Shelf. 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 O PRINCETON. N. J. '^^'^ 
 
 BR 378 .L43 1879 
 
 Lee, Frederick George, 1832- 
 
 1902. ^ .,^ 
 
 Historical sketches of the 
 
 Reformation 
 
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES 
 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
Beati pacifici. 
 
 tt\ tl)osc be scbtrc ttpon persons tof)o arc in error, tofio tlicmsclfjca 
 knotD not tDttl) toljat labour Slrntf; is triscobcrcti, antt CFrror abotlrclf. 
 i:ct tf)oac bf scbcrc inbo knobj not f)otD barsblw tbc liiscascs of tf)C minTj 
 arc turcti, anti tbc cue of tbc ttnticrstantjing prcparctt to sec tbc ligl)t. 
 ICct tbose be sebcrc fcobo tnerc netier cntanglctt in error, "as for mc 
 ]t rannot be scbcre : for E toell knoto tbc patience anti long forbearance 
 1: mssclf Ijabe toanteU.— 6V. Augustine of Hippo, " i Ep. ad Fund." 
 
 Fide et consfantid. 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCHES 
 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 BY THK , 
 
 REV. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE, D.C.L 
 
 VICAR OF ALL SAINTS', LAMBETH, ETC., ETC. 
 
 " The Truth shall make you frec^ 
 
 GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, 
 
 CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. 
 
 1879. 
 
•' THE CHURCH WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE CLERGY 
 TO BE MANAGED BY THE LATfY. THE KING AND THE TEMPORAL 
 ESTATES OVERRULED THE SPIRITUALTY. IF THE CHURCH HAD 
 BEEN LEFT TO HER PROPER OFFICERS TO BE REFORMED, AND 
 THE NEEDFUL COMPULSION GIVEN TO THEM WHICH IT WAS 
 ALWAYS IN THE POWER OF THE KING AND THE TEMPORALTY 
 TO APPLY, THE STATE OF THE NATION WOULD HAVE BEEN 
 BETTER AT THIS DAY." 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 By R. W. DIXON. Vol. I. p. 7. Lo.ndon : 1878. 
 
 \l'hc rights of Translatio)i and of Reproduction are reserved.^ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. The Life and Death of Thomas Cromwell, 
 
 Earl of Essex, a.d. 1490 — 1542 . . i 
 
 II. King Henry VIII. at Wolf Hall, in Wilt- 
 shire, May 19, 1536 51 
 
 III. The Pilgrimage of Grace, a.d. 1536 — 1537 . 75 
 
 IV. St. Thomas of Canterbury and the Destruc- 
 
 tion OF HIS Shrine, a.d. 1538 . . . 119 
 
 V. The Death of Richard Whiting, Abbot of 
 
 Glastonbury, Nov. 14, 1539 . . .171 
 
 VI. The Monks of the Charterhouse, London, 
 
 EXECUTED May 4TH, AND JUNE IITH AND 
 i8tH, 1535 . 221 
 
 VII. The Desolation of Sion House : Henry the 
 Eighth's Death and Burial, January and 
 February, 1547 ...... 287 
 
 VIII. The Death of John Paine, a.d. 1582, and 
 
 of Edmund Gennings, a.d. 1591 . . 347 
 
 IX. Vision and Death of Alexander Crowe, 
 
 A.D. 1535— 1587 3^3 
 
 Various Appendices, Notes, etc. 
 
" Human nature naturally dislikes an Authority which, though 
 exercised by men, claims to be superhuman. The Civil Power 
 is of the Earth, and akin to men themselves. Under some 
 forms of constitution they share in it. At any rate, they under- 
 stand it, or think they do, and therefore it does not offend their 
 pride. This is singularly illustrated in Jewish History. The 
 Jews had been governed by the Vicegerents of Heaven ; but 
 they clamoured for a temporal government. They told Samuel 
 that they would have a King like other nations. He was com- 
 manded to tell them that by rejecting the Prophets they rejected 
 God, and to warn them of all the evils which they would suffer 
 under a temporal government. But they insisted on having a 
 temporal King. And soon afterwards the King persecuted the 
 Church." — ■5'/;' George Bozvyer. 
 
PRELATES, PROVOSTS, PRIESTS, AND MEMBERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ORDER OF CORPORATE RE-UNION, 
 
 WHO, 
 
 IN DAYS OF IRRELIGIOUS STRIFE, 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL TURMOIL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONFUSION, 
 
 ARE PRAYING FOR PEACE 
 
 AND LABOURING PRACTICALLY FOR THE RESTORATION OF VISIBLE UNITY 
 
 TO A DISORGANIZED AND DISTRACTED CHRISTENDOM, 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 
 
" I. We cannot under any circumstances obey the Civil 
 Power when its commands are opposed to the Divine Law. 
 
 " 2. ^Mien Laws are unjust they are not binding on the 
 conscience. 
 
 "3. But it may become necessary to obey these laws from 
 motives of prudence : that is to avoid scandal and com- 
 niotions.'' — Sf. Tlioinas Aquinas. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Concerning the sixteenth-century changes, I 
 have told here only true stories, and recorded 
 undoubted facts. Such, after due and careful 
 research, need neither fanciful garnishing nor 
 picturesque additions. Complete in themselves, 
 and telling their own tale only too plainly, they 
 set forth in a series of nine pictures, certain 
 events of some moment, which occurred in the 
 earlier part of the great era of change ; which 
 accounts I trust may serve to give a more true 
 conception of the actual work of the Reformation 
 than some other well-garnished narratives which 
 have been popular for so long a period, and must 
 have been the efficient means of giving erroneous 
 impressions, and of misleading many in their judg- 
 ment of that event. 
 
X Preface. 
 
 Burnet, Hume, Macaulay, J. A. Froude, and 
 J. R. Green, have presented the public with one 
 side of the picture, — Heylin, Jeremy ColHer, Dr. 
 S. R. Maitland, Mr. J. H. Blunt, and Canon Dixon 
 with another. By those last-named, old facts have 
 been set in a new lioht : fresh discoveries of con- 
 temporary MSS. have possibly served to change 
 sentiment and to soften judgments ; while many, 
 amongst the prejudiced and half-informed, to 
 whom darkness has appeared light and light 
 darkness, are learning a new and necessary lesson 
 with success and effect. 
 
 To those who, like myself, believe that both as 
 regards the works of (f<f;;/struction and rtVstruction 
 the latest and last acts of the Reformation-drama 
 are not yet played out, while active interest in 
 them exists uninfluenced and energetic yet ; these 
 nine pictures of the past may not be altogether 
 unworthy of perusal, or uninteresting. 
 
 If the Great Rebellion was the reasonable and 
 logical outcome of the changes under Henry and 
 Elizabeth, which many most reasonably believe 
 it to have been, the still further changes in the 
 dethronement of King James H. and the intrusion 
 
Preface. xi 
 
 and Usurpation of William of Holland, forty years 
 later, seem to follow as a natural sequence. 
 
 What in the future history of our nation will be 
 the end, — which course of principles (whether 
 those of unity, authority, order, and law, on the 
 one hand, or of rebellion, discord, and disorder 
 on the other) will eventually triumph, remains to 
 be seen. At all events, tokens of the making 
 of a clearer line of demarcation between histo- 
 rical controversialists, and of taking opposite sides, 
 are appearing on all hands. Lawlessness, licence, 
 and unbounded selfishness in a nation, sometimes 
 need, as their only possible cure, a military des- 
 potism. What has been may be. 
 
 My object, amongst other inferior purposes, in 
 penning the pages which follow, has been to 
 magnify legitimate Authority, (not, however, that 
 authority which Might assumes over Right ;) and 
 to advance the cause, be the step ever so short, 
 of Corporate Re-union amongst perplexed and 
 contending Christians. F. G. L. 
 
 All Saints' Vicarage, Lambeth, 
 October Sth, 18 78. 
 
ERR A TA. 
 
 P. 17, line ^y for Thaxton ;Y<7a' Shaxton. 
 
 r. 1 70, line 7, for thoughtfulness read thankfulness. 
 
No. I. 
 
 THE LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 OK 
 
 THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF 
 ESSEX. 
 
 St 
 
"Yea ! 
 Rose, like some lurid light from damp morass 
 Or steaming dunghill : rose, and star-like shone ; 
 So that men, back-bent, followed with bland smile 
 Or fulsome praise, or flattering, falsest words. 
 (His — ermined robe and coronet of gems, 
 The monarch's favour ; nighest to the throne .) 
 Then, when the Night grew darker, flickering, sank : — 
 Gloom, isolation, darkness black as Hell." 
 
 The Sorroics of Seivallis. 
 
 "Protestantism, interested in crushing by all possible means the power 
 of the popes, exalted that of kings, even in spiritual matters. By thus 
 concentrating in their hands the spiritual and temporal powers, it left the 
 throne without any sort of counterpoise. By destroying the hope of 
 obtaining liberty by peaceable means, it led the people to have recourse 
 to force, and opened the crater of those revolutions which have cost 
 modern Europe so many tears." — European Cizilization, Babnez. 
 
r *^uufQ 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCHES" OF 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 No. I. 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THOMAS CROMWELL, 
 EARL OF ESSEX. 
 
 A.D. 1490 1540. 
 
 It would have been morally impossible for a 
 monarch so arbitrary and tyrannical as Henry 
 the Eighth to have successfully compassed the 
 total destruction of the monastic system in 
 England, and the subversion of the ancient 
 religion, unless he had first obtained the tacit co- 
 operation of the impoverished nobility ; and further 
 secured, by the appointment of Thomas Cranmer 
 to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, a pliant 
 servant of the highest ecclesiastical rank, who 
 would do his royal master's will with due subser- 
 vience ; and such an unscrupulous lay-tool as 
 Thomas Cromwell, to second and carry out the 
 project. Our concern now is with the latter and 
 his doings. 
 
 When it is in the power of kings and rulers 
 B 2 
 
4 Histoiical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 to perpetrate gross acts of injustice ; when the 
 principle that " might is right " is tolerated and 
 approved, and when able and unscrupulous co- 
 adjutors have been found to co-operate in doing 
 injustice, those who may have planned it, are at 
 no great loss for pretence to justify their course of 
 proceeding. 
 
 To turn the life-owners of estates out of their 
 estates ; to uproot and overturn institutions which 
 had existed for eight centuries, and were de- 
 servedly valued and venerated by the English 
 people from their childhood ; to set all law, human 
 and divine, at defiance ; to make a monarch's 
 will law for the time being ; to violate every true 
 principle on which property rested ; to rob those 
 who had deliberately and solemnly consecrated 
 their lives to the service of God ; to deface and 
 destroy religious houses and sanctuaries of retire- 
 ment and rest, where the worship of the Blessed 
 Trinity had been piously rendered for centuries, 
 needed the services of a suitable ao-ent. This was 
 found in Thomas Cromwell, the son of Walter 
 Cromwell, a blacksmith of Putney, who was born 
 at or about the year 1490, and through whose 
 sister who married a Welshman named Williams, 
 another tyrant of a later age, Oliver Cromwell, 
 claimed descent from the family at Putney.^ 
 
 ^ The relationship between Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and 
 Oliver Cromwell, the usurper and regicide, is set forth in the 
 following genealogical chart (p. 5) : — 
 
T/iojnas Cromzveil, Bar I of Essex. 5 
 
 He is said to have been first employed in the 
 Enghsh factory at Antwerp, and was afterwards 
 enofaeed in the service of the Duke of Bourbon 
 as a soldier : though some writers affirm that 
 prior to this he had been when a mere youth a 
 page or body-servant to Thomas, Lord Cardinal 
 Wolsey. Anyhow he was present when Pope 
 Clement VII. was made prisoner at the disastrous 
 sack of the city of Rome in 1527;^ and by his 
 
 Walter Cromwell, of Putney, co. Surrey. 
 
 I 
 
 I I 
 
 Morgan Williams, A sister of Thomas, Thomas, Loud = Elizabeth, dau. 
 
 son and heir of Wil- 
 liam Williams. 
 
 Lord Cromwell. Cromwell, 
 
 created Earl 
 
 of Essex. 
 
 Gregory Cromwell. 
 
 of Prior. 
 
 I I 
 
 Walter Cromwell, Sir Richard Willi.\ms, = Frances, dan. and 
 
 2nd son. alias Cromwell, of 
 
 Hitchinbrooke, co. 
 Hunts. 
 
 co-heiress of Sir 
 'I'homas Murfyn, 
 Knt., Lord Mayor 
 of London. 
 
 Sir Hf.nry Cro.mwell, Knt. — — Joane, dau. of Sir Ralph 
 
 Warren, Knt. 
 
 Robert Ckomwell, =: Elizabeth, dau. of William Stewart, 
 2nd son. j of the city of Ely, and widow of 
 
 I William Lynn. 
 
 I 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 - " It is impossible to describe, or even to imagine, the 
 misery and horror of that scene which followed. Whatever a 
 city taken by storm can dread from military rage unrestrained 
 by discipline ; whatever excesses the ferocity of the Germans, 
 'the avarice of the Spaniards, or the licentiousness of the 
 Italians could commit, these the wretched inhabitants were 
 obliged to suffer. Churches, palaces, and the houses of private 
 persons, were plundered without distinction. No age, or cha- 
 racter, or sex, was exempt from injury. Cardinals, nobles, 
 priests, matrons, virgins, were all the prey of soldiers, and at 
 
6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 intercourse with various continental people and 
 places had obtained the usual advantages of travel 
 and experience. 
 
 On his return to England he was again 
 employed by Wolsey, by whom he appears to 
 have been much esteemed for his vigour and 
 boldness. 
 
 When, in the year 1529, that eminent prince of 
 the Church and prelate fell,^ Cromwell certainly 
 had the courage and honesty to stand by his 
 friend and master, — the single redeeming feature 
 in his otherwise detestable character. 
 
 This feature, attracting the attention of the 
 king, as was reported, induced his Majesty to 
 command Cromwell's services, which were given 
 with such dexterous servility, unscrupulous tactics, 
 and commanding resolution, that the road to the 
 
 the mercy of men deaf to the voice of humanity. Nor did 
 these outrages cease, as is usual in towns carried by assault, 
 when the first fury of the storm was over : the imperialists kept 
 possession of Rome several months, and during all that time, 
 the insolence and brutality of the soldiers scarce abated." — 
 Robertson's " History of Charles V." vol. ii. p. 286. 
 
 ^ Henry VIII. treated his true and faithful minister Wolsey 
 with singular injustice. First, under the royal hand and seal 
 the king indemnified him to exercise the powers of a legate; 
 and then allowed him to be impeached on that very account, 
 and stripped of all his goods and chattels. At the same time 
 the king seized and kept from the accused those very cre- 
 dentials, duly signed and sealed by his Grace, by which Wolsey 
 might have successfully and triumphantly defended himself 
 had he possessed them. 
 
Thomas Cromzvell, Earl of Essex. 7 
 
 highest honours in the State shortly presented an 
 unimpeded course for his ambition. In a very 
 few years he filled successively the important 
 offices of Master of the Jewel- House, Clerk of the 
 Hanaper, Principal Secretary of State, Lord 
 Justice of the Forests, Master of the Rolls, and 
 Lord Privy Seal ; and was elevated to the 
 Peerage by Letters Patent dated 9th July, 1536, 
 by the style and title of Baron Cromwell, of 
 Oakham, in the county of Rutland.^ It is on 
 record, and should not be passed over, that he 
 was both bountiful and hospitable to the poor. 
 Sometimes as many as two thousand persons were 
 served at the gate of his mansion in Throckmorton 
 Street, London — a site on which Drapers' Hall 
 now stands — twice every day with bread, meat, 
 and beer. 
 
 King Henry, having assumed the style, title, 
 dignity, and powers of " the only Protector and 
 Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of 
 England," — and this immediately after the 
 spiritualty, in 1531, had granted him a heavy 
 subsidy, equivalent to two million pounds of our 
 present money, — almost immediately delegated 
 
 ^ The arms granted to Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, 
 were, — Azure ; on a fesse inter three lions rampant, Or; arose. 
 Gules, betwixt two choughs proper. His son Gregory, sum- 
 moned to Parliament, aSth April, 1539, as Lord Cromwell, 
 was created Baron Cromwell, i8th December, 1540, receiving 
 as arms, — Quarterly per fesse indented. Azure and Or in each 
 piece; a lion passant counterchanged, armed and iangued, Gules. 
 
8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 ms new and unprecedented authority to Thomas, 
 Lord Cromwell. In vain had Dr. Cuthbert 
 Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, protested against 
 the sacrilegious innovation, although properly 
 admitting that " all worldly and earthly honour 
 was to be given to the king, which could be given 
 to a Christian prince by his spiritual and priestly 
 subjects." The Supreme Head, however, was 
 not to be moved ; he did not budo-e an inch as 
 regards his Erastian assumptions, and Cromwell 
 was soon afterwards duly appointed " Royal 
 Vicegerent and Vicar-General " of the newly-made 
 Head of the Ens^llsh Church.^ 
 
 This person was to exercise " all the spiritual 
 authority belonging to the king, for the due 
 administration of justice in all cases touching the 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the godly reformation 
 and redress of errors, heresies, and abuses in the 
 said church." 
 
 Prior to this event and its Immediate conse- 
 quences, however, the various stages in what is 
 commonly called the " Reformation of religion " 
 had been taken with steady resolve and a most 
 determined purpose by the king and his selected 
 coadjutors. It was maintained by those high in 
 
 ^ Anciently the Pope had had a Vicar-General in England, 
 and Cardinal Wolsey had, on the last occasion, filled that 
 office : so each diocesan bishop had owned an officer with 
 such a title. Here, no doubt, Cromwell and the king found 
 satisfactory precedents. 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 9 
 
 legal rank, that the clergy had suffered the penally 
 Q)i p7'CBmtLnire by having acknowledged the legatine 
 authority of the Cardinal Archbishop of York ; 
 but these penalties (whatever they were in them- 
 selves) were " graciously remitted " by the Supreme 
 Head on payment of no less a sum than ^100,000 
 in five years by the Convocation of Canterbury, 
 and of ^18,840 for a like pardon by the Convoca- 
 tion of York. By Henry's special injunction, the 
 bestowal of these enormous amounts was accom- 
 panied by a fresh and full acknowledgment that 
 his Grace was " the chief Protector, the only and 
 Supreme Lord, and, as far as the law of Christ 
 will allow, the Supreme Head" of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 Of course there had often been disputes and 
 ecclesiastical debates of old. Where rights and 
 corresponding responsibilities existed, and some- 
 times had to be adjusted, some disputes must have 
 arisen. They had reference, however, to the mere 
 temporal accidents of ecclesiastical affairs ; they 
 concerned patronage, investiture, exemptions from 
 taxes and courts of civil judicature, sanctuary, the 
 admission of legates and the appealing to Rome, 
 in which both parties to the suit produced custom 
 against custom and laws against laws. But the 
 idea of an English monarch claiming or owning a 
 supreme spiritual jurisdiction, — which, of course, 
 implies the right and power of correcting and re- 
 dressing heresies and errors, and pronouncing 
 
I o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 finally upon matters of faith and practice, — never 
 entered into the minds either of monarch or people. 
 In the spring of 1532, the illustrious and high- 
 minded Sir Thomas More" resigned the Lord 
 High Chancellorship ; while about four months 
 later, the king raised his mistress, Anne Boleyn, 
 to the dignity of Marchioness of Pembroke. 
 Thomas Cranmer was appointed to the Arch- 
 bishopric of Canterbury, by a Papal Bull dated 
 2 1 St February, 1533. In the following year the 
 clergy were forbidden to make canons or constitu- 
 tions ; while none of those existing were to be 
 enforced contrary to the king's prerogative, and 
 all appeals to Rome were absolutely abolished. 
 The payment of first-fruits was also declared illegal 
 and strictly forbidden, and that generally-recognized 
 papal power of hearing appeals, which had existed 
 since the mission of St. Augustine, first Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and by which local churches 
 were visibly bound and bonded together both in 
 faith and polity, was formally set aside by Act of 
 Parliament. The customary and reasonable con- 
 firmation of bishops by the Primate of Christendom 
 was abolished — persons so regarding or seeking it 
 henceforth being subject to all the penalties of the 
 
 * Sir Thomas More, on the occasion of this resignation, is 
 reported to have advised Cromwell to tell the king what he 
 ought to do, rather than what he was able to do. If Cromwell 
 had done so, no doubt he would have remained the king's 
 minister only for a very short time. 
 
Thomas Cromzucli, Earl of Essex. 1 1 
 
 statutes oi prcBmnnire. In 1533, Cromwell assessed 
 the fines laid upon those gentlemen, who, owning 
 an estate which brought in £\o a year, refused to 
 receive the order and honour of knighthood. In 
 1534, the king's marriage with Queen Katherine 
 of Aragon was declared invalid ; she was hence- 
 forth to be styled "the Princess Dowager;" and 
 any one found maintaining the contrary, viz., that 
 she was the king's lawful wife, incurred the 
 penalties of high treason, i. e., hanging, drawing, 
 and quartering. The first-fruits and tenths of all 
 benefices, heretofore paid to the Pope, were then 
 granted by Parliament to the king. 
 
 All these steps were taken under the advice and 
 with the active and efficient co-operation of Thomas 
 Cromwell. 
 
 But there was still much to be done. Difiiculties 
 standing in the way of robbery and reformation 
 were considerable, but by no means insuperable. 
 Those irons, already put into the fire, were likely, 
 in due course, to be used largely for breaking 
 down the spirit, independence, and power of the 
 secular clergy. But the influence of the regulars 
 was still very great, and this must be at once cir- 
 cumscribed, if not wholly stamped out, by their 
 " reformation " likewise, if anything permanent 
 was to be accomplished. 
 
 In order, suitably and with reasonable tactics, 
 to commence this new step in a "godly" work, a 
 visitation of the relisfious houses was determined 
 
1 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 on. This resolve appears to have been finally 
 taken, after due consideration with the king's chief 
 advisers, at or about the 15th of January, 1535, 
 when his Grace formally assumed the title of 
 " Only Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of 
 England," which had been granted by a statute 
 recently passed. The "clergy generally had ac- 
 knowledged that title, with such personal explana- 
 tions and reservations as seemed lawful orexpedient 
 to them : but the religious houses were held to be 
 the strongholds of the king's foes. 
 
 As it was impossible that one Vicar-General 
 could properly investigate the state of these 
 sacred and venerable institutions, Cromwell ap- 
 pointed several deputies to aid him practically in 
 making the visitation. The selection of these was 
 his own work ; though their formal commissions 
 were, of course, under the king's hand and signet. 
 Almost all owning fly-blown characters, their 
 names were Drs. Richard Layton, London, Bedyll, 
 Thomas Lee,'' and Petre, and Messrs. Richard and 
 
 ' Though this Thomas Lee was evidently a member of the 
 family of Lee of Quarrendon, Bucks, and Dytchley, Oxon, I 
 am unable to identify him for certain in either of three old 
 pedigrees of the family now before me. He is said to have 
 been a Doctor of Laws, and his connexion with those who 
 were ancestors of Lord Litchfield is apparent from the fact 
 that he appropriated a Book of the Gospels from Durham 
 Cathedral when "visiting" it, which eventually passed mto the 
 hands of Thomas Phillips, S.J. According to a pedigree in 
 the possession of General Townshend, of Cheshire, "Thomas 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 13 
 
 Robert Southwell, Elijah Price, John Gage, 
 Richard Bellasis, William Hendell, and John Ap 
 Rice ; and, remembering their deeds, they certainly 
 deserve to be had in everlastinof execration. Dr. 
 Richard Layton had been in Cardinal Wolsey's 
 service ; and his patron, as well as Thomas Lee's, 
 was Cromwell. 
 
 For the purposes of this visitation, the country 
 was divided into appointed districts, and two or 
 more of these official deputies were sent to inquire 
 into the state of the religious houses in each. 
 Some of the deputies were men of notoriously in- 
 famous characters, some of them had been branded, 
 
 Lee," Visitor of the Monasteries, may have been a son of 
 Henry Lee, of Aston, and uncle of Sir Anthony Lee, who was 
 father of Sir Henry Lee, K.G., of Quarrendon and Dytchley. 
 Sir Anthony's third son, Cromwell Lee, was a godson and 
 namesake of the Earl of Essex. I take the following facts 
 from a foot-note on p. 78 of Raine's " Saint Cuthbert/' 
 Durham, 1828 : A Book of the Gospel according to St. John, 
 found at the Reformation, in the coffin of St. Cuthbert, lying 
 near the saint's head, was not restored to its place, but " fell 
 into private hands, and became the property of the Lee family, 
 one of whom was created Earl of Litchfield by Charles II. The 
 third Earl of Litchfield (George Henry Lee) gave it to the Rev. 
 Thomas Phillips (of Thame, Oxon, and Ickford, Bucks), the 
 author of ' The Life of Cardinal Pole,' who bestowed it on 
 the College of the Jesuits at Liege, in the year 1769, some 
 members of which brought it to England after their suppression." 
 See also an " Account of an Ancient Manuscript of St. John's 
 Gospel, by the Rev. John Milner, F.S.A., in a Letter to the 
 Rev. John Brand, Secretary. Read June 5th, i8o6." — "Trans- 
 actions of the Society of Antiquaries," vol. xvi. p. 1 7. See 
 Appendix, No. I, 
 
14 Historical SkcUJics of the Reformation. 
 
 having been convicted of heinous crimes. On 
 arriving at the gates of the houses, they appear to 
 have demanded an immediate production of money, 
 jewels, church-plate, and vestments ; but specially 
 of the title-deeds of their property/ 
 
 To quote from an able and forcible writer as to 
 their general doings and customary processes, — 
 " The monks and nuns, who had never dreamed of 
 the possibility of such proceedings, who had never 
 had an idea that Ma2:na Charta and all the laws 
 of the land could be set aside in a moment, and 
 whose recluse and peaceful lives rendered them 
 wholly unfit to cope with at once crafty and des- 
 perate villainy, fell before these ruffians as chickens 
 fall before the kite. The Report, made by these 
 villains met with no contradiction ; the accused 
 parties had no means of making a defence ; there 
 was no court for them to appear in ; they dared 
 not, even if they had the means, offer a defence 
 or make a complaint ; for they had seen the hor- 
 rible consequences, the burnings, the rippings-up 
 of all those of their brethren who had ventured to 
 whisper their dissent from any dogma or decree of 
 the Tyrant. The project was to deprive people of 
 
 ® The instrument to be made use of in this Visitation, con- 
 sisted of eighty-six articles, in which, under the heads of 
 " Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience," a' large number of search- 
 ing interrogatories were to be proposed to the religious, relating 
 both to their general and particular constitutions, their relations 
 with the opposite sex ; their discipline, revenues, inventories 
 of goods, writings, and charters. 
 
Thomas Cromzuell, Earl of Essex. 15 
 
 fheir property ; and yet the parties from whom the 
 property was to be taken were to have no court 
 in which to plead their cause, no means of obtaining 
 a hearing, could make even no complaint but at 
 the peril of their lives. They, and those who 
 depended on them, were to be at once stripped 
 of this great mass of property, without any other 
 ground than that of reports made by men sent for 
 the express purpose of finding a pretence for the 
 dissolution of the monasteries, and for the king's 
 taking to himself property that had never belonged 
 to him or his predecessors." 
 
 In the spring of the same year, that is the year 
 1535, Cromwell, in order not to forget the secular 
 clergy, and at the same time not to allow them to 
 forget him, suggested to the king the desirability 
 of compelling all those bishops and ecclesiastical 
 authorities who appeared at all backward in their 
 duties, to recommend the same kind of subser- 
 viency to the inferior clergy under them as they 
 had shown to the Supreme Head and ordinary, 
 and to his Vicar-General. By consequence 
 official letters were despatched to all the English 
 bishops, enjoining them to preach the newly- 
 adopted Gospel of Erastianism with zeal and 
 devotion. They were to put In the forefront of 
 their homilies the novel title and ecclesiastical 
 dignity of the king, now formally assumed, and to 
 see that on all Sundays and feast-days the 
 preachers under them did the same in plain and 
 
1 6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 unmistakable terms. They were at the same 
 time strictly enjoined to erase from the service- 
 books of the Church, every prayer, rule, and 
 rubric in which the name of the Pope occurred, 
 so that, as the phrase ran, the " memory of the 
 Bishop of Rome except to his contumely and 
 reproach might be extinct, suppressed and ob- 
 scured." A new form of bidding the beads before 
 sermons was also enjoined by Cromwell, the 
 clergy being required to pray " for the king, only 
 Supreme Head of the Catholic Church of England, 
 and for Queen Anne." It was also required, 
 amongst other precise directions, that every 
 preacher should preach once on the usurped 
 power of the Bishop of Rome ; and refrain from 
 siding with his Grace's wife, Queen Katherine ; 
 that collects for the king and the lady known as 
 " Oueen Anne " should be used at all hiofh masses 
 in every cathedral and parish church, as well as in 
 the churches of all religious houses, throughout 
 the land ; while, as a still more practical stir-up 
 of their flagging energies, the clergy were further- 
 more furnished with a kind of outline of a special 
 sermon upon the history of the king's divorce 
 case, in which ready-made arguments and royal 
 reasons were abundantly provided to uphold the 
 policy and morals of the Supreme Head. All, 
 furthermore — perhaps with a dash of irony — were 
 expressly required " to preach only the Scripture 
 and the pure word of Christ." 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 1 7 
 
 The bishops obediently did as they were told, 
 returning prompt and submissive replies to Crom- 
 well. Gardiner and Goodrich, as well as Arch- 
 bishop Lee of York and Thaxton of Salisbury (as 
 early as June 4th), were foremost to inform their 
 lay-superior, the king's Vicar-General, how truly 
 and thoroughly they had complied with his 
 orders ; while Longland of Lincoln, on June 25th, 
 wrote to say that he had not only preached him- 
 self, as directed, but had printed and circulated in 
 his extensive diocese no less than two thousand 
 copies of the Printed Order, for the advancement 
 of the king's wishes and cause. Within five 
 weeks most of the prelates had sent in their 
 replies. 
 
 But some few of them, and many of the inferior 
 clergy, were not quite so obedient and subservient 
 to the royal Defender of the Faith as they 
 perhaps might have been. A few were silent and 
 sullen, as was reported to Cromwell by his active 
 and inquisitorial agents ; others were outspoken 
 and plain-spoken in opposition, both to the 
 Supreme Head and his Vicar-General. So, 
 within ten days of the despatch of the Order 
 regulating the preaching of the clergy, a circular 
 Letter was sent to all the Justices of the Peace 
 throughout the country, commanding them to 
 make immediate and diligent search, and insist 
 that the bishops did their duty as required without 
 diminution or omission. This took place on the 
 
 c 
 
1 8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 9th of June. To place the bishops and clergy 
 under the town and county magistrates, though 
 perhaps something of a novelty in church 
 government, was quite worthy of a lay Vicar- 
 General and the king's other advisers. If default 
 or dissimulation were found, it was to be reported 
 without delay to the king's council : and if this 
 were not done promptly and efficiently by the 
 Justices of the Peace, — if, for example, they 
 should halt or stumble, they were to be assured 
 that the king, like a prince of justice, would so 
 severely punish them for their inexcusable apathy 
 that all the world beside would take warnino- and 
 beware, contrary to their due allegiance, how they 
 disobeyed the lawful commandment of their 
 Sovereicrn Lord and Prince in such things. On 
 the other hand, if they were true and faithful in 
 the execution of their duty, it was authoritatively 
 and right royally asserted that " they should thus 
 advance the honour of God Almighty," and, what 
 was obviously of far more importance, " the 
 imperial dignity of their High and Mighty 
 Sovereign Lord." 
 
 Three priors of three Carthusian monasteries 
 were foremost in boldly resisting the claim of 
 spiritual supremacy made by the king when the 
 oath was legalized. One was John Houghton, 
 prior of London ; another Robert Lawrence, prior 
 of Beauvalle ; and the third Augustine Webster, 
 prior of Axholme. The charge against them was 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 19 
 
 that they had asserted that "the King, our 
 Sovereign Lord, is not Supreme Head on Earth 
 of the Church of England." This was reported 
 generally, and, reaching the ears of King Henry, 
 made him not simply angry but furious. 
 
 On hearing this the three priors, in their 
 simplicity, sought an interview with Cromwell, 
 asking his aid, as Vicar-General, in obtaining 
 some mitigation of the terms of the oath. In 
 reply to this request, he at once ordered them to 
 the Tower. After they had been there a week, 
 the Vicar-General arrived to tender the oath 
 anew, to urge upon them an immediate acceptance 
 of the new royal supremacy, and a formal 
 renunciation of the Pope's ancient and hitherto 
 recognized authority. 
 
 They promised to do and accept everything 
 which was in harmony with, and permitted by the 
 law of God. 
 
 " I will have no exceptions," replied the Vicar- 
 General. "It must be done whether the law of 
 God allows it or not." 
 
 " But the Church Universal teaches quite a con- 
 trary doctrine," replied the spokesman of the priors. 
 
 "What care I for the Church Universal ?" was 
 Cromwell's retort. " Will you take the oath or 
 not?" 
 
 They declined, quietly and firmly to do so, and 
 were consequently put upon their trial for high 
 treason. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 This took place at Westminster, on the 29th of 
 April, 1535, when they were speedily convicted, 
 drawn to the gallows, hanged, cut down alive, dis- 
 membered, and then quartered. 
 
 Others of the same order, on the i8th of June, 
 suffered in a similar manner at Tyburne, for a like 
 pretended offence ; while William Home, a lay 
 brother, who had been sent to Newgate at the end 
 of the month of May, half-starved, and undergoing 
 the most cruel sufferings, which he endured for no 
 less than four years, suffered death in November, 
 1541. Others were similarly treated at Hull. 
 
 The death of the holy and faithful man. Cardinal 
 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and that of the 
 upright and noble Sir Thomas More, some time 
 Lord Chancellor, two men most famed for learning, 
 integrity, and true religion in England, gave a 
 shock to the people which was both acute and 
 severe. The zeal on behalf of, and personal devo- 
 tion to the king shown by Fisher had been great. 
 He nobly rebuked the king's conduct, both as 
 regards religion and morals. The absurd and 
 ridiculous supremacy recently invented he utterly 
 condemned ; to the divorce of Queen Katherine 
 he gave the most uncompromising resistance, in 
 return for which, after fifteen months' imprison- 
 ment, where he was treated like a common felon, 
 buried in filth, and almost destitute of food and 
 clothing, he perished nobly at the block. His 
 naked body — the body of a venerable prelate who 
 
Thomas Cromzucll, Earl of Essex. 21 
 
 had been anointed to the episcopate thirty years 
 and more previously — was left on the scaffold the 
 whole day, to the eternal shame of those who were 
 responsible for the deed ; and only buried at night- 
 fall, without any shroud, in a common box of wood, 
 and without either cross, lights, priest, or prayers, 
 near the north door of the church of All Hallows', 
 Barking. 
 
 As regards Sir Thomas More, after trial had, he 
 was condemned as a traitor and a rebel. On the 
 6th of July he suffered death. When on the 
 scaffold, after prayer, he called the people to witness 
 that he died in the Catholic faith, and pardoned 
 the executioner, there ran a chilling shudder 
 through the crowd (though many of the myrmidons 
 of Cromwell were there), which represented the 
 general feeling of alarm, sorrow, and shame which 
 the people of England experienced when they 
 heard of the tragedy. 
 
 Foreign nations, likewise, were utterly horrified 
 at the frightful brutalities of the royal monster. So 
 much so that Cromwell, who had been the king's 
 instigator and guide throughout, was compelled to 
 make the following lame apology for the cruel and 
 bloody business : "Concerning the executions done 
 within this realm, ye shall say to the said French 
 kinor that the cause were not so marvellous extreme 
 as he alleofeth. For, touching Mr. More and the 
 Bishop of Rochester, with most others as were 
 executed here, their treasons, conspiracies, practices 
 
2 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 secretly practised, as well within the realm as 
 without, to move and stir dissension, and to sow 
 sedition within the realm, intending thereby not 
 only the destruction of the king, but also the whole 
 subversion of his highness's realm, being explained 
 and declared, and so manifestly proved afore them, 
 that they could not avoid nor deny it ; and they 
 thereof openly detected and lawfully convicted, 
 adjudged and condemned of high treason by the 
 due order of the laws of this realm, it shall and 
 may well appear to all the world, that they, having 
 such malice rooted in their hearts against their 
 prince and sovereign, and the total destruction of 
 the commonwealth of this realm, were well worthy, 
 if they had had a thousand lives, to have suffered 
 ten times a more terrible death and execution than 
 any of them did suffer," 
 
 Cromwell's early experience of, and intercourse 
 with, the lower classes of the continent with whom 
 he had mixed freely during his sojourn there, as 
 well as his observance of the ruder, but dexterous, 
 tactics of the first foreign Reformers, no doubt led 
 him to take several leaves out of their books in 
 his work of reformation. He had noticed that 
 the popular ballad-singers of foreign countries 
 exercised a vast influence over the people, more 
 especially in periods of religious and political ex- 
 citement ; and that certain irreligious innovators 
 there, by the use of lewd parodies, jocose verses, 
 and ribald ballads, sung in street, tavern, and ale- 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 23 
 
 house, had succeeded in efficiently weakening the 
 old faith, which they had, by these means, brought 
 into disrepute, and had so ridiculed sacred practices 
 which the church of God had enjoined and 
 Christians had obediently and profitably observed 
 for centuries, that Cromwell resolved to adopt the 
 use of such literature and co-operators for the 
 purposes of " reform " in England. 
 
 This man, then, was the great patron of ribaldry, 
 and the protector of the ribalds of the low jester, 
 the filthy ballad-monger, the ale-house singers and 
 hypocritical mockers in feasts : in short, in an in- 
 direct but yet efficient mode of all the blasphemous 
 mockinor and scoffing which disijraced the Pro- 
 testant party at the time of the Reformation. 
 "It is of great consequence," wrote the late Dr. 
 Maitland, " in our view of the times, to consider 
 that the vile publications, of which too many re- 
 main, while most have rotted, and the profane 
 pranks which were performed, were not the out- 
 break of low, ignorant partizans, a rabble of hungry 
 dogs, such as is sure to run after a party in spite 
 even of sticks and stones bestowed by those whom 
 they follow and disgrace. It was the result of 
 design and policy, earnestly and elaborately pur- 
 sued by the man possessing, for all such purposes, 
 the highest place and power in the land."'' 
 
 ^ " Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation in 
 England," by the late Rev. S. R. Maitland, D.D., p. 236. 
 London, 1849. 
 
24 Historical Sketches of the Refoinnation. 
 
 At the same time the ungodly and the frivolous 
 in provincial cities and country towns were sys- 
 tematically enlisted on the side of the innovators. 
 In many places where interest in the old and 
 popular miracle-plays had been weakened or lost, 
 by which too many had been taught by the eye as 
 well as the ear, Cromwell's perambulating allies 
 became active in supplying a new kind of public 
 entertainment more in harmony with the current 
 depraved taste/ Satire of the religious orders, a 
 most popular subject for discussion, became com- 
 mon, and might be heard in ordinary conver- 
 sation on all sides. Consequently, when plays, 
 interludes, and farces, caricaturing the monks and 
 religion, were performed in churchyards and 
 sometimes even in churches by strolling players, 
 equi23ped at head-quarters, the dialogues of which 
 performances were often gross and the phrases 
 
 ^ " These were the stage-plays and interludes which were 
 then generally acted, and often in churches. They were repre- 
 sentations of the corruptions of the monks, and some other feats 
 of the Popish clergy. The poems were ill-contrived, and worse 
 expressed : if there lies not some hidden wit in these ballads 
 (for verses they were not) which at this distance is lost. But 
 from the representing the immoralities and disorders of the 
 clergy, they proceeded to act the pageantry of their worship. 
 This took with the people much." — Burnet's " History of the 
 Reformation," book 3, vol. i. p. 303. The terms of Bonner's 
 "Injunctions to the Clergy," issued in 1542, are such as to 
 point out that certain persons " obstinately and violently 
 enforced " such plays, in order that the work of corrupting the 
 religion of the people might proceed apace. 
 
Thomas Cromwell^ Earl of Essex. 
 
 ^5 
 
 of double-meaning numerous, the excited people 
 flocked to witness the novel entertainments and to 
 applaud and fee the actors. 
 
 As Jeremy Collier put on record in his " Eccle- 
 siastical History of England :" " The clergy com- 
 plained, as they had reason, against such licentious 
 sport. ' This,' they said, ' was the way to let in 
 atheism, and make all religion a jest ; for, if people 
 were allowed to burlesque devotion and make 
 themselves merry with the ceremonies of the 
 church, they would proceed to further extremities 
 and laugh the nation out of their creed at last.'"^ 
 
 Thus events passed quickly ; while, as regards 
 true religion, the progress downwards of too many 
 of the nation's rulers and guides was sure and 
 steady. In October, 1535, the actual visitation of 
 the religious houses began, under the guidance 
 and direction of Cromwell and his agents. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the falsehoods and hypo- 
 crisy ^ set forth in the preamble of the Act of 
 
 - " An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain," by Jeremy 
 Collier, vol. v. p. 92. London, 1845. 
 
 ^ Even Latimer acknowledges the trickery and dishonesty 
 perpetrated in this visitation. "I would not," he wrote, "that 
 ye should do with chantry priests as ye did with the abbots 
 when the abbeys were put down. For when these enormities 
 were first read in the Parliament-house, they were so great and 
 abominable that there was nothing but ' Down with them ! ' 
 But itdthin a while after the same abbots were inade bishops, as 
 there be some of them yet alive, to save their pensions. O Lord ! 
 think ye that God is a fool and seeth it not?" — Latimer's 
 "Sermons," Parker Society's Edition, p. 123. 
 
26 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 1536 for suppressing the lesser monasteries, on 
 the strength of which action was taken. It con- 
 tained statements both untrue, iniquitous, and 
 infamous. Here are its exact terms : — 
 
 " Forasmuch as manifest sin, vicious, carnal, 
 and abominable living is daily used, and committed 
 commonly in such little and small abbeys, and 
 priories, and other religious houses, of monks, 
 canons, and nuns, where the congregations of such 
 religious persons is under the number of twelve 
 persons ; whereby the governors of such religious 
 houses, and their convents, spoil, destroy, consume, 
 and utterly waste, as well their churches, 
 monasteries, priories, principal houses, farms, 
 granges, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as 
 the ornaments of their churches, and their goods 
 and chattels, to the high displeasure of Almighty 
 God, slander of good religion, and to the great 
 infamy of the king's highness, and the realm, if 
 redress should not be had thereof : and albeit that 
 many continual visitations have been heretofore 
 had, by the space of two hundred years, and more, 
 for an honest and charitable reformation of such 
 unthrifty, carnal, and abominable living ; yet, 
 nevertheless, little or none amendment is hitherto 
 had : but their vicious livings shamelessly in- 
 creaseth and augmenteth, and, by a cursed custom, 
 so grown and infested, that a great multitude of 
 the religious persons in such small houses do 
 rather choose to rove abroad in apostasy, than to 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 2 7 
 
 conform themselves to the observation of good 
 religion : so that, without such small houses be 
 utterly suppressed, and the religious persons 
 therein committed to great and honourable 
 monasteries of religion in this realm, where they 
 may be compelled to live religiously, for reforma- 
 tion of their lives ; there can else be no redress, 
 nor reformation in that behalf. In consideration 
 whereof, the king's most royal majesty, being 
 Supreme Head on earth, under God, of the Church 
 of England, daily studying and devising the 
 increase, advancement, and exaltation of tone, 
 doctrine, and virtue in the said church, to the only 
 glory, and honour of God, and the total extirpation 
 and destruction of vice and sin, having knowledge 
 that the premises be true, as well by the complaints 
 of their late visitations, as by sundry credible 
 information ; considering also, that divers and 
 ofreat solemn monasteries of this realm, wherein, 
 thanks be to God, religion is well kept and 
 observed, be destitute of such full numbers of 
 religious persons as they might, and they may 
 keep, hath thought good that a plain declaration 
 should be made of the premises, as well to the 
 Lords spiritual and temporal, as to others his loving 
 subjects, the Commons in this present Parliament 
 assembled. Whereupon, the said Lords and 
 Commons, by a great deliberation, finally be 
 resolved, that it is, and shall be, much more to the 
 pleasure of Almighty God, and for the honour of 
 
28 Historical SkctcJics of the Reformation. 
 
 this realm, that the possessions of such small 
 religious houses, now being spent, spoiled, and 
 wasted for increase and maintenance of sin, should 
 be used and converted to better uses, and the 
 unthrifty religious persons, so spending the same, 
 to be compelled to reform their lives : and there- 
 upon most humbly desire the king's highness, that 
 it may be enacted, by authority of this present 
 Parliament, that his Majesty shall have and enjoy 
 to him, and for his heirs for ever, all and singular 
 such monasteries." * 
 
 In addition to houses, granges, lands, and 
 stock, such as wood, corn, and cattle, we thus 
 perceive that this Act of Parliament gave the 
 kino- all the household QrQods of the religious, as 
 well as the gold, silver, jewels, and vestments of 
 their chapels and chantries. Here, then, was a 
 breach of Magna Charta ; a distinct act of robbery, 
 as well of the monks and nuns as of the needy,^ 
 the widow, the orphan, and the faithful departed. 
 
 * Statute 27 Henry VIII. chap. 28. 
 
 ^ " The loss of the monasteries was not only for the delay 
 of virtue, prayer, and religion, but also of the politic common- 
 wealth inestimable and important. I say they were the very 
 working, not only of piety and devotion, but also of the happy 
 flourishing of the commonwealth. Where were the blind, and 
 lame, and other impotent poor people fed and succoured but 
 there ? I have heard that there was more such helpen in the 
 city of Canterbury in one day than be now in all Kent : more 
 in Winchester in one day than be now in all Hampshire, and 
 the like may be said of other places." — Author's MS. Collections. 
 
Thomas Cromwell^ Earl of Essex. 29 
 
 The living who were robbed were never summoned 
 to state their case nor heard in their own defence ; 
 there was no express and definite charge made 
 and set forth against any particular monastery. 
 The general accusations against the whole body 
 were vague and loose in the highest degree ; while 
 the absurdity of supposing that the presence of 
 wickedness was peculiarly a characteristic of 
 houses with a limited income, under ^200 a year, 
 was worthy of Cromwell, who had instigated the 
 robbery. 
 
 He saw, and the king agreed with him, that 
 the people were not yet quite prepared for so 
 strong a measure as the suppression of all the 
 religious houses. Some abbeys and monasteries 
 were strong and powerful, and had many influential 
 friends amongst the nobility and commonalty. 
 So Cromwell, with consummate judgment, first 
 attacked the weak.*^ High sounding pledges had 
 
 ® " When the Bill for legalizing the proceedings had stuck 
 long in the Lower House, and could get no passage, he (the 
 king) commanded the Commons to attend him in the forenoon 
 in his gallery, where he let them wait till late in the afternoon; and 
 then coming out of his chamber, walking a turn or two amongst 
 them, and looking angrily on them, first on one side and then 
 on the other, at last, ' I hear,' saith he, ' that my Bill will not 
 pass : but I will have it pass, or I will have some of your 
 heads," and without other rhetoric or persuasion returned to 
 his chamber. Enough was said ; the Bill passed, and all was 
 given him as he desired." — " History of Sacrilege," by Sir 
 Henry Spelman, p. 206. London, Masters, 1853. 
 
30 Historical Sketches cf the Rcf ovulation. 
 
 been indirectly given that if certain of the 
 monastic properties were given to the king, no 
 more taxes would be required of the people ; and 
 Cranmer openly preached to this effect to a large 
 multitude of citizens outside St. Paul's Cathedral.'' 
 But it was soon found that the king could not 
 retain the spoils for himself, so numerous and 
 demanding were the reforming harpies who 
 gathered round him for a due share of the 
 valuable proceeds of robbery and confiscation. 
 So that in less than four years his Highness found 
 himself as poor, and his exchequer as exhausted 
 as if he had never confiscated a sinQfle reliofious 
 house and robbed his Maker. 
 
 When complaining to his confidential tool, 
 Cromwell, of the singular greed and rapacity of 
 the applicants for church lands and manors, the 
 king is said to have exclaimed, " By our Lady, 
 these cormorants when they have grabbed the 
 garbage will evidently swallow the dish." 
 
 Upon which Cromwell reminded his Majesty, 
 with a significant gesture, that there was much 
 more to be had, and of greater value, by the 
 taking of it, elsewhere. 
 
 "Tut, tut," replied the Supreme Head; "our 
 
 ' " The king should, by the suppression of the abbeys, 
 gather such an infinite treasure, that fi-om time to time he 
 should have no need, nor would not put the people to any 
 manner of payment or charge for his or the nation's affairs." 
 — Cranmer's Sermon at St. Paul's Cross. 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 3 1 
 
 whole kingdom would not staunch their gaping 
 maws." 
 
 The greater monasteries, by the aid of his 
 Vicar-General and the Commissioners appointed, 
 were suppressed in 1539, — a year notorious for 
 the enactment, first suggested by Cromwell, that 
 henceforth the king's proclamations should be as 
 potent and valid as Acts of Parliament ; and 
 equally remarkable for the total revolution at the 
 same time effected in the mode of appointment of 
 bishops. Henceforth the Supreme Head was 
 empowered to erect bishop's sees by Letters 
 Patent,^ and to appoint bishops to them by the 
 same novel process, — a course of action which in 
 due time was taken by him, — several such 
 bishoprics being thus irregularly and uncanonically 
 established, and forming a precedent for the 
 future which has been obsequiously followed in 
 the Church of Eno-land. 
 
 Upon the resignation of the office of Keeper of 
 the Privy Seal by Sir Thomas Boleyn, Thomas 
 Cromwell had duly received the appointment on 
 July 2nd, 1536. Eighteen days later, the same 
 person, in his ecclesiastical capacity as Vicar- 
 General of the king, secured the formal appro- 
 bation of the Convocation of Canterbury to a 
 
 * It is thus seen that the evil deplored by the Rev. T. W. 
 Mossman, in his Public Letter, entitled, " Bishops by Act of 
 Parliament and Letters Patent " (London, 1S77), had its origin 
 during the reign of this notorious tyrant. 
 
32 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 written document from the pen of Edward Fox, 
 Bishop of Hereford, which maintained that the 
 king ought not to attend a General Council, 
 though summoned to it by the Pope, — the same 
 Convocation, or at all events a clear majority of 
 its members, maintaining the singular proposition 
 that no General Council could be summoned with- 
 out the express consent and approbation of princes. 
 
 In 1537, Thomas Cromwell, whose offices and 
 appointments were steadily growing in number 
 and dignity, was created by Letters Patent titular 
 " Dean of Wells," and for some time received the 
 salary of that spiritual office. The wonder is that 
 he was not created Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 thouofh the office of kino^'s Vicar-General grave 
 him precedence of both the archbishops and of all 
 the clergy, which he not only claimed but exercised, 
 and which the most exalted prelates quietly al- 
 lowed him to assume. 
 
 Thus, in 1538, Cromwell, as their legal chief, 
 issued formal Injunctions to the clergy, one detail 
 of which enjoined upon them the duty of setting 
 up the Bible in English in every church ; and 
 another required them to keep parochial Registers 
 of all births, deaths, and marriages in their re- 
 spective parishes — a useful and proper proceeding. 
 The Bible in English here referred to, was pro- 
 bably that translation which had been made by 
 Miles Coverdale : a translation soon followed by 
 another, commonly known as " Matthews's," re- 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 33 
 
 • garding which, Archbishop Cranmer wrote a sup- 
 pHant letter to the king's Vicar-General, on 
 August 4th, 1537, humbly seeking authority to 
 circulate it in his province, " Until such time as 
 that we, the bishops, shall set forth a better 
 translation, which, I think," his Grace goes on 
 satirically to predict, " will not be until a day 
 after doomsday." 
 
 In the bitter struggle between the Temporal and 
 the Spiritual, the remembrance of a previous con- 
 test, in which the great St. Thomas of Canterbury, 
 had taken part, and the eventual triumph of his 
 cause, had never been forgotten by the faithful in 
 England. Their religious instinct regarding it 
 was only too true. For three hundred years he 
 had been reckoned amongst the saints. The 
 miracles wrought at his tomb and elsewhere were 
 notorious, and could not be gainsaid. Churches 
 and chantries had been erected to his memory, 
 and dedicated to God the Trinity, in his honour, 
 because of his defence of the things of God against 
 Caesar. He was religiously invoked as the special 
 patron of spiritual independence, and his prayers 
 were constantly sought for, both by rich and poor. 
 The Way of the Pilgrims to his sacred shrine at 
 Canterbury, so well known to thousands, heard 
 the constant footfall of the faithful over the slopes 
 and through the bye-lanes of Kent. St. Thomas 
 the Martyr was known to be near the throne of 
 God, and believed to be a powerful intercessor, 
 
 D 
 
34 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 both for church and realm. His popularity was, 
 by consequence, great ; so that when the doings of 
 the rapacious Cromwell were noted and realized, 
 and it took some time for this to take place, many 
 could not fail to contrast the grand triumph of the 
 Spiritual over the Temporal of old, with the utter 
 state of degradation and shame to which the timo- 
 rous prelates had at length allowed the Church to 
 be brought. 
 
 Hence, at Cromwell's suggestion, a pompous, 
 not to say ridiculous, proclamation was issued, 
 dated November i6th, 1538, which stigmatized 
 " Thomas Becket " as " a traitor," and forbad his 
 being any longer received as a saint. The king, 
 with his own hand, had already erased St. Thomas's 
 name from a vellum copy of the old " English 
 Litany of the Saints ;" and blotted out the collects 
 for his festivals in July and December, from a 
 royal copy of the "Salisbury Missal." What the 
 Supreme Head then did, through a freak of phrensy 
 in private, the like he compelled others to do by 
 regal authority throughout the land. The true 
 offence of which St. Thomas had been guilty was 
 obviously this : that the faithful for several centuries 
 had lavished almost unknown riches and treasures 
 upon his beautiful shrine. Its gold and silver and 
 jewels were coveted by the king and his creatures. 
 There must be some plausible excuse, therefore, 
 for the robbery in contemplation ; and this was the 
 readiest and best to hand. " The king's Receiver," 
 
Thomas Cromiaeil, Earl of Essex. 
 
 0:1 
 
 as is forrtially recorded, confessed that the gold and 
 silver, and precious stones, and sacred vestments, 
 taken away from the shrine filled six-and-twenty 
 carts. The saint's relics, save a portion preserved 
 in Italy and elsewhere, were burnt, and the ashes 
 scattered to the winds. 
 
 But to turn once more to other events, which, 
 in the long-run, exercised considerable influence 
 on the eventual fate of Cromwell. 
 
 The so-called " Queen Anne," who had sup- 
 planted the king's lawful wife, soon suffered for 
 her licentious wickedness. When upon the very 
 brink of ruin she seemed to herself most secure. 
 But it was not so ; for a rival had been raised up 
 in the person of Jane Seymour, one of Anne's 
 maids-of-honour, the knowledge of whose influence 
 with the king soon became known to her. 
 
 On January 29th, 1536, as Stowe declares, 
 " Queen Anne was delivered of a man-child before 
 her time, which was born dead." The king, 
 anxious to see her offspring, came into her chamber, 
 to find it dead, when she at once upbraided him 
 with having transferred his affections to another, 
 and so caused her present sorrow and loss. 
 
 In answer to an inquiry as to her health, she 
 exclaimed, " See how well I must be, since the 
 day when I found that abandoned woman, Jane, 
 sitting on your knees ! " 
 
 The king is said to have replied, " Be of good 
 cheer, sweetheart, you shall have no reason to 
 
 D 2 
 
o 
 
 6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 complain of me again ;" and then went out sor- 
 rowing at the loss of an heir. 
 
 After this the levity of her conduct with Norris, 
 Weston, Brereton, and others, as is reported and 
 believed, soon gave the king his looked-for 
 opportunity to rid himself of her once for all. 
 On the occasion of a tournament at Greenwich 
 his Highness, keenly on the out-look, saw her drop 
 a handkerchief, — picked up by one of her supposed 
 favourites, who wiped his face with it ; on which 
 the king angrily rose in a hurry, with only six 
 attendants, and returned in haste and at once to 
 Westminster. 
 
 On the next day she was taken to prison,^ and 
 brought before certain judges, of whom her father, 
 Sir Thomas Boleyn, was one, the others being 
 the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Cromwell, Lord 
 Chancellor Audley, and Sir William Kingston, 
 Lieutenant of the Tower. Having, after a trial, 
 been found guilty of adultery, and other heinous 
 
 " In a letter to the king, expostulating with his Majesty, she 
 " charges him with hard usage, and vindicates her innocency 
 to the height. She lets him know she expected some in- 
 constancy in her fortune, and that his Highness would be apt 
 to disengage and flout in his affection. She desires she may 
 be brought to a trial, but excepts against the prepossession of 
 her judges. And if his Majesty has determined her fate, and 
 she must be ruined by dint of calumny, she desires God to 
 forgive him so great an injustice : appeals to the Last Judgment, 
 where she does not question her own conduct in this matter 
 will be sufficiently approved." — Collier's " History," vol. iv. 
 p. 329. London, 1845. 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 37 
 
 offences, Anne Boleyn was beheaded on Tower 
 Hill, May 19th, 1536. 
 
 On the very next day the king married Jane 
 Seymour. Cranmer, on being called upon by his 
 Majesty, having dissolved the marriage with 
 Anne on the ground of a previous contract, — one 
 which, only the year before, he had asserted him- 
 self to have formally and carefully examined ; 
 maintained that it offered no impediment whatso- 
 ever to the marriage of Anne with the king. 
 Five weeks later the obsequious and fear-stricken 
 Convocation of Canterbury approved of Cranmer's 
 sentence ; while Parliament promptly passed an 
 Act, rendering it treason for any one to maintain 
 that the king's marriage with Anne had ever been 
 lawful, and praying his Majesty to secure for him- 
 self as soon as possible another wife. 
 
 Two days later, George, Lord Viscount Roch- 
 ford (Anne Boleyn's brother), Henry Norris, 
 William Brereton, Francis Weston, and Mark 
 Smeaton, having gone through the form of a 
 public trial, were executed, because they had been 
 found to have committed adultery with Anne. 
 
 On October 24th, 1537, Queen Jane Seymour 
 died, after having given birth to a son, named 
 Edward. 
 
 The king immediately commissioned Cromwell 
 to procure him another wife ; for it was to this 
 clever but unprincipled minister to whom his 
 Majesty turned in need or necessity. 
 
j8 Histoj'ical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Like his master, Wolsey, Cromwell had, as 
 has been shown, risen rapidly to fame and 
 distinction ; and like him he was doomed, and 
 certainly most righteously doomed, to become an 
 example of the instability and uncertainty of 
 human greatness, attained, as in his case, by an 
 utter sacrifice of true and noble principles. 
 
 Observing that Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 
 was rising in favour at court, Cromwell began to 
 cast about for some immediate course of action 
 which would enable him to retain his previous 
 influence over the king, which certainly appeared 
 to be steadily waning. He therefore endeavoured 
 to bring about a marriage between his royal 
 master and Anne of Cleves, a Lutheran, thus 
 expecting great support for himself, and the party 
 of which he and Cranmer were the most able and 
 the least scrupulous leaders. But in this hope he 
 was doomed to disappointment. The marriage 
 took place, but its consequences served to seal his 
 ruin. The kino- soon resolved to be rid of her. 
 Her portrait by Holbein, painted expressly for 
 his Majesty, was far too flattering ; while the 
 king's comments on her personal appearance, 
 frigidity of disposition and manners, were the 
 reverse of civil. Cranmer was called in to advise, 
 and he, without scruple or difficulty, sanctioned a 
 divorce ; pronouncing the marriage null and void, 
 on the ground that the king had never given his 
 inzuard cons&nt when he publicly made her his wife ! 
 
Thovias Croimucll, Earl of Essex. 39 
 
 In the spring of the year 1540, In the hope of 
 Improving his position with his royal master, 
 Cromwell resolved to maintain the new and 
 absurd doctrine of the king's supremacy by certain 
 practical and efficient action. In his deliberate 
 opinion It was more than ever necessary to strike 
 terror Into the hearts of those " foolish and super- 
 stitious persons " who, still clinging to the old 
 religion, denied It. 
 
 Accordingly, Richard Sampson, Bishop of 
 Chichester, and Dr. Nicholas Wilson, a York- 
 shlreman, were summarily sent to prison because 
 they had either harboured or succoured certain 
 persons who had expressed doubts as to the 
 ecclesiastical supremacy of the king. 
 
 For the same reason, a wealthy London mer- 
 chant, Richard Fermor, citizen and grocer — rich, 
 and a person of high and good repute In the City 
 of London — was deprived of all he possessed. 
 Committed firstly to the Marshalsea, he was 
 subsequently arraigned in Westminster Hall, 
 attainted in prcEmunire, and so lost all his goods. 
 Fermor's wife and children were, moreover, thrust 
 out of doors ; homeless, friendless, and moneyless. 
 
 But not one class alone was attacked. Sir John 
 Neville, a firm adherent of the old religion, much 
 beloved by his countrymen, and respected by rich 
 and poor, was specially hateful to Cromwell, 
 because the people everywhere openly regarded 
 him with favour and admiration. One evening 
 
40 Historical SketcJies of the Reformation. 
 
 Sir John was playing dice with the king, where 
 he met Cromwell, who invited him to supper, an 
 invitation which he accepted. 
 
 What followed had, as it appears, been privately 
 arranged by his Majesty and his minister. From 
 the supper-table Sir John Neville was, by Crom- 
 well's orders, forcibly taken away to prison, and 
 from prison to the block, where he suffered death, 
 simply because he clung firmly and faithfully to 
 the unreformed religion. 
 
 Cromwell also laid a snare for Lord Dacre,' 
 a northern nobleman of high character and good 
 repute. On the 9th of July, 1534, this peer 
 was arraigned at Westminster for high treason ; 
 chareed, in fact, with treasonable alliance with the 
 Scots. Cromwell however, ill with the gout, was 
 unable to be present, and, as was his custom, to 
 manipulate and influence the judges. The Duke 
 
 ^ This was Sir William Dacre, third Lord Dacre of Gilles- 
 land, accused of treason by Sir Ralph Fenwyke. The evidence 
 against him, by which it was attempted to maintain the charge, 
 was mainly given by persons of low degree from the Scottish 
 border, who were either suborned or brought forward by a 
 vindictive feeling, arising from the severity with which he was 
 reported to have exercised his office of Lord Warden of the 
 Marches. Li the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, 
 he was Governor of Carlisle, and in the latter reign was joined 
 with the Earl of Northumberland to negotiate a peace with 
 Scotland. He married Elizabeth, fifth daughter of the fourth 
 Earl of Shrewsbury, by whom he had four sons and five 
 daughters. The tide became extinct in 1634. Arms — Gules ; 
 three escallops, Argent. 
 
Thomas Cronizvell, Eai'l of Essex. 41 
 
 of Norfolk, Lord High Steward, presided. But 
 the accused peer was very soon acquitted. When 
 the words " Not guilty " were heard, a marvellously 
 hearty shout of joy rose from all ranks — so hearty, 
 as Hall, the Chronicler, acknowledges, that "no 
 man living may remember that ever he heard " 
 the like. 
 
 Lord Dacre, knowinof well enouo-h that Crom- 
 well hated him, nevertheless thought it not amiss 
 to call upon him and intimate the fact of his ac- 
 quittal and innocency. " Thank your lordship for 
 your good-will," were Lord Dacre's words of civil 
 gratitude. 
 
 " Thank my gouty legs," replied Cromwell rudely 
 and testily : "by Our Lady you should have had what 
 you deserved had they not kept me here at home. 
 
 After this, Cromwell advised the king to make 
 a law that a man arbitrarily condemned in high 
 treason, absent and without a trial, should be held 
 to be no less legally and justly convicted than a 
 man duly tried by a jury of his fellow-countrymen; — 
 an enactment so monstrous and shocking that we 
 wonder at its temporary acceptance. It secured 
 Cromwell's certain downfall. Odious to the an- 
 cient nobility because of his low birth, high-handed 
 policy,^ and insolent bearing ; detested by all the 
 
 " Stowe mentions that his own father was a sufferer by the 
 rapacity and high-handedness of Cromwell. The earl arbi- 
 trarily removed a timber house which stood in Stowe's garden, 
 in the city of London, and had it pulled away on rollers to a 
 
42 Historical Sketches of tJic Reformation. 
 
 clergy — even by those who had bribed him^ — save 
 the hmited but noisy few who were on the side of 
 the so-called "new learning;" hated, more es- 
 pecially, by Gardiner and those who acted with 
 him, because of the revolutionary work of church- 
 destruction in which Cromwell had taken so leading 
 a part ; and quite recently abhorred by the people 
 in general because he had lately obtained a subsidy 
 of four shillings in the pound from the clergy, and 
 one-tenth and one-fifteenth from the laity, not- 
 withstanding the enormous sums which had flowed 
 into the treasury because of the robbery and ruin 
 of the abbeys, — they looked on with satisfaction. 
 
 At this time, those who were most observant 
 saw unmistakable tokens of Cromwell's fall. The 
 kingr's manner towards him had changed alto- 
 gether. His Majesty now showed marked signs 
 of contempt, which were noticed by many of the 
 courtiers. The people, who had lost so much by 
 his policy, were loud in their murmurings ; nor 
 were the aristocracy otherwise than heartily in- 
 dignant with him. It was noticed that he was 
 frequently alone. Old allies avoided him. He 
 was often left silent and solitary — suitable prelude 
 of his fall and death. 
 
 distance of twenty- two feet, without the least notice or any 
 explanation, simply because his lordship thought it stood a 
 little too near to his own palace. 
 
 ^ Cromwell was constantly found ready to take bribes. See, 
 e.g.^ " State Papers," ii. 551. 
 
TJioinas CrovizvcU^ Earl of Essex. 43 
 
 The king, ever capricious, was eminently so 
 in this case. Cromwell, self-willed, resolute, and 
 unscrupulous as he was, had been only too ready 
 and able a tool in all his Grace's dark and ques- 
 tionable designs, and certainly deserved better 
 and fairer treatment from his royal master. But 
 the arm of God Almighty was not shortened ; and 
 punishment from on high, so well-deserved, was 
 soon to fall upon him. 
 
 On the loth of June, 1540, he was arrested by 
 the Duke of Norfolk at the Council Chamber, 
 when least expecting any such proceeding ; and 
 was at once committed to the Tower. 
 
 Cromwell exerted all his interest to prolong a 
 life spent in crime. In prison his conduct was 
 the very reverse of that of those noble victims of 
 his shameful policy, who with uplifted hands prayed 
 fervently to God for their persecutors. From his 
 own lips came little else but curses and impreca- 
 tions for his enemies. 
 
 "May God confound them all!" he exclaimed, 
 with earnest vigour. " May the wrath of heaven 
 fall on their heads ! May the infernal devils 
 annihilate them ! " 
 
 But these, and such like curses, were of no avail. 
 Cromwell's avowed enemies now sat at the Council 
 Board ; and only rejoiced over his despair and 
 sufferings. It was in vain that he alternately 
 wept and groaned, cursed and swore. His letters 
 to the king, praying for mercy, were all unheeded. 
 
44 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Henry was too much engaged in love-making with 
 Katherine Howard to regard the plaints of his 
 once " trusty and rightly-beloved cousin," Crom- 
 well. The king's highness was purposely silent. 
 Events took their course. 
 
 From the Tower he wrote a second letter to 
 the king, exonerating himself from the charge of 
 high treason, and a third explaining his own con- 
 duct regarding the king's marriage with Anne of 
 Cleves. To these, likewise, no reply was vouch- 
 safed. Thus the measure which Cromwell had so 
 cruelly served out to the monks, was now, in due 
 course, about to be meted to himself. 
 
 His numerous enemies, for he had made many 
 during his lifetime, saw clearly that if he were 
 brought to the bar he might easily justify all his 
 illegal and wicked actions by special orders and 
 formal warrants from the king. So they resolved 
 to prosecute him by attainder ; for which purpose 
 a special Bill was introduced into the House of 
 Lords, and read a first time, on the i 7th of June, 
 and read for the second and third time two days 
 afterwards. Then it was sent to the Commons. 
 Here, however, for reasons variously stated, it 
 stuck for some time ; until shortly afterwards 
 a fresh Bill, which duly passed the House of 
 Commons, was sent up to the House of Lords, 
 and became law. He was charged in it 
 both with treason and heresy, and his death 
 decreed. 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 45 
 
 Cromwell, in the course of his career, had secured 
 great wealth through the plunder of the Church, 
 the poor and the faithful departed. His were the 
 spoils of consecrated sanctuaries, sacred chapels, 
 and chantries where the dead had been remem- 
 bered. No less than thirty separate monastic 
 estates had been allotted to him. As Earl ot 
 Essex he had precedence in Parliament over every 
 one but the king, where he introduced, either by 
 himself or his creatures, the confiscatory and mur- 
 dering laws — laws of tyranny and blood — which so 
 disgraced the statute-book. He had been cruel, 
 savage, and barbarous beyond precedent, to the 
 religious of both sexes ; for without the cruelty, 
 determination, and violence of such a base in- 
 strument, it may be doubted whether such a so- 
 called " Reformation " could have been effected at 
 all. 
 
 But the day of vengeance was slowly drawing 
 near. The desolated sanctuaries cried to heaven 
 for Cromwell's due punishment. The woes and 
 sorrows of outcast monks and nuns, wandering and 
 weary, were not forgotten by an all-just and 
 rio^hteous God. "Vengeance is Mine: I will 
 repay, saith the Lord." Within forty-eight days 
 of the earl's arrest, he received his due reward. 
 
 As a popular writer truly remarks of him, — 
 " Perhaps, of all the mean and dastardly wretches 
 that ever died, this was the most mean and das- 
 tardly. He who had been the most insolent and 
 
46 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 cruel of ruffians, when he had the power, was the 
 most disgustingly slavish and base." 
 
 His time in prison does not appear to have been 
 spent in acts of penitence and reparation, in asking 
 mercy of Almighty God, but in praying the royal 
 tyrant, whom he had served so well, to spare him. 
 In fact, from the moment of his arrest, Cromwell 
 seems to have been engrossed with the one thought 
 of how he might best save his life. He addressed 
 the king in several letters, protesting his inno- 
 cence ; fawning most loathsomely upon the tyrant ; 
 comparing his Majesty's frowns and smiles to those 
 of God Almighty ; and asking that he might once 
 again " kiss the royal hand, so balmy, that the 
 fraorrance thereof mio^ht make him fit for heaven," 
 " I, a most woeful prisoner," he wrote, "am ready 
 to submit to death when it shall please God and 
 your Majesty ; and yet the frail flesh incites me to 
 call to your Grace for mercy and pardon of mine 
 offences." And again, "With the heavy heart and 
 trembling hand of your Highness's most miserable 
 prisoner and poor slave, Thomas Cromwell, I cry 
 for mercy, most gracious prince, I cry for mercy, 
 mercy ! 
 
 But, havinof done his master's work, he was no 
 longer wanted, and was in the way ; so these 
 piteous and abject cries were all unheeded by the 
 king ; and he was deservedly left to his fate — the 
 
 * Cobbett's " History of the Reformation," p. 103. Dublin, 
 1868. 
 
TJionias Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 47 
 
 block. Never was fate more righteous or more 
 appropriate. Willingly, officiously, and zealously 
 he had done many sacrilegious and bloody deeds for 
 his master : it was he who had aided to rend 
 England from the rest of Western Christendom ; 
 it was he who had suo^crested to the kino^ to 
 condemn innocent people to death, without 
 process or trial ; just was it, therefore, that he 
 should himself die as determined by the wicked 
 tyrant, whom he had so subserviently and faith- 
 fully served. 
 
 On July 28th, 1540, he was brought to the 
 scaffold on Tower Hill. 
 
 On that scaffold, feeling his loneliness, and over- 
 come by misery without hope, he turned towards 
 the heartless crowd, surging hither and thither, and 
 thus addressed them, — 
 
 " I suffer death in expiation of my sins. The 
 law has condemned me, and I confess that I have 
 offended God and the king.^ I declare that I die 
 in the bosom of the Church, not doubting any 
 article of the creed, nor rejecting any sacrament. 
 I declare that I have never been an abettor of 
 heresy. I may have been seduced ; but I repent. 
 
 ^ " There are, moreover, other parties," wrote Richard Hilles, 
 in a letter to BuUinger, " who assert, with what truth God 
 knows, that Cromwell was threatened to be burnt at the stake, 
 and not to die by the axe, unless, at the time of his execution, 
 he would acknowledge his crimes against the king, and that he 
 then said, 'I am altogether a miserable sinner.'" — "Zurich 
 Letters," No. cv. 
 
48 Historical Sketches of the Rcforinatio7i. 
 
 Pray to God for the king ; pray for his son, 
 the Prince Edward ; and above all, Christian 
 people, pray for me, a great sinner, about to 
 die." 
 
 He laid his head on the block. At the execu- 
 tioner's second stroke it was severed from his body, 
 and rolled on to the straw around, leaving a bloody 
 track. So died this man. The crowd witnessed 
 his end without sorrow or sympathy. Of his 
 energy, vigour, and diplomatic skill, none can 
 doubt. These, added to an utter want of high 
 principle, and much rapacity and greed,'' secured 
 what the world calls his " success." On the other 
 hand, his avarice and hypocrisy, together with his 
 cringing servility to his tyrannical master, were 
 dominated ever, and under all circumstances, by 
 his utter contempt for everything which was just 
 and honest. No man who has thus suffered, 
 suffered more properly. The State of England 
 was well rid of one who thoroughly deserved his 
 fate. 
 
 No tear was shed at his death. They who 
 
 ^ Amongst the monastic properties, Cromwell secured for 
 himself the Priory of St. Osyth in Essex, the Priory of Lewes 
 in Sussex (including its cell at Melton Mowbray), Yarmouth, 
 Modenham in Kent, the Priory of Mickleham in Sussex, and 
 Launde Abbey in Leicestershire. Sir Richard Cromwell, his 
 nephew, great-grandfather of Oliver Cromwell (as it is believed 
 by some), received Hitchinbroke Nunnery, Ramsey and Sawtry 
 Abbeys, St. Neot's Priory, Neath Abbey in Glamorganshire, 
 and St. Helen's Convent in London. 
 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. 49 
 
 ■stood round the scaffold reasonably rejoiced that 
 such a human scourge had been thus removed. 
 The one feeling which influenced the spectators 
 of Lord Essex's death, in common, was like in 
 kind to that which is produced when the foulest of 
 murderers deservedly expiates his crimes on the 
 gallows. 
 
No. 11. 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 AT WOLF-HALL, IN WILTSHIRE, 
 
 MAY 19TH, 1536, 
 
 E 2 
 
" The monarch who fonnded the Anghcan Church was distinguished for 
 his despotism, and the Parliament, whicli ought to have restrained him, 
 was most shamefully degraded. What idea can we form of the liberty of a 
 countiy, whose legislators and representatives debased themselves so far as 
 to declare that any one obtaining a knowledge of the illicit amours of the 
 queen is bound, under pain of high treason, to bring an accusation against 
 her ? What can we think of the liberty of a country in which the very men 
 who ought to defend that liberty, cringe with so much baseness to the 
 imruly passions of the monarch, that they are not ashamed, in order to 
 flatter the jealousy of Ihe sovereign to establish that any young female who 
 should marry a king of England, should, under pain of high treason, be 
 compelled before her marriage to reveal any stain there might be on her 
 virtue ? Such ignominious enactments are certainly a stronger proof of 
 abject servility than the declaration of that same Parliament, estalilishing 
 that the mere Will of the Monarch should have the force of Law." — 
 ^^ European Civilization," Baltnez, p. 353, 2)^'d Edition, London, 1861. 
 
No. 11. 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 AT WOLF-HALL, IN WILTSHIRE, 
 
 MAY 19TH, 1536. 
 
 About iive and a half miles south-west of the 
 town of Hungerford, lies an ancient borough and 
 market-town in Wiltshire — Great Bedwyn, Until 
 the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, this borough, 
 under the influence of a local peer, returned two 
 members to Parliament. Of old it was a place of 
 some size and distinction. The name of the town, 
 said to be derived from the Saxon, at once desig- 
 nates its situation upon an eminence, and indicates 
 the fact that the soil of the land around and about 
 is chalky. 
 
 Before the mission of St. Augustine, Great 
 Bedwyn is reputed to have been a place of con- 
 siderable extent and renown, — the chief city of 
 Cissa, Viceroy of the district, one of the three sons 
 of the Saxon ^lla, a noted war-king, who invaded 
 
54 Ilislorical SkctcJies of the Reformation. 
 
 Britain a.d, 477, and after his conquests and 
 triumphs assumed the title, dignity, or appellation 
 of " Bretwalda," whatever that may mean. What 
 is now known as Chisbury Castle, a remarkable 
 earthwork of the period, stands about a mile 
 distant from the north-east of the town. The 
 mounds around the castle, indicating accurately 
 the extent and importance of its ancient fortifica- 
 tions, cover an area of no less than fifteen acres. 
 Within these, amongst other ruins, are those of 
 an ancient chapel, long ago efficiently desecrated, 
 and now in its state of dismal decay used as a 
 barn. 
 
 Anciently there were at least seven churches at 
 Great Bedwyn, and several religious houses of 
 considerable extent, possessions, and importance. 
 Now all the churches are gone, having, centuries 
 ago, been razed to the ground, and their places 
 know them no more. Of religious houses, there 
 are only a few uncertain and doubtful remains 
 — a broken niche, a pointed window or early 
 English doorway, with here and there a well- 
 carved piece of mullion or crocketed-canopy built 
 into a wall. That alone which remains, the Parish 
 Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a cruciform 
 building of Norman and early English work, with 
 a few unimportant additions of later times, is a 
 sacred edifice of considerable interest and com- 
 pleteness. At the junction of the transepts with 
 the nave, a solid and massive tower rises, of some 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf-HalL 55 
 
 character and dignity, and certainly of good pro- 
 portions. 
 
 Within the sacred buildinor there are still 
 several ancient memorials : the figure of a Knight 
 Templar, without either name or heraldic device, 
 however; an altar-stone, with its five crosses 
 on the pavement ; and a few engraved brasses, 
 of which the inscriptions are lost. There is 
 also a monument to Sir John Seymour, Knight, 
 of Wolf- Hall, the father of Jane Seymour, who 
 married King Henry VHI., and also the father 
 of Edward Seymour, afterwards Duke of Somerset 
 and " Protector." 
 
 The residence of the Seymours, a county family 
 of esquires and knights, but of no higher rank, 
 known as Wolf- H all, ^ on the borders of the 
 Forest of Savernake, is still, in part, standing. 
 It is an ancient domestic residence, moderate in 
 size, built of rough stone, with carved dressings, 
 havinof small windows with broad mullions and 
 quarries of figured glass, with many rectangular 
 gables and dormer-windows up above, and a low 
 southern porch. There are about it tokens both of 
 antiquity and former grandeur — rich panels of 
 carved oak, inside, with armorial bearings and 
 quaint devices ; cornices, adorned at intervals with 
 pomegranates, the castle-and-phoenix (Jane Sey- 
 mours badge), the royal arms of England and 
 
 ^ I write this from notes of a visit made more than a quarter 
 of a century ago. See Appendix, No. II. 
 
56 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 France, and other symbols of departed pomp and 
 power. Outside, the oaken barge-boards remain. 
 Parts of the house, however, have been destroyed, 
 and it is now used as a mere farm-residence.^ It 
 stands in what is still a beautiful, but secluded 
 spot, surrounded by fine timber, oaks and beeches 
 with outspreading limbs, elms and cedars hoar 
 with antiquity, and luxuriously-grown underwood. 
 The domain around, formerly a deer-park, is now 
 partly arable land and partly pastures. 
 
 Here it was that King Henry VHI. and his 
 retinue arrived on the evening of the i8th of May, 
 1536. Here it was that on the evening of the 
 following day he heard the sound of a cannon, 
 intimatinof that he was once aofain free to wed 
 another wife, because the axe of the Tower had 
 decapitated Anne Boleyn on the blood-stained 
 green within its precincts. London is between 
 sixty and seventy miles from the Wiltshire resi- 
 dence of the Seymours ; but along the south- 
 western road from the metropolis, at appointed 
 
 ^ The vicar of Great Bedwyn, the Rev. M. R. Edmeades, on 
 August 20th, 1878, most obHgingly wrote to me concerning 
 Wolf-Hall as follows : " The house is entirely gone, but there 
 is still a piece of building which is supposed to have been the 
 laundry. There is also a large barn, in which a feast was held 
 at the time of the wedding. It is quite on its last legs, having 
 been propped up in every possible way. There is some brick- 
 work along the ground-line, which is said not to be so old as 
 the barn itself. It is not at all clear where the king's marriage 
 actually took place." 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf -Hall. 5 7 
 
 intervals, men had been duly posted with injunc- 
 tions to communicate, without a moment's delay, 
 the news of that tragedy so soon as it was com- 
 pleted. A gun from the Tower of London told 
 the dismal tale to the citizens, callous enough, in 
 general, and indifferent. Another from St. James's 
 Palace ; and a third in turn more westward still, 
 intimated what had happened to curious and ex- 
 pectant listeners at the palace of Richmond ; and 
 so on, until the news reached the anxious group 
 at Wolf- Hall. 
 
 To understand rightly and adequately how 
 public and royal affairs stood, prior to the events 
 just briefly sketched, it is necessary to put on 
 record what follows — melancholy and tragic 
 enough in its character. 
 
 And, firstly, as regards Queen Katherine. For 
 more than two years before her Majesty was called 
 to her final rest at Kimbolton, she had resided at 
 Bugden (or Buckden), passing her sad and sor- 
 rowful life, as a true Christian should, in much 
 prayer, in bestowing large alms upon the poor 
 and needy, and in painful abstinence. Her de- 
 votion, patience, and recollectedness were most 
 edifying ; and when not engaged in her special 
 religious duties, she was often occupied with her 
 ladies in working with her needle costly and 
 beautiful vestments and hangings of embroidery 
 for the decoration of the adjacent churches, and 
 for the honour of God. 
 
58 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 With true Christian sentiment, Queen Katherine 
 wrote to forgive the king his great cruelty to her, 
 his injustice, and his neglect. 
 
 " I forgive you myself," were the written words 
 of this suffering lady on her death-bed at Kim- 
 bolton, " and I pray God to forgive you, likewise. 
 I recommend to you our child, my three maids, 
 and all my servants. Let the former be well 
 provided in marriage, and let the latter have a 
 year's wages in addition to what is due to them 
 now." 
 
 On the receipt of this letter, as Nicholas Harps- 
 field testifies, the king burst into tears, and was 
 for a considerable period sorely overcome. The 
 king's mistress, however, Lady Pembroke, instead 
 of putting on violet or black when the queen was 
 buried at Peterborough, as Hall, the chronicler, 
 informs us, " wore yellow for the mourning ;" and, 
 on being congratulated upon the death of her 
 rival, promptly and maliciously replied, " I am not 
 at all sorry that she is dead ; but I am sorry be- 
 cause her death has been so honourable." Very 
 different had been the feelings of the poor, injured 
 lady then at rest, with regard to the shameless 
 woman who had taken her place and dignity, and 
 could thus speak of her. When one of Queen 
 Katherine's gentlewomen began to curse the Lady 
 Anne Boleyn, the queen quietly answered re- 
 bukingly, " Hold your peace ! hold your peace ! 
 Curse her not, but rather pray for her ; for the 
 
Knio Henry VIII. at Wolf- Hall. 59 
 
 time will soon come, methinks, when you will have 
 great need to pity and lament her case ! " 
 
 That time was not long in coming. Only five 
 months after the crood Oueen Katherine had been 
 buried in the Abbey of Peterborough, the wheel 
 of change revolved again, and the dark day hinted 
 at by her Majesty surely dawned. 
 
 When, therefore, King Henry VIII. had grown 
 tired of Anne Boleyn, which does not appear to 
 have been actually the case until he had seen and 
 fallen in love with her maid of honour, Jane 
 Seymour, his Grace found it necessary to call to 
 his aid once again the practical services of Thomas 
 Cranmer, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. That 
 prelate, as he himself, more than once, put on re- 
 cord, was his Grace's " willing, obedient servant, 
 and dutiful bedesman." He was needed again, 
 therefore, to get the king out of a difficulty, and it 
 will soon be seen how he accomplished his work. 
 
 Jane Seymour should be his Majesty's wife, as 
 the king had resolved, and Anne Boleyn,'^ now that 
 
 ^ Archdeacon Harpsfield, in his " Treatise of Marriage," 
 lib. iii. p. 60 (MS. of C. Eyston, Esq.), writes thus of Anne 
 Boleyn : " This woman, which at such time as with her 
 playing, singing, and dancing, she had best opportunity, never 
 ceased (as the other dancing-damsel that craved St. John 
 Baptist's head) to crave the good bishop's (Fisher) and Sir 
 Thomas More's heads, which thing at length, to their immortal 
 glory, she compassed. Ere the year turned about, to her 
 ]jerpetual shame and ignominy, she lost her head also, as did 
 the aforesaid dancing-damsel." 
 
6o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 the charges against her were asserted to have been 
 abundantly proved, was soon to atone for past 
 wickedness/ for cruelty to the king's lawful wife, 
 Queen Katherine, and (if the charges against her 
 were true) for other transgressions of the laws of 
 God and man. 
 
 After she had been formally condemned, she 
 thus, nevertheless, protested herself innocent : — 
 
 " My lords, I blame not your sentence. You 
 know well enough why you have condemned me. 
 I wish you no evil. May the good God above 
 pardon you. But I declare to you that I am inno- 
 cent of the crimes of which you accuse me. God, 
 who knoweth all things, and can read my heart, 
 knows that I have never betrayed my husband. 
 This, my lords, I shall repeat on the scaffold ; 
 not that I may escape death, for my imprisonment 
 has served me well, in teaching me how to prepare 
 for the same. But, as regards my poor brother, 
 
 * This woman is reported to have demanded of the execu- 
 tioner a sight of Bishop Fisher's head, before it was taken to 
 London Bridge to be set up upon a pole. Of this characteristic 
 act the Rev. J . H. Blunt thus writes : " We need not be too 
 hard upon her \ she was a graceless woman, and her wanton- 
 ness had brought her into brutal company. As she looked on 
 her dead victim's face, she said contemptuously, ' Is this the 
 head that so often exclaimed against me ? I trust it shall 
 never do more harm.' Then, to suit her action to her words, 
 she cuffed the poor speechless lips with the back of her hand, 
 but so hard that a projecting tooth hurt her finger, and caused 
 a sore that did not soon heal." — " The Reformation of the 
 Church of England," vol. i. p. 422. London, 1868. 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf -Hall. 6i 
 
 and the other unfortunate persons, who are reputed 
 to be my accompHces, I would gladly suffer a 
 thousand deaths to save them ; but, as the king 
 wills that we are to suffer all together, I will ac- 
 company them to heaven, and there unite our 
 prayers for his Majesty's salvation." 
 
 When she had ceased to speak, the President of 
 the court, the Duke of Buckingham, ordered her 
 to remove the tokens of royalty, which she had 
 worn durinof her trial. 
 
 This she did at once, without retort and without 
 a murmur. 
 
 She disrobed herself of her regal mantle, and 
 handed it to her attendants ; she also removed her 
 royal coronet of jewels and pearls, and unclasped 
 the necklace of rubies and, diamonds from her 
 bosom. 
 
 On this, the duke reminded her that it was like- 
 wise necessary for her to resign at once the title of 
 Queen, Princess, and Marchioness, with which the 
 king's Grace had vouchsafed to honour her. 
 
 To this injunction Anne Boleyn did not reply, 
 but merely bowed, in token of acquiescence and 
 respect ; and then, after having saluted her judges, 
 proceeded to retire from the court. 
 
 The Constable of the Tower, Lady Kingston, and 
 Lady Rochford, conducted her forth, with due 
 formality ; and she was then taken, not to the 
 apartment in which she had hitherto been confined, 
 but to the prison appointed for her reception, until 
 
62 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 the king should finally decide whether she was to 
 be burnt at the stake or suffer death at the block. 
 
 But the difficulty which the king experienced, 
 and of which he expected Archbishop Cranmer to 
 become the means of removing, was the undoubted 
 existence of the so-called " marriao-e bond," into 
 which, in April, 1534, only two years previously, 
 he had entered with the condemned criminal at 
 the Tower, — a bond which Cranmer himself had 
 been the means of binding, and which the king 
 now enjoined him at once to unbind, revoke, and 
 annul. 
 
 About two years previously this pliant arch- 
 bishop, after having solemnly invoked the aid and 
 co-operation of God the Holy Ghost, with the 
 Gospel and the fear of God before his eyes, had, 
 in his official capacity of Primate of all England, 
 pronounced the marriage between Henry and 
 Catharine null and void, and had formally enjoined 
 Dr. Rowland Lee^ to bestow the nuptial bene- 
 
 ^ Sander gives the following minute and detailed account of 
 what actually took place : " The king sent for Rowland Lee, 
 then a priest, and whom afterwards he made Bishop of Lich- 
 field, and bade him say mass according to the Catholic and 
 Roman rite. To him the king declared that at last sentence 
 had been given in his favour in Rome, and that it was lawful 
 for him to take another wife. Lee, considering that it was not 
 usual for kings to tell a lie, was at first silent, but immediately 
 afterwards his conscience smote him, and he said to the king, 
 ' Your Majesty, I hope, has the Pontifical Brief" The king 
 made a sign to that eftect, and the priest turned to the altar. 
 Again the priest, being in doubt, and afraid that he might be 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf-Hall. 6 
 
 o 
 
 diction of Holy Church upon Henry, the king, 
 and Anne, his mistress, and had formally and 
 authoritatively declared them to be " lawful man 
 and wife." Now, by a change of circumstances, he 
 was called upon by formal process to transform 
 the king's " lawful wife " into a mistress. However, 
 he who had previously judged Queen Katherine 
 to have been incestuous, was now compelled 
 by the Supreme Head to make Anne a mere con- 
 cubine. To do Cranmer justice, however, he was 
 ready and competent for the work, and was enabled, 
 no doubt, with " the fear of God before his eyes " — 
 as his well-known and oft-repeated expression 
 ran — both to undertake and complete it. 
 
 The archbishop, therefore, at once summoned 
 Henry and Anne to a court, to be held at Lambetji. 
 They were each represented by proxy. 
 
 Dr. Richard Sampson appeared for the king, 
 while the queen had for her counsellors Dr. Woot- 
 ton and Dr. Barbour. 
 
 doing something that was wrong, said to the kmg, ' The sacred 
 Canons require, and it is of the utmost concern to us, that the 
 Papal Letters be read and pubUshed.' Thereupon the king 
 asserted that he really had the Papal Brief, but that it was in a 
 very secret place, where he only could find it. It was not 
 seemly that he should then go for it himself, for it was not yet 
 daylight. Rowland Lee made no further resistance ; and, 
 having said mass, gave to Henry a second wife, the first being 
 not only still alive, but not even divorced from him by any 
 decision pronounced in any ecclesiastical court, or anything of 
 the kind whatsoever."— Sander's " History," translated by D. 
 Lewis, 8vo, pp. 93, 94. London, 1877. 
 
64 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 His Majesty pleaded, by affidavit, that, as he 
 had previously cohabited with Mary Boleyn, sister 
 of Anne, the marriage with the latter, according 
 to God's law, was null and void. No one disputed 
 the cohabitation, nor could have done so, as a 
 loyal subject, in the teeth of the king's assertion. 
 Cranmer, therefore, suddenly discovered the 
 practical force of this fact, in admitting that it was 
 by divine right a prohibitory impediment to his 
 Highness's marriage with Anne. And so, having 
 once again calmly invoked the sacred Name of 
 Jesus Christ, according to his pious and impressive 
 custom, and declared that what he was about to 
 do was for the greater glory and honour of God — 
 though he does not appear to have much liked 
 doing it*^ — he solemnly pronounced the marriage 
 contracted and consummated between Henry and 
 Anne Boleyn four years previously to be utterly 
 null and void ; and, by consequence, directly and 
 efficiently proclaimed their daughter Elizabeth to 
 be illeofitimate.'' 
 
 '^ Archdeacon Todd, in his " Life of Cranmer," imphes as 
 much as is stated above when he writes as follows : " After 
 two days more the afflicted Archbishop was obliged Q) judicially 
 to declare her marriage invalid and her offspring illegitimate." 
 
 '' Henry Percy, subsequently Earl of Northumberland, was 
 believed to have been betrothed to Anne Boleyn, and some- 
 thing was made of this supposed fact when Cranmer was called 
 upon to divorce her from the king. But the foUovving letter to 
 Thomas Cromwell, from the Cottonian Collection (Otho. c. x.), 
 in the handwriting of Percy, directly contradicting the existence 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf-Hall. 65 
 
 The result of this ecclesiastical process was 
 communicated both to Convocation and to Par- 
 liament. The former, at least tacitly, acknow- 
 ledged the sentence to be good and sound ; the 
 latter, relying on the superior theological know- 
 ledge of the spiritualty, were quite willing 
 to follow them in their approval of the judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Yet it is impossible not to note the glaring 
 iniquity of Cranmer, and the inherent wickedness 
 of these so-called " spiritual " proceedings.^ The 
 king's craft, likewise, was deep : his malice artful 
 and great. Had the divorce been pronounced by 
 Cranmer before Anne Boleyn's condemnation, she 
 
 of an engagement, is worthy of especial note : — " Mr. Secretary. 
 This shall be to signify unto you, that I perceive by Sir Reynold 
 Carnaby that there is supposed a Prje-Contract between the 
 queen and me. Whereupon I was not only heretofore examined 
 upon my oath before the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, 
 but also received the Blessed Sacrament upon the same before 
 the Duke of Norfolk and other the ' King's Highness' Council 
 learned in the spiritual law ; assuring you, Mr. Secretary, by the 
 said oath, and Blessed Body which afore I received, and here- 
 after intend to receive, that the same maybe to my damnation, 
 if ever there were any contract or promise of marriage between 
 her and me. At Newington-Green, the xiijth day: of May, 
 in the 28th year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord King 
 Henry the VHIth. Your assured, Northumberland." 
 
 * Thus we see that, on the 15th of May, 1536, she was con- 
 demned as the lawful wife of the king; on the 17th of the 
 same month she is declared never to have been his wife at all ; 
 and, two days afterwards, on the 19th, she is actually executed 
 for having been his unfaithful wife ! I 
 
 F 
 
66 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 could never have been tried and condemned for 
 adultery. 
 
 In fact the Archbishop, as the lawyers did not 
 hesitate to maintain, had thus actually rendered 
 himself amenable to the recent cruel statute which 
 proscribed with death any deed committed against 
 the king, queen, or their heirs. Witnesses at 
 the recent trial had done the same. So that a 
 new and special Act of Parliament had to be 
 hastily drafted and passed at once, granting a full 
 pardon to all who had inadvertently committed 
 high treason in connexion with the recent trials. 
 By this step numbers of Peers and Privy Coun- 
 cillors, in addition to the Archbishop, were ade- 
 quately and efficiently sheltered from actual harm. 
 
 As to the last hours of the unhappy woman 
 who had displaced Queen Katherine, and who 
 was now herself "legally" displaced, it is known 
 that Anne Boleyn made a confession to Cranmer, 
 which he is said to have regarded as a full and 
 conclusive proof of the invalidity of her marriage 
 with the king. 
 
 It had been determined by her sovereign that 
 she should die at the block, and not at the stake ; 
 and an expert headsman from Calais came to do 
 the deed. 
 
 The scaffold, and its accustomed oak posts and 
 railings to enclose it, brought out again from a 
 groined under-crypt, was erected on the Tower 
 Green, early on the morning of the 19th, soon 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf -Hall. 67 
 
 after sunrise ; but few were in waiting for the 
 tragedy, which was to be completed at noon. 
 Bishop Shaxton, with four noblemen, at the 
 king's express direction, came in due course, and 
 were present at Anne Boleyn's death ; the Duke 
 of Richmond, her " ancient enemy," as she avowed, 
 being amongst the number. She was led forth 
 just at the hour of twelve of the clock at noon ; 
 the bell from St. Peter's turret tolling solemnly 
 the while ; and a few more persons mainly con- 
 nected with the immediate locality were found to 
 have been gathered in groups of twos and threes 
 round the scaffold. The officers of the Tower 
 were there, and the executioner in a black mask, with 
 a sword instead of the usual axe. Some charitable 
 women were near her in her last extremity, and 
 gave their personal services. She knelt down in 
 earnest prayer for some time, and, openly pleading 
 for mercy because of the sins of a lifetime, com- 
 mended her soul most earnestly to God. Placing 
 her head on the block ; at the appointed sign the 
 sword was raised, it flashed in the sunshine and 
 fell. And so the deed was done for which the 
 king so anxiously looked, and because of which 
 he held that he was free to marry again. At that 
 moment the booming sound of a cannon was heard 
 — fired from an elevated position on an adjacent 
 battlement of the fortress ; for which some soldiers 
 were attentively listening in the Palace grounds of 
 St. James's in the West. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Historical Sketches of the Refojnnation. 
 
 No coffin, nothing bur a rough and empty chest, 
 in which arrows had been stowed away, was pro- 
 vided to receive the headless body of one who had 
 worn, the crown and been anointed as queen. 
 " Bury her in haste, and at once," was the authorita- 
 tive order for action. And this was done. Shaxton, 
 sometime her chaplain, and a man much indebted 
 to her for his preferment, is reported to have taken 
 the liberty of insulting her remains, while they 
 were still warm.^ No priest was there, nor were 
 there cross and tapers, or solemn psalm, or 
 Rcqiuem ceternam, at her funeral. In the chancel- 
 floor of St. Peter's Church adjoining, a grave had 
 been hastily prepared, into which the chest and its 
 contents were let down without prayer of hope or 
 expression of regret. Within one hour after noon 
 her grave had been filled up, the mould stamped 
 in, and the masons were laying down the chancel- 
 pavement, which had been temporarily disturbed ; 
 while some labourers' boys wheeled away the 
 superfluous earth to a corner of the churchyard 
 around.^ 
 
 The firing of cannon from spot to spot, between 
 London and the Seymours' country-house by the 
 
 ^ In a letter to Cromwell, dated May 23, 1536, this right 
 reverend person wrote of Anne Boleyn, " She hath exceedingly 
 deceived me. 'i'hat vice that she was found in. The Lord 
 have mercy on her soul ! " MSS. Mus. Brit. Otho, C. X., 
 folio 260. 
 
 ' Notes and abstracts of MSS. in the Author's possession. 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf-Hall. 69 
 
 borders of Savernake Forest, took place as ar- 
 ranged. The king had been out hunting all day, 
 in order to pass and while away the time ; for he 
 hourly expected the signal. On turning towards 
 Wolf-Hall at sunset, he listened once again for a 
 sound which he anxiously expected. The spot 
 was lonely. The air was still. There was no 
 breeze stirring. Suddenly there came across the 
 park the distinct boom of a cannon. Thus it was 
 known that Anne Boleyn, the supplanterof Queen 
 Katherine, was dead and buried ; and on the 
 morrow, May 20th, the king would wed her for 
 whose hand he had come, — Jane Seymour. 
 
 This lady was the daughter of a Wiltshire 
 knight, whose monument remains in the church of 
 Great Bedwyn. These Seymours ^ took an active 
 part in the profitable work of " reforming." They 
 were comparatively poor ; and it brought much 
 grist to their mill. Jane Seymour's marriage gave 
 them considerable advantages, which they were 
 not slow to make use of. Her brother, Edward 
 Seymour, knighted for service in France in the 
 year 1524, was created Viscount Beauchamp at his 
 sister's marriage with the king, and Earl of Hert- 
 ford some short time afterwards. From the 
 Heralds' College he received an exemplification 
 and augmentation of his arms, and soon afterwards 
 had bestowed upon him the appointment of Lord 
 
 " See Appendix No. IL, for "Notes on the Family of 
 Seymour." 
 
70 Histoj'ical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Chamberlain. Subsequently he was made 
 Governor of Boulogne ; and King Henry VIII. 
 afterwards appointed him one of his Grace's 
 executors. Under King Edward VI,, in 1547, 
 he was elevated to the dignity of Duke of 
 Somerset. 
 
 Having attained to that position this nobleman 
 notoriously took good care of himself. The 
 records of later years bear strong testimony to the 
 greed and rapacity of this upstart race. Under 
 King Edward VI. Somerset became all-potent. 
 From existing bishoprics he had already secured 
 and handled a considerable amount of plunder, 
 and from the confiscation of monastic property, still 
 more. But he needed a London palace, which, built 
 on the north side of the Thames, was called after 
 him, " Somerset House." To acquire the necessary 
 and convenient site for this mansion, he took from 
 three bishops their town-houses, and made usq of 
 the materials of which they were built for his 
 purpose. But these were wholly insufficient. So 
 he pulled down a part of certain buildings apper- 
 taining to the old cathedral of St. Paul ; the col- 
 legiate church of St. Martiri-le-Grand, another a 
 little more westward in Newgate Street, the church 
 of St. John near Smithfield, and the parish church 
 of St. Nicholas. In addition to the above, he 
 likewise selected the church of St. Margaret, 
 Westminster, which stands on the southern side 
 of the old abbey of St. Peter ; and it is on record 
 
King Henry VII I . at Wolf -Hall. 71 
 
 that the workmen had been actually sent to com- 
 mence its destruction. This, however, as Dr. 
 Heylyn the historian declares, did not suit the good 
 and zealous people of the parish. " The workmen 
 had no sooner advanced their scaffolds, when the 
 parishioners gathered together in great multitudes, 
 with bows and arrows, and staves and clubs, which 
 so terrified the workmen that they ran away in 
 ofreat amazement, and never could be brouo-ht aeain 
 upon that employment. 
 
 Lord Seymour, the Protector's brother, is said 
 to have intrigued against him, and to have en- 
 deavoured to get possession of the person of the 
 king, for which offence he was committed to the 
 Tower. The charo^es aQ;ainst him were that he 
 had endeavoured to marry the Princess Elizabeth ^ 
 and to corrupt the king's servants ; that he had 
 attempted to raise forces, and had procured the 
 coining of base money; had leagued with pirates, 
 and intended to seize on the Isle of Lundy and 
 the Scilly Isles. He was condemned without 
 any hearing, — in accordance with recent laws, by 
 which all liberty had been abolished, and the 
 grossest and cruellest tyranny set up in its stead, 
 — formally attainted and executed on March 20, 
 1549. His own brother the Protector, as well 
 
 ^ There is little doubt as to the truth of this charge ; for the 
 Depositions of Katherine Ashley, governess to the Princess 
 Elizabeth, remain in the Public Record Office, and seem to 
 warrant the charge. 
 
72 Historical SketcJics of the Reformation. 
 
 as Archbishop Cranmer, signed his death-warrant, 
 for which act they became singularly unpopular. 
 King Edward VI., his young nephew, a cold- 
 blooded creature, deeply tainted with Calvinism, 
 enters a record of the fact in the written Journal 
 which he kept, but without one syllable of natural 
 feeling" or a single word of regret. — " The Lord 
 Sudeley, Admiral of England, was condemned to 
 death and died in March ensuing." 
 
 The wedded life of Henry and Jane Seymour 
 was of no long duration. On October 12, 1537, 
 she gave birth at Hampton Court to a son, named 
 Edward at his baptism, afterwards King Edward 
 VI., just referred to. This queen is said to have 
 made a good and Christian end. It may be 
 gathered from a letter of Mr. Richard Gresham 
 to Cromwell still in existence,* that the queen 
 made her confession and duly received the last 
 sacraments : — " Her confessor hath been with her 
 grace this morning, and hath done that which to 
 his office appertaineth : and even now is pre- 
 paring to minister to her grace the Sacrament 
 of Unction." 
 
 As to the exact circumstances of the queen's 
 death, accounts differ considerably. Some assert 
 that she died in childbirth ; a death brought about 
 largely, as was reported, by an ill-performed sur- 
 gical operation. Others, entering more into detail, 
 
 ^ See Richard Gresbam's Letter to Cromwell, " State Papers," 
 I. 574.— MSS. Brit. Mus., Nero C. X. 
 
King Henry VIII. at Wolf-Hall. 
 
 13 
 
 maintain that when, under a certain difficulty and 
 alternative, the question arose amongst the as- 
 sembled physicians, whether the mother's life or 
 the child's should be sacrificed, and it was duly 
 put to the king ; his Majesty remarked that the 
 mother, for high state reasons, was to be sacri- 
 ficed, and the son saved at every cost. In his 
 highness's experience wives were abundant, heirs- 
 male few. However, when his loss was ade- 
 quately realized, the king is said to have lamented 
 her premature death very deeply. Prior to this 
 event, his use and wont was to make the tears 
 of other people flow in abundance ; not to shed 
 any himself. Now, however, a great sorrow over- 
 took him ; and he is reported to have been 
 " sorely and suddenly cast down," — " shedding 
 tears freely." 
 
 Well was it, perhaps, that this royal lady thus 
 died in her bed. Hers was certainly an untimely 
 end. There must surely have been a dark and 
 ominous cloud hanging in the sky when she 
 wedded the king at Tottenham. Neither the 
 congratulations of Sir John Russell and Cromwell, 
 both present on the occasion, nor the satisfaction 
 of her parents, could have put aside doubtful but 
 anxious thoughts as to actual dangers looming 
 in the future. Had she lived longer, however, 
 who knows to what the caprices of such a brutal 
 husband might not have brought her ? Perhaps 
 the experienced executioner of Calais, who cut 
 
74 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 off Anne Boleyn's head with a sword, might have 
 been enjoined to make a second journey to Tower 
 Hill, in the interests, and at the command, of "The 
 Supreme Head." 
 
No. III. 
 
 THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. 
 A.D. 1536—1537- 
 
The world has cycles in its course, when all 
 That once has been, is acted o'er again : — 
 
 Not by some fated law, which need appal 
 
 Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain ; 
 
 But by men's separate sins, which blended still 
 The same bad round fulfil. 
 
 Then fear ye not, though Gallio'b scorn ye see. 
 And soft-clad nobles count you mad, true hearts ! 
 
 These are the fig-tree's signs ; — rough deeds must be, 
 Trials and crimes : so learn ye well your parts. 
 
 Once more to plow the earth it is decreed 
 And scatter wide the seed." 
 
 John Henry Newman. 
 
No. III. 
 
 THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. 
 A.D. 1536—1537- 
 
 With regard to the revolution which was effected 
 under King Henry VIII., it is often asserted that 
 so great were the actual and practical corruptions 
 of the Church, that the people at large gladly 
 welcomed the so-called " reforms," and cordially 
 co-operated with those who planned and carried 
 them out : while too many writers of history, 
 by carefully manipulating disagreeable facts, by 
 omitting any reference (save the slightest), to 
 damaging truths ; and by carefully misrepresent- 
 ing the motives of certain of the actors in the 
 Drama of Change, have succeeded in giving very 
 inadequate, not to write erroneous, impressions 
 of what actually took place in the frightful reign 
 referred to. 
 
 Not only is it not true that the people approved 
 of the reforms, but the distinct and direct opposite 
 
/S Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 of that statement is far nearer the truth. PoHtical 
 circumstances, both home and foreign, enabled 
 those in power, by prompt and daring action, to 
 complete what they had planned ; the main body 
 of the people were without a semblance of prac- 
 tical organization ; the old peers of the realm had 
 lost much of their ancient independence and 
 power, crippled as their immediate ancestors had 
 been by the Wars of the Roses, and did not stand 
 forth as natural leaders of the people : while the 
 new peers, or those who were labouring for the 
 baron's coronet and robe, were ready to compass 
 any deed of baseness, in order to attain that 
 upon which they had evidently set their hearts. 
 So that the kingdom, as well as the ancient 
 liberties of the subject, lay practically at the 
 mercy of these few but powerful " new men," who, 
 havinor shown themselves able and willinp- to 
 serve the king in his despotic and tyrannical 
 policy, were raised to the highest dignities in 
 reward for their services. 
 
 However, that the people were eminently ad- 
 verse to change and innovation, — that is, many 
 of the peers and nobility, and thousands of the 
 middle and lower classes, is evident by the 
 Risings in Lincolnshire and in the North and 
 West of England. 
 
 Prior to the Lincolnshire Revolt, a person, who 
 afterwards became prominent, John Hooper, some- 
 time a Cistercian monk, who apostatized and 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 79 
 
 wandered for some years on the continent, attach- 
 ing himself chiefly to the Genevan heretics, and 
 to the false and novel system of Calvinism, wrote 
 to Bullinger as follows of the state of religion in 
 England : — " The impious mass, the most shame- 
 ful celibacy of the clergy, the invocation of saints, 
 auricular confession, superstitious abstinence from 
 meats, and purgatory, were never before held by 
 the people in greater esteem than at the present 
 moment^'' — a testimony at once unimpeachable 
 and forcible as to the exceedingly small progress 
 which Reform and Innovation had then made. 
 
 Before an account of the Pilo^rimaor-e of Grace 
 is given, however, it will be necessary to make 
 some reference to the o-eneral state of affairs at 
 Court ; so that their bearing on the policy of 
 the king, and his Majesty's bearing toward the 
 Ancient Faith and those who rose up to defend 
 it, may be adequately comprehended. 
 
 After King Henry had resolved on marrying 
 Jane Seymour, he determined to convoke a new 
 Parliament. 
 
 This having been done, he opened the session 
 in person, with all the accustomed formalities, and 
 made a set speech to the assembled Lords and 
 Commons. Having been so very unfortunate in 
 his two first marriages, he stated in the course of 
 the speech his intention of at once taking to him- 
 self another wife, " for the special benefit of his 
 well-beloved subjects." 
 
So Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 The Speaker, on behalf of the House of Com- 
 mons, as he asserted, received this unexpected in- 
 formation with the deepest thankfulness. Such an 
 act commended itself to all his Grace's obedient and 
 dutiful people, and the king, the murderer of the 
 saintly More and the pious Fisher, was openly 
 congratulated on the numerous moral, intellectual, 
 and physical gifts, with which it had pleased 
 Providence so abundantly to endow him. His 
 Majesty, in the Speaker's opinion, was equal to 
 Samson in prowess, to King Solomon^ in wisdom, 
 and to Absolom in beauty and gracefulness. In 
 fine and in fact the king, judged by this officer's 
 benevolent opinion, was without a peer. 
 
 In reply to this flattery, his Majesty is reported 
 to have made a modest and proper response ; re- 
 marking, however, that if such graces were his, 
 they had been bestowed upon him by Almighty 
 God, and that the glory of them was due to God 
 alone. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor, Audley, then openly com- 
 plimented him on being about to marry Jane Sey- 
 mour. " Her convenient years, excellent beauty, 
 and pureness of flesh and blood," he asserted, gave 
 good and reasonable hope of numerous heirs to his 
 Majesty. Might it so turn out was the wish and 
 prayer of the peers. 
 
 It was this Parliament, assembled on the 8th of 
 January, 1536, which so readily cringed and 
 crawled before the Supreme Head. One of its 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 8 1 
 
 first acts was to formally sanction and ratify his 
 divorce from Anne Boleyn. This personage and 
 her accomplices were to be branded with enduring 
 infamy ; while the daughter of Queen Katherine, 
 as well as Elizabeth, the infant offspring of Anne, 
 were each declared to be illegitimate. 
 
 The throne of England was moreover secured 
 to the children of Jane Seymour, if she should 
 give birth to any ; or if not, to those of any other 
 woman whom the kinof micrht hereafter wed. If 
 his Majesty died without issue. Parliament duly 
 authorized him to dispose of the crown according 
 to his own free will and royal pleasure, either by 
 letters patent under the great seal, or by a testa- 
 mentary disposition. 
 
 Thus, by this extraordinary and illogical pro- 
 ceeding. Parliament then enabled the king to give 
 the crown to either or both of those who had, at 
 the same time, been solemnly declared to be 
 bastards. 
 
 The comments of several persons of influence, 
 who stood In the background, upon these and 
 similar proceedings, were neither pointless nor un- 
 deserved. Many had the courage to speak out 
 plainly, and to say what they truly thought. Others 
 who were unprepared to speak for fear of conse- 
 quences, thought the more ; and pondered con- 
 stantly on the wrongs of the people, brought about 
 and bolstered up by a too subservient Parliament. 
 
 But when it was resolved to expand and in- 
 
 G 
 
S2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 crease the penal code of the kingdom, which had 
 been steadily enlarged throughout the reign of 
 Henry VII. ; when, in addition to the remarkable 
 changes already made, new and still greater 
 changes were in actual contemplation, by which 
 tyranny could do its work better and more 
 promptly, and true freedom or ordinary liberty be 
 largely circumscribed, the people of the North 
 counties rose in rebellion. 
 
 As the last straw breaks the camel's back, so 
 did the latest statute passed at this period lead 
 to the influential rising in question. 
 
 What, then, it may be asked, was the point of 
 the statute ? Its terms expressly set forth that 
 it was (i) an act of high treason (meriting the 
 cruellest and most ignominious of deaths), to say, 
 print, or publish a single word against the king 
 or his heirs ; (2) to attempt to evade or defeat 
 any acts or processes which the king might think 
 well to adopt, in consequence or because of the 
 new Act ; (3) to call in question the legality of 
 the new marriage with Jane Seymour, or any 
 other which the king might think fit to contract 
 in the future ; (4) to maintain, either by word of 
 mouth or by written deed the validity of his two 
 first marriages, with Queen Katherine and with 
 Anne Boleyn, or to acknowledge Mary and Eliza- 
 beth, or either of them, as legitimate ; (5) to refuse 
 (no matter under what pretext) to reply on oath 
 to any questions which might be put to any sub- 
 
The Pilg7dmage of Grace. 8 
 
 J 
 
 ject relative to the clauses, sentences, or single 
 words of the statute itself ; (6) to refuse the oath 
 of obedience to the Act ; or (7) to marry, without 
 the king's consent, any princess allied to the 
 crown by the first degree of affinity. 
 
 The practical policy embodied in this unprece- 
 dented Act was one which the thoughtful and 
 far-seeing contemplated with positive dismay. Its 
 tyranny was marked and manifest. In fact, by 
 its provisions all law and justice lay absolutely at 
 the feet of a single man, when, as had been then 
 decreed, "the king's proclamation should be of 
 the same force as Acts of Parliament" — and that 
 man, one with whom, as Experience had but too 
 plainly shown. Law was a mockery, on whom the 
 name of Justice was a libel, and to whom the 
 quality of Mercy was absolutely unknown. In 
 truth, under this enactment, no man's life or 
 property was safe for a day. The old and famous 
 Act passed under King Edward III., for the 
 security of Englishmen of all classes against un- 
 just and unfounded charges of high treason, was 
 thus completely set aside ; so that any offence, 
 which had never hitherto been criminal at all was 
 by it made high treason. 
 
 The noblest and the most virtuous suffered. 
 For the king — knowing himself only too well — 
 stood in special and particular dread of such. 
 Sparing neither age nor sex, it was soon after- 
 wards found that no less than sixty thousand 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Historical Sketches of the Reformation . 
 
 persons were imprisoned on charges of the various 
 kinds and natures specified in the Act ; for the 
 king coukl thus readily effect anything, without 
 arraignment and without trial ; his arbitrary will 
 alone being practically law. The natural leaders 
 of the people, the peers, either corrupted by 
 bribes or awed Into inactivity, were both unwilling 
 and impotent to provide a remedy; until at length 
 the people themselves rose to demand their 
 ancient rights and common justice, and to rid 
 themselves by personal action of the cowardly 
 and cruel instruments of the king's increasing 
 malice and tyranny. 
 
 Under the cloak of " banishing superstition," 
 as Sander so forcibly pointed out, about which 
 "superstition" the canting fanatics had been 
 prating so long, nothing else was intended than 
 stealing the sacred vessels of precious metal, the 
 jewelled crucifixes, the chalices sparkling with 
 gems, which held the Blood of Christ ; together 
 with all other sacred pictures, images, and orna- 
 ments, by which the churches were adorned. 
 
 Another and most unpopular course of cruel 
 lesfislation caused the oravest and most sincere 
 dissatisfaction. The Acts of King Henry's reign 
 against beggars were no doubt, in the first in- 
 stance, directed against those monks, lay-brothers, 
 and numerous monastic servants w^ho, through the 
 suppression of the religious houses, would soon 
 become dependent on the alms of the faithful. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 8 5 
 
 Some'writers maintain that these Acts of Parhament 
 were drawn by the king's own hand. However 
 this may have been, one was passed in 1531, while 
 the second became law exactly five years later. 
 
 In these all justices of the peace and mayors 
 were strongly enjoined to make diligent search 
 and inquiry for all aged poor and impotent per- 
 sons, who lived, or of necessity were compelled to 
 live, by the alms and charity of the people. All 
 such persons were to be formally licensed to beg 
 in particular districts ; but, if found begging in 
 any localities in which they were not licensed, they 
 were to be summarily punished by imprisonment 
 in the stocks for two days and two nights, with 
 no food but bread and water. If anybody was 
 found beo:crinof without a licence, he was to be 
 stripped to the waist and well whipped in public 
 through the streets of the nearest town. Or if he 
 was too old and decrepid to receive such treatment, 
 he was, in lieu thereof, to be set up in the stocks 
 for three days and three nights. This was for the 
 weak and aged. 
 
 " Sturdy " beggars — that is, those who were 
 able to work, but preferred living on alms, were 
 to receive something even less comfortable. Any 
 such beggar so found was to be brought before a 
 justice or mayor, and by him, on conviction (as 
 the Act expressly enjoins) to be taken " to the 
 next market town or other place, and there to be 
 tied to the end of a cart, naked, and to be beaten 
 
86 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 with whips throughout the same town, till his 
 body be bloody by reason of such whipping." 
 This process was to be repeated from time to 
 time, until the sufferer got his own living by 
 labour. Many of the outcast monks, no doubt, 
 shuddered as they realized what such provisions 
 might entail on them. 
 
 The later Act of Parliament on this subject of 
 beggars was specially directed against a superior 
 kind of offender. If any of these beggars were 
 found to be scholars of either of the Universities, 
 shipwrecked sailors, vendors of pardons, licences, 
 or dispensations, quack doctors, fortune-tellers, or 
 idle monks, a whipping was to be administered 
 upon two days in succession ; and if they offended 
 again they were to receive two days' whipping at 
 once, and to be put into the pillory from nine to 
 noon on the second day, and, when taken out, to 
 have one of their ears cut off. If they offended 
 the third time, this punishment of the rod and 
 pillory was to be repeated, and then the other ear 
 was to be cut off likewise. 
 
 Lastly, if the mutilated wretch, whether unable 
 to obtain work or not, was found begging again, 
 he was " to suffer the pains and penalty and 
 execution of death, as a felon and as an enemy 
 of the Commonwealth." 
 
 Of course, a man turned out of house and home, 
 who had been publicly flogged, and on the back 
 and sides of whose head there would remain 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 8 7 
 
 unmistakable marks of his punishment, woukl not 
 be very Hkely to obtain employment. Yet he 
 must live somehow, and without food he would 
 soon die. For the crime of mendicancy, therefore, 
 for trying to keep body and soul together, he must 
 suffer death by law. No wonder that, when a 
 leader was found to head the exasperated popu- 
 lace, thousands soon came forward to demand the 
 repeal of such cruel and iniquitous laws. 
 
 Consequent on such outrageous legislation, this 
 movement, therefore, known as " The Pilgrimage 
 of Grace," commenced at the important market- 
 town of Louth in Lincolnshire, on Monday, Octo- 
 ber 2, 1536. The minds of the people there- 
 abouts having been deeply stirred by the events 
 of the past three years, more especially by the 
 suppression of the religious houses, they resolved 
 to resent, and to oppose by force, the labours of 
 Thomas Cromwell's monastic inquisitors, who had 
 sent due and formal notice of their advent. 
 
 The Church of St. James, then, as now, was 
 one of the most remarkable and beautiful in that 
 county. It consists of nave, transepts, aisles, and 
 chancel, with eastern chapels and a fine baptistry. 
 At the western extremity is a lofty and well-propor- 
 tioned tower and spire, — the latter of which had 
 only been completed twenty years previously, in 
 the year 1 5 1 6, and is no less than two hundred and 
 eighty feet high. The tower is turreted at the 
 angles, and there are flying buttresses and richly- 
 
88 Hisiorical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 carved crockets of stone, of much grace and 
 beauty to give completeness to the work. 
 
 The interior of this church, in olden times, 
 like all our chief English sanctuaries, was 
 rich with imagery, pictures, and tabernacles, from 
 which representations of the saints and servants 
 of God in marble and alabaster preached silently 
 to the assembled worshippers. Under the chancel 
 arch was a magnificent rood-screen, gilded and 
 coloured in vermilion and blue, on which, raised 
 high above the worshippers, and facing westwards, 
 stood the large crucifix with Mary and John, as 
 at Calvary, on either side ; with twinkling lamps 
 burning there, as well as before every picture and 
 group of sacred figures, in dim chapel and distant 
 chantry, as well as in the mysterious gloom of the 
 deep and lofty choir. In the seven-light east 
 window was a beautiful representation of the 
 Incarnation — the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of 
 Israel — with the nine orders of the heavenly hier- 
 archy in symbolic panoply, gleaming and glittering 
 in the October sunshine, around and about. 
 
 After solemn vespers on the previous day, the 
 silver processional cross of this Church of St. 
 James was borne forth to the market-place from 
 its sacred walls. A priest in cassock and rochet 
 carried it, and here followed him a crowd who 
 sang that grand and inspiriting psalm, " Let God 
 arise, and let His enemies be scattered;" and then 
 every one, solemnly signing himself with the cross. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 89 
 
 vowed to his neis^hbour to stand forth in defence 
 of the rights and independence of the Church of 
 God. Action was first taken by some of the reh- 
 gious who had been turned out of house and home. 
 They spoke to the people plainly, roughly, and 
 forcibly, but with singular eloquence and certain 
 truth. Men came in to their aid in bands of 
 twenty or thirty, armed but bearing ecclesiastical 
 emblems ; and only to remedy by energy and 
 force the increasing evils which were sweeping 
 like a flood over the land. 
 
 The revolt of these noble and unselfish men 
 was wholly religious. Deeply and truly attached 
 to the faith of their forefathers, they had long seen 
 with dread and dismay the spirit of innovation 
 riding rampant over their ancient and long-recog- 
 nized rights — a spirit guided by men, who, like 
 Cromwell, Rich, and Russell, from the lowest 
 ranks had been elevated to a seat at the Royal 
 Council Board, or other important dignities. In 
 the chair of St. Augustine and St. Thomas sat a 
 perjurer,' a married prelate, who had first wedded 
 
 ^ Before his consecration as archbishop he was obHged to 
 swear obedience to the Holy See, with his hand on the Book 
 of the Gospels, and calling upon God and His Holy Saints to 
 witness what he did. He was also compelled to promise obe- 
 dience to the Pope and his successors, and to preserve chastity. 
 Perjured before taking this Oath, which he did duly and in 
 public ; he had gone previously into St. Stephen's Chapel at 
 Westminster, accompanied by a Notary, and there protested 
 that the oath he was about to take, he had no intention what- 
 
90 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 a bar-maid,- and subsequently taken to himself a 
 second wife, the niece of Osiander, a German 
 heretic. The execution of the ex-Chancellor, Sir 
 Thomas More, and of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 
 had excited the most painful emotions amongst all 
 classes — upon whom fear lay heavily. 
 
 Everywhere dissatisfaction was rampant at the 
 wicked spoliation of the houses of religion, save 
 amongst those who were handling their spoils. 
 The present ruin and desolation of these houses 
 of prayer contrasted markedly with their former 
 beauty and value. 
 
 The English peasant had been duly taught to 
 revere those sacred sanctuaries. There every 
 mornino- the bell for mass had run^ out over wold 
 and valley. From tower and turret sounded the 
 well-known chime which reminded the faithful of 
 the fact of the Incarnation, and of its daily thrice- 
 said Memorial.^ For the peasant the religious 
 house was his inn when travelling ; his hospital 
 when stricken down with sickness ; his place of 
 retirement and rest when he had fallen into indi- 
 
 soever of regarding, if it should stand in the way of the work 
 marked out for him by the king his master ; a position and 
 poUcy which none of his numerous admiring biographers have 
 been able to defend. 
 
 ^ In 151 1, Thomas Cranmer, Fellow of Jesus College, Cam- 
 bridge, married Jacqueline the Black, a servant or barmaid of 
 the " Dolphin Inn," for which act he was compelled to quit 
 his college, as the archives of that society plainly testify. 
 
 M. e. the Angelus. 
 
The Pilgriviage of Grace. 91 
 
 gence 6r grown grey in the sweat of his brow. 
 Under temporal as well as spiritual difficulties the 
 English labourer had recourse to the Fathers and 
 Brothers of the House ; and to such, who remem- 
 bered the pledge that even the cup of cold water 
 given in their Master's Name should not lose its 
 reward, he seldom turned in vain. 
 
 But it was not the peasants only who owned a 
 grievance at once just and righteous. The land- 
 lords, as former patrons of the dissolved and 
 destroyed monasteries, complained reasonably 
 enough of having been deprived of certain rever- 
 sions distinctly reserved by the original charters 
 of their foundations ; maintaining that the lands 
 and messuages of suppressed communities and 
 corporations ought not to have been forfeited to 
 the crown, and distributed amongst the " new 
 men " and " social upstarts," as a reward for their 
 political subserviency; but, in accordance with law, 
 custom, and common justice, should have been 
 duly and faithfully returned to the living represen- 
 tatives of the original donors.* So that numbers 
 of persons, protectors and heirs of the establish- 
 
 * "According to the most ancient laws of the kingdom, what- 
 ever possessions or revenues were conferred on the Church or 
 a reUgious house, under terms and conditions, or for a certain 
 or determined use, if the receiver neglected to observe, profit 
 or execute, the use, cause, condition, or terms of the primary 
 donation, then the collators or their heirs by reason of such 
 defect or failure, might re-enter and possess the said lands and 
 revenues." — " Kennett on Appropriations," p. 114. 
 
92 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 ments, through the spoHation and secularization 
 of monasteries, had been illegally and unjustly- 
 deprived of their just rights and ancient pri- 
 vileges/ 
 
 When, therefore, Dr. Thomas Lee,^ one of the 
 king's commissioners, with his servants and atten- 
 dants, appeared at Louth on the morning of Mon- 
 day, October 3, 1536, he was received with shouts 
 of execration by a band of clergy and laity, and 
 by the ringing of an alarum bell, which soon 
 gathered together the determined men of yester- 
 day into a compact and considerable mass. Had 
 tried and trusted leaders stood forth from the upper 
 ranks of Englishmen, — men of blood and repute, 
 of fair fame, true nobility of character, and military 
 experience, — this rising might have cost the Su- 
 
 * " Holy theologians do not merely affirm that resistance is 
 lawful ; but still further that all persons, whether lay or clerical, 
 may take up arms to avert the evil ; that both Secular and 
 Ecclesiastical property may and ought to contribute to the 
 defence." — From the " Catalonian Address to Philip the Great 
 of Spain," a.d., 1640. 
 
 ^ Of Dr. Thomas Lee the following character was given by 
 his fellow-Inquisitor, John Ap Rice : " In going he is too inso- 
 lent and pompatique. ... he handleth the fathers where he 
 
 cometh very roughly, and many times for small causes 
 
 The man is young, and of intolerable elation of mind. . . Sir, 
 surely religious men were never so afraid of Dr. Allen, as they 
 be of him, he useth such rough fashion with them. He hath 
 twelve men waiting on him in a livery, beside his own brother, 
 which must be rewarded specially beside his other servants." — 
 " Sir Henry Ellis's Original Letters," iii. 2. 356. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 93 
 
 preme Head both his throne and his new and 
 unprecedented supremacy. 
 
 For no less than twenty thousand malcontents 
 had already assembled, who hung on the lips of 
 certain eloquent speakers stirring up the populace 
 to revolt and resistance. 
 
 All voluntarily and formally swore fidelity to 
 God, the king, and the state. In taking up arms 
 they did so, as they asserted, only to obtain 
 redress for certain grave grievances, recently grown 
 unbearable, which they enumerated in a formal 
 Petition or Address to the king. 
 
 The Oath of the Pilgrims of Grace ran thus : 
 " I swear that I enter the Confraternity of the 
 Pilgrimage for the purpose of serving God, of de- 
 fending the king and his children, of reforming 
 the nobility, and of delivering the king from his 
 evil counsellors. I promise not to seek my private 
 advancement in public calamity ; to wrong no one, 
 nor voluntarily to slay any of my brethren. Under 
 the sign of the Cross of Christ, I will labour for 
 the preservation of the Faith, for the re-establish- 
 ment of the Church, and for the extirpation of 
 heresy." 
 
 In the Petition or Address to the king they laid 
 great stress on the condition of the poor, then 
 daily growing worse, who were left without aid, 
 deprived of former charity at the gates of the 
 monasteries, and abandoned to starve and die on 
 the common highways. The force of their argu- 
 
94 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 ments in this remarkable document was consider- 
 able, and it was not without influence on thousands 
 who, though not prepared to act, were quite pre- 
 pared to sympathize. 
 
 Sir William Fitzwilliam, who had been promptly 
 sent down from London to Lincolnshire, to give a 
 true account of the nature and extent of the rising, 
 seems to have been greatly impressed with the 
 earnestness and influence of its leaders and sup- 
 porters. He wrote at once to Cromwell, stating 
 that in every place at which he had rested, from 
 the city of London to Louth,'' all the people, old 
 and young, rich and poor, without any exception, 
 were heard wishing it God-speed. " The Lord 
 bless them," " Our Lady aid them," " God be over 
 them," were the expressed aspirations of all. " No 
 voice for the king's grace," Sir William reported, 
 " was heard at all. 
 
 The commissioners who had been sent to seize 
 further spoils of the religious houses, had, it 
 appears, wisely taken themselves off " with all 
 convenient speed ;" having been threatened with 
 summary punishment if they proceeded to execute 
 their commission. 
 
 In the king's Reply to the Address from Lin- 
 
 ' It is said that a Windsor butcher was summarily hanged as 
 a rebel, merely because he remarked in the course of his trade 
 that he would rather give a joint of meat to "those good 
 fellows in the North," than sell it at all at the price offered for 
 it by some casual customer. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 95 
 
 colnshire, his Majesty gave abundant evidence that 
 he felt the force of the statements and arguments 
 contained in it. For, as may be read in the State 
 Papers, he rated those who had drawn it up in the 
 strongest terms : — 
 
 "How presumptuous are you, ye rude commons 
 of one shire, — and that one of the most brutal and 
 beastly of the whole kingdom, — thus to find fault 
 with your prince for the electing of his councillors 
 and prelates ; and to take upon you, contrary to 
 the law of God, as well as to the law of man, to rule 
 your prince whom you are bound to serve, with 
 both your lives, lands, and goods ! " " Has it ever 
 been heard of before," the king asked furthermore, 
 " that a vile populace should prescribe to a king 
 the choice of his ministers ? If he has suppressed 
 the monasteries, was it not by virtue of a legislative 
 act ? What sort of men were the majority of the 
 abbots and priors who had been expelled from the 
 monasteries ? Why, men covered with crimes. 
 Perhaps, in the opinion of the Lincolnshire rebels, 
 it would have been better to have left the de- 
 bauched and hypocritical monks to devour the 
 revenues of their communities, than to allow the 
 king to employ them in the endowment of useful 
 establishments." 
 
 On the same day his Majesty is reported to 
 have observed to one of his secretaries, Thomas 
 Wriothesley, that he " would rather sell all his 
 plate than that these traitors should not be forcibly 
 
g6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 put down as an example to others." In fact, it is 
 said that Cromwell received orders to go to the 
 treasury of the Tower, and taking from it what- 
 ever plate might be needed, to send such off to the 
 Mint, so that it might be immediately coined for 
 the express purpose of paying soldiers to put 
 down the rebellion. 
 
 To the Duke of Suffolk, his Majesty's brother- 
 in-law, the kinof had o-iven a commission to stem 
 the tide of the revolt. This nobleman, whose 
 whole life had been one scene of shameful pro- 
 fligacy and wild extravagance, and who is reported 
 to have been so ignorant that he could scarcely 
 write his name, received as his share of the 
 monastic spoils no less than thirty religious houses, 
 with their manors, lands, and appurtenances. He 
 was, therefore, a most fitting and suitable person 
 to take in hand the present work of putting down 
 by force those who objected to Church robbery : 
 and the last amongst the noble receivers of stolen 
 goods who would have been likely to have volun- 
 tarily disgorged any of his spoils. 
 
 The first act done by him on reaching Lincoln- 
 shire was an endeavour, by word of mouth, to 
 induce the Pilgrims of Grace to lay down their 
 arms, and throw themselves on the clemency of 
 the king. Of his Majesty, and his kindness of 
 heart, the Duke said nothing but words of ex- 
 aggerated laudation. King Henry was a monarch 
 who would deal with them mercifully and as a 
 
The Pilgr'wiage of Grace. 9 7 
 
 good father. Let the rebels only promptly re- 
 pent of their wicked action, give up the persons 
 of those who had orisfinated the rebellion, and 
 
 <_> 
 
 they should all surely know by experience of 
 what kind was his Majesty's clemency. 
 
 But this was a line of policy too transparently 
 shallow to take in those before whom it was pre- 
 sented. The people of Lincolnshire who had 
 become Pilgrims of Grace, had no more confi- 
 dence in the king's kindness and clemency than 
 they had in his word or good faith. 
 
 Relitjious, bearino- banners on which were de- 
 picted representations of the Five Sacred Wounds 
 on our Lord's Crucified Body, traversed the ranks 
 of the rebels, and urged them by enthusiastic 
 exhortations to a deeper and more earnest re- 
 sistance. What had already been effected by the 
 king and his minions, in the way of religious 
 change and revolution was set forth in thrilling 
 words and powerful descriptions. The people, 
 therefore, were exhorted to further acts of bravery, 
 but more especially to constancy and perseverance. 
 Comino- changfes were likewise indicated or sha- 
 dowed forth. Reports of what was in contempla- 
 tion by the Court innovators in London, had 
 reached many parts of the country- — the Lincoln- 
 shire wolds amonofst others. 
 
 " You will see," the leaders of the Pilgrimage 
 maintained, — and urged on the consideration of 
 the excited populace, — " that the time will shortly 
 
 H 
 
98 Historical Sketches of the Refonuation. 
 
 come when you will neither be able to receive the 
 sacraments nor marry without the king's consent. 
 His Majesty will tax every slice of beef you eat ; 
 every christening, wedding, and burial ; and will 
 destroy two-thirds of your churches.^ There will 
 soon be no single monastery left in the whole 
 country. Moreover, if the bishops consent to be 
 put under the king and his new vicar-general, 
 they must do as the king bids them. They are 
 thus no longer servants of Christ their Master, 
 but slaves of his Highness. Our cause is a noble 
 one, therefore ; the cause of things eternal before 
 things temporal, the cause of the faithful departed, 
 of the saints and of God." 
 
 The want of leaders who were at once competent 
 and discreet, was soon felt. So that, notwithstand- 
 ing all that was done, and all the terror which was 
 struck into the minds of the king's immediate friends 
 and allies by the bold action taken, the rebellion 
 — as Heneage, one of the scared commissioners, 
 wrote,— had worn itself out in about a fortnight. 
 
 Dispirited and disheartened, having neither 
 calculated their opponents' power, nor their own 
 necessities, the leaders were obliged to succumb 
 and their followers to retire. All this was good 
 
 ^ No two churches were to be left standing within five miles 
 of each other in any county. All such edifices nearer together 
 than this were to be destroyed. Such a scheme, in a county 
 like Lincolnshire, would have been a devastation too awful for 
 contemplation. — See " State Papers," vol. i. 482. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 99 
 
 news to the Court, the chief members of which 
 heard it with satisfaction and rejoicing. 
 
 Within the same month, however, (October, 
 1536), another insurrection, and this of a far 
 more serious and formidable character, broke 
 out in Yorkshire. The Lincolnshire precedent, 
 though an avowed failure, was soon followed. In 
 Yorkshire, the yeomen, accustomed to the use of 
 arms, were courageous, full of zeal, and patient. 
 The frightful misery of the people in general, and 
 specially of the poverty-stricken clergy, and of 
 those religious who had been turned out of their 
 houses without means of sustenance, acted as a 
 powerful incentive to this new revolt. When 
 the insurrection spread from the borders of Scot- 
 land to the banks of the H umber, as was the case 
 in a few weeks, there seemed some chance of 
 eventual success. Moreover, if hard pressed, the 
 Pilgrims could easily retire over the border, where 
 the Scotch — keenly remembering their defeat at 
 Flodden Field — would be sure to welcome them 
 and give them aid. 
 
 The leader of this " Pilgrimage," or religious cru- 
 sade, as in truth it was, was an esquire of Aughton 
 near Howden, named Robert Aske,^ who, according 
 to the most reliable chroniclers, was possessed in 
 a remarkable degree of those valuable qualities 
 best calculated to guide the populace appealed to 
 — coolness and courage. He was in perfect har- 
 " See Appendix No. III. 
 H 2 
 
I oo Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 mony and accord with the clergy and rehgious 
 laity. And the whole movement was marked by 
 a complete absence of selfishness on the part ot 
 its promoters, and by the active presence and 
 energy of the highest type of loyalty — loyalty to 
 God's revealed Truth, The oath that was taken 
 as a religious bond of union, was identical in 
 principle with that which in Lincolnshire had 
 been drawn up and accepted, and was taken by 
 numbers. 
 
 The northern gentry and several of the nobility 
 flocked to the standard of Aske, on reading the 
 followinof Proclamation, which was carried far and 
 wide by special messengers throughout their 
 various counties : — 
 
 " Masters ! All men to be ready to-morrow ; 
 and this night and in the morning to ring your 
 bells in every town, and to assemble yourselves upon 
 Skipwith Moor, and there appoint your captains. 
 Master Hussey, Master Bapthorpe, and Master 
 Gascoygne and other gentlemen. And to give 
 warning to all beyond the water to be ready, upon 
 pain of death, for the Commonwealth. And make 
 your Proclamation every man to be true to the 
 king's issue and the noble blood ; to preserve the 
 Church of God from spoiling, and to be true to 
 the commons and the wealths. And ye shall have 
 to-morrow the Articles and the causes of your 
 assembly and petition to the king." 
 
 There came to the unfurled standard — which 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. loi 
 
 bore a representation of our Blessed Saviour on 
 the cross, with His five sacred wounds, and a 
 chahce and host — Sir Robert Constable and Sir 
 Christopher Danby, a crowd of knights, esquires, 
 and gentlemen, as well as several peers, and some 
 thousands of yeomen and peasants. 
 
 Special summonses to come and co-operate, not 
 wanting in solemn and ominous threats, were 
 despatched to particular persons, to people of 
 influence, and to places where sympathy was 
 presumed actively to exist : — " We command each 
 and all of you," were the terms of one such sum- 
 mons, sent out by the leaders of the Pilgrimage, 
 " as you hope to appear before the Supreme Judge 
 at the Last Great Day, to assemble at Stoke 
 Green, near Hawkeshead ' Church, on Saturday 
 next, at eleven of the clock, in the best possible 
 accoutrement, under pain of seeing your houses 
 razed, your goods destroyed, and yourselves 
 punished corporally, according to the will of our 
 chiefs." 
 
 Where there appeared to be a disposition to 
 oppose the Pilgrims by force, their opponents^ 
 whether of hamlet, town, or castle, were summoned 
 
 ^ Hawkeshead is a parish in the County Palatine of Lan- 
 caster, near to Furness Abbey. In olden times the place was 
 governed by a bailiiT appointed by the abbot of that house, for 
 the time being ; and who administered justice to the people of 
 the town and district. The church was founded at the Con- 
 quest ; but since then has been much altered and mutilated. 
 
1 02 Historical Sketches of the Refoi'mation. 
 
 to surrender. Such a bold and determined policy 
 produced adequate results. 
 
 Day by day the supporters of the Pilgrimage 
 advanced in numbers and increased in influence. 
 The religfious instinct dominated all. Persecuted 
 and outcast monks were amongst the assembled 
 people, urging them forward, with forcible exhor- 
 tations, passionate appeals, and most earnest 
 words. When opposed by the king's troops, the 
 leaders of the pilgrims, drawing the sacred sign 
 on forehead, lips, and breast, first threw themselves 
 on their knees, supplicating the aid of heaven, ere 
 they went forth under the protection of the glisten- 
 ing banner of the Redeemer to maintain His cause. 
 They sang the well-known and inspiriting psalm, 
 "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered," 
 again and again. There was religious zeal and ec- 
 clesiastical enthusiasm, and there were many deeds 
 of martial prowess and knightly worth, done by the 
 " Servants of the Five Wounds." In many places 
 they met neither with obstacles nor resistance, and 
 therein traced the finger and favour of the Most 
 High. Pontefract, where Edward Lee, Arch- 
 bishop of York, and Lord Darcy had taken refuge, 
 threw open its gates to Aske at the demand of the 
 populace of the town ; and the two notable per- 
 sonages in question found it expedient to take the 
 oath of fidelity to the leaders of the Pilgrimage. 
 
 Some remarkable successes were obtained by 
 the Pilgrims. Had their leaders been men of 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 103 
 
 greater military tact and experience, still more re- 
 markable orains mieht have been secured. Both 
 York and Hull, the two most important centres of 
 life and influence in Yorkshire, having- acknow- 
 ledged the banner of these Crusaders, and the 
 righteousness of their demands, opened their 
 eates, and welcomed them as friends and allies. 
 Skipton Castle, defended by the Earl of Cumber- 
 land, however, received them at the cannon's 
 mouth ; while Sir Ralph Ewers, the Governor of 
 Scarborough Castle, for more than twenty days 
 vahantly defended that place on behalf of the king, 
 though the garrison suffered sorely from the want 
 of bread and water, and still refused to capitulate. 
 
 The forces of the Pilgrims passed beyond the 
 Tees to Durham and Westmoreland ; their agents 
 and allies carried their heart-stirring proclamations 
 westward into Lancashire, and as far south as the 
 town of Doncaster, in most of which parts they 
 were welcomed with hearty and enthusiastic 
 acclamations. 
 
 The Earl of Shrewsbury, Lieutenant-General 
 of the Northern District, although without any 
 express commission to do so, made an attempt to 
 defend Doncaster, into which he threw himself 
 with such of his retainers and followers as he 
 could hastily gather. He was shordy joined there 
 by the Marquis of Exeter, the Earls of Derby, 
 Rutland, and Huntingdon, and subsequendy by 
 the Duke of Norfolk, who, in combination com- 
 
I04 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 manded nearly five thousand soldiers. But what 
 could such a force attempt against an army of 
 fifty thousand rebels ? 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk, no inexperienced leader, 
 after due consideration, held it prudent not to risk 
 an engagement ; for had his Grace been defeated, 
 as Common Report told the authorities, there 
 would certainly have been a general rising through- 
 out the land. So he opened negotiations with the 
 insurgents ; having first discreetly placed his troops 
 in a safe and satisfactory position, and prepared a 
 battery of artillery, so as to avoid any surprise. 
 Orders from the court had been sought for by him, 
 but not yet received. He knew the king's anxiety 
 and fear, — for some about his person had noted 
 that he contemplated, or seemed to contemplate, a 
 return to the old ecclesiastical state of affairs. - 
 Seeing, therefore, the danger of his position, he 
 found it expedient to treat with the rebels by Lan- 
 caster Herald, an authorized officer-at-arms.^ 
 
 This official was received by Aske in the midst 
 of a kind of extemporized court, the Archbishop 
 of York, Edward Lee, on the one hand, and Lord 
 
 * From a sermon preached by Gardiner, in Queen Mary's 
 reign, it appears almost certain that, during these rebeUions, 
 Henry was so thoroughly alarmed that he entertained serious 
 thoughts of restoring the ancient visible intercommunion with 
 the See of Rome. 
 
 ^ This unfortunate personage was executed, after a display 
 of savage wrath by the king, because he had done exactly 
 what his office enjoined him to do. 
 
The Pilgj'wiagc of Grace. 105 
 
 Darcy on the other. As to the Proclamation, Aske 
 at once firmly and respectfully declined to obey 
 it. His people gathered around him, he asserted, 
 knew exactly what they wanted, were all of one 
 accord, and thoroughly united in their demands ; 
 they resolved either to effect a speedy reforma- 
 tion and change from what now was, or else to 
 die in the good cause, for which they had bonded 
 themselves together. He furthermore expressed 
 his readiness to go in person to the king's Court 
 at London, and there to see that all the vile blood 
 of his Majesty's Council, meaning of course 
 Cromwell, Rich, and others, were put away from 
 him, and all men of old and noble blood, as here- 
 tofore, set up once again. Also that the True 
 Faith of Christ and His Laws should be kept and 
 taught by the bishops and clergy as aforetime,'^ and 
 
 * In the Northern rising, specific complaints were laid against 
 William Barlow, Bishop of St. David's (afterwards the conse- 
 crator of Matthew Parker), for having, amongst other state- 
 ments, " aftirmed and said, that wheresoever two or three sim- 
 ple persons, as two cobblers or two weavers, were in company, 
 and elected in the Name of God, there was the true Church 
 of God." They also complained that the bishop had taught 
 that it was not expedient for man to confess himself, but only 
 unto God ; for He will at all times accept and take any peni- 
 tent man or woman to His mercy, if he cannot expediently have 
 a priest. Item, that there neither is nor was any purgatory ; 
 but it is only a thing invented and imagined by the Bishop of 
 Rome and our priests to have trentals and other mundane 
 lucre thereby. Item, that if the king's Grace, being Supreme 
 Plead of the Church of England, did choose, denominate, and 
 
io6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 full restitution made for all the manifold wrongs 
 recently done to Christ's Holy Church, and also 
 that the Christian people of the land should be 
 properly treated with justice and judgment as of 
 old/ 
 
 The demands of the Pilgrims by the mouth of 
 Aske, their high-principled leader, were formally 
 put into writing,^ and divided into technical 
 " Articles," as they were termed, which, on being 
 presented to the Herald, were at once taken 
 by him to the king himself.^ 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk went up to London, with 
 the avowed object of intending actively to support 
 the prayer of the Petition, with which the Articles 
 
 elect any layman (being learned) to be a bishop ; that he, so 
 chosen (without mention made of any orders), should be as 
 good a bishop as he is, or the best in England," — propositions 
 which were certainly novel, heretical and dangerous, and reason- 
 ably objected to by those who had been taught the contrary 
 from their childhood, and whose " ancestors had never known 
 such innovations." 
 
 " " State Papers," i. 486. 
 
 ® The people of Devonshire likewise, at a later period, com- 
 plained of the changes in religion, and as Dr. Heylyn the his- 
 torian writes, asserted truly enough that the free-born com- 
 monalty was oppressed by a small number of gentry, who 
 "glutted themselves with pleasures, while the poor commons 
 wasted themselves by daily labour, like pack-horses, and lived 
 in extreme slavery ; and that holy rites established by their 
 fathers were abolished, and a new form of religion obtruded. 
 And they demanded that the mass and a part of the monasteries 
 should be restored, and that the clergy should not be allowed 
 to marrv." 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 107 
 
 conclucled, to which he indirectly pledged himself, 
 but more probably to gain time for gathering larger 
 and more efficient forces. 
 
 His Grace the Duke, having there received full 
 authority from the king to treat with the rebels, on 
 his return to the North, at once announced his 
 readiness to grant a general pardon to each and 
 all, save and except to ten persons, six of whose 
 names were there and then mentioned by him, and 
 four more in addition the king would subsequently 
 select. 
 
 Aske and his allies at once rejected the con- 
 ditions, as wholly out of consideration, and as 
 forming no possible basis for agreement. 
 
 Fresh negotiations were consequently opened 
 on the side of the king, which resulted in the 
 assembling of a convocation of the northern 
 clergy at Pontefract, to consider in detail what 
 formal reply should be given to the king's com- 
 missioners, and what exact demands should be 
 made on behalf of the '' Pilgrims of Grace," and 
 their allies. 
 
 These demands were as follows : — (i) A Par- 
 liament must be convened at York within a reason- 
 able period. (2) A full and entire amnesty for all 
 must be proclaimed, without any exception or reser- 
 vation whatsoever. (3) The recent statutes which 
 had abrogated that ancient and legitimate authority 
 of the Pope, known since the time of St. Austin;'' 
 ' The extravagant and wicked lengths to which the innova- 
 
io8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 suppressed the monasteries ; declared Mary the 
 daughter of Queen Katherine illegitimate, and 
 
 tors went — making changes, and introducing new principles, 
 still in active force, may be gathered from the fact that King 
 Henry VIIL, as " Supreme Head of the Church," granted 
 faculties, to Bonner, Bishop of London, to enable him to perform 
 certain episcopal functions, which may be seen at length in 
 Bishop Burnet's " History of the Reformation " (vol. iv. p. 410) 
 The king sets out with the assertion that the royal jurisdiction 
 is the source of the ecclesiastical : and then remarks that, as 
 Cromwell, his royal Vicar-General, has so much to do, he 
 appoints Bonner in addition. This bishop is, by the king's 
 authority, authorized to ordain priests, to collate them to bene- 
 fices, or to institute them when presented by others, and to 
 make a visitation of the diocese. This same doctrine is taught 
 in the " Reformatio Legum." The king's son, Edward VL, 
 exercising the same office of " Spiritual Head," granted to 
 Cranmer, at that person's special petition and request, faculties 
 permitting him to hold ordinations (Wilkins' " Concilia," vol. 
 iv. 2). The same practice has been current in some form or 
 another ever since, and it is the key-stone of the establishment. 
 The Oath of Homage which the bishops still take on their 
 knees before the sovereign, asserts that all spiritual and tem- 
 poral authority and jurisdiction — a very wide and large asser- 
 tion (covering so much) — comes from the monarch. Again : 
 when a bishop was first sent to India it was enacted by Parlia- 
 ment (53 George HI. chap. 155, sec. 53) that "such bishop 
 shall not have or use any jurisdiction or exercise any episcopal 
 functions whatsoever, . . . but only such jurisdiction and func- 
 tions, as shall or may from time to time be limited to him by 
 his Majesty by Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the 
 United Kingdom." And King William IV. in his Letters 
 Patent appointing the first Bishop of Australia, gives to him 
 " and his successors Bishops of Australia, full power and autho- 
 rity to admit into the Holy Orders of deacon and priest re- 
 spectively any person," &c. A recent writer, the Rev. J. H. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 1 09 
 
 bestowed on the king the tithes and first-fruits of 
 all benefices, must be at once, each one and every 
 one, repealed. (4) Cromwell, the king's Vicar- 
 General, Audley, the Lord Chancellor, and Rich, 
 the Solicitor-General, were to be punished as pro- 
 moters and abettors of heresy. (5) Lee and Lay- 
 ton, two of the most scandalous of the monastic 
 inquisitors, were to be prosecuted for notorious 
 extortion, peculation, and other abominable acts. 
 (6) Finally, all heretical books were to be sup- 
 pressed, and all heterodox bishops and clergy were 
 to be deposed. 
 
 They wound up their demands by asserting that, 
 unless the above-named conditions were complied 
 with, an appeal to force must settle the dispute. 
 In fact, to the leaders on both sides a battle seemed 
 imminent. 
 
 It is easy to stigmatize the men who drew up 
 this series of reasonable and noble demands as 
 *' superstitious and degraded fanatics ; " but it is 
 impossible, without doing them obvious injustice, 
 
 Blunt, holds that " the courage of the clergy in Convo- 
 cation (under Henry VIII.), secured, under God's Provi- 
 dence, the future freedom of the Church," (" Reformation 
 of the Church of England," chap. Iv. p. 237); but those 
 who use the term " freedom " in its ordinary sense, and re- 
 member the course of ecclesiastical legislation from the days 
 of Thomas Cromwell to the time of Lord Penzance, will 
 scarcely agree with him. The National Church is as much 
 subject to the Crown as is the Board of Trade or the 
 Admiralty. 
 
I lo Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 to refuse them the proper titles of men of honour, 
 integrity, courage, and good faith. 
 
 The deputies of the Pilgrims, amongst whom 
 were Lords Scrope, Lumley, and Darcy, Sir 
 Thomas Percy, and Robert Aske, had received 
 definite instructions in writing from those whom 
 they represented, not to make any concessions 
 to his Majesty's Commissioners ; so that the con- 
 ference was brought to a sudden end by the 
 Duke of Norfolk and Sir William Fitzwilliam, 
 who by themselves, of course, were unable to 
 admit and give force to the conditions proposed. 
 
 But the king, on learning exactly the gravity of 
 the recent course of events, pledged himself with 
 all solemnity by a public proclamation, to redress 
 and remedy the grievances specified; promising at 
 the same time that no one concerned in the rising 
 should suffer for it. The exact words of the par- 
 don, which followed the proclamation in question 
 sealed with the Great Seal, — words which ou^ht 
 to be specially noticed, ran thus : — 
 
 " That the king granted them all a general and 
 free pardon of all rebellion, treasons, felonies, and 
 trespasses, unto the day of the date thereof; pro- 
 vided that they make their submission to the Duke 
 of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury, the king's 
 lieutenant, and that they rebel no more." 
 
 But the king seems to have very speedily re- 
 pented of this act of clemency. For no sooner did 
 most of the Pilgrims disperse, while others were 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. \ 1 1 
 
 preparing to follow their example, than he forgot 
 the solemn promises he had made, and completely 
 broke his word. Both proclamation and pardon 
 were treated by him as null and void. 
 
 Aske, who had been summoned to London, was 
 treated with consideration ; ^ and at the outset had 
 no reason to complain of the manner in which he 
 had been received at court. But the old Lord 
 Darcy, an abler diplomatist, who was more sus- 
 picious, and had only consented to obey the king's 
 orders in the last extremity, was arrested and com- 
 mitted to the Tower on the very day that he arrived 
 in London. Such conduct on the part of the king 
 gave the greatest offence to the nobility, and 
 created fresh alarm amongst all classes. It was 
 found that the word and promise of the king could 
 not be taken as of any worth, Asa consequence 
 of this treachery the disbanding Pilgrims again had 
 recourse to arms. This occurred about the end of 
 the month of January, 1537, or very early in the 
 succeeding month. 
 
 Two gentlemen of position and repute, Nicholas 
 Musgrave and Thomas Gilby, members of old and 
 knightly families of the north, at the head of more 
 than eight thousand men, at once besieged the city 
 of Carlisle ; but were completely routed, after a 
 
 * Stowe the Chronicler asserts that "Sir Robert Aske [it 
 seems doubtful whether he was a knight], that was chief of the 
 Rebellion, came to London, was not only pardoned, but 
 rewarded with great gifts," p. 574. 
 
1 1 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 hard and prolonged battle, by the Duke of Norfolk. 
 At the same time, Sir Francis Bigod, and an 
 esquire named Hallam, with another considerable 
 body of insurgents, gathered in the West Riding 
 of Yorkshire, made a bold attempt to secure 
 possession of Hull ; but, after suffering several 
 defeats, were taken prisoners and executed. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the violent expressions 
 of rasfe with which the kino- heard of this new 
 attempt at rebellion. No one dared tell his 
 Majesty that it had evidently been brought about 
 by his own breach of faith with those who had 
 hitherto believed in his word ; which seems to 
 have been a very general opinion in London, both 
 at the Court and in the city.^ The king wrote 
 to the Duke of Norfolk as follows, on February 
 
 22, 1537:— 
 
 " We do right well approve and allow your 
 proceedings in the displaying of our banner. 
 And, forasmuch as the same is now spread and 
 displayed, by reason whereof, till the same shall 
 be closed again, the course of our laws must give 
 place to the ordinances and statutes martial, our 
 pleasure is that before you close up our said 
 banner again, you shall in any wise cause such 
 
 ® " 'If his Majesty's Councillors had bade him wisely keep 
 his word,' said one Master Welde, 'there might have been much 
 blood spared.' To which the sayd knight, his Grace's own 
 Usher, assented with a will." — Notes from Family and Private 
 MSS. collected by the author, folio 75, a. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Grace. 1 1 3 
 
 dreadful execution to be done upon a good num- 
 ber of the inhabitants of every town, village, and 
 hamlet that have offended in this rebellion, as well 
 by the hanging of them up in trees as by the 
 quartering of them, and the setting of their heads 
 and quarters in every town great and small, and 
 in all such other places as they may be a fearful 
 spectacle to all other hereafter that would practise 
 any like matter ; which We require you to do 
 without pity or respect, according to Our former 
 letters." 
 
 This rebellion, as well as that in Somersetshire, 
 is attributed by the king to the " solicitation and 
 traitorous conspiracy of the monks and canons ;" 
 and the duke is expressly enjoined and required 
 to visit speedily the Abbeys of Hexham, New- 
 minster, Lanercost, and others, as well as certain 
 specified priories, and to " cause all the monks 
 and canons that be in any way faulty," quoting 
 his Majesty's expressive and formidable language, 
 " to be tied up without further delay or ceremony, 
 to the terrible example of others, wherein We 
 think you shall do unto Us high service." 
 
 On learninof something of the altered state of 
 affairs, of the king's change of policy, of the defeat 
 of his allies at Carlisle and Hull, and of the posi- 
 tion of danger into which the people of Somerset- 
 shire and Devonshire had been led by somewhat 
 hasty action, without sufficient preparation, 
 Robert Aske resolved to escape from London. 
 
 I 
 
1 1 4 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 But this was found to be impossible, for from the 
 outset of his arrival there he had been watched by 
 spies, who reported all his acts to the king; and, 
 in the course of a few days, he was arrested, taken 
 back to York, and hanged in chains upon one of 
 the towers of the walls of that archiepiscopal city.' 
 
 A man of the noblest character, humble, devout, 
 zealous, reverent, and hospitable, a fine specimen 
 of a Catholic Englishman, whose religious and 
 moral principles were those which had made 
 the nation great, he died as he had lived, a true 
 servant of his Master, an enthusiastic Churchman, 
 and a patient sufferer for the unalterable Truth of 
 God. 
 
 Had the rebellion of the sixteenth century, 
 under Robert Aske, been as successful as that of 
 the seventeenth, under Oliver Cromwell, when 
 the Crown was overturned, the altars destroyed, 
 and the monarch brought to the block, the former, 
 with his valiant allies of the northern counties, 
 would, like Cromwell and the English allies of 
 William of Orange, have been looked upon as 
 patriots, and their names venerated throughout 
 future generations by those who regard them- 
 
 * John Rochester and James Waiver, Carthusian monks, 
 having been sent from the Charterhouse in London, where 
 they had made their profession, to Hull ; from Hull were like- 
 wise taken to York (through Beverley and Pocklington), and 
 in the presence of the Duke of Suffolk were hung in chains, 
 May II, 1537, until every bone in their bodies fell detached 
 from the rest to the ground. 
 
The Pilgrimage of Gj'ace. 1 1 5 
 
 selves as more especially enlightened and intellec- 
 tual. But the insurrection failed, and no sin can 
 be greater in the eyes of many historians than 
 faihire. It is a sin which they never forgive, and 
 for which there is no absolution. By consequence 
 Robert Aske was ignomlniously hung at York, 
 and is numbered amongst the rebels ; while Oliver 
 Cromwell, by sheer force succeeded in his am- 
 bitious aim and triumphed, and so his image is 
 placed amongst the kings and queens of England, 
 while, furthermore, King James the Second's son 
 and lawful heir, the Prince of Wales, is known as 
 " the Pretender." 
 
 But to return. Lord Hussey was tried at 
 Westminster, convicted, and beheaded at Lincoln. 
 Sir Robert Constable, Sir Thomas Percy, Sir John 
 Bulmer, Sir Nicholas Tempest, Sir Stephen Hamil- 
 ton, and Sir William Lumley, having gone through 
 similar formalities, were executed at Tyburn, and 
 Margaret, Lady Bulmer was burnt at Smithfield. 
 
 So likewise were Matthew Mackerell, Abbot of 
 Barlings (one of the first and chief leaders of the 
 Pilgrimage), William Thirske, Abbot of Foun- 
 tains, and Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaux. To 
 these were hastily^ added John Paslew, Abbot of 
 
 ^ Even Mr. Hallam is obliged to allow that " In the proceed- 
 ings against . . . others who were implicated in the charge of 
 treason at this period, we find so much haste, such neglect of 
 judicial forms, and so bloodthirsty a determination to obtain 
 convictions, that we are naturally tempted to reckon them 
 
 I 2 
 
1 16 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Whalley, Robert Hobbes, Abbot of Woburn, and 
 William Trafford, Abbot of Lawley. Others of 
 like dignity and ecclesiastical character suffered 
 likewise, and with similar brutalities. William 
 Wood, the Prior of Bridlington, and William 
 Trafford were also hung, drawn, and quartered 
 with remarkable barbarity. In truth, a heavy 
 vengeance fell on the clergy, on the monks of the 
 suppressed lesser monasteries, and on all who had 
 either directly or indirectly taken part in the Pil- 
 grimage. Gibbets soon groaned with the fester- 
 ing carcasses of malefactors. Heads and quarters 
 of the sufferers, stuck on poles, upon church 
 towers, in market-places and on village greens, 
 awed the peasantry and the beggars. So that the 
 king's triumph was great. 
 
 The old Lord Darcy, so much respected 
 throughout the whole kingdom, had been released 
 from the miseries of imprisonment in the Tower, 
 because of his great age and on account of his 
 previous signal and acknowledged services to the 
 State. But, notwithstanding this, the king re- 
 solved that he should die. Though formally and 
 publicly pardoned by the king, and uncharged 
 with any offence of a later date than that of his 
 pardon, judges were found to condemn him to the 
 block, and an executioner to cut off his hoary 
 head. This deed done, the king is reported by 
 
 amongst the victims of revenge or rapacity." — '' Constitutional 
 History of England," vol. i. p. 29 : London, 1S50. 
 
The Pilgi'iinage of Grace. 1 1 7 
 
 Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his History, to 
 have declared himself " satisfied." 
 
 So ended the unfortunate " Pilorimacre of 
 Grace." 
 
 Wanderers amongst the churchyards, abbey 
 ruins, and ancient houses of the northern counties 
 may often find in desolate chancel and desecrated 
 chantry, or on pictured representation, the family 
 names of those who, risking so much for their 
 altar, home, and hearth, failed and suffered. As 
 long, however, as the Christian religion is firmly 
 believed in and faithfully followed, as long as the 
 potent graces of faith, zeal, devotion, and self- 
 denial are valued, and their possessors honoured, 
 so long will Englishmen remember with pride the 
 names of those who suffered, even unto death, for 
 the unchangeable Faith of their forefathers. 
 
No. IV. 
 ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF HIS SHRINE. 
 A.D. 1538. 
 
 '^^^^^^^^ 
 
' pjehold a great High Priest with rays 
 
 Of martyrdom's red sunset crown'd ; 
 None other like him, in the days 
 
 Wherein he trod the earth, was found. 
 The swords of men unholy met 
 
 Above that just one, and he bled : 
 But God, the God he served, hath set 
 
 A wreath unfadinsj on his head. 
 
 "Blest is the j^eople, blest and strong, 
 
 Whose pontiffs count a martyr'd saint ; 
 His virtuous memory, lasting long. 
 
 Shall keep their altars pure from taint. 
 The heathen plot ; the tyrants rage ; 
 
 But in their saint the poor shall find 
 A shield, or after many an age 
 
 A Light restored to guide the Blind." 
 
 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
No. IV. 
 
 ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY, 
 
 AND THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS 
 
 SHRINE. 
 
 A.D. 1538. 
 
 It seems obvious to Common Sense that, when a 
 behef in the double nature of man, and the soul's 
 immortality, is admitted and recognized, Relieion' 
 must of necessity hold its own against, and even 
 above, mere temporal laws and enactments. This 
 appears to be a principle of ordinary universal 
 law ; because it has reference to that system of 
 legal obligations under which mankind are ordi- 
 
 ' In his "Traite du Droit Remain" (torn. i. p. 27, Ed. 
 Paris, 1840), Savigny, a Prussian Protestant, lays down the 
 principle that the Universality of Christianity forbids that its 
 laws should be subjected to a purely national or municipal 
 direction. They extend beyond, and by consequence over, 
 temporal municipal law, but without any injury to, or weaken- 
 ing of, its legitimate and proper authority. For the Churcli 
 was not intended to supersede temporal laws and governments, 
 as its origin and objects are different from those of civil polity. 
 
122 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 narily governed ; and which constitute the order 
 of human society. All mere political theories, 
 therefore — and they abound now-a-days — which 
 deliberately and of purpose cast aside Religion, 
 are inherently absurd and ridiculous, because they 
 reject and repudiate the fact of man's double 
 nature, and ignore his firm conviction, i. e. the 
 firm conviction of an overwhelming majority, that 
 he owns a soul as well as a body. The civil state 
 has reference to the use of things temporal, with 
 a view to man's welfare here and the peace of races 
 and nations : the spiritual state has for its object 
 the future existence and eventual fate and destina- 
 tion of man in the world to come. 
 
 A consideration of this obvious and even ele- 
 mentary principle ^ can alone render intelligible 
 
 - A thoughtful writer in a recent number of the Reunion 
 Magazine^ having pubHshed certain opinions which are strongly 
 confirmative of those embodying a principle in the text above, 
 and which, being very interesting and valuable, are here re- 
 printed : — 
 
 " It will be denied by no one that the primary intention of 
 the institution of civil government is to promote the temporal 
 well-being of mankind ; and that the primary intention of the 
 institution called ' The Church ' is to provide for his eternal 
 welfare. Then it may be asked : Is there necessarily, nay, can 
 there be any real antagonism between these two things, namely, 
 between the temporal and eternal interests of humanity; and, 
 therefore, between the institutions which respectively regard 
 them ? Here we must distinguish in our reply. Before the 
 fall these two interests Avere identical, not only in their essen- 
 tial nature, but also in the estimation of the parties concerned. 
 Since the fall, while in their essential nature they remain truly 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 123 
 
 the character and importance of the struggle 
 which, in the twelfth century, St. Thomas of 
 
 identical ; in the estimation of man himself they become dis- 
 tinct, and even antagonistic, because, instead of adhering to 
 the true end of his being, man has sought out many inventions, 
 and has constantly endeavoured to set up his own will in oppo- 
 sition to that of his Maker. And although our Blessed Saviour, 
 in founding His Church, intrusted its officers with powers, 
 which, properly used and recognized, should powerfully conduce 
 to the maintenance of good civil government, and might even 
 have rendered the existence of a separate authority superfluous ; 
 yet it is clear, first, that the guidance of the Holy Ghost which 
 is promised to the Church in spiritual things, does not of itself 
 extend to the actual exigencies of State policy; and secondly, 
 that as the Church can only exercise its authority over its own 
 members, there will always remain room for the operation of 
 separate secular jurisdiction, so long as any large portions of 
 mankind are without its pale. 
 
 " Here we are of course speaking of the Church as wholly and 
 essentially one, without schism, partner or rival, and virtually 
 including all who are baptized and call themselves Christians. 
 But, alas ! men have battered and marred the beauty and 
 power of the Church, and then wonder that she no longer is 
 able to meet the expectations held out of her power and ability 
 to bless them. They forget that all God's blessings and good 
 gifts are offered to man, conditionally upon his co-operation 
 and correspondence with the Divine favours. It is to him 
 that hath, that more is given. God never deals with man as 
 with an automaton or puppet. To do so would be to frustrate 
 His own sovereign and gracious purposes. He has endowed 
 man with intellect and will, and in His Providence and Eco- 
 nomy He expects man to exercise those sublime endowments 
 conformably with a dutiful submission to His own eternal supre- 
 macy. He therefore treats man as a responsible being, a second 
 cause. 
 
 " The actual state of Christendom, divided and distracted as 
 
124 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Canterbury carried on so nobly, and In which, 
 though* he appeared as vanquished, he was still 
 and surely the victor. The immunities of the 
 clergy from secular jurisdiction — no unreasonable 
 proposition at that period, considering the im- 
 portance of securing spiritual independence — was 
 the leading subject in dispute. 
 
 Now, in order rightly to understand the true 
 reason of King Henry the Eighths animus 
 against St. Thomas, and the action which, under 
 the interested advice of shrewd politicians, he took 
 in desecrating his shrine at Canterbury, stealing 
 its treasures and scattering the martyr's sacred 
 relics, it is necessary to recall certain events in 
 the saint's history, and to set them forth with 
 fairness and impartiality : — 
 
 Thomas a Becket, son of Gilbert a Becket, 
 reputed to have been a London trader, of Norman 
 descent, was by King Henry the Second's com- 
 mand elected Archbishop of Canterbury on May 
 24th, 1 162, and consecrated on Whit-Sunday, 
 May 27th, of the same year. 
 
 He had been previously brought forward by 
 
 it is, renders the beneficent action of the Church upon social 
 institutions all but inoperative ; so that we have now to witness 
 a state of things in which the corporate capacities of Christen- 
 dom taken as a whole have been utterly subverted by the evil 
 passions of man. This is a condition entirely at variance with 
 the early promise of the Church, when the brethren were One 
 in heart and mind and soul, and had all things in common." — 
 Reunion Magazine^ No ii. pp. 205, 206 : London, 187S. 
 
SL TJiomas of Canterbury. 125 
 
 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, who first 
 made him archdeacon and introduced him to the 
 king. Henry II. appointed him his chaplain, and 
 soon afterwards made him Lord High Chancellor, 
 He had also been employed as an ambassador. 
 Shortly after his appointment to the see of Canter- 
 bury, in order to do his spiritual work better and 
 more effectually, he resigned the chancellorship, 
 which gave the king great offence. 
 
 In the month of October of the year following, 
 an assembly was held at Westminster, at which 
 complaints were duly and regularly made of the 
 proceedings of the spiritual courts ; and the 
 bishops were required to observe the " Customs," 
 as they were termed, said, whether truly or the 
 reverse, to have been used and followed from the 
 time of King Henry I., — which the prelates pro- 
 mised to do, but only " saving the rights of their 
 order," as they not unreasonably maintained. 
 The insertion of this condition is said to have 
 displeased the king greatly.^ 
 
 Three months afterwards, a Council was held 
 at Clarendon, near Salisbury, at which certain 
 Articles were brought forward by John of Salis- 
 
 ^ " If we wish fairly to judge of the right and the wrong 
 between Henry and Thomas, we must first of all shut our eyes 
 to all modern controversies whatever. We must not carry 
 into that region any modern theories about Church and State, 
 about Catholicism and Protestantism." — E. A. Freeman, 
 D.C.L. 
 
I 2t» Historical Sketches of the Rcfomnation. 
 
 bury, chaplain to the king, specifying exactly and 
 with precision what these " Customs " were sup- 
 posed to be. 
 
 It seems, furthermore, that, after little or no 
 discussion, the bishops were actually compelled 
 by threats of violence to subscribe to them. But 
 the archbishop formally and very speedily re- 
 tracted his consent. And later on constantly 
 expressed sorrow for having so subscribed them. 
 
 Believed to have been Customs ^ of a previous 
 reign, — though questioned by many and repudi- 
 ated by more, — the fact is they revived those very 
 claims which had embroiled King Henry I. with 
 Archbishop St. Anselm and the Popes; and had, 
 as many asserted, been duly abandoned. By their 
 express terms, all questions and disputes concern- 
 ing church patronage were to be determined in 
 the king's courts : churches in the king's demesne 
 were to be filled by him without question, ob- 
 jection, or complaint : the clergy, both in person 
 and property, were rendered amenable to the 
 king's courts : and they were strictly forbidden 
 to go abroad without his express consent. They 
 were likewise distinctly forbidden to appeal to 
 Rome. Vacant bishoprics and other ecclesiastical 
 
 * In the case of these " Customs " some were wholly new : 
 none were of an age older than the Conquest : while, as to the 
 crucial point in dispute, Mr. J. R. Green, in his " Short History 
 of the English People " (p. 103), admits that "the Legislation 
 respecting Ecclesiastical jurisdiction was wholly new." 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbujy. 1 2 7 
 
 dignities were allowed to remain vacant in the 
 king's hands for an unlimited time, the revenues 
 and profits during such period to belong to him ; 
 election to all vacant bishoprics was only to take 
 place after his written licence had been given ; 
 while homage, fealty, and all other services, were 
 due for them as well as for lay fees, except sitting 
 in judgment in matters of life and limb. More- 
 over, the spiritual courts were expressly forbidden 
 to proceed to excommunication of the king's 
 ministers or tenants-in-chief without the kinsf's 
 consent : ^ all pleas of debt were to be judged in the 
 king's courts ; and churchyards were not hence- 
 forth (as hitherto had been the case in many 
 favoured places and reputed localities), to afford 
 shelter for the goods of offenders condemned in 
 those royal courts ; while, finally, no sons of 
 villeins were to receive ordination, without their 
 lord's consent. 
 
 On the above Articles the disputes between the 
 king and the archbishop arose. 
 
 At a Council held in the month of October, 
 A.D. 1 164, at Northampton, several charges were 
 brought against the archbishop chiefly concerning 
 his administration of the king's property during 
 his tenure of the chancellorship. 
 
 ^ " The archbishop saw that to concede this unreservedly 
 would be to place the whole of the clergy at the king's mercy." 
 — " Constitutional History," by the Rev. W. Stubbs, vol. i. 
 p. 464. 
 
128 Hist 01' leal Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 There is most certainly neither evidence, nor 
 any ground for reasonable suspicion, that he had 
 ever, or at any time, applied the king's treasure 
 to his own purpose — a charge rather indirectly 
 asserted than boldly and plainly made. The 
 archbishop pleaded that all such matters had 
 been duly settled with the king's justiciary before 
 he became archbishop ; but he was nevertheless 
 condemned in a larcje sum. On this he intimated 
 his intention of appealing to the Pope, his reason- 
 able right if not his obvious duty. 
 
 Thomas a Becket therefore left Northampton 
 at once, that is on October 1 3th, and after a short 
 stay in Kent, crossed the channel almost imme- 
 diately, landed in Flanders, and found an asylum 
 at Pontigny in Burgundy with the Cistercians 
 there. On learninof this, the kinof banished all 
 the relations and friends of the archbishop, to the 
 number of four hundred, an arbitrary act deserving 
 the severest condemnation. In return the arch- 
 bishop proceeded to excommunicate several of 
 the king's friends, who had intruded upon the due 
 and rightful province of the spiritualty, and inter- 
 fered with the ancient rights of the primatial see, 
 together with such of the bishops and clergy as 
 had consented, contrary to their obligations as 
 clerics, to accept and abide by the Articles or 
 Constitutions of Clarendon. 
 
 Owing to the direct and indirect persecution, 
 originated at the king's instigation, and endured 
 
SL Thomas of Canterbury. 129 
 
 by the monks at Pontigny for having received the 
 archbishop, his Grace left them and took 
 refuge at Sens in 1167, with the permission of 
 Louis VII., King of France, who, warmly 
 espousing the archbishop's cause, had received 
 his exiled relation in the summer of the previous 
 year, and now welcomed the archbishop himself. 
 
 Several attempts at effecting a reconciliation 
 between the king and his chief prelate were made, 
 more especially one which was approved of by 
 Pope Alexander III., in 1169, then residing in 
 France, but they all failed. Meetings of their 
 mutual friends were held, but with no gfood result, 
 as neither party seemed willing to put faith in the 
 other. 
 
 At length, however, that is in July, 11 70, the 
 king and the archbishop were reconciled at Mont 
 Louis, near Tours ; and about five months after- 
 wards Thomas a Becket landed in Kent. But 
 the coronation of the young king as Henry III., 
 performed in his father's lifetime, with the view of 
 consolidating his power, having taken place in 
 the previous June — the sacred ceremonies of 
 anointing and crowning being performed by the 
 Archbishop of York, assisted by the Bishops of 
 London and Salisbury — raised fresh and grave 
 difficulties. It undoubtedly rested, as an inalien- 
 able right, and had always rested, with the Arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury to crown the English 
 sovereign ; and so generally was this known and 
 
 K 
 
1 30 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 admitted by those who made a study of such 
 subjects, and owned authority, that the archbishop 
 had no difficulty whatever in procuring from the 
 holy father Letters of Excommunication for those 
 prelates who had thus so gravely infringed the 
 ancient rights of the Primatial See, which letters 
 he brought with him on landing in Kent. 
 
 The archbishop, on returning to Canterbury, 
 the possessions of which were restored to him 
 upon November 12th of the same year, found 
 that the property of the see had been grievously 
 wasted by the sequestrators, Ranulph and Robert 
 de Broc. Early in December, for reasons which 
 appeared to him good and sufficient, he promul- 
 gated the sentence against the three offending 
 bishops, who therefore proceeded to Normandy, 
 where the king still remained, at the famous 
 Castle of Bur, near Bayeux, and there claimed his 
 protection. Their conversation with the king, 
 which took place on December 24th, caused his 
 Majesty great excitement. Rumours, no doubt 
 wildly exaggerated, of the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury's sayings and doings, had already reached 
 him. The king, though surrounded by state 
 officers, courtiers, and knights, is said to have 
 become frantic on hearing such reports repeated 
 and discussed anew. Some one remarked — it 
 does not seem exactly certain who — " As long as 
 Thomas lives, your Majesty will have neither 
 peaceful kingdom nor quiet life." This remark 
 
SL Thomas of Canterbury. 1 3 1 
 
 only added fuel to the fire. " What sluggards 
 and cowardly wretches, then, must they be," 
 retorted the king, with force and violence, " who 
 will not rid me of this low-born priest, whom I 
 have loaded with gifts, but who deliberately insults 
 a whole race, and tramples on its sovereign ! Are 
 there none," he went on to ask, " who care for 
 their allegiance to their master ? Are there none, 
 not cowards, who will rid me of this base 
 fellow ? " 
 
 The above violent^ words, and specially the 
 ominous and crucial questions which the king had 
 put, were not lost on some of those present. 
 Four English knights heard them, and, obviously 
 instigated from below, resolved to act on the 
 recommendation thus indirectly made to them by 
 their royal lord and master. 
 
 These were Hugh de Moreville, William de 
 Tracy, Richard Le Bret, and Reginald Fitzurse. 
 Moreville, of high rank and office in Cumberland, 
 
 * " These words goaded the king into one of those paroxysms 
 of fury to which all the earlier Plantagenet princes were sub- 
 ject, and which was believed by themselves to arise from a 
 mixture of demoniacal blood in their race." — The Murder of 
 Becket, Quarterly Review, for September, 1853. Of King 
 Henry, a writer on " St. Thomas of Canterbury," in the Re- 
 unioji Magazine, says, " See him, when thwarted in his humour, 
 grovelling like a maniac on the rack, gnawing wisps of straw, 
 or gnashing his teeth, and growling like a wild beast, with 
 those frightful blood-spotted orbs glaring with hatred and 
 ferocity," p. 220. 
 
1^2 
 
 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 was official Forester of that county, and owner of 
 the lands and Castle of Knaresborough in York- 
 shire. William de Tracy, of Gloucestershire, 
 descended on his father's side from the Saxon 
 King Ethelred, and on his mother's (though 
 through her father's base birth) from Henry I. 
 Le Bret, the son of one of the Conqueror's 
 retainers from Brittany, belonged to the county of 
 Somerset, where he had considerable possessions. 
 Reginald Fitzurse, descended from Urso, likewise 
 a retainer of the Conqueror, became the owner of 
 the lands and manor of Willeton, in the same 
 beautiful county. 
 
 Some writers assert that the plot which these 
 four knights undertook to carry out was arranged 
 with the knowledge and by the aid of the Arch- 
 bishop of York — a most determined opponent of 
 a Becket. Others that the king had himself 
 planned it ; and this was believed by some of 
 the contemporaries of St. Thomas. Anyhow the 
 above-named knights left Bur on the very evening 
 of the day on which the king in his furious temper 
 had spoken out his wishes so plainly ; and, crossing 
 the channel singly, two of them landed at Dover, 
 and the other two at Winchelsea. They all 
 arrived together at Saltwood Castle, the residence 
 of Ranulph de Broc, on the evening of De- 
 cember 28th. 
 
 On the following day, Tuesday,^ the 29th, they 
 ' " Tuesday, his friends remarked, had always been a signifi- 
 
SL Thomas of Cantci'biiry. 133 
 
 proceeded to Canterbury, when, after an act of un- 
 warranted intrusion, feigning a commission from 
 the king, they vainly attempted to force the primate 
 of all England to recall the sentence against the 
 Archbishop of York, and the two other prelates ; 
 for he was as firm as a rock. His resolution had 
 been duly taken. 
 
 The end of the story, so grand, solemn, and 
 tragic, has often been told ; though seldom faith- 
 fully and fully. Its terrible close left an impression 
 upon Christendom in general, and on England in 
 particular, which even the senile absurdity and 
 gross sacrilege of Henry VHI. and his minions, in 
 regard to the saint's shrine, have had no power 
 permanently to efface. St. Thomas is still vene- 
 rated by all Catholics who realize the essential 
 distinction between the things of Caesar and the 
 things of God. His name is had in everlasting 
 remembrance ; his feasts endure. His powers as 
 
 cant day in Becket's life. On a Tuesday he was born and bap- 
 tized, on a Tuesday he had fled from Northampton, on a Tues- 
 day he had left the king's court in Normandy, on a Tuesday 
 he had left England on his exile, on a Tuesday he had received 
 warning of his martyrdom in a vision at Pontigny, on a Tues- 
 day he had returned from that exile ; it was now on a Tuesday 
 that the fatal hour came ; and (as the next generation observed), 
 it was on a Tuesday that his enemy, King Henry, was buried ; 
 on a Tuesday that the martyr's relics were translated, and 
 Tuesday was long afterwards regarded as the weekday espe- 
 cially consecrated to the saint with whose fortunes it had thus 
 been so strangely interwoven." — pp. 51, 52 of "Historical 
 Memorials of Canterbury," by A. P. Stanley. London : 1855. 
 
1 34 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 a Saint of the Most High, and as a patron of the 
 clergy and their spiritual rights and privileges, are 
 neither crippled nor enfeebled. The dark events 
 of that Tuesday cannot, therefore, be too often re- 
 called by all believers in Christianity ; more par- 
 ticularly as the struggle between the Spiritual and 
 the Temporal, fierce and bitter in some countries, 
 is being feebly acted over again on the cramped 
 and narrow stage of the local Church of England, 
 by nineteenth-century performers.^ 
 
 So let the grand story be once more duly but 
 
 * " Governments and statesmen — or, at least, persons in 
 high places who very seldom deserve to be called statesmen — 
 hate with a bitter hatred and burning jealousy a Church which 
 is not absolutely under their control, and they want to make 
 religion a department of the State. A Church which they can- 
 not absolutely control gives them trouble, or may do so, and it 
 offends their pride. It is the Mordecai who will not bow down 
 to them. They protest against imperium in imperio ; they 
 would set up an idol of their own — a golden image before 
 whom all must fall down and worship, and they would forbid 
 all men from making petition to God or man, except to the 
 Government. The spirit is the same now that it was in the 
 days of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. So history repeats itself, 
 not always in the same form, but with similar principles. The 
 honourable and learned member for Oxford (Sir W. Vernon 
 Harcourt), told the House of Commons that he supported the 
 Anglican Church, because it was the Creature of Parliament, and 
 by Parliament it could be altered or unmade. He repudiated 
 with indignation the very idea that there could be anything 
 in the Church superior to temporal law; or anything with 
 which Parliament had not a right to deal, as freely as it would 
 deal with a turnpike act. This is the prevalent and received 
 opinion of the present day." — Sir George Bowyer. 
 
SL Thomas of Canter biuy. 135 
 
 briefly narrated, for its points have an obvious 
 purpose, while its weighty lessons some may 
 duly read with advantage and profit. 
 
 Breaking into the palace of the archbishop, the 
 four knights, as has been shown, sought an inter- 
 view with his Grace, asserting that they had a per- 
 sonal and special message from the king. Whether 
 this was true or not seems exceedingly doubtful. 
 Fitzurse appears to have been the chief spokes- 
 man. He urged on the archbishop to do his duty 
 to his sovereign ; and required him to absolve the 
 archbishop and bishops whom he had excommuni- 
 cated. But the Archbishop of Canterbury replied 
 promptly that he ought not and could not submit 
 to the demands made. 
 
 De Moreville, in answer to the Primate's state- 
 ment of the wrongs and insults he had both re- 
 motely and recently received, is said to have asked 
 why the archbishop punished offenders by his 
 own authority, and without reference to the 
 king. 
 
 To which his Grace at once retorted, — 
 
 " How proudly do you, Sir Hugh, lift up your 
 head ! Remember this, however, that when the 
 rights of Holy Church are violated, I shall wait 
 for no man's permission, whether king or subject, 
 to avenge them. Freely to the king I surrender 
 the concerns of the king, but never, under any 
 circumstances, the things of God." 
 
 This plain statement of Christian policy greatly 
 
1 36 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 angered the knights ; so, drawing their swords, 
 they used unworthy and wild threats. 
 
 But the archbishop only answered, " Your 
 threats, sirs, are empty and vain. Were all the 
 swords of England suspended over my head, they 
 would not force me one hair's-breath from my duty 
 to God and to the Pope." 
 
 Enlisting a few others on their side from those 
 who had assembled because of the tumult, and this 
 by appeals to them as servants of the king, amongst 
 whom were William Fitz-Nigel and Ralph Morin, 
 the knights retired and at once proceeded to arm 
 themselves. 
 
 Evidently perceiving that his hour of suffering 
 and martyrdom had come, for his enemies, obvi- 
 ously enough resolute and determined, were now 
 using violence; and also firmly declining the advice 
 of John, Archdeacon of Salisbury, who endea- 
 voured to impress on his master the virtues of sub- 
 mission to the king, and of due moderation in de- 
 fending the right and the truth, he was eventually 
 induced to enter the cathedral. But he was in no 
 hurry, and would not go until his archiepiscopal 
 crucifix was procured, and duly borne before him, 
 according to precedent and custom. Others were 
 excited ; the monks around him were terrified, and 
 would have hurried him onward ; he alone, as he 
 walked statelily through the cloisters, was calm. 
 
 It was the hour of vespers. Darkness had 
 stolen over the city for more than an hour ; for the 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 137 
 
 winter evenings draw in early towards the end of 
 December, and the solemn gloom of the old and 
 venerable cathedral, stately and vast, was already 
 as deep as at midnight. Before the great Rood, 
 however, beside the image of our Lady in her 
 chapel at the north-east corner of the nave, in 
 front of the various altars, (St. Benedict's to the 
 north, and St. Michael's to the south) suspended 
 lamps gleamed and flickered and glowed in the 
 gloom ; but, in so broad and lofty an edifice, served 
 only to make the increasing darkness more visi- 
 ble, save where the lights fell on gilded figure or 
 pictured panel. 
 
 As the archbishop and his attendants were 
 about to enter the cathedral, near the chapter- 
 house, the armed knights, with visors down and 
 naked swords, coming round the cloisters' western 
 side, approached the western door of St. Bene- 
 dict's chapel. It had been closed, after the arch- 
 bishop's entrance, by some of the terrified clergy, 
 who were proceeding to barricade the entrance as 
 best they might. But his Grace, fearless and 
 ready for ^ the sacrifice, called out loudly, " By 
 virtue of your obedience, we command you not to 
 shut the church's door ; for this House of God is 
 not a castle." 
 
 Here all his friends, save three, forsook the 
 fearless archbishop and fled. Robert, his old 
 tutor, Fitz-Stephen, his chaplain, and Edward 
 Grim, firm and faithful, alone remained. The 
 
o 
 
 8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 primate had been fervently and frequently urged 
 to fly and secrete himself in some remote and 
 unknown recess of the great cathedral : there 
 were many such, and near at hand ; but he abso- 
 lutely refused. There he stood, erect and noble, 
 on the steps to the choir, in the north transept, 
 near to the altar of St. Benedict, and not far from 
 the chapel of St. Blaise above. 
 
 " Where is Thomas Becket, a traitor to the 
 king ? " wildly and loudly screamed out one of the 
 armed knights. 
 
 But to such a query no reply could have been 
 vouchsafed. 
 
 " Where is the archbishop "^ " Fitzurse de- 
 manded in an imperious voice. 
 
 " Here I am, Reginald ; no traitor, but your 
 archbishop and a priest of God. What ask 
 you : 
 
 " Absolve those bishops whom you have excom- 
 municated," promptly replied the knight in a fury. 
 
 " I can and will do no other than I have done," 
 was the archbishop's firm and simple reply. 
 " But why come you thus armed into our 
 church } " he asked. 
 
 " You shall die, traitor ! Fly at once ! fly, for 
 you are a dead man ! " 
 
 " I am ready to die for God and His holy 
 Church, if God wills it ; but I warn you in the 
 Almighty's Name to let my men escape." 
 
 Here the kniorhts, havincj resolved on taking^ 
 
SL Thomas of Canterbury. 139 
 
 his life, but dreading that the sin of sacrilege 
 should be added to murder, strove hard, by force 
 and violence, to drag the archbishop from the 
 south side of St. Benedict's altar, and carry him 
 out of the sacred precincts, but, his Grace stoutly 
 resistinpf, this could not be done. Now, however, 
 had the hour of darkness come. 
 
 With coarse epithets and loud imprecations 
 they therefore cried out, " Strike ! strike ! " 
 
 The sword of Fitzurse, flashing in the gloom, 
 fell. His was the first stroke. The archbishop 
 was wounded, and his blood flowed. 
 
 " We commend our cause and the Church's 
 cause to God, to St. Denys, and St. Alphege," 
 calmly ejaculated the holy sufferer, and, with 
 joined palms, bent his saintly neck to the smiters. 
 
 Tracy and Fitzurse, instigated by the powers of 
 darkness, immediately brandished their swords 
 again. One, in its fierce fall, struck the inter- 
 cepted arm of Grim, the faithful monk, who, 
 smitten and disabled, crept aside ; the other struck 
 the archbishop on the side of his head, and, 
 glancing off, wounded him anew and sorely on the 
 left shoulder, even to the very bone. The end 
 was still nearer now. 
 
 " Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my 
 spirit," were the beautiful words which, in his 
 passion, passed the dying martyr's lips. 
 
 With his calm face, down which the blood was 
 flowinor, turned towards the altar of St. Benedict, 
 
140 Historical SkctcJics of the Reformation. 
 
 recollected and prepared, full of trust in God, he 
 received a third blow from Tracy, and then, bend- 
 ing on his knees, and ejaculating, " I die for the 
 Name of Jesus and in defence of His Church," 
 fell down at length upon the altar steps. 
 
 Here, with a violent imprecation, and with 
 words of insult, Richard Le Bret, waving his 
 sword over his shoulders, brought it down with 
 such tremendous force upon the already wounded 
 head of the prostrate and bleeding archbishop that 
 the crown and scalp were severed, and the huge 
 sword snapped in two on striking the chapel pave- 
 ment. Another of the sacrilegious murderers at 
 once, planting his foot on the neck of the martyr, 
 barbarously thrust the point of his sword into the 
 gaping wound and scattered the archbishop's 
 brains upon the sanctuary floor. So died, for the 
 liberties of the Church, the greatest prelate who 
 has ever sat in the chair of St. Austin.'^ 
 
 ^ Notwithstanding the destruction of the Reformation era, a 
 few representations of the martyrdom exist. One of the most 
 exact occurs in an illuminated Psalter in the British Museum 
 (Harl. MS. No. 1502). There is, or was, a fresco of the same 
 on the wall of Brereton Church, county Chester (See " Archaso- 
 logia," vol. ix.). A good representation remains likewise in a 
 handsome MS. in the library of the college of Old Aberdeen, 
 which I inspected, and of which I wrote some "Notes" in one of 
 thelatervolumesof the ''Ecclesiologist." (See Appendix No. IV.) 
 That on a panel at the head of King Henry the Fourth's tomb 
 at Canterbury has been reproduced with considerable fidelity in 
 the late Mr. Carter's " Ancient Sculpture and Painting." And 
 there is, or was, a picture of the event in the Chapel of the Holy 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 141 
 
 Rushing out of the church, with a furious and 
 demoniacal shout of frenzied triumph, the mur- 
 derers made at once for the private apartments of 
 the palace. Sacred vessels, rich with jewels, 
 covered cups of beaten gold, vestments, books, 
 and church ornaments ; papal bulls, charters, 
 letters, and private coffers were all ruthlessly 
 seized, as well as the contents of the chaplain's 
 lodgings and the horses from the archbishop's 
 stables. Fitz-Stephen estimated the amount of 
 plunder secured at no less than two thousand 
 marks. The same writer states that, when the 
 murderers were escaping from the cathedral, an 
 awful thunderstorm, of more than usual severity, 
 broke over the city of Canterbury, and continued 
 for some hours. 
 
 Towards midnight, Osbert, the chamberlain of 
 the archbishop, and the monks (as the various 
 records of the event seem to imply) had placed 
 the body on a bier — the face was most calm and 
 beautiful in death — and carried it to the choir in 
 front of the high altar. The gashes and gory 
 wounds upon the pale corpse were reverently 
 bathed, the scattered brains and blood carefully 
 
 Cross, Stratford. It represents the archbishop with the pall 
 over his shoulders, half prostrated before an altar, with the four 
 armed knights attacking him. Two have raised the points of 
 their swords to his head. Another is wildly brandishing a 
 sword high in the air. Edward Grim stands in the distance. 
 There is a chalice and a book, with two lighted tapers on the 
 altar. And blood is streamins: down from his wounds. 
 
1 4 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 gathered and treasured up ; vessels were placed 
 to catch any blood which might still fall ; and the 
 monks sat silent or weeping around the remains 
 of their archbishop, in the dimly-lighted choir. 
 
 Here and now it was that Robert of Merton, 
 his confessor and faithful friend, unfolded to those 
 assembled something of the austerities of the 
 martyred archbishop, in proof of which, unfolding 
 the outer dress, he showed the monastic habit and 
 under varments of horsehair which the deceased 
 prelate had worn, both on his lower limbs and 
 body, next to his skin. The delight of the com- 
 munity on seeing these knew no bounds. Falling 
 on their knees, as Fitz-Stephen states, they first 
 thanked God, and then, reverently kissing the 
 hands and feet of the body, they enthusiastically 
 called the archbishop " St. Thomas," and vene- 
 rated his remains as those of one of the noble 
 army of martyrs. 
 
 The people of the city came in crowds to the 
 church, anxious, excited, and interested. Dipping 
 their hands in the water which had been used to 
 wash the corpse, they made the sacred sign on 
 their foreheads, mouths, and breasts, praising and 
 glorifying God. One citizen, taking a fragment 
 of linen dipped into this water, carried it home 
 and applied it to the pain-smitten body of his 
 paralyzed wife, who was instantly cured. 
 
 The monks, in mental prayer and meditation, 
 continued to watch round the bier all through the 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 143 
 
 night. People in the city, disturbed and wakeful, 
 when the storm was over, saw the northern sky 
 all crimsoned with a deep glow, and looked trem- 
 blingly upon the unusual sight as ominous of the 
 wrath of God. From the interior of the cathedral 
 the sky still seemed black and murky ; but when 
 the first streaks of light came into the choir from 
 the east, and another wintry morning broke after 
 the gloom and darkness of the midnight storm, 
 those who were still watching and praying are 
 reported to have seen the ringed right hand of the 
 martyr, white and bloodless, rise slowly from his 
 side and draw the sacred sign of the cross in 
 benediction over those faithful friends who had 
 been watchinof round his bier.' 
 
 He was buried in a new tomb in the old crypt, 
 between the altar of St. Augustine the Apostle of 
 England, and that of St. John the Baptist. Vested 
 in full pontificals — in amice and alb, tunick, dal- 
 matick, chasuble, and pall of lamb's-wool, with 
 mitre, pastoral staff, gloves, and sapphire ring^ — 
 he was solemnly laid to rest, at no great distance 
 from the spot where he had so bravely and 
 devoutly received the abiding glory of a martyr's 
 crown. For this honour was given him by the 
 common consent of Christendom, by prelates, 
 
 ' Roger de Hovenden, " Annales," p. 299. ' 
 
 * These were the actual vestments in which he had re- 
 ceived consecration. Vita S. Thorn. Cant. Arch., W. Fitz- 
 Stephen. 
 
144 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 priests, and people, by the universal acclamation 
 of the faithful everywhere. 
 
 Pope Alexander III., in the year 1172, having 
 duly sent a commission to investigate the numerous 
 miracles reported to have been done at his tomb, 
 with a view to his canonization, that step was 
 formally taken on March 3rd in the year ensuing, 
 and the day of his death, December 29th, was by 
 competent and acknowledged authority duly made 
 a feast-day of high rank henceforth for evermore. 
 
 Subsequently the relics of St. Thomas were 
 formally translated from the crypt to a special 
 shrine prepared for them. A considerable portion 
 of the eastern part of the cathedral was rebuilt in 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the year 
 1220, in the reign of King Henry III., this 
 solemn translation in question occurred. Tues- 
 day, the 7th of July, was the day selected, and 
 certainly the city of Canterbury had never seen 
 such a spectacle, nor been thronged with nobler 
 or greater ^ than those who then orathered to 
 honour the martyred saint. 
 
 The year selected for this deed was exactly the 
 fiftieth from the death and martyrdom of St. 
 Thomas. Stephen Langton, Cardinal Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, had duly prepared the faithful for 
 
 ^ The interested or curious reader may profitably consult the 
 metrical Life of St. Thomas written by Robert of Gloucester in 
 his interesting and valuable " Chronicle in Verse." Thomas 
 Hearne, the Oxford antiquary, first printed it. 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 145 
 
 the eVent. A Pastoral from his Eminence's pen 
 had not only been circulated throughout England, 
 but sent to the chief centres of ecclesiastical life 
 and power throughout Western Christendom. 
 Devoted and zealous pilgrims came from all parts, 
 in response to the primate's indirect invitation, to 
 join in the great martyr's triumph. 
 
 Orders had been given by the Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop to make due provision for the moving 
 multitudes who swarmed towards Canterbury, by 
 all those who were tenants of his Eminence. Hay 
 and provender by consequence were freely distri- 
 buted to all who needed them. Wine in abun- 
 dance made glad the hearts of thousands, who, 
 both from distant and near parts of the continent, 
 added materially to the throng of Englishmen 
 taking their way to the sacred city, and cheered 
 them on the journey thither. 
 
 On the evening of Tuesday, the 6th of July, the 
 divine offices having been sung in choir, the Car- 
 dinal Archbishop, with Richard, Bishop of Sarum, 
 and the prior and monks of the cathedral all 
 abstaining, entered the crypt, and then with due 
 and reverent rites formally opened the martyr's 
 tomb, and prepared his sacred relics for their 
 solemn translation to the new shrine on the 
 morrow. Four clerics, with a special reputation 
 for sanctity, alone handled the body of the martyr, 
 which was reverently kissed in turn by all those 
 present. A coped chest of carved box-wood, 
 
 L 
 
1 46 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 covered with precious metal, and with strong 
 bands and secure locks, and lined with snow-white 
 samite, received the precious remains, which were 
 then temporarily laid in a secret under-croft 
 waiting for the rites to ensue of the morrow, 
 
 Masses, on the 7th of July, were said from the 
 break of day at the various altars of the cathedral. 
 The Sanctus bells rang incessantly. Thousands 
 crowded up to the sacred spots where the tapers 
 gleamed, and the mystic sacrifice was being offered; 
 while those who received the Body of their Saviour 
 could scarcely be numbered. They came and 
 went, and went and came, earnest and deep in 
 devotion and outward acts of piety. Other pil- 
 grims, standing before the Lord's Table, leaning 
 upon their staves, bent reverently or kissed the 
 pavement at the elevation, and adored God mani- 
 fest in the flesh. All were looking with anxiety 
 for the special solemnities of the morning. The 
 cathedral was thronged from side to side. 
 
 Up the stately nave came the long and orderly 
 procession at the hour of Terce. Bells clanged 
 from the tower overhead, telling a tale of conquest 
 and triumph. Rich hangings round the broad 
 pillars of the nave, and banners gleaming with 
 blue and gold and vermilion, figures of the saints, 
 heraldic charges and symbolical devices, hung upon 
 the sacred walls. The morning sunshine of J uly 
 fell brightly through the pictured windows on 
 cross, and tapers, and choristers, and monks, and 
 
St. Thomas of Canterbury. 147 
 
 clergy. All the bishops of England, save three, 
 were present in cope and mitre, and with pastoral 
 staff. Solemn psalms and joyous sequences, in 
 tones as ancient as the days of St. Gregory and 
 St. Ambrose of Milan, were chanted as the stately 
 procession passed slowly onward and upward 
 towards the high altar and St. Austin's chair. 
 
 The wooden shrine of St. Thomas, affixed to 
 two long staves inlaid with silver, was carried by 
 six of the noblest and most potent of the 
 realm. Hubert de Burgh, the Lord High Justi- 
 ciary, and five other noblemen of superior rank, 
 clad in their official garments, taking the silvered 
 staves, three on one side and three on the other, 
 raised it on to their shoulders, and then with 
 martial tread followed in their appointed order. 
 On either side, in rochet and cope, prelates bore 
 lighted tapers ; while clouds of incense round and 
 about the sacred treasure rose upward to the 
 cathedral roof. Crowds bent the knee. Every 
 heart was glad. 
 
 Then came King Henry HI., surrounded by 
 the great officers of state, who bore a canopy over 
 their sovereign. 
 
 The Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, with 
 all the insignia of his exalted office, and attended 
 by his eight chaplains, came in the rear, with the 
 Primate of France, the Archbishop of Rheims, on 
 his right hand, and Pandulph, Legate of the Holy 
 See and Bishop of Norwich, on the Primate's left. 
 
 L 2 
 
1 48 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Solemn pontifical mass was sung by the French 
 Archbishop, in the presence of the Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and nearly the whole of the 
 hierarchy, according to the ancient Rite of the 
 august and venerable church of Salisbury, with 
 three bishops as deacon, sub-deacon, and priest, 
 assisting. The chaplains of these prelates took 
 part in the ordered ceremonies. Monks sang the 
 plain chant, accompanied by two small organs. 
 Boys in cassocks and rochets lent their voices 
 likewise. The many steps of the altar-sanctuary 
 were thronged with officials bearing lighted tapers 
 or performing their appointed duties. Silver 
 lamps hung before the high altar, towards which 
 all turned, and, from time to time, bent in lowliest 
 adoration. For now acolytes were ringing the 
 clear-voiced Sanctus bells, and soon the act of 
 sacrifice was to be consummated. Censers moving 
 from side to side, or flung high up in the air, gave 
 forth their sweetest perfume in swelling clouds — 
 beautiful symbol of the prayers of the saints 
 offered before the throne of God the Trinity. 
 The rite was now ended, the pax given, the 
 blessing bestowed, the last gospel chanted. 
 
 Nothing remained, therefore, but to finish the 
 great work of the day. The chest or coffer con- 
 taining the saint's remains, which, during high 
 mass had rested temporarily under a canopy of 
 cloth-of-gold before the high altar, guarded by 
 those nobles who had borne it in procession, was 
 
5/. Thomas of Canterbury. 1 49 
 
 then deposited within the new and special shrine 
 prepared for it at the extreme east end of the new 
 portion of the cathedral ; while henceforth the 
 day was numbered amongst the more important 
 feasts of Holy Church, and is known throughout 
 western Christendom as " The Festival of the 
 Translation of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, and Martyr." 
 
 Duringf three centuries and a half this shrine 
 was an object of interest and attraction to hun- 
 dreds of thousands from all parts of the world.* 
 No other EnMish saint attained such wide and 
 marked fame. And why "^ According to the 
 Chronicle of Benedict of Peterborough (or who- 
 ever else was the author of the treatise) such a 
 divine manifestation of miraculous powers as were 
 
 ■ * " Hume," remarks that plain-spoken writer, William Cob- 
 bett, "is vexed to have to relate that more than a hundred 
 thousand pilgrims to Becket's shrine have been assembled at 
 one time in Canterbury. Indeed ! Why then there must have 
 been some people living in England even in those old. times ; 
 and those people must have had some wealth too : though, 
 according to the whole tenor of the lying book which the 
 Scotch call our 'History,' this was at the time I am now 
 speaking of a poor, beggarly, scarce-inhabited country. The 
 city of Canterbury does not now contain men, women, and 
 children, all counted and well puffed out, more than twelve 
 thousand, seven hundred, and twenty souls. Poor souls! How 
 could they find lodging and entertainment for a hundred thou- 
 sand grown persons ! And this, too, observe at one corner of 
 the island." — " A History of the Protestant Reformation." 
 Letter vi. p. 95, Ed. 186S. 
 
1 50 Historical Sketches of tJie Refo7'7nation. 
 
 frequently seen at St. Thomas's shrine had been 
 altogether unknown for generations. Strangers 
 as well as Englishmen were the benefited subjects 
 of them. From the highest to the lowest, by 
 consequence, there came pilgrims, and in increas- 
 ing numbers, to venerate the martyr's memory. 
 Already, at his temporary tomb, King Henry had 
 devoutly done his appointed penance, having gone 
 barefooted through the city to the cathedral ; 
 knelt to kiss the pavement where the martyr fell, 
 received absolution and five strokes of the " dis- 
 cipline " from each of the prelates present, and 
 then passed a whole night fasting in the church. 
 Here, during the month of September, 1179, 
 Louis VH. of France, in acknowledgment of the 
 recovery of his son Philip Augustus, kneeling, 
 offered the celebrated jewel which might have 
 ransomed a race. King Richard's first act upon 
 landing at Sandwich on March 20, 1194, was to 
 walk from that port to Canterbury, and thank 
 God Almighty for his conquests, deliverance, and 
 return home. Thither, too, five years later, went 
 King John, soon after his unction and coronation, 
 to venerate St. Thomas with devotion, and to 
 leave some offerings worthy of a king at his 
 shrine. Edward I. (who had just previously 
 brought the " Stone of Destiny " from Scone, in 
 Scotland, to the tomb of St. Edward the Con- 
 fessor, at Westminster, where, under the corona- 
 tion chair, it still remains), visited Canterbury 
 
S^. Thomas of Cantei'bury. 1 5 i 
 
 Cathedral in the year 1299, and left, as a memorial 
 of his visit, the golden crown of John Balliol. 
 Thither, too, journeyed Isabella, Queen of 
 Edward II., who is recorded to have left gifts at 
 the tomb itself, at the " Crown," or " Corona " (as 
 it was termed), and at the " Altar of the point of 
 the sword." In the " Household Accounts" of 
 King Edward III., for the twenty-fifth and 
 twenty-sixth years, the oblations of Queen 
 Philippa are thus entered : — " At the shrine 
 xl shillings ; at the altar of the pimctum ensis 
 V s., and in alms xij d. Edward of Woodstock 
 offered, on the same occasion, xij d. at the shrine ; 
 the same amount at Our Lady's image in the 
 crypt, and a like sum at the ' Crown.' " Others 
 came from Scotland, France, Italy, and Bohemia. 
 None left without leaving behind them substantial 
 memorials of their visits. 
 
 Not kings and nobles, however, but members of 
 all classes went to Canterbury in pilgrimage. 
 Foreigners who came from the eastern parts of 
 Europe, or home travellers who had journeyed 
 thither and back, landed usually at Sandwich, then 
 a port of great importance, and so took their way 
 direct to the ancient city of St. Augustine. 
 Another road for pilgrims from Anjou, Brittany, 
 and Western Normandy, lay from Southampton 
 across the Surrey downs, from Farnham, the seat 
 of the Bishops of Winchester, westward by a beau- 
 tiful and picturesque road into Kent. Some would 
 
152 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 probably go through Merstham, where a narrow- 
 lane in the parish is still known as the " Pilgrim's 
 Lane." A " Pilgrim's Farm," near Titsey, on the 
 same route, likewise retains its old designation. 
 Through Chevening Park, by Wrotham and Trot- 
 terscliffe, past Snodland, near the Medway ; 
 pilgrims took their way, and then by Deptling, 
 Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, and Lenham, places 
 all retaining some memories of those who passed 
 through them, to Charing, Chilham, Harbledown, 
 and so on to Canterbury. From London, down 
 the Old Kent Road, by Sevenoaks and Dartford, 
 a little northward, was then commonly the first 
 resting-place, for pilgrims ; and here, as well as in 
 South wark, the sale of what are known as "pilgrims' 
 tokens " ^ was largely carried on. Other roads from 
 different parts of England, north and west and 
 east, are still remembered as the " ways of the 
 Palmers," or " the pilgrims' path." Near some of 
 these roads, wayside chapels, or mere oratories, 
 dedicated to the saint, once stood ; but these have 
 long since been razed to the ground, and in some 
 cases the very sites are grass-grown, and all but 
 forgotten. 
 
 * Canterbury Pilgrims' tokens were mainly little bottles of 
 moulded lead, containing holy water, in which some part of the 
 saint's relics had been placed, or with which originally his wounds 
 had been washed. They were of various shapes, some being rude 
 representations of him, some were made in the form of mitres ; 
 others represented his head cleft with a sword, (S:c. 
 
Sf. Thomas of CantcrbiLry. 153 
 
 It is more than probable that pilgrims to the 
 shrine were first shown the actual spot of vSt. 
 Thomas's martyrdom in the northern transept. 
 Those who could afford them, or had provided 
 themselves beforehand, bore lighted tapers in pro- 
 cession, and went orderly, two and two, saying 
 their Rosary or other devotions, with downcast eyes 
 and with marked external devotion. Somner, the 
 Canterbury historian, has preserved the following- 
 lines which are said to have existed down to the 
 sixteenth century, written over the door by which 
 this transept was entered : — 
 
 "1£st sneer infra locus bcncrabilis ntquc tiratus 
 ^rasul ulii Sanctus 5II;omas est martprisatus." 
 
 Here there was an ancient wooden altar, with an 
 inlaid stone slab in its centre, before which the saint 
 had fallen in death. Here too were shown various 
 relics connected with him, and specially the fragment 
 of Le Bret's sword, which, as already recorded, had 
 been snapped by its sudden contact with the floor 
 at the actual moment of St. Thomas's martyrdom. 
 
 The pilgrims, each bearing a lighted taper, were 
 then taken down to the old Norman crypt, illumi- 
 nated by lines and crowns of hanging silver lamps, 
 suspended from the groined ceiling above, which 
 shed a soft sflow over the vast and varied collec- 
 tion of gathered treasures. Inlaid marble work, 
 representing various Christian symbols on a gold 
 ground, with plates of rich enamels, where strange 
 
154 Historical Skctclics of the Reformation. 
 
 devices had been wrought with art and skill, 
 adorned the curvins;- roof. Here was exhibited to 
 the kneeling pilgrims a portion of the saint's skull, 
 set in gold ; with other portions of his dress and 
 official ornavienta. 
 
 The treasures of the sacristry on the north side 
 of the choir were then inspected. In standing 
 aumbries of old oak, bound with bands of brass, 
 and secured by artfully-made locks, these were 
 placed upon shelves, ranged in order, and glittering 
 with jewels and wrought metal, beaten and chased. 
 Few cathedrals in Christendom could have equalled 
 Canterbury in the number and splendour of its 
 ecclesiastical treasures. Golden candlesticks and 
 reliquary crosses, chrysmatories and ciboida, stand- 
 ing lamps of silver, precious mitres, thuribles, 
 images, tablets of carved ivories, and chalices, rich 
 with uncut gems, were crowded together upon the 
 shelves of these sacristy aumbries. But to the pil- 
 grims the most notable objects of interest were a 
 wooden pastoral staff of the martyr, of the simplest 
 form, with crook of horn, and with a blood-stained 
 vexillum, or handkerchief,*' attached to it. 
 
 ® Dean Stanley in his account of the Pilgrims' visit, " His- 
 torical Memorials of Canterbury Cathedral," becomes witty at 
 the exhibition of a " handkerchief," it was the handkerchief with 
 which the saint " blew his nose." This, however, was originally 
 only a square piece of linen commonly suspended from the neck 
 of a bishop's pastoral staff, so that the moist hand might not 
 be constantly coming into contact with a staff of metal. In 
 later times it was made of silk or satin, and embroidered. 
 
SL Thomas of Canierdury. 1 5 5 
 
 Coming out again into the ambulatory, a few 
 paces eastwards brought them to the shrine itself, 
 standing in the middle of the chapel of the Most 
 Holy and Undivided Trinity, at the cathedral's 
 extreme east end. The shrine stood due east and 
 west, halfway between the entrance and the lowest 
 platform of the chapel altar. On either side, the 
 windows glowed with pictured glass. Gilding, 
 colours, carving in the costliest marbles, enamels, 
 and the richest hano-inors, were found on all sides. 
 Encaustic tiles, bright in themselves, but harmo- 
 nizing wonderfully with what was around, covered 
 the floor. 
 
 The shrine, properly so called, consisted of two 
 parts, the lower of which was of stone or marble, 
 and that above of wood. Round the former were 
 recessed arcades of some architectural character ; 
 while above rose a wooden construction, coped 
 at the top, possibly cased with precious metal 
 enamelled and adorned, and crowned with three 
 highly-wrought finials of silver gilt, each weighing 
 from sixty to eighty ounces. From a drawing of 
 the shrine in one of the Cottonian MSS.,'' in the 
 British Museum, probably made by some person 
 who actually took part in its destruction, or at 
 least was present on the occasion, it appears that 
 the bones of the saint were preserved in a chest of 
 iron — which, in the drawing referred to, is repre- 
 sented in front of the shrine itself. This, however, 
 ' MSS. Cotton. Tiberius E., viii. folio 269. 
 
156 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 no doubt stood upon the middle of the lower part, 
 carefully embedded in the same, and commonly 
 canopied with the coped cover of wood. When 
 this latter was raised by the keeper of the shrine 
 by ropes suspended to the groined roof above, 
 then, plated with gold — wrought, embossed, en- 
 graved, and enamelled — and covered with innu- 
 merable gold ornaments, jewels, pearls, and pre- 
 cious stones, gleaming and glittering in the light 
 of clusters of wax-candles and pendant silver 
 lamps, the shrine itself, in all the splendour of its 
 riches, was presented to view. 
 
 The offerings at the shrine consisted ordinarily 
 of rings, brooches, rosaries, ivory carvings of 
 great antiquity, cups of precious metal, jewelled 
 personal ornaments ; wrought or carved represen- 
 tations of the donor's patron saint, embossed and 
 engraved vessels of gold and silver, and priceless 
 precious stones of the rarest character and size. 
 
 Although, during three centuries and more, 
 hundreds of thousands visited the shrine, it has 
 been said, and may be said again, that few 
 amongst these knew, even in a general way, the 
 true history of the saint they had come to venerate, 
 and the importance of his deeds and acts ; yet the 
 Christian instinct of the pious and instructed was 
 no doubt always keen enough to see that St. 
 Thomas had waged a noble war for the indepen- 
 dence of the kingdom of God, and to know that, 
 like his Master, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour 
 
SL TJiomas of CantcrbiLvy. 1 5 7 
 
 (though humbly and at a distance), he had con- 
 quered his enemies in and by his death. 
 
 We have now learnt something of St. Thomas's 
 Shrine in its glory. Its utter destruction — so 
 utter that not a trace of it remains — must now be 
 briefly narrated. 
 
 It is generally allowed that King Henry VIII, 
 was indebted to Thomas Cromwell for the idea 
 of bringing to trial an Archbishop of Canterbury 
 who had been dead and canonized for more than 
 three hundred years. 
 
 Two reasons no doubt influenced his Majesty 
 in acting on this advice, from whatever quarter 
 it may have come : firstly, a desire to destroy or 
 circumscribe the spiritual and social influence 
 which St. Thomas of Canterbury, during those 
 centuries, had notoriously exercised; and secondly, 
 a sincere wish to secure the vast and costly trea- 
 sures of that saint's much-venerated shrine. 
 
 Throughout England in an especial manner, as 
 well as throughout the whole of Western Chris- 
 tendom, the archbishop's name and deeds were 
 held sacred,** — for he was properly regarded and 
 
 * Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII., 
 evidently had a deep veneration for his great predecessor St. 
 Thomas ; for immediately before his death (as Harpesfield 
 relates) " He charged upon his blessing the right worshipful 
 Sir William Warham, Knt., his nephew and godson, being 
 then a young gentleman and waiting upon him in his chamber, 
 that if ever after his death any should succeed in that see 
 called ' Thomas,' he should in no wise serve him, or seek his 
 
158 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 venerated as the martyr of national liberty and 
 ecclesiastical independence. In the contest be- 
 tween the Church and the Crown, he had fought 
 the battle ; and, in dying, had conquered. Even 
 some of the most "Liberal" historians have asked 
 that justice should be done to one of the most 
 remarkable English prelates of mediaeval times. 
 For it is notorious that when King Henry II., 
 amongst other new and unprecedented proposi- 
 tions, maintained that clerks-in-orders should be 
 tried for felony before the tribunals of the king's 
 Courts, he certainly violated the then existing 
 constitution of the country. 
 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury in the conflict fell ; 
 and became a great defender of the Church's 
 spiritual privileges and independence ; because 
 he firmly and persistently declined to withdraw 
 an excommunication which he had pronounced 
 against three prelates whom he could not pardon 
 without directly exposing himself to the spiritual 
 censures of the Apostolic See. The distinct and 
 
 favour or acquaintance ; for there shall (saith he) one of that 
 name shortly enjoy this see, that shall as much by his vicious 
 living as wicked heresies, dishonour, waste, and destroy the 
 same, and the whole Church of England, as ever the blessed 
 bishop and martyr, St. Thomas, did before beautify, bless, 
 ordain, and honour the same. This I heard not long since 
 out of the mouth of the said Sir William who yet liveth." 
 Harpesfield's " Treatise of Marriage," lib. ii. p. 97. And the 
 same prophetic utterance is recorded in that writer's Hist. 
 Eccl. Aiigl. p. 623. 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbiiry. 159 
 
 important privileges which had been granted to 
 the Church of England by Magna Charta de- 
 manded from him, the Primate of all England, a 
 distinct and firm resistance of the novel position 
 of the king — the promoter of the Constitutions 
 of Clarendon, whose Articles, when carefully exa- 
 mined, are seen to be an outrageous attempt 
 against the reasonable and proper liberty of the 
 subject. 
 
 On April 24th, 1538, the Attorney-General 
 was instructed to commence formal proceedings 
 against Thomas Becket, sometime Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and the following magniloquent sum- 
 mons ^ was placed upon his tomb : — 
 
 " Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, 
 France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and 
 Supreme Head of the Church of England, By the 
 tenor of These Presents, We cite thee, Thomas, 
 formerly Archbishop of Canterbury, to appear 
 before Our sovereign Council, to answer for the 
 causes of thy death ; for thy scandals committed 
 
 * Dean Stanley in his " Historical Memorials of Canter- 
 bury " seems to imply that this was merely a rumour or report. 
 He writes, " On the 24th of April, 1538 (such at any rate was 
 the story reported all over the continent of Europe), a summons 
 was addressed," &c. Again he writes, " Such at least was the 
 belief dX Rome," pp. 197, 198 : London, 1855. There is abun- 
 dant authority for the facts, not rumours and reports, set forth in 
 the text above. In fact the king himself alludes to this process 
 against the remains of the dead in one of his Royal Proclama- 
 tions. — See Wilkins' " Concilia,'" tom. iii. 848. 
 
i6o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 against the kings Our predecessors : for thine in- 
 solence in arrogating to thyself the title of ' Martyr,' 
 since thou sufferedst rather as a rebel arainst the 
 king, thy Lord and Master, than as a defender 
 of the Catholic Faith ; and for thy disobedience 
 to the laws of sovereign prince and judge as We 
 are in matters ecclesiastical. And as thy crimes 
 were committed against that Regal Majesty with 
 which We likewise are invested. We now summon 
 thee to receive thy sentence. If no one duly 
 authorized appear in thy defence, judgment will 
 be passed according to the laws of the land. 
 
 "At London : April 24th, 1538." 
 
 Never, perhaps, in the whole history of legal 
 processes, was such an absurd and ridiculous 
 document issued. The legal wits of the time, 
 sharpened by the comments of some men in high 
 authority, are said to have made themselves merry 
 over its palpable and patent absurdities. This 
 fact, however, exercised no influence over those 
 who had conceived the idea of drawing it up and 
 acting on It. They were too markedly bent upon 
 their two-fold scheme, either to relax or relent. 
 
 So that, after an interval of thirty days, given 
 to St. Thomas to provide advocates and to prepare 
 his defence, the case was actually called on for 
 trial, before judges who may be presumed to have 
 kept their countenances only with difficulty. 
 
 It is needless to put on record the fact that St. 
 Thomas did not rise from his shrine and put in 
 
S^. Thomas of Canterbury. 1 6 1 
 
 an appearance. In order, therefore, that neither 
 the legal wits nor the observant public should be 
 able to say that the condemnation of the Arch- 
 bishop (which, of course, had been already re- 
 solved on "for divers good and weighty reasons ") 
 had taken place without a hearing, the king ap- 
 pointed a counsellor to appear for the cited saint. 
 
 The court met at Westminster on the nth of 
 June for the formal acting of this unsolemn and 
 senseless legal farce. ^ It was with difficulty that 
 those who were specially engaged in it could keep 
 from smiling. The crown lawyers of course did 
 their best to defend the policy and conduct of 
 Henry II,, endeavouring to prove that the Consti- 
 tutions of Clarendon were just and righteous : and 
 that St. Thomas was proud, contumacious, and 
 rebellious, in opposing them : that, moreover, the 
 murderers of the saint had unquestionably acted 
 as good servants and faithful subjects of their 
 sovereign the king, and had in fact performed a 
 righteous and meritorious deed in ridding the 
 kingdom of a notorious disturber of the king's 
 peace, and a traitor. 
 
 The counsel whom the king had appointed to 
 
 ^ Several Liberal and Protestant writers of history have 
 endeavoured to deny this act of folly. But the proofs of it are 
 too many and too certain to enable them to do so with truth. 
 In fact, Pope Paul III., in the Bull Cum Redemptor noster, 
 dated 17th December, 1538, publicly and pointedly held up 
 these profane and irrehgious proceedings to the well-deserved 
 execration of Christendom, 
 
 M 
 
i62 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 represent the inculpated archbishop prudently- 
 held his tongue. As he was utterly unable to 
 refute the novel but grave charges made against 
 his client, silence was obviously his wisest policy. 
 The king and Cromwell, therefore, easily had 
 their own way. All the carefully-made arrange- 
 ments had thus turned out as it was intended 
 they should ; and the saint was in due course 
 publicly condemned for contumacy and other 
 transcjressions. 
 
 It was formally maintained and put on record, 
 with due verbosity, that as " Thomas a Becket," 
 (as he was termed in the proceedings) had 
 neither come forward in person to disavow, nor 
 had his counsel been able to repel, the grave 
 charges of rebellion, contumacy, and treason, 
 against the king, with which he was charged ; and 
 seeing, moreover, that during the archbishop's 
 life upon earth he had sorely and severely 
 troubled the kingdom, endeavouring to infringe 
 on the authority of the king's royal predecessors, 
 and that in consequence thereof he had been put 
 to death, he could not possibly have died either 
 for the honour of God or for the good of Holy 
 Church ; and seeing, furthermore, that all sove- 
 reignty in the Church belongs of Divine right to 
 the king, and not to the Bishop of Rome,^ or any 
 
 ^ The Act concerning Peter's-pence and dispensations (25 
 Henry VIII. cap. 21) not only swept away all accustomed 
 payments to the See of Rome, but forbad any subjects of the 
 
SL Thomas of Canterbury. 163 
 
 other prelate or prelates as Thomas a Becket had 
 wrongfully and falsely stated ; and seeing, too, that 
 the people in general erroneously looked upon 
 him as a martyr, and venerated him for maintain- 
 ing the unlawful authority of the spiritualty in 
 general, and of the Church of Rome in particular, 
 and in order, consequently, that such heinous 
 crimes should not go unpunished, — that the igno- 
 rant might be led to acknowledge their errors, 
 and, being illuminated, might cease to be the 
 victims of abuses introduced into the kingdom, — 
 the " above-named Thomas, sometime Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, shall henceforth cease to bear the 
 title of martyr or saint," — that all images and 
 representations of him in churches should be 
 forthwith removed,^ that his name should be 
 
 realm to sue to the Pope for any " licences, dispensations, com- 
 positions, faculties," &c., enacting that such '"'shall be henceforth 
 granted to the sovereign and his subjects by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury ;" — from which the Rev. J. H. Blunt gathers 
 that " spiritual jurisdiction is thus transferred from the Pope to 
 the Archbishop." But, as no Dispensation, &c., was to be of 
 force until the archbishop had obtained a licence from the 
 crown to grant it, it is not easy to avoid the inevitable conclu- 
 sion that the king had practically bestowed the Pope's jurisdic- 
 tion upon himself 
 
 ^ The formal Royal Proclamation of November 16, 1538, 
 ran thus : — " His images and pictures through the whole realm 
 shall be put down and avoided out of all churches, chapels, and 
 other places ; and from henceforth the days used to be festival 
 in his name shall not be observed, nor the service, office, anti- 
 phons, collects and prayers in his name read ; but razed and 
 
 M 2 
 
1 64 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 speedily erased from all prayer-books, litanies, 
 missals, and kalendars, and that he stand most 
 properly and righteously convicted of treason, 
 perjury, and rebellion. 
 
 The practical part of the sentence then followed. 
 The archbishop's bones were ordered to be taken 
 out of his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral and pub- 
 licly burnt, so that the living might thus learn 
 from this legal chastisement of the departed to 
 respect and regard the godly and gracious laws of 
 the king and dutifully acknowledge his Grace's 
 supreme spiritual authority. No doubt these pro- 
 ceedings, absurd though they were, had some 
 effect in teaching them the lesson. 
 
 During the month of September, 1538, Dr. John 
 Layton, one of Cromwell's monastic inquisitors, 
 and some of his officers, arrived at Canterbury 
 with a strong guard of soldiers to carry out the 
 sentence. Of the actual work of demolition no 
 records exist. No doubt it was the deliberate 
 
 put out of all the books, upon pain of his Majesty's 
 
 indignation and imprisonment at his Grace's pleasure." — Bur- 
 net's "Records," edited by Rev. N. Pocock, vi. pp. 220 — 222. 
 " We forbid," concluded the " Process against Thomas Becket," 
 " tindet' pain of death and conjiscation, any of our subjects hence- 
 forward to honour him as a saint, address to him their prayers, 
 carry his relics, honour him directly or indirectly ; in default of 
 which any one found guilty shall be considered as a conspirator 
 against our royal person, or as an abettor and accomplice of 
 revolt." It cannot be wondered at, therefore, that so few traces 
 of this truly great man remain unto the present day. 
 
S^. TJiomas of Canterbury. 165 
 
 Intention of those who planned the shrine's 
 destruction, as well as of those who personally- 
 superintended the operation, that no records of 
 what they did should exist. Anyhow, the grilles 
 around were removed, the shrine was hewn down, 
 the coffer actually containing the relics broken 
 open, the bones of the saint (as some say) were 
 deliberately burnt, or as others declare, contemp- 
 tuously and profanely mingled indiscriminately 
 with other bones. The precious metal and jewels 
 of the shrine and its cover were torn off from the 
 wood, heaped together in two strong coffers, and 
 then borne away upon the shoulders of eight or 
 ten strong men. A brilliant of great size and 
 worth, which Louis, King of France, had given to 
 St. Thomas, was appropriated by King Henry 
 himself, who is said to have worn it (in accordance 
 with the fashion of the times) in a large thumb- 
 ring on his right hand. For the rich spoils in 
 general no less than six and twenty carts stood in 
 the cathedral-yard to carry away the general orna- 
 ments and valuable gifts from the various spots of 
 interest and of the treasury aumbries. Nothing 
 bearing on the martyr's memory, save a half- 
 defaced picture on panel and a few fragments of 
 glass, was allowed to remain. Even the arms of 
 the city and of the cathedral were purposely 
 altered, because in them hitherto his death and 
 triumph had been long commemorated. Moreover, 
 an Order in Council was soon afterwards put forth, 
 
1 66 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 annexing that portion of the old crypt where the 
 saint had first been buried to the house of resi- 
 dence of the senior canon of the newly-erected 
 chapter, who used it as a wine-cellar. Scarcely a 
 known fraement or shred of the shrine remains. 
 The altar of the chapel, consecrated to God the 
 Trinity, and all its appurtenances are gone too. 
 The battered and patched floor is level after a 
 fashion, the sanctuary empty, the place deserted. 
 
 A contrast between what we know of this spot's 
 glorious past, its light and life ; and of what the 
 devout Christian, visiting the dreary place, lamp- 
 less and altar-less, may see in the present, might 
 lead to the conviction that here, in the chapel of 
 the Adorable Trinity, where neither worshippers 
 gather, nor prayer is heard, nor praise ascends, nor 
 sacrifice is offered, the Abomination of Desola- 
 tion had found a permanent home in the most 
 sacred part of a Christian temple. 
 
 There still exist some very interesting relics of 
 St. Thomas in the chapel of the English College 
 at Rome, named after him. Others are preserved 
 in the treasury of the beautiful Basilica of Sta. 
 Maria Maggiore, in the same city. In the church 
 dedicated in honour of the saint at Verona, one of 
 his teeth is preserved ; and a part of his arm in a 
 jewelled reliquary, at a convent in Florence. The 
 writerof these lines owns a circular silver reliquary,* 
 inscribed, 5^;^^/^ TJioma Cantttar, orapro nobis^^^'xxki 
 * See Appendix No. IV. 
 
SL Thomas of CantcrbiLiy. 167 
 
 a duly-authenticated relic of the saint, which was 
 brought from Rome. At Sens, one set of vest- 
 ments in which St. Thomas officiated are carefully 
 treasured up. His mitre, of beautiful workman- 
 ship, brought from Sens, is now in the keeping of 
 H. E. Cardinal Manning, at the "Archbishop's 
 House," Westminster.^ The church of St. Thomas 
 in the City of London, the site of which is now 
 occupied by the hall of the Mercers' Company, 
 marked the place of a Becket's birth, and formed 
 by consequence a special place of recognition in 
 the annual procession of the Lord Mayor, which 
 anciently always passed that interesting spot year 
 by year. The hospital of St. Thomas, in the 
 borough of Southwark — from the funds of which 
 vast new buildings have been erected opposite the 
 Houses of Parliament — was also dedicated to God 
 in honour of the Martyr of Canterbury. In Eng- 
 land between sixty and seventy churches were 
 dedicated in his name (the first erected by Richard 
 de Lucy, the Justiciary, in 1178), — amongst these 
 a low and picturesque building, a parish church, 
 on the outskirts of Oxford, near the site of the 
 renowned Osney Abbey. In the church of St. 
 Michael in that city there also still remains in a 
 window of ancient glass, a rare representation of 
 him, in his pontificals, — rare, because the destruc- 
 tion of all such was as unique as it was universal at 
 the Reformation era. 
 
 ^ See Appendix No. IV. 
 
1 68 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Many English churches in ancient times, owned 
 either primary or secondary rehcs of St. Thomas. 
 Drops of his blood were preserved and venerated 
 at the Collegiate Chapel of St. George, Windsor, 
 at Taunton, the Abbey of Peterborough, and the 
 Prebendal Church of Thame. Portions of his 
 rochet, stained with his blood, were treasured up at 
 St. Alban's Abbey, and at the Abbey of Bermond- 
 sey. At Chester the girdle of one his albs was 
 shown to pilgrims. The parish church of Alnwick, 
 in the county of Northumberland, owned a 
 standing-cup and cover, with the martyr's mono- 
 gram engraved upon its side. There were relics 
 of him, likewise (mainly parts of various official 
 dresses sometimes worn by him), at Brill, in 
 Buckinghamshire, where, more than once, he held 
 a court as primate ; at Ely, at Exeter, and at York. 
 Part of his blood was preserved at Woodspring 
 Priory, in Somersetshire.^ There were two altars 
 
 ' A very remarkable discovery with regard to this rcHc was 
 made in the year 1S52, during the carrying on of certain repairs 
 and improvements at Woodspring Church. In this parish a 
 priory, of which the present church was the conventual chapel, 
 had been founded by William de Courtenay, (presumed to have 
 been the grandson of Tracy, one of the murderers of the arch- 
 bishop), in the year 12 10. To this religious house Alice Le 
 Bret (granddaughter of another of the murderers) left certain 
 lands, so as to merit the protection and intercession of St. 
 Thomas (Collinson's " History of Somersetshire," vol. iii. p 
 543). In the year first mentioned above, there was discovered 
 in a hollow recess in the wall, behind a defaced image of the 
 saint, a ciborium or cup, presumably of boxwood, containing a 
 
SL Thomas of Canterbury. 169 
 
 formerly at the Abbey of Peterborough, made from 
 fragments of the pavement of St. Benedict's 
 chapel, at Canterbury, which Brother Benedict, 
 sometime a monk of Christ Church in that city, and 
 afterwards Abbot of Peterborough, had carried 
 off. A portion of St. Thomas's skull was also 
 obtained by the authorities of the Abbey of 
 St. Augustine at Canterbury, not long after his 
 martyrdom. 
 
 And now, with brevity, to sum up. If the pro- 
 posals of King Henry II. had been accepted by the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, the relations of Church 
 and State would have then become very much 
 what the lust and tyranny of Henry VIII. made 
 them after the sixteenth century. But the Primate 
 resisted, and resisted even unto death. Around 
 his name and passion angry controversialists have 
 
 dried red substance which competent persons pronounced to 
 have been blood. The possession of this treasure had anciently 
 given such renown to the priory, that a representation of this 
 actual vessel was put upon both the official seal of the house 
 and the personal seals of some of the priors. My accomplished 
 friend, the late Rev. Thomas Hugo, sometime Rector of West 
 Hackney, who was an unusually competent archaeologist, was so 
 satisfied of the genuineness of the relic, that having secured a 
 small portion he took it to Rome with him, and (as a token of 
 personal respect) presented it to the late Holy Father, Pope Pius 
 IX. His holiness received it with interest and gratitude, but 
 at once, with his accustomed beautiful smile, remarked upon 
 the absence of needful guarantees for its due authentication. 
 The curious reader may find more on the subject of this dis- 
 covery at pp. 400 et scq. of the fourth volume of " The Journal 
 of the Archaeological Institute." 
 
1 70 Historical Sketches of the Refo^nnation. 
 
 recently gathered. But those earnest souls — unat- 
 tracted by the frivolous speculations of historical 
 novelists, or the distasteful labours of mere literary 
 scavengers — who, knowing that the spheres of the 
 spiritual and the temporal are distinct,^ are not 
 prepared to give the things of God to Caesar, will 
 look back with reverence and thoughtfulness for 
 the victory consummated in the northern transept 
 of Christ Church, seven centuries ago, and never 
 forget the name and work of our greatest and 
 most glorious English martyr. 
 
 ' See Appendix No. IV. 
 
No. V. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEATH OF RICHARD WHITING, 
 
 ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY, 
 
 NOV. 14TH, 1539. 
 
"The caprice of a despot cost this island, formerly known as the Insula 
 Sanctorum, rivers of blood and tears. It is truly melancholy to relate how 
 imprisonment, hunger, misery, the halter and the stake, became the lot of 
 the representatives of those coenobites who brought under cultivation the 
 untilled lands of the three kingdoms, enclosed the rivers within their 
 channels, made the roads, threw bridges over the rivers, built churches, 
 founded hospitals, taught the children to read, preached the Gospel to 
 adults, promoted science and literature, and (as the Scripture says), ' caused 
 a ray of light to shine among people who were walking in the shadow of 
 death.'" — Audin. 
 
No. V. 
 
 THE DEA TH OE RICHARD WHITING, 
 
 ABBOT OE GLASTONBURY, 
 
 NOVEMBER 14TH, 1539. 
 
 The town of Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, one 
 of the highest antiquity, is situated in a marshy 
 tract of land which the ancient Britons called 
 *' Avalon," or " the land of apples." Subsequently 
 it received a Saxon designation, viz. implying 
 "the glassy island" or "burg," which, with but a 
 slight change, it retains to the present day. The 
 origin of the place is involved in much obscurity, 
 and it is not at all easy to separate its authentic 
 from its legendary history. That it was one of 
 the most ancient stations of Christianity in the 
 West of England seems probable. 
 
 Independent of a somewhat doubtful passage in 
 the writings of Gildas, the British monk of the 
 sixth century, it seems almost certain that the 
 light of Christianity was diffused in our island as 
 
1 74 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 early as the apostolic age. St. Clement of Rome 
 asserts that St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, 
 "carried the Gospel to the extreme bounds of the 
 West," a phrase used by other writers, where 
 they evidently intended to designate and describe 
 Britain. St. Peter, St. Joseph of Arimathea, 
 Aristobulus, and some other contemporaries of the 
 Apostles themselves, are named, but with less 
 probability, as having taken part in the conversion 
 of Britain.^ The British Church, however, is not 
 unfrequently spoken of by Christian writers of 
 the third and fourth centuries ; while some of the 
 bishops are known to have signed the Decrees of 
 the Council of Aries, a.d. 314. 
 
 During the Diocletian persecution the Christian 
 population of the island was numerous ; and, when 
 the Romans retired from it, they left behind them 
 a considerable body of Christians in various parts, 
 tainted sorely, however, by the heresies of Pelagius. 
 Sculptured crosses, ancient oratories, the names of 
 saints of this period still retained in the designa- 
 tion of places and spots of ecclesiastical interest, 
 in Wales, Cornwall, Cumberland, and other parts, 
 all tell of the impression which the Christian 
 
 * It is said that Pope Eleutherius, twelfth in succession to 
 St. Peter, sent to the Britains Fugateus and Damian, by whom 
 Lucius, King of Britain, and many others were baptized. Any- 
 how, Tertulhan, who Hved so near to the period referred to, 
 wrote thus : — " Et Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, 
 Christo vero subdita." (Adversus Judceos, cap. 7.) 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 175 
 
 religion had made in certain extreme portions of 
 Britain. The Cornish saints of the west, still 
 remembered and venerated, the bishopricks of 
 Caerleon and Llandaff, are likewise evidences of 
 the fact that there were living representatives of 
 some organized form of Christianity existing at a 
 very early age. 
 
 As regards Glastonbury, chiefly distinguished 
 for its celebrated Abbey, it is said to have been 
 the first resting-place of Joseph of Arimathea, 
 whom St. Philip, one of our Lord's Apostles, had 
 personally commissioned to bring the glad tidings 
 of salvation to Britain ; and who, with several 
 companions, having arrived at the island of 
 Avalon, rested on a small eminence situated about 
 half a mile to the south-west of the present town, 
 still called "Weary-all Hill." 
 
 For generations the Abbey of Glastonbury 
 stood a blessing to those lands. It was a house 
 where God was daily and hourly worshipped with 
 honour, recollectedness, and devotion ; and was a 
 refuee and retreat where men served their Maker 
 with piety and labour. Before the death and 
 martyrdom of its last saintly abbot is narrated, 
 some brief history of this important and renowned 
 religious house must be given. 
 
 In several ancient charters, extracts reproduced 
 from still more ancient charters, record the fact 
 that " the fountain and origin of all religion in 
 Britain " belongs of right to Glastonbury ; and it 
 
1 76 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 is implied in some of them that a small church or 
 chapel was actually erected there in honour of 
 God the Trinity by St. Joseph of Arimathea and 
 his companions. 
 
 Tradition affirms that when this had fallen into 
 decay, Devi, Bishop of Menevia, rebuilt it on the 
 same spot, possibly in the style of the rude 
 oratories and chapels of the northern coasts of 
 Cornwall. Again, when this building in turn 
 became dilapidated, it was restored at the cost 
 of some Christian pilgrims from the north of 
 Encrland. 
 
 St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, who is said 
 to have spent nearly thirty years of his life in the 
 house of Glastonbury, having first formed the 
 brethren living near and about it into a regular 
 community, gave considerable impetus in Eng- 
 land to the monastic life, which had fallen into 
 desuetude soon after the death of Lucius, the first 
 Christian king. 
 
 About the year a.d. 530, St. David, Archbishop 
 of Menevia, with seven of his suffragans, is said 
 to have retired to Glastonbury, and greatly im- 
 proved the church, — to the east end of which he 
 added a chapel for Our Blessed Lady, and, 
 amongst other considerable offerings, enriched the 
 altar with a sapphire of great value. 
 
 The celebrated King Arthur, who is supposed 
 to have flourished in the early part of the sixth 
 century, was the king of this part of Britain. 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 177 
 
 Caradoc of Llancarvan mentions him as a petty 
 prince of Somersetshire ; whilst Nennius attri- 
 butes to him triumphs over the Saxons in almost 
 every part of the island ; but it is only in the 
 writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth that we read 
 of his marvellous conquests abroad, — many of 
 which appear extravagant and are possibly fabu- 
 lous. It seems probable, however, that King 
 Arthur, a.d. 520, gained a decisive victory over 
 the Saxons at Caer-Badon, which some hold to 
 be Bath, and that he met his death in the field, 
 opposed by his nephew Modred, about the year 
 
 A.D. 540. 
 
 Tradition asserts that King Henry II. ordered 
 a search to be made for King Arthur's tomb, and 
 that a rude leaden cross with a Latin inscription 
 was found, running thus : — 
 
 "1|fr« iBCtl^ tl)c rcnmmclf IXing 'art^ur, fiurtcU in tl)c Isle of ^ftalon." 
 
 Beneath this, in the solid rock, was a coffin-like 
 recess, in which the bones of a man were certainly 
 discovered ; and which then, with appropriate 
 rites, were reburied in the monastery church under 
 a suitable and sumptuous monument, often re- 
 ferred to by later historians and writers. 
 
 St. Augustine of Canterbury is said to have 
 visited Glastonbury, with the intention of intro- 
 ducing the Rule of St. Benedict, but without 
 success. 
 
 During the Saxon Heptarchy, this religious 
 
 N 
 
I 'jS) Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 house was much favoured by successive monarchs. 
 Ina of Wessex, a warlike but devout king (a.d. 
 708) is said to have taken down certain buildings 
 which were much dilapidated, and to have rebuilt 
 them for the greater honour of God, on a much 
 larger scale, and in a style of superior character 
 and dignity. Twenty years later he died at Rome. 
 In the year 942, St. Dunstan, born of noble 
 parents in Wessex, was, at the age of twenty-two, 
 appointed Abbot of Glastonbury, by King Ed- 
 mund. When still a youth he had gone into 
 seclusion there. A prelate of birth, learning, and 
 ability, he devoted himself zealously to ecclesiastical 
 and monastic reforms ; was the prime minister 
 respectively of Edmund I., Edred, and Edgar, and 
 administered the Abbey of Glastonbury with great 
 power and success. He enlarged the buildings, 
 and improved the lands, gathering round him able 
 coadjutors ; so that under his governance, the 
 abbey, blessing hundreds within the shadow of 
 its walls, and benefiting thousands beyond its 
 confines,- became the " Pride of England," as it 
 was termed, and the glory of Christendom." 
 
 ^ Of the value of the monastic principle, an impartial and 
 graceful writer thus gives his judgment : — " A community of 
 pious men, devoted to literature and to the useful arts as well 
 as to religion, seems in those days like a green oasis amid the 
 desert. Like stars on a moonless night, they shine upon us 
 with a tranquil ray. If ever there was a man who could truly 
 be called ' Venerable,' it was he to whom the appellation is 
 constantly fixed, Bede, whose life was passed in instructing his 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. i 79 
 
 King Edgar, acting under the advice of St. 
 Dunstan, preserved his states from war, favoured 
 the restoration and improvement of rehgious 
 houses, and greatly patronized the monastic rule. 
 He had a palace within two miles of Glastonbury, 
 in a beautilful situation, at a place still called 
 Edgarsleigh, a hamlet of the parish of St. John. 
 Some remains of the palace existed at the begin- 
 ning of the present century ; in which were to be 
 seen some very ancient memorials, consisting of a 
 few rude carvings ; with later heraldic ornaments 
 to commemorate the royal founder and builder 
 of it. 
 
 The Abbots of Glastonbury, certainly from the 
 time of St. Dunstan, possibly from a still earlier 
 period, exercised within the domain of the Island 
 of Avalon, the dignity of sovereign. Into their 
 territory neither king nor prelate could enter with- 
 out permission. Mitred, and owning perfect 
 jurisdiction, both spiritual and temporal, they sat 
 
 own generation, and preparing records for posterity. In those 
 days, the Church offered the only asylum from the evils to 
 which every country was exposed — amidst continual wars the 
 Church enjoyed peace — it was regarded as a sacred realm by 
 men, who, though they hated one another, believed in and 
 feared the same God. Abused as it was by the worldly-minded 
 and ambitious, and disgraced by the artifices of the designing, 
 and the follies of the fanatic, it afforded a shelter to those who 
 were better than the world in their youth or weary of it in their 
 age. The wise, as well as the timid and gentle fled to this 
 Goshen of God, which enjoyed its own light and calm amidst 
 darkness and storms." — Quarterly Review, December, 181 1. 
 
 N 2 
 
I So Historical Sketches of the Reforuiation. 
 
 as barons of parliament, and enjoyed revenues 
 superior to that of almost all the abbeys in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 At the conquest King William, as a matter of 
 state policy, seriously curtailed the powers of all 
 the abbots, unjustly exacting large tributes from 
 them, and depriving them of certain of their 
 privileges ; in some cases going so far as to seize 
 upon their possessions. At Glastonbury he 
 imposed on the monks an abbot of his own nomi- 
 nation ; who, however, voluntarily retired after a 
 short tenure of the office. Under his successor 
 several estates which had been taken away were 
 restored. Under the abbacy of Henry de Blois, 
 the abbey regained much of its ancient power, fame, 
 and importance. 
 
 In the year 1184 a considerable portion of the 
 abbey was destroyed by a disastrous fire, but was 
 rebuilt under the patronage, and with the approval, 
 of Henry H., who granted the abbots a new 
 charter, in which all, or almost all, the privileges 
 which had been bestowed by previous monarchs 
 were solemnly and formally confirmed, and some 
 new privileges added. 
 
 From this time up to the period of the changes 
 under Henry VHL, the Abbey of Glastonbury 
 flourished marvellously. It is certain that there 
 were sometimes vigorous disputes between the 
 Bishops of Wells and the monks as regards the 
 appointment of abbot ; the bishops desiring to 
 
The Death of Richa7'd Whiting. 1 8 1 
 
 secure for themselves certain authority, and the 
 officers and chiefs of the community, who were 
 ruhng over an institution which was extra-diocesan, 
 resolving to maintain their ancient and legitimate 
 spiritual independence. Otherwise the abbey was 
 at i^eace, and the work steadily and duly performed 
 within its walls, for several centuries, was done for 
 the honour and glory of God, and for the good of 
 the souls of men. 
 
 It may be well to set forth at some length a 
 record of some of the practical works which were 
 done within the sacred walls of all our ancient, but 
 now destroyed, religious houses ; in order that a 
 true conception of the frightful work of destruction 
 effected by Henry VIII. at Glastonbury, immedi- 
 ately after Abbot Whiting's death may be had and 
 realized. 
 
 And, firstly, as regards the influence of the abbeys 
 on literature, and the important contributions of 
 their inmates to its progress and influence. In 
 every such house there was a large and important 
 room called the " Scriptorium," where the most 
 competent and accomplished monks made it their 
 whole business to transcribe books for the use of 
 the library. MSS. which one abbey possessed 
 were lent to another, in return for books which 
 they wanted : and, when these were copied, others 
 were in like manner exchanged for a similar pur- 
 pose, written bonds being sometimes given for their 
 due return. For all property was held in trust. 
 
1 82 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Some writers transcribed steadily the works of the 
 Fathers, treatises on Theology, Morals, and His- 
 tory. Others devoted their time to producing 
 copies of the Missal, Pontifical, Manual, and such 
 like volumes, for the actual services of the 
 sanctuary. As examples of this it is on record that 
 long before printing came into use, John Whet- 
 hampstead, Abbot of St. Alban's, caused more than 
 eighty books to be thus transcribed during the 
 period in which he ruled over that house. At 
 Notley Abbey, in Buckinghamshire, just before the 
 Reformation, there was a scribe of great ability and 
 repute, William Forrest, who supplied service- 
 books for many churches in Oxfordshire and Buck- 
 inghamshire, and repaired old ones when damaged. 
 His skill and reputation were recognized in parishes 
 and places as much as fifty miles and more from 
 the sacred sanctuary, in which for a whole lifetime 
 he lived and laboured. 
 
 At Glastonbury Abbey, during the reign of one 
 superior, no less than fifty-eight books were com- 
 pleted. In truth, so zealous were the monks in 
 general for this important detail of their general 
 work, and so anxious to benefit the communities 
 of which they were members, that they frequently 
 induced their lay friends and patrons to give lands 
 and benefactions in money for such particular 
 labours. 
 
 Then, as regards the history of this people and 
 nation, let the most ancient and important records 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 183 
 
 be consulted, and they are found to be from the 
 pen of mahgned monks or ecclesiastics. The 
 chronicle of Evesham, the historical works of 
 Gildas, the poem of Ethelwolf, the chronicle of 
 Richard of Wendover, the yearly records of 
 Ramsey Abbey, and those made by John Abbot 
 of Peterborough, with many others of even 
 greater repute, all aid in our historical researches 
 of the present day. Their writers, be it remem- 
 bered, were religious. Without such the past 
 would have been like shapeless clouds drifting in 
 dull and deepening mists. Adhelm, Bishop of 
 Sherbourne, Edmund of Haddenham, John Bromp- 
 ton, Abbot of Jervaux, Henry of Huntingdon, 
 Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St. Paul's, London, 
 Peter Langtoft, Canon of Bridlington, Thomas of 
 Elmham, and William Thorne, of St. Augustine's, 
 Canterbury, each and all contributed to the 
 preservation of interesting facts, and to the 
 record on monastic vellum of important events 
 for which we, of these later times, cannot be too 
 grateful. 
 
 These men, and such as these, preserved and 
 treasured up memorials and personal recollections, 
 exquisitely written and suitably adorned and 
 illuminated, of their founders and benefactors. 
 The "Books of Donors" belonging to the 
 destroyed religious houses, just as the " Liber 
 Benefactorum " of every college and hall of Oxford 
 and Cambridge of the present day, recorded 
 
1 84 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 something concerning the benevolent giver as 
 well as concerninof the munificent orift. Brief 
 memoirs of the friends and patrons of the house, 
 with an account of their crenellated mansions, or 
 pleasant manors, the years and days of their 
 births, deaths, and obits, their weddings, children, 
 and successors, were duly preserved ; so that 
 recourse was frequently had to such authoritative 
 records and memoirs, for proving before judges the 
 genealogies of families and the descents of their 
 various members. 
 
 Furthermore : written copies, properly authen- 
 ticated, of the Constitutions and Canons of the 
 Clergy, whether settled and determined in Na- 
 tional, Provincial, or Diocesan Synods, were sent 
 to the more influential and leading monasteries, 
 " for a perpetual memorial of the thing," as the 
 phrase ran, and for general reference ; while, after 
 the Conquest, a custom said to have been borrowed 
 from the other side of the British Channel, even 
 Acts of Parliament and Royal Proclamations 
 were supplied to the abbeys, to be recorded and 
 preserved. 
 
 The wanton and wicked destruction of such 
 important literary treasures under Henry VIII., 
 may be still deeply regretted ; but its extent can 
 never be known, nor can the loss sustained by 
 posterity be adequately measured. 
 
 The malignity and hatred displayed by King 
 Henry the Eighth's Commissioners against those 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 185 
 
 more conservative and consistent abbots and 
 heads of monastic houses who declined to resign 
 their possessions without trouble or ado, was 
 marked and sincere. Some, either through weak- 
 ness or bribes, had done so. At Stamford the 
 heads both of the Carmelites and Franciscans had 
 unconditionally surrendered their trusts, and had 
 been rewarded by pensions for their treachery. 
 The monks of Chertsey in Surrey, whose annual 
 revenue was about 10,000/., fearing a confiscation 
 and butchery, did the same, and were pensioned 
 likewise. Others followed their examples. But 
 some of the most influential abbots, amongst 
 whom was the ao^ed and venerated Richard 
 Whiting, of Glastonbury, having received a trust, 
 were resolved to hand it on unimpaired, neither 
 bent before the storm, nor swam with the tide. 
 
 Why should they ? These ancient houses, 
 many of them older than the time of the Norman 
 Conquest, some dating from the days of St. 
 Austin, were of great practical use and benefit to 
 the nation. Puttino- aside altogether their intrinsic 
 importance as houses of the Most High God, 
 where the worship of the Adorable Trinity was 
 regularly carried on all day and every day, and 
 where the doctrine of God manifest in the flesh 
 was presented for the practical acceptance of all 
 ranks of the faithful ; these monasteries, even 
 from the low standing-point of a common-place 
 nineteenth-century utilitarian, were of the highest 
 
i86 Historical Sketches of the Refo7'mation. 
 
 value to all classes of the people. And this for 
 several reasons. 
 
 I. The choicest records, charters, and treasures 
 in the kingdom were preserved in the monasteries. 
 For example : a copy of the Great Charter of 
 liberty granted by King Henry I. was sent to 
 some one abbey in each of the counties of Eng- 
 land for preservation. Charters and ancient 
 inquisitions relating to the county of Cornwall, of 
 deep importance to families dwelling there, were 
 deposited in Bodmin Priory ; others concerning 
 lands in the Midland Counties were lodged in the 
 abbey of Leicester and the priory of Kenilworth. 
 It is on record, furthermore, that King Edward I. 
 sent to religious houses to search for his title, or 
 supposed title, to the kingdom of Scotland, in 
 their leger books, as the most authentic records of 
 his proof on behalf and in support of his presumed 
 right to the crown. When in 1301 that same 
 king had temporarily decided the controversy 
 between Robert Bruce and John Balliol, he com- 
 manded the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, 
 London, to enter in their book of current events 
 and important deeds a record of the settlement of 
 that controversy. Charters, legal instruments, 
 and family records were likewise sent to those 
 monastic houses, in which certain families owned 
 and took a special interest ; while the matrices of 
 the seals of the nobility and gentry were deposited 
 there on their deaths. 
 
The Death of Richm^d Whiting. 187 
 
 2. Monasteries were schools of learning and 
 education. Every such house had "discreet and 
 learned persons, apt to teach," appointed for this 
 purpose. All the neighbours who desired it 
 might have their children taught grammar and 
 plain song, the appointed music of the Church, 
 without either fee or reward. Freely the monks 
 had received, and, in accordance with the Chris- 
 tian injunction, freely they gave. In the convents 
 and religious houses for women, poor girls were 
 taught to work with the needle, to read English, 
 and sometimes Latin also. So that not only the 
 lower rank of people, whose members could not 
 pay for their education, were taught, but the 
 daughters of those of noble, knightly, and gentle 
 rank were educated in those places. This had 
 been the case at Glastonbury, for youths, at the 
 time of its dissolution, from time immemorial. 
 Under Abbot Whiting no less than three hundred 
 sons of the nobility and gentle-people of the West 
 of England were being educated within the pre- 
 cincts of his house, and payment was made for 
 the privilege ; while, on the other hand, youths of 
 a lower rank were gratuitously taken and sup- 
 ported with the same object, as a preparation for 
 the work and discipline of the Universities. In 
 this way the ranks of the English clergy were for 
 many centuries abundantly and efficiently supplied. 
 
 3. Practically and in effect, a majority of the 
 old monasteries were great hospitals. Most of 
 
iS8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 them were compelled by their rules, in this par- 
 ticular stringently observed, to relieve a certain 
 number of outcast and poor people every day. 
 Crowds came consequently seeking alms and 
 food, and none were sent away empty. Glaston- 
 bury was famous for its alms-giving, and this upon 
 a scale of which we, in these modern days of 
 workhouses, anti-mendicity societies, and Charity- 
 organization Funds, have little conception. Mo- 
 nasteries — like that of the Great St. Bernard on 
 the Alps, at the present period — were likewise 
 houses of entertainment for almost all travellers. 
 Even the nobility and gentry, when moving from 
 place to place, lodged for the night at one re- 
 ligious house, dined at another, and supped at a 
 third ; leaving at each liberal alms, voluntarily 
 given, in return for their respective privileges. In 
 truth, the hospitality of the monasteries, to give a 
 single example, was such that in the Priory of 
 Norwich no less than one thousand five hundred 
 quarters of malt, and above eight hundred quarters 
 of wheat, with all other things in proportion, are 
 said to have been generally spent every year. 
 
 4. The nobility and gentry provided not only 
 for their old servants in these houses, by giving 
 considerable sums of money, in one amount, or by 
 yearly gifts, to pay for their clothing, food, and 
 necessaries, when unable any longer to work ; but 
 often, also, made provision for those of their 
 younger children who desired " to enter religion " 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 189 
 
 (as the phrase stood), making them monks and 
 nuns. The Abbey of Glastonbury, being one of 
 the most ancient, was in this particular likewise 
 one of the most popular and patronized ; for a 
 considerable number of persons of rank and family 
 were members of it, or had thus secured a retreat 
 and refuge within its walls prior to the Dissolution. 
 
 5. Religious houses, furthermore, were of con- 
 siderable advantage to the Crown of England, 
 firstly, by the profits received from the period of 
 the death of one abbot or prior to the time of the 
 formal confirmation of their respective successors ; 
 secondly, by considerable fines paid from time to 
 time for the confirmation of their ancient liberties ; 
 and, thirdly, by many corrodies granted to old 
 servants of the Crown, and pensions to the king's 
 clerks and chaplains until they had secured 
 preferment. 
 
 6. The whole country round about the larger 
 monastic houses, moreover, directly and obviously 
 benefited by their existence ; while the smaller 
 monasteries in proportion were of considerable 
 advantage to the adjacent places ; and they were 
 certainly great ornaments to the country. Many 
 villages and towns grew up by degrees around or 
 adjacent to them. They became centres of life 
 both religious and social. Fairs and markets were 
 often obtained by the influence and intervention of 
 the abbots or rulers ; and exemption from the too 
 harsh forest laws was secured for the poor inha- 
 
1 90 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 bitants of particular localities. The monastic 
 lands were ordinarily let to tenants at a reasonable 
 rate, who were not ground down by their landlords. 
 The monks who so let them, could possess no 
 private property, they could save no money for 
 themselves personally ; only for the behoof and 
 general good of the community. They could 
 bequeath nothing to individuals. They had a life 
 interest in their estates and nothing more. They 
 lived, received and expended in common ; and 
 historians unite in asserting that they were not 
 only reputed to be, but were good landlords ; and 
 that the people were contented and happy under 
 their rule, and thoroughly appreciated it. 
 
 7. The monasteries, moreover, in some of the 
 most important of human affairs, caused that 
 fixedness, which is so much the friend of rectitude 
 in morals, and which, as Experience teaches, so 
 directly and powerfully conduces both to public 
 and private prosperity. In a century like the 
 present, of constant, heedless, and unceasing 
 change, this can scarcely be comprehended, much 
 less appreciated by some. But the principle of 
 fixedness is nevertheless good and profitable, and 
 was anciently rife with advantages. As has been 
 so well and forcibly remarked by an able and 
 shrewd writer, — " The monastery was a proprie- 
 tor that never died; its tenantry had to do with 
 a deathless landlord ; its lands and houses never 
 changed owners ; its tenants were liable to none 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 191 
 
 of the uncertainties that other tenants were ; its 
 oaks had never to tremble at the axe of the squan- 
 dering heir ; its manors had not to dread a change 
 of lords ; its villagers had all been bred up under 
 its eye and care ; their character was of necessity a 
 thing of great value, and as such would naturally 
 be an object of great attention. A monastery was 
 the centre of a circle in the country, naturally 
 drawing to it all that were in need of relief, advice 
 and protection ; and containing a body of men, or 
 of women, having no cares of their own, and 
 having wisdom to guide the inexperienced, and 
 wealth to relieve the distressed." 
 
 Such a place was the great and important 
 Abbey of Glastonbury, — a blessing and benefit to 
 thousands — even up to the autumn of the year 
 1539. At that time the lesser houses were all 
 suppressed. This had been done in 1534 and 
 the succeeding year. No less than three hun- 
 dred and seventy-six small houses, — those esti- 
 mated at less than 200/. a year in value, — had, 
 as houses of religion, been utterly destroyed; 
 their inmates scattered, — some legally murdered, 
 others imprisoned and tortured, for not recognizing 
 the Supreme Head ; others sent back to their 
 families with a small and inadequate pension ; 
 others, again, dismissed to beg or starve, to be 
 flogged, branded, and mutilated, and then left to 
 die on the road-side. 
 
 But, for the present, certain of the greater 
 
192 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 abbeys managed somehow or other to hold their 
 ground. Their abbots were mitred and lords of 
 Parliament ; and deservedly owned great influence 
 in the counties where their houses stood. High 
 and low, with good reason, respected them sin- 
 cerely. The charges of misgovernment, disorder, 
 and immorality which had been brought against 
 certain inmates of the lesser houses, had no foun- 
 dation in fact as concerned the ofreater. Even 
 Parliament had admitted this to be true before the 
 whole country, and had deliberately and officially 
 put it on record in a recent Act.^ 
 
 With reference to Glastonbury, Dr. Layton, one 
 of the Royal Inquisitors, wrote thus to his master, 
 Cromwell : — " At Bruton and Glastonbury there is 
 nothing notable ; the brethren be so sti^ait kept that 
 they cannot offend ; but fain they would if they 
 might, as they confess ; and so the fault is not in 
 them." This latter unfounded and diso^raceful 
 insinuation, it may be noted in passing, is worthy 
 of its author.* 
 
 ^ The exact words were — " .... divers and great solemn 
 monasteries of this reahn wherein (thanks be to God) religion 
 is right well kept and observed" — and they occur in an Act of 
 Parhament which legahzed the suppression of the lesser houses. 
 
 * Of Dr. John Layton, who was a priest, and had it appears 
 been sometime Clerk of the Council, the Oxford antiquary, 
 Antony k Wood, records that "he did much to please the 
 unlimited desire of the king," which, translated into plain 
 English, means that he was such a reverend and most successful 
 panderer to Henry the Eighth's gross immoralities, that he was 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting, 193 
 
 But thousfh the o^reater monasteries were 
 allowed, even by the enemies of the system, to be 
 doing their work wisely, well, and profitably for 
 the nation, it was resolved by Thomas Cromwell, 
 the king's chief adviser, to suppress them likewise. 
 Their funds, valuables, manors, and lands were 
 sorely needed for Court purposes, and therefore, 
 somehow or other, under one pretext, if not under 
 another, these must be had. All opposition, conse- 
 quently, must be either overborne or crushed out. 
 The stroke must be at once swift, sudden, and 
 powerful. Bribery, discreetly done, with promises 
 of a share in their spoils, would surely do much to 
 disarm opposition, and buy off those great people 
 thereabouts who might be indisposed to sanction 
 their suppression. Their ablest defenders and 
 most notorious partizans must be efficiently over- 
 awed and put aside, or else success could never be 
 attained. 
 
 So those in authority acted ; and this is what 
 was done at Glastonbury, where Richard Whiting 
 was the Lord Abbot. 
 
 On a certain autumnal morning, towards the 
 end of September, a.d, 1539, the Royal Inquisi- 
 tors, Richard Layton, Richard Pollard, and Henry 
 Moyle, attended by servants and halberdiers, pre- 
 sented themselves, armed with their commission, 
 
 made Dean of York, where he pawned the cathedral plate. 
 See, concerning this person, various letters in " Suppression 
 of the Monasteries" (Camden Society), pp. 58, 59, 75, et scq. 
 
 O 
 
194 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 signed and sealed, at the abbey gateway. No 
 notice had been given of their advent. They at 
 once inquired for the abbot, an old man, deeply 
 respected, eighty years of age, long known for his 
 great personal piety, simple life, devout habits, 
 and large-hearted hospitality. He, however, was 
 away, as they were informed by the porter, at an 
 outlying official residence known as " Sharpham," 
 more than a mile distant. 
 
 Thither they hurried at once, and there found 
 him in his private room. After some brief pre- 
 liminaries — for he was reasonably astonished, both 
 at their coming and at their intrusion — they pro- 
 ceeded to examine him according to their au- 
 thority and custom. Plied with all kinds of ques- 
 tions, their character being sufficiently indicated in 
 the comprehensive " Articles of Visitation," put 
 out by authority, the aged abbot could only give 
 short and simple answers, which were anything 
 but satisfactory to his inquisitive questioners. 
 For from such, all so reasonable and simple, they 
 could learn nothing by which they might legally 
 entangle and entrap him. On certain subjects he 
 appears to have known nothing, and consequently 
 could confess nothing. One of them has put on 
 record that, the abbot's answers not being at all to 
 the purpose of the Inquisitors, he was again and 
 again " urged vehemently to call to remembrance 
 that which had been forgotten by him and so to 
 declare the truth." They asked his opinion " con- 
 
. The Death of Richard Whiting. 195 
 
 cerning divers curious questions," then stirring 
 men's minds, but he was wise and wary, as well as 
 Christian-like and modest in his replies. His 
 memory not being good — for he had seen eighty 
 summers — he seems to have scrupled in giving 
 exact and direct replies concerning the abbey pro- 
 perty to which he could absolutely pledge himself, 
 without further reflection, or without consulting 
 others of his house. The Commissioners tried in 
 vain to make him contradict himself by questions 
 of double meaning and by a severe and prolonged 
 cross-examination — for some of them were learned 
 in the law — but utterly failed of their unworthy 
 purpose. Neither over-reserved nor too com- 
 municative, he answered plain questions, when he 
 could hear them, by plain answers. But this did 
 not suit the Inquisitors' purpose, so they changed 
 their tactics. 
 
 It was necessary, as they said, using religious 
 expressions, which afterwards in the days of the 
 " Gospellers " and Puritans became so popular, that 
 " God willing it," and " the Lord being his helper," 
 the abbot should return at once to Glastonbury, 
 and with speed. So they accompanied his lord- 
 ship back to the abbey, and then intimated their 
 intention of remaining there for some days for the 
 purposeof making, as they sanctimoniously declared, 
 a complete visitation of his house, for the benefit 
 of the abbot's soul, and the souls of his brethren 
 and sons ; and for the general extension of True 
 
 u 2 
 
196 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Religion, and his Grace the king's honour in that 
 part of Somersetshire. 
 
 Well they did their work. They peered into 
 every place open or locked. For locks were of 
 small account. Library, scriptorium, dormitories, 
 greater and lesser sacristies, common room, chapter- 
 house, cloisters, treasury and muniment-room were 
 all in turn examined, and their contents carefully 
 searched and painfully overhauled. Even the 
 private rooms of the chief officials were entered ; 
 their aumbries and lockers broken open, and their 
 drawers and caskets ransacked. Panels of oak 
 round the walls, which chanced to be loose, were 
 rapped and sounded, and examined with tedious 
 curiosity in order to find out secret recesses or 
 cupboards supposed to be behind them, filled with 
 treasures. Many of the younger monks, and some 
 of the authorities of the house were justly indig- 
 nant at such outrages, and showed their feelinofs 
 in their looks. Others spoke out in the plainest 
 of terms. But the Inquisitors had the power on 
 their side, and were not to be diverted from their 
 purpose either by black looks or strong words. 
 Right was nothing to them. To that they were 
 wholly superior. They acted in the name of his 
 Grace the king. And his Majesty, besides being 
 the "Supreme Head" of the Church, and 
 " Defender of the Faith," was mighty. The king, 
 as everybody knew, could do no wrong. 
 
 After having spent a day in search and inquiry. 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 197 
 
 and having given orders that the various necessary 
 guest-chambers should be prepared for them, and 
 that the supper should be " suitable and sufficient," 
 they waited for the abbot to retire to rest, which — 
 being infirm and an early riser, never relaxing the 
 rule of the house for himself — he did soon after com- 
 pline at sunset. 
 
 On this the Inquisitors began to search his 
 private sitting-room or study " for letters and 
 books, and (they) found in his study secretly 
 laid, as well a written book of arguments against 
 the divorce of his king's Majesty and the Lady- 
 Dowager, .... as also divers old pardons, copies 
 of the Pope's Bulls and the counterfeit Life of 
 Thomas Beckett in print. But," as they have 
 actually left on record, " zue could not find any 
 letter that zuas material^ In vain they hunted all 
 over the room, in drawer, coffer, and casket, which 
 as they say, "by his Grace's authority we broke 
 open, where fastened for secrecy," — in vain they 
 examined the tall and stately tomes which were 
 ranged in order round the room, they found nothing 
 whatever of consequence. 
 
 On second thoughts, however, one of them 
 perceived that the tractate against the king's 
 divorce — of which hundreds of copies no doubt 
 had been circulated durino- the heat of the con- 
 troversy (but which, however, there is some reason 
 for believinof one of the Commissioners had him- 
 self brought with him in his own pocket, to be used 
 
1 98 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 as evidence, if ordinary evidence were not forth 
 coming), together with the Life of St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, would, by judicious combination, 
 abundantly supply materials for a charge of treason. 
 The other two Inquisitors after some consideration 
 appear to have come round to this opinion ; and 
 so resolved on the morrow to give the abbot some 
 early opportunity of at once rebutting so grave a 
 charge. 
 
 He was, therefore, again examined, and his 
 answers duly taken down. They persistently 
 catechized him both as to his judgment concerning 
 St. Thomas the Martyr, and the king's divorce. 
 They entered into minute particulars and details. 
 Being deaf, he had some difficulty in hearing their 
 questions ; so that some of their points he appears 
 altogether to have missed. Being very old, more- 
 over, his memory was treacherous, and his mind 
 not as clear as it had been in previous years. No 
 consideration was had for such infirmities, however, 
 for he was kept under a trivial and tedious exami- 
 nation for several hours. 
 
 Notes of this, together with all the questions 
 put, and the answers made, were at once sent up 
 to London for the use and scrutiny of Thomas 
 Cromwell, the king's Minister and Vicar-General. 
 From these, as the Inquisitors told their employer, 
 was clearly perceived — their very and exact words 
 — that " his cankered and traitorous heart and 
 mind (were) against the king's Majesty and his 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 1 99 
 
 succession." The poor old abbot, though a "very 
 weak man and sickly," was asserted to be neverthe- 
 less, a most dangerous enemy to, and plotter against 
 the crown. So they ventured, for safety's sake, 
 and " for the greater good of his poor soul " as they 
 again declared, to send him up to London, that he 
 might be carefully confined in the Tower, if Crom- 
 well thought such action wise and needful ; " and so 
 he be henceforth unable to do any such further mis- 
 chief." At Glastonbury, where he was well known 
 and free, he mieht be dangerous. Within the walls 
 of the Tower this could hardly be so. 
 
 But the real object of this strong step, imprison- 
 ment on the trumpery evidence already referred 
 to, neither sifted nor proved, was to get the abbot 
 quietly out of the way. His presence was a silent 
 rebuke to the Intruders and very inconvenient. 
 Though an old man and Impotent, yet his unselfish 
 labours In the past for the good of the house, his 
 unblemished character, the high reputation he 
 enjoyed throughout the whole West of England 
 for integrity and piety, and the devotion which the 
 monks and servants of the Abbey of Glastonbury, 
 one and all had for their chief pastor, were ample 
 reasons for getting him out of the way ; while, with 
 renewed expressions of respect for the Almighty, 
 and anxious hopes that their labours might increase 
 and further " stabllsh True Religion," the Commis- 
 sioners or Inquisitors were engaged in their sacri- 
 lesflous work. 
 
2 CO Historical SketcJics of the Reformation, 
 
 They wrote soon after this to Cromwell, and 
 what they said should be read with care, for their 
 true motives and aims are by themselves most 
 clearly enough set forth in the terms of this their 
 confidential communication : — 
 
 " As yet we have neither discharged servant 
 nor monk ; but now, the abbot being gone, we 
 will, with as much celerity as we may, proceed to 
 the despatching of them. We have in money 
 300/. and above ; but the certainty of plate and 
 other stuff there as yet we know not, for we have 
 not had opportunity (to search) for the same. 
 But shortly we intend, God willing (! !) to proceed 
 to the same (search) whereof we shall ascertain 
 your Lordship so shortly as we may 
 
 " This is also to advertise your Lordship that 
 we have found a fair chalice of gold, and divers 
 other parcels of plate, which the abbot had hid 
 secretly from all such commissioners as have been 
 there in times past ; and as yet he knoweth not 
 that we have found the same ; whereby we think 
 that he ought to make his hand, by his untruth to 
 his king's Majesty." .... 
 
 They write again of their pious labours and 
 religious inquiries, and how they were rewarded 
 by what " it had pleased the Almighty " that they 
 had discovered : — 
 
 " We have daily found and tried out both money 
 and plate hid and mured up in walls, vaults, and 
 other secret places, as well by the abbot as other 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 201 
 
 of the convent, and also conveyed to divers places 
 in the county 
 
 "At our first entry into the Treasure-House 
 and Vestry also, we found neither jewels, plate, 
 nor ornaments sufficient to save a poor parish 
 church, whereof we could not a little marvel ; and 
 thereupon immediately made so diligent inquiry 
 and search, that with vigilant labour we much 
 improved the same ; and have recovered again 
 into our hands both money, plate, and ornaments 
 of the church. How much plate we know not ; 
 for we had no leisure yet to weigh the same ; but 
 we think it of great value, and we increase it 
 more and more every day, and shall do, as we 
 suppose, for our time here being .... 
 
 " We assure your Lordship," these legalized 
 thieves (for that is exactly what they were) go on 
 to write, " that the abbot and the monks aforesaid 
 have embezzled and stolen as much plate and orna- 
 ments as zuoiild have sttfUced to have begnn a nezv 
 abbey. What they meant thereby we leave it to 
 your judgment 
 
 " Whether the king's pleasure shall be to exe- 
 cute his laws upon the said four persons, and to 
 minister justice according to their desert, or to 
 extend his mercy towards them, and what his 
 Majesty's pleasure is it may please your Lordship 
 to advertise us thereof."^ .... 
 
 ° Documents concerning the Suppression of the Monas- 
 teries," pubhshed by the Camden Society, 4to, p. 258. 
 
202 Historical SkdcJics of the Rtforination. 
 
 Within a fortnight of their first arrival, the 
 examinations, inquiries, and searchings of these 
 active commissioners had, in their own judgment 
 produced abundant fruit. The barrenness of the 
 land, as regards gold, silver, and precious stones, 
 was by no means so great as they had too hastily 
 imagined. Corruption and bribery amongst the 
 labourers on the abbey lands was resorted to for 
 information, and so were threats and promises, to 
 find out several details of the internal arrangement 
 of the house, which the inquisitors wished to 
 know. A little more patience and labour, there- 
 fore, had brouo^ht to lio;ht much treasure. And, 
 as a justification for taking possession of it in the 
 king's name, they write to their official employer, 
 Lord Essex, that they have discovered, over and 
 above the treasures of which they have duly 
 advertised him, the existence in writing of divers 
 and sundry treasons committed by the abbot, 
 which they have duly noted down in a book 
 accompanying their communication. This is sup- 
 posed to have had reference to an assertion or 
 report that pecuniary aid had been sent by the 
 abbot to the " Pilgrims of Grace," in Lincolnshire ; 
 but no evidence, good, bad, or indifferent, was 
 produced to support what was very probably a 
 random and imagined, if not a fabricated, charge. 
 
 Our cathedrals at the present day, it may be re- 
 marked in passing, notwithstanding recent gifts and 
 benefactions, do not own a hundredth part of the 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 203 
 
 treasures which once belonged to any one of the 
 EnMish rehmous houses of old. Ancient inven- 
 tories enable us to realize something of the self- 
 denying liberality and steady munificence of our 
 Christian forefathers. What would be thought, 
 however, if a company of Parliamentary Com- 
 missioners, sent round to the deans and chapters 
 of those cathedrals, to inquire into the present 
 state of their fabrics and revenues, were to accuse 
 the officials of treason, because they were natu- 
 rally anxious to preserve the sacred vessels of the 
 Eucharist, together with candlestick, cross, and 
 choice service-book, from the grasp of sacrilegious 
 appropriators .^ 
 
 Yet this is exactly what Dr. Layton, Pollard, 
 and the others did, in the case of Abbot Whiting 
 and the Glastonbury religious. The real " treason " 
 committed by this venerable prelate and his monks 
 was that of endeavouring to save the treasures 
 long ago given and dedicated to Almighty God, 
 from the hands of the king and his rapacious 
 creatures, by carefully concealing them. 
 
 The same thing was done, and righteously done, 
 with the best intention, it may be remarked by the 
 way, at other places during those awful days of 
 regal thieving, bloody persecution, and unblush- 
 ing sacrilege. The clergy, stricken down and 
 paralyzed, knew not how otherwise to act as 
 faithful keepers of those things of which they were 
 but temporary trustees. At Lichfield, a tradition 
 
204 Historical SkdcJics of the Reformation. 
 
 declares that some of the choicest contents of the 
 greater sacristy were then buried for security's 
 sake, and in the hope that better times would dawn 
 for the Church and nation — though where no one 
 knows. It is certain, however, to prevent dese- 
 cration and sacrilege, that a part of the sacred 
 relics of St. Chad,'' were secretly conveyed away 
 by a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral, and that 
 after years of change,'' these are now preserved for 
 veneration in the choir of the Roman Catholic 
 Cathedral of St. Chad, in Birmingham. 
 
 A similar precaution with regard to the sacred 
 plate and vessels of the cathedral is said, on the 
 best authority, to have been taken at Durham, 
 though the place of concealment is not known ; or 
 only known to certain continental successors of 
 our old English religious. So firmly has this been 
 believed for several eenerations, that about ten 
 years ago the officials of the cathedral made two 
 unsuccessful attempts to discover the whereabouts 
 of the treasure. Again, at Addington, near Win- 
 slow, in Buckinghamshire, a chalice and paten of 
 precious metal, a portable altar and a Salisbury 
 service-book were quite accidentally found walled 
 up in the chancel of the village church, placed there 
 
 •^ See Appendix No. V. 
 
 ^ What is popularly called " Civil and Religious Liberty,'' 
 has now taken the place in England of " Tudor tyranny." 
 However, the tyranny of the multitude is sometimes as dis- 
 agreeable as the arbitrary action of the few. 
 
The Death of Richard Whitino. 205 
 
 no doubt to preserve them for better times, from 
 the rude grasp of the rapacious and ungodly in 
 the days of Henry VIII., Edward VI., or 
 Ehzabeth. 
 
 But to return. Abbot Whiting's unpardonable 
 sin — over and above his calm resolve not to betray 
 his sacred trust — was that he declined to take part, 
 whether directly or indirectly, in any robbery or 
 illegal manipulation of the " things of God " — least 
 of all to give them to " Csesar," or to allow Caesar's 
 commissioned myrmidons to appropriate them by 
 force, for their master or to themselves. Firm as 
 a rock he had set his face against any kind of 
 surrender, voluntary or other.^ 
 
 It was known by Cromwell (whose spies were 
 
 * " Cromwell and his myrmidons," writes the vigorous and 
 plain-spoken Cobbett, " beset the heads of those great estab- 
 lishments : they threatened, they promised, they lied, and they 
 bullied. By means the most base that can be conceived, they 
 obtained from some i^w what they called a ' voluntary surrender.' 
 However, where these unjust and sanguinary men met with 
 sturdy opposition, they resorted to false accusations, and pro- 
 cured the murder of the parties, under pretence of their having 
 committed high treason. It was under this infamous pretence 
 that the tyrant hanged, ripped up, and quartered the abbot of 
 the famous abbey of Glastonbury, whose body was mangled 
 by the executioner, and whose head and limbs were hung up 
 on what is called the Torre, which overlooks the abbey. So 
 that the surrender, wherever it did take place, was precisely 
 of the nature of those ' voluntary surrenders ' which men make 
 of their purses when the robber's pistol is at their temple, or 
 his blood-stained knife at their throat." — " History of the Pro- 
 testant Reformation," Letter vi. p. 91, Ed. 1868. 
 
2o6 Historical Sketches of the Refoniiation. 
 
 at once numerous and active, the chief guiding 
 spirit of the band being his own nephew, Robert), 
 that such a spirit of determination existed amongst 
 the clergy in many quarters, more especially 
 amonost those of old blood and hi^-h rank. One 
 newly-made nobleman, whose avowed sympathies 
 with disturbers of the Church's peace in Germany, 
 were not unexpressed, had pointedly remarked 
 that " the flock of the Lord Christ in England was 
 certain to go astray," unless the " bell-wethers," 
 i. e. the abbots, were made to feel the finger and 
 thumb of the Supreme Head. So the king's 
 minister resolved to deal them a severe blow, by 
 securinof the condemnation and execution of 
 Richard Whiting. It was resolved at the same 
 time to strike down two of his monks, who were 
 regarded as accomplices. 
 
 The true method by which this was done, as far 
 as Cromwell was concerned, is set forth in some 
 special entries from his pen in a private memo- 
 randum book, which stand thus : — • 
 
 " Item. Certain persons to be sent to the 
 Tower for the further examination of the Abbot 
 of Glaston. 
 
 " Item. The Abbot of Glaston to be tried at 
 Glaston ; and also to be executed there with his 
 accomplices. 
 
 ,, r- 11 . • -1 r Richard Pollard. 
 
 Counsellors to orive evidence) T • -c^ 
 
 * < Lewis rorster. 
 
 against the Abbot of Glaston (^Thomas Movie 
 
The Death of Richixrd Whiting. 207 
 
 " Item. To see that the evidence be well 
 sorted, and the indictments well drawn against the 
 said abbot and his accomplices." 
 
 It may strike some as somewhat strange that the 
 resolution to duly " sort " the evidence, and to 
 arrange for the " execution " of the person about 
 to be tried, before the trial, was scarcely in accor- 
 dance with the most elementary principles of 
 justice. But, in this and other cases, the resolute 
 wills of a very few hurried hundreds to death, and 
 wrought a ruin in things spiritual, which no doubt 
 the many deplored. 
 
 This old man, therefore, after new examinations 
 had in the Tower,^ and after the evidence against 
 him, amounting to nothing of any consideration or 
 worth, had been duly " sorted," was taken back to 
 Somersetshire. Depressed through his imprison- 
 ment, weary and sick-at-heart with the troubles 
 which had overtaken himself and other members 
 of his order, he went back ao-ain to his western 
 county sad and sorrowful, yet quite unaware of what 
 was in store for him. The journey was not taken 
 by easy stages ; for orders had been given by the 
 Earl of Essex (a dignity to which the king had 
 raised Cromwell on the 17 th of the previous 
 
 ^ Here he is said to have found Dr. Hugh Cook, Abbot of 
 Reading, already confined, who left on the stone walls of the 
 Beauchamp Tower a memorial, still existing, of his imprison- 
 ment, thus :— " DOCTOR : COOK : 1540." Or this may have 
 been Leonard Cook, prior of Doncaster. 
 
2o8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 April), and others who had sent written instruc- 
 tions to the local officials, to "do what was so need- 
 ful with speed : " (the superscriptions on the letters 
 despatched ran thus — "These with haste," "These 
 please deliver with speed,") that Whiting, more 
 infirm than ever, with two of his monks, was 
 hurried to Wells ; so that the formality of a trial 
 by jury should be gone through as speedily and 
 promptly as possible ; before the abbot's friends 
 could be aroused, or any practical opposition 
 planned and organized on his behalf 
 
 So little had he realized what was about to 
 happen, for his life had been as upright and 
 honourable as it had been prolonged (his years 
 then exceeded by ten the appointed days of our 
 age — three-score years and ten), that on arriving 
 at Wells, on Wednesday, November 1 3th, where, as 
 he seems to have been told ambiguously, the nobi- 
 lity and gentry were waiting for him, he proceeded 
 to take an accustomed place amongst his peers. 
 
 But this could not be, as the Usher of the 
 Court respectfully informed him. He was not 
 there then as a judge amongst his equals, but as 
 a prisoner at the bar charged with theft, high 
 treason, and other heinous crimes. The indict- 
 ment against him, " well drawn," as Cromwell had 
 no doubt taken care should be the case, tediously 
 elaborated, and setting forth at length the iniqui- 
 ties of which he was supposed to have been guilty, 
 was solemnly read out. Some looked upon it as 
 
TJie Death of Richard Whiting. 209 
 
 a legal farce ; and others — these were of the old 
 nobility — sighed over the exaltation of the base- 
 born, and wondered to what place the beggars-on- 
 horseback would ride. To many there gathered, 
 however, the terms and charges of the indictment 
 caused a thrill of terror and horror to smite and 
 take possession of their minds. 
 
 The abbot was permitted by the sheriff to have 
 a single attendant with him, because of his phy- 
 sical infirmities, of whom he asked, evidently not 
 understanding the proceedings, what it all meant. 
 
 He was told, but with difficulty because of his 
 deafness, that Lord Essex, the king's vicar-general, 
 was only endeavouring to compel him to make 
 a cession of the abbey to the king : at least so 
 many thought and believed. 
 
 " By the help of God and Our Lady, never ! " 
 replied the intrepid old man, " Never, never, so 
 long as I live." 
 
 Friends crowded round, some fear-stricken ; 
 some volunteering advice ; some touched to tears 
 by so sad a spectacle. 
 
 The trial did not last long. Everything had 
 been arranged beforehand for the act of convic- 
 tion, which had been duly planned and already 
 settled in London. The many obedient servants 
 of Cromwell, whether high or low, had not la- 
 boured in vain in this matter. From the king's 
 point of view the Sheriff of the county had also 
 done his duty in the preliminaries of the case, 
 
 p 
 
2 1 o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 and merited his Grace's favour. The jurors who 
 had been summoned to attend, had, hke the evi- 
 dence, also been so " sorted," that Lord Russell was 
 enabled to inform Lord Essex with confidence, 
 that they were " as worshipful a jury " as had been 
 charged there for many years. " There was never 
 in these parts," writes the same nobleman in the 
 same epistle, " there was never in these parts so 
 great an appearance as were at this present time, 
 and never better willing to serve the king." 
 
 No wonder, therefore, that the king was served. 
 When the necessary legal forms had been gone 
 throup^h, it was declared that Richard Whitino-, 
 the prisoner at the bar, had been found guilty of 
 theft and treason. It was further declared and 
 maintained, and apparently believed by the jury, 
 so " willing- to serve the kingf," that the abbot had 
 broken open the treasury of Glastonbury Abbey, 
 taken out the plate belonging to the community, and 
 sent it to the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace. 
 
 When, in answer to the question, " How say 
 you, jurors, is the prisoner at the bar guilty or 
 not guilty ? " the principal juryman uttered the 
 word " guilty," further delay was needless, and at 
 once the judge rose to pronounce sentence. Its 
 nature and terms are too well known ; and it was 
 to be immediately carried out. A man who had 
 lived the long space of eighty years could not 
 lose much by prompt action on the part of the 
 law. He must, therefore, die at once. 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 21 1 
 
 A similar sentence was pronounced on the 
 two monks likewise. 
 
 For the night the abbot lay at Wells. Early 
 in the morning of November 15th, 1539, he was 
 taken in a horse-litter to Glastonbury ; and once 
 more discerned feebly and dimly through the wintry 
 foe the towers and walls of his old and sacred 
 home. Before the principal gateway a guard of 
 soldiers was placed, enjoined to forbid abso- 
 lutely to any one and every one either egress or in- 
 gress. But the abbot was now a convicted traitor, 
 and consequently was not allowed to go from the 
 custody of his keepers, or to enter the abbey. A 
 request to see and bid farewell to his brethren in 
 a last embrace, was also cruelly denied to him. 
 Such a favour could not be heard of. Moreover 
 he was not permitted to hear mass. A priest 
 came to the side of the horse-litter by order of an 
 official to hear his confession ; and then, refused 
 even a few hours in which to prepare for his latter 
 end, he was hurriedly lifted down to be taken to 
 execution. It was only then that he fully realized 
 what was about to happen. 
 
 A gibbet had been erected at the top of the 
 Tor, a grassy hill some little distance trom the 
 town. All through the nieht workmen had been 
 sawing wood, and driving stakes, and hammering 
 nails, by the fitful light of torches and lanterns. 
 But few of the neighbours and Glastonbury folk 
 knew for what exact purpose it had been put up. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 For those were days of tyranny, injustice, and 
 blood, and such instruments were frequently 
 erected. An official from Wells had been sent over 
 to construct it. In the morning three tall stout 
 oak beams, placed in the form of a triangle, with 
 cross-beams joining them, all clamped with iron, 
 stood out in the mist. Rude and rouofh barriers 
 had also been reared around, and a body of pike- 
 men and horse-soldiers to keep guard around it 
 and prevent any intervention or disturbance, soon 
 took up their places. 
 
 A hurdle covered with a truss of straw was 
 ready at hand and attached on the slope to the 
 back of a cart ; for notice of its being required had 
 been given at once on the abbot's arrival, who 
 was then bound with coarse cords under the arms 
 and across the breast, and fastened with his face 
 to the sky.^ His legs were tied together, and the 
 bandages carefully affixed to the lower part of the 
 hurdle ; and then, two horses being harnessed, 
 were fastened to the cart. And so it was drao-ored 
 through the town. In its progress the poor old 
 sufferer, constantly jolted and bruised, only cried 
 out " Christ Jesu, have mercy upon me ! " 
 
 ^ It seems clear, (for certain accounts are obscure, and some 
 traditions are obviously inaccurate,) that the two monks of his 
 house who were condemned at Wells for " treason," were not 
 taken to the place of execution with him, but immediately 
 afterwards and by another road. The refinement of cruelty 
 which thus compelled an old man to bear his sufferings alone 
 is manifest. See Appendix No. V. 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 2 1 3 
 
 It is said that within the monastery no one 
 knew for certain what had happened until after 
 sunset. But, ever since the abbot's departure, 
 and because of the prolonged absence of their 
 accused brethren, the monks, with a fearful dread 
 upon them, for rumours of evil were thick and 
 dark, had constantly betaken themselves to prayer. 
 So that many a litany and act of intercession rose 
 up from that sacred enclosure to the throne of 
 God Almighty by night as well as by day. 
 Monks went from altar to altar, and chapel to 
 chapel, imploring the aid of the saints. Where 
 the lamp of the Blessed Sacrament glimmered in 
 the gloom of a southern chapel, there kneeling 
 forms, calm and collected because of grace, and 
 trusting perfectly in God, were constantly inter- 
 cedingf for him and for those of their brethren 
 who had been so rudely taken away from them. 
 Who can tell how much of the calmness and con- 
 fidence displayed by those holy sufferers in their 
 last extremity was due to the Almighty's gracious 
 answer to such hearty and continual intercessions 
 from their own brethren in the faith ? 
 
 Jolted over the stony roads, often dragged from 
 one side to the other, the poor old man, with the 
 palms of his thin and large-veined hands placed 
 together, and his bloodless lips constantly moving 
 in prayer, bore this indignity with the extremest 
 patience. Armed horsemen rode upon either side, 
 and Pollard, the lawyer, one of the abbey inquisi- 
 
2 14 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 tors and the Sheriff of the county, with some 
 twenty others, were on horseback too. As the 
 horses, drawing the cart and hurdle, slashed with 
 a long whip in the hands of a rough driver, 
 plunged and pranced, the poor sufferer on the 
 hurdle suffered much. But no word of complaint 
 passed his lips. He was utterly and completely 
 patient, or perhaps impatient for that rest which 
 earth cannot give, and for the promised crown. 
 
 As they went up the grassy slopes of the hill, 
 upon the top of which the three perpendicular 
 beams of the gallows stood prominently out, the 
 abbot gave a long look at the stately abbey lying 
 beside the town in the dull valley below. 
 
 Most of those people of the town who had 
 come out of the doors of their houses to look at 
 the sad procession as it passed, more especially 
 the women and children, struck to the marrow 
 with fear, and strangely overcome, turned their 
 tear-stained faces away from a sight which sick- 
 ened them ; while the men, tradesman, yeoman, 
 and hind, invoking their guardian angels, or 
 sio^ninof themselves in faith, shuddered at what 
 was being perpetrated before their eyes. But 
 some, overcome with awe and excitement, seemed 
 to be drawn towards the moving band by some 
 invisible power of attraction ; so that, at a distance 
 and fearfully first, but then with more boldness 
 and nearer, afterwards, they followed in the wake 
 up the sides of the Tor. 
 
TJie Death of Richard Whiting. 2 1 5 
 
 As they reached the top every arrangement for 
 the doine of the deed had been made and was 
 ready. There stood the hangman in the blue 
 blouse of a country butcher. A large unsheathed 
 knife was stuck in his leathern girdle. A little to 
 the right was a huge caldron, three parts filled 
 with water, and beside it a rude red crock of tar.^ 
 Piles of faesrots were under and around the 
 caldron, and straw was scattered over the ground 
 thickly within the protected enclosure. 
 
 Pollard, the lawyer, went up to the abbot, — who 
 had raised himself on to his right elbow, when 
 the horses were detached from the cart, but fell 
 back again exhausted and prostrate at once, — and 
 put once again certain questions to him concerning 
 the plate and treasures of the abbey. 
 
 But the abbot declared that he had already said 
 all ; had nothing more to say, and desired to be 
 left at peace in his last moments. 
 
 And now came the end. Lifted on to the cart, 
 in the habit of his order, for he was wholly 
 unable to stand, and there supported by two stout 
 men while the rope was being fastened round his 
 neck by the hangman, on a given signal, the two 
 men together leapt down, while the hangman 
 
 = After the body of a traitor was " dismembered," the head 
 was cut off, and then the body was divided into four quarters. 
 These, having first been thrown into a caldron, were boiled, 
 and then smeared with tar before they were set up on poles at 
 the places appointed. 
 
2 1 6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 momentarily sustained the body of the sufferer, 
 who was repeating constantly the Sacred Name. 
 Then, a moment or two afterwards, by a sudden 
 move, the hangman sprang on to the straw, the cart 
 was suddenly pulled away, and Abbot Whiting hung 
 suspended by the neck between earth and heaven. 
 
 A sudden shriek from many around ; even men 
 turned aside their gaze ; and a thrill of horror, 
 sharp and startling, ran through all but those 
 officially engaged in the awful w^ork. 
 
 Let us hope that, for this worn-out and weary 
 sufferer, the actual death-agfonv was short and 
 soon over. 
 
 Then the hangman, with a sudden bound, leapt 
 up to the cross-bar of the gallows, and, clinging to 
 it with his left hand, cut the strained rope with his 
 right. 
 
 The corpse (if life had fled, but that seems 
 doubtful) fell to the ground ; but there was still a 
 quivering in the body ; and some say that the 
 fingers, after opening, were spasmodically, but 
 firmly clenched again ; while one of the spectators 
 thought that he saw the sign of the cross feebly 
 but evidently drawn by those same fingers on the 
 breast of the abbot after he had fallen upon the 
 straw. 
 
 That which followed — for a curtain should be 
 drawn over such a sad and piteous scene — may be 
 told in the written words, still on record, of Lord 
 Russell to the Earl of Essex : — 
 
The DcatJi of Richard Whiting. 217 
 
 " My Lord,— 
 
 " This shall be to ascertain that, on Thurs- 
 day, the 14th day of this present month, the 
 Abbot of Glastonbury was arraigned, and the 
 next day put to execution, .... for the robbing 
 of Glastonbury church, on the Torr Hill, next 
 unto the town of Glaston : The said abbot's body 
 being divided in four parts, and head stricken off ; 
 whereof one quarter standeth at Wells, another at 
 Bath, and at Ilchester and Brids^water the rest, 
 and his head upon the abbey gate at Glaston. 
 
 " J. Russell." 
 
 To the cities and towns here named, these 
 fearful tokens of royal vengeance were duly 
 despatched and at once placed on poles in pro- 
 minent places, " according to law :" at Bridgwater, 
 near the market-place ; at the borough of Ilchester, 
 on the ancient octagonal tower of the parish 
 church of Our Lady ; at Wells, over an old gate- 
 way, now wholly destroyed, which stood not far 
 from the east end of the cathedral ; and at Bath, 
 on a spot said to be covered by the handsome 
 Roman Catholic church, which travellers by the 
 railway to the West of England remark, on 
 passing, as a fine addition to the ecclesiastical 
 buildings of that city. 
 
 Soon afterwards, the magnificent Abbey of 
 Glastonbury received its final blow. The monks 
 were turned out, pensioned or scattered, according 
 
2 I S Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 as they had behaved themselves In the presence 
 ot the Commissioners, when they " visited " the 
 place again. The altars and font were thrown 
 down, the lamps put out, the voice of song and 
 melody in honour of God the Trinity, which, both 
 by night and by day, had risen without intermis- 
 sion for at least ten centuries within those sacred 
 walls, was silenced for ever. And thus one of the 
 oldest religious foundations in England, full of 
 historical and ecclesiastical interest, and truly 
 valuable for what it had accomplished as a home 
 of Religion, was wantonly and almost totally 
 destroyed. Lead from the roofs, walnut-wood 
 and oak fittings from choir and chapels ; carved 
 tabernacles of free-stone, rich with crockets and 
 beautiful with gold and vermilion ; artistic pave- 
 ments of harmonized colours and hoar antiquity ; 
 stained glass and memorial brasses of knights, 
 abbots, and nobles were alternately broken down, 
 torn up, and carried away. The stately and solid 
 walls were for years used as a quarry for the 
 building of cottages near the town of Glastonbury 
 or for repairing the Somersetshire roads. 
 
 The destruction was intentionally great as well 
 as wanton ; so that feeble and senile dreamers of 
 the dawn of a better day might have no grounds 
 for their vain imaginings, and no reasonable hope 
 of ever repairing or restoring God's House. 
 
 Save for its well-watered meadows and beauti- 
 ful verdure, the place is now practically a desola- 
 
The Death of Richard Whiting. 219 
 
 tion ; a mere decayed town, with little in it of 
 interest except the abbey ruins, which serve in 
 some measure, but only to the initiated, to indicate 
 what the ancient glories and ecclesiastical splen- 
 dours of Glastonbury once were. The abbot's 
 kitchen, a picturesque building, comparatively- 
 speaking, little damaged, is still standing ; and an 
 old inn, in one of the leading thoroughfares, which 
 first made its reputation in times when the magni- 
 ficent monastic house of a mitred abbot was 
 flourishing hard by ; and, though the oak timbers 
 have been elaborately whitewashed, it seems a 
 little out of place in contrast with the showy 
 modern buildings of recent date which are near. 
 
 The name of grood old Abbot Whitino- is not 
 forgotten altogether. Some people, by the aid of 
 traditions which are still strong and not inexact, 
 remember the true story of his cruel and shameful 
 death ; and recounting it with horror, point up to 
 the Tor adjacent, where he so patiently suffered 
 for the liberties of the Catholic Church. 
 
 But the faith and system for which the last 
 abbot and so many others in dark days died, have 
 been (thereabouts at all events) effectually crushed 
 out and destroyed. Thoughts of Commerce and 
 Competition, of Agriculture, Patent Inventions, 
 and Free Trade, have there, as in other places, 
 taken the place of rounds of sacred duties done 
 devoutly and with order by the monks of olden 
 times ; and Poor Houses, — one such large insti- 
 
2 20 Historical SkctcJics of the Reformation. 
 
 tution for several parishes stands at no great 
 distance from Glastonbury, where Political Eco- 
 nomy dominates both " Paupers" and Master, — 
 have taken the place of the hospital of the abbey, 
 its almonry and its sheltering retreats for the in- 
 capacitated and outcast. 
 
 The worship of God in these enlightened times is 
 a Sunday duty lasting through one hour and a half 
 just before noon ; but even that form of worship 
 is neither of divine institution, nor, judging by 
 results, of any particular interest to those members 
 of suffering humanity, who, living nigh, hear, but 
 heed not, the monotonous sound of a single church 
 bell, inviting them to an altarless sanctuary. In 
 truth, the old order has changed, and has oriven 
 place to a new order of things. Those who fondly 
 hoped and fervently tried to stem the torrent of 
 change and destruction have been ruthlessly swept 
 away by its increasing force and fury. They are 
 all gone, and their place knows them no more. 
 Therefore let the dead bury their dead. Or, as 
 some would say, (the faith could never be ours,) 
 " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
 
No. VI. 
 
 THE MONKS OF THE CHARTER- 
 HOUSE, LONDON: EXECUTED 
 MAY 4TH AND JUNE iith 
 AND i8th, 1535. 
 
"■ Being destitute, afflicted, tormented." — Heb. xi. 37. 
 
 "The Church shone brightly in her youthful days, 
 Ere the World on her smiled ; 
 So now an outcast, she would pour her rays 
 
 Keen, free, and undefiled : 
 Yet would I not that ami of force were mine, 
 Which thrusts her from her awful ancient shrine. 
 
 ""Twas duty bound each convert-king to rear 
 
 His mother from the dust. 
 And pious was it to enrich, nor fear 
 
 Christ for the rest to trust ; 
 And who shall dare make common or unclean 
 What once has on the Holy Altar been ? 
 
 ' ' Dear brothers ! hence while ye for ill prepare, 
 
 Triumph is still your own ; 
 Blest is a pilgrim church ! yet shrink to share 
 
 The curse of throwing down : 
 So will we toil in our old place to stand. 
 Watching, not dreading, the despoiler's hand." 
 
 John Henry Newman. 
 
 ' ' / will multiply them, and they shall not he fe7v ; I ivill also glorify them, 
 and they shall not be small. Their Children also shall be as aforetime, and 
 their Congregation shall be established before 3fe, and I will polish all thai 
 oppress them." — IsAlAH xxx. 19, 20. 
 
No. VI. 
 
 THE MONKS OF THE CHARTER- 
 HOUSE, LONDON, EXECUTED 
 
 MAY ^TYL, A^D yUA^E iiTH AND I 8th, 1 535- 
 
 Those who advised King Henry VIII. in his 
 ecclesiastical pohcy, saw that before their plans 
 could be carried out with any chance of success, 
 the religious houses and their inhabitants must be 
 respectively suppressed and scattered. It was not 
 very difficult to deal with the bishops, some of 
 whom had already proved themselves to be pliable 
 and tolerably subservient, or with a restless mino- 
 rity of the secular clergy. Recent enactments and 
 the notorious tactics adopted, had by consequence 
 already worked a wonderful revolution with many 
 of the most pliant of these. Amongst the more 
 prominent ecclesiastical innovators, there was a 
 wild and remarkable desire for change, spreading 
 and deepening, which startled their soberer brethren 
 and amazed lay-people greatly.^ 
 
 ^ " I forecast not what may be permitted to hap ; nor can I 
 
2 24 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1534 Parliament 
 assembled, and enacted that no canons nor con- 
 stitutions should be made without the kino-'s con- 
 sent ; that appeals in spiritual causes might be 
 carried from the Ecclesiastical Courts to the Court 
 of Chancery, but that henceforth none should be 
 made to the Pope. 
 
 By the same authority it was enacted that 
 bishops were to be made and consecrated without 
 the leave of the Pope, a proceeding for which there 
 was no precedent since the coming of St. Austin ; 
 and the law likewise suppressed the payment to 
 him of first-fruits. It was likewise decreed that 
 the king and the archbishops shall grant the dis- 
 pensations hitherto obtained from Rome. On a see 
 becoming vacant, the king was authorized to issue 
 his congd delire within twelve days, nominating 
 the person whom he himself had selected ; that, in 
 case of refusal by the dean and chapter, or the 
 prior and monks, the absolute selection of a bishop 
 by the Crown should at once follow ; that the 
 person so selected should swear obedience in things 
 spiritual, and fealty to the king ; that the Supreme 
 Head should inform the archbishop of the province 
 of his Highness's appointment, and, if there were 
 no archbishop, four bishops, who were to confirm 
 the election, impart the episcopal character, and by 
 
 tell whither we drift in the things of God." — MS. Letter of 
 William Bouchier of Oxon (a.d. 1534), amongst the Author's 
 literary collections. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 225 
 
 subsequent process, invest the bishop with the 
 temporaHties of his see. Thus grave and startHng 
 changes were introduced ; by which the traditions 
 of nine centuries, common to those of every other 
 part of the Family of God, were utterly abolished. 
 
 That innovation, however, was sufficient to 
 amaze and startle, which had taken away from 
 the Pope all such authority as by obvious eccle- 
 siastical necessity had existed in England since 
 the days of the mission of St. Augustine. For 
 the Kinofdom of Christ was universal and world- 
 wide, its laws being framed for all nations, while 
 the kingdom of England was comparatively-speak- 
 ing new and national. When, therefore, in the 
 summer of the year 1534, the king's proclamation 
 declaring this change as regards ecclesiastical 
 authority, went forth and was heard ; and when 
 men found that what had been admitted and 
 allowed in England for nearly ten centuries was 
 henceforth to involve those who did not see their 
 way to change in a charge of high treason, there 
 were many ominous forecasts of the future. Evil 
 things for the nation were predicted. 
 
 Another novelty, of which the people of Lam- 
 beth, Canterbury, and Croydon, from time to 
 time, heard singular rumours, and concerning 
 which the profane or witty often made merry, viz. 
 that the new archbishop, having married a servant 
 at Cambridge, who had died in giving birth to 
 still-born twins, had also secretly wedded a second 
 
 Q 
 
2 26 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 wife, who In disguise and unable to speak English, 
 was passively carried about, with his Grace's 
 temporal goods and chattels, between the various 
 archiepiscopal residences.^ Some people, it seems, 
 were profane enough to doubt whether any mar- 
 riage had taken place at all : others allowed 
 equally disagreeable and possibly wholly un- 
 founded assertions to glide off their active and 
 malignant tongues : evidencing that such changes 
 were anything but popular amongst the people 
 of England. 
 
 With such a leader as Cranmer, therefore, the 
 record of whose loathsome Erastianism — when 
 read three centuries and a half after his death at 
 Oxford — leaves an unsavoury flavour in the 
 Churchman's mouth,^ what could the rank and file 
 of the clergy attempt? Disunited; without leaders 
 who could be trusted, for most of the bishops 
 were too ready to please the king ; paralyzed by 
 
 - " The Archbishop of Canterbury was married in King 
 Henry's days ; but kept his woman very close and sometimes 
 carried her about with him in a great chest." — "Treatise of 
 Marriage," by Archdeacon Harpsfield, Ub. iii. p. 98. See also 
 "The Three Conversions of England," vol. ii. chap. vii. p. 371. 
 
 ^ Cranmer, for instance, asserted that it was not forbidden 
 by God's law," for the king of a country where the clergy were 
 dead, to " make bishops and priests to supply the same." In 
 answer to another question, set forth at length in Archdeacon 
 Todd's " Life of Cranmer," that prelate replied, " A bishop 
 may make a priest by the Scripture, and so may princes and 
 governors also, and that by the authority of God committed to 
 them and the people also by their election." 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 227 
 
 the prompt and daring action of the mushroom 
 "noblemen" and "statesmen," by whom his Grace 
 had surrounded himself; awed into silence by- 
 new and unprecedented laws ; fined and threatened 
 with imprisonment and death, — can it cause great 
 astonishment that so many faltered and failed ? 
 
 True, some of the Friars Minor of Greenwich 
 spoke out bravely and plainly. Fathers Elstowe 
 and Peto did not wrap up their ideas in am- 
 biguous language : nor even before an earthly 
 monarch did they hesitate to proclaim the unwel- 
 come truth at all hazards. For this their names 
 are not forgotten. 
 
 Elsewhere, too, and by others, good defences 
 were made. A simple trust in God enabled several 
 of the attacked heads of religious houses, — some- 
 times a woman, as at Godstow, the Abbess Kathe- 
 rine Bulkeley, — to withstand and baffle for awhile 
 the creatures of Cromwell, by a firm and decided 
 " Non possumus." The Dominicans, the Cistercians, 
 and the Carmelites were brave in defence of the 
 truth ; and many only succumbed after a consider- 
 able and wearying struggle, to the might, or, as some 
 would say, the " brute force," of their oppressors. 
 
 But the members of no religious order did 
 more in the defence of the ancient faith than the 
 sons of St. Bruno — the devout and ascetic Car- 
 thusians. Here in England that order owned in 
 various counties nine distinct houses : one at 
 Sheen in Surrey, another at Eppworth in Lincoln- 
 
 Q 2 
 
2 28 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 shire ; a third at Coventry in Warwickshire ; two 
 others at Henton and Witham in Somersetshire ; 
 two Hkewise in Yorkshire, at Mountgrace and 
 Kingston-upon-Hull ; one at Beauvalle in Ax- 
 holme, and another, the best known and most 
 important, in the north of London, the remains of 
 which are now known as " The Charterhouse." 
 
 This " House of the Prior and Convent of the 
 Salutation of the Mother of God," as it was anciently 
 and exactly termed, was erected by Sir Walter 
 Manny, a most distinguished warrior and states- 
 man, about the year 1370, in the reign of King 
 Edward III. The site selected was a pest-house 
 field to the north of the city, without the bars of 
 West Smithfield, which had been purchased twenty 
 years previously by the founder from the Friars of 
 St. Bartholomew de Spital — land which lies to the 
 west of the upper end of what is at present known 
 as Aldersgate Street. 
 
 As early as the year 1360 it appears that Sir 
 Walter, who had been created Lord de Manny, 
 and made a Knight of the Garter, had contem- 
 plated the institution of a collegiate establishment 
 for a dean and twelve secular priests, and had 
 duly obtained a Bull from Clement VI. (Pierre de 
 Roger, sometime Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen), 
 authorizing its foundation. But the French wars, 
 in which this noble knight took so prominent and 
 distinguished a part,"* prevented a fulfilment of the 
 
 * In the war in Britanny, a.d. 1342, concerning the succes- 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 229 
 
 design. In the later foundation, planned and 
 commenced after those wars, Sir Walter Manny 
 was aided in setting up the " House of the Saluta- 
 tion " by a bequest from Michael de Northburgh, 
 Bishop of London/ 
 
 The founder, Lord de Manny, died in London 
 on the 13th of January, 1372, and was buried with 
 solemnity and magnificence in the chapel of the 
 order which he had assisted to establish. A war- 
 rant, dated the ist of May in the same year, is 
 still in existence, signed by the Duke of Lancaster, 
 ordering payment for " five hundred masses to be 
 sung for the soul of Sir Walter Manny." At the 
 funeral, shields of his arms within a garter — Or, 
 three chevronells sable — were hung round a lofty 
 catafalque, rich with purple and silver, relieved 
 with scarlet and black, and bright with pennons 
 and wax candles. His shield and coronetted 
 helmet, with sword, lance, and armour, were dis- 
 played, according to custom, together with his 
 surcoat and badge, to the crowds who, devoutly 
 counting their beads, and reciting again and again 
 
 sion, Sir Walter Manny relieved Jane, sister of Louis I., Count 
 of Flanders, who was shut up in Hennebon. At Calais, in 
 1346, he performed many acts of prowess and valour, when the 
 brave and vigorous Eustace de Ribaumont was overcome, so 
 that the king held him in the highest estimation. 
 
 ^ This munificent prelate was consecrated at St. Mary's 
 Southwark, by William Edendon, Bishop of Winchester, assisted 
 by a foreign prelate, Caesarius de Rosis, on July 12, 1355. He 
 died September 9, 136 1. 
 
230 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 the Requiem cBternam dona ei, Domine, regretted 
 with tears the death of a benevolent nobleman, so 
 charitable to the poor, who had been at once a 
 faithful servant of the king, and a still more faith- 
 ful servant of the Kino- of kinors. Outside the 
 walls of the monastery thousands waited for the 
 coming of the bier. His obsequies were attended 
 by the king, his sons, and many prelates and 
 barons, for Lord de Manny was universally re- 
 spected, and the charitable and beautiful services 
 for the departed were of unusual magnificence. 
 His will, dated St. Andrew's Day, 30th November, 
 137I) was proved at Lambeth, and may still be 
 read at the back of the hundred and twenty-first 
 folio of Archbishop Whittlesey's MS. Register, an 
 interesting memorial of a great and good man. 
 
 By his wife, Margaret Plantagenet, only daugh- 
 ter, and (after the death of her brother Edward), 
 heiress of Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, 
 second son of King Edward L, he had issue only 
 one son, Thomas Manny, who died during his 
 father's lifetime, having been drowned in a well 
 at Deptford, and one daughter, Anne, the second 
 wife of John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, K.G. 
 By this lady (Anne Manny) the earl had an only 
 child, John, Earl of Pembroke, who, in 1391, 
 was slain, a minor and without issue, near the 
 royal palace of Woodstock. 
 
 A few words concerning the origin, institution, 
 and character of the order may not be out of place; 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 231 
 
 ere a record of the sufferings of the Carthusians 
 of the sixteenth century is faithfully set forth. 
 
 The Carthusian order was founded by St. 
 Bruno, who in June, 1084, retired with six chosen 
 companions to the desert of Chartreuse, in the 
 diocese of Grenoble, and there built a church on a 
 summit, with cells near it. The present monas- 
 tery of the Great Chartreuse, situated ten miles 
 from Grenoble, stands in a barren plain, in a 
 narrow valley between two cliffs. It is sombre 
 and religious, but plain and unornamented. The 
 prior never goes out of the enclosure ; he is general 
 of the order, but only styled Prior of the Great 
 Chartreuse. The name of Chartreuse ^ is given 
 
 ® One of the most remarkable Carthusian monasteries in the 
 world, is that founded by Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti near Pavia, 
 in North Italy, which the Author, with Commendatory Letters to 
 Father Ferrari the Superior, visited in the autumn of 1877. 
 Its plan is substantially like that of the French house given in 
 the text ; its splendid architectural features, Italian renaissance, 
 being of great interest. The marble adornments of the church 
 are remarkable and superb. On one side of the nave are 
 seven chapels, with choice altar-pieces above the various altars, 
 respectively dedicated in honour of (i) St Veronica, (2) St. 
 Hugh of Lincoln, (3) St. Benedict, (4) The Most Holy Cruci- 
 fixion, (5) St. Sirus, (6) SS. Peter and Paul, (7) The Annuncia- 
 tion. On the other side, chapels in honour of (i) The Holy 
 Rosary, {2) St Ambrose, (3) St Katherine V. M. and St. 
 Katherine of Siena, (4) St. Joseph, (5) St John Baptist, (6) 
 St. Michael, and (7) St Mary Magdalene. The institution has 
 been practically suppressed by the State, though retained, with 
 a prior and ten monks to take care of it, as a " National monu- 
 ment." It is in perfect order ; but there are no burning lamps 
 
232 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 to all other convents of this order ; hence the 
 corrupt English appellation of " Charterhouse." 
 The rule is of the strictest. For many years the 
 monks of St. Bruno followed no written rule, 
 though some think they conformed to that of St. 
 Benedict ; but others say their practices were 
 peculiar to their institute, and not borrowed from 
 any other. Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluni, 
 fifty years after St. Bruno, thus describes them : — 
 " Their dress is meaner and poorer than that of 
 other monks ; so short and scanty, and so rough, 
 that the very sight affrights one. They wear 
 coarse hair shirts next their skin, fast almost per- 
 petually, eat only bran-bread ; never touch flesh, 
 either sick or well ; never buy fish, but eat it if 
 given them as alms ; eat eggs and cheese on 
 Sundays and Thursdays ; on Tuesdays and 
 Saturdays their fare is pulse, or boiled herbs ; on 
 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they take 
 nothing but bread and water ; and they have only 
 one meal a day, except within the octaves of 
 Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, Epiphany, and 
 some other festivals. Their constant occupation 
 
 nor lighted tapers ; mass is not now said in the church or side 
 chapels, only in the prior's chapel. So that the place looks 
 desolate. For an excellent and perfect account the inquiring 
 reader should consult an archaeological volume of much beauty 
 and interest, " La Certosa di Pavia descritta ed illustrata con 
 Tavole incise dai fratelli Gaetano e Francesco Durelli," Milano, 
 1853- 
 
TJie Monks of the Charterhouse. 233 
 
 is praying, reading, and manual labour, which 
 consists chiefly in transcribing books. They say 
 the lesser hours of the divine office in their cells at 
 the times when the bell rings ; but meet together 
 at vespers and matins with wonderful recollection. 
 They say Mass only on Sundays and Festivals." 
 
 Women are excluded from their church as well 
 as their enclosure. The monks are allowed to 
 walk abroad together in private roads once a week, 
 but never to eat out of doors, nor to drink any- 
 thing but water. 
 
 Superiors only, or others addressing superiors, 
 are allowed to speak except on certain days ; and 
 except at appointed times, they never stir out of 
 their cells, which comprise three or four little rooms 
 and a little garden. They work at some craft or 
 art ; study and write. They recite every day, 
 besides the offices of the Church, the office of our 
 Lady, the office of the Dead, and other prayers of 
 obligation, vocal and mental. They always wear 
 a hair shirt, and sleep on straw beds laid on boards; 
 and their period of rest, interrupted by the recital 
 of offices, consists at most of about six or seven 
 hours. 
 
 The various buildings of this order were 
 commonly erected on a simple but generally 
 accepted plan ; and, whether abroad or in England, 
 were very much alike in their broad and chief 
 arrangements, though they differed in architectural 
 style. 
 
234 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Here Is an excellent description of a Carthusian 
 monastery once existing in France, which was, 
 however, sold in 1792, and soon afterwards pulled 
 down : — 
 
 " The whole of the space enclosed was about 
 eight English acres, which was fenced in by a wall 
 about twenty feet high. It was an oblong square, 
 and at one end of one of the sides was a gateway, 
 with gates as high as the wall, and with a little 
 door in one of the q^reat sfates for the ingress and 
 egress of foot-passengers. This gate opened into 
 a spacious courtyard, very nicely paved. On one 
 side, and at one end of this yard were the kitchen, 
 lodging room for servants, a dining or eating 
 place for them, and for strangers and poor people ; 
 stables, coach-houses, and other out-buildings. On 
 the other side of the courtyard, we entered in at a 
 doorway to the places of residence of the monks. 
 Here was about half an acre of ground of a square 
 form for a burying-ground. On the four sides of 
 this square there was a cloister or piazza, the roof 
 of which was, on the side of the burying-ground, 
 supported by pillars, and at the back supported by 
 a low building which went round the four sides. 
 This building contained the several dormitories or 
 sleeping-rooms of the monks ; each of whom had 
 two little rooms, one for his bed, and one for his 
 books to sit in. Out of the hinder room, a door 
 opened into a little garden about thirty feet wide 
 and forty long. On one side of the cloister there 
 
The Mo7iks of the Charterhouse. 235 
 
 was a door opening into their dining-room, in one 
 corner of which there was a pulpit for the monk 
 who read while the rest were eating in silence, 
 which was accordinof to the rules of the Carthusians, 
 to which order these monks belonged. On the 
 other side of the cloister, a door opened into the 
 kitchen-garden, which was laid out in the nicest 
 manner, and was well stocked with fruit-trees of all 
 sorts. On another side of the cloister a door 
 opened and led to the church, which, though not 
 large, was one of the most beautiful that I had ever 
 seen. I believe that these monks were by their 
 rules, confined within their walls. The country 
 people spoke of them with great reverence, and 
 most grievously deplored the loss of them. They 
 had large estates, were easy landlords, and they 
 wholly provided for all the indigent within miles of 
 their monastery." 
 
 Such was the London Charterhouse. Portions 
 and fragments of it, however, considerably damaged 
 and altered, still remain amid all the changes 
 which have passed over it. The old chapel, much 
 multilated, still stands at the end of a small cloister. 
 The ante-chapel and choir probably formed the 
 whole original structure. The common hall, con- 
 nected with the refectory and cloisters of the Car- 
 thusian lay-brothers, is of late third-pointed work. 
 Fragments of carvings and mouldings in Caen stone 
 of the same period exist about various parts of the 
 kitchen. The gateway forming the entrance to 
 
236 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 " Charterhouse Square," as it is termed, is an arch 
 constructed in the same architectural style, sur- 
 mounted by a pent-house supported by lions. 
 
 Though nothing earthly is absolutely perfect, 
 yet during the two centuries and more in which 
 the Convent of the Salutation had flourished, sim- 
 plicity of life, personal piety, and fervour in devo- 
 tion, as a rule, reigned amongst the monks. Of 
 these there were, in the year 1533, no less than 
 thirty professed fathers and eighteen lay-brothers. 
 Six of the latter, immovable as a rock in the hour 
 of trial, were steadfast and received the crown. 
 Nothing can be more touching than the simple 
 story which Maurice Chauncy, one of their num- 
 ber, tells in his book,' of the later years of their 
 monastic life, — those immediately preceding their 
 day of trial and dispersion. William Tynburgh, 
 cLn Irishman, who had been a monk for sixty years, 
 and prior during half that period, had, in the 
 Name of God the Trinity, governed the house 
 with singular skill, discretion, and firmness. His 
 life was remarkably holy and supernatural. Some- 
 times visions and special revelations were granted 
 to him. It is on record that he could seldom say 
 the last gospel in the Holy Mass without passing 
 into a state of ecstasy ; for he lived, as it were, in 
 the other world, and his soul was saturated with 
 the sublime doctrine of God manifest in the flesh. 
 
 ' " Historia Aliquot Nostri Saeculi Martyrum." This volume 
 was first printed at Mayence in 1550, at Munich in 1573, at 
 Milan in 1606, and two years later both at Ghent and Cologne. 
 
The Monks of tJie Chm'ter house. 237 
 
 He was beloved, therefore, by all those over whom 
 he ruled, and deeply lamented when he was called 
 home. Few forgot him in their prayers. 
 
 But, to revert to public matters again. In the 
 year 1533 an Act had been passed requiring that 
 all persons who were of sixteen years and upwards, 
 when it might please the king to require it, should 
 swear that they would maintain the Act of Suc- 
 cession — an Act passed after the divorce of the 
 king's lawful wife and his pretended marriage 
 with Anne Boleyn — which declared that none 
 were heirs to the Crown but the children of the 
 king's "most dear and entirely beloved lawful wife, 
 Queen Anne." No form of oath was appointed 
 by this statute : it was left, therefore, to those 
 officially appointed to utilize and apply the new 
 law to frame such an oath as they thought ex- 
 pedient, and then proceed to administer it. 
 
 In doing this, a blow was struck directly against 
 the Pope, — whose predecessor, St. Gregory, had 
 sent St. Augustine to be the apostle of England 
 and the first Archbishop of Canterbury ; — against 
 the spiritual independence of the clergy ; against 
 the freedom of the subject, and against the express 
 provisions of the Great Charter. To admit what 
 was thus indirectly asked for and demanded, was 
 obviously to destroy the old ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion, the undoubted rights of the spiritualty and 
 the ancient and reasonable privileges of all Catholic 
 Christians. 
 
 At this period, such holy religious as those 
 
238 Historical Sketches of the Reformatio7t. 
 
 sons of St. Bruno, might well have put the ques- 
 tion in chapter, either to other, " What crime has 
 the Church committed that spiritual persons should 
 receive so severe a punishment as that determined 
 on ? Why should they be persecuted even unto 
 death, because their consciences would not allow 
 them to approve of the lust, sacrilege, and Eras- 
 tianism of a royal tyrant ? Why should the ancient 
 faith be thus uprooted ? " For Christianity, as all 
 thoughtful people knew, had done much for the 
 people. It had rescued England from the dark- 
 ness of Paganism, and besides teaching her the 
 Divinely-revealed truths of the Blessed Trinity 
 and God manifest in the flesh, had effectively 
 civilized her. After the Norman Conquest the 
 Church notoriously and actively shielded the 
 people against the cruel barbarity and ruthless 
 oppression of the Conqueror : and during suc- 
 ceeding ages had preserved them from the almost 
 unchecked tyranny of a rude and sometimes domi- 
 neering nobility. The Churchmen of the time 
 of King John, in combination with the barons, 
 wrung Mag7ia Charta from that monarch, se- 
 curing other reasonable regulations which at once 
 formed the base and foundation of her children's 
 truest liberties. Heretofore there had been but 
 One pastor and One flock. The demon of chronic 
 Disunion had not yet reared its hydra-head. 
 
 No one saw the danger more clearly than Prior 
 Houghton. His instinct was keen and powerful, 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 239 
 
 his experience considerable : his principles high, 
 true, and deep. Born in Essex, he had received 
 his education at Cambridge, where he greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself : and it is said that feeling that 
 he owned an undoubted vocation for the priest- 
 hood, he hid himself for some period, when his 
 parents would have pressed upon him, as they 
 thought, a suitable marriage. However, on having 
 been ordained priest without their knowledge, he 
 returned to them and sought their forgiveness. 
 He subsequently joined the Carthusian order in 
 London when twenty-eight years of age, and in 
 due course, after having filled the offices of sa- 
 cristan and procurator, became prior. 
 
 The legislation, already referred to, having 
 taken place. Father Houghton, calling together 
 his brethren in chapter, read to them the new 
 enactment, which seemed to require of them so 
 little ; but which, when all its bearings were con- 
 sidered in detail, and in their consequences, in- 
 volved so much ; and asked them one by one, 
 whether they were prepared to take the oath, 
 which Report declared was being proposed. 
 " For," said he, " the time of testing and trying us 
 all, be well assured, is nigh at hand, even at our 
 very doors." 
 
 " Rather than take it, if such be its true terms," 
 they replied, " we would cheerfully go to prison 
 and to death." 
 
 " God's holy Name be praised !" exclaimed the 
 
240 Historical Sketches of the Refor7nation. 
 
 fervent, but simple-minded prior, " and may He 
 grant you, each and all, the grace of perseverance 
 in this your sacred resolution ! " 
 
 The prior had learnt something of the course of 
 procedure to be anticipated. Trusty Christian 
 friends, external to the order, having heard of the 
 terms of the oath, had informed him of its nature. 
 The more Catholic and resolute of the bishops — 
 those, in fact, who dreaded all unprecedented 
 innovations — had spoken out plainly in weighty 
 words of warning. He was, therefore, prepared 
 for the worst. 
 
 Certain Royal Commissioners, having previously 
 intimated to the prior their intended advent, 
 arrived at the House of the Salutation in the early 
 part of the spring of the year 1534, a few days 
 after the events just recorded, and requested all 
 the inmates to appear before them. Amongst 
 these were John Houghton, the prior, William 
 Exmew (the prior's confessor), Humphry Middle- 
 more (procurator), Sebastian Newdigate, William 
 Home, James Waiver, Thomas Johnson (priest), 
 John Rochester, William Greenwood, John Darley, 
 Thomas Greenaway (priest), John Davis, Robert 
 Salt, Thomas Scriven, John Bere (priest), Walter 
 Pearson, James Walwerke, Thomas Reading, and 
 others. 
 
 The Commissioners required the prior and his 
 brethren to swear to the succession as recently 
 settled by the Act ; but the latter attempted to 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 241 
 
 evade the treacherous questions which such a 
 demand involved. The prior argued, reasonably 
 enough, that his humble position did not require 
 him to judge of such high matters as royal 
 marriages ; but this retort was unavailing. 
 
 He was then and at once distinctly required, in 
 their presence and in the presence of the com- 
 munity, to swear that the king's marriage with 
 Queen Katherine was invalid. 
 
 To this he replied by simply saying that he 
 could not understand how any marriage formally 
 and solemnly celebrated in the face of the Church 
 could be annulled ; and from this orthodox and 
 most reasonable position it was found impossible 
 to dislodge him. Several attempts so to do 
 utterly failed. His answer was invariably the 
 same. He could not be moved. For this refusal 
 the prior and procurator were both sent to the 
 Tower. At the end of a month, however, having 
 taken the oath with certain conditions — an act 
 which, notwithstanding the allowed conditions, 
 they one and all ever subsequently repented of 
 having taken — they were set at liberty, and 
 returned to their House. 
 
 The conditions, as will be gathered from a 
 record of what had taken place, were as follows : — 
 A fresh Act of Parliament embodying an oath, 
 in which the previous Act had been defective, 
 was passed on the 30th of March. Its wording 
 was at once insidious and artful : — " Ye shall 
 
242 Histo7''ical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 swear," it ran, " to bear faith, truth, and obedience 
 alonely to the King's Majesty, and to his heir of 
 his body of his most dear and entirely-beloved 
 lawful wife, Queen Anne, begotten and to be 
 begotten. And further to the heirs of our said 
 Sovereign Lord, according to the limitation in the 
 statute made for surety of his succession in the 
 Crown of the Realm mentioned and contained, 
 and not to any other in the realm, nor foreign 
 authority or potentate. And in case any oath be 
 made, or hath been made, by you, to any person 
 or persons, that then ye repute the same as vain 
 and annihilate. And that to your cunning, wit, 
 and uttermost of your power, without guile, fraud, 
 or any undue means, ye shall observe, keep, main- 
 tain, and defend the said Act of Succession," &c. 
 
 The terms of this oath are obviously obscure, 
 and capable of diverse construction ; yet when it is 
 interpreted in conjunction with several Acts of 
 Parliament, passed just previous to the oath's 
 formation, and when certain expressions in it are 
 duly weighed, those to whom it was tendered 
 might reasonably have regarded it as ambiguous, 
 and not one which a Christian ought to take. 
 
 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas 
 More, had each refused to take it. They did not 
 object, as it seems, to that part which related to 
 the succession to the Crown ; " but unto that oath 
 which there was offered unto me," said More, " I 
 could not swear without jeoparding my soul to 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 243 
 
 perpetual damnation." So likewise maintained 
 the saintly Bishop of Rochester. His words 
 were, "He doubted not but that the Prince of any 
 realm, with the assent of his nobles and commons, 
 might appoint for his succession royal such an 
 order as seemed most agreeable to his wisdom ; 
 but, as to the other parts of the oath, he could not 
 swear to them, because his conscience would not 
 suffer him to do so." 
 
 This oath, however, with an expressed condi- 
 tion, the insertion of the words ''so far as it is 
 lawful so to do'' was taken at the prior's advice 
 by several of the brethren, on the 29th of May, 
 1534, before Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry, 
 and Thomas Bedyll, clerk ; and by others, on the 
 6th of June, before the same bishop and Sir 
 Thomas Kytson, the King's Commissioner for 
 that purpose. 
 
 Immediately afterwards Prior Houghton had a 
 remarkable dream, from which he gathered truly 
 and accurately enough that their trials were by no 
 means over ; but that, on the other hand, they 
 had only just begun ; that the imprisonment from 
 which he and the procurator had been released 
 would be soon repeated, and that for himself death 
 was not far off. 
 
 This dream, which had evidently affected him, 
 induced him to propose to all the brethren that 
 they should each endeavour henceforth to live 
 without offending God, and so be ready for any 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 further trial which might be in store for them. 
 This was his particular advice. 
 
 As a means to this end he is reported to have 
 set apart three days for special prayer, self-exami- 
 nation, and intercession. The monks were all 
 gathered into the chapter-house, where the prior 
 preached most fervently and with great unction, 
 on the following text : — 
 
 " O God, Thou hast cast us out and scattered 
 us abroad : Thou hast also been displeased, O 
 turn Thee unto us again : Thou hast moved the 
 land and divided it : heal the sores thereof for it 
 shaketh. Thou hast showed thy people heavy 
 things : Thou hast given us a drink of deadly 
 wine. Thou hast given a token for such as fear 
 Thee, that they may triumph because of the truth. 
 Therefore were Thy beloved delivered, help me 
 with Thy right hand and hear me." — Psalm Ix. 
 
 I— 5^ 
 
 The prior is said to have concluded his long 
 
 sermon by reminding all those assembled that it 
 was better to endure brief sufferings here in 
 defence of God's unchanging Truth than eternal 
 torments hereafter. 
 
 He then went round to every member of the 
 Chapter, begging pardon on his knees for any 
 offences committed by him to them. All were 
 touched, some even to tears, by this act of humi- 
 lity and charity, and each one imitated his example 
 in what he had done. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 245 
 
 On the morning of the third day Mass of the 
 Holy Ghost was sung. The brethren were either 
 gathered before the altar of their chapel, or ranged 
 in order in their stalls of office. All present left 
 the sanctuary sustained by their devotions and 
 blessed by fresh grace from above for endurance 
 and patience in the future, however dark. 
 
 Soon afterwards two priors of other houses of 
 the order. Father Robert Laurence, of Beauvalle, 
 and Father Augustine Webster, Prior of Our 
 Lady of the Visitation at Axholme, in the diocese 
 of Lincoln, came to London in order to consult 
 with their brethren of the same order as to the 
 nature of the oath proposed, and to learn whether 
 it would not be possible for the various rulers of 
 their respective communities to agree upon united 
 action in defence of the ancient and hitherto 
 recoo-nized rio-hts of their order. 
 
 They were both in anxious consultation with 
 Prior Houghton for many hours, aided in their 
 deliberations by others of the London Carthusians. 
 Theological knowledge, ancient principles, and 
 recognized precedents for what was allowable and 
 justifiable as regards oaths and pledges, were theirs. 
 At the end of their deliberations they resolved, in 
 their innocence, to apply directly to Cromwell, the 
 king's Vicar-General, who, in October of the pre- 
 vious year, had been made Master of the Rolls, 
 and owned great power and influence, to solicit 
 his aid in securing for themselves and their 
 
246 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 brethren immunity against further interference. 
 In fact it is recorded that they earnestly begged 
 that the oath as set forth by Pariiament might not 
 be tendered to them, a proposal which, at least, 
 evidences their simplicity. 
 
 The Vicar-General endeavoured to point out to 
 them, from his Majesty's and his own point of view, 
 that in refusing the oath, which he maintained to 
 have been most lawfully and properly imposed by 
 competent authority, they would devote both bodies 
 and souls to destruction ; as " they would thus 
 prove their disobedience to Almighty God, and to 
 the king whom our Lord Jesus Christ," as the 
 Vicar-General maintained, "had made the Supreme 
 Head of the Church of England." 
 
 The Fathers, who were silent, for the statements 
 and arguments were novel and incomprehensible, 
 shook their heads, but said nothing. They neither 
 denied nor affirmed the statements, in so many 
 words, but showed clearly enough by their manner 
 that they had no intention of complying with the 
 Vicar-General's demand. 
 
 His irritation, therefore, was great, and his words 
 of reproach were sharp and severe. 
 
 But the priors, giving only mild and humble 
 answers to the bluster and mis-statements of the 
 king's official, were met and promptly confuted by 
 the most powerful and conclusive form of reason- 
 ing — brute force. 
 
 It assumed the following form, and took action 
 
The Monks of the Chai'ter house. 247 
 
 thus. They were all three arrested at once by 
 officers in waiting to do the work, and were hurried 
 off by these to the Tower. They entered that 
 fortress by the Traitor's Gate ; but without fear, 
 and, as one historian declares, with perfect cheer- 
 fulness and confidence in God, and even with 
 alacrity. 
 
 Already two other religious were there confined 
 on a similar charge. These were Richard Reynolds,^ 
 a Brigittine monk of Sion House, and John Hale,^ 
 sometime the Vicar of Isleworth, in which parish 
 that renowned monastery stood. They had each 
 maintained, as was asserted, that the king their 
 sovereign lord was not, as the recent Act required 
 them to maintain, " Supreme Head in earth of the 
 Church of England," and had boldly and bravely 
 set forth various conclusive arguments why such 
 a novel proposition, false, dangerous, and anti-Chris- 
 tian, could not by them be affirmed. 
 
 Imprisonment within four narrow stonewalls on 
 bread and water, with a racking for some hours, 
 twice a week, was, however, more practically 
 
 * Of Richard Reynolds, the author of the " Expositio Fidelis 
 de Morte Thomae Mori," who knew him personally, writes 
 thus : — " Vir angelico vultu et angelico spiritu sanique judicii, 
 quod ex illius colloquio comperi, quum in comitatu Cardinalis 
 Campegii versarer in Anglia." 
 
 ® John Hale, sometime Vicar of Isleworth, was indicted 
 under the Act for the Establishment of the King's Succession, 
 and, on April 29th, 1535. pleaded guilty. Judgment was given 
 as usual in cases of high treason. 
 
248 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 potent than either declamation, logic or threats, as 
 the Supreme Head and his Vicar-General speedily 
 discovered. 
 
 The three Carthusians were allowed to remain 
 there for some days. Placed in a damp dungeon, 
 and receiving only a little food of the coarsest sort, 
 it was thought by Cromwell that such treatment 
 might break their spirits and blunt their deter- 
 mined purpose of resistance. 
 
 " His Honour the Master of the Rolls' House 
 is sore bent on taming the fathers," remarked a 
 member of the king s household at Greenwich to 
 his fellow-servant. " They are being tamed in the 
 
 ower. 
 
 "He Whom the fathers serve," was the quiet 
 retort, " will surely take care of them, and of their 
 fair cause too. There may be divers ups and 
 downs for all of us, afore this work be done. 
 May God's Mother aid them, as well as you and 
 me. 
 
 These and such like conversations showed that 
 many took an interest in the bold stand which the 
 Carthusian Priors were making. Intimation of 
 their sudden imprisonment had been sent to Beau- 
 valle, to Axholme, and to other houses of their 
 order, which caused fear and consternation amongst 
 the relieious. Save in one case, at the London 
 Charterhouse, that of William Trafford, neither 
 priest nor lay-brother flinched nor swerved from 
 duty. Each was firm and resolute. All were 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 249 
 
 bonded together In a resolute defence of the 
 Faith. 
 
 To the house of " Jesus of Bethlehem at Shene," 
 as It was termed, a lay-brother, specially sent from 
 London, brought the bad news; on learning which 
 all the monks assembled before the altar of the 
 Shrine of the Nativity and, on behalf of the im- 
 prisoned priors, sent up their intercessions to God. 
 At Teddington, the account of their incarceration 
 caused quite a commotion amongst the good folk 
 of the village. An excited gathering on the 
 Green followed. The epithets there applied to 
 Cromwell, quite recently made Master of the 
 Rolls, were neither choice nor complimentary* 
 " Master Robert Fearon, a chantry-priest," was 
 eminently out-spoken. He did not measure his 
 words nor mince his sentences. " Until the king 
 and the new rulers of this realm be plucked by the 
 pates, and brought, as we say, ' to the pot,' we shall 
 never live merrily in England again," he boldly 
 maintained. " Amen ! to that," replied a bystander, 
 amid approving cheers. " Ireland and Wales, 
 thank the saints ! are against his Grace," continued 
 Fearon ; " and if England be invaded, three parts 
 of the people be firm against the king and his 
 new laws, as may he and his base courtiers soon 
 find out." 
 
 Probably such conversations as these (and 
 there were many such) were reported to Crom- 
 well ; for he had his watchful agents and secret 
 
250 Historical Sketches of the Reformation, 
 
 spies in all places where useful information for his 
 schemes and purposes might be gathered, and 
 where his especial work had to be done. It is said 
 that one of the Foreign Ambassadors indirectly 
 defended the religious orders thus attacked, by a 
 reference to the ancient laws and liberties of the 
 English people, which foreign nations, he allowed, 
 much admired ; and that such defence caused 
 Cromwell deliberately to turn his back upon the 
 illustrious author of it, at a festal banquet in the 
 City of London. 
 
 It is quite reasonable, therefore, that the king's 
 Vicar-General should be anxious if possible to 
 avoid pushing matters to extremities. It might 
 be wise not to go too far without due consideration 
 of eventualities. On this hypothesis his visit, in 
 conjunction with others of the king's council, to the 
 Tower, in order to overcome the firmness of the 
 imprisoned Carthusians, is reasonably accounted 
 for. 
 
 On the 26th of April, after they had been con- 
 fined for a week, Cromwell and the others came, 
 with certain of his own theological allies, of which 
 a certain flippant and profane priest, William Ap 
 Thomas, was the chief — a shrewd and worldly- 
 wise man, who, with considerable powers of 
 oratory, and a verse-maker, was already a flatterer 
 of the king and an obsequious court tool, leading 
 several other clergy by his wretched example. 
 Two others were with him. These latter, armed 
 
The Monks of the Chai'terhotLse. 2 5 1 
 
 as well with antique and oak-bound treatises of 
 patristic lore as with scurrilous lampoons of only 
 four pages, in biblical phraseology, for distribution 
 amongst the multitude, were prepared to prove 
 that monarchs, by the appointment of God Him- 
 self, were superior in authority, knowledge, and 
 jurisdiction to all prelates, priests, and Church 
 potentates. David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and 
 Cyrus furnished them with personal precedents in 
 their crooked and wearisome argumentations.' 
 But such were of no avail in defence of the new 
 Oath of Supremacy. They only served to darken 
 that which was at once obviously light and 
 perfectly plain. 
 
 What was in harmony with the law of God, as 
 the priors frankly asserted, they were ready to 
 accede to. What the Church Universal had 
 
 ^ It is asserted that Father Houghton wrote with his own 
 hand an account in detail of all the questions which had been 
 proposed to him and his brethren, with their answers, and sent 
 it from the Tower to Father Exmew. From him it passed to 
 Father Chauncy — who himself wrote so much of interest con- 
 cerning the Carthusians, and who was a collateral ancestor of Sir 
 Henry Chauncy, the historian of Hertfordshire — through whom 
 it descended to a devout Spaniard named Peter de Bardis, to 
 take either to the Pope or to the President at the Grande 
 Chartreuse. It may be interesting to note that a relation of the 
 Spaniard just mentioned, Adrian de Bardis, Prebendary of 
 Thame, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, partly rebuilt 
 the choir of Thame Church, restored the Prebendal House, 
 and aided in completing the Chapel of Rycot, in Oxford- 
 shire. 
 
252 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 always taught they were each and all perfectly 
 willing to affirm. 
 
 But for the Church Universal Cromwell had no 
 more real regard or consideration than he had for 
 the whistlinof of the wind round the walls of the 
 Beauchamp Tower, or for the noisy chirping of 
 the starlings which built their nests under its over- 
 hanofingf eaves. What was the Church of God to 
 him, or he to the Church .^ Was not the king 
 Supreme Head of the Church of England, and was 
 not he the king's vicar-general ? 
 
 " Will you take the oath or not ? " he finally 
 demanded, in a towering passion, of the calm and 
 self-recollected prisoners. There was a pause and 
 silence. 
 
 In their consciences they could not. Moreover, 
 by the aid of Divine grace, they would not. And — 
 God be praised for their constancy ! — they did not. 
 
 The final scene was nearing them, and for 
 awhile darkness seemed to threaten. Cromwell, 
 white with anger, and his fellow privy-councillors, 
 astonished at the " headiness " of the priors, left 
 the prison at once and abruptly. Ap Thomas and 
 the theologians of Erastianism, pocketing their 
 newly-printed lampoons with an unctuous sigh, 
 and re-clasping their sacred tomes — which had 
 been of little use — turned away up the steps of 
 the dungeon, past the warders and halberdiers, 
 and found themselves out in the fresh air, warmed 
 again by the spring sunshine. 
 
The Monks of the Chartej'house. 253 
 
 Cromwell, late at night, was closeted with the 
 kine. 
 
 Three days afterwards these three priors and 
 Reynolds, the monk of Sion House — who, to his 
 eternal credit, had been equally firm, and was found 
 perfectly incorruptible — were each and all included 
 in a formal Billof Attainder, and appeared to answer 
 the charge before the Court at Westminster. 
 
 The charge against them, carefully drawn up, 
 was at once precise and definite, and cannot 
 possibly be misunderstood. The original indict- 
 ment, wordy and redundant enough in its terms, 
 like many of such documents, can still be read in 
 the public records of the land.^ So that the true 
 cause of their death, " liiera sci^ipta manet," cannot 
 be reasonably disputed. 
 
 They were tried on the 29th of April, 1535, for 
 that, " traitorously machinating to deprive the 
 king of his title as Supreme Head of the Church 
 of England, they did on the 26th of April, at the 
 Tower of London, openly declare and say that 
 ' The king our Sovereign Lord is not Supreme 
 Head on earth of the Church of England,' " The 
 privy-councillors, with Cromwell at their head, 
 were in attendance to give evidence, and so, like- 
 wise, were the vicar-general's pliant theologians, 
 together with his active ally and obsequious tool, 
 Thomas Bedyll. 
 
 ^ See the " Third Report of the Deputy-keeper of the Pubhc 
 Records." — Appendix, p. 237. 
 
2 54 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 For some time the jury positively refused to 
 convict the priors. The character of the latter for 
 integrity, piety, and peaceableness was so well 
 known that the charge itself had an appearance of 
 obvious unreality. It took some time, and much 
 art and perseverance, therefore, on the part of the 
 prosecutors to make the various members of the 
 jury comprehend the exact point on which reliance 
 had been placed to secure a conviction. True it 
 was that the statute which was quoted bestowed 
 the title of " Supreme Head of the Church " upon 
 the monarch, and furthermore declared those to be 
 guilty of high treason " who should endeavour, 
 either by writing or printing, to deprive him of 
 that dignity or those honours ;" but the brethren, 
 as was evident, had neither written nor printed 
 anything treasonable which could be produced or 
 described. Hence the jury were reasonably dis- 
 satisfied with the unsatisfactory and slender 
 evidence laid before them ; and though they said 
 but little, it was obvious that in great probability 
 the three priors and the monk, Father Reynolds, 
 would escape, and that justice would be done. 
 
 Cromwell, who was both keen-sighted and im- 
 petuous, saw this at a glance ; and, by one of his 
 officers, secretly instructed and directed the legal 
 prosecutors accordingly. 
 
 Other statutes, it was pointed out to these 
 lawyers, which had been originally drawn by the 
 sacred right hand of the king himself, had been 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 255 
 
 specially enacted to meet the very difficulty which 
 had arisen, condemning any one who should 
 perversely and profanely refuse to take the new 
 Parliamentary oath, whether he were silent to save 
 his life, or whether he gave his reasons for such 
 refusal. 
 
 If he were silent, it was plain and obvious to 
 the meanest capacity that he refused to acknow- 
 ledge his Highness's spiritual supremacy imparted 
 by God Almighty ; if he foolishly ventured to 
 bring forward any reasons for such refusal, he thus 
 plainly and maliciously derogated from royalty the 
 attributes of Divine right. 
 
 Such an inculpated person was, as it were, thus 
 deliberately and effectively placed on the horns of 
 a dilemma, and caught in the strong meshes of 
 a newly-made legal net. The three priors and 
 Father Reynolds, the monk of Sion House, found 
 themselves in this predicament. 
 
 Still, however, the jury refused to be satisfied 
 as to their duty. These were new ideas which 
 had been enunciated, and novel laws which had 
 been passed, and they disliked each equally. To 
 observant on-lookers, their countenances told that 
 they were still unconvinced by anything which had 
 been as yet asserted ; and no real progress towards 
 turning their evident purpose of acquitting the 
 accused had been in any degree made. 
 
 Upon this Cromwell stood forward and urged 
 them to convict the accused, as the king's Grace 
 
256 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 was anxiously and impatiently awaiting their 
 determination. The Supreme Head would not 
 doubt of the faith and duty, or of the obedience 
 and good will of the jury, but looked for and must 
 have a conviction of each and every one, without 
 delay. It is on record that Thomas Cromwell, the 
 Master of the Rolls, actually entered the apart- 
 ment to which, for their due peace and indepen- 
 dence during deliberation, they had as usual been 
 assigned, under the care of an officer of the court, 
 and proceeded to lecture and overawe them by 
 violence, threats, and bluster. He pointed out that 
 the groundless scruples, and ridiculous objections 
 of the prisoners to take the oath, deprived the 
 Lord's Anointed, i. e. his Most Sacred Majesty, 
 the Almighty's special favourite, of those due 
 honours, dignities, titles, and attributes conferred 
 upon him as well by God Himself as by the laws 
 of the land ; and that the having and holding of 
 such scruples and objections on the part of the 
 accused, as they had set forth, directly constituted 
 one of the worst and most deadly forms of high 
 treason. He wound up his unconstitutional and 
 shameful remarks, by intimating in language which 
 could not be misunderstood, that if they did not 
 unanimously and immediately return such a verdict 
 as the king's Highness demanded and expected, 
 they should, without trial and at once, suffer 
 death. ^ 
 
 * It had been industriously circulated that the three Carthu- 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 257 
 
 This frightful threat did its work. Turning pale, 
 and looking steadily at Cromwell, they alternately 
 cowered and writhed while it was being uttered, 
 and at once, weak and timorous, resolved to do as 
 they were ordered. 
 
 With his left hand on his breast, therefore, and 
 drawing the sign of the cross on his forehead, the 
 foreman pronounced on behalf of all the accused, 
 the simple but sufficient word " Guilty." 
 
 The respective sentences were soon declared 
 with the accustomed formalities. 
 
 Each one and every one was to be taken thence 
 to a prison, and then placed on a hurdle, and so 
 drawn to the place of execution ; there they were 
 to be respectively hanged by the neck until they 
 were half dead, and so cut down ; they were then 
 each to be dismembered,* their stomachs were to 
 be ripped up (while still alive), and before their 
 
 sian Priors had combined together to procure the assassination 
 of the king — a report which the words of Hall the chronicler, 
 and even those of Strype seem to allow to have been true. On 
 this point, see the Cotton. MSS. Cleopatra E. 6 in the British 
 Museum, and Archseologia, vol. xxv. p. 84. 
 
 ^ This disgusting and insulting cruelty, as a recent writer 
 (Mr. David Lewis) has pointed out, " seems to have been 
 inflicted on a priest in Ireland as late as 1777. There are 
 the words in a letter to Cardinal Castelli, of Dr. James Butler, 
 second Archbishop of Cashel of that name (Dr. Reneham's 
 Collections, p. 331): — ' Sacerdotes Catholicos, quorum unus ex 
 nostra provincia ad patibulum, capitisque ac membrorum 
 abscissionem damnatus, infamem cruentamque banc mortem 
 perpessus est ? ' " 
 
 S 
 
258 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 own eyes their entrails were to be torn out and 
 thrown into a fire ; their hearts were then to be 
 removed and burnt, their heads chopped off, and 
 their bodies divided into four qua,rters ; which, after 
 being partly boiled and smeared with pitch, were 
 to be set up on poles in different parts of the city, 
 as the Supreme Head, in his spiritual wisdom 
 and gracious condescension, should personally 
 determine. 
 
 To such a sentence they each listened. The 
 king and his minister, as all present saw, had 
 secured their point. And so the prisoners, given 
 in charge to a deputy of the Lieutenant, were sent 
 back to the Tower, 
 
 Only five days afterwards, i. e. on the 5th of 
 May, these five sufferers underwent this awful 
 sentence. The three priors, in their white mo- 
 nastic habits, hooded, placed upon their backs on a 
 broad hurdle, with their ankles tied together, and 
 themselves bound securely to it by cords, were thus 
 first prepared for execution. Father Reynolds and 
 the ex-Vicar of Isleworth, in doublet and cassock, 
 were likewise fastened in the same manner to a 
 second hurdle, by the prison authorities. A guard 
 of the king's soldier-attendants, armed with pikes, 
 stood near prepared to march. The Lieutenant 
 of the Tower, some members of the Privy Council, 
 the Sheriffs, and other officials were there too. 
 Horses having been attached to the hurdles, 
 the procession passing along Tower Lane and 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 259 
 
 Cheapside, under the Arch of Newgate (over 
 which there stood, in a niche or tabernacle, an 
 image of our Blessed Lady and her Divine Child), 
 passing likewise close to St. Sepulchre's Church, 
 towards Tybourne, went along the Oxford road, 
 then a rugged and rough way, with houses here 
 and there at considerable intervals, and with 
 spreading oak-trees and pleasant fields on either 
 side. An excited crowd followed, made up of 
 persons of all ranks ; the women and children came 
 out from the doors of their houses, and stood at 
 their garden-gates, several being in tears ; while a 
 mixed multitude, many sympathizing with the 
 sufferers ; others giving their attention to the ribald 
 ballad-singers and profane buffoons, whom Crom- 
 well's tools had hired to divert the attention of the 
 mob, steadily gathered numbers in the progress. 
 
 Roper, the son-in-law of Sir Thomas More, 
 tells us in his Life of that holy man, that the latter, 
 in looking out of his window in the Tower, where 
 he was confined, chanced to see Reynolds and the 
 three priors of the Charterhouse taken to be 
 executed at Tybourne, whom he sincerely longed 
 to accompany thither. 
 
 " See, Margaret," he remarked to his wife, 
 " that these blessed Fathers are as cheerful in 
 going to their death as bridegrooms are to their 
 marriage ! " 
 
 He then went on to declare that, whereas the 
 monks had always been so devout in their prayers, 
 
 s 2 
 
2 6o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 and earnest in their penances, no doubt God 
 Almighty had determined that they should no 
 longer sojourn in this vale of misery and tears, but 
 be now taken to Himself; while he, the speaker, 
 because of his sinful life, was left in this wicked 
 world to be still plagued with trials, and turmoiled 
 with misery.^ 
 
 But to return. Tybourne, technically so-called 
 from a stream of that name, which flowed south- 
 wards from the north-western slopes of the village 
 of St. Mary-le-bourne, lies about five miles west- 
 ward of the Tower of London. At the period in 
 question, thick woods, fields, and trees, with here 
 and there a high-gabled timber-house, or gentle- 
 man's mansion, with greensward round, stretched 
 out northwards and southwards beyond the high 
 road to Tottenham. There were varied undula- 
 tions of both pasture and arable land on either 
 side, bounded by beech-trees and oaks. To the 
 north stood a dense forest, through which the 
 Roman Watling-street passed. By the eastern 
 side of this forest ran the Mary-bourne, a stream 
 noted for its grayling ; the Kill-bourne joined it in 
 a rich and picturesquely- wooded valley to the north 
 of the Oxford Road ; while the Western-bourne, 
 passing southward with many a curve and sweep, 
 flowed onward to a swamp near what is now the 
 Green Park, in which was a lake of many acres, 
 
 « " Life of Sir Thomas More," by Roper. Edited by S. W. 
 Singer, p. 76. London: 1822. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 261 
 
 with an outlet in due course to the Thames, 
 Anciently this blue and sparkling stream of 
 Tybourne, which passed very near to the place of 
 execution, supplied the Conduit at Cheapside with 
 pure and wholesome water. 
 
 The monks, on their way to execution, consoled 
 and comforted each other with brief exhortations, 
 or devoted themselves to mental prayer. Some 
 recited appropriate psalms, those especially which 
 seemed to give a hope of peace after trials, and a 
 pledge of the Beatific Vision when the grave and 
 gate of death had been passed. 
 
 " Turn our captivity, O Lord, as the rivers in 
 the south," ejaculated the prior. 
 
 " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy," 
 responded his fellow. 
 
 "He that now goeth on his way weeping, and 
 beareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again 
 with joy, and bring his sheaves with him," were 
 words full of comfort. All the sufferers were 
 patient, recollected, and tranquil. 
 
 Numbers of earnest sympathizers met them on 
 the road, and, with tears and kindly words, ex- 
 horted them to perseverance, for the people were 
 with them. But there was no need of this. These 
 holy religious had already counted the cost of what 
 they were about. The issue was clear. They 
 preferred life eternal to temporal death. 
 
 Before they reached St. Sepulchre's Church, 
 near the highway to Islington, a pious woman 
 
262 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 came forward as the procession stopped for awhile, 
 and with a kerchief hastily wiped the dust off their 
 faces. She received their blessing, with a genu- 
 flexion, and then retired amongst the crowd. 
 
 On reaching the appointed spot, it was found 
 that all the dire arrangements for the tragedy were 
 completed. Near the perpendicular oaken posts 
 and cross-beam with its pendent ropes carefully 
 fastened to the latter, and the wooden stage, a 
 horse and cart were drawn up with an official 
 driver. Soldiers stood round to maintain order, 
 and keep off the excited and sympathizing crowd. 
 Many state officers of note were on horseback. 
 There was the executioner standing by the ladder, 
 and his attendants ; the latter being engaged in 
 lighting a fire under a well-filled copper caldron. 
 When the hurdles, on which the poor sufferers lay, 
 had been drawn up to the spot designated and 
 unhorsed, the Sheriff, in a loud and commanding 
 voice said, — 
 
 " Let there be no delay. Proceed ye to your 
 deed and duty." 
 
 After untying the cords which bound the monks, 
 the executioner on his knees begged forgiveness 
 for what he was about to undertake. Father 
 Houghton, splashed with mud, and covered with 
 dust, much battered and bruised in this his latest 
 earthly journey, could scarcely raise his arm to 
 bless him. 
 
 " God pardon you, and be over you, good man ! " 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 26 
 
 o 
 
 he replied. " I grant you my pardon," he con- 
 tinued, feebly drawing the sign of the cross over the 
 head of the kneeling official. 
 
 On mounting with assistance the low platform 
 or staee, he turned first to the officials and bowed, 
 and then made a reverence to the populace. 
 
 " Father John ! " cried out one of the king's 
 Privy Council, *' Father John, it is not even now 
 too late. Our puissant Lord and Supreme Head 
 the king is merciful and long-suffering. If thou 
 wilt take the oath appointed, his Highness will 
 graciously pardon you. Take the oath, good 
 father ; take the oath, and with it thy life." 
 
 " It cannot be," was the prompt and only reply ; 
 " such a deed would merit eternal death." 
 
 Bidding farewell to his companions, whom he 
 kissed with the kiss of peace on either cheek, he 
 turned to the crowd and thus clearly and firmly 
 spoke : — 
 
 "My good people, I call Almighty God to 
 witness, and all good people, and you my brethren 
 in Christ our Lord likewise now present, to bear 
 witness for me in the day of judgment, that being 
 here to die, I declare to you all that it is for no 
 obstinate and rebellious pretext that I do not obey 
 the king ; but because I truly and sorely fear to 
 offend the Majesty of God. Our Holy Mother 
 the Church, as we all full well know, hath decreed 
 otherwise than the king and Parliament have just 
 decreed ; and therefore, rather than be disobedient 
 
264 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 to the Church of God, rather than be a rebel in 
 the kingdom of Christ, I am quite wilHng to 
 suffer," Here he devoutly crossed himself, pre- 
 vious to his hands being tied behind him. "Pray 
 for me, and have mercy on my brethren of whom 
 I have been the unworthy prior." 
 
 He then repeated the thirty-first psalm. In Te, 
 Doinine, speravi. When he had reached the 
 eighteenth verse, the rope was being placed round 
 his neck, and the executioner's necessarily rough 
 action hindered the utterance of his devout words. 
 But the prior made no complaint. 
 
 At length he came to this beautiful ejaculation, 
 "O how plentiful is Thy goodness which Thou hast 
 laid up for them that fear Thee ; and that Thou 
 hast prepared for them that put their trust in Thee 
 even before the children of men," when suddenly 
 the cart, on to the end of which he had been placed 
 by aid of the executioner standing on a ladder, 
 was driven away, and the prior was left sus- 
 pended.'' 
 
 It is reported by those who were eye-witnesses 
 of these Tudor horrors, and have left a record of 
 them, that Father Houghton was not dead when 
 cut down. The executioner, with scarce a 
 minute's delay, stripped him ; with several gashes 
 
 ® An old print representing the sufferings and death of the 
 Carthusians may be seen in the Ghent edition, pubhshed a.d. 
 1608, of Chauncy's "De Vitas ratione octodecim Cartusiano- 
 rum " — in the British Museum. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 265 
 
 dismembered and disembowelled him while yet 
 quivering on the straw-covered platform ; and 
 then, tearing out his entrails and heart, cast them 
 into the fire. The body was then decapitated 
 with a rude chopper, and hacked into four parts. 
 These were half-boiled, and then smeared with a 
 coat of pitch. 
 
 The other priors, with Fathers Hale and 
 Reynolds, unshaken in their fidelity to their 
 Master, and engrossed in prayer, each suffered 
 without shrinking, as Father Houghton had 
 suffered ; and each died in faith and charity, with 
 
 no fear of man before his eyes. 
 
 ***** 
 
 In order to overawe the monks of one of the 
 chief houses in London, one of the four quarters — 
 that comprising the right arm — of Prior Houghton, 
 was placed upon a pole over the gate of the Char- 
 terhouse. Soon after this had been done, two of 
 the brethren are said to have met under it, one 
 entering the gateway, and the other leaving it, 
 when suddenly the quarter fell down at their very 
 feet. As no one was near, and they were unob- 
 served, they took it up and carried it into the 
 house. It is on record that, together with the 
 blood-stained shirt in which he suffered, and the 
 MS. "Account of the Martyrdom, written by 
 Father William Exmew," they placed that part 
 of his body thus preserved in a chest, and care- 
 fully buried it " until the time when God should 
 
266 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 gather together the congregation of His people, 
 and be propitious to them." 
 
 Only two days after the death of the priors, 
 Dr. Thomas Bedyll, one of the king's commis- 
 sioners,^ wrote to Cromwell concerning the next 
 victims. For they had evidently been selected by 
 authority. 
 
 These were Father Humphrey Middlemore, 
 sometime procurator, now vicar. Father William 
 Exmew, the author already referred to, lately 
 vicar of the house, but now procurator, and 
 Father Sebastian Newdigate, who, as Chauncy 
 declares, was " bred up in the king's household." 
 They were all young, but in priest's orders, and 
 the pen of an enemy thus describes their character 
 and constancy : — 
 
 " Please it you to understand that on Tuesday, 
 forthwith upon my departure from you, I repaired 
 to the Charerhouse, and had with me divers 
 books and annotations, both of my own and 
 others, against the Primacy of the Bishop of 
 Rome, and also of St. Peter, declaring evidently 
 the equality of the apostles by the law of God. 
 And after lonof communication, more than one 
 hour and a half, with the vicar and procurator 
 of the house, I left those books and annotations 
 with them, that they should see the Holy Scrip- 
 
 ' Thomas Bedyll, it appears, was sometime Clerk of the 
 Council, and was much employed by Cromwell in the work he 
 undertook to accomplish. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 267 
 
 tures and doctors thereupon concerning the said 
 matters, and thereupon reform themselves ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 " And yesterday they sent me the said books 
 and annotations again home to my house by a 
 servant of theirs, without any word or writing. 
 Whereupon I sent the procurator to come and 
 speak with me, seeing I kept my bed by reason 
 of sickness, and could not come to him. And at 
 his cominof I demanded of him whether he and 
 the vicar and other of the seniors had seen or 
 heard the said annotations, or perused the titles 
 of the books, making most of the said matters. 
 And he answered that the vicar and he and 
 Newdigate had spent the time upon them till 
 nine or ten of the clock at night, and that they 
 saw nothing in them whereby they were moved 
 to alter their opinion. 
 
 " I then declared to him the danger of his 
 opinion, which was like to be the destruction of 
 them and their house for ever ; and as far as I 
 could perceive by my communication with the 
 vicar and procurator on Tuesday, and with the 
 procurator yesterday, they be obstinately deter- 
 mined to suffer all extremities rather than to alter 
 their opinion ; regarding no more the death of their 
 father in word or countenance than he were living 
 and conversant among them. 
 
 " I also demanded of the procurator whether 
 the residue of his brethren were of like opinion, 
 
268 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 and he answered he was not sure, but he thoucrht 
 they were all of one mind. 
 
 " I showed him that I thought that the spirit 
 which appeared afore God and said he would be 
 a false spirit in the mouths of all the prophets 
 of Achab, had inspired and sowed this obstinacy 
 in them, 
 
 " Finally, I suppose it to be the will of God, 
 that as their religion had a simple beginning, so 
 in this realm it shall have a strange end, procured 
 by themselves, and by none others. And albeit 
 they pretend holiness in their behalf, surely the 
 ground of their said opinion is hypocrisy, vain 
 glory, confederacy, obstinacy, to the intent they 
 may be seen to the world, or specially to such as 
 have confidence in them, more faithful and more 
 constant than any other. 
 
 " From Alders^ate Street, this morninpf of 
 Ascension Day [May 6, 1535]. 
 
 " I am so troubled with the fever, that I am 
 fain to keep my house. ^ 
 
 " By your own, Thomas Bedyll." 
 
 Round those who remained, the web of de- 
 struction was being thus spun with forethought, 
 art, and toil. Everything turned on the new 
 question of the king's supposed supremacy : and, 
 when it was finally discovered that three more 
 
 ' " Letters on the Suppressions of the Monasteries," Camden 
 Society, London : 1843. The original document exists in the 
 Cottonian MSS. volume " Cleopatra," in the British Museum. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 269 
 
 of the leading- Carthusians, Humphrey Middle- 
 more, William Exmew, and Sebastian Newdigate, 
 were neither to be privately frightened nor care- 
 fully tamed into taking the Oath, they likewise 
 were put upon their trial on June iith, 1535; a 
 little more than a month after the foregoing letter 
 was penned. 
 
 They could not and would not " take and re- 
 pute him (i. e. the king) to be supreme head in 
 earth of the Church of England under Christ." 
 This was the charge — this the indictment against 
 them. With the precedent of Father Houghton 
 and the others before them, no jury was found 
 prepared to withstand the law. So, after the 
 needful legal formalities had been gone through, 
 a conviction was speedily procured, and the 
 monks found guilty of treason, were sent back to 
 prison. 
 
 For fourteen weary days before they were put 
 to death, they were always and constantly forced 
 to stand upright against the walls of their narrow 
 cell, without the possibility of stirring for any 
 purpose whatsoever, — even the most necessary. 
 Iron collars were placed round their necks, and 
 these were then padlocked to large iron rings 
 high up in the wall. Their arms and their thighs 
 were likewise fastened together by heavy chains ; 
 and they received for food only bread and water 
 in a dungeon where the air was pestilential 
 and the darkness complete. Sleep was carefully 
 
270 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 denied them. If, by the sheer weight of their 
 bodies, so weak and exhausted, they fell out of 
 a perpendicular position, immediate strangulation 
 threatened them. If again any of them were 
 found by the gaoler dozing as he stood, he 
 was at once carefully roused. The broad and 
 statesmanlike mind of Cromwell had devised and 
 planned all this. His obedient myrmidons ably 
 carried it out. 
 
 Nothing, however, daunted the souls of the 
 suffering monks, nor blunted their resolute pur- 
 pose. True to their Divine Master, and following 
 in the footsteps of their devoted and noble prior, 
 they died as he had died at Tybourne,^ and so 
 were taken home. 
 
 Others of their community — there is no wheat- 
 field of good grain without some tares in it — were 
 not exactly of the same temper or metal. Nicholas 
 Rawlins was one who was tried and found want- 
 ing. Under the advice of Cranmer, he was so 
 
 ' This is the concise and exact record of what took place : — 
 " These three were dragged on hurdles through the City of 
 London to the place of execution, and when they had been 
 hung for awhile were cut down being yet alive. Then the 
 executioner mutilated their persons, and threw into the fire that 
 which he had cut off. That done, he laid their bodies open 
 with a sword, wrenched out the entrails, and threw them into 
 the fire before their eyes. Finally he cut off their heads, and 
 divided their bodies into four quarters, which were first boiled, 
 and then hung up in divers places to be seen by the people." — 
 Nicholas Sander, D.D. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 271 
 
 corrupted and misled that he was induced to 
 break the vow of his order, and to become a 
 secular. 
 
 A Scotch friar, named Maydwell, who had 
 apostatized under Knox's influence, and was re- 
 puted an orator, was made use of likewise to 
 corrupt and seduce others of the Charterhouse. 
 His violent and vulgar sermons, blaspheming the 
 saints, and urging the people to dishonour their 
 sacred images, were thought likely, by Cromwell 
 and Bedyll, to edify the inmates ; but these posi- 
 tively declined to listen to his profane ravings, or 
 to admit him into their sacred precincts. So he 
 was eventually utilized to stir up the general 
 public, while other tactics were now adopted here. 
 
 Father William Trafford was subsequently 
 appointed prior, but he was not formed in the 
 same mould as those who had preceded him in 
 the office, being at once, timid, a time-server, and 
 an Erastian. The monks, who could not be cor- 
 rupted from without, were thus betrayed from 
 within. Under him the " House of the Prior and 
 Convent of the Salutation of the Mother of God " 
 was placed under the absolute authority and direc- 
 tion of Royal Commissioners, or " Governors," 
 whose duty it was " to tame the disobedient " and 
 carry out the delegated authority of the Supreme 
 Head. They were not altogether successful in 
 their attempts. The following were their written 
 instructions : — 
 
2/2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 '^ An Order for the Charterhouse of London. 
 
 " First, that there be five or six Governors of 
 temporal men, learned, wise, and trusty, appointed, 
 whereof three or two of them shall be continually 
 there together every meal, and lodge there every 
 night. 
 
 " Ite^n, that the said Governors shall call all the 
 monks before them, and all the other servants and 
 officers of the house, and to show them that the 
 king's grace hath pardoned them of all heresies 
 and treasons by any of them committed before 
 that day, giving them warning that if they eft- 
 soons offend, to die without mercy. And that 
 there be a pardon purchased for them all under 
 the king's Great Seal. 
 
 " Item, that the said Governors take the keys 
 from the procurator and other officers, and to 
 govern the house, and to receive all rents, and 
 make all payments, and to be countable to the 
 king's grace thereof. 
 
 " Item, that the said Governors call all the 
 monks to them severally, one after another, at 
 divers times, and to examine them of all their 
 opinions, and to exhort them to the truth, showing 
 them that if any of them will, he shall have a dis- 
 pensation to leave that order and to live otherwise ; 
 and to have convenient stipend for a year or two, 
 till he have provided himself with a living, so that 
 he conform himself to the king's laws, and to en- 
 
The Monks of the Chartej^house. 273 
 
 deavour himself to learn and to preach the Word 
 of God, which every priest is bound to do, and yet 
 by their religion (as it is said) they have professed 
 falsely the contrary that none of them shall ever 
 preach the Word of God. 
 
 " Item, to put all the monks to the cloister for a 
 season, and that no man speak to them but by the 
 licence of one of the said Governors. 
 
 " Ite^n, to take from them all manner of books 
 wherein any errors be contained, and to let them 
 all have the Old Testament and the New 
 Testament. 
 
 " Item, to cause them to show all their cere- 
 monies, and to teach them and to exhort them to 
 leave and to forsake all such ceremonies that be 
 nought. 
 
 " Item, if they find any of them so obstinate 
 that in nowise will be reformed, then to commit 
 him to prison till the Council may take some other 
 direction for them. And they that will be re- 
 formed to sever them from the company of the 
 obstinates, and to be gently handled to cause 
 them to utter the secrets and mischiefs used 
 among them. 
 
 ''Item, there would be three or four times in 
 every week during this visitation, a sermon made 
 by some discreet, well-learned men, and all the 
 monks, officers and servants to be caused to be 
 there present, none exception save only by sick- 
 ness, and the said preachers to have their chambers 
 
 T 
 
2 74 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 there, and meat and drink, that they might quietly 
 study therefore during that time, 
 
 ''Item, the lay-brethren be more obstinate, and 
 more froward, and more unreasonable than the 
 monks; therefore they would be likewise exa- 
 mined, and the obstinates punished or expulsed, 
 and the other (the non-obstinats) kept for a 
 season for knowledge of divers points of them to 
 be had." 
 
 The more carefully this " Order " is studied, in 
 all its points and details, the more readily will it 
 be seen that the end and aim contemplated by it, 
 could not, as regards their accomplishment, be far 
 off. The loss of their books, the loss of their 
 discipline and independence, together with the 
 extravagant rules herein introduced, more espe- 
 cially that in which apostasy is suggested, must 
 have been a deep and dark trial. Some of the 
 monks, at Cromwell's suggestion, were forcibly 
 compelled to listen to sermons full of " the new 
 learning," as it was styled ; all were oppressed 
 sorely and unjustly. Everything, in fine, was out 
 of gear. 
 
 As a consequence gloom hung over the place ; 
 and there were not wanting those amongst them 
 who forecast a dark future for both order and 
 church. A strange feeling of coming desolation 
 is said to have taken possession of the monks, and 
 bade them prepare for the worst. 
 
 One of them, John Darley, has left on record 
 
The Monks of the Chartei'house, 275 
 
 the account of a somewhat remarkable supernatural 
 occurrence, which took place about this time, and 
 is quite worthy of note.^ 
 
 It appears that, in the year 1534, Father Rabey, 
 a very old man, lay upon his death-bed, and had 
 been attended, during his sickness and extremity, 
 by the monk Darley. In the presence of the 
 prior and all the brethren, the sick man, having 
 previously made his confession, was anointed and 
 received the Holy Viaticum, in preparation for his 
 last journey. 
 
 After all the brethren had bidden him fare- 
 well, and left his cell, Darley said to the sick 
 man : — 
 
 " Good Father Rabey, if the dead may come 
 back to the quick, I beseech you of your charity 
 to return to me." 
 
 Having promised to do so, it pleased God 
 speedily to call him home. 
 
 Darley does not seem to have dwelt on this 
 death-bed promise, but to have let it slip out of his 
 mind altogether. 
 
 However, at five o'clock on the feast of St. 
 John the Baptist in the following year, this holy 
 religious being in contemplation in his cell, the 
 spirit of the old man, who had promised to return, 
 if permitted, suddenly appeared to him in a monk's 
 habit, and gliding near, asked him, — 
 
 * Cottonian MSS. Brit. Museum, Cleopatra, E. IV. folio 
 129. 
 
 T 2 
 
2/6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 " Brother Darley, why do you not follow our 
 Father, Prior Houghton?" 
 
 He answered, "Wherefore should I ?" 
 
 " Because he is a martyr in heaven next unto 
 the angels," was the reply. 
 
 " Where be all our other fathers which died as 
 well as he ? " asked Darley of the apparition. 
 
 " They are all safe in the keeping of God, and 
 well," was the reply; " but not so well as he." 
 
 Darley then inquired, " And how fare you, 
 yourself, good Father ? " 
 
 " I am well enough," he answered ; " but your 
 loving prayers, and those of others of our brethren, 
 would do me exceeding much ofood." 
 
 And so the apparition of the old monk suddenly 
 vanished away. 
 
 The record thus continues. On the followinof 
 Saturday, a little after five in the morning, the 
 spirit again glided in, and stood in the same place ; 
 and it seemed to bear a staff in its hand, upon 
 which it leant. The astonished monk greeted it 
 anew, and these were the words which it spake in 
 reply : — 
 
 "■ I am sorry that I lived not to have been a 
 martyr like our holy father the prior." 
 
 " I think that may be ye are as well off now, as 
 if ye had been," replied Darley. 
 
 " Nay, nay !" retorted the apparition, " not so ; 
 for the prior be now in truth next unto the angels, 
 and my Lord of Rochester is there likewise." 
 
The Monks of the Chartej-house. 277 
 
 "What more ?" inquired the monk. 
 
 " God's angels of peace do lament and mourn, 
 dear brother, for the sins and sorrows of our land ; 
 and they mourn without measure." 
 
 The apparition vanished. These were his last 
 words. 
 
 Three days afterwards Father John Darley 
 wrote down, with his own hand, a record of these 
 warningfs. And this record is with us still. 
 
 Over each and all the matter of the Oath of 
 Supremacy continued to hang. Some were for 
 taking it : others still declined. The Director of 
 Sion House was an external ally of Cromwell's 
 who tried to dissuade the Carthusians from further 
 resistance. With some of them he appears to 
 have been successful : with others he utterly failed. 
 However, when it was again proposed to them, a 
 certain number, headed by the prior, subscribed to 
 it. These were its exact terms : — 
 
 "We, the Prior and Convent of the House 
 of the Salutation of Our Lady, of the Order of 
 Carthusians, nigh London, and the convent of the 
 same, swear that from henceforth we shall utterly 
 renounce, refuse, relinquish, and forsake the Bishop 
 of Rome and his authority, power, and jurisdic- 
 tion. 
 
 "And that we shall never consent nor agree 
 that the Bishop of Rome shall practise, exercise, 
 or have any manner of authority, jurisdiction, or 
 power within this realm, or any other the king's 
 
278 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 dominions ; but that we shall resist the same at 
 all times to the uttermost of our power ; 
 
 " And that from henceforth we shall accept, 
 repute, and take the king's Majesty to be the only- 
 Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England ; 
 
 "And that to our cunning, wit, and uttermost 
 of our power, without guile, fraud, or other due 
 means, we shall observe, keep, maintain, and 
 defend the whole effects and contents of all and 
 singular Acts and Statutes made and to be made 
 within this realm, in derogation, extirpation, and 
 extinguishment of the Bishop of Rome and his 
 authority, and all other Acts and Statutes made 
 and to be made in reformation and corroboration 
 of the king's power of Supreme Head in earth 
 of the Church of England, and this we shall do 
 against all manner of persons, of what estate, 
 dignity, degree, or condition soever they be, and 
 in nowise do or attempt, nor to our power suffer 
 to be done or attempted, directly or indirectly, 
 any thing or things, privily or apartly to the let, 
 hindrance, damage, or derogation thereof, by any 
 manner of means or for any manner of pretence ; 
 
 " And in case any oath be made, or hath be[en] 
 made by us to any person or persons in main- 
 tenance, defence, or favour of the Bishop of Rome, 
 or his authority, jurisdiction, or power, we repute 
 the same as vain and annihilate. 
 
 " So help us God, all Saints, and the Holy 
 Evancjelies. 
 
The Alonks of the Chm'terliouse. 279 
 
 " Given in Our Chapter House, under the Com- 
 mon Seal, the i8th day of May, the twenty-ninth 
 year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King 
 Henry the Eighth. 
 
 " Being then and there present, the Right 
 Worshipful Mr. Thomas Bedyll, Archdeacon of 
 Cornwall, and Master Richard Gwent, Arch- 
 deacon of London, witness in this behalf is 
 required. 
 
 " Per me, Wilhelmum Trafford, Priorein. 
 
 'Per me, Dominwn Edmundum Sterne, Vica- 
 riufn'' 
 
 In addition to the above, eighteen other monks 
 in the chapter-house of the monastery, signed this 
 document, which was duly attested by William 
 Say, a notary public. 
 
 But ten members of the House still standing 
 firm — Thomas Green, Thomas Johnson, and 
 Richard Bere, priests, and John Darley, a pro- 
 fessed monk, together with William Greenwood, 
 Robert Salt, Thomas Reading, Walter Pearson, 
 Thomas Scryven, and William Home, lay-brothers 
 — were on May i8th committed to Newgate. 
 These were prepared, by God's grace, to follow in 
 all particulars their former prior, John Houghton. 
 
 Their sufferings under imprisonment, like in 
 kind to those of their brethren some months 
 previously, were almost too awful to contemplate. 
 
 Margaret Clement, a devout religious woman 
 of Sion Nunnery, who had been brought up in 
 
2 8o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 the family of Sir Thomas More, on learning what 
 had happened, sought out these poor sufferers so 
 as to alleviate their sorrows, — of which corporal 
 work of mercy the following^ is a record. Con- 
 cerning herself, it is stated that — " She was born 
 of very holy and devout parents, her father a 
 doctor of physic, her mother a very holy woman, 
 as may appear in her acts; amongst which one 
 is worthy of memory, which I have heard our 
 blessed mother often to relate, and also others 
 that had known her in times past in England. 
 
 " The persecution being very great, especially 
 agfainst the Charterhouse monks, who were then 
 in prison, and cruelly handled (and after martyred 
 for the true faith), which when she did understand, 
 bearing a singular devotion to that holy order, and 
 moved with great compassion of those holy Fathers, 
 she dealt with the gaoler that she might secretly 
 have access unto them, and withal did win him 
 with money that he was content to let her come 
 into the prison to them, which she did very often, 
 attiring and disguising herself as a milkmaid, with 
 a great pail upon her head full of meat, wherewith 
 she fed that blessed company, putting meat into 
 their mouths, they being tied and not able to stir, 
 
 * " The Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers related by 
 themselves," First Series. Edited by the Rev. John Morris, 
 London : 1872 . — I am indebted to the above for a most touching 
 and valuable account of Mother Margaret Clement, quoted in 
 the text. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 281 
 
 nor to help themselves, which having done, she 
 afterwards took from them their natural filth. 
 
 " This pious work she continued for divers days, 
 until at last the king inquiring of them if they were 
 not dead, and understanding that they were not 
 yet dead, to his great admiration, commanded a 
 stricter watch to be set over them, so that the 
 keeper durst not let in this good woman any more, 
 fearingf it mig^ht cost him his head if it should be 
 discovered. 
 
 " Nevertheless, what with her importunity, and 
 by force of money, she obtained of him that he let 
 her go up to the tiles, right over the close prison 
 where the blessed Fathers were. O rare example 
 and courage of a woman ! And so she, uncovering 
 the ceiling of tiles over their heads, by a string let 
 down meat in a basket ; approaching the same as 
 well as she could unto their mouths as they did 
 stand chained against the posts. 
 
 " But they not being able to feed themselves out 
 of the basket, or very little, and the gaoler, 
 fearing very much that it should be perceived, 
 in the end refused to let her come any more ; 
 and so, soon after, they languished and pined 
 away, one after another, what with the stink and 
 want of food, and other miseries which they there 
 endured." 
 
 All this is independently and distinctly corro- 
 borated in a letter from Bedyll, recently made 
 Archdeacon of Cornwall, to his patron Cromwell, 
 
2 82 Historical Sketches of the Reformatioit. 
 
 which letter Is still in existence,^ and is here re- 
 produced : — 
 
 " My very good Lord, — After my most hearty 
 commendations, it shall please your lordship to 
 understand that the Monks of the Charterhouse 
 here in London, which were committed to New- 
 gate for their traitorous behaviour, long time 
 continued against the king's grace, be almost 
 despatched by the hand of God, as it may appear 
 to you by the bill inclosed. Whereof, considering 
 their behaviour and the whole matter, I am not 
 sorry that all such as love not the king's highness 
 and his worldly honour were in like case. 
 
 " My Lord (as you may), I desire you in the 
 way of charity and none otherwise to be good lord 
 to the Prior of the said Charterhouse (William 
 Trafford), which is as honest a man as ever was in 
 that habit (or else I am much deceived), and is one 
 which never offended the king's grace by disobedi- 
 ence of his laws, but hath laboured very sore con- 
 tinually for the reformation of his brethren. And 
 now at the last, at mine exhortation and instigation, 
 constantly moved and finally persuaded his brethren 
 to surrender their house, lands, and goods into the 
 king's hands, and to trust only to his mercy and 
 grace. I beseech you, my lord, that the said prior 
 may be so entreated by your help that he be not 
 sorry and repent that he hath feared and followed 
 
 * Cotton. MSS. British Museum, "Cleopatra," IV. folio 
 256. 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 28 
 
 o 
 
 your sore words and my gentle exhortations made 
 unto him to surrender his said house, and think that 
 he might have kept the same, if your lordship and I 
 had not led him to the said surrender. But surely 
 (I believe that I know the man so well) that how- 
 soever he be order[ed], he will be contented with- 
 out grudge. He is a man of such charity as I have 
 not seen the like. 
 
 " As touching the house of the Charterhouse, I 
 pray God, if it shall please the king to alter it, 
 that may be turned into a better use (seeing it is in 
 the face of the world), and much communication 
 will run thereof throughout the realm ; for London 
 is the common country of all England, from which 
 is derived to all parts of the realm all good and ill 
 occurrent here. 
 
 "From London the 14th day of June (1537). 
 " By your Lordship's commandment, 
 
 '* Thomas Bedyll." 
 
 " Enclosure. — There be depo7^ted: Brother Wil- 
 liam Greenwoode, Dan John Darley, Brother 
 Robert Salt, Brother Walter Pierson, Dan 
 Thomas Greene. 
 
 " There be even at the point of death : Brother 
 Thomas Scryven, Brother Thomas Reading. 
 
 " There be sick : Dan Thomas Johnson, Brother 
 William Home. 
 
 " One is whole : Dan Richard Bere." 
 
 Of these not Richard Bere, as the archdeacon 
 believed and asserted, was alive, but William 
 
284 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Home, who bore the hunger, thirst, cruel priva- 
 tions and sufferings, better than his brethren ; 
 and so, when his nine companions, one after the 
 other, had rendered up their souls to God, 
 receiving less cruel treatment, lived four years in 
 prison ; but eventually suffered death in defence 
 of the freedom of the spiritualty, refusing, even 
 unto his latest breath, to give the things of God 
 unto Caesar. 
 
 The surrender of the monastery — the very 
 point for which Cromwell had been long and 
 earnestly labouring (for a sharp and severe blow 
 given to the religious was a blow indeed) — at 
 length took place. The formal document by 
 which it was surrendered, which had been dic- 
 tated from a form already drawn up by Bedyll, 
 was signed in his presence in the Chapter- House 
 on the loth of June, 1537. More than abject in 
 its terms, the statements it contained were ob- 
 viously inexact and without foundation. 
 
 In it the prior and monks were made to say 
 that they had each and all "sinned grievously 
 against the most illustrious royal Majesty of 
 England." They admitted that by such sin they 
 forfeited all right to their house, goods, and chat- 
 tels ; that they were each and every one guilty of 
 treason, and deserving of death ; and so, after a 
 verbose statement of their transgressions, and an 
 insincere laudation of his Majesty's notorious 
 mildness and tolerance, they thus concluded : — 
 
The Monks of the Charterhouse. 285 
 
 " We give, grant, and deliver to our illustrious 
 Prince and Lord, Henry the Eighth, by the grace 
 of God, King of England and France, Lord of 
 Ireland, Supreme Head in earth of the Church of 
 England, and our Patron, this our monastery and 
 priory, with all and every its manors," &c. 
 
 The king, therefore, by his commissioners, at 
 once took legal possession of it. Trafford, the 
 prior, received an annual pension of 20/., little in 
 itself, when compared with similar pensions, and 
 no doubt less than he expected. Sixteen other 
 monks, who after him had signed the deed of 
 surrender, each received 5/. a year. The sur- 
 vivors of a community, where true religion had 
 flourished and abounded since the days of Sir 
 Walter Manny and his co-founder, the Bishop of 
 London, were expelled, exactly two years and five 
 months after its surrender, i. e. late in the autumn 
 
 of 1537- 
 
 The house, splendid in its architecture, perfect 
 in its arrangements, was soon defiled ; the sanc- 
 tuary desecrated ; for the lights had been rudely 
 put out, the voice of praise and thanksgiving was 
 hushed, the daily sacrifice had ceased, and the 
 work of prayer was over. God was banished at 
 the direction of the Supreme Head of the Church 
 of England, and the Abomination of Desolation 
 deliberately set up. 
 
 Its buildings and site, granted to them by the 
 king, passed from the noble family of the Norths, 
 
286 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 who had turned the sanctuary into a dining-hall, 
 into that of the Duke of Norfolk, whose son, 
 A.D. i6ii,sold it to an esquire named Thomas 
 Sutton, the founder of the existing Charterhouse 
 hospital and school. 
 
 As to the faithful prior and monks, whose trials 
 and deaths have been here truly related, even 
 those who claim to be the most impartial writers 
 of English history, have, as any inquirer may 
 discover for himself, either slurred over their 
 noble defence of the faith, or left their deeds 
 and sufferinofs altogether unmentioned. But the 
 blessed and glorious memory of these Carthusians 
 is still cherished by many ; and those who, in a 
 sceptical and shallow age, claim to be Catholics, 
 will ever be proud of their countrymen, who so 
 suffered for the Faith, a faith which never changes, 
 and for the One true Church, independent of and 
 superior to all mundane powers, which is at once 
 unchangeable, irreformable, divine, infallible, and 
 eternal. 
 
No. VII. 
 
 THE DESOLATION OE SION 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 HENRY THE EIGHTH'S DEATH 
 
 AND BURIAL, 
 JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1547. 
 
" To see churches pulled down or rifled, the plate swept off the altar, 
 and the holy furniture converted to common use, had no great air of 
 devotion. To see the choir undressed to make the drawing-room and bed- 
 chamber fine, was not very 'primitive' at first view. The forced sur- 
 render of abbeys, the maiming of bishopricks, and lopping the best branches 
 of their revenues, the stopping unappropriated tithes from passing in the 
 ancient channel ; these things are apt to puzzle a vulgar capacity. Unless 
 a man's understanding is moi"e than ordinarily improved, he will be at a loss 
 to reconcile these measures with Christian maxims, and make them fall in 
 with conscience and Refonnation."— Jeremy Collier's "Ecclesiastical 
 History of Great Britain," vol. ii. pp. i6i — 2. 
 
 " King Henry is charged with a great many vices in private life, which 
 is a point to be touched very tenderly ; for, though his further irregularities 
 give occasion to judge the worst of him, yet it is not the part of a Christian 
 to improve suspicions into facts, nor is it always allowable to report real 
 facts to the prejudiceof any person's character." — Dodd's " Church History 
 of England," vol. i. p. 316. London, 1839. 
 
No. VII. 
 
 THE DESOLATION OF SI ON HOUSE : 
 
 HENRY THE EIGHTHS DEATH AND 
 
 BURIAL, 
 
 JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1547. 
 
 On looking back upon the past, how often it is 
 discovered that very great events have flowed 
 from small and unimportant causes ! Humanly 
 speaking, the severance of England from the rest 
 of Christendom in religious and ecclesiastical 
 matters, and the repudiation of the Primacy of the 
 Apostolic See, were brought about by the king's 
 divorce of his lawful wife Queen Katherine, and 
 his alliance with Anne Boleyn. The complications, 
 both home and foreign, then caused, ended in the 
 visible separation of England from Catholic 
 nations on the continent, and have sealed her 
 continued irreligious isolation ever since. 
 
 Some foresaw this very plainly. Certain of the 
 monks, whom the king so hated, prophesied evil 
 
 u 
 
290 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 for the kingdom because of Henry's action towards 
 his queen, and warned him openly, in the plainest 
 and most solemn language, of an end on earth 
 which the sacrilegious, the apostate, and the 
 forsakers of God's law righteously deserved. 
 
 Two monks, Peto and Elstowe, " of a good 
 house and family," as Harpsfield put on record, 
 belonging to the Friars Minor, or " Observants," 
 at Greenwich, were in the forefront of those few 
 who spake out boldly and plainly, without fear or 
 favour. 
 
 Peto, preaching before the king and his Court 
 in the palace chapel of Greenwich, on Easter Day, 
 1532, was very dauntless and bold in dealing with 
 a delicate topic, then on the lips of all. Feeling 
 strongly, as a religious and a Christian priest, he 
 did not clothe his langfuaQfe in obscure words or 
 redundant phrases of double meaning. His sub- 
 ject was the Life and Death of King Ahab — a 
 delicate one for a preacher before royalty ; when, 
 as is customarily the case, words have to be 
 weighed, only platitudes uttered, or flattering 
 compliments passed. 
 
 But Peto was brave and fearless, and spoke out 
 boldly :— 
 
 "Your Highness's preachers," he ventured to 
 observe, turning towards the royal pew, and lifting 
 his skull-cap with a profound reverence, " Your 
 Highness's preachers are too much like those of 
 Ahab's days, in whose mouths were found a false 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII.' s Death and Biudal. 291 
 
 and lying spirit. They flatter and proclaim false- 
 hoods, and are consequently unfaithful to your 
 Highness. Theirs is a gospel of untruth, ' an- 
 other gospel which is not another.' They dare to 
 speak of peace when there is no peace, and are not 
 afraid to tell of licence and liberty for monarchs 
 which no king should dare even to contemplate." 
 
 This, of course, bore directly on the question of 
 the divorce. 
 
 Peto was " a simple man, yet very devout," and 
 his sanctity and integrity were generally and duly 
 recognized. It may be that this was the reason 
 why the king, for the moment, endured all he had 
 said patiently, and did no violence to the bold 
 preacher on the spot. 
 
 The impressive and vigorous sermon ended 
 with a strange and remarkable Prophecy, which 
 will be seen was eventually and exactly fulfilled •.—r 
 " / beseech your G7^acel' the preacher said, in tones 
 of solemn earnestness, " to take good heed, lest if 
 you will need follow Ahab in his doings you will 
 surely incur his imhappy end also, and that the 
 dogs lick your blood, as they licked AhaUs — which 
 God avert and forbid I " 
 
 These words spoken while all held their breath, 
 made a great impression, as well they might. The 
 courtiers were aghast at the preacher's boldness. 
 Few would have dared to say what this Friar 
 Minor had uttered. What would happen .'* 
 
 The king, however, unusually calm and self- 
 u 2 
 
292 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 possessed, resolved that on the following Sunday 
 a sufficient answer should be given to him by some 
 other preacher, but that nothing should be done at 
 present. Logic, on this occasion, rather than force, 
 should do the work required ; and Dr. Hugh 
 Curwen, " a trusty priest and a true," was selected 
 to do it. This theologian, be it noted, subsequently 
 became Dean of Hereford, and afterwards Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin. 
 
 On the following Sunday, therefore, he appeared 
 before the king in the pulpit of the same Royal 
 Chapel, and was both elaborate and profuse in his 
 strong adjectives and condemnation. This grave 
 and reverend divine called Peto " a dog, a slan- 
 derer, a base beggarly friar, a close-man " — i. e. 
 one who reserved to himself the full meaning: of 
 his words — " and a rebel, and sore traitor. I speak 
 to thee, Peto," he went on to say in his abusive 
 peroration, " who makest thyself Micaiah, that thou 
 mayest speak evil of kings ; but now thou art 
 exposed and found out. Thou art utterly cast 
 down and cannot answer. Thou art a dumb dog, 
 or else hast fled." 
 
 The king looked pleased ; the courtiers were 
 gratified. For a moment there was no reply. 
 
 But all at once a clear and unfalterinof voice 
 came from some one standing in the rood-loft. It 
 was that of a fellow-monk of Peto, Father Elstowe. 
 And, addressing the preacher, he spake out boldly 
 and plainly thus : — 
 
Sion House: Henry VHHs Death and Burial. 293 
 
 " Good Sir, you know well that Father Peto, as 
 he was commanded, is now gone to a Provincial 
 Council being held at Canterbury, and never fled 
 for fear of you ; for to-morrow, God willing, he will 
 be here aeain. In the meantime I am another 
 Micaiah. Even unto thee, Curwen, I say, who art 
 thyself one of the four hundred lying prophets, 
 into whom the spirit of lying is entered ; thou 
 seekest by proposing adultery to establish a suc- 
 cession ; in this thou art betraying the king to 
 everlasting perdition, more for thine own vain 
 glory, and hope of temporal gain by promotion, 
 than for the discharge of the thing you call your 
 ' conscience,' or for the king's eternal salvation." 
 
 Henry Bouchier, Earl of Essex, who was 
 amongst this congregation (as some writers say, 
 or as others, when he was present at a Council 
 Meeting), exasperated at what was said, cried out, 
 " You shameless friar ! You shall be sewn up in 
 a sack and thrown into the Thames, if you do not 
 speedily hold your tongue." 
 
 " Make those threats to your fellow-courtiers," 
 was the instant reply. " As for us friars, we make 
 litde account of them indeed ; knowing well enough 
 that the way lieth as open to Heaven by water as 
 by land." 
 
 Because of this sermon of Peto's, therefore, and 
 because of the brave reply of Father Elstowe made 
 to Curwen, the despotic king's^ rage knew no 
 
 ' " Cardinal Reginal Pole, so careful and competent a wit- 
 
294 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 bounds. He thought, by Curwen's aid, topubhcly 
 turn the tables on Peto, but now his fellow-friar 
 had openly turned the tables on him. What was 
 the king's resolution, therefore ? Nothing less than 
 that the whole house of the Observants at Green- 
 wich should be at once suppressed and brought to 
 nought. The monastery was speedily dissolved, 
 and the friars one and all banished. So likewise 
 were the houses of the same Order at Richmond 
 in Surrey and at Canterbury. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this act of tyranny, the 
 dark prophecy in question was never forgotten. 
 It was cautiously talked of at Court. From the 
 Court the portentous words spread to the country, 
 where people greedily discussed it. Misstated 
 sometimes, and sometimes garnished, the utterance 
 of Peto became a subject of general conversation 
 amongst all classes. " The king," said the common 
 people, " would certainly suffer as did Ahab if he 
 put away his lawful queen, the Lady Katherine." 
 
 How this Prophecy was exactly fulfilled, and 
 where, and under what circumstances, must now 
 shortly be told : — 
 
 Amonofst the earliest relimous houses which 
 were dissolved was that of Sion, near Brentford in 
 
 ness of what was taking place, asked with sorrow, " Was there 
 ever before seen, I do not say in England, where the people 
 have ever enjoyed extensive privileges, but in any Christian 
 country, a despot, whose smallest caprice was regarded as a 
 sovereign law ? " — Author's MSS. and Excerpts, 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII! s Death and Burial. 295 
 
 Middlesex. What was done to bring about its 
 dissolution and Desolation need not now be here 
 recorded at any great length. The manner of 
 operation was the same in almost all cases, when 
 suppression was finally resolved on. Nothing 
 could withstand the powers that were, on their firm 
 resolutions to carry their point. They were potent 
 and determined, and regardless of consequences. 
 Opposition was fruitless. And so in England the 
 monastic system fell. 
 
 Some facts and details, however, are necessary, 
 as well for a riofht understanding^ of what subse- 
 quently took place in every locality and shire, as 
 of what happened at Sion House, when the pro- 
 phecy was fulfilled. When the Desolation of that 
 House, as brought about by the king, is remem- 
 bered, and when it is furthermore borne in mind 
 that more than a thousand monasteries, indepen- 
 dent of colleges, hospitals, and chantries were 
 similarly made desolate;^ the eventual fulfilment 
 of Peto's prophecy cannot be read with other than 
 a combined feelinof of awe and satisfaction. 
 
 Sion Monastery of the Bridgetine Order, or to 
 write technically and exactly, " The Monastery 
 
 ^ " The axe and the mattock ruined almost all the chief and 
 most magnificent ornaments of the kingdom; viz. — 376 of the 
 lesser monasteries ; 645 of the greater sort ; 90 colleges; no 
 religious hospitals ; 2374 charities and free chapels." — Sir H. 
 Spelman's " History and Fate of Sacrilege," p. 186. London : 
 Masters. 
 
296 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 of St. Saviour and St. Bridget of Syon of the 
 Order of St. Augustine," was founded by King 
 Henry V. on the 3rd of March, 141 5. It was, 
 as planned by his Majesty, to consist of two 
 separate courts or divisions — on the one side of 
 sixty nuns, of which one should be abbess. Also 
 there were to be twenty-hve religious men on the 
 other side — of whom thirteen were to be priests, 
 (one confessor general and superior included), four 
 deacons, and eight laymen, as the king's deed 
 of institution ^ runs, put into English — "to celebrate 
 divine service daily for ever, for our healthful 
 estate while we live, and for our soul when we 
 shall have departed this life, and for the souls of 
 our most dear lord and father, Henry, late King 
 of England, and Mary his late wife, our most dear 
 mother and others." 
 
 The king endowed the house right royally. At 
 the suggestion of his own confessor, Matilda New- 
 ton was to be the first abbess; William Alnwyck 
 the first director and o-eneral confessor. The 
 king himself observing all the ceremonies of Holy 
 Church, laid the foundation-stone of the buildings 
 with his own hand, on the 22nd of February in 
 the following year, and always warmly supported it, 
 bestowing several large donations. For its sacred 
 purposes Pope Martin V. " commending in the 
 Lord the king's most pious and laudable pro- 
 position," vouchsafed his apostolical blessing on 
 ^ Rot. Cart. 2. Hen. V. p. 2, m. 2S. • 
 
SionHoitse: Henry VIII! s Deathand Burial. 297 
 
 its institution.^ Its rights and immunities were 
 constantly enlarged and protected by Parliament. 
 
 Five years were spent in finishing the well- 
 planned buildings, which were rich and complete 
 in their character ; and suitable in all respects for 
 the members of the order. 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1420, Archbishop 
 Chicheley consecrated the church and altars, and 
 solemnly dedicated the whole building by the 
 appointed rites to Almighty God. Twenty-four 
 women and eleven men were then formally in- 
 stalled in their offices, or took the accustomed 
 vows in the presence of the archbishop himself, and 
 in the face of the Church. 
 
 The work which was then commenced, thank 
 God ! has never altogether ceased. 
 
 Since then, there have been many alternations 
 of sunshine and shadow, days of trial as well as 
 days of triumph ; and none could have been 
 darker, nor more fraught with sorrow than the 
 day of dissolution : but the first abbess still owns 
 a legitimate successor ; while the silken cord of 
 pleasant traditions, — traditions of peace and charity 
 and sacred self-denial and beautiful self-devotion, 
 has never been broken. 
 
 But the whole story of its erection is not yet 
 
 told. A new church (for that already in use 
 
 had become too cramped and inconvenient) was 
 
 planned ; and its first stone, anointed with holy 
 
 * Rymer's " Foedera," vol. ix. p. 611. 
 
298 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 oil, and solemnly blessed, by the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, in the presence of other prelates, was laid 
 in the year of grace 1426. The possessions of 
 the house steadily increased ; for the devotion 
 and piety of its inmates being generally recognized 
 by all classes, the place was held in high repute 
 both by high and low ; and many by consequence 
 were anxious to become benefactors, and to par- 
 ticipate in the spiritual privileges there owned 
 and dispensed. 
 
 At the end of the fifteenth century, Anne, 
 daughter of Cecily Duchess of York, wife of 
 Richard Duke of York, and mother of King 
 Edward IV., had been prioress. She died on the 
 ist of April, 1495, and bequeathed what is termed 
 in her will "A Booke of Bonaventure," to her 
 daughter. Twenty-three years afterwards Mar- 
 garet, the sister of Andrew, Lord Windsor, filled 
 that office, — a lady of singular virtue, devotion, 
 and fortitude ; and it is certain that its inmates 
 generally since its foundation had belonged to 
 the hiofhest families in the realm. As a conse- 
 quence its influence, indirect as well as direct, was 
 considerable ; and this in times of unquiet and 
 change certainly did not decrease. Its proximity 
 to London ; the fact that it was a royal founda- 
 tion ; its connexion, through so many of its 
 members, with the nobility and noble families, 
 and the influence which the clergy of Sion as 
 confessors exercised in London and its neighbour- 
 
Sion House: Henry VI I I ! s Death and Burial. 299 
 
 hood, made King Henry VIII., when the monks 
 — like Peto and Elstowe — were found to be op- 
 posed to his divorce and other matrimonial plans, 
 resolve that, under any circumstances, it should 
 be one of the first to fall. His sturdy and deter- 
 mined resolution, so efficiently strengthened by 
 the agents whom he had selected and appointed, 
 was duly accomplished. 
 
 Thomas Bedyll and Richard Layton — two 
 persons, both priests, but with fly-blown repu- 
 tations — were specially selected to do the king's 
 work. They did it well and thoroughly, and with 
 a will. The latter, on visiting Sion House, seems 
 at first sight to have taken a great dislike to one 
 of the " most obstinate and heady brethren," named 
 Bishop ; as also to " a foolish fellow, with a curled 
 head, that," as he reminded Cromwell, " kneeled 
 in your way when ye came forth of the confessor's 
 chamber,"^ whose name is not recorded. Bishop, 
 according to the unvarying custom of the Inqui- 
 sitors, was of course accused of incontinency,'^ but 
 on the slenderest evidence — viz. because some 
 
 " Cotton. MSS. " Cleopatra," E. IV. folio 125. 
 
 ® " Against the monks themselves, the most abominable false- 
 hoods were propagated by the visitors, and they were accused 
 of everything bad in the black catalogue of crime. That a 
 body of men, consisting of at least thirty thousand souls, should 
 be found all virtuous was not to be expected ; but charges 
 such as these deserve the contempt of every honourable and 
 impartial man." — " History of the Isle of Axholme," by the 
 Rev. W. B. Stonhouse, p. 252. London : 1839. 
 
300 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 women from Uxbridge had regularly confessed 
 to him ; or because he was reported by some 
 nameless Isleworth gossip (for no direct or distinct 
 evidence of any moment was forthcoming at all), of 
 having endeavoured to corrupt one of the religious/ 
 Layton, who evidently smacked his lips over the 
 report, in his official letter to Cromwell, written on 
 Sunday, December 12th, 1538, asserted that many 
 of the brethren of Sion House were utterly weary 
 of the burden of their habits, and would, in his 
 opinion, gladly be rid of it ; and quite needlessly 
 expressed a hope that Almighty God would save 
 him, the pious writer, " from such religion and 
 feigned sanctity." He regretted that their effi- 
 cient ally, Thomas Bedyll, had not been with him 
 during the process of his first and earliest inquiry ; 
 as that personage, in his judgment, divinely raised 
 up for the work, " had such capacity from God " 
 in " bringing the king's matter to pass." 
 
 Later on, as it appears, Bedyll — whose unchas- 
 tened imagination so often ran riot, but who, as 
 he himself said, was so " mighty zealous for the 
 Lord God of Hosts," came to Sion House, to co- 
 operate in the work of making careful and special 
 
 ^ " The visitors," as Hearne remarked, " stuck at nothing 
 that they thought would expose the monks, and would serve as 
 an argument to the king for dissolving the abbeys and seizing 
 on the lands and revenues, and afterwards employing them to 
 such purposes as himself, by the advice of those visitors, and 
 other enemies to the monks should judge proper." — " Letters 
 from Bodleian Library," by Thomas Hearne, vol. i. p. 237. 
 
Sioii House: Henry VIII .'s Death and Bu7'iaL 30 1 
 
 inquisition, as regards the morals of its inmates ; 
 and he too sent up a report to his employer, Crom- 
 well. To stir up moral filth, when found, was to 
 him evidently a pleasure and delight. If there 
 was none to find, discreet invention might prove 
 to be at once necessary and useful. The brethren, 
 he regrets to observe, are " heady," i. e. not over- 
 subservient, and " stand stiff in their perverse 
 obstinacy." They must be accused, therefore, 
 tormented, and tamed. 
 
 It seems that Dr. Butts and the Queen's Al- 
 moner had gone down to convert Richard Whit- 
 ford,^ and Anthony Little, two clerics, and a lay- 
 brother, named William Torrington, but without 
 success. As Bedyll tersely puts it, " They nothing 
 profited." 9 
 
 Of his own special labours he wrote in detail, — 
 " I hammered away at Whitford in the garden, 
 both with fair words and with foul, and pointed out 
 to him that his obstinacy might ensure his death ; 
 but it was of no avail." 
 
 Torrington, another monk, was reported to be 
 " very sturdy against the King's Title " of Supreme 
 Head. It was a damnable novelty, as he profanely 
 and wickedly asserted, and he would have none of 
 
 ' Whitford was one of the most accompHshed theologians 
 of the day, and an author (several of whose works are in print) 
 of repute and distinction. He seems likewise to have been the 
 confessor of many of the nobility. 
 
 « MSS. Cotton. " Cleopatra," E. IV. fol. 109. 
 
302 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 it ; and, without fear, said as much in very plain 
 and impressive language. 
 
 Bedyll, by his own authority,^" as a delegate of 
 Cromwell, the king's lay-Vicar-General, putting 
 aside both Visitor of the House and bishop of the 
 diocese, presumed to forbid the two priests hence- 
 forth to hear any confessions whatsoever, — for such 
 in his own experienced judgment, " hath been the 
 cause of much evil, and of much treason, which 
 hath been sowed abroad in the matter of the king's 
 title, and also in the king's Grace's matter of his 
 succession and marriage." 
 
 Amono-st the astonished nuns this rude and foul- 
 mouthed fellow was evidently more successful in 
 his tactics. Assembling them in the chapter- 
 house, he rated them in scriptural phrases with 
 sanctimonious upbraidings, till they were in tears ; 
 he browbeat them till they were silent ; he ac- 
 cused them of all kinds of enormities, without a 
 shadow or tittle of evidence ; and then brought in 
 their official confessor — who had been already 
 bribed and won over — to aid and abet him in 
 making them at once recognize the king's spiritual 
 authority and supremacy — which they were en- 
 
 ^^ For letters to Cromwell from Thomas Bedyll, See Cotton 
 MSS. " Cleopatra," E. VI. folio i68 a. &c. There is also a 
 letter from Fathers John Fewterer, Confessor of Sion House, 
 John Coppinger, R. Lache, and others to their brethren of the 
 Charterhouse, Cott. MSS. " Cleopatra," E. VI. fol. 1 79, and 
 another from William Brooke and Bartholomew Burgoyne, 
 Cott. MSS. " Cleopatra," E. IV. foHo 38 a., &c., &c. 
 
Sion House: Heuf-y VIII! s Death and Burial, 303 
 
 joined to accept with no delay " on the perill of 
 their souls." 
 
 Then he sternly commanded all those in favour 
 of the kind's title to sit still, and all those who 
 were not to depart out of the chapter-house with- 
 out any delay. 
 
 When he had arrived at this stage of the argu- 
 ment, practical action soon followed. If the king 
 were spiritually supreme, as Scripture taught, 
 absolute obedience was their obvious and bounden 
 duty. As an act of obedience, therefore — to show 
 that they had accepted the new Gospel of the 
 throne — they must immediately produce and give 
 up the convent seal without murmur, and by act 
 and deed — a form had already been prepared, and 
 one of Bedyll's attendants had it — surrender the 
 house and all its lands to the king, who wanted 
 them. But all the nuns did not exactly follow this 
 arofument. 
 
 " I was informed this night," are Bedyll's exact 
 but somewhat confused words to Cromwell, " that 
 one Agnes Smith, a sturdy dame and a wilful, 
 hath laboured divers of her sisters to stop that we 
 should not have their convent seale, but," he went 
 on to predict, with the confidence of an intrepid 
 Inquisitor, " we trust we shall have it this morning, 
 with the subscription of the abbess for herself and 
 all her sisters, which is the best that we can bring 
 it to." Such tactics, with such tools, and in such 
 times, were of course in the long-run successful. 
 
304 Histo7'ical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 What followed can soon be told. In 1539 the 
 abbey was formally and duly surrendered. There 
 is no need to dwell on such a sad breach of trust. 
 Nor are rash and random judgments to be hastily 
 pronounced. For all of us will be respectively 
 judged by our lights, advantages, and opportunities. 
 The eye of a just and righteous God took in the 
 trials and temptations of those who then suc- 
 cumbed. To Him, and not to us, belongs judg- 
 ment : to Him mercy. 
 
 The gross annual revenues of the house, ac- 
 cording to the present value of money, were 
 nearly 20,000/. There is, it appears, no written 
 record of the surrender in the Augmentation 
 Office. The monks and nuns were turned out. 
 Desolation reigned. 
 
 Agnes Jordan, the abbess, under whom the 
 house was thus surrendered, retired with an 
 annual or-rant of two hundred marks, which she 
 received for three-and-twenty years.' According 
 to her circumscribed opportunities, she still lived 
 as a religious, and duly observed the rule of her 
 order, until her death, in the fifth year of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign. Under Queen Mary they went 
 back to their house for a time. Agnes Jordan was 
 
 ^ I gather from an old document, unsigned and unauthenti- 
 cated, in the handwriting of some sixteenth-century scribe, that 
 " The Abbess of Sion, with fifty-one nuns, some lay sisters, 
 twelve religious men and five lay brethren, in all seventy-three, 
 were pensioned at the dissolution." 
 
Sion House: Hemy VIII 's Death and Burial. 305 
 
 buried at the church of Denham, in Buckingham- 
 shire, where her memorial brass still remains.^ 
 She is represented in her habit, with her hands 
 joined. On her fingers are several rings. Mar- 
 garet Windsor, the prioress, had a pension like- 
 wise. So, too, most of the others. Margaret 
 Dely, another religious, sometime treasurer of the 
 house, also lived and died at Isleworth, within 
 sight of the old monastery.^ Others did the same. 
 The stalls of the chapel were empty, the sanctuary 
 cold and tenantless, the altar unlighted, the bells 
 silent ; and yet some may have been still drawn 
 towards their sacred and once-beautiful home. 
 What these religious outcasts must have suffered 
 at witnessing the Desolation of the place, few can 
 tell. Like the abbess, the ex-treasurer never gave 
 up her habit nor her monastic duties, but still con- 
 tinued to live as a nun until her death in 1561. 
 
 '■ Cole's MSS. (vol. xxviii, folio 69 c.) give the following 
 inscription, long since lost : — 
 
 "®f pour tI)arttB prnp for tl)c sottlc of Qamc ?lgncs liorlrnn, some= 
 t»mc ^bttessc of ti)c i«onastcrij£ of Swon, tobicl; Urjpartcti tl)is lijfc tf)e 
 29tl^ of Sanuaruc, in tl)c jicarc of our iLortr, 1562, on taljosc souk. 3csu 
 I;at)c mcrcye. ^imrn." 
 
 ^ In Isleworth Church, dedicated in honour of All Saints', 
 which stands close to the river Thames, there remains a small 
 memorial brass commemorating this lady, who is represented 
 in her habit with joined palms, with the following inscrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 " llcrc Iprtf) \\)t fiotip of jlWargarct Bdu, SI Sister profcssclr pn Spon 
 iBl)o DcrcsscU pc faiiti) of ©ttofccr, ?lo. 1561, on tui^osc soulc 3iJ)u Ija&c 
 m'cp." 
 
 X 
 
3o6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Her body found a resting-place in the parish 
 church of Isleworth, and some friend put up a 
 simple but sufficient memorial of her. 
 
 Amongst the names of the nuns at the period of 
 the abbey's dissolution we find those of Bouchier, 
 Tresham, Ogle, Conyers, Windsor, Montagu, 
 Fettiplace, Knottesford, Lupton, Strange, and 
 Fitzherbert, showing that this House of Sion was 
 popular with the nobility and gentry as a place of 
 retirement from the world and a retreat for their 
 
 daughters. 
 
 ****** 
 
 At the suppression of Sion House, the buildings 
 were not given to any court favourite ; but, on 
 account of the beauty of the situation in which 
 they stood, were retained in the king's hands, an 
 esquire named Gates being appointed their keeper. 
 In 1546 his successor, Robert Bouchier, was 
 appointed to the same office for life. 
 
 The Library of Sion House had been well 
 furnished with books, of which the Catalogue, in 
 fine preservation, is still to be seen amongst Arch- 
 bishop Parker's MSS., at Corpus Christi College, 
 Cambridge (No. cxli.). It is carefully, and even 
 elaborately, written on vellum, and contains a list 
 of some of the rarest MSS. and most important 
 printed books then in existence. Thomas Gas- 
 coio-ne, sometime Chancellor of Oxford, had trans- 
 lated the " Life of St. Bridget," for the special use 
 of the nuns of Sion, and had given to them by will 
 
Sio7i House: Henry V H I! s Death and Burial. 307 
 
 several other valuable volumes. In the Bodleian 
 Library, at Oxford, is a curious MS. from Sion 
 House, in which William Wey, of Eton College, 
 records his foreign travels — amongst other places, 
 to Jerusalem, Rome, Venice, and to the Shrine of 
 St. James of Compostella, in Spain. In the Cam- 
 bridge Public Library is another book from Sion 
 House, a small folio on paper, Fornmla Novi- 
 tiarum, written by Thomas Prestius, a Brother of 
 Sion. Amonest the Cottonian MSS. there is also 
 a small octavo Breviarmni Sarisburiensis, which, 
 from a writing on the fly-leaf, seems to have 
 belonged to Elizabeth Edwards, a professed sister, 
 in 1518, — the obits of whose family are all duly 
 recorded. 
 
 There need be no speculation as to what was 
 secured by the suppression of the monasteries ; 
 for documents still exist which provide accurate 
 and detailed information. 
 
 In the Account-Roll of Sir John Williams, 
 Master of the Jewel House, (afterwards Lord 
 Williams of Thame,) appears an inventory of all 
 the plate, jewels, and other valuables, obtained by 
 the king from the plunder of the religious houses. 
 From this it plainly appears that in plate alone 
 there had been taken from the monasteries, cathe- 
 drals, and shrines, no less than 14,531 ounces of 
 gold, 67,600 ounces of silver, and 207,635 ounces 
 of silver-gilt, making, with the addition of some 
 fractional parts, a total in gold and silver of rather 
 
 X 2 
 
3o8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 more than 289,768 ounces of plate. This was 
 sold for 73,531/. 15^. \d., to which, if the further 
 sum of 79,471/. 55-. 9^. obtained in money, and 
 entered on the same roll, be added, it is found that 
 the gross amountbecomes 153,003/. os. iO(^. derived 
 to the exchequer, over and above the produce of all 
 the lands, manors, and estates of the monasteries. 
 
 But these spoils seemed to perish in the very 
 hands which had grasped them. 
 
 Increasing burdens were put upon the people, 
 which rendered all classes more and more dissatis- 
 fied with the new order of things. Tenths from 
 the clergy the king had already received ; in 
 addition to which he managed to secure a fifth of 
 all the yearly revenues of the bishops ; while 
 from the laity, peasantry, and citizens, as well as 
 noblemen, he likewise had secured a tithe ; while 
 from those who had no patrimony nor yearly 
 revenue, his Majesty received a twentieth part of 
 their moneys, goods, cattle, corn, fruit, and all 
 kind of property whatsoever. In fact, the exac- 
 tions he laid upon the people during the fifteen 
 years which immediately followed those in which 
 the abbeys had been suppressed, and their spoils 
 squandered on base tools and foolish schemes, 
 were such as that the deepest dissatisfaction existed, 
 and taught some of the more thoughtful of the 
 people that the rulers of a Christian nation cannot 
 rob God with impunity."* 
 
 * Original Letters, Parker Society. — No. 105, Hilles to 
 Bullinser. 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII.'' s Death and Bwlai. 309 
 
 " We have letten the new men come over us 
 and plunder us," remarked a London citizen to his 
 fellow, " and now the Lord punishes all ; now we 
 be likely to lose all, because His own houses be 
 bare and desolate." ^ 
 
 " Was it God's will that the monks should be 
 plundered, and turned out to starve and die ? " 
 pertinently asked another. 
 
 " Why aided ye them not in the North, then ? " 
 was the question in reply. 
 
 Tyranny and cruelty, without legal process, were 
 of daily occurrence. Those of the king's officials 
 who, taken from the lowest ranks, had secured 
 the upper hand by subservience to him, when 
 they had attained to power used it apparently 
 without either consideration, self-respect, or check. 
 What they willed they did. What they did, if for 
 the behoof and personal benefit of the Supreme 
 Head, they were allowed to do with impunity. 
 What was eccentrically termed a " benevolence,"'^— 
 that is a good round sum of money, such as a 
 well-filled casket of angels of a previous reign, 
 before the coinage ' had been shamefully alloyed, 
 
 ® Author's MS. Notes and Extracts. William Bouchier's 
 Letters. — Excerpts from the Rolls' MSS. 
 
 ® These " benevolences " were paid most unwillingly, espe- 
 cially that of 1545. Richard Read, a London citizen, who 
 declined to pay, was in return for his disobedience sent as a 
 common soldier to the army in Scotland, where he was taken 
 prisoner ; having, by the king's express order, been put into 
 various positions of great risk and danger. 
 
 ' " On the king's accession to the throne, the ounce of gold 
 
3 1 o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 unostentatiously handed over by the accused 
 person to one of the khig's officers, — was often 
 accepted in Heu of a trial, and stayed further pro- 
 ceedings. Henry's reign was, in truth, a reign of 
 terror, corruption, scandals, and shame. No 
 Christian Englishman can look back upon it 
 without both a blush and a shudder. 
 
 It was likewise an age of tyranny, rapine, and 
 plunder. For law was over-ridden or set aside, 
 personal freedom carefully abolished, the grossest 
 encroachments on the liberties of the people were 
 rudely effected ; while burdensome taxes were laid 
 on the shoulders of those already most heavily 
 burdened with taxation, unprecedented in amount. 
 Moreover women were treated with the greatest 
 and grossest cruelty, — cruelty which had scarcely 
 been known in the reigns of previous chivalrous 
 monarchs, and against which Christian rulers, 
 guided by the Church, had heretofore set their 
 faces. For, because of the Incarnation, and 
 since the triumph of Christianity, women had 
 
 and the pound of silver were each of the value of forty shillings. 
 But the king decided that they should represent forty-four and 
 forty-five shillings. Numerous workmen were employed in 
 debasing the coinage, by mixing with the gold or silver a certain 
 quantity of alloy. The operation being terminated, the king 
 had but one care, and that was to obtain possession of all the 
 pieces of good alloy, which he sent to the Mint, and after being 
 duly debased, again brought into circulation, gaining by this 
 fraud several thousands of pounds sterling." — Author's MS. 
 Notes and Collections. 
 
Sion House: Henry VIIHs Death and Biirial. 3 1 1 
 
 ceased to be slaves, and were not tormented ;^ 
 while slaves, made equal with their masters by 
 baptism, had become subsequently free. To slit 
 people's tongues, therefore, nail their ears to a 
 post, hang them to a gibbet, and cut them down 
 ere they were dead, roast them at the stake, or 
 slowly butcher them alive, were deeds unworthy 
 both of the king and people of a Christian 
 country. 
 
 As thoughtful persons look back on the acts of 
 King Henry VIII. they cannot but wonder that, 
 as Death, tarried so long on the road, some earnest 
 fanatic (certain people might term such a "patriot") 
 did not rise up, and by some sharp and effectual 
 action, rid an oppressed nation of so cruel and 
 selfish a tyrant. 
 
 ® The following is extracted from the Acts of the Privy 
 Council: "Hampton Court, 1 8th January (year uncertain). — 
 A letter under the stampe " — i. e. in which the king's sign 
 manual was made by a stamp, and not by himself with a pen 
 — "was sent unto the Deane of York and others, that whereas 
 the king's Ma*'*^ being advertized by their letters written unto 
 the M'. of the Horses, and Mr. Secretarie Wriothesley of two 
 women which had done and committed detestable offences in 
 those partes, his Ma'i^^ pleasure was that they should first 
 cause the woman that burned the house to be indited of the 
 said fact, and thereupon to be arraigned, and to see her put 
 to execution of such death as by the lawe is limited and 
 appointed in that behalf; and for the punishment of the other 
 woman to cause her tongue to be pierced and slit through with 
 a burning yron, to the intent she shall never after disclose her 
 vicious and abominable doings." — " State Papers and Letters," 
 Lib. Cotton. Titus B. 1. 198 a. 
 
3 1 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Much of the evil lay at the doors of the nobility 
 and gentry. The former, with but few exceptions 
 only, had become thoroughly degenerate, and 
 frequently base. They could not and did not 
 lead. Actuated in some cases by cowardice, in 
 others by ambition, they deliberately deserted the 
 grand and noble cause of Liberty ; and so left the 
 people to suffer and to die. 
 
 The houses of Norfolk and Buckingham, of 
 Howard and Fitz-alan, the noblest of the land, 
 yielding in everything to the royal powers, were, 
 with other of their peers, mainly responsible for 
 the various illegal bills, bloody statutes, and god- 
 less measures, which tarnished this monarch's 
 reign. 
 
 The commonalty, disunited and terrified, ceased 
 to defend private interests, because the king's 
 " trusty and well-beloved cousins " in the House 
 of Lords had so often servilely refused to co- 
 operate with them in resisting encroachment and 
 withstanding the despotism of the king. As ex- 
 perience too truly taught, resistance by the Com- 
 mons of themselves was perfectly unavailing. 
 
 Like his unusual and inconvenient corpulence,^ 
 his Majesty's bad temper and sudden irascibility 
 largely increased as his end approached ; and 
 those who were his personal attendants found it 
 
 * " The Laird of Grange did say that Henry being corpulent 
 and fat, there was small hope of his having heirs." — " Memoirs 
 of Sir James Melville," /// loco. 
 
Sioit House: Henry VIII.'' s Death and Burial 3 1 3 
 
 both irksome and disagreeable to be near him in 
 his sufferings and violence. No 'doubt his pains 
 were considerable ; for the external sores of his 
 body spreading, steadily increased, and became 
 open wounds. He was moved about with diffi- 
 culty. As the court physicians seemed wholly 
 unable to grapple with the cause of his disease, 
 they at last wisely aimed only at mitigating the 
 painful results of it. A long list of the potions 
 and powders swallowed by his Highness, with the 
 hope of mollifying his wounds and soothing his 
 irritability, remains on record still. ^ In most cases 
 it ended in his decreasing the amount of the medi- 
 cine, or refusing it altogether, and in adding to 
 the number of goblets of wine of which he partook. 
 The king himself came to the conclusion that after 
 all white Gascony was the surest emollient : the 
 physicians, on their part, recommended henbane 
 leaves in powder and infusions of chamomile, but 
 with little or no effect. 
 
 After dinner, when, overcome with wine, the 
 king's temper was somewhat improved, so that 
 those courtiers and flatterers who wished to secure 
 their ends, — whether to depress and damage their 
 enemies even unto death, or to serve and benefit 
 themselves and their relations, — usually went to 
 work with a purpose, and often obtained their 
 requests : for wine, more especially when taken 
 freely, made his Majesty's royal heart glad. 
 
 ' Sloane MSS. British Museum, No. 1047, folios 5 — 34. 
 
3 1 4 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Others, at cards, chess or dice, deliberately 
 allowed him to beat them and become the winner; 
 because by so doing they gave him evident satis- 
 faction ; while the king, — if any player complained 
 of the vastness of his losses, — was ready, — as in the 
 case of Sir Miles Partridge, who in dicing had been 
 a considerable loser, and was compensated by the 
 beneficent gift of a broad and lofty belfry which 
 then stood in St. Paul's Churchyard, — to bestow 
 pleasant rewards upon all losers out of what was left 
 of the plunder of abbeys and churches. 
 
 During the later years of his life he became both 
 an inveterate glutton and an excessive winebibber. 
 It seems probable from what is recorded ^ that day 
 by day, after he had dined, he was so confused in 
 what remained of his mind, and lost, as to have 
 been scarcely responsible for his extraordinary 
 actions. He ate and drank to excess in order to 
 pamper a surfeited body, long grown obese and 
 unwieldy to inconvenience. Its humours, by con- 
 sequence, broke out in offensive sores, which so 
 long as he continued to pamper it with high living, 
 his two physicians. Butts and Chamber, told Queen 
 Katherine Parr they were unable to heal and 
 scarcely to mollify. He drank with freedom, so as 
 to create oblivion ; for sad memories constantly 
 came up, and would not be dismissed. 
 
 To the royal table at dinner as many as twenty 
 
 * " Records of the Reformation," by the Rev. N. Pocock, 
 M.A. vol. ii. p. 553- 
 
Sion House: Henry V Ill's Death and Burial. 3 1 5 
 
 courses, each consisting of no less than five dishes, 
 were daily brought up and put before him. Fan- 
 tastic and unwholesome compounds, and spiced 
 delicacies from foreign parts, and Venetian comfits, 
 were provided to stimulate the flagging appetite of 
 the Supreme Head. Any novelty which residents 
 abroad had by chance come across in their travels, 
 was carefully entrusted to his Highness's chief 
 cook, in order that it might be reproduced in 
 English fashion for the royal palate. He was 
 grateful, however, be it recorded, to those who had 
 provided him with homelier and humbler fare, and 
 rewarded one of them at least — a certain " Mistress 
 Cornwallis," who had specially made and sent him 
 some fine puddings,^ — with part of the sacred 
 buildings of a dissolved priory, as a regal thanks- 
 eivine and oblation for her devout and con- 
 siderate attention. Again, in return for the present 
 of a young and tender porkling, well cooked, of 
 which, when dressed with sweet herbs, his Majesty 
 was specially fond,'^ he graciously granted the donor 
 a peel of ten bells from a religious house in Surrey. 
 Some ignorant and bigoted persons then living, 
 
 ' "A fair house with divers tenements near adjoining, some- 
 time belonging to a late dissolved priory, since possessed by 
 Mistress Cornwallies, widow, and her heirs, by gift of Henry 
 VIII. in reward of fine puddings, as it was commonly said, by 
 her made, wherewith she had presented him." — Stowe's " Sur- 
 vey of London," p. 52. London: 1876. 
 
 * Joachim Le Grand, " Histoire du Divorce," &c. A Paris : 
 1688, /;/ ioco. 
 
3 1 6 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 but obviously born long after their time, are said to 
 have demurred to these acts of profuse bounty on 
 the part of royalty. Such, however, could only 
 have been found, amongst those more simple folks, 
 who as yet had scarcely realized the existence in 
 his Highness of those inherent spiritual gifts, of 
 which the Supreme Head possibly believed him- 
 self to be the divinely-appointed possessor. If he 
 were Head of the Church, and what "loyal sub- 
 ject" would doubt the fact — could he not do with 
 church bells, towers, and priories, as he wished and 
 willed ? Of course he could. And so he did. 
 
 In fine, Brute Force, in the shape of an unwieldy 
 and obese monarch, sat enthroned in white satin 
 and Genoese velvet, under a canopy of cloth-of- 
 gold — before which the timid and obsequious, 
 chattering deferentially, were profuse in their 
 laudations and with the most humble deference, 
 constantly genuflected.^ 
 
 He never lost his faith in the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 ® " Audley, the Lord Chancellor designedly introduced into 
 his flattering harangues in the House of Peers, the epithets, 
 ' most sacred Majesty,' ' most high and sacred Highness,' 
 ' godly guide and spiritual Head,' at which words, the whole 
 noble assembly, turning to the king on his throne, bowed them- 
 selves low and long with the profoundest external respect. 
 The Chancellor had already informed Henry to his face that he 
 was above all the princes of the earth for wisdom, eminence, 
 beauty, grace, and knowledge ; and that God, by the unction 
 of consecration, had ' infused into his royal mind the Science 
 of the Scriptures.' " — MSS. and Excerpts of the Author. 
 
Sion House: Henry VII Hs Death and Burial. 3 1 7 
 
 In all the bold sacrilege and legalized wickedness 
 undertaken and carried out by him and his instru- 
 ments, he steadily remembered the teaching of his 
 childhood and his obvious duty to God. When- 
 ever he found himself in the presence of the Sacred 
 Host, let it be recorded that his reverence was 
 most profound. Shordy before he died, when 
 about to communicate, as he always had done, in 
 one kind, he rose up by a great effort from his 
 chair, feeble as he was, at the Sanctus, and fell 
 down upon his sore and swollen knees at the 
 Consecration to adore the Body of his Lord. 
 
 TheZuinglian preachers and pastors around him, 
 as Sander states, urged him to communicate sitting, 
 as his Majesty's weak state, they sympathizingly 
 asserted, would perfectly justify such an attitude : 
 that exact attitude which their own devotion 
 thought suitable and sufficient, — more especially in 
 a king. 
 
 But, putting grace aside, the king had the natural 
 decency to make a crushing reply to these perverse 
 and hereticarl tempters, — " If I could throw myself 
 not only on the ground, but under the ground," he 
 retorted promptly, " I should not hold myself to 
 have given sufficient honour to the Most Holy 
 Sacrament." Thus much to his credit. 
 
 At times, even during the day, when the end 
 drew on, he was sorely disturbed in mind, rising 
 up suddenly in his fitful sleep, muttering ambigu- 
 ously or exclaiming commandingly, yet wildly, 
 
o 
 
 1 8 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 pointing to vacancy, with a prolonged shudder, 
 and sometimes with a sudden and piercing 
 scream. 
 
 The attendants, as is said, heard him constantly 
 ejaculating, "The friars, the friars! Blood and 
 the block, lo ! hither come the monks !" 
 
 But they dared not reply. It was their duty to 
 be passive witnesses of his deep mental and bodily 
 sufferings. The latter, his bodily sufferings, Dr. 
 Butts and Dr. Chamber were near him to allay as 
 well as their skill would allow ; but the former con- 
 cerned the physicians of the soul, and these, some- 
 how or other, when the damps of death were on 
 the king's forehead, were all absent. Cranmer was 
 away at his palace at Croydon. No priest nor 
 prelate dared approach him unless by command ; 
 nor did any servant-in-waiting propose to himself 
 to Indicate to his Highness the sure approach of 
 that end which the physicians saw was slowly and 
 steadily drawing on, but of which they hesitated 
 to tell him. If such had been done, the rash doer 
 of it, by a recent Act of Parliament, might, with- 
 out any trial, have merited death. 
 
 At last, however, very early on Thursday morn- 
 ing. Sir Anthony Denny undertook to inform the 
 king- how near his end was. This faithful servant 
 told him that there was then no hope, and advised 
 him to turn his thoughts at once to repentance 
 and to God. 
 
 Denny asked him if he wished to see a priest, 
 
Si on House: Henry VIII .'s Death and Burial. 3 1 9 
 
 to which the king repHed, " My Lord of Canter- 
 bury." 
 
 With all speed — but the roads were deep with 
 snow, and hasty travelling impossible — a messenger 
 was sent to Croydon, who brought back Cranmer 
 late in the afternoon. But the king, in the mean- 
 time, had grown weaker and worse. He was often 
 unconscious, and evidently sinking. When the 
 Archbishop arrived, late in the evening, he found 
 his Highness speechless. No sacrament was ad- 
 ministered, nor formal prayers said. For several 
 hours the king slept, 
 
 Cranmer, during the small hours of the night, 
 implored the king to give those who stood round 
 the royal bed some token that he died in the 
 Christian Faith ; and repeated his request, when- 
 ever an interval of consciousness supervened. At 
 last the king raised his right hand, and gave it to 
 the Archbishop. 
 
 " God be praised ! " ejaculated Cranmer, stoop- 
 ing down to kiss the dying monarch's hand ; who 
 grasped him firmly as he so bent. 
 
 The end was now come. He turned from one 
 side to the other, and made a sign to one of the 
 attendants that his throat was parched. 
 
 Sir Francis Bryan at once handed him a cup of 
 white wine ; and then placed it to his bloodless lips. 
 
 He partly raised his head to drink it. But the 
 effort was too much for him, he was only able to 
 take a small draught. 
 
320 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 " All is lost ! " he feebly exclaimed with a 
 shudder, falling back on to the pillow. There 
 was a strange gurgling in his throat ; he breathed 
 hardly ; his huge body quivered ; his hands, clutch- 
 ing the samite bed-quilt, contracted ; his jaw fell, 
 and then — his spirit returned to the God Who had 
 given it. . . . 
 
 In the fifty-sixth year of his age, having reigned 
 more than thirty-seven years, he died early on 
 Friday morning, sometime between two and 
 three, on the 28th of January, in the year of grace 
 
 1547- 
 
 Many thanked God, with heartfelt gratitude that 
 Death had at last overtaken the tyrant. The Duke 
 of Norfolk in the Tower, awaiting the block, was 
 no doubt amongst these. Such could surely now 
 breathe freely, when they learnt that the last 
 breath of this royal monster had been at length 
 drawn. 
 
 Some, remembering what had been said fifteen 
 years previously at Greenwich, asked their neigh- 
 bours whether the Friar Peto's Prophecy would be 
 fulfilled. Time would show. 
 
 An authentic but tedious and wordy record of 
 the details of the king's funeral still exists, from 
 which the followino- curious narrative — less than a 
 third the length of the original — has been carefully 
 drawn : — 
 
 After the corpse was cold, and seen by the 
 Lords of the Privy Council, and other nobility of 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII 's Death and Burial. 32 1 
 
 the realm, commandment was given to the apothe- 
 caries, surgeons, wax-chandlers, and others, to do 
 their duties in embalming, furnishing, and dressing 
 it with spices, and also for wrapping the same in 
 cerecloth of many folds over the fine cloth of 
 Rheims and velvet, bound and trammeled with 
 cords of silk ; which was done accordingly ; and a 
 writing in great and small letters annexed against 
 his breast, containing his name and style, the day 
 of his death in like manner. Which being: done, 
 the chest was covered with blue velvet, and a cross 
 set upon the same. 
 
 Then the corpse was placed in the midst of the 
 privy chamber, and set upon tressels with a rich 
 pall of cloth of gold, and a cross thereon, with 
 lights thereto requisite ; having divine service said 
 about him, with masses, obsequies, and prayers; 
 and continual watch made by his chaplains and 
 gentlemen of his privy chamber, night and day, 
 during the time of his abode there, which was five 
 days. 
 
 In the meanwhile the chapel was duly prepared. 
 Here the chambers, galleries, hall, &c., were hung 
 with black and garnished with escutcheons. A 
 goodly formal hearse was set up, with four-score 
 square tapers, and at the four corners were ban- 
 ners of saints beaten in fine gold upon damask. 
 At the foot, where the corpse should be reposed, 
 stood an altar covered with black velvet, adorned 
 with all manner of plate and jewels, where mass 
 
 Y 
 
32 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 was continually said. The high altar also was 
 richly adorned. 
 
 The names of the mourners appointed to attend 
 upon the corpse were, amongst others, the follow- 
 ing : — Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, chief 
 mourner. Lord St. John, Henry Fitzalan, Earl 
 of Arundel, John Vere, Earl of Oxford, Francis 
 Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Edward Stanley, 
 Earl of Derby, Ratclyffe, Earl of Sussex, William 
 Dacre, Lord Dacre, and Edward Grey, Lord Grey. 
 
 Amongst the bishops appointed to execute 
 divine service in the chapel, and attend the corpse, 
 were Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 
 chief prelate, Cuthbert Tunstal, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, and 
 William Barlow, Bishop of St. David's. Gardiner 
 was appointed to preach the sermon. 
 
 On the 2nd of February, being Wednesday, 
 and Candlemas-day, between eight and nine 
 o'clock at night, the hearse being lighted, and all 
 things prepared, the royal corpse was removed 
 from the chamber, where the king had died, 
 covered with a rich pall of gold tissue, crossed 
 with white tissue, and brought to the chapel, — the 
 attendant noblemen and gentlemen going before 
 and after with lights, where it was reverently 
 placed upon the hearse already prepared. Watch 
 was kept during the night ; while prayers and 
 suffrages were duly said by the chaplains. 
 
 On the following day, being Thursday, Feb- 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII. ^s Death and BuriaL. 323 
 
 ruary 3rd, between nine and ten a.m., the mourners 
 assembled in the pallet chamber, in their mourning 
 apparel, with hoods on their heads, and from 
 thence proceeded in due order, till they came to 
 the hearse, when they knelt about the corpse on 
 either side, and the chief mourners at the head. 
 
 Here Norroy king-at-arms, at the quire door, 
 with his face to the people, said with a loud voice, 
 " Of your charity pray for the soul of the high 
 and most mighty Prince, our late Sovereign Lord 
 and King Henry VHL," which he did daily at the 
 beofinnino- of all masses and dirores. And from 
 the vestry of the chapel came out three bishops in 
 pontijicalibiis, and began the requiem mass at the 
 high altar, singing and saying the same in the 
 most solemn and impressive manner. At the 
 offertory the chief and other mourners in order 
 arose and were conducted by gentlemen-ushers to 
 make their offering, after which they returned to 
 their former places. After mass was ended, the 
 prelates censed the corpse, and returned to the 
 vestry. 
 
 The mourners then were conducted to the 
 chamber of presence, where a sumptuous dinner 
 was prepared. 
 
 In the afternoon, at the appointed hour, all 
 again assembled. Norroy king-at-arms came out 
 and proclaimed the king's style, bidding the 
 prayers, when the prelates began the Placebo and 
 Dirige. The same services, ceremonies, with 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 masses, and other rites and duties, were repeated 
 every day so long as the body remained in the 
 chapel, which was twelve days. 
 
 In the meantime hearses were prepared at Sion 
 and Windsor, with equal magnificence to that 
 which already has been described, very gorgeous ; 
 the one at Windsor being of wonderful state and 
 proportion, curiously wrought, painted and gilded, 
 and having lights, amounting in price of wax to 
 four thousand pounds weight. 
 
 The floor of the choir was completely spread 
 with black cloth, and the hangings were of black, 
 elaborately garnished with escutcheons of arms 
 and alliances, and with hatchments of silk and gold. 
 
 A sumptuous and valuable chariot was also 
 prepared. It was very long and large, on four 
 wheels, with four pillars, overlaid with cloth of 
 gold, with a pillow of gold tissue, and rich hangings 
 of blue velvet, fringed with blue silk and gold. 
 
 In preparation for the journey to Windsor, 
 orders were taken for clearing and mending the 
 roads between Westminster and the Royal Chapel 
 of St. George ; and where the ways were narrow 
 hedges were cut down, and free passage made. 
 
 The king's almoner. Lord Worcester, daily 
 distributed to poor people at Westminster and 
 Charing Cross, and other places on the road, 
 " great plenty of money " in alms, especially in 
 London. 
 
 Two carts laden with hatchments and es- 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII.'' s Death and Burial. 325 
 
 cutcheons, with certain money, were distributed 
 to the parishes along the way, i. e. amongst others, 
 to the curates and clerks of Charing Cross, St. 
 Giles-in-the-fields, Chelsea, Hammersmith, Ful- 
 ham, Twickenham, Hounslow, Chiswick, Eton, 
 Acton, Sion, Hanwell, Iver, Colnbrook, Staines, 
 Drayton, Langley, and Windsor. 
 
 When the corpse approached any particular 
 parish, the clergy of these churches enumerated, 
 stood in the way ; and bidding prayers devoutly 
 censed the corpse as it proceeded. This was 
 done all along the way between Westminster and 
 Windsor. 
 
 These and all other things duly arranged, on 
 Sunday morning, February 13th, were sung in the 
 chapel three solemn masses by bishops in pontiji- 
 calidus in " sundry suits." The first mass of Our 
 Lady, in white ; the second mass of the Trinity, 
 in blue ; the third a mass of requiem, in black, by 
 the Bishop of Winchester. At every mass, two 
 bishops mitred, ministered as Epistoler and Gos- 
 peller. After mass the prelates censed the corpse, 
 singing Libera me, Domine. 
 
 The same day proclamation was made that all 
 allowed black liveries by the king should attend 
 the next day, at five o'clock, at Charing Cross, to 
 conduct the corpse to Sion that night, during 
 which solemn watch, with continual prayer and 
 lights, was there duly kept. 
 
 The next day, February 14th, the corpse was 
 
o 
 
 26 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 again placed with great reverence on the chariot 
 at the hall door, by mitred prelates and temporal 
 lords. 
 
 The bishops went two and two in order, saying 
 prayers ; torches were carried by sixteen yeomen of 
 the guards, on each side of the body. Then fol- 
 lowed the mourners. Over the coffin was placed 
 a pall of cloth of gold, upon which was set a waxen 
 representation of the king richly apparelled, hold- 
 ing a sceptre of gold in his right hand, and in his 
 left the orb with a cross. Upon the head was a 
 crown of great value. The figure was also deco- 
 rated with a collar of the garter and a golden 
 garter. Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William 
 Herbert accompanied the chariot with the corpse. 
 
 First of all rode the porters of the king's house, 
 with staves, to clear the way ; then came the 
 sergeant of the vestry and the verger ; after him 
 the cross, with the children, clerks, and priests of 
 the chapel in their surplices, singing their oraisons 
 and prayers. On either side of them, from the 
 cross to the bier, went two hundred and fifty poor 
 men in long mourning gowns and hoods, having 
 the royal badge on their shoulders. On each 
 hand of them went two carts laden with torches, 
 to replace those that were burnt out. Next came 
 various standards and banners borne by the 
 appointed heralds, on either side ^i the peers and 
 bishops, who were followed by the Ambassador of 
 the Emperor and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
Sion Hoiise: Henry VIII.'' s Death and Burial. 327 
 
 Twelve " banners of descents," borne by various 
 knights, immediately preceded the chariot, or bier, 
 containing the corpse. This was drawn by seven 
 strong horses, trapped in black velvet and gar- 
 nished with escutcheons of the king's arms, and 
 led by seven persons in mourning. The chief 
 mourner followed alone, and the other mourners 
 went two and two, upon horses, all draped in black. 
 Then followed the king's chamberlain, and next 
 after him the master of the horse, bareheaded, 
 leading the king's horse, trapped in cloth of gold 
 down to the ground. Then in order came the 
 various officers of the household and of the guard. 
 So in time they came to Brentford, and then on 
 to Sion House, where they were met by the 
 gentlemen, knights, and aldermen of London, and 
 many noblemen who lived thereabouts. 
 
 Here the funeral procession stopped, as ar- 
 ranged, for the night. Here, half-way from 
 London to Windsor, the journey was properly 
 broken. The kino- had been dead a fortnio^ht 
 when this desecrated House was reached. Ar- 
 rangements had been made beforehand for fitting 
 up the chapel for the funeral services, and work- 
 men had been sent down from London to do this. 
 No expense seems to have been spared to prepare 
 the desolate and deserted sanctuary for the 
 reception of the king's corpse. 
 
 At about two o'clock in the afternoon the 
 hearse rested at the gateway or porch of the Church 
 
o 
 
 28 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 of Sion, Here the coffin was placed on the 
 hearse already prepared ; and after the bedes 
 were bidden by Norroy king-at-arms, at the choir 
 door, the bishops sang and said the various ap- 
 pointed prayers, and finally censed the body. 
 
 That niofht the Lord Great Master charcred the 
 watch about the corpse, which was kept with 
 great reverence and devotion. What then hap- 
 pened shall be told in the words of an ecclesiastic 
 at once trustworthy and competent : " At what 
 time his (the king's) dead corpse was carried from 
 London to Windsor, there to be interred, it rested 
 the first night at the monastery of Sion, which the 
 king had suppressed. At which time, were it for 
 the jogging and shaking of the chariot, or for 
 any other secret cause, the coffin of lead wherein 
 his dead corpse was put, being riven and cloven, 
 all the pavement of the church was, with the fat 
 and the corrupt putrefied blood dropped out of the 
 said corpse, foully imbrued. Early in the morn- 
 ing, those that had the charge of the dressing, 
 coffining, and embalming of the body, with the 
 plumbers repaired thither to reform the mistake, 
 and lo ! suddenly, was there found among their 
 legs a dog lapping and licking up the King'' s bloody 
 as it chanced to King Aliab before specified I This 
 chance one William Consett reported, saying he 
 was there present, and with much ado drove away 
 the said dog." " 
 
 " Archdeacon Harpsfield's Treatise, Book II. p. 142. 
 
Sioii House: Henry VIII.' s Death and Burial. 329 
 
 And so Peto's Prophecy was exactly fulfilled. 
 
 At three o'clock the next morning all again 
 assembled in the church, where " many masses 
 were sung and said at many altars:" after which 
 the corpse was again set upon the chariot, and 
 the procession, formed as previously, went on to 
 Windsor. 
 
 Those who had known of the fulfilment of 
 Peto's Prophecy, were silent and contemplative 
 and awed. It was spoken of amongst a few, in 
 whispers and an undertone. But the report soon 
 spread, and could not be stayed in its progress. 
 The funeral procession went forward from town 
 to town towards Windsor, at each of which places 
 the clergy came forth to receive the corpse with 
 prayers and incense ; while the bells were tolled 
 in every church, and the country people gathered 
 in crowds. 
 
 At Eton, the provost, who was Bishop of Car- 
 Hsle, in pontiJicalibtLs, and all the masters and 
 fellows of the college, with the scholars in white 
 surplices holding lighted tapers, sang the seven 
 penitential psalms : and when the corpse ap- 
 proached, knelt and censed it, singing De proftcndis 
 and other appropriate prayers. And so it came 
 at length to Windsor. 
 
 Here the body was solemnly removed, with all 
 due honour, to the magnificent hearse prepared 
 for it in St. George's Chapel. At the high altar 
 the Bishop of Winchester, attended by the other 
 
03 
 
 o Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 prelates, said Dirige and performed the accustomed 
 ceremonies, the Queen and the whole court being 
 present ; after which all departed, and the watch 
 appointed as before. On the next day, at four 
 o'clock in the morning, lauds were said by the 
 priests, and the bedes bidden. Then the mass 
 of the Trinity was said by the Bishop of Ely, 
 assisted by two bishops mitred ; " which mass," it 
 is recorded, " was solemnly sung in prick-song 
 descant, and organ playing, to the offertory ; then 
 the chief mourner offered Q^old at the altar and 
 returned to his place." 
 
 Two other masses followed, one by the Bishop 
 of London, at which the Knights of the Garter 
 offered according to custom. Then came the 
 mass of requiem celebrated by the Bishop of 
 Winchester, with the Bishops of London and Ely 
 as deacon and sub-deacon. All the officers of 
 the court, together with the archbishop and the 
 king's executors, then offered according to their 
 estates and degrees; and the Bishop of Winchester 
 preached from the text, " Blessed are the dead 
 who die in the Lord;" showing, as is on record, 
 " the pitiful and dolorous loss that all manner of 
 men had sustained by the death of so great and 
 gracious a king." After the last gospel, the 
 bishops censed the corpse for the last time, the 
 vault was uncovered, and the body duly let down 
 into it. When the officiating bishop said, "Earth 
 to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the officers 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII.' s Death and Bttrial. 331 
 
 of State broke their rods and threw them into the 
 grave. De profimdis was then chanted, and so 
 Garter king-at-arms, standing in the midst of the 
 choir, proclaimed the new monarch. And all 
 cried out, " Long live the noble King Edward." 
 
 Thus the last rites were over. Everything was 
 completed before six o'clock of the morning. The 
 workmen finally arranged the gorgeous coffin in 
 its proper place in the royal vault ; and there it 
 remained as placed, until it was opened and 
 examined in 1 8 1 3, by some over-curious individuals, 
 who, because a workman had accidentally or inten- 
 tionally split the outer oak, and battered the leaden 
 coffin, had the lid of the latter removed, in which 
 they found little else than a large decaying skeleton, 
 more than six feet in length, lying in the dust of 
 cerements and cedar-wood. 
 
 The king's Will, as regards its spirit, terms, and 
 phraseology, belonged wholly to the old order of 
 thines.^ No evidence of the existence of " the new 
 learning," or Cranmer's new religion, could be found 
 in it from beginning to end. He partly acknow- 
 ledged his previous cruelties to his first wife by 
 appointing their daughter Mary heir to the throne, 
 
 ' " On the Feast of St. Stephen, 1546, the king had his will 
 made, or, to be more accurate, he then had it amended and 
 revised— for it had been originally drawn up prior to the war 
 with France, — and nothing could be more Catholic than its 
 terms and dispositions." — Author's MSS. and Excerpts. Bou- 
 chier's Letters. 
 
332 Historical Sketches of the Refoi^mation. 
 
 after his son Edward. By the same act and deed 
 he admitted Elizabeth's illegitimacy. Reordered 
 numerous masses and prayers to be said for his 
 own soul for ever ; but, in this particular, his 
 wishes — save at his pompous funeral — were wholly 
 and altogether disregarded. He himself had 
 destroyed chantries and robbed the dead ; so in 
 his turn, and in this particular, he was both 
 neo-lected and forofotten. 
 
 His son Edward had been instructed by the 
 Calvinistic teachers around him to believe in the 
 sure " election " of himself and his sire, and possibly 
 of all the members of the royal family ; so after the 
 funeral, he wrote to his sister Mary bidding her 
 dry her tears, and rest perfectly confident that 
 their royal father had gone at once straight to 
 Heaven.^ 
 
 Before the last words are written, let it be 
 clearly seen and realized what during his reign the 
 king had done and sanctioned. To sum up and 
 to be brief: — Authority forbad him the desired 
 divorce. He had been warned by Pope Clement 
 Vn. not to marry Anne Boleyn, but that step, as 
 far as could be, was already taken on Nov. 
 
 ^ " It is an error of nature," to weep and lament. " We 
 have not lost our father ; he who lived with God is now enjoy- 
 ing the repose of everlasting happiness. To continue any 
 longer to mourn for him would be to offend that God, Whose 
 Will has been accomplished." — For the original of this, see 
 Harl. MSS. No. 35, in loco. 
 
Sion Hoii.se: Henry VIII.' s Death and Burial. '•'''' 
 
 ooo 
 
 14th, 1532. From that day the flood-gates of a 
 sea of troubles for the kingdom were opened, and 
 those troubles steadily increased. The block, the 
 halter, and the gibbet were in constant requisition. 
 
 Elizabeth Barton, the Kentish nun, and her 
 " accomplices," as they were termed, suffered for 
 having spoken against the king. These accom- 
 plices were John Bering and Edward Bocking, two 
 monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, Richard 
 Master, parson of Aldrington, Henry Hold, a 
 priest, with Richard Master and Richard Risby. 
 Drawn on hurdles from the Tower to Tybourne, 
 they were there hanged and beheaded. 
 
 In 1534 the Friars Observants, because of their 
 public expostulations and sermons, were ordered 
 abroad, and all their houses suppressed. Dr. John 
 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, had been already sent 
 to the Tower. In 1535, first three Carthusian 
 Priors suffered, and then three other monks of the 
 same order.^ 
 
 In June, Bishop Fisher was beheaded, and in 
 July, Sir Thomas More, to the horror of Christian 
 Europe, endured a similar death. Anne Boleyn, 
 and the accomplices of her sins, suffered in 1536. 
 Rochester and Waiver, Carthusian monks, were 
 hung for denying the royal supremacy a year later ; 
 when nine monks of the same order were starved 
 to death in Newgate. 
 
 * Concerning Richard Reynolds and the Charterhouse monks, 
 see Cotton. MSS. " Vespasian," A. xxv. foHo 40. 
 
334 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 John Forrest, who had been confessor to Queen 
 Katherine, also suffered by being burnt ahve. He 
 had entered the Order of St. Francis when less 
 than seventeen years of age ; had " made his 
 religious profession " (as the phrase stands) in the 
 house of the Observants at Greenwich, and subse- 
 quently became Provincial of the Order. Queen 
 Katherine is known to have entertained a high 
 opinion of his prudence, discretion, and piety ; and 
 he was even spoken of by the innovating party 
 with respect, as a man of wisdom and learning. 
 Resistance to the king's will brought him to the 
 stake. 
 
 In July, 1538, Cort, a Franciscan, who denied 
 the Royal Supremacy, was starved to death. 
 Lambert, a Zuinglian, was also burnt to death 
 four months afterwards. The Vicar of Wands- 
 worth was put to death, in the summer of 1539, 
 for denying the king's new title of " Supreme 
 Head ;" while, three months later on, the Abbots 
 of Reading, Colchester, and Glastonbury were 
 haneed, drawn, dismembered, disembowelled, 
 beheaded, and their bodies divided into four 
 parts. 
 
 In May of 1540, Dr. Sampson, Bishop of 
 Chichester, and Dr. Wilson were put into the 
 Tower, because they had been guilty of treason in 
 having sent alms to one Abel; who, having been 
 imprisoned for denying the Supremacy, was found, 
 as Stowe relates, " almost eaten up by worms," 
 
Sio?i House: Henry VIII.^s Death and Burial. 335 
 
 prior to his being put to death. With him 
 suffered Featherstone and Powell, for a like 
 offence. The Prior of Doncaster, Laurence Cook, 
 Brownholme, a priest, and four others, on the 
 4th of August, were also hanged, drawn, and 
 quartered for a similar act of treason. 
 
 And now we turn over this dark leaf to find a 
 darker still. Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, 
 without either arraignment or trial, was cruelly 
 beheaded. On the 28th of May, 1541, this aged 
 and venerable lady, sprung from the royal house 
 of York, underwent a blessed death. Her father 
 was George, brother of King Edward IV. The 
 only charge brought against her was that she, 
 being the mother of Reginald Cardinal Pole, had 
 received letters of filial duty from him, without 
 the king's knowledge, and that she sometimes 
 wore on her breast a representation of the Five 
 Sacred Wounds of our Lord, which the king 
 maintained to be a clear proof of her favour for 
 those who had adopted those sacred symbols as a 
 badge when they took up arms in the North in 
 defence of the ancient faith. But the truth is, 
 that, as the tyrant was unable to lay hands upon 
 her son the Cardinal, who had written so beauti- 
 fully and powerfully in defence of the Church's 
 Visible Unity, he seized the person of the Car- 
 dinal's mother and wreaked his vicious veno-eance 
 on this royal and right noble lady. 
 
 On the ist of July, 1541, Sir David Jenson, 
 
336 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Knight of the Order of St. John, was put to 
 death for refusing to accept the king's supremacy. 
 During all the period from the marriage of the 
 king with Anne Boleyn, thousands were cruelly 
 imprisoned, heavily fined, for the most trivial 
 faults, if faults at all,^ worried, " tamed " (as it was 
 phrased), tortured and slowly done to death. 
 The prisons were crowded. Cruelties abounded. 
 But the record is by no means complete, even 
 yet. Early In March, 1544, Mr. Germain Gar- 
 diner, secretary to the Bishop of Winchester, 
 John Lacke, Rector of Chelsea, John Ireland, 
 priest, sometime chaplain to Sir Thomas More, 
 William Ashby, James Singleton, John RIsby, 
 and Thomas Rich, refusing to acknowledge the 
 Royal Supremacy, were tried, convicted, and con- 
 demned to death. The dreadful story always 
 ends in the same terms, thus : — '* They were 
 drawn, hanged, dismembered, bowelled, and 
 quartered." In fine, no less than 72,000 persons 
 are said to have received the punishments of death, 
 
 ^ The following is taken verbatim from certain Acts of the 
 Privy Council — " Sir Thomas Horton, Vicar of Cawne [i. e. 
 Calne], in the countie of Wilts, was sent upp by Sir Henry 
 Long, Knight, as suspect to be a Papiste, for having Thomas 
 Beckett's name in one of his bookes ; and being examined 
 before the said Counsaill, and, appearinge, as farr as could be 
 gathered to have left the same unput out [out] of neglicence 
 rather than malice, w^as bound in a recognizance of forty 
 pounds." — "State Papers and Letters," Bib. Cotton. "Titus," 
 B. L folio [98. 
 
Sioii House: Henry VHHs Death and Burial. 337 
 
 in one form or another, during King Henry's 
 reign — an awful and appalling fact. Nor were 
 Tudor tyranny and bloodshed buried at his 
 pompous funeral. They survived him, alas ! for 
 many years. 
 
 There can be no doubt whatsoever that the 
 king patronized those who were learned and ac- 
 complished, both in Church and State, and in this 
 he did well and wisely. Sir Thomas More was 
 unquestionably a great lawyer, a man of integrity, 
 incorruptible, and of much saindiness and simpli- 
 city of life. Wolsey, whatever judgment may be 
 passed upon him as regards his ambition ^ and 
 
 ^ It seems tolerably certain that Wolsey had intrigued to be 
 elected Pope. Evidence of his hopes and anticipations still 
 remain in a letter to the king, preserved amongst the archives of 
 the ducal house of Grafton. " For which cause," wrote the 
 Cardinal, "though afore God I repute myself most unmeet, and 
 unliable to so high and great a dignity, desiring rather much 
 to devote, continue, and end my life with your grace, for doing 
 of such poor service as may be to your honour, and wealth of 
 this your realm than to be Pope." 
 
 To which the king replied — the MS. is still in existence — 
 " that having his perfect and firm hope that of the same shall 
 come, in brief time a general and universal repose, tranquillity, 
 and quietness in Christendom ; and as great renown, honour, 
 profit, and reputation to this realm as ever was, shall speedily 
 ensue." 
 
 The Cardinal, active and designing, wrote as follows to Bishop 
 Gierke, the ambassador at Rome, " My Lord of Bath, — How- 
 beit great dexterity is to be used, and the king thinkeththat all 
 Imperials shall be clearly with you, if faith be in the Emperor. 
 The young men," — i. e. the younger of the cardinals — " for the 
 
 Z 
 
33 S Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 certain details of his career as a minister, was on 
 the whole a great ecclesiastical statesman. Of 
 but humble birth, him the king had exalted. 
 Gardiner, a dexterous controversialist, was a theo- 
 logian of repute and an ambassador of influence. 
 Lord Berners, a close student of history ; Sir 
 Thomas Wyatt a poet of some strength and 
 sweetness. The noble John Fisher was a prelate 
 of eminent sanctity and great moral and intellectual 
 power ; Pace, whose interesting State Papers can 
 still be read in his own clear handwriting, an 
 ambassador of discretion and repute. John Le- 
 land had been the king's librarian, and became an 
 antiquary of learning, research, and exactness, — 
 to whom later generations are deeply indebted. 
 Skelton, the satirist, had been distinctly patronized 
 by his Majesty, while John Hey wood had received 
 similar royal favours. It must be frankly allowed, 
 therefore, that King Henry had surrounded him- 
 self, at the outset of his reign, with learned, 
 virtuous, and able men. 
 
 On the other hand, — after his palpable fall 
 from virtue,' consummated in the divorce of his 
 
 most part being needy, will give good ears to fair offers, which 
 shall be undoubtedly performed," — i. e. the promised or prof- 
 fered bribes shall be duly paid. " The king," continued the 
 Cardinal, "willeth you neither to spare his authority or his good 
 money or substance. You may be assured luhatcver you promise 
 shall be performed^ and the Lord send you good speed. Your 
 loving friend. — T. Card. Eborac." 
 
 * At his accession he was most popular. Being handsome, 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII! s Death and BuriaL 339 
 
 lawful queen, and after his marriage with 
 Anne Boleyn, — he turned from men of principle 
 to men of corrupt minds and shameful deeds. 
 The chief offices of state were filled with per- 
 sons of unexampled infamy and degradation. 
 Amono-st these were Cromwell and Cranmer,* 
 
 and dignified, and of noble form and features, his subjects wel- 
 comed his rule with universal acclamations, far he was regal, 
 knightly and soldierly in his bearing. Lord Mountjoy in writing 
 to Erasmus, penned the following exaggerated sentiments : — 
 " Beloved Erasmus, I do not for a moment doubt that your 
 sorrow will be suddenly changed into joy on hearing that 
 Henry Odaviiis hath succeeded to his fathen Oh, if you could 
 but witness the happiness of the people you would weep for 
 joy. Heaven smiles, the earth leaps with gladness, everything 
 around seems redolent of milk, honey, and nectar." 
 
 * " It has always, since I learnt the truth about Cranmer, 
 been a marvel to me how any one with a sense of religion, of 
 honour, of manly feeling, can look on him with any sentiments 
 save those of disgust and indignation. I have ever held that 
 courage in a man ranks with purity in a woman, and tested by 
 any such comparison, Cranmer must take his stand with Lais 
 and Messalina, nay, with the nameless depravities which we 
 associate with Faustina and Sappho. Every crime which 
 tempted him he committed, every crime which any one in 
 power wished to commit, he assisted or condoned. If Nathan, 
 instead of denouncing David in the parable of the Ewe Lamb, 
 had pronounced a sentence of divorce between Uriah and Bath- 
 sheba, and had countersigned the fatal missive to Joab; if 
 Elijah, instead of meeting Ahab with the message of divine 
 vengeance at the entrance of Jezreel, had presided over the 
 mock court which condemned Naboth, and had been rewarded 
 for his subserviency by a rent-charge on the vineyard ; if 
 Daniel had at once sacrificed his religion at the ukase of 
 Darius ; if John Baptist had consented to perform the rite of 
 
 Z 2 
 
340 Histoidcal Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Audley,^ Rich, and Russell: while those of inferior 
 rank or low birth who were ennobled — the Sey- 
 mours, the Paulets, the Pagets, and the Caven- 
 dishes — and enriched through the spoils of the 
 monasteries, sprang up from their native penury and 
 insignificance almost in a night, like mushrooms, 
 and became the founders of our modern peerage. 
 As for the clergy whom he promoted and put in 
 the forefront, the less said of them the better ; 
 while those persons whom Cromwell appointed as 
 Commissioners did their work, to say the least, in 
 a manner and by a method worthy of their master.^ 
 
 marriage between Herod Antipas and Herodias, Philip's wife, 
 how would we loathe their memories ! And yet each of them, 
 had he stopped short there, would have been incomparably less 
 guilty than Thomas Cranmer, whose whole life was a tissue of 
 like acts." — Letter of the Rev. Dr. Littledale to the Rev. J. G. 
 Cazenove, dated September i6, 1869. 
 
 ^ Audley, already surfeited with their spoils, is said to have 
 asked of the king the grant of one more abbey, Walden, — 
 equal to Hampton Court in its size and splendour, as Dugdale 
 admits, — which, having seen, he specially coveted, in return 
 for " the infamy he had sustained in serving the king's high- 
 ness." — See Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors," 
 in loco. 
 
 * The Monastic Inquisitors had ostentatiously paraded their 
 contempt for religion to the world in the course of their pro- 
 gress. Hating the monks with a Satanic dislike, and equally 
 despising the secular clergy, — save that limited section which 
 silently tolerated their arrogant and sacrilegious proceedings, — ■ 
 they exhibited their intense scorn in various external acts. At 
 the inns and taverns at which they and their servants put up, the 
 Commissioners would drink the king's health in sack or small 
 beer from the jewelled chalices taken from the adjoining monas- 
 
Sion House: Henry VHI.^s Death and Burial. 341 
 
 The king's special cruelty to his wives and 
 women was unchristian, unmanly, and shameful. 
 Queen Katherine had ever been most devout — 
 leading a life of great virtue and piety. Highly 
 accomplished, she was a model of every feminine 
 grace. She often rose at midnight to recite the 
 Hours of the Blessed Virgin; she wore frequently 
 the habit of St. Francis, fasted every Friday and 
 Saturday, and ate only bread and water on the 
 various festivals of Our Lady. She heard mass 
 daily, confessed twice a week, and communicated 
 every Sunday ; — in fact a model wife. And yet — 
 let the history of her sorrows be read, not in 
 historical romances, but in authentic contemporary 
 records, and then let judgment be passed on 
 her cruel and deceitful husband. His treat- 
 ment of Anne Boleyn, his mistress, was sharp and 
 needlessly unjust. So too was that treatment 
 
 tery, which they produced from their bags, as at once a token 
 of their authority and success ; while the doublets of their ser- 
 vants and the saddlecloths of their horses had been made out of 
 altar-frontals, chasubles, or copes. One of these. Dr. London, 
 afterwards Dean of Windsor, was found guilty of perjury, 
 Stripped of his dignities he was compelled to ride through the 
 streets of Windsor, Reading, and Newbury, with his face to the 
 horse's tail ; and with a paper on his hat setting forth that he 
 was a convicted perjurer. He was then put into the pillory, 
 and after being confined in the Fleet Prison, died miserably. 
 John Ap Rice, another of these, was knighted by Edward 
 VI. on his coronation day. Sir John Williams, who had like- 
 wise so served the king, was created Lord Williams of Thame 
 (though the patent was never enrolled) by Queen Mary. 
 
342 Histo7'ical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 which Katherine Howard' received; for her guilt, 
 as competent writers admit, was exceedingly 
 doubtful. In truth, his reign was rife with in- 
 justice, rapine, murders, tyranny, and deceit. 
 
 The king in his early youth had studied theo- 
 logy, of which he knew sufficient to be often 
 impatient of the Zuinglian glosses presented to 
 him : and to become angry if in argument " the 
 new learning" were pressed too far by impatient 
 innovators. With the exception of the personal 
 Supremacy of himself, which Cromwell and his 
 allies invented to suit exceptional difficulties, and 
 with which they induced Parliament to endow 
 him, as far as Parliament was able, he appears to 
 have held theoretically the Christian faith. 
 
 ' Of her, before her marriage, Sir WilUam Paget thus wrote : 
 — " Upon a notable appearance of honour, cleanness, and 
 maidenly behaviour in Mistress Katherine Howard, his High- 
 ness was finally contented to honour that lady with his marriage, 
 thinking in his old days, after sundry troubles of mind which 
 had happened to him by marriage to have obtained such a 
 jewel for womanhood and very perfect love towards him, as 
 should not only have been to his quietness, but also have 
 brought forth the desired fruits of marriage." — Privy Council to 
 Sir John Paget, " Acts of Privy Council," vol. vii. p. 352. As 
 regards this lady, Mr. Henry Hallam, in his " Constitutional 
 History of England," Ed. 1850, vol. i. chap, i, p. 33, foot-note, 
 writes thus : — " Katherine Howard's post-nuptial guilt must 
 remain very questionable, which makes her execution and that 
 of others who suffered with her, another of Henry's murders. 
 There is too much appearance that Cranmer, by the king's 
 order, promised that her life should be spared, with a view of 
 obtaining a confession of a pre-contract with Denham." 
 
SioiiHoiLSc: Henry VI IV sDeath and Burial. 343 
 
 Of music King Henry knew much. Some of 
 
 his personal compositions are said to be still in 
 
 existence : proving that the science of melody 
 
 and harmony had been mastered by him ; that he 
 
 was accomplished, and owned both taste and 
 
 dexterity. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 A few words may be here properly added con- 
 cerning Sion House, and its scattered religious. 
 
 Under Queen Mary, on the ist of August, 
 1557, the expatriated nuns were recalled from 
 their exile, and reinstated in their monastery, by 
 the Bishop of London : the Abbot of Westminster, 
 and several religious of the order being present. 
 According to Fuller, some few of the old nuns 
 had become secularized. Those willing, however, 
 were incorporated by letters patent, as before the 
 dissolution, and Catherine Palmer was appointed 
 their abbess. No less than seventeen sisters 
 returned to their old home, devoting themselves 
 afresh, and in community, and with renewed good 
 resolutions, to the service of Almighty God. The 
 house was subsequently suppressed by Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Having first gone to Dermond, in Flanders,^ 
 they subsequently went to Rouen and then to 
 Lisbon, returning to England in 1809, They had 
 
 * " The Nuns of Sion House retired into the Low Countries, 
 and continued to live in community." — See " Archseologia," 
 vol. xvii. p. 326. 
 
344 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 suffered much, but had never forgotten their old 
 traditions, nor the former glories of Sion. They 
 brought with them an original portrait on panel of 
 their founder King Henry V., the old keys of Sion 
 House, some official seals, vestments, and several 
 other curiosities and relics of interest to their 
 order.^ 
 
 Sion House in its present state, it may be 
 remarked in conclusion, stands near the banks of 
 the Thames, between Brentford and Isleworth, a 
 little to the left of the Great Western Road to 
 Bath. The existing mansion is substantially 
 that which under Edward VI., Protector Somerset 
 erected out of the materials of the former monastic 
 buildings. It had been granted to him by King 
 Edward VI. in the first year of his reign. When, 
 in 1552, he was attainted and executed, the man- 
 sion was confiscated to the crown. It is built in 
 the form of a quadrangle, in the centre of which 
 is an area eighty feet square. The house is of 
 three stories in height, with battlements all round, 
 and square towers at the corners. Amongst its 
 
 ^ The late John, Earl of Shrewsbury, had in his possession 
 the Martyrology of Sion House, five old seals, i. e. the matrices 
 themselves, which the modern representatives of the nuns of 
 old Sion House brought over to England with them in the 
 year 1809, when they came hither from Lisbon, together with 
 a curious silver bell, several MSS. of interest, and three copes 
 — one now in the South Kensington Museum, most curious and 
 interesting — of age as early possibly as the reign of Henry V. 
 — Author's MS. Notes and Excerpts. 
 
Sion House: Henry VIII.' s Death and Burial. 345 
 
 artistic treasures is an original portrait on panel of 
 Queen Mary, said to have been given to the 
 restored nuns by the queen herself. It passed 
 from one of the Fermors, of Oxfordshire, to the 
 families of Phillips and Lee, in the same county ; 
 but is now in the possession of the present owner 
 of Sion House, the Duke of Northumberland. 
 
No. VIII. 
 
 THE DEATH OF JOHN PAINE, 
 
 A.D, 1582, AND OF 
 EDMUND GENNINGS, a.d. 1591. 
 
" The will of prince and peer, 
 Embodied in a stern and bloody law — 
 Law, trailing curses for fair name and fame, 
 Declared that any subject of the king 
 Receiving gifts of sacerdotal grace 
 Beyond the boundary of his island home, 
 Should be accounted foe to king and state. 
 Should merit surely a true traitor's doom 
 The hurdle, halter, and the hangman's steel. 
 
 In faith and charity he bore them all. 
 
 Accused in formal charge of crime, no crime. 
 
 He, like his Master, answer'd not, but bade 
 
 The Judge pronounce the sentence. So it fell. 
 
 He died near Tybum at the break of day. 
 
 For him the followers of an ancient faith 
 
 Made intercession, morn and noon and eve ; 
 
 For him old England's saints outstretch'd their hands 
 
 Before High God, shut in by cherubim ; 
 
 For Him the angels lifted up Iheir voice ; 
 
 For Him the Blessed Mother of our Lord 
 
 When furious fire should burn, and flesh should shrink, 
 
 Pleaded for dew from heaven o'er his soul." 
 
 The Bells of Botteville Tower. 
 
 ^'' He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in -white raiment ; and 1 
 will not blot out his itame out of the Book of Life; but I zvill confess his name 
 before my Father and before His angels.''^ — Revelation iii. 5. 
 
No. VIII. 
 
 THE DEATH OF JOHN PAINE, K.D. 1582, 
 AND OF EDMUND GENN/NGS, 
 
 A.D. 159I. 
 
 During the reign of Queen Elizabeth the seve- 
 rities of her father's reign were duly repeated. 
 Enactments which had been repealed under 
 Queen Mary were again enacted. Those who, 
 in their private judgment, preferred the old reli- 
 gion, or " the ancient faith," as they termed it, 
 were not allowed to do so. Fines, imprisonments, 
 the halter, the rack, and the axe, were all enlisted 
 on behalf of the so-called " Royal Supremacy ; " 
 and misery, sufferings, misfortune, and banishment 
 ensued. 
 
 Numerous Acts of Parliament gave to those in 
 authority full opportunity for perpetrating their 
 cruelties. One such, but by no means the only 
 one, entitled " An Act against Jesuits, Seminary 
 
350 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Priests, and other such-like disobedient persons, "' 
 decreed as follows : — 
 
 " Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
 said, that it shall not be lawful to or for any Jesuit 
 or seminary priest, or other such priest, or religious 
 or ecclesiastical person whatsoever, being born 
 within this realm, or any other her Highness' 
 dominions, and heretofore since the said Feast of 
 the Nativity of St. John Baptist, in the first year 
 of her Majesty's reign, made, ordained, or pro- 
 fessed, or hereafter to be made, ordained, or 
 professed, by any authority or jurisdiction, derived, 
 challenged, or pretended, from the See of Rome, by 
 or of what name, title, or degree soever the name 
 shall be called or known, to come into, be, or 
 remain in any part of this realm, or any other her 
 Hig^hness' dominions after the end of the same 
 forty days : other than in such special cases, and 
 upon such special cases only, and for such time 
 only, as is expressed in this Act : and if he do, 
 that then every such person shall be taken and 
 adjudged to be guilty of high treason, and every 
 person so offending shall, for his offence, be ad- 
 judged a traitor, and shall suffer, lose, and forfeit, 
 as in case of high treason." 
 
 From accounts of persons who suffered, those of 
 two clergymen of high character and great piety 
 and devotion are now to set forth, not with rhe- 
 torical sentences, nor with any garnishing of the 
 ' Stat. 27 Elizab. c. 2. 
 
John Paine and Edmund Gennings. 3 5 i 
 
 imagination ; but from documents left to record 
 what exactly happened, — documents which so 
 many authors when writing a history of the past 
 either ignorantly or intentionally ignore. So that 
 for generations there have been alone supplied as 
 history, romances, in which only one side of dis- 
 puted facts have been set forth, and the other 
 wholly ignored. 
 
 The following old-fashioned, quaint, but simple 
 record, tells its own melancholy story : — 
 
 "John Paine was born in Northamptonshire. 
 In what colleofe he was educated in either of our 
 universities at home I have not found; but he was 
 admitted into the English college of Douay, in 
 1575, ordained priest the following year, and sent 
 upon the English mission at the same time with 
 Mr. Cuthbert Maine, and there laboured with 
 great fruit. 
 
 " His residence was chiefly in Essex, at the 
 house of Lady Petre. He was apprehended and 
 committed in 1 581, and carried to the Tower of 
 London, where he was most cruelly racked." 
 
 But his trial and execution was at Chelmsford, 
 in Essex, of which take the following extract from 
 an unexceptionable witness : — 
 
 "The 20th of March, 1582, Sir Owen Hopton, 
 Lieutenant of the Tower, came to Mr. Paine's 
 chamber-door, and by knocking raised him out of 
 bed, who had much watched before, and hastened 
 to come forth half dressed, not telling him to what 
 
352 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 end ; but being afterwards" advertised how the 
 matter stood, and perceiving that he was to be 
 removed ' from the Tower to Chelmsford gfaol,' 
 desired leave to return into his chamber to make 
 himself ready, and to fetch his purse, which he 
 had left behind him ; but this was not granted, 
 but he was delivered to certain officers there 
 attending, to be conducted into Essex, according 
 to the appointment of the Council. Mr. Paine in 
 his cassock only, went forward with them, being 
 the more gently dealt with that he was not bound 
 at all. In the meantime the Lady Hopton took 
 care to secure his purse for her own use. 
 
 " On Friday following he was arraigned after 
 this manner : first, his indictment was read, viz. 
 that Mr. Paine should utter to one Eliot, at a cer- 
 tain Christmas, lying with him in his chamber, that 
 many devices have been heretofore concerning 
 the change of religion, and yet none have pros- 
 perously succeeded; ' but of all others this seemeth 
 the best which I have heard,' said he, ' sometime 
 mentioned by the Earl of Westmoreland, Dr. 
 Allen, and Dr. Bristow, that fifty men, well ap- 
 pointed with privy coats and daggers, should espy 
 some opportunity when the queen was in her pro- 
 gress, and kill the queen's Majesty, the Earl of 
 Leicester, and Mr. Walsingham, and then proclaim 
 the Queen of Scots. Also that he should say, it 
 was no greater sin to kill the queen, than to 
 despatch a brute beast.' 
 
John Paine and Edmund Gennings. 353 
 
 " This being read, Mr. Paine denied the in- 
 dictment, and defied all treason ; protesting that 
 he always, in mind or word, honoured the queen's 
 Majesty above any woman in the world ; that he 
 would gladly always have spent his life for her 
 pleasure in any lawful service ; that he prayed for 
 her as for his own soul ; that he never invented 
 or compassed any treason against her Majesty, or 
 any of the nobility of England. 
 
 '* However, Eliot swore that the indictment was 
 true ; and to this positive deposition, Mr Morrice, 
 the queen's counsellor, joined several presump- 
 tions from Mr. Paine's having gone beyond the 
 seas, and having been made priest by the Bishop 
 of Cambray ; and consequently, as he falsely 
 supposed, having taken an oath to the Pope : 
 from his having spoken with traitors in Flanders, 
 viz. with the Earl of Westmoreland, Dr. Allen, 
 and Dr. Bristow ; and travelled with a traitor's 
 son, Mr. William Tempest. 
 
 " To these presumptions Mr. Paine answered, 
 that to go beyond the seas was not a sufficient 
 token of a traitor, nor yet to be made priest by 
 the Bishop of Cambray ; for so were many others, 
 nothing at all thinking of treason ; that for his 
 part, he was not the Pope's scholar, neither had 
 any maintenance of him ; for when he was at the 
 college, it had as yet no pension from the Pope. 
 That he had never talked with the Earl of West- 
 moreland ; and that Dr. Allen and Dr. Bristow 
 
 A a 
 
354 Historical Sketches of the Refomnation. 
 
 had never talked to his knowledge, of any such 
 things : that Mr. Tempest was an honest gentle- 
 man, and never talked to him about treason ; 
 neither was it unlawful for him to keep him 
 company, seeing that he was a servant to a 
 right honourable counsellor, Sir Christopher 
 Hatton. 
 
 " He repelled Eliot's deposition. First, taking 
 God to witness on his soul that he never had such 
 speech with him. 
 
 " Secondly, he brought two places of scripture, 
 and a statute, to prove that without two sufficient 
 witnesses no man should be condemned. 
 
 " Thirdly, he proved Eliot insufficient to be a 
 witness; for having been guilty, ist. Of oppres- 
 sion of poor men, even unto death ; 2ndly, Of a 
 rape and other notorious lewdnesses ; 3rdly, Of 
 breach of contract, and cozening the Lady Petre, 
 widow of Sir William Petre, of money ; 4thly, 
 Of changing often his religion ; 5thly, Of malice 
 against himself; adding, that he was also attached 
 of murder, and such like acts ; and was further- 
 more and finally a notorious dissembler. 
 
 *' Hereupon a jury was impanelled, who, on 
 Friday after dinner, brought in their verdict 
 ' Guilty.'' Upon Saturday, a little before dinner, 
 coming again to the bar, Judge Gaudy asked 
 Mr. Paine what he could say for himself; who 
 answered, that he had said sufficiently, alleging 
 that it was against the law of God and man that 
 
Jolui Paine and Edmund Gennings. 
 
 o^:> 
 
 he should be condemned for one mans witness 
 notoriously infamous. 
 
 " Then the judge said, if he were not guihy the 
 jury would have found it. Mr. Paine answered, 
 ' That those men of the juiy are poor ignorant mcn.^ 
 not at all understanding what treaso7i is. But, 
 says he, if it please the queen and her council that 
 I should die, I refer my cattse to God! 
 
 "Then the judge said, ' that his own words made 
 most against him, and if EHot had sworn falsely, 
 his death should be required at his hands, the 
 which no man knew but God and himself.' 
 
 " Mr. Paine replied, ' that all was but treachery 
 in seekhig of his blood! 
 
 "In fine, Judge Gaudy pronounced the sentence 
 of condemnation ; and afterwards exhorted him to 
 repent himself, although, said he, 'You may 
 better instruct me herein.' Mr. Paine demanded 
 the time when he should suffer. It was an- 
 swered, 'On 'Monday following, about eight of 
 the clock.' 
 
 "After he was returned to prison, the High 
 Sheriff and others came to him, and demanded 
 whether he made Jesus Christ the only cause of 
 his salvation. 
 
 "He answered affirmatively, professing unto 
 them the Catholic truth. 
 
 "All Sunday, till five of the clock, one Dr. 
 Withers and Dr. Sone were with him, persuading 
 him earnestly to change his religion, the which, 
 
 A a 2 
 
356 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 said they, ' If you will alter, we doubt not to 
 procure mercy for you.' 
 
 " This Mr. Paine told me himself, saying, that 
 'the ministers^ by their foolish babbling, did much 
 vex and trotcble me' 
 
 " I, amongst many, coming unto him about ten 
 of the clock with the officers, he most comfortably 
 and meekly uttered words of constancy to me, 
 and with a lovino; kiss took his leave of me. 
 
 " The next morning, the 2nd of April, about 
 eight of the clock, he was laid on the hurdle, and 
 arawn to the place of execution; where, kneeling 
 almost half an hour, he earnestly prayed ; then 
 arising and viewing the gallows, he kissed it with 
 a smilinof countenance, and ascended the ladder, 
 and the halter being fitted to his neck, he lifted up 
 his eyes and hands towards heaven a pretty while, 
 and then began to speak to the people. 
 
 " And first he made to them a declaration of his 
 faith, confessing one God in essence or substance, 
 and a Trinity of Persons, and that the Word was 
 incarnate for man's redemption, &c,, because I had 
 informed him that the common people thought 
 him to be a Jesuit, and that they said the Jesuits' 
 opinion was that Christ is not God. 
 
 " Secondly, ' he desired God to forgive him all 
 the sins of his life past, and to have mercy on all 
 sinners.' 
 
 " Thirdly, He forgave all whoever had offended 
 him, and, by name Eliot, for whom he earnestly 
 
yohn Paine and Edmund Gennings. 357 
 
 prayed that God would make him his companion 
 in heavenly bliss. 
 
 " Fourthly, he declared that his feet did never 
 tread, his hands did never write, nor his wit ever 
 invent any treason against her Majesty ; but that 
 he always wished unto her as to his own soul ; 
 desiring Almighty God to give her in earth a 
 prosperous reign, and afterwards eternal felicity. 
 
 " The Lord Rich willed him to confess that he 
 then died a traitor, and to be sorry for his treason. 
 To whom very patiently he answered, that he 
 defied all treason, and to confess an untruth was 
 to condemn his own soul. * / confess trnly,' said 
 he, ' that I die a Christian Catholic Priest^ And 
 addressing himself to my Lord Rich, * Sweet my 
 Lord,' said he, ' certify her Majesty thereof, that 
 she suffer not innocent blood to be cast away, 
 seeing it is no small matter.' 
 
 " Some affirmed that he had confessed his trea- 
 son to the Lady Pool. He said that he knew no 
 such person. 
 
 " Then a minister said that Mr. Paine's brother 
 confessed to him in his chamber seven years ago, 
 that he, the condemned, had talked of such an 
 intention. To this he answered, being somewhat 
 moved, 'Bone Deus ! My brother is, and always 
 hath been, a very earliest Protestant ; yet I know he 
 will not say so falsely of me : ' and then desired 
 his brother should be sent for. 
 
 " They called for him, but then he was in town; 
 
358 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 and when some of us came from the execution, 
 we found his brother in our inn, of whom we 
 asked if this was true, uttering to him all the 
 matter. He swore unto us with grreat admira- 
 tion, that it was most false ; and told us that he 
 would certify my Lord Rich. Immediately he 
 was sent for to my lord, and I took horse to ride 
 away, and as yet hear us more of it. 
 
 " To conclude, they would not tarry so long till 
 his brother should be sent for : Mr. Paine often 
 confessed that he died a Christian Catholic priest. 
 They desired him to pray with him in English, 
 but he was attentive to his end in contemplation, 
 and being often called upon by the ministers to 
 join with them in the Lord's Prayer, he said he 
 had prayed in a tongue he well understood. 
 A minister asked him whether he repented not 
 that he had said mass ; but Mr. Paine did not 
 hear him, being in contemplation. 
 
 " After all, very meekly, when the ladder was 
 about to be turned, he said, 'fesiis, Jesits., Jesus !' 
 and so did hang, not moving hand or foot. They 
 very courteously caused men to hang on his feet, 
 and set the knot to his ear, and suffered him to 
 hang to death, commanding Bull, the hangman of 
 Newgate, to dispatch ' in the quartering of him,' 
 lest, as they said, he should revive, and rebuked 
 him that he did not dispatch speedily. 
 
 " All the town loved him exceedingly ; so did 
 the keepers, and most of the magistrates of the 
 
yoJi7i Paine and Ednuuid Gainings. 359 
 
 shire. ' No man seemed, in countenance, to mis- 
 like him, but much sorrowed at and lamented his 
 death, who most constantly, catholicly, patiently, 
 and meekly, ended this mortal life to rise 
 triumphantly, his innocency known to all the 
 world. 
 
 " He had been long in prison, very ill used, 
 cruelly handled, and extremely sorely racked. 
 He was once or twice demanded whether he 
 would go to their church (for that would have 
 made amends for all these treasons). ' Why', 
 said he, ' yo2i say I am in foj' ti^eason ; discharge 
 me of that, and then you shall know farther of my 
 mind for the other.' 
 
 " All fair means, all foul means, all extremity, 
 all policy, were used to find that which was not. 
 After his racking, the Lieutenant of the Tower 
 sent to him his servant with this letter : — 
 
 " ' I have herewith sent you pen, ink, and 
 paper ; and I pray you write what you have said 
 to Eliot, and to your host in London, concerning 
 the Queen and the state ; and therefore fail not, as 
 you will answer at your uttermost peril.' " 
 
 To which Mr. Paine thus replied : — 
 
 " Right Worshipful, 
 
 " My duty remembered, being not able to write 
 without better hands, I have by your appoint- 
 ment used the help of your servant. For answer 
 unto your interrogations, I have already said 
 
360 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 sufficient for a man that regardeth his own salva- 
 tion ; and that with such advised asseverations, 
 uttered as amongst Christian men, ought to be 
 beheved, yet once again briefly for obedience' sake 
 (I write). 
 
 " First, touching her Majesty, I pray God long 
 to preserve her Highness to her honour, and her 
 heart's desire ; unto whom I always have, and 
 during life will wish no worse, than to my own 
 soul. If her pleasure be not that I shall live and 
 serve her as my sovereign prince ; then will I 
 die her faithful subject, and I trust, God's true 
 servant. 
 
 " Touching the State, I protest, that I am, and 
 ever have been, free from the knowledge of any 
 practise whatsoever, either within or without the 
 realm, intended against the same ; for the verity 
 whereof, as I have often before you and the rest 
 of her Grace's commissioners, called God to 
 witness, so do I now again ; and one day before 
 His Majesty the truth now not credited wall be 
 then revealed. 
 
 " For Eliot, I forgive his monstrous wickedness, 
 and defy his malicious inventions ; wishing that 
 his former behaviour towards others, beino- well 
 known, as hereafter it will (be), were not a sufficient 
 disproof of these devised slanders, 
 
 " For host or other person living, in London or 
 elsewhere (unless they be by subornation of my 
 bloody enemy corrupted), I know they can neither 
 
John Fame and Edmund Gennings. 361 
 
 for word, deed, or any disloyalty, justly touch me. 
 And so before the seat of God, as also before the 
 sight of men, will I answer at my utmost peril. 
 
 " Her Majesty's faithful subject, and Your Wor- 
 ship's humble prisoner, 
 
 "John Paine, Priest." 
 
 Mr. Paine's execution is briefly recorded by Mr, 
 Stowe, in his "Annals" a.d. 1582. "John Paine, 
 priest, being indicted of high treason, for words by 
 him spoken to one Eliot, was arraigned, con- 
 demned, and executed at Chelmsford." 
 
 He suffered April 2nd, 1582. 
 
 The following account of the sufferings and 
 Death of Edmund Gennings is taken from a very 
 rare and curious printed quarto volume containing 
 one hundred and ten pages, with an engraved 
 frontispiece, at p. i, and other illustrative engrav- 
 ings of great merit and character at pp. 12, 19, 27, 
 40, 46, 52, 62, 71. 
 
 On the engraved title in question stands the 
 following : — " The Life and Death of Mr. Edmund 
 Geninges, Priest, crowned with martyrdom at 
 London, the loth day of November, in the year 
 MDXCi. Pretiosa in conspectu Dni Mors sanctorum 
 eius. Psal. 115. At S. Omers by Charles Bos- 
 card. An. 16 14." 
 
 At the back of this the following quotation, — 
 " S. Cyprianus, Epist. 9, in fine. 
 
 " O beatam ecclesiam nostram, quam temporibus 
 
30 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 nostris gloriosus martyrum sanguis illustrat ! Erat 
 antea in operibus fratrum Candida ; nunc facta est 
 in martyrum cruore purpurea." 
 
 " Happy is our church, which the glorious blood 
 of martyrs doth in these our days illustrate ! It 
 was made white before in the workes of our 
 brethren ; but now is become purple in the blood 
 of martyrs." 
 
 On p. 13 — the printed title may be read as 
 follows : — A Briefe Relation of the Life and Death 
 of M. Edmund Geninges, alias Ironmonger, Priest, 
 and Martyr, who suffered in Grayes-Inn-Fields, the 
 10 of December, in the yeare of our Lord 1591, 
 and 34 of the raygne of O. Elizabeth. 
 
 " The Approbation " stands thus : — 
 
 " Vita Sancti hujus ac constantissimi martyris 
 et Sacerdotis, cujus pugna plurimum crevit et 
 pugnantis gloria, hoc libello sincere descripta, 
 proelo digna est, ut ejus intuentes exitum, con- 
 versationis fidem imitentur. 
 
 " Audomaropoli, 10 Feb., 1614. 
 
 " loannes Redman, S. Th. D. 
 " Librorum Censor." 
 
 Two quaint and expressive poems follow the 
 Introduction, thus : — 
 
 The AiitJwr to his Booke. 
 
 Go, mournfull Muse, the trumpet of my cares, 
 Sound out alone this dolefull accident ; 
 
Joh n Paine and Edm 2l nd Gennings. 363 
 
 Tell all the world how ill the matter fares, 
 
 'Tis hard if none will help thee to lament. 
 A Tyger's hart such sorrowes will deplore ; 
 His teares I wish that never wept before. 
 
 When, as the noble Roman made returne 
 
 From forrayne conquests, and great victoryes. 
 
 They on their altars sacrifice did burne, 
 Their famous actes thereby to memorize. 
 
 And thus they left unto posterity 
 
 The due reward of worthy chivalry. 
 
 Shall then the sufferings of our champion sleepe, 
 His glorious combats and victorious strife ? 
 
 No, no (deare Muse), thy pen thou now muststepe 
 In bloudy accents of a martyr's lyfe. 
 
 A lyfe indeed, for when his dayes had end. 
 
 Eternity of life did death amend. 
 
 (^- 3-) 
 
 The Booke to his Reader. 
 Affected words or courtly compliment 
 
 Do not expect, who ever reads this story ; 
 Vertu's my ground, it needs no ornament. 
 
 And to deceive you so I should be sorry ; 
 If any such there be, post to King Liere, 
 He hath applause ; seek not contentment here. 
 
 Poets may paynt, and diversely adorn 
 
 Their feygned passions, and chymeras strange ; 
 
 Teaching their pens to weep as one forlorn. 
 And up and down in barren deserts range. 
 
364 Historical Sketches of the Reforinatiov. 
 
 But if true griefe do once possesse their mind, 
 They feele their combats in another kind. 
 
 My authour's playne, nor is his grief a fiction, 
 The world can witnesse what himself doth 
 prove ; 
 
 Read that ensues, 'tis writ for thy direction. 
 And ease thy passion as desert shall move. 
 
 If it be pen'd according to thy fancy, 
 
 Then learn to suffer by his constancy. 
 
 {P. 4.) 
 
 The author of this book, John Gennings, 
 brother of the sufferer, wrote thus in the " Pre- 
 face :" — 
 
 " I protest that / zvill make mention of no one 
 thing which I have not either known to be true 
 myself or heard from his mouth whose life and 
 martyrdom I write, or have not received as true 
 relation from very honest, virtuous, and sufficient 
 persons, whose tender and Catholic consciences 
 (as may justly be thought) could not bear the 
 burden of uttering such untruths" (pp. 10, 11). 
 
 Here, then, is the record of his death, and what 
 brought it to pass : — 
 
 Edmund Gennings was born at Litchfield, in 
 the year 1567, and was brought up in the religion 
 of the English State. From his very infancy he 
 was wonderfully grave, and took no delight in the 
 childish plays of those of his age, " but greatly 
 
John Paine and Edmnnd Gennings. 365 
 
 loved," writes his brother, in his pubHshed " Life " 
 of him (p. 17), " to behold the heavens ; and there- 
 fore he usually went forth in the evening to 
 delight himself with the sight of the skies be- 
 decked with stars. And, on a time, in these his 
 tender years, going forth at night, according to 
 his custom, this strange spectacle appeared to him 
 in the air : he saw, as it were, armed men with 
 weapons, killing and murthering others that were 
 disarmed, and great store of blood running every- 
 where about them." 
 
 This strange sight put him into a great fear, 
 which caused him to run hastily to tell his widowed 
 mother what he had seen, and she presently went 
 forth with three or four of her neighbours, and 
 were all eye-witnesses of the same spectacle 
 which happened in the beginning of our chiefest 
 persecution.^ 
 
 When Gennings was about the age of sixteen, 
 he was recommended by his schoolmaster, who 
 had been wonderfully taken with his docility and 
 modesty, to Mr. Richard Sherwood, a Roman 
 Catholic gentleman, to serve him as his page. 
 
 In this service he learned from his master, who 
 was a gentleman much persecuted for his con- 
 science, the Catholic Religion. And not long 
 
 ^ In this record the old narrative is substantially followed, 
 with no alteration of substance or fact. An occasional instance 
 of tautology is omitted : and here and there an obsolete phrase 
 is turned into modern form. 
 
3 
 
 66 Historical Sketches of the Refonnation. 
 
 after, when he was a Httle more than seventeen 
 years of age, Mr. Sherwood, having determined 
 to cross the seas, and consecrate himself to God 
 in an ecclesiastical state (as he afterwards did, 
 being made priest at Rheims, as appears by the 
 College diary, in 1584, and went upon the mission 
 the 2nd of August, that same year, with Mr. 
 Robert Dibdale), Mr. Gennings finding in himself 
 a strong call to the same kind of life, with earnest 
 and repeated entreaties, obtained to be sent over 
 to Rheims, where the college then resided, with 
 recommendations to Dr. Allen, then President 
 there, afterwards cardinal. 
 
 No sooner was he received into the college, 
 but, with all diligence and alacrity, he applied 
 himself to his studies ; but, above all, to the 
 study of the science of the saints, the fear and 
 love of God, in which he made great progress, to 
 the satisfaction of his superiors, one of whom 
 has given him in writing a character to this 
 effect : — " Edmund Gennings was provident and 
 wise in counsel, humble in obedience, devout 
 in Christ, strong in faith, prompt in good works, 
 most true and sincere in his words, remarkable in 
 his goodness, excellent in charity. He was often 
 afflicted and sick, he suffered all patiently ; there 
 was ever in him a discretion in all his actions, and 
 a love towards all, worthy of imitation." 
 
 He was of a very weak constitution of body, 
 and by the extraordinary pains he took, partly in 
 
John Paine and Ednmnd Gainings. 367 
 
 his studies, and partly in his spiritual exercises, 
 he fell into a great sickness, which was followed 
 by a continual ague, and other infirmities, which 
 at length brought him into a most dangerous con- 
 sumption, insomuch that the physicians despaired 
 of his recovery. This determined the president 
 to send him into England, to try if the change of 
 air might do him any service. He left Rheims 
 not without regret, and went on his journey as far 
 as Havre-de-Grace, in Normandy, being recom- 
 mended to two or three banished English priests 
 who were there ; who, after one fortnight of his 
 stay in that place, procured him a passage in a 
 ship bound for London, and provided him with 
 all things necessary for his journey. 
 
 When, behold ! on a sudden, Mr. Gennings, 
 who was very unwilling to risk himself amongst 
 his relations, not having yet finished his studies, 
 and attained to the order of the priesthood (of 
 which he was so desirous,) and therefore had 
 heartily prayed to God for the recovery of his 
 health, desires of these good gentlemen (who had 
 been witnesses during his abode with them, of the 
 divers grievous assaults of his illness which he had 
 suffered), to have a little longer patience with him. 
 and not to insist, as they did, upon his going on 
 board, for that he felt himself very much better, 
 and almost as well as ever he was in his life. 
 
 They condescended to his desires, and found 
 him, in effect, so suddenly and so wonderfully 
 
o 
 
 6S Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 changed, that on the very next day, he was not 
 only able to eat his meat with a good appetite, but 
 also to take a long walk, and give such other tokens 
 of health as appeared not a httle extraordinary. 
 
 This sudden recovery of his was esteemed 
 miraculous, upon which he returned to Rheims, 
 and there took up again, though with a greater 
 fervour than ever, the course of life which his 
 sickness had obliged him to interrupt, ever 
 aspiring to the sacred order of priesthood, by 
 which he might be qualified to assist the souls of 
 his neighbours, and return to his own country to 
 meet there with the crown of martyrdom. His 
 common expression (as his brother relates from the 
 testimony of his fellow-collegians), as often as occa- 
 sion was offered of talking of England, and martyr- 
 dom there, being this, " Vivamus in spe ; vivainns in 
 spe" — " Let us live in hope, let us live in hope !" 
 
 The superiors of the college, considering his 
 fervour, procured a dispensation from Rome, that 
 he might be made priest before his time, being 
 but twenty-three years of age. The preparation 
 he made for worthily receiving this holy order was 
 very great, and the impression which his medita- 
 tions on the dignity of the priesthood, and the 
 greatness of the charge, made upon his mind, was 
 so strong, that it produced a wonderful effect in his 
 very body of a shaking, as it were a palsy, which 
 continued with him to his dying day. At this 
 time, for his greater exercise of humility, patience, 
 
John Paine and Edmnnd Gcnnings. 369 
 
 and charity, he was made Prefect of the Infirmary, 
 in which office he so laboured about the sick 
 students, even in the meanest services, that he 
 was called the very pattern of piety and humility. 
 
 He was ordained priest, extra tempora, by an in- 
 dult granted to the college by Pope Gregory XIII. 
 at Soissons, on March the i8th, 1590 (together 
 with Mr. Alexander Rawlins, who suffered at 
 York in 1595), and was sent upon the English 
 mission by Dr. Barrett, then President of the 
 college, on the 9th of April following, in the com- 
 pany of the same Mr. Rawlins, and Mr. Hugo 
 Sewell. 
 
 In their way they met with a party of Huguenots 
 belonging to the garrison of Crippy, who robbed 
 them, and stripped them, and carried them into 
 that town ; the governor of which, as Mr. Gen- 
 nings writes to Dr. Barrett, April 17th, from 
 Abbeville, treated them very ill, threatened them 
 with death, and thrust them into a dark dungeon, 
 where they remained from Tuesday to Thursday 
 night. " But we," says he, " despised their threats, 
 rejoicing that we suffered these cruelties from them, 
 for the self-same causes for which we shall suffer 
 death in England, if God gives us strength ; so 
 that neither the prison, nor the want of meat, 
 clothes, or beds, anyways terrified us. 
 
 " On Thursday, in the evening, after we had eat 
 nothing that day but a little black bread, we had 
 our papers restored to us, and we were put out of 
 
 B b 
 
3 70 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 the town, and about ten o'clock at night we arrived 
 at the suburbs of La Fere, God Almighty showing 
 us the way, which we knew not. 
 
 " When we had here rested our weary bodies, the 
 next clay the governor of La Fere gave us a crown, 
 and sent us away in peace ; and now we are in 
 Abbeville ! " 
 
 So far, Mr, Gennings, in his letter to Dr. 
 Barrett, recorded in the Douay Diary. 
 
 Gennings and his companions embarked at 
 Treport, on the coast of Normandy, in a French 
 vessel, the master of which promised to set them 
 ashore in the night on the English coast. They 
 landed near Whitby, in Yorkshire, on the side of 
 a high cliff, with great danger of their lives ; and 
 when they came into the town to refresh them- 
 selves, they found in the inn one Ratcliffe, a pur- 
 suivant, who suspected them, and put to them 
 many questions concerning their arrival thither ; 
 but their time was not yet come ; and God 
 delivered them out of his hands, and conducted 
 them safe to a Catholic gentleman's house within 
 two or three miles of Whitby. 
 
 Here they parted from one another ; and Mr. 
 Gennings, after half a year's stay in the northern 
 parts of the kingdom, going to Lichfield, his native 
 city, in order to gain there the souls of his nearest 
 relations, found that most of his friends and 
 kindred wese dead, except one brother, whom he 
 heard to be in London, but in what part of the 
 
yohii Paine and Bdmtmd Gennings. 3 7 1 
 
 town he could not learn. But as he understood 
 the state of his soul to be at that time very bad, 
 his charity determined him to go up to London to 
 seek after this strayed sheep. 
 
 Here, for a whole month, he left no place untried 
 where he could suspect his brother might be ; but 
 still, not finding him, and having now no hopes of 
 meetingf with him, he resolved to leave the town 
 for a time. When behold ! God Almighty brought 
 him to the sight of his brother, though at first, 
 without knowing him, and that in a strange manner. 
 — " And thus it was," says this brother in his 'Life,' 
 p. 54, " as I have heard from his own mouth." 
 
 Havine a determination to leave London for a 
 while, he walked forth from his inn one morning, 
 certain days before he had purposed to travel, to 
 visit a friend of his on the other side of the City, 
 and passing by St. Paul's Church, when he was on 
 the east side thereof, he suddenly felt a great 
 alteration in his body, insomuch that his face' 
 glowed, and as he thought, his hair stood on end, 
 and all his joints trembling for fear ; his whole 
 body seemed to be bathed in a cold sweat. 
 
 This strange accident causing him to fear some 
 evil to be imminent towards him, or danger of 
 beine taken, he looked back to see if he could see 
 anybody pursuing him, but seeing nobody near, 
 except a youth in a brown-coloured cloak, making 
 no reflection who it should be, he went forward to 
 his intended place to say mass that day. 
 
 B b 2 
 
372 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Not long after, on the very morning before he 
 purposed to depart out of the town, the blessed 
 man recollecting himself in his devotions, seriously 
 prayed that his departure without finding his 
 desired brother might increase his patience ; and 
 although it afflicted him very much, yet he cried 
 out, " Fiat voluntas tua : my will is Thy Will ; 
 sweet Lord, Thy Will be done." His devotions 
 being finished, he went abroad to another place, 
 where he had promised to celebrate mass that day 
 before his departure. 
 
 Which done, as he was returning homewards 
 towards his inn, upon Ludgate-hill, suddenly as he 
 was going, he felt the same motions as he had done 
 the time before ; and as the lamb naturally feareth 
 the ravening wolf, so his innocency fearing the 
 worst, looked back to see who followed him ; and 
 behold no man of mark, but a youth in a brown 
 cloak, and, at the same instant, reflecting on the 
 time past, when he sufi"ered the like agitation, and 
 steadfastly viewing the young man (whom he had 
 left a little boy in the country, and had not seen 
 for eight or nine years), he was struck with the 
 thought that this may be his brother. 
 
 Upon this he approached the youth, and cour- 
 teously saluting him, inquired what countryman 
 he was. Hearing that he was a Staffordshire man, 
 he civilly demanded his name, who made answer 
 that his name was Gennings. By which he knew 
 him certainly to be his brother, so long sought after. 
 
Jolui Paine and Edmund Gennings. 
 
 0/0 
 
 Then casting an eye towards heaven, by way of 
 love and thanks, smiHng upon the party, he told 
 him he was his kinsman, and was called " Iron- 
 monger," and asked him what was become of his 
 brother Edmund ? The youth, not suspecting 
 him to be the man, told him he had heard that he 
 had gone to Rome to the Pope, and was become 
 a notable papist, and a traitor both to God and 
 his country ; and that if he did return he would 
 be hanged infallibly. 
 
 Mr. Edmund, hearing this, and smiling at the 
 boy's folly, told him that he had heard his brother 
 was a very honest man, and loved both the queen 
 and his country, but God above all. " But tell 
 me," said he, " good cousin John, do you not 
 know him if you see him ?" To which John 
 answered "No;" but beginning to suspect that 
 he was his brother, and a priest, told him he could 
 not tell where he was, but that he greatly feared 
 he had a brother a Papist priest, and that he was 
 the man ; swearing withal, that if it was so, he 
 would discredit himself and all his friends, and 
 protesting that in this he would never follow him, 
 although in other matters he could greatly respect 
 him. 
 
 In a word, Mr. Edmund upon this occasion 
 discovered himself to his brother, though not 
 telling him that he was a priest, but did not find 
 in him any present dispositions towards his con- 
 version ; neither was it a proper time, or place, to 
 
374 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 treat upon the subject. Therefore, taking his 
 leave of him, he promised to see him again, after 
 his return out of the country, and then to impart 
 to him some affairs of great consequence. 
 
 But the conversion of his brother was to be the 
 fruit of his martyrdom, which, after labouring for 
 some short time in preaching, catechizing, and 
 performing other his priestly functions, in the 
 country, he came to meet with in London, as we 
 shall now see. 
 
 It was on the 7th of November, 1591, that Mr. 
 Edmund Gennings returned to London, and met 
 that evening in a Catholic house in Holborn, Mr, 
 Polydore Plasden, a very virtuous and godly 
 priest, and a fellow-collegian of his at Rheims, 
 and treating with him where they should say mass 
 the next day (it being the octave of All Saints), 
 they concluded to say their matins together, and 
 to celebrate the next morning at the house of 
 Mr. S within Wells, and acquainted some friends 
 with this desiofn. 
 
 Here, on the next day, Mr, Gennings being at 
 the consecration, and Mr. Plasden and Mr. White, 
 priests, Mr. Brian Lacey, gent,, John Mason and 
 Sydney Hodgson, laymen, Mrs. W'ells and others 
 being present, Topcliffe, the arch priest-catcher, 
 with other officers, came in, and broke open the 
 chamber-door, where he was celebrating. 
 
 Upon this occasion, the gentlemen before- 
 named, arising from their devotions, thought 
 
yohn Paine and Edmund Gennings. 375 
 
 proper to oppose force to force, so as to prevent 
 the profanation of the sacred mysteries ; and one 
 of them, Mr. Topchffe, obstinately bent upon 
 coming in, ran upon him to thrust him down 
 stairs, and in the struggle fell with him. 
 
 In the mean time, Mr. Plasden, having appointed 
 the rest to keep the broken door, went to the altar 
 and bid Mr. Gennings go forward and finish the 
 mass. Then returning to the door, and seeing^ 
 Mr. Topcliffe hastening up with a broken head, 
 and fearing he would raise the whole street, to 
 pacify him, told him he should come in presently, 
 and they would all yield themselves up his 
 prisoners, which they did, as soon as the mass was 
 ended ; when Topcliffe, and the rest, rushing in, 
 took Mr, Gennings as he was, in his vestments, 
 and all the rest, men and women, to the number 
 of about ten, with their church-stuff, books, &c., 
 and carried them to Newgate ; who were, shortly 
 after, all examined by Justice Yonge, and returned 
 to prison to take their trials the next sessions. 
 
 Mr. Wells, who was absent when this happened, 
 at his return, finding his house ransacked, and 
 his wife carried away to prison, went forthwith to 
 Justice Yonge, to expostulate with him about the 
 matter, and to demand his wife, and the keys of 
 his lodging. 
 
 But the Justice, without more ado, sent him to 
 bear the rest company, with a pair of iron bolts on 
 his legs, and, examining him the next day in 
 
^fjG Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Newgate, upon his answering that he was not, 
 indeed, privy to the mass being said in his house, 
 but wished he had been present, thinking his 
 house highly honoured, by having so divine a 
 sacrifice offered therein, the justice told him, that 
 though he was not at the feast, he should certainly 
 taste of the sauce. 
 
 On the 4th of December, Mr. Gennings and all 
 the rest were brought up on their trial, and a jury 
 was impannelled to find them all guilty ; and yet 
 all they could prove against them was no more 
 than that one of them had said mass at Mr. Wells's 
 house, and the rest heard the said mass. Many 
 bitter words and scoffs were used by the judges 
 and others upon the bench, particularly to Mr. 
 Gennings, because he was very young, and had 
 angered him with disputes. And the more to 
 make him a scoff to the people, they vested him, 
 not now in his priestly garments (in which they 
 had before carried him through the streets), but 
 in a ridiculous fool's coat, which they found in 
 Mr. Wells's house. 
 
 In conclusion, the next day the jury brought in 
 their verdict, by which the three priests were all 
 found guilty of high treason, for returning to the 
 realm, contrary to the statute of 27 Elizabeth ; 
 and all the rest of felony, for being found aiding 
 and assisting to the priests. And it was appointed 
 that they should all die at Tyburn, except Mr. 
 Genninfjs and Mr. Wells, who were to be exe- 
 
yohii Paiiie and Edmund Gennings. 377 
 
 cuted before Mr. Wells's own door, in Gray's- 
 inn-fields. 
 
 The judges, after pronouncing sentence, began 
 to persuade them to conform to the religion of the 
 state, assuring them that by so doing they should 
 obtain mercy ; but otherwise they must certainly 
 expect to die. But they all bravely answered 
 that they would live and die in the true Catholic 
 faith, which they and all antiquity had ever pro- 
 fessed, and that they would by no means go to the 
 state churches, or once think that the queen could 
 be the head of the Church in spirituals. 
 
 At their return to Newgate, the three priests 
 were cast into the dungeon ; and whilst they were 
 there, Justice Yonge, Mr. Topcliffe, and others, 
 twice or thrice came to the prison, and calling for 
 Mr. Gennings, promised him both life and liberty, 
 if he would g-o to their church and renounce his 
 religion ; giving him also hopes of a living, and 
 promotion in that case, but they found him still 
 constant and resolute. With which they being 
 highly offended, put him into a dark hole within 
 the prison, where he could not so much as see his 
 own hands, nor get up and down without hazard 
 of breaking his neck. Here he remained in 
 prayer and contemplation, without any food or 
 sustenance, till the hour of his death. 
 
 On the loth of December, at eight in the morn- 
 ing, Mr. Plasden, Mr. White, &c., were carried to 
 Tybourne, and there executed. Mrs, Wells, to her 
 
2,7^ Hisio7ncal Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 great grief, was reprieved, and died in prison. 
 Mr. Gennings and Mr. Wells were brought, accord- 
 ing to sentence to Gray's-inn-fields, over against 
 Mr. Wells's door, to suffer there ; where, after a 
 few speeches of some ministers that were there 
 present, Mr. Gennings was taken off the sledge, 
 and, like St. Andrew, joyfully saluted the gibbet 
 prepared for him. Being put upon the ladder, 
 many questions were asked him by some 
 standers-by, whereto he still answered directly. 
 At length Mr. Topcliffe cried out with a loud 
 voice, " Gennings, Gennings, confess thy fault, thy 
 popish treason, and the Queen, by submission, no 
 doubt, will grant thee pardon." To which Gen- 
 nings mildly answered, " I know not, Mr. Topcliffe, 
 in what I have offended my dear anointed prin- 
 cess ; for if I have offended her, or any other, in 
 anything, I would willingly ask her and all the 
 world forgiveness. If she be offended with me, 
 without a cause, for professing my faith and 
 religion, because I am a priest, or because I will 
 not turn minister against my conscience, I shall be, 
 I trust, excused and innocent, before God. ' I 
 must obey God,' saith St. Peter, ' rather than men.' 
 And I must not, in this case, acknowledge a fault 
 where there is none. If to return into England 
 priest, or to say mass, be popish treason, I here 
 confess I am a traitor ; but I think not so ; and 
 therefore I acknowledge myself guilty of these 
 things, not with repentance or sorrow of heart, but 
 
John Paine and EdmiLud Gennings. 
 
 01 
 
 with an open protestation of inward joy, that I 
 have done so good deeds ; which, if they were to 
 do again, I would, by the permission and assistance 
 of God, accompHsh the same, although with the 
 hazard of a thousand lives." 
 
 Mr. Topcliffe being very angry at this speech, 
 scarce giving him leave to say a Pater noster, bid 
 the hangman turn the ladder ; which being done, 
 he presently caused the rope to be cut ; the holy 
 priest, being little or nothing stunned, stood on 
 his feet, casting his eyes towards heaven, till the 
 hangman tripped up his heels to make him fall on 
 the block, on which he was to be quartered. 
 
 After he was dismembered, the violence of the 
 pain caused him to utter these words with a loud 
 voice, " Oh it smarts ! " which Mr. Wells hearing 
 replied, " Alas ! sweet soul, thy pain is great, 
 indeed, but almost past ; pray for me now, most 
 holy saint, that mine may come." 
 
 After he was ripped up, and his bowels cast 
 into the fire, " if credit may be given," says his 
 brother, " to hundreds of people standing by, and 
 to the hangman himself, — the blessed martyr (his 
 heart being in the executioner's hand) uttered 
 these words, * Sande Gregori, ora pro me T which 
 the hangman hearing, swore a most wicked oath, 
 " By God's wounds ! see, his heart is in my hand, 
 and yet Gregory is in his mouth, • O egregious 
 papist ! " 
 
 Amongst the Catholics who were present at 
 
3 So Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 this execution there was a devout virgin, who had 
 wholly dedicated herself to the service of God, 
 who had a great desire to procure, if possible, 
 some little part of his flesh, or of his blood, to 
 keep as a relic ; but not being able to come near 
 the gibbet for the crowd, she followed his quarters 
 as they were carried back again to Newgate to be 
 boiled, when, many running to see them before 
 they were carried up to boiling, to satisfy their 
 curiosity, Bull, the hangman, took up one of the 
 fore-quarters by the arm, which, when he had 
 showed to the people, he flung down carelessly 
 into the basket again, so that both the hand and 
 arm hung over the sides of the basket ; which the 
 said virgin seeing, drew near to touch it, and 
 laying hold of his anointed thumb, by a secret 
 instinct, gave it a little pull, only to show her love 
 and desire of having it ; when, behold ! to her 
 great surprise, the thumb was instantly separated 
 from the rest of the hand, and remained in her 
 hand, which she carried off without being taken 
 notice of by any one. 
 
 This young gentlewoman, presently after this 
 miraculous acquisition, took a resolution to re- 
 nounce entirely the world and all its vanities, and, 
 going beyond the seas with this her relic, became 
 a nun of the Order of St. Augustine ; and, hearing 
 of this martyr's own brother, living in the seminary 
 of Douay, sent him, for a token, a little piece of 
 the same thumb, enclosed in a letter, written with 
 
John Paine and Edmund Gennings. 38 1 
 
 her own hand, protesting the verity of all the 
 aforesaid narration. 
 
 John Gennings, the author of this account, 
 became a convert to the religion ^ of his brother, 
 
 ^ The most wonderful event that followed Mr. Gennings' death, 
 was the sudden conversion of his brother. This John Gennings, 
 being in London at the very time of his brother's execution, 
 hearing of the same, rather rejoiced, than bewailed the untimely 
 and bloody end of his nearest kinsman. But about ten days 
 after his execution, towards night, having spent all that day in 
 sport and jollity, being weary with play, he resorted home ; 
 where to repose himself, he went into a secret chamber. He 
 was no sooner there set down, but forthwith his heart began, 
 and he began to weigh how idly he had spent that day. 
 Amidst these thoughts, there was presently represented to his 
 mind, a strange imagination and apprehension of the death of 
 his brother ; and amongst other things, how he had, not long 
 before, forsaken all worldly pleasures, and, for his religion only, 
 endured intolerable torments. Then, within himself, he made 
 long discourses concerning his religion and his brother's, 
 comparing the Catholic manner of living with his. Upon 
 this, being struck with exceeding terror and remorse, he wept 
 bitterly, desiring God, after his fashion, to illuminate his 
 understanding, that he might see and perceive the truth. 
 Oh ! what great joy and consolation did he feel at that instant ! 
 What reverence on the sudden, did he begin to bear to the 
 Blessed Virgin and to the Saints of God, which before he had 
 never scarce heard talk of! What strange emotions, as it 
 were inspirations, with exceeding readiness of will, to change 
 his religion, took possession of his soul ! and what a heavenly 
 conceit had he now of his dear brother's felicity ! He ima- 
 gined he saw him ; he thought he heard him. In this ecstasy 
 of mind, he made a vow upon the spot, as he lay prostrate on 
 the ground, to forsake kindred and country, to find out the 
 true knowledge of his brother's faith. Which vow he soon 
 after performed, and departed from England without advertising 
 
o 
 
 8 2 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 and was shortly afterwards admitted an alummis 
 of the college at Douay, where he received priest's 
 orders in 1607, and in the following year came 
 back to his own country. Subsequently he en- 
 tered the Franciscan Order, which by his instru- 
 mentality, was set up again in England, and of 
 which he was appointed the first Provincial, He 
 was a great friend of Dr. Christopher Davenport — 
 in religion the renowned Sancta Clara, who main- 
 tained that the Thirty Nine Articles, carefully 
 examined, were capable of a Catholic explanation, 
 and died deservedly venerated for his piety and 
 erudition. 
 
 any of his friends, and went beyond the seas to execute his 
 promise. 
 
No. IX. 
 
 THE VISION AND DEATH OF 
 ALEXANDER CROWE, 
 
 A.D. 1535—1587- 
 
" It may be almost asserted that so late as the whole sixteenth century, 
 the first and most essential principles of evidence were either unknown or 
 totally disregarded. Depositions of witnesses, forthcoming if called, but 
 not permitted to be confronted with the prisoner ; written examinations of 
 accomplices living and amenable ; confessions of convicts lately hanged for 
 the same offence ; hearsays of those convicts, repeated at second-hand from 
 others : all these formed so many classes of competent evidence, and were 
 received as such, in the most solemn trials by very learned judges. It was 
 a common and very lucrative practice of the sheriffs to return juries so 
 prejudiced and partial, that, as Cardinal Wolsey observed, they would find 
 Abel guilty of the murder of Cain. The judge held his office and income 
 at the pleasure of the prosecution ; and was often actuated by an intempe- 
 rate zeal for the support of the charge, as if his indignation of the offence 
 had stifled all tenderness towards the supposed offender. Thus ignorant 
 of the forms and language of the whole process, unassisted by counsel, 
 unsupported by witnesses, discountenanced by the Court, and baited by the 
 Crown lawyers, the poor bewildered prisoners found an eligible refuge in 
 the dreadful moment of conviction."—" Principles of Penal Law," by the 
 Right Hon. William, first Lord Auckland. 
 
No. IX. 
 
 THE VISION AND DEA TH OF 
 ALEXANDER CROWE, 
 
 A.D. 1535 — 1587- 
 
 In the middle of the sixteenth century the family 
 of Crowe was one of position and respectability in 
 the county of York. The heads of it and the 
 various chiefs of its branches were in the ranks of 
 esquires and gentlemen, living upon their own 
 estates, and keeping up the ancient hospitality for 
 which the people of that county then, as now, 
 were properly famed. Some of the younger sons, 
 as was so often the case in those days, having but 
 slender portions when there were many children 
 to put out in life, were compelled to adopt some 
 trade or form of commerce ; and this was the case 
 with the father of Alexander Crowe, a man of 
 superior intelligence, who had always lamented the 
 miseries which so many needless changes in 
 religion had brought upon all ranks and classes of 
 
 c c 
 
386 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 Englishmen, and who turned back in thought with 
 reverence to the old days of unity of sentiment, and 
 faith in matters of divine revelation in his native 
 country. 
 
 Alexander Crowe, who had been brought up as 
 a mercer by his father, resolved, at an early age, 
 to devote himself to the special service of God, as 
 it had been done and rendered ever since the days 
 of the great apostle of England, St. Augustine, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, before religion was 
 "reformed" under King Henry VIII. But, 
 before coming to any final decision on so impor- 
 tant a matter, he specially devoted himself to 
 prayer, meditation, and alms-giving ; constantly 
 invoking the Holy Spirit for light and guidance in 
 the subject-matter on hand. 
 
 There lived in York, at this time, an old priest 
 of the ancient order of priests, who some time 
 previously had been connected with the great 
 Cathedral Church of that city : but, who, after the 
 religious change and reforms of recent days, had 
 retired to a humble dwelling on the Western road 
 leading towards Beverley, in the East Riding, 
 where he lived in profound retirement, giving up 
 his time to the service of the Most High by sacri- 
 fice, prayer, and intercession. 
 
 This priest, in the unhappy reign of Edward VI., 
 had witnessed those most awful profanations of 
 things sacred, which, under the inspiration of evil 
 spirits, had taken place both in the cathedral apd 
 
The Vision and Death of Alexander Crowe. 387 
 
 parish churches of York, under the direction of 
 persons in high positions both in Church and 
 State. Out of a chantry-chapel in York Minster, 
 at the altar of which he had frequently offered, an 
 ancient and venerated imao;e of our Blessed 
 Saviour on the Cross, had been rudely taken down 
 by an infuriated mob of Lutherans, Calvinists, and 
 unbelievers, first hacked to pieces amid the jeers 
 and execrations of the godless rabble, and then 
 burnt. On the same occasion the aumbrey of this 
 chantry, containing the sacred vessels for the 
 Eucharist, had been broken open under the guid- 
 ance of a foreign preacher, who urged upon the 
 people, frenzied by falsehoods and misrepresen- 
 tations, to " break down the image of Baal, and to 
 destroy his goods" — by which he meant the chalice, 
 paten, ciborium, and crewetts — and to " cast 
 out utterly the accursed things." With these and 
 other sacred vessels such atrocious and sacrilegious 
 degradations were perpetrated as are too shocking 
 and frightful to describe. The efTect of all this, 
 and of the other horrors which were done, was such 
 as to have smitten the poor priest with alternations 
 of awe and fearfulness, which he could seldom 
 shake off. Looking- for some terrible visitation 
 from the hand of God upon the land and its 
 inhabitants, because of such evil deeds, he with- 
 drew himself from all complicity with those who 
 had so profanely perpetrated them ; retiring, in old 
 age and with shattered health, to his own humble 
 
 c c 2 
 
o 
 
 88 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 residence, full of humble sentiments, devotion, and 
 recollectedness, and hoping for better days. 
 
 To him went young Crowe from time to time to 
 mourn over the religious controversies and desola- 
 tion of the day, to learn over and over again the 
 true state of religion in previous times, and to 
 receive those gifts of instruction and Divine graces 
 which, in secret, to obedient and devoted children 
 of Holy Church, the old priest still quietly and 
 unobtrusively dispensed. 
 
 One subject which constantly cropped up in 
 conversation was the true method of preserving 
 in the future the ancient faith of the Church of 
 God in this realm of England, and a due succes- 
 sion of clerics of the old line and stamp to proclaim 
 and apply it. 
 
 For nothing could be more unlike the old clergy 
 than the new ministers who had been intruded 
 into the defaced sanctuaries. Taken, too often, 
 because others could not be had, from the lowest 
 of the people, uneducated, under the direct in- 
 fluence of the foreign gospellers, sometimes 
 frantic madmen, sometimes blaspheming fanatics ; 
 engrossed in abusing their predecessors and mag- 
 nifying the regal power in things spiritual, they 
 failed, as a rule, either in winning attention, 
 respect, or obedience, the consequence being that 
 never in the history of England had heresy and 
 immorality obtained so large a licence and so 
 wide a sway. Happy and united England, as it 
 
The Visio7i and Death of Alexandej" Crowe. 389 
 
 once was, had become both a moral and spiritual 
 desolation.^ 
 
 It was facts and reflections such as these which 
 led Alexander Crowe to " retire beyond the seas," 
 as the current phrase ran, and devote himself to the 
 service of God by rites and rules abolished in Eng- 
 land, but carefully preserved abroad. He therefore 
 went to complete his studies at Rheims ; for he had 
 already received the elements and foundation of a 
 solid and liberal education in the city of York. 
 
 At Rheims, being highly esteemed for his zeal 
 and virtue, he speedily won for himself the appro- 
 
 ^ "A large body of almost starving people was formed by 
 the ruined monks, and those who had been maintained by 
 them, either in labour or charity. Rents were enormously 
 raised by those to whom the monastic lands fell by grant or 
 purchase ; the new landlords exacting three or four times as 
 much as had been required by the old landlords. The poverty 
 of the poor and the wealth of the rich, drew away class from 
 class, and introduced that disintegration of society which caused 
 so much trouble in the seventeenth century. The schools of 
 the monasteries were not efficiently replaced by the new founda- 
 tions which were substituted for them, the universities were far 
 less frequented than formerly, and solid learning was replaced 
 by superficial, few devoting themselves to real study." — "The 
 Reformation of the Church of England," by the Rev. J. H. 
 Blunt, M.A., chap. vi. p. 389. London : 1868. 
 
 In one of Daniel Defoe's Tracts — I cannot find the refe- 
 rence — it is stated that when Queen Elizabeth, in one of her 
 " Royal Progresses," as they were termed, witnessed the mise- 
 rable and degraded position of so many of the lower classes, 
 robbed by the suppression of the monasteries and demoralized 
 by so-called "Church Reform," she exclaimed, "The poor 
 indeed cover the land ! " 
 
390 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 bation of his superiors ; and, after due preparation 
 and passing through the inferior orders, he was 
 advanced to the dignity of the priesthood. 
 
 In 1584, being thirty-two years of age, he 
 returned to his native land, and at once began to 
 labour in his Master's Name in the county of 
 York. Wherever those were found who lamented 
 the changes first made under Henry VIII., there 
 he was, ready to fortify the faithful in their devo- 
 tion to an unmutilated faith, and to strengthen 
 them in their resistance to State and regal tyranny. 
 Here and there, in out-of-the-way places, the 
 subtle foe of Misbelief had not as yet found an 
 entrance. Old families, living isolated and with- 
 out change in their customs, had continued firm in 
 the ancient faith, uninfluenced by the restlessness 
 and aggression of irreligious adventurers from the 
 Low Countries and Geneva. To these and such 
 as these he went. 
 
 " So through the byeways of his well-loved land, — 
 From house to house, at widespread distances, 
 Old homes that nestled low in verdant parks. 
 Shut in by ancient oak and spreading beech, — 
 In faith and charity, a pilgrim-priest 
 With sacerdotal gifts, beyond the seas 
 Indued for labour in Our Lady's Isle — 
 He went, with silent recollectedness. 
 To shed the Sacrament of Christ's new life ; 
 To fortify the weak in faith ; impart 
 Graces and blessings from the Master's Hand, 
 And guide the failing unto Death's dark vale." ^ 
 
 ^ "The Bells of Botteville Tower," pp. 51,52. London: 1874. 
 
The Vision and Death of Alexander Crowe. 391 
 
 Three years were the extent of his pious mis- 
 sionary works, largely blessed, and then his actual 
 labours soon terminated. Having gone, by special 
 request, to baptize the child of one Cecily Garnet 
 at South Duffield, he was artfully betrayed into 
 the hands of the pursuivants " by an ancient 
 enemy," and by them hurried off to York Castle. 
 Here the assizes were held early in the month of 
 November, 1586. At these he was arraigned for 
 having been made a priest abroad, contrary to the 
 Act of Parliament, and for exercising sacerdotal 
 functions in Enofland, his native land; which coun- 
 try, it was maintained, was subject in things 
 spiritual to the sole authority and jurisdiction of 
 the Chief Ordinary, Queen Elizabeth, and to no 
 one else. He pleaded simply and forcibly on his 
 own behalf, pointing out that the faith he taught, 
 the sacraments he administered, and the Divine 
 gifts he bestowed, were exactly what had been 
 dispensed to his fellow-countrymen by English 
 clergymen since the days of St. Austin of Canter- 
 bury. He did not deny, but fully admitted, that 
 the Oueen was the lawful sovereio-n of Eno-land, 
 But in a very short time very short work was 
 made of his pleadings. He was condemned to be 
 hanged, drawn, and quartered for being a priest, 
 and in due course executed. 
 
 But, when awaiting this end in confinement in 
 York Castle, a remarkable occurrence took place. 
 Alexander Crowe, as his companion put upon 
 
392 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 record, was assaulted most grievously by an evil 
 spirit, and in the manner following : — 
 
 He was confined in a room in company with a 
 gentleman, suffering incarceration for the same 
 offence, that is, for belonging to the ancient reli- 
 gion, who was astonished at the manner in which 
 Father Crowe appeared, not only calm, but per- 
 fectly overjoyed at the thought of approaching 
 death on the morrow. 
 
 When the evening had drawn on. Father Crowe 
 enjoined his companion to take his usual rest, 
 adding, " For my part, for this one night I am 
 ready to forego repose of my body, and to watch in 
 prayer with Christ my Master until the morning." 
 
 His companion, therefore, lay himself down and 
 went to rest, while the father, lighting a taper and 
 placing it on a stool, began his devotions. After 
 an hour of silent prayer, his companion, who, 
 though in bed, was not asleep — for it was he who 
 put on record this occurrence — began to be 
 astonished when the father appeared to be in con- 
 versation with some invisible person, his voice 
 changing like that of one v/ho is deep in an 
 earnest argument. 
 
 At length he rose from his knees, and, going to 
 the bedside where his cornpanion lay, asked him 
 if he were asleep. 
 
 " No," was the immediate response. " What 
 can I do ? How can I serve you } What is 
 amiss 'i " 
 
The Vision and Death of A lexandc7^ Crozve. 393 
 
 The distressed priest anxiously commended 
 himself to his companion's charitable prayers, 
 which were at once freely offered. 
 
 Father Crowe returned anew to his devotions, 
 only, however, to be troubled even more sorely 
 than before with ao-Itatlon and ano-ulsh. He 
 prayed most earnestly, with sighs and deep 
 mental entreaties; but still appeared to be engaged 
 In some sharp and severe struggle, sometimes 
 speaking low, begging the aid of our Blessed 
 Lord and the Intercession of the saints, and then 
 suddenly seeming to raise his voice In alarm and 
 rao^e ao-alnst his Invisible combatant. 
 
 At length he suddenly approached the bed of 
 his companion, having broken out with a loud 
 recitation of the joyful Psalm, Lattdate Dominwm 
 de coelis ; adoring God the Trinity for His unspeak- 
 able mercies, and acknowledging the divine good- 
 ness and sweetness towards the children of men. 
 Then he sat on the side of the bed, remaining as 
 one In a kind of trance or strange sleep for a short 
 space of time, after which he again broke out In 
 praise of the goodness of Almighty God. 
 
 Then he asked his companion whether he had 
 not been terrified at what he had witnessed — the 
 weird noises, the strange altercations, the violence 
 wrought by no visible hand — who. In response, 
 obtained from Father Crowe the following confes- 
 sion of what had actually occurred. 
 
 " After a while, having been In quiet prayer," he 
 
394 Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 put on record, " my flesh began to creep, and my 
 hair to stand on end, for I beheld before me a mon- 
 strous apparition which began to terrify me sorely. 
 
 " ' You think to-morrow to be a martyr, and to 
 go straight to Heaven, but this cannot be, for thou 
 art already condemned to Hell,' remarked the evil 
 spirit. ' They will draw thee to the gallows, but 
 not for execution ; for thou shalt remain in prison, 
 on bread and water, and lead a life of misery and 
 ,woe for years. Your sufferings shall be so great 
 that it would be better for thee to put an end to 
 life by knife or halter.' 
 
 " 'Though I shook off his temptation, struggling 
 hard and constantly,' wrote Father Crowe, ' he 
 never left off importuning me. Wherever I turned 
 mine eyes, there stood the awful tempter, repeating 
 his suggestions. When I extinguished the light, 
 it was that I might no longer see so frightful a sight, 
 but he still continued terrifying and molesting me 
 very much, and the conflict went on still increasing 
 till our Merciful Lord, taking pity on my weakness, 
 sent me succour from Heaven. And this was that 
 at the time when I found myself in the greatest 
 straits, I saw a great light come in at the door, 
 surrounding two persons, who were as I believe 
 Our Lady and St. John the Evangelist, who by 
 their presence gave me unspeakable comfort. And 
 then the monster who had troubled me began to 
 draw back and tremble ; while one of them said to 
 him, ' Begone from hence, thou cursed creature ; 
 
The Vision and Death of Alexander Crowe. 395 
 
 I 
 thou hast no part In this servant of Christ, who 
 
 will shed his blood to-morrow for his Lord, and 
 
 will enter into His joy. On this the apparition 
 
 disappeared, and they likewise, leaving me so full 
 
 of consolation that I cannot express it. 
 
 "Upon this, I came with great joy of heart, and 
 with songs of praise on my lips, and sat me down 
 on the bedside, not realizing whether I was in bed 
 or on the ground, on earth or in heaven. 
 
 " This one thing do I urge and implore that, in 
 the Name of Christ, you refrain utterly from 
 alluding to this until my race is run, and I am 
 delivered from the burden of the flesh,' Having 
 thus agreed, they both discoursed on heavenly 
 thino-s until the morninof." 
 
 But the old enemy was not to rest contented 
 with this single defeat. On the morning of 
 Father Crowe's death he renewed his attempt 
 both with malignity and craft. When the gallows 
 with the rope and ladder were reached, before the 
 rope had been put round the father's neck, and 
 before the fire under the adjacent caldron had 
 been lighted, the evil spirit is said to have flung 
 the sufferer off the ladder by physical violence, — 
 an occurrencewhich led the on-looking "gospellers" 
 to maintain that the sufferer was in despair and 
 wished to take away his own life. 
 
 But on mounting the ladder again Father 
 Crowe, with singular serenity of countenance and 
 perfect trust in God, smilingly remarked to the 
 
39^ Historical Sketches of the Reformation. 
 
 populace, "It is not as you imagine, my brethren, 
 that I had any mind to kill myself. It was the 
 enemy of souls who was so anxious to rob me of 
 this glorious death in defence of Christ's religion, 
 and out of envy flung me from the ladder. He 
 has been my active enemy aforetime. But God 
 has not suffered me to be tempted beyond that 
 which I was able to bear ; neither can the devil 
 harm the servants of the Crucified." 
 
 Father Crowe, forgiving the hangman, praying 
 for his country and his countrymen, then with 
 devotion kissed the rope, and so submitted himself 
 to the officer of a bloody and indefensible law, 
 who proceeded to do his appointed work. 
 
 Having been hung by the neck for a while, he 
 was cut down being yet alive, dismembered and 
 disembowelled before his own eyes ; then killed by 
 being beheaded, cut up into four parts, his mem- 
 bers boiled in a caldron, smeared over with pitch, 
 and so set up on poles in different parts of his 
 native city. 
 
 The terror and alarm which deeds like this 
 struck into the hearts of the great body of people 
 of Enofland was in truth considerable. Circum- 
 stances seemed to be obviously against those who 
 lamented the separation of the English people 
 from the rest of Western Christendom, and who 
 deplored the frightful errors which existed, and 
 the miserable divisions which had been effected. 
 Those who had attempted to stem the tide of 
 
The Vision and Death of Alexander Crowe. 397 
 
 innovation were imprisoned, starved, persecuted, 
 and sent to the block. Defenders of the Christian 
 rehgion were held to be traitors to their country 
 and king ; while now, at the present day, three 
 centuries and a half afterwards, no less than a 
 hundred and fifty sects, each claiming to own "the 
 true and original glad tidings of salvation," ener- 
 getically contradict each other ; at the same time 
 that they still breed prolifically, to the further 
 destruction of faith, to the danger of the Church, 
 and the misery of those who seek to walk in the 
 old paths, but are so confused and perplexed 
 that they cannot find the way. Beati pacifici, 
 therefore, be our motto : " Give peace in our time, 
 O Lord," our constant and fervent prayer. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 THE DURHAM AND STONYHURST ANGLO-SAXON MS. 
 COPY OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL (p. 13). 
 
 Having been enabled to trace this MS. from the time that 
 it was taken away from Durham, by Dr. Thomas Lee, one of 
 King Henry's Commissioners, to the present day, I took the 
 Hberty of writing to the Rector of Stonyhurst, in whose safe 
 keeping it now is, for some particulars concerning the inscrip- 
 tion on its fly-leaf In reply to my communication, I received 
 the following courteous letter, with the interesting information 
 and particulars which follow : — 
 
 " Stonyhurst College, Blackburn, Sep. 16, 1878. 
 " Rev. and dear sir, — Absence from the college has delayed 
 my reply to yours of the 8th instant. 
 
 " The MS. in question is a Latin copy of the Gospel of 
 St. John only. 
 
 "The enclosed contains all the information that I can find 
 in answer to your queries . . . Believe me, Rev. and dear sir, 
 " Yours obediently, 
 
 " E. J. PURBRICK, S.J. 
 "The Rev. Frederick George Lee, D.C.L." 
 
 St. Cuthbert's MS. Gospel of St. John. 
 
 The inscription at the beginning occurs on the fly-leaf oppo- 
 site the first page of the text. The handwriting is said by 
 
400 Appendix. 
 
 Whitaker to resemble that which is characteristic of Charters 
 temp. Edw. I. 
 
 It runs thus : — EvangeHum Jotiis quod inventum fuerat ad 
 caput beati patris nostri Cuthberti in sepulchro jacens. Anno 
 translaconis ipsius. 
 
 Pasted against the cover at the end with no fly-leaf inter- 
 vening between it and the last page of the text is a paper, the 
 writing on which runs thus : — 
 
 Hunc Evangelii Codicem 
 
 Dono accepit 
 
 ab [Georgio] Henrico Comite de Litchfield ^ 
 
 et dono dedit 
 
 Patribus Societatis Jesu, 
 
 CoUegii Anglicani 
 
 Leodij ; anno 1769; 
 
 Rectore ejusdem CoUegij 
 
 loanne Howard : 
 
 Thomas Phillips, Sac. Can. Ton. 
 
 In a case along with the MS. is a Letter in the same hand- 
 writing as the above inscription, of which a copy follows this. 
 The signature has been cut off; also the lower right-hand 
 corner of the paper, which is a single sheet, has been acci- 
 dentally torn off, and lost, leaving lacunce at the ends of the 
 three last lines of the Letter. One of the lacuncB certainly 
 contained the word " Cuthbert," and no more. They are all 
 of the same length. 
 
 ^ George Henry Lee, D.C.L.,the third Earl of Litchfield, and the donor 
 of this MS. to the Rev. Thomas Phillips, was bom May 21, 1718. 
 Through his grandmother he was great-grandson of King Charles IL In 
 his father's lifetime, and as Viscount Quarrendon, he was elected M.P. for 
 the City of Oxford, A.D. Feb., 1739. On attaining his title he became 
 successively High Steward and Chancellor of the University of Oxford, to 
 which he was a great benefactor, being still remembered by name at Com- 
 memoration. He married Diana, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas 
 Frankland, of Thirkleby, co. York., Bart., and died without issue, aged fifty- 
 four, in 1772. He was buried at Spelsbury, Oxfordshire, where a beautiful 
 marble monument to his memory and that of his Countess 'still remains on 
 the south wall of the chancel. 
 
Appendix. 40 1 
 
 I 
 
 20th June [no place]. 
 
 My dear and honoured Father, 
 
 I desire your Reverence to accept of the MS. which this 
 note accompanies, for your Library. You will see by the short 
 inscription at the beginning, how and when and where it came 
 to be discovered : and I have every reason to think it is Saint 
 Cuthbert's handwriting from the concurring evidence of these 
 circumstances. 
 
 I showed it the Society of Antiquaries in London, and 
 they said they could .... me so far as to its being of the 
 age in which S . . . . lived ; the letter M being formed, 
 as it is in this .... that only 
 
 [Alia manu] Thomas Phillips to Father J. Howard. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE SEYMOURS OF WOLF HALL IN WILTSHIRE 
 
 (pp. 55 and 69). 
 
 On the north wall of the Church of Great Bedwyn, formerly 
 on the pavement, there is an effigy in brass of John, son of 
 Sir John Seymour. He is represented in a long gown, lined 
 with fur, with loose sleeves likewise lined with the same 
 material, and without any girdle. His hair is worn long. The 
 inscription stands thus : — 
 
 " l^erc \mi\) i\)t botip of 3o!)n Scnmour, sonc anti Ijcirc of 5r. 3of)n 
 Scpmourc fentigfjt 8c of JWargcru oon of tf)c tougljtcrs of St. "^twxv 
 
 r 
 
 aSRcntboorti) fenygl^t toi^ic]^ KcctsscU pe ib Han of Sulg t\)t ucr Xortf JW. 
 
 r 
 
 U.X on tof)os soulc Ei^u J)abf m'tg. Sc of no. cfiarttc sa» a patcrnost $c 
 a auc." 
 
 The four shields at the angles of the slab are now lost, but 
 in John Aubrey's time two remained, and bore the following 
 arms : — 
 
 I St. Gules, two wings conjoined or, with a label of three 
 
 D d 
 
402 Appendix. 
 
 points, Seymour ; impaling i. Sable, a chevron between 
 three leopards' heads caboshed or, differenced by an amulet ; 
 Wentworth. 2. Per cross argent and gules in 2 and 3 a fret 
 or, over all a bendlet sable ; Spencer. 3. A saltier engrailed. 
 4. A fesse double cotised. 5. Barry of six and a canton 
 ermine. 6. Sable crusuly, three fishes hauriant. 
 2. Wentworth, with the quarterings, as above. 
 The family of Seymour was seated at Wolf Hall, anciently 
 Ulfell, which property was acquired by the marriage of Roger 
 Seymour, in the reign of Richard II., with Maud, the daughter 
 and co-heiress of Sir William Esturmy. 
 
 Sir John Seymour had issue by his wife Margaret six sons 
 and four daughters, and died in 1536, aged sixty; consequently 
 he must have been about thirty-four years of age at the time of 
 his eldest son's death, in 15 10, which will afford some idea of 
 the age of the latter. The family was doubly connected with 
 royalty ; first, by the marriage of Jane, the sister of the deceased, 
 with King Henry VIII. , and next by that of his younger 
 brother, Thomas Lord Seymour of Sudeley, at a later date, 
 with Catherine Parr, widow of the same monarch. 
 
 The Seymours, together with their ancestors the Esturmies, 
 appear to have used the Priory Church of the Holy Trinity, 
 near Pewsey, as a place of interment. The site of this house 
 was granted, in 1536, to Edward Seymour, Viscount Beau- 
 champ, afterwards Duke of Somerset. After his death, and 
 during the minority of his son Edward, Earl of Hertford, the 
 Priory Church having become ruined, and the monuments of 
 the family either destroyed or defaced, the earl, in the year 
 1590, removed the body of his grandfather. Sir John Seymour, 
 to Great Bedwyn, in the chancel of which church he erected to 
 his memory an altar-tomb bearing a recumbent eftigy. The 
 remains of John, the eldest son and heir of Sir John, were 
 probably removed from Easton to Great Bedwyn, with those 
 of his father, as also the Purbeck slab, which contained his 
 effigy in brass. 
 
 When King Henry VIII. married Jane Seymour, Edward 
 Seymour, her brother, was elevated to the peerage by the title 
 
Appendix. 403 
 
 of Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, by letters patent dated 5th 
 of June, 1536. A year later, on the i8th of October, 1537, he 
 was made Earl of Hertford. He was also made, for hfe, Lord 
 Great Chamberlain of England. On King Henry's death, he 
 was unanimously chosen by the Council Protector to the young 
 king, his nephew, Edward VI,, and, a month afterwards. Lord 
 Treasurer of England. He was likewise made a Baron, on the 
 15th of February, 1547, and Duke of Somerset on the follow- 
 ing day. No rise had been higher or more rapid. However, 
 exciting by his extraordinary prosperity the envy of his con- 
 temporaries, and incurring, by his barbarous treatment of his 
 brother, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, the hostility of the people, 
 it required no great effort to hurl him from his giddy pre- 
 eminence ; and, when he did fall, the recollection of his having 
 signed the death-warrant of his own brother deprived him of 
 much public sympathy. The moment he affixed his signature 
 to that deed of fratricide his own doom was signed, and it was 
 generally observed that with his left hand he had cut off his 
 right. 
 
 Persons of his own rank designated him a blood-sucker and 
 murderer, and declared aloud that it was unfit that the king 
 should remain under so ravenous a wolf. Sir William Dugdale 
 wrote thus of him : — " Many well-disposed persons conceived 
 a very hard opinion of him, for causing a church near Strand 
 Bridge, and two bishops' houses, to be pulled down to make a 
 site for his new building, to be called ' Somerset House ;' in 
 digging the foundations whereof the bones of many who had 
 been there buried were cast up and carried into the fields. 
 And because the stones of that church and those houses were 
 not sufficient for that work, the steeple and most part of the 
 church of St. John of Jerusalem, near Smithfield, were mined 
 and overthrown with powder, and the stones carried thereto. 
 So likewise the cloister on the north side of St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral, and the charnel-house on the south side thereof, with the 
 chapel, the tombs and monuments therein being all beaten 
 down, the bones of the dead carried into Finsbury fields, and 
 the stone converted into this building ; and it was confidently 
 
 D d 2 
 
404 Appendix. 
 
 affirmed that for the same purpose he intended to have pulled 
 down St. Margaret's Church at Westminster, but that the 
 standing thereof was preserved by his fall." 
 
 In due course he fell. In twenty-eight articles he was 
 impeached; he acknowledged his guilt, and was pardoned. 
 Subsequently, however, he was accused of meditating the 
 assassination of his great rival, John Dudley, Earl of War- 
 wick, and afterwards Duke of Northumberland. The Duke of 
 Somerset was convicted in 1551, and beheaded on Tower Hill, 
 January 22, 1552. Being attainted, his honours were supposed 
 to have been forfeited. 
 
 His brother, Thomas, was created Baron Seymour of Sudeley 
 February 16, 1547. He was also a Privy Councillor and Lord 
 High Admiral. He married Henry the Eighth's widow, 
 Katherine Parr. Conspiring against the power of his brother, 
 the Protector, and, on becoming a widower, paying court to 
 the Princess Elizabeth, he was committed to the Tower by 
 Parliarnent, and cotidemned without any form of trial. His 
 brother signed his death-warrant, and he was beheaded. 
 
 On the 14th of October, 1786, certain "antiquarian resur- 
 rection-men," headed by a parson, the Rev. Dr. Nash, made 
 an examination* of the grave and corpse of Lady Seymour 
 (Katherine Parr), " Upon opening the ground and heaving up 
 the lead," wrote Dr. Nash, " we found the face totally decayed, 
 the bones only remaining ; the teeth, which were sound, had 
 fallen out of their sockets. The body, I believe, is perfect, as 
 it has never been opened. We thought it indelicate and 
 indecent to uncover it ; but, observing the left hand to lie at a 
 small distance from the body, we took off the case-cloth, and 
 found the nails and hands perfect, but of a brownish colour. 
 The case-cloth consisted of many folds of coarse linen, dipped 
 in wax, tar, and perhaps some gums ; over this was wrapped a 
 sheet of lead, fitted exactly close to the body. I could not 
 perceive any remains of a wooden coffin." On that part of the 
 lead which covered the breast was this inscription : — 
 
 2 Archseologia, Vol. IX. pp. i — 15. 
 
Appendix. 405 
 
 K. P. 
 
 Here Lyethe quene 
 
 Katerine wife to Kyng 
 
 Henry the VIH. and 
 
 Last the Wife of Thomas 
 
 Lord of Sudeley highe 
 
 Admyrall of England 
 
 And Vncle to Kyng 
 
 Edward the VI. 
 
 dyed 
 
 5 September 
 
 MDCCCCC 
 
 xlviii. 
 
 Edward, Duke of Somerset, by his first wife, Katherine, 
 daughter of Sir William Fillol, had a son, Sir Edward of Berry 
 Pomeroy, through whom the Marquis of Hertford, though in 
 the female line, represents the family of Seymour of Wolf 
 Hall. 
 
 On the pavement of the chancel of the parish church of 
 Collingbourne Ducis, in Wiltshire, is a small memorial brass, 
 only seven and a half inches in height, which represents one of 
 the sons of William Seymour, second earl, and subsequently 
 Marquis of Hertford. The inscription stands thus : — 
 
 " EDWARD SAINT MAVR, FOVRTH SONNE TO WIL 
 LIAM SAINT MAVR, EARL OF HERTFORD, AND THE 
 LADY FRANCES HIS WIFE, WAS BORNE AT EASTON 
 IN WILTSHIRE, MAIE 28. AND DINI 1630, DIED IN 
 THIS COLLINGBORNE, APRILL 28 AND DINI 1631 & 
 IS HEERE BVRIED. 
 
 SPEECHLESS THOVGH YET HE WERE, SAY ALL WEE CAN 
 THAT SAW, HE PROMISEDED A HOPEFVLL MAN. 
 SVCH FRAME OF BODY, SUCH A LIVELY SOVLE, 
 ARGV'D HIM WRITTEN IN THE LONG-LIVD ROVLE. 
 BUT NOW WEE SEE BY SVCH AN INFANT'S LOSSE 
 ARE ALL BUT INFANT HOPES, WHICH DEATH MAY CROSSE." 
 
 This Edward Seymour, fourth son of William, Marquis of 
 
4o6 Appendix. 
 
 Hertford (who was restored to the dukedom of Somerset, 25th 
 April, 1660), by Frances, his second wife, sister and co-heiress 
 of Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, was next brother to 
 Henry, Lord Beauchamp, the earl's eldest surviving son, father 
 of William, third Duke of Somerset, and elder brother of John, 
 the earl's youngest son, who became fourth Duke of Somerset, 
 on the premature death of his nephew, William, Dec. 12th, 
 167 1, aged nineteen. 
 
 The coffins of William, Earl of Hertford, who died in 1660, 
 aged seventy-four; of Frances Devereux, his countess, who 
 died in 1674, aged seventy-four; of their son, Henry, Lord 
 Beauchamp, who died in his father's lifetime, 1653, aged 
 twenty-seven ; and of Lord Henry's son, William (who was 
 third Duke of Somerset, and died in 167 1, aged nineteen), 
 were all found in brick graves or vaults under the chancel of 
 Great Bedwyn parish church, during a restoration of that 
 building in 1853. All of them were found to have had that 
 part of the leaden coffin over the face, moulded exactly to the 
 features ; and from the difference of the features and variety 
 of expression, it would appear that actual likenesses of the 
 deceased were thus preserved. Portions of crimson and fawn- 
 covered velvet, the original coverings of the oaken coffins, 
 which enclosed those of lead, were also found. Here, too, the 
 " antiquarian resurrection-men " exercised their curiosity by 
 opening several. In the case of Henry, Lord Beauchamp, it 
 was found that a bunch of rosemary-sprigs and other flowers 
 had been placed on the breast of the corpse, the stems, leaves, 
 and flowers of which still preserved their form. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 407 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 THE FAMILY OF ASKE OF AUGHTON, NEAR HOWDEN 
 
 (P- 99)- 
 
 Arms of Aske : Or, three bars 
 azure, the centre one charged 
 with an annulet of the first. 
 
 From an Ancient MS. 
 
 Richard Aske, 
 Anno 1365, founder of the 
 Aske Chantry at Howden. 
 
 Daughter of Stapleton, 
 of Carleton. 
 
 John Aske, Esq. 
 
 JoANE, daughter and heiress 
 
 I of John Sholmestred. 
 
 John Aske, Esq. Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William 
 
 I Gascoigne, the Justice. 
 
 Richard Aske, of 
 
 Aughton, Esq. I 
 
 Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert 
 Oughtred. 
 
 Sir John Aske, of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ralph 
 
 Aughton. I Bigod. 
 
 Ill I 
 
 Richard John William Sir Robert, 
 Aske. Aske. Aske. Aske, of 
 
 Aughton. 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter to John, 
 Lord Clifford. 
 
 Christopher, 
 
 ROBERT, 
 
 ASKE, 
 
 who headed 
 
 The Pilgrimage 
 
 of Grace." 
 
 Agnes ■=■ William John, 
 
 Elleker, 
 
 and other 
 children. 
 
 N.B. — John Aske, eldest son of Robert Aske of Aughton, Esq. (who 
 was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1588), married Christian, daughter of Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax of Denton. This John Aske, who was great-great-nephew 
 of Robert Aske, Leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, was a member of the 
 Middle Temple, London : and is said to have "sold Aughton and all his 
 other lands." The family, however, is by no means extinct, as the late 
 Dr. Thomas Wilson of Pocklington, who was an antiquarian and local 
 collector of accuracy and ability, informed me. 
 
4o8 Appendix. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 ST. THOMA.S OF CANTERBURY 
 (pp. 140, 167, 170). 
 
 I. MS. AT Marischal College, Aberdeen (p. 140). — I 
 find that the MS. referred to in a note is not at Old Aberdeen, 
 as I had beUeved, but in the hbrary of Marischal College. It is 
 a Sarum volume of the early part of the fifteenth century, 
 containing several most effective illustrations placed within 
 large initial letters. That on folio 9 represents the Martyrdom 
 of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and is one of the few illumina- 
 tions of that sacred tragedy still existing. The saint is repre- 
 sented vested for mass, and kneeling before an altar with 
 joined palms. This altar, flanked, with curtains hanging on 
 projecting rods, has a reredos behind it, with a representation 
 of Our Blessed Lady bearing Her Divine Child. Over the 
 antependium are embroidered pendants : on the centre of the 
 altar is a chalice placed on a corporal and covered with a pall. 
 In front, i. e. at the west, of the altar is a square platform. 
 Two armed knights are slaying the archbishop with drawn 
 swords. Grim the monk, terrified, stands at the north end 
 looking on. The tragical story, though not over-accurately 
 told, is depicted with spirit. 
 
 Some other illuminations of the volume are quaint and 
 meritorious. That on folio 156, within the letter S, represents 
 King David, declaring " I am come into deep waters, so that 
 the floods run over me." The king, crowned, but otherwise 
 in a state of nudity, is swimming on his back in a river with 
 rocks on either side. God the Father, as the Ancient of 
 Days, is seen in a rent in the clouds giving a benediction 
 with His right Hand, and bearing the orb in His left. On 
 folio 179, within the capital letter C, seven singers in copes 
 are represented chanting. On folio 257, within the letter D, 
 is a coped bier covered with a pall, charged with a floriated 
 cross. Eight tall tapers are placed around the bier. On one 
 side three clerics in choral copes are chanting at a lectern : 
 while on the other side stand five hooded mourners. In all 
 
Appendix. 409 
 
 the colouring is as effective and picturesque, as the various 
 designs are good. 
 
 2. Relics of St. Thomas (p. 167). — Those which I saw 
 in the late Cardinal Wiseman's private chapel were, it appears, 
 his Eminence's own private property, and did not belong to 
 the Roman Catholic See of Westminster. " The only notable 
 relic of St. Thomas of Canterbury in this house," as the Rev. 
 Dr. W. A. Johnson most courteously wrote to me from the 
 Cardinal Archbishop's house, on October 4, 1878, " is a mitre. 
 It was given to the late Cardinal Wiseman at Sens, and was 
 brought by him from the cathedral of that city in 1S40, when, 
 after his consecration in Rome, he came to England as coad- 
 jutor to the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland district." 
 
 St. George's Cathedral, Southwark. — At this cathedral 
 certain Relics of St. Thomas are also duly preserved. They 
 were brought from Italy by the Hon. and Right Rev. Mon- 
 signor Talbot, D.D., and presented to the cathedral several 
 years ago. They consist of three fragments of the saint's skull, 
 and are enshrined in a tall silver-gilt reliquary of great beauty, 
 from a design by the late Mr. Welby Pugin. It is in the form 
 of a tabernacled monstrance, with a silver-gilt figure of this 
 saint in poiitificalibus, under a rich and elaborate canopy above. 
 The stem and foot of this reliquary are exquisitely wrought, 
 and the latter is beautifully enamelled. The relics themselves, 
 placed upon a piece of cloth of gold, are arranged in the form 
 of a trefoil, with a suitable inscription around ; and are placed 
 under crystal. 
 
 3. The Spiritual and the Temporal (p. 170). — The 
 independence of the spiritual kingdom of Our Blessed Lord 
 will ever be a subject of the deepest interest to Christians. 
 So long as the World lasts the contest which has been waged 
 from the beginning will no doubt, in some form or another, 
 continue. Hence the intense and even passionate interest 
 which is still taken by Catholic Christians as well as by 
 Erastians in the struggle between St. Thomas and Henry II. 
 
 In the National Church of England, which has been enslaved 
 ever since the passing of the Statute of Appeals in 1532, the 
 
4 1 o Appendix. 
 
 struggle in good earnest has again commenced. It now seems 
 likely to be fought out. What, in recent days, was for some 
 time a mere dispute between the bishops and clergy about 
 " Ritual," so called, i. e. whether the pubUc services of the 
 Establishment should be performed with slovenliness or de- 
 cency, in the spirit of a Puritan or in the spirit of a Catholic,' 
 has lately given place to a wider and much more important 
 and momentous one, viz. whether, now that the Tudor and 
 Stuart ideas of legal authority have collapsed, and the para- 
 phernalia surrounding them become antiquated lumber, a lay- 
 man, appointed by a Parliament not necessarily Christian, should 
 absolutely dominate all members of the Established Church 
 as universal Parliamentary Ordinary. It is a serious question 
 and one of the deepest interest, — involving the same battle in 
 fact which Henry II. fought and lost, and which Henry VIII., 
 by the sheer influence of Brute Force and advantageous cir- 
 cumstances, succeeded in gaining. The influence of his im- 
 perious will and revolutionary church policy is felt even now. 
 And with increasing distaste for it. 
 
 The point, then, which the English clergy have specially to 
 consider, and on which on any day in the future the nation may 
 be called upon to give a judgment — thanks to Archbishop 
 Tait, Earl Cairns, and others, is this : Shall the Church of 
 England continue to be established ? 
 
 To the parsons — when the numerous side issues are past or 
 swept away, the question will come in another but equally 
 momentous form : viz. Will you have subservience, slavery, 
 and spiritual degradation, with your useful and convenient en- 
 dowments as a set-off" to the above ; or are you ready to sur- 
 render your temporal advantages for the sake of perfect spiritual 
 freedom ? 
 
 2 The Ritual conflict, important enough of itself, but of slender interest 
 in comparison to that of Authority, Jurisdiction, and Spiritual Independence, 
 has been won. The bishops were steadily against any improvements. 
 Every step in advance, therefore, was taken in their face. But their 
 opposition has proved fmitless. For the baptized are now beginning to 
 learn what is the fulness of their heritage, and to claim it : and will hence- 
 forth decline to be satisfied with shams, mutilated services, or subterfuges. 
 
Appendix. 4 1 1 
 
 To this question, the next generation of the State clergy, 
 will, at the latest, have to give some practical answer. A study 
 of the past, not as it has been represented by partisan his- 
 torians, but as it was, becomes by consequence a duty. 
 
 The following passage, from the Rev. T. W. Mossman's 
 " Freedom for the Church of God," shows that some at least 
 of the clergy are prepared to sacrifice their endowments in 
 order to secure a reasonable Christian liberty : — 
 
 " This assertion of the Church's rights can only, I feel persuaded, be 
 carried into the sphere of action through much tribulation. As when the 
 idol of Royal Supremacy was first set up, its inauguration was celebrated 
 by the blood of martyrs and confessors ; so now what was then a Moloch, 
 but has now, through the mercy of God, lost its sanguinary character, can 
 only be displaced from its shrine in God's Church here in England with 
 the loss of the Church's endowments, by her being wiUing to pay the price 
 of the loss of some of her worldly goods. And I, for one, cannot imagine 
 how any faithful son of the Church of England can think it too high a price 
 to pay. 
 
 " No ! the World, and the State which represents the World, will never 
 allow the Church to be both rich and free. There will be no such thing ever 
 repeated in history as the people of the Lord going forth out of Egypt, 
 from the house of bondage, after spoiling the Egyptians. The Royal Supre- 
 macy in things spiiitual is far too highly prized by the World for it to be 
 surrendered without an equivalent. 
 
 "The Royal Supremacy over the Church of England has been called, 
 I think by some one, ' t/ie brightest Jetve! in the English Crcnon. ' 
 
 " And so perchance it may be. But it is a jewel which has been stolen 
 from the Crown of the Incarnate Son of God. In God's Name, then, let 
 us replace it where only it has a right to be. On any other brow, in any 
 other diadem than that of Christ, it shines with an ominous gleam, which 
 is a sign of wrath and vengeance against all who have taken part, or are 
 implicated, in the robbery which transferred it from Him to those with 
 whom it ought not to be." — "An Earnest and Affectionate Appeal 
 to my High Church Brethren." Second Edition, pp. 22, 23. London : 
 1876. 
 
 The old enactments relating to the Royal Supremacy were 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Whereas the Royal Majesty is justly Supreme Head in Earth of the 
 Church of England, and hath full authority to con-ect and punish all manner 
 of heresies, schisms, errors, vices, and to exercise all other manner of juris- 
 dictions, commonly called ecclesiastical But the archbishop and 
 
412 Appendix. 
 
 bishops have no manner of jurisdiction ecclesiaslical, but by, under, and 
 from the Royal Majesty," 37 Henry VIII. cap. 17. 
 
 "All authority of jurisdiction, spiritual and temporal, is derived and 
 deducted from the King's Majesty, as Supreme Head of these Churches 
 and realms of England and Ireland ; and so justly acknowledged by the 
 clergy of the said realms, and that all Courts Ecclesiastical within the said 
 two realms be kept by no other power nor authority, either foreign nor 
 within the realm, but by the authority of his Most Excellent Majesty," 
 I Edward VI. cap. 2. 
 
 On this subject — which in the inevitable changes before us, 
 will surely come to the forefront — the following remarkable 
 admissions were recently made by the yohn Bull, a newspaper 
 which is believed to represent a limited few of the old Church- 
 and-State party. The Editor wrote as follows, when comment- 
 ing on the work done by the recent Lambeth Conference. 
 The article appeared on September 14th, 1878 : — 
 
 " The report of the Committee on Voluntary Boards of Arbitration 
 strikes us as chiefly valuable for its reflex bearing on the legal Court of 
 Appeal in England. It is an enormous impediment to the unity of the 
 Anglican Communion that the Mother Church should be fettered with a 
 final Court of Appeal, which none of her daughters can or will appeal to. 
 This is what never entered into the minds of those who settled the relations 
 of Church and State at the Reformation. They had no notion of sepa- 
 rating this island (or, rather, a part of it) from the rest of the British 
 empire. The Royal Supremacy was asserted of Divine right within all the 
 King's dominions, and as a religious principle it is impossible to put it on 
 any narrower footing. For political reasons Caesar now repudiates the 
 things that are Csesar's, throughout the greatest part of his dominions; 
 in Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies, the Crown refuses to be appealed 
 to in Ecclesiastical causes ; in England alone it retains, and tightens, its 
 grip to an extent which seems to many to comprise some of the things that 
 are God's. 
 
 ' ' As a matte)- of fact, the Royal Supremacy is no longer a tenet of the 
 Anglican Comiminion ; and that being so, it is obvious that it can be no reli- 
 gious tenet of the Mother Church. It is simply an accident of the temporal 
 Establishment, and many painfd questions might be avoided if the fact luere 
 more clearly recognized. It is absurd to rave at an English incumbent, as 
 unfaithful to the principles of the Reformation, for refusing to obey the 
 Judicial Committee, when that tribunal does not pretend to the slightest 
 authority over the larger portion of the Reformed Church. On the other 
 hand, a recalcitrant incumbent should remember that the legal conditions 
 of the Establishment, and not the spiritual authority of the Church, are the 
 
Appendix. 4 1 3 
 
 subjects of this tribunal's jurisdiction. The danger is that the Estabhsh- 
 ment itself is shaken by the greater breadth so unwisely given to the 
 distinction. That has been always our objection to the Public Worship 
 Regulation Act. 
 
 "To return, however, to the Report. It is manifest that the other 
 Churches will not be ruled by the interpretation of English lawyers, either 
 in doctrine, worship, or discipline ; and then what is to be their final Court 
 of Appeal ? It cannot be the Archbishop of Canterbury so long as he is 
 subject to the Judicial Committee, even if the Archbishop of York, the 
 Scottish, Irish, and, above all, the American Bishops and their Churches, 
 would agree to recognize him as a Spiritual Patriarch. Moreover, the 
 Anglican Communion is daily giving birth to other than English-speaking 
 Churches, who are not on any primitive principle to be bound to a new 
 Pope at Lambeth. The patriarchal system, in short, is plainly inapplicable 
 to the full extent of the communion ; and it is hindered in the smaller area, 
 where it might for many reasons be desirable, by the narrow-mindedness of 
 our modern lawyers. Consequently all that remains is Voluntary Arbitra- 
 tion, and this is the subject of the second Report." — John Bull. 
 
 Although the details differed, yet the remarkable contest 
 which certain of the clergy of the Established Church of 
 Scotland held with the State immediately prior to the year 
 1843 was like in principle to that waged in the twelfth cen- 
 tury by St. Thomas of Canterbury. This may be gathered 
 from the terms of a noble Protest and Declaration which those 
 Scotch clergymen issued, when, shaking off the dust from their 
 feet, they went forth from the Establishment, — parts of which 
 Protest are here given below : — 
 
 "We, the undersigned ministers and elders, chosen as Commissioners to 
 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (a.d. May, 1843), indicted 
 to meet this day, but precluded from holding the said Assembly by reason 
 of the circumstances hereinafter set forth, in consequence of which a Free 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in accordance with the laws and 
 constitution of the said Church, cannot at this time be holden — 
 
 "Considering that the Legislature, by their rejection of the Claim of 
 Right adopted by the last General Assembly of the said Church, and their 
 refusal to give redress and protection against the jurisdiction assumed, and 
 the coercion of late repeatedly attempted to be exercised over the Courts 
 of the Church in matters spiritual by the Civil Courts, have recognized and 
 fixed the conditions of the Church Establishment, as henceforward to 
 subsist in Scotland, to be such as these have been pronounced and declared 
 by the said Civil Courts in their several recent decisions, in regard to 
 matters spiritual and ecclesiastical, whereby it has been held inter alia, — 
 
4 1 4 Appendix. 
 
 '■'■First, — That the Courts of the Church by law estabhshed, and members 
 thereof, are liable to be coerced by the Civil Courts in the exercise of their 
 spiritual functions ; and in particular in the admission to the office of the 
 holy ministry, and the constitution of the pastoral relation, and that they 
 are subject to be compelled to intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations 
 in opposition to the fundamental principles of the Church, and their views 
 of the Word of God, and to the liberties of Christ's people. 
 
 "Second, — That the said Civil Courts have power to interfere with and 
 interdict the preaching of the Gospel and administration of ordinances as 
 authorized and enjoined by the Church Courts of the Establishment. 
 
 " Thij-d, — That the said Civil Courts have power to suspend spiritual 
 censures pronounced by the Church Courts of the Establishment against 
 ministers and probationers of the Church, and to interdict their execution 
 as to spiritual effects, functions, and privileges. 
 
 "Fourth, — That the said Civil Courts have power to reduce and set aside 
 the sentences of the Church Courts of the Establishment deposing minis- 
 ters from the office of the holy ministry, and depriving probationers of their 
 licence to preach the Gospel, with reference to the spiritual status, functions, 
 and privileges, of such ministers and probationers— restoring them to the 
 spiritual office and status of which the Church Courts had deprived them. 
 
 "/?/?/?,— That the said Civil Courts have power to determine on the 
 right to sit as members of the supreme and other judicatories of the Church 
 by law established, and to issue interdicts against sitting and voting 
 therein, irrespective of the judgment and determination of the said 
 judicatories. 
 
 "Sixth, — That the said Civil Courts have power to supersede the 
 majority of a Church Court of the Establishment, in regard to the exer- 
 cise of its spiritual functions as a Church Court, and to authorize the 
 minority to exercise the said functions in opposition to the Court itself, 
 and to the superior judicatories of the Establishment. 
 
 ^^ Seventh. — That the said Civil Courts have power to stay processes of 
 discipline pending before Courts of the Church by law established, and to 
 interdict such Courts from proceeding therein. 
 
 '■'■Eighth. — That no pastor of a congregation can be admitted into the 
 Church Courts of the Establishment, and allowed to rule, as well as to 
 teach, agreeably to the institution of the office by the Head of the Church, 
 nor to sit in any of the judicatories of the Church, inferior or supreme — 
 and that no additional provision can be made for the exercise of spiritual 
 discipline among members of the Church, though not affecting any patri- 
 monial interests, and no alteration introduced in the state of the pastoral 
 superintendence and spiritual discipline in any parish, without the sanction 
 of a Civil Court. 
 
 " All which jurisdiction and power on the part of the said Civil Courts 
 severally above specified, whatever proceeding may have given occasion to 
 its exercise, is, in our opinion, in itself inconsistent with Christian liberty, 
 
Appendix. 415 
 
 and with the authority which the head of the Church hath conferred on the 
 Church alone. 
 
 * • # * * # 
 
 "And finally, while firmly asserting the right and duty of the civil 
 magistrate to maintain and support an establishment of religion in accord- 
 ance with God's Word, and reserving to ourselves and our successors to 
 strive by all lawful means, as opportunity shall in God's good providence 
 be offered, to secure the performance of this duty agreeably to the Scrip- 
 tures, and in implement of the Statutes of the kingdom of Scotland, and 
 the obligations of the Treaty of Union as understood by us and our 
 ancestors, but acknowledging that we do not hold ourselves at liberty to 
 retain the benefits of the establishment while we cannot comply with the 
 conditions now to be deemed thereto attached — We protest, that in the 
 circumstances in which we are placed, it is, and shall be lawful for us, and 
 other Commissioners chosen to the Assembly appointed to have been this 
 day holden as may concur with us, to withdraw to a separate place of 
 meeting, for the purpose of taking steps for ourselves and all who adhere 
 to us — maintaining with us the Confession of Faith, and Standards of the 
 Church of Scotland, as heretofore understood — for separating in an orderly 
 way from the Establishment ; and thereupon adopting such measures as 
 may be competent to us, in humble dependence on God's grace and the aid 
 of the Holy Spirit, for the advancement of His glory, the extension of the 
 Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, and the administration of the affairs of 
 Christ's house, according to His Holy Word ; and we do now, for the 
 purpose aforesaid, withdraw accordingly, humbly and solemnly acknow- 
 ledging the hand of the Lord in the things which have come upon us, 
 because of our manifold sins, and the sins of this Church and nation ; but, 
 at the same time, with an assured conviction, that we are not responsible 
 for any consequences that may follow from this our enforced separation 
 from an Establishment which we loved and prized— through interference 
 with conscience, the dishonour done to Christ's crown, and the rejection 
 of His sole and Supreme Authority as King in His Church." 
 
 Attacks on St. Thomas of Canterbury. — Mr. J. A. 
 Froude has made hiinself notorious by his attacks on this great 
 saint, just as the reputation of his distinguished brother, the 
 late Mr. Richard Hurrell Froude, was so largely increased by 
 his able account of the struggle in which St. Thomas was 
 engaged. Of these attacks, another historical writer, Dr. E. A. 
 Freeman, has written some sharp criticisms. Concerning Mr. 
 J. A. Froude's account of St. Thomas, Dr. Freeman wrote thus 
 in the Contemporary Review for September, 1878 : — 
 
4 1 6 Appendix. 
 
 " Mr. Froude stands alone as the one writer of any importance, of whose 
 writings one can say that on them any process of correction would be 
 thrown away. The evil is inherent; it is inborn. It is not mere colouring; 
 it is not mere mistaken inference; it is not mere mistakes in detail, however 
 gross the carelessness or ignorance which they might imply. It is the 
 substitution, through page after page, of one narrative for another — the 
 substitution of a story which bears no likeness to the original story, except 
 that the same actors appear in both. When such narratives as that of Mr. 
 Froude appear under the garb of history, it becomes the duty of those who 
 have really studied the times which he ventures to touch, to put in their 
 protest in the name of historic truth. I leave others to protest against Mr. 
 Froude's treatment of the sixteenth century. I do not pi'ofess to have 
 mastered those times in detail from original sources. I have, however, 
 been often led to particular points in those times from various local and 
 special quarters ; and, when I have been so led, I have always found Mr. 
 Froude's treatment of the matter which I had in hand both inadequate and 
 inaccurate. But in the twelfth century I feel myself at home, only less at 
 home than if Mr. Froude had come and sought me out in the eleventh. 
 If history means truth, if it means fairness, if it means faithfully reporting 
 what contemporary sources record, and drawing reasonable inferences from 
 their statements, then Mr. Froude is no historian. The ' Life and Times 
 of Thomas Becket,' whatever it may be, is not a history; because 
 history implies truth, and the ' Life and Times of Thomas Becket ' 
 is not truth but fiction. It does not record the life of a chancellor 
 and archbishop of the twelfth century, but the life of an imaginary 
 being in an imaginary age. It may be a vigorous and telling party 
 pamphlet; it is not a narrative of facts. Mr. Froude is a man of 
 undoubted ability, of undoubted power of writing. If there is any branch 
 of science or learning in which accuracy of statement is a matter of indiffe- 
 rence, in which a calm putting forth of statements which are purely 
 arbitrary can be accepted in its stead, in that branch of science or learning 
 Mr. Froude's undoubted ability, his gift of description and narrative, may 
 stand him in good stead. But for the writing of history, while those gifts are 
 precious, other gifts are more precious still. In that field ' before all things 
 truth beareth away the victory;' and among those whom trath has enrolled 
 in her following as her men, among those who go forth to do battle for 
 her as their sovereign lady, Mr. Froude has no part or lot. It may be his 
 fault; it may be his misfortune; but the fact is clear. History is a record 
 of things which happened; what passes for history in the hands of Mr. 
 Froude is a writing in which the things which really happened find no 
 place, and in which their place is taken by the airy children of Mr. Froude's 
 imamnation. " 
 
Appendix. 4 1 7 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 RELICS OF ST. CHAD, BISHOP OF LICHFIELD 
 (p. 204). 
 
 For the substance of the following I am indebted to the 
 " Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus," a 
 series edited by Brother Henry Foley, S.J. — a most important 
 contribution to the ecclesiastical history of England : — 
 
 It appears that at the ransacking, " reforming " and robbery 
 of Lichfield Cathedral, a certain Prebendary Dudley, " related 
 to the famous Dudley who was formerly Lord or Baron," took 
 away St. Chad's relics for the sake of the honour and reverence 
 due to them, \vhich he entrusted to two noble women, his 
 relations, and of his own name, who lived at a mansion-house, 
 named Russell Hall, near the county residence of Dudley. 
 Th© prebendary, in the course of time, dying, these ladies, 
 though still clinging to the ancient faith, became alarmed by 
 reason of the severe laws ; and being desirous of not ex- 
 posing themselves to needless danger, gave the relics to two 
 brothers, Henry and William Hodsheeds, who lived at Wood- 
 saton near Sedgley in Staffordshire, by whom they were duly 
 divided. The portions which fell to the former passed from 
 Henry Hodsheeds to the Rev. Father Peter Turner, S.J., on 
 September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a.d. 1615, 
 This clergyman, who attended their owner on his death-bed, 
 received his share of the relics from Hodsheeds' wife, "wrapped 
 up in a piece of black buckram." 
 
 Father Turner has left on record the following concerning 
 them : — " Both Henry and myself thought that this was the 
 same cover in which these relics had been wrapped at the 
 time they were laid in a silver reliquary in the Church of Lich- 
 field. From the above-named cover I took out the sacred 
 bones, and placed them in a wooden box, nineteen or twenty 
 inches long, six deep, and six broad ; together with the cover 
 separately folded, and I sealed the box with two small seals 
 of wax." 
 
 All this was attested by Father Turner, under his hand. 
 
 E e 
 
4 1 8 Appendix. 
 
 And it was witnessed by the Rev. William Atkins, S.J., by 
 Francis Cotton, Thomas Wilkinson, and Richard Vavasour. 
 
 On October i, 1652, the Rev. Father Francis Foster, Eng- 
 lish Provincial of the Jesuits, diligently inspected the relics 
 of St. Chad, and approved of them (he being an apostolic 
 notary). The acts were placed in the archives of the Society 
 of Jesus. 
 
 Father Peter Turner, dying on May 27, 1655, these relics, 
 with the approbation of Father Edward Bedingfield, were 
 placed with John Leveson, because he belonged at that time 
 both to the district and to the College of Blessed Aloysius. 
 The cover above-mentioned, because it was old and tattered, 
 was burnt by William Atkins, S.J. 
 
 On the Feast of St. Andrew, 1658, certain soldiers and others 
 entering the house of Father Leverson, opened the box, broke 
 one of the bones, and carried off others. 
 
 The end of a declaration, still kept at Mr. Fitzherbert's, of 
 Swynnerton Hall, stands thus : — " I, William Atkins, on 
 March 2, 1664, removed these sacred relics from the box, 
 which the soldiers had broken, into another .box lined with 
 silk." 
 
 After which the following is recorded : — 
 
 " On a loose paper, an attestation of Father Richard Foster, 
 Rector of St. Omer's, dated January 20th, 1667, at St. Omer's, 
 stating that being Visitor of the Residence of St. Chad, he 
 took out of the box of St. Chad's relics, in the house of a 
 certain noble catholic, a particle of St. Chad's relics, and gave 
 it to the Father Director of the English Sodality, to be ex- 
 posed to public veneration, if the Bishop of St. Omer should 
 think proper." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Weld Blundell, Esquire, of Ince-Blundell Hall, 
 Crosby, has written as follows : — 
 
 " Before the opening of the Catholic Church at Birmingham 
 I understood that the bones of the saint had been discovered 
 in the following way : — A key was found at Swynnerton to 
 which was attached a label, and on the label was written a 
 statement that the key would open the chest, in which the 
 
Appendix. 419 
 
 relics of St. Chad had been placed ; and that the chest, for 
 the sake of security, had been transported from Swynnerton to 
 Aston Hall. On searching Aston Hall the chest containing 
 the relics was found and the key opened it." 
 
 At Aston Hall, — which anciently belonged to the Hevingham 
 family, and then passed by marriage to the Simeons of Bright- 
 well in Oxfordshire, and so to the Welds of Lulworth, — there 
 was an ancient private chapel, under the jurisdiction of the 
 Roman Catholic bishop of the district. 
 
 St. Chad's relics are now preserved in a suitable and hand- 
 some shrine in the choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Chad, 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Abbot Whiting executed alone (p. 212) — From a MS. 
 in the handwriting of the late Mr. Sharon Turner, it appears 
 that in looking over certain transcripts of papers from the 
 family collections of the house of Russell, he found the draft 
 of a letter from Sir John Russell to Sir Thomas Cromwell, in 
 which the former admits that the abbot was intentionally 
 executed alone, so as to prevent his receiving any sympathy 
 or aid from his two spiritual sons in the Order, — who were 
 executed on the same day, — and because of his stubbornness 
 and obstinacy. 
 
 f; e 2 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A Becket no martyr, 163. 
 Abbeville, Gennings imprisoned at, 
 
 369- 
 
 Abbot Whiting examined, 193 ; im- 
 prisoned, 199 ; his trial at Wells, 
 20S ; remembered, 219 ; con- 
 victed, 211 ; his last confession, 
 211 ; his unpardonable sin, 205 ; 
 executed alone, 419. 
 
 Accusations against monks, 29. 
 
 Act of 1536 suppressing Lesser 
 Monasteries, 26. 
 
 Act of Succession, 237, 241. 
 
 Acts against Beggars, 84. 
 
 Adhelm of Sherborne, 183. 
 
 Advantages of monasteries, 189. 
 
 Ahab's example, 294. 
 
 Allar of St. Benedict, Canterbury, 
 
 138. 
 
 Alnwyck, William, 296. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon MS., 399. 
 
 Ambassador, insult of an, 250. 
 
 Anne Boleyn and Bishop Fisher's 
 head, 59, 60 ; condemned and 
 degraded, 61. 
 
 Anne of Cleves, 38. 
 
 Anger of Cromwell, 43. 
 
 Appeals to Rome, 9. 
 
 Appendices, 399. 
 
 Appropriations, Kennett on, 91. 
 
 Ap Rice, John, knighted, 341. 
 
 Ap Thomas, William, 250 ; dis- 
 comfiture of, 252. 
 
 Archbishop's Palace at Canterbury 
 sacked, 141. 
 
 Archbishop Edward Lee obedient, 
 
 17- 
 
 Arms of Thomas Cromwell, 7. 
 Arrest of the Carthusians, 247. 
 Arrest of Cromwell, 43. 
 
 Articles of Visitation, 14. 
 
 Ashby, William, hung, 336. 
 
 Aske, Robert, 99, 407 ; his procla- 
 mation, 100; hung, 114; cha- 
 racter of, ib. ; pedigree of, 407 ; 
 summoned to London, ill. 
 
 Attacks on St. Thomas of Canter- 
 bury, 415. 
 
 Attempt to take Hull, 112. 
 
 Audley, Lord Chancellor, 316 ; his 
 rapacity, 340. 
 
 Barlow, Bishop William, 105. 
 
 Barton, Elizabeth, hanged, 333. 
 
 Beauchamp's coffin, Henry Lord, 
 406. 
 
 Beauvalle, Carthusian House of, 
 228. 
 
 Bedyll, Thomas, 243, 253, 299, 
 302 ; his letter to Cromwell, 
 268, 282. 
 
 Beggars to be whipped, 85 ; to be 
 mutilated, 86 ; in the pillory, ib. 
 
 "Benevolences," so-called, 309. 
 
 Bere, John, 240 ; Richard, 279, 
 283. 
 
 Berners, Lord, 338. 
 
 Bigod, Sir Francis, 112. 
 
 Birth of a dead child, 35. 
 
 Bishops by Letters Patent, 31, 
 108. 
 
 Bishop Longland obedient, 17. 
 
 Bocking, Edward, hanged, 333. 
 
 Boleyn, Anne, confesses to Cran- 
 mer, 66 ; her execution, 67 ; her 
 burial, 68 ; Mary and the king, 
 64 ; and Henry Percy, ib.; be- 
 headed, 37. 
 
 Bonner's Injunctions, 24. 
 
1 O T 
 
 Index. 
 
 Book of donors, 183. 
 
 Book- writers of the abbeys, 182. 
 
 Bouchier, Robert, 306. 
 
 Bowyer, Sir G., on Church and 
 
 State, 134. 
 Bulkeley, Alibess Katherine, 227. 
 Bull, Cum Rcdcinptor iiostcr, 161. 
 Bulmer, Sir John, hung, 115; Lady, 
 
 burnt, ib. 
 Brute Force, incarnation of, 316. 
 Bryan, Sir Francis, 319. 
 Burdens on the people, 30S. 
 Burgoyne, Bartholomew, 302. 
 Burial of St. Thomas, 143. 
 Butts, Dr., 301. 
 
 Canterbury Pilgrims' tokens, 152. 
 
 Carthusians, fare of the, 232. 
 
 Carthusian fathers, silent, 246 ; 
 Monks punished, 2S0 ; monastery, 
 description of a, 234 ; Priors exa- 
 mined, 19. 
 
 Caerleon, Bishopric of, 175. 
 
 Cecily, Duchess of York, 298. 
 
 Ceremonies at King Henry VIII. 's 
 funeral, 323. 
 
 Chapel of the Trinity in Canterbury 
 Cathedral desolate, 166. 
 
 Character of Middlemore, 266 ; of 
 Newdigate, 266. 
 
 Charterhouse, London, the, 228, 
 235 ; Surrender of the, 277. 
 
 Chauncey, Maurice, 236. 
 
 Chisbury Castle, 54. 
 
 Circular letter to Justices, 17. 
 
 Clement, Margaret, 279. 
 
 Clergy, overridden, 18. 
 
 Cobbett, on the population of Can- 
 terbury, 149. 
 
 Coinage, debasement of the, 310. 
 
 Commission of Pope Alexander III., 
 
 144- 
 Commotion at Teddington, 249. 
 Conduct of Parliament, 81. 
 Convent of the Salutation, 236. 
 Constable, Sir Robert, loi ; hung, 
 
 "5: 
 
 Constitutions of Clarendon, 161. 
 Conviction of the Carthusian Priors, 
 
 257- 
 Cornwallis' gift. Mistress, 315. 
 Corpulence of the king, 312. 
 Corruption of the nobility, 312. 
 
 Council of Clarendon, 125 ; of 
 
 Northampton, 127. 
 Countess of Salisbury beheaded, 
 
 335- 
 
 Coventry, Carthusian House of, 228. 
 
 Cranmer's subserviency, 63 ; obe- 
 dient, 59 ; marries a servant, 90 ; 
 marries a second wife, 226 ; ini- 
 quity, 65 ; character of, 339 ; 
 his wives, 225, 226 ; on abbey 
 treasures, 30 ; Erastianism, 226 ; 
 written opinions, 226 ; perjury, 
 89 ; at Croydon, 319 ; dissolution 
 of marriage, 37 ; Dr. Littledale 
 on, 339 ; at Henry VIII. 's death, 
 320. 
 
 Cromwell's ballad singers, 23. 
 
 Cromwell, character of, 48 ; be- 
 headed, 47 ; contempt for the 
 Church, 253 ; co-operators, 23 ; 
 defence of the executions, 21 ; 
 made Dean of Wells, 32 ; directs 
 the Bishops, 15 ; Injunctions to 
 the Clergy, 32 ; offices and dig- 
 nities, 7 ; peerage, ib. ; rapacity, 
 45 ; Master of the Rolls, 245 ; 
 literary allies, 23 ; letters to the 
 king, 44 ; his servility, 46 ; pedi- 
 gree of, 5 ; Vicar-General, 8. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 4, 5, 1 14. 
 
 Cromwell, Walter, 4, 5. 
 
 Cross-examination of Abbot Whit- 
 ing. 195- 
 
 Crowe, Alexander, 383 ; vision of, 
 392 ; arrested, 391 ; family of, 
 385 ; death of, 396 ; triumph of, 
 
 395- .... 
 Crown jurisdiction, ro8. 
 Cumberland, Earl of, 103. 
 Curwen's sermon before the king, 
 
 292 ; Dr. Hugh, 292 ; his reply to 
 
 Peto, 292. 
 " Customs," the so-called, 125. 
 
 Dacre, Lord, and Cromwell, 41 ; 
 
 Sir William, 40. 
 Danby, Sir Christopher, loi. 
 Dangers to England, 238. 
 Darcy, Lord, 102; beheaded, 1 16. 
 Darley, John, 240 ; apparition to, 
 
 275- 
 Davenport, Christopher, 382. 
 Death of Henry VIII., 320. 
 
Index. 
 
 4- 
 
 o 
 
 Death of St. Thomas of Canterbury, 
 
 140. 
 Debasing the coinage, 310. 
 De Brocli, Ranulph, 130. 
 De Brocl<, Robert, 130. 
 De Burgh, Hubert, 147. 
 DeUcacies from abroad, 315' 
 Dely, Margaret, 305. 
 De Manny, Lord, death of, 229 ; his 
 
 burial, 230. 
 Demands of the Pilgrims of Grace, 
 
 107— 109. 
 De Moreville, Hugh, 131. 
 Denny, Sir Anthony, 318, 326. 
 Deputies of the Pilgrims, no. 
 Derby, Earl of, 103. 
 Dering, John, hanged, 333. 
 Desolation of Glastonbury, 219 ; of 
 
 Sion House, 295. 
 Destruction of RISS. and Books, 
 
 184; of St. Thomas's Shrine, 
 
 157; of Glastonbury, 218. 
 De Tracy, William, 131/ 
 Dibdale, Robert, 366. 
 Dismemberment, 257. 
 Double nature of man, 121. 
 Drawing of St. Thomas's Shrine, 
 
 155- 
 
 Early British Church, 174. 
 Edendon, Bishop William, 229. 
 Edmund of Haddenham, 183. 
 Edward VI. on Lord Sudeley's 
 
 death, 75 ! Calvinism of, 332. 
 Edwards, Elizabeth, 307. 
 Effect of Prremunire, 9. 
 Elizabeth declared illegitimate, 81. 
 Elstowe, Father, 227 — 290 ; his 
 
 reply, 293. 
 Embalming of Henry VHI., 321. 
 England, Gennings lands 'in, 370. 
 Epworth, Carthusian House of, 227. 
 Ewers, Sir Ralph, 103. 
 Execution of the Carthusian Priors, 
 
 264. 
 Excessive cruelty of the Tudors, 31 1. 
 Exeter, Marquis of, 103. 
 Exmew, William, 240. 
 Extension of the Penal Code, 82. 
 Extent of Revolt, 99. 
 
 Falsehoods of the Inquisitors, 299. 
 Family of Crowe of Yorkshire, 385. 
 
 Fare of the Carthusians, 232. 
 
 Father Raby, appariiion of, 275. 
 
 Fearon, Robert, 249. 
 
 Fermor, Richard, ruined, 39. 
 
 Fewterer, John, 302. 
 
 Fifths taken by the king, 308. 
 
 First-fruits abolished, 10 ; granted 
 
 to the king, 1 1 . 
 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 20, 
 
 242 ; Cardinal, sufferings, 21. 
 Fitzurse, Reginald, 131. 
 Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 94. 
 Flattery of the king, 80—316. 
 Foreign preacher at York, 387. 
 Foreign pilgrims to Canterbury, 
 
 151- 
 
 Forrest, John, burnt alive, 333. 
 Fox, Edward, on General Councils, 
 
 32. 
 Fresh oaths imposed, 241. 
 Funeral of Henry VIII., 320. 
 
 Gardiner, sermon by, 104. 
 
 Gardiner, Germain, put to death, 336. 
 
 Garnet, Cecily. 391. 
 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, 307. 
 
 Gaudy, Judge, 354. 
 
 Gennings, Edmund, 347, 361 ; life 
 of, 362 ; character of, 366 ; sick- 
 ness and recovery of, 367, 368 ; 
 ordained priest, 369 ; meets his 
 brother, 371; dismembered, 379. 
 
 Gennings, John, 364; conversion of, 
 381. 
 
 Gilby, Thomas, in. 
 
 Glastonbury, town of, 173. 
 
 Glastonbury Tor, 21 1. 
 
 Great Bedwyn, 53. 
 
 Great Chartreuse, the, 231. 
 
 Great Charter, the, 237, 238. 
 
 Green, Thomas, 279. 
 
 Greenwood, William, 240, 283. 
 
 Grim, Edward, wounded, 139. 
 
 Gwent, Archdeacon, 279. 
 
 Hale, John, 247. 
 
 Ilallam, Mr., on Katherine Howard, 
 
 342. 
 Hamilton, Sir Stephen, hung, 115. 
 Hawkeshead, Lancashire, 10 1. 
 Hearne, Thomas, 300. 
 Ileneage, a commissioner, 98. 
 
424 
 
 Index. 
 
 Henton, Carthusian House of, 228. 
 
 Henry H., violent words of, 131. 
 
 Henry V , endows Sion House, 296. 
 
 Henry VHL, " Supreme Lord," 9 ; 
 treatment of Wolsey, 6 ; at Wolf 
 Hall, 56. 
 
 Herbert, Sir William, 326. 
 
 Hertford family, cofiins of the, 406. 
 
 Heylin, Dr., on Church destruc- 
 tion, 71. 
 
 Heywood, John, 338. 
 
 High treason and its punishment, 83. 
 
 Hobbes, Abbot Robert, hung, 116. 
 
 Hodgson, Sydney, 374. 
 
 Holbein, the portrait painter, 38. 
 
 Hooper, John, 78. 
 
 Hopton, Sir Owen, 351. 
 
 Home, William, 20, 240, 279, 283. 
 
 Horrible barbarity, 265. 
 
 Horton, Sir Thomas, fined, 336. 
 
 Houghton, John, 18 ; Prior, dream 
 of, 243 ; sermon of, 244. 
 
 Huntingdon, Earl of, 103. 
 
 Hussey, Lord, beheaded, 115. 
 
 Imprisonment without trial, 84. 
 
 Influence of the regular clergy, 1 1 ; 
 of the abbeys, 1 81. 
 
 Inhuman cruelties, 269. 
 
 Inquisitors appointed, 12 ; at Glas- 
 tonljury; 196 ; their letter to 
 Cromwell, 200. 
 
 Intercession made for Abbot Whit- 
 ing, 213. 
 
 Interior of Canterbury Cathedral, 
 137; of Louth Parish Church, 88. 
 
 Ireland, John, put to death, 336. 
 
 Jenson, Sir David, put to death, 
 
 336. 
 John Brompton, 183. 
 yohn Bull on the Royal Supremacy, 
 
 412. 
 John Layton visits Glastonbury, 
 
 192. 
 Johnson, Thomas, 240, 279. 
 Jordan, Abbess Agnes, 304, 305. 
 Jury overridden, a, 254, 256. 
 
 Kdtherine's, Queen, character, 341. 
 
 King Arthur's tomb, 177. 
 
 King Edgar at Glastonbury, 1 79. 
 
 King Henry VIII. congratulated by 
 Parliament, 80 ; his drink, 315 ; 
 his will, 331 ; rates the Pilgrims 
 of Grace, 95 ; his diseases, 313 ; 
 his gluttony, 314; prayed for, 
 323 ; the king's proclamation, 
 83 ; his illness, 318 ; his corpu- 
 lence, 312 ; his death, 320. 
 
 Kingston - upon - Hull, Carthusian 
 House of, 228. 
 
 Kitson, Sir Thom_as, 243. 
 
 La Certosa di Pavia, 232. 
 
 Lacy, Brian, 374. 
 
 Lady Pembroke's mourning, 58. 
 
 Langton, Cardinal Archbishop, 144. 
 
 Lacke, John, put to death, 336. 
 
 Latimer on Protestant tactics, 25. 
 
 Lawrence, Prior Robert, 18, 245. 
 
 Layton, Dr. John, 192 ; at Canter- 
 bury, 164. 
 
 Layton, I\ichard, 299. 
 
 Le Bret, Richard, 131. 
 
 Lee, Archbishop, 102. 
 
 Lee, Dr. Thomas, 12, 92; character 
 of, 92. 
 
 Lee, Cromwell, 13. 
 
 Lee, George Henry, 13, 400. 
 
 Lee, Bishop Rowland, 62, 243. 
 
 Legal absurdities, 160. 
 
 Legal evidence " sorted," 207. 
 
 Leland, John, 338. 
 
 Lesser monasteries suppressed, 191. 
 
 Letter of John Paine, 360. 
 
 Library, Sion House, 306. 
 
 Llandaff, Bishopric of, 175. 
 
 London, Dr. John, punished, 341. 
 
 Lord Dacre accused, 40. 
 
 Lord Russell's letter to the Earl of 
 Essex, 217. 
 
 Lumley, Sir William, hung, 115. 
 
 Mackerell, Abbot Matthew, hung, 
 
 115. 
 Magna Charta set aside, 14. 
 Maitland, Dr. S. R., on Protestant 
 
 ballads, 23. 
 ALanny, Sir Walter, 228. 
 iVIarchioness of Pembroke, lO. 
 Marischal College, Aberdeen, MS. 
 
 at, 408. 
 Mason, John, 374. 
 Masses at Windsor, 330. 
 
Index. 
 
 425 
 
 Master, Richard, hung, 333. 
 
 INfaydwell, Friar, apostatizes, 271. 
 
 Menevia, David, Archbishop of, 176. 
 
 Middlemore, Humphiy, 240; cha- 
 racter of, 266. 
 
 " Might is Right," 4. 
 
 Miraculous act of benediction, 143. 
 
 Miraculous occurrence, 379. 
 
 Modem innovations, 219. 
 
 Modem opinions, 220. 
 
 Monastic chroniclers, 183. 
 
 Monastic principle, the, 178. 
 
 Monasteries destroyed, 4 ; hospitals 
 for the poor, 188 ; schools of 
 learning, 187. 
 
 Monks, the, betrayed, 271 ; good 
 landlords, 190. 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, 242 ; advice to 
 Cromwell, 10 ; and the Priors, 
 259 ; beheaded, 21. 
 
 Mossman, Rev. T. W. on "Bi- 
 shops by Act of Parliament, 31 ; 
 on "Freedom for the Church of 
 God," 411. 
 
 Mourners at Henry VIII. 's funeral, 
 322. 
 
 Mourning of the populace, 42, 
 
 Musgrave, Nicholas, iii. 
 
 Neville, Sir John, beheaded, 40. 
 
 Newdigate, Sebastian, 240 ; charac- 
 ter of, 266. 
 
 Nevif Feast appointed, 149. 
 
 " New men," character of the, 78. 
 
 Newton, Matilda, 296. 
 
 Nobility impoverished, 3. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 103. 
 
 Northburgh, Michael de, 229. 
 
 North, family of, 285. 
 
 Northumberland's, Duke of, letter, 
 65. 
 
 Oath of homage, 108. 
 Oath of Pilgrims of Grace, 93. 
 Obedience of Bishop Shaxton, 17. 
 Offerings at vSt. Thomas's Shrine, 
 
 156. 
 Offices of the Carthusians, 233. 
 Order for the Charterhouse, 272. 
 Order, the Carthusian, 231. 
 Origin of Pilgrimage of Grace, 89. 
 
 Face the ambassador, 338. 
 Paine 's confession of P'aitli, 35C. 
 
 Paine, John, 347 ; death of, 35S ; 
 his letter, 360 ; ordained abroad, 
 353; racking of, 359; charges 
 against, 352. 
 Palmer, Abbess Catherine, 343. 
 Parish Church of Bedwyn, 54. 
 Part of Abbot Whiting distributed, 
 
 217. 
 Partridge, Sir Miles, 314. 
 Paslew, Abbot John, hung, 115. 
 Pearson, Walter, 240, 283. 
 Pedigree of Cromwell, 5. 
 Percy, Sir Thomas, hung, 115. 
 Peter Langtoft, 183. 
 Peter the Venerable, 232. 
 Petition of Pilgrims of Grace to the 
 
 king, 93. 
 Petition of the Pilgrims, 106. 
 Peto, Friar, 290 ; his prophecy ful- 
 filled, 328 ; his sermon jjefore the 
 king, 291 ; Father, 227. 
 Phillips, Thomas, 401. 
 Pilgrimage of Grace, 77. 
 Pilgrims hung and quartered, 1 13. 
 Pilgrims' ways, 152. 
 Plate buried at Lichfield, 204. 
 Plate discovered at Glastonbury, 202. 
 Plasden, Polydore, 374, 377. 
 Policy of William of Normandy, iSo. 
 Pope Alexander III., 129. 
 Pope's name erased, 16. 
 Possession of monasteries, 28. 
 Poverty of Royal Exchequer, 30. 
 Prayer for " Queen Anne," 16. 
 Preparations for Abbot Whiting's 
 
 death, 215. 
 Pretended treason of Abbot Whiting, 
 
 203. 
 Priest of York, 387. 
 Principle of fixedness, 190. 
 Prior Houghton, 239, 240 ; his re- 
 mains, 265. 
 Privy Council Order, 311. 
 Proclamation against St. Thomas, 
 
 163. 
 Proclamation of Aske, 100. 
 Progress of the corpse of King 
 
 Henry VIII. , 325. 
 Prophecy of Peto fulfilled, 328, 329. 
 Protest of Tunstall, 8. 
 Protest of Scotch Clergymen in 1843, 
 
 413- 
 
 Punishment for High Treason, 83. 
 Purbrick, Rev. E. J., 399. 
 
 F f 
 
426 
 
 Index. 
 
 Queen Anne's discovery, 35 ; her 
 Letter to King Henry, 36. 
 
 Queen Katherine at Bugden, 57 ; 
 her Letter to the King, 58. 
 
 Ralph de Diceto, 183. 
 
 RawHns, Alexander, 369. 
 
 Rawlins, Nicholas, 270. 
 
 Reading, John, 240. 
 
 Records and Deeds preserved, 186. 
 
 Re-examination of Abbot Whiting, 
 198. 
 
 Relics at Canterbury, 153. 
 
 Relics of St. Chad, 417. 
 
 Relics of Sion House, 344. 
 
 Relics of St. Thomas, 166, 167. 
 
 Replies of John Paine, 355. 
 
 Report concerning .Sion House, 300. 
 
 Reunion Magazine, The, \'ii. 
 
 Revelation of Robert of Mert on, 142. 
 
 Reverence for .St. Thomas, 170. 
 
 Reverence for the Sacrament, 317. 
 
 Reverence of the English peasant, 90. 
 
 Rev. J. H. Blunt on spiritual juris- 
 diction, 163. 
 
 Reynolds, Richard, 247. 
 
 Rich, the Lord, 357. 
 
 Rich, Thomas, hanged, 336. 
 
 Risby, John, hanged, 336. 
 
 Risby, Richard, hanged, 333. 
 
 Roads of the Pilgrims, 152. 
 
 Rochester, John, 240 ; hung, 1 14. 
 
 Rome sacked, 5. 
 
 Royal Pilgrims to Canterbury, 150. 
 
 Royal Supremacy, the, 349 ; dead 
 and dropped, 412. 
 
 Rules of the Carthusians, 233. 
 
 Rutland, Earl of, 103. 
 
 Salisbury, Margaret, Countess of, 
 
 beheaded, 335. 
 Salt, Robert, 240. 
 Saltwood Castle, 132. 
 Sampson, Richard, imprisoned, 39. 
 Sancta Clara, 382. 
 Satire of the Religious Orders, 24. 
 Savigny on Christianity, 121. 
 Scarborough Castle, Defence of, 103. 
 Scriven, Thomas, 240, 279. 
 .Sedbar, Abbot Adam, hanged, 115. 
 Services at St. Thomas' translation, 
 
 146. 
 
 Seymour, Edward, 70 ; character 
 of, 403. 
 
 Seymour, Family of, 55, 402 ; Re- 
 formers, 69. 
 
 Seymour, Jane, 35, 69 ; death of, 
 
 37, 73- 
 Seymour, Lord, 74. 
 Seymour of Sudeley, 404. 
 .Seymour, Lord William, monument, 
 
 405- 
 Seymour, of Wolf Hall, 401, 402, 
 
 403- 
 
 Sheen, Carthusian House at, 227. 
 
 Sherwood, Richard, 365. 
 
 Shrewsbury, Earl of, 103. 
 
 Singleton, James, hanged, 336. 
 
 .Sion House Cope, the, 344. 
 
 Sion House consecrated, 297 ; fune- 
 ral at, 327 ; under Queen Mary, 
 343 ; value of, 304. 
 
 Skelton, the satirist, 338. 
 
 Smith, Agnes, 303. 
 
 Somerset House, 70. 
 
 Somerset, Protector, 344. 
 
 Sone, Dr., 355. 
 
 "Sorting" of evidence, 207. 
 
 Spelman, Sir H., on King Henry 
 VHL, 29 ; on the Ruined Abbeys, 
 
 295- 
 
 Spiritual and Temporal, the, 409. 
 
 .Spoils of St. Thomas's shrine, 165, 
 
 St. Anselm, Archbishop, 126. 
 
 St. Bruno, 227. 
 
 .St. Chad's relics, 204, 417. 
 
 St. Cuthbert's Gospel, 13. 
 
 .St. Dunstan at Glastonbury, 178. 
 
 St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 329. 
 
 St. George's Cathedral, .Southvvark, 
 Relics of, 409. 
 
 .St. Joseph of Arimathea, 175. 
 
 St. James's Church, Louth, 87. 
 
 .St. Thomas a Becket, 124 ; at Pon- 
 tigny, 128; at Sens, 129; a 
 traitor, 34 ; bold and fearless, 
 136; and the knights, 135; of 
 Canterbury, 33 ; mitre of, 167, 
 409 ; pastoral staff of, 154 ; 
 relics of, 409 ; his shrine, 34 ; 
 returns to Canterbury, 130 ; sum- 
 mons to, 159. 
 
 Stealing the church plate, 84. 
 
 .Struggle with an evil spirit, 393. 
 
 .Sufferings of Edmund Gennings, 379. 
 
 Suffolk, Duke of, 96, 
 
Index. 
 
 427 
 
 .Summons to the Pilgrims, loi. 
 Supremacy, precedents for, 251. 
 Surrender of certain monasteries, 
 
 185. 
 Surrender of the Charterhouse, 277. 
 Sutton, Thomas, 286. 
 Symbols of the Pilgrims, 97. 
 Sympathy for the Priors, 261. 
 
 "Taming" the Fathei-s, 248. 
 Taxation feared, 98. 
 Teddington, commotion at, 249. 
 Tempest, Sir Nicholas, hanged, 115. 
 Tenths taken by the king, 308. 
 Temporary shrine of St. Thomas, 147' 
 Theodore, Archbishop, 125. 
 The new ministers, 388. 
 The old order changed, 220. 
 The Pope 's authority abolished, 225. 
 Thirske, Abbot William, hanged, 
 
 "5- 
 
 Thomas a Becket no saint, 163. 
 Three Priors arraigned, 253. 
 Thumb of Edmund Gennings, 380. 
 Tokens of Cromwell's fall, 42. 
 Topcliffe, the Priest-taker, 375, 377, 
 
 378. 
 Tournament at Greenwich, 36. 
 Trafford, William, 248; Abbot 
 
 William, hanged, I16 ; Prior 
 
 William, 271. 
 Translation of St. Thomas, 145, 
 Treasures of the Sacristy, 154. 
 Treasures discovered at Addington, 
 
 204. 
 
 Treasures concealed at Durham, 204. 
 Treatment of women, 310. 
 Tudor horrors, 264. 
 Tybourne, 260. 
 Tynburgh, William, 236. 
 Tyranny and cruelty rampant, 309. 
 
 Waiver, James, 240; hung, 114. 
 
 Walwerke, James, 240. 
 
 Warham's warning, Archbishop, 
 
 157. 
 Way of the Pilgrims, 33. 
 Webster, Augustine, 18, 245. 
 Wey, William, 307. 
 Whitford, Richard, 301. 
 Witham, Carthusian House of, 228. 
 Whittlesey's Register, Archbishop, 
 
 230. 
 William Bouchier's letter, 224. 
 William Thome of Canterbury, 
 
 183. 
 Williams, Sir John, 307, 341. 
 Wilson, Dr, Nicholas, imprisoned, 
 
 39- 
 
 Windsor, Margaret, 305. 
 
 Woodspring Church, Somerset- 
 shire, 168. 
 
 Wood, Prior William, hanged, 1 16. 
 
 Wolf Hall, 55. 
 
 Wolsey's intrigues. Cardinal, 337. 
 
 Wriothesley, Thomas, 95. 
 
 Yonge, Mr. Justice, 375, 377. 
 York, sacrilege at, 387. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 Imitation of Christ. A'Kempis. 
 
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.16 
 
 EDUCATIONAL WORKS 
 
 ^wmticMl Moxh. 
 
 GOOD HANDWRITING. 
 
 George DarnelFs Copy-Books after over a 
 
 quarter of a century of public favour are everywhere acknowledged 
 as the best for simj^licity and thoroughness. With these Copy-Books 
 the pupil advances in the art of writing with ease and rapidity, while 
 the labour of the teacher is very greatly lightened. They are used 
 in nearly all the best Schools in Great Britain and the Colonies, and 
 are adapted to the New Educational Code. 
 
 The first Ten Numbers of each Series have on every alternate line 
 appropriate and carefully written copies in pencil coloured ink to be first 
 written over and then imitated, the remaining numbers having two copies 
 on each page in black ink for imitation only. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 I. It is the production of an experienced Schoolmaster. 
 
 II. It gradually advances from the Simple Stroke to a superior Small 
 Hand. 
 
 III. The assistance given in the Primal Lesson is reduced as the learner 
 
 progresses, until all guidance is safely withdrawn. 
 
 IV. The number and variety of the copies secure attention, and prevent 
 
 the pupils copying their own writing, as in books with single 
 head-lines. 
 
 V. The system insures the progress of the learner, and greatly lightens 
 the labours of the teacher. 
 
 A Short and Certain Road to a Good Hand 
 
 Writing. Large Post. 16 Nos. 6d. each. Being a Series of 
 SIXTEEN COPY BOOKS, by George Darnell, the first ten of 
 which have on every alternate line appropriate and carefvdly written 
 copies in Pencil-coloured Ink, to be first written over and then 
 imitated, the remaining numbers having Black Head-lines for 
 imitation only, THE WHOLE GRADUALLY ADVANCING PROM A SIMPLE 
 STROKE TO A SUPERIOR SMALL HAND. 
 No. 
 
 1. Elementary (Strokes, &c.) 
 
 2. Single Letters. 
 
 3. 4. Largo Text (Short Words). 
 
 5. Test, La:-ge Text, and Figures. 
 
 6. Round Text, Capitals, and Figures. 
 
 7. Text, Round, and Small. 
 
 No. 
 
 8, 9, 10. Text, Round, Small, and 
 
 Figures. 
 11, 12. Round, Small, and Figures. 
 13, 14, Round and Small. 
 15, IG. Small Hand. 
 
PUBLISHED BY GRIFFITH AND FARRAN. 17 
 
 A Sure Gtdde to a Good Hand Writing. 
 
 A Series of TWENTY-FOUR COPY BOOKS, on a simHar plan. 
 Oblong Foolscap. 24 Nos. 3d. each, green covers. 
 Or on a superior paper, marble covers, 4d. each. 
 
 No. 
 
 1. Elementary (Strokes, &c.) 
 
 2. Single Letters. 
 
 a, 4. Large Text (Short Words). 
 
 5. Text, Large Text, and Figures. 
 
 6. Text, Round, and Capitals. 
 
 7. Round, Small, and Figures. 
 
 8. Text, Round, and Small. 
 
 No. 
 
 9. Round, Small, and Figures. 
 10, 11. Round and Small. 
 12, 13, 15. Round, Small, and Figures, 
 14. Round and Small. 
 16 to 20. Small Hand. 
 21. Ornamental Hands. 
 22 to 24. Ladies' Angular "Writing. 
 
 Universal Copy Books. A Series of 
 
 Sixteen Copy Books, on the same Plan. Fcap. 4to., 2d. each. 
 
 No. 
 
 7. Text, Round, and Small. 
 
 8, 9, 10. Text, Round, Small & Figures. 
 11, 12. Round, Small, and Figures. 
 13, 14. Round and Small. 
 
 15, 16. Small Hand. 
 
 No. 
 
 1. Elementary. 
 
 2. Single and Double Letters. 
 
 3. 4. Large Text (Short Words). 
 5. Text, Large Text, and Figures. 
 G. Text, Round, Capitals, and Figures. 
 
 " For teaching writing I would recommend the iise of Darnell's Copy Books. 
 
 I HAVE NOTICED A MARKED IMPROVEMENT WHEREVER THEY HAVE BEEN USED." 
 
 Report of Mr. Maye (^National Society'' s Organizer of Schools) to the Worcester 
 Diocesan Board of Education. 
 
 "As to the necessity of some one proposing a new way to teach writing, I do not 
 think it is needed. Let a London Clerk inspect one of Mr. Darnell's Copy Books 
 (I believe they are most generally in use in our schools), and I think he will say that, 
 with a moderate amount of care on the part of the teacher, the result must be a 
 LEGIBLE, clear HAND-WRITING.'" — An Essex Sckoolniaster ; National Society's Monthly 
 Paper. 
 
 i'he Times says : ' ' This gentleman has conferred a gi'eat benefit, not only on the 
 rising generation, but on those who will hereafter form the rising generation. He 
 has composed a series of Elementary Treatises, in which the comprehension of the 
 art or science taught is so much facilitated that children of the dullest capacities are 
 made capable of comprehending what is required of them, whilst teachers are 
 relieved from the difficulties of imparting knowledge in the desultory and incom- 
 prehensible manner too often practised." 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 Britan7iia ; a Collection of the Principal 
 
 Passages in Latin Authors that refer to this Island, with Vocabulary 
 and Notes. By T. S. Cayzer. Illustrated with a Map and 29 
 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " A very useful book." — School Board Chronicle. 
 
 " The task is admirably done." — School Guardian. 
 
 " Exhaustive of the Roman sources of information respecting Britain." — Scotsman. 
 
 '•A most attractive Latin reading book, and as useful as it is attractive." — 
 
 Edinburgh Daily Review, 
 
 "A great improvement upon the common readers." — Irish Teachers'' Journal. 
 
18 EDUCATIONAL WOEKS 
 
 True StoiHes fro7n Ancient Histoi^y, chrO' 
 
 nologically arranged from the Creation of the World to the Death 
 of Charlemagne. Twelfth Edition. 12mo., 5s. cloth. 
 
 Battle Fields ; a graphic Guide to the 
 
 Places described in the History of England as the Scenes of such 
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 Sheet, 3s. 6d. ; or on a Eoller, and varnished, ts. 6d. 
 
 Mrs. Trimmer s Concise History of 
 
 ENGLAND, Eevised and brought down to the Present Time. By 
 Mrs. MiLNER. With Portraits of the Sovereigns. 5s. cloth. 
 
 Rhymes of Royalty ; the History of 
 
 ENGLAND in Verse, from the Norman Conquest to the Eeign of 
 Victoria ; with a Summary of the Leading Events in each Eeign. 
 Fcap. 8vo., 2s. cloth. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Cheap Re-Issue of 
 
 Pictoinal Geography, for the Instrttction of 
 
 Children. Illustrates at a glance the Various Geographical Terms in 
 such a manner as to at once impart clear and definite ideas respecting 
 them. On a Sheet 30 by 22 inches, printed in colours, Is. 6d. ; 
 Mounted on Pollers and Varnished, 3s. 6d. 
 " A pi'etty and picturesque -wall chart .... Forms an excellent introduction to 
 the study of maps." — School Board Chronicle. 
 
 " Will be a great help to children learning geography." — Scholastic World. 
 "A valuable and attractive help to the teaching of the elements of geography." — 
 
 Nature. 
 " Admirably suited for teaching the meaning of common geographical terms." — 
 
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 The First Book of Geography ; specially 
 
 adapted as a Text Book for Beginners. By Hugo Eeid. Fourth 
 Edition, revised. 18mo., sewed. Is. 
 " One of the most sensible little books on the subject of Geography we have met 
 with. " — Educational Times. 
 
 Gatiltiers Familiar Geography. With a 
 
 concise Treatise on the Artificial Sphere, and Two coloured Maps, 
 illustrative of the principal Geographical Terms. Sixteenth Edition. 
 16mo., cloth, 3s. 
 
PUBLISHED BY GRIFFITH AND FARRAN. 19 
 
 ' GBOG'RAPILY— Continued. 
 
 Battlers Outline Maps, and Key, or Geo- 
 
 graphical and Biographical Exercises ; with a Set of Coloured Out- 
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 William Butler. Enlarged by the Author's Son, J. O. Butler. 
 Thirty-sixth edition, revised to date. 4s. 
 
 Tabular Views of the Geography and 
 
 Sacred History of Palestine, and of the Travels of St. Paul. Intended 
 for Pupil Teachers, and others engaged ia Class Teaching. By A. T. 
 White. Oblong 8vo., Is. sewed. 
 
 GRAMMAR, &^c. 
 
 A Compendious Grammar, and Philo- 
 
 logical Handbook of the English Language, for the Use of Schools 
 and Candidates for the Army and Civil Service Examinations. By 
 John George Colquhoun", Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Fcap. 8vo., 
 cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 " A real and very useful accession to the list of English manuals." — Educational 
 Times. 
 
 " We are not acquainted with any single volume that in such a small compass con- 
 tains so much useful information." — Scholastic Register. 
 
 " Just the book we should like to see in Training Colleges, and placed in the hands 
 of Pupil Teachers." — National Schoolmaster. 
 
 Darnell, G, Grammar made Li-telligible 
 
 to Children. Being a Series of short and simple Eules, with ample 
 Explanations of Eveiy Difficulty, and copious Exercises for Parsing; 
 in Language adapted to the comprehension of veiy young Students. 
 New and Eevised Edition, Cloth, Is. 
 
 Darnell, G. Introdttctioit to Rnglish Gram- 
 
 mar. Price 3d. Being the first 32 pages of " Grammar made 
 Intelligible." 
 
 Darnell, T. Parsing Shnplified ; an 
 
 Introduction and Companion to all Grammars ; consisting of Short 
 and Easy Eules, with Parsing Lessons to each. Fourth Edition. 
 Cloth, Is. 
 
 *■' The rules are intelligible at a glance, and so short and simple that they may be 
 easily committed to memory. Sound in principle, singularly felicitous in example 
 and illustration ; and the boy that will not learn to parse on Mr. Darnell's plan ia 
 not likely to do so on any other." — Morning Post. 
 
20 EDUCATIONAL WOBKS 
 
 GRAMMAR, &c.— Continued. 
 
 Lovechilds, Mrs. The Child' s Grammar. 
 
 50th Edition. 18mo., cloth, 9d. 
 
 A Word to the Wise, or Hi7its on the 
 
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 Parry Gwynne. Thii-teeuth Thousand. 18nio., sewed 6d., or cloth, 
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 Harry Hawkins s W-Book ; shewiiig how 
 
 he learned to aspii-ate his H's- Frontispiece by H. Weir. Third 
 Edition. Super- royal 16mo., sewed 6d. 
 " No family or schoolrom within, or indeed beyond the sound of Bow bells, should 
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 The Prince of Wales s Primer. With 
 
 340 Illustrations by J. Gilbert. New Edition, sewed, 6d. 
 
 Dar7tell, G. Short and Certain Road to 
 
 Reading. Being a Series of Easy Lessons in which the Aljihabet is 
 so divided as to enable the Child to read many Pages of Familiar 
 Phrases before he has learned half the letters. Cloth, 6d. ; or in 
 4 parts, paper covers, IJd. each. 
 
 SHEET LESSONS, being Extracts from the above, printed in very large 
 bold type. Price, for the set of Six Sheets, 6d. ; or, neatly mounted 
 on boards, 3s. 
 
 ARITHMETIC, ALGEBRA &^ GEOMETRY. 
 
 Darnell, G. Arithmetic made Intelligible 
 
 to Children. Being a Series of Gradually Advajstcing Exercises, 
 intended to employ the Reason rather than the Memory of the 
 Pupil ; with ample Explanations of every Difficulty, in Language 
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PUBLISHED BY GRIFFITH AND FAEKAW. 21 
 
 Cayzer, T. S. One Thousand Arith- 
 
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PUBLISHED BY GRIFFITH AND FAERAN. 23 
 
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BW5117 .L47 
 
 Historical sketches of the reformation. 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
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