, I am revolving by what +means or contrivance I may bring comfort to the church of Christ, and raise +the fallen state of our most Holy Lord. I care not whit it may cost me, +whether of expense or trouble; nay, though I have to shed my blood, or give +my life for it, assuredly so long as life remains to me for this I will +labour. And how let me mention the great and marvellous effects which have +been wrought by my instrumentality on the mind of my most excellent master +the king, whom I have persuaded to unite himself with his Holiness in heart +and soul. I urged innumerable reasons to induce him to part him from the +emperor, to whom he clung with much tenacity. The most effective of them +all was the constancy with which I assured him of the good-will and +affection which were felt for him by his Holiness, and the certainty that +his Holiness would furnish proof of his friendship in conceding his said +Majesty's requests, in such form as the church's treasure and the authority +of the Vicar of Christ shall permit, or so far as that authority extends or +may extend. I have undertaken, moreover, for all these things in their +utmost latitude, pledging my salvation, my faith, my honour and soul upon +them. I have said that his demands shall be granted amply and fully, +without scruple, without room or occasion being left for +after-retractation; and the King's Majesty, in consequence, believing on +these my solemn asseverations that the Pope's Holiness is really and indeed +well inclined towards him, accepting what is spoken by me as spoken by the +legate of the Apostolic See, and therefore, as in the name of his Holiness, +has determined to run the risk which I have pressed upon him; he will spare +no labour or expense, he will disregard the wishes of his subjects, and the +private interest of his Realm, to attach himself cordially and constantly +to the Holy See."[129] + +These were the words of a man who loved England well, but who loved Rome +better; and Wolsey has received but scanty justice from catholic writers, +since he sacrificed himself for the catholic cause. His scheme was bold and +well laid, being weak only in that it was confessedly in contradiction to +the instincts and genius of the nation, by which, and by which alone, in +the long run, either this or any other country has been successfully +governed. And yet he might well be forgiven if he ventured on an unpopular +course in the belief that the event would justify him; and that, in uniting +with France to support the pope, he was not only consulting the true +interest of England, but was doing what England actually desired, although +blindly aiming at her object by other means. The French wars, however +traditionally popular, were fertile only in glory. The rivalry of the two +countries was a splendid folly, wasting the best blood of both countries +for an impracticable chimera; and though there was impatience of +ecclesiastical misrule, though there was jealousy of foreign interference, +and general irritation with the state of the church, yet the mass of the +people hated protestantism even worse than they hated the pope, the clergy, +and the consistory courts. They believed--and Wolsey was, perhaps, the only +leading member of the privy council, except Archbishop Warham, who was not +under the same delusion--that it was possible for a national church to +separate itself from the unity of Christendom, and at the same time to +crush or prevent innovation of doctrine; that faith in the sacramental +system could still be maintained, though the priesthood by whom those +mysteries were dispensed should minister in gilded chains. This was the +English historical theory handed down from William Rufus, the second Henry, +and the Edwards; yet it was and is a mere phantasm, a thing of words and +paper fictions, as Wolsey saw it to be. Wolsey knew well that an +ecclesiastical revolt implied, as a certainty, innovation of doctrine; that +plain men could not and would not continue to reverence the office of the +priesthood, when the priests were treated as the paid officials of an +earthly authority higher than their own. He was not to be blamed if he took +the people at their word; if he believed that, in their doctrinal +conservatism, they knew and meant what they were saying: and the reaction +which took place under Queen Mary, when the Anglican system had been tried +and failed, and the alternative was seen to be absolute between a union +with Rome or a forfeiture of catholic orthodoxy, prove after all that he +was wiser than in the immediate event he seemed to be; that if his policy +had succeeded, and if, strengthened by success, he had introduced into the +church those reforms which he had promised and desired,[130] he would have +satisfied the substantial wishes of the majority of the nation. + +Like other men of genius, Wolsey also combined practical sagacity with an +unmeasured power of hoping. As difficulties gathered round him, he +encountered them with the increasing magnificence of his schemes; and after +thirty years' experience of public life, he was as sanguine as a boy. Armed +with this little lever of the divorce, he saw himself, in imagination, the +rebuilder of the catholic faith and the deliverer of Europe. The king being +remarried, and the succession settled, he would purge the Church of +England, and convert the monasteries into intellectual garrisons of pious +and learned men, occupying the land from end to end. The feuds with France +should cease for ever, and, united in a holy cause, the two countries +should restore the papacy, put down the German heresies, depose the +emperor, and establish in his place some faithful servant of the church. +Then Europe once more at peace, the hordes of the Crescent, which were +threatening to settle the quarrels of Christians in the West as they had +settled them in the East--by the extinction of Christianity itself,--were +to be hurled back into their proper barbarism.[131] These magnificent +visions fell from him in conversations with the Bishop of Bayonne, and may +be gathered from hints and fragments of his correspondence. Extravagant as +they seem, the prospect of realising them was, humanly speaking, neither +chimerical nor even improbable. He had but made the common mistake of men +of the world who are the representatives of an old order of things at the +time when that order is doomed and dying. He could not read the signs of +the times; and confounded the barrenness of death with the barrenness of a +winter which might be followed by a new spring and summer; he believed that +the old life-tree of Catholicism, which in fact was but cumbering the +ground, might bloom again in its old beauty. The thing which he called +heresy was the fire of Almighty God, which no politic congregation of +princes, no state machinery, though it were never so active, could trample +out; and as in the early years of Christianity the meanest slave who was +thrown to the wild beasts for his presence at the forbidden mysteries of +the gospel, saw deeper, in the divine power of his faith, into the future +even of this earthly world than the sagest of his imperial persecutors, so +a truer political prophet than Wolsey would have been found in the most +ignorant of those poor men, for whom his myrmidons were searching in the +purlieus of London, who were risking death and torture in disseminating the +pernicious volumes of the English Testament. + +If we look at the matter, however, from a more earthly point of view, the +causes which immediately defeated Wolsey's policy were not such as human +foresight could have anticipated. We ourselves, surveying the various +parties in Europe with the light of our knowledge of the actual sequel, are +perhaps able to understand their real relations; but if in 1527 a political +astrologer had foretold that within two years of that time the pope and the +emperor who had imprisoned him would be cordial allies, that the positions +of England and Spain toward the papacy would be diametrically reversed, and +that the two countries were on the point of taking their posts, which they +would ever afterwards maintain, as the champions respectively of the +opposite principles to those which at that time they seemed to represent, +the prophecy would have been held scarcely less insane than a prophecy six +or even three years before the event, that in the year 1854 England would +be united with an Emperor Napoleon for the preservation of European order. + +Henry, then, in the spring of the year 1527, definitively breaking the +Spanish alliance, formed a league with Francis I., the avowed object of +which was the expulsion of the Imperialists from Italy; with a further +intention--if it could be carried into effect--of avenging the outrage +offered to Europe in the pope's imprisonment, by declaring vacant the +imperial throne. Simultaneously with the congress at Amiens where the terms +of the alliance were arranged, confidential persons were despatched into +Italy to obtain an interview--if possible--with the pope, and formally +laying before him the circumstances of the king's position, to request him +to make use of his powers to provide a remedy. It is noticeable that at the +outset of the negotiation the king did not fully trust Wolsey. The latter +had suggested, as the simplest method of proceeding, that the pope should +extend his authority as legate, granting him plenary power to act as +English vicegerent so long as Rome was occupied by the Emperor's troops. +Henry, not wholly satisfied that he was acquainted with his minister's full +intentions in desiring so large a capacity, sent his own secretary, unknown +to Wolsey, with his own private propositions--requesting simply a +dispensation to take a second wife, his former marriage being allowed to +stand with no definite sentence passed upon it; or, if that were +impossible, leaving the pope to choose his own method, and settle the +question in the manner least difficult and least offensive.[132] + +Wolsey, however, soon satisfied the king that he had no sinister +intentions. By the middle of the winter we find the private messenger +associated openly with Sir Gregory Cassalis, the agent of the minister's +communications;[133] and a series of formal demands were presented jointly +by these two persons in the names of Henry and the legate; which, though +taking many forms, resolved themselves substantially into one. The pope was +required to make use of his dispensing power to enable the King of England +to marry a wife who could bear him children, and thus provide some better +security than already existed for the succession to the throne. This demand +could not be considered as in itself unreasonable; and if personal feeling +was combined with other motives to induce Henry to press it, personal +feeling did not affect the general bearing of the question. The king's +desire was publicly urged on public grounds, and thus, and thus only, the +pope was at liberty to consider it. The marriages of princes have ever been +affected by other considerations than those which influence such relations +between private persons. Princes may not, as "unvalued persons" may, "carve +for themselves;" they pay the penalty of their high place, in submitting +their affections to the welfare of the state; and the same causes which +regulate the formation of these ties must be allowed to influence the +continuance of them. The case which was submitted to the pope was one of +those for which his very power of dispensing had been vested in him; and +being, as he called himself, the Father of Christendom, the nation thought +themselves entitled to call upon him to make use of that power. A resource +of the kind must exist somewhere--the relation between princes and subjects +indispensably requiring it. It had been vested in the Bishop of Rome, +because it had been presumed that the sanctity of his office would secure +an impartial exercise of his authority. And unless he could have shown +(which he never attempted to show) that the circumstances of the succession +were not so precarious as to call for his interference, it would seem that +the express contingency had arisen which was contemplated in the +constitution of the canon law;[134] and that where a provision had been +made by the church of which he was the earthly head, for difficulties of +this precise description, the pope was under an obligation either to make +the required concessions in virtue of his faculty, or, if he found himself +unable to make those concessions, to offer some distinct explanation of his +refusal. I speak of the question as nakedly political. I am not considering +the private injuries of which Catherine had so deep a right to complain, +nor the complications subsequently raised on the original validity of the +first marriage. A political difficulty, on which alone he was bound to give +sentence, was laid before the pope in his judicial capacity, in the name of +the nation; and the painful features which the process afterwards assumed +are due wholly to his original weakness and vacillation. + +Deeply, however, as we must all deplore the scandal and suffering which +were occasioned by the dispute, it was in a high degree fortunate, that at +the crisis of public dissatisfaction in England with the condition of the +church, especially in the conduct of its courts of justice, a cause should +have arisen which tested the whole question of church authority in its +highest form; where the dispute between the laity and the ecclesiastics was +represented in a process in which the pope sat as judge; in which the king +was the appellant, and the most vital interests of the nation were at stake +upon the issue. It was no accident which connected a suit for divorce with +the reformation of religion. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction was upon its +trial, and the future relations of church and state depended upon the +pope's conduct in a matter which no technical skill was required to decide, +but only the moral virtues of probity and courage. The time had been when +the clergy feared only to be unjust, and when the functions of judges might +safely be entrusted to them. The small iniquities of the consistory courts +had shaken the popular faith in the continued operation of such a fear; and +the experience of an Alexander VI., a Julius II., and a Leo X. had induced +a suspicion that even in the highest quarters justice had ceased to be much +considered. It remained for Clement VII. to disabuse men of their alarms, +or by confirming them to forfeit for ever the supremacy of his order in +England. Nor can it be said for him that the case was one in which it was +unusually difficult to be virtuous. Justice, wounded dignity, and the +interests of the See pointed alike to the same course. Queen Catherine's +relationship to the emperor could not have recommended her to the +tenderness of the pope, and the policy of assenting to an act which would +infallibly alienate Henry from Charles, and therefore attach him to the +Roman interests, did not require the eloquence of Wolsey to make it +intelligible. If, because he was in the emperor's power, he therefore +feared the personal consequences to himself, his cowardice of itself +disqualified him to sit as a judge. + +It does not fall within my present purpose to detail the first stages of +the proceedings which followed. In substance they are well known to all +readers of English history, and may be understood without difficulty as +soon as we possess the clue to the conduct of Wolsey. I shall, however, in +a few pages briefly epitomise what passed. + +At the outset of the negotiation, the pope, although he would take no +positive steps, was all, in words, which he was expected to be. Neither he +nor the cardinals refused to acknowledge the dangers which threatened the +country. He discussed freely the position of the different parties, the +probabilities of a disputed succession, and the various claimants who would +present themselves, if the king died without an heir of undisputed +legitimacy.[135] Gardiner writes to Wolsey,[136] "We did even more +inculcate what speed and celerity the thing required, and what danger it +was to the realm to have this matter hang in suspense. His Holiness +confessed the same, and thereupon began to reckon what divers titles might +be pretended by the King of Scots and others, and granted that, without an +heir male, with provision to be made by consent of the state for his +succession, and unless that what shall be done herein be established in +such fashion as nothing may hereafter be objected thereto, the realm was +like to come to dissolution." + +In stronger language the Cardinal-Governor of Bologna declared that "he +knew the gyze of England as well as few men did, and if the king should die +without heirs male, he was sure it would cost two hundred thousand men's +lives. Wherefore he thought, supposing his Grace should have no more +children by the queen, and that by taking of another wife he might have +heirs male, the bringing to pass that matter, and by that to avoid the +mischiefs afore written, he thought would deserve Heaven."[137] Whatever +doubt their might be, therefore, whether the original marriage with +Catherine was legal, it was universally admitted that there was none about +the national desirableness of the dissolution of it; and if the pope had +been free to judge only by the merits of the case, it is impossible to +doubt that he would have cut the knot, either by granting a dispensation to +Henry to marry a second wife--his first being formally, though not +judicially, separated from him--or in some other way.[138] But the emperor +was "a lion in his path;" the question of strength between the French and +the Spaniards remained undecided, and Clement would come to no decision +until he was assured of the power of the allies to protect him from the +consequences. Accordingly he said and unsaid, sighed, sobbed, beat his +breast, shuffled, implored, threatened;[139] in all ways he endeavoured to +escape from his dilemma, to say yes and to say no, to do nothing, to offend +no one, and above all to gain time, with the weak man's hope that +"something might happen" to extricate him. Embassy followed embassy from +England, each using language more threatening than its predecessor. The +thing, it was said, must be done, and should be done. If it was not done by +the pope it would be done at home in some other way, and the pope must take +the consequences.[140] Wolsey warned him passionately of the rising +storm,[141] a storm which would be so terrible when it burst "that it would +be better to die than to live." The pope was strangely unable to believe +that the danger could be real, being misled perhaps by other information +from the friends of Queen Catherine, and by an over-confidence in the +attachment of the people to the emperor. He acted throughout in a manner +natural to a timid amiable man, who found himself in circumstances to which +he was unequal; and as long as we look at him merely as a man we can pity +his embarrassment. He forgot, however, that only because he was supposed to +be more than a man had kings and emperors consented to plead at his +judgment seat--a fact of which Stephen Gardiner, then Wolsey's secretary, +thought it well to remind him in the following striking language:-- + +"Unless," said the future Bishop of Winchester in the council, at the close +of a weary day of unprofitable debating, "unless some other resolution be +taken than I perceive you intend to make, hereupon shall be gathered a +marvellous opinion of your Holiness, of the college of cardinals, and of +the authority of this See. The King's Highness, and the nobles of the realm +who shall be made privy to this, shall needs think that your Holiness and +these most reverend and learned councillors either will not answer in this +cause, or cannot answer. If you will not, if you do not choose to point out +the way to an erring man, the care of whom is by God committed to you, they +will say, 'Oh race of men most ungrateful, and of your proper office most +oblivious! You who should be simple as doves are full of all deceit, and +craft, and dissembling. If the king's cause be good, we require that you +pronounce it good. If it be bad, why will you not say that it is bad, so to +hinder a prince to whom you are so much bounden from longer continuing with +it? We ask nothing of you but justice, which the king so loves and values, +that whatever sinister things others may say or think of him, he will +follow that with all his heart; that, and nothing else, whether it be for +the marriage or against the marriage.' + +"But if the King's Majesty," continued Gardiner, hitting the very point of +the difficulty, "if the King's Majesty and the nobility of England, being +persuaded of your good will to answer if you can do so, shall be brought to +doubt of your ability, they will be forced to a harder conclusion +respecting this See--namely, that God has taken from it the key of +knowledge; and they will begin to give better ear to that opinion of some +persons to which they have as yet refused to listen, that those papal laws +which neither the pope himself nor his council can interpret, deserve only +to be committed to the flames." "I desired his Holiness," he adds, "to +ponder well this matter."[142] + +Clement was no hero, but in his worst embarrassments his wit never failed +him. He answered that he was not learned, and "to speak truth, albeit there +was a saying in the canon law, that _Pontifex habet omnia jura in scrinio +pectoris_ (the pope has all laws locked within his breast), yet God had +never given him the key to open that lock." He was but "seeking pretexts" +for delay, as Gardiner saw, till the issue of the Italian campaign of the +French in the summer of 1528 was decided. He had been liberated, or had +been allowed to escape from Rome, in the fear that if detained longer he +might nominate a vicegerent; and was residing at an old ruined castle at +Orvieto, waiting upon events, leaving the Holy City still occupied by the +Prince of Orange. In the preceding autumn, immediately after the congress +at Amiens, M. de Lautrec, accompanied by several English noblemen, had led +an army across the Alps. He had defeated the Imperialists in the north of +Italy in several minor engagements; and in January his success appeared so +probable, that the pope took better heart, and told Sir Gregory Cassalis, +that if the French would only approach near enough to enable him to plead +compulsion, he would grant a commission to Wolsey, with plenary power to +conclude the cause.[143] De Lautrec, however, foiled in his desire to bring +the Imperialists to a decisive engagement, wasted his time and strength in +ineffectual petty sieges; and finally, in the summer, on the unhealthy +plains of Naples, a disaster more fatal in its consequences than the battle +of Pavia, closed the prospects of the French to the south of the Alps; and +with them all Wolsey's hopes of realising his dream. Struck down, not by a +visible enemy, but by the silent hand of fever, the French general himself, +his English friends, and all his army melted away from off the earth. The +pope had been wise in time. He had committed himself in words and +intentions; but he had done nothing which he could not recall. He obtained +his pardon from the emperor by promising to offend no more; and from that +moment never again entertained any real thought of concession. Acting under +explicit directions, he made it his object thenceforward to delay and to +procrastinate. Charles had no desire to press matters to extremities. War +had not yet been declared[144] against him by Henry; nor was he anxious +himself to precipitate a quarrel from which, if possible, he would gladly +escape. He had a powerful party in England, which it was unwise to alienate +by hasty, injudicious measures; and he could gain all which he himself +desired by a simple policy of obstruction. His object was merely to +protract the negotiation and prevent a decision, in the hope either that +Henry would be wearied into acquiescence, or that Catherine herself would +retire of her own accord, or, finally, that some happy accident might occur +to terminate the difficulty. It is, indeed, much to the honour of Charles +V. that he resolved to support the queen. She had thrown herself on his +protection; but princes in such matters consider prudence more than +feeling, and he could gain nothing by defending her: while, both for +himself and for the church he risked the loss of much. He over-rated the +strength of his English connection, and mistook the English character; but +he was not blind to the hazard which he was incurring, and would have +welcomed an escape from the dilemma perhaps as warmly as Henry would have +welcomed it himself. The pope, who well knew his feelings, told Gardiner, +"It would be for the wealth of Christendom if the queen were in her +grave; and he thought the emperor would be thereof most glad of all;" +saying, also, "that he thought like as the emperor had destroyed the +temporalities of the church, so should she be the destruction of the +spiritualities."[145] + +In the summer of 1528, before the disaster at Naples, Cardinal Campeggio +had left Rome on his way to England, where he was to hear the cause in +conjunction with Wolsey. An initial measure of this obvious kind it had +been impossible to refuse; and the pretexts under which it was for many +months delayed, were exhausted before the pope's ultimate course had been +made clear to him. But Campeggio was instructed to protract his journey to +its utmost length, giving time for the campaign to decide itself. He +loitered into the autumn, under the excuse of gout and other convenient +accidents, until the news reached him of De Lautrec's death, which took +place on the 21st of August; and then at length proceeding, he betrayed to +Francis I., on passing through Paris, that he had no intention of allowing +judgment to be passed upon the cause.[146] Even Wolsey was beginning to +tremble at what he had attempted, and was doubtful of success.[147] The +seeming relief came in time, for Henry's patience was fast running out. He +had been over-persuaded into a course which he had never cordially +approved. The majority of the council, especially the Duke of Norfolk and +the Duke of Suffolk, were traditionally imperial, and he himself might well +doubt whether he might not have found a nearer road out of his difficulties +by adhering to Charles. Charles, after all, was not ruining the papacy, and +had no intention of ruining it; and his lightest word weighed more at the +court of Rome than the dubious threats and prayers of France. The Bishop of +Bayonne, resident French ambassador in London, whose remarkable letters +transport us back into the very midst of that unquiet and stormy scene, +tells us plainly that the French alliance was hated by the country, that +the nobility were all for the emperor, and that among the commons the +loudest discontent was openly expressed against Wolsey from the danger of +the interruption of the trade with Flanders. Flemish ships had been +detained in London, and English ships in retaliation had been arrested in +the Zealand ports; corn was unusually dear, and the expected supplies from +Spain and Germany were cut off;[148] while the derangement of the woollen +trade, from the reluctance of the merchants to venture purchases, was +causing distress all over the country, and Wolsey had been driven to the +most arbitrary measures to prevent open disturbance.[149] He had set his +hopes upon the chance of a single cast which he would not believe could +fail him, but on each fresh delay he was compelled to feel his declining +credit, and the Bishop of Bayonne wrote, on the 20th of August, 1528, that +the cardinal was in bad spirits, and had told him in confidence, that "if +he could only see the divorce arranged, the king remarried, the succession +settled, and the laws and the manners and customs of the country reformed, +he would retire from the world and would serve God the remainder of his +days."[150] To these few trifles he would be contented to confine +himself--only to these; he was past sixty, he was weary of the world, and +his health was breaking, and he would limit his hopes to the execution of a +work for which centuries imperfectly sufficed. It seemed as if he measured +his stature by the lengthening shadow, as his sun made haste to its +setting. Symptoms of misgiving may be observed in the many anxious letters +which he wrote while Campeggio was so long upon his road; and the Bishop of +Bayonne, whose less interested eyes could see more deeply into the game, +warned him throughout that the pope was playing him false.[151] Only in a +revulsion from violent despondency could such a man as Wolsey have allowed +himself, on the mere arrival of the legate, and after a few soft words from +him, to write in the following strain to Sir Gregory Cassalis:-- + +"You cannot believe the exultation with which at length I find myself +successful in the object for which these many years, with all my industry, +I have laboured. At length I have found means to bind my most excellent +sovereign and this glorious realm to the holy Roman see in faith and +obedience for ever. Henceforth will this people become the most sure pillar +of support to bear up the sacred fabric of the church. Henceforth, in +recompense for that enduring felicity which he has secured to it, our most +Holy Lord has all England at his devotion. In brief time will this noble +land make its grateful acknowledgments to his clemency at once for the +preservation of the most just, most wise, most excellent of princes, and +for the secure establishment of the realm and the protection of the royal +succession."[152] + +This letter was dated on the fourth of October, and was written in the hope +that the pope had collected his courage, and that the legate had brought +powers to proceed to judgment. In a few days the prospect was again +clouded, and Wolsey was once more in despair.[153] Campeggio had brought +with him instructions if possible to arrange a compromise,--if a compromise +was impossible, to make the best use of his ingenuity, and do nothing and +allow nothing to be done. In one of two ways, however, it was hoped that he +might effect a peaceful solution. He urged the king to give way and to +proceed no further; and this failing, as he was prepared to find, he urged +the same thing upon the queen.[154] He invited Catherine, or he was +directed to invite her, in the pope's name,[155] for the sake of the +general interests of Christendom, to take the vows and enter what was +called _religio laxa_, a state in which she might live unincumbered by +obligations except the easy one of chastity, and free from all other +restrictions either of habit, diet, or order. The proposal was Wolsey's, +and was formed when he found the limited nature of Campeggio's +instructions;[156] but it was adopted by the latter; and I cannot but think +(though I have no proof of it) that it was not adopted without the +knowledge of the emperor. Whatever were his own interests, Charles V. gave +Catherine his unwavering support: he made it his duty to maintain her in +the ignominious position in which she was placed, and submitted his own +conduct to be guided by her wishes. It cannot be doubted, however, from the +pope's words, and also from the circumstances of the case, that if she +could have prevailed upon herself to yield, it would have relieved him from +a painful embarrassment. As a prince, he must have felt the substantial +justice of Henry's demand, and in refusing to allow the pope to pass a +judicial sentence of divorce, he could not but have known that he was +compromising the position of the Holy See: while Catherine herself, on the +other hand, if she had yielded, would have retired without a stain; no +opinion would have been pronounced upon her marriage; the legitimacy of the +Princess Mary would have been left without impeachment; and her right to +the succession, in the event of no male heir following from any new +connection which the king might form, would have been readily secured to +her by act of parliament. It may be asked why she did not yield, and it is +difficult to answer the question. She was not a person who would have been +disturbed by the loss of a few court vanities. Her situation as Henry's +wife could not have had many charms for her, nor can it be thought that she +retained a personal affection for him. If she had loved him, she would have +suffered too deeply in the struggle to have continued to resist, and the +cloister would have seemed a paradise. Or if the cloister had appeared too +sad a shelter for her, she might have gone back to the gardens of the +Alhambra, where she had played as a child, carrying with her the +affectionate remembrance of every English heart, and welcomed by her own +people as an injured saint. Nor again can we suppose that the possible +injury of her daughter's prospects from the birth of a prince by another +marriage could have seemed of so vast moment to her. Those prospects were +already more than endangered, and would have been rather improved than +brought into further peril. + +It is not for us to dictate the conduct which a woman smarting under +injuries so cruel ought to have pursued. She had a right to choose the +course which seemed the best to herself, and England especially could not +claim of a stranger that readiness to sacrifice herself which it might have +demanded and exacted of one of its own children. We may regret, however, +what we are unable to censure; and the most refined ingenuity could +scarcely have invented a more unfortunate answer than that which the Queen +returned to the legate's request. She seems to have said that she was ready +to take vows of chastity if the king would do the same. It does not appear +whether the request was _formally_ made, or whether it was merely suggested +to her in private conversation. That she told the legates, however, what +her answer would be, appears certain from the following passage, sadly +indicating the "devices of policy" to which in this unhappy business +honourable men allowed themselves to be driven:-- + +"Forasmuch as it is like that the queen shall make marvellous difficulty, +and in nowise be conformable to enter religion[157] or take vows of +chastity, but that to induce her thereunto, there must be ways and means of +high policy used, and all things possible devised to encourage her to the +same; wherein percase she shall resolve that she in no wise will condescend +so to do, unless that the King's Highness also do the semblable for his +part; the king's said orators shall therefore in like wise ripe and +instruct themselves by their secret learned council in the court of Rome, +if, for so great a benefit to ensue unto the king's succession, realm, and +subjects, with the quiet of his conscience, his Grace should promise so to +enter religion on vows of chastity for his part, only thereby to conduce +the queen thereunto, whether in that case the Pope's Holiness may dispense +with the King's Highness for the same promise, oath, or vow, discharging +his Grace clearly of the same."[158] + +The explanation of the queen's conduct lies probably in regions into which +it is neither easy nor well to penetrate; in regions of outraged delicacy +and wounded pride, in a vast drama of passion which had been enacted behind +the scenes. From the significant hints which are let fall of the original +cause of the estrangement, it was of a kind more difficult to endure than +the ordinary trial of married women, the transfer of a husband's affection +to some fairer face; and a wife whom so painful a misfortune had failed to +crush would be likely to have been moved by it to a deeper and more bitter +indignation even, because while she could not blame herself, she knew not +whom she might rightly allow herself to blame. And if this were so, the +king is not likely to have allayed the storm when at length, putting faith +in Wolsey's promises, he allowed himself openly to regard another person as +his future wife, establishing her in the palace at Greenwich under the same +roof with the queen, with reception rooms, and royal state, and a position +openly acknowledged,[159] the gay court and courtiers forsaking the gloomy +dignity of the actual wife for the gaudy splendour of her brilliant rival. +Tamer blood than that which flowed in the veins of a princess of Castile +would have boiled under these indignities; and we have little reason to be +surprised if policy and prudence were alike forgotten by Catherine in the +bitterness of the draught which was forced upon her, and if her own +personal wrongs outweighed the interests of the world. Henry had proceeded +to the last unjustifiable extremity as soon as the character of Campeggio's +mission had been made clear to him, as if to demonstrate to all the world +that he was determined to persevere at all costs and hazards.[160] Taking +the management of the negotiation into his own keeping, he sent Sir Francis +Bryan, the cousin of Anne Boleyn, to the pope, to announce that what he +required must be done, and to declare peremptorily, no more with covert +hints, but with open menace, that in default of help from Rome, he would +lay the matter before parliament, to be settled at home by the laws of his +own country. + +Meanwhile, the emperor, who had hitherto conducted himself with the +greatest address, had fallen into his first error. He had retreated +skilfully out of the embarrassment in which the pope's imprisonment +involved him, and mingling authority and dictation with kindness and +deference, he had won over the Holy See to his devotion, and neutralised +the danger to which the alliance of France and England threatened to expose +him. His correspondence with the latter country assured him of the +unpopularity of the course which had been pursued by the cardinal; he was +aware of the obstruction of trade which it had caused, and of the general +displeasure felt by the people at the breach of an old friendship; while +the league with France in behalf of the Roman church had been barren of +results, and was made ridiculous by the obvious preference of the pope for +the enemy from whom it was formed to deliver him. If Charles had understood +the English temper, therefore, and had known how to avail himself of the +opportunity, events might have run in a very different channel. But he was +not aware of the earnestness with which the people were bent upon securing +the succession, nor of their loyal attachment to Henry. He supposed that +disapproval of the course followed by Wolsey to obtain the divorce implied +an aversion to it altogether; and trusting to his interest in the privy +council, and to his commercial connection with the city, he had attempted +to meet menace with menace; he had replied to the language addressed by +Henry to the pope with an attempt to feel the pulse of English +disaffection, and he opened a correspondence with the Earl of Desmond for +an Irish revolt.[161] + +The opportunity for a movement of this kind had not yet arrived. There was, +in England at least, as yet no wide disaffection; but there was a chance of +serious outbreaks; and Henry instantly threw himself upon the nation. He +summoned the peers by circular to London, and calling a general meeting, +composed of the nobility, the privy council, the lord mayor, and the great +merchants of the city, he laid before them a specific detail of his objects +in desiring the divorce;[162] and informed them of the nature of the +measures which had been taken.[163] This, the French ambassador informs us, +gave wide satisfaction and served much to allay the disquiet; but so great +was the indignation against Wolsey, that disturbances in London were every +day anticipated; and at one time the danger appeared so threatening, that +an order of council was issued, commanding all strangers to leave the city, +and a general search was instituted for arms.[164] The strangers aimed at +were the Flemings, whose numbers made them formidable, and who were, +perhaps, supposed to be ready to act under instruction from abroad. The +cloud, however, cleared away; the order was not enforced; and the +propitious moment for treason had not yet arrived. The emperor had felt so +confident that, in the autumn of 1528, he had boasted that, "before the +winter was over, he would fling Henry from his throne by the hands of his +own Subjects." The words had been repeated to Wolsey, who mentioned them +openly at his table before more than a hundred gentlemen. A person present +exclaimed, "That speech has lost the emperor more than a hundred thousand +hearts among us;"[165] an expression which reveals at once the strength and +the weakness of the imperial party. England might have its own opinions of +the policy of the government, but it was in no humour to tolerate treason, +and the first hint of revolt was followed by an instant recoil. The +discovery of more successful intrigues in Scotland and Ireland completed +the destruction of Charles's influence;[166] and the result of these +ill-judged and premature efforts was merely to unite the nation in their +determination to prosecute the divorce. + +Thus were the various parties in the vast struggle which was about to +commence gravitating into their places; and mistake combined with policy to +place them in their true positions. Wolsey, in submitting "the king's +matter" to the pope, had brought to issue the question whether the papal +authority should be any longer recognised in England; and he had secured +the ruin of that authority by the steps through which he hoped to establish +it; while Charles, by his unwise endeavours to foment a rebellion, severed +with his own hand the links of a friendship which would have been seriously +embarrassing if it had continued. By him, also, was dealt the concluding +stroke in this first act of the drama; and though we may grant him credit +for the ingenuity of his contrivance, he can claim it only at the expense +of his probity. The pope, when the commission was appointed for the trial +of the cause in England, had given a promise in writing that the commission +should not be revoked. It seemed, therefore, that the legates would be +compelled, in spite of themselves, to pronounce sentence; and that the +settlement of the question, in one form or other, could not long be +delayed. At the pressure of the crisis in the winter of 1528-9, a document +was produced alleged to have been found in Spain, which furnished a pretext +for a recall of the engagement, and opening now questions, indefinite and +inexhaustible, rendered the passing of a sentence in England impossible. +Unhappily, the weight of the king's claim (however it had been rested on +its true merits in conversation and in letters) had, by the perverse +ingenuity of the lawyers, been laid on certain informalities and defects in +the original bull of dispensation, which had been granted by Julius II. for +the marriage of Henry and Catherine. At the moment when the legates' court +was about to be opened, a copy of a brief was brought forward, bearing the +same date as the bull, exactly meeting the objection. The authenticity of +this brief was open, on its own merits, to grave doubt; and suspicion +becomes certainty when we find it was dropped out of the controversy so +soon as the immediate object was gained for which it was produced. But the +legates' hands were instantly tied by it. The "previous question" of +authenticity had necessarily to be tried before they could take another +step; and the "original" of the brief being in the hands of the emperor, +who refused to send it into England, but offered to send it to Rome, the +cause was virtually transferred to Rome, where Henry, as he knew, was +unlikely to consent to plead, or where he could himself rule the decision. +He had made a stroke of political finesse, which answered not only the +purpose that he immediately intended, but answered, also, the purpose that +he did not intend--of dealing the hardest blow which it had yet received to +the supremacy of the Holy See. + +The spring of 1529 was wasted in fruitless efforts to obtain the brief. At +length, in May, the proceedings were commenced; but they were commenced +only in form, and were never more than an illusion. Catherine had been +instructed in the course which she was to pursue. She appealed from the +judgment of the legates to that of the pope; and the pope, with the plea of +the new feature which had arisen in the case, declared that he could not +refuse to revoke his promise. Having consented to the production of the +brief, he had in fact no alternative; nor does it appear what he could have +urged in excuse of himself. He may have suspected the forgery; nay, it is +certain that in England he was believed to be privy to it; but he could not +ignore an important feature of necessary evidence, especially when pressed +upon him by the emperor; and it was in fact no more than an absurdity to +admit the authority of a papal commission, and to refuse to permit an +appeal from it to the pope in person. We may thank Clement for dispelling a +chimera by a simple act of consistency. The power of the See of Rome in +England was a constitutional fiction, acknowledged only on condition that +it would consent to be inert. So long as a legate's court sat in London, +men were able to conceal from themselves the fact of a foreign +jurisdiction, and to feel that, substantially, their national independence +was respected; when the fiction aspired to become a reality, but one +consequence was possible. If Henry himself would have stooped to plead at a +foreign tribunal, the spirit of the nation would not have permitted him to +inflict so great a dishonour on the free majesty of England. + +So fell Wolsey's great scheme, and with it fell the last real chance of +maintaining the pope's authority in England under any form. The people were +smarting under the long humiliation of the delay, and ill-endured to see +the interests of England submitted, as they virtually were, to the +arbitration of a foreign prince. The emperor, not the pope, was the true +judge who sat to decide the quarrel; and their angry jealousy refused to +tolerate longer a national dishonour. + +"The great men of the realm," wrote the legates, "are storming in bitter +wrath at our procrastination. Lords and commons alike complain that they +are made to expect at the hands of strangers things of vital moment to +themselves and their fortunes. And many persons here who would desire to +see the pope's authority in this country diminished or annulled, are +speaking in language which we cannot repeat without horror."[167] + +And when, being in such a mood, they were mocked, after two weary years of +negotiation, by the opening of a fresh vista of difficulties, when they +were informed that the further hearing of the cause was transferred to +Italy, even Wolsey, with certain ruin before him, rose in protest before +such a dream of shame. He was no more the Roman legate, but the English +minister. + +"If the advocation be passed," he wrote to Cassalis,[168] "or shall now at +any time hereafter pass, with citation of the king in person, or by +proctor, to the court of Rome, or with any clause of interdiction or +excommunication, _vel cum invocatione brachii saecularis_, whereby the king +should be precluded from taking his advantage otherwise, the dignity and +prerogative royal of the king's crown, whereunto all the nobles and +subjects of this realm will adhere and stick unto the death, may not +tolerate nor suffer that the same be obeyed. And to say the truth, in so +doing the pope should not only show himself the king's enemy, but also as +much as in him is, provoke all other princes and people to be the +semblable. Nor shall it ever be seen that the king's cause shall be +ventilated or decided in any place out of his own realm; _but that if his +Grace should come at any time to the Court of Rome, he would do the same +with such a main and army royal as should be formidable to the pope and all +Italy_."[169] + +Wolsey, however, failed in his protest; the advocation was passed, +Campeggio left England, and he was lost. A crisis had arrived, and a +revolution of policy was inevitable. From the accession of Henry VII., the +country had been governed by a succession of ecclesiastical ministers, who +being priests as well as statesmen, were essentially conservative; and +whose efforts in a position of constantly increasing difficulty had been +directed towards resisting the changing tendencies of the age, and either +evading a reformation of the church while they admitted its necessity, or +retaining the conduct of it in their own hands, while they were giving +evidence of their inability to accomplish the work. It was now over; the +ablest representative of this party, in a last desperate effort to retain +power, had decisively failed. Writs were issued for a parliament when the +legate's departure was determined, and the consequences were inevitable. +Wolsey had known too well the unpopularity of his foreign policy, to +venture on calling a parliament himself. He relied on success as an +ultimate justification; and inasmuch as success had not followed, he was +obliged to bear the necessary fate of a minister who, in a free country, +had thwarted the popular will and whom fortune deserted in the struggle. +The barriers which his single hand had upheld suddenly gave way, the +torrent had free course, and he himself was the first to be swept away. In +modern language, we should describe what took place as a change of +ministry, the government being transferred to an opposition, who had been +irritated by long depression under the hands of men whom they despised, and +who were borne into power by an irresistible force in a moment of +excitement and danger. The king, who had been persuaded against his better +judgment to accept Wolsey's schemes, admitted the rising spirit without +reluctance, contented to moderate its action, but no longer obstructing or +permitting it to be obstructed. Like all great English statesmen, he was +constitutionally conservative, but he had the tact to perceive the +conditions under which, in critical times, conservatism is possible; and +although he continued to endure for himself the trifling of the papacy, he +would not, for the sake of the pope's interest, delay further the +investigation of the complaints of the people against the church; while in +the future prosecution of his own cause, he resolved to take no steps +except with the consent of the legislature, and in a question of national +moment, to consult only the nation's wishes. + +The new ministry held a middle place between the moving party in the +commons and the expelled ecclesiastics, the principal members of it being +the chief representatives of the old aristocracy, who had been Wolsey's +fiercest opponents, but who were disinclined by constitution and sympathy +from sweeping measures. An attempt was made, indeed, to conciliate the more +old-fashioned of the churchmen, by an offer of the seals to Warham, +Archbishop of Canterbury, probably because he originally opposed the +marriage between the king and his sister-in-law, and because it was hoped +that his objections remained unaltered. Warham, however, as we shall see, +had changed his mind: he declined, on the plea of age, and the office of +chancellor was given to Sir Thomas More, perhaps the person least +disaffected to the clergy who could have been found among the leading +laymen. The substance of power was vested in the Dukes of Norfolk and +Suffolk, the great soldier-nobles of the age, and Sir William Fitz-William, +lord admiral; to all of whom the ecclesiastical domination had been most +intolerable, while they had each of them brilliantly distinguished +themselves in the wars with France and Scotland. According to the French +ambassador, we must add one more minister, supreme, if we may trust him, +above them all. "The Duke of Norfolk," he writes, "is made president of the +council, the Duke of Suffolk vice-president, and above them both is +Mistress Anne;"[170] this last addition to the council being one which +boded little good to the interests of the See that had so long detained her +in expectation. So confident were the destructive party of the temper of +the approaching parliament, and of the irresistible pressure of the times, +that the general burden of conversation of the dinner-tables in the great +houses in London was an exulting expectation of a dissolution of the church +establishment, and a confiscation of ecclesiastical property; the king +himself being the only obstacle which was feared by them. "These noble +lords imagine," continues the same writer, "that the cardinal once dead of +ruined, they will incontinently plunder the church, and strip it of all its +wealth," adding that there was no occasion for him to write this in cipher, +for it was everywhere openly spoken of.[171] + +Movements, nevertheless, which are pregnant with vital change, are slow in +assuming their essential direction, even after the stir has commenced. +Circumstances do not immediately open themselves; the point of vision +alters gradually; and fragments of old opinions, and prepossessions, and +prejudices remain interfused with the new, even in the clearest minds, and +cannot at a moment be shaken off. Only the unwise change suddenly; and we +can never too often remind ourselves, when we see men stepping forward with +uncertainty and hesitation over a road, where to us, we know the actual +future, all seems so plain, that the road looked different to the actors +themselves, who were beset with imaginations of the past, and to whom the +gloom of the future appeared thronged with phantoms of possible +contingencies. The hasty expectations of the noble lords were checked by +Henry's prudence; and though parties were rapidly arranging themselves, +there was still confusion. The city, though disinclined to the pope and the +church, continued to retain an inclination for the emperor; and the pope +had friends among Wolsey's enemies, who, by his overthrow, were pressed +forward into prominence, and divided the victory with the reformers. The +presence of Sir Thomas More in the council was a guarantee that no +exaggerated measures against the church would be permitted so long as he +held the seals; and Henry, perhaps, was anxious to leave room for +conciliation, which he hoped that the pope would desire as much as himself, +so soon as the meeting of parliament had convinced him that the mutinous +disposition of the nation had not been overstated by his own and Wolsey's +letters. + +The impression conceived two years before of the hostile relations between +the pope and Charles had not yet been wholly effaced; and even as late as +September, 1529, after the closing of the legates' court, in the very heat +of the public irritation, there were persons who believed that when Clement +met his imperial captor face to face, and the interview had taken place +which had been arranged for the ensuing January, his eyes would be opened, +and that he would fall back upon England.[172] At the same time, the +incongruities in the constitution of the council became so early apparent, +that their agreement was thought impossible, and Wolsey's return to power +was discussed openly as a probability[173]--a result which Anne Boleyn, +who, better than any other person, knew the king's feelings, never ceased +to fear, till, a year after his disgrace, the welcome news were brought to +her that he had sunk into his long rest, where the sick load of office and +of obloquy would gall his back no more. + +There was a third party in the country, unconsidered as yet, who had a part +to play in the historical drama: a party which, indeed, if any one had +known it, was the most important of all; the only one which, in a true, +high sense, was of importance at all; and for the sake of which, little as +it then appeared to be so, the whole work was to be done--composed at that +time merely of poor men, poor cobblers, weavers, carpenters, trade +apprentices, and humble artisans, men of low birth and low estate, who +might be seen at night stealing along the lanes and alleys of London, +carrying with them some precious load of books which it was death to +possess; and giving their lives gladly, if it must be so, for the brief +tenure of so dear a treasure. These men, for the present, were likely to +fare ill from the new ministry. They were the disturbers of order, the +anarchists, the men disfigured _pravitate heretica_, by monstrous +doctrines, and consequently by monstrous lives--who railed at authorities, +and dared to read New Testaments with their own eyes--who, consequently, by +their excesses and extravagances, brought discredit upon liberal opinions, +and whom moderate liberals (as they always have done, and always will do +while human nature remains itself) held it necessary for their credit's +sake to persecute, that a censorious world might learn to make no confusion +between true wisdom and the folly which seemed to resemble it. The +Protestants had not loved Wolsey, and they had no reason to love him; but +it was better to bear a fagot of dry sticks in a procession when the +punishment was symbolic, than, lashed fast to a stake in Smithfield, amidst +piles of the same fagots kindled into actual flames, to sink into a heap of +blackened dust and ashes; and before a year had passed, they would gladly +have accepted again the hated cardinal, to escape from the philosophic +mercies of Sir Thomas More. The number of English Protestants at this time +it is difficult to conjecture. The importance of such men is not to be +measured by counting heads. In 1526, they were organised into a society, +calling themselves "the Christian brotherhood,"[174] with a central +committee sitting in London; with subscribed funds, regularly audited, for +the purchase of Testaments and tracts; and with paid agents, who travelled +up and down the country to distribute them. Some of the poorer clergy +belonged to the society;[175] and among the city merchants there were many +well inclined to it, and who, perhaps, attended its meetings "by night, +secretly, for fear of the Jews." But, as a rule, "property and influence" +continued to hold aloof in the usual haughty style, and the pioneers of the +new opinions had yet to win their way along a scorched and blackened path +of suffering, before the State would consent to acknowledge them. We think +bitterly of these things, and yet we are but quarrelling with what is +inevitable from the constitution of the world. New doctrines ever gain +readiest hearing among the common people; not only because the interests of +the higher classes are usually in some degree connected with the +maintenance of existing institutions; but because ignorance is itself a +protection against the many considerations which embarrass the judgment of +the educated. The value of a doctrine cannot be determined on its own +apparent merits by men whose habits of mind are settled in other forms; +while men of experience know well that out of the thousands of theories +which rise in the fertile soil below them, it is but one here and one there +which grows to maturity; and the precarious chances of possible vitality, +where the opposite probabilities are so enormous, oblige them to discourage +and repress opinions which threaten to disturb established order, or which, +by the rules of existing beliefs, imperil the souls of those who entertain +them. Persecution has ceased among ourselves, because we do not any more +believe that want of theoretic orthodoxy in matters of faith is necessarily +fraught with the tremendous consequences which once were supposed to be +attached to it. If, however, a school of Thugs were to rise among us, +making murder a religious service; if they gained proselytes, and the +proselytes put their teaching in execution, we should speedily begin again +to persecute opinion. What teachers of Thuggism would appear to ourselves, +the teachers of heresy actually appeared to Sir Thomas More, only being as +much more hateful as the eternal death of the soul is more terrible than +the single and momentary separation of it from the body. There is, I think, +no just ground on which to condemn conscientious Catholics on the score of +persecution, except only this: that as we are now convinced of the +injustice of the persecuting laws, so among those who believed them to be +just, there were some who were led by an instinctive protest of human +feeling to be lenient in the execution of those laws; while others of +harder nature and more narrow sympathies enforced them without reluctance, +and even with exultation. The heart, when it is rightly constituted, +corrects the folly of the head; and wise good men, even though they +entertain no conscious misgiving as to the soundness of their theories, may +be delivered from the worst consequences of those theories, by trusting +their more genial instincts. And thus, and thus only, are we justified in +censuring those whose names figure largely in the persecuting lists. Their +defence is impregnable to logic. We blame them for the absence of that +humanity which is deeper than logic, and which should have taught them to +refuse the conclusions of their speculative creed. + +Such, then, was the state of parties in the autumn of 1529. The old +conservatives, the political ecclesiastics, had ceased to exist, and the +clergy as a body were paralysed by corruption. There remained-- + +The English party who had succeeded to power, and who were bent upon a +secular revolt. + +The papal party, composed of theoretic theologians, like Fisher, Bishop of +Rochester, and represented on the council by Sir Thomas More. + +And both of these were united in their aversion to the third party, that of +the doctrinal Protestants, who were still called heretics. + +These three substantially divided what was sound in England; the first +composed of the mass of the people, representing the principles of +prudence, justice, good sense, and the working faculties of social life: +the two last sharing between them the higher qualities of nobleness, +enthusiasm, self-devotion; but in their faith being without discretion, and +in their piety without understanding. The problem of the Reformation was to +reunite virtues which could be separated only to their mutual confusion; +and to work out among them such inadequate reconciliation as the wilfulness +of human nature would allow. + +Before I close this chapter, which is intended as a general introduction, I +have to say something of two prominent persons whose character antecedent +to the actions in which we are to find them engaged it is desirable that we +should understand; I mean Henry VIII. himself, and the lady whom he had +selected to fill the place from which Catherine of Arragon was to be +deposed. + +If Henry VIII. had died previous to the first agitation of the divorce, his +loss would have been deplored as one of the heaviest misfortunes which had +ever befallen the country; and he would have left a name which would have +taken its place in history by the side of that of the Black Prince or of +the conqueror of Agincourt. Left at the most trying age, with his character +unformed, with the means at his disposal of gratifying every inclination, +and married by his ministers when a boy to an unattractive woman far his +senior, he had lived for thirty-six years almost without blame, and bore +through England the reputation of an upright and virtuous king. Nature had +been prodigal to him of her rarest gifts. In person he is said to have +resembled his grandfather, Edward IV., who was the handsomest man in +Europe. His form and bearing were princely; and amidst the easy freedom of +his address, his manner remained majestic. No knight in England could match +him in the tournament except the Duke of Suffolk: he drew with ease as +strong a bow as was borne by any yeoman of his guard; and these powers were +sustained in unfailing vigour by a temperate habit and by constant +exercise. Of his intellectual ability we are not left to judge from the +suspicious panegyrics of his contemporaries. His state papers and letters +may be placed by the side of those of Wolsey or of Cromwell, and they lose +nothing in the comparison. Though they are broadly different, the +perception is equally clear, the expression equally powerful, and they +breathe throughout an irresistible vigour of purpose. In addition to this +he had a fine musical taste, carefully cultivated; he spoke and wrote in +four languages; and his knowledge of a multitude of other subjects, with +which his versatile ability made him conversant, would have formed the +reputation of any ordinary man. He was among the best physicians of his +age; he was his own engineer, inventing improvements in artillery, and new +constructions in ship-building; and this not with the condescending +incapacity of a royal amateur, but with thorough workmanlike understanding. +His reading was vast, especially in theology, which has been ridiculously +ascribed by Lord Herbert to his father's intention of educating him for the +Archbishopric of Canterbury; as if the scientific mastery of such a subject +could have been acquired by a boy of twelve years of age, for he was no +more when he became Prince of Wales. He must have studied theology with the +full maturity of his intellect; and he had a fixed and perhaps unfortunate +interest in the subject itself.[176] + +In all directions of human activity Henry displayed natural powers of the +highest order, at the highest stretch of industrious culture. He was +"attentive," as it is called, "to his religious duties," being present at +the services in chapel two or three times a day with unfailing regularity, +and showing to outward appearance a real sense of religious obligation in +the energy and purity of his life. In private he was good-humoured and +good-natured. His letters to his secretaries, though never undignified, are +simple, easy, and unrestrained; and the letters written by them to him are +similarly plain and businesslike, as if the writers knew that the person +whom they were addressing disliked compliments, and chose to be treated as +a man. Again, from their correspondence with one another, when they +describe interviews with him, we gather the same pleasant impression. He +seems to have been always kind, always considerate; inquiring into their +private concerns with genuine interest, and winning, as a consequence, +their warm and unaffected attachment. + +As a ruler he had been eminently popular. All his wars had been successful. +He had the splendid tastes in which the English people most delighted, and +he had substantially acted out his own theory of his duty which was +expressed in the following words:-- + +"Scripture taketh princes to be, as it were, fathers and nurses to their +subjects, and by Scripture it appeareth that it appertaineth unto the +office of princes to see that right religion and true doctrine be +maintained and taught, and that their subjects may be well ruled and +governed by good and just laws; and to provide and care for them that all +things necessary for them may be plenteous; and that the people and +commonweal may increase; and to defend them from oppression and invasion, +as well within the realm as without; and to see that justice be +administered unto them indifferently; and to hear benignly all their +complaints; and to show towards them, although they offend, fatherly pity. +And, finally, so to correct them that be evil, that they had yet rather +save them than lose them if it were not for respect of justice, and +maintenance of peace and good order in the commonweal."[177] + +These principles do really appear to have determined Henry's conduct in his +earlier years. His social administration we have partially seen in the +previous chapter. He had more than once been tried with insurrection, which +he had soothed down without bloodshed, and extinguished in forgiveness; and +London long recollected the great scene which followed "evil May-day," +1517, when the apprentices were brought down to Westminster Hall to receive +their pardons. There had been a dangerous riot in the streets, which might +have provoked a mild government to severity; but the king contented himself +with punishing the five ringleaders, and four hundred other prisoners, +after being paraded down the streets in white shirts with halters round +their necks, were dismissed with an admonition, Wolsey weeping as he +pronounced it.[178] + +It is certain that if, as I said, he had died before the divorce was +mooted, Henry VIII., like that Roman Emperor said by Tacitus to have been +_consensu omnium dignus imperii nisi imperasset_, would have been +considered by posterity as formed by Providence for the conduct of the +Reformation, and his loss would have been deplored as a perpetual calamity. +We must allow him, therefore, the benefit of his past career, and be +careful to remember it, when interpreting his later actions. Not many men +would have borne themselves through the same trials with the same +integrity; but the circumstances of those trials had not tested the true +defects in his moral constitution. Like all princes of the Plantagenet +blood, he was a person of a most intense and imperious will. His impulses, +in general nobly directed, had never known contradiction; and late in life, +when his character was formed, he was forced into collision with +difficulties with which the experience of discipline had not fitted him to +contend. Education had done much for him, but his nature required more +correction than his position had permitted, whilst unbroken prosperity and +early independence of control had been his most serious misfortune. He had +capacity, if his training had been equal to it, to be one of the greatest +of men. With all his faults about him, he was still perhaps the greatest of +his contemporaries; and the man best able of all living Englishmen to +govern England, had been set to do it by the conditions of his birth. + +The other person whose previous history we have to ascertain is one, the +tragedy of whose fate has blotted the remembrance of her sins--if her sins +were, indeed, and in reality, more than imaginary. Forgetting all else in +shame and sorrow, posterity has made piteous reparation for her death in +the tenderness with which it has touched her reputation; and with the +general instincts of justice, we have refused to qualify our indignation at +the wrong which she experienced, by admitting either stain or shadow on her +fame. It has been with Anne Boleyn as it has been with Catherine of +Arragon--both are regarded as the victims of a tyranny which catholics and +protestants unite to remember with horror; and each has taken the place of +a martyred saint in the hagiology of the respective creeds. Catholic +writers have, indeed, ill repaid, in their treatment of Anne, the +admiration with which the mother of Queen Mary has been remembered in the +Church of England; but the invectives which they have heaped upon her have +defeated their object by their extravagance. It has been believed that +matter failed them to sustain a just accusation, when they condescended to +outrageous slander. Inasmuch, however, as some natural explanation can +usually be given of the actions of human beings in this world without +supposing them to have been possessed by extraordinary wickedness, and if +we are to hold Anne Boleyn entirely free from fault, we place not the king +only, but the privy council, the judges, the Lords and Commons, and the two +Houses of Convocation, in a position fatal to their honour and degrading to +ordinary humanity; we cannot without inquiry acquiesce in so painful a +conclusion. The English nation also, as well as she, deserves justice at +our hands; and it must not be thought uncharitable if we look with some +scrutiny at the career of a person who, except for the catastrophe with +which it was closed, would not so readily have obtained forgiveness for +having admitted the addresses of the king, or for having received the +homage of the court as its future sovereign, while the king's wife, her +mistress, as yet resided under the same roof, with the title and the +position of queen, and while the question was still undecided of the +validity of the first marriage. If in that alone she was to blame, her +fault was, indeed, revenged a thousandfold,--and yet no lady of true +delicacy would have accepted such a position; and feeling for Queen +Catherine should have restrained her, if she was careless of respect for +herself. It must, therefore, be permitted me, out of such few hints and +scattered notices as remain, to collect such information as may be trusted +respecting her early life before her appearance upon the great stage. These +hints are but slight, since I shall not even mention the scandals of +Sanders, any more than I shall mention the panegyrics of Foxe; stories +which, as far as I can learn, have no support in evidence, and rest on no +stronger foundation than the credulity of passion. + +Anne Boleyn was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a gentleman of +noble family, though moderate fortune;[179] who, by a marriage with the +daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, was brought into connection with the +highest blood in the realm. The year of her birth has not been certainly +ascertained, but she is supposed to have been seven years old[180] in 1514, +when she accompanied the Princess Mary into France, on the marriage of that +lady with Louis XII. Louis dying a few months subsequently, the princess +married Sir Charles Brandon, afterwards created Duke of Suffolk, and +returned to England. Anne Boleyn did not return with her; she remained in +Paris to become accomplished with the graces and elegancies, if she was not +contaminated by the vices, of that court, which, even in those days of +loyal licentiousness, enjoyed an undesirable pre-eminence in profligacy. In +the French capital she could not have failed to see, to hear, and to become +familiar with occurrences with which no young girl can be brought in +contact with impunity, and this poisonous atmosphere she continued to +breathe for nine years. She came back to England in 1525, to be maid of +honour to Queen Catherine, and to be distinguished at the court, by general +consent, for her talents, her accomplishments, and her beauty. Her +portraits, though all professedly by Holbein, or copied from pictures by +him, are singularly unlike each other. The profile in the picture which is +best known is pretty, innocent, and piquant, though rather insignificant: +there are other pictures, however, in which we see a face more powerful, +though less prepossessing. In these the features are full and languid. The +eyes are large; but the expression, though remarkable, is not pleasing, and +indicates cunning more than thought, passion more than feeling; while the +heavy lips and massive chin wear a look of sensuality which is not to be +mistaken. Possibly all are like the original, but represented her under +different circumstances, or at different periods of her life. Previous to +her engagement with the king, she was the object of fleeting attentions +from the young noblemen about the court. Lord Percy, eldest son of Lord +Northumberland, as we all know, was said to have been engaged to her. He +was in the household of Cardinal Wolsey; and Cavendish, who was with him +there, tells a long romantic story of the affair, which, if his account be +true, was ultimately interrupted by Lord Northumberland himself. The story +is not without its difficulties, since Lord Percy had been contracted, +several years previously, to a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury,[181] +whom he afterwards married, and by the law he could not have formed a +second engagement so long as the first was undissolved. And again, he +himself, when subsequently examined before the privy council, denied +solemnly on his oath that any contract of the kind had existed.[182] At the +same time, we cannot suppose Cavendish to have invented so circumstantial a +narrative, and Percy would not have been examined if there had been no +reason for suspicion. Something, therefore, probably had passed between him +and the young maid of honour, though we cannot now conjecture of what +nature; and we can infer only that it was not openly to her discredit, or +she would not have obtained the position which cost her so dear. She +herself confessed subsequently, before Archbishop Cranmer, to a connection +of some kind into which she had entered before her acquaintance with Henry. +No evidence survives which will explain to what she referred, for the act +of parliament which mentions the fact furnishes no details.[183] But it was +of a kind which made her marriage with the king illegal, and +illegitimatised the offspring of it; and it has been supposed, therefore, +that, in spite of Lord Percy's denial, he had really engaged himself to +her, and was afraid to acknowledge it.[184] This supposition, however, is +not easy to reconcile with the language of the act, which speaks of the +circumstance, whatever it was, as only "recently known;" nor could a +contract with Percy have invalidated her marriage with the king, when Percy +having been pre-contracted to another person, it would have been itself +invalid. A light is thrown upon the subject by a letter found among +Cromwell's papers, addressed by some unknown person to a Mr. Melton, also +unknown, but written obviously when "Mistress Anne" was a young lady about +the court, and before she had been the object of any open attention from +Henry. + +"MR. MELTON.--This shall be to advertise you that Mistress Anne is changed +from that she was at when we three were last together. Wherefore I pray you +that ye be no devil's sakke, but according to the truth ever justify, as ye +shall make answer before God; and do not suffer her in my absence to be +married to any other man. I must go to my master, wheresoever he be, for +the Lord Privy Seal desireth much to speak with me, whom if I should speak +with in my master's absence, it would cause me to lose my head; and yet I +know myself as true a man to my prince as liveth, whom (as my friend +informeth me) I have offended grievously in my words. No more to you, but +to have me commended unto Mistress Anne, and bid her remember her promise, +which none can loose, but God only, to whom I shall daily during my life +commend her."[185] + +The letter must furnish its own interpretation; for it receives little from +any other quarter. Being in the possession of Cromwell, however, it had +perhaps been forwarded to him at the time of Queen Anne's trial, and may +have thus occasioned the investigation which led to the annulling of her +marriage. + +From the account which was written of her by the grandson of Sir Thomas +Wyatt the poet, we still gather the impression (in spite of the admiring +sympathy with which Wyatt writes) of a person with whom young men took +liberties,[186] however she might seem to forbid them. In her diet she was +an epicure, fond of dainty and delicate eating, and not always contented if +she did not obtain what she desired. When the king's attentions towards her +became first marked, Thomas Heneage, afterwards lord chamberlain, wrote to +Wolsey, that he had one night been "commanded down with a dish for Mistress +Anne for supper"; adding that she caused him "to sup with her, and she +wished she had some of Wolsey's good meat, as carps, shrimps, and +others."[187] And this was not said in jest, since Heneage related it as a +hint to Wolsey, that he might know what to do, if he wished to please her. +In the same letter he suggested to the cardinal that she was a little +displeased at not having received a token or present from him; she was +afraid she was forgotten, he said, and "the lady, her mother, desired him +to send unto his Grace, and desire his Grace to bestow a morsel of tunny +upon her." Wolsey made her presents also at times of a more valuable +character, as we find her acknowledging in language of exaggerated +gratitude;[188] and, perhaps the most painful feature in all her earlier +history lies in the contrast between the servility with which she addressed +the cardinal so long as he was in power, and the bitterness with which the +Bishop of Bayonne (and, in fact, all contemporary witnesses) tells us, that +she pressed upon his decline. Wolsey himself spoke of her under the title +of "the night-crow,"[189] as the person to whom he owed all which was most +cruel in his treatment; as "the enemy that never slept, but studied and +continually imagined, both sleeping and waking, his utter +destruction."[190] + +Taking these things together, and there is nothing to be placed beside them +of a definitely pleasing kind, except beauty and accomplishments, we form, +with the assistance of her pictures, a tolerable conception of this lady; a +conception of her as a woman not indeed questionable, but as one whose +antecedents might lead consistently to a future either of evil or of good; +and whose character removes the surprise which we might be inclined to feel +at the position with respect to Queen Catherine in which she consented to +be placed. A harsh critic would describe her, on this evidence, as a +self-indulgent coquette, indifferent to the obligations of gratitude, and +something careless of the truth. From the letter referring to her, +preserved by Cromwell, it appears that she had broken a definite promise at +a time when such promises were legally binding, and that she had really +done so was confirmed by her subsequent confession. The breach of such +promises by a woman who could not be expected to understand the grounds on +which the law held them to be sacred, implies no more than levity, and +levity of this kind has been found compatible with many high qualities. +Levity, however, it does undoubtedly imply, and the symptom, if a light +one, must be allowed the weight which is due to it. + +It is a miserable duty to be compelled to search for these indications of +human infirmities; above all when they are the infirmities of a lady whose +faults, let them have been what they would, were so fearfully and terribly +expiated; and, if there were nothing else at issue but poor questions of +petty scandal, it were better far that they perished in forgetfulness, and +passed away out of mind and memory for ever. The fortunes of Anne Boleyn +were unhappily linked with those of men to whom the greatest work ever yet +accomplished in this country was committed; and the characters of a king of +England, and of the three estates of the realm, are compromised in the +treatment which she received from them. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PARLIAMENT OF 1529 + +No Englishman can look back uninterested on the meeting of the parliament +of 1529. The era at which it assembled is the most memorable in the history +of this country, and the work which it accomplished before its dissolution +was of larger moment politically and spiritually than the achievements of +the Long Parliament itself. For nearly seven years it continued surrounded +by intrigue, confusion, and at length conspiracy, presiding over a people +from whom the forms and habits by which they had moved for centuries were +falling like the shell of a chrysalis. While beset with enemies within the +realm and without, it effected a revolution which severed England from the +papacy, yet it preserved peace unbroken and prevented anarchy from breaking +bounds; and although its hands are not pure from spot, and red stains rest +on them which posterity have bitterly and long remembered; yet if we +consider the changes which it carried through, and if we think of the price +which was paid by other nations for victory in the same struggle, we shall +acknowledge that the records of the world contain no instance of such a +triumph, bought at a cost so slight and tarnished by blemishes so trifling. + +The letters of the French Ambassador[191] describe to us the gathering of +the members into London, and the hum of expectation sounding louder and +louder as the day of the opening approached. In order that we may see +distinctly what London felt on this occasion, that we may understand in +detail the nature of those questions with which parliament was immediately +to deal, we will glance at some of the proceedings which had taken place in +the Bishops' Consistory Courts during the few preceding years. The duties +of the officials of these courts resembled in theory the duties of the +censors under the Roman Republic. In the middle ages, a lofty effort had +been made to overpass the common limitations of government, to introduce +punishment for sins as well as crimes, and to visit with temporal penalties +the breach of the moral law. The punishment best adapted for such offences +was some outward expression of the disapproval with which good men regard +acts of sin; some open disgrace; some spiritual censure; some suspension of +communion with the church, accompanied by other consequences practically +inconvenient, to be continued until the offender had made reparation, or +had openly repented, or had given confirmed proof of amendment. The +administration of such a discipline fell, as a matter of course, to the +clergy. The clergy were the guardians of morality; their characters were a +claim to confidence, their duties gave them opportunities of observation +which no other men could possess; while their priestly office gave solemn +weight to their sentences. Thus arose throughout Europe a system of +spiritual surveillance over the habits and conduct of every man, extending +from the cottage to the castle, taking note of all wrong dealing, of all +oppression of man by man, of all licentiousness and profligacy, and +representing upon earth, in the principles by which it was guided, the laws +of the great tribunal of Almighty God. + +Such was the origin of the church courts, perhaps the greatest institutions +ever yet devised by man. But to aim at these high ideals is as perilous as +it is noble; and weapons which may be safely trusted in the hands of saints +become fatal implements of mischief when saints have ceased to wield them. +For a time, we need not doubt, the practice corresponded to the intention. +Had it not been so, the conception would have taken no root, and would have +been extinguished at its birth. But a system which has once established +itself in the respect of mankind will be tolerated long after it has +forfeited its claim to endurance, as the name of a great man remains +honoured though borne by worthless descendants; and the Consistory courts +had continued into the sixteenth century with unrestricted jurisdiction, +although they had been for generations merely perennially flowing +fountains, feeding the ecclesiastical exchequer. The moral conduct of every +English man and woman remained subject to them. Each private person was +liable to be called in question for every action of his life; and an +elaborate network of canon law perpetually growing, enveloped the whole +surface of society. But between the original design and the degenerate +counterfeit there was this vital difference,--that the censures were no +longer spiritual. They were commuted in various gradations for pecuniary +fines, and each offence against morality was rated at its specific money +value in the episcopal tables. Suspension and excommunication remained as +ultimate penalties; but they were resorted to only to compel unwilling +culprits to accept the alternative. + +The misdemeanours of which the courts took cognisance[192] were "offences +against chastity," "heresy," or "matter sounding thereunto," "witchcraft," +"drunkenness," "scandal," "defamation," "impatient words," "broken +promises," "untruth," "absence from church," "speaking evil of saints," +"non-payment of offerings," and other delinquencies incapable of legal +definition; matters, all of them, on which it was well, if possible, to +keep men from going wrong; but offering wide opportunities for injustice; +while all charges, whether well founded or ill, met with ready acceptance +in courts where innocence and guilt alike contributed to the revenue.[193] +"Mortuary claims" were another fertile matter for prosecution; and probate +duties and legacy duties; and a further lucrative occupation was the +punishment of persons who complained against the constitutions of the +courts themselves; to complain against the justice of the courts being to +complain against the church, and to complain against the church being +heresy. To answer accusations on such subjects as these, men were liable to +be summoned, at the will of the officials, to the metropolitan courts of +the archbishops, hundreds of miles from their homes.[194] No expenses were +allowed; and if the charges were without foundation, it was rare that costs +could be recovered. Innocent or guilty, the accused parties were equally +bound to appear.[195] If they failed, they were suspended for contempt. If +after receiving notice of their suspension, they did not appear, they were +excommunicated; and no proof of the groundlessness of the original charge +availed to relieve them from their sentence, till they had paid for their +deliverance. + +Well did the church lawyers understand how to make their work productive. +Excommunication seems but a light thing when there are many communions. It +was no light thing when it was equivalent to outlawry; when the person +excommunicated might be seized and imprisoned at the will of the ordinary; +when he was cut off from all holy offices; when no one might speak to him, +trade with him, or show him the most trivial courtesy; and when his +friends, if they dared to assist him, were subject to the same penalties. +In the _Register_ of the Bishop of London[196] there is more than one +instance to be found of suspension and excommunication for the simple crime +of offering shelter to an excommunicated neighbour; and thus offence begot +offence, guilt spread like a contagion through the influence of natural +humanity, and a single refusal of obedience to a frivolous citation might +involve entire families in misery and ruin. + +The people might have endured better to submit to so enormous a tyranny, if +the conduct of the clergy themselves had given them a title to respect, or +if equal justice had been distributed to lay and spiritual offenders. +"Benefit of clergy," unhappily, as at this time interpreted, was little +else than a privilege to commit sins with impunity. The grossest moral +profligacy in a priest was passed over with indifference; and so far from +exacting obedience in her ministers to a higher standard than she required +of ordinary persons, the church extended her limits under fictitious +pretexts as a sanctuary for lettered villany. Every person who could read +was claimed by prescriptive usage as a clerk, and shielded under her +protecting mantle; nor was any clerk amenable for the worst crimes to the +secular jurisdiction, until he had been first tried and degraded by the +ecclesiastical judges. So far was this preposterous exemption carried, that +previous to the passing of the first of the 23rd of Henry the Eighth,[197] +those who were within the degrees might commit murder with impunity, the +forms which it was necessary to observe in degrading a priest or deacon +being so complicated as to amount to absolute protection.[198] + +Among the clergy, properly so called, however, the prevailing offence was +not crime, but licentiousness. A doubt has recently crept in among our +historians as to the credibility of the extreme language in which the +contemporary writers spoke upon this painful topic. It will scarcely be +supposed that the picture has been overdrawn in the act books of the +Consistory courts; and as we see it there it is almost too deplorable for +belief, as well in its own intrinsic hideousness as in the unconscious +connivance of the authorities. Brothels were kept in London for the +especial use of priests;[199] the "confessional" was abused in the most +open and abominable manner.[200] Cases occurred of the same frightful +profanity in the service of the mass, which at Rome startled Luther into +Protestantism;[201] and acts of incest between nuns and monks were too +frequently exposed to allow us to regard the detected instances as +exceptions.[202] It may be said that the proceedings upon these charges +prove at least that efforts were made to repress them. The bishops must +have the benefit of the plea, and the two following instances will show how +far it will avail their cause. In the Records of the London Court I find a +certain Thomas Wyseman, priest, summoned for fornication and incontinency. +He was enjoined for penance, that on the succeeding Sunday, while high mass +was singing, he should offer at each of the altars in the Church of St. +Bartholomew a candle of wax, value one penny, saying therewith five +_Paternosters_, five _Ave Marys_, and five _Credos_. On the following +Friday he was to offer a candle of the same price before the crucifix, +standing barefooted, and one before the image of cur Lady of Grace. This +penance accomplished he appeared again at the court and compounded for +absolution, paying six shillings and eightpence.[203] + +An exposure too common to attract notice, and a fine of six and eightpence +was held sufficient penalty for a mortal sin. + +Even this, however, was a severe sentence compared with the sentence passed +upon another priest who confessed to incest with the prioress of Kilbourn. +The offender was condemned to bear a cross in a procession in his parish +church, and was excused his remaining guilt for three shillings and +fourpence.[204] + +I might multiply such instances indefinitely; but there is no occasion for +me to stain my pages with them.[205] + +An inactive imagination may readily picture to itself the indignation +likely to have been felt by a high-minded people, when they were forced to +submit their lives, their habits, their most intimate conversations and +opinions to a censorship conducted by clergy of such a character; when the +offences of these clergy themselves were passed over with such indifferent +carelessness. Men began to ask themselves who and what these persons were +who retained the privileges of saints,[206] and were incapable of the most +ordinary duties; and for many years before the burst of the Reformation the +coming storm was gathering. Priests were hooted, or "knocked down into the +kennel,"[207] as they walked along the streets--women refused to receive +the holy bread from hands which they thought polluted,[208] and the +appearance of an apparitor of the courts to serve a process or a citation +in a private house was a signal for instant explosion. Violent words were +the least which these officials had to fear, and they were fortunate if +they escaped so lightly. A stranger had died in a house in St. Dunstan's +belonging to a certain John Fleming, and an apparitor had been sent "to +seal his chamber and his goods" that the church might not lose her dues. +John Fleming drove him out, saying loudly unto him, "Thou shalt seale no +door here; go thy way, thou stynkyng knave, ye are but knaves and brybours +everych one of you."[209] Thomas Banister, of St. Mary Wolechurch, when a +process was served upon him, "did threaten to slay the apparitor." "Thou +horson knave," he said to him, "without thou tell me who set thee awork to +summon me to the court, by Goddis woundes, and by this gold, I shall brake +thy head."[210] A "waiter, at the sign of the Cock," fell in trouble for +saying that "the sight of a priest did make him sick," also, "that he would +go sixty miles to indict a priest," saying also in the presence of +many--"horsyn priests, they shall be indicted as many as come to my +handling."[211] Often the officers found threats convert themselves into +acts. The apparitor of the Bishop of London went with a citation into the +shop of a mercer of St. Bride's, Henry Clitheroe by name. "Who does cite +me?" asked the mercer. "Marry, that do I," answered the apparitor, "if thou +wilt anything with it;" whereupon, as the apparitor deposeth, the said +Henry Clitheroe did hurl at him from off his finger that instrument of his +art called the "thymmelle," and he, the apparitor, drawing his sword, "the +said Henry did snatch up his virga, Anglice, his yard, and did pursue the +apparitor into the public streets, and after multiplying of many blows did +break the head of the said apparitor."[212] These are light matters, but +they were straws upon the stream; and such a scene as this which follows +reveals the principles on which the courts awarded their judgment. One +Richard Hunt was summoned for certain articles implying contempt, and for +vilipending his lordship's jurisdiction. Being examined, he confessed to +the words following: "That all false matters were bolstered and clokyd in +this court of Paul's Cheyne; moreover he called the apparitor, William +Middleton, false knave in the full court, and his father's dettes, said he, +by means of his mother-in-law and master commissary, were not payd; and +this he would abide by, that he had now in this place said no more but +truth." Being called on to answer further, he said he would not, and his +lordship did therefore excommunicate him.[213] From so brief an entry we +cannot tell on which side the justice lay; but at least we can measure the +equity of a tribunal which punished complaints against itself with +excommunication, and dismissed the confessed incest of a priest with a fine +of a few shillings. + +Such then were the English consistory courts. I have selected but a few +instances from the proceedings of a single one of them. If we are to +understand the weight with which the system pressed upon the people, we +must multiply the proceedings at St. Paul's by the number of the English +dioceses; the number of dioceses by the number of archdeaconries; we must +remember that in proportion to the distance from London the abuse must have +increased indefinitely from the absence of even partial surveillance; we +must remember that appeals were permitted only from one ecclesiastical +court to another; from the archdeacon's court to that of the bishop of the +diocese, from that of the bishop to the Court of Arches; that any language +of impatience or resistance furnished suspicion of heresy, and that the +only security therefore was submission. We can then imagine what England +must have been with an archdeacon's commissary sitting constantly in every +town; exercising an undefined jurisdiction over general morality; and every +court swarming with petty lawyers who lived upon the fees which they could +extract. Such a system for the administration of justice was perhaps never +tolerated before in any country. + +But the time of reckoning at length was arrived; slowly the hand had +crawled along the dial plate; slowly as if the event would never come: and +wrong was heaped on wrong; and oppression cried, and it seemed as if no ear +had heard its voice; till the measure of the circle was at length +fulfilled, the finger touched the hour, and as the strokes of the great +hammer rang out above the nation, in an instant the mighty fabric of +iniquity was shivered into ruins. Wolsey had dreamed that it might still +stand, self-reformed as he hoped to see it; but in his dread lest any hands +but those of friends should touch the work, he had "prolonged its sickly +days," waiting for the convenient season which was not to be; he had put +off the meeting of parliament, knowing that if parliament were once +assembled, he would be unable to resist the pressure which would be brought +to bear upon him; and in the impatient minds of the people he had +identified himself with the evils which he alone for the few last years had +hindered from falling. At length he had fallen himself, and his disgrace +was celebrated in London with enthusiastic rejoicing as the inauguration of +the new era. On the eighteenth of October, 1529, Wolsey delivered up the +seals. He was ordered to retire to Esher; and, "at the taking of his +barge," Cavendish saw no less than a thousand boats full of men and women +of the city of London, "waffeting up and down in Thames," to see him sent, +as they expected, to the Tower.[214] A fortnight later the same crowd was +perhaps again assembled on a wiser occasion, and with truer reason for +exultation, to see the king coming up in his barge from Greenwich to open +parliament. + +"According to the summons," says Hall, "the King of England began his high +court of parliament the third day of November, on which day he came by +water to his palace of Bridewell, and there he and his nobles put on their +robes of Parliament, and so came to the Black Friars Church, where a mass +of the Holy Ghost was solemnly sung by the king's chaplain; and after the +mass, the king, with all his Lords and Commons which were summoned to +appear on that day, came into the Parliament. The king sate on his throne +or seat royal, and Sir Thomas More, his chancellor, standing on the right +hand of the king, made an eloquent oration, setting forth the causes why at +that time the king so had summoned them."[215] + +"Like as a good shepherd," More said, "which not only keepeth and attendeth +well his sheep, but also foreseeth and provideth for all things which +either may be hurtful or noysome to his flock; so the king, which is the +shepherd, ruler, and governor of his realm, vigilantly foreseeing things to +come, considers how that divers laws, before this time made, are now, by +long continuance of time and mutation of things, become very insufficient +and imperfect; and also, by the frail condition of man, divers new +enormities are sprung amongst the people, for the which no law is yet made +to reform the same. For this cause the king at this time has summoned his +high court of parliament; and I liken the king to a shepherd or herdsman, +because if a prince be compared to his riches, he is but a rich man; if a +prince be compared to his honour, he is but an honourable man; but compare +him to the multitude of his people, and the number of his flock, then he is +a ruler, a governor of might and puissance; so that his people maketh him a +prince, as of the multitude of sheep cometh the name of a shepherd. + +"And as you see that amongst a great flock of sheep some be rotten and +faulty, which the good shepherd sendeth from the good sheep; so the great +wether which is of late fallen, as you all know, so craftily, so scabedly, +yea, so untruly juggled with the king, that all men must needs guess that +he thought in himself, either the king had no wit to perceive his crafty +doings, or else that he would not see nor know them. + +"But he was deceived, for his Grace's sight was so quick and penetrable +that he saw him; yea, and saw through him, both within and without; and +according to his desert he hath had a gentle correction, which small +punishment the king will not to be an example to other offenders; but +clearly declareth that whosoever hereafter shall make like attempt, or +shall commit like offence, shall not escape with like punishment. + +"And because you of the Commons House be a gross multitude, and cannot all +speak at one time, the king's pleasure is, that you resort to the Nether +House, and then amongst yourselves, according to the old and antient +custom, choose an able person to be your common mouth and speaker."[216] + +The invective against "the great wether" was not perhaps the portion of the +speech to which the audience listened with least interest. In the minds of +contemporaries, principles are identified with persons, who form, as it +were, the focus on which the passions concentrate. At present we may +consent to forget Wolsey, and fix our attention on the more permanently +essential matter--the reform of the laws. The world was changing; how +swiftly, how completely, no living person knew;--but a confusion no longer +tolerable was a patent fact to all men; and with a wise instinct it was +resolved that the grievances of the nation, which had accumulated through +centuries, should be submitted to a complete ventilation, without reserve, +check, or secrecy. + +For this purpose it was essential that the Houses should not be interfered +with, that they should be allowed full liberty to express their wishes and +to act upon them. Accordingly, the practice then usual with ministers, of +undertaking the direction of the proceedings, was clearly on this occasion +foregone. In the House of Commons then, as much as now, there was in theory +unrestricted liberty of discussion, and free right for any member to +originate whatever motion he pleased. "The discussions in the English +Parliament," wrote Henry himself to the pope, "are free and unrestricted; +the crown has no power to limit their debates or to controul the votes of +the members. They determine everything for themselves, as the interests of +the commonwealth require."[217] But so long as confidence existed between +the crown and the people, these rights were in great measure surrendered. +The ministers prepared the business which was to be transacted; and the +temper of the Houses was usually so well understood, that, except when +there was a demand for money, it was rare that a measure was proposed the +acceptance of which was doubtful, or the nature of which would provoke +debate. So little jealousy, indeed, was in quiet times entertained of the +power of the crown, and so little was a residence in London to the taste of +the burgesses and the country gentlemen, that not only were their expenses +defrayed by a considerable salary, but it was found necessary to forbid +them absenting themselves from their duties by a positive enactment.[218] + +In the composition of the House of Commons, however, which had now +assembled, no symptoms appeared of such indifference. The election had +taken place in the midst of great and general excitement; and the members +chosen, if we may judge from their acts and their petitions, were men of +that broad resolved temper, who only in times of popular effervescence are +called forward into prominence. It would have probably been unsafe for the +crown to attempt dictation or repression at such a time, if it had desired +to do so. Under the actual circumstances, its interest was to encourage the +fullest expression of public feeling. + +The proceedings were commenced with a formal "act of accusation" against +the clergy, which was submitted to the king in the name of the Commons of +England, and contained a summary of the wrongs of which the people +complained. This remarkable document must have been drawn up before the +opening of parliament, and must have been presented in the first week of +the session,--probably on the first day on which the House met to transact +business.[219] There is appearance of haste in the composition, little +order being observed in the catalogue of grievances; but inasmuch as it +contains the germ of all the acts which were framed in the following years +for the reform of the church, and is in fact the most complete exhibition +which we possess of the working of the church system at the time when it +ceased to be any more tolerable, I have thought it well to insert it +uncurtailed. Although the fact of the presentation of this petition has +been well known, it has not been accurately described by any of our +historians, none of them appearing to have seen more than incorrect and +imperfect epitomes of it.[220] + +"TO THE KING OUR SOVEREIGN LORD + +"In most humble wise show unto your Highness and your most prudent wisdom +your faithful, loving, and most obedient servants the Commons in this your +present parliament assembled; that of late, as well through new fantastical +and erroneous opinions grown by occasion of frantic seditious books +compiled, imprinted, published, and made in the English tongue, contrary +and against the very true Catholic and Christian faith; as also by the +extreme and uncharitable behaviour and dealing of divers ordinaries, their +commissaries and sumners, which have heretofore had, and yet have the +examination in and upon the said errours and heretical opinions; much +discord, variance, and debate hath risen, and more and more daily is like +to increase and ensue amongst the universal sort of your said subjects, as +well spiritual as temporal, each against the other--in most uncharitable +manner, to the great inquietation, vexation, and breach of your peace +within this your most Catholic Realm: + +"The special particular griefs whereof, which most principally concern your +Commons and lay subjects, and which are, as they undoubtedly suppose, the +very chief fountains, occasions, and causes that daily breedeth and +nourisheth the said seditious factions, deadly hatred, and most +uncharitable part taking, of either part of said subjects spiritual and +temporal against the other, followingly do ensue.-- + +"I. First the prelates and spiritual ordinaries of this your most excellent +Realm of England, and the clergy of the same, have in their convocations +heretofore made or caused to be made, and also daily do make many and +divers fashions of laws, constitutions, and ordinances; without your +knowledge or most Royal assent, and without the assent and consent of any +of your lay subjects; unto the which laws your said lay subjects have not +only heretofore been and daily be constrained to obey, in their bodies, +goods, and possessions; but have also been compelled to incur daily into +the censures of the same, and been continually put to importable charges +and expenses, against all equity, right, and good conscience. And yet your +said humble subjects ne their predecessors could ever be privy to the said +laws; ne any of the said laws have been declared unto them in the English +tongue, or otherwise published, by knowledge whereof they might have +eschewed the penalties, dangers, or censures of the same; which laws so +made your said most humble and obedient servants, under the supportation of +your Majesty, suppose to be not only to the diminution and derogation of +your imperial jurisdiction and prerogative royal, but also to the great +prejudice, inquietation, and damage of your said subjects. + +"II. Also now of late there hath been devised by the Most Reverend Father +in God, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, that in the courts which he +calleth his Courts of the Arches and Audience, shall only be ten proctors +at his deputation, which be sworn to preserve and promote the only +jurisdiction of his said courts; by reason whereof, if any of your lay +subjects should have any lawful cause against the judges of the said +courts, or any doctors or proctors of the same, or any of their friends +and adherents, they can ne may in nowise have indifferent counsel: and +also all the causes depending in any of the said courts may by the +confederacy of the said few proctors be in such wise tracted and delayed, +as your subjects suing in the same shall be put to importable charges, +costs, and expense. And further, in case that any matter there being +preferred should touch your crown, your regal jurisdiction, and +prerogative Royal, yet the same shall not be disclosed by any of the +said proctors for fear of the loss of their offices. Your most obedient +subjects do therefore, under protection of your Majesty, suppose that +your Highness should have the nomination of some convenient number of +proctors to be always attendant upon the said Courts of Arches and +Audience, there to be sworn to the preferment of your jurisdiction and +prerogative, and to the expedition of the causes of your lay subjects +repairing and suing to the same. + +"III. And also many of your said most humble and obedient subjects, and +_specially those that be of the poorest sort_, within this your Realm, be +daily convented and called before the said spiritual ordinaries, their +commissaries and substitutes, _ex officio_; sometimes, at the pleasure of +the said ordinaries, for malice without any cause; and sometimes at the +only promotion and accusement of their summoners and apparitors, being +light and undiscreet persons; without any lawful cause of accusation, or +credible fame proved against them, and without any presentment in the +visitation: and your said poor subjects be thus inquieted, disturbed, +vexed, troubled, and put to excessive and importable charges for them to +bear--and many times be suspended and excommunicate for small and light +causes upon the only certificate of the proctors of the adversaries, made +under a feigned seal which every proctor hath in his keeping; whereas the +party suspended or excommunicate many times never had any warning; and yet +when he shall be absolved, if it be out of court, he shall be compelled to +pay to his own proctor twenty[221] _pence_; to the proctor which is against +him other twenty pence, and twenty pence to the scribe, besides a privy +reward that the judge shall have, to the great impoverishing of your said +poor lay subjects. + +"IV. Also your said most humble and obedient servants find themselves +grieved with the great and excessive fees taken in the said spiritual +courts, and especially in the said Courts of the Arches and Audience; where +they take for every citation two shillings and sixpence; for every +inhibition six shillings and eightpence; for every proxy sixteen pence; for +every certificate sixteen pence; for every libel three shillings and +fourpence; for every answer for every libel three shillings and fourpence; +for every act, if it be but two words according to the register, fourpence; +for every personal citation or decree three shillings and fourpence; for +every sentence or judgment, to the judge twenty-six shillings and +eightpence; for every testament upon such sentence or judgment twenty-six +shillings and eightpence; for every significavit twelve shillings; for +every commission to examine witnesses twelve shillings, which charges be +thought importable to be borne by your said subjects, and very necessary to +be reformed. + +"V. And also the said prelates and ordinaries daily do permit and suffer +the parsons, vicars, curates, parish priests, and other spiritual persons +having cure of souls within this your Realm, to exact and take of your +humble servants divers sums of money for the sacraments and sacramentals of +Holy Church, sometimes denying the same without they be first paid[222] the +said sums of money, which sacraments and sacramentals your said most humble +and obedient subjects, under protection of your Highness, do suppose and +think ought to be in most reverend, charitable, and godly wise freely +ministered unto them at all times requisite, without denial, or exaction of +any manner sums of money to be demanded or asked for the same. + +"VI. And also in the spiritual courts of the said prelates and ordinaries +there be limited and appointed so many judges, scribes, apparitors, +summoners, appraysers, and other ministers for the approbation of +Testaments, which covet so much their own private lucres, and the +satisfaction and appetites of the said prelates and ordinaries, that when +any of your said loving subjects do repair to any of the said courts for +the probate of any Testaments, they do in such wise make so long delays, or +excessively do take of them so large fees and rewards for the same as is +importable for them to bear, directly against all justice, law, equity, and +good conscience. Therefore your most humble and obedient subjects do, under +your gracious correction and supportation, suppose it were very necessary +that the said ordinaries in their deputation of judges should be bound to +appoint and assign such discreet, gracious, and honest persons, having +sufficient learning, wit, discretion, and understanding; and also being +endowed with such spiritual promotion, stipend, and salary; as they being +judges in their said courts might and may minister to every person +repairing to the same, justice--without taking any manner of fee or reward +for any manner of sentence or judgment to be given before them. + +"VII. And also divers spiritual persons being presented as well by your +Highness as others within this your Realm to divers benefices or other +spiritual promotions, the said ordinaries and their ministers do not only +take of them for their letters of institution and induction many large sums +of money and rewards; but also do pact and covenant with the same, taking +sure bonds for their indemnity to answer to the said ordinaries for the +firstfruits of their said benefices after their institution--so as they, +being once presented or promoted, as aforesaid, are by the said ordinaries +very uncharitably handled, to their no little hindrance and impoverishment; +which your said subjects suppose not only to be against all laws, right, +and good conscience, but also to be simony, and contrary to the laws of +God. + +"VIII. And also _the said spiritual ordinaries do daily confer and give +sundry benefices unto certain young folks, calling them their nephews or +kinsfolk_, being in their minority and within age, not apt ne able to serve +the cure of any such benefice: whereby the said ordinaries do keep and +detain the fruits and profits of the same benefices in their own hands, and +thereby accumulate to themselves right great and large sums of money and +yearly profits, to the most pernicious example of your said lay +subjects--and so the cures and promotions given unto such infants be only +employed to the enriching of the said ordinaries; and the poor silly souls +of your people, which should be taught in the parishes given as aforesaid, +for lack of good curates [be left] to perish without doctrine or any good +teaching. + +"IX. Also, a great number of holydays now at this present time, with very +small devotion, be solemnised and kept throughout this your Realm, upon the +which many great, abominable, and execrable vices, idle and wanton sports, +be used and exercised, which holydays, if it may stand with your Grace's +pleasure, and specially such as fall in the harvest, might, by your +Majesty, with the advice of your most honourable council, prelates, and +ordinaries, be made fewer in number; and those that shall be hereafter +ordained to stand and continue, might and may be the more devoutly, +religiously, and reverendly observed, to the laud of Almighty God, and to +the increase of your high honour and favour. + +"X. And furthermore the said spiritual ordinaries, their commissaries and +substitutes, sometimes for their own pleasure, sometimes by the sinister +procurement of other spiritual persons, use to make out process against +divers of your said subjects, and thereby compel them to appear before +themselves, to answer at a certain day and place to such articles as by +them shall be, _ex officio_, then proposed; and that secretly and not in +open places;[223] and forthwith upon their appearance, without any +declaration made or showed, commit and send them to ward, sometimes for +[half] a year, sometimes for a whole year or more, before they may in +anywise know either the cause of their imprisonment or the name of their +accuser;[224] and finally after their great costs and charges therein, when +all is examined and nothing can be proved against them, but they clearly +innocent for any fault or crime that can be laid unto them, they be again +set at large without any recompence or amends in that behalf to be towards +them adjudged. + +"XI. And also if percase upon the said process and appearance any party be +upon the said matter, cause, or examination, brought forth and named, +either as party or witness, and then upon the proof and trial thereof be +not able to prove and verify the said accusation and testimony against the +party accused, then the person so accused is for the more part without any +remedy for his charges and wrongful vexation to be towards him adjudged and +recovered. + +"XII. Also upon the examination of the said accusation, if heresy be +ordinarily laid unto the charge of the parties so accused, then the said +ordinaries or their ministers use to put to them such subtle +interrogatories concerning the high mysteries of our faith, as are able +quickly to trap a simple unlearned, or yet a well-witted layman without +learning, and bring them by such sinister introductions soon to their own +confusion. And further, if there chance any heresy to be by such subtle +policy, by any person confessed in words, and yet never committed neither +in thought nor deed, then put they, without further favour, the said person +either to make his purgation, and so thereby to lose his honesty and +credence for ever; or else as some simple silly soul [may do], the said +person may stand precisely to the testimony of his own well-known +conscience, rather than confess his innocent truth in that behalf [to be +other than he knows it to be], and so be utterly destroyed. And if it +fortune the said party so accused to deny the said accusation, and to put +his adversaries to prove the same as being untrue, forged and imagined +against him, then for the most part such witnesses as are brought forth for +the same, be they but two in number, never so sore diffamed, of little +truth or credence, they shall be allowed and enabled, only by discretion of +the said ordinaries, their commissaries or substitutes; and thereupon +sufficient cause be found to proceed to judgment, to deliver the party so +accused either to secular hands, after abjuration,[225] without remedy; or +afore if he submit himself, as best happeneth, he shall have to make his +purgation and bear a faggot, to his extreme shame and undoing. + +"In consideration of all these things, most gracious Sovereign Lord, and +forasmuch as there is at this present time, and by a few years past hath +been outrageous violence on the one part and much default and lack of +patient sufferance, charity, and good will on the other part; and +consequently a marvellous disorder [hath ensued] of the godly quiet, peace, +and tranquillity in which this your Realm heretofore, ever hitherto, has +been through your politic wisdom, most honourable fame, and catholic faith +inviolably preserved; it may therefore, most benign Sovereign Lord, like +your excellent goodness for the tender and universally indifferent zeal, +benign love and favour which your Highness beareth towards both the said +parties, that the said articles (if they shall be by your most clear and +perfect judgment, thought any instrument of the said disorders and +factions), being deeply and weightily, after your accustomed ways and +manner, searched and considered; graciously to provide (all violence on +both sides utterly and clearly set apart) some such necessary and behoveful +remedies as may effectually reconcile and bring in perpetual unity, your +said subjects, spiritual and temporal; and for the establishment thereof, +to make and ordain on both sides such strait laws against transgressors and +offenders as shall be too heavy, dangerous, and weighty for them, or any of +them, to bear, suffer, and sustain. + +"Whereunto your said Commons most humbly and entirely beseech your Grace, +as the only Head, Sovereign Lord and Protector of both the said parties, in +whom and by whom the only and sole redress, reformation, and remedy herein +absolutely resteth [of your goodness to consent]. By occasion whereof all +your Commons in their conscience surely account that, beside the marvellous +fervent love that your Highness shall thereby engender in their hearts +towards your Grace, ye shall do the most princely feat, and show the most +honourable and charitable precedent and mirrour that ever did sovereign +lord upon his subjects; and therewithal merit and deserve of our merciful +God eternal bliss--whose goodness grant your Grace in goodly, princely, and +honourable estate long to reign, prosper, and continue as the Sovereign +Lord over all your said most humble and obedient servants."[226] + +But little comment need be added in explanation of this petition, which, +though drawn with evident haste, is no less remarkable for temper and good +feeling, than for the masterly clearness with which the evils complained of +are laid bare. Historians will be careful for the future how they swell the +charges against Wolsey with quoting the lamentations of Archbishop Warham, +when his Court of Arches was for a while superseded by the Legate's Court, +and causes lingering before his commissaries were summarily dispatched at a +higher tribunal.[227] The archbishop professed, indeed, that he derived no +personal advantage from his courts,[228] and as we have only the popular +impression to the contrary to set against his word, we must believe him; +yet it was of small moment to the laity who were pillaged, whether the +spoils taken from them filled the coffers of the master, or those of his +followers and friends. + +When we consider, also, the significant allusion[229] to the young folks +whom the bishops called their nephews, we cease to wonder at their lenient +dealing with the poor priests who had sunk under the temptations of frail +humanity; and still less can we wonder at the rough handling which was soon +found necessary to bring back these high dignitaries to a better mind. + +The House of Commons, in casting their grievances into the form of a +petition, showed that they had no desire to thrust forward of themselves +violent measures of reform; they sought rather to explain firmly and +decisively what the country required. The king, selecting out of the many +points noticed those which seemed most immediately pressing, referred them +back to the parliament, with a direction to draw up such enactments as in +their own judgment would furnish effective relief. In the meantime he +submitted the petition itself to the consideration of the bishops, +requiring their immediate answer to the charges against them, and +accompanied this request with a further important requisition. The +legislative authority of convocation lay at the root of the evils which +were most complained of. The bishops and clergy held themselves independent +of either crown or parliament, passing canons by their own irresponsible +and unchecked will, irrespective of the laws of the land, and sometimes in +direct violation of them; and to these canons the laity were amenable +without being made acquainted with their provisions, learning them only in +the infliction of penalties for their unintended breach. The king required +that thenceforward the convocation should consent to place itself in the +position of parliament, and that his own consent should be required and +received before any law passed by convocation should have the force of +statute.[230] + +Little notion, indeed, could the bishops have possessed of the position in +which they were standing. It seemed as if they literally believed that the +promise of perpetuity which Christ had made to his church was a charm which +would hold them free in the quiet course of their injustice; or else, under +the blinding influence of custom, they did not really know that any +injustice adhered to them. They could see in themselves only the ideal +virtues of their saintly office, and not the vices of their fragile +humanity; they believed that they were still holy, still spotless, still +immaculate, and therefore that no danger might come near them. It cannot +have been but that, before the minds of such men as Warham and Fisher, some +visions of a future must at times have floated, which hung so plainly +before the eyes of Wolsey and of Sir Thomas More.[231] They could not have +been wholly deaf to the storm in Germany; and they must have heard +something of the growls of smothered anger which for years had been audible +at home, to all who had ears to hear.[232] Yet if any such thoughts at +times did cross their imagination, they were thrust aside as an uneasy +dream, to be shaken off like a nightmare, or with the coward's consolation, +"It will last my time." If the bishops ever felt an uneasy moment, there is +no trace of uneasiness in the answer which they sent in to the king, and +which now, when we read it with the light which is thrown back out of the +succeeding years, seems like the composition of mere lunacy. Perhaps they +had confidence in the support of Henry. In their courts they were in the +habit of identifying an attack upon themselves with an attack upon the +doctrines of the Church; and reading the king's feelings in their own, they +may have considered themselves safe under the protection of a sovereign who +had broken a lance with Luther, and had called himself the Pope's champion. +Perhaps they thought that they had bound him to themselves by a declaration +which they had all signed in the preceding summer in favour of the +divorce.[233] Perhaps they were but steeped in the dulness of official +lethargy. The defence is long, wearying the patience to read it; wearying +the imagination to invent excuses for the falsehoods which it contains. Yet +it is well to see all men in the light in which they see themselves; and +justice requires that we allow the bishops the benefit of their own reply. +It was couched in the following words:--[234] + +"After our most humble wise, with our most bounden duty of honour and +reverence to your excellent Majesty, endued from God with incomparable +wisdom and goodness. Please it the same to understand that we, your orators +and daily bounden bedemen, have read and perused a certain supplication +which the Commons of your Grace's honourable parliament now assembled have +offered unto your Highness, and by your Grace's commandment delivered unto +us, that we should make answer thereunto. We have, as the time hath served, +made this answer following, beseeching your Grace's indifferent benignity +graciously to hear the same. + +"And first for that discord, variance, and debate which, in the preface of +the said supplication they do allege to have risen among your Grace's +subjects, spiritual and temporal, occasioned, as they say, by the +uncharitable behaviour and demeanour of divers ordinaries: to this we, the +ordinaries, answer, assuring your Majesty that in our hearts there is no +such discord or variance ort our part against our brethren in God and +ghostly children your subjects, as is induced in this preface; but our +daily prayer is and shall be that all peace and concord may increase among +your Grace's true subjects our said children, whom God be our witness we +love, have loved, and shall love ever with hearty affection; never +intending any hurt ne harm towards any of them in soul or body; ne have we +ever enterprised anything against them of trouble, vexation, or +displeasure; but only have, with all charity, exercised the spiritual +jurisdiction of the Church, as we are bound of duty, upon certain +evil-disposed persons infected with the pestilent poison of heresy. And to +have peace with such had been against the Gospel of our Saviour Christ, +wherein he saith, _Non veni mittere pacem sed gladium_. Wherefore, +forasmuch as we know well that there be as well-disposed and +well-conscienced men of your Grace's Commons in no small number assembled, +as ever we knew at any time in parliament; and with that consider how on +our part there is given no such occasion why the whole number of the +spirituality and clergy should be thus noted unto your Highness; we +humbling our hearts to God and remitting the judgment of this our +inquietation to Him, and trusting, as his Scripture teacheth, that if we +love him above all, omnia cooperabuntur in bonum, shall endeavour to +declare to your Highness the innocency of us, your poor orators. + +"And where, after the general preface of the same supplication, your +Grace's Commons descend to special particular griefs, and first to those +divers fashions of laws concerning temporal things, whereon, as they say, +the clergy in their convocation have made and daily do make divers laws, to +their great trouble and inquietation, which said laws be sometimes +repugnant to the statutes of your Realm, with many other complaints +thereupon:[235] To this we say, that forasmuch as we repute and take our +authority of making of laws to be grounded upon the Scriptures of God and +the determination of Holy Church, which must be the rule and square to try +the justice and righteousness of all laws, as well spiritual as temporal, +we verily trust that in such laws as have been made by us, or by our +predecessors, the same being sincerely interpreted, and after the meaning +of the makers, there shall be found nothing contained in them but such as +may be well justified by the said rule and square. And if it shall +otherwise appear, as it is our duty whereunto we shall always most +diligently apply ourselves to reform our ordinances to God's commission, +and to conform our statutes to the determination of Scripture and Holy +Church; _so we hope in God, and shall daily pray for the same, that your +Highness will, if there appear cause why, with the assent of your people, +temper your Grace's laws accordingly; whereby shall ensue a most sure and +hearty conjunction and agreement; God being lapis angularis_. + +"And as concerning the requiring of your Highness's royal assent to the +authorising of such laws as have been made by our predecessors, or shall be +made by us, in such points and articles, as we have authority to rule and +order; we knowing your Highness's wisdom, virtue, and learning, nothing +doubt but that the same perceiveth how the granting thereunto dependeth not +upon our will and liberty, _and that we may not submit the execution of our +charges and duty certainly prescribed to us by God to your Highness's +assent_; although, indeed, the same is most worthy for your most princely +and excellent virtues, not only to give your royal assent, but also to +devise and command what we should for good order or manners by statutes and +laws provide in the church. Nevertheless, we considering we may not so nor +in such sort restrain the doing of our office in the feeding and ruling of +Christ's people, we most humbly desire your Grace (as the same hath done +heretofore) to show your Grace's mind and opinion unto us, which we shall +most gladly hear and follow if it shall please God to inspire us so to do; +and with all humility we therefore beseech your Grace, following the steps +of your most noble progenitors, to maintain and defend such laws and +ordinances as we, according to our calling and by the authority of God, +shall for his honour make to the edification of virtue and the maintaining +of Christ's faith, whereof your Highness is defender in name, and hath been +hitherto indeed a special protector. + +"Furthermore, where there be found in the said supplication, with mention +of your Grace's person, other griefs that some of the said laws extend to +the goods and possessions of your said lay subjects, declaring the +transgressors not only to fall under the terrible censure of +excommunication, but also under the detestable crime of heresy: + +"To this we answer that we remember no such, and yet if there be any such, +it is but according to the common law of the Church, and also to your +Grace's law, which determine and decree that every person spiritual or +temporal condemned of heresy shall forfeit his moveables or immoveables to +your Highness, or to the lord spiritual or temporal that by law hath right +to them.[236] Other statutes we remember none that toucheth lands or goods. +If there be, it were good that they were brought forth to be weighed and +pondered accordingly. + +"Item as touching the second principal article of the said supplication, +where they say that divers and many of your Grace's obedient subjects, and +especially they that be of the poorest sort, be daily called before us or +before our substitutes ex officio; sometimes at the pleasure of us, the +ordinaries, without any probable cause, and sometimes at the only promotion +of our summoner, without any credible fame first proved against them, and +without presentment in the visitation or lawful accusation: + +"On this we desire your high wisdom and learning to consider that albeit in +the ordering of Christ's people, your Grace's subjects, God of His +spiritual goodness assisteth his church, and inspireth by the Holy Ghost as +we verily trust such rules and laws as tend to the wealth of his elect +folk; yet upon considerations to man unknown, his infinite wisdom leaveth +or permitteth men to walk in their infirmity and frailty; so that we cannot +ne will arrogantly presume of ourselves, as though being in name spiritual +men, we were also in all our acts and doings clean and void from all +temporal affections and carnality of this world, or that the laws of the +church made for spiritual and ghostly purpose be not sometime applied to +worldly intent. This we ought and do lament, as becometh us, very sore. +Nevertheless, as the evil deeds of men be the mere defaults of those +particular men, and not of the whole order of the clergy, nor of the law +wholesomely by them made; our request and petition shall be with all +humility and reverence; that laws well made be not therefore called evil +because by all men and at all times they be not well executed; and that in +such defaults as shall appear such distribution may be used _ut unusquisque +onus suum portet_, and remedy be found to reform the offenders; unto the +which your Highness shall perceive as great towardness in your said orators +as can be required upon declaration of particulars. And other answer than +this cannot be made in the name of your whole clergy, for though _in multis +offendimus omnes_, as St. James saith, yet not 'in omnibus offendimus +omnes;' and the whole number can neither justify ne condemn particular acts +to them unknown but thus. He that calleth a man ex officio for correction +of sin, doeth well. He that calleth men for pleasure or vexation, doeth +evil. Summoners should be honest men. If they offend in their office, they +should be punished. To prove first [their faults] before men be called, is +not necessary. He that is called according to the laws ex officio or +otherwise, cannot complain. He that is otherwise ordered should have by +reason convenient recompence and so forth; that is well to be allowed, and +misdemeanour when it appeareth to be reproved. + +"Item where they say in the same article that upon their appearance ex +officio at the only pleasure of the ordinaries, they be committed to prison +without bail or mainprize; and there they lie some half a year or more +before they come to their deliverance; to this we answer,-- + +"That we use no prison before conviction but for sure custody, and only of +such as be suspected of heresy, in which crime, thanked be God, there hath +fallen no such notable person in our time, or of such qualities as hath +given occasion of any sinister suspicion to be conceived of malice or +hatred to his person other than the heinousness of their crime deserveth. +_Truth it is that certain apostates, friars, monks, lewd priests, bankrupt +merchants, vagabonds, and lewd idle fellows of corrupt intent, have +embraced the abominable and erroneous opinions lately sprung in Germany_; +and by them some have been seduced in simplicity and ignorance. Against +these, if judgment has been exercised according to the laws of the church, +and conformably to the laws of this realm, we be without blame. If we have +been too remiss and slack, we shall gladly do our duty from henceforth. If +any man hath been, under pretence of this [crime], particularly offended, +it were pity to suffer any man to be wronged; and thus it ought to be, and +otherwise we cannot answer, no man's special case being declared in the +said petition. + +"Item where they say further that they so appearing ex officio, be +condemned to answer to many subtle questions by the which a simple, +unlearned, or else a well-witted layman without learning sometimes is, and +commonly may be trapped and induced into peril of open penance to their +shame, or else [forced] to redeem their penance for money, as is commonly +used; to this we answer that we should not use subtlety, for we should do +all things plainly and openly; and if we do otherwise, we do amiss. We +ought not to ask questions, but after the capacities of the man. Christ +hath defended his true doctrine and faith in his Catholic church from all +subtlety, and so preserved good men in the same, as they have not (blessed +be God) been vexed, inquieted, or troubled in Christ's church. Thereupon +evil men fall in danger by their own subtlety; we protest afore God we have +neither known, read, nor heard of any one man damaged or prejudiced by +spiritual jurisdiction in this behalf, neither in this realm nor any other, +but only by his own deserts. Such is the goodness of God in maintaining the +cause of his Catholic faith. + +"Item where they say they be compelled to do open penance, or else redeem +the same for money; as for penance, we answer it consisteth in the arbitre +of a judge who ought to enjoin such penance as might profit for correction +of the fault. Whereupon we disallow that judge's doing who taketh money for +penance for lucre or advantage, not regarding the reformation of sin as he +ought to do. But when open penance may sometimes work in certain persons +more hurt than good, it is commendable and allowable in that case to punish +by the purse, and preserve the fame of the party; foreseeing always the +money be converted _in usus pios et eleemosynam_, and thus we think of the +thing, and that the offenders should be punished. + +"Item where they complain that two witnesses be admitted, be they never so +defamed, of little truth or credence, adversaries or enemies to the +parties; yet in many cases they be allowed by the discretion of the +ordinaries to put the party defamed, ex officio, to open penance, and then +to redemption for money; so that every of your subjects, upon the only will +of the ordinaries or their substitutes, without any accuser, proved fame, +or presentment, is or may be infamed, vexed, and troubled, to the peril of +their lives, their shames, costs, and expenses: + +"To this we reply, _the Gospel of Christ teacheth us to believe two +witnesses; and as the cause is, so the judge must esteem the quality of the +witness; and in heresy no exception is necessary to be considered if their +tale be likely; which hath been highly provided lest heretics without +jeopardy might else plant their_ _heresies in lewd and light persons, and +taking exception to the witnesses, take boldness to continue their folly. +This is the universal law of Christendom, and hath universally done good. +Of any injury done to any man thereby we know not_. + +"Item where they say it is not intended by them to take away from us our +authority to correct and punish sins, and especially the detestable crime +of heresy: + +"To this we answer, in the prosecuting heretics we regard our duty and +office whereunto we be called, and if God will discharge us thereof, or +cease that plague universal, as, by directing the hearts of princes, and +specially the heart of your Highness (laud and thanks be unto Him), His +goodness doth commence and begin to do, we should and shall have great +cause to rejoice; as being our authority therein costly, dangerous, full of +trouble and business, without any fruit, pleasure, or commodity worldly, +but a continued conflict and vexation with pertinacity, wilfulness, folly, +and ignorance, whereupon followeth their bodily and ghostly destruction, to +our great sorrow. + +"Item where they desire that by assent of your Highness (if the laws +heretofore made be not sufficient for the repression of heresy) more +dreadful and terrible laws may be made; this We think is undoubtedly a more +charitable request than as we trust necessary, considering that by the aid +of your Highness, and the pains of your Grace's statutes freely executed, +your realm may be in short time clean purged from the few small dregs that +do remain, if any do remain. + +"Item where they desire some reasonable declaration may be made to your +people, how they may, if they will, avoid the peril of heresy. No better +declaration, we say, can be made than is already by our Saviour Christ, the +Apostles, and the determination of the church, which if they keep, they +shall not fail to eschew heresy. + +"Item where they desire that some charitable fashion may be devised by your +wisdom for the calling of any of your subjects before us, that it shall not +stand in the only will and pleasure of the ordinaries at their own +imagination, without lawful accusation by honest witness, according to your +law; to this we say that a better provision cannot be devised than is +already devised by the clergy in our opinion; and if any default appear in +the execution, it shall be amended on declaration of the particulars, and +the same proved. + +"Item where they say that your subjects be cited out of the diocese which +they dwell in, and many times be suspended and excommunicate for light +causes upon the only certificate devised by the proctors, and that all your +subjects find themselves grieved with the excessive fees taken in the +spiritual courts: + +"To this article, for because it concerneth specially the spiritual courts +of me the Archbishop of Canterbury, please it your Grace to understand that +about twelve months past I reformed certain things objected here; and now +within these ten weeks I reformed many other things in my said courts, as I +suppose is not unknown unto your Grace's Commons; and some of the fees of +the officers of my courts I have brought down to halves, some to the third +part, and some wholly taken away and extincted; and yet it is objected to +me as though I had taken no manner of reformation therein. Nevertheless I +shall not cease yet; but in such things as I shall see your Commons most +offended I will set redress accordingly, so as, I trust, they will be +contented in that behalf. And I, the said archbishop, beseech your Grace to +consider what service the doctors in civil law, which have had their +practice in my courts, have done your Grace concerning treaties, truces, +confederations, and leagues devised and concluded with outward princes; and +that without such learned men in civil law your Grace could not have been +so conveniently served as at all times you have been, which thing, perhaps, +when such learned men shall fail, will appear more evident than it doth +now. The decay whereof grieveth me to foresee, not so greatly for any cause +concerning the pleasure or profit of myself, being a man spent, and at the +point to depart this world, and having no penny of any advantage by my said +courts, but principally for the good love which I bear to the honour of +your Grace and of your realm. And albeit there is, by the assent of the +Lords Temporal and the Commons of your Parliament, an act passed thereupon +already, the matter depending before your Majesty by way of supplication +offered to your Highness by your said Commons;[237] yet, forasmuch as we +your Grace's humble chaplains, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, be +bounden by oath to be intercessors for the rights of our churches; and +forasmuch as the spiritual prelates of the clergy, being of your Grace's +parliament, consented to the said act for divers great causes moving their +conscience, we your Grace's said chaplains show unto your Highness that it +hath appertained to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the space of +four hundred years or thereabouts to have spiritual jurisdiction over all +your Grace's subjects dwelling within the provinces; and to have authority +to call before them, not only in spiritual causes devolved to them by way +of appeal, but also by way of querimony and complaint; which right and +privilege pertaineth not only to the persons of the said archbishops, but +also to the pre-eminences of their churches. Insomuch that when the +archbishop of either of the sees dieth, the said privileges do not only +remain to his successor (by which he is named Legatus natus), but also in +the meantime of vacation the same privilege resteth in the churches of +Canterbury and York; and is executed by the prior, dean and chapter of the +said churches; and so the said act is directly against the liberty and +privileges of the churches of Canterbury and York; and what dangers be to +them which study and labour to take away the liberties and privileges of +the church, whoso will read the general councils of Christendom and the +canons of the fathers of the Catholic church ordained in that behalf, shall +soon perceive. And further, we think verily that our churches, to which the +said privileges were granted, can give no cause why the pope himself (whose +predecessors granted that privilege) or any other (the honour of your Grace +ever except) may justly take away the same privileges so lawfully +prescribed from our churches, though we [ourselves] had greatly offended, +abusing the said privileges. But when in our persons we trust we have given +no cause why to lose that privilege, we beseech your Grace of your goodness +and absolute power to set such orders in this behalf as we may enjoy our +privileges lawfully admitted so long. + +"Item where they complain that there is exacted and demanded in divers +parishes of this your realm, other manner of tythes than hath been +accustomed to be paid this hundred years past; and in some parts of this +your realm there is exacted double tythes, that is to say, threepence, or +twopence-halfpenny, for one acre, over and beside the tythe for the +increase of cattle that pastureth the same: + +"To this we say, that tythes being due by God's law, be so duly paid +(thanked be God), by all good men, as there needeth not exaction in the +most parts of this your Grace's realm. As for double tythes, they cannot be +maintained due for one increase; whether in any place they be unduly +exacted in fact we know not. This we know in learning, that neither a +hundred years, nor seven hundred of non-payment, may debar the right of +God's law. The manner of payment, and person unto whom to pay, may be in +time altered, but the duty cannot by any means be taken away. + +"Item where they say that when a mortuary is due, curates sometimes, before +they will demand it, will bring citation for it; and then will not receive +the mortuaries till they may have such costs as they say they have laid out +for the suit of the same; when, indeed, if they would first have charitably +demanded it, they needed not to have sued for the same, for it should have +been paid with good will: + +"We answer that curates thus offending, if they were known, ought to be +punished, but who thus doeth we know not. + +"Item where they say that divers spiritual persons being presented to +benefices within this your realm, we and our ministers do take of them +great sums of money and reward; we reply that this is a particular abuse, +and he that taketh reward doeth not well; and if any penny be exacted above +the accustomed rate and after convenient proportion, it is not well done. +But in taking the usual fee for the sealing, writing, and registering the +letters, which is very moderate, we cannot think it to be reputed as any +offence; neither have we heard any priests in our days complain of any +excess therein. + +"And where they say in the same article that such as be presented be +delayed without reasonable cause, to the intent that we the ordinaries may +have the profit of the benefice during the vacation, unless they will pact +and convent with us by temporal bonds, whereof some bonds contain that we +should have part of the profit of the said benefice, which your said +subjects suppose to be not only against right and conscience, but also +seemeth to be simony, and contrary to the laws of God: + +"To this we do say that a delay without reasonable cause, and for a +lucrative intent, is detestable in spiritual men, and the doers cannot +eschew punishment: but otherwise a delay is sometimes expedient to examine +the clerk, and sometimes necessary when the title is in variance. All other +bargains and covenants being contrary to the law ought to be punished, as +the quality is of the offence more or less, as simony or inordinate +covetousness. + +"Item where they say that we give benefices to our nephews and kinsfolk, +being in young age or infants, whereby the cure is not substantially looked +into, nor the parishioners taught as they should be; we reply to this that +the thing which is not lawful in others is in spiritual men more +detestable. Benefices should be disposed of not _secundum carnem et +sanguinem, sed secundum merita_. And when there is a default it is not +authorised by the clergy as good, but reproved; whereupon in this the +clergy is not to be blamed, but the default as it may appear must be laid +to particular men. + +"And where they say that we take the profit of such benefices for the time +of the minority of our said kinsfolk, if it be done to our own use and +profit it is not well; _if it be bestowed to the bringing up and use of the +same parties_, or applied to the maintenance of the church and God's +service, or distributed among the poor, we do not see but that it may be +allowed. + +"Item where they say that divers and many spiritual persons, not contented +with the convenient livings and promotions of the church, daily intromit +and exercise themselves in secular offices and rooms, as stewards, +receivers, auditors, bailiffs, and other temporal occupations, withdrawing +themselves from the good contemplative lives that they have professed, not +only to the damage but also to the perilous example of your loving and +obedient subjects; to this we your bedesmen answer that beneficed men may +lawfully be stewards and receivers to their own bishops, as it evidently +appeareth in the laws of the church; and we by the same laws ought to have +no other. And as for priests to be auditors and bailiffs, we know none +such. + +"And where, finally, they, in the conclusion of their supplication, do +repeat and say that forasmuch as there is at this present time, and by a +few years past hath been much misdemeanour and violence upon the one part, +and much default and lack of patience, charity, and good will on the other +part; and marvellous discord in consequence of the quiet, peace, and +tranquillity in which this your realm hath been ever hitherto preserved +through your politic wisdom: + +"To the first part as touching such discord as is reported, and also the +misdemeanour which is imputed to us and our doings, we trust we have +sufficiently answered the same, humbly beseeching your Grace so to esteem +and weigh such answer with their supplication as shall be thought good and +expedient by your high wisdom. Furthermore we ascertain your Grace as +touching the violence which they seem to lay to our charge, albeit divers +of the clergy of this your realm have sundry times been _rigorously +handled, and with much violence entreated by certain ill-disposed and +seditious persons of the lay fee, have been injured in their bodies, thrown +down in the kennel in the open_ _streets at mid-day_, even here within your +city and elsewhere, to the great rebuke and disquietness of the clergy of +your realm, the great danger of the souls of the said misdoers, and +perilous example of your subjects. Yet we think verily, and do affirm the +same, that no violence hath been so used on our behalf towards your said +lay subjects in any case; unless they esteem this to be violence that we do +use as well for the health of their souls as for the discharge of our +duties in taking, examining, and punishing heretics according to the law: +wherein we doubt not but that your Grace, and divers of your Grace's +subjects, do understand well what charitable entreaty we have used with +such as have been before us for the same cause of heresy; and what means we +have devised and studied for safeguard specially of their souls; and that +charitably, as God be our judge, and without violence as [far as] we could +possibly devise. In execution thereof, and also of the laws of the church +for repression of sin, and also for reformation of mislivers, it hath been +to our great comfort that your Grace hath herein of your goodness, assisted +and aided us in this behalf for the zeal and love which your Grace beareth +to God's church and to His ministers; especially in defence of His faith +whereof your Grace only and most worthily amongst all Christian princes +beareth the title and name. And for that marvellous discord and grudge +among your subjects as is reported in the supplication of your Commons, we +beseech your Majesty, all the premises considered, to repress those that be +misdoers; protesting in our behalf that we ourselves have no grudge nor +displeasure towards your lay subjects our ghostly children. We intreat your +Grace of your accustomed goodness to us your bedemen to continue our chief +protector, defender, and aider in and for the execution of our office and +duty; specially touching repression of heresy, reformation of sin, and due +behaviour and order of all your Grace's subjects, spiritual and temporal; +which (no doubt thereof) shall be much to the pleasure of God, great +comfort to men's souls, quietness and unity of all your realm; and, as we +think, most principally to the great comfort of your Grace's Majesty. Which +we beseech lowly upon our knees, so entirely as we can, to be the author of +unity, charity, and concord as above, for whose preservation we do and +shall continually pray to Almighty God long to reign and prosper in most +honourable estate to his pleasure." + +This was the bishops' defence; the best which, under the circumstances, +they considered themselves capable of making. The House of Commons had +stated their complaints in the form of special notorious facts; the bishops +replied with urging the theory of their position, and supposed that they +could relieve the ecclesiastical system from the faults of its ministers, +by laying the sole blame on the unworthiness of individual persons. The +degenerate representatives of a once noble institution could not perhaps be +expected to admit their degeneracy, and confess themselves, as they really +were, collectively incompetent; yet the defence which they brought forward +would have been valid only so long as the blemishes were the rare +exceptions in the working of an institution which was still generally +beneficent. It was no defence at all when the faults had become the rule, +and when there was no security in the system itself for the selection of +worth and capacity to exercise its functions. The clergy, as I have already +said, claimed the privileges of saints, while their conduct fell below the +standard of that of ordinary men; and the position taken in this answer was +tenable only on the hypothesis which it, in fact, deliberately asserted, +that the judicial authority of the church had been committed to it by God +Himself; and that no misconduct of its ministers in detail could forfeit +their claims or justify resistance to them. + +There is something touching in the bishops' evidently sincere +unconsciousness that there could be real room for blame. Warham, who had +been Archbishop of Canterbury thirty years, took credit to himself for the +reforms which, under the pressure of public opinion, he had introduced, in +the last few weeks or months; and did not know that in doing so he had +passed sentence on a life of neglect. In the opinion of the entire bench no +infamy, however notorious, could shake the testimony of a witness in a case +of heresy; no cruelty was unjust when there was suspicion of so horrible a +crime; while the appointment of minors to church benefices (not to press +more closely the edge of the accusation) they admitted while they affected +to deny it; since they were not ashamed to defend the appropriation of the +proceeds of benefices occupied by such persons, if laid out on the +education and maintenance of the minors themselves. + +Yet these things were as nothing in comparison with the powers claimed for +convocation; and the prelates of the later years of Henry's reign must have +looked back with strange sensations at the language which their +predecessors had so simply addressed to him. If the canons which +convocation might think good to enact were not consistent with the laws of +the Realm, "His Majesty" was desired to produce the wished-for uniformity +by altering the laws of the Realm; and although the bishops might not +submit their laws to His Majesty's approval, they would be happy, they told +him, to consider such suggestions as he might think proper to make. The +spirit of the Plantagenets must have slumbered long before such words as +these could have been addressed to an English sovereign, and little did the +bishops dream that these light words were the spell which would burst the +charm, and bid that spirit wake again in all its power and terror. + +The House of Commons in the mean time had not been idle. To them the +questions at issue were unincumbered with theoretic difficulties. Enormous +abuses had been long ripe for dissolution, and there was no occasion to +waste time in unnecessary debates. At such a time, with a House practically +unanimous, business could be rapidly transacted, the more rapidly indeed in +proportion to its importance. In six weeks, for so long only the session +lasted, the astonished church authorities saw bill after bill hurried up +before the Lords, by which successively the pleasant fountains of their +incomes would be dried up to flow no longer; or would flow only in shallow +rivulets along the beds of the once abundant torrents, The jurisdiction of +the spiritual courts was not immediately curtailed, and the authority which +was in future to be permitted to convocation lay over for further +consideration, to be dealt with in another manner. But probate duties and +legacy duties, hitherto assessed at discretion, were dwarfed into fixed +proportions,[238] not to touch the poorer laity any more, and bearing even +upon wealth with a reserved and gentle hand. Mortuaries were shorn of their +luxuriance; when effects were small, no mortuary should be required; when +large, the clergy should content themselves with a modest share. No velvet +cloaks should be stripped any more from strangers' bodies to save them from +a rector's grasp;[239] no shameful battles with apparitors should disturb +any more the recent rest of the dead.[240] Such sums as the law would +permit should be paid thenceforward in the form of decent funeral fees for +householders dying in their own parishes, and there the exactions should +terminate.[241] + +The carelessness of the bishops in the discharge of their most immediate +duties obliged the legislature to trespass also in the provinces purely +spiritual, and undertake the discipline of the clergy. The Commons had +complained in their petition that the clergy, instead of attending to their +duties, were acting as auditors, bailiffs, stewards, or in other +capacities, as laymen; they were engaged in trade also, in farming, in +tanning, in brewing, in doing anything but the duties which they were paid +for doing; while they purchased dispensations for non-residence on their +benefices; and of these benefices, in favoured cases, single priests held +as many as eight or nine. It was thought unnecessary to wait for the +bishops' pleasure to apply a remedy here. If the clergy were unjustly +accused of these offences, a law of general prohibition would not touch +them. If the belief of the House of Commons was well founded, there was no +occasion for longer delay. It was therefore enacted[242]--"for the more +quiet and virtuous increase and maintenance of divine service, the +preaching and teaching the Word of God with godly and good example, for the +better discharge of cures, the maintenance of hospitality, the relief of +poor people, the increase of devotion and good opinion of the lay fee +towards spiritual persons"--that no such persons thenceforward should take +any land to farm beyond what was necessary, _bona fide_, for the support of +their own households; that they should not buy merchandise to sell again; +that they should keep no tanneries or brewhouses, or otherwise directly or +indirectly trade for gain. Pluralities were not to be permitted with +benefices above the yearly value of eight pounds, and residence was made +obligatory under penalty in cases of absence without special reason, of ten +pounds for each month of such absence. The law against pluralities was +limited as against existing holders, each of whom, for their natural lives, +might continue to hold as many as four benefices. But dispensations, either +for non-residence or for the violation of any other provision of the act, +were made penal in a high degree, whether obtained from the bishops or from +the court of Rome. + +These bills struck hard and struck home. Yet even persons who most +disapprove of the Reformation will not at the present time either wonder at +their enactment or complain of their severity. They will be desirous rather +to disentangle their doctrine from suspicious connection, and will not be +anxious to compromise their theology by the defence of unworthy professors +of it. + +The bishops, however, could ill tolerate an interference with the +privileges of the ecclesiastical order. The Commons, it was exclaimed, were +heretics and schismatics;[243] the cry was heard everywhere, of Lack of +faith, Lack of faith; and the lay peers being constitutionally +conservative, and perhaps instinctively apprehensive of the infectious +tendencies of innovation, it seemed likely for a time that an effective +opposition might be raised in the Upper House. The clergy commanded an +actual majority in that House from their own body, which they might employ +if they dared; and although they were not likely to venture alone on so +bold a measure, yet a partial support from the other members was a +sufficient encouragement. The aged Bishop of Rochester was made the +spokesman of the ecclesiastics on this occasion. "My Lords," he said, "you +see daily what bills come hither from the Commons House, and all is to the +destruction of the church. For God's sake see what a realm the kingdom of +Bohemia was; and when the church went down, then fell the glory of that +kingdom. Now with the Commons is nothing but Down with the church, and all +this meseemeth is for lack of faith only."[244] "In result," says Hall, +"the acts were sore debated; the Lords Spiritual would in no wise consent, +and committees of the two Houses sate continually for discussion." The +spiritualty defended themselves by prescription and usage, to which a +Gray's Inn lawyer something insolently answered, on one occasion, "the +usage hath ever been of thieves to rob on Shooter's Hill, _ergo_, it is +lawful." "With this answer," continues Hall, "the spiritual men were sore +offended because their doings were called robberies, but the temporal men +stood by their sayings, insomuch that the said gentlemen declared to the +Archbishop of Canterbury, that both the exaction of probates of testaments +and the taking of mortuaries were open robbery and thefts." + +At length, people out of doors growing impatient, and dangerous symptoms +threatening to show themselves, the king summoned a meeting in the +Star-chamber between eight members of both Houses. The lay peers, after +some discussion, conclusively gave way; and the bishops, left without +support, were obliged to yield. They signified their unwilling consent, and +the bills, "somewhat qualified," were the next day agreed to--"to the great +rejoicing of the lay people, and the great displeasure of the spiritual +persons."[245] + +Nor were the House of Commons contented with the substance of victory. The +reply to their petition had perhaps by that time been made known to them, +and at any rate they had been accused of sympathy with heresy, and they +would not submit to the hateful charge without exacting revenge. The more +clamorous of the clergy out of doors were punished probably by the stocks; +from among their opponents in the Upper House, Fisher was selected for +special and signal humiliation. The words of which he had made use were +truer than the Commons knew; perhaps the latent truth of them was the +secret cause of the pain which they inflicted; but the special anxiety of +the English reformers was to disconnect themselves, with marked emphasis, +from the movement in Germany, and they determined to compel the offending +bishop to withdraw his words. + +They sent the speaker, Sir Thomas Audeley, to the king, who "very +eloquently declared what dishonour it was to his Majesty and the realm, +that they which were elected for the wisest men in the shires, cities, and +boroughs within the realm of England, should be declared in so noble a +presence to lack faith." It was equivalent to saying "that they were +infidels, and no Christians--as ill as Turks and Saracens." Wherefore he +"most humbly besought the King's Highness to call the said bishop before +him, and to cause him to speak more discreetly of such a number as was in +the Commons House."[246] Henry consented to their request, it is likely +with no great difficulty, and availed himself of the opportunity to read a +lesson much needed to the remainder of the bench. He sent for Fisher, and +with him for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for six other bishops. The +speaker's message was laid before them, and they were asked what they had +to say. It would have been well for the weak trembling old men if they +could have repeated what they believed and had maintained their right to +believe it. Bold conduct is ever the most safe; it is fatal only when there +is courage but for the first step, and fails when a second is required to +support it. But they were forsaken in their hour of calamity, not by +courage only, but by prudence, by judgment, by conscience itself. The +Bishop of Rochester stooped to an equivocation too transparent to deceive +any one; he said that "he meant only the doings of the Bohemians were for +lack of faith, and not the doings of the Commons House"--"which saying was +confirmed by the bishops present." The king allowed the excuse, and the +bishops were dismissed; but they were dismissed into ignominy, and +thenceforward, in all Henry's dealings with them, they were treated with +contemptuous disrespect. For Fisher himself we must feel only sorrow. After +seventy-six years of a useful and honourable life, which he might have +hoped to close in a quiet haven, he was launched suddenly upon stormy +waters, to which he was too brave to yield, which he was too timid to +contend against; and the frail vessel drifting where the waves drove it, +was soon piteously to perish. + +Thus triumphant on every side, the parliament, in the middle of December, +closed its session, and lay England celebrated its exploits as a national +victory. "The king removed to Greenwich, and there kept his Christmas with +the queen with great triumph, with great plenty of viands, and disguisings, +and interludes, to the great rejoicing of his people;"[247] the members of +the House of Commons, we may well believe, following the royal example in +town and country, and being the little heroes of the day. Only the bishops +carried home sad hearts within them, to mourn over the perils of the church +and the impending end of all things; Fisher, unhappily for himself, to +listen to the wailings of the Nun of Kent, and to totter slowly into +treason. + +Here, for the present leaving the clergy to meditate on their future, and +reconsider the wisdom of their answer to the king respecting the +ecclesiastical jurisdiction (a point on which they were not the less +certain to be pressed, because the process upon it was temporarily +suspended), we must turn to the more painful matter which, for a time +longer, ran parallel with the domestic reformation, and as yet was unable +to unite with it. After the departure of Campeggio, the further hearing of +the divorce cause had been advoked to Rome, where it was impossible for +Henry to consent to plead; while the appearance of the supposed brief had +opened avenues of new difficulty which left no hope of a decision within +the limits of an ordinary lifetime. Henry was still, however, extremely +reluctant[248] to proceed to extremities, and appeal to the parliament. He +had threatened that he would tolerate no delay, and Wolsey had evidently +expected that he would not. Queen Catherine's alarm had gone so far, that +in the autumn she had procured an injunction from the pope, which had been +posted in the churches of Flanders, menacing the king with spiritual +censures if he took any further steps.[249] Even this she feared that he +would disregard, and in March, 1529-30, a second inhibition was issued at +her request, couched in still stronger language.[250] But these measures +were needless, or at least premature. Henry expected that the display of +temper in the country in the late session would produce an effect both on +the pope and on the emperor; and proposing to send an embassy to +remonstrate jointly with them on the occasion of the emperor's coronation, +which was to take place in the spring at Bologna, he had recourse in the +mean time to an expedient which, though blemished in the execution, was +itself reasonable and prudent. + +Among the many _technical_ questions which had been raised upon the +divorce, the most serious was on the validity of the original dispensation; +a question not only on the sufficiency of the form the defects of which the +brief had been invented to remedy; but on the more comprehensive +uncertainty whether Pope Julius had not exceeded his powers altogether in +granting a dispensation where there was so close affinity. No one supposed +that the pope could permit a brother to marry a sister; a dispensation +granted in such a case would be _ipso facto_ void.--Was not the +dispensation similarly void which permitted the marriage of a brother's +widow? The advantage which Henry expected from raising this difficulty was +the transfer of judgment from the partial tribunal of Clement to a broader +court. The pope could not, of course, adjudicate on the extent of his own +powers; especially as he always declared himself to be ignorant of the law; +and the decision of so general a question rested either with a general +council, or must be determined by the consent of Christendom, obtained in +some other manner. If such general consent declared against the pope, the +cause was virtually terminated. If there was some approach to a consent +against him, or even if there was general uncertainty, Henry had a legal +pretext for declining his jurisdiction, and appealing to a council. + +Thomas Cranmer, then a doctor of divinity at Cambridge,[251] is said to +have been the person who suggested this ingenious expedient, and to have +advised the king, as the simplest means of carrying it out, to consult in +detail the universities and learned men throughout Europe. His notorious +activity in collecting the opinions may have easily connected him with the +origination of the plan, which probably occurred to many other persons as +well as to him; but whoever was the first adviser, it was immediately acted +upon, and English agents were despatched into Germany, Italy, and France, +carrying with them all means of persuasion, intellectual, moral, and +material, which promised to be of most cogent potency with lawyers' +convictions. + +This matter was in full activity when the Earl of Wiltshire, Anne Boleyn's +father, with Cranmer, the Bishop of London, and Edward Lee, afterwards +Archbishop of York, was despatched to Bologna to lay Henry's remonstrances +before the emperor, who was come at last in person to enjoy his miserable +triumph, and receive from the pope the imperial crown. Sir Nicholas Carew, +who had been sent forward a few weeks previously, described in piteous +language the state to which Italy had been reduced by him. Passing through +Pavia, the English emissary saw the children crying about the streets for +bread, and dying of hunger; the grapes in midwinter rotting on the vines, +because there was no one to gather them; and for fifty miles scarcely a +single creature, man or woman, in the fields. "They say," added Carew, "and +the pope also showed us the same, that the whole people of that country, +with divers other places in Italia, with war, famine, and pestilence, are +utterly dead and gone."[252] Such had been the combined work of the vanity +of Francis and the cold selfishness of Charles; and now the latter had +arrived amidst the ruins which he had made, to receive his crown from the +hands of a pope who was true to Italy, if false to all the world besides, +and whom, but two years before, he had imprisoned and disgraced. We think +of Clement as the creature of the emperor, and such substantially he +allowed himself to be; but his obedience was the obedience of fear to a +master whom he hated, and the bishop of Tarbes, who was present at the +coronation, and stood at his side through the ceremony, saw him trembling +under his robes with emotion, and heard him sigh bitterly.[253] Very +unwillingly, we may be assured, he was compelled to act his vacillating +part to England, and England, at this distance of time, may forgive him for +faults to which she owes her freedom, and need not refuse him some tribute +of sympathy in his sorrows. + +Fallen on evil times, which greater wisdom and greater courage than had for +many a century been found in the successors of St. Peter would have failed +to encounter successfully, Clement VII. remained, with all his cowardice, a +true Italian; his errors were the errors of his age and nation, and were +softened by the presence, in more than usual measure, of Italian genius and +grace. Benvenuto Cellini, who describes his character with much minuteness, +has left us a picture of a hot-tempered, but genuine and kind-hearted man, +whose taste was elegant, and whose wit, from the playful spirit with which +it was pervaded, and from a certain tendency to innocent levity, approached +to humour. He was liable to violent bursts of feeling; and his inability to +control himself, his gesticulations, his exclamations, and his tears, all +represent to us a person who was an indifferent master of the tricks of +dissimulation to which he was reduced, and whose weakness entitles him to +pity, if not to respect. The papacy had fallen to him at the crisis of its +deepest degradation. It existed as a politically organised institution, +which it was convenient to maintain, but from which the private hearts of +all men had fallen away; and it depended for its very life upon the support +which the courts of Europe would condescend to extend to it. Among these +governments, therefore, distracted as they were by mutual hostility, the +pope was compelled to make his choice; and the fatality of his position +condemned him to quarrel with the only prince on whom, at the outset of +these complications, he had a right to depend. + +In 1512, France had been on the point of declaring her religious +independence; and as late as 1525, Francis entertained thoughts of offering +the patriarchate to Wolsey.[254] Charles V., postponing his religious +devotion for the leisure of old age, had reserved the choice of his party, +to watch events and to wait upon opportunity; while, from his singular +position, he wielded in one hand the power of Catholic Spain, in the other +that of Protestant Germany, ready to strike with either, as occasion or +necessity recommended. If his Spaniards had annexed the New World to the +papacy, his German lanzknechts had stormed the Holy City, murdered +cardinals, and outraged the pope's person: while both Charles and Francis, +alike caring exclusively for their private interests, had allowed the Turks +to overrun Hungary, to conquer Rhodes, and to collect an armament at +Constantinople so formidable as to threaten Italy itself, and the very +Christian faith. Henry alone had shown hitherto a true feeling for +religion; Henry had made war with Louis XII. solely in the pope's quarrel; +Henry had broken an old alliance with the emperor to revenge the capture of +Rome, and had won Francis back to his allegiance. To Henry, if to any one, +the Roman bishop had a right to look with confidence. But the power of +England was far off, and could not reach to Rome. Francis had been baffled +and defeated, his armies destroyed, his political influence in the +Peninsula annihilated. The practical choice which remained to Clement lay +only, as it seemed, between the emperor and martyrdom; and having, perhaps, +a desire for the nobler alternative, yet being without the power to choose +it, his wishes and his conduct, his words to private persons and his open +actions before the world, were in perpetual contradiction. He submitted +while his heart revolted; and while at Charles's dictation he was +threatening Henry with excommunication if he proceeded further with his +divorce, he was able at that very time to say, in confidence, to the Bishop +of Tarbes, that he would be well contented if the King of England would +marry on his own responsibility, availing himself of any means which he +might possess among his own people, so only that he himself was not +committed to a consent or the privileges of the papacy were not trenched +upon.[255] + +Two years later, when the course which the pope would really pursue under +such circumstances was of smaller importance, Henry gave him an opportunity +of proving the sincerity of this language; and the result was such as he +expected it to be. As yet, however, he had not relinquished the hope of +succeeding by a more open course. + +In March, 1529-30, the English ambassadors appeared at Bologna. Their +instructions were honest, manly, and straightforward. They were directed to +explain, _ab initio_, the grounds of the king's proceedings, and to appeal +to the emperor's understanding of the obligations of princes. Full +restitution was to be offered of Catherine's dowry, and the Earl of +Wiltshire was provided with letters of credit adequate to the amount.[256] +If these proposals were not accepted, they were to assume a more peremptory +tone, and threaten the alienation of England; and if menaces were equally +ineffectual, they were to declare that Henry, having done all which lay +within his power to effect his purpose with the goodwill of his friends, +since he could not do as he would, must now do as he could, and discharge +his conscience. If the emperor should pretend that he would "abide the law, +and would defer to the pope," they were to say, "that the sacking of Rome +by the Spaniards and Germans had so discouraged the pope and cardinals, +that they feared for body and goods," and had ceased to be free agents; and +concluding finally that the king would fear God rather than man, and would +rely on comfort from the Saviour against those who abused their authority, +they were then to withdraw.[257] The tone of the directions was not +sanguine, and the political complications of Europe, on which the emperor's +reply must more or less have depended, were too involved to allow us to +trace the influences which were likely to have weighed with him. There +seems no prima facie reason, however, why the attempt might not have been +successful. The revolutionary intrigues in England had decisively failed, +and the natural sympathy of princes, and a desire to detach Henry from +Francis, must have combined to recommend a return of the old cordiality +which had so long existed between the sovereigns of England and Flanders. +But whatever was the cause, the opening interview assured the Earl of +Wiltshire that he had nothing to look for. He was received with distant +courtesy; but Charles at once objected even to hearing his instructions, as +an interested party.[258] The earl replied that he stood there, not as the +father of the queen's rival, but as the representative of his sovereign; +but the objection declared the attitude which Charles was resolved to +maintain, and which, in fact, he maintained throughout. "The emperor," +wrote Lord Wiltshire to Henry, "is stiffly bent against your Grace's +matter, and is most earnest in it; while the pope is led by the emperor, +and neither will nor dare displease him."[259] From that quarter, so long +as parties remained in their existing attitude, there was no hope. It seems +to have been hinted, indeed, that if war broke out again between Charles +and Francis, something might be done as the price of Henry's surrendering +the French alliance;[260] but the suggestion, if it was made, was probably +ironical; and as Charles was unquestionably acting against his interest in +rejecting the English overtures, it is fair to give him credit for having +acted on this one occasion of his life, upon generous motives. A respectful +compliment was paid to his conduct by Henry himself in the reproaches which +he addressed to the pope.[261] + +So terminated the first and the last overture on this subject which Henry +attempted with Charles V. The ambassadors remained but a few days at +Bologna, and then discharged their commission and returned. The pope, +however, had played his part with remarkable skill, and by finessing +dexterously behind the scenes, had contrived to prevent the precipitation +of a rupture with himself. His simple and single wish was to gain time, +trusting to accident or Providence to deliver him from his dilemma. On the +one hand, he yielded to the emperor in refusing to consent to Henry's +demand; on the other, he availed himself of all the intricacies to parry +Catherine's demand for a judgment in her favour. He even seemed to part +with the emperor on doubtful terms. "The latter," said the Bishop of +Tarbes,[262] "before leaving Bologna, desired his Holiness to place two +cardinals' hats at his disposal, to enable him to reward certain services." +His Holiness ventured to refuse. During his imprisonment, he said he had +been compelled to nominate several persons for that office whose conduct +had been a disgrace to their rank; and when the emperor denied his orders, +the pope declared that he had seen them. The cardinals' hats, therefore, +should be granted only when they were deserved, "when the Lutherans in +Germany had been reduced to obedience, and Hungary had been recovered from +the Turks." If this was acting, it was skilfully managed, and it deceived +the eyes of the French ambassador. + +Still further to gratify Henry, the pope made a public declaration with +respect to the dispute which had arisen on the extent of his authority, +desiring, or professing to desire, that all persons whatever throughout +Italy should be free to express their opinions without fear of incurring +his displeasure. This declaration, had it been honestly meant, would have +been creditable to Clement's courage: unfortunately for his reputation, his +outward and his secret actions seldom corresponded, and the emperor's +agents were observed to use very dissimilar language in his name. The +double policy, nevertheless, was still followed to secure delay. Delay was +his sole aim,--either that Catherine's death, or his own, or Henry's, or +some relenting in one or other of the two princes who held their minatory +arms extended over him, might spare himself and the church the calamity of +a decision. For to the church any decision was fatal. If he declared for +Charles, England would fall from it; if for Henry, Germany and Flanders +were lost irrecoverably, and Spain itself might follow. His one hope was to +procrastinate; and in this policy of hesitation for two more years he +succeeded, till at length the patience of Henry and of England was worn +out, and all was ended. When the emperor required sentence to be passed, he +pretended to be about to yield; and at the last moment, some technical +difficulty ever interfered to make a decision impossible. When Henry was +cited to appear at Rome, a point of law was raised upon the privilege of +kings, threatening to open into other points of law, and so to multiply to +infinity. The pope, indeed, finding his own ends so well answered by +evasion, imagined that it would answer equally those of the English nation, +and he declared to Henry's secretary that "if the King of England would +send a mandate ad totam causam, then if his Highness would, there might be +given so many delays by reason of matters which his Highness might lay in, +and the remissorials that his Grace might ask, ad partes, that peradventure +in ten years or longer a sentence should not be given."[263] In point of +worldly prudence, his conduct was unexceptionably wise; but something +beyond worldly prudence was demanded of a tribunal which claimed to be +inspired by the Holy Ghost. + +The dreary details of the negotiations I have no intention of pursuing. +They are of no interest to any one,--a miserable tissue of insincerity on +one side, and hesitating uncertainty on the other. There is no occasion for +us to weary ourselves with the ineffectual efforts to postpone an issue +which was sooner or later inevitable. + +I may not pass over in similar silence another unpleasant episode in this +business,--the execution of Cranmer's project for collecting the sentiments +of Europe on the pope's dispensing power. The details of this transaction +are not wearying only, but scandalous; and while the substantial justice of +Henry's cause is a reason for deploring the means to which he allowed +himself to be driven in pursuing it, we may not permit ourselves either to +palliate those means or to conceal them. The project seemed a simple one, +and likely to be effective and useful. Unhappily, the appeal was still to +ecclesiastics, to a body of men who were characterised throughout Europe by +a universal absence of integrity, who were incapable of pronouncing an +honest judgment, and who courted intimidation and bribery by the readiness +with which they submitted to be influenced by them. Corruption was resorted +to on all sides with the most lavish unscrupulousness, and the result +arrived at was general discredit to all parties, and a conclusion which +added but one more circle to the labyrinth of perplexities. Croke,[264] a +Doctors' Commons lawyer, who was employed in Italy, described the state of +feeling in the peninsula as generally in Henry's favour; and he said that +he could have secured an all but universal consent, except for the secret +intrigues of the Spanish agents, and their open direct menaces, when +intrigue was insufficient. He complained bitterly of the treachery of the +Italians who were in the English pay; the two Cassalis, Pallavicino, and +Ghinucci, the Bishop of Worcester. These men, he said, were betraying Henry +when they were pretending to serve him, and were playing secretly into the +hands of the emperor.[265] His private despatches were intercepted, or the +contents of them by some means were discovered; for the persons whom he +named as inclining against the papal claims, became marked at once for +persecution. One of them, a Carmelite friar, was summoned before the +Cardinal Governor of Bologna, and threatened with death;[266] and a certain +Father Omnibow, a Venetian who had been in active co-operation with Dr. +Croke, wrote himself to Henry, informing him in a very graphic manner of +the treatment to which, by some treachery, he had been exposed. Croke and +Omnibow were sitting one morning in the latter's cell, "when there entered +upon them the emperor's great ambassador, accompanied with many gentlemen +of Spain, and demanded of the Father how he durst be so bold to take upon +him to intermeddle in so great and weighty a matter, the which did not only +lessen and enervate the pope's authority, but was noyful and odious to all +Realms Christened."[267] Omnibow being a man of some influence in Venice, +the ambassador warned him on peril of his life to deal no further with such +things: there was not the slightest chance that the King of England could +obtain a decision in his favour, because the question had been placed in +the hands of six cardinals who were all devoted to the emperor: the pope, +it was sternly added, had been made aware of his conduct, and was +exceedingly displeased, and the general[268] of his order had at the same +time issued an injunction, warning all members to desist at their peril +from intercourse with the English agents. The Spanish party held themselves +justified in resorting to intimidation to defend themselves against English +money; the English may have excused their use of money as a defence against +Spanish intimidation; and each probably had recourse to their several +methods prior to experience of the proceedings of their adversaries, from a +certain expectation of what those proceedings would be. Substantially, the +opposite manoeuvres neutralised each other, and in Catholic countries, +opinions on the real point at issue seem to have been equally balanced. The +Lutheran divines, from their old suspicion of Henry, were more decided in +their opposition to him. "The Italian Protestants," wrote Croke to the +king, "be utterly against your Highness in this cause, and have letted as +much as with their power and malice they could or might."[269] In Germany +Dr. Bames and Cranmer found the same experience. Luther himself had not +forgotten his early passage at arms with the English Defender of the Faith, +and was coldly hostile; the German theologians, although they expressed +themselves with reserve and caution, saw no reason to court the anger of +Charles by meddling in a quarrel in which they had no interest; they +revenged the studied slight which had been passed by Henry on themselves, +with a pardonable indifference to the English ecclesiastical revolt. + +If, however, in Germany and Italy the balance of unjust interference lay on +the imperial side, it was more than adequately compensated by the answering +pressure which was brought to bear in England and in France on the opposite +side. Under the allied sovereigns, the royal authority was openly exercised +to compel such expressions of sentiment as the courts of London and Paris +desired; and the measures which were taken oblige us more than ever to +regret the inventive efforts of Cranmer's genius. For, in fact, these +manoeuvres, even if honestly executed, were all unrealities. The question +at issue was one of domestic English politics, and the metamorphosis of it +into a question of ecclesiastical law was a mere delusion. The discussion +was transferred to a false ground, and however the king may have chosen to +deceive himself, was not being tried upon its real merits. A complicated +difficulty vitally affecting the interests of a great nation, was laid for +solution before a body of persons incompetent to understand or decide it, +and the laity, with the alternative before them of civil war, and the +returning miseries of the preceding century, could brook no judgment which +did not answer to their wishes. + +The French king, contemptuously indifferent to justice, submitted to be +guided by his interest; feeling it necessary for his safety to fan the +quarrel between Henry and the emperor, he resolved to encourage whatever +measures would make the breach between them irreparable. The reconciliation +of Herod and Pontius Pilate[270] was the subject of his worst alarm; and a +slight exercise of ecclesiastical tyranny was but a moderate price by which +to ensure himself against so dangerous a possibility. + +Accordingly, at the beginning of June, the University of Paris was +instructed by royal letters to pronounce an opinion on the extent to which +the pope might grant dispensations for marriage within the forbidden +degrees. The letters were presented by the grand master, and the latter in +his address to the faculty, maintained at the outset an appearance of +impartiality. The doctors were required to decide according to their +conscience, having the fear of God before their eyes; and no open effort +was ventured to dictate the judgment which was to be delivered. + +The majority of the doctors understood their duty and their position, and a +speedy resolution was anticipated, when a certain Dr. Beda, an energetic +Ultramontane, commenced an opposition. He said that, on a question which +touched the power of the pope, they were not at liberty to pronounce an +opinion without the permission of his Holiness himself; and that the +deliberation ought not to go forward till they had applied for that +permission and had received it. This view was supported by the Spanish and +Italian party in the university. The debate grew warm, and at length the +meeting broke up in confusion without coming to a resolution. Beda, when +remonstrated with on the course which he was pursuing, did not hesitate to +say that he had the secret approbation of his prince; that, however Francis +might disguise from the world his real opinions, in his heart he only +desired to see the pope victorious. An assertion so confident was readily +believed, nor is it likely that Beda ventured to make it without some +foundation. But being spoken of openly it became a matter of general +conversation, and reaching the ears of the English ambassador, it was met +with instant and angry remonstrance. "The ambassador," wrote the grand +master to Francis, "has been to me in great displeasure, and has told me +roundly that his master is trifled with by us. We give him words in plenty +to keep his beak in the water; but it is very plain that we are playing +false, and that no honesty is intended. Nor are his words altogether +without reason; for many persons declare openly that nothing will be done. +If the alliance of England, therefore, appear of importance to your +Highness, it would be well for you to write to the Dean of the Faculty, +directing him to close an impertinent discussion, and require an answer to +the question asked as quickly as possible."[271] The tone of this letter +proves, with sufficient clearness, the true feelings of the French +government; but at the moment the alternative suggested by the grand master +might not be ventured. Francis could not afford to quarrel with England, or +to be on less than cordial terms with it, and for a time at least his +brother sovereigns must continue to be at enmity. The negotiations for the +recovery of the French princes out of their Spanish prison, were on the +point of conclusion; and, as Francis was insolvent, Henry had consented to +become security for the money demanded for their deliverance. Beda had, +moreover, injured his cause by attacking the Gallican liberties; and as +this was a point on which the government was naturally sensitive, some +tolerable excuse was furnished for the lesson which it was thought proper +to adminster to the offending doctor. + +On the seventeenth of June, 1530, therefore, Francis wrote as follows to +the President of the Parliament of Paris:-- + +"We have learnt, to our great displeasure, that one Beda, an imperialist, +has dared to raise an agitation among the theologians, dissuading them from +giving their voices on the cause of the King of England.--On receipt of +this letter, therefore, you shall cause the said Beda to appear before you, +and you shall show him the grievous anger which he has given us cause to +entertain towards him. And further you shall declare to him, laying these +our present writings before his eyes that he may not doubt the truth of +what you say, that if he does not instantly repair the fault which he has +committed, he shall be punished in such sort as that he shall remember +henceforth what it is for a person of his quality to meddle in the affairs +of princes. If he venture to remonstrate; if he allege that it is matter of +conscience, and that before proceeding to pronounce an opinion it is +necessary to communicate with the pope; in our name you shall forbid him to +hold any such communication: and he and all who abet him, and all persons +whatsoever, not only who shall themselves dare to consult the pope on this +matter, but who shall so much as entertain the proposal of consulting him, +shall be dealt with in such a manner as shall be an example to all the +world. The liberties of the Gallican Church are touched, and the +independence of our theological council, and there is no privilege +belonging to this realm on which we are more peremptorily determined to +insist."[272] + +The haughty missive, a copy of which was sent to England,[273] produced the +desired effect. The doctors became obedient and convinced, and the required +declaration of opinion in Henry's favour, was drawn up in the most ample +manner. They made a last desperate effort to escape from the position in +which they were placed when the seal of the university was to be affixed to +the decision; but the resistance was hopeless, the authorities were +inexorable, and they submitted. It is not a little singular that the +English political agent employed on this occasion, and to whose lot it fell +to communicate the result to the king, was Reginald Pole. He it was, who +behind the scenes, and assisting to work the machinery of the intrigue, +first there, perhaps, contracted his disgust with the cause on which he was +embarked. There learning to hate the ill with which he was forced +immediately into contact, he lost sight of the greater ill to which it was +opposed; and in the recoil commenced the first steps of a career, which +brought his mother to the scaffold, which overspread all England with an +atmosphere of treason and suspicion, and which terminated at last after +years of exile, rebellion, and falsehood, in a brief victory of blood and +shame. So ever does wrong action beget its own retribution, punishing +itself by itself, and wrecking the instruments by which it works. The +letter which Pole wrote from Paris to Henry will not be uninteresting. It +revealed his distaste for his occupation, though prudence held him silent +as to his deeper feelings. + +"Please it your Highness to be advertised, that the determination and +conclusion of the divines in this university was achieved and finished +according to your desired purpose, upon Saturday last past. The sealing of +the same has been put off unto this day, nor never could be obtained before +for any soliciting on our parts which were your agents here, which never +ceased to labour, all that lay in us, for the expedition of it, both with +the privy president and with all such as we thought might in any part aid +us therein. But what difficulties and stops hath been, to let the obtaining +of the seal of the university, notwithstanding the conclusion passed and +agreed unto by the more part of the faculty, by reason of such oppositions +as the adversary part hath made to embezzle the determination that it +should not take effect nor go forth in that same form as it was concluded, +it may please your Grace, to be advertised by this bearer, Master Fox; who, +with his prudence, diligence, and great exercise in the cause, hath most +holp to resist all these crafts, and to bring the matter to that point as +your most desired purpose hath been to have it. He hath indeed acted +according to that hope which I had of him at the beginning and first +breaking of the matter amongst the faculty here, when I, somewhat fearing +and foreseeing such contentions, altercations, and empeschements as by most +likelihood might ensue, did give your Grace advertisement, how necessary I +thought it was to have Master Fox's presence. And whereas I was informed by +Master Fox how it standeth with your Grace's pleasure, considering my +fervent desire thereon, that, your motion once achieved and brought to a +final conclusion in this university, I should repair to your presence, your +Grace could not grant me at this time a petition more comfortable unto me. +And so, making what convenient speed I may, my trust is shortly to wait +upon your Highness. Thus Jesu preserve your most noble Grace to his +pleasure, and your most comfort and honour. Written at Paris, the seventh +day of July, by your Grace's most humble and faithful servant, REGINALD +POLE."[274] + +We must speak of this transaction as it deserves, and call it wholly bad, +unjust, and inexcusable. Yet we need not deceive ourselves into supposing +that the opposition which was crushed so roughly was based on any principal +of real honesty. In Italy, intrigue was used against intimidation. In +France intimidation was used against intrigue; and the absence of rectitude +in the parties whom it was necessary to influence, provoked and justified +the contempt with which they were treated. + +The conduct of the English universities on the same occasion was precisely +what their later characters would have led us respectively to expect from +them. At Oxford the heads of houses and the senior doctors and masters +submitted their consciences to state dictation, without opposition, and, as +it seemed, without reluctance. Henry was wholly satisfied that the right +was on his own side; he was so convinced of it, that an opposition to his +wishes among his own subjects, he could attribute only to disloyalty or to +some other unworthy feeling; and therefore, while he directed the +convocation, "giving no credence to sinister persuasions, to show and +declare their just and true learning in his cause," he was able to dwell +upon the answer which he expected from them, as a plain matter of duty; and +obviously as not admitting of any uncertainty whatever. + +"We will and command you," he said, "that ye, not leaning to wilful and +sinister opinions of your own several minds, considering that we be your +sovereign liege lord [and] totally giving your time, mind, and affections +to the true overtures of divine learning in this behalf, do show and +declare your true and just learning in the said cause, like as ye will +abide by: wherein ye shall not only please Almighty God, but also us your +liege lord. And we, for your so doing, shall be to you and to our +university there so good and gracious a lord for the same, as ye shall +perceive it well done in your well fortune to come. And in case you do not +uprightly, according to divine learning, handle yourselves herein, ye may +be assured that we, not without great cause, shall so quickly and sharply +look to your unnatural misdemeanour herein, that it shall not be to your +quietness and ease hereafter."[275] The admonitory clauses were +sufficiently clear; they were scarcely needed, however, by the older +members of the university. An enlarged experience of the world which years, +at Oxford as well as elsewhere, had not failed to bring with them, a just +apprehension of the condition of the kingdom, and a sense of the +obligations of subjects in times of political difficulty, sufficed to +reconcile the heads of the colleges to obedience; and threats were not +required where it is unlikely that a thought of hesitation was entertained. +But there was a class of residents which appears to be perennial in that +university, composed out of the younger masters; a class of men who, +defective alike in age, in wisdom, or in knowledge, were distinguished by a +species of theoretic High Church fanaticism; who, until they received their +natural correction from advancing years, required from time to time to be +protected against their own extravagance by some form of external pressure. +These were the persons whom the king was addressing in his more severe +language, and it was not without reason that he had recourse to it. + +In order to avoid difficulty, and to secure a swift and convenient +resolution, it was proposed that both at Oxford and Cambridge the +universities should be represented by a committee composed of the heads of +houses, the proctors, and the graduates in divinity and law: that this +committee should agree upon a form of a reply; and that the university seal +should then be affixed without further discussion. This proposition was +plausible as well as prudent, for it might be supposed reasonably that +young half-educated students were incapable of forming a judgment on an +intricate point of law; and to admit their votes was equivalent to allowing +judgment to be given by party feeling. The masters who were to be thus +excluded refused however to entertain this view of their incapacity. The +question whether the committee should be appointed was referred to +convocation, where, having the advantage of numbers, they coerced the +entire proceedings; and some of them "expressing themselves in a very +forward manner" to the royal commissioners,[276] and the heads of houses +being embarrassed, and not well knowing what to do, the king found it +necessary again to interpose. He was unwilling, as he said, to violate the +constitution of the university by open interference, "considering it to +exist under grant and charter from the crown as a body politic, in the +ruling whereof in things to be done in the name of the whole, the number of +private suffrages doth prevail." "He was loth, too," he added, "to show his +displeasure, whereof he had so great cause ministered unto him, unto the +whole in general, whereas the fault perchance consisted and remained in +light and wilful heads," and he trusted that it might suffice if the +masters of the colleges used their private influence and authority[277] in +overcoming the opposition. For the effecting of this purpose, however, and +in order to lend weight to their persuasion, he assisted the convocation +towards a conclusion with the following characteristic missive:-- + +"To our trusty and well-beloved the heads of houses, doctors, and proctors +of our University of Oxford: + +"Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well; and of late being informed, to +our no little marvel and discontentation, that a great part of the youth of +that our university, with contentious and factious manner daily combining +together, neither regarding their duty to us their sovereign lord, nor yet +conforming themselves to the opinions and orders of the virtuous, wise, +sage, and profound learned men of that university, wilfully do stick upon +the opinion to have a great number of regents and non-regents to be +associate unto the doctors, proctors, and bachelors of divinity for the +determination of our question; which we believe hath not been often seen, +that such a number of right small learning in regard to the other should be +joined with so famous a sort, or in a manner stay their seniors in so +weighty a cause. And forasmuch as this, we think, should be no small +dishonour to our university there, but most especially to you the seniors +and rulers of the same; and as also, we assure you, this their unnatural +and unkind demeanour is not only right much to our displeasure, but much to +be marvelled of, upon what ground and occasion, they being our mere +subjects, should show themselves more unkind and wilful in this matter than +all other universities, both in this and all other regions do: we, trusting +in the dexterity and wisdom of you and other the said discreet and +substantial learned men of that university, be in perfect hope that ye will +conduce and frame the said young persons unto order and conformity as it +becometh you to do. Whereof we be desirous to hear with incontinent +diligence; and doubt you not we shall regard the demeanour of every one of +the university according to their merits and deserts. And if the youth of +the university will play masteries as they begin to do, we doubt not but +they shall well perceive that non est bonum irritare crabrones.[278] + +"Given under our hand and seal, at our Castle of Windsor, + +"HENRY R."[279] + +It is scarcely necessary to say, that, armed with this letter, the heads of +houses subdued the recalcitrance of the overhasty "youth;" and Oxford duly +answered as she was required to answer. + +The proceedings at Cambridge were not very dissimilar; but Cambridge being +distinguished by greater openness and largeness of mind on this as on the +other momentous subjects of the day than the sister university, was able to +preserve a more manly bearing, and escape direct humiliation. Cranmer had +written a book upon the divorce in the preceding year, which, as coming +from a well-known Cambridge man, had occasioned a careful ventilation of +the question there; the resident masters had been divided by it into +factions nearly equal in number, though unharmoniously composed. The heads +of houses, as at Oxford, were inclined to the king, but they were +embarrassed and divided by the presence on the same side of the suspected +liberals, the party of Shaxton, Latimer, and Cranmer himself. The agitation +of many months had rendered all members of the university, young and old, +so well acquainted (as they supposed) with the bearings of the difficulty, +that they naturally resisted, as at the other university, the demand that +their power should be delegated to a committee; and the Cambridge +convocation, as well as that of Oxford, threw out this resolution when it +was first proposed to them. A king's letter having made them more amenable, +a list of the intended committee was drawn out, which, containing Latimer's +name, occasioned a fresh storm. But the number in the senate house being +nearly divided, "the labour of certain friends" turned the scale; the vote +passed, and the committee was allowed, on condition that the question +should be argued publicly in the presence of the whole university. Finally, +judgment was obtained on the king's side, though in a less absolute form +than he had required, and the commissioners did not think it prudent to +press for a more extreme conclusion. They had been desired to pronounce +that the pope had no power to permit a man to marry his brother's widow. +They consented only to say that a marriage within those degrees was +contrary to the divine law; but the question of the pope's power was left +unapproached.[280] + +It will not be uninteresting to follow this judgment a further step, to the +delivery of it into the hands of the king, where it will introduce us to a +Sunday at Windsor Castle three centuries ago. We shall find present there, +as a significant symptom of the time, Hugh Latimer, appointed freshly +select preacher in the royal chapel, but already obnoxious to English +orthodoxy, on account of his Cambridge sermons. These sermons, it had been +said, contained many things good and profitable, "on sin, and godliness, +and virtue," but much also which was disrespectful to established beliefs, +the preacher being clearly opposed to "candles and pilgrimages," and +"calling men unto the works that God commanded in his Holy Scripture, all +dreams and unprofitable glosses set aside and utterly despised." The +preacher had, therefore, been cited before consistory courts and +interdicted by bishops, "swarms of friars and doctors flocking against +Master Latimer on every side."[281] This also was to be noted about him, +that he was one of the most fearless men who ever lived. Like John Knox, +whom he much resembled, in whatever presence he might be, whether of poor +or rich, of laymen or priests, of bishops or kings, he ever spoke out +boldly from his pulpit what he thought, directly if necessary to particular +persons whom he saw before him respecting their own actions. Even Henry +himself he did not spare where he saw occasion for blame; and Henry, of +whom it was said that he never was mistaken in a _man_--loving a _man_[282] +where he could find him with all his heart--had, notwithstanding, chosen +this Latimer as one of his own chaplains. + +The unwilling bearer of the Cambridge judgment was Dr. Buckmaster, the +vice-chancellor, who, in a letter to a friend, describes his reception at +the royal castle. + +"To the right worshipful Dr. Edmonds, vicar of Alborne, in Wiltshire, my +duty remembered,-- + +"I heartily commend me unto you, and I let you understand that yesterday +week, being Sunday at afternoon, I came to Windsor, and also to part of Mr. +Latimer's sermon; and after the end of the same I spake with Mr. Secretary +[Cromwell], and also with Mr. Provost; and so after evensong I delivered +our letters in the Chamber of Presence, all the court beholding. The king, +with Mr. Secretary, did there read them; and did then give me thanks and +talked with me a good while. He much lauded our wisdom and good conveyance +in the matter, with the great quietness in the same. He showed me also what +he had in his hands for our university, according to that which Mr. +Secretary did express unto us, and so he departed from me. But by and bye +he greatly praised Mr. Latimer's sermon; and in so praising said on this +wise: 'This displeaseth greatly Mr. Vice-Chancellor yonder; yon same,' said +he to the Duke of Norfolk, 'is Mr. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge,' and so +pointed unto me. Then he spake secretly unto the said duke, which, after +the king's departure, came unto me and welcomed me, saying, among other +things, the king would speak with me on the next day. And here is the first +act. On the next day I waited until it was dinner time; and so at the last +Dr. Butts, [king's physician,] came unto me, and brought a reward, twenty +nobles for me, and five marks for the junior proctor which was with me, +saying that I should take that for a resolute answer, and that I might +depart from the court when I would. Then came Mr. Provost, and when I had +shewed him of the answer, he said I should speak with the king after dinner +for all that, and so he brought me into a privy place where after dinner he +would have me wait. I came thither and he both; and by one of the clock the +king entered in. It was in a gallery. There were Mr. Secretary, Mr. +Provost, Mr. Latimer, Mr. Proctor, and I, and no more. The king then talked +with us until six of the clock. I assure you he was scarce contented with +Mr. Secretary and Mr. Provost, that this was not also determined, _an Papa +possit dispensare_. I made the best, and confirmed the same that they had +shewed his Grace before; and how it would never have been so obtained. He +opened his mind, saying he would have it determined after Easter, and of +the same was counselled awhile. + +"Much other communication we had, which were too long here to recite. Then +his Highness departed, casting a little holy water of the court; and I +shortly after took my leave of Mr. Secretary and Mr. Provost, with whom I +did not drink, nor yet was bidden, and on the morrow departed from thence, +thinking more than I did say, and being glad that I was out of the court, +where many men, as I did both hear and perceive, did wonder at me. And here +shall be an end for this time of this fable. + +"All the world almost crieth out of Cambridge for this act, and specially +on me; but I must bear it as well as I may. I have lost a benefice by it, +which I should have had within these ten days; for there hath one fallen in +Mr. Throgmorton's[283] gift which he hath faithfully promised unto me many +a time, but now his mind is turned and alienate from me. If ye go to court +after Easter I pray you have me in remembrance. Mr. Latimer preacheth +still,--quod aemuli ejus graviter ferunt. + +"Thus fare you well. Your own to his power, +WILLIAM BUCKMASTER.[284] +Cambridge, Monday after Easter, 1530." + +It does not appear that Cambridge was pressed further, and we may, +therefore, allow it to have acquitted itself creditably, If we sum up the +results of Cranmer's measure as a whole, it may be said that opinions had +been given by about half Europe directly or indirectly unfavourable to the +papal claims; and that, therefore, the king had furnished himself with a +legal pretext for declining the jurisdiction of the court of Rome, and +appealing to a general council. Objections to the manner in which the +opinions had been gained could be answered by recriminations equally just; +and in the technical aspect of the question a step had certainly been +gained. It will be thought, nevertheless, on wider grounds, that the +measure was a mistake; that it would have been far better if the legal +labyrinth had never been entered, and if the divorce had been claimed only +upon those considerations of policy for which it had been first demanded, +and which formed the true justification of it. Not only might a shameful +chapter of scandal have been spared out of the world's history, but the +point on which the battle was being fought lay beside the real issue. +Europe was shaken with intrigue, hundreds of books were written, and tens +of thousands of tongues were busy for twelve months weaving logical +subtleties, and all for nothing. The truth was left unspoken because it was +not convenient to speak it, and all parties agreed to persuade themselves +and accept one another's persuasions, that they meant something which they +did not mean. Beyond doubt the theological difficulty really affected the +king. We cannot read his own book[285] upon it without a conviction that +his arguments were honestly urged, that his misgivings were real, and that +he meant every word which he said. Yet it is clear at the same time that +these misgivings would not have been satisfied, if all the wisdom of the +world--pope, cardinals, councils, and all the learned faculties +together--had declared against him, the true secret of the matter lying +deeper, understood and appreciated by all the chief parties concerned, and +by the English laity, whose interests were at stake; but in all these +barren disputings ignored as if it had no existence. + +It was perhaps less easy than it seems to have followed the main road. The +bye ways often promise best at first entrance into them, and Henry's +peculiar temper never allowed him to believe beforehand that a track which +he had chosen could lead to any conclusion except that to which he had +arranged that it should lead. With an intellect endlessly fertile in +finding reasons to justify what he desired, he could see no justice on any +side but his own, or understand that it was possible to disagree with him +except from folly of ill-feeling. Starting always with a foregone +conclusion, he arrived of course where he wished to arrive. His "Glasse of +Truth" is a very picture of his mind. "If the marshall of the host bids us +do anything," he said, "shall we do it if it be against the great captain? +Again, if the great captain bid us do anything, and the king or the emperor +commandeth us to do another, dost thou doubt that we must obey the +commandment of the king or emperor, and contemn the commandment of the +great captain? Therefore if the king or the emperor bid one thing, and God +another, we must obey God, and contemn and not regard neither king nor +emperor." And, therefore, he argued, "we are not to obey the pope, when the +pope commands what is unlawful."[286] These were but many words to prove +what the pope would not have questioned; and either they concluded nothing +or the conclusion was assumed. + +We cannot but think that among the many misfortunes of Henry's life his +theological training was the greatest; and that directly or indirectly it +was the parent of all the rest. If in this unhappy business he had trusted +only to his instincts as an English statesman; if he had been contented +himself with the truth, and had pressed no arguments except those which in +the secrets of his heart had weight with him, he would have spared his own +memory a mountain of undeserved reproach, and have spared historians their +weary labour through these barren deserts of unreality. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CHURCH AND STATE + +The authorities of the church, after the lesson which they had received +from the parliament in its first session, were now allowed a respite of two +years, during which they might reconsider the complaints of the people, and +consult among themselves upon the conduct which they would pursue with +respect to those complaints. They availed themselves of their interval of +repose in a manner little calculated to recover the esteem which they had +forfeited, or to induce the legislature further to stay their hand. Instead +of reforming their own faults, they spent the time in making use of their +yet uncurtailed powers of persecution; and they wreaked the bitterness of +their resentment upon the unfortunate heretics, who paid with their blood +at the stake for the diminished revenues and blighted dignities of their +spiritual lords and superiors. During the later years of Wolsey's +administration, the Protestants, though threatened and imprisoned, had +escaped the most cruel consequences of their faith. Wolsey had been a +warm-hearted and genuine man, and although he had believed as earnestly as +his brother bishops, that Protestantism was a pernicious thing, destructive +alike to the institutions of the country and to the souls of mankind, his +memory can be reproached with nothing worse than assiduous but humane +efforts for the repression of it. In the three years which followed his +dismissal, a far more bloody page was written in the history of the +reformers; and under the combined auspices of Sir Thomas More's fanaticism, +and the spleen of the angry clergy, the stake re-commenced its hateful +activity. This portion of my subject requires a full and detailed +treatment; I reserve the account of it, therefore, for a separate chapter, +and proceed for the present with the progress of the secular changes. + +Although, as I said, no further legislative measures were immediately +contemplated against the clergy, yet they were not permitted to forget the +alteration in their position which had followed upon Wolsey's fall; and as +they had shown in the unfortunate document which they had submitted to the +king, so great a difficulty in comprehending the nature of that alteration, +it was necessary clearly and distinctly to enforce it upon them. Until that +moment they had virtually held the supreme power in the state. The +nobility, crippled by the wars of the Roses, had sunk into the second +place; the Commons were disorganised, or incapable of a definite policy; +and the chief offices of the government had fallen as a matter of course to +the only persons who for the moment were competent to hold them. The +jealousy of ecclesiastical encroachments, which had shown itself so +bitterly under the Plantagenets, had been superseded from the accession of +Henry VII. by a policy of studied conciliation, and the position of Wolsey +had but symbolised the position of his order. But Wolsey was now gone, and +the ecclesiastics who had shared his greatness while they envied it, were +compelled to participate also in his change of fortune. + +This great minister, after the failure of a discreditable effort to fasten +upon him a charge of high treason,--a charge which, vindictively pressed +through the House of Lords, was wisely rejected by the Commons,--had been +prosecuted with greater justice for a breach of the law, in having +exercised the authority of papal legate within the realm of England. His +policy had broken down: he had united against him in a common exasperation +all orders in the state, secular and spiritual; and the possible +consequences of his adventurous transgression had fallen upon him. The +parliaments of Edward I., Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV. had by a +series of statutes pronounced illegal all presentations by the pope to any +office or dignity in the Anglican church, under penalty of a premunire; the +provisions of these acts extending not only to the persons themselves who +accepted office under such conditions, but comprehending equally whoever +acknowledged their authority, "their executors, procurators, fautors, +maintainers, and receivers."[287] The importance attached to these laws was +to be seen readily in the frequent re-enactment of them, with language of +increasing vehemence; and although the primary object was to neutralise the +supposed right of the pope to present to English benefices, and although +the office of papal legate is not especially named in any one of the +prohibitory clauses, yet so acute a canonist as Wolsey could not have been +ignorant that it was comprehended under the general denunciation. The 5th +of the 16th of Richard II. was in fact explicitly universal in its +language, and dwelt especially on the importance of prohibiting the +exercise of any species of jurisdiction which could encroach on the royal +authority. He had therefore consciously violated a law on his own +responsibility, which he knew to exist, but which he perhaps trusted had +fallen into desuetude, and would not again be revived. It cannot be denied +that in doing so, being at the time the highest law officer of the crown, +he had committed a grave offence, and was justly liable to the full +penalties of the broken statute. He had received the royal permission, but +it was a plea which could not have availed him, and he did not attempt to +urge it.[288] The contingency of a possible violation of the law by the +king himself had been expressly foreseen and provided against in the act +under which he was prosecuted,[289] and being himself the king's legal +adviser, it was his duty to have kept his sovereign[290] informed of the +true nature of the statute. He had neglected this, his immediate +obligation, in pursuit of the interests of the church, and when Henry's +eyes were opened, he did not consider himself called upon to interfere to +shield his minister from the penalties which he had incurred, nor is it +likely that in the face of the irritation of the country he could have done +so if he had desired. It was felt, indeed, that the long services of +Wolsey, and his generally admirable administration, might fairly save him +(especially under the circumstances of the case) from extremity of +punishment; and if he had been allowed to remain unmolested in the affluent +retirement which was at first conceded to him, his treatment would not have +caused the stain which we have now to lament on the conduct of the +administration which succeeded his fall. He indeed himself believed that +the final attack upon him was due to no influence of rival statesmen, but +to the hatred of Anne Boleyn; and perhaps he was not mistaken. This, +however, is a matter which does not concern us here, and I need not pursue +it. It is enough that he had violated the law of England, openly and +knowingly, and on the revival of the national policy by which that law had +been enacted, he reaped the consequences in his own person. + +It will be a question whether we can equally approve of the enlarged +application of the statute which immediately followed. The guilt of Wolsey +did not rest with himself; it extended to all who had recognised him in his +capacity of legate; to the archbishops and bishops, to the two Houses of +Convocation, to the Privy Council, to the Lords and Commons, and indirectly +to the nation itself. It was obvious that such a state of things was not +contemplated by the act under which he was tried, and where in point of law +all persons were equally guilty, in equity they were equally innocent; the +circumstances of the case, therefore, rendered necessary a general pardon, +which was immediately drawn out. The government, however, while granting +absolution to the nation, determined to make some exceptions in their +lenity; and harsh as their resolution appeared, it is not difficult to +conjecture the reasons which induced them to form it. The higher clergy had +been encouraged by Wolsey's position to commit those excessive acts of +despotism which had created so deep animosity among the people. The +overthrow of the last ecclesiastical minister was an opportunity to teach +them that the privileges which they had abused were at an end; and as the +lesson was so difficult for them to learn, the letter of the law which they +had broken was put in force to quicken their perceptions. They were to be +punished indirectly for their other evil doings, and forced to surrender +some portion of the unnumbered exactions which they had extorted from the +helplessness of their flocks. + +In pursuance of this resolution, therefore, official notice was issued in +December, 1530, that the clergy lay all under a premunire, and that the +crown intended to prosecute. Convocation was to meet in the middle of +January, and this comforting fact was communicated to the bishops in order +to divert their attention to subjects which might profitably occupy their +deliberations. The church legislature had sate in the preceding years +contemporaneously with the sitting of parliament, at the time when their +privileges were being discussed, and when their conduct had been so angrily +challenged: but these matters had not disturbed their placid equanimity: +and while the bishops were composing their answer to the House of Commons, +Convocation had been engaged in debating the most promising means of +persecuting heretics and preventing the circulation of the Bible.[291] The +session had continued into the spring of 1529-30, when the king had been +prevailed upon to grant an order in council prohibiting Tyndale's +Testament, in the preface of which the clergy were spoken of +disrespectfully.[292] His consent had been obtained with great difficulty, +on the representation of the bishops that the translation was faulty, and +on their undertaking themselves to supply the place of it with a corrected +version. But in obtaining the order, they supposed themselves to have +gained a victory; and their triumph was celebrated in St. Paul's churchyard +with an auto da fe, over which the Bishop of London consented to preside; +when such New Testaments as the diligence of the apparitors could discover, +were solemnly burned. + +From occupation such as this a not unwholesome distraction was furnished by +the intimation of the premunire; and that it might produce its due effect, +it was accompanied with the further information that the clergy of the +province of Canterbury would receive their pardon only upon payment of a +hundred thousand pounds--a very considerable fine, amounting to more than a +million of our money. Eighteen thousand pounds was required simultaneously +from the province of York; and the whole sum was to be paid in instalments +spread over a period of five years.[293] The demand was serious, but the +clergy had no alternative but to submit or to risk the chances of the law; +and feeling that, with the people so unfavourably disposed towards them, +they had no chance of a more equitable construction of their position, they +consented with a tolerable grace, the Upper House of Convocation first, the +Lower following. Their debates upon the subject have not been preserved. It +was probably difficult to persuade them that they were treated with +anything but the most exquisite injustice; since Wolsey's legatine +faculties had been the object of their general dread; and if he had +remained in power, the religious orders would have been exposed to a +searching visitation in virtue of these faculties, from which they could +have promised themselves but little advantage. But their punishment, if +tyrannical in form, was equitable in substance, and we can reconcile +ourselves without difficulty to an act of judicial confiscation. + +The money, however, was not the only concession which the threat of the +premunire gave opportunity to extort; and it is creditable to the clergy +that the demand which they showed most desire to resist was not that which +most touched their personal interests. In the preamble of the subsidy bill, +under which they were to levy their ransom, they were required by the +council to designate the king by the famous title which gave occasion for +such momentous consequences, of "Protector and only Supreme Head of the +Church and Clergy of England."[294] It is not very easy to see what Henry +proposed to himself by requiring this designation, at so early a stage in +the movement. The breach with the pope was still distant, and he was +prepared to make many sacrifices before he would even seriously contemplate +a step which he so little desired. It may have been designed as a reply to +the papal censures: it may have been to give effect to his own menaces, +which Clement to the last believed to be no more than words;[295] or +perhaps (and this is the most likely) he desired by some emphatic act, to +make his clergy understand the relation in which thenceforward they were to +be placed towards the temporal authority. It is certain only that this +title was not intended to imply what it implied when, four years later, it +was conferred by act Of parliament, and when virtually England was severed +by it from the Roman communion. + +But whatever may have been the king's motive, he was serious in requiring +that the title should be granted to him. Only by acknowledging Henry as +Head of the Church should the clergy receive their pardon, and the longer +they hesitated, the more peremptorily he insisted on their obedience. The +clergy had defied the lion, and the lion held them in his grasp; and they +could but struggle helplessly, supplicate and submit. Archbishop Warham, +just drawing his life to a close, presided for the last time in the +miserable scene, imagining that the clouds were gathering for the storms of +the latter day, and that Antichrist was coming in his power. + +There had been a debate of three days, whether they should or should not +consent, when, on the 9th of February, a deputation of the judges appeared +in Convocation, to ask whether the Houses were agreed, and to inform them +finally that the king had determined to allow no qualifications. The clergy +begged for one more day, and the following morning the bishops held a +private meeting among themselves, to discuss some plan to turn aside the +blow. They desired to see Cromwell, to learn, perhaps, if there was a +chance of melting the hard heart of Henry; and after an interview with the +minister which could not have been encouraging, they sent two of their +number, the Bishops of Exeter and Lincoln, to attempt the unpromising task. +It was in vain; the miserable old men were obliged to return with the +answer that the king would not see them--they had seen only the judges, who +had assured them, in simple language, that the pardon was not to be settled +until the supremacy was admitted. The answer was communicated to the House, +and again "debated." Submission was against the consciences of the unhappy +clergy; to obey their consciences involved forfeiture of property; and +naturally in such a dilemma they found resolution difficult. They attempted +another appeal, suggesting that eight of their number should hold a +conference with the privy council, and "discover, if they might, some +possible expedient." But Henry replied, as before, that he would have a +clear answer, "_yes_, or _no_." They might say "yes," and their pardon was +ready. They might say "no"--and accept the premunire and its penalties. And +now, what should the clergy have done? No very great courage was required +to answer, "This thing is wrong; it is against God's will, and therefore it +must not be, whether premunire come or do not come." They might have said +it, and if they could have dared this little act of courage, victory was in +their hands. With the cause against them so doubtful, their very attitude +would have commanded back the sympathies of half the nation, and the king's +threats would have exploded as an empty sound. But Henry knew the persons +with whom he had to deal--forlorn shadows, decked in the trappings of +dignity--who only by some such rough method could be brought to a knowledge +of themselves. "Shrink to the clergy"--I find in a state paper of the +time--"Shrink to the clergy, and they be lions; lay their faults roundly +and charitably to them, and they be as sheep, and will lightly be reformed, +for their consciences will not suffer them to resist."[296] + +They hesitated for another night. The day following, the archbishop +submitted the clause containing the title to the Upper House, with a saving +paragraph, which, as Burnet sententiously observes, the nature of things +did require to be supposed.[297] "Ecclesiae et cleri Anglicani," so it ran, +"singularem protectorem, et unicum et supremum Dominum, et quantum per +legem Christi licet, etiam supremum caput ipsius Majestatem agnoscimus--We +recognise the King's Majesty to be our only sovereign lord, the singular +protector of the church and clergy of England, and as far as is allowed by +the law of Christ, also as our Supreme Head." The words were read aloud by +the archbishop, and were received in silence. "Do you assent?" he asked. +The House remained speechless. "Whoever is silent seems to consent," the +archbishop said. A voice answered out of the crowd, "Then are we all +silent." They separated for a few hours to collect themselves. In the +afternoon sitting they discussed the sufficiency of the subterfuge; and at +length agreeing that it saved their consciences, the clause was finally +passed, the Bishop of Rochester, among the rest, giving his unwilling +acquiescence. + +So for the present terminated this grave matter. The pardon was immediately +submitted to parliament, where it was embodied in a statute;[298] and this +act of dubious justice accomplished, the Convocation was allowed to return +to its usual occupations, and continue the prosecutions of the heretics. + +The House of Commons, during their second session, had confined themselves +meanwhile to secular business. They had been concerned chiefly with +regulations affecting trade and labour; and the proceedings on the +premunire being thought for the time to press sufficiently on the clergy, +they deferred the further prosecution of their own complaints till the +following year. Two measures, however, highly characteristic of the age, +must not be passed over, one of which concerned a matter that must have +added heavily to the troubles of the Bishop of Rochester at a time when he +was in no need of any addition to his burdens. + +Fisher was the only one among the prelates for whom it is possible to feel +respect. He was weak, superstitious, pedantical; towards the Protestants he +was even cruel; but he was a singlehearted man, who lived in honest fear of +evil, so far as he understood what evil was; and he alone could rise above +the menaces of worldly suffering, under which his brethren on the bench +sank so rapidly into meekness and submission. We can therefore afford to +compassionate him in the unexpected calamity by which he was overtaken, and +which must have tried his failing spirit in no common manner. + +He lived, while his duties required his presence in London, at a house in +Lambeth, and being a hospitable person, he opened his doors at the dinner +hour for the poor of the neighbourhood. Shortly after the matter which I +have just related, many of these people who were dependent on his bounty +were reported to have become alarmingly ill, and several gentlemen of the +household sickened also in the same sudden and startling manner. One of +these gentlemen died, and a poor woman also died; and it was discovered on +inquiry that the yeast which had been used in various dishes had been +poisoned. The guilty person was the cook, a certain Richard Rouse; and +inasmuch as all crimes might be presumed to have had motives, and the +motive in the present instance was undiscoverable, it was conjectured by +Queen Catherine's friends that he had been bribed by Anne Boleyn, or by +some one of her party, to remove out of the way the most influential of the +English opponents of the divorce.[299] The story was possibly without +foundation, although it is not unlikely that Fisher himself believed it. +The shock of such an occurrence may well have unsettled his powers of +reasoning, and at all times he was a person whose better judgment was +easily harassed into incapacity. The origin of the crime, however, is of +less importance than the effect of the discovery upon the nation, in whom +horror of the action itself absorbed every other feeling. Murder of this +kind was new in England. Ready as the people ever were with sword or +lance--incurably given as they were to fighting in the best ordered +times--an Englishman was accustomed to face his enemy, man to man, in the +open day; and the Italian crime (as it was called) of poisoning had not +till recent years been heard of.[300] Even revenge and passion recognised +their own laws of honour and fair play; and the cowardly ferocity which +would work its vengeance in the dark, and practise destruction by wholesale +to implicate one hated person in the catastrophe, was a new feature of +criminality. Occurring in a time so excited, when all minds were on the +stretch, and imaginations were feverish with fancies, it appeared like a +frightful portent, some prodigy of nature, or enormous new birth of +wickedness, not to be received or passed by as a common incident, and not +to be dealt with by the process of ordinary law. Parliament undertook the +investigation, making it the occasion, when the evidence was completed, of +a special statute, so remarkable that I quote it in its detail and wording. +The English were a stern people--a people knowing little of compassion +where no lawful ground existed for it; but they were possessed of an awful +and solemn horror of evil things,--a feeling which, in proportion as it +exists, inevitably and necessarily issues in tempers of iron. The stern man +is ever the most tender when good remains amidst evil, and is still +contending with it; but we purchase compassion for utter wickedness only by +doubting in our hearts whether wickedness is more than misfortune. + +"The King's royal Majesty," says the 9th of the 22nd of Henry VIII., +"calling to his most blessed remembrance that the making of good and +wholesome laws, and due execution of the same against the offenders +thereof, is the only cause that good obedience and order hath been +preserved in this realm; and his Highness having most tender zeal for the +same, considering that man's life above all things is chiefly to be +favoured, and voluntary murders most highly to be detested and abhorred; +and specially all kinds of murders by poisoning, which in this realm +hitherto, our Lord be thanked, hath been most rare and seldom committed or +practised: and now, in the time of this present parliament, that is to say, +on the eighteenth day of February, in the twenty-second year of his most +victorious reign, one Richard Rouse, late of Rochester, in the county of +Kent, cook, otherwise called Richard Cook, of his most wicked and damnable +disposition, did cast a certain venom or poison into a vessel replenished +with yeast or barm, standing in the kitchen of the reverend father in God, +John Bishop of Rochester, at his place in Lambeth Marsh; with which yeast +or barm, and other things convenient, porridge or gruel was forthwith made +for his family there being; whereby not only the number of seventeen +persons of his said family, which did eat of that porridge, were mortally +infected or poisoned, and one of them, that is to say, Bennet Curwan, +gentleman, is thereof deceased; but also certain poor people which resorted +to the said bishop's place, and were there charitably fed with the remains +of the said porridge and other victuals; were in like wise infected; and +one poor woman of them, that is to say, Alice Tryppitt, widow, is also +thereof now deceased: Our said sovereign lord the king, of his blessed +disposition inwardly abhorring all such abominable offences, because that +in manner no person can live in surety out of danger of death by that +means, if practices thereof should not be eschewed, hath ordained and +enacted by authority of this present parliament, that the said poisoning be +adjudged and deemed as high treason; and that the said Richard, for the +said murder and poisoning of the said two persons, shall stand and be +attainted of high treason. + +"And because that detestable offence, now newly practised and committed, +requireth condign punishment for the same, it is ordained and enacted by +authority of this present parliament that the said Richard Rouse shall be +therefore boiled to death, without having any advantage of his clergy; and +that from henceforth every wilful murder of any person or persons hereafter +to be committed or done by means or way of poisoning, shall be reputed, +deemed, and judged in the law to be high treason; and that all and every +person or persons which shall hereafter be indicted and condemned by order +of the law of such treason, shall not be admitted to the benefit of his or +their clergy, but shall be immediately after such attainder or +condemnation, committed to execution of death by boiling for the same." + +The sentence was carried into effect[301] in Smithfield, "on the tenebra +Wednesday following, to the terrible example of all others." The spectacle +of a living human being boiled to death, was really witnessed three hundred +years ago by the London citizens, within the walls of that old +cattle-market; an example terrible indeed, the significance of which is not +easily to be exhausted. For the poisoners of the soul there was the +stake,[302] for the poisoners of the body, the boiling cauldron,--the two +most fearful punishments for the most fearful of crimes. The stake at which +the heretic suffered was an inherited institution descending through the +usage of centuries; the poisoner's cauldron was the fresh expression of the +judgment of the English nation on a novel enormity; and I have called +attention to it because the temper which this act exhibits is the key to +all which has seemed most dark and cruel in the rough years which followed; +a temper which would keep no terms with evil, or with anything which, +rightly or wrongly, was believed to be evil, but dreadfully and inexorably +hurried out the penalties of it. + +Following the statute against poisoning, there stands "an act for the +banishment out of the country of divers outlandish and vagabond people +called Egyptians;"[303] and attached to it another of analogous import, +"for the repression of beggars and vagabonds," the number of whom, it was +alleged, was increasing greatly throughout the country, and much crime and +other inconveniences were said to have been occasioned by them. We may +regard these two measures, if we please, as a result of the energetic and +reforming spirit in the parliament, which was dragging into prominence all +forms of existing disorders, and devising remedies for those disorders. But +they indicate something more than this: they point to the growth of a +disturbed and restless disposition, the interruption of industry, and other +symptoms of approaching social confusion; and at the same time they show us +the government conscious of the momentous nature of the struggle into which +it was launched; and with timely energy bracing up the sinews of the nation +for its approaching trial. The act against the gipsies especially, +illustrates one of the most remarkable features of the times. The air was +impregnated with superstition; in a half consciousness of the impending +changes, all men were listening with wide ears to rumours and prophecies +and fantastic fore-shadowings of the future; and fanaticism, half deceiving +and half itself deceived, was grasping the lever of the popular excitement +to work out its own ends.[304] The power which had ruled the hearts of +mankind for ten centuries was shaking suddenly to its foundation. The +Infallible guidance of the Church was failing; its light gone out, or +pronounced to be but a mere deceitful ignis fatuus; and men found +themselves wandering in darkness, unknowing where to turn or what to think +or believe. It was easy to clamour against the spiritual courts. From men +smarting under the barefaced oppression of that iniquitous jurisdiction, +the immediate outcry rose without ulterior thought; but unexpectedly the +frail edifice of the church itself threatened under the attack to crumble +into ruins; and many gentle hearts began to tremble and recoil when they +saw what was likely to follow on their light beginnings. It was true that +the measures as yet taken by the parliament and the crown professed to be +directed, not to the overthrow of the church, but to the re-establishment +of its strength. But the exulting triumph of the Protestants, the promotion +of Latimer to a royal chaplaincy, the quarrel with the papacy, and a dim +but sure perception of the direction in which the stream was flowing, +foretold to earnest Catholics a widely different issue; and the simplest of +them knew better than the court knew, that they were drifting from the sure +moorings of the faith into the broad ocean of uncertainty. There seems, +indeed, to be in religious men, whatever be their creed, and however +limited their intellectual power, a prophetic faculty of insight into the +true bearings of outward things,--an insight which puts to shame the +sagacity of statesmen, and claims for the sons of God, and only for them, +the wisdom even of the world. Those only read the world's future truly who +have faith in principle, as opposed to faith in human dexterity; who feel +that in human things there lies really and truly a spiritual nature, a +spiritual connection, a spiritual tendency, which the wisdom of the serpent +cannot alter, and scarcely can affect. + +Excitement, nevertheless, is no guarantee for the understanding; and these +instincts, powerful as they are, may be found often in minds wild and +chaotic, which, although they vaguely foresee the future, yet have no power +of sound judgment, and know not what they foresee, or how wisely to +estimate it. Their wisdom, if we may so use the word, combines crudely with +any form of superstition or fanaticism. Thus in England, at the time of +which we are speaking, Catholics and Protestants had alike their horoscope +of the impending changes, each nearer to the truth than the methodical +calculations of the statesmen; yet their foresight did not affect their +convictions, or alter the temper of their hearts. They foresaw the same +catastrophe, yet their faith still coloured the character of it. To the one +it was the advent of Antichrist, to the other the inauguration of the +millennium. The truest hearted men on all sides were deserted by their +understandings at the moment when their understandings were the most deeply +needed: and they saw the realities which were round them transfigured into +phantoms through the mists of their hopes and fears. The present was +significant only as it seemed in labour with some gigantic issue, and the +events of the outer world flew from lip to lip, taking as they passed every +shape most wild and fantastical. Until "the king's matter" was decided, +there was no censorship upon speech, and all tongues ran freely on the +great subjects of the day. Every parish pulpit rang with the divorce, or +with the perils of the Catholic faith; at every village ale-house, the talk +was of St. Peter's keys, the sacrament, or of the pope's supremacy, or of +the points in which a priest differed from a layman. Ostlers quarrelled +over such questions as they groomed their masters' horses; old women +mourned across the village shopboards of the evil days which were come or +coming; while every kind of strangest superstition, fairy stories and witch +stories, stories of saints and stories of devils, were woven in and out and +to and fro, like quaint, bewildering arabesques, in the tissue of the +general imagination.[305] + +These were the forces which were working on the surface of the English +mind; while underneath, availing themselves skilfully of the excitement, +the agents of the disaffected among the clergy, or the friars mendicant, +who to a man were devoted to the pope and to Queen Catherine, passed up and +down the country, denouncing the divorce, foretelling ruin, disaster, and +the wrath of God; and mingling with their prophecies more than dubious +language on the near destruction or deposition of a prince who was opposing +God and Heaven. The soil was manured by treason, and the sowers made haste +to use their opportunity. Thus especially was there danger in those +wandering encampments of "outlandish people," whose habits rendered them +the ready-made missionaries of sedition; whose swarthy features might hide +a Spanish heart, and who in telling fortunes might readily dictate +policy.[306] Under the disguise of gipsies, the emissaries of the emperor +or the pope might pass unsuspected from the Land's End to +Berwick-upon-Tweed, penetrating the secrets of families, tying the links of +the Catholic organisation: and in the later years of the struggle, as the +intrigues became more determined and a closer connection was established +between the Continental powers and the disaffected English, it became +necessary to increase the penalty against these irregular wanderers from +banishment to death. As yet, however, the milder punishment was held +sufficient, and even this was imperfectly enforced.[307] The tendencies to +treason were still incipient--they were tendencies only, which had as yet +shown themselves in no decisive acts; the future was uncertain, the action +of the government doubtful. The aim was rather to calm down the excitement +of the people, and to extinguish with as little violence as possible the +means by which it was fed. + +Ominous symptoms of eccentric agitation, however, began to take shape in +the confusion, A preacher, calling himself the favourite of the Virgin +Mary, had started up at Edinburgh, professing miraculous powers of +abstinence from food. This man was sent by James V. to Rome, where, after +having been examined by Clement, and having sufficiently proved his +mission, he was furnished with a priest's habit and a certificate under +leaden seal.[308] Thus equipped, he went a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and +loaded himself with palm-leaves and with stones from the pillar at which +Christ was scourged; and from thence making his way to England, he appeared +at Paul's Cross an evident saint and apostle, cursing the king and his +divorce, denouncing his apostacy, and threatening the anger of Heaven. He +was arrested and thrown into prison, where he remained, as it was believed, +fifty days without food, or fed in secret by the Virgin, At the close of +the time the government thought it prudent to send him back to Scotland, +without further punishment.[309] + +Another more famous prophetess was then in the zenith of her +reputation--the celebrated Nun of Kent--whose cell at Canterbury, for some +three years, was the Delphic shrine of the Catholic oracle, from which the +orders of Heaven were communicated even to the pope himself. This singular +woman seems for a time to have held in her hand the balance of the fortunes +of England. By the papal party she was universally believed to be inspired. +Wolsey believed it, Warham believed it, the bishops believed it, Queen +Catherine believed it, Sir Thomas More's philosophy was no protection to +him against the same delusion; and finally, she herself believed the world, +when she found the world believed in her. Her story is a psychological +curiosity; and, interwoven as it was with the underplots of the time, we +cannot observe it too accurately. + +In the year 1525, there lived in the parish of Aldington, in Kent, a +certain Thomas Cobb, bailiff or steward to the Archbishop of Canterbury, +who possessed an estate there. Among the servants of this Thomas Cobb was a +country girl called Elizabeth Barton--a decent person, so far as we can +learn, but of mere ordinary character, and until that year having shown +nothing unusual in her temperament. She was then attacked, however, by some +internal disease; and after many months of suffering, she was reduced into +that abnormal and singular condition, in which she exhibited the phenomena +known to modern wonder-seekers as those of somnambulism or clairvoyance. +The scientific value of such phenomena is still undetermined, but that they +are not purely imaginary is generally agreed. In the histories of all +countries and of all times, we are familiar with accounts of young women of +bad health and irritable nerves, who have exhibited at recurring periods +certain unusual powers; and these exhibitions have had especial attraction +for superstitious persons, whether they have believed in God, or in the +devil, or in neither. A further feature also uniform in such cases, has +been that a small element of truth may furnish a substructure for a +considerable edifice of falsehood; human credulity being always an +insatiable faculty, and its powers being unlimited when once the path of +ordinary experience has been transcended. We have seen in our own time to +what excesses occurrences of this kind may tempt the belief, even when +defended with the armour of science. In the sixteenth century, when +demoniacal possession was the explanation usually received even of ordinary +insanity, we can well believe that the temptation must have been great to +recognise supernatural agency in a manifestation far more uncommon; and +that the difficulty of retaining the judgment in a position of equipoise +must have been very great not only to the spectators but still more to the +subject of the phenomenon herself. To sustain ourselves continuously under +the influence of reason, even when our faculties are preserved in their +natural balance, is a task too hard for most of us. We cannot easily make +too great allowance for the moral derangement likely to follow, when a weak +girl suddenly found herself possessed of powers which she was unable to +understand. Bearing this in mind, for it is only just that we should do so, +we continue the story. + +This Elizabeth Barton, then, "in the trances, of which she had divers and +many,[310] consequent upon her illness, told wondrously things done and +said in other places whereat she was neither herself present, nor yet had +heard no report thereof." To simple-minded people who believed in Romanism +and the legends of the saints, the natural explanation of such a marvel +was, that she must be possessed either by the Holy Ghost or by the devil. +The archbishop's bailiff, not feeling himself able to decide in a case of +so much gravity, called in the advice of the parish priest, one Richard +Masters; and together they observed carefully all that fell from her. The +girl had been well disposed, as the priest probably knew. She had been +brought up religiously; and her mind running upon what was most familiar to +it, "she spake words of marvellous holyness in rebuke of sin and +vice;"[311] or, as another account says, "she spake very godly certain +things concerning the seven deadly sins and the Ten Commandments."[312] +This seemed satisfactory as to the source of the inspiration. It was +clearly not a devil that spoke words against sin, and therefore, as there +was no other alternative, it was plain that God had visited her. Her powers +were assuredly from heaven; and it was plain, also, by a natural sequence +of reasoning, that she held some divine commission, of which her +clairvoyance was the miracle in attestation. + +An occurrence of such moment was not to be kept concealed in the parish of +Aldington. The priest mounted his horse, and rode to Lambeth with the news +to the Archbishop of Canterbury; and the story having lost nothing of its +marvel by the way,[313] the archbishop, who was fast sinking into dotage, +instead of ordering a careful inquiry, and appointing some competent person +to conduct it, listened with greedy interest; he assured Father Richard +that "the speeches which she had spoken came of God; and bidding him keep +him diligent account of all her utterances, directed him to inform her in +his name that she was not to refuse or hide the goodness and works of God." +Cobb, the bailiff, being encouraged by such high authority, would not keep +any longer in his kitchen a prophetess with the archbishop's imprimatur +upon her; and as soon as the girl was sufficiently recovered from her +illness to leave her bed, he caused her to sit at his own mess with his +mistress and the parson.[314] The story spread rapidly through the country; +inquisitive foolish people came about her to try her skill with questions; +and her illness, as she subsequently confessed, having then left her, and +as only her reputation was remaining, she bethought herself whether it +might not be possible to preserve it a little longer. "Perceiving herself +to be much made of, to be magnified and much set by, by reason of trifling +words spoken unadvisedly by idleness of her brain, she conceived in her +mind that having so good success, and furthermore from so small an occasion +and nothing to be esteemed, she might adventure further to enterprise and +essay what she could do, being in good advisement and remembrance."[315] +Her fits no longer recurred naturally, but she was able to reproduce either +the reality or the appearance of them; and she continued to improvise her +oracles with such ability as she could command, and with tolerable success. + +In this undertaking she was speedily provided with an efficient coadjutor. +The Catholic church had for some time been unproductive of miracles, and as +heresy was raising its head and attracting converts, so opportune an +occurrence was not to be allowed to sleep. The archbishop sent his +comptroller to the Prior of Christ Church at Canterbury, with directions +that two monks whom he especially named, Doctor Bocking, the cellarer, and +Dan William Hadley, should go to Aldington to observe.[316] At first, not +knowing what was before them, both prior and monks were unwilling to meddle +with the matter.[317] They submitted, however, "from the obedience which +they owed unto their lord;" and they had soon reason to approve the +correctness of the archbishop's judgment. Bocking, selected no doubt from +previous knowledge of his qualities, was a man devoted to his order, and +not over-scrupulous as to the means by which he furthered the interests of +it. With instinctive perception he discovered material in Elizabeth Barton +too rich to be allowed to waste itself in a country village. Perhaps he +partially himself believed in her, but he was more anxious to ensure the +belief of others, and he therefore set himself to assist her inspiration +towards more effective utterance. Conversing with her in her intervals of +quiet, he discovered that she was wholly ignorant, and unprovided with any +stock of mental or imaginative furniture; and that consequently her +prophecies were without body, and too indefinite to be theologically +available. This defect he remedied by instructing her in the Catholic +legends, and by acquainting her with the revelations of St. Brigitt and St. +Catherine of Sienna.[318] In these women she found an enlarged reflection +of herself; the details of their visions enriched her imagery; and being +provided with these fair examples, she was able to shape herself into +fuller resemblance with the traditionary model of the saints. + +As she became more proficient, Father Bocking extended his lessons to the +Protestant controversy, initiating his pupil into the mysteries of +justification, sacramental grace, and the power of the keys. The ready +damsel redelivered his instructions to the world in her moments of +possession; and the world discovered a fresh miracle in the inspired wisdom +of the untaught peasant. Lists of these pregnant sayings were +forwarded[319] regularly to the archbishop, which still possibly lie +mouldering in the Lambeth library, to be discovered by curious antiquaries. +It is idle to inquire how far she was yet conscious of her falsehood. +Conscious wilful deception lies far down the road in a course of this kind; +and supported by the assurance of an archbishop, she was in all likelihood +deep in lying before she actually knew it. Fanaticism and deceit are +strangely near relations to each other, and the deceiver is often the +person first deceived, and the last who is aware of the imposture. + +The instructions of the Father had made her acquainted with many stories of +miraculous cures. The Catholic saints followed the type of the apostles, +and to heal diseases by supernatural means was a more orthodox form of +credential than clairvoyance or second sight. Being now cured of her real +disorder, yet able to counterfeit the appearance of it, she could find no +difficulty in arranging in her own case a miracle of the established kind, +and so striking an incident would answer a further end. In the parish was a +chapel of the Virgin, which was a place of pilgrimage; the pilgrims added +something to the income of the priest; and if, by a fresh demonstration of +the Virgin's presence at the favoured spot, the number of these pilgrims +could be increased, they would add more. For both reasons, therefore, the +miracle was desired; and the priest and the monk were agreed that any means +were justifiable which would encourage the devotion of the people.[320] +Accordingly, the girl announced, in one of her trances, that "she would +never take health of her body till such time as she had visited the image +of our Lady" in that chapel. The Virgin had herself appeared to her, she +said, and had fixed a day for her appearance there, and had promised that +on her obedience she would present herself in person and take away her +disorder.[321] The day came; and as (under the circumstances) there was no +danger of failure, the holy fathers had collected a vast concourse of +people to witness the marvel. The girl was conducted to the chapel by a +procession of more than two thousand persons, headed by the monk, the +clergyman, and many other religious persons, the whole multitude "singing +the Litany and saying divers psalms and orations by the way." + +"And when she was brought thither[322] and laid before the image of our +Lady, her face was wonderfully disfigured, her tongue hanging out, and her +eyes being in a manner plucked out and laid upon her cheeks, and so greatly +deformed. There was then heard a voice speaking within her belly, as it had +been in a tonne, her lips not greatly moving: she all that while continuing +by the space of three hours or more in a trance. The which voice, when it +told of anything of the joys of heaven, spake so sweetly and so heavenly, +that every man was ravished with the hearing thereof; and contrarywise, +when it told anything of hell, it spake so horribly and terribly, that it +put the hearers in a great fear. It spake also many things for the +confirmation of pilgrimages and trentals, hearing of masses and confession, +and many other such things. And after she had lyen there a long time, she +came to herself again, and was perfectly whole. So this miracle was +finished and solemnly sung; and a book was written of all the whole story +thereof, and put into print; which ever since that time was commonly sold, +and went abroad among the people." + +The miracle successfully accomplished, the residence at Aldington was no +longer adapted for an acknowledged and favoured saint. The Virgin informed +her that she was to leave the bailiff and devote herself to her exclusive +service. She was to be Sister Elizabeth, and her especial favourite; and +Father Bocking was to be her spiritual father. The priory of St. +Sepulchre's, Canterbury, was chosen for the place of her profession; and as +soon as she was established in her cell, she became a recognised priestess +or prophetess, alternately communicating revelations, or indulging the +curiosity of foolish persons, and for both services consenting to be paid. +The church had by this time spread her reputation through England. The book +of her oracles, which extended soon to a considerable volume, was shown by +Archbishop Warham to the king, who sent it to Sir Thomas More, desiring him +to look at it. More's good sense had not yet forsaken him; he pronounced it +"a right poor production, such as any simple woman might speak of her own +wit;"[323] and Henry himself "esteemed the matter as light as it afterwards +proved lewd." But the world were less critical censors: the saintly halo +was round her head, and her most trivial words caught the reflection of the +glory, and seemed divine. "Divers and many, as well great men of the realm +as mean men, and many learned men, but specially many religious men, had +great confidence in her, and often resorted to her."[324] They "consulted +her much as to the will of God touching the heresies and schisms in the +realm;" and when the dispute arose between the bishops and the House of +Commons, they asked her what judgment there was in heaven "on the taking +away the liberties of the church;" to which questions her answers, being +dictated by her confessor, were all which the most eager churchman could +desire. Her position becoming more and more determined, the eccentric +periods of her earlier visions subsided into regularity. Once a fortnight +she was taken up into heaven into the presence of God and the saints, with +heavenly lights, heavenly voices, heavenly melodies and joys. The place of +ascent was usually the priory chapel, to which it was essential, therefore, +that she should have continual access: and she was allowed, in consequence, +to pass the dormitory door when she pleased--a privilege of which the +Statute uncharitably hints that she availed herself for a less respectable +purpose. But whatever was her secret conduct, her outward behaviour was in +full keeping with her language and profession. She related many startling +stories, not always of the most decent kind, of the attempts which the +devil made to lead her astray. The devil and the angels were in fact +alternate visitors to her cell, and the former, on one occasion, burnt a +mark upon her hand, which she exhibited publicly, and to which the monks +were in the habit of appealing, when there were any signs of scepticism in +the visitors to the priory. On the occasion of these infernal visits, +"great stinking smokes" were seen to issue from her chamber, "savouring +grievously through all the dorture;" with which, however, it was suspected +subsequently that a paper of brimstone and assafoetida, found among her +property after her arrest, had been in some way connected. We smile at +these stories, looking back at them with eyes enlightened by scientific +scepticism; but they furnished matter for something else than smiles when +the accounts of them could be exhibited by the clergy as a living proof of +the credibility of the Aurea Legenda,--when the subject of them could be +held up as a witness, accredited by miracles, to the truth of the old +faith, a living evidence to shame the incredulity of the Protestant +sectaries. She became a figure of great and singular significance; a "wise +woman," to whom persons of the highest rank were not ashamed to have +recourse to inquire of her the will of God, and to ask the benefit of her +intercessory prayers, for which also they did not fail to pay at a rate +commensurate with their credulity.[325] + +This position the Nun of Kent, as she was now called, had achieved for +herself, when the divorce question was first agitated. The monks at the +Canterbury priory, of course, eagerly espoused the side of the queen, and +the Nun's services were at once in active requisition. Absurd as the +stories of her revelations may seem to us, she had already given evidence +that she was no vulgar impostor, and in the dangerous career on which she +now entered, she conducted herself with the utmost skill and audacity. Far +from imitating the hesitation of the pope and the bishops, she issued +boldly, "in the name and by the authority of God," a solemn prohibition +against the king; threatening that, if he divorced his wife, he should not +"reign a month, but should die a villain's death."[326] Burdened with this +message, she forced herself into the presence of Henry himself;[327] and +when she failed to produce an effect upon Henry's obdurate scepticism, she +turned to the hesitating ecclesiastics, and roused their flagging spirits. +The archbishop bent under her denunciations, and at her earnest request +introduced her to Wolsey, then tottering on the edge of ruin.[328] He, too, +in his confusion and perplexity, was frightened, and doubted. She made +herself known to the papal ambassadors, and through them she took upon +herself to threaten Clement,[329] assuming, in virtue of her divine +commission, an authority above all principalities and powers. If it were +likely that she could have heard the story of the Maid of Orleans, it might +be supposed that her imagination tempted her to play again a similar career +on an English stage, and that she fancied herself the destined saviour of +the Church of Christ, as the Maid had been the saviour of France. + +It would indeed be a libel on the fair fame of Joan of Arc, if she were to +be compared to a confessed impostor; but Joan of Arc might have been the +reality which the Nun attempted to counterfeit; and the history of the true +heroine might have suggested easily to the imitator the outline of her +part. A revolution had been effected in Europe by a somnambulist peasant +girl; another peasant girl, a somnambulist also, might have seen in the +achievement which had been already accomplished, an earnest of what might +be done by herself. While we call the Nun, too, an impostor, we are bound +to believe that she first imposed upon herself, and that her wildest +adventures into falsehood were compatible with a belief that she was really +and truly inspired. Nothing short of such a conviction would have enabled +her to play a part among kings and queens, and so many of the ablest +statesmen of that most able age. Nothing else could have tempted her, on +the failure of her prophecies, into the desperate career of treason into +which we are soon to see her launched. + +Her proceedings were known partially, but partially only, to the king; and +the king seems to have been the only person whose understanding was proof +against her influence. To him she appeared nothing worse than an excited +fanatic, and he allowed her to go her own way, as the best escapement of a +frenzy. Until parliament had declared it illegal to discuss the marriage +question further, he interfered with no one, and therefore not with her. If +her own word was to be taken, he even showed her much personal kindness, +having offered to make her an abbess, which is difficult to believe, +especially as she said that she had refused his offer. She stated also that +at the time of Lord Wiltshire's mission to the emperor, the Countess of +Wiltshire endeavoured to persuade her to accept a place at the court, as a +companion to Anne; which again is unsupported by other evidence, and sounds +improbable.[330] But it is plain, that until she was found to be meditating +treason, she experienced no treatment from the government of which she had +cause to complain; and thus for the present we may leave her pursuing her +machinations with the Canterbury friars, and return to the parliament. + +The second session had been longer than the first; it had commenced on the +16th of January, and continued for ten weeks. On the 30th of March, which +was to be its last day, Sir Thomas More came down to the House of Commons, +and there read aloud to the members the decision of the various +universities on the papal power, and the judgment of European learning on +the general question of the king's divorce. The country, he said, was much +disturbed, and the king desired them each to report what they had heard in +their several counties and towns, "in order that all men might perceive +that he had not attempted this matter of his own will or pleasure, as some +strangers reported, but only for the discharge of his conscience and surety +of the succession of his realm."[331] This appears to have been the first +time that the subject was mentioned before parliament, and the occasion was +reasonably and sensibly chosen. The clergy having possession of the +pulpits, had used their opportunity to spread a false impression where the +ignorance of the people would allow them to venture the experiment; the +king having resolved to fall back upon the support of his subjects, +naturally desired the assistance of the country gentlemen and the nobles to +counteract the efforts of disaffection, and provided them with accurate +information in the simplest manner which he could have chosen. + +But the desire expressed by Henry was no more than an unnecessary form, for +as a body, the educated laity were as earnestly bent upon the divorce as +the king himself could be, and might have been trusted to use all means by +which to further it. The parliament was prorogued, but the Lords, shortly +after the separation, united with such of the Commons as remained in +London, to give a proof of their feeling by a voluntary address to the +pope. The meaning of this movement was not to be mistaken. On one side, the +Nun of Kent was threatening Clement, speaking, perhaps, the feelings of the +clergy and of all the women in England; on the other side, the parliament +thought well to threaten him, speaking for the great body of English _men_, +for all persons of substance and property, who desired above all things +peace and order and a secured succession. + +The language of this remarkable document[332] was as follows:-- + +"To the Most Holy Lord our Lord and Father in Christ, Clement, by Divine +Providence the seventh of that name, we desire perpetual happiness in our +Lord Jesus Christ. + +"Most blessed Father, albeit the cause concerning the marriage of the most +invincible prince, our sovereign lord, the King of England and of France, +Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, does for sundry great and +weighty reasons require and demand the aid of your Holiness, that it may be +brought to that brief end and determination which we with so great and +earnest desire have expected, and which we have been contented hitherto to +expect, though so far vainly, at your Holiness's hands; we have been +unable, nevertheless, to keep longer silence herein, seeing that this +kingdom and the affairs of it are brought into so high peril through the +unseasonable delay of sentence. His Majesty, who is our head, and by +consequence the life of us all, and we through him as subject members by a +just union annexed to the head, have with great earnestness entreated your +Holiness for judgment; we have however entreated in vain: we are by the +greatness of our grief therefore forced separately and distinctly by these +our letters most humbly to demand a speedy determination. There ought, +indeed, to have been no need of this request on our part. The justice of +the cause itself, approved to be just by the sentence of so many learned +men, by the suffrage of the most famous universities in England, France, +and Italy, should have sufficed alone to have induced your Holiness to +confirm the sentence given by others; especially when the interests of a +king and kingdom are at stake, which in so many ways have deserved well of +the apostolic see. This we say ought to have been motive sufficient with +you, without need of petition on our part; and if we had added our +entreaties, it should have been but as men yielding to a causeless anxiety, +and wasting words for which there was no occasion. Since, however, neither +the merit of the cause nor the recollection of the benefits which you have +received, nor the assiduous and diligent supplications of our prince have +availed anything with your Holiness; since we cannot obtain from you what +it is your duty as a father to grant; the load of our grief, increased as +it is beyond measure by the remembrance of the past miseries and calamities +which have befallen this nation, makes vocal every member of our +commonwealth, and compels us by word and letter to utter our complaints. + +"For what a misfortune is this,--that a sentence which our own two +universities, which the University of Paris, and many other universities in +France, which men of the highest learning and probity everywhere, at home +and abroad, are ready to defend with word and pen, that such sentence, we +say, cannot be obtained from the apostolic see by a prince to whom that see +owes its present existence. Amidst the attacks of so many and so powerful +enemies, the King of England ever has stood by that see with sword and pen, +with voice and with authority. Yet he alone is to reap no benefit from his +labours. He has saved the papacy from ruin, that others might enjoy the +fruits of the life which he has preserved for it. We see not what answer +can be made to this; and meanwhile we perceive a flood of miseries +impending over the commonwealth, threatening to bring back upon us the +ancient controversy on the succession, which had been extinguished only +with so much blood and slaughter. We have now a king most eminent for his +virtues, and reigning by unchallenged title, who will secure assured +tranquillity to the realm if he leave a son born of his body to succeed +him. The sole hope that such a son may be born to him lies in the being +found for him some lawful marriage into which he may enter; and to such +marriage the only obstacle lies with your Holiness. It cannot be until you +shall confirm the sentence of so many learned men on the character of his +former connection. This if you will not do, if you who ought to be our +father have determined to leave us as orphans, and to treat us as +castaways, we shall interpret such conduct to mean only that we are left to +care for ourselves, and to seek our remedy elsewhere. We do not desire to +be driven to this extremity, and therefore we beseech your Holiness without +further delay to assist his Majesty's just and reasonable desires. We +entreat you to confirm the judgment of these learned men; and for the sake +of that love and fatherly affection which your office requires you to show +towards us, not to close your bowels of compassion against us, your most +dutiful, most loving, most obedient children. The cause of his Majesty is +the cause of each of ourselves; the head cannot suffer, but the members +must bear a part. We have all our common share in the pain and in the +injury; and as the remedy is wholly in the power of your Holiness, so does +the duty of your fatherly office require you to administer it. If, however, +your Holiness will not do this, or if you choose longer to delay to do it, +our condition hitherto will have been so much the more wretched, that we +have so long laboured fruitlessly and in vain. But it will not be wholly +irremediable; extreme remedies are ever harsh of application; but he that +is sick will by any means be rid of his distemper; and there is hope in the +exchange of miseries, when, if we cannot obtain what is good, we may obtain +a lesser evil, and trust that time may enable us to endure it. + +"These things we beseech your Holiness, in the name of our Lord Jesus +Christ, to consider with yourself. You profess that on earth you are His +vicar. Endeavour, then, to show yourself so to be, by pronouncing your +sentence to the glory and praise of God, and giving your sanction to that +truth which has been examined, approved, and after much deliberation +confirmed by the most learned men of all nations. We meanwhile will pray +the all-good God, whom we know by most sure testimony to be truth itself, +that He will deign so to inform and direct the counsels of your Holiness, +that we obtaining by your authority what is holy, just, and true, may be +spared from seeking it by other more painful methods." + +Thus was the great crisis steadily maturing itself, and the cause by this +petition was made to rest upon its proper merits. The justification of the +demand for the divorce was the danger of civil war; and into civil war the +nation had no intention of permitting themselves to be drifted by papal +imbecility. Whatever was the origin of Henry's resolution, it was acted out +with calmness, and justified by sober reason; and backed by the good sense +of his lay subjects, he proceeded bravely, in spite of excommunication, +interdict, and the Nun of Kent, towards the object which his country's +interests, as well as his own, required. + +It would have been well if his private behaviour as a man had been as +unobjectionable as his conduct as a sovereign. Hitherto he had remained +under the same roof with Queen Catherine, but with that indelicacy which +was the singular blemish on his character, he had maintained her rival in +the same household with the state of a princess,[333] and needlessly +wounded feelings which he was bound to have spared to the utmost which his +duty permitted. The circumstances of the case, if they were known to us, +though they could never excuse such a proceeding, might perhaps partially +palliate it. Catherine was harsh and offensive, and it was by her own +determination, and not by Henry's desire, that she was unprovided with an +establishment elsewhere. There lay, moreover, as I have said, behind the +scenes a whole drama of contention and bitterness, which now is happily +concealed from us; but which being concealed, leaves us without the clue to +these painful doings. Indelicate, however, the position given to Anne +Boleyn could not but be; and, if it was indelicate in Henry to grant such a +position, what shall we say of the lady who consented, in the presence of +her sovereign and mistress, to wear such ignominious splendour? + +But in these most offensive relations there was henceforth to be a change. +In June, 1531, two months after the prorogation of parliament, a deputation +of the privy council went to the apartments of Catherine at Greenwich, and +laying before her the papers which had been read by Sir Thomas More to the +two Houses, demanded formally, whether, for the sake of the country, and +for the quiet of the king's conscience, she would withdraw her appeal to +Rome, and submit to an arbitration in the kingdom. It was, probably, but an +official request, proposed without expectation that she would yield. After +rejecting a similar entreaty from the pope himself, she was not likely, +inflexible as she had ever been, to yield when the pope had admitted her +appeal, and the emperor, victorious through Europe, had promised her +support. She refused, of course, like herself, proudly, resolutely, +gallantly, and not without the scorn which she was entitled to feel. The +nation had no claims upon her, and "for the king's conscience," she +answered, "I pray God send his Grace good quiet therein, and tell him I say +I am his lawful wife, and to him lawfully married; and in that point I will +abide till the court of Rome, which was privy to the beginning, hath made +thereof a determination and a final ending."[334] The learned councillors +retired with their answer. A more passive resistance would have been more +dignified; but Catherine was a queen, and a queen she chose to be; and in +defence of her own high honour, and of her daughter's, by no act of hers +would she abate one tittle of her dignity, or cease to assert her claim to +it. Her reply, however, appears to have been anticipated, and the request +was only preparatory to ulterior measures. For the sake of public decency, +and certainly in no unkind spirit towards herself, a retirement from the +court was now to be forced upon her. At Midsummer she accompanied the king +to Windsor; in the middle of July he left her there, and never saw her +again. She was removed to the More, a house in Hertfordshire, which had +been originally built by George Neville, Archbishop of York, and had +belonged to Wolsey, who had maintained it with his usual splendour.[335] +Once more an attempt was made to persuade her to submit; but with no better +result, and a formal establishment was then provided for her at Ampthill, a +large place belonging to Henry not far from Dunstable. There at least she +was her own mistress, surrounded by her own friends, who were true to her +as queen, and she attracted to her side from all parts of England those +whom sympathy or policy attached to her cause. The court, though keeping a +partial surveillance over her, did not dare to restrict her liberty; and as +the measures against the church became more stringent, and a separation +from the papacy more nearly imminent, she became the nucleus of a powerful +political party. Her injuries had deprived the king and the nation of a +right to complain of her conduct. She owed nothing to England. Her +allegiance, politically, was to Spain; spiritually she was the subject of +the pope; and this dubious position gave her an advantage which she was not +slow to perceive. Rapidly every one rallied to her who adhered to the old +faith, and to whom the measures of the government appeared a sacrilege. +Through herself, or through her secretaries and confessors, a +correspondence was conducted which brought the courts of the continent into +connection with the various disaffected parties in England, with the Nun of +Kent and her friars, with the Poles, the Nevilles, the Courtenays, and all +the remaining faction of the White Rose. And so first the great party of +sedition began to shape itself, which for sixty years, except in the +shortlived interlude of its triumph under Catherine's daughter, held the +nation on the edge of civil war. We shall see this faction slowly and +steadily organising itself, starting from scattered and small beginnings, +till at length it overspread all England and Ireland and Scotland, +exploding from time to time in abortive insurrections, yet ever held in +check by the tact and firmness of the government, and by the inherent +loyalty of the English to the land of their birth. There was a proverb then +current that "the treasons of England should never cease."[336] It was +perhaps fortunate that the papal cause was the cause of a foreign power, +and could only be defended by a betrayal of the independence of the +country. In Scotland and Ireland the insurrectionists were more successful, +being supported in either instance by the national feeling. But the +strength of Scotland had been broken at Flodden; and Ireland, though hating +"the Saxons" with her whole heart, was far off and divided. The true danger +was at home; and when the extent and nature of it is fairly known and +weighed, we shall understand better what is called the "tyranny" of Henry +VIII. and of Elizabeth; and rather admire the judgment than condemn the +resolution which steered the country safe among those dangerous shoals. +Elizabeth's position is more familiar to us, and is more reasonably +appreciated because the danger was more palpable. Henry has been hardly +judged because he trampled down the smouldering fire, and never allowed it +to assume the form which would have justified him with the foolish and the +unthinking. Once and once only the flame blazed out; but it was checked on +the instant, and therefore it has been slighted and forgotten. But with +despatches before his eyes, in which Charles V. was offering James of +Scotland the hand of the Princess Mary, with the title for himself of +Prince of England and Duke of York[337]--with Ireland, as we shall speedily +see it, in flame from end to end, and Dublin castle the one spot left +within the island on which the banner of St. George still floated--with a +corps of friars in hair shirts and chains, who are also soon to be +introduced to us, and an inspired prophetess at their head preaching +rebellion in the name of God--with his daughter, and his daughter's mother +in league against him, some forty thousand clergy to be coerced into honest +dealing, and the succession to the crown floating in uncertainty--finally, +with excommunication hanging over himself, and at length falling, and his +deposition pronounced, Henry, we may be sure, had no easy time of it, and +no common work to accomplish; and all these things ought to be present +before our minds, as they were present before his mind, if we would see him +as he was, and judge him as we would be judged ourselves. + +Leaving disaffection to mature itself, we return to the struggle between +the House of Commons and the bishops, which recommenced in the following +winter; first pausing to notice a clerical interlude of some illustrative +importance which took place in the close of the summer. The clergy, as we +saw, were relieved of their premunire on engaging to pay 118,000 pounds +within five years. They were punished for their general offences; the +formal offence for which they were condemned being one which could not +fairly be considered an offence at all. When they came to discuss therefore +the manner in which the money was to be levied, they naturally quarrelled +among themselves as to where the burden of the fine should fairly rest, and +a little scene has been preserved to us by Hall, through which, with +momentary distinctness, we can look in upon those poor men in their +perplexity. The bishops had settled among themselves that each diocese +should make its own arrangements; and some of these great persons intended +to spare their own shoulders to the utmost decent extremity. With this +object, Stokesley, Bishop of London, who was just then very busy burning +heretics, and therefore in bad odour with the people, resolved to call a +meeting of five or six of his clergy, on whom he could depend; and passing +quietly with their assistance such resolutions as seemed convenient, to +avoid in this way the more doubtful expedient of a large assembly. + +The necessary intimations were given, and the meeting was to be held on the +1st of September, in the Chapter-house of St. Paul's. The bishop arrived at +the time appointed, but unhappily for his hopes, not only the chosen six, +but with them six hundred of the clergy of Middlesex, accompanied by a mob +of the London citizens, all gathered in a crowd at the Chapter-house door, +and clamouring to be admitted. + +The bishop, trusting in the strength of the chains and bolts, and still +hoping to manage the affair officially, sent out a list of persons who +might be allowed to take part in the proceedings, and these with difficulty +made their way to the entrance. A rush was made by the others as they were +going in, and there was a scuffle, which ended for the moment in the +victory of the officials: but the triumph was of brief duration; the +excluded clergy were now encouraged by the people; they returned vigorously +to the attack, broke down the doors, "struck the bishop's officers over the +face," and the whole crowd, priests and laity, rushed together, storming +and shouting, into the Chapter-house. The scene may be easily imagined; +dust flying, gowns torn, heads broken, well-fed faces in the hot September +weather steaming with anger and exertion, and every voice in loudest +outcry. At length the clamour was partially subdued, and the bishop, +beautifully equal to the emergency, arose bland and persuasive. + +"My brethren," he said, "I marvel not a little why ye be so heady. Ye know +not what shall be said to you, therefore I pray you keep silence, and hear +me patiently. My friends, ye all know that we be men, frail of condition +and no angels; and by frailty and lack of wisdom we have misdemeaned +ourselves towards the king our sovereign lord and his laws; so that all we +of the clergy were in premunire, by reason whereof all our promotions, +lands, goods, and chattels were to him forfeit, and our bodies ready to be +imprisoned. Yet his Grace, moved with pity and compassion, demanded of us +what we could say why he should not extend his laws upon us. + +"Then the fathers of the clergy humbly besought his Grace for mercy, to +whom he answered he was ever inclined to mercy. Then for all our great +offences we had but little penance; for when he might, by the rigour of his +laws, have taken all our livelihoods, he was contented with one hundred +thousand pounds, to be paid in five years. And though this sum may be more +than we may easily bear, yet, by the rigour of his law, we should have +borne the whole burden; whereupon, my brethren, I charitably exhort you to +bear your parts of your livelihood and salary towards payment of this sum +granted."[338] + +The ingenuity of this address deserved all praise; but the beauty of the +form was insufficient to disguise the inconclusiveness of the reasoning. It +confessed an offence which the hearers knew to be none; the true +provocation which had led to the penalty--the unjust extortion of the high +church officials--was ignored. The crowd laughed and hooted. The clergy +fiercely tightened their purse-strings, and the bishop was heard out with +hardly restrained indignation. "My lord," it was shortly answered by one of +them, "twenty nobles a year is but a bare living for a priest. Victual and +all else is now so dear that poverty enforceth us to say nay. Besides that, +my lord, we never meddled with the cardinal's faculties. Let the bishops +and abbots which have offended pay." Loud clamour followed and shouts of +applause. The bishop's officers gave the priests high words. The priests +threw back the taunts as they came; and the London citizens, delighting in +the scandalous quarrel, hounded on the opposition. From words they passed +to blows; the bedell and vergers tried to keep order, but "were buffeted +and stricken,"[339] and the meeting broke up in wild uproar and confusion. +For this matter five of the lay crowd and fifteen London curates were sent +to the Tower by Sir Thomas More; but the undignified manoeuvre had failed, +and the fruit of it was but fresh disgrace. United, the clergy might have +defied the king and the parliament; but in the race of selfishness the +bishops and high dignitaries had cared only for their own advantage. They +had left the poorer members of their order with no interest in common with +that of their superiors, beyond the shield which the courts consented to +extend over moral delinquency; and in the hour of danger they found +themselves left naked and alone to bear the storm as they were able. + +This incident, and it was perhaps but one of many, is not likely to have +softened the disposition of the Commons, or induced them to entertain more +respectfully the bishops' own estimate of their privileges. The convocation +and the parliament met simultaneously, on the 15th of January, and the +conflict, which had been for two years in abeyance, recommenced. The +initial measure was taken by convocation, and this body showed a spirit +still unsubdued, and a resolution to fight in their own feebly tyrannical +manner to the last. A gentleman in Gloucestershire had lately died, by name +Tracy. In his last testament he had bequeathed his soul to God through the +mercies of Christ, declining the mediatorial offices of the saints; and +leaving no money to be expended in masses.[340] Such notorious heresy could +not be passed over with impunity, and the first step of the assembled +clergy[341] was to issue a commission to raise the body and burn it. Their +audacity displayed at once the power which they possessed, and the temper +in which they were disposed to use it. The Archbishop of Canterbury seems +to have been responsible for this monstrous order, which unfortunately was +carried into execution before Henry had time to interfere.[342] It was the +last act of the kind, however, in which he was permitted to indulge, and +the legislature made haste to take away such authority from hands so +incompetent to use it. From their debates upon burning the dead Tracy, +convocation were proceeding to discuss the possibility of burning the +living Latimer,[343] when they were recalled to their senses by a summons +to prepare some more reasonable answer than that which the bishops had made +for them on their privilege of making laws. Twenty more years of work were +to be lived by Latimer before they were to burn him, and their own +delinquencies were for the present of a more pressing nature. The House of +Commons at the same time proceeded to frame necessary bills on the other +points of their complaint. + +The first act upon the roll recalls the Constitutions of Clarendon and the +famous quarrel between Becket and the Crown. When Catholicism was a living +belief, when ordained priests were held really and truly to possess those +awful powers which the mystery of transubstantiation assigns to them, they +were acknowledged by common consent to be an order apart from the rest of +mankind, and being spiritual men, to be amenable only to spiritual +jurisdiction. It was not intended that, if they committed crimes, they +should escape the retributive consequences of those crimes: offenders +against the law might (originally at least) be degraded, if the bishops +thought good, and stripped of their commission be delivered thus to the +secular arm. But the more appropriate punishment for such persons was of a +more awful kind, proportioned to the magnitude of the fault; and was +conveyed or held to be conveyed in the infliction of the spiritual death of +excommunication. Excommunication was, in real earnest, the death of the +soul, at a time when communion with the church was the only means by which +the soul could be made partaker of the divine life; and it was a noble +thing to believe that there was something worse for a man than legal +penalties on his person or on his mortal body; it was beautiful to +recognise in an active living form, that the heaviest ill which could +befall a man was to be cut off from God. But it is only for periods that +humanity can endure the atmosphere of these high altitudes of morality. The +early Christians attempted a community of goods, but they were unequal to +it for more than a generation. The discipline of Catholicism was assisted +by superstition,--it remained vigorous for many hundreds of years, but it +languished at last; and although there was so great virtue in a living +idea, that its forms preserved the reverence of mankind unabated, even when +in their effect and working they had become as evil as they once were +noble; yet reverence and endurance were at length exhausted, and these +forms were to submit to alteration in conformity with the altered nature of +the persons whom they affected. + +I have already alluded to the abuse of "benefit of clergy;"[344] we have +arrived at the first of those many steps by which at length it was finally +put away,--a step which did not, however, as yet approach the heart of the +evil, but touched only its extreme outworks. The clergy had monopolised the +learning of the middle ages, and few persons external to their body being +able to read or write, their privileges became co-extensive, as I above +stated, with these acquirements. The exemption from secular jurisdiction, +which they obtained in virtue of their sacred character, had been used as a +protection in villainy for every scoundrel who could write his name. Under +this plea, felons of the worst kind might claim, till this time, to be +taken out of the hands of the law judges, and to be tried at the bishops' +tribunals; and at these tribunals, such a monstrous solecism had +Catholicism become, the payment of money was ever welcomed as the ready +expiation of crime. To prevent the escape of the Bishop of Rochester's +cook, who was a "clerk," parliament had specially interfered, and sentenced +him without trial, by attainder. They now passed a general act, remarkable +alike in what it provided as in what, for the present, it omitted to +provide.[345] The preamble related the nature of the evil which was to be +remedied, and the historical position of it. It dwelt upon the assurances +which had been given again and again by the ordinaries that their +privileges should not be abused; but these promises had been broken as +often as they had been made; so that "continually manifest thieves and +murderers, indicted and found guilty of their misdeeds by good and +substantial inquests, and afterwards, by the usages of the common lawes of +the land, delivered to the ordinaries as clerks convict, were speedily and +hastily delivered and set at large by the ministers of the said ordinaries +for corruption and lucre; or else because the ordinaries enclaiming such +offenders by the liberties of the church would in no wise take the charges +in safe keeping of them, but did suffer them to make their purgation by +such as nothing knew of their misdeeds, and by such fraud did annull and +make void the good and provable trial which was used against such offenders +by the king's law; to the pernicious example, increase, and courage of such +offenders, if the King's Highness by his authority royal put not speedy +remedy thereto." + +To provide such necessary remedy, it was enacted that thenceforward no +person under the degree of subdeacon, if guilty of felony, should be +allowed to plead "his clergy" any more, but should be proceeded against by +the ordinary law. So far it was possible to go--an enormous step if we +think of what the evil had been; and in such matters to make a beginning +was the true difficulty--it was the logical premise from which the +conclusion could not choose but follow. Yet such was the mystical +sacredness which clung about the ordained clergy, that their patent +profligacy had not yet destroyed it--a priest might still commit a murder, +and the profane hand of the law might not reach to him. + +The measure, however, if imperfect, was excellent in its degree; and when +this had been accomplished, the House proceeded next to deal with the +Arches Court--the one enormous grievance of the time. The petition of the +Commons has already exhibited the condition of this institution; but the +act by which the power of it was limited added more than one particular to +what had been previously stated, and the first twenty lines of the statute +which was now passed[346] may be recommended to the consideration of the +modern censors of the Reformation. The framer of the resolution was no bad +friend to the bishops, if they had possessed the faculty of knowing who +their true friends were, for the statement of complaint was limited, mild, +and moderate. Again, as with the "benefit of clergy," the real ground for +surprise is that any fraction of a system so indefensible should have been +permitted to continue. The courts were nothing else but the vicious sources +of unjust revenue; and with the opportunity so fairly offered, it is +strange indeed that they were not swept utterly away. But sweeping measures +have never found favour in England. There has ever been in English +legislation, even when most reforming, that temperate spirit of equity +which has refused to visit the sins of centuries upon a single generation. +The statute limited its accusations to the points which it was designed to +correct, and touched these with a hand firmly gentle. + +"Whereas great numbers of the king's subjects," says the preamble, "as well +men, wives, servants, or others dwelling in divers dioceses of the realm of +England and Wales, heretofore have been at many times called by citations +and other processes compulsory to appear in the Arches, Audience, and other +high Courts of the archbishops of this realm, far from and out of the +dioceses where such persons are inhabitant and dwelling; and many times to +answer to surmised and feigned causes and matters, which have been sued +more for vexation and malice than from any just cause of suit; and when +certificate hath been made by the sumners, apparitors, or any such light +litterate persons, that the party against whom such citations have been +awarded hath been cited or summoned; and thereupon the same party so +certified to be cited or summoned hath not appeared according to the +certificate, the same party therefore hath been excommunicated, or, at the +least, suspended from all divine service; and thereupon, before that he or +she could be absolved, hath been compelled, not only to pay the fees of the +court whereunto he or she was so called, amounting to the sum of two +shillings, or twenty pence at the least; but also to pay to the sumner, for +every mile distant from the place where he or she then dwelled unto the +same court whereunto he or she was summoned to appear, twopence; to the +great charge and impoverishment of the king's subjects, and to the great +occasion of misbehaviour of wives, women, and servants, and to the great +impairment and diminution of their good names and honesties--be it +enacted----" We ask what?--looking with impatience for some large measure +to follow these solemn accusations; and we find parliament contenting +itself with forbidding the bishops, under heavy penalties, to cite any man +out of his own diocese, except for specified causes (heresy being one of +them), and with limiting the fees which were to be taken by the officers of +the courts.[347] It could hardly be said that in this parliament there was +any bitter spirit against the church. This act showed only mild forbearance +and complacent endurance of all tolerable evil. + +Another serious matter was dealt with in the same moderate temper. The +Mortmain Act had prohibited the church corporations from further absorbing +the lands; but the Mortmain Act was evaded in detail, the clergy using +their influence to induce persons on their deathbeds to leave estates to +provide a priest for ever "to sing for their souls." The arrangement was +convenient possibly for both parties, or if not for both, certainly for +one; but to tie up lands for ever for a special service was not to the +advantage of the country; and it was held unjust to allow a man a perpetual +power over the disposition of property to atone for the iniquities of his +life. But the privilege was not abolished altogether; it was submitted only +to reasonable limitation. Men might still burden their lands to find a +priest for twenty years. After twenty years the lands were to relapse for +the service of the living, and sinners were expected in equity to bear the +consequence in their own persons of such offences as remained after that +time unexpiated.[348] + +Thus, in two sessions, the most flagrant of the abuses first complained of +were in a fair way of being remedied. The exorbitant charges for +mortuaries, probate duties, legacy duties, the illegal exactions for the +sacraments, the worst injustices of the ecclesiastical courts, the +non-residence, pluralities, neglect of cures, the secular occupations and +extravagant privileges of the clergy, were either terminated or brought +within bounds. There remained yet to be disposed of the legislative power +of the convocation and the tyrannical prosecutions for heresy. The last of +these was not yet ripe for settlement; the former was under reconsideration +by the convocation itself, which at length was arriving at a truer +conception of its position; and this question was not therefore to be dealt +with by the legislature. + +One more important measure, however, was passed by parliament before it +separated, and it is noticeable as the first step which was taken in the +momentous direction of a breach with the See of Rome. A practice had +existed for some hundreds of years in all the churches of Europe, that +bishops and archbishops, on presentation to their sees, should transmit to +the pope, on receiving their bulls of investment, one year's income from +their new preferments. It was called the payment of annates, or +firstfruits, and had originated in the time of the crusades, as a means of +providing a fund for the holy wars. Once established, it had settled into +custom,[349] and was one of the chief resources of the papal revenue. From +England alone, as much as 160,000 pounds had been paid out of the country +in fifty years;[350] and the impost was alike oppressive to individuals and +injurious to the state. Men were appointed to bishopricks frequently at an +advanced age, and dying, as they often did, within two or three years of +their nomination, their elevation had sometimes involved their families and +friends in debt and embarrassment;[351] while the annual export of so much +bullion was a serious evil at a time when the precious metals formed the +only currency, and were so difficult to obtain. Before a quarrel with the +court of Rome had been thought of as a possible contingency, the king had +laboured with the pope to terminate the system by some equitable +composition; and subsequently cessation of payment had been mentioned more +than once in connection with the threats of a separation. The pope had made +light of these threats, believing them to be no more than words; there was +an opportunity, therefore, of proving that the English government was +really in earnest, in a manner which would touch him in a point where he +was naturally sensitive, and would show him at the same time that he could +not wholly count on the attachment even of the clergy themselves. For, in +fact, the church itself was fast disintegrating, and the allegiance even of +the bishops and the secular clergy to Rome had begun to waver: they had a +stronger faith in their own privileges than in the union of Christendom; +and if they could purchase the continuance of the former at the price of a +quarrel with the pope, some among them were not disinclined to venture the +alternative. The Bishop of Rochester held aloof from such tendencies, and +Warham, though he signed the address of the House of Lords to the pope, +regretted the weakness to which he had yielded: but in the other prelates +there was little seriousness of conviction; and the constitution of the +bench had been affected also by the preferment of Gardiner and Edward Lee +to two of the sees made vacant by the death of Wolsey. Both these men had +been active agents in the prosecution of the divorce; and Gardiner, +followed at a distance by the other, had shaped out, as the pope grew more +intractable, the famous notion that the English church could and should +subsist as a separate communion, independent of foreign control, self +governed, self organised, and at the same time adhering without variation +to Catholic doctrine. This principle (if we may so abuse the word) shot +rapidly into popularity: a party formed about it strong in parliament, +strong in convocation, strong out of doors among the country gentlemen and +the higher clergy--a respectable, wealthy, powerful body, trading upon a +solecism, but not the less, therefore, devoted to its maintenance, and in +their artificial horror of being identified with heresy, the most +relentless persecutors of the Protestants. This party, unreal as they were, +and influential perhaps in virtue of their unreality, became for the moment +the arbiters of the Church of England; and the bishops belonging to it, and +each rising ecclesiastic who hoped to be a bishop, welcomed the resistance +of the annates as an opportunity for a demonstration of their strength. On +this question, with a fair show of justice, they could at once relieve +themselves of a burden which pressed upon their purses, and as they +supposed, gratify the king. The conservatives were still numerically the +strongest, and for a time remained in their allegiance to the Papacy,[352] +but their convictions were too feeble to resist the influence brought to +bear upon them, and when Parliament re-assembled after the Easter recess, +the two Houses of Convocation presented an address to the crown for the +abolition of the impost, and with it of all other exactions, direct and +indirect,--the indulgences, dispensations, delegacies, and the thousand +similar forms and processes by which the privileges of the Church of +England were abridged for the benefit of the Church of Rome, and weighty +injury of purse inflicted both on the clergy and the laity.[353] + +That they contemplated a conclusive revolt from Rome as a consequence of +the refusal to pay annates, appears positively in the close of their +address: "May it please your Grace," they concluded, after detailing their +occasions for complaint,--"may it please your Grace to cause the said +unjust exactions to cease, and to be foredone for ever by act of your high +Court of Parliament; and in case the pope will make process against this +realm for the attaining those annates, or else will retain bishops' bulls +till the annates be paid; forasmuch as the exaction of the said annates is +against the law of God and the pope's own laws, forbidding the buying or +selling of spiritual gifts or promotions; and forasmuch as all good +Christian men be more bound to obey God than any man; and forasmuch as St. +Paul willeth us to withdraw from all such as walk inordinately; may it +please your Highness to ordain in this present parliament that the +obedience of your Highness and of the people be withdrawn from the See of +Rome."[354] + +It was perhaps cruel to compel the clergy to be the first to mention +separation--or the language may have been furnished by the Erastian party +in the Church, who hoped to gratify the King by it, and save the annates +for themselves; but there was no intention, if the battle was really to be +fought, of decorating the clergy with the spoils. The bill was passed, but +passed conditionally, leaving power to the Crown if the pope would consent +to a compromise of settling the question by a composition. There was a +Papal party in the House of Commons whose opposition had perhaps to be +considered,[355] and the annates were left suspended before Clement at once +as a menace and a bribe. + +"Forasmuch," concluded the statute, "as the King's Highness and this his +high Court of Parliament neither have nor do intend in this or any other +like cause any manner of extremity or violence, before gentle courtesy and +friendly ways and means be first approved and attempted, and without a very +great urgent cause and occasion given to the contrary; but principally +coveting to disburden this Realm of the said great exactions and +intolerable charges of annates and firstfruits: [the said Court of +Parliament] have therefore thought convenient to commit the final order and +determination of the premises unto the King's Highness, so that if it may +seem to his high wisdom and most prudent discretion meet to move the Pope's +Holiness and the Court of Rome, amicably, charitably, and reasonably, to +compound either to extinct the said annates, or by some friendly, loving, +and tolerable composition to moderate the same in such way as may be by +this his Realm easily borne and sustained, then those ways of composition +once taken shall stand in the strength, force, and effect of a law."[356] + +The business of the session was closing. It remained to receive the reply +of convocation on the limitation of its powers. The convocation, presuming, +perhaps, upon its concessions on the annates question, and untamed by the +premunire, had framed their answer in the same spirit which had been +previously exhibited by the bishops. They had re-asserted their claims as +resting on divine authority, and had declined to acknowledge the right of +any secular power to restrain or meddle with them.[357] The second answer, +as may be supposed, fared no better than the first. It was returned with a +peremptory demand for submission; and taught by experience the uselessness +of further opposition, the clergy with a bad grace complied. The form was +again drawn by the bishops, and it is amusing to trace the workings of +their humbled spirit in their reluctant descent from their high estate. +They still laboured to protect their dignity in the terms of their +concession:-- + +"As concerning such constitutions and ordinances provincial," they wrote, +"as shall be made hereafter by your most humble subjects, we having our +special trust and confidence in your most excellent wisdom, your princely +goodness, and fervent zeal for the promotion of God's honour and Christian +religion, and specially in your incomparable learning far exceeding in our +judgment the learning of all other kings and princes that we have read of; +and not doubting but that the same should still continue and daily increase +in your Majesty; do offer and promise here unto the same, that from +henceforth we shall forbear to enact, promulge, or put in execution any +such constitutions and ordinances so by us to be made in time coming, +unless your Highness by your Royal assent shall license us to make, +promulge, and execute such constitutions, and the same so made be approved +by your Highness's authority. + +"And whereas your Highness's most honourable Commons do pretend that divers +of the constitutions provincial, which have been heretofore enacted, be not +only much prejudicial to your Highness's prerogative royal, but be also +overmuch onerous to your said Commons, we, your most humble servants for +the consideration before said, be contented to refer all the said +constitutions to the judgment of your Grace only. And whatsoever of the +same shall finally be found prejudicial and overmuch onerous as is +pretended, we offer and promise your Highness to moderate or utterly to +abrogate and annul the same, according to the judgment of your Grace. +Saving to us always such liberties and immunities of this Church of England +as hath been granted unto the same by the goodness and benignity of your +Highness and of others your most noble progenitors; with such constitutions +provincial as do stand with the laws of Almighty God and of your Realm +heretofore made, which we most humbly beseech your Grace to ratify and +approve by your most Royal assent for the better execution of the same in +times to come."[358] + +The acknowledgment appeared to be complete, and might perhaps have been +accepted without minute examination, except for the imprudent acuteness of +the Lower House of Convocation. As it passed through their hands, they +discovered--what had no doubt been intended as a loophole for future +evasion--that the grounds which were alleged to excuse the submission were +the virtues of the reigning king: and therefore, as they sagaciously +argued, the submission must only remain in force for his life. They +introduced a limitation to that effect. Some further paltry dabbling was +also attempted with the phraseology: and at length, impatient with such +dishonest trifling, and weary of a discussion in which they had resolved to +allow but one conclusion, the king and the legislature thought it well to +interfere with a high hand, and cut short such unprofitable folly. The +language of the bishops was converted into an act of parliament; a mixed +commission was appointed to revise the canon law, and the clergy with a few +brief strokes were reduced for ever into their fit position of +subjects.[359] Thus with a moderate hand this great revolution was +effected, and, to outward appearance, with offence to none except the +sufferers, whose misuse of power when they possessed it deprived them of +all sympathy in their fall. + +But no change of so vast a kind can be other than a stone of stumbling to +those many persons for whom the beaten ways of life alone are tolerable, +and who, when these ways are broken, are bewildered and lost. Religion, +when men are under its influence at all, so absorbs their senses, and so +pervades all their associations, that no faults in the ministers of it can +divest their persons of reverence; and just and necessary as all these +alterations were, many a pious and noble heart was wounded, many a man was +asking himself in his perplexity where things would end, and still more +sadly, where, if these quarrels deepened, would lie his own duty. Now the +Nun of Kent grew louder in her Cassandra wailings. Now the mendicant friars +mounted the pulpits exclaiming sacrilege; bold men, who feared nothing that +men could do to them, and who dared in the king's own presence, and in his +own chapel, to denounce him by name.[360] The sacred associations of twelve +centuries were tumbling into ruin; and hot and angry as men had been before +the work began, the hearts of numbers sank in them when they "saw what was +done;" and they fell away slowly to doubt, disaffection, distrust, and at +last treason. + +The first outward symptom of importance pointing in this direction, was the +resignation of the seals by Sir Thomas More.[361] More had not been an +illiberal man; when he wrote the _Utopia_, he seemed even to be in advance +of his time. None could see the rogue's face under the cowl clearer than +he, or the proud bad heart under the scarlet hat; and few men had ventured +to speak their thoughts more boldly. But there was in More a want of +confidence in human nature, a scorn of the follies of his fellow creatures +which, as he became more earnestly religious, narrowed and hardened his +convictions, and transformed the genial philosopher into the merciless +bigot. "Heresy" was naturally hateful to him; his mind was too clear and +genuine to allow him to deceive himself with the delusions of Anglicanism; +and as he saw the inevitable tendency of the Reformation to lead ultimately +to a change of doctrine, he attached himself with increasing determination +to the cause of the pope and of the old faith. As if with an instinctive +prescience of what would follow from it, he had from the first been opposed +to the divorce; and he had not concealed his feeling from the king at the +time when the latter had pressed the seals on his unwilling acceptance. In +consenting to become chancellor, he had yielded only to Henry's entreaties; +he had held his office for two years and a half--and it would have been +well for his memory if he had been constant in his refusal--for in his +ineffectual struggles against the stream, he had attempted to counterpoise +the attack upon the church by destroying the unhappy Protestants. At the +close of the session, however, the acts of which we have just described, he +felt that he must no longer countenance, by remaining in an office so near +to the crown, measures which he so intensely disapproved and deplored; it +was time for him to retire from a world not moving to his mind; and in the +fair tranquillity of his family prepare himself for the evil days which he +foresaw. In May, 1532, he petitioned for permission to resign, resting his +request unobtrusively on failing health; and Henry sadly consented to lose +his services. + +Parallel to More's retirement, and though less important, yet still +noticeable, is a proceeding of old Archbishop Warham under the same trying +circumstances. In the days of his prosperity, Warham had never reached to +greatness as a man. He had been a great ecclesiastic, successful, +dignified, important, but without those highest qualities which command +respect or interest. The iniquities of Warham's spiritual courts were +greater than those of any other in England. He had not made them what they +were. They grew by their own proper corruption; and he was no more +responsible for them than every man is responsible for the continuance of +an evil by which he profits, and which he has power to remedy. We must look +upon him as the leader of the bishops in their opposition to the reform; +and he was the probable author of the famous answer to the Commons' +petition, which led to such momentous consequences.[362] These consequences +he had lived partially to see. Powerless to struggle against the stream, he +had seen swept away one by one those gigantic privileges to which he had +asserted for his order a claim divinely sanctioned; and he withdrew himself +heartbroken, into his palace at Lambeth, and there entered his solemn +protest against all which had been done. Too ill to write, and trembling on +the edge of the grave, he dictated to his notaries from his bed these not +unaffecting words:-- + +"In the name of God, Amen. We, William, by Divine Providence Archbishop of +Canterbury, Primate of all England, Legate of the Apostolic See, hereby +publicly and expressly do protest for ourselves and for our Holy +Metropolitan Church of Canterbury, that to any statute passed or hereafter +to be passed in this present Parliament, began the third of November, 1529, +and continued until this present time; in so far as such statute or +statutes be in derogation of the Pope of Rome or the Apostolic See, or be +to the hurt, prejudice, or limitation of the powers of the Church, or shall +tend to the subverting, enervating, derogating from, or diminishing the +laws, customs, privileges, prerogatives, pre-eminence of liberties of our +Metropolitan Church of Canterbury; we neither will, nor intend, nor with +clear conscience are able to consent to the same, but by these writings we +do dissent from, refuse, and contradict them."[363] + +Thus formally having delivered his soul, he laid himself down and died. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MARRIAGE OF HENRY AND ANNE BOLEYN + +Although in the question of the divorce the king had interfered +despotically to control the judgment of the universities, he had made no +attempt, as we have seen, to check the tongues of the clergy. Nor if he had +desired to check them, is it likely that at the present stage of +proceedings he could have succeeded. No law had as yet been passed which +made a crime of a difference of opinion on the pope's dispensing powers; +and so long as no definitive sentence had been pronounced, every one had +free liberty to think and speak as he pleased. So great, indeed, was the +anxiety to disprove Catherine's assertion that England was a _locus +suspectus_, and therefore that the cause could not be equitably tried +there, that even in the distribution of patronage there was an ostentatious +display of impartiality. Not only had Sir Thomas More been made chancellor, +although emphatically on Catherine's side; but Cuthbert Tunstal, who had +been her counsel, was promoted to the see of Durham. The Nun of Kent, if +her word was to be believed, had been offered an abbey,[364] and that Henry +permitted language to pass unnoticed of the most uncontrolled violence, +appears from a multitude of informations which were forwarded to the +government from all parts of the country. But while imposing no restraint +on the expression of opinion, the council were careful to keep themselves +well informed of the opinions which were expressed, and an instrument was +ready made to their hands, which placed them in easy possession of what +they desired. Among the many abominable practices which had been introduced +by the ecclesiastical courts, not the least hateful was the system of +espionage with which they had saturated English society; encouraging +servants to be spies on their masters, children on their parents, +neighbours on their neighbours, inviting every one who heard language +spoken anywhere of doubtful allegiance to the church, to report the words +to the nearest official, as an occasion of instant process. It is not +without a feeling of satisfaction, that we find this detestable invention +recoiling upon the heads of its authors. Those who had so long suffered +under it, found an opportunity in the turning tide, of revenging themselves +on their oppressors; and the country was covered with a ready-made army of +spies, who, with ears ever open, were on the watch for impatient or +disaffected language in their clerical superiors, and furnished steady +reports of such language to Cromwell.[365] + +Specimens of these informations will throw curious light on the feelings of +a portion at least of the people. The English licence of speech, if not +recognised to the same extent as it is at present, was certainly as fully +practised. On the return of the Abbot of Whitby from the convocation at +York in the summer of 1532, when the premunire money was voted, the +following conversation was reported as having been overheard in the abbey. + +The prior of the convent asked the abbot what the news were. "What news," +said the abbot, "evil news. The king is ruled by a common ---- Anne Boleyn, +who has made all the spiritualty to be beggared, and the temporalty also. +Further he told the prior of a sermon that he had heard in York, in which +it was said, when a great wind rose in the west we should hear news. And he +asked what that was; and he said a great man told him at York, and if he +knew as much as three in England he would tell what the news were. And he +said who were they? and he said the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Wiltshire, +and the common ---- Anne Boleyn."[366] + +The dates of these papers cannot always be determined; this which follows, +probably, is something later, but it shows the general temper in which the +clergy were disposed to meet the measures of the government. + +"Robert Legate, friar of Furness, deposeth that the monks had a prophecy +among them, that 'in England shall be slain the decorate rose in his +mother's belly,' and this they interpret of his Majesty, saying that his +Majesty shall die by the hands of priests; for the church is the mother, +and the church shall slay his Grace. The said Robert maintaineth that he +hath heard the monks often say this. Also, it is said among them that the +King's Grace was not the right heir to the crown; for that his Grace's +father came in by no line, but by the sword. Also, that no secular knave +should be head of the church; also that the abbot did know of these +treasons, and had made no report thereof."[367] + +Nor was it only in the remote abbeys of the North that such dangerous +language was ventured. The pulpit of St. Paul's rang Sunday after Sunday +with the polemics of the divorce; and if "the holy water of the court" made +the higher clergy cringing and cowardly, the rank and file, even in London +itself, showed a bold English front, and spoke out their thoughts with +entire recklessness. Among the preachers on Catherine's side, Father +Forest, famous afterward in Catholic martyrologies, began to distinguish +himself. Forest was warden of a convent of Observants at Greenwich attached +to the royal chapel, and having been Catherine's confessor, remained, with +the majority of the friars, faithful to her interests, and fearless in the +assertion of them. From their connection with the palace, the intercourse +of these monks with the royal household was considerable; their position +gave them influence, and Anne Boleyn tried the power of her charms, if +possible, to gain them over. She had succeeded with a few of the weaker +brothers, but she was unable (and her inability speaks remarkably for +Henry's endurance of opposition through the early stages of the +controversy) to protect those whose services she had won from the anger of +their superiors. One monk in whom she was interested the warden +imprisoned,[368] another there was an effort to expel,[369] because he was +ready to preach on her side; and Forest himself preached a violent sermon +at Paul's Cross, attacking Cromwell and indirectly the king.[370] He was +sent for to the court, and the persecuted brothers expected their triumph; +but he returned, as one of them wrote bitterly to Cromwell, having been +received with respect and favour, as if, after all, the enmity of a brave +man found more honour at the court than the complacency of cowardice. +Father Forest, says this letter, has been with the king. "He says he spake +with the king for half an hour and more, and was well retained by his +Grace; and the King's Grace did send him a great piece of beef from his own +table; and also he met with my Lord of Norfolk, and he says he took him in +his arms and bade him welcome."[371] + +Forest, unfortunately for himself, misconstrued forbearance into fear, and +went his way at last, through treason and perjury, to the stake. In the +meantime the Observants were left in possession of the royal chapel, the +weak brother died in prison, and the king, when at Greenwich, continued to +attend service, submitting to listen, as long as submission was possible, +to the admonitions which the friars used the opportunity to deliver to him. + +In these more courteous days we can form little conception of the licence +which preachers in the sixteenth century allowed themselves, or the +language which persons in high authority were often obliged to bear. +Latimer spoke as freely to Henry VIII. of neglected duties, as to the +peasants in his Wiltshire parish. St. Ambrose did not rebuke the Emperor +Theodosius more haughtily than John Knox lectured Queen Mary and her +ministers on the vanities of Holyrood; and Catholic priests, it seems, were +not afraid to display even louder disrespect. + +On Sunday, the first of May, 1532, the pulpit at Greenwich was occupied by +Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, famous through Europe as a Catholic +incendiary; but at this time an undistinguished brother of the Observants +convent. His sermon had been upon the story of Ahab and Naboth, and his +text had been, "Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, even there shall +they lick thy blood, O king." Henry, the court, and most likely Anne Boleyn +herself, were present; the first of May being the great holy-day of the +English year, and always observed at Greenwich with peculiar splendour. +The preacher had dilated at length upon the crimes and the fall of Ahab, +and had drawn the portrait in all its magnificent wickedness. He had +described the scene in the court of heaven, and spoken of the lying +prophets who had mocked the monarch's hopes before the fatal battle. At the +end, he turned directly to Henry, and assuming to himself the mission of +Micaiah, he closed his address in the following audacious words:--"And now, +O king," he said, "hear what I say to thee. I am that Micaiah whom thou +wilt hate, because I must tell thee truly that this marriage is unlawful, +and I know that I shall eat the bread of affliction and drink the waters of +sorrow, yet because the Lord hath put it in my mouth I must speak it. +There are other preachers, yea too many, which preach and persuade thee +otherwise, feeding they folly and frail affections upon hopes of their own +worldly promotion; and by that means they betray thy soul, thy honour, and +thy posterity; to obtain fat benefices, to become rich abbots and bishops, +and I know not what. These I say are the four hundred prophets who, in the +spirit of lying, seek to deceive thee. Take heed lest thou, being seduced, +find Ahab's punishment, who had his blood licked up by the dogs." + +Henry must have been compelled to listen to many such invectives. He left +the chapel without noticing what had passed; and in the course of the week +Peto went down from Greenwich to attend a provincial council at Canterbury, +and perhaps to communicate with the Nun of Kent. Meantime a certain Dr. +Kirwan was commissioned to preach on the other side of the question the +following Sunday. + +Kirwan was one of those men of whom the preacher spoke prophetically, since +by the present and similar services he made his way to the archbishopric of +Dublin and the bishopric of Oxford, and accepting the Erastian theory of a +Christian's duty, followed Edward VI. into heresy, and Mary into popery and +persecution. He regarded himself as an official of the state religion; and +his highest conception of evil in a Christian was disobedience to the +reigning authority. We may therefore conceive easily the burden of his +sermon in the royal chapel. "He most sharply reprehended Peto," calling him +foul names, "dog, slanderer, base beggarly friar, rebel, and traitor," +saying "that no subject should speak so audaciously to his prince:" he +"commended" Henry's intended marriage, "thereby to establish his seed in +his seat for ever;" and having won, as he supposed, his facile victory, he +proceeded with his peroration, addressing his absent antagonist. "I speak +to thee, Peto," he exclaimed, "to thee, Peto, which makest thyself Micaiah, +that thou mayest speak evil of kings; but now art not to be found, being +fled for fear and shame, as unable to answer my argument." In the royal +chapel at Greenwich there was more reality than decorum. A voice out of the +rood-loft cut short the eloquent declamation. "Good sir," it said, "you +know Father Peto is gone to Canterbury to a provincial council, and not +fled for fear of you; for to-morrow he will return again. In the meantime I +am here as another Micaiah, and will lay down my life to prove those things +true which he hath taught. And to this combat I challenge thee; thee +Kirwan, I say, who art one of the four hundred into whom the spirit of +lying is entered, and thou seekest by adultery to establish the succession, +betraying thy king for thy own vain glory into endless perdition." + +A scene of confusion followed, which was allayed at last by the king +himself, who rose from his seat and commanded silence. It was thought that +the limit of permissible licence had been transcended, and the following +day Peto and Elstowe, the other speaker, were summoned before the council +to receive a reprimand. Lord Essex told them they deserved to be sewn into +a sack and thrown into the Thames. "Threaten such things to rich and dainty +folk, which have their hope in this world," answered Elstowe, gallantly, +"we fear them not; with thanks to God we know the way to heaven to be as +ready by water as by land."[372] Men of such metal might be broken, but +they could not be bent. The two offenders were hopelessly unrepentant and +impracticable, and it was found necessary to banish them. They retired to +Antwerp, where we find them the following year busy procuring copies of the +Bishop of Rochester's book against the king, which was broadly disseminated +on the continent, and secretly transmitting them into England; in close +correspondence also with Fisher himself, with Sir Thomas More, and for the +ill fortune of their friends, with the court at Brussels, between which and +the English Catholics the intercourse was dangerously growing.[373] + +The Greenwich friars, with their warden, went also a bad way. The death of +the persecuted brother was attended with circumstances in a high degree +suspicious.[374] Henry ordered an enquiry, which did not terminate in any +actual exposure; but a cloud hung over the convent, which refused to be +dispelled; the warden was deposed, and soon after it was found necessary to +dissolve the order. + +If the English monks had shared as a body the character of the Greenwich +Observants, of the Carthusians of London and Richmond, and of some other +establishments,--which may easily be numbered,--the resistance which they +might have offered to the government, with the sympathy which it would have +commanded, would have formed an obstacle to the Reformation that no power +could have overcome. It was time, however, for the dissolution of the +monasteries, when the few among them, which on other grounds might have +claimed a right to survive, were driven by their very virtues into treason. +The majority perished of their proper worthlessness; the few remaining +contrived to make their existence incompatible with the safety of the +state. + +Leaving for the present these disorders to mature themselves, I must now +return to the weary chapter of European diplomacy, to trace the tortuous +course of popes and princes, duping one another with false hopes; saying +what they did not mean, and meaning what they did not say. It is a very +Slough of Despond, through which we must plunge desperately as we may; and +we can cheer ourselves in this dismal region only by the knowledge that, +although we are now approaching the spot where the mire is deepest, the +hard ground is immediately beyond. + +We shall, perhaps, be able most readily to comprehend the position of the +various parties in Europe, by placing them before us as they stood +severally in the summer of 1532, and defining briefly the object which each +was pursuing. + +Henry only, among the great powers, laid his conduct open to the world, +declaring truly what he desired, and seeking it by open means. He was +determined to proceed with the divorce, and he was determined also to +continue the Reformation of the English Church. If consistently with these +two objects he could avoid a rupture with the pope, he was sincerely +anxious to avoid it. He was ready to make great efforts, to risk great +sacrifices, to do anything short of surrendering what he considered of +vital moment, to remain upon good terms with the See of Rome. If his +efforts failed, and a quarrel was inevitable, he desired to secure himself +by a close maintenance of the French alliance; and having induced Francis +to urge compliance upon the pope by a threat of separation if he refused, +to prevail on him, in the event of the pope's continued obstinacy, to put +his threat in execution, and unite with England in a common schism. All +this is plain and straightforward--Henry concealed nothing, and, in fact, +had nothing to conceal. In his threats, his promises, and his entreaties, +we feel entire certainty that he was speaking his real thoughts. + +The emperor's position, also, though not equally simple, is intelligible, +and commands our respect. Although if he had consented to sacrifice his +aunt, he might have spared himself serious embarrassment; although both by +the pope and by the consistory such a resolution would probably have been +welcomed with passionate thankfulness; yet at all hazards Charles was +determined to make her his first object, even with the risk of convulsing +Europe. At the same time his position was encumbered with difficulty. The +Turks were pressing upon him in Hungary and in the Mediterranean; his +relations with Francis--fortunately for the prospects of the +Reformation--were those of inveterate hostility; while in Germany he had +been driven to make terms with the Protestant princes; he had offended the +pope by promising them a general council, in which the Lutheran divines +should be represented; and the pope, taught by recent experience, was made +to fear that these symptoms of favour towards heresy, might convert +themselves into open support. + +With Francis the prevailing feeling was rivalry with the emperor, combined +with an eager desire to recover his influence in Italy, and to restore +France to the position in Europe which had been lost by the defeat of +Pavia, and the failure of Lautrec at Naples. This was his first object, to +which every other was subsidiary. He was disinclined to a rupture with the +pope; but the possibility of such a rupture had been long contemplated by +French statesmen. It was a contingency which the pope feared:--which the +hopes of Henry pictured as more likely than it was--and Francis, like his +rivals in the European system, held the menace of it extended over the +chair of St. Peter, to coerce its unhappy occupant into compliance with his +wishes. With respect to Henry's divorce, his conduct to the University of +Paris, and his assurances repeated voluntarily on many occasions, show that +he was sincerely desirous to forward it. He did not care for Henry, or for +England, or for the cause itself; he desired only to make the breach +between Henry and Charles irreparable; to make it impossible for ever that +"his two great rivals" should become friends together; and by inducing the +pope to consent to the English demand, to detach the court of Rome +conclusively from the imperial interests. + +The two princes who disputed the supremacy of Europe, were intriguing one +against the other, each desiring to constitute himself the champion of the +church; and to compel the church to accept his services, by the threat of +passing over to her enemies. By a dexterous use of the cards which were in +his hands, the King of France proposed to secure one of two alternatives. +Either he would form a league between himself, Henry, and the pope, against +the emperor, of which the divorce, and the consent to it, which he would +extort from Clement, should be the cement; or, if this failed him, he would +avail himself of the vantage ground which was given to him by the English +alliance to obtain such concessions for himself at the emperor's expense as +the pope could be induced to make, and the emperor to tolerate. + +Such, in so far as I can unravel the web of the diplomatic correspondence, +appear to have been the open positions and the secret purposes of the great +European powers. + +There remains the fourth figure upon the board, the pope himself, labouring +with such means as were at his disposal to watch over the interests of the +church, and to neutralise the destructive ambition of the princes, by +playing upon their respective selfishnesses. On the central question, that +of the divorce, his position was briefly this. Both the emperor and Henry +pressed for a decision. If he decided for Henry, he lost Germany; if he +decided for Catherine, while Henry was supported by Francis, France and +England threatened both to fall from him. It was therefore necessary for +him to induce the emperor to consent to delay, while he worked upon the +King of France; and, if France and England could once be separated, he +trusted that Henry would yield in despair. This most subtle and difficult +policy reveals itself in the transactions open and secret of the ensuing +years. It was followed with a dexterity as extraordinary as its +unscrupulousness, and with all but perfect success. That it failed at all, +in the ordinary sense of failure, was due to the accidental delay of a +courier; and Clement, while he succeeded in preserving the allegiance of +France to the Roman see, succeeded also--and this is no small thing to have +accomplished--in weaving the most curious tissue of falsehood which will be +met with even in the fertile pages of Italian subtlety. + +With this general understanding of the relation between the great parties +in the drama, let us look to their exact position in the summer of 1532. + +Charles was engaged in repelling an invasion of the Turks, with an +anarchical Germany in his rear, seething with fanatical anabaptists, and +clamouring for a general council. + +Henry and Francis had been called upon to furnish a contingent against +Solyman, and had declined to act with the emperor. They had undertaken to +concert their own measures between themselves, if it proved necessary for +them to move; and in the meantime Cardinal Grammont and Cardinal Tournon +were sent by Francis to Rome, to inform Clement that unless he gave a +verdict in Henry's favour, the Kings of France and England, being _une +mesme chose_, would pursue some policy with respect to him,[375] to which +he would regret that he had compelled them to have recourse. So far their +instructions were avowed and open. A private message revealed the secret +means by which the pope might escape from his dilemma; the cardinals were +to negotiate a marriage between the Duke of Orleans and the pope's niece +(afterwards so infamously famous), Catherine de Medicis. The marriage, as +Francis represented it to Henry, was beneath the dignity of a prince of +France, he had consented to it, as he professed, only for Henry's +sake;[376] but the pope had made it palatable by a secret article in the +engagement, for the grant of the duchy of Milan as the lady's dowry. + +Henry, threatened as we have seen with domestic disturbance, and with +further danger on the side of Scotland, which Charles had succeeded in +agitating, concluded, on the 23rd of June, a league, offensive and +defensive, with Francis, the latter engaging to send a fleet into the +Channel, and to land 15,000 troops in England if the emperor should attempt +an invasion from the sea.[378] For the better consolidation of this league, +and to consult upon the measures which they would pursue on the great +questions at issue in Christendom, and lastly to come to a final +understanding on the divorce, it was agreed further that in the autumn the +two kings should meet at Calais. The conditions of the interview were still +unarranged on the 22nd of July, when the Bishop of Paris, who remained +ambassador at the English court, wrote to Montmorency to suggest that Anne +Boleyn should be invited to accompany the King of England on this occasion, +and that she should be received in state. The letter was dated from +Ampthill, to which Henry had escaped for a while from his Greenwich friars +and other troubles, and where the king was staying a few weeks before the +house was given up to Queen Catherine. Anne Boleyn was with him; she now, +as a matter of course, attended him everywhere. Intending her, as he did, +to be the mother of the future heir to his crown, he preserved what is +technically called her honour unimpeached and unimpaired. In all other +respects she occupied the position and received the homage due to the +actual wife of the English sovereign; and in this capacity it was the +desire of Henry that she should be acknowledged by a foreign prince. + +The bishop's letter on this occasion is singularly interesting and +descriptive. The court were out hunting, he said, every day; and while the +king was pursuing the heat of the chase, he and Mademoiselle Anne were +posted together, each with a crossbow, at the point to which the deer was +to be driven. The young lady, in order that the appearance of her reverend +cavalier might correspond with his occupation, had made him a present of a +hunting cap and frock, a horn and a greyhound. Her invitation to Calais he +pressed with great earnestness, and suggested that Marguerite de Valois, +the Queen of Navarre, should be brought down to entertain her. The Queen of +France being a Spaniard, would not, he thought, be welcome: "the sight of a +Spanish dress being as hateful in the King of England's eyes as the devil +himself." In other respects the reception should be as magnificent as +possible, "and I beseech you," he concluded, "keep out of the court, _deux +sortes de gens_, the imperialists, and the wits and mockers; the English +can endure neither of them."[379] + +Through the tone of this language the contempt is easily visible with which +the affair was regarded in the French court. But for Francis to receive in +public the rival of Queen Catherine, to admit her into his family, and to +bring his sister from Paris to entertain her, was to declare in the face of +Europe, in a manner which would leave no doubt of his sincerity, that he +intended to countenance Henry. With this view only was the reception of +Anne desired by the King of England; with this view it was recommended by +the bishop, and assented to by the French court. Nor was this the only +proof which Francis was prepared to give, that he was in earnest. He had +promised to distribute forty thousand crowns at Rome, in bribing cardinals +to give their voices for Henry in the consistory, with other possible +benefactions.[380] + +He had further volunteered his good offices with the court of Scotland, +where matters were growing serious, and where his influence could be used +to great advantage. The ability of James the Fifth to injure Henry happily +fell short of his inclination, but encouraged by secret promises from +Clement and from the emperor, he was waiting his opportunity to cross the +Border with an army; and in the meantime he was feeding with efficient +support a rebellion in Ireland. Of what was occurring at this time in that +perennially miserable country I shall speak in a separate chapter. It is +here sufficient to mention, that on the 23rd of August, Henry received +information that McConnell of the Isles, after receiving knighthood from +James, had been despatched into Ulster with four thousand men,[381] and was +followed by Mackane with seven thousand more on the 3rd of September.[382] +Peace with England nominally continued; but the Kers, the Humes, the Scotts +of Buccleugh, the advanced guard of the Marches, were nightly making forays +across the Border, and open hostilities appeared to be on the point of +explosion.[383] If war was to follow, Henry was prepared for it. He had a +powerful force at Berwick, and in Scotland itself a large party were +secretly attached to the English interests. The clan of Douglas, with their +adherents, were even prepared for open revolt, and open transfer of +allegiance.[384] But, although Scottish nobles might be gained over, and +Scottish armies might be defeated in the field, Scotland itself, as the +experience of centuries had proved, could never be conquered. The policy of +the Tudors had been to abstain from aggression, till time should have +soothed down the inherited animosity between the two countries; and Henry +was unwilling to be forced into extremities which might revive the bitter +memories of Flodden. The Northern counties also, in spite of their Border +prejudices, were the stronghold of the papal party, and it was doubtful how +far their allegiance could be counted upon in the event of an invasion +sanctioned by the pope. The hands of the English government were already +full without superadded embarrassment, and the offered mediation of Francis +was gratefully welcomed. + +These were the circumstances under which the second great interview was to +take place between Francis the First and Henry of England.[385] Twelve +years had passed since their last meeting, and the experience which those +years had brought to both of them, had probably subdued their inclination +for splendid pageantry. Nevertheless, in honour of the occasion, some faint +revival was attempted of the magnificence of the Field of the Cloth of +Gold. Anne Boleyn was invited duly; and the Queen of Navarre, as the Bishop +of Paris recommended, came down to Boulogne to receive her. The French +princes came also to thank Henry in person for their deliverance out of +their Spanish prison; and he too, on his side, brought with him his young +Marcellus, the Duke of Richmond, his only son--illegitimate +unfortunately--but whose beauty and noble promise were at once his father's +misery and pride; giving point to his bitterness at the loss of his sons by +Catherine; quickening his hopes of what might be, and deepening his +discontent with that which was. If this boy had lived, he would have been +named to follow Edward the Sixth in the succession, and would have been +King of England;[386] but he too passed away in the flower of his +loveliness, one more evidence of the blight which rested upon the stem of +the Tudors. + +The English court was entertained by Francis at Boulogne. The French court +was received in return at Calais by the English. The outward description of +the scene, the magnificent train of the princes, the tournaments, the +feasts, the dances, will be found minutely given in the pages of Hall, and +need not be repeated here. To Hall indeed, the outward life of men, their +exploits in war, and their pageantries in peace, alone had meaning or +interest; and the backstairs secrets of Vatican diplomacy, the questionings +of opinion, and all the brood of mental sicknesses then beginning to +distract the world, were but impertinent interferences with the true +business of existence. But the healthy objectiveness of an old English +chronicler is no longer possible for us; we may envy where we cannot +imitate; and our business is with such features of the story as are of +moment to ourselves. + +The political questions which were to be debated at the conference, were +three; the Turkish Invasion, the General Council, and King Henry's divorce. + +On the first, it was decided that there was no immediate occasion for +France and England to move. Solyman's retreat from Vienna had relieved +Europe from present peril; and the enormous losses which he had suffered, +might prevent him from repeating the experiment. If the danger became again +imminent, however, the two kings agreed to take the field in person the +following year at the head of eighty thousand men. + +On the second point they came to no conclusion, but resolved only to act in +common. + +On the third and most important, they parted with a belief that they +understood each other; but their memories, or the memory of one of them, +proved subsequently treacherous; and we can only extract what passed +between them out of their mutual recriminations. + +It was determined certainly that at the earliest convenient moment, a +meeting should take place between the pope and Francis; and that at this +meeting Francis should urge in person concession to Henry's demands. If the +pope professed himself unable to risk the displeasure of the emperor, it +should be suggested that he might return to Avignon, where he would be +secure under the protection of France and England. If he was still +reluctant, and persisted in asserting his right to compel Henry to plead +before him at Rome, or if he followed up his citations by inhibitions, +suspensions, excommunications, or other form of censure, Francis declared +that he would support Henry to the last, whether against the pope himself +or against any prince or potentate who might attempt to enforce the +sentence. On this point the promises of the King of France were most +profuse and decided; and although it was not expressly stated in words, +Henry seems to have persuaded himself that, if the pope pressed matters to +extremities, Francis had engaged further that the two countries should +pursue a common course, and unite in a common schism. The two princes did +in fact agree, that if the general council which they desired was refused, +they would summon provincial councils on their own authority. Each of them +perhaps interpreted their engagements by their own wishes or +interests.[387] + +We may further believe, since it was affirmed by Henry, and not denied by +Francis, that the latter advised Henry to bring the dispute to a close, by +a measure from which he could not recede; that he recommended him to act on +the general opinion of Europe that his marriage with Queen Catherine was +null, and at once upon his return to England to make Anne Boleyn his +wife.[388] + +So far the account is clear. This advice was certainly given, and as +certainly Francis undertook to support Henry through all the consequences +in which the marriage might involve him. But a league for mutual defence +fell short of what Henry desired, and fell short also of what Francis, by +the warmth of his manner, had induced Henry for the moment to believe that +he meant. It is probable that the latter pressed upon him engagements which +he avoided by taking refuge in general professions; and no sooner had Henry +returned to England, than either misgivings occurred to him as to the +substantial results of the interview, or he was anxious to make the French +king commit himself more definitely. He sent to him to beg that he would +either write out, or dictate and sign, the expressions which he had used; +professing to wish it only for the comfort which he would derive from the +continual presence of such refreshing words--but surely for some deeper +reason.[389] + +Francis had perhaps said more than he meant; Henry supposed him to have +meant more than he said. Yet some promise was made, which was not +afterwards observed; and Francis acknowledged some engagement in an apology +which he offered for the breach of it. He asserted, in defence of himself, +that he had added a stipulation which Henry passed over in silence,--that +no steps should be taken towards annulling the marriage with Catherine in +the English law courts until the effect had been seen of his interview with +the pope, provided the pope on his side remained similarly inactive.[390] +Whatever it was which he had bound himself to do, this condition, if made +at all, could be reconciled only with his advice that Henry should marry +Anne Boleyn without further delay, on the supposition that the interview in +question was to take place immediately; for the natural consequences of the +second marriage would involve, as a matter of course, some speedy legal +declaration with respect to the first. And when on various pretexts the +pope postponed the meeting, and on the other part of his suggestion Henry +had acted within a few months of his return from Calais, it became +impossible that such a condition could be observed. It availed for a formal +excuse; but Francis vainly endeavoured to disguise his own infirmity of +purpose behind the language of a negotiation which conveyed, when it was +used, a meaning widely different. + +The conference was concluded on the 1st of November, but the court was +detained at Calais for a further fortnight by violent gales in the Channel. +In the excited state of public feeling, events in themselves ordinary +assumed a preternatural significance. The friends of Queen Catherine, to +whom the meeting between the kings was of so disastrous augury, and the +nation generally, which an accident to Henry at such a time would have +plunged into a chaos of confusion, alike watched the storm with anxious +agitation; on the king's return to London, Te Deums were offered in the +churches, as if for his deliverance from some extreme and imminent peril. +The Nun of Kent on this great occasion was admitted to conferences with +angels. She denounced the meeting, under celestial instruction, as a +conspiracy against Heaven. The king, she said, but for her interposition, +would have proceeded, while at Calais, to his impious marriage;[391] and +God was so angry with him, that he was not permitted to profane with his +unholy eyes the blessed Sacrament. "It was written in her revelations," +says the statute of her attainder, "that when the King's Grace was at +Calais, and his Majesty and the French king were hearing mass in the Church +of Our Lady, that God was so displeased with the King's Highness, that his +Grace saw not at that time the blessed sacrament in the form of bread, for +it was taken away from the priest, being at mass, by an angel, and was +ministered to the said Elizabeth, there being present and invisible, and +suddenly conveyed and rapt thence again into the nunnery where she was +professed."[392] + +She had an interview with Henry on his return through Canterbury, to try +the effect of her Cassandra presence on his fears;[393] but if he still +delayed his marriage, it was probably neither because he was frightened by +her denunciations, nor from alarm at the usual occurrence of an equinoctial +storm. Many motives combined to dissuade him from further hesitation. Six +years of trifling must have convinced him that by decisive action alone he +could force the pope to a conclusion. He was growing old, and the +exigencies of the succession, rendered doubly pressing by the long +agitation, required immediate resolution. He was himself satisfied that he +was at liberty to marry whom he pleased and when he pleased, his +relationship to Catherine, according to his recent convictions, being such +as had rendered his connection with her from the beginning invalid and +void. His own inclinations and the interests of the nation pointed to the +same course. The King of France had advised it. Even the pope himself, at +the outset of the discussion, had advised it also. "Marry freely," the pope +had said; "fear nothing, and all shall be arranged as you desire." He had +forborne to take the pope at his word; he had hoped that the justice of his +demands might open a less violent way to him; and he had shrunk from a step +which might throw even a causeless shadow over the legitimacy of the +offspring for which he longed. The case was now changed; no other +alternative seemed to be open to his choice, and it was necessary to bring +the matter to a close once and for all. + +But Henry, as he said himself, was past the age when passion or appetite +would be likely to move him, and having waited so many years, he could +afford to wait a little longer, till the effects of the Calais conferences +upon the pope should have had time to show themselves. In December, Clement +was to meet the emperor at Bologna. In the month following, it might be +hoped that he would meet Francis at Marseilles or Avignon, and from their +interview would be seen conclusively the future attitude of the papal and +imperial courts. Experience of the past forbade anything like sanguine +expectation; yet it was not impossible that the pope might be compelled at +last to yield the required concessions. The terms of Henry's understanding +with Francis were not perhaps made public, but he was allowed to dictate +the language which the French cardinals were to make use of in the +consistory;[394] and the reception of Anne Boleyn by the French king was +equivalent to the most emphatic declaration that if the censures of the +church were attempted in defence of Catherine, the enforcement of them +would be resisted by the combined arms of France and England. + +And the pope did in fact feel himself in a dilemma from which all his +address was required to extricate him. He had no support from his +conscience, for he knew that he was acting unjustly in refusing the +divorce; while to risk the emperor's anger, which was the only honest +course before him, was perhaps for that very reason impossible. He fell +back upon his Italian cunning, and it did not fail him in his need. But his +conduct, though creditable to his ingenuity, reflects less pleasantly on +his character; and when it is traced through all its windings, few +reasonable persons will think that they have need to blush at the causes +which led to the last breach between England and the papacy. + +From the time of Catherine's appeal and the retirement of Campeggio, +Clement, with rare exceptions, had maintained an attitude of impassive +reserve. He had allowed judgment to be delayed on various pretexts, because +until that time delay had answered his purposes sufficiently. But to the +English agents he had been studiously cold, not condescending even to hold +out hopes to them that concession might be possible. Some little time +before the meeting at Calais, however, a change was observed in the +language both of the pope himself and of the consistory. The cardinals were +visibly afraid of the position which had been taken by the French king; +questions supposed to be closed were once more admitted to debate in a +manner which seemed to show that their resolution was wavering; and one +day, at the close of a long argument, the following curious conversation +took place between some person (Sir Gregory Cassalis, apparently), who +reported it to Henry, and Clement himself. "I had desired a private +interview with his Holiness," says the writer, "intending to use all my +endeavours to persuade him to satisfy your Majesty. But although I did my +best, I could obtain nothing from him; he had an answer for everything +which I advanced, and it was in vain that I laboured to remove his +difficulties. At length, however, in reply to something which I had +proposed, he said shortly,--Multo minus scandalosum fuisset dispensare cum +majestate vestra super duabus uxoribus, quam ea cedere quae ego petebam, +_it would have created less scandal to have granted your Majesty a +dispensation to have two wives than to concede what I was then demanding_. +As I did not know how far this alternative would be pleasing to your +Majesty, I endeavoured to divert him from it, and to lead him back to what +I had been previously saying. He was silent for a while, and then, paying +no regard to my interruption, he continued to speak of the 'two wives,' +admitting however that there were difficulties in the way of such an +arrangement, principally it seemed because the emperor would refuse his +consent from the possible injury which it might create to his cousin's +prospects of the succession. I replied, that as to the succession, I could +not see what right the emperor had to a voice upon the matter. If some +lawful means could be discovered by which your Majesty could furnish +yourself with male offspring, the emperor could no more justly complain +than if the queen were to die and the prospects of the princess were +interfered with by a second marriage of an ordinary kind. To this the pope +made no answer. I cannot tell what your Majesty will think, nor how far +this suggestion of the pope would be pleasing to your Majesty. Nor indeed +can I feel sure, in consequence of what he said about the emperor, that he +actually would grant the dispensation of which he spoke. I have thought it +right, however, to inform you of what passed."[395] + +This letter is undated, but it was written, as appears from internal +evidence, some time in the year 1532.[396] + +The pope's language was ambiguous, and the writer did not allow himself to +derive from it any favourable augury; but the tone in which the suggestions +had been made was by many degrees more favourable than had been heard for a +very long time in the quarter from which they came, and the symptoms which +it promised of a change of feeling were more than confirmed in the +following winter. + +Charles was to be at Bologna in the middle of December, where he was to +discuss with Clement the situation of Europe, and in particular of Germany, +with the desirableness of fulfilling the engagements into which he had +entered for a general council. + +This was the avowed object of the meeting. But, however important the +question of holding a council was becoming, it was not immediately +pressing; and we cannot doubt that the disquiet occasioned by the alliance +of England and France was the cause that the conference was held at so +inconvenient a season. The pope left Rome on the 18th of November, having +in his train a person who afterwards earned for himself a dark name in +English history, Dr. Bonner, then a famous canon lawyer attached to the +embassy. The journey in the wild weather was extremely miserable; and +Bonner, whose style was as graphic as it was coarse, sent home a humorous +account of it to Cromwell.[397] Three wretched weeks the party were upon +the road, plunging through mire and water. They reached Bologna on the 8th +of December, where, four days after them, arrived Charles V. It is +important, as we shall presently see, to observe the dates of these +movements. I shall have to compare with them the successive issues of +several curious documents. On the 12th of December the pope and the emperor +met at Bologna; on the 24th Dr. Bennet, Henry's able secretary, who had +been despatched from England to be present at the conference, wrote to +report the result of his observations. He had been admitted to repeated +interviews with the pope, as well before as after the emperor's arrival; +and the language which the former made use of could only be understood, and +was of course intended to be understood, as expressing the attitude in +which he was placing himself towards the imperial faction. Bennet's letter +was as follows:-- + +"I have been sundry and many times with the pope, as well afore the coming +of the emperour as sythen, yet I have not at any time found his Holiness +more tractable or propense to show gratuity unto your Highness than now of +late,--insomuch that he hath more freely opened his mind than he was +accustomed, and said also that he would speak with me frankly without any +observance or respect at all. At which time, I greatly lamented (your +Highness's cause being so just) no means could be found and taken to +satisfy your Highness therein; and I said also that I doubted not but that +(if his Holiness would) ways might be found by his wisdom, now at the +emperour's being with him, to satisfy your Highness; and that done, his +Holiness should not only have your Highness in as much or more friendship +than he hath had heretofore, but also procure thereby that thing which his +Holiness hath chiefly desired, which is, as he hath said, a universal +concord among the princes of Christendom. His Holiness answered, that he +would it had cost him a joint of his hand that such a way might be +excogitate; and he said also, that the best thing which he could see to be +done therein at this present, for a preparation to that purpose, was the +thing which is contained in the first part of the cipher.[398] Speaking of +the justness of your cause, he called to his remembrance the thing which he +told me two years past; which was, that the opinion of the lawyers was more +certain, favourable, and helping to your cause than the opinion of the +divines; for he said that as far as he could perceive, the lawyers, though +they held quod Papa possit dispensare in this case, yet they commonly do +agree quod hoc fieri debeat ex maxima causa, adhibita causae cognitione, +which in this case doth not appear; and he said, that to come to the truth +herein he had used all diligence possible, and enquired the opinion of +learned men, being of fame and indifferency both in the court here and in +other places. And his Holiness promised me that he would herein use all +good policy and dexterity to imprint the same in the emperour's head; which +done, he reckoneth many things to be invented that may be pleasant and +profitable to your Highness; adding yet that this is not to be done with a +fury, but with leisure and as occasion shall serve, lest if he should +otherwise do, he should let and hinder that good effect which peradventure +might ensue thereby."[399] + +This letter has all the character of truth about it. The secretary had no +interest in deceiving Henry, and it is quite certain that, whether honestly +or not, the pope had led him to believe that his sympathies were again on +the English side, and that he was using his best endeavours to subdue the +emperor's opposition. + +On the 26th of December, two days later, Sir Gregory Cassalis, who had also +followed the papal court to Bologna, wrote to the same effect. He, too, had +been with the pope, who had been very open and confidential with him. The +emperor, the pope said, had complained of the delay in the process, but he +had assured him that it was impossible for the consistory to do more than +it had done. The opinion of the theologians was on the whole against the +papal power of dispensation in cases of so close relationship; of the canon +lawyers part agreed with the theologians, and those who differed from them +were satisfied that such a power might not be exercised unless there were +most urgent cause, unless, that is, the safety of a kingdom were dependent +upon it. Such occasion he had declared that he could not find to have +existed for the dispensation granted by his predecessor. The emperor had +replied that there had been such occasion: the dispensation had been +granted to prevent war between Spain and England; and that otherwise great +calamities would have befallen both countries. But this was manifestly +untrue; and his Holiness said that he had answered, It was a pity, then, +that these causes had not been submitted at the time, as the reason for the +demand, which it was clear that they had not been: as the case stood, it +was impossible for him to proceed further. Upon which he added, "Se vidisse +Caesarem obstupefactum." "I write the words," continued Sir Gregory, +"exactly as the pope related them to me. Whether he really spoke in this +way, I cannot tell; of this, however, I am sure, that on the day of our +conversation he had taken the blessed sacrament. He assured me further, +that he had laboured to induce the emperor to permit him to satisfy your +Majesty. I recommended him that when next the emperor spoke with him upon +the subject, he should enter at greater length on the question of +_justice_, and that some other person should be present at the conference, +that there might be no room left for suspicion."[400] + +The manner of Clement was so unlike what Cassalis had been in the habit +of witnessing in him, that he was unable, as we see, wholly to persuade +himself that the change was sincere: the letter, however, was despatched +to England, and was followed in a few days by Bonner, who brought +with him the result of the pope's good will in the form of definite +propositions--instructions of similar purport having been forwarded at the +same time to the papal nuncio in England. The pope, so Henry was informed, +was now really well disposed to do what was required; he had urged upon the +emperor the necessity of concessions, and the cause might be settled in one +of two ways, to either of which he was himself ready to consent. Catherine +had appealed against judgment being passed in England, as a place which was +not indifferent. Henry had refused to allow his cause to be heard anywhere +but in his own realm; pleading first his privilege as a sovereign prince; +and secondly, his exemption as an Englishman.[401] The pope, with +appearance of openness, now suggested that Henry should either "send a +mandate requiring the remission of his cause to an indifferent place, in +which case he would himself surrender his claim to have it tried in the +courts at Rome, and would appoint a legate and two auditors to hear the +trial elsewhere;" or else, a truce of three or four years being concluded +between England, France, and Spain, the pope would "with all celerity +indict a general council, to which he would absolutely and wholly remit the +consideration of the question."[402] + +Both proposals carried on their front a show of fair dealing, and if +honestly proffered, were an evidence that something more might at length be +hoped than words. But the true obstacle to a settlement lay, as had been +long evident, rather in the want of an honest will, than in legal +difficulties or uncertainty as to the justice of the cause; and while +neither of the alternatives as they stood were admissible or immediately +desirable, there were many other roads, if the point of honesty were once +made good, which would lead more readily to the desired end. Once for all +Henry could not consent to plead out of England; while an appeal to a +council would occupy more time than the condition of the country could +conveniently allow. But the offer had been courteously made; it had been +accompanied with language which might be sincere; and the king replied with +grace, and almost with cordiality; not wholly giving Clement his +confidence, but expressing a hope that he might soon be no longer justified +in withholding it. He was unable, he said, to accept the first condition, +because it was contrary to his coronation oath; "it so highly touched the +prerogative royal of the realm, that though he were minded to do it, yet +must he abstain without the assent of the court of parliament, which he +thought verily would never condescend to it."[403] The other suggestion he +did not absolutely reject, but the gathering of a council was too serious a +matter to be precipitated, and the situation of Christendom presented many +obstacles to a measure which would be useless unless it were carried +through by all the great powers in a spirit of cordial unanimity. He +trusted therefore that if the pope's intentions were really such as he +pretended to entertain, he would find some method more convenient of +proving his sincerity. + +It was happy for Henry that experience had taught him to be distrustful. +Events proved too clearly that Clement's assumed alteration of tone was no +more than a manoeuvre designed to entice him to withdraw from the position +in which he had entrenched himself, and to induce him to acknowledge that +he was amenable to an earthly authority exterior to his own realm.[404] In +his offer to refer the cause to a general council, he proved that he was +insincere, when in the following year he refused to allow a council to be a +valid tribunal for the trial of it. The course which he would have followed +if the second alternative had been accepted, may be conjectured from the +measures which, as I shall presently show, he was at this very moment +secretly pursuing. Henry, however, had happily resolved that he would be +trifled with no further; he felt instinctively that only action would cut +the net in which he was entangled; and he would not hesitate any longer to +take a step which, in one way or another, must bring the weary question to +a close. If the pope meant well, he would welcome a resolution which made +further procrastination impossible; if he did not mean well, he could not +be permitted to dally further with the interests of the English nation. +Within a few days, therefore, of Bonner's return from Bologna, he took the +final step from which there was no retreat, and "somewhere about St. Paul's +day,"[405] Anne Boleyn received the prize for which she had thirsted seven +long years, in the hand of the King of England. The ceremony was private. +No authentic details are known either of the scene of it or the +circumstances under which it took place; but it is said to have been +performed by the able Rowland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield, summoned up for the +purpose from the Welsh Marches, of which he was warden. It was done, +however--in one way or other finally done--the cast was thrown, and a match +was laid to the train which now at length could explode the spell of +intrigue, and set Henry and England free. + +We have arrived at a point from which the issue of the labyrinth is clearly +visible. The course of it has been very dreary; and brought in contact as +we have been with so much which is painful, so much which is discreditable +to all parties concerned, we may perhaps have lost our sense of the broad +bearings of the question in indiscriminate disgust. It will be well, +therefore, to pause for a moment to recapitulate those features of the +story which are the main indications of its character, and may serve to +guide our judgment in the censure which we shall pass. + +It may be admitted, or it ought to be admitted, that if Henry VIII. had +been contented to rest his demand for a divorce merely on the interests of +the kingdom, if he had forborne, while his request was pending, to affront +the princess who had for many years been his companion and his queen; if he +had shown her that respect which her high character gave her a right to +demand, and which her situation as a stranger ought to have made it +impossible to him to refuse; his conduct would have been liable to no +imputation, and our sympathies would without reserve have been on his side. +He could not have been expected to love a person to whom he had been +married as a boy for political convenience, merely because she was his +wife; especially when she was many years his senior in age, disagreeable in +her person, and by the consciousness of it embittered in her temper. His +kingdom demanded the security of a stable succession; his conscience, it +may not be doubted, was seriously agitated by the loss of his children; and +looking upon it as the sentence of Heaven upon a connection, the legality +of which had from the first been violently disputed, he believed that he +had been living in incest, and that his misfortunes were the consequence of +it. Under these circumstances he had a full right to apply for a +divorce.[406] + +The causa urgentissima of the canon law for which, by the pope's own +showing, the dispensing powers had been granted to him, had arisen in an +extreme form; and when the vital interests of England were sacrificed to +the will of a foreign prince, sufficient reason had arisen for the nation +to decline submission to so emphatic injustice, and to seek within itself +its own remedies for its own necessities. These considerations must be +allowed all their weight; and except for them, it is not to be supposed +that Henry would have permitted private distaste or inclination to induce +him to create a scandal in Europe. In his conduct, however, as in that of +most men, good was chequered with evil, and sincerity with self-deception. +Personal feeling can be traced from the first, holding a subsidiary, +indeed, but still an influential place, among his motives; and exactly so +far as he was influenced by it, his course was wrong, as the consequence +miserably proved. The position which, in his wife's presence, he assigned +to another woman, however he may have persuaded himself that Catherine had +no claim to be considered his wife, admits neither of excuse nor of +palliation; and he ought never to have shared his throne with a person who +consented to occupy that position. He was blind to the coarseness of Anne +Boleyn, because, in spite of his chivalry, his genius, his accomplishments, +in his relations with women he was without delicacy himself. He directed, +or attempted to direct, his conduct by the broad rules of what he thought +to be just; and in the wide margin of uncertain ground where rules of +action cannot be prescribed, and where men must guide themselves by +consideration for the feelings of others, he--so far as women were +concerned--was altogether or almost a stranger. Such consideration is a +virtue which can be learned only in the society of equals, where necessity +obliges men to practise it. Henry had been a king from his boyhood; he had +been surrounded by courtiers who had anticipated all his desires; and +exposed as he was to an ordeal from which no human being could have escaped +uninjured, we have more cause, after all, to admire him for those +excellences which he conquered for himself, than to blame the defects which +he retained. + +But if in his private relations the king was hasty and careless, towards +the pope to whom we must now return, he exhausted all resources of +forbearance: and although, when separation from Rome was at length forced +upon him, he then permitted no half measures, and swept into his new career +with the strength of irresistible will, it was not till he had shown +resolution no less great in the endurance of indignity; and of the three +great powers in Europe, the prince who was compelled to break the unity of +the Catholic church, was evidently the only one who was capable of real +sacrifices to preserve it unbroken. Clement comprehended his reluctance, +but presumed too far upon it; and if there was sin in the "great schism" of +the Reformation, the guilt must rest where it is due. We have now to show +the reverse side of the transactions at Bologna, and explain what a person +wearing the title of his Holiness, in virtue of his supposed sanctity, had +been secretly doing. + +In January, 1532, some little time before his conversation with Sir Gregory +Cassalis on the subject of the two wives, the pope had composed a pastoral +letter to Henry, which had never been issued. From its contents it would +seem to have been written on the receipt of an indignant remonstrance of +Queen Catherine, in which she had complained of her desertion by her +husband, and of the public position which had been given to her rival. She +had supposed (and it was the natural mistake of an embittered and injured +woman) that Anne Boleyn had been placed in possession of the rights of an +actual, and not only of an intended wife; and the pope, accepting her +account of the situation, had written to implore the king to abstain, so +long as the cause remained undetermined, from creating so great a scandal +in Christendom, and to restore his late queen to her place at his side. +This letter, as it was originally written, was one of Clement's happiest +compositions.[407] He abstained in it from using any expression which could +be construed into a threat: he appealed to Henry's honourable character, +which no blot had hitherto stained; and dwelling upon the general confusion +of the Christian world, he urged with temperate earnestness the ill effects +which would be produced by so open a defiance of the injunctions of the +Holy See in a person of so high a position. So far all was well. Henry had +deserved that such a letter should be written to him; and the pope was more +than justified in writing it. The letter, however, if it was sent, produced +no effect, and on the 15th of November, three days before Clement's +departure to Bologna, where he pretended (we must not forget) that he +considered Henry substantially right; he added a postscript, in a tone not +contrasting only with his words to the ambassadors, but with the language +of the brief itself. + +Again urging Henry's delinquencies, his separation from his wife, and the +scandal of his connection with another person, he commanded him, under +penalty of excommunication, within one month of the receipt of those +injunctions, to restore the queen to her place, and to abstain +thenceforward from all intercourse with Anne Boleyn pending the issue of +the trial. "Otherwise," the pope continued, "when the said term shall have +elapsed, we pronounce thee, Henry King of England, and the said Anne, to be +_ipso facto_ excommunicate, and command all men to shun and avoid your +presence; and although our mind shrinks from allowing such a thought of +your Serenity, although by ourselves and by our auditory of the Rota an +inhibition has been already issued against you; although the act of which +you are suspected be in itself forbidden by all laws human and divine, yet +the reports which are brought to us do so move us, that once more we do +inhibit you from dissolving your marriage with the aforesaid Catherine, or +from continuing process, in your own courts, of divorce from her. And we do +also hereby warn you, that you presume not to contract any new marriage +with the said or with any other woman; we declare such marriage, if you +still attempt it, to be vain and of none effect, and so to be regarded by +all persons in obedience to the Apostolic see."[408] + +An inhibitory mandate, was a natural consequence of the conference of +Calais, provided that the pope intended to proceed openly and uprightly; +and if it had been sent upon the spot, Henry could have complained of +nothing worse than of an honourable opposition to his wishes. But the +mystery was not yet exhausted. The postscript was not issued, it was not +spoken of; it was carried secretly to Bologna, and it bears at its foot a +further date of the 23rd of December, the very time, that is to say, at +which the pope was representing himself to Bennet as occupied only in +devising the best means of satisfying Henry, and to Sir Gregory Cassalis, +as so convinced of the justice of the English demands, that he had ventured +in defence of them to the edge of rupture with the emperor. + +It might be urged that he was sincere both in his brief and in his +conversation; that he believed that a verdict ought to be given, and would +at last be given, against the original marriage, and that therefore he was +the more anxious to prevent unnecessary scandal. Yet a menace of +excommunication couched in so haughty a tone, could have been honestly +reconciled with his other conduct, only by his following a course with +respect to it which he did not follow--by informing the ambassadors openly +of what he had done, and transmitting his letter through their hands to +Henry himself. This he might have done; and though the issue of such a +document at such a time would have been open to question, it might +nevertheless have been defended. His Holiness, however, did nothing of the +kind. No hint was let fall of the existence of any minatory brief; he +sustained his pretence of good will, till there was no longer any occasion +for him to counterfeit; and two months later it suddenly appeared on the +doors of the churches in Flanders. + +Henry at first believed it to be forgery, One forged brief had already been +produced by the imperialists in the course of their transactions, and he +imagined that this was another; even his past experience of Clement had not +prepared him for this last venture of effrontery; he wrote to Bennet, +enclosing a copy, and requiring him to ascertain if it were really +genuine.[409] + +The pope could not deny his hand, though the exposure, and the strange +irregular character of the brief itself troubled him, and Bonner, who was +again at the papal court, said that "he was in manner ashamed, and in great +perplexity what he might do therein."[410] + +His conduct will be variously interpreted, and to attempt to analyse the +motives of a double-minded man is always a hazardous experiment; but a +comparison of date, the character of Clement himself, the circumstances in +which he was placed, and the retrospective evidence from after events, +points almost necessarily to but one interpretation. It is scarcely +disputable that, frightened at the reception of Anne Boleyn in France, the +pope found it necessary to pretend for a time an altered disposition +towards Henry; and that the emperor, unable to feel wholly confident that a +person who was false to others was true to himself, had exacted the brief +from him as a guarantee for his good faith; Charles, on his side, reserving +the publication until Francis had been gained over, and until Clement was +screened against the danger which he so justly feared, from the +consequences of the interview at Calais. + +There was duplicity of a kind; this cannot be denied; and if not designed +to effect this object, this object in fact it answered. While Clement was +talking smoothly to Bennet and Cassalis, secret overtures were advanced at +Paris for a meeting at Nice between the pope, the emperor, and the King of +France, from which Henry was to be excluded.[411] The emperor made haste +with concessions to Francis, which but a few months before would have +seemed impossible. He withdrew his army out of Lombardy, and left Italy +free; he consented to the marriage which he had so earnestly opposed +between Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Orleans, agreeing also, it is +probable, to the contingency of the Duchy of Milan becoming ultimately her +dowry. And Francis having coquetted with the proposal for the Nice +meeting,[412] not indeed accepting, but not absolutely rejecting it, +Charles consented also to waive his objections to the interview between +Francis and the pope, on which he had looked hitherto with so much +suspicion; provided that the pope would bear in mind some mysterious and +unknown communication which had passed at Bologna.[413] + +Thus was Francis won. He cared only, as the pope had seen, for his own +interests; and from this time he drew away, by imperceptible degrees, from +his engagements to England. He did not stoop to dishonour or treacherous +betrayal of confidence, for with all his faults he was, in the technical +acceptation of that misused term, a gentleman. He declined only to maintain +the attitude which, if he had continued in it, would have compelled the +pope to yield; and although he continued honestly to urge him to make +concessions, he no longer affected to make them the price of preserving +France in allegiance to the Holy See. Nor need we regret that Francis +shrank from a resolution which Henry had no right to require of him. To +have united with France in a common schism at the crisis of the Reformation +would have only embarrassed the free motions of England; and two nations +whose interests and whose tendencies were essentially opposite, might not +submit to be linked together by the artificial interests of their princes. +The populace of England were unconsciously on the rapid road to +Protestantism. The populace of France were fanatically Catholic. England +was to go her way through a golden era of Elizabeth to Cromwell, the +Puritans, and a Protestant republic; a republic to be perpetuated, if not +in England herself, yet among her great children beyond the sea. France was +to go her way through Bartholomew massacres and the dragonnades to a +polished Louis the Magnificent, and thence to the bloody Medea's cauldron +of Revolution, out of which she was to rise as now we know her. No common +road could have been found for such destinies as these; and the French +prince followed the direction of his wiser instincts when he preferred a +quiet arrangement with the pope, in virtue of which his church should be +secured by treaty the liberties which she desired, to a doubtful struggle +for a freedom which his people neither wished nor approved. The interests +of the nation were in fact his own. He could ill afford to forsake a +religion which allowed him so pleasantly to compound for his amatory +indulgences by the estrapade[414] and a zeal for orthodoxy. + +It became evident to Henry early in the spring that he was left +substantially alone. His marriage had been kept secret with the intention +that it should be divulged by the King of France to the pope when he met +him at Marseilles; and as the pope had pretended an anxiety that either the +King of England should be present in person at that interview, or should be +represented by an ambassador of adequate rank, a train had been equipped +for the occasion, the most magnificent which England could furnish. Time, +meanwhile, passed on; the meeting, which was to have taken place first in +January, and then in April, was delayed till October, and in the interval +the papal brief had appeared in Flanders; the queen's pregnancy could not +admit of concealment; and the evident proof which appeared that France was +no longer to be depended upon, convinced the English government that they +had nothing to hope for from abroad, and that Henry's best resources were +to be found, where in fact they had always been, in the strength and +affection of his own people. + +From this choking atmosphere, therefore, we now turn back to England and +the English parliament; and the change is from darkness to light, from +death to life. Here was no wavering, no uncertainty, no smiling faces with +false hearts behind them; but the steady purpose of resolute men, who +slowly, and with ever opening vision, bore the nation forward to the fair +future which was already dawning. + +Parliament met at the beginning of February, a few days after the king's +marriage, which, however, still remained a secret. It is, I think, no +slight evidence of the calmness with which the statesmen of the day +proceeded with their work, that in a session so momentous, in a session in +which the decisive blow was to be struck of the most serious revolution +through which the country as yet had passed, they should have first settled +themselves calmly down to transact what was then the ordinary business of +legislation, the struggle with the vital evils of society. The first nine +statutes which were passed in this session were economic acts to protect +the public against the frauds of money-making tradesmen; to provide that +shoes and boots should be made of honest leather; that food should be sold +at fair prices, that merchants should part with their goods at fair +profits; to compel, or as far as the legislature was able to do it, to +compel all classes of persons to be true men; to deal honestly with each +other, in that high Quixotic sense of honesty which requires good subjects +at all times and under all circumstances to consider the interests of the +commonwealth as more important than their own. I have already spoken of +this economic legislation, and I need not dwell now upon details of it; +although under some aspects it may be thought that more which is truly +valuable in English history lies in these unobtrusive statutes than in all +our noisy wars, reformations, and revolutions. The history of this as of +all other nations (or so much of it as there is occasion for any of us to +know), is the history of the battles which it has fought and won with evil; +not with political evil merely, or spiritual evil; but with all +manifestations whatsoever of the devil's power. And to have beaten back, or +even to have struggled against and stemmed in ever so small a degree those +besetting basenesses of human nature, now held so invincible that the +influences of them are assumed as the fundamental axioms of economic +science; this appears to me a greater victory than Agincourt, a grander +triumph of wisdom and faith and courage than even the English constitution +or the English liturgy. Such a history, however, lies beside the purpose +which I may here permit myself; and the two acts with which the session +closed, alone in this place require our attention. + +The first of these is one of the many "Acts of Apparel," which are to be +found in the early volumes of the statute book. The meaning of these laws +becomes intelligible when we reflect upon the condition of the people. The +English were an organised nation of soldiers; they formed an army +perpetually ready for the field, where the degrees were determined by +social position; and the dresses prescribed to the various orders of +society were the graduated uniforms which indicated the rank of the +wearers. When every man was a soldier, and every gentleman was an officer, +the same causes existed for marking, by costume, the distinctions of +authority, which lead to the answering differences in the modern regiments. + +The changing conditions of the country at the time of the Reformation, the +growth of a middle class, with no landed possessions, yet made wealthy by +trade or other industry, had tended necessarily to introduce confusion; and +the policy of this reign, which was never more markedly operative than +during the most critical periods of it, was to reinvigorate the discipline +of the feudal system; and pending the growth of what might better suit the +age, pending the great struggle in which the nation was engaged, to hold +every man at his post. The statute specifies its object, and the motives +with which it was passed. + +"Whereas," says the preamble, "divers laws, ordinances, and statutes have +been with great deliberation and advice provided and established for the +necessary repressing and avoiding the inordinate excess daily more and more +used in the sumptuous and costly array and apparel accustomably worn in +this realm, whereof hath ensued, and daily do chance such sundry high and +notable inconveniences as be to the great and notorious detriment of the +commonweal, the subversion of politic order in knowledge and distinction of +people according to their preeminence and degrees, to the utter +impoverishment and undoing of many light and inexpert persons inclined to +pride, the mother of all vices: Be it enacted,"[415]--but I need not enter +into the particulars of the uniforms worn by the nobles and gentlemen of +the court of Henry VIII.; the temper, not the detail, is of importance; and +of the wisdom or unwisdom of such enactments, we who live in a changed age +should be cautious of forming a hasty opinion. The ends which the old +legislation proposed to itself, have in latter ages been resigned as +impracticable. We are therefore no longer adequate judges how far those +ends may in other times have been attainable, and we can still less judge +of the means through which the attainment of them was sought. + +The second act of which I have to speak is open to no such ambiguity; it +remains among the few which are and will be of perpetual moment in our +national history. The conduct of the pope had forced upon the parliament +the reconsideration of the character of his supremacy; and when the +question had once been asked, in the existing state of feeling but one +answer to it was possible. + +The authority of the church over the state, the supreme kingship of Christ, +and consequently of him who was held to be Christ's vicar, above all +worldly sovereignties, was an established reality of mediaeval Europe. The +princes had with difficulty preserved their jurisdiction in matters purely +secular; while in matters spiritual, and in that vast section of human +affairs in which the spiritual and the secular glide one into the other, +they had been compelled--all such of them as lay within the pale of the +Latin communion--to acknowledge a power superior to their own. To the popes +was the ultimate appeal in all causes of which the spiritual courts had +cognisance. Their jurisdiction had been extended by an unwavering pursuit +of a single policy, and their constancy in the twelfth century was rewarded +by absolute victory. In England, however, the field was no sooner won than +it was again disputed, and the civil government gave way at last only when +the danger seemed to have ceased. So long as the papacy was feared, so long +as the successors of St. Peter held a sword which could inflict sensible +wounds, and enforce obedience by penalties, the English kings had resisted +both the theory and the application. While the pope was dangerous he was +dreaded and opposed. When age had withered his arm, and the feeble +lightnings flickered in harmless insignificance, they consented to withdraw +their watchfulness, and his supremacy was silently allowed as an innocent +superstition. It existed as some other institutions exist at the present +day, with a merely nominal authority; with a tacit understanding, that the +power which it was permitted to retain should be exerted only in conformity +with the national will. + +Under these conditions the Tudor princes became loyal subjects to the Holy +See, and so they would have willingly remained, had not Clement, in an evil +hour for himself, forgotten the terms of the compact. He laid upon a legal +fiction a strain which his predecessors, in their palmiest days, would have +feared to attempt; and the nation, after grave remonstrance, which was only +received with insults, exorcised the chimaera with a few resolute words for +ever. The parliament, in asserting the freedom of England, carefully chose +their language. They did not pass a new law, but they passed an act +declaratory merely of the law which already existed, and which they were +vindicating against illegal encroachment. "Whereas," says the Statute of +Appeals, "by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles, it is +manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire, +and so hath been accepted in the world; governed by one supreme head and +king, having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the +same; unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people, +divided in terms by names of spiritualty and temporalty, be bound and ought +to bear, next to God, a natural and humble obedience: he being also +institute and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with +plenary, whole, and entire power, pre-eminence and authority, prerogative +and jurisdiction, to render and yield justice and final determination to +all manner of folk resident or subject within this his realm, without +restraint or provocation to any foreign prince or potentate of the world: +the body spiritual whereof having power when any cause of the law divine +happened to come in question, or of spiritual learning, [such cause being] +declared, interpret, and shewed by that part of the body politic called the +spiritualty, now usually called the English church; (which also hath been +reported and also found of that sort, that both for knowledge, integrity, +and sufficiency of numbers, it hath been always thought to be, and is also +at this hour sufficient and meet of itself, without the interfering of any +exterior person or persons, to declare and determine all such doubts, and +to administer all such offices and duties as to the administration of their +rooms spiritual doth appertain): and the laws temporal, for trial of +property of lands and goods, and for the conservation of the people of this +realm in unity and peace, having been and yet being administered, adjudged, +and executed by sundry judges and administers of the said body politic +called the temporalty: and seeing that both these authorities and +jurisdictions do conjoin together for the due administration of justice, +the one to help the other: and whereas the king's most noble progenitors, +and the nobility and commons of this said realm at divers and sundry +parliaments, as well in the time of King Edward I., Edward III., Richard +II., Henry IV., and other noble kings of this realm, made sundry +ordinances, laws, and provisions for the conservation of the prerogatives, +liberties, and pre-eminences of the imperial crown of this realm, and of +the jurisdiction spiritual and temporal of the same, to keep it from the +annoyance as well of the see of Rome as from the authority of other foreign +potentates attempting the diminution or violation thereof, as often as from +time to time any such annoyance or attempt might be known or espied: and +notwithstanding the said good statutes and ordinances, and since the making +thereof, divers inconveniences and dangers not provided for plainly by the +said statutes, have risen and sprung by reason of appeals sued out of this +realm to the see of Rome, in causes testamentary, causes of matrimony and +divorce, right of tithes, oblations, and obventions, not only to the great +inquietation, vexation, trouble, costs, and charges of the King's Highness, +and many of his subjects and residents in this his realm; but also to the +delay and let of the speedy determination of the said causes, for so much +as parties appealing to the said court of Rome most commonly do the same +for the delay of justice; and forasmuch as the great distance of way is so +far out of this realm, so that the necessary proofs, nor the true knowledge +of the causes, can neither there be so well known, nor the witnesses so +well examined there as within this realm, so that the parties grieved by +means of the said appeals be most times without remedy; in consideration +hereof, all testamentary and matrimonial causes, and all suits for tithes, +oblations, and obventions shall henceforth be adjudged in the spiritual and +temporal courts within the realm, without regard to any process of foreign +jurisdiction, or any inhibition, excommunication, or interdict. Persons +procuring processes, inhibitions, appeals, or citations from the court of +Rome, as well as their fautors, comforters, counsellors, aiders and +abettors, all and every of them shall incur the penalties of premunire; and +in all such cases as have hitherto admitted of appeal to Rome, the appeals +shall be from the Archdeacon's court to the Bishop's court, from the +Bishop's court to that of the Archbishop, and no further."[416] + +The act was carried through Parliament in February, but again, as with the +Annates Bill, the king delayed his sanction till the post could reach and +return from the Vatican. The Bishop of Bayonne wrote that there was hope +that Clement might yet give way, and entreated that the king would send an +"excusator," a person formally empowered to protest for him that he could +not by the laws of England plead at a foreign tribunal; and that with this +imperfect recognition of his authority the pope would be satisfied. + +Chastillon, the French ambassador, had an interview with the king, to +communicate the bishop's message. + +"The morning after," Chastillon wrote, "his Majesty sent for me and desired +me to repeat my words before the council. I obeyed; but the majority +declared, that there was nothing in them to act upon, and that the king +must not put himself in subjection. His Majesty himself, too, I found less +warm than in his preceding conversation. I begged the council to be +patient. I said everything that I could think of likely to weigh with the +king, I promised him a sentence from our Holy Father declaring his first +marriage null, his present marriage good. I urged him on all grounds, +public and private, to avoid a rupture with the Holy See. Such a sentence, +I said, would be the best security for the queen, and the safest guarantee +for the unopposed succession of her offspring. If the marriage was +confirmed by the Holy Father's authority, the queen's enemies would lose +the only ground where they could make a stand. The peace of the realm was +now menaced. The emperor talked loudly and made large preparations. Let the +king be allied with France, and through France with the Holy See, and the +emperor could do him no harm. Thus I said my proposals were for the benefit +of the realm of his Majesty, and of the children who might be born to him. +The king would act more prudently both for his own interest, and for the +interest of his children, in securing himself, than in running a risk of +creating universal confusion; and, besides, he owed something to the king +his brother, who had worked so long and so hard for him. + +"After some further conversation, his Majesty took me aside into a garden, +where he told me that for himself he agreed in what I had said; but he +begged me to keep his confidence secret. He fears, I think, to appear to +condescend too easily. + +"He will not, however, publish the acts of parliament till he sees what is +done at Rome. The vast sums of money which used to be sent out of the +country will go no longer; but in other respects he will be glad to return +to good terms. He will send the excusator when he hears again from M. de +Paris; and for myself, I think, that although the whole country is in a +blaze against the pope, yet with the good will and assistance of the king, +the Holy Father will be reinstated in the greater part of his +prerogatives." + +But the hope that the pope would yield proved again delusive. Henry wrote +to him himself in the spirit of his conversation with Chastillon. His +letter was presented by Cardinal Tournon, and Clement said all that could +be said in acknowledgment without making the one vital concession. But +whenever it was put before him that the cause must be heard and decided in +England and in no other place, he talked in the old language of uncertainty +and impossibilities;[417] and Henry learning at the same time that a +correspondence was going forward between Clement and Francis, with the +secrets of which he was not made acquainted, went forward upon his own way. +April brought with it the certainty that the expected concessions were +delusive. Anne Boleyn's pregnancy made further delay impossible. +D'Inteville, who had succeeded Chastillon as French ambassador, once more +attempted to interfere, but in vain. Henry told him he could not help +himself, the pope forced him to the course which he was pursuing, by the +answer which he had been pleased to issue; and he could only encounter +enmity with its own weapons. "The archbishop," d'Inteville wrote to +Francis, "will try the question, and will give judgment. I entreated the +king to wait till the conference at Nice, but he would not consent. I +prayed him to keep the sentence secret till the pope had seen your Majesty; +he replied it was impossible."[418] + +Thus the statute became law which transferred to the English courts of law +the power so long claimed and exercised by the Roman see. There are two +aspects under which it may be regarded, as there were two objects for which +it was passed. Considered as a national act, few persons will now deny that +it was as just in itself as it was politically desirable. If the pope had +no jurisdiction over English subjects, it was well that he should be known +to have none; if he had, it was equally well that such jurisdiction should +cease. The question was not of communion between the English and Roman +churches, which might or might not continue, but which this act would not +affect. The pope might still retain his rights of episcopal precedency, +whatever those might be, with all the privileges attached to it. The +parliament merely declared that he possessed no right of interference in +domestic disputes affecting persons and property. + +But the act had a special as well as a national bearing, and here it is +less easy to arrive at a just conclusion. It destroyed the validity of +Queen Catherine's appeal; it placed a legal power in the hands of the +English judges to proceed to pass sentence upon the divorce; and it is open +to the censure which we ever feel entitled to pass upon a measure enacted +to meet the particular position of a particular person. When embarrassments +have arisen from unforeseen causes, we have a right to legislate to prevent +a repetition of those embarrassments. Our instincts tell us that no +legislation should be retrospective, and should affect only positions which +have been entered into with a full knowledge at the time of the condition +of the laws. + +The statute endeavours to avoid the difficulty by its declaratory form; but +again this is unsatisfactory; for that the pope possessed some authority +was substantially acknowledged in every application which was made to him; +and when Catherine had married under a papal dispensation, it was a strange +thing to turn upon her, and to say, not only that the dispensation in the +particular instance had been unlawfully granted, but that the pope had no +jurisdiction in the matter by the laws of the land which she had entered. + +On the other hand, throughout the entire negotiations King Henry and his +ministers had insisted jealously on the English privileges. They had +declared from the first that they might, if they so pleased, fall back upon +their own laws. In desiring that the cause might be heard by a papal legate +in England, they had represented themselves rather as condescending to a +form than acknowledging a right; and they had, in fact, in allowing the +opening of Campeggio's court, fallen, all of them, even Henry himself, +under the penalties of the statutes of provisors. The validity of +Catherine's appeal they had always consistently denied. If the papal +jurisdiction was to be admitted at all, it could only be through a minister +sitting as judge within the realm of England; and the maxim, "Ne Angli +extra Angliam litigare cogantur," was insisted upon as the absolute +privilege of every English subject. + +Yet, if we allow full weight to these considerations, a feeling of painful +uncertainty continues to cling to us; and in ordinary cases to be uncertain +on such a point is to be in reality certain. The state of the law could not +have been clear, or the statute of appeals would not have been required; +and explain it as we may, it was in fact passed for a special cause against +a special person; and that person a woman. + +How far the parliament was justified by the extremity of the case is a +further question, which it is equally difficult to answer. The alternative, +as I have repeatedly said, was an all but inevitable civil war, on the +death of the king; and practically, when statesmen are entrusted with the +fortunes of an empire, the responsibility is too heavy to allow them to +consider other interests. Salus populi suprema lex, ever has been and ever +will be the substantial canon of policy with public men, and morality is +bound to hesitate before it censures them. There are some acts of injustice +which no national interest can excuse, however great in itself that +interest may be, or however certain to be attained by the means proposed. +Yet government, in its easiest tax, trenches to a certain extent on natural +right and natural freedom; and trenches further and further in proportion +to the emergency with which it has to deal. How far it may go in this +direction, or whether Henry VIII. and his parliament went too far, is a +difficult problem; their best justification is an exceptive clause +introduced into the act, which was intended obviously to give Queen +Catherine the utmost advantage which was consistent with the liberties of +the realm. "In case," says the concluding paragraph, "of any cause, or +matter, or contention now depending for the causes before rehearsed, or +that hereafter shall come into contention for any of the same causes in any +of the foresaid courts, which hath, doth, shall, or may touch the king, his +heirs or successors, kings of this realm; in all or every such case or +cases the party grieved as aforesaid shall or may appeal from any of the +said courts of this realm, to the spiritual prelates and other abbots and +priors of the Upper House, assembled and convocate by the king's writ in +convocation."[419] If Catherine's cause was as just as Catholics and +English high churchmen are agreed to consider it, the English church might +have saved her. If Catherine herself had thought first or chiefly of +justice, she would not perhaps have accepted the arbitration of the English +convocation; but long years before she would have been in a cloister. + +Thus it is that while we regret, we are unable to blame; and we cannot wish +undone an act, to have shrunk from which might have spared a single heart, +but _might_ have wrecked the English nation. We increase our pity for +Catherine because she was a princess. We measure the magnitude of the evils +which human beings endure by their position in the scale of society; and +misfortunes which private persons would be expected to bear without +excessive complaining, furnish matter for the lamentation of ages when they +touch the sacred head which has been circled with a diadem. Let it be so. +Let us compensate the queen's sorrows with unstinted sympathy; but let us +not trifle with history, by confusing a political necessity with a moral +crime. + +The English parliament, then, had taken up the gauntlet which the pope had +flung to it with trembling fingers: and there remained nothing but for the +Archbishop of Canterbury to make use of the power of which by law he was +now possessed. And the time was pressing, for the new queen was enciente, +and further concealment was not to be thought of. The delay of the +interview between the pope and Francis, and the change in the demeanour of +the latter, which had become palpably evident, discharged Henry of all +promises by which he might have bound himself; and to hesitate before the +menaces of the pope's brief would have been fatal. + +The act of appeals being passed, convocation was the authority to which the +power of determining unsettled points of spiritual law seemed to have +lapsed. In the month of April, therefore, Cranmer, now Archbishop of +Canterbury,[420] submitted to it the two questions, on the resolution of +which the sentence which he was to pass was dependent. + +The first had been already answered separately by the bench of bishops and +by the universities, and had been agitated from end to end of Europe--was +it lawful to marry the widow of a brother dying without issue, but having +consummated his marriage; and was the Levitical prohibition of such a +marriage grounded on a divine law, with which the pope could not dispense, +or on a canon law of which a dispensation was permissible?[421] + +The pope had declared himself unable to answer; but he had allowed that the +general opinion was against the power of dispensing,[422] and there could +be little doubt, therefore, of the reply of the English convocation, or at +least of the upper house. Fisher attempted an opposition; but wholly +without effect. The, question was one in which the interests of the higher +clergy were not concerned, and they were therefore left to the dominion of +their ordinary understandings. Out of two hundred and sixty-three votes, +nineteen only were in the pope's favour.[423] + +The lower house was less unanimous, as might have been expected, and as had +been experienced before; the opposition spirit of the English clergy being +usually then, as much as now, in the ratio of their poverty. But there too +the nature of the case compelled an overwhelming majority.[424] It was +decided by both houses that Pope Julius, in granting a licence for the +marriage of Henry and Catherine, had exceeded his authority, and that this +marriage was therefore, _ab initio_, void. + +The other question to be decided was one of fact; whether the marriage of +Catherine with Prince Arthur had or had not been consummated, a matter +which the Catholic divines conceived to be of paramount importance, but +which to few persons at the present day will seem of any importance +whosoever. We cannot even read the evidence which was produced without a +sensation of disgust, although in those broader and less conscious ages the +indelicacy was less obviously perceptible. And we may console ourselves +with the hope that the discussion was not so wounding as might have been +expected to the feelings of Queen Catherine, since at all official +interviews, with all classes of persons, at all times and in all places, +she appeared herself to court the subject.[425] There is no occasion in +this place to follow her example. It is enough that Ferdinand, at the time +of her first marriage, satisfied himself, after curious inquiry, that he +might hope for a grandchild; and that the fact of the consummation was +asserted in the treaty between England and Spain, which preceded the +marriage with Henry, and in this supposed brief of Pope Julius which +permitted it.[426] We cannot in consequence be surprised that the +convocation accepted the conclusion which was sanctioned by so high +authority, and we rather wonder at the persistency of Catherine's denials. +With respect to this vote, therefore, we need notice nothing except that +Dr. Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells[427] was one of an exceedingly small +minority, who were inclined to believe that the denial might be true, and +this bishop was one of the four who were associated with Cranmer when he +sate at Dunstable for the trial of the cause. + +The ground being thus opened, and all preparations being completed, the +archbishop composed a formal letter to the king, in which he dwelt upon the +uncertain prospects of the succession, and the danger of leaving a question +which closely affected it so long unsettled. He expatiated at length on the +general anxiety which was felt throughout the realm, and requested +permission to employ the powers attached to his office to bring it to some +conclusion. The recent alterations had rendered the archbishop something +doubtful of the nature of his position; he was diffident and unwilling to +offend; and not clearly knowing in the exercise of the new authority which +had been granted to him, whether the extension of his power was accompanied +with a parallel extension of liberty in making use of it, he wrote two +copies of this letter, with slight alterations of language, that the king +might select between them the one which he would officially recognise. Both +these copies are extant; both were written the same day from the same +place; both were folded, sealed, and sent. It seems, therefore, that +neither was Cranmer furnished beforehand with a draught of what he was to +write; nor was his first letter sent back to him corrected. He must have +acted by his own judgment; and a comparison of the two letters is singular +and instructive. In the first he spoke of his office and duty in language, +chastened indeed and modest, but still language of independence; and while +he declared his unwillingness to "enterprise any part of that office" +without his Grace's favour obtained, and pleasure therein first known, he +implied nevertheless that his request was rather of courtesy than of +obligation, and had arisen rather from a sense of moral propriety than +because he might not legally enter on the exercise of his duty without the +permission of the crown.[428] + +The moderate gleam of freedom vanishes in the other copy under a few pithy +changes, as if Cranmer instinctively felt the revolution which had taken +place in the relations of church and state. Where in the first letter he +asked for his Grace's favour, in the second he asked for his Grace's favour +_and licence_--where in the first he requested to know his Grace's pleasure +as to his proceeding, in the second he desired his Most Excellent Majesty +to _license_ him to proceed. The burden of both letters was the same, but +the introduction of the little word license changed all. It implied a +hesitating belief that the spiritual judges might perhaps thenceforward be +on a footing with the temporal judges and the magistrates; that under the +new constitution they were to understand that they held their offices not +directly under God as they had hitherto pretended, but under God through +the crown. + +The answer of Henry indicated that he had perceived the archbishop's +uncertainty; and that he was desirous by the emphatic distinctness of his +own language to spare him a future recurrence of it. He accepted the +deferential version of the petition; but even Cranmer's anticipation of +what might be required of him had not reached the reality. In running +through the preamble, the king flung into the tone of it a character of +still deeper humility;[429] and he conceded the desired licence in the +following imperial style. "In consideration of these things,"--_i.e._ of +the grounds urged by the archbishop for the petition--"albeit we being your +King and Sovereign, do recognise no superior on earth but only God, and not +being subject to the laws of any earthly creature; yet because ye be under +us, by God's calling and ours, the most principal minister of our spiritual +jurisdiction within this our Realm, who we think assuredly is so in the +fear of God, and love towards the observance of his laws, to the which +laws, we as a Christian king have always heretofore, and shall ever most +obediently submit ourself, we will not therefore refuse (our pre-eminence, +power, and authority to us and to our successors in this behalf +nevertheless saved) your humble request, offer, and towardness--that is, to +mean to make an end according to the will and pleasure of Almighty God in +our said great cause of matrimony, which hath so long depended +undetermined, to our great and grievous unquietness and burden of our +conscience. Wherefore we, inclining to your humble petition, by these our +letters sealed with our seal, and signed with our sign manual, do license +you to proceed in the said cause, and the examination and final +determination of the same; not doubting but that ye will have God and the +justice of the said cause only before your eyes, and not to regard any +earthly or worldly affection therein; for assuredly the thing which we most +covet in the world, is so to proceed in all our acts and doings as may be +the most acceptable to the pleasure of Almighty God our Creator, to the +wealth and honour of us, our successors and posterity, and the surety of +our Realm, and subjects within the same."[430] + +The vision of ecclesiastical independence, if Cranmer had indulged in it, +must have faded utterly before his eyes on receiving this letter. As clergy +who committed felony were no longer exempted from the penalties of their +crimes; so henceforward the courts of the clergy were to fell into +conformity with the secular tribunals. The temporal prerogatives of +ecclesiastics as a body whose authority over the laity was countervailed +with no reciprocal obligation, existed no longer. This is what the language +of the king implied. The difficulty which the persons whom he was +addressing experienced in realising the change in their position, obliged +him to be somewhat emphatic in his assertion of it; and it might be +imagined at first sight, that in insisting on his superiority to the +officers of the spiritual courts, he claimed a right to dictate their +sentences. But to venture such a supposition would be to mistake the nature +of English sovereignty and the spirit of the change. The supreme authority +in England was the law; and the king no more possessed, or claimed a power +of controlling the judgment of the bishops or their ministers, than he +could interfere with the jurisdiction of the judges of the bench. All +persons in authority, whether in church or state, held their offices +thenceforth by similar tenure; but the rule of the proceedings in each +remained alike the law of the land, which Henry had no more thought of +superseding by his own will than the most constitutional of modern princes. + +The closing sentences of his reply to Cranmer are striking, and it is +difficult to believe that he did not mean what he was saying. From the +first step in the process to the last, he maintained consistently that his +only object was to do what was right. He was thoroughly persuaded that the +course which he was pursuing was sanctioned by justice--and persons who are +satisfied that he was entitled to feel such persuasion, need not refuse him +the merit of sincerity, because (to use the language which Cromwell used at +the fatal crisis of his life[431]) "It may be well that they who medelle in +many matters are not able to answer for them all." + +Cranmer, then, being fortified with this permission, and taking with him +the Bishops of London, Winchester, Lincoln, and Bath and Wells (the latter +perhaps having been chosen in consequence of his late conduct in the +convocation, to give show of fairness to the proceeding), went down to +Dunstable and opened his court there. The queen was at Ampthill, six miles +distant, having entered on her sad tenancy, it would seem, as soon as the +place had been evacuated by the gaudy hunting party of the preceding +summer. The cause being undecided, and her title being therefore uncertain, +she was called by the safe name of "the Lady Catherine," and under this +designation she was served with a citation from the archbishop to appear +before him on Saturday, the 10th of May. The bearers of the summons were +Sir Francis Bryan (an unfortunate choice, for he was cousin of the new +queen, and insolent in his manner and bearing), Sir Thomas Gage, and Lord +Vaux. She received them like herself with imperial sorrow. They delivered +their message; she announced that she refused utterly to acknowledge the +competency of the tribunal before which she was called; the court was a +mockery; the archbishop was a shadow.[432] She would neither appear before +him in person, nor commission any one to appear on her behalf. + +The court had but one course before it--she was pronounced contumacious, +and the trial went forward. None of her household were tempted even by +curiosity to be present. "There came not so much as a servant of hers to +Dunstable, save such as were brought in as witnesses;" some of them having +been required to give evidence in the re-examination which was thought +necessary, as to the nature of the relation of their mistress with her +first boy husband. As soon as this disgusting question had been +sufficiently investigated, nothing remained but to pronounce judgment. The +marriage with the king was declared to have been null and void from the +beginning, and on the 23rd of May, the archbishop sent to London the +welcome news that the long matter was at an end.[433] + +It was over;--over at last; yet so over, that the conclusion could but +appear to the losing party a fresh injustice. To those who were concerned +in bringing it to pass, to the king himself, to the nation, to Europe, to +every one who heard of it at the time, it must have appeared, as it appears +now to us who read the story of it, if a necessity, yet a most unwelcome +and unsatisfying one. That the king remained uneasy is evident from the +efforts which he continued to make, or which he allowed to be made, +notwithstanding the brief of the 23rd of December, to gain the sanction of +the pope. That the nation was uneasy, we should not require the evidence of +history to tell us. "There was much murmuring in England," says Hall, "and +it was thought by the unwise that the Bishop of Rome would curse all +Englishmen; that the emperor and he would destroy all the people." And +those who had no such fears, and whose judgment in the main approved of +what had been done, were scandalised at the presentation to them at the +instant of the publication of the divorce, of a new queen, four months +advanced in pregnancy. This also was a misfortune which had arisen out of +the chain of duplicities, a fresh accident swelling a complication which +was already sufficiently entangled. It had been occasioned by steps which +at the moment at which they were ventured, prudence seemed to justify; but +we the more regret it, because, in comparison with the interests which were +at issue, the few months of additional delay were infinitely unimportant. + +Nevertheless, we have reason to be thankful that the thing, well or ill, +was over; seven years of endurance were enough for the English nation, and +may be supposed to have gained even for Henry a character for patience. In +some way, too, it is needless to say, the thing must have ended. The life +of none of us is long enough to allow us to squander so large a section of +it struggling in the meshes of a law-suit; and although there may be a +difference of opinion on the wisdom of having first entered upon ground of +such a kind, few thinking persons can suggest any other method in which +either the nation or the king could have extricated themselves. Meanwhile, +it was resolved that such spots and blemishes as hung about the transaction +should be forgotten in the splendour of the coronation. If there was +scandal in the condition of the queen, yet under another aspect that +condition was matter of congratulation to a people so eager for an heir; +and Henry may have thought that the sight for the first time in public of +so beautiful a creature, surrounded by the most magnificent pageant which +London had witnessed since the unknown day on which the first stone of it +was laid, and bearing in her bosom the long-hoped-for inheritor of the +English crown, might induce a chivalrous nation to forget what it was the +interest of no loyal subject to remember longer, and to offer her an +English welcome to the throne. + +In anticipation of the timely close of the proceedings at Dunstable, notice +had been given in the city early in May, that preparations should be made +for the coronation on the first of the following month. Queen Anne was at +Greenwich, but, according to custom, the few preceding days were to be +spent at the Tower; and on the 19th of May, she was conducted thither in +state by the lord mayor and the city companies, with one of those splendid +exhibitions upon the water which in the days when the silver Thames +deserved its name, and the sun could shine down upon it out of the blue +summer sky, were spectacles scarcely rivalled in gorgeousness by the +world-famous wedding of the Adriatic. The river was crowded with boats, the +banks and the ships in the pool swarmed with people; and fifty great barges +formed the procession, all blazing with gold and banners. The queen herself +was in her own barge, close to that of the lord mayor; and in keeping with +the fantastic genius of the time, she was preceded up the water by "a foyst +or wafter full or ordnance, in which was a great dragon continually moving +and casting wildfire, and round about the foyst stood terrible monsters and +wild men, casting fire and making hideous noise."[434] So, with trumpets +blowing, cannon pealing, the Tower guns answering the guns of the ships, in +a blaze of fireworks and splendour, Anne Boleyn was borne along to the +great archway of the Tower, where the king was waiting on the stairs to +receive her. + +And now let us suppose eleven days to have elapsed, the welcome news to +have arrived at length from Dunstable, and the fair summer morning of life +dawning in treacherous beauty after the long night of expectation. No +bridal ceremonial had been possible; the marriage had been huddled over +like a stolen love-match, and the marriage feast had been eaten in vexation +and disappointment. These past mortifications were to be atoned for by a +coronation pageant which the art and the wealth of the richest city in +Europe should be poured out in the most lavish profusion to adorn. + +On the morning of the 31st of May, the families of the London citizens were +stirring early in all houses. From Temple Bar to the Tower, the streets +were fresh strewed with gravel, the footpaths were railed off along the +whole distance, and occupied on one side by the guilds, their workmen, and +apprentices, on the other by the city constables and officials in their +gaudy uniforms, "with their staves in hand for to cause the people to keep +good room and order."[435] Cornhill and Gracechurch Street had dressed +their fronts in scarlet and crimson, in arras and tapestry, and the rich +carpet-work from Persia and the East. Cheapside, to outshine her rivals, +was draped even more splendidly in cloth of gold, and tissue, and velvet. +The sheriffs were pacing up and down on their great Flemish horses, hung +with liveries, and all the windows were thronged with ladies crowding to +see the procession pass. At length the Tower guns opened, the grim gates +rolled back, and under the archway in the bright May sunshine, the long +column began slowly to defile. Two states only permitted their +representatives to grace the scene with their presence--Venice and France. +It was, perhaps, to make the most of this isolated countenance, that the +French ambassador's train formed the van of the cavalcade. Twelve French +knights came riding foremost in surcoats of blue velvet with sleeves of +yellow silk, their horses trapped in blue, with white crosses powdered on +their hangings. After them followed a troop of English gentlemen, two and +two, and then the Knights of the Bath, "in gowns of violet, with hoods +purfled with miniver like doctors." Next, perhaps at a little interval, the +abbots passed on, mitred in their robes; the barons followed in crimson +velvet, the bishops then, and then the earls and marquises, the dresses of +each order increasing in elaborate gorgeousness. All these rode on in +pairs. Then came alone Audeley, lord-chancellor, and behind him the +Venetian ambassador and the Archbishop of York; the Archbishop of +Canterbury, and Du Bellay, Bishop of Bayonne and of Paris, not now with +bugle and hunting-frock, but solemn with stole and crozier. Next, the lord +mayor, with the city mace in hand, the Garter in his coat of arms; and then +Lord William Howard--Belted Will Howard, of the Scottish Border, Marshal of +England. The officers of the queen's household succeeded the marshal in +scarlet and gold, and the van of the procession was closed by the Duke of +Suffolk, as high constable, with his silver wand. It is no easy matter to +picture to ourselves the blazing trail of splendour which in such a pageant +must have drawn along the London streets,--those streets which now we know +so black and smoke-grimed, themselves then radiant with masses of colour, +gold, and crimson, and violet. Yet there it was, and there the sun could +shine upon it, and tens of thousands of eyes were gazing on the scene out +of the crowded lattices. + +Glorious as the spectacle was, perhaps however, it passed unheeded. Those +eyes were watching all for another object, which now drew near. In an open +space behind the constable there was seen approaching "a white chariot," +drawn by two palfreys in white damask which swept the ground, a golden +canopy borne above it making music with silver bells: and in the chariot +sat the observed of all observers, the beautiful occasion of all this +glittering homage; fortune's plaything of the hour, the Queen of +England--queen at last--borne along upon the waves of this sea of glory, +breathing the perfumed incense of greatness which she had risked her fair +name, her delicacy, her honour, her self-respect, to win; and she had won +it. + +There she sate, dressed in white tissue robes, her fair hair flowing loose +over her shoulders, and her temples circled with a light coronet of gold +and diamonds--most beautiful--loveliest--most favoured perhaps, as she +seemed at that hour, of all England's daughters. Alas! "within the hollow +round" of that coronet-- + + Kept death his court, and there the antick sate, + Scoffing her state and grinning at her pomp. + Allowing her a little breath, a little scene + To monarchise, be feared, and kill with looks, + Infusing her with self and vain conceit, + As if the flesh which walled about her life + Were brass impregnable; and humoured thus, + Bored through her castle walls; and farewell, Queen. + +Fatal gift of greatness! so dangerous ever! so more than dangerous in those +tremendous times when the fountains are broken loose of the great deeps of +thought; and nations are in the throes of revolution;--when ancient order +and law and tradition are splitting in the social earthquake; and as the +opposing forces wrestle to and fro, those unhappy ones who stand out above +the crowd become the symbols of the struggle, and fall the victims of its +alternating fortunes. And what if into an unsteady heart and brain, +intoxicated with splendour, the outward chaos should find its way, +converting the poor silly soul into an image of the same confusion,--if +conscience should be deposed from her high place, and the Pandora box be +broken loose of passions and sensualities and follies; and at length there +be nothing left of all which man or woman ought to value, save hope of +God's forgiveness. + +Three short years have yet to pass, and again, on a summer morning, Queen +Anne Boleyn will leave the Tower of London--not radiant then with beauty on +a gay errand of coronation, but a poor wandering ghost, on a sad tragic +errand, from which she will never more return, passing away out of an earth +where she may stay no longer, into a presence where, nevertheless, we know +that all is well--for all of us--and therefore for her. + +But let us not cloud her shortlived sunshine with the shadow of the future. +She went on in her loveliness, the peeresses following in their carriages, +with the royal guard in their rear. In Fenchurch Street she was met by the +children of the city schools; and at the corner of Gracechurch Street a +masterpiece had been prepared of the pseudo-classic art, then so +fashionable, by the merchants of the Styll Yard. A Mount Parnassus had been +constructed, and a Helicon fountain upon it playing into a basin with four +jets of Rhenish wine. On the top of the mountain sat Apollo with Calliope +at his feet, and on either side the remaining Muses, holding lutes or +harps, and singing each of them some "posy" or epigram in praise of the +queen, which was presented, after it had been sung, written in letters of +gold. + +From Gracechurch Street, the procession passed to Leadenhall, where there +was a spectacle in better taste, of the old English Catholic kind, quaint +perhaps and forced, but truly and even beautifully emblematic. There was +again a "little mountain," which was hung with red and white roses; a gold +ring was placed on the summit, on which, as the queen appeared, a white +falcon was made to "descend as out of the sky"--"and then incontinent came +down an angel with great melody, and set a close crown of gold upon the +falcon's head; and in the same pageant sat Saint Anne with all her issue +beneath her; and Mary Cleophas with her four children, of the which +children one made a goodly oration to the queen, of the fruitfulness of St. +Anne, trusting that like fruit should come of her."[436] + +With such "pretty conceits," at that time the honest tokens of an English +welcome, the new queen was received by the citizens of London. These scenes +must be multiplied by the number of the streets, where some fresh fancy met +her at every turn. To preserve the festivities from flagging, every +fountain and conduit within the walls ran all day with wine; the bells of +every steeple were ringing; children lay in wait with song, and ladies with +posies, in which all the resources of fantastic extravagance were +exhausted; and thus in an unbroken triumph--and to outward appearance +received with the warmest affection--she passed under Temple Bar, down the +Strand by Charing Cross to Westminster Hall. The king was not with her +throughout the day; nor did he intend to be with her in any part of the +ceremony. She was to reign without a rival, the undisputed sovereign of the +hour. + +Saturday being passed in showing herself to the people, she retired for the +night to "the king's manour house at Westminster," where she slept. On the +following morning, between eight and nine o'clock, she returned to the +hall, where the lord mayor, the city council, and the peers were again +assembled, and took her place on the high dais at the top of the stairs +under the cloth of state; while the bishops, the abbots, and the monks of +the abbey formed in the area. A railed way had been laid with carpets +across Palace Yard and the Sanctuary to the abbey gates, and when all was +ready, preceded by the peers in their robes of parliament, the Knights of +the Garter in the dress of the order, she swept out under her canopy, the +bishops and the monks "solemnly singing." The train was borne by the old +Duchess of Norfolk her aunt, the Bishops of London and Winchester on either +side "bearing up the lappets of her robe." The Earl of Oxford carried the +crown on its cushion immediately before her. She was dressed in purple +velvet furred with ermine, her hair escaping loose, as she usually wore it, +under a wreath of diamonds. + +On entering the abbey, she was led to the coronation chair Where she sat +while the train fell into their places, and the preliminaries, of the +ceremonial were despatched. Then she was conducted up to the high altar, +and anointed Queen of England, and she received from the hands of Cranmer, +fresh come in haste from Dunstable, with the last words of his sentence +upon Catherine scarcely silent upon his lips, the golden sceptre, and St. +Edward's crown. + +Did any twinge of remorse, any pang of painful recollection, pierce at that +moment the incense of glory which she was inhaling? Did any vision flit +across her of a sad mourning figure which once had stood where she was +standing, now desolate, neglected, sinking into the darkening twilight of a +life cut short by sorrow? Who can tell? At such a time, that figure would +have weighed heavily upon a noble mind, and a wise mind would have been +taught by the thought of it, that although life be fleeting as a dream, it +is long enough to experience strange vicissitudes of fortune. But Anne +Boleyn was not noble and was not wise,--too probably she felt nothing but +the delicious, all-absorbing, all-intoxicating present, and if that plain, +suffering face presented itself to her memory at all, we may fear that it +was rather as a foil to her own surpassing loveliness. Two years later, she +was able to exult over Catherine's death; she is not likely to have thought +of her with gentler feelings in the first glow and flush of triumph. + +We may now leave these scenes. They concluded in the usual English style, +with a banquet in the great hall, and with all outward signs of enjoyment +and pleasure. There must have been but few persons present however who did +not feel that the sunshine of such a day might not last for ever, and that +over so dubious a marriage no Englishman could exult with more than half a +heart. It is foolish to blame lightly actions which arise in the midst of +circumstances which are and can be but imperfectly known; and there may +have been political reasons which made so much pomp desirable. Anne Boleyn +had been the subject of public conversation for seven years, and Henry, no +doubt, desired to present his jewel to them in the rarest and choicest +setting. Yet to our eyes, seeing, perhaps, by the light of what followed, a +more modest introduction would have appeared more suited to the doubtful +nature of her position. + +At any rate we escape from this scene of splendour very gladly as from +something unseasonable. It would have been well for Henry VIII. if he had +lived in a world in which women could have been dispensed with; so ill, in +all his relations with them, he succeeded. With men he could speak the +right word, he could do the right thing; with women he seemed to be under a +fatal necessity of mistake. + +It was now necessary, however, after this public step, to communicate in +form to the emperor the divorce and the new marriage. The king was assured +of the rectitude of the motives on which he had himself acted, and he knew +at the same time that he had challenged the hostility of the papal world. +Yet he did not desire a quarrel if there were means of avoiding it; and +more than once he had shown respect for the opposition which he had met +with from Charles, as dictated by honourable care for the interests of his +kinswoman. He therefore, in the truest language which will be met with in +the whole long series of the correspondence, composed a despatch for his +ambassador at Brussels, and expressed himself in a tone of honest sorrow +for the injury which he had been compelled to commit. Neither the coercion +which the emperor had exerted over the pope, nor his intrigues with his +subjects in Ireland and England, could deprive the nephew of Catherine of +his right to a courteous explanation; and Henry directed Doctor Nicholas +Hawkins in making his communication "to use only gentle words;" to express +a hope that Charles would not think only of his own honour, but would +remember public justice; and that a friendship of long standing, which the +interests of the subjects of both countries were concerned so strongly in +maintaining, might not be broken. The instructions are too interesting to +pass over with a general description. After stating the grounds on which +Henry had proceeded, and which Charles thoroughly understood, Hawkins was +directed to continue thus:-- + +"The King of England is not ignorant what respect is due unto the world. +How much he hath laboured and travailed therein he hath sufficiently +declared and showed in his acts and proceedings. If he had contemned the +order and process of the world, or the friendship and amity of your +Majesty, he needed not to have sent so often to the pope and to you both, +nor continued and spent his time in delays. He might have done what he has +done now, had it so liked him, with as little difficulty as now, if without +such respect he would have followed his pleasure." + +The minister was then to touch the pope's behaviour and Henry's +forbearance, and after that to say:-- + +"Going forward in that way his Highness saw that he could come to no +conclusion; and he was therefore compelled to step right forth out of the +maze, and so to quiet himself at last. And is it not time to have an end in +seven years? It is not to be asked nor questioned whether the matter hath +been determined after the common fashion, but whether it hath in it common +justice, truth, and equity. For observation of the common order, his Grace +hath done what lay in him. Enforced by necessity he hath found the true +order which he hath in substance followed with effect, and hath done as +becometh him. He doubteth not but your Majesty, remembering his cause from +the beginning hitherto, will of yourself consider and think, that among +mortal men nothing should be immortal; and suits must once have an end, si +possis recte, si non quocunque modo. If his Highness cannot as he would, +then must he do as he may; and he that hath a journey to be perfected must, +if he cannot go one way, essay another. For his matter with the pope, he +shall deal with him apart. Your Majesty he taketh for his friend, and as to +a friend he openeth these matters to you, trusting to find your Majesty no +less friendly than he hath done heretofore."[437] + +If courtesy obliged Henry to express a confidence in the stability of the +relations between himself and Charles, which it was impossible that he +could have felt, yet in other respects this letter has the most pleasant +merit of honesty. Hawkins was so much overcome by "the sweetness of it," +that "he nothing doubted if that the emperor read the same, by God's grace +he should be utterly persuaded;" and although in this expectation he was a +little over sanguine, as in calmer moments he would have acknowledged, yet +plain speech is never without its value; and Charles himself after he had +tried other expedients, and they had not succeeded with him, found it more +prudent to acquiesce in what could no longer be altered, and to return to +cordiality. + +For the present he remained under the impression that by the great body of +the English the divorce was looked upon with coldness and even with +displeasure, that the king was supported only by the complacency of a few +courtiers, and that the nation were prepared to compel him to undo the +wrong which had been inflicted upon Catherine and the princess. So he was +assured by the Spanish party in England; so all the disaffected assured +him, who were perhaps themselves deceived. He had secured Ireland, and +Scotland also in so far as James's promises could secure it;[438] and he +was not disposed to surrender for the present so promising a game till he +had tried his strength and proved his weakness. He replied coldly to +Hawkins, "That for the King of England's amity he would be glad thereof, so +the said king would do works according. The matter was none of his; but the +lady, whose rights had been violated, was his aunt and an orphan, and that +he must see for her, and for her daughter his cousin."[439] + +The scarcely ambiguous answer was something softened the following day; +perhaps only, however, because it was too plain a betrayal of his +intentions. He communicated at once with Catherine, and Henry speedily +learnt the nature of the advice which he had given to her. After the +coronation had passed off so splendidly, when no disturbance had risen, no +voice had been raised for her or for her daughter, the poor queen's spirit +for the moment had sunk; she had thought of leaving the country, and flying +with the Princess Mary to Spain. The emperor sent to urge her to remain a +little longer, guaranteeing her, if she could command her patience, an +ample reparation for her injuries. Whatever might appear upon the surface, +the new queen, he was assured, was little loved by the people, and "they +were ready to join with any prince who would espouse her quarrel."[440] All +classes, he said, were agreed in one common feeling of displeasure. They +were afraid of a change of religion; they were afraid of the wreck of their +commerce; and the whole country was fast ripening towards insurrection. The +points on which he relied as the occasion of the disaffection betrayed the +sources of his information. He was in correspondence with the regular +clergy through Peto at Antwerp, and through his Flemish subjects with +merchants of London. Among both these classes, as well as among the White +Rose nobles, he had powerful adherents; and it could not have been +forgotten in the courts, either of London or Brussels, that within the +memory of living men, a small band of exiles, equipped by a Duke of +Burgundy, had landed at a Yorkshire village, and in a month had +revolutionised the kingdom. + +In the eyes of Charles there was no reason why an attempt which had +succeeded once might not succeed again under circumstances seemingly of far +fairer promise. The strength of a party of insurrection is a power which +official statesmen never justly comprehend. It depends upon moral +influences, which they are professionally incapable of appreciating. They +are able complacently to ignore the existence of substantial disaffection +though all society may be undermined; they can build their hopes, When it +suits their convenience, on the idle trifling of superficial discontent. In +the present instance there was some excuse for the mistake. That in England +there really existed an active and organised opposition, prepared, when +opportunity offered, to try the chances of rebellion, was no delusion of +persons who measured facts by their desires; it was an ascertained peril of +serious magnitude, which might be seriously calculated upon; and if the +experiment was tried, reasonable men might fairly be divided in opinion on +the result to be expected. + +In the meantime the government had been obliged to follow up the coronation +of the new queen by an act which the situation of the kingdom explained and +excused; but which, if Catherine had been no more than a private person, +would have been wanton cruelty. Among the people she still bore her royal +title; but the name of queen, so long as she was permitted to retain it, +was an allowed witness against the legality of the sentence at Dunstable. +There could not be "two queens" in England,[441] and one or other must +retire from the designation. A proclamation was therefore issued by the +council, declaring, that in consequence of the final proofs that the Lady +Catherine had never been lawfully married to the king, she was to bear +thenceforward the title which she had received after the death of her first +husband, and be called the Princess Dowager. + +Harsh as this measure was, she had left no alternative to the government by +which to escape the enforcement of it, by her refusal to consent to any +form of compromise. If she was queen, Anne Boleyn was not queen. If she was +queen, the Princess Mary remained the heir to the crown, and the expected +offspring of Anne would be illegitimate. If the question had been merely of +names, to have moved it would have been unworthy and wicked; but where +respect for private feeling was incompatible with the steps which a nation +felt necessary in order to secure itself against civil convulsions, private +feeling was compelled not unjustly to submit to injury. Mary, though still +a girl, had inherited both her father's will and her mother's obstinacy. +She was in correspondence, as we have seen, with the Nun of Kent, and aware +at least, if she was not further implicated in it, of a conspiracy to place +her on the throne. Charles was engaged in the same designs; and it will not +be pretended that Catherine was left without information of what was going +forward, or that her own conduct was uninfluenced by policy. These +intrigues it was positively necessary to stifle, and it was impossible to +leave a pretext of which so powerful a use might be made in the hands of a +party whose object was not only to secure to the princess her right to +succeed her father, but to compel him by arms either to acknowledge it, or +submit to be deposed.[442] + +Our sympathies are naturally on the side of the weak and the unsuccessful. +State considerations lose their force after the lapse of centuries, when no +interests of our own are any longer in jeopardy; and we feel for the great +sufferers of history only in their individual capacity, without recalling +or caring for the political exigencies to which they were sacrificed. It is +an error of disguised selfishness, the counterpart of the carelessness with +which in our own age, when we are ourselves constituents of an interested +public, we ignore what it is inconvenient to remember. + +Thus, therefore, on one hot Midsummer Sunday in this year 1533, the people +gathering to church in every parish through the English counties, read, +nailed upon the doors, a paper signed Henry R., setting forth that the Lady +Catherine of Spain, heretofore called Queen of England, was not to be +called by that title any more, but was to be called Princess Dowager, and +so to be held and esteemed. The proclamation, we may suppose, was read with +varying comments; of the reception of it in the northern counties, the +following information was forwarded to the crown. The Earl of Derby, +lord-lieutenant of Yorkshire, wrote to inform the council that he had +arrested a certain "lewd and naughty priest," James Harrison by name, on +the charge of having spoken unfitting and slanderous words of his Highness +and the Queen's Grace. He had taken the examinations of several witnesses, +which he had sent with his letter, and which were to the following +effect:-- + +Richard Clark deposeth that the said James Harrison reading the +proclamation, said that Queen Catherine was queen, Nan Bullen should not be +queen, nor the king should be no king but on his bearing. + +William Dalton deposeth, that in his hearing the above-named James said, I +will take none for queen but Queen Catherine--who the devil made Nan +Bullen, that hoore, queen? I will never take her for queen--and he the said +William answered, "Hold thy peace, thou wot'st not what thou sayest--but +that thou art a priest I should punish thee, that others should take +example." + +Richard Sumner and John Clayton depose, that they came in company with the +said James from Perbalt to Eccleston, when the said James did say, "This is +a marvellous world--the king will put down the order of priests and destroy +the Sacrament, but he cannot reign long, for York will be in London +hastily."[443] + +Here was the later growth of the spirit which we saw a few months +previously in the monks of Furness. The mutterings of discontent had +developed into plain open treason, confident of success, and scarcely +caring to conceal itself--and Yorkshire was preparing for rebellion and +"the Pilgrimage of Grace." + +There is another quarter also into which we must follow the proclamation, +and watch the effect of the royal order in a scene where it is well that we +should for a few moments rest. Catherine was still at Ampthill, surrounded +by her own attendants, who formed an inner circle, shielding her retirement +against impertinent curiosity. She rarely or never allowed herself to be +seen; Lord Mountjoy, with an official retinue, was in attendance in the +house; but the occupation was not a pleasant one, and he was as willing to +respect the queen's seclusion as she to remain secluded. Injunctions +arrived however from the court at the end of June, which compelled him to +request an interview; a deputation of the privy council had come down to +inform the ex-queen of the orders of the government, and to desire that +they might be put in force in her own family. Aware probably of the nature +of the communication which was to be made to her, she refused repeatedly to +admit them to her presence. At length, however, she nerved herself for the +effort, and on the 3rd of July Mountjoy and the state commissioners were +informed that she was ready to receive them. + +As they entered her room she was lying on a sofa. She had a bad cough, and +she had hurt her foot with a pin, and was unable to stand or walk. Her +attendants were all present by her own desire; she was glad to see around +her some sympathising human faces, to enable her to endure the cold hard +eyes of the officials of the council. + +She inquired whether the message was to be delivered in writing or by word +of mouth. + +They replied that they had brought with them instructions which they were +to read, and that they were further charged with a message which was to be +delivered verbally. She desired that they would read their written +despatch. It was addressed to the Princess Dowager, and she at once +excepted to the name. She was not Princess Dowager, she said, but queen, +and the king's true wife. She came to the king a clear maid for any bodily +knowledge of Prince Arthur; she had borne him lawful issue and no bastard, +and therefore queen she was, and queen she would be while she lived. + +The commissioners were prepared for the objection, and continued, without +replying, to read. The paper contained a statement of worn-out unrealities; +the old story of the judgment of the universities and the learned men, the +sentence of convocation, and of the houses of parliament; and, finally, the +fact of substantial importance, that the king, acting as he believed +according to the laws of God, had married the Lady Anne Boleyn, who was now +his lawful wife, and anointed Queen of England. + +Oh yes, she answered when they had done, we know that, and "we know the +authority by which it has been done--more by power than justice." The +king's learned men were learned heretics; the honest learning was for her. +As for the seals of the universities there were strange stories about the +way in which they had been obtained. The universities and the parliament +had done what the king bade them; and they had gone against their +consciences in doing it; but it was of no importance to her--she was in the +hands of the pope, who was God's vicar, and she acknowledged no other +judge. + +The commissioners informed her of the decision of the council that she was +no longer to bear the title of queen. It stood, they said, neither with the +laws of God nor man, nor with the king's honour, to have two queens named +within the realm; and in fact, there was but one queen, the king's lawful +wife, to whom he was now married. + +She replied shortly that she was the king's lawful queen, and none other. + +There was little hope in her manner that anything which could be said would +move her; but her visitors were ordered to try her to the uttermost. + +The king, they continued, was surprised that she could be so disobedient; +and not only that she was disobedient herself, but that she allowed and +encouraged her servants in the same conduct. + +She was ready to obey the king; she answered, when she could do so without +disobeying God; but she could not damn her soul even for him. Her servants, +she said, must do the best they could; they were standing round her as she +was speaking; and she turned to them with an apology, and a hope that they +would pardon her. She would hinder her cause, she said; and put her soul in +danger, if on their account she were to relinquish her name, and she could +not do it. + +The deputation next attempted her on her worldly side. If she would obey, +they informed her that she would be allowed not only her jointure as +Princess Dowager and her own private fortune, but all the settlements which +had been made upon her on her marriage with the king. + +She "passed not upon possessions, in regard of this matter," she replied. +It touched her conscience, and no worldly considerations were of the +slightest moment. + +In disobeying the king, they said; seeing that she was none other than his +subject, she might give cause for dissension and disturbance; and she might +lose the favour of the people. + +She "trusted not," she replied--she "never minded it, nor would she"--she +"desired only to save her right; and if she should lose the favour of the +people in defending that right, yet she trusted to go to heaven cum fama et +infamia." + +Promises and persuasions being unavailing, they tried threats. She was told +that if she persisted in so obstinate a course, the king would be obliged +to make known to the world the offers which he had made to her, and the ill +reception which they had met with--and then he would perhaps withdraw those +offers, and conceive some evil opinions of high displeasure towards her. + +She answered that there was no manner of offers neither of lands nor goods +that she had respect unto in comparison of her cause--and as to the loss of +the king's affection, she trusted to God, to whom she would daily pray for +him. + +The learned council might as well have reasoned with the winds; or +threatened the waves of the sea. But they were not yet weary, and their +next effort was as foolish as it was ungenerous. They suggested, "that if +she did reserve the name of queen, it was thought that she would do it of a +vain desire and appetite of glory; and further, she might be an occasion +that the king would withdraw his love from her most dear daughter the Lady +Princess, which should chiefly move her, if none other cause did." + +They must have known little of Catherine, if they thought she could be +influenced by childish vanity. It was for no vain glory that she cared, she +answered proudly; she was the king's true wife, and her conscience forbade +her to call herself otherwise; the princess was his true begotten child; +and as God hath given her to them, so for her part she would render her +again; neither for daughter, family, nor possessions, would she yield in +her cause; and she made a solemn protestation, calling on every one present +to bear witness to what she said, that the king's wife she was, and such +she would take herself to be, and that she would never surrender the name +of queen till the pope had decided that she must bear it no longer. + +So ended the first interview. Catherine, before the commissioners left her, +desired to have a copy of the proposals which they had brought, that she +might translate and send them to Rome. They returned with them the next +day, when she requested to see the report which they intended to send to +the council of the preceding conversation. It was placed in her hands; and +as she read it and found there the name of Princess Dowager, she took a pen +and dashed out the words, the mark of which indignant ink-stroke may now be +seen in the letter from which this account is taken.[444] With the accuracy +of the rest she appeared to be satisfied--only when she found again their +poor suggestion that she was influenced by vanity, she broke out with a +burst of passionate indignation. + +"I would rather be a poor beggar's wife," she said, "and be sure of heaven, +than queen of all the world, and stand in doubt thereof by reason of my own +consent. I stick not so for vain glory, but because I know myself the +king's true wife--and while you call me the king's subject, I was his +subject while he took me for his wife. But if he take me not for his wife, +I came not into this Realm as merchandise, nor to be married to any +merchant; nor do I continue in the same but as his lawful wife, and not as +a subject to live under his dominion otherwise. I have always demeaned +myself well and truly towards the king--and if it can be proved that either +in writing to the pope or any other, I have either stirred or procured +anything against his Grace, or have been the means to any person to make +any motion which might be prejudicial to his Grace or to his Realm, I am +content to suffer for it. I have done England little good, and I should be +sorry to do it any harm. But if I should agree to your motions and +persuasions, I should slander myself, and confess to have been the king's +harlot for twenty-four years. The cause, I cannot tell by what subtle +means, has been determined here within the king's Realm, before a man of +his own making, the Bishop of Canterbury, no person indifferent I think in +that behalf; and for the indifference of the place, I think the place had +been more indifferent to have been judged in hell; for no truth can be +suffered here, whereas the devils themselves I suppose do tremble to see +the truth in this cause so sore oppressed."[445] + +Most noble, spirited, and like a queen. Yet she would never have been +brought to this extremity, and she would have shown a truer nobleness, if +four years before she could have yielded at the pope's entreaty on the +first terms which were proposed to her. Those terms would have required no +humiliating confessions; they would have involved no sentence on her +marriage nor touched her daughter's legitimacy. She would have broken no +law of God, nor seemed to break it. She was required only to forget her own +interests; and she would not forget them, though all the world should be +wrecked by her refusal. She denied that she was concerned in "motions +prejudicial to the king or to the Realm," but she must have placed her own +interpretation on the words, and would have considered excommunication and +interdict a salutary discipline to the king and parliament. She knew that +this sentence was imminent, that in its minor form it had already fallen; +and she knew that her nephew and her friends in England were plotting to +give effect to the decree. But we may pass over this. It is not for an +English writer to dwell upon those faults of Catherine of Arragon, which +English remorse has honourably insisted on forgetting. Her injuries, +inevitable as they were, and forced upon her in great measure by her own +wilfulness, remain among the saddest spots in the pages of our history. + +One other brief incident remains to be noticed here, to bring up before the +imagination the features of this momentous summer. It is contained in the +postscript of a letter of Cranmer to Hawkins the ambassador in Germany; and +the manner in which the story is told is no less suggestive than the story +itself. + +The immediate present, however awful its import, will ever seem common and +familiar to those who live and breathe in the midst of it. In the days of +the September massacre at Paris, the theatres were open as usual; men ate, +and drank, and laughed, and cried, and went about their common work, +unconscious that those days which were passing by them, so much like other +days, would remain the _dies nefasti_, accursed in the memory of mankind +for ever. Nothing is terrible, nothing is sublime in human things, so long +as they are before our eyes. The great man has so much in common with men +in general, the routine of daily life, in periods the most remarkable in +history, contains so much that is unvarying, that it is only when time has +done its work; and all which was unimportant has ceased to be remembered, +that such men and such times stand out in their true significance. It might +have been thought that to a person like Cranmer, the court at Dunstable, +the coronation of the new queen, the past out of which these things had +risen, and the future which they threatened to involve, would have seemed +at least serious; and that engaged as he had been as a chief actor, in a +matter which, if it had done nothing else, had broken the heart of a +high-born lady whom once he had honoured as his queen, he would have been +either silent about his exploits, or if he had spoken of them, would have +spoken not without some show of emotion. We look for a symptom of feeling, +but we do not find it. When the coronation festivities were concluded he +wrote to his friend an account of what had been done by himself and others +in the light gossiping tone of easiest content; as if he were describing +the common incidents of a common day. It is disappointing, and not wholly +to be approved of. Still less can we approve of the passage with which he +concludes his letter. + +"Other news we have none notable, but that one Frith, which was in the +Tower in prison,[446] was appointed by the King's Grace to be examined +before me, my Lord of London, my Lord of Winchester, my Lord of Suffolk, my +Lord Chancellor, and my Lord of Wiltshire; whose opinion was so notably +erroneous that we could not dispatch him, but were fain to leave him to the +determination of his ordinary, which is the Bishop of London. His said +opinion is of such nature, that he thought it not necessary to be believed +as an article of our faith that there is the very corporeal presence of +Christ within the host and sacrament of the altar; and holdeth on this +point much after the opinion of Oecolampadius. + +"And surely I myself sent for him three or four times to persuade him to +leave that imagination. But for all that we could do therein, he would not +apply to any counsel. Notwithstanding now he is at a final end with all +examinations; for my Lord of London hath given sentence, and delivered him +to the secular power when he looketh every day to go unto the fire. And +there is also condemned with him one Andrew a tailor for the self-same +opinion; and thus fare you well."[447] + +These victims went as they were sentenced, dismissed to their martyr's +crowns at Smithfield, as Queen Anne Boleyn but a few days before had +received her golden crown at the altar of Westminster Abbey. Twenty years +later another fire was blazing under the walls of Oxford; and the hand +which was now writing these light lines was blackening in the flames of it, +paying there the penalty of the same "imagination" for which Frith and the +poor London tailor were with such cool indifference condemned. It is +affecting to know that Frith's writings were the instruments of Cranmer's +conversion; and the fathers of the Anglican church have left a monument of +their sorrow for the shedding of this innocent blood in the Order of the +Communion service, which closes with the very words on which the primate, +with his brother bishops, had sate in judgment.[448] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PROTESTANTS + +Where changes are about to take place of great and enduring moment, a kind +of prologue, on a small scale, sometimes anticipates the true opening of +the drama; like the first drops which give notice of the coming storm, or +as if the shadows of the reality were projected forwards into the future, +and imitated in dumb show the movements of the real actors in the story. + +Such a rehearsal of the English Reformation was witnessed at the close of +the fourteenth century, confused, imperfect, disproportioned, to outward +appearance barren of results; yet containing a representative of each one +of the mixed forces by which that great change was ultimately effected, and +foreshadowing even something of the course which it was to run. + +There was a quarrel with the pope upon the extent of the papal privileges; +there were disputes between the laity and the clergy,--accompanied, as if +involuntarily, by attacks on the sacramental system and the Catholic +faith,--while innovation in doctrine was accompanied also with the tendency +which characterised the extreme development of the later +Protestants--towards political republicanism, the fifth monarchy, and +community of goods. Some account of this movement must be given in this +place, although it can be but a sketch only. "Lollardry"[449] has a history +of its own; but it forms no proper part of the history of the Reformation. +It was a separate phenomenon, provoked by the same causes which produced +their true fruit at a later period; but it formed no portion of the stem on +which those fruits ultimately grew. It was a prelude which was played out, +and sank into silence, answering for the time no other end than to make the +name of heretic odious in the ears of the English nation. In their recoil +from their first failure, the people stamped their hatred of heterodoxy +into their language; and in the word _miscreant_, misbeliever, as the +synonym of the worst species of reprobate, they left an indelible record of +the popular estimate of the followers of John Wycliffe. + +The Lollard story opens with the disputes between the crown and the see of +Rome on the presentation to English benefices. For the hundred and fifty +years which succeeded the Conquest, the right of nominating the +archbishops, the bishops, and the mitred abbots, had been claimed and +exercised by the crown. On the passing of the great charter, the church had +recovered its liberties, and the privilege of free election had been +conceded by a special clause to the clergy. The practice which then became +established was in accordance with the general spirit of the English +constitution. On the vacancy of a see, the cathedral chapter applied to the +crown for a conge d'elire. The application was a form; the consent was +invariable. A bishop was then elected by a majority of suffrages; his name +was submitted to the metropolitan, and by him to the pope. If the pope +signified his approval, the election was complete; consecration followed; +and the bishop having been furnished with his bulls of investiture, was +presented to the king, and from him received "the temporalities" of his +see. The mode in which the great abbots were chosen was precisely similar; +the superiors of the orders to which the abbeys belonged were the channels +of communication with the pope, in the place of the archbishops; but the +elections in themselves were free, and were conducted in the same manner. +The smaller church benefices, the small monasteries or parish churches, +were in the hands of private patrons, lay or ecclesiastical; but in the +case of each institution a reference was admitted, or was supposed to be +admitted, to the court of Rome. + +There was thus in the pope's hand an authority of an indefinite kind, which +it was presumed that his sacred office would forbid him to abuse, but +which, however, if he so unfortunately pleased, he might abuse at his +discretion. He had absolute power over every nomination to an English +benefice; he might refuse his consent till such adequate reasons, material +or spiritual, as he considered sufficient to induce him to acquiesce, had +been submitted to his consideration. In the case of nominations to the +religious houses, the superiors of the various orders residing abroad had +equal facilities for obstructiveness; and the consequence of so large a +confidence in the purity of the higher orders of the Church became visible +in an act of parliament which it was found necessary to pass in +1306-7.[450] + +"Of late," says this act, "it has come to the knowledge of the king, by the +grievous complaint of the honourable persons, lords, and other noblemen of +his realm, that whereas monasteries, priories, and other religious houses +were founded to the honour and glory of God, and the advancement of holy +church, by the king and his progenitors, and by the said noblemen and their +ancestors; and a very great portion of lands and tenements have been given +by them to the said monasteries, priories, and religious houses, and the +religious men serving God in them; to the intent that clerks and laymen +might be admitted in such houses, and that sick and feeble folk might be +maintained, hospitality, almsgiving, and other charitable deeds might be +done, and prayers be said for the souls of the founders and their heirs; +the abbots, priors, and governors of the said houses, _and certain aliens +their superiors_, as the abbots and priors of the Cistertians, the +Premonstrants, the orders of Saint Augustine and of Saint Benedict, and +many more of other religions and orders have at their own pleasure set +divers heavy, unwonted heavy and importable tallages, payments, and +impositions upon every of the said monasteries and houses subject unto +them, in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, without the privity of the +king and his nobility, contrary to the laws and customs of the said realm; +and thereby the number of religious persons being oppressed by such +tallages, payments, and impositions, the service of God is diminished, alms +are not given to the poor, the sick, and the feeble; the healths of the +living and the souls of the dead be miserably defrauded; hospitality, +alms-giving, and other godly deeds do cease; and so that which in times +past was charitably given to godly uses and to the service of God, is now +converted to an evil end, by permission whereof there groweth great scandal +to the people." To provide against a continuance of these abuses, it was +enacted that no "religious" persons should, under any pretence or form, +send out of the kingdom any kind of tax, rent, or tallage; and that "priors +aliens" should not presume to assess any payment, charge, or other burden +whatever upon houses within the realm.[451] + +The language of this act was studiously guarded. The pope was not alluded +to; the specific methods by which the extortion was practised were not +explained; the tax upon presentations to benefices, either having not yet +distinguished itself beyond other impositions, or the government trusting +that a measure of this general kind might answer the desired end. Lucrative +encroachments, however, do not yield so easily to treatment; nearly fifty +years after it became necessary to re-enact the same statute; and while +recapitulating the provisions of it, the parliament found it desirable to +point out more specifically the intention with which it was passed. + +The popes in the interval had absorbed in their turn from the heads of the +religious orders, the privileges which by them had been extorted from the +affiliated societies. Each English benefice had become the fountain of a +rivulet which flowed into the Roman exchequer, or a property to be +distributed as the private patronage of the Roman bishop: and the English +parliament for the first time found itself in collision with the Father of +Christendom. + +"The pope," says the fourth of the twenty-fifth of Edward III., +"accroaching to himself the signories of the benefices within the realm of +England, doth give and grant the same to aliens which did never dwell in +England, and to cardinals which could not dwell here, and to others as well +aliens as denizens, whereby manifold inconveniences have ensued." "Not +regarding" the statute of Edward I., he had also continued to present to +bishopricks, abbeys, priories, and other valuable preferments: money in +large quantities was carried out of the realm from the proceeds of these +offices, and it was necessary to insist emphatically that the papal +nominations should cease. They were made in violation of the law, and were +conducted with simony so flagrant that English benefices were sold in the +papal courts to any person who would pay for them, whether an Englishman or +a stranger. It was therefore decreed that the elections to bishopricks +should be free as in time past, that the rights of patrons should be +preserved, and penalties of imprisonment, forfeiture, or outlawry, +according to the complexion of the offence, should be attached to all +impetration of benefices from Rome by purchase or otherwise.[452] + +If statute law could have touched the evil, these enactments would have +been sufficient for the purpose; but the influence of the popes in England +was of that subtle kind which was not so readily defeated. The law was +still defied, or still evaded; and the struggle continued till the close of +the century, the legislature labouring patiently, but ineffectually, to +confine with fresh enactments their ingenious adversary.[453] + +At length symptoms appeared of an intention on the part of the popes to +maintain their claims with spiritual censures, and the nation was obliged +to resolve upon the course which, in the event of their resorting to that +extremity, it would follow. The lay lords[454] and the House of Commons +found no difficulty in arriving at a conclusion. They passed a fresh penal +statute with prohibitions even more emphatically stringent, and decided +that "if any man brought into this realm any sentence, summons, or +excommunication, contrary to the effect of the statute, he should incur +pain of life and members, with forfeiture of goods; and if any prelate made +execution of such sentence, his temporalities should be taken from him, and +should abide in the king's hands till redress was made."[455] + +So bold a measure threatened nothing less than open rupture. The act, +however, seems to have been passed in haste, without determined +consideration; and on second thoughts, it was held more prudent to attempt +a milder course. The strength of the opposition to the papacy lay with the +Commons.[456] When the session of parliament was over, a great council was +summoned to reconsider what should be done, and an address was drawn up, +and forwarded to Rome, with a request that the then reigning pope would +devise some manner by which the difficulty could be arranged.[457] Boniface +IX. replied with the same want of judgment which was shown afterwards on an +analogous occasion by Clement VII. He disbelieved the danger; and daring +the government to persevere, he granted a prebendal stall at Wells to an +Italian cardinal, to which a presentation had been made already by the +king. Opposing suits were instantly instituted between the claimants in the +courts of the two countries. A decision was given in England in favour of +the nominee of the king, and the bishops agreeing to support the crown were +excommunicated.[458] The court of Rome had resolved to try the issue by a +struggle of force, and the government had no alternative but to surrender +at discretion, or to persevere at all hazards, and resist the usurpation. + +The proceedings on this occasion seem to have been unusual, and significant +of the importance of the crisis. Parliament either was sitting at the time +when the excommunication was issued, or else it was immediately assembled; +and the House of Commons drew up, in the form of a petition to the king, a +declaration of the circumstances which had occurred. After having stated +generally the English law on the presentation to benefices, "Now of late," +they added, "divers processes be made by his Holiness the Pope, and +censures of excommunication upon certain bishops, because they have made +execution of the judgments [given in the king's courts], to the open +disherison of the crown; whereby, if remedy be not provided, the crown of +England, which hath been so free at all times, that it has been in no +earthly subjection, should be submitted to the pope; and the laws and +statutes of the realm by him be defeated and avoided at his will, in +perpetual destruction of the sovereignty of the king our lord, his crown, +his regality, and all his realm." The Commons, therefore, on their part, +declared, "That the things so attempted were clearly against the king's +crown and his regality, used and approved of in the time of all his +progenitors, and therefore they and all the liege commons of the realm +would stand with their said lord the king, and his said crown, in the cases +aforesaid, to live and die."[459] Whether they made allusion to the act of +1389 does not appear--a measure passed under protest from one of the +estates of the realm was possibly held unequal to meet the emergency--at +all events they would not rely upon it. For after this peremptory assertion +of their own opinion, they desired the king, "and required him in the way +of justice," to examine severally the lords spiritual and temporal how they +thought, and how they would stand.[460] The examination was made, and the +result was satisfactory. The lay lords replied without reservation that +they would support the crown. The bishops (they were in a difficulty for +which all allowance must be made) gave a cautious, but also a manly answer. +They would not affirm, they said, that the pope had a right to +excommunicate them in such cases, and they would not say that he had not. +It was clear, however, that legal or illegal, such excommunication was +against the privileges of the English crown, and therefore that, on the +whole, they would and ought to be with the crown, _loialment_, like loyal +subjects, as they were bound by their allegiance.[461] + +In this unusual and emphatic manner, the three estates agreed that the pope +should be resisted; and an act passed "that all persons suing at the court +of Rome, and obtaining thence any bulls, instruments, sentences of +excommunication which touched the king, or were against him, his regality, +or his realm, and they which brought the same within the realm, or received +the same, or made thereof notification, or any other execution whatever, +within the realm or without, they, their notaries, procurators, maintainers +and abettors, fautors and counsellors, should be put out of the king's +protection, and their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, be +forfeited." + +The resolute attitude of the country terminated the struggle. Boniface +prudently yielded, and for the moment; and indeed for ever under this +especial form, the wave of papal encroachment was rolled back. The temper +which had been roused in the contest, might perhaps have carried the nation +further. The liberties of the crown had been asserted successfully. The +analogous liberties of the church might have followed; and other channels, +too, might have been cut off, through which the papal exchequer fed itself +on English blood. But at this crisis the anti-Roman policy was arrested in +its course by another movement, which turned the current of suspicion, and +frightened back the nation to conservatism. + +While the crown and the parliament had been engaged with the pope, the +undulations of the dispute had penetrated down among the body of the +people, and an agitation had been commenced of an analogous kind against +the spiritual authorities at home. The parliament had lamented that the +duties of the religious houses were left unfulfilled, in consequence of the +extortions of their superiors abroad. The people, who were equally +convinced of the neglect of duty, adopted an interpretation of the +phenomenon less favourable to the clergy, and attributed it to the +temptations of worldliness, and the self-indulgence generated by enormous +wealth. + +This form of discontent found its exponent in John Wycliffe, the great +forerunner of the Reformation, whose austere figure stands out above the +crowd of notables in English history, with an outline not unlike that of +another forerunner of a greater change. + +The early life of Wycliffe is obscure. Lewis, on the authority of +Leland,[462] says that he was born near Richmond, in Yorkshire. Fuller, +though with some hesitation, prefers Durham.[463] He emerges into distinct +notice in 1360, ten years subsequent to the passing of the first Statute of +Provisors, having then acquired a great Oxford reputation as a lecturer in +divinity, and having earned for himself powerful friends and powerful +enemies. He had made his name distinguished by attacks upon the clergy for +their indolence and profligacy: attacks both written and orally +delivered--those written, we observe, being written in English, not in +Latin.[464] In 1365, Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed him Warden +of Canterbury Hall; the appointment, however, was made with some +irregularity, and the following year, Archbishop Islip dying, his +successor, Langham, deprived Wycliffe, and the sentence was confirmed by +the king. It seemed, nevertheless, that no personal reflection was intended +by this decision, for Edward III. nominated the ex-warden one of his +chaplains immediately after, and employed him on an important mission to +Bruges, where a conference on the benefice question was to be held with a +papal commission. + +Other church preferment was subsequently given to Wycliffe; but Oxford +remained the chief scene of his work. He continued to hold his +professorship of divinity; and from this office the character of his +history took its complexion. At a time when books were rare and difficult +to be procured, lecturers who had truth to communicate fresh drawn from the +fountain, held an influence which in these days it is as difficult to +imagine as, however, it is impossible to overrate. Students from all Europe +flocked to the feet of a celebrated professor, who became the leader of a +party by the mere fact of his position. + +The burden of Wycliffe's teaching was the exposure of the indolent fictions +which passed under the name of religion in the established theory of the +church. He was a man of most simple life; austere in appearance, with bare +feet and russet mantle.[465] As a soldier of Christ, he saw in his Great +Master and his Apostles the patterns whom he was bound to imitate. By the +contagion of example he gathered about him other men who thought as he did; +and gradually, under his captaincy, these "poor priests," as they were +called--vowed to poverty because Christ was poor--vowed to accept no +benefice, lest they should misspend the property of the poor, and because, +as apostles, they were bound to go where their Master called them,[466] +spread out over the country as an army of missionaries, to preach the faith +which they found in the Bible--to preach, not of relics and of indulgences, +but of repentance and of the grace of God. They carried with them copies of +the Bible which Wycliffe had translated, leaving here and there, as they +travelled, their costly treasures, as shining seed points of light; and +they refused to recognise the authority of the bishops, or their right to +silence them. + +If this had been all, and perhaps if Edward III. had been succeeded by a +prince less miserably incapable than his grandson Richard, Wycliffe might +have made good his ground; the movement of the parliament against the pope +might have united in a common stream with the spiritual move against the +church at home, and the Reformation have been antedated by a century. He +was summoned to answer for himself before the Archbishop of Canterbury in +1377. He appeared in court supported by the presence of John of Gaunt, Duke +of Lancaster, the eldest of Edward's surviving sons, and the authorities +were unable to strike him behind so powerful a shield. + +But the "poor priests" had other doctrines besides those which they +discovered in the Bible, relating to subjects with which, as apostles, they +would have done better if they had shrunk from meddling. The inefficiency +of the clergy was occasioned, as Wycliffe thought, by their wealth and by +their luxury. He desired to save them from a temptation too heavy for them +to bear, and he insisted that by neglect of duty their wealth had been +forfeited, and that it was the business of the laity to take it from its +unworthy possessors. The invectives with which the argument was accompanied +produced a widely-spread irritation. The reins of the country fell +simultaneously into the weak hands of Richard II., and the consequence was +a rapid spread of disorder. In the year which followed Richard's accession, +consistory judges were assaulted in their courts, sanctuaries were +violated, priests were attacked and ill-treated in church, church-yard, and +cathedral, and even while engaged in the mass;[467] the contagion of the +growing anarchy seems to have touched even Wycliffe himself, and touched +him in a point most deeply dangerous. + +His theory of property, and his study of the character of Christ, had led +him to the near confines of Anabaptism. Expanding his views upon the +estates of the church into an axiom, he taught that "charters of perpetual +inheritance were impossible;" "that God could not give men civil +possessions for ever;"[468] "that property was founded in grace, and +derived from God;" and "seeing that forfeiture was the punishment of +treason, and all sin was treason against God, the sinner must consequently +forfeit his right to what he held of God." These propositions were nakedly +true, as we shall most of us allow; but God has his own methods of +enforcing extreme principles; and human legislation may only meddle with +them at its peril. The theory as an abstraction could be represented as +applying equally to the laity as to the clergy, and the new teaching +received a practical comment in 1381, in the invasion of London by Wat, the +tyler of Dartford, and 100,000 men, who were to level all ranks, put down +the church, and establish universal liberty.[469] Two priests accompanied +the insurgents, not Wycliffe's followers, but the licentious counterfeits +of them, who trod inevitably in their footsteps, and were as inevitably +countenanced by their doctrines. The insurrection was attended with the +bloodshed, destruction, and ferocity natural to such outbreaks. The +Archbishop of Canterbury and many gentlemen were murdered; and a great part +of London sacked and burnt. It would be absurd to attribute this disaster +to Wycliffe, nor was there any desire to hold him responsible for it; but +it is equally certain that the doctrines which he had taught were +incompatible, at that particular time, with an effective repression of the +spirit which had caused the explosion. It is equally certain that he had +brought discredit on his nobler efforts by ambiguous language on a subject +of the utmost difficulty, and had taught the wiser and better portion of +the people to confound heterodoxy of opinion with sedition, anarchy, and +disorder. + +So long as Wycliffe lived, his own lofty character was a guarantee for the +conduct of his immediate disciples; and although his favour had far +declined, a party in the state remained attached to him, with sufficient +influence to prevent the adoption of extreme measures against the "poor +priests." In the year following the insurrection, an act was passed for +their repression in the House of Lords, and was sent down by the king to +the Commons. They were spoken of as "evil persons," going from place to +place in defiance of the bishops, preaching in the open air to great +congregations at markets and fairs, "exciting the people," "engendering +discord between the estates of the realm." The ordinaries had no power to +silence them, and had therefore desired that commissions should be issued +to the sheriffs of the various counties, to arrest all such persons, and +confine them, until they would "justify themselves" in the ecclesiastical +courts.[470] Wycliffe petitioned against the bill, and it was rejected; not +so much perhaps out of tenderness for the reformer, as because the Lower +House was excited by the controversy with the pope; and being doubtfully +disposed towards the clergy, was reluctant to subject the people to a more +stringent spiritual control. + +But Wycliffe himself meanwhile had received a clear intimation of his own +declining position. His opposition to the church authorities, and his +efforts at re-invigorating the faith of the country, had led him into +doubtful statements on the nature of the eucharist; he had entangled +himself in dubious metaphysics on a subject on which no middle course is +really possible; and being summoned to answer for his language before a +synod in London, he had thrown himself again for protection on the Duke of +Lancaster. The duke (not unnaturally under the circumstances) declined to +encourage what he could neither approve nor understand;[471] and Wycliffe, +by his great patron's advice, submitted. He read a confession of faith +before the bishops, which was held satisfactory; he was forbidden, however, +to preach again in Oxford, and retired to his living of Lutterworth, in +Leicestershire, where two years later he died. + +With him departed all which was best and purest in the movement which he +had commenced. The zeal of his followers was not extinguished, but the +wisdom was extinguished which had directed it; and perhaps the being +treated as the enemies of order had itself a tendency to make them what +they were believed to be. They were left unmolested for the next twenty +years, the feebleness of the government, the angry complexion which had +been assumed by the dispute with Rome, and the political anarchy in the +closing decade of the century, combining to give them temporary shelter; +but they availed themselves of their opportunity to travel further on the +dangerous road on which they had entered; and on the settlement of the +country under Henry IV. they fell under the general ban which struck down +all parties who had shared in the late disturbances. + +They had been spared in 1382, only for more sharp denunciation, and a more +cruel fate; and Boniface having healed, on his side, the wounds which had +been opened, by well-timed concessions, there was no reason left for +leniency. The character of the Lollard teaching was thus described (perhaps +in somewhat exaggerated language) in the preamble of the act of 1401.[472] + +"Divers false and perverse people," so runs the act _De Heretico +comburendo_, "of a certain new sect, damnably thinking of the faith of the +sacraments of the church, and of the authority of the same, against the law +of God and of the church, usurping the office of preaching, do perversely +and maliciously, in divers places within the realm, preach and teach divers +new doctrines, and wicked erroneous opinions, contrary to the faith and +determination of Holy Church. And of such sect and wicked doctrines they +make unlawful conventicles, they hold and exercise schools, they make and +write books, they do wickedly instruct and inform people, and excite and +stir them to sedition and insurrection, and make great strife and division +among the people, and other enormities horrible to be heard, daily do +perpetrate and commit. The diocesans cannot by their jurisdiction +spiritual, without aid of the King's Majesty, sufficiently correct these +said false and perverse people, nor refrain their malice, because they do +go from diocess to diocess, and will not appear before the said diocesans; +but the jurisdiction spiritual, the keys of the church, and the censures of +the same, do utterly contemn and despise; and so their wicked preachings +and doctrines they do from day to day continue and exercise, to the +destruction of all order and rule, right and reason." + +Something of these violent accusations is perhaps due to the horror with +which false doctrine in matters of faith was looked upon in the Catholic +church, the grace by which alone an honest life was made possible being +held to be dependent upon orthodoxy. But the Lollards had become political +revolutionists as well as religious reformers; the revolt against the +spiritual authority had encouraged and countenanced a revolt against the +secular; and we cannot be surprised, therefore, that these institutions +should have sympathised with each other, and have united to repress a +danger which was formidable to both. + +The bishops, by this act, received arbitrary power to arrest and imprison +on suspicion, without check or restraint of law, at their will and +pleasure. Prisoners who refused to abjure their errors, who persisted in +heresy, or relapsed into it after abjuration, were sentenced to be burnt at +the stake--a dreadful punishment, on the wickedness of which the world has +long been happily agreed. Yet we must remember that those who condemned +teachers of heresy to the flames, considered that heresy itself involved +everlasting perdition; that they were but faintly imitating the severity +which orthodoxy still ascribes to Almighty God Himself. + +The tide which was thus setting back in favour of the church did not yet, +however, flow freely, and without a check. The Commons consented to +sacrifice the heretics, but they still cast wistful looks on the lands of +the religious houses. On two several occasions, in 1406, and again 1410, +spoliation was debated in the Lower House, and representations were made +upon the subject to the king.[473] The country, too, continued to be +agitated with war and treason; and when Henry V. became king, in 1412, the +church was still uneasy, and the Lollards were as dangerous as ever. +Whether by prudent conduct they might have secured a repeal of the +persecuting act is uncertain; it is more likely, from their conduct, that +they had made their existence incompatible with the security of any +tolerable government. + +A rumour having gone abroad that the king intended to enforce the laws +against heresy, notices were found fixed against the doors of the London +churches, that if any such measure was attempted, a hundred thousand men +would be in arms to oppose it. These papers were traced to Sir John +Oldcastle, otherwise called Lord Cobham, a man whose true character is more +difficult to distinguish, in the conflict of the evidence which has come +down to us about him, than that of almost any noticeable person in history. +He was perhaps no worse than a fanatic. He was certainly prepared, if we +may trust the words of a royal proclamation (and Henry was personally +intimate with Oldcastle, and otherwise was not likely to have exaggerated +the charges against him), he was prepared to venture a rebellion, with the +prospect of himself becoming the president of some possible Lollard +commonwealth.[474] The king, with swift decisiveness, annihilated the +incipient treason. Oldcastle was himself arrested. He escaped out of the +Tower into Scotland; and while Henry was absent in France he seems to have +attempted to organise some kind of Scotch invasion; but he was soon after +again taken on the Welsh Border, tried and executed. An act which was +passed in 1414 described his proceedings as an "attempt to destroy the +king, and all other manner of estates of the realm, as well spiritual as +temporal, and also all manner of policy, and finally the laws of the land." +The sedition was held to have originated in heresy, and for the better +repression of such mischiefs in time to come, the lord chancellor, the +judges, the justices of the peace, the sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, and +every other officer having government of people, were sworn on entering +their office to use their best power and diligence to detect and prosecute +all persons suspected of so heinous a crime.[475] + +Thus perished Wycliffe's labour,--not wholly, because his translation of +the Bible still remained a rare treasure; as seed of future life, which +would spring again under happier circumstances. But the sect which he +organised, the special doctrines which he set himself to teach, after a +brief blaze of success, sank into darkness; and no trace remained of +Lollardry except the black memory of contempt and hatred with which the +heretics of the fourteenth century were remembered by the English people, +long after the actual Reformation had become the law of the land.[476] + +So poor a close to a movement of so fair promise was due partly to the +agitated temper of the times; partly, perhaps, to a want of judgment in +Wycliffe; but chiefly and essentially because it was an untimely birth. +Wycliffe saw the evil; he did not see the remedy; and neither in his mind +nor in the mind of the world about him, had the problem ripened itself for +solution. England would have gained little by the premature overthrow of +the church, when the house out of which the evil spirit was cast out could +have been but swept and garnished for the occupation of the seven devils of +anarchy. + +The fire of heresy continued to smoulder, exploding occasionally in +insurrection,[477] occasionally blazing up in nobler form, when some poor +seeker for the truth, groping for a vision of God in the darkness of the +years which followed, found his way into that high presence through the +martyr's fire. But substantially, the nation relapsed into obedience--the +church was reprieved for a century. Its fall was delayed till the spirit in +which it was attacked was winnowed clean of all doubtful elements--until +Protestantism had recommenced its enterprise in a desire, not for a fairer +adjustment of the world's good things, but in a desire for some deeper, +truer, nobler, holier insight into the will of God. It recommenced not +under the auspices of a Wycliffe, not with the partial countenance of a +government which was crossing swords with the Father of Catholic +Christendom, and menacing the severance of England from the unity of the +faith, but under a strong dynasty of undoubted Catholic loyalty, with the +entire administrative power, secular as well as spiritual, in the hands of +the episcopate. It sprung up spontaneously, unguided, unexcited, by the +vital necessity of its nature, among the masses of the nation. + +Leaping over a century, I pass to the year 1525, at which time, or about +which time, a society was enrolled in London calling itself "The +Association of Christian Brothers."[478] It was composed of poor men, +chiefly tradesmen, artisans, a few, a very few of the clergy; but it was +carefully organised, it was provided with moderate funds, which were +regularly audited; and its paid agents went up and down the country +carrying Testaments and tracts with them, and enrolling in the order all +persons who dared to risk their lives in such a cause. The harvest had been +long ripening. The records of the bishops' courts[479] are filled from the +beginning of the century with accounts of prosecutions for heresy--with +prosecutions, that is, of men and women to whom the masses, the +pilgrimages, the indulgences, the pardons, the effete paraphernalia of the +establishment, had become intolerable; who had risen up in blind +resistance, and had declared, with passionate anger, that whatever was the +truth, all this was falsehood. The bishops had not been idle; they had +plied their busy tasks with stake and prison, and victim after victim had +been executed with more than necessary cruelty. But it was all in vain: +punishment only multiplied offenders, and "the reek" of the martyrs, as was +said when Patrick Hamilton was burnt at St. Andrews, "infected all that it +did blow upon."[480] + +There were no teachers, however, there were no books, no unity of +conviction, only a confused refusal to believe in lies. Copies of +Wycliffe's Bible remained, which parties here and there, under death +penalties if detected, met to read;[481] copies, also, of some of his +tracts[482] were extant; but they were unprinted transcripts, most rare and +precious, which the watchfulness of the police made it impossible to +multiply through the press, and which remained therefore necessarily in the +possession of but a few fortunate persons. + +The Protestants were thus isolated in single groups or families, without +organisation, without knowledge of each other, with nothing to give them +coherency as a party; and so they might have long continued, except for an +impulse from some external circumstances. They were waiting for direction, +and men in such a temper are seldom left to wait in vain. + +The state of England did but represent the state of all Northern Europe. +Wherever the Teutonic language was spoken, wherever the Teutonic nature was +in the people, there was the same weariness of unreality, the same craving +for a higher life. England rather lagged behind than was a leader in the +race of discontent. In Germany, all classes shared the common feeling; in +England it was almost confined to the lowest. But, wherever it existed, it +was a free, spontaneous growth in each separate breast, not propagated by +agitation, but springing self sown, the expression of the honest anger of +honest men at a system which had passed the limits of toleration, and which +could be endured no longer. At such times the minds of men are like a train +of gunpowder, the isolated grains of which have no relation to each other, +and no effect on each other, while they remain unignited; but let a spark +kindle but one of them, and they shoot into instant union in a common +explosion. Such a spark was kindled in Germany, at Wittenberg, on the 31st +of October, 1517. In the middle of that day Luther's denunciation of +Indulgences was fixed against the gate of All Saints church, Wittenberg, +and it became, like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, the sign to which +the sick spirits throughout the western world looked hopefully and were +healed. In all those millions of hearts the words of Luther found an echo, +and flew from lip to lip, from ear to ear. The thing which all were longing +for was done, and in two years from that day there was scarcely perhaps a +village from the Irish Channel to the Danube in which the name of Luther +was not familiar as a word of hope and promise. Then rose a common cry for +guidance. Books were called for--above all things, the great book of all, +the Bible. Luther's inexhaustible fecundity flowed with a steady stream, +and the printing presses in Germany and in the Free Towns of the +Netherlands, multiplied Testaments and tracts in hundreds of thousands. +Printers published at their own expense as Luther wrote.[483] The continent +was covered with disfrocked monks who had become the pedlars of these +precious wares;[484] and as the contagion spread, noble young spirits from +other countries, eager themselves to fight in God's battle, came to +Wittenberg to learn from the champion who had struck the first blow at +their great enemy how to use their weapons. "Students from all nations came +to Wittenberg," says one, "to hear Luther and Melancthon. As they came in +sight of the town they returned thanks to God with clasped hands; for from +Wittenberg, as heretofore from Jerusalem, proceeded the light of +evangelical truth, to spread thence to the utmost parts of the earth."[485] +Thither came young Patrick Hamilton from Edinburgh, whose "reek" was of so +much potency, a boy-enthusiast of nature as illustrious as his birth; and +thither came also from England, which is here our chief concern, William +Tyndal, a man whose history is lost in his work, and whose epitaph is the +Reformation. Beginning life as a restless Oxford student, he moved thence +to Cambridge, thence to Gloucestershire, to be tutor in a knight's family, +and there hearing of Luther's doings, and expressing himself with too warm +approval to suit his patron's conservatism,[486] he fell into disgrace. +From Gloucestershire he removed to London, where Cuthbert Tunstall had +lately been made bishop, and from whom he looked for countenance in an +intention to translate the New Testament. Tunstall showed little +encouragement to this enterprise; but a better friend rose where he was +least looked for; and a London alderman, Humfrey Monmouth by name, hearing +the young dreamer preach on some occasion at St. Dunstan's, took him to his +home for half a year, and kept him there: where "the said Tyndal," as the +alderman declared, "lived like a good priest, studying both night and day; +he would eat but sodden meat, by his good will, nor drink but small single +beer; nor was he ever seen to wear linen about him all the time of his +being there."[487] The half year being passed, Monmouth gave him ten +pounds, with which provision he went off to Wittenberg; and the alderman, +for assisting him in that business, went to the Tower--escaping, however, +we are glad to know, without worse consequences than a short imprisonment. +Tyndal saw Luther,[488] and under his immediate direction translated the +Gospels and Epistles while at Wittenberg. Thence he returned to Antwerp, +and settling there under the privileges of the city, he was joined by Joy, +who shared his great work with him. Young Frith from Cambridge came to him +also, and Barnes, and Lambert, and many others of whom no written record +remains, to concert a common scheme of action. + +In Antwerp, under the care of these men, was established the printing +press, by which books were supplied, to accomplish for the teaching of +England what Luther and Melancthon were accomplishing for Germany. Tyndal's +Testament was first printed, then translations of the best German books, +reprints of Wycliffe's tracts or original commentaries. Such volumes as the +people most required were here multiplied as fast as the press could +produce them; and for the dissemination of these precious writings, the +brave London Protestants dared, at the hazard of their lives, to form +themselves into an organised association. + +It is well to pause and look for a moment at this small band of heroes; for +heroes they were, if ever men deserved the name. Unlike the first reformers +who had followed Wycliffe, they had no earthly object, emphatically none; +and equally unlike them, perhaps, because they had no earthly object, they +were all, as I have said, poor men--either students, like Tyndal, or +artisans and labourers who worked for their own bread, and in tough contact +with reality, had learnt better than the great and the educated the +difference between truth and lies. Wycliffe had royal dukes and noblemen +for his supporters--knights and divines among his disciples--a king and a +House of Commons looking upon him, not without favour. The first +Protestants of the sixteenth century had for their king the champion of +Holy Church, who had broken a lance with Luther; and spiritual rulers over +them alike powerful and imbecile, whose highest conception of Christian +virtue was the destruction of those who disobeyed their mandates. The +masses of the people were indifferent to a cause which promised them no +material advantage; and the Commons of Parliament, while contending with +the abuses of the spiritual authorities, were laboriously anxious to wash +their hands of heterodoxy. "In the crime of heresy, thanked be God," said +the bishops in 1529, "there hath no notable person fallen in our time;" no +chief priest, chief ruler, or learned Pharisee--not one. "Truth it is that +certain apostate friars and monks, lewd priests, bankrupt merchants, +vagabonds and lewd idle fellows of corrupt nature, have embraced the +abominable and erroneous opinions lately sprung in Germany, and by them +have been some seduced in simplicity and ignorance. Against these, if +judgment have been exercised according to the laws of the realm, we be +without blame. If we have been too remiss or slack, we shall gladly do our +duty from henceforth."[489] Such were the first Protestants in the eyes of +their superiors. On one side was wealth, rank, dignity, the weight of +authority, the majority of numbers, the prestige of centuries; here too +were the phantom legions of superstition and cowardice; and here were all +the worthier influences so pre-eminently English, which lead wise men to +shrink from change, and to cling to things established, so long as one +stone of them remains upon another, This was the army of conservatism. +Opposed to it were a little band of enthusiasts, armed only with truth and +fearlessness; "weak things of the world," about to do battle in God's name; +and it was to be seen whether God or the world was the stronger. They were +armed, I say, with the truth. It was that alone which could have given them +victory in so unequal a struggle. They had returned to the essential +fountain of life; they re-asserted the principle which has lain at the root +of all religions, whatever their name or outward form, which once burnt +with divine lustre in that Catholicism which was now to pass away; the +fundamental axiom of all real life, that the service which man owes to God +is not the service of words or magic forms, or ceremonies or opinions; but +the service of holiness, of purity, of obedience to the everlasting laws of +duty. + +When we look through the writings of Latimer, the apostle of the English +Reformation, when we read the depositions against the martyrs, and the +lists of their crimes against the established faith, we find no opposite +schemes of doctrine, no "plans of salvation;" no positive system of +theology which it was held a duty to believe; these things were of later +growth, when it became again necessary to clothe the living spirit in a +perishable body. We find only an effort to express again the old +exhortation of the Wise Man--"Will you hear the beginning and the end of +the whole matter? Fear God and keep his commandments; for that is the whole +duty of man." + +Had it been possible for mankind to sustain themselves upon this single +principle without disguising its simplicity, their history would have been +painted in far other colours than those which have so long chequered its +surface. This, however, has not been given to us; and perhaps it never will +be given. As the soul is clothed in flesh, and only thus is able to perform +its functions in this earth, where it is sent to live; as the thought must +find a word before it can pass from mind to mind; so every great truth +seeks some body, some outward form in which to exhibit its powers. It +appears in the world, and men lay hold of it, and represent it to +themselves, in histories, in forms of words, in sacramental symbols; and +these things which in their proper nature are but illustrations, stiffen +into essential fact, and become part of the reality. So arises in era after +era an outward and mortal expression of the inward immortal life; and at +once the old struggle begins to repeat itself between the flesh and the +spirit, the form and the reality. For a while the lower tendencies are held +in check; the meaning of the symbolism is remembered and fresh; it is a +living language, pregnant and suggestive. Bye and bye, as the mind passes +into other phases, the meaning is forgotten; the language becomes a dead +language; and the living robe of life becomes a winding-sheet of +corruption. The form is represented as everything, the spirit as nothing; +obedience is dispensed with; sin and religion arrange a compromise; and +outward observances, or technical inward emotions, are converted into +jugglers' tricks, by which men are enabled to enjoy their pleasures and +escape the penalties of wrong. Then such religion becomes no religion, but +a falsehood; and honourable men turn away from it, and fall back in haste +upon the naked elemental life. + +This, as I understand it, was the position of the early Protestants. They +found the service of God buried in a system where obedience was dissipated +into superstition; where sin was expiated by the vicarious virtues of other +men; where, instead of leading a holy life, men were taught that their +souls might be saved through masses said for them, at a money rate, by +priests whose licentiousness disgraced the nation which endured it; a +system in which, amidst all the trickery of the pardons, pilgrimages, +indulgences,--double-faced as these inventions are--wearing one meaning in +the apologies of theologians, and quite another to the multitude who live +and suffer under their influence--one plain fact at least is visible. The +people substantially learnt that all evils which could touch either their +spirits or their bodies, might be escaped by means which resolved +themselves, scarcely disguised, into the payment of moneys. + +The superstition had lingered long; the time had come when it was to pass +away. Those in whom some craving lingered for a Christian life turned to +the heart of the matter, to the book which told them who Christ was, and +what he was; and finding there that holy example for which they longed, +they flung aside in one noble burst of enthusiastic passion, the disguise +which had concealed it from them. They believed in Christ, not in the +bowing rood, or the pretended wood of the cross on which he suffered; and +when that saintly figure had once been seen--the object of all love, the +pattern of all imitation--thenceforward neither form nor ceremony should +stand between them and their God. + +Under much confusion of words and thoughts, confusion pardonable in all +men, and most of all in them, this seems to me to be transparently visible +in the aim of these "Christian Brothers;" a thirst for some fresh and noble +enunciation of the everlasting truth, the one essential thing for all men +to know and believe. And therefore they were strong; and therefore they at +last conquered. Yet if we think of it, no common daring was required in +those who would stand out at such a time in defence of such a cause. The +bishops might seize them on mere suspicion; and the evidence of the most +abandoned villains sufficed for their conviction.[490] By the act of Henry +V., every officer, from the lord chancellor to the parish constable, was +sworn to seek them out and destroy them; and both bishops and officials had +shown no reluctance to execute their duty. Hunted like wild beasts from +hiding-place to hiding-place, decimated by the stake, with the certainty +that however many years they might be reprieved, their own lives would +close at last in the same fiery trial; beset by informers, imprisoned, +racked, and scourged; worst of all, haunted by their own infirmities, the +flesh shrinking before the dread of a death of agony--thus it was that they +struggled on; earning for _themselves_ martyrdom--for _us_, the free +England in which we live and breathe. Among the great, until Cromwell came +to power, they had but one friend, and he but a doubtful one, who long +believed the truest kindness was to kill them. Henry VIII. was always +attracted towards the persons of the reformers. Their open bearing +commanded his respect. Their worst crime in the bishops' eyes--the +translating the Bible--was in his eyes not a crime, but a merit; he had +himself long desired an authorised English version, and at length compelled +the clergy to undertake it; while in the most notorious of the men +themselves, in Tyndal and in Frith, he had more than once expressed an +anxious interest.[491] But the convictions of his early years were long in +yielding. His feeling, though genuine, extended no further than to pity, to +a desire to recover estimable heretics out of errors which he would +endeavour to pardon. They knew, and all the "brethren" knew, that if they +persisted, they must look for the worst from the king and from every +earthly power; they knew it, and they made their account with it. An +informer deposed to the council, that he had asked one of the society "how +the King's Grace did take the matter against the sacrament; which answered, +the King's Highness was extreme against their opinions, and would punish +them grievously; also that my Lords of Norfolk and Suffolk, my Lord Marquis +of Exeter, with divers other great lords, were very extreme against them. +Then he (the informer) asked him how he and his fellows would do seeing +this, the which answered they had two thousand books out against the +Blessed Sacrament, in the commons' hands; and if it were once in the +commons' heads, they would have no further care."[492] + +Tyndal then being at work at Antwerp, and the society for the dispersion of +his books thus preparing itself in England, the authorities were not slow +in taking the alarm. The isolated discontent which had prevailed hitherto +had been left to the ordinary tribunals; the present danger called for +measures of more systematic coercion. This duty naturally devolved on +Wolsey, and the office of Grand Inquisitor, which he now assumed, could not +have fallen into more competent hands. + +Wolsey was not cruel. There is no instance, I believe, in which he of his +special motion sent a victim to the stake;--it would be well if the same +praise could be allowed to Cranmer. There was this difference between the +cardinal and other bishops, that while they seemed to desire to punish, +Wolsey was contented to silence; while they, in their conduct of trials, +made escape as difficult as possible, Wolsey sought rather to make +submission easy. He was too wise to suppose that he could cauterise heresy, +while the causes of it, in the corruption of the clergy, remained +unremoved; and the remedy to which he trusted, was the infusing new vigour +into the constitution of the church.[493] Nevertheless, he was determined +to repress, as far as outward measures could repress it, the spread of the +contagion; and he set himself to accomplish his task with the full energy +of his nature, backed by the whole power, spiritual and secular, of the +kingdom. The country was covered with his secret police, arresting +suspected persons and searching for books. In London the scrutiny was so +strict that at one time there was a general flight and panic; suspected +butchers, tailors, and carpenters, hiding themselves in the holds of +vessels in the river, and escaping across the Channel.[494] Even there they +were not safe. Heretics were outlawed by a common consent of the European +governments. Special offenders were hunted through France by the English +emissaries with the permission and countenance of the court,[495] and there +was an attempt to arrest Tyndal at Brussels, from which, for that time, he +happily escaped.[496] + +Simultaneously the English universities fell under examination, in +consequence of the appearance of dangerous symptoms among the younger +students. Dr. Barnes, returning from the continent, had used violent +language in a pulpit at Cambridge; and Latimer, then a neophyte in heresy, +had grown suspect, and had alarmed the heads of houses. Complaints against +both of them were forwarded to Wolsey, and they were summoned to London to +answer for themselves. + +Latimer, for some cause, found favour with the cardinal, and was dismissed, +with a hope on the part of his judge that his accusers might prove as +honest as he appeared to be, and even with a general licence to +preach.[497] Barnes was less fortunate; he was far inferior to Latimer; a +noisy, unwise man, without reticence or prudence. In addition to his +offences in matters of doctrine, he had attacked Wolsey himself with +somewhat vulgar personality; and it was thought well to single him out for +a public, though not a very terrible admonition. His house had been +searched for books, which he was suspected, and justly suspected, of having +brought with him from abroad. These, however, through a timely warning of +the danger, had been happily secreted,[498] or it might have gone harder +with him. As it was, he was committed to the Fleet on the charge of having +used heretical language. An abjuration was drawn up by Wolsey, which he +signed; and while he remained in prison preparations were made for a +ceremony, in which he was to bear a part, in St. Paul's church, by which +the Catholic authorities hoped to produce some salutary effect on the +disaffected spirits of London. + +Vast quantities of Tyndal's publications had been collected by the police. +The bishops, also, had subscribed among themselves[499] to buy up the +copies of the New Testament before they left Antwerp;--an unpromising +method, like an attempt to extinguish fire by pouring oil upon it; they had +been successful, however, in obtaining a large immediate harvest, and a +pyramid of offending volumes was ready to be consumed in a solemn _auto da +fe_. + +In the morning of Shrove Sunday, then, 1527, we are to picture to ourselves +a procession moving along London streets from the Fleet prison to St. +Paul's Cathedral. The warden of the Fleet was there, and the knight +marshal, and the tipstaffs, and "all the company they could make," "with +bills and glaives;" and in the midst of these armed officials, six men +marching in penitential dresses, one carrying a lighted taper five pounds' +weight, the others with symbolic fagots, signifying to the lookers-on the +fate which their crimes had earned for them, but which this time, in mercy, +was remitted. One of these was Barnes; the other five were "Stillyard men," +undistinguishable by any other name, but detected members of the +brotherhood. + +It was eight o'clock when they arrived at St. Paul's. The people had +flocked in crowds before them. The public seats and benches were filled. +All London had hurried to the spectacle. A platform was erected in the +centre of the nave, on the top of which, enthroned in pomp of purple and +gold and splendour, sate the great cardinal, supported on each side with +eighteen bishops, mitred abbots, and priors--six-and-thirty in all; his +chaplains and "spiritual doctors" sitting also where they could find place, +"in gowns of damask and satin." Opposite the platform, over the north door +of the cathedral, was a great crucifix--a famous image, in those days +called the Rood of Northen; and at the foot of it, inside a rail, a fire +was burning, with the sinful books, the Tracts and Testaments, ranged round +it in baskets, waiting for the execution of sentence. + +Such was the scene into the midst of which the six prisoners entered. A +second platform stood in a conspicuous place in front of the cardinal's +throne, where they could be seen and heard by the crowd; and there upon +their knees, with their fagots on their shoulders, they begged pardon of +God and the Holy Catholic Church for their high crimes and offences. When +the confession was finished Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, preached a sermon: +and the sermon over, Barnes turned to the people, declaring that "he was +more charitably handled than he deserved, his heresies were so heinous and +detestable." + +There was no other religious service: mass had perhaps been said previous +to the admission into the church of heretics lying under censure; and the +knight marshal led the prisoners down from the stage to the fire underneath +the crucifix. They were taken within the rails, and three times led round +the blazing pile, casting in their fagots as they passed. The contents of +the baskets were heaped upon the fagots, and the holocaust was complete. +This time, an unbloody sacrifice was deemed sufficient. The church was +satisfied with penance, and Fisher pronounced the prisoners absolved, and +received back into communion.[500] + +So ended this strange exhibition, designed to work great results on the +consciences of the spectators. It may be supposed, however, that men whom +the tragedies of Smithfield failed to terrify, were not likely to be +affected deeply by melodrame and blazing paper. + +A story follows of far deeper human interest, a story in which the +persecution is mirrored with its true lights and shadows, unexaggerated by +rhetoric; and which, in its minute simplicity, brings us face to face with +that old world, where men like ourselves lived, and worked, and suffered, +three centuries ago. + +Two years before the time at which we have now arrived, Wolsey, in +pursuance of his scheme of converting the endowments of the religious +houses to purposes of education, had obtained permission from the pope to +suppress a number of the smaller monasteries. He had added largely to the +means thus placed at his disposal from his own resources, and had founded +the great college at Oxford, which is now called Christchurch.[501] +Desiring his magnificent institution to be as perfect as art could make it, +he had sought his professors in Rome, in the Italian universities, wherever +genius or ability could be found; and he had introduced into the foundation +several students from Cambridge, who had been reported to him as being of +unusual promise. Frith, of whom we have heard, was one of these. Of the +rest, John Clark, Sumner, and Taverner are the most noticeable. At the time +at which they were invited to Oxford, they were tainted, or some of them +were tainted, in the eyes of the Cambridge authorities, with suspicion of +heterodoxy;[502] and it is creditable to Wolsey's liberality, that he set +aside these unsubstantiated rumours, not allowing them to weigh against +ability, industry, and character. The church authorities thought only of +crushing what opposed them, especially of crushing talent, because talent +was dangerous. Wolsey's noble anxiety was to court talent, and if possible +to win it. + +The young Cambridge students, however, ill repaid his confidence (so, at +least, it must have appeared to him), and introduced into Oxford the rising +epidemic. Clark, as was at last discovered, was in the habit of reading St. +Paul's Epistles to young men in his rooms; and a gradually increasing +circle of undergraduates, of three or four years' standing,[503] from +various colleges, formed themselves into a spiritual freemasonry, some of +them passionately insisting on being admitted to the lectures, in spite of +warnings from Clark himself, whose wiser foresight knew the risk which they +were running, and shrank from allowing weak giddy spirits to thrust +themselves into so fearful peril.[504] + +This little party had been in the habit of meeting for about six +months,[505] when at Easter, 1527, Thomas Garret, a fellow of +Magdalen,[506] who had gone out of residence, and was curate at All Hallows +church, in London, re-appeared in Oxford. Garret was a secret member of the +London Society, and had come down at Clark's instigation, to feel his way +in the university. So excellent a beginning had already been made, that he +had only to improve upon it. He sought out all such young men as were given +to Greek, Hebrew, and the polite Latin;[507] and in this visit met with so +much encouragement, that the Christmas following he returned again, this +time bringing with him treasures of forbidden books, imported by "the +Christian Brothers;" New Testaments, tracts and volumes of German divinity, +which he sold privately among the initiated. + +He lay concealed, with his store, at "the house of one Radley,"[508] the +position of which cannot now be identified; and there he remained for +several weeks, unsuspected by the university authorities, till orders were +sent by Wolsey to the Dean of Christchurch, for his arrest. Precise +information was furnished at the same time respecting himself, his mission +in Oxford, and his place of concealment.[509] + +The proctors were put upon the scent, and directed to take him; but one of +them, Arthur Cole, of Magdalen, by name, not from any sympathy with +Garret's objects, as the sequel proved, but probably from old acquaintance, +for they were fellows at the same college, gave him information of his +danger, and warned him to escape. + +His young friends, more alarmed for their companion than for themselves, +held a meeting instantly to decide what should be done; and at this meeting +was Anthony Dalaber, an undergraduate of Alban Hall, and one of Clark's +pupils, who will now tell the story of what followed. + +"The Christmas before that time, I, Anthony Dalaber, the scholar of Alban +Hall, who had books of Master Garret, had been in my country, at +Dorsetshire, at Stalbridge, where I had a brother, parson of this parish, +who was very desirous to have a curate out of Oxford, and willed me in any +wise to get him one there, if I could. This just occasion offered, it was +thought good among the brethren (for so we did not only call one another, +but were indeed one to another), that Master Garret, changing his name, +should be sent forth with my letters into Dorsetshire, to my brother, to +serve him there for a time, until he might secretly convey himself from +thence some whither over the sea. According hereunto I wrote my letters in +all haste possible unto my brother, for Master Garret to be his curate; but +not declaring what he was indeed, for my brother was a rank papist, and +afterwards was the most mortal enemy that ever I had, for the Gospel's +sake. + +"So on Wednesday (Feb. 18), in the morning before Shrovetide, Master Garret +departed out of Oxford towards Dorsetshire, with my letter, for his new +service." + +The most important person being thus, as was supposed, safe from immediate +danger, Dalaber was at leisure to think a little about himself; and +supposing, naturally, that the matter would not end there, and that some +change of residence might be of advantage for his own security, he moved +off from Alban Hall (as undergraduates it seems were then at liberty to do) +to Gloucester College,[510] under pretence that he desired to study civil +law, for which no facilities existed at the hall. This little matter was +affected on the Thursday; and all Friday and Saturday morning he "was so +much busied in setting his poor stuff in order, his bed, his books, and +such things else as he had," that he had no leisure to go forth anywhere +those two days, Friday and Saturday. + +"Having set up my things handsomely," he continues, "the same day, before +noon, I determined to spend that whole afternoon, until evensong time, at +Frideswide College,[511] at my book in mine own study; and so shut my +chamber door unto me, and my study door also, and took into my head to read +Francis Lambert upon the Gospel of St. Luke, which book only I had then +within there. All my other books written on the Scriptures, of which I had +great numbers, I had left in my chamber at Alban's Hall, where I had made a +very secret place to keep them safe in, because it was so dangerous to have +any such books. And so, as I was diligently reading in the same book of +Lambert upon Luke, suddenly one knocked at my chamber door very hard, which +made me astonished, and yet I sat still and would not speak; then he +knocked again more hard, and yet I held my peace; and straightway he +knocked again yet more fiercely; and then I thought this: peradventure it +is somebody that hath need of me; and therefore I thought myself bound to +do as I would be done unto; and so, laying my book aside, I came to the +door and opened it, and there was Master Garret, as a man amazed, whom I +thought to have been with my brother, and one with him." + +Garret had set out on his expedition into Dorsetshire, but had been +frightened, and had stolen back into Oxford on the Friday, to his old +hiding place, where, in the middle of the night, the proctors had taken +him. He had been carried to Lincoln, and shut up in a room in the rector's +house, where he had been left all day. In the afternoon the rector went to +chapel, no one was stirring about the college, and he had taken advantage +of the opportunity to slip the bolt of the door and escape. He had a friend +at Gloucester College, "a monk who had bought books of him;" and Gloucester +lying on the outskirts of the town, he had hurried down there as the +readiest place of shelter. The monk was out; and as no time was to be lost, +Garret asked the servant on the staircase to show him Dalaber's rooms. + +As soon as the door was opened, "he said he was undone, for he was taken." +"Thus he spake unadvisedly in the presence of the young man, who at once +slipped down the stairs," it was to be feared, on no good errand. "Then I +said to him," Dalaber goes on, "alas, Master Garret, by this your +uncircumspect coming here and speaking so before the young man, you have +disclosed yourself and utterly undone me. I asked him why he was not in +Dorsetshire. He said he had gone a day's journey and a half; but he was so +fearful, his heart would none other but that he must needs return again +unto Oxford. With deep sighs and plenty of tears, he prayed me to help to +convey him away; and so he cast off his hood and gown wherein he came to +me, and desired me to give him a coat with sleeves, if I had any; and he +told me that he would go into Wales, and thence convey himself, if he +might, into Germany. Then I put on him a sleeved coat of mine. He would +also have had another manner of cap of me, but I had none but priestlike, +such as his own was. + +"Then kneeled we both down together upon our knees, and lifting up our +hearts and hands to God our heavenly Father, desired him, with plenty of +tears, so to conduct and prosper him in his journey, that he might well +escape the danger of all his enemies, to the glory of His Holy Name, if His +good pleasure and will so were. And then we embraced and kissed the one the +other, the tears so abundantly flowing out from both our eyes, that we all +bewet both our faces, and scarcely for sorrow could we speak one to +another. And so he departed from me, apparelled in my coat, being committed +unto the tuition of our Almighty and merciful Father. + +"When he was gone down the stairs from my chamber, I straightways did shut +my chamber door, and went into my study; and taking the New Testament in my +hands, kneeled down on my knees, and with many a deep sigh and salt tear, I +did, with much deliberation, read over the tenth chapter of St. Matthew's +Gospel,[512] praying that God would endue his tender and lately-born little +flock in Oxford with heavenly strength by his Holy Spirit; that quietly to +their own salvation, with all godly patience, they might bear Christ's +heavy cross, which I now saw was presently to be laid on their young and +weak backs, unable to bear so huge a burden without the greater help of his +Holy Spirit. + +"This done, I laid aside my book safe, folded up Master Garret's gown and +hood, and so, having put on my short gown, and shut my doors, I went +towards Frideswide (Christchurch), to speak with that worthy martyr of God, +Master Clark. But of purpose I went by St. Mary's church, to go first unto +Corpus Christi College, to speak with Diet and Udal, my faithful brethren +and fellows in the Lord. By chance I met by the way a brother of ours, one +Master Eden, fellow of Magdalen, who, as soon as he saw me, said, we were +all undone, for Master Garret was returned, and was in prison. I said it +was not so; he said it was. I heard, quoth he, our Proctor, Master Cole, +say and declare the same this day. Then I told him what was done; and so +made haste to Frideswide, to find Master Clark, for I thought that he and +others would be in great sorrow. + +"Evensong was begun; the dean and the canons were there in their grey +amices; they were almost at Magnificat before I came thither. I stood in +the choir door and heard Master Taverner play, and others of the chapel +there sing, with and among whom I myself was wont to sing also; but now my +singing and music were turned into sighing and musing. As I there stood, in +cometh Dr. Cottisford,[513] the commissary, as fast as ever he could go, +bareheaded, as pale as ashes (I knew his grief well enough); and to the +dean he goeth into the choir, were he was sitting in his stall, and talked +with him, very sorrowfully: what, I know not; but whereof I might and did +truly guess. I went aside from the choir door to see and hear more. The +commissary and dean came out of the choir, wonderfully troubled as it +seemed. About the middle of the church, met them Dr. London,[514] puffing, +blustering, and blowing like a hungry and greedy lion seeking his prey. +They talked together awhile; but the commissary was much blamed by them, +insomuch that he wept for sorrow. + +"The doctors departed, and sent abroad their servants and spies everywhere. +Master Clark, about the middle of the compline,[515] came forth of the +choir. I followed him to his chamber, and declared what had happened that +afternoon of Master Garret's escape. Then he sent for one Master Sumner and +Master Bets, fellows and canons there. In the meantime he gave me a very +godly exhortation, praying God to give us all the wisdom of the serpent and +the harmlessness of doves, for we should shortly have much need thereof. +When Master Sumner and Master Bets came, he caused me to declare again the +whole matter to them two. Then desiring them to tell our other brethren in +that college, I went to Corpus Christi College, to comfort our brethren +there, where I found in Diet's chamber, looking for me, Fitzjames, Diet, +and Udal. They all knew the matter before by Master Eden, whom I had sent +unto Fitzjames. So I tarried there and supped with them, where they had +provided meat and drink for us before my coming; and when we had ended, +Fitzjames would needs have me to lie that night with him in my old lodging +at Alban's Hall. But small rest and little sleep took we both there that +night." + +The next day, which was Sunday, Dalaber rose at five o'clock, and as soon +as he could leave the Hall, hastened off to his rooms at Gloucester. The +night had been wet and stormy, and his shoes and stockings were covered +with mud. The college gates, when he reached them, were still closed, an +unusual thing at that hour; and he walked up and down under the walls in +the bleak grey morning, till the clock struck seven, "much disquieted, his +head full of forecasting cares," but resolved, like a brave man, that come +what would, he would accuse no one, and declare nothing but what he saw was +already known. The gates were at last opened; he went to his rooms, and for +some time his key would not turn in the door, the lock having been meddled +with. At length he succeeded in entering, and found everything in +confusion, his bed tossed and tumbled, his study door open, and his clothes +strewed about the floor. A monk who occupied the opposite rooms, hearing +him return, came to him and said that the commissary and the two proctors +had been there looking for Garret. Bills and swords had been thrust through +the bed-straw, and every corner of the room searched for him. Finding +nothing, they had left orders that Dalaber, as soon as he returned, should +appear before the prior of the students. + +"This so troubled me," Dalaber says, "that I forgot to make clean my hose +and shoes, and to shift me into another gown; and all bedirted as I was, I +went to the said prior's chamber." The prior asked him where he had slept +that night. At Alban's Hall, he answered, with his old bedfellow, +Fitzjames. The prior said he did not believe him, and asked if Garret had +been at his rooms the day before. He replied that he had. Whither had he +gone, then? the prior inquired; and where was he at that time? "I +answered," says Dalaber, "that I knew not, unless he was gone to Woodstock; +he told me that he would go there, because one of the keepers had promised +him a piece of venison to make merry with at Shrovetide. This tale I +thought meetest, though it were nothing so."[516] + +At this moment the university beadle entered with two of the commissary's +servants, bringing a message to the prior that he should repair at once to +Lincoln, taking Dalaber with him. "I was brought into the chapel," the +latter continues, "and there I found Dr. Cottisford, commissary; Dr. +Higdon, Dean of Cardinal's College; and Dr. London, Warden of New College; +standing together at the altar. They called for chairs and sate down, and +then [ordered] me to come to them; they asked me what my name was, how long +I had been at the university, what I studied," with various other +inquiries: the clerk of the university, meanwhile, bringing pens, ink, and +paper, and arranging a table with a few loose boards upon tressels. A mass +book, he says, was then placed before him, and he was commanded to lay his +hand upon it, and swear that he would answer truly such questions as should +be asked him. At first he refused; but afterwards, being persuaded, "partly +by fair words, and partly by great threats," he promised to do as they +would have him; but in his heart he "meant nothing so to do." "So I laid my +hand on the book," he goes on, "and one of them gave me my oath, and +commanded me to kiss the book. They made great courtesy between them who +should examine me; at last, the rankest Pharisee of them all took upon him +to do it. + +"Then he asked me again, by my oath, where Master Garret was, and whither I +had conveyed him. I said I had not conveyed him, nor yet wist where he was, +nor whither he was gone, except he were gone to Woodstock, as I had before +said. Surely, they said, I brought him some whither this morning, for they +might well perceive by my foul shoes and dirty hosen that I had travelled +with him the most part of the night. I answered plainly, that I lay at +Alban's Hall with Sir Fitzjames, and that I had good witness thereof. They +asked me where I was at evensong. I told them at Frideswide, and that I +saw, first, Master Commissary, and then Master Doctor London, come thither +to Master Dean. Doctor London and the Dean threatened me that if I would +not tell the truth I should surely be sent to the Tower of London, and +there be racked, and put into Little-ease.[517] + +"At last when they could get nothing out of me whereby to hurt or accuse +any man, or to know anything of that which they sought, they all three +together brought me up a long stairs, into a great chamber, over Master +Commissary's chamber, wherein stood a great pair of very high stocks. Then +Master Commissary asked me for my purse and girdle, and took away my money +and my knives; and then they put my legs into the stocks, and so locked me +fast in them, in which I sate, my feet being almost as high as my head; and +so they departed, locking fast the door, and leaving me alone. + +"When they were all gone, then came into my remembrance the worthy +forewarning and godly declaration of that most constant martyr of God, +Master John Clark, who, well nigh two years before that, when I did +earnestly desire him to grant me to be his scholar, said unto me after this +sort: 'Dalaber, you desire you wot not what, and that which you are, I +fear, unable to take upon you; for though now my preaching be sweet and +pleasant to you, because there is no persecution laid on you for it, yet +the time will come, and that, peradventure, shortly, if ye continue to live +godly therein, that God will lay on you the cross of persecution, to try +you whether you can as pure gold abide the fire. You shall be called and +judged a heretic; you shall be abhorred of the world; your own friends and +kinsfolk will forsake you, and also hate you; you shall be cast into +prison, and none shall dare to help you; you shall be accused before +bishops, to your reproach and shame, to the great sorrow of all your +friends and kinsfolk. Then will ye wish ye had never known this doctrine; +then will ye curse Clark, and wish that ye had never known him because he +hath brought you to all these troubles.' + +"At which words, I was so grieved that I fell down on my knees at his feet, +and with tears and sighs besought him that, for the tender mercy of God, he +would not refuse me; saying that I trusted, verily, that he which had begun +this in me would not forsake me, but would give me grace to continue +therein to the end. When he heard me say so, he came to me, took me in his +arms and kissed me, the tears trickling from his eyes; and said unto me: +'The Lord God Almighty grant you so to do; and from henceforth for ever, +take me for your father, and I will take you for my son in Christ.'" + +In these meditations the long Sunday morning wore away. A little before +noon the commissary came again to see if his prisoner was more amenable; +finding him, however, still obstinate, he offered him some dinner--a +promise which we will hope he fulfilled, for here Dalaber's own narrative +abruptly forsakes us,[518] leaving uncompleted, at this point, the most +vivid picture which remains to us of a fraction of English life in the +reign of Henry VIII. If the curtain fell finally on the little group of +students, this narrative alone would furnish us with rare insight into the +circumstances under which the Protestants fought their way. The story, +however, can be carried something further, and the strangest incident +connected with it remains to be told. + +Dalaber breaks off on Sunday at noon. The same day, or early the following +morning, he was submitted once more to examination: this time, for the +discovery of his own offences, and to induce him to give up his +confederates. With respect to the latter he proved "marvellous obstinate." +"All that was gotten of him was with much difficulty;" nor would he confess +to any names as connected with heresy or heretics except that of Clark, +which was already known. About himself he was more open. He wrote his "book +of heresy," that is, his confession of faith, "with his own hand"--his +evening's occupation, perhaps, in the stocks in the rector of Lincoln's +house; and the next day he was transferred to prison.[519] + +This offender being thus disposed of, and strict secrecy being observed to +prevent the spread of alarm, a rapid search was set on foot for books in +all suspected quarters. The fear of the authorities was that "the infect +persons would flee," and "convey" their poison "away with them."[520] The +officials, once on the scent of heresy, were skilful in running down the +game. No time was lost, and by Monday evening many of "the brethren" had +been arrested, their rooms examined, and their forbidden treasures +discovered and rifled. Dalaber's store was found "hid with marvellous +secresy;" and in one student's desk a duplicate of Garret's list--the +titles of the volumes with which the first "Religious Tract Society" set +themselves to convert England. + +Information of all this was conveyed in haste by Dr. London to the Bishop +of Lincoln, as the ordinary of the university; and the warden told his +story with much self-congratulation. On one point, however, the news which +he had to communicate was less satisfactory. Garret himself was +gone--utterly gone. Dalaber was obstinate, and no clue to the track of the +fugitive could be discovered. The police were at fault; neither bribes nor +threats could elicit anything; and in these desperate circumstances, as he +told the bishop, the three heads of houses conceived that they might strain +a point of propriety for so good a purpose as to prevent the escape of a +heretic. Accordingly, after a full report of the points of their success, +Doctor London went on to relate the following remarkable proceeding: + +"After Master Garret escaped, _the commissary being in extreme pensiveness, +knew no other remedy but this extraordinary, and caused a figure to be made +by one expert in astronomy--and his judjment doth continually persist upon +this, that he fled in a tawny coat south-eastward, and is in the middle of +London, and will shortly to the sea side_. He was curate unto the parson of +Honey Lane.[521] It is likely he is privily cloaked there. Wherefore, as +soon as I knew the judgment of this astronomer, I thought it expedient and +my duty with all speed to ascertain your good lordship of all the premises; +that in time your lordship may advertise my lord his Grace, and my lord of +London. It will be a gracious deed that he and all his pestiferous works, +which he carrieth about, might be taken, to the salvation of his soul, +opening of many privy heresies, and extinction of the same."[522] + +We might much desire to know what the bishop's sensations were in reading +this letter--to know whether it occurred to him that in this naive +acknowledgment, the Oxford heresy hunters were themselves confessing to an +act of heresy; and that by the law of the church, which they were so eager +to administer, they were liable to the same death which they were so +zealous to secure for the poor vendors of Testaments. So indeed they really +were. Consulting the stars had been ruled from immemorial time to be +dealing with the devil; the penalty of it was the same as for witchcraft; +yet here was a reverend warden of a college considering it his duty to +write eagerly of a discovery obtained by these forbidden means, to his own +diocesan, begging him to communicate with the Cardinal of York and the +Bishop of London, that three of the highest church authorities in England +might become _participes criminis_, by acting on this diabolical +information. + +Meanwhile, the commissary, not wholly relying on the astrologer, but +resolving prudently to make use of the more earthly resources which were at +his disposal, had sent information of Garret's escape to the corporations +of Dover, Rye, Winchester, Southampton, and Bristol, with descriptions of +the person of the fugitive; and this step was taken with so much +expedition, that before the end of the week no vessel was allowed to leave +either of those harbours without being strictly searched. + +The natural method proved more effectual than the supernatural, though +again with the assistance of a singular accident. Garret had not gone to +London; unfortunately for himself, he had not gone to Wales as he had +intended. He left Oxford, as we saw, the evening of Saturday, February +21st. That night he reached a village called Corkthrop,[523] where he lay +concealed till Wednesday; and then, not in the astrologer's orange-tawny +dress, but in "a courtier's coat and buttoned cap," which he had by some +means contrived to procure, he set out again on his forlorn journey, making +for the nearest sea-port, Bristol, where the police were looking out to +receive him. His choice of Bristol was peculiarly unlucky. The "chapman" of +the town was the step-father of Cole, the Oxford proctor: to this person, +whose name was Master Wilkyns, the proctor had written a special letter, in +addition to the commissary's circular; and the family connection acting as +a spur to his natural activity, a coast guard had been set before Garret's +arrival, to watch for him down the Avon banks, and along the Channel shore +for fifteen miles. All the Friday night "the mayor, with the aldermen, and +twenty of the council, had kept privy watch," and searched suspicious +houses at Master Wilkyns's instance; the whole population were on the +alert, and when the next afternoon, a week after his escape, the poor +heretic, footsore and weary, dragged himself into the town, he found that +he had walked into the lion's mouth.[524] He quickly learnt this danger to +which he was exposed, and hurried off again with the best speed which he +could command; but it was too late. The chapman, alert and indefatigable, +had heard that a stranger had been seen in the street; the police were set +upon his track, and he was taken at Bedminster, a suburb on the opposite +bank of the Avon, and hurried before a magistrate, where he at once +acknowledged his identity. + +With such happy success were the good chapman's efforts rewarded. Yet in +this world there is no light without shadow; no pleasure without its alloy. +In imagination, Master Wilkyns had thought of himself conducting the +prisoner in triumph into the streets of Oxford, the hero of the hour. The +sour formality of the law condemned him to ill-merited disappointment. +Garret had been taken beyond the liberties of the city; it was necessary, +therefore, to commit him to the county gaol, and he was sent to Ilchester. +"Master Wilkyns offered himself to be bound to the said justice in three +hundred pounds to discharge him of the said Garret, and to see him surely +to Master Proctor's of Oxford; yet could he not have him, for the justice +said that the order of the law would not so serve."[525] The fortunate +captor had therefore to content himself with the consciousness of his +exploit, and the favourable report of his conduct which was sent to the +bishops; and Garret went first to Ilchester, and thence was taken by +special writ, and surrendered to Wolsey. + +Thus unkind had fortune shown herself to the chief criminal, guilty of the +unpardonable offence of selling Testaments at Oxford, and therefore hunted +down as a mad dog, and a common enemy of mankind. He escaped for the +present the heaviest consequences, for Wolsey persuaded him to abjure. A +few years later we shall again meet him, when he had recovered his better +nature, and would not abjure, and died as a brave man should die. In the +meantime we return to the university, where the authorities were busy +trampling out the remains of the conflagration. + +Two days after his letter respecting the astrologer, the Warden of New +College wrote again to the Diocesan, with an account of his further +proceedings. He was an efficient inquisitor, and the secrets of the poor +undergraduates had been unravelled to the last thread. Some of "the +brethren" had confessed; all were in prison; and the doctor desired +instructions as to what should be done with them. It must be said for Dr. +London, that he was anxious that they should be treated leniently. Dalaber +described him as a roaring lion, and he was a bad man, and came at last to +a bad end. But it is pleasant to find that even he, a mere blustering +arrogant official, was not wholly without redeeming points of character; +and as little good will be said for him hereafter, the following passage in +his second letter may be placed to the credit side of his account. The tone +in which he wrote was at least humane, and must pass for more than an +expression of natural kindness, when it is remembered that he was +addressing a person with whom tenderness for heresy was a crime. + +"These youths," he said, "have not been long conversant with Master Garret, +nor have greatly perused his mischievous books; and long before Master +Garret was taken, divers of them were weary of these works, and delivered +them to Dalaber. I am marvellous sorry for the young men. If they be openly +called upon, although they appear not greatly infect, yet they shall never +avoid slander, because my Lord's Grace did send for Master Garret to be +taken. I suppose his Grace will know of your good lordship everything. +Nothing shall be hid, I assure your good lordship, an every one of them +were my brother; and I do only make this moan for these youths, for surely +they be of the most towardly young men in Oxford; and as far as I do yet +perceive, not greatly infect, but much to blame for reading any part of +these works."[526] + +Doctor London's intercession, if timid, was generous; he obviously wished +to suggest that the matter should be hushed up, and that the offending +parties should be dismissed with a reprimand. If the decision had rested +with Wolsey, it is likely that this view would have been readily acted +upon. But the Bishop of Lincoln was a person in whom the spirit of humanity +had been long exorcised by the spirit of an ecclesiastic. He was staggering +along the last years of a life against which his own register[527] bears +dreadful witness, and he would not burden his conscience with mercy to +heretics. He would not mar the completeness of his barbarous career. He +singled out three of the prisoners--Garret, Clark, and Ferrars[528]--and +especially entreated that they should be punished. "They be three perilous +men," he wrote to Wolsey, "and have been the occasion of the corruption of +youth. They have done much mischief, and for the love of God let them be +handled thereafter."[529] + +Wolsey had Garret in his own keeping, and declined to surrender him. +Ferrars had been taken at the Black Friars, in London,[530] and making his +submission, was respited and escaped with abjuration. But Clark was at +Oxford, in the bishop's power, and the wicked old man was allowed to work +his will upon him. A bill of heresy was drawn, which the prisoner was +required to sign. He refused, and must have been sent to the stake, had he +not escaped by dying prematurely of the treatment which he had received in +prison.[531] His last words only are recorded. He was refused the +communion, not perhaps as a special act of cruelty, but because the laws of +the church would not allow the holy thing to be profaned by the touch of a +heretic. When he was told that it would not be suffered, he said "_crede et +manducasti_"--"faith is the communion;" and so passed away; a very noble +person, so far as the surviving features of his character will let us +judge; one who, if his manhood had fulfilled the promise of his youth, +would have taken no common part in the Reformation. + +The remaining brethren were then dispersed. Some were sent home to their +friends--others, Anthony Dalaber among them, were placed on their trial, +and being terrified at their position, recanted, and were sentenced to do +penance. Ferrars was brought to Oxford for the occasion, and we discern +indistinctly (for the mere fact is all which survives) a great fire at +Carfax; a crowd of spectators, and a procession of students marching up +High Street with fagots on their shoulders, the solemn beadles leading them +with gowns and maces. The ceremony was repeated to which Dr. Barnes had +been submitted at St. Paul's. They were taken three times round the fire, +throwing in each first their fagot, and then some one of the offending +books, in token that they repented and renounced their errors. + +Thus was Oxford purged of heresy. The state of innocence which Dr. London +pathetically lamented[532] was restored, and the heads of houses had peace +till their rest was broken by a ruder storm. + +In this single specimen we may see a complete image of Wolsey's +persecution, as with varying details it was carried out in every town and +village from the Tweed to the Land's End. I dwell on the stories of +individual suffering, not to colour the narrative, or to re-awaken feelings +of bitterness which may well rest now and sleep for ever; but because, +through the years in which it was struggling for recognition, the history +of Protestantism is the history of its martyrs. No rival theology, as I +have said, had as yet shaped itself into formulas. We have not to trace any +slow growing elaboration of opinion. Protestantism, before it became an +establishment, was a refusal to live any longer in a lie. It was a falling +back upon the undefined untheoretic rules of truth and piety which lay upon +the surface of the Bible, and a determination rather to die than to mock +with unreality any longer the Almighty Maker of the world. We do not look +in the dawning manifestations of such a spirit for subtleties of intellect. +Intellect, as it ever does, followed in the wake of the higher virtues of +manly honesty and truthfulness. And the evidences which were to effect the +world's conversion were so cunningly arranged syllogistic demonstrations, +but once more those loftier evidences which lay in the calm endurance by +heroic men of the extremities of suffering, and which touched--not the mind +with conviction, but the heart with admiring reverence. + +In the concluding years of his administration Wolsey was embarrassed with +the divorce. Difficulties were gathering round him, from the failure of his +hopes abroad and the wreck of his popularity at home; and the activity of +the persecution was something relaxed, as the guiding mind of the great +minister ceased to have leisure to attend to it. The bishops, however, +continued, each in his own diocese, to act with such vigour as they +possessed. Their courts were unceasingly occupied with vexatious suits, +commenced without reason, and conducted without justice. They summoned +arbitrarily as suspected offenders whoever had the misfortune to have +provoked their dislike; either compelling them to criminate themselves by +questions on the intricacies of theology,[533] or allowing sentence to be +passed against them on the evidence of abandoned persons, who would not +have been admissible as witnesses before the secular tribunals.[534] + +It might have been thought that the clear perception which was shown by the +House of Commons of the injustice with which the trials for heresy were +conducted, the disregard, shameless and flagrant, of the provisions of the +statutes under which the bishops were enabled to proceed, might have led +them to reconsider the equity of persecution in itself; or, at least, to +remove from the office of judges persons who had shown themselves so +signally unfit to exercise that office. It would have been indecent, +however, if not impossible, to transfer to a civil tribunal the cognisance +of opinion; and, on the other hand, there was as yet among the upper +classes of the laity no kind of disposition to be lenient towards those who +were really unorthodox. The desire so far was only to check the reckless +and random accusations of persons whose offence was to have criticised, not +the doctrine but the moral conduct, of the church authorities. The +Protestants, although from the date of the meeting of the parliament and +Wolsey's fall their ultimate triumph was certain, gained nothing in its +immediate consequences. They suffered rather from the eagerness of the +political reformers to clear themselves from complicity with heterodoxy; +and the bishops were even taunted with the spiritual dissensions of the +realm as an evidence of their indolence and misconduct.[535] Language of +this kind boded ill for the "Christian Brethren;" and the choice of +Wolsey's successor for the office of chancellor soon confirmed their +apprehensions; Wolsey had chastised them with whips; Sir Thomas More would +chastise them with scorpions; and the philosopher of the _Utopia_, the +friend of Erasmus, whose life was of blameless beauty, whose genius was +cultivated to the highest attainable perfection, was to prove to the world +that the spirit of persecution is no peculiar attribute of the pedant, the +bigot, of the fanatic, but may co-exist with the fairest graces of the +human character. The lives of remarkable men usually illustrate some +emphatic truth. Sir Thomas More may be said to have lived to illustrate the +necessary tendencies of Romanism in an honest mind convinced of its truth; +to show that the test of sincerity in a man who professes to regard +orthodoxy as an essential of salvation, is not the readiness to endure +persecution, but the courage which will venture to inflict it. + +The seals were delivered to the new chancellor in November, 1529. By his +oath on entering office he was bound to exert himself to the utmost for the +suppression of heretics:[536] he was bound, however, equally to obey the +conditions under which the law allowed them to be suppressed. Unfortunately +for his reputation as a judge, he permitted the hatred of "that kind of +men," which he did not conceal that he felt,[537] to obscure his conscience +on this important feature of his duty, and tempt him to imitate the worst +iniquities of the bishops. I do not intend in this place to relate the +stories of his cruelties in his house at Chelsea,[538] which he himself +partially denied, and which at least we may hope were exaggerated. Being +obliged to confine myself to specific instances, I choose rather those on +which the evidence is not open to question; and which prove against More, +not the zealous execution of a cruel law, for which we may not fairly hold +him responsible, but a disregard, in the highest degree censurable, of his +obligations as a judge. + +The acts under which heretics were liable to punishment, were the 15th of +the 2nd of Henry IV., and the 1st of the 2nd of Henry V. + +By the act of Henry IV., the bishops were bound to bring offenders to trial +in open court, within three months of their arrest, if there were no lawful +impediment. If conviction followed, they might imprison at their +discretion. Except under these conditions, they were not at liberty to +imprison. + +By the act of Henry V., a heretic, if he was first indicted before a +secular judge, was to be delivered within ten days (or if possible, a +shorter period) to the bishop, "to be acquit or convict" by a jury in the +spiritual court, and to be dealt with accordingly.[539] + +The secular judge might detain a heretic for ten days before delivering him +to the bishop. The bishop might detain him for three months before his +trial. Neither the secular judge nor the bishop had power to inflict +indefinite imprisonment at will while the trial was delayed; nor if on the +trial the bishop failed in securing a conviction, was he at liberty to +detain the accused person any longer on the same charge, because the result +was not satisfactory to himself. These provisions were not preposterously +lenient. Sir Thomas More should have found no difficulty in observing them +himself, and in securing the observance of them by the bishops, at least in +cases where he was himself responsible for the first committal. It is to be +feared that he forgot that he was a judge in his eagerness to be a +partisan, and permitted no punctilious legal scruples to interfere with the +more important object of ensuring punishment to heretics. + +The first case which I shall mention is one in which the Bishop of London +was principally guilty; not, however, without More's countenance, and, if +Foxe is to be believed, his efficient support. + +In December, 1529, the month succeeding his appointment as chancellor, +More, at the instance of the Bishop of London,[540] arrested a citizen of +London, Thomas Philips by name, on a charge of heresy. + +The prisoner was surrendered in due form to his diocesan, and was brought +to trial on the 4th of February; a series of articles being alleged against +him by Foxford, the bishop's vicar-general. The articles were of the usual +kind. The prisoner was accused of having used unorthodox expressions on +transubstantiation, on purgatory, pilgrimages, and confession. It does not +appear whether any witnesses were produced. The vicar-general brought his +accusations on the ground of general rumour, and failed to maintain them. +Whether there were witnesses or not, neither the particular offences, nor +even the fact of the general rumour, could be proved to the satisfaction of +the jury. Philips himself encountered each separate charge with a specific +denial, declaring that he neither was, nor ever had been, other than +orthodox; and the result of the trial was, that no conviction could be +obtained. The prisoner "was found so clear from all manner of infamous +slanders and suspicions, that all the people before the said bishop, +shouting in judgment as with one voice, openly witnessed his good name and +fame, to the great reproof and shame of the said bishop, if he had not been +ashamed to be ashamed."[541] The case had broken down; the proceedings were +over, and by law the accused person was free. But the law, except when it +was on their own side, was of little importance to the church authorities. +As they had failed to prove Philips guilty of heresy, they called upon him +to confess his guilt by abjuring it; "as if," he says, "there were no +difference between a nocent and an innocent, between a guilty and a not +guilty."[542] + +He refused resolutely, and was remanded to prison, in open violation of the +law. The bishop, in conjunction with Sir Thomas More,[543] sent for him +from time to time, submitting him to private examinations, which again were +illegal; and urged the required confession, in order, as Philips says, "to +save the bishop's credit." + +The further they advanced, the more difficult it was to recede; and the +bishop at length, irritated at his failure, concluded the process with an +arbitrary sentence of excommunication. From this sentence, whether just or +unjust, there was then no appeal, except to the pope. The wretched man, in +virtue of it, was no longer under the protection of the law, and was +committed to the Tower, where he languished for three years, protesting, +but protesting fruitlessly, against the tyranny which had crushed him, and +clamouring for justice in the deaf ears of pedants who knew not what +justice meant. + +If this had occurred at the beginning of the century, the prisoner would +have been left to die, as countless multitudes had already died, unheard, +uncared for, unthought of; the victim not of deliberate cruelty, but of +that frightfullest portent, folly armed with power. Happily the years of +his imprisonment had been years of swift revolution. The House of Commons +had become a tribunal where oppression would not any longer cry wholly +unheard; Philips appealed to it for protection, and recovered his +liberty.[544] + +The weight of guilt in this instance presses essentially on Stokesley; yet +a portion of the blame must be borne also by the chancellor, who first +placed Philips in Stokesley's hands; who took part in the illegal private +examinations, and who could not have been ignorant of the prisoner's +ultimate fate. If, however, it be thought unjust to charge a good man's +memory with an offence in which his part was only secondary, the following +iniquity was wholly and exclusively his own. I relate the story without +comment in the address of the injured person to More's successor.[545] + +"_To the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor of England. (Sir T. Audeley) and +other of the King's Council._ + +"In most humble wise showeth unto your goodness your poor bedeman John +Field, how that the next morrow upon twelfth day,[546] in the twenty-first +year of our sovereign lord the King's Highness, Sir Thomas More, Knight, +then being Lord Chancellor of England, did send certain of his servants, +and caused your said bedeman, with certain others, to be brought to his +place at Chelsea, and there kept him (after what manner and fashion it were +now long to tell), by the space of eighteen days;[547] and then set him at +liberty, binding him to appear before him again the eighth day following in +the Star Chamber, which was Candlemas eve; at which day your said bedeman +appeared, and was then sent to the Fleet, where he continued until Palm +Sunday two years after [in violation of both the statutes], kept so close +the first quarter that his keeper only might visit him; and always after +closed up with those that were handled most straitly; often searched, +sometimes even at midnight; besides snares and traps laid to take him in. +Betwixt Michaelmas and Allhalloween tide next after his coming to prison +there was taken from your bedeman a Greek vocabulary, price five shillings; +Saint Cyprian's works, with a book of the same Sir Thomas More's making, +named the _Supplication of Souls_. For what cause it was done he committeth +to the judgment of God, that seeth the souls of all persons. The said Palm +Sunday, which was also our Lady's day, towards night there came two +officers of the Fleet, named George Porter and John Butler, and took your +bedeman into a ward alone, and there, after long searching, found his purse +hanging at his girdle; which they took, and shook out the money to the sum +of ten shillings, which was sent him to buy such necessaries as he lacked, +and delivered him again his purse, well and truly keeping the money to +themselves, as they said for their fees; and forthwith carried him from the +Fleet (where he lost such poor bedding as he then had, and could never +since get it), and delivered him to the Marshalsea, under our gracious +sovereign's commandment and Sir Thomas More's. When the Sunday before the +Rogation week following, your bedeman fell sick; and the Whitsun Monday was +carried out on four men's backs, and delivered to his friends to be +recovered if it so pleased God. At which time the keeper took for your +bedeman's fees other ten shillings, when four shillings should have +sufficed if he had been delivered in good health. + +"Within three weeks it pleased God to set your bedeman on his feet, so that +he might walk abroad. Whereof when Sir Thomas More heard (who went out of +his chancellorship about the time your bedeman was carried out of prison), +although he had neither word nor deed which he could ever truly lay to your +bedeman's charge, yet made he such means by the Bishops of Winchester and +London, as your bedeman heard say, to the Hon. Lord Thomas Duke of Norfolk, +that he gave new commandment to the keeper of the Marshalsea to attach +again your said bedeman; which thing was speedily done the Sunday three +weeks after his deliverance. And so he continued in prison again until +Saint Lawrence tide following; at which time money was given to the keeper, +and some things he took which were not given, and then was your bedeman +re-delivered through the king's goodness, under sureties bound in a certain +sum, that he should appear the first day of the next term following, and +then day by day until his dismission. And so hath your bedeman been at +liberty now twelve months waiting daily from term to term, and nothing laid +to his charge as before. + +"Wherefore, the premises tenderly considered, and also your said bedeman's +great poverty, he most humbly beseecheth your goodness that he may now be +clearly discharged; and if books, money, or other things seem to be taken +or kept from him otherwise than justice would, eftsoons he beseecheth you +that ye will command it to be restored. + +"As for his long imprisonment, with other griefs thereto appertaining, he +looketh not to have recompense of man; but committeth his whole cause to +God, to whom your bedeman shall daily pray, according as he is bound, that +ye may so order and govern the realm that it may be to the honour of God +and your heavenly and everlasting reward." + +I do not find the result of this petition, but as it appeared that Henry +had interested himself in the story, it is likely to have been successful. +We can form but an imperfect judgment on the merits of the case, for we +have only the sufferer's _ex parte_ complaint, and More might probably have +been able to make some counter-statement. But the illegal imprisonment +cannot be explained away, and cannot be palliated; and when a judge permits +himself to commit an act of arbitrary tyranny, we argue from the known to +the unknown, and refuse reasonably to give him credit for equity where he +was so little careful of law. + +Yet a few years of misery in a prison was but an insignificant misfortune +when compared with the fate under which so many other poor men were at this +time overwhelmed. Under Wolsey's chancellorship the stake had been +comparatively idle; he possessed a remarkable power of making recantation +easy; and there is, I believe, no instance in which an accused heretic was +brought under his immediate cognisance, where he failed to arrange some +terms by which submission was made possible. With Wolsey heresy was an +error--with More it was a crime. Soon after the seals changed hands the +Smithfield fires recommenced; and, the chancellor acting in concert with +them, the bishops resolved to obliterate, in these edifying spectacles, the +recollection of their general infirmities. The crime of the offenders +varied--sometimes it was a denial of the corporal presence, more often it +was a reflection too loud to be endured on the character and habits of the +clergy; but whatever it was, the alternative lay only between abjuration +humiliating as ingenuity could make it, or a dreadful death. The hearts of +many failed them in the trial, and of all the confessors those perhaps do +not deserve the least compassion whose weakness betrayed them, who sank and +died broken-hearted. Of these silent sufferers history knows nothing. A +few, unable to endure the misery of having, as they supposed, denied their +Saviour, returned to the danger from which they had fled, and washed out +their fall in martyrdom. Latimer has told us the story of his friend +Bilney--little Bilney, or Saint Bilney,[548] as he calls him, his companion +at Cambridge, to whom he owed his own conversion. Bilney, after escaping +through Wolsey's hands in 1527, was again cited in 1529 before the Bishop +of London. Three times he refused to recant. He was offered a fourth and +last chance. The temptation was too strong, and he fell. For two years he +was hopelessly miserable; at length his braver nature prevailed. There was +no pardon for a relapsed heretic, and if he was again in the bishop's hands +he knew well the fate which awaited him. + +He told his friends, in language touchingly significant, that "he would go +up to Jerusalem;" and began to preach in the fields. The journey which he +had undertaken was not to be a long one. He was heard to say In a sermon, +that of his personal knowledge certain things which had been offered in +pilgrimage had been given to abandoned women. The priests, he affirmed, +"take away the offerings, and hang them about their women's necks; and +after that they take them off the women, if they please them not, and hang +them again upon the images."[549] This was Bilney's heresy, or formed the +ground of his arrest; he was orthodox on the mass, and also on the power of +the keys; but the secrets of the sacred order were not to be betrayed with +impunity. He was seized, and hurried before the Bishop of Norwich; and +being found heterodox on the papacy and the mediation of the saints by the +Bishop of Norwich he was sent to the stake. + +Another instance of recovered courage, and of martyrdom consequent upon it, +is that of James Bainham, a barrister of the Middle Temple. This story is +noticeable from a very curious circumstance connected with it. + +Bainham had challenged suspicion by marrying the widow of Simon Fish, the +author of the famous _Beggars' Petition_, who had died in 1528; and, soon +after his marriage, was challenged to give an account of his faith. He was +charged with denying transubstantiation, with questioning the value of the +confessional, and the power of the keys; and the absence of authoritative +Protestant dogma had left his mind free to expand to a yet larger belief. +He had ventured to assert, that "if a Turk, a Jew, or a Saracen do trust in +God and keep his law, he is a good Christian man,"[550]--a conception of +Christianity, a conception of Protestantism, which we but feebly dare to +whisper even at the present day. The proceedings against him commenced with +a demand that he should give up his books, and also the names of other +barristers with whom he was suspected to have held intercourse. He refused; +and in consequence his wife was imprisoned, and he himself was racked in +the Tower by order of Sir Thomas More. Enfeebled by suffering, he was then +brought before Stokesley, and terrified by the cold merciless eyes of his +judge, he gave way, not about his friends, but about himself: he abjured, +and was dismissed heartbroken. This was on the seventeenth of February. He +was only able to endure his wretchedness for a month. At the end of it, he +appeared at a secret meeting of the Christian Brothers, in "a warehouse in +Bow Lane," where he asked forgiveness of God and all the world for what he +had done; and then went out to take again upon his shoulders the heavy +burden of the cross. + +The following Sunday, at the church of St. Augustine, he rose in his seat +with the fatal English Testament in his hand, and "declared openly, before +all the people, with weeping tears, that he had denied God," praying them +all to forgive him, and beware of his weakness; "for if I should not return +to the truth," he said, "this Word of God would damn me, body and soul, at +the day of judgment." And then he prayed "everybody rather to die than to +do as he did, for he would not feel such a hell again as he did feel for +all the world's good."[551] + +Of course but one event was to be looked for; he knew it, and himself wrote +to the bishop, telling him what he had done. No mercy was possible: he +looked for none, and he found none. + +Yet perhaps he found what the wise authorities thought to be some act of +mercy. They could not grant him pardon in this world upon any terms; but +they would not kill him till they had made an effort for his soul. He was +taken to the Bishop of London's coal cellar at Fulham, the favourite +episcopal penance chamber, where he was ironed and put in the stocks; and +there was left for many days, in the chill March weather, to bethink +himself. This failing to work conviction, he was carried to Sir Thomas +More's house at Chelsea, where for two nights he was chained to a post and +whipped; thence, again, he was taken back to Fulham for another week of +torture; and finally to the Tower, for a further fortnight, again with +ineffectual whippings. + +The demands of charity were thus satisfied. The pious bishop and the +learned chancellor had exhausted their means of conversion; they had +discharged their consciences; and the law was allowed to take its course. +The prisoner was brought to trial on the 20th of April, as a relapsed +heretic. Sentence followed; and on the last of the month the drama closed +in the usual manner at Smithfield. Before the fire was lighted Bainham made +a farewell address to the people, laying his death expressly to More, whom +he called his accuser and his judge.[552] + +It is unfortunately impossible to learn the feelings with which these +dreadful scenes were witnessed by the people. There are stories which show +that, in some instances, familiarity had produced the usual effect; that +the martyrdom of saints was at times of no more moment to an English crowd +than the execution of ordinary felons--that it was a mere spectacle to the +idle, the hardened, and the curious. On the other hand, it is certain that +the behaviour of the sufferers was the argument which at last converted the +nation; and an effect which in the end was so powerful with the multitude, +must have been visible long before in the braver and better natures. The +increasing number of prosecutions in London shows, also, that the leaven +was spreading. There were five executions in Smithfield between 1529 and +1533, besides those in the provinces. The prisons were crowded with +offenders who had abjured and were undergoing sentence; and the list of +those who were "troubled" in various ways is so extensive, as to leave no +doubt of the sympathy which, in London at least, must have been felt by +many, very many, of the spectators of the martyrs' deaths. We are left, in +this important point, mainly to conjecture; and if we were better furnished +with evidence, the language of ordinary narrative would fail to convey any +real notion of perplexed and various emotions. We have glimpses, however, +into the inner world of men, here and there of strange interest; and we +must regret that they are so few. + +A poor boy at Cambridge, John Randall, of Christ's College, a relation of +Foxe the martyrologist, destroyed himself in these years in religious +desperation; he was found in his study hanging by his girdle, before an +open Bible, with his dead arm and finger stretched pitifully towards a +passage on predestination.[553] + +A story even more remarkable is connected with Bainham's execution. Among +the lay officials present at the stake, was "one Pavier," town clerk of +London. This Pavier was a Catholic fanatic, and as the flames were about to +be kindled he burst out into violent and abusive language. The fire blazed +up, and the dying sufferer, as the red flickering tongues licked the flesh +from off his bones, turned to him and said, "May God forgive thee, and shew +more mercy than thou, angry reviler, shewest to me." The scene was soon +over; the town clerk went home. A week after, one morning when his wife had +gone to mass, he sent all his servants out of his house on one pretext or +another, a single girl only being left, and he withdrew to a garret at the +top of the house, which he used as an oratory. A large crucifix was on the +wall, and the girl having some question to ask, went to the room, and found +him standing before it "bitterly weeping." He told her to take his sword, +which was rusty, and clean it. She went away, and left him; when she +returned, a little time after, he was hanging from a beam, dead. He was a +singular person. Edward Hall, the historian, knew him, and had heard him +say, that "if the king put forth the New Testament in English, he would not +live to bear it."[554] And yet he could not bear to see a heretic die. What +was it? Had the meaning of that awful figure hanging on the torturing cross +suddenly revealed itself? Had some inner voice asked him whether, in the +prayer for his persecutors with which Christ had parted out of life, there +might be some affinity with words which had lately sounded in his own ears? +God, into whose hands he threw himself, self-condemned in his wretchedness, +only knows the agony of that hour. Let the secret rest where it lies, and +let us be thankful for ourselves that we live in a changed world. + +Thus, however, the struggle went forward; a forlorn hope of saints led the +way up the breach, and paved with their bodies a broad road into the new +era; and the nation the meanwhile was unconsciously waiting till the works +of the enemy were won, and they could walk safely in and take possession. +While men like Bilney and Bainham were teaching with words and writings, +there were stout English hearts labouring also on the practical side of the +same conflict, instilling the same lessons, and meeting for themselves the +same consequences. Speculative superstition was to be met with speculative +denial. Practical idolatry required a rougher method of disenchantment. + +Every monastery, every parish church, had in those days its special relics, +its special images, its special something, to attract the interest of the +people. The reverence for the remains of noble and pious men, the dresses +which they had worn, or the bodies in which their spirits had lived, was in +itself a natural and pious emotion; but it had been petrified into a dogma; +and like every other imaginative feeling which is submitted to that bad +process, it had become a falsehood, a mere superstition, a substitute for +piety, not a stimulus to it, and a perpetual occasion of fraud. The people +brought offerings to the shrines where it was supposed that the relics were +of greatest potency. The clergy, to secure the offerings, invented the +relics, and invented the stories of the wonders which had been worked by +them. The greatest exposure of these things took place at the visitation of +the religious houses. In the meantime, Bishop Shaxton's unsavoury inventory +of what passed under the name of relics in the diocese of Salisbury, will +furnish an adequate notion of these objects of popular veneration. There +"be set forth and commended unto the ignorant people," he said, "as I +myself of certain which be already come to my hands, have perfect +knowledge, stinking boots, mucky combes, ragged rochettes, rotten girdles, +pyl'd purses, great bullocks' horns, locks of hair, and filthy rags, +gobbetts of wood, under the name of parcels of the holy cross, and such +pelfry beyond estimation."[555] Besides matters of this kind, there were +images of the Virgin or of the Saints; above all, roods or crucifixes, of +especial potency, the virtues of which had begun to grow uncertain, +however, to sceptical Protestants; and from doubt to denial, and from +denial to passionate hatred, there were but a few brief steps. The most +famous of the roods was that of Boxley in Kent, which used to smile and +bow, or frown and shake its head, as its worshippers were generous or +closehanded. The fortunes and misfortunes of this image I shall by and bye +have to relate. There was another, however, at Dovercourt, in Suffolk, of +scarcely inferior fame. This image was of such power that the door of the +church in which it stood was open at all hours to all comers, and no human +hand could close it. Dovercourt therefore became a place of great and +lucrative pilgrimage, much resorted to by the neighbours on all occasions +of difficulty. + +Now it happened that within the circuit of a few miles there lived four +young men, to whom the virtues of the rood had become greatly questionable. +If it could work miracles, it must be capable, so they thought, of +protecting its own substance; and they agreed to apply a practical test +which would determine the extent of its abilities. Accordingly (about the +time of Bainham's first imprisonment), Robert King of Dedham, Robert +Debenham of Eastbergholt, Nicholas Marsh of Dedham, and Robert Gardiner of +Dedham, "their consciences being burdened to see the honour of Almighty God +so blasphemed by such an idol," started off "on a wondrous goodly night" in +February, with hard frost and a clear full moon, ten miles across the +wolds, to the church. + +The door was open as the legend declared; but nothing daunted, they entered +bravely, and lifting down the "idol" from its shrine, with its coat and +shoes, and the store of tapers which were kept for the services, they +carried it on their shoulders for a quarter of a mile from the place where +it had stood, "without any resistance of the said idol." There setting it +on the ground, they struck a light, fastened the tapers to the body, and +with the help of them, sacrilegiously burnt the image down to a heap of +ashes; the old dry wood "blazing so brimly," that it lighted them a full +mile on their way home.[556] + +For this night's performance, which, if the devil is the father of lies, +was a stroke of honest work against him and his family, the world rewarded +these men after the usual fashion. One of them, Robert Gardiner, escaped +the search which was made, and disappeared till better times; the remaining +three were swinging in chains six months later on the scene of their +exploit. Their fate was perhaps inevitable. Men who dare to be the first in +great movements are ever self-immolated victims. But I suppose that it was +better for them to be bleaching on their gibbets, than crawling at the feet +of a wooden rood, and believing it to be God. + + * * * * * + +These were the first Paladins of the Reformation; the knights who slew the +dragons and the enchanters, and made the earth habitable for common flesh +and blood. They were rarely, as we have said, men of great ability, still +more rarely men of "wealth and station;" but men rather of clear senses and +honest hearts. Tyndal was a remarkable person, and so Clark and Frith +promised to become; but the two last were cut off before they had found +scope to show themselves; and Tyndal remaining abroad, lay outside the +battle which was being fought in England, doing noble work, indeed, and +ending as the rest ended, with earning a martyr's crown; but taking no part +in the actual struggle except with his pen. As yet but two men of the +highest order of power were on the side of Protestantism--Latimer and +Cromwell. Of them we have already said something; but the time was now fast +coming when they were to step forward, pressed by circumstances which could +no longer dispense with them, into scenes of far wider activity; and the +present seems a fitting occasion to give some closer account of their +history. When the breach with the pope was made irreparable, and the papal +party at home had assumed an attitude of suspended insurrection, the +fortunes of the Protestants entered into a new phase. The persecution +ceased; and those who but lately were carrying fagots in the streets, or +hiding for their lives, passed at once by a sudden alternation into the +sunshine of political favour. The summer was but a brief one, followed soon +by returning winter; but Cromwell and Latimer had together caught the +moment as it went by; and before it was over, a work had been done in +England which, when it was accomplished once, was accomplished for ever. +The conservative party recovered their power, and abused it as before; but +the chains of the nation were broken, and no craft of kings or priests or +statesmen could weld the magic links again. + +It is a pity that of two persons to whom England owes so deep a debt, we +can piece together such scanty biographies. I must attempt, however, to +give some outline of the little which is known. + +The father of Latimer was a solid English yeoman, of Thurcaston, in +Leicestershire. "He had no lands of his own," but he rented a farm "of four +pounds by the year," on which "he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men;" +"he had walk for a hundred sheep, and meadow ground for thirty cows."[557] +The world prospered with him; he was able to save money for his son's +education and his daughters' portions; but he was freehanded and +hospitable; he kept open house for his poor neighbours; and he was a good +citizen, too, for "he did find the king a harness with himself and his +horse," ready to do battle for his country, if occasion called. His family +were brought up "in godliness and the fear of the Lord;" and in all points +the old Latimer seems to have been a worthy, sound, upright man, of the +true English mettle. + +There were several children.[558] The Reformer was born about 1490, some +five years after the usurper Richard had been killed at Bosworth. Bosworth +being no great distance from Thurcaston, Latimer the father is likely to +have been present in the battle, on one side or the other--the right side +in those times it was no easy matter to choose--but he became a good +servant of the new government--and the little Hugh, when a boy of seven +years old, helped to buckle[559] on his armour for him, "when he went to +Blackheath field."[560] Being a soldier himself, the old gentleman was +careful to give his sons, whatever else he gave them, a sound soldier's +training. "He was diligent," says Latimer, "to teach me to shoot with the +bow: he taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in the bow--not to draw +with strength of arm, as other nations do, but with the strength of the +body. I had my bows bought me according to my age and strength; as I +increased in these, my bows were made bigger and bigger."[561] Under this +education, and in the wholesome atmosphere of the farmhouse, the boy +prospered well; and by and bye, showing signs of promise, he was sent to +school. When he was fourteen, the promises so far having been fulfilled, +his father transferred him to Cambridge.[562] + +He was soon known at the university as a sober, hard-working student. At +nineteen, he was elected fellow of Clare Hall; at twenty, he took his +degree, and became a student in divinity, when he accepted quietly, like a +sensible man, the doctrines which he had been brought up to believe. At the +time when Henry VIII. was writing against Luther, Latimer was fleshing his +maiden sword in an attack upon Melancthon;[563] and he remained, he said, +till he was thirty, "in darkness and the shadow of death." About this time +he became acquainted with Bilney, whom he calls "the instrument whereby God +called him to knowledge." In Bilney, doubtless, he found a sound +instructor; but a careful reader of his sermons will see traces of a +teaching for which he was indebted to no human master. His deepest +knowledge was that which stole upon him unconsciously through the +experience of life and the world. His words are like the clear impression +of a seal; the account and the result of observations, taken first hand, on +the condition of the English men and women of his time, in all ranks and +classes, from the palace to the prison. He shows large acquaintance with +books; with the Bible, most of all; with patristic divinity and school +divinity; and history, sacred and profane: but if this had been all, he +would not have been the Latimer of the Reformation, and the Church of +England would not, perhaps, have been here to-day. Like the physician, to +whom a year of practical experience in a hospital teaches more than a life +of closest study, Latimer learnt the mental disorders of his age in the age +itself; and the secret of that art no other man, however good, however +wise, could have taught him. He was not an echo, but a voice; and he drew +his thoughts fresh from the fountain--from the facts of the era in which +God had placed him. + +He became early famous as a preacher at Cambridge, from the first, "a +seditious fellow," as a noble lord called him in later life, highly +troublesome to unjust persons in authority. "None, except the stiff-necked +and uncircumcised, ever went away from his preaching, it was said, without +being affected with high detestation of sin, and moved to all godliness and +virtue."[564] And, in his audacious simplicity, he addressed himself always +to his individual hearers, giving his words a personal application, and +often addressing men by name. This habit brought him first into difficulty +in 1525. He was preaching before the university, when the Bishop of Ely +came into the church, being curious to hear him. He paused till the bishop +was seated; and when he recommenced, he changed his subject, and drew an +ideal picture of a prelate as a prelate ought to be; the features of which, +though he did not say so, were strikingly unlike those of his auditor. The +bishop complained to Wolsey, who sent for Latimer, and inquired what he had +said. Latimer repeated the substance of his sermon; and other conversation +then followed, which showed Wolsey very clearly the nature of the person +with whom he was speaking. No eye saw more rapidly than the cardinal's the +difference between a true man and an impostor; and he replied to the Bishop +of Ely's accusations by granting the offender a licence to preach in any +church in England. "If the Bishop of Ely cannot abide such doctrine as you +have here repeated," he said, "you shall preach it to his beard, let him +say what he will."[565] + +Thus fortified, Latimer pursued his way, careless of the university +authorities, and probably defiant of them. He was still orthodox in points +of theoretic belief. His mind was practical rather than speculative, and he +was slow in arriving at conclusions which had no immediate bearing upon +action. No charge could be fastened upon him, definitely criminal; and he +was too strong to be crushed by that compendious tyranny which treated as +an act of heresy the exposure of imposture or delinquency. + +On Wolsey's fall, however, he would have certainly been silenced: if he had +fallen into the hands of Sir Thomas More, he would have perhaps been +prematurely sacrificed. But, fortunately, he found a fresh protector in the +king. Henry heard of him, sent for him, and, with instinctive recognition +of his character, appointed him one of the royal chaplains. He now left +Cambridge and removed to Windsor, but only to treat his royal patron as +freely as he had treated the Cambridge doctors--not with any absence of +respect, for he was most respectful, but with that highest respect which +dares to speak unwelcome truth where the truth seems to be forgotten. He +was made chaplain in 1530--during the new persecution, for which Henry was +responsible by a more than tacit acquiescence. Latimer, with no authority +but his own conscience, and the strong certainty that he was on God's side, +threw himself between the spoilers and their prey, and wrote to the king, +protesting against the injustice which was crushing the truest men in his +dominions. The letter is too long to insert; the close of it may show how a +poor priest could dare to address the imperious Henry VIII.: + +"I pray to God that your Grace may take heed of the worldly wisdom which is +foolishness before God; that you may do that [which] God commandeth, and +not that [which] seemeth good in your own sight, without the word of God; +that your Grace may be found acceptable in his sight, and one of the +members of his church; and according to the office that he hath called your +Grace unto, you may be found a faithful minister of his gifts, and not a +defender of his faith: for he will not have it defended by man or man's +power, but by his word only, by the which he hath evermore defended it, and +that by a way far above man's power or reason. + +"Wherefore, gracious king, remember yourself; have pity upon your soul; and +think that the day is even at hand when you shall give account for your +office, and of the blood that hath been shed by your sword. In which day, +that your Grace may stand steadfastly, and not be ashamed, but be clear and +ready in your reckoning, and have (as they say), your _quietus est_ sealed +with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which only serveth at that day, is my +daily prayer to Him that suffered death for our sins, which also prayeth to +his Father for grace for us continually; to whom be all honour and praise +for ever. Amen. The Spirit of God preserve your Grace."[566] + +These words, which conclude an address of almost unexampled grandeur, are +unfortunately of no interest to us, except as illustrating the character of +the priest who wrote them, and the king to whom they were written. The hand +of the persecutor was not stayed. The rack and the lash and the stake +continued to claim their victims. So far it was labour in vain. But the +letter remains, to speak for ever for the courage of Latimer; and to speak +something, too, for a prince that could respect the nobleness of the poor +yeoman's son, who dared in such a cause to write to him as a man to a man. +To have written at all in such a strain was as brave a step as was ever +deliberately ventured. Like most brave acts, it did not go unrewarded; for +Henry remained ever after, however widely divided from him in opinion, his +unshaken friend. + +In 1531, the king gave him the living of West Kingston, in Wiltshire, where +for a time he now retired. Yet it was but a partial rest. He had a special +licence as a preacher from Cambridge, which continued to him (with the +king's express sanction)[567] the powers which he had received from Wolsey. +He might preach in any diocese to which he was invited; and the repose of a +country parish could not be long allowed in such stormy times to Latimer. +He had bad health, being troubled with headache, pleurisy, colic, stone; +his bodily constitution meeting feebly the demands which he was forced to +make upon it.[568] But he struggled on, travelling up and down to London, +to Kent, to Bristol, wherever opportunity called him; marked for +destruction by the bishops, if he was betrayed into an imprudent word, and +himself living in constant expectation of death.[569] + +At length the Bishop of London believed that Latimer was in his power. He +had preached at St. Abb's, in the city, "at the request of a company of +merchants,"[570] in the beginning of the winter of 1531; and soon after his +return to his living, he was informed that he was to be cited before +Stokesley. His friends in the neighbourhood wrote to him, evidently in +great alarm, and more anxious that he might clear himself, than expecting +that he would be able to do so;[571] he himself, indeed, had almost made up +his mind that the end was coming.[572] + +The citation was delayed for a few weeks. It was issued at last, on the +10th of January, 1531-2,[573] and was served by Sir Walter Hungerford, of +Farley.[574] The offences with which he was charged were certain "excesses +and irregularities" not specially defined; and the practice of the bishops +in such cases was not to confine the prosecution to the acts committed; but +to draw up a series of articles, on which it was presumed that the +orthodoxy of the accused person was open to suspicion, and to question him +separately upon each. Latimer was first examined by Stokesley; subsequently +at various times by the bishops collectively; and finally, when certain +formulas had been submitted to him, which he refused to sign, his case was +transferred to convocation. The convocation, as we know, were then in +difficulty with their premunire; they had consoled themselves in their +sorrow with burning the body of Tracy; and they would gladly have taken +further comfort by burning Latimer.[575] He was submitted to the closest +cross-questionings, in the hope that he would commit himself. They felt +that he was the most dangerous person to them in the kingdom, and they +laboured with unusual patience to ensure his conviction.[576] With a common +person they would have rapidly succeeded. But Latimer was in no haste to be +a martyr; he would be martyred patiently when the time was come for +martyrdom; but he felt that no one ought "to consent to die," as long as he +could honestly live;[577] and he baffled the episcopal inquisitors with +their own weapons. He has left a most curious account of one of his +interviews with them. + +"I was once in examination," he says,[578] "before five or six bishops, +where I had much turmoiling. Every week, thrice, I came to examination, and +many snares and traps were laid to get something. Now, God knoweth, I was +ignorant of the law; but that God gave me answer and wisdom what I should +speak. It was God indeed, for else I had never escaped them. At the last, I +was brought forth to be examined into a chamber hanged with arras, where I +was before wont to be examined, but now, at this time, the chamber was +somewhat altered: for whereas before there was wont ever to be a fire in +the chimney,[579] now the fire was taken away, and an arras hanging hanged +over the chimney; and the table stood near the chimney's end, so that I +stood between the table and the chimney's end. There was among these +bishops that examined me one with whom I had been very familiar, and took +him for my great friend, an aged man, and he sate next the table end. Then, +among all other questions, he put forth one, a very subtle and crafty one, +and such one indeed as I could not think so great danger in. And when I +would make answer, 'I pray you, Master Latimer,' said he, 'speak out; I am +very thick of hearing, and here be many that sit far off.' I marvelled at +this, that I was bidden to speak out, and began to misdeem, and gave an ear +to the chimney; and, sir, there I heard a pen walking in the chimney, +behind the cloth. They had appointed one there to write all mine answers; +for they made sure work that I should not start from them: there was no +starting from them: God was my good Lord, and gave me answer; I could never +else have escaped it. The question was this: 'Master Latimer, do you not +think, on your conscience, that you have been suspected of heresy?'--a +subtle question--a very subtle question. There was no holding of peace +would serve. To hold my peace had been to grant myself faulty. To answer +was every way full of danger. But God, which hath always given rile answer, +helped me, or else I could never have escaped it. _Ostendite mihi numisma_ +_census_. Shew me, said he, a penny of the tribute money. They laid snares +to destroy him, but he overturneth them in their own traps."[580] + +The bishops, however, were not men who were nice in their adherence to the +laws; and it would have gone ill with Latimer, notwithstanding his +dialectic ability. He was excommunicated and imprisoned, and would soon +have fallen into worse extremities; but at the last moment he appealed to +the king, and the king, who knew his value, would not allow him to be +sacrificed. He had refused to subscribe the articles proposed to him.[581] +Henry intimated to the convocation that it was not his pleasure that the +matter should be pressed further; they were to content themselves with a +general submission, which should be made to the archbishop, without +exacting more special acknowledgments. This was the reward to Latimer for +his noble letter. He was absolved, and returned to his parish, though +snatched as a brand out of the fire. + +Soon after, the tide turned, and the Reformation entered into a new phase. + +Such is a brief sketch of the life of Hugh Latimer, to the time when it +blended with the broad stream of English history. With respect to the other +very great man whom the exigencies of the state called to power +simultaneously with him, our information is far less satisfactory. Though +our knowledge of Latimer's early story comes to us in fragments only, yet +there are certain marks in it by which the outline can be determined with +certainty. A cloud rests over the youth and early manhood of Thomas +Cromwell, through which, only at intervals, we catch glimpses of authentic +facts; and these few fragments of reality seem rather to belong to a +romance than to the actual life of a man. + +Cromwell, the malleus monachorum, was of good English family, belonging to +the Cromwells of Lincolnshire. One of these, probably a younger brother, +moved up to London and conducted an ironfoundry, or other business of that +description, at Putney. He married a lady of respectable connections, of +whom we know only that she was sister of the wife of a gentleman in +Derbyshire, but whose name does not appear.[582] The old Cromwell dying +early, the widow was re-married to a cloth-merchant; and the child of the +first husband, who made himself so great a name in English story, met with +the reputed fortune of a stepson, and became a vagabond in the wide world. +The chart of his course wholly fails us. One day in later life he shook by +the hand an old bell-ringer at Sion House before a crowd of courtiers, and +told them that "this man's father had given him many a dinner in his +necessities." And a strange random account is given by Foxe of his having +joined a party in an expedition to Rome to obtain a renewal from the pope +of certain immunities and indulgences for the town of Boston; a story which +derives some kind of credibility from its connection with Lincolnshire, but +is full of incoherence and unlikelihood. Following still the popular +legend, we find him in the autumn of 1515 a ragged stripling at the door of +Frescobaldi's banking-house in Florence, begging for help. Frescobaldi had +an establishment in London,[583] with a large connection there; and seeing +an English face, and seemingly an honest one, he asked the boy who and what +he was. "I am, sir," quoth he, "of England, and my name is Thomas Cromwell; +my father is a poor man, and by occupation a cloth-shearer; I am strayed +from my country, and am now come into Italy with the camp of Frenchmen that +were overthrown at Garigliano, where I was page to a footman, carrying +after him his pike and burganet." Something in the boy's manner was said to +have attracted the banker's interest; he took him into his house, and after +keeping him there as long as he desired to stay, he gave him a horse and +sixteen ducats to help him home to England.[584] Foxe is the first English +authority for the story; and Foxe took it from Bandello, the novelist; but +it is confirmed by, or harmonises with, a sketch of Cromwell's early life +in a letter of Chappuys, the imperial ambassador, to Chancellor Granvelle. +"Master Cromwell," wrote Chappuys in 1535, "is the son of a poor +blacksmith, who lived in a small village four miles from London, and is +buried in a common grave in the parish churchyard. In his youth, for some +offence, he was imprisoned, and had to leave the country. He went to +Flanders, and thence to Rome and other places in Italy."[585] + +Returning to England, he married the daughter of a woollen-dealer, and +became a partner in the business, where he amassed or inherited a +considerable fortune.[586] Circumstances afterwards brought him, while +still young, in contact with Wolsey, who discovered his merit, took him +into service, and in 1525, employed him in the most important work of +visiting and breaking up the small monasteries, which the pope had granted +for the foundation of the new colleges. He was engaged with this business +for two years, and was so efficient that he obtained an unpleasant +notoriety, and complaints of his conduct found their way to the king. +Nothing came of these complaints, however, and Cromwell remained with the +cardinal till his fall.[587] + +It was then that the truly noble nature which was in him showed itself. He +accompanied his master through his dreary confinement at Esher,[588] doing +all that man could do to soften the outward wretchedness of it; and at the +meeting of parliament, in which he obtained a seat, he rendered him a still +more gallant service. The Lords had passed a bill of impeachment against +Wolsey, violent, vindictive, and malevolent. It was to be submitted to the +Commons, and Cromwell prepared to attempt an opposition. Cavendish has left +a most characteristic description of his leaving Esher at this trying time. +A cheerless November evening was closing in with rain and storm. Wolsey was +broken down with sorrow and sickness; and had been unusually tried by +parting with his retinue, whom he had sent home, as unwilling to keep them +attached any longer to his fallen fortunes. When they were all gone, "My +lord," says Cavendish, "returned to his chamber, lamenting the departure of +his servants, making his moan unto Master Cromwell, who comforted him the +best he could, and desired my lord to give him leave to go to London, where +he would either make or mar before he came again, which was always his +common saying. Then after long communication with my lord in secret, he +departed, and took his horse and rode to London; at whose departing I was +by, whom he bade farewell, and said, ye shall hear shortly of me, and if I +speed well I will not fail to be here again within these two days."[589] He +did speed well. "After two days he came again with a much pleasanter +countenance, and meeting with me before he came to my lord, said unto me, +that he had adventured to put in his foot where he trusted shortly to be +better regarded or all were done." He had stopped the progress of the +impeachment in the Lower House, and was answering the articles one by one. +In the evening he rode down to Esher for instructions. In the morning he +was again at his place in Parliament; and he conducted the defence so +skilfully, that finally he threw out the bill, saved Wolsey, and himself +"grew into such estimation in every man's opinion, for his honest behaviour +in his master's cause, that he was esteemed the most faithfullest servant, +[and] was of all men greatly commended."[590] + +Henry admired his chivalry, and perhaps his talent. The loss of Wolsey had +left him without any very able man, unless we may consider Sir Thomas More +such, upon his council, and he could not calculate on More for support in +his anti-Roman policy; he was glad, therefore, to avail himself of the +service of a man who had given so rare a proof of fidelity, and who had +been trained by the ablest statesman of the age.[591] + +To Wolsey Cromwell could render no more service except as a friend, and his +warm friend he remained to the last. He became the king's secretary, +representing the government in the House of Commons, and was at once on the +high road to power. I cannot call him ambitious; an ambitious man would +scarcely have pursued so refined a policy, or have calculated on the +admiration which he gained by adhering to a fallen minister. He did not +seek greatness--greatness rather sought him as the man in England most fit +to bear it. His business was to prepare the measures which were to be +submitted to Parliament by the government. His influence, therefore, grew +necessarily with the rapidity with which events were ripening; and when the +conclusive step was taken, and the king was married, the virtual conduct of +the Reformation passed into his hands. His Protestant tendencies were +unknown as yet, perhaps, even to his own conscience; nor to the last could +he arrive at any certain speculative convictions. He was drawn towards the +Protestants as he rose into power by the integrity of his nature, which +compelled him to trust only those who were honest like himself. + + + +APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI + +WILL OF THOMAS CROMWELL--1529. + +In the name of God, Amen. The 12th day of July, in the year of our Lord God +MCCCCCXXIX., and in the 21st year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King +Henry VIII., I, Thomas Cromwell, of London, Gentleman, being whole in body +and in good and perfect memory, lauded be the Holy Trinity, make, ordain, +and declare this my present testament, containing my last will, in manner +as following:--First I bequeath my soul to the great God of heaven, my +Maker, Creator, and Redeemer, beseeching the most glorious Virgin and +blessed Lady Saint Mary the Virgin and Mother, with all the holy company of +heaven, to be mediators and intercessors for me to the Holy Trinity, so +that I may be able, when it shall please Almighty God to call me out of +this miserable world and transitory life, to inherit the kingdom of heaven +amongst the number of good Christian people; and whensoever I shall depart +this present life I bequeath my body to be buried where it shall please God +to ordain me to die, and to be ordered after the discretion of mine +executors undernamed. And for my goods which our Lord hath lent me in this +world, I will shall be ordered and disposed in manner and form as hereafter +shall ensue. First I give and bequeath unto my son Gregory Cromwell six +hundred threescore six pounds, thirteen shillings, and fourpence, of lawful +money of England, with the which six hundred threescore six pounds, +thirteen shillings, and fourpence, I will mine executors undernamed +immediately or as soon as they conveniently may after my decease, shall +purchase lands, tenements, and hereditaments to the clear yearly value of +L33 6s. 8d. by the year above all charges and reprises to the use of my +said son Gregory, for term of his life; and after the decease of the said +Gregory to the heirs male of his body lawfully to be begotten, and for lack +of heirs male of the body of the said Gregory, lawfully begotten, to the +heirs general of his body lawfully begotten. And for lack of such heirs to +the right heirs of me the said Thomas Cromwell, in fee. I will also that +immediately and as soon as the said lands, tenements, and hereditaments +shall be so purchased after my death as is aforesaid by mine executors, +that the yearly profits thereof shall be wholly spent and employed in and +about the education and finding honestly of my said son Gregory, in virtue, +good learning, and manners, until such time as he shall come to the full +age of 24 years. During which time I heartily desire and require my said +executors to be good unto my said you Gregory, and to see he do lose no +time, but to see him virtuously ordered and brought up according to my +trust. + +Item. I give and bequeath to my said son Gregory, (when he shall come to +his full age of 24 years), two hundred pounds of lawful English money to +order them as our Lord shall give him grace and discretion, which L200 I +will shall be put in surety to the intent the same may come to his hands at +his said age of 24 years. Item. I give and bequeath to my said son Gregory +of such household stuff as God hath lent me, three of my best featherbeds +with their bolsters; and, the best pair of blankets of fustian, my best +coverlet of tapestry, and my quilt of yellow Turkey satin; one pair of my +best sheets, four pillows of down, with four pair of the best pillowberes, +four of my best table-cloths, four of my best towels, two dozen of my +finest napkins, and two dozen of my other napkins, two garnish of my best +vessel, three of my best brass pots, three of my best brass pans, two of my +best kettles, two of my best spits, my best joined bed of Flanders work, +with the best ---- and tester, and other the appurtenances thereto +belonging; my best press, carven of Flanders work, and my best cupboard, +carven of Flanders work, with also six joined stools of Flanders work, and +six of my best cushions. Item. I give and bequeath to my said son Gregory a +basin with an ewer parcel-gilt, my best salt gilt, my best cup gilt, three +of my best goblets; three other of my goblets parcel-gilt, twelve of my +best silver spoons, three of my best drinking ale-pots gilt; all the which +parcels of plate and household stuff I will shall be safely kept to the use +of my said you Gregory till he shall come to his said full age of 24. And +all the which plate, household stuff, napery, and all other the premises, I +will mine executors do put in safe keeping until my said son come to the +said years or age of 24. And if he die before the age of 24, then I will +all the said plate, vessel, and household stuff shall be sold by mine +executors. And the money thereof coming to be given and equally divided +amongst my poor kinsfolk, that is to say, amongst the children as well of +mine own sisters Elizabeth and Katherine, as of my late wife's sister Joan, +wife to John Williamson;[592] and if it happen that all the children of my +said sisters and sister-in-law do die before the partition be made, and +none of them be living, then I will that all the said plate, vessel, and +household stuff shall be sold and given to other my poor kinsfolk then +being in life, and other poor and indigent people, in deeds of charity for +my soul, my father and mother their souls, and all Christian souls. + +[[593] Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Anne an hundred marks of +lawful money of England when she shall come to her lawful age or happen to +be married, and L40 toward her finding until the time that she shall be of +lawful age or be married, which L40 I will shall be delivered to my friend +John Cook, one of the six Clerks of the King's Chancery, to the intent he +may order the same and cause the same to be employed in the best wise he +can devise about the virtuous education and bringing up of my said daughter +till she shall come to her lawful age or marriage. Then I will that the +said 100 marks, and so much of the said L40 as then shall be unspent and +unemployed at the day of the death of my said daughter Anne, I will it +shall remain to Gregory my son, if he then be in life; and if he be dead, +the same hundred marks, and also so much of the said L40 as then shall be +unspent, to be departed amongst my sisters' children, in manner and form +aforesaid. And if it happen my said sisters' children then to be all dead, +then I will the said 100 marks and so much of the said L40 as shall be +unspent, shall be divided amongst my kinsfolk, such as then, shall be in +life.] Item. I give and bequeath unto my sister Elizabeth Wellyfed L40, +three goblets without a cover, a mazer, and a nut. Item. I give and +bequeath to my nephew Richard Willyams [[594] servant with my Lord Marquess +Dorset, L66 13s. 4d.], L40 sterling, my [[594] fourth] best gown, doublet, +and jacket. Item. I give and bequeath to my nephew, Christopher Wellyfed +L40, [[594] L20] my fifth gown, doublet, and jacket. Item. I give and +bequeath to my nephew William Wellyfed the younger L20, [[594] L40]. Item. +I give and bequeath to my niece Alice Wellyfed, to her marriage, L20. And +if it happen her to die before marriage, then I will that the said L20 +shall remain to her brother Christopher. And if it happen him to die, the +same L20 to remain to Wm. Wellyfed the younger, his brother. And if it +happen them all to die before their lawful age or marriage, then I will +that all their parts shall remain to Gregory my son. And if it happen him +to die before them, then I will all the said parts shall remain [[594] to +Anne and Grace, my daughters] to Richard Willyams and Walter Willyams, my +nephews. And if it happen them to die, then I will that all the said parts +shall be distributed in deeds of charity for my soul, my father's and +mother's souls, and all Christian souls. Item. I give and bequeath to my +mother-in-law Mercy Prior, L40 of lawful English money, and her chamber, +with certain household stuff; that is to say, a featherbed, a bolster, two +pillows with their beres, six pair of sheets, a pair of blankets, a garnish +of vessel, two pots, two pans, two spits, with such other of my household +stuff as shall be thought meet for her by the discretion of mine executors, +and such as she will reasonably desire, not being bequeathed to other uses +in this my present testament and last will. Item. I give and bequeath to my +said mother-in-law a little salt of silver, a mazer, six silver spoons, and +a drinking-pot of silver. And also I charge mine executors to be good unto +her during her life. Item. I give and bequeath to my brother-in-law William +Wellyfed, L20, my third gown, jacket, and doublet. Item. I give and +bequeath to John Willyams my brother-in-law, 100 marks, a gown, a doublet, +a jacket, a featherbed, a bolster, six pair of sheets, two table-cloths, +two dozen napkins, two towels, two brass pots, two brass pans, a silver +pot, a nut parcel-gilt; and to Joan, his wife, L40. Item. I give and +bequeath to Joan Willyams, their daughter, to her marriage, L20, and to +every other of their children, L12 13s. 4d. Item. I bequeath to Walter +Willyams, my nephew, L20. item. I give and bequeath to Ralph Sadler, my +servant, 200 marks of lawful English money, my second gown, jacket, and +doublet, and all my books. Item. I give and bequeath to Hugh Whalley, my +servant, L6 13s. 4d. Item. I give and bequeath to Stephen Vaughan, sometime +my servant, 100 marks, a gown, jacket, and doublet. Item. I give and +bequeath to Page, my servant, otherwise called John De Fount, L6 13s. 4d. +[[594] Item. I give and bequeath to Elizabeth Gregory, sometime my servant, +L20, six pair of sheets, a featherbed, a pair of blankets, a coverlet, two +table-cloths, one dozen napkins, two brass pots, two pans, two spits.] And +also to Thomas Averey, my servant, L6 13s. 4d. [[594] Item. I give and +bequeath to John Cooke, one of the six Master Clerks of the Chancery, L10, +my second gown, doublet, and jacket. Item. I give and bequeath to Roger +More, servant of the King's bakehouse, L6 13s. 4d., three yards of satin; +and to Maudelyn, his wife, L3 6s. 8d.] Item. I give and bequeath to John +Horwood, L6 13s. 4d. [[594] Item. I give and bequeath to my little daughter +Grace 100 marks of lawful English money when she shall come to her lawful +age or marriage; and also L40 towards her exhibition and finding until such +time she shall be of lawful age or be married, which L40 I will shall be +delivered to my brother-in-law, John Willyams, to the intent he may order +and cause the same to be employed in and about the virtuous education and +bringing up of my said daughter, till she shall come to her lawful age of +marriage. And if it happen my said daughter to die before she come to her +lawful age or marriage, then I will that the said 100 marks, and so much of +the said L40 as shall then be unspent and unemployed about the finding of +my said daughter at the day of the death of my said daughter shall remain +and be delivered to Gregory my son, if he then shall happen to be in life; +and if he be dead, then the said 100 marks, and the said residue of the +said L40, to be evenly departed among my grown kinsfolk--that is to say, my +sisters' children aforesaid.] Item. That the rest of mine apparel before +not given or bequeathed in this my testament and last will shall be given +and equally departed amongst my servants after the order and discretion of +mine executors. Item. I will also that mine executors shall take the yearly +profits above the charges of my farm of Carberry, and all other things +contained in my said lease of Carberry, in the county of Middlesex, and +with the profits thereof shall yearly pay unto my brother-in-law William +(Wellyfed) and Elizabeth his wife, mine only sister, twenty pounds; give +and distribute for my soul quarterly 40 shillings during their lives and +the longer of them; and after the decease of the said William and +Elizabeth, the profits of the said farm over and above the yearly rent to +be kept to the use of my son Gregory till he be come to the age of 24 +years. And at the years of 24 the said lease and farm of Carberry, I do +give and bequeath to my son Gregory, to have the same to him, his executors +and assigns. And if it fortune the said Gregory my son to die before, my +said brother-in-law and sister being dead, he shall come to the age of 24 +years, then I will my said cousin Richard Willyams shall have the farm with +the appurtenances to him and to his executors and assigns; and if it happen +my said brother-in-law, my sister, my son Gregory, and my said cousin +Richard, to die before the accomplishment of this my will touching the said +farm, then I will mine executors shall sell the said farm, and the money +thereof coming to employ in deeds of charity, to pray for my soul and all +Christian souls. Item. I will mine executors shall conduct and hire a +priest, being an honest person of continent and good living, to sing for my +soul by the space of seven years next after my death, and to give him for +the same L6 13s. 4d. for his stipend. Item. I give and bequeath towards the +making of highways in this realm, where it shall be thought most necessary, +L20 to be disposed by the discretion of mine executors. Item. I give and +bequeath to every the five orders of Friars within the City of London, to +pray for my soul, 20 shillings. Item. I give and bequeath to 60 poor +maidens in marriage, L40, that is to say, 13s. 4d. to every of the said +poor maidens, to be given and distributed by the discretion of mine +executors. Item. I will that there shall be dealt and given after my +decease amongst poor people householders, to pray for my soul, L20, such as +by mine executors shall be thought most needful. Item. I give and bequeath +to the poor parishioners of the parish where God shall ordain me to have my +dwellingplace at the time of my death, L10, to be truly distributed amongst +them by the discretion of mine executors. Item. I give and bequeath to my +parish church for my tithes forgotten, 20 shillings. Item. To the poor +prisoners of Newgate, Ludgate, King's Bench, and Marshalsea, to be equally +distributed amongst them, L10. Willing, charging, and desiring mine +executors underwritten, that they shall see this my will performed in every +point according to my true meaning and intent as they will answer to God, +and discharge their consciences. The residue of all my goods, chattels, and +debts not bequeathed, my funeral and burial performed, which I will shall +be done without any earthly pomp, and my debts paid, I will shall be sold, +and the money thereof coming, to be distributed in works of charity and +pity, after the good discretion of mine executors undernamed. Whom I make +and ordain, Stephen Vaughan, Ralph Sadler, my servants, and John Willyams +my brother-in-law. Praying and desiring the same mine executors to be good +unto my son Gregory, and to all other my poor friends and kinsfolk and +servants aforenamed in this my testament. And of this my present testament +and last will I make Roger More mine overseer; unto whom and also to every +of the other mine executors I give and bequeath L6 13s. 4d. for their pains +to be taken in the execution of this my last will and testament, over and +above such legacies as herebefore I have bequeathed them in this same +testament and will. In witness whereof, to this my present testament and +last will I have set to my hand in every leaf contained in this book, the +day and year before limited. + +THOMAS CROMWELL. + +Item. I give and bequeath to William Brabazon, my servant, L20 8s., a gun, +a doublet, a jacket, and my second gelding. + +It. to John Avery, Yeoman of the Bedchamber with the King's Highness, L6 +13s. 4d., and a doublet of satin. + +It. to Thurston, my cook. L6 13s. 4d. + +It. to William Body, my servant, L6 13s. 4d. + +It. to Peter Mewtas, my servant, L6 13s. 4d. + +It. to Ric. Sleysh, my servant, L6 13s. 4d. + +It. to George Wilkinson, my servant, L6 13s. 4d. + +It. to my friend, Thomas Alvard. L10, and my best gelding. + +It. to my friend, Thomas Rush, L10. + +It. to my servant, John Hynde, my horsekeeper, L3 6s. 8d. + +Item. I will that mine executors shall safely keep the patent of the manor +of Romney to the use of my son Gregory, and the money growing thereof, till +he shall come to his lawful age, to be yearly received to the use of my +said son, and the whole revenue thereof coming to be truly paid unto him at +such time as he shall come to the age of 24 years. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE LAST EFFORTS OF DIPLOMACY + +I have now to resume the thread of the political history where it was +dropped at the sentence of divorce pronounced by Cranmer, and the +coronation of the new queen. The effect was about to be ascertained of +these bold measures upon Europe; and of what their effect would be, only so +much could be foretold with certainty, that the time for trifling was past, +and the pope and Francis of France would be compelled to declare their true +intentions. If these intentions were honest, the subordination of England +to the papacy might be still preserved in a modified form. The papal +jurisdiction was at end, but the spiritual supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, +with a diminished but considerable revenue attached to it, remained +unaffected; and it was for the pope to determine whether, by fulfilling at +last his original engagements, he would preserve these remnants of his +power and privileges, or boldly take up the gage, excommunicate his +disobedient subjects, and attempt by force to bring them back to their +allegiance. + +The news of what had been done did not take him wholly by surprise. It was +known at Brussels at the end of April that the king had married. The queen +regent[595] spoke of it to the ambassador sternly and significantly, not +concealing her expectation of the mortal resentment which would be felt by +her brothers;[596] and the information was forwarded with the least +possible delay to the cardinals of the imperial faction at Rome. The true +purposes which underlay the contradiction of Clement's language are +undiscoverable. Perhaps in the past winter he had been acting out a deep +intrigue--perhaps he was drifting between rival currents, and yielded in +any or all directions as the alternate pressure varied; yet whatever had +been the meaning of his language, whether it was a scheme to deceive Henry, +or was the expression only of weakness and good-nature desiring to avoid a +quarrel to the latest moment, the decisive step which had been taken in the +marriage, even though it was nominally undivulged, obliged him to choose +his course and openly adhere to it. After the experience of the past, there +could be no doubt what that course would be. + +On the 12th of May a citation was issued against the King of England, +summoning him to appear by person or proxy at a stated day. It had been +understood that no step of such a kind was to be taken before the meeting +of the pope and Francis; Bennet, therefore, Henry's faithful secretary, +hastily inquired the meaning of this measure. The pope told him that it +could not be avoided, and the language which he used revealed to the +English agent the inevitable future. The king, he said, had defied the +inhibitory brief which had been lately issued, and had incurred +excommunication; the imperialists insisted that he should be proceeded +against for contempt, and that the excommunication should at once be +pronounced. However great might be his own personal reluctance, it was not +possible for him to remain passive; and if he declined to resort at once to +the more extreme exercise of his power, the hesitation was merely until the +emperor was prepared to enforce the censures of the church with the strong +hand. It stood not "with his honour to execute such censures," he said, +"and the same not to be regarded."[597] But there was no wish to spare +Henry; and if Francis could be detached from his ally, and if the condition +of the rest of Christendom became such as to favour the enterprise, England +might evidently look for the worst which the pope, with the Catholic +powers, could execute. If the papal court was roused into so menacing a +mood by the mere intimation of the secret marriage, it was easy to foresee +what would ensue when the news arrived of the proceedings at Dunstable. +Bennet entreated that the process should be delayed till the interview; but +the pope answered coldly that he had done his best and could do no more; +the imperialists were urgent, and he saw no reason to refuse their +petition.[598] This was Clement's usual language, but there was something +peculiar in his manner. He had been often violent, but he had never shown +resolution, and the English agents were perplexed. The mystery was soon +explained. He had secured himself on the side of France; and Francis, who +at Calais had told Henry that his negotiations with the see of Rome were +solely for the interests of England, that for Henry's sake he was marrying +his son into a family beneath him in rank, that Henry's divorce was to form +the especial subject of his conference with the pope, had consented to +allow these dangerous questions to sink into a secondary place, and had +relinquished his intention, if he had ever seriously entertained it, of +becoming an active party in the English quarrel. + +The long-talked-of interview was still delayed. First it was to have taken +place in the winter, then in the spring; June was the date last fixed for +it, and now Bennet had to inform the king that it would not take place +before September; and that, from the terms of a communication which had +just passed between the parties who were to meet, the subjects discussed at +the conference would not be those which he had been led to expect. Francis, +in answer to a question from the pope, had specified three things which he +proposed particularly to "intreat." The first concerned the defence of +Christendom against the Turks, the second concerned the general council, +and the third concerned "the extinction of the Lutheran sect."[599] These +were the points which the Most Christian king was anxious to discuss with +the pope. For the latter good object especially, "he would devise and treat +for the provision of an army." In the King of England's cause, he trusted +"some means might be found whereby it might be compounded;"[600] but if +persuasion failed, there was no fear lest he should have recourse to any +other method. + +It was this which had given back to the pope his courage. It was this which +Bennet had now to report to Henry. The French alliance, it was too likely, +would prove a broken reed, and pierce the hand that leant upon it. + +Henry knew the danger; but danger was not a very terrible thing either to +him or to his people. If he had conquered his own reluctance to risk a +schism in the church, he was not likely to yield to the fear of isolation; +and if there was something to alarm in the aspect of affairs, there was +also much to encourage. His parliament was united and resolute. His queen +was pregnant. The Nun of Kent had assigned him but a month to live after +his marriage; six months had passed, and he was alive and well; the +supernatural powers had not declared against him; and while safe with +respect to enmity from above, the earthly powers he could afford to defy. +When he finally divorced Queen Catherine, he must have foreseen his present +position at least as a possibility, and if not prepared for so swift an +apostasy in Francis, and if not yet wholly believing it, we may satisfy +ourselves he had never absolutely trusted a prince of metal so +questionable. + +The Duke of Norfolk was waiting at the French court, with a magnificent +embassy, to represent the English king at the interview. The arrival of the +pope had been expected in May. It was now delayed till September; and if +Clement came after all, it would be for objects in which England had but +small concern. It was better for England that there should be no meeting at +all, than a meeting to devise schemes for the massacre of Lutherans. Henry +therefore wrote to the Duke, telling him generally what he had heard from +Rome; he mentioned the three topics which he understood were to form the +matter of discussion; but he skilfully affected to regard them as having +originated with the imperialists, and not with the French king. In a long +paper of instructions, in which earnestness and irony were strangely +blended, he directed the ambassador to treat his good brother as if he were +still exclusively devoted to the interests of England; and to urge upon +him, on the ground of this fresh delay, that the interview should not take +place at all.[601] + +"Our pleasure is," he wrote, "that ye shall say--that we be not a little +moved in our heart to see our good brother and us, being such princes of +Christendom, to be so handled with the pope, so much to our dishonour, and +to the pope's and the emperor's advancement; seeming to be at the pope's +commandment to come or tarry as he or his cardinals shall appoint; and to +depend upon his pleasure when to meet--that is to say, when he list or +never. If our good brother and we were either suitors to make request, the +obtaining whereof we did much set by, or had any particular matter of +advantage to entreat with him, these proceedings might be the better +tolerated; but our good brother having no particular matter of his own, and +being ... that [no] more glory nor surety could happen to the emperour than +to obtain the effect of the three articles moved by the pope and his +cardinals, we think it not convenient to attend the pleasure of the pope, +to go or to abyde. We could have been content to have received and taken at +the pope's hand, jointly with our good brother, pleasure and friendship in +our great cause; [but] on the other part, we cannot esteem the pope's part +so high, as to have our good brother an attendant suitor therefore ... +desiring him, therefore, in anywise to disappoint for his part the said +interview; and if he have already granted thereto--upon some new good +occasion, which he now undoubtedly hath--to depart from the same. + +"For we, ye may say, having the justness of our cause for us, with such an +entire and whole consent of our nobility and commons of our realm and +subjects, and being all matters passed, and in such terms as they now be, +do not find such lack and want of that the pope might do, with us or +against us, as we would for the obtaining thereof be contented to have a +French king our so perfect a friend, to be not only a mediator but a suitor +therein, and a suitor attendant to have audience upon liking and after the +advice of such cardinals as repute it among pastymes to play and dally with +kings and princes; whose honour, ye may say, is above all things, and more +dear to us in the person of our good brother, than is any piece of our +cause at the pope's hands. And therefore, if there be none other thing but +our cause, and the other causes whereof we be advertised, our advice, +counsel, special desire also and request is, [that our good brother shall] +break off the interview, unless the pope will make suit to him; and +[unless] our said good brother hath such causes of his own as may +particularly tend to his own benefit, honour, and profit--wherein he shall +do great and singular pleasure unto us; _giving to understand to the pope, +that me know ourselves and him both, and look to be esteemed accordingly._" + +Should it appear that on receipt of this communication, Francis was still +resolved to persevere, and that he had other objects in view to which Henry +had not been made privy, the ambassadors were then to remind him of the +remaining obligations into which he had entered; and to ascertain to what +degree his assistance might be calculated upon, should the pope pronounce +Henry deposed, and the emperor attempt to enforce the sentence. + +After forwarding these instructions, the king's next step was to anticipate +the pope by an appeal which would neutralise his judgment should he venture +upon it; and which offered a fresh opportunity of restoring the peace of +Christendom, if there was true anxiety to preserve that peace. The hinge of +the great question, in the form which at last it assumed, was the validity +or invalidity of the dispensation by which Henry had married his brother's +widow. Being a matter which touched the limit of the pope's power, the pope +was himself unable to determine it in his own favour; and the only +authority by which the law could be ruled, was a general council. In the +preceding winter, the pope had volunteered to submit the question to this +tribunal; but Henry believing that it was on the point of immediate +solution in another way, had then declined, on the ground that it would +cause a needless delay. He was already married, and he had hoped that +sentence might be given in his favour in time to anticipate the publication +of the ceremony. But he was perfectly satisfied that justice was on his +side; and was equally confident of obtaining the verdict of Europe, if it +could be fairly pronounced. Now, therefore, under the altered +circumstances, he accepted the offered alternative. He anticipated with +tolerable certainty the effect which would be produced at Rome, when the +news should arrive there of the Dunstable divorce; and on the 29th of June, +he appealed formally, in the presence of the Archbishop of York, from the +pope's impending sentence, to the next general council.[602] + +Of this curious document the substance was as follows:--It commenced with a +declaration that the king had no intention of acting otherwise than became +a good Catholic prince; or of injuring the church or attacking the +privileges conceded by God to the Holy See. If his words could be lawfully +shown to have such a tendency he would revoke, emend, and correct them in a +Catholic spirit. + +The general features of the case were then recapitulated. His marriage with +his brother's wife had been pronounced illegal by the principal +universities of Europe, by the clergy of the two provinces of the Church of +England, by the most learned theologians and canonists, and finally, by the +public judgment of the church.[603] He therefore had felt himself free; +and, "by the inspiration of the Host High, had lawfully married another +woman." Furthermore, "for the common weal and tranquillity of the realm of +England, and for the wholesome rule and government of the same, he had +caused to be enacted certain statutes and ordinances, by authority of +parliaments lawfully called for that purpose." "Now, however," he +continued, "we fearing that his Holyness the Pope ... having in our said +cause treated us far otherwise than either respect for our dignity and +desert, or the duty of his own office required at his hands, and having +done us many injuries which we now of design do suppress, but which +hereafter we shall be ready, should circumstances so require, to divulge +... may now proceed to acts of further injustice, and heaping wrong on +wrong, may pronounce the censures and other penalties of the spiritual +sword against ourselves, our realm, and subjects, seeking thereby to +deprive us of the use of the sacraments, and to cut us off, in the sight of +the world, from the unity of the church, to the no slight hurt and injury +of our realm and subjects: + +"Fearing these things, and desiring to preserve from detriment not only +ourselves, our own dignity and estimation, but also our subjects, committed +to us by Almighty God; to keep them in the unity of the Christian faith, +and in the wonted participation in the sacraments; that, when in truth they +be not cut off from the integrity of the church, nor can nor will be so cut +off in any manner, they may not appear to be so cut off in the estimation +of men; [desiring further] to check and hold back our people whom God has +given to us, lest, in the event of such injury, they refuse utterly to obey +any longer the Roman Pontiff, as a hard and cruel pastor: [for these +causes] and believing, from reasons probable, conjectures likely, and words +used to our injury by his Holiness the Pope, which in divers manners have +been brought to our ears, that some weighty act may be committed by him or +others to the prejudice of ourselves and of our realm;--We, therefore, in +behalf of all and every of our subjects, and of all persons adhering to us +in this our cause, do make our appeal to the next general council, which +shall be lawfully held, in place convenient, with the consent of the +Christian princes, and of such others as it may concern--not in contempt of +the Holy See, but for defence of the truth of the Gospel, and for the other +causes afore rehearsed. And we do trust in God that it shall not be +interpreted as a thing ill done on our part, if preferring the salvation of +our soul and the relief of our conscience to any mundane respects or +favours, we have in this cause regarded more the Divine law than the laws +of man, and have thought it rather meet to obey God than to obey man."[604] + +By the appeal and the causes which were assigned for it, Henry pre-occupied +the ground of the conflict; he entrenched himself in the "debateable land" +of legal uncertainty; and until his position had been pronounced untenable +by the general voice of Christendom, any sentence which the pope could +issue would have but a doubtful validity. It was, perhaps, but a slight +advantage; and the niceties of technical fencing might soon resolve +themselves into a question of mere strength; yet, in the opening of great +conflicts, it is well, even when a resort to force is inevitable, to throw +on the opposing party the responsibility of violence; and Henry had been +led, either by a refinement of policy, or by the plain straightforwardness +of his intentions, into a situation where he could expect without alarm the +unrolling of the future. + +The character of that future was likely soon to be decided. The appeal was +published on the 29th of June; and as the pope must have heard, by the +middle of the month at latest, of the trial and judgment at Dunstable, a +few days would bring an account of the manner in which he had received the +intelligence. Prior to the arrival of the couriers, Bennet, with the +assistance of Cardinal Tournon, had somewhat soothed down his exasperation. +Francis, also, having heard that immediate process was threatened, had +written earnestly to deprecate such a measure;[605] and though he took the +interference "very displeasantly,"[606] the pope could not afford to lose, +by premature impatience; the fruit of all his labour and diplomacy, and had +yielded so far as to promise that nothing of moment should be done. To this +state of mind he had been brought one day in the second week of June. The +morning after, Bennet found him "sore altered." The news of "my Lord of +Canterbury's proceedings" had arrived the preceding night; and "his +Holiness said that [such] doings were too sore for him to stand still at +and do nothing."[607] It was "against his duty towards God and the world to +tolerate them." The imperialist cardinals, impatient before, clamoured that +the evil had been caused by the dilatory timidity with which the case had +been handled from the first.[608] The consistory sate day after day with +closed doors;[609] and even such members of it as had before inclined to +the English side, joined in the common indignation. "Some extreme process" +was instantly looked for, and the English agents, in their daily interviews +with the pope, were forced to listen to language which it was hard to bear +with equanimity. Bennet's well-bred courtesy carried him successfully +through the difficulty; his companion Bonner was not so fortunate. Bonner's +tongue was insolent, and under bad control. He replied to menace by +impertinence; and on one occasion was so exasperating, that Clement +threatened to burn him alive, or boil him in a caldron of lead.[610] When +fairly roused, the old man was dangerous; and the future Bishop of London +wrote to England in extremity of alarm. His letter has not been found, but +the character of it may be perceived from the reassuring reply of the king. +The agents, Henry said, were not to allow themselves to be frightened; they +were to go on calmly, with their accustomed diligence and dexterity, +disputing the ground from point to point, and trust to him. Their cause was +good, and, with God's help, he would be able to defend them from the malice +of their adversaries.[611] + +Fortunately for Bonner, the pope's passion was of brief duration, and the +experiment whether Henry's arm could reach to the dungeons of the Vatican +remained untried. The more moderate of the cardinals, also, something +assuaged the storm; and angry as they all were, the majority still saw the +necessity of prudence. In the heat of the irritation, final sentence was to +have been pronounced upon the entire cause, backed by interdict, +excommunication, and the full volume of the papal thunders. At the close of +a month's deliberation they resolved to reserve judgement on the original +question, and to confine themselves for the present to revenging the insult +to the pope by "my Lord of Canterbury." Both the king and the archbishop +had disobeyed a formal inhibition. On the 12th of July, the pope issued a +brief, declaring Cranmer's judgment to have been illegal, the English +process to have been null and void, and the king, by his disobedience, to +have incurred, _ipso facto_, the threatened penalties of excommunication. +Of his clemency he suspended these censures till the close of the following +September, in order that time might be allowed to restore the respective +parties to their old positions: if within that period the parties were not +so restored, the censures would fall.[612] This brief was sent into +Flanders, and fixed in the usual place against the door of a church in +Dunkirk. + +Henry was prepared for a measure which was no more than natural. He had +been prepared for it as a possibility when he married. Both he and Francis +must have been prepared for it on their meeting at Calais, when the French +king advised him to marry, and promised to support him through the +consequences. His own measures had been arranged beforehand, and he had +secured himself in technical entrenchments by his appeal. After the issue +of the brief, however, he could allow no English embassy to compliment +Clement by its presence on his visit to France. He "knew the pope," as he +said. Long experience had shown him that nothing was to be gained by +yielding in minor points; and the only chance which now remained of +preserving the established order of Christendom, was to terrify the Vatican +court into submission by the firmness of his attitude. For the present +complications, the court of Rome, not he, was responsible. The pope, with a +culpable complacency for the emperor, had shrunk from discharging a duty +which his office imposed upon him; and the result had been, that the duty +was discharged by another. Henry could not blame himself for the +consequences of Clement's delinquency. He rather felt himself wronged in +having been driven to so extreme a measure against his will. He resolved, +therefore, to recall the embassy, and once more, though with no great hope +that he would be successful, to invite Francis to fulfil his promise, and +to unite with himself in expressing his resentment at the pope's conduct. + +His despatch to the Duke of Norfolk on this occasion was the natural sequel +of what he had written a few weeks previously. That letter had failed +wholly of its effect. The interview was resolved upon for quite other +reasons than those which were acknowledged, and therefore was not to be +given up. A promise, however, had been extracted, that it should be given +up, if in the course of the summer the pope "innovated anything" against +the King of England; and Henry now required, formally, that this engagement +should be observed. "A notorious and notable innovation" had been made, and +Francis must either deny his words, or adhere to them. It would be evident +to all the world, if the interview took place under the present +circumstances, that the alliance with England was no longer of the +importance with him which it had been; that his place in the struggle, when +the struggle came, would be found on the papal side. + +The language of Henry throughout this paper was very fine and noble. He +reminded Francis that substantially the cause at issue was the cause of all +princes; the pope claiming a right to summon them to plead in the courts of +Rome, and refusing to admit their exemption as sovereign rulers. He had +been required not only to undo his marriage, and cancel the sentence of +divorce, but, as a condition of reconciliation with the Holy See, to undo +also, the Act of Appeals, and to restore the papal jurisdiction. He desired +it to be understood, with emphasis, that these points were all equally +sacred, and the repeal of the act was as little to be thought of as the +annulling the marriage. "The pope," he said, "did inforce us to excogitate +some new thing, whereby we might be healed and relieved of that continual +disease, to care for our cause at Rome, where such defence was taken from +us, as by the laws of God, nature, and man, is due unto us. Hereupon +depended the wealth of our realm; hereupon consisted the surety of our +succession, which by no other means could be well assured." "And +therefore," he went on, "you [the Duke] shall say to our good brother, that +the pope persisting in the ways he hath entered, ye must needs despair in +any meeting between the French king and the pope, to produce any such +effect as to cause us to meet in concord with the pope; but we shall be +even as far asunder as is between yea and nay. For to the pope's enterprise +to revoke or put back anything that is done here, either in marriage, +statute, sentence, or proclamation[613]--of which four members is knit and +conjoined the surety of our matter, nor any can be removed from the other, +lest thereby the whole edifice should be destroyed--we will and shall, by +all ways and means say nay, and declare our nay in such sort as the world +shall hear, and the pope feel it. Wherein ye may say our firm trust, +perfect hope, and assured confidence is, that our good brother will agree +with us; as well for that it should be partly dishonourable for him to see +decay the thing that was of his own foundation and planting: as also that +it should be too much dishonourable for us--having travelled so far in this +matter, and brought it to this point, that all the storms of the year +passed, it is now come to harvest, trusting to see shortly the fruit of our +marriage, to the wealth, joy, and comfort of all our realm, and our own +singular consolation--that anything should now be done by us to impair the +same, and to put our issue either in peril of bastardy, or otherwise +disturb that [which] is by the whole agreement of our realm established for +their and our commodity, wealth, and benefit. And in this determination ye +know us to be so fixed, and the contrary hereof to be so infeasible, either +at our hands, or by the consent of the realm, that ye must needs despair of +any order to be taken by the French king with the pope. For if any were by +him taken wherein any of these four pieces should be touched--that is to +say, the marriage of the queen our wife, the revocation of the Bishop of +Canterbury's sentence, the statute of our realm, or our late proclamation, +which be as it were one--and as walls, covering, the foundation make a +house, so they knit together, establish, and make one matter--ye be well +assured, and be so ascertained from us, that in no wise we will relent, but +will, as we have before written, withstand the same. Whereof ye may say +that ye have thought good to advertise him, to the intent he make no +farther promise to the pope therein than may be performed." + +The ambassadors were the more emphatically to insist on the king's +resolution, lest Francis, in his desire for conciliation, might hold out +hopes to the pope which could not be realised. They were to say, however, +that the King of England still trusted that the interview would not take +place. The see of Rome was asserting a jurisdiction which, if conceded, +would encourage an unlimited usurpation. If princes might be cited to the +papal courts in a cause of matrimony, they might be cited equally in other +causes at the pope's pleasure; and the free kingdoms of Europe would be +converted into dependent provinces of the see of Rome. It concerned alike +the interest and the honour of all sovereigns to resist encroachments which +pointed to such an issue; and, therefore, Henry said he hoped that his good +brother would use the pope as he had deserved, "doing him to understand his +folly, and [that] unless he had first made amends, he could not find in his +heart to have further amity with him." + +If notwithstanding, the instructions concluded, "all these persuasions +cannot have place to let the said meeting, and the French king shall say it +is expedient for him to have in his hands the duchess,[614] under pretence +of marriage for his son, which he cannot obtain but by this means, ye shall +say that ye remember ye heard him say once he would never conclude that +marriage but to do us good, which is now infaisible; and now in the voice +of the world shall do us both more hurt in the diminution of the reputation +of our amity than it should do otherwise profit. Nevertheless, [if] ye +cannot let his precise determination, [ye] can but lament and bewail your +own chance to depart home in this sort; and that yet of the two +inconvenients, it is to you more tolerable to return to us nothing done, +than to be present at the interview and to be compelled to look patiently +upon your master's enemy." + +After having entered thus their protest against the French king's conduct, +the embassy was to return to England, leaving a parting intimation of the +single condition under which Henry would consent to treat. If the pope +would declare that "the matrimony with the Lady Catherine was and is +nought, he should do somewhat not to be refused;" except with this +preliminary, no offer whatever could be entertained.[615] + +This communication, as Henry anticipated, was not more effectual than the +former in respect of its immediate object. At the meeting of Calais the +interests of Francis had united him with England, and in pursuing the +objects of Henry he was then pursuing his own. The pope and the emperor had +dissolved the coalition by concessions on the least dangerous side. The +interests of Francis lay now in the other direction, and there are few +instances in history in which governments have adhered to obligations +against their advantage from a spirit of honour, when the purposes with +which they contracted those obligations have been otherwise obtained. The +English embassy returned as they were ordered; the French court pursued +their way to Marseilles; not quarrelling with England; intending to abide +by the alliance, and to give all proofs of amity which did not involve +inconvenient sacrifices; but producing on the world at large by their +conduct the precise effect which Henry had foretold. The world at large, +looking to acts rather than to words, regarded the interview as a +contrivance to reconcile Francis and the emperor through the intervention +of the pope, as a preliminary for a packed council, and for a holy war +against the Lutherans[616]--a combination of ominous augury to Christendom, +from the consequences of which, if Germany was to be the first sufferer, +England would be inevitably the second. + +Meanwhile, as the French alliance threatened to fail, the English +government found themselves driven at last to look for a connection among +those powers from whom they had hitherto most anxiously disconnected +themselves. At such a time. Protestant Germany, not Catholic France, was +England's natural friend. The Reformation was essentially a Teutonic +movement; the Germans, the English, the Scotch, the Swedes, the Hollanders, +all were struggling on their various roads towards an end essentially the +same. The same dangers threatened them, the same inspiration moved them; +and in the eyes of the orthodox Catholics they were united in a black +communion of heresy. Unhappily, though this identity was obvious to their +enemies, it was far from obvious to themselves. The odium theologicum is +ever hotter between sections of the same party which are divided by +trifling differences, than between the open representatives of antagonist +principles; and Anglicans and Lutherans, instead of joining hands across +the Channel, endeavoured only to secure each a recognition of themselves at +the expense of the other. The English plumed themselves on their orthodoxy. +They were "not as those publicans," heretics, despisers of the keys, +disobedient to authority; they desired only the independence of their +national church, and they proved their zeal for the established faith with +all the warmth of persecution. To the Germans national freedom was of +wholly minor moment, in comparison with the freedom of the soul; the +orthodoxy of England was as distasteful to the disciples of Luther as the +orthodoxy of Rome--and the interests of Europe were sacrificed on both +sides to this foolish and fatal disunion. Circumstances indeed would not +permit the division to remain in its first intensity, and their common +danger compelled the two nations into a partial understanding. Yet the +reconciliation, imperfect to the last, was at the outset all but +impossible. Their relations were already embittered by many reciprocal acts +of hostility. Henry VIII. had won his spurs as a theologian by an attack on +Luther. Luther had replied by a hailstorm of invectives. The Lutheran books +had been proscribed, the Lutherans themselves had' been burnt by Henry's +bishops. The Protestant divines in Germany had attempted to conciliate the +emperor by supporting the cause of Catherine; and Luther himself had spoken +loudly in condemnation of the king. The elements of disunion were so many +and so powerful, that there was little hope of contending against them +successfully. Nevertheless, as Henry saw, the coalition of Francis and the +emperor, if the pope succeeded in cementing it, was a most serious danger, +to which an opposite alliance would alone be an adequate counterpoise; and +the experiment might at least be tried whether such an alliance was +possible. At the beginning of August, therefore, Stephen Vaughan was sent +on a tentative mission to the Elector of Saxe, John Frederick, at +Weimar.[617] He was the bearer of letters containing a proposal for a +resident English ambassador; and if the elector gave his consent, he was to +proceed with similar offers to the courts of the Landgrave of Hesse and the +Duke of Lunenberg.[618] Vaughan arrived in due time at the elector's court, +was admitted to audience and delivered his letters. The prince read them, +and in the evening of the same day returned for answer a polite but wholly +absolute refusal. Being but a prince elector, he said, he might not aspire +to so high an honour as to be favoured with the presence of an English +ambassador. It was not the custom in Germany, and he feared that if he +consented he should displease the emperor.[619] The meaning of such a reply +delivered in a few hours was not to be mistaken, however disguised in +courteous language. The English emissary saw that he was an unwelcome +visitor, and that he must depart with the utmost celerity. "The elector," +he wrote,[620] "thirsted to have me gone from him, which I right well +perceived by evident tokens which declared unto me the same." He had no +anxiety to expose to hazard the toleration which the Protestant dukedoms as +yet enjoyed from the emperor, by committing himself to a connection with a +prince with whose present policy he had no sympathy, and whose conversion +to the cause of the Reformation he had as yet no reason to believe +sincere.[621] + +The reception which Vaughan met with at Weimar satisfied him that he need +go no further; neither the Landgrave nor the Duke of Lunenberg would be +likely to venture on a course which the elector so obviously feared. He, +therefore, gave up his mission, and returned to England. + +The first overtures in this direction issued in complete failure, nor was +the result wholly to be regretted. It taught Henry (or it was a first +commencement of the lesson) that so long as he pursued a merely English +policy he might not expect that other nations would embroil themselves in +his defence. He must allow the Reformation a wider scope, he must permit it +to comprehend within its possible consequences the breaking of the chains +by which his subjects' minds were bound--not merely a change of jailors. +Then perhaps the German princes might return some other answer. + +The disappointment, however, fell lightly; for before the account of the +failure had reached England, an event had happened, which, poor as the king +might be in foreign alliances, had added most material strength to his +position in England. The full moment of that event he had no means of +knowing. In its immediate bearing it was matter for most abundant +satisfaction. On the seventh of September, between three and four in the +afternoon, at the palace of Greenwich, was born a princess, named three +days later in her baptism, after the king's mother, Elizabeth.[622] A son +had been hoped for. The child was a daughter only; yet at least Providence +had not pronounced against the marriage by a sentence of barrenness; at +least there was now an heir whose legitimacy the nation had agreed to +accept. Te Deums were sung in all the churches; again the river decked +itself in splendour; again all London steeples were musical with bells. A +font of gold was presented for the christening. Francis, in compensation +for his backslidings, had consented to be godfather; and the infant, who +was soon to find her country so rude a stepmother, was received with all +the outward signs of exulting welcome. To Catherine's friends the offspring +of the rival marriage was not welcome, but was an object rather of bitter +hatred; and the black cloud of a sister's jealousy gathered over the cradle +whose innocent occupant had robbed her of her title and her expectations. +To the king, to the parliament, to the healthy heart of England, she was an +object of eager hope and an occasion for thankful gratitude; but the seeds +were sown with her birth of those misfortunes which were soon to overshadow +her, and to form the school of the great nature which in its maturity would +re-mould the world. + +Leaving Elizabeth for the present, we return to the continent, and to the +long-promised interview, which was now at last approaching. Henry made no +further attempt to remonstrate with Francis; and Francis assured him, and +with all sincerity, that he would use his best efforts to move the pope to +make the necessary concessions. The English embassy meanwhile was +withdrawn. The excommunication had been received as an act of hostility, of +which Henry would not even condescend to complain; and it was to be +understood distinctly that in any exertions which might be made by the +French king, the latter was acting without commission on his own +responsibility. The intercession was to be the spontaneous act of a mutual +friend, who, for the interests of Christendom, desired to heal a dangerous +wound; but neither directly nor indirectly was it to be interpreted as an +expression of a desire for a reconciliation on the English side. + +It was determined further, on the recal of the Duke of Norfolk, that the +opportunity of the meeting should be taken to give a notice to the pope of +the king's appeal to the council; and for this purpose, Bennet and Bonner +were directed to follow the papal court from Rome. Bennet never +accomplished this journey, dying on the route, worn out with much +service.[623] His death delayed Bonner, and the conferences had opened for +many days before his arrival. Clement had reached Marseilles by ship from +Genoa, about the 20th of October. As if pointedly to irritate Henry, he had +placed himself under the conduct of the Duke of Albany.[624] He was +followed two days later by his fair niece, Catherine de Medici; and the +preparations for the marriage were commenced with the utmost swiftness and +secrecy. The conditions of the contract were not allowed to transpire, but +they were concluded in three days; and on this 25th of October the pope +bestowed his precious present on the Duke of Orleans, he himself performing +the nuptial ceremony, and accompanying it with his paternal benediction on +the young pair, and on the happy country which was to possess them for its +king and queen. France being thus securely riveted to Rome, other matters +could be talked of more easily. Francis made all decent overtures to the +pope in behalf of Henry; if the pope was to be believed indeed, he was +vehemently urgent.[625] Clement in turn made suggestions for terms of +alliance between Francis and Charles, "to the advantage of the Most +Christian king;"[626] and thus parried the remonstrances. The only point +positively clear to the observers, was the perfect understanding which +existed between the King of France and his spiritual father.[627] Unusual +activity was remarked in the dockyards; Italian soldiers of fortune were +about the court in unusual numbers, and apparently in favour.[628] An +invasion of Lombardy was talked of among the palace retinue; and the +emperor was said to distrust the intentions of the conference. Possibly +experience had taught all parties to doubt each other's faith. Possibly +they were all in some degree waiting upon events; and had not yet resolved +upon their conduct. + +In the midst of this scene arrived Doctor Bonner, in the beginning of +November, with Henry's appeal. He was a strange figure to appear in such a +society. There was little probity, perhaps, either in the court of France, +or in their Italian visitors: but of refinement, of culture, of those +graces which enable men to dispense with the more austere excellences of +character--which transform licentiousness into elegant frailty, and +treachery and falsehood into pardonable finesse--of these there was very +much: and when a rough, coarse, vulgar Englishman was plunged among these +delicate ladies and gentlemen, he formed an element which contrasted +strongly with the general environment. Yet Banner, perhaps, was not without +qualifications which fitted him for his mission. He was not, indeed, +virtuous; but he had a certain downright honesty about him, joined with an +entire insensibility to those finer perceptions which would have interfered +with plain speaking, where plain speaking was desirable; he had a broad, +not ungenial humour, which showed him things and persons in their genuine +light, and enabled him to picture them for us with a distinctness for which +we owe him lasting thanks. + +He appeared at Marseilles on the 7th of November, and had much difficulty +in procuring an interview. At length, weary of waiting, and regardless of +the hot lead with which he had been lately threatened, he forced his way +into the room where "the pope was standing, with the Cardinals De Lorraine +and Medici, ready apparelled with his stole to go to the consistory." + +"Incontinently upon my coming thither," he wrote to Henry,[629] "the pope, +whose sight is incredulous quick, eyed me, and that divers times; making a +good pause in one place; at which time I desired the datary to advertise +his Holiness that I would speak with him; and albeit the datary made no +little difficulty therein, yet perceiving that upon refusal I would have +gone forthwith to the pope, he advertised the pope of my said desire. His +Holiness dismissing as then the said cardinals, and letting his vesture +fall, went to a window in the said chamber, calling me unto him. At which +time I showed unto his Holiness how that your Highness had given me express +and strait commandment to intimate unto him how that your Grace had +solemnly provoked and appealed unto the general council; submitting +yourself to the tuition and defence thereof; which provocation and appeal I +had under authentic writings then with me, to show for that purpose. And +herewithal I drew out the said writing, showing his said Holiness that I +brought the same in proof of the premises, and that his Holiness might see +and perceive all the same. The pope having this for a breakfast, only +pulled down his head to his shoulders, after the Italian fashion, and said +that because he was as then fully ready to go into the consistory, he would +not tarry to hear or see the said writings, but willed me to come at +afternoon." + +The afternoon came, and Bonner returned, and was admitted. There was some +conversation upon indifferent matters; the pope making good-natured +inquiries about Bennet, and speaking warmly and kindly of him. + +"Presently," Bonner continues, "falling out of that, he said that he +marvelled your Highness would use his Holiness after such sort as it +appears ye did. I said that your Highness no less did marvel that his +Holiness having found so much benevolence and kindness at your hands in all +times past, would for acquittal show such unkindness as of late he did. And +here we entered in communication upon two points: one was that his +Holiness, having committed in times past, and in most ample form, the cause +into the realm, promising not to revoke the said commission, and over that, +to confirm the process and sentence of the commissaries, should not at the +point of sentence have advoked the cause, retaining it at Rome--forasmuch +as Rome was a place whither your Highness could not, ne yet ought, +personally to come unto, and also was not bound to send thither your +proctor. The second point was, that your Highness's cause being, in the +opinion of the best learned men in Christendom, approved good and just, and +so [in] many ways known unto his Holiness, the same should not so long have +retained it in his hands without judgment. + +"His Holiness answering the same, as touching the first point, said that if +the queen (meaning the late wife of Prince Arthur, calling her always in +his conversation the queen) had not given an oath refusing the judges as +suspect, he would not have advoked the matter at all, but been content that +it should have been determined and ended in your realm. But seeing she gave +that oath, appealing also to his court, he might and ought to hear her, his +promise made to your Highness, which was qualified, notwithstanding. As +touching the second point, his Holiness said that your Highness only was +the default thereof, because ye would not send a proxy to the cause. These +matters, however, he said, had been many times fully talked upon at Rome; +and therefore [he] willed me to omit further communication thereupon, and +to proceed to the doing of such things that I was specially sent for. + +"Whereupon making protestation of your Highness's mind and intent towards +the see apostolic--not intending anything to do in contempt of the same--I +exhibited unto his Holiness the commission which your Highness had sent +unto me; and his Holiness delivering it to the datary, commanded him to +read it; and hearing in the same the words (referring to the injuries which +he had done to your Highness), he began to look up after a new sort, and +said, 'O questo et multo vero! (this is much true!)' meaning that it was +not true indeed. And verily, sure not only in this, but also in many parts +of the said commission, he showed himself grievously offended; insomuch +that, when those words, 'To the next general council which shall be +lawfully held in place convenient,' were read, he fell in a marvellous +great choler and rage, not only declaring the same by his gesture and +manner, but also by words: speaking with great vehemence, and saying, 'Why +did not the king, when I wrote to my nuncio this year past, to speak unto +him for this general council, give no answer unto my said nuncio, but +referred him for answer to the French king? at what time he might perceive +by my doing, that I was very well disposed, and much spake for it.' 'The +thing so standing, now to speak of a general council! Oh, good Lord! but +well! his commission and all his other writings cannot be but welcome unto +me;' which words methought he spake willing to hide his choler, and make me +believe that he was nothing angry with their doings, when in vary deed I +perceived, by many arguments, that it was otherwise. And one among others +was taken here for infallible with them that knoweth the pope's conditions, +that he was continually folding up and unwinding of his handkerchief, which +he never doth but when he is tickled to the very heart with great choler." + +At length the appeal was read through; and at the close of it Francis +entered, and talked to the pope for some time, but in so low a voice that +Bonner could not hear what was passing. When he had gone, his Holiness said +that he would deliberate upon the appeal with the consistory, and after +hearing their judgments would return his answer. + +Three days passed, and then the English agent was informed that he might +again present himself. The pope had recovered his calmness. When he had +time to collect himself, Clement could speak well and with dignity; and if +we could forget that his conduct was substantially unjust, and that in his +conscience he knew it to be unjust, he would almost persuade us to believe +him honest. "He said," wrote Bonner, "that his mind towards your Highness +always had been to minister justice, and to do pleasure to you; albeit it +hath not been so taken: and he never unjustly grieved your Grace that he +knoweth, nor intendeth hereafter to do. As concerning the appeal, he said +that, forasmuch as there was a constitution of Pope Pius, his predecessor, +that did condemn and reprove all such appeals, he did therefore reject your +Grace's appeal as frivolous, forbidden, and unlawful." As touching the +council, he said generally, that he would do his best that it should meet; +but it was to be understood that the calling a general council belonged to +him, and not to the King of England. + +The audience ended, and Bonner left the pope convinced that he intended, on +his return to Rome, to execute the censures and continue the process +without delay. That the sentence which he would pronounce would be against +the king appeared equally certain. + +It appeared certain, yet after all no certain conclusion is possible. +Francis I., though not choosing to quarrel with the see of Rome to do a +pleasure to Henry, was anxious to please his ally to the extent of his +convenience; at any rate, he would not have gratuitously deceived him; and +still less would he have been party to an act of deliberate treachery. When +Bonner was gone he had a last interview with the pope, in which he urged +upon him the necessity of complying with Henry's demands; and the pope on +this occasion said that he was satisfied that the King of England was +right; that his cause was good; and that he had only to acknowledge the +papal jurisdiction by some formal act, to find sentence immediately +pronounced in his favour. Except for his precipitation, and his refusal to +depute a proxy to plead for him, his wishes would have been complied with +long before. In the existing posture of affairs, and after the measures +which had been passed in England with respect to the see of Rome, he +himself, the pope said, could not make advances without some kind of +submission; but a single act of acknowledgment was all which he +required.[630] + +Extraordinary as it must seem, the pope certainly bound himself by this +engagement: and who can tell with what intention? To believe him sincere +and to believe him false seems equally impossible. If he was persuaded that +Henry's cause _was_ good, why did he in the following year pronounce +finally for Catherine? why had he imperilled so needlessly the interests of +the papacy in England? why had his conduct from the beginning pointed +steadily to the conclusion at which he at last arrived? and why throughout +Europe were the ultramontane party, to a man, on Catherine's side? On the +other hand, what object at such a time can be conceived for falsehood? Can +we suppose that he designed to dupe Henry into submission by a promise +which he had predetermined to break? It is hard to suppose even Clement +capable of so elaborate an act of perfidy; and it is, perhaps, idle to +waste conjectures on the motives of a weak, much-agitated man. He was, +probably, but giving a fresh example of his disposition to say at each +moment whatever would be most agreeable to his hearers. This was his +unhappy habit, by which he earned for himself a character for dishonesty, I +labour to think, but half deserved. + +If, however, Clement meant to deceive, he succeeded, undoubtedly, in +deceiving the French king. Francis, in communicating to Henry the language +which the pope had used, entreated him to reconsider his resolution. The +objection to pleading at Rome might be overcome; for the pope would meet +him in a middle course. Judges could be appointed, who should sit at +Cambray, and pass a sentence in condemnation of the original marriage; with +a definite promise that their sentence should not again be called in +question. To this arrangement there could be no reasonable objection; and +Francis implored that a proposal so liberal should not be rejected. +Sufficient danger already threatened Christendom, from heretics within and +from the Turks without; and although the English parliament were agreed to +maintain the second marriage, it was unwise to provoke the displeasure of +foreign princes. To allow time for the preliminary arrangements, the +execution of the censures had been further postponed; and if Henry would +make up the quarrel, the French monarch was commissioned to offer a league, +offensive and defensive, between England, France, and the Papacy. He +himself only desired to be faithful to his engagements to his good brother; +and as a proof of his good faith, he said that he had been offered the +Duchy of Milan, if he would look on while the emperor and the pope attacked +England.[631] + +This language bears all the character of sincerity; and when we remember +that it followed immediately upon a close and intimate communication of +three weeks with Clement, it is not easy to believe that he could have +mistaken the extent of the pope's promises. We may suppose Clement for the +moment to have been honest, or wavering between honesty and falsehood; we +may suppose further that Francis trusted him because it was undesirable to +be suspicious, in the belief that he was discharging the duty of a friend +to Henry, and of a friend to the church, in offering to mediate upon these +terms. + +But Henry was far advanced beyond the point at which fair words could move +him. He had trusted many times, and had been many times deceived. It was +not easy to entangle him again. It mattered little whether Clement was weak +or false; the result was the same--he could not be trusted. To an open +English understanding there was something monstrous in the position of a +person professing to be a judge, who admitted that a cause which lay before +him was so clear that he could bind himself to a sentence upon it, and +could yet refuse to pronounce that sentence, except upon conditions. It was +scarcely for the interests of justice to leave the distribution of it in +hands so questionable. + +Instead, therefore, of coming forward, as Francis hoped, instead of +consenting to entangle himself again in the meshes of diplomatic intrigue, +the king returned a peremptory refusal. + +The Duke of Norfolk, and such of the council as dreaded the completion of +the schism, assured d'Inteville, the French ambassador, that for themselves +they considered Francis was doing the best for England which could be done, +and that they deprecated violent measures as much as possible; but in all +this party there was a secret leaning to Queen Catherine, a dislike of +Queen Anne and the whole Boleyn race, and a private hope and belief that +the pope would after all be firm. Their tongues were therefore tied. They +durst not speak except alone in whispers to each other; and the French +ambassador, who did dare, only drew from Henry a more determined expression +of his resolution. + +As to his measures in England, the king said, the pope had begun the +quarrel by issuing censures and by refusing to admit his reasons for +declining to plead at Rome. He was required to send a proctor, and was told +that the cause should be decided in favour of whichever party was so +represented there. For the sake of all other princes as well as himself, he +would send no proctor, nor would he seem to acquiesce in the pretences of +the papal see. The King of France told him that the pope admitted the +justice of his cause. Let the pope do justice, then. The laws passed in +parliament were for the benefit of the commonwealth, and he would never +revoke them. He demanded no reparation, and could make no reparation. He +asked only for his right, and if he could not obtain it, he had God and +truth on his side, and that was enough. In vain d'Inteville answered +feebly, that his master had done all that was in his power; the king +replied that the French council wished to entangle him with the pope; but +for his own part he would never more acknowledge the pope in his pretended +capacity. He might be bishop of Rome, or pope also, if he preferred the +name; but the see of Rome should have no more jurisdiction in England, and +he thought he would be none the worse Christian on that account, but rather +the better. Jesus Christ he would acknowledge, and him only, as the true +Lord of Christian men, and Christ's word only should be preached in +England. The Spaniards might invade him as they threatened. He did not fear +them. They might come, but they might not find it so easy to return.[632] + +The King had taken his position and was prepared for the consequences. He +had foreseen for more than a year the possibility of an attempted invasion; +and since his marriage, he had been aware that the chances of success in +the adventure had been discussed on the Continent by the papal and imperial +party. The pope had spoken of his censures being enforced, and Francis had +revealed to Henry the nature of the dangerous overtures which had been made +to himself. The Lutheran princes had hurriedly declined to connect +themselves in any kind of alliance with England; and on the 25th of +September, Stephen Vaughan had reported that troops were being raised in +Germany, which rumour destined for Catherine's service.[633] Ireland, too, +as we shall hear in the next chapter, was on the verge of an insurrection, +which had been fomented by papal agents. + +Nevertheless, there was no real danger from an invasion, unless it was +accompanied with an insurrection at home, or with a simultaneous attack +from Scotland; and while of the first there appeared upon the surface no +probability, with Scotland a truce for a year had been concluded on the 1st +of October.[634] The king, therefore, had felt himself reasonably secure. +Parliament had seemed unanimous; the clergy were submissive; the nation +acquiescent or openly approving;[635] and as late as the beginning of +November, 1533, no suspicion seems to have been entertained of the spread +of serious disaffection. A great internal revolution had been accomplished; +a conflict of centuries between the civil and spiritual powers had been +terminated without a life lost or a blow struck. Partial murmurs there had +been, but murmurs were inevitable, and, so far as the government yet knew, +were harmless. The Scotch war had threatened to be dangerous, but it had +been extinguished. Impatient monks had denounced the king from the pulpits, +and disloyal language had been reported from other quarters, which had +roused vigilance, but had not created alarm. The Nun of Kent had forced +herself into the royal presence with menacing prophecies; but she had +appeared to be a harmless dreamer, who could only be made of importance by +punishment. The surface of the nation was in profound repose. Cromwell, +like Walsingham after him, may perhaps have known of the fire which was +smouldering below, and have watched it silently till the moment came at +which to trample it out; but no symptom of uneasiness appears either in the +conduct of the government or in the official correspondence. The +organisation of the friars, the secret communication of the Nun with +Catherine and the Princess Mary, with the papal nuncio, or with noble lords +and reverend bishops, was either unknown, or the character of those +communications was not suspected. That a serious political conspiracy +should have shaped itself round the ravings of a seeming lunatic, to all +appearance had not occurred as a possibility to a single member of the +council, except to those whose silence was ensured by their complicity. + +So far as we are able to trace the story (for the links of the chain which +led to the discovery of the design's which were entertained, are something +imperfect), the suspicions of the government were first roused in the +following manner: + +Queen Catherine, as we have already seen, had been called upon, at the +coronation of Anne Boleyn, to renounce her title, and she had refused. Mary +had been similarly deprived of her rank as princess; but either her +disgrace was held to be involved in that of her mother, or some other +cause, perhaps the absence of immediate necessity, had postponed the demand +for her own personal submission. As, however, on the publication of the +second marriage, it had been urged on Catherine that there could not be two +queens in England, so on the birth of the Princess Elizabeth, an analogous +argument required the disinheritance of Mary. It was a hard thing; but her +mother's conduct obliged the king to be peremptory. She might have been +legitimatised by act of parliament, if Catherine would have submitted. The +consequences of Catherine's refusal might be cruel, but they were +unavoidable. + +Mary was not with her mother. It had been held desirable to remove her from +an influence which would encourage her in a useless opposition; and she was +residing at Beaulieu, afterwards New Hall, in Essex, under the care of Lord +Hussey and the Countess of Salisbury. Lord Hussey was a dangerous guardian; +he was subsequently executed for his complicity in the Pilgrimage of Grace, +the avowed object of which was the restoration of Mary to her place as +heir-apparent. We may believe, therefore, that while under his surveillance +she experienced no severe restraint, nor received that advice with respect +to her conduct which prudence would have dictated. Lord Hussey, however, +for the present enjoyed the confidence of the king, and was directed to +inform his charge, that for the future she was to consider herself not as +princess, but as the king's natural daughter, the Lady Mary Tudor. The +message was a painful one; painful, we will hope, more on her mother's +account than on her own; but her answer implied that, as yet, Henry VIII. +was no object of especial terror to his children. + +"Her Grace replied," wrote Lord Hussey to the council in communicating the +result of his undertaking,[636] that "she could not a little marvel that I +being alone, and not associate with some other the king's most honourable +council, nor yet sufficiently authorised neither by commission not by any +other writing from the King's Highness, would attempt to declare such a +high enterprise and matter of no little weight and importance unto her +Grace, in diminishing her said estate and name; her Grace not doubting that +she is the king's true and legitimate daughter and heir procreate in good +and lawful matrimony; [and] further adding, that unless she were advertised +from his Highness by his writing that his Grace was so minded to diminish +her estate, name, and dignity, which she trusteth his Highness will never +do, she would not believe it." + +Inasmuch as Mary was but sixteen at this time, the resolution which she +displayed in sending such a message was considerable. The early English +held almost Roman notions on the nature of parental authority, and the tone +of a child to a father was usually that of the most submissive reverence. +Nor was she contented with replying indirectly through her guardian. She +wrote herself to the king, saying that she neither could nor would in her +conscience think the contrary, but that she was his lawful daughter born in +true matrimony, and that she thought that he in his own conscience did +judge the same.[637] + +Such an attitude in so young a girl was singular, yet not necessarily +censurable. Henry was not her only parent, and if we suppose her to have +been actuated by affection for her mother, her conduct may appear not +pardonable only, but spirited and creditable. In insisting upon her +legitimacy, nevertheless, she was not only asserting the good name and fame +of Catherine of Arragon, but unhappily her own claim to the succession to +the throne. It was natural that under the circumstances she should have +felt her right to assert that claim; for the injury which she had suffered +was patent not only to herself, but to Europe. Catherine might have been +required to give way that the king might have a son, and that the +succession might be established in a prince; but so long as the child of +the second marriage was a daughter only, it seemed substantially monstrous +to set aside the elder for the younger. Yet the measure was a harsh +necessity; a link in the chain which could not be broken. The harassed +nation insisted above all things that no doubt should hang over the future, +and it was impossible in the existing complications to recognise the +daughter of Catherine without excluding Elizabeth, and excluding the prince +who was expected to follow her. By asserting her title, Mary was making +herself the nucleus of sedition, which on her father's death would lead to +a convulsion in the realm. She might not mean it, but the result would not +be affected by a want of purpose in herself; and it was possible that her +resolution might create immediate and far more painful complications. The +king's excommunication was imminent, and if the censures were enforced by +the emperor, she would be thrust into the unpermitted position of her +father's rival. + +The political consequences of her conduct, notwithstanding, although +evident to statesmen, might well be concealed from a headstrong, passionate +girl. There was no suspicion that she herself was encouraging any of these +dangerous thoughts, and Henry looked upon her answer to Lord Hussey and her +letter to himself as expressions of petulant folly. Lord Oxford, the Earl +of Essex, and the Earl of Sussex were directed to repair to Beaulieu, and +explain to her the situation in which she had placed herself. + +"Considering," wrote the king to them, "how highly such contempt and +rebellion done by our daughter and her servants doth touch not only us, and +the surety of our honour and person, but also the tranquillity of our +realm; and not minding to suffer the pernicious example hereof to spread +far abroad, but to put remedy to the same in due time, we have given you +commandment to declare to her the great folly, temerity, and indiscretion +that she hath used herein, with the peril she hath incurred by reason of +her so doing. By these her ungodly doings hitherto she hath most worthily +deserved our high indignation and displeasure, and thereto no less pain and +punition than by the order of the laws of our realm doth appertain in case +of high treason, unless our mercy and clemency should be shewed in that +behalf. [If, however, after] understanding our mind and pleasure, [she +will] conform herself humbly and obediently to the observation of the same, +according to the office and duty of a natural daughter, and of a true and +faithful subject, she may give us cause hereafter to incline our fatherly +pity to her reconciliation, her benefit and advancement."[638] + +The reply of Mary to this message is not discoverable; but it is certain +that she persisted in her resolution, and clung either to her mother's +"cause" or to her own rank and privilege, in sturdy defiance of her father. +To punish her insubordination or to tolerate it was equally difficult; and +the government might have been in serious embarrassment had not a series of +discoveries, following rapidly one upon the other, explained the mystery of +these proceedings, and opened a view with alarming clearness into the +under-currents of the feeling of the country. + +Information from time to time had reached Henry from Rome, relating to the +correspondence between Catherine and the pope. Perhaps, too, he knew how +assiduously she had importuned the emperor to force Clement to a +decision.[639] No effort, however, had been hitherto made to interfere with +her hospitalities, or to oblige her visitors to submit to scrutiny before +they could be admitted to her presence. She was the mistress of her own +court and of her own actions; and confidential agents, both from Rome, +Brussels, and Spain, had undoubtedly passed and repassed with reciprocal +instructions and directions. + +The crisis which was clearly approaching had obliged Henry, in the course +of this autumn, to be more watchful; and about the end of October, or the +beginning of November,[640] two friars were reported as having been at +Bugden, whose movements attracted suspicion from their anxiety to escape +observation. Secret agents of the government, who had been "set" for the +purpose, followed the friars to London, and notwithstanding "many wiles and +cautells by them invented to escape," the suspected persons were arrested +and brought before Cromwell. Cromwell, "upon examination" could gather +nothing from them of any moment or great importance; but, "entering on +further communication," he said, "he found one of them a very seditious +person, and so committed them to ward." The king was absent from London, +but had left directions that, in the event of any important occurrence of +the kind, Archbishop Cranmer should be sent for; but Cranmer not being +immediately at hand, Cromwell wrote to Henry for instructions; inasmuch as, +he said, "it is undoubted that they (the monks) have intended, and would +confess, some great matter, if they might be examined as they ought to +be--that is to say, by pains." + +The curtain here falls over the two prisoners; we do not know whether they +were tortured, whether they confessed, or what they confessed; but we may +naturally connect this letter, directly or indirectly, with the events +which immediately followed. In the middle of November we find a commission +sitting at Lambeth, composed of Cromwell, Cranmer, and Latimer, ravelling +out the threads of a story, from which, when the whole was disentangled, it +appeared that by Queen Catherine, the Princess Mary, and a large and +formidable party in the country, the king, on the faith of a pretended +revelation, was supposed to have forfeited the crown; that his death, +either by visitation of God or by visitation of man, was daily expected; +and that whether his death took place or not, a revolution was immediately +looked for, which would place the princess on the throne. + +The Nun of Kent, as we remember, had declared that if Henry persisted in +his resolution of marrying Anne, she was commissioned by God to tell him +that he should lose his power and authority. She had not specified the +manner in which the sentence would be carried into effect against him. The +form of her threats had been also varied occasionally; she said that he +should die, but whether by the hands of his subjects, or by a providential +judgment, she left to conjecture;[641] and the period within which his +punishment was to fall upon him was stated variously at one month or at +six.[642] She had attempted no secresy with these prophecies; she had +confined herself in appearance to words; and the publicity which she +courted having prevented suspicion of secret conspiracy, Henry quietly +accepted the issue, and left the truth of the prophecy to be confuted by +the event. He married. The one month passed; the six months passed; +eight--nine months. His child was born and was baptised, and no divine +thunder had interposed; only a mere harmless verbal thunder, from a poor +old man at Rome. The illusion, as he imagined, had been lived down, and had +expired of its own vanity. + +But the Nun and her friar advisers were counting on other methods of +securing the fulfilment of the prophecy than supernatural assistance. It is +remarkable that hypocrites and impostors as they knew themselves to be, +they were not without a half belief that some supernatural intervention was +imminent; but the career on which they had entered was too fascinating to +allow them to forsake it when their expectation failed them. They were +swept into the stream which was swelling to resist the Reformation, and +allowed themselves to be hurried forward either to victory or to +destruction. + +The first revelation being apparently confuted by facts, a second was +produced as an interpretation of it; which, however, was not published like +the other, but whispered in secret to persons whose dispositions were +known.[643] + +"When the King's Grace," says the report of the commissioners, "had +continued in good health, honour, and prosperity more than a month, Dr. +Bocking shewed the said Nun, that as King Saul, abjected from his kingdom +by God, yet continued king in the sight of the world, so her said +revelations might be taken. And therefore the said Nun, upon this +information, forged another revelation, that her words should be +understanded to mean that the King's Grace should not be king in the +reputation or acceptation of God, not one month or one hour after that he +married the Queen's Grace that now is. The first revelation had moved a +great number of the king's subjects, both high and low, to grudge against +the said marriage before it was concluded and perfected; and also induced +such as were stiffly bent against that marriage, daily to look for the +destruction of the King's Grace within a month after he married the Queen's +Grace that now is. And when they were deluded in that expectation, the +second revelation was devised not only as an interpretation of the former, +but to the intent to induce the king's subjects to believe that God took +the King's Grace for no king of this realm, and that they should likewise +take him for no righteous king, and themselves not bounden to be his +subjects; which might have put the King and the Queen's Grace in jeopardy +of their crown and of their issue, and the people of this realm in great +danger of destruction."[644] + +It was no light matter to pronounce the king to be in the position of Saul +after his rejection; and read by the light of the impending +excommunication, the Nun's words could mean nothing but treason. The +speaker herself was in correspondence with the pope; she had attested her +divine commission by miracles, and had been recognised as a saint by an +Archbishop of Canterbury; the regular orders of the clergy throughout the +realm were known to regard her as inspired; and when the commission +recollected that the king was threatened further with dying "a villain's +death;" and that these and similar prophecies were carefully written out, +and were in private circulation through the country, the matter assumed a +dangerous complexion: it became at once essential to ascertain how far, and +among what classes of the state, these things had penetrated. The Friars +Mendicant were discovered to be in league with her, and these itinerants +were ready-made missionaries of sedition. They had privilege of vagrancy +without check or limit; and owing to their universal distribution and the +freemasonry among themselves, the secret disposition of every family in +England was intimately known to them. No movement, therefore, could be +securely over-looked in which these orders had a share; the country might +be undermined in secret; and the government might only learn their danger +at the moment of explosion. + +No sooner, therefore, were the commissioners in possession of the general +facts, than the principal parties--that is to say, the Nun herself and five +of the monks of Christ Church at Canterbury--with whom her intercourse was +most constant, were sent to the Tower to be "examined"--the monks it is +likely by "torture," if they could not otherwise be brought to confession. +The Nun was certainly not tortured. On her first arrest, she was obstinate +in maintaining her prophetic character; and she was detected in sending +messages to her friends, "to animate them to adhere to her and to her +prophecies."[645] But her courage ebbed away under the hard reality of her +position. She soon made a full confession, in which her accomplices joined +her; and the half-completed web of conspiracy was ravelled out. They did +not attempt to conceal that they had intended, if possible, to create an +insurrection. The five monks--Father Bocking, Father Rich, Father Rysby, +Father Dering, and Father Goold--had assisted the Nun in inventing her +"Revelations;" and as apostles, they had travelled about the country to +communicate them in whatever quarters they were likely to be welcome. When +we remember that Archbishop Warham had been a dupe of this woman, and that +even Wolsey's experience and ability had not prevented him from believing +in her power, we are not surprised to find high names among those who were +implicated. Vast numbers of abbots and priors, and of regular and secular +clergy, had listened eagerly; country gentlemen also, and London merchants. +The Bishop of Rochester had "wept for joy" at the first utterances of the +inspired prophetess; and Sir Thomas More, "who at first did little regard +the said revelations, afterwards did greatly rejoice to hear of them."[646] +We learn, also, that the Nun had continued to _communicate with "the Lady +Princess Dowager" and "the Lady Mary, her daughter."_[647] + +These were names which might have furnished cause for regret, but little +for surprise or alarm. The commissioners must have found occasion for other +feelings, however, when among the persons implicated were found the +Countess of Salisbury and the Marchioness of Exeter, with their chaplains, +households, and servants; Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir George Carew, and "many +of the nobles of England."[648] A combination headed by the Countess of +Salisbury, if she were supported even by a small section of the nobility, +would under any circumstances have been dangerous; and if such a +combination was formed in support of an invasion, and was backed by the +blessings of the pope and the fanaticism of the clergy, the result might be +serious indeed. So careful a silence is observed in the official papers on +this feature of the Nun's conspiracy, that it is uncertain how far the +countess had committed herself; but she had listened certainly to avowals +of treasonable intentions without revealing them, which of itself was no +slight evidence of disloyalty; and that the government were really alarmed +may be gathered from the simultaneous arrest of Sir William and Sir George +Neville, the brothers of Lord Latimer. The connection and significance of +these names I shall explain presently; in the meantime I return to the +preparations which had been made by the Nun. + +As the final judgment drew near--which, unless the king submitted, would be +accompanied, with excommunication, and a declaration that the English +nation was absolved from allegiance,--"the said false Nun," says the +report, "surmised herself to have made a petition to God to know, when +fearful war should come, whether any man should take my Lady Mary's part or +no; and she feigned herself to have answer by revelation that no man should +fear but that she should have succour and help enough; and that no man +should put her from her right that she was born unto. And petitioning next +to know when it was the pleasure of God that her revelations should be put +forth to the world, she had answer that knowledge should be given to her +ghostly father when it should be time."[649] + +With this information Father Goold had hastened down to Bugden, encouraging +Catherine to persevere in her resistance;[650] and while the imperialists +at Rome were pressing the pope for sentence (we cannot doubt at Catherine's +instance), the Nun had placed herself in readiness to seize the opportunity +when it offered, and to blow the trumpet of insurrection in the panic which +might be surely looked for when that sentence should be published. + +For this purpose she had organised, with considerable skill, a corps of +fanatical friars, who, when the signal was given, were simultaneously to +throw themselves into the midst of the people, and call upon them to rise +in the name of God. "To the intent," says the report, "to set forth this +matter, certain spiritual and religious persons were appointed, as they had +been chosen of God, to preach the false revelations of the said Nun, when +the time should require, if warning were given them; and some of these +preachers have confessed openly, and subscribed their names to their +confessions, that if the Nun had so sent them word, they would have +preached to the king's subjects that the pleasure of God was that they +should take him no longer for their king; and some of these preachers were +such as gave themselves to great fasting, watching, long prayers, wearing +of shirts of hair and great chains of iron about their middle, whereby the +people had them in high estimation of their great holiness,--and this +strait life they took on them by the counsel and exhortation of the said +Nun."[651] + +Here, then, was the explanation of the attitude of Catherine and Mary. +Smarting under injustice, and most naturally blending their private quarrel +with the cause of the church, they had listened to these disordered visions +as to a message from heaven, and they had lent themselves to the first of +those religious conspiracies which held England in chronic agitation for +three quarters of a century. The innocent Saint at Bugden was the +forerunner of the prisoner at Fotheringay; and the Observant friars, with +their chain girdles and shirts of hair, were the antitypes of Parsons and +Campion. How critical the situation of England really was, appears from the +following letter of the French ambassador. The project for the marriage of +the Princess Mary with the Dauphin had been revived by the Catholic party; +and a private arrangement, of which this marriage was to form the +connecting link, was contemplated between the Ultramontanes in France, the +pope, and the emperor. + +_D'Inteville to Cardinal Tournon._[652] + +"MY LORD,--You will be so good as to tell the Most Christian king that the +emperor's ambassador has communicated with the old queen. The emperor sends +a message to her and to her daughter, that he will not return to Spain till +he has seen them restored to their rights. + +"The people are so much attached to the said ladies that they will rise in +rebellion, and join any prince who will undertake their quarrel. You +probably know from other quarters the intensity of this feeling. It is +shared by all classes, high and low, and penetrates even into the royal +household. + +"The nation is in marvellous discontent. Every one but the relations of the +present queen, is indignant on the ladies' account. Some fear the overthrow +of religion; others fear war and injury to trade. Up to this time, the +cloth, hides, wool, lead, and other merchandise of England have found +markets in Flanders, Spain, and Italy; now it is thought navigation will be +so dangerous that English merchants must equip their ships for war if they +trade to foreign countries; and besides the risk of losing all to the +enemy, the expense of the armament will swallow the profits of the voyage. +In like manner, the emperor's subjects and the pope's subjects will not be +able to trade with England. The coasts will be blockaded by the ships of +the emperor and his allies; and at this moment men's fears are aggravated +by the unseasonable weather throughout the summer, and the failure of the +crops. There is not corn enough for half the ordinary consumption. + +"The common people, foreseeing these inconveniences, are so violent against +the queen, that they say a thousand shameful things of her, and of all who +have supported her in her intrigues. On them is cast the odium of all the +calamities anticipated from the war. + +"When the war comes, no one doubts that the people will rebel as much from +fear of the dangers which I have mentioned, as from the love which is felt +for the two ladies, and especially for the Princess. She is so entirely +beloved that, notwithstanding the law made at the last Parliament, and the +menace of death contained in it, they persist in regarding her as Princess. +No Parliament, they say, can make her anything but the king's daughter, +born in marriage; and so the king and every one else regarded her before +that Parliament. + +"Lately, when she was removed from Greenwich, a vast crowd of women, wives +of citizens and others, walked before her at their husbands' desire, +weeping and crying that notwithstanding all she was Princess. Some of them +were sent to the Tower, but they would not retract. + +"Things are now so critical, and the fear of war is so general, that many +of the greatest merchants in London have placed themselves in communication +with the emperor's ambassador, telling him, that if the emperor will +declare war, the English nation will join him for the love they bear the +Lady Mary. + +"You, my Lord, will remember that when you were here, it was said you were +come to tell the king that he was excommunicated, and to demand the hand of +the Princess for the Dauphin. The people were so delighted that they have +never ceased to pray for you. We too, when we arrived in London, were told +that the people were praying for us. They thought our embassy was to the +Princess. They imagined her marriage with the Dauphin had been determined +on by the two kings, and the satisfaction was intense and universal. + +"They believe that, except by this marriage, they cannot possibly escape +war; whereas, can it be brought about, they will have peace with the +emperor and all other Christian princes. They are now so disturbed and so +desperate that, although at one time they would have preferred a husband +for her from among themselves, that they might not have a foreign king, +there now is nothing which they desire more. Unless the Dauphin will take +her, they say she will continue disinherited; or, if she come to her +rights, it can only be by battle, to the great incommodity of the country. +The Princess herself says publicly that the Dauphin is her husband, and +that she has no hope but in him. I have been told this by persons who have +heard it from her own lips. + +"The emperor's ambassador inquired, after you came, whether we had seen +her. He said he knew she was most anxious to speak with us; she thought we +had permission to visit her, and she looked for good news. He told us, +among other things, that she had been more strictly guarded of late, by the +orders of the queen that now is, who, knowing her feeling for the Dauphin, +feared there might be some practice with her, or some attempt to carry her +off. + +"The Princess's ladies say that she calls herself the Dauphin's wife. A +time will come, she says, when God will see that she has suffered pain and +tribulation sufficient; the Dauphin will then demand her of the king her +father, and the king her father will not be able to refuse. + +"The lady who was my informant heard, also, from the Princess, that her +governess, and the other attendants whom the queen had set to watch her, +had assured her that the Dauphin was married to the daughter of the +emperor; but she, the Princess, had answered it was not true--the Dauphin +could not have two wives, and they well knew that she was his wife: they +told her that story, she said, to make her despair, and agree to give up +her rights; but she would never part with her hopes. + +"You may have heard of the storm that broke out between her and her +governess when we went to visit her little sister. She was carried off by +force to her room, that she might not speak with us; and they could neither +pacify her nor keep her still, till the gentleman who escorted us told her +he had the king's commands that she was not to show herself while we were +in the house. You remember the message the same gentleman brought to you +from her, and the charge which was given by the queen. + +"Could the king be brought to consent to the marriage, it could be a fair +union of two realms, and to annex Britain to the crown of France would be a +great honour to our Sovereign; the English party desire nothing better; the +pope will be glad of it; the pope fears that, if war break out again, +France will draw closer to England on the terms which the King of England +desires; and he may thus lose the French tribute as he has lost the +English. He therefore will urge the emperor to agree, and the emperor will +assist gladly for the love which he bears to his cousin. + +"If the emperor be willing, the King of England can then be informed; and +he can be made to feel that, if he will avoid war, he must not refuse his +consent. The king, in fact, has no wish to disown the Princess, and he +knows well that the marriage with the Dauphin was once agreed on. + +"Should he be unwilling, and should his wife's persuasions stil have +influence with him, he will hesitate before he will defy, for her sake, the +King of France and the emperor united. His regard for the queen is less +than it was, and diminishes every day. He has a new fancy,[653] as you are +aware." + +The actual conspiracy, in the form which it had so far assumed, was rather +an appeal to fanaticism than a plot which could have laid hold of the +deeper mind of the country; but as an indication of the unrest which was +stealing over the minds of men, it assumed an importance which it would not +have received from its intrinsic character. + +The guilt of the principal offenders admitted of no doubt. As soon as the +commissioners were satisfied that there was nothing further to be +discovered, the Nun, with the monks, was brought to trial before the Star +Chamber; and conviction followed as a matter of course.[654] + +The unhappy girl finding herself at this conclusion, after seven years of +vanity, in which she had played with popes, and queens, and princesses, and +archbishops, now, when the dream was thus rudely broken, in the revulsion +of feeling could see nothing in herself but a convicted impostor. We need +not refuse to pity her. The misfortunes of her sickness had exposed her to +temptations far beyond the strength of an ordinary woman: and the guilt +which she passionately claimed for herself rested far more truly with the +knavery of the Christ Church monks and the incredible folly of Archbishop +Warham.[655] But the times were too stern to admit of nice distinctions. No +immediate sentence was pronounced, but it was thought desirable for the +satisfaction of the people that a confession should be made in public by +the Nun and her companions. The Sunday following their trial they were +placed on a raised platform at Paul's Cross by the side of the pulpit, and +when the sermon was over they one by one delivered their "bills" to the +preacher, which by him were read to the crowd.[656] + +After an acknowledgment of their imposture the prisoners were remanded to +the Tower, and their ultimate fate reserved for the consideration of +parliament, which was to meet in the middle of January. + +The chief offenders being thus disposed of, the council resolved next that +peremptory measures should be taken with respect to the Princess Mary.[657] +Her establishment was broken up, and she was sent to reside as the Lady +Mary in the household of the Princess Elizabeth--a hard but not unwholesome +discipline.[658] As soon as this was done, being satisfied that the leading +shoot of the conspiracy was broken, and that no immediate danger was now to +be feared, they proceeded leisurely to follow the clue of the Nun's +confession, and to extend their inquiries. The Countess of Salisbury was +mentioned as one of the persons with whom the woman had been in +correspondence. This lady was the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, brother +of Edward IV. Her mother was a Neville, a child of Richard the Kingmaker, +the famous Earl of Warwick, and her only brother had been murdered to +secure the shaking throne of Henry VII. Margaret Plantagenet, in recompense +for the lost honours of the house, was made Countess of Salisbury in her +own right. The title descended from her grandfather, who was Earl of +Salisbury and Warwick; but the prouder title had been dropped as suggestive +of dangerous associations. The Earldom of Warwick remained in abeyance, and +the castle and the estates attached to it were forfeited to the Crown. The +countess was married after her brother's death to a Sir Richard Pole, a +supporter and relation[659] of the king; and when left a widow she received +from Henry VIII. the respectful honour which was due to the most nobly born +of his subjects, the only remaining Plantagenet of unblemished descent. In +his kindness to her children the king had attempted to obliterate the +recollection of her brother's wrongs, and she had been herself selected to +preside over the household of the Princess Mary. During the first twenty +years of Henry's reign the countess seems to have acknowledged his +attentions with loyal regard, and if she had not forgotten her birth and +her childhood, she never connected herself with the attempts which during +that time were made to revive the feuds of the houses. Richard de la Pole, +nephew of Edward IV.,[660] and called while he lived "the White Rose," had +more than once endeavoured to excite an insurrection in the eastern +counties; but Lady Salisbury was never suspected of holding intercourse +with him; she remained aloof from political disputes, and in lofty +retirement she was contented to forget her greatness for the sake of the +Princess Mary, to whom she and her family were deeply attached. Her +relations with the king had thus continued undisturbed until his second +marriage. As the representative of the House of York she was the object of +the hopes and affections of the remnants of their party, but she had +betrayed no disposition to abuse her influence, or to disturb the quiet of +the nation for personal ambition of her own. + +If it be lawful to interpret symptoms in themselves trifling by the light +of later events, it would seem as if her attitude now underwent a material +change. Her son Reginald had already quarrelled with the king upon the +divorce. He was in suspicious connection with the pope, and having been +required to return home upon his allegiance, had refused obedience. His +mother, and his mother's attached friend, the Marchioness of Exeter, we now +find among those to whom the Nun of Kent communicated her prophecies and +her plans. It does not seem that the countess thought at any time of +reviving her own pretensions; it does seem that she was ready to build a +throne for the Princess Mary out of the ruined supporters of her father's +family. The power which she could wield might at any moment become +formidable. She had two sons in England, Lord Montague and Sir Geoffrey +Pole. Her cousin, the Marquis of Exeter, a grandson himself of Edward +IV.,[661] was, with the exception of the Duke of Norfolk, the most powerful +nobleman in the realm; and he, to judge by events, was beginning to look +coldly on the king.[662] We find her surrounded also by the representatives +of her mother's family--Lord Abergavenny, who had been under suspicion when +the Duke of Buckingham was executed, Sir Edward Neville, afterwards +executed, Lord Latimer, Sir George and Sir William Neville, all of them +were her near connections, all collateral heirs of the King-maker, +inheriting the pride of their birth, and resentfully conscious of their +fallen fortunes. The support of a party so composed would have added +formidable strength to the preaching friars of the Nun of Kent; and as I +cannot doubt that the Nun was endeavouring to press her intrigues in a +quarter where disaffection if created would be most dangerous, so the lady +who ruled this party with a patriarchal authority had listened to her +suggestions; and the repeated interviews with her which were sought by the +Marchioness of Exeter were rendered more than suspicious by the secresy +with which these interviews were conducted.[663] + +These circumstances explain the arrest, to which I alluded above, of Sir +William and Sir George Neville, brothers of Lord Latimer. They were not +among "the many noblemen" to whom the commissioners referred; for their +confessions remain, and contain no allusion to the Nun; but they were +examined at this particular time on general suspicion; and the arrest, +under such circumstances, of two near relatives of Lady Salisbury, +indicates clearly an alarm in the council, lest she might be contemplating +some serious movements. At any rate, either on her account or on their own, +the Nevilles fell under suspicion, and while they had no crimes to reveal, +their depositions, especially that of Sir William Neville, furnish singular +evidence of the temper of the times. + +The confession of the latter begins with an account of the loss of certain +silver spoons, for the recovery of which Sir William sent to a wizard who +resided in Cirencester. The wizard took the opportunity of telling Sir +William's fortune: his wife was to die, and he himself was to marry an +heiress, and be made a baron; with other prospective splendours. The wizard +concluded, however, with recommending him to pay a visit to another dealer +in the dark art more learned than himself, whose name was Jones, at Oxford. + +"So after that," said Sir William [Midsummer, 1532], "I went to Oxford, +intending that my brother George and I should kill a buck with Sir Simon +Harcourt, which he had promised me; and there at Oxford, in the said +Jones's chamber, I did see certain stillatories, alembics, and other +instruments of glass, and also a sceptre and other things, which he said +did appertain to the conjuration of the four kings; and also an image of +white metal; and in a box, a serpent's skin, as he said, and divers books +and things, whereof one was a book which he said was my Lord Cardinal's, +having pictures in it like angels. He told me he could make rings of gold, +to obtain favour of great men; and said that my Lord Cardinal had such; and +promised my said brother and me, either of us, one of them; and also he +showed me a round thing like a ball of crystal. + +"He said that if the King's Grace went over to France [the Calais visit of +October, 1532], his Grace should marry my Lady Marchioness of Pembroke +before that his Highness returned again; and that it would be dangerous to +his Grace, and to the most part of the noblemen that should go with him; +saying also that he had written to one of the king's council to advise his +Highness not to go over, for if he did, it should not be for his Grace's +profit." + +The wizard next pretended that he had seen a vision of a certain room in a +tower, in which a spirit had appeared with a coat of arms in his hand, and +had "delivered the same to Sir William Neville." The arms being described +as those of the Warwick family, Sir William, his brother, and Jones rode +down from Oxford to Warwick, where they went over the castle. The wizard +professed to recognise in a turret chamber the room in which he had seen +the spirit, and he prophesied that Sir William should recover the earldom, +the long-coveted prize of all the Neville family. + +On their return to Oxford, Jones, continues Sir William, said further, +"That there should be a field in the north about a se'n-night before +Christmas, in which my Lord my brother [Lord Latimer] should be slain; the +realm should be long without a king; and much robbery would be within the +realm, specially of abbeys and religious houses, and of rich men, as +merchants, graziers, and others; so that, if I would, he at that time would +advise me to find the means to enter into the said castle for mine own +safeguard, and divers persons would resort unto me. _None of Cadwallader's +blood_, he told me, _should reign more than twenty-four years;_ and also +that Prince Edward [son of Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou, killed at +Tewkesbury], had issue a son which was conveyed over sea; and there had +issue a son which was yet alive, either in Saxony or Almayne; and that +either he or the King of Scots should reign next after the King's Grace +that now is. To all which I answered," Sir William concluded, "that there +is nothing which the will of God is that a man shall obtain, but that he of +his goodness will put in his mind the way whereby he shall come by it; and +that surely I had no mind to follow any such fashion; and that, also, the +late Duke of Buckingham and others had cast themselves away by too much +trust in prophecies, and other jeoparding of themselves, and therefore I +would in no wise follow any such way. He answered, if I would not, it would +be long ere I obtained it. Then I said I believed that well, and if it +never came, I trusted to God to live well enough."[664] + +Sir George Neville confirmed generally his brother's story, protesting that +they had never intended treason, and that "at no time had he been of +counsel" when any treason was thought of.[665] + +The wizard himself was next sent for. The prophecies about the king he +denied wholly. He admitted that he had seen an angel in a dream giving Sir +William Neville the shield of the earldom in Warwick Castle, and that he +had accompanied the two brothers to Warwick, to examine the tower. Beyond +that, he said that he knew nothing either of them or of their intentions. +He declared himself a good subject, and he would "jeopard his life" to make +the philosopher's stone for the king in twelve months if the king pleased +to command him. He desired "no longer space than twelve months upon silver +and twelve and a half upon gold;" to be kept in prison till he had done it; +and it would be "better to the King's Grace than a thousand men."[666] + +The result of these examinations does not appear, except it be that the +Nevilles were dismissed without punishment; and the story itself may be +thought too trifling to have deserved a grave notice. I see in it, however, +an illustration very noticeworthy of the temper which was working in the +country. The suspicion of treason in the Neville family may not have been +confirmed, although we see them casting longing looks on the lost +inheritance of Warwick; but their confessions betray the visions of +impending change, anarchy, and confusion, which were haunting the popular +imagination. A craving after prophecies, a restless eagerness to search +into the future by abnormal means, had infected all ranks from the highest +to the lowest; and such symptoms, when they appear, are a sure evidence of +approaching disorder, for they are an evidence of a present madness which +has brought down wisdom to a common level with folly. At such times, the +idlest fancy is more potent with the mind than the soundest arguments of +reason. The understanding abdicates its functions; and men are given over, +as if by magic, to the enchantments of insanity. + +Phenomena of this eccentric kind always accompany periods of intellectual +change. Most men live and think by habit; and when habit fails them, they +are like unskilful sailors who have lost the landmarks of their course, and +have no compass and no celestial charts by which to steer. In the years +which preceded the French Revolution, Cagliostro was the companion of +princes--at the dissolution of paganism the practicers of curious arts, the +watches and the necromancers, were the sole objects of reverence in the +Roman world;--and so, before the Reformation, archbishops and cardinals saw +an inspired prophetess in a Kentish servant girl; Oxford heads of colleges +sought out heretics with the help of astrology; Anne Boleyn blessed a basin +of rings, her royal fingers pouring such virtue into the metal that no +disorder could resist it;[667] Wolsey had a magic crystal; and Cromwell, +while in Wolsey's household, "did haunt to the company of a wizard."[668] +These things were the counterpart of a religion which taught that slips of +paper, duly paid for, could secure indemnity for sin. It was well for +England that the chief captain at least was proof against the epidemic--no +random scandal seems ever to have whispered that such delusions had touched +the mind of the king.[669] + +While the government were prosecuting these inquiries at home, the law at +the Vatican had run its course; November passed, and as no submission had +arrived, the sentence of the 12th of July came into force, and the king, +the queen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury were declared to have incurred +the threatened censures. + +The privy council met on the 2nd of December, and it was determined in +consequence that copies of the "Act of Appeals," and of the king's +"provocation" to a general council, should be fixed without delay on every +church door in England. Protests were at the same time to be drawn up and +sent into Flanders, and to the other courts in Europe, "to the intent the +falsehood and injustice of the Bishop of Rome might appear to all the +world." The defences of the country were to be looked to; and "spies" to be +sent into Scotland to see "what they intended there," "and whether they +would confeder themselves with any outward princes." Finally, it was +proposed that the attempt to form an alliance with the Lutheran powers +should be renewed on a larger scale; that certain discreet and grave +persons should be appointed to conclude "some league or amity with the +princes of Germany"--"that is to say, the King of Poland, the King of +Hungary,[670] the Duke of Saxony, the Duke of Bavaria, the Duke of +Brandenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, and other potentates."[671] Vaughan's +mission had been merely tentative, and had failed. Yet the offer of a +league, offensive and defensive, the immediate and avowed object of which +was a general council at which the Protestants should be represented, might +easily succeed where vague offers of amity had come to nothing. The +formation of a Protestant alliance, however, would have been equivalent to +a declaration of war against Catholic Europe; and it was a step which could +not be taken, consistently with the Treaty of Calais,--without first +communicating with Francis. + +Henry, therefore, by the advice of the council, wrote a despatch to Sir +John Wallop, the ambassador at Paris, which was to be laid before the +French court. He explained the circumstances in which he was placed, with +the suggestion which the council had made to him. He gave a list of the +princes with whom he had been desired by his ministers to connect +himself--and the object was nothing less than a coalition of Northern +Europe. He recapitulated the injuries which he had received from the pope, +who at length was studying "to subvert the rest and peace of the realm;" +"yea, and so much as in him was, utterly to destroy the same." The nobles +and council, he said, for their own sake as well as for the sake of the +kingdom, had entreated him to put an end, once for all, to the pope's +usurpation; and to invite the Protestant princes, for the universal weal of +Christendom, to unite in a common alliance. In his present situation he was +inclined to act upon this advice. "As concerning his own realm, he had +already taken such order with his nobles and subjects, as he would shortly +be able to give to the pope such a buffet as he never had heretofore;" but +as a German alliance was a matter of great weight and importance, +"although," he concluded, "we consider it to be right expedient to set +forth the same with all diligence, yet we intend nothing to do therein +without making our good brother first privy thereunto. And for this cause +and consideration only, you may say that we have at this time addressed +these letters unto you, commanding you to declare our said purpose unto our +good brother, and to require of him on our behalf his good address and best +advice. Of his answer we require you to advertise us with all diligence, +for according thereunto we intend to attemper our proceedings. We have +lately had advertisements how that our said good brother should, by the +labour of divers affectionate Papists, be minded to set forth something +with his clergy in advancement of the pope and his desires. This we cannot +believe that he will do."[672] + +The meaning of this letter lies upon the surface. If the European powers +were determined to leave him no alternative, the king was prepared to ally +himself with the Lutherans. But however he might profess to desire that +alliance, it was evident that he would prefer, if possible, a less extreme +resource. The pope had ceased to be an object of concern to him; but he +could not contemplate, without extreme unwillingness, a separation from the +orderly governments who professed the Catholic faith. The pope had injured +him; Francis had deceived him; they had tempted his patience because they +knew his disposition. The limit of endurance had been reached at length; +yet, on the verge of the concluding rupture, he turned once more, as if to +offer a last opportunity of peace. + +The reply of Francis was an immediate mission of the Bishop of Bayonne (now +Bishop of Paris), first into England, and from England to Rome, where he +was to endeavour, to the best of his ability, to seam together the already +gaping rent in the church with fair words--a hopeless task--the results of +which, however, were unexpectedly considerable, as will be presently seen. + +Meanwhile, on the side of Flanders, the atmosphere was dubious and +menacing. The refugee friars, who were reported to be well supplied with +money from England, were labouring to exasperate the people, Father Peto +especially distinguishing himself upon this service.[673] The English +ambassador, Sir John Hacket, still remained at Brussels, and the two +governments were formally at peace; but when Hacket required the +queen-regent to forbid the publication of the brief of July in the +Netherlands, he was met with a positive refusal. "M. Ambassador," she said, +"the Emperor, the King of Hungary, the Queen of France, the King of +Portugal, and I, understand what are the rights of our aunt--our duty is to +her--and such letters of the pope as come hither in her favour we shall +obey. Your master has no right to complain either of the emperor or of +myself, if we support our aunt in a just cause."[674] At the same time, +formal complaints were made by Charles of the personal treatment of Queen +Catherine, and the clouds appeared to be gathering for a storm. Yet here, +too, there was an evident shrinking from extremities. A Welsh gentleman had +been at Brussels to offer his services against Henry, and had met with +apparent coldness. Sir John Hacket wrote, on the 15th of December, that he +was assured by well-informed persons, that so long as Charles lived, he +would never be the first to begin a war with England, "which would rebound +to the destruction of the Low Countries."[675] A week later, when the +queen-regent was suffering from an alarming illness, he said it was +reported that, should she die, Catherine or Mary, if either of them was +allowed to leave England, would be held "meet to have governance of the Low +Countries."[676] This was a generous step, if the emperor seriously +contemplated it. The failure of the Nun of Kent had perhaps taught him that +there was no present prospect of a successful insurrection. In his conduct +towards England, he was seemingly governing himself by the prospect which +might open for a successful attack upon it. If occasion offered to strike +the government in connection with an efficient Catholic party in the nation +itself, he would not fail to avail himself of it.[677] Otherwise, he would +perhaps content himself with an attitude of inactive menace; unless menaced +himself by a Protestant confederation. + +Amidst these uneasy symptoms at home and abroad, parliament re-assembled on +the 15th of January. It was a changed England since these men first came +together on the fall of Wolsey. Session after session had been spent in +clipping the roots of the old tree which had overshadowed them for +centuries. On their present meeting they were to finish their work, and lay +it prostrate for ever. Negotiations were still pending with the See of +Rome, and this momentous session had closed before the final catastrophe. +The measures which were passed in the course of it are not, therefore, to +be looked upon as adopted hastily, in a spirit of retaliation, but as the +consistent accomplishment of a course which had been deliberately adopted, +to reverse the positions of the civil and spiritual authority within the +realm, and to withdraw the realm itself from all dependence on a foreign +power. + +The Annates and Firstfruits' Bill had not yet received the royal assent; +but the pope had refused to grant the bulls for bishops recently appointed, +and he was no longer to receive payment for services which he refused to +render. Peter's pence were still paid, and might continue to be paid, if +the pope would recollect himself; but, like the Sibyl of Cuma, Henry +destroyed some fresh privilege with each delay of justice, demanding the +same price for the preservation of what remained. The secondary streams of +tribute now only remained to the Roman See; and communion with the English +church, which it was for Clement to accept or refuse. + +The circumstances under which the session opened were, however, grave and +saddening. Simultaneously with the concluding legislation on the church, +the succession to the throne was to be determined in terms which might, +perhaps, be accepted as a declaration of war by the emperor; and the affair +of the Nun of Kent had rendered necessary an inquiry into the conduct of +honoured members of the two Houses, who were lying under the shadow of high +treason. The conditions were for the first time to be plainly seen under +which the Reformation was to fight its way. The road which lay before it +was beset not merely with external obstacles, which a strong will and a +strong hand could crush, but with the phantoms of dying faiths, which +haunted the hearts of all living men; the superstitions, the prejudices, +the hopes, the fears, the passions, which swayed stormily and fitfully +through the minds of every actor in the great drama. + +The uniformity of action in the parliament of 1529, during the seven years +which it continued, is due to the one man who saw his way distinctly, +Thomas Cromwell. The nation was substantially united in the divorce +question, could the divorce be secured without a rupture with the European +powers. It was united also on the necessity of limiting the jurisdiction of +the clergy, and cutting short the powers of the consistory courts. But in +questions of "opinion" there was the most sensitive jealousy; and from the +combined instincts of prejudice and conservatism, the majority of the +country in a count of heads would undoubtedly have been against a +separation from Rome. + +The clergy professed to approve the acts of the government, but it was for +the most part with the unwilling acquiescence of men who were without +courage to refuse. The king was divided against himself. Nine days in ten +he was the clear-headed, energetic, powerful statesman; on the tenth he was +looking wistfully to the superstition which he had left, and the clear +sunshine was darkened with theological clouds, which broke in lightning and +persecution. Thus there was danger at any moment of a reaction, unless +opportunity was taken at the flood, unless the work was executed too +completely to admit of reconsideration, and the nation committed to a +course from which it was impossible to recede. The action of the +conservatives was paralysed for the time by the want of a fixed purpose. +The various parts of the movement were so skilfully linked together, that +partial opposition to it was impossible; and so long as the people had to +choose between the pope and the king, their loyalty would not allow them to +hesitate. But very few men actively adhered to Cromwell. Cromwell had +struck the line on which the forces of nature were truly moving--the +resultant, not of the victory of either of the extreme parties, but of the +joint action of their opposing forces. To him belonged the rare privilege +of genius, to see what other men could not see; and therefore he was +condemned to rule a generation which hated him, to do the will of God, and +to perish in his success. He had no party. By the nobles he was regarded +with the same mixed contempt and fear which had been felt for Wolsey. The +Protestants, perhaps, knew what he was, but he could only purchase their +toleration by himself checking their extravagance. Latimer was the only +person of real power on whose friendship he could calculate, and Latimer +was too plain spoken on dangerous questions to be useful as a political +supporter. + +The session commenced on the 15th of January. + +The first step was to receive the final submission of convocation. The +undignified resistance was at last over, and the clergy had promised to +abstain for the future from unlicensed legislation. To secure their +adherence to their engagements, an act[678] was passed to make the breach +of that engagement penal; and a commission of thirty-two persons, half of +whom were to be laymen, was designed for the revision of the Canon +law.[679] + +The next most important movement was to assimilate the trials for heresy +with the trials for other criminal offences. I have already explained at +length the manner in which the bishops abused their judicial powers. These +powers were not absolutely taken away, but ecclesiastics were no longer +permitted to arrest _ex officio_ and examine at their pleasure. Where a +charge of heresy was to be brought against a man, presentments were to be +made by lawful witnesses before justices of the peace; and then, and not +otherwise, he might fall under the authority of the "ordinary." Secret +examinations were declared illegal. The offender was to be tried in open +court, and, previous to his trial, had a right to be admitted to bail, +unless the bishop could show cause to the contrary to the satisfaction of +two magistrates.[680] + +This was but a slight instalment of lenity; but it was an indication of the +turning tide. Limited as it was, the act operated as an effective check +upon persecution till the passing of the Six Articles Bill. + +Turning next to the relations between England and Rome, the parliament +reviewed the Annates Act,[681] which had been left unratified in the hope +that the pope might have consented to a compromise, and that "by some +gentle ways the said exaction might have been redressed and reformed." The +expectation had been disappointed. The pope had not condescended to reply +to the communication which had been made to him, and the act had in +consequence received the royal assent. An alteration had thus become +necessary in the manner of presentation to vacant bishoprics. The anomalies +of the existing practice have been already described. By the Great Charter +the chapters had acquired the right of free election. A _conge d'elire_ was +granted by the king on the occurrence of a vacancy, with no attempt at a +nomination. The chapters were supposed to make their choice freely, and the +name of the bishop-elect was forwarded to the pope, who returned the +Pallium and the Bulls, receiving the Annates in exchange. The pope's part +in the matter was now terminated. No Annates would be sent any longer to +Rome, and no Bulls would be returned from Rome. The appointments lay +between the chapters and the crown; and it might have seemed, at first +sight, as if it would have been sufficient to omit the reference to the +papacy, and as if the remaining forms might continue as they were. The +chapters, however, had virtually long ceased to elect freely; the crown had +absorbed the entire functions of presentation, sometimes appointing +foreigners,[682] sometimes allowing the great ecclesiastical ministers to +nominate themselves;[683] while the rights of the chapters, though existing +in theory, were not officially recognised either by the pope or by the +crown. The king affected to accept the names of the prelates-elect, when +returned to him from Rome, as nominations by the pope; and the pope, in +communicating with the chapters, presented them with their bishops as from +himself.[684] The papal share in the matter was a shadow, but it was +acknowledged under the forms of courtesy; the share of the chapters was +wholly and absolutely ignored. The crisis of a revolution was not the +moment at which their legal privileges could be safely restored to them. +The problem of re-arrangement was a difficult one, and it was met in a +manner peculiarly English. The practice of granting the _conge d'elire_ to +the chapters on the occurrence of a vacancy, which had fallen into +desuetude, was again adopted, and the church resumed the forms of liberty: +but the licence to elect a bishop was to be accompanied with the name of +the person whom the chapter was required to elect; and if within twelve +days the person so named had not been chosen, the nomination of the crown +was to become absolute, and the chapter would incur a Premunire.[685] + +This act, which I conceive to have been more arbitrary in form than in +intention, was followed by a closing attack upon the remaining "exactions" +of the Bishop of Rome. The Annates were gone. There were yet to go, +"Pensions, Censes, Peter's Pence, Procurations, Fruits, Suits for +Provision, Delegacies and Rescripts in causes of Contention and Appeals, +Jurisdictions legatine--also Dispensations, Licenses, Faculties, Grants, +Relaxations, Writs called Perinde valere, Rehabilitations, Abolitions," +with other unnamed (the parliament being wearied of naming them) "infinite +sorts of Rules, Briefs, and instruments of sundry natures, names, and +kinds." All these were perennially open sluices, which had drained England +of its wealth for centuries, returning only in showers of paper, and the +Commons were determined that streams so unremunerative should flow no +longer. They conceived that they had been all along imposed upon, and that +the "Bishop of Rome was to be blamed for having allured and beguiled the +English nation, persuading them that he had power to dispense with human +laws, uses, and customs, contrary to right and conscience." If the king so +pleased, therefore, they would not be so beguiled any more. These and all +similar exactions should cease; and all powers claimed by the Bishop of +Rome within the realm should cease, and should be transferred to the crown. +At the same time they would not press upon the pope too hardly; they would +repeat the same conditions which they had offered with the Annates. He had +received these revenues as the supreme judge in the highest court in +Europe, and he might retain his revenues or receive compensation for them, +if he dared to be just. It was for himself to resolve, and three months +were allowed for a final decision. + +In conclusion, the Commons thought it well to assert that they were +separating, not from the church of Christ, but only from the papacy. A +judge who allowed himself to be overawed against his conscience by a +secular power, could not any longer be recognised; but no thing or things +contained in the act should be afterwards "interpreted or expounded, that +his Grace (the king), his nobles and subjects, intended by the same to +decline or vary from the congregation of Christ's church in anything +concerning the articles of the Catholic faith of Christendom, or in any +other things declared by the Holy Scripture and the Word of God necessary +for salvation; but only to make an ordinance, by policies necessary and +convenient, to repress vice, and for the good conservation of the realm in +peace, unity, and tranquillity, from ravin and spoil--ensuing much the old +antient customs of the realm in that behalf."[686] + +The most arduous business was thus finished--the most painful remained. The +Nun of Kent and her accomplices were to be proceeded against by act of +parliament; and the bill of their attainder was presented for the first +time in the House of Lords, on the 18th of February. The offence of the +principal conspirators was plainly high treason; their own confessions +removed uncertainty; the guilt was clear--the sentence was inevitable. But +the fault of those who had been listeners only was less easy of +measurement, and might vary from comparative innocence to a definite breach +of allegiance. + +The government were unwilling to press with severity on the noble lords and +ladies whose names had been unexpectedly brought to light; and there were +two men of high rank only, whose complicity it was thought necessary to +notice. The Bishop of Rochester's connection with the Nun had been culpably +encouraging; and the responsibility of Sir Thomas More was held also to be +very great in having countenanced, however lightly, such perilous schemers. + +In the bill, therefore, as it was first read, More and Fisher found +themselves declared guilty of misprision of treason. But the object of this +measure was rather to warn than to punish, nor was there any real intention +of continuing their prosecution. Cromwell, under instructions from the +king, had communicated privately with both of them. He had sent a message +to Fisher through his brother, telling him that he had only to ask for +forgiveness to receive it;[687] and he had begged More through his +son-in-law, Mr. Roper, to furnish him with an explicit account of what had +passed at any time between himself and the Nun,[688] with an intimation +that, if honestly made, it would be accepted in his favour. + +These advances were met by More in the spirit in which they were offered. +He heartily thanked Cromwell, "reckoning himself right deeply beholden to +him;"[689] and replied with a long, minute, and evidently veracious story, +detailing an interview which he had held with the woman in the chapel of +Sion Monastery. He sent at the same time a copy of a letter which he had +written to her, and described various conversations with the friars who +were concerned in the forgery. He did not deny that he had believed the Nun +to have been inspired, or that he had heard of the language which she was +in the habit of using respecting the king. He protested, however, that he +had himself never entertained a treasonable thought. He told Cromwell that +"he had done a very meritorious deed in bringing forth to light such +detestable hypocrisy, whereby every other wretch might take warning, and be +feared to set forth their devilish dissembled falsehoods under the manner +and colour of the wonderful work of God."[690] More's offence had not been +great. His acknowledgments were open and unreserved; and Cromwell laid his +letter before the king, adding his own intercession that the matter might +be passed over. Henry consented, expressing only his grief and concern that +Sir Thomas More should have acted so unwisely.[691] He required, +nevertheless, as Cromwell suggested, that a formal letter should be +written, with a confession of fault, and a request for forgiveness. More +obeyed; he wrote, gracefully reminding the king of a promise when he +resigned the chancellorship, that in any suit which he might afterwards +have to his Grace, either touching his honour or his profit, he should find +his Highness his good and gracious lord.[692] Henry acknowledged his claim; +his name was struck out of the bill, and the prosecution against him was +dropped. + +Fisher's conduct was very different; his fault had been far greater than +More's, and promises more explicit had been held out to him of forgiveness. +He replied to these promises by an elaborate and ridiculous defence--not +writing to the king, as Cromwell desired him, but vindicating himself as +having committed no fault; although he had listened eagerly to language +which was only pardonable on the assumption that it was inspired, and had +encouraged a nest of fanatics by his childish credulity. The Nun "had +showed him not," he said, "that any prince or temporal lord should put the +king in danger of his crown." He knew nothing of the intended insurrection. +He believed the woman to have been a saint; he supposed that she had +herself told the king all which she had told to him; and therefore he said +that he had nothing for which to reproach himself.[693] He was unable to +see that the exposure of the imposture had imparted a fresh character to +his conduct, which he was bound to regret. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had +lent his countenance to a conspiracy; and so long as he refused to +acknowledge his indiscretion, the government necessarily would interpret +his actions in the manner least to his advantage. + +If he desired that his conduct should be forgotten, it was indispensable +that he should change his attitude, and so Cromwell warned him. "Ye +desire," the latter wrote, "for the passion of Christ, that ye be no more +quickened in this matter; for if ye be put to that strait ye will not lose +your soul, but ye will speak as your conscience leadeth you; with many more +words of great courage. My Lord, if ye had taken my counsel sent unto you +by your brother, and followed the same, submitting yourself by your letter +to the King's Grace for your offences in this behalf, I would have trusted +that ye should never be quickened in the matter more. But now where ye take +upon you to defy the whole matter as ye were in no default, I cannot so far +promise you. Wherefore, my Lord, I would eftsoons advise you that, laying +apart all such excuses as ye have alleged in your letters, which in my +opinion be of small effect, ye beseech the King's Grace to be your gracious +lord and to remit unto you your negligence, oversight, and offence +committed against his Highness in this behalf; and I dare undertake that +his Highness shall benignly accept you into his gracious favour, all matter +of displeasure past afore this time forgotten and forgiven."[694] + +Fisher must have been a hopelessly impracticable person. Instead of +following More's example, and accepting well-meant advice, he persisted in +the same tone, and drew up an address to the House of Lords, in which he +repeated the defence which he had made to Cromwell. He expressed no sorrow +that he had been engaged in a criminal intrigue, no pleasure that the +intrigue had been discovered; and he doggedly adhered to his assertions of +his own innocence.[695] + +There was nothing to be done except to proceed with his attainder. The bill +passed three readings, and the various prisoners were summoned to the Star +Chamber to be heard in arrest of judgment. The Bishop of Rochester's +attendance was dispensed with on the ground of illness, and because he had +made his defence in writing.[696] Nothing of consequence was urged by +either of the accused. The bill was most explicit in its details, going +carefully through the history of the imposture, and dwelling on the +separate acts of each offender. They were able to disprove no one of its +clauses, and on the 12th of March it was read a last time. On the 21st it +received the royal assent, and there remained only to execute the sentence. +The Nun herself, Richard Masters, and the five friars being found guilty of +high treason, were to die; the Bishop of Rochester, Father Abel, Queen +Catherine's confessor, and four more, were sentenced for misprision of +treason to forfeiture of goods and imprisonment. All other persons +implicated whose names did not appear, were declared pardoned at the +intercession of Queen Anne.[697] + +The chief offenders suffered at Tyburn on the 21st of April, meeting death +calmly, as it appears; receiving a fate most necessary and most +deserved,[698] yet claiming from us that partial respect which is due to +all persons who will risk their lives in an unselfish cause. For the Nun +herself, we may feel even a less qualified regret. Before her death she was +permitted to speak a few words to the people, which at the distance of +three centuries will not be read without emotion. + +"Hither am I come to die," she said, "and I have not been the only cause of +mine own death, which most justly I have deserved; but also I am the cause +of the death of all these persons which at this time here suffer. And yet I +am not so much to be blamed, considering that it was well known unto these +learned men that I was a poor wench without learning; and therefore they +might have easily perceived that the things which were done by me could not +proceed in no such sort; but their capacities and learning could right well +judge that they were altogether feigned. But because the things which I +feigned were profitable unto them, therefore they much praised me, and bare +me in hand that it was the Holy Ghost and not I that did them. And I being +puffed up with their praises, fell into a pride and foolish fantasye with +myself, and thought I might feign what I would, which thing hath brought me +to this case, and for the which I now cry God and the King's Highness most +heartily mercy, and desire all you good people to pray to God to have mercy +on me, and on all them that here suffer with me."[699] + +And now the closing seal was to be affixed to the agitation of the great +question of the preceding years. I have said that throughout these years +the uncertainty of the succession had been the continual anxiety of the +nation. The birth of a prince or princess could alone provide an absolute +security; and to beget a prince appeared to be the single feat which Henry +was unable to accomplish. The marriage so dearly bought had been followed +as yet only by a girl; and if the king were to die, leaving two daughters +circumstanced as Mary and Elizabeth were circumstanced, a dispute would +open which the sword only could decide. To escape the certainty of civil +war, therefore, it was necessary to lay down the line of inheritance by a +peremptory order; to cut off resolutely all rival claims; and in +legislating upon a matter so vital, and hitherto so uncertain and +indeterminate, to enforce the decision with the most stringent and exacting +penalties. From the Heptarchy downwards English history furnished no fixed +rule of inheritance, but only a series of precedents of uncertainty; and +while at no previous time had the circumstances of the succession been of a +nature so legitimately embarrassing, the relations of England with the pope +and with foreign powers doubly enhanced the danger. But I will not use my +own language on so important a subject. The preamble of the Act of +Succession is the best interpreter of the provisions of that act. + +"In their most humble wise show unto your Majesty your most humble and +obedient subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons, in +this present parliament assembled; that since it is the natural inclination +of every man gladly and willingly to provide for the safety of both his +title and succession, although it touch only his private cause; we +therefore, most rightful and dreadful Sovereign Lord, reckon ourselves much +more bounden to beseech and intreat your Highness (although we doubt not of +your princely heart and wisdom, mixed with a natural affection to the same) +to foresee and provide for the most perfect surety of both you and of your +most lawful successors and heirs, upon which dependeth all our joy and +wealth; in whom also is united and knit the only mere true inheritance and +title of this realm without any contradiction. We, your said most humble +and obedient servants, call to our remembrance the great divisions which in +times past hath been in this realm by reason of several titles pretended to +the imperial crown of the same; which some time and for the most part +ensued by occasion of ambiguity, and [by] doubts then not so perfectly +declared but that men might upon froward intents expound them to every +man's sinister appetite and affection after their senses; whereof hath +ensued great destruction and effusion of man's blood, as well of a great +number of the nobles as of other the subjects and specialty inheritors in +the same. The greatest occasion thereof hath been because no perfect and +substantial provision by law hath been made within this realm itself when +doubts and questions have been moved; by reason whereof the Bishops of Rome +and See Apostolic have presumed in times past to invest who should please +them to inherit in other men's kingdoms and dominions, which thing we your +most humble subjects, both spiritual and temporal, do much abhor and +detest. And sometimes other foreign princes and potentates of sundry +degrees, minding rather dissension and discord to continue in the realm +than charity, equity, or unity, have many times supported wrong titles, +whereby they might the more easily and facilly aspire to the superiority of +the same. + +"The continuance and sufferance of these things, deeply considered and +pondered, is too dangerous and perilous to be suffered any longer; and too +much contrary to unity, peace, and tranquillity, being greatly reproachable +and dishonourable to the whole realm. And in consideration thereof, your +said subjects, calling further to their remembrance, that the good unity, +peace, and wealth of the realm, specially and principally, above all +worldly things, consisteth in the surety and certainty of the procreation +and posterity of your Highness, in whose most Royal person at this time is +no manner of doubt, do therefore most humbly beseech your Highness that it +may be enacted, with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and +the Commons in this present parliament assembled-- + +"1. That the marriage between your Highness and the Lady Catherine, widow +of the late Prince Arthur, be declared to have been from the beginning, +null, the issue of it illegitimate, and the separation pronounced by the +Archbishop of Canterbury good and valid. + +"2. That the marriage between your Highness and your most dear and entirely +beloved wife, Queen Anne, be established and held good, and taken for +undoubtful, true, sincere, and perfect, ever hereafter."[701] + +The act then assumed a general character, laying down a table of prohibited +degrees, within which marriage might not under any pretence be in future +contracted; and demanding that any marriage which might already exist +within those degrees should be at once dissolved. After this provision, it +again returned to the king, and fixed the order in which his children by +Queen Anne were to succeed. The details of the regulations were minute and +elaborate, and the rule to be observed was the same as that which exists at +present. First, the sons were to succeed with their heirs. If sons failed, +then the daughters, with their heirs; and, in conclusion, it was resolved +that any person who should maliciously do anything by writing, printing, or +other external act or deed to the peril of the king, or to the prejudice of +his marriage with Queen Anne, or to the derogation of the issue of that +marriage, should be held guilty of high treason; and whoever should speak +against that marriage, should be held guilty of misprision of +treason--severe enactments, such as could not be justified at ordinary +times, and such as, if the times had been ordinary, would not have been +thought necessary--but the exigencies of the country could not tolerate an +uncertainty of title in the heir to the crown; and the title could only be +secured by prohibiting absolutely the discussion of dangerous questions. + +The mere enactment of a statute, whatever penalties were attached to the +violation of it, was still, however, an insufficient safeguard. The recent +investigation had revealed a spirit of disloyalty, where such a spirit had +not been expected. The deeper the inquiry had penetrated, the more clearly +appeared tokens, if not of conspiracy, yet of excitement, of doubt, of +agitation, of alienated feeling, if not of alienated act. All the symptoms +were abroad which provide disaffection with its opportunity; and in the +natural confusion which attended the revolt from the papacy, the +obligations of duty, both political and religious, had become indefinite +and contradictory, pointing in all directions, like the magnetic needle in +a thunderstorm. + +It was thought well, therefore, to vest a power in the crown, of trying the +tempers of suspected persons, and examining them upon oath, as to their +willingness to maintain the decision of parliament. This measure was a +natural corollary of the statute, and depended for its justification on the +extent of the danger to which the state was exposed. If a difference of +opinion on the legitimacy of the king's children, or of the pope's power in +England, was not dangerous, it was unjust to interfere with the natural +liberty of speech or thought. If it was dangerous, and if the state had +cause for supposing that opinions of the kind might spread in secret so +long as no opportunity was offered for detecting their progress, to require +the oath was a measure of reasonable self-defence, not permissible only, +but in a high degree necessary and right. + +Under the impression, then, that the circumstances of the country demanded +extraordinary precautions, a commission was appointed, consisting of the +Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Norfolk, and the +Duke of Suffolk; and these four, or any three of them, were empowered to +administer, at the pleasure of the king, "to all and singular liege +subjects of the realm," the following oath:-- + +"Ye shall swear to bear your faith, truth, and obedience only to the King's +Majesty, and to the heirs of his body, according to the limitation and +rehearsal within the statute of succession; and not to any other within +this realm, or foreign authority, prince, or potentate: and in case any +oath be made or hath been made by you to any other person or persons, that +then you do repute the same as vain and annihilate: and that to your +cunning, wit, and utmost of your power, without guile, fraud, or other +undue means, ye shall observe, keep, maintain, and defend this act above +specified, and all the whole contents and effects thereof; and all other +acts and statutes made since the beginning of this present parliament, in +confirmation or for due execution of the same, or of anything therein +contained. And thus ye shall do against all manner of persons, of what +estate, dignity, degree, or condition soever they be; and in no wise do or +attempt, or to your power suffer to be done or attempted, directly or +indirectly, any thing or things, privily or apertly, to the let, hindrance, +damage, or derogation thereof, by any manner of means, or for any pretence +or cause, so help you God and all saints."[702] + +With this last resolution the House rose, having sat seventy-five days, and +despatched their business swiftly. A week later, the news arrived from Rome +that there too all was at length over; that the cause was decided, and +decided against the king. The history of the closing catastrophe is as +obscure as it is strange, and the account of the manner in which it was +brought about is unfortunately incomplete in many important particulars. +The outline only can be apprehended, and that very imperfectly. + +On the receipt in Paris of the letter in which Henry threatened to organise +a Protestant confederacy, Du Bellay, in genuine anxiety for the welfare of +Christendom, had volunteered his services for a final effort. Not a moment +was to be lost, for the courts of Rome were already busy with the great +cause; but the king's evident reluctance to break with the Catholic powers, +gave room for hope that something might still be done; and going in person +to England, the bishop had induced Henry, at the last extremity, either to +entrust him with representative powers, or else to allow him after all to +make some kind of concession. I am unable to learn the extent to which +Henry yielded, but that an offer was made of some kind is evident from the +form of the story.[703] The winter was very cold, but the bishop made his +way to Rome with the haste of good will, and arrived in time to stay +judgment, which was on the point of being pronounced. It seemed, for the +moment, as if he would succeed. He was permitted to make engagements on the +part of Henry; and that time might be allowed for communication with +England, the pope agreed to delay sentence till the 23rd of March. This +bishop's terms were approved by the king, and a courier was sent off with +letters of confirmation; Sir Edward Karne and Dr. Revett following +leisurely, with a more ample commission. The stone which had been +laboriously rolled to the summit of the hill was trembling on the brink, +and in a moment might rebound into the plain. + +But this was not to be the end. Some accidental cause delayed the courier; +the 23rd of March came, and he had not arrived. Du Bellay implored a +further respite. The King of England, he said, had waited six years; it was +not a great thing for the papal council to wait six days. The cardinals +were divided; but the Spanish party were the strongest, and when the votes +were taken carried the day. The die was cast, and the pope, in spite of +himself, his promises, and his conscience, drove at length upon the rocks +to which he had been so long drifting.[704] In deference to the opinion of +the majority of the cardinals, he pronounced the original marriage to have +been valid, the dispensation by which it was permitted to have been legal; +and, as a natural consequence, Henry, King of England, should he fail in +obedience to this judgment, was declared to be excommunicate from the +fellowship of the church, and to have forfeited the allegiance of his +subjects. + +Lest the censures should be discredited by a blank discharge, engagements +were entered into, that within four months of the promulgation of the +sentence, the emperor would invade England, and Henry should be +deposed.[705] The imperialists illuminated Rome; cannon were fired; +bonfires blazed; and great bodies of men paraded the streets with shouts of +"the Empire and Spain."[706] Already, in their eager expectation, England +was a second Netherlands, a captured province under the regency of +Catherine or Mary. + +Two days later, the courier arrived. The pope, at the entreaties of the +Bishop of Paris, re-assembled the consistory, to consider whether the steps +which had been taken should be undone. They sat debating all night, and the +result was nothing. No dependence could be placed on the cardinals, Du +Bellay said, for they spoke one way, and voted another.[707] + +Thus all was over. In a scene of general helplessness the long drama +closed, and, what we call accident, for want of some better word, cut the +knot at last over which human incapacity had so vainly laboured. The Bishop +of Paris retired from Rome in despair. On his way back, he met the English +commissioners at Bologna, and told them that their errand was hopeless, and +that they need not proceed. "When we asked him," wrote Sir Edward Karne to +the king, "the cause of such hasty process, he made answer that the +imperialists at Rome had strengthened themselves in such a manner, that +they coacted the said Bishop of Rome to give sentence contrary to his own +mind, and the expectation of himself and of the French king. He showed us +also that the Lady Princess Dowager sent lately, in the month of March +past, letters to the Bishop of Rome, and also to her proctors, whereby the +Bishop of Rome was much moved for her part. The imperials, before the +sentence was given, promised, in the emperor's behalf, that he would be the +executor of the sentence."[708] + +This is all which we are able to say of the immediate catastrophe which +decided the fate of England, and through England, of the world. The deep +impenetrable falsehood of the Roman ecclesiastics prevents us from +discovering with what intentions the game of the last few weeks or months +had been played; it is sufficient for Englishmen to remember that, whatever +may have been the explanation of his conduct, the pope, in the concluding +passage of his connection with this country, furnished the most signal +justification which was ever given for the revolt from an abused authority. +The supreme judge in Christendom had for six years trifled with justice, +out of fear of an earthly prince; he concluded these years with uniting the +extreme of folly with the extreme of improbity, and pronounced a sentence, +willingly or unwillingly, which he had acknowledged to be unjust. + +Charity may possibly acquit Clement of conscious duplicity. He was one of +those men who waited upon fortune, and waited always without success; who +gave his word as the interest of the moment suggested, trusting that it +might be convenient to observe it; and who was too long accustomed to break +his promises to look with any particular alarm on that contingency. It is +possible, also,--for of this Clement was capable--that he knew from the +beginning the conclusion to which he would at last be driven; that he had +engaged himself with Charles to decide in Catherine's favour as distinctly +as he had engaged himself with Francis to decide against her; and that all +his tortuous scheming was intended either to weary out the patience of the +King of England, or to entangle him in acknowledgments from which he would +not be able to extricate himself. + +He was mistaken, certainly, in the temper of the English nation; he +believed what the friars told him; and trusting to the promises of +disaffection, insurrection, invasion--those _ignes fatui_ which for sixty +years floated so delusively before the Italian imagination, he imagined, +perhaps, that he might trifle with Henry with impunity. This only is +impossible, that, if he had seriously intended to fulfil the promises which +he had made to the French king, the accidental delay of a courier could +have made so large a difference in his determination. It is not possible +that, if he had assured himself, as he pretended, that justice was on the +side against which he had declared, he would not have availed himself of +any pretext to retreat from a position which ought to have been intolerable +to him. + +The question, however, had ended, "as all things in this world do have +their end." The news of the sentence arrived in England at the beginning of +April, with an intimation of the engagements which had been entered upon by +the imperial ambassador for an invasion. Du Bellay returned to Paris at the +same time, to report the failure of his undertaking; and Francis, +disappointed, angry, and alarmed, sent the Duke of Guise to London with +promises of support if an attempt to invade was really made, and with a +warning at the same time to Henry to prepare for danger. Troops were +gathering in Flanders; detachments were on their way out of Italy, Germany, +and Bohemia, to be followed by three thousand Spaniards, and perhaps many +more; and the object avowed for these preparations was wholly +incommensurate with their magnitude.[709] For his own sake Francis could +not permit a successful invasion of England, unless, indeed, he himself was +to take part in it; and therefore, with entire sincerity, he offered his +services. The cordial understanding for which Henry had hoped was at an +end; but the political confederacy remained, which the interests of the two +countries combined for the present to preserve unbroken. + +Guise proposed another interview at Calais between the sovereigns. The king +for the moment was afraid to leave England,[710] lest the opportunity +should be made use of for an insurrection; but prudence taught him, though +disappointed in Francis, to make the best of a connection too convenient to +be sacrificed. The German league was left in abeyance till the immediate +danger was passed, and till the effect of the shock in England itself had +been first experienced. He gladly accepted, in lieu of it, an offer that +the French fleet should guard the Channel through the summer; and +meanwhile, he collected himself resolutely, to abide the issue, whatever +the issue was to be. + +The Tudor spirit was at length awake in the English sovereign. He had +exhausted the resources of patience; he had stooped even to indignity to +avoid the conclusion which had come at last. There was nothing left but to +meet defiance by defiance, and accept the position to which the pope had +driven him. In quiet times occasionally wayward and capricious, Henry, like +Elizabeth after him, reserved his noblest nature for the moment of danger, +and was ever greatest when peril was most immediate. Woe to those who +crossed him now, for the time was grown stern, and to trifle further was to +be lost. The suspended act of parliament was made law on the day (it would +seem) of the arrival of the sentence. Convocation, which was still sitting, +hurried through a declaration that the pope had no more power in England +than any other bishop.[711] Five years before, if a heretic had ventured so +desperate an opinion, the clergy would have shut their ears and run upon +him: now they only contended with each other in precipitate obsequiousness. +The houses of the Observants at Canterbury and Greenwich, which had been +implicated with the Nun of Kent, were suppressed, and the brethren were +scattered among monasteries where they could be under surveillance. The Nun +and her friends were sent to execution.[712] The ordnance stores were +examined, the repairs of the navy were hastened, and the garrisons were +strengthened along the coast. Everywhere the realm armed itself for the +struggle, looking well to the joints of its harness and to the temper of +its weapons. + +The commission appointed under the Statute of Succession opened its +sittings to receive the oaths of allegiance. Now, more than ever, was it +necessary to try men's dispositions, when the pope had challenged their +obedience. In words all went well: the peers swore; bishops, abbots, +priors, heads of colleges swore[713] with scarcely an exception,--the +nation seemed to unite in an unanimous declaration of freedom. In one +quarter only, and that a very painful one, was there refusal. It was found +solely among the persons who had been implicated in the late conspiracy. +Neither Sir Thomas More nor the Bishop of Rochester could expect that their +recent conduct would exempt them from an obligation which the people +generally accepted with good will. They had connected themselves, perhaps +unintentionally, with a body of confessed traitors. An opportunity was +offered them of giving evidence of their loyalty, and escaping from the +shadow of distrust. More had been treated leniently; Fisher had been +treated far more than leniently. It was both fair and natural that they +should be called upon to give proof that their lesson had not been learnt +in vain; and, in fact, no other persons, if they had been passed over, +could have been called upon to swear, for no other persons had laid +themselves open to so just suspicion. + +Their conduct so exactly tallied, that they must have agreed beforehand on +the course which they would adopt; and in following the details, we need +concern ourselves only with the nobler figure. + +The commissioners sate at the archbishop's palace at Lambeth; and at the +end of April, Sir Thomas More received a summons to appear before +them.[714] He was at his house at Chelsea, where for the last two years he +had lived in deep retirement, making ready for evil times. Those times at +length were come. On the morning on which he was to present himself, he +confessed and received the sacrament in Chelsea church; and "whereas," says +his great-grandson, "at other times, before he parted from his wife and +children, they used to bring him to his boat, and he there kissing them +bade them farewell, at this time he suffered none of them to follow him +forth of his gate, but pulled the wicket after him, and with a heavy heart +he took boat with his son Roper."[715] He was leaving his home for the last +time, and he knew it. He sat silent for some minutes, and then, with a +sudden start, said, "I thank our Lord, the field is won." Lambeth Palace +was crowded with people who had come on the same errand with himself. More +was called in early, and found Cromwell present with the four +commissioners, and also the Abbot of Westminster. The oath was read to him. +It implied that he should keep the statute of succession in all its parts, +and he desired to see the statute itself. He read it through, and at once +replied that others might do as they pleased; he would blame no one for +taking the oath; but for himself it was impossible. He would swear +willingly to the part of it which secured the succession to the children of +Queen Anne.[716] That was a matter on which parliament was competent to +decide, and he had no right to make objections. If he might be allowed to +take an oath to this portion of the statute in language of his own, he +would do it; but as the words stood, he would "peril his soul" by using +them. The Lord Chancellor desired him to re-consider his answer. He retired +to the garden, and in his absence others were called in; among them the +Bishop of Rochester, who refused in the same terms. More was then recalled. +He was asked if he persisted in his resolution; and when he replied that he +did, he was requested to state his reasons. He said that he was afraid of +increasing the king's displeasure, but if he could be assured that he might +explain himself safely he was ready to do so. If his objection could then +be answered to his satisfaction, he would swear; in the meantime, he +repeated, very explicitly, that he judged no one--he spoke only for +himself. + +An opening seemed to be offered in these expressions which was caught at by +Cranmer's kind-hearted casuistry. If Sir Thomas More could not condemn +others for taking the oath, the archbishop said, Sir Thomas More could not +be sure that it was sin to take it; while his duty to his king and to the +parliament was open and unquestioned. + +More hesitated for an instant, but he speedily recovered his firmness. He +had considered what he ought to do, he said; his conscience was clear about +it, and he could say no more than he had said already. They continued to +argue with him, but without effect; he had made up his mind; the victory, +as he said, had been won. + +Cromwell was deeply affected. In his passionate regret, he exclaimed, that +he had rather his only son had lost his head than that More should have +refused the oath. No one knew better than Cromwell that intercession would +be of no further use; that he could not himself advise the king to give +way. The parliament, after grave consideration, had passed a law which they +held necessary to secure the peace of the country; and two persons of high +rank refused obedience to it, whose example would tell in every English +household. Either, therefore, the act was not worth the parchment on which +it was written, or the penalties of it must be enforced: no middle way, no +compromise, no acquiescent reservations, could in such a case be admitted. +The law must have its way. + +The recusants were committed for four days to the keeping of the Abbot of +Westminster; and the council met to determine on the course to be pursued. +Their offence, by the act, was misprision of treason. On the other hand, +they had both offered to acknowledge the Princess Elizabeth as the lawful +heir to the throne; and the question was raised whether this offer should +be accepted. It was equivalent to a demand that the form should be altered, +not for them only, but for every man. If persons of their rank and +notoriety were permitted to swear with a qualification, the same privilege +must be conceded to all. But there was so much anxiety to avoid +extremities, and so warm a regard was personally felt for Sir Thomas More, +that this objection was not allowed to be fatal. It was thought that +possibly an exception might be made, yet kept a secret from the world; and +the fact that they had sworn under any form might go far to silence +objectors and reconcile the better class of the disaffected.[717] This view +was particularly urged by Cranmer, always gentle, hoping, and +illogical.[718] But, in fact, secresy was impossible. If More's discretion +could have been relied upon, Fisher's babbling tongue would have trumpeted +his victory to all the winds. Nor would the government consent to pass +censure on its own conduct by evading the question whether the act was or +was not just. If it was not just, it ought not to be: maintained at all; if +it was just, there must be no respect of persons. + +The clauses to which the bishop and the ex-chancellor declined to bind +themselves were those which declared illegal the marriage of the king with +Catherine, and the marriage legal between the king and Queen Anne. To +refuse these was to declare Mary legitimate, to declare Elizabeth +illegitimate, and would do more to strengthen Mary's claims than could be +undone by a thousand oaths. However large might be More's estimate of the +power of parliament, he could have given no clear answer--and far less +could Fisher have given a clear answer--if they had been required to say +the part which they would take, should the emperor invade the kingdom under +the pope's sanction. The emperor would come to execute a sentence which in +their consciences they believed to be just; how could they retain their +allegiance to Henry, when their convictions must be with the invading army? + +What ought to have been done let those say who disapprove of what was +actually done. The high character of the prisoners, while it increased the +desire, increased the difficulty of sparing them; and to have given way +would have been a confession of a doubtful cause, which at such a time +would not have been dangerous, but would have been fatal. Anne Boleyn is +said to have urged the king to remain peremptory;[719] but the following +letter of Cromwell's explains the ultimate resolution of the council in a +very reasonable manner. It was written to Cranmer in reply to his +arguments for concession. + +"My Lord, after mine humble commendation, it may please your Grace to be +advertised that I have received your letter, and showed the same to the +King's Highness; who, perceiving that your mind and opinion is, that it +were good that the Bishop of Rochester and Master More should be sworn to +the act of the king's succession, and not to the preamble of the same, +thinketh that if their oaths should be taken, it were an occasion to all +men to refuse the whole, or at least the like. For, in case they be sworn +to the succession, and not to the preamble, it is to be thought that it +might be taken not only as a confirmation of the Bishop of Rome's +authority, but also as a reprobation of the king's second marriage. +Wherefore, to the intent that no such things should be brought into the +heads of the people, by the example of the said Bishop of Rochester and +Master More, the King's Highness in no wise willeth but that they shall be +sworn as well to the preamble as to the act. Wherefore his Grace specially +trusteth that ye will in no wise attempt to move him to the contrary; for +as his Grace supposeth, that manner of swearing, if it shall be suffered, +may be an utter destruction to his whole cause, and also to the effect of +the law made for the same."[720] + +Thus, therefore, with much regret the council decided--and, in fact, why +should they have decided otherwise? They were satisfied that they were +right in requiring the oath; and their duty to the English nation obliged +them to persevere. They must go their way; and those who thought them wrong +must go theirs; and the great God would judge between them. It was a hard +thing to suffer for an opinion; but there are times when opinions are as +dangerous as acts; and liberty of conscience was a plea which could be +urged with a bad grace for men who, while in power, had fed the stake with +heretics. They were summoned for a last time, to return the same answer as +they had returned before; and nothing remained but to pronounce against +them the penalties of the statute, imprisonment at the king's pleasure, and +forfeiture. The latter part of the sentence was not enforced. More's family +were left in the enjoyment of his property. Fisher's bishoprick was not +taken from him. They were sent to the Tower, where for the present we leave +them. + +Meanwhile, in accordance with the resolution taken in council on the and of +December,[721] but which seems to have been suspended till the issue of the +trial at Rome was decided, the bishops, who had been examined severally on +the nature of the papal authority, and whose answers had been embodied in +the last act of parliament, were now required to instruct the clergy +throughout their dioceses--and the clergy in turn to instruct the +people--in the nature of the changes which had taken place. A bishop was to +preach each Sunday at Paul's Cross, on the pope's usurpation. Every secular +priest was directed to preach on the same subject week after week, in his +parish church. Abbots and priors were to teach their convents; noblemen and +gentlemen their families and servants; mayors and aldermen the boroughs. In +town and country, in all houses, at all dinner-tables, the conduct of the +pope and the causes of the separation from Rome were to be the one subject +of conversation; that the whole nation might be informed accurately and +faithfully of the grounds on which the government had acted. No wiser +method could have been adopted. The imperial agents would be busy under the +surface; and the mendicant friars, and all the missionaries of +insurrection. The machinery of order was set in force to counteract the +machinery of sedition. + +Further, every bishop, in addition to the oath of allegiance, had sworn +obedience to the king as Supreme Head of the Church;[722] and this was the +title under which he was to be spoken of in all churches of the realm. A +royal order had been issued, "that all manner of prayers, rubrics, canons +of Mass books, and all other books in the churches wherein the Bishop of +Rome was named, or his presumptuous and proud pomp and authority preferred, +should utterly be abolished, eradicated, and rased out, and his name and +memory should be never more, except to his contumely and reproach, +remembered; but perpetually be suppressed and obscured."[723] + +Nor were these mere idle sounds, like the bellow of unshotted cannon; but +words with a sharp, prompt meaning, which the king intended to be obeyed. +He had addressed his orders to the clergy, because the clergy were the +officials who had possession of the pulpits from which the people were to +be taught; but he knew their nature too well to trust them. They were too +well schooled in the tricks of reservation; and, for the nonce, it was +necessary to reverse the posture of the priest and of his flock, and to set +the honest laymen to overlook their pastors. + +With the instructions to the bishops circulars went round to the sheriffs +of the counties, containing a full account of these instructions, and an +appeal to their loyalty to see that the royal orders were obeyed. "We," the +king wrote to them, "seeing, esteeming, and reputing you to be of such +singular and vehement zeal and affection towards the glory of Almighty God, +and of so faithful, loving, and obedient heart towards us, as you will +accomplish, with all power, diligence, and labour, whatsoever shall be to +the preferment and setting forth of God's word, have thought good, not only +to signify unto you by these our letters, the particulars of the charge +given by us to the bishops, but also to require and straitly charge you, +upon pain of your allegiance, and as ye shall avoid our high indignation +and displeasure, [that] at your uttermost peril, laying aside all vain +affections, respects, and other carnal considerations, and setting only +before your eyes the mirrour of the truth, the glory of God, the dignity of +your Sovereign Lord and King, and the great concord and unity, and +inestimable profit and utility, that shall by the due execution of the +premises ensue to yourselves and to all other faithful and loving subjects, +ye make or cause to be made diligent search and wait, whether the said +bishops do truly and sincerely, without all manner of cloke, colour, or +dissimulation, execute and accomplish our will and commandment, as is +aforesaid. And in case ye shall hear that the said bishops, or any other +ecclesiastical person, do omit and leave undone any part or parcel of the +premises, or else in the execution and setting forth of the same, do coldly +and feignedly use any manner of sinister addition, wrong interpretation, or +painted colour, then we straitly charge and command you that you do make, +undelayedly, and with all speed and diligence, declaration and +advertisement to us and to our council of the said default. + +"And forasmuch as we upon the singular trust which we have in you, and for +the special love which we suppose you bear towards us, and the weal and +tranquillity of this our realm, have specially elected and chosen you among +so many for this purpose, and have reputed you such men as unto whose +wisdom and fidelity we might commit a matter of such great weight and +importance: if ye should, contrary to our expectation and trust which we +have in you, and against your duty and allegiance towards us, neglect, or +omit to do with all your diligence, whatsoever shall be in your power for +the due performance of our pleasure to you declared, or halt or stumble at +any part or specialty of the same; Be ye assured that we, like a prince of +justice, will so extremely punish you for the same, that all the world +beside shall take by you example, and beware contrary to their allegiance +to disobey the lawful commandment of their Sovereign Lord and Prince. + +"Given under our signet, at our Palace of Westminster, the 9th day of June, +1534."[724] + +So Henry spoke at last. There was no place any more for nice distinctions +and care of tender consciences. The general, when the shot is flying, +cannot qualify his orders with dainty periods. Swift command and swift +obedience can alone be tolerated; and martial law for those who hesitate. + +This chapter has brought many things to a close. Before ending it we will +leap over three months, to the termination of the career of the pope who +has been so far our companion. Not any more was the distracted Clement to +twist his handkerchief, or weep, or flatter, or wildly wave his arms in +angry impotence; he was to lie down in his long rest, and vex the world no +more. He had lived to set England free--an exploit which, in the face of so +persevering an anxiety to escape a separation, required a rare genius and a +combination of singular qualities. He had finished his work, and now he was +allowed to depart. + +In him, infinite insincerity was accompanied with a grace of manner which +regained confidence as rapidly as it was forfeited. Desiring sincerely, so +far as he could be sincere in anything, to please every one by turns, and +reckless of truth to a degree in which he was without a rival in the world, +he sought only to escape his difficulties by inactivity, and he trusted to +provide himself with a refuge against all contingencies by waiting upon +time. Even when at length he was compelled to act, and to act in a distinct +direction, his plausibility long enabled him to explain away his conduct; +and, honest in the excess of his dishonesty, he wore his falsehood with so +easy a grace that it assumed the character of truth. He was false, +deceitful, treacherous; yet he had the virtue of not pretending to be +virtuous. He was a real man, though but an indifferent one; and we can +refuse to no one, however grave his faults, a certain ambiguous sympathy, +when in his perplexities he shows us features so truly human in their +weakness as those of Clement VII. + + * * * * * + +NOTES. + +[1] Printed in FOXE, vol. iv. p. 659, Townsend's edition. + +[2] 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 4. + +[3] Bishop Latimer, in a sermon at Paul's Cross, suggested another purpose +which this act might answer. One of his audience, writing to the Mayor of +Plymouth, after describing the exceedingly disrespectful language in which +he spoke of the high church dignitaries, continues, "The king," quoth he, +"made a marvellous good act of parliament that certain men should sow every +of them two acres of hemp; but it were all too little were it so much more +to hang the thieves that be in England."--_Suppression of the Monasteries_, +Camden Society's publications, p. 38. + +[4] 32 Hen. VIII. cap. 18. + +[5] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 18. + +[6] _Antiquities of Hengrave_, by Sir T. GAGE. + +[7] See especially 2 Hen. VII. capp. 16 and 19. + +[8] 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 9. + +[9] See especially the 4th of the 5th of Elizabeth. + +[10] 10 Ed. III. cap. 3. + +[11] Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. (edit. 1817), pp. 227-8. + +[12] "The artificers and husbandmen make most account of such meat as they +may soonest come by and have it quickliest ready. Their food consisteth +principally in beef, and such meat as the butcher selleth, that is to say, +mutton, veal, lamb, pork, whereof the one findeth great store in the +markets adjoining; besides souse, brawn, bacon, fruit, pies of fruit, fowls +of sundry sorts, as the other wanteth it not at home by his own provision, +which is at the best hand and commonly least charge. In feasting, this +latter sort--I mean the husbandmen--do exceed after their manner, +especially at bridals and such odd meetings, where it is incredible to tell +what meat is consumed and spent."--HARRISON'S _Description of England_, p. +282. + +The Spanish nobles who came into England with Philip were astonished at the +diet which they found among the poor. + +"These English," said one of them, "have their houses made of sticks and +dirt, but they fare commonly so well as the king."--Ibid. p. 313. + +[13] _State Papers_, Hen. VIII. vol. ii. p. 10. + +[14] HALL, p. 646. + +[15] 25 Ed. III. cap. I. + +[16] _Statutes of the Realm_, vol. i. p. 199. + +[17] 3 Ed. IV. cap. 2. + +[18] 10 Hen. VI. cap. 2. + +[19] STOW'S _Chronicle._ + +[20] _Statutes of Philip and Mary._ + +[21] From 1565 to 1575 there was a rapid and violent rise in the prices of +all kinds of grain. Wheat stood at four and five times its earlier rates; +and in 1576, when Harrison wrote, was entirely beyond the reach of the +labouring classes. "The poor in some shires," he says, "are enforced to +content themselves with rye or barley, yea, and in time of dearth many with +bread made either of peas, beans, or oats, or of all together and some +acorns among, of which scourge the poorest do soonest taste, sith they are +least able to provide themselves of better. I will not say that this +extremity is oft so well seen in time of plenty as of dearth, but if I +should I could easily bring my trial. For, albeit that there be much more +ground eared now almost in every place than hath been of late years, yet +such a price of corn continues in each town and market, that the artificer +and poor labouring man is not able to reach to it, but is driven to content +himself with beans, peas, oats, tares, and lentils."--HARRISON, p. 283. The +condition of the labourer was at this period deteriorating rapidly. The +causes will be described in the progress of this history. + +[22] _Chronicle_, p.568. + +[23] 33 Hen. VIII. cap. II. The change in the prices of such articles +commenced in the beginning of the reign of Edward VI., and continued till +the close of the century. A discussion upon the subject, written in 1581 by +Mr. Edward Stafford, and containing the clearest detailed account of the +alteration, is printed in the _Harleian Miscellany_, vol. ix. p.139, etc. + +[24] Leland, _Itin._, vol. vi. p.17. In large households beef used to be +salted in great quantities for winter consumption. The art of fatting +cattle in the stall was imperfectly understood, and the loss of substance +in the destruction of fibre by salt was less than in the falling off of +flesh on the failure of fresh grass. The Northumberland Household Book +describes the storing of salted provision for the earl's establishment at +Michaelmas; and men now living can remember the array of salting tubs in +old-fashioned country houses. So long as pigs, poultry, and other articles +of food, however, remained cheap and abundant, the salt diet could not, as +Hume imagines, have been carried to an extent injurious to health; and +fresh meat, beef as well as mutton, was undoubtedly sold in all markets the +whole year round in the reign of Henry VIII., and sold at a uniform price, +which it could not have been if there had been so much difficulty in +procuring it. Latimer (_Letters_, p.412), writing to Cromwell on Christmas +Eve, 1538, speaks of his winter stock of "beeves" and muttons as a thing of +course. + +[25] STAFFORD'S _Discourse on the State of the Realm_. It is to be +understood, however, that these rates applied only to articles of ordinary +consumption. Capons fatted for the dinners of the London companies were +sometimes provided at a shilling apiece. Fresh fish was also extravagantly +dear, and when two days a week were observed strictly as fasting days, it +becomes a curious question to know how the supply was kept up. The inland +counties were dependent entirely on ponds and rivers. London was provided +either from the Thames or from the coast of Sussex. An officer of the +Fishmongers' Company resided at each of the Cinque Ports whose business it +was to buy the fish wholesale from the boats and to forward it on +horseback. Three hundred horses were kept for this service at Rye alone. +And when an adventurous fisherman, taking advantage of a fair wind, sailed +up the Thames with his catch and sold it first hand at London Bridge, the +innovation was considered dangerous, and the Mayor of Rye petitioned +against it. + +Salmon, sturgeon, porpoise, roach, dace, flounders, eels, etc., were caught +in considerable quantities in the Thames, below London Bridge, and further +up, pike and trout. The fishermen had great nets that stretched all across +Limehouse-reach four fathoms deep. + +Fresh fish, however, remained the luxury of the rich, and the poor were +left to the salt cod, ling, and herring brought in annually by the Iceland +fleet. + +Fresh herrings sold for five or six a penny in the time of Henry VIII., and +were never cheaper. Fresh salmon five and six shillings apiece. Roach, +dace, and flounders from two to four shillings a hundred. Pike and barbel +varied with their length. The barbel a foot long sold for five-pence, and +twopence was added for each additional inch: a pike a foot long sold for +sixteen pence, and increased a penny an inch.--_Guildhall MSS. Journals_ +12, 13, 14, 15. + +[26] "When the brewer buyeth a quarter of malt for two shillings, then he +shall sell a gallon of the best ale for two farthings; when he buyeth a +quarter malt for four shillings, the gallon shall be four farthings, and so +forth... and that he sell a quart of ale upon his table for a farthing."-- +Assize of Brewers: from a MS. in Balliol College, Oxford. + +By an order of the Lord Mayor and Council of the City of London, in +September, 1529, the price of a kilderkin of single beer was fixed at a +shilling, the kilderkin of double beer at two shillings; but this included +the cask; and the London brewers replied with a remonstrance, saying that +the casks were often destroyed or made away with, and that an allowance had +to be made for bad debts. "Your beseechers," they said, "have many city +debtors, for many of them which have taken much beer into their houses +suddenly goeth to the sanctuary, some keep their houses--some purchase the +king's protection, and some, when they die, be reckoned poor, and of no +value, and many of your said beseechers be for the most part against such +debtors remediless and suffer great losses." + +They offered to supply then: customers with sixteen gallon casks of single +beer for eleven pence, and the same quantity of double beer for a shilling, +the cask included. And this offer was accepted. + +The corporation, however, returned two years after to their original order. +_Guildhall Records_, MS. Journal 13, pp. 210, 236. + +[27] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 14. + +The prices assessed, being a maximum, applied to the best wines of each +class. In 1531, the mayor and corporation "did straitly charge and command +that all such persons as sold wines by retail within the city and liberties +of the same, should from henceforth sell two gallons of the best red wine +for eightpence, and not above; the gallon of the best white wine for +eightpence, and not above; the pottle, quart, and pint after the same rate, +upon pain of imprisonment." + +The quality of the wine sold was looked into from time to time, and when +found tainted, or unwholesome, "according to the antient customs of the +city," the heads of the vessels were broken up, and the wines in them put +forth open into the kennels, in example of all other offenders. _Guildhall +MS._ Journals 12 and 13. + +[28] _Sermons_, p.101. + +[29] See HARRISON, p. 318. At the beginning of the century farms let for +four pounds a year, which in 1576 had been raised to forty, fifty, or a +hundred. The price of produce kept pace with the rent. The large farmers +prospered; the poor forfeited their tenures. + +[30] The wages were fixed at a maximum, showing that labour was scarce, and +that its natural tendency was towards a higher rate of remuneration. +Persons not possessed of other means of subsistence were punishable if they +refused to work at the statutable rate of payment; and a clause in the act +of Hen. VIII. directed that where the practice had been to give lower +wages, lower wages should be taken. This provision was owing to a +difference in the value of money in different parts of England. The price +of bread at Stratford, for instance, was permanently twenty-five per cent. +below the price in London. (Assize of Bread in England: _Balliol MS_.) The +statute, therefore, may be taken as a guide sufficiently conclusive as to +the practical scale. It is of course uncertain how far work was constant. +The ascending tendency of wages is an evidence, so far as it goes, in the +labourer's favour; and the proportion between the wages of the household +farm servant and those of the day labourer, which furnishes a further +guide, was much the same as at present. By the same statute of Henry VIII. +the common servant of husbandry, who was boarded and lodged at his master's +house, received 16s. 8d. a year in money, with 4s. for his clothes; while +the wages of the out-door labourer, supposing his work constant, would have +been L5 a year. Among ourselves, on an average of different counties, the +labourer's wages are L25 to L30 a year, supposing his work constant. The +farm servant, unless in the neighbourhood of large towns, receives about +L6, or from that to L8. + +Where meat and drink was allowed it was calculated at 2d. a day, or 1s. 2d. +a week. In the household of the Earl of Northumberland the allowance was +2-1/2d. Here, again, we observe an approach to modern proportions. The +estimated cost of the board and lodging of a man servant in an English +gentleman's family is now about L25 a year. + +[31] Mowers, for instance, were paid 8d. a day.--_Privy Purse Expenses of +Henry VIII._ + +[32] In 1581 the agricultural labourer, as he now exists, was only +beginning to appear. "There be such in the realm," says Stafford, "as live +only by the labour of their hands and the profit which they can make upon +the commons."--STAFFORD'S _Discourse_. This novel class had been called +into being by the general raising of rents, and the wholesale evictions of +the smaller tenantry which followed the Reformation. The progress of the +causes which led to the change can be traced from the beginning of the +century. Harrison says he knew old men who, comparing things present with +things past, spoke of two things grown to be very grievous--to wit, "the +enhancing of rents, and the daily oppression of copyholders, whose lords +seek to bring their poor tenants almost into plain servitude and misery, +daily devising new means, and seeking up all the old, how to cut them +shorter and shorter; doubling, trebling, and now and then seven times +increasing their fines; driving them also for every trifle to lose and +forfeit their tenures, by whom the greatest part of the realm doth stand +and is maintained, to the end they may fleece them yet more: which is a +lamentable hearing."--_Description of England_, p.318. + +[33] HALL, p. 581. Nor was the act in fact observed even in London itself, +or towards workmen employed by the Government. In 1538, the Corporation of +London, "for certain reasonable and necessary considerations," assessed the +wages of common labourers at 7d. and 8d. the day, classing them with +carpenters and masons.--_Guildhall MSS. Journal_ 14, fol. 10. Labourers +employed on Government works in the reign of Hen. VIII. never received less +than 6d. a day, and frequently more.--_Chronicle of Calais_, p. 197, etc. +Sixpence a day is the usual sum entered as the wages of a day's labour in +the innumerable lists of accounts in the Record Office. And 6d. a day again +was the lowest pay of the common soldier, not only on exceptional service +in the field, but when regularly employed in garrison duty. Those who doubt +whether this was really the practice, may easily satisfy themselves by +referring to the accounts of the expenses of Berwick, or of Dover, Deal, or +Walmer Castles, to be found in the Record Office in great numbers. The +daily wages of the soldier are among the very best criteria for determining +the average value of the unskilled labourer's work. No government gives +higher wages than it is compelled to give by the market rate. + +[34] The wages of the day labourer in London, under this act of Elizabeth, +were fixed at 9d. the day, and this, after the restoration of the +depreciated currency.--_Guildhall MSS. Journal_ 18, fol. 157, etc. + +[35] 4 Hen. VII. cap. 16. By the same parliament these provisions were +extended to the rest of England. 4 Hen. VII. cap. 19. + +[36] HALL, p. 863. + +[37] 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 22. + +[38] There is a cause of difficulty "peculiar to England, the increase of +pasture, by which sheep may be now said to devour men and unpeople not only +villages but towns. For wherever it is found that the sheep yield a softer +and richer wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even +those holy men the abbots, not contented with the old rents which their +farms yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do +no good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the +course of agriculture.... One shepherd can look after a flock which will +stock an extent of ground that would require many hands if it were ploughed +and reaped. And this likewise in many places raises the price of corn. The +price of wool is also risen ... since, though sheep cannot be called a +monopoly, because they are not engrossed by one person; yet they are in so +few hands, and these are so rich, that as they are not prest to sell them +sooner than they have a mind to it, so they never do it till they have +raised the price as high as possible."--Sir THOMAS MORE'S _Utopia_, +Burnet's Translation, pp. 17-19. + +[39] I find scattered among the _State Papers_ many loose memoranda, +apparently of privy councillors, written on the backs of letters, or on +such loose scraps as might be at hand. The following fragment on the +present subject is curious. I do not recognise the hand:-- + +"Mem. That an act may be made that merchants shall employ their goods +continually in the traffic of merchandise, and not in the purchasing of +lands; and that craftsmen, also, shall continually use their crafts in +cities and towns, and not leave the same and take farms in the country; and +that no merchant shall hereafter purchase above L40 lands by the +year."--_Cotton MS._ Titus, b. i. 160. + +[40] When the enclosing system was carried on with greatest activity and +provoked insurrection. In expressing a sympathy with the social policy of +the Tudor government, I have exposed myself to a charge of opposing the +received and ascertained conclusions of political economy. I disclaim +entirely an intention so foolish; but I believe that the science of +political economy came into being with the state of things to which alone +it is applicable. It ought to be evident that principles which answer +admirably when a manufacturing system capable of indefinite expansion +multiplies employment at home--when the soil of England is but a fraction +of its empire, and the sea is a highway to emigration--would have produced +far different effects, in a condition of things which habit had petrified +into form, when manufactures could not provide work for one additional +hand, when the first colony was yet unthought of, and where those who were +thrown out of the occupation to which they had been bred could find no +other. The tenants evicted, the labourers thrown out of employ, when the +tillage lands were converted into pastures, had scarcely an alternative +offered them except to beg, to rob, or to starve. + +[41] _Lansdowne MS._ No. I. fol. 26. + +[42] GIUSTINIANI'S _Letters from the Court of Henry VIII_. + +[43] Ibid. + +[44] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 18. + +[45] Under Hen. VI. the household expenses were L23,000 a year--Cf. +_Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council_, vol. vi. p. 35. The +particulars of the expenses of the household of Hen. VIII. are in an MS. in +the Rolls House. They cover the entire outlay except the personal +expenditure of the king, and the sum total amounts to L14,365 10s. 7d. This +would leave above L5000 a year for the privy purse, not, perhaps, +sufficient to cover Henry's gambling extravagances in his early life. +Curious particulars of his excesses in this matter will be found in a +publication wrongly called _The Privy Purse Expenses of Henry the Eighth_. +It is a diary of general payments, as much for purposes of state as for the +king himself. The high play was confined for the most part to Christmas or +other times of festivity, when the statutes against unlawful games were +dispensed with for all classes. + +[46] 18 Hen. VI. cap. 11. + +[47] 4 Hen. VII. cap. 12. + +[48] During the quarter sessions time they were allowed 4s. a day.--Ric. +II. xii. 10. + +[49] The rudeness of the furniture in English country houses has been dwelt +upon with much emphasis by Hume and others. An authentic inventory of the +goods and chattels in a parsonage in Kent proves that there has been much +exaggeration in this matter. It is from an MS. in the Rolls House. + +_The Inventory of the Goods and Catales of Richd. Master, Clerk, Parson of +Aldington, being in his Parsonage on the 20th Day of April, in the 25th +Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Henry VIII._ + + _Plate_ + Silver spoons, twelve. + + _In the Hall_ + Two tables and two forms. + Item, a painted cloth hanging at the upper part of the hall. + Item, a green banker hung on the bench in the hall. + Item, a laver of laten. + + _In the Parlour_ + A hanging of old red and green saye. + Item, a banker of woven carpet of divers colours. + Item, two cushions. + Item, one table, two forms, one cupboard, one chair. + Item, two painted pictures and a picture of the names of kings of England + pinned on the said hanging. + + _In the Chamber on the North Side of the said Parlour_ + A painted hanging. + Item, a bedstedyll with a feather bed, one bolster, two pillows, one + blanket, + one roulett of rough tapestry, a testner of green and red saye. + Item, two forms. + Item, one jack to set a basin on. + + _In the Chamber over the Parlour_ + Two bedsteads. + Item, another testner of painted cloth. + Item, a painted cloth. + Item, two forms. + + _At the Stairs' Hed beside the Parson's Bedchamber_ + One table, two trestylls, four beehives. + + _In the Parson's Lodging-chamber_ + A bedstedyll and a feather bed, two blankets, one payr of sheets, one + coverlet of tapestry lined with canvas, one bolster, one pillow with + a pillocote. + Item, one gown of violet cloth lined with red saye. + Item, a gown of black cloth, furred with lamb. + Item, two hoods of violet cloth, whereof one is lined with green + sarsenet. + Item, one jerkyn of tawny camlet. + Item, a jerkyn of cloth furred with white. + Item, a jacket of cloth furred. + Item, a sheet to put in cloth. + Item, one press. + Item, a leather mail. + Item, one table, two forms, four chairs, two trestylls. + Item, a tester of painted cloth. + Item, a pair of hangings of green saye, with two pictures thereupon. + Item, one cupboard, two chests. + Item, a little flock bed, with a bolster and a coverlet. + Item, one cushion, one mantell, one towel, and, by estimation, a pound + of wax candles. + Item, Greek books covered with boards, 42. + Item, small books covered with boards, 33. + Item, books covered with leather and parchment, 38. + + _In the said Chest in the said Chamber_ + Three pieces of red saye and green. + Item, one tyke for a bolster, two tykes for pillows. + Item, a typpett of cloth. + Item, diaper napkins, 4, diaper towels, 2. + Item, four pairs of sheets, and one shete, two tablecloths. + + _In the other Chest in the same Chamber_ + One typpett of sarsenett. + Item, two cotes belonging to the crosse of Underbill, whereupon hang + thirty-three pieces of money, rings, and other things, and three + crystal stones closed in silver. + + _In the Study_ + Two old boxes, a wicker hamper full of papers. + + _In the Chamber behind the Chimney_ + One seam and a half of old malt. + Item, a trap for rats. + Item, a board of three yards length. + + _In the Chamber next adjoining westwards_ + One bedstedyll, one flock bed, one bolster. + One form, two shelf boards, one little table, two trestylls, two awgyes, + one + nett, called a stalker, a well rope, five quarters of hemp. + + _In the Buttery_ + Three basins of pewter, five candlesticks, one ewer of lateen, one + chafing + dish, two platters, one dish, one salter, three podingers [? + porringer], + a saltseller of pewter, seven kilderkyns, three keelers, one form, + five + shelves, one byn, one table, one glasse bottell. + + _In the Priest's Chamber_ + One bedstedyll, one feather bed, two forms, one press. + + _In the Woman's Keeping_ + Two tablecloths, two pairs of sheets. + + _In the Servant's Chamber_ + One painted hanging, a bedstedyll, one feather bed, a press, and a shelf. + + _In the Kitchen_ + Eight bacon flitches, a little brewing lead, three brass pots, three + kettles, + one posnett, one frying-pan, a dripping-pan, a great pan, two + trivetts, + a chopping knife, a skimmer, one fire rake, a pothanger, one + pothooke, + one andiron, three spits, one gridiron, one firepan, a coal rake of + iron, + two bolts [? butts], three wooden platters, six boldishes, three + forms, + two stools, seven platters, two pewter dishes, four saucers, a + covering + of a saltseller, a podynger, seven tubbs, a caldron, two syffs, a + capon + cope, a mustard quern, a ladder, two pails, one beehive. + + _In the Mill-house_ + Seven butts, two cheeses, an old sheet, an old brass pan, three + podyngers, + a pewter dish. + + _In the Boulting-house_ + One brass pan, one quern, a boulting hutch, a boulting tub, three little + tubbys, two keelers, a tolvett, two boulters, one tonnell. + + _In the Larder_ + One sieve, one bacon trough, a cheese press, one little tub, eight + shelves, + one graper for a well. + + _Wood_ + Of tall wood ten load, of ash wood a load and a half. + + _Poultry_ + Nine hens, eight capons, one cock, sixteen young chickens, three old + geese, seventeen goslings, four ducks. + + _Cattle_ + Five young hoggs, two red kyne, one red heifer two years old, one bay + gelding lame of spavins, one old grey mare having a mare colt. + + _In the Entries_ + Two tubbs, one trough, one ring to bear water and towel, a chest to keep + cornes. + + _In the same House_ + Five seams of lime. + + _In the Woman's Chamber_ + One bedstedyll of hempen yarn, by estimation 20 lbs. + + _Without the House_ + Of tyles, ----, of bricks, ----, seven planks, three rafters, one ladder. + + _In the Gate-house_ + One form, a leather sack, three bushels of wheat. + + _In the Still beside the Gate_ + Two old road saddles, one bridle, a horse-cloth. + + _In the Barn next the Gate_ + Of wheat unthrashed, by estimation, thirty quarters, of barley + unthrashed, + by estimation, five quarters. + + _In the Cartlage_ + One weene with two whyles, one dung-cart without whyles, two shod-whyles, + two yokes, one sledge. + + _In the Barn next the Church_ + Of oats unthrashed, by estimation, one quarter. + + _In the Garden-house_ + Of oats, by estimation, three seams four bushels. + + _In the Court_ + Two racks, one ladder. + +[50] Two hundred poor were fed daily at the house of Tomas Cromwell. This +fact is perfectly authenticated. Stowe the historian, who did not like +Cromwell, lived in an adjoining house, and reports it as an eye +witness.--_See_ STOWE'S _Survey of London._ + +[51] HARRISON'S _Description of Britain_. + +[52] The Earl and Countess of Northumberland breakfasted together alone at +seven. The meal consisted of a quart of ale, a quart of wine, and a chine +of beef: a loaf of bread is not mentioned, but we hope it may be presumed. +On fast days the beef was exchanged for a dish of sprats or herrings, fresh +or salt.--_Northumberland Household Book_, quoted by Hume. + +[53] Some notice of the style of living sometimes witnessed in England in +the old times may be gathered from the details of a feast given at the +installation of George Neville, brother of Warwick the King Maker, when +made Archbishop of York. + +The number of persons present including servants was about 3500. + +The provisions were as follow-- + + Wheat, 300 quarters. + Ale, 300 tuns. + Wine, 104 tuns. + Ipocras, 1 pipe. + Oxen, 80. + Wild bulls, 6. + Muttons, 1004. + Veal, 300. + Porkers, 300. + Geese, 3000. + Capons, 2300. + Pigs, 2000. + Peacocks, 100. + Cranes, 200. + Kids, 200. + Chickens, 2000. + Pigeons, 4000. + Conies, 4000. + Bitterns, 204. + Mallards and teals, 4000. + Heronshaws, 4000. + Fesants, 200. + Partridges, 500. + Woodcocks, 400. + Plovers, 400. + Curlews, 100. + Quails, 100. + Egrets, 1000 + Rees, 200. + Harts, bucks, and roes, 400 and odd. + Pasties of venison, cold, 4000. + Pasties of venison, hot, 1506. + Dishes of jelly, pasted, 1000. + Plain dishes of jelly, 4000. + Cold tarts, baken, 4000. + Cold custards, 4000. + Custards, hot, 2000. + Pikes, 300. + Breams, 300. + Seals, 8. + Porpoises, 4. + +[54] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 64. + +[55] _Statutes of the Realm_, 1 Ed. VI. cap. 12. + +[56] HOOKER'S _Life of Sir Peter Carew_. + +[57] In a subsequent letter he is described as learning French, etymology, +casting of accounts, playing at weapons, and other such exercises.--ELLIS, +third series, vol. i. p. 342-3. + +[58] It has been objected that inasmuch as the Statute Book gives evidence +of extensive practices of adulteration, the guild system was useless, nay, +it has been even said that it was the cause of the evil. Cessante causa +cessat effectus;--when the companies lost their authority, the adulteration +ought to have ceased, which in the face of recent exposures will be +scarcely maintained. It would be as reasonable to say that the police are +useless because we have still burglars and pickpockets among us. + +[59] Throughout the old legislation, morality went along with politics and +economics, and formed the life and spirit of them. The fruiterers in the +streets were prohibited from selling plums and apples, because the +apprentices played dice with them for their wares, or because the +temptation induced children and servants to steal money to buy. When +Parliament came to be held regularly in London, an order of Council fixed +the rates which the hotel-keeper might charge for dinners. Messes were +served for four at twopence per head; the bill of fare providing bread, +fish, salt and fresh, two courses of meat, ale, with fire and candles. And +the care of the Government did not cease with their meals, and in an +anxiety that neither the burgesses nor their servants should be led into +sin, stringent orders were issued against street-walkers coming near their +quarters.--_Guildhall MSS. Journals_ 12 and 15. + +The sanitary regulations for the city are peculiarly interesting. The +scavengers, constables and officers of the wards were ordered, "on pain of +death," to see all streets and yards kept clear of dung and rubbish and all +other filthy and corrupt things. Carts went round every Monday, Wednesday, +and Saturday, to carry off the litter from the houses, and on each of those +days twelve buckets of water were drawn for "every person," and used in +cleaning their rooms and passages. + +Particular pains were taken to keep the Thames clean, and at the mouth of +every sewer or watercourse there was a strong iron grating two feet +deep.--_Guildhall MSS. Journal_ 15. + +[60] And not in England alone, but throughout Europe. + +[61] 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 25. + +[62] Ibid. + +[63] Ibid. + +[64] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 4; 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 5. + +[65] _Statut. Winton._ 13 Edw. I. cap. 6. + +[66] 12 Rich. II. cap. 6: 11 Hen. IV. cap. 4. + +[67] ELLIS'S _Original Letters_, first series, vol. i. p. 226. + +[68] It has been stated again and again that the policy of Henry the Eighth +was to make the crown despotic by destroying the remnants of the feudal +power of the nobility. How is such a theory to be reconciled with statutes +the only object of which was the arming and training of the country +population, whose natural leaders were the peers, knights, and gentlemen? +We have heard too much of this random declamation. + +[69] 33 Hen. VIII. cap. 9. + +[70] From my experience of modern archery I found difficulty in believing +that these figures were accurately given. Few living men could send the +lightest arrow 220 yards, even with the greatest elevation, and for +effective use it must be delivered nearly point blank. A passage in +HOLINSHED'S _Description of Britain_, however, prevents me from doubting +that the words of the statute are correct. In his own time, he says that +the strength of the English archers had so notoriously declined that the +French soldiers were in the habit of disrespectfully turning their backs, +at long range, "bidding them shoot," whereas, says Holinshed, "had the +archers been what they were wont to be, these fellows would have had their +breeches nailed unto their buttocks." In an order for bowstaves, in the +reign of Henry the Eighth, I find this direction: "Each bowstave ought to +be _three fingers thick_ and squared, and _seven feet long_: to be got up +well polished and without knots."--Butler to Bullinger: _Zurich Letters_. + +[71] Page 735, quarto edition. + +[72] The Personages, Dresses, and Properties of a Mystery Play, acted at +Greenwich, by command of Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._ + +[73] Hall says "collar of the _garter_ of St. Michael," which, however, I +venture to correct. + +[74] Rich. II. 12, cap. 7, 8, 9; Rich. II. 15, cap. 6. + +[75] _Lansdowne MSS._ 1, fol. 26. + +[76] Injunctions to the Monasteries: BURNET'S _Collect._ pp. 77-8. + +[77] Letter of Thomas Dorset to the Mayor of Plymouth: _Suppression of the +Monasteries_, p. 36. + +[78] "Divers of your noble predecessors, kings of this realm, have given +lands to monasteries, to give a certain sum of money yearly to the poor +people, whereof for the ancienty of the time they never give one penny. +Wherefore, if your Grace will build to your poor bedemen a sure hospital +that shall never fail, take from them these things.... Tie the holy idle +thieves to the cart to be whipped, naked, till they fall to labour, that +they, by their importunate begging take not away the alms that the good +charitable people would give unto us sore, impotent, miserable people, your +bedemen."--FISH'S _Supplication_: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 664. + +[79] 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 25. + +[80] Roads, harbours, embankments, fortifications at Dover and at Berwick, +etc.--STRYPE's _Memorials_, vol. 1. p. 326 and 419. + +[81] It is to be remembered that the criminal law was checked on one side +by the sanctuary system, on the other by the practice of benefit of clergy. +Habit was too strong for legislation, and these privileges continued to +protect criminals long after they were abolished by statute. There is +abundant evidence that the execution of justice was as lax in practice as +it was severe in theory. + +[82] 27 Ed. III. stat. 1; 38 Ed. III. stat. 2; 16 Rich. cap. 5. + +[83] 25 Ed. III. stat. 4; stat. 5, cap. 22; 13 Rich. II. stat. 2, cap. 2; 2 +Hen. IV. cap. 3; 9 Hen. IV. cap. 8. + +[84] See p. 42. + +[85] _Lansdowne MS._ 1, fol. 26; STOW'S _Chron._ ed. 1630, p. 338. + +[86] 2 Hen. IV. cap. 3; 9 Hen. IV. cap. 8. + +[87] 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15. + +[88] Hen. VII. cap. 4. Among the miscellaneous publications of the Record +Commission, there is a complaint presented during this reign, by the +gentlemen and the farmers of Carnarvonshire, accusing the clergy of +systematic seduction of their wives and daughters. + +[89] Hen. IV. cap. 15. + +[90] MORTON'S _Register_, MS. Lambeth. See vol. ii. cap. 10, of the second +edition of this work for the results of Morton's investigation. + +[91] MORTON'S _Register_; and see WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol. iii. pp. +618-621. + +[92] Quibus Dominus intimavit qualis infamia super illos in dicta civitate +crescit quod complures eorundem tabernas pandoxatorias, sive caupones +indies exerceant ibidem expectando fere per totum diem. Quare Dominus +consuluit et monuit eosdem quod in posterum talia dimittant, et quod +dimittant suos longos crines et induantur togis non per totum apertis. + +[93] The expression is remarkable. They were not to dwell on the offences +of their brethren coram laicis qui semper clericis sunt infesti.--WILKINS, +vol. iii. p. 618. + +[94] Johannes permissione divina Cantuar. episcop. totius Angliae primas +cum in praesenti convocatione pie et salubriter consideratum fuit quod +nonnulli sacerdotes et alii clerici ejusdem nostrae provinciae in sacris +ordinibus constituti honestatem clericalem in tantum abjecerint ac in coma +tonsuraque et superindumentis suis quae in anteriori sui parte totaliter +aperta existere dignoscuntur, sic sunt dissoluti et adeo insolescant quod +inter eos et alios laicos et saeculares viros nulla vel modica comae vel +habituum sive vestimentorum distinctio esse videatur quo fiet in brevi ut a +multis verisimiliter formidatur quod sicut populus ita et sacerdos erit, et +nisi celeriori remedio tantae lasciviae ecclesiasticarum personarum quanto +ocyus obviemus et clericorum mores hujusmodi maturius compescamus, +_Ecclesia Anglicana quae superioribus diebus vita fama et compositis +moribus floruisse dignoscitur nostris temporibus quod Deus avertat, +praecipitanter ruet_; + +Desiring, therefore, to find some remedy for these disorders, lest the +blood of those committed to him should be required at his hands, the +archbishop decrees and ordains,-- + +Ne aliquis sacerdos vel clericus in sacris ordinibus constitutus togam +gerat nisi clausam a parte anteriori et non totaliter apertam neque utatur +ense nec sica nec zona aut marcipio deaurato vel auri ornatum habente. +Incedent etiam omnes et singuli presbyteri et clerici ejusdem nostrae +provinciae coronas et tonsuras gerentes aures patentes ostendendo juxta +canonicas sanctiones.--WILKINS, vol. iii. p. 619. + +[95] See WARHAM'S _Register_, MS. Lambeth. + +[96] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. + +[97] ROY'S _Satire against the Clergy_, written about 1528, is so +plain-spoken, and goes so directly to the point of the matter, that it is +difficult to find a presentable extract. The following lines on the bishops +are among the most moderate in the poem:-- + + "What are the bishops divines-- + Yea, they can best skill of wines + Better than of divinity; + Lawyers are they of experience, + And in cases against conscience + They are parfet by practice. + To forge excommunications, + For tythes and decimations + Is their continual exercise. + As for preaching they take no care, + They would rather see a course at a hare; + Rather than to make a sermon + To follow the chase of wild deer, + Passing the time with jolly cheer. + Among them all is common + To play at the cards and dice; + Some of them are nothing nice + Both at hazard and momchance; + They drink in golden bowls + The blood of poor simple souls + Perishing for lack of sustenance. + Their hungry cures they never teach, + Nor will suffer none other to preach," etc. + +[98] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, pp. 70, 71. + +[99] A peculiarly hateful form of clerical impost, the priests claiming the +last dress worn in life by persons brought to them for burial. + +[100] Fitz James to Wolsey, FOXE, vol. iv. p. 196. + +[101] _Supplication of the Beggars_; FOXE, vol. iv. p. 661. The glimpses +into the condition of the monasteries which had been obtained in the +imperfect visitation of Morton, bear out the pamphleteer too completely. +See chapter x. of this work, second edition. + +[102] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 658. + +[103] 13 Ric. II. stat. ii. c. 2; 2 Hen. IV. c. 3; 9 Hen. IV. c. 8. Lingard +is mistaken in saying that the Crown had power to dispense with these +statutes. A dispensing power was indeed granted by the 12th of the 7th of +Ric. II. But by the 2nd of the 13th of the same reign, the king is +expressly and by name placed under the same prohibitions as all other +persons. + +[104] HALL, p. 784. + +[105] 25 Hen. VIII. c. 22. + +[106] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24. Speech of Sir Ralph Sadler in parliament, +_Sadler Papers_, vol. iii. p. 323. + +[107] Nor was the theory distinctly admitted, or the claim of the house of +York would have been unquestionable. + +[108] 25 Hen. VIII. c. 22, Draft of the Dispensation to be granted to Henry +VIII. _Rolls House MS._ It has been asserted by a writer in the _Tablet_ +that there is no instance in the whole of English history where the +ambiguity of the marriage law led to a dispute of title. This was not the +opinion of those who remembered the wars of the fifteenth century. "Recens +in quorundam vestrorum animis adhuc est illius cruenti temporis memoria," +said Henry VIII. in a speech in council, "quod a Ricardo tertio cum avi +nostri materni Edwardi quarti statum in controversiam vocasset ejusque +heredes regno atque vita privasset illatum est."-WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol. +iii. p. 714. Richard claimed the crown on the ground that a precontract +rendered his brother's marriage invalid, and Henry VII. tacitly allowed the +same doubt to continue. The language of the 22nd of the 25th of Hen. VIII. +is so clear as to require no additional elucidation; but another distinct +evidence of the belief of the time upon the subject is in one of the papers +laid before Pope Clement. + +"Constat, in ipso regno quam plurima gravissima bella saepe exorta, +confingentes ex justis et legitimis nuptiis quorundam Angliae regum +procreatos illegitimos fore propter aliquod consangunitatis vel affinitatis +confictum impedimentum et propterea inhabiles esse ad regni +successionem."--_Rolls House MS._; WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol. iii. p. 707. + +[109] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24. + +[110] _Appendix 2 to the Third Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public +Records_, p. 241. + +[111] _Sadler Papers_, vol. iii. p. 323. + +[112] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24. + +[113] _Four Years at the Court of Henry the Eighth_, vol. ii. pp. 315-16. + +[114] Sir Charles Brandon, created Duke of Suffolk, and married to Mary +Tudor, widow of Louis XII. + +[115] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24. + +[116] The treaty was in progress from Dec. 24, 1526, to March 2, 1527 [LORD +HERBERT, pp. 80, 81], and during this time the difficulty was raised. The +earliest intimation which I find of an intended divorce was in June, 1527, +at which time Wolsey was privately consulting the bishops.--_State Papers_ +vol. i. p. 189. + +[117] It was for some time delayed; and the papal agent was instructed to +inform Ferdinand that a marriage which was at variance a jure et +laudabilibus moribus could not be permitted nisi maturo consilio et +necessitatis causa.--Minute of a brief of Julius the Second, dated March +13, 1504, _Rolls House MS_. + +[118] LORD HERBERT, p. 114. + +[119] LORD HERBERT, p. 117, Kennett's edition. The act itself is printed in +BURNET'S _Collectanea_, vol. iv. (Nares' edition) pp. 5, 6. It is dated +June 27, 1505. Dr. Lingard endeavours to explain away the renunciation as a +form. The language of Moryson, however, leaves no doubt either of its +causes or its meaning. "Non multo post sponsalia contrahuntur," he says, +"Henrico plus minus tredecim annos jam nato. Sed rerum non recte inceptarum +successus infelicior homines non prorsus oscitantes plerumque docet quid +recte gestum quid perperam, quid factum superi volunt quid infectum. +Nimirum Henricus Septimus nulla aegritudinis prospecta causa repente in +deteriorem valetudinem prolapsus est, nec unquam potuit affectum corpus +pristinum statum recuperare. Uxor in aliud ex alio malum regina omnium +laudatissimia non multo post morbo periit. Quid mirum si Rex tot irati +numinis indiciis admonitus coeperit cogitare rem male illis succedere qui +vellent hoc nomine cum Dei legibus litem instituere ut diutius cum homine +amicitiam gerere possent. Quid deinceps egit? Quid aliud quam quod decuit +Christianissimum regem? Filium ad se accersiri jubet, accersitur. Adest, +adsunt et multi nobilissimi homines. Rex filium regno natum hortatur ut +secum una cum doctissimis ac optimis viris cogitavit nefarium esse putare +leges Dei leges Dei non esse cum papa volet. Non ita longa oratione usus +filium patri obsequentissimum a sententia nullo negotio abduxit. Sponsalia +contracta infirmantur, pontificiaeque auctoritatis beneficio palam +renunciatum est. Adest publicus tabellio--fit instrumentum. Rerum gestarum +testes rogati sigilla apponunt. Postremo filius patri fidem se illam uxorem +nunquam ducturum."--_Apomaxis_ RICARDI MORYSINI. Printed by Berthelet, +1537. + +[120] See LINGARD, sixth edition, vol. iv. p. 164. + +[121] HALL, p. 507. + +[122] He married Catherine, June 3, 1509. Early in the spring of 1510 she +miscarried.--_Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. i. p. 83. + +Jan. 1, 1511. A prince was born, who died Feb. 22.--HALL. + +Nov. 1513. Another prince was born, who died immediately.--LINGARD, vol. +iv, p. 290. + +Dec. 1514. Badoer, the Venetian ambassador, wrote that the queen had been +delivered of a still-born male child, to the great grief of the whole +nation. + +May 3, 1515. The queen was supposed to be pregnant. If the supposition was +right, she must have miscarried.--_Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ +vol. i. p. 81. + +Feb. 18, 1516. The Princess Mary was born. + +July 3, 1518. "The Queen declared herself quick with child." (Pace to +Wolsey: _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 2,) and again miscarried. + +These misfortunes we are able to trace accidentally through casual letters, +and it is probable that these were not all. Henry's own words upon the +subject are very striking:-- + +"All such issue male as I have received of the queen died incontinent after +they were born, so that I doubt the punishment of God in that behalf. Thus +being troubled in waves of a scrupulous conscience, and partly in despair +of any issue male by her, it drove me at last to consider the estate of +this realm, and the danger it stood in for lack of issue male to succeed me +in this imperial dignity."--CAVENDISH, p. 220. + +[123] "If a man shall take his brother's wife it is an unclean +thing. He hath uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be +childless."--_Leviticus_ xx. 21. It ought to be remembered, that if the +present law of England be right, the party in favour of the divorce was +right. + +[124] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[125] Legates to the Pope, printed in BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 40. + +[126] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 117. + +[127] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii.; HALL, 669. + +[128] They were shut up in the Castle of St. Angelo. + +[129] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 18, 19. + +[130] The fullest account of Wolsey's intentions on church reform will be +found in a letter addressed to him by Fox, the old blind Bishop of +Winchester, in 1528. The letter is printed in STRYPE'S _Memorials Eccles._ +vol. i. Appendix 10. + +[131] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. It is not +uncommon to find splendid imaginations of this kind haunting statesmen of +the 16th century; and the recapture of Constantinople always formed a +feature in the picture. _A Plan for the Reformation of Ireland_, drawn up +in 1515, contains the following curious passage: "The prophecy is, that the +King of England shall put this land of Ireland into such order that the +wars of the land, whereof groweth the vices of the same, shall cease for +ever; and after that God shall give such grace and fortune to the same king +that he shall with the army of England and of Ireland subdue the realm of +France to his obeysance for ever, and shall rescue the Greeks, and recover +the great city of Constantinople, and shall vanquish the Turks and win the +Holy Cross and the Holy Land, and shall die Emperor of Rome, and eternal +blisse shall be his end."--_State Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31. + +[132] Knight to Henry: _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 2, 3. + +[133] Wolsey to Cassalis: Ibid. p. 26. + +[134] The dispensing power of the popes was not formally limited. According +to the Roman lawyers, a faculty lay with them of granting extraordinary +dispensations in cases where dispensations would not be usually +admissible--which faculty was to be used, however, dummodo causa cogat +urgentissima ne regnum aliquod funditus pereat; the pope's business being +to decide on the question of urgency.--Sir Gregory Cassalis to Henry VIII., +Dec. 26, 1532. _Rolls House MS._ + +[135] Knight and Cassalis to Wolsey: BURNET'S _Collect._ p. 12. + +[136] STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i., Appendix p. 66. + +[137] Sir F. Bryan and Peter Vannes to Henry; _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. +144. + +[138] STRYPE'S _Memorials_, Appendix, vol. i. p. 100. + +[139] Ibid. Appendix, vol. i. pp. 105-6; BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 13. + +[140] Wolsey to the Pope, BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 16: Vereor quod tamen +nequeo tacere, ne Regia Majestas, humano divinoque jure quod habet ex omni +Christianitate suis his actionibus adjunctum freta, postquam viderit sedis +Apostolicae gratiam et Christi in terris Vicarii clementiam desperatam +Caesaris intuitu, in cujus manu neutiquam est tam sanctos conatus +reprimere, ea tunc moliatur, ea suae causae perquirat remedia, quae non +solum huic Regno sed etiam aliis Christianis principibus occasionem +subministrarent sedis Apostolicae auctoritatem et jurisdictionem imminuendi +et vilipendendi. + +[141] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 20. Wolsey to John Cassalis: "If his +Holyness, which God forbid, shall shew himself unwilling to listen to the +king's demands, to me assuredly it will be but grief to live longer, for +the innumerable evils which I foresee will then follow. One only sure +remedy remains to prevent the worst calamities. If that be neglected, there +is nothing before us but universal and inevitable ruin." + +[142] Gardiner and Fox to Wolsey; STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i. Appendix, +p. 92. + +[143] His Holiness being yet in captivity, as he esteemed himself to be, so +long as the Almayns and Spaniards continue in Italy, he thought if he +should grant this commission that he should have the emperour his perpetual +enemy without any hope of reconciliation. Notwithstanding he was content +rather to put himself in evident ruin, and utter undoing, than the king or +your Grace shall suspect any point of ingratitude in him; heartily desiring +with sighs and tears that the king and your Grace which have been always +fast and good to him, will not now suddenly precipitate him for ever: which +should be done if immediately on receiving the commission your Grace should +begin process. He intendeth to save all upright thus. If M. de Lautrec +would set forwards, which he saith daily that he will do, but yet he doth +not, at his coming the Pope's Holiness may have good colour to say, "He was +required of the commission by the ambassador of England, and denying the +same, he was, eftsoons, required by M. de Lautrec to grant the said +commission, inasmuch as it was but a letter of justice." And by this colour +he would cover the matter so that it might appear unto the emperour that +the pope did it not as he that would gladly do displeasure unto the +emperour, but as an indifferent judge, that could not nor might deny +justice, specially being required by such personages; and immediately he +would despatch a commission bearing date after the time that M. de Lautrec +had been with him or was nigh unto him. The pope most instantly beseecheth +your Grace to be a mean that the King's Highness may accept this in a good +part, and that he will take patience for this little time, which, as it is +supposed, will be but short.--Knight to Wolsey and the King, Jan. 1, +1527-8: BURNET _Collections_, 12, 13. + +[144] Such at least was the ultimate conclusion of a curious discussion. +When the French herald declared war, the English herald accompanied him +into the emperor's presence, and when his companion had concluded, followed +up his words with an intimation that unless the French demands were +complied with, England would unite to enforce them. The Emperor replied to +Francis with defiance. To the English herald he expressed a hope that peace +on that side would still be maintained. For the moment the two countries +were uncertain whether they were at war or not. The Spanish ambassador in +London did not know, and the court could not tell him. The English +ambassador in Spain did not leave his post, but he was placed under +surveillance. An embargo on Spanish and English property was laid +respectively in the ports of the two kingdoms; and the merchants and +residents were placed under arrest. Alarmed by the outcry in London, the +king hastily concluded a truce with the Regent of the Netherlands, the +language of which implied a state of war; but when peace was concluded +between France and Spain, England appeared only as a contracting party, not +as a principal, and in 1542 it was decided that the antecedent treaties +between England and the empire continued in force.--See LORD HERBERT; +HOLINSHED; _State Papers_, vols. vii. viii. and ix.; with the treaties in +RYMER, vol. vi. part 2. + +[145] Gardiner to the King: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 426. + +[146] Duke of Suffolk to Henry the Eighth: _State Papers_, vol. vii, p. +183. + +[147] Duke of Suffolk to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 183. + +[148] HALL, p. 744. + +[149] When the clothiers of Essex, Kent, Wiltshire, Suffolk, and other +shires which are clothmaking, brought cloths to London to be sold, as they +were wont, few merchants or none bought any cloth at all. When the +clothiers lacked sale, then they put from them their spinners, carders, +tuckers, and such others that lived by clothworking, which caused the +people greatly to murmur, and specially in Suffolk, for if the Duke of +Norfolk had not wisely appeased them, no doubt but they had fallen to some +rioting. When the king's council was advertised of the inconvenience, the +cardinal sent for a great number of the merchants of London, and to them +said, "Sirs, the king is informed that you use not yourselves like +merchants, but like graziers and artificers; for where the clothiers do +daily bring cloths to the market for your ease, to their great cost, and +then be ready to sell them, you of your wilfulness will not buy them, as +you have been accustomed to do. What manner of men be you?" said the +cardinal. "I tell you that the king straitly commandeth you to buy their +cloths as beforetime you have been accustomed to do, upon pain of his high +displeasure."--HALL, p. 746. + +[150] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 157. By manners and customs he was referring +clearly to his intended reformation of the church. See the letter of Fox, +Bishop of Winchester (STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. ii. p. 25), in which +Wolsey's intentions are dwelt upon at length. + +[151] Ibid. pp. 136, 7. + +[152] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 96, 7. + +[153] Wolsey to Cassalis: Ibid. p. 100. + +[154] State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 106, 7 + +[155] Ibid. p. 113. + +[156] Ibid. vii. p. 113. + +[157] Take the veil. + +[158] Instruction to the Ambassadours at Rome: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. +136. + +[159] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayanne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[160] LEGRAND, vol. iii. 231. + +[161] Instrucion para Gonzalo Fernandez que se envoie a Ireland al Conde de +Desmond, 1529.--MS. Archives at Brussels.--_The Pilgrim_, note 1, p. 169. + +[162] Henrici regis octavi de repudianda domina Catherina oratio Idibus +Novembris habita 1528. + +Veneranda et chara nobis praesulum procerum atque consiliariorum cohors +quos communis reipublicae atque regni nostri administrandi cura conjunxit. +Haud vos latet divina nos Providentia viginti jam ferme annis hanc nostram +patriam tanta felicitate rexisse ut in illa ab hostilibus incursionibus +tuta semper interea fuerit et nos in his bellis quae suscepimus victores +semper evasimus; et quanquam in eo gloriari jure possumus majorem +tranquillitatem opes et honores prioribus huc usque ductis socculis, +nunquam subditis a majoribus parentibusque nostris Anglia regibus quam a +nobis provenisse, tamen quando cum hac gloria in mentem una venit ac +concurrit mortis cogitatio, veremur ne nobis sine prole legitima +decedentibus majorem ex morte nostra patiamini calamitatem quam ex vita +fructum ac emolumentum percepistis. Recens enim in quorundam vestrorum +animis adhuc est illius cruenti temporis memoria quod a Ricardo tertio cum +avi nostri materni Edwardi Quarti statum in controversiam vocasset ejusque +heredes regno atque vita privasset illatum est. Tum ex historiis notae sunt +illae dirae strages quae a clarissimis Angliae gentibus Eboracensi atque +Lancastrensi, dum inter se de regno et imperio multis aevis contenderent, +populo evenerunt. Ac illae ex justis nuptiis inter Henricum Septimum et +dominam Elizabetham clarissimos nostros parentes contractis in nobis inde +legitima nata sobole sopitae tandem desierunt. Si vero quod absit, regalis +ex nostris nuptiis stirps quae jure deinceps regnare possit non nascatur, +hoc regnum civilibus atque intestinis se versabit tumultibus aut in +exterorum dominationem atque potestatem veniet. Nam quanquam forma atque +venustate singulari, quae magno nobis solatio fuit filiam Dominam Mariam ex +nobilissima foemina Domina Catherina procreavimus, tamen a piis atque +eruditis theologis nuper accepimus quia eam quae Arturi fratris nostri +conjux ante fuerat uxorem duximus nostras nuptias jure divino esse vetitas, +partumque inde editum non posse censeri legitimum. Id quod eo vehementius +nos angit et excruciat, quod cum superiori anno legatos ad conciliandas +inter Aureliensem ducem et filiam nostram Mariam nuptias ad Franciscum +Gallorum regem misissemus a quodam ejus consiliario responsum est, +"antequam de hujusmodi nuptiis agatum inquirendum esse prius an Maria +fuerit filia nostra legitima; constat enim 'inquit,' quod exdomina +Catherina fratris sui vidua cujusmodi nuptiae jure divino interdictae sunt +suscepta est." Quae oratio quanto metu ac horrore animum nostrum turbaverit +quia res ipsa aeternae tam animi quam corporis salutis periculum in se +continet, et quam perplexis cogitationibus conscientiam occupat, vos quibus +et capitis aut fortunae ac multo magis animarum jactura immineret, remedium +nisi adhibere velitis, ignorare non posse arbitror. Haec una res--quod Deo +teste et in Regis oraculo affirmamus--nos impulit ut per legatos +doctissimorum per totum orbem Christianum theologorum sententias +exquireremus et Romani Pontificis legatum verum atque aequum judicium de +tanta causa laturum ut tranquilla deinceps et interga conscientia in +conjugio licito vivere possimus accerseremus. In quo si ex sacris litteris +hoc quo viginti jam fere annis gavisi sumus matrimonium jure divino +permissum esse manifeste liquidoque constabit, non modo ob conscientiae +tranquillitatem, verum etiam ob amabiles mores virtutesque quibus regina +praedita et ornata est, nihil optatius nihilque jucundius accidere nobis +potest. Nam praeterquam quod regali atque nobili genere prognata est, tanta +praeterea comitate et obsequio conjugali tum caeteris animi morumque +ornamentis quae nobilitatem illustrant omnes foeminas his viginti annis sic +mihi anteire visa est ut si a conjugio liber essem ac solutus, si jure +divino liceret, hanc solam prae caeteris foeminis stabili mihi jure ac +foedere matrimoniali conjungerem. Si vero in hoc judicio matrimonium +nostrum jure divino prohibitum, ideoque ab initio nullum irritumque fuisse +pronuncietur, infelix hic meus casus multis lacrimis lugendus ac +deplorandus erit. Non modo quod a tam illustris et amabilis mulieris +consuetudine et consortio divertendum sit, sed multo magis quod specie ad +similitudinem veri conjugii decepti in amplexibus plusquam fornicariis tam +multos annos trivimus nulla legitima prognata nobis sobole quae nobis +mortuis hujus inclyti regni hereditatem capessat. + +Hae nostrae curae istaeque solicitudines sunt quae mentem atque +conscientiam nostram dies noctesque torquent et excurciant, quibus +auferendis et profligandis remedium ex hac legatione et judicio opportunum +quaerimus. Ideoque vos quorum virtuti atque fidei multum attribuimus +rogamus ut certum atque genuinum nostrum de hac re sensum quem ex nostro +sermone percepistis populo declaretis: eumque excitetis ut nobiscum una +oraret ut ad conscientiae nostrae pacem atque tranquillitatem in hoc +judicio veritas multis jam annis tenebris involuta tandem patefiat. +--WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol. iii. p. 714. + +[163] HALL, _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[164] LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[165] Ibid. vol. iii. pp. 232, 3. + +[166] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 120; Ibid. p. 186. + +[167] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 41. + +[168] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 193. + +[169] The Emperor could as little trust Clement as the English, and to the +last moment could not tell how he would act. + +"Il me semble," wrote Inigo di Mendoza to Charles on the 17th of June, +1529,--"il me semble que Sa Saintete differe autant qu'il peut ce qu' +auparavant il avoit promis, et je crains qu'il n'ait ordonne aux legatz ce +qui jusques a present avoit reste en suspens qu'ils procedent par la +premiere commission. Ce qui faisant votre Majeste peut tenir la Reine +autant que condamne."--_MS. Archives at Brussels._ + +The sort of influence to which the See of Rome was amenable appears in +another letter to the Emperor, written from Rome itself on the 4th of +October. The Pope and cardinals, it is to be remembered, were claiming to +be considered the supreme court of appeal in Christendom. + +"Si je ne m'abuse tous ou la pluspart du Saint College sont plus +affectionnez a vostre dite Majeste que a autre Prince Chrestien: de vous +escrire, Sire, particulierement toutes leurs responses seroit chose trop +longue. Tant y a que elles sont telles que votre Majeste a raison doubt +grandement se contenter d'icelles. + +"... Seulement diray derechief a vostre Majeste, et me souvient l'avoir +dict plusieurs fois, qu'il est en vostre Majeste gaigner et entretenir +perpetuellement ce college en vostre devotion en distribuant seulement +entre les principaulx d'eulx en pensions et benefices la somme de vingt +mille ducas, l'ung mille, l'autre deulx ou trois mille. Et est cecy chose, +Sire, que plus vous touche que a autre Prince Chrestien pour les affaires +que vostre Majeste a journellement a despescher en ceste court."--M. de +Praet to Charles V. August 5th, 1529. MS. Ibid. + +[170] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 377. + +[171] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 374. + +[172] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 355. + +[173] Ibid. + +[174] Memorandum relating to the Society of Christian Brethren. _Rolls +House MS._ + +[175] DALABER'S _Narrative_, printed in FOXE, vol. iv. Seeley's Ed. + +[176] All authorities agree in the early account of Henry, and his letters +provide abundant proof that it is not exaggerated. The following +description of him in the despatches of the Venetian ambassador shows the +effect which he produced on strangers in 1515:-- + +"Assuredly, most serene prince, from what we have seen of him, and in +conformity, moreover, with the report made to us by others, this most +serene king is not only very expert in arms and of great valour and most +excellent in his personal endowments, but is likewise so gifted and adorned +with mental accomplishments of every sort, that we believe him to have few +equals in the world. He speaks English, French, Latin, understands Italian +well; plays almost on every instrument; sings and composes fairly; is +prudent, and sage, and free from every vice."--_Four Years at the Court of +Henry VIII._ vol. i. p. 76. + +Four years later, the same writer adds,-- + +"The king speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish; is very religious; hears +three masses a day when he hunts, and sometimes five on other days; he +hears the office every day in the queen's chamber--that is to say, vespers +and complins."--Ibid. vol. ii. p. 312. William Thomas, who must have seen +him, says, + +"Of personage he was one of the goodliest men that lived in his time; being +high of stature, in manner more than a man, and proportionable in all his +members unto that height; of countenance he was most amiable; courteous and +benign in gesture unto all persons and specially unto strangers; seldom or +never offended with anything; and of so constant a nature in himself that I +believe few can say that ever he changed his cheer for any novelty how +contrary or sudden so ever it were. Prudent he was in council and +forecasting; most liberal in rewarding his faithful servants, and even unto +his enemies, as it behoveth a prince to be. He was learned in all sciences, +and had the gift of many tongues. He was a perfect theologian, a good +philosopher, and a strong man at arms, a jeweller, a perfect builder as +well of fortresses as of pleasant palaces, and from one to another there +was no necessary kind of knowledge, from a king's degree to a carter's, but +he had an honest sight in it."--_The Pilgrim_ p. 78. + +[177] Exposition of the Commandments, set forth by Royal authority, 1536. +This treatise was drawn up by the bishops, and submitted to, and revised +by, the king. + +[178] SAGUDINO'S _Summary. Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. ii. +P. 75. + +[179] "The truth is, when I married my wife, I had but fifty pounds to live +on for me and my wife so long as my father lived, and yet she brought me +forth every year a child."--Earl of Wiltshire to Cromwell: ELLIS, third +series, vol. iii. pp. 22, 3. + +[180] BURNET, vol. i. p. 69. + +[181] Thomas Allen to the Earl of Shrewsbury: LODGE'S _Illustrations_, vol. +i. p. 20. + +[182] Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell: printed by LORD HERBERT and by +BURNET. + +[183] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7. + +[184] Since these words were written, I have discovered among the Archives +of Simancas what may perhaps be some clue to the mystery, in an epitome of +a letter written to Charles V. from London in May, 1536:--- + +"His Majesty has letters from England of the 11th of May, with certain news +that the paramour of the King of England, who called herself queen, has +been thrown into the Tower of London for adultery. The partner of her guilt +was an organist of the Privy Chamber, who is in the Tower as well. An +officer of the King's wardrobe has been arrested also for the same offence +with her, and one of her brothers for having been privy to her offences +without revealing them. They say, too, that if the adultery had not been +discovered, the King was determined to put her away, having been informed +by competent witnesses that she was married and had consummated her +marriage nine years before, with the Earl of Northumberland." + +[185] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 131. + +[186] Wyatt's Memorials, printed in Singer's CAVENDISH, p. 420. + +[187] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 132. + +[188] ELLIS, first series, vol. i. p. 135. "My Lord, in my most humblest +wise that my poor heart can think, I do thank your Grace for your kind +letter, and for your rich and goodly present; the which I shall never be +able to deserve without your great help; of the which I have hitherto had +so great plenty, that all the days of my life I am most bound of all +creatures, next to the King's Grace, to love and serve your Grace. Of the +which I beseech you never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought +as long as any breath is in my body." + +[189] CAVENDISH _Life of Wolsey,_ p. 316. Singer's edition. + +[190] CAVENDISH, pp. 364, 5. + +[191] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. pp. 368, 378, +etc. + +[192] See HALE'S _Criminal Causes from the Records of the Consistory Court +of London._ + +[193] Petition of the Commons, infra, p. 191, etc. + +[194] Reply of the Ordinaries to the petition of the Commons, infra, p. +202, etc. + +[195] Petition of the Commons. 23 Hen. VIII. c. 9. + +[196] HALE'S _Criminal Causes,_ p.4. + +[197] An Act that no person committing murder, felony, or treason should be +admitted to his clergy under the degree of sub-deacon. + +[198] In May, 1528, the evil had become so intolerable, that Wolsey drew +the pope's attention to it. Priests, he said, both secular and regular, +were in the habit of committing atrocious crimes, for which, if not in +orders, they would have been promptly executed; and the laity were +scandalised to see such persons not only not degraded, but escaping with +complete impunity. Clement something altered the law of degradation in +consequence of this representation, but quite inadequately.--RYMER, vol. +vi. part 2, p. 96. + +[199] Thomas Cowper et ejus uxor Margarita pronubae horribiles, et +instigant mulieres ad fornicandum cum quibuscunque laicis, religiosis, +fratribus minoribus, et nisi fornicant in domo sua ipsi diffamabunt nisi +voluerint dare eis ad voluntatem eorum; et vir est pronuba uxori, et vult +relinquere eam apud fratres minores pro peccatis habendis.--HALE, +_Criminal Causes,_ p. 9. + +Joanna Cutting communis pronuba at praesertim inter presbyteros fratres +monachos et canonicos et etiam inter Thomam Peise et quandam Agnetam, +etc.--HALE, _Criminal Causes,_ p. 28. + +See also Ibid. pp. 15, 22, 23, 39, etc. + +In the first instance the parties accused "made their purgation" and were +dismissed. The exquisite corruption of the courts, instead of inviting +evidence and sifting accusations, allowed accused persons to support their +own pleas of not guilty by producing four witnesses, not to disprove the +charges, but to swear that they believed the charges untrue. This was +called "purgation." + +Clergy, it seems, were sometimes allowed to purge themselves simply on +their own word.--HALE, p. 22; and see the Preamble of the 1st of the 23rd +of Henry VIII. + +[200] Complaints of iniquities arising from confession were laid before +Parliament as early as 1394. + +"Auricularis confessio quae dicitur tam necessaria ad salvationem hominis, +cum ficta potestate absolutionis exaltat superbiam sacerdotum, et dat illis +opportunitatem secretarum sermocinationum quas nos nolumus dicere, quia +domini et dominae attestantur quod pro timore confessorum suorum non audent +dicere veritatem; et in tempore confessionis est opportunum tempus +procationis id est of wowing et aliarum secretarum conventionum ad +peccata mortalia. Ipsi dicunt quod sunt commissarii Dei ad judicandum de +omni peccato perdonandum et mundandum quemcunque eis placuerint. Dicunt +quod habent claves coeli et inferni et possunt excommunicare et benedicere +ligare et solvere in voluntatem eorum; in tantum quod pro bussello vel 12 +denariis volunt vendere benedictionem coeli per chartam et clausulam de +warrantia sigillita sigillo communi. Ista conclusio sic est in usu quod non +eget probatione aliqua."--Extract from a Petition presented to Parliament: +WILKINS, vol. iii. p. 221. + +This remarkable paper ends with the following lines:-- + + "Plangunt Anglorum gentes crimen Sodomorum + Paulus fert horum sunt idola causa malorum + Surgunt ingrati Giezitae Simone nati + Nomine praelati hoc defensare parati + Qui reges estis populis quicunque praestis + Qualiter his gestis gladios prohibere potestis." + +See also HALE, p. 42, where an abominable instance is mentioned, and a +still worse in the _Suppression of the Monasteries,_ pp. 45-50. + +[201] HALE, p. 12. + +[202] Ibid. pp. 75, 83; _Suppression of the Monasteries,_ p. 47. + +[203] Ibid. p. 80. + +[204] Ibid. p. 83. + +[205] I have been taunted with my inability to produce more evidence. For +the present I will mention two additional instances only, and perhaps I +shall not be invited to swell the list further. + +1. In the State Paper Office is a report to Cromwell by Adam Bekenshaw, one +of his diocesan visitors, in which I find this passage:-- + +"There be knights and divers gentlemen in the diocese of Chester who do +keep concubines and do yearly compound with the officials for a small sum +without monition to leave their naughty living." + +2. In another report I find also the following:-- + +"The names of such persons as be permitted to live in adultery and +fornication for money:-- + + "The Vicar of Ledbury. + The Vicar of Brasmyll. + The Vicar of Stow. + The Vicar of Cloune. + The Parson of Wentnor. + The Parson of Rusbury. + The Parson of Plowden. + The Dean of Pountsbury. + The Parson of Stratton. + Sir Matthew of Montgomery. + Sir ---- of Lauvange. + Sir John Brayle. + Sir Morris of Clone. + Sir Adam of Clone. + Sir Pierce of Norbury. + Sir Gryffon ap Egmond. + Sir John Orkeley. + Sir John of Mynton. + Sir John Reynolds. + Sir Morris of Knighton, priest. + Hugh Davis. + Cadwallader ap Gern. + Edward ap Meyrick. + With many others of the diocese of Hereford." + +The originals of both these documents are in the State Paper Office. There +are copies in the Bodleian Library.--_MS. Tanner,_ 105. + +[206] Skelton gives us a specimen of the popular criticisms:-- + + "Thus I, Colin Clout, + As I go about, + And wondering as I walk, + I hear the people talk: + Men say for silver and gold + Mitres are bought and sold: + A straw for Goddys curse, + What are they the worse? + + "What care the clergy though Gill sweat, + Or Jack of the Noke? + The poor people they yoke + With sumners and citacions, + And excommunications. + About churches and markets + The bishop on his carpets + At home soft doth sit. + This is a fearful fit, + To hear the people jangle. + How wearily they wrangle! + But Doctor Bullatus + + "Parum litteratus, + Dominus Doctoratus + At the broad gate-house. + Doctor Daupatus + And Bachelor Bacheleratus, + Drunken as a mouse + At the ale-house, + Taketh his pillion and his cap + At the good ale-tap, + For lack of good wine. + As wise as Robin Swine, + Under a notary's sign, + Was made a divine; + As wise as Waltham's calf, + Must preach in Goddys half; + In the pulpit solemnly; + More meet in a pillory; + For by St. Hilary + He can nothing smatter + Of logic nor school matter. + + "Such temporal war and bate + As now is made of late + Against holy church estate, + Or to mountain good quarrels; + The laymen call them barrels + Full of gluttony and of hypocrisy, + That counterfeits and paints + As they were very saints. + + "By sweet St. Marke, + This is a wondrous warke, + That the people talk this. + Somewhat there is amiss. + The devil cannot stop their mouths, + But they will talk of such uncouths + All that ever they ken + Against spiritual men." + +I am unable to quote more than a few lines from ROY'S _Satire_. At the +close of a long paragraph of details an advocate of the clergy ventures to +say that the bad among them are a minority. His friend answers:-- + + "Make the company great or small, + Among a thousand find thou shall + Scant one chaste of body or mind." + +[207] Answer of the Bishops to the Commons' Petition: _Rolls House MS._ + +[208] Joanna Leman notatur officio quod non venit ad ecclesiam parochialem; +et dicit se nolle accipere panem benedictum a manibus rectoris; et vocavit +eum "horsyn preste."--HALE, p. 99. + +[209] HALE, p. 63. + +[210] Ibid. p. 98. + +[211] Ibid. p. 38. + +[212] Ibid. p. 67. + +[213] Ibid. p. 100. + +[214] CAVENDISH, _Life of Wolsey_, p. 251. + +[215] HALL, p. 764. + +[216] Ibid. p. 764. + +[217] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 361. + +[218] 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 16. + +[219] The session lasted six weeks only, and several of the subjects of the +petition were disposed of in the course of it, as we shall see. + +[220] The MS. from which I have transcribed this copy is itself imperfect, +as will be seen in the "reply of the Bishops," which supplies several +omitted articles. See p. 137, et seq. It is in the Rolls House. + +[221] The penny, as I have shown, equalled, in terms of a poor man's +necessities, a shilling. See chap. i. + +[222] See instance's in HALE: p, 62, _Omnium Sanctorum in muro_.--M. +Gulielmus Edward curatus notatur officio quod recusat ministrare sacramenta +ecelesiastica aegrotantibus nisi prius habitis pecuniis pro suo labore: p. +64, _St. Mary Magdalen_.--Curatus notatur officio prbpter quod recusavit +solemnizare matrrimonium quousque habet pro hujusmodi solemnizatione, _3s. +8d._; and see pp. 52, 75. + +[223] I give many instances of this practice in my sixth chapter. It was a +direct breach of the statute of Henry IV., which insists on all +examinations for heresy being conducted in open court. "The diocesan and +his commissaries," says that act, "shall openly and judicially proceed +against persons arrested."--2 Hen. IV. c. 15. + +[224] Again breaking the statute of Hen. IV., which limited the period of +imprisonment previous to public trial to three months.--2 Hen. IV. c. 15. + +[225] To be disposed of at Smithfield. Abjuration was allowed once. For a +second offence there was no forgiveness. + +[226] Petition of the Commons. _Rolls House MS._ + +[227] See STRYPE, _Eccles. Memorials_, vol. i. p. 191-2,--who is very +eloquent in his outcries upon his subject. + +[228] _Answer of the Bishops_, p. 204, etc. + +[229] Explanations are not easy; but the following passage may suggest the +meaning of the House of Commons:--"The holy Father Prior of Maiden Bradley +hath but six children, and but one daughter married yet of the goods of the +monastery; trusting shortly to marry the rest."--Dr. Leyton to Cromwell: +_Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 58. + +[230] Reply of the Bishops, infra. + +[231] CAVENDISH, _Life of Wolsey_, p. 390. MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 109. + +[232] Populus diu oblatrans. Fox to Wolsey. STRYPE, _Eccl. Mem._ vol. i. +Appendix, p. 27. + +[233] RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 119. + +[234] The answer of the Ordinaries to the supplication of the worshipful +the Commons of the Lower House of Parliament offered to our Sovereign Lord +the King's most noble Grace.--_Rolls House MS._ + +[235] The terms of the several articles of complaint are repeated verbally +from the petition. I condense them to spare recapitulation. + +[236] 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15; 2 Hen. V. cap. 7. + +[237] An Act that no person shall be cited out of the diocese in which he +dwells, except in certain cases. It received the Royal assent two years +later. See 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 9. + +[238] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 5. An Act concerning fines and sums of money to be +taken by the ministers of bishops and other ordinaries of holy church for +the probate of testaments. + +[239] HALE, _Precedents_, p. 86. + +[240] Ibid. + +[241] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 6. An Act concerning the taking of mortuaries, or +demanding, receiving, or claiming the same. + +In Scotland the usual mortuary was, a cow and the uppermost cloth or +counterpane on the bed in which the death took place. A bishop reprimanding +a suspected clergyman for his leaning toward the Reformation, said to +him:-- + +"My joy, Dean Thomas, I am informed that ye preach the epistle and gospel +every Sunday to your parishioners, and that ye take not the cow nor the +upmost cloth from your parishioners; which thing is very prejudicial to the +churchmen. And therefore, Dean Thomas, I would ye took your cow and upmost +cloth, or else it is too much to preach every Sunday, for in so doing ye +may make the people think we should preach likewise."--CALDERWOOD, vol. i. +p. 126. + +The bishop had to burn Dean Thomas at last, being unable to work conviction +into him in these matters. + +[242] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. An Act that no spiritual person shall take +farms; or buy and sell for lucre and profit; or keep tan-houses or +breweries. And for pluralities of benefices and for residence. + +[243] HALL, p. 767. + +[244] Ibid. 766 + +[245] Ibid. 767. + +[246] Ibid. 766. + +[247] Ibid. 768. + +[248] So reluctant was he, that at one time he had resolved, rather than +compromise the unity of Christendom, to give way. When the disposition of +the court of Rome was no longer doubtful, "his difficultatibus permotus, +cum in hoc statu res essent, dixerunt qui ejus verba exceperunt, post +profundam secum de universo negotio deliberationem et mentis agitationem, +tandem in haec verba prorupisse, se primum tentasse illud divortium +persuasum ecclesiam Romanam hoc idem probaturum--quod si ita ilia +abhorreret ab illa sententia ut nullo modo permittendum censeret se nolle +cum ea contendere neque amplius in illo negotio progredi." + +Pole, on whose authority we receive these words, says that they were heard +with almost unanimous satisfaction at the council board. The moment of +hesitation was, it is almost certain, at the crisis which preceded or +attended Wolsey's fall. It endured but for three days, and was dispelled by +the influence of Cromwell, who tempted both the king and parliament into +their fatal revolt.--POLI _Apologia ad Carolum Quintum_. + +[249] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 446. The censures were threatened in the first +brief, but the menace was withdrawn under the impression that it was not +needed. + +[250] Ibid. The second brief is dated March 7, and declares that the king, +if he proceeds, shall incur ipso facto the greater excommunication; that +the kingdom will fall under an interdict. + +[251] Cranmer was born in 1489, and was thus forty years old when he first +emerged into eminence. + +[252] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 226. + +[253] Je croy qu'il ne feist en sa vie ceremonie qui luy touchast si pres +du coeur, ne dont je pense qu'il luy doive advenir moins du bien. Car +aucunes fois qu'il pensoit qu'on ne le regardast, il faisoit de si grands +soupirs que pour pesante que fust sa chappe, il la faisoit bransler a bon +escient.--_Lettre de M. de Gramont, Eveque de Tarbes._ LEGRAND, vol. iii. +p. 386. + +[254] ELLIS, _Third Series_, vol. ii. p. 98. "In the letters showed us by +M. de Buclans from the emperor, of the which mention was made in ciphers, +it was written in terms that the French king would offer unto your Grace +the papalite of France vel Patriarchate, for the French men would no more +obey the Church of Rome."--Lee to Wolsey. + +[255] A ce qu'il m'en a declare des fois plus de trois en secret, il seroit +content que le dit mariage fust ja faict, ou par dispense du Legat +d'Angleterre ou autrement; mais que ce ne fust par son autorite, in aussi +diminuant sa puissance, quant aux dispenses, et limitation de droict +divin.--_Dechiffrement de Lettres de M. de Tarbes._--LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. +408. + +[256] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 408. + +[257] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 230. + +[258] The Bishop of Tarbes to the King of France. LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. +401. + +[259] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 234. + +[260] Ibid. p. 235. + +[261] We demand a service of you which it is your duty to concede; and your +first thought is lest you should offend the emperor. We do not blame _him_. +That in such a matter he should be influenced by natural affection is +intelligible and laudable. But for that very reason we decline to submit to +so partial a judgment.--Henry VIII. to the Pope: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. +431. + +[262] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 394. + +[263] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 317. + +[264] For Croke's Mission, see BURNET, vol. i. p. 144 e. + +[265] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 241. + +[266] Friar Pallavicino to the Bishop of Bath. _Rolls House MS._ + +[267] Croke and Omnibow to the King. _Rolls House MS._ + +[268] Generalis magister nostri ordinis mandavit omnibus suae religionis +professoribus, ut nullus audeat de auctoritate Pontificis quicquam loqui. +Denique Orator Caesareus in talia verba prorupit, quibus facile cognovi ut +me a Pontifice vocari studeat et tunc timendum esset saluti meae. Father +Omnibow to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._ + +[269] BURNET'S _Collect._ p. 50. Burnet labours to prove that on Henry's +side there was no bribery, and that the emperor was the only offender; an +examination of many MS. letters from Croke and other agents in Italy leads +me to believe that, although the emperor only had recourse to intimidation, +because he alone was able to practise it, the bribery was equally shared +between both parties. + +[270] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 458. The Grand Master to the King of +France:--De l'autre part, adventure il n'est moins a craindre, que le Roy +d'Angleterre, irrite de trop longues dissimulations, trouvast moyen de +parvenir a ses intentions du consentement de l'Empereur, et que par +l'advenement d'un tiers _se fissent ami, Herode et Pilate_. + +[271] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 467, etc. + +[272] Letter from the King of France to the President of the Parliament of +Paris. _Rolls House MS._ + +[273] Letter from Reginald Pole to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._ + +[274] Pole to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._ + +[275] BURNET, _Collectanea_, p. 429. + +[276] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 377. + +[277] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 436; _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 378. + +[278] It is not good to stir a hornet's nest. + +[279] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 431. + +[280] Ibid. p. 48. + +[281] Preface to LATIMER'S _Sermons_. Parker Society's edition, p. 3. + +[282] "King Harry loved a man," was an English proverb to the close of the +century. See SIR ROBERT NAUNTON'S _Fragmenta Regalia_, London, 1641, p. 14. + +[283] Sir George Throgmorton, who distinguished himself by his opposition +to the Reformation in the House of Commons. + +[284] BURNET'S _Collect_, p. 429. + +[285] _A Glasse of Truth._ + +[286] Ibid. p. 144. + +[287] 35 Ed. I.; 25 Ed. III. stat. 4; stat. 5, cap. 22; 27 Ed. III. stat. +1; 13 Ric. II. stat. 2, cap. 2; 16 Ric. II. cap. 5; 9 Hen. IV. cap. 8. + +[288] CAVENDISH, p. 276. + +Gardiner has left some noticeable remarks on this subject. + +"Whether," he says, "a king may command against a common law or an act of +parliament, there is never a judge or other man in the realm ought to know +more by experience of that the laws have said than I. + +"First, my Lord Cardinal, that obtained his legacy by our late Sovereign +Lord's requirements at Rome, yet, because it was against the laws of the +realm, the judges concluded the offence of Premunire, which matter I bare +away, and took it for a law of the realm, because the lawyers said so, but +my reason digested it not. The lawyers, for confirmation of their doings, +brought in the case of Lord Tiptoft. An earl he was, and learned in the +civil laws, who being chancellor, because in execution of the king's +commandment he offended the laws of the realm, suffered on Tower Hill. They +brought in examples of many judges that had fines set on their heads in +like cases for transgression of laws by the king's commandment, and this I +learned in that case. + +"Since that time being of the council, when many proclamations were devised +against the carriers out of corn, when it came to punish the offender, the +judges would answer it might not be by the law, because the Act of +Parliament gave liberty, wheat being under a price. Whereupon at last +followed the Act of Proclamations, in the passing whereof were many large +words spoken." + +After mentioning other cases, he goes on:-- + +"I reasoned once in the parliament house, where there was free speech +without danger, and the Lord Audely, to satisfy me, because I was in some +secret estimation, as he knew, 'Thou art a good fellow, Bishop,' quoth he; +'look at the Act of Supremacy, and there the king's doings be restrained to +spiritual jurisdiction; and in another act no spiritual law shall have +place contrary to a common law, or an act of parliament. And this were +not,' quoth he, 'you bishops would enter in with the king, and by means of +his supremacy order the laws as ye listed. But we will provide,' quoth he, +'that the premunire shall never go off your heads.' This I bare away then, +and held my peace."--Gardiner to the Protector Somerset: _MS. Harleian_, +417. + +[289] 13 Ric. II. stat. 2, cap. 2. Et si le Roi envoie par lettre on en +autre maniere a la Courte du Rome al excitacion dascune person, parount que +la contrarie de cest estatut soit fait touchant ascune dignite de Sainte +Eglise, si celuy qui fait tiel excitacion soit Prelate de Sainte Eglise, +paie au Roy le value de ses temporalitees dun an. The petition of +parliament which occasioned the statute is even more emphatic: Perveuz tout +foitz que par nulle traite ou composition a faire entre le Seint Pere le +Pape et notre Seigneur le Roy que riens soit fait a contraire en prejudice +de cest Estatute a faire. Et si ascune Seigneur Espirituel ou Temporel ou +ascune persone quiconque de qu'elle condition q'il soit, enforme, ensence +ou excite le Roi ou ses heirs, l'anientiser, adnuller ou repeller cest +Estatut a faire, et de ceo soit atteint par due proces du loy que le +Seigneur Espirituel eit la peyne sus dite, etc.--_Rolls of Parliament_, +Ric. II. 13. + +[290] Even further, as chancellor the particular duty had been assigned to +him of watching over the observance of the act. + +Et le chancellor que pur le temps serra a quelle heure que pleint a luy ou +a conseill le Roy soit fait d'ascunes des articles sus ditz par ascune +persone que pleindre soy voudra granta briefs sur le cas ou commissions a +faire au covenables persones, d'oier et terminer les ditz articles sur +peyne de perdre son office et jamais estre mys en office le Roy et perdre +mille livres a lever a l'oeps le Roy si de ce soit atteint par du +proces.--_Rolls of Parliament_, Ric. II. 13. + +[291] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 77. See a summary of the acts of this +Convocation in a sermon of Latimer's preached before the two Houses in +1536. LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 45. + +[292] The king, considering what good might come of reading of the New +Testament and following the same; and what evil might come of the reading +of the same if it were evil translated, and not followed; came into the +Star Chamber the five-and-twentieth day of May; and then communed with his +council and the prelates concerning the cause. And after long debating, it +was alleged that the translations of Tyndal and Joy were not truly +translated, and also that in them were prologues and prefaces that sounded +unto heresy, and railed against the bishops uncharitably. Wherefore all +such books were prohibited, and commandment given by the king to the +bishops, that they, calling to them the best learned men of the +universities, should cause a new translation to be made, so that the people +should not be ignorant of the law of God.--HALL, p. 771. And see WARHAM'S +_Register_ for the years 1529-1531. MS. Lambeth. + +[293] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 15. + +[294] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 78. + +[295] _State Papers_, vol. vii. 457. + +[296] Memoranda relating to the Clergy: _Rolls House MS._ + +[297] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 80. + +[298] The King's Highness, having always tender eyes with mercy and pity +and compassion towards his spiritual subjects, minding of his high goodness +and great benignity so always to impart the same unto them, as justice +being duly administered, all rigour be excluded; and the great benevolent +minds of his said subjects [having been] largely and many times approved +towards his Highness, and specially in their Convocation and Synod now +presently being in the Chapter House of Westminster, his Highness, of his +said benignity and high liberality, in consideration that the said +Convocation has given and granted unto him a subsidy of one hundred +thousand pounds, is content to grant his general pardon to the clergy and +the province of Canterbury, for all offences against the statute and +premunire.--22 Hen. VIII. cap. 15. + +[299] BURNET, vol. 1. p. 185. + +[300] An instance is reported in the Chronicle of the Grey Friars ten years +previously. The punishment was the same as that which was statutably +enacted in the case of Rouse. + +[301] HALL, p. 781. + +[302] Most shocking when the _wrong persons_ were made the victims; and +because clerical officials were altogether incapable of detecting the +_right persons_, the memory of the practice has become abhorrent to all +just men. I suppose, however, that, if the _right persons_ could have been +detected, even the stake itself would not have been too tremendous a +penalty for the destroying of human souls. + +[303] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 10. + +[304] See a very curious pamphlet on this subject, by SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE. +It is called _The Confessions of Richard Bishop, Robert Seymour, and Sir +Edward Neville, before the Privy Council, touching Prophecie, Necromancy, +and Treasure-trove_. + +[305] Miscellaneous Depositions on the State Of the Country: _Rolls House +MS._ + +[306] See the Preamble of the Bill against conjurations, witchcraft, +sorceries, and enchantments.--33 Hen. VIII. cap. 8. + +Also "the Bill touching Prophecies upon Arms and Badges."--33 Hen. VIII. +cap. 14. + +A similar edict expelled the gipsies from Germany. At the Diet of Spires, +June 10, 1544. + +Statutum est ne vagabundum hominum genus quos vulgo Saracenos vocant per +Germaniam oberrare sinatur _usu enim compertum est eos exploratores et +proditores esse.--State Papers_, vol. ix. p. 705. + +[307] ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 101. + +[308] Bulla pro Johanne Scot, qui sine cibo et potu per centum et sex dies +vixerat.--RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 176. + +[309] BUCHANAN, _History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 156. + +[310] _Letter of Archbishop Cranmer._--ELLIS, second series, vol. ii. p. +314. + +[311] _Statutes of the Realm._ 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[312] Extracts from a Narrative containing an Account of Elizabeth Barton: +_Rolls House MS._ + +[313] _Statutes of the Realm._ + +[314] _Rolls House MS._ + +[315] Ibid. + +[316] _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 19. + +[317] Ibid. + +[318] Proceedings connected with Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ + +[319] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[320] Ibid. + +[321] Ibid. + +[322] _Cranmer's Letter._ ELLIS, third series, vol. iii. p. 315. + +[323] More to Cromwell: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 350. + +[324] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[325] Confessions of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ Sir Thomas More +gave her a double ducat to pray for him and his. BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. +352. Moryson, in his _Apomaxis_, declares that she had a regular +understanding with the confessors at the Priory. When penitents came to +confess, they were detained while a priest conveyed what they had +acknowledged to the Nun; and when afterwards they were admitted to her +presence, she amazed them with repeating their own confessions. + +[326] The said Elizabeth subtilly and craftily conceiving the opinion and +mind of the said Edward Bocking, willing to please him, revealed and showed +unto the said Edward that God was highly displeased with our said sovereign +lord the king for this matter; and in case he desisted not from his +proceeding in the said divorce and separation, but pursued the same and +married again, that then within one month after such marriage, he should no +longer be king of this realm; and in the reputation of Almighty God he +should not be a king one day nor one hour, and that he should die a +villain's death. Saying further, that there was a root with three branches, +and till they were plucked up it should never be merry in England: +interpreting the root to be the late lord cardinal, and the first branch to +be the king our sovereign lord, the second the Duke of Norfolk, and the +third the Duke of Suffolk.--25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[327] Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ In the epitome of +the book of her Revelations it is stated that there was a story in it "of +an angel that appeared, and bade the Nun go unto the king, that infidel +prince of England, and say that I command him to amend his life, and that +he leave three things which he loveth and pondereth upon, _i.e._, that he +take none of the pope's right nor patrimony from him; the second that he +destroy all these new folks of opinion and the works of their new learning; +the third, that if he married and took Anne to wife, the vengeance of God +should plague him; and as she sayth she shewed this unto the king."--Paper +on the Nun of Kent: _MS. Cotton, Cleopatra_, E 4. + +[328] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 137. Warham had promised to marry +Henry to Anne Boleyn. The Nun frightened him into a refusal by a pretended +message from an angel.--_MS._ ibid. + +[329] The Nun hath practised with two of the pope's ambassadors within this +realm, and hath sent to the pope that if he did not do his duty in +reformation of kings, God would destroy him at a certain day which he had +appointed. By reason whereof it is supposed that the pope hath showed +himself so double and so deceivable to the King's Grace in his great cause +of marriage as he hath done, contrary to all truth, justice, and equity. As +likewise the late cardinal of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, +being very well-minded to further and set at an end the marriage which the +King's Grace now enjoyeth, according to their spiritual duty, were +prevented by the false revelations of the said Nun. And that the said +Bishop of Canterbury was so minded may be proved by divers which knew then +his towardness.--Narrative of the Proceedings of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls +House MS._ + +[330] Note of the Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ + +[331] HALL, p. 780. + +[332] RYMER, vol. vi. p. 160. We are left to collateral evidence to fix the +place of this petition, the official transcriber having contented himself +with the substance, and omitted the date. The original, as appears from the +pope's reply (LORD HERBERT, p. 145), bore the date of July 13; and unless a +mistake was made in transcribing the papal brief, this was July, 1530. I +have ventured to assume a mistake, and to place the petition in the +following year, because the judgment of the universities, to which it +refers, was not completed till the winter of 1530; they were not read in +parliament till March 30, 1531; and it seems unlikely that a petition of so +great moment would have been presented on an incomplete case, or before the +additional support of the House of Commons had been secured. I am far from +satisfied, however, that I am right in making the change. The petition must +have been drawn up (though it need not have been presented) in 1530; since +it bears the signature of Wolsey, who died in the November of that year. + +[333] Mademoiselle de Boleyn est venue; et l'a le Roy logee en fort beau +logis; et qu'il a faict bien accoustrer tout aupres du sien. Et luy est la +cour faicte ordinairement tous les jours plus grosse que de long temps elle +ne fut faicte a la Royne. Je crois bien qu'on veult accoutumer par les +petie ce peuple a l'endurer, afin que quand ivendra a donner les grands +coups, il ne les trouve si estrange. Toutefois il demeure tous jours +endurcy, et croy bien qu'il feroit plus qu'il ne faict si plus il avoit de +puissance; mais grand ordre se donne par tout.--Bishop of Bayonne to the +Grand Master: LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 231. + +[334] HALL, p. 781. + +[335] It seems to have been his favourite place of retirement. The gardens +and fishponds were peculiarly elaborate and beautiful.--Sir John Russell to +Cromwell: _MS. State Paper Office._ + +[336] Also it is a proverb of old date--"The pride of France, the treason +of England, and the war of Ireland, shall never have end." _State Papers_, +vol. ii. p. 11 + +[337] There was a secret ambassador with the Scots king from the emperour, +who had long communicated with the king alone in his privy chamber. And +after the ambassador's departure the king, coming out into his outer +chamber, said to his chancellor and the Earl Bothwell, "My lords, how much +are we bounden unto the emperour that in the matter concerning our style, +which so long he hath set about for our honour, that shall be by him +discussed on Easter day, and that we may lawfully write ourself Prince of +England and Duke of York." To which the chancellor said, "I pray God the +pope confirm the same." The Scots king answered, "Let the emperour +alone."--Earl of Northumberland to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. iv. p. +599. + +[338] HALL, p. 783. + +[339] "The bishop was brought in desperation of his life."--_Rolls House +MS._, second series, 532. This paper confirms Hall's account in every +point. + +[340] HALL, p. 796. + +[341] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 115. + +[342] Warham was however fined L300 for it.--HALL, 796. A letter of Richard +Tracy, son of the dead man, is in the _MS. State Paper Office_, first +series, vol. iv. He says the King's Majesty had committed the investigation +of the matter to Cromwell. + +[343] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 46. + +[344] Cap. iii. + +[345] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 1. + +[346] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 9. + +[347] Be it further enacted that no archbishop or bishop, official, +commissary, or any other minister, having spiritual jurisdiction, shall +ask, demand, or receive of any of the king's subjects any sum or sums of +money for the seal of any citizen, but only threepence sterling.--23 Hen. +VIII. cap. 9. + +[348] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 10.--By a separate clause all covenants to defraud +the purposes of this act were declared void, and the act itself was to be +interpreted "as beneficially as might be, to the destruction and utter +avoiding of such uses, intents, and purposes." + +[349] Annates or firstfruits were first suffered to be taken within the +realm for the only defence of Christian people against infidels; and now +they be claimed and demanded as mere duty only for lucre, against all right +and conscience.--23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20. + +[350] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20. + +[351] It hath happened many times by occasion of death unto archbishops or +bishops newly promoted within two or three years after their consecration, +that their friends by whom they have been holpen to make payment have been +utterly undone and impoverished.--23 Henry VIII. cap. 20. + +[352] _M. de la Pomeroy to Cardinal Tournon._ + +"London, March 23, 1531-2. + +"My Lord,--I sent two letters to your lordship on the 20th of this month. +Since that day Parliament has been prorogued, and will not meet again till +after Easter. + +"It has been determined that the Pope's Holiness shall receive no more +annates, and the collectors' office is to be abolished. Everything is +turning against the Holy See, but the King has shown no little skill; the +Lords and Commons have left the final decision of the question at his +personal pleasure, and the Pope is to understand that, if he will do +nothing for the King, the King has the means of making him suffer. The +clergy in convocation have consented to nothing, nor will they, till they +know the pleasure of their master the Holy Father; but the other estates +being agreed, the refusal of the clergy is treated as of no consequence. + +"Many other rights and privileges of the Church are abolished also, too +numerous to mention."--MS. Bibliot. Imper. Paris. + +[353] STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. part 2, p. 158. + +[354] Ibid. + +[355] Sir George Throgmorton, Sir William Essex, Sir John Giffard, Sir +Marmaduke Constable, with many others, spoke and voted in opposition to the +government. They had a sort of club at the Queen's Head by Temple Bar, +where they held discussions in secret, "and when we did commence," said +Throgmorton, "we did bid the servants of the house go out, and likewise our +own servants, because we thought it not convenient that they should hear us +speak of such matters."--Throgmorton to the King: _MS. State Paper Office._ + +[356] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20. + +[357] Printed in STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. p. 201. Strype, knowing +nothing of the first answer, and perceiving in the second an allusion to +one preceding, has supposed that this answer followed the third and last, +and was in fact a retractation of it. All obscurity is removed when the +three replies are arranged in their legitimate order. + +[358] STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. p. 199, etc. + +[359] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20. + +[360] STOW, p. 562. + +[361] "In connection with the Annates Act, the question of appeals to Rome +had been discussed in the present session. Sir George Throgmorton had +spoken on the papal side, and in his subsequent confession he mentioned a +remarkable interview which he had had with More. + +"After I had reasoned to the Bill of Appeals," he said, "Sir Thomas More, +then being chancellor, sent for me to come and speak with him in the +parliament chamber. And when I came to him he was in a little chamber +within the parliament chamber, where, as I remember, stood an altar, or a +thing like unto an altar, whereupon he did lean and, as I do think, the +same time the Bishop of Bath was talking with him. And then he said this to +me, I am very glad to hear the good report that goeth of you, and that ye +be so good a Catholic man as ye be. And if ye do continue in the same way +that ye begin, and be not afraid to say your conscience, ye shall deserve +great reward of God, and thanks of the King's Grace at length, and much +worship to yourself."--Throgmorton to the King: _MS. State Paper Office_. + +[362] In part of it he speaks in his own person. Vide supra, cap. 3. + +[363] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 435. + +[364] Note of the Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ + +[365] It has been thought that the Tudor princes and their ministers +carried out the spy system to an iniquitous extent,--that it was the great +instrument of their Machiavellian policy, introduced by Cromwell, and +afterwards developed by Cecil and Walsingham. That both Cromwell and +Walsingham availed themselves of secret information, is unquestionable,--as +I think it is also unquestionable that they would have betrayed the +interests of their country if they had neglected to do so. Nothing, in +fact, except their skill in fighting treason with its own weapons, saved +England from a repetition of the wars of the Roses, envenomed with the +additional fury of religious fanaticism. But the agents of Cromwell, at +least, were all volunteers;--their services were rather checked than +encouraged; and when I am told, by high authority, that in those times an +accusation was equivalent to a sentence of death, I am compelled to lay so +sweeping a charge of injustice by the side of a document which forces me to +demur to it. "In the reign of the Tudors," says a very eminent writer, "the +committal, arraignment, conviction, and execution of any state prisoner, +accused or _suspected, or under suspicion of being suspected_ of high +treason, were only the regular terms in the series of judicial +proceedings." This is scarcely to be reconciled with the 10th of the 37th +of Hen. VIII., which shows no desire to welcome accusations, or exaggerated +readiness to listen to them. + +"Whereas," says that Act, "divers malicious and evil disposed persons of +their perverse, cruel, and malicious intents, minding the utter undoing of +some persons to whom they have and do bear malice, hatred, and evil will, +have of late most devilishly practised and devised divers writings, wherein +hath been comprised that the same persons to whom they bear malice should +speak traitorous words against the King's Majesty, his crown and dignity, +or commit divers heinous and detestable treasons against the King's +Highness, where, in very deed, the persons so accused never spake nor +committed any such offence; by reason whereof divers of the king's true, +faithful, and loving subjects have been put in fear and dread of their +lives and of the loss and forfeiture of their lands and chattels--for +reformation hereof, be it enacted, that if any person or persons, of what +estate, degree, or condition he or they shall be, shall at any time +hereafter devise, make, or write, or cause to be made any manner of writing +comprising that any person has spoken, committed, or done any offence or +offences which now by the laws of this realm be made treason, or that +hereafter shall be made treason, and do not subscribe, or cause to be +subscribed, his true name to the said writing, and within twelve days next +after ensuing do not personally come before the king or his council, and +affirm the contents of the said writings to be true, and do as much as in +him shall be for the approvement of the same, that then all and every +person or persons offending as aforesaid, shall be deemed and adjudged a +felon or felons; and being lawfully convicted of such offence, after the +laws of the realm, shall suffer pains of death and loss and forfeiture of +lands, goods, and chattels, without benefit of clergy or privilege of +sanctuary to be admitted or allowed in that behalf." + +[366] Accusation brought by Robert Wodehouse, Prior of Whitby, against the +Abbot, for slanderous words against Anne Boleyn: _Rolls House MS._ + +[367] Deposition of Robert Legate concerning the Language of the Monks of +Furness: _Rolls House MS._ + +[368] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 254. + +[369] Father Forest hath laboured divers manner of ways to expulse Father +Laurence out of the convent, and his chief cause is, because he knoweth +that Father Laurence will preach the king's matter whensoever it shall +please his Grace to command him.--Ibid. p. 250. + +[370] Ibid. p. 251. + +[371] Lyst to Cromwell. Ibid. p. 255. STRYPE, _Eccles. Memor._, vol. i. +Appendix, No. 47. + +[372] STOW'S _Annals_, p. 562. This expression passed into a proverb, +although the words were first spoken by a poor friar; they were the last +which the good Sir Humfrey Gilbert was heard to utter before his ship went +down. + +[373] Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers,_ vol. vii. p. 489-90. "I learn +that this book was first drawn by the Bishop of Rochester, and so being +drawn, was by the said bishop afterwards delivered in England to two +Spaniards, being secular and laymen. They receiving his first draught, +either by themselves or some other Spaniards, altered and perfinished the +same into the form that it now is; Peto and one Friar Elstowe of +Canterbury, being the only men that have and do take upon themselves to be +conveyers of the same books into England, and conveyers of all other things +into and out of England. If privy search be made, and shortly, peradventure +in the house of the same bishop shall be found his first copy. Master More +hath sent oftentimes and lately books unto Peto, in Antwerp--as his book of +the confutation of Tyndal, and of Frith's opinion of the sacrament, with +divers other books. I can no further learn of More's practices, but if you +consider this well, you may perchance espy his craft. Peto laboureth +busylier than a bee in the setting forth of this book. He never ceaseth +running to and from the court here. The king never had in his realm +traitors like his friars--[Vaughan wrote "clergy." The word in the original +is dashed through, and "friars" is substituted, whether by Cromwell or by +himself in an afterthought, I do not know]--and so I have always said, and +yet do. Let his Grace look well about him, for they seek to devour him. +They have blinded his Grace." + +[374] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 262, etc. + +[375] The wishes of the French Court had been expressed emphatically to +Clement in the preceding January. Original copies of the two following +letters are in the Bibliotheque Imperial at Paris:-- + +_The Cardinal of Lorraine to Cardinal ---- at Rome._ + +"Paris, Jan. 8, 1531-2. + +"RIGHT REVEREND FATHER AND LORD IN CHRIST.--After our most humble +commendations--The King of England complains loudly that his cause is not +remanded into his own country; he says that it cannot be equitably dealt +with at Rome, where he cannot be present. He himself, the Queen, and the +other witnesses, are not to be dragged into Italy to give their evidence; +and the suits of the Sovereigns of England and France have always hitherto +been determined in their respective countries. + +"Nevertheless, by no entreaty can we prevail on the Pope to nominate +impartial judges who will decide the question in England. + +"The King's personal indignation is not the only evil which has to be +feared. When these proceedings are known among the people, there will, +perhaps, be a revolt, and the Apostolic See may receive an injury which +will not afterwards be easily remedied. + +"I have explained these things more at length to his Holiness, as my duty +requires. Your affection towards him, my lord, I am assured is no less than +mine. I beseech you, therefore, use your best endeavours with his Holiness, +that the King of England may no longer have occasion to exclaim against +him. In so doing you will gratify the Most Christian King, and you will +follow the course most honourable to yourself and most favourable to the +quiet of Christendom. + +"From Abbeville." + +_Francis the First to Pope Clement the Seventh._ + +"Paris, Jan. 10, 1531-2. + +"MOST HOLY FATHER,--You are not ignorant what our good brother and ally the +King of England demands at your hands. He requires that the cognisance of +his marriage be remanded to his own realm, and that he be no further +pressed to pursue the process at Rome. The place is inconvenient from its +distance, and there are other good and reasonable objections which he +assures us that he has urged upon your Holiness's consideration. + +"Most Holy Father, we have written several times to you, especially of late +from St. Cloud, and afterwards from Chantilly, in our good brother's +behalf; and we have further entreated you, through our ambassador residing +at your Court, to put an end to this business as nearly according to the +wishes of our said good brother as is compatible with the honour of +Almighty God. We have made this request of you as well for the affection +and close alliance which exist between ourselves and our brother, as for +the filial love and duty with which we both in common regard your Holiness. + +"Seeing, nevertheless, Most Holy Father, that the affair in question is +still far from settlement, and knowing our good brother to be displeased +and dissatisfied, we fear that some great scandal and inconvenience may +arise at last which may cause the diminution of your Holiness's authority. +There is no longer that ready obedience to the Holy See in England which +was offered to your predecessors; and yet your Holiness persists in citing +my good brother the King of England to plead his cause before you in Rome. +Surely it is not without cause that he calls such treatment of him +unreasonable. We have ourselves examined into the law in this matter, and +we are assured that your Holiness's claim is unjust and contrary to the +privilege of kings. For a sovereign to leave his realm and plead as a +suitor in Rome, is a thing wholly impossible,[377] and therefore, Holy +Father, we have thought good to address you once more in this matter. Bear +with us, we entreat you. Consider our words, and recall to your memory what +by letter and through our ministers we have urged upon you. Look promptly +to our brother's matter, and so act that your Holiness may be seen to value +and esteem our friendship. What you do for him, or what you do against him, +we shall take it as done to ourselves. + +"Holy Father, we will pray the Son of God to pardon and long preserve your +Holiness to rule and govern our Holy Mother the Church.--FRANCIS." + +[376] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 428. LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[377] Chose beaucoup plus impossible que possible. + +[378] LORD HERBERT, p. 160. RYMER, vol. vi. part ii. p. 171. + +[379] Francis seems to have desired that the intention of the interview +should be kept secret. Henry found this impossible. "Monseigneur," wrote +the Bishop of Paris to the Grand Master, "quant a tenir la chose secrette +comme vous le demandez, il est mal aise; combien que ce Roy fust bien de +cest advis, sinon qu'il le treuve impossible; car a cause de ces provisions +et choses, qu'il fault faire en ce Royaulme, incontinent sera sceu a +Londres, et de la par tout le monde. Pourquoy ne faictes vostre compte +qu'on le puisse tenir secret. + +"Monseigneur, je scay veritablement et de bon lieu que le plus grant +plaisir que le Roy pourroit faire au Roy son frere et a Madame Anne, c'est +que le dit seigneur m'escripre que je requiere le Roy son dit frere qu'il +veuille mener la dicte Dame Anne avec luy a Callais pour la veoir et pour +la festoyer, afin qu'ils ne demeurrent ensembles sans compagnie de dames, +pour ce que les bonnes cheres en sont tous jours meilleures: mais il +fauldroit que en pareil le Roy menast la Royne de Navarre a Boulogne, pour +festoyer le Roy d'Angleterre. + +"Quant a la Royne pour rien ce Roy ne vouldroit qu'elle vint: Il haeit cest +habillement a l'Espagnolle, tant qu'il luy semble veoir un diable. Il +desireroit qu'il pleust au Roy mener a Boulogne, messeigneurs ses enfans +pour les veoir. + +"Surtout je vous prie que vous ostez de la court deux sortes de gens, ceulx +qui sont imperiaulx, s'aucuns en y a, et ceux qui ont la reputation d'estre +mocqueurs et gaudisseurs, car c'est bien la chose en ce monde autant haeie +de ceste nation."--Bishop of Paris to the Grand Master: LEGRAND, vol. iii. +pp. 555, 556. + +[380] Sir Gregory Cassalis to Henry VIII.: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 433. +Valde existimabam necessarium cum hoc Principe (_i.e._, Francis) agere ut +duobus Cardinalibus daret in mandatis ut ante omnes Cardinalis de Monte +meminissent, eique pensionem annuam saltem trium millium aureorum ex +quadraginta millibus quae mihi dixerat velle in Cardinales distribuere, +assignaret. Et Rex quidem haec etiam scribi ad duos Cardinales jussit +secretario Vitandri. Quicum ego postmodo super iis pensionibus sermonem +habui, cognovique sic in animo Regem habere ut duo Cardinales cum Romae +fuerint, videant, qui potissimum digni hac Regia sint liberalitate; in +eosque quum quid in Regno Galliae ecclesiasticum vacare contigerit ex +meritis uniuscujusque pensiones conferantur. Tunc autem nihil in promptu +haberi quod Cardinali de Monte dari possit--verum Regio nomine illi de +futuro esse promittendum quod mihi certe summopere displicuit; et +secretario Vitandri non reticui ostendens pollicitationes hujusmodi centies +jam Cardinali de Monte factas fuisse; et modo si iterum fiant nihil +effecturas nisi ut illius viri quasi ulcera pertractent; id quod Vitandris +verum esse fatebatur pollicitusque est se, quum Rex a venatu rediisset +velle ei suadere ut Cardinalem de Monte aliqua presenti pensione +prosequatur; qua quidem tibi nihil conducibilius aut opportunius fieri +possit. + +[381] _State Papers_, vol. iv. p. 612. + +[382] Ibid, p. 616. + +[383] The _State Papers_ contain a piteous picture of this business, the +hereditary feuds of centuries bursting out on the first symptoms of +ill-will between the two governments, with fire and devastation.--_State +Papers_, vol. iv. p. 620-644. + +[384] If the said Earl of Angus do make unto us oath of allegiance, and +recognises us as Supreme Lord of Scotland, and as his prince and sovereign, +we then, the said earl doing the premises, by these presents bind ourself +to pay yearly to the said earl the sum of one thousand pounds +sterling.--Henry VIII. to the Earl of Angus: _State Papers_, vol. iv. p. +613. + +[385] A letter of Queen Catherine to the Emperor, written on the occasion +of this visit, will be read with interest:-- + +"HIGH AND MIGHTY LORD,--Although your Majesty is occupied with your own +affairs and with your preparations against the Turk, I cannot, +nevertheless, refrain from troubling you with mine, which perhaps in +substance and in the sight of God are of equal importance. Your Majesty +knows well, that God hears those who do him service, and no greater service +can be done than to procure an end in this business. It does not concern +only ourselves--it concerns equally all who fear God. None can measure the +woes which will fall on Christendom, if his Holiness will not act in it and +act promptly. The signs are all around us in new printed books full of lies +and dishonesty--in the resolution to proceed with the cause here in +England--in the interview of these two princes, where the king, my lord, is +covering himself with infamy through the companion which he takes with him. +The country is full of terror and scandal; and evil may be looked for if +nothing be done, and inasmuch as our only hope is in God's mercy, and in +the favour of your Majesty, for the discharge of my conscience, I must let +you know the strait in which I am placed. + +"I implore your Highness for the service of God, that you urge his Holiness +to be prompt in bringing the cause to a conclusion. The longer the delay +the harder the remedy will be. + +"The particulars of what is passing here are so shocking, so outrageous +against Almighty God, they touch so nearly the honour of my Lord and +husband, that for the love I bear him, and for the good that I desire for +him, I would not have your Highness know of them from me. Your ambassador +will inform you of all."--Queen Catherine to Charles V. September 18.--MS. +Simancas. + +The Emperor, who was at Mantua, was disturbed at the meeting at Boulogne, +on political grounds as well as personal. On the 24th of October he wrote +to his sister, at Brussels. + +_Charles the Fifth to the Regent Mary._ + +Mantua, October 16, 1532. + +I found your packets on arriving here, with the ambassadors' letters from +France and England. The ambassadors will themselves have informed you of +the intended conference of the Kings. The results will make themselves felt +ere long. We must be on our guard, and I highly approve of your precautions +for the protection of the frontiers. + +As to the report that the King of England means to take the opportunity of +the meeting to marry Anne Boleyn, I can hardly believe that he will be so +blind as to do so, or that the King of France will lend himself to the +other's sensuality. At all events, however, I have written to my ministers +at Rome, and I have instructed them to lay a complaint before the Pope, +that, while the process is yet pending, in contempt of the authority of the +Church, the King of England is scandalously bringing over the said Anne +with him, as if she were his wife. + +His Holiness and the Apostolic See will be the more inclined to do us +justice, and to provide as the case shall require. + +Should the King indeed venture the marriage--as I cannot think he will--I +have desired his Holiness not only not to sanction such conduct openly, but +not to pass it by in silence. I have demanded that severe and fitting +sentence be passed at once on an act so wicked and so derogatory to the +Apostolic See.--_The Pilgrim_, p. 89. + +[386] There can be little doubt of this. He was the child of the only +intrigue of Henry VIII. of which any credible evidence exists. His mother +was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Blunt, an accomplished and most +interesting person; and the offspring of the connection, one boy only, was +brought up with the care and the state of a prince. Henry FitzRoy, as he +was called, was born in 1519, and when six years old was created Earl of +Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the title of the king's +father. + +In 1527, before the commencement of the disturbance on the divorce, Henry +endeavoured to negotiate a marriage for him with a princess of the imperial +blood; and in the first overtures gave an intimation which could not be +mistaken, of his intention, if possible, to place him in the line of the +succession. After speaking of the desire which was felt by the King of +England for some connection in marriage of the Houses of England and Spain, +the ambassadors charged with the negotiation were to say to Charles, that-- + +"His Highness can be content to bestow the Duke of Richmond and Somerset +(who is near of his blood, and of excellent qualities, and is already +furnished to keep the state of a great prince, _and yet may be easily by +the king's means exalted to higher things_) to some noble princess of his +near blood."--ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 121. + +He was a gallant, high-spirited boy. A letter is extant from him to Wolsey, +written when he was nine years old, begging the cardinal to intercede with +the king, "for an harness to exercise myself in arms according to my +erudition in the Commentaries of Caesar."--Ibid. p. 119. + +He was brought up with Lord Surrey, who has left a beautiful account of +their boyhood at Windsor--their tournaments, their hunts, their young +loves, and passionate friendship. Richmond married Surrey's sister, but +died the year after, when only seventeen; and Surrey revisiting Windsor, +recalls his image among the scenes which they had enjoyed together, in the +most interesting of all his poems. He speaks of + + The secret grove, which oft we made resound + Of pleasant plaint and of our ladies' praise; + Recording oft what grace each one had found, + What hope of speed, what dread of long delays. + The wild forest; the clothed holts with green; + With reins availed, and swift y-breathed horse, + With cry of hounds, and merry blasts between, + Where we did chase the fearful hart of force. + The void walls eke that harboured us each night, + Wherewith, alas! reviveth in my breast + The sweet accord, such sleeps as yet delight + The pleasant dream, the quiet bed of rest; + The secret thought imparted with such trust. + The wanton talk, the divers change of play, + The friendship sworn, each promise kept so just, + Wherewith we past the winter nights away. + +[387] Compare LORD HERBERT with A Paper of Instructions to Lord Rochfort on +his Mission to Paris: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 427, etc.; and A +Remonstrance of Francis I. to Henry VIII.: LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 571, etc. +It would be curious to know whether Francis ever actually wrote to the pope +a letter of which Henry sent him a draft. If he did, there are expressions +contained in it which amount to a threat of separation. In case the pope +was obstinate Francis was to say, "Lors force seroit de pourvoir audict +affaire, par autres voyes et facons, qui peut etre, ne vous seroint gueres +agreable."--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 436. + +[388] A nostre derniere entrevue sur la fraternelle et familiere +communication que nous eusmes ensemble de noz affaires venant aux nostres, +Luy declarasmes comme a tord et injustment nous estions affligez, dilayez, +et fort ingratemeut manniez et troublez, en nostre dicte grande et pesante +matiere de marriage par la particuliere affection de l'empereur et du pape. +Lesquelz sembloient par leurs longues retardations de nostre dicte matiere +ne sercher autre chose, sinon par longue attente et laps de temps, nous +frustrer malicieusement du propoz, qui plus nous induict a poursuivir et +mettre avant la dicte matiere; c'est davoir masculine succession et +posterite en laquelle nous etablirons (Dieu voulant) le quiet repoz et +tranquillite de notre royaulme et dominion. Son fraternel, plain, et entier +advis (et a bref dire le meilleur qui pourroit estre) fut tel; il nous +conseilla de ne dilayer ne protractor le temps plus longuement, mais en +toute celerite proceder effectuellement a laccomplisment et consummation de +nostre marriage.--Henry VIII. to Rochfort: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. +428-9. + +[389] The extent of Francis's engagements, as Henry represents them, was +this:--He had promised qu'en icelle nostre dicte cause jamais ne nous +abandonneroit quelque chose que sen ensuyst; ainsi de tout son pouvoir +l'establiroit, supporteroit, aideroit et maintiendroit notre bon droict, et +le droict de la posterite et succession qui sen pourroit ensuyr; et a tous +ceulz qui y vouldroyent mettre trouble, empeschement, encombrance, ou y +procurer deshonneur, vitupere, ou infraction, il seroit enemy et adversaire +de tout son pouvoir, de quelconque estat qu'il soit, fust pape ou +empereur,--avecque plusieurs autres consolatives paroles. This he wished +Francis to commit to paper. Car autant de fois, que les verrions, he says, +qui seroit tous les jours, nous ne pourrions, si non les liscent, imaginer +et reduire a notre souvenance la bonne grace facunde et geste, dont il les +nous prononcait, et estimer estre comme face a face, parlans avecque +luy.--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 437. Evidently language of so wide a +kind might admit of many interpretations. + +[390] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 571, etc. + +[391] Note of the Revelations of Eliz. Barton: _Rolls House MS. Suppression +of the Monasteries_, p. 17. + +The intention was really perhaps what the nun said. An agent of the +government at Brussels, who was watching the conference, reported on the +12th of November:--"The King of England did really cross with the intention +of marrying; but, happily for the emperor, the ceremony is postponed. Of +other secrets, my informant has learned thus much. They have resolved to +demand as the portion of the Queen of France, Artois, Tournay, and part of +Burgundy. They have also sent two cardinals to Rome to require the Pope to +relinquish the tenths, which they have begun to levy for themselves. If his +Holiness refuse, the King of England will simply appropriate them +throughout his dominions. Captain ---- heard this from the king's proctor +at Rome, who has been with him at Calais, and from an Italian named +Jeronymo, whom the Lady Anne has roughly handled for managing her business +badly. She trusted that she would have been married in September. + +"The proctor told her the Pope delayed sentence for fear of the Emperor. +The two kings, when they heard this, despatched the cardinals to quicken +his movements; and the demand for the tenths is thought to have been +invented to frighten him. + +"They are afraid that the Emperor may force his Holiness into giving +sentence before the cardinals arrive. Jeronymo has been therefore sent +forward by post to give him notice of their approach, and to require him to +make no decision till they have spoken with him."--_The Pilgrim_, p. 89. + +[392] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[393] Revelations of Eliz. Barton: _Rolls House MS._ + +[394] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 435, 468. + +[395] Letter from ----, containing an account of an interview with his +Holiness: _Rolls House MS._ + +[396] This proposal was originally the king's (see chapter 2), but it had +been dropped because one of the conditions of it had been Catherine's +"entrance into religion." The pope, however, had not lost sight of the +alternative, as one of which, in case of extremity, he might avail himself; +and, in 1530, in a short interval of relaxation, he had definitely offered +the king a dispensation to have two wives, at the instigation, curiously, +of the imperialists. The following letter was written on that occasion to +the king by Sir Gregory Cassalis:-- + +Serenissime et potentissime domine rex, domine mi supreme humillima +commendatione premissa, salutem et felicitatem. Superioribus diebus +Pontifex secreto, veluti rem quam magni faceret, mihi proposuit conditionem +hujusmodi; concedi posse vestrae majestati, ut duas uxores habeat; cui dixi +nolle me provinciam suscipere ea de re scribendi, ob eam causam quod +ignorarem an inde vestrae conscientiae satisfieri posset quam vestra +majestas imprimis exonerare cupit. Cur autem sic responderem, illud in +causa fuit, quod ex certo loco, unde quae Caesariani moliantur aucupari +soleo exploratum certumque habebam Caesarianos illud ipsum quaerere et +procurare. Quem vero ad finem id quaerant pro certo exprimere non ausim. Id +certe totum vestrae prudentiae considerandum relinquo. Et quamvis dixerim +Pontifici, nihil me de eo scripturum, nolui tamen majestati vestrae hoc +reticere; quae sciat omni me industria laborasse in iis quae nobis mandat +exequendis et cum Anconitano qui me familiariter uti solet, omnia sum +conatus. De omnibus autem me ad communes literas rejicio. Optime valeat +vestra majestas.--Romae die xviii. Septembris, 1530. + +Clarissimi vestrai Majestatis, Humillimus servus, + +GREGORIUS CASSALIS, + +--LORD HERBERT, p. 140. + +[397] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 394, etc. + +[398] The obtaining the opinion in writing of the late Cardinal of Ancona, +and submitting it to the emperor. This minister, the most aged as well as +the most influential member of the conclave, had latterly been supposed to +be inclined to advise a conciliatory policy towards England; and his +judgment was of so much weight that it was thought likely that the emperor +would have been unable to resist the publication of it, if it was given +against him. At the critical moment of the Bologna interview this cardinal +unfortunately died: he had left his sentiments, however, in the hands of +his nephew, the Cardinal of Ravenna, who, knowing the value of his legacy, +was disposed to make a market of it. It was a knavish piece of business. +The English ambassadors offered 3000 ducats; Charles bid them out of the +field with a promise of church benefices to the extent of 6000 ducats; he +did not know precisely the terms of the judgment, or even on which side it +inclined, but in either case the purchase was of equal importance to him, +either to produce it or to suppress it. The French and English ambassadors +then combined, and bid again with church benefices in the two countries, of +equal value with those offered by Charles, with a promise of the next +English bishopric which fell vacant, and the original 3000 ducats as an +initiatory fee. There was a difficulty in the transaction, for the cardinal +would not part with the paper till he had received the ducats, and the +ambassadors would not pay the ducats till they had possession of the paper. +The Italian, however, proved an overmatch for his antagonists. He got his +money, and the judgment was not produced after all.--_State Papers_, vol. +vii. pp. 397-8, 464. BURNET, vol. iii. p. 108. + +[399] Bennet to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 402. + +[400] Sir Gregory Cassalis to the King: _Rolls House M.S._, endorsed by +Henry, Litterae in Pontificis dicta declaratoriae quae maxime causam +nostram probant. + +[401] There was a tradition (it cannot be called more), that no Englishman +could be compelled against his will to plead at a foreign tribunal. "Ne +Angli extra Angliam litigare cogantur." + +[402] Henry VIII. to the Ambassadors with the Pope: _Rolls House M.S._ + +[403] Ibid. + +[404] So at least the English government was at last convinced, as appears +in the circular to the clergy, printed in BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 447, +etc. I try to believe, however, that the pope's conduct was rather weak +than treacherous. + +[405] So at least Cranmer says; but he was not present, nor was he at the +time informed that it was to take place.--ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. +32. The belief, however, generally was, that the marriage took place in +November; and though Cranmer's evidence is very strong, his language is too +vague to be decisive. + +[406] Individual interests have to yield necessarily and justly to the +interests of a nation, provided the conduct or the sacrifice which the +nation requires is not sinful. That there would have been any sin on Queen +Catherine's part if she had consented to a separation from the king, was +never pretended; and although it is a difficult and delicate matter to +decide how far unwilling persons may be compelled to do what they ought to +have done without compulsion, yet the will of a single man or woman cannot +be allowed to constitute itself an irremovable obstacle to a great national +good. + +[407] It is printed by LORD HERBERT, and in LEGRAND, vol. iii. + +[408] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 558, etc. + +[409] Ye may show unto his Holiness that ye have heard from a friend of +yours in Flanders lately, that there hath been set up certain writings from +the See Apostolic, in derogation both of justice and of the affection +lately showed by his Holiness unto us; which thing ye may say ye can hardly +believe to be true, but that ye reckon them rather to be counterfeited. For +if it should be true, it is a thing too far out of the way, specially +considering that you and other our ambassadors be there, and have heard +nothing of the matter. We send a copy of these writings unto you, which +copy we will in no wise that ye shall show to any person which might think +that ye had any knowledge from us nor any of our council, marvelling +greatly if the same hath proceeded indeed from the pope; [and] willing you +expressly not to show that ye had it of us.--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. +421. + +[410] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 454. + +[411] Sir John Wallop to Henry: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 422. + +[412] Francis represented himself to Henry as having refused with a species +of bravado. "He told me," says Sir John Wallop, "that he had announced +previously that he would consent to no such interview, unless your Highness +were also comprised in the same; and if it were so condescended that your +Highness and he should be then together, yet you two should go after such a +sort and with such power that you would not care whether the pope and +emperor would have peace or else _coups de baston_."--Wallop to Henry, from +Paris, Feb. 22. But this was scarcely a complete account of the +transaction; it was an account only of so much of it as the French king was +pleased to communicate. The emperor was urgent for a council. The pope, +feeling the difficulty either of excluding or admitting the Protestant +representatives, was afraid of consenting to it, and equally afraid of +refusing. The meeting proposed to Francis was for the discussion of this +difficulty; and Francis, in return, proposed that the great Powers, Henry +included, should hold an interview, and arrange beforehand the conclusions +at which the council should arrive. This naive suggestion was waived by +Charles, apparently on grounds of religion. LORD HERBERT, Kennet's Edit. p. +167. + +[413] The emperor's answer touching this interview is come, and is, in +effect, that if the pope shall judge the said interview to be for the +wealth and quietness of Christendom, he will not be seen to dissuade his +Holiness from the same; but he desired him to remember what he showed to +his Holiness when he was with the same, at what time his Holiness offered +himself for the commonwealth to go to any place to speak with the French +king.--Bennet to Henry VIII.; _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 464. + +[414] The estrapade was an infernal machine introduced by Francis into +Paris for the better correction of heresy. The offender was slung by a +chain over a fire, and by means of a crane was dipped up and down into the +flame, the torture being thus prolonged for an indefinite time. Francis was +occasionally present in person at these exhibitions, the executioner +waiting his arrival before commencing the spectacle. + +[415] 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. + +[416] 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 12 + +[417] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 441. + +[418] D'Inteville to Francis the First: MS. Bibliotheque Imperial, +Paris--_Pilgrim_, p. 92. + +[419] 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[420] He had been selected as Warham's successor; and had been consecrated +on the 30th of March, 1533. On the occasion of the ceremony when the usual +oath to the Pope was presented to him, he took it with a declaration that +his first duty and first obedience was to the crown and laws of his own +country. It is idle trifling, to build up, as too many writers have +attempted to do, a charge of insincerity upon an action which was forced +upon him by the existing relation between England and Rome. The Act of +Appeals was the law of the land. The separation from communion with the +papacy was a contingency which there was still a hope might be avoided. +Such a protest as Cranmer made was therefore the easiest solution of the +difficulty. See it in STRYPE'S _Cranmer_, Appendix, p. 683. + +[421] BURNET, Vol. iii. pp. 122-3 + +[422] Bennet to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 402. Sir Gregory +Cassalis to the same: _Rolls House MS._ + +[423] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 123. + +[424] Ibid. vol. i. p. 210. + +[425] See _State Papers_, vol. i. pp. 415, 420, etc. + +[426] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 22. It is very singular that in the +original Bull of Julius, the expression is "forsan consummavissetis;" while +in the brief, which, if it was genuine, was written the same day, and +which, if forged, was forged by Catherine's friends, there is no forsan. +The fact is stated absolutely. + +[427] LORD HERBERT, p. 163. BURNET. vol. iii. p. 123. + +[428] _State Papers_, vol. i. pp. 390. 391. + +[429] Ye therefore duly recognising that it becometh you not, being our +subject, to enterprise any part of your said office in so weighty and great +a cause pertaining to us being your prince and sovereign, without our +licence obtained so to do; and therefore in your most humble wise ye +supplicate us to grant unto you our licence to proceed.--_State Papers_, +vol. i. p. 392. + +[430] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 392. + +[431] Cromwell to the King on his Committal to the Tower: BURNET, +_Collectanea_, p. 500. + +[432] So at least she called him a few days later.--_State Papers_, vol. i. +p. 420. We have no details of her words when she was summoned; but only a +general account of them.--_State Papers_, vol. i. p. 394-5. + +[433] The words of the sentence may be interesting:--"In the name of God, +Amen. We, Thomas, by Divine permission Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of +all England, and Legate of the Apostolic See, in a certain cause of inquiry +of and concerning the validity of the marriage contracted and consummated +between the most potent and most illustrious Prince, our Sovereign Lord, +Henry VIII., by the grace of God King of England and France, Defender of +the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, and the most serene Princess, Catherine, +daughter of his Most Catholic Majesty, Ferdinand, King of Spain, of +glorious memory, we proceeding according to law and justice in the said +cause which has been brought judicially before us in virtue of our office, +and which for some time has lain under examination, as it still is, being +not yet finally determined and decided; having first seen all the articles +and pleas which have been exhibited and set forth of her part, together +with the answers made thereto on the part of the most illustrious and +powerful Prince, Henry VIII.; having likewise seen and diligently inspected +the informations and depositions of many noblemen and other witnesses of +unsuspected veracity exhibited in the said cause; having also seen and in +like manner carefully considered not only the censures and decrees of the +most famous universities of almost the whole Christian world, but likewise +the opinions and determinations both of the most eminent divines and +civilians, as also the resolutions and conclusions of the clergy of both +Provinces of England in Convocation assembled, and many other wholesome +instructions and doctrines which have been given in and laid before us +concerning the said marriage; having further seen and in like manner +inspected all the treaties and leagues of peace and amity on this account +entered upon and concluded between Henry VII., of immortal fame, late King +of England, and the said Ferdinand, of glorious memory, late King of Spain; +having besides seen and most carefully weighed all and every of the acts, +debates, letters, processes, instruments, writs, arguments, and all other +things which have passed and been transacted in the said cause at any time; +in all which thus seen and inspected, our most exact care in examining, and +our most mature deliberation in weighing them hath by us been used, and all +other things have been observed by us, which of right in this matter were +to be observed; furthermore, the said most illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., +in the forementioned cause, by his proper Proctor having appeared before +us, but the said most serene Lady Catherine in contempt absenting herself +(whose absence we pray that the divine presence may compensate) [cujus +absentia Divina repleatur praesentia. Lord Herbert translates it, "whose +absence may the Divine presence attend," missing, I think, the point of the +Archbishop's parenthesis] by and with the advice of the most learned in the +law, and of persons of most eminent skill in divinity whom we have +consulted in the premises, we have found it our duty to proceed to give our +final decree and sentence in the said cause, which, accordingly, we do in +this manner. + +"Because by acts, warrants, deductions, propositions, exhibitions, +allegations, proofs and confessions, articles drawn up, answers of +witnesses, depositions, informations, instruments, arguments, letters, +writs, censures, determinations of professors, opinions, councils, +assertions, affirmations, treaties, and leagues of peace, processes, and +other matters in the said cause, as is above mentioned, before us laid, +had, done, exhibited, and respectively produced, as also from the same and +sundry other reasons, causes, and considerations, manifold arguments, and +various kinds of proof of the greatest evidence, strength, and validity, of +which in the said cause we have fully and clearly informed ourselves, we +find, and with undeniable evidence and plainness see that the marriage +contracted and consummated, as is aforesaid, between the said most +illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., and the most serene Lady Catherine, was +and is null and invalid, and that it was contracted and consummated +contrary to the law of God: therefore, we, Thomas, Archbishop, Primate, and +Legate aforesaid, having first called upon the name of Christ for direction +herein, and having God altogether before our eyes, do pronounce sentence, +and declare for the invalidity of the said marriage, decreeing that the +said pretended marriage always was and still is null and invalid; that it +was contracted and consummated contrary to the will and law of God, that it +is of no force or obligation, but that it always wanted, and still wants, +the strength and sanction of law; and therefore we sentence that it is not +lawful for the said most illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., and the said most +serene Lady Catherine, to remain in the said pretended marriage; and we do +separate and divorce them one from the other, inasmuch as they contracted +and consummated the said pretended marriage de facto, and not de jure; and +that they so separated and divorced are absolutely free from all marriage +bond with regard to the foresaid pretended marriage, we pronounce, and +declare by this our definitive sentence and final decree, which we now +give, and by the tenour of these present writings do publish. May 23rd, +1533."--BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 68, and LORD HERBERT. + +[434] HALL. + +[435] Ibid. + +[436] Ibid. p. 801. Hall was most likely an eye-witness, and may be +thoroughly trusted in these descriptions. Whenever we are able to test him, +which sometimes happens, by independent contemporary accounts, he proves +faithful in the most minute particulars. + +[437] FOXE, vol. v. p. III. + +[438] Northumberland to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. iv. pp. 598-9. + +[439] Hawkins to Henry VIII.: Ibid. vol. vii. p. 488. + +[440] BURNET. vol. iii. p. 115. + +[441] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 398. + +[442] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._ + +[443] ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 43. + +[444] _Cotton M.S._ Otho X, p. 199. _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 397. + +[445] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 403. + +[446] Cromwell had endeavoured to save Frith, or at least had been +interested for him. Sir Edmund Walsingham, writing to him about the +prisoners in the Tower, says:--"Two of them wear irons, and Frith weareth +none. Although he lacketh irons, he lacketh not wit nor pleasant tongue. +His learning passeth my judgment. Sir, as ye said, it were great pity to +lose him if he may be reconciled."--Walsingham to Cromwell: _M.S. State +Paper Office_, second series, vol. xlvi. + +[447] ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 40. + +[448] "The natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven, and +not here, it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one +time in more places than one." The argument and the words in which it is +expressed were Frith's.--See FOXE, vol. v. p. 6. + +[449] The origin of the word Lollards has been always a disputed question. +I conceive it to be from Lolium. They were the "tares" in the corn of +Catholicism. + +[450] 35 Ed. I.; Statutes of Carlisle, cap. 1-4. + +[451] Ibid. + +[452] 25 Ed. III. stat. 4. A clause in the preamble of this act bears a +significantly Erastian complexion: _come seinte Eglise estoit founde en +estat de prelacie deins le royaulme Dengleterre par le dit Roi et ses +progenitours, et countes, barons, et nobles de ce Royaulme et lours +ancestres, pour eux et le poeple enfourmer de la lei Dieu._ If the Church +of England was held to have been, founded not by the successors of the +Apostles, but by the king and the nobles, the claim of Henry VIII. to the +supremacy was precisely in the spirit of the constitution. + +[453] 38 Ed. III. stat. 2; 3 Ric. II. cap. 3; 12 Ric. II. cap. 15; 13 Ric. +II. stat. 2. The first of these acts contains a paragraph which shifts the +blame from the popes themselves to the officials of the Roman courts. The +statute is said to have been enacted en eide et confort du pape qui moult +sovent a estee trublez par tieles et semblables clamours et impetracions, +et qui y meist voluntiers covenable remedie, si sa seyntetee estoit sur ces +choses enfournee. I had regarded this passage as a fiction of courtesy like +that of the Long Parliament who levied troops in the name of Charles I. The +suspicious omission of the clause, however, in the translation of the +statutes which was made in the later years of Henry VIII. justifies an +interpretation more favourable to the intentions of the popes. + +[454] The abbots and bishops decently protested. Their protest was read in +parliament, and entered on the Rolls. _Rot. Parl._ iii. [264] quoted by +Lingard, who has given a full account of these transactions. + +[455] 13 Ric. II. stat. 2. + +[456] See 16 Ric. II. cap. 5. + +[457] This it will be remembered was the course which was afterwards +followed by the parliament under Henry VIII. before abolishing the payment +of first-fruits. + +[458] Lingard says, that "there were rumours that if the prelates executed +the decree of the king's courts, they would be excommunicated."--Vol. iii. +p. 172. The language of the act of parliament, 16 Ric. II. cap. 5, is +explicit that the sentence was pronounced. + +[459] 16 Ric. II. cap. 5. + +[460] Ibid. + +[461] Ibid. + +[462] LEWIS, _Life of Wycliffe_. + +[463] If such _scientia media_ might be allowed to man, which is beneath +certainty and above conjecture, such should I call our persuasion that he +was born in Durham.--FULLER'S _Worthies_, vol. i. p. 479. + +[464] _The Last Age of the Church_ was written in 1356. See LEWIS, p. 3. + +[465] LELAND. + +[466] LEWIS, p. 287. + +[467] 1 Ric. II. cap. 13. + +[468] WALSINGHAM, 206-7, apud LINGARD. It is to be observed, however, that +Wycliffe himself limited his arguments strictly to the property of the +clergy. See MILMAN'S _History of Latin Christianity_, vol. v. p. 508. + +[469] WALSINGHAM, p. 275, apud LINGARD. + +[470] 5 Ric. II. cap. 5. + +[471] WILKINS, _Concilia_, iii. 160-167. + +[472] _De Heretico comburendo._ 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15. + +[473] STOW, 330, 338. + +[474] _Rot. Parl._ iv. 24, 108, apud LINGARD; RYMER, ix. 89, 119, 129, 170, +193; MILMAN, Vol. v. p. 520-535. + +[475] 2 Hen. V. stat. 1, cap. 7. + +[476] There is no better test of the popular opinion of a man than the +character assigned to him on the stage; and till the close of the sixteenth +century Sir John Oldcastle remained the profligate buffoon of English +comedy. Whether in life he bore the character so assigned to him, I am +unable to say. The popularity of Henry V., and the splendour of his French +wars, served no doubt to colour all who had opposed him with a blacker +shade than they deserved: but it is almost certain that Shakspeare, though +not intending Falstaff as a portrait of Oldcastle, thought of him as he was +designing the character; and it is altogether certain that by the London +public Falstaff was supposed to represent Oldcastle. We can hardly suppose +that such an expression as "my old lad of the castle," should be +accidental; and in the epilogue to the Second Part of _Henry the Fourth_, +when promising to reintroduce Falstaff once more, Shakspeare says, "where +for anything I know he shall die of the sweat, for Oldcastle died a martyr, +and this is not the man." He had, therefore, certainly been supposed to _be +the man_, and Falstaff represented the English conception of the character +of the Lollard hero. I should add, however, that Dean Milman, who has +examined the records which remain to throw light on the character of this +remarkable person with elaborate care and ability, concludes emphatically +in his favour. + +[477] Two curious letters of Henry VI. upon the Lollards, written in 1431, +are printed in the _Archaeologia_, vol. xxiii. p. 339, etc. "As God +knoweth," he says of them, "never would they be subject to his laws nor to +man's, but would be loose and free to rob, reve, and dispoil, slay and +destroy all men of thrift and worship, as they proposed to have done in our +father's days; and of lads and lurdains would make lords." + +[478] Proceedings of an organised Society in London called the Christian +Brethren, supported by voluntary contributions, for the dispersion of +tracts against the doctrines of the Church: _Rolls House MS._ + +[479] HALE'S _Precedents_. The London and Lincoln Registers, in FOXE, vol. +iv.; and the MS. Registers of Archbishops Morton and Warham, at Lambeth. + +[480] KNOX'S _History of the Reformation in Scotland_. + +[481] Also we object to you that divers times, and specially in Robert +Durdant's house, of Iver Court, near unto Staines, you erroneously and +damnably read in a great book of heresy, all [one] night, certain chapters +of the Evangelists, in English, containing in them divers erroneous and +damnable opinions and conclusions of heresy, in the presence of divers +suspected persons.--Articles objected against Richard Butler--London +Register: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 178. + +[482] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 176. + +[483] MICHELET, _Life of Luther_, p. 71. + +[484] Ibid. + +[485] Ibid. p. 41. + +[486] WOOD'S _Athenae Oxonienses_. + +[487] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 618. + +[488] The suspicious eyes of the Bishops discovered Tyndal's visit, and the +result which was to be expected from it. + +On Dec. 2nd, 1525, Edward Lee, afterwards Archbishop of York, then king's +almoner, and on a mission into Spain, wrote from Bordeaux to warn Henry. +The letter is instructive: + +"Please your Highness to understand that I am certainly informed as I +passed in this country, that an Englishman, your subject, at the +solicitation and instance of Luther, with whom he is, hath translated the +New Testament into English; and within few days intendeth to return with +the same imprinted into England. I need not to advertise your Grace what +infection and danger may ensue hereby if it be not withstanded. This is the +next way to fulfil your realm with Lutherians. For all Luther's perverse +opinions be grounded upon bare words of Scripture, not well taken, ne +understanded, which your Grace hath opened in sundry places of your royal +book. All our forefathers, governors of the Church of England, hath with +all diligence forbid and eschewed publication of English Bibles, as +appeareth in constitutions provincial of the Church of England. Nowe, sure, +as God hath endued your Grace with Christian courage to sett forth the +standard against these Philistines and to vanquish them, so I doubt not but +that he will assist your Grace to prosecute and perform the same--that is, +to undertread them that they shall not now lift up their heads; which they +endeavour by means of English Bibles. They know what hurt such books hath +done in your realm in times past."--Edward Lee to Henry VIII.: ELLIS, third +series, vol. ii. p. 71. + +[489] Answer of the Bishops: _Rolls House MS._ See cap. 3. + +[490] Answer of the Bishops, vol. i. cap. 3. + +[491] See, particularly, _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 302. + +[492] Proceedings of the Christian Brethren: _Rolls House MS._ + +[493] See the letter of Bishop Fox to Wolsey: STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i. +Appendix. + +[494] Particulars of Persons who had dispersed Anabaptist and Lutheran +Tracts: _Rolls House MS._ + +[495] Dr. Taylor to Wolsey: _Rolls House MS._ Clark to Wolsey: _State +Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 80, 81. + +[496] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 189. + +[497] Memoirs of Latimer prefixed to _Sermons_, pp. 3, 4; and see STRYPE'S +_Memorials_, vol. i. + +[498] FOXE, vol. v. p. 416. + +[499] Tunstall, Bishop of London, has had the credit hitherto of this +ingenious folly, the effect of which, as Sir Thomas More warned him, could +only be to supply Tyndal with money.--HALL, 762, 763. The following letter +from the Bishop of Norwich to Warham shows that Tunstall was only acting in +canonical obedience to the resolution of his metropolitan:-- + +"In right humble manner I commend me unto your good Lordship, doing the +same to understand that I lately received your letters, dated at your manor +of Lambeth, the 26th day of the month of May, by the which I do perceive +that your Grace hath lately gotten into your hands all the books of the New +Testament, translated into English, and printed beyond the sea; as well +those with the glosses joined unto them as those without the glosses. + +"Surely, in myn opinion, you have done therein a gracious and a blessed +deed; and God, I doubt not, shall highly reward you therefore. And when, in +your said letters, ye write that, insomuch as this matter and the danger +thereof, if remedy had not been provided, should not only have touched you, +but all the bishops within your province; and that it is no reason that the +holle charge and cost thereof should rest only in you; but that they and +every of them, for their part, should advance and contribute certain sums +of money towards the same: I for my part will be contented to advance in +this behalf, and to make payment thereof unto your servant, Master William +Potkyn. + +"Pleaseth it you to understand, I am well contented to give and advance in +this behalf ten marks, and shall cause the same to be delivered shortly; +the which sum I think sufficient for my part, if every bishop within your +province make like contribution, after the rate and substance of their +benefices. Nevertheless, if your Grace think this sum not sufficient for my +part in this matter, your further pleasure known, I shall be as glad to +conform myself thereunto in this, or any other matter concerning the +church, as any your subject within your province; as knows Almighty God, +who long preserve you. At Hoxne in Suffolk, the 14th day of June, 1527. +Your humble obedience and bedeman, + +"R. NORWICEN." + +[500] FOXE, vol. iv. + +[501] The papal bull, and the king's licence to proceed upon it, are +printed in _Rymer_, vol. vi. part ii. pp. 8 and 17. The latter is explicit +on Wolsey's personal liberality in establishing this foundation. Ultro et +ex propria liberalitate et munificentia, nec sine gravissimo suo sumptu et +impensis, collegium fundare conatur. + +[502] Would God my Lord his Grace had never been motioned to call any +Cambridge man to his most towardly college. It were a gracious deed if they +were tried and purged and restored unto their mother from whence they came, +if they be worthy to come thither again. We were clear without blot or +suspicion till they came, and some of them, as Master Dean hath known a +long time, hath had a shrewd name.--Dr. London to Archbishop Warham: _Rolls +House MS._ + +[503] Dr. London to Warham: _Rolls House MS._ + +[504] DALABER'S _Narrative._ + +[505] Clark seems to have taken pupils in the long vacation. Dalaber at +least read with him all one summer in the country.--Dr. London to Warham: +_Rolls House MS._ + +[506] The Vicar of Bristol to the Master of Lincoln College, Oxford: _Rolls +House MS._ + +[507] Dr. London to Warham: _Rolls House MS._ + +[508] Radley himself was one of the singers at Christchurch: London to +Warham. _MS._ + +[509] Dr. London to Warham: _Rolls House MS._ + +[510] On the site of the present Worcester College. It lay beyond the walls +of the town, and was then some distance from it across the fields. + +[511] Christchurch, where Dalaber occasionally sung in the quire. Vide +infra. + +[512] Some part of which let us read with him. "I send you forth as sheep +in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as +doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and +they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before +governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the +gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye +shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall +speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which +speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death; and +the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, +and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my +name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Whosoever +shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which +is in heaven. Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny +before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace +on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man +at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and +the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be +they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is +not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy +of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of +me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for +my sake shall find it." + +[513] Rector of Lincoln. + +[514] Warden of New College. + +[515] The last prayer. + +[516] Dr. Maitland, who has an indifferent opinion of the early +Protestants, especially on the point of veracity, brings forward this +assertion of Dalaber as an illustration of what he considers their +recklessness. It seems obvious, however, that a falsehood of this kind is +something different in kind from what we commonly mean by unveracity, and +has no affinity with it. I do not see my way to a conclusion; but I am +satisfied that Dr. Maitland's strictures are unjust. If Garret was taken, +he was in danger of a cruel death, and his escape could only be made +possible by throwing the bloodhounds off the scent. A refusal to answer +would not have been sufficient; and the general laws by which our conduct +is ordinarily to be directed, cannot be made so universal in their +application as to meet all contingencies. It is a law that we may not +strike or kill other men, but occasions rise in which we may innocently do +both. I may kill a man in defence of my own life or my friend's life, or +even of my friend's property; and surely the circumstances which dispense +with obedience to one law may dispense equally with obedience to another. +_If_ I may kill a man to prevent him from robbing my friend, why may I not +deceive a man to save my friend from being barbarously murdered? It is +possible that the highest morality would forbid me to do either. I am +unable to see why, if the first be permissible, the second should be a +crime. Rahab of Jericho did the same thing which Dalaber did, and on that +very ground was placed in the catalogue of saints. + +[517] A cell in the Tower, the nature of which we need not inquire into. + +[518] FOXE, vol. v. p. 421. + +[519] Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln: _Rolls House MS._ + +[520] Ibid. + +[521] Dr. Forman, rector of All Hallows, who had himself been in trouble +for heterodoxy. + +[522] Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln, Feb. 20, 1528: _Rolls House MS._ + +[523] Now Cokethorpe Park, three miles from Stanton Harcourt, and about +twelve from Oxford. The village has disappeared. + +[524] Vicar of All Saints, Bristol, to the Rector of Lincoln: _Rolls House +MS._ + +[525] The Vicar of All Saints to the Rector of Lincoln: _Rolls House MS._ + +[526] Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln: _Rolls House MS._ + +[527] Long extracts from it are printed in FOXE, vol. iv. + +[528] Another of the brethren, afterwards Bishop of St. David's, and one of +the Marian victims. + +[529] Bishop of Lincoln to Wolsey, March 5, 1527-8: _Rolls House MS._: and +see ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 77. + +[530] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 77. + +[531] With some others he "was cast into a prison where the saltfish lay, +through the stink whereof the most part of them were infected; and the said +Clark, being a tender young man, died in the same prison."--FOXE, vol. iv. +p. 615. + +[532] London to Warham: _Rolls House MS._ + +[533] Petition of the Commons, vol. i. cap. 3. + +[534] Ibid. And, as we saw in the bishops' reply, they considered their +practice in these respects wholly defensible.--See _Reply of the Bishops_, +cap. 3. + +[535] Petition of the Commons, cap. 3. + +[536] Hen. V. stat. 1. + +[537] He had been "troublesome to heretics," he said, and he had "done it +with a little ambition;" for "he so hated this kind of men, that he would +fie the sorest enemy that they could have, if they would not +repent."--MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 211. + +[538] See FOXE:, vol. iv. pp. 689, 698, 705. + +[539] 2 Hen. V. stat. 1. + +[540] John Stokesley. + +[541] Petition of Thomas Philips to the House of Commons: _Rolls House MS._ + +[542] Ibid. + +[543] FOXE, vol. v. pp. 29, 30. + +[544] The circumstances are curious. Philips begged that he might have the +benefit of the king's writ of corpus cum causa, and be brought to the bar +of the House of Commons, where the Bishop of London should be subpoenaed to +meet him. [Petition of Thomas Philips: _Rolls House MS._] The Commons did +not venture on so strong a measure; but a digest of the petition was sent +to the Upper House, that the bishop might have an opportunity of reply. The +Lords refused to receive or consider the case: they replied that it was too +"frivolous an affair" for so grave an assembly, and that they could not +discuss it. [_Lords' Journals_, vol. i. p. 66.] A deputation of the Commons +then waited privately upon the bishop, and being of course anxious to +ascertain whether Philips had given a true version of what had passed, they +begged him to give some written explanation of his conduct, which might be +read in the Commons' House. [_Lords' Journals_, vol. i. p. 71.] The request +was reasonable, and we cannot doubt that, if explanation had been possible, +the bishop would not have failed to offer it; but he preferred to shield +himself behind the judgment of the Lords. The Lords, he said, had decided +that the matter was too frivolous for their own consideration; and without +their permission, he might not set a precedent of responsibility to the +Commons by answering their questions. + +This conduct met with the unanimous approval of the Peers. [_Lords' +Journals_, vol. i. p. 71. Omnes proceres tam spirituales quam temporales +una, voce dicebant, quod non consentaneum fuit aliquem procerum +praedictorum alicui in eo loco responsurum.] The demand for explanation +was treated as a breach of privilege, and the bishop was allowed to remain +silent. But the time was passed for conduct of this kind to be allowed to +triumph. If the bishop could not or would not justify himself, his victim +might at least be released from unjust imprisonment. The case was referred +to the king: and by the king and the House of Commons Philips was set at +liberty. + +[545] Petition of John Field: _Rolls House MS._ + +[546] Jan. 1529-30. + +[547] Illegal. See 2 Hen. V. stat. 1. + +[548] Seventh Sermon before King Edward. First Sermon before the Duchess of +Suffolk. + +[549] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 649. + +[550] Articles against James Bainham: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 703. + +[551] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 702. + +[552] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 705. + +[553] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 694. + +[554] HALL, p. 806; and see FOXE, vol iv. p. 705. + +[555] Instructions given by the Bishop of Salisbury: BURNET'S +_Collectanea_, p. 493. + +[556] From a Letter of Robert Gardiner: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 706. + +[557] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 101. + +[558] Latimer speaks of sons and daughters.--Ibid. p. 101. + +[559] Ibid. + +[560] Where the Cornish rebels came to an end in 1497.--BACON'S _History of +Henry the Seventh_. + +[561] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 197. + +[562] On which occasion, old relations perhaps shook their heads, and made +objection to the expense. Some such feeling is indicated in the following +glimpse behind the veil of Latimer's private history:-- + +"I was once called to one of my kinsfolk," he says ("it was at that time +when I had taken my degree at Cambridge); I was called, I say, to one of my +kinsfolk which was very sick, and died immediately after my coming. Now, +there was an old cousin of mine, which, after the man was dead, gave me a +wax candle in my hand, and commanded me to make certain crosses over him +that was dead; for she thought the devil should run away by and bye. Now, I +took the candle, but I could not cross him as she would have me to do; for +I had never seen it before. She, perceiving I could not do it, with great +anger took the candle out of my hand, saying, 'It is pity that thy father +spendeth so much money upon thee;' and so she took the candle, and crossed +and blessed him; so that he was sure enough."--LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 499. + +[563] "I was as obstinate a papist as any was in England, insomuch that, +when I should be made Bachelor of Divinity, my whole oration went against +Philip Melancthon and his opinions."--LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 334. + +[564] _Jewel of Joy_, p. 224, et seq.: Parker Society's edition. LATIMER'S +_Sermons_, p. 3. + +[565] LATIMER'S _Remains_, pp. 27-31. + +[566] Ibid. pp. 308-9. + +[567] LATIMER to Sir Edward Baynton: _Letters_, p. 329. + +[568] _Letters_, p. 323. + +[569] He thought of going abroad. "I have trust that God will help me," he +wrote to a friend; "if I had not, I think the ocean sea should have divided +my Lord of London and me by this day."--_Remains_, p. 334. + +[570] Latimer to Sir Edward Baynton. + +[571] See Latimer's two letters to Sir Edward Baynton: _Remains_, pp. +322-351. + +[572] "As ye say, the matter is weighty, and ought substantially to be +looked upon, even as weighty as my life is worth; but how to look +substantially upon it otherwise know not I, than to pray my Lord God, day +and night, that, as he hath emboldened me to preach his truth, so he will +strengthen me to suffer for it. + +"I pray you pardon me that I write no more distinctly, for my head is [so] +out of frame, that it would be too painful for me to write it again. If I +be not prevented shortly, I intend to make merry with my parishioners, this +Christmas, for all the sorrow, _lest perchance I never return to them +again_; and I have heard say that a doe is as good in winter as a buck in +summer."--Latimer to Sir Edward Baynton, p. 334. + +[573] LATIMER'S _Remains_, p. 334. + +[574] Ibid. p. 350. + +[575] "I pray you, in God's name, what did you, so great fathers, so many, +so long season, so oft assembled together? What went you about? What would +ye have brought to pass? Two things taken away--the one that ye (which I +heard) burned a dead man,--the other, that ye (which I felt) went about to +burn one being alive. Take away these two noble acts, and there is nothing +else left that ye went about that I know," etc., etc.--Sermon preached +before the Convocation: LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 46. + +[576] "My affair had some bounds assigned to it by him who sent for me up, +but is now protracted by intricate and wily examinations, as if it would +never find a period; while sometimes one person, sometimes another, ask me +questions, without limit and without end."--Latimer to the Archbishop of +Canterbury: _Remains_, p. 352. + +[577] _Remains_, p. 222. + +[578] _Sermons_, p. 294. + +[579] The process lasted through January, February, and March. + +[580] _Sermons_, p. 294. + +[581] He subscribed all except two--one apparently on the power of the +pope, the other I am unable to conjecture. Compare the Articles +themselves--printed in LATIMER'S _Remains_, p. 466--with the Sermon before +the Convocation.--_Sermons_, p. 46; and BURNET, vol. iii. p. 116. + +[582] Nicholas Glossop to Cromwell: ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 237. + +[583] Where he was known among the English of the day as Master Frisky-all. + +[584] See FOXE. vol. v. p. 392. + +[585] Eustace Chappuys to Chancellor Granvelle: _MS. Archiv. Brussels: +Pilgrim_, p. 106. + +[586] See Cromwell's will in an appendix to this chapter. This document, +lately found in the Rolls House, furnishes a clue at last to the +connections of the Cromwell family. + +[587] Are we to believe Foxe's story that Cromwell was with the Duke of +Bourbon at the storming of Rome in May, 1527? See FOXE, vol. v. p. 365. He +was with Wolsey in January, 1527. See ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 117. +And he was again with him early in 1528. Is it likely that he was in Italy +on such an occasion in the interval? Foxe speaks of it as one of the random +exploits of Cromwell's youth, which is obviously untrue; and the natural +impression which we gather is, that he was confusing the expedition of the +Duke of Bourbon with some earlier campaign. On the other hand Foxe's +authority was Cranmer, who was likely to know the truth; and it is not +impossible that, in the critical state of Italian politics, the English +government might have desired to have some confidential agent in the Duke +of Bourbon's camp. Cromwell, with his knowledge of Italy and Italian, and +his adventurous ability, was a likely man to have been sent on such an +employment; and the story gains additional probability from another legend +about him, that he once saved the life of Sir John Russell, in some secret +affair at Bologna. See FOXE, vol. v. p. 367. Now, although Sir John Russell +had been in Italy several times before (he was at the Battle of Pavia, and +had been employed in various diplomatic missions), and Cromwell might thus +have rendered him the service in question on an earlier occasion, yet he +certainly was in the Papal States, on a most secret and dangerous mission, +in the months preceding the capture of Rome. _State Papers_, vol. vi. p. +560, etc. The probabilities may pass for what they are worth till further +discovery. + +[588] A damp, unfurnished house belonging to Wolsey, where he was ordered +to remain till the government had determined upon their course towards him. +See CAVENDISH. + +[589] CAVENDISH, pp. 269-70. + +[590] Ibid. p. 276. + +[591] Chappuys says, that a quarrel with Sir John Wallop first introduced +Cromwell to Henry. Cromwell, "not knowing how else to defend himself, +contrived with presents and entreaties to obtain an audience of the king, +whom he promised to make the richest sovereign that ever reigned in +England."--Chappuys to Granvelle: _The Pilgrim_, p. 107. + +[592] Or Willyams. The words are used indifferently. + +[593] The clause enclosed between brackets is struck through. + +[594] Struck through. + +[595] Mary, widow of Louis of Hungary, sister of the emperor, and Regent of +the Netherlands. + +[596] She was much affected when the first intimation of the marriage +reached her. "I am informed of a secret friend of mine," wrote Sir John +Hacket, "that when the queen here had read the letters which she received +of late out of England, the tears came to her eyes with very sad +countenance. But indeed this day when I spake to her she showed me not such +countenance, but told me that she was not well pleased. + +"At her setting forward to ride at hunting, her Grace asked me if I had +heard of late any tidings out of England. I told her Grace, as it is true, +that I had none. She gave me a look as that she should marvel thereof, and +said to me, 'Jay des nouvelles qui ne me semblent point trop bonnes,' and +told me touching the King's Highness's marriage. To the which I answered +her Grace and said, 'Madame, je ne me doute point syl est faict, et quand +le veult prendre et entendre de bonne part et au sain chemyn, sans porter +faveur parentelle que ung le trouvera tout lente et bien raysonnable par +layde de Dieu et de bonne conscience.' Her Grace said to me again, +'Monsieur l'ambassadeur, c'est Dieu qui le scait que je vouldroye que le +tout allysse bien, mais ne scaye comment l'empereur et le roy mon frere +entendront l'affaire car il touche a eulx tant que a moy.' I answered and +said, 'Madame, il me semble estre assuree que l'empereur et le roy vostre +frere qui sont deux Prinssys tres prudens et sayges, quant ilz auront +considere indifferentement tout l'affaire qu ilz ne le deveroyent +prendre que de bonne part.' And hereunto her Grace made me answer, +saying, 'Da quant de le prendre de bonne part ce la, ne sayge M. +l'ambassadeur.'"--Hacket to the Duke of Norfolk: _State Papers_, vol. vii. +p. 452. + +[597] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 457. + +[598] Sir Gregory Cassalis to the Duke of Norfolk. Ad pontificem accessi et +mei sermonis illa summa fuit, vellet id praestare ut serenissimum regem +nostrum certiorem facere possemus, in sua causa nihil innovatum iri. Hic +ille, sicut solet, respondit, nescire se quo pacto possit Caesarianis +obsistere,--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 461. + +[599] Bennet to Henry: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 462. + +[600] Ibid. + +[601] Letter undated, but written about the middle of June: _State Papers_, +vol. vii. p. 474 + +[602] Of the Archbishop of York, not of Canterbury: which provokes a +question. Conjectures are of little value in history, but inasmuch as there +must have been some grave reason for the substitution, a suggestion of a +possible reason may not be wholly out of place. The appeal in itself was +strictly legal; and it was of the highest importance to avoid any +illegality of form. Cranmer, by transgressing the inhibition which Clement +had issued in the winter, might be construed by the papal party to have +virtually incurred the censures threatened, and an escape might thus have +been furnished from the difficulty in which the appeal placed them. + +[603] Publico ecclesiae judicio. + +[604] RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 188. + +[605] The French king did write unto Cardinal Tournon (not, however, of his +own will, but under pressure from the Duke of Norfolk), very instantly, +that he should desire the pope, in the said French king's name, that his +Holyness would not innovate anything against your Highness any wise till +the congress: adding, withal, that if his Holyness, notwithstanding his +said desire, would proceed, he could not less do, considering the great and +indissoluble amity betwixt your Highnesses, notorious to all the world, but +take and recognise such proceeding for a fresh injury.--Bennet to Henry +VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 468. + +[606] Ibid. p. 469. + +[607] Ibid. p. 469. + +[608] Ibid. p. 470. + +[609] Ibid. p. 467, note, and p. 470. + +[610] BURNET, vol. i. p. 221. + +[611] We only desire and pray you to endeavour yourselves in the execution +of that your charge--easting utterly away and banishing from you such fear +and timorousness, or rather despair, as by your said letters we perceive ye +have conceived--reducing to your memories in the lieu and stead thereof, as +a thing continually lying before your eyes and incessantly sounded in your +ears, the justice of our cause, which cannot at length be shadowed, but +shall shine and shew itself to the confusion of our adversaries. And we +having, as is said, truth for us, with the help and assistance of God, +author of the same, shall at all times be able to maintain you.--Henry +VIII. to Bonner: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 485. + +[612] Bonner to Cromwell: Ibid. vol. vii. p. 481. + +[613] The proclamation ordering that Catherine should be called not queen, +but Princess Dowager. + +[614] Catherine de Medici. + +[615] Henry VIII. to the Duke of Norfolk: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 493. + +[616] Sir John Racket, writing from Ghent on the 6th of September, +describes as the general impression that the Pope's "trust was to assure +his alliance on both sides." "He trusts to bring about that his Majesty the +French king and he shall become and remain in good, fast, and sure alliance +together; and so ensuring that they three (the Pope, Francis, and Charles +V.) shall be able to reform and set good order in the rest of Christendom. +But whether his Unhappiness's--I mean his Holiness's--intention, is set for +the welfare and utility of Christendom, or for his own insincerity and +singular purpose, I remit that to God and to them that know more of the +world than I do."--Hacket to Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 506. + +[617] John the Magnanimous, son of John the Steadfast, and nephew of the +Elector Frederick, Luther's first protector. + +[618] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 499-501. + +[619] Princeps Elector ducit se imparem ut Regiae Celsitudinis vel aliorum +regum oratores ea lege in aula sua degerent; vereturque ne ob id apud +Caesaream majestatem unicum ejus Dominum et alios male audiret, possetque +sinistre tale institutum interpretari.--Reply of the Elector: _State +Papers_, vol. vii. p. 503. + +[620] Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol vii. p. 509. + +[621] I consider the man, with other two--that is to say, the Landgrave von +Hesse and the Duke of Lunenberg--to be the chief and principal defenders +and maintainers of the Lutheran sect: who considering the same with no +small difficulty to be defended, as well against the emperor and the +bishops of Germany, his nigh and shrewd neighbours, as against the most +opinion of all Christian men, feareth to raise any other new matter whereby +they should take a larger and peradventure a better occasion to revenge the +same. The King's Highness seeketh to have intelligence with them, as they +conjecture to have them confederate with him; yea, and that against the +emperor, if he would anything pretend against the king.--Here is the thing +which I think feareth the duke.--Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol. +vii. pp. 509-10. + +[622] HALL, p. 805. + +[623] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 512. + +[624] The Duke of Albany, during the minority of James V., had headed the +party in Scotland most opposed to the English. He expelled the +queen-mother, Margaret, sister of Henry; he seized the persons of the two +young princes, whom he shut up in Stirling, where the younger brother died +under suspicion of foul play (_Despatches of_ GIUSTINIANI, vol. i. p. 157); +and subsequently, in his genius for intrigue, he gained over the queen +dowager herself in a manner which touched her honour.--Lord Thomas Dacre to +Queen Margaret: ELLIS, second series, vol. i. p. 279. + +[625] Ex his tamen, qui haec a Pontifice, audierunt, intelligo regem +vehementissime instare, ut vestrae majestatis expectatione satisfiat +Pontifex.--Peter Vannes to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 518. + +[626] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 520. + +[627] Hoc dico quod video inter regem et pontificem conjunctissime et +amicissime hic agi.--Vannes to Cromwell: Ibid. + +[628] Vannes to Cromwell: Ibid. pp. 522-3. + +[629] BURNET, _Collectanea_, p. 436. + +[630] Letter of the King of France: LEGRAND, vol. iii. Reply of Henry: +FOXE, vol. v. p. 110. + +[631] Commission of the Bishop of Paris: LEGRAND, vol. iii; BURNET, vol. +iii. p. 128; FOXE, vol. v. p. 106-111. The commission of the Bishop of +Bayonne is not explicit on the extent to which the pope had bound himself +with respect to the sentence. Yet either in some other despatch, or +verbally through the Bishop, Francis certainly informed Henry that the Pope +had promised that sentence should be given in his favour. We shall find +Henry assuming this in his reply; and the Archbishop of York declared to +Catherine that the pope "said at Marseilles, that if his Grace would send a +proxy thither he would give sentence for his Highness against her, because +that he knew his cause to be good and just."--_State Papers_, vol. i. p. +421. + +[632] MS. Bibl. Imper. Paris.--_The Pilgrim_, pp. 97, 98. Cf. FOXE, vol. v. +p. 110. + +[633] I hear of a number of Gelders which be lately reared; and the opinion +of the people here is that they shall go into England. All men there speak +evil of England, and threaten it in their foolish manner.--Vaughan to +Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 511. + +[634] RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 189. + +[635] Parties were so divided in England that lookers-on who reported any +one sentiment as general there, reported in fact by their own wishes and +sympathies. D'Inteville, the French ambassador, a strong Catholic, declares +the feeling to have been against the revolt. Chastillon, on the other hand, +writing at the same time from the same place (for he had returned from +France, and was present with d'Inteville at the last interview), says, "The +King has made up his mind to a complete separation from Rome; and the lords +and the majority of the people go along with him."--Chastillon to the +Bishop of Paris: _The Pilgrim_, p. 99. + +[636] STRYPE, _Eccles. Memor._, vol. i. p. 224. + +[637] Instructions to the Earls of Oxford, Essex, and Sussex, to +remonstrate with the Lady Mary: _Rolls House MS._ + +[638] Ibid. + +[639] On the 15th of November, Queen Catherine wrote to the Emperor, and +after congratulating him on his successes against the Turks, she continued, + +"And as our Lord in his mercy has worked so great a good for Christendom by +your Highness's hands, so has he enlightened also his Holiness; and I and +all this realm have now a sure hope that, with the grace of God, his +Holiness will slay this second Turk, this affair between the King my Lord +and me. Second Turk, I call it, from the misfortunes which, through his +Holiness's long delay, have grown out of it, and are now so vast and of so +ill example that I know not whether this or the Turk be the worst. Sorry am +I to have been compelled to importune your Majesty so often in this matter, +for sure I am you do not need my pressing. But I see delay to be so +calamitous, my own life is so unquiet and so painful, and the opportunity +to make an end now so convenient, that it seems as if God of his goodness +had brought his Holiness and your Majesty together to bring about so great +a good. I am forced to be importunate, and I implore your Highness for the +passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in return for the signal benefits +which God each day is heaping on you, you will accomplish for me this great +blessing, and bring his Holiness to a decision. Let him remember what he +promised you at Bologna. The truth here is known, and he will thus destroy +the hopes of those who persuade the King my Lord that he will never pass +judgment."--Queen Catherine to Charles V.: _MS. Simancas_, November 15, +1533. + +[640] Letter to the King, giving an account of certain Friars Observants +who had been about the Princess Dowager: _Rolls House MS._ + +[641] We remember the northern prophecy, "In England shall be slain the +decorate Rose in his mother's belly," which the monks of Furness +interpreted as meaning that "the King's Grace should die by the hands of +priests."--Vol. i. cap. 4. + +[642] Statutes of the Realm, 25 Henry VIII. cap. 12. State Papers relating +to Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, +to Cromwell: _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 20. + +[643] Thus Cromwell writes to Fisher: "My Lord, [the outward evidences +that she was speaking truth] moved you not to give credence to her, but +only the very matter whereupon she made her false prophecies, to which +matter ye were so affected--as ye be noted to be on all matters which +ye once enter into--that nothing could come amiss that made for that +purpose."--_Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 30. + +[644] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._ + +[645] Ibid. + +[646] Ibid. + +[647] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[648] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._ 25 Hen. VIII. +cap. 12. The "many" nobles are not more particularly designated in the +official papers. It was not desirable to mention names when the offence was +to be passed over. + +[649] Report of the Commissioners--Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: +_Rolls House MS._ + +[650] Goold, says the Act of the Nun's attainder, travelled to Bugden, "to +animate the said Lady Princess to make commotion in the realm against our +sovereign lord; surmitting that the said Nun should hear by revelation of +God that the said Lady Catherine should prosper and do well, and that her +issue, the Lady Mary, should prosper and reign in the realm."--25 Henry +VIII. cap. 13. + +[651] Report of the Proceedings of the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._ + +[652] MS. Bibliot. Imper., Paris. The letter is undated. It was apparently +written in the autumn of 1533. + +[653] Il a des nouvelles amours. In a paper at Simancas, containing Nuevas +de Inglaterra, written about this time, is a similar account of the dislike +of Anne and her family, as well as of the king's altered feelings towards +her. Dicano anchora che la Anna e mal voluta degli Si. di Inghilterra si +per la sua superbia, si anche per l'insolentia e mali portamenti che fanno +nel regno li fratelli e parenti di Anna; e che per questo il Re non la +porta la affezione que soleva per che il Re festeggia una altra Donna della +quale se mostra esser inamorato, e molti Si. di Inghilterra lo ajutano nel +seguir el predito amor per deviar questo Re dalla pratica di Anna. + +[654] HALL. + +[655] "I, dame Elizabeth Barton," she said, "do confess that I, most +miserable and wretched person, have been the original of all this mischief, +and by my falsehood I have deceived all these persons (the monks who were +her accomplices), and many more; whereby I have most grievously offended +Almighty God, and my most noble sovereign the King's Grace. Wherefore I +humbly, and with heart most sorrowful, desire you to pray to Almighty God +for my miserable sins, and make supplication for me to my sovereign for his +gracious mercy and pardon."--Confession of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House +MS._ + +[656] Papers relating to Elizabeth Barton: Ibid. + +[657] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 415. + +[658] A curious trait in Mary's character may be mentioned in connection +with this transfer. She had a voracious appetite; and in Elizabeth's +household expenses an extra charge was made necessary of L26 a year for the +meat breakfasts and meat suppers "served into the Lady Mary's +chamber."--Statement of the expenses of the Household of the Princess +Elizabeth: _Rolls House MS._ + +[659] He is called _frater consobrinus_. See FULLER'S _Worthies_, vol. iii. +p. 128. + +[660] He was killed at the battle of Pavia. + +[661] Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, married Catherine, daughter of Edward. + +[662] Believe me, my lord, there are some here, and those of the greatest +in the land, who will be indignant if the Pope confirm the sentence against +the late Queen.--D'Inteville to Montmorency: _The Pilgrim_, p. 97. + +[663] She once rode to Canterbury, disguised as a servant, with only a +young girl for a companion.--Depositions of Sir Geoffrey Pole: _Rolls House +MS._ + +[664] Confession of Sir William Neville: _Rolls House MS._ + +[665] Confession of Sir George Neville: Ibid. + +[666] Confession of the Oxford Wizard: Ibid. + +[667] Queen Anne Boleyn to Gardiner: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 355. Office +for the Consecration of Cramp Rings: Ibid. + +[668] So at least the Oxford Wizard said that Sir William Neville had told +him.--Confession of the Wizard: _Rolls House MS._ But the authority is not +good. + +[669] Henry alone never listened seriously to the Nun of Kent. + +[670] John of Transylvania, the rival of Ferdinand. His designation by the +title of king in an English state paper was a menace that, if driven to +extremities, Henry would support him against the empire. + +[671] Acts of Council: _State Papers_, vol. i. pp. 414-15. + +[672] Henry VIII. to Sir John Wallop: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 524. + +[673] Stephen Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 517. +Vaughan describes Peto with Shakespearian raciness. "Peto is an ipocrite +knave, as the most part of his brethren be; a wolf; a tiger clad in a +sheep's skin. It is a perilous knave--a raiser of sedition--an evil +reporter of the King's Highness--a prophecyer of mischief--a fellow I would +wish to be in the king's hands, and to be shamefully punished. Would God I +could get him by any policy--I will work what I can. Be sure he shall do +nothing, nor pretend to do nothing, in these parts, that I will not find +means to cause the King's Highness to know. I have laid a bait for him. He +is not able to wear the clokys and cucullys that be sent him out of +England, they be so many." + +[674] Hacket to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 528. + +[675] Ibid. p. 530. + +[676] Hacket to Cromwell: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 531. + +[677] So at least Henry supposed, if we may judge by the resolutions of the +Council "for the fortification of all the frontiers of the realm, as well +upon the coasts of the sea as the frontiers foreanenst Scotland." The +fortresses and havens were to be "fortefyed and munited;" and money to be +sent to York to be in readiness "if any business should happen."--Ibid. +vol. i. p. 411. + +[678] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19. + +[679] A design which unfortunately was not put in effect. In the hurry of +the time it was allowed to drop. + +[680] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 14. + +[681] 23 Henry VIII. cap. 20. + +[682] At this very time Campeggio was Bishop of Salisbury, and Ghinucci, +who had been acting for Henry at Rome, was Bishop of Worcester. The Act by +which they were deprived speaks of these two appointments as _nominations_ +by the king.--25 Henry VIII. cap. 27. + +[683] Wolsey held three bishoprics and one archbishopric, besides the abbey +of St. Albans. + +[684] Thus when Wolsey was presented, in 1514, to the See of Lincoln, Leo +X. writes to his beloved son Thomas Wolsey how that in his great care for +the interests of the Church, "Nos hodie Ecclesiae Lincolniensi, te in +episcopum et pastorem praeficere intendimus." He then informs the Chapter +of Lincoln of the appointment; and the king, in granting the temporalities, +continues the fiction without seeming to recognise it:--"Cum dominus summus +Pontifex nuper vacante Ecclesia cathedrali personam fidelis clerici nostri +Thomae Wolsey, in ipsius Ecclesiae episcopum praefecerit, nos," etc.--See +the Acts in RYMER, vol. vi. part 1, pp. 55-7. + +[685] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 20. The pre-existing, unrealities with respect to +the election of bishops explain the unreality of the new arrangement, and +divest it of the character of wanton tyranny with which it appeared _prima +facie_ to press upon the Chapters. The history of this statute is curious, +and perhaps explains the intentions with which it was originally passed. It +was repealed by the 2nd of the 1st of Edward VI. on the ground that the +liberty of election was merely nominal, and that the Chapters ought to be +relieved of responsibility when they had no power of choice. Direct +nomination by the crown was substituted for the _conge d'elire_, and +remained the practice till the reaction under Mary, when the indefinite +system was resumed which had existed before the Reformation. On the +accession of Elizabeth, the statute of 25 Henry VIII. was again enacted. +The more complicated process of Henry was preferred to the more simple one +of Edward, and we are naturally led to ask the reason of so singular a +preference. I cannot but think that it was this. The Council of Regency +under Edward VI. treated the Church as an institution of the State, while +Henry and Elizabeth endeavoured (under difficulties) to regard it under its +more Catholic aspect of an organic body. So long as the Reformation was in +progress, it was necessary to prevent the intrusion upon the bench of +bishops of Romanising tendencies, and the deans and chapters were therefore +protected by a strong hand from their own possible mistakes. But the form +of liberty was conceded to them, not, I hope, to place deliberately a body +of clergymen in a degrading position, but in the belief that at no distant +time the Church might be allowed without danger to resume some degree of +self-government. + +[686] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 21. + +[687] I sent you no heavy words, but words of great comfort; willing your +brother to shew you how benign and merciful the prince was; and that I +thought it expedient for you to write unto his Highness, and to recognise +your offence and to desire his pardon, which his Grace would not deny you +how in your age and sickness.--Cromwell to Fisher: _Suppression of the +Monasteries_, p. 27. + +[688] Sir Thomas More to Cromwell: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 350. + +[689] Ibid. + +[690] Ibid. + +[691] More to Cromwell: STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i. Appendix, p. 195. + +[692] More to the King: ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 47. + +[693] Cromwell to Fisher: _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 27, et seq. + +[694] _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 27, et seq. + +[695] John Fisher to the Lords in Parliament: ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. +p. 289. + +[696] _Lords' Journals_, p. 72. + +[697] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[698] In a tract written by a Dr. Moryson in defence of the government, +three years later, I find evidence that a distinction was made among the +prisoners, and that Dr. Bocking was executed with peculiar cruelty. "Solus +in crucem actus est Bockingus," are Moryson's words, though I feel +uncertain of the nature of the punishment which he meant to designate. +"Crucifixion" was unknown to the English law; and an event so peculiar as +the "crucifixion" of a monk would hardly have escaped the notice of the +contemporary chroniclers. In a careful diary kept by a London merchant +during these years, which is in MS. in the Library of Balliol College, +Oxford, the whole party are said to have been hanged.--See, however, +_Morysini Apomaxis_, printed by Berthelet, 1537. + +[699] HALL, p. 814.] The inferior confederates were committed to their +prisons with the exception only of Fisher, who, though sentenced, found +mercy thrust upon him, till by fresh provocation the miserable old man +forced himself upon his fate.[700 + +[700] LORD HERBERT says he was pardoned; I do not find, however, on what +authority: but he was certainly not imprisoned, nor was the sentence of +forfeiture enforced against him. + +[701] This is the substance of the provisions, which are, of course, much +abridged. + +[702] _Lords' Journals_, vol. i. p. 82. An act was also passed in this +session "against the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome." We trace it in +its progress through the House of Lords. (_Lords' Journals_, Parliament of +1533-4.) It received the royal assent (ibid.), and is subsequently alluded +to in the both of the 28th of Henry VIII., as well as in a Royal +Proclamation dated June, 1534; and yet it is not on the Roll, nor do I +anywhere find traces of it. It is not to be confounded with the act against +payment of Peter's Pence, for in the _Lords' Journals_ the two acts are +separately mentioned. It received the royal assent on the 30th of March, +while that against Peter's Pence was suspended till the 7th of April. It +contained, also, an indirect assertion that the king was Head of the +English Church, according to the title which had been given him by +Convocation. (King's Proclamation: FOXE, vol. v. p. 69.) For some cause or +other, the act at the last moment must have been withdrawn. + +[703] See BURNET, vol. i. pp. 220-1: vol. iii p. 135; and LORD HERBERT. Du +Bellay's brother, the author of the memoirs, says that the king, at the +bishop's entreaty, promised that if the pope would delay sentence, and send +"judges to hear the matter, he would himself forbear to do what he proposed +to do"--that is, separate wholly from the See of Rome. If this is true, the +sending "judges" must allude to the "sending them to Cambray," which had +been proposed at Marseilles. + +[704] See the letter of the Bishop of Bayonne, dated March 23, in LEGRAND. +A paraphrase is given by BURNET, vol. iii. p. 132. + +[705] Promisistis predecessori meo quod si sententiam contra regem Angliae +tulisset, Caesar illum infra quatuor menses erat invasurus, et regno +expulsurus.--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 579. + +[706] Letter of Du Bellay in LEGRAND. + +[707] Ibid. + +[708] Sir Edward Karne and Dr. Revett to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. +vii. pp. 553-4. + +[709] State Papers, vol. vii. p. 560, et seq. + +[710] His Highness, considering the time and the malice of the emperour, +cannot conveniently pass out of the realm--since he leaveth behind him +another daughter and a mother, with their friends, maligning his +enterprises in this behalf--who bearing no small grudge against his most +entirely beloved Queen Anne, and his young daughter the princess, might +perchance in his absence take occasion to excogitate and practise with +their said friends matters of no small peril to his royal person, realm, +and subjects.--_State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 559. + +[711] LORD HERBERT. + +[712] I mentioned their execution in connection with their sentence; but it +did not take place till the 20th of April, a month after their attainder: +and delay of this kind was very unusual in cases of high treason. I have +little doubt that their final sentence was in fact pronounced by the pope. + +[713] The oaths of a great many are in RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 195, et +seq. + +[714] His great-grandson's history of him (_Life of Sir Thomas More,_, by +CRESACRE MORE, written about 1620, published 1627, with a dedication to +Henrietta Maria) is incorrect in so many instances that I follow it with +hesitation; but the account of the present matter is derived from Mr. +Roper, More's son-in-law, who accompanied him to Lambeth, and it is +incidentally confirmed in various details by More himself. + +[715] MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 232. + +[716] More held extreme republican opinions on the tenure of kings, holding +that they might be deposed by act of parliament. + +[717] MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 237. + +[718] BURNET, vol. i. p. 255. + +[719] MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 237. + +[720] Cromwell to the Archbishop of Canterbury: _Rolls House MS._ + +[721] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 411, et seq. + +[722] Royal Proclamation, June, 1534. + +[723] Ibid. + +[724] FOXE, vol. v. p. 70. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH, +VOLUME 1 (OF 3)*** + + +******* This file should be named 15537.txt or 15537.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/3/15537 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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