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ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY;

OR,

LIVES OF EMINENT MEN,

CONNECTED WITH Till!

HISTORY OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND;

FROM TIIE

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORMATION
TO THE REVOLUTION ;
SELECTED AND ILLUSTRATED WITH
NOTES,
BY
CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D.
I.ATE MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND RECTOR OF EUXTED, WITH UCKI'IELI), SUSSEX.

dfourtS CEifttton,
WITH MANY ADDITIONAL HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:
FKANCIS & JOHN EIVING-TON,
st. paul's church yard, and Waterloo place.
1853.

LONDON :
gilbert and rivington, printers,
st. John's square.

G-5

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE
THIRD EDITION.

This Third Edition differs from the two preceding, in the way
both of addition, and of omission.
Of omissions of any considerable moment, there is only one.
The Life of Philip Henry, which constituted a large portion of
the sixth volume of the former editions, has been withdrawn.
The length of this Life had been occasionally complained of, as
hardly compensated by a proportionate degree of value and in
terest ; and sometimes it was alleged, that some degree of incon
gruity and unsuitableness to the leading, general design of the
Collection, was introduced by the circumstance of the longest
piece in the whole work being an encomiastic account of a non
conformist minister. After all, however, the consideration which
weighed most on the Editor's own mind, was, that since his
former publication, a new edition of the Life in question has ap
peared, revised, &c. from the original Diary, under the following
title, viz. The Life ofthe Rev. Philip Henry, A.M., &c. corrected
and enlarged, ly J. B. Williams, F.S.A. London, 1825. 8vo.
After the appearance of the narrative in this revised and aug
mented form, it seemed that it would be neither respectful to the
public, nor just to any of the other parties concerned, to re
publish merely the old edition, which wanted the accessions and
improvements introduced by the new Editor : it was thought best,
a 2

iv ADVERTISEMENT TO
therefore, to abandon this portion of the series entirely ; it being
left to any of my readers, who may think the deficiency serious,
to make it good, by the separate purchase of Mr. Williams's new
and extended edition.
The additions, introduced in this Third Edition, consist partly
of additions to the text, and partly to the notes.
The new Lives adopted are only two. The first a short account
of Dean Oolet, founder of St. Paul's School, consisting of ex
tracts, brought together from sundry Letters of Colet's friend,
Erasmus : and the other is an interesting narrative by himself,
of the troubles of Thomas Mountain, a London clergyman, pub
lished by Strype from Fox's Papers. It is introduced as
forming a suitable connecting link between the persecutions of
the reign of Mary, and the re-establishment of the Reformed
Catholic Church of England under Elizabeth.
But much the most important addition to the body of the text,
is a two-fold Introduction of considerable extent, at the opening
of the first volume. It is divided into two main portions ; the
former of which may be characterized generally as an historical
narrative of the origin and progress of the Papal usurpations
and corruptions in England both in Church and State, and is
derived from Dr. John Inetfs Church History. The latter,
borrowed from Dr. Richard Bentley's famous Fifth of November
sermon, I have entitled "Doctrinal Corruptions of Popery."
The two former editions wanting any such Introduction as is
now referred to, and opening abruptly with the Life of Wickliffe ;
I have long felt that my Reader, without any fault of his own,
was thus placed in a somewhat fallacious and injurious position,
in finding his sympathies enlisted in behalf of a party, strenuously

THE THIRD EDITION. v
opposed to the governors of the established Church of that age
(and oftentimes in opposition also to those of the State), without
being put in possession of any sufficient account how this con
dition of things had arisen, and without receiving any adequate
exposition of the motives and principles by which either those
governors of the Church, or the mal-content party (Wickliffe and
his followers) themselves, were actuated. By leading my Reader
back to the ancient and primitive condition of the Church of
England, and thence guiding him along in rapid progress down
to the age of Wickliffe, through a short, but sufficiently copious,
and at the same time a not uninteresting recital of the lamentable
degeneracy, gradually introduced by the usurpation and tyranny
of the Church of Rome, it seemed that my Reader would be led
naturally and easily to comprehend the true nature of the prin
ciples (in many important respects grossly delusive and erroneous)
upon which the rulers of the Church sought to maintain them
selves against the arguments and efforts of the mal-contents :
and that he would be better qualified to discern and distinguish
between what was right and what was wrong in the principles
and conduct of the Reformers ; and so learn also occasionally to
look with a degree of pardonable indulgence upon the incidental
aberrations of those eminent persons, the early champions of
respiring freedom and truth, who though baffled and discomfited
for several successive generations, were in fact, in many main
respects, no other than the fore-runners and fore-fathers in
Christ, of Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and the rest, the great
successful champions, under Providence, of the English Reforma
tion ; were, in fact, no other than that which the Reformed
Catholic Church of England herself, through much conflict, at
length gradually became under Henry VIII., Edward VI., and

vi ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION.
finally under Q. Elizabeth : then, I say, became, through Cod's
mercy, and still subsists by the same mercy ; and still, we trust,
will continue to subsist, the noblest branch of the true Catholic
Church of Christ ; the guardian, keeper, and nurse of all genuine
intellectual, moral, civil, and spiritual truth and freedom, in equal
opposition to the modern corruptions, whether of the tyranny
and despotism of the Church of Rome, or of the insubordination
and anarchy of Puritans, Rationalists, and Sectarians.
The additions to the notes, throughout the whole work, are
numerous ; and the Editor hopes that the length of many of
those which are new, will be compensated by the value, which
they will be thought to give to his Collection. The Index, also,
has been largely augmented.
With respect to the size and dimensions of the Work, it is not
necessary to say more, than that the six volumes of the preceding
editions are compressed into four in the present ; and that the
Work, in its external appearance and qualities, is conformed
elosely to the Editor's Christian Institutes ; in the hope, also, that
in many higher respects they may be found suitable companions
and associates; and may mutually conspire and co-operate in
carrying into effect the Editor's main design in the compilation of
them both, the advancement of the religious portion of a liberal
education of the middle and upper classes of society, according
to the principles of the Church of England.
For numerous and valuable suggestions, in the way both of
correction of and addition to the Notes, while the edition was
passing through the press, I am bound to acknowledge myself very
greatly indebted to John Holmes, Esq., of the British Museum.
Trinity College, Cambridge,
June 1, 1839.

ADVERTISEMENT

FOURTH EDITION.

This Fourth Edition is still further indebted to the kind
and valuable assistance of the same Gentleman who is named
at the conclusion of the foregoing Advertisement. The un
abated interest which he has continued to take in the Work,
has been shewn by the contribution of many new Historical
and Biographical Notes, such as could only have proceeded from
one who is deeply versed in all kinds of literary and antiquarian
lore. For the accession of so much interesting and useful
matter which has thus been made to these Volumes, the Pro
prietors, upon whom has devolved the duty of conducting them
through the press, desire to return their sincere and grateful
acknowledgments. February, 1853.

TO THE MOST REVEREND

CHARLES,

BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE,

LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,
PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND METROPOLITAN.

My Loud,
If I were disposed to consider the value of that portion of
these volumes, which is the result of my own labour, I could
not but feel that the laying them at your Grace's feet would
constitute a most inadequate acknowledgment of the gratitude
which I owe to your Grace for many very great favours and
benefits conferred upon me. In this view, there could be only
one consolatory circumstance to sustain me ; the knowledge
that to you the homage of all my efforts is due, be they great
or little : and he therefore who is already engaged for all, may
seem to be released from the necessity of satisfying himself of
the worthiness of any particular offering.
But, my Lord, there are considerations of a different nature,
from which I may be permitted to tender these volumes to your
Grace's favourable regard, without the hazard of being thought

x DEDICATION.
so ill to understand the nature and extent of my own obligations,
and the dignity of your Grace's name.
Many of the Lives, of which this Collection is composed, have
already often obtained the praise of the wise and good, as calcu
lated to promote, in a more than ordinary degree, the cause of
pure taste, good morals, and true religion; objects of infinite
importance, for the prosperity of which, they who well know
your Grace's unceasing cares and labours, may be excused if
they bear testimony, that every endeavour to extend those great
blessings, has a peculiar title to come forth under your Grace's
protection. The tendency which has been thus attributed to many of these
Lives individually, it was my hope would not be impaired, but
augmented, by combining them into one series, and by the addi
tion of the few illustrations with which they are here accompa
nied. If therefore I have not been deceived in this expectation,
I cannot deny to myself the pleasing assurance, that the present
Publication will be received by your Grace as an effort not
uncongenial to your wishes, and, in however low a degree, sub
ordinate to your own cares ; and, as having afforded therefore
a not unsuitable engagement of a portion of such intervals of
leisure, as I may have been able to obtain consistently with
the demands of your Grace's more immediate service, and of
pastoral labours.
Again : This likewise is to be acknowledged, that it is owing
to your Grace not only that these Volumes exist at all, but
also that they exist such as they are. All that is new in them
comes by your Grace's liberality and public spirit. Whatever
pleasure then or profit any of my readers may receive, especially

DEDICATION. xi
from this part of my materials, it is fit that they should know
that from the Archbishop of Canterbury the benefit is derived.
And, at the same time, let it be further declared, that this is but
a very humble instance of that love of good letters, and that
public spirit, which have prompted your Grace to the exertion
of many acts of munificence, for the increase of the literary
treasures of your country, which exalt your Grace's name to the
same level with those of the most illustrious of your predecessors,
Cranmer, and Parker, and Laud.
That your Grace's labours for the welfare of the Church of
God may long be blessed with abundant fruits of righteousness
and peace, is the earnest prayer of
My Lord, your Grace's most devoted,
faithful and humble Servant,
CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH.

Lambeth,
Nov. 22, 1809.

PREFACE.

The first wishes for the existence of a collection, similar in
design to that which now appears, were excited in my mind not
less than ten years ago, and often recurred to it, during a resi
dence in the University of Cambridge ; though I do not remember
to have entertained, then, any very confident expectations, that
the work would ever be undertaken by myself.
But when, after the expiration of something more than half the
above-named period of years, I had been called to Lambeth, to
the service of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, in
process of time, the probable advantages of such a collection
appeared continually to my mind, rather to increase, than to be
diminished ; and when some efforts which I had made to bring
about the execution of this design, from another quarter, on a
contracted scale, had yet produced no effect, I determined to
turn my own hands to the work : — and it now becomes my duty
to state the views and motives upon which it was begun, and the
way and manner in which it has been performed. The mention,
in the outset, of the places where the wish for the existence of
this work was first conceived, and where it has been prepared for
publication, I judge not to be impertinent, because these circum
stances may probably have had a considerable influence on its
contents and character ; and therefore the knowledge of them
may lead the reader, by a natural and easy progress, to a
further explanation of the principles on which it has been
compiled. A protracted residence in either of our Universities, and

PREFACE. xiii
afterwards in that service which I have mentioned, it will easily
be understood, was likely to engage any man in ardent wishes
and desires for the general prosperity and welfare of sincere piety
and true religion : and to inspire him more particularly with an
honest concern that those most important interests should ever
advance and flourish among our theological students and the
clergy ; and through their means and labours, with the divine
blessing, in every rank of society.
It appeared then, to the present writer, that there were extant,
among the literary productions of our country, many scattered
narratives of the lives of men eminent for piety, sufferings,
learning, and such other virtues, or such vices, as render their
possessors interesting and profitable subjects for history, many of
which were very difficult to be procured, and some of them little
known ; and that, therefore, the benefit which might have been
expected to result from their influence, was in a great degree
lost. These I thought it inight be a labour well-bestowed to
restore to a capacity of more extensive usefulness, and to repub
lish them in one collection ; not merely with a view of affording
to many readers an opportunity of possessing what they could
not otherwise enjoy ; but also from the hopes, that the serviceable
effect of each might be increased by their union and juxtaposi
tion ; and that, through the help of a chronological arrangement,
a species of ecclesiastical history might result, which though un
doubtedly very imperfect, might yet answer, even in that view,
several valuable purposes ; while it would possess some peculiar
charms and recommendations.
A scheme of this nature, it is easy to conceive, could not well
be undertaken without many limitations. Besides those obvious
ones of restricting the history to that of our own country, and to
the lives of our fellow countrymen, there appeared to me many
reasons, why the work should begin with the preparations towards
a Reformation by the labours of Wickliffe and his followers, and
not a few why it might well stop at the Revolution. Within
those limits are comprehended, if we except the first establish
ment of Christianity, and the growth of the papal power amongst

xiv PREFACE.
us, the rise, progress, and issue of the principal agitations and re
volutions of the public mind of this country in regard to matters
of Religion :— namely, the Reformation from Popery, and the
glories and horrors attending that hard-fought struggle; the
subsequent exorbitancies and outrages of the Antipopish spirit,
as exemplified by the Puritans ; the victory of that spirit, in ill-
suited alliance with the principles of civil liberty, over loyalty and
the established church, in the times of Charles the first ; the
wretched systems and practices of the sectaries, during the Com
monwealth, and the contests for establishment between the Pres
byterians and Independents at the same period; the hasty
return of the nation, weary and sick of the long reign of con
fusion, to the antient constitution of things, at the Restoration ;
the operation of those confusions, and of the ill-disciplined
triumph of a portion of the adverse party upon the state of
morals and religion, during the early part of the reign of the
second Charles ; the endeavours of Charles and his brother to
restore Popery, and introduce despotism ; the noble exertions of
the clergy of the church of England, at that interval, in behalf
of natural and revealed religion, and protestantism, and civil
liberty ; the Revolution of 1 688, together with the ascertainment
of the distinct nature and rights of an established church, and a
religious toleration ; and the principles of the Non-jurors.
A narrative of these grand particulars, together with many
others of inferior moment, obtained in connexion with a descrip
tion of the virtues, private life, and character of the agents
principally concerned in them would, I thought, be considerably
interesting and useful, and especially in regard to those objects
which I have above referred to ; without descending to later
times, less productive in some respects than the preceding, and
more so indeed in others, but on both accounts the less fitted to
constitute any part of this design. At the Revolution, a degree
of stability was given both to our ecclesiastical and civil esta
blishments, which they never before possessed ; and hence a
great part of the age which followed was less fertile, at least in
historical interest : and from that sera, the growing abundance

PREFACE. xv
and extent of biographical memoirs, were felt, of themselves, as a
discouragement against attempting the admission of any portion
of them into a collection like the present.
It was no part of my original plan to go in quest of any thing
new, but merely to revive the old. Yet, when his grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury generously gave me permission to
avail myself of the stores contained in the manuscripts in the
Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, I could not forbear, in
justice to that liberality, to exert such a further portion of
industry, as might seem best calculated to increase the value
and usefulness of my publication. For this reason, and from
this source, the reader will find here a copious Life of Sir
Thomas More, never before published ; a new edition of Caven
dish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey, so much surpassing in value those
which have preceded it, as almost to deserve the name of a new
work ; and some large and interesting additions to the Memoirs
of the Nicholas Ferrars ; besides many occasional extracts inserted
in the notes : for all which I desire in this place to return humble
thanks to my most honoured Patron.
That which occasioned me the greatest labour and difficulty,
with regard to the remainder of my materials, was the laying in
the first stores, and afterwards making a selection out of them.
The contents of these volumes are but a very small part of what
I have gathered together, not without a considerable expence of
time and pains. From the same heap, another man perhaps
would have made now and then a different choice. But the prin
ciples upon which I proceeded will, I trust, be made sufficiently
apparent to my readers in the course of this preface : further I
have nothing to say, but that, proceeding upon those which
I judge the best principles, I made the selection the best
I could. It will be found (for which I imagine no apology is necessary),
that I have preferred the ancient and original authorities, where
they could be procured, before modern compilations and abridg
ments ; the narratives, for instance, of Fox and Carleton, before
the more artificial compositions of Gilpin.

xvi PREFACE.
Neither do I think that it will require any excuse with the
judicious reader, that in the early parts of the series, I have been
at some pains to retain the ancient orthography. It was one
advantage which I contemplated in projecting this compilation,
that it would afford, by the way, some view of the progress of the
English language, and of English composition. This benefit would
have been greatly impaired by taking away the old spelling. But
I have always thought that the far more solemn interests of historic
reality, and of truth, are also in a degree, violated by that practice.
The reader is desired further to observe, that in many cases
the Lives are republished from the originals, entire, and without
alteration ; but in others, the method pursued has been different.
Wherever the work before me seemed to possess a distinct
character as such, either for the beauty of its composition, the
conveniency of its size, its scarcity, or any other sufficient cause,
I was desirous that my reader should have the satisfaction of
possessing it complete : but where these reasons did not exist,
I have not scrupled occasionally to proceed otherwise : only, in
regard to alterations, it is to be understood, that all which I
have taken the liberty of making are confined solely to omissions.
Thus, the Lives written by Isaac Walton, are given entire ; but
the accounts of Ferrar and Tillotson have been shortened.
Many of the Lives which are given from Fox's Acts and
Monuments1, and which the Editor looks upon as among the
most valuable parts of his volumes, are brought together and
compiled from distant and disjointed parts of that very extensive
work; a circumstance of which it is necessary that any one
should be informed, who may wish to compare these narratives
with the originals. It will be found also, that in many places
much has been omitted ; and that a liberty has not unfrequently
been taken of leaving out clauses of particular sentences, and
single coarse and gross terms and expressions, especially such as
occurred against Papists. But, here also, though he has not all
Fox laid before him, yet the reader may be assured that all
which he has is Fox.
1 The edition followed is that ofthe year 1610.

PREFACE. xvii
In the Notes which I have added, my aim has been occa
sionally to correct my Author; but much more frequently to
enforce his positions, and illustrate him, and that especially in
matters relating to doctrines, opinions, manners, language, and
characters. Their number might easily have been increased,
but I was unwilling to distract the reader's eye from the object
before him, except where I thought some salutary purpose might
be answered. Where the notes are designated by letters, a, b, c,
&c. or are inserted between brackets ( [] ), it is to be understood,
that they are not the Editor's, but are derived from the same
source as the text.
Upon the whole then, my desire has been to bring forward in the
way, and by the means which I have stated, a work which might
deserve some humble station in the same rank with those produc
tions which have been found to benefit the high and holy cause
of pure taste, and virtue, and piety. It is presumed that this
object may in some degree have been obtained, by the examples
which will be found here recorded, and the manner in which the
several narratives are told, of patient enduring of affliction for
conscience1 sake ; of suffering even to bonds and imprisonment,
and death itself, in the cause of the everlasting Gospel ; of stedfast
labour and perseverance in the various duties and good works of
many several callings and stations in society : of the successive
stages, and the vicissitudes of the progress of the Christian life,
from its first beginnings in the grace and mercy of God, to its
earthly consummation in a peaceful happy death : — and, on the
other hand, by the contrast, which will be found occasionally
manifested and displayed, in the goings on and the fate of error
and vice, and earthly-mindedness. From the multitude of secular
concerns which press upon us on every side, we have all continual
need to be called to the contemplation of the things of the future
world, and to be reminded that this life is chiefly important
because of its connexion with the other. My hope is, that the
histories of life and death, here delivered into the hand of my
reader, may bring some aid to the side of those salutary impres
sions. vol. i. a

xviii PREFACE.
If it be likewise thought that the Editor has been influenced
by a further aim and desire to promote the interests of religion
and piety, especially as they are professed within the pale of the
church of England, the surmise, he confesses, is well-grounded ;
and it will greatly add to whatever satisfaction he looks for from
his labour, if he shall find that it has indeed operated to that
effect : for he is persuaded that whatever is gained in that cause,
is gained in the way which is most likely to secure and serve " the
edifying of the body of Christ in love." And yet, if he could
any where have found Popery associated with greater piety and
heavenly-mindedness than in Sir Thomas More, or non-con
formity united with more eminent gifts than in Richard Baxter,
those examples also should have obtained their station in this
work, for the honour of God, for doctrine, for reproof, for instruc
tion in righteousness.
It has then been no part of my design to give occasion of
offence to any.
If indeed occasion be taken, where none was intended to be
given ; if the errors and the evil practices of popery, the truths
of Protestantism, the sufferings of martyrs and confessors, and
the intolerance and cruelty of persecutors; if the madness of
fanatics, and the evils of civil and religious war, cannot be de
scribed and deplored without blame ; if the wisdom to be derived
to present and future ages from the records of the past cannot
be obtained by ourselves, without exciting displeasure in other
bosoms ; there may be circumstances which shall call forth our
concern and sorrow for the pain of a suffering fellow-creature ;
but the consequences must be endured, as no part of our design,
but only accidental to it ; and the complainant may bear to be
admonished, whether, instead of casting harsh imputations upon
us, he would not be better employed in re-examining the grounds
and principles of his own faith, and enquiring whether all which
has been done in what he blames is not that cause hath been
afforded to him of rendering thanks and praise to the mercy of
God, for giving him another call and summons to escape from
error, and forsake his sin.

PREFACE. xix
But the Editor can make no apology for the large space which
is occupied in his history by the popish controversy, either in
regard to the views of politicians, or of Romish controversialists.
I am well aware that by the extent to which I have availed
myself of Fox's Acts and Monuments, I fall within the range of
such censures as that of Dr. John Milner, in which he speaks of
" the frequent publication of John Fox's lying book of Martyrs,
with prints of men, women, and children expiring in flames ; the
nonsense, inconsistency, and falsehoods of which (he says) he had
in part exposed in his Letters to a Prebendary." I am not igno
rant of what has been said also by Dr. J. Milner's predecessors
in the same argument, by Harpsfield, Parsons, and others. But
neither his writings nor theirs, have proved, and it never will be
proved, that John Fox is not one of the most faithful and au
thentic of all historians. We know too much of the strength
of Fox's book, and of the weakness of those of his Romish ad
versaries, to be further moved by Dr. John Milner's censures,
than to reject them as grossly exaggerated, and almost entirely
unsubstantial and groundless. All the many researches and dis
coveries of later times, in regard to historical documents, by
Burnet, Strype, and many others, have only contributed to place
the general fidelity and truth of Fox's melancholy narrative on a
rock which cannot be shaken.
After all, the object nearest to the Editor's heart in compiling
this collection, has been, as he has already intimated, to consult
the benefit of the theological students in the universities, and
the younger clergy.
Lambeth, Nov. 20, 1809.

a 2

POSTSCRIPT.

I have yet occasion to request the reader's attention, shortly,
to another very different subject.
In the year 1802, I published " Six Letters to Granville Sharp,
Esq. respecting his Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Ar
ticle, in the Greek Text of the New Testament." 8vo. Riving-
tons. Much has been said and written for and against that pub
lication. It would be wrong, therefore, if I were to suffer the
present opportunity to pass by, without adverting to those no
tices ; at least, without stating whether any alteration of judg
ment has been produced in my mind, respecting the argument
attempted in the " Six Letters," by the many censures and ani
madversions under which those " Letters " have fallen. I am by
no means certain, that a cause of very solemn importance may
not, in a degree, have suffered, by an aversion to controversy, and
an opinion of the little account due to my adversaries, which
have kept me so long silent.
But had it been true, that the " Six Letters" had obtained a
much smaller share of the public notice, either for praise or
blame, than indeed they have, it could not but be fit, that I
should state occasionally what may be the present bearings and
estimate of my own mind, respecting the value and truth of the
argument once seriously brought forward by me, in those Let
ters ; whether my confidence in its stability may have been, by
any means, in the interval, materially increased or diminished ;
an argument, the more interesting, at least for its assumed rela
tion to an article of our Christian faith, of primary and funda
mental importance.
In the year 1 803, the Six Letters were followed by " Six more
Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq. on his Remarks upon the uses
of the Article in the Greek Testament, by Gregory Blunt, Esq."

POSTSCRIPT. xxi
Svo. Johnson. I thought it sufficient to notice that work by
the following Letter, addressed to its Author, which appeared in
the month of June of that year, in one or two of the periodical
publications. By recording the Letter in this place, I mean it to
be understood, that I still retain the same sentiments, respecting
the " Six more Letters," which I have therein expressed.
To the Author of Six more Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq.
Sir,
The many observations which you have bestowed upon my
" Six Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq." in your " Six more
Letters " to that gentleman, may seem to give to my readers,
and I have no great objection to say that they give to you, some
claim to be informed what impressions have been made on my
mind by your animadversions.
Your Letters then, in the first place, have in no degree lessened
my opinion of the truth of Mr. Sharp^s Rule, and of the value
and importance of that discovery. It is, however, a disappoint
ment to me, that I cannot go further ; that I cannot proceed to
say, that your researches have contributed to give additional
evidence and stability to Mr. Sharp's theory; an event which
might perhaps have followed, had that theory found a more
learned and more logical adversary.
But, with regard to my own more particular concerns, (I speak
it, not without due deliberation, and well knowing what I say,) in
my judgment, you have not shewn, that I have been guilty of any
error, of any misrepresentation, of any false reasoning, whether
great or small, one instance of inadvertency alone excepted. It
appears, that in an extract from St. Cyril of Alexandria, (Six
Letters, page 10,) I have inserted the article tov before ^gio-rov,
which does not exist in the printed text from which I quoted. In
offering our acknowledgments for a favour conferred, it is justly
accounted unpolite to extenuate that favour, and to shew how
small is its value. For this detection, therefore, I beg leave,
without interposing any reserve or demur, to return you my

xxii POSTSCRIPT.
thanks. But this is all. In every other respect I maintain what
I have written, (so far, I mean, as it has been assailed by you,)
without exception or relaxation; and in no other point am I
enabled to profess my obligations to you for any new stores or
materials which may contribute in any way to the decision of the
important subject of our respective lucubrations.
Again : with so little to retract, I feel also very little inclina
tion to recriminate ; to shew what you have, or what you have
not done ; to point out your deficiencies, errors, misrepresenta
tions, and inconsistencies. I think indeed, that they are, all of
them, both very great and very numerous. But you have hinted
to us, that you write not for incompetent readers. " I am not
writing," you say, "for school-boys." If babes and boys do not
read your book, I shall be well contented to leave you to the
judgment and censure of others. If men are to be your readers,
I can have little concern or solicitude about them.
After these observations, it can hardly be necessary, otherwise
than for the sake of method, that I should subjoin the conclusion
to which they were intended to lead; namely, that, unless I
should be called to reconsider, defend, or retract what I have
written in my " Six Letters " by some more respectable antago
nist, it is not my purpose to take any further notice of your
pamphlet. I am, Sir,
Your very obedient and humble servant,
The Author of Six Letters to
Granville Sharp, Esq.
In the year 1805, the subject was further prosecuted from the
press, by " A Vindication of certain passages in the common
English Version of the New Testament, addressed to Granville
Sharp, Esq. by the Rev. Calvin Winstanley, A.M." 12mo. Long
man. Among many important mistakes, and misinterpretations
of writers referred to, from which it might be easily shewn, (as
it has been very sufficiently in one of our Monthly Journals, the
British Critic, for May, 1808,) that the value attributed by Mr.

POSTSCRIPT. xxiii
Winstanley to his labours originated principally in his own mis
takes and misinterpretations, it may yet be conceded, that Mr.
Winstanley has effected more than any other writer that has yet
appeared against Mr. Sharp's theory ; not that I apprehend he
has, in the slightest degree, affected its truth or stability ; but,
in one or two particulars, his observations may perhaps tend a
little to help his readers to a clearer understanding, and a more
distinct enunciation of that theory. With regard to the " Six
Letters " of the present writer, Mr. Winstanley condemns them
as of little value. But then, many will think that he supplies us
with a criterion whereby we must be led to reckon not very highly
of the value of this particular censure, not very favourably of his
general judgment, when he tells us, that the book which he con
demns he had never seen. After all, Mr. Winstanley's tract will
not have been without its good effects. The publication has,
doubtless, extended the knowledge of the matter in dispute ; and
it will have tended, I trust, to fix his own mind more closely to
his object ; and to impress him with higher notions of its im
portance and difficulty. Let him permit me then to invite him,
with sentiments of considerable respect, and as a sincere fellow-
labourer in the search of truth, which I doubt not but that he
really is, to renew his efforts, to persevere in his undertaking,
and to continue to communicate, either publicly or privately,
the result of his researches.
In regard to such things as have been said or written, and not
printed, against the " Six Letters," and the argument contained
in them, it may be not unfit to be mentioned, that where the
knowledge of their existence has reached me, I have not been
backward (as the persons concerned could, if they pleased, testify),
in seeking to obtain a communication of those sentiments and
reasonings. It is not less true, however, that I have found, in
more instances than one, a readiness to speak or write against the
"Six Letters" and their Author, where there existed none to
impart to himself a knowledge of the things objected against. As
a personal concern, I should have much preferred to have passed
this matter by in silence ; but the justice due to a serious argu-

xxiv POSTSCRIPT
ment connected with a very solemn subject, demands that I should
not altogether hold my peace.
The testimonies which have been given both in public and
private, to the value and importance ofthe " Six Letters" have
been exceedingly numerous. But upon these I have no disposition
to enlarge. I have always been much more solicitous to seek for
arguments against my labours upon this subject, than for com
mendations of them. But this consideration must not withhold
me from earnestly recommending to the notice of those who wish
to prosecute the present enquiry respecting the theory of the
Greek Article, the learned and elaborate work of Dr. Middleton
on that subject. 8vo. Cadell.
Upon the whole then I desire it to be understood, that the
general argument respecting the true interpretation of certain
important texts in the New Testament, as it is comprised in the
" Six Letters," has hitherto, in my judgment, been in no respect
impaired by any thing which I have seen alleged on the other
side. Let it be further understood, that I hereby earnestly invite
either the public or private communication of any objections
against it ;
That I beg respectfully to suggest, that no man can well be
more laudably employed than in endeavouring to rescue any doc
trine of our religion from the rash attempts of injudicious men to
support it by false and untenable arguments ;
And, finally, that I hereby pledge myself to retract publicly
what I have written in my "Six Letters," so soon as I
shall be convinced, either by my own researches, or those of
others, that what I have there written is justly liable to that
imputation. Nov. 20, 1809.
P. S. June 1, 1839. Nothing has occurred to the Editor, since his
last communications on this subject, to impair, in the slightest
degree, his confidence in the conclusions, assumed to have been
obtained in prosecuting the investigation above referred to.

When the keepers of the field slept, and the enemy had sown tares, and
they had choked the wheat, and almost destroyed it : when the world com
plained of the infinite errors in the church, and being oppressed by a violent
power, durst not complain so much as they had cause ; and when they who
had cause to complain, were yet themselves very much abased, and did not
complain in all they might ; when divers excellent persons, St. Bernard,
Clemangis, Grosthead, Marsilius, and pope Adrian himself, with many others,
not to reckon Wickliffe, Hus, Hierome of Prague, the Bohemians, and the
poor men of Lyons, whom they called heretics, and confuted with fire and
sword; when almost all Christian princes did complain heavily of the corrupt
state of the church, and of religion, and no remedy could be had, but the
very intended remedy made things much worse: then it was that divers
Christian kingdoms, and particularly the church of England, being ashamed
of the errors, superstitions, heresies, and impieties which had deturpated the
face of the church, looked into the glass of Scripture and pure antiquity, and
washed away those stains, with which time, and inadvertency, and tyranny
had besmeared her ; and, being thus cleansed, and washed, is accused by the
Roman parties of novelty, and condemned because she refuses to run into the
same excess of riot and deordination. — But we cannot deserve blame who
return to our ancient and first health, by preferring a new cure before an old
sore. Bishop Taylor.

CONTENTS.

VOL. I. PAGE
1. Introduction. The British Church and the Anglican . Inett. 1
II.  . King Henry II. ; and Archbishop Becket. Inett. 29
III.  . National Churches. — Papal Usurpations on the
Rights of the Civil Government  Inett. 59
IV. —  . King John, the Barons, and Pope Innocent the
Third  Inett. 77
V.  . Papal Usurpations in Church and State : Origin
and Progress of. — General Recapitulation  Inett. 132
VI.  . Doctrinal Corruptions of Popery . . Bentley. 147
VII. John Wickliffe  Fox. 165
VIII. William Thorpe  Fox. 259
IX. Lord Cobham  Fox. 351
X. Supplementary Extracts. — Invention of Printing. — Chaucer
and Gower. — Progress of Reformation and of Persecution. —
Martin Luther  Fox. 403
XI. Dean Colet (from the Phoenix)  Erasmus. 433
XII. Cardinal Wolsey, by Cavendish, his Gentleman Usher : a
New and complete edition, from Manuscripts in the Lambeth
and other Libraries  459

VOL. II.

I. Thomas Bilney  Fox. 1
II. Sir Thomas More ; now first published, from a Manuscript in
the Lambeth Library, the Author unknown  43
III. William Tindall  Fox. 187
IV. Cromwell, Earl of Essex  Fox. 219
V. John Rogers  Fox. 303
VI. Bishof Hooper  Fox. 355
VII. Doctor Rowland Taylor  Fox. 405
VIII. Bishop Latimer  Fox. 445

xxvm CONTENTS.

VOL. III. PAGE
I. Bishop Ridley  Fox. 1
II. Archbishop Cranmer  Fox. 129
III. Thomas Mountain  Strype. 283
IV. Bishop Jewel  Anonymous. 315
V. Bernard Gilpin  Bishop Carleton. 375
VI. Richard Hooker  Isaac Walton. 441
VII. Archbishop Whitgift  Sir George Paul. 555
VIII. Doctor John Donne  Isaac Walton. 631'

VOL. IV.

I. George Herbert  Isaac Walton. 1
II. Sir Henry Wotton  Isaac Walton. 65
III. Nicholas Ferrar  Dr. Peckard. 117
IV. Bishop Hall  Himself. 265
V. Dr. Henry Hammond  Bishop Fell. 327
VI. Bishop Sanderson  Isaac Walton. 409
VII. Richard Baxter  Himself. 489
VIII. Sir Matthew Hale  Bishop Burnet. 521
IX. Earl of Rochester  Bishop Burnet. 599
X. Archbishop Tillotson  Anonymous. 677
Index  727

LIST OF PLATES.
Vol. I. — Wiclif  Frontispiece.
Vol. II. — Cardinal Wolsey  Frontispiece.
Vol. III. — Bishop Ridley  Frontispiece.
Archbishop Cranmer  To face page 129.
Vol. IV. — Bishop Jewel  Frontispiece.

INTRODUCTION

DR. JOHN INETT AND DR. RICHARD BENTLEY.

VOL. !.

" Equidem fontes unde hauriretis, atque etiam itinera ipsa putavi esse
demonstranda." Cicero.

INTRODUCTION.

THE BRITISH CHURCH; AND THE ANGLICAN1.
Though truth is a blessing which God has laid open and in
common to mankind, and they who consider the nature of man,
and the great purposes for which he is sent into the world cannot
but own, that every one has the same right, and is under the
same obligation, to embrace truth and reject error, as to make a
right use of his natural faculties, or to believe and obey God, and
to take care of his own salvation ; and though this is so evident
that if they who plead for an implicit faith, did not at the same
time offer us marks of the true church and the infallible guide,
and in so doing make every private Christian a judge in the
greatest and most perplexed controversy in religion, and appeal
to the reason which they call us to resign, and by contradicting
themselves become the jest, they would fall under a different cha
racter, and be treated as the common enemies of mankind ; — yet
it must be owned, that it is a strange deference and veneration
which some men pay to the understanding and usages of their
ancestors. They will not see, if their fathers happened to live in
the dark ; refuse truth, if it had not been offered to them ; and
venture their salvation upori the credit of their wisdom, who
wanted opportunities to be sufficiently informed ; and even they
choose error if it has but the colour of antiquity to recommend it.
And which is stranger still, as if there was some particular charm
1 The Anglican.] From " Origines Anglicans, or, a History of the English
Church, by John Inett, D.D. Chanter and Canon Residentiary of the
Cathedral Church of Lincoln. Foi. 2 vols. 1710. Oxford." Being the
Preface to Vol. ii.
b 2

4 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
in proximity of blood, error in the possession of their immediate
ancestors has the advantages of truth at a distance ; and the
dark, illiterate, and corrupted, are by some Christians preferred
to the more knowing and purer ages of the Church. And it is so
difficult to set men right who go wrong out of choice, that he who
attempts to undeceive them is more likely to fall under their dis
pleasure, and be thought their enemy for telling them the truth,
than to convince and bring them to retract their errors.
But if some men add obstinacy to their mistakes nothing can
be more reasonable than that they who never received, or, upon
better information, have forsaken the mistakes, should be just to
truth, and guard the honour of their religion from the censures
and reproaches of those who unhappily mistake and pervert it.
Our enemies know too much to trust their cause to the decision
of that rule which ought to determine all the controversies of the
Christian Church ; take refuge in antiquity, and hope for the pro
tection amongst men, which God and his word have denied them ;
and when we plead Scriptures, boldly reply, that the doctrines
which they now maintain are the same that our ancestors received
with their Christianity ; and the authority which they challenge,
no other than what these submitted to. Although there is no
weight in arguments of this kind, but such as may with equal force
serve the interest of Judaism against our common Christianity,
and of paganism against them both ; yet the better to undeceive
men in their own way, by removing the popular objections from
antiquity which commonly mislead them, I have ever thought that
a fair and impartial history of the corrupt doctrines of the church
of Rome would be the best answer to the antiquity pretended for
them, and just views of the time when, and the unworthy arts by
which, they gained a power over the Western churches, would be
the best, and all the apology that was necessary to justify their
rejecting of it. This consideration seems to have directed the
labours of that great prelate1 who wrote the history of the
British church, and the same views have been the guide to the
continuator thereof.
The case of the British church is so fully accounted for by the
aforesaid prelate, that I shall say nothing of it ; and what has
1 That great prelate.] Bishop Stillingneet ; in his " Origines Britannicee;
or, the Antiquities of the British Churches. 1685. Foi." By " the Conti
nuator thereof," the author refers to himself, and to the work of which the
extract before us is the Preface to the second volume.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 5
already been observed * in the history of the first ages of the
English church, will render it needless to say more to justify the
doctrine of our Holy Mother ; except only to remind the reader,
that the missionaries from Rome, who bore a part in the con
versions of our ancestors, suffered them to bring some of their
pagan corruptions and superstitious practices along with them
into the church. Yet they maintained the doctrine of Gregory
the Great who forbade the worship of images ; and God was the
only object of their worship. They followed the ancients in their
prayers to him to consummate the happiness of departed souls,
but knew nothing of praying them out of purgatory. Their
Homilies2 are full and express against the doctrine of transubstan-
tiation. They translated the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar
tongue, and by their canons required the reading of them. They
forbade private masses, and required and practised the adminis
tration of the sacrament in both kinds. And if Lanfrank and
the Norman clergy made any change in the doctrine of the blessed
sacrament, it went no further than private opinion, till the council
of Lateran, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. That of
Constance in the fifteenth shows us when, and by what authority
the practice of administering the sacrament in one kind was first
established. The original of chantries in England in the thirteenth
century shows when the doctrine of purgatory was received. That
of infallibility arose out of the claims of an universal pastorship,
first broached by Gregory the Seventh in the latter end of the
eleventh century, but sped in England as it did in France, and
was never received. In short, if the world had a just history of
1 Already been observed.] That is, in the author's preceding volume.
2 Their Homilies.] So Archbishop Parker, in his portion of " The Defence
of Priests' Marriages." "But, in God's name, why should they make this
their doctrine of transubstantiation, and the gross presence to be so new, that
Berengarius must be the first author declaring against it ? Whereas ancient
records prove the true doctrine was urged and appointed both for priests in
their synods, for the religious in their collations, for the common people in
their ordinary exhortations, and expressed in Homilies of a great number,
extant in Saxon speech for all the festival days in the year, which written were
so used many a year before Berengarius was born or heard of. So that the
bishops of old may as well be charged to be Calvinists, if the assertion be
so considered, as the bishop of Sarum" (Jewell), " or any bishops at these
days." p. 336. 4to. black letter. Some of these Homilies were published
under the encouragement of the archbishop, by Fox the martyrologist, a.d.
1571. 4to. See also 1 Inett, p. 348— 55, and 366, 7.

6 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;
popery, they would have great reason to repent their rashness,
who plead antiquity for it, and put their cause upon that issue.
And the many new doctrines first established by the council of
Trent so fully confirm the truth of this assertion, that I shall
think it needless to say more upon this head ; nor had I said this
but by showing the reader that these doctrines fall not in the
compass of my present design, to account for the reason of my
silence respecting them in the following history.
In this volume I have endeavoured to perform what I promised
to the public in my last ; that is, to give a just view of the English
church for some time after the Norman revolution ; and, in par
ticular, of the rise and steps of the papal power, and the changes,
as well in the government of the state as the church, which
attended it. And because the controversies about investitures,
the legantine power, the right of appeals, the exemption of the
religious from the authority of their bishops, and both of them
and the clergy from the civil power, and about the patronage of
the crown, give the best light to the government and discipline of
the ancient English church, and show us when and how a change
was gradually introduced ; and show that this of England was
much the same case as that of other churches abroad, which, by
the same men, and by the same arts, and about the same time,
were broken and subdued to that of Rome ; I have therefore
thought myself obliged to be more full and particular in observing
the steps and conduct of those long disputes. And indeed, how
ever these controversies pass under other titles, the subject of
them was neither more nor less than whether the kings of England
should continue, or the bishops of Rome should be raised to the
head of the national church? whether the bishops of England
might act up to their character and the canons of the universal
church ; or whether the bishops of Rome might supersede the
commission of Christ, and at pleasure control the authority of His
church ? whether they should govern the church of Rome as
bishops ; or, as monarchs and sovereign princes, should preside
over the universal church ?
Nor was England the only scene of controversy ; but from the
pontificate of Gregory the Seventh, in the latter end of the
eleventh century, when the pretence to an universal pastorship
was first broached, till the time of pope Innocent the Third in the
beginning of the thirteenth, when the authority of the bishops of
Rome arrived at its utmost height of grandeur and elevation, the

AND THE ANGLICAN. 7
history of the Western churches is little else but one continued
scene of strife and contention : one long struggle betwixt the
bishops of Rome endeavouring to raise themselves, and the princes
and bishops of the West to guard their kingdoms and churches
from their usurpation and encroachments. This was so much
the case of England, and the artifices and attempts of the bishops
of Rome, in pursuance of the aforesaid design, make so great a
part in our history, that it is impossible to give a just view of the
English church, without observing the measures and conduct of
those prelates, whose ambition and designs did about this time
occasion so much trouble, and in the event drew so many mischiefs
on the church and nation.
It is but too evident, that the bishops of Rome did in time
gain a jurisdiction over the English church ; and this has been
industriously misrepresented, and so artfully covered with the
pretence of antiquity, as to deceive some, and raise doubts and
scruples in the minds of others : and this pretence was first made
use of, to prevent and embarrass all the steps to the Reformation,
and ever since to reproach us with a charge of schism '. Besides,
not only the doctrines of infallibility and necessity of communion
with the church of Rome, but all those doctrines which properly
fall under the head of popery, arise out of the claims or depend
upon the authority of the see of Rome, and stand and fall with
them; and the honour and justice of the Reformation do in
some measure turn upon the same foot. I shall therefore, the
better to set these matters in a true light, ask the reader's leave
to make some historical remarks on the ground and progress of
the claims of the court of Rome, which for the reasons above, do
necessarily take up so much room in the following history.
The unparalleled assurance with which some men challenge a
power, which, like the rivers of paradise, encompasses the whole
earth, extends to the other world, and determines the future state
of mankind ; which in many instances pretends to control the
authority of God, to allow what He forbids, and forbid what He
allows ; to set up itself as a standard of truth and error, and the
last resort of justice ; — would tempt one to think, that a claim
which at once shocks the natural notions of God and religion, and
1 Charge of Schism.] /That the church of England was not guilty of schism
in her Reformation, see 4 Christian Institutes, p. 312—24. 334—9. 358, 9-
Jewell and n.

8 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
the common sense of mankind, should have the most express
authority of God, or at least something to colour so extraordinary
a pretence. But how wretchedly is one disappointed, who finds
all this founded on nothing but upon some occasional discourses
of our Saviour with St. Peter, or some particular advices and
reproofs addressed to that apostle, but so far from giving the least
colour to the claims built upon them, that it is hard to say
whether they who found them here, or they who carry us to the
history of the creation, and undertake the proof from God's
making two great lights1, have the greater advantage in the
argument. If one looks to the commission which our Saviour gave to His
apostles in His lifetime, to preach to the Jewish nation, exclusive
both of the Gentiles and Samaritans ; or to that after His resur
rection when all power both in heaven and earth was given to
Him, to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature, and finds not the least mark of any particular power
given to St. Peter; if one considers, that although Christ as
God-man was the great lawgiver to His church, yet this power was
founded in His divine nature, and was essential to and inseparable
from the person of the Mediator ; that as a prophet He came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister ; that it was this ministerial
and prophetic power 2 which He committed to His church ; we are
so much to seek for the regalia of St. Peter, that if history did
not explain the secret, the Christian church had in probability
been as little acquainted with the pretended powers of the
bishops of Rome, as the patriarchs were who lived before the
flood. But it is so natural to men who make their fortunes in the
world, to indulge a vanity, and the better to cover the meanness
of their original, to look backward to find or make a pedigree, to
add a lustre to the family which themselves first raised, that we
are not to wonder if the bishops of Rome took the same measures,
and endeavoured to persuade the world, that the authority which
1 Two great lights.] " They have indeed found the Pope" (says Barrow)
" in the first chapter of Genesis, ver. 1 6 ; for, if we believe P. Innocent IIL,
he is one of the two great luminaries there ; and he is as plainly there, as any
where else in the Bible." Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or Christian
Institutes, vol. iv. p. 151. 8vo. 1837.
2 This prophetic power.] See Baxter in Christian Institutes, vol. i. p. 475 ;
and Barrow, in the same collection, vol. ii. p. 398.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 9
was first gained by their own conduct, was founded in the com
mission of Christ. And the sense and practice of the whole
Christian church, for a thousand years after Christ, do so fully
confirm this conjecture, that there is no one thing more evident,
than that the aforesaid claims, and the wrested interpretation of
Scriptures on which they are built, had the same beginning, and
were ushered into the world by that ambition which first broached
the pretence to an universal pastorship.
And the success and credit thereof has been answerable to the
weakness of the pretence ; for at least two-thirds of the Christian
world rejected as well the aforesaid interpretations, as the doc
trines which were built upon them : and those Christians who
have been unhappily deceived by the assurance with which the
court of Rome has endeavoured to impose their pretensions, do
still differ so much about them, that if a visible interest did not
enable us to account for it, one would wonder how such great
bodies of Christians should centre in the communion of a church,
when the principles on which that unity is founded, so vastly
differ, or rather so directly destroy one another, that it may be
truly said of the claims of the court of Rome, that they have had
the fate which commonly attends impostures, which seldom need
any thing else to detect and expose them, but the inconsistent
tales which are usually made for their colour and support. For
a primacy of order, an universal pastorship by divine right, and
an authority over the Western church in right of the patriarchate
of Rome, are so many several things so widely distant in their
own original, their nature and extent, that if they do not flatter
themselves, who tell us that the Spanish and Italian churches
maintain the supremacy, and in consequence thereof the infallibility
of the bishops of Rome by divine right, the Gallican church is
certainly in the wrong, and guilty of heresy in denying both ; but
if the French are in the right, the charge" of heresy will with
equal force turn back on the Spanish and Italian churches.
If a more favourable construction be put upon this controversy
betwixt those churches, it may be, it will appear much more to
the disadvantage of those claims which occasion it ; for if they
who boast so much of the zeal of the Spaniards for the grandeur of
the papacy, would follow them to their dominions in Italy, and
observe the jurisdiction which they challenge and exercise in the
right of the crown of Naples, and call to mind the vigorous efforts
of their bishops, as well as of the French and Germans, in the

10 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
council of Trent, for the divine right of episcopal residence and
the consequences of that doctrine ; or consider their friendship
and communion with the Gallican church, which so openly denies
and confutes the supremacy ofthe bishops of Rome,— they can
not easily be persuaded that the Spaniards are such friends to
those claims as some men seem to believe. And one who reflects
on the conduct of the Portuguese, upon that revolution which
brought the present royal family to the crown of Portugal, with
what steadiness and resolution they opposed the attempts of the
court of Rome, to gain a part in the nomination of their bishops ;
that notwithstanding the unsettled state of the new government,
the vigorous attempts of the Spaniards to reduce that kingdom
to their obedience, and the utmost inconveniences which their
church suffered by that dispute, — yet for above twenty years they
maintained their ground, and at last secured the rights of the
crown, — will be apt to think, that the bigotry of that people is
not such a blind and governable thing as some men seem to
imagine. And indeed the conduct of all the Western princes in
communion with the church of Rome is so much alike, whenever
their interests call them to dispute the claims of the court of
Rome, as might convince the world that they mean no more by
the pompous titles they bestow upon the bishops of Rome,
than what the emperor Phocas intended, when he conferred
upon them the title of oecumenical bishops ; or the preceding
emperors, when in their edicts and rescripts they gave the same
titles to the bishops of the greater sees. And the unsuccessful
attempts of those prelates to put an end to the disputes betwixt
the Dominicans and Franciscans, the Jansenists and the Jesuits,
and even to quiet the trifling squabbles, where the sentiments,
the honour, the offices, or the privileges of particular orders are
concerned, would incline one to think, that the universal pastor
ship has little credit amongst those who are under the obligations
of vows and interest to support it.
Whatever the present sense of some Western churches may
be in this particular, nothing can be more evident, than that all
the apostles and all the first Christian bishops consulted and acted
in common1, and ever treated one another as colleagues and
brethren ; that the government and discipline of the whole
1 In common.] See Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or Christian Insti.
tutes, vol. iii. p. 267 — 70.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 11
Christian church was founded on a belief of an equality of cha
racter and power, common to the whole order of bishops ; that
several popes in their disputes with the African bishops founded
their claim on a pretended canon of the council of Nice ; that
when the title of universal bishop was first given to the patriarch
of Constantinople, Gregory the Great founded his arguments
against that title, not on any particular right of his own see, but
on the indignity thereby offered to the whole order of bishops : to
say no more, — the grounds upon which the councils of Nice,
Chalcedon and Constantinople, settle the patriarchal dignities
are so certain, so full and uncontrollable an evidence of the sense
of the whole Christian church, against the universal pastorship of
the bishops of Rome by divine right, that if some men's ambition
had not extinguished all sense of truth and modesty, and some
corruptions in doctrine and worship, which depend chiefly on the
authority of the see of Rome, had not disposed others to favour
the pretensions which at once shelter their errors and serve some
unworthy ends, I make no doubt but the claims of that court
had long since been exploded, as the worst grounded and the
most dangerous imposture that was ever offered to the Christian
world. The Gallican church pretends to steer a middle course, be
twixt a bare primacy of order by canon, and the supreme authority
over the church, or the universal pastorship by divine right ; and
yet in the decrees of their general assembly in the year 1682,
wherein that church has published her sentiments on that sub
ject, they treat of it in such a manner, as if they designed to
mortify the power which they pretend to advance ; to justify the
churches which are already reformed ; and open the way to the
reformation of that of France. For whilst they assert the pri
macy of St. Peter and his successors by the institution of Christ,
speak of the majesty of the apostolic see and the obedience due
to the bishops of Rome from all Christians, they renounce the
authority of the Church in temporal matters ; they confirm the
council of Constance, the 4th and 5th sessions especially, which
subject the bishops of Rome even to be deposed by a general
council ; deny their infallibility in matters of faith ; and bound
their authority in matters of discipline, not only by the canons of
the Christian church, but by the rules, customs, and institutions
of states and national churches ; and found these decrees on the

12 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
authority derived to them from the Holy Ghost. How consistent
these decrees are with themselves or with the usages of the Gal-
lican church, I shall leave others to determine ; but if there can
be such a visionary primacy as is consistent with the natural
rights of princes, the canons of the universal church, the just
liberties of national churches, and the authority of Christian
bishops, there seems no more reason to quarrel about it, than to
make war upon the king of Spain for his title of king of Jerusa
lem ; or undertake to confute the claims of a certain prince who
calls himself the emperor of the Sun : in short, whatever occa
sioned or whatever be the issue of these decrees, I cannot but
say of them as St. Paul does on a like occasion, whether of truth
and good-will, or out of contention, yet Christ is preached, and I
glory in it. For the sense of this council is so agreeable to the
sentiments of the greatest writers of that nation, who with in
comparable learning and judgment have confuted the supremacy
of the bishops of Rome, and does so much overbalance whatever
can be pretended from the contrary sense of the Spanish and
Italian churches, and at the same time does so fully assert the
independence of the Gallican church, and thereby justify the con
duct of the reformed churches, and open a way to the reforma
tion of a church which has made so open and so vigorous a step
toward it, — that one cannot but hope that it may in time pro
duce great effects for the good of Christendom.
They who give up the aforesaid claims as indefensible by
scripture and the best antiquity, and found their hopes in the
patriarchal institution ', and upon this foot challenge the obe
dience of the Western churches, have some colour for their pre
tensions. But unless this argument be carried beyond its due
length, the controversy on this head would be confined to the
bounds of Italy, and no way deserve the reflections of an English
historian. Yet because this institution leads to the true original
of the authority of those prelates, who suffered their ingratitude
to keep equal paces with their ambition, and in time disowned
the trust which was the first step to their succeeding greatness,
and to this day continues to be the most colourable pretence for
it ; to set this matter in a just light, it may be fit to observe the
1 The patriarchal institution.] See Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy ; or
Christian Institutes, vol. iii. p. 370 — 3.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 13
original, the nature, the extent and consequences of this institu
tion, before I come to consider the sense of the English church
and nation in the matter under question.
The gospel having made a great progress in the empire, the
fathers of the church began very early to suit the policy and dis
cipline thereof to the form of the civil government \ and by silent
consent yielded a superiority to the bishops of the greater sees ;
and the success of this change answering the expected ends, the
first council of Nice settled it by canon, and leaving the metro
politans, or the bishops of the metropolis, in possession of the
power which had before been allowed by silent consent and con
firmed by usage, they made a farther step, still acting upon the
same view, the plan of the civil government. During the in
fancy of the Roman empire, the court of the prefect of Rome
was the last resort of justice, and appeals were brought thither
from the utmost parts of the empire ; but to render the methods
of justice more easy, the succeeding emperors changed this
course and divided their dominions into districts, which, from the
title of prefects given to the persons who presided in them, came
in time to be termed prefectures. And after several changes,
about the reign of Constantine the Great, Rome, Antioch, Alex
andria, and Treves, were set out for the residence of their pre
fects, and for the supreme courts of justice to all the adjacent
provinces. Rome to some parts of Italy and Africa ; Antioch
to the eastern provinces ; Alexandria to Egypt, Libya, and the
neighbouring provinces of the empire ; Treves to Britain, Spain,
and Gaul. From this platform the bounds of the church and
the empire being much the same, the bishops of Rome, Antioch,
and Alexandria, were by the consent of the church raised above
the rest by the council of Nice ; and upon the same grounds,
after the building of Constantinople and settling it as a new seat
of the empire, next in honour and precedence to Rome, and
styled New Rome, the bishops thereof were by the council of
Constantinople raised to the second place in the church. Jeru
salem, before subject to Antioch, as the mother church of Chris
tendom was upon that ground considered by the same council ;
and as the bishops thereof were the only prelates advanced above

1 The civil government^] See Hooker, b. vii. c. viii. § 7. Keble's edition ;
and Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy; or Christian Institutes, vol. iii.
p. 269—73. ,

14 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
their brethren on the foot of our common Christianity, they seem
to have much the fairest claim to the eminence of authority,
which they of Rome only pretend to.
Things being thus settled by the councils of Nice and Con
stantinople, about the time of the council of Chalcedon in the
following century, the bishops of those churches acquired the
title of patriarchs, and their districts of patriarchates ; their
sees were styled apostolical, and so great a deference was paid to
their persons, that the emperors in their rescripts address to
them under the title of holiness, and style them oecumenical pa
triarchs ; and in the seventh Novel of Justinian, tit. i. that
prince addresses Epiphanius, then bishop of Constantinople, not
only under the title of most holy and blessed archbishop and
patriarch of that city, (as the bishops of Rome were usually
called patriarchs of the city of Rome,) but adds as a distinct
title, that of oecumenical patriarch.
Treves, the chief seat of the Gallic prefecture, though equally
within the reason and grounds of this establishment when it was
first projected, had yet no part therein. But this seems owing
not to any oversight or omission, much less to any design to open
a way to the pretensions of the bishops of Rome, (for the whole
course of this affair, and the part which those prelates acted
therein, oblige one to believe those pretences were not at this
time so much as thought of by any side,) but was occasioned by
the circumstances of that part of the Roman empire. For Gaul,
which was the name the Romans gave to that vast tract of land
lying betwixt the Alps ahd the Pyreneans, the Mediterranean, the
Ocean, and the Rhine, was exceedingly infested by the irruptions
of the French and Almans, the Vandals, Alans, Burgundians,
the Sueves, and Visigoths ; and the French gained such footing
therein, that after a succession of some lesser princes, the French
monarchy was settled by Pharamond about the year 420.
Pretty near the same time the Vandals seated themselves in
Spain, as the Saxons did in Britain about the middle of that
century, and the whole empire received such a shock in the
taking of Rome by the Goths in the beginning of the same age,
that although the emperors continued their titles to these king
doms, yet they were never recovered to the empire, and were
torn off from it before the final settlement of the patriarchal
power in the council of Chalcedon. The kingdoms about the
Baltic were never subdued by the Romans ; and the impressions

AND THE ANGLICAN. 15
which they made upon Germany were so far short of a perfect
conquest, that it may more properly be said, that that country
added a bare title to the emperors, rather than enlarged the
bounds of their dominions. — These few reflections make it easy
to conceive how it came to pass, that the western and northern
kingdoms were so little considered, or rather not thought of at
all, by those councils which settled the patriarchal institution.
But if they had, those nations had certainly fallen within the
patriarchate designed to answer the Gallic prefecture ; and
Treves, not Rome, had been the seat of it ; and even if Britain,
France, and Spain had been laid into the patriarchate of Rome,
I make no doubt but the same authority which first settled, would
have put an end to this institution, had those who formed it
lived to see the empire torn to pieces, and in that change the
reason entirely extinguished upon which it was founded. And
since God only, who sees things that are not as if they were, can
give such laws as shall be for ever binding ; since there is not a
nation or a church in the world, which has not great numbers of
laws and canons grown obsolete by change of circumstances ;
and this is the case of many canons of general councils, and
of that of the apostles " to abstain from blood," and even of the
whole ritual law, and must of necessity be the case of all human
constitutions, the obligation ever ceasing with the reason on which
they are grounded ; nothing can be more evident than this propo
sition, that it is the interest of a party, not the weight of argu
ment, which supports the pretended patriarchal power of the
bishops of Rome. In short, they have as good a title to be
kings as patriarchs of Great Britain, and might with a better
colour challenge the crown from the void resignation of King
John, than pretend to an authority over the English church, by
virtue of those canons which settled the patriarchal power.
But though the authority of that institution is long since de
termined .with the reason of it, yet it had such good effect in the
East, that if it had been carried to the intended lengths in the
West, and a patriarchate settled there to answer the Gallic pre
fecture, in all probability it would have prevented the mischiefs
the Western churches have suffered by the claims of the bishops
of Rome. But so it was, that whilst the Eastern churches were
so well guarded thereby, that notwithstanding the shock they
received by the conquest of the Latins in the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and the pretended submission of the Greek to

16 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
the Latin church in the council of Florence, the Greek churches
preserve their rights and liberties to this day : — God, for reasons
best known to himself, left the Western churches open and un
guarded, and in time suffered them to become a prey to the am
bition of the bishops of Rome.
For these prelates, being thus raised in that capacity to the
first place in the Christian church, were exceedingly elated by
their new character ; and the way being thus prepared, a great
many things fell to favour their ambition. The zeal and resolution
of those prelates in opposing the Arian heresy brightened their
character. The countenance which pope Zachary and Stephen
gave to the deposition of Childeric king of the Franks, and
setting up the Carlovingian line, so engaged the princes of that
house, that by their interest the Gallican church was united to
that of Rome the latter end of the eighth century. The transla
tion of the empire to the Franks, wherein pope Stephen and Leo
acted a part, was returned by Charlemagne in conferring great
wealth, and power, and privileges on the see of Rome ; and the
bishops thereof were thereby raised to the state of temporal
princes about the year 800.
The afflictions which fell upon Christendom by those inundations
which tore the empire in pieces, did indeed lessen their merit, but
raised their power and interest. For those invasions in a great
measure bore down the religion, and extinguished the learning,
and for some time spread paganism through all the Western
nations ; and the bishops of Rome having a hand in the conversion
of these invaders, suffered them to bring a great deal of their
pagan doctrine and superstitious worship along with them into
the church ; treated them as the Jesuits have lately done their
converts in China ; and became popular by indulging and defending
their errors. The purity of the gospel being thus corrupted, and
the discipline and ancient government of the church in great
measure forgotten, great numbers of forged epistles were published
to raise a belief of the ancient power and privileges of those pre
lates ; and though now rejected by the most learned men1 of that
communion, yet they passed for true history in the ages wherein
they were published, and in great measure answered the purposes
for which they were designed.
1 The most learned men.] See Joannis Morini Vita, in his Antiquitates
Ecclesiee Orientalis, p. v. vi. 1703.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 17
But still, though they made a great figure in the West, it yet
went little farther than parade and show. Their power was pre
carious and uncertain, ruffled and checked at pleasure ; and the
canons ofthe church turned against them by every private bishop.
In short, their authority was controlled and denied, and even
insulted, whenever it bore too hard on the rights of princes, synods,
and national churches. And thus things continued till Gregory
the Seventh, in the latter end of the eleventh century, published
his design to erect the ecclesiastical monarchy. And indeed,
whilst the church of Rome continued in a state of dependence on
the empire, and the bishops thereof were nominated, or at least
their elections confirmed by the emperors, and did not enter upon
the pontifical authority till they were qualified for it by an oath of
allegiance to them;— it was impossible they should ever raise
themselves to a sovereign power over other national churches ; for
nothing could be so wild and ridiculous as to challenge the title of
mistress and mother of other churches, when she was not mistress
of herself; or to pretend to separate other churches from a
dependence on the supreme authority of states and kingdoms,
whilst that of Rome itself remained in a state of dependence on
the empire. And the long disputes betwixt the emperors and the
bishops of Rome on that subject, begun by Gregory the Seventh,
put it beyond all doubt, that this was the case of that church
when that prelate 1 was raised to the papal chair.
Having said thus much, to give a short view of the claims and
pretensions of the bishops of Rome, and the first steps they made
towards the supreme jurisdiction and sovereign power which they
gained in time over the Western churches ; I come now to con
sider the state and sense of the English church in particular.
And here it will be requisite to observe,
I. The nature and extent of the supremacy or sovereign juris
diction those prelates pretend to. I shall not lead the reader to
the dictates or maxims of Pope Gregory the Seventh, or to the
boundary set out by the canon law, or by the council of Trent,
but observe the nature and extent thereof whilst received in
England, or as now exercised in some other churches of the West.
And this consisted in confirming the elections of archbishops and
bishops; putting them in possession of their respective trusts;
and, in return, receiving an oath of canonical obedience from
1 When that prelate.] April 22, 1073.
VOL. I. 0

18 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
them; calling them to councils abroad, and to national synods at
home ; discharging places and persons from their jurisdiction, and
receiving appeals from their courts ; exempting the persons of
the clergy from the authority, and their revenues from the impo
sitions of the state ; and subjecting both these to themselves,
exempting the lands of some of the religious from payment of
tithes ; and subjecting as well them as the secular clergy to first-
fruits, tenths, pensions, and subsidies imposed by themselves.
There are some other instances wherein those prelates exercised
a sovereign power over the English church, but they are branches
from these greater articles, and must stand or fall with them. —
This being said of the nature and subjects of the supremacy of
the bishops of Rome, it will be fit to proceed and enquire,
II. How far the ancient English church was affected by it.
And here we are to observe, that although one part of the
English nation owed its conversion to the see of Rome, and all
the rest complied in some ofthe rites and usages thereof; and
the archbishops did sometimes receive their palls from thence ;
and the whole English church paid a great deal of deference to
the bishops of that see ; — yet in all our histories and records,
from the first planting of the Gospel amongst the Britons1 to the
1 Amongst the Britons.] See Bishop Stillingfleet's Origines Britannica,
chap. iii. p. 99—144. (The Just Rights ofthe British Churches cleared.)— No
evidence that they were under the Roman patriarchate; and chap. v. p. 356—64.
(Independence of the British Churches, evinced by their conduct towards
Augustine the Monk.) So the learned Sir Roger Twisden, in his excellent
work, An Historical Vindication of the Church of England, in point of Schism.
1675, 4to, p. 7, says, "As the Britons are not read to have yielded any sub
jection to the Papacy, so neither is Rome noted to have taken any notice of
them. For Gregory the Great, about 590, being told certain children were
de Britannia insula, did not know whether the country were Christian or
Pagan. And when Augustine came hither (598), and demanded their obe
dience to the Church of Rome, the abbot of Bangor returned him answer,
' that they were obedient to the church of God, to the pope of Rome, and to
every godly Christian to love every one in his degree in charity, to help
them in word and deed to be the children of God ; and other obedience than
this they did not know to be due to him, whom he named to be pope, and to
be father of fathers.' . . . And it appears by Giraldus Cambrensis, this
distance between the two churches continued long, even till Henry II. (1185)
induced their submission by force; before which ' episcopi Wallise a
Menevensi antistite sunt consecrati, et ipse similiter ab aliis tanquam suffra-
ganeis est consecratus, nulla penitus alii ecclesiae facta professione vel subjec-
tione;' the generality of which words must be construed to have reference

AND THE ANGLICAN. 19
Norman revolution, there is not so much as a single instance of
any one bishop whose election was confirmed by those of Rome,
or put in possession of his trust, or tied to them by an oath of
canonical obedience ; of any council called in England by their
authority ; or bishop called to their councils abroad ; of any per
son or society exempted from the authority of their proper
bishops; or of any appeal made from their courts to that of
Rome ; of any tenth, first-fruits, or subsidies paid to or imposed
by them : in short, there is not any law of the state, nor any
canon of the church, that gives the least countenance to the pre
tended authority of the bishops of Rome ; there is not the least
mark of any jurisdiction or authority exercised by them over the
ancient English church. And one who considers, that jurisdiction
is a plain and a sensible thing, and appears so evidently in canons
and matters of fact ; that church discipline and forms of eccle
siastical business do as certainly discover the seat and boundaries
of ecclesiastical power, as the style of laws and forms of justice
set out the nature of civil government, and enable us to distinguish
a monarchy from a commonwealth ; — should, one would think,
need nothing more than the entire silence of our history to clear
the matter under question.
If this be not enough to give us a just view of the sense and
practice of the English church in this particular, it may be fit to
observe, that when the legate of the bishop of Rome, Boniface
archbishop of Mentz, by whose address the princes of the Car
lovingian line were wrought upon to subject, or at least to unite,
the Gallican church to that of Rome, in an epistle to Cuthbert
archbishop of Canterbury attempted to bring the English church
to the like condition ; the council of Cloveshoe in the year 747
not only rejected the offer with resentment, but by an express
canon : asserted the freedom and independency thereof. Besides,
as our history does not afford one single instance in favour of the
as well to Rome as Canterbury. For, a little after, he shows that though
Augustine called them to council as a legate of the apostolic see, yet returned
they did proclaim they would 'not acknowledge him an archbishop, but did
contemn both himself and what he had established.' ' I confess,' says he
again, ' that it has ever seemed to me (and he alleges his reasons) that they
received the first principles of their Christianity from Asia.' "—Ibid. p. 7.
1 An express canon.] The Acts of the council (see 1 Wilkins's Concilia,
p. 90—100) do not seem to warrant this strong expression. I do not see
that much can be concluded from them either way.
c 2

20 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;
papal claims, so, on the contrary, they are full and express on the
side of the royal supremacy. The kings of England acted as the
supreme ordinaries and heads of the national church; and, as such,
set out and divided dioceses ; named their bishops and received
appeals from their courts ; convened national councils ; and by
their laws settled the revenues of the church ; directed the con
duct, and punished all offences of the clergy against the state ;
and, as occasion required, subjected their revenues to the support
of the government. And the long struggle and opposition which
they made to guard their rights from the usurpations of the court
of Rome, and the subsequent changes in the polity and order of
this church occasioned thereby, so fully confirm what has been
already suggested on tins head, that if some men had not lost all
sense of shame and regard of truth, the supremacy of the bishops
of Rome over the ancient English church had never been the
subject of dispute. But,
III. It must be owned, that during the reign of William the
First, pope Gregory * published the claims of the bishops of Rome
to a supreme authority over the whole Christian church ; and
what our Saviour said to St. Peter of the rock on which he would
build his church, the charge he gave him to feed his sheep, and
what he said of himself of his being the way and the door ; and,
in short, all the fine things that could be thought on, were laid
together to give weight to, or at least to colour that pretence. —
But after all, if arguments of a very different nature from those
of the Gospel had not come in to their aid, the English church
after the Conquest had doubtless paid as little regard to this
pretence, as it had done before; and this sort of reasoning had sig
nified as much in the Western, as it did in the Eastern churches,
which paid no more regard to it than to the claims ofthe Turks in
favour of Mahomet. How it came to pass wiE be fully accounted
for in the following history ; but it may be fit shortly to observe
here on this head, that king Henry the First, by yielding up his
right of investiture and giving way to the legantine power,
advanced the bishops of Rome to the head of the English clergy.
In consequence of those concessions they became judges of the
elections of bishops ; put them in possession of their trusts ;
1 Pope Gregory.] Of the general history of Hildebrand, or Pope Gregory
VII., as connected with his vast ambitious designs on England, See., see
Inett, vol. ii. p. 32 — 69 ; Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 104 — 7. 120 — 2. and
Index, under Gregory VII.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 21
required an oath of obedience from them ; called national councils
at home ; obliged them to attend their councils abroad ; and in
time came to lay impositions on the revenues, and to dispose of
the preferments of the church. The right of appeals, and the
exemptions of the clergy from the authority of the state, con
tended for and begun in king Stephen's, were yielded up in the
following reign of Henry the Second ; and the designs of that
court were consummated, and the civil as well as the ecclesiastical
supremacy, so far as was in the power of that prince, was put into
their hands by king John.
It is here we have the beginning, the steps, and the foundation
of the papal supremacy over the English Church, which the flat
terers of that pretence look for in vain in the preceding ages. And
the whole course of our history so fully justifies this account, that
whereas before the Conquest we have neither marks nor footsteps
of the papal jurisdiction, — from the time of the aforesaid agree
ments to the Reformation, our ecclesiastic history is little else
but different scenes of oppression, and of remonstrances against
the abuses it occasioned. — Whether this change in fact and
practice altered the sentiments, and changed the faith and sense of
the church and nation in this particular, is the next thing to be
enquired into.
IV. One would have expected, that men who are so very for
ward to reproach us with a parliamentary church and a state
religion, would have produced some canon of an English national
council, grounded on the authority of Christ or the consent of the
universal church, to justify this change in the government thereof;
at least some public act of the state. But after all it is very
evident, that all through the long controversies which their claims
occasioned, the nobility, bishops, and clergy, some few excepted,
adhered steadily to the rights of the crown and the church ; and
that when king Henry did what in him lay to give them away in
the great council held in London in the year 1107, he acted
wholly upon political reasons ; and was over-influenced by his
great minister and favourite the Earl of Mellent, against the
sense ofthe wiser and greater part of that assembly. And this
was so much the case in all the other disputes on this subject,
that if any credit can be given to history, the supreme authority
of the bishops of Rome over the English church had no other
foundation, but some unhappy concessions or leagues betwixt the
kings of England and those prelates, occasioned by the bad titles,

22 THE BRITISH CHURCH ;
the weakness, the ill circumstances, or the difficulties which the
arts of that court had drawn upon them.
If the same reasons, upon which our princes acted in the afore
said changes, did not oblige the church and nation to submit to
them, then, since (unless the restoration of the papal power in
the reign of queen Mary may be so called) it does not appear
that a submission was ever settled by any law of the state, or any
canon of the English church. On the contrary, the entire and
full sovereignty of the imperial crown of England was so con
stantly asserted by our several succeeding kings and their great
councils ; and the pretended supremacy of those prelates was so
frequently denied and controlled, and even insulted by the statutes
of mortmain, prsBmunire, and provisors, annates or first-fruits, and
that of Henry the Seventh rescinding the papal exemptions of the
religious from the payment of tithes ; and was so restrained in all
the parts and branches thereof, whenever it interfered with the
rights of the crown or the good of the nation ; and was at last
so generally renounced and abjured \ as well by the whole clergy
in convocation, as by the people in parliament ; and all this
brought about in fewer weeks than it had cost years to obtain ;
and whilst popery, in other respects, continued the established
religion, and did depend so far on the authority of the bishops of
Rome, that it was easy to foresee that this change would open the
way to the Reformation which the body of his clergy so much
dreaded. Hence if any judgment can be made of the faith of a
Christian church and nation by the canons, the laws and practices
thereof, the supremacy of the bishops of Rome was never received
as a part of the religion of England, any more than it is at this
time in France ; but, on the contrary, was ever esteemed an
usurpation on the rights of the monarchy and the church. Besides
it is very evident, that the attempt of king John to render the
kingdom a fief of the papacy, though attended with the forms and
appearances of law, was ever thought a void 2 and illegal act, and
1 Renounced and abjured.] An Act (26 Hen. VIII. c. i. A.D. 1 535-6)
concerning the King's Highness to be Supreme Head, &c. and An Act (28
Hen. VIII. c. x. A.D. 1537) extinguishing the authority of the Bishop of
Rome. 2 Ever thought a void.] The king (Edward III.) had lately received
notice, that the pope, in consideration of the homage which John, king of
England, had formerly paid to the see of Rome, and of the tribute by him
granted to the said see, intended by process to cite his majesty to appear at

AND THE ANGLICAN. 23
served only to reproach the memory of that prince and the
wickedness of that court which compelled him to it ; and to let
his court at Avignon, to answer for his defaults in not performing what the
said king his predecessor had so undertaken for him and his heirs, kings of
England. Whereupon the king required the advice of his parliament, what
course he had best take, if any such process should come out against him.
The bishops, lords and commons desired until the following day to give in
their answer; when being again assembled, after full deliberation, they
declared as follows : that " neither king John, nor any other king, could
bring himself, his realm, and people, under such subjection without their
assent; and if it was done, it was done without consent of parliament, and
contrary to his coronation oath ; that he was notoriously compelled to it by
the necessity of his affairs and the iniquity of the times. Wherefore the said
estates enacted, that in case the pope should attempt any thing by process,
or any other way, to constrain the king and his subjects to perform what he
says he lays claim to in this respect, they would resist and withstand him to
the utmost of their power." Parliamentary History of England, vol. i. p. 130.
Compare Cotton's Abridgment, p. 102. foi.
Of hardly inferior value, is a very explicit testimony even from Sir Thomas
More: " Nowe if he saye, as in dede some wryters saye, that king John made
England and Ireland tributary to the pope and the see apostolike, by the
graunt of a thousand markes ; we dare surely saye agayne that it is untrue ;
and that all Rome neither can shewe such a graunt, nor never could : and if
they could, it were right nought worth. For never could any kinge of Eng
land geve away the realm to the pope, or make the land tributary though he
would ; nor no such moneye is there payde, nor never was." The Suppli
cation of Souls. Works of Sir Thomas More, p. 296. 1557- foi. The
testimony, I say, is valuable, as proceeding from » high constitutional
authority. At the same time, you cannot but remark, in reference to a
different point, that it is not pleasant to see with what confidence, in a con
troversial spirit, and in extenuation of the offences of the see of Rome, such
a man should so confidently contradict, as he here does, the unquestionable
facts of this tribute having been imposed, and exacted, till it came to be
denied in a tone too firm for the pope to overcome. It is true that More
might not have so fully all the sources of information which we possess ;
but ignorance can hardly be thought a sufficient excuse for assertions so
positive and confident.
See also Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, b. i. c. ix.
We may remark yet again, on this important point, that we have the
general argument well put and clearly expressed, in a short tract of bishop
Hooper, preserved by Strype, in his Ecclesiastical Memorials, (vol. iii. No.
xxvi. Records), and entitled De vera ratione invenienda) et fugiendce falsee
doctrinal. It was written, as the reader will perceive, in the reign of queen
Mary. " Et quod auctoritatem suam papa ratam esse voluerit, quasi a regibus et
principibus concessam, certo scimus reges et principes, et si vellent, non posse

24 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
posterity see how impossible it is to guard the civil, whenever the
ecclesiastical supremacy shall be ravished from the crown : and
yet it is certain, the grants of the ecclesiastical supremacy were no
less mischievous and no better grounded, than that charter which
pretended to give away the crown. — And if this be a true state
of our case, the charge of schism against the reformed church of
England must of necessity vanish with the imposture which
supports it ; and there can be no more ground to question the
wisdom and justice of our reformation, than to doubt whether a
nation may resume the rights ' which were illegally given away ; or
aliquam sua dignitatis partem cuiquam conferre, nee a suo officio et honore
deponere. Nam quod Deus necessario alicui statui conjungit, nemo in
ahum statum transferre valet. Reges autem sub se ministros, qui ecclesia
et reipubKcce munia ministrent, habere possunt, sed pares vel superiores in
ecclesise vel reipub. ministerio habere, regibus non licet. Et si forte quispiam,
vel regis permissione, vel aliqua temporis pr&scriptione, vel tyrannide, in eccle-
siis auctoritatem sibi vindicat; nemo tamen illius auctoritati obtemperare
debet, nee episcopo, nee papae, quatenus sunt episcopi; quandoquidem a
Deo talem potestatem non habent : nee quia a regibus missi, propterea
quod talem potestatem reges episcopo papali facere non possunt. Sed hanc
potestatem papae clare vindicat Joannes (Apoc. xvii.) originem suam ha-
buisse nee a Deo nee ab homine, sed ex abysso ; et in interitum procul dubio
brevi ibit.
" Sed hanc violentiam et Satanicam auctoritatem papae, non est prsesentis
instituti ulterius prosequi. Tantum admonere volui, quamvis contra omnia
jura divina et humana, nunc iterum, propter nostra peccata, inter Anglos
caput ecclesia appellari obtinuerit ; non plus hie habere jurisdictionis, quam
infimus episcopus Anglim habet Romce. Et tandem denuo Dominus interficiet
ilium spiritu oris sui, ut antehac fecit." P. 75, 76.
In a later age, the like objection was urged to the royal concessions, to
another species of tyranny and usurpation, that of democracy and regicide.
" This parliament," says the noble-minded Marquis of Ormond to Lord
Inchiquin, (Nov. 17, 1648) "have voted the king's answers unsatisfactory;
though they were os large, or larger than he could give : for to my sense he
hath parted with more than his own." Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. iii.
p. 593. Again in the State Papers of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol. ii.
p. 309. " The king hath not power to release one grain of the allegiance that is
due to him."
1 May resume the rights.] All the points connected with these matters were
deliberately considered by the Convocation of 1536, and accordingly, on this
in particular, in their Institution of a Christian Man, 1537 (the Bishop's
Book), they thus express themselves, under the head " The Sacrament of
Orders." foi. p. 50, 51.
"Whereas the kynges most royall Majestie, consyderynge of his most
excellent wysedom, not only the notable decaye of Christe's true and perfytte
religion amonges us, but also the intollerable thraldome, captivitie and

AND THE ANGLICAN. 25
a Christian church may act up to the commission of Christ, and
contend earnestly for the faith which he delivered to the saints.
These few reflections on the claims of the bishops of Rome, on
their true and pretended antiquity ; on the grounds and the con
sequences thereof; and on the sense of the Christian church in
general on this subject, and of that of England in particular, will, I
hope, give the reader a just view of the nature and importance of
those disputes occasioned thereby : and by leaving it out of doubt
that it was guarding the supremacy of the crown, and preserving
the ancient freedom and independence of the English church on
the one side, and on the other usurping on the rights of both,
which were the great subject of the aforesaid controversies, will
sufficiently answer for the room which has been allowed them in
the following history.
bondage, with the infinite damages and prejudices, whiche we and other his
subjectes continually susteyned, by reason of that longe-usurped and abused
power, whiche the bishops of Rome were wonte to exercyse here in this
realme, hath nowe of his moste godly disposition, and by consent of his
nobles spiritual and temporal, and by the auctoritie of the hole parlyament,
determyned no longer to suffer the byshop of Rome to execute any parte of
his jurisdiction here within this realme, but clerely to delyver us from the
same, and restore us again to our olde lybertie ; surely we have great cause
most joyfully and thankefully to embrace and accepte the same, considerynge
that therby no prejudice is done to Goddis worde or his ordynances. For,
as we have shewed and declared before, it was by princes and men's ordinance
and sufferance onely that the byshop of Rome exercysed any such jurisdiction
within this realme, and not by any auctoritie gyven unto hym by Christe.
And, as for the byshop of Rome, he can not pretende himselfe no more to
be greved or injured therewith, than the kynges chancellour, or any other
his offycers might worthily thinke, that the kinges highnes shulde do hym
wronge, in case he shulde upon good causes remove hym from his sayde
roome and offyce, and committe it unto another. And as for us and other
the kynges faythfulle subjectes, we shall undoubtedly receyve and have
therby syngular welthe and commoditie, as well spiritually to the edi-
fienge of our soules, as corporally to the encrease of our substance and
ryches." See also a passage to the same purport, under the same head, in the
Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man. (The King's Book,
1543. signat. I. 6, 7.) The reader is aware that two years before, viz., in
1534, the bishops, universities, collegiate churches, monasteries, and learned
men generally throughout the kingdom, on being formally consulted by the
king, had, with very few exceptions, determined :
" Romanum episcopum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi
a Deo collatam in sacra scriptura, in hoc regno Angliae, quam alium quemvis
externum episcopum." Twisden, 72 and 119.

26 THE BRITISH CHURCH;
If I have not carried this work so low as might be expected,
and this be not sufficiently accounted for by what has been
already said on the subject thereof, I hope I may be allowed to
say, that I have performed what I promised to the public in my
last, and given a just view of the state of the church from the
first rise of the papal power, till that usurpation was carried to
its utmost height of grandeur and elevation ; and of the changes
occasioned thereby both in church and state. — When the hard
fate of our Holy Mother, which stands charged by one party with
approaching too near to that of Rome, whilst that church, which
one would think was the best judge of compliances of this kind,
charges us with heresy and schism for standing at too great a
distance from her, first obliged me to lay out all the time I was
master of, the better to enable me to make a true judgment of
the controversies which so unhappily divide the state of Christ
endom ; and the bright pattern of that most worthy and learned
prelate, who wrote the History of the British Church, had brought
me to a resolution to endeavour to do right to our Holy Mother
by setting her history in a true light ; I flattered myself with the
hopes of continuing our history, from the time where the learned
bishop of Worcester concludes his, till the resumption thereof by
another very learned and most worthy prelate 1, in his History of
the Reformation ; and designed in three short and distinct
volumes to set out the three great periods and different states of
the English church : the first, that before the Conquest, whilst
its primitive freedom and independence on that of Rome were
duly preserved ; the second, the state of the church from the
Norman revolution, whilst things were in a ferment, and the
usurpations of the bishops of Rome still making new steps, till
their sovereign power rose to its full growth in the reign of king
John ; the third, to give a just view of our affairs during the
vassalage and subjection of the English church to that of Rome,
till the Reformation so happily rescued the church and kingdom
from the mischiefs of that usurpation.
The first part of this design has been published some years
since ; the second is what now I offer to the public : but the time
and my age have in some measure cooled the sanguine thoughts
I once had of the third ; and the views I have taken, and the
steps I have made towards it, drive one backward, and rather
1 Another most worthy prelate.] Bishop Burnet.

AND THE ANGLICAN. 27
throw one into despair, than bring me to any resolution to pro
ceed. For to say nothing of the expense of time, the charge
and difficulties which attend the ver}- access to records and manu
scripts, from whence the most considerable notices are to be
expected ; it is no little mortification to hunt from one record to
another, to find little else but new scenes of tyranny and oppres
sion ; to dwell upon a story filled with remonstrances of our
kings and their great councils ; broken and eluded laws ; the un
regarded complaints and petitions of the clergy ; the unpitied
cries of a nation ; and, in every line one writes, to feel new pain
and bleed afresh in the wounds of our country. In short, a
history which one can hardly read with patience, or relate with
the calmness and temper that become a Christian, is at best a
very discouraging undertaking.
Yet one who considers the artifices and address with which
our enemies are every day attempting to bring these nations back
again to the yoke under which our ancestors so long groaned ;
how totally some men have forgot the miseries of those days, and
even the late prospect we had of falling under them again ; how
fondly some men talk of an union with that church, which can
allow no terms of communion but such as must let in a foreign
power, and bring servitude along with them; how unhappily
some mistake the decency and order of our Holy Mother, and
will not believe that she is far enough from popery, because she
does not sacrifice all regard to the best ages of the church, and
run into novelty to show her aversion to that of Rome ; — will
easily be persuaded, that the advantages would on many accounts
over-balance the difficulties which attend a work of this kind.
Had we as plain a view of the use whieh the court of Eome made
of their power *, as, I hope, the following history will give of the
unworthy arts by which they gained it ; could we see how the
wealth of the nation was exhausted to enrich her enemies ; all
the measures of law and justice, and even the religion of Christ,
forced to give way to avarice and ambition ; the sacred patrimony
of the English church made the reward of those who first enslaved
it ; and at once behold the difference betwixt the purity, the
decency, the order, and the gentleness of our Holy Mother, and
the corruptions, the foppery, the superstition and tyranny of
1 Made of their power.] This service, I may remark, is designed to be
answered, in some degree, by the earlier portions of the present collection.

28 THE BRITISH CHURCH; AND THE ANGLICAN.
Rome ; — a work of this nature would give us a lively view of the
blessings of the Reformation, and raise up so just a veneration
for that church, which has hitherto through the blessing of God
continued its greatest ornament and support, as might possibly
cure the mistakes which so unhappily divide us, or at least teach
us all such forbearance of one another in love, that our divisions
and animosities may never provoke God to take his blessings
from us.

INTRODUCTION.

KING HENRY IT. ; AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET '.
The affairs of the king (Henry II.) being in a very good
posture, he was at leisure to make his progress in England, and
in the year 1159 to go over into France, and set up his preten
sions to the earldom of Thoulouse. But whilst things went thus
quietly in England, pope Adrian died, which occasioned a new
schism 2 in the church of Rome.
The haughtiness and ambition of pope Adrian were so suitable
to the present views of the court of Rome, that it is not easy
to determine whether that prelate was inspired from his court, or
actuated by the ambition of his own nature. But from whatever
principle he moved, it is very evident that his whole conduct was
much of a piece. His rescript to king Henry and bold claim to
a sovereignty over all Christian islands s were dictated by the
same spirit, which every where appears in his transactions with
1 Archbishop Becket.] From Inetf s Origines Anglicante, vol. ii. p. 235 — 51.
272—83. 286, 7.
2 A new schism.] Of these schisms in the church of Rome, their effects,
&c, see Inett, vol. ii. p. 77—81. 140. 138—70.
3 Christian islands.] "Thekyng" (Henry II.) "wrote to P. Adrian of
his purpose to reduce the Irishe nation to better religion. The pope in his
rescripte did well commende his good zeale, and councelled hym to go for-
warde ; but with this proviso, that because (saith he) all ilandes that be
turned to the fayth belong to the ryghts of S. Peter and the most holy
churche of Rome, the lande shoulde pay yerely to S. Peter for every house a
pennye. ... So that whosoever take payne and coste to set any nation in
order, or to bryng them to better beliefe, the pope would lose nothyng
thereby : where yet tyll that tyme, his fatherhood dyd most strangely suffer

30 KING HENRY II. ;
the empire. And it was easy to foresee that the designs of the
court of Rome would not die with pope Adrian ; therefore the
emperor Frederick, taking the advantage of the present vacancy,
employed all his interest in that court to secure such an election
as might be consistent with the peace of the empire. On the
other hand, the governing part of that court, which was hitherto
animated by the spirit of Gregory the Seventh, cast their thoughts
another way, and this created such difficulties in the election of
pope Adrian's successor, as ended in a schism ; for the court
party chose cardinal Rowland late chancellor of the church of
St. Peter in Rome, who took the name of Alexander the Third ;
whilst the imperial faction chose cardinal Octavian, who took
upon him the name of Victor the Fourth.
The warmth of the several parties was much alike, and with
equal assurance they mutually pretended to the right of election.
The kings of England and France acknowledged the title of
Alexander, whilst the emperor favoured Victor, and gave such
uneasiness to pope Alexander, as obliged him to run the hazard
of a voyage by sea to get into France, where we must leave him,
till we meet him at the council of Tours, about three years after
his advancement to the papacy, concerting measures with Becket
then archbishop of Canterbury, for which the king of England
had no reason to thank him.
The public business detaining the king (1160) in Normandy,
Theobald archbishop of Canterbury had the greatest hand in all
the affairs of the English church, and by his wisdom and good
conduct things went on so smoothly, that, except the common
changes which death is ever making, the three or four last years
of that prelate's government afford nothing but the building of
monasteries, the increase of the religious, and such other occur
rences as the historian of the state is chiefly concerned to ac
count for.
But after that prelate had filled that chair for two-and-twenty
years, he died about the middle of April in the beginning of this
year (1161), and by his death made way for a successor of a very
different temper. The king was in Normandy at the time of
that people so outrageously to live, tyll the kyng tooke to the reformation."
Archbishop Parker, in the (anonymous) Defence of Priests' Marriages, p.
344. 4to.
For a further account of this pretended grant of Ireland by pope Adrian,
see Inett, vol. ii. p. 227 — 31. and 279. given below.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 31
Theobald's death, and was attended by Thomas archdeacon of
Canterbury, whose services there were so necessary to him, that
whatever thoughts he might have of his succession, that chair
was not filled till the year following.
The king having determined to put that important trust into
the hands of his present chancellor, in order thereto he sent him
into England, where, by the appointment of Henry the father,
his son Henry, lately crowned king of England, summoned a
council to meet at London ; and the prior and some of the monks
of Canterbury being commanded to attend that assembly, the
said prior and monks, with the concurrence of the bishops of the
province, elected Thomas Becket \ provost of Beverly, arch
deacon of Canterbury and lord chancellor of England, arch
bishop. To fit him for that great station he was ordained priest
on Trinity Sunday this year (1162), and in the beginning of
June following was consecrated bishop, by Henry bishop of Win
chester, assisted by several other bishops of the province. This
prelate was the son of a merchant, and born in London, and is
said to be the first Englishman advanced to the see of Canter
bury since the Norman conquest. He was at this time the great
favourite and minister of Henry the Second, and at his desire
chosen archbishop ; and as chancellor he had acquitted himself
so much to the satisfaction of the king and the court, that from
his great complaisance and address in that post, the king had
formed a mighty expectance, and promised himself a freedom
from the disputes and broils, which the stiffness of Anselm and
some other of this prelate's predecessors had drawn upon the
kingdom. But the king too soon saw himself deceived, and the ground
of his hopes turned back upon him. For no sooner did that
prelate change his character, but his air and address became new
too, and his conversation and conduct had a turn so different from
what they appeared before, as too plainly showed the king he had
1 Thomas Becket.] " Thomas a Becket. This is a small error ; but being
so often repeated, deserveth to be observed and corrected. The name of
that archbishop was Thomas Becket ; nor can it otherwise have been found
to be written in any authentic history, record, calendar, or other book. If
the vulgar did formerly, as it doth now, call him Thomas a Becket, their
mistake is not to be followed by learned men." Henry Wharton's Observa
tions subjoined to Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer ; Appendix,
p. 256.

32 KING HENRY II. ;
misplaced his hopes and favours, and that there wanted nothing
but opportunity and instructions from the court of Rome, to
render this prelate the fittest instrument to consummate that
usurpation which was already become insupportable to the church
and kingdom; and the trusts which he had passed through,
served only to increase and give still greater reason for the
suspicion and fears of the king. However, things passed quietly
the first year.
Pope Alexander the Third, as has been said before, finding
himself very uneasy at Rome, and by the power of the emperor
Frederick, who had espoused the interest of his rival pope Victor
the Fourth, so shut up in Italy, that he could not without great
difficulty keep up a correspondence with France, England, or
Spain ; and having for that reason ground to suspect, that the
emperor might bring those nations over to his adversary ; at least
make such impressions as might be to his disadvantage ; he left
Rome, and sailed to France ; and the better to concert measures
with the clergy of France and England, called a council, which
met at Tours in France about Whitsuntide this year (1 163).
This put so colourable an opportunity into the hands of the
new archbishop of Canterbury, to concert measures for the car
rying on what his after conduct gives one reason to think he had
before projected, that he could not overlook it. Therefore he
applied himself to the king, and having obtained his leave, he,
accompanied by Roger archbishop of York and the bishop of
Durham a, went over into France. Pope Alexander received the
archbishop of Canterbury with all the marks of honour and
esteem ; and in return, if we may rely on the authority of Neu-
brigensis, he secretly resigned his archbishopric, because, as that
author saith, he had received his mvestiture from the hands of
the king b ; and then took it back again from the hands of the
pope c.
Baronius agrees that he resigned his bishopric to pope Alex
ander, but fixes the resignation after the council of Clarendon
when that prelate fled into France d, and says, the reason of this
resignation was for that his conscience was troubled, because he
chiefly owed his election to the archbishopric to the favour of the
* Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. N. 2.
b Gul. Neubrig. [William of Newburg] lib. ii. cap. 16. « Ibid
d Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. N. 19.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 33
king a. And herein Baronius follows the writers of his life ; and
if he be not mistaken in the time he fixed for this affair, it is
very probable he is not mistaken in the reason and true ground
thereof. For beside the many papal canons which had been
made upon that subject, King Henry the First did in the year
1107 give up his right to the investiture of bishops1, and it does
¦ Annal. ann. 1164. N. 30.
1 Investiture of Bishops.] " The king's" (Henry I.) " contests with the church,
concerning the right of investiture, (A.D. 1108) were more obstinate and more
dangerous. As this is an affair that troubled all Europe as well as England,
and holds deservedly a principal place in the story of those times, it will not
be impertinent to trace it up to its original. In the early times of Christianity,
when religion was only drawn from its obscurity to be persecuted ; when a
bishop was only a candidate for martyrdom ; neither the preferment, nor the
right of bestowing it, were sought with great ambition. Bishops were
then elected, and often against their desire, by their clergy and people; the
subordinate ecclesiastical districts were provided for in the same manner.
After the Roman empire became Christian, this usage, so generally established,
still maintained its ground. However, in the principal cities, the emperor
frequently exercised the privilege of giving a sanction to the choice and some
times of appointing the bishop; though, for the most part, the popular
election still prevailed. But when the Barbarians, after destroying the
empire, had at length submitted their necks to the gospel, their kings and
great men, full of zeal and gratitude to their instructors, endowed the church
with large territories and great privileges. In this case it is but natural that
they should be the patrons of those dignities, and nominate to that power,
which arose from their own free bounty. Hence the bishoprics in the greatest
part of Europe became in effect, whatever some few might have been in
appearance, merely donative. And as the bishoprics formed so many seigniories,
when the feudal establishment was completed, they partook ofthe feudal
nature, so far as they were subjects capable of it ; homage and fealty were
required on the part of the spiritual vassal ; the king on his part gave the
bishop the investiture, or livery and seizin of his temporalities, by the de
livery of a ring and staff. This was the original manner of granting feudal
property, and something like it is still practised in our base-courts. Pope
Adrian confirmed this privilege to Charlemagne by an express grant. The
clergy of that time, ignorant, but inquisitive, were ready at finding types and
mysteries in every ceremony : they construed the staff into an emblem of the
pastoral care, and the ring into a type of the bishop's allegorical marriage
with his church ; and therefore supposed them designed as emblems of a
jurisdiction merely spiritual. The papal pretensions increased with the
general ignorance and superstition ; and the better to support these preten
sions, it was necessary at once to exalt the clergy extremely, and, by breaking
off all ties between them and their natural sovereigns, to attach them wholly
to the Roman see. In pursuance of this project, the pope first strictly for
bade the clergy to receive investitures from laymen, or to do them homage.
vox. I. D

34 KING HENRY II. ;
not appear that this usage was resumed either by king Stephen
or by the present king. But it is very evident that the court of
Rome began about this time to be very impatient of allowing
princes any share in the election of bishops ; and the archbishop's
A council held at Rome entirely condemned this practice : and the condem
nation was the less unpopular, because the investiture gave rise to frequent and
flagrant abuses, especially in England, where the sees were on this pretence
with much scandal (often) held long in the king's hands, and afterwards as
scandalously and publicly sold to the highest bidder. So it had been in tbe
last reign, and so it continued in this.
" Henry, though vigorously attacked, with great resolution maintained the
rights of his crown with regard to investitures, whilst he saw the emperor,
who claimed a right of investing the pope himself, subdued by the thunder of
the Vatican. His chief opposition was within his own kingdom. Anselm,
archbishop of Canterbury, a man of unblamable life, and of learning for his
time, but blindly attached to the rights of the church, real or supposed,
refused to consecrate those who received investitures from the king. The
parties appealed to Rome. Rome, unwilling either to recede from her pre
tensions or to provoke a powerful monarch, gives a dubious answer. Mean
while the contest grows hotter : Anselm is obliged to quit the kingdom, but
is still inflexible. At last the king, who, from the delicate situation of his
affairs in the beginning of his reign, had been obliged to temporize for a long
time, by his usual prudent mixture of management with force, obliged the
pope to a temperament, which seemed extremely judicious. The king re
ceived homage and fealty from his vassal : the investiture, as it was generally
understood to relate to spiritual jurisdiction, was given up, and on this equal
bottom peace was established. The secret of the pope's moderation was
this : he was at that juncture close pressed by the emperor, and it might be
highly dangerous to contend with two such enemies at once ; and he was
much more ready to yield to Henry, who had no reciprocal demands on him,
than to the emperor, who had many and just ones, and to whom he could not
yield any one point, without giving up an infinite number of others very
material and interesting.
" As the king extricated himself happily from so great an affair, so all the
other difficulties of his reign only exercised without endangering him."
Burke's Essay towards an Abridgment of the English History. Works, vol.
x. p. 437. 8vo. 1812.
This is the best concise account I have seen of Henry's struggle in the
question of the investiture. But looking at the turn of some of the expres
sions, it may not be improper to remind my reader, that Burke, at least at
the time when this work was written, was a Roman Catholic.
On the same dispute, see also Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p.
128 — 31. 134,5. 137,8. edit. 1824; an exact and masterly compendium,
which, with Blunt's History of the Reformation, ought to be in the hands of
every young person of suitable condition in the kingdom.
Consult also, for the general history of this question, Inett, vol. ii. p. 24  7,
92—101, 104—9, and 238, &c, part ofthe extract now before us.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 35
pretence of being troubled in conscience1, for being advanced by
the interest and recommendation of the king, was at this time
1 Troubled in conscience.] It will be right here to turn to Inett's account
of the previous practice of the church of England in the appointment of
bishops, and of what took place in the cases of the four immediate prede
cessors of Becket :
"The elections of bishops had hitherto ever had their beginning from the
crown. The method observed from the Conquest had been this : When
soever the see of Canterbury became void, the time of filling it was governed by
the pleasure of the king ; and when he had first resolved upon disposing that
great trust, he sent his summons to the prior and convent of Canterbury, to
depute some of their body to attend him at some meeting of a great council,
to assist in the choice of an archbishop, where, with the advice of that
assembly and the suffrage of the bishops of the province, a person nominated
by the king was usually chosen. Thus Lanfranc, and Anselm, and William,
the three preceding archbishops, were advanced to that great station.
" But in the summons of the legate (Alberic, bishop of Ostia) to the afore
said council of Westminster (December A.D. 1138), directed to Jeremy the
prior, and the convent of Canterbury, that prelate requires that the prior,
with a number of the convent, sufficiently empowered for the election of an
archbishop, should attend upon the council. Nor was he content thus to
break in upon the rights of the crown in making the first step in this affair ;
but in the same instrument he tells the prior that their election being thus
made, and consented to by the bishops of the province, the king cannot and
ought not in justice to deny his consent. Such an insult upon the rights of
the crown was too open to be overseen by the king (Stephen), but the ill
posture of his government made him wink at it; and his brother the bishop
of Winchester had set his heart upon Canterbury, and was not to provoke
the legate, who by the bold and insolent manner in which he had set the
business of the election into motion, without the knowledge of the king, had
given ground to believe that the conduct of that affair would fall into his
hands. " But it happened here as it generally does when some present views lead
men out of the ways of law and justice. The compliment made to the
bishops of the province in asserting their rights to a vote in the choice of
their own metropolitan served only to render their rights an easier prey,
by separating them from the rights of the crown. — Such was the case of
the convent too. Neither did the king nor his brother find their accounts
in this matter. The king was afraid to trust a new accession of power in the
hands of his brother, whose authority in his capacity of legate had already
overshadowed the royal power ; and therefore, notwithstanding the passion
of his brother for the vacant chair, the king secretly favoured the interest of
Theobald, abbot of Bee in Normandy : and this so influenced the election,
that Theobald was chosen archbishop of Canterbury." Inett, vol. ii. p.
179, 80.
Compare Twisden's Vindication, p. 54, thus: "Our writers do wholly
look upon the placing of Lanfranc in Canterbury as the king's act, though it
D 2

36 KING HENRY II.;
the highest and most acceptable strain of courtship that could
be made to the court of Rome, which began every where to pre
tend to be supreme patrons as well as ordinaries of the church,
and, in order thereunto, pretended to a mighty zeal for asserting
the rights of capitular elections1.
Beside what was publicly owned and transacted at the council
of Tours, it seems very probable, that a design was there formed
to make the clergy of the Western churches, as far as it was
possible, a body separate and independent on the civil powers, and
that measures wer,e concerted and agreed upon in order thereto :
at least thus much is evident, that he who preached the sermon
at the opening of that council, and which is inserted in the his
tory of Baronius, saith, that the unity of the church, then en
gaged in a schism, and the liberties of the clergy, were the busi
ness of that assembly " ; and he pressed both with such equal
passion and warmth, that it is not easy to determine, which of
the two that orator was most concerned to recommend to that
assembly : for, as he tells them, that " the church had not a
being if it was not one ;" so he tells them, that " without liberty
the church must be miserable, and to be miserable and not to be
were much the same ; nay," saith he, " it is worse to be miserable
than not to be at all b." Such stress was that council taught to
put upon the new ecclesiastic liberty.
Accordingly, when the dispute on that subject broke out in
England, the archbishop pretended to entitle God to the liberties
he contested for, and in the management of that controversy was
so entirely governed by the court of Rome, that in his letters to
the king and to the bishops of England, written during his exile,
he says, that his letters were perused and allowed by the bishop
of Rome", before he sent them. And the zeal, with which that
eourt defended that prelate when alive, and prosecuted his ene-
were not without the advice of Alexander II. Neither did Anselm ever make
scruple of accepting the archbishopric, because he was not chosen by the
monks of Canterbury." For the earliest case of concession by a king of
England, in a dispute of this nature, which was by king Stephen (A.D.
1141), in reference to the see of York, see Inett, vol. ii. p. 188 — 90; and
for the practice in the appointment of bishops in earlier times, see a long
note from Inett given below under king John, &c.
1 Capitular elections.] See index, under Capitular elections. See also
Inett, vol. ii. p. 188—90. 365—75. 403—10.
* Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. b Ibid.
c Hoved. par. poster, foi. 289.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 37
mies, and did honour to his memory when he was dead, make it
still more evident that the affair, which about this time gave so
much trouble to England, was first formed by the councils and
then conducted by the interest of the court of Rome, and in all
probability concerted at this interview betwixt the pope and the
archbishop. And the commotions which immediately followed
the couneil of Tours, still add more weight to the conjecture ;
for from this time the histories of the Western nations are so full
of the wrangles and broils occasioned by the pretence to ecclesias
tic liberty, that iEmilius saith, the controversy on that subject
spread itself over the world a- It appears by Baronius b, that the
empire, and the kingdoms of Sicily and Hungary, as well as
England, were about the same time embroiled by the same con
troversy. Some steps this way had been made in England about twenty
years before ; for Alberic bishop of Ostia and legate of pope
Innocent, taking the advantage of the weakness and troubles of
king Stephen's reign, by a canon of the council which he held in
Winchester in the year 1138, gave the first light into the designs
of the court which sent him ; and was followed therein by Henry
bishop of Winchester and legate of the bishop of Rome, at the
council held in London in the year 1143 according to Hoveden0,
the year preceding according to M. Paris; wherein it was de
creed, that whosoever should lay violent hands upon any clergy
man, should not be absolved but by the pope himself or in his
presence. This canon is somewhat different in M. Paris, but the
preamble, the reason, and the consequence of the canon are
agreed upon. The pretence which gave beginning to it, was the
mischiefs which the clergy then suffered by the civil war ; for the
several parties made no difference betwixt them and the laity,
but took them prisoners and made them pay for their ransom.
But had this matter stopped here, the world had received no
trouble by it ; for the favour allowed the clergy by this canon,
was little more than what another canon of the same council
allowed to those that till the ground, and what the imperial law
had generally allowed to merchants and husbandmen in the time
of war ; and that is, a security of their persons from outrage and
violence.

* Paulus .iEmilius de rebus gestis Francorum.
b Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 49. c Concil. Brit. vol. ii. p. 47.

38 KING HENRY II.;
But this alone was not sufficient to answer the great design, to
make the clergy of the Western churches a body separate and
independent on the civil power ; which could not be done without
delivering them from the authority of their old masters. And
the sanctions annexed to the aforesaid canons leave it beyond a
doubt, that the security of the clergy was not the only thing
which the court of Rome had then in view ; for by carrying the
cognizance of such violences as should be offered to them, from
the courts of the king of England to the bishop of Rome, and
by changing the civil penalty into an ecclesiastic censure, those
canons did, in the consequence and effect thereof, declare the
clergy of England subjects to the bishop of Rome. And the
present conduct of that court was every way answerable ; for
though king Henry took such care for the impartial administra
tion of justice, that the least wrong to the clergy and religious
could not escape unpunished, and the settled state of his govern
ment left no room for their fears, yet this was so far from putting
an end to the design to exempt the clergy from the secular power,
for which the confusions of the last reign had given some colour,
that this impartial administration of justice was the chief sup
port of those pretences, which disturbed the government of king
Henry. The better to engage the clergy and religious, they were flattered
into a belief of the honour and advantages which would accrue to
themselves and to the church, by being discharged from the
secular power. And by this artifice the design of the court of
Rome was so well covered, that the clergy generally ran into it,
and those of them who meant well, out of a principle of zeal were
for the most part the forwardest therein. And the better to
raise their zeal and make them sensible of the encouragement
they might expect, the archbishop of Canterbury applied himself
to pope Alexander for the canonization of the late archbishop
Anselm a, who had distinguished himself by attempts against the
rights of the kings of England, and who had given the first blow
to their authority. And as this would raise a glory to surround
the head of that prelate, so it would at the same time tell the
clergy the example they were to follow, and give new vigour to
their zeal, by brightening the pattern which was set before them.
The forwardness of pope Alexander was answerable to the
a Angl. sac. par. ii. p. 177.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 39
importance of this design ; therefore a bull, which bears date at
Tours, for the canonization of Anselm, was directed to his suc
cessor tho new archbishop, with assurance that his proceedings
therein should be confirmed by the court of Rome a. And no
doubt but the address of that court, which ensnared the body
of the clergy, easily possessed the archbishop with an opinion
of the great honour which would redound to him, by appearing at
the head of those who were to assert the ecclesiastic liberty.
But whatever springs the zeal of that prelate had, he was no
sooner returned from the council of Tours, but he presently set
this pretence into motion; the occasion and circumstances whereof,
Hoveden and Brompton, both favourers of the pretence and of
the conduct of the archbishop, thus relate.
Immediately after the return ofthe archbishop and his brethren
from the council of Tours, a great controversy began betwixt the
king and the clergy. "The king," saith Brompton b, "being-
desirous that justice should be equally and impartially distributed,
and having notice given him by his judges, that several outrages,
thefts, and murders were committed by the clergy, ordered," saith
Hoveden, "that such ofthe clergy as should be taken in felony,
robbery, murder, or burning of houses, should be carried before
the judges, and punished as the laity were, when found guilt}' of
those offences c." On the contrary, the archbishop opposed this
proceeding, and asserted, that " whatever faults the clergy should
be found guilty of, they were only triable in the ecclesiastical
court, and before the judges thereof."
The bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury, in a
synodical epistle written to pope Alexander4, give much the
same account of this affair. " The king," say they, "seeing the
peace of his kingdom much disturbed by the enormous excesses
of some of the clergy, and not thinking the degrading of them
for murder and other enormous crimes a punishment sufficient to
answer the guilt, or to preserve the public peace ; he caused the
laws observed by ecclesiastic persons in the days of his prede
cessors to be drawn into a body, and appointed that such of the
clergy as offended might be punished according to those laws :"
* Angl. sac. par. ii. p. 177.
b Brompton (apud Twisden) Histories Anglicanse Scriptores decern, col.
1058. N. 50.
c Hoved. Annal. par. poster, foi. 2S2.
d Ejusd. Annal. ann. 1167. foL 293.

40 KING HENRY II.;
whereas say they on the other side, the clergy insisted on then-
being punishable by the ecclesiastic laws only. And as the king
had the advantage in point of right, liaving the law and usage of
England on his side, he had the advantage also in the manage
ment of this controversy ; for whilst the address on the other side
was fierce and impetuous, and carried on with very indecent
reflections, the king, says the same provincial letter, on his side
managed this dispute with all possible respect and veneration to
the clergy a.
" This," say they, " was the cruelty, whieh has made such a
noise in the world; this the persecution, this the wickedness, which
have been so much clamoured against." Whereas, says the same
synodical epistle, as the king had declared he had no thoughts of
lessening the honour of the clergy or the rights of the church, so
he has promised, that if it appear that the aforesaid laws are any
way prejudicial to the welfare or good of souls, or dishonourable
to the church, he was ready to make such alterations, as with the
advice of the clergy of his kingdom should be thought fit.
There were some other collateral branches of this dispute ; as
whether there lay any appeals1 from the king's courts, or whether
bishops might go out of the kingdom without his leave ; but the
stress of this controversy was, in short, whether the king had any
authority over ecclesiastic persons or in causes ecclesiastical.
But because this affair did not only at this time divide the Western
churches, but has remained a subject of dispute to after-ages, and
the honour of the English church and nation, and the justice and
authority of the kings of England, have a great share therein ;
before I enter upon the relation of this controversy, it may not be
amiss to look backward, and to observe the laws and practice of
the preceding ages, in the particular under question.
Religion has so just and undoubted a right to the most profound
veneration and regard, that the ministers thereof never did and
never can want a due respect, but where religion itself wants a
due influence and authority on the minds of men. For the
honour of religion, and of those to whose conduct the interest
and ministry of holy things are committed, stand upon the same
» Hoved. Annal. ann. 1167. foi. 293.
1 Any appeals.] See Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 28 — 38 : also
Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy, p. 417 — 37. 4to. 1680; and Inett, vol. ii.
p. 1 95,6. 280,1 . 376,7. a part of the present extract ; and see also Index, under
Appeals lo Rome.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 41
foot, viz. the honour of God, and cannot fail but with the foun
dation upon which they are built ; and as they flow from the
same common fountain, and stand or fall together, so they ever
bear proportion to one another. Therefore the same holy warmth,
which accompanied the first ages of the gospel, did also induce
Christian princes to grant great privileges and immunities to the
ministers thereof. They were excused from all those personal
services which might be burthensome to them, or which might
withdraw them from the offices of their holy function, or render
them little in the eyes of men a ; and their estates were exempted
from many charges and burthens, to which the estates of other
men were subject b.
Nor did the favours to the ministers of Christ stop here, but
Christian princes entrusted them with all the power that was
necessary to serve the ends of peace and charity and holiness "¦
Yet religion was never thought to strip princes of any of those
rights, which nature and the ends of government have put into
their hands. On the contrary, from the time that the gospel
became the religion of the empire, all the concerns and interests
thereof were taken under the care of the civil power, and so many
laws relating to ecclesiastical persons and causes were made by
the imperial authority, that they take up a great deal of room in
the body of laws collected by the appointment of the emperor
Justinian. In short, those laws take cognizance of sacred things, persons,
and causes. They determine when new churches shall be built,
and how supported ; how the rectors thereof should subsist ; and
appoint that their maintenance shall be sacred and inalienable d ;
to whom the patronage of churches shall belong, and by what
measures that right should be conducted e ; how the bishop shall
demean himself, if an unworthy man shall be presented f ; what
articles of faith should be esteemed catholics; who shall be
deemed heretics, and how punished h ; and who shall be esteemed
catholics *-
By the same authority too councils were convened, and the
canons thereof confirmed and published. Particularly the im
perial law determines that the councils of Nice, Ephesus, Chalce-
- Codic. lib. i. tit. 2. secfe-6. b Ejusd. N. 5. 7. II.
" Ejusd. tit. 4. sect. 7, 8. d Novel. 7. tit. 1. prsefat.
e Novel. 123. cap. 18. f Codic. lib. i. tit. 1. sect. 1.
* Ejusd. sect. 5. h Codic. lib. i. tit. 1. 6. '' Novel. 7. tit. 1. prsefat.

42 KING HENRY II. ;
don, and Constantinople should be received, and that the books
written by Porphyry against the Christian religion should be
burnt"; that Nestorius, Eutyches, Apollinaris, and their fol
lowers, should be esteemed heretics b.
As the imperial authority thus acted in matters relating to
religion and holy things, so it judged of persons too. It deter
mined that every city should have its own bishop, and how far
his diocese should extend c ; how persons should be qualified that
were admitted to holy orders d ; how the lower clergy, the monks,
the bishops, the metropolitans, the patriarchs, should behave
themselves : and by convening the bishops of the whole Christian
church to the eight first general councils by the emperors, the
world has one comprehensive and undeniable proof of the autho
rity of princes over all ecclesiastical persons, received and owned
by the universal church.
Ecclesiastical causes were no less the subject of the imperial
authority. The laws of the empire direct that synods shall be
yearly called, to consider of the matters of faith and discipline e ;
that the judgment and sentences of those assemblies should be
conducted by the canons of the church and by the laws of the
empire f ; that the disputes amongst diocesan bishops should be
determined by their proper metropolitan and two assessors5; if
they cannot determine them, then by the archbishop or patri
arch h ; that all causes of the clergy should be finally determined
in the provinces wherein they arise1, and that the clergy should
not be called out of the province where they live to any foreign
tribunal ; and in what manner causes ecclesiastical shall be con
ducted, to whom the cognizance thereof does in the first instance
belong, by what steps appeals shall proceed, and whose sentence
shall be final and unappealable k.
The same laws direct how a suit betwixt a layman and a
clergyman shall be managed ; and in case a layman shall com
mence a suit in the court of a bishop, and either party does not
acquiesce in the sentence thereof, that then the cause may be re
heard by the civil judge 1 ; how metropolitans and bishops should
be punished, if they neglect to convene their provincial or diocesan
* Codic. fib. i. tit. 1. sect. 3. K Ejusd. sect. 5.
' Ejusd. tit. 3. 36. a Novel. 6. tit. 6. cap. 4, 5.
• Novel. 123. tit. 6. cap. 10. 22. ' Ibid. e Ibid.
h Ibid. ' Codic. lib. i. tit. 4. sect. 29. k Ibid.
1 Novel. 123. cap. 22.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 43
synods " ; how a bishop should be punished, if absent a year from
his diocese without the leave of the emperor b, or, if he excom
municate a person without showing cause ; how a deposed bishop
should be treated, if he attempt to disturb the public peace c.
And which is still more, the greatest part, and probably every
one, of the aforesaid laws were made by the emperors with the
advice of their bishops, and without any complaint were universally
obeyed by the clergy and religious ; yet, at the time of making
those laws, the bounds of Christendom and the empire were much
the same. So that one who looks backwards to the first Christian
emperors, and to the greatest and best bishops and clergy that
ever served in the Christian church, and finds so many laws on
the one side, and such dutifulness and obedience on the other,
cannot but stand amazed at an attempt to withdraw the clergy
and religious from the authority of the civil government, which
at this time gave so much trouble to the English church and
nation. If one was to run over the laws and histories of Europe after
the fall of the empire, the case will appear still the same. — But
to judge truly of the present controversy, it will concern us to
look at home, and view the practice of our ancient English-
Saxon ancestors '. — Though the assertion of that learned gentle
man d, who affirms that a third part of the land of England was
in possession of the clergy, at the time of the Norman conquest,
cannot be allowed, yet there is no reason to doubt what that
writer and M. Paris before him say of the great tenderness and
regard, with which they were ever treated under" the Saxon go
vernment ; wherein the aforesaid learned writer observes, they
held their lands by Frank Almonage, and subject to no duties and
impositions, but such as they laid upon themselves in ecclesiastical
assemblies e. Whether this be wholly true, I shall not inquire ;
but it is certain, that their lands were excused from many of
those burthens, to which other lands were subject ; that the
bishops had a great share both in the legislature and in the
administration of justice ; they were called to and had places in
the great council ; and, beside the proper authority allowed to
" Novel. 6. tit. 6. cap. 2. b Novel. 123. cap. 10.
c Codic. lib. i. tit. 3. sect. 14.
1 An excellent edition of the Anglo-Saxon laws has now been published by
the Commissioners of Records, under the care of Mr. T. Thorpe.
d Sir Will. Temple, Introduct. Engl. Hist. p. 175. " Ibid.

44 KING HENRY II.;
them in right of their function, they were standing judges in the
county and hundred courts a, and a mighty deference was ever
paid to their judgment, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical affairs.
Yet, after all, the privileges they enjoyed are so far from
proving the English clergy and religious a body distinct and
independent upon the state, that they demonstrate they ever
were and ever esteemed themselves a part of the body politic, and
owed a subjection to their princes and obedience to their laws.
For it was by the authority of their princes that the bishops were
convened to all state councils, and it was in obedience to their
laws that they presided and judged in the courts of justice ; and
under these laws it was, that the clergy of England challenged
all the privileges they enjoyed ; and all sides acted up to these
notions of the rights of the civil power.
King Ina published a body of ecclesiastic laws b, and therein
directs the duty of the clergy and religious. The laws of king
Alfred are particular and express in directing the punishment of
a clergyman who should be found guilty of murder c. And the
dialogue of Egbert archbishop of York shows that this had been
the usage of England long before the reign of that prince, not
only in the case of murder, but also of adultery and theft a. He
adds too, that the violence of a layman to the person of a bishop,
a presbyter, a deacon, or a monk, was punishable by the secular
power e. Edgar followed the example of Ina and Alfred, and in his
laws directs the affairs of religion f, and was so far from thinking
that the character of his bishops discharged them from the obliga
tion of his laws, that he commands them to assist in person in the
two annual county courts g. Nor did that prince only extend his
laws to the clergy, but he published a body of canons for the good
government of the church h, wherein he directs the conduct of the
ecclesiastic discipline, in almost all the parts and branches thereof.
King Canutus also has his body of ecclesiastic laws *. And
the gentle laws of Edward the Confessor, which the clergy, and
indeed the whole nation, so passionately desired under the Norman
government, are no less full and plain in directing the affairs of
the church k : and in a law of that prince, directing the form of
- Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 447. b Ibid. p. 182.
c Lambard. de leg. p. 27. d Egb. dialog, p. 273.
' Ejusd. p. 276. < Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 446.
e Lambard. de leg. p. 65. h Concil. Brit. vol. i. p. 447.
1 Ejusd. p. 538. k Lambard. de leg. p. 138.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 45
judicial proceedings, he requires that the advocates of the clergy
should be first heard in his courts of judicature".
King William the First went on in the same steps, and by his
authority first established the ecclesiastical courts b ; and was so
exactly followed herein by his successors, that in a synodical
epistle of the bishops and clergy of the province of Canterbury
to pope Alexander the Third, they tell that prelate, that the laws
which occasioned the controversy betwixt the king and Thomas,
at this time archbishop of Canterbury, " were the ancient laws of
the kings of England °." So that, upon the whole matter, the
judgment and practice of the Western church in general, and of
the English church in particular, are so evident, that it is impos
sible for one who knows any thing of antiquity to make a doubt
whether the clergy were anciently subject to the temporal laws
of princes, or whether things of ecclesiastical nature were within
the cognizance of their courts.
I have led the reader thus far, partly to give him some idea of
the nature and importance of those rights and powers which the
kings of England had anciently enjoyed, and of which king
Henry the Second was now in possession ; partly to do right to
the English church and nation, by showing how unjustly their
enemies place the resolutions and laws of our princes and then-
great councils, relating to the affairs of the church and clergy,
amongst the faults of the Reformation ; (for if this be the fault
of our government, it is a fault which has the best antiquity for
example, and such as the best princes and the wisest nations
have gloried in ;) and partly to give the reader a just view of
that design which was set on foot about this time, to break in
upon the authority of the king of England, and to invade the
rights of the crown ; the manner and circumstances whereof, the
steps by which it was advanced, the actors therein and the pur
poses which were served by it, the course of our story brings us
now to consider.
To set this matter in such a light as may appear free from
the bias and impressions which the concern for the honom- of
one's country might possibly lead one into, I must again ask the
reader's leave to remind him of the occasion of this dispute, as it
¦ Lambard. de leg. p. 138. b Concil. Brit. vol. ii. p. 14.
c Hoved. Annal. ann. 1167. foi. 293. N. 20.

46 KING HENRY II.;
is related by the writers of archbishop Becket's life, and from
them by Baronius. Neubrigensis, honestly and bluntly giving an
account of this controversy" says, that archbishop Becket (1163)
would not permit a clergyman to suffer according to law, and that
this was the occasion of the misunderstanding betwixt him and
the king. Baronius undertakes to blame that writer for this
account, and from the writers of the archbishop's life gives us a
relation of that matter somewhat different b.
The archbishop, saith he, being returned from the council of
Tours, was received very kindly by the king, but afterward fell
under his displeasure, for applying himself to recover something
which his predecessors had lost from his see, and endeavouring
to prevail with the king to fill up some bishoprics then void ; for
laying down his chancellorship, " and denying the right of the
crown to raise money on the clergy ; for sending away a priest
to a monastery, who was convicted of murder and degraded, that
he might not be punished by the secular arm';" and when Philip,
a canon, was convicted of the same crime, for sending him away,
though the king had commanded he should be punished accord
ing to law, the archbishop "denying that these or any other
clergyman was punishable in any other manner than by the cen
sures of the church." This is the account which Baronius, from
the aforesaid writers, gives of the controversy which lies now
before us.
The king, adds the same learned writer, apprehending that such
proceedings might increase the wickedness of the clergy, did very
earnestly desire " that clergymen, who offended in any heinous
manner, might be degraded, and then delivered to the secular
power to be punished as the offence deserved." But, as he ob
serves, " this was utterly denied by the archbishop and some
other bishops d ; at which," saith he, " the king was exceedingly
angry." And great reason he had to be so, and more especially
if we add what Neubrigensis saith e, that " above one hundred
homicides were committed by the clergy under the reign of the
king, and that their bishops were much more vigilant to protect
them from the law, than to punish their disorders f."
But, after all, one has much ado to forbear saying, that all these
accounts are still defective, and come very short of the true rea-
¦ Neubrig. lib. ii. cap. 15, 16. b Baron. Annal. ann. 1163. N. 29.
' Ejusd. N. 30. d Ejusd. N. 31. • Neubrig. lib. ii. cap. 16. f Ibid.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 47
son of this controversy ; for though there can be no doubt that
the persons mentioned by the aforesaid writers were singled out
by the king as fit subjects for his justice, yet it is very evident
these instances are the least part of the provocation which the
government had received ; for the outrages committed by the
clergy were very numerous, and the contempt and insults of the
civil authority were open and avowed, and both the mischief and
the impunity were of older date than the advancement of arch
bishop Becket. So that it was not so much the faults of particular
men, as a general licentiousness of the clergy, together with their
contempt of the civil authority, founded on a pretence that they
were not accountable to the secular power, which gave beginning
to, and which was the true basis and foundation of, this unhappy
controversy. Whilst the dispute about the ecclesiastic liberty was thus
going on in England, the court of Rome had so managed their
affairs in Italy and Germany, that the emperor Frederick, the
great opposer of the designs of that court, was reduced to such
circumstances, that pope Alexander called a council to meet in the
Lateran, 1 1 68, where he took upon himself to excommunicate and
depose that prince, and absolve the subjects of Italy from their obe
dience ; and the reasons given in that sentence were, because he had
espoused the interests of the anti-pope a- And John of Salisbury,
from whom this account of this council is taken, saith, that pope
Alexander herein followed the example of Gregory the Seventh,
and concludes the paragraph with words very dark ; but if they
have any meaning at all, it is this ; " that the safety of the
church being established in the head thereof, there was just
ground to believe the like success would attend that prelate in the
dispute relating to the church of England b ; " that is, in plain
English, there was reason to believe that the court, which had
humbled the emperor Frederick, would subdue the king of
England. Though the court of Rome was exceedingly elated with their
success against Frederick, and the king of England had little
reason to hope for any good issue thereof, yet that he might not
be wanting to his cause, by a new embassy to Rome, he attempted
to prevail with pope Alexander, to translate the archbishop
» Concil. torn. x. ann. 1168. Ed. Lab. col. 1449. b Ibid.

48 KING HENRY II. ;
Becket to some other see, and to remove him from France to
Rome a. And knowing the debts the see of Rome had contracted
in opposing the designs of the emperor Frederick, the king
offered pope Alexander to pay his debts, and that he would give
him ten thousand marks b, in case he was gratified in his desire,
and the archbishop translated to some other see. Though the
desire of the king was not granted, yet by those great presents,
and greater offers which he made, the king prevailed so far, that
he chained up the fury of the archbishop for another year, and
obtained the sending of Gratian, nephew to pope Eugenius, and
Vivian, advocate of Rome, to mediate a peace c. These legates
made some progress in the accommodation, but were not able to
complete it ; but discovered a secret, which the king had before
but too much reason to suspect.
For when the king, tired with the ill-usage he had received,
said in anger, he would take other measures, the legates replied,
" Sir, threaten not ; we fear no threatenings, for we belong to
a court that is used to command emperors and kings d." This
insolent return of the legates, together with the denials and
delays he met with, were enough to let the king into the true
sentiments of that artful court with which he had to deal, and to
put him out of doubt, that they were resolved to carry their
point, and to force him and his laws to submit. Accordingly,
when after several conferences a form of agreement was drawn up,
wherein the king consented to restore the archbishop to his see,
and to all the rights thereof in such manner as he enjoyed them
before the controversy, "salva dignitate regni sui, — saving the
rights of the kingdom ; " this clause spoiled the whole and broke
up the conference e, and the legates returned as they came. Upon
the breaking up of this assembly, the king dispatched new embas
sadors to Rome, and before the end of the year Simon prior de
monte Dei and Bernardus de Corilo were sent legates from
thence f ; but the king still insisting on the archbishop's promise
to observe his laws, this effort also came to nothing s.
The king (1 1 70) appearing thus steady and resolute in the
defence of his right, the court of Rome came at last to a resolution

a Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 1. b Ibid.
° Ejusd. N. 5. a Ejusd. N. 11.
e Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 17, 18. » Ejusd. N. 30.
* Ejusd. N. 31. 33.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 49
to try extremities. In the mean time they set themselves to
prepare the minds of men to bear so violent a shock to the
natural and undoubted rights of princes, by possessing the world
with such a character of the king, and such an opinion of his
laws, as might if possible bring men to think he had merited
the hardships that were or should be put upon him ; or at least
might so artfully cover their own designs, that the neighbouring
princes might stand still, and quietly see their authority humbled
in the example of the king of England. To bring this about,
the king was represented as " a tyrant, an oppressor, a violator
of the rights of the church," and, in the writings of the archbishop
and his party, frequently mentioned under the title of Pharaoh a :
and in the common language of that party, " the customs of
England were styled pravities, and its laws represented as tyran
nical and wicked b, repugnant to the honour of God c, and destruc
tive to the rights and liberties of his church d." On the other
hand, the cause of Becket was represented as the cause of God
and of his church e, and the mortification, humility and holiness
of the archbishop every where magnified, and he himself styled a
martyr and defender of the cause of God and of his church f, and
his name inserted into the offices of the great monasteries of
France s : and a decretal bull of pope Alexander was published,
against such prelates as adhered to the laws of their own country
under the title of court-bishops, wherein " that prelate excites all
bishops to defend the ecclesiastic liberty 1," and for their encourage
ment saith, there were two things for which every Christian ought
" Baron. Annal. ann. 1170. N. 21. b Ejusd. N. 1.
c Ibid. d Ibid. « Ejusd. N. 16.
'Ibid. s Ejusd. ann. 1)64. N. 11.
1 The ecclesiastic liberty.] Isaac Casaubon began, and has left behind him
an interesting portion of a Treatise De Libertate Ecclesiastica, which promises
to have been one of great learning and value ; but he was stopped in his progress
by the interposition of the Pope with his patron and master, Henry IV.
(Henry, The Great) of France, and was prevented from proceeding. He has
defined the subject of his intended work in the following words : —
" Ex iis quae hactenus disputata sunt, hoc tandem elicimus, non longe ab
hodiernorum pontificii juris doctorum sententia aberraturum, qui Libertatis
Ecclesiastical hanc sive descriptionem, sive definitionem contexuerit : Libertas
Ecclesiastica jus est quoddam, primarie quidem Pontifici Romano adhasrens,
quo universi orbis dominium UH paratur ; secundarie vero Ecclesiasticis, quo
viritim et in commune eximuntur ipsi, et bona ipsorum ab omni omnium Prin-
cipum subjectione, jurisdictione, potestate : Laid vero ipsis ad omne obsequium
redduntur obnoxii." P. 175. A.D. 1709; in Is. Casauboni Epistola, Sfc. foi.
vol. i. E

50 KING HENRY II. ;
to lay down his life, viz. justice and liberty a; that is, in short, for
the cause under debate.
The way being thus prepared, pope Alexander recalled the inhibi
tion he had before granted, and set the archbishop at liberty to
use the censures of the church upon the person of the king.
But lest this should speed no better than the former attempts
of that angry prelate, pope Alexander did this year constitute Ro-
trode archbishop of Rouen, Bernard bishop of Nevers, and William
archbishop of Sens, his legates, with power to excommunicate and
put the kingdom of England under an interdict 1 : and because he
had advice, or at least suspected, that that prince had a secret
purpose to have his son Henry crowned king ; the better to break
his measures, and put him under a necessity of recalling the
archbishop of Canterbury, pope Alexander sent his bull, declaring
the crowning of the king the right of that prelate, and forbidding
the archbishop of York or any other bishop to intermeddle in
that affair without his consent b. This was a fair step towards
putting the disposal ofthe crown into the hands ofthe archbishop ;
at least it was putting the succession into the same methods, by
which the bishops of Rome were now arrived to a pretence of
disposing of the empire ; which pretence doubtless had no other
original, but the civil respect that was paid to the bishops of
Rome, in permitting them to crown the emperor. This inhibition
of pope Alexander had not its effect, but, on the contrary, not
withstanding it the young king was crowned this year by Roger
archbishop of York : yet this disappointment of pope Alexander
gave beginning to a new scene of trouble ; for that prelate sus
pended the archbishop of York for crowning the new king, and
excommunicated the bishops of London, Rochester, and Salisbury
as assistants in that solemnity °.
And lest the world should mistake the reasons upon which
that prelate acted, in the body of the aforesaid bull of suspension
he tells the archbishop of York, that the chief reason thereof
was " because the new king had sworn inviolably to observe the
ancient customs, whereby the dignity of the church was put into
danger a." And as he thus used the bishops, so he sent the king
word, that if he did not make his agreement with the archbishop
" Baron. Annal. ann. 1169. N. 49.
1 An interdict.] See Index, under Interdict.
b Hoved. Annal. ann. 1170. foi. 296. N. 40. and foi. 297.
c Ibid. a Ibid_

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 51
of Canterbury by the time which he appointed in his letter, " he
would pronounce the same sentence against him, which he had
pronounced against the emperor Frederic" :" and by his appro
bation the archbishop seconded this impudent and unchristian
resolution, with notifying to the king, " that he would put the
kingdom under an interdict, if he did not in fifteen days make
his peace V
The king had a mighty passion for his family, and in the
advancement of the late king Stephen to the crown in opposition
to the juster title of his mother Maud, and in the controversy
which had given him so much trouble and let so many dangers
and disquiets in upon him, he was made abundantly sensible, how
difficult it would be for a minor to bear up against the pre
vailing power of the clergy, headed by the bishop of Rome. The
late ill treatment of the emperor Frederic could not but confirm
him in this apprehension : and it seems very probable, that con
siderations of this kind, together with the vexatious and incurable
obstinacy of the archbishop, broke the resolution which the king
had hitherto shown in opposing the designs of the court of
Rome, and brought this controversy to an issue which was likely
to have frustrated all the ends the king hoped to have served by
it ; for this agreement, instead of securing the succession, did, by
helping to raise the usurpation of the bishops of Rome, enable
pope Innocent the Third to depose his son king John, and bade
fair for the disinheriting of his family.
Whatever were the reasons by which this prince moved in that
affair, the writers of Beckefs story generally say, he was frightened
into the agreement, as not daring to stand the shock of the
interdict and sentence of pope Alexander. Thus much is evident,
that an agreement was made the two-and-twentieth of July
(1170), being the feast of St Mary Magdalen : by which the
king yielded that the archbishop and all his followers should
return to England, and peaceably enjoy what they had held
before this controversy began ; and this without so much as a
promise on the side of the archbishop to observe the laws of
England, or so much as the king's presuming to open his mouth
for those usages \ " which with so much obstinacy he had before
" Baron. Annal. ann. 1170. N. 20. b Ibid.
1 Those usages.] The ancient prerogatives, that is, of the crown of England
in ecclesiastical matters, the chief of which had been collected together, and
formally recognized in a council convened by the king in the month of
E 2

52 KING HENRY II.;
defended ;" as that prelate, according to his rude and unchristian
manner, relates this affair to pope Alexander a-
The king was pleased with this agreement, as princes commonly
are, when they are ill-used and insulted by their own subjects.
But the archbishop sped worse ; for his success made a wonderful
accession to his natural vanity and haughtiness, and at last
proved fatal to him. His zeal was now become all fire, and that
his opposers might not be kept in suspense what they were to
expect from him, before he left Normandy he sent letters of
excommunication against Roger archbishop of York for crowning
the young king, and together with him the bishops of London
and Durham, and all that assisted in that solemnity11 ; the doing
whereof, as he pretended, did of right belong to him.
The king was sensible of that prelate's design, and endeavoured
to prevent it, by appointing men to guard the ports, and seize
such persons as they found bringing letters of this kind c. How
ever, they arrived safe, and in the beginning of Advent returned
the angry prelate himself who had sent them, and who defended
them with a fury agreeable to that whieh gave them a beginning.
And fire so naturally produceth fire, that it is no wonder if the
king was transported beyond the bounds of temper, to see himself
affronted in the ill usage of those who had distinguished themselves
by a steady zeal for his service ; — and the excommunicated and
suspended bishops leaving England, and coming to the king in
Normandy, and complaining to him, that the archbishop was
grown so imperious that they were not able to live under him,
and that when the archbishop came to wait on the young king
he came attended by soldiers, and so attended would have entered
the king's palace: this (saith the same author) so raised the
January 1164, and to which, after some demur, Becket promised obedience,
but afterwards revoked his promise, to the great indignation of the king, and
the almost universal disapproval of the bishops and great body of the clergy,
as well as of the nobles. Hereupon the archbishop withdrew privately into
France, where he continued several years under the protection of that court
and of the pope, persisting all the while in treating the king in his letters
with great insolence. He declares the statutes of Clarendon void, excom
municates their abettors, &c, and procures the pope's permission to excom
municate the king, if he did not submit very shortly ; engages the French
king in a war against Henry, and at length terrifies the king into concession.
See these particulars related at large, Inett, vol. ii. p. 253 — 71.
a Baron. Annal. ann. 1170. N. 22.
b Gervas. Chron. ann. 1170. [X. Script.] col. 1413. N. 30. 40. c Ibid.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 53
indignation of the king, that he said " in passion, he maintained
a company of cowardly and slothful men, of which not one would
vindicate him from the many injuries which he sustained " :" or
as others report his words, that "among all those he maintained
or had obliged by his favours, he had none that would vindicate
him from one priest that troubled him and his kingdom, and
sought to depose and to disinherit him b." The king's domestics
thinking themselves reproached by this reflection, were officious
beyond their duty and beyond what the king intended; and
presently laying hold of these hasty expressions, four of them,
viz. Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Traci, Richard Brito, and
Hugh de Morevile, resolved upon the death of the archbishop,
and hasting away to England, with all the circumstances of
inhumanity, murdered that unhappy prelate in his own Cathedral
church, December 28, 1170.
The archbishop being thus murdered, the noise which attended
it was in some measure answerable to the guilt and horror of
the fact ; for as that was barbarous beyond excuse, there wanted
no industry to blacken the guilt and to fix it upon the king. On
the other hand, the king was sensible of the ill use which would
be made of it, and was just to his own honour and innocence ; and
to prevent the advantages which his enemies might reap from this
occasion, king Henry employed his embassadors every where to
assert his innocence. On the other hand, the French ministers
aggravated the inhumanity of the deed ; and the court of Rome
could not but have reason to fear the consequence of this affair,
as that which in the first view appeared very likely to intimi
date their partisans, and make them cold in a design wherein
that prelate had so fatally miscarried: therefore that court
employed their emissaries to represent the horror of the fact, and
used their eloquence to give the world such an idea thereof, as
might beget impressions fitted to the purposes which they designed
to serve by it. Nor did their exclamations set bounds to the dis
pleasure of that court ; but as they were very loud in their out
cries against the king, so they threatened his kingdom with an
interdict, and had doubtless kept their word, if the affairs of that
court had not been too much perplexed to permit them to venture
upon an undertaking attended with so much danger.
On the other hand, the king foreseeing what representations
and what use the court of Rome would make of it, did not
» Gervas. Chron. ann. 1 170. [X. Script.] col. 1414. N. 40.
b Baron. Anna], ann. 1170. N. 45.

54 KING HENRY II. ;
without good grounds dread the issue of this affair, and took
all possible precaution to prevent the ill effects thereof, and to do
right to his own honour and innocence, and more especially in
the court of Rome : in order whereto he presently sent an em
bassage thither. But that court, which never overlooked any ad
vantage to serve itself, would not permit the embassadors to
assert the king's innocence, until they had first made their way
by good presents and round promises, that the king should abide
by the award of the legates who should be sent to enquire into
this affair ; a promise which in time entangled the king in diffi
culties which he was never able to overcome.
However, to put the evil day as far off as he could, the king
sailed over to Ireland, to receive the homage of that kingdom.
And as during his stay there that people generally submitted to
his authority, so in a council which he held at Cashel, the bishops
and clergy consented, and in the seventh canon ordained that
divine service should be celebrated in all the churches of Ireland,
according to the rites and customs of the church of England a.
The settlement of Ireland took up the greatest part of this year;
therefore the king fearing lest any ill use should be made of his
long stay in that kingdom, ordered his ports to be stopped, and
nobody to be suffered to come into England, that should pretend
to bring letters of interdict against his kingdom.
Thus things passed on till the year following (1172); but
before that time the legates of the court of Rome arrived in
Normandy, where the king permitted them to wait till his return
from Ireland ; but being returned from thence, without making
any considerable stay in England, he went over to Normandy,
where he met the legates in the latter end of September. It was the
cause ofthe court of Rome and interest ofthe papacy, for which the
late archbishop had lost his life, and that court was resolved to be
paid for the blood of their martyr : and what was said of the
martyrs of the first ages, that their blood was the seed of the
church, was verified in this their martyr. And it was a mighty
harvest which they reaped from his blood ; for after all the noise
and clamour they had made upon this subject, it appears plainly
by the issue, that all their zeal and outcries upon this occasion
were nothing else but arts to sell his blood the dearer.
Therefore after some time spent upon this occasion, the king
was forced upon an agreement, which at once gave away all that
* Concil. Brit., vol. ii. p. 98.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 55
he had been so long contending for, and which in the consequence
thereof overwhelmed the rights of the church and the crown, and
let in an usurpation which bore down all before it. There were
seven articles upon which this accommodation was founded, of
which three or four so nearly concern the church that they are
not to be passed by.
First, that the king should never forsake pope Alexander or
his catholic successors, so long as they used him as became a
catholic king.
Secondly, in causes ecclesiastical appeals should be freely made
to the bishops of Rome, and the king should neither hinder them
himself nor permit others to hinder them ; provided, that if any
one should be suspected to have evil designs against the king or
kingdom, they should give security before they departed out of his
dominions. Thirdly, that the king should after Christmas next ensuing go
to the Holy Land in person for three years, unless dispensed with
by the pope or his successors ; and in the mean time, that he
should maintain two hundred men for that service.
Fourthly, that he should abolish all such customs as in his
time had been introduced to the prejudice of the church.
These articles, together with some others, by which he declares
his innocence of the archbishop's death, and promises satisfaction,
and to restore the rights of the church of Canterbury, being
agreed upon, a council was called, where the king, the archbishop
of Rouen, together with other Norman bishops and abbots, did in
this assembly swear to observe the agreement; and so did his son
king Henry, so far as the articles were general ; and then the articles
were sealed with the seal of the king \ All that this mortified
prince had in exchange, was absolution from the legates for the
fault, of which he was first made to swear he was not guilty.
Thus this unhappy prelate's death, like that of Samson, drew
destruction after it, and the church and crown suffered more by
it, than by all the attempts and endeavours of his life. And
watered with his blood, the papal usurpation presently grew up to
its full complement and perfection ; for having before gained from
the crown the patronage of bishoprics by forcing the right of
investitures from the kings of England, and broken all the autho
rity of provincial and diocesan bishops by settling the legantine
power, and by assuming an authority to exempt the religious from
" Gervas. Chron. [ap. Twisden, Decern Scriptores, col. 1422.]

56 KING HENRY II. ;
their jurisdiction ; they now by the article of appeals gained a
power to call every thing to Rome ; and by the grant of the king
to abolish the laws which they called prejudicial to the church,
removed every difficulty which stood in the way of their new
maxims and pretensions to the ecclesiastic liberty. There re
mained little more, but to possess themselves of the crown ; and
this too we shall hear of time enough, in the reign of king John,
the son of the present king.
The changes which presently ensued were so visible, that
one of the writers of archbishop Becket's story, in the account
written about this time, thus describes the change. " In the
former reigns the authority of the see of Rome was little re
garded11, and the kings of England ordered all affairs in the church
as they saw good ; and under them the archbishops ordered all
things according to the law of England ; and when the royal and
archiepiscopal power united, their authority was uncontrollable and
past resistance11." And the court of Rome appears to have had the
same sentiments ofthe conquest which they gained over the crown
and the English church, within the compass of the present reign,
and by the address of the late archbishop : therefore when king
John in the council of Northampton declared, that he challenged
no other right in disposing the bishoprics, but what his prede
cessors had enjoyed; Pandulphus the legate of pope Innocent
answered, " that the right the king pretended to, was abolished
by the surrender which archbishop Becket had made of his
bishopric into the hands of the pope, and from that time the
church of Rome was made the lady and mistress of all the churches
of England0."
But to return to the agreement of the king.
Whatever the flatterers of the court of Rome may pretend to
the contrary, we are to ground their first colourable pretence to
appeals from England on the aforesaid article of king Henry. For
though Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the preceding reign,
saith, the use of appeals was begun by Henry bishop of Win
chester, and then legate to the bishop of Rome d (as he adds) to
serve some unworthy ends of his own, and Gervasius follows him
in this opinion, (and they are in the right as to the fact ; for that
prelate, endeavouring to lessen and modify Theobald then arch
bishop of Canterbury, and bring every thing into his own hands,
" Wharton, Anglia Sacra, par. ii. p 524. b Ibid. c Ibid.
d H. Huntingd. lib. viii. p. 227.

AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. 57
led the way to that practice, and during the war between king-
Stephen and the present king several things were carried to
Rome;) yet as the practice was new, and had no ground in canon
or antiquity or law, so that court, whose interest was served by it,
was so sensible that their title was but precarious, and had the
marks of novelty very fresh and visible, thought fit to give it the
colour and appearance of right by their late agreement with king,
Henry, and the article on this subject was at this time their best
title to appeals from England.
But what has been said before of the state of the English church
under William the First and Second, explained by the ecclesias
tical law of England in the statutes of Clarendon, puts it beyond
a doubt, that no such right had ever been owned under the Nor
man reigns. And the history of the ancient English church
makes it no less evident, that the case had been the same in
England from the foundations of the English church. And the
whole circumstances and manner of gaining on the one side, and
yielding on the other, make it plain, that religion was no way con
sidered in that affair; for an article of this kind could never have
had a being, if either side had believed that the court of Rome
had a right to appeals from the authority of Christ or his church,
or if this had been the ancient usage of England.
So that if the circumstances and designs of king Henry had not
explained the reasons thereof, one would stand astonished at a
concession of this kind, and at this time of day, when the designs
ofthe courtofRome were visible to all the world, and their abusesof
that power to receive appeals, which they before this had gained in
some other places, were become so notorious, that St. Bernard,
who had done too much toward advancing the papal greatness,
did but a few years before this complain of the abuse of appeals
by the court of Rome, and in terms so passionate and full of re
sentment as would make one very uneasy to read them.
In his hundred and seventy-eighth epistle to pope Innocent,
he tells that prelate, that it was the common complaint that justice
was perished in the church, that the authority of the keys of the
church was destroyed, and the power of bishops become vile and
contemptible ; " because," saith he, " it is out of their power to
punish offenders, or to correct the disorders of their own dioceses;"
of which he assigns this reason: " offenders," saith he, "appeal to
you and to the Roman court, and what the bishops determine
with justice, you cancel and repeal, and what they forbid, you

58 KING HENRY IL, &c.
determine and appoint a ; and if there be men either of the laity,
clergy, or religious, who are more wicked and profligate than other
men, they run to the court of Rome, and they have sanctuary and
protection ; and having such defenders, they return and insult
over those who pretend to correct them b."
In the year 1174 a bull was received from pope Alexander
declaring Becket a martyr and a saint, and appointing that the
day of his passion should be received into the calendar c ; and all
on a sudden the miracles of the new martyr shone so bright, that
votaries to his shrine and devotions to his tomb became so
fashionable, that king Henry was forced to run in with the crowd,
and upon his return out of Normandy went and paid his devotions
to the tomb of the late archbishop. And if the monkish writers,
who began about this age to be fond of an invention of their own,
the disciplining whip, do not misinform us, this prince submitted
to it, and suffered his body to be scourged ; a sort of discipline,
which till the latter end of the eleventh century4 had never been
heard of in the Christian church ; and if men had not learned to
consecrate their own follies, and to set up their own inventions as
standards of holiness and devotion, might have continued unknown
to this day. But this has so little of the gospel method of reclaiming
sinners, that it is hard to say, whether this treatment was more
disagreeable to the spirit of Christ, or more reproachful to the
majesty of kings ; so that if we must not reject the authority and
disbelieve this part of the story, the honour which is due to the
character of God's vicegerents should at least oblige one to cover
and forget it. — Had he stopped here, the age, and the difficulty of
his present circumstances, might possibly have made some apology
for him ; but so fatally did the aforesaid treaty break all the
measures of this prince, that he never stopped till his concessions
gave the finishing stroke to that interest, which broke his own,
and plunged his posterity into mischiefs the past ages had never
heard of. As for the court of Rome, it was no wonder if they
made all possible haste to distinguish the martyr for the papacy,
and let the world see what a value they put upon that bigotry,
which had turned to such account to them.
" Bernard. Epist. 178. b Ibid. c M. Par. ann. 1173. p. 127.
d Du Pin, Eccles. Hist. Cent. ii. p. 126.

INTRODUCTION.

NATIONAL CHURCHES— PAPAL USURPATIONS ON THE
RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.1
In the year 1175, the king (Henry II.) received intelligence of
the arrival of Hugo cardinal of St. Peter de Leon 2, legate of pope
Alexander the Third. During his stay in England, the old dispute
about the liberty of the clergy was brought under consideration ;
and as this appears to have been the great errand, so the chief
remains we have of this embassy is an agreement betwixt the
king and the legate, which consists of these four following
articles. First, that no clergyman for the time to come should be carried
in person before any secular judge 3 for any crime or transgression,
unless for abuses of the forest, or for such services as by reason
of some fee they owed to the king or other secular lords.
Secondly, the king covenants that he would not keep any
archbishopric, bishopric, or abbey, in his hands above a year, unless
there was an apparent necessity thereof.
Thirdly, it was agreed that such persons as should confess or
be convicted of having killed a clergyman, should be punished in
the presence of the bishop.
Fourthly, that a clergyman should not be obliged to defend
himself by duel ".
1 Civil government.] From Inett's Origines Anglicans, &c. vol. ii. p. 295 — ¦
313. 2 Hugo de Perleonibus, Cardinal Deacon of St. Angelo, and afterwards
Priest Cardinal of St. Clemente.
3 Any secular judge.] See Index, under Clergy, exemption of from secular
jurisdiction, p. 296. See also Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 32. 180. 235.
Also Inett, vol. ii. p. 195. 319—22.
» M. Par. ann. 1176. p. 132.

60 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS.
If what has been already said has not enabled us to account
for the reason of this transaction, one who considers the provision
which the gospel has made for preserving the rights of the secular
power, and the obedience which the first Christians paid to the
worst of princes, or the grounds upon which Christianity was
admitted as the religion of states and kingdoms, and the advantages
which accrue to it from their favours and encouragement, would
stand amazed at an attempt to discharge the clergy from the
laws of the state ; and much more to find this claim founded on
a pretended grant of Christ, who declared his kingdom was not
of this world, and both lived and died a great example of the
doctrine which he had delivered ; and which is stranger still, that
devoting men to the service of religion should exempt them from
the duties of it, and an authority to publish the gospel discharge
them from the subjection which their holy function obliged them
to preach to all the world.
There is no doubt but our Saviour appointed an order of men
to make the will of God known to the world, and to publish the
terms on which He will pardon our sins, accept our services here,
and reward us when this life is done, and gave them commission
to convey this authority to others : and it is beyond all question,
that this is a power different from that which God has given to
princes, and such as they can neither give nor take away, nor
assume to themselves. And they who are thus commissioned
by Christ, are under the same obligation to preach the gospel as
they are to obey God ; and the people are upon the same grounds
bound to receive it. — And upon this foot Christianity was first
preached and obeyed, though the secular power withheld their
protection and persecuted those who embraced it : but God
blessed His people, and gave success to the ministry of His
servants, and will do so if ever this case should happen again.
And if this is all that is meant by the independence of the church
and clergy on the secular power, there is no more reason to
doubt it, than to make a question whether the gospel ought to be
preached, or God obeyed, or His people take a care of their own
souls. But if the gospel gives no new powers to princes, it
certainly takes nothing from them l : they lose nothing by be
coming Christians : they are God's vicegerents as much as they
1 Nothing from them.] See Hooker, b. viii. c. iii. Keble's edition, vol. iii.
p. 450—9. Again

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 61
were before, and in right of their character continue the common
guardians of religion. And that of the prince is thus far the
case of every subject too. His submission to Christ does not set
him free from any relative duty : he no more ceases to be a
subject than to be a father, a husband, or a master. Christianity
makes no change in the natural ties of allegiance : the Christian
Again c. vi. s. 13. thus : —
" Christ in His church hath not appointed any such law concerning
temporal power, as God did of old deliver unto the commonwealth of Israel;
but leaving that to be at the world's free choice, his chiefest care was that
the spiritual law of the gospel might be published far and wide.
" They that received the law of Christ were for a long time scattered in
sundry kingdoms, Christianity not exempting them from the laws that they
had been subject unto, saving only in such cases as those laws did enjoin
that which the religion of Christ forbade. Hereupon grew their manifold
persecutions throughout all places where they lived : as oft as it thus came
to pass, there was no possibility that the emperors and kings under whom
they lived, should meddle any whit at all with making laws for the church.
From Christ therefore having received power, who doubteth, that as they
did, so they might bind themselves to such orders as seemed fittest for the
maintenance of their religion, without the leave of high or low in the com
monwealth ; for as much as in rehgion it was divided utterly from them, and
they from it ?
" But when the mightiest began to hke of the Christian faith, by their
means whole free states and kingdoms became obedient unto Christ. Now,
the question is, Whether kings by embracing Christianity do therein receive
any such law, as taketh from the weightiest part of that sovereignty, which they
had even when they were heathens ? Whether being infidels they might do more
in causes of religion, than now they can by the law of God, being true believers ?
For whereas in regal states the king or supreme head of the commonwealth
had before Christianity a supreme stroke in making of laws for religion ; he
must, by embracing Christian rehgion, utterly thereof deprive himself, and in
such causes become subject to his subjects, having even within his own domi
nions them whose commandment he must obey ; unless this power be placed
in the hand of some foreign spiritual potentate ; so that either a foreign or
domestical commander upon earth, he must needs admit more now than
before he had ; and that in the chiefest things whereupon commonwealths do
stand; but apparent it is unto all men, which are not strangers in the doctrine
of Jesus Christ, that no state in the world, receiving Christianity, is by any
law therein contained bound to resign the power which they lawfully held
before ; but over what persons and in what causes soever the same hath been
in force, it may so remain and continue still : that which as kings they might
do in matter of religion, and did in matter oi false religion, being idolatrous
or superstitious kings, the same they are now even in every respect as fully
authorized to do in all affairs pertinent unto the state of true Christian reli
gion." Vol. iii. part i. p. 517 — 9.

62 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
is as much bound to obey as the Pagan and the Jew. And the
case is still the same whatever post he fills : the pastor is as
much a subject to the higher power as the people committed to
his charge ; and in some cases in those instances wherein they
may pretend to act by the authority of Christ.
For our Saviour, who as the great prophet and instructor of
mankind laid the foundation of that society which He thought fit
to honour and distinguish by the name of His body the church,
and who appointed His ministers to go out into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature, and commanded the people
to hear His law from their mouths and with meekness to receive
the ingrafted word; to submit to those who watch for their
souls ; and even to obey those who rule over them in the Lord ;
does yet compare His church to a field that should consist of
tares as well as good seed, and foretold that ravening wolves
should come in sheep's clothing and deceive many. And His
apostles by the same spirit foresaw that the seat of God would
fall into the hands of antichrists, and deceivers arise who would
set themselves above all that was called God ; or in other words,
that the ministers of Christ would be subject to error, and might
endeavour to impose their mistakes upon the world. Therefore
at the same time they command us to believe and obey the
gospel, they caution us not to believe every spirit, and not to
receive any other doctrine but that of Christ, though it come
attested by an angel of light ; to consider whether the doctrine
be of God ; to try all things and hold fast that which is good.
Thus far every Christian is for himself1 made a judge of the faith
of Christ, and by the same authority too which commands him to
receive it; and he is under the same obligation to reject the
error, however it come recommended, as he is to provide for the
welfare of his own soul.
The case of the Christian magistrates is very different. They
are obliged to encourage the worship of God upon rules of the
gospel ; to see that subjects be duly taught ; to keep them from
the danger of false teachers, and provide them such pastors as
Christ has appointed. And if it happen through human frailty,
corruption, mistake, or worldly interest, that the pastors of the
church preach themselves instead of Christ, teach the people
1 For himself] See Hooker's Preface, chap. iii. § 1 — 3, and chap. vi.
§ 5, 6; or Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 380—2, and 415—7.

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 63
idolatry or superstition, or any doctrine which may endanger
their salvation or the peace of his dominions ; the supreme power
in such cases is under the same obligation to remove the deceivers
and provide true pastors, as he is to protect the church, to secure
the truth and honour of religion, the institutions of Christ, the
welfare of his people, and the peace of his country.
If the error spread farther and become general, and involve
the governing part of a national church, this case may require
more caution and prudence ; but if the matter be notorious and
the offenders obstinate, the mischief cries so much louder for a
remedy. For by permitting the guides thereof to involve them
selves in the common guilt, and thereby depriving his church of
the ordinary means of redress, God points out the duty of the
magistrate, and calls the supreme power, to whom He has com
mitted a general care of His glory, to exert the authority which
He lodged in his hands. They are in this case under the same
obligation to control the error, and secure the truth and honour
of religion, as they are to obey God rather than men. And the
reason is plain ; the guides in this case go beyond their com
mission, and, as the apostle well distinguishes, it is the man and
not the Lord that speaks by them. For it is certain that Christ
never gave men authority to preach the idolatry which His
gospel forbids ; and when this is the case, it is the wolf and not
the shepherd which the magistrate drives away from the flock.
Besides, this seems to be the only provision which God has
made to secure the purity and succession of national churches.
His promises to be with His church till the end of the world,
and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, are
limited to the catholic church ; and though they afford us ground
enough to believe that the church of Christ shall never fail, but
continue visible till His second coming, yet these promises are
not applicable to particular national churches. The present state
of Africa makes it but too plain, that a national church may be
extinguished : and if one looks to the condition of some western
nations as they stand at this day, and to the general state
thereof as they stood some ages since, it will be out of doubt
that Christianity may be corrupted * ; that the guides and pastors
1 May be corrupted.] "As the churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and
Antioch have erred ; so also the church of Rome hath erred, not only in their
living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith." Art. XIX.
of the Church of England.

64 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
of national churches may avow the corruption, and propagate the
idolatry which the gospel has forbidden ; may require the worship
of an image, a relic, or a piece of bread ; deny the use of the
sacraments which Christ instituted, or impose new ones of their
own ; deny their people the use of the Scriptures in a language
they understand, and command them to pray to God in one they
do not ; an impostor may call himself the vicar of Christ, and
under colour of His authority usurp the rights of princes and
oppress their people ; and the spiritual guides of national churches
may countenance and defend their claims and errors. Now
whenever this happens to be the case, if the natural right which God
has given to men to take care of their own souls, or the general
commission which He has entrusted to supreme powers to provide
for His honour, to minister wrath to evil doers and encourage
truth and holiness, be not authorities enough to remove the blind
guides and justify the redress, the mischief would be incurable ;
a church might degenerate into a den of thieves, and souls perish
and nations be ruined without the hopes of a remedy.
They who bar the exercise of this power by advancing a pre
tence of a spiritual relation betwixt the pastor and his flock, and
raise up this relation above the reach of princes, and upon this
ground pretend to tell us, that the secular power can neither
nominate nor deprive a bishop, seem wholly to mistake this affair,
and apply that to a particular local and legal, or at most a
canonical relation, which is only applicable to the relation of a
bishop or a priest to the whole Christian church. For the first
is only human and prudential ; the latter flows from the Order,
and has its foundation in the commission of Christ. For according
to the way of speaking amongst the ancients there is but one
episcopate, and every bishop is a bishop of the whole Christian
church, and as such has a spiritual and pastoral relation to the
whole flock of Christ ; and this is founded in the Order, goes
along with the person, and without change or addition of cha
racter equally entitles him to discharge the offices of his holy
function throughout the whole Christian church ; and this relation
continues as long as the character upon which it is founded.
And all the forms of consecrating bishops, used by the Christian
church, come up to the grounds of this opinion : they confer the
Order, and the relation which flows from it.
But the relation of a bishop or a priest to a people of a par
ticular diocese or parish springs from a different fountain, and

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 65
must for that reason be of a different nature, and subject to
different rules and measures. For it is certain, that a relation
peculiar and appropriated to a person cannot flow from his cha
racter ; for then it must lie common, and extend itself to the
whole Order : and if it arise from a national establishment, it is
then no other than a legal and local relation, and must of neces
sity be subject to the same authority which gave it a beginning.
And to one who considers how frequently this relation is dissolved
by the voluntary acts of bishops, priests, or their people, in re
moving from one diocese or one parish to another, and new rela
tions acquired without assuming a new character, and all this, not
only to serve the ends of edification, but sometimes for purposes
of a very different nature ; it will seem somewhat strange to have
it said, that a relation which so often gives way to covetousness
and ambition, vapour, resentment, ease, or the little conveniences
of human life, cannot be dissolved to serve the ends of peace or
justice, or the safety of a nation, or the greater ends of truth and
holiness. But if the distinct nature and grounds of the aforesaid
different relations of the same men to the Christian church and to
a particular people were duly weighed, all the difficulties which
arise from this head would presently vanish.
The reason and grounds of the present dispute about the
authority of princes, have been considered in another place '. But
it may not be amiss, before I end this digression occasioned
thereby, to observe, that that which generally misleads learned
men in their reasonings about the supremacy of princes and the
dependence of the church upon the state, is the want of a due
attention to the difference betwixt churches, considered in their
proper natures and as they are incorporated into states and king
doms ; and challenging those powers and privileges as the inherent
rights of the church taken in the first sense, which are only
applicable to churches in the second sense, and are derived from
the concessions of the civil power.
Churches considered as pure spiritual societies are founded
upon the commission of Christ, and can have no head but Him on
whose authority and doctrine they are built, and by whose spirit
they are governed, and from whom they expect protection and
rewards : and though that as such they have proper inherent
rights, seems as evident as any part of our common Christianity,
1 In another place.] Preface to vol, ii. p. v. &c, or above, p. 7 ¦
vol. i. F

66 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
yet these rights are of the same kind with the institution itself, of
a pure spiritual nature, and such as no way affect the rights of
princes or the subjection of their people. And whilst churches
continued in this posture, there was nothing to awake the jealousy
of states and kingdoms. Princes who had not embraced the
gospel did not concern themselves in the choice of pastors, or the
voluntary rules which these societies prescribed to themselves, or
in the exercise of a power which did no way affect the liberties,
the estates, or the peace of their people.
But when whole nations submitted to the doctrine of Christ,
and princes and their people entered into Christian societies, and
the gospel became the religion of states and kingdoms, and these
societies were established by laws, and provision made by the state
to support the ministers of Christ, bishops called to a part in the
legislature and great councils, and qualified for those trusts by
titles of honour, their censures enforced by civil sanctions, their
authority enlarged by making them judges in many cases, wherein
the reputation, the liberty, and property of the subject were con
cerned ; by this change, bodies of Christians, which were before
pure spiritual societies, were incorporated into bodies politic, and
by becoming a part of the legal establishment acquired the title of
National churches. And thus though their inherent rights remain,
and may be enjoyed separate if princes should resume their grants,
yet these societies acquired a new capacity, and became a part of
the national establishment, and as such can have no other head
but the head of the body politic ; for a national establishment not
subject to the head of the national body, seems a fit subject for a
jest, rather than a ground of controversy and dispute.
But however wild and extravagant it may appear to after-ages,
this was the present subject of dispute ; for the men who followed
Hildebrand in the doctrine which he had lately broached of the
independence of the church upon the state, took the doctrine in
the lump, and without distinguishing what was true from what
was false in that proposition, did, as he intended they should do,
run away with the whole together. They applied that to national
churches, which was only true of the whole Christian church ; and
that to the particular and acquired rights of a national church,
which was applicable only to the original rights of the church in
general. They confounded the legal powers and privileges of the
clergy with those that flow from their Order; and from the
account which they were to give to Christ for their pastoral office,

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 67
argued against their allegiance as subjects ; and because they
were accountable to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls for
the holy offices of their function, concluded they were not answer
able to the magistrate for felony or murder; and from their
authority to preach the gospel, argued themselves into a power to
preach sedition and rebellion uncontrolled. Had the laity fallen
into the same way of arguing, and, because they are answerable
to God for theft, and perjury, and murder, and breach of the
publie peace, concluded they were not liable to the punishments
of the civil power, and, from their natural freedom as men, argued
against their legal obedience as subjects, there had been an end
of all government at once. And yet these claims are so equally
balanced, that it is not an easy matter to determine which has
the least reason on its side, or which of them is attended with the
greater mischief and absurdity.
But one who will carefully distinguish betwixt the relations of
churchmen to the whole Christian church and to a particular
people ; betwixt authoritative preaching of the gospel, adminis
tering sacraments, conferring orders, — and choosing persons to
receive those holy trusts, giving of livings, and bestowing baronies
and palaces, and calling men to the great councils ; betwixt the
plain and express doctrines of Christ, and the inferences and
opinions supposed by some Christians to be grounded thereon,
but contradicted and denied by others ; betwixt the rites and
discipline of Christ's appointment and the prudential forms, rites,
and rules of churches, to serve the ends of decency and order ;
betwixt the proper power of bishops, flowing from their character,
and their external jurisdiction in cases of tithes, patronage, de
famation, validity of wills and contracts, and legitimacy of children;
in short, betwixt the inherent and essential rights and powers of
a church, considered as a pure spiritual society ; and the acquired
powers, rights, and privileges of national churches, derived from
the concessions of the civil powers, and not from the authority of
Christ ; and will consider how reasonable it is. that the supreme
power of nations should be judges of their own grants ; will not
find it so difficult, as some men imagine, to reconcile the rights of
the church to the ecclesiastical supremacy of princes.
L^pon the whole matter : one who sees all parties of Christians
addressing to Christian princes to decide the greatest controversies
in religion, by receiving one church and persuasion of Christians
into the national establishment, and shotting out all others ;
f 2

6S NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
soliciting for their favours, and calling for their laws to distinguish
their opinions and constitutions ; to pimish offences against the
natural and moral and positive doctrines and duties of rehgion ;
imploring their aid to guard the inherent powers of the church,
and making use of civil sanctions to chastise every contempt
thereof; and whenever they prevail, all this bound upon princes
bv the authoritv of their own laws and the religion of oaths ; and
yet at the same time hears great numbers of the same persons
telling the world, that princes have nothing to do in the affairs
of the church and rehgion ; is tempted to such melancholy re
flections on human nature, as are very apt to make a man fall
out with himself, and even to entertain a very mean opimon of
mankind. But whilst we are thus called to pity the weakness, and dread
the mistakes and prejudices of men, one cannot overlook a subject
for our thanks to God, who has placed us under the instructions
of a church, whose wisdom and integritv teach us how to reconcile
our faith and our allegiance, our zeal for our holv religion to a
Christian pity for all that differ from us, and which at once calls
us to assert the original and inherent rights of Christ's church,
and at the same time to be just to the state which protects it, in
acknowledging the supremacy of the crown. — But I have led the
reader too far, and must return to the subject which occasioned
this digression ; the fatal ao-reement of king Henry and the lea."ate
of the bishop of Rome, for discharging the clergy and religious
from the authority of the state.
The tyrannical usage and horrible oppressions which the clergy
afterwards met with under the papal usurpation, leave it out of
doubt, that the court of Rome never designed more by their pre
tended zeal in asserting the liberty of the clergy, than to cover
their own designs the better, and to make use of the clergy, first,
to assist in humbling their princes, and then to put the yoke about
their own necks. However, for the present the secret was so
artfully covered, that the clergy seem to have been very fond of
the pretence : and this makes it easy to account for their conduct,
but at the same time it leaves us still farther to seek out how it
came to pass, that the kings of England, who could not but see
the dangerous consequence of this design, should be brought into
it. But if the views of the king hurried him on too fast to see
the tendency of this affair, it is certain his council did not oversee
the danger, and were just to him ; for in his letter to pope Alex-

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 69
ander upon the occasion of this grant, the king tells that prelate a,
that "the wisest and greatest men of his kingdom very much
opposed it :" and it was no wonder.
For the ground on which this whole scheme was set on foot,
was a new and very dangerous principle, viz., that the authority
of kings did not extend itself to ecclesiastical causes or persons :
so that by discharging the clergy from the obligation of the laws
of England, the king did in effect acknowledge the supremacy
over ecclesiastical persons and causes to be lodged in another
hand. And we are not to wonder, if we find the clergy hence
forward acting accordingly ; for that prince who gives up a body
of his people to a foreign power, and by a formal releasing them
from the obligation to his laws, at least virtually consents to their
changing masters, does in a great measure remit the natural ties
of allegiance, and must take a great share ofthe blame to himself,
if such subjects forget the duties from which he first discharged
them. The bigotry of Anselm, Becket, and some others, is past all
excuse ; yet it ought to be remembered to the honour of the
English bishops and clergy, that under the steady reign of William
the first, the whole body of the clergy did unanimously oppose
every attempt against the rights of the church and the crown ;
and, Anselm and some few others excepted, they stood by Wil
liam the second and Henry the first in the long controversy
about investitures; and though king Henry the first had, by
yielding up that right of his crown, in some measure given up the
clergy to the mercy of the bishops of Rome, yet they were just
to his grandson Henry the second, and did their parts towards
the defence of the crown and the laws. So that do all one can,
one, who considers well the series of our story, will find too much
reason to believe, that the usurpations on the rights of the church
and the crown were, if not entirely yet chiefly, owing to the ill-
conduct of the present and the two preceding princes, who, to
serve some present turns, or to stave off some impending dangers,
made such concessions as in time broke their authority, and put
it out of their power to preserve the rights of that church which
God had raised them up to defend.
Thus for instance ; William the first called in the authority ofthe
bishops of Rome to depose the Saxon bishops and abbots whom he
* Rad. de Diceto [ap. Twisden], Decern Scriptores, col. 591. N. 60.

70 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
did not dare to trust, that he might make way for the Normans: and
his son Henry the first, to secure himself against the pretensions of
his brother Robert, recalled Anselm, and thereby virtually and after
wards in form yielded up the royal right of investitures : and king
Stephen sent to Rome to have his title to the crown confirmed, and,
to secure his possession, asked the legatine power for his brother,
and unworthily bowed down before it, and acted the subject in his
own kingdom. And appeals to Rome, though not established till the
succeeding reign, had their beginning at the same time and upon the
same grounds. To give the better colour to his ambition, Henry the
second took a title to the kingdom of Ireland from pope Adrian ;
and a dispensation from a successor to violate his father's will,
which he had sworn to observe, and upon that ground dispossessed
his brother Geoffrey of the dukedom of Anjou ; and by his afore
said agreement, after the death of archbishop Becket, gave up the
ancient right of the crown to the last resort in causes ecclesias-
tical, and discharged the clergy from the secular power.
By these false politics those princes did virtually own all that
the bishops of Rome contended for, and it was in vain to pretend
to deny the authority which they had allowed when it served their
own ends. But if the hasty growth of the papal power in England
be not thus to be accounted for, this part of our story must for
ever be left in the dark ; for they who put it upon the superstition
and ignorance of the age, or the bigotry of some particular men,
have difficulties in their way which are never to be overcome. —
But to return to the exemption of the clergy from the secular
power. Wheresoever the blame ought to lie, it is but too evident this
was the unhappy state of England ; ._ ^interests of the church
and state were about this time divided, and set in opposition to
one another ; the one headed by the bishops of Rome, the other
by the kings of England : and we are in the ensuing story to see
these two powers dashing one against another. And which is
sadder still, the clergy, who of all men ought to be most tender of
the peace and honour of their country, were by these unhappy
changes put under a necessity of becoming parties in a very un
natural and dishonourable usurpation on the rights of their natural
princes and their kingdoms. — But whoever is to be blamed for
letting in that usurpation, the clergy are never to be excused for
what they afterwards did to render it lasting and insufferable.
Whilst these things were doing (1177) in England, that we

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 71
might not be to seek where our miseries had their beginning, the
same spirit appeared every where throughout the Western nations ;
and though it advanced by slower paces than it had done in Eng
land, yet a general assault was made upon the secular power,
and there is scarce a nation in Europe which does not afford some
trophies to adorn the triumphs of the Roman court. But those of
pope Alexander over the emperor Frederic are very extraordi
nary, and such as ought never to be forgotten.
There had never been a good understanding betwixt the em
perors and the bishops of Rome, from the time that pope Gregory
the seventh first broached the doctrine of judging, correcting, and
deposing secular princes. And as that doctrine and the new
maxims of the court of Rome had given perpetual jealousies to
those princes, the same reason had made them ever forward to
break the measures of that party, which ran into the Hildebrandine
principles. And this occasioned several schisms and wars ; and
there had been a long quarrel upon this subject betwixt the present
emperor and pope Alexander, which was compromised about this
time, but in a manner so equally unbecoming both parties, that
one cannot easily determine at whose door the greatest share of
the infamy ought to be laid.
After a war of sixteen or seventeen years, and a schism sup
ported by a succession of four anti-popes a, and the blackest scenes
of confusion and misery that war and schism can produce, pope
Alexander, by the assistance and intrigues of the French king b,
and by the arms of the Lombards and of William king of Sicily,
had so entangled the affairs and so broken the measures of the
emperor Frederic, that that prince saw himself under a necessity
of making a peace with the pope : and meeting at Venice, an
agreement was made, wherein it was stipulated that the emperor
should beg the pope's pardon. Accordingly, at the great door of
the church of St. Mark, in the presence of the senate and people
of Venice, the emperor, kneeling down, kissed the feet of pope
Alexander, and asked his pardon ; whilst that haughty prelate
treading on the neck of the emperor, that he might at once offer
an outrage to God and to his vicegerent, repeated these words,
"It is written, thou shalt walk upon the basilisk and the asp, and
tread the lion and dragon under thy feet c."
" Stella de vitis Pontificum, p. 180.
b Epist. Alex, apud Concil. torn. x. col. [1245] 1293. [1489. 1496, 7.]
c Stella. Ibid.

72 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
The emperor endeavouring to lessen the infamy of so mean and
tame a submission, cried out in return, that he submitted to St.
Peter and not to him ; but that prelate replied, " Mihi et Petro8,"
giving himself the preference to the apostle whom he pretended to
succeed. Baronius. who relates this story, and seems to have been
ashamed of one part of it, does yet confess, that it has the
authority of Blondus and ^Eneas Silvius, and that froni them it is
translated into the chronicle of cardinal Bessarionb. And in
the account which he gives thereof, he makes the story rather
worse than better ; for he saith, that at that congress the emperor
put off his imperial robes and dignity, and prostrated bis body to
the ground to kiss the feet of the pope c ; and that when he came
into the church, he took a stick, and, having first driven out the
people, did the office of a door-keeper, and in that manner waited
upon the pope to the altar d. But after all the pains he has taken
to soften this story, Stella, a writer of the lives of the popes, and
who was himself a Venetian, as he makes no doubt of the truth
of that particular of which Baronius seems to be ashamed, so he
speaks of it with a relish, and gives it a place amongst the
triumphs of pope Alexander e. And that prelate himself was not
only transported with the general success of this affair, but all
his epistles written upon that occasion have an air and turn which
plainly show he took pleasure in the pompous circumstances he
must have blushed to have had a share in, had he not forgot the
modesty and humility which became a Christian prelate. For in
his epistles to the archbishop of Canterbury f, to the archbishop
of York8, to the bishops of England11, and to the archbishop of
Capua1, he takes care to tell them, that the emperor kissed his
feet, and when he took horse held his stirrup. And there is no
doubt but all the rest he wrote upon that subject ran in the same
strain : and so hasty was he to publish his glory, that his letters
bear date at Venice, where this affair was transacted. So that
when we behold this scene, and at once see an emperor forgetting
all the honour and majesty of a prince, and a Christian bishop
insulting his rightful sovereign, and glorying in a pomp which
crowned heads had never assumed ; we have in one view such
unhappy instances of the effects of prosperity and adversity, as

a Epist. Alex.

b Baron. Annal. ann. 1177.

' Ejusd. N. 100.

« Ibid.

'¦ Stell. de vit. Pontif. p. 180.

' Concil. torn. x. col. 14S7.

' Ibid.

h R. Dioet. [X. Script, col. 598.]

1 Concil. torn. x. col. 1486.

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 73
afford us a very mortifying reflection on the infirmities of human
nature. If the French kings escaped better than the emperor and the
king of England, yet it was not long before their great monarch
Lewis was brought as a pilgrim to Canterbury, to pay his devo
tions at the tomb of that prelate a, who had been the great instru
ment in humbling the king of England, and had done a great deal
in advancing the designs of the papacy. And that court was very
just in making their returns, and letting the world see how much
their heart was set upon humbling kings, by the veneration and
favours which they paid to those who were their instruments
therein. As upon this foot the French king was brought to the tomb of
the late archbishop, and by rich presents and a grant of great
quantities of wines yearly for the monks of Canterbury, he has given
the world very unusual marks of a zeal for the rights of princes,
so this year Philip earl of Flanders and the archbishop of Rheims b
came to Canterbury on the same errand, to visit the tomb of the
late archbishop. And the merits and sufferings of that prelate,
or, to speak more properly, the cause he suffered in, not only shed
a lustre upon his memory, but descended to all his creatures and
followers : therefore about this time John of Salisbury, who had
been a dependent upon him, was upon that account advanced to
the bishopric of Chartres in France. And as the French king
grounds his consent to the election of John of Salisbury, chiefly
upon the friendship of that prelate with the late archbishop c, so
he thinks fit to tell the world, that that election was owing to the
influence of the archbishop of Sens, legate to pope Alexander d.
And to render the honours to the memory of the late archbishop
as public as was possible, the dean, precentor, and chancellor of
Chartres, came over to England and made their election, or rather
published the certificate thereof, in the cathedral church of Can
terbury. As if all this zeal to brighten the memory of the greatest
enemy the present king and crown of England ever had, and to
reward his party, had not been mortification enough to the king,
before this year was done a new legate from Rome, and at the

Baron. Annal. ann. 1179. N. 21.
Gervas. Chron. ann. 1177- [X. Script, col. 1435.]
Ludov. Epist. ap. R. Dicet. [X. Script, col. 593.] * Ibid.

74 NATIONAL CHURCHES.— PAPAL USURPATIONS
instance of Lewis king of France, who was then in open war with
England, was sent into France with power to put the dominions
of the king of England under an interdict, in case he did not
suffer his son Richard to marry Alice the daughter of the French
king a. And when by his menaces that legate had brought those
two princes to an agreement, he farther engaged them to agree
upon an expedition to the Holy Land ; an undertaking so fatal to
all the Western princes who engaged in it, that one can hardly
forbear applying to him who gave this advice, what our Saviour
saith of sowing tares, " it was an enemy that did it." This was
one article first put upon king Henry, when he made his peace
upon the death of Becket : and indeed this was the usual atone
ment required to appease their wrath, whenever the court of Rome
was offended. And if weakening Christian princes and rendering
them an easier prey to the papal usurpations were not at the
bottom of this war, it is very certain this was the effect and con
sequence thereof.
Whilst the court of Rome was thus carrying on its designs to
render the Western princes vassals to the papacy, and was every
day making some new advances, they did not forget to mortify and
humble their bishops ; and in order thereunto took all occasions
to encourage those who attempted to break through the ancient
discipline of the Church. And as the religious were ever the most
forward therein, their encouragement bore proportion to the import
ance of that interest which the court of Rome hoped to serve by it.
It was this consideration which ever made them friends in that
court, which no interest was sufficient to resist. And Richard
archbishop of Canterbury about this time felt the effects ' of the bias
that court lay under, and not only saw his authority disobeyed, and
* Baron. Annal. ann. 1177. N. 126.
1 Felt the effects.] Of the progress, effects, &c. of this exemption of the
religious orders from episcopal jurisdiction, we may take the following as a
melancholy specimen from Sir Roger Twisden :
" When the papacy first attempted the exempting some great monasteries
from the jurisdiction of their ordinary, it was ' salva Primatis reverentia ;'
or, as Malmsbury explains it, ' Archiepiscopi tantum nutum in legitimis
spectaturus.' But, however this was thus carefully penned not to thwart
with the archbishop, yet, being brought hither, it was taken away by Lanfranc,
and not permitted to be made use of, the abbot finding no other way to regain
it but ' multorum preces.' Yet afterward the pope without scruple exempted
them not only from their diocesan, but even such as were under the arch
bishop's nose, with all pertaining to them, were taken out of his jurisdiction ;

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 75
the offender supported in his rebellion, but put in a condition to
set him at defiance, and to insult him in his own province ; and
this was occasioned by the vanity and ambition of the monks of
Canterbury. The convent of the monks of St. Austin having first driven out,
and then by their interest in the court of Rome got their former
prior deprived about two years before, they chose Roger in his
room, who having in a very haughty manner required the arch
bishop to come to Canterbury, and to give him his benediction in
his own monastery, was told by the archbishop that it was his
duty to attend the place which he appointed. Nevertheless he at
last consented to come to Canterbury, and give him his benedic
tion, provided the prior would make such profession of obedience
as had usually been made to his predecessors : but this was a con
descension the monks had not humility enough to think of, much
less to bear ; and therefore their prior was sent away to Rome, and
in the beginning of this year returned to England with the ring
and the mitre, the usual ensigns of the episcopal authority a, and
with a mandatory letter from pope Alexander, requiring the arch
bishop of Canterbury to go to the monastery of St. Austin in
Canterbury, and there to give his benediction to the prior elect,
and without requiring from him the usual profession of canonical
obedience b.
When the archbishop refused to obey, the prior returned to
Rome, and there received his benediction. Nor was this the only
mortification put upon that prelate ; for pope Alexander did at
least pretend to confirm the scheme and model projected by

and he who at first preserved others' rights, had now those houses at an easy
rate removed from his own : a fact of infinite advantage to the papacy, by
which it had persons of learning in all parts, who, depending wholly on it,
defended what was done as being so by one who had a power (right) of doing
it. And he (the archbishop), who alone did at first * agere vices apostolicas
in Anglia,' was under no legate, permitted no bull from Rome to be made
use of in England but by his approbation, was now so far from taking them
away from the bearers, that private clerks, by deputation from thence, did sit
as his superiors in determining differences between him and others, who by
strength were taken from his jurisdiction." Vindication of the Church of
England, §c. p. 39, 40.
On the general question, see a learned and elaborate statement in Inett,
vol. ii. p. 204—23. See also 226,7. 318,9. 338—41. and 494.
See also Index, under Religious Orders, exemption of, k)c.
" Gervas. Chron. ann. 1178. [X. Script, col. 1444.] b Ibid.
7

76 NATIONAL CHURCHES, &c.
Gregory the Great, and to determine that the two archbishops of
Canterbury and York should have precedence according to priority
of consecration a, and that the archbishops of Canterbury should
not require a profession of canonical obedience from the arch
bishops of York b ; and in case they refused to consecrate the
archbishops of York for want of such profession, the bishops of
the province were then to consecrate them by the papal authority0.
But though a constitution of this kind appears both in the history
of Diceto d and in the appendix to the third council of Lateran,
and this doubtless served to perpetuate the quarrel upon this sub
ject, yet it doth not appear that it answered the ends for which
it was designed : however, it could not but give some uneasiness
to the archbishop of Canterbury.
But if pope Alexander gave too much to the province of York,
he endeavoured to make the archbishop of Canterbury a recom
pense at the charge of his suffragan bishops. Those prelates, it
seems, had a wrong notion of the legatine authority, and per
suaded themselves that the archbishops of Canterbury as legates
had no cognizance of such causes as were the proper subject of
their authority, but when carried to the legate by appeals e : but
by a constitution of pope Alexander the third, directed to the
bishops of the province of Canterbury f, he thinks fit to tell them,
that though their archbishop as metropolitan had no cognizance
of things arising in their dioceses, but when brought to him by
appeals, yet as legate he had cognizance of every thing in the
first instance as well as in case of appeals g, and commanded them
quietly to submit, and to suffer causes from their several dioceses
to be brought to his legate ; or, in other words, quietly to part
with their rights and to yield up their authority, as a sacrifice to
the usurpation which was by this time grown masterly and in
capable of resistance.
This was the return which the court of Rome made to those
bishops who were not so careful as they should have been in the
defence of their metropolitans ; they were made an easy prey, and
became a common sacrifice to the usurpation which they wanted
precaution or courage to prevent ; and if they had any favour, it
was only this, to see the rights of the crown and the national
church perish first, and to be themselves last devoured.
¦ Concil. torn. x. col. 1690. '' Ibid. c Ibid.
d R. Dicet. [X. Script, col. 589.] " Concil. torn. x. col. 1690.
• Ibid. n Ibid.

INTRODUCTION.

KING JOHN, THE BARONS, AND POPE INNOCENT THE
THIRD1.
The design of pope Gregory the seventh to change the primitive
and apostolic government of the Christian church from an aristo
cracy to a monarchy, and such a monarchy too as pretended to a
supreme authority over princes, falling into the hands of a suc
cession of men who for more than an age pursued it with indefati
gable zeal, great applications, and steady counsels, the ecclesiastic
monarchy was raised to such a pitch, that pope Innocent, taking
the advantage of a dispute (1207) betwixt Otho and Philip, who
by different factions were both elected emperors, determined " that
the correction of princes belonged to the bishops of Rome a ;" that
" it was their right to judge of the elections of emperors, and
either to approve or reject as they saw cause6 :" and this deter
mination was inserted into the decretals, as a standing law and
maxim of the court of Rome. And in the council of Avignon in
the year one thousand two hundred and nine, it was decreed by
the legates of that court, that bishops might by the censures of
the church compel the lords, nobility, and people, and governors
of provinces, to promise upon oath to extirpate heresy out of
their country, and in case of neglect to interdict their dominions
and countries °.
1 The third.] From Inett's Origines Anglicanee, &c. vol. ii. p. 410 — 22,
430—52, 465—72, 473—87.
11 Blondel. decad. ii. lib. vi. b Decretal. Greg. lib. i. tit. vi. cap. xxxiv.
c Concil. torn. xi. par. i. col. 43.

78 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
The conduct of that court was suitable to the maxims thereof;
for not contented to command the wealth, and usurp on the
authority of the Western churches by drawing the clergy and
religious to a dependence upon them, and thereby to secure to
themselves a considerable interest in the several dominions of the
Western princes, they carried their pretensions still higher, and
under the umbrage of the Holy War ' found out ways to break
in upon the authority of states and kingdoms, to lay impositions
on their subjects, and without the leave of their princes to raise
men and head armies in their dominions, and in some measure to
make themselves masters of their wealth, their arms, and people.
And it was an easy step from hence to advance to the command
of their crowns ; for he who has the wealth and subjects in his
power, has the prince and the crown at his disposal. And so art
fully did they manage that war, that those expeditions which were
at the first the scourge of infidels, became at last the terror of
Europe, and were upon all occasions held as rods over the heads
of Christian princes.
The emperors of Germany had very often felt the dire effects
of that holy fury, and the Eastern church and empire were at
this time bleeding under it. And yet, as if God had given up the
Western princes to blindness and infatuation, and intended to
redouble His judgments upon them by suffering them to be parties
to their own ruin, whilst these things were doing, they were so
fatally charmed by the artifices of the court of Rome, that their
arms were engaged one against another, and princes by turns
were tools to and suffered under the imposture, and were not
allowed to see their danger, till it was past a remedy. For whilst
they slept, the new ecclesiastic monarchy grew up to the most
formidable power in Europe ; and which is still more, it was in
the hands of pope Innocent the third, a young, bold, and active
prelate ; a man of great capacity, great application and address,
and greater ambition ; and as exactly fitted to put the last hand to
the vast designs of the court of Rome, as if God had raised him
up for an original of craft and ambition, and intended in him to
let the world see, what base and unworthy designs might be
covered and carried on under the colour of religion and the holy
name and authority of Christ.
1 The Holy War.] See Index, under Crusade.
See also Ben. Accolti De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros. 1731. 8vo.
Buddsei Selecla Juris Naturalis, p. 97 — 148, &c.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 79
Whilst the court of Rome was thus in the height of its glory,
the monarchy of England was in a very feeble and languishing con
dition. The king found his kingdom deprived of the civil duties
and assistance of the clergy and religious, their persons made sub
jects to a foreign power, their wealth excused from the necessities
of the state, and the power of nominating and investing bishops
snatched out of his hands ; and by this means saw so great a body
of men excused from his laws and government, that the number,
wealth, and dependencies of the clergy and religious considered, it
may seem doubtful whether himself or the bishop of Rome had the
greater interest in his kingdom.
Besides, the king had ascended the throne over the head of his
nephew, Arthur earl of Bretagne, and if he had not the guilt of
his death to answer for, yet the world believed hardly of him, and he
had at least the reproach and the dishonour of it. The suspicion
he had of his title made him very liberal in his promises, and stoop
too low to meet the crown ; and that raised an expectance in his
people which he could not answer, and for that reason he was
scarce sooner on the throne, than on ill terms with his subjects :
and he was so far from recovering the affections of his people by
his succeeding conduct, that he gave them too much reason to
believe, that the care of their welfare had not its due weight upon
him ; so that time rather increased than put an end to the uneasi
ness and disaffection of his people. And the issue was such as
might be expected ; for they remembered the promises which the
king had too soon forgot, and suffered themselves to be led by his
ill example to forget their own duty, when he stood most in need
of it, and when the honour of the monarchy and their country
required it at their hands.
In this posture stood the affairs of the monarchy and of king
John, when he was called to assert the rights of his crown, against
a bold and daring encroachment of pope Innocent the third, in
his attempt to force an archbishop 1 upon him. The king had the
law, and the ancient usage of England, and the rights of all the
princes of Christendom on his side ; but the time was now come
when the court of Rome was to let the world see, that the canons
were rules fitted only to the infant ages of the Church, and had
now no more force, but where the interest of the papacy made
them binding: and accordingly the power which Christ had trusted
1 Force an archbishop.] See Southey's Book of tke Church, vol. i. p. 256 — 62.

SO KING JOHN. THE BARONS.
to His church, to serve the ends of peace and holiness, was pre
sently called forth to serve the purposes of that ambition, which
our Lord detested and which His rehgion had forbid.
For pope Innocent seeing the king resolute to maintain the
poor remainders of his right, proceeded to interdict the kingdom,
and commanded that the sentence which he had before pronounced
in his own consistory at Rome, shoidd be pronounced and pub
lished in England by the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester,
who for this purpose were made executors of the aforesaid sen
tence : and the interdict was pronounced accordingly, the latter
end of March this year (120S), and too soon and too generally
obeyed. The king, as he had great reason to be, was exceedingly provoked
with this wicked and unchristian usage, and suffered his resent
ment to carry him to such extremities as turned to his disad
vantage : for not content to treat WiUiam bishop of London,
Eustace bishop of Ely. and Malgar bishop of Worcester, as their
undutifulness deserved, and to force them to seek their safety out
of his dominions, that prince, though he did afterwards distinguish
and receive those to his favour and protection who refused to
observe the interdict, for the present let loose his rage upon the
whole body of the clergy and religious, and generally seized their
effects, especially those of the religious. And the event was such
as usually succeeds, when princes suffer themselves to consult with
their passions, and make their own displeasure the measure of
their justice ; for seeing innocence no longer their security, and
the innocent and guilty involved in the same fate, resentment
carried the clergy and religious beyond their duty, and united
them, at least in their wishes, to the papal interest.
It seems very probable, that this proceeding had a very different
effect from what the king expected, and, instead of giving a check
to it, made the interdict the more generally observed: so that
except the baptism of infants, confession, and the last offices to
dying persons, there was a stop put to all the public offices of reli
gion. The dead had the burial * of the ox and the ass ; daily
prayers, the administration of the eucharist, preaching of God's
word, were forced to give way ; God's altars were forsaken, His
houses shut up and left destitute ; in short, the honour of God
and the interest and care of soids were made sacrifices to the
1 Had the burial.] See Index, under Interdict.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 81
tyranny and ambition and wickedness of the court of Rome ; and
(except in some convents, which had ever been the favourites of
that court, and were for that reason, rather than for the sake of
God, permitted to say their offices once a week a) this was for
some time the miserable state of the nation, at least wheresoever
the interdict was obeyed.
The king, who had by his own ill conduct provoked the clergy
and religious, saw himself under a necessity of endeavouring to
bind his lay subjects faster to his interest ; therefore he called
them to renew their oath of fealty, and took hostages from many
of his nobility. But though he was generally obeyed herein, yet
such precautions as give men reason to think they are suspected
without cause, do commonly operate the wrong way, and, if they
tie up their hands, do at the same time alienate and let loose their
affections, and carry their hearts another way ; and if this was
not the case of this prince, the too general coldness of the nobility
in the defence of the king gave ground for a suspicion of this kind.
And the heavy impositions which the present circumstances of
the king required, redoubled bis misfortune ; for it is so natural
to subjects to judge by what they feel, that nothing but uncommon
measures of goodness and wisdom can secure their affections to
a government, that does not suffer them to be safe and easy
under it.
This still increased the difficulties which the king lay under ;
for though Geoffrey archbishop of York only openly opposed the
imposition of a thirteenth part of all their moveables, which was
upon this occasion laid upon the nation, and excommunicated the
king's oflicers that attempted to collect it in his province, and
chose rather to leave England than submit to it, yet it appears
that this imposition caused a general murmur and uneasiness.
Misfortunes of this kind seldom go alone ; for the enemies of
a prince can never want advantages, if he once deprive himself of
the affections of his people ; for as the hearts of subjects, next
under God, are the only certain supports of a crown, every enemy
becomes formidable to the prince that wants them. And the
court of Rome had but too many opportunities to be informed of
the terms on which the king stood with his people ; therefore
pope Innocent made another step, and excommunicated the kmg
* Anonymi Hist. Croyl. [W. Fulman, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptt. Yett.
vol. i. p. 473.]
vol. I. G

82 KING JOHN. THE BARONS,
by name, and required that this sentence should be pronounced
against him every Sunday and every holy-day in all the conventual
churches in England a-
This excommunication had not all the effect the court of
Romeb expected; for though some of the bishops and abbots
fled out of England, to avoid the difficulties which the personal
excommunication of the king might have drawn upon them, it
being impossible to reconcile their duty to their prince and to
their country, to the expectation of that court which required that
they should withdraw themselves entirely from the presence and
service of the king ; yet, for the most part, the duty or the fears
of the clergy and people kept them from paying any regard to a
sentence founded in injustice, and attended with danger : so that
if the ill-advised conduct of the king had not suffered him to
involve the innocent, amongst the clergy and religious, as well as
the guilty in his displeasure, the unchristian attempts of pope
Innocent against the king might possibly have come to nothing.
However, things being brought to this pass, the honour and
interest of the court of Rome were so far engaged, that pope
Innocent omitted nothing that might take off the affections of his
own people, or stir up the neighbouring princes against the king,
or give him such apprehensions of the power and address of the
court of Rome, as might probably work upon his fears. His first
attempt was upon the subjects ; and in his epistle to the bishops
of England and Wales, he blames their coldness and want of
zeal for the ecclesiastic liberty, and exhorts them to set them
selves as a wall of defence to the house of God, and endeavours
to possess them with a belief, that this was the cause of Christ
and of His church c, and commands them, " that laying aside all
fears of the king, they should assert the ecclesiastic liberty d."
In his address to the nobility of England, he left nothing
unsaid that might engage them against their prince ; tells them
they cannot serve two masters, and that the king was fighting
against God ; and conjures them as they tender the good of their
souls, that they oppose the designs of the king, and not suffer
him to embroil them and his kingdom. And lest they should
think that this zeal was the effect of some sudden heat and might
cool again, that prelate tells them how much his heart was set

Matth. Paris, ann. 1209. p. 228. b Ibid.
Innoc. Epist. lib. x. epist. 159. d Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 83
upon this affair ; " that he was resolved never to give it up, and,
if occasion was, would lay down his life in the defence of it :"
and profanely alluding to what the prophet saith of God, that
prelate thinks fit to add, that his hand was not shortened, but by
the grace of God so strengthened, that he should be able to crush
and oppress him that justly incurred his displeasure a. And
the better to spread the ferment through the whole nation by
depriving the people of all public offices of religion, in another
epistle to the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester, he com
manded them to involve Wales as well as England in the sentence
of interdict, and not to suffer the hospitalers, or templars, or any
other of the religious, to pretend to an exemption from it b-
Whilst this wicked prelate was thus sowing the seeds of
sedition in England, and preparing the way to that dismal scene
which too soon ensued, the court of Rome made so many suc
cessful efforts abroad, that if the king made his judgment of his
success and future treatment by the usage which about this time
the neighbouring princes received from the ecclesiastic monarchy,
he had at the best but a very melancholy prospect.
For whilst this dispute was carrying on in England, the court
of Rome scattered its thunders all over Europe, and by turns
mortified almost all the princes and states of Christendom. It
was the intrigues of that court which first raised Otho to the
empire of Germany, in opposition to the pretensions of Philip ;
and because he could not be contented to be a tool, and would
not sacrifice the rights of the empire to the ambition of the
papacy, that prince was excommunicated and deposed by pope
Innocent. Vladislaus prince of Poland was deposed, and Otho
his son excluded from tho succession by the same prelate".
Raymond earl of Tholouse was not only excommunicated and
forced to a base and unworthy submission, but treated worse than
a schoolboy ; first scourged with rods d, and then dragged to the
tomb of the friar Peter de Chasteau-neuf, who had been killed by
his people for attempting to set up the inquisition in the country ;
and after this usage, to bind the yoke still faster upon him, he was
forced to surrender seven or eight of his strongest towns to the
legates of pope Innocent, as a security for his future servitude,
and to promise upon oath to obey all and every the commands of
" Innoo. Epist. lib. x. epist. 160. b Ejusd. epist. 161.
1 Uzovii Annal. ann. 1207. d Mezeray's Life of Philip II. ann. 1208.
G 2

84 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
the church ; that is, in other words, to be a vassal to the court
of Rome. And Avignon, at that time a part of the dominions
of that prince a, being one of the cautionary towns, was yielded
up on this occasion to the legates of pope Innocent, and remains
to this day as a standing monument of the barbarous treatment,
which this oppressed and unfortunate prince owed to the ambition
and wickedness of the court of Rome.
Which is sadder still, the earl was compelled to take the cross,
and to join himself to those who took his towns and butchered
his people ; and all the fault of this prince was, he would not
destroy his subjects nor his neighbours, because pope Innocent
thought fit to pronounce them heretics, and had inhumanity
enough to decree their extirpation.
The subjects of that prince upon the same grounds had still
a greater share in the fury of that prelate ; for pope Innocent
finding St. Dominic and his followers make no great progress in
the conversion of the Albigenses, he taught his successors a
new and quicker way of converting heretics ; for sending his
emissaries to preach up the crusade, an army computed at five
hundred thousand men b was raised, and under the command of
Simon earl of Montfort marched into Languedoc, then the
country of the earl of Tholouse, where they took Beziers, one of
the strongest cities of the Albigenses, by force, and put all to the
sword ; and above threescore thousand persons were sacrificed to
their furyu, according to the account which Mezeray gives of
this affair : indeed Bzovius lessens this slaughter to seventeen
thousand heretics d.
And that posterity might not be deceived and think all this
the effects of a warlike fury, pope Innocent took home the guilt
of all this innocent blood to himself and to the court in which he
presided ; for this was done in pursuance of his instructions to
his legates, to whom he had given it in charge, "that the
Albigenses should be pursued with fire and sword e, and treated
with more severity than the Saracens themselves f." And to
colour this horrible inhumanity under the pretence of religion,
pardon of sins and the hopes of heaven were promised as the
rewards thereof : so much more dangerous was it now become
• Bzovii Annal. ann. 1208. N. 4.
b Ejusd. ann. 1209. and Mezeray, ann. 1209. c Ibid.
d Bzovii Annal. ann. 1209. N. 10.
e Ejusd. ann. 1207. N. 5. ' Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 85
to oppose the designs of the court of Rome, than to blaspheme
Christ and His holy religion. And so far was this barbarous war
carried on, that Simon earl of Montfort, general of the army,
made himself master of the Albigenses, and of the country of
Beziers and Carcassone ; and the countries he had conquered
were given to him by pope Innocent a, as a reward for the blood
and inhumanity of which he had been guilty. But that the
world might not be at a loss to know from whence that detestable
design had its beginning, who formed it and whose ends it was to
serve, the earl was to hold the country he had thus over-run,
" as a fee of the papacy, under the acknowledgment of a yearly
tribute b."
About the same time that this vast army, entirely at the
devotion of the court of Rome, was in the bowels of France, and
king Philip by this formidable power prepared to receive the
instructions of that court, pope Innocent excommunicated that
prince for repudiating his wife. He humbled the king of Portugal
for an affront offered to a bishop of his kingdom c ; and upon the
same foot he treated in like manner Frederic king of Sicily d, and
forced him to swear fealty to himself and his successors in the
see of Rome e. He forced a prince upon Poland, and with an
air that might become a monarch of the world, commanded Henry
emperor of Constantinople to revoke a law which he had made,
as was pretended, prejudicial to the rights of the church f : and
so much like a pupil did he treat that prince, that although he
was the creature of pope Innocent, and it was in his power to
unmake him again, yet he could not bear the insolence of that
prelate, but sent his remonstrance to Rome, and told pope
Innocent that St. Peter delivered it as a part of the religion of
Christ, that all Christians ought to be subject to the ordinance of
man for the Lord's sake ; that the authority which Christ deli
vered to His church was only spiritual : and to bring this nearer
to pope Innocent, in that rescript he tells him, that " he was the
subject, and not the lord of the emperor ; therefore he wondered
at his presumption in treating him as he had done s." The king
of Arragon too had a great share in the displeasure of that prelate,
who let loose his holy warriors upon him ; and that prince was
8 Mezeray, ann. 1209. N. 6. b Bzovii Annal. ann. 1210.
c Ejusd. ann. 1206. " Ibid.
c Ejusd. ann. 1211. N. 1. ' Ejusd. ann. 1210. N. 4.
b M. Goldast. Constit. Imp. torn. iii. p. 371.

86 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
forced to yield up a part of his dominions to reward the army of
the papacy, which had ravaged one part of his country, and put
himself and all the rest in danger.
That which is still more surprising, is, that whilst the court of
Rome thus treated the princes of Christendom like slaves, or at
the best like children and pupils, and dashed in pieces and broke
the secular powers one against another, and gave such proofs,
that that court thought of nothing less than to captivate and
enslave all the rest ; such was the infatuation, such the blindness,
to which God was pleased to give up the Western princes, that
their wealth and their people were turned against them, and they
were themselves made parties to their own dishonour, and helped
forward the designs against the secular power, which the tamest
and most bigoted princes in Christendom would resist with their
blood, if the court of Rome should ever attempt to act them over
again. But having said this, partly to give the reader a view of the
unchristian and bloody spirit which at this time animated the
court of Rome, and to lay open the methods by which they
enlarged their dominions and increased their power, and partly to
cover the reproach and dishonour of the English nation and
monarchy, by showing that our princes were not singular and
alone in their fate, and only bore their part in the common vas
salage of Europe, it will be time to return and pursue our story.
The aforesaid transactions abroad, and what they felt at home,
could not but give king John and the whole English nation a
formidable idea of the papal power ; and this served to forward
the arts which were every where set on foot, to raise an opinion,
that it was in vain to resist it. And lest the posture and turn
of affairs abroad should lose their effect upon the king, in several
epistles written upon that occasion, pope Innocent took care to
magnify the successes of the papacy, and to let the king know
what ill success those princes had met with, who attempted to
oppose it : and there was but too much ground for an insinuation
of this kind. The conduct of the king was such as would lead
one to think, he was willing to have it believed, that if not his
honour, yet at least his indignation and resentment had raised
him above impressions of this kind, and left no room for his
fears ; yet do all he could, the course of his actions gave such
proof of the uneasiness and frightful apprehensions which he had
of this affair, as will not permit one to doubt thereof.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 87
But if the king took care of his own defence, pope Innocent did
every thing that was thought needful to ruin and to undo him : in
order whereto his emissaries used all endeavours to blacken the
king and lessen his forces, and to magnify the interest and strength
and conduct of the court of Rome. The king was represented as
an apostate from religion ; as one who had offered to renounce his
faith to preserve his sovereignty ; as an enemy to religion, to the
liberties of the church, and to the rights of his people : and a
wicked impostor, named Peter the Hermit, was set up to prophesy,
that before Ascension next coming he should cease to be king,
and none of his posterity ever come to the crown.
In short there was nothing of this kind wanting, which might
either encourage the enemies of the king, or discourage and with
draw his friends : and the wicked reports raised upon this occasion
made such impressions and took such root, that our historians
who wrote his story, have generally spoken of him as the vilest
and most despicable miscreant in the world. But because it was
not easy to libel and rail a prince out of his kingdom, who had a
fleet and an army at his command, pope Innocent apphed himself
to that known method, which had now for near an age served all
the purposes of the court of Rome, under the colour of destroying
infidels and promoting the interest of Christ and His rehgion ;
and this was the Holy War ; for with this art that court had
frighted Philip king of France, and forced the king of Arragon to
give up the rights of his crown ; they had massacred the subjects
of the earl of Tholouse, given away the possession of his country
to the general of the army, and taken the sovereignty thereof to
themselves, and subdued the Eastern empire to the Latins.
And now (1212) the time was come when the Enghsh nation
was to have its turn, and to feel the dire effects of that fury which
had before consumed its blood and treasure ; for, seeing no other
way to accomplish his wicked purposes, the pope sent his emis
saries into France and Germany, to preach up the cross, and to
persuade Europe to believe that it was a service to God and to
rehgion, to enslave the king and kingdom of England. — But well
knowing that considerations of this kind began to lose their force
in France, by a bull directed to king Philip, pope Innocent en
treated and conjured that prince, as he tendered the hopes of sal
vation, to take up arms and to drive the king of England from his
throne ; and besides the promises of heaven, he did by the same

88 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
bull grant to him, and his heirs, the kingdom of England as a
reward for his services a.
The French king, who wanted no ill-will to the king of Eng
land, and had lately dispossessed him of his dominions in France,
was very inclinable to secure his late conquests at home, by carry
ing his arms into England. But the relation and strict alliance
betwixt the emperor Otho and the king of England, and the
league betwixt that prince and the king of Arragon, were a check
upon him, and gave him reason to dread leaving his own dominions,
whilst he had such neighbours to leave behind him. Nor were
these ill-grounded jealousies ; for the emperor Otho had a good
army, and, as iEmilius saith, maintained at the charge of the king
of England b ; and which is more, that prince had declared that
so soon as he had quieted his affairs in Germany, he would assist
his uncle the king of England in the recovery of his dominions in
France c To remove these difficulties, pope Innocent, who had
before forced Otho to promise obedience to him, did about this
time depose him d, and set up Frederic king of Sicily in his stead ;
and if the French historian be not mistaken, this was done at the
instance of the French king e ; and by thus finding the emperor
work enough at home, he delivered the French king from the fears
of that prince.
By giving new vigour to the holy warriors on the borders and
in part of that kingdom, pope Innocent frustrated the expectations
of the king of England from that of Arragon, and left France no
thing to fear from thence : and if his designs upon England were
not the views upon which pope Innocent acted in those instances,
the perpetual jars there had been between that prelate and the
French king, and the unhappy event of that expedition, incline
one to think that these great favours to France owe their begin
ning to a resolution the pope had taken to enslave the king of
England, and to render his dominions a fee of the papacy, not
withstanding the fair promise which he had made to king Philip.
However that matter be, the French king, being thus delivered
from the fears of an invasion in his absence, appointed the meeting

a Matth. Paris, ann. 1212.
b Paulus jEmil. de gestis Franc, vit. Philip. Aug. foi. 130. Lutet. ann. 1551.
c Ibid. « Ibid. « Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 8.9
of his great council, which assembled at Soissons a, and being en
lightened by pope Innocent and the emissaries whom he had sent
to preach the cross, Ferdinand earl of Flanders only excepted,
that assembly concluded it was an act of piety to sail with their
forces into England, to restore the exiled bishops b
Nor was the resentment of pope Innocent bounded here, but
he sent his letters and emissaries all over Europe c, and all the
great men were invited to attend the French king in the Holy
War against the king of England : and the same methods that
had given such success to their former undertakings of this kind
were again set on foot. " The pardon of sins, the indulgences
and protection of the holy see, and the privileges usually granted
to those who engaged in the expeditions to the Holy Land, were
the promised recompence d :" and this unchristian and wicked
undertaking was called revenging the wrong done to the universal
church e ; and that they might be distinguished who engaged in
this enterprise, they all wore the cross upon their breast, as they
had done in the inhuman undertaking against the Albigenses.
The French king having fallen in with the example of pope Inno
cent, and covered his ambition and revenge under the umbrage of
religion, a numerous fleet and a powerful army were provided for
the execution of this great design f.
King John, who had for some years not only withstood but
despised the censures of the court of Rome, and who had reason
to expect the last efforts of its rage, was not a stranger to the pre
parations made against him : and as he could not but see that all
this sprang from the designs of a court which never knew what
mercy meant but when they gained by it ; and that the execution
was put into the hands of one who had given him abundant proof
of the ill-will which he bore to him, he applied himself to the most
likely methods to provide for his own security ; and besides those
whom he had in his pay, and five hundred men brought him from
Ireland by John Gray bishop of Norwich, his lieutenant in that
kingdom, he summoned all that held of him in knight's service,
and drew together an army (as M. Paris saith) of threescore
thousand men ; and that he might not only stand the shock of the
enemy, but keep him at a distance, he caused all the ships that could

" Paulus iEmil. de gestis Franc, vit. Philip. Aug. foi. 130. Lutet. ann. 1551.
b Ibid. c Matth. Paris, ann. 1212. d Ibid.
18 Ibid. ' Mezeray, Life of Philip, ann. 1212.

90 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
be met with to be drawn together, and manned out a fleet to dis
pute the passage of the French at sea.
Preparations being thus made on all sides, and every thing ready
to decide this quarrel by the sword, Pandulphus the pope's legate,
who was charged with a dark and secret errand, much against the
will of the French, came over into England about the beginning
of May, where he found the king at the head of his army near
Dover waiting the coming of the French ; and having made known
his character, he delivered a letter to the king from pope Innocent,
in which that prelate tells him, that " blessing and cursing were
set before him," and that "it was. yet in his power to choose,"
but that "if he did not submit to the terms he prescribed and had
sent inclosed, he would deliver the church of England, as God did
that of Israel out of Egypt, by a strong hand a :" and the better
to give the impressions intended, he further minded the king, how
he had humbled all the princes who had presumed to oppose him.
In short, the whole letter carries an air of haughtiness and arro
gance that might have become a pagan emperor, but it has not
the least mark or taste of the Christian spirit.
The aforesaid letter and the message of the crafty nuncio hav
ing somewhat shocked the steadiness and resolution of the king,
and awakened his fears, the legate applied himself to set such im
pressions upon him, as might best serve the purposes of the court
which sent him : in order whereto he magnified the strength and
the appointment of king Philip's army, and so artfully represented
the assurances, which, as he pretended, that prince had received
from the nobility of England, that they would come in to his
assistance so soon as he landed, that he brought king John to
believe, that his danger was no less from his own army than
from that of king Philip, and that he had no other way to be
safe than by throwing himself into the arms of the church.
As the insinuation of the dangers which might arise from the
defection of his own army was one of the chief artifices on which
the court of Rome founded their hopes, all possible care had been
taken to cultivate and improve the king's jealousy and distrust of
his people : and, besides an intimation of this kind, which Pan-
dulph had let fall in his former conference with the king at
Northampton, things were so ordered, that the king received
letters from several hands to the same effect. And the truth is,
* Innoc. Epist. lib. xv. epist. 233. p. 726.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 91
the king had suffered himself to be so far transported by the suc
cesses of his arms against the Welsh and Irish, and by the natural
levity and haughtiness of his temper, as to forget that the affec
tions of his people were his best security ; and some harsh and
arbitrary treatments of them had given too much ground for the
suspicions, which now proved fatal to him.
That* unfortunate prince having brought himself into this strait,
sunk under it, and promised upon oath (1213) to submit to an
award of pope Innocent or his legate : and the award was such as
might be expected from a court which for more than an age had been
struggling to subdue princes, and to set up a monarchy that was
to raise and humble them at pleasure, and to govern the nations
upon earth, under the colour of His authority whose kingdom was
not of this world. — The issue was accordingly; for the reason
which had given beginning to and supported the controversy,
which was the pretended vassalage of the English church, was the
last thing considered, and the interest of the new monarchy the
first. For in the agreement, the articles whereof were doubtless
brought from Rome, the first article does, in all the accounts we
have, run in this manner, viz. " That the king should surrender
and yield up the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and for the
time to come hold both as fees of the papacy ; the former under
the yearly tribute of seven hundred marks, the latter under the
tribute of three hundred." This one article leaves it beyond all
possibility of doubt that the court of Rome intended nothing
less than to usurp the sovereign power of the kings of England,
and to swallow up that authority at once which they had been
struggling for a great while, under the specious name of eccle
siastic liberty : for to show that this article was not inserted only
to add pomp and ceremony to the submission of the king, or that
the power was imaginary, at which the designs of that court were
levelled, the article was explained by the execution thereof ; for in
pursuance of this agreement the king surrendered his crown and
his sceptre and other ensigns of the royal dignity to Pandulphus,
and in the presence of his bishops and nobility did homage for his
own kingdoms to the legate, who received it in the name of pope
Innocent and of the church of Rome. And to make sure work,
he also yielded up the patronage of all the churches in England
which belonged to the crown, and by an oath, in such form as was
usual from vassals and feudatory princes to their supreme lord,
they bound his chains about his head : for in that oath the king

92 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
swore to be " faithful to God, to St. Peter, and the holy Roman
church, and to his lord pope Innocent, and his catholic successors ;"
that " he would neither in deed, word, consent, or counsel, do any
thing to the prejudice of his life or limbs, but do what in him lay
to discover and prevent all harms and wrongs ;" that " he would
keep the secret which the popes by themselves or by their legates
or letters should entrust to him ;" that " he would defend the
patrimony of St. Peter, especially the kingdoms of England and
Ireland, against all opposers whatsoever."
This is the substance of the oath imposed on this unfortunate
prince, as it is delivered down by M. Paris a, the Annals of
Waverleyb, and the Chronicle of Hemingford c, and which differs
so very little from that imposed by pope Gregory on some of the
Western bishops4, and comes so near the form called the new oath
of fidelity \ prescribed by the feudal law e to be imposed by abso
lute lords on their vassals and feudatories, as plainly shows that
pope Gregory and his successors acted upon the same views, and
intended nothing less than the vassalage of the Western nations.
I shall add no more on this head, but the reflection which natu
rally occurs, and which Hemingford immediately subjoins to the
aforesaid oath : " Thus," saith he, " of a freeman did the king
become a slave."
To consummate the misfortunes of this prince, as if they had
intended that neither his conscience nor his honour should survive
his calamity, they obliged him by two distinct charters, one directed
to pope Innocent, the other to all Christian people, to tell the
world, that " all this was done, not by constraint, or fear, but by
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and of his own free will, and
with the common consent of his barons f."
But though the ambition and designs ofthe court of Rome were
ever the first thing in the view of pope Innocent, and the compass
of a year or two made it appear how little regard was had to the
church, or to the clergy of England, or to their rights and privileges,
* Matth. Paris, ann. 1213. p. 237.
'¦ Gale, Histories Anglicanse Scriptores quinque, vol. ii. p. 177.
c Ejusd. p. 555. d Baron. Annal. ann. 1079. N. 8.
1 Oath of fidelity.] See Barrow On the Pope's Supremacy, or Christian
Institutes, vol. iv. p. 126 — 9, and notes there.
e Feudor. lib. ii. tit. vii.
1 Chart. Joh. Reg. Angl. Epist. Innoc. lib. xv. epp. lxxvii. and Ixxviii.
p. 786, 787.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 93
which had served of late to make a noise and to cover the true
secret of that court ; yet for the present the clergy were compre
hended in this agreement, by which the king further stipulated to
reverse the outlawry against the nobility, bishops, clergy and reli
gious, to receive them into favour, and to make satisfaction for the
losses the clergy and religious had sustained during the interdict.
In particular the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London,
Ely, Hereford, Bath and Wells, and Lincoln, who seem least to
have deserved it, were distinguished by greater measures of favour
in this fatal agreement.
For, besides having their names inserted in the general agree
ment, they had letters patent directed to each of them from the
king, in which he not only assures them, in his own name, that
he would receive them to his favour, and entreats them to return
to England, but in the body of their patents he tells them, that
H. archbishop of Dublin, Peter bishop of Winchester, John
bishop of Norwich, and twelve barons, had by oath engaged them
selves to see this agreement performed. — But whilst pope Inno
cent was thus careful of the interest of the court of Rome, and of
their immediate creatures and dependants, the French king was
to be rewarded with the merit of the undertaking ; and the holy
warriors whom this occasion had drawn together, instead of the
towns, honours and wealth which they expected, were to be paid
with indulgences and rewards from heaven. — Thus was this affair
concluded in England about the fifteenth of May in the year 1213,
and the fourteenth of the reign of king John.
Matters being thus concerted in England, Pandulphus returned
to carry the news to France, where he had a new and (it may be)
a much greater "difficulty to manage. To quiet the exiled clergy,
he carried with him eight thousand pounds as a part of what they
were to receive for the damage they had sustained, which, with
the hopes of a far greater sum and an assurance of an honourable
reception in their own country, did for the present make them
easy under the late agreement. — But to manage the spirit of the
French king required greater address; for that prince, whose
views were of a different kind, and who could not bear the thoughts
of being paid with a future glory, was out of all patience to see
himself tricked in the face of the world, and his mighty hopes end
in nothing else but the reproach of being a stale and a tool to the
papacy. He could not but with great mortification reflect on his
own ill conduct, who, as he told the legate, had spent above three-

94 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
score thousand pounds in this affair, and all this to make an acces
sion of two kingdoms r to the ecclesiastic monarchy, which under
the conduct of pope Innocent was at this time the most formidable
power in Europe.
Besides, the iU example whieh he had given might too soon
return upon him, and what he had done at the instance of pope
Innocent against the Albigenses, the king of England, and the
emperor Otho the fourth, might, when the time came, serve to
justify the like attempts against himself and his own crown. For
as the pretence of the court of Rome to depose kings and give
away crowns, was indefinite, and without any limitation but the
pleasure of that court whose creature that pretence was ; there is
no doubt but that court had an equal title to the deposing of a
French king, and might as well give away France as Germany
and England, or the country ofthe Albigenses.
Nor was the French king the only person that was mortified and
disappointed by this fatal league ; for if the clergy, who did not yet
penetrate the true secret of the court of Rome, or at least did not
sufficiently consider the effects thereof, were for the present easy
under it, their future conduct, and the ill treatment which the exiled
clergy and religious so soon received from that court, put it out of
doubt, so that they were very quickly and not without ground very-
uneasy under it, and could not but with great mortification behold
the conjunction of those powers, which might in time render them
an easy prey to either. — The truth is, God's time was now come to
punish the wild bigotry of the English nation, which under the
cover of zeal had been instrumental in letting in an enemy upon
their country : for though this unfortunate prince was singled out,
and in his fate the world was to see the imposture of the court of
Rome in its full and true dimensions, yet to do right to the king-
it must be owned, that he fell a sacrifice to the imprudent and ill
conduct of his subjects and ancestors, and to the superstition and
ignorance of the past and present age, rather than to his own per
sonal failings and miscarriages ; for though his conduct is scarce
capable of excuse, it is certain, he could not have been used as he
was, if his hands had not been tied up and his authority fettered
by the unwary concessions of his predecessors, in giving away
so many of the ancient and essential rights of the crown of
England. — And the punishment was answerable; not personal
only, but a national and a public mischief.
1 Two kingdoms.] England and Ireland.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 95
But whilst all the other parties concerned in this affair were so
equally mortified in the event thereof, that it is hard to say which
of them was most uneasy under it, the joy and transports of pope
Innocent and the court of Rome bore proportion to the import
ance of the interest which they served by it, and rose up to a
pitch incapable of concealment from the public view; for the sub
jugating of two great and opulent kingdoms, and rendering them
fiefs of the papacy, was such a step towards the monarchy they
had been labouring for, that the whole air of pope Innocent and
the turn of his epistles and rescripts make it very plain, that he
now thought of nothing less than being another Melchisedech,
and at once the great high-priest and the monarch of the world.
The style of that prelate was answerable to the idea which he
had of his power ; for in the bull by which he granted the king
doms of England and Ireland to king John, he thus describes the
present state of the papacy, and the duty and acknowledgment
which that court expected : " Jesus Christ (saith he) the king
of kings and lord of lords, and priest according to the order of
Melchisedech, hath so united the royal and sacerdotal power in
his church, that the kingdom is but a royal priesthood, and the
priesthood the royal power":" and the consequence he makes was
fitted to the notion which gave beginning to it; for he infers from
hence, that " as every knee in heaven bowed down to Christ, so
every one should yield obedience to his vicar here upon earth b."
And indeed this was the doctrine which the court of Rome did
about this time scatter all over Europe ; and with such zeal and
sincerity did pope Innocent act up to this doctrine, that the
Annals of Waverley tell us, that in his time " God subdued the
three pestilent enemies of the church, the schismatics of the east,
the heretics of the west, and the Saracens of the south." And
in the fore-mentioned epistle to king John, pope Innocent saith,
it has "pleased God so to order the affairs ofthe world, that those
provinces which had been anciently subject to the Roman church
in spirituals, were now become subject to it in temporals0." And
that Germany as well as England might feel the effects of the new
grandeur of the papacy, about this time or not long after, Frederic
* Rex regum et Dominus dominantium Jesus Christus, Sacerdos in eeter-
num secundum ordinem Melchisedec, ita regnum et sacerdotium in ecclesia
stabilivit, ut sacerdotale sit regnum et sacerdotium sit regale. Innoc. Epist.
lib. xvi. epist. cxxxi. p. 810.
b Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. cxxxi. p. 810. c Ibid.

96 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
the second, advanced to the imperial crown by pope Innocent,
was prevailed upon by that court, by an imperial constitution, to
revoke all laws prejudicial to the liberties of the church, and to
exempt the clergy from the authority of the civil courts a. And
lest charity and the late more modest pretensions of the bishops
of Rome should lead posterity into a belief that the temporal
monarchy of the bishops of Rome was not at the bottom of the
aforesaid affair, but that the submission of king John was the
effect of an unhappy turn of things, or owing to the rashness or
despair of a sunk and dispirited prince ; pope Innocent has set
this matter in a true light, and in two epistles, the one to Stephen
archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops and clergy of England15,
the other to the archbishop alone c, has told the world that the
agreement, of which the resigning his kingdoms and receiving
them as a fee of the papacy and the oath of vassalage were a part,
" was projected and with great deliberation formed at Rome." —
But having said this to offer to the reader's view the spring by
which pope Innocent moved in the long controversy with king
John, it will be needful to return, and to observe the consequence
of this surprising story.
The French king having now no more use for his fleet or army,
the better to cover the disgrace which he had received, and take
his revenge on the earl of Flanders, who had opposed his intended
expedition to England, sent his fleet with some forces by sea,
whilst the rest marched by land to invade Flanders. And this
gave the king of England an opportunity to satiate his revenge on
that prince ; for the fleet of the king finding the French fleet in
the harbour of Dam, the forces being landed cut their cables, and
carried off all that were on float, and burnt those which lay upon the
strand ; in all about three hundred. By that one blow the king
delivered himself from the fears of the invasion he had been
threatened with; and as his spirit was naturally light, and exalted
with every success, this made him move so heavily in the execution
of his late agreement, that it was the middle of July (1213)
before the exiled bishops and clergy returned to England. Not
long after, they attended the king at Winchester, where the arch
bishop, somewhat more forward than pope Innocent intended"1,
absolved the king from the personal excommunication he lay under,
leaving the interdict in the state it was before.
* Constit. Fred. [Corp. Jur. Civil, vol. ii. col. 561.]
b Innoc. Epist. lxxx. p 787. c Ibid. d Ibid. Epist. clxiv. p. 827.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 97
Whilst this assembly continued at Winchester, the king ap
pointed his bailiffs and officers to make a general inquiry into the
losses sustained by the clergy and religious during the late con
troversy, and appointed the bishops, the religious, and nobility to
consider that affair; in order whereto they met first at St. Alban's
in August, and afterwards at St. Paul's in London. And as the
accounts of the losses sustained were brought into these assem
blies, so these meetings discovered the general dislike and uneasi
ness which the late conduct of the king had given to the nation.
And the nobility and bishops here concerted measures for their
future conduct ; in order whereto, the great charter of Henry the
first was brought into debate, and resolutions taken to have that
charter and the laws of Edward the Confessor confirmed, and
made the great standard of right and law.
However privately these matters were concerted, it was not
long before the king was made sensible of the general discontent
and uneasiness of his people ; for that prince having obtained the
aforesaid advantage over the French, pleased himself with the
thoughts of recovering what they had gained from him in Nor
mandy, and carrying home his revenge ; and in order thereto had
determined on an expedition to Poictiers in France ; but the
barons who had been summoned for that end, under the pretence
that the interdict was not released, generally refused to attend the
king ; and when he would have punished their disobedience accord
ing to law, the archbishop of Canterbury, who knew the true
secret of this affair, interposed with so much vigour as deterred
the officers of the king.
This was so open a contempt of his authority as plainly showed
the king that he was still a great way from the settlement and
peace which he promised himself from his late agreement. And
though the king was thus ill-used by his barons, yet it is so
natural for men to be jealous of their liberties in the hands of a
prince, who had made himself a vassal, and so reasonable to fear
that he would not be just to their rights, who had betrayed and
given away his own, that as the conduct of the barons is blame-
able, the provocation is not capable of an excuse.
Revolutions and great turns of states and kingdoms, as they
commonly proceed from fierce and impetuous passions, very often
partake of the nature of those passions from whence they proceed,
and move with a force and rapidity that sometimes carry them
farther than ever was designed by those who first projected
VOL. i. h

98 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
them ; and sometimes by an unhappy crossness in the nature of
things or men, or by the overruling hand of Providence, take a
turn quite the wrong way, and bear down the interest which they
were intended to support and gratify. This was in some measure
the fate of the late revolution : it changed men, and shifted sides
and characters ; and as it brought the king and his adherents
into the interests of the court they had before opposed, so on the
other hand it took off the affections, and cooled the zeal, and
changed the measures of those whose bigotry had before carried
them too far to serve the papacy. And yet, after all, the king,
the barons, and the clergy were all uneasy, and as well they who
laboured to lessen the royal dignity, as they who strove to
maintain it, with an equal dread beheld the consequences of the
late agreement. — But as pope Innocent, who had yet no time to
be informed that the affairs of England had taken a turn too
much, continued under the transports his late success had given
him, so he thought of nothing less than putting the last hand to
the work which he had thus successfully begun.
He easily foresaw that the late resignation of king John would
be resolved into force or fear, and if a voluntary, yet at most
it would be esteemed but a personal act J ; and he understood
government too well to believe it any way in the power of a
prince to change the course of law to enslave his people ; for
tius was to assume an authority which the very nature of the
royal trust and the great ends of government had precluded;
and to pretend to create a right which the same law, by which
the claimant held, had put out of his power. Therefore that
prelate applied his thoughts to gain the consent of the nation,
and in order thereto, under the pretence of giving the king time
to satisfy those who had suffered under the interdict, and releasing
it with the greater solemnity, he continued the interdict for more
than a year after his agreement with king John. But to make a
show of his readiness to release it, and lay the delay somewhere
else, pope Innocent sent over Nicholas bishop of Tusculum with
the character of legate, who arrived in England the latter end of
September (1213); and the great council being called, met at
St. Paul's in London in the beginning of October, and a new
charter of resignation being drawn, was sealed by the king in the
presence of the bishops and nobility ; and to consecrate so
impudent an imposture, the charter thus executed was offered
1 A personal act.] See above, p. 22.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 99
upon the altar ; and this execrable sacrifice to the ambition of
the church of Rome was called an offering to God, and ascribed
to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Stephen archbishop of
Canterbury, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Win
chester, Eustace bishop of Ely, and Hugh bishop of Lincoln,
together with several of the nobility, subscribed as witnesses to
this second charter.
The resignation being thus renewed, and the charter delivered
to the legate, the king received his kingdoms back again from
the hands of the legate ; and in order thereto did the second
time, and in the presence of this great assembly, do his homage,
and swear fealty to the church of Rome and to pope Innocent
and to his lawful successors : for thus the charter and thus the
oath of fealty ran, and not to the court of Rome as some men
endeavour to distinguish. Whilst all this care was taken of the
interest of the papacy, the interdict was still continued till June
the year following.
Though the bishops and nobility were present at this solemnity,
and some of them witnesses to the instruments which it produced,
yet they were so far from being pleased with or consenting to
them, that the archbishop of Canterbury, to do somewhat towards
expiating the wrongs which he had before done to the monarchy,
is said to have offered a protestation against the aforesaid charter
of resignation": and the turn of affairs which not long after
ensued, would incline one to believe, that if any such protestation
was made, it was agreeable to the sense of the whole English
nation. However, the legate still flattered himself with the hopes
of bringing the nation to consent to their own servitude, and, as
has been said, continued the interdict on foot to the great
prejudice of the king's affairs.
But pope Innocent and his court found themselves extremely
mistaken in the whole conduct of this matter ; for the true spirit
and design of that court being laid open to the world by this
attempt on the crown of England, it could be no longer a doubt
but that it was the same spirit which animated pagan and christian
Rome, and that subduing the world was the design of both.
This forced open the eyes of those who before would not see, and
gave such a shock to the designs of the papacy, as must neces
sarily have dashed and broken them to pieces, if, for reasons best
known to Himself, God had not thought fit to prevent it. — But
" M. Par. ann. 1231. p. 371. n. 10.
h 2

100 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
the issue and consequence of this affair were such, as leave it
evident, that the proceedings of that court in this particular
shocked the whole English nation, and on a sudden gave a new
turn to the unhappy controversy which first occasioned it.
For the same men who for six or seven years before had
ventured their lives, at least their fortunes, to serve the interest
of that court, did immediately after the resignation of the king
shift sides, and fly in the face of the court which they had served
before ; and a general discontent covered the face of the nation.
And the issue was answerable ; for the king having of a free and
independent prince thus made himself a vassal, his ill example
taught his subjects to forget their duty, and a general defection
ensued. Indeed it is so natural for men to form their judgments
and govern their actions by what they see and feel, that it is
next to impossible for princes to preserve their honour or their
authority, when once they abandon the trust and duties which
should support them ; for duties which flow from the relations
of men to each other do ever subsist, as relatives do, by being
mutual. The laws of England had provided for their kings as free and
sovereign princes, and set out and stated the obedience which
was due to them in that capacity ; but the term of a vassal or
feudatory prince was something with which the law and consti
tution of England were not acquainted : and no provision could
be made for the honour and authority of such a prince, as our
constitution had no knowledge of: so that by giving away the
title of a free and sovereign prince, and by taking to himself that
of a vassal to the papacy, the king had done all that lay in him
towards removing the very foundations upon which the allegiance
of his subjects was built, and, by giving away his own rights, led
his people to believe he was unfit to be trusted with theirs:
and the issue was, this untoward scene produced another no less
unhappy, the war betwixt the king and his barons.
But though the seeds of war were thus sown, yet before it
broke out there were several other causes which met together,
and which prepared the way for it, by uniting the discontents of
the nation, and bringing the clergy to side with the barons against
the king and the papacy. For the court of Rome having, as has
been said, determined to make their title to the crown of Eng
land as firm as it was possible to make it, and in order thereto
to have a second resignation in the presence and (if possible) with

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 101
the consent of the great council, great care was taken to keep
the king steady. For that end pope Innocent gave directions to
his new legate to gratify the king, in filling up all the vacant
bishoprics and abbeys a ; and the interest of the court of Rome
lying now another way, after England and France had been set
into flames, and all Europe deafened with the outcries of that
court for tbe free elections of bishops and abbots, pope Innocent
gave it as an instruction to his legate, that he should " take parti
cular care of the interest of the king, in filling up all the vacant
preferments b ; and that if chapters should make any opposition
to the persons the king desired, he should compel them to
obedience by the censures of the church °." Being thus backed
by the interest of that court, the king carried all before him,
and filled up all the vacant churches and monasteries with men
firm to his interest ; and the legate pursued his instructions, and
treated with haughtiness and insolence all the clergy that stood
in the way.
The clergy, too many whereof had for some time been tools
to the Roman court, and had helped to enslave their country to
serve the interest thereof, could not persuade themselves on a
sudden, that this usage was founded on the instructions of pope
Innocent, but rather owing to some sinister ends of the legate ;
and were very angry at this proceeding, and complained and ap
pealed to the court of Rome. But, alas ! it was all in vain ; for
shifting sides had on a sudden made such a change of men, that
at Rome king John and archbishop Langton had shifted cha
racters; and Pandulphus, who but a few months before had
treated king John with great insolence and contempt, and made
it his business to represent him as an enemy to God and to his
church, and upon that ground had laboured to engage his sub
jects in a rebellion against him, being now sent to Rome to
oppose the appeals of the clergy against the proceedings of the
king and the new legate in the matter of the aforesaid elections,
he represented king John as a prince of extraordinary modesty
and humility, and blackened the archbishop, of whose great piety
and goodness and wisdom pope Innocent had for some years past
made so much boast and noise all over Europe : — accordingly,
these two great men shifted places in the esteem and favours of
pope Innocent and his court.
And though the men, their principles, and their rights, were
• M. Par. ann. 1213. p. 247. n. 30.
b Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. 138. p. 813. c Ibid.

102 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
in the same state they had been in when the ecclesiastic liberty
was so dear to that court, yet the merits of the English clergy
vanished on a sudden ; and Pandulphus, who had so often ha
rangued them with the glory of their sufferings, and fed them
with the hopes of a reward, did now represent them to the court
of Rome as covetous and greedy, and unreasonable in their de
mands of satisfaction, and set them out as oppressors of the king
and the just rights and liberties of the crown. — Thus sped the
archbishop and the bishops.
Lest his former favours should turn back upon him, and the
bulls and epistles which he had given out for the encouragement
of the clergy under the interdict, should reproach his present
conduct, pope Innocent took all possible care to extinguish the
memory thereof ; and in order thereto commanded his legate the
bishop of Tusculum to require that all letters and decrees from
him, relating to the king, should be brought to him, and that he
should forthwith cause them to be torn to pieces or to be burnt a ;
by which means the clergy and religious were not only disappointed
of the reward which they promised to themselves from their late
sufferings, but in some measure they were deprived of the com
forts, at least of the best proofs which they had of the merit of
that cause in which they suffered ; and these were those letters
and rescripts which pope Innocent commanded to be burnt.
Thus did the all-wise providence of God return their bigotry
upon their own heads. They had been fond of a foreign power,
charmed with the sound of ecclesiastic liberty, compared their
late condition to the Egyptian bondage, and the change to their
deliverance from slavery ; and the issue was, they who distin
guished themselves by greater measures of zeal for the papal
usurpation, had the first and the greatest share in the tyranny
thereof. And instead of that liberty which they fondly pro
mised to themselves, this unhappy affair, by putting it out of the
power of the crown to defend them, gave the finishing stroke
to the usurpation which the court of Rome had so long been
contending for ; and the clergy of England, instead of liberty,
entered upon a state of servitude which never ended till they
finally threw off the yoke which they had fondly put about their
own necks, and were by the Reformation restored again to their
ancient state.
Whilst a ferment was thus raised, and a general discontent
overspread the nation, the king (probably confiding in his new
* Innoc. Epist. lib. xvi. epist. 133.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 103
friendship with the court of Rome) instead of applying proper
remedies, by indulging his unwarrantable pleasures, by giving
countenance to some arbitrary ministers, and by laying heavy
impositions on his people to prosecute his war against the French,
rather increased and inflamed the discontents of the nation, than
did any thing towards a cure. And though his affairs at home
were in this ill posture, he this year with an army went over into
France, and attacked the country of Poictou, whilst his nephew
Otho the emperor and the earl of Flanders attacked Philip king
of France on the side of Flanders. In the mean time his ab
sence gave opportunity to his discontented subjects to concert
measures for that unhappy war which too soon ensued in
England. However, that he might not seem altogether careless, and un
concerned for the affections of his people, the king obtained an
order from pope Innocent to his legate to release the interdict ;
and an assembly being convened to St Paul's in London for that
purpose, the interdict was with great pomp and solemnity released
the twenty-ninth of June this year (1214), after it had lasted six
years three months and fourteen days. This release gave great
satisfaction to the common people, who are usually charmed with
the pompous outside and appearances of religion : and some of
the clergy and religious had upon another account great reason
to be pleased with the issue of this assembly ; especially the
archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Ely, Hereford,
Bath, and Lincoln, and the monks of Canterbury ; for upon ad
justing the account betwixt them and the king at this meeting, it
appeared that they had received seven-and-twenty thousand marks
from the king, and had security given them for thirteen thousand
more, for the losses which they had sustained under the interdict.
This example, together with the repeated assurances which
they had formerly received from the legates, had raised a general
expectation in the religious and lower ranks of secular clergy,
that their losses should be considered : therefore, as M. Paris
observes, an innumerable company of abbots, priors, templars,
hospitalers, abbesses, monks, secular clergy, and laity, did at the
time of releasing the interdict apply themselves to the legate,
and demanded satisfaction for the losses which they had sus
tained during the continuance of it ; but they were dismissed by
the legate with this mortifying answer, that " he had no instruc
tions concerning them," and that " it was not fit for him to act
beyond his commission." However, that he might not drive

104 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
them into despair, he advised them to apply themselves to the
pope : but it being now above a year since the agreement betwixt
king John and Pandulphus, this answer appeared to be nothing
else but artifice, and the art lay so open, that the clergy and reli
gious easily saw what they were to expect, and returned home in
great discontent, and, for aught appears to the contrary, without
a thought of applying to pope Innocent for a remedy.
The nation continued in a mighty ferment, and the discontents
every day spread farther and grew bolder. The clergy and reli
gious universally ran into the party which opposed the king and
the court of Rome. A general discontent having thus prepared
the way, the earls and barons of England, under the colour of a
pilgrimage, met together about the middle of October at St.
Edmundsbury in Suffolk, where they bound themselves by an
oath to demand of the king the grant of the laws and liberties
which king Edward had formerly granted to the church and king
dom of England, and, in case of refusal, agreed to compel him to
it by force of arms. And preparations being made accordingly,
at Christmas following (1214), they appeared armed and very
numerous at the court held at the New Temple in London, where
they made their demand in such a manner as gave the king
reason enough to be assured they were resolved not to be denied.
This demand was grounded upon a promise made by the king
at Winchester in the year 1213, when the archbishop gave him
absolution from the excommunication he had lain under for some
time: for, taking that opportunity, the archbishop required a
promise of the king, which was confirmed by his oath, that he
would love, defend, and maintain the church and the clergy
against all their adversaries; that he would restore the good
laws of his ancestors, especially those of king Edward ; and, in
general, that he would govern justly. But the king, having an
swered that it was a matter of the first moment and required
time, did by the mediation and security given by the archbishop
of Canterbury, the bishop of Ely and William Mareschall, gain
time till Easter following, to give his final answer to the demand
of the barons.
But as this delay seems to have been designed' by the king
only to gain time, so it served also, by this appearance of duty
and moderation, to give a colour and reputation to the pretences
ofthe confederates. But Easter (1215) being come, the barons
met at Stamford in Lincolnshire, and from thence proceeded in a

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 105
warlike manner towards Oxford, where the king then was ; but
coming as far as Brackley, they were met by the archbishop and
some other commissioners from the king, appointed to receive
their demands ; which being carried to the king, he answered
with great indignation, " Why did not the barons demand his
kingdom?" and the second time denied their petition.
Things being come to this pass, both sides prepared for war ;
and the better to amuse the world and cover their pretensions,
both parties took pattern from the court of Rome, and took
sanctuary in a pretence of zeal for religion and the church. The
king, who was much influenced, by the counsels of the legates,
fell directly into the steps the court of Rome had frequently tried
with good success ; and whilst he saw himself in no condition to
defend his crown and country, as if he had been perfectly at
leisure, and had had nothing to do at home, did with great so
lemnity take upon him the cross, and put himself under vows of
going to Palestine : and, in truth, though he was much more
likely to be driven out of his own country than to do any thing
towards the recovery of the Holy Land, and in all probability
had not so much as one thought of that kind, but, on the con
trary, his hypocrisy and dissimulation lay open to every view ;
yet it is very likely that he was as sincere, and had as much
religion at the bottom of this pretence as that court ever had,
from whence he took the artifice. And as under this cover that
prince pretended that his person and crown were under the imme
diate protection of the holy chair, so upon the same ground he
reproached the other side under the title of apostates to religion a,
and, according to the new doctrine of the court of Rome, pre
tended " they had forfeited their lands," and invited " foreigners
to his service with the promises of the forfeited estates b."
That the address might be equal on both sides, the barons set
up the like pretensions to religion, and chose Robert Fitz- Walter
as their general, under the title of the mareschal of the army of
God, and of his holy church c. Thus did these unhappy nations
behold a war begun upon such grounds, and conducted with such
circumstances as the world had never seen before. The king
took part with his own vassalage, and drew his sword to continue
himself a slave ; and he who for some years before had with a
becoming bravery and courage maintained the rights of his crown,
¦ M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 255. n. 20. b Ibid.
' Ejusd. p, 254. n. 40.

106 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
now appeared no less resolute to give them away. On the other
hand, some of those men who had deserved eternal infamy by
the part which they had acted before to enslave their country,
now hazarded their lives (at least as they pretended) to redeem
the honour of the nation. Thus did the tyranny of the court of
Rome, begun in the most direful cruelties to the souls of men
about the year 1207, end in the most inhuman and unnatural
cruelties of a civil war in the year 1215.
However artfully both sides covered their pretensions, there
seems no reason to doubt, but the resignation of the king was the
true cause of this unhappy war. For though the Norman revo
lution had made some changes to the disadvantage of the liberty
and gentleness of the ancient English government, and the present
king had made choice of such ministers and judges as had given
just occasion of offence and complaint, yet taking arms against
their prince was a thing hitherto so entirely unknown to the
English nation, that it is impossible to think that the nobility,
clergy, and people, could so universally have run into a defection,
if there had not been more at the bottom of this war, than some
arbitrary proceedings of an unsteady prince.
But a free people and a vassal prince is a solecism in the very
essence and being of a government ; and a well-established liberty
under the reign of a prince who had given away his own freedom,
was so vain and so ill-grounded an expectance, that the slightest
reflection on this unhappy war presently leads one to think, that
the demands of the barons and clergy were a cover to something
else. Certain it is, that their undutifulness, or at least their cold
ness in their services to the king, had done too much towards
plunging him into the unhappy despair, which led him to enslave
himself and his country ; and without a manifest reproach to
themselves, they could not avow that to be the cause of the war,
which was in a great measure owing to themselves.
Besides, the interest of the king «and the papacy were too
powerful to be openly opposed, and there was nothing so likely to
divide them as that which seemed to preserve their deference to
the court of Rome, and had the appearance of right, and law, and
religion on its side. But the archbishop who formed the design
of the barons, having publicly protested against the resignation of
the king, and secretly favoured the proceedings of the barons, the
king and the pope easily penetrated into the true reason of the
war, and were fully satisfied that whatever the barons pretended,
the king's becoming a vassal to the church of Rome was at the

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 107
bottom of this affair. Accordingly, the king in his letter to pope
Innocent gives him this account of the conduct of his barons :
" Whereas (saith he) the earls and barons of England were loyal
to us before we resigned ourself and our kingdom to your domi
nion, from that time and for that reason, as they publicly say, they
have taken up arms against us a."
The account of pope Innocent in his bull of excommunication
against the barons is to the same purpose. " They (saith he)
assisted the king whilst he perversely offended against Cod and
his church, but presume to take up arms against him after he was
converted, and hath given satisfaction to Cod and his church V
And in his letter to archbishop Langton c, and in his bull by which
he afterwards declared void the charter of the king, and the agree
ment betwixt him and his barons which was founded thereon, he
gives the same account of the beginning of this unhappy war d.
And the original bull of that prelate, dated at Anagni the eighth
of the calends of September, the eighteenth year of his pontificate,
and yet remaining in the Cotton Library, is of the Aery same
import. " In a perverse manner they rose up against the king-
after he had satisfied the church, who assisted him whilst he was
disobedient to the church e."
Having laid these particulars together, to give the reader a just
view of the true cause of this unhappy war, and of the arts made
use of by both sides to give a popular turn to it, it will be time to
return to observe the conduct thereof, and the effects which it
produced. A war being thus begun, the barons seized the city of London,
and became so very powerful, that the king quickly saw himself
under a necessity of complying with their demands : therefore
consenting to a meeting with some of their party, to find out a
temper to accommodate this affair, Runnymede, betwixt Staines
" Cum Comites et Barones Angliae nobis devoti essent antequam nos et
nostram terrain Dominio vestro subjicere curassemus, extunc in nos specialiter
ob hoc, sicut publice dicunt, violenter insurgunt. Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii.
p. 33 ; et Rimeri, torn. i. p. 207.
b Cum ipse Rex quasi perversus Deum et Ecclesiam offendebat, illi assiste-
bant eidem ; cum autem conversus Deo et Ecclesiae satisfeeit, ipsum impug-
nare prsesumuut. Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 2S.
c Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 26.
d Brady's Append. Hist. vol. i. p. 155.
e Ordine perverso in ilium insurgunt postquam conversus Ecclesife satis-
fecit, qui assistebant eidem quando Ecclesiam offendebat. Cotton. Cleo-
pat. E. i.

108 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
and Windsor, was the place agreed upon, and the fifteenth of
June (1215) the day appointed.
This great assembly being met, an agreement was made, and
contained in the two great charters known to this day by the name
of Magna Charta and the Charta de Foresta, which still remain as
the great standards of right and law, and continue the foundation
and barriers to that happy government, which is the distinguishing
blessing and glory of the English nation. — Thus did the wise pro
vidence of God bring good out of evil, and raise a lasting monu
ment to his own glory, from the miseries and confusion which
seem to have threatened the ruin of our country and our govern
ment. For though a charter was granted by Henry the First,
and the first article of the great charter, which declares that the
church is free, appears some ages before in the charter of Wightred
king of Kent, and the articles of the great charter were not alto
gether new concessions from the crown, but rather the ancient
maxims and rules of law drawn into a body ; yet there is reason
to think that it was the unhappy conduct of the king, which by
giving the nation grounds to fear that they might too soon follow
him into vassalage, and that their right could not long be safe when
those of the crown were given away, that first gave beginning to
that resolution which never ended, till it had settled the English
government upon the bottom on which it remains to this day.
But as reflections of this kind give a sensible pleasure to those
who know how to put a just value upon the happiness of that form
of government which God has placed us under, so it is no little
mortification to give up so agreeable a thought, and turn to see
every thing on a sudden hurried into a new confusion. Yet this
was the case : for whether it was that the fickle and unconstant
spirit of the king could not bear the confinement of stated rules
of government ; or whether it was that the agreement betwixt
the king and his people broke all the measures of that court,
which had taken so much pains to enslave him, and could promise
themselves no great advantage from his resignation, whilst his
people continued safe and untouched under stated rules of law ; or
whatever occasioned it, so it was that the king, who seems to have
been influenced and governed by the ministers of pope Innocent,
before the month was over, repented of the favours which he had
granted to his people, and revoked his charters ; and the unhappy
civil war broke out again, before the nation had time to reap any
advantage from the late agreement betwixt the king and his
barons.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 109
The king having thus changed his measures, sent away Pan
dulphus, legate of pope Innocent, to Rome, to be absolved from the
oath with which he had confirmed the charters which he had
lately granted to the barons, and to have those charters declared
void ; and sent Walter Gray bishop of Worcester, his chancellor,
John bishop of Norwich, and some other ambassadors, abroad,
to give an account of this affair, and to procure forces to assist
him ; and sent his directions to his governors of castles and forts
in England, to provide for their defence ; and the better to secure
his person till he could bring a foreign force to his assistance, he
retired himself to the Isle of Wight. In the mean time the
barons who were in possession of London, entertained themselves
with tilts and tournaments, but were so far puffed up by their late
success, that they seemed to despise the preparations of the king,
rather than to provide against them.
Whilst things passed in this manner in England, the ambas
sadors of the king arrived at Rome, where pope Innocent, who
was ever watchful over the interest of that court, and could not
but see the secret springs which set this affair into motion, upon
the first hearing of it, immediately answered in great anger,
" What ? do the barons of England endeavour to dethrone a king,
who has taken upon him the cross and is under the protection of
the apostolic see, and to transfer the dominion of the Roman
church tb another?" and then swore by St. Peter, " This injury
should not pass unpunished a."
As he judged truly, that the interest of the court of Rome was
bound up in that of the king, so he met the desires of his ambas
sadors with all the zeal and ardour the importance of the embassy
required, and by a bull declared the aforesaid charters void ; and
by another commanded the barons to lay down their arms and to
return to their duty, and pronounced them excommunicate in case
of refusal. And when this would not do, he issued a third bull
excommunicating the barons by name, and sent his command to
the archbishop of Canterbury to appoint the publication of that
sentence through his province every Sunday. And before the end
of the year, in the council held in the Lateran, he again confirmed
his sentence against the barons b : and in all the transactions upon
this subject, pope Innocent acted up to his new character of
lord of England and Ireland, with a pride and haughtiness
equalled only by the ambition and wickedness with which he had
aspired to it, and upon every occasion wrote and spake of king
* M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 266. b Concil. torn. ii. par. i. p. 237. ed. Lab.

1 10 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
John as his vassal, and the kingdoms of England and Ireland as
fees of the papacy \
Things having passed thus at Rome (1215), the necessity of
the king's affairs made his ambassadors hasten away to England :
and Peter bishop of Winchester, being joined in the commission
with Pandulphus, they immediately applied themselves to execute
the aforesaid bulls ; and in order thereto addressed the archbishop
of Canterbury, to cause them to be published through his province.
But that prelate, under pretence that he was going to Rome,
desired to be excused, till by personal conference with pope Inno
cent he might lay the matter rightly before him a. But the king,
who had by this time drawn a considerable force together, by the
terror of his arms easily obtained what the archbishop had denied,
and the sentence of excommunication against the barons, and
their abettors and adherents, was generally pronounced, and
except in London, where the barons chiefly resided, was as gene
rally obeyed. Besides this, the king besieged and took the castle

1 Fees of the papacy.] "When you tell me that we are indebted to the Roman
Catholic religion for Magna Charta, had you forgotten, Sir, that the pope, as
he whom God had appointed over nations and kingdoms, reprobated and
condemned that charter; pronounced it, in all its clauses, null and void ; for
bade the king to observe it ; inhibited the barons (who, being instigated by
the devil, he said, had extorted these concessions in degradation of the crown),
from requiring its execution, and suspended the primate Langton for refusing
to excommunicate them on this account ? To Langton, indeed, we are deeply
indebted for the noble part which he took in obtaining the charter from the
king, and in his yet nobler conduct in maintaining it against the pope. But to
the Roman Catholic religion, as acting under its acknowledged head, these are
our obligations on the score of Magna Charta !
"Where, Sir, was your memory, when you claimed our gratitude to the
papal church for this great charter of our liberties ; or where did you suppose
was mine ? Had you forgotten that another pope, in the plenitude of his
power, absolved another king of England from his solemn engagement to
observe that charter, pronouncing that, if the king had sworn to observe it,
he had sworn, previously, to maintain the rights of the crown ; — to those
rights the charter was derogatory, and to that prior oath regard mast first be
paid ; and therefore pope Clement V. released Edward I. from all promises pre
judicial to his ancient prerogative ? I have usually to thank you, Sir, when
you send me to my books. — These, I repeat it, are our obligations to the
Romish religion on the score of Magna Charta ? — And it is worth noting by
the way, you have here the opinion of the pope ex cathedra, that the king's
coronation oath is paramount to all other engagements and considerations." —
Southey's Vindicice Ecclesice Anglican® ; Letters to Charles Butler, Esq.
p. 369, 70.
" M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 271. n. 50.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 111
of Dover, and the barons having no army sufficient to oppose
him, he every where laid their towns and villages waste, and
before the end of this year had a fair prospect of reducing them
to his obedience by force.
Meanwhile the court of Rome had an affair of the greatest
importance on their hands ; and this was to give the finishing
stroke to that ecclesiastic monarchy which they had been raising
by degrees. Pope Innocent had been extremely fortunate in
the steps which he had made, and had carried the grandeur of
that court to such a height, that one may be allowed to say, the
glories of the papacy did never shine so bright as under the pon
tificate of that prelate. And as he judged truly of the present
state of the papacy, so he hastened to put the last hand to it, by
triumphing at once over the whole Christian church, which he
and his predecessors had despoiled and broken by degrees. In
order hereto he called a council, known by the name of the
fourth Lateran Council, which met this year (1215), and was
held in Rome in November under pope Innocent. Concerting
measures for carrying on the war in Palestine, and the reformation
of the church, were the pretended reasons for calling this assembly
together. But when pope Innocent in his sermon at the opening
of the council thought fit to speak out, he tells them, that if
occasion was, " he was ready to die for the ecclesiastic liberty,"
and (according to his mysterious and allegorical way of speaking)
that "though to live was Christ and to die was gain, yet it was his
desire to continue in the flesh, till the work should be consum
mated which was begun a." And if perfecting the ecclesiastic
monarchy was not this work, and the true secret which lay at the
bottom of this council, one who considers the history, the canons,
and the methods of proceeding therein, will find it very difficult
to be of another opinion.
For if we take the whole together, this council is one of the
most surprising scenes that the world ever produced ; and what
ever was designed by it, this assembly has drawn the ecclesiastic
monarchy in its brightest glory and lustre, and gives us such a
view of the power and grandeur of the papacy as is no where else
to be found : and which I am more concerned to consider, it
gives so much light to the affairs of the English church, that one
cannot forbear to observe the occasion, the conduct, and the issue
of this council.
Besides the general uneasiness which the Holy War occasioned,
" M. Par. ann. 1215. col. 131.

112 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
there was scarce a nation in Europe that had not about this time
some particular embroil. That of England is too well known to
need repeating : France was engaged in a war with Flanders and
the emperor Otho; Spain torn to pieces by the Moors and
Saracens ; the parties of Otho and Frederic divided and em
broiled the empire ; and the late violent revolution in the eastern
empire had occasioned such convulsions therein, as were never
cured till the empire itself became a prey to the Turks. Such
was the state of Europe when the council, which met this year,
was summoned in the year 1213; and if a change was made before
the council met, or the present state of Europe was any ways
different from what it was two years since, the change was rather
for the worse, and the affairs thereof still more embroiled. And
as if these had not been calamities sufficient, the court of Rome
was every where employing their arts and authority to raise men
and money, for the succour of the east, as was pretended.
Whilst Europe then was in this posture, pope Innocent sum
moned a general council by his own authority : for which end he
sent his monitions to the eastern and western emperors, to the
kings of England, France, Spain, Arragon, Hungary, and Sicily,
to oblige them to send ambassadors to that assembly. The like
summons was sent to the four eastern patriarchs, as well as to the
metropolitans of the western churches : and the conduct of this
council was answerable to the majesty with which it was convened.
That prelate thus assumed to himself this great branch of the
imperial and royal authority, by which all general and national
councils had been called for above a thousand years after Christ ;
and instead of receiving a summons from the emperor, as all his
predecessors had done to the eight first general councils, he sent
his monitions to all Christian princes. — And it could not be ex
pected, that he should use their clergy better than he had used
their masters; and indeed the style, and canons, and form of
passing them, plainly show, that he esteemed the bishops and
clergy who came to this council, no otherwise than as his subjects
and his council, and not as the representatives of the Christian
church ; whereas the learned writer of the history of the councils
has well observed, that in all the ancient councils the method was
first to consider and debate, and then each bishop having written
his suffrage with his own hand a, the matter under consideration
was determined by the majority of voices, and the decree ran in
the name of the council. And this, as that author saith, was a
* Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 766.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 113
method well suited to that aristocracy which Christ had established
in His church, and the method which has been continued in such
assemblies, from the first council of the apostles till the time of
Gregory the seventh a.
But as that learned writer has abundantly proved that the
court of Rome broke down the primitive constitution of the
Christian church, and set up an ecclesiastic monarchy instead of
that form which Christ had erected, and by which the apostles
and first ages of the church had ever acted; so he makes it
appear, that the proceedings of this council were answerable to
the change which the ambition and artifices of the court of Rome
had introduced. " For (saith he) pope Innocent neither suffered
the bishops to debate, or to give their votes, or the decrees to run
in the name, or to pass by the authority, of the council ; but he
by his own creatures first prepared the decrees, and then published
them, not as the acts of the council, but by his own proper
authority b." And a late learned and excellent writer of the same
communion follows him in that opinion, and saith, " It is certain,
that the aforesaid canons were not made by the council, but by
pope Innocent the third, who presented them to the council
ready drawn up, and ordered them to be read ; and that the pre
lates did not enter into debate upon them c." And indeed the
aforesaid learned writer of the history of the councils has truly
observed, that this was the case of all the papal councils from the
pontificate of Gregory the seventh : they were so far from being
free, that they were entirely governed by the particular interests
of the court of Rome, and the canons thereof delivered as the
edicts of an absolute monarch d.
But whatever was the case of other councils, it is so evident
that this was the case of the aforesaid council under pope Innocent,
that if there had been no other proof, the turn and the style, and
the spirit that every where appear in the canons thereof, are
enough to lead one to the method and form in which they were
conceived and published. For whereas the constant style of the
ancient councils was, "decernimus et synodi autoritate robo-
ramus e," we decree and confirm by the authority of the synod ;
Gregory the seventh, who projected the change in the government
of the church, first began, and pope Innocent followed him in this
¦ Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 769. b Ejusd. p. 766.
c Du Pin, Eccles. Hist. vol. xi. p. 95.
d Richer. Hist. Concil. lib. i. p. 766. » Ejusd. p. 769.
vol. I. i

114 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
form, " nos sacro approbante concilio decernimus," we decree with
the approbation of the synod. But very often the canons run in
his own name, and ascribe the decreeing power to himself, without
mentioning the authority of the council : and in that decree, by
which he charged the whole clergy with the payment of a twen
tieth part of their yearly revenues for the space of three years,
towards defraying the charges of the war in Palestine, he pretends
no further than that it was with the approbation ofthe council a. In
short, some things are ascribed to the advice, and others to the
persuasions, of the council b, whilst the haughty monarch arrogates
the decreeing power to himself.
As he thus treated this assembly, and under the cover thereof
imposed his own maxims on the world, the persons of the clergy
and religious were, if it was possible, used worse than their au
thority. For having under the colour of this council drawn them
to Rome, he put his own price upon them, and before he would
suffer them to depart, he made them take up money from the
merchants of Rome, whom he had appointed to furnish them to
supply his wants c- Among the rest, William abbot of St. Alban's
had an hundred marks extorted from him d, and the new arch
bishop of York was charged with ten thousand marks ; and if we
have not the particular charges on the other prelates, our historian
is positive that by this method pope Innocent raised infinite sums
of money " ; or, to speak more properly, by a treachery and vio
lence beyond all example, he robbed those whom he had first de
ceived into the snare under the pretence of religion. This horrible
practice will, it may be, give us the best account of that mighty
zeal with which this assembly was convened, and such numbers
drawn together at a time when all Christendom was in a ferment,
and the presence of the clergy and religious so necessary at home.
But if this circumstance, and the interest the court of Rome
served by it, be not enough to set the reason of this assembly in
a true light, it will be in vain to look to the canons themselves, or
to the controversies or heresies of the age for our guide.
But whatever occasioned the convening of this council, one
who observes the air of majesty and authority which every where
appears, in the monitions sent by pope Innocent to the emperors
and other Christian princes of Europe, and to the bishops as well
• Concil. torn. xi. par. i. col. 228. b Ibid.
c M. Par. ann. 1215. p. 274. n. 10.
d M. Par. vit. Abbat. S. Alban. p. 117. e Ibid.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 115
of the eastern as the western churches ; with what assurance that
prelate, without the consent of the princes and states of Europe,
forbade the raising of money for the time to come on the estates
of the clergy and religious by the secular power, without the con
sent of the bishops of Rome, whilst at the same time he laid an
imposition of a twentieth part on the whole estate of the church ;
how magisterially he commanded every city to send or to pay a
number of men for the Holy War, and declared it the right of
the papacy to give away the dominions of princes ; with what
assurance that prelate put the doctrine of deposing princes upon
the world, under the pretended authority of an assembly, wherein
the ambassadors of most of the princes of Europe were present ;
how arbitrarily he extorted vast sums of money from the clergy
and religious who met in this council ; and, which is more still,
how tamely they suffered their persons to be ill-treated, and their
authority abused, to serve all the purposes of the ambitious court
which convened them ; has a view and an example of such blind
ness and infatuation on the one side, and of such ambition and
exorbitant power on the other, as the world could have no idea of
before the reign of pope Innocent.
The archbishop of Canterbury was at Rome whilst this council
was held there, and if he did not make his peace with pope Inno
cent, yet it seems very probable, he obtained the recalling of his
suspension, partly by giving security to abide by the judgment of
that court, and partly by the same methods by which that court
served their ends on the rest of the assembly. But the barons of
England fell irrevocably under his displeasure, and were in this
council excommunicated by pope Innocent with all their adherents
and abettors, and with all that should attempt to seize or invade
the kingdom of England : and the reason that prelate gives, is,
" because (as he speaks) the illustrious king of England had taken
upon him the cross, and was the vassal of the Roman church a."
Having thus long insisted on the transactions of this council,
partly to show the reader what the court of Rome meant by the
ecclesiastic liberty ; and partly to show to what a height they had
by this time carried their usurpation, by offering to his view the
triumphs of that court over the Christian and secular authority in
this great assembly, which is said to consist of four hundred and
twelve bishops ; and partly to enable the reader, by this view of
the papacy, to conceive how it came to pass, that the weight of
a Concil. torn. xi. par. i. p. 237. ed. Lab.
l 2

116 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
that court first turned the scale against king John and then for
him, and to give him light enough to judge truly of the reason of
the ill success with which the succeeding kings of England made
so many laws to restrain and set bounds to the papal usurpation ;
it is but time to return, and to observe how the transactions of
this assembly operated in England.
King John, having drawn together a pretty good army, the latter
end ofthe last year (1215) made such use of it, that before the
year was done the barons were reduced to such circumstances,
that they who had carried all before them in the beginning of the
year, before it was ended saw themselves in no condition to resist
the forces of the king : and this threw them into despair, and
gave a new turn to this unhappy war, and brought the dishonour
and guilt upon the barons, which they had before charged upon
the king and the court of Rome. For having drawn the sword
against their prince, they took sanctuary in the maxim which
advises to throw away the scabbard ; and seeing their party likely
to be overwhelmed, they sent their agents to Philip king of France,
with the tender of the crown and kingdom of England to his son
prince Lewis : and to give all assurance of their sincerity and
endeavours to assist that prince, some of the sons of the greatest
of the barons were sent as hostages into France.
Having thus given security for the performance of what they
had promised to the French king, his son Lewis, whose heat and
ambition outstripped the precaution and slower methods of his
father, immediately engaged in this war, and had all the assistance
his father could give ; and a body of men was in the beginning of
this year sent to England to the aid of the barons.
This league was not transacted so privately, but the king of
England and the court of Rome easily saw into it, and omitted no
endeavours that appeared likely to frustrate and disappoint it. In
order whereto, the king not only set himself to secure the sea-
coast, and to provide a fleet, but sent his ambassadors to France,
with such offers to the French king as he thought most likely to
divert the storm. Pope Innocent, who well saw that the interest
of the court of Rome was bound up in that of. the king, laid out
all his zeal and endeavours for his security : and. as his commis
sioners in England issued out his thunders against the barons,
and in the cathedral and conventual churches did every Sunday
repeat their anathema and excommunication against them ; so by

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 117
his legate in France he endeavoured to withdraw the French king
from this undertaking, and to engage him to keep his son at
home. In order hereto Walo *, who was the legate sent to France,
remonstrated against the intended expedition to England, and
represented it as " no less injurious to the Romish church than to
the king of England ; for (saith he) the king of England has
sworn fidelity to the bishop and church of Rome, and holds his
kingdoms by an annual tribute of the church of Rome, they being
the patrimony of St. Peter."
But king Philip, who about four years before was so thoroughly
convinced of the right of the papacy to give away the crown of
England, that he himself took a title from the holy chair, and
was at the head of an army to make good his pretence by force,
by a new turn of interest now lost all his former quickness and
penetration of mind, and notwithstanding the change which the
resignation of king John had made to the great advantage of the
papacy, that prince could not bear the aforesaid pretence of the
legate with common patience, but replied in anger to what the
legate had said of England being a fief of the papacy, "that
England never was, nor is, nor ever shall be, the patrimony of St.
Peter3." Therefore, though he pretended the most profound veneration
for the holy see, and sent his ambassador to Rome to set this
matter right, and to prevent the thunders which might come from
thence, and seemed not to allow the intended expedition of his
son ; yet at the same time he furnished him with a fleet and an
army, and gave him his blessing when he set out for England. —
Every thing being ready for that design, prince Lewis set forward
about the middle of May, (1216,) and arrived the one-and-
twentieth. King John thought fit to retire, and Lewis landed
without any opposition at Sandwich, and not long after came to
London, where he was received with great joy by the barons ; and
as king of England he received their homage, and swore to observe
the laws of England.
And that posterity might not be deceived in judging of the
party by which this interest was managed, before he left London,
1 In order hereto Walo.] Guala, of the noble family of the Bicchieri of
Vercelli, of which place he was bishop. He was legate in France and England
(he crowned Henry III.): he was a great patron of learning, and founded the
monastery at Vercelli, where his library (a rich one for the. time) still.exists.
¦ M. Par. ann. 1216. p. 280. n. 40.,

118 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
king Lewis appointed Simon Langton, late archbishop elect of
York, and brother to the archbishop of Canterbury, for his chan
cellor. Not long after the arrival of prince Lewis, Walo legate to
pope Innocent came into England, and went to king John, who
was retired to Gloucester with his army. His presence gave new
life to the affairs of the king ; for as he excommunicated prince
Lewis and the barons, with the solemnity of tolling the bells and
lighting of torches, and thereby made such impressions on the
Commons of England as were of some use to the king ; so by cry
ing up the merit of assisting him and the holy Roman church,
and by the assurances which he gave of the blessing and assist
ances of the holy chair, he prevented the general desertion that
prince had some reason to fear, and gave so much vigour to the
army of the king, that he soon saw himself in a capacity to
reduce a great part of the west of England to his obedience.
On the other hand, prince Lewis and the barons, having con
certed measures, did with their forces leave London about the
middle of June, and, excepting the castles of Dover and Windsor,
did in a little time reduce all the south of England. And the
armies on both sides being so near equal, that neither party
thought fit to attempt to force the other to a decision by a battle,
the nation was the common subject of their fury ; for whilst each
party applied itself to reduce the cities and castles to their obe
dience, their animosities and revenge were so much alike, that
desolation and blood attended them wheresoever they went, and
all the miseries of an intestine war overspread the nation.
But whilst one leaves this melancholy scene to the relation of
those to whom it more properly belongs, the design of this under
taking will, I hope, permit *ne to carry the reader back to that
unhappy affair of the church, which gave beginning to it : and this
was the election of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, or,
to speak more properly, the attempt of pope Innocent and the court
of Rome to force an archbishop " upon the kingdom (1206) ; for it
was that pretence which gave beginning to the war. When it was
first started, the nation seemed to have no apprehensions of the
consequences which in time ensued : but that usurpation which
at the first appearance of it was like the prophet's cloud, no bigger
than one's hand, like that too grew up into a darkness which
covered the face of the whole kingdom ; and in the dire events
1 To force an archbishop.] See above, p. 7.9, and below, p. 121. n.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 119
thereof has shown us, how dangerous it is to break in upon the
legal and ancient constitutions of a kingdom, and to make subjects
too great to obey, or princes too little to govern.
For if one may be allowed to judge and to speak freely, one
cannot forbear to say, this was too much our case. The clergy
fondly flattered themselves with a belief, that the power snatched
from the king would fall into their own hands, and that they
should gain all that the king lost, by taking the patronage of
bishoprics from the crown l . The nobility were jealous of the king,
1 From the crown.] I venture to introduce here a note of great length
from Inett ; but I hope the importance of the topics, and the ability with
which they are handled, will justify the insertion.
" The aforesaid disappointment of the clergy and religious made a great
addition to the prevailing discontents of the nation ; and it is not unlikely
but that it made some impressions on the king and the legate, and gave
the first thought to a charter made by him, and confirmed by pope Innocent,
the latter end of this or the beginning of the following year (1214) ; that is,
to that charter by which king John granted a general freedom of elections
to all cathedrals and convents. And if this and some other concessions of
this kind by the predecessors of this prince were not the best grounds upon
which the sole rights of capitular elections were founded, yet certainly the
claims founded upon antiquity and the usage of the primitive church, and
much more those said to be built on the commission of Christ, and a pre
tence that princes have nothing to do in the affairs ofthe church and religion,
are attended with so many difficulties, as would tempt one to think that they
are mistaken who embark in bottoms of this kind.
"The grant of the king makes no difference betwixt the claims of the secu
lar canons and the monastics, and upon this foot this affair was finally settled
in the Western church by the council of Basil. But however reasonable it
might appear to allow the colleges of presbyters a great part in the choice of
bishops in the first ages, yet the very reason on which that usage was
founded, overturns the pretence of the cathedral monks ; for a right of a
body of laymen founded on the usage of. the college of presbyters has so
little foundation in truth and reason, that there is much better ground to
affirm those institutions a reproach and contradiction to the sense and prac
tice of the ancient church, rather than any way countenanced by them. And
if the primitive bishops had lived to see themselves deprived of the counsel
and assistance of their presbyters, and beheld their cathedrals exempted from
their jurisdiction, and those who possessed them withdrawn from their obe
dience, their authority denied, their counsels frustrated, their very order les
sened ; in short, had they but tasted of those troubles which those bodies
drew down upon their successors, it would have set fire to their zeal, shocked
all their patience, and their practice and their canons would have had so
different a turn, as would have left no colour for the claims which were in
time pretended to be supported by them.
" The claim of the secular canons has in the first view a much better colour ;

120 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
and had the vanity to hope, that their liberties would be safer, if
the interest of the crown was made less. And the nomination of
for as they were colleges of presbyters, and so came much nearer the primi
tive institutions of those bodies, their claim was in proportion so much better
grounded. But when it is considered, that the primitive church allowed the
bishops of the province, and the people as well as the clergy, a share in the
choice of bishops j it will seem unreasonable to found a right upon a prac
tice which opposes and contradicts the claims that are built upon it, or to
conclude solely in favour of capitular elections, from an usage which equally
proves the right of the bishops and the people and the clergy of the diocese.
" Besides, whatever veneration is due to the example ofthe best ages, usages
which are not founded upon a divine right, must ever stand or fall with the
reasons that support them. Thus the feasts of charity, the holy kiss, the
orders of deaconnesses, and many other usages of the first ages, did by de
grees run into desuetude, and were finally banished with the reasons that
gave them a beginning. So that however reasonable it might appear to allow
the clergy and people a share in the choice, whilst the districts of the bishops
were chiefly confined to cities, and the presbyters residing with them at the
Mother Church were in a manner the whole clergy of the diocese ; yet the
case at this time was so very different, when dioceses were extended to bounds
much wider than some kingdoms under the Saxon heptarchy, and the clergy
spread as far as the diocese, that if the usage of the ancient church prove
any thing at all, it proves too much to serve the interest of the present claims,
and entitles the whole clergy and people of the diocese to the choice of
bishops. " But because the right which the kings of England had long enjoyed,
and which was about this time (1214) given away by king John, has been
resumed by the crown, and the honour of the church and nation seems very
much concerned in the disputes upon this subject ; it may not be amiss to
observe, that the question at this time was not whether Christ had founded a
church, or vested a power in the apostles and their successors to set apart
men to minister in holy things ; whether this designation was necessary, or
whether they who were entrusted with the conveyance of a power to preach
the gospel, might not judge finally of the abilities and sufficiency of the
persons to whom' this trust was committed. These were disputes reserved as
a judgment on the later ages, wherein Erastianism, profaneness, and enthu
siasm have attempted the foundations of the church of Christ, but were not
so much as thought of at this time. And it. is very evident, that when the
claim of the kings of England was carried to the greatest lengths, they never
pretended to convey a spiritual power ; but on the contrary, the law which
establishes the patronage of the crown, does in the very letter as well as in
the reason of it allow the original right of the church of Christ; and by
limiting the right of the crown to a legal and preparatory designation of
persons, and conferring a right to the wealth, the powers,, and privileges de
rived from the state, whilst it requires bishops to confer the character, the
law itself amounts to a recognition of the inherent right and power of the
church.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 121
persons to vacant bishoprics, which till within a few years had
been enjoyed unquestioned by the kings of England, was one of

" This was all that was contended for at the election of the present arch
bishop (Langton) : it was the choice of the person who was to receive the
character of a bishop, not the right to convey it, which was the subject of
dispute. And the several claims turned upon the same foot : the pretence
of the monks was founded on their relation to the Mother Church of the
diocese of Canterbury; that ofthe bishops on their relation to the province,
and not on their order as bishops ; and that of the king on the patronage of
the crown, whilst the sole right of bishops to confer the order was allowed
on all sides ; and since it is the order which makes the bishop, and not the
previous choice, these different claims seem equally reconcileable to the inhe
rent power of the church to confer the character. They who do not or will
not see the difference, but confound these two things, or throw them together
in the divine commission, and tell us that the choice as well as the consecra
tion of bishops is one of the inherent rights of the church, do at once over
turn all the claims of the secular power : but at the same time they shock
the pretence to capitular elections, for which themselves so earnestly contend ;
they give up the canons and usages, and, which is more, they reproach the
practice, of the whole Christian church ; and more especially of the cathedral
monks, who, generally speaking, were nothing else but bodies of laymen
through the whole western kingdoms : for if a claim of this extent lie within
the bounds of the divine commission, it ought certainly to be placed amongst
the rights of that order of men, to whom Christ has principally committed
the care of His church. — Besides, this will put an end to all the rights of
patronage allowed by the whole Christian world ; for the extent or narrow
limits of a cure of souls cannot alter the nature of the trust, and make that a
sin in one case, which is a matter of common right in another : and the dis
tinction of order can in reason make no difference in the case ; for he who
presents a priest to take care of a parish, and he who nominates a bishop to
govern a diocese, do equally choose a minister of Christ, and equally invade
the right of the holy order of bishops, if they only have a right to choose the
person whose only right it is to confer the character. And therefore the
second council of Nice (can. 3), which applies that to the choice which the first
council of Nice had said of the consecration of bishops, and upon this ground
appoints that bishops should only have the choice of bishops, does also in
the same canon determine, that they only should have the choice of priests.
But, after all, this council is so far from fixing this upon the divine commis
sion, that the council of Constantinople in the year 869 (which is, if I mistake
not, the only council which pursues the steps of the second council of Nice,
and limits the elections of patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, to the
college of the church, can. 28) grounds the canon relating to this subject
on preventing confusion and strife, and the indecency of seculars intermed
dling in affairs of this kind : and the council of Laodicea, probably on the
same ground, had some ages before determined, that the election of bishops
should not be wholly left to the people (can. 12) : but neither of these

122 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
the most considerable rights of the crown : therefore when this
right was invaded, and pope Innocent had imposed an archbishop
councils give us the least intimation of the divine right, for which some later
writers contend.
"The council of Aries is the reverse of the aforesaid councils of Nice and
Constantinople, and at once fixes the choice in the bishops and the people,
but forbids their nomination by bishops (can. 35). The council of Orleans,
in the year 533, kept up to the ancient practice, and required that metropo
litans should be chosen by the bishops, the clergy, and people of the province
(can. 7) : and that of Clermont, about two years after, allows the right
of the bishops, the clergy, and people (can. 2). But a later council of
Orleans, about the year 549, requires the consent of the king (can. 10).
That of Paris, in the year 557, establishes the right of the people, and deter
mines that no bishop should be put upon a city without the consent of the
people (can. 8) : and that of Cabilon directs the choice of bishops by the
bishops of the province, the clergy, and people (can. 10). — But all this,
while there is not a syllable to be found of capitular elections, unless what is
said of the college of the church by the council of Constantinople can be
interpreted in favour of that pretence.
" We may add to this, that the apostles put the choice of deacons into the
hands of the people, and upon the death of Judas empowered the disciples
to choose two men out of their number, to fill up the vacancy in the
apostolic college; and that these examples were the guides to the future
ages of the church. If all this was encroachment on the divine com
mission, the blame will lie upon those who best understood the rights of
the Christian church, and who were never blamed for betraying it : and yet
so we must call this practice of the apostles and of the whole Christian world,
if the choice of the person as well as conveying the character of a bishop be
equally limited to the divine commission. For they who can discharge
the apostles and primitive bishops, must acquit their successors too, and
whilst they justify the favours which the former allowed to the people,
can never reasonably condemn the latter for submitting to the claim of
princes; unless they turn their reasoning another way, and, instead of an
encroachment on the rights of the church, think fit to call it an usurpation
on the rights ofthe people.
" But if the canons and practice of the whole Christian church, founded on
that of the apostles, can no otherwise be justified but upon a supposition of
a prudential power in the church, to adjust and settle rules for the choice of
bishops ; whatever can be said on the side of the people, will equally justify
the rights of princes. And in a national church, where the extent of dioceses
has rendered the choice by the clergy and people utterly impracticable, and
the people have by their representatives yielded up their claims, and civil rights
and a political capacity are to accompany the character of a bishop ; it seems
as reasonable that princes should name the persons, as it is to allow them to
dispose their own favours, and pi-ovide for the good government of their people.
" They who give too much liberty to an intemperate and misguided zeal, and
think fit to call this disfranchising the church, and speak of churches under

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 123
on the kingdom, and the king, with the resolution that became
him, set himself to defend the rights of his crown, some of his
these circumstances as in a worse condition than under persecution, might
upon as good ground and with equal hopes of success persuade Christians
to beheve, that it is the interest of the gospel to dissolve national churches,
renounce the protection of princes, and return to the primitive state of
persecution. — But if those holy bishops who, by sad experience, knew what
that meant, had lived to see their persons guarded by the civil power, their
churches endowed from the bounty, their censures enforced by the sanctions
of the state, the rehgion of Christ shining in the lives of princes and attended
by all encouragements of law, they would have blessed God for the change,
and thought churches safe and happy under the patronage of princes ; and
whilst they sacredly preserved to themselves the right to convey the character,
would have prevented their wishes in allowing them that interest in the choice
of bishops, which they had voluntarily and unasked for put into the hands
of the lower clergy and the people. — And this was all that was contended for
by the king of England, and no more than his ancestors had long enjoyed.
" If it be said, that a power of this kind may be abused ; one must be a
stranger to human nature who doubts the truth, and to the world who does
not allow the weight of this objection. But he who argues against a right
from the possibility of abusing it, may upon the same ground overturn all
the natural and legal rights of mankind : and even the spiritual power which
Christ has committed to His church, must sink under the weight of this
argument, if this be a just way of reasoning ; for it is evident, past all con
tradiction, that this is capable of being abused, to serve purposes for which
the holy Jesus never designed it.
" But to go no further for an instance than the subject now before us : one
who looks backward and finds above twenty schisms in the Western church,
occasioned chiefly by the elections of the bishops of Rome ; that the con
troversies on this head cost a great deal of blood, brought great scandal and
reproach upon rehgion, and very much served the interest of paganism ; will
see cause enough to believe, that princes are not the only persons who may
abuse a trust of this kind. Or if we look at home and go no further than
the election just now before us, and observe that the sub-prior was chosen in
the night, the bishop of Norwich at the instance of king John, Stephen
Langton by the menaces of pope Innocent ; there will need no other proof
that capitular bodies are subject to practice. And one who observes the
whole course of that affair whilst the power of elections continued in such
bodies, and the consequences thereof, will find Uttle reason to complain of the
change. " If it be thought that things of this nature would be better managed were
that usage restored again, he that will observe what a scene of intrigue
and politics attends the election of every new bishop of Rome, may possibly
see ground enough to change his mind. And one who will think fit to
consider, that disengaging the bishops of Rome from their dependence on the
emperors, by taking out of their hands the power to nominate or confirm the
bishops of that see, was the first step and indeed the foundation upon which

124 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
nobility left him to himself, at least they were very cold and indif
ferent ; others did secretly favour his enemies, and by their cold-
Gregory the seventh raised the usurpation, so fatal to the doctrine and
government of the whole Christian church; that the same method let the
clergy loose from their dependence on the western princes, and made the
bishops of Rome masters of all capitular elections, and in consequence thereof
of synods and councils ; and what ill use those prelates made of that power in
the west ; may possibly find matter enough to balance all that learned men
have said of the abuses of the regale in the east. And which is more, they who
will reflect on the fatal consequences of the expeditions of the Latins against
the eastern empire, and consider by whom they were set on foot, by whom
they were managed and whose interest they served, will find a plainer way of
accounting for the destruction of the Greek church than some learned writers
have lately done, and may upon better grounds charge it on that usurpation
which raised itself upon the ruins of the regalia, rather than on the abuses of
that important trust.
" But whatever was the ground, and whatever was the effect of that claim
abroad, it is certain, the nomination to bishoprics had long been esteemed a
branch of the royal patronage of the kings of England ; that the church had
flourished whilst the just power of the crown was preserved, and was divided,
distracted and oppressed, when that languished and decayed. — But I am
sensible that I have wronged the patience of the reader and must ask his
pardon, and lead him to observe, when and by whom it was given away.
And we shall be called too soon to behold the ill effects of this concession :
however, for the reason before mentioned, king John gave up his right to the
patronage of bishoprics and abbeys about this time, and pope Innocent
thought fit to confirm the grant." Inett, p. 457 — 62. — Compare Inett, vol.
ii. p. 94—100, and 365, 6.
Long as this note is, we must still add further to it, by extracts of con
siderable length from Hooker, and from Twisden.
First, from Hooker. — " Touching the advancement of prelates unto their
rooms by the king ; whereas it seemeth in the eyes of many a thing very
strange, that prelates, the officers of God's own sanctuary, than which nothing
is more sacred, should be made by persons secular, there are that will not
have kings to be altogether of the laity, but to participate that sanctified
power which God hath endowed his clergy with ; and that in such respect
they are anointed with oil, — a shift vain and needless. Forasmuch as, if we
speak properly, we cannot say kings do make, but they only do place, bishops.
For in a bishop there are these three things to be considered ; — the power
whereby he is distinguished from other pastors ; the special portion of the
clergy and people over whom he is to exercise that bishoply power ; and the
place of his seat or throne, together with the profits, pre-eminences, honours,
thereunto belonging. The first every bishop hath by consecration ; the
second his election investeth him with ; the third he receiveth of the king
alone. " With consecration the king intermeddleth not further than only by his
letters to present such an elect bishop as shall be consecrated. Seeing there
fore that none but bishops do consecrate, it followeth that none, but they only

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 125
ness and backwardness and intrigues did so much towards the
king's resignation ofthe crown, that their agents at Rome thought
fit to tell pope Innocent, it was they who forced him to it 3.
do give unto every bishop his being. The manner of uniting bishops as heads
under the flock and clergy under them, hath often altered. For, if some be
not deceived, this thing was sometime done even without any election at all.
' At the first ' (saith he to whom the name of Ambrose is given) ' the first
created in the college of presbyters was still the bishop. He dying, the next
senior did succeed him.' ....
" In elections, at the beginning, the clergy and the people both had to do,
although not both after one sort. The people gave their testimony, and
showed their affection, either of desire or dislike, concerning the party
which was to be chosen : but the choice was wholly in the sacred college of
presbyters 
" That difference, which is between the form of electing bishops at this day
with us, and that which was usual in former ages, riseth from the ground of
that right which the kings of this land do claim in furnishing the place where
bishops, elected and consecrated, are to reside as bishops. For considering
the huge charges which the ancient famous princes of this land have been at,
as well in erecting episcopal sees, as also in endowing them with ample pos
sessions, sure, out of their religious magnificence and bounty, we cannot but
think them to have been most deservedly honoured with those royal preroga
tives, of taking the benefit which groweth out of them in their vacancy, and
of advancing alone unto such dignities what persons they judge most fit for
the same. A thing over and besides even therefore the more reasonable,
for that as the king most justly hath pre-eminence to make lords temporal
which are not such by right of birth, so the hke pre-eminence of bestowing
where pleaseth him the honour of spiritual nobility also, cannot seem hard,
bishops being peers of the realm, and by law itself so reckoned.
" Now, whether we grant so much unto kings in this respect, or in the
former consideration whereupon the laws have annexed it unto the crown, it
must of necessity, being granted, both make void whatsoever interests the
people aforetime hath had towards the choice of their own bishop, and also
restrain the very act of canonical election usually made by the dean and
chapter : as with us, in such sort it doth that they neither can proceed in any
election till leave be granted, nor elect any person but that who is named unto
them. If they might do the one, it would be in them to defeat the king of
his profits ; if the other, then were the king's pre-eminences of granting those
dignities nothing. And therefore, were it not for certain canons requiring
canonical election to be before consecration, I see no cause but that the king's
letters patents alone might suffice well enough to that purpose ; as by law
they do, in case those electors should happen not to satisfy the king's pleasure.
Their election is now but a matter of form : it is the king's mere grant which
placeth, and the bishop's consecration which maketh, bishops.
" Neither do the kings of this land use herein any other than such pre-
* Prynn's Exact Hist. vol. iii. p. 29.

126 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
Though this was said to serve a turn, yet it is very probable
that if the barons and clergy had been just to the rights of the
rogatives as foreign nations have been accustomed unto . . . " Hooker,
B. viii. c. vii. § 1—4. Vol. iii. p. 524—9. Keble's edit.
We now come to Twisden.
" Before I enter into the dispute of the rights the kings of England did
exercise in the regimen of the church, I hold it not unnecessary to see in what
divines hold that ecclesiastic authority doth consist.
"Bellarmine, Turreoremata, and others, divide spiritual power into (1)
Ordinis, which they refer to the administration of the sacraments ; and (2)
Jurisdictionis : which latter they hold to be double ; (1) internal, where the
divine by persuasions, wholesome instructions, ghostly counsel, and the like,
so convinces the inward conscience, that it is wholly obedient to his dictates
(such as those of St. Peter were in Acts ii. 37) : and (2) external; where the
church, inforo exteriori, compels the Christian's obedience.
" Now for the first and second of these our king did not take upon him at
all to meddle. For he neither assumed to himself a power of preaching,
teaching, binding or loosing inforo animee, administering the holy sacraments,
conferring orders, nor any particular that is properly annexed to them. Only
he took upon himself such things as are of the outward policy of the church :
such as, that God may be truly served ; they that transgress the received lawful
constitutions, even of the church, may be fitly punished, &c. : these, and the
like by the rights of his crown, and the continued practice of his ancestors,
he could not doubt but he might deal in; causing all, be they clerks or others
that offend, to suffer condign punishment." Vindication, p. 93. 4to. 1675.
When he comes to enumerate at large the particulars in which our kings
exercised this species of jurisdiction, he mentions as the 12th; "Bestowed
bishoprics on such as they liked, and translated bishops from one see to
another." p. 109.
We close the whole finally with Hooker's observations on parochial pa
tronage and presentations.
" Now when the power (of orders) so received (from the bishop) is once to
have any certain subject whereon it may work, and whereunto it is to be tied;
here cometh in the people's consent, and not before. The power of order I may
lawfully receive without any asking leave of any multitude ; but that power I
cannot exercise upon any one certain people utterly against their wills ; neither
is there in the church of England any man by order of law possessed with
pastoral charge over any parish, but the people in effect do choose him there
unto. For albeit they choose not by giving every man personally his particular
voice, yet can they not say that they have their pastors violently obtruded
upon them, inasmuch as their ancient and original interest therein hath been
by orderly means derived into the patron, who chooseth for them. And if
any man be desirous to know how patrons came to have such interest, we are
to consider, that at the first erection of churches, it seemed but reasonable in
the eyes of the whole Christian world to pass that right to them and their
successors, on whose soil and at whose charge the same were founded.
This all men gladly and willingly did, both in honour of so great piety, and

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 127
crown, and had given the king such assistances against the court
of Rome as they ought to have done, they had prevented those
things which the greatest partiality to one's country and ancestors
will not suffer one to speak of in softer terms than as the blemish
of the English name and nation, as well as of this unhappy prince's
reign. For if the king gave away the rights of his crown, pope Inno
cent led him to it by giving away his kingdom to Philip king of
France ; and the barons followed the example in their turn, and
gave away the kingdom to prince Lewis his son.
Thus, in the compass of about four years, the kingdom of Eng
land was three times given away ; a misfortune, if I mistake not,
peculiar to this nation ; and which is worse, our ancestors helped
to undo themselves, and had too great a share in the guilt that
occasioned both the dishonour and the misery which fell upon their
country. For though this wild doctrine of deposing kings and
giving away countries had been broached by pope Gregory some
time before, yet these nations had probably never felt the effects
thereof, if the resentment and some sinister ends of the barons
had not led them to give too much countenance to the imposture,
when pope Innocent pretended to give away the kingdom to
Philip king of France.
But that wrong step being once made, it is no wonder if the
rights of the subject fell and perished with those of the crown; for
the texture and frame of every well-ordered government is so nice
and delicate, and the rights of the prince and people are so riveted
into one another, that, like wheels to the same machine, they
never move right but in conjunction and under a well-proportioned
balance. But whatever the cause was, it is certain, the effects
were deplorable ; for they who agreed in nothing else, united in
desolation and blood, and each side had its turn to lay waste the
kingdom. Whilst the nation was thus groaning under the miseries of a
bloody and unnatural war, God opened the way to a deliverance
by the death of pope Innocent and king John, who died both within
the compass of this year (1216) ; the first in July, the latter in
October following : men so very different in their characters and
for encouragement of many others unto the like, who peradventure else
would have been as slow to erect churches or to endow them, as we are for
ward both to spoil them, and to pull them down." B. vii. c. xiv. § 12.
Vol. iii. p. 287. Keble's edit.

128 KING JOHN, THE BARONS,
conduct, that it is not easy to determine whether pope Innocent
did more towards raising the ecclesiastic monarchy, or king John
towards lessening the monarchy of England.
As for the former, such was his conduct and success, that he
who will take the height of the papal grandeui-, must make his
view in the reign of pope Innocent : for as the learned and judi
cious M. Du Pin well observes, the popes have ever since taken
their measures from the polity of his reign"; so he observes too,
that the publishing the decretals, containing a body of laws suited
to the present state ofthe papal monarchy, gave "the last blow
towards the entire ruin of the ancient law, and the establishing
the absolute and unlimited power ofthe popeV And though the
collection and publication of those decretals be owing to pope
Gregory the ninth, and not to Innocent ; yet it is evident that
Gregory was immediate successor to Honorius the third, and came
to the papacy within eleven or twelve years after the deatli of pope
Innocent, and that the papacy made no considerable advance in
that interval of time. Besides, he who looks to the decretals of
pope Innocent, as they are for the most part published by Baluzius
in the first volume of his Epistles, or as they are scattered in tho
decretals of Gregory ; and considers how much of that work is
taken from thence and from his Epistles ; will sec reason to affirm,
not only that pope Innocent carried the papacy to its greatest
height, but also that it was he who laid the foundation of that
law, which (as M. Du Pin saith) gave the last hand ' to the
papal usurpation.
* Eccles. Hist. vol. xi. p. 11. b Eccles. Hist. Cent. xi. chap. x. p. 55.
1 The last hand.] Further on the introduction ofthe canon law into England,
see Inett, vol. ii. p. 194 — 7.
Of its character, history, &c. in general, of the extent to which it is binding
in England, &c. the reader may consult bishop Stillingfleet's Ecclesiastical
Cases, vol. i. 227—74, and vol. ii. 1—60; Gibson's Codex, vol. i. Preface,
xxvii. — ix. ; Ridley's View of the Civil Law.
The following account of the publication of the decretals, and of the other
portions of which the huge volume of the Corpus Juris Canonici, &c. is
composed, may perhaps be not unsatisfactory.
" Justinian the emperor, about the year 533, did so contract the civil law,
as he brought it from almost 2000 books into 50; besides some others,
which he added of his own. Howbeit shortly after it grew out of use in
Italy, by reason ofthe incursions of sundry barbarous nations, who, neglecting
the imperial laws, did practise their own : till after almost 600 years, that
Lotharius Saxo the emperor, about the year 1136, did revive again in that
country, and in other places also, the ancient use and authority of it.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE TIIIRD. 129
But so dark and unsearchable are the methods of the divine
providence, that notwithstanding the great share which pope Inno-
Whieh course of the emperour did not much content (as it seemeth) the
bishops of Rome ; because it revived the memory of the ancient honour and
dignity of the empire. Whereupon, very shortly after, Eugenius the third
set Gratian in hand to compile a body of canon law, by contracting, into one
book, the ancient constitutions ecclesiastical, and canons of councils ; that the
state of the papacy might not, in that behalf, be inferiour to the empire.
Which work the said Gratian performed, and published in the days of
Stephen king of England, about the year 1151, terming the same 'concordia
discordantium canonum,' a concord of disagreeing canons. Of whose
great pains therein, so by him taken, a learned man saith thus : ' Gratianus
ille jus pontificate dilaniavit, atque confudit :' that fellow Gratian did tear in
pieces the pontifical law, and confound it ; the same being, in our libraries,
sincere and perfect. But (this testimony, or any thing else to the contrary,
that might truly be objected against that book notwithstanding) the author's
chief purpose being to magnifie and extol the court of Rome, his said book
got (we know not how) this glorious title, ' Decretum Aureum Divi Gratiani,'
the Golden Decree of St. Gratian ; and he himself (as it appeareth) became,
for the time, a saint for his pains.
" Indeed he brake the ice to those that came after him, by devising the
method, which since hath been pursued, for the enlarging and growth of the
said body, by some of the popes themselves. Gregory the ninth, about the
year 1236, and in the time of king Henry the third, after sundry draughts
made by Innocentius the third, and others, of a second volume of the canon
law, caused the same to be perused, enlarged, and by his authority to be
published; and being divided into five books, it is intituled 'The Decretals
of Gregory the Ninth.' Boniface the eighth, the great Augustus (as before
we have shewed), commanded likewise another collection to be made of such
constitutions and decrees, as had either been omitted by Gregory, or were
made afterward by other succeeding bishops and councils ; and this collection
is called * Sextus Liber Decretalium,' the Sixth Book of the Decretals ; and
was set out to the world in the year 1298, in the reign of king Edward the
first. Clement the fifth, in like manner, having bestowed great travel upon
a fourth work, comprehending five books, died before he could finish it : but
his successour, John the twenty-second, did, in the year 1317, and in the time
of king Edward the second, make perfect, and publish the same work of
Clement, and gave it the name of ' The Clementines.' Afterward, also, came
out another volume, termed ' The Extravagants ;' because it did not only com
prehend certain decrees of the said John the twenty-second, but likewise sundry
other constitutions, made by other popes, both before and after him ; which
flew abroad uncertainly in many men's hands, and were therefore swept up,
and put together about the year 1478 into one bundle, called 'Extravagant
Decretals,' which came to light ' post sextum,' after the sixth. By which
title the compiler of this work would gladly (as it seemeth) have had it
accounted the seventh book of the Decretals : but it never attaining that
credit, the same, by Sixtus Quintus's assent, is attributed to a collection of
VOL. i. K

130 KING JOHN. THE BARONS.
cent had in that usurpation, with which God was pleased to punish
the Christian church : notwithstanding the unspeakable miseries
which his ambition had drawn upon the world, and the scenes of
crueltv and the seeds of mischief which he had prepared for after-
ages : God thought fit to let him oo down to the grave by the
common course of nature.
On the other hand, the death of king John, like the paths of
the dead, is still in the dark, and will in all probability remain a
subject of doubt till the revolution of the great day. Some of
our writers say, that he was poisoned by a monk of Swinshead
abbey in Lincolnshire ; whereas those of the Romish church
pretend that this is all malice, and designed as a reproach on that
order of men on whom it is laid, and have the confidence to tell
the world, it is a fiction owing to the Reformation. But if it be
a fiction, it is certainly older than the Reformation ; and if this be
a made tale, it is not owing to the reformers, but ought to be
laid at the door of those who ought to be ashamed of it. For if
the monks of Swinshead had not the guilt of that prince's death,
they suffered a wild bigotry so far to have prevailed over truth
and rehgion, as to take the guilt thereof to themselves, by
appointing and continuing priests to say mass for the monk, who
was supposed to be the doer thereof: and thus they propagated
their own infamy to succeeding ages. But whatever gave begin
ning to this report, if it be omitted by M. Paris, the chronicles
of Wikesa and Hemingford1*, written before the Reformation,
relate at large all the circumstances of that story.
Thus did this unfortunate prince end his life and his reign, and
reproach and dishonour dwell for ever upon his memory. But
though no eloquence is sufficient to brighten his character, or to
excuse his conduct, especially that unworthy submission to the
certain other constitutions made by Peter Matthew, of divers popes, from the
time of Sixtus the fourth, who died in the year 14S4. To all these books
mentioned, there have been lately added three great volumes of ' Decretal
Epistles,' from St. Clement to Gregory the seventh's days ; also a huge
heap of the ' Pope's Bulls,' from the said Gregory's time to Pius Quintus ;
and lastly, no short summ of ' Papal Constitutions,' set forth a little before
ihe said seventh book of the Decretals. — So as all these volumes being put
together, they exceed as far the body of the civil laic, as the usurped dignitv
of the papacy exceedeth the mean estate of the empire." Bishop Overall's
Convocation Book, of A.D. 1606. p. 320 — 2. A.D. 1690. 4to,
- Chron. "Wikes, Col. Gal. vol. ii. p. 3S.
b Chron. Hemingf. CoL Gal. vol. ii. p. 559.

AND POPE INNOCENT THE THIRD. 131
papal tyranny, which will remain the eternal and indelible blemish
of his reign ; yet it must be owned, that the stand which he
made against the court of Rome in the defence of the monarchy,
was bold and generous, and such as deserved a better issue : and
one may be allowed to say, that even his fatal miscarriage was
chiefly owing to the bigotry of the English nation, and to the
unhappy circumstances wherein he received the crown. And it
is very hard to blame a prince for not maintaining the dignity of a
crown, which descends to him in chains and fetters ; or that he
only should bear the dishonour which falls upon his country, when
his people will not suffer him to defend it ; and much more when
they take part with the enemy, and choose to be instruments in
their own undoing ; — and this was but too much the case at this
time. Besides, it should not be forgotten, that the last part of this
prince's life was spent in the defence of the royal line of England ;
and all circumstances considered, it seems probable, that he
owed his death to the same cause. And if the conduct of this
prince in these instances be not enough to atone for his past
miscarriages, they will at least deserve to be remembered by all
that love their country and the monarchy, that have the least
taste of liberty, or that have any sense of those miseries which
the papal tyranny let in upon the church and kingdom.
However, the revolutions under this prince are very dishonour
able to the English nation, and such as naturally lead one to a
frightful idea of the reign under which they happened : and they
who do not carefully attend to the springs by which these great
turns were set into motion, are very apt to resolve them into the
ill conduct of king John, rather than into those mischievous prin
ciples and the wicked artifices of that court which attempted to
enslave all Christendom under pretences of religion, and into the
great steps which they had made towards it in England before
this prince came to the crown.
I shall now ask the reader's leave to repeat some things which
I have observed before, and shall put an end to this work, with
giving him a short view of the ancient and the present state ofthe
English church and monarchy, and of the springs and causes, as
well as of the effects and consequences of those changes, which
make up the subject of the present history.

INTRODUCTION.

PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE; ORIGIN
AND PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION1.
The Britons had been converted in all probability before Christ
ianity was settled in Rome, and the British church continued on
the same foot on which it was originally founded, till the conquest
by the English. And though that revolution forced the British
people into a narrower compass, and put the English-Saxons in
possession of the greatest and best parts of their country, yet a
Christian church was still preserved together with the remains of
the British nation. And this church was as free and independent *
as the people ; who were so far from being influenced with the
after-conversions of some of the English by the missionaries from
Rome, that the rites which they received from thence set them
at a greater distance from the English, added a new article of
controversy, and made the breach wider. Their metropolitans
never received a pall from Rome ; their bishops were chosen and
consecrated, and all ecclesiastical affairs determined finally within
themselves, and their clergy generally married. In short, there
is no mark of any dependence ofthe British church on that of Rome,
nor any proof of a settled intercourse or communion betwixt
them to be found, till the conquest of Wales by king Henry the
first united the British to the English church, and did thereby
expose it to the hard fate of that church, to which it was united.
The case of the English was different from that of the Britons.
Some of them had received their conversion from Rome, and
1 General recapitulation.] From Inett's Origines Anglicana, vol. ii. p. 488 —
503. 2 Free and independent.] See above, p. 4—6; 18, 19, and note.

PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE. 133
they who had been originally converted by the Scots from
Ireland, had for some ages before the Norman revolution held
communion with the church of Rome. And the better to pre
serve a friendship and give proof of the communion betwixt the
English and the Roman church, the Enghsh archbishops did
frequently go to Rome and receive palls1 from thence, and a
great deference was ever paid to the bishops thereof.
But whilst the English church thus maintained a communion
with that of Rome, the authority and government thereof were
continued on the same foot, on which the canons of the universal
church had originally placed national churches.
The English metropolitans convened and presided in their
provincial councils, and their authority therein was final, unless
in such cases wherein appeals to the king were allowed : but as
no canon of the English church before the conquest ever allowed
any appeal to the bishops of Rome, the histories thereof afford
no instance of a practice of that kind.
The English bishops had their proper diocesan synods, and all
the clergy and religious as well as the laity within their several
dioceses were the subjects of their care. If there were any
exemptions from their authority, they were owing to the secular
power ; and these, if I mistake not, never extended further than
exempting some of the religious from the charges of receiving
and providing for them in their visitations, rather than dis
charging their persons from the authority of their diocesans.
The bishops of England were nominated to those trusts by
our kings, confirmed and consecrated by their proper metro
politans, subjected to no canons but such as were either received
or formed with their own suffrage and consent. They convened
and presided in their proper diocesan synods, and their authority
therein was final, except in such cases wherein appeals lay to the
courts of the archbishop of the province, or of the king.
The case of the lower clergy was much the same with that of
the bishops. They were subject to no ecclesiastic authority but
that of their proper ordinaries : the canons were the measures of
their duty, and the laws of their country the standard of their
secular rights and of their subjection to the civil power.
1 Receive palls.] Seelnett, vol. ii. p. 17 — 20 ; Twisden's Vindication, p. 41 — 7
(a very elaborate discussion) ; and Sahnasius's learned edition of Tertullian's
Treatise De Pallio, Lug. Bat. 1656.

134 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
The revenues of the church were subject only to the same laws
and to the same authority by which the clergy and religious
were governed: but as they were originally derived from the
bounty of the kings of England, or the charity and munificence
of the English nation, they were also subject to the laws of their
country, and in cases of necessity contributed to the support
thereof. In short, there is not any canon, any law, or any
standing allowed practice to be found, which carries the least
mark of any vassalage or subjection to a foreign power ; but by
all that appears, the English church had preserved and was in
full possession of a free, entire, and independent authority, at the
time of the Norman revolution : in other words, the English
church was as absolute, free, and independent on any foreign
ecclesiastic power, as the monarchy and nation were on any
secular authority.
But if we look a little forward, the English church has another
face, and appears so unlike itself, that one can hardly say whether
the change was more surprising, or the effects thereof more
pitiable and to be lamented.
William the first, to serve the Norman interest, called in the
papal power, and made use of the legates of pope Alexander to
cover his violence to the English bishops : but when he had
served his purpose, he laid by his tools, and left the church and
the monarchy in the same state wherein he found them, the
change which the Norman revolution produced only excepted.
Such too was the state of the church during the reign of
William the second : but the struggle for the patronage of the
church, or the dispute about the right of investitures : which began
in his reign, was, by the address of the court of Rome, gained
from his successor king Henry the first, and unhappily surrendered
by that prince in the year one thousand one hundred and seven.
This was the first shock to the authority of the English church,
and which opened the way to all the ensuing usurpations. For
by yielding up to the bishops of Rome a power to put the arch
bishops and bishops of England into the possession of their
bishoprics, they were made judges of their sufficiency and per
sonal abilities : and thus the bishops of England, who had never
been subjected to any authority but that of their metropolitans
1 Of investitures.] See above, p. 33, and n. or Index, under Bishops, their
investiture.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 135
and the government under which they lived, and our metropolitans
who had had no superiors but the kings of England, were involved
in the same common fate, and by that one unhappy concession
were made subjects to a foreign power. And the bishops of Rome
having thus thrust out the kings of England, easily advanced
themselves to the reputation of being the supreme ordinaries, and
having first prepared their way by desiring assistance from the
clergy, in the reigns of king Stephen, Henry the second, and king
Richard, under the colour of the Holy War ; in the succeeding
reign of king John, pope Innocent did by his own authority lay
several impositions on the clergy and religious, and in time the
bishops of Rome pretended to the sole right to lay taxes ' upon the
clergy and religious, and actually laid the heaviest impositions
upon them ; and this, too, not to serve the purposes of religion,
but to carry on their wars against the emperors and other Chris
tian princes, to oblige them to become their tributaries and vassals,
to enlarge their own dominions and secular power, to reduce the
Greek church to their obedience by force of arms, to extirpate
and give away the countries of all those who opposed their usurpa
tion, and who were for that reason called heretics. In short, they
made use of the power which they gained over the revenues of the
English church, to serve all the purposes of ambition, wantonness,
and folly.
But to set this particular in a just light, I must ask the reader's
leave to look a little forward to the next reign, that of Henry the
third, where the aforesaid concession was carried so far before
the death of that prince, that the court of Rome at one time
demanded, that benefices should be provided for three hundred
Italians a ; at another time, that two prebends in each cathedral
church, and the provision for two monks in every monastery,
should be annexed to the papacy b. They disposed and made void
at pleasure the bishoprics and ecclesiastical promotions of England,
overturned all the rights of patronage and elections, and gave so
many preferments to Italians 2, that in the letter of the nobility
1 To lay taxes.] For an elaborate enquiry into the origin and progress of
the papal pecuniary exactions from the clergy of England, see Twisden's
Historical Vindication of the Church of England, p. 74 — 92. See also Inett,
vol. ii. p. 383—7.
¦ Matth. Paris, ann. 1240. p. 532. n. 40. b Ejusd. ann. 1226. p. 328. n. 10.
2 Preferments to Italians.] See index, under Benefices in the hands of
Foreigners. See also Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 60—2.

136 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
and commons of England to pope Innocent the fourth, about the
year 1 245, they tell that prelate, that " the number of Italians
preferred in England was infinite," and that " the money carried
to them amounted to threescore thousand marks " ; a sum," as
they further add, " greater than the revenues of the crown ; " and all
this, besides the vast sums which by Peter-pence 1 and tenths, and
many other ways, were extorted from the English nation.
The success of the court of Rome in the controversy about the
right of investitures, by which they gained this mighty influence
over the persons of the English bishops and the revenues of the
church, gave fire to their ambition to break the power, and
to possess themselves of the authority by which it had been
governed ; and this was done by advancing the power of their own
legates. The English church was at first settled on the institution of
Christ and the canons of the catholic church, and thus continued
to be governed from the foundation thereof till the beginning of
the eleventh century ; and this with so little interruption, that
there is not so much as one English canon which allows the least
authority to the bishops of Rome or their legates, nor so much as
any instance of any authority exercised by them, or of any legates
called into England in the space of above four hundred years, but
when king Offa called over legates to give a colour to the violence
which he had first offered to the province of Canterbury, and
William the first invited in the legates of pope Alexander to serve
the ends of the Norman revolution. On the contrary, whilst the
canons and history of the English church are thus silent, the laws
of England considered the legates or ambassadors of the bishops
of Rome, no otherwise than the law of nations considers those of
all other foreign princes ; and did not allow them so much as to
enter England but when called for and invited, or at least had the
permission and leave of the kings thereof.
In this posture this affair was continued till the latter end of
the eleventh century, when pope Gregory the seventh formed the
design to erect the papal monarchy on the spoils of the civil
power, and the ruins of that government which Christ and his
apostles had first erected, and which for a thousand years had
prevailed through the whole Christian church.
a Matth. Paris, ann. 1245. p. 667.
1 By Peter-pence.] See Index, under Peter-pence. See also Twisden's
Historical Vindication, p. 74 — 8.

PROGRESS OF — GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 137
In pursuance of this design, the court of Rome applied itself to
break the authority of national churches, by usurping a power to
themselves to convene and preside in synods and councils by their
legates : but as this was a direct violence to the authority of
Christ, and to the canons and usages ofthe whole Christian church,
it was a great while before the western churches were brought to
submit to it. From the pontificate of Gregory the seventh, many
attempts were made upon the English church. King William
the first, who was contemporary with that prelate, saw his designs
and kept him at a distance. And thus things continued during
the succeeding reign of William the second.
The court of Rome renewed their efforts with greater vigour
under Henry the first ; but though they gained their point as to
the dispute about investitures, yet king Henry suffered not their
legates to come into England ; and if they did, it was no other
wise than as the envoys of a foreign prince, till about the twenty-
fifth year of his reign, when that prince permitted a papal legate
to preside in the council of London. But as this usurpation was
very evident, it was so resented by the whole nation, that this
matter proceeded no further till the year following, when William
de Corboil, then archbishop of Canterbury, by the address of that
court, was prevailed upon to accept the character of legate to the
bishop of Rome. And by this fatal oversight the regular autho
rity of that prelate made way for the usurpation, which the court
of Rome had been labouring to introduce ; for the legatine
power being thus let in, was so strengthened by the confusions of
the succeeding reign of king Stephen, and by the advantages
which the court of Rome gained under Henry the second, that
the right of the English church and nation was yielded up \ and
1 Was yielded up.] The history and progress of this usurpation is learnedly
illustrated by Sir Roger Twisden in his Vindication ; see p. 14 — 16. 18 — 28.
38—41. The following shorter extracts are given from that work, because they
comprise the principal points. They supply also an apt illustration of the
progressive expedients to which the popes were in the habit of resorting,
according to the exigencies of a case, and of the appropriate mischiefs which
regularly ensued.
" Of these and the like cases, exercised without scruple in the church of
England, and no control from Rome, it would not be easy to dispossess the
archbishop of Canterbury by strong hand ; the way, therefore, of making him
the pope's legate was invented, by which those particulars he did before with
out interruption of his own right, he, whom it was not easy to bar of doing

138 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
that usurpation allowed and settled by the agreement betwixt that
prince and the court of Rome in the year 1172, in that general
article l by which the king surrendered all customs prejudicial to
the liberties of the church ; that is, in other words, every thing
that stood in the way of the papal usurpation.
The authority and government of the national church being thus
overwhelmed arid torn to pieces, and the rights of our metro
politans made a sacrifice to the ambition and designs of the court
of Rome, the way lay open to the third step 2 made by that court ;
and this was to render useless the authority of our diocesan
bishops, at least to put it out of their power to give a stop to the
designs formed at Rome. This work was done already in some
measure, by subjecting them to the legatine power ; for thus they
were bound to attend synods which were not convened by their
proper metropolitans, and forced to yield obedience to canons which
had never passed with their own consent and suffrage, and were
called out of their provinces to be judged : in short, the most
ancient and distinguishing rights of our diocesan bishops sank
with and were buried under the ruins of the metropolitical power.
But to prostrate them still lower, and render them as little and
contemptible in the face of their people and their clergy, and in
them, might be said to act as the pope's agent." — Twisden, p. 26. This was
about the year 1126.
" In the year 1 144, the bishop of Winchester was dismissed from his lega
tine commission ; and the pope, finding with how great difficulty the eccle
siastic affairs of this kingdom could be managed by any legate without the
archbishop of Canterbury, thought of a very subtle invention to conserve his
own authority, and not have any crossing with that prelate ; which was, to
create him and his successors legati nati ; by which, such things as he did
before, and had a face of interfering with the papal plenitude, and were not so
easy to divest the archbishop of exercising, he might be said to do by a lega
tine power  Certain it is, hereby the papal authority was not a little in
creased ; there being none of the clergy now to question any thing that came
from Rome, the archbishop, on whom the rest depended, himself operating
but as a delegate from thence." Ibid. p. 38, 9.
Lastly, " The popes having gained an entrance, found means to reduce the
grant of legatus natus to no more than stood with their own liking : by invent
ing a new sort of legate, styled legatus a latere, by reason of his near depend
ence on the pope's person, who being employed in matters of concernment,
at his being here the power of the former slept." Ibid. p. 40.
On the general history of this question, compare also Inett, vol. ii. 187, 8.
190—3. 194, 5.
1 That general article.] See above, p. 55.
2 The third step.] See above, p. 36 — 45. 54—8.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 139
their own consistories, as they were in the councils and synods,
great numbers of the religious were exempted from their jurisdic
tions ; and by gaining to themselves a power to receive causes by
appeals from the concession of Henry the second, the court of
Rome put it into every one's power who had a will to contend, to
affront and insult their bishops, and to render useless the little
remains of the episcopal authority, which had escaped the common
deluge that swept away all the rest.
The change in the state and circumstances of the lower clergy
betwixt the Norman conquest and the death of king John, was
answerable to that of their superiors. Their persons were taken
from the protection of the civil power, discharged from the laws
of their country, and subjected to a foreign power, and to canons
that denied the liberty which God and his gospel, which nature and
the ancient English church had ever allowed them. A great part
of the provision which the charity of the English nation had made
for them was by appropriations of benefices, and the exemptions of
some new orders of the religious from payment of tithes, snatched
out of their hands ; and that which was left to them, was laid
open to the rapine and oppressions of men whose greediness had
no bounds. Their titles were made litigious, and the remedy
which their predecessors had ever found at their own doors,
became, by being carried to Rome by appeals, a grievous and in
supportable burthen : and which is sadder still, the same causes
which brought all these mischiefs upon the clergy, put it out of
the power of their rightful governors to protect or to support, and
much more to deliver them from the oppression.
The religious of England were the only persons who seemed to
reap any advantage from that usurpation, which was attended
with so many mischiefs to the church and nation ; for in the com
pass of about one hundred and fifty years, they saw more new
orders erected, and made greater accessions 1 to their wealth and
to their numbers, and to what they for a time called privileges,
than all the preceding ages had ever produced ; and yet, to look
no further, the same period of time in which they were thus
increased and enriched, and even whilst they valued themselves as
the darlings and peculiar favourites of the court of Rome, they
had the mortification to see themselves the subjects of that
tyranny which they had helped to advance, and had more impo-
1 Greater accessions.] Of the origin, progress, rapid increase of the numbers
of the monasteries and regular clergy, the nature of their rule, &c. fee-
see Inett, vol ii. 207—12. 218 — 22.

140 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
sitions and heavier burdens laid upon their estates, and greater
violences offered to their just rights, than all their predecessors
had ever felt under their lawful superiors. And in the examples
of the two brothers, Stephen and Simon Langton, and in the
treatment which they received from pope Innocent the third, under
the reign of king John, cathedral and conventual churches were
made sensible, that the freedom of elections, and the exemptions
from the authority of their kings and bishops, for which they had
been taught to contend, were nothing else but artifices of the
court of Rome, designed to separate them from the interests of
the crown and the national church, and at once to bind oppression
and sorrow about their heads, and to put it out of the power of
their rightful superiors to relieve or help them.
Such was the state of the English church at the death of king
John in the year 1216, and the changes in the church which a
little time produced. In short, the English church, which had
continued free and independent from the foundations thereof till
after the Norman revolution, was in the compass of one hundred
and fifty years last past, captivated, enslaved, and subjugated to a
foreign power. And in this miserable state I must leave it, to
stop the reader with that which will render the fate of the church
still more melancholy and surprising ; and that is, some reflections
on the ancient and present state of the English monarchy *.
The dark steps by which our constitution grew up to that state
in which it now appears, the ancient forms of the legislature, or
of the administration of civil justice, come not into the compass of
my present enquiry ; but the interest which the civil government
had in the affairs of the church and religion, the ancient and un
doubted rights of the kings of England, and the outrages offered
to their authority by the papal usurpations, what the power was
which they once possessed and what they lost ; or, in other words,
the ancient and present state of the English monarchy with
respect to ecclesiastical affairs, are the subject now before us.
Our histories and our laws put it beyond all doubt, that the
church, the clergy, and the religious of England, had a great share
in the cares of the ancient English government. The kings of
England convened national councils and synods, presided in them,
and, with the advice of their bishops and nobility, made laws for
the good government of all orders and ranks of their people, and
punished every disobedience. And as they were ever reputed the
fountain of power and law, so their courts were the last resort of
1 The English monarchy.] Compare above, p. 59 — 7Q.

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 141
justice, and causes as well ecclesiastical as civil were, as occasion
required, carried thither by appeals, and finally determined there.
The kings of England had founded and endowed the bishoprics,
and for the most part the cathedrals and greater monasteries, and
from the foundation of the English church had not only nominated
their bishops, but as supreme ordinaries they had ever put them
in possession of their bishoprics, by the ceremony well known by
the name of investiture, the delivery of a staff and a ring, and in
return had ever received their fealty and homage.
And as they endowed the church, they did also with the advice
of their great council lay impositions on the revenues thereof,
when the necessities of the state called for help. In short, the
kings of England were free, independent, sovereign princes, and
next under God supreme governors in all their dominions, and in
all causes, and over all persons, as well ecclesiastical as civil.
Such was the state of the monarchy at the time of the Norman
conquest. From this prospect of the English monarchy, I must turn and
lead the reader to a more melancholy reflection, and offer to his
view the mighty changes which a little time produced.
William the first being seated on the throne of England, pope
Gregory the seventh, about the twelfth year of that prince's reign,
advanced a pretence that England was a fee of the papacy : but
as this pretence was all vapour and imagination, groundless and
impudent beyond example, so it signified nothing but to lay open
the designs which that haughty prelate had lately formed, and to
give the king a just occasion to treat him with contempt, and not
to suffer the court of Rome to intermeddle either in the affairs of
church or state. — And thus things continued during the reign of
his successor, king William the second.
But the attempt which miscarried in these two reigns proved
more successful in that of Henry the first; for the surrender
which he made of his right to investitures did at once take away
the patronage of the kings of England, together with one of the
greatest branches of the supremacy, and by subjecting the bishops
and the revenues of the church to a foreign power, gave such a
shock to the monarchy of England, that it is very hard to deter
mine whether the church or the nation suffered most by it.
The legatine power was no less fatal to the kings of England
than to the authority of our metropolitans and to the national
church : and this too was one of the blemishes of the same prince's

142 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
reign : for this prince, who despised and rejected, and for more
than twenty years kept this usurpation at a distance, did at last
give way to it ; and the confusions of the succeeding reign, that
of king Stephen, so strengthened and improved it, that it was
challenged as a right of the papacy, and finally owned as such by
king Henry the second in the unhappy agreement betwixt that
prince and the court of Rome, which ensued upon the death of
archbishop Becket. Thus a power of convening national synods,
which had ever been esteemed the sole right of the kings of
England, was divided betwixt them and the bishops of Rome ;
and a way was thereby opened to a sort of legislature, or a power
of making canons, which in time put a restraint upon our kings
and their great councils, and in many instances rendered useless,
and even insulted and affronted their legislative power.
The gaining a power to receive ecclesiastical causes by appeals
was still more fatal to the authority of the crown ; for by carrying
to Rome the last resort in causes ecclesiastical, a great branch of
the supremacy, which all the by-past ages had thought sacred and
inalienable, was torn from the kings of England ; and yet these
errors in politics, which threatened the very being of the monarchy,
grew up together, and were the blemishes of the same reigns.
H. Huntingdon, who lived at that time, as well as Gervasius, says,
the use of appeals was begun by Henry bishop of Winchester,
and brother to king Stephen : and the instances of that kind are
too many under the government of that prince. But as these
were then esteemed no otherwise than as encroachments on the
rights of the crown, so in the recognition of the ecclesiastical laws
in the council of Clarendon, the last resort in causes ecclesiastical
was declared the sole right of the crown : and thus it continued
till the year 1 1 72, when the same prince who had declared and
asserted the rights of the crown in the council of Clarendon, did
very unworthily give them away, and in his agreement with pope
Alexander consented that appeals should freely be made to the
bishops of Rome.
Nor was this the only blemish of that prince's reign, but he
stands accountable to posterity for a breach of trust of much
greater importance to the monarchy; and this was, the exemption
of the clergy and religious from the secular power. This pretence
was first set on foot in the preceding reign, that of king Stephen,
and some steps were made towards it. However, his successor
king Henry the second put a stop to it, and resumed the rights

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 143
of the crown, and by his judges punished a great many of the
clergy, who but too well deserved it. And when that court, which
was restless and impatient to advance themselves to the head of
the English clergy, had flattered and deceived some of them into
their interest, and this pretence was revived again; the king, with
the nobility and the whole body of the bishops, Becket only
excepted, opposed it with such a resolution and unanimity and
weight of reason, as were every way answerable to the consequence
of that affair. Yet, after all, the same thing which was thought
of the last importance, and asserted accordingly in the beginning
of king Henry the second's reign, was yielded up and given away
by that prince before his reign was done ; for in the agreement
between the king and the legate of the bishop of Rome in the
year 1176, it was agreed1, that the clergy and religious should not
be carried before any secular judge for any crime whatsoever,
unless for abuses of the king's forests, or for such services as
they were obliged to by their particular tenure.
The kings of England were thus stripped of their supremacy
over ecclesiastical persons, as they were about the same time of
the last resort in causes ecclesiastical ; and the sovereignty of the
English monarchs, which before extended to all persons and to
all causes, was by these concessions limited and restrained to
secular persons and affairs. Thus the bishops of Rome were placed
at the head of the church and the clergy of England, and the
numbers and the wealth of the clergy and religious, together with
the influence which they had upon the nation, being considered,
it will not be easy to determine, whether the kings of England or
the bishops of Rome had the greater share in the government,
when king John came to the crown.
To render these mischiefs incurable, the same men and the very
same methods which raised the bishops of Rome to a power over
ecclesiastical persons and causes, raised them also to a sort of
sovereignty over the wealth and revenues of the English church,
and put them in a condition to support the authority which they
had first usurped, and to perpetuate their tyranny over the church
at the charge of the nation. For the revenues of the church,
instead of contributing to the necessities of the government, were
made a fund, which in time served all the purposes of those who
had first ravished and despoiled the monarchy ; and the charity
and munificence of the preceding kings of England were made use
1 It was agreed.] See above, p. 59.

144 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE;
of to break the measures and to control the power of their suc
cessors ; to weaken their hands ; to intimidate their people ; to
put it out of their power to protect their good subjects from
rapine and oppression ; or to force the disobedient to then- duty :
in short, to insult then- authority, to render them little and con
temptible, and to frustrate all the ends of government. And the
mischievous effects of these changes, owing to the two preceding
reigns, appeared so soon, that king Richard, the immediate suc
cessor to Henry the second, exceedingly lamented the state of the
monarchy, and with the utmost mortification pronounced himself
the shadow of akinga. And he had but too much ground for that
melancholy reflection ; for the patronage of the crown was lost
with the right of investitures; the power to convene national
synods swallowed up by that of the papal legates; the supremacy
in causes ecclesiastical was carried to Rome, by the concession
which yielded up the right to appeals ; the authority over the
persons and the estates of the clergy and religious was given away,
by that grant which discharged the clergy from the secular power ;
and the clergy was thereby rendered a body separate and inde
pendent upon the state, their interests distinguished and set at
such a distance from one another, that the privileges and liberties
of the church were numbered from the spoils of the civil govern
ment, and then only thought bright and shining, when they cast
a shade upon the monarchy.
The crown of England was thus robbed of a great part of its
wealth, its subjects, and its power, when it fell into the hands of
king John; so that in truth there remained nothing more to con
summate the dishonour of the kings of England, but to shift
names, and give up their title in exchange for that of vassals.
And there could be nothing more to engage the wishes, or to de
serve the ambition of those prelates who had already possessed
themselves of the wealth and power of the clergy and religious,
and of the supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, but to assume the
title and the name of kings of England, and to take to themselves
the remains of the royal power, which they had fettered and
chained, and in many cases rendered incapable of serving the great
ends of government. And the issue was such as might be ex
pected : the court of Rome finished the usurpation which they
had been labouring for in the preceding reigns, by forcing king
John to resign his kingdoms, and to receive them again as a fee
¦ Gervas. Chron. ann. 1196. [Decern Script, col. 1595.]

PROGRESS OF.— GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 145
of the papacy, and of a free sovereign prince to take upon himself
the title of a feudatory or a vassal to the bishop of Rome : and he
did his homage accordingly, and consented to pay a yearly tribute
for his own kingdoms. And lest the world should ever be induced
to believe, that all this was owing to the personal failings of king
John, his innocent son king Henry the third was forced to tread
in the steps of his father, and to take his kingdoms, as he had done
before him, as a fee of the papacy ; and he swore fealty and did
homage accordingly to the bishop of Rome.
Such mighty changes did the compass of about one hundred
and fifty years produce in these nations ; and although some brave
efforts were made by our succeeding kings to regain the rights and
liberties of the church and of the crown ; and the statutes of
Mortmain ', Provisors, and Praemunire, the remonstrances of our
parliaments and synods, the struggles of some of our bishops and
clergy, and the outcries of the whole nation against the tyranny
and oppressions of the court of Rome, show us what sense our
ancestors had of the papal usurpation, and put it beyond a doubt,
that the use which was made thereof was every way answerable
to the wicked practices by which it at first had been gained, and
that our forefathers groaned under the yoke, and passionately
desired to be delivered from it. Yet all was in vain, and without
the prospect of a remedy ; for God, who in His just displeasure
had given up these nations to that infatuation and blindness which
had brought all those mischiefs upon them, suffered our ancestors
to languish under the miseries which they had drawn down upon
themselves, and never entirely delivered them from the yoke of
bondage, till in His great mercy he had opened their eyes, and by
1 The statutes of Mortmain, fee] See Kennett on Impropriations, p. 25
(Mortmain, Remonstrances, fee); Twisden's Vindication, 62—4 (Provisors,
fee); 1 Fox's Acts, 548. edit. 1641 (Praemunire). See also Blackstone's Com
mentaries, bk. i. c. 18 (Mortmain), and bk. ii. c. 18. § 2 (ditto); also bk. iv.
c. 8 (Praemunire).
In the statutes of Provisors (25 Edw. III. c. vi., 27 Edw. III. c. i. § 1.
and 38 Edw. III. c. i. § 4, and c. ii. § 1—4) it is enacted that the bishop of
Rome shall not present or collate to any bishopric or ecclesiastical benefice in
England; and that whoever disturbs any patron in the presentation to a
living, by virtue of a papal provision, such provisor shall pay fine and ransom
to the king at his will; and be imprisoned till he renounces such provision*.
And the same punishment is enacted against such as cite the king, or any of
his subjects, to answer in the court of Rome.— Blackstone's Commentaries,
book iv. c. 8.
VOL. I. L

146 PAPAL USURPATIONS IN CHURCH AND STATE.
the reformation of religion had first made them sensible of the
imposture which had thus fatally ensnared and betrayed them.
Thus did the all-wise providence of God unite the monarchy, the
nation, the church and the religion of England, in the same suffer
ings and deliverance. They went hand in hand into vassalage.
The same men and the very same arts which despoiled the
monarchy, enslaved our country, corrupted our religion, and
usurped the rights of the English church ; and the same Reforma
tion which restored our religion to its ancient purity, restored the
rights of the church and of the monarchy, and resettled the
liberties of the English nation. These methods of the Divine
providence seemed designed on purpose to endear our church and
our country and the monarchy to each other, and to show us
plainly that their interests are inseparable, and can never be safe
but in conjunction ; whilst at the same time they teach us by sad
experience, that Popery is the common enemy to every thing that
is, or that ought to be, dear to the Princes and to the People of
England. I have suffered myself to be led into this long and melancholy
digression, that I might at once offer to the reader's view, the
ancient and present state of the church and monarchy, together
with the steps by which the changes were advanced, and the
intolerable mischiefs which from thence ensued : — and having done
this, I shall leave the reader to adore the goodness which so
happily delivered the Church and the Nation, and which has hitherto
preserved us from the snare ; and conclude with beseeching God,
that we may be afl duly sensible of the mercies which we now
enjoy under the best of churches and the best of governments,
and know no more of those miseries which attended the papal
usurpation, but from our by-past story.

INTRODUCTION.

DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS OF POPERY1.
We are now arrived at a full and adequate interpretation of our
text 2. For we are not, as oi jroXAol the many, the major part
of the world ; KairriktvovTeg, which adulterate and negotiate
the word of God for our own lucre and advantage ; but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
And hereby we have made the nearer advances to a clear view
and just character of popery : we will allow them to be the ol
ttoAAoi, the most of Christians ; nor at present will contend
with them about their boasted titles of cathohc and universal :
for it was never yet so well with mankind, that the major part
was the better. And then for the other mark KonrrikevovTSG,
I shall now trace and expose their corruptions and cauponations
of the gospel : that they are true Xpia-tfiTropoi, real Xpioroica-
7r»)Xot ; have perverted and abused the divine institution to the
base ends of worldly profit and power ; have consociated Jesus
with Belial, Christianity with Atheism : every part of their
system, which our pious reformers renounced and exploded, being
founded upon mere politic ; built up and supported by the known
methods of subtlety and force.
And yet I would not be thought to charge every single member
of that communion with this heavy imputation. I question not,
but great numbers think and act in godly sincerity : every age
1 Of popery.] From " A Sermon upon Popery, preached before the Uni
versity of Cambridge, Nov. 5, 1715, by Richard Bentley, D.D., Master of
Trinity College, and Chaplain to His Majesty. 1715." 8vo. p. 9—28.
2 Our text.] 2 Cor. ii. 17. l 2

148 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
has produced among them some shining examples of piety and
sanctity. We do not now consider individuals, but the collective
body of popery ; not private lives and secret opinions, but the
public avowed doctrines, and the general practice of the managers.
There was one pious family even in Sodom, and without doubt
many wicked ones even in Jerusalem. Not every single person
within the limits of the reformation is as good, as his profession
requires ; nor every papist as bad, as the popish system permits.
And now, ri ttqutov, ti §' iirura ; What can I better begin
with, than what our text suggests ; their enhancing the authority
of the vulgar Latin above the Greek original ? so that we must
search for St. Paul's meaning here, not in the notion of ica-rn-
Xivovrsg, but of adulterantes ; not of oi tto\Xo\, but of multi with
out its article ; an original defect in the Latin tongue. Now can
any thing be more absurd, more shocking to common sense, than
that the stream should rise above the fountain ? That a verbal
translation, which, were the author of it inspired, must yet from
the very nature of language have several defects and ambiguities ;
that such a translation, I say, by a private unknown person not
pretending to inspiration, should be raised and advanced above
the inspired Greek ? Is it possible, those that enacted this, could
believe it themselves ? Nor could they suggest, that the first
Greek exemplar had been more injured by the transcribers and
notaries, than that of their version. More ancient manuscripts were
preserved of this, than they could show for the Latin. There
were more, and more learned commentators to guard it : no age
of the eastern empire without eminent scholars ; while the west
lay sunk many centuries under ignorance and barbarity. And
yet in defiance of all this, the Latin is to be the umpire and
standard ; and the apostles to speak more authentically in that
conveyance, than in their own words. Nay, a particular edition
shall be legitimated and consecrated, with condemnation of all
various readings ; and two popes, with equal pretence to infal
libility, shall each sanctify a different copy with ten thousand
variations . These things are unaccountable, in the way of sincerity :
but if you view them on the foot of politic, as an acquist of power,
authority, and pre-eminence ; — the council of Trent knew then
what they did.
But though this itself is but a translation, yet no secondary
translation must be made from it for the instruction of the people.
They must hear the public liturgies in a language unknown to

OF POPERY. 149
them ; and jabber their credos and pater-nosters at home with
out understanding *. But was not this Latin version at first
1 Without understanding.] " It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of
God, and the custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the
church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the
people." Art. xxiv. of the Church of England.
" Amalarius, in the begynnge of his seconde booke De Ordine Romana
Ecclesiee, doth shewe the cause why of olde tyme emonges the Romanes the
lessons were reade in Greke and also in Latine, as it is at this day used,"
saith he, " at Constantinople : for two causes. One, for that there were
present Grecians, to whom was unknowen the Latine tongue, and also for that
the Romanes were present, to whom was unknowen the Greke tongue. Another
cause was to expresse the unitie of both nations. So that the sayde Amalarius
may be witnesse, that in the olde tyme the lessons of the Scriptures were so
reade in the churche, as by the readyng the people myght understande to
their edification." Archbishop Parker, in the anonymous Defence of Priests'
Marriages, p. 337.
But let us hear what could be said in defence of the service in an unknown
tongue ; and how it is argued, that it comes to be better not to understand the
divine service.
" Manye," says Christopherson, one of the most learned and most respect
able of the Romish party, in his Exhortation against Rebellion, in the reign of
queen Mary, A.D. 1554, "grudge and are offended, that the masse, and
all other divine service, is in Latyn, so that when they be in the church, they
do not understande what the priest sayeth. I woulde gladly aske one
question of such, why they come to the church ; whether to heare or to pray ?
They will answer, I doubte not, to do bothe. For there they both learne
theyr duetye by hearyng of sermons, and also practise it by diligente and
fervente praying. Nowe then seeinge that to do our duetie is much better
then to learne our duetie, because that every manne learneth to this end that
he may practise, although both twayne be good and neeessarye, yet the one
farre passeth the other. And the one maye be gotten in shorte space with
small travayle, but the other asketh longe tyme, and much payne to get it.
As concerninge which purpose we reade a notable storye of one Pambo."
The notable story into which the good bishop diverges, we will leave, as less
likely to bring conviction to our readers, even than his reasons, to which he
thus returns : "Wherefore I have oftentymes much marvayled at us Englishe-
men of late, that we came to the church, at the tyme of our Englishe service,
to heare only, and not to pray ourselfes. By meanes whereof many folkes are
so inured, that they can hardlye frame them selfes as yet to praye in the
churche, which, as our Saviour sayth, is the house of prayer. And moste
mete were it for folkes coming to the churche, to pray earnestly them selfes,
and both to thinke upon theyr synnes, wherewith they have offended their
Lorde God, and to be sory for them ; yea, and beside to gyve hym harty
thankes for all his benefites bestowed upon them, and to beseche hym to
assiste them with hys grace agaynst the assaultes of their adversary the devil.
For thus ought men to spende the holy daye, and thus ought they to bestow

150 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
the common language of the country ? Was it not first made,
and received into public use, because the Greek was unknown
there ? If a Christian congregation may be duly edified, may
pay acceptable devotions in a language unknown; the Greek
original might have reigned alone and universal, and its Latin
rival had never existed, — Why then is popery so cruel and
importune, to withhold this common blessing ? to continue the
public worship in Latin, after it has ceased to be a living language,
against the very reason that first introduced Latin? — Seek not a
good account for this in Scripture, not even in the Latin Bible :
but seek it in the vile arts of politic, and the principles of
atheism. Their authority was secured by it over an ignorant
populace ; it gave a prerogative to the clergy ; like the hpci
¦yoanfiaTa, the sacred and secret writings to the Egyptian priests ;

their tyme in the churche of God, when they come thyther. . . .The Evangelist
telleth not that Anna in the temple was occupied in hearynge, but that she
was occupied in praying. Many heare, and eyther they shortly forget what
they have hearde, or elles, if they remember it, yet they do not practise it ;
and one houre spente in practisynge is more worthe to us than twentye spent
in hearynge : therefore when they come to church, and heare the priestes,
who sayeth common prayer for all the whole multitude, albeit they under
stand them not, yet yf they be occupied in godlye prayer them selfes, it is
sufficient for them. And lette theym not so greatly passe for understandynge
what the priestes say, but travayle them selfes in fervent praying, and so shall
they hyghly please God. Yea, and experience hath playnlye taught us, that
it is much better for them not to understande the common service of the Church,
than to understande it, because that, when they heare other prayinge with a
lowde voice, in the language that they understande, they are letted from prayer
themselfe, and so come they to such a slacknes and negligence in prayinge, that
they at lengthe (as wee have well sene of late dayes), in maner pray not at al.
And then let them first thynke thys, (for it is undoubtedly true,) that the
divine service here in Englande hath ever bene in Latyn synce the first tyme
that the fayth was among us receaved, save only this six or seven yeares laste
passed : and then how godly the people all that while were disposed, how
many vertuous and holy men and women have beene within this realme, and
howe God dyd in all thinges prosper us  And eyther muste we graunte
thys, that there never was any godly men in thys realme, never any sowle
saved, never any grace of God among us, never the assistance of the Holye
Gooste wyth us, (whych no good nor reasonable manne either can, or wyll
graunte,) yf thys be not the true fayth and belefe (whereby men's soules
shall be saved) that nowe is amonges us." Signat. x. Compare also Mirror
of our Lady, foi. 22. — Commendation of those who attend the divine ser
vices without understanding them.
See Index, under Service Divine in an unknown tongue.

OF POPERY. 151
or the Sibylline oracles to the Roman pontifices, which nobody
else was to know.
No sooner had Christianity spread itself over the world, but
superstition mixed and grew up along with it ; a weed natural
to human soil, complexionally inherent in the weaker sex, and
adventitious to most of our own. Vast multitudes of all nations
withdrew from the world ; renounced human society and all com
merce with their own species ; abandoned the cities and villages
for the solitude of woods, deserts and caves ; under a false notion
of pleasing God better, by such devotion and mortification. But
all this was at first pure and simple superstition ; no mixture of
avarice and craft in it, no tincture of politic and worldly advantage :
their known poverty and perpetual austerities wholly quit them
of that suspicion. — But how did popery manage this foible of
mankind to its lucre and interest I Under a pretence of a like
retirement from the world in a life of prayer and contemplation,
they began their monasteries, abbeys, nunneries, &c. which by
degrees so vastly multiplied, that, instead of their first pretence
of retreating from the world, the very world was filled with them ;
instead of the old heremitical poverty, they had drained the riches
of kingdoms, had engrossed the fattest of the lands ; nay, had
appropriated and devoured the very ministerial wages, the bread
and sustenance of the parochial clergy ; who were impoverished,
made vile and contemptible, to feed these vassals of the popes in
their laziness and luxury.
In the early ages of the gospel, there was a high and just
veneration for the sepulchres and remains of holy men, for the
memorials of them in statue or picture, for the places of their
abode ; and especially for the land of Palestine, which the patri
archs, the prophets, the Son of God and His apostles, had made
sacred by their birth and habitation. This at first was within
due bounds ; but superstition was soon engrafted on it and grew
to excess : the remains and relics were supposed to work miracles ;
the images had not value only, but worship and adoration ; long
journeys were taken, to the great detriment of families, to visit
holy places, and kiss the footsteps of saints and martyrs. — These
bigotries, though even then reprehended by the best fathers of
those ages, were yet without any mixture of craft and knavery.
But popery soon saw, that here was a proper fund, to be improved
and managed to great advantage. Instead of coercion and
restraint, they advised, encouraged, commanded those supersti-

152 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
tions, with such scandalous KairriXrfa, such abominable traffic, as
even paganism would blush at. All the graves and catacombs
were exhausted to furnish relics : not a bone, not the least scrap
of raiment of any saint, that was not removed into the holy ward
robe to raise money to the showers. Where the monuments were
dubious and blended, the names and bodies of pagan slaves were
taken into the chm-ch calendar and treasury : disputes and
quarrels arose among the numerous pretenders to one and the
same relic, which could never be decided ; but the victory was
various and alternate, according to the fruitful inventions and
ingenious lies of the contending impostors. Even statues and
pictures of the same saint were made to rival each other : and
the Blessed Virgin, like Juno Lucina and Juno Sospita, had as
many numina 1 and specific powers, as she had pictures and
statues ; one celebrated for one virtue, another for another. No
piety was thought acceptable, no life religiously spent, without a
pilgrimage to some foreign saint ; where vows and rich offerings
must be paid at the shrine. But, above all, the endeavour to
gain the Holy Land 2 by driving out the Saracens was the most
promising project, the very masterpiece of popery. What arts
were used, or what not used, to inveigle the princes and nobility
of Europe into that romantic expedition ! Every hour of grief or
sickness, every hour of mirth and wine, were a snare and trepan
to them. If in any of those softer moments they once rashly took
the cross on their garments, the vow was irrevocable : to break
it was thought attended with all misfortunes in this world,
and damnation in the other. In the mean time salvation, like
soldier's pay, was promised and insured to all that embarked : the
heavenly Jerusalem to be their certain acquisition, though they
failed and perished in fighting for the earthly. — Now while the
world by these artifices was made mad and infatuate ; while princes
abandoned their own realms, and left the regency in weak or
treacherous hands ; while for several generations all Europe was
exhausted of its strength and its wealth, and the remainder over
run with superstition and leprosy ; the contrivers of all this were
not wanting to their own interest. It was then in the absence of
so many kings, and the distracted condition at home, that popery
made its most plentiful harvest : then cities with their large terri
tories were extorted out of the owners' hands, and made the patri-
1 .4* many numina.] See Index, under Walsingham. our Lady of.
2 Holy Land.] See Index, under Crusade.

OF POPERY. 153
mony of the church: then investitures, faculties, dispensations,
bulls, the whole shop and warehouse of profit and power, were
extended and exerted over all persons and employments : then, in
a word, was mankind enslaved, and popery trod upon the necks
of princes. — And well was it for Palestine that the Saracens kept
possession of it. If popery had succeeded in its attempt on that
country, what a new revenue from pilgrimages ! what an inex
haustible store of religious merchandise ! Every stone there
would have been a sacred relique. If we may guess from some
histories, the very soil 1 would have been dug up and exported by
this time ; and customers invited to the purchase by a new legend
of miracles. Not a chm-ch in Europe would have been counted
holy ; not a palace or seat lucky or prosperous ; not an estate, not
a field or close, fertile to the owner ; that had not some of the
holy earth to bless and to sanctify it.
When the empire was first Christian, though the bishops of
Rome had no more under their inspection than the suburbicarian
regions ; yet the great city imperial, the metropolis of the
Western world, gave them a just pre-eminence above those of
inferior and municipal towns. And so, those of Constantinople
1 The very soil.] At times there seems to have been a wild spirit extensively
prevalent, which hardly admits even of a representation hke this being
regarded as mere rant and rodomontade.
" I am bold to say," affirms Richard Bristow, in his famous book Motives
to the Catholic Faith, written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the year
1574, "and prove it well I can, that whereas Christian people of those first
ages are counted, as they were indeed, far more godly and more holy, and
more devout than we, for no other cause it was, but only because they prac
tised the things afore-named and such like, much more often, more religi-
ouslie, and, as the heretics would have it falsely called and counted, much
more superstitiously, than we do : more going a pilgrimage, more kissing of
reliques and kneeling unto them, more crying out to saints, and all other things
much more in those days than in these : and therefore, I say, people then
were more devout and religious than now. Such going then a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, that S. Hierome sayeth of the holie places of our Saviour's nati-
vitie, crosse, resurrection and ascension, ' ad quse de toto orbe concurritur,'
(in Isai. xix.) ; unto which holy places there is concourse of people out of all
the world. Even the verie holie earth of our Saviour's sepulcher brought
home by pilgrims, and given to their friends, and used to hang in their
chamber, to save them from evil ; yea, so reverenced that they would not
keepe it in their chambers, but build churches to lay it in, for people at it to
serve God, to come to it a pilgrimage, and that withfollowing of great miracles;
all which S. Augustine writeth of his owne time, being himselfe a partie
therein. (De Civit. Dei, lib. xxii. cap. 8.)" foi. 53, 4. edit. 1599.

154 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
had a due deference paid them by the other bishops of the east,
as fiaaiXtirspoi aXXwv, as presiding over a diocese the most
numerous and the most potent. A fit regard always was and
ought to be had to their advice, concurrence, and assistance ;
since their example must needs have the greatest influence on the
peace of the whole church. — Now how did popery make use of this
advantage of situation, to make spiritual Rome as much the
empress of the church as ever civil Rome had been of the state ?
In long tract of time they reduced all under their power ; not by
our Saviour's declaration, t-rrl ravry ry irirpq, " upon this rock
I will build my church ;" as if that was the Tarpeian rock, and the
cliff of the Roman capital : but by the subtlest arts of politic
continued from age to age with indefatigable address ; by sowing
factions among all other bishops, and then promoting appeals to
the arbitration of popes, who always decided for those that owned
their authority ; by creating new bishops against those in posses
sion, the event whereof was both ways the certain increase of
papal power : for either the pope's new title prevailed ; or the
former bishop, after long charge and vexation, was content for
quietness' sake to keep his own, as the gift of the pope J by an
1 As the gift of the pope.] "The wisdom of the court of Rome," says
Twisden shrewdly, "is to give, what it can neither sell, nor keep." Vindica
tion, fee. p. 176.
Again, "Things done by princes of their own right, popes finding no
means to stop, would, in former ages, as in later, by privilege continue
unto them. 'Nicholaus Papa hoc domino meo privilegium, quod ex paterno
jure susceperat, prsebuit,' said the emperor's advocate. (Baronii Annal. aim.
1059. n. 22.) And the same pope, finding our kings to express one part of
their office to be 'regere populum Domini et ecclesiam ejus,' wrote to
Edward the Confessor, ' Vobis et posteris vestris regibus Anglise committimus
advocationem ejusdem loci et omnium totius Angliae ecclesiarum, et, ut, vice
nostra, cum consilio episcoporum et abbatum constituatis ubique quae justa
sunt.' .... Besides, kings did many times ask as grants those things of
the pope, which they well understood themselves to have the power of doing
without him. Henry V. demanded of Martin V. five particulars ; to which
the king's ambassadors, finding him not so ready to assent, told him ' se in
mandatis habere, ut coram eo profiteantur, regem in iis singulis jure suo usu-
rum, utpote quae non necessitatis, sed honoris causa petat ; et ut publicam de
ea re coram universo cardinalium coetu protestationem interponant.' And
to the same purpose there are sundry examples yet remaining on record
(Rot. Pari. 17 Ed. iii. fee), where the king, on petition ofthe Commons for
redress in some things amiss of ecclesiastical cognisance, first chooses to
write to the pope; but on his delay or failing to give satisfaction, doth either

OF POPERY. 155
after-act of confirmation. And as they then managed with the
bishops, so in time they dealt with princes : fomented rebellions
of their subjects ; set brother up against brother in pretence to
the crown ; who was to own it when obtained as a donation from
Rome: and the contract for it, that all the ecclesiastical dignities
should be in the pope's collation. By these methods, continued
through many successions, the result at last was, that he was the
spiritual monarch of the universe, the acknowledged patron of all
church preferments ; that all bishops held their jurisdiction not
from Christ but from him : that kings themselves were no kings,
till accepted and confirmed by him : that they might be resisted,
deposed, or murdered ; if they did not govern by his dictates and
directions: that he, as visible head ofthe church, was superior to
general councils : that he, perhaps at first some ignorant monk,
after he was once chosen pope, though without the suffrage either
of clergy or people, by a mercenary conclave and nocturnal cabal
of cardinals — a new order contrived by popery to depress and sub
due the bishops — was immediately gifted with infallibility. — O hor
rible profanation of a Divine attribute ! 0 audacious and ridicu
lous claim; which though no pope can ever believe of himself;
and the cardinals his electors, like the haruspices of old, may
laugh at when they see each other ; yet it is a useful pretence in
the way of pohtic, and of great moment among the adoring crowds
to support and establish his usurped spiritual empire.
As the Christians in the first ages were all educated in the
midst of paganism, and the most of them made converts out of it;
so it could not be avoided, but that many must assume or transfer
some pagan notions into the system of Christianity. Besides the
One supreme God the pagans had vast numbers of inferior deities,
himself by statute redress the inconvenience, or commands the archbishop to
see it done." Ibid. 17, 18. Twisden's Vindication, fee.
This valuable book, Twisden's Vindication, fee. written twenty years before
the author's death, was not published till three years after it, and then came
forth without a word of explanation or narrative from the editor. It is
greatly to be regretted, that it is printed so incorrectly as to be not unfre
quently quite unintelligible. It is much to be wished, therefore, if the family
are in possession of any better manuscript and additional materials, that this
should be known, and that the book should appear in a new edition, as well
to the benefit of the pubhc, as in justice to the memory of a very eminent
and excellent person. — [This has been done under the editorial care of the
learned Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.] Some particulars respecting
Twisden may be found in Hasted's Hist, of Kent, vol. ii. 275, 6.

156 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
who had every one shares of the common devotion. This begot
in many Christians a like worship of angels and saints, as mediators
and intercessors between them and the heavenly Father. The
Bii Manes of the pagans, and the parentations to their dead
ancestors, produced a near resemblance to them among some
Christians, that offered solemn prayers and expiations for the
souls of their deceased relations. The Platonic notion, that the
laaifia a/iaprrifiaTa, the cm-able sins, the delible stains, of departed
souls were scourged and purged off by proportionate punishments;
ali* panduntur inanes

Suspense ad ventos ; aliis sub gurgite vasto
Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni;
must naturally raise among some Christians a like persuasion
about a future purgatory. These notions and practices, though
quite repugnant to the Holy Scriptures, were not discouraged nor
forbid by popery; but propagated, enjoined, and enacted: being a
most sure and ample fund to increase the church's treasure. In
course of time the whole calendar was crowded with saints; not a
day in the year without its red letter : every trade and profession
had its saint tutelar and peculiar; who must be retained and
engaged with presents and oblations. Horses, cows, and sheep,
every animal domestic, the fields and the vineyards, the very fur
niture of houses, must be annually blessed and sanctified, at a set
price for the blessing. And if the old set of saints should by
long time grow cheap and vulgar ; there still was a reserve in
popery to enhance and quicken the low market by making new
and fresh ones in acts of canonization. And then by their
prayers and the masses for the dead, to ease and shorten the
pains of purgatory ; what a spacious door was opened for a per
petual flow of money ! what family was not daily pillaged of some
part of its substance ! What heart could bear, that his dead
father should fry in the flames of purgatory when a moderate
sum might buy him out of them ; or who would not secure him
self by a timely legacy for masses for his soul, without leaving it
to the conscience and courtesy of his heir ?
But what do we speak of this popish traffic for the sins of the
dead ; when the very sins of the living, the wages of damnation,
were negotiated and trucked, indulged or pardoned, by the wicked
politic of popery ! — As in common life we daily see, that an offi
cer shall permit and license those very frauds for money, which

OF POPERY. 157
his office itself constitutes him and commands him to prevent ;
so has popery done in that great affair of a Christian life and the
duties of the Gospel. To engross which profitable trade, it was
first necessary, that Rome should challenge the sole custody of
the keys of heaven and hell, should claim the sole power of loosing
and binding, should possess the sole mint of all spiritual licences
and pardons. When this was once arrogated and obtained, what
an impious KairnAsi'a, what an extensive traffic was opened ! As
the other schemes drew in the superstitious and the bigots, so
this was to wheedle and pillage the profane, the impure, the vil
lains of the world. The common sale was soon proclaimed for
indulgences and pardons for all crimes past or to come, already
committed or hereafter designed ; the price raised and enhanced
according to the deeper dye and blackness of the guilt. The
stated market at Rome was not sufficient for the commerce ; the
princes only and the nobles could afford to send thither for them :
so that, for the ease and benefit of trade, blank instruments were
issued out for all the countries of Europe, and retailed by the
spiritual pedlars at the public markets and at the private doors ;
such a cheap pardon cried aloud for the more common sins of
lying, swearing, drunkenness, or fornication ; a higher price in
private for robbery or murder ; a higher still for sodomy or incest.
Thus were the grace of God, the remission of sins, all the privi
leges of the Gospel, trucked and cauponated by popery, for sordid
and detestable lucre, upon the open scheme and the bare foot of
atheism. It is true, indeed, that when the light of the reformation broke
out, and good letters revived and spread around ; even the popish
provinces grew too wise and sagacious for this gross imposture :
such wretched wares were thenceforth chiefly vended among the
poor ignorants of America. — But there soon arose a new set of
loose and profligate casuists ' ; who, to engage on their side the
libertine part of mankind, since impunity in sins would no longer
be bought with money, should distribute it gratis, and instruct
them to be wicked without remorse and with assurance. These
are they, who (contrary to St. Paul, Rom. iii. 8,) " are not slan
derously reported to say, Let us do evil, that good may come :"
who excuse and patronize the vilest corruptions, the foulest cheats,
forgeries, and extortions in common dealing : who teach that no
faith promised or sworn to heretics or enemies is ofany obliga
tion : who defend common perjury and perfidiousness by the
1 Profligate casuists.] See Index, under Jesuits.

158 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
scandalous shifts of equivocals and mental restrictions : who have
glossed and warped all the severe rules of the gospel about chas
tity, charity, and forgiveness, to the worldly and wicked notions
of gallantry and point of honour : who sanctify the horridest
villanies ; murders, plots, assassinations, massacres, (like the in
tended one of this day \) if designed for the service of the church :
who, in a word, have given such vicious systems of morals, such a
licence to corrupt nature, as a heathen Stoic, Platonic, or Aca
demic, nay an Epicurean, though in himself never so wicked, durst
not have polluted his pages with, out of reverence to his sect.
I might proceed, would the time permit me, to discover all the
rest of their politic arts, the mysteries of their spiritual trade :
for such are all their peculiar tenets, that were discarded at the
Reformation. What availed it to the clergy, that the Scriptures
expressly said, " Marriage is honourable in all: let a bishop, let a
presbyter be the husband of one wife ; one that ruleth well in his
own house ; having faithful children, kept in subjection with all
gravity ? " This did not suit with popish politic : this tied and
attached the clergy to the common interest of mankind : their
affection to their own children made their country also dear to
them ; made them love and pity the abused laity : they were not
vassals devoted enough to the service of a foreign master : the
riches of the church did not flow in one channel, nor all revert at
last to that one fountain and receptacle. And for these pious
reasons, in spite of plain Scripture, of the authority of ages be
fore, of all the lusts and impurities that must necessarily follow,
a chaste legitimate marriage shall be forbidden to the clergy; and
an adulterous celibacy shall be enjoined universal.
But what can plain Scripture avail against the avarice and
pride of popery ; when both common sense internal, and the joint
testimony of all our outward senses, must submit to its decrees,
when it is to advance its profit or power ? That due respect ever
paid to rd ayia, the consecrated bread and wine at the holy
communion, was easily raised by superstition and ignorance to
the highest excess, to notions improbable and impossible. This
fair handle was not neglected by popery : by slow degrees tran-
substantiation was enacted into an article of faith, and a very
beneficial one to the priests ; since it made them the makers of
God, and a sort of gods among the people. — But we must think
better and juster of the contrivers of it, than that they them-
1 Of this day.] November 5.

OF POPERY. 159
selves believed it : they did or could believe it no more, than a
proposition made up ofthe most disparate ideas, that "sound
may be turned into colour, a syllogism into a stone." It was not
ignorance or stupidity ; but the most subtle and crafty politic
that produced transubstantiation. Thence the awful pomp, the
august cavalcades in the processions of the host : as if they would
outdo the pagan ones of Cybele,
Ingratos animos atque impia pectora vulgi
Conterrere metu quae possint numine Divse :
thence the presence of God continually resident, corporeal at the
high altar : thence to exhibit it perpetually there, the wafer, panis
a^vfiog, unleavened, unfermented bread, was taken into the so
lemnity ; both against ancient practice, and the perpetual custom
of the Greek church : because common bread would soon have
grown mouldy, and not pass with the palate of the multitude for
the body of God. Thence at last in the thirteenth century was
the cup denied to the laity ; not for not seeing the plain words of
the Scripture, " Drink ye all of this ;" not for the dearness or
scarcity of wine, which is cheap and common in those climates ;
not for the then pretended reason, that the mustaches or whis
kers in the mode of that age used to dip into the holy cup ; but
because it was inconsistent with the rest of the show. So small
a quantity of wine even after consecration would soon grow dead
and vapid ; would discover its true nature, if tasted after long
standing. The wine therefore, because it interferes with the
standing ceremony and continued pageantry of transubstantia
tion, has not the honour to be reposited with the wafer on the
altar, nor to accompany it in the solemn processions.
I might now go on to show you a more dismal scene of impos
tures, their judicia Bei, the judgments of God, as they blas
phemously called them, when no human evidence could be found :
their trials by ordeal ; by taking a red-hot iron in the hand ; by
putting the naked arm into hot boiling water ; by sinking or
swimming in pools and rivers, when bound fast hand and foot :
all of them borrowed or copied from pagan knavery and supersti
tion ; and so manageable by arts and slights, that the party could
be found guilty or innocent, just as the priests pleased, who were
always the triers. — What bribes were hereby procured ! what
false legacies extorted ! what malice and revenge executed ! — on
all which if we should fully dilate and expatiate, the intended

160 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
tragedy of this day, which now calls for our consideration, would
scarce appear extraordinary. — Dreadful indeed it was ; astonishing
to the imagination : all the ideas assembled in it of terror and
horror. Yet when I look on it with a philosophical eye, I am
apt to felicitate those appointed for that sudden blast of rapid
destruction ; and to pity those miserables that were out of it, the
designed victims to slow cruelty, the intended objects of lingering
persecution. For since the whole plot (which will ever be the
plot of popery) was to subdue and enslave the nation ; who would
not choose and prefer a short and despatching death, quick as
that by thunder and lightning, which prevents pain and percep
tion, before the anguish of mock trials, before the legal accom
modations of jails and dungeons, before the peaceful executions
by fire and fagot ? who would not rather be placed, direct above
the infernal mine, than pass through the pitiless mercies, the
salutary torments of a popish inquisition ; that last accursed con
trivance of atheistical and devilish politic ? If the other schemes
have appeared to be the shop, the warehouse of popery, this may
be justly called its slaughter-house and its shambles. Hither are
haled poor creatures (I should have said rich ; for that gives the
frequentest suspicion of heresy) without any accuser, without
allegation of any fault. They must inform against themselves,
and make confession of something heretical ; or else undergo the
discipline of the various tortures ; a regular system of ingenious
cruelty, composed by the united skill and long successive expe
rience of the best engineers and artificers of torment. That
savage saying of Caligula's, horrible to speak or hear, and fit only
to be writ in blood, Itaferi, ut se mori sentiat, is here heightened
and improved : Ita se mori sentiat, ut ne moriatur, say these mer
ciful inquisitors. The force, the effect of every rack, every agony,
are exactly understood : this stretch, that strangulation is the
utmost nature can bear ; the least addition will overpower it ; this
posture keeps the weary soul hanging upon the lip ; ready to
leave the carcase, and yet not suffered to take its wing : this ex
tends and prolongs the very moment of expiration ; continues the
pangs of dying without the ease and benefit of death. — O pious
and proper methods for the propagation of faith ! 0 true and
genuine vicar of Christ, the God of mercy, and the Lord of
peace !
And now, after this short but true sketch and faithful landscape
of popery, I presume there is but little want of advice or applica-

OF POPERY. 161
tion. If this first character iii the text belongs to popery ; let us
secure the other to ourselves, " that we handle the word in sin
cerity, as of God, as in the sight of God in Christ." The Refor
mation without this must forfeit kits name ; and the church of
England must lose its nature. "'Let every one therefore that
thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Our very text informs
us, that in the apostle's own days, when the church was in its
greatest purity and simplicity ; there were even then many
Ka7rnXot, fraudulent dealers, among its members : though the
traffic must needs run low, when the whole community was
so poor. But when the emperors became Christian, and the
immense revenues of the pagan priesthood were (as indeed they
ought to be) all confiscated and distributed ; without doubt
the spoil and the plunder attracted crowds of new converts ; and
the courtiers found it useful to declare themselves good Christians.
Even the Reformation itself did not make the slower progress for
the vast riches of the monasteries that were to be dissolved ; nor
had it been less honour to it, if as the lands and manors of the
abbeys were justly restored to the laity ; so their impropriations
had reverted to the parochial clergy, from whom they had been
robbed. To say the truth, the spirit of popery is near as old as
the human race ; it is in all ages and places ; and even then exerts
itself when it demolishes popery. The generality of men, ot iroWol,
were always tzairrikoi, traders in a profession. The Epicureans
of old, though they denied and derided the heathen gods, would
yet gladly accept of a fat benefice, " opimum sacerdotium ;" and
to gain an ample revenue, would officiate at those altars which
they silently laughed at. — -Think not, therefore, that all the priests
were the vilest of men ; but that some of the vilest of men got in
to be priests. They saw the opportunity of enslaving and pillag
ing mankind, if they could but manage the priesthood upon
atheistical principles. This was the temptation, this gave the
original to popery ; and nothing to be accused for it but human
nature in common. — -What profession,' what conjunction of lay
men, if not continually watched, if not curbed and regulated by
authority, have not abused the like advantage and ascendant in
their several ways, to their private emolument and the oppression
of the public ? Let us watch therefore against this fatal degene
ration incident to all things. He that aims malis artibus to arrive
at church preferment, by sinful or servile compliance, by turbu-
lency and faction ; what is he but tccnrriXog, a trafficker for sordid
VOL. I. M

162 DOCTRINAL CORRUPTIONS
lucre 1 He that zealously vends his novelties, or revives dead
and buried heresies to the disturbance of the community ; what
is he but a trader for the fame of singularity ? He that labours
to dig up all the fences of the church ; to throw down her articles
and canons, her liturgy and ceremonies ; to extinguish her nur
series of learning ; and when he has made her a mere waste and
a common, shall call that a comprehension ; what is he but a vile
factor to libertinism and sacrilege ? He that propagates suspected
doctrines, such as praying for the dead, auricular confession, and
the like, whose sole tendency is the gain and power of the priest ;
what is he but a negotiator for his partisans abroad ? what does
he but sow the seeds of popery in the very soil of the reformation ?
But if we are to watch against the silent tide of popery in the small
rivulets at home ; much more against its inundation and deluge from
abroad : which always meditates, and now threatens J to overwhelm
us. If foreign popery once return and regain all the provinces that
it lost at the Reformation, — 0 the terrible storm of persecution at
its first regress ! 0 the dark prospect of slavery and ignorance for
the ages behind ! In tract of time it will rise again to as full a
measure of usurped hierarchy, as when the hero Luther first pro
claimed war against it. For then was popery in its meridian
height : it was not raised up all at once, but by the slow work of
many centuries. In all the steps and advances of its progress,
the good men of the several ages opposed it, but in vain : they
were overborne by a majority ; were silenced by the strong argu
ments of processes and prisons. For it first subdued its own
priests, before it brought the laity under its yoke. Good letters
became a crime even in the clergy. Or heresy or magic, accord
ing to the different turn of men's studies, was a certain imputation
upon all that dared to excel. And though popery, since the
Reformation, has even in its own quarters permitted learning and
humanity ; and prudently withdrawn some of its most scandalous
trumpery : yet if once again it sees itself universal, the whole ware
house, now kept under key, will again be set wide open : the old
tyranny will ride triumphant upon the necks of enslaved mankind,
with certain provision against a future revolt. The two instruments,
the two parents of the Reformation, ancient learning, and the art
of printing, both coming providentially at one juncture of time,
will be made the first martyrs, the earliest sacrifice to popish
1 Now threatens.] A.D. 1715.

OF POPERY. 163
politic. The dead languages, as they are now called, will then die
in good earnest. All the old authors of Greece and Italy, as the
conveyers of hurtful knowledge, as inspirers of dangerous liberty,
will be condemned to the flames ; an enterprise of no difficulty,
when the pope shall once again be the general dictator. All these
writings must then perish together : no old records shall survive,
to bear witness against popery ; nor any new be permitted to give
it disturbance. The press will then be kept under custody in a
citadel, like the mint and the coinage : nothing but mass books
and rosaries, nothing but dry postills and fabulous legends, shall
then be the staple commodities, even in an university.
For the double festivity therefore of this candid and joyful day ;
for the double deliverance obtained in it, the one from the con
spiracy of popery, the other from its tyranny ; for the happy
preservation of our religion, laws, and liberties under the protec
tion of pious and gracious princes ; for the flourishing estate of
learning and the prosperity of our nursing mother, be all thanks,
praise and glory to God for ever and ever. Amen.

m 2

JOHN WICKLIFFE.

The Popish emissaries boast that Popery is as ancient as Christianity. So
far is this from being true, that during the first six hundred years after Christ
there was no such thing as Popery in the world. Nay, Doctor Wickliffe
maintained, that it had no being until after the loosing of Satan in the second
millenary. John Lewis.
As for John Wickliffe, John Hubs, Vaido, and the rest, for aught I
know, and I beheve, setting malice aside, for aught you know, they were
godly men. Their greatest heresie was this, that they complained of the
dissolute and vicious lives of the clergy, of worshipping images, of fained
miracles, of the tyrannical pride of the pope, of monks, friers, pardons, pil
grimages, and purgatory, and other hke deceiving and mocking of the people ;
and that they wished a reformation of the church. Bishop Jewel.

JOHN WICKLIFFE1.

After al these heretofore recited2, by whom (as ye have heard)
it pleased the Lord something to worke against the bishop of
Rome, and to weaken the pernicious superstition of the friers ;
it now remaineth consequently, following the course of yeares,
orderly to enter into the storie and tractation of John Wickliffe
our countriman, and other more of his time, and same countrie,
whom the Lord (with the like zeale and power of spirit) raised
up here in England, to detect more fully and amplie the poison of
the pope's doctrine, and false religion set up by the friers. In
whose opinions and assertions, albeit some blemishes perhaps may
be noted ; yet such blemishes they be which rather declare him
to be a man that might erre, than which directly did fight against
Christ our saviour, as the pope's proceedings and the friers did.
— And what doctor or learned man hath been from the prime
age of the church, so perfect, so absolutely sure, in whom no
opinion hath sometime swerved awrie? And yet be the said
articles of his, neither in number so many, nor yet so grosse in
themselves and so cardinall, as those cardinall enemies of Christ
perchance do give them out to be ; if his books, which they
1 John Wickliffe.] On the history of Wickliffe, and his opinions, the reader
may consult Harpsfield's Historia Hasresis Wicleviana, foi. 1622. James's
Apologie for John Wickliffe, shewing his conformitie with the now Church of
England, 4to. 1608; Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 767—772; Wharton's Appendix
to Cave's Historia Literaria, vol. ii. p. 60 — 65 ; Lewis's History of the Life
and Sufferings of John Wickliffe, 8vo. 1723, and 1820 : and the Life of Rey
nold Pecock, Bishop of St. Asaph, 8vo. 1744, and 1820, by the same author.
2 Heretofore recited.] Robert Grosthed, bishop of Lincoln ; Richard Fitz-
ralph, archbishop of Armagh ; Nicolas Orem ; the author of the Prayer and
Complaint of the Plowman and others.

168 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
abolished 3, were remaining to be conferred with those blemishes,
which they have wrested to the worst, as evil will never said the best.
This is certaine, that he being the publike reader of divinitie "
in the universitie of Oxford, was for the rude time wherein he
3 His books, which they abolished.] These endeavours to abolish were by a
constitution of archbishop Arundel (a.d. 1408), and by other expedients of a
like nature, of which we shall hear more in the course of this life. Bishop
Burnet having, in his History of the Reformation, made a reflection similar to
this of Fox, is animadverted upon by the severe pen of Henry Wharton, in
the following terms :
" It seems the historian knew not any certain means of gaining information
of Wickliffe's true opinions ; but when he would include all others in the
same ignorance of them, we must desire to be excused. We have as many
of the works of Wickliffe yet extant, as, if printed together, would make four
or five volumes in folio. And whether so many books be not sufficient to
teach us his opinions, let the reader judge. " — Specimen of Errors and Defects
in the History ofthe Reformation, by Anth. Harmer. P. 16.
Nor is there indeed now much occasion that we should have recourse even
to manuscripts, to enable us to distinguish the real from the imputed doctrines
of Wickliffe. The following works have been printed : Dialogorum, lib. 4.
1525 and 1753; Wickliffe's Wicket, 1546, &c; Prologue to the Bible, under
the title, Pathway to perfect Knowledge (if this be indeed Wickliffe's), 1550;
Aphorismi Wicleviani, 1554; Complaint to the King and Parliament, with a
Treatise against the Friars, 1608 ; Translation ofthe New Testament, 1731, foi.
These, with the addition of the books mentioned in note ('), p. 167, and the
third volume of Wilkins's Concilia, leave no longer much room to complain of
deficiency of materials for information respecting the sentiments which he
entertained in the principal heads of rehgion. Still, it is greatly to be wished,
that much more of works, at once both so extraordinarily valuable and so
curious, might be given to the world, carefully printed, from manuscripts still
extant : and that, from among his Latin works, particularly the extensive
treatise, " De Veritate Scriptures," so often referred to by Dr. Thomas James
in his Apology for Wickliffe, might be one of the first. Of this work, a copy,
perhaps the only perfect one, exists in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
A full account of the famous MS. of Wicliffe in Trinity College, which once
belonged to Sir Robert Cotton, has been given by Dr. J. H. Todd, Senior
Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, in the preface to Wicliffe's "Apology for
Lollard Doctrines," printed for the Camden Society, in 1842. Dr. Todd
had previously printed, in 1840, "The Last Age of the Church," and has
recently printed, in 1851, "Three Treatises: I. Of the Church and her
Members : II. Of the Apostacy of the Church : III. Of Antichrist and his
Meynee." Dublin, sm. 4to. All of these are taken from the same MS. A
complete edition of the Wicliffite version of the Old and New Testament
was published by the University of Oxford in 1850, 4 vols. 4to.
4 Reader of divinitie.] Wickliffe was born, probably, about the year 1324;
and he began to deliver Theological Lectures in 1372, in the reign of Ed
ward III. Lewis's History, p. 1 and 18.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 169
lived, famously reputed for a great clerke, a deepe schooleman,
and no lesse expert in all kind of philosophic The which doth
not only appeare by his owne most famous and learned writings
and monuments, but also by the confession of Walden, his most
cruell and bitter enemie ; who, in a certaine epistle written unto
pope Martin the fift 5, saith that " he was wonderfully astonished
at his most strong arguments, with the places of authoritie which
he had gathered, and with the vehemencie and force of his reasons6.
It appeareth by such as have observed the order and course of
times, that this Wickliffe flourished about the yeare of our Lord
1371, Edward the third raigning in England : for thus we do find
in the chronicles of Caxton: "In the yeare of our Lord 1371,
Edward the third, king of England, in his parliament, was against
the pope's clergie. He willingly harkened and gave eare to the
voices and tales of heretikes, with certaine of his counsell, con
ceiving and following sinister opinions against the clergie. Where
fore, afterward, he tasted and suffered much adversity and trouble.
6 Martin the fift.] Thomas Netter, called Waldenus from his native place
in Essex, who dedicated to Martin V. his work, called Doctrinale Antiquitatum
Fidei Ecclesim Catholicee. It has been printed at Paris, in 1521 — 3, and
1532; at Salamanca, in 1556; and at Venice, in 1571.
6 Of his reasons.] The following extract I borrow from a short Life of
Wickliffe, subjoined to James's Apology for John Wickliffe, shewing his con
formity with the now Church of England. 1608. 4to.
" He was beloved of all good men for his good life, and greatly admired of
his greatest adversaries, for his learning and knowledge, both in divinity and
humanity. He writ so many large volumes in both, as it is almost incredible.
He seemed to follow, in the whole course of his studies, the method of the
schoolmen : and amongst them he was a professed follower of Ocham ; by
reading of whose learned books, and sundry others which lived about the
same time, or not long before ; such as were Bradwardine, Marsilius, Guido
de Sancto Amore, Abelardus, Armachanus, and that true great clerk Robert
Grosthead, God gave him grace to see the truth of his gospel, and by seeing
of it to loathe all superstition and popery. Of Ocham and Marsilius (see
p. 199, post) he was informed of the pope's intrusions and usurpations upon
kings, their crowns and dignities : of G. de S. Amore and Armachanus he
learned the sundry abuses of monks and friers in upholding this usurped
power : by Abelard and others he was grounded in the right faith of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper : by Bradwardine, in the nature of a true
soul-justifying faith against merit-mongers and pardoners : finally, by reading
Grosthead's works, in whom he seemed to be most conversant, he descried
the pope to be open antichrist, by letting the gospel to be preached, and by
placing unable and unfit men in the church of God. He passed through all
degrees in this famous university very commendably."

170 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
And not long after, in the yeare of our Lord 1372, he wrote unto
the bishop of Rome, that he should not by any meanes inter
meddle any more within his kingdome, as touching the reserva
tion, or distribution of benefices 7 : and that all such bishops as
were under his dominion, should injoy their former and ancient
libertie, and be confirmed of their metropolitanes, as hath been
accustomed in times past." Thus much writeth Caxton in chap.
ccxxxvi. of the Cronicles of England, printed in 1480. But as
touching the just number of the yeare and time, we will not be
very curious or carefull about it at this present. This is out of
all doubt, that at what time all the world was in most desperate
and vile estate, and that the lamentable ignorance and darknesse
of God's truth had overshadowed the whole earth ; this man,
Wickliffe, stepped forth like a valiant champion, unto whom it may
justly be applied that is spoken in the booke called Ecclesias-
ticus 8, of one Simon the sonne of Onias : " Even as the morning
star being in the middest of a cloud, and as the moone being full
7 The reservation . . . of benefices.] This refers to a power gradually usurped by
the popes to a very great extent ; whereby, before any ecclesiastical promotion
became vacant the see of Rome reserved the future nomination to itself, pro
vided a successor to the bishopric or benefice, and declared that if any pre
sentation was made, it should be null and void.
In one of these letters of the king and his parliament to Pope Clement VI.
they thus solemnly expostulate against this grievous evil.
" We have thought meet to signifie unto your holiness, that divers reser
vations, provisions, and collations, by your predecessours apostolike of Rome,
and by you, most holy father, in your time have been granted (and that more
largely than they have beene accustomed to be) unto divers persons, as wel
strangers and of sundry nations, as unto some such as are our enemies ;
having no understanding at all of the tongue and conditions of them, of whom
they have the government and cure : whereby a great number of soules are in
perill, a great many of their parishioners in danger, the service of God de
stroyed, the almes and devotion of all men diminished, the hospitals perished,
the churches with their appurtenances decayed, charitie withdrawne, the good
and honest persons of our realme unadvanced, the charge and government of
soules not regarded, the devotion of the people restrained, many poore scholars
unpreferred, and the treasure of the realme carried out, against the minds
and intents of the founders. All which errors, defaults, and slanders, most
holy father, wee neither can nor ought to suffer or endure." Fox's Acts,
p. 353. Edit. )6l0. This was in the year 1343. An act was passed in par
liament the year following to annul these reservations ; but the effect pro
duced was slight. The dispute was several times revived. About the year
1376, they were, on agreement, relinquished formally by the pope : but even
this seems not to have been effectual. Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 97.
s Called Ecclesiasticus.] Chap. 1. ver. 6.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 171
in her course, and as the bright beames of the sunne ; so doth
he shine and glister in the temple and church of God."
Thus doth almighty God continually succor and help, when all
things are in despaire : being alwaies (according to the pro-
phecie of the psalme °) " a helper in time of need V — The which
thing never more plainly appeared, than in these latter daies and
extreame age of the church ; when the whole state and condition,
not only of worldly things, but also of religion, was 'so depraved
and corrupted, that like as the disease named lethargus among
the physitions, even so the state of religion amongst the divines,
was past all man's remedie. The onely name of Christ remained
amongst Christians, but his true and lively doctrine was as farre
unknowne unto the most part, as his name was common unto
all men. As touching faith, consolation, the end and use of the
law, the office of Christ, of our impotencie and weakenesse, of the
Holy Ghost, of the greatnesse and strength of sinne, of true
works, of grace and free justification by faith, of libertie of a
Christian man, things wherein consisteth and resteth the summe
and matter of our profession ; there was no mention, nor any
word almost spoken. Scripture-learning and divinitie wasknowne
but unto a few, and that in the scholes onely, and there also
turned and converted almost all into sophistry. In stead of Peter
and Paul, men occupied their time in studying Aquinas and
Scotus, and the Master of the Sentences 2. The world forsaking
the lively power of God's spirituall word and doctrine, was alto
gether led and blinded with outward ceremonies and human
traditions, wherein the whole scope, in a manner, of all Christian
perfection did consist and depend. In these was all the hope of
obtaining salvation fullie fixed ; hereunto all things were attri
buted. Insomuch, that scarcely any other thing was seene in
the temples or churches, taught or spoken of in sermons, or
finallie intended or gone about in their whole life, but only
heaping up of certaine shadowed ceremonies upon ceremonies ;
neither was there any end of their heaping.
9 The psalme.] Psalme ix. v. 9, &c.
1 In time of need.] On the Causes and Necessity of the Reformation, see
Hermanni von der Hardt Historia Literaria Reformations, Parts i. — iv. a.d.
1717; Hottingeri Historia Ecclesiastica, vol. v. — vii.; Gibson's Preservative
against Popery, tit. i. p. 1 — 132 ; Casaubon's Dedication to King James I. of
his Exercitations against Baronius.
2 Ofthe Sentences.] Peter Lombard.

172 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
The people were taught to worship no other thing but that
which they did see, and did see almost nothing which they did
not worship.
The church being degenerated from the true apostolicke insti
tution above all measure, (reserving only the name of the apos
tolicke church, but far from the truth thereof in very deed) did
fall into all kinds of extreame tyrannie ; whereas the povertie
and simplicitie of Christ was changed into crueltie and abomina
tion of life. In stead of the apostolicke gifts, and their continuall
labors and travels, slothfulness and ambition was crept in amongst
the priests. Besides all this, there arose and sprung up a thousand
sorts and fashions of strange religions3, being the onely roote and
3 Sorts and fashions of strange religions.] That is, the various sects and
orders of monks and friars.
Amid so many corruptions, it is not to be wondered that the contagion
spread from the heart and from manners, and invaded the popular language.
Of this very baneful species of degeneracy, the instances are by no means
infrequent. We have an example before us in the use of this term religion ;
a word, -to the participation of which, with its corresponding epithet religious,
the laity seem to have been allowed to make hardly any pretension. They
were almost exclusively appropriated to the clergy, and especially to one
division of them, the several orders of monks and friars. Thus we read, in
the Complaint and Prayer of the Ploughman, the work of a professed reformer:
"The pope clepith (calleth) himselfe father of fathers, and maketh many
religions. But whether is love and charity encreased by these fathers and by
their religions, or else ymade lesse ? For a frier ne loveth not a monke, ne a
secular man neither ; nor yet one frier another that is not of the order. Ah
Lord ! me thinketh that there is little perfection in these religions ! The
service that Thou desirest is keeping of thine hests (commandments); and then
a lewd man (lay-man) may serve God, as well as a man of religion ; though
that the ploughman he may not have so much silver for his prayer, as men of
religion." — Fox, p. 368. Whytford's Pype of Perfection, printed a.d. 1532,
is an elaborate apology for monachism. This curious book furnishes us with
many examples of the same abuse of the term religion. " Religyon is made
and standeth principally in the three essencial vowes, obedience, wilfull po
vertie, and chastitie. For these thre ben the substanciall partes of religyon.''
Foi. 2. — " The great heretyke Luther, with all his discyples, done deprave and
utterly condempne all maner of religyons, except onely (as they call hit) the
religyon of Christe. Wherefore I thought necessarye (unto the comforte of
all suche persones as have or done purpose or intende to entre religyon) some
what, after my poore understanding, to speke thereof." Foi. 3.— "A state
appertaynynge unto monkes and solitarie persones, whiche state is now called
onely religyon. And suche persones as ben bounden unto that state, and
done lyve in religion bene alone called religious persones, and none other per
sones ben so named communly, but onely they." Foi. 232. The first quotation

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 173
well-head of all superstition. How great abuses and depravations
were crept into the sacraments, at what time men were compelled
to worship similitudes and signes of things, for the very things
themselves ; and to adore such things as were instituted and
ordained only for memorials ! Finally, what thing was there,
in the whole state of Christian religion so sincere, so sound and
pure, which was not defiled and spotted with some kind of super
stition ? Besides this, with how many bonds and snares of dailie
new fangled ceremonies were the sillie consciences of men, redeemed
by Christ to liberty, snared and snarled ! Insomuch, that there
could be no great difference almost perceived betweene Chris-
tianitie and Jewishnesse, save only the name of Christ : so that
the state and condition of the Jewes, might seeme somewhat
more tolerable than ours. The Christian people were wholly
carried away as it were by the noses, with meere decrees and
constitutions of men, even whither it pleased the bishops to lead
them, and not as Christ's will did direct them. All the whole
world was filled and overwhelmed with errors and darkenesse.
And no great marvell ; for why, the simple and unlearned people
being farre from all knowledge of the holy scripture, thought it
sufficient for them, to know onlie these things which were
delivered them by their pastors and shepheards * ; and they on
the other part taught in a manner nothing else, but such things-
as came forth of the court of Rome : whereof the most part
in this note supplies another apt instance of the corruption which we are re
marking upon, in the use of the word lewd (see p. 368, post) ; which, as it
should appear, denoting in its primitive signification, in the Anglo-Saxon, igno
rant, was about the age of Wickliffe, perpetually used simply for layman,
without being designed to convey any particular reproach; and at other times,
in a worse sense, to which it is now exclusively appropriated. Under this ex
ample, the presumptuous revilings of the Pharisee can hardly fail of recurring
to the mind of my readers. "This people who knoweth not the law, are cursed."
John vii. 49. The only remaining instance of a corruption in language, which
I shall adduce, is one nearly allied to those above referred to — the use of the
term Holy Church. " When men speken of holy churche (says Wickliffe), they
understonden anoon prelates and priests, monks, cannons and freres, and all
men that have crowns (the tonsure), tho they liven never so cursedly agenst
God's law; and clepen not ne holden secular men of holy church, tho they
liven never so duly after God's law, and enden in perfect charity." — Lewis's
History, p. 126. Compare Tindall's Works, p. 249, a.u. 1571.
4 Pastors and shepheards.] Of whom, according to Wickliffe, were " maney
that kunnen not the ten commandements, ne read their Sauter, ne understond
a verse of it." — Cheat sentence of Curse expounded; Lewis's Life, &c. p. 40.

174 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
tended to the profit of their order, more than to the glorie of
Christ. The Christian faith was esteemed or counted none other thing
then, but that everie man should know that Christ once suffered,
that is to say, that all men should know and understand that
thing which the divels themselves also knew. Hypocrisie was
counted for wonderfull holinesse. AU men were so addict unto
outward shewes, that even they themselves which professed the
most absolute and singular knowledge of the Scriptures, scarsly
did understand or know any other thing. And this evidently
did appeare, not onely in the common sort of doctors and teachers,
but also in the very heads and captaines of the church ; whose
whole religion and holinesse consisted in a manner in the observ
ing of daies, meats and garments, and such like rhetoricall
circumstances, as of place, time, person, &c. Hereof sprang so
many sorts and fashions of vestures and garments 5 : so many
5 Vestures and garments.] As Black Friars, White Friars, Grey, &c. &c. —
"What be these Benedictines, Cistertians, Carmelites, Carthusians, Domi
nicans, Franciscans, with others hke, an huge numbre, but names of popishe
schismes and sectes ? who, all forsakyng the rehgion and name of Christe,
common to all true Christians, have chosen to be called religious, as by a special
name of a several! religion; and to be named after men, their fathers on earth,
forsakyng the heavenly father, and continuing and accomplishinge the
schisme first begunne in S. Paules time, after the example of those who sayd,
' I am of Paule, I of Cephas, I of Apollos ;" saying, ' I am of Dominike, I of
Benedicte, I of Francisce,' who also may directly answer S. Paule askyng,
' Was Paule or any other, savyng only Christe crucified for you ? ' ' Yea,'
may the Franciscans say, ' S. Francisce was crucified for us of his familie,
and beholde the woundes in his side, handes, and feete.'
"And leste all these sectes should not be knowen sufficiently by onely
diversitie of names, thei have by other infinite wayes and meanes travelled to
sever their sectes asundre, studyinge for division as for the best, and flyinge
all shewe of unitie as the worste of all thinges. Wherefore to their diversitie
of names, they have joyned diversitie of fashions, and diversitie of colours in
their apparell; diversitie of girdels, hose, and shooes; diversitie of shavynge,
diversitie of goyng, beckyng and bowyng, diversitie of diete and meates,
diversitie of readyng, singinge, and tunynge, diversitie of churche service,
and diversitie of rules of fife. All times would fayle me, if I should, or
coulde rehearse all their diversities, which is the very propertie of schismes and
sectes. These be those schismatikes, and sectaries, with an infinite multitude
whereof, of late Englande was repleanished ; of the whiche now, thankes be to
God, the realme is well ridde : so that if you meete a thousande men and
women one after an other severally, and aske of them, ' of what rehgion be
you?' they shall all and everyone answereyou, 'I am a Christian; we be-all

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 175
differences of colours and meates : with so many pilgrimages to
severall places, as though S. James at Compostella " could doe
that, which Christ could not doe at Canturburie ; or else that
God were not of like power and strength in every place, or could
not be found but being sought for by running and gadding
hither and thither. Thus the holinesse of the whole yeare was
transported and put off unto the Lent season 7. No countrie or
Christians :' there shal not one answere to you (as was wonte), ' I am of the
religion of S. Francisce, a Franciscane : an other, I am a Dominicaine : the
thirde, I am a Carmelite. Et sic de singulis.' One woman shall not answere
you : ' I am a Brigittyne : an other, I am a Clarane : the thirde, I am an
Eugubine, whiche are all names of abominable sectes and schismes, not
onely dividyng, but deniyng, but forgettyng, but rejectinge the religion and
name of Jesus Christe." — A Reproof, written by Alexander Nowell, of a book
entitled, A Proof of certain Articles in Religion denied by Master Jewell, set
forth by Thomas Dorman, B. D. 1565. 4to. foi. p. 55.
See also the ninth section of Warlon's History of English Poetry, 8vo.
Lond. 1840, vol. ii. p. 87, where is an analysis of Robert Longlande's "Vision
of Pierce Ploughman."
8 S. James at Compostella.] The pilgrimage to Compostella in Spain, famous
throughout Europe, was accounted one of the most meritorious, and amongst
the most highly favoured by supposed miraculous interpositions. A part of
its celebrity, we are told, was owing to the length of the way, and the dangers
of the journey. " A short pilgrimage (says Weever), is not worth a pin :
neither is an image in so much honour and respect in that country where it
is, as in far countries. For example, the Italians, yea those who dwell near
Rome, will mock and scoff at our English and other pilgrims, who go to
see the pope's holiness, and St. Peter's chair ; and yet they themselves will
run to see the relics of St. James of Compostella, in the kingdom of Gallicia
in Spain, which is above twelve hundred English miles." Weever's Funeral
Monuments. Disc. P. clxiii. Edit. 1767. The whole legend upon which the
fame and the wealth of this celebrated spot was founded, which " has cost
millions of Christians many a weary step over rocks and mountains ; who
otherwise would have staid at home, and performed their devotions, and not
have, by long sauntering pilgrimages, reduced themselves and their families
to beggary ; having nothing, by that means, left them but a few scollop shells
upon a threadbare weed, and a feather or two of the cast of the cock which
crowed when St. Peter denied his Lord," has been accurately examined, and
its numerous falsehoods and absurdities satisfactorily exposed by Dr. Michael
Geddes, in the second volume of his Miscellaneous Tracts, p. 208 — 234.
7 Put off unto the Lent season.^ Thus in the Festival, which consists of
short sermons or homilies upon many of the Sundays, and the other principal
feasts throughout the year, and was the book most commonly read in churches,
even till the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. the discourse for the
second Sunday in Lent thus begins :
" Good men and women, this is the seconde Sonday in clene Lente ; where-

176 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
land was counted holy, but onelie Palestina, where Christ himselfe
had walked with his corporall foot. Such was tho blindnesse of that
fore lyke as ye have all this yere before made you honest and well besene in
good araye to youre body, now shoulde ye be as soone besye to make you a
clene soule. Wherefore this tyme of Lente is ordeyned to dense youre con
science from all maner rust and fylth of sinne." Festival, foi. 17 b. Again,
" And for bycause that every man synnes more or lesse, for to make satysfuc-
cyon for trespas, all crysten people ben bounden by the lawe of God and
Hooly Chyrche to fast these forty dayes." Festival, foi. 15. From such
extracts as these, the reader will see the necessity of a reformation in doctrine,
and will recognize one cause of the frequent insertion of those expressions in
the liturgy, and other books ofthe Reformers, where Christ is spoken of as
a " full and perfect satisfaction," "the only mediator and advocate," &c. —
Yet once more. The Golden Legend, so denominated, because "as golde
passeth all other metalles, so this boke excedeth all other bokes," upon the
first Sunday in Lent, makes the following calculation : " We put to penaunce
and affiyecyon fro this present day unto Eester six wekes comynge, that ben
forty-two days. Yf the Sondayes be taken awaye, there abyde in the absty-
nence but thirty-six dayes : and the yere is demeaned by three hondred and
sixty-five dayes : (so; we gyve the tythe of them to God whan we faste." —
Golden Legend, foi. 14. Edit. 1527. By Wynkyn de Worde. In the same
spirit the clergy of the Lower House of Convocation formally complained to
the prelates, in the year 15 '¦&, that among many other erroneous opinions,
"it was preached, thought and spoken to the slander of this noble realm,
disquietness ofthe people, and damage of Christian souls, that the sinner
offending in the Lent or other high feasts of the year, is worthy no more
punishment, than he that transgresseth in any other time." — AVilkins's Con
cilia, vol. iii. p. 805. But, as knowledge and reformation advanced, a better
temper began to prevail. Hence in the year 1545, we find Cuthbert Scot, no
very zealous friend to the reformation, in a sermon at St. Paul's cross, thus
expressing himself : "Now if the tyme wold suffre me, I wolde speake here
of the fashyons of men nowe in these dayes. For many there be, as I thynke,
whiche do not walke in this way, but do runne as it were in a circuit, and
maye be lykened to a dogge that runneth in a whele, whiche styll goeth and
laboreth, and when he maketh an ende, he is even where he begonne. And
so I do feare that men do in these dayes. Theyr tyme goeth, and they growe
in age, and yet, looke, how they lyved the last yeare, and even so they lyve
this yeare, and so wyll do the nexte : nothyng at all increasynge in vertue
nor godlynes, but do as vittelars used to do, whiche take bread and drincke
of bakers and brewers, to a daye, not payenge money in hande, but tale with
them : and when the day of payment cometh, they paye theyr money, and
strike off the old tales, and begynne agayne to tayle of newe. And even so do
we. We be very bold with God all the yeare longe, and tale with hym tyll
Lente comme : and then we be confessed, kepynge abstinence for a tyme, and
receyve the holy sacrament, and so gone as Easter is past, we begyn even to
tale of newe, and fall agayne to our olde kynde of lyvyng. Bat such be not
these that David called in this place, happy ; for they do not walke undefylcd

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 177
time, men did strive and fight for the crosse at Hierusalem, as it
had been for the chiefe and onelie force and strength of our faith.
in this way." Signat. k. 7. Imprynted by Johannes Herford, at the costes
of Robert Toye. 1545.
Again : after citing so much in conformity with Fox's representation, I
cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of producing additional evidence of
further reformation, along with the wise and admirable remarks of the author,
another protestant writer, Sir Edwin Sandys. He speaks, indeed, of a later
day; his work having been written near the close of the reign of queen
Elizabeth, A.D. 1599.
" Notwithstanding this testimony, I yield not only willingly but gladly to
them (for what joy could it be, what grief ought it not to be, to the heart of
any man, to see men fall irrecoverably from the love and laws of the Crea
tor ?) — that, at one time of the year, namely, at Lent, they are much reformed.
No such blasphemy, nor dirty speaking as before ; their vanities of all sorts
laid reasonably aside; their pleasures abandoned; their apparel, their diet,
and all things else composed to austerity and state of penitence. They have
daily, then, their preaching with collections of almes, whereto all men resort :
and to judge of them by the outward shew, they seem generally to have very
great remorse for their wickedness. In so much, that I must confess I
seemed unto myself in Italy to have best learned the right use of Lent ; there
first to have discerned the great fruit of it, and the reason for which those
sages at first did institute it. Neither can I easily accord to the fancies of
such, as because we ought at all times to lead a life worthy of our profession,
think it, therefore, superstitious to have one time wherein to exact or expect it
more than other ; but rather do thus conceive, that seeing the corruption of
times and wickedness of men's nature is now so exorbitant, that an hard
matter it is to hold the ordinary sort of men at all times within the fists of
piety, justice, and sobriety; it is fit, therefore, there should be one time at
least in the year, and that of reasonable continuance, wherein the season itself,
the use of the world and practice of all men (for even the Jews and the Turks
have their Lents, although different), the commandment of superiors, the
provision of fit means to assist therein ; and in sum, the very outward face
and expectation as it were of all things, should constrain men, how wicked
and wretchless soever, for that time, at least, to recal themselves to some
more severe cogitations and courses; lest sin, having no such bridle to
check it at any time, should at length wax headstrong and unconquer
able in them; and that, on the other side, being thus necessarily inured
for a while, though but to make a, bare shew of walking in the paths
of virtue, they might afterwards, perhaps, more sincerely and willingly
persist (as custom makes hard things pleasant), or at least wise return more
readily again unto them some other time.— And verily I have had sundry
times this cogitation in Italy, that in so great looseness of life and decay of
discipline in those parts, it was the especial great mercy and grace of God,
that the severity of Lent should yet still be preserved, lest otherwise the
floods of sin growing so strong and outragious, and having no where either
bound or bank to restrain them, might plunge that whole nation in such a
vol. I. N

178 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
It is a wonder to reade the monuments of the former times, to
see and understand what great troubles and calamities this crosse
hath caused almost in every Christian commonwealth. For the
Romish champions never ceased, by writing, admonishing, and
counselling, yea and by quarrelling, to move and stir up princes'
minds to warre and battell, even as though the faith and beleefe of
the gospell, were of small force, or little effect without that woodden
crosse. This was the cause of the expedition of the most noble
prince, king Richard, unto Hierusalem, who being taken in the
same journie, and delivered unto the emperour, could scarslie be
ransomed home againe for thirty thousand markes8. In the
same enterprise or journie, Fredericus the emperour of Rome, a
man of most excellent vertue, was much endamaged, an. 1179.
And also Philip the king of France, scarslie returned home
againe in safetie, not without great losses : — so much did they
esteeme the recovery of the holy citie and crosse 9.
Upon this alone, all men's eies, mindes and devotions, were so
set and bent, as though either there were no other crosse but
that, or that the crosse of Christ were in no other place but only
at Hierusalem. Such was the blindnesse and superstition of
those daies, which understood or knew nothing but such things
as were outwardlie seene : whereas the profession of our religion
standeth in much other higher matters and greater mysteries, —
What is the cause why Urbanus did so vexe and torment him
selfe ? Because that Antioch with the holy crosse, was lost out
of the hands of the Christians. For so wee doe find it in the
chronicles, " at what time Jerusalem with king Guido, and the

gulf of wickedness, and bring them to that last extremity, which should
leave them neither hope of better, nor place but for worse. Yea, and I was
so farr from thinking the institution of Lent superfluous, or the retaining of
it unprofitable, that I rather inclined to like the custom of the Greek Church,
who, besides the great Lent, have three other Lents also, at solemn times, in
the year ; though those other neither so long, neither yet of so strict and
general observations." Sandys's Europa Speculum, p. 21 — 23. edit. 1673.
8 Thirty thousand markes.] In p. 225, vol. i. edit. 1610, Fox tells us that the
ransom was sixty thousand marks. From Inett it appears, that the king agreed
with the emperor to pay for his ransom a hundred thousand marks, and to find
fifty galleys and two hundred knights, at his own charge, for the emperor's
service for one year. But as all this could not be raised at once, part of the
money was paid, and hostages given for the discharge of the remainder. —
Inett's Origines Anglicanee, vol. ii. p. 354.
9 And crosse.] See Index, under Crusade.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 179
crosse of our Lord was taken, and under the power of the sultan,
Urbanus took the matter so grievouslie, that for very sorrow he
died. In whose place succeeded Lambertus which was called
Gregorie the VIII., by whose motion it was decreed by the
cardinals, that (setting apart all riches and voluptuousnesse)
they should preach the crosse of Christ, and by their povertie
and humilitie first of all should take the crosse upon them, and
goe before others into the land of Jerusalem." These are the
words of the historie ; whereby it is evident unto what grosse-
nesse the true knowledge of the spirituall doctrine of the gospell
was degenerate and growne in those daies.
How great blindnesse and darknesse again, was in those daies,
in the primacie, and supremacie of the bishop of Rome; as
though the outward succession of Peter and the apostles, had
been of great force and effect to that matter ! What doth it
force in what place Peter did rule or not rule ? It is much more
to be regarded that every man should labour and studie with all
their indeavour to follow the life and confession of Peter : and
that man seemeth unto me to be the true successor of Peter,
against whom the gates of hell shall not prevaiie. For if that
Peter in the gospel do beare the type and figure of the Christian
church (as all men in a maner doe affirme) what more foolish or
vaine thing can there bee, than through privat usurpation, to
restraine and to bind that unto one man, which by the appoint
ment of the Lord, is of it selfe free and open to so many * 2"
In these so greatly troublous times, and this horrible dark-

1 To so many.] The original Latin edition, which is of good authority, and
will occasionally well repay the trouble of being consulted, by those who
have access to so scarce a volume, contains some sentences here, omitted in
the English translation (which it is of some importance to know, was not
executed by Fox himself, but, both for translation and publication, was, at
least as respects the first edition, confided to other hands ; he being, at the
time of the coming out of that edition in 1563, engaged elsewhere, in collect
ing materials for other portions of his vast and arduous undertaking) :
" Caeterarum ecclesiarum " (says he) "nihil valebant pastores, nisi quantum
ab ipso permittebatur. Solus hie non ecclesiis, sed et regnis praesidebat
omnibus. Solus terrori erat cunctis : caeteris Christi ministris parum aut
nihil tribuebatur. Ab uno pendebant ac petebantur omnia. Nusquam erat
excommunicandi jus, nusquam relaxandi autoritas, nusquam interpretandi
potestas, nisi in Romana basilica. In hac igitur tanta rerum perturbatione,"
&c, as in the English copy. " Commentarii Rerum, &c. Basilese, 1559."
Foi. p. 4.
N 2

180 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
nesse of ignorance, what time there seemed in a manner to be no
sparke of pure doctrine left or remaining, this aforesaid Wick
liffe by God's providence sprang and rose up : through whom the
Lord would first waken and raise againe the world, which was
overmuch drowned and whelmed in the deepe streames of human
traditions. — Thus you have here the time of Wickliffe's originall.
Which Wickliffe, after he had now by a long time professed
divinitie 2 in the universitie of Oxford, and perceiving the true
doctrine of Christ's gospell to be adulterate and defiled, with so
many inventions of popes, sects of monks, and darke errours, he
after long debating and deliberating with himselfe (with many
secret sighes, and bewailing in his mind the generall ignorance of
the whole world) could no longer suffer or abide the same, but
that he at last determined with himselfe to helpe and to remedie
such things as hee saw to bee wide and out of the way. But
forsomuch as he saw that this dangerous medling, could not be
attempted or stirred without great trouble, neither that these
things which had been so long time with use and custome rooted
and grafted in men's minds, could bee suddenlie plucked up
or taken away, hee thought with himselfe that this matter
should be done by little and little. Wherefore he taking his
originall at small occasions, thereby opened himselfe a way or
meane to greater matters.
And first he assailed his adversaries in logical! and meta-
physicall questions, disputing with them of the first forme and
fashion of things, of the increase of time, and of the intelligible
substance of a creature, with other such like sophemes 3 of no
great effect : but yet notwithstanding they did not a little helpe
and furnish him, which minded to dispute of greater matters.
So in these matters first began Kegningham (a Carmelite) to
dispute and argue against John Wickliffe.
By these originals, the way was made unto greater points, so
that at the length he came to touch the matters of the sacraments,
2 Professed divinitie.] He took the degree of D.D. in 1372. — Lewis, chap.
ii. p. 21.
3 Such like sophemes.] " Hit is not inoughe for a prieste (after my judge
ment) to construe a collette, to put forth a question, or to answere to a sopheme,
but moche more a good, a pure, and a holy life, approved maners, metely
lernynge of holye scripture, some knowlege of the sacramentes ; chiefly and
above all thynge the feare of God, and love ofthe heavenly lyfe." — Dean Colet's
Convocation Sermon, p. 301. Knight's edition; subjoined to his Life.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 181
and other abuses of the church. Touching which things this
holy man tooke great paines, protesting (as they said) openlie in
the schooles, that it was his chiefe and principall purpose and
intent to revoke and call backe the church from her idolatrie to
some better amendment, especially in the matter of the sacrament
of the bodie and blood of Christ. — But this boil or sore could not
bee touched without the great griefe and paine of the whole
world. For first of all, the whole glut of monks, and begging-
friers * were set on a rage or madnesse, which (even as hornets
with their sharpe stings) did assaile this good man on every side.
After them the priests, and then after them the archbishop took
the matter in hand, being then Simon Sudburie, who for the
same cause deprived him of his benefice, which then he had in
4 Begging friers.] The ecclesiastical history of these ages is full of the
ambitious encroachments, the hypocrisy, and the immoralities of the men
dicant orders. Their vices, which they endeavoured to hide under the cloke
of extraordinary zeal and sanctity, gave many deep and lasting wounds to the
interests of truth and of religion. The reader may not be displeased to see
their general character well drawn by one who had studied them nearly — the
learned Henry Wharton ; a man by whose premature death the ecclesiastical
history of this country, and other departments of literature, sustained incal
culable losses.
"These mendicant orders arose and chiefly infested the church in the
thirteenth age. They pretended an extraordinary call from God to reform
the world, and correct the faults of the secular clergy. To this end they put
on a mighty shew of zeal for the good of men's souls, and of contempt of the
world : accused the secular clergy of famishing the souls of men, called them
dumb dogs, and cursed hirelings : maintained that evangelical poverty became
the ministers of the gospel : that it was unlawful for them to possess any
thing, or to retain propriety in any worldly goods. As for the publick orders
of the church, they would not be tied to them, alleging, that themselves being
wholly spiritual, could not be obliged to any carnal ordinances. They broke
in every where upon the parochial clergy ; usurped their office ; in all popu
lous and rich places, set up altars of their own ; withdrew the people from
the communion of their parish priest; would scarce allow the hopes of sal
vation to any but their own disciples, whom they bewitched with great pre
tences of sanctity, and assiduity in preaching. These artifices had raised
their reputation and interest so high in a few years, that they wanted very
little to ruin the secular clergy, and therewith the church. But in less than
an age the cheat of these impostors became manifest to all men. They pro
cured to their societies incredible riches, built to themselves stately palaces ;
infinitely surpassed that viciousness of which themselves had (perhaps un
justly) accused the secular clergy ; and long before the Reformation, became
the most infamous and contemptible part of the church of Rome." — Defence
of Pluralities. P. 9, 10. a.d. 1692, and 1703. Edit. 2.

182 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
Oxford. — Notwithstanding, he being somewhat friended and sup
ported by the king 5, as appeareth, continued, and bare out the
malice of the friers, and of the archbishop all this while of his
first beginning, till about the yeere of our Lord, 1377. — After
which time now to prosecute likewise of his troubles and conflict,
first I must fetch about a little compasse, as requisite is, to
inferre some mention of John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster the
king's sonne, and lord Henrie Percie °, which were his speciall
maintainers. As yeeres and time grew on, king Edward the third, which
had raigned now about fifty-one yeeres, after the decease of
prince Edward his sonne, who departed the yeere before, was
stricken in great age, and in such feeblenesse withall, that he
was unweldie through lacke of strength to governe the affaires of
the realme. Wherefore a parliament being called the yeere
before his death, it was there put up by the knights and other
the burgesses of the parliament (because of the misgovernment
of the realme by certaine greedie persons about the king, raking
all to themselves, without seeing any justice done) that twelve
sage and discreet lords, and peeres, such as were free from note
of all avarice, should be placed as tutours about the king, to have
the doing and disposing under him (sixe at one time, and in
their absence sixe at another) of matters pertinent to the publike
regiment. These twelve governors by the parliament aforesaid being
appointed to have the tuition of the king, and to attend to the
publike affaires of the realme, remained for a certaine space
about him, till afterward it so fell out, that they being againe
removed, all the regiment of the realme next under the king,
was committed to the duke of Lancaster the king's son. For as
5 Supported by the king.] In the forty-eighth year of Edward III. (a.d. 1374)
Wickliffe, then reader in divinity in Oxford, was the second named in a com
mission from that prince to treat with ambassadors from the pope, of matters
in dispute between the realm of England and the see of Rome, respecting re
stitutions of benefices and elections and confirmations of bishops.
Again, in the year 1375, Nov. 6, the prebend of Aust, in the collegiate
church of Westbury, Worcester diocese, was given to him by the king : and
about the same time, adds Lewis (chap, hi.), " he seems to have been pre
sented (by the king) to the rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire."— Fox,
p. 390; Lewis, chap. 3.
" Lord Henrie Percie.] i. e. Henry Percy, third Lord Percy of Alnwick,
and first Earl of Northumberland. He was father of Hotspur.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 183
yet Richard the sonne of prince Edward lately departed, was
very young and under age.
This duke of Lancaster had in his heart of long time conceived
a certaine displeasure against the clergie ; whether for corrupt
and impure doctrine, joyned with like abominable excesse of
life, or for what other cause, it is not precisely expressed. Onely
by storie the cause thereof may be gessed, to rise by William
Wickam bishop of Winchester. The matter is this.
The bishop of AVinchester was reported to affirme, that the
aforesaid John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, was not the sonne
of king Edward, nor of the queene. Who being in travell at
Gaunt, had no sonne (as he said) but a daughter ; which the
same time by lying upon of the mother in the bed, was there
smothered. Whereupon, the queene fearing the kings displeasure,
caused a certaine manchild of a woman of Flanders (borne the
very same time) to be conveied and brought unto her in stead of
her daughter aforesaid, and so brought up the child whom shee
bare not, who now is called duke of Lancaster. And this (said
the bishop) did the queene tell him, lying in extreemes on
her deathbed, under seale of confession; charging him if the
said duke should ever aspire to get the crowne, or if the king-
dome by any meanes should fall unto him, he then should manifest
the same, and declare it to the world, that the said duke of
Lancaster was no part of the kings bloud, but a false heire of the
king. — This slanderous report of the wicked bishop ', seemeth to
proceed of a subtill zeale toward the popes religion : for that the
foresaid duke by favouring of Wickliffe, declared himselfe to be
a professed enemie against the popes profession. Which thing
1 The wicked bishop.] Bishop Lowth, in his Life of William qf Wykeham
(p. 143—146, edit. 2d) discards the whole of this story as altogether absurd
and incredible. The D. of Lancaster, he remarks, was the seventh child ofthe
king, and the fourth son, of whom only the second son and the fourth
daughter died in their infancy. Can we suppose then, he asks, that the king
would be very desirous of another son, or the queen under any temptation to
impose one upon him ?— Without taking any part in the dispute, we may be
permitted to remark, that the bishop's argument proceeds in the neglect of a
part of the alleged circumstances of the case. It does not appear in the story
that it was a son that the queen wished to impose, so much as a child, in lieu
of that which she is said to have smothered, and in dread of the king's dis
pleasure. "If a woman by negligence" (says Chaucer) "overlyeth her
child in her sleeping, it is homicide and deadly sin."— Parson's Tale. P. 182.
Edit. 1687.

184 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
was then not unknowne, neither unmarked of the prelats and
bishops then in England.— But the sequell of the storie thus
followed :
This slanderous report being blazed abroad, and comming to
the dukes eare, he therewith being not a little discontented (as
no marvell was) sought again by what meanes he could, to bee
revenged of this forenamed bishop. In conclusion, the duke
having now all the government of the realme under the king his
father, in his owne hand, so pursued the bishop of Winchester,
that by act of parliament, he was condemned and deprived of all
his temporall goods, which goods were assigned to prince Richard
of Burdeux, the next inheritour of the crowne after the king ;
and furthermore the act inhibited the said bishop not to approach
neere to the court by twenty miles.
Not long after in the yeere of our Lord, 1377, a parliament
was called by the meanes of the duke of Lancaster, upon certaine
causes and respects ; in which parliament great request and suite
was made by the clergie for the deliverance of the bishop of
Winchester. At length when a subsidie was asked in the kings
name of the clergie, and request also made in the kings behalfe
for speedie expedition to bee made for the dissolving of the parlia
ment, the archbishop therefore accordingly convented the bishops
for the tractation thereof. To whom the bishops with great lamen
tation complained for lacke of their fellow and brother bishop of
Winton. Whose injurie, said they, did derogate to the liberties
of the whole church : and therefore denied to joyne themselves
in tractation of any such matters, before all the members together
were united with the head : and (seeing the matter touched them
all together in common, as well him as them) they would not
otherwise doe : and seemed moreover to be mooved against the
archbishop for that hee was not more stout in the cause, but
suffered him to be cited of the duke.
The archbishop although having sufficient cause to excuse
himselfe, wherefore not to send for him because of the perils
which might ensue thereof; yet being inforced and perswaded
thereunto, by the importunitie of the bishops, directed downe his
letters to the foresaid bishop of Winton, willing him to resort
unto the convocation of the clergie ; who being glad to obay the
same, was received with great joy of the other bishops. And at
length the said Winchester was restored to his owne tempo
ralities againe.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 185
As the bishops had thus sent for Winchester, the duke in the
mean time had sent for John Wickliffe : who, as is said, was
then the divinitie reader in Oxford, and had commenced in
sundrie acts and disputations, contrary to the forme and teaching
of the popes church in many things : who also for the same had
been deprived of his benefice, as hath been afore touched.
The opinions which he began in Oxford, first in his lectures
and sermons to intreat of, and wherefore hee was deprived, were
these : That the pope had no more power to excommunicate
any man, than hath another. That if it bee given by any person
to the pope to excommunicate, yet to absolve the same is as
much in the power of another priest, as in his. He affirmed
moreover, that neither the king nor any temporall lord could
give any perpetuitie to the church, or to any ecclesiasticall per
son : for that when such ecclesiasticall persons doe sinne, habi-
tualiter, continuing in the same still, the temporall powers ought
and may meritoriouslie, take away from them, that before hath
been bestowed upon them. And that hee proved, to have been
practised before here in England by William Rufus. Which
thing (said he) if he did lawfully, why may not the same also be
practised now ? if he did it unlawfully, then doth the church erre
(saith hee) and doth unlawfully in praying for him. — But of his
assertions more shall follow (Christ willing) hereafter. The storie
which ascribeth to him these assertions being taken out of the
monasterie of S. Albans, addeth withall, that in his teaching and
preaching hee was very eloquent, but a dissembler (saith he)
and an hypocrite. Why he surmiseth him to bee an hypocrite, the
cause was this : because he and his fellowes usually accustomed
in their preaching to goe barefoot, and in simple russet gownes ".
By this I suppose, may sufficiently appeare to the indifferent,
the nature and condition of Wickliffe, how farre it was from am
bition and pride ; the slanderous penne of Polydore Virgil, re
porting of him (in his nineteenth book), that because he was not
preferred to higher honors and dignities of the church (con-
8 Simple russet gownes.] In the parliament of 1382, it was, with other ar
ticles, objected against Wickliffe and his followers, that they taught, that
"ecclesiastical men ought not to ride on such great horses, nor use so large
jewels, precious garments, or delicate entertainments ; but to renounce them
all, and give them to the poor, walking on foot, and taking staves in their
hands, to take on them the appearance of poor men, giving others example by
their conversation." — Lewis's Life, &c. p. 105.

186 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
ceiving therefore indignation against the clergy) he became their
mortall enemie. How true this was. He only knoweth best, that
rightly shall judge both the one and the other. In the mean
time, by other circumstances and parts of his life, we may con
jecture what is to be thought of the man.
But to return from whence we digressed. Beside these his
opinions and assertions above recited, with other moe, which are
hereafter to bee brought in order, hee began also then something
neerelie to touch the matter of the sacrament, prooving that in
the said sacrament, the accidences of bread 9 remained not without
the subject, or substance, both by the holie scriptures, and also
by the authoritie of the doctors, but especially by such as were
most ancient. As for the latter writers, that is to say such as
have written upon that argument under the thousand yeeres
since Christ's time, hee utterly refused them ; saying, that after
these yeeres Satan was loosed 10 and set at libertie : and that
9 Accidences of bread.] " They seyen that this sacrament is neither bread,
ne Christ's body, but accidents withouten suject (subject), and there under is
Christ's body. This is not taught in holy writ, but is fully agenst St. Austin,
and holy saints, and reason, and wit." — "Wickliffe, in Lewis's History, p. 80.
In Jewel's famous challenge at Paul's Cross, this was one ofthe articles whieh
he called upon the Romanists to prove to be a doctrine of the church within
the six first centuries ; " that in the sacrament, after the words of consecration
there remain only the accidents and shews, without the substance of bread
and wine." In his answer to this challenge Master Harding openly declares,
that " in this sacrament, after consecration, nothing in substance remaineth
that was before, neither bread, nor wine, but only the accidents of bread and
wine, as their form and shape, savor, smell, colour, weight, and such like,
which here have their being miraculously, without their subject : forasmuch
as after consecration there is none other substance, than the substance of the
body and blood of our Lord, which is not affected with such accidents ; which
doctrine, though not with these precise terms, hath ahvays been taught and
believed from the beginning." — Jewel's Reply, p. 312, 313. Edit. 1609.
10 Satan was loosed.] " Wickliffe maintained, that the loosing of Satan
(Rev. xx. 1, &c.) commenced in the second millenary after Christ's ascension,
and that after this loosing of him, the church notably swerved from following
after Christ. Of this he gave some instances : as, the opinion that grace
may be bought and sold, a3 an ox or an ass ; and as a consequence of it,
making merchandize with the buying of pardons, and blotting out of sin ;
the error concerning the eucharist, that it is an accident without a substance ;
the giving the preference to the pope's bulls, and neglecting the Holy Scrip
tures. From hence he dates the rise of the several sects of friers, whom he
calls the tail of the dragon ; and compares them to the locusts which came
out of the bottomless pit." — Lewis's Life, &c. p. 151.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 187
since that time the life of man hath bin most subject to and in
danger of errors : that the simple and plaine truthe appeares and
consists in the scriptures, whereunto all human traditions what
soever they be, must be referred ; and speciallie such as are set
forth and published now of late yeeres. This was the cause why
he refused the latter writers of decretals, leaning onelie to the
scriptures and ancient doctors; most stoutly affirming out of
them, — in the sacrament of the bodie which is celebrate with
bread, the accidents not to bee present without the substance :
that is to say, that the bodie of Christ is not present without the
bread, as the common sort of priests in those daies did dreame.
As for his arguments what they were, wee will shortly at more
opportunitie by God's grace, declare them in another place. — But
herein the truth (as the poet speaketh very truely) had gotten
John Wickliffe great displeasure and hatred at many men's
hands ; and specially of the monks and richest sort of priests.
Albeit, through the favour and supportation of the duke of Lan
caster, and Lord Henry Percie, hee persisted hitherto in some
meane quiet against their violence and crueltie : till at last, about
the yeere of our Lord 1376, the bishops, still urging and inciting
their archbishop Simon Sudburie, (who before had deprived him,
and afterward prohibited him also to stir any more in those sorts
of matters,) had obtained by processe an order of citation to have
him brought before them. — Whereunto both place and time for
him to appeare after their usuall forme was to him assigned.
The duke having intelligence that Wickliffe his client should
come before the bishops, fearing that he being but one, was too
weake against such a multitude, called to him out of the orders
of friers *, foure bachelers of divinitie, out of every order one, to
1 The orders of friers.] It seems strange that Wickliffe should have among
his supporters, four individuals drawn from the four Mendicant Orders ; and
Lewis questions the fact, accounting the thing " very improbable, as Dr. W.,
by detecting their frauds, superstitions and wickednesses, had made of them
all his enemies." (Life, &c. p. 56.) I am not able to solve the difficulty. Still,
two distinct considerations present themselves, which may perhaps in some
degree extenuate it. (I.) There was much of political contention, and of
struggle for professional and sectarian aggrandisement, intermixing itself in
all these disputes ; and we must not forget, that in consenting to assist W.
these friers were recommending themselves to the most powerful individuals
in the kingdom, the D. of Lancaster, and E. Percy, the lord marshal. (2.)
There existed a " bellum plusquam civile" between the religious orders and
the secular clergy ; and the friers might be willing to be friends of Wickliffe
because they were bitter enemies of Sudbury, Courtney and the bishops, by

188 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
joyne them with Wickliffe also for more suretie. When the day
was come assigned to the said Wickliffe to appeare, which day
was Thursday, the nineteenth of Februarie; John Wickliffe
went, accompanied with the foure friers aforesaid, and with them
also the duke of Lancaster, and lord Henrie Percie, lord marshall
of England, the said lord Percie also going before them to make
roome and way wherewith Wickliffe should come.
Thus Wickliffe (through the providence of God) being suffi
ciently garded, was comming to the place where the bishops sate :
whom by the way his friends animated and exhorted not to feare
nor shrinke a whit at the companie of the bishops there present,
who were all unlearned (said they) in respect of him ; (for so
proceed the words of my foresaid author, whom I follow in this
narration) neither that he should dread the concourse of the
people, for they would themselves assist and defend him, in such
sort as he should take no harme. With these words, and with
the assistance of the nobles, Wickliffe in heart incouraged, ap-
procheth to the church of S. Paul in London, where a maine
prease ' of people was gathered together to heare what should be
said and done. Such was there the frequencie and throng of the
multitude, that the lords (for all the puissance of the high mar
shall) unneth 3 with great difficultie could get way through. In-
whom he was now persecuted. The "bare feet" also, and "the russet gowns,"
of which we have read, seem to indicate something of a tendency to alliance
and conformity in external circumstances at least, between the Lollards and
the begging friers. Again : we shall see below, that Repington, a partizan of
Wickliffe, and a canon of Leicester, preaching at Oxford, did not scruple in
his sermon to press upon his academic hearers, that "the D. of Lancaster
was very earnestly affected and minded in this matter, and would that all
such should be received under his protection ;" besides many things more
which touched the praise and defence of Wickliffe. . . But, what if, after
all, these friers were brought thither only as so many hostages for the per
sonal safety and inviolability of Wickliffe ?
2 A maine prease.] A great press of people.
3 Unneth.] Hardly, with difficulty. Thus the Festival in the legend of St.
Thomas Becket : " And in especyall the kinges palayes at London and at
Westminster that was all lete fallen downe, betwene Easter and Wytsontide
Thomas made to repayre it ayen ; for he hadde there so many werkmen of
dyverse craftes, that a man sholde unnethe here his felowe speke for donnynges
of strokes." Foi. 78. b. Again, of the begging friars, who travelled about
the country under the pretence of raising money for building churches, &c.
 These bilderes wiln beggen a bag ful of whete
Of a pure poor man that may onethe paye
Half his rent in a yere, and half ben behynde.
Pierce the Ploughman's Creed. A.D. 1653. — 4to.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 189
somuch, that the bishop of London, (whose name was William
Courtney) seeing the stir that the lord marshall kept in the
church among the people, speaking to the lord Percie, said ; that
if hee had knowne before what maistries hee would have kept in
the church, he would have stopped him out from comming there.
At which words of the bishop, the duke disdaining not a little,
answered to the bishop againe, and said, that hee would keep such
mastrie there, though he said nay.
At last, after much wrastling, they pierced through and came
to our Ladies chapell, where the dukes and barons were sitting,
together with the archbishops and other bishops, before whom
the forsaid John Wickliffe according to the manner, stood, to
know what should be laid unto him. To whom first spake the
lord Percie, bidding him to sit downe, saying, that he had many
things to answer to, and therefore had neede of some softer seat.
But the bishop of London cast eftsoones into a furnish chafe with
those words ; said, he should not sit there. Neither was it, said
he, according to law or reason, that he which was cited there to
appeare to answere before his ordinarie, should sit downe during
the time of his answer, but should stand. Upon these words a
fire began to heat and kindle betweene them, insomuch that they
began to rate and to revile one the other, and the whole multi
tude therewith disquieted, began to be set in a hurrey.
Then the duke taking the lord Percies part, with hastie words
began also to take up the bishop. To whom the bishop againe,
nothing inferior in reprochful checkes and rebukes, did render
and requite not only to him as good as hee brought ; but also did
so farre excell him, in this railing art of scolding, that to use the
words of mine author, Erubuit dux quod non potuit prcevalere
litigio : " the duke blushed and was ashamed, because he could
not overpasse the bishop in brawling and railing ; " and therefore
fell to plaine threatning, menacing the bishop, that he would
bring downe the pride not onely of him, but also of all the pre-
lacie of England. And speaking moreover unto him : " Thou,"
(said hee) " bearest thyselfe so brag upon thy parents i, which
shall not be able to helpe thee : they shall have enough to doe to
help themselves." For his parents were the earle and coun-
tesse of Devonshire. To whom the bishop againe answered, that
4 Thy parents.] See Gibbon's " Digression on the Family of Courtenay,"
at the end of the sixty-first chapter of his Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire.

190 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
to bee bold to tell truth, his confidence was not in his parents,
nor in any man else, but only in God in whom he trusted. Then
the duke softly whispering in the ear of him next by him, said
that he would rather plucke out the bishop by the haire of his
head out of the church, then he would take this at his hand.
This was not spoken so secretlie, but that the Londoners over
heard him. Whereupon being set in a rage, they cried out, say
ing ; that they would not suffer their bishop so contemptuouslie to
be abused ; but rather they would lose their lives, then that he
should so be drawne out by the haire. — Thus that councell being
broken with scolding and brawling for that day, was dissolved
before nine of the clocke 5.
Upon the 12th day of the month of June, in the year 1377,
died the worthie and victorious prince king Edward the third,
after hee had raigned fifty-one yeeres. A prince no more aged
in yeeres then renowned for many singular and heroicall vertues,
but principally noted and lauded for his singular meeknesse and
clemencie towards his subjects and inferiors, ruling them by gen-
tlenesse and mercie, without all rigour or austere severitie.
Among other noble and royall ornaments of his nature, worthilie
and copiouslie set forth of many, thus hee is described of some,
which may brieflie suffice for the comprehension of all the rest :
" To the orphans hee was as a father, compatient to the afflicted,
mourning with the miserable, relieving the oppressed, and to all
them that wanted, an helper in time of neede : " but chiefly
above all other things, in this prince to bee commemorate in my
mind, is this ; that hee above all other kings of this realme, unto
the time of king Henrie the eight, was the greatest brideler of
the popes usurped power and outragious oppressions : during all
the time of which king, neither the pope could greatly prevaile
in this realme, and also John Wickliffe was maintained with
favour and aid sufficient.
But before we close up the storie of this king, there commeth to
hand that which I thought not good to omit, a noble purpose of
the king in requh-ing a view to be taken in all his dominions of
all benefices and dignities ecclesiasticall remaining in the hands
of Italians and aliens, with the true valuation of the same directed
downe by commission ; the tenour of which commission I thought
hereunder to set downe for worthie memorie.
" Of the clocked] Compare Lewis's Life, chap. iv.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 191
The Tiing directed writs unto all the bishops of England in this
forme.
" Edward by the grace of God king, &c. To the reverend
father in Christ N. by the same grace bishop of L. greeting.
Being willing upon certaine causes, to bee certified what and how
many benefices as well archdeaconries and other dignities, as
vicarages, parsonages, prebends and chapels, within your dio-
cesse, be at this present in the hands of Italians and other
strangers, what they be, of what value, and how every of the said
benefices be called by name : and how much every of the same is
worth by the yeere, not as by way of taxe or extent, but ac
cording to the true value of the same : likewise of the names of
all and singuler such strangers being now incumbents or occupy
ing the same and every of them : moreover the names of al them,
whether Englishmen or strangers, of what state or condition
soever they be, which have the occupation or disposition of any
such benefices with the fruits and profits of the same, in the be-
halfe or by the authority of any of the aforesaid strangers, by
way of farme, or title of procuration, or by any other waies or
meanes whatsoever, and how long they have occupied or disposed
the same ; and withall if any the said strangers be now residents
upon any benefices, wee command you, as we heretofore com
manded you, that you send us a true certificat of al and singuler
the premisses, into our high court of Chancerie, under your seale
distincthe and openlie, on this side the feast of the ascension of
our Lord next comming, without further delay ; returning unto
us this our writ withall. Witnesse our selfe, at Westminster
16. day of Aprill in the 48. yeere of our raigne of England, and
over France the 35. yeere." (A.D. 1374.)
By vertue hereof certificat was sent up to the king into his
chancery, out of every diocesse of England, of all such spirituall
livings as were then in the occupation either of priors aliens, or
of other strangers, whereof the number was so great 6, as being
6 The number was so greats] Even so early as the reign of Henry IIL,
according to Matthew Paris, the annual amount of the benefices in the hands
of Italians in this kingdom was seventy thousand marks, more than three
times the value of the whole revenue of the crown. M. Paris in vit. Hen-
rici IIL, ad. ann. 1252. — Fox. p. 262. Grosthed bishop of Lincoln having
protested loudly against these enormities, and baffled pope Innocent IV.

192 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
all set downe, would fill almost halfe a quier of paper. Wherby
may appeare that it was high time for the king to seeke remedie 7
herein, either by treatie with the pope or otherwise ; considering
so great a portion of the revenues of his realme was by this
meanes conveied away and employed either to the releefe of his
enemies, or maintenance of the forrainers ; amongst which num
ber, the cardinals of the court of Rome lacked not their share ".
in his design of making a like provision for one of his nephews ; the Chro
niclers tell us that the pope had determined, after Grosthed's death, that his
bones should be disinterred, and he condemned as a heretic. Grosthed,
however, the same Chroniclers tell us, put a stop to this design, by appearing
unexpectedly to the pope, reprehending him very severely, and inforcing the
lecture by smiting him on the side with a vehement stroke from the butt-end
of his crosier. — Matt. Par. ann. 1254. See Index, under Benefices in the
hands of foreigners. — Compare also Lewis's Life, &c, chap. iii.
7 To seeke remedie.] It was with this view that the commission was appointed
in this year, in which the name of Wickliffe stands second, and of which
mention was made in the note above, p. 182.
8 Their share.] " But all treaties with that corrupt court signified very
little : for, though it was now (a.d. 1376) agreed, that the pope should make
no more use of reservation of benefices : yet we find it complained of in par
liament, the very next year after the conclusion of this treaty, that the pope
did make reservation of dignities elective contrary to this treaty of his, con
cluded with K. Edward III.
" This very same year, in which this treaty with the pope was made, a long
bill was brought into the House of Parliament against the papal usurpations,
as the cause of all the plagues, injuries, famine, and poverty of the realm. It
was remonstrated by them (Cotton's Abridgment of Records, p. 128) that 'the
tax paid to the pope of Rome for ecclesiastical dignities doth amount to five
fold as much as the tax of all the profits which appertain to the king, by the
year, of this whole realm; and for some one bishopric, or other dignity, the
pope, by way of translation and death, hath three, four, or five several taxes ;
that the brokers of that sinful city, for money, promote many caitiffs, being
altogether unlearned and unworthy, to a thousand marks living yearly;
whereas the learned and worthy can hardly obtain twenty marks ; whereby
learning decayeth. That aliens, enemies to this land, who never saw, nor
care to see their parishioners, have those livings ; whereby they despise God's
service, and convey away the treasure of the realm ; and are worse than Jews
or Saracens. It is therefore, say they, to be considered, that the law of the
church would have such livings bestowed for charity only, without praying or
paying : that reason would that livings given of devotion should be bestowed
in hospitality : that God hath given his sheep to the pope to be pastured, and
not shorn or shaven : that lay-patrons, perceiving this simony and covet
ousness of the pope, do thereby learn to sell their own benefices to beasts, no
otherwise than Christ was sold to the Jews : that there is none so rich a prince
in Christendom, who hath the fourth part of so much treasure as the pope

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 193
After king Edward the third, succeeded his sonnes sonne,
Richard the second, being yet but young, of the age of eleven
hath out of this realm, for churches, most sinfully. They further remon
strated that the pope's collector and other strangers, the king's enemies,
being only leiger spies for English dignities, and disclosing the secrets of the
realm, ought to be discharged : that the same collector being also receiver of
the pope's pence, keepeth an house in London, with clerks and officers there
unto belonging, as if it were one of the king's solemn courts, transporting
yearly to the pope twenty thousand marcs, and most commonly more : that
cardinals and other aliens remaining at the court of Rome (whereof one
cardinal is a dean of York, another of Salisbury, another of Lincoln, another
archdeacon of Canterbury, another archdeacon of Durham, another arch
deacon of Suffolk, and another archdeacon of York; another prebendary of
Thane and Nassington ; another prebendary of York, in the diocese of York),
have divers other the best dignities in England, and have sent over yearly
unto them twenty thousand mares, over and above that which English
brokers buying here have : that the pope, to ransom Frenchmen, the king's
enemies, who defend Lombardy for him, doth always, at his pleasure, levy a
subsidy of the whole clergy of England : that the pope, for more gain, maketh
sundry translations of all the bishopricks, and other dignities, within the
realm : that the pope's collector hath this year taken to his use the first-fruits
of all benefices : that therefore it would be good to renew all the statutes
against provisions from Rome, since the pope reserveth all the benefices of
the world for his own proper gift, and hath, within this year, created twelve
new cardinals ; so that now there are thirty, whereas there were wont to be
but twelve in all ; and all the said thirty cardinals, except two or three, are
the king's enemies : that the pope, in time, will give the temporal manors or
dignities to the king's enemies, since he daily usurpeth upon the realm, and
the king's regality : that all houses and corporations of religion, which, from
the king, ought to have free elections of their heads, the pope hath now ac
croached the same unto himself : that in all legatines from the pope what
soever, the English heareth the charge of the legates ; and all for the good
ness of our money. It also appeareth, they say, that if the money of the
realm were as plentiful as ever, the collector aforesaid, with the cardinal's
proctors, would soon convey away the same. For remedy whereof, they ad
vise it may be provided, that no such collector or proctor do remain in
England, upon pain of life and limb ; and that, on the like pain, no English
man become any such collector or proctor, or remain at the court of Rome.
For better information hereof, and namely, touching the pope's collector ;
for that the whole clergy, being obedient to him, dare not displease him, they
say, it were good that Dr. John Strensall, parson of St. Botolph's in Hol-
borne, be sent for to come before the lords and commons of this parliament,
who, being straitly charged, can declare much more, for that he served the
same collector in house five years." It was further complained, that "by
this unbridled multitude of apostolical provisions, as the pope's disposals of
church-benefices by his bulls were called, the lawful patrons of the several
benefices were deprived of their right of collation or presentation ; the noble
VOL. I. O

194 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
yeeres ; who in the same yeer of his fathers decease with great
pompe and solemnitie was crowned at Westminster, an. 1377,
who, following his fathers steppes, was no great disfavourer 9 of
and learned natives of England would be wholly excluded from all church-
preferment, however, of such as was valuable or honourable, so that, as was
observed before, there would in time be a defect of council as to those matters
that concern the spirituahtie, and none would be found fit to be promoted to
ecclesiastical prelacies : that divine worship would be impaired, hospitalitie
and alms would be neglected, contrary to the primary intention and designs
of the founders of the churches : that the legal rights of the respective
churches would be lost, the church buildings would all go to ruine, and the
devotion of the people be lessened and withdrawn." — Lewis's Life of Wick
liffe, p. 34—7.
9 No great disfavourer.] Many years before, viz. so long ago as the year
1366, and several years previously to his being raised to his doctor's degree
at Oxford, Wickliffe had taken a leading part in a public concern of great
moment, and such as was likely to recommend him to the favourable opinion
of the crown, and to the friends of the monarchy, and of the liberties and in
dependence of England. This affair it will be proper briefly to notice here,
both on account of its intrinsic importance, and of the influence which it
probably had on the whole of Wickliffe's future history; and also because no
mention of it whatever is made in Fox's history. The general circumstances
of the case may be sufficiently understood by an extract from the Parliamen
tary History of England (vol. i. p. 130), already produced in a note on the
Preface to his History, given above from Dr. Inett, p. 23. There it will be
seen, that king Edward III. had recently received a threatening summons from
the pope, to pay up the arrears of tribute claimed from Rome as due by the
crown of England, in pursuance of the submission and treaty of Edward's
ancestor, king John. On this, the king consults the two houses of parliament,
and their counsel and advice we have in the extract above mentioned. It
further appears (Lewis's Life of W., p. 19 — 21) that a monk had ventured
into the field to advocate the demands of the pope ; and in so doing had
maintained three distinct theses or positions. 1. The pope's right to the
homage, as from the concession and grant of king John (which was the point
immediately in dispute). 2. That temporal lords may in no case lawfully
take away the goods of churchmen. (Quod sit falsum et pseudo-evangelicum,
quod domini temporales possunt in aliquo casu legitime auferre ab ecclesiasticis
bona sua.) 3. That the clergy may in no case be brought before a secular
tribunal. (Quod in nullo casu licet viros ecclesiasticos coram seculari judice
conveniri.) Against these positions Wickliffe takes upon himself the cha
racter of respondent, alleging as a reason, or excuse, that he was in a special
relation of service and duty to the crown: (ego cum sim peculiaris regis cle-
ricus.) The part therefore which he assumes, it is material to observe, is a
defensive one, not an offensive ; one imposed by circumstances, and not un
dertaken in a speculative and innovating, much less a revolutionary temper
of mind. No : the church, if we speak of it in contradistinction to the
state, was the innovator, the traitor, and rebel; and his arguments and reasons

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 195
the way and doctrine of Wickliffe, albeit at the first beginning,
partly through the iniquitie of the time, partly through the
we possess in a document under his own hand ; a copy of which is given by
Lewis (Records, No. 30, p. 349 — 56), under the title, Determinatio quadam Ma-
gistri Joannis Wyclyffde dominio contra unum monachum. The document in its
construction is remarkable ; and its contents are highly curious and valuable.
The thesis discussed, at much the greatest length, is the first above-men
tioned; and the argument upon this he has conducted under the garb or
disguise of a debate, which he represents to have been reported to him from
the house of peers. It is as if it might have been a debate furnished by Dr.
Johnson to Cave for the Gentleman's Magazine; only the speeches here
given, seven in number, and short, are all on one side, that which Wickliffe
himself espoused. Whether this determination was published antecedently
to the actual debate mentioned in the Parliamentary History, we are not in
formed. I presume it to be probable however that it was ; and in such case,
it may easily be beheved to have had considerable influence on the decision
of parliament. The seven speeches are so many several distinct and separate
arguments why the pope's claim was to be withstood : and their united force,
it cannot be doubted, is such as must have galled the pope exceedingly ;
and (to say nothing of the poor monk) is more a great deal than he and his
whole conclave of cardinals could have found it easy to reply to by any
arguments but those of persecution. To the seventh and concluding peer
that particular topic is reserved which appears of itself to have been deemed
sufficient and satisfactory by the parliament ; viz. that " neither king John, nor
any other king, could bring himself, his realm and people, under such sub
jection, without their consent, which had not been given ; that the act was
contrary to his coronation oath ; and that he was notoriously compelled to
it, solely by the necessity of his affairs, and the iniquity of the times."
The discussion on the other two questions is, as we have intimated, much
more concise. It may be sufficient for our present purpose to say, that
mainly, and in general, he rests them both on the laws, the adjudged cases, and
the customs oi the realm : — that " cum jura et consuetudines Angliae affirmant
licere judicibus secularibus in causa proditionis, furti, homicidii, et similibus
convenire religiosos in curia regis," he who denies that this may be done*
" videtur impugnare jura et consuetudines regni ;" that all the monk's alle
gations and arguments to the contrary are only to be understood, " quod non
licet tradere clericum ad tale examen, nisi juris casu et ordine reservatis et ob-
servatis :" which he, W., not only does not deny, but affirms ; and that his
own position is " quod bullae, leges et consuetudines prohibentes ablationes
temporalium " from ecclesiastics, can and ought to be understood only " de
ablationibus injustis." It was the same kind of argument that he maintained
not unfrequently in his Enghsh writings. "If they say that secular men
schulde not judge clerks, however they have done, since thei have proper juges
as popes and bischopes, and other juges under them; wel I woot" (con
tinues W.) " that men were wont by jugement of Yngland to dampne prestis
and clerkis for robberie and thefte, and also for traiterie, and for other smale
trespas ; — and gif thei now denye this, thei denye the regalia." (Lewis, p. 153.)
o 2

196 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
popes letters, hee could not doe that hee would. Notwith
standing something he did in that behalfe, more perhaps then in
" Men wondren why they cursen the king and his true officers, that for felony,
or debt, or eschet taken his (the priest's) goods against the will of a false
priest and traitour, and taken no heed whether they dun this by processe of
law or else by extortion or tirantrie. Thei saiden at London, that it is errour
to seie that secular lords may, at their doom, take temporal goods fro the church
that trespasseth by long custom. If this be errour, then the king and secular
lords may take no farthing ne farthing worth fro a worldly clerk, though he
owe him and his liege men never so much goods, and maye well paye it, and
woll not. And thus the kinge shall be cursed, if he do righteousness, and
bring a Sathanas out of his old sin and theft, which the king is bounded for
to do by God's own word." (Lewis, p. 122.)
This whole proceeding, it cannot be doubted, if it did not first occasion,
did at least further greatly inflame the hostility of the dignified ecclesiastics,
and of the regular orders, against Wickliffe. They would not fail to cry out
against him as a traitor to the rights of holy church. And it is very material
to observe, that we possess in this discussion the germ and even the substance
of several of those articles (and some which are among those that to modern
ears sound the most harshly), which many years after were gathered together,
and objected by them against Wickliffe : circumstances, therefore, these are
which ought in justice to be borne in mind, when we shall come hereafter to
consider any of those articles, under the naked and abstract forms in which
they were subsequently propounded against him by his adversaries. The
true meaning can only be obtained by adverting to the controversies of the
times, and the real aim and objects of the two contending parties. Mean
while I must content myself with asking, Is there any thing to be found fault
with in W. undertaking to answer the monk on all or any of those three
questions above enumerated ; or in the light in which he appears to have
viewed them ; and in the arguments by which he seems to have sustained his
cause ? On the contrary, does not the part taken by him justify us in re
garding him as a true friend of his country, a sound politician, a wise philo
sopher, and a sober and enlightened Christian ?
But the condition into which the kingdom, or rather the whole of Christen
dom was thrown, by the monstrous ambition of the popes, produced things
much more serious than such a controversy as the preceding. Pope Boniface
the eighth, for example, about the year 1300, and in the reign of king
Edward I., issued a bull, in which, under pain of excommunication, ipso
facto, he forbade the clergy to give, lend, or promise to the king any gift,
tribute, subsidy, tallage, or other payment whatsoever ; and the laity of all
ranks under hke penalties, the universities also under interdict, he prohibited
from enforcing, assisting, or in any way abetting and aiding in the collection
of the same ; and then he proceeds to exempt and discharge all ecclesiastics
from all subjection in regard to such payments and tallages, " for the behoof
of the prince and his affairs," for ever.— (Fox's Acts, p. 320.) And are we
now to wonder, that such an edict was replied to by the king by reprisals of
confiscation on the goods of Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, being found

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 197
the end he had thanke for of the papists, as more (by the grace
of Christ) shall appeare.
But as times do change, so changeth commonly the case
and state of man. The bishops now seeing the aged king to be
taken away, during the time of whose old age all the government
of the realme depended upon the duke of Lancaster ; and seeing
the said duke, with the lord Percie, the lord marshall, to give
over their offices, and to remaine in their privat houses without
intermedling, thought now the time to serve them, to have some
vantage against John Wickliffe, who hitherto, under the pro
tection of the foresaid duke and lord marshall, had some rest and
quiet. Accordingly, the next yeere following, which was the yeere
of our Lord 1378, being the first yeere of king Richard the
second I0 ; the said pope Gregorie, taking his time after the
more stubborn than the rest, and an inciter of others of the clergy against
the king, and for the pope ? — But, when things of this kind are taking place,
what can we say, but that the country is in a state of actual civil war, with
two rival princes contending for the crown ; one, a proud priest at Rome,
bearing in his hands chains for the whole high-minded people of England (as
they ought to have been), and on his lips nothing but threats, tremendous
threats of perdition, temporal and eternal, unless they will tamely bow their
necks, and yield themselves hand and foot to receive the chains which he
wields over them ; while, on the other side, we have the native and rightful
sovereign, an Edward (it may be) or an Henry, the conqueror of kingdoms,
the pride of chivalry, the victor at Crecy or Azincour, and the champion in a
hundred battles ? What wonder, then, that in such a condition of affairs, all
shall feel that parts must be taken, and that they cannot but declare for one
side or the other, in a crisis, when every thing that can be valuable to man
kind is at stake ? And shall it be believed, that all the clergy of England
will arrange themselves under the banner of usurpation, and tyranny, and
despotism ? The thing is impossible. No. The clergy, as became them,
with Wickliffe and others in the front, were among the first to wage the war
of genuine freedom, intellectual, moral, civil, and religious, in behalf of
themselves and their lay fellow-countrymen. But, without dwelling on that
most important part of the subject, at any rate am I not entitled to allege,
that in looking back to consider and estimate the literary remains and contro
versies of those days, those awful circumstances are not to be overlooked out
of which they sprang, and with which they are intimately involved ; and to
intercede for some little allowance and indulgence, if we happen to meet with
an occasional exorbitancy in some of the topics of argument, or in the heat
and vehemence in which, at times, they may appear to be enforced ?
10 Richard the second.] Fox mistakes both the year in which these bulls
were dispatched, and the reigning prince. The date ought to be 1 377 ; and
the king was Edward III., as appears beyond dispute, from Wilkins's Concil.

198 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
death of king Edward, sends his bull by the hands and meanes
of one master Edmund Stafford, directed unto the universitie of
Oxford, rebuking them sharplie, imperiouslie, and like a pope, for
suffering so long the doctrine of John Wickliffe to take root,
and not plucking it up with the crooked sickle of their catholic
doctrine. Which bull when it came to be exhibited unto their
hands, by the popes messenger aforesaid, the proctors and masters
of the universitie joyning together in consultation, stood long in
doubt, deliberating with themselves, whether to receive the popes
bull with honour, or to refuse and reject it with shame.
I cannot here but laugh in my mind to behold the authors ' of
this storie whom I follow : what exclamations, what wondrings
and marvels, they make at these Oxford men, for so doubting at
a matter so plaine, so manifest of it selfe, (as they say) whether
the popes bull sent to them from Rome was to be received, or
contrarie. Which thing to our monkish writers seemed then
such a prodigious wonder, that they with blushing cheekes are
faine to cut off the matter in the middest with silence.
The copie of this wild bull 2, sent to them from the pope, was
this. " Gregorie the bishop, the servant of Gods servants, to his wel-
beloved sonnes, the chancellour and universitie of Oxford, in the
diocesse of Lincolne, greeting, and apostolicall benediction.
" We are compelled not only to marvel, but also to lament
that you, considering the apostolicall seate hath given unto your
university at Oxford so great favour and priviledge, and also for
that you flow as in a large sea in the knowledge of the holy
Scriptures, and ought to be champions and defenders of the
ancient and catholike faith (without the which there is no salva
tion,) by your great negligence and sloth, will suffer wild cockle,
not only to grow up among the pure wheate of the florishing field
of your university, but also to waxe more strong and choke the
corne. Neither have ye any care (as wee are informed) to
vol. iii. p. 118. The same mistake is repeated again, and defended, below.
Edward died June 21, 1377; but this could not be known at Rome at the
date of the bull.
1 The authors.] Walsingham Hist. Ang. p. 200. edit. 1574.
2 This wild bull.] See Lewis's Life of Wickliffe, c. iv., and Records, No.
xii. ; which exhibits the bull in the original Latin.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 199
extirpe and plucke the same up by the rootes, to the great
blemishing of your renoumed name, the perill of your soules, the
contempt of the church of Rome, and to the great decay of the
ancient faith. And further (which grieveth us) the encrease of
that filthie weed was more sharpely rebuked and judged of in
Rome then in England, where it sprang. Wherefore let there
be meanes sought by the helpe of the faithfull, to roote out the
same. " Grievously it is come to our ears, that one John Wickliffe,
parson of Lutterworth in Lincolne dioces, a professour of divinitie
(would God he were not rather a master of errours) is runne
into a kind of detestible wickednesse, not onely and openly pub
lishing, but also vomiting out of the filthy dungeon of his breast,
divers professions, false and erroneous conclusions, and most
wicked and damnable heresies, whereby he might defile the faithfull
sort, and bring them from the right path headlong into the way
of perdition, overthrow the state of the church, and utterly
subvert the secular policie. Of which his mischievous heresies,
some seeme to agree (onely certaine names and tearmes changed)
with the perverse opinions, and unlearned doctrine of Marsilius
of Padua, and John of Gandune 3, of unworthie memorie, whose
bookes were utterly abolished in the realme of England, by our
3 Marsilius . . . and John.] Marsilius Mainardinus of Padua, and Johannes
de Gandavo [Ghent], or, as some call him, de Janduno (see Wharton's App.
to Cave's Hist . Literaria), were two of the most noted writers on the Guelph
and Ghibelline controversy. They were of the latter party, and strenuously
supported the cause of the emperor Louis of Bavaria against the pope. Their
various works have been printed several times in a separate form, and by Gol-
dastus in his Monorchia Imperii, to which work and to the treatise of Marc
Antonio de Dominis De Potestate Ecclesiastica, the reader, who wishes for
more information on this subject, is referred. For Fox's account of Marsilius
and John, see his Acts, p. 350.
In the year 1535, the obnoxious work of Marsilius, intitled Defensor Pads,
was translated and published in English, in justification of the proceedings of
Henry VIII. against the pope, by William Marshall, under the title of The
Defence of Peace, &c. foi. It was published by the authority of Henry, and
it has on the title-page a large wood-cut of his arms, joined or impaled with
those of Anne Boleyn.
A work of William Ockam, intitled Defensorium contra Errores Johan-
nis Papa XXII. has been sometimes mistaken for that of Marsilius. Ock-
am's work is printed in Orthuinus Gratius' Fasciculus Rerum Expetendarum,
&c, ed. Edw. Brown, vol. ii. p. 439, &c.

200 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
predecessor of happie memorie John twenty-two 4. Which king-
dome doth not only flourish in power, and abundance of faculties,
but is much more glorious and shining in purenesse of faith ;
accustomed alwaies to bring forth men excellently learned in the
true knowledge of the holy Scriptures, ripe in gravitie of maners,
men notable in devotion, and defenders of the catholike faith.
Wherefore wee will and command you by our writing apostolicall,
in the name of your obedience, and upon paine of privation of
our favour, indulgences and priviledges, granted unto you and
your universitie, from the said see apostolicall ; that hereafter ye
suffer not those pestilent heresies, those subtill and false con-
elusions and propositions, misconstruing the right sense of faith
and good workes (howsoever they tearme it, or what curious
implication of words soever they use) any longer to be disputed
of, or brought in question : lest if it be not withstood at the first,
and plucked up by the roots, it might perhaps be too late
hereafter to prepare medicines, when a greater number is infected
with the contagion. And further, that yee apprehend imme
diately or cause to be apprehended the said John Wickliffe, and
deliver him to be detained in the safe custodie of our welbeloved
brethren, the archbishop of Canterburie, and the bishop of London,
or either of them. And if you shall find any gaine-sayers, cor
rupted with the said doctrine (which God forbid) in your said
universitie within your jurisdiction, that shall obstinately stand
in the said errours : that then in like maner yee apprehend
them, and commit them to safe custodie ; and otherwise to doe
in this case as it shall appertaine unto you : so as by your carefull
proceedings herein, your negligence past concerning the pre
misses, may now fully be supplied and recompensed with present
diligence : — whereby you shall not onely purchase unto you the
favour and benevolence of the seat apostolicall, but also great
reward and merit of almightie God.
" Given at Rome at S. Maries the greater, xj. Kalends of
June, and in the seventh yeare of our consecration."
Beside this bull sent to the universitie of Oxford, the said
pope Gregorie directed moreover his letters the same time to the
1 John twenty-two.] In the Extravagant which begins Licet intra doctrinam
apostoli, issued in 1327.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 201
archbishop of Canturbury Simon Sudburie, and to the bishop of
London named William Courtney, with the conclusions of John
Wickliffe therein inclosed, commanding them, by vertue of those
his letters 5 apostolicall, and straitly injoyning them to cause the
said John Wickliffe to be apprehended, and cast into prison :
and that the king and the nobles of England should be admon
ished by them, not to give any credit to the said John Wickliffe,
or to his doctrine in any wise.
Beside this bill or bull of the pope, sent unto the archbishop
of Canturbury and to the bishop of London, bearing the date,
11 Calend Jun. and the 7. yeare of the reigne of the pope, I
find moreover in the said storie, two other letters 6 of the pope
concerning the same matter, but differing in forme, sent unto
the same bishops, and all bearing the same date both of the day,
yeare, and moneth of the reigne of the said pope Gregory.
Whereby it is to be supposed, that the pope either was very
exquisite and solicitous about the matter, to have Wickliffe to
be apprehended, which wrote three different divers letters to one
person, and all in one day, about one businesse ; or else that hee
did suspect the bearers thereof; — the scruple whereof I leave to
the judgement of the reader.
Furthermore, beside these letters written to the university,
and to the bishops, he directeth also another epistle bearing the
same date unto king Edward ; as one of my stories saith, but as
an other saith, to K. Richard, which soundeth more neere to the
truth, forasmuch as in the seventh yeare of pope Gregorie the xi.
which was the yeare of our Lord, 1378. king Edward was not
alive. The copie of his letters to the king here followeth ?.
" Unto his well beloved son in Christ, Richard the most noble
king of England, health, &c.
" The kingdome of England which the Most Highest hath put
6 Those his letters.] This letter is printed in Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii.
p. 116, 117, from Sudbury's Register; and in Lewis's Life of Wickliffe.
Records, No. 13.
6 Two other letters.] These also are printed by Wilkins, p. 117, 118; and in
Lewis, see chap, iv., and Records, Nos. 14 and 15. In consequence ofthe
former of these letters, a dispatch was directed from the archbishop and the
bishop of London, bearing date 5 Calend. Januar. to the chancellor of the
university of Oxford, commanding him to cite Wickliffe to appear at St. Paul's,
London, before the archbishop and bishop, or their delegates. — Wilkins,
vol. viii. p. 123, 124.
7 Here followeth.] Lewis, &c. Records, No. 16.

202 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
under your power and governance, being so famous and renoumed
in valiancie and strength, so abundant and flowing in all kind of
wealth and riches ; but much more glorious, resplendent and
shining through the brightnesse and cleerenesse of all godlinesse
and faith, hath accustomed alwaies to bring forth men endued
with the true knowledge and understanding of the holy Scrip
tures, grave in yeares, fervent in devotion, and defenders of the
catholike faith : the which have not onely directed and instructed
their owne people, but strangers also, through their wholesome
doctrine and precepts into the true path of God's commandments ;
— but we have heard by the report and information of many
credible persons (to our great greefe and heart sorrow) that
John Wickliffe, parson of Lutterworth, in the diocesee of Lincolne,
professor of divinitie (I would to God hee were no author of
heresie) is fallen into such a detestable and abominable madnesse,
that he hath propounded and set forth divers and sundrie con
clusions full of errors, and containing most manifest heresie, the
which doe tend utterly to subvert and overthrow the state of the
whole church. Of the which, some of them (albeit under coloured
phrase and speech) seem to smel and savor of perverse opinions,
and the foolish doctrine of condemned memorie of Marsilius of
Padua, and John of Ganduno, whose bookes were by pope John
the 22, our predecessor, a man of most happie memorie, reproved
and condemned, &c."
Hitherto gentle reader, thou hast heard how Wickliffe was
accused by the bishop. Now you shall also heare the popes
mightie reasons and arguments, by the which hee did confute
him, to the king. It followeth.
" Therefore, forsomuch as our reverend brethren, the arch
bishop of Canturburie, and the bishop of London, have received a
speciall commandement from us by our authoritie, to apprehend
and commit the forenamed John Wickliffe unto prison, and to
transport his confession unto us : if they shall seeme in the
prosecution of this their businesse to lacke your favor or helpe,
we require and most earnestly desire your majestie, even as your
most noble predecessors have alwaies beene most earnest lovers
of the Catholike faith (whose case or quarrel in this matter is
chieflie handled), that you would vouchsafe even for the reverence
of God, and the faith aforesaid, and also of the apostolike seate,
and of our person, that you will with your helpe and favour, assist
the said archbishop and all other that shall goe about to execute

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 203
the said businesse :— whereby besides the praise of men, you
shall obtaine a heavenly reward and great favour and good will at
our hand, and of the see aforesaid. Dated at Rome at S. Mary
the greater, the 11. Kalend. of June, in the seventh yeare of our
bishoprike." The articles 8 included in the popes letters which hee sent to
the bishops, and to the king against Wickliffe, were these as in
order they do follow.
" The conclusions 9 of lohn Wickliffe, exhibited in the convocation
of certaine bishops at Lambeth.
"All the whole race of mankind here on earth, besides Christ,
hath no power simplie, to ordaine that Peter and all his offspring
should politickelie rule over the world for ever.
" 2. God cannot give to any man for him and his heirs any
civil dominion for ever.
" 3. All writings invented by men, as touching perpetual
heritage, are impossible'.
8 The articles.] "By the copies of them yet remaining, it appears that
these articles, though they were generally the same as to the matter, were yet
reported to the pope in different forms." — Lewis's Life, &c. p. 46.
9 The conclusions.] See Lewis's Records, Nos. 18 and 40. Also, Life,
Sec. p. 59 — &7, and 67 — 78. Several of these articles (and of the twenty- three
more, given a few pages below), probably, will startle the reader ; and it will
not be thought, that the apology made for Wickliffe by Fox at the beginning
(" In whose opinions, albeit, some blemishes perhaps may be noted,") is at all
too much for the occasion, even if it be sufficient. Partly, however, it is to
be borne in mind, that the articles come to us from the hands of Wickliffe's
adversaries ; but much more, that we have them here in the text, in their
naked and abstract form, without the limitations and explanations which con
clusions, so concisely expressed, plainly demand ; and through aid of which
we have evidence enough to show, that Wickliffe himself maintained and
vindicated them. And, while it is to be regretted, that, unluckily, nothing of
these explanations is to be found, where, from the peculiar nature and the
extensive influence of the work, they were most wanted, in Fox's English
editions, I may mention, that we have them pretty much at large in the Latin
copy (p. 8 — 12), and still at greater extent in the valuable Life by Lewis
(p. 58 — 78), and in his Collection of Records, No. 40. (p. 382—9.) — Some
small portion of these, with few additional particulars derived from other
sources, will here be subjoined, on some of the articles, in justice to the
reader, and to the memory of this great man.
1 Are impossible.] Art. 1 — 3. and Art. 4. With respect to the three first arti
cles, Wickliffe asserts (Lewis, p. 60), that, as we are bound by our creed to

204 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
" 4. Every man being in grace justifying2, hath not onely right
unto, but also for his time hath indeed all the good things of
God. " 5. A man can but only ministratoriouslie give any temporall
or continuall gift, either to his naturall son, or to his son by
imitation d.

believe, that Jesus Christ shall " come again from heaven, to judge the quick
and the dead," and that no human right can hinder the coming of Christ to
the last judgment ; hence it follows, that no power of Peter and his succes
sors, or of any other earthly potentate, can be maintained in any sense which
shall be inconsistent with that grand event and doctrine : and when further,
according to the Scriptures, all human polity shall be at an end. — Hence he
affirms, that his drift was, by these " three first conclusions, to impress on
worldly men the faith of Christ, that they be not drowned in the sea of a
world which passes away with the lust thereof," p. 69. " Tres ergo primae
conclusiones imprimunt mundialibus fidem Christi, ne submergantur in
pelago seculi transeuntis cum concupiscentia ejus," p. 383. The fourth, he
adds, was " to draw men to love the Lord, who has loved us to the gift and
grant of so many and so great true riches." " Et quarta allicit hominem ad
amorem Domini, qui dilexit nos ad tot veras divitias," p. 383. And the
enjoyments of these he limits (with St. Augustine) to the next world. " The
truth promises this to those Christians who enter into his joy. The right ofthe
communion of saints, in their own country, is founded on the universality of
the good things of God." — Lewis, p. 61, 62.
2 In grace justifying/] This conclusion, which the pope wished to fix upon
Wickliffe, is designed to express the doctrine which, in subsequent times,
made a much greater figure in the church ; namely, that dominion is founded
in grace. But Lewis assures us, that this was no tenet of Wickliffe's. His
tory, p. 115 — 117. p. 342. See also Lewis's Brief History of Anabaptism,
p. 20. a.d. 1738 ; and Fox's Acts, p. 398. " The papists do impute this opinion
to Wickliffe and Hus, and their followers ; and condemn the opinion, and
them for it as heretics, as saying that dominium fundatur in gratia : which is
a manifest calumny, and no just or proved accusation ; as might be proved
out of Hus's printed works, and from several manuscript works of Wickliffe in
Bodley's Library. But they bring these lying accusations against them, that
they may have some pretence to destroy and murder them." The above is
from the text of " Several miscellaneous and weighty Cases of Conscience, 1 692,"
8vo., by the very learned Dr. Thomas Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, who had
himself been many years librarian ofthe Bodleian. The remainder ofthe Case
is a very interesting and learned argument, to show that the obnoxious tenet
was, in truth, maintained and acted upon, to a fearful degree, by the
Roman Catholics themselves.
3 By imitation.] That no human being can give except only ministerially, " is
plain," says W., " from hence, that every man ought to acknowledge himself
in all his works an humble minister of God, as is evident from Scripture : let
a man so account of us as ofthe ministers of Christ. Nay, Christ himself so

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 205
" 6. If God be, the temporall lords may lawfully and mere-
toriouslie take away the riches from the church when they doe
offend habitualiter \
" 7. We know that 5 Christs vicar cannot, neither is able by
his buls, neither by his owne will and consent, neither by the
consent of his college, neither to make able or disable any
man6. " 8. A man cannot be excommunicated to his hurt or undoing,
except he be first and principally excommunicate by himselfe.
" 9. No man ought, but in Gods cause alone, to excom-
municat, suspend, or forbid, or otherwise to proceed to revenge
by any ecclesiasticall censure.
ministered, and taught his apostles so to minister." — Lewis, p. 62. "Let not
his vicar therefore be ashamed to execute the ministry of the church ; since
he is, or ought to be, the servant of the servants of God." — Ibid. p. 69. " Non
ergo erubescat ejus vicarius fungi ministerio ecclesiae, cum sit, vel esse debet,
servus servorum Domini," p. 383.
4 Offend habitualiter.] " Yet I said that it is not lawful to do this but by the
authority ofthe church, in case of the defection of the spiritual president ;
and when an ecclesiastic shall need to be corrected, by those who are worthy
of such a trust." — Lewis, p. 70. "Dixi tamen quod hoc non licet facere
nisi auctoritate ecclesim in defectu spiritualis praepositi ; et in casu quo eccle-
siasticus corripiendus fuerit a fide dignis," p. 384. " But God forbid that it
should be believed it was my meaning that secular lords may lawfully take
away the goods of fortune from a delinquent church, when and howsoever they
please ; but that they may only do it by the authority of the church, in cases
and form limited by law," p. 62.
" But after the death of the delinquent, let it return to the successor."
" Post mortem vero clerici ad successorem revertatur," p. 387.
6 We know that.] Between this and the preceding conclusion, there stands
in Sudbury's Register (Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 123) another article, which perhaps
was by mistake left out in Fox's transcript. It is as follows, according to
Lewis's translation :
" VII. Whether the church be in such a state or not is not my business to
examine, but the business of temporal lords : who, if they find it in such a
state, are to act boldly, and on the penalty of damnation to take away its tem
poralities." — Lewis's History, p. 43.
6 Disable any man.] " This article," says W., " is plain from the principles
of the Cathohc faith. For it behoves our Lord in every operation to maintain
the primacy : therefore, as in every qualifying of a subject, it is first required
that the subject to be qualified be meet and worthy ; so in every disqualification
there is first required a deserving from some demerit of the person to be dis
qualified: and, by consequence, such a qualifying or disqualifying is not made
purely by the ministry of the vicar of Christ, but from above ; from elsewhere,
or from some other."— Lewis, p. 63. Compare also p. 70 and p. 384.

206 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
" 10. A curse or excommunication do not simply bind, but in
case it be pronounced and given out against the adversary of
Gods law.
"11. There is no power given by any example, either by
Christ or by his apostle, to excommunicate any subject, especially
for denying of any temporalities, but rather contrariwise 7.
" 12. The disciples of Christ, have no power to exact by any
civil authoritie, temporalties by censures 3.
" 13. It is not possible by the absolute power of God, that if
the pope, or any other Christian doe pretend by any meanes to
bind or to loose, that thereby he doth so bind and loose 9.
" 14. We ought to beleeve that the vicar of Christ, doth at
such times onely bind and loose, when as he worketh con-
formablie by the law and ordinance of Christ.
"15. This ought universally to bee beleeved, that every priest '
rightly and duly ordered, according unto the law of grace, hath
7 But rather contrariwise^] " This article is proved hence ; from what
Christ teacheth, that the honour of God, and the profit of the Church, is to
be preferred before any personal interest, or the denial of temporal things. —
And the second part (contrariwise) is proved by that of Luke ix., where he
forbade his disciples, who desired fire to come down from heaven, to excom
municate unbelievers who unjustly detained from Christ and his disciples
their goods. Ye know not, says he, what spirit ye are of. From whence the
Catholic conclusion is that it is not lawful for the vicar of Christ to excommu
nicate his neighbour, unless on account of love, with which he is to be more
affected than with all the temporalities of this world." — Lewis, p, 72. Com
pare p. 386 and p. 64.
8 By censures.] "This is plain from Scripture, Luke xxii. where Christ
forbade his disciples to reign civilly, or to exercise any temporal dominion ;
the kings ofthe Gentiles exercise lordship over them, but ye shall not be so. . . .
We add to this twelfth conclusion, notwithstanding, that temporalities may
be exacted by ecclesiastical censures, accessione ; in vindication of God." 
Lewis, p. 64. Compare p. 386, and p. 72, 3.
0 So bind and loose.] "The opposite of this would destroy the whole
catholic faith ; since it imports no less than blasphemy, to suppose any one to
usurp such an absolute power of the Lord's. I add to this 13th conclusion,
that I do not intend by it to derogate from the power of the pope, or of any
other prelate of the church ; but do allow that they may, in virtue of the Head,
bind and loose : only, that it cannot be that the pope or any other prelate
shall pretend that he binds or looses at any rate (or just as he lists)." — Lewis,
p. 64, 5. Compare also p. 73, and p. 386, 7.
1 That every priest.] "This is proved from hence, that the powers of orders
are equal in all Christian priests, as is declared by Hugo, chap. 2. De Sacra-
mentis." — Lewis, p. 73 and p. 387.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 207
power according to his vocation, whereby he may minister the
sacraments, and consequently absolve any man confessing his
fault, being contrite and penitent for the same.
" 16. It is lawful for kings (in causes licensed by the law) to
take away the temporalties from the spiritualtie, sinning habitu
aliter 2, that is, which continue in the custome of sin, and will
not amend.
" 17. Whether they be temporall lords, or any other men
whatsoever they be, which have endowed any church with tempo
ralties ; it is lawful for them to take away the same temporalties,
as it were by way of medicine, for to avoide sin3, notwithstanding
2 Sinning habitualiter.] What shall we think of a case such as the follow
ing ? Henry III. passing into Wales in the year 1264, and visiting Hereford,
finds there, as we learn from his own letter of remonstrance addressed to the
bishop, "to his great grief, a church destitute of a pastor's comfort; as
having neither bishop nor official, vicar nor dean, to exercise any spiritual
function and dutie in the same." — Was not this a " delinquent church " in
deed ? And are we to wonder that the monarch should go on to injoin the
bishop, and the other members of that body, all other pleas and engagments
set aside, to return thither with all speed, personally to execute the pastoral
charge committed to them ? So, in default thereof, are we to wonder, that
he should proceed to threaten, " if you have not a care to doe this, we will
whollie take into our owne hands all the temporal goods, and whatsoever else
doth belong unto the baronie of the same church ; which goods, for spiritual
exercise therein, it is certain our progenitors, of a godlie devotion, did be-
stowe thereupon. And such goods we will seize upon ; and will suffer no
longer, that he shall reape temporal things, which feareth not unreverentlie to
withdraw and keep back the spiritual things, whereunto by office and dutie he
is bound." Fox's Acts, p. 305.
3 For to avoide sin.] " This is proved from hence ; that the condition, by
itself consequent to the donation of the goods of the church is, that God may
be honoured, and the church edified. Which condition, if it be wanting, and
the opposite be found in its room, it is plain (patet) that the title of the dona
tion is lost, and by consequence, that the Lord, who is the giver of the alms,
ought to rectify the error. — And excommunication ought not to hinder the
doing of justice ; because, if so, the clerk, by excommunication, in way of
reparation might get the whole world." — Lewis, p. 75. Compare p. 388.
" We add to this 17th article. God forbid that by these words, occasion
should be given to the temporal lords, to take away the goods of fortune to
the detriment of the church." — Lewis, p. 66.
Of the whole body of these articles he declares, at the opening of one of
his two papers of explanation, " I understand the conclusions according to
the sense of scripture and the holy doctors, and the manner of speaking used
by them ; which verse I am ready to explain, and if it be proved that the
conclusions are contrary to the faith, I am willing very readily to retract

208 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
any excommunication or other ecclesiastical censure, forsomuch
as they are not given but under a condition *.
" 18. An ecclesiasticall minister, and also the bishop of
Rome may lawfully be rebuked of his subjects, and, for the
profit of the church, be accused either of the clergie or of the
laity." These letters, with the articles inclosed, being thus received
from the pope, the bishops tooke no little heart, thinking and
fully determining with themselves, and that in open profession
before their provinciall councill, that all respects of feare or favour
set apart, no person neither high nor low, should let them, neither
would they be seduced by the intreatie of any man, nor by any
threatnings or rewards, but that in this cause they would execute
most strict and rigid justice s ; yea albeit present danger of life
should follow thereupon. — But these so fierce brags, and stout
promises, with the sub till practices of these bishops, which
thought them so sure before, the Lord (against whom no deter
mination of mans counsell can prevaile) by a small occasion, did
lightly 6 confound and overthrow. For the day of the examina
tion being come, a certaine personage of the princes court, and
yet of no great noble birth, named Lewes Clifford, entring in
among the bishops, commanded them that they should not pro
ceed with any diffinitive sentence against John Wickliffe. With
which words all they were so amazed and their combes so cut,

them."— Lewis, p. 60. And at the close of the other copy, it is added, " Has
sunt conclusiones quas vult etiam usque ad mortem defendere, ut per hoc
valeat mores ecclesiai reformare," p. 389.
4 Under a condition.] "And as anentis" (concerning) "taking away of tem
poralities : I say thus, that it is lawful to kings, to princes, to dukes, and to
lords of the world, to take away from popes, from cardinals, from bishops,
prelates, and possessioners in the church, their temporalities, and their almes,
that they have given them upon condition that they, shoulden serve God the
better, when they verily seene that their giving and taking beene contrarie to
the law of God, contrarie to Christ's living, and his apostles." Process
against W. Swinderby. Fox, p. 434. See also Kennet's Case of Impropria
tions, p. 114-15.
6 Rigid justice.] Strictam rigidamque justitiam. Latin edit.
6 Did lightly.] Did easily confound. Thus, Whytford's Pype of Perfection,
foi. 76. "In suche thyngs as the subjects done knowe well ben directely
agaynest the rule of theyr profession, shulde they nat lyghtly and gladly obey :
lyhtely, I mean, without deliberation : and gladly, for self-pleasure or com-
moditie."

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 209
that (as in the storie is mentioned) they became so mute and
speechlesse, as men having not one word in their mouthes to an
swere. — And thus by the wondrous worke of God's providence,
escaped John Wickliffe the second time out of the bishops
hands. Moreover, here is not to be passed over, how at the same time,
and in the said chapell of the archbishop at Lambeth, where the
bishops were sitting upon John Wickliffe, the storie writing 1 of
the doing thereof, addeth these words : " Not onely the citizens
of London, but also the vile abjects of the citie, presumed to be
so bold in the same chapell at Lambeth, where the bishops were
sitting upon J. Wickliffe, both to entreate for him, and also to
let and stop the same matter, trusting, as I suppose, upon the
negligence which they saw before in the bishops."
Thus John Wickliffe, through the favour and diligence of the
Londoners, either shifted off the bishops, or else satisfied them
so, that for that time he was dismissed and scaped clearly away ;
onely being charged and commanded by the said bishops, that hee
should not teach or preach any such doctrine any more, for the
offence of the laie people.
Thus this good man being escaped from the bishops with this
charge aforesaid, yet notwithstanding ceased not to proceed in
his godly purpose, labouring and profiting still in the church as
he had begun.
Unto whom (as it happeneth by the providence of God) this
was also a great helpe and stay, that in the same yeere, or in the
beginning of the next yeare following, the foresaid pope Gregorie
xi. which was the stirrer up of al this trouble against him, turned
up his heels and died 8. After whom ensued such a schisme in
Rome, betweene two popes, and other succeeding them, one stir
ring against another, that the schisme thereof endured the space
of xxxix yeares, untill the time of the councell of Constance.
The occasioner of which schisme first was pope Urban the 6,
who in the first beginning of his popedome was so proud and inso
lent to his cardinals, and other, as to dukes, princes, and queenes,
and so set to advance his nephew and kindred, with injuries
to other princes, that the greatest number of his cardinals and
7 The storie writing.] Thom. Walsingham, p. 206.
s And died.] Some authorities fix his death to the 27th, others to the 28th
day of March, a.d. 1378.
vol. i. p

210 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
courtiers by little and little shrunke from him, and set up an other
French pope against him, named Clement, who reigned xi yeares.
And after him Benedictus the xiii, who reigned yeares 26. Againe
of the contrarie side after Urbanus vi, succeeded Boniface ix,
Innocentius viii, Gregorius the xii, Alexander v, John xxiii.
As touching this pestilent and most miserable schisme, it
would require heere another Iliade to comprehend in order all the
circumstances and tragicall parts thereof, what trouble in the
whole church, what parts taken in every countrey, what appre
hending and imprisoning of priests and prelates, taken by land
and sea, what shedding of blood did follow thereof : how Ottho 9,
duke of Brunswicke and prince of Tarentum, was taken and
murthered 1 : how Joan, queene of Jerusalem and Sicilia, his wife,
who before had sent to pope Urban, beside other gifts at his co
ronation, forty thousand duckets in pure gold, after by the said
Urban 2 was committed to prison, and in the same prison stran
gled : what cardinals were racked, and miserablie without all
mercy tormented on gibbets to death, what slaughter of men,
what battles were fought betweene the two popes, whereof 5000.
on the one side were slaine, beside the number of them which
were taken prisoners : of the beheading of five cardinals together
after long torments ; and how the bishop Aquilonensis ", being
suspected of pope Urban for not riding faster with the pope, his
horse being not good, was there slaine by the popes commande-
ment, sending his souldiers unto him, to slay him, and cut him in
pieces. — All which things, with other divers moe acts of horrible
cruelty, happening in the time of this abominable schisme, be
cause they are abundantly discoursed at full by Theodoricke
Niem *, who was neere to the said pope Urban, and present at all
his doings ; therefore as a thing needless, I here pretermit 5, re-

9 How Ottho.] Otho of Brunswick, son of Henry the Grecian, duke of
Brunswick-Grubenhagen, was the fourth husband of Joanna, queen of Naples.
1 And murthered.] That he was murdered is, however, doubtful.
2 The said Urban.] Rather by Joanna's rival, Charles of Durazzo, whose
father Louis had been slain in prison by her order.
3 Bishop Aquilonensis.] Stephen, bishop of Aquila, in Apulia.
4 Theodoricke Niem.] De schismate inter Urbanum vi. et Clementem Anti-
papam. Norimbergae, 1592. foi.
6 I here pretermit.] That incidentally, through God's mercy, certain bene
fits arose from this schism to the progress of the reformation, we have Wick
liffe's own testimony. See Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 341, note.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 211
ferring them, who covet to be certified more amply herein, unto
the three bookes of the said Theodoricke above mentioned.
About the same time also, namely about three yeares after,
there fell a cruell dissension in England, betweene the common
people and the nobilitie, the which did not a little disturbe and
trouble the common wealth. In this tumult, Simon of Sudburie,
archbishop of Canterburie, was taken by the rusticall and rude
people, and was beheaded6. In whose place after, succeeded
William Courtney, which was no lesse diligent than his prede
cessor had been before hira, in doing his diligence to roote out
hereticks. — Notwithstanding, in the mean season Wickliffes sect
increased privilie, and daily grew to greater force, until the time
that William Barton, vicechancellor of Oxford, about the yeare
of our Lord 1380, had the rule of that universitie ; who calling
together eight monasticall doctors, and four other, with the con
sent of the rest of his affinitie, putting the common seale of the
universitie unto certaine writings, set forth an edict ', declaring
6 Was beheaded.] He was beheaded by the rebellious populace under Wat
Tyler and Jack Straw, June 14, 1381 ; and the temporalities were delivered
to William Courtney, Oct. 23, in the same year. Le Neve's Fasti, p. 7.
7 Set forth an edict.] The value of Wickliffe's labours in the cause of true
religion, cannot be better understood than by inspecting this censure which
was directed against him. It is confined solely to the controversy on the
Eucharist; and declares, in opposition to the assertions of Wickliffe, " that
the true faith is, that by the sacramental words duely pronounced by the
priest, the bread and wine upon the altar are transubstantiated, or substan
tially converted into the very body and blood of Christ ; so that after conse
cration, there do not remain in that venerable sacrament the material bread
and wine, which were there before, according to their own substances or na
tures, but only the species of the same, under which species the very body
of Christ and his blood are really contained, not only figuratively or tropically,
but essentially, substantially, and corporally ; so that Christ is there verily in
his own proper bodily presence." — Lewis's History, p. 82 ; Wilkins's Con
cilia, vol. iii. p. 170, 7l. The Register tells us, that upon pubhc promulgation
of this edict in the schools of the Augustin Friars, Wickliffe, who was pre
sent, and in the theological chair, was thrown into confusion ; but soon re
covering himself, he declared, that neither the chancellor, nor any of his
friends, could refute by argument the doctrines against which they had pro
nounced their edict ; thus showing himself an obstinate heretic. His appeal,
not to his ordinary or the pope, but to the king's majesty, thereby acknow
ledging the royal supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, as well as civil, gave
still further very great offence. And the Register does not scruple to brand
this deference to the secular power, with the name of heresy. In the same
place the duke of Lancaster is commended highly for his desertion of Wick-
r 2

212 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
unto every man, and threatning them under a grievous penaltie,
that no man should be so hardie, hereafter to associat themselves
with any of Wickliffes fautors or favourers : and unto Wickliffe
himselfe hee threatned the greater excommunication, and further
imprisonment, and to all his fautors, unlesse that they, after three
daies canonicall admonition or warning, as they call it, peremp
tory, did repent and amend. — The which thing when Wickliffe
liffe in this extremity ; and his attachment to the true faith is extolled, be
cause he commanded him to abstain from intermeddling any more with the
doctrine of this sacrament. Wickliffe however did not obey the duke's in
junction, but in somewhat more covert terms maintained his former opinions.
He refused the authority of all the fathers after the first thousand years from
Christ, affirming that they had all erred in treating of the Eucharist except
Berengarius ; and set at nought the authority of the Master of the Sentences-
Sudbury's Register, in Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 171.
Upon this slight foundation some writers have been pleased to say, that
Wickliffe gave way, and made a full retractation. (Anth. a Wood, Antiq. Oxon.
p. 189.) And even Fox, just below, speaks of his "qualifying his assertions."
We see that it was not so understood at Lambeth. The council of Constance
also, as we shall find afterwards, passed a very different judgment respecting
the final conversion of Wickliffe. Nor does the other opinion accord with
what Wood tells us in the same page, that this confession was encoun
tered by no less than six several antagonists, immediately after its publication.
The Confession, which is a large and very interesting document, is given at
full length in the original Latin by Lewis, Records, No. 21. p. 323 — 32.
Romish writers, when it suits their purpose, continually elevate the merest
trifles into a formal recantation. The popish author of The Life and Death
of Bishop Fisher, under the assumed name of Thomas Bailey, D.D., does not
scruple to speak in the following harsh and vulgar metaphors. " The first un
clean beast that ever passed through the oxens-ford (I mean Wickliffe by name)
afterwards chewed the cud, and was sufficiently reconciled to the Roman
faith, as appears by his recantation ; living and dying conformable to the holy
cathohc church, at his parsonage of Lutterworth in Leicestershire ; constantly
saying mass unto his dying day. So that reformation, as it seems, was left
unto the time of which it is said, V<e regno cui puer dominatur ! Woe be to
the kingdom over which a child reigns ! " p. 35. ed. 3d. As to the recantation
spoken of, it has never yet been exhibited. (Lewis, p. 88.) Nor does the
saying mass in the latter part of his life prove any change of sentiment, unless
it can be shown, that he had entertained at some earlier period any scruples
on that head ; which does not appear. Compare what Fox says of Bilney,
Acts and Monuments, p. 921 : given below in this collection.
In reference to the above-mentioned censures upon Wickliffe, Sir R.
Twisden observes, " this I take to have been the first plenary determination
of the Church of England in the case, so that " (says he) " the opinion of tran-
substantiation that brought so many to the stake, had not with us 140 years
prescription before Martin Luther." — Historical Vindication, p. 193, 94.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 213
understood, forsaking the pope and all the clergie, hee thought
to appeale unto the kings majestie : but the duke of Lancaster,
comming betweene, forbad him that hee should not hereafter
attempt or begin any such matters, but rather submit himselfe
unto the censure and judgement of his ordinarie. Whereby Wick
liffe being beset with troubles and vexations, as it were in the
midst of the waves, was forced once againe to make confession of
his doctrine : in the which his confession, to avoid the rigor of
things, he answered, making his declaration, and qualifying his
assertions after such a sort, that he did mitigate and asswage the
rigor of his enemies.
The next yeare after, which was 1 382. by the commandement
of William archbishop of Canturbury, there was a convocation
holden at London, where John Wickliffe was also commanded to
be present. — But whether he there appeared personally, or not, I
find it not in story certainely affirmed. — The memorandum of the
archbishop William Courtney here followeth under written, truely
copied out of his owne registers 8.
" Memorandum, that where as well amongst the nobles as
commons of this realme of England, there hath a certaine brute
bin spread of divers conclusions both erroneous, and also repug
nant to the determination of the church, which tend to the sub
version of the whole church, and to our province of Canturburie,
and also to the subversion of the whole realme, being preached in
divers and sundrie places of our said province, generally, com
monly, and publikely : We William by Gods permission arch
bishop of Canturburie, primate of all England, and legat of the
see apostolicall, being minded to execute our office and dutie
herein; have convocated or called together certain our fellow
brethren and others a great many, as well doctors and bachelers
of divinitie, as doctors of the canon and civil law, and those whom
we thought to bee the most famous men, skilfullest men, and men
of soundest judgment in religion, that were in all the realme.
And, the 17. day of the moneth of May in the yeare of our Lord
1 382. in a certaine chamber within the territories of the priorie
of the friers preachers of London before us and our aforesaid fel
low brethren assembled, then and there personally present ; after
that the said conclusions .(the tenor whereof here under ensueth)
were openlie proposed, and distinctly and plainely read; Wee
8 Owne registers.] Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 157.

214 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
burthened our foresaid fellow brethren, doctors, and bachelers, in
the faith wherein they stood bound to our Lord Jesus Christ, and
as they would answere before the high Judge in the day of judge
ment, that they should speake their opinions touching the said
conclusions, and what every of them thinketh therein.
"And at length, after good deliberation had upon the pre
misses, the foresaid our brethren the bishops, doctors, and bache
lers, reassembled before us the 21. day of the same moneth in the
foresaid chamber, the foresaid conclusions being againe and againe
repeated and plainely read : by us and by the common consents
of us all it remaineth published and declared, that some of the
said conclusions are hereticall, and othersome erroneous and con
trarie to the determination of the church, as hereafter most mani
festly shall appeare. And for as much as by sufficient informa
tion wee find and perceive, that the said conclusions in many
places of our said province, have beene, as is said, both taught
and preached ; and that divers other persons doe hold and main-
taine the same, and be of heresie vehemently and notoriouslie sus
pected : we have thought good, as well generally as specially, to
send out this processe under written.
" The Articles* of John Wickliffe, condemned as hereticall.
" 1. The substance of materiall bread and wine doth remaine
in the sacrament of the altar after the consecration.
" 2. The accidents do not remaine without the subject in the
same sacrament, after the consecration.
" 3. That Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar truly and
really, in his proper and corporall person.
" 4. That if a bishop1 or a priest be in deadly sin, hee doth not
order, consecrate, nor baptise.
9 The articles.] These articles are given somewhat more fully and cor
rectly from the original register, in Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 157-8. See also
Lewis's Records, No. 31.
1 If a bishop.] " This article either is slanderouslie reported, or else can
hardly be defended." Fox in the margin, p. 400. In truth, the article, as
might perhaps truly be said of some of the others, was none of Wickliffe's.
" Sophisters shulden know well," (says he) " that a cursed man doth fully
the sacraments, though it be to his damning ; for they ben not authours of
these sacraments, but God kepeth that divinity to himself."— Lewis's History,
p. 96 (or 118). See also p. 117—119. When a similar article was objected
against William Swinberby, a follower of Wickliffe, in the year 1 390, he

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 215
" 5. That if a man be duely and truely contrite and penitent, all
exteriour and outer confession is but superfluous and unprofitable
unto him.
" 6. That it is not found or established by the gospell, that
Christ did make or ordaine masse.
" 7. If the pope be a reprobate and evill man, and consequently
a member of the divell, he hath no power by any maner of
meanes given unto him over faithful Christians, except peradven-
ture it be given him from the emperor.
" 8. That since the time of Urban the sixth, there is none to be
received for pope, but to live after the maner of the Greekes,
every man under his owne law.
" 9. To be against the scripture, that ecclesiasticall ministers
should have any temporall possessions.
" The other Articles of John Wickliffe, condemned as erroneous.
" 10. That no prelate ought to excommunicate any man except
he knew him first to be excommunicate of God.
"11. That he which doth so excommunicate any man, is thereby
himselfe either an heretike or excommunicated.
"12. That a prelate or bishop excommunicating any of the
clergie, which hath appealed to the king or to the counsel!, is
thereby himselfe a traitor to the king and realme.
"13. That all such which doe leave off preaching or hearing the
word of G od, or preaching of the gospell, for feare of excommu
nication, they are already excommunicated, and in the day of
judgement shall be counted as traitors unto God.
" 14. That it is lawfull for any man, either deacon or priest, to
preach the word of God, without the authoritie or licence of the
apostolike see or any other of his catholicks.
" 15. That so long as a man is in deadly sin, hee is neither
bishop nor prelate in the church of God.
" 16. Also that the temporall lords may, according to their owne
affirmed very explicitly, " Thus I never said, thought it, preached it, ne
taught it. For I well wot the wickednesse of a priest may appaire" (impair)
" no verie sacrament. But the wickednesse of the priests appaires him-
selfen ; and all that boldnesse and example of his sinne causen the people to
liven the worse against God's laws." — Fox's Acts, p. 432. Compare Article
twenty-sixth of the Church of England; Of the unworthiness of the Minis
ters, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments.

216 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
will and discretion, take away the temporall goods from the
churchmen, whensoever they do offend.
"17. That tenths are pure almes, and that parishioners may
for the offence of their curats, detaine and keepe them backe,
and bestow them upon others, at their owne will and pleasures.
" 18. Also, that all speciall praiers 2 applied to any private or
particular person, by any prelate, or religious man, doe no more
profit the same person, than generall or universall praiers doe
profit others, which be in like case or state unto him.
" 19. Moreover, in that any man doth enter into any private
religion, whatsoever it be, hee is thereby made the more unapt
and unable to observe and keepe the commandements of God.
" 20. That holy men which have instituted private religions,
whatsoever they be (as well such as are indued and possessed, as
also the order of begging friers, having no possessions) in so
doing, have grievouslie offended.
" 21. That religious men, being in their privat religions, are not
of the Christian religion.
" 22. That friers are bounden to get their living by the labour
of their hands, and not by begging.
" 23. That whatsoever doth give any almes unto friers, or to
any begging observant, is accursed or in danger thereof."
2 Speciall praiers.] " The popes had now for some time driven a very gain
ful trade of granting indulgences or pardons, which they pretended was by
virtue of the holy merits of saints, which they did more than was needful
for their own happiness. These the popes claimed a power of communicating
to others, whose merit was not so great, and accordingly pretended to grant
to men thousands of years of pardon  In an humble imitation of this
divine power claimed by the popes, the religious orders pretended to a com
munication of their own merits ; and by granting to men and women letters
of fraternity, confirmed by their general seal, to bear them in hand, that they
should have part of all their masses, mattins, preachings, fastings, wakings,
and all other good deeds done by those of their order, both whilst they lived,
and after they were dead. They likewise made men believe, that their singing
oi special prayers for people by name, as famulory and benefactory, should
turn to men after their granting and limiting. On which account, scarce any
one who had any thing to give, but left a legacy to some of the religious
orders, for them to sing a trental for their souls. — These superstitions Dr.
Wickliffe and his followers opposed." — Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 149.
edit. 1744, or p. 103. edit. 1820.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 217

The Letter 3 of the Archbishop directed to the Bishop of London,
against Wickliffe, and his adherents.
" William by Gods permission archbishop of Canterburie, Me-
tropolitane of all England, and of the apostolicall see legate : To
our reverend brother by the grace of God bishop of London, salu
tation. The prelats of the church ought to bee so much the more
vigilant and attentive about the charge of the Lords flocke com
mitted unto them, how much the more they shall understand the
wolves being clothed in sheeps apparell, fraudulently to go about
to worry and scatter the sheepe.
" Truely by the continuall crie and bruted fame (which it grieveth
me to report) it is come to our knowledge, that although by the
canonicall sanctions no man being forbidden or not admitted,
should either publikely or privilie, without the authority of the
apostolical see or bishop of that place, usurpe or take upon him
the office of a preacher ; some notwithstanding, such as are the
children of damnation, being under the vaile of blind ignorance,
are brought into such a doting mind, that they take upon them
to preach, and are not affraid to affirme and teach divers and
sundrie propositions and conclusions here under recited, both
hereticall, erroneous and false, condemned by the church of God,
and repugnant to the decree of holy church, which tend to the
subverting of the whole state of the same, of our province of
Canturburie, and destruction and weakening of the tranquillity of
the same : and as well in the churches, as in the streets, as also
in many other prophane places of our said province, generally,
commonly, and publikely, do preach the same, infecting very
many good Christians, causing them lamentabhe to wander out of
the way, and from the catholike church, without which there is
no salvation : — Wee therefore considering, that so pernicious a
mischiefe which may creepe amongst many, we ought not to
suffer, and by dissimulation to pass over, which may with deadly
contagion slay the soules of men, lest their blood be required at
our hands ; are willing so much as God will permit us to doe, to
extirpate the same. Wherefore, by the counsell and consent of
many of our brethren and suffragans, wee have convented divers
and sundrie doctors of divinitie, as also professors and other
3 The letter.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 159.

218 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
clerks of the canon and civill lawes, the best learned within the
realme, and of the most soundest opinion and judgement in the
catholike faith, to give their opinions and judgements concerning
the aforesaid conclusions. But forasmuch as the said conclusions
and assertions being in the presence of us, and our fellow bre
thren and other convocates, openly expounded, and diligently ex
amined, and in the end found by common counsell and consent,
as well of them as of us, and so declared, that some of those
conclusions were hereticall, and some of them erroneous, and
repugnant to the determination of the church, as here under are
described : Wee will and command your brotherhood, and by
vertue of holy obedience straitly enjoyne all and singuler our
brethren, and suffraganes of our church of Canturburie, that
with all speedie diligence you possiblie can, you likewise enjoyne
them (as we have enjoyned you) and everie of them. And that
every one of them in their churches and other places of their
citie and diocesse, doe admonish and warne, and that you in your
church and other churches of your citie and dioces, do admonish
and warne, as we by the tenour of these presents do admonish
and warne the first time, the second time and the third time ;
and yet more straitely doe warne, assigning for the first admoni
tion one day, for the second admonition another day, and for the
third admonition canonical and peremptory, another day : That
no man from henceforth, of what estate or condition soever, doe
hold, preach, or defend the foresaid heresies and errours, or any
of them ; nor that he admit to preach any one that is prohibited
or not sent to preach, nor that he heare or hearken to the here
sies or errors of him or any of them, or that he favour or leane
unto him either publikely or privily ; but that immediately he
shun him as he would avoid a serpent putting forth most pesti
ferous poison, under paine of the greater curse * ; the which wee
4 The greater curse.] It was in allusion to these proceedings of the arch
bishop, that Wickliffe, in his Treatise against the order of Friars, p. 53,
a.d. 1608, says, " They techen al this people to recke lesse of the most
rightfull curse of God, then by the wrong curse of sinful man. For they
callen the curse of God the lesse curse, and the curse of sinful man the more
curse. For though a man be never so cursed of God for pride, envie,
covetise, or avowtrie, or any other, this is not charged ne pursued, nether of
prelate, ne lord, ne commons. But if a man withstand ones the citation of
a sinful prelate, yea after the commandement of God, then he shall be cursed
and prisoned after fortie daies, and al men shullen goe upon him, though the

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 219
command to be thundered against all and every one which shall
be disobedient in this behalfe, and not regarding these our moni-
man be pursued for truth of the gospel, and be blessed of God." In what
follows, we have a description of the greater and lesser curse, taken from a
Treatise of the Articles of the General greater Curse or Sentence, found in a
church at Canterbury, a.d. 1562. "Ye shullen understand that this word
curse is thus much to say, as departing" (cutting off) "fro God, and al good
workes. Of two manner of cursing holy church telleth ; the one is cleped
the lesse curs ; the other is cleped the more curs. That we clepen the lesse
curs, is of this strength ; that every man and woman that faileth therein, it
departeth him froe al the sacramentes, that bene in holy church, that they
may none of hem receive, till they be assoylled. For right as a sword de
parteth the head, or the life from the body ; right so as to say, ghostly curse
departeth mans soul fro God, and fro al good workes. The more cms is
muche worse, and is of this strength, for to depart a man froe God, and froe
al holy church, and also froe the company of al christen folke, never to be
saved by the passion of Christ, ne to be holpen by the sacramentes that ben
done in holy church, ne to have part with any christen man." Becon's
Reliques of Rome. Works, vol. iii. foi. 378.
Reference is made to these same mandates and anathemas of the church
in the Ploughman's Tale in Chaucer's Works, p. 167, edit. 1687,
" Who giveth you leave for to preach ? —
Thou shalt be curst with booke and bell,
And discevered from holy church."
We shall hear so much of these curses and excommunications, that it may
not be amiss, once for all, to produce an exemplification of their ordinary
process. " At last, the priests found out a toy, to curse him whatsoever he were,
with booke, bell, and candle; which curse at that day seemed most feareful
and terrible. The manner of the curse was after this sort :
" One of the priests, apparalled all in white, ascended up into the pulpit.
The other rabblement with certaine of the two orders of friers, and certaine
superstitious monkes of Saint Nicholas house, standing round about, and
the crosse (as the custom was) being holden up with holy candles of waxe
fixed to the same, he began his sermon with this theme of Joshua : Est blas-
phemia in castris : There is blasphemie in the army ; and so made a long pro
testation, but not so long as tedious and superstitious, and so concludes that
that foule and abominable hereticke which had put up suche blasphemous
bils, was for that his blasphemie damnablie accursed ; and besought God,
our Lady, Sainte Peter, patron of that church, with all the holy companie of
martyrs, confessours, and virgins, that it might be known what hereticke
had put up such blasphemous bils, that Gods people might avoide the
vengeance. " The maner of the cursing of the said Benet was marvellous to behold ;
forasmuch as at that time there were few or none, unless a shireman or two
(whose houses I well remember were searched for bils at that time, and for

220 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
tions, after that those three daies be past which are assigned for
the canonicall monition, and that their delay, fault or offence
bookes) that knew any thing of Gods matters, or how God doth blesse their
curses in such cases. Then said the prelate, ' By the authority of God the
Father Almighty, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, of Saint Peter and Paul,
and of the holy saints, wee excommunicate, we utterly curse and banne,
commit and deliver to the devil of hell, him or her, whatsoever he or shee
bee, that have in spite of God and of Saint Peter, whose church this is, in
spite of all holy saintes, and in spite of our most holy father the pope, Gods
vicar here in earth, and in spite of the reverende father in God John our
diocesane, and the worshipful canons, masters, and priests and clerkes which
serve God daily in this cathedral church, fixed up with waxe, such cursed
and heretical bils full of blasphemie, upon the doors of this and other holy
churches within this city. Excommunicate plainly be hee or shee, or they,
and delivered over to the devil as perpetual malefactors, and schismatickes.
Accursed might they be and given body and soul to the devil. Cursed be
they, he or shee, in cities and townes, in fields, in waies, in pathes, in
houses, out of houses, and in all other places, standing, lying, or rising,
walking, running, waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, and whatsoever thing
they doe besides. We separate them, him, or her, from the threshold, and
from all the good prayers of the church, from the participation of the holy
masse, from all sacramentes, chapels, and altars, from holy bread, and holy
water, from all the merits of Gods priests and religious men, and from all
their cloisters, from all their pardons, privileges, grants, and immunities,
which all the holy fathers, popes of Rome, have granted to them : and wee
give them over utterly to the power of the fiend, and let us quench their
soules (if they bee dead) this night in the paines of hell fire, as this candle
is now quenched, and put out ' (and with that hee put out one of the can
dles) ; ' and let us praie to God (if they be alive) that their eyes may be put
out, as this candle light is,' (so he put out the other candle,) ( and let us
praie to God, and to our Lady, and to Saint Peter and Paul, and all holy
saintes, that all the senses of their bodies may faile them, and that they may
have no feehng, as now the light of this candle is gone,' (and so hee put out
the third candle,) ' except they, hee, or shee, come openly nowe and con-
fesse their blasphemie, and by repentance (as in them shall lie) make satis
faction unto God, our Lady, Saint Peter, and the worshipfull company of this
cathedral church ; and as this holy crosse staffe now faileth downe, so mighte
they except they repent, and shew themselves ;' and one first taking awaye
the crosse, the staffe fell downe. But, Lord ! what a shout and noise was
there, what terrible feare, what holding up of handes to heaven ; that curse
was so terrible ! " Fox's Acts, p. 947. This account speaks only of quenching
the candles, and does not tell what was done with the bells and the book.
The deficiency may be supplied by the following extract : " After the impre
cations were over, the priest (according to some forms) subjoined these words :
Fiat : Fiat : Doe to the boke : Quench the Candles : Ring the Bell. Amen.
Amen. — And then the book is clapped together ; the candles blown out ; and
the bells rung, with a most dreadful noise made by the congregation present,

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 221
committed : That then, according to the tenour of these writings,
we command both by every one of our fellow brethren and our
suffragans in their cities and dioces, and by you in your city and
diocesse (so much as belongeth both to you" and them), that to
the uttermost, both yee and they cause the same excommunica
tions to be pronounced. And furthermore, wee will and com
mand our foresaid fellow brethren, and all and singuler of you
apart by your selves, to bee admonished, and by the aspersion of
the blood of Jesus Christ we likewise admonish you, that accord
ing to the institution of the sacred canons, every one of them in
their cities and dioces, be a diligent inquisitor of this hereticall
pravitie ; and that every one of you also in your cities and dioces,
bee the like inquisitor of the foresaid hereticall pravitie : And
that of such like presumptions they and you carefully and dili
gently enquire, and that both they and you (according to your
duties and office in this behalfe) with effect do proceed against the
same, to the honour and praise of his name that was crucified,
and for the preservation of the Christian faith and religion." May
30, 1382.
Here is not to be passed over, the greate miracle of Gods
divine admonition or warning ; for when as the archbishop and
suffragans, with the other doctors of divinitie, and lawyers with a
great companie of babling friers, and religious persons were
gathered together to consult, as touching John Wickliffes books,
and that whole sect, at the Grey Friers in London, upon saint
Dunstans day 5 after dinner, about two of the clocke, the very
houre and instant that they should go forward with their
businesse, a wonderfull and terrible earthquake fell throughout
all England ; whereupon divers of the suffragans being feared by
the strange and wonderful demonstration, doubting what it
should meane, thought it good to leave off from their determinate
purpose. But the archbishop (as chiefe captaine of that armie,
more rash and bold then wise) interpreting the chance which had
happened, cleane contrarie, to another meaning or purpose, did
confirme and strengthen their hearts and minds, which were
almost daunted with feare, stoutly, to proceede and goe forward
bewailing the accursed persons concerned in that black doom denounced
against them." Staveley's History of Churches in England, p. 237-88.
" They pray " (says Tindal) " in Latin, they christen in Latin, they blesse
in Latin, they give absolution in Latin : onely curse they in the English
toung." Obedience of a Christian Man. Works, 1 5 1 . foi.
6 St. Dunstan's Day.] May 19 (1382).

222 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
in their attempted enterprise. Who then discoursing Wickliffes
articles, not according unto the sacred canons of the holy scrip
ture, but unto their owne private affections and traditions, pro
nounced and gave sentence, that some of them were simplie and
plainely hereticall, othersome halfe erroneous, other irreligious,
some seditious, and not consonant to the church of Rome.
The archbishop yet not contented with this, doth moreover by
all meanes possible, sollicite the king to joine withall the power of
his temporall sword, for that he well perceived, that hitherto as
yet the popish clergie had not authoritie sufficient by anie law or
statute 6 of this land to proceed unto death against any person
whatsoever, in case of religion, but onely by the usurped tyranny
and example of the court of Rome. Where note (gentle reader)
for thy better understanding, the practice of the Romish pre-
lats in seeking the kings helpe to further their bloudie pur
pose against the good saints of God. Which king being but
young, and under yeers of ripe judgement, partly induced, or
rather seduced by importune sute of the foresaid archbishop,
partly also either for feare of the bishops (for kings cannot alwaies
6 Law or statute.] There was hitherto no statute, unquestionably. But, it
seems, that heresy was, from an earlier period, held to be punishable with
death by burning, by the common law of the realm.
" Christianity " (says Blackstone) " being thus deformed by the daemon of
persecution upon the continent, we cannot expect that our own island should
be entirely free from the same scourge. And therefore we find among our
ancient precedents a writ de hceretico comburendo, which is thought by some to
be as ancient as the common law itself. However, it appears from thence,
that the conviction of heresy by the common law was not in any petty eccle
siastical court, but before the archbishop himself in a provincial synod ; and
that the delinquent was delivered over to the king, to do as he should please
with him : so that the crown had a control over the spiritual power, and might
pardon the convict by issuing no process against him ; the writ de haretico
comburendo being not a writ of course, but issuing only by the special direc
tion of the king in council." Book iv. chap. 4. Public Wrongs.
" For the punishment of heretics, it cannot be doubted, by the common
law (that is, the custom of the realm) of England, to have been here, as in
other parts of the world, by consuming them by fire. Balaeus, from the tes
timony of a chronicle of London, reports one of the Albigenses to have been
so made away with there, a.d. 1210. Of the truth of the thing there is no
question ; for Bracton writes of an apostate deacon, that, in a council held at
Oxford, a.d. 1222, by Stephen Langton, he was first degraded, and then by
the lay power committed to the fire : with whom agrees Fleta." — Twisden's
Historical Vindication, p. 155.
See also the note at p. 389 of the life of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham,
in this work.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 223
doe in their realmes what they will) or else perhaps inticed by
some hope of subsidie to be gathered by the clergy, was content
to adjoine his private assent (such as it was) to the setting downe
of an ordinance, which was indeed the very first law 1 that is to
be found made against religion and the professours thereof, bear
ing the name of an act made in the parliament holden at West
minster, anno 5. Rich. 2. Where among sundry other statutes
then published, and yet remaining in the printed books of statutes,
this supposed statute is to be found, cap. 5, & ultimo, as
followeth. " Item, forsomuch as it is openly knowne that there be divers
evill persons within the realme, going from countie to countie,
and from towne to towne, in certaine habits under dissimulation
of great holinesse, and without the licence of the ordinaries of
the places, or other sufficient authoritie, preaching daily not
only in churches and churchyards, but also in markets, faires,
and other open places where a great congregation of people is,
divers sermons containing heresies and notorious errors, to the
great emblemishing of Christian faith, and destruction of the
lawes, and of the estate of holy church, to the great perill of the
soules of the people, and of all the realme of England, as more
plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the reverend father
in God the archbishop of Canturbury, and the bishops and other
prelats, masters of divinitie, and doctors of canon and of civill
law, and a great part of the clergy of the said realme, specially
assembled for this great cause ; which persons doe also preach
divers matters of slander, to ingender discord and dissention
betwixt divers estates of the said realme, as well spirituall as tem
porall, in exciting of the people, to the great perill of all the
realme : which preachers cited or summoned before the ordinaries
of the places there to answer to that whereof they be impeached,
they will not obey to their summons and commandements, nor
care not for their monitions nor censures of the holy church, but
expressly despise them. And moreover, by their subtile and
ingenious words, doe draw the people to heare their sermons, and
doe maintaine them in their errors by strong hand, and by great
routs : It is ordained and assented in this present parliament,
that the king's commissions be made and directed to the shiriffes
and other ministers of our soveraigne lord the king, or other
7 Very first law.] See also Pari. Hist. vol. i. col. 177. ed. 1806.

224 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
sufficient persons learned, and, according to the certifications of
the prelats thereof, to be made in the chancery from time to time,
to arrest all such preachers, and also their fautors, maintainers,
and abetters, and to hold them in arrest and strong prison, till
they will justify them according to the law and reason of holy
church. And the king willeth and commandeth, that the chan
cellor make such commissions at all times, that he by the prelats
or any of them shall bee certified and thereof required, as is
aforesaid." What manner of law this was, by whom devised, and by what
authority the same was first made and established, judge by that
that followeth : viz.
In the Utas 8 of St Michael next following, at a parliament
summoned and holden at Westminster, the sixth yeere of the
said king, among sundry petitions made to the king by his
commons, whereunto he assented, there is one in this forme,
article 52.
" Item, prayen the commons, that whereas an estatute was
made the last parliament in these words : ' It is ordained in this
present parliament, that commissions from the king be directed
to the shiriffes and other ministers of the king, or to other suffi
cient persons skilfull, and according to the certificats of the
prelats thereof to be made unto the chancery from time to time
to arrest all such preachers, and their fauters, maintainers and
abetters ; and them to detaine in strong prison, untill they will
justifie themselves according to reason, and law of holy church ;
and the king willeth and commandeth, that the chancellor make
such commissions at all times, as shall be by the prelats or any
of them certified, and thereof required, as is aforesaid ;' the which
was never agreed nor granted by the commons ; but whatsoever
was moved therein, was without their assent: that the said
statute be therefore disannulled. For it is not in any wise their
meaning, that either themselves, or such as shall succeed them,
shall be further justified or bound by the prelats, then were their
ancestors in former times ;" whereunto is answered, " II plaist a
Roy, the king is pleased."
Hereby notwithstanding the former unjust law of ann. 5. was

8 In the Utas.] The utas or octaves is the eighth day following any term
or feast. Any day in the interval between the feast and the eighth day is said
to be within the utas.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 225
repealed, and the fraud of the framers thereof sufficiently disco
vered : yet such meanes was there made by the prelats, that this
act of repeal was never published, nor ever sithence imprinted
with the rest of the statutes of that parliament. Insomuch as the
said repeale being concealed, like commissions and other pro
cesses were made from time to time, by virtue of the bastard
statute 9, as well during all the raigne of this king as ever sithence,

9 The bastard statute.] But it was not very long before this was not the
only statutable authority.
"In the reign of Henry IV." says Blackstone, "when the eyes of the
Christian world began to open, and the seeds ofthe protestant religion, though
under the opprobrious name of lollardy, took root in this kingdom ; the clergy,
taking advantage from the king's dubious title to demand an increase of then-
own power, obtained an act of parliament (2 Hen. iv. c. 15. a.d. 1401), which
sharpened the edge of persecution to its utmost keenness. For, by that sta
tute, the diocesan alone, without the intervention of a synod, might convict of
heretical tenets ; and unless the convict abjured his opinions, or if after ab
juration he relapsed, the sheriff was bound ex officio, if required by the bishop,
to commit the unhappy victim to the flames, without waiting for the consent
of the crown." Book iv. chap. 4.
Compare also Lewis's Life of Wickliffe, chap. 7. p. 133, &c. edit. 1820.
Twisden's Hist. Vindication, 158; Ayliffe's Parergon Juris Canonici, 293.
Into what a miserable condition the whole nation, both of clergy and laity,
was brought, under these laws, we shall sufficiently understand, when we
have first possessed ourselves of certain other very material circumstances, a
concise and clear statement of which we may borrow from judge Blackstone.
" What doctrines should be adjudged heresy, was left by our old constitution
to the determination of the ecclesiastical judge ; who had herein a most ar
bitrary latitude allowed him. For the general definition of an heretic given
by Lyndewode, extends to the smallest deviations from the doctrines of holy
church : ' hsereticus est qui dubitat de fide catholica, et qui negligit servare
ea, quae Romana ecclesia statuit, seu servare decreverit.' Or, as the statute
2 Hen. iv. c. 15, expresses it in English, 'teachers of erroneous opinions,
contrary to the faith and blessed determinations of the holy church.' Very
contrary this to the usage of the first general councils, which defined all
heretical doctrines with the utmost precision and exactness. And what ought
to have alleviated the punishment, the uncertainty of the crime, seems to have
enhanced it in those days of blind zeal and pious cruelty. It is true that the
sanctimonious hypocrisy of the canonists went at first no further than en
joining penance, excommunication, and ecclesiastical deprivation, for heresy.
But in the mean time they had prevailed upon the weakness of bigoted
princes to make the civil power subservient to their purposes, by making
heresy not only a temporal, but even a capital offence ; the Romish eccle
siastics determining, without appeal, whatever they pleased to be heresy, and
shifting off to the secular arm the odium and drudgery of executions." Com-
VOL. I. Q

226 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
against the professors of religion.— And now the king writeth his
letters patents, to the vicechanceUor of Oxford in forme as
followeth 1.
" The king : To the chancellor and the procurators of the
universitie of Oxford which now be, or for the time being shall
bee, greeting. Moved by the zeale of Christian faith, whereof
wee be, and alwaies will be defenders, and for our soules health
induced thereunto, having a great desire to represse, and by
mentaries on the Laws of England, book iv. chap. 4. Compare Twisden's
Historical Vindication, p. 135 — 42, and 153 — 61.
Now, in such a state of things, can we wonder that the high court of par
liament itself should declare " that the most learned man of the realm, dili
gently lying in wait upon himself, could not eschew and avoid the same acts
and canonical sanctions, if he should be examined upon such captious inter
rogatories as is and hath been accustomed to be ministered by the ordinaries
of this realm, in cases where they will suspect of heresy ?" (25 Hen. viii. cap.
14, a.d. 1534.) Or, is it surprising, that, on the revival of these acts under
queen Mary, bishop Ridley should write, that " it would be impossible now
to continue in England, without conforming to the Roman religion ; so that
they must either suffer, or deny their Master by a compliance with many
things which he has expressly forbidden ?" (Ridley's Life of Bishop Ridley,
p. 651.) Or, finally, why should we wonder at reading, that in one diocese
alone in one year (1521), above five hundred persons were accused and
detected ?" (Ibid. p. 9.)
But, is it possible that such means should gain their end, in such a cause ?
" He that dwelleth in heaven will laugh them to scorn ; the Lord shall have them
in derision." — No. As it was remonstrated nobly by one of the Reformers,
under king Henry VIII., addressing the prelates in convocation, " Think ye
not, that ye can by any sophistical subtleties steale out of the world again,
the light which every man doth see. . . And that which you doe hope
upon, that there was never heresie in the church so great, but that processe
of time, with the power and authoritie of the pope hath quenched it, it is
nothing to the purpose. But yee must truce your opinion, and thinke this
surely, that there is nothing so feeble and weake, so that it be true, but it shall
find place, and be able to stand against all falshood."
" Truth is the daughter of time, and time is the mother of truth." See
Life of Cromwell, given below in this collection.
And hence it was that the martyrs and confessors were cheered with the
consolatory hope, even in their darkest hour, that " God would arise, and
have mercy upon Sion :" and they looked forward, in cheerful anticipation, in
the language, for example, of one of them under queen Mary, that " the dis
persed flocke of Christ would be brought againe into their former estate, or
to a better than it was in innocent king Edward's days." Life of Rogers, given
below in this collection.
1 As followeth.] See 3 Wilkins, 166, 7.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 227
condigne punishment to restraine the impugners of the foresaid
faith, which newly and wickedly goe about and presume to sow
their naughty and perverse doctrine, within our kingdome of
England, and to preach and hold damnable conclusions, so noto
riously repugnant and contrary to the same faith, to the per
verting of our subjects and people, as we understand : — Before
they any further proceed in their malicious errors, or else infect
others, We have by these presents appointed you to bee inquisitor
generall (all the chiefe divines of the said universitie being your
assistants), and the same likewise to be done of al'and singuler
the graduats, divines and lawyers of the same universitie. And if
they shall know any which be of the jurisdiction of the said
universitie of Oxford, which be probably of them suspected to be
in the favour, beleefe, or defence of any heresie or error, and
specially of any of the conclusions publikely condemned by the
reverend father, William, archbishop of Canturbury, by the
councel of his clergie, or els of any other conclusion like unto
any of them in meaning, or in words : and if henceforth you
shall find any that shall beleve, favour, or defend any of the fore
said heresies or errors, or any other such like, or else which shall
be so bold to receive into their houses and innes, master John
Wickliffe, M. Nicolas Herford, M. Philip Reppindon, or M.
John Ashton, or any other noted by probable suspition of any
the foresaid heresies or errors, or any other like unto them in
meaning, or in word : or that shall presume to communicate with
any of them, or else to defend or favour any of such favourers,
receivers, communicants and defenders, within seven daies after
the same shall appeare and be manifest unto you, to banish and
expell them from the universitie and towne of Oxford, till such
time as they shall declare their innocence before the archbishop
of Canturburie for the time being, by manifest purgation ; so
notwithstanding, that such as be compelled to purge themselves,
you certify us and the said archbishop under your seales, from
time to time, within one month, that they be such maner of
men. Commanding furthermore, that through all the halles of
the said universitie, ye cause diligentlie to be searched and
inquired out of hand ; if anie man have anie book 2 or tractation
of the edition or compiling of the foresaid master John Wickliffe,
2 Anie book.] See also 3 Wilkins, 204. Proclamation against Wickliffe's
Books, a.d. 1387.
q 2

228 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
or Nicolas Herford ; and that when and wheresoever ye shall
chance to find any such booke or tractation, yee cause the same
to be arrested and taken, and unto the foresaid archbishop within
one moneth (without correction, corruption, or mutation what
soever) word for word, and sentence for sentence, to be brought
and presented. And therefore wee straitly enjoyne and com
mand you, upon your fidelitie and allegeance wherein ye stand
bound unto us, and upon paine of forfeiture of al and singular
your liberties and priviledges of your said universitie, and of all
that ever you have besides ; that you give your diligent attendance
upon the premisses, and that well and faithfully you execute the
same in manner and forme aforesaid. And that you obey the
foresaid archbishop, and his lawfull and honest mandates, that he
shall thinke good to direct unto you in this behalfe, as it is meete
ye should. And we give in charge unto the vicechanceUor and
maior of Oxford for the time being, and to all and singuler our
sheriffes, under-sheriffes, bailiffes, and subjects, by these presents ;
that they aid, obey, and bee attendant upon you in the execution
of the premisses. In witnesse whereof, &c. Witnesse the king
at Westminster, the 13th day of July, the sixth yeere of his
raigne." (A.D. 1382.)
The vicechanceUor the same time in Oxford was master Robert
Rigges. The two proctors were John Huntman and Walter
Dish, who then, as far as they durst, favored the cause * of John
Wickliffe and that side. Insomuch, that the same time and
yeere which was an. 1382. when certaine publike sermons should
be appointed customabne at the feast of the Ascension, and of
Corpus Christi to be preached in the cloyster of S. Frideswide
(now caUed Christs church) before the people, by the vice
chanceUor aforesaid and the proctors, the doing thereof the
vicechanceUor aforesaid and proctors had committed to Phflip
Repington and Nicholas Herford, so that Nicolas Herford should
preach on the ALScension day, and Repington upon Corpus Christi
day. First Herford beginning was noted to defend John Wickliffe,
openly to be a faithfull, good and innocent man : for the which
no smaU ado with outcries was among the friers.
3 Favored the cause.] See Lewis's Life, &c. p. 114, 15. and Records, No.
34. See also No. 35.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 229
After this the feast of Corpus Christi drew neere, upon which
day it was looked for that Repington should preach.
When the friers understood this, fearing lest hee would rub
the galles of their religion, they convented with the archbishop of
Canturbury, that the same day a little before that Philip should
preach, Wickliffe's conclusions which were privately condemned,
should be openly defamed in the presence of the whole universitie.
The doing of which matter was committed to Peter Stokes frier,
standerd-bearer and chiefe champion of that side against Wick
liffe. There were also letters 4 sent unto the commissarie, that
he should helpe and aide him in publishing of the same con
clusions. These things thus done and finished, Repington at the houre
appointed proceeded to his sermon. In the which sermon among
many other things, he was reported to have uttered these sayings,
or to this effect.
" That the popes or bishops ought not to be recommended 5
above temporall lords."
Also that " in morall matters he would defend master Wick
liffe as a true catholike doctor."
Moreover, that " the duke of Lancaster was very earnestly
affected and minded in this matter, and would that all such
should be received under his protection :" besides many things
mo which touched the praise and defence of Wickliffe.
And finallie, in concluding his sermon, he dismissed the people
with this sentence : " I will (said hee) in the speculative doctrine,
as appertaining to the matter of the sacrament ofthe altar, keepe
silence and hold my peace, untill such time as God otherwise shall
instruct and illuminate the hearts of the clergy."
When the sermon was done, Repington entred into S. Fride-
swides church, accompanied with many of his friends ; who, as the

4 There were also letters.] These two documents, the letter to Stokes, and
that to the commissary or vice-chancellor, are given by Lewis in his Records,
Nos. 31 and 33.
5 Ought not to be recommended.] Ought not to be commended, that is,
in prayer: according to what follows, p. 230; "minding there to prove,
that the pope and the bishops ought to be prayed for before the lords tem
porall." — With Repington's Reserve on the Doctrine of the Eucharist, com
pare the process against Swinderby. Fox, p. 432 ; also the accounts of
Bilney and Tindall, given below in this collection, and a note in Thorpe's
Examination, on the words " material bread."

230 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
enemies surmised, were privilie weaponed under their garments,
if need had been. Frier Stokes the Carmelite aforesaid, sus
pecting aU this to be against him, and being afraid of hurt, kept
himself within the sanctuarie of the church, not daring as then
to put out his head. The vicechanceUor and Repington, -friendly
saluting one another in the church porch, sent away the people,
and so departed every man home to his owne house. There was
not a little joy through the whole universitie for that sermon :
but in the meane time, the unquiet and busie Carmelite slipt not
his matter. For first by his letters hee declared the whole order
of the matter unto the archbishoppe, exaggerating the perils and
dangers that he was in, requiring and desiring his helpe and aid,
pretermitting nothing, whereby to move and stirre up the arch
bishops minde, which of his owne nature was as hot as a toste,
(as they say,) and ready enough to prosecute the matter of his
owne accord, though no man had prickt him forward thereunto.
Besides all this (three daies after) with a fierce and bold courage,
the said frier breathing out threatnings and heresies against
them, took the way unto the schooles, minding there to prove,
that the pope and the bishops ought to be praied for before the
lords temporaU. Whiles this frier was thus occupied in the
schooles, he was mocked and derided of all men, and shortly after
hee was sent for by the archbishop to London : whom imme
diately after, the vicechanceUor and Brightwell 6 foUowed up, to
purge and cleere themselves and their adherents from the accusa
tions of this frier Peter. At the length they being examined
upon Wickliffes conclusions that were condemned, did all consent,
that they were worthily condemned.
Then began the hatred on their part somewhat to appeare and
shew, and speciaUy all men were offended, and in the tops of
these friers and religious men, upon whom whatsoever trouble or
mischief was raised up they did impute it as to the authors
and causers of the same. Amongst whom there was one Henry
Crompe, a monke Cistertian, a well learned divine, which after
ward was accused by the bishops of heresie. Hee at that time
was openly suspended by the commissary, (because in his lectures
he caUed the heretikes Lollards7,) from his acts (as they terme

" And Brightwell.] Fox, p. 401, 402.
7 Called the heretikes Lollards.] Our canonist Lynwood tells us, that this
name was derived from the Latin lolium, which signifies cockle ; because as

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 231
them) in the schoole. — Then he comming by and by up to
London, made his complaint unto the archbishop and to the kings
counseU. Whereupon he obtaining the letters of the king, and of his
counsell, by the vertue thereof (returning againe to the univer
sitie) was restored to his former state ; the words of which letter
here followeth under written 8.
The Copy of the Kings Letter.
" The king to the vicechancelour and proctors of the univer
sitie of Oxford, greeting. Whereas we of late understanding by
the grievous complaint of Henry Crompe, monke, and regent in
divinitie within the said university, how that he, being assisted
by the reverend father in God the archbishop of Canterbury, and
by other clerks and divines in the citie of London, to proceed in
the condemnation of certaine conclusions erroneous and hereti
call, hath been therefore molested by you : and that you through
sinister suggestions of some adversaries (pretending the peace of
the said university, to have been broken by the said Henry in his
last lecture,) did therefore call him before you to appeare and
answere ; and for his not appearing, did therefore pronounce him
as obstinat, and convict of peace-breaking ; and also have sus
pended the said Henrie from his lectures, and all scholasticall
acts : And whereas we by our writ, did call you up for the same,
to appeare and answere before our counsell unto the premisses ;
so that aU things being well tried and examined by the said coun
sell, it was found and determined, that all your processe against
the said Henry, was void and of none effect, and commandement
that weed is a great damage to the wheat (infelix lolium, Georgic.) among
which it grows ; so the Lollards, their enemies said, corrupted and spoiled
the well-meaning faithful among whom they were conversant. To this de
rivation of the word or name, our poet Chaucer alludes in the following
words : " This Loller here woll preche us somewhat,
He wolde sowin some difficulte,
Or spring (sprinkle) in some cokkle in our clene come."
Squire's Prologue.
Others derive the name from one Walter Lollard, a German (Beausobre,
Dissertat. sur les Adamites, &c.) Others again from Lullard or Lollards, the
praises of God, a sect so named, which was dispersed through Brabant.
Picteti Oratio, p. 29." Lewis's Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 10.
8 Under written.] See Lewis's Wickliffe, p. 115, 16. and Records, No. 36.

232 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
given, that the said Henry should be restored and admitted
againe to his former lectures and scholasticall acts, and to his
pristine state, as you know : To the intent therefore that this
decree aforesaid should be more duly executed of your part, we
here by these presents straitly charge and command you, that
you speedily revoke againe all your processe against the said
Henry in the universitie aforesaid, with all other that followed
thereof, and doe admit and cause to be restored againe the said
Henry to his scholasticall acts, his accustomed lectures and pris
tine estate, without aU delay, according to the forme of the de
cree and determination aforesaid. Enjoining you moreover, and
your commissaries or deputies, and your successors, and aU other
masters, regent and not regent, and other presidents, officers,
ministers, and schollers of the universitie aforesaid, upon your
faith and allegiance you owe to us, that you doe not impeach,
molest or grieve, or cause to be grieved any manner of way, privie
or apert, the said frier Henry for the causes premised, or frier
Peter Stokes Carmelite, for the occasion of his absence from the
university, or frier Stephan Packington Carmelite, or any other
religious or secular person favouring them, upon the occasion of
any either word or deed whatsoever, concerning the doctrine of
master John Wickliffe, Nicholas Herford, and Phillip Repping-
ton, or the reproofe and condemnation of their heresies and
errors, or the correction of their favourers, but that you doe pro
cure the peace, unity, and quiet, within the said university, and
chiefly betweene the religious and secular persons : and that you
with all diligence nourish, increase, and preserve the same to the
uttermost of your strength, And that you in no case omit to
doe it accordingly, upon the forfaitures of all and singuler the
liberties and priviledges of the university aforesaid. Witnesse
my selfe at Westminster the 14th of July." (A.D. 1382.)
Mention was made, as you heard a little before, how master
Rigges vicechanceUor of Oxford comming up with master Bright-
wel to the archbishop of Canturbury, was there straitly exa
mined of the conclusions of Wickliffe ; where hee notwithstand
ing, through the help of the bishop of Winchester, obtained
pardon, and was sent away againe with commandements and
charges, to seek out all the favourers of John Wickliffe. This
commandement being received, Nicolas Herford, and Philip Rep-
pington (being privily warned by the said vicechanceUor) in the

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 233
meane season conveied themselves out of sight, and fled to the
duke of Lancaster for succor and helpe : but the duke, whether
for fear, or what cause else I cannot say, in the end forsooke his
poore and miserable clients.
In the meane time, while they were fled thus to the duke, great
search and inquisition was made for them, to cite and to appre
hend them wheresoever they might be found. Whereupon the
archbishop of Canturbury William Courtney, directed out his
letters first to the vicechanceUor of Oxford, then to the bishop
of London named Robert Braybroke, charging them not onely
to excommunicate the said Nicolas and Philip within their juris
diction, and the said excommunication to be denounced likewise
throughout all the diocesse of his suffragans : but also moreover,
that diligent search and watch should be laid for them, both in
Oxford and in London, that they might bee apprehended : re
quiring moreover, by them to be certified againe, what they had
done in the premisses. And this was written the fourteenth day
of July, anno 1382.
Unto these letters received from the archbishop, diligent certi
ficat was given accordingly, as well of the bishop of London on
his part, as also of the vicechanceUor, the tenor whereof was
this. The Letter certificatorie ofthe VicechanceUor to the Archbishop.
" To the reverend father in Christ, Lord William, archbishop
of Canturbury, primat of all England, and legat of the aposto-
like see : Robert Rigges, professor of divinity, and vicechancel-
lor of the university of Oxford, greeting with due honour. Your
letters bearing the date of the 14th of July I have received : by
the authority whereof I have denounced, and caused to be de
nounced effectually, the foresaid Nicolas and Philip, to have bin,
and to be excommunicat publikely and solemnly in the church of
S. Mary, and in the schooles, and to be cited also personally, if
by any meanes they might be apprehended, according as you
commanded. But after diligent search laid for them of my part,
to have them personally cited and apprehended, I could not finde
either the said master Nicolas, or master Philip ; who have hid or
conveied themselves, unknowne to me. Whereof I thought here
to give signification to your fatherhood. Sealed and testified
with the seale of mine office." From Oxford the 25th of July.

234 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
In the mean time Nicolas Herford and Reppington being re
pulsed of the duke, and destitute (as was said) of his supporta-
tion, whether they were sent, or of their own accord went to
the archbishop, it is uncertaine. This I finde in a letter of the
foresaid archbishop, contained in his register, that Reppington
the 23rd day of October the same yeere 1382, was reconciled
againe to the archbishop, and also by his generall letter was re
leased, and admitted to his scholasticall acts in the universitie.
And so was also John Ashton ; of whom (Christ willing) more
shall follow hereafter. Of Nicolas Herford all this while I finde
no speciall relation.
In the mean time, about the twenty-third of the month of
September the said yeere, the king sent his mandate to the arch
bishop for collecting of a subsidie, and to have a convocation of
the clergy summoned, against the next parliament, which should
begin the eighteenth day of November. The archbishop likewise
on the fifteenth day of October, directed his letters monitory (as
the maner is) to Robert Braybroke bishop of London, to give the
same admonition to aU his suffragans, and other of the clergy
within his province for the assembling of the convocation afore
said. All which done and executed, the parliament beganne,
being holden at Oxford the eighteenth day of November, where
the convocation was kept in the monastery of Frideswide in
Oxford. In the which convocation 9, the archbishop, with other
bishops there sitting in their pontificalibus, declared two causes
of that their present assembly, thereby (saith he) to represse
heresies, which beganne newly in the realme to spring, and for
correcting other excesses in the church. The other cause (said
he) was to aid and support the king with some necessary subsidie
of money to be gathered ; which thus declared, the convocation
was continued till the day following, which was the 19th of No
vember. At the said day and place, the archbishop, with the other
prelats, assembling themselves as before, the archbishop after the
used solemnitie, willed the procurators of the clergie, appointed
for every diocesse, to consult within themselves, in some conve
nient several place, what they thought for their parts touching
the redresse of things, to bee notified and declared to him and to
his brethren, &c.
9 Which convocation.] See 3 Wilkins, 172, 3.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 235
Furthermore, "forasmuch," (saith he) "as it is so noysed
through aU the realme, that there were certaine in the universitie
of Oxford, which did hold and maintaine conclusions" (as he
caUeth them) " heriticaU and erroneous, condemned by him, and
by other lawyers and doctors of divinitie : he therefore assigned
the bishops of Sarum, Hereford and Rochester, with William
Rugge then vicechanceUor of the universitie of Oxford" (for be
like Robert Rigge was then displaced) "as also William Berton,
and John Middleton doctors ; giving them his full authoritie
with cursing and banning \ to search and to enquire with all dili
gence and waies possible, over all and singuler whatsoever, either
doctors, batchelors, or scholars of the said universitie, which did
hold, teach, maintaine, and defend, in schooles or out of schooles,
the said conclusions hereticall (as he called them) or erroneous,
and afterwards to give certificate truely and plainely touching the
premisses. And thus for that day the assemblie brake up to the
next, and so to the next, and the third, being Monday, the 24th
day of November." (Ex Regist. W. Courtney.)
On the which day, in the presence of the prelats and the
clergie in the chapter house of S. Frideswide, came in Philip
Repington, who there abjured the conclusions and assertions
aforesaid, in this forme of words as foUoweth.
" In Dei nomine, Amen, I Philip Repington, canon of the
house of Leicester, acknowledging one catholike and apostolike
faith, do curse and also abjure all heresie, namely these heresies
and errors under written, condemned and reproved by the decrees
canonicall, aud by you most reverend father, touching which
hitherto I have beene diffamed; condemning moreover and
reproving both them and the authors of them, and do confesse the
same to bee catholicaUy condemned : and I sweare also by these
holy Evangelists, which here I hold in my hand, and doe promise,
never by any perswasions of men, nor by any way hereafter, to
defend or hold as true, any of the said conclusions under written :
but doe and will stand and adhere in all things, to the determina
tion of the holy catholike church, and to yours, in this behalfe.
Over and besides, all such as stand contrarie to this faith, I do

1 With cursing and banning.] A bann (so banns of marriage) denotes any-
public proclamation or edict. To bann, in like manner, is to proclaim gene
rally : more particularly in a bad sense, to proscribe, to excommunicate, to

236 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
pronounce them with their doctrine and followers worthie of
everlasting curse. And if I my selfe shall presume at any time
to hold or preach any thing contrarie to the premisses, I shall be
content to abide the severitie of the canons. Subscribed with
mine owne hand, and with mine own accord, Philip Repington."
And thus the said Repington was discharged, who afterward was
made bishop of Lincolne, and became at length the most bitter
and extreme persecutor of this side, of all the other bishops
within the realme, as in processe hereafter may appeare.
After the abjuration of this Repington, immediately was
brought in John Ashton, student of divinitie; who being
examined of those conclusions, and willed to say his mind,
answered ; that he was too simple and ignorant ; and therefore
would not, and could not answer any thing cleerely or distinctly
to those conclusions. — Whereupon the archbishop assigned to
him doctor W. Rugge the vicechanceUor, and other divines, such
as he required himselfe, to be instructed in the mysterie of those
conclusions against the after noone : who then appearing againe
after dinner before the archbishop and the prelats, did in like sort
and forme of words abjure as did Repington before.
Of this John Ashton we read, that afterward by Thomas
Arundell archbishop of Canturburie, hee was cited and con
demned ; but whether he died in prison, or was burned, we have
yet no certainetie to shew. This is certaine by the plaine words
of the chronicle of saint Albans, that when the archbishop, with
his doctors and friers, sat in examination upon this John Ashton
in London, the Londoners brake open the doore of the conclave,
and did let the archbishop himselfe sitting in the citie of London,
when he would have made processe against J. Ashton, an. 1382.
— And thus much of J. Ashton.
As touching Nicolas Herford, during the time of this convoca
tion, he did not appeare ; and therefore had the sentence of
excommunication. Against which he put his appeale from the arch
bishop to the king and his counsell. The archbishop would not
admit it, but finding staies and stops caused him to bee appre
hended and inclosed in prison. Notwithstanding through the wiU
of God and good meanes he escaped out of the prison, returning
againe to his former exercise, and preaching as hee did before,
albeit in as covert and secret maner as hee could. Whereupon
the archbishop thundring out his bolts of excommunication against
him, sendeth to all pastors and ministers, willing them' in all

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 237
churches, and all festivall daies, to divulge the said his excommu
nication against him, to all men. He writeth moreover and
sendeth speciall charge to all and singuler of the laitie, to beware
that their simphcitie be not deceived by his doctrine, but that
they like catholike children will avoide him, and cause him of all
other to be avoided.
Furthermore, not contented with this, he addresseth also his
letter unto the king, requiring also the aide of his temporall
sword to chop off his necke, whom he had alreadie cast downe. —
See and note, reader, the seraphicall charitie of these priestly
prelats towards the poore redeemed flocke of Christ ! And yet
these be they which washing their hands with Pilate, say and
pretend : Nobis non licet interficere quenquam : it is not our parts
to kill any man. — The copie of the letter written to the king
is this. The Letter ofthe Archbishop to the King.
" To the most excellent prince in Christ, &c. William, &c.
greeting in him by whom kings doe reigne, and princes beare rule.
Unto your kingly celsitude by the tenour of these presents we inti
mate, that one master Nicolas Herford doctor of divinitie, for his
manifest contumacie and offence in not appearing before us being
called at the day and place assigned, therefore is inwrapped in the
sentence of the greater curse, publikelie by our ordinarie autho
rity. And in the same sentence hath continued now fortie daies,
and yet still continueth with indurate heart, wickedly contemning
the keyes of the church, to the great perill both of his soule, and
to the pernicious example of other. Forsomuch therefore, as the
holy mother the church hath not to doe or to procede any further
in this matter ; we humblie desire your kingly majestie, to direct
out your letters for the apprehending of the said excommunicate
according to the custome of this realme of England, wholesomelie
observed and kept hitherto ; to the intent that such whom the
feare of God doth not restrain from evill, the discipline of the
secular arme may bridle and plucke backe from offending. Your
princely celsitude the Lord long continue ! From Lambeth the
15. of Januarie."
To this letter of the archbishop, might not the king (gentle
reader) thus answere againe, and answere well :
" Your letters with your complaint and requests in the same

238 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
contained we have received and weU considered. For the accom
plishing whereof, ye shall understand, that as we are readilie bent
to gratifie and satisfie your mind in this behalfe on the one side :
so we must beware againe on the other, that our authoritie be not
abused either to oppresse before wee know, or to judge before
wee have tried. Wherefore forsomuch as you in your letters doe
excite and sharpen the severe discipline of our secular sword,
against one Nicolas Herford, for his not appearing before you ;
and yet shewing in the said your letters no certaine cause to us
what you have to charge him withall : we therefore following the
example of Alexander Magnus, or rather the rule of equitie in
opening both our eares indifferently, to heare as well the one part
as the other, doe assigne both to him, whenas he may be found,
and to you when ye shall be called, a terme to appeare before us.
To the intent that the controversie betweene you and him, stand
ing upon points of religion, being tried by the true touchstone of
God's holy word, due correction indifferentlie may be ministered,
according as the offence shal be found. In the meane time, this
we cannot but something marveU at in your said letters ; First,
to see you men of the chm-ch and angels of peace, to be so desi
rous of blood. Secondlie, to consider you againe so fierce in
prosecuting the breach of your law, and yet so cold in pursuing
the breach of the expresse law of God and his commandements.
Thirdly, to behold the unstable doublenesse in your proceedings,
who pretending in your publike sentence, to become as intreaters
for them to us in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that we wiU with
draw from them the rigor of our severitie, and yet in your letters
you be they which most set us on. If not appearing before you,
be such a matter of contumacie in case of your law, that it is in
no case to bee spared ; what should then our princelie discipline
have done to men of your calling? Henrie Spencer bishop of
Norwich, being at Canturburie, was sent for by our speciall com-
mandement to come to our speech, denied to come, and yet we
spared him. John Stratford archbishop your predecessor, being
required of our progenitor king Edward the third to come to him
at Yorke, would not appeare : by the occasion whereof, Scotland
the same time was lost, and yet was he suffred. The like might
be said of Robert Winchelsey in the daies of king Edward the
first, and of Edmund archbishop of Canturburie, in the daies of
king Henrie the third. Stephen Langton was sent for by king
John to come, he came not. The like contumacie was in Becket

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 239
toward king Henrie the second. Also in Anselme toward king
Henrie the first. AU these for their not appearing before their
princes, ye doe excuse, who notwithstanding might have appeared
without danger of life ; this one man for not appearing before
you, you thinke worthie of death ; whose life you would have
condemned notwithstanding, if he had appeared. It is no reason,
if the squiriU climing to the tree from the lion's clawes would not
appeare, being sent for to be devoured, that the eagle therefore
should seise upon him without any just cause declared against the
partie. Wherefore according to this, and to that aforesaid, when
he shall appeare, and you be called, and the cause justly weighed,
due execution shall be ministered."
And thus far concerning Nicolas Herford, and the other afore
said. — But all this meane while what became of J. Wickliffe it is
not certainely knowne. Albeit so farre as may be gathered out of
Walden, it appeareth that he was banished and driven to exile. —
In the meane time it is not to be doubted, but he was alive during
all this while, wheresover he was, as by his letter may appeare,
which he about this time wrote to pope Urbane the sixth. In
the which letter he doth purge himselfe, that being commanded
to appeare before the pope at Rome, hee came not ; declaring
also in the same a briefe confession of his faith. The copy of
which epistle here followeth.
The Epistle of John Wickliffe sent unto Pope Urbane the Sixth.
An. 1382.
" Verilie, I doe rejoyce to open and declare the faith which I
doe hold unto every man, and especially unto the bishop of Rome :
the which forsomuch as I doe suppose to be sound and true, he
will most willingly confirme my said faith, or if it bee erroneous
amend the same.
" First, I suppose, that the gospell of Christ, is the whole body
of God's law ; and Christ which did give that same law, I beleive
him to be a very man 2, and in that point, to exceede the law of
3 To be a very man.] In Lewis's History, p. 283, (Records, No. 23,) we
have an ancient copy of this letter, which differs considerably from this of
Fox. By help of this copy, it appears that the reading in the passage before
us should be, " I believe him to be very God and very Man." It there
stands as follows : " I beleve that Jesu Christ, that gaf in his own persoun
this gospel, is very God and very Man, and be (by) this it passes all other

240 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
the gospell, and all other parts of the scripture. Againe, I doe
give and hold the bishop of Rome, forsomuch as he is the vicar of
Christ here in earth, to be bound most of aU other men unto that
law of the gospell. For the greatnesse amongst Christ's disciples,
did not consist in worldly dignity or honours, but in the neere and
exact following of Christ, in his life and maners. Again ; I do
gather out of the heart of the law of the Lord, that Christ for the
time of his pilgrimage here, was a most poore man, abjecting and
casting off all worldly rule and honour, as appeareth by the gospell
of Mat. the 8. and the 2 Cor. 8. chap.
" Hereby I doe fully gather, that no faithfull man ought to
foUow, neither the pope himselfe, neither any of the holy men, but
in such points, as he hath followed the Lord Jesus Christ. For
Peter, and the sonnes of Zebede by desiring worldly honour,
contrarie to the foUowing of Christ's steps, did offend, and there
fore in those errours they are not to be followed.
" Hereof I doe gather, as a counseU, that the pope ought to
leave unto the secular power, all temporall dominion and rule, and
thereunto effectually to move and exhort his whole clergie, for so
did Christ, and speciaUy by his apostles.
" Wherefore if I have erred in any of these points, I wiU most
humblie submit my selfe unto correction, even by death if neces-
sitie so require. — And if I could labour a according to my will in
mine owne person, I would surely present my selfe before the
bishop of Rome ; but the Lord hath otherwise visited me to the
contrarie, and hath taught me rather to obey God then men.
Forsomuch then, as God hath given unto our pope, just and true
evangelicall instinetions, we ought to pray, that those motions be
not extinguished by any subtle or craftie device. And that the
pope and cardinals be not moved to doe any thing, contrarie unto
the law of the Lord. Wherefore let us pray unto our God, that
he will so stir up our pope Urbane the sixth as he began, that he
with his clergie may foUow the Lord Jesus Christ, in life and
lawes." And this is the purport of Fox's Latin original, p. 16. The sen
tence in the text ought therefore to have been rendered thus : " and that
Christ, which did give this same gospel, I believe to be very God, and very
Man; and in this I believe the gospel law to surpass all other parts of
scripture." 3 If I could labour.] This seems to intimate that Dr. Wickliffe was cited
by the pope to appear before him after his retiring to Lutterworth, and that he
pleaded his being a paralytic as his excuse. Lewis, p. 284.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 241
maners : and that they may teach the people effectually, and
that they likewise may faithfully follow them in the same. And
let us specially pray, that our pope may be preserved from all
maligne and evill counsell, which we doe know that evill and
envious men of his houshould would give him. And seeing the
Lord wiU not suffer us to bee tempted above our power, much
lesse then will he require of any creature to doe that thing which
they are not able, forsomuch, as that is the plaine condition and
maner of antichrist."
Thus much wrote John Wickliffe unto pope Urban. But this
pope Urbane, otherwise tearmed Turbanus 4, was so hot in his
warres against Clement the French pope his adversarie, that he
had no leisure, and lesse list 5, to attend unto Wickliffe's matters.
By the occasion of which schisme, God so provided for poore
Wickliffe, that he was in some more rest and quietnesse ; and
returning againe within short space, either from his banishment,
or from some other place where he was secretly kept, he repaired
to his parish of Lutterworth, where he was parson, and there
quietly departing 6 this mortall life, slept in peace in the Lord, in
the beginning of the yiere 1384, upon Silvester's day.
4 Otherwise tearmed Turbanus.] " Urban, in the eleven years that he held
the pontificate, debased the dignities of the Church by promoting the mean
est persons to the purple ; and fomented wars between the Christian princes ;
for which cause, instead of Urbanus, he was generally called Turbanus. He ex
ceeded all the popes that ever possessed the see of Rome in cruelty." Duck's
Life of Archbishop Chichele, p. 10.
5 And lesse list.] See above, p. 210, note.
0 Quietly departing.] His death was occasioned by the palsy.
" On this occasion" (says Mr. Lewis, History, p. 101) "is Dr. Wickliffe's
memory unmercifully insulted by his adversaries. Thus one of them (Wal-
singham, Hist. Aug. p. 312) tells us : It was reported that he had pre
pared accusations and blasphemies, which he intended, on the day he was
taken ill, to have uttered in his pulpit against the saint and martyr of the
day (Thomas Becket), but that by the judgment of God he was suddenly
struck, and the palsy seized all his limbs ; and that mouth which was to have
spoken huge things against God and his saints, or holy church, was miserably
drawn aside, and afforded a frightful spectacle to the beholders. His tongue
was speechless and his head shook, showing plainly that the curse which God
had thundered forth against Cain, was also inflicted on him ! Though it
seems a report was all the ground of this censure, which is quite spoiled if
what Home attests be true, that Dr. W. was seized on Holy Innocents, the
day before the feast of Thomas Becket." And still more is it spoiled, we
may add, if that which Home further attests be true, that W. had been a
paralytic during two whole years before his death. [Lewis
VOL. I. R

242 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
This Wickliffe 7 had written divers and sundrie workes, the
which in the yeare of our Lord 1410, were burnt at Oxford, the
Lewis introduces, from Bale, an anecdote of a former sickness of Wick
liffe, which may perhaps afford a little amusement to my readers.
" It seems that the fatigue which Dr. Wickliffe met with this year (a.d.
1378) by attending the pope's delegates, occasioned his having a dangerous
fit of sickness, that brought him almost to the point of death. The friers
mendicant hearing of it, they immediately instructed spokesmen to be sent
to him in their behalf, namely, four solemn doctors, whom they called
regents, every order his doctor. And that the message might be the more
solemn, they joined with them four senators of the city (Oxford), whom they
call Aldermen of the Wards. They, when they came to him, found him
lying in his bed ; and first of all wished him health, and a recovery from his
distemper. After some time they took notice to him of the many and great
injuries which he had done to them (the begging friars) by his sermons and
writings, and exhorted him, that, now he was at the point of death, he would,
as a true penitent, bewail and revoke in their presence, whatever things he
had said to their disparagement. But Dr. Wickliffe immediately recovering
strength, called his servants to him, and ordered them to raise him a little on
his pillows, which, when they had done, he said with a loud voice, I shall not
die but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars. On which the doctors,
&c. departed from him in confusion, and Dr. Wickliffe afterwards recovered."
Lewis's History, p. 64.
7 This Wickliffe.] Here I subjoin Wickliffe's character from the pen of
Henry Wharton (Appendix to Cave's Hist. Literaria, ii. p. 51, 52) as trans
lated from the Latin, by Lewis in his Life of W. c. vii. p. 125.
" He was a man, than whom the Christian world in these last ages has not
produced a greater; and who seems to have been placed as much above
praise as he is above envy. He had well studied all the parts of theological
learning, and was well skilled in the canon, civil, and our own municipal
laws, and was endowed with an uncommon gravity of manners, and above
all things had a flaming zeal for God, and love for his neighbour. Hence
arose that earnest and vehement desire of restoring the primitive purity in
the church in that ignorant and degenerate age in which he lived ; which
desire he was notwithstanding so far from suffering to go beyond its bounds,
that he made it a matter of conscience to preserve all the rights of ecclesias
tical discipline untouched, and often blames the religious, as they were
called, for breaking in upon them (by getting themselves exempted from the
episcopal jurisdiction). His excellent piety, and unblemished life, even the
worst and most spiteful of all his adversaries, never dared to call in question :
and his very excellent learning and uncommon abilities very many of them
have sufficiently owned. And indeed in those writings of his which are yet
remaining, Dr. Wiclif shows an extraordinary knowledge of the Scriptures
for the time he lived in, discovers a very good judgment, argues closely
and smartly, and breathes a spirit of excellent piety. Nothing is to be found
in him that is either childish or trifling, a fault very common to the writers
of that age ; but every thing he says is grave, judicious, and exact. In fine,

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 243
abbat of Shrewsburie being then commissarie, and sent to oversee
that matter. And not onely in England, but in Boheme likewise,
the bookes of the said Wickliffe were set on fire, by one
Subincus 8 archbishop of Prage, who made diligent inquisition
for the same, and burned them. The number of the volumes,
which he is said to have burned, most excellently written, and
richly adorned with bosses of gold, and rich coverings (as Eneas
Silvius ' writeth) were above two hundred.
Johannes Cocleus in his booke Be historia Hussitarum, speaking
of the bookes of Wickliffe, testifieth that hee wrote verie many
bookes, sermons, and tractations. Moreover, the said Cocleus
speaking of himselfe, recordeth also, that there was a certaine
bishop in England which wrote unto him, declaring that he had
yet remaining in his custodie two huge and mightie volumes of
John Wickliffe's works, which for the quantities thereof might
seeme to be equall with the workes of saint Augustine.
Amongst other of his treatises I my selfe also have found out
certaine, as Be sensu et veritate Scripturw. Item, Be Ecclesia.
Item, Be Eucharistia confessio Wicklevi ; which I intend here
after, the Lord so granting, to publish abrode.
As concerning certaine answeres of John Wickliffe which he
wrote to king Richard the second, touching the right and title of
the king, and of the pope ; because they are but short, I thought
here to annex them. The effect whereof here foUoweth.
It was demanded, "whether the kingdome of England may
lawfully in case of necessitie, for its owne defence, detaine and
keepe backe the treasure of the kingdome, that it be not carried
away to forren and strange nations, the pope himselfe demanding
and requiring the same under paine of censure, and by vertue of
obedience." Wickliffe " setting apart the minds of learned men, what
might be said in the matter, either by the canon law, or by
the law of England, or the civil law, it resteth (saith he) now
onely to perswade and prove the affirmative part of this doubt by
the principles of Christs law.
" And first I prove it thus : Every naturall bodie hath power
he was a man who wanted nothing to render his learning consummate, but
his living in an happier age." p. 125, 6.
8 By one Subincus.] Zbynko of Hasenburg, who is said to have been poi
soned by the Hussites in 1411.
9 Eneas Sylvius.] Eneo Sylvio Piccolomini, afterwards pope Pius II.
a 2

244 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
given of God to resist against his contrarie, and to preserve it
selfe in due estate, as philosophers know very weU. Insomuch,
that bodies without life are indued with such kind of power (as
it is evident) unto whom hardnesse is given to resist those things
that would breake them, and coldnesse to withstand the heate
that dissolveth them. Forsomuch then, as the kingdome of
England (after the maner and phrase of the Scriptures) ought to
bee one body, and the clergie with the communaltie, the members
thereof, it seemeth that the same kingdome hath such power
given it of God ; and so much the more apparant, by how much
the same body is more precious unto God, adorned with vertue
and knowledge. Forsomuch then as there is no power given
of God unto any creature, for any end or purpose, but that hee
may lawfuUy use the same to that end and purpose ; it followeth
that our kingdome may lawfully keep backe and detaine their
treasure for the defence of it selfe, in what case soever necessitie
do require the same.
" Secondarilie, the same is proved by the law of the gospell.
For the pope cannot challenge the treasure of this kingdome, but
under the title of almes, and consequently under the pretence of
the workes of mercy, according to the rules of charity.
" But in case aforesaid, the title of almes ought utterly to
cease : ergo, the right and title of challenging the treasure of our
realme shaU cease also in the presupposed necessitie. Forso
much as all charitie hath his beginning of himselfe *, it were no
worke of charitie, but of mere madnesse, to send away the
treasures of the realme unto forren nations, whereby the realme
it selfe may faU into mine, under the pretence of such charitie 2."
This Wickliffe albeit in his life time he had many grievous
enemies, yet notwithstanding hee had many good friends, men not
only of the base and meanest sort, but also nobility, amongst

1 Of himselfe^] Charity begins at home.
2 Of such charitie.] " Richard II. at his beginning, caused John Wickliffe,
esteemed the most knowing man of those times, to consider the right of
stopping the payment of Peter-pence : whose determination in that particu
lar yet remains .... He therein shows, that those payments, being no other
than alms, the kingdom was not obliged to continue them longer, than stood
with its own convenience, and not to its detriment or ruin ; agreeing therein
with that of the divines, " extra casus necessitatis et superfluitatis eleemosyna
non est in prascepto." Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 76. Compare
Lewis's Life, &c. p. 54, 55.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 245
whom these are to be numbered ; John Clenbon, Lewes Clifford,
Richard Sturius, Thomas Latimer, William NeviU, John Moun-
tegew who plucked downe all the images in his chm-ch. Besides
all these, there was the earle of Salisburie 3, who for contempt in
him noted towards the sacrament, in carrying it home to his
house, was enjoy ned by Radulf Ergom, bishop of Salisburie, to
make in Salisburie a crosse of stone, in which all the storie of the
matter should bee written, and he every Friday during his life
to come to the crosse bare-foot, and bare-headed in his shirt, and
there kneeling upon his knees, to do penance for his fact.
The Londoners at this time somewhat boldly trusting to the
maiors authoritie, who for that yeare (1381-2) was John of
Northampton, tooke upon them the office of the bishops, in
punishing the vices (belonging to civill law) of such persons as
they had found and apprehended in committing both fornication
and adulterie. For first they put the women in the prison which
amongst them then was named Dolium *. And lastly bringing
them into the market-place, where every man might behold them,
and cutting off their golden lockes from their heads, they caused
them to be caried about the streetes, with bagpipes and trumpets
blowne before them, to the intent they should bee the better
knowne and their companies avoided : according to the maner
then of certain theeves that were named Appellatores, (accusers
or peachers of others that were guiltlesse) which were so
served. And with such other like opprobious and reprochfuU
contumelies, did they serve the men also that were taken with
them in committing the forenamed wickednesse and vices. — Here
the storie recordeth how the said Londoners were incouraged
hereunto by John Wickliffe and others that foUowed his doctrine to
perpetrate this act, in the reproch of the prelats being ofthe clergie
For they said, that they did not so much abhor to see the great
negligence of those to whom that charge belonged, but also their
filthie avarice they did as much detest : which for greedinesse of
money were choked with bribes, and winking at the penalties due
by the lawes appointed, suffered such persons favourably to con
tinue in their wickedness. They said furthermore, that they
greatly feared, lest for such wickednesse perpetrated within the

3 William de Montacute, who died in 1397.
4 Named Dolium.] " In the year 1403, the prison in Cornhill, called the
Tun, was turned into the conduit, there now standing." Fox, p. 477.

246 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
citie and so apparently dissimuled, that God would take venge
ance upon them and destroy their citie. Wherefore they said,
that they could do no lesse than to purge the same ; lest by
the sufferance thereof, God would bring a plague upon them, or
destroy them with the sword, or cause the earth to swaUow up
both them and their citie.
This storie (gentle reader) albeit the author thereof whom I
foUow, doth give it out in reprochfull wise, to the great discommen
dation of the Londoners for so doing ; yet I thought not to omit,
but to commit the same to memorie ; which seemeth to me rather
to tend unto the worthie commendation both of the Londoners
that so did, and to the necessarie example of all other cities to
foUow the same.
After these things thus declared, let us now adjoine the
testimoniall 5 of the universitie of Oxford, of John Wickliffe.
" The publike testimonie given out by the university of Oxford,
touching the commendation of the great learning and good life of
John Wickliffe.
" Unto all and singuler the children of our holy mother the
church, to whom this present letter shall come ; the vicechanceUor
of the universitie of Oxford, with the whole congregation of the
masters, wish perpetual health in the Lord. Forsomuch as it is
not commonly seene, that the acts and monuments of valiant
men, nor the praise and merits of good men should be passed
over and hidden with perpetuall silence, but that true report and
fame should continually spread abrode the same in strange and
farre distant places, both for the witnesse of the same, and
example of others : Forasmuch also as the provident discretion
of mans nature being recompensed with cruelty, hath devised
and ordained this buckler and defence, against such as doe
blaspheme and slander other mens doings, that whensoever
witnesse by word of mouth cannot be present, the pen by
writing may supply the same :
" Hereupon it followeth, that the special good wiU and care
which we bear unto John Wickliffe, sometime child of this our
universitie, and professour of divinitie, moving and stirring our
minds (as his manners and conditions required no lesse) with
6 The testimonially] See Lewis's Records, No. 28.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 247
one mind, voice, and testimonie, wee doe witnesse, all his con
ditions and doings throughout his whole life, to have been most
sincere and commendable : whose honest maners and conditions,
profoundnesse of learning, and most redolent renoune and fame,
wee desire the more earnestly to bee notified and knowne unto all
faithfull, for that we understand the maturitie and ripenesse of
his conversation, his diligent labours and travels to tend to the
praise of God, the helpe and safegard of others, and the profit
of the church.
" Wherefore we signifie unto you by these presents, that his
conversation (even from his youth upwards, unto the time of his
death) was so praiseworthie and honest, that never at any time
was there any note or spot of suspicion noysed of him. But in
his answering, reading, preaching and determining, he behaved
himselfe laudably, and as a stout and valiant champion of the
faith ; vanquishing by the force of the Scriptures, all such who by
their wilful beggery blasphemed and slandered Christs religion.
Neither was this said doctor convict of any heresie, either burned
of our prelats after his buriall. God forbid that our prelats should
have condemned a man of such honestie, for an heretike : who
amongst all the rest of the universitie, had written in logicke,
phijosophie, divinitie, moralitie, and the speculative art without
peere. The knowledge of which all and singuler things, wee doe
desire to testifie and deliver forth ; to the intent, that the fame
and renoune of this said doctor, may be the more evident and
had in reputation, amongst them, unto whose hands these present
letters testimoniaU shall come 6.
" In witnes whereof, we have caused these our letters
testimonial! to bee sealed with our common seale.
Dated at Oxford in our congregation house, the
5 day of October, in the yeare of our Lord, 1406."
6 Shall come.] It must not be concealed, that the authenticity of this im
portant document is disputed, upon the authority of Dr. Thomas Gascoigne ;
who affirms, that "Peter Paine, an heretic, stole the common seal of the
university, under which he wrote to the hereticks at Prague in Bohemia, that
Oxford and all England were of the same belief with those of Prague, except
the false friers mendicants." — This Paine was a zealous reformer : he died
a. d. 1433. With regard to Gascoigne's authority, it is plain that he mis
represents the testimonial to such a degree, as to make it probable that he
had never seen it. Jeremy Collier, who is very unfavourably disposed
towards the memory of Wickliffe, does not hesitate to affirm positively, "that
the testimonial was counterfeited ;" and " has apparent marks of a counter-

248 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
Now as we have declared the testimony of the universitie of
Oxford concerning the praise of John Wicliffe, it followeth
likewise, that wee set forth and expresse the contrary censure
and judgements of his enemies, blinded with malicious hatred and
corrupt affections against him, especially of the popes councell
gathered at Constance, proceeding first in condemning his bookes,
then of his articles, and afterward burning of his bones.
The Becree of the Synode of Constance, touching the taking up of
the bodie and bones of John Wickliffe to be burned, 41 yeeres
after he was buried in his owne parish at Lutterworth.
" Forasmuch as by the authoritie of the sentence and decree
of the councell of Rome, and by the commandment of the church
and the apostolicall see, after due delayes being given, they pro
ceeded unto the condemnation of the said John Wickliffe, and
his memorie ; having first made proclamation, and given com
mandment to call forth whosoever would defend the said Wick
liffe, or his memorie (if there were any such), but there did none
appeare, which would either defend him or his memorie. And
moreover, witnesses being examined by commissioners appointed
by pope John and his councell, upon the impenitencie and finaU
obstinacie and stubbornnesse of the said John Wickliffe (reserving
that which is to be reserved, as in such busines the order of the
law requireth) and his impenitencie and obstinacy even unto his
end, being sufficiently proved by evident signs and tokens, and
also by lawful witnesses, and credit lawfullie given thereunto :
Wherefore at the instance of the steward of the treasurie, pro
clamation being made to heare and understand the sentence
feit recommendation." Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 624. The question is exa
mined at full length by Lewis in his History, p. 183. 192. He is by no means
disposed to give up the authenticity ; but maintains it, as it should seem,
upon very good grounds. The utmost concession, he thinks, which can be
made to the adversary, is to admit as a conjecture, that it is possible Wick
liffe's party might take advantage of the vacation, and the absence of his
enemies from the university, and get this testimonial passed by the majority
of those who came thither for that purpose.
As to the practical value and importance of this testimonial, we have
without it ample direct evidence of the popularity at Oxford of Wickliffe's
person and his cause, besides the indirect testimony of the complaints of his
adversaries. See Wilkins's Concilia, iii. p. 318. 336. Lewis's History, p.
191. also above, p. 230, 1.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 249
against this day ; the sacred synod declareth, determineth, and
giveth sentence, that the said John Wickliffe was a notorious
obstinate heretike, and that he died in his heresie, cursing and
condemning both him and his memorie.
" This synod also decreeth and ordaineth, that the body and
bones of the said John Wickliffe, if it might be discerned and
knowne from the bodies of other faithfull people, bee taken out
of the ground, and throwne away farre from the buriall of any
church, according unto the canon lawes 7 and decrees. Which
determination and sentence definitive being read and pronounced,
the lord president, and the foresaid presidents of the 4 nations,
being demanded and asked whether it did please them or no ?
They all answered (and first Hostiensis " the president, and after
him the other presidents of the nations) that it pleased them
very well, and so they aUowed and confirmed all the pre
misses." What Heraclitus would not laugh, or what Democritus would
not weepe, to see these so sage and reverend Catoes, to occupie
their heades to take up a poore mans bodie, so long dead and
buried before, by the space of 41 yeeres ? and yet peradventure
they were not able to find his right bones, but tooke up some
other bodie, and so of a catholicke made an hereticke. Albeit,
herein Wickliffe had some cause to give them thanks that they
would at least spare him so long tiU hee was dead, and also to
7 According unto the canon lawes.] If after death any one shall be found
to have been an heretic, his body must be digged up, and his bones burnt.
Concil. Albiense, canon 52.
" Seldom shall ye see a knowen heretyke buried, but most commonly
burned. Example of this hath bene lately sene here in England, by Thomas
Hytton, Thomas Bylney, &c. The body of Formosus was first taken up by
Steven vi. bishop of Rome, and disgraded. The bones of master John Wick
liffe were taken up and burned forty years after his death. So of late years,
in Worcester diocese, the body of master William Tracy, Esq., and in Lon
don, the body of Richard Hunn, merchant-taylor. Moreover, John Colet,
dean of Paul's in London, also was not far from the same, for reading Paul's
Epistles." Bale's Image of both churches. Revelation, chap. xi.
Several other accounts of similar proceedings against the bones of declared
heretics may be found during the progress of the English Reformation. See
Fox, p. 1438. (John Tooly) p. 1556. (John and William Glover) p. 1777.
(Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius at Cambridge) p. 1785. (Peter Martyr's
wife at Oxford), &c.
8 Hostiensis.] John of Brognier or Broniar (near Annecy in Savoy) Cardi
nal Archbishop of Ostia, afterwards of Aries. He was Dean of the College
of Cardinals, and attended as such at the Council, He died in 1426.

250 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
give him so long respite after his death, 41 yeeres to rest in his
sepulchre before they ungraved him, and turned him from earth
to ashes : which ashes also, they tooke and threw into the
river ". And so was he resolved into three elements, earth, fire,
and water, they thinking thereby utterly to extinct and abolish
both the name and doctrine of Wickliffe for ever. Not much
unlike to the example of the old Pharisies and sepulcher-knights,
which when they had brought the Lord unto the grave, thought
to make him sure never to rise againe. But these and all other
must know, that as there is no councell against the Lord ; so there
is no keeping down of veritie, but it will spring and come out of
dust and ashes, as appeared right weU in this man. For though
they digged up his bodie, burnt his bones, and drowned his ashes ;
yet the word of God and truth of his doctrine with the fruite and
successe thereof they could not burne, which yet to this day, for
the most part of his articles, doe remaine, notwithstanding the
transitorie bodie and bones of the man was thus consumed and
dispersed. These things thus finished and accomplished, which pertain to
the storie and time of Wickliffe : let us now (by the supportation
of the Lord) proceed to intreate and write of the rest, which
either in his time 10 or after his time, springing out of the same
9 Into the river.] "This river," (the Soar) says Fuller beautifully, "con
veyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas,
they into the main ocean; and thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of
his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over."
10 Which either in his time.] The progress of Wickliffe's opinions, both
among the clergy and laity, was exceedingly rapid and extensive. " The num
ber of those who believed in his doctrine " (says Knyghton, a contemporary
historian) " very much increased, and, like suckers growing out of the root of
a tree, were multiplied ; and every where filled the circuit of the kingdom.
You could not meet two people in the way, but one of them was a disciple of
Wickliffe." De Eventih. Anglias, p. 2663. Walsingham is full of similar
complainings. Hist. Anglia,p-p. 304. 256. 281. Wickliffe himself declares,
that a third part of the clergy entertained the same opinions as he did
respecting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. " I am certaine of the thirdde
parte of the clergie that defendes thise doutes that is here said, that they will
defende it on paine of her lyfe." Knyghton, p. 2650. Lewis's Hist. p. 88.
And in another place he thus speaks of the nobility : " But one coumfort is
of knyghtes, that they saveren muche the gospell, and have wylie to rede in
Englysche the gospel of Crist's Lyfe." Lewis on the Translations of the
Bible, p. 22. The persecution of his followers helped, if we may believe Fox,
only to increase their number. " Such be the workes of the Lord, passing
all mens admiration : all this notwithstanding, so far was it off, that the
number and courage of these good men was vanquished, that rather they

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 251
universitie, and raised up (as ye would say) out of his ashes were
partakers of the same persecution. Of whom speaketh Thomas
Walden n in his booke, Be Sacramentis et Sacramentalibus, cap.
53; where he saith, that after Wickliffe many suffered most
cruel death, and many mo did forsake the realme.
In the number of whom was William Swinderby, Walter Brute,
John Purvey, Richard White, William Thorpe, Raynold Pecocke,
bishop of S. Assaph, and afterward of Chichester.
To this catalogue also pertaineth (mentioned in ancient writers)
Lawrence Redman master of arts, David Sautre divine, John
Aschwarby vicar of S. Marie church at Oxford, William James
an excellent young man and well learned, Thomas Brightwell, and
William Haulam a civillian, Rafe Grenhurst, John Scut, and
Philip Norice ! which being excommunicated by pope Eugenius
the fourth, in the yeere of our Lord 1446, appealed unto a
generall or cecumenicall councell.
Peter Paine flying from Oxford unto Boheme, did stoutlie con
tend against the sophisters, as touching both kinds in the sacra
ment of the last supper. Who afterward among the rest of the
orators was one of the 14 that was sent unto the councell at
Basill ; whereas by the space of three daies, he disputed upon
the 4 article, which was as touching the civill dominion of the
clergy, anno 1438. Also the lord Cobham, &c. with divers others
besides. To these above rehearsed and other favourers of Wickliffe,
within this countrie of England, wee may adde also the Bohe
mians ; forsomuch as the propagation of the said doctrine of
Wickliffe, in that countrie also tooke roote ', comming from Eng
land to Boheme, by this occasion as in storie here followeth.
multiplied daily and increased. For so I find in registers recorded, that
these foresaid persons, whom the king and the catholicke fathers did so
greatly detest for heretickes, were in divers countries of this realme dispersed,
and increased, especially in London, in Lincolnshire, in Norfolke, in Here
fordshire, in Shrewsburie, in Calice, and divers others quarters mo." p. 485.
11 Thomas Walden.] See note at p. 169.
1 Also tooke roote.] Fox has adverted to this interesting topic, on another
occasion, in an affecting appeal and expostulation to his own university, writ
ten from Strasburgh, about the month of August 1554, soon after the intel
ligence had reached that place, of recantations going on at Oxford, before
commissioners sent down by queen Mary, not long after her accession ;
and considering that the document is extremely scarce, I shall give an extract
from it here. The address is entitled " Opistographia ad Oxonienses," and

252 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
There chanced at that time a certaine student of the countrie
of Bohemia to be at Oxford, one of a wealthie house and also of a
is subjoined to his " Commentarii Rerum in Ecclesia gestarum, &c. Liber
lm"s, Argent. 1554." Svo; a volume now very rarely to be met with. On
the subject of the early editions of Fox, the reader should consult Dr. Mait-
land's " Letters " and his replies to Mr. Townsend.
" Id si nunc quaerimus ubi primum, obductus tam diu Evangelicse doctrinse
vigor, reviviscere, seseque proferre coepit, earn profecto esse Oxoniam vestram
fateri necesse est. Nam utcunque nunc, ubique apud omnes ecclesias recepta
efflorescat Evangelii professio, certe prima hujus initia haud aliunde quam a
vobis profiuxerunt. Hie enim justa sementis est, unde, velut ex traduce, tot
ista divinae cognitionis plantaria, per universos fere mortales, nunc propagata
cernimus. Hie enim salutiferum illud fermentum a Deo acceptum, quo
primum Boemia, mox Germania, ac vicinee nationes fermentari coeperunt ; donee
tandem, occulta divinae virtutis efficacia, universa insuper massa Christiani
populi correpta est. Agnoscitis itaque, Oxonienses, fortunae ac muneris vestri
felicitatem; superest ut pari constantia laudibus nunc vestris respondeatis.
Divinae profecto felicitatis fuit, quod olim religionis dedistis initia, iterumque
mundo Christum veluti parturiret Oxonia vestra : vobis nunc acceptam ma-
jorum virtute gloriam hanc exuperare dignum est : certe non aequare, aut non
conservare vos, quam citra labores accepistis, non tam illis gloriosum, quam
vobis probrosum fuerit. . . . Audio enim nuper a vobis nonnullis subscrip-
tum esse obsoleto illi ac jam dudum exploso articulo, de Transubstantiatione.
 Age, et quos tandem causae hujus afnictaa Veritas sibi patronos, aut
quod suffugium inveniet, si vos, qui primi in hoc certamine irjiofiaxoc stetistis,
primi nunc in fugam versi, ripsaspides videamini? .... Quodsi igitur
Jo. Wiclevus, electissimum Evangelii instaurandi organum, simulque cum eo
Oxoniensium complures ea tempestate, quum omnia adhuc tenebris obnubi-
lata, nee usquam per totam Europam auxiliaris hypersaspistes ullus apparuit,
soli tamen ipsi tam fortiter causam hanc adversus hydram illam Romanam
sustinere sint ausi ; quid vos nunc, Oxonienses, post tot domestica exempla,
in tanta Evangelii claritudine, denique eo tempore, quum multo major, certe
potior, omnium Ecclesiarum pars, velut junctis fcederibus eodem coeant,
facere conveniet ? — At fingite nunc Wiclevum, caeterosque quos Schola haec
ahquando peperit, fortissimos Christiana? militiae satellites, nunc reviviscentes,
post tot labores et aerumnas suas, vestram hanc, sive ignaviam, sive inscitiam
contemplari : annon stupore quodam correpti graviter meritoque vos coar-
guant ? Imo an eandem hanc esse Academiam agnoscerent ; quae adeo a
pristina forma nescio quam metamorphosin, incuria vestra pati videatur ? . . .
Quamobrem agite tandem Oxonienses, fratres, patres, prudentiam appello
vestram, ut cum Cicerone vos moneam, 'Haec non numero, sed pondere
metiamini.' . . . Quanquam dubium non est, quin plerique vestrum vi
magis ac impulsu alieno, quam vestro judicio ducti, tantas stultitiae subscri-
bitis. Et fieri possit, ut non publico Academiae consensu res sic acta sit, sed
pauci qui praesunt collegiis, adjunctis sibi aliquot ex sententia confoederatis,
privata conspiratione rem inter se tractarint, ubi aliis forsan cordatioribus
interesse non licuit; alii invidia? metu, alii turbarum odio conquiescere

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 253
noble stocke. Who returning home from the universitie of
Oxford, to the universitie of Prage, carried with him certain
bookes of Wickliffe, Be realibus Universalibus, Be civili jure et
divino, Be ecclesia, Be quwstionibus variis contra clerum, fyc, It
chanced the same time, a certain noble man in the citie of Prage,
had founded and builded a great church of Matthias and Mat-
theus, which church was called Bethleem, giving to it great lands,
and finding in it two preachers every day, to preach both holie
day, and working day to the people. Of the which two preachers,
John Hus was one, a man of great knowledge, of a pregnant wit,
and excellentlie favoured for his worthie life amongst them. This
John Hus having familiarittie with this young man, in reading
and perusing these books of Wickliffe, took such pleasure and
fruit in reading thereof, that not only he began to defend this
author openlie in the schooles, but also in his sermons ; commend
ing him for a good, an holie, and heavenlie man, wishing himselfe
when he should die, to be there placed whereas the soule of
Wickliffe should be. — And thus for the spreading of Wickliffes
doctrine enough2.
maluerunt ; nonnulli blanditiis etiam allecti, pedibus magis quam animo in
sententiam concesserunt ; atque ita privato syncretismo publica fortassis
autoritas praetexitur, quo magis fucus fiat populo. Postremo, ubi doctissima
pars jam in exilium pulsa mittitur, quid mirum, si domi relicta pars deterior
vincat meliorem ?" P. 207, &c.
2 Wickliffes doctrine enough.] Still, I hope I may be indulged in the
liberty of adding one paragraph, as a further close to this department of our
subject. I borrow it from Lewis.
" But though these barbarities, so reproachful to the Christian name and
religion, terrified men's minds, and forced them to a quiet submission ; yet
they no way contributed to alter their judgments, and settle their belief. Nay,
it was very plain, that, though by authority, or the secular arm, whereby they
were devoted to destruction, the Wiclifites were oppressed ; they were not
extinguished. For although it was made more than capital to have even a
line of Wiclif's writings, there were those who had courage enough to pre
serve them, and to take copies of them ; although for the crime of having
them, some of them were burnt alive, with their little books. And indeed
how little these cruelties served to convince men, very plainly appeared ;
when, at the Reformation, about one hundred years after, these restraints
were either moderated or quite taken off, the whole nation, we see, whatever
their outward profession was before, unanimously, as it were, embraced these
principles, and showed themselves very earnest in their defence. — Although
we are now unhappily fallen into an age that has lost its first love, and is so
generally corrupted both in principle and practice, as to suffer the opposition
then made to popish tyranny and superstition to be condemned, and the
cruelties used to force men to approve of them, to be palliated and discre
dited." P. 135, 6. Edit. 1820.

254 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
Thus it may appeare how the gospel of Christ preached by
John Wickliffe and others, beganne to spread and fructifie abroad
in London, and other places of the realme : and more would have
done no doubt, had not William Courtney, the archbishop, and
other prelats with the king, set them so forcibly with might and
maine, to gainstand the course thereof. Albeit, I finde none
which yet were put to death * therefore, during the raigne of this
king Richard the second. Whereby it is to bee thought of this
king, that although he cannot be utterly excused for molesting
the godly and innocent preachers of that time, (as by his briefes
and letters afore mentioned may appeare) yet neither was he so
cruel against them, as other that came after him : and that which
hee did, seemed to proceed by the instigation of the pope and

3 None which yet were put to death.] " King Henrie the fourth, who was
the deposer of king Richard, was the first of all English kings that began the
unmercifull burning of Christs saints for standing against the pope ; and
William Sautre, the true and faithfull martyr of Christ, was the first of all
them in Wickliffe's time, which I find to be burned in the raigne of the fore
said king ; which was in the yeere of our Lord 1400." Fox, p. 477. It was
enacted by the parliament, a.d. 1400, that any one who preached or wrote
contrary to the catholic faith, and determinations of holy church, should be
arrested, and proceeded against according to the canons; and being con
victed should be imprisoned, and tried at the diocesan's discretion ; and if he
refused to abjure, or relapsed after abjuration, he should be delivered over to
the secular power, to be burned in some conspicuous place, that the punish
ment might strike fear into the minds of others. See Lewis's Life ofPecock,
p. 298, 299. Compare Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 155, &c.
For proceedings against Sautre, see 1 State Trials, p. 163 — 176, 8vo. 1816.
Part ofthe decree or writ of the king (2 Hen. IV. 1400), for Sautre's execu
tion, was as follows : " We therefore, being zealous in religion, and reverent
lovers of the cathohc faith, willing and minding to maintain and defend the
holy church, and the laws and liberties of the same, to root all such errors
and heresies out of our kingdom of England, and with condign punishment
to correct and punish all heretics or such as be convicts; (provided always,
that both according to the law of God and man, and the canonical institutions
in this behalf accustomed, such heretics convict and condemned in forme
aforesaid, ought to be burned with fire ;) We command you as straitly as we
may or can, firmly enjoining you that you do cause the said William, being
in your custody, in some public or open place of your city aforesaid, (the
cause aforesaid being published unto the people,) to be put into the fire, and
there in the same fire really to be burned, to the great horror of his offence,
and the manifest example of other Christians." Ibid. p. 174.
Twisden, however, has shown (p. 156) that Sautre was not burnt under
the new statute, a.d. 1400, 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15, but by virtue of the ancient
common law of the land. See also the note at p. 389, post.

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 255
other bishoppes, rather than either by the consent of his parlia
ment, or advice of his counsell about him, or else by his owne
nature. For as the decrees of the parliament in all his time,
were constant in stopping out the pope's provisions, and in bri
dling his authority ; so the nature of the king was not altogether
so fiercely set, if that he following the guiding thereof, had not
stood so much in feare of the bishoppe of Rome and his prelats,
by whose importune letters and calling on, he was continually
urged to doe contrary to that, which both right required, and will
perhaps in him desired. But howsoever the doings of this king
are to be excused, or not, undoubted it is, that queene Anne his
wife, most rightly deserveth singular commendation ; who at the
same time living with the king, had the gospels of Christ in
English, with the foure doctors 4 upon the same. This Anne was
a Bohemian borne, and sister to Wincelaus, king of Boheme ;
who was married to king Richard about the fifth (some say, the
sixth) yeere of his raigne, and continued with him the space of
eleven yeeres. By the occasion whereof it may seeme not unpro-
bable, that the Bohemians comming in with her, or resorting into
this realme after her, perused and received here the bookes of
John Wickliffe, which afterward they conveied into Bohemia,
whereof partly mention is made before.
The said vertuous queene Anne, after she had lived with king
Richard about eleven yeeres, in the seventeenth yeere of his
raigne, changed this mortal life, and was buried at Westminster.
At whose funeral Thomas Arundel, then archbishop of Yorke,
and lord chancellor, made the sermon. In which sermon (as
remaineth in the library of Worcester recorded), he intreating of
the commendation of her, said these words : That it was more
joy of her then of any woman that he ever knew. For notwith
standing that she was an alien borne, she had in English all the
foure gospels, with the doctors upon them : affirming moreover
and testifying, that she had sent the same unto him to examin.
And he said they were good and true. And further with many
words of praise, he did greatly commend her, in that she being so
great a lady, and also an alien, would study so lowly so vertuous
bookes. And hee blamed in that sermon sharply the negligence

4 The foure doctors.] i.e. the four great fathers of the Western church, viz.,
Austin, Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory. — Fox's Acts, p. 461. Edit. 1610.
Examination, &c, of Walter Brute.

256 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
of the prelats and other men. Insomuch that some said he would
on the morrow leave up the office of chancellor, and forsake the
world, and give him to fulfill his pastoraU office, for that hee had
seene and read in those bookes. And then it had beene the best
sermon that ever they heard. — In the which sermon of Thomas
Arundel, three points are to be considered. First, the laudable
use of those old times received to have the scripture and doctours
in our vulgar English tongue. Secondly, the vertuous exercise
and also example of this godly lady, who had these bookes not for
a shew hanging at her girdle ; but also seemeth by this sermon
to be a studious occupier of the same. The third thing to be
noted, is, what fruit the said Thomas archbishop declared also
himself to receive at the hearing and reading of the same bookes
of hers in the English tongue. — Notwithstanding, the same
Thomas Arundel, after this sermon and promise made, became
the most cruell enemy that might be against English books5, and
the authors thereof.

5 Against English books.] Thus in his famous constitutions against Lol-
lardy, a.d. 1408, when he was archbishop of Canterbury, he declares against
the translation of the Scriptures. Constit. 7. " The translation of the text
of holy Scriptures out of one tongue into another, is a dangerous thing, as
St. Jerome testifies, because it is not easy to make the sense in all respects
the same. Therefore we enact and ordain, that no one henceforth do by his
own authority translate any text of holy Scripture into the English tongue,
or any other, by way of book or treatise ; nor let any such book or treatise
now lately composed in the time of John Wickliffe aforesaid, or since, or
hereafter to be composed, be read in whole or in part, in publick or in pri
vate, under pain of the greater excommunication." Wilkins's Concilia, vol.
iii. p. 317. Fox, p. 484.
It is remarkable that Fox, in this life of Wickliffe, has given no account of
the labours of that great man in translating the Scriptures, which, no doubt,
tended more to the introduction of the Reformation, than all his other efforts.
To supply, in some degree, a remedy for this deficiency, I shall insert in this
place an extract from his Life, written by the late Rev. William Gilpin. But
the most ample and correct information on this subject must be sought for in
Lewis's History of the English Translations of t,te Bible, which in its original
state was prefixed to an edition of Wickliffe') New Testament, in the year
1731. See also his Life of Wickliffe, chap. 5.
" Some have contended, that Dr. Wicliffe was not the first translator of
the Bible into English. The truth seems to be that he was the first who
translated the whole together, of which it is probable others might have given
detached parts. It does not however appear that Dr. Wicliffe understood the
Hebrew language. His method was, to collect what Latin bibles he could
find: from these he made one correct copy; and from this translated. He

JOHN WICKLIFFE. 257
afterwards examined the best commentators then extant, particularly Nicholas
Lyra; and from them inserted in his margin those passages, in which the
Latin differed from the Hebrew.
" In his translation of the Bible, he seems to have been literally exact. In
his other works his language was wonderfully elegant for the times in which
he lived : but here he was studious only of the plain sense ; which led him
often through the confusion of idioms within the limits of nonsense. Quid
nobis et tibi, Jesu, fili dei, we find translated thus, What to us, and to thee,
Jesus the son of God.
" This work, it may readily be imagined, had no tendency to reinstate him
in the good opinion of the clergy. An universal clamour was immediately
raised. Knyghton, a canon of Leicester, and a contemporary with Wicliffe,
hath left us upon record, the language of the times. ' Christ entrusted his
gospel,' says that ecclesiastic, ' to the clergy and doctors of the church, to
minister it to the laity, and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and
several occasions. But this master John Wicliffe, by translating it, has
made it vulgar ; and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women
who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those
of the best understanding : and thus the gospel jewel, the evangelical pearl,
is thrown about, and trodden under foot by swine.' Such language was
looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not with
what satyr it was edged against themselves.
"The bishops in the mean time, and mitred abbots, not content with
railing, took more effectual means to stop this growing evil. After much
consultation they brought a bill into parliament to suppress Wicliffe's bible.
The advocates for it set forth in their usual manner, the alarming prospect of
heresy, which this version of the Scriptures opened, and the ruin of all reh
gion which must inevitably ensue.
"The zealots were answered by the principal reformers, who judiciously
encountered them with their own weapons. It appears, says the Wicliffites,
from the decretals, that more than sixty species of heresy sprang up in the
church after the translation of the Bible into Latin. But the utility of that
translation, notwithstanding its bad consequences, all parties acknowledge.
With what face therefore, they asked, could the bishops pretend to discoun
tenance an English translation, when they could not produce one argument
against it which did not equally conclude against the Latin one ? This
reasoning silenced all opposition : and the bill was thrown out by a great
majority. " The zeal of the bishops to suppress Wicliff's bible, only made it, as is
generally the case, the more sought after. They who were able among the
reformers purchased copies ; and they who were not able, procured at least
transcripts of particular gospels, or epistles, as their inclinations led. In
aftertimes, when Lollardy increased, and the flames were kindled, it was a
common practice to fasten about the neck of the condemned heretic such of
the scraps of Scripture as were found in his possession, which generally
shared his fate."— Gilpin's Life of John Wickliffe, p. 37—40. edit. 1765.
The late Dr. Adam Clarke possessed a MS. copy of Wickliffe's Bible,
which, from having in its illuminations the arms of England within a bordure
vol. I. s

258 JOHN WICKLIFFE.
argent, he supposed to have belonged to Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloucester, and that it was either " presented by Wickliffe to the duke, or
written and illuminated by the duke's command for himself*." A contem
porary copy would be, there is no doubt, of much value. The writing and
illuminations of Dr. Clarke's MS. are of a much later date, however, than that
which he assigns to them; and the arms upon which his supposition is
founded were also borne by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, who died in 1446,
and for whose use we may, almost with certainty, say that it was written.
This MS. is now in the British Museum.— Bibl. Egerton. 618, 619.
» Catalogue of the MSS. ofthe late Dr. Adam Clarke ; by J. B. B. Clarke.
London : Murray, 1835. 8vo. p. 18. Since the above was written, a complete
edition of the Wicliffite version has been printed at the expense of the Uni
versity of Oxford, 4 vols. 4to. 1850.

WILLIAM THORPE.

s 2

Quo maxime tempore artes coelesti Veritati contraries regnum in Europa
obtinebant, coepit ilia vim suam exerere: post longam siquidem malorum
inerrabilium tolerantiam, post diuturnos gemitus, quos doloris justi magnitudo
piis exprimebat, post expectatam per tot saecula reformationem in capite et
membris toties promissam, nunquam praestitam ; reperti sunt ad ultimum,
qui patientiam rumperent, et veritatem ex intimo pectore anhelantibus duces
se praeberent. Nihil jam dico, quales illi viri fuerint, quid spectarint, quid
egerint : hoc dicam, quod negari omnino non potest, ex ipso rerum eventu,
luce meridiana clarius constare, divinitus fuisse illos excitatos, si nihil aliud,
certe ad hoc unum efficiendum ; ut qui supremum in Ecclesia dominium, et
plenitudinem potestatis sibi vindioabant, tandem si pote, evigilarent, in sese
descenderent, seque Religionis Christianae variis corruptelis, quas longa dies
invexerat, et de queremoniis omnium tota Europa principum ac populorum
serio inciperent cogitare. Is. Casaubon.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The language in the following Examination of William Thorpe,
being in several places, from its high antiquity, to a considerable
degree obsolete, an apprehension of the distaste which this might
occasion to some of his readers, made the Editor hesitate respect
ing the fitness of its constituting a part of the present collection.
But he was prevailed upon to decide for its admission, by consi
derations which he accounts much more worthy of regard : Such
are the extraordinary piety, and zeal, and resignation, displayed
by this confessor in his hour of trial ; the learning and weight of
argument ; the purity and elegance of the style ; the interest
which the narrative inspires from the lively and dramatic air in
which it is composed; and its value as a document connected and
interwoven with the History and Progress of the Reformation in
general ; and more particularly, with the opinions, partly true and
partly false, of Wickliffe and his followers. It is also a circum
stance not to be slighted, that we here possess an authentic
picture of ancient English manners, and a specimen of ancient
English prose composition, removed from our own times by the
interval of more than four hundred years.
The popularity of this Tract, and its influence upon the further
progress of the Reformation, may be coUected from its possessing
a place among the works condemned by an assembly of the Clergy
and others, in the year 1530 ; and from the frequency with which
those who were caUed into question for heretical opinions, were
taxed with possessing and reading it. (See Wilkins's Concilia,
vol. iii. p. 739. Beclaration of Seton and Tolwine, a.d. 1541.
Signat. B. 3. Bale's Yet a Course at the Romyshe Foxe, foi. 47.
Fox's Acts, p. 759. 932. and 954.)
However different it may be from his own judgment, the Editor

262 ADVERTISEMENT.
is unwiUing to conceal the censure passed upon this performance
by Sir Thomas More, in his Confutation of TyndaVs Answer,
a.d. 1532.
" Then have we the Examinacion of Thorpe, put furth, as it is
sayd by George Constantine, by whom there hath been I wot well
of that sort great plentie sent into thys realme. In that booke
the heretyke that made it as a communicacion betwene the
bishop and his chapleynes, and himselfe, maketh aU the parties
speake as himselfe liketh, and layeth nothing spoken against his
heresies, but such as himselfe would seme solemnely to soyle.
Whose boke, when any good Chrysten man readeth, that hath
eyther learning or any natural witte, he shal not onely be weU
hable to perceive hym for a foolish heretike, and his argumentes
easy to answer, but shal also see that he sheweth himself a false
Iyer in hys rehearsal of the matter, wherin he maketh the tother
part sometime speke for his commoditie, such maner things as no
man woulde have done that were not a verye wild goose." Works,
p. 342. In justice to Thorpe it is but fair to add, that he assures
us, in the Preface, which for brevity's sake is omitted in the
present edition, that he went "as neare the sentence and the
words as he could, both that were spoken to him, and that he
spake, upaventure his writing might come another time before
the archbishop and his counsaile."

WILLIAM THORPE.

Next commeth to our hands the worthy historie of master
William Thorpe, a warrior valiant, under the triumphant banner
of Christ, with the processe of his examinations, before Thomas
Arundel archbishop of Canterburie, written by the said Thorpe,
and storied by his owne pen, at the request of his friends, as by
his owne words in the proces heereof may appeare. In whose
examination (which seemeth first to beginne, anno 1407.) thou
shalt have, good reader, both to learne and to marveU. To learne,
in that thou shalt heare truth discoursed and discussed, with the
contrary reasons of the adversary dissolved. To marvell, for that
thou shalt behold heere in this man, the marvellous force and
strength of the Lords might, spirit and grace, working and fight
ing in his souldiers, and also speaking in their mouthes, according
to the word of his promise. (Luke xxi.) To the text of the
story we have neither added nor diminished : but as we have
received it, copied out, and corrected by master WiUiam Tindall
(who had his owne handwriting) so wee have heere sent it, and set
it out abroad. Although for the more credite of the matter, I
rather wished it in his owne naturall speech, wherein it was first
written. Notwithstanding, to put away all doubt and scruple
heerein, this I thought before to premonise and testifie to the
reader, touching the certainty heereof, that they be yet alive
which have seene the selfe same copie in his owne old English,
resembling the true antiquity both of the speech, and of the time :
the name of whom, as for record of the same to avouch, is Master
Whithead ; who as he hath seene the true ancient copie in the

264 WILLIAM THORPE.
hands of Ceorge Constantine \ so hath hee given credible relation
of the same, both to the printer, and to me. Furthermore, the
said master TindaU, albeit hee did somewhat alter and amend
the English thereof, and frame it after our maner, yet not fully
in all words ; but that something doth remaine, savouring of the
old speech of that time.
The Examination of William Thorpe, penned with his owne hand.
Knowne be it to all men, that reade or heare this writing, that
on the Sunday next after the feast of S. Peter, that we call
Lammasse, in the yeere of our Lord 1407, I William Thorpe
being in prison in the castle of Saltwood 2, was brought before
Thomas Arundel archbishop of Canterburie, and chancellor then
of England. And when that I came to him, he stood in a great
chamber and much people about him : and when that hee sawe
me, hee went fast into a closet, bidding aU secular men that
followed him to goe forth from him soone, so that no man was
left then in that closet but the archbishop himselfe and a physitian
that was called Malveren, parson of S. Dunstanes in London, and
other two persons unknowne to me, which were ministers of the
law* And I standing before them, by and by the archbishop said
to me ; WiUiam, I know well that thou hast this twentie winters
and more, travelled about busilie in the North countrey and in other
divers countries of England, sowing about false doctrine, having
great businesse, if thou might, with thine untrue teaching and
shrewde wiU, for to infect and poison all this land. But through
the grace of Cod thou art now withstanded and brought into my
ward, so that I shaU now sequester thee from thine evill purpose,
and let thee to envenime the sheepe of my province. Neverthelesse
S. Paul saith, If it may be, as much as in us is we ought to have
peace with all men. Therefore William, if thou wilt now meekly

1 George Constantine.] This is the person who by Sir Thomas More was
supposed to have been the first editor of Thorpe's Examination. — Master
Whitehead is appealed to as one well known to be worthy of credit. In the
year 1552 he was recommended by Cranmer for " his good knowledge, special
honestie, fervent zeal, and politicke wisdom" as most meet to be placed in
the archbishopric of Armagh. And upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, it
is said, that he was solicited to accept of the see of Canterbury, but he
refused. 2 In Kent, between Hythe and Folkstone.

WILLIAM THORPE. 265
and of good heart, without any feining, kneele down and lay thy
hand upon a booke and kisse it, promising faithfully as I shall
here charge thee, that thou wilt submit thee to my correction,
and stand to mine ordinance, and fulfill it duely by aU thy cunning
and power, thou shalt yet find me gratious unto thee. Then said
I to the archbishop : Sir, since ye deem me an heretike, and out
of beleeve, wiU ye give me here audience to tell my beleeve ? And
he said, Yea, teU on.
And I said, I beleeve that there is not but one God almightie,
and in this godhead, and of this godhead, are three persons, that
is, the father, the sonne, and the soothfast holy ghost3. And I
beleeve, that all these three persons are even in power and in
cunning, and in might, fuU of grace and of aU goodnesse. For
whatsoever that the father doth, or can, or will, that thing also
the sonne doth and can and wiU : and in all their power cunning
and will, the holy ghost is equaU to the father, and to the sonne.
Over this, I beleeve, that through counsell of this most blessed
Trinitie, in most convenient time before ordained for the salvation
of mankind, the second person of this Trinitie was ordained to
take the forme of man, that is, the kind of man. And I beleeve,
that this second person our Lord Jesu Christ, was conceived
through the holy ghost, in the wombe of the most blessed virgin
Marie, without mans seed. And I beleeve that after nine moneths
Christ was borne of this most blessed virgine.
And I beleeve, that Chrbt our saviour was circumcised in the
eight day after his birth, in fulfilling of the law ; and his name
was caUed Jesus, which was so caUed of the angell, before that
hee was conceived in the wombe of Marie his mother.
And I beleeve that Christ, as he was about thirty yeere old,
was baptised in the floud of Jordane of John Baptist : and in the
likenesse of a dove the holy ghost descended there upon him, and
a voice was heard from heaven, saying, Thou art my wel-beloved
sonne, in thee I am full pleased.
And I beleeve, that Christ was mooved then by the holy ghost,
3 Soothfast holy ghost.] Soothfast, soothfastness ; true, truth : as we have
in sooth still in use. In Pierce Ploughman's Vision, foi. 89, edit. 1550, we
find the son termed soothfastness.
The first hath might and majestie, maker of all things ;
Pater is hys propre name, a person by him selfe ;
The second of that sire is soothfastenes Filius ;
The thirde hight the Holy Goste.

266 WILLIAM THORPE.
for to go into the desert, and there he fasted forty daies and forty
nights without bodUy meat and drinke. And I beleeve that by
and by after his fasting, when the manhood of Christ hungred,
the fiend came to him, and tempted him in gluttonie, in vaine-
glorie, and in covetise : but in all those temptations, Christ con
cluded the fiend *, and withstood him. And then without tarrying,
Jesu began to preach, and to say unto the people, Bo ye penance,
for the realme of heaven is now at hand.
I beleeve that Christ in all his time here lived most holilie, and
taught the wUl of his father most truely : and I beleeve that he
suffered therefore most wrongfuUy, greatest repreefes and de-
spisings. And after this, when Christ would make an end here of this
temporall life, I beleeve, that in the day next before that hee
would suffer passion in the morne, in forme of bread and of wine,
hee ordained the sacrament of his flesh and of his bloud, that is,
* Concluded the fiend,] Thus Robert Longlande, in his " Vision of Pierce
Ploughman," versifies a part of our Saviour's promises to the Apostles :
Though ye come before kinges, and clarkes of the lawe
Be not abashed, for I shall be in your mouthes,
And gyve you wytte and wyll, and conning to conclud
Them all that agaynst you of Christendome disputen. Foi. 52.
We have two good instances of a like use of the same word in a very im
portant passage in a letter of Sir Thomas More to his daughter Margaret
Roper, respecting his refusing to swear to the king's supremacy and the
succession. " My Lord of Canterbury" (Cranmer) "taking hold upon that that I saide,
that I condempned not the consciences of them that sware, said unto me, that
it appeared well, that I did not take it for a very sure thing and a certaine,
that I might not lawfullye swere it, but rather as a thing uncertain and doubt-
full. But then (said my lord) you know for a certanty and a thynge without
dout, that you be bounden to obey your soverain lorde your king. And
therefore are ye bounden to leave off the dout of your unsure conseiens in
refusing the othe, and take the sure waye in obeying of your prince, and
swere it. Now alwas it so, that in mine own mind me thought my self not
concluded, yet this argument semed me sodenly so suttle, and namely with
such authorite comming out of so noble a prelates mouth, that I could againe
aunswere nothing thereto, but only that I thought my self I might not well
do so, because that in my conseiens thys was one of the cases, in which I was
bounden that I shoulde not obey my prince, syth that whatsoever other folke
thought in the matter (whose conseiens or learning I wold not condempne
nor take uppon me to judge), yet in my conseiens the truth semed on the
tother side. . . And of trouth if that reason may conclude, then have we
a readye way to avoide al purplexities." — Works, p. 1429.

WILLIAM THORPE. 267
his owne pretious bodie, and gave it to his apostles for to eate ;
commanding them, and by them aU their after commers, that
they should in this forme that hee shewed to them, use themselves,
and teach and common forth 5 to other men and women this most
worshipful and holiest sacrament, in mindfulnesse of his holiest
living, and of his most true preaching, and of his wilfuU and
patient suffering of the most painfull passion.
And I beleeve that this Christ our saviour, after that hee had
ordained this most worthie sacrament of his owne pretious bodie,
hee went forth wilfullie against his enemies, and hee suffered them
most patiently to lay their hands most violently upon him, and to
bind him, and to lead him forth as a theefe, and to scorne and
buffet him, and all to blow or file him6 with their spittings.
Over this, I beleeve, that Christ suffered most meekly and
patiently his enemies for to ding out 7 with sharpe scourges the
bloud that was betweene his skinne and his flesh : yea without

6 Teach and common forth.] Communicate. And the word, besides being
used of any kind of intercourse in general, either in the sense of giving or
receiving, was more particularly applied to the communication and to the
participation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. " In Actibus Apostolo-
rum " (as Wickliffe tells us) " is seid thus, And Christen men weren dwelling
in teching of apostles, and in communing of breking of bread ; sith St. Paul
seith the bread that we break is communing of Christ's body."— Lewis's His
tory, p. 78. And Thorpe himself thus censures the temporizing Lollards.
" But yet some mad fooles say (for to eschew slander), they will be shriven
once in the yeere, and communed of their proper priests, though they knowe
them defouled with slanderous vices." — Thorpe's Testament, printed in Fox's
Acts, p. 500.
6 All to blow or file him.] There is some difficulty about the word blow in
this passage. But I apprehend that it means to discolour (with an affinity
to the word blue), to disfigure, &c. In the Vision of Pierce Ploughman, foi.
13, the noun adjective is used in the sense of black, or sordid, &c.
 fyre shal fal and brenne al to bio ashes
The houses and homes of hem that desireth
Gyftes.
The other word file is the same with defile, to make vile. As in the Golden
Legend, foi. 1 6. b. " The visage whiche was moost fayre of all other mem-
bres is fyled, bespytte, and hurte with the thornes of the Jewes." And in the
same page, " The vysage which aungels desyre to se, the Jewes wyth theyr
spyttyng have defyled; wyth theyr handes have smytten."
7 To ding out.] To ding is to beat or knock. Thus in the Vision of Pierce
Ploughman, foi. 50. b.
" And Do-Wel shal ding him down, and distroi his might."
See also foi. 17.

268 WILLIAM THORPE.
grudging Christ suffered the cruel Jewes to crowne him with
most sharpe thornes, and to strike him with a reed. And after,
Christ suffered wicked Jewes to draw him out upon the crosse,
and for to naile him thereupon hand and foot. And so through
his pitifull nailing, Christ shed out wilfuUie for mans life, the
bloud that was in his vaines. And then Christ gave wflfuUy his
spirit into the hands or power of his father, and so, as he would,
and when hee would, Christ died wilfuUie for mans sake upon the
crosse. And notwithstanding that Christ was wflfuUy, painefuUy,
and most shamefuUy put to death, as to the world ; there was left
bloud and water in his heart, as before ordained, that hee would
shed out this bloud and this water for mans salvation. And
therefore he suffered the Jewes to make a blind knight 8 to thrust
him into the heart with a speare, and this the bloud and water
that was in his heart, Christ would shed out for mans love : and
after this, I beleeve that Christ was taken down from the crosse
and buried. And I beleeve that on the third day by the power of
his godhead, Christ rose againe from death to life. And the fortie
day thereafter, I beleeve that Christ ascended up into heaven, and
that he there sitteth on the right hand of the father almightie.
And the fiftie day after his upgoing, he sent to his apostles the
holy ghost, that he had promised them before : and I beleeve
that Christ shaU come and judge all mankind, some to everlasting
peace, and some to everlasting paines.
And as I beleeve in the father, and in the son, that they are
one God almightie, so I beleeve in the holy ghost that hee is also
with them the same God almightie.
And 1 beleeve an holy church, that is, aU they that have ben,
and that now are, and alwaies to the end of the world shaU be, a
people the which shall endevour them to know and to keepe the
8 To make a blind knight.] The soldier who pierced the side of Christ with
his spear upon Mount Calvary, some of the old writers tell us, was phy
sically blind, when he did the deed. The story is thus related in the Golden
Legend, foi. 98. b. " Some saye that whan he smote our Lorde with the
spere in the syde, the precyous blode avaled " (ran down) " by the shaft of
the spere upon his handes ; and of aventure with his handes he touched his
eyen. And anon e he that had be toioteblynde sawe anone clerely; where
fore he refused all chevaulry, and abode with the Apostles, of whom he was
taught and chrystened," and so in process of time, he was canonised, and
honoured with his place in the Calendar, under the name of St. Longius
(Koyxn). The story is told with circumstances even much more marvellous,
in the Vision of Pierce Ploughman, foi. 98.

WILLIAM THORPE. 269
commandements of God, dreading over all thing to offend God,
and loving and seeking most to please him : and I beleeve, that
all they that have had, and yet have, and al they that yet shall
have the foresaid vertues, surely standing in the beleefe of God,
hoping stedfastly in his mercifuU doings, continuing to their end
in perfect charitie, wilfully, patientlie and gladly suffering perse
cutions, by the example of Christ chiefly and his apostles, all
these have their names written in the booke of life.
Therefore I beleeve, that the gathering together of this people,
living now here in this life, is the holy church of God, fighting
here on earth against the fiend, the prosperitie of the world, and
their fleshly lusts. Wherefore, seeing that all the gathering
together of this church before said, and every part thereof, neither
coveteth, nor willeth, nor loveth, nor seeketh any thing but to
eschew the offence of God, and to doe his pleasing wfll : meekly,
gladly, and wilfully, with all mine heart, I submit my selfe unto
this holy church of Christ, to bee ever buxome and obedient °
to the ordinance of it, and of every member thereof, after my
knowledge and power, by the helpe of God. Therefore I know
ledge now, and evermore shall, if God will, that with all my
heart, and with all my might, I wil submit me only to the rule
and governance of them, whom after my knowledge, I may
perceive by the having and using of the beforesaid vertues, to be
members of the holy church"'. Wherefore these articles of
9 Buxome and obedient.] " His epithet ' buxom health * (says Dr. Johnson,
speaking of Mr. Gray's Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College, in his
Life of that Poet) is not elegant ; he seems not to understand the word." —
It is certain, whatever may be the signification of this epithet in modern
usage, it was anciently applied in the sense of pliancy, meekness, and sub
mission; as we see here, and shall find in other instances in the course of
this work. Few of my readers will need to be reminded of that use of the
word in the bride's engagements to her husband in the marriage service in
the Salisbury and York Liturgies, before the reformation. Thus likewise the
Ploughman of old makes his melancholy complaining of the infelicities of
the marriage state in his times : " A man shall not find two wedded in a
land, where the husband loves the wife, and the wife is huxum to the man, as
they shoulden, after the law of marriage. But other the man loves not his
wife, or the wife is not buxum to her man . . . And Lord, all this misehiefe is
common among this people, for that they know not thy word." Complaint
and Prayer of the Ploughman, in Fox's Acts, p. 374.
10 Holy church.] But surely this view of the subject is erroneous. The
principle of allegiance he transfers from the system, the constitution, and the
law, to the executive authority, the persons of those who are ministerially

270 WILLIAM THORPE.
beleefe and aU other (both of the old law, and of the new, which
after the commandment of God any man ought to beleeve) I be
leeve verilie in my soule, as a sinfuU deadly wretch of my cunning
and power ought to beleeve ; praying the Lord God for his holy
name, for to increase my beleefe, and to helpe my unbeleefe.
And for because to the praising of Gods name, I desire above
all things to bee a faithfuU member of holy church, I make this
protestation before you all foure that are now here present,
coveting that aU men and women that now be absent knew the
same ; that is, what thing soever before this time I have said or
done, or what thing here I shaU do or say, or at any time
hereafter ; I beleeve that aU the old law and new law given and
ordeined by counseU of the three persons of the Trinitie, were
given and written to the salvation of mankind. And I beleeve,
that these lawes are sufficient for mans salvation. And I beleeve
every article of these lawes, to the intent that these articles
ordained and commanded of these three persons of the most
blessed Trinitie are to be beleeved.
And therefore to the rule and the ordinance of these, Gods
lawes, meekely, gladly and wilfuUie, I submit me with all mine
heart ; that whosoever can or will by authoritie of Gods law, or
by open reason 1, teU me that I have erred or now erre, or any
time hereafter shall erre in any article of beleefe (from which
engaged in the conduct of it. Thorpe, as was not unfrequent with the Wick-
liffites, confounds the departments and offices of the visible and invisible
churches. 1 God's law, or open reason.] This is agreeable to the doctrine of his master.
" Men ought to desire to accept man's lawe and ordinances, only inasmuch
as they ben grounded in holy Scripture, either good reason, and common profit
of Christen people." Wickliffe in Lewis's Life, &c. p. 89. (1820.) Yet neither
of them discarded in a proper sense (the same with that which is adopted in
the Church of England), the authority of the church, and the weight and
value of antiquity, and the ancient fathers. With respect to Thorpe, this is
abundantly clear from the passage now immediately before us, and from
several others, very precise and exphcit, which will occur in the course of
this examination. And Wickliffe says, " In multis extraneo " (I disagree
with ; am estranged from) " a modernis ; sed cum multis Sanctis antiquis, et
specialiter Augustino, convenio." Trialogus, p. 164. And still further;
" This is not taught in holy writ, but is put against St. Austin and holy saints,
and reason and wit." Lewis's Wickliffe, p. 80. 1723. — Also, "Intelhgo
autem dicta mea in ista materia, secundum logicam Scripturae, necnon secun
dum logicam sanctorum doctorum, et decreti Romance ecclesia : quos suppono
prudenter fuisse locutos." Ibid. p. 325.

WILLIAM THORPE. 271
inconvenience God keep me for his goodnesse) I submit me to
be reconciled, and to be buxum and obedient unto those lawes of
God, and to every article of them. For by authoritie specially
of these lawes, I will through the grace of God, bee united
charitablie unto these lawes. Yea sir, and over this, I beleeve
and admit aU the sentences, authorities and reasons of the saints
and doctors, according unto holy Scripture, and declaring it
truely. I submit me wilfuUie and meekely to bee ever obedient
after my cunning and power, to all these saints and doctors, as
they are obedient in work and in word to God and to his law,
and further not (to my knowledge), not for any earthly power,
dignitie or state, through the helpe of God.
But Sir, I pray you tell me, if after your bidding, I shall lay
my hand upon the booke, to what entent ? to sweare thereby \
And the archbishop said to me, Yea, wherefore else ? And I
said to him : Sir, a booke is nothing else but a thing coupled
together of divers creatures, and to sweare by any creature both
Gods law and mans law is against it.
But Sir, this thing I say here to you before these your clerks,
with my foresaid protestation, that how, where, when, and to
whom, men are bound to sweare or to obey in any wise after
Gods law, and saints, and true doctors, according with Gods law,
I wiU through Gods grace bee ever readie thereto, with all my
cunning and power. But I pray you Sir, for the charitie of God,
that yee will before that I sweare (as I have here rehearsed to
you) tell me how or whereto, that I shall submit me ; and shew me
whereof that yee wiU correct mee, and what is the ordinance that
yee will thus oblige me to fulfill ?
And the archbishop said unto me, I wiU shortly that now thou
sweare here to me, that thou shalt forsake al the opinions which
the sect of LoUards hold, and is slandered with ; so that after
this time, neither privilie nor apertly, thou hold any opinion
which I shaU (after thou hast sworne) rehearse to thee here.
Nor thou shalt favour no man nor woman, young nor old, that
holdeth any these foresaid opinions : but after thy knowledge
and power, thou shalt force thee to withstand all such distrou-
blers of holy church in every diocesse, that thou commest in : and
them that wiU not leave their false and damnable opinions, thou
shalt put them up, publishing them and their names, and make
them knowne to the bishop of the dioces that they are in, or to
the bishops ministers. And over this I wiU that thou preach no

272 WILLIAM THORPE.
more unto the time that I know by good witnesse and true, that
thy conversation be such, that thy heart and thy mouth accord
truely in one, contrarying all the leaud learning that thou hast
taught herebefore.
And I hearing these words, thought in my heart, that this was
an unlefuU asking ; and deemed my selfe cursed of God, if I
consented hereto, and I thought how Susan said 2, Anguish is to
mee on every side. And in that I stood still and spake not, the
archbishop said to mee, Answere one wise or other. And I said,
Sir, if I consented to you thus as yee have here before rehearsed
to mee, I should become an appealer 3, or every bishops espie,
somoner of all England. For and I should thus put up, and
publish the names of men and women, I should herein deceive
full many persons : yea sir, as it is likely by the dome of my
conscience, I should herein bee cause of the death both of men
and women, yea both bodilie and ghostly. For many men and
women that stand now in the way of salvation, if I should, for the
learning and reading of their beleeve, publish them therefore up
to the bishops or to their unpiteous ministers, I know some deale
by experience that they should be so distroubled and diseased
with persecution or otherwise, that many of them (I thinke)
would rather chuse to forsake the way of truth than to be
travelled, scorned, slandered, or punished, as bishops and their
ministers now use for to constraine men and women to consent
to them.
But I find in no place in holy Scripture, that this office that
ye would now infeaffe me with4, accordeth to any priest of

2 How Susan said.] " Then Susanna sighed, and said, I am straitened on
every side : for if I do this thing, it is death unto me : and if I do it not, I
cannot escape your hands." Hist, of Susanna, v. 22.
3 I should become an appealer.] An appealer is " one who hath committed
some felony, or other crime, which he confesses, and now appeals, that is,
accuses others who were accomplices with him." Blount's Law Dictionary,
v. Appellor. It is explained somewhat differently in the preceding Life of
Wickliffe, p. 245, " according to the manner then of certaine theeves that were
named Appellatores, accusers or peachers of others which were guiltless."
A Summoner " is a small officer that calls or cites men to any court."
Blount, in V.
4 Would now infeaffe me with.] It was very nearly coincident with the date
of this examination, that the work of persecution received further tremendous
powers, by the enactment in convocation of the constitutions which go gene-

WILLIAM THORPE. 273
Christs sect, nor to any other Christian man : and therfore to
doe this, were to me a fuU noious bond to be bounden with, and
rally by the name of archbishop Arundel, and of which Lewis gives the fol
lowing account, abstracted from bishop Gibson's Codex.
" In the year 1408, archbishop Thomas Arundel made a constitution at
Oxford, that henceforth none should preach any doctrine contrary to the
determination of the church, nor call in question what the church hath deter
mined, upon pain of excommunication ipso facto, and submitting to penance ;
and of being for the second offence declared a heretic. The penance before
mentioned, to be the retractation of his errors publicly in the place where they
were preached, and preaching and teaching without fraud the determinations
of the church.
" It was likewise ordained that none should read the books of John
Wickliffe, or of his contemporaries, unless they be first examined and ap
proved by one of the universities, upon pain to suffer as a promoter of schism
and heresy; and that none should advance propositions or conclusions,
(though in the schools,) that tend to subvert the catholic faith, upon pain of
the greater excommunication, till he confess his fault and retract.
" It was further ordained, that none should presume to dispute publicly or
privately about articles determined by the church, or to call in question their
authority, or to teach contrary to their determination. And because the
university of Oxford was greatly infected with Lollardy, therefore every Head
should enquire monthly whether any scholar hath maintained doctrines
against the determinations of the church : and if he should find reason to
suspect any one, or that any scholar was defamed oi maintaining any such
doctrines, he should effectually admonish him to desist : and if, after such
admonition he continued obstinate, he should, besides suffering the other
punishments decreed, be ipso facto excommunicate and expelled his college :
that the Heads being found negligent herein, shall be excommunicated and
deprived ; as also if they were detected of holding any the said unsound
doctrines. And that persons suspected of heresy, being cited in due form
and not appearing, shall be summarily proceeded against, and sentence shall
be given according to the crime.
" Lastly, it was ordained, that nobody hereafter, should, by his own
authority, translate any texts of holy Scripture into English, or any other
language by way of a book, little book or tract ; and no book, little book or
tract, of this nature, now newly composed in the time of John Wickliffe, or
since, should be read, either in part or all, publicly or privately, under pain
of the greater excommunication, until, by the diocesan of the place, or if the
case should require, by a provincial council, the translation should be
approved." P. 130—2.
"After this, in the 2 Henry V. (a.d. 1414), a parliament at Leicester
enacted that the chancellor, treasurer, justices of the peace, sheriffs, &c,
should take an oath for destroying all manner of heresies, commonly called
lollardies, to be assistant to the ordinary therein ; that persons convict of
heresy should lose their fee-simple land ; that justices of the King's Bench,
of the peace, and of assize, should enquire oi all holding any errors or
VOL. I. T

274 WILLIAM THORPE.
over grievous charge. For I suppose, that if I thus did, many
men and women would, yea sir, might justly to my confusion say
to me, that I were a traytor to God and to them: since (as I
thinke in mine heart) many men and women trust so mikle in
this case, that I would not for saving of my life, doe thus to them.
For if I thus should doe, full many men and women would (as
they might full truly) say that I had falsly and cowardly forsaken
the truth, and slandered shamefullie the word of God. For if I
consented to you to doe heere, after your wUl, for bonchefe or
mischiefe that may befall unto me in this life, I deeme in my
conscience, that I were worthie herefore to bee cursed of God
and also of all his saints : fro which inconvenience, keep me and aU
Christian people, almightie God now and ever for his holy name !
And then the archbishop said unto mee, Oh, thine heart is
full hard indurate, as was the heart of Pharao, and the divell
hath overcomen thee, and perverted thee, and hee hath so blinded
thee in all thy wit, that thou hast no grace to know the truth,
nor the measure of mercie that I have profered to thee. There
fore, as I perceive now by thy foolish answere, thou hast no will
to leave thine old errors.
But I say to thee leaud losell, other quicklie consent thou to
mine ordinance and submit thee to stand to my decrees ; or by
Saint Thomas thou shalt be degraded, and follow thy fellow 5
into Smithfield. And at this saying, I stood still and spake not,
but I thought in mine hart that God did to me great grace, if he
would of his great mercie bring me to such an end. And in
mine heart I was nothing afraid with this manasing of the arch
bishop. And I considered there two things in him. One, that
he was not yet sorrowfuU for that hee had made William Sautre
wrongfully to bee burnt ; and as I considered 6, that the arch
bishop thirsted yet after more shedding out of innocent bloud.
And fast therefore I was mooved in all my wits, for to hold the
archbishop neither for prelate nor for priest of God. And for
that mine inward man was thus altogether departed from the
heresies, as lollards ; of their maintainers, receivers, fautors, &c. ; and to that
end, that a clause be put into the commissions of justices of the peace."
Twisden's Historical Vindication, p. 159, 60. Compare also Lewis's Life of
Wickliffe, p. 133.
6 Follow thy fellow.] " He meaneth God's martyr, William Sautrey."
Fox. See above, p. 253.
6 And as I considered.] Perhaps we should read "and als (also) I
considered."

WILLIAM THORPE. 275
archbishop, me thought I should not have any dread of him.
But I was right heavie and sorrowfull, for that there was no
audience of secular men by 7 : but in my heart I prayed the Lord
God, for to comfort me and strength me against them that there
were against the soothfastnesse. And I purposed to speake no
more to the archbishop and his clerks than me need behooved :
and all thus I praide God for his goodnesse to give mee then and
alway grace to speake, with a meeke and an easie spirit : and
whatsoever thing that I should speake, that I might thereto have
true authorities of Scriptures, or open reason. And for that I
stood thus still and nothing spake, one of the archbishops clerkes
said unto me ; What thing musest thou I Do thou as my lord
hath now commanded to thee here.
And yet I stood still and answered him not : and then soone
after, the archbishop said to me, Art thou not yet bethought,
whether thou wilt do as I have said to thee ? And I said then
to him, Sir, my father and my mother, (on whose soules God
have mercie, if it be his will), spent mikle monie in divers places
about my learning, for the intent to have made mee a priest to
God. But when I came to yeeres of discretion, I had no will to
be priest, and therefore my friends were right heavie to mee ;
and then mee thought their grudging against me was so painefull
to me, that I purposed therefore to have left their companie.
And when they perceived this in me, they spake sometime full
faire and pleasant words to mee : but for that they might not
make me to consent of good heart to bee a priest, they spake to
me full oftentimes very grievous words, and manased mee in
7 No audience of secular men by.] The company, besides the Archbishop,
consisted of only three persons, one beneficed Clerk (a physician), and two
others, Civilians. Thorpe's disappointment on this account is fully illus
trated by a passage in Barlowe's Dialogue concerning the Lutheran Factions,
written about the year 1530, against the principles and practices of the
Reformers, and reprinted in the beginning of the reign of queen Mary by the
Popish party, when Barlowe had again returned to the side of the reforma
tion. " William. Thoughe they do fall in harme, yet have they hope to
wynne theyr favour, or els why are they so desyrous to have so many ley
men present at their examinations ? Nicholas. Thej make of it a reasonable
cause for two considerations. One is to the intent they might not be
wrongefully oppressed in corners ; another is, because they would that
people shulde bear witnes of their constancy in confessynge the trouthe for
Christes sake. William. These consyderations in theym, yf they were true
as thei be false; were yet of small efficacite, and against the evangelike
perfection. As touchynge the fyrste, &c." Signat. H. 8 edit. 1553.
T 2

276 WILLIAM THORPE.
divers manners, shewing to mee fuU heavie cheere. And thus
one while in faire manner, another while in grievous, they were
long time (as me thought) full busie about me, or I consented 8
to them to be a priest.
But at the last, when in this matter they would no longer
suffer mine excusations, but either I should consent to them, or
I should ever beare their indignation, yea, their curse (as they
said) then I seeing this, prayed them that they would give me
licence for to goe to them that were named wise priests, and of
vertuous conversation, to have their counsell, and to know of
them the office and the charge of priesthood. And hereto, my
father and my mother consented full gladly, and gave me their
blessing and good leave to goe, and also money to spend in this
journie. And so I went to those priests whom I heard to be of
best name, and of most holy living, and best learned, and most
wise of heavenly wisdome : and so I communed with them, unto
the time that I perceived by their vertuous and continuaU occu
pations, that their honest and charitable works passed their fame
which I had heard before of them.
Wherefore sir, by the example of the doctrine of them, and
speciallie for the godly and innocent workes which I perceived
then of them, and in them, after my cunning and power, I have
exercised me then and in this time, to know perfectlie Gods law,
having a wiU and desire to live thereafter, which wiUeth that all
men and women should exercise themselves faithfully thereabout.
If then sir, either for pleasure of them that are neither so wise,
nor of so vertuous conversation to my knowledge, nor by common
fame to any other mens knowledge in this land, as these men were
of whom I tooke my counseU and information, I should now
forsake thus suddenlie and shortlie, and unwarned, all the learning
that I have exercised myselfe in these thirtie winters and more,
my conscience should ever be herewith out of measure unquieted ;
and as sir I know wel, many men and women should be ther-
through greatly troubled and slandered. And as I said sir, to
you before, for mine untruth and false cowardnesse, many a one
should bee put into full great reproofe : yea sir, I dread that many
one (as they might then justly) would curse me fuU bitterlie : and
sir I feare not, but the curse of God, which I should deserve
8 Or I consented.] In Old English, (says Lye in Junius's Etymologicum,
v. ere), the words ere and or are used indiscriminately.

WILLIAM THORPE. 277
herein, would bring me to a full evill end, if I continued thus.
And if through remorse of conscience I repented me any time,
returning into the way, which you do your diligence to constraine
mee now to forsake ; yea sir, all the bishops of this land, with full
many other priests, would defame me, and pursue me as a relapse ;
and they that now have (though I be unworthy) some confidence
in me, hereafter would never trust to me, though I could teach
and live never so vertuouslie, more than I can or may. For if
after your counsell I left utterly all my learning, I should heereby
first wound and defile mine owne soule, and also I should here-
through give occasion to many men and women of fuU sore hurt
ing : yea sir as it is likely to mee, if I consented to your wiU, I
should herein by mine evill example in it, as farre as in mee were,
slea many folke ghostly, so that I should never deserve for to
have grace of God, to the edifying of his church, neither of
my selfe, nor of none other mans life, and should be undone both
before God and man.
But sir, by example chiefly of some, whose names I wiU not
now rehearse, of H. of I. P. and B. 9 and also by the present
doing of Philip Rampington ', that now is become bishop of
Lincolne ; I am now learned (as many moe hereafter through
Gods grace shall be learned) to hate and to flee all such slander
that these foresaid men chiefle have defiled, principallie themselves
with ; and in it that in them is, they have envenomed al the
church of God. For the slanderous revoking at the crosse of
Pauls, of H. P. and of B. and how now Philip Rampington
pursueth Christs people; and the faining that these men dis
semble by worldly prudence, keeping them cowardlie in their
preaching and communion within the bonds and tearmes (which
without blame may be spoken and shewed out to the most worldly
livers) wiU not bee unpunished of God. For to the point of truth
that these men shewed out sometime, they will not now stretch
forth their lines. But by example, each one of them as their words
and their works shew, busie them through their faining, for to
9 OfH.of I. P. and B.] These initials probably denote Nicolas Herford
(Fox, p. 461); John Purvey (Fox, p. 498); and John Becket. (Fox,
p. 485. Wilkins's Concil. vol. iii. p. 247.) Compare above, p. 235, &c.
1 Philip Rampington.] Repington, Bishop of Lincoln, received the nick
name of Rampington from the Lollards, on account, probably, of the vehe
mence of his persecution against them. See Fox, p. 409. " Philip Repington,
otherwise called of the brethren afterward Rampington."

278 WILLIAM THORPE.
slander, and to pursue Christ in his members, rather than they
will be pursued.
And the archbishop said to me, These men the which thou
speakest of now, were fooles and heretikes, when they were
counted wise men of thee and other such losels. But now they
are wise men, though thou and such other deeme them unwise.
Neverthelesse I wist never none that right said, that any while
were envenomed with your contagiousnesse, that is, contaminated
and spotted doctrine.
And I said to the archbishop, Sir, I thinke well that these men
and such other are now wise as to this world : but as their words
sounded sometime, and their works shewed outwardly, it was like
to move mee that they had earnest of the wisedome of God, and
that they should have deserved mikle grace of God, to have saved
their owne soules and many other mens, if they had continued
faithfully in wilfull povertie, and in other simple vertuous living :
and speciallie if they had with these foresaid vertues continued in
their busie fruitfull sowing of Gods word : as to many mens
knowledge they occupied them a season in all their wits, full
busily to know the pleasant wil of God, travelling all their mem
bers ful busilie for to do thereafter, purely and chiefly to the
praising of the most holy name of God, and for grace of edifica
tion and salvation of Christian people. But wo worth false
covetise, and evill counsell and tyrannie, by which they and many
men and women are led blindly into an evill end.
Then the archbishop said unto mee, Thou, and such other
losels of thy sect, would shave your beards fuU neere for to have
a benefice. For by Jesu, I know none more covetous shrewes
then ye are, when that ye have a benefice. For loe, I gave to
John Purvie 2 a benefice but a mile out of this castle, and I heard
more complaints about his covetousness, for tithes, and other
misdoings, then I did of aU men that were advanced within my
diocesse. And I said to the archbishop, Sir, Purvie is neither with you
2 John Purvey^] A collection of thirty-seven articles purporting to be drawn
from the writings of Wickliffe, with corollaries by the collector, has recently
been printed for the first time, from a MS. in the British Museum, and edited
by the Rev. J. ForshaU, under the title of " Remonstrance against Romish
Corruptions in the Church, addressed to the People and Parliament of En
gland in 1395, 18 Ric. ii." According to the editor, "its author, there can
be little or no doubt, was John Purvey."

WILLIAM THORPE. 279
now for the benefice that you gave him, nor he holdeth faithfuUy
with the learning that hee taught and writ before time ; and thus
hee sheweth himselfe neither to be hot nor cold : and therefore he
and his fellowes, may sore dread, that if they turne not hastily to
the way that they have forsaken, peradventm-e they be put out of
the number of Christs chosen people.
And the archbishop said, Though Purvie bee now a false
harlot 3, I quit mee now to him : but come hee more for such
cause before me, or we part, I shaU know with whom hee holdeth.
But I say to thee, which are these holy men and wise, of whom
thou hast taken thine information ?
And I said, Sir, master John Wickliffe was holden of fuU many
men, the greatest clerke that they knew then living, and there
with hee was named a passing rulie man and an innocent in his
living : and herefore, great men communed oft with him, and they
loved so his learning, that they writ it, and busilie inforced them
to rule themselves thereafter. Therefore sir, this foresaid learn
ing of M. John Wickliffe, is yet holden of full many men and
3 A false harlot^] A similar use of this term is by no means infrequent in
the old writers. We shall meet with it again in the progress of this exami
nation. And in a Dialogue between Eusebius and Theophilus, signat. b. 6. b.
(12mo. 1556.) Eusebius, the advocate of the old religion, says, "Well, sir,
then harken; first we are come to this poynt that betweene us is stryfe,
whether we catholikes be the true church of Christ, and you protestaunts
false prophetes, or els we the false harlottes and you the trewe men." So also
in Fox's Acts, p. 497, p. 1109, and p. 1855. Lewis's Hist, of Wickliffe,
p. 128, &c. Respecting the origin, or at least the history oi the name, Fox
gives us some particulars, which I am inclined to believe, are much better
founded, than the common derivation suggested by Lambard in his Peram
bulation of Kent, p. 178. Junius in his Etymologicum, and by other writers.
"About this time," that is, in the concluding years of the reign of
Henry IIL, " a redresse of certaine sects was intended; among which, one
by name speciallie occurreth, and called the assembhe of harlots ; a kind of
people of a leaud disposition and uncivill. Of whose manners and life the
king having beene informed, addressed his letters to the shiriffe of Oxford
shire, a place which they haunted, and wherein they practised their evill
conversation : whose letter here followeth.
"Because we understand that there be certaine vagrant persons which
call themselves harlots, maintaining idlenesse in divers parts of our realme,
most shamelesselie making their meetings, assemblies, and unlawful! matches
against the honestie of the church and good maners, which abuse we will
not, neither ought we to suffer. We charge, &c. &c.
"What maner of persons these were, or what their conversation was, it
doth not further appeare ; nevertheless by the premisses it may seeme to be
some pretenced order of rehgion. And it is most probable that the reproch-
ful name of harlot had his beginning from hence." Fox's Acts, p. 305.

280 WILLIAM THORPE.
women, the most agreeable learning unto the living and teaching
of Christ and of his apostles, and most openly shewing and declar
ing how the church of Christ hath been and yet should bee ruled
and governed. Therefore, so many men and women covet this
learning, and purpose, through Gods grace, to conforme their
living like to this learning of Wickliffe. M. John Ashton taught
and writ accordingly, and full busily, where and when, and to
whom that he might, and he used it himselfe right perfectly unto
his lives end. And also Philip of Rampington, while he was a
canon of Leicester, Nicolas Herford, Davie Gotraie of Pakring,
monke of Byland, and a master of divinitie, and John Purvay,
and many other which were holden right wise men and prudent,
taught and writ busilie this foresaid learning, and conformed them
thereto. And with all these men I was right homely, and com
muned with them long time and oft : and so before aU other men
I chose willinglie to be informed of them and by them, and spe
cially of Wickliffe himselfe, as of the most vertuous and godly
wise man that I heard of or knew. And therefore of him
speciallie, and of these men I tooke the learning that I have
taught : and purpose to live thereafter (if God will) to my lives
end. For though some of those men be contrarie to the learning
that they taught before, I wot well that their learning was true
which they taught ; and therefore with the helpe of God I
purpose to hold and to use the learning which I heard of them,
while they sate on Moses chaire, and specially while that they sat
on the chaire of Christ. But after the works that they now do,
I wU not do with Gods helpe. For they fame, and hide, and
contrarie the truth, which before they taught out plainely and
truely. For as I know well, when some of those men have been
blamed for their slanderous doing, they grant not that they have
taught amisse or erred before time, but that they were con
strained by paine to leave to tell out the sooth ; and thus they
chuse now rather to blaspheme God, than to suffer a while here
persecution bodily, for soothfastnesse that Christ shed out his
heart bloud for.
And the archbishop said, That learning that thou callest truth
and soothfastnesse, is open slander to holy church, as it is proved
of holy church. For albeit, that Wickliffe your author was a
great clerke, and though that many men held him a perfect liver ;
yet his doctrine is not approved of holy church *, but many sen-
4 Not approved of holy church.] So it was. In their synods and councils
(as the Council of Trent did afterwards), they enacted canons and decrees,

WILLIAM THORPE. 281
tences of his learning are damned as they well worthie are. But
as touching Philip of Rampington, that was first canon, and after
abbat of Leicester, which is now bishop of Lincolne ; I tell thee,
that the day is commen, for which he fasted the eeven. For
neither hee holdeth now, nor wfll hold, the learning that hee
taught, when hee was a canon of Leicester. For no bishop of
this land pursueth now more sharpely them that hold thy way,
then he doth.
And I said, Sir, full many men and women wondereth upon
him, and speaketh him mikle shame, and holdeth him for a cursed
enemie of the truth.
And the archbishop said to me, Wherfore tariest thou me thus
here with such fables, wflt thou shortly (as I have said to thee)
submit thee to me or no 2
And I said, Sir, I tell you at one word ; I dare not for the
dread of God submit me to you, after the tenor and sentence that
yee have above rehearsed to me.
And thus as if hee had been wroth, hee said to one of his
clerks, Fetch hither quickly, the certification that came to me
from Shrewesburie under the bailiffes seale, witnessing the errors
and heresies, which this losell hath venumously sowne there.
Then hastilie the clerke tooke out and laid forth on a cupbord,
divers roles and writings, among which there was a little one,
which the clerke delivered to the archbishop. And by and by the
archbishop read this roll containing this sentence.
" The third Sunday after Easter, the yeere of our Lord 1407,
WUliam Thorpe came unto the towne of Shrewesburie, and
through leave granted unto him to preach, he said openly in S.
Chad's church in his sermon.
That the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, was
materiall bread ;
And that images should in no wise be worshipped.
And that men should not go on pilgrimages.
And that priests have no title to tithes.
And that it is not lawfull for to sweare in any wise."
And when the archbishop had read thus this roll, he rolled it
up againe, and said to me, Is this wholesome learning to be
among the people ?
and on them they proceeded to censure and punish, even unto death, in
virtue of the mere principle of the authority of the church, and that church
the pope or the church of Rome, without any sufficient regard whether their
articles were grounded in Scripture, or in only undeniable reason.

282 WILLIAM THORPE.
And I said to him, Sir, I am both ashamed on their behalfe,
and right sorrowfull for them that have certified you these things
thus untimely ; for I preached never, nor taught thus, privily nor
apertly. And the archbishop said to me, I will give credence to these
worshipfull men which have written to me, and witnessed under
their seales there among them. Though now thou deniest this,
weenest thou that I shall give credence to thee 2 Thou losell,
hast troubled the worshipfull communaltie of Shrewesburie, so
that the bailiffes and communaltie of that towne have written to
me, praying me that am archbishop of Canturbury primat and
chancellor of England, that I will vouchsafe to grant them, that
if thou shalt be made (as thou art worthie) to suffer open jouresse 5
for thine heresies, that thou may have thy jouresse openly there
among them : so that all they whom thou and such other losels
have there perverted, may through feare of thy deed be recon
ciled againe to the unitie of holie church. And also they that
stand in true faith of holie church, may through thy deed be more
established therein. And as if this asking well pleased the arch
bishop, he said, By my thrift, this heartie prayer, and fervent
request, shall be thought on.
But certainlie, nother the prayer of the men of Shrewesburie,
nor the manasing of the archbishop made mee any thing afraid.
But in rehearsing of this malice, and in the hearing of it, my
heart greatly rejoiced, and yet doth. I thanke God for the grace
that I then thought, and yet thinke shall come to all the church
of God here thorow, by the speciall mercifuU doing of the Lord.
And as having no dread of the malice of tyrants, by trusting
steadfastlie in the helpe of the Lord, with full purpose for to
knowledge the soothfastnesse, and to stand thereby after my
cunning and power, I said to the archbishop, Sir, if the truth of
Gods word might now be accepted as it should be, I doubt not to
prove by likelie evidence, that they that are famed to be out of
the faith of holie church in Shrewesbury, and in other places also,
are in the true faith of holy church. For as their words sound,
and their works shew to mans judgment (dreading and loving
faithfully God) their will, their desire, their love and their busines
are most set to dread to offend God, and to love for to please him
', Open jouresse.] There seems some difficulty about this word "jouresse ;"
but I apprehend it means " abjuration :"— that Thorpe should be carried to
Shrewsbury, there openly to abjure. The Latin edition (p. 84) uses the term
7ta\iv(^deiy.

WILLIAM THORPE. 283
in true and faithfull keeping of his commandements. And again,
they that are said to be in the faith of holie church in Shrewes
burie and in other places, by open evidence of their proud, envious,
malicious, covetous, and other foule words and workes, neither
know, nor have will to know, nor to occupie their wits truelie and
effectuouslie in the right faith of holie church. Wherefore all
these, nor none that follow their manners, shall any time come
verily in the faith of holy church, except they inforce them more
truely to come in the way which now they despise. For these
men and women that are now called faithfuU and holden just,
nother know, nor will exercise themselfe to knowe (of faithful-
nesse) one commandement of God.
And thus full many men and women now, and speciallie men
that are named to be principal lims of holy church, stir God to
great wrath, and deserve his curse for that they call or hold them
just men, which are ful unjust, as their vitious words, their great
customable swearing, and their slanderous and shamefull works
shew openly and witnesse. And therefore such vitious men and
unjust in their owne confusion, call them unjust men and women,
which after their power and cunning busie themselves to live
justly after the commandement of God. And where sir, ye say,
that I have distroubled the communaltie of Shrewesburie, and
many other men and women with my teaching, if it thus bee, it is
not to bee wondered of wise men, since all the communaltie of the
citie of Jerusalem was distroubled of Christ's owne person, that
was very God and man, and the most prudent preacher that ever
was or shall be. And also all the synagogue of Nazareth was
mooved against Christ, and so full fiUed with ire towards him for
his preaching, that the men of the synagogue rose up and cast
Christ out of their citie, and led him up to the top of a moun-
taine for to cast him downe there headlong. Also accordingly
hereto, the Lord witnesseth by Moses, that he shall put dissension
betwixt his people, and the people that contrarieth and pursueth his
people. Who sir is he, that shall preach the truth of Gods word
to the unfaithful people, and shall let the soothfastnesse of the
gospeU, and the prophecie of God Almightie to be fulfilled I
And the archbishop said to me, It followeth of these thy words,
that thou and such other thinkest, that yee doe right wel for to
preach and teach as yee doe, without authoritie of any bishop 6.
6 Without authoritie of any bishop.] Among the celebrated constitutions
of archbishop Arundel, agreed upon in a convocation holden at Oxford in

284 WILLIAM THORPE.
For you presume, that the Lord hath chosen you only for to
preach, as faithfull disciples and speciall followers of Christ.
And I said, Sir, by authoritie of God's law, and also of saints
and doctors I am learned to deeme, that it is every priests office
and dutie7 for to preach bushy, freely and truely the word of God.

the year 1407, and promulgated a second time by a convocation at St. Paul's,
London, in the year following ; it was enacted, in further prosecution of a
law passed in parliament, a.d. 1400, "That no clerk, secular or regular,
unless authorised by law, or special privilege, should preach to the people or
clergy in Latin, or in the vulgar tongue, within a church, or without, unless
he be first examined by the diocesan, and being found qualified both in
manners and learning, be sent by him to preach to some certain parish
or parishes, as to the same ordinary shall seem expedient." Wilkins's
Concil. iii. p. 306 and 315. The words "law or special privilege " were
designed to protect the powers granted by the see of Rome to the respective
orders of friars ; but these, not being always treated with due honour by the
secular clergy, were more amply confirmed to them by a declaration published
by the archbishop in the year 1409 (Wilkins, iii. p. 324); and thus, while
the parochial clergy were subject to very severe but reasonable restrictions,
the mendicant orders had liberty to preach where, and when, and how, they
pleased. And as Thorpe said in another work, " Heremites and pardoners,
ankerers, and strange beggars, are licensed and admitted of prelats and
priests, for to beguile the people with flatterings and leasings slanderously,
against all good reason and true beliefe, and so to increase divers vices in
themselves, and also among all them that accept them, or consent to them."
Thorpe's Testament in Fox's Acts, p. 499, 500.
7 Office and dutie.] Yes : No doubt. But it is also equally true, that the
church or the state has a right to limit and controul the exercise of this
office in any particular case. Therefore the law, this constitution of Arundel,
was a just and necessary one. The unhappiness was (as will often fall out
in human affairs), that the application and exercise of it fell into bad hands,
and for bad purposes, against good. And undoubtedly it was grievously
hard, that they who by Scripture and reason, and all other legitimate argu
ments, saw clearly where the truth and where the error lay ; that themselves
were right, and the other party wrong, would not propound their knowledge,
nor speak at all, except on conditions which stipulated for its previous aban
donment and extinction. They would gladly enough have had the bishop's
license, but, as Thorpe says just below, " we know well, that this cannot be,
unless we oblige ourselves, not to pass the bounds and terms, which ye, sir,
or other bishops, will limit to us." And here again, the condition doubtless
was just and necessary. No government can be sustained on any other
principles. And, I may observe, that Wickliffe himself appears to have held
the doctrine which we are maintaining. For highly as he insisted on the
obligation of the ordination vows, to preach and minister in the sanctuary,
he taught, according to a passage in Lewis (p. 65. 1820), that "though the
priestly power is not more or less sufficient in its essence : still the powers of

WILLIAM THORPE. 285
For no doubt every priest should propose first in his soule, and
covet to take the order of priesthood chiefly for to make knowne
to the people the word of God, after his cunning and power;
approving his words ever to be true by his vertuous workes : and
for this intent we suppose that bishops and other prelats of holy
church, should chieflie take and use their prelacie, and for the
same cause bishops should give to priests their orders. For
bishops should accept no man to priesthood, except that he had
good wil and full purpose, and were wel disposed and wel learned
to preach. Wherefore sir, by bidding of Christ, and by the
example of his most holy living, and also by the witnessing of his
holie apostles and prophets, wee are bound under full great paine,
to exercise us after our cunning and power (as every priest is
likewise charged of God) to fulfill duly the office of priesthood.
We presume not here of our selves for to bee esteemed, (neither in
our owne reputation nor in none other mans) faithfuU disciples,
and speciall followers of Christ. But sir, as I said to you before,
wee deeme this, by authoritie chiefly of Gods word, that it is the
chiefe dutie of every priest, to busie him faithfullie to make the
law of God knowne to his people ; and so to commune the com-
mandements of God charitablie, how that we may best, where,
when, and to whom that ever we may : and for the wil and busi
nesse that we owe of due debt, to do justlie our office, through
the stirring and speciall helpe (as we trust) of God, hoping sted-
fastlie in his mercie, wee desire to be the faithfull disciples of
Christ, and we pray this gratious Lord for his holie name, that
he make us able to please him with devout prayers, and charit
able priestly works, that we may obtaine of him to foUow him
thankefully. And the archbishop said to me, Leaud lozel, whereto makest
inferior priests are, at times, reasonably restrained, and at other times are
relaxed." Meanwhile, so far as concerns the church of England herself, whether in
her legislative or executive capacity, our consolation must be, that she has
long relinquished all claim to be an infallible church: and as in her 19th
Article, she maintains that the churches of Rome, Jerusalem, and Antioch,
had erred, so she may, or rather must, now looking back, confess of herself,
that under Arundel's primacy, she abused her lawful authority, and erred
grievously in many matters of controversy, "not only in ceremonies, but also
in matters of faith."
Upon the whole, then, much of Thorpe's reasoning here, and in what
follows for some pages, is a mistake ofthe question.

286 WILLIAM THORPE.
thou such vaine reasons to me? Asketh not saint Paul, how
should priests preach, except they be sent? But I sent thee
never to preach. For thy venomous doctrin is so known through
out England, that no bishop will admit thee to preach, by witness
ing of their letters. Why then leaud idiot, wilt thou presume to
preach, since thou art not sent nor licensed of thy soveraigne to
preach ? Saith not saint Paul, that subjects s ought to obey their
soveraignes, and not onely good and vertuous, but also tyrants that
are vitious ?
And I said to the archbishop, Sir, as touching your letter of
licence or that of other bishops, which, yee say, wee should have
to witnesse that we were able to be sent for to preach ; we know
weU that neither you sir, nor any other bishop of this land, will
grant to us any such letters of licence, but if we should oblige us
to you, and to other bishops by unlefull othes, for to passe not
the bounds and termes which ye sir, or other bishops, will limit
to us. And since in this matter your termes bee some too large,
and some too strait, wee dare not oblige us thus to be bounden to
you for to keepe the termes, which you will limit to us, as you
doe to friers and such other preachers : and therefore, though we
have not your letter sir, nor letters of any other bishops written
with inke upon parchment ; wee dare not therefore leave the
office of preaching, to which preaching, all priests after their
cunning and power are bound, by divers testimonies of Gods
law, and great doctors, without any mention making of bishops
letters. For as mikle as wee have taken upon us the office of
priesthood (though we are unworthy thereto) we claim and pur
pose to fulfill it with the help of God, by authoritie of his owne
law, and by witnesse of great doctors and saints, according hereto
trusting stedfastly in the mercie of God. For, in that he com
mandeth us to doe the office of priesthood, he wiU be our suffi
cient letters and witnesse, if we by example of his holy living
and teaching, speciallie occupie us faithfullie to doe our office
justlie : yea the people to whom we preach (be they faithfull or
unfaithfull) shall be our letters, that is, our witnes-bearers ; for
the truth where it is sowne, may not be unwitnessed. For all
that are converted and saved by learning of Gods word, and by
8 That subjects.] The relative terms subject and sovereign were in these
times very frequently used in the sense of inferior minister and prelate ; or of
layman and clerk ; and it is in this ecclesiastical meaning that the archbishop
understands and applies the text of St. Paul.

WILLIAM THORPE. 287
working thereafter, are witnesse-bearers, that the truth and sooth-
fastnes which they heard and did after, is cause of their salvation.
And again, all unfaithfuU men and women which heard the truth
told out to them, and would not doe thereafter ; also aU they that
might have heard the truth, and would not heare it because that
they would not doe thereafter: all these shall beare witnes against
themselves ; and the truth which they would not heare, or else
heard it, and despised to doe thereafter, through their unfaith-
fulnesse, is and shall be cause of their damnation. Therefore
sir, since this aforesaid witnessing of God, and of divers saints
and doctors, and of all the people good and evill, sufnceth to all
true preachers, we think that we do not the office of priesthood,
if that we leave our preaching, because that we have not, or
may not have duly bishops letters, to witnesse that wee are sent
of them to preach. This sentence approveth saint Paul, where
he speaketh of himselfe and of faithfull apostles and disciples,
saying thus, We need no letters of commendations as some preachers
doe, which preach for covetousnesse of temporall goods, and for
mens praysing. — And where ye say sir, that Paul biddeth sub
jects obey their soveraignes, that is sooth, and may not be denied.
But there is two manner of soveraignes, vertuous soveraignes and
vitious tyrants. Therefore, to these last soveraignes, neither
men nor women that be subject, owe to obey in two maners. To
vertuous soveraignes and charitable, subjects owe to obey wil
fully and gladlie, in hearing of their good counsell, in consenting
to their charitable biddings, and in working after their fruitfull
works. This sentence Paul approveth, where he saith to sub
jects, Be yee mindful of your soveraignes, that speake to you the
word of God, and follow you the faith of them, whose conversation
you know to be vertuous. For as Paul saith after, these sove
raignes, to whom subjects owe to obey in following of their
maners, worke busilie in holy studying, how they may withstand
and destroy vices, first in themselves, and after in aU their sub
jects, and how they may best plant in them vertues. Also these
soveraignes make devout and fervent prayers, for to purchase
grace of God, that they and their subjects may over all things
dread to offend him, and love for to please him. Also those
souveraignes to whom Paul biddeth us obey, as it is said before,
live so vertuouslie, that all they that will live weU, may take of
them good example, to know and to keepe the commandements
of God. But in this foresaid wise, subjects ought not to obey

288 WILLIAM THORPE.
nor to be obedient to tyrants, whUe they are vitious tyrants, since
their wUl, their counseU, their biddings, and their workes are so
vitious, that they ought to be hated and left. And though such
tyrants be masterfull and crueU in boasting and menacing, in op
pressions and divers punishings, saint Peter biddeth the servants
of such tyrants, to obey meekely such tyrants, (in) suffering pa
tiently their malicious cruelnesse. But Peter counselleth not any
servant or subject, to obey to any lord or prince, or soveraigne in
any thing that is not pleasing to God.
And the archbishop said unto me, if a soveraigne bid his sub
ject doe that thing that is vitious, this soveraigne herein is to
blame ; but the subject for his obedience, deserveth meed 9 of
God. For obedience pleaseth more to God, then any sacrifice.
9 Deserveth meed.] The archbishop here speaks precisely according to the
doctrine afterward inforced by bishop Pecock, who though himself a severe
sufferer in the cause of reformation, was a very zealous, and a most able and
learned adversary of many tenets of the followers of Wickliffe.
" If a parish priest should teach his parishioner some grosse heresy instead
of an article of faith, it were his duty to receive it, and would not only be
excusable before God, but would be as meritorious, and equally rewarded,
with the belief of any true article. Nay, if that man should lay down his life
for defence of this heresy, imagining all this while that it is the doctrine of
the church, he would be a true and undoubted martyr." Rule of Faith,
p. 4, written a.d. 1450, and published by Henry Wharton, a.d. 1688, from
a MS. in the library of Trinity college, Cambridge. Compare below,
p. 333.
This doctrine of implicit submission to the authority of the church leads,
by a species of inevitable necessity, to conclusions and consequences in the
highest degree appalling and awful.
For example, an advocate for popery ventures to express himself thus, on
its restoration by queen Mary, in a popular address in behalf of the queen's
proceedings : — •
" Therefore yf thys be a false fayth and belefe that we now have, then God
both is, and hath bene most unkynde, not onlye to us, but to all Christen-
dome besyde, whiche is in the same belefe, that we be : seeing that he hath
not before these seven yeares laste passed, revealed and opened his trueth
unto us, but hath suffered bothe us, and all our progenitours and elders too,
yea and all Christendome, ever synce Christes incarnation even to these latter
dayes, to lyve in blyndnes, and to let us continue styll in daunger of damna
tion. But God forbydde, that any man myght justly eyther thynke or saye
thus. For then myght we, commynge before our Saviour Christ at the day
of judgment, yf wee should for our belefe be there condemned, aunswere that
we were nor to blame, not worthie of damnation therefore : because that hys
blessed spouse the Catholike church hadde from tyme to tyme taught us thys
belefe, and that he hadde promised to be with his churche to the worldes

WILLIAM THORPE. 289
And I said, Samuel the prophet said to Saul the wicked king,
that God was more pleased with the obedience of his commande
ment, than with any sacrifice of beasts. But David saith, and S.
Paul, and S. Gregorie accordinglie together, that not only they
that doe evill, are worthy of death and damnation ; but also they
that consent to evill doers. And sir, the law of holy church
teacheth in the decrees10, that no servant to his lord, nor child
to the father or mother, nor wife to her husband, nor monke to
his abbat, ought to obey, except in lefull things, and lawfuU \
ende; whyche promyse caused us alwaye to give credence to hys holye
churche, whiche we thought could not erre, nor be deceaved in anye matter
concerning our fayth." Christopherson's Exhortation against Rebellion, a.d.
1554. Signat. X 7, 8.
But even in our own days, the same daring representation is still
habitually propounded to the Roman Catholic students in the sister kingdom.
" One can scarcely imagine," says the protestant annotator on the Digest
of Evidence taken before Parliament, on the State of Ireland, 1824, 1825.
Part II. p. 248. " One can scarcely imagine a condition of greater horror to
a sensitive mind than that of a young priest, who, for the first time, became
privy (in confession) to a design of murder; it would be an incident for
Shakespeare or the author of Waverley. Nothing could quiet the mind in
such dreadful circumstances, but the principle, which is so deeply impressed
upon the youth destined for the ministry, that obedience to the church, though
it should lead to error, is the first of all duties. The Maynooth Class Book,
in a passage given in evidence by the archbishop of Dublin, contrasts the
state of a Protestant, and that of a Roman Catholic, at the last day : ' The
Protestant,' it says, ' can plead no other principle of faith and action than his
private judgment, with which he has searched the Scriptures for himself.
How different the lot of the Catholic, although (which, yet God forbid that
we should beheve) he should have fallen into error through his obedience to the
decrees of the church ; can he not, when interrogated on this head, confidently
say to the Supreme Judge, Lord, if that which we have followed be an
error, Thou, even Thou hast deceived us, by thy clear and reiterated
precept that, unless we wished to have our part with the heathen, we should
hear the church as we hear Thee. Thou thyself hast deceived us, by the
Apostles, by the Pastors and Doctors, whom thou hast ordained in the church
for the perfecting of the saints, and the building up of thy body. Thou thy
self hast deceived us, by thy church, which is called by the apostle the pillar and
ground of truth. For she has always exacted from her children a firm assent,
in heart and mind, to her decrees; in thy name denouncing an eternal
anathema against the rebellious  Confidently then we say, O Lord, if it
be an error which we have followed, Thou thyself hast deceived us,
AND WE ARE EXCUSED.' "
10 In the decrees.] Corp. Juris Canonici, vol. i. 2306.
1 In lefull things and lawfull.] We have the same two words again made
use of together in this examination ; " to compell him to sweare, in lefull
VOL. I. U

290 WILLIAM THORPE.
And the archbishop said to mee. All these alleagings that
thou bringest forth, are not else but proud presumptuousnesse.
For hereby thou inforcest thee to proove, that thou and such
other are so just, that ye ought not to obey to prelats. And
thus against the learning of St. Paul that teacheth you not to
preach, but if yee were sent of your own authoritie, ye will go
forth and preach, and doe what yee list.
And I said, Sir, presenteth not every priest the office of the
apostles, or the office of the disciples of Christ ? And the arch
bishop said, Yea. And I said, Sir, as the x. chapter of Matthew,
and the last chapter of Marke witnesseth, Christ sent his apostles
for to preach. And the x. chapter of Luke witnesseth, that Christ
sent his two and seventy disciples for to preach, in every place
that Christ was to come to ; and S. Gregorie in the Common Law
saith, that every man that goeth to priesthood, taketh upon him
the office of preaching. For as hee saith, that priest stirreth
God to great wrath, of whose mouth is not heard the voice of
preaching. And as other more glosses upon Ezekiel witnesse,
the priest that preacheth not busilie to the people, shall be
partaker of their damnation that perish through his default.
And though the people be saved by other speciall grace of God,
than by the priests preaching, yet the priests, in that they are
ordained to preach, and preach not, as before God, they are
manslayers. For as farre as in them is, such priests as preach
not busilie and truely, slay all the people ghostly, in that they
withhold from them the word of God, that is, the life and
substance of mens soules. And S. Isidore said, priests shall be
damned, for wickednesse of the people, if they teach not them
that are ignorant, or blame not them that are sinners. For all
the worke or businesse of priests standeth in preaching and
teaching : that they edifie all men, as well by cunning of faith, as
by discipline of works, that is, vertuous teaching. And as the
gospel witnesseth, Christ said in his teaching, I am borne and
comen into this world, to bear witnesse to the truth ; and he that is
of the truth, heareth my voice.
things and lawfull." Fox, p. 495. The former occurs not unfrequently by
itself, and seemingly in the sense of lawful. " Rich men sayen, that it is
both lefull and needfull to them to gather riches together." Fox, p. 372.
Also, p. 431, and p. 434. Perhaps it is no other than the word " leave full,"
allowable, permissable. "Therefore, it is leveful to each man or person of
this singular religion and profession to leave it (to) cleave fast to the rule of
Jesu Christ, as more perfect." Wickliffe's Complaint, p. 2, a.d. 1608.

WILLIAM THORPE. 291
Then sir, since by the word of Christ specially, that is, his
voice, priests are commanded to preach, whatsoever priest that it
be, that hath not good will and full purpose to doe thus, and
ableth not himselfe after his cunning and power to doe his office
by the example of Christ and of his apostles : whatsoever other
thing that he doth, displeaseth God. For lo, Saint Gregorie
saith, that thing left, that a man is bound chiefly to doe, what
soever other thing that man doth, it is unthankfuU to the holy
ghost : And therefore saith Lincolne 2, the priest that preacheth
not the word of God, though he be seene to have none other
default, he is antichrist and Sathanas, a night theef, and a day
theefe, a sleyer of soules, and an angell of light turned into
darknesse. Wherefore sir, these authorities and other well con
sidered, I deeme my selfe damnable, if I either for pleasure or
displeasure of any creature, apply mee not diligently to preach
the word of God. And in the same damnation I deeme all
those priests which of good purpose and will, enforce them not
busily to doe thus, and also all them that have purpose or will to
let any priest of this businesse ".
2 Saith Lincolne.] Robert Grosthed, bishop of Lincoln.
3 Of this businesse.] All this imperfect reasoning of this very extraordinary
and interesting person, the student will learn satisfactorily to meet by the
principles laid down in the inestimable first and second books of Hooker's
Ecclesiastical Polity. We must be contented to cite a single passage from
the former.
" There are in men operations, some natural, some rational, some super
natural, some politic, some finally ecclesiastical : which if we measure not each
by his own proper law, whereas the things themselves are so different, there
will be in our understanding and judgment of them, confusion ; as that first
error sheweth whereon our opposites in this cause have grounded themselves :
for as they rightly maintain, that God must be glorified in all things, and that
the actions of men cannot tend unto his glory, unless they be framed after his
law ; so it is their error to think that the only law which God hath appointed
unto men in that behalf is the sacred Scripture. . . . Proceed we further :
Let us place man in some politic society with others, whether civil or spi
ritual; and in this case there is no remedy but we must add yet a further law.
For although even here likewise, the laws of nature and reason be of necessary
use, yet somewhat over and besides them is necessary, namely, human and
positive law, together with that law which is of commerce between grand
societies, the law of nations, and of nations christian. For which cause the
law of God hath likewise said, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers
(Rom. xiii. 1). The public power of all societies is above every soul con
tained in the same societies. And the principal use of that power is to give
laws unto all that are under it : whieh laws, in such case, we must obey,
CJ 2

292 WILLIAM THORPE.
And the archbishop said to those three clerks that stood
before him : Loe sirs, this is the maner and businesse of this
losell and such other, to picke out such sharpe sentences of holy
Scripture and doctors to maintaine their sect and lore against
the ordinance of holy church. And therefore losell, it is that thou
covetest to have againe the psalter that I made to bee taken
from thee at Canterbury, to record sharpe verses against us.
But thou shalt never have that psalter, nor none other booke,
till that I know that thy heart and thy mouth accord fully, to be
governed by holy church.
And I said : Sir, all my will and power is, and ever shall be
(I trust to God) to be governed by holy church.
And the archbishop asked me, what was holy church ?
And I said : Sir, I told you before, what was holy church.
unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce, that the law of
reason or of God doth enjoin the contrary : because, except our own private
and but probable resolutions be by the law of public determinations over
ruled, we take away all possibility of sociable life in the world ! A plainer
example whereof than ourselves we cannot have. How cometh it to pass,
that we are at this present day so rent with mutual contentions, and that the
church is so much troubled about the polity of the church ? No doubt, if
men had been willing to learn how many laws their actions in this life had
been subject unto, and what the true force of each law is, all these contro
versies might have died the very day that they were first brought forth.
" It is both commonly said, and truly, that the best men otherwise are not
always the best in regard of society. The reason whereof is, that the law of
men's actions is one, if they be respected only as men ; and another, when
they are considered asparts of a politic body. Many men there are, than whom
nothing is more commendable when they are singled ; and yet in society with
others none less fit to answer the duties which are looked for at their hands.
Yea, I am persuaded, that of them with whom in this cause we strive, there
are whose betters amongst men would hardly be found, if they did not live
amongst men, but in some wilderness, by themselves. The cause of which
their disposition so unframable to societies wherein they live, is, that they
discern not aright what place and force these several kinds of laws ought to
have in all their actions. Is their question either concerning the regimen of
the church in general, or about conformity between one church and another,
or of ceremonies, offices, powers, jurisdictions, in our own church ; — of all
these things they judge by that rule which they frame to themselves with
some shew of probability, and what seemeth in that sort convenient, the same
they think themselves bound to practise ; the same by all means they labour
mightily to uphold ; whatsoever any law of man to the contrary hath deter
mined, they weigh it not. Thus by following the law oi private reason, where
the law of public should take place, they breed disturbance." Book i. chap.
xviii. § 5, 6. Keble's edit. ; or, Christian Institutes, vol. i. p. 183.

WILLIAM THORPE. 293
But since ye aske me this demand ; I call Christ and his saints
holy church.
And the archbishop said unto me : I wot well that Christ and
his saints are holy church in heaven, but what is holy church in
earth ?
And I said : Sir, though holy church be every one in charitie,
yet it hath two parts. The first and principall part, hath over-
comen perfectly all the wretchednesse of this life, and raigneth
joyfully in heaven with Christ. And the other part is here yet
in earth, busily and continually fighting day and night against
temptations of the fiend ; forsaking and hating the prosperity of
this world ; despising and withstanding their fleshly lusts ; which
onely are the pilgrims of Christ, wandring toward heaven by
stedfast faith and grounded hope, and by perfect charitie. For
these heavenly pilgrimes may not, nor will not, be letted of their
good purpose, by the reason of any doctors discording from holy
Scripture ; nor by the flouds of any tribulation temporaU, nor by
the wind of any pride, or boast, or of manassing of any creature.
For they are aU fast grounded upon the sure stone Christ,
hearing his word and loving it, exercising them faithfully and
continually in aU their wits to doe thereafter.
And the archbishop said to his clerks : See yee not how his
heart is indurate, and how he is travelled with the divell occupying
him thus busily to aUeage such sentences to maintaine his errors
and heresies ? Certaine, thus he would occupie us here all day,
if we would suffer him.
One of the clerks answered : Sir, he said right now, that this
certification that came to you from Shrewesbury, is untruly forged
against him. Therefore sir, appose you him now here in aU the
points which are certified against him, and so we shall heare of
his owne mouth his answers, and witnes them.
And the archbishop tooke the certification in his hand, and
looked thereon a while, and then he said to me.
Loe here it is certified against thee by worthy men and
faithfull of Shrewesburie, that thou preachedst there openly in
S. Chad's church : that the sacrament of the altar was materiaU
bread after the consecration ; what saist thou ? Was this truly
preached ?
And I said : Sir, I tell you truely, that I touched nothing
there of the sacrament of the altar, but in this wise, as I will
with God's grace tell you here. As I stood there in the pulpit,

294 WILLIAM THORPE.
busying me to teach the commandement of God ; there knilled a
sacring bell, and therefore mickle people turned away hastily,
and with noise ran fro towards me. And I seeing this, said to
them thus : Good men yee were better to stand here still and to
heare God's word. For certes the vertue and the meede of the
most holy sacrament of the altar standeth mikle more in the
beleefe thereof that ye ought to have in your soule, then it doth
in the outward sight thereof. And therefore, yee were better to
stand still quietly to heare Gods word, because that through the
hearing thereof, men come to very true beleefe. And otherwise
sir, I am certaine I spake not there of the worthy sacrament of
the altar.
And the archbishop said to me, I beleeve thee not whatsoever
thou saist, since so worshipfull men have witnessed thus against
thee. But since thou deniest that thou saidest thus there, what
saist thou now ? Resteth there after the consecration in the host,
materiall bread or no i ?
4 Materiall bread or no.] This question was the grand test of heresy, so
called, on the doctrine of the Eucharist, at this period. In the examinations
of Lord Cobham (below) we shall find that he was required " to answere,
specially unto this point : whether there remained material bread in the sacra
ment ofthe altar, after the words of consecration, or not ?" — Fox, p. 516. In
the Life of Wickliffe, p. 211, note ('), we saw the gross determination which
the question received by his adversaries in the university of Oxford. The
conduct of Thorpe here was regulated according to the same maxims which
had been previously recommended by John Purvey.
" Therefore, when anti-Christ or any of his shavelings doth aske of thee
that art a simple Christian, whether that this sacrament be the very body of
Christ or not, affirme thou it manifestly so to bee. And if he aske of thee
whether it be materiall bread, or what other" bread else, say thou, that it is
such bread as Christ understood and meant by his proper word, and such
bread as the holy ghost meant in St. Paul, when he called that to be very
bread which he brake ; and wade thou no further herein. But yet, men of
more knowledge and reason may more plainly convince the falsity of anti
christ, both in this matter, and in others, by the gift of the holy ghost working
in them. Notwithstanding, if those that be simple men will humbly hold
and keepe the manifest and apparent words of the holie Scripture, and the
plaine sense and meaning of the holy ghost, and proceed no further, but
humbly commit that unto the spirit of God which passeth their understanding ;
then may they safely offer themselves to death, as true martyrs of Jesus
Christ." — Fox, p. 501. This modest and prudent reserve in giving answers
on this and other abstruse and hazardous points of controversy, is ridiculed,
at some length, in a very uncharitable spirit, in Barlowe's Dialogue concerning
Lutheran Factions. Signat. I 1, I 2 ; edit. 1553. Compare also above, notes
on p. 186, and p. 229.

WILLIAM THORPE. 295
And I said ; Sir, I know in no place in holy Scripture where
this terme materiall bread is written : and therefore sir, when
I speake of this matter, I use not to speake of materiall bread.
Then the archbishop said to me ; How teachest thou men to
beleeve in this sacrament ?
And I said ; Sir, as I beleeve my self, so I teach other men.
He said ; Tell out plainely thy beleefe thereof.
And I said, with my protestation ; Sir, I beleeve that the
night before that Christ Jesu would suffer (wilfully) passion for
mankind on the morne after, hee tooke bread in his holy and most
worshipfuU hands, and lifting up his eies, and giving thanks to
God his father, blessed this bread and brake it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying to them ; Take and eate of this all you, this is
my bodie. And that this is and ought to bee all mens beleefe,
Matthew, Marke, Luke, and Paul witnesseth. Other beleefe'
sir I have none, nor will have, nor teach : for I beleeve, that this
sufficeth 5 in this matter. For in this beleefe with Gods grace I
5 That this svfficeth.] The judgment of this ancient confessor cannot be
better sustained and substantiated than by the following sage, solemn, and
profound sentiments of the inestimable Hooker : —
" These things considered, how should that mind, which loving truth and
seeking comfort out of holy mysteries, hath not perhaps the leisure, perhaps
not the will nor capacity to tread out so endless mazes, as the intricate dis
putes of this cause have led men into, how should a virtuously disposed
mind better resolve with itself than thus ? Variety of judgments and
opinions argueth obscurity in those things whereabout they differ. But that
which all parts receive for truth, that which every one having sifted is by no
one denied or doubted of, must needs be matter of infallible certainty.
Whereas, therefore, there are but three expositions made of ' this is my body,'
theirs; 'this is in itself before participation, really and truly the natural
substance of my body, by reason of the co-existence which my omnipotent
body hath with the sanctified element of bread,' which is the Lutheran's
interpretation ; the second, ' this is itself, and before participation, the very
true and natural substance of my body, by force of that Deity, which, with
the words of consecration abolisheth the substance of bread, and substituteth
in the place thereof my body,' which is the popish construction ; the last,
' this hallowed food, through concurrence of divine power, is in verity and
truth, unto faithful receivers, instrumentally a cause of that mystical partici
pation, whereby as I make myself wholly theirs, so I give them in hand an
actual possession of all such saving grace, as my sacrificed body can yield,
and as their souls do presently need, this is to them and in them my body.'
Of these three rehearsed interpretations, the last hath in it nothing but what
the rest do all approve and acknowledge to be most true; nothing but that
which the words of Christ are on all sides confessed to enforce ; nothing but
that which the church of God hath always thought necessary ; nothing but

296 WILLIAM THORPE.
purpose to live and die, acknowledging as I beleeve and teach
other men to beleeve, that the worshipfull sacrament of the altar,
that which alone is sufficient for every Christian man to believe concerning
the use and force of this sacrament ; finally, nothing but that wherewith the
writings of all antiquity are consonant and all Christian confessions agreeable.
And as truth in what kind soever is by no kind of truth gainsayed, so the
mind which resteth itself on this is never troubled with those perplexities
which the other do both find, by means of so great contradiction between
their opinions and true principles of reason grounded upon experience,
nature, and sense. Which albeit with boisterous courage and breath they
seem often times to blow away, yet whoso observeth how again they labour
and sweat by subtilty of wit to make some shew of agreement between their
peculiar conceits and the general edicts of nature, must needs perceive they
struggle with that which they cannot fully master. Besides sith of that
which is proper to themselves their discourses are hungry and unpleasant,
full of tedious and irksome labour, heartless and hitherto without fruit : on
the other side, read we them or hear we others, be they of our own or of
ancienter times, to what part soever they be thought to incline touching that
whereof there is controversy, yet in this where they all speak but one thing
their discourses are heavenly, their words sweet as the honeycomb, their
tongues melodiously tuned instruments, their sentences mere consolation and
joy, are we not hereby almost even with voice from heaven admonished which
we may safeliest cleave unto ?
" He which hath said of the one sacrament, ' Wash and be clean,' hath said
concerning the other likewise, ' Eat and live.' If therefore without any such
particular and solemn warrant as this is, that poor distressed woman coming
unto Christ for health could so constantly resolve herself, ' May I but touch the
skirt of his garment I shall be whole ;' — what moveth us to argue of the
manner how life should come by our bread, our duty being here but to take
what is offered, and most assuredly to rest persuaded of this, that can we but
eat we are safe ? When I behold with mine eyes some small, and scarce discern
ible grain or seed, whereof nature maketh promise that a tree shall come,
and when afterwards of that tree any skilful artificer undertaketh to frame
some exquisite and curious work, I look for the event ; I move no question
about performance either of the one or of the other. Shall I simply credit
nature in things natural ; shall I in things artificial rely myself on art, never
offering to make doubt, and in that which is above both art and nature refuse
to believe the Author of both, except he acquaint me with his ways, and lay
the secret of his skill before me ? Where God himself doth speak those things
which, either for height and sublimity of matter, or else for secrecy of per
formance, we are not able to reach unto, as we may be ignorant without
danger, so it can be no disgrace to confess we are ignorant. Such as love
piety will as much as in them lieth know all things that God commandeth,
but especially the duties of service which they owe to God. As for his dark
and hidden works, they prefer, as becometh them in such cases, simplicity of
faith before that knowledge, which, curiously sifting what it should adore,
and disputing too boldly of that which the wit of man cannot search, chilleth

WILLIAM THORPE. 297
is the sacrament of Christs flesh and his blood, in forme of bread
and wine.
And the archbishop said to mee ; It is sooth, that this sacra
ment is very Christs bodie in forme of bread. But thou and thy
sect teachest it to be substance of bread. Thinke you this true
teaching ?
And I said; Neither I, nor any other of the sect that yee
damne, teach any otherwise then I have told you, nor beleeve
otherwise, to my knowing. Neverthelesse sir, I aske of you for
charitie, that ye wiU teU me here plainely, how ye shall under
stand the text of Saint Paul, where he saith thus ; This thing
feele you in your selfe that is in Christ Jesu, while he was in the
forme of God. Sir, caUeth not Paul here the forme of God, the
substance or kind of God ? Also sir, saith not the chm-ch in the
Hours of the most blessed virgine ° accordinglie hereto, where it
for the most part all warmth of zeal, and bringeth soundness of behef many
times into great hazard. Let it therefore be sufficient for me presenting
myself at the Lord's table to know what there I receive from him, without
searching or inquiring of the manner how Christ performeth his promise;
let disputes and questions, enemies to piety, abatements of true devotion, and
hitherto in this cause but over patiently heard, let them take their rest : let
curious and sharp-witted men beat their heads about what questions them
selves will, the very letter of the word of Christ giveth plain security that
these mysteries do as nails fasten us to his very cross ; that by them we draw
out, as touching efficacy, force, and virtue, even the blood of his gored side,
in the wounds of our Redeemer. We there dip our tongues : we are dyed
red both within and without ; our hunger is satisfied, and our thirst for ever
quenched ; they are things wonderful which he feeleth, great which he seeth,
and unheard of which he uttereth ; whose soul is possessed of this Paschal
Lamb and made joyful in the strength of this new wine, this bread hath in it
more than the substance which our eyes behold; this cup hallowed with
solemn benediction availeth to the endless life and welfare both of soul and
body, in that it serveth as well for a medicine to heal our infirmities and
purge our sins, as for a sacrifice of thanksgiving; with touching it sanc-
tifieth ; it enlighteneth with belief ; it truly conformeth us unto the image of
Jesus Christ; what these elements are in themselves it skilleth not; it is
enough that to me which take them they are the body and blood of Christ ;
his promise in witness hereof sufficeth ; his word he knoweth which way to
accomplish ; why should any cogitation possess the mind of a faithful com
municant but this, O my God, thou art true ! ' 0 my soul, thou art happy ! ' "
— Book v. chap, lxvii. § 1 2.
6 Of the most blessed Virgine.] The words here referred to are these,
" Memento, salutis auetor,
Quod nostri quondam corporis,
Ex illibata virgine,
Nascendo/ormam sumpseris."

298 WILLIAM THORPE.
is written thus ? Thou author of health remember, that sometime
thou tooke ofthe undefiled virgin, the forme of our bodie. Tell me
for charitie therefore, whether the forme of our bodie, be called
here the kind of our bodie or no ?
And the archbishop said to me ; Wouldest thou make mee to
declare this text after thy purpose, since the church now hath
determined \ that there abideth no substance of bread after the
consecration, in the sacrament of the altar ? Beleevest thou not
this ordinance of the church ?
And I said ; Sir, whatsoever prelates have ordained in the
chm-ch, our beleefe standeth ever whole. I have not heard, that
the ordinance of men under beleefe 8, should be put into beleefe.
And the archbishop said to me ; If thou hast not learned this
before, learne now to know that thou art out of beleefe, if in this
matter and other, thou beleevest not as the holy church beleeveth.
— What say doctors treating of this sacrament 2

7 The church now hath determined.] The archbishop felt that his strength,
such as it was, lay here. He was armed with the authority of the church ;
and against one so fortified, scripture or reason equally was of very little
avail. There he had a short method for deciding all controversies : and he
found it so easy and convenient in the application, that we shall see he
resorted to it very frequently. The words before us are one instance.
Immediately after, he says, " Thou art out of beleefe, if in this matter and
other, thou beleevest not, as the holy church beleeveth." Again, shortly after,
" I purpose to make thee obey to the determination of holy church." Again,
"As holy church hath suffered the images of the Trinitie, and all other
images to be painted and shewed, it sufficeth to them that are members of
holy church." " If Chrysostome meant accordingly to the ordinance of holy
church, we will accept him." Nay, even of St. Paul, Arundel, or one of his
brother bishops, said to Lord Cobham : " Paul must be otherwise understood.
For it is sure an heresie to say that it is bread after the consecration : for it is
against the determination of holy church." And, to go no further, what con
fidence he had in his weapons, and how he was determined not to be sparing
in the use of them, appears sufficiently from his words to Thorpe below :
" God has brought me again into this land to destroy thee and the false sect
that thou art of : and I shall pursue you so narrowly, that I shall not leave a
slip of you in this land."
s Men under beleefe.] That is, I have never been taught, that the determi
nations oi men under beleefe, posterior in time, or rather living under the obli
gation of obedience to the articles of Christian faith, should be elevated into
equal authority with those articles. The passage is sufficiently illustrated by
a, similar declaration of Lord Cobham : " And as of Images, I understand,
that they be not of beleeve, but that they were ordained, sith (since) the beleeve
was given of Christ, by sufference of the church." Fox, p. 515, given below
in this Collection.

WILLIAM THORPE. 299
And I said ; Sir, Saint Paul, that was a great doctor of holie
church, speaking to the people, and teaching them in the right
beleefe of this most holy sacrament, calleth it bread that we
breake. And also in the Canon of the masse ° after the con
secration, this most worthy sacrament is called holie bread.
And every priest in this land, after that he hath received this
sacrament, saith in this wise ; That thing that wee have taken
with our mouth, we pray God that we may take it with a pure
and cleane mind : That is, as I understand, wee pray God that
we may receive through very beleefe, this holy sacrament wor
thily. And sir, Saint Augustine saith ; That thing that is seene,
is bread ; but that mens faith asketh to be informed of, is very
Christs bodie. And also, Fulgence an ententife doctor ' saith ;
As it were an error to say that Christ was but a substance, that
is, very man, and not very God ; or to say that Christ was very
God, and not very man ; so is it (this doctor saith) an errour to
say, that the sacrament of the altar is but a substance ; and also
sir, accordingly hereto, in the secret of the mid masse 2 on Christ-
masse day, it is written thus ; Idem refulsit Beus, sic terrena
substantia nobis conferat quod divinum est; which sentence sir,
with the secret of the fourth ferie, quatuor temporum Septembris 3 ;
I pray you sir declare here openly in English.
And the archbishop said to me, I perceive well enough where
about thou art, and how the divell blindeth thee, that thou may
not understand the ordinance of holy church, nor consent thereto.
But I command thee now, answere me shortlie ; beleevest thou
that after the consecration of this foresaid sacrament, there
abideth substance of bread or not 2
And I said ; Sir, as I understand, it is all one to grant or
9 Canon of the masse.] In the whole of this paragraph, Thorpe closely
follows the arguments of his master Wickliffe. See Lewis's History of
Wickliffe, p. 79.
1 An ententife doctor^] " Ententif (Fr.) ; busie, earnest, intentive, &c."
Cotgrave. 2 Secret of the mid masse.] " Then after followeth a prayer secretly said,
which is called the secret of the Mass ; and that signifieth Christ's secret and
privy conversation, which he kept with his disciples a little before his
passion." Book of Ceremonies in Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i.
p. 287, Records.
3 Quatuor temporum Septembris.] The fourth ferie (feria quarta) quatuor
temporum Septembris may be easily found in any Breviary. The Quatuor
tempora denote the fasting- days in the four Ember weeks ; which in Sep
tember are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next after the 14th.

300 WILLIAM THORPE.
beleeve, that there dweUeth no substance of bread, and to grant
and to beleeve, that this most worthie sacrament of Christs owne
body is accident without subject 4. But sir, for as mikle as your
asking passeth my understanding, I dare neither denie it nor
grant it, for it is schoole matter, about which I busied mee never
for to know: and therefore I commit this terme accidens sine
subjecto, to those clerkes which delight them so in curious and
subtle sophistry, because they determine oft so difficult and
strange matters, and wade and wander so in them from argument
to argument, with pro et contra, tiU that they wot not where they
are, and understand not themselves. But the shame that these
proud sophisters have to yeeld them to men, and before men,
maketh them oft fooles, and to be concluded shamefully before
God. And the archbishop said to me ; I purpose not to oblige thee
to the subtle arguments of clerks, since thou art unable thereto :
but I purpose to make thee obey to the determination of holy
church. And I said ; Sir, by open evidence and great witnesse, a thou
sand yeere after the incarnation of Christ, the determination
which I have here before you rehearsed, was accept of holy
church 5 as sufficient to the salvation of aU them that would be
leeve it faithfully, and worke thereafter charitablie. But sir, the
determination of this matter was brought in, since the feend was
loosed 6 by frier Thomas Aquine, specially caUing the most wor-

1 Without subject.] Compare above, Life of Wickliffe, note on p. 186.
5 Was accept of holy church.] This was expressly conceded, in after times,
in the reign of queen Mary, by the learned and candid Tonstall, bishop of
Durham, in his book De Eucharistia. P. 45. a.d. 1554. See also Life qf
Bernard Gilpin, in this collection.
6 Since the feend was loosed.] " And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled : and after that he must be
loosed a little season." Revelation, chap. xx. ver. 1 — 3. To this passage in
the Apocalypse, reference is here made by Thorpe, as it was by Wickliffe and
his followers, on many other occasions, as prophetical, first, of the purer
ages of Christianity, and also of the corruptions which overspread the church
in the second millenary after Christ's ascension. See Lewis's History of
Wickliffe, p. 87 and 124 ; Fox, p. 365, 6.
The words which follow, viz. " Frier Thomas Aquine," are printed thus in

WILLIAM THORPE. 301
shipfuU sacrament of Christs owne bodie an accident without
subject ; which terme, since I know not that Gods law approveth
it in this matter, I dare not grant, but utterlie I denie to make
this friers sentence, or any such other, my beleefe ; doe with me
God what thou wilt.
And the archbishop said to me ; Well, well, thou shalt say
otherwise or that I leave thee.
But what saiest thou to this second point that is recorded
against thee by worthie men of Shrewsburie, saying, that thou
preachedst there, that images ought not to be worshipped in any
wise? And I said ; Sir, I preached never thus, nor through Gods
grace I will not at any time consent to think nor to say thus,
neither privilie nor apertly. For loe, the Lord witnesseth by
Moses, that the things which hee made were right good, and so
then they were, and yet they are and shall be good and worship-
full in their kind. And therefore, to the end that God made
them to, they are all praisable and worshipfull; and speciallie
man that was made after the image and likenesse of God, is full
worshipfull in his kind ; yea, this holy image that is man, God
worshippeth '. And herefore every man should worship other, in
all the editions of Fox, which I have had an opportunity of consulting;
" Frier Thomas againe." The person intended is undoubtedly St. Thomas
Aquinas ; and the place cited may be found, Summa Theolog. : part 3, quest.
75, art. 5. I apprehend, therefore, that the alteration of " againe" into
" Aquine " will be easily allowed of.
7 God worshippeth.] Thus in bishop Pecock's Treatise on the Rule qf Faith,
p. 35. "This holi lyver after his death is accepted into salvacioun, and to be
reverencid and worschipid and folowid as for a savyd soule, and moche lovyd
and worschipid of God."
The disputation between the archbishop and Thorpe upon this celebrated
point, cannot be understood, without bearing in mind the ancient meaning of
the word worship, oi which we have traces still remaining in the marriage
service, and in the word worshipful. It did by no means imply of itself so
high a degree of reverence as we now usually apply to it. But, as Tyndal
says, " worshipping and honouring, these two termes are both one." — Works,
p. 269. The reader, who is desirous of further information upon the con
troversy respecting image worship at the commencement, and in the earlier
years of the reformation, will find much to his purpose by consulting Lewis's
Life ofPecock, p. 79 — 114; Lewis's History of Wickliffe, p. 345 — 350 ; Fox,
p. 369. 433. 518. 605, 606; Tyndal's Works, p. 269. 275; Barnes's Works,
p. 335. 355; Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 113. 124. 187. 203. See also
the index of this work, and that of the Christian Institutes under Images,
worship of.

302 WILLIAM THORPE.
kind, and also for heavenly vertues that men use charitably. And
also I say, wood, tin, gold, silver, or any other matter that images
are made of, all these creatures are worshipfull in their kind, and
to the end that God made them for. But the carving, casting,
and painting of an imagery, made within mans hand, albeit that
this doing be accept of men of highest state and dignitie, and
ordained of them to bee a calendar to leaud men, that neither
can, nor will be learned to know God in his word, neither by his
creatures, nor by his wonderfuU and divers workings ; yet this
imagerie ought not to be worshipped in forme, nor in the like-
nesse of mans craft. Neverthelesse, that very matter the painters
paint with, since it is Gods creature, ought to be worshipped in
the kind, and to the end that God made and ordained it to serve
man. Then the archbishop said to me, I grant well that nobody,
ought to doe worship to any such images for themselves ". But
a crucifix ought to be worshipped for the passion of Christ that
8 Images for themselves.] This was well enough said by the archbishop ;
and if he and his party would have stopped here, there needed to have been
no more controversy on this point, or it would have been merely some verbal
disputation about the force and import of the word "worship," or the like.
The Lollards, Reformers, Protestants, all were willing enough to accede to
the usage of images, as "calendars of lewd men," or "lay-men's books."
But what availed this, when all the time, it is unquestionable, that the practice
in the church differed very widely from the teaching in the schools : and that,
by the connivance or encouragement, and for the direct gain of the clergy
themselves ? What else could be the meaning of the " engines that were in
the images, whereby they could beckon, either with their heades or handes,
or move their eyes, or manage some parte of their bodies, to the purpose that
the freers and priests would use them?" (Works of William Thomas, p. 61.)
Why do we hear so much of the miracles wrought at this shrine and at that ?
and of the blood of Hayles, or the blood of St. Januarius? The "rood of
grace, at Boxley, in Kent, was able to bow down and lift up itself, to shake
and stir the hands and feet, to nod the head, roll the eyes, bend the brows,
and finally to represent a lively, significant show of a well-contented or dis
pleased mind." (Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 82.) Can we wonder then at the
scandal occasioned by these things to reflecting minds, and at the zeal of
Tindal, Bilney, and the like ? Bernard Gilpin, we shall read below, in this
collection, "was much troubled, hearing the papists condemn idolatry in
their discourses, and yet permitting to the people every where the adoration
of images." Again, he says : " I beheld for the space of three years at Paris,
Antwerp, and Loraine, and in some other places, very gross idolatry. This
thing did more and more estrange one from the popish religion : most of all
because the learneder papists did in their disputations in the schools deny the
adoration of images, yet allowed the intolerable use thereof in their churches."

WILLIAM THORPE. 303
is painted therein, and so brought therethrough to mans mind :
and thus the images of the blessed Trinitie, and of the Virgin
Marie Christs mother, and other images of saints, ought to be
worshipped. For loe, earthly kings and lords which used to send
their letters ensealed with their armes, or with their privie signet
to them that are with them, are worshipped of these men. For
when these men receive their lords letters, in which they see and
know the wils and biddings of the lords, in worship of their lords
they doe off their caps to these letters 9. Why not then, since in
9 Doe off their caps to these letters.] This old custom must not be passed
by without one or two notices, which will also afford further illustration to
the archbishop's argument, " Saynt Austyn sayth, the mynde of Crystys pas
sion puttethe awaye all temptacyons, and the power of all wycked spyrytes.
And for this cause roodes and ymages hen set on hye in the chirche ; for as
soone as a man cometh into the chirche, he sholde see it, and have it in his
mynde, and thynke on Crystys passion. Wherefore crosses and other ymages
be full necessary and needefull, whatsomever these Lollers say : for and it
had not be full profitable, holye faders wolde have destroyed them many yeres
agone. For ryght as the people done worshyp to the kynges seale, not for love
of the seale, but for reverence of the kyng that it cometh fro, so roodes and
ymages be set for the kynges seale in heven, and other sayntes in the same
wyse. For ymages ben lewde peples bokes ; and as Johan Belet sayth, ther
ben many thousandes of peple that can not ymagyn in ther hertes how Cryst
was done on the crosse, but as they se by ymagis in the chirches, and in other
places." — Festival, foi. 51. b. In so much favour was this argument, that
even Sir Thomas More and bishop Gardiner condescended to make use of it.
" When a man at the receite of his princes letter putteth off his cappe and
kisseth it, doth he this reverence to the paper, or to his prince ? In good faith
to saie the trouth these heretiques rather trifle than reason in this matter.
For where thei saie that ymages be but lay mennes bokes, thei cannot yet saie
nay but that thei be necessary, if thei were but so." Works, p. 117. See
Fox's Acts, p. 1219, 20. Letter of bishop Gardiner. By the time of the
reign of Henry VIII. it should appear, "that this courtesy was already con
tracted within narrower limits. In Coverdale's dedication of his translation
of the Bible to that monarch, in which he inforces the king's supremacy with
much zeal, he observes in the course of that argument, " as ther is nothing
above God, so is ther no man above the king in his realme ; but that he only
under God is the chief head of all the congregation and church of the same.
And in token that this is true, ther hath been of old antiquitie, and is yet unto
this day, a loving ceremonie used in your realme of England, that when your
grace's subjects read your letter, or begin to talk or commune of your highnesse,
they move their bonnets for a sign and token of reverence unto your grace, as
to their most sovereign lord and head under God, which thing no man useth to
do to ony bishop .- whereby if our understandyng were not blynded, we might
evidently perceave, that even very nature teacheth us the same that scrypture
commaundeth us." If this custom still any where remains, perhaps it may

304 WILLIAM THORPE.
images made with mans hand, wee may read and know many
divers things of God, and of his saints, shall we not worship their
images 2
And I said ; within my foresaid protestation I say, that these
worldly usages of temporal lawes that yee speake now of, may
be done in case without sinne. But this is no similitude to wor
ship images, made by mans hand, since that Moses, David, Solo
mon, Baruch, and other saints in the bible forbid so plainely the
worshipping of such images.
Then the archbishop said to mee ; Leaud losell, in the old law
before that Christ tooke mankind, was no likenesse of any person
of the Trinitie, neither shewed to man, nor knowne of man :
but now since Christe became man, it is lefull to have images to
shew his manhood. Yea, though many men which are right
great clerkes and other also, held it an error to paint the Trinitie,
I say it is wel done to make and to paint the Trinity in images.
For it is great mooving of devotion to men, to have and to be
hold the Trinitie and other images of saints, carved, cast, and
painted. For beyond the sea, are the best painters that ever I
saw. And sirs I tell you, this is their manner, and it is a good
manner : when that an image maker shall carve, cast in mold, or
paint any images, he shall goe to a priest, and shrive liim as
cleane, as if he should then die ; and take penance, and make
some certaine vow of fasting or of praying or pilgrimages doing,
praying the priest speciaUie to pray for him, that he may have
grace to make a faire and a devout image.
And I said ; Sir, I doubt not if these painters that ye speak
of, or any other painters understood truly the text of Moses, of
David, of the Wise Man, of Baruch, and of other saints and doc
tors ; these painters should be mooved to shrive them to God
with full inward sorrow of heart, taking upon them to doe right
sharpe penance for the sinfuU and vaine craft of painting, carving,
or casting they had used ; promising God faithfully, never to doe
so after ; knowledging openly before all men their reprooveable
learning. And also sir, these priests that shrive (as you doe say)
be found among the formal and ceremonious Spaniards. " If I should use
the Count de Gondomar's action," says Lord Bacon to the Marquis of Buck
ingham, " I should first lay your last letter to my mouth, in token of thanks,
and then to my heart in token of contentment, and then to my forehead in
token of a perpetual remembrance." — Bacon's Works, vol. ii. p. 570. Edit.
1753.

WILLIAM THORPE. 305
painters, and enjoyne them to doe penance, and pray for their
speed, promising to them helpe of their prayers for to be curious
in their sinfuU crafts, sinne herein more grievouslie, than the
painters. For these priests doe comfort and give them counsell
to doe that thing, which of great paine, yea under the paine of
Gods curse, they should utterly forbid them. For certes sir, if
the wonderfull working of God, and the holy living and teaching
of Christ, and of his apostles and prophets, were made knowne to
the people by holy living and true, and busie teaching of priests ;
these things (sir) were sufficient bookes and kalenders 10 to know
God by, and his saints, without any images made with mans hand.
But certes, the vitious living of priests and their covetousnesse,
are chiefe cause of this error, and all other vitiousnesse that
raigneth among the people.
Then the archbishop said unto me, I hold thee a vitious priest
and accurst, and all them that are of thy sect ; for aU priests of
holy church, and all images thac move men to devotion, thou and
such other goe about to destroy. Losell, were it a faire thing to
come into the church and see therein none image 2
And I said ; Sir, they that come to the church for to pray
devoutly to the Lord God, may in their inward wits bee the more
fervent, that all their outward wits bee close from all outward
seeing and hearing, and from all disturbance and lettings. And
since Christ blessed them that saw him not bodily, and have
beleeved faithfully in him, it sufficeth then to all men (through
hearing and knowing of Gods word, and to doe thereafter) for
to beleeve in God, though they never see images made with mans
hand after any person of the Trinitie, or of any other saint.
And the archbishop said to mee, with a fervent spirit ; I say to
thee losell, that it is right weU done to make and to have an
image of the Trinitie. Yea, what saist thou 2 is it not a stirring
thing to behold such an image 2
And I said ; Sir, yee said right now that in the old law or
Christ tooke mankind, no likenesse of any person of the Trinitie
was shewed to men : wherefore sir, yee said it was not then lefull
to have images, but now ye say, since Christ is becomen man, it
is lefull to make and to have an image of the Trinitie, and also of
other saints. But sir, this thing would I learne of you : since
the father of heaven, yea and every person of the Trinitie was
10 Bookes and kalenders.] See below, under Lord Cobham, n. (6) p. 367. or
Index, art. Images, laymen's books.
VOL. I. X

306 WILLIAM THORPE.
without beginning God almighty, and many holy prophets that
were deadly men, were martyred violently in the old law, and also
many men and women then died confessors: why was it not
then as lefull and necessarie as now to have made an image of the
father of heaven, and to have made and had other images of mar
tyrs, prophets, and holy confessors, to have bin kalenders to
advise men and move them to devotion, as ye say that images
now doe ?
And the archbishop said : The synagogue of the Jewes had
not authoritie to approve those things as the church of Christ
hath now.
And I said ; Sir, saint Gregorie was a great man in the new
law, and of great dignitie, and as the common law witnesseth, he
commended greatly a bishop, in that he forbad utterly the images
made with mans hand should bee worshipped.
And the archbishop said : Ungratious losell, thou savourest no
more truth than an hound. Since at the rood at the north-dore
at London \ at our ladie at Walsingham 2, and many other divers
1 North-dore at London.] " Towards the great north door was a crucifix,
whereunto pilgrimages and offerings were frequently made, whereof the Dean
and Canons had the benefit." Dugdale's History of St. Paul's Cathedral,
p. 22. edit. 1716.
2 Our ladie at Walsingham.] " The people in speaking of our lady ; Of
al our ladies, saith one, I love best our lady of Walsingham. And I, saith
the other, our lady of Ippiswitch. In which woordes what meneth she but
her love and her affeccion to the stocke that standeth in the chapel of Wal
singham or Ippiswiche ? What say you, when the people speke of this
fashion in theyr paines and perils, Helpe holy crosse of Bradmen, helpe our
dere lady of Walsingham ? Doth it not plainly appere that thei trust in the
images, in Christes stede ?" Sir Thomas More's Dialogue concerning Heresies.
Works, p. 140. "This village," says Camden, speaking of Walsingham,
(Camden in Norfolk) " was much renowned throughout all England for a
pilgrimage to our lady, the Virgin Mary ; whom he who had not, in the
former age, visited, and presented with offerings, was reputed irreligious."
Erasmus in his Colloquy, intitled Peregrinatio religionis ergo, has described
this place, and a pilgrimage made thither, in a very entertaining manner. A
small part of the description here follows, as it is translated by Camden.
" In that church, which I said was unfinished, there is a small chapel, but
all of wood, whereunto on either side at a narrow and little door, are such
admitted as come with their devotions and offerings. Small light there is in
it, and none other in a manner but by tapers or wax candles, yielding a most
dainty and pleasant smell. Nay, if you look into it, you would say it were
the habitation of heavenly saints indeed ; so bright shining it is all over with
precious stones, with gold and silver." Queen Katharine of Arragon, in a
letter to Henry VIII. during his absence in France, announces her intention
of paying a visit to Our Lady of Walsingham, on his behalf,

WILLIAM THORPE. 307
places in England, are many great and praisable miracles done ;
should not the images of such holy saints and places, at the reve
rence of God and our ladie and other saints, be more worshipped
than other places and images, where no miracles are done 2
And I said ; Sir, there is no such vertue in any imagerie, that
any images should herefore bee worshipped ; wherefore I am
certaine that there is no miracle done of God in any place in
earth, because that any images made with mans hand should be
worshipped. And herefore sir, as I preached openly at Shrewes
burie and other places, I say now here before you ; That no bodie
should trust that there were any vertue in imagery made with
mans hand, and therefore no bodie should vow to them nor seeke
them, nor kneele to them, nor bow to them, nor pray to them,
nor offer any thing to them, nor kisse them, nor encense them.
For loe the most worthie of such images, the brasen serpent (by
Moises made, at Gods bidding) the good king Hezechias destroyed
worthily and thankfully, and all because it was encensed. There
fore sir, if men take good heed to the writing and to the learning
of S. Augustine, of S. Gregorie, and of saint John Chrysostome,
and of other saints and doctors, how they spake and wrote of
miracles, that shaU bee done now in the last end of the world ; it
is to dread, that for the unfaithfulnes of men and women, the
feend hath great power for to worke many ofthe miracles that now
are done in such places 3. For both men and women delight
now more to heare and know miracles, than they doe to know
Gods word, or to heare it effectuouslie. Wherefore, to the great
confusion of all them that thus do, Christ saith ; The generation of
adulterers requireth tokens, miracles, and wonders. Neverthelesse
as divers saints say, now when the faith of God is published in
3 Done in such places.] So in a dialogue between Bilney and friar Bru-
sierd, Bilney says, " These wonders, which they call miracles, be wrought
daily in the church, not by the power of God, as many thinke, but by the
illusion of Satan rather; who, as the Scripture witnesseth, hath bin loose
now abroad five hundred yeeres, according as it is written in the booke of the
Apocalypse: After a thousand yeeres, Satan shall be let loose;" to which
Brusierd, in his reply, says, " God saith, I will not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he convert and live. And thou blasphemest him, as though hee
should lay privie snares of death for us secretly, that we should not espie them.
Which if it were true, we might well say with Hugh de Sancto Victore in this
maner ; If it be an error, it is of thee, O God, that we be deceived ; for
these be confirmed with such signes and wonders, which cannot be done but
by thee." Fox, p. 914. Compare Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 112, 113.
x 2

308 WILLIAM THORPE.
Christendome, the word of God sufficeth to mans salvation, with
out such miracles ; and thus also the word of God sufficeth to
all faithfuU men and women, without any such images. But
good sir, since the father of heaven, that is God in his godhead,
is the most unknowne thing that may bee, and the most wonderfull
spirit, having in it no shape nor likenesse, and members of any
deadly creature ; in what likenesse * or what image may God the
father be shewed or painted 2
And the archbishop said ; As holy church hath suffered the
images of the Trinitie, and all other images to be painted and
shewed, it sufficeth to them that are members of holy church.
But since thou art a rotten member, cut away from holy church,
thou favourest not the ordinance thereof. But since the day
passeth, leave we this matter.
And then he said to me; What saiest thou to the third
point that is certified against thee, preaching openly in Shrews-
burie, that pilgrimage is not lefull 2 and over this thou saidest
that those men and women that go on pilgrimages to Canturburie,
to Beverley, to Karlington, to Walsingham, and to any such
other places, are accursed and made foolish, spending their goods
in wast.
And I said; Sir, by this certification I am accused to you
that I should teach, that no pilgrimage is lefull. But I said
never thus. For I know that there be true pilgrimages and
lefull, and fuU pleasant to God; and therefore sir, howsoever
mine enemies have certified you of me, I told at Shrewsburie of
two maner of pilgrimages.
And the archbishop said to me ; Whom callest thou true
pUgrimes 2
And I said ; Sir, with my protestation, I call them true pilgrimes
travelling toward the blisse of heaven, which in the state, degree,

4 In what likenesse.] Lewis, in his Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 85, has pub
lished an engraving, of two of the usual representations of the Trinity, taken
from the Salisbury primer, and has communicated, in the same place, several
curious particulars, taken from documents of their own, respecting the gross
and idolatrous practices of the church of Rome in reference to the same sub
ject. On the customary representations more immediately referred to in this
passage, the reader may also consult, bishop Taylor's Dissuasive from Popery,
in his Polemical Discourses, p. 307, 308, and p. 550 — 555. But it is a topic
which can impart no pleasure in further enlarging upon it.

WILLIAM THORPE. 309
or order that God calleth them to, doe busie them faithfully for
to occupie all their wits bodilie and ghostly, to know truely, and
to keepe faithfully the biddings of God, hating and fleeing all the
seven deadly sins 5, and every branch of them ; ruling them
vertuouslie (as it is said before) with all their wits ; doing dis
creetly, wilfully, and gladly, all the works of mercy, bodilie and
ghostly, after their cunning and power ; abling them to the gifts
of the holy ghost, disposing them to receive them in their soules ;
and to hold therin, the right blessings of Christ ; busying them to
know and to keepe the seven principall vertues, and so then they
shall obtaine here through grace, for to use thankfully to God, all
the conditions of charitie. And then they shall be moved with
the good spirit of God, for to examine oft and diligently their con
science, that neither wilfully nor wittingly they erre in any article
of beleefe, having continually (as frailtie will suffer) all their
businesse, to dread and to flie the offence of God, and to love
overaU, and to seeke ever to doe his pleasant wiU. Of these
pilgrimes I said, whatsoever good thought that they any time
thinke, what vertuous word that they speake, and what fruitfull
worke that they worke ; every such thought, word, and worke is
a step numbred of God, toward him into heaven. These fore
said pilgrimes of God, delight sore when they heare of saints or
of vertuous men and women, how they forsooke wilfully the pros-
peritie of this life, how they withstood the suggestion of the
feend, how they restrained their fleshlie lusts, how discreete they
were in the penance doing, how patient they were in aU their
adversities, how prudent they were in counselling of men and
women, moving them to hate all sinnes, and to flie them, and to
shame ever greatly thereof, and to love aU vertues, and to draw to
them, imagining how Christ, and his followers, by example of him,
suffered scornes and slanders, and how patiently they abode and
6 The seven deadly sins.] " Ye shall knowe that there are seven capitale,
or pryncypall deadely sinnes, it is to witte, pride, envy, wrath or anger,
slouth, covetousness, glottony, and lechery. And also there are seven pryn-
cipall, or cheyfe vertues, it is to wytte, fayth, hope, charytie, prudence, tem
perance, justice, and fortitude or strength." Bonner's profitable and neces
sary e Doctryne, signat. B b b 2. The expressions which follow, viz. " all
their wits," "works of mercy, bodily and ghostly," "gifts of the Holy
Ghost," and " right blessings of Christ," are also all of them of the nature
of technical divisions in the religion of those times. See also archbishop
Peckham's Constitutions, the form of Confession in the primer of Cardinal
Pole, signat. D d 3. a.d. 1555. Lewis's Life of Wickliffe, p. 136, n. edit.
1820, &c.

310 WILLIAM THORPE.
tooke the wrongfuU menacing of tyrants ; how homely they were
and serviceable to poore men to releeve and comfort them bodUy
and ghostly, after their power and cunning ; and how devout they
were in prayers, how fervent they were in heavenly desires, and
how they absented them from spectacles of vaine sayings and
hearings ; and how stable they were to let and destroy aU vices,
and how laborious and joyfuU they were, to sow and to plant ver
tues. — These heavenly conditions and such other, have pilgrimes,
or endevor them for to have, whose pilgrimage God accepteth.
And againe, I said, as their workes shew, the most part of
men and women that goe now on pilgrimages, have not these fore
said conditions, nor loveth to busie them faithfuUie for to have.
For as I weU know, since I have full oft assaid, examine whoso
ever wiU twenty of these pilgrimes, and hee shaU not find three
men or women that know surely a commandement of God 6, nor
can say their Paternoster, and Ave Maria, nor their Creed
readilie in any maner of language. And as I have learned, and
6 A commandement qf God.] For some ages before the Reformation, the
ignorance of the people in regard to rehgion was almost universal, and piti
able in the extreme. In a supplication of certain inhabitants of Norfolk and
Suffolk tendered to the commissioners of queen Mary, about the year 1556,
they complain, in their expostulations, against the revival of the Latin service :
" Afore the blessed reformation, begun by the most noble prince of godly
memorie the queenes good father, and by our late holie and innocent king,
her good brother, finished ; it is not unknowne what bhndnesse and error we
were all in, when not one man in all this realme, unlearned in the Latine,
could say in Enghsh the Lord's prair, or knew any one article of his beleefe,
or rehearse anie one of the ten commandements. And that ignorance, mother
of mischief, was the very root and wel-spring of all idolatry." Fox, p. 1727.
Again, in a Dialogue or familiar talk, by Michael Wood, a.d. 1554. signat.
C 2 b. " Who coulde twenty yeares agone saye the Lordes prayer in English ?
Who could tell anye one article of his faith ? Who had once heard of anye
of the ten commaundements ? Who wist what Cathechisme ment ? Who
understoode anye point of the holye baptisme ? If we were sycke of the
pestylence, we run to sainte Rooke, if of the ague to saint Pernel, or master
John Shorne. If men were in prison, thei praied to saint Leonarde. If the
Welch-man wold have a pursse, he praied to Darvel Gathorne. If a wife
wer weary of her husband, she offred otes at Poules at London, to saint
Uncumber." In another part, the dialogue is thus carried on. " Oliver.
Cannest thou saye the Lordes praier? Nicholas. Nay, nor our Ladies
neither. I can say my Pater Noster. Oliver. What is Pater Noster?
Nich. Mary, Pater Noster : what can ye make of it ? Oliver. But why have
you not learned the Lordes praier in English al this while ? Nich. Sir John
bad me kepe me to mi old pater noster, for he said the newe wold not abide
alway. And nowe I see he is a true man." Signat. C 8.

WILLIAM THORPE. 311
also know somewhat by experience of these same pUgrimes,
telling the cause, why that many men and women goe hither
and thither now on pilgrimage ; it is more for the health of
their bodies, than of their soules ; more for to have riches and
prosperitie of this world, than for to bee enriched with vertues in
their soules ; more to have here worldly and fleshly friendship,
than for to have friendship of God, and of his saints in heaven ;
for whatsoever thing man or woman doth, the friendship of God,
nor of any other saint cannot bee had, without keeping of Gods
commandements. Further with my protestation, I say now as I
said in Shrewsburie, though they that have fleshly wils, traveU
farre their bodies and spend mikle money, to seeke and to visit
the bones or images (as they say they do) of this saint or of
that, such pilgrimage going is neither praiseable nor thankfuU to
God, nor to any saint of God, since in effect, aU such pilgrimes
despise God and all his commandements and saints. For the
commandements of God they wiU nother know nor keepe, nor
conforme them to hve vertuouslie by example of Christ and of
his saints. Wherfore sir, I have preached and taught openly,
and so I purpose aU my life time to do with Gods helpe, saying
that such fond people wast blamefully Gods goods in their vaine
pilgrimages, spending their goods upon vitious hostelars which
are oft uncleane women of their bodies : and at the least, those
goods with the which they should doe workes of mercie after
Gods bidding, to poore needie men and women.
These poore mens goods and their livelode, these runners
about offer to rich priests which have mikle more livelode than
they neede. And thus those goods they wast wilfully, and
spend them unjustly against Gods bidding upon strangers, with
which they should help and relieve, after Gods will, their poore
needie neighbours at home : yea and over this foUie, oftentimes
divers men and women, of these runners thus madly hither and
thither into pUgrimage, borrow hereto other mens goods, yea and
sometime they steale mens goods hereto, and they pay them never
againe. Also sir, I know well that when divers men and women
will goe, thus after their owne wils and finding out, on pilgrimage,
they will ordaine with them before, to have with them both men
and women, that can weU sing r wanton songs ; and some other
7 Can well sing.] Mine host of the Taberde, in Southwarke, well understood
this temper of his guests, the pilgrims, and so suggested the scheme of the
Canterbury Tales. Cantantes licet usque, minus via Icedet, eamus. [Fain

312 WILLIAM THORPE.
pilgrimes will have with them bagpipes ; so that in everie towne
that they come through, what with the noise of their singing, and
with the sound of their piping, and with the janghng of their
Canturburie bels, and with the barking out of dogs after them,
they make more noise, than if the king came there away, with all
his clarions, and many other minstrels. And if these men and
women be a moneth out in their pilgrimage, many of them shall
be an halfe yeare after, great janglers, taleteUers, and liars.
And the archbishop said to me ; Leaud losell, thou seest not
far enough in this matter, for thou considerest not the great
traveU of pilgrims, therefore thou blamest that thing that is
praiseable. I say to thee, that it is right well done, that pilgrims
have with them both singers and also pipers, that when one of
them that goeth barefoote, striketh his toe upon a stone, and
hurteth him sore, and maketh him to bleed, it is well done that
he or his fellow begin then a song, or else take out of his bosome
a bagpipe, for to drive away with such mirth, the hurt of his
feUow. For with such solace, the traveU and wearinesse of
pilgrimes, is lightly and merrily borne out.
Fain wold I don you mirth and I wist how.
Ye gon to Canterbury, God mote you spede,
The blissful martyr quite you your mede :
And well I wot, as ye gone by the way,
Ye shapen you to talken and to play :
For truly comfort ne mirth is there none,
To riden by the way as dumb as a stone :
And therefore wold I maken you disport,
As I said erst, and done you some comfort. P. 7. Edit. 1687.
An elder satirist gives us a still less favourable picture,
Pilgrimes and palmers plyght hem togyther
For to seke S. James, and sayntes at Rome :
They went forth theyr way wyth many wyse tales,
And had leve to lye all hyr lyfe after.
Hermets on a heape wyth hoked staves
Wenten to Walsingham, and her wenches after,
Great loubeis and longe that loth were to swynke.
Visions qf Pierce Ploughman, foi. 1. b.
Of the controversy respecting pilgrimages, as it was debated about this
period, many further particulars may be learned, on both sides of the dispute,
by consulting Lewis's Life ofPecock, p. 92—114. See also Sir Thomas
More's Dialogue concerning Heresies, book i. Works, p. 105 — 40, and the
Index of this work, and that of the Christian Institutes, under Pilgrimages.

WILLIAM THORPE. 313
And I said ; Sir, S. Paul teacheth men to weepe with them
that weepe.
And the archbishop said, What janglest thou against mens
devotion 2 Whatsoever thou or such other say, I say that the
pilgrimage that now is used, is, to them that doe it, a praiseable
and a good meane 8 to come the rather to grace. But I hold thee
unable to know this grace, for thou enforcest thee to let the devo
tion of the people : since by authority of holy scripture, men may
lefully have and use such solace as thou reprovest. For David
in his last psalme, teacheth men to have divers instruments of
musicke for to praise therewith God.
And I said ; Sir, by the sentence of divers doctors expounding
the psalmes of David, that musicke and minstrelsie that David
and other saints of the old law spake of, ought now nother to be
taken nor used by the letter, but these instruments with their
musicke ought to bee interpreted ghostly : for all those figures
are called vertues and graces, with which vertues men should
please God, and praise his name. For saint Paul saith all such
things befell to them in figure. Therefore, sir, I understand,
that the letter of this psalme of David and of such other psalmes
and sentences doth slay them that take them now litterally. This

8 A good meane.] The religious ceremonies with which the pilgrims set out
upon their journey, if the prayers had been in their mother tongue, were of
an imposing and impressive character.
The following is an account of the office prepared for the occasion, and still
extant in the Salisbury manual.
" First of all the pilgrims were to be confessed oi all their sins. Then they
were to prostrate themselves before the altar, and to have said over them the
psalms and prayers there appointed. The pilgrims were then to stand up,
and the priest was to bless their scrips and staves, praying to God that he
would vouchsafe to sanctify and bless them ; that whosoever, for the love of
his name, should put that scrip to his side, or hang it about his neck, or carry
that staff in his hands, and thus going on pilgrimage, should desire, with an
humble devotion, to obtain the suffrages of the saints, might be protected by
the defence of God's right hand, and deserve to come to the joys of the
eternal mansion. And then, after sprinkhng holy water on the scrips and
staves, the priest put his scrip about each of the pilgrims' neck, and delivered
his staff into his hand, with a set form of words. If any of the pilgrims were
going to Jerusalem, they were to have their garments marked with a cross ;
and the crosses were to be blessed and sprinkled with holy water ; and his
garment so marked was to be delivered to every one of the pilgrims with a
set form of words. All which being ended, a mass was said for their good
journey." — Lewis's Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 94. edit. 1744.

314 WILLIAM THORPE.
sentence as I understand sir, Christ approveth himselfe, putting
out the minstrels, or that he would quicken the dead damsell.
And the archbishop said to me ; Leud losel, is it not lefull to
us to have organs9 in the church for to worship therewithall God?
9 To have organs.] When in the next century the objections against instru
mental church music were revived by the puritans, Hooker noticed an argu
ment similar to that alleged by Thorpe in the preceding paragraph, that the
ceremonial law was abrogated, and that the texts referred to in the book of
Psalms were to be understood, under the gospel dispensation, spiritually, in
the following terms.
" They which, under pretence of the law ceremonial abrogated, require the
abrogation of instrumental musick, approving nevertheless the use of vocal
melody to remain, must show some reason wherefore the one should be
thought a legal ceremony and not the other. In church musick curiosity and
ostentation of art, wanton, or light, or unsuitable harmony, such as only
pleaseth the ear, and doth not naturally serve to the very kind and degree of
those impressions which the matter that goeth with it leaveth, or is apt to
leave in men's minds, doth rather blemish and disgrace that we do, than add
either beauty or furtherance unto it. On the other side the faults prevented,
the force and efficacy of the thing itself, when it drowneth not utterly, but
fitly suiteth with matter altogether sounding to the praise of God, is in truth
most admirable, and doth much edify, if not the understanding, because it
teacheth not, yet surely the affection, because therein it worketh much. They
must have hearts very dry and tough, from whom the melody of the Psalms
doth not sometime draw that wherein a mind religiously affected delighteth."
Ecclesiastical Polity, book v. sect. 38 : where may be found much more very
beautifully composed, in vindication of the use of musick in churches ; and
from which I apprehend a sufficient answer may be derived, built on the sure
foundations of sound wisdom, and true religion, to the principles and practices
of all those who have renounced the use of it.
It must be confessed indeed, that before the Reformation, this part of reli
gious worship was much corrupted. Nor was it to be wondered at, where
the service was in an unknown tongue, that efforts to please or to astonish the
ear by the tricks of art, and by passages of a laborious and rapid execution,
should take the place of simple, grave, and solemn melodies. Wickliffe
expresses himself with great severity on this subject. See Lewis's History,
p. 132 — 135. And in the same place, says very beautifully, in reply to an
argument that might be urged on the other side, " And if they seyn that
angels hearen (praise) God by song in heaven; seye that we kunnen (know)
not that song ; but they ben in full victory of their enemies, and we ben in
perilous battle, and in the valley of weeping and mourning ; and our song
letteth us fro better occupation, and stirreth us to many great sins, and to
forget ourselves." Erasmus, in one of his epistles, attributes the ignorance
so prevalent in his times partly to the want of sober and sound preaching of
God's word, and partly to the incroachments made upon divine service by the
unbounded usage in churches of elaborate and artificial musick. (Lib. xxv.
epist. 64.) And in his annotations on the New Testament, written about the

WILLIAM THORPE. 315
And I said, Yea sir, by mans ordinance; but by the ordinance of
God, a good sermon to the peoples understanding were mikle
more pleasant to God.
year 1512, he gives a description which displays the same evil in very striking
terms. "We have introduced into the churches a certain elaborate and
theatrical species of music, accompanied with a tumultuous diversity of voices.
All is full of trumpets, cornets, pipes, fiddles, and singing. We come to
church as to a play-house. And for this purpose, ample salaries are expended
on organists and societies of boys, whose whole time is wasted in. learning to
sing. These fooleries are become so agreeable, that the monks, especially in
England, think of nothing else. To this end, even in the Benedictine monas
teries of England, many youths, boys, and other vocal performers, are sus
tained, who, early every morning, sing to the organ the mass of the Virgin
Mary with the most harmonious modulations of voice. And the bishops are
obliged to keep choirs of this sort in their families." Annot. in Epistle i. ad
Corinth, (chap. xiv. ver. 19.)
" At the time of the Reformation (says Sir John Hawkins), such abuses
had crept into the choral service, which had departed from its primitive sim
plicity and dignity, that not only the council of Trent passed a decree against
curious and artificial singing, but the thirty-two commissioners in the Refor
matio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, expressed their disapprobation of it in very
strong terms. Queen Mary, who loved music, and played on several instru
ments, laboured to support it, and in her reign the formulary In Usum Sarum
was republished. At the accession of her sister Elizabeth to the crown, the
clergy were divided in their opinions about the use of church music. The
first statutes of uniformity seemed to consider it as a thing indifferent ; but
the queen by her injunctions made it a part of cathedral worship. In this
she is supposed to have had the concurrence of Parker, archbishop of Can
terbury, who had been taught to sing in his youth, and was a great lover of
music, as was also the queen." See notes to the Northumberland Houshold
Book, p. 444, 445.
In his Complaint to the King and Parliament, Wickliffe has taken upon him
to say, in very strong language, " as Christ saved the world by the writing
and teaching of the four evangelists, so now the fiend casteth to damne the
world in letting" (hindering) "to preach the gospel, by these foure; by
fayned contemplation; — by songs; — by Salisburie use; — and by worldly
buysines of priests." — Wickliffe's Two Short Treatises, 1608. 4to. p. 17.
Of two of these — the "new song" — or church-music, and the "Salisbury
Use," he elsewhere expresses himself with much seriousness, and cogency
of observation, as follows :
First, of the church-music. " Wonder it is why men praise so much this
new praying by great crying and high song, and leave the still manner of
praying as Christ and his apostles used. It seems that we seek our own
hking and pride in this song, more than the devotion and understanding of
that which we sing. This is great sin : for Augustine saith in his Confessions,
'As oft as the song delights me more than that which is sung, so oft I
acknowledge that I trespass grievously.' Therefore, saith Paul, 'I had rather

316 WILLIAM THORPE.
And the archbishop said, that organs and good delectable
songs, quickned and sharpened more mens wits then should any
sermon. But I said ; Sir, lustie men and worldly lovers, delight and
covet and traveU to have all their wits quickened and sharpened
with divers sensible solace : but all the faithfull lovers and fol
lowers of Christ have all their delight to heare Gods word, and to
understand it truely, and to worke thereafter faithfully and con
tinually. For no doubt, to dread to offend God, and to love to
please him in all things quickneth and sharpeneth all the wits of
Christs chosen people ; and ableth them so to grace, that they
joy greatly to withdraw their eares and all their wits and mem
bers, from all worldly delight, and from all fleshly solace. For
saint Hierome (as I thinke) saith, No body may joy with this
world and reigne with Christ.
And the archbishop (as if he had beene displeased with mine
answere) said to his clerks ; What gesse ye that this idiot will
speake there, where he hath no dred ; since he speaketh thus
now here in my presence ? Well, well, by God thou shalt bee
ordained for. And then he spake to me all angerly :
What saiest thou to this fourth point, that is certified against
five words in understanding, than ten thousand in tongue.' Paul's will is
for devotion and true understanding. In tongue, is what a man understands
not, and has no devotion. The Lord's Prayer, once said with devotion and
good understanding, is better than many thousands without devotion and
understanding. And this new praying occupies men so much that they have
no space to study holy writ, and teach it. Where shall this new song excuse
us from learning and preaching the gospel that Christ taught and commanded ?
Therefore ye that are priests, live well, pray devoutly, and teach the gospel
truly and freely, as Christ and his apostles did."
And then, in a tract, On the Song of the Ordinal of Salisbury, he pleads,
" If all the study and labour that men have now, about Salisbury Use, with
multitudes of new costly portesses, and all other such books, were turned
into making of bibles, and in studying and teaching thereof, how much
should God's law be furthered, and known, and kept ! And now it is so
much hindered, unstudied, and unkept. How should rich men be excused
that spend so much in costly books of men's ordinance, for fame of the
world, and will not spend so much about books of God's law, and to study
them, and teach them, since this were without comparison better, easier and
safer?" — Writings of Wickliffe, p. 147, 8. a.d. 1831. The portesse is the
portuass, portuis, or portal ; i. e. portiforium : see Gutch's Collectanea, vol. ii.
p. 174. Oxford, 1781.

WILLIAM THORPE. 317
thee, preaching openly and boldly in Shrewsbury, that priests
have no title to tithes 1 ?
And I said ; Sir, I named there no word of tithes in my
preaching. But more then a moneth after that I was arested
there in prison, a man came to me into the prison, asking me
what I said of tithes. And I said to him ; Sir, in this towne are
many clerks and priests, of whom some are called religious men,
though many of them be seculars : therefore aske ye of them
this question. And this man said to me ; Sir, our prelats say,
that we are obliged to pay our tithes of all things that renue to

1 No title to tithes.] " It ought to be observed, that in this and the preced
ing reign (Henry IV. and V.), it was grievously objected to Wicliffe and his
followers, that they denied the right of tithes, and would have divested the
church of all the patrimony and endowments settled upon it. But this was
no more than an artful slander; for Wicliffe only inveighed against the
avarice of the monks, and justly enough denied their rights to tithes and
offerings as divided from the proper cure of souls." Kennet on Impropriations,
p. 111. This is true in part; and is, no doubt, in part » solution of Wick
liffe's opinions and language on this subject. But, if the reader be desirous
of a more detailed and accurate view of the judgment of the Lollards on this
topic, he may consult James's Apology for John Wickliffe, p. 52 — 58. Lewis's
History of Wickliffe, p. 119 — 124. Brief History of Anabaptism in England,
by the same author, p. 13 — 15. a.d. 1738 ; and Fox's Acts, p. 368, 9. 425, 6.
446. It would carry us into too great a length, and can hardly be thought
very necessary, to give an enarration of the several particulars comprised
under these references : but we may take out one or two sentences from
them, which will point at some of the sources of argument into which a more
copious exposition would require us to enter.
" I will in a word or two inform you of the ground of this accusation.
Wickliffe, in all his books and treatises, doth every where commend a kind of
evangelical poverty, persuading clergymen to renounce the vain pomp and
glory of the world ; and to lead, if it were possible, an apostolical or evan
gelical life, to be content with food and raiment. This estate to priests, in
those days unman-ied, he commendeth as the better ; yet he approved well
enough of using the things of this world, and he himself enjoyed tithes, went
well apparelled, and kept a good table, of that which was his own." James's
Apology, p. 56. " As to Dr. Wicliff's calling the tithes, offerings, and glebes,
pure and free dims, this signifies no more than a tenure or title in our com
mon law ; by which is intimated, that they are bestowed upon God, that is,
given to such people as bestow themselves, or are employed, in the service of
God, for pure and perpetual alms." Lewis's Brief History, p. 14. "Curates
ben more cursed of God for withdrawing of teching in word and deed in good
ensample, than the sujets or people in withdrawing tithes, when they don not
well their gostly office." Wickliffe in Lewis's Hist. p. 121. Compare above,
p. 208.

318 WILLIAM THORPE.
us ; and that they are accursed 2 that withdraw any part wittingly
fro them of their tithes. And I said (sir) to that man, as with
my protestation I say now before you, that I wonder that any
priest dare say men to bee accursed, without the ground of Gods
word. And the man said, Sir, our priests say, that they curse
men thus by the authoritie of Gods law. And I said, Sir, I
know not where this sentence of cursing is authorised now in the
bible. And therefore sir, I pray you that yee wiU aske the most
cunning clerke of this towne, that yee may know where this sen
tence of cursing them that tithe not, is now written in Gods law :
for if it were written there, I would right gladly be learned where.
But shortly, this man would not goe from mee to aske this ques
tion, of an other body ; but required mee there, as I would an
swere before God, if in this case, that cursing of priests were
lawfull and approved of God. And shortly, herewith came to my
mind the learning of saint Peter, teaching priests speciallie to
hallow ihe Lord Christ in their hearts, being evermore readie (as
far as in them is) to answere through faith and hope to them that
aske of them a reason. And this lesson Peter teacheth men to
use with a meeke spirit and with dread of the Lord. Where
fore sir, I said to this man in this wise ; In the old law, which
ended not fully, till the time that Christ rose up againe from
death to life, God commanded tithes to be given to the Levites,
for the great busines and dailie traveU that pertained to their
office. But priests, because their travell was mikle more easie
and light, than was the office of the Levits, God ordained the
priests should take for their livelode to doe their office, the tenth
2 They are accursed^] This alludes to the general sentence which was
denounced in all churches four times every year. The imprecations, which
are numerous, commence with those which are designed for the protection of
the state ecclesiastical. " I denounce and shewe for accursed all tho that
fraunchyse of holy chirche breke or dystrouble, or are agen (against) the state
of holy chirche, or therto assent with dede or counseyle. And also all tho
that pryve holy chyrche of ony ryght, or make of holy chyrche ony laye fee
that is halo wed or santyfyed. And all tho that witholde the ryghts of holy
chirche, the is for to saye, offrynges, tythes, rentes, or fredome of holy chyrche
lette or dystrouble or breke." Festival, foi. 200. Or, as it stands in an older
copy : " And alsoe all thoe that for malyce or wrathe of person, vicare or
priest, or of any other, or for wrongful eovetyse of himselfe, witholden right
ful tyths, and offerings, rents or mortuaries, from her own parish chirch."
Becon's Reliques of Rome. See Staveley on Churches, p. 236. See also
Becon's Works, vol. iii. foi. 379.

WILLIAM THORPE. 319
part of those tithes that were given to the Levites. But now (I
said) in the new law, neither Christ nor any of his apostles tooke
tithes of the people nor commanded the people to pay tithes,
neither to priests nor to deacons. But Christ taught the people
to doe almes, that is, workes of mercie, to poore needie men of
surplus 3, that is, superfluous of their temporall goods which they
had, more then them needed reasonablie to their necessarie live
lode. And thus (I said) not of tithes, but of pure almes of the
people, Christ lived and his apostles, when they were so busie in
preaching of the word of God to the people, that they might not
traveU otherwise for to get their livelode. — But after Christs
ascension, and when the apostles had received the holy ghost,
they travelled with their hands, for to get their livelode, when
that they might thus doe for busie preaching. Therefore by
example of himselfe, S. Paul teaching al the priests of Christ for
to travel! with their hand, when for busie teaching of the people,
they might thus doe. And thus, all these priests whose priest
hood God accepteth now, or will accept, did in the apostles time,
and after their decease, and will doe to the worlds end. But (as
Cisterciencis telleth) in the yeare of our Lord Jesus Christ 1271,
one pope Gregorie the tenth ordained * new tithes first to bee
given to priests now in the new law. But saint Paul in his time,
whose traces or example all priests of God enforce them to follow,
seeing the covetousnesse that was among the people, desiring to
destroy the foule sinne, through the grace of God and true
vertuous living and example of himselfe, wrought and taught all
priests for to follow him as he followed Christ, patiently, willingly,
and gladlie in high povertie. Wherefore Paul saith thus ; The
Lord hath ordained that they that preach the gospell, shall live of
the gospell : but we (saith Paul) that covet and busie us to be faith
full followers of Christ, use not this power. For lo (as Paul wit
nesseth afterward) when he was fuU poore and needie, preaching
3 Of surplus.] Compare above, Life of Wickliffe, p. 244.
4 Ordained.] See Selden's Works, vi. 1155. But this is an important histo
rical error ; for this canon respected only tithes that had not been previously
conveyed. "In truth," as Henry Wharton has remarked, "before the time
of Edward the confessor, that very division of parishes was generally fixed
which now obtains in England, as appears from Domesday Book, in which
the towns and parishes do very nearly agree to the present division."
Defence of Pluralities, p. 100. And "the payment of tithes to the parish
priest was fully settled in the Saxon times." Ibid. p. 104.

320 WILLIAM THORPE.
among the people ; he was not chargeous unto them, but with his
hands he travelled not onely to get his owne living, but also the
living of other poor and needie creatures. And since the people
was never so covetous, nor so avarous (I gesse) as they are now ;
it were good counsell that all priests tooke good heed to this
heavenlie learning of Paul, following him here in wilfull povertie,
nothing charging the people for their bodUie livelode. But be
cause that many priests do contrarie to Paul in this foresaid
doctrine, Paul biddeth the people take heed to those priests that
follow him as he had given them example. As if Paul would say
thus to the people ; Accept yee none other priests than they,
that live after the forme that I have taught you. For certaine,
in whatsoever dignitie or order that any priest is in, if he con
forme him not to follow Christ and his apostles in wilfull povertie,
and in other heavenly vertues, and specially in true preaching of
Gods word ; though such a one be named a priest, yet he is no
more but a priest in name, for the worke of a verie priest, in
such a one wanteth. This sentence approveth Augustine, Gre
gorie, Chrysostome, and Lincolne plainely.
And the archbishop said to me ; Thinkest thou this wholesome
learning for to sow openly, or yet privilie among the people ?
Certaine, this doctrine contrarieth plainely the ordinance of holie
fathers, which have ordained, granted, and licensed priests to be
in divers degrees, and to live by tithes and offerings of the people,
and by other duties.
And I said ; Sir, if priests were now in measurable measure
and number, and lived vertuouslie, and taught busilie and truelie
the word of God, by example of Christ and of his apostles,
without tithes, offerings, and other duties that priests now chal
lenge and take, the people would give them freely sufficient
livelode. And a clerke said to me ; How wilt thou make this good, that
the people will give freelie to priests their livelode ; since that
now by the law everie priest can scarcelie constraine the people
to give them their livelode ?
And I said ; Sir, it is now no wonder though the people
grudge to give priests the livelode that they aske. Mekil people
know now, how that priests should live, and how that they live
contrarie to Christ and to his apostles. And therefore the people
is full heavie to pay (as they do) their temporall goods to parsons
and to other vicars and priests, which should be faithfull dispen-

WILLIAM THORPE. 321
sators of the parishes goods ; taking to themselves no more, but
a scarce living of tithes, nor of offerings, by the ordinance of the
common law. For whatsoever priests take of the people (be it
tithe or offering, or any other dutie or service) the priests ought
not to have thereof no more, but a bare living 5 ; and to depart

6 A bare living.] Wickliffe also has said a great deal in commendation of
evangelical poverty, and of the duty of the clergy to conform themselves to
the simplicity and humility of Christ and his apostles. Still Wickliffe
acknowledged principles, which, (their due rights still reserved to hos
pitality and charity), it should seem would easily have admitted, in other
ages of the church, of both a very different theory and practice, and such
as most people would consider to be sufficiently flexible and comprehensive.
Thus, in his Trialogus, one of the works of his maturest years, he says
expressly, "Non tamen video quin licet habere provisionem moderatam
ultra necessitatem alimenti et tegumenti." P. 138. And, in another place,
" Concedo tibi, quod tam ratio, quam lex Dei exigit, quod prsecipuo Dei
servo debite de temporalibus ministretur ;" and the rule and measure by
which he would allow these temporalities to the clergy is " de quanto habi-
litant eorum officium quoad Deum,'7 P. 232. Again, " Et sicut avaritia est
inordinatus amor temporalia possidendi, sic victus, sibi opposita, est ordi-
natus amor temporalibus usitandi ; quod consistit in hac regula, quod quicum-
que secundum Mam mensuram optet temporalia, secundum quam mensuram
sibi proficiunt ad seterna. Et caveat ne sua affectio sit nimis in temporalibus
profundata, sed conetur acquirere beatitudinem, cum parco usu temporalium,
cum taliter fecit Christus cum suis apostohs indubie virtuose. Quia licet
temporalium affluentia laudabiliter posset haberi, ut patet de patribus legis
veteris, et multis in lege gratis, laudabilius tamen et securius est servare
regulam Christi, cum magister optimus illam dedit. Ideo signanter dicit
Apostolus, 1 Tim. vi. Nihil intulimus, &c. Nee video quin omnes clerici sint
ad istam religiosam et benedictam regulam strictius obligati, quia quod
amplius est, nedum a malo est, sed sapit avaritiam, et exponit cupidum
periculo spirituali." P. 133.
We are assured also that Wickliffe " approved well enough of using the
things of this world ; himself enjoyed tithes ; went well apparelled ; and kept
a good table of that which was his own." And it must be confessed he does
occasionally seem to blame himself for indulgences of this kind. See James's
Apology for John Wickliffe, p. 56. 1608. 4to. "Inter alia peccata de quibus
timeo, hoc est unum prsecipuum, quod consumendo in excessivo victu et vestitu
bona pauperum deficio." And again, " Quod autem eommunem vitam
vivendo, frequenter avide et laute manduco, dolenter profiteor."
Fox has given us a sermon preached before the Pope in 1364, by Nicholas
Orem, in which the balance between the two parties on this subject, seems to
be held with an equitable and discriminating hand.
"Some there have been," says he, "which fondly have disputed of the
povertie of Christ, and have inveighed against the prelates, because they live
not in povertie of the saints. But this phantasie cometh of the ignorance of
VOL. I. Y

322 WILLIAM THORPE.
the residue 6 to the poore men and women specially of the parish
of whom they take this temporall living. But the most deale of
priests now wasteth their parishes goods, and spendeth them at
their owne will after the world, in their vaine lusts : so that in
few places poore men have duely (as they should have) their owne
sustenance, nother of tithes nor of offerings, nor of other large
wages and foundations that priests take of the people in divers
maners above that they neede for needefull sustenance of meate
and clothing : but the poore needie people are forsaken and left
of priests to be sustained of the parishioners, as if the priests
took nothing of the parishioners to help the people with. And
thus sir, into over great charges of the parishioners they pay
moral philosophie and divinitie, and of the defect of natural prudence ; for
that in all nations, and by common lawes, priestes have had, and ought to
have wherewith to sustaine themselves more honestly than the vulgar sorte;
and prelates more honourably than their subjects. — But yet, hereby is not
permitted to them their great horses, their troupes of horsemen, their super
stitious pomp of their waiting-men and great families, which scarslie can be
maintained without pride, neither can be sustained with safe justice, and do
move as few to due reverence, as they do many to indignation." Fox's
Acts, p. 383.
6 To depart the residue.] To divide. "Thenne he rose and departed his
goodes into four partyes, and all his own parte he gave to poore men, and
went and was a monke in an abbey that was nyghe the water syde." Festi
val, foi. 5.
In the mutual stipulations of the parties in our marriage service, the words
"till death us do part," were formerly "till death us depart," as they still
continue in the Scotish liturgy. But in the Savoy Conference, a.d. 1661, the
nonconformist divines boldly asserted " this word depart is here improperly
used," and in condescension to this assertion, the above alteration was
adopted. The word depart, however, seems not to be a bad word, and
certainly was not improperly used. It might have been supported by abun
dant and unquestionable authority. " Let ech man beware that he procure
no false divorce for money, ne frenschip, ne enemyte, for Christ biddeth that
no man departe or twayne that God hath ordeined. But only for Avoutrye
that part that kepith him clene may be departed from the other." Wickliffe
in Lewis's History, p. 347. " But, Lord, thy mariage is a common accorde
betweene man and woman, to liven together to their lives end, and in thy
service, either .the better for others help ; and thilke that thus ben ycome
together ben joyned by thee; and thilke that God joyneth, may no man
depart." Ploughman's Complaint. Fox, p. 374. " Neyther dyd the apostles
put awaye their wyves after they were called unto the ministery — but they
continued with their wyves lovingly and faythefully, tyll death departed them,
as we may se in auncient histories." Humble Supplication unto God (Becon's),
signat. c. 5, imprynted at Strasburgh, 1554.

WILLIAM THORPE. 323
their temporall goods twice, where once might suffice, if priests
were true dispensators. Also sir, the parishioners that pay their
temporall goods (be they tithes or offerings) to priests that do not
their office among them justly, are partners of everie sinne of
those priests : because that they sustaine those priests in their
sin, with their temporall goods. — If these things bee well consi
dered, what wonder is it then sir, if the parishioners grudge
against these dispensators 2
Then the archbishop said to me ; Thou that shouldest bee
judged and ruled by holy church, presumptuouslie thou deemest
holie church to have erred in the ordinance of tithes and other
duties to be payed to priests. It shall be long or thou thrive
losell, in that thou despisest thy ghostly mother. How darest
thou speake this (losel) among the people : Are not tithes given
to priests for to live by 2
And I said ; Sir, saint Paul saith, that tithes were given in
the old law to Levites and to priests, that came of the linage of
Levi. But our priests he saith, came not of the linage of Levy,
but of the linage of Juda, to which Juda no tithes were pro
mised to be given. And therefore Paul saith, since the priest
hood is changed from the generation of Levy to the generation
of Juda, it is necessarie that changing also bee made of the law.
So that priests live now without tithes and other dutie that they
claime, following Christ and his apostles in wilful poverty, as
they have given them example. For since Christ lived aU the
time of his preaching by pure almes of the people, and, by example
of him, his apostles lived in the same wise, or else by the travel
of their hands, as it is said above ; everie priest, whose priest
hood Christ approveth, knoweth well, and confesseth in word and
in worke, that a disciple ought not to be above his master, but it
sufficeth to a disciple to bee as his master, simple, and pure,
meeke and patient : and by example speciaUy of his master
Christ, every priest should rule him in all his living 2 and so after
his cunning and power, a priest should busie him to enforme and
to rule, whomsoever he might charitablie.
And the archbishop said to me with a great spirit, Gods curse
have thou and mine for this teaching : for thou would hereby,
make the old law more free and perfect then the new law. For
thou saiest that it is lefull to Levites and priests to take tithes
in the old law, and so to enjoy their priviledges : but to us priests
in the new law, thou saiest it is not lawfull to take tithes : and
y 2

324 WILLIAM THORPE.
thus thou givest to Levites of the old law, more freedome then to
priests of the new law.
And I said, Sir, I marvel that yee understand this plaine text
of Paul thus. Ye wot well, that the Levites and priests in the
old law that tooke tithes, were not so free nor so perfect, as
Christ and his apostles that tooke no tithes. And sir, there is
a doctor (I thinke that it is saint Hierome) that saith thus,
" The priests that challenge now in the new law, tithes, say in
effect, that Christ is not become man, nor that he hath yet
suffered death for mans love. Wherefore this doctor saith this
sentense ; Since tithes were the hires and wages limited to
Levites and to priests of the old law, for bearing about of the
tabernacle, and for slaying and fleing of beasts, and for burning
of sacrifice, and for keeping of the temple, and for tromping of
batteU before the host of Israel, and other divers observances
that pertained to their office ; those priests that will challenge or
take tithes, denie that Christ is come in the flesh, and doe the
priests office of the old law, for whom tithes were granted : for
else (as this doctor saith) priests take now tithes wrongfully."
And the archbishop said to his clerkes, Heard you ever losel
speake thus? Certaine this is the learning of them all, that
wheresoever they come, and they may be suffered, they enforce
them to expugne the freedome of holy church.
And I said, Sir, why call yee the taking of tithes, and of such
other duties that priests challenge now wrongfully, the freedome
of holy church ; since neither Christ nor his apostles, challenged
nor tooke such duties ? Herefore these takings of priests now
are not called justly the freedome of holy church, but all such
giving and taking ought to be called and holden the slanderous
covetousnesse of men of the holy church.
And the archbishop said to me ; Why losell, wilt not thou and
others that are confederat with thee, seeke out of holy Scripture
and of the sense of doctors, all sharpe authorities against lords,
knights, and squires, and against other secular men, as thou
doest against priests 7 2
7 Against priests.] The same objection, as we learn from himself, was often
urged against Wickliffe. " Ssepe impeditus sum, quia non reprobavi peccata
temporalium dominorum. Ideo in excusatione omissionis illius dicam tibi
fidem in isto quam habeo, et si Deus voluerit veniet ad aures temporalium
dominorum." Trialogus, p. 234. It cannot be denied, however, that he
often speaks of the degeneracy of the age as universal ; and as infecting the
laity alike with the clergy. Ibid, p. 87, 88. 131, &c.

WILLIAM THORPE. 325
And I said, Sir, whatsoever men or women, lords or ladies, or
any other, are present in our preaching speciaUy, or in our com-
moning, after our cunning, we tell out to them their office and
their charges : but sir, since as Chrysostome saith, priestes are
the stomacke of the people, it is needfull in preaching, and also
in commoning, to be most busie about this priesthood ; since by
the vitiousnesse of priests both lords and commons are most
sinfully infected and led into the worst. And the covetousnesse
of priests, and their pride, and the boast that they have and
make of their dignitie and power, destroyeth not onely the
vertues of priesthood in priests themselves, but also over this,
it stirreth God to take great vengeance both upon the lords, and
upon the commons, which suffer these priests charitablie.
And the archbishop said to me, Thou judgest every priest
proud that will not goe arraied as thou doest : by God I deeme
him to be more meeke that goeth every day in a scarlet gowne,
than thou in thy thred-bare blew gowne s. — Whereby knowest
thou a proud man ?
And I said; Sir, a proud priest may be knowne, when he
denieth to follow Christ and his apostles, in wilful povertie and
other vertues ; and coveteth worldly worship, and taketh it
gladly, and gathereth together with pleading, manassing, or with
flattering, or with simonie any worldly goodjs : and most, if a
priest busie him not chiefly in himselfe, and after in all other
men and women after his cunning and power to withstand sin.
And the archbishop said to me ; Though thou knewest a
priest to have all these vices, and though thou sawest a priest
lovely lie now by a woman knowing her fleshly ; wouldest thou
therefore deem this priest damnable? I say to thee that in
the turning about of thy hand, such a sinner may be verily
repented. And I said, Sir, I will not damne any man for any sinne that
I know done or may bee done, so that the sinner leaveth his
sinne. But by authority of holy Scripture, he that sinneth thus
8 Blew gowne] The pomp of the clergy in their dress and equipages was
a frequent subject of censure among the Lollards. We find therefore that,
to bear the testimony of their examples against those practices, and in a
supposed imitation of the wilful poverty and the example of Christ and his
apostles, they accustomed themselves to go bare-footed, and in homely russet
gowns. See Life of Wickliffe, p. 185. The ordinary dress ofthe dignitaries
of the clergy, in those times, was of scarlet.

326 WILLIAM THORPE.
openly as ye shew here, is damnable for doing of such a sin ; and
most speciaUy, a priest that should be example to all other for to
hate and flie sinne. And in how short time that ever ye say
that such a sinner may be repented, he ought not of him that
knoweth his sinning, to be judged verily repentant, without open
evidence of great shame and heartie sorrow for sinne. For who
soever (and specially a priest) that useth pride, envie, covetous-
nesse, lecherie, simonie, or any other vices ; and sheweth not as
open evidence of repentance as hee hath given evil example and
occasion of sinning ; if he continue in any such sinne as long as
he may, it is likely that sinne leaveth him, and he not sinne.
And as I understand, such a one sinneth unto death, for whom
no body ovveth to pray, as saint John saith.
And a clerke said then to the archbishop, Sir, the lenger that
ye appose him, the worse he is " : and the more ye busie you to
9 The worse he is.] The reasoning of Thorpe on the whole of this subject
is infected by two or three important erroneous principles, which perhaps it
may be right not to pass entirely without remark.
In the first place, instead of allowing any foundation for the claim of tithes
in the Christian church from the existence of a command in their favour in
the Jewish law, he seems almost inclined to derive from that circumstance a
directly opposite conclusion. " In the old law which ended not fully, till
the time that Christ rose again, God commanded tithes to be given ; but now
in the new law, neither Christ nor any of his apostles took tithes ;" and again
(on the alleged authority indeed of St. Paul) he says expressly, " Since in the
new law, the priesthood is changed from the generation of Levi to that of
Judah, it is necessary that a change be made of the law also." Finally he
intimates that such loss is no impairing of the liberties and freedom of holy
church, but the contrary ; and he goes so far as to say (with St. Jerome) that
" since tithes were the wages of priests in the old law, they who challenge or
take them in the new, deny that Christ is come in the flesh."
At this point I may observe, we are reminded of a valuable remark of
Hooker. " The church of Christ hath had in no one thing so many and
so contrary occasions of dealing as about Judaism : some having thought the
whole Jewish law wicked and damnable in itself: some, not condemning it as
the former sort absolutely, have notwithstanding judged it either sooner
necessary to be abrogated, or further unlawful to be observed than truth can
bear : some of scrupulous simplicity urging perpetual and universal observ
ation of the law of Moses necessary, as the Christian Jews at the first in the
apostles' times : some, as heretics, holding the same no less, even after the
contrary determination set down by consent of the church at Jerusalem:
finally, some being herein resolute through mere infidelity, and with open
profest enmity against Christ, as unbelieving Jews." (B. iv. c. xi. § 9.)
In truth, from many causes, which we need not stop even to name, an
exceeding antipathy against the Jews has generally in different ages of the,

WILLIAM THORPE. 327
amend him, the waywarder he is. For he is of so shrewd a kind
that he shameth not onely to be himselfe a foule nest, but without
shame he busieth him to make his nest fouler.
church, possessed itself very extensively of the minds of the Christians. Of
this we have many proofs in our English annals ; not the least about the
times on whieh we are now occupied; and not the least, in the writings
and minds of the Wicliffites. This abhorrence seems frequently to have
extended itself much beyond the persons of the Jews ; to spread itself in
some degree to almost all that belonged to them ; and so even to have tended
to lessen the respect for the Jewish Scriptures, and the Mosaic law. But
may we not ask of such a course of proceeding as is last mentioned, " Is it
reasonable ? Is it Scriptural ?" May we not, with much more justice, say of
the question in general, in the language of Hooker, " God himself having
been the author of their laws, herein they are still worthy to be honoured,
and to be followed above others, as much as the state of things will bear."
(B. iv. c. xi. § 3.) And therefore, for the maintenance of religion, and of
the clergy, through this particular method and ordinance, may we not again
say, with Hooker, " Albeit therefore, we be now free from the law of Moses,
and consequently not thereby bound to the payment of tithes, yet because
nature hath taught men to honour God with their substance, and Scripture
hath left us an example oi that particular proportion which for moral consi
derations hath been thought fittest by Him whose wisdom could best judge;
furthermore seeing that the church of Christ hath long since entered into
like obligation, and having made tithes His whose they are, — let us be warned
not to clip that coin which hath on it the mark of God ?" (B. v. c. lxxix.
§ 12.) Or why not adhere to the lucid statements of Dean Prideaux, to the
effect following? "Tithes (a tenth part), are not of divine right ; there being
no divine law, either natural or positive, binding us to that measure. But
2, they are of divine original: for they were not only commanded by
Almighty God under the law, but practised by holy men before it. They have
therefore, 3, the force on all mankind, of a divine precedent. And therefore,
4, maintenance being of divine right, and tithes of divine precedent, we cannot
without detracting from His infinite knowledge, or His infinite truth, vary,
where the case is the same, from that particular proportion." On the Original
and Right of Tithes, chap. I.
But, secondly, if we waive all claim, whether from divine right, or divine
precedent, still, in the next place, it cannot be denied, that tithes were granted
long ago by those who had a right to grant them ; and that the title to this
property is, (or, must I now (1838) say was,) as ancient and venerable, as (or
more ancient and more venerable than) that of any other kind in the king
dom : — and here then we come to Thorpe's second erroneous principle. He
does not question the fact ofthe grant, but now again, on fresh reasons, he
strongly denies its lawfulness and piety. It is against the example and prac
tice of Christ and his apostles, " Accept, therefore," he says, " none other
for priests but they that live after the form of poverty and alms taking,
which these have taught us." — But is not this to forget that scriptural exam
ples can be in no way binding as laws, except under precisely similar circum-

328 WILLIAM THORPE.
And then the archbishop said to his clerke : Suffer a while, for
I am at an end with him ; for there is another point certified
against him, and I will heare what he saith thereto.
stances ; while, at the same time, nothing can be more different than the
circumstances of the two cases, than the endowments and gifts of the minis
ters of the word in the apostolic ages, and in any subsequent ones ; than
the condition of the church before Constantine, in its time of singleness and
persecution, and when afterwards, by union with the state, " kings became its
nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers."
And here again, therefore, may we not borrow the reasoning of Hooker ?
Thus he speaks in reference to the kindred particular of the places that may
be set apart for God's worship. " In Egypt the state of God's people was
servitude, and therefore his service was accordingly. In the desert they had
no sooner aught of their own, but a tabernacle is required ; and in the land
of Canaan a temple. In the eyes of David it seemed a thing not fit, a thing
not decent, that himself should be more richly seated than God." (B. vii.
c. xxiii. § 4.) So likewise, on the special point of the maintenance of the
clergy, in reference to such arguments as these of Thorpe, " where," he says,
" they allege against the wealth of the clergy, how meanly Christ himself was
provided for ; against bishops' palaces, his want of a hole to hide his head in ;
against the service done unto them, that he came to minister not to be minis
tered unto in the world : all these things, as they are not unfit to controul
covetous, proud, or ambitious desires of the ministers of Christ, and even of
all Christians, whatsoever they be ; and to teach men contentment of mind,
how mean soever their estate is, considering that they are but servants to
him, whose condition was far more abased than theirs is, or can be : — so to
prove such difference in state between us and him unlawful, they are of no
force or strength at all." (B. vii. c. xxiii. § 11.) No. "As the son of
Seraiah giveth verdict concerning those things which God hath wrought, ' A
man need not say, This is worse than that ; this more acceptable to God,
that less : for in their season, they are all worthy praise :' the like we may
also conclude touching the two ways of providing in meaner or in costlier
sort for the honour of Almighty God. A man need not say, This is worse than
that ; this more acceptable to God, that less : for with him they are in their
season both allowable : the one when the state of the church is poor, the
other when God hath enriched it with plenty." Hooker, B. v. c. xv. § 3.
But, thirdly, When Thorpe and others argue so strenuously, that the
clergy ought to be maintained (not by tithes, but) by alms, will it be per
mitted to us to remark and ask ; Well ! be it so. Let the maintenance be
alms ! It already is so. For, in truth, (we ask,) what else are tithes ? Were
they not given " Deo et ecclesia?," expressly as such ? Is not that the very
name and title by which they are holden ? not divine right ; not divine prece
dent ; but they are given " in liberam, puram, et perpetuam eleemosynam." —
Hence, therefore, was it not upon this very same plea, that their great adver
saries, the begging friars and monks, sought to strip the parochial clergy of
their livelihood, and to appropriate it to themselves? "All tithes," says
Prideaux, " being held by the tenure of frank-almoign, the religious from

WILLIAM THORPE. 329
And so then he said to me ; Loe it is here certified against
hence argued that all tithes were alms, and that it was in the power of every
man freely to give his alms as he should think fit, and that they deserved
them better than the parish-priests." (Rights to Tithes, p. 203.) So that,
from their zeal upon this point, one main result was to put arms into their
enemies' hands for their own destruction.
But, it is rejoined, there is the word " perpetua ;" in " liberam et perpetuam
eleemosynam." True : and that, we confess, makes a very material, (and, as
we think,) a very happy difference in the case. It goes a great way to destroy
in succeeding ages, and in any case, except the original grant, the sponta
neous and voluntary character for which Thorpe was here contending : con
tending, notwithstanding the existence of the word " perpetua ;" and, not
withstanding the abundant proof as one would have thought he had before
his eyes, of the mischief of his principles in the success which, (even not
withstanding the barrier of the word perpetua,) the frauds and falsehoods,
and all the wicked devices ofthe friers had in deluding the people, in plun
dering the clergy, and therewithal in sorely endangering the purity, truth,
and simplicity of the gospel. — And, in truth, of this pestilent nature, under
various modifications and forms, it is certain will be the result of such a
principle and system, in all ages.
And accordingly, I may remark, in the last place, that this simultaneous
cry for alms, from the Wiekliffites and the friars, showed about the same
time its malignity, as was natural, under another and not inappropriate form ;
and in which I regret to say the name of Wickliffe is deeply involved. This
was no other than a scheme of church spoliation of a very extensive and
fearful kind ; and which, if it had been carried into effect, must, so far as the
order of bishops was concerned, have been fatal and entire. In order to bring
about the evangelical poverty which was so desirable, he gravely proposes, in
a serious and didactic work, that on the vacancy of the several sees, when the
new bishops came successively before the king, to do homage, he should in
all cases refuse to make restitution of the temporalities, seize them into his
own hands, and dispose of them to whatever uses he might be advised to
think good. (Trialogus, p. 239.) This plan seemed to promise a "root and
branch" work of a very plausible, summary, noiseless, and peaceful kind.
But, how came such a man as Wickliffe to overlook the capital and cardinal
word " perpetua," with its kindred accompaniments ? His omission of all
notice and recognition of this portion of the case, seems, I grieve to say, to
constitute a very grave impeachment, either of his discernment, or of his
integrity. That word, however, and the principles of which it was the exponent, pre
sented an inviolable and insurmountable bar : and need I say, most happily,
and most justly so, on every ground of argument ? and among them, there
fore, on constitutional grounds also — to notice no other.
I presume, it cannot be questioned, that Richard II. had no more right to
refuse to any of the bishops the grant of his temporalities, than the crown
would now have to deny to its faithful commons their privileges of liberty
of speech, freedom from arrest, and the like, which, by the mouth of their

330 WILLIAM THORPE.
thee that thou preachedst openly at Shrewsburie, that it is not
lawfull to sweare in any case \
speaker, they duly, dutifully, and humbly crave at the royal hand, on the
opening of every new parliament. But which, if there were ever any disposi
tion apparent to withhold, then doubtless we should soon hear a voice like
that of thunder, echoing from every corner of the land. For the king, Nihil
potest, nisi quod jure potest. And so in our case likewise, it is not possible
but there must be the like echo : seconded too, by another voice of a more
tremendous kind, coming from the firmament, from His throne Who is the
avenger of the needy, and will not forget such wrongs as are done to His
own kingdom, and that of His blessed Son.
I do not know whether it may be regarded as any excuse for Wickliffe
that he lived in a contentious, sophistical, and disputatious age. Certainly,
in reading the works of those times, we are often left to doubt, whether we
have before us the author's genuine sentiments ; or he is merely flourishing
upon us, designing to give proof of his own dexterity and skill, and trying
whether we shall prove a match for him in the knack and trade of scholastic
wrangling and disputation.
1 To sweare in any case.] That they denied the lawfulness of oaths in all
cases, has very often been affirmed both of Wickliffe and of his followers (see
Hume, &c). It would be too much to say, that their tenets afforded no
grounds whatever for such an imputation ; or even, perhaps, that some of
those who were called Lollards, might not expressly avow such an opinion.
Something of the kind appears in the Complaint and Prayer of the Ploughman,
Fox, p. 371. But the most positive declaration of that nature which I have
met with, occurs in the story of Walter Brute, who, for this and other opi
nions, made his submission to the church in the year 1393. The words are
these : " As the perfection of the eminent men of the Old Testament was,
not to forsweare themselves ; so the perfection of Christian men is not to sweare
at all, because they are so commanded of Christ, whose commandment must
in no case be broken, although that the citie of Rome is contrarie to this
doctrine of Christ, even as in many things she is found contrarie to herselfe."
Fox, p. 461.
Such however was not the doctrine of Wickliffe, nor the prevailing doctrine
among his followers. We shall see below that Thorpe offers to take his oath,
when business could not proceed without it. In language very similar to the
well-tempered expressions afterwards made use of in the last of the Articles of
the church of England, they affirmed, "that it is leeful to swere bi God
Almigti in a needeful case, with three circumstances, in truth, doom and right-
fulnesse." And they proceeded to substantiate their judgment by the evidence
of Scripture ; " In the fifth chapter of Matthew, Christ forbid not to swere bi
the Creatour, but bi the creature. — Christ swoor whanne he seide, truli, truli,
I seie to you. And as Austyn witnesseth in the 5th chapter of Matthew, Paul
swoor oft in seinge thus ; God is witnesse to me, or thus, I clepe (call) God to
wilnisse lo my soule. And the aungil in the 10. chap, of Apocalypse swoor
bi God, lyvinge in worldis of worldis." Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 154, 155.
Compare James's Apology for John Wickliffe, p. 38. 60, 61.

WILLIAM THORPE. 331
And I said ; Sir, I preached never so openly, nor I have taught
in this wise in any place. But sir, as I preached in Shrewsburie,
There appear to have been two principal grounds for the vulgar imputation
against them on this subject. The first was, that they remonstrated openly
and frequently against a prevailing vice of the times, the profane, barbarous,
and customable swearing in common discourse, or upon false and trifling
pretences ; and in which, according to the common result of a time and state
of controversy, the people were upholden by those whose duty it was to have
taught them better things. The writer of the Prologue to the Bible, pub
lished by Robert Crowley, under the title of the Pathway to perfect knowledge,
and by him (but probably not justly) attributed to Wickliffe, complains :
" Now in Englonde it is a common protection ayens persecution of prelatys
and some lordys, if a man be customable to swere nedles, false, and unadvised
by the bones, nayles, and sydys, and other membrys of Christe ; and to
absteyn fro othis nedelesse and not leful, and to eschew pride, and repreve
sinne by waye of charitie, is matter and cause nowe, why prelatis and some
lords slaunder men, and clepen him lowlardis, heretiks, reisars of debate, and
of treason ayens the kynge." Signat. 1 4. Hence we find the historian
Knyghton stigmatizing it as a token of lollardy, that they abstained from the
above blasphemies, and contented themselves with saying, when they wished
their words to be believed, " I am syker " (sure) " it is soth " (truth). De
eventib. Angl. p. 2706. So, on the other hand, Wickliffe describes the
" Abbot or Priour riding with fourscore horse, with harness of silver and
gold, and many ragged and fittred squires, and other men swering heart, and
bones, and nails, and other members of Christ." Lewis's History, p. 37.
And Chaucer tells us of those "that delight them in swearing, and hold it a
gentery or a manly deed to swear great othes, all be the cause not worth a
straw." Parson's Tale, p. 183, edit. 1687. And in another place he has
painted the manners of the times with exquisite humour.
Our host on his stirrops stoode anon,
And said,
Sir Parish priest (quod he) for God's bones,
Tell us a tale.
I see well that ye learned men in lore,
Can muckle good, by Goddis dignite.
The parson him answerd, Benedicite,
What eileth the man, so sinfully to swere ?
Our host answerd, O Jenkin, be ye there ?
Now good men (quod our host) harkneth to me ;
I smell a toiler in the wind (quod he)
Abideth for Gods digne passion,
For we sail have a predication :
This loller here woll preachen us somewhat.
Nay, by my father's soule, that shall he nat,
Saied the squier, here shall he nat preach,
Here shall he no Gospell glose, ne teach. —
[My

332 WILLIAM THORPE.
with my protestation I say to you now here : that by the autho
ritie of the gospel of saint James, and by witnes of divers saints
and doctors, I have preached openly in one place or other, that it
is not lefull in any case to sweare by any creature. And over
My jolly body shall a tale tell,
And I shall ringen you so merry a bell,
That I shall waken all this companie.
Squire's Prologue, p. 47, edit. 1687.
Here then was one ground for the charge of their denying the lawfulness
of swearing.
The other arose from their entertaining scruples with regard to the forms
and manner in which oaths were administered. They held it unlawful to
swear by any creature ; by heaven, by the hairs of their head, by saint, or
angel. This was their grand principle; and building upon this, they main
tained that it was forbidden (a book being a creature) to swear by a book ;
whether it were the Evangelists, mass-book, portuise, or whatever other
sacred volume. We saw above that when Thorpe was called to lay his hand
upon the book, he asked, " to what intent ? to swear thereby ?" And conti
nued, " Sir, a booke is nothing else but a thing coupled together of divers
creatures ; and to swear by any creature, both Gods laws and mans law is
against it." Compare also Fox's Acts, p. 433. 485, &c. The scruple appears
not very intelligible. It seems founded merely, like many controversies, in
a misunderstanding and confusion of language. In the colloquial phrase,
" swearing by a book," the word "by," it seems hardly necessary to observe,
is used in quite a different sense from its acceptation in the command of
swearing " by God only." Hence one does not see why they might not have
consented, if not to swear by, at least to swear upon a book. But it is plain
that such scruples would greatly augment the charge of their renouncing all
oaths. In the following extract we find the argument which we have been endea
vouring to establish in this note, collected together in a very short summary.
William Swinderby, in the year 1390, being, among divers other articles,
charged with teaching, "that no man owes to sweare for anie thing, but
simply withouten oath to affirme or to denye; and if he sweare he sinnes,"
replied thus : " This article said I not, that I have mind of, in this maner.
But oft I have said, and yet will, that men should not sweare by anie creature,
by the law of God ; and that no man should sweare in idel, as welnigh all the
people useth, and therefore me thinkes it is no neede to comfort the people in
swearin. For from old unto the young, and namely men of holie church,
breken this hest, and few bishops pursuen hem therefore." Fox's Acts,
p. 433. The reader who is desirous of further information on this subject,
may consult Cousins's Apology for sundry proceedings by jurisdiction eccle
siastical. 1593. 4to. Part III. chap. iv. p. 29. 37; where he shows that the
ceremonies used in taking and giving corporal oaths with laying hands on the
Bible or Testament, and swearing by the contents of it, are not unlawful.
This is a very learned and valuable work, written at a time productive of
many such in defence of the church of England.

WILLIAM THORPE. 333
this sir, I have also preached and taught by the foresaid autho
rities, that no body should sweare in any case, if that without
oth in any wise hee that is charged to sweare might excuse him
to them that have power to compell him to sweare, in lefull thing
and lawfull. But if a man may not excuse him without oth, to
them that have power to compel him to sweare, then he ought to
sweare onely by God, taking him only, that is soothfastnesse, for
to witnesse to soothfastnes.
And then a clerke asked me if it were not lefull to a subject at
the bidding of his prelate, for to kneele downe and touch the
holy gospell booke, and kisse it, saying ; So help me God and this
holy dome? for he should after his cunning and power do all
things that his prelate commandeth him.
And I said to them ; Sirs, ye speake here full generally or
largely. What if a prelate commanded his subject to doe an
unlawfull thing, should he obey thereto 2 ?
And the archbishop said to me, A subject ought not to sup
pose, that his prelate will bid him doe an unlawful thing. For a
subject ought to thinke that his prelate will bid him doe nothing
but that hee will answere for before God, that it is lefull : and
then, though the bidding of the prelate be unlawfull, the subject
hath no perill to fulfill it, since that he thinketh and judgeth,
that whatsoever thing his prelate biddeth him doe, that it is
lefull to him for to do it.
And I said ; Sir, I trust not thereto 3. — But to our purpose :
Sir, I tell you, that I was once in a gentlemans house, and there
were then two clerkes there, a master of divinitie, and a man of

2 Obey thereto.] See above, p. 288, and note.
3 I trust not thereto.] So Wickliffe, animadverting on the defaults of civil
curates, specifies this; that "they magnify themselves above Christ, God and
man : for they command their subjects, that they judge not clerks, nor their
open works, nor their teaching ; but do according to their teaching, he it true
or false. But our Lord Jesus Christ commanded his enemies to judge of him
a rightful doom. Also he bade his enemies to believe his works, though
they would not believe him ; and bade men not to believe him, if he did not
the works of his Father. Also Christ bade his enemies bear witness of evil,
if he had spoken evil.
" Also, they are antichrists, hindering Christian men from knowing their
belief of holy writ ; for they cry openly that secular men should not inter
meddle with the gospel to read it in modern tongue, but listen to their spi
ritual father's preaching, and do after him in all things." — Writings of John
Wickliffe, p. 133. a.d. 1831.

334 WILLIAM THORPE.
law, which man of law was also communing in divinitie. And
among other things, these men spake of othes, and the man of
law said, at the bidding of his soveraigne, which had power to
charge him to sweare, hee would lay his hand upon a booke, and
heare his charge : and if his charge to his understanding were
not unlefull he would hastily withdraw his hand upon the booke,
taking there onely God to witnesse, that hee would fulfill that
lefull charge, after his power. And the master of divinitie said
then to him thus, Certaine, hee that layeth his hand upon a booke
in this wise, and maketh there a promise to do that thing that
he is commanded, is obliged thereby by booke oth, then to fulfill
his charge. For no doubt, he that chargeth him to lay his hand
thus upon a booke (touching the booke, and swearing by it, and
kissing it, promising in this forme to doe this thing or that) wiU
say and witnesse, that hee that toucheth thus a booke, and
kisseth it, hath sworne upon that booke. And all other men
that see that man thus doe, and also aU those that heare thereof,
in the same wise wiU say and witnesse, that this man hath sworne
upon a booke. Wherefore, the master of divinitie said, it was
not lefuU neither to give nor take any such charge upon a booke :
for every booke is nothing else, but divers creatures, of which it
is made of. Therefore to sweare upon a booke, is to sweare by
creatures, and this swearing is ever unleful. This sentence
witnesseth Chrysostome plainely, blaming them greatly that bring
forth a booke for to sweare upon, charging clerkes that in no
wise they constraine any body to sweare, whether they thinke a
man to sweare true or false.
And the archbishop and his clerkes scorned me, and blamed
me greatly for this saying. And the archbishop manassed mee
with great punishment and sharpe, except I left this opinion of
swearing. And I said, Sir, this is not mine opinion, but it is the opinion
of Christ our Saviour, and of saint James, and of Chrysostome,
and of other divers saints and doctors.
Then the archbishop bad a clerke reade this homilie of Chry
sostome ; which homilie this clerke held in his hand written in
a roll ; which roll the archbishop caused to be taken from my
feUow at Canturburie. And so then this clerke read this roU,
till he came to a clause where Chrysostome saith, that it is a sin
to sweare weU.
And then a clerke (Malveren, as I gesse) said to the arch-

WILLIAM THORPE. 335
bishop, Sir, I pray you wete of him, how he understandeth
Chrysostome here, saying it to be sin to sweare weU.
And so the archbishop asked mee, how I understood here
Chrysostome. And certaine, I was somewhat affraid to answere thereto : for
I had busied me to studie about the sense thereof, but lifting up
my mind to God, I prayed him of grace. And as fast as, I
thought how Christ said to his apostles, When for my name ye
shall be brought before judges, I shall give into your mouth, wisdome
that your adversaries shall not against say. And trusting faith
fully in the word of God, I said, Sir, I know well that many men
and women, have now swearing so in custome, that they know
not, nor will not know, that they do evill to sweare as they doe :
but they thinke and say, that they doe weU for to sweare as they
do : though they know well that they swear untruely. For they
say, they may by their swearing (though it be false) voide blame
or temporaU harme, which they should have if they sweare not
thus. And sir, many men and women maintaine strongly that
they sweare well, when that thing is sooth that they sweare for.
Also full many men and women say now, that it is well done to
sweare by creatures, when they may not (as they say) otherwise
be believed. And also, full many men and women now say, that
it is well done to sweare by God, and by our Ladie, and by
other saints, for to have them in minde. But since al these
sayings are but excusations, and sinne, me thinketh sir, that this
sense of Chrysostome may be alleaged well against all such
swearers ; witnessing that all these sinne grievouslie, though
they thinke themselves for to sweare in this foresaid wise, well :
for it is evill done, and great sin for to sweare truth, when in any
maner a man may excuse himselfe without oth.
And the archbishop said, that Chrysostome might bee thus
understood. And then a clerke said to me ; Wilt you tarrie my lord no
lenger, but submit thee here meekely to the ordinance of holy
church, and lay thy hand upon a booke, touching the holy gospel
of God, promising not onely with thy mouth, but also with thine
heart to stand to my lords ordinance 2
And I said ; Sir, have I not told you here, how that I heard
a master of divinity say, that in such case it is all one to touch a
booke, and to sweare by a booke 2
And the archbishop said ; There is no master of divinitie in

336 WILLIAM THORPE.
England so great, that if he hold this opinion before me, but I
shall punish him, as I shall doe thee, except thou sweare as I
shall charge thee.
And I said ; Sir, is not Chrysostome an ententife doctor 2
And the archbishop said, Yea.
And I said ; If Chrysostome prove him worthie great blame,
that bringeth forth a booke to sweare upon, it must needs follow,
that hee is more to blame that sweareth on that booke.
And the archbishop said ; If Chrysostome meant accordingly
to the ordinance of holy church, we will accept him.
And then said a clerke to me ; Is not the word of God and
God himselfe equipoUent, that is, of one authoritie 2
And I said, Yea.
Then he said to me, Why wilt thou not sweare then by tho
gospel of God, that is, Gods word, since it is al one to sweare by
the word of God and by God himselfe ?
And I said : Sir, since I may not now otherwise be beleeved,
but by swearing ; I perceive (as Austin saith) that it is not
speedefull that ye that should be my brethren should not beleeve
me ; therefore I am readie by the word of God (as the Lord
commandeth me by his word) to sweare.
Then the clerke said to mee ; Lay then thine hand upon the
booke, touching the holie gospell of God and take thy charge.
And I said ; Sir, I understand that the holy gospell of God
may not be touched by mans hand.
And the clerke said I fonded, and that I said not truth.
And I asked this clerke, whether it were more to reade the
gospell than to touch the gospell.
And he said it was more to reade the gospell.
Then I said ; Sir, by authoritie of saint Hierome, the gospell
is not the gospell for reading of the letter, but for the beleefe
that men have in the word of God. That it is the gospell that
we beleeve, and not the letter that we reade : for the letter that
is touched with mans hand, is not the gospell, but the sentence
that is verily beleeved in mans heart, is the gospell. For so
Hierome saith ; The gospell, that is the vertue of Gods word, is
not in the leaves of the booke, but it is in the roote of reason.
Neither the gospell (he saith) is in the writing alone ofthe letters,
but the gospell is in the marking of the sentences of scriptures.
This sentence approveth S. Paul, saying thus ; The kingdome of
God is not in word, but in vertue. And David saith ; The voice

WILLIAM THORPE. 337
ofthe Lord, that is, his word, is in vertue. And after David
saith; Through the word of God the heavens were formed, and in
the spirit of his mouth is all the vertue of tliem. And I pray you
sir, understand yee well how David saith then, in the spirit of
the mouth of the Lord, is aU the vertue of angels and of men.
And the clerke said to me ; Thou wouldest make us too fond
with thee. Say we not that the gospell is written in the masse
booke ?
And I said ; Sir, though men use to say thus, yet it is an
unperfect speech. For the principall part of a thing is properly
the whole thing. For loe, mans soule that may not now bee
- seene here hor touched with any sensible thing, is properly man.
And all the vertue of a tree is in the root thereof that may not
be seene, for doe away the roote, and the tree is destroyed.
And sir, as ye said to mee right now, God and his word are of
one authoritie : And sir, saint Hierome witnesseth, that Christ
(very God and very man) is hid in the letter of the law : thus
also sir, the gospell is hid in the letter. For sir, as it is full
likely many divers men and women here in the earth touched
Christ and saw him, and knew his bodily person, which neither
touched, nor saw, nor knew ghostly his godhead ; right thus sir,
many men now touch and see, and write, and reade the Scriptures,
of Gods law, which neither see, touch, nor reade effectually the
gospell. For as the godhead of Christ (that is, the vertue of
God) is knowne by the vertue of beleefe, so is the gospell, that is
Christs word.
And a clerke said to me, These be fuU mistie matters and
unsavorie that thou shewest here to us.
And I said ; Sir, if ye that are masters, know not plainely this
sentence, ye may sore dread that the kingdome of heaven be
taken from you, as it was from the princes of priests, and from
the elders of the Jewes.
And then a clerke (as I gesse, Malveren) said to me ; Thou
knowest not thine equivocations : for the kingdome of heaven
hath divers understandings. What caUest thou the kingdome of
heaven in this sentence, that thou shewest here ?
And I said ; Sir, by good reason and sentence of doctors the
realm of heaven is called here, the understanding of God's word.
And a clerk said to me ; From whom thinkest thou that this
understanding is taken away ?
And I said ; Sir, (by authoritie of Christ himselfe) the effec-
vol. i. z

338 WILLIAM THORPE.
tuall understanding of Christs word is taken away from all them
chieflie, which are great lettered men, and presume to understand
high things, and will be holden wise men, and desire mastership
and high state and dignitie, but they will not conforme them to
the living and teaching of Christ and of his apostles.
Then the archbishop said ; Well, well, thou wilt judge thy
soveraignes. By God, the king doth not his dutie, but he suffer
thee to be condemned.
And then another clerke said to me ; Why (on Friday that last
was) counselledst thou a man of my lords that hee should not
shrive him to no man, but onely to God ?
And with this asking I was abashed. And then by and by I
knewe that I was subtillie betraied of a man that came to me in
prison on the Friday before, communing with me in this matter
of confession. And certaine, by his words I thought, that this
man came then to me of full fervent and charitable will : but
now I know he came to tempt me and to accuse me ; God for
give him if it be his will. And with all my heart when I had
thought thus, I said to this clerke, sir, I pray you that ye would
fetch this man hither; and all the words as neare as I can
repeate them, which that I spake to him, on Friday in the prison,
1 will rehearse now here before you al, and before him.
And (as I gesse) the archbishop then said to me, They that are
now here suffice to repeat them. How saidst thou to him?
And I said ; Sir, that man came and asked me in divers
things, and after his asking, I answered him (as I understood)
that good was. And as he shewed to me by his words, he was
sorie of his living in court, and right heavie for his owne vicious
living, and also for the viciousness of other men, and specially of
priests evill living : and herefore he said to mee with a sorrowful
heart (as I gessed) that he purposed fully within short time for to
leave the court, and to busie him to know Gods law, and to con
forme all his life thereafter. And when hee had said to me these
words and moe other which I would rehearse and he were present,
he prayed me to heare his confession. And I said to him ; Sir,
wherefore come ye to me, to bee confessed of me ? ye wote well
that the archbishop putteth and holdeth mee here, as one unwor
thy either to give or to take any sacrament of holy church.
And he said to me ; Brother I wote well, and so wote many
other moe, that you and such other are wrongfully vexed, and
therefore I commune with you the mora gladly. And I said to

WILLIAM THORPE. 339
him; Certaine I wote weU that many men of this court, and
specially the priests of this houshold would be full evill apaid 4
both with you and me, if they wist that ye were confessed of me.
And he said, that he cared not therefore, for he had full little
affection in them. And as me thought, he spake these words
and many other, of good will and of high desire, for to have
knowne and done the pleasant will of God. And I said to him,
as with my foresaid protestation I say to you now here ; sir, I
counseU you, for to absent you from al evill companie, and to
draw you to them that love and busie them to know and to keepe
the precepts of God : and then the good spirit of God wiU move
you for to occupie busily aU your wits in gathering together of all
your sins, as far as ye can bethinke you, shaming greatly of them
and sorrowing heartily for them ; yea sir, the Holy Ghost wil
then put in your heart a good wil and a fervent desire for to take
and to hold a good purpose to hate ever and to flie (after your
cunning and power) aU occasion of sinne : and so then, wisdome
shaU come to you from above, lightening (with divers beames of
grace and of heavenly desire) all your wits, informing you how
ye shall trust stedfastly in the mercy of the Lord, knowledging
to him onely aU your vicious living, praying to him ever devoutly
of charitable counsell and continuance, hoping without doubt,
that if yee continue thus busying you faithfully to know and to
keepe his biddings, that he will (for he onely may) forgive you all
your sins. And this man said to me ; Though God forgive men
their sinnes, yet it behoveth men to be assoUed of priests, and to
doe the penance that they enjoyne them.
And I said to him ; Sir, it is all one to assoile men of their
sinnes, and to forgive men their sinnes. Wherefore since it per-
taineth onely God to forgive sinne, it sufficeth in this case, to
counsell men and women for to leave their sinne, and to comfort
them that busie them thus to do, for to hope stedfastly in the
mercy of God. And againe ward, priests ought to teU sharpely
to customable sinners, that if they wiU not make an end of their
sinne, but continue in divers sinnes while that they may sinne, aU
4 Evill apaid.] Ill-satisfied, ill-contented. Thus in Jack Upland against
the friars. " Why be ye evill apaid that secular priests should preach the
gospell, sith God himselfe hath bodden hem?"— Chaucer's Works, p. 618.
edit. 1687. See also Fox's Acts, p. 239. 372; Pathway to perfect Knowledge,
signat. c. 1. b. The word is used in the same meaning by archbishop Whit
gift, in the year 1584. Strype's Life of Whitgift, p. 172.
z 2

340 WILLIAM THORPE.
such deserve paine without any end. And herefore, priests
should ever busie them to live well and holily, and to teach the
people busily and truely the word of God, shewing to all folke in
open preaching and in privie counselling, that the Lord God onely
forgiveth sinne. And therefore, those priests that take upon them
to assoile men of their sinnes, blaspheme God; since that it
pertaineth onely to the Lord, to assoile men of all their sinnes.
For no doubt a thousand yeare after that Christ was man, no
priest of Christ durst take upon him to teach the people, neither
privilie nor apertly, that they behoved needs to come to be
assoiled of them, as priests now doe. But by authoritie of Christs
word, priests bound indurate customable sinners to everlasting
paines, which in no time of their living would busie them faith
fully to know the biddings of God, nor to keepe them. And
againe, all they that would occupy all their wits to hate and to
flie all occasion of sin, dreading over all things to offend God,
and loving for to please him continuaUy, to these men and women
priests shewed how the Lord assoiled them of all their sinnes ;
and thus Christ promised to confirme in heaven all the binding
and loosing that priests by authority of his word, bind men in sin
that are indurate therein, or loose them out of sin here upon
earth, that are verily repentant. And this man hearing these
words said, that he might well in conscience consent to this sen
tence. But he said ; Is it not needefull to the lay people that
cannot thus doe, to goe shrieve them to priests 2 And I said, If
a man feele himselfe so distroubled with any sinne, that he cannot
by his owne wit avoide this sin without counsell of them that are
herein wiser than he ; in such a case, the counsell of a good
priest is full necessarie. And if a good priest faile, as they do
now commonly, in such a case, saint Augustine saith, that a man
may lawfuUy commune and take counseU of a vertuous secular
man. But certaine, that man or woman is overladen and too
beastly, which cannot bring their owne sinnes into their mind,
busying them night and day for to hate and to forsake all their
sins, doing a sigh for them after their cunning and power. And
sir, full accordinglie to this sentence upon Midlent Sunday (two
yeare as I gesse now agone) I heard a monke of Feversam, that
men called Morden, preach at Canterburie, at the crosse within
Christ church abbey, saying thus of confession : That as through
the suggestion of the feend without counsell of any other body,
of themselves many men and women can imagine and find meanes

WILLIAM THORPE. 341
and waies enough to come to pride, to theft, to lecherie, and other
divers vices ; in contrariwise this monke said, Since the Lord
God is more readie to forgive sinne, than the feend is or may be of
power to move any body to sinne ; then whosoever will shame
and sorrow heartily for their sins, knowledging them faithfully to
God, amending them after their power and cunning, without
counsell of any other body than of God and of himselfe (through
the grace of God) all such men and women may find sufficient
meanes to come to Gods mercy, and so to be cleane assoiled of
all their sinnes. This sentence I said sir to this man of yours,
and the selfe words as neere as I can gesse.
And the archbishop said, Holy church approveth not this
learning. And I said, Sir, holy church, of which Christ is head in heaven
and in earth, must needs approve this sentence. For loe, hereby
all men and women may, if they will, be sufficiently taught to
know and keepe the commandements of God, and to hate and to
flie continually all occasion of sinne, and to love and to seeke
vertues busilie, and to beleeve in God stablie, and to trust in his
mercie stedfastly, and so to come to perfect charity and continue
therin perseverantly. And more the Lord asketh not of any
man here now in this life. And certaine, since Jesu Christ died
upon the crosse, wilfully to make men free ; men of the church
are too bold and too busie, to make men thrall, binding them
under the paine of endles curse, as they say, to doe many obser
vances and ordinances which neither the living nor teaching 0f
Christ nor of his apostles approveth.
And a clerke said then to me, Thou shewest plainely here thy
deceit, which thou hast learned of them that traveU to sow the
popple 5 among the wheat. But I counsell thee to goe away
cleane from this learning, and submit thee lowly to my lord, and
thou shalt find him yet to be gratious to thee.
And as fast then, an other clerke said to me, How wast thou
so bold at Paul's crosse in London, to stand there hard with thy
tippet bounden about thine heade, and to reprove in his sermon
the worthie clerke Alkerton, drawing away all that thou mightest 2
yea, and the same day at after noone, thou meeting the worthie
doctor in Watlingstreet, calledst him false flatterer and hypocrite.
And I said ; Sir, I thinke certainely that there was no man
6 The popple.] See above, p. 230, note (7).

342 WILLIAM THORPE.
nor woman that hated verily sinne, and loved vertues (hearing
the sermon of the clerke at Oxford, and also Alkertons sermon)
but they said or might justly say, that Alkerton reproved that
clerke untruly, and slandered him wrongfully and uncharitablie.
For no doubt, if the living and teaching of Christ chieflie and of
his apostles bee true, no body that loveth God and his law, will
blame any sentence that the clerke then preached there : since by
authority of Gods word, and by approved saints and doctors, and
by open reason, this clerke approved all things cleerely that he
preached there.
And a clerke of the archbishops said to me ; His sermon was
false, and that he sheweth openly, since he dare not stand forth
and defend his preaching that he then preached there.
And I said ; Sir, I thinke that he purposeth to stand stead
fastly thereby, or else he slandereth fouly himself, and also many
other that have great trust that he will stand by the truth of the
gospel. For I wote well, this sermon is written both in Latine
and English, and many men have it and they set great price
thereby. And sir, If yee were present with the archbishop at
Lambeth when this clerke appeared and was at his answer before
the archbishop, ye wote well that this clerke denied not there his
sermon, but two daies he maintained it before the archbishop and
his clerks.
And then the archbishop or one of his clerks said (I wote not
which of them) that harlot shall be met with, for that sermon.
For no man but he and thou, and such other false harlots, praiseth
any such preaching.
And then the archbishop said, Your cursed sect is busie, and
it joy eth right greatly to contrary and to destroy the priviledge
and freedome of holy church.
And I said ; Sir, I know no men that travel so busilie as this
sect doth (which you reprove) to make rest and peace in holy
church. For pride, covetousnesse and simonie, which distrouble
most holy church, this sect hateth and fleeth, and travelleth busi
lie to move all other men in like maner, unto meekenesse and
wilfull povertie, and charitie, and free ministring of the sacra
ments. This sect loveth and useth, and is full busie to move all
other folks thus to doe. For these vertues owe all members of
holy church, to their head Christ.
Then a clerke said to the archbishop ; Sir, it is farre daies, and
ye have farre to ride to night ; therefore make an end with him,

WILLIAM THORPE. 343
for he wiU none make : but the more sir, that ye busie you for
to draw him toward you, the more contumaxe he is made and the
further fro you.
And then Malveren said to me, WiUiam, kneele downe, and
pray my lord of grace, and leave aU thy fantasies, and become a
chdd of holy church.
And I said ; Sir, I have prayed the archbishop oft, and yet I
pray him for the love of Christ, that hee wUl leave his indignation
that he hath against me ; and that he wiU suffer me after my
cunning and power, for to doe mine office of priesthood, as I am
charged of God to doe it. For I covet nought else but to serve
my God to his pleasing in the state that I stand in, and have
taken me to.
And the archbishop said to me ; If of good heart thou wUt
submit thee now here meekely, to be ruled from this time forth
by my counseU, obeying meekely and wflfuUy to ray ordinance,
thou shalt find it most profitable and best to thee for to do thus.
Therefore tarrie thou me no longer, grant to doe this that I have
said to thee now here shortly, or deny it utterly.
And I said to the archbishop ; Sir, owe we to beleeve that Jesu
Christ was and is, very God and very man I
And the archbishop said, Yea.
And I said ; Sir, owe we to beleeve that aU Christs living and
his teaching is true in every point ;
And he said, Yea.
And I said ; Sir, owe we to beleeve that the living of the
apostles, and the teaching of Christ, and aU the prophets, are
true which are written in the bible, for the health and salvation
of good people 2
And he said, Yea.
And I said ; Sir, owe aU christian men and women after their
cunning and power, for to conforme aU their living, to the
teaching speciaUy of Christ, and also to the teaching and living
of his apostles and prophets, in things that are pleasant to God,
and for the edification of his church 2
And he said, Yea.
And I said ; Sir, ought the doctrine, the bidding, or the coun
seU of any body, to be accepted or obeyed unto ; except this
doctrine, these biddings or this counseU, may be granted and
affirmed by Christs living and his teaching speciaUy, or by the
living and teaching of his apostles and prophets 2

344 WILLIAM THORPE.
And the archbishop said to me : Other doctrine ought not to
bee accepted, nor wee owe not to obey to any mans bidding or
counsell, except we can perceive that his bidding or counsell,
according with the life and teaching of Christ 6, and of his apos
tles and prophets.
And I said; Sir, is not all the learning, and biddings and
counsels of holy church, meanes and healefuU remedies, to know
and to withstand the privie suggestions, and the apert temptations
of the fiend 2 and also waies and healefuU remedies, to stay pride
and all other deadly sinnes, and the branches of them, and sove
raigne meanes to purchase grace for to withstand and overcome
all the fleshly lusts and movings 2
And the archbishop said, Yea.
And I said ; Sir, whatsoever thing ye or any other body bid or
counsell me to doe, accordingly to this foresaid learning, after my
cunning and power, through the helpe of God, I will meekely
with all my heart obey thereto.
And the archbishop said to me ; Submit thee then now here
meekely and wilfully, to the ordinance of holy church, which I
shall shew to thee.
And I said ; Sir, accordingly as I have here now before you
rehearsed, I will now be readie to obey full gladly to Christ the
head of the holy church, and to the learning and biddings and
counsels of every pleasing member of him.
Then the archbishop striking with his hand fiercely upon a
cupbord, spake to me with a great spirit, saying ; By Jesu, but if
thou leave not such additions, obliging thee now here without
any exception to mine ordinance (or that I goe out of this place)
I shall make thee as sure, as any theefe that is in the prison of
Lanterne 7 : advise thee now what thou wilt doe. And then as
if he had beene angred, he went fro the cupbord where hee stood,
to a window.
And then Malveren and an other clerke came neerer mee, and
they spake to me many words full pleasantly : and an other while
they manassed mee, and counselled full busilie to submit me, or
else they said I should not escape punishing over measure : for
they said, I should be degraded, cursed, and burned, and so then
c Teaching of Christ .] See Art. XX. ofthe Church of England.
7 Prison of Lanterne.] Most probably the Lanthorn Tower of Saltwood
Castle, used as the prison.

WILLIAM THORPE. 345
damned. But now, they said, thou maiest eschew all these mis-
chiefes, if thou wilt submit thee willfully and meekly to this
worthie prelate, that hath cure of thy soule. And for the pittie
of Christ (said they) bethinke thee, how great clerks the bishop
of Lincolne, Herford, and Purvey were, and yet are, and also
B. that is a well understanding man : which also have forsaken
and revoked, all the learning and opinions, that thou and such
other hold. Wherefore, since each of them is mikle wiser than
thou art, we counsell thee for the best, that by the example
of these foure clerks, thou follow them, submitting thee as
they did.
And one of the bishops clerks said then there, that he heard
Nicolas Herford say, that since he forsooke and revoked all the
learning and Lollards opinions, he hath had mikle greater favour
and more delight to hold against them, than ever hee had to hold
with them, while he held with them.
And therfore Malveren said to me ; I understand, and thou
wilt take thee to a priest, and shrieve thee cleane, forsake all such
opinions, and take the penance of my lord here, for the holding
and teaching of them, within short time, thou shalt be greatly
comforted in this doing.
And I said to the clerks, that thus busilie counselled me to
follow these foresaid men ; Sirs, if these men of whom ye coun
sell me to take example, had forsaken benefices of temporall
profit, and of worldly worship, so that they had absented them,
and eschewed from all occasions of covetousnesse and of fleshly
lust, and had taken upon them simple living, and wilfull povertie,
they had herein given good example to me and to many other, to
have followed them. But now, since aU these foure men have
slanderouslie and shamefuUy done the contrarie, consenting to
receive and to have and to hold temporall benefices, living now
more worldly, and more fleshly than they did before, conforming
them to the maners of this world ; I forsake them herein, and in
all their foresaid slanderous doing. For I purpose with the helpe
of God (into remission of my sinnes, and of my foule cursed
living) to hate and to flee privily and apertly, to follow these men ;
teaching and counselling whomsoever that I may, for to flee and
to eschew the way that they have chosen to goe in, which will
lead them to the worst end, (if in convenient time they repent
them not) verily forsaking and revoking openly the slander that
they have put, and every day yet put, to Christs church. For

346 WILLIAM THORPE.
certaine, so open blasphemy and slander as they have spoken and
done, in their revoking and forsaking of the truth, ought not nor
may not privily be amended, duly. Wherefore sirs, I pray you
that you busie not for to move me to follow these men, in revoking
and forsaking the truth, and soothfastnes, as they have done, and
yet do ; wherein by open evidence they stirre God to great wrath,
and not onely against themselves, but also against all them that
favour them, or consent to them herein, or that communeth with
them, except it be for their amendment. For whereas these
men first were pursued of enemies, now they have obliged them
by oth for to slander and pursue Christ in his members. Where
fore (as I trust stedfastly in the goodnesse of God) the worldly
covetousnesse, and the lustie living and the sliding from the truth
of those runagates shall be to me and to many other men and
women, an example and an evidence, to stand more stiflie by the
truth of Christ. For certaine, right many men and women do
marke and abhor the foulenesse and cowardnesse of these foresaid
untrue men, how that they are overcome and stopped with be
nefices, and withdrawne from the truth of God's word, forsaking
utterly to suffer therefore bodily persecution. For by this un
faithfuU doing and apostasie of them especially that are great
lettered men, and have knowledged openly the truth, and now,
either for pleasure or displeasure of tyrants, have taken hire and
temporall wages to forsake the truth, and to hold against it,
slandering and pursuing them that covet to follow Christ in the
way of righteousnes, many men and women therefore are now
moved. But many moe thorow the grace of God, shall be moved
hereby for to learne the truth of God, to doe thereafter, and to
stand boldly thereby.
Then the archbishop said to his clerks ; Busie you no longer
about him, for he and other such as he is, are confedered together
that they will not sweare to be obedient, and to submit them to
prelats of holy church. For now since I stood here, his fellow
also sent me word that he wiU not sweare, and that this fellow
counselled him that he should not sweare to me. And losell, in
that thing that in thee is, thou hast busied thee to lose this
yong man ; but blessed bee God, thou shalt not have thy purpose
of him. For he hath forsaken all thy learning, submitting him to
bee buxum and obedient to the ordinance of holy church, and
weepeth full bitterly, and curseth thee full heartily for the
venemous teaching which thou hast shewed to him, counseUing

WILLIAM THORPE. 347
him to do thereafter. And for thy false counselling of many
other and him, thou hast great cause to be right sorie. For long
time thou hast busied thee to pervert whomsoever thou mightest.
Therefore, as many deathes thou art worthie of, as thou hast
given eviU counsels. And therefore by Jesu, thou shalt goe
thither, where Nicolas Herford and Thomas Purvey were har
bored. And I undertake, or this day eight daies thou shalt be
right glad for to do what thing that ever I bid thee to do. And
losell, I shall assay, if I can make thee there as sorrowfull (as it
was told mee) thou wast glad of my last going out of England 8.
By St. Thomas, I shall turne thy joy into sorrow.
And I said ; Sir, there can no body prove lawfully that I joyed
ever, of the maner of your going out of this land. But sir, to
say the sooth, I was joyfuU when ye were gone : for the bishop of
London in whose prison yee left mee, found in mee no cause for to
hold mee longer in his prison, but at the request of my friends,
he delivered me to them, asking of me no maner of submitting.
Then the archbishop said to me, Wherfore that I yede out of
England, is unknowne to thee : but be this thing well knowne to
thee, that God (as I wote well) hath called me againe, and
brought me into this land, for to destroy thee and the false sect
that thou art of: as by God, I shall pursue you so narrowly, that
I shall not leave a slip of you in this land.
And I said to the archbishop ; Sir, the holy prophet Jeremy
said to the false prophet Anany ; When the word, that is, the pro-
phecie of a prophet is knoione or fulfilled, then it shall bee knowne,
that the Lord sent the prophet in truth.
And the archbishop (as if he had not beene pleased with my
saying) turned him awayward hither and thither, and said ; By
God, I shall set upon thy shinnes a paire of pearles, that thou
shalt be glad to change thy voice.
These and many moe wondrous and convicious words, were
spoken to mee, manassing mee and all other of the same sect,
for to be punished and destroyed unto the uttermost.
And the archbishop called then to him a clerke, and rowned
with him * : and that clerke went forth, and soone brought in the
8 Going out of England^] In the year 1397, within twelve months after his
translation to Canterbury, but not before he had given proofs of his active
zeal against Lollardy, archbishop Arundel was tried on a charge of treason,
condemned and banished. After an absence of about two years he was
restored. 9 Rowned with him.] To rowne or round a person in the ear is much the

348 WILLIAM THORPE.
constable of Saltwood castle, and the archbishop rowned a good
while with him : and then the constable went forth, and then
same as to whisper to him. The word is illustrated by the following extracts,
which however would not have been given solely on that account : but are
produced in the hope that they may administer to more important purposes.
The first is taken from a sermon appointed to be read every year at the anni
versary of the dedication of a parish church. " My hous is called an house
of prayers ; but is now made an house of rownyng, whysperynge, cryenge,
claterynge, scornynge, tales, and symple spekeynge. We rede how saynte
Gregory was at masse on a tyme, and saynte Austyne was his deken, and bad
the people turne to the popes blessyng. Thenne he saw two wymmen rowne
togyder in the popes chapell : and the fende sat in her neckes wrytying a
grete rolle : and it lacked parchment, and he drewe it out with his tethe, and
soo it felle out of his clawes : and saynt Austyn saw it, and went and toke it
up. Thenne the pope was wroth, and asked hym why he laughed hym to
seorne. And he shewed him what the fende had wryten of the wymen. And
thenne he come to the wymmen, and asked theym what they hadde sayed alle
this masse time. And they sayed, our pater noster. Then the pope bad rede
the rolle to theim that the fende hadde wreten. And saint Gregory red it :
and there was never a goode worde therein. Then they kneled downe, and
asked mercy, and besought the pope to praye for theym : and so he dyd ; and
brought them out of the fendes bokes." — Festival, foi. 155, 156. The next
extract is taken from the Mirror of our Lady, very necessary for all religious
persons, a book composed more especially for the use of the nuns of Sion,
being an exposition upon the service of that monastery, in a manner not
unlike Wheatley's and other illustrations of our Liturgy. It supplies many
particulars whereby we may judge of the state of religion at that period.
" Spekers and slepers (at service) let others as well as themselves, and gyve
occasion of yvel. How perylous this vyce ys, ye may se by this example.
There was a yonge religyous vyrgyn aboute ten yere of age in the order of
Cystews (Citeaux, the Cistercian) whose name was Gertrude, whyche after her
deth cam agayne on a day at evensonge tyme, when all the convent was in the
quyer, and enclyned lowe before the hye auter. She cam in to her place
where she was wonte to stande in the quier; and at the ende of evensonge of
our lady, she fel downe prostrate, tyl all was done, and then she rose and
went her wayes. None saw her but another mayde of the same age, that
was wont to stande by her in the quier, whiche was aferde, and tolde yt to the
abbes ; and on the next day, by byddyng of the abbesse, she asked of the
same virgin, when she came agayne, and sayde unto her, syster Gertrude,
good syster Gertrude, from whence comest thou now, and what doest thou
amongest us after thy dethe ? Then she answered and sayd, I come hyther
to make amendes for my trespace, for I rowned to thee in the quyer halfe
wordes, and therefore I am byden do satisfaccion in the same place, and but
that thou be ware of the same vyce, thou shalte suffer the same payne after
thy dethe. And after she had appered so foure tymes, she saide, sister I
hope I have fulfylled my penaunce ; from hencefurthe thou shalte no more
se me ; and so she went to blysse. But take ye hede, syth this yonge mayde
of ten yere of age was punysshed so for halfe wordes, what shall they suffer

WILLIAM THORPE. 349
came in divers seculars, and they scorned mee on every side, and
manassed me greatly. And some counselled the archbishop to
burne me by and by, and some other counselled him to drowne
me in the sea, for it is neare hand there.
And a clerke standing beside mee, there kneeled downe to the
archbishop, praying him that hee would deliver me to him for to
say mattens with him : and hee would undertake, that within
three daies I should not resist any thing that were commanded
me to do of my prelate.
And the archbishop said, that he would ordaine for me him
selfe. And then after, came againe the constable and spake privilie
to the archbishop : and the archbishop commanded the constable
to lead me forth thence with him, and so he did. And when we
were gone forth thence, we were sent after againe. And when I
came in againe before the archbishop, a clerke bad me kneele
downe and aske grace, and submit me lowly, and I should find it
for the best.
And I said then to the archbishop ; Sir, as I have said to you
divers times to day, I will wilfully and lowly obey and subject
mee to be ordained ever after my cunning and power, to God
and to his law, and to everie member of holy church, as far forth
as I can perceive that these members accord with their head
Christ, and will teach me, rule me, or chastise me by authoritie,
specially of Gods law.
And the archbishop said, I wist well he would not without
such additions submit him.
And then I was rebuked, scorned, and manassed on every
side : and yet after this, divers persons cried upon me to kneele
downe and submit me; but I stood still, and spake no word.
And then there was spoken of me, and to me, many great words,
and I stood and heard them manasse, curse, and scorne me : but
I said nothing.
Then a while after, the archbishop said to me, Wilt thou not
submit thee to the ordinance of holy church 2
And I said ; Sir, I will full gladly submit me as I have shewed
you before.
And then the archbishop bad the constable to have me forth
thence in haste.
that ar of greater age for hole wordes spoken in tyme or place of sylence."
Foi. 21.

350 WILLIAM THORPE.
And so then I was led forth, and brought into a foule unhonest
prison, where I came never before. But thanked be God, when
all men were gone forth then from me, and had sparred fast the
prison doore after them, by and by after, I therein by myselfe
busied me to thinke on God, and to thanke him for his goodness.
And I was then greatly comforted in all my wits, not onely for
that I was then delivered for a time from the sight, from the
hearing, from the presence, from the scorning, and from the
manassing of mine enemies ; but much more I rejoiced in the
Lord, because that through his grace he kept me so, both among
the flattering specially, and among the manassing of mine adver
saries, that without heavinesse and anguish of my conscience, I
passed away from them. For as a tree laid upon another tree,
overthwart or crosse wise, so was the archbishop and his three
clerks alwaies contrarie to me, and I to them.
Now good God for thine holy name, and to the praising of thy
most blessed name, make us one together, if it be thy will, by
authority of thy word, that is true perfect charity, and else not.
And that it may thus be, aU that this writing reade or heare,
pray heartily to the Lord God, that hee for his great goodnesse
that cannot bee with tongue expressed, grant to us, and to all
other which in the same wise, and for the same cause specially,
or for any other cause be at distance, to be knit and made one
in true faith, in stedfast hope, and in perfit charitie. Amen.
What was the end of this good man and blessed servant of
God, WiUiam Thorpe, I finde as yet in no storie specified. By
all conjectures it is to be thought, that the archbishop Thomas
Arundel, being so hard an adversary against those men, would
not let him goe. Much less it is to be supposed, that he would
ever retract his sentence and opinion, which he so valiantly
maintained before the bishop ; neither doth it seeme that he had
any such recanting spirit. Againe, neither is it found that he
was burned. Wherefore it remaineth most like to be true, that
hee being committed to some strait prison (according as the
archbishop in his examination before did threaten him) there (as
Thorpe confesseth himselfe) was so straitly kept, that either he
was secretly made away, or else there hee died by sicknesse.

LORD COBHAM.

Friars despisen lords and ladies that bee given to leave pride and vanitie of
the world ; and saien it was not merrie sithen lords and ladies tooken regard
to the Gospel, and leften their ancestors manners, that weren worshipful to
the world. Wickliffe.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In the year 1544, John Bale, afterwards bishop of Ossory, pub
lished A brefe Chronycle concernynge the Examinacyon and Beath
of the Blessed Martyr of Christ Sir Johan Oldecastell the Lorde
Cobham.. It would have been more agreeable to the design of
the Editor, who aims at the production of original authorities, in
preference to subsequent abridgments and compilations, to have
reprinted that volume intire. But there is a degree of coarse
ness in the style of this, as well as every other work of that
zealous, but impure and inconsiderate writer1, and so much intem
perance in his language, wherever the Romish church, and its
religion fall in his way, that it was impossible for the Editor to
comply with his first desire. With one exception therefore, the
following Narrative is taken from Fox ; whose account com
prises nearly all that is valuable in Bale's. The exception referred
to consists in the description of the death of Lord Cobham, which
is left very imperfectly told by Fox, and therefore is here borrowed
correctly from Bale. The principal part of the whole process is
derived from the Register of Archbishop Arundel, which is still
extant in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth ; and from
other documents of incontestable authenticity.
1 Inconsiderate writer.] Of whom Henry Wharton, who was not in the habit
of speaking at random, has said, " But Bale is scarcely to be believed, when
he relates a matter upon his own knowledge, much less when he delivers any
thing at 1200 years distance, without any authority." — Specimen of Errors,
&c. p. 85.

VOL. I. A a

Of the earlier life of Sir John Oldcastle, prior to the commencement of
Fox's narrative, not many particulars are known. His services appear to
have been confined chiefly to Wales. In Nov. 1401, he was constituted
captain of Buelt, having under his command twenty men-at-arms and forty
archers, and in 1 403 he was captain of Kidwelly castle, with forty lances and
220 archers. In 1404 he had the custody, jointly with John Ap Herry, of
the castles of Hay and Brecknock, and in the 8th Henry IV. (1406-7) he
was high sheriff of Herefordshire. Hitherto his station had been, compara
tively speaking, unimportant, and his influence small ; but by his marriage
with the heiress of the rich and powerful lord Cobham, he became possessed
of great estates, and was summoned to parliament as a baron jure uxoris.
John de Cobham, Lord Cobham, who appears in many of the most impor
tant transactions of the reigns of Edward III. and Richard IL, and whom
Walsingham calls "a very old man just and upright," died on the 10th of
January, 1408 ; having had by his wife Margaret, one of the daughters of
Hugh Courtenay, earl of Devonshire, an only daughter, Joane, who died in
her father's lifetime, leaving issue by her husband, Sir John Delapole, a
daughter of her own name, Joane. This lady, the granddaughter of the old
lord, married first Sir Gerard Braybroke, knt., and secondly Sir Nicholas
Hawberk, knt., governor of Flint Castle, who was living at the time of Lord
Cobham's death, but died soon after; for in 1409 his widow, then about
thirty years of age, had become the wife of Sir John Oldcastle.
It was on the 26th of October, 1409 (11th Henry IV.) that Sir John Old
castle was first summoned to parliament, and in his own name : but he was
summoned in the 12th and 14th years of Henry IV. and in the 1st of Henry V.
as Lord Cobham, by which title he was afterwards known. In the 12th of
Henry IV. he was sent beyond sea with the Earl of Arundel, and a consider
able force, to aid the duke of Burgundy against the French. He was burned
in the beginning of the year 1418, leaving no child: his widow married for
her fourth husband Sir John Harpden, knt., and died in the 12th year of
Henry VI. (1433-34.) Sir John Harpden was never summoned to parliament,
but in the 23rd of Henry VI. the title of Lord Cobham was revived in the
person of Sir Edward Brooke, the grandson of Joane Cobham and her first
husband, Sir Gerard Braybroke.
It is necessary to give these particulars, as Bale and Gilpin have in some
instances confounded the actions of Sir John Oldcastle and his wife's grand
father, the old Lord Cobham, and their errors have been copied by writers in
our own time.

LORD COBHAM.

After Henry the fourth, raigned Henry the fifth his sonne,
which was borne at Monmouth in Wales, of whose other vertues
and great victories gotten in France, I have not greatly to inter
meddle ; especially seeing the memory of his worthy prowesse,
being sufficiently described in other writers in this our time, may
both content the reader, and unburden my labour herein ; espe
cially seeing these latter troubles and perturbations of the church
offer me so much, that unneth any vacant leasure shal be left to
intermeddle with matters prophane.
After the coronation then of this new king, which was the
ninth day of Aprill, (a.d. 1413) called then Passion Sunday',
which was an exceeding stormy day, and so tempestuous, that
many did wonder at the portent thereof; not long after the
same, a parliament began to be called, and to be holden after the
feast of Easter, at Westminster, an. 1413. At which time,
Thomas Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury, coUected in
1 Passion Sunday. ] The fifth Sunday in Lent was so called, " Though I
think (says Wheatly) that would be a more proper name for the Sunday
following : but the reason, I suppose, why that title is thrown back to this, is
because the Sunday next before Easter is generally called Palm-Sunday, in
commemoration of our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jerusalem." Illustra
tion ofthe Common Prayer, p. 205, edit. 1794. But, I apprehend, a much better
account of the origin of this name may be derived from the Festival. " Dere
frendes, this day is called the sondaye in passyon weke. This daye our Lord
Jhesu Cryste begane his passyon: for this daye the Jewes hadde such an
envye to hym, bycause he tolde theyr defautes and vyces and meslyvynge,
and soo for this cause they repreved hym : so this daye they were full assented
to do hym to dethe." Foi. 25. The gospel, appointed to be read in the
church on that day, was then, as it still is, the 8th chap, of St. John, v. 46, &c.
where the Jews take up stones to cast at Jesus ; and thence the name appears
to have originated.
a a 2

356 LORD COBHAM.
Pauls church at London an universal synod of all the bishops
and clergy of England.
The chiefe and principall cause of the assembling thereof (as
recordeth the chronicles of S. Albons) was to represse the growing
and spreading of the gospeU, and especiaUy to withstand the
noble and worthy lord Cobham, who was then noted to be a
principall favourer 2, receiver, and maintainer of them, whom the
bishop misnamed to be LoUards, especially in the diocesses of
London, Rochester, and Hereford, setting them up to preach
whom the bishops had not licensed, and sending them about to
preach, which was against the constitution provinciaU, before
remembered 3, holding also and teaching opinions of the sacra
ments, of images, of pilgrimage, of the keies and church of
Rome, contrary and repugnant to the received determination of
the Romish church.
In the meane time, as these were in talke amongst them, con
cerning the good lord Cobham, resorted unto them the twelve
inquisitors of heresies (whom they had appointed at Oxford l the
yeere afore, to search out heretikes, with all Wickliffes bookes),
who brought two hundred and forty-six conclusions 5, which they
had collected as heresies out of the said bookes.
These things thus done, and the articles being brought in,
further they proceeded in their communication, concluding among
themselves, that it was not possible for them to make whole
Christs coat without seame (meaning thereby their patched
popish synagogue) unlesse certain great men 6 were brought out
of the way, which seemed to be the chiefe maintainers of the said
disciples of Wickliffe. Among whom this noble knight sir John
Oldcastle the lord Cobham, was complained of by the generaU
proctors to be the chief principaU. Him they accused, first, for
a mighty maintainer of suspected preachers in the diocesse of
London, Rochester, and Hereford, contrary to the minds of
their ordinaries. Not only they affirmed him to have sent thither
the said preachers, but also to have assisted them there by force

2 Principall favourer .] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 329, 30.
3 Before remembered.] See Life of Thorpe, p. 283, note.
4 Appointed at Oxford.] See above, note on Thorpe's Examination, p. 272.
6 Two hundred and forty-six conclusions.] These are printed at length in
Wilkins's Concil. vol. iii. p. 333—349, to the amount of 267.
6 Certain great men.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 352.

LORD COBHAM. 357
of armes, notwithstanding their synodall constitution 7 made afore
to the contrary. Last of all they accused him that he was far
otherwise in beleefe of the sacrament of the altar, of penance, of
pilgrimage, of image worshipping, and of the ecclesiasticall power,
then the holy church of Rome had taught many yeeres before.
In the end it was concluded among them, that without any
further delay, processe shoidd be awarded out against him, as
against a most pernitious heretike.
Some of that fellowship which were of more crafty experience
than the other, thought it not best to have the matter so rashly
handled, but by some preparation made thereunto before : con
sidering the said lord Cobham was a man of great birth, and in
favour at that time with the king, their counsell was to know first
the kings mind, to save all things upright. This counseU was
well accepted, and thereupon the archbishop Thomas Arundell
with his other bishops, and a great part of the clergy, went
straightwaies unto the king, then remaining at Kenyngton ", and
there laid forth most greevous complaints against the said lord
Cobham, to his great infamy and blemish, being a man right
godly. The king gently heard those bloud-thirsty prelats, and
farre otherwise then became his princely dignitie : notwithstand
ing requiring, and instantly desiring them, that in respect of his
7 Their synodall constitution.] See above, note on Thorpe's Examination,
p. 272, 3.
8 At Kenyngton.] The same day in which Lord Cobham appeared
before the king at Kennington, a great many books of Wickliffe and others of
his sect were burnt at St. Paul's cross, the archbishop preaching to the
people, and stating the reasons for the conflagration. Among these volumes
was one which contained several small tracts tending, as the register relates,
to the subversion of the faith, and of holy church, which had been discovered
at a limner's in Pater-noster row, where it was lying for the purpose of being
illuminated. The artist being apprehended confessed that the book was Lord
Cobham's. The meeting at Kennington, it seems, was a very full one. There
were present almost all the prelates and nobles of England. Certain extracts
had been made by the clergy from Lord Cobham's volume, which were recited
aloud. The king is said to have shown very great abhorrence of them, and
declared they were the most perilous and pestilent he had ever heard. Lord
Cobham being demanded by the king, whether these tracts had been justly
condemned, he owned that they had. Being asked again, why he kept and
read a volume of that description, he denied that he had ever been in the
habit of making use of it ; nor had he read in it more than two or three
leaves. — Arundel's Register, in Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 357. The manor of Ken
nington, in Lambeth, is still vested in the Crown.

358 LORD COBHAM.
noble stocke and knighthood, they should yet favourably deale
with him. And that they would, if it were possible, without aU
rigor or extreme handling, reduce him againe to the churches
unity. He promised them also, that in case they were contented
to take some deliberation, his self9 would seriously commune the
matter with him.
Anon after, the king sent for the said lord Cobham. And as
he was come, he called him secretly, admonishing him betwixt
him and him, to submit himselfe to his mother the holy church,
and as an obedient child to acknowledge himselfe culpable. Unto
whom the Christian knight made this answer, " You most worthy
prince," saith he, " I am alwaies prompt and willing to obey, for
somuch as I know you a Christian king, and the appointed mi
nister of God, bearing the sword to the punishment of evill doers,
and for safeguard of them that be vertuous. Unto you (next my
eternall God) owe I my whole obedience, and submit thereunto
(as I have done ever) all that I have, either of fortune or nature,
ready at all times to fulfill whatsoever ye shall in the Lord
command me. But as touching the pope and his spirituality, I
owe them neither sute nor service, forsomuch as I know him by
the Scriptures to be the great antichrist, the sonne of perdition,
the open adversary of God, and the abomination standing in the
holy place." — When the king had heard this, with such like
sentences more, he would talke no longer with him, but left him
so utterly.
And as the archbishop resorted again unto him for an answere,
hee gave him his full authority to cite him, examine him, and
punish him according to their divellish decrees, which they called
the lawes of holy church.
Then the said archbishop by the counsell of his other bishoppes
and clergy, appointed to call before him sir John Oldcastle the
lord Cobham, and to cause him personally to appeare, to answere
to such suspect articles as they should lay against him. So he
sent forth his chiefe summoner, with a very sharpe citation unto
the castell of Cowling 1, where he at that time dwelt for his solace.
9 His self] This request of the king, the Register tells us, was acquiesced
in by the archbishop and bishops, but not without murmuring on the part of
the inferior clergy. See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 352.
1 Castell of Cowling.] In the fourth year of Richard II. John de Cobham,
Lord Cobham, obtained a license to make a castle of his house at Cowling,
near Rochester.

LORD COBHAM. 359
And as the said summoner was come thither, he durst in no case
enter the gates of so noble a man without his licence ; and there
fore hee returned home againe, his message not done.
Then called the archbishop one John Butler unto him, which
was then the doore keeper of the king's privy chamber ; and with
him he covenanted through promises and rewards, to have this
matter craftily brought to passe under the kings name. Where
upon, the said John Butler took the archbishops sumner with
him, and went unto the said lord Cobham, shewing him that it
was the kings pleasure that he should obey that citation, and so
cited him fraudulently. — Then said hee to them in few words,
that hee in no case would consent to those most divellish practises
of the priests.
As they had informed the archbishop of that answer, and that
it was for no man privatly to cite him after that, without periU of
life, he decreed by and by to have him cited by publike processe
or open commandement. And in all the haste possible, upon the
Wednesday before the nativity of our Lady, in September, he
commanded letters citatory, to be set upon the great gates of
the cathedrall church of Rochester (which was but three English
miles from thence2), charging him to appeare personally before
him at Ledis 3, the eleventh day of the same month and yeere, all
excuses to the contrary set apart. Those letters were taken
downe anon after, by such as bare favor unto the lord Cobham,
and so conveied aside. — After that caused the archbishop new
letters to be set up on the nativity day of our Lady, which also
were rent downe and utterly consumed.
Then forsomuch as he did not appeare at the day appointed at
Ledis (where the archbishop sat in consistory, as cruell as ever
was Caiaphas with his court of hypocrits about him) he judged
him, denounced him, and condemned him of most deepe contu
macie. — After that, when he had been falsely informed by his
2 From thence.] i. e. from Cowling.
3 Before him at Ledis.] Leeds castle in Kent, about five miles from Maid
stone. It had been the property of the Lords Badlesmere, but reverted to or
was seized by the crown, 2 Edward III. It was afterwards inhabited by
William of Wickham, who greatly enlarged it ; by Richard II, and for a "
very short time by Henry IV. Archbishop Arundel procured a grant of this
castle, where he frequently resided and kept his court, whilst the process
against the Lord Cobham was carrying forward. Of late years the castle has
been the property of the Lords Fairfax, and it is now, through the Cole-
peppers, the property of Fiennes Wykeham Martin, Esq., M.P.

360 LORD COBHAM.
hired spies, and other glosing glaverers, that the said lord
Cobham had laughed him to scorne, disdained all his doings,
maintained his old opinions, contemned the churches power, the
dignity of a bishop, and the order of priesthood (for all these was
he then accused of), in his moody madnes without just proofe,
did he openly excommunicat him i. Yet was he not with all this
his fierce tyranny satisfied, but [commanded him to be cited
afresh, to appeare before him the Saturday before ° the feast of
S. Matthew the apostle: with these cruell threatnings added
thereunto, that if he did not obey at the day, he would more
extremely handle him. And to make himselfe more strong
towards the performance thereof, he compelled the lay power by
most terrible menacings of curses and interdictions, to assist him
against that seditious apostata, schismatike, and heretike, the
troubler of the publike peace, that enemy of the realme, and
great adversary of all holy church ; — for all these hatefull names
did he give him.
This most constant servant of the Lord, and worthy knight
sir John Oldcastle, the lord Cobham, beholding the unpeaceable
fury of antichrist thus kindled against him, perceiving himselfe
also compassed on every side with deadly dangers ; he tooke
paper and pen in hand, and so wrote a Christian confession or
reckoning of his faith (which followeth hereafter) both signing
and sealing it with his owne hand. Wherein he also answered
to the foure chiefest articles that the archbishop laid against him.
That done, he tooke the copie with him, and went therewith to
the king, trusting to finde mercy and favor at his hand. None
other was that confession of his, then the common beleefe or
sum of the churches faith, called the Apostles Creed, of all
Christian men then used, with a briefe declaration upon the
same ; as here under ensueth.
The Christian belief e ofthe Lord Cobham.
" I Beleeve in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and
earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, which was
4 Excommunicat him.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 354.
6 Saturday before.] This is according to Bale; but it ought, both in this
place, and where it occurs again below, to be Saturday after; as it is in the
original Register. Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 354. Fox, p. 521. St. Matthew's
Day is Sept. 21.

LORD COBHAM. 361
conceived by the holy Ghost, borne of the Virgin Mary, suffered
under Ponce Pilat, crucified, dead and buried, went down to hell,
the third day rose againe from death, ascended up to heaven,
sitteth on the right hand of God the father almighty, and from
thence shaU come againe to judge the quicke and the dead. I
beleeve in the Holy Ghost, the universall holy church, the com
munion of Saints, the forgivenesse of sins, the uprising of the
flesh, and everlasting life, Amen.
" And for a more large declaration (saith he) of this my faith
in the catholike church, I stedfastly beleeve, that there is but
one God almighty, in and of whose godhead are these three
persons, the Father, the Sonne, and the Holy Ghost, and that
those three persons are the selfesame God almighty.
" I beleeve also that the second person of this most blessed
Trinity, in most convenient time appointed thereunto afore, tooke
flesh and bloud of the most blessed virgin Mary, for the safe-
gard and redemption of the universall kind of man, which was
afore lost in Adams offence.
" Moreover I beleeve, that the same Jesus Christ our lord thus
being both God and man, is the only head of the whole Christian
church, and that all those that have been, or shall be saved, be
members of this most holy church. And this holy church I
thinke to be divided into three sorts or companies :
" Whereof the first sort be now in heaven, and they are the
saints from hence departed. These as they were here conversant,
conformed alwaies their lives to the most holy lawes and pure
examples of Christ, renouncing satan, the world, and the flesh,
with all their concupiscence and evils.
" The second sort are in purgatory (if any such place be 6 in
the Scriptures) abiding the mercy of God, and a ful deliverance
of paine.
" The third sort are here upon the earth, and be caUed the
church militant. For day and night they contend against crafty
assaults of the divell, the flattering prosperities of this world,
and the rebellious filthinesse of the flesh.
" This latter congregation by the just ordinance of God is also

6 If any such place be.] According to Walden, in an address to the parlia
ment, he denied the existence of purgatory. See Fox in the margin. For
Wickliffe's doctrine on this point, see James's Apology, p. 4 1, 42, and Lewis's
History, p. 131, 2.

362 LORD COBHAM.
severed into three divers estates, that is to say, into priesthood,
knighthood^ and the commons. Among whom the will of God is,
that the one should aid the other, but not destroy the other.
The priests first of all, secluded from all worldinesse, should
conforme their lives utterly to the examples of Christ and his
apostles. Evermore should they be occupied in preaching and
teaching the Scriptures purely, and in giving wholesome examples
of good living to the other two degrees of men. More modest
also, more loving, gentle, and lowly in spirit should they be, than
any other sorts of people.
" In knighthood are all they which beare sword by law of
office. These should defend Gods lawes 7, and see that the gospeU
were purely taught, conforming their lives to the same, and
secluding all false preachers : yea these ought rather to hazard
their lives, than to suffer such wicked decrees as either blemish
the eternall testament of God, or yet lett the free passage thereof,
whereby heresies and schismes might spring in the church. For
of none other arise they, as I suppose, than of erroneous consti
tutions, craftily first creeping in under hypocriticall lies, for ad
vantage. They ought also to preserve Gods people from op
pressors, tyrants and theeves ; and to see the clergie supported so
long as they teach purely, pray rightly, and minister the sacra
ments freely. And if they see them do otherwise, they are bound
by the lawe of office to compell them to change their doings ; and
to see all things performed according to Gods prescript ordinance.
" The latter fellowship of this church, are the common people ;
whose duetie is, to beare their good mindes and true obedience
to the foresaid ministers of God, their kings, civili governours
and priests. The right office of these is justly to occupie everie
7 Defend Gods lawes.] " Certes, the swerd that men yeve (give) first to a
knight when he is new dubbed, signifieth, that he should defend holy church,
and not robbe and pill (pillage, spoil) it ; and who so doeth is traitour to
Christ." Chaucer's Parsons Tale, p. 188. edit. 1687. And hence the
custom in some countries, for the nobles to draw their swords, at the recital
of the Creed. Lord Cobham in this three-fold division of the church follows
his master Wickliffe. See James's Apology, p. 41. And with his three-fold
division of the Church militant, the reader may compare a very curious and
excellent sermon, printed a.d. 1582, said to have been preached in the year
1388 by R. Wimbledon, and found hid in a wall. It is reprinted intire by
John Fox, Acts and Monuments, p. 503 — 509, and was printed separately
a d. 1745. 8vo. London. Lewis conjectures that the sermon was probably
Wickliffe's. History of Wickliffe, p. 157.

LORD COBHAM. 363
man his facultie, be it marchandise, handicraft, or the tilthe of the
ground. And so one of them to bee as an helper to another,
following alwaies, in their sortes, the just commandements of the
Lord God.
" Over and besides all this, I most faithfully beleeve that the
sacraments of Christs church are necessarie to all Christian
beleevers ; this alwaies seene to, that they be truly ministred
according to Christes first institution and ordinance.
" And forasmuch as I am maliciously and most falsly accused
of a misbeliefe in the sacrament of the aultar to the hurtfull
slander of many, I signifie here unto all men, that this is my faith
concerning that ; I beleeve in that sacrament to be contained
very Christes bodie and bloud under the similitudes of bread
and wine, yea the same bodie that was conceived of the Holy
Ghost, borne of the virgin Mary, done on the crosse, died, that
was buried, arose the third day from the death ; and is now
glorified in heaven.
" I also beleeve, the universall lawe of God to bee most true
and perfect, and they which do not so follow it in their faith and
workes (at one time or another) can never be saved : whereas he
that seeketh it in faith, accepteth it, learneth it, delighteth
therein, and performeth it in love, shall taste for it the felicitie of
everlasting innocencie.
" Finally, this is my faith also, that God will aske no more of a
Christian beleever in this life, but onely to obey the preceptes of
that most blessed lawe. If any prelate of the church require
more, or els any other kinde of obedience, than this to be used,
hee contemneth Christ, exalteth himselfe above God, and so
becommeth an open antichrist.
" All the premisses I beleeve particularlie ; and. generally all that
God hath left in his holy Scripture, that I should beleeve ;
instantly desiring you my liege lord and most worthy king, that
this confession of mine may be justly examined by the most
goodly wise and learned men of your realme. And if it be found
in all points agreeing to the veritie, then let it be so allowed ; and
I thereupon holden for none other than a true Christian. If it
bee prooved otherwise, then let it be utterly condemned ; provided
alwaies, that I be taught a better beliefe by the word of God : and
I shall most reverently at all times obey thereunto."
This briefe confession of his faith, the lord Cobham wrote (as
is mentioned afore) and so tooke it with him to the court,

364 LORD COBHAM.
offering it with all meekenesse unto the king to reade it over.
The king would in no case receive it, but commanded it to be
delivered unto them that should be his judges. Then desired he in
the kings presence, that an hundred knightes and esquires might
be suffered to come in upon his purgation, which hee knew would
cleare him of all heresies. Moreover hee offered himselfe after
the lawe of armes ", to fight for life or death with any man living,
3 After the lawe of armes.] This is in perfect accordance with the notions
of those times. "Military persons chose this kind of purgation," (incases
where the question could not be determined by legal proof or testimony,) "as
most proper for them, and, after their example, so did other gentlemen and
persons of quality ; nay, not only men, but women also required to have their
innocency cleared by champions fighting for them." Cockburn's History of
Duels, p. 111. In the eighth year of this king's reign, a combat was per
mitted between Audley and Chatterton, in a charge of treason, for betraying
the fort of St. Saviour's. See Cottoni Posthuma, p. 64. Discourse of the
Lawfulness of Combats, a.d. 1651. Again, in the same reign, between the
Dukes of Norfolk and Hertford, the time and place of combat were appointed:
but when they appeared, and were ready to draw upon each other, the king
commanded them to forbear. Cockburn, p. 121. Chaucer informs us in his
Testament of Love, that he offered to prove his truth (about the year 1 390)
by entering the lists with his adversaries, according to the practice of that
age. Even the offices of religion were made subservient to this barbarous
custom. Sometimes the church seems to have complied further, even so as
to have appointed publick prayers for the success of duels ; as appears in the
instance of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, a.d. 1352, who, "having been
informed of some reproachful words spoken against him by the Duke of
Brunswick, resolved to sail over to France to fight him. But before he com
mitted his innocence to the trial of the sword, he desired the bishops of Eng
land to assist him with their prayers, and to recommend him and his cause
to the mercy of God. Accordingly Radulphus de Salopia, Bishop of Bath
and Wells, injoined all the clergy of his diocese to exhort the people in their
several cures every Sunday and holiday, with all humility and devotion, to
beg of God, who is the giver of victory, that he would appear for the honour
of his holy name, and the clearing the truth of the noble Duke, and the glory
of the English nation, by giving success to his arms." The original of the
above account is in the Register of Bath and Wells. Comber's Short
Discourse against Duels. See Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Thomas Comber,
p. 235. a.d. 1799. An estate was bequeathed to St. John's College, Cam
bridge, " in trust and confidence that they would use all their interests and
endeavours, to obtain of the Parliament a repeal of that ungodly trial by
battle." North's Life ofthe Lord Keeper Guilford, vol. i. p. 131. edit. 2. See
also Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, b. ii. c. 8, of trial of
judgment by battle ; and b. iii. c. 3. Sir Henry Spelman mentions a case, in
1571, of a writ of right wherein the trial by battle was allowed of, and the
judges and counsel actually proceeded to the lists in Tothill-fields, "non sine
magna jurisconsultorum perturbatione ,-" but the plaintiff did not appear, and

LORD COBHAM. 365
Christian or heathen, in the quarrell of his faith, the king and the
lords of his counsell excepted. Finally with all gentlenesse hee
protested before all that were present, that he would refuse no
maner of correction that should after the lawes of God be
ministred unto him, but that he would at all times with all meeke
nesse obey it.
Notwithstanding all this, the king suffered him to bee sum
moned personally in his own privy chamber. Then said the lord
Cobham to the king, that he had appealed from the archbishop to
the pope of Rome s, and therefore hee ought, he said, in no case to
be his judge. And having his appeale there at hande readie
written, hee showed it with all reverence to the king. Where
with the king was then much more displeased than afore, and said
angerly unto him, that he should not pursue his appeale : but
rather he should tarry in hold, till such time as it were of the
was nonsuited. So lately even as in 1817 the gauntlet was thrown down
on the floor of the court of Common Pleas, in an appeal of murder (Ash
ford v. Thornton ; and, in fact, the trial by battle continued to disgrace
the law of England until the year 1819, when, on the 22d of June, was
passed "An Act to abolish Appeals of Murder, Treason, Felony, or other
Offences, and Wager of Battel, or joining Issue and Trial by Battel, in Writs
of Right." Statutes at Large, 59 Geo. III. c. xlvi.
9 To the Pope qf Rome.] To Mr. Gilpin's mind there is "something uncom
monly strange" in this appeal of Lord Cobham to the Pope, "whose supremacy
he had ever denied. No consistent reason can be assigned for it. As to the
fact, however, we have only its improbability to allege against it." Life of
Lord Cobham, p. 119. edit. 1765. I apprehend that it cannot be shown that
Lord Cobham did always deny the Pope's supremacy, and his ecclesiastical
jurisdiction. In which case the strangeness complained of may be thought to
be much diminished. — Again: Mr. Gilpin wrote the Life of Wickliffe. Had
he forgotten that Wickliffe did the very same thing? Lewis's History, p. 12.
(or p. 15.) Mr. Gilpin also wrote the Life of Archbishop Cranmer. And if
we must wonder, would it not be a great deal more strange, that even the
enlightened, the protestant Cranmer, should appeal to the Pope of Rome ?
That he had it in contemplation so to do, and therein to follow the example
of his great predecessor, Luther, is most certain. "But whether I should
first appeale from the Judge delegate to the Pope, and so afterward to the
general councell ; or els leaving the Pope, I should appeale immediately to
the councell, herein I stand in need of your counsell." Cranmer's letter to
a Lawyer, published with his Answer to Gardiner, edit. 1580, p. 426. Fox's
Acts, &c— There must be some supreme jurisdiction, some final court of
appeal in all causes, in every country. If the king shrink from asserting his
right ; much more, if he abandoned or disclaimed it, who (in causes religious)
could this be, but the Pope ? to whom indeed, the monarchs, and their
people, in their ignorance and degeneracy, had ceded it. — And while this
was so, what else could their people do ?

366 LORD COBHAM.
pope allowed. And then, would he, or nild he \ the archbishop
should be his judge. Thus was there nothing allowed that the
lord Cobham had lawfuUy afore required. But forsomuch as hee
would not bee sworne in all things to submit himself to the church,
and so take what penance the archbishop would enjoyne him, hee
was arested againe at the kings commandement, and so led forth
to the Tower of London, to keepe his day (so was it then spoken)
that the archbishop had appointed him afore in the kings
chamber. Then caused hee the aforesaid confession of his faith to bee
copied againe, and the answere also (which hee had made to the
foure articles propounded against him) to be written in maner of
an indenture in two sheets of paper ; that when hee should come
to his answer, he might give the one copie unto the archbishop,
and reserve the other to himselfe.
As the day of examination was come, which was the 23. day
of September, the Saterday before the feast of S. Matthew,
Thomas Arundel the archbishop, sitting in Cayphas rowme 2 in the
chapter-house of Paules, with Richard Clifford bishop of Lon
don, and Henry Bolingbroke 3 bishop of Winchester ; sir Robert
Worley knight and liefetenant of the Tower, brought personnaUie
before him the said L. Cobham, and there left him for the time :
unto whom the archbishop said these words.
The first Examination ofthe Lord Cobham.
" Sir John, in the last generaU convocation * of the clergie of
this our province, yee were detected of certaine heresies, and by
sufficient witnesses found culpable. Whereupon yee were by
forme of spirituall lawe cited, and would in no case appeare. In
conclusion, upon your rebellious contumacie 5, ye were both pri-
1 Or nild he.] Or would he not. The negative "ne" was combined anciently
with many other words. "Nild" is contracted from "ne willed ;" which in
the Ploughman's Prayer occurs without any contraction. " God that is
endlesse in mercy saith, that he ne will not a sinfull mans death, but that he
be turned from his sin, and liven." In Wimbledon's Sermon we have nis
for ne is. " What sinne I pray you will the fiend have sowen on men, that
nis now yused?" P. 504, Fox's Acts. And nought for ne ought, never for ne
ever, &c. &c. still continue in use.
2 i. e. As high priest.
3 Bolingbroke.] Henry Beaufort, third son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan
caster. He was afterwards better known as Cardinal Beaufort.
4 In the last generall convocation.] See above, p. 356.
5 Your rebellious contumacie.] See above, Thorpe's Examination, note on
p. 272.

LORD COBHAM. 367
vately and openly excommunicated. Notwithstanding wee neither
yet shewed our selves unreadie to have given you absolution (nor
yet doe not to this houre) would ye have meekly asked it." Unto
this the L. Cobham shewed, as though he had given no eare,
having his minde otherwise occupied, and so desired no absolution.
But said he would gladly before him and his brethren make
rehearsall of that faith which he held and intended alwaies to
stand to, if it would please them to licence him thereunto. And
then he tooke out of his bosome a certaine writing indented, con
cerning the articles whereof he was accused, and so openly read
it before them, giving it unto the archbishop as hee had made
thereof an end. Whereof this is the copie.
" I John Oldcastle knight 6, L. of Cobham, will that all Christian
men weet and understand ; that I clepe Almighty God into wit
nesse, that it hath been, now is, and ever with the help of God,
shall be mine intent and my will, to beleeve faithfully and fully all
the sacraments that ever God ordained to bee done in holy church :
and moreover, — to declare me in these foure points, — I beleeve
that the most worshipfull sacrament of the aultar is Christes body
in forme of bread, the same body that was borne of the blessed
virgin our Lady Saint Mary, done on the crosse, dead and buried,
the third day rose from death to life, the which body is now
glorified in heaven.
" Also as for the sacrament of penance I beleeve, that it is
needefull to every man that shall be saved to forsake sinne, and
doe due penance for sinne before done, with true confession, very
contrition, and due satisfaction, as Gods lawe limitteth and
teacheth, and els may hee not bee saved : which penance I desire
all men to doe.
" And as of images, I understand, that they be not of
beleeve, but that they were ordained sith the beleeve was given
of Christ, by sufferance of the church, to be calenders to lewd
men 7, to represent and bring to minde the passion of our Lord

6 John Oldcastle.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 354, 5.
7 Calenders to lewd men.] Wickliffe and his followers did not oppose the
setting up of images in churches, as laymen's books. One of them may be
taken as expressing sufficiently the general judgment of the lawful and
unlawful use of images. " Nevertheless to those men bene images good to
whom they have bene but kalendars ; and through the sight of hem they
knowen the better and worshippen of God and his Saints. And to such
men they done harme that setten her hope and trust in hem, or done any

368 LORD COBHAM.
Jesu Christ, and martyrdome and good living of other saints :
and that who so it be, that doth the worship to dead images that
is due to God, or putteth such hope or trust in helpe of them, as
hee should doe to GOD, or hath affection in one more than in
another, he doth in that the greatest sinne of maumetrie 8.
" Also I suppose this fuUy, that every man in this earth is a
pUgrime toward blisse, or toward paine : and that he that knoweth
not, ne will not know ne keepe the holy commandementes of God
in his living here (albeit that he go on pilgrimages to all the
world, and die so) hee shall be damned. He that knoweth the
holy commandements of God, and keepeth them to his end, hee
shal be saved though hee never in this life go on pilgrimage, as
men now use to Canterbury 9, or to Rome, or to any other place."
worship to hem against Gods law and his hest." WiUiam Swinderby in
Fox's Acts, p. 433.
We have before (see p. 173) noticed the use of the term lewd men for lay
men. It occurs very often in that sense : and accordingly it is met with as
opposed to " learned," to " clerk," " priest," " deacon," &c. " Clarkys "
(says the author of the Prologue to the Bible) " dispisin and stoppen holy
writ as much as they moune (may), yet the lewde people cryethe after holye
wryt to kun (con, know) it, and kepe it, with grete cost and perile of here
lyfe." Signat. R 1.
Among the Harl. MSS. (No. 45) in the British Museum is a "Mirrour to
Lewde Men and Wymmen ; in whiche they may see God thorgh stedfast
byleve and hemself thorgh mekenes, and what is vertu and what is synne."
s Sinne of maumetrie.] " We charge the prelatical clergy with popery, to
make them odious, though we know they are guilty of no such thing; just
as heretofore they called images mammets, and the adoration of images mam-
metry, that is, Mahomets and Mahometry ; odious names, when all the
world knows that Turks are forbidden images by their religion." Selden's
Table Talk, Article Popery.
9 To Canterbury.] The pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, in
the Abbey at Canterbury, was one of the most celebrated in England.
Somner in his Antiquities tells us that his altar there was visited in one year
by one hundred thousand votaries. The story of the comparative value of
the offerings at his shrine, at that of the Virgin, and of Christ, in the same
Cathedral, has been often told. They were as follows, for one year,
£ s. d.
At Becket's shrine . 832 12 6
— the Virgin's . . 93 5 6
— Christ's .... 326
But in another year the preference shown to the saint was still more
decided. Thus : £ s. d.
At Becket's . . . 554 6 3
— the Virgin's . . 4 18
— Christ's .... 000 [Yet

LORD COBHAM. 369
This answer to his articles thus ended and read, he delivered
it to the bishops as is said afore. Then counselled the archbishop
with the other two bishops, and with divers of the doctors, what
was to be done in this matter ; commanding him for the time to
stand aside. In conclusion by their assent and information, hee
said thus unto him, " Come hither, sir John. In this your writing
are many good things contained, and right catholicke also, we
deny it not : but yee must consider that this day was appointed
you to answer to other points concerning those articles, whereof
as yet no mention is made in this your biU. And therefore yee
must declare yet your minde more plainely.
" And thus ; whether that ye hold, affirme, and beleeve, that
in the sacrament of the aultar, after the consecration rightly
done by a priest, remaineth materiall bread 10, or not : moreover,
whether ye do hold, affirme, and beleeve, that as concerning the
sacrament of penance (where a competent number of priests are)
every Christian man is necessarily bound to be confessed of his
sinnes to a priest ordained by the church, or not."
Yet others, besides the Wickliffltes, as we are told, were guilty of heresy
against the established rights of this saint. "In the year 1381 (says the
monkish writer of Speculum Parvulorum), in the fourth jubilee of the most
famous martyr St. Thomas, the people from every place flocked in great
multitudes to Canterbury. At the same time it happened that the venerable
father, the Lord Simon de Suthberi (Sudbury), then bishop of London (after
wards Archbishop of Canterbury), was travelling towards Canterbury, who
being misled by the spirit of error, positively assured the people that were
going on pilgrimage thither, that the plenary indulgence, which they hoped for
at Canterbury, was of no profit or value ; on which many of the croud, with
their eyes cast down to the ground, stood amazed at the sayings of so great
a father ; some went back again ; others with loud voices cursed the bishop
to his face, saying, and wishing, that he might die a base and shameful death,
who was not afraid to do so great an injury to so glorious a martyr. A
Kentish knight also, whose name the writer thinks was Sir Thomas de
Aldoun, being moved with anger, came up to the bishop, and said to him,
My lord bishop, because you have raised such a sedition among the people
against St. Thomas, at the peril of my soul, you shall die a shameful death ;
to which all the people cried, amen, amen. Accordingly, in the reign of
Richard 2d, he was beheaded by the mob that rose under Wat Tyler and
Jack Straw, that the voice of the people, saith the writer of this story, i. e.
the voice of God, as it was foretold, might in due time be fulfilled." Whar
ton's Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 49, 50, according to the translation of Mr.
Lewis, in his Life of Bishop Pecock, p. 56, &c.
10 Remaineth materiall bread.] See above, Thorpe's Examination, note on
p. 294. VOL. I. u b

370 LORD COBHAM.
After certaine other communication, this was the answer of
the good lord Cobham. That none otherwise would hee declare
his minde, nor yet answere unto his articles, than was expressly
in his writing there contained. Then said the archbishop againe
unto him, " Sir John, beware what yee doe. For if yee answer
not clearely to those thinges that are here objected against you,
(especially at the time appointed you only for that purpose,) the
law of holy church is ", that compelled once by a judge, we may
openly proclaime you an heretick." Unto whom hee gave this
answer : " Doe as yee shah thinke best, for I am at a point 1."
Whatsoever hee or the other bishops did aske him after that, he
bad them resort to his bill ; for thereby would he stand to the verie
death. Other answere would hee not give that day, wherewith
the bishops and prelates were in a manner amased and wonderfully
disquieted. At the last the archbishop counselled againe with his other
bishops and doctors ; and in the end thereof declared unto him,
what the holy church of Rome (following the saying of S. Au
gustine, S. Hierome, S. Ambrose, and of other holy doctors)
had determined in these matters, no manner of mention once
made of Christ. Which determination (saith he) ought ah
Christian men both to beleeve and to follow.
Then said the lord Cobham unto him, " that he would gladly
both beleeve and observe whatsoever holy church of Christes
institution had determined, or yet whatsoever God had wiUed
him either to beleeve or to do. But that the pope of Rome with
his cardinals, archbishops, bishops and other prelates of that
church had lawfull power 2 to determine such matter as stood not
with God's word throughly ; that would he not (he said) at the
time affirme." With this the archbishop bad him to take good
advisement tiU the Munday next following (which was the 25.
day of September) and then justly to answere, specially unto this
point : " whether there remained matteriall bread in the sacra
ment of the aultar, after the words of consecration or not." He
promised him also, to send unto him in writing those matters
11 The law of holy church is.] See above, Thorpe's Examination, note on
p. 272, 3.
1 At a point.] Compare above, in the account of Thorpe (p. 301) : " Do
with me, God, what thou wilt ! "
2 Had lawfull power.] Here is clearly asserted the grand cardinal point of
the 20th art. of the church of England.

LORD COBHAM. 371
clearely determined, that hee might then bee the more perfect in
his answere making. — And all this was nought els, but to blinde
the multitude with somewhat.
The next day following, according to his promise, the arch
bishop sent unto him into the Tower, this foolish and blas-
pheamous writing, made by him and by his unlearned clergy.
The determination3 ofthe Archbishop, and Clergie.
" The faith and determination of the holy church touching the
blisful sacrament of the aultar, is this 4 : that after the sacra-
mentall words be once spoken by a priest in his masse, the
materiall bread, that was before bread, is turned into Christes
very body. And the materiall wine, that was before wine, is
turned into Christes very bloud. And so there remaineth in the
sacrament of the aultar, from thenceforth, no materiall bread, nor
materiall wine, which were there before the sacramentall words
were spoken : — How beleeve ye this article 2
" Holy church hath determined that every Christian man
living here bodily upon the earth, ought to be shriven to a priest
ordained by the church, if he may come to him : — How feele ye
this article 2
" Christ ordained S. Peter the apostle to be his vicar here in
earth, whose see is the holy church of Rome : and he granted,
that the same power which he gave unto Peter, should succeed
to all Peters successors, which wee call now popes of Rome ; by
whose power in churches particular, he ordained prelates, as
archbishops, bishops, parsons, curates, and other degrees more ;
unto whom Christian men ought to obey * after the lawes of the
church of Rome. This is the determination of holy church. —
How feele ye this article 2
" Holy church hath determined, that it is meritorious to a
Christian man to goe on pilgrimage to holy places : and there
specially to worship holy reliques and images of saints, apostles,
martyrs, confessors, and all other saints besides, approved by the
church of Rome. — How feele ye this article 2"
3 The determination.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 355.
4 Is this.] Compare above, note on p. 211.
6 Ought to obey.] The reader will notice in this article a formed and de
sperate design of the archbishop and clergy to bow the necks of the nobles
and laity, and the whole realm of England, under the same yoke of shameful
and slavish subjection to the see of Rome, with themselves.
Bb 2

372 LORD COBHAM.
And as the lord Cobham had read over this most wretched
writing, he marvelled greatly of their madde ignorance : but that
he considered againe, that God had given them over for their
unbeliefes sake, into most deep errours and blindnesse of soule.
Againe, he perceived hereby, that their uttermost malice was
purposed against him, howsoever he should answere. And there
fore hee put his life into the hands of God, desiring his onely
spirit to assist him in his next answer.
When the said 25. day of September was come (which was
also the Munday before Michaelmas) in the said yeare of our
Lord 1413, Thomas Arundell the archbishop of Canturbury com
manded his judiciall seate to be removed from the chapter house
of Paules to the Dominicke friers within Ludgate at London.
And as hee was there set with Richard bishop of London, Henry
bishop of Winchester, and Bennet bishop of Bangor, he called in
unto him his counsell and his officers, with divers other doctors
and friers, of whom these are the names here following ; maister
Henry Ware, the officiall of Canterburie ; Philip Morgan, doctor
of both lawes ; HoweU Kiffin, doctor of the canon lawe ; John
Kempe, doctor of the canon lawe ; William Carletan, doctor of
the canon lawe ; John Witnam, of the Newe colledge in Oxforde ;
John Whithead, doctor in Oxford also ; Robert Wombewell,
Vicar of S. Laurence in the Jewry ; Thomas Palmer, the warden
of Minors ; Robert Chamberlaine, prior of the Dominickes ;
Richard Doddington, prior of the Augustines ; Thomas Walden,
prior of the Carmelites ', all doctors of Divinitie : John Stevens
also, and James Cole, both notaries, appointed there purposely to
write aU that should be either said or done. All these, with a
great sort more of priestes, monkes, canons, friers, parish clarkes,
belringers, pardoners, disdained him, with innumerable mockes
and scornes, reckoning him to bee an horrible hereticke, and a
man accursed afore God.
Anone the archbishop called for a masse booke, and caused all
those prelates and doctors to sweare thereupon, that everie man
should faithfully doe his office and duetie that day: and that
neither for favour nor fear, love nor hate of the one partie nor
the other, any thing should there be witnessed, spoken or done,
but according to the trueth, as they would answer before God and
aU the world at the day of dome. Then were the two foresaid
6 Ofthe Carmelites.] Thomas Walden. See note 1, p. 169.

LORD COBHAM. 373
notaries sworne also, to write and to witnes the proces that there
should be uttered on both parties, and to saie their mindes (if they
otherwise knew) before they should register it. — And all this dis
simulation, was but to colour their mischiefes, before the ignorant
multitude. After that, came forth before them, sir Robert Morley, knight
and liefetenant of the Tower, and he brought with him the good
L. Cobham, there leaving him among them as a lamb among
wolves, to his examination and answere.
Another examination ofthe Lord Cobham.
Then said the archbishop unto him : " Lord Cobham, ye be
advised (I am sure) of the words and process which wee had unto
you upon Saterdaie last past in the chapterhouse of Paules :
which proces were now too long to be rehearsed againe. I said
unto you then, that you were accursed for your contumacie and
disobedience to holy church, thinking that yee should with meeke
nesse have desired your absolution."
Then spake the L. Cobham with a chearful countenance, and
said, " God said by his holie prophet, Maledicam benedictionibus
vestris, which is as much to say as, / shall curse where you

The archbishop made then as though he had continued forth
his tale and not heard him, saying : " Sir, at that time I gently
profered to have assoiled you if you woulde have asked it. And
yet I doe the same, if ye will humbly desire it in due forme and
maner, as holy church hath ordained."
Then said the lord Cobham : " Nay forsooth will I not, for I
never yet trespassed against you, and therefore I will not doe it."
And with that he kneeled downe on the pavement holding up his
hands towards heaven, and said : "I shrive me here unto thee
my eternal living God, that in my fraile youth I offended thee
(0 Lord) most greevously in pride, wrath, and gluttony; in
covetousness, and in letcherie. Many men have I hurt in mine
anger, and done many other horrible sins, good Lord I aske thee
mercie." And therewith weepingly hee stoode up againe and
said with a mighty voice, " Loe, good people, loe : For the
breaking of Gods lawe and his greate commandements, they never
yet cursed me. But for their owne lawes and traditions, most
crueUy doe they handle both me and other men. And therefore,

374 LORD COBHAM.
both they and their lawes, by the promise of God, shall utterly
be destroied."
At this the archbishop and his company were not a little ble
mished. Notwithstanding, hee tooke stomacke unto him againe
after certaine words had in excuse of their tyrannie, and examined
the lord Cobham of his Christian beliefe.
Whereunto the L. Cobham made this godly answere, "I
beleeve (saith he) fully and faithfully in the universall lawes of
God. I beleeve that all is true which is contained in the holy
sacred Scriptures of the bible. Finally I beleeve, all that my
Lord God would I should believe."
Then demanded the archbishop an answere of that bill which
he and the clergy had sent him into the Tower the day afore, in
maner of a determination of the church concerning the foure
articles whereof hee was accused ; speciaUy for the sacrament of
the aultar, how hee beleeved therein.
Whereunto the L. Cobham said, " that with that biU he had
nothing to doe. But this was his beliefe (he said) concerning
the sacrament : That his lord and saviour Jesus Christ, sitting at
his last supper with his most deare disciples, the night before hee
should suffer, tooke bread in his hand, and giving thanks to his
eternall father, blessed it, brake it, and so gave it unto them :
saying, Take it unto you, and eate thereof all ; this is my body
which shall be betraied for you : Boe this hereafter in my remem
brance. This doe I throughly beleeve (saith he) ; for this faith
am I taught in the gospell of Matthew, in Mark, and in Luke,
and also in the first epistle of S. Paule to the Corinthians, chapter
the eleventh."
Then asked the archbishop, if he beleeved that it were bread
after the consecration or sacramentaU words spoken over it.
The lord Cobham said : " I beleeve that in the sacrament of
the altar is Christs very bodie in forme of bread, the same that
was borne of the virgin Marie, done on the crosse, dead, and
buried, and that the third day arose from death to life, which
now is glorified in heaven."
Then said one of the doctors of the law : " After the sacra
mentaU words be uttered, there remaineth no bread, but onely
the bodie of Christ."
The lord Cobham said then to one master John Whitehead :
" You said once unto me in the castle of Cowling, that the sacred
host was not Christ's bodie. But I held then against you, and

LORD COBHAM. 375
proved that therein was his bodie, though the seculars and friers
could not therein agree, but held each one against other in that
opinion. These were my words then, if yee remember it."
Then shouted a sort of them together, and cried with great
noise : " We say all, that it is God's bodie."
And divers of them asked him in great anger, whether it were
materiall bread after the consecration or not 2
Then looked the lord Cobham earnestly upon the archbishop,
and said : " I beleeve surely that it is Christs bodie in forme of
bread. Sir beleeve not you thus?"
And the archbishop said, " Yes mary doe I."
Then asked him the doctors, whether it were onely Christs
bodie after the consecration of a priest, and no bread, or not 2
And he said unto them, " it is both Christs bodie and bread.
I shall prove it as thus : For like as Christ dwelling here upon
the earth, had in him both Godhead and manhood, and had the
invisible Godhead covered under that manhood, which was onely
visible and seene in him ; so in the sacrament of the altar, is
Christs very bodie, and bread also, as I beleeve. The bread is
the thing that we see with our eies : the bodie of Christ (which
is his flesh and his blood) is there under hid, and not seene, but
in faith.
" And moreover, to prove that it is both Christ's bodie, and
also bread, after the consecration, it is by plaine words expressed
by one of your owne doctors writing against Eutyches, which
saith ; Like as the selfe same sacraments doe passe by the opera
tion of the holy ghost, into a divine nature, and yet notwith
standing keepe the propertie still of their former nature ; so, that
principall mysterie declareth to remaine one true, and perfect
Christ, &c." (Gelasius contr. Eutych.)
Then smiled they each one upon other, that the people should
judge him taken in a great heresie. And with a great brag divers
of them said ; " It is a foule heresie."
Then asked the archbishop, what bread it was 2 And the
doctors also enquired of him whether it was materiall or not 2
The lord Cobham said unto them, " The scriptures make no
mention of this word materiall, and therefore my faith hath
nothing to doe therewith. But this I say and beleeve, that it is
Christs body and bread. For Christ said in the vi. of Johns
gospeU, Ego sum panis vivus, qui de coelo descendi ; I which came
downe from heaven, am the living and not the dead bread. There-

376 LORD COBHAM.
fore I say now againe as I said afore, as our Lord Jesus Christ
is very God, and very man, so in the most blessed sacrament of
the altar, is Christs very body and bread."
Then said they all with one voice ; " It is an heresie."
One of the bishops stood up by and by, and said : " What 2 it
is an heresie manifest, to say that it is bread, after the sacra-
mentall words be once spoken, but Christs body onely."
The lord Cobham said : " S. Paul the apostle was (I am sure)
as wise as you be now, and more godly learned, and hee called it
bread, writing to the Corinthians ; The bread that we breake, saith
he, is it not the partaking of the body of Christ ? Lo he called
it bread and not Christs body, but a meane whereby we receive
Christs body 2"
Then said they againe : " Paul must be otherwise understood.
For it is sure an heresie to say that it is bread, after the conse
cration, but only Christ's body."
The lord Cobham asked, how they could make good that
sentence of theirs 2
They answered him thus : " For it is against the determination
of holy church."
Then said the archbishop unto him : " Sir John we sent you a
writing concerning the faith of this blessed sacrament, clearely
determined by the church of Rome our mother, and by the holy
doctors." Then hee said againe unto him, " I know none holier than is
Christ and his apostles. And as for that determination, I wote
it is none of theirs : for it standeth not with the Scriptures, but
manifestly against them. If it bee the churches as yee say it is,
it hath been hers onely since she received the great poison of
worldly possessions, and not afore."
Then asked they him, to stop his mouth therewith, if hee
beleeved not in the determination of the church 7 2
7 In the determination of the church.] " It appears, by the Acts against the
Lollards in the diocese of Ely, that it was an usual interrogatory put by the
ecclesiastical judges to those whom they suspected of Lollardy. An in eccle
siam credis ? Dost thou believe in the Church /"'—Lewis's Life of Pecock,
p. 264. "They of Master Hardinge's side" (says Bishop Jewel, in his
Defence of the Apology, p. 74,) "have evermore well liked this forme of
speech, Credo in sanctam ecclesiam, I beleeve in the holy church." The
expressions in the creed, "to beleeve in God," "in Christ," or "in the Holy
Ghost," were, in the Latin church, principally upon the authority of St.

LORD COBHAM. 377
And he said unto them : " No forsooth, for it is no God. In
all our«creede, this word (in) is but thrice mentioned concerning
beleefe : In God the Father, in God the Sonne, in God the holy
Ghost, three persons and one God. The birth, the death, the
buriall, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, hath none (in)
for beleefe, but in him. Neither yet hath the church, the sacra
ments, the forgivenesse of sinne, the latter resurrection, nor yet
the life everlasting, any other (in) than in the holy Ghost."
Then said one of the lawyers : " Tush, that was but a word of
office. — But what is your beliefe concerning holy church 2"
The lord Cobham answered : " My beliefe is, (as I said afore,)
that all the Scriptures of the sacred bible are true. All that is
grounded upon them I beleeve throughly. For I know, it is Gods
pleasure that I should so doe. But in your lordly lawes and idle
determinations, have I no beliefe. For yee be no part of Christs
holy church, as your open deeds doe shew : but yee are very anti
christs, obstinately set against his holy law and will. The lawes
that yee have made, are nothing to his glory, but onely for your
vaine glory and abominable covetousnesse."
This, they said, was an exceeding heresie (and that in a great
fume) not to beleeve the determination of holy church.
Then the archbishop asked him, what he thought of holy
church 2
He said unto him, " my beliefe is, that the holy church is the
Augustin, ever conceived to imply much more than merely a belief that
" God is, &c. ;" and, besides the act of faith, were accounted to comprise an
addition of hope, love, or affiance. See Bishop Pearson's Exposition on the
Creed, art. 1 . The zealous supporters of the fading authority of the church
appear therefore to have been anxious to avail themselves of this supposed
and acknowledged efficacy of the preposition in, and to have endeavoured to
get that word inserted into the orthodox belief respecting the church ; pre
suming that, if they could succeed in so doing, it would be followed by a
corresponding accession of submission and devotion to all her determinations.
For, being thereby associated with a word which in the creed was appro
priated only to God, she would appear to be invested with a degree of autho
rity like to the divine. Nay, had his predecessors succeeded in this their
stratagem, they would have overstepped the modesty of the wishes even of
Bishop Bonner himself. " Concernynge the Catholique churche, we must
beleve it, that is to say, geve credite to it, but not beleve in it, for to beleve in
it, were to make it God."— Profitable and Necessary Doctrine, signat. I. 46.
a.d. 1555. Bishop Pecock, in his Treatise on Faith, p. 30, shewed how little
he approved of this usurpation ; which freedom of his was probably one of
the reasons that subjected him to the displeasure of his brethren.

378 LORD COBHAM.
number of them, which shall be saved, of whom Christ is the
head. Of this church, one part is in heaven with Christ, another
in purgatorie (you say) ; and the third is heere in earth. This
latter part standeth in three degrees, in knighthood, priesthood,
and the communalty, as I said afore 8 plainely in the confession
of my beliefe."
Then said the archbishop unto him : " Can you tell me who is
of this church 2"
The lord Cobham answered : " Yea truely can I."
Then said doctor Walden the prior of the Carmelits ; " It is
doubt unto you who is thereof. For Christ saith in Matthew,
Nolite judicare, presume to judge no man. If yee be heere for
bidden the judgement of your neighbour or brother, much more
the judgement of your superiour."
The lord Cobham made him this answere : " Christ saith also
in the selfesame chapter of Matthew, that like as the evill tree is
knowne by his fruit, so is a false prophet by his works, appeare
they never so glorious : but that yee left behind yee. And in
John he hath this text, Operibus credite, beleeve you the outward
doings. And in an other place of John, Justum judicium judi-
cate ; when we know the thing to bee true, we may so judge it,
and not offend. For David said also, Recte judicate filii hominum ;
Judge rightly alwaies yee children of men. And as for your supe-
rioritie, were yee of Christ, yee should be meeke ministers, and
no proud superiours."
Then said doctor Walden unto him, " Yee make here no dif
ference of judgements : yee put no diversitie betweene the evill
judgements which Christ hath forbidden, and the good judge
ments which he hath commanded us to have. Rash judgement,
and right judgement, all is one with you. So swift judges alwaies
are the learned scholars of Wickliffe."
Unto whom the lord Cobham thus answered : " It is weU so-
phistred of you forsooth. Preposterous are your judgements ever
more. For as the prophet Esay saith, Yee judge evill good, and good
evill : and therfore the same prophet concludeth, that your waies
are not Gods waies, nor Gods waies your waies. And as for that
vertuous man Wickliffe, whose judgements yee so highly disdaine,
I shaU say heere of my part, both before God and man, that before
3 As I said afore.] Compare also Wickliffe's doctrine on this head, in
Lewis's Life of Wickliffe, chap. viii. p. 151 — 3. (1820.)

LORD COBHAM. 379
I knew that despised doctrine of his, I never abstained from sinne.
But since I learned therein to feare my Lord God, it hath other
wise I trust beene with me : so much grace could I never find in
all your glorious instructions."
Then said doctor Walden againe yet unto him : "It were not
weU with me (so many vertuous men living, and so many learned
men teaching, the scripture being also so open, and the examples
of fathers so plenteous,) if I then had no grace to amend my life,
till I heard the divell preach. S. Hierome saith, that he which
seeketh such suspected masters, shaU not find the midday light,
but the mid-day divell."
The lord Cobham said : " Your fathers the old Pharisies,
ascribed Christs miracles to Belzebub, and his doctrine to the
divell. And you as their naturall children, have stiU the self
same judgement concerning his faithfull followers. They that
rebuke your vicious living must needs be heretikes ; and that
must your doctors prove, when you have no scripture to doe it.
Then said he to them all ; to judge you as you be, we neede no
further goe than to your owne proper acts. Where doe yee find
in all Gods law, that yee should thus sit in judgement of any
Christian man, or yet give sentence upon any other man unto
death as yee doe heere daily? No ground have yee in all the
Scriptures so lordly to take it upon you, but in Annas and
Caiphas, which sat thus upon Christ, and upon his apostles after
his ascension. Of them only have yee taken it to judge Christs
members as yee doe, and neither of Peter nor John."
Then said some of the lawyers : " Yes forsooth sir, for Christ
judged Judas."
The lord Cobham said : " No. Christ judged him not, but he
judged himselfe, and thereupon went forth, and so did hang
himselfe. But indeede Christ said, ' Woe unto him,' for that
covetous act of his, as he doth yet stiU unto many of you. For
since the venime of him was shed into the church, yee never
followed Christ, neither yet have yee stood in the perfection of
Gods law."
Then the archbishop asked him, what he meant by that
venime 2
The lord Cobham said : " your possessions and lordships. For
then cried an angell 9 in the aire (as your owne chronicles mention)
9 Cried an angell.] Bale, in his margin, refers to Ranulphus [Higden] Ces-
trensis in Polychron. lib. iv. cap. 26. The time and events alluded to are

380 LORD COBHAM.
Woe, woe, woe, this day is venime shed into the church of God.
Before that time, all the bishops of Rome were martyrs in a
maner. And since that time, we read of very few. But indeede
since that same time, one hath put down another, one hath poi
soned an other, one hath cursed an other, and one hath slaine an
other, and done much more mischiefe besides, as aU the chronicles
tell. And let all men consider well this, that Christ was meeke,
and mercifuU ; the pope is proud, and a tyrant : Christ was poore
and forgave ; the pope is rich and a malicious manslaier, as his
daily acts doe prove him. Rome is the very nest of antichrist,
and out of that nest commeth all the disciples of him : of whom,
prelates, priests, and monkes, are the body, and these pild 10 friers
are the taile."
Then said the prior ofthe friers Augustines, " Alack sir, why
doe you say so 2 that is uncharitably spoken."
And the lord Cobham said : " Not only is it my saying, but
also the prophet Esayas, long afore my time. The prophet, saith
he, which preacheth lies, is the taile behind. For as your friers and
monkes be (like Pharisies) divided in your outward apparell and
usages, so make yee division among the people. And thus, you
with such other, are the very naturall members of antichrist."
Then said he unto them all : " Christ saith in his gospell, Woe
unto you, Scribes and Pharisies, hypocrites ; for yee close up the
kingdome of heaven before men ; neither enter yee in your selves, nor
yet suffer any other that would enter into it ; but yee stop up the
waies therunto with your owne traditions, and therefore are yee
the household of antichrist. Yee wiU not permit Gods veritie to
have passage, nor yet to be taught of his true ministers, fearing
those of the grant of the temporal rights and privileges to the church by the
emperor Constantine : the story was often cited by the complainants against
ecclesiastical degeneracy. " Narrant Chronica, (says Wickliffe, Dialogor. lib.
iv. e. 18.) quod in dotatione ecclesise vox audita es.t in aere angelica tunc
temporis sic dicentis, Hodie effusum est venenum in ecclesia sancta Dei." So
also the "Vision of Pierce Ploughman," foi. 85. b. edit. 1550.
" Whan Constantyne of curtesy, holy kyrke dowed
With landes and leades, lordshyps and rentes,
An Angel men harden on hyghe at Rome crye,
Dos ecclesia;, thys daie hath dranke venyme,
And they that have Peters power are poysoned all."
Compare Lewis's Wickliffe, p. 149. edit. 1820.
10 Pild.] Bald, shaven, devoid of hair : defectus pilis : pilatus.
" Piel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out."
King Henry VI. Part I.

LORD COBHAM. 381
to have your wickednesse reproved. But by such flatterers as
uphold you in your mischiefes, yee suffer the common people most
miserably to be seduced."
Then said the archbishop : " By our Lady sir, there shal none
such preach within my dioces (and God wil,) nor yet in my juris
diction (if I may know it) as either maketh division, or yet
dissention among the poore commons."
The lord Cobham said : " Both Christ and his apostles were
accused of sedition making, yet were they most peaceable men.
Both Daniel and Christ prophecied that such a troublous time
should come, as hath not beene yet since the worlds beginning.
And this prophecie is partly fulfilled in your daies and doings ;
for many have ye slaine alreadie, and more will yee slay here
after, if God fulfill not his promise. Christ saith also, if those
daies of yours were not shortned, scarcely should any flesh be
saved : therefore looke for it justly, for God will shorten your
daies. Moreover, though priests and deacons for preaching of
Gods word, and for ministring the sacraments, with provision for
the poore, be grounded on Gods law, yet have these other sects
no maner of ground hereof, so farre as I have read."
Then a doctor of law, caUed master John Kempe, plucked out
of his bosome a copy of the bill which they had afore sent him
into the Tower, by the archbishops counsell, thinking thereby to
make shorter worke with him. For they were so amazed with
his answeres (not all unlike to them which disputed with Stephen)
that they knew not well how to occupie the time, their wits and
sophistrie (as God would) so failed them that day.
" My lord Cobham (saith this doctor) we must brief ely know
your minde concerning these foure points heere foUowing. The
first of them is this ; and then he read upon the bill ; The faith
and determination of holy church touching the blessed sacrament
of the altar is this, That after the sacramentall words be once
spoken of a priest in his masse, the materiall bread that was
before bread, is turned into Christs very body : and the materiaU
wine is turned into Christs bloud. And so there remaineth in
the sacrament of the altar from thenceforth no materiall bread
nor materiall wine, which were there before the sacramentall
words were spoken. Sir beleeve yee not this 2"
The lord Cobham said: "This is not my beliefe. But my
faith is (as I said to you afore) that in the worshipful sacrament
of the altar, is Christs very bodie in forme of bread."

382 LORD COBHAM.
Then said the archbishop : " Sir John yee must say other
wise." The lord Cobham said : " Nay, that I shall not, if God be
upon my side (as I trust he is,) but that there is Christs body
in forme of bread, as the common beliefe is."
Then read that doctour againe.
" The second point is this : Holy church hath determined, that
every Christian man living heere bodily upon earth, ought to be
shriven of a priest ordained by the church, if he may come to
him. Sir, what say you to this?"
The lord Cobham answered and said: "A diseased or sore
wounded man, hath need to have a sure wise chirurgian, and a
true, knowing both the ground and the danger of the same;
most necessarie were it therefore to be first shriven unto God
which only knoweth our diseases, and can helpe us. I denie not
in this the going to a priest, if he be a man of good life and
learning : for the lawes of God are to be required of the priest,
which is godly learned. (Malachi, 2.) But if he be an idiote, or
a man of vitious living that is my curate, I ought rather to flie
from him than to seeke unto him : for sooner might I catch evill
of him that is naught, than any goodnesse towards my soules
health." Then read the doctour againe.
" The third point is this : Christ ordained S. Peter the apostle
to be his vicar heere in earth, whose see is the church of Rome.
And he granted that the same power which he gave unto Peter,
should succeed to all Peters successours, which we call now popes
of Rome; by whose speciall power in churches particular, be
ordained prelates and archbishops, parsons, curates, and other
degrees more, unto whom Christian men ought to obey after the
lawes of the church of Rome. This is the determination of holy
church. Sir, beleeve ye not this?"
To this he answered and said : " He that followeth Peter
most nighest in pure living, is next unto him in succession. But
your lordly order esteemeth not greatly the lowly behaviour of
poore Peter, whatsoever yee prate of him. Neither care yee
greatly for the humble maners of them that succeeded him, till
the time of Silvester, which for the more part were martyrs, as I
told you before. Yee can let aU their good conditions goe by you,
and not hurt your selves with them at all. AU the world knoweth
this well enough by you, and yet yee can make boast of Peter."

LORD COBHAM. 383
With that, one of the other doctors asked him ; " Then what
do yee say of the pope ?"
The lord Cobham answered : " As I said before : He and you
together maketh whole the great antichrist. Of whom he is the
great head, you bishops, priests, prelates, and monkes are the
body, and the begging friers are the taile, for they cover the
filthinesse of you both with their subtile sophistrie. Neither will
I in conscience obey any of you all, tiU I see you with Peter
follow Christ in conversation."
Then read the doctor againe.
" The fourth point is this : Holy church hath determined, that
it is meritorious to a Christian man, to goe on pilgrimage to holy
places, and there specially to worship the holy reliques and
images of saints, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and all other saints
besides, approved by the church of Rome. Sir, what say yee to
this?" Whereunto he answered : "I owe them no service by any
commandement of God, and therefore I minde not to seeke them
for your covetousnesse. It were best ye swept them faire from
copwebs and dust, and so laide them up for catching of scathe :
or else to burie them faire in the ground as ye doe other aged
people which are Gods images.
" It is a wonderfull thing, that saints now being dead, should
become so covetous and needy, and thereupon so bitterly beg,
which all their life time hated all covetousnesse and begging.
But this I say unto you, and I would all the world should marke
it, that with your shrines and idols, your fained absolutions and
pardons, ye draw unto you the substance, wealth, and chiefe
pleasures of all Christian realmes."
" Why sir (said one of the clerkes) will ye not worship good
images 2"
"What worship should I give unto them 2" said the lord
Cobham. Then said frier Palmer unto him : " Sir, wiU ye worship the
crosse of Christ, that he died upon?"
" Where is it ' 2" said the lord Cobham.
1 Where is it.] Antiochus, a monk of Saba, in Palestine, who wrote in the
seventh century, deplores the loss of the real cross, which he says was carried
away into Persia after the defeat of the emperor Heraclius by Chosroes, in
the year 614. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grceca, vol. ix. p. 262.
In the beads or bidding prayer used before, or in the course oi sermons, this

384 LORD COBHAM.
The frier said : "I put you the case sir, that it were heere
even now before you."
The lord Cobham answered : " This is a great wise man to put
me an earnest question of a thing, and yet. he himselfe knoweth
where the thing it selfe is. Yet once againe I aske you, what
worship I should doe unto it 2"
A clerke said unto him : " Such worship as Paul speaketh of,
and that is this : God forbid that I should joy, but only in the
crosse of Jesu Christ. ," (Galat. 6.)
Then said the lord Cobham, and spread his armes abroad :
" This a very crosse 2, yea, and so much better than your crosse
anciently was always one of the petitions directed to be put up. " Ye shall
praye for the Holy londe, and for the holy-crosse that Jhesu Cryste dyed on
for the redempcyon of mannes soule, that it may come into the power of
Crysten men, the more to be honoured for our prayers."- — Festival, foi. 203.
And in the ancient form printed by Henry Wharton — "for the holy Lond,
and for the holy Croys, that Jhesu Christ sendt it out of Hedne mennys
honde, into Cristin mennys honde." — Specimen of Errors, &c, by Anth.
Harmer, p. 166. The injury and error that was occasioned and cherished by
the Crusades, and was consequent upon the various other species of devotion
in honour of the material cross of Christ, so prevalent in those ages, was a
frequent topic of complaint among the Reformers. Sir Thomas More tells
us that " Luther wished in a sermon of his, that he had in his honde all the
pieces of the holy crosse, and said that if he so had, he would throw them
there as never sonne sholde shyne on them. — And for what worshipfull reason
woulde the wretch do such villanye to the crosse of Christ ? Bycause, as he
saith, that there is so moche golde nowe bestowed about the garnyshynge of
the peces of the crosse, that there is none lefte for poore folke. Is not this
an high reason ? As though all the golde that is nowe bestowed about the
peces of the holy crosse would not have failed to have been geven to poore
men, if they had not been bestowed about the garnishing of the crosse : And
as though there were nothyng lost, but that is bestowed about Christes
crosse." — Dialogue concerning Heresies, book i. chap. 2. Works, p. 119.
3 This a very crosse.] Thus, in the interesting story of Margery Backster,
the wife of a common mechanic in the diocese of Norwich, we find it deposed
against her, a few years after the execution of Lord Cobham, that " she
demanded of the deponent what she did every day at church ; who answered
that shee kneeled downe and said five Pater nosters, in worship of the cru
cifix, and as many Ave Maries, in worship of our Ladie. Whom Margerie
rebuked, saying : * You do evill to kneele or pray to such images in the
churches, for God dwelleth not in such churches, neither shall come downe
out of heaven, and will give you no more reward for such prayer, than a
candle lighted and set under the cover of the font, will give light by night to
those which are in the church : saying moreover in English, Lewed wrights of
stocks hew and forme such crosses and images, and after that, lewd painters-

LORD COBHAM. 385
of wood, in that it was created of God : yet will not I seeke to
have it worshipped."
Then said the bishop of London : " Sir, yee wote weU that he
died on a materiall crosse."
The lord Cobham said : " Yea, and I wote also that our
salvation came not in by that materiall crosse, but alone by him
which died thereupon. And weU I wote, that holy Saint Paul
rejoiced in none other crosse, but in Christs passion and death
only, and in his owne sufferings of like persecution with him, for
the selfesame veritie that he had suffered for afore."
Another clerke yet asked him ; " WiU yee then doe none
honour to the holy crosse 3 2"
gleere them with colours. And if you desire so much to see the true crosse
of Christ, I will shewe it you at home in your owne house ; which this depo
nent being desirous to see, the said Margery, stretching out her armes abroad,
said to this deponent, This is the true crosse of Christ, and this crosse thou
oughtest, and maist every day behold and worship in thine owne house ; and
therefore it is but vaine to run to the church to worship dead crosses and
images."— Fox's Acts, p. 610. Again, early in the reign of Henry VIII., in
the severe persecution under Longlands, bishop of Lincolne, John Baker,
being urged upon his oath, disclosed against John Edmunds, that in talking
together of pilgrimages, the said Edmunds bade him go offer his money to
the Image qf God. When the other asked what that was, he said, that the
image of God was the poore people, blind and lame ; and said he offended
Almighty God in going on pilgrimage. — Fox's Acts, p. 763. And hence was
derived a frequent topic for argument and eloquence in popular discourses.
" How think you ? " (says Dr. Robert Barnes, after quoting a passage of St.
Clement) " Doth not this condemne the worshyppyng of images, yea though
it be in the honour of God ? Hee sheweth you also that there is no other
true image but man. — Which of you all goe a pilgrimage to that image ?
Which of you all doe offer to that image ? Which of you all doe honour that
image ? — What say you to this ? How can you avoide this ? Is not this
agreeable with Scriptures? And yet this image doe you despise. This
image cast you in prison. This image do you stocke and chayne, and whippe
from towne to towne, without any cause. This image dyeth in the streates
beefore your doores for hunger and colde, and you runne to Walsingham
and to Ipsewiche with great pompe and pride to honour your dead shadowes.
It were better for you to burne idolles, and to warme this true image of God
thereby. Yea, you have burnt many a poore man for speakyng against these
dumme idolles. " — Barnes's Works, p. 346. edit. 1572. "Man, that was
made in the image and likeness of God, is full worshipful in his kind." — •
Thorpe's Examination, above, p. 301.
3 Honour to the holy crosse.] The superstitious, not to say idolatrous, cere
monies which were used in honour of the holy cross, especially in proces
sions, deservedly called forth the animadversions of the early Reformers.
VOL. I. C C

386 LORD COBHAM.
He answered him : " Yes, if it were mine owne, I would lay
him up honestly, and see unto him that he should take no more
scath abroad, nor be robbed of his goods, as he is now a daies."
Then said the archbishop unto him : " Sir John, ye have
spoken heere manie wonderfuU words to the slanderous rebuke of
the whole spiritualtie, giving a great eviU example unto the
common sort heere, to have us in the more disdaine. Much
time have we spent heere about you, and all in yaine so far as I
can see. WeU, we must now be at this short point with you,
for the day passeth away. Ye must otherwise submit your selfe
to the ordinance of holie church, or else throw your selfe (no
" In eeldir daies, whanne procession was maad in Palme-Sunday, before
masse, the eucharist was not brought forth, that the processioun ofthe clarkis
and of the lay people schulde meete with him, but a bare uncoverid crosse was
brought forth agens the processioun, as y have red in diverse oolde ordinalis
of cathedrale churches, and of monasteries in Ynglond. In tho daies, and in
tho placis whanne and where the processioun mette with the nakid crosse,
summe of the clerkis were ordeyned for to stonde bifore the seid crosse, and
for to turne hem toward the processioun, and seie in singing to al the clergie
and peple thus, Lo the kynge mylde and meke, &c. And than the priestis and
peple fellen down, kneling with all her knees to the grounde, seyin or singing,
or in both maners, toward the seid discovered crosse thus, Heil thou whom
the peple of Hebrees meeting witnesseth to be Jesus. Lastly, it was objected,
that to whatever thing men offren in lowest wise, coming toward it by creping,
and whose feet they kissen in devoutist maner they kunnen, thilk thing thei
taken for her sovereignest and highest Lord ; — but so it is, that to the crosse,
in Good Fridai, men comen in lowest wise, creeping on alle her knees, and to
this crosse in so low and devout maner thei offren, and the feet of thilk crosse
thei in devoutist maner kissen, &c." — Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 104. It may
be a matter of curiosity to learn what was urged in reply to these objections.
The sum of the defence made for these ceremonies is contained in a short
extract from Bishop Pecock. 'Al this is doon (says he) not to the crosse
itself, but to Christis persoun in his manhede, which is imagined there to be
in, and with the ymage crucified, heed to heed, hond to hond, foot to foot,
thoug it be not trowid so to be, but thoug the contrarie is trowid to be." —
Ibid. p. 111. How far the Puritans, in the next age, carried their abhorrence
against all ceremonial use whatever of the cross, need not in this place be
insisted on. But even in earlier times, a learned and zealous enemy of the
Reformation informs us that " Some sinfull wretches were there, that digged
up, and overthrewe the crosses in highe wayes, which were sette up, partly to
make men that passed by remember Christes death and passion, and partly
to shewe them the right way, that knew not the same. Who I pray you would
thinke, that these folkes bare any good affection to our Saviour Christ, which
could neither abide his image, nor the holesome signe of his crosse ?" —
Christopherson's Exhortation against Rebellion, signat. U 1. b. a.d. 1554.

LORD COBHAM. 387
remedie) into most deepe danger. See to it in time, for anon
it will be else too late."
The lord Cobham said, " I know not to what purpose I should
otherwise submit me. Much more have you offended me, than
ever I offended you, in thus troubling me before this multitude."
Then said the archbishop againe unto him, " Wee once again
require you to remember your selfe weU, and to have none other
manner opinion in these matters, than the universall faith and
beliefe of the holie church of Rome is. And so like an obedient
chUd returne againe to the unitie of your mother. See to it I
say in time, for yet yee may have remedie, whereas anon it will
be too late."
The lord Cobham said expresslie before them all, " I will none
otherwise beleeve in these points, than that I have told you here
afore. Do with me what ye will."
Finallie, then the archbishop said, " Well, then I see none
other but we must needs do the law : we must proceed forth to
the sentence definitive, and both judge you, and condemne you
for an heretike."
And with that, the archbishop stood up, and read there a bill
of his condemnation, all the clergie and laitie vailing their bonets *.
And this was the tenor thereof.
The definitive Sentence of his condemnation" .
" In the name of God : So be it. We Thomas by the suffer
ance of God, archbishop of Canterburie, metropolitan, and
primate of all England, and legat from the apostolike see of
Rome, willeth this to be knowne unto all men. In a certaine
cause of heresie and upon divers articles, whereupon Sir John
Oldcastle knight, and lord Cobham, after a diligent inquisition
made for the same, was detected, accused, and presented before
us in our last convocation of all our province of Canturburie,
holden in the cathedral church of Pauls at London : at the law-
fuU denouncement and request of our universall clergie in the
4 Vailing their bonets.] " Then the bishop, after deliberation, putting off
his cap, said, In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, Amen. Exurgat
Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus : and making a crosse on his forehead and
his breast, by the counsell of the other bishops, he gave sentence against
Maister Bilney, being there present." — Fox's Acts, p. 914.
6 His condemnation.] See Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 356.
C C 2

388 LORD COBHAM.
said convocation, we proceeded against him according to the law
(God to witnesse) with all the favour possible. And foUowing
Christs example in aU that we might, which willeth not the death
of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live; we tooke
upon us to correct him, and sought all other waies possible to
bring him againe to the churches unitie, declaring unto him what
the holy and universall church of Rome hath said, holden, deter
mined, and taught in that behalfe. And though we found him
in the catholike faith farre wide, and so stifnecked, that he would
not confesse his error, nor purge himselfe, nor yet repent him
thereof: we yet pitying him of fatherlie compassion, and entirely
desiring the health of his soule, appointed him a competent time
of deliberation, to see if hee would repent and seeke to be
reformed: but since that time we have found him worse and
worse. Considering therefore, that he is not corrigible, we are
driven to the verie extremitie of the law, and with great heavi-
nesse of heart, we now proceed to the publication of the sentence
definitive, against him."
Then brought he forth another bill, containing the said sen
tence, and that he read also in his beggerlie Latine, Christi
nomine invocato, ipsumque solum prov oculis habentes. Quia per
acta inactiiata, and so forth. Which I have also translated into
English, that men may understand it.
" Christ we take unto witnesse, that nothing else we seek in
this our whole enterprise, but his only glorie.— For as much as
we have found by divers acts done, brought forth and exhibited
by sundrie evidences, signes, and tokens, and also by manie most
manifest proofes, the said sir John Oldcastle knight, and lord
Cobham, not only to be an evident heretike in his owne person,
but also a mightie maintainer of other heretikes against the faith
and religion of the holie and universaU church of Rome ; namely,
about the two sacraments (of the altar, and of penance), besides
the popes power, and pilgrimages : and that hee as the child of
iniquitie and darknesse, hath so hardened his heart, that he will
in no case attend unto the voice of his pastor ; neither will he be
allured by strait admonishments, nor yet be brought in by favour
able words : the worthinesse of the cause first weighed on the
one side, and his unworthinesse againe considered on the other
side, his faults also aggravated or made double through his damn
able obstinacie, wee (being loth that he which is nought should
be worse, and so with his contagiousnesse infect the multitude)

LORD COBHAM. 389
by the sage counsell and assent of the very discreet fathers, our
honorable brethren and lords bishops here present, Richard of
London, Henrie of Winchester, and Bennet of Bangor, and of
other great learned and wise men heere, both doctors of divinitie,
and of the lawes canon and civil, seculars and religious, with
divers other expert men assisting us ; we sententially and defini
tively by this present writing, judge, declare, and condemne the
said sir John Oldcastle knight, and lord Cobham, for a most
pernicious and detestable heretike, convicted upon the same, and
refusing utterly to obey the church againe, committing him heere
from henceforth as a condemned heretike to the secular jurisdic
tion, power, and judgment, to do him thereupon to death 6. — Fur
thermore, we excommunicate and denounce accursed, not onlie
this heretike heere present, but so many else besides, as shall
hereafter in favour of his error, either receive him or defend him,
counseU him or helpe him, or any other way maintaine him, as
verie fautors, receivers, defenders, counsellors, aiders, and main
tainers of condemned heretikes.
" And that these premisses may be the better knowne of all
faithfull Christian men, we commit it here unto your charges, and
give you strait commandment thereupon by this writing also :
that ye cause this condemnation and definitive sentence of excom-
" Thereupon to death.] The original reads thus : " . . . errantem
judicamus, declaramus et condemnamus finaliter et definitive in hiis scriptis,
relinquentes eundem exnunc, tanquam heereticum, judicio seculari." Fox's
words " to do him thereupon to death," are certainly not found in the ori
ginal, but they only express what was understood in the Latin. The delivery
of a condemned heretic by the ecclesiastical courts to the civil power was
at this time invariably followed by punishment.
By the statute against heretics or Lollards (2 Hen. IV. c. 15), the whole
authority was put into the bishop's hands, as he might direct his sentence
to be executed without the intervention of the writ de hceretico comburendo ;
for it enacts that credence should be given to the diocesan by the sheriff,
who was to receive the offender, and cause him to be burnt.
" If persons sententially convict refused to abjure their opinions, or after
abjuration relapsed, a more rigorous course was directed. Such persons were
by the canons to be left to the secular arm ; and it was now enacted, that in
such cases credence should be given to the diocesan or his commissary, and the
sheriff, and mayor or bailiff of the place, should be present when the sentence
was given, if required by the diocesan or commissary ; and, after sentence
promulgated, should receive and them before the people in a high place cause
to be burnt, to the example and terror of others."— Reeves's History ofthe
English Law, 1787, vol. iii. p. 236. See p. 254, ante.

390 LORD COBHAM.
munication, concerning both this heretike and his fautors, to bee
published throughout all diocesses, in cities, townes, and viUages,
by your curats and parish priests, at such times as they shall
have most recourse of people. And see that it be done after this
sort : as the people are thus gathered devoutly together, let the
curat everie where goe into the pulpit, and there open, declare,
and expound this process in the mother tongue 7, in an audible
and intelligible voice, that it may be perceived of all men, and
that upon the feare of this declaration also, the people may faU
from their eviU opinions conceived now of late by seditious
preachers. Moreover we will, that after wee have delivered unto
each one of you bishops which are heere present, a copie hereof,
that ye cause the same to be written out againe into divers copies,
and to be sent unto the other bishops and prelats of our whole
province, that they may also see the contents thereof solemnely
published within their diocesses and cures. FinaUy, we wil that
both you and they signifie againe unto us seriously and distinctly
by your writings as the matter is, without fained colour in everie
point performed, the day whereon ye received this processe, the
time when it was of you executed, and after what sort it was
done in everie condition, according to the tenour hereof, that we
may know it to be justly the same s."
A copie of this writing sent Thomas ArundeU the archbishop
of Canturburie afterward from Maidstone the tenth day of Octo
ber, within the same yeere of our Lord 1413, unto Richard
Clifford the bishop of London, which thus beginneth ; Thomas
permissione divina, &c.
The said Richard Clifford sent another copie thereof, enclosed
within his owne letters, unto Robert MaschaU a Carmelite frier,
which was then bishop of Hereford in Wales, written from
Haddam the 23d day of October in the yeere, and the beginning
thereof is this; Reverende in Christo pater, &c.
This Robert MaschaU directed another copie thereof from
London the 27th day of November in the same yeere, inclosed
in his owne commission also, unto his archdeacon and deanes in
Hereford and Shrewsburie. And this is thereof the beginning ;
7 In the mother tongue.] See Tindal, p. 151, above, in note on Life of
Wickliffe, p. 221.
8 The same.] The date is Oct. 10, 1413. Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 357.

LORD COBHAM. 391
Venerabilibus et discretis viris, &c. In like manner did the other
bishops within their diocesses.
After that the archbishop had thus read the bill of his con
demnation with most extremitie before the whole multitude ; the
lord Cobham said with a most cheerefuU countenance, " Though
ye judge my bodie which is but a wretched thing, yet am I cer
taine and sure, that ye can do no harme to my soule, no more
then could Satan upon the soule of Job. He that created that,
will of his infinite mercie and promise save it, I have therein
no maner of doubt. And as concerning these articles before
rehearsed, I will stand to them even to the verie death, by the
grace of my eternall God."
And therewith he turned him unto the people, casting his hands
abroad, and saying with a verie" loude voice, " Good Christian
people, for Gods love be well ware of these men, for they wiU
else beguile you, and lead you blindling into hel with themselves.
For Christ saith plainly unto you, If one blind man leadeth
another, they are like both to fall into the ditch.'''' Matt. 10.
After this, he fell downe there upon his knees, and thus before
them all praied for his enemies, holding up both his hands and
his eies towards heaven, and saying, " Lord God eternall, I
beseech thee of thy great mercies sake, to forgive my pursuers,
if it be thy blessed will." And then he was delivered to sir
Robert Morlie, and so led forth againe to the Tower of London.
And thus was there an end of that daies worke.
While the lord Cobham was thus in the Tower, he sent out
privilie unto his friends, and they at his request wrote this little
bill heere following, causing it to be set up in divers quarters of
London ; that the people should not beleeve the slanders and lies
that his enemies the bishops servants and priests had made on
him abroad. And thus was the letter.
" For as much as sir John Oldcastle knight, and lord Cobham,
is untruelie convicted and imprisoned, falsely reported and slan
dered among the common people by his adversaries, that he
should otherwise both thinke and speake of the sacraments of
the church, and speciallie of the blessed sacrament of the altar,
then was written in the confession of his beliefe, which was
indented and taken to the clergie, and so set up in divers open
places in the citie of London : knowne be it heere to all the
world, that he (never since) varied in any point therefro, but this

392 LORD COBHAM.
is plainlie his beliefe, that all the sacraments of the church be
profitable and expedient also to all them that shall be' saved,
taking them after the intent that Christ and his true church hath
ordained. Furthermore he beleeveth, that the blessed sacrament
of the altar is verilie and truly Christs bodie in forme of bread."
After this, the bishops and priests were in much great discredit
both with the nobUitie and commons, partlie for that they had so
cruelly handled the good lord Cobham; and partlie againe,
because his opinion (as they thought at that time) was perfect
concerning the sacrament. The prelats feared this to grow to
further inconvenience towards them both waies, wherefore they
drew their heads together, and at the last consented to use
another practise somewhat contrarie to that they had done afore.
They caused it by and by to be blowne abroad by their feed
servants, friends, and babling Sir Johns 9, that the said lord
Cobham was becomen a good man, and had lowlie submitted
himselfe in all things unto holy church, utterly changing his
opinion concerning the sacrament. And thereupon, they coun
terfeited an abjuration in his name, that the people should take
no hold of that opinion by any thing they had heard of him

9 Babling Sir Johns.] Sir John, Sir John Lack-Latin, &c. were names of
derision in common use among the reformers for the curates, and lower
orders of the popish clergy. Thus William TindaU in his Practice of Pre
lates : " There one sort are your Grace, your Holines, your Fatherhode :
another, my lord Bishop, my lord Abbot, my lord Pryor : another, master
Doctour, father Bachelar, mayster Parson, maister Vicar, and at the last
commeth in simple Syr John." Works, p. 343. edit. 1572. Christopherson,
master of Trinity College, Cambridge, gives the following querulous repre
sentation of the manner in which the orthodox clergy were teased by imperti
nent and heretical disputants, during the reign of heresy under Edward VI.
" Yf a man were a good vertuous priest, he had bene better a great deale to
have lived amonge Turkes and Saracenes, then among this kind of folke ; by
reason that whensoever they mette with him in anye place, they woulde aske
him : Nowe Syr John, where fynde you your masse in Scripture : or who
gave you authoritie to make God ? " Christopherson against Rebellion, signat.
T 4. a.d. 1554. Nor were these liberties taken merely with simple Sir John.
Master Parson himself came in for his share. "Than begynneth one or
another to move some subtyle question, saying Mayster person, howe say ye
to suche a texte of Paule ? And if the priest be ignoraunt for lacke of
lernynge, or maketh not answere satysfyenge his mynde ; he is mocked and
jested upon with scornefull derysyon." Barlowe's Dialogue concerning the
Lutheran Factions, signat. L 4. edit. 1553. Compare Hoggard's Displaying
of Protestants, foi. 87. a.d. 1556.

LORD COBHAM. 393
before ; and so to stand the more in awe of them, considering
him so great a man, and by them subdued.
" This is the abjuration" (say they) " of sir John Oldcastle
knight, sometime the lord Cobham.
" In Dei nomine : Amen. I John Oldcastle denounced,
detected, and convicted, of and upon divers articles savouring both
heresie and errour, before the reverend father in Christ and my
good lord, Thomas by the permission of God, lord archbishop of
Canturburie, and my lawfull and rightfull judge in that behalfe,
expressly grant and confesse, that as concerning the estate and
power of the most holy father the pope of Rome, of his arch
bishops, his bishops, and his other prelats, the decrees of the
church, and the holy sacraments of the same, specially of the
sacraments of the altar, of penance, and other observances besides
of our mother holie church, as pilgrimages, and pardons : I affirme
(I saie) before the said reverend father archbishop and elsewhere,
that I being evill seduced by divers seditious preachers, have
grievouslie erred, and hereticallie persisted, blasphemouslie
answered and obstinatelie rebelled. And therefore I am by the said"
reverend father, before the reverend fathers in Christ also, the
bishops of London, Winchester, and Bangor, lawfullie condemned
for an heretike.
" Neverthelesse, yet, I now remembring my selfe, and coveting
by this meane to avoid that temporaU paine which I am worthie
to suffer as an heretike, at the assignation of my most exceUent
Christian prince and liege lord, king Henrie the fifth, now by the
grace of God most worthie king both of England and of France ;
minding also to preferre the wholesome determination, sentence,
and doctrine of the holie universall church of Rome, before the
unwholesome opinions of my selfe, my teachers, and my followers,
I freelie, willinglie, deliberatelie, and thoroughlie confesse, grant,
and affirme, that the most holie fathers in Christ, Saint Peter the
apostle and his successors bishops of Rome, speciallie now at this
time, my most blessed lord pope John, by permission of God, the
three and twentieth pope of that name, which now holdeth Peters
seat (and each of them in their succession) hath ful strength and
power to be Christs vicar in earth, and the head of the church
mUitant. And that by the strength of his office, he hath full
authoritie and power to rule and governe, bind and loose, save
and destroy, accurse and assoyle aU other Christian men.

394 LORD COBHAM.
" And agreeably stiU unto this, I confesse, grant, and affirme
all other archbishops, bishops, and prelats in their provinces,
diocesses, and parishes (appointed by the said pope of Rome, to
assist him in his doings or businesse) by his decrees, canons, or
vertue of his office, to have had in times past, to have now at this
time, and that they ought to have in time to come, authoritie and
power to rule and governe, bind and loose, accurse and assoyle
the subjects or people of their aforesaid provinces, diocesses, and
parishes, and that their said subjects or people ought of right in
all things to obey them. Furthermore, I confesse, grant, and
affirme, that the said spirituall fathers, our most holie father the
pope, the archbishops, bishops, and prelats, have had, have now,
and ought to have hereafter, authoritie and power for the estate,
order, and governance of their subjects or people, to make lawes,
decrees, statutes, and constitutions, yea and to publish, command,
and compeU their said subjects and people to the observation of
them. " Moreover, I confesse, grant, and affirme, that all these fore
said lawes, decrees, statutes, and constitutions made, published,
and commanded, according to the forme of spirituall law, all
Christian people, and every man in himselfe is straitly bound to
observe, and meekelie to obey, according to the diversitie of the
foresaid powers : As the lawes, statutes, canons, and constitutions
of our most holie father the pope, incorporated in his decrees,
decretals, Clementines, codes, charts, rescripts, sextiles, and
extravagants over all the world : and also the provinciall statutes
of archbishops in their provinces, the synodall acts of bishops in
their diocesses, and the commendable rules and customes of
prelats in their colledges, and curats in their parishes, all christian
people are both bound to observe, and also most meekelie to obey.
" Over and besides all this, I John Oldcastle utterlie forsaking
and renouncing all the aforesaid errors and heresies, and all other
errors and heresies like unto them, lay my hand here upon this
booke or holie evangelie of God, and sweare, that I shall never
more from henceforth hold these aforesaid heresies, nor yet anie
other like unto them wittinglie. Neither shall I give counsell,
aid, helpe, nor favour at anie time, to them that shall hold, teach,
affirme, or maintaine the same, as God shall helpe me, and these
holy evangelies.
" And that I shall from henceforth faithfully obey and invio-
lablie observe all the holie lawes, statutes, canons, and constitu-

LORD COBHAM. 395
tions of aU the popes of Rome, archbishops, bishops, and prelats,
as are contained and determined in their holie decrees, decretals,
Clementines, codes, charts, rescripts, sextiles, sums-papall, extra-
vagants, statutes provinciaU, acts synodall, and other ordinarie
regules and customes constituted by them, or that shall chance
hereafter directlie to be determined or made. To these and aU
such other, wiU I my selfe with aU power possiblie applie. Besides
all this, the penance which it shall please my said reverend father
the lord archbishop of Canturburie, hereafter to enjoyne me for
my sinnes, I wiU meekelie obey and faithfullie fulfill. Finallie,
aU my seducers and false teachers, and all other besides, whom I
shall hereafter know suspected of heresie or errors, I shall effec-
tuallie present, or cause to be presented unto my said reverend
father, lord archbishop, or to them which have his authoritie, so
soone as I can convenientlie do it, and see that they be corrected
to my uttermost power 10."
1 To my uttermost power.] The reader will observe, that in this document,
we have, on the part of the clergy of this great kingdom, an exemplification
of a charter, as it were, of slavish subjection of themselves, and, as far as
they can, of their country, in sundry, distinct, and most momentous articles,
to the pope of Rome. Let us for a moment cast a glance on a part of them.
1. In the second paragraph, the pope is formally recognised as "the head
of the church," and the king thereby treasonably disseized of one half of his
prerogatives and duties : and in the same paragraph, there is a like surrender
to the pope of " full authority and power to rule and govern, bind and loose,
save and destroy, accurse and absolve all other Christian men."
2. In the third paragraph is basely tendered the subjection and thraldom
of the whole body of the Enghsh clergy. The appointment is asserted to the
pope, and for his service, and uses of the archbishops, bishops, &c, and all
their authority and power is to be considered as accruing to them, in virtue of
his decrees, canons, and office. And further, that he, together with these
clergy, have had, "have now, and ought to have hereafter, authority and power
to make laws for the governance of their subjects or people, and to compel
the said people to the observance of the same."
3. Again, in the fourth paragraph, we have another fearful concession and
usurpation. The whole body of the canon law, the pope's decrees, decretals,
Clementines, &c, with all their dreadful consequences and sanctions, is, at
one stroke, received, engrafted into, and embedded in the code of law of the
church and state of England.
Thus far for the establishment of tyranny in the gross, and by wholesale,
as respects a whole kingdom, from generation to generation. The rest which
follows, in violation of the rights of conscience, in an individual instance, is
precisely of a hke character; and so therefore we shall leave it.

396 LORD COBHAM.
Never came n this abjuracyon to the hands of the lorde Cobham,
neyther was yt compyled of them for that purpose, but onlye
therwith to bleare the eyes of the unlearned multytude. And
when they perseyved that polycye wolde not helpe, but made
more and more agaynst them, then sought they out another false
practyse. They went unto the kynge with a most grevouse com-
playnte, lyke as they did afore in his fathers tyme, that in everye
quarter of the realme, by reason of Wycleaves opynions and
the sayd lord Cobham, were wonderfull contencyons, rumours,
tumultes, uproars, confederacyons, dyssencyons, divysyons, dyffer-
ences, dyscordes, harmes, slaunders, scysmes, sectes, sedycyons,
perturbaeyons, perils, unlawfull assemblyes, varyaunces, stryfes,
fyghtynges, rebellyouse ruffelynges, and daily insurreccyons. The
churche (they sayde) was hated ; the dyocesans were not obeyed ;
the ordynaryes were not regarded ; the spirituall offycers, as
suffraganes, archdeacons, chaunceUors, doctours, commyssaryes,
offycyals, deans, lawers, scrybes, and sommeners were every where
despysed ; the lawes and lyberties of holye churche were troden
under fote ; the Christian fayth was ruynouslye declared ; Gods
servyce was laughed to scorne ; the spirituale jurisdiccyon,
auctoryte, honour, power, polycye, lawes, rytes, ceremonyes,
curses, keyes, censures, and canonycall sanccyons of the churche
were had in an uttre contempt : so that all in a maner was come
to nought.
And the cause of this was, that the heretyques and lollars of
Wycleaves opynyon, were suffered to preache abrode so boldelye,
to gather conventycles unto them, to kepe scoles in mennys
houses, to make bokes, compyle treatyses, and wryte balettes, to
teache pryvatelye in angles and corners, as in wodes, feldes,
medowes, pastours, groves, and in caves of the grounde. This
wolde be (they sayde) a destruccyon to the common welthe, a
subversyon to the lande, and an uttre decaye of the kynges estate
ryall, yf remedye were not sought in tyme. And this was theyr
polycye to copie the kynges auctoryte with that they had done
in theyr former counseU of craft, and so to make yt therby the
strongar : for they perseved themselves verye farre too weake els,
to foUowe agaynst theyr enemyes that they had so largelye enter-
11 Never came.] That which follows, from this place to the end, being not
equally full, or well-told in Fox, is taken from Bale's Brefe Chronycle.

LORD COBHAM. 397
prysed. Upon this complaynt the kynge immedyatelye called a
parlament ' at Leycestre. It might not in those dayes be holden
at Westmynstre, for the great fame that the lorde Cobham had
both in London, and abought the cyte. In the seyd parlament
the kynge made this most blasphemouse and cruell acte, to be as
a lawe for ever : That whatsoever they were that shulde reade the
Scripturs in the mother tonge (which was then called Wycleves
learnyng) they shuld forfeit lande, cattele, bodye, lyfe, and goodes
from theyr heyrs for ever, and so be condemned for heretyques to
God, enemyes to the crowne, and moste errande trayters to the
lande. Besydes this, yt was enacted that never a sanyctwarye nor
pryveyleged grounde within the realme should holde them,
though they were styll permytted both to theves '' and mour-
therers. And yf in case they wolde not give over, or were after
theyr pardon relapsed, they shulde suffre death in two maner of
kyndes. That is, they shulde fyrst be hanged for treason agaynst
the kynge, and then be burned for heresye agaynst God, and yet
neyther of both commytted. The begynnynge of that acte 3 is
this : Pro eo quod magni rumores, &c. Anon after was yt pro-
claymed through out the realme : and than had the bysshoppes,
prestes, monkes, and fryers a worlde somewhat to theyr myndes.
For than were many taken in dyverse quarters, and suffered most
cruell death. And manye fledde out of the lande into Germanye,
Boheme, Fraunce, Spayne, Portyngale, and into the wolde of
Scotlande, Wayles, and Irelande, workynge there manye marvyls
agaynst theyr false kyngedome, too longe to wryte.
In the Chrystmas folowynge was syr Roger Acton, knight,
master Johan Brown, esqr. syr John Beverlaye *, a learned
1 Called a parlament.] April 30, 1414. 1 Pari. Hist. 324.
2 Both to theves.] Thus Wickliffe complains, " that great houses of reli
gion, as Westminster, Beverly, and other chalengen, usen and maynteynen
this priviledge, that whatever thief or felon come to this holy house of reh
gion, he shall dwell there all his lyfe, and no man impeach him, though he
owe poor men much goods, and have enough to paye it; and though he rob
and slay every night many men out of the franchises, and every day come
agen, he shall be meynteyned thereto by virtue of this open heresie." Lewis's
History of Wickliffe, p. 351. Compare Works of Sir Thomas More, p. 47.
Blackstone's Commentaries, b. iv. c. 26.
3 The begynnynge of that acte.] The Act is printed intire by Fox, p. 524,
525. But, in several particulars, it does not correspond with this description.
4 Syr John Beverlaye.] " Such priests as have the addition Sir (says Fuller,

398 LORD COBHAM.
preacher, and dyverse other more attached for quarreUynge with
certen prestes and so impresoned. For ale menne at that tyme
coude not pacyentlye suffre theyr blasphemouse bragges.
The complaynte was made unto the kynge of them, that they
had made a great assemblye in saynct Gyles felde at London,
purposynge the destruccyon of the lande, and the subversyon of
the common welthe. As the kynge was thus informed, he erected
a banner (sayth Walden) with a crosse thereupon (as the pope
doth commonlye by his legates, when he pretendeth to warre
agaynst the Turke) and with a great numbre of menne entred the
same felde, whereas he founde no soche companye ; yet was the
complaynt judged true, bycausse the bysshoppes had spoken yt at
the infourmation of theyr prestes. All this hath Thomas Walden
in dyverse of his workes, whych was at the same tyme a whyght
or carmelyte fryre, and the kyngs confessour : and partlye it is
touched both by Robert Fabyane, and by Polydorus VergUius,
in theyr Englyshe chronycles, but not in all poyntes rightlye. In
the meane season, syr Johan Oldcastele, the lorde Cobham,
escaped out ofthe Tower of London in the nyght, and so fledde into
Walys s, where as he continued more than four years after.
Some wryters have thought this escape to come by the seyd
syr Roger Acton, and other gentylmenne in dyspleasure of the
prestes, and that to be the chefe occasyon of theyr deathes,
which myght weU be, but Walden doth not so uttre yt, which
regned the same selfe tyme. In Januarye next followynge was
the afore named syr Roger Acton, master Johan Browne, syr
Johan Beverlaye, and thirty six more (of whom the more parte
were gentyU menne of byrthe), convicted of heresye by the
byshoppes, and condemned of treason by the temporalte, and

in his History of Abbies, p. 352) before their Christian name, were men not
graduated in the university, being in Orders but not in Degrees." But
according to other authorities, Sir was " a common title given formerly to
clergymen of all degrees. See Rymer's Fozdera, vol. vi. p. 86; and the
Dramatis Personse of many of Shakespeare's plays." Lowth's Life of
William of Wykeham, p. 1 32. edit. 2d. Of a more recent date it has usually
been appropriated to the degree of Batchelor. " Sir Barwick (to give him
the stile of his degree) was deputed by the rest of his collegians." Barwick's
Life of Dr. John Barwick, p. 12.
6 Fledde into Walys.] Where, as we have seen, he had been chiefly employed
before his marriage with Dame Joane Hawberk, and where in all probability
his personal influence was great.

LORD COBHAM. 399
accordinge to the acte, were first hanged and then brente in the
seyde saynct Gyles Felde. In the same yeare also was one Johan
Claydon, a skynner, and one Richard Turmyne, a baker, both
hanged and brente in Smythfelde by that vertuouse acte ; besydes
that was done in all other quarters of Englande, which was no
smaU nombre yf yt were now thoroughlye knowen.
The latter Empresonynge and Beath ofthe Lorde Cobham.
In the yeare of oure Lorde one thousand four hundred and
fifteen, died Thomas Arrundell, which had beene archebyshoppe of
Canterburye more than thirty two years, to the great destruccyon
of Christen beleve. Yet dyed not his prodygyouse tyrannye6

6 His prodygyouse tyrannye.] We borrowed above from Lewis, a recital of
archbishop Arundel's achievements of this nature. (See note on Thorpe's
Examination, p. 272, 3.) The narrative will not be complete without subjoining
in this its proper place, the description of his successor Chicheley's per
formances, intended to supply what was found wanting to the complete
efficiency of the work of Arundel.
" That these hated and persecuted men might no where be sheltered, but
that all persons might deny them succour, archbishop Chicheley two years
after the act of 2 Henry V." (described in the same note above-mentioned,)
" in a convocation held at London, made a constitution, which he sent to
the bishop of London, and his other suffragans to be put in execution;
wherein he 'enjoined all suffragans and archdeacons in the province of Can
terbury, with their officials and commissaries in their several jurisdictions,
diligently to inquire twice every year after persons suspected of heresy ; that
where any reputed heretics were reported to dwell, three or more of that
parish should be obliged to take an oath that they would certify in writing to
the suffragans, archdeacons, or their commissaries what persons were heretics,
or who kept private conventicles, or who differed in life and manners from
the common conversation of the faithful, or who asserted heresies or errors,
or who had any suspected books written in the vulgar English tongue, or
who received, favoured, or were conversant with any persons suspected of
errors or heresies. That the diocesans, upon information, should issue out
process against the accused persons, and deliver them over to the secular
court, or commit them to perpetual or temporary imprisonment, as the
nature of the case required, at least until the sitting of the next convocation.
" This was a most effectual way to ruin the poor Wickliffites. For now
an inquisition was set up in every parish, and men were set at variance against
their own fathers and mothers, and nearest relations : so that often a man's
greatest foes were those of his own household and blood. Accordingly we
find too frequent instances upon record, of the brother detecting the brother
and sister, the husband the wife, the sons their own father and mother, the

400 LORD COBHAM.
with him, but succeded with his office in Henry Chycheleye, and
in a great sorte more of that spightfule spiritualte. For theyr
malyce was not yet setled agaynst the goode lorde Cobham. But
they confedered with the lorde Powys7 (which was at that tyme a
great govemour in Walys), fedynge him with lordlye gyftes and
promyses to accomplyshe theyr desyre. He at the last thus
monyed with Judas, and outwardlye pretendynge him great amyte
and favour, most cowardlye and wretchedlye toke him, and in
conclusyon so sent him up to London 8, where as he remayned a
moneth or two imprysoned agayne in the Tower. And after
longe processe they condemned him agayne of heresye and treason
by force of the afore named acte, he renderynge thankes unto
God, that he had so appoynted him to suffre for his names sake.
And upon the daye appoynted, he was broughte out of the
Tower with his armes bounde behynde him, havynge a verye
servants their mistresses, and parents their own children." Lewis's Life of
Wickliffe, p. 134, 5. edit. 1820, chap. 7.
And what, may we not now well ask, could be the prospects and condition
of a country, in all the mighty interests of truth, religion, virtue, and piety,
in public or private life, so long as these things were to bear sway in the
land ?
7 The lorde Powys.] Edward de Cherleton de Powys, Lord Cherleton, who
died in 1422, leaving two daughters his heirs, amongst whose descendants
the barony is contested to this day.
8 Sent him up to London.] Of this part of the story the account is told
more fully in Fox. " Being committed to the Tower, he escaped afterwards,
and was in Wales about the space of foure yeares. In the which mean time
a great summe of money was proclaimed by the king to him that could take
the said Sir John Oldcastle, either quicke or dead. About the end of which
foure yeares being expired, the Lord Powes, whether for love and greedinesse
of the money, or whether for hatred of the true and sincere doctrine of
Christ, seeking all maner of waies how to play the part of Judas, at length
obtained his bloodie purpose, and brought the Lord Cobham bound up to
London ; which was about the yeare of our Lord 1417, and about the month
of December ; at which time was a parliament assembled at London. The
records of which parliament doe thus say : that on Tuesday the 1 3th day of
December, sir John Oldcastle, of Cowling, in the countie of Kent, knight,
being outlawed in the King's Bench, and excommunicated before by the arch
bishop of Canturburie for heresie, was brought before the Lords, and having
heard his said convictions, answered not thereto in his excuse. Upon which
record and processe, it was adjudged, that hee should be taken as a traitor
to the king and the realme ; that he should be carried to the Tower of London,
and from thence drawen through London unto the new gallowes in Saint
Giles without Temple Barre, and there to be hanged, and burned hanging."
Fox's Acts, p. 591.

LORD COBHAM. 401
cheerefuU countenaunce. Than was he layd upon an hardle, as
though he had bene a most heynouse traytour to the crowne, and
so drawne forth into saynct Gyles Felde, where as they had set
up a newe payre of gaUowes. And as he was comen to the
place of execution and was taken from the hardle, he fell down
devoutlye upon his knees, desyerynge almyghtye God to forgeve
his enemys. Than stode hee up and behelde the multytude,
exhortynge them in most godlye maner, to foUowe the lawes of
God wrytten in the Scripturs, and in anye wise to beware of
soche teachers as they se contrarye to Christ in theyr conver-
sacyon and lyvynge, with manye other specyaU counsels. Than
was he hanged up there by the myddle in cheanes of yron, and so
consumed alyve in the fyre, praysynge the name of God, so longe
as his lyfe lasted. In the ende he commended his so wie into the
handes of God, and so departed hens most christenlye, his bodye
resolved into ashes.
And this was done in the yeare of oure Lorde one thousand
four hundred and eighteen, which was the sixt yeare of the regne
of kynge Henrye the fyft, the people there present shewinge great
dolour. How the prestes that time fared, blasphemed, and
cursed, requyryinge the people not to praye for him, for that he
departed not in the obedyence of theyr pope, yt were too long to
wryte. This terryble kynde of deathe, with galowes, cheanes, and fyre,
apereth not very precyouse in the eyes of menne that be carnaU,
no more than did the deathe of Christ, when he was hanged up
amonge theves. The righteous seemeth to dye (sayth the wise
manne) in the syghte of them which are unwyse, and theyr end is
taken for verye destruccyon. Ungodlye foles thynketh theyr lyves
verye madnesse, and theyr passage hens without all honour. But
though they suffre payne before menne (sayth he), yet is theyr
expectation full of immortalyte. They are accounted for the chyl-
dren of God, and have theyr just porcyon amonge the saynctes. As
golde in thefornace doth God trye his electes, and as a most pleasant
brent offerynge receyveth he them to rest. The more harde the passage
be the more qloriouse shall they apere in the latter resurreccyon. Not
that the afftictyons of this lyfe are worthy e of soche a glory e, but that
it is Gods heavenlye pleasure so to rewarde them. Never are the
judgements and wayes of menne lyke unto the judgements and wayes
of God, but contrayre evermore, unless they be taught of him. In
the latter time (sayth the Lorde unto Daniel) shall manye be
VOL. I. » d

402 LORD COBHAM.
chosen proved and puryfyed by fyre, yet shall the ungodlye live
wickedly styll, and have no understandynge that is of fayihe.
By an angel from heven was Johan ernestlye commanded to
wryte, that blessed are the dead which hence departeth in the Lorde,
— Ryghte dere (saythe David) in the sight of God is the dethe of
Ms true servauntes.
Thus resteth this valeaunt Christen knyghte Syr Johan Old-
castele, undre the aultre of God (which is Jesus Christ), amonge
that godlye companye, which, in the kyngedom of patyence,
suffred great tribulacyon with the deathe of theyr bodyes for his
faythfull worde and testimonye, abydynge there with them the
fulfyllynge of theyr whole nombre, and the fuU restauracyon of his
electes. The which He grant in effect at his tyme appoynted,
which is one God eternall ! Amen.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.

INVENTION OF PRINTING— CHAUCER AND GOWER— PRO
GRESS OF REFORMATION AND OF PERSECUTION, &c—
MARTIN LUTHER.

rd 2

How admirable are the ways of Providence ! and how illustrious was its
present dispensation ! It directed the independent, the various, and the
contrary revolutions of these times, to rectify the mischiefs occasioned by the
past : whereby that very learning, which, in the first ages had been perverted
to corrupt Christianity, was now employed to purify and restore it : that very
philosophy which had been adopted to explain articles of faith, was now
studied only to instruct us in the history of the human mind, and to assist us
in developing its faculties, and regulating its operations : and those very
systems, which had supported the whole body of school divinity, now afforded
the principles proper to overturn it.
Bishop Warburton.

THE
BENEFIT AND INVENTION OF PRINTING.

In foUowing the course, and order of yeeres, wee find the yeere
of our Lord 1 450, to be memorable, for the divine and miraculous
invention of printing. Nauclerus ', and Wymselingus 2 following
him, referre the invention thereof to the yeere 1440. In Paralip.
Abbatis Urspergensis3, it is recorded this facultie to be found,
an. 1446. Aventinus4 and Zieglerus 5 doe say, anno 1450.
The first inventor thereof (as most agree) is thought to be a
German, dweUing first in Argentine6, afterwards citizen of Mentz,
named John Faustus, a goldsmith. The occasion of this invention
1 Nauclerus.] John Vergen, called Nauclerus, in his Memorabilium Chronici
Commentarii, vol. ii. foi. 282, ed. Tubingen : Th. Anshelmi, 1516. The text
of this edition was revised by Melancthon, who was then a corrector of the
press in the printer's office.
2 Wymselingus.] Jacobus Wimphelingius ; in chap. lxv. of his Epitome
Rerum Germanicarum, written in 1502, and printed at Strasburg in 1505.
3 Paralip. Abbatis Urspergensis.] The Chronicon Universale, which passes
under the name of Conrad v. Lichtenau, abbot of Ursperg, who died in 1 249.
It had several continuators, the last of whom was Caspar Hedio of Etlingen,
who brought it down to 1 537. It is published under the title of Chronicon
Abbatis Urspergensis correctum : Parulipomena ei addita rerum memorabilium
ab an. 1230 ad an. 1537. It is this edition which Fox quotes.
4 Aventinus.] John Thurmaier, called Aventinus from his native place,
Abensberg, in Bavaria. See his Annalium Boiorum libri septem. Basil. 1580.
ad an. 1453, and the Documenta et Testimonia Typographica, appended to
Ger. Meerman's Origines Typographical, ed. 1765.
5 Zieglerus.] John Ziegler, a well-known theological and mathematical
writer, who died at Passau in 1549. See Schelhorn's Ameenitates Hist. Eccl. et
Lit. vol. ii. The passage will probably be found in Ziegler's Encomia Ger
mania, printed in the collection intituled, Germanicarum Historiarum Illustra-
tio, ed. 1542.
6 Argentine, i. e. Strasburgh.

406 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
first was by his engraving the letters of the alphabet in metal :
who then laying blacke inke upon the metaU, this gave the forme
of letters in paper. The man being industrious and active, per
ceiving that, thought to proceed further, and to prove whether it
would frame as weU in words, and in whole sentences, as it did in
letters. Which when he perceived to come weU to passe, hee
made certaine other of his counseU, one John Guttemberge 7 and
Peter Schaffard, binding them by their oth, to keepe sUence
for a season. After ten yeeres, John Guttemberge compartner
with Faustus, began then first to broche the matter at Straus-
borough. The art being yet but rude, in processe of time, was
set forward by inventive wits, adding more and more to the per
fection thereof. In the number of whom, John MenteU, John
Prus, Adolphus Ruschius, were great helpers. Ulricus Han,
in Latine caUed GaUus, first brought it to Rome. Whereof the
epigram was made :
Anser Tarpeii custos, vigilando quod alis
Constreperes, Gallus decidit ; ultor adest
Ulricus Gallus, ne quem poscantur in usum,
Edocuit pennis nil opus esse tuis.
Notwithstanding, what man soever was the instrument, with
out aU doubt God himselfe was the ordainer and disposer thereof,
no otherwise, than he was of the gift of tongues, and that for a
simUar purpose. And weU may this gift of printing be resembled
to the gift of tongues : for hke as God then spake with many
tongues and yet all that would not turne the Jewes ; so now,
when the holy Ghost speaketh to the adversaries in innumerable
sorts of bookes, yet they wiU not be converted, nor turne to the
gospeU. To what end and purpose the Lord hath given this gift of
printing to the earth, and to what great utility and necessity it
serveth, it is not hard to judge, who-so wisely perpendeth both
the time of the sending, and the sequel which thereof ensueth.
And first, touching the time of this faculty given to the use of
man, this is to be marked : that when as the bishop of Rome
with aU the whole and fuU consent of his cardinals, patriarkes,
7 Guttemberge.] Meerman's Origines Typographical and Panzer's Annates
Typographici, will supply all the information which a reader can desire on
the subject of early printing and printers.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 407
archbishops, bishops, abbats, priors, lawyers, doctors, provoses,
deanes, archdeacons, assembled together in the councell of Con
stance, had condemned poore John Hus, and Hierome of Prage,
to death for heresie, notwithstanding they were no heretickes ;
and after they had subdued the Bohemians, and all the whole
world under the supreme authority of the Romish see ; and had
made aU Christian people obedienciaries and vassals unto the
same, having (as one would say) aU the world at their wiU, so
that the matter now was past not onely the power of all men,
but the hope also of any man to be recovered : in this very time
so dangerous and desperate, where mans power could do no more,
there the blessed wisdome and omnipotent power of the Lord
began to worke for his church, not with sword and target to
subdue his exalted adversary, but with printing, writing, and
reading, to convince darkness by light, errour by truth, ignorance
by learning. So that by this meanes of printing, the secret
operation of God hath heaped upon that proud kingdome a double
confusion. For whereas the bishop of Rome had burned John
Hus before, and Hierome of Prage, who neither denied his tran-
substantiation, nor his supremacie, nor yet his popish masse, but
said masse, and heard masse themselves, neither spake against
his purgatorie, nor any other great matter of his popish doctrine,
but onely exclaimed against his excessive and pompous pride, his
unchristian or rather antichristian abomination of life : thus while
he could not abide his wickednesse onely of life to be touched,
but made it heresie, or at least matter of death, whatsoever was
spoken against his detestable conversation and manners, God of
his secret judgement, seeing time to helpe his church, hath found
a way by this faculty of printing, not only to confound his life
and conversation, but also to cast downe the foundation of his
standing, that is, to examine, confute, and detect his doctrine,
lawes, and institutions most detestable, in such sort, that though
his life were never so pure, yet his doctrine standing as it doth,
no man is so blind but may see, that either the pope is antichrist,
or else that antichrist is neere cosin to the pope : and aU this
doth, and will hereafter more and more appeare by printing.
The reason whereof is this : for that hereby tongues are
knowne, knowledge groweth, judgement encreaseth, bookes are
dispersed, the Scripture is seene, the doctours be read, stories be
opened, times compared, truth discerned, falshood detected, and
with finger pointed out, and all (as I said) through the benefit of

408 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
printing. Wherefore I suppose, that either the pope must abolish
printing 8, or he must seeke a new world to reign over : for else,
as the world standeth, printing doubtlesse wiU abolish him. But
the pope, and aU his coUege of cardinaUs, must this understand,
that through the light of printing, the world beginneth now to-
have eyes to see, and heads to judge. He cannot walke so
invisible in a net, but he wiU be spied. And although through
might he stopped the mouth of John Hus before, and of Hierome,
that they might not preach, thinking to make his kingdome sure ;
yet in stead of John Hus and other, God hath opened the presse
to preach, whose voice the pope is never able to stop with aU the
puissance of his triple crowne. By this printing, as by the gift
of tongues, and as by the singular organe of the Holy Ghost, the
doctrine of the gospell soundeth to aU nations and countries under
heaven : and what God revealeth to one man, is dispersed to
many ; and what is knowne in one nation, is opened to all.
The first and best were for the bishop of Rome, by the benefit
of printing, to learne and know the truth. If he wiU not, let him
weU understand, that printing is not set up for nought. To strive
against the streame, it availeth not. What the pope hath lost
since printing and the presse began to preach, let him cast his
counters. First, when Erasmus wrote, and Frobenius printed,
what a blow thereby was given to all friers and monkes in
the world ! And who seeth not, that the pen of Luther foUowing
after Erasmus and set forward by printing, hath set the triple
crowne so awry on the popes head, that it is like never to be set
straight againe ?
Brieflie, if there were no demonstration to leade, yet by this
one argument of printing, the bishop of Rome might understand
the councell and purpose of the Lord to worke against him,
having provided such a way in earth, that almost how many
printing presses there be in the world, so many blocke-houses
there be against the high castle of«aint Angell9 : so that either
8 Must abolish printing.] So preached the vicar of Croydon in king Henry
the VHIth's days, at St. Paul's Cross, saying, either we must root out
printing, or else printing will root out us. — Fox.
9 High castle of saint Angell.] " The castle of saint Angelo standeth on the
banke of Tyber, in maner cleane without the towne ; excellently wel builded
and strong, and after most men's opinions is impregnable, unlesse it be by
famine. Oftentymes the bishop hym selfe lieth in it, and kepeth his courte
there." — Historie of Italie, by William Thomas, 1549. 4to. foi. 41.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 409
the pope must abolish knowledge and printing, or printing at
length will roote him out. For if a man wisely consider the
holde and standing of the pope, thus hee may repute with him
selfe, that as nothing made the pope strong in time past, but
lacke of knowledge and ignorance of simple Christians : so con
trariwise, now nothing doth debilitate and shake the high spire
of his papacie so much as reading, preaching, knowledge, and
judgement, that is to say, the fruit of printing. Whereof some
experience we see already, and more is like (the Lord before) to
follow. For although, through outward force and violent cruelty,
tongues dare not speake, yet the hearts of men daily (no doubt)
bee instructed through this benefit of printing. And though the
pope both now by cruelty, and in times past by ignorance, had
all under his possession ; yet neither must he thinke, that violence
wiU alwaies continue, neither must he hope for that now which
he had then ; forsomuch as in those former daies, bookes then
were scarce and also of such excessive price, that few could attain
to the buying, fewer to the reading and studying thereof; which
bookes now by the meanes of this art, are made easie unto all
men. Ye heard before how Nicolas Belward, bought a Nev^
Testament in those daies for foure markes and fortiepence, whereas
now the same price wiU serve well fortie persons with so many
bookes \
Moreover, it was noted and declared by the testimony of
Armachanus, how for defect of bookes and good authors, both
universities were decayed and good wits kept in ignorance, while
begging friers scraping all the wealth from other priests, heaped
up aU bookes 2 that could be gotten, into their owne libraries ;
1 With so many bookes.] See Fox's Acts, p. 611. " Archbishop Usher tells
us, from the Register of William Alnewick, bishop of Norwich, 1429, quoted
by Mr. Fox, that the price of one of Wickliffe's English New Testaments was
four marks and forty pence, or 11. 16s. 8 d." — Lewis's History of the English
Translation ofthe Bible, p. 25.
Precisely one hundred years after, the price of the printed copies of Tyndal's
New Testament, notwithstanding they were brought from abroad, and could
not be sold but at the peril of life, was only three shillings and two-pence. —
Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i. p. 38. Appendix.
2 Heaped up all bookes.] In the passage referred to, Armachanus (Fitz-ralph,
archbishop of Armagh) complains, " that these begging friers, through their
priviledges obtained of the popes, to preach, to heare confessions, and to burie ;
and through their charters of impropriations, did grow thereby to such great
riches and possessions, by their begging, craving, catching, and intermedling

410 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
where either they did not dUigently applie them, or else did not
rightly use them, or at least kept them from such as more fruit-
fuUy would have perused them.
In this then so great rarity, and also dearth of good bookes,
when neither they which could have bookes, would well use them,
nor they that would, could have them to use, what marvell if the
greedinesse of a few prelats did abuse the blindnes of those daies,
to the advancement of themselves : Wherefore almighty God of
his mercifuU providence, seeing both what lacked 3 in the church,

with church matters, that no booke could stirre of any science, either of
divinitie, law or physicke, but they were both able and readie to buy it up.
So that every convent having a great librarie full stuffed and furnished with
all sorts of bookes, and being so many convents within the realme, and in
every convent so many friers, increasing daily more and more, by reason
thereof it came to passe, that very few bookes or none at all remained for
other students. Which by his owne experience hee thus testifieth, saying,
that hee himself sent forth to the Universitie some of his own priests or
chaplains, who sending him word againe that they could neither find the
Bible, nor any other good profitable booke of divinitie meet for their studie,
therefore were minded to returne home to their countrie ; and one of them,
hee was sure, was returned by this time againe." — Fox's Acts, p. 397. In
like manner Wickliffe charges the friars, " that they letten (hinder) curats to
know Gods law, by holding bookes fro them, and withdrawing of their van
tages, by which they shulden have books and lerne." — Treatise against the
Friars, p. 56. And Jack Upland (Chaucer's Works, p. 619. edit. 1687.)
expostulates with them, for the same reason, thus : " Freer, what charitie is
this, to gather up the bookes of holy write, and put hem in treasorie, and so
emprison them from secular priests and curats, and by this cautel let hem
to preach the gospel freely to the people without worldly meed, and also to
defame good priests of heresie, and lien on hem openly for to let hem to shew
Gods law by the holy gospel to the Christian people ?" In fact, to make way
for themselves, it was necessary to degrade the parochial clergy in the esti
mation of the people ; and to effect this, they were not scrupulous as to the
arts and policies which they made use of.
3 Both what lacked.] Some notion may be formed of what deficiencies were
to be overcome, when sacred and other learning was confined to manuscripts,
and how thankful we ought to be, under the surprising change which God's
providence has wrought. From the following interesting anecdote, the
ancient possessor of a copy of Wickliffe's Poor Caitiff {Brit. Mus. MS. Harl.
2335), expresses himself in a memorandum at the end of the volume, of the
nature of a solemn bequest, feelingly and devoutly, as follows :
" This book was made of the goods of John Gamalin, for a common profit,
that the person that has this book committed to him of the person that hath
power to commit it, have the use thereof for the time of his life, praying for
the soul of the same John. And that he that hath this aforesaid use of com-

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 411
and how also to remedie the same, for the advancement of his
glory, gave the understanding of this exceUent art or science of
printing, whereby three singular commodities at one time came
to the world. First, the price of all bookes diminished. Secondly,
the speedy helpe of reading more furthered. And thirdly, the
plentie of aU good authors enlarged : according as Aprutinus
doth truely report :
Imprimit ille die, quantum non scribitur anno.
The presse in one day will doe in printing,
That none in one yeere can doe in writing.
By reason whereof, as printing of bookes ministered matter of
reading, so reading brought learning, learning shewed light, by
the brightnesse whereof blind ignorance was suppressed, errour
detected, and finally Gods glory, with truth of his word advanced.
— And thus much for the worthie commendation of printing *.
mission, when he occupieth it not, leave it for a time to some other person.
Also that the person to whom it was committed for the term of life, under
the foresaid conditions, deliver it to another the term of his life. And so be
it delivered and committed from person to person, man or woman, as long as
the book endureth."— Writings of Wickliffe, p. 122—1831.
* Commendation of printing.] These remarks on the benefits derived from
the invention of printing, doubtless, upon the whole, are well founded. It can
not be denied, that the progress of the Reformation, and the efficacy of
Christian truth, was expedited surprisingly by that discovery, and by the
revival of letters. Still it must not be forgotten that these were weapons, to
the use of which the Protestant hand alone was not privileged. Accordingly
we find, that ere long the Roman Catholics resorted to the same armoury ;
and often, not without considerable success. Sir Edwin Sandys, in his
Europa Speculum, or a Survey of the State of Religion in ihe Western parts of
the World, has treated this subject at some length. He enumerates certain
means, whereby, in the early stages of the Reformation, the Protestants,
through their learning, abilities, and zeal, gained great advantages over the
opposite party; for instance, by their superiority in preaching, in writing and
disputation, in the education of youth, in the dedication of life and fortune
to the furtherance of their sacred cause : but he also shows, how, in every
case, the Roman Catholics speedily learnt the same lesson, entered into com
petition with their adversaries, and often with so much industry and skill,
and, occasionally with such peculiar advantages and help, as not unfre
quently to have rendered the palm doubtful, and, in his opinion, at times to
have enabled particular individuals even to bear away the prize. The whole
of Sir Edwin's discussion (as indeed is true of the entire work) well deserves
the student's careful perusal, and attentive consideration; and, but for its
extent, I should gladly have transferred it to these pages. 1 must content

412 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
myself, however, with borrowing a portion of what he says, merely on the
preaching and the writing (or printing) department; that particular topic
indeed which belongs more especially to the subject now before us.
"The papacy seems to me very diligently to have considered by what
means chiefly their adverse part hath grown so fast beyond either their own
expectation, or the fear of their enemies, as in less than an age to have won
perhaps a moiety of their empire from them ; and those very means to have
themselves resolved thenceforward to apply in strong practice on their side
also ; that so as by a counter-mine, they may either blow up the mines of
their adversaries, or at least wise give them stop from any further proceeding :
like a pohtic general, who holdeth it the greatest wisdom to out-go his enemy
in his own devices; and the greatest valour, to beat him at his own weapons.
" The first and chief means whereby the reformers of religion did prevail in
all places, was their singular assiduity and dexterity in preaching, especially in
great cities and palaces of princes (a trade at that time grown clean in a
manner out of use and request) ; whereby the people, being ravished with the
admiration and love of that light which so brightly shined unto them, as men
with the sun, who are newly drawn from a dungeon, did readily follow those
who carried so fair a lamp before them.
" Hereto may be added their publishing of treatises of virtue and piety, of
spiritual exercises and devotion ; which engendered a firm persuasion in the
minds of men, that the soil must needs be pure, sound, and good, from whence
so sweet, so wholesome, and so heavenly fruits have proceeded.
"Now though the opinions of the papacy, and of a great part of the
reformed rehgion, be as opposite herein well nigh as heat and cold, or as light
and darkness ; the one approving no devotions severed from the understand
ing, the other thinking the understanding to be a means often rather to divert
or dazzle the devotion than to direct and cherish it ; and for preaching, in
like sort, the French Protestants making it an essential and chief part of the
service of God ; whereas the Romanists make the mass only a work of duty,
and the going to a sermon but a matter of convenience, and such as is left
free to men's pleasures and opportunities, without imputation or sin : — yet,
in regard of the great sway, which they have learned by their loss, that these
carry in the drawing of men's minds and affections, they have endeavoured in
all places, in both these kinds, to equal, yea and surmount their adversaries.
For although in multitude of preachers they greatly come short, being an
exercise wherein the secular priests list not to distemper their brains much,
but commend it in a manner wholly to the regulars and friers ; and these,
thinking the country capacities too blockish, or otherwise not worth the
bestowing of so great cost on, do employ themselves wholly in cities, and
other places of greater resort ; all which they take great care to have compe
tently furnished ; yet, in the choice of them whom they send out to preach,
in the diligence and pains which they take in their sermons, in the ornaments
of eloquence, and grace of action, in their show of piety and reverence
towards God, of zeal towards his truth, of love towards his people; which
even with their tears they can often testify ; — they match their adversaries in
their best, and in the rest do far exceed them. But herein the Jesuits do
carry the bell from all other ; having obtained the commendation, and working
the effect of as perfect orators as these times do yield. . . Wonderful is the

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 413
reputation which redounds thereby to their order, and exceeding the advantage
which to their side it giveth.
" For their books of prayer and piety, all countries are full of them at this
day, in their own language : both to stop in part the out-cry of their adver
saries against them, for imprisoning the people wholly in those dark devo
tions ; and especially to win the love of the world unto them by this more
inward and lively show of true sanctity and godliness. Yea, herein they
conceive themselves to have so surpassed their opposites, that they forbear
not to reproach unto them their poverty, weakness, and coldness in that kind,
as being forced to take the Catholics' books to supply themselves therein.
" A third course that much advantaged the Protestants' proceedings was
the admirable pains those first Reformers undertook and performed, in trans
lating the Scriptures forthwith into all languages ; in illustrating all parts
thereof with ample comments ; in addressing institutions of Christian reli
gion ; in deducing large histories of the church from the foundation to their
present times ; in furnishing all common places of divinity with abundance
of matter ; in exact discussing of all controverted questions ; and lastly, in
speedy reply to all contrary writings; — the greatest part of these labours
tending to the justifying of their own doctrine, and to the discovery of the
corruption and rottenness of the other ; that they might overbear those with
the streams of the evidence of reason, by the strength of whose power they
complained to be overborne. But now, there is scarce any one of these kinds
of writings (save the translating of the Bible into vulgar languages), wherein
the Romanists have not already, or are not like very shortly, either to equal,
or to exceed their adversaries : in multitude of works, as being more of them
that apply to those studies ; in diligence, as having much more opportunities
of helps and leisure ; in exactness, as coming after tbem, and reaping the
fruits of their travails, though, in the truth, they come short, and in ingenuity
(ingenuousness), being truth's companion. But as for the controversies them
selves, the main matter of all, therein their industry is at this day (a.d. 1599)
" incomparable ; having so altered the tenures of them, refined the states,
subtilized the distinctions, sharpened their own proofs, devised certain, and
resolved on other answers or evasions for all their adversaries' arguments,
allegations, and replies : yea, they have differences to divert their strongest
oppositions, interpretations, to elude the plainest texts in the world, circum
stances and considerations to enforce their own silliest conjectures ; yea,
reasons to infuse life into their deadest absurdities ; as in particular, a very
just case in school learning to justify their popes' grants of many score thou
sands of years of pardon : — so that in affiance of this furniture, and of their
promptness of speech and wit, which by continual exercise they aspire to
perfect, they dare enter into combat even with the best of their oppugners,
and will not doubt but either to entangle him so in the snares of their own
quirks, or at least wise so to avoid and put off his blows with the manifold
words of their multiplied distinctions, that an ordinary auditor shall never
conceive them to be vanquished, and a favourable one shall report them
vanquishers." P. S3, &c. edit. 1673.

414 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.

CHAUCER AND GOWER.
I think it not out of season, to couple also some mention here
of Geffrey Chaucer, and John Gower.
Albeit the fuU certaintie of the time and death of these two,
we cannot finde ; yet it appeareth in the prologue of Gowers
worke intituled Confessio Amantis, that he finished it in the 16th.
yeare of king Richard the second. In the ende of the viii. booke
of the said treatise he declareth, that he was both sicke and olde,
when he wrote it ; whereby it may appeare, that he lived not long
after. Notwithstanding, by certaine verses of the said maister
Gower placed in the latter end of Chaucers workes both in Latine
and Enghsh, it may seeme that he was alive at the beginning of
the raigne of king Henry the iiii. and also by a booke which hee
wrote to the same king Henry. By his sepulture within a chapeU
of the church of Saint Mary Overies, which was then a monastery,
where he and his wife lie burid, it appeareth by his chaine and his
garland of laurell, that he was both a knight, and florishing then
in poetry. In the which place of his sepulture were made in his
grave-stone 3. bookes, the first bearing the title Speculum Medi-
tantis, The second, Vox Clamantis, The third, Confessio Amantis.
Besides these, divers Chronicles and other workes moe he
compUed. Likewise as touching the time of Chaucer, by his owne workes
in the end of his first booke of Troylus and Creseide it is manifest,
that he and Gower were both of one time, although it seemeth
that Gower was a great deale his ancient : both notably learned,
as the barbarous rudenes of that time did give ; both great friends
together, and both in like kinde of study together occupied, so
endeavouring themselves, and employing their time, that they
exceUing many other in study and exercise of good letters, did
passe forth their lives here right worshipfuUy and godly to the
worthy fame and commendation of their name. Chaucers workes
be aU printed in one volume, and therefore knowne to aU men.
This I marvaile, to see the idle life of the priests and clergy
men of that time, seeing these lay persons shewed themselves in
these kinds of liberaU studies so industrious and fruitfully occu
pied : but much more I marvaile to consider this, how that the

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 415
bishops condemning and abolishing all maner of English bookes
and treatises, which might bring the people to any light of know
ledge, did yet authorise 5 the workes of Chaucer to remaine stiU
and to be occupied ; who (no doubt) saw in religion as much
almost as even we doe now, and uttereth in his workes no lesse,
and seemeth to be a right Wiclevian, or els was never any ; and
that all his workes almost, if they be throughly advised will
testifie (albeit it be done in mirth and covertly) and especially the
latter ende of his third booke of the Testament of love : for there
purely he toucheth the highest matter, that is the communion :
wherein except a man be altogether blind, he may espy him at
the ful. Although in the same book (as in al other he useth
to doe) under shadows covertly, as under a visour, he suborneth
truth in such sort, as both privily she may profit the godly
minded, and yet not be espied of the crafty adversary : and there
fore the bishops belike, taking his works but for jestes, and toies,
in condemning other bookes, yet permitted his bookes to be
read. So it pleased God to blind then the eies of them, for the more
commodity of his people, to the intent that through the reading
of his treatises, some fruit might redound thereof to his church,
as no doubt it did to many. As also I am partly enformed of
certaine which knew the parties, which to them reported, that by
reading of Chaucers works, they were brought to the true know
ledge of religion. And not unlike to be true. For to omit other
partes of his volume, whereof some are more fabulous than
other, what tale can be more plainly told than the tale of the
ploughman ? or what finger can point out more directly the pope
with his prelats to be antichrist, than doth the poore Pelliean
reasoning against the greedy Griffon ? under which hypotyposis
or poesy, who is so blind that seeth not by the PeUican, the
doctrine of Christ, and of the LoUards, to be defended against
the church of Rome ? Or who is so impudent that can deny that
to be true, which the PeUican there affirmeth in describing the
presumptuous pride of that pretensed church ? Againe, what egge
can be more like or fig unto another, than the wordes, properties
and conditions of that ravening gripho resembleth the true image,
that is, the nature and qualities, of that which we cal the church
of Rome, in every point and degree? and therefore no great
6 Authorise.] See Stat. 34 and 35 Henry VIII. cap. i. § 7.

416 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
marvaile, if that narration was exempted out of the copies of
Chaucers workes ; which notwithstanding now is restored againe,
and is extant for every man to reade that is disposed.
This Geffrey Chaucer being borne (as is thought) in Oxford
shire, and dweUing in Woodstock, lieth buried in the church of
the minster of S. Peter at Westminster, in an He on the south-
side of the said church, not far from the doore leading to the
cloister, and upon his grave stone first were written these two old
verses : Galfridus Chaucer vates et fama poesis
Maternse, hac sacra sum tumulatus humo.
Afterward about the yeere of our Lord 1556. one M. Brick-
ham bestowing more cost upon his tombe did adde thereunto
these verses foUowing :
Qui fuit Anglorum vates ter maximus olim,
Galfridus Chaucer conditur hoc tumulo.
Annum si quseras Domini, si tempora mortis,
Ecce notse subsunt, qua? tibi cuncta notent.
25. Octob. Anno 1400.

PROGRESS OF REFORMATION.
In turning over the registers and records of Lincolne, and com-
ming to the yeere of our Lord 1520. and 1521. I finde, that as
the light of the gospel began more to appeare, and the number of
the professors to grow, so the vehemence of persecution, and
stirre of the bishops began also to increase. Whereupon ensued
great perturbation and greevous affliction in divers and sundry
quarters of this realme, especiaUy about Buckinghamshire, and
Amersham, Uxbridge, Henley, Newbery, in the diocesse of London,
in Essex, Colchester, Suffolke and Norfolke, and other parts moe.
And this was before the name of Luther was heard of in these
countries among the people. Wherefore they are much beguiled
and misse informed, which condemne this kind of doctrine now
received, of novelty, asking where was this church c and religion
6 Where was this church.] See Index, under Luther, Protestant Religion,
where before: also, Christian Institutes, vol. iv. p. 259, 62. (Bishop Taylor.)

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 417
forty yeeres agoe, before Luthers time ? To whom it may be
answered, that this religion and forme of doctrine was planted
by the apostles, and taught by true bishops, afterward decaied, and
now reformed againe. Although it was not received nor admitted
of the popes clergy before Luthers time, neither yet is, yet it was
received of other r, in whose hearts it pleased the Lord secretly
7 Received of other.] Where was your rehgion before Luther ? demanded
the Roman Cathohc of the Protestant : and the reply which he intended to
insinuate or to dictate was, that it was no where. Thus Christopherson, a
learned controversialist in Queen Mary's reign, dates its reception in Eng
land within the seven years preceding, though in another part of the same
work, attributing its rise to Wickliffe, he extends its period to nearly 200
years. But need I say, that this kind of reply is worthy only of the fountain
from which it flows ? And yet, it is further to be observed, that neither is
the kind of answer which Fox is here inclined to indicate, one which we can
regard as fully adequate and satisfactory. It partakes too much of an affinity
to that, which, in a subsequent part of this collection, we shall find was
blamed afterwards in the archbishops, Abbot and Ussher; namely, as if they
could find no visibility of the Christian church, but by tracing it, as well as
they could, from the Berengarians to the Albigenses, from them to the Wick-
liffites and Hussites, and from them to Luther and Calvin. — No ! the student
must learn to take up in this question a stronger position, and to assume a
bolder tone. Rather, ascending at once above all the intermediate ages, he
will answer, in the spirit of one (Sir Henry Wotton), who replied to this same
question, " Our rehgion before Luther was to be found where yours is not
to be found now, — in the written word of God." Yes ! that will be the first
head of the answer which he will make. And the second will be : " Where
was our rehgion ? — It was in the ancient church. Ours is the faith and prac
tice of the primitive ages." And then the only remaining portion of the
reply will be, descending downwards with the stream of time, " Our rehgion
was in the cathohc church of Christ throughout all ages : so far, that is, as
it was not darkened and obscured, and, at times, seemingly almost buried
and lost under the abuses and corruptions of popery. But when these had
been detected and exposed by Wickliffe and Luther, and Cranmer and
Ridley, and the rest of the noble army of martyrs and confessors, foreign
and domestic, at the Reformation, and Almighty God, who keeps the times
and the seasons in his own power, was then, at length, pleased to arise and
scatter his enemies, — the conniptions were cleared away; our rehgion, the
Christian faith, the church catholic, emerged again in its pristine purity and
truth, under the name of the protestant churches as we call them (in which
the only bad thing — a necessary evil — is the name): So, I say, then and
there, the religion of Christ emerged from the clouds, behind which it had
been obscured ; and thus, by God's mercy, it shall continue for ever : or so
long at least as men will have the virtue and wisdom to abide steadfastly by
its strength and their own : that is, so long as they will chng faithfully to the
unerring word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and, for the rest, to primitive
vol. I. E e

418 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
to worke, and that of a great number which both professed and
suffered for the same, as in the former times of this history may
appeare. And if they thinke this doctrine be so new, that it
was not heard of before Luthers time, how then came such great
persecution before Luthers time here in England I If these were
of the same profession which they were of, then was their cruelty
unreasonable, so to persecute their owne catholike fraternity.
And if they were otherwise, how then is this doctrine of the
gospel so new, or the professors thereof so late start up, as they
pretend them to be 2 But this commeth onely of ignorance, and
for not knowing nor considering weU the times and antiquities of
the church which have been before us. Which if they did, they
should see and say, that the church of England hath not lacked
great multitudes, which tasted and foUowed the sweetnesse of
Gods holy word, almost in as ample manner, for the number of
weU disposed hearts, as now. Although publike authority then
lacked to maintaine the open preaching of the gospell, yet the
secret multitude of true professors, was not much unequaU;
certes the fervent zeal of those Christian daies seemed much
superior to these our daies and times : as manifestly may appeare
by their sitting up aU night8 in reading and hearing, also by

antiquity, interpreted and confirmed by scholastic learning, and sober, pa
tient reason, and humble piety."
8 Sitting up all night.] We may easily conceive that these retired and
domestic interviews of individuals, often the most lowly and humble, gave
birth to some of the most affecting situations that were produced during the
whole progress of the Reformation.
" The crimes whereupon he was examined, and confessed, were these :
that he had been five times with William Sweeting in the fields keeping
beasts, hearing him reade many good things out of a certaine booke. At
which reading also were present of one time, Woodroffe, a net-maker, with
his wife : also a brother in law of William Sweeting : and another time,
Thomas Goodred, who heard likewise the said William Sweeting reade."
Fox's Acts, p. 748. These meetings occurred more commonly because
reading was then a rare accomplishment. To Robert Wisdom it was
objected, in the year 1540, among other articles, that he said, " I trust to God
to se the day, that maydes will sing the Scripture at their wheels, and plow
men at their plow." To which charge he replied, " I thank God, thorow
my Lord Jesu Christ, I have sene that day." Strype's Ecclesiast. Memorials,
vol. iii. p. 323. Appendix. " In the year 1532, Thomas Harding, about
Easter holidaies, when the other people went to the church, tooke his way
into the woodes, there solitarily to worship the true living God, in spirit and
truth. Where, as he was occupied in a booke of Enghsh praiers, leaning or

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 419
their expences and charges in buying of bookes in English : of
whom some gave five marks, some more, some lesse for a booke.
Some gave a load of hay for a few chapters of S. James or of
S. Paul in English. In which rarity of bookes, and want of
teachers, this one thing I greatly marvel and muse at, to note
in the registers, and to consider how the word of truth notwith
standing did multiply so exceedingly, as it did amongst them.
Wherein is to be seene no doubt the marveUous working of Gods
mighty power. For so I finde and observe in considering the
Registers9, how one neighbor resorting and conferring with
another, eftsoones with a few words of their first or second talke,
did winne and turne their mindes to that wherein they desired to
perswade them, touching the truth of Gods words and his sacra
ments. To see their travels, their earnest seeking, their burning
zeales, their readings, their watchings, their sweet assemblies,
their love and concord, their godly living, their faithful marrying
with the faithful, may make us now in these our daies of free
profession to blush for shame.
sitting upon a stile by the woodes side, it chanced that one did espie him
where he was, and came in great haste to the officers of the towne, declaring
that hee had seene Harding in the woodes looking on a booke. Whereupon
immediatlie a rude rabble of them, like mad-men, ran desperately to his
house, to search for bookes; and in searching went so nigh, that under
the bords of his fioore they found certain English bookes of holy Scripture.
Whereupon this godly father with his bookes, was brought before John
Longland, bishop of Lincolne." Fox's Acts, p. 896. The event was that
he was burnt, as a relapsed heretic. Such as died in prison, we are told,
were wont to be thrown out to dogs and birds, as unworthy of Christian
burial. "And yet, all this their mercilesse commandement, notwithstanding,
some good men there were, which buried those commonly who were thrown
out in like sort, whom they were wont privily by night to cover ; and many
times the archers in the fields standing by, and singing together psalmes at
their buriall." Fox's Acts, p. 1629.
9 In considering the Registers.] He means the bishops' registers ; in which,
among the other affairs of their dioceses, the proceedings against heretics are
recorded. — To these volumes generally, Fox, by favour of the several prelates
after the Reformation, enjoyed free access ; and it is from them, that a very
large portion of his materials is habitually and faithfully derived. In such
cases then his history must be regarded as of unimpeachable authority : at
any rate, (as it is material to observe,) those records, and those parts of the
history, being not the work of friends, but of enemies, they can on no pre
tence be regarded as too favourable or partial to the Protestant cause. Nor
have the Romanists, with all the pains they have taken, been able to exhibit
any material deviation from uniform fidelity and care.
Ee 2

420 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
Foure principall points they stood in against the church of
Rome ; in pUgrimage, adoration of saints, in reading scripture
bookes in English, and in the carnaU presence of Christs body in
the sacrament.
After the great abjuration under WUliam Smith bishop of
Lincolne [1495 — 1514], they were noted and termed among
themselves by the name of knowne men, or just fast men ; as now
they are called by the name of Protestants.
As they were simple, and yet not uncircumspect in their doings,
so the crafty serpent being more wily than they, by fraudulent
subtilty did so circumvent them, that they caused the wife to
detect the husband 1, the husband the wife ; the father the
daughter, the daughter the father ; the brother to disclose the
brother, and neighbor the neighbor. Neither were there any
assemblies nor readings kept, but both the persons and also the
bookes were knowne : neither was any word so closely spoken,
nor article mentioned, but it was discovered. So subtilly
and sleightly these catholike prelats did use their inquisitions
and examinations, that nothing was done or said among these
knowne men, fifteen or twenty yeeres before, so covertly, but it
was brought at length to their intelligence. Such captious inter
rogatories, so many articles and suspitions they had, such espials
and privy scouts they sent abroad, such authority and credit they
had with the king, and in the kings name ; such diligence they
shewed in that behalf e, so violently and impudently they abused
the booke of the peaceable Evangelists, wresting mens con
sciences upon their oth, swearing them upon the same to detect
themselves, their fathers and mothers, and other of their kindred,
with their friends and neighbors, and that to death. All which
things in the further processe (Christ willing) shaU appeare.
And although there was no learned man with them to ground
them in their doctrine, yet they conferring and communing
together among themselves, did convert one another, the Lords
hand working with them marveUouslie : so that in short space,
1 The wife to detect the husband.] Nor were these the extreme limits of the
barbarities exercised. In the reign of king Henry VII. in the year 1506, one
William Tilsworth was burned. At which time, Joan Clerke, being a married
woman, and only daughter ofthe said William, and a faithful woman (that is,
one attached to the new opinions), was compelled with her own hands to set
fire to her father. At the same time her husband, John Clerke, did penance at
the father's burning, and bare a faggot. Fox's Acts, p. 710. See also, p. 766.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 421
the number of these knowne or just fast men (as they were then
termed) did exceedingly increase ; in such sort, that the bishop
seeing the matter almost past his power, was driven to make
his complaint to the king, and required his aide for suppression
of these men. Whereupon king Henry being then young, and
unexpert in the bloudie practises and blind leadings of these
apostolicall prelats, incensed with his suggestions and cruell com
plaints, directed downe letters to his sheriffes, bailifs, officers,
and subjects for the aide of the bishop in this behalfe : the tenor
of which letters heere insueth.
" Henry the VIII. by the grace of God, king of England and
of France, lord of Ireland, defender of the faith : to aU maiors,
sheriffes, bayliffes, and constables, and to all other our officers,
ministers, and subjects, these our letters hearing or seeing, and
to every of them, greeting. Forasmuch as the right reverend
father in God our trusty and right welbeloved counseUer the
bishop of Lincolne, hath now within his dioces no small number
of heretickes, as it is thought, to his no little discomfort and
heavines : We therefore being in wil and mind safely to provide
for the said right reverend father in God and his officers, that
they, ne none of them, shall bodUy be hurt or damaged by any of
the said hereticks or their fautors, in the executing and ministring
of Justice unto the said hereticks accordingly to the lawes of
holy church, doe straitly charge and command you and every of
you, as ye tender our high displeasure, to be aiding, helping and
assisting the said right reverend father in God, and his said
officers in the executing of justice in the premisses, as they, or
any of them shal require you so to doe, not failing to accomplish
our commandement and pleasure in the premisses, as ye intend
to please us, and wil answer to the contrary at your uttermost
perils. Yeven under our signet at our castle of Windsor, the
20. day of October, the 13. yeere of our raigne.""
The bishop thus being armed no lesse with the authoritie of
the kings letter then incited with his own fiercenes, foreslaked no
time, but eftsoones to accomplish his moody violence upon the
poore flocke of Christ, called before him sitting upon his tribunaU
seat, aU in his diocesse2 which were never so little noted or
2 All in his diocesse.] " In this single diocese, in that one year (1521), above
five hundred persons were accused and detected."— Ridley's Life of Bishop
Ridley, p. 9.

422 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
suspected to incline toward those opinions : of whom to such, as
had but newly bin taken, and had not before abjured, hee injoyned
most strait and rigorous penance. The other in whom he could
find any relapse, yea albeit they submitted themselves never so
humbly to his favorable courtesie : and though also at his
request, and for hope of pardon, they had shewed themselves
greater detecters of their brethren, being moreover of him fed
and flattered thereunto ; yet notwithstanding, contrary to his
faire words, and their expectation, he spared not, but read
sentence of relapse against them, committing them to the secular
arme to be burnt.
The penance enjoyned by this John Longland bishop of Lin
colne, was almost uniform and al after one condition, save only
that they were severaUy committed and divided into severaU and
divers monasteries, there to be kept and found of almes all their
life, except they were otherwise dispensed with by the bishop : as
for example I have heere adjoyned the bishops letter for one of
the said number, sent to the abbey of Ensham, there to be kept
in perpetuall penance. By which one, an estimation may be
taken of the rest, which were bestowed likewise sunderly into
sundry abbeyes, as to Osnay, to Frideswide, to Abingdon, to
Tame, to Bissetor, to Dorchester, to Notley, to Ashrige, and
divers mo. The copy of the bishops letter sent to the abbat of
Ensham, here foUoweth under written.
The Bishops Letter to the Abbat of Ensham.
" My loving brother, I recommend me heartily unto you : and
whereas I have, according to the law, put this bearer R. T. to
perpetuaU penance within your monasterie of Ensham, there to
live as a penitent, and not otherwise ; I pray you, and neverthe-
lesse, according unto the law, command you to receive him, and
see yee order him there accordingly to his injunctions which he
wU shew you, if you require the same. As for his lodging he will
bring it with him. And his meat and drinke, he may have such
as you give of your almes. And if he can so order himselfe by
his labour within your house in your busines, whereby he may
deserve his meat and drinke, so may you order him, as ye see
convenient to his deserts, so that he passe not the precinct of
your monasterie. And thus fare you heartily weU from my
place, &c."

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 423
As touching the residue of the penance and punishment
inflicted to these men, they do little or nothing disagree, but had
one order in them all. The maner and forme whereof in the said
bishops register doth proceed in condition as followeth.
Penance injoyned under paine of relapse by John Longland bishop
of Lincolne, the nineteenth day of Becember, an. 1521.
" Imprimis, that every one of them shall upon a market day,
such as shaU be limited unto them, in the market time, goe thrise
about the market at Burford, and then to stand up upon the
highest greece of the crosse there a quarter of an houre with a
fagot of wood every one of them upon his shoulder, and everie one
of them once to beare a fagot of wood upon their shoulders,
before their procession upon a Sunday, which shall be limited
unto them at Burford, from the quier doore going out, to the
quier doore going in, and all the high masse time to hold the same
fagot upon their shoulders, kneeling upon the greece afore the
high altar there, and every of them to do likewise in their owne
parish church, upon such a Sunday as shall be limited unto them :
and once to beare a fagot at a generall procession at Uxbridge,
when they shall be assigned thereto, and once to beare a fagot at
the burning of an heretike, when they shall be monished thereto.
" Also every one of them to fast bread and aile only everie
Friday during their life ; and every even of Corpus Christi everie
one of them to fast bread and water during their life, unlesse
sicknesse unfained let the same.
" Also to say every of them every Sunday and every Friday
during their life, once our Ladie Psalter, and if they forget it one
day, to say as much another day for the same.
" Also they nor none of them, shall not hide their marke 3 upon
3 Shall not hide their marke.] It was a frequent cause of further persecu
tion and trouble to these poor men, that they endeavoured to divest them
selves of, or to hide those tokens and brands of heresy which were imposed
upon them. One of these impositions was to wear upon the sleeve, or some
other part of their upper garments, a piece of coloured cloth, to represent a
faggot. Accordingly Fox informs us, that a great and heinous offence
counted against them was their leaving off these painted faggots, which they
were, at their first abjuring, injoined to wear, as badges, during their lives, or
so long as it should please their ordinary to appoint, and not to leave them
off upon pain of relapse. Fox, p. 736.
The manner of branding the cheeks is thus described : Their necks were

424 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
their cheeke, neither with hat, cap, hood, kerchefe, napkin, or
none otherwise, nor shall not suffer their beards to grow past
fourteene daies, nor never to haunt againe together with anie
suspect person or persons, unlesse it be in the open market, faire,
church or common inne or alehouse, where other people may see
their conversation.
" And all these injunctions they and every of them, to fulfill
with their penance, and every part of the same, under paine of
relapse." And thus have you with the causes the penance also of them
which were at this present time abjured. By the which word
abjured, is meant that they were constrained by their oth,
swearing upon the evangelists, and subscribing with their hand,
and a crosse to the same, that they did utterly and voluntarily
renounce, detest, and forsake, and never should hold hereafter
these, or any other like opinions, contrarie to the determination
of the holy mother church of Rome ; and further, that they
should detect unto their ordinarie, whomsoever they should see,
or suspect hereafter to teach, hold, or maintaine the same.

MARTINE LUTHER.
Although it cannot be sufficiently expressed with toung or pen
of man, into what miserable mine and desolation the church of
Christ was brought in those latter daies ; yet partly by the read
ing of these stories aforepast, some intelligence may be given to
them, which have judgement to mark or eies to see in what blind-
nes and darknes the world was drowned during the space of these
400. yeeres heretofore and more. By the viewing and considering
of which times and histories, thou maiest understand (gentle
reader) how the religion of Christ, which only consisteth in spirit
and verity, was whoUy turned into outward observations, cere
monies and idolatry. So many saints we had, so many gods ; so
many monasteries, so many pUgrimages. As many churches, so
many reliques, forged and feined we had. Againe, so many re-
tied fast to a post, with towels, and their hands holden that they might not
stir, and so the iron being hot, was put to their cheeks ; and thus bare they
the prints and marks of the Lord Jesus about them. Fox, p. 710.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 425
liques, so many lying miracles we beleeved. In steede of the only
living Lord, we worshipped dead stockes and stones. In place of
Christ immortall, we adored mortaU bread. In stead of his bloud,
we worshipped the bloud of ducks 4 : how the people were led, so
that the priests were fed, no care was taken. In stead of Gods
word, mans word was set up. In stead of Christs testament, the
popes testament, that is, the canon law : in stead of Paule, the
Maister of Sentences tooke place, and almost fuU possession. The
law of God was little read : the use and end thereof was lesse
knowne. And as the end of the law was unknowne, so the differ
ence betweene the gospell and the law, was not understanded, the
benefit of Christ not considered, the effect of faith not expended.
Through the ignorance whereof, it cannot be told what infinit
errors, sects and religions crept into the church, overwhelming
the world, as with a floud of ignorance and seduction. And no
marvell ; for where the foundation is not wel laid, what building
can stand and prosper ? The foundation of all our Christianity is
only this ; the promise of God in the bloud of Christ his son,
giving and promising life unto aU that beleeve in him : Giving
(saith the Scripture) unto us, and not bargaining or indenting
with us. And that freely (saith the scripture) for Christs sake,
and not conditionally for our merites sake.
Upon this foundation of Gods free promise and grace first
builded the patriarks, kings, and prophets. Upon the same foun
dation also Christ the Lord builded his church. Upon the which
foundation the apostles likewise builded the church apostolicall or
catholicall. This apostolicaU and catholicke foundation, so long as the
church did retaine, so long it continued sincere and sound : which
endured a long season after the apostles time. But after, in pro
cesse of yeers, through wealth and negligence crept into the
church, so soone as this foundation began to be lost, came in new
builders, which would build upon a new foundation, not upon
Gods promise and his free grace in Christ Jesus, nor upon free
justification by faith, but upon merits and deserts of mens work
ing. And hereof have they planted aU these their new devices, so
infinit that they cannot weU be numbred, as masses, trecenares,
dirges, obsequies, mattens and hours, singing services, vigiles,
4 Bloud of ducks.] This alludes to the detection of the imposture of the
blood of Hayles. See Index, under Hayles, blood of.

426 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
midnight rising, barefoot going, fishtasting, lentfast, imberfast,
stations, rogations, jubiles, advocation of saints, praying to
images, pUgrimage walking, workes of supererogation, applica
tion of merits, orders, rules, sectes of religion, vowes of chastity,
wilful poverty, pardons, relations, indulgences, pennance and
satisfaction, with auricular confession, founding of abbaies, build
ing of chappels, giving to churches : and who is able to recite all
their laborious buildings, falsly framed upon a wrong ground, and
all for ignorance of the true foundation, which is the free justifi
cation by faith in Christ Jesus the sonne of God ?
Moreover to note, that as this new found church of Rome was
thus deformed in doctrine ; so no lesse was it corrupted in order
of life and deepe hypocrisie, doing all things onely under pretenses
and dissembled titles. So under the pretence of Peters chaire,
they exercised a majesty above emperours and kings. — Under the
visour of their vowed chastity, reigned adultery ; under the cloake
of professed poverty, they possessed the goods of the temporalty.
Under the title of being dead unto the world, they not only
reigned in the world, but also ruled the world : under the colour
of the keyes of heaven to hang under their girdle, they brought
all the states of the world under their girdle, and crept not only
into the purses of men, but also into their consciences : they
heard their confessions : they knew their secrets : they dispensed
as they were disposed, and loosed what them listed : and finally
when they had brought the whole world under their subjection,
yet did their pride never cease to ascend, neither could their
avarice be ever satisfied. And if the example of Cardinall Wolsey
and other cardinals and popes cannot satisfie thee, I beseech thee
(gentle reader) turne over the booke of the ploughmans tale in
Chaucer above mentioned, where thou shalt understand much
more of their demeanour, than I have here described.
In these so blind and miserable corrupt daies of darkenesse and
ignorance, thou seest good reader (I doubt not) how necessary it
was, and high time, that reformation of the church should come ;
which now most happUy and graciously began to worke s, through
•' Began to worke.] Of the necessity for much reformation, both among the
clergy and laity; and in the former, both among the regular and secular
orders ; and of the rejoicing with which the good bishop heard of the cardi
nal's intentions to exercise his authority in the reform so much wanted,
Strype has given us an interesting letter from bishop Fisher to Wolsey  in
the Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 18 — 20. Records.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 427
the merciful! and no lesse needfull providence of almighty God.
Who although he suffered his church to wander and start aside
through the seduction of pride and prosperity a long time, yet at
length it pleased his goodnesse to respect his people, and to re
duce his church into the pristine foundation and frame againe,
from whence it was piteously decayed. Whereof I have now
consequently to intreat, intending by the grace of Christ to
declare how and by what meanes, first this reformation of the
church began, and how it proceeded, increasing by little and little
into this perfection which now we see, and more I trust shall
see. And herein we have first to behold the admirable worke of
Gods wisedom. For as the first decay and ruine of the church,
before began of rude ignorance, and lacke of knowledge in
teachers ; so to restore the church again by doctrine and learn
ing, it pleased God to open to man the arte of printing, the time
whereof was shortly after the burning of Hus and Hierome.
Printing being opened, incontinent ministred unto the church
the instruments and tooles of learning and knowledge, which were
good bookes and authors, which before lay hid and unknowne.
The science of printing being found, immediately followed the
grace of God, which stirred up good wits aptly to conceive the
light of knowledge and of judgment : by which light, darkenesse
began to be espied, and ignorance to be detected, truth from
error, religion from superstition to be discerned, as is above more
largely discoursed, where was touched the inventing of printing.
Furthermore, after these wits stirred up of God, followed other
more, increasing daily more and more in science, in tongues, and
perfection of knowledge ; who now were able, not only to discerne
in matters of judgement, but also were so armed and furnished
with the help of good letters, that they did encounter also with
the adversary, sustaining the cause and defence of learning against
barbaritie ; of verity, against error ; of true religion, against
superstition. In number of whom, amongst many other here
unnamed were, Picus and Franciscus Mirandula, Laurentius
Valla, Franciscus Petrarcha, Wesalianus, Reuchlinus, Grocinus,
Coletus, Rhenanus, Erasmus, &c. And here began the first push
and assault to be given against the ignorant and barbarous
faction of the popes pretensed church. Who, after that by
their learned writings and laborious travaile, they had opened a
window of light unto the world, and had made (as it were) a way

428 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
more readie for other to come after ; immediately, according to
Gods gracious appointment, followed Martine Luther 6, with other
after him, by whose ministry it pleased the Lorde to worke a more
fuU reformation of his church.
From the first beginning of this whole booke and history
hitherto (good reader) thou hast heard of many and sundry
6 Followed Marline Luther.] "When .the fight of the Gospel was put out,
and antichrist ruled and revelled in the temple of God, which is men's hearts
and consciences, armed and guarded with the power of emperors, kings,
princes, and laws ; beyond all men's expectations, — contrary to hope, a poor
friar, one man, at that time not the best learned, through the mighty hand of
God, and according to his unsearchable decree, was able, not with force
and armour, not with bands of men and power, not with favour of princes
and prelates, not with any help of man, or favour of the world, to set up
the cross of Christ ; to pull down the chair of antichrist ; to restore God's
word ; to banish the devil's sophistry ; to make of darkness light, of lies
truth, of plain foolishness true wisdom ; and, as it were another Helena, to
find out the cross of Christ hidden in the dunghil of devilish doctrine,
covered with the rotten bones of Romish martyrs, sinful saints, and counter
feit confessors." Bishop Aylmer, in Strype's Life of him, p. 277, 8. edit.
1701. I could hardly excuse myself, if I did not subjoin here the finely-drawn
character of Luther by Bishop Atterbury : —
" He was a man certainly of high endowments of mind, and great virtues.
He had a vast understanding, which raised him up to a pitch of learning,
unknown to the age in which he lived : his knowledge in Scripture was
admirable ; his elocution manly ; and his way of reasoning with all the
subtilty that those honest plain truths he delivered would bear : his thoughts
were bent always on great designs, and he had a resolution fitted to go
through with them : the assurance of his mind was not to be shaken or
surprised : and that n-appnaia of his (for I know not what else to call it) before
the diet at Worms, was such as might have become the days of the apostles.
His life was holy ; and, when he had leisure for retirement, severe ; his
virtues active chiefly, and homiletical, not those lazy, sullen ones of the
cloister. He had no ambition but in the service of God : for other things,
neither his enjoyment nor wishes ever went higher than the bare conveniences
of living. He was of a temper particularly averse to covetousness, or any
base sin ; and charitable even to a fault, without respect to his own occasions.
If among this crowd of virtues a failing crept in, we must remember that
an apostle himself has not been irreprovable : if in the body of his doctrine
one flaw is to be seen; yet the greatest lights of the church, and in the
purest times of it, were, we know, not exact in all their opinions. — Upon the
whole, we have great reason to break out in the phrase of the prophet, and
say, — * How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
glad tidings ? ' "

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 429
troubles, and much businesse in the church of Christ, concerning
the reformation of divers abuses and great errors crept into the
same, namely in the church of Rome : as appeareth by the doings
of them, in divers and sundry places, whereof mention hath been
made heretofore in this said history. For what godly man
hath there been within the space of these five hundred yeeres,
either vertuously disposed, or exceUently learned, which hath not
disproved the misordred doings and corrupt examples of the see
and bishop of Rome from time to time, unto the comming of this
Luther 2 Wherein this appeareth to me, and may also appeare
no lesse to aU godly disposed men, to be noted, not without great
admiration, that seeing this foresaid Romish bishop hath had
great enemies and gainsaiers continually from time to time, both
speaking and working, preaching and writing against him, yet
notwithstanding never any could prevaile before the comming of
this man. The cause whereof, although it be secretly knowne
unto God, and unknowne unto men, yet so far as men by conjec
tures may suppose, it may thus not unlikely be thought ; that
whereas other men before him, speaking against the pompe, pride,
and avarice of the bishop of Rome, charged him only or most
specially with examples and maners of life ; Luther went further
with him, charging him not with life, but with his learning ; not
with his doings, but with his doctrine ; not picking at the rind,
but plucking up the roote ; not seeking the man, but shaking his
seat, yea and charging him with plaine heresie, as prejudicial to
and resisting plainly against the bloud of Christ, contrary to the
true sense and direct understanding of the sacred testament of
Gods holy word. For whereas the foundation of our faith
grounded upon the Holy Scripture, teacheth and leadeth us to be
justified only 7 by the worthinesse of Christ, and only price of his

7 To be justified only.] Essential as the true doctrine of justification by
faith is to the deliverance and safety of the individual Christian, and so, by
direct consequence, to the emancipation of the whole church collectively, yet
this doctrine is not every thing; and it is never to be forgotten, and ought
therefore to have been here mentioned by Fox, that there were other great
articles, quite as necessary to our entire freedom and rescue, as that which
he has so deservedly celebrated. We shall see at a greater length below, in a sub
sequent part of this collection, (see note on Life of Bishop Ridley ; or Index,
under Reformation, main points of controversy in,) that they who understood
the matter best, regarded two principal things as "bearing up the whole
brunt of the religion that hath been in the world of late time ; the one, the

430 SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS.
bloud, the pope proceeding with a contrary doctrine, teacheth us
otherwise to seeke our salvation, not by Christ alone, but by the
way 8 of mens meriting and deserving by works : whereupon rose
divers sorts of orders and religious sects amongst men, some pro
fessing one thing, and some another, and every man seeking his
owne righteousnes, but few seeking the righteousnes of him which
is set up of God to be our righteousnes, redemption and justifi
cation. Martin Luther therfore urging and reducing things to the
foundation and touchstone of the scripture, opened the eies of
many, which before were drowned in darknes. Whereupon it
cannot be expressed what joy, comfort and consolation came to
the hearts of men, some lying in darknesse and ignorance, some
waUowing in sinne, some being in despaire, some macerating
themselves by works, and some presuming upon their owne
righteousnesse, to behold that glorious benefit of the great liberty
and free justification set up in Christ Jesus. And briefly to
speake, the more glorious the benefit of this doctrine appeared to
the world after long ignorance, the greater persecution followed
upon the same. And where the elect of God tooke most occasion
of comfort and of salvation, thereof the adversaries tooke most
matter of vexation and disturbance : as commonly we see the
true word of God to bring with it ever dissention and perturba
tion : and therefore truly it was said of Christ, That hee came not
to send peace on earth, but the sword. And this was the cause
why that after the doctrine and preaching of Luther, so great
troubles and persecutions followed in all quarters of the world :
whereby rose great disquietnesse among the prelats, and many
mass, and the things thereunto belonging ; the other, the authority of the
pope." — Meanwhile, with respect to one of these points, it has been well
remarked by a modern writer (Dr. Paley) ; " when the doctrine of transub-
stantiation had later possession of the Christian world, it was not without the
industry of learned men, that it came at length to be discovered, that no such
doctrine was contained in the New Testament. — But had those excellent
persons done nothing more by their discovery than abolished an innocent super
stition, or changed some directions in the ceremonial of public worship, they
had merited little of that veneration, with which the gratitude of Protestant
churches remembers their services. — What they did for mankind was this :
they exonerated Christianity of a weight which sunk it."
8 By the way.] The true distinctions between the two churches of England
and Rome in this great question, are much more correctly laid down by
Hooker in his learned Treatise of Justification, Works, vol. iv. Keble's edit.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXTRACTS. 431
lawes and decrees were made, to overthrow the same by crueU
handling of many good and Christian men. Thus whUe authority
armed with lawes and rigor, did strive against simple veritie,
lamentable it was to heare, how many poore men were troubled
and went to wracke, some tost from place to place, some exUed
out of the land for feare, some caused to abjure, some driven to
caves in woods, some wracked with torment, and some pursued
to death with fagot and fire. — Of whom we have now (Christ
willing) in this history following to entreat.

DEAN COLET.

VOL. I. F f

THE
LIFE1 OF DEAN COLET

WRITTEN BY

ERASMUS2 ROTERODAMUS.

CONTENTS.
. His birth and parentage. — 2, 3. His wealth, comeliness, and studies in
several countries. — 4. He expounds St. Paul's Epistles in Oxford : and
thereupon, 5, is made D.D. and dean of St. Paul's Church. — 6, 7. Sir
Thomas More's judgment of him, and some others, and of a city life. —
8. His behaviour in God's house and his own. — 9. His garments. — 10. How
he distributed his church-revenues, and how his own inheritance. — 11
— 13. St. Paul's school built, endowed, and described. — 14. His house at
Richmond. — 15 — 18. His natural temper subdued by philosophy and reli
gion. — 19 — 24. His opinions. — 25, &c. His afflictions.

1 . John Colet was born in London, the son of Henry Colet
(knight, and twice lord mayor of that city) and Christian his
wife ; who was a matron of very rare piety and Christian forti
tude, whereof I will give but one instance. She had eleven sons,
1 The life.] By Erasmus : from the Phenix, or a revival of scarce and valu-
ablepieces, vol. ii. p. 13—26. 8vo. a.d. 1708.
2 By Erasmus.] This life is a compilation, probably by the editor of
the Phenix, from various epistles of Erasmus; the greater part from a
long letter written to Jodocus Jonas by Erasmus after Colet's death. The
edition of Erasmus' Epistles here referred to is that printed in London in
1642 in folio. The best edition will be found in vol. iii. of the complete
works of Erasmus printed at Leyden by P. Vander Aa, in 1703. It has the
merit of a very copious index.
rf 2

436 DEAN COLET.
and as many daughters of the same husband ; all which she saw
buried, except John who was her first-born. God was pleased
to take Sir Henry away, when she was a very old woman. And
when she was fourscoure and ten years of age, her countenance
was so comely and entire, her behaviour so cheerful and pleasant,
that if you had seen her, you would have said, sure she never had
any sorrow or any child-bearing in her life : yet, unless my
memory faU much, she outlived her son John. So much strength
of mind was there even in a woman ; caused not by phUosophy or
human learning, but by sincere piety to God and trust in Christ.
A shame for many men !
2. a Of these two and twenty chUdren, John being the eldest,
was according to the law of England his father's sole heir ;
whereby he must have inherited a very considerable fortune,
though the rest had all lived : but they were all dead when I
first began to know him. And nature was as indulgent to him
as fortune ; for he had a very proper, taU, handsom, and comely
body. In his younger days he much addicted himself to the
study of scholastical philosophy, and commenced in England
master of arts ; an honour due not so much to his standing in
the university, as his knowledg in the seven liberal sciences : in
none whereof he had been then ignorant, in most of them exqui
sitely learned. All Tully's works were as familiar to him as his
epistles. He had read over Plato and Plotinus so diligently, that
when I heard him speak, methought I heard Plato himself talkb ;
and he had a smattering in each part of mathematics.
3. Being thus well principled at home, he began to look
abroad, and improve his stock in foreign parts. In France he
added to his humanity, what he thought necessary for the study
of Divinity : which then he effectuaUy prosecuted in Italy.
Amongst the antients he was most taken with Dionysius, Origen,
St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and St. Hierom : but among them all
he most digested St. Augustin. And yet he did not so tie himself
to antiquity, but that (as occasion served) he sometimes surveyed
Aquinas, Scotus, and other schoolmen. In a word, he was well
versed in both laws, and singularly read in history, both civil and
ecclesiastical. And because he saw that England had her Dantes
and Petrarchs as well as Italy, (who have performed the same
here, which they did there,) those and these he both read and
" Lib. xv. Epist. 14. p. 702, > Lib. v. Epist. 2. p. 309, c,

DEAN COLET. 437
diligently imitated; accommodating thereby his stile to the
pulpit, and preaching of the gospel.
4. After his return from Italy, he stayed not long in London
(where his parents lived), but chose to live in Oxford, where he
publicly (yet freely and without stipend) expounded St. Paul's
Epistles s, being not full thirty years of age, younger than I was
by two or three months. There and then I had the happiness
to come first acquainted with him : for though at that time he
had neither taken nor desired any degree in divinity, yet there
was no doctor whatsoever, either of theology or law, no abbot
nor dignified person in the whole university, that did not frequent,
and (which is more) take notes of his lectures. Which was to
be imputed either to Colet's authority, or their studiousness and
modesty ; — chuse you whether.
5. But before he left Oxford, they honoured him with the
degree of doctor ; which he accepted rather to please the givers
than himself. From that university and these sacred imployments,
he was called back to London by the favour of king Henry VII.
who bestowed upon him the deanery of St. Paul's, that he might
be president of his college, whose epistles and learning he loved
so well. He was made both doctor and dean, Ann. 1504 °. Of
all the deaneries in England this is the highest in esteem, but not
of greatest value ; which Colet embraced rather as a burdensom
charge, than honour. And therefore as soon as he had regulated
3 St. Paul's Epistles.] Colet was the first who revived the reading upon
the Scriptures at Oxford, about the year 1498, and in St. Paul's about eight
years afterwards. About the same time Warner, afterwards rector of Win-
terton in Norfolk, and George Stafford began to read upon St. Paul's Epis
tles in the University of Cambridge. Parker's Antiq. in the Life of Abp.
Warham. "At this time, (says Dr. Knight, speaking of Colet's institution at St.
Paul's,) it was a new thing to have any readings upon the Scriptures. Their
readings were ushered in with a text, or rather a sentence of Scotus and
Aquinas : and the explication was not trying by the word of God, but by the
voice of other scholastic interpreters, and the intricate turns of what they
called logic; which was then nothing but the art of corrupting human
reason, and the Christian faith. The use and study of the Scriptures was so
low at that time, and even in the University of Oxford, that the being
admitted a Batchelor of Divinity gave only liberty to read the Master of the
Sentences (Peter Lombard), and the highest degree of Doctor of Divinity did
not admit a man to the reading of the Scriptures." Knight's Life of Dean
Colet, p. 46, edit. 1823.
c Lib. x. epist. 8. p. 512,

438 DEAN COLET.
his coUege of Prebends, and raised up the antient discipline that
was fallen down, he resolved (which was not usual in those times)
to preach every holiday4 in his cathedral, over and above his
sermons at court, and many other churches. At St. Paul's he
expounded the Scriptures, not by retail, but by wholesale ; running
over sometimes a whole epistle 5, sometimes a whole gospel, the
4 To preach every holiday.] " In the time of popery " (says Bp. Burnet,
vol. i. p. 316,) "there had been few sermons but in Lent."
" If he speaks of the ancient times of popery," (remarks his animadvertor,
Henry Wharton, who wrote under the assumed name of Anthony Harmer,) " it
may be true. But for some time before the Reformation, preaching seems to
have been more frequent in England. For Dr. Lichfield, rector of All Saints
in Thames Street, London, who died in the year 1447, left behind him 3083
sermons, written with his own hand, and preached at several times by him.
All these sermons could not be preached in Lent. After him we have the ex
amples of Bradley the suffragan bishop of Norwich, who died in the year 1 492,
after he had spent many years in travelling about that diocese, and preaching
in it : of Dr. Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, who constantly preached, or ex
pounded the Scriptures, either in his own or in some other church of the
city ; of Dr. CoUingwood, Dean of Lichfield, who preached in that cathedral
every Sunday for many years together. The practice seemeth not to have
been unfrequent long before this time; and in some places to have been
commanded to all the parish priests. For in the Constitutions of John de
Thoresby, archbishop of York, made about the year 1360, 1 found a command
to all the parochial clergy to preach frequently to their people, and explain to
them the articles of faith in the English tongue : and an exhortation directed
to the people 'to heare Goddys service every Soneday with reverence and de
votion, and seye devoutly thy Pater noster, &c, and heare Goddys lawe taught
in thy modyr tonge ; for that is bettyr than to heare many massys.' " Spe
cimen of some errors and defects, &c, by Anthony Harmer, p. 56, 7. 1693.
5 A whole epistle.] This is in conformity with a practice recommended at
a later period, by a good judge of profitable preaching, Archbishop Usher.
See Bernard's Funeral Sermon for Archbishop Usher, p. 83, 4.
" And here let me give you some of his exemplary injunctions. Every
Lord's-day he preached in the forenoon, never failing but upon sickness ; in
which he spent himself much. In the afternoon, this was his order to me,
that, besides the catechizing of the youth before pubhc prayers, I should,
after the first and second lesson, spend about half an hour in a brief and plain
opening the principles of religion in the public catechism. First he directed
me to go through the creed at once, giving but the sum of each article. Then
next time at thrice. And afterwards, on each time an article, as they might
be more able to bear it. And so proporiionably of the Ten Commandments,
the Lord's Prayer, and the doctrine of the Sacraments. The good fruit of
which was apparent in the vulgar people, upon their approach unto the com
munion : when, as by the then order," [N. — this sermon was preached in the
time of Cromwell's usurpation, when the discipline of the Church of Eng-

DEAN COLET. 439
creed or the Lord's Prayer : wheresoever he preached, he was
exceedingly foUowed, both by the chief citizens and courtiers ;
which appears by this following letter sent him by Sir Thomas
More (afterwards lord chanceUor of England), which you may see
in Stapleton °-
6. Sir, — I lately met your boy in Cheapside, whom I was very
glad to see, chiefly because I thought he had not returned with
out you. But when he told me that you were not only not
come, but not coming ; you cannot imagine into what a dump
of sadness I feU from an height of joy. For what can be more
troublesom to me, than to be deprived of your most sweet company?
having been so long used to enjoy your most prudent counsel, to
be refresht with your most pleasant society, to be roused with
your most grave sermons, and bettered by your exceUent example
and life : in a word, in whose very countenance and gesture I
was wont to be unspeakably delighted. As methought I was
strengthened by these things while I had them, so for want of
them I seem to languish. And because of late by foUowing you
I had almost got out of the jaws of hell, now again like another
Euridice (yet by a contrary law, for she fell because Orpheus
lookt upon her, but I fall because you do not look upon me) I
am carried back by a kind of force and necessity into sad darkness.
For what is there in this city that should move any body to live
well ; and not rather (while he is of his own disposition climbing
up the steep hiU of vertue) pull him back by a thousand aUure-
ments and devices ? Which way soever I walk, what do I hear
but dissembling and the sugared poisons of flatterers ? What
do men talk of but quarrels and lawsuits ? Which way soever
I look, what do I see but alehouses, taverns, cooks, butchers,
land had been overthrown.] " the names of the receivers were to be given in,
so some account was constantly taken of their fitness for it : an exemplary
injunction for this age having been too much neglected  His order
throughout his diocese to the ministers was, to go through the body of divi
nity once a year, which he had drawn out accordingly into fifty heads."
Bernard's Life and Death of Archbishop Usher, in a Sermon preached April
17th, 1656, p. 83—85.
6 Stapleton.] In his work intitled, " Tres Thomee : seu de S. Thomee Apos-
toli rebus gestis. — De S. Thoma Archiepiscopo Cantuar. Martyre. — D. Thomee
Mori vita," printed at Douay in 1588, and at Cologne in 1612, in 8vo. It
will also be found in H. Holland's edition of Stapleton's works printed at
Paris in 1620, folio, vol. iv. p. 992.

440 DEAN COLET.
fishers, fowlers, and such cartel : who prog for beUy-timber, and
serve the world, and the devil the prince thereof? I know not
how it comes to pass, but methinks the very tops of the houses
almost meet sometimes, and take away a good part of the pleasant
light ; and wUl not suffer us to look upon heaven freely : so it is
not the circumference of the horizon, but the house top that
bounds the air. For which cause I may excuse you the more, if
you are not yet weary of the country, where you see the people
dealing plainly, and not acquainted with the knavery of the city ;
where which way soever you turn your eyes, the smiling face of
the earth pleases, the sweet temper of the air refresheth, and the
goodly aspect of the heaven delighteth you. You see nothing
there but the bountiful gifts of nature, and some holy footsteps of
innocence. 7. But, Sir, I would be loth you should be so far taken with
these delights, as to be detained long from us : for if the incon
veniences of the city displease you, yet Stepney (of which you
should have some care) will be as convenient for you as the place
that you are now in ; whence you may step into the city (where
you have an huge opportunity of doing good) as into an inn. For
whereas men in the country are of themselves either almost
innocent, or not so abominably bad as they be here ; any physician
may do good among them. But to this city, both by reason of the
multitude of the inhabitants, and the inveterate hold which the
diseases of sin have got ; a doctor comes to no purpose, unless
he be exceUently skilled. I confess, some come into your pulpit
at St. Paul's sometimes, who promise fair ; but when they seem
to have made an excellent discourse, their lives differ so much
from their words, that they do increase rather than assuage the
malady. For they who themselves are sickest of all, wiU never
persuade people, that they are fit to be charged with the care
and cure of other folks distempers : which when men feel touched
by those whom they see fuU of ulcers, they cannot but winch,
kick, and be angry. But if (as the philosophers say) he be the
fittest physician, in whom the sick person hath greatest con
fidence, doubtless none is more likely than you to cure this whole
city. By whom, how willing they are to have their wounds
handled ; in whom what confidence they put, and how ready they
are to obey you, appears sufficiently by the experience you have
of them, and the incredible expectation they have of you. There
fore make haste away, my good Coletj either for your town

DEAN COLET. 441
Stepney's sake, which laments your long absence as much as a
child doth his mother's ; or for your native country's sake (London)
whereof you ought to have as much care as of your parents. In
the last, though least place, be moved by your respect to me,
who have dedicated my self wholly to you, and do hugely long
for your return. Farewell, and still love,
Your very affectionate,
London, Oct. 23. Thomas More.
8. The dean's table, which in former times had under pretence
of good housekeeping been too much prostitute to excess, he
reduced to frugality. For he kept himself to one meal a day
many years together, both before and after his preferment ;
which at once cut off all his supper guests (late dinners not a
few) and the more, because his entertainment (though neat) was
neither costly nor excessive, his sitting short, and his whole
discourse such as pleased none but those that were either learned
or pious. For soon after he had said grace, his boy read a
chapter (distinctly and aloud) out of St. Paul's Epistles, or
Solomon's Proverbs ; from which he himself for the most part
pickt the subject of that meal's discourse ; asking not only
scholars, but even ordinary people (if they were ingenious) what
was the meaning of this or that passage. And he so ordered his
words, that though he were holy and grave, yet he seemed no
whit tedious or supercilious. And at the end of the meal, when
their hunger (not pleasure) was satisfyed, he feU upon another
subject : thus dismissing his guests, with as much satisfaction to
their minds as refreshment to their bodies, desiring they should
depart better men than they came, not with bigger bellies. He
was hugely delighted with the conference of his friends, who oft
kept him tUl late at night ; but all his conference was either of
literature or Jesus Christ. If he had no acceptable friend to
chat with (for every one did not please him), his boy did read some
what to him out of godly books. Sometimes he caUed me to
ride abroad with him, and then he was as merry as any man
alive ; but a good book was always his comrade in his journy, and
his talk was continually of Christ.
9. He was so much averse from all filthiness, that he could
not endure solecisms or barbarous language. He affected neat
ness in his houshold stuff, clothes, books, meat ; but not magni
ficence. He wore no garments but black, whereas in England

442 DEAN COLET.
doctors in divinity, and other eminent clergymen, commonly wear
scarlet. His upper garment was always of cloth, plain and with
out trimming, which in hard frosts he fortified with fur a. And
he being an eminent advancer of divine philosophy, lent me two
very old Latin copies of the New Testament, when I wrote notes
upon it, writ in characters that were like Saxon, and indeed so old,
that I was forced to turn child again, and begin anew to learn my
alphabet, before I could read them.
10. Whatsoever revenues accrued unto him by the church, he
intirely committed to his steward, to be distributed, and spent in
house-keeping. His own hereditary rents and profits (which were
vast) he himself distributed to pious uses. For his father being
dead, mony flowed in apace from what was left him by inherit
ance ; and lest that being kept should breed some disease in him,
he therewith erected a stately new school 7 in St. Paul's Church
yard, dedicated to the holy child Jesus : whereunto he joined fair
dwellings for two school- masters, to whom he assigned liberal
stipends, that they might teach gratis, but so as that they should
not be enjoined to admit above a certain number, viz. 153 *.
1 1 . The whole fabrick he divided into four parts : whereof one
(at the entrance) is as it were for the Catechumeni (and yet none
is admitted till he can read and write), the second for such as are
under the usher. The third part is for those whom the upper
master teacheth. These two ends are divided by a curtain, which
is drawn to and fro when they please. Above the master's chair
stands the holy child Jesus, curiously engraven, in the posture of
one reading a lecture, with this motto, Hear him ; which words I
advised him to set up. And all the young fry, when they come
in and go out of school (besides their appointed prayers) salute
Christ with an hymn. At the upper end is a chappel, in which
divine service may be said. The whole building hath no corners
nor lurking-holes for dunces, having neither chamber nor dining-
room in it. Every boy has his proper seat distinguished by
spaces of wood, and the forms have three ascents. Every class
d Praefat. ad notas in N. T.
7 Stately new school.] Amongst the collections of Bishop Kennett in the
British Museum (Bibl. Lansdown, 949), is " A copie of the auncient Statute
Book which John Colett delivered to Will. Lillye with his owne hand."
8 Viz. 153.] " Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great
fishes, an hundred and fifty and three : and for all there were so many, yet was
not the net broken." John xxi. 11.

DEAN COLET. 443
containeth sixteen boys (the two lowest much more) and the best
scholar of each sits in a seat somewhat more eminent than the
rest, with the word CAPITANEUS engraven in golden letters
over his head.
12. The masters of this school do not rashly admit of all that
are brought, but choice is made of the most towardly wits and best
dispositions ; lest in that laborious employment they should toil
in vain. For some men in this age are so base (as I told Dr.
Colet0) as to set those to be scholars, who profess divinity (the
chief of all sciences), whom for their dull capacity and bad natures
they think scarce fit for any other study. He entreated me f to
seek out a man whom I thought a fit under-master for this his
school (Will Lilly being the first upper master). I enquired in
many places, but could hear of none. At length being at Cam-
bridg among some Masters of Arts, I propounded it to them.
One of them (and he of no mean esteem) smiling, said, " Who
would endure to live in that school among boys, that could make
a shift to scrape up a livelihood any where else ?" I answered
modestly, that it seemed to me a very honest employment to
instruct young people in learning and good manners : that Christ
did not despise that age ; that a man could bestow his pains upon
no age better ; and in no place expect a better effect or reward
of his pains than at St. Paul's school, because it is in the midst
of London, and London the chief city of the kingdom ; where
from all other parts the lines (or gentry and ingenious people)
meet as in a center. And I added, that if men were truly pious,
they would think that they could no way serve God better than
by bringing children to Christ. But he drawing up his nose and
scoffing, replied, " If any have a mind to serve Christ, let him go
into a monastery or religious house." I answered, that St. Paul
placed true religion in the duties of charity ; and that charity
consisted in doing as much good to our neighbours as we could.
He rejected that as sillily spoken : " Behold," quoth he, " we
have left all, therein is perfection." I finally told him, that that
man hath not left all, who when it is in his power to do good to
very many people, shuns the imployment because he thinks it too
mean for him. — And so (lest we should have wrangled) I left the
man. But you here see the wisdom of the Scotists.
' Lib. xxxi. epist. 45. p. 2046, g.
' Lib. x. epist. 17 and 18. p. 518, f. and 520, e.

444 DEAN COLET.
13. Our quick-sighted Dr. Colet saw very weU, that the main
hope and piUar of a commonwealth consists in furnishing youth
with good literature, and therefore did he bestow so much care
and cost on this school. Tho it stood him in an infinite sum of
mony to build and endow it, yet he would accept of no copartner.
One left indeed a legacy of 1001. sterling to the structure of it ;
but Colet thinking, that if he took it, some lay-people would chal
lenge to themselves I know not what authority over the school,
he did by the permission of his bishop bestow it upon holy vest
ments for the choir. Yet tho he would suffer no layman to have a
finger in the building, he entrusted no clergyman (not so much as
the bishop, dean, and chapter of St. Paul) nor any of the nobility,
with the oversight of the revenues ; but some married citizens
of honest report. When he was asked why he would do so, he
answered, That there was nothing certain in human affairs ; but
he found least corruption in such men.
14. As all men highly commended him for his school, so many
wondered why he would build so stately an house within the
bounds of the Carthusian monastery, which is not far from the
palace at Richmond 9 ; but he told them, that he provided that
seat for himself in his old age, when he should be unfit for
labours, or broken with diseases, and so constrained to retire
from the society of men. There he intended to philosophize with
two or three eminent friends, among which he was wont to reckon
me ; but death prevented him. For being few years before his
decease visited thrice with the sweating sickness ' (a disease which
3 Richmond.] "In the year 1414, King Henry V. founded at this place,
an house for the maintenance and support of forty monks of the Carthusian
order, whom he incorporated by the name of the house of Jesus of Bethle
hem at Shene. The foundation charter describes it as built on the north
side of his manor-house or palace there; being 3125 feet in length, and 1305
feet 8 inches in breadth  The length of the hall was 44 paces, and the
breadth 24 : the great quadrangle 120 paces long, and 100 broad : the
cloisters a square of 200 paces, and 9 feet in height. Nor was the founder's
munificence in the endowment of it, unbecoming the magnificence of the
structure itself." = . . . " Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, and founder
of the school there, built him lodgings within these walls, in which, having
retired hither on being seized a third time with the sweating sickness, he died
16th September, 1519." Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, vol. i. pp.
417.420. Cardinal Wolsey, after his disgrace, spent a short time in retire
ment in this monastery, occupying the lodgings built by Colet. See Caven
dish's Life of Wolsey, in this volume.
1 Sweating sickness.] "As the plague destroyed the French in Italy, the

DEAN COLET. 445
seized no countrymen but English) though he recovered, yet he
thereupon grew consumptive, and so died. One physician thought
that the dropsy killed him ; but when he was dissected, they saw
nothing extraordinary, only the capiUary vessels of his liver were
beset with pustles. He was buried in the south side of the choir
of his own cathedral, in a low sepulcher, (which he to that end
had chose for himself some years before,) with this inscription,
JOHN COLET.
15. In the mean while I shall say somewhat, first of his Nature,
secondly of his paradoxical Opinions, and lastly of those Afflic
tions wherewith his ingenuous piety was exercised ; for some
whereof he might have thanked his own natural temper. For he
was of a very high spirit, hugely impatient of any injury, won
derfully prone to lasciviousness, luxury, and overmuch sleep ; to
jesting and facetiousness above measure (all this he confessed to
me himself), and he was not wholly safe from covetousness. But
against each of these he fought such a good fight by philosophy,
divine contemplations, watching, fasting, and prayer, that he led
the whole course of his life free from the infections of this world ;
and as far as I could any way gather (by familiarity and much
liberal converse with him) was a pure virgin to his dying day.
sweating sickness consumed very many in England ; it seeming to be but the
same contagion of the air, varied according to the clime. It was first known
in England, I486, then 1507, then 1517 (when Colet it seems suffered from
it last) and in 1528, when it so raged, as it killed ordinarily in five or six hours
space, invading even the king's court, where not only sir Francis Pointz, sir
William Compton, and Mr. William Cary (two of the king's bed-chamber)
died of it ; but the king himself was not without danger." Lord Herbert in
Kennett's Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 99. The disease was so peculiar to
England that it was known as the Sudor Britannicus: some have observed
that no stranger in England was touched by this disease, yet the English
were chased with it, not only here but in other countries abroad, which made
them feared and avoided wheresoever they came. In 1528, however, Ger
many suffered from it, and the conference at Marpurg between Luther and
Zuinglius was, in consequence, broken off. In 1551 it again visited Eng
land : amongst others, two sons of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, and a
daughter of Dudley, duke of Northumberland, were sufferers. An interesting
letter from Northumberland to the marquis of Northampton, and Cecil
(Burghley), in which he gives a minute account of the symptoms of his
daughter's illness, has been recently found by Mr. Fraser Tytler in the State
Paper Office, and has been printed by him in his England during the reigns of
Edward and Mary, vol. ii. p. 115. A treatise on the disease by Dr. Caius,
was printed by Grafton in 1552.

446 DEAN COLET.
All his wealth he distributed to pious uses ; of which I have said
somewhat already, and shall say more anon.
16. b He had an uncle that was a very old ill-conditioned man,
with whom he did not agree. The difference betweene them was
not about a trifle, but so vast a sum of mony, that a son might
almost have fought with his father about it. Colet being to dine
with the Reverend Father in God WiUiam archbishop of Canter
bury, took me in the boat with him from St. Paul's to Lambeth.
All the way he read the Remedy of Anger in my Enchiridion,
but did not tell me wherefore he read it. When we sat down, it
chanced that Colet sat over against his uncle ; and there he
was very sad, neither speaking a word, nor eating a bit. Now
the archbishop 2 had an exceUent faculty in such a case (to make
every one merry at his table), ordering his discourse according to
each man's peculiar temper ; so he began to compare our several
ages, and then those who sat musing before, fell to chatting :
and the uncle (as old men are wont to do) began to brag, that
tho he were so far stricken in years, he felt no decay of his
strength. After dinner they two had some discourse betwixt
themselves ; but what I cannot tell. When Colet and I were
come back to the boat, he told me that he saw I was a happy
man. — I answered, that I wondered why he should call me happy,
who thought my self the unhappiest person in the world. Where
upon he told me, that he had been that day so angry with his
uncle, that he had almost resolved (breaking all bonds of Chris
tian modesty and natural affection to his kindred) to have sued
him openly at law ; that for this reason he took my Enchiridion
in his hand along with him, to read the remedy against anger,
and that the reading of it had done him much good ; that by that
prattle in dinner-time, the bitterness and heat of each was so far
allayed, as that when the archbishop stept aside, and they talkt
together privately, the whole difference was composed. In a
word, Colet did daily so endeavour to conquer all his passions,
and subdue the haughtiness of his mind by reason, that he would
take it well to be admonished even by a chUd.
17. Lasciviousness, sleep, and luxury he chased away by abstain
ing constantly from supper, by continual sobriety, indefatigable
study, and holy conferences. But yet when there was occasion,
either to discourse with fair ladies, or jest with witty persons, or
* Lib. xxiii. epist. 5. p. 1206, a. 2 The archbishop.] Warham.

DEAN COLET. 447
feast with pleasant, a man might easUy perceive some footsteps of
his nature, which made him for the most part keep from the society
of all lay-people ; but especially from banquets, to which when he
must needs come, he commonly took with him me or some learned
friend, with whom he discoursed in Latin, that he might avoid
idle talk. His custom was to eat only of one dish, to content
himself with one glass of beer or ale, or two at the most. And
tho he was delighted with good wine, yet he drank very Uttle
of it ; always suspecting his own sanguine complection and incli
nation, and being very wary of all those things by which he might
offend any person whatsoever.
18. In aU my life I never saw a more happy wit, and thence it
came that he was exceedingly pleased with such wits as were like
himself : but at aU times when he might chuse his discourse, it
was of such things as prepared him for the immortality of a life
to come. And when at any time he refreshed himself with
pleasant stories, he did not fail to make use of his phUosophy in
them. He was much pleased with the purity and simplicity
of nature in little children (to the imitation of whom we are
caUed by our blessed Saviour) being wont to compare them to
angels. 19. Now for the second particular, his opinions ; he much dif
fered in them from the vulgar. The Scotists (of whose acuteness
most men have a high conceit) he esteemed heavy feUows, and any
thing rather than ingenious. And yet he had a worse opinion of
Thomas Aquinas (for what reason I know not) than of Scotus.
For when I sometimes commended Thomas to him as no con
temptible author (among the moderns) because he seemed to
have read both Scriptures and Fathers (as I guessed by his
Catena Aurea) and to have somewhat of affection in his writings ;
Colet seemed not to mind me two or three times, and said nothing.
But when at another discourse I spoke the same again with more
vehemency, he looked stedfastly upon me, to see whether I were
in jest or in earnest ; and when he saw I spoke seriously, he
replied thus in a passion, " Why do you commend this man to
me ? who if he had not been very arrogant would never so rashly
(and yet so magisterially) have presumed to define aU points of
rehgion ; and if he had not savoured too much of the spirit of the
world, he would not have poUuted aU the doctrine of Christ with
so much of his own profane phUosophy." I wondered at the
enthusiastick posture of the man, and after that set upon reading

448 DEAN COLET.
Aquinas's works more attentively ; and I must needs confess that
my opinion of him abated much.
20. No man was more a friend to true Christian piety, yet he
had little or no kindness for monks, or rather I should say for
those who are now (for the most part falsly) so called; and
therefore while he lived he gave them but little, and when he died
nothing ; not that he hated the profession, but because he saw
they did not live according to it. Yet his desire was to have
disingaged himself from the world, and betaken himself to a
monastry, if he could any where have found a society that was
truly and unanimously resolved upon an evangelical life. And
when I went into Italy, he charged me to seek for such an one,
telling me that he had found some monks there who were reaUy
prudent and pious; commending also some Germans, among
whom he thought that the footsteps of the good old religion did
stUl remain.
21. Though he lived very chastly himself, yet he had a very
charitable opinion of those priests and monks, who had no other
crime but venery. Not that he did not heartUy abhor the sin,
but because he found such men far less mischievous than others
(if compared) who were haughty, envious, backbiters, hypocrites,
vain, unlearned, whoUy given to the getting of mony and honour.
Yet these had a mighty opinion of themselves ; whereas others,
by acknowledging their infirmity, were made more humble and
modest. He said, that to be covetous and proud, was more
abominable in a priest than to have an hundred concubines 3 : not
that he thought incontinence to be a light sin, but covetousness
and pride to be at a greater distance from true piety. And he
was not more averse to any sort of men, than such bishops who
were wolves instead of shepherds ; and commended themselves by
external service of God, ceremonies, benedictions and indulgences
to the people, while with all their hearts they served the world,
that is, glory and gain. He was not much displeased with them
who would not have images (either painted or carved, gold or
silver) worshipped in churches ; nor with them, who doubted
whether a notorious wicked priest could consecrate the sacrament,

3 An hundred concubines.] The nature of the relation, at this time, be
tween the priests and these concubines, the reader will find explained in a
note given below in this collection, from Henry Wharton, in the Life of
Thomas Rogers.

DEAN COLET. 449
Hereby not favouring their error, but expressing his indignation
against such clergymen, who by an open bad life gave occasion to
this suspicion.
22. He said, That the colleges in England, which are large
and stately, hinder good literature, and are receptacles of idle
people ; nor did he much regard the publick schools, because
their ambition and gain did corrupt the sincerity of aU old dis
cipline. As he did much approve of secret confession* (pro
fessing that he never had so much comfort from any thing as
that) so he much condemned anxiety in it, and repetition.
Whereas it is the custom in England for priests to con
secrate the host, and receive it almost every day ; he was
content to sacrifice on Sundays and holidays, or some few days
beside ; either to gain more time for his sacred studys, and fit
himself the better for his pulpit-employments, and the business of
his cathedral ; or because he found that his devotion had a
greater edg, when it was sharpened with intervals : and yet he
would not condemn them who were minded to come to the Lord's
table every day. Though he was a very learned man himself,
yet he did not prize that anxious and laborious sort of wisdom,
which is fully attained by knowledg of several sciences, and
reading a multitude of books ; saying oft, that the native sound
constitution of men's parts, and the sincerity of their wit, was
lost thereby ; and that they rather got a learned sort of madness,
than any true incentive to Christian innocence, simplicity, and
charity. 23. He attributed very much to the epistles of the holy apostles ;
but when he compared them with that wonderful majesty which
is to be found in our Saviour's own sayings and sermons, he
thought them somewhat dry. He had very ingeniously reduced
almost all the sayings of Christ to ternaries, and intended to
write a book of them. He wondred that Roman priests should
be forced to say so many prayers every day ; nay though they
are much employed, whether at home or in a journey ; but he
much approved of the performing divine service magnificently.
He dissented from innumerable opinions now.commonly received
in the schools, in which he would sometimes tell his mind to his
4 Secret confession.] See what is said below by bishop Latimer, in the Life
qf Thomas Bilney, of what he learnt, from having been asked while he was
yet " as obstinate a papist as any was in England," to hear Bilney's confes
sion. See Index, under Confession, private.
VOL. I. Gg

450 DEAN COLET.
friends, but say nothing to others, lest he should incur a double
inconvenience, viz. lose his own credit, and do them no good,
perhaps harm. There was no book so heretical that he was not
wiUing to read over attentively, professing that sometimes he
advantaged himself more by such than by their works who de
termine every question which they handle in such a manner, that
they often flatter their leaders, and sometimes themselves.
24. He endured not that any one should, in speaking fluently,
be guided altogether by the precepts of grammar (that, he said,
oft hindered one from speaking well) but by his reading the best
authors. Which opinion brought its own punishment along with
it; for tho he had eloquence both by nature and education,
and had wonderful store of matter in his head when he began to
make a speech, yet he oft tripped in those things which criticks
are wont to take notice of. And thereupon I suppose he abstained
from writing books, which I wish he had not done ; for I heartily
desire the meditations or works of this man, in what language
soever they are penned.
25. And now, lest you should think any thing wanting to the
complete piety of Dr. Colet, in the last place hear his afflictions.
He never agreed well with his bishop 5, who (to say nothing of his
manners,) was a superstitious and stubborn Scotist, and there
upon thought himself half a god. Of which sort of men, though
I know some whom I will not call knaves, yet I never saw one
whom I thought I might truly term a Christian. Neither was
the doctor acceptable to most of his own college, because he was
very tenacious of regular discipline ; and the prebends complained
that he used them as if they were monks ; and so indeed that
college was anciently, and in old records is called the Eastern
Monastry ; as West-mon aster ium means the Western Monastry.
26. But when the old bishop's (for he was fourscore years of
age) hatred grew too high to be smothered, the fire broke out ;
and adjoining two other bishops, as wise and virulent as himself,
he began to trouble Dr. Colet, exhibiting articles against him to
the archbishop of Canterbury, taken out of his sermons. 1. That he
said, images were not to be worshipped. 2. That preaching upon
that passage in the gospel, Feed, feed, feed my sheep, he expounded
the first by good example, the second by sound doctrine, (as other

6 His bishop.] Richard Fitz James, bishop of London, who had previously
filled the sees of Rochester and Chichester.

DEAN COLET. 451
expositors do,) but in the third he differed from them : deny
ing that the apostles, who were poor men, were commanded
to feed their sheep with temporal revenue, because they had
none of it themselves : and he named somewhat else in this
third place. Lastly, that by blaming those that read all or most
of their sermons (which I confess many do now in England very
coldly) he had obliquely taxed his diocesan, who being a very old
man was wont to do so. The archbishop being well acquainted
with Colet's excellencies, received the articles ; but instead of
being his judg, became his advocate.
27. Yet the old man's fury did not end so, but strove to
incense the court against him, especiaUy king Henry VIII.
himself; because the doctor had said in a sermon, That an unjust
peace was to be preferred before a most just war : which sermon
was preached in that nick of time, when the king was raising
forces against the French. Two Minim friars were the chief
men that managed this business ; whereof one was an incendiary
of the war, (for which he deserved a bishoprick,) the other, with a
pair of huge lungs, declaimed in his sermons against poets, thereby
aiming at Colet, who though he had skill in music, yet was in
truth averse from poetry.
28. Here the king (who was an excellent person in his youth)
gave an evident proof of his royal parts, exhorting Colet privately
to go on in his preaching, freely to tax the corrupt manners of that
age, and not to withdraw his light in those most dark times ;
adding, that he knew very weU what incensed the bishops so
highly against him, and how much good Colet had done by his
divine life and holy doctrine to the English church6 and nation.
6 To the English church.] I give here a large extract from an ancient
English translation of a Latin sermon preached by Colet before the Convo
cation, in the year 1511. It is valuable as putting us in possession of the
sentiments of a reflecting and ingenuous mind, on the state of church affairs
in England, at the time when the crisis of the Reformation began to draw
near. "This reformation and restoring of the churches estate must needes
begynne of you our fathers, and so folowe in us your priestes, and all the
clergye : you are our heades ; you are an example of lyving unto us. Unto
you we looke as unto markes of our direction. In you and in your lyfe we
desyre to rede as in lyvely bokes howe and after what facion we maye lyve.
Wherefore if you will loke and ponder upon oure mottis (motes), fyrste take
awaye the blockes out of your own eyes. Hit is an olde proverbe : Physi-
G g 2

452 DEAN COLET.
Lastly, that he would so curb their endeavours, that it should
appear to the world, whoever troubled Colet should not escape
Hon heale thyselfe. You spiritual physitions fyrst taste you this medicine of
purgation of manners : and than after offer in the same to taste.
" The waye whereby the churche may be reformed into better facion is nat
for to make newe lawes. For there be lawes many inowe, and out of nombre :
as Salomon saith, Nothynge is new under the sonne. For the evils that are
now in the churche were before in tyme paste, and there is no faute but that
our fathers have provyded verye good remedyes for it. There be no trespaces
but that there be lawes against them in the body of the canon lawe. There
fore hit is no nede that newe lawes and constitutions be made ; but that those
that are made all redye be kepte : wherefore in this assembley let those lawes
that are made be called before you and rehersed. Those lawes, I say, that
restrayne vice and those that furder vertue.
" Fyrste, let those lawes be rehersed that do warne you fathers that ye put
not over soone youre handes on every man or admitte into holy orders. For
this is the well of evils, that the brode gate of holy orders opened, everye man
that offereth hym selfe is all where admitted without pullynge back. Thereof
spryngeth and cometh out the people that are in the churche both of unlerned
and evyll pristes.
" Hit is nat inoughe for a priste (after my jugement) to construe a collette,
to put forth a question, or to answer to a sopheme, but moche more a good,
a pure, and a holy life, approved maners, metely lemynge of holye Scripture,
some knowlege of the sacramentes ; chiefly and above all thynge the feare of
God and love of the hevenly lyfe.
" Lette the lawes be rehersed that commaunde that benefices in the churche
be given to those that are worthye, and that promocyons be made in the
churche by the ryghte balaunce of vertue, nat by carnall affection, nat by the
acception of persones, wherebye it happeneth nowe a dayes that boyes for old
men, fooles for wise men, evyll for goode, do reygne and rule.
" Lette the lawes be rehersed that warreth agaynst the spotte of symonie.
The whiche corruption, the whiche infection, the whiche cruell and odible
pestilence, so crepeth now a brode, as the canker evyll, in the minds of
pristes, that many of them are not aferde now adayes both by prayer and
service, rewardes and promesses to get them great dignities.
" Lette the lawes be rehersed that commande personall resydence of curates
in theyr churches. For of this many evyls growe : by cause all things now
adayes are done by vicaries and parysshe pristes, yea and those foolish also
and unmete, and often tymes wicked, that seke none other thynge in the
people than foule lucre, whereof cometh occasion of evyll heresies and yl
Christendome in the people.
" Lette be rehersed the Jawes and holye rules given of fathers of the lyfe
and honestye of clerkes : that forbydde that a clerke be no marchant, that he
be no userer : that he be no hunter ; that he be no common player, that he
here no weapon.
" The lawes that forbydde clerkes to haunte tavernes, that forbydde them

DEAN COLET. 453
unpunished. Hereupon Colet humbly thanked the king for his
royal favour, but beseeched him not to do so, professing that he
to have suspect familiaritie with women : the lawes that commaunde sobernes
and a measurablenes in apparyle and temperance in adomynge ofthe bodye.
" Let be rehersed also to my lordes these monkes, chanons, and religious
men, the lawes that commaunde them to go the strayte way that leadeth unto
heaven, leavynge the brode way of the worlde ; that command them not to
tourmoyll themselves in business, nother secular nor other : that commaunde
that they serve nat in princis courts for earthen thynges : for it is in the
councel of Calcidinens, that monkes ought onely to gyve themselfe to prayer
and fastynge, and to the chastening of their fleshe, and observynge of their
rules. " Above all thynges let the lawes be rehersed that pertayne to and concerne
you, my reverent fathers and lordes bysshops : laws of your juste and canonical
election, in the chaptres of your churches with the callynge of the Holy
Goste. For by cause that is nat done now a dayes, and by cause prilates are
chosen often more by favor of men than by the grace of God ; therefore truly
have we nat a fewe tymes byshops full litell spirituall men, rather worldly
than hevenly, savoring more the spirite of this world than the spirite of
Christe. " Lette the lawes be rehersed of the resydence of byshops in their dioeesis ;
that commaunde that they loke diligently and take hede to the helthe of
soules : that they sowe the worde of God ; that they shew them selfe in their
churches at the least on great holye dayes. That they do sacrifice for their
people. That they here the causes and matters of poure men, that they sus-
teine fatherles children and widowes ; that they exercise themselfe in workes
of vertue.
" Let the lawes be rehersed of the good bestowynge of the patrimony of
Christe. The lawes that commande that the goodes of the churche be spent,
nat in costly bylding, nat in sumptuous apparel and pompis, nat in feastynge
and bankettynge, nat in excesse and wantonnes, nat in enrichynge of kyns-
folke, nat in kepynge of dogges, but of thynges necessarye and profitable
to the churche. For whan Saynt Augustyne, some tyme bysshoppe of Eng-
lande, did aske the pope Gregorie howe that the bysshops and prelates of
Englande shulde spende theyr goodes that were the offeringes of faythful
people ; the said pope answered (and his answere is put in the Decrees in the
xii. chap, and seconde question) that the goodes of bysshops ought to be
devyded into foure partes, whereof one parte oughte to be to the bysshoppe
and his householde : another to his clerkes : the third to repayre and upholde
his tenementes : the fourthe to the poore people.
" Let the lawes be rehersed, ye and that often tymes, that take awaye the
filthes and unclenlines of courtes ; that take awaye those daylye new faunde
craftes for lucre ; that besy them to pull away this foule covetousnes, the
whiche is the spring and cause of all evils, the whiche is the well of all
iniquitie. " At the laste lette be renewed those lawes and constitutions of fathers of
the celebration of councels, that commaunde provincial councels to be aftener

454 DEAN COLET.
had rather lay down his preferment, than that any should suffer
for his sake.
used for the reformation of the churche. For there never hapneth nothynge
more hurtful to the churche of Christe than the lack both of councel generall
and provinciall.
" When these lawes and such other ar rehersed that be for us, and that
eonceme the correction of maners, there lacketh nothynge but that the same
be put in execution, with all auctoritie and power. That ones (seing we have
a lawe,) we live after the lawe. For the whiche things, with all due reverence,
I calle chiefly upon you fathers. For this execution of the lawes, and ob
serving of the constitutions, muste nedes begynne of you, that ye may teache
us pristes to folowe you by lyvelye examples, or elles truely hit will be sayd
of you : They lay grevous burdens upon other mens baches, and they them selfe
wyl nat as much as louche it with their lytellfynger.
" For sothe if you kepe the lawes, and if you reforme fyrste your lyfe to
the rules of the canon lawes, then shall ye gyve us lyght (in the whiche we
may se what is to be done of our parte), that is to say the lyghte of your
good example, and we seyinge our fathers so keping the lawes wyll gladly
folowe the steppes of our fathers.
" The clergies and spirituals part ones reformed in the churche, than may
we with a juste order procede to the reformation of the lays parte : the
whiche truely wyll be verye easy to do, if we be fyrst reformed. For the
bodye followeth the soule. And such rulers as are in the city, like dwellers
be in it. Wherfore if pristes, that have the charge of soules be good,
streyghte the people will be good. Our goodnes shall teche them to be good
more clerely than al other teachynges and preachynges. Our goodnes shal
compel them in to the right way truly more effectuously than all your sus-
pendynges and cursynges.
" Wherfore if ye wyll have the lay people to lyve after youre wysshe and
wyll, fyrst lyve you your selfe after the wyl of God. And so, trust me, ye
shall get in them what so ever ye wyll !
" Ye wyll be obeyed of them, and right it is. For in the epistell to the
Hebrewes these are the wordes of St. Paule to the laye people. Obey (saith
he) your rulers and be you under them. But if ye will have this obedience,
first performe in you the reason and cause of obedience : the whiche the said
Paule doth teache, and hit followeth in the texte ; that is, Take you hede also
diligently, as though you shulde give a recknyngefor their soules : and they wyll
obey you.
" You will be honored of the people ; hit is reason. For Saint Paule
wryteth unto Timothe : Pristes that rule well are worthy e double honors ;
chiefly those that labour in worde and teachynge. Therefore if ye desyre to
be honoured, fyrst look that ye rule well, and that ye labour in worde and
teachynge, and than shall the people have you in all honor.
" You will repe their carnall thynges, and gether tithes and offrynges
without any stryvinge : right it is. For Saint Paule, wryting unto the
Romanes sayth : They are deltours, and ought to minister to you in carnall
thinges : fyrst sowe you your spirituall thynges, and then ye shall repe plenr

DEAN COLET. 455
29. But soon after another occasion was offered, by which they
hoped to ruin him ; for it happened that the king made prepara
tion to march after Easter' against the French ; and upon Good-
Friday Colet made a sermon to the king and courtiers, which
was much admired, concerning the victory of Christ ; wherein
he exhorted all Christians to fight under the banner of their
heavenly King, and overcome, saying, That they who either through
hatred, or ambition, or covetousness, do fight with evil men, and
tifully their carnall thynges. For truely that man is very hard and unjust
that wyl repe where he never did sowe ; and that wyll gether where he never
skatered. " Ye wyl have the churches liberte, and not to be drawen aftere secular
juges, and that also is ryght. For hit is in the Psalmis, touche ye nat myne
anoynted. But if ye desyre this liberte, first unlouse yourself from the
worldlye bondage, and from the services of man : and lyfte up your selfe
into the trewe lybertye, the spirituall lybertye of Christe, into grace from
synnes, and serve you God, and rayne in him. And than, beleve me the
people wyll nat touche the anoynted of theyr Lord God.
" Ye wolde be of busines in rest and peace, and that is convenient : But
if ye wyl have peace, come agayne to the God of peace and love. Come
agayne to Christe, in whom is the very true peace of the Goste, the which
passeth all wytte. Come again to your selfe, and to your pristly lyvynge.
And to make an ende, as Saint Paule saythe : Be you reformed in the newnes
of your understandynge, that you savoure those thynges that are of God, and
the peace of God shall be with you.
" These things are they, reverend fathers and ryghte famous men, that I
thoughte to be said for the reformation of the churches estate. I trust ye
will take them of your gentylnes to the best. And if peradventure it be
thought that I have past my bounds in this sermon, or have sayd any thyng
out of tempre, forgive hit me, and ye shall forgyve a man speakyng of very
zeale, to a man sorrowynge the decay of the churche : and cohsyder the
thynge hit selfe, nat regardynge my foolysshenes. Consyder the miserable
fourme and state of the churche, and endevour yourselves with all youi
myndes to reforme it.
" Suffre nat fathers this your so greate a getherynge to depart in vayne.
Suffre nat this your congregation to slyppe to naughte. Truly ye are
gethered often tymes together, but, by your favour to speke the trouth, yet
I se nat what frute cometh of your assemblyng, namely to the churche.
" Go ye nowe in the spirite that ye have called on, that by the helpe of hit,
ye may in this youre councell fynd out, decerne, and ordeyne those thynges
that may be profitable to the churche, prayse unto you, and honour unto
God. Unto whom be all honoure and glory e for evermore. Amen."
7 After Easter.] In 1512. In pursuance of the treaty with Ferdinand of
Spain, made in the latter part of 1511, by which Henry bound himself to in
vade Guienne with an army of 6500 men, to join 9000 which were to be sent
by Ferdinand. Rymer, xiii. 311 — 319.

456 DEAN COLET.
so kiU one another, fight not under the banner of Christ, but the
devil : shewing withal, how hard a thing it is to die like a
Christian, how few go forth to battel free from hatred and covet
ousness, and how difficult for such to be in charity (without
which no man shaU see God) who sheathe their swords in their
brethren's bowels. Adding, that they should rather imitate their
king Christ, than Pagan Caesars and Alexanders. And he had
so many other smart passages to this purpose, that his majesty
was somewhat afraid lest this sermon would dishearten his soldiers
that were listed.
30. Hereupon aU the birds of prey flocked about Colet like an
owl, hoping the king would be incensed against him. His
majesty commands Colet to come before him at Greenwich. He
goes into the garden of the monastry of the Franciscans 8 which
was near, and presently dismisseth his attendants. When they
two were alone, the king bid Colet cover his head, and speak his
mind freely : and then his highness began thus, " Dean, be not
surprised with needless fear ; I did not send for you hither to
disturb your most holy labours (which I resolve to cherish as
much as I can) but to unload my conscience of some scruples,
and to desire your advice concerning my duty." The conference
lasted almost an hour and a half, and I must not relate it all.
In the mean while Bricot (the Franciscan bishop 9) was in the
court stark wild, hoping that Colet had been in great danger ;
whereas the king and he agreed in every particular very well.
Only his majesty wished that what Colet spoke truly, he would

8 Franciscans.] In 1486 this convent was founded by Henry VII. for a
warden and twelve brethren. Katherine of Arragon, Henry the VHIth's first
queen, was a great favourer of the Franciscans, and of this convent in par
ticular. " She appointed one of the monks of Greenwich, Father John For
rest, to be her confessor ; and used, whilst resident at this place, to rise at
midnight and join the monks in their devotions." — Lysons's Environs of
London, vol. iv. p. 464.
9 The Franciscan bishop.] Erasmus's words are, "Ex Franciscano episcopus,"
but of what see does not appear. It is probable, that instead of Bricot, Henry
Standish was meant, who was a Franciscan of the same convent, a bitter
enemy of Colet (see Knight's Life of Colet, p. 201), and was consecrated
bishop of St. Asaph on the 18th of July, 1518. Bricot, if ever he was a
bishop, certainly never filled an English see. There was a Thomas Bricot, a
commentator on Aristotle and writer on logic, whom Erasmus elsewhere men
tions with contempt — " ut vix Holcot et Bricot solcecisset crassius," but I
cannot find that he was either a Franciscan or a bishop.

DEAN COLET. 457
speak (sometime or other) more plainly, lest the rude soldiers
should misunderstand it, as if he had said, " That no war x is
lawful among Christians." And thus Colet (by his singular
prudence and moderation) not only satisfied the king, but got
farther into his favour.
31. When they returned from the garden to the court, the
king being about to dismiss Colet, called for a cup, and drank to
him, embraced him most kindly ; and promising him aU the favours
that could be expected from a most loving prince, dismissed him.
And now the courtiers, standing round the king, expected to
know the issue of this long conference ; and the king, in the
hearing of them all, said, " Well, let other men chuse what
doctors they please, and make much of them, this man shall be
my doctor." Whereupon Bricot, with the rest of the gaping
wolves, departed, and from that day forward never dared trouble
Colet any more ; a person that in an high fortune and plenty was
led and governed not by his nature, but by Christ ; in a word,
whom I shall not doubt to reckon in the catalogue of my saints,
though he be never canonised by any pope.
This Colet died the year of our Lord, 1519.
1 That no war.] See Art. XXXVII. of the Church of England. " It is
lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the magistrate, to wear
weapons, and serve in the wars."

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

O, 'tis a burden, Cromwell, 'tis a burden,
Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven. Shakspeahe.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The following life was written by the cardinal's gentleman usher,
Cavendish ; whose Christian name in the superscription to some
of the manuscript copies is George, but by bishop Kennet, in his
Memoirs of the family of Cavendish ; by CoUins, in his Peerage ;
and by Dr. Birch (No. 4233, Ayscough's Catalogue, Brit. Mu
seum) he is called William1. The work was known only by
manuscripts, and by the large extracts from it, inserted by John
Stowe in his Annals, from the reign of Q. Mary in which it was
composed, until the year 1641; at which time a book was printed
in a thin quarto, intitled, " The Negotiations of Thomas Woolsey,
the great Cardinal, containing his Life and Beath,'''' &c. But
surely no publication was ever more unfaithful to the manuscript,
from which it professed to be taken ; the editor, whosoever he
was, being every way unqualified for his undertaking. The lan
guage he has thought fit to alter, almost in every sentence,
without the guidance of any principle, but the gratification of
his own tasteless caprice. Omissions he has made of many of the
most interesting and valuable portions of the volume, amounting
in extent to at least one third part of the whole;, and through
ignorance, and inability even to read the manuscript which was
before him, he has left a multitude of passages in the text utterly
absurd and unintelligible. Yet the piece, even with all these
disadvantages, has been so much a favourite with the public, that
it has been reprinted twice, in the years 1667 and 1706 (besides
being inserted in the Harleian MisceUany, and in the Selection
1 Called William.] In a tract, published in the year 1814, entitled "Who
wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey ?" and written by the Rev. Joseph Hunter,
F.S.A., author of the " History of Hallamshire," &c. &c, it is shown, very
satisfactorily, that George, elder brother of WiUiam, was the author.

462 ADVERTISEMENT.
from that work), and is still a book of not very frequent occur
rence. The Lambeth Library supplying two manuscript copies of this
life, the editor obtained permission from his grace the archbishop
of Canterbury, to make use of them for the present collection.
The first of these (No. 179) is very fairly and accurately written,
and appears from a subscription at the end, bearing date a.d.
1598, to have belonged to John Stowe, the antiquarian; and
afterwards to Sir Peter Manwood : both whose names are auto
graphs. In the title of this copy, the work is ascribed to
George Cavendish. The other MS. (No. 250) is also a correct
and valuable one, but wants a few leaves.
Stowe's manuscript was made the groundwork of the present
edition. That being first transcribed, the copy was collated with
the MS. No. 250, the readings of which were adopted, where
they seemed to be deserving of preference. In one or two places
the editor availed himself of the readings given by Stowe in his
Annals : and in a few others, he followed a MS. of this life, for
merly belonging to Dr. Tobias Matthew, archbishop of York,
now in the library of the dean and chapter of that cathedral ; the
use of which was very generously conceded to the editor, by that
venerable body, through the intervention of his grace the arch
bishop of Canterbury. A deficiency in one passage was supplied
by a MS. - (No. 4233, Ayscough's Catalogue) in the British
Museum : for the discovery of which the editor begs to return
his thanks to Mr. Ellis and Mr. Douce, librarians there : as he
does to the latter gentleman for the very liberal offer of the free
use of another valuable MS. of this same life, in his own
possession 3.
2 Now [1851] in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, to which Mr. Douce
bequeathed the whole of his valuable books and MSS.

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

THE PROLOGUE.
Me-seems it were no wisdome to credit every light tale, blasted
abroade by the blasphemous niouthe of rude commonalty. For
we dayly heare how with their blasphemous trumpe, they spread
abroad innumerable lies, without either shame or honesty, which
prima facie sheweth forthe a visage of truthe, as though it were
a perfect verity and matter indeede, whereas there is nothing
more untrue. And amongst the wise sorte so it is esteemed,
with whom those bablings be of smaU force and effect.
For sooth I have reade the exclamations of divers worthy and
notable authors, made against suche false rumours and fonde
opinions of the fantasticall commonalty, whoe delighteth in
nothing more than to heare strange things, and to see newe alte
rations of authorities ; rejoicing sometimes in such newe fanta
sies, which afterwardes give them more occasion of repentance
than of joyfulness. Thus may all men of wisdome and discretion
understand the temerous ' madness of the rude commonalty, and
not give to them too hasty credit of every sodeine rumour, untill
the truth be perfectly knowne by the reporte of some approved
and credible person, that ought to have thereof true intelligence.
I have hearde and also seene set forthe in diverse printed books
some untrue imaginations, after the deathe of diverse persons
which in their life were of great estimation, that were invented
rather to bring their honest names into infamy and perpetuall
slaunder of the common multitude, than otherwise.
The occasion therefore that maketh me to rehearse all these
1 Temerous.] Rash; temerarious.

464 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
things is this ; for as much as I intend, God willing, to write
here some parte of the proceedings of Cardinal Wolsey, the
archbishop, his ascending unto honour's estate 2, and sodeine
falling againe from the same ; whereof some parte shah be of
myne own knowledge, and some parte of credible persons infor
mation. Forsothe this cardinaU was my lorde and master, whome in his
life I served, and so remained with him, after his fall, continually,
duringe the time of all his trouble, untill he died, as well in the
Southe as in the Northe parts, and noted aU his demeanor and
usage in aU that time ; as also in his wealthy triumphe and glo
rious estate. And since his death I have hearde diverse sondry
surmises and imagined tales, made of his procedings and doings,
which I myself have perfectly knowen to be most untrue : unto
2 Ascending unto honour's estate.] It may be well to give the several dates
of Wolsey's career : —
1471. Born.Entered Oxford.
1486. ? B. A.
Fellow of Magdalen.
1500. Oct. 10. Parson of Lymington.
1505. Chaplain to Henry VII.
1506. Rector of Redgrave.
 Envoy to Maximilian.
1508. Feb. 2. Dean of Lincoln.
1509. Almoner to Henry VIII.
1510. Rector of Torrington.
 Canon of Windsor, and Registrar ofthe order of the Garter.
1511. Prebendary of York.
1512. Dean of York.
Abbey of St. Alban's, in commendam.
1513. Bishop of Tournay (in 1518 he agreed to receive from Francis,
as compensation for the loss of this, a pension of 12000 fr.).
1514. Feb. 6. Bishop of Lincoln.
 Aug. 5. Archbishop of York.
1515. Cardinal.
 Dec. 1. Lord Chancellor. (He took the oaths on the 24th.)
1516. Legate de latere.
1518. Aug. 28. Bishop of Bath, in com.
1521.July29. — Dec. 1. Ambassador to Charles V.
1523. Apr. 30. Bishop of Durham, in com.
1527. July 3. — Sept. 30. Ambassador to Francis I
1529. Apr. 6. Bishop of Winchester, in com.
 Confessed to Praemunire.
1530. Nov. 29. Died at Leicester.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 465
the which I would have sufficiently answered accordinge to truthe,
but as me seemed then it was much better for mee to dissemble
the matter, and to suffer the same to remaine stui as lies, than
to reply against their untruth, of whome I might, for my bold
ness, sooner have kindled a great flame of displeasure, than to
quench one spark of their untrue reportes. Therefore I com
mitted the truth of the matter to the knowledge of God, who
•oweth the truth in all things. For, whatsoever any man hath
""'ed in him while he lived, or since his deathe, thus much I
bold to say, withoute displeasure to any person, or of
.on, that in my judgement I never saw this realme in better
r^dience and quiet, than it was in the time of his authority and
rule, ne justice better ministered 3 with indifferency ; as I could
evidently prove, if I should not be accused of too much affection,
or else that I set forth more than truth. I will therefore leave
to speak any more thereof, and make here an end, and procede
further to his originall beginning and ascending with fortunes
favor to high honours, dignities, promotions, and riches.

Truthe it is that this cardinall Wolsey was an honest poore
man's sonne 4, of Ipswiche in the county of Suffolk, and there
borne ; and being but a child, was very apt to be learned ; where
fore by the means of his parents, or of his good friends, and
masters, he was conveied to the university of Oxonford, where he
shortly prospered so in learning, as he told me by his owne
mouthe, he was made Bacheller of Arts, when he past not fifteen
yeares of age, in so much that for the rareness of his age, he was
called most commonly, through the university, the Boy Bacheller.
Thus prosperinge and increasinge in learning, he was made
fellow of Magdalen College, and after elected and appointed to
be schoole master of Magdalen schoole ; at which time the lord
3 Better ministered.] Hence Fuller says beautifully, and very aptly and
sagaciously : " I hear no widows' sighs, nor see orphans' tears in our chro
nicles, caused by him. Sure in such cases wherein his private ends made
him not a party, he was an excellent justicer: as being too proud to be
bribed, and too strong to be overborn." Fuller's Holy and Profane Stale,
p. 242.
4 Poore man's sonne.] He was born in the year 1471. See Fiddes's Life
of Wolsey, p. 2. edit. 2. a.d. 1726.
vol. I. h h

466 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Marquiss Dorset ' had three of his sons there to schoole, com
mitting as well unto him their education, as their instruction and
learning. It pleased the said Lord Marquiss against a Christmas
season, to send as well for the school master as for the children,
home to his house, for their recreation in that pleasant and
honorable feast. They being then there, my lord their father
perceived them to be right weU emploied in learning, for their
time : which contented him so weU, that he having a benefice °
in his gift, being at that present voide, gave the same to the
school master, in reward of his diligence, at his departing after
Christmas to the university. And having the presentation
thereof he repaired to the ordinary for his institution, and induc
tion ; and being furnished there of all his ordinary instruments
at the ordinarys handes, for his preferment, he made speed
without any farther delay to the said benefice to take thereof
possession. And being there for that intent, one Sir Amyas
Pawlet, knight, dwelling in the country thereaboute 7, tooke occa
sion of displeasure against him, upon what ground I knowe not :
but, Sir by your leave, he was so bolde to set the schoole master
by the feet duringe his pleasure ; which after was neither for
gotten nor forgiven. For when the schoole master mounted the
dignity to be chancellor of England, he was not oblivious of his
old displeasure cruelly ministered upon him by Mr. Pawlet 8, but
5 Marquiss Dorset.] Sir Thomas Grey, eldest son of the Queen of Edward
IV., was created Earl of Huntingdon by his royal stepfather in 1471, and
Marquess of Dorset in 1475. He had seven sons, of whom the first two,
Edward and Anthony, died young, Thomas (afterwards second Marquess of
Dorset, grandfather of Lady Jane Grey), John, Richard, Leonard (afterwards
Viscount Garney of Ireland and Lord Deputy of that kingdom : beheaded in
1541), and George.
6 Having a benefice.] The place was Lymington, now Limington, near
Ilchester in Somersetshire, and in the diocese of Bath and Wells. He was
instituted October 10, a.d. 1 500. Fiddes's Life, p. 5.
7 Country thereaboute.] At Hinton St. George, still the seat of Sir A. Paw-
lett's lineal descendant Earl Poulett.
8 Mr. Pawlet.] Meaning " Sir Amyas Pawlet, knight," just before men
tioned. It was not at that time an invariable custom to speak of knights
with the prefix Sir. Thus Cavendish, who at one time speaks of " Sir Wil
liam FitzwiUiams, a knight," and " Sir Walter Walche, knight," afterwards
speaks of them as Master FitzwiUiams, Master Walche. He mentions " that
worshipful knight Master Kingston" and Master Shelley, Mr. Empson,
Mr. Norris, Mr. FitzwiUiams, meaning Sir William Shelley, Sir Richard
Empson, Sir Henry Norris, and Sir William FitzwiUiams. It must be
remembered also that Sir was very often applied to ecclesiastics.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 467
sent for him, and after many sharpe and heinous wordes, en-
joyned him to attend untUl he were dismissed, and not to departe
out of London, withoute lycence obtained : soe that he continued
there within the Middle Temple, the space of five or six veares ;
whoe lave then in the gate house next the streete. which he
reedified very sumptuously, garnishing the same, aU over the out
side, with the cardinaU's arms, with his hat. with the cognisaunce
and badges, and other devises, in so glorious a sorte, that he
thought thereby to have appeased his old displeasure.
Nowe may this be a good example and precedent to men in
authority, which wiU sometimes worke their wiU without witt, to
remember in their authority, howe authority may decay; and
those whome they doe punishe of wifl more than of justice, may
after be advauneed to high honors, and dignities, in the common
weale, and thev based as lowe, who wiU then seeke the meanes
to be revenged of such wronges which they suffered before.
Who would have thought then when sir Amyas Pawlett punished
this poore schofler the schoole master, that ever he should have
mounted to so highe dignity as to be chaunceflor of England,
considering his baseness in every degree I These be wonderful and
secret workes of God, and channces of fortune. Therefore I
would wishe att men in authority and dignity to knowe and feare
God in aH their triumphs and glory ; considering in aU their
doings, that authority be not permanent, but may slide and
vanish, as princes pleasures alter and change '.
Then as afl living things must of very necessity paye the dewe
debt of nature, which no earthly creature can resist, it chaunced
mv said lord marquiss to depart ont of this present life '. After
whose death this schole master, then considering with himself to
be but a simple beneficed man, and to have loste his fellowship in
the college (for, as I understand, if a fellow of that house be once
promoted to a benefice he shall by the rules of the same be dis
missed of his fellowship), and perceiving himself also to be desti
tute of his singular good lord, and also of his feUowship, which
was much of his reliefe, thought not to be long unprovided of
9 Alter and change.] It may be worth remarking here, that Sir A. Paulefs
nephew, TVTDiam Paulet, rose to be Lord High Treasurer of England and
Marquis of Winchester, and, by the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk, in
1572, he became, for a time, premier peer of England. Sir Amyas Paulet' s
own lineal descendant is the present Earl Poulett.
1 ThU present life.] In 1501.
Hh 2

468 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
some other helpe, or mastershippe, to defend him from aU such
stormes as he lightly was vexed with.
In this his travaill thereabout, he fell in acquaintance with one
sir John Nanphant 2, a very grave and auncient knight, who had a
great rome in Calais under king Henry the seventh. This knight
he served, and behaved himself so discreetly, and wittily, that he
obtained the especial favor of his said master ; insomuch that for
his wit and gravity, he committed all the charge of his office
unto his chapleine. And, as I understand, the office was the
treasureship of Calais, who was in consideration of his great age,
discharged of his chargeable roome, and returned again into
England, intending to live more at quiet. And through his
instant labor and good favor his chapleine was promoted to be
the king's chapleine. — And when he had once cast anker in
the porte of promotion 3, howe he wrought, I shall somewhat
declare. He, having then a just occasion to be in the sight of the kinge
dayly, by reason he attended upon him, and saide masse before his
a Sir John Nanphant.] Probably a mistake for Sir Richard Nani&n of Birts-
morton, in Worcestershire, who on the 21 Sept. 1485, was made hereditary
sheriff of Worcestershire, which office, however, he held only two years, re
turning to the wars. He was captain of Calais and esquire of the body
to Henry VII. The family became extinct in 1704.
3 The porte of promotion.] We may presume that it was to such a son of
fortune as the Cardinal, that the lively description in the following narrative
was designed to be applied :
" It is a common saying among us your Highnesses poore commones, that
one of your Highnesses chappellanes, not many yeres sinse, used when he
lusted to ryde abrode for his repaste, to carye with him a scrowle wherin
were written the names of the paryshes whereof he was parson. As it for
tuned, in hys jorney he espied a churche standyng pleasantlye upon an hyll,
pleasantlye beset with greenes and plaine fieldes, the faire greene medowse
lyinge bynethe by the banckes of a christalline ryver, garnished wyth wyl-
lowse, poplers, palme trees and alders, moste beautifull to beholde. Thys
vigilant pastore, taken wyth the syght of this terrestrial paradise, sayde unto
a servaunt of hys (the clercke of hys sygnet no doubt it was, for he used to
beare hys masters ryng in his mouthe), John, sayde he, yonder benifice
standeth verie pleasantlye, I woulde it were myne. The servant answered,
Why, syr, quod he, it is youre owne benifice, and named the paryshe. Is it
so, quod your chapellane : and wyth that he pulled oute hys scrowle to see
for certantye, whether it were so, or not. — See, most dread soveraigne, what
care they take for the flocke : when they see theyr paryshe churches they
knowe them not by the situation." A Supplication of the poor Commons,
signat. b. 5. addressed to king Henry VIII. 12mo. black letter, no date.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 469
grace in his closet, that done he spent not the rest of the day
forthe in idleness, but would attend upon those whome he thought
to beare most rule in the counsaiUe, and to be most in favor with
the kinge ; the which at that time were doctor Fox *, bishop of
Winchester, secretary and lord privy seal, and also sir Thomas
LoveU 5 knighte, a very sage counseUor, a witty man, being master
of the wardes, and constable of the Tower.
These auncient and grave counsellers in process of time per
ceiving this chapleine to have a very fine wit, and what was in
his head, thought him a meett and apt person to be preferred to
witty affaires.
It chaunced at a certain season 6 that the kinge had an urgent
occasion to send an ambassador unto the emperor Maximillian,
4 Doctor Fox.] Richard Fox, translated from Durham in 1500.
6 Sir Thomas Lovell.] Sir Thomas Lovell, fifth son of Sir Ralph Lovell of
Barton Bendish in Norfolk, was treasurer of the household to Henry VII.
by whom he was knighted at the battle of Stoke in 1487, and also made
K.G., and executor of his will. Soon after Henry VIII.'s accession, Lovell
was made master of the wards, and constable of the Tower. His influence
and wealth were great. He inherited in right of his wife, the sister of Lord
Roos, the manor of Worcester in Enfield, and he purchased East Herling in
Norfolk from Sir Henry Bedingfield of Oxburgh. He died s. p. in 1524.
As constable of the Tower he was succeeded by Sir WiUiam Kingston .
6 A certain season.] In the autumn of 1507. The embassy, or rather mes
sage, from Richmond to Flanders and back again to Richmond occupied 80
hours. It related to the proposed double connexion between Henry VII.
and Maximilian. In the beginning of 1506 Philippe le Beau and his wife
Jeanne la folle had been nearly wrecked on the English coast, and during
their stay at the Enghsh court, Henry VII. proposed to marry Philippe's
sister, Margaret of Austria, whose second husband, Philibert, duke of Savoy,
had died in Sept. 1504. The terms of a treaty were settled on the 20th of
March, and further measures were proposed in May, when John Yonge, and
Nicholas West (afterwards bishop of Durham) were commissioned to treat.
Philippe however died on the 10th of September. In the following year
another marriage was proposed between Charles (afterwards Charles V.),
Philippe's son, and Mary, the daughter of Henry. On this joint business
Wolsey was now sent by Henry to Maximilian, and his performance of it
was so satisfactory, that in October he was sent again to Maximilian, with long
instructions, the originals of which, signed by Henry, are still extant. His
journey this time was not so rapid as the former; he wrote on the 22nd of
October to Henry from Mechlin, and on the 7th of November Henry ac
knowledged his letter, and sent him, from Greenwich, further instructions.
(Cott. MS. Galba B. II. ff. 128 — 31.) Wolsey's second embassy has hitherto
escaped notice. On the 17th of December, Charles and Mary (by proxy)
were solemnly betrothed at Calais.

470 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
who lay at that present in the lowe countrey of Flaunders, not
far from Calaise. The bishop of Winchester and sir Thomas
Lovell, whom the kinge most esteemed, as chiefe of his counseile,
(the kinge one day counselling and debating with them upon this
embassage,) sawe they had nowe a convenient occasion to prefer
the kinge's chapleene, whose excellent witt, eloquence, and learn
ing they highly comended to the kinge. The kinge giving eare
unto them, and being a prince of an excellent judgement and
modesty, comanded them to bring his chapleine, whom they so
much comended, before his grace's presence. And to prove the
wit of his chapleine he fell in communication with him in great
matters : and, perceiving his wit to be very fine, thought him
sufficient to be put in trust with this embassage ; commanding
him thereupon to prepare himself to his journey, and for his
depeche, to repaire to his grace and his counsell, of whom he
should receive his commission and instructions. By means whereof
he had then a due occasion to repaire from time to time into the
kinge's presence, who perceived him more and more to be a very
wise man, and of a good intendment. And having his depeche,
he tooke his leave of the kinge at Bichmond about none, and so
came to London about foure of the clocke, where the barge of
Gravesend was ready to launch forthe, both with a prosperous
tide and winde. Without any further aboade he entered the
barge, and so passed forthe. His happie speede was such that
he arrived at Gravesend within little more than three hours ;
where he tarried no longer than his post horses were provided ;
and traveUed so speedily with post horses, that he came to
Dover the next morning, whereas the passengers r were ready
under saile to saile to Calaise. Into the which passengers with
out tarrying he entered, and sailed forth with them, so that long
before noone, he arrived at Calaise ; and having post horses in a
readiness departed from thence, without tarrying. And he made
such hasty speede, that he was that night with the emperor.
And he having understanding of the coming of the kinge of
England's ambassador, would in no wise delay the time, but sent
for him incontinent (for his affection to kinge Henry the seventh
was such, that he was glad when he had any occasion to shewe
him pleasure). The embassador disclosed the whole summe of
his embassage unto the emperor, of whom he required spedy
7 Passengers.] Passenger-boats.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 471
expedition, the which was graunted him, by the emperor ; so
that the next day he was clearly dispatched, with all the kinges
requests fully accomplished and graunted. At which time he
made no further delay or tariaunce, but tooke post horses that
night, and rode incontinent towarde Calais againe, conducted
thither with such persons as the emperor had appointed. And
at the opening of the gates of Calaise, he came thither, where
the passengers were as ready to retourne into Englande as they
were before at his journey forewarde ; insomuch that he arrived
at Dover by tenne or eleven of the clocke before noone ; and
having post horses in a readiness, came to the court at Bichmond
that same night. Where he taking some rest untill the morning,
repaired to the kinge at his first coming out of his bed chamber,
to his closet to masse. Whom (when he saw) he checked him
for that he was not on his journey. " Sir," quoth he, " if it may
please your highness, I have already been with the emperor, and
depeched youre affaires, I trust with your grace's contentation."
And with that he presented the kinge his letters of credence
from the emperor. The kinge, being in great confuse and wonder
of his hasty speede and retourne with such furniture of aU his
proceedings, dissimuled all his wonder and imagination in the
matter, and demanded of him, whether he encountered not his
pursevant, the which he sente unto him (supposing him not to be
scantly out of London) with letters concerning a very necessary
matter, neglected in their consultation, the which the king much
desired to have dispatched among the other matters of ambassade.
" Yes forsoothe," quoth he, " I met him yesterday by the way :
and having no understanding by your graces letters of your
pleasure, notwithstanding I have been so boulde, upon mine own
discretion (perceiving that matter to be very necessary in that
behalf) to dispatch the same. And for as much as I have exceeded
your graces commission, I most humbly require your graces
remission and pardon." The kinge rejoicing inwardly not a
little, saide againe, " We do not only pardon you thereof, but
also give you our owne princely thanks bothe for your pro
ceedings therein, and also for your good and speedy exploit,"
commanding him for that time to take his rest, and to repaire
againe to him after dinner, for the farther relation of his ambas-
sage. The kinge then went to masse ; and after at convenient
time he went to dinner.
It is not to be doubted but that this ambassador hath in all

472 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
this time bene with his great friends the bishop, and sir Thomas
Lovell, to whome he hath declared the effect of all his speede ;
nor yet what joye they have received thereof. And after his
departure from the kinge, his highness sent for the bishop of
Winchester, and for sir Thomas Lovell ; to whom he declared
the wonderful expedition of his ambassador, commending there
with his excellent witt, and in especiall the invention and avauncing
of the matter lefte out in their consultation, and the ambassadors
commission. The kinges wordes rejoiced not a little these worthy
counsaillors, for as much as he was of their preferment.
Then when this ambassador remembered the kings command
ment, and sawe the time drawe fast on of his repaire before the
kinge, and his counsaile, he prepared him in a readinesse, and
resorted unto the place assigned by the kinge, to declare his
ambassage. Without all doubt he reported the effect of all his
affaires and proceedings so exactly, with such gravity and elo
quence 8, that aU the counsaile that heard him could doe no less
but commend him, esteeming his expedition to be almost beyond
the capacity of man. The kinge of his mere motion, and gracious
consideration, gave him at that time for his diligent service, the
deanery of Lincolne 1, which was at that time one of the worthiest
promotions, that he gave under the degree of a bishopricke. And
thus from thenceforth he grewe more and more into estimation
and authority, and after was promoted by the kinge to be his
almoner. Here may all men note the chaunces of fortune, that
followethe some whome she intendeth to promote, and to some
her favour is cleane contrary, though they travaille never so
much, with aU the painfull diligence that they can devise or
imagine: whereof, for my part, I have tasted of the expe
rience 2.
Now you shall understande that all this tale that I have
declared of the good expedition of the king's ambassadour, I had
of the reporte of his owne mouthe, after his fall, lying at that
time in the great parke at Richmonde9, he being then my lord and
8 Eloquence.] See note at p. 476.
1 Deanery of Lincolne.] He was collated Feb. 2. a.d. 1508. Le Neve's
Fasti, p. 146.
5 Experience.] Cavendish's rewards for his services appear to have been
limited to the six cart horses, the cart, and the thirty pounds mentioned at
the end of this life.
3 At Richmonde.] Therefore between Feb. 2 and April 3, 1530.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 473
master, and I his poore servant and gentleman asher, taking then
an occasion upon diverse communications, to teU me this journey,
with all the circumstances, as I have here before declared.
When deathe (that favoureth none estate, king ne keiser4) had
taken the wise and sage kinge Henry the seventh out of this
present life * (on whose soule Jesu have mercy ! ) who for his
wisdome was called the second Solomon, it was wonder to see
what practices and compasses was then used about young kinge
Henry the eighth, and the great provision made for the funerales
of the one, and the costly devices for the coronation of the other,
with the new queene, queene Catherine, and mother afterwards of
the queenes highness, that now is, (whose virtuous life and godly
disposition Jesu long preserve, and continue against the malignity
of her corrupt enemies;) — But I omit and leave all the circum
stances of this solemn triumphe unto such as take upon them to
write the stories of princes in chronicles, which is no parte of my
intendment. After the finishing of all these solemnizations and costly
triumphes, our naturalle young and lusty courageous prince and
sovereigne lorde kinge Henry the eighth entering into the flower
of lusty youth", took upon him the regal scepter and the imperiall
4 King ne keiser.] Perhaps Cavendish alludes to the fines in Longlande's
Vision of Pierce Ploughman, written about 1350.
" Death came driving after and al to dust pashed
Kings and Kaisars, Knights and Popes."
Before Cavendish wrote there had been also numerous editions of the Dance
of Macabre, in the Horce ol the Paris printers and elsewhere, and the cele
brated designs of the Dance of Death attributed to Holbein had been
engraved and printed at Lyons in 1538. Of all these there were numerous
copies. * Present life.] April 21, 1509.
8 Flower of lusty youth] The following character is from the pen of William
Thomas, clerk of the Privy Council in the reign of king Edward the Sixth :
"To come unto a conclusion of oure kynge, whose wisdome, vertue, and
bountye, my wittes suffiseth not to declare. One, of personage, he was one
of the godlyest men that lyved in his tyrae, verye highe of stature, in maner
more then a man, and proporcioned in all his mernbres unto that height ; of
countenance he was most amiable ; curteous and beninge in gesture unto all
persons, and specyally unto straungers ; seldome or never offended with any
thinge, and of so constaunt a nature in hymselfe, that I beleve there be few
can say that ever he chaunged his chcre for any noveltie, how contrary or
sodayne so ever it were. Prudent he was in counsell, and farre castyng;
most liberal! in rewardyng his faithfull servauntes, and ever unto his ennemies

474 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
diadem of this fertile and fruitful realme, which at that time
flourished in all aboundance and riches (whereof the king
was inestimably furnished), called then the golden world, such
grace reigned then within this realme. Now the almoner (of
whome I have taken upon me to write) having a head full of
subtile wit, perceiving a plaine pathe to walk in towards his
journey to promotion, handled himself so politickly, that he
found the meanes to be made one of the kings counsaiUe,
and to growe in favour and good estimation with the kinge, to
whome the kinge gave an house at Bridewell in Fleet-street,
sometime sir Richard Empson's ', where he kept house for
his family, and so daily attended upon the kinge, and in his
especiall favour, having great sute made unto him, as counsaillors
in favour most commonly have. His sentences and witty per
suasions amongst the counsaillors in the counsaile chamber,
as it behoveth a prince to be. He was learned in all sciences, and had the
gyft of many tongues. He was a perfect theologien, a good philosopher, and
a stronge man of arms, a jueller, a perfect buylder, as well of fortresses as of
pleasaunt palacyes, and from one to another, there was no kynde of necessary
knowledge, from a kynges degre to a carters, butt that he had an honest
sight in it. — What wold you I should say of hym ? He was undoubtedly the
rarest man that lyved in his tyme. Butt I say not this to make hym a god ;
nor in all his doynges I wyll not saye he hath bene a saynte ; for I beleve
with the prophet, that non est Justus quisquam, non est requirens Deum; omnes
declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sumus, non est qui facit bonum, non est usque
ad unum. I wyll confesse that he dyd many evil thinges, as the publican
synner, butt not as a cruel tyraunt, or as a pharisaicall hypocrite ; for all his
doynges were open unto the whole world, wherein he governed hymselfe with
so much reason, prudence, courage and circumspection, that I wote not where,
in all the histories I have red, to fynde one private kynge equall unto hym,
who in the space of 38 yeres reigne, never receyved notable displeasure.
However that at one selfe tyme, he hath had open warre on three sydes, not
onely hath he lyved most happely, butt also hath quietly died in the armes of
his dearest frendes, leavyng for wytnesse of his most glorious fame, the fruite
of such an heyre, as the erth is scarcely worthy to nourish, who I trust shall
with no lesse perfection perfaurme the true church of Christ, not permitted
by his sayde father to be finished, then as Solomon dyd the Temple of Hieru
salem, not graunted to David in the tyme of hys life. For, who wolde speke
agaynst the deade ? Kynge Henry myght much better say, he dyd se butt
with one eye, and so accuse hym for lack of puttyng an end unto the refor-
macion of the wycked church, then for doyng of the thinges that he hath
done agaynst the apostolicall romayne sea." P. 122 — 5. a.d. 1774.
7 Sir Richard Empson's.] Who had been attainted with Dudley, and by
whose attainder, soon after Henry's accession, it had been forfeited to the
crown.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 475
were alwaies so pithy, that they, as occasion moved them, con-
tinuaUy assigned him for his filed tongue and exceUent eloquence
to be the expositor unto the kinge in all their proceedings. In
whome the kinge conceived such a loving fansy, and in especiall
for that he was most earnest and readiest in all the counsaile to
avaunce the king's only will 8 and pleasure, having no respect to
the cause ; the king therefore, perceiving him to be a mete in
strument for the accomplishing of his devised pleasures, called
him more neare unto him, and esteemed him so highly, that the
estimation and favour of him put all other auncient counsaiUors
out of high favour, that they before were in ; insomuch that the
king committed all his will unto his disposition and order. Who
wrought so all his matters, that his endeavour was alwaies only
to satisfy the kings pleasure, knowing right well, that it was the
very vaine and right course to bring him to high promotion.
The kinge was young and lusty, and disposed all to pleasure, and
to foUowe his princely appetite and desire, nothing minding to
traveU in the affaires of this realme. Which the almoner perceiv
ing very well, tooke upon him therefore to discharge the king of
the burthen of so weighty and troublesome busines, putting the
kinge in comforte that he should not neede to spare any time of
his pleasure, for any business that should happen in the coun
saile, as long as he, being there and having his graces authority,
and by his commandment, doubted not so to see aU things well
and sufficiently perfected ; making his grace privy first of all
such matters before, or he would proceede to the accomplishing of
the same, whose minde and pleasure he would have, and foUowe
to the uttermost of his power ; wherewith the kinge was wonder
fully pleased. And whereas the other auncient counsaillors
would, according to the office of good counsaiUors, diverse times
persuade the kinge to have some time a recourse unto the coun
saile, there to heare what was done in weighty matters, the which
pleased the kinge nothing at all, for he loved nothing worse than
to be constrained to doe any thing contrary to his pleasure ; that
knew the almoner very well, having a secret intelligence of the
kings naturall inclination, and so fast as the other counsaillors
counseUed the kinge to leave his pleasure, and to attend to his
affaires, so busily did the almoner persuade him to the contrary ;
8 King's only will.] The best comment on this passage are Wolsey's memo
rable last words, " But if I had served God," &c. See the end of this life.

476 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
which delighted him very much, and caused him to have the
greater affection and love to the almoner. Thus the almoner
ruled all them that before ruled him ; such was his policy
and witt, and so he brought things to pass, that who was now in
high favour, but Mr. Almoner 2 who had all the sute but Mr.
Almoner ? and who ruled all under the king, but Mr. Almoner0 ?
Thus he persevered stiU in favour, untiU at the last, in came
presents, gifts, and rewardes so plentifully, that I dare say he
lacked nothing that might either please his fantasy or enrich his
coffers ; fortune smiled so favourably upon him. But to what
end she brought him, ye shall heare hereafter. Therefore let no
man to whome fortune extendeth her grace, trust overmuch to
her subteU favour and pleasant promises, under colour wherof
she carrieth venemous galle. For when she seeth her servaunt
in most high authority, and that he most assureth himselfe of
her favour, then sodaynelye turneth she her visage and pleasaunt
countenaunce unto a frowning cheere, and utterly forsaketh him :
such assuraunce is in her inconstant favour and promise. Her
deceipt hath not bine hid among the wise sorte of famous clerks,
that have exclaimed and written vehemently against her dissimu
lation and feined favour, warninge all men thereby, the lesse to
regarde her, and to have her in small estimation of any trust of
faithfuUnesse. This almoner, clyming thus hastily upon fortunes wheeles, and
so far mounting, that no man was of that estimation with the
kinge, as he was, for his wisdome and other witty qualities, had
a speciall gifte of naturall eloquence ', and a filed tongue to
9 Mr. Almoner.] Even queen Katharine could prefer a suit to Henry
through his means : " I pray you, Mr. Almoner, excuse me to the king for
the taryeng of it soo long, for I coude have it noe sooner." See several letters
from her to Wolsey, during Henry's absence in France in July and August,
1513, printed in Elhs's Original Letters, first ser. vol. i. p. 78 — 91.
1 Speciall gifte of naturall eloquence.] Sir Thomas More, in his Dialogue of
Comfort against Tribulation, has drawn so lively and characteristic a picture,
designed, no doubt, to represent the cardinal at the head of his own table,
that, though the extract is long, the reader, I think, will not be displeased
with its insertion. The title of the chapter is, Of Flattery.
" Anthony. I praye you, cosyn, tell on. Vincent. Whan I was fyrste in
Almaine, uncle, it happed me to be somewhat favoured with a great manne
of the churche, and a great state, one of the greatest in all that country there.
And in dede whosoever might spende as muche as hee mighte in one thinge
and other, were a ryght great estate in anye countrey of Christendom. But
glorious was hee verye farre above all measure, and that was great pitie, for

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 477
pronounce the same, that he was able with the same to per
suade and allure all men to his purpose. Proceding thus in fortunes
it dyd harme, and made him abuse many great gyftes that God hadde geven
him. Never was he saciate of hearinge his owne prayse.
" So happed it one daye, that he had in a great audience made an oracion
in a certayne matter, wherein he liked himselfe so well, that at his diner he
sat, him thought, on thornes, tyll he might here how they that sat with hym
at his horde, woulde commend it. And when hee had sitte musing a while,
devysing, as I thought after, uppon some pretty proper waye to bring it in
withal, at the laste, for lacke of a better, lest he should have letted the matter
too long, he brought it even blontly forth, and asked us al that satte at his
hordes end (for at his owne messe in the middes there sat but himself alone)
howe well we lyked his oracyon that he hadde made that daye. But in fayth
Uncle, whan that probleme was once proponed, till it was full answered, no
manne (I wene) eate one morsell of meate more. Every manne was fallen in
so depe a studye, for the fyndynge of some exquisite prayse. For he that
shoulde have brought oute but a vulgare and a common commendacion,
woulde have thoughte himself shamed for ever. Than sayde we our sentences
by rowe as wee sat, from the lowest unto the hyghest in good order, as it had
bene a great matter of the comon weale, in a right solemne counsayle.
Whan it came to my parte, I wyll not saye it, Uncle, for no boaste, mee
thoughte, by oure Ladye, for my parte, I quytte my selfe metelye wel. And
I lyked my selfe the better beecause mee thoughte my wordes beeinge but a
straungyer, wente yet with some grace in the almain tong wherein lettyng my
latin alone me listed to shewe my cunnyng, and I hoped to be lyked the
better, because I sawe that he that sate next mee, and should saie his sen
tence after mee, was an unlearned Prieste, for he could speake no latin at all.
But whan he came furth for hys part with my Lordes commendation, the
wyly Fox, hadde be so well accustomed in courte with the crafte of flattry
that he went beyonde me to farre.
" And that might I see by hym, what excellence a right meane witte may
come to in one crafte, that in al his whole life studyeth and busyeth his witte
about no mo but that one. But I made after a solempne vowe unto my selfe,
that if ever he and I were matched together at that boarde agayne : whan we
should fall to our flattrye, I would flatter in latin, that he should not con-
tende with me no more. For though I could be contente to be out runne by
an horse, yet would I no more abyde it to be out runne by an asse. But
Uncle, here beganne nowe the game, he that sate hygheste, and was to speake,
was a greate beneficed man, and not a Doctour onely, but also somewhat
learned in dede in the lawes of the Churche. A worlde it was to see howe he
marked every mannes worde that spake before him. And it semed that every
worde the more proper it was, the worse he liked it, for the cumbrance that
he had to study out a better to passe it. The manne even swette with the
laboure, so that he was faine in the while now and than to wipe his face.
Howbeit in conclusion whan it came to his course, we that had spoken before
him, hadde so taken up al among us before, that we hadde not lefte hym one
wyse worde to speake after. ["' Anthony.

478 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
blisfulnes, it chaunced the warres between the realmes of Eng
land and Fraunce to be open, but upon what ground or occasion
I knowe not, insomuch as the kinge, being fully persuaded, and
earnestly resolved, in his most royall person to invade his forreine
enemies with a puissant army, to attempt their haughty bragges,
whether they durst shewe their faces before him in their owne
territory : wherefore it was thought very necessary, that his
royall enterprize should be spedily provided and furnished in
every degree of things apte and convenient for the same ; for the
expedition whereof the king thought no man's wit so meete, for
policy and painfuU travaille, as was his almoner's, to whome there
fore he committed his whole affiance and trust therein. And he
Vbeing nothing scrupulous in any thinge, that the kinge would
commande him to doe, althoughe it seamed to other very diffycile,
/tooke upon him the whole charge of all the business, and pro
ceeded so therein, that he brought all things to good passe in a
decent order, as of all manner of victualls, provisions, and other
necessaries, convenient for so noble a voiage and army.
All things being by him perfected, and brought to a good
passe, the kinge, not intending to delay or neglect the time, but
with most noble and valiant courage to avaunce to his royall
" Anthony. Alas good manne ! amonge so manye of you, some good felow
shold have lente hym one. Vincent. It needed not as happe was Uncle. For
he found out such a shift, that in his flatteryng he passed us all the mayny.
Anthony. Why, what sayde he Cosyn ? Vincent. By our Ladye Uncle not
one worde. But lyke as I trow Plinius telleth, that whan Appelles the
paynter in the table that he paynted of the sacryfyce and the death of
Iphigenia, hadde in the makynge of the sorrowefull countenances ofthe other
noble menne of Greece that beehelde it, spente out so much of his craft and hys
cunnynge, that whan he came to make the countenance of King Agamemnon
her father, whiche hee reserved for the laste, he could devise no maner of
newe heavy chere and countenance — but to the intent that no man should see
what maner countenance it was, that her father hadde, the paynter was fane
to paynte hym, holdyng his face in his handkercher. The like pageant in a
maner plaide us there this good aunciente honourable flatterer. For whan he
sawe that he coulde fynde no woordes of prayse, that woulde pass al that
hadde bene spoken before all readye, the wyly Fox woulde speake never a
word, but as he that wer ravished unto heavenwarde with the wonder of the
wisdom and eloquence that my Lordes Grace hadde uttered in that oracyon,
he fetched a long syghe with an Oh ! from the bottome of hys breste, and
helde uppe both hys handes, and lyfte uppe his head, and caste up his eyen
into the welken and wepte. Anthony. Forsooth Cosyn, he plaide his parte
verye properlye. But was that great Prelates oracion, Cosyn, any thyng
prayseworthye ? " Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 1221, 2.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 479
enterprise, passed the seas ' between Dover and Calais, where he
prosperously arrived ; and after some aboade made there by his
grace, as well for the arrival of his puissant army, provision and
munition, as for the consultation of his voiage and other weighty
affaires, he marched forward, in good order of battaile, untill he
came to the strong towne of Turwin. To the which he laid his
siege, and assaulted it very strongly continually, with such vehe
ment assaults, that within short space it was yielded 3 unto his
majesty. Unto which place the emperor Maximilian repaired
unto the kinge, with a great army, like a mighty prince, taking
of the kinge his grace's wages ; which is a rare thing and but
seldom seene, an emperor to fight under a king's banner. Thus
when the kinge had obtained this puissant forte, and taken the
possession thereof, and set all things there in due order, for the
defence and preservation thereof to his highness's use, he de
parted thence, and marched toward the city of Tournay, and
there laid his siege in like manner ; to the which he gave so
fierce and sharp assaults, that they were constrained of fine
force * to render the town unto his victorious majesty. At which
time the kinge gave to the almoner the bishopricke of the same
see towards his pains and diligence sustained in that journey.
And when the kinge had established (after possession taken there)
aU things agreeable to his princely will and pleasure, and fur
nished the same with noble captaines and men of warr, for the
safeguarde of the towne, he returned5 againe into England,
taking with him diverse noble personnages of Fraunce, being pri-
sonners, as the duke Longeuville0, and viscount Clearemount,

2 Passed the seas.] 30th June, 1513.
3 Yielded.] Terouenne surrendered on the 22nd August.
4 Of fine forced] " Now this contention is easily borne ; for the one part,
of fine force, must give place." Sir Thomas Smith in Strype's Life of Sir T. S.
Appendix, p. 90, edit. 1698. " Heaven and happiness eternal is ro Kriroh/itvov
that which is joined in issue, to which we are intituled, for which we plead,
to which we have right ; from whence by injury and treachery we have been
ejected, and from whence by fine force we are kept out : for this we do clamare,
by the Clergy, our Counsel, in the view of God and Angels." Montague's
Diatribe upon Selden's History of Tithes, p. 130.
5 Returned.] Henry arrived at Richmond, 24th October.
6 Longeuville.] Louis d'Orleans, duke of Longueville, whose captivity was
more useful to his country than his arms would have been if successful, for
he procured peace by negociating the marriage of Louis XII. with Mary,
Henry's sister.

480 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
with other ', which were taken there in a skirmish 8, like a most
victorious prince and conqueror. After whose retourne ime-
diatly, the see of Lincolne fell voide by the deathe of doctor
Smith late bishop there, the which benefice his grace gave to his
almoner °, late bishop elect of Tournay, who was not negligent to
take possession thereof, and made aU the speede he could for
his consecration ; the solemnization whereof ended, he found the
means, that he gat the possession of all his predecessours goods,
into his handes, whereof I have diverse times seen some parte
that furnished his house. It was not long after that doctor
Bambridge, archbishop of York, died at Rome ', being there the
king's ambassador, unto the which sea, the kinge immediately
presented his late new bishop of Lincolne ; so that he had three
bishopricks * in his handes, in one yeare geven him 3.
7 Clearemount, with other.] Antoine, Vicomte de Clermont, who afterwards
married Anne de Poitiers, the sister of the notorious Duchess of Valentinois.
Among the " other" were Bayard, Bussy d'Amboise, La Fayette, &c.
8 Skirmish.] This skirmish was the famous battle of Guinegaste, fought on
the 6th of June ; called the " Battle of Spurs" by the French themselves, in
allusion to the rapid flight of their cavalry, who deserted their own officers.
9 Gave to his almoner.] He was consecrated bishop of Lincoln, March 26,
a.d. 1514. Le Neve's Fasti, p. 141.
1 Died at Rome.] 14th July, 1514; poisoned, as it was believed, at the
instigation of Sylvester de Giglis, bishop of Worcester. Three curious letters
on the subject of cardinal Bambrigge's death, written by Richard Pace and
William Burbank, the cardinal's secretaries, to Henry VIII., are printed in
Sir Henry Ellis' Original Letters, first series, vol. i. p. 108 — 12.
2 So that he had three bishopricks.] Dr. Robert Barnes preached a Sermon
on the 24th of December 1525, at St. Edward's Church in Cambridge, from
which Sermon certain Articles were drawn out, upon which he was soon
after called to make answer before the Cardinal. Barnes has left behind him
a description of this examination. The sixth of the Articles was as follows.
" I wyll never beleeve that one man may be, by the lawe of God, a Byshop
of two or three cities, yea of an whole countrey, for it is contrarye to St.
Paule, which sayth, / have left thee behynde, to set in every citye a Byshop."
" I was brought afore my Lorde Cardinall into his Galary," (continues Dr.
Barnes) " and there hee reade all myne articles, tyll hee came to this, and
there he stopped, and sayd, that this touched hym, and therefore hee asked
me, if I thought it wronge, that one byshop shoulde have so many cityes
underneath hym ; unto whom I answered, that I could no farther go, than to
St. Paules texte, whych sat in every cytye a byshop. Then asked hee mee,
if I thought it now unright (seeing the ordinaunce of the Church) that one
byshop should have so many cities. I aunswered that I knew none ordinaunce
of the Church, as concerning this thinge, but St. Paules saying onelye.
Nevertheles I did see a contrarye custom and practise in the world, but I

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 481
Then prepared he again of newe as fast for his translation from
the sea of Lincoln unto the sea of Yorke, as he did before to his
stallation. After which solemnization done, and being then an
archbishop and Primas Angliw, he thought himself sufficient to
compare with Canterbury ; and thereupon erected his crosse in
the court, and every other place, as well within the precinct and
jurisdiction of Canterbury, as in any other place. And forasmuch
as Canterbury claimeth a superiority over Yorke, as of all other
bishoprickes within England, and for that cause claimeth, as a
knowledge of an auncient obedience, of Yorke to abate the
avauncing of his crosse, in presence of the crosse of Canterbury ;
notwithstanding Yorke nothing minding to desist from bearing
thereof, in manner as I said before, caused his crosse to be
avaunced 4 and borne before him, as well in the presence of Can
terbury as elsewhere. Wherefore Canterbury 5 being moved there
with, gave unto Yorke a certaine check for his presumption ; by
reason whereof there engendered some grudge betweene Yorke
and Canterbury. Yorke perceiving the obedience that Canter
bury claimed of him, intended to provide some such means that
he would be rather superior in dignity to Canterbury, than to be
either obedient or equal to him. Whereupon he obtained first
to be made priest cardinall 6 and Legatus de latere, unto whom the
pope sent a cardinally hat with certaine bulles for his authority
in that behalfe.
know not the originall thereof. Then sayde hee, that in the Apostles tyme,
there were dyvers cities, some seven myle, some six myle long, and over them
was there set but one byshop, and of their suburbs also ; so likewise now, a
byshop hath but one citye to his cathedrall churche, and the country about is
as suburbs unto it. Me thought this was farre fetched, but I durst not denye
it." Barnes's Works, p. 210. a.d. 1573.
3 Geven him.] But he resigned Lincoln in September the same year, when
William Atwater was appointed to succeed him.
4 To be avaunced.] This was not the first time in which this point of prece
dency had been contested. Edward III. in the sixth year of his reign, at a
time when a similar debate was in agitation, having summoned a Parliament
at York, the archbishop of Canterbury and all the other Prelates of his Pro
vince, declined giving their attendance, that the Metropolitan of all England
might not be obliged to submit his Cross to that of York, in the Province of
the latter. Fox, p. 387, 8.
5 William Warham.
6 Priest cardinall.] He was confirmed cardinal of S. Cecilia beyond the
Tiber, by a bull of pope Leo X. dated Bologna, Dec. 13, 1515. — Fiddes's
Records, p. 18.
vol.. r. i i

482 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Yet by the way of communication you shaU understande that
the pope sent him this worthy hat of dignity as a Jewell of his
honor and authority, the which was conveied in a varlett's budget,
who seemed to all men to be but a person of small estimation.
Whereof Yorke being advertised of the baseness of this mes
senger 7, and of the people's opinion, thought it not meete for the.
honor of so highe a message, that this jeweU should be conveied
by so simple a person ; wherefore he caused him to be stopped
by the way, imediatly after his arrivall in England, where he was
newely furnished in all manner of appareU, with all kinde of costly
silkes, which seemed decent for such an high ambassador. And
that done he was encountered upon Blackheathe, and there
received with a great assembly of prelats and lusty gaUant gen
tlemen, and from thence conducted and convaied through London,
with great triumphe. Then was great and spedy provision 8 and
preparation made in Westminster abby for the confirmation and
acceptaunce of this highe order and dignity ; the which was exe
cuted by all the bishopes and abbots about or nigh London, with
their rich miters and copes and other ornaments ; which was
done in so solemn a wise, as I have not seene the like, unlesse it
had bin at the coronation of a mighty prince and kinge.
Obtaining this dignity he thought himself meete to encounter
with Canterbury in high jurisdiction before expressed ; and that
also he was as mete to beare authority among the temporall
powers, as among the spirituaU jurisdictions. Wherefore remem
bering as well the tauntes and checkes before sustained of Can
terbury, the which he intended to redresse, as having a respect
to the advancement of worldly honor, promotion and great benefit,
he founde the meanes with the kinge, that he was made lord

7 Messenger.] Who was of the rank of a prothonotary. See an account
of the ceremonies observed at the reception of the hat, in Fiddes, App.
p. 251.
8 Great and spedy provision.] " Not farre unlike to this was the receaving
of the cardinalls hatte. Which when a ruffian had brought unto him to
Westminster under his cloke, he clothed the messenger in rich array, and
sent him backe to Dover againe, and appoynted the bishop of Canterbury to
meete him, and then another company of lordes and gentles I wotte not how
oft, ere it came to Westminster, where it was set on a eupborde and tapers
about, so that the greatest duke in the lande must make ourtesie thereto : yea
and to his empty seat he being away." — Tindal's Works, p. 374 ; Fox's Acts,
p. 902.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 483
chancellor 9 of England ; and Canterbury which was then chan
cellor dismissed, who had continued in that honorable rome, since
long before the death of kinge Henry the seventh.
Now he being in possession of the chancellorship, and endowed
¦with the promotions of an archbishop, and cardinall de latere,
thought himselfe fully furnished with such authorities and dig
nities, that he was able to surmount Canterbury in all jurisdic
tions and ecclesiasticall powers, having power to convocate Can
terbury, and all other bishops and spirituall persons, to assemble
at his convocation, where he would assigne ; and tooke upon him
the correction of matters in all their jurisdictions, and visited all
the spirituall houses, having also in every diocese through this
realme, all manner of spirituall ministers, as commissaries, scribes,
apparitors, and all other necessary officers to furnish his courtes ;
and presented by prevention 1 whom he pleased unto all benefices
throughout all this realme, and dominions thereof. And to the
advancing further of his legantine jurisdiction and honors, he
had masters of his faculties, masters ceremoniarum, and such
other like persons, to the glorifying of his dignity. Then had he
twoe great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was of his
archbishoprick, and the other of his legacy, borne before him 1
whither soever he went or rode, by two of the tallest priestes'
that he could get within this realme. And to the increase of his
gaines he had also the bishopricke of Durham, and the abbey of
St. Albans in commendam ; and after, when bishop Fox, bishop
of Winchester died, he surrendered Durham into the king's
hands, and tooke to him Winchester. Then had he in his hands,
as it were inferme, the bishoprickes of Bathe, Worcester, and
Hereforde, fofi as much as the incumbents of them were stran
gers 2, and made their aboade continually beyond the seas, in their
9 Lord chancellor.] Takes the oath at Eltham, Dec. 24, 1515. — Fiddes,
p. 98. A copy of the Letters Patent, dat. 1 Dec. 7 Hen. VIII. is in the
British Museum, Harl. MS. 381. foi. 208.
1 Presented by prevention.] See above, p. 170.
2 Were strangers.] See Life of Wickliffe, p. 191. The see of Bath was
filled by Cardinal Adrian de Castello (who had been previously bishop of
Hereford from 1502 to 1504), and that of Worcester by Sylvester de Giglis,
appointed in 1499, in succession to his uncle John de Giglis; but the then bi
shop of Hereford was Richard Mayhew, or Mayo, an Englishman, who was suc
ceeded, in 1516, by Charles Booth, also an Englishman. The see of Llandaff
was occupied by a Spaniard, George Athequa, chaplain to Queen Katharine,
whom he attended to this country. He, however, was not appointed until
li 2

484 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
own countries, or else in Rome, from whence they were sent in
legation to this realme, unto the kinge. And for their rewardes,
at their departure, the wise kinge Henry the seventh thought it
better to give them that thinge which he himself could not
keepe, than to disbourse or defray any thing of his treasure.
And they being but strangers, thought it then more meete for
their assurance, and to have their jurisdiction preserved and
maintained; to suffer the cardinaU to have their benefices for a
convenient sum of money paide them yearely, whereas they
remained, than either to be troubled with the charges of the
same, or to be yearely burthened with the conveyaunce of their
revenues unto them : so that all the spirituall promotions, and
presentations of these bishopricks were wholy and fully in his
domaine and disposion, to preferre whom he listed. He had
also a great number daily attending upon him, bothe of noble
men and worthy gentlemen, of great estimation and possessions,
with no smaU number of the tallest yeomen, that he could get
in all the realme, insomuch that well was that nobleman and
gentellman, that could preferr a taile yeoman into his service.
Nowe to speak of the order and officers of his house, I think
it be necessary here to be remembered. And first you shall un
derstande, that he had in his hall continually three bordes, kept
with three severaU principall officers ; that is to say a stewarde
which was alwaies a priest, a treasurer a knight, and a comp
troller an esquire. Also a cofferer being a doctour ; three mar-
shalles, three yeomen ushers in the halle, besides twoe groomes
and almoners. Then had he in the hall-kitchen two clarkes of
the kitchen, a clerke comptroller, a surveyor of the dresser, a
clerke of his spicery, the which together kept also a continual
mess in the hall. Also in the hall-kitchen he had master cookes
two, and of other cookes, labourers, and children of the kitchine
twelve persons; four yeomen of the scullery, and four other
yeomen of his silver scullery ; two yeomen of his pastery, with
two other pastellers under the yeomen.
1517, and by Henry VIII. The see of Worcester was filled by four
Italians in succession, viz. : —
Giovanni de' Gigli, 30 Aug. 1497 — 25 Aug. 1498.
Silvestro de' Gigli, (nephew ofthe preceding) 17 Mar. 1499 — 16 April 1521.
Giulio de' Medici, cardinal, administrator, 31 July 1521 to 1522.
Ieronymo de' Ghinucci, (Lat. de Nugutiis) 20 Feb. 1523. He was deprived
in 1534.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 485
Then had he in his privy kitchen a master cook who went daily
in velvet or in sattin with a chaine of gould, with two other '-.
yeomen, and labourers six in the same roome ; in the larder a
yeoman and a groome ; in the scalding house a yeoman and two
groomes ; in the saulcery two persons ; in the buttery two yeo
men, two groomes, and two pages ; and in the ewery likewise :
in the celler three yeomen and three pages ; in his chaundery
two ; in the wafery two ; in the wardrobe of bedds the master of
the wardrobe, and ten persons ; in the laundery a yeoman, a
groome, thirteen pages ; two yeomen purveiors, and one groome ;
in the bakehouse a yeoman and two groomes ; in the woode-
yarde a yeoman and a groome ; in the barne one ; in the garden
a yeoman and two groomes ; porters at the gate two yeomen,
and two groomes ; a yeoman of his barge : and a master of his
horse ; a clerke of the stable, a yeoman of the same ; the saddler,
the farrier, a yeoman of his chariot, a sumpter man, a yeoman
of his stirrup ; a muleteer, sixteen groomes of the stable, every
one of them kept four geldings : in the almeserie, a yeoman and
a groome. Now will I declare unto you the officers of his chappel, and
singing men in the same \ First he had there a deane, a great
divine and a man of excellent learning ; a sub-deane ; a repetor
of the quier, a gospeller, a pisteUer ; of singing priests ten ; a
master of the children. The seculars of the chappel, being sing
ing men, twelve ; singing children ten, with one servaunte to
waite upon the children. In the revestry, a yeoman and two
groomes : over and besides diverse retainers that came thither
at principall feasts. And as for furniture of his chappel, it
passeth my capacity to declare the number ofthe costly ornaments
and rich Jewells, that were to be occupied in the same continually.
For I have seen in procession about the hall forty four of very rich
copes, of one sute, worn, besides the rich crosses and candlesticks,
3 Singing men in the same.] " My Lorde, yff itt were not for the personall
love that the Kyngis Highnesse doith bere unto your Grace, suerly he wolde
have owte off your chiapell, not chyldren oonly, but also men. For hys Grace
hath playnley schewydde unto Cornysche, that your Graces chiapell is bettre
than hys : and providde the same by thys reason, that yff ony manner of
newe songe schulde be broght unto boith the said chiapellis for to be sunge
ex improvise, then the sayde songe schulde be bettre and more suerly hand-
lydde bi your chiapell than bi hys Graces. Cornyshe istud plane verum
nulla modo concoquere potest." Letter from Richard Pace to Wolsey, 25
March. Ill Ellis, ii. 49. W. Cornish was master of Henry VIII.'s chapel.

486 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
and ooher necessary ornaments to the furniture of the same.
Nowe shall ye understande that he had two crosse bearers and
two pillar bearers. In his great chamber, and in his privy
chamber all these persons; first the cheefe chamberlaine, and
vice-chamberlaine ; of gentlemen ushers, besides one in his privy
chamber, he had twelve daily waiters ; and of gentlemen waiters
in his privy chamber he had six ; and of lordes nine or tenne,
who had each of them two men allowed them to attend upon
them, except the earl of Darby 4, who had allowed five men. Then
had he of gentlemen, of cupbearers, of carvers, of sewers bothe
of the privy chamber, and of the great chamber, with gentlemen
daily waiters there forty persons ; of yeomen ushers he had six ;
of groomes in the chamber he had eight ; of yeomen of his
chamber he had five and forty dayly ; he had also of almes men
some more in number than other some time, there attending upon
his borde at dinner. Of doctors and chaplens, beside them of
his chappie, which I rehearsed before, he had in number dayly
attending sixteen : a clerke of his closet. Then had he secretaries
two ; two clerkes of his signet ; and four counsaillors learned in
the lawe.
Forasmuch as he was chauncellor of England, it was necessary
to have diverse officers of the chauncery there to attend dayly
upon him, for the better furniture of the same. That is to say,
first he had the clerke of the crowne, a riding clerke, a clerke of
the hamper, a chafer of the waxe. Then had he a clerke of the
checke, as well upon his chaplaines, as of his yeomen of his
chamber ; he had also fower foote men, which were garnished in
riche running coates, whensoever he rode in any journey. Then
had he an herald of armes, and a sergeaunt of armes ; a physition,
a poticary ; fower ministreles ; a keeper of his tentes, an armourer ;
an instructor of his wardes, two yeomen in the wardrobe of his
robes, and a keeper of his chamber continually in the courte.
He had also dayly in his house the surveyor of Yorke, and a
clerke of the greene cloathe. All these were dayly attending
downe lying and up-rising. At meales he kept in his great
chamber a continual borde for the chamberleenes, and gentlemen
1 Earl of Darby.] Thomas Stanley, second earl of Derby, who had been
present at the sieges of Therouenne and Tournay, and at the battle of Spurs.
He died on the 23rd of May, 1521, (only ten days after his attendance at the
trial of Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham,) and left Wolsey one of
the supervisors over the executors to his will.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 487
officers, having with them a mess of the young lordes °, and
another of gentlemen. And besides all these, there was never an
officer and gentleman, or any other worthy person, but he was
aUowed in the house, some three, some two, servauntes, and all
other one at the least, which grew to a great number of persons. —
Nowe have I described the order according to the check roll of
his house, and what officers and servauntes he had dayly attend
ing to furnish the same, besides diverse retainers, and of other
persons being suters, that most commonly dined in the haU.
And when we shaU see any more such subjects, that shaU keepe
the like noble house, I am content he be advanced above him in
honour. But I feare, for my parte, never to see it ; therefore
here an end of his household. The number of the personages in
his check roll were one hundred and eighty 6. /
6 A mess of the young lordes.] Among whom, as we shall see below, was
the eldest son of the earl of Northumberland. This was according to a prac
tice much more ancient than the time of Wolsey; agreeably to which young
men of the most exalted rank resided in the families of distinguished eccle
siastics, under the denomination of pages, but, more probably, for the pur
poses of education, than of service. In this way Sir Thomas More was
brought up under cardinal Morton, archbishop of Canterbury ; of whom he
has given a very interesting character in his Utopia. — From Fiddes's Appendix
to the Life of Wolsey, p. 19, it appears, that the custom was at least as old as
the time of Grosthead, bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III , and
that it continued for some time during the 17th century. In a paper, written
by the earl of Arundel, in the year 1C20, and entitled, Instructions for you my
son William (afterwards lord Stafford) how to behave yourself at Norwich, the
earl charges him, " You shall in all things reverence, honour, and obey my
lord bishop of Norwich, as you would do any of your parents ; esteeminge
whatsoever he shall tell or command you, as if your grandmother of Arundell,
your mother, or myself, should say it ; and in all things esteem yourself as my
lord's page ; a breeding, which youths of my house, far superior to you, were
accustomed unto ; as my grandfather of Norfolk, and his brother, my good
uncle of Northampton, were both bredd as pages with bishopps." See also
Paul's Life of Archbishop Whitgift, p. 97-
It is not out of place to mention, what we are told by Sir George Wheeler,
iu his Protestant Monastery, p. 158, a.d. 1698. "I have heard say, in the
times no longer ago than king Charles I., that many noblemen's and gen
tlemen's houses in the country were like academies, where the gentlemen and
women of lesser fortunes came for education with those ofthe family; among
which number was the famous Sir Beaville Granville and his lady, father and
mother of our present lord of Bath."
6 One hundred and eighty.] The printed Life says eight hundred persons,
which seems a more probable number. Mr. Singer's edition (1825), p. 39,
says five hundred.

488 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
You have heard of the order and officers of his house ; now I
do intend to proceed further of his proceedings.
After that he was thus furnished, in manner as I have before
rehearsed unto you, he was sent twice 7 in an embassage unto the
emperor Charles the fifth that now reigneth, and father unto king
Philip now our soveraigne lord. Forasmuch as the old emperor
Maximilian was deade, and for divers urgent causes 8 touching
the king's majesty, it was thought that in so weighty affaires, and
to so noble a prince, the cardinal was most meete to be sent on
this embassage. Wherefore he being ready to take upon him
the charge thereof, was furnished in aU degrees and purposes
most likest a great prince, which was much to the high honor of
the kings majesty, and of this realme. For first he proceeded
forthe furnished like a cardinall 9 of high estimation, having all
things there according. His gentlemen, being very many in
number, were cloathed in livery coates of crimson velvet of the
best, with chaines of gould about their neckes ; and his yeomen
and aU his meane officers were in coates of fine scarlet, garded
with black velvet an hand broade. Thus furnished he was twice
in this manner sent unto the emperor into Flanders, the emperor
7 Twice.] In 1521 and 1527.
8 Divers urgent causes.] Nothing less than a mediation between Francis
and the Emperor. Wolsey gave his decision in favor of the Imperial cause.
He declared Francis to have been the aggressor in the late war, and that the
king of England was bound to assist Charles. The negociations concluded
in a league between Leo X., Charles V., and Henry VIII., against Francis I.
The Pope was to act on the side of Italy, the Emperor on the side of Spain
and the Low Countries at once, and the English monarch in Picardy. In
the British Museum is preserved a full account of this embassy, under the
title of " Relation de ce qui se traita a Calais, entre les deputes de Charles V.
et ceux de Francois L, oil presidoit le Cardinal d'York, legat, comme me-
diateur de la part du roy d'Angleterre, Fan 1521."
9 Furnished like a cardinall.] Amongst the Harleian MSS. in the British
Museum (Harl. MS. 620) is preserved the Steward's Account of the Em
bassy of 1521, thus described in Wanley's Catalogue. "The booke of Solu
tions in my Lord Grace's journey to Cales, Bruges, and other places ; Mr.
Robert Carter occupyinge the office of stewardship, anno 13mo r. R. Henrici
VIII." " This journey is understood to commence on Monday, 29th of July,
and to end on Sunday, the first day of December following, when Cardinal
Wolsey, in his return, dined at Sittingbourne, in Kent. But, besides this
journal, here is an account of the velvet, scarlet bonnets, &c. delivered to the
cardinal's servants who attended him in his embassy, and of other expenses
in his family during the time above-mentioned." The whole amount of the
expenses is summed up at 2386Z. 14s. 6%d.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 489
lying then in Bruges ; whome he did most highely entertaine ', dis
charging all his charges, and all his mens. There was no house
within the towne of Bruges, wherein any gentlemen of the
cardinalls were lodged or had recourse, but that the owners were
commanded by the emperors officers, that they, upon paine of their
lives, should take no money for any thing that the cardinalls
servauntes did take of any kind of victualls, no although they
were disposed to make any costly banquettes; commanding further
more their said hostes, to see that they lacke no such things as
they honestly required, or desired to have, for their honesty and
pleasure. Also the emperors officers every nighte went throughe
the towne, from house to house, whereas any English gentleman
did repast or lodged, and served their liveries for all night ;
which was done in this manner : first the officers brought into
the house a cast of fine manchet 2, and of silver two great pottes,
with white wine, and sugar, to the weight of a pound ; white
lightes and yellow lightes ; a bowle of silver, with a goblet to
drinke in ; and every night a staffe torch. This was the order of
their liveries every night. And then in the morning, when the
same officers came to fetch away their stuffe, then would they
accompt with the hostes for the gentlemens costes spent in the
daye before. Thus the emperor entertained the cardinall and all
his traine, for the time of his embassage there. And that done,
he returned home againe into Englande, with great triumphe,
being no lesse in estimation with the kinge, than he was before,
but rather much better.
Nowe will I declare unto you his order in going to West
minster Hall, dayly in the tearme season. First ere he came out
of his privy chamber, he heard most commonly every day two
masses in his closet : and as I heard one of his chaplains saye,
which was a man of credence and of excellent learning, the cardi
nall, what business or weighty matters soever he had in the day,
he never went to bed with any parte of his divine service unsaide,
not so much as one collect ; wherein I doubt not but he deceived
the opinion of diverse persons. Then going againe to his privy
1 Most highely entertaine.] At Bruges, "he was received with great
solemnity, as belongeth unto so mighty a pillar of Christes church, and was
saluted at the entering into the towne of a merry fellow which sayd, Salve Rex
regis tui, atque regni sui, Hayle both king of thy king, and also of his realme."
Tindal's Works, p. 370, a.d. 1572.
i Fine manchet.] Bread of the finest flour.

490 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
chamber, he would demaund to some of his saide chamber, if his
servauntes were in a readiness, and had furnished his chamber of
presence, and waiting chamber. He being thereof then advertised,
came out of his privy chamber, about eight of the clocke, appa
relled all in red ; that is to say, his upper garment was either of
fine scarlet, or taffety, but most commonly of fine crimson satten
engrained ; his pillion 3 of fine scarlet, with a neck set in the inner
side with blacke velvet, and a tippet of sables about his necke ;
holding in his hande an orange, whereof the meate or substance
within was taken out, and filled up againe with the parte of a
spunge, wherein was vinegar and other confections against the
pestilent aires ; the which he most commonly held to his nose
when he came among any presse, or else that he was pestered
with any suiters 4. And before him was borne first the broade
3 Pillion.] Cap, from the Latin pileus.
4 Pestered with any suiters.] We have seen how rapid was the Cardinal's
rise. It should seem, that very soon after his elevation, he contracted a
demeanour and carriage, even towards persons of the highest rank, whieh was
very likely, in its season, to contribute to his fall. Could a Talbot or a Dacre
easily bear to hear of such neglect from an upstart ecclesiastic, as we have on
record from unquestionable authority ? George, earl of Shrewsbury, was
at this time steward of the royal household : and he had a suit to the
king, apparently connected with his official duties, which was to reach his
sovereign through the mediation of the favourite, the time being within about
two years from Wolsey's elevation to that dignity. Thomas Alen, a confi
dential servant of the Earl, writes thus to hi3 master : —
" Upon Monday was se'nnight last past, I delivered your letters to the
Cardinal at Guilford; whereas he commanded me to wait upon him to the
Court, and I should have precepts on them. ... I followed him to the Court
and there gave attendance, and could have no answer. Upon Friday last he
came from thence to Hampton Court, where he lieth. The day after I
besought his grace I might know his pleasure : I could have no answer then.
Upon Monday last, as he walked in the Park at Hampton Court, I besought
him I might know, if he would command me any service : he was not pleased
with me that I spake to him. The Sunday before, I delivered the letter unto
him which Ralph Leach brought : I can have no answer to neither of both.
He that shall be a suitor to him may have no other business but give attendance
upon his pleasure : he that shall so do is needful to be a wiser man than I
am. I saw no other remedy, but come without answer, to pursue such
things in London as your lordship commands to be done ; except I would
have done as my Lord Dacre's servant doth, which came with letters for the
king's grace five months since, and yet hath no answer ; and another servant
of the Deputy of Calais in like wise, which came before he " (the Cardinal)
"rode to Walsingham. I hear that he answered them ; ' If ye be not content
to tarry my leisure, depart when ye will.' This is truth ; I had lever your

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 491
seale of Englande, and his cardinalFs hat by a lorde or some
gentleman of worship, right solemnely. And as soone as he was
entered into his chamber of presence, where there was dayly
attending upon him, as well noble men of this realme, and other
worthy gentlemen, as gentlemen of his owne family ; his two
great crosses were there attending, to be borne before him.
Then cried the gentlemen ushers, going before him, bare headed,
and said " On before my lordes and masters, on before ; and
make way for my Lord Cardinall." Thus went he downe
through the hall with a sergeaunt of armes before him bearing
a great mace of silver, and two gentlemen carrying of two great
pillars of silver ; and when he came to the hall doore, then his
mule stood trapped all in crimson velvet, with a saddle of the
same, and gilt stirrups. Then was there attending upon him,
when he was mounted, his two crosse bearers, and his pillar
bearers 5, in like case, upon great horses trapped all in fine
lordship commanded me to . . . than to deliver unto him letters and to bring
answer of the same. When he walks in the park, he will suffer no suitor to
come nigh unto him ; but commands him away as far as a man will shoot an
arrow." Lodge's Illustrations of British History, vol. i. p. 28.
After the Cardinal's fall, and when sickness and sorrow were pressing
heavily upon him, he was treated kindly, and even compassionately by this
nobleman, as we shall learn from Cavendish, towards the close of our narra
tive : but are we to wonder much that previously we find the name of Shrews
bury subscribed to the articles of the favourite's impeachment ?
5 Two crosse bearers, and his pillar bearers.] The pillar, as well as the
cross, was emblematical, and designed to imply, that the dignitary before
whom it was carried was a pillar oi the church. Dr. Barnes, who had good
reason why these pillars should be uppermost in his thoughts, glances at this
emblem, in the case of the cardinal, in the following words : " and yet it must
bee true, because a pillar of the church hath spoken it." Barnes's Works,
p. 210. a.d. 1572. See also Tindal's Works, p. 370.
Skelton, Poet-laureate of that time, wrote a most severe satire and invec
tive against this cardinal, entitled " Why come ye nat to Courte ? " and, upon
its publication, fled to the sanctuary in Westminster for refuge. Another
satire, equally severe, called " Rede me and be not wrothe," has been attri
buted to Skelton, but it is really the work of William Roy, who therein takes
notice of these crosses (and pillars) in the following lines jfe)v-
With worldly pompe incredible ""» '
Before him rydeth two prestes stronge,
And they bear two crosses right longe,
Gapynge in every mans face.
After them folowe two laye-men secular
And eache of theym holdyng a pillar
In their hondes, steade of a mace. [Then

492 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
scarlett. Then marched he forwarde, with a traine of noblemen
and gentlemen, having his foote-men fower in number about him,
bearing each of them a gilt poll-axe in their handes : and thus
passed he forthe untill he came to Westminster Hall doore. And
there he alighted and went after this manner, up into the chaun-
cery, or into the star chamber ; howbeit most commonly he would
goe into the chauncery, and staye a while at a barre, made for him,
beneathe the chauncery, on the right hand, and there commune
sometimes with the judges, and sometimes with other persons.
And that done he would repair into the chauncery, sitting there
till an eleven of the clocke, hearing of suites and determining of
other matters. And from thence, he would diverse times goe into
' the star chamber, as occasion would serve. There he spared
neither highe nor lowe, but judged every estate according to
i his merits, and desertes.
He used also every Sunday to resorte to the courte, then being
for the most parte of all the yeere at Greenwiche, with his former
triumphs, taking his barge at his owne staires furnished with
yeomen standing upon the bayles, and his gentlemen being within
a boat ; and landed againe at the Three Cranes 6 in the vintree.
And from thence he rode upon his mule, with his crosses, his
pillers, his hat, and the broade seale carried before him, on horse
back through Thames-street, untill he came to Billingsgate ; and
there took his barge againe, and so rOwed to Greenwich, where he
was nobly received of the lordes and chief officers of the kings
house, bearing their white, staves, as the treasurer and comptroUer,
with many others ; and so they eonveied him to the kings cham
ber, his crosses, for the time of his tarrying, standing there in a
corner, on the one side of the kings cloath of estate. Then he
Then foloweth my lorde on his mule
Trapped with gold.
Then hath he servants five or six score,
Some behynd and some before.
Almost every action of Wolsey hath been interpreted as an instance of pomp,
ambition, or insole|>xie ; notwithstanding probably, upon a strict examination,
most of them will feefound to be strictly precedented. Anstis's Letter to Dr.
Fiddes, in Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, p. 89. Appendix. Roy's satire is reprinted
entire in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. ix. p. 1 — 83. edit. 1812.
6 Landed againe at the Three Cranes^] In Upper Thames street. In order
to avoid the danger of passing under London Bridge when the tide was ebbing
and the fall of water was great ; his barge in the mean time " shooting the
bridge," as the passage down the fall was familiarly termed.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 493
being there, the courte was fully furnished with noble men and
gentlemen, which was before his coming but slenderly furnished.
And after dinner among the lordes, having some consultation with
the kinge, or with his counsell, he would depart home with like
triumphe7: and this order he used continuaUy, as opportunity did
serve. 7 With like triumphed] We have already seen that all this pomp did not pass
free from animadversion. But it was exposed to censures more solemn than
those which flowed merely from the satirist's pen. Sir Thomas More, when
speaker of the House of Commons, noticing a complaint which had been
made by the cardinal, that nothing could be said or done in that house, but
it was presently spread abroad, and became the talk of every tavern or ale
house, " Masters, (says he) forasmuche as my lord cardinall latelie laied to
our charges the lightnes of our tongues for things uttered out of this house,
it shall not in my minde be amisse to receive him with all his pompe, with his
maces, his pillers, pollaxes, his crosses, his hatt, and the greate seale too ; to
thintent, that if he finde the like fault with us heereafter, wee maie be the
bolder from ourselves to laie the blame on those that his grace bringeth hither
with him." Roper's Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 38. edit. 1729. Sir
Thomas also, in his Apology, written in the year 1533, reflects severely upon
the change introduced among the clergy, through the cardinal's means, in the
luxury and sumptuousness of their dress. Works, p. 892.
The pulpit likewise occasionally raised its voice against him. Doctor
Barnes, who was burnt in Smithfield in the year 1541, preached at St.
Edward's church, in Cambridge, a sermon, for which he was called to appear
before the cardinal. This was a part of their dialogue, as it is related in Fox :
" What, Master Doctor, (said the cardinall) had you not a sufficient scope in
the Scriptures to teach the people, but that my golden shoes, my pollaxes,
my pillers, my golden cushions, my cross did so sore offend you, that you
must make us ridiculum caput amongst the people ? We were jolily that day
laughed to scorne. Verely it was a sermon more fitter to be preached on a
stage than in a pulpit ; for at the last you said I weare a paire of redde gloves,
I should say bloudie gloves (quoth you), that I should not be cold in the midst
of my ceremonies. And Barnes answered, I spake nothing but the truth out
of the Scriptures, according to my conscience, and according to the old
doctors." Fox's Acts, p. 1088. Barnes himself drew up an account of this
interview, in which he opens to us some part of the philosophy upon which
the cardinal defended the fitness of that pomp and state which he maintained.
" Then sayd hee, How thinke you, were it better for me, being in the honour
and dignitie that I am, to coyne my pyllers, and pollaxes, and to give the
money to five or six beggers, then for to mayntaine the commonwealth by
them, as I doe ? Do you not reckon (quoth hee) the commonwealth better
then five or sixe beggers ? To this I did answere, that I reckoned it more
to the honour of God, and to the salvation of his soule, and also to the com
fort of his poore brethren, that they were coyned, and given in almes. And
as for the commonwealth, it did not hang of them : for as his grace knew,
the commonwealth was afore his grace, and must bee when his grace is gone,

494 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Thus in great honour, triumphe, and glory he reigned a long
season, ruling all things within this realme, appertayning unto the
kinge, by his wisdome, and also in aU other weighty matters in
foraigne regions, with which the king of this realme had any occa
sion to intermeddle. All ambassadors of foraigne potentates were
alwaies dispatched by his wisdome, to whom they had continuall
access for their dispatch. His house was alwaies resorted like a
kings house, with noble men and gentlemen, with coming and
going in and out, feasting, and banquetting these ambassadors
diverse times, and all other right nobly.
And when it pleased the kings majesty, for his recreation, to
repaire unto the cardinalls house, as he did diverse times in the
yeare, there wanted no preparation, or goodly furniture, with
viandes of the finest sorte that could be gotten for money or
friendshippe. Such pleasures were then devised for the kings
consolation, or comforte, as might be invented or imagined.
Banquettes were set forthe, masks, and moumeries, in so gor
geous a sorte, and costly manner, that it was a heaven to behold.
There wanted no dames, nor damoselles, meete or apt to daunce
with the maskers, or to garnish the place for that time, with
other goodly disportes. Then was there aU kinde of musicke
and harmony set forthe, with excellent fine voices bothe of men
and children. I have seen the kinge come sodainly thither in a
maske with a dozen maskers all in garments, like shepardes,
made of fine cloathe of golde, and fine crimson satten paned8,
and cappes of the same, with visors of good proportion of vis-
namy : ; their heares, and beardes either of fine gold wier or of
silver, or else of good black silke ; having sixteene torch bearers,
besides three drummes, and other persons attending them, with
visors, clothed aU in satten, of the same color. And before his
entering into the haU, ye shall understand, that he came by
and the pillers and pollaxes came with him, and should also goe away with
him. Notwithstanding, if the commonwealth were in such a condition, that
it had need of them, then might his grace so long use them, or any other thing
in their stead, so long as the commonwealth needed them." — Barnes's Works,
p. 215, a.d. 1572. Compare Fox's Acts, p. 956.
8 Paned.] Shaded or inlaid in compartments of angular form, like panes.
The word is still used to denote compartments on the bindings of bibles and
prayer-books : its application to clothes has ceased with the fashion.
9 Visnamy.] A corruption oi physiognomy.
" And but half seen his ugly visnomie."
Spenser's Faery Queen.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 495
water to the water gate, without any noyse, where were laide
divers chambers1 and gunnes, charged with shot, and at his
landing they were shote off, which made such a rumble in the
ayer, that it was like thunder. It made all the noble men, gen
tlemen, ladies, and gentlewomen to muse what it should meane
coming so sodainly, they sitting quiet at solemne banquet ; under
this sorte ; First ye shall perceive, that the tables were set in the
chamber of presence, nise covered, and my lord cardinall sitting
under the cloathe of estate, there having all his service alone ;
and then was there set a lady and a noble man, or a gentleman
or gentlewoman, throughout all the tables in the chamber on the
one side, which were made adjoyning, as it were but one table.
All which order and devise was done by the lorde Sandes2, then
lorde chamberlaine to the king, and by sir Henry Guilforde con
troller of the kings majesties house. Then immediately after
this great shot of gunnes, the cardinall desired the lord chamber-
ain, and the said controller to looke what it should meane, as
though he knew nothing of the matter. They looking out of
the windowes into the Thames, returned againe, and shewed him,
that it seemed they were noble men and strangers arrived at
his bridge, coming as ambassadors from some forraigne prince.
With that quoth the cardinall, " I desire you, because you can
speake Frenche, to take the pains to goe into the hall there to
receive them, according to their estates, and to conduct them
into this chamber, where they shall see us, and all these noble
personages being merry at our banquett, desiring them to sit
downe with us, and to take parte of our fare." Then went they
incontinent downe into the hall, whereas they received them with
twenty newe torches, and conveied them up into the chamber,
with such a number of drums and flutes, as I have seldome seen
together, at one place and time. At their arrivall into the cham
ber, two and two together, they went directly before the cardinall
where he sat, and saluted him very reverently ; to whom the
lorde chamberlain for them saide, " Sir, forasmuch as they be
strangers, and cannot speake Englishe, they have desired me to

1 Chambers.] " Short pieces of ordnance or cannon, which stood on their
breeching without any carriage, used chiefly for rejoicings, and theatrical
cannonades, being little more than chambers for powder."— Nares' Glossary,
in v.
2 Lorde Sondes.] William Sandys, who, according to Dugdale, was created
lord Sandys in 1523, but he was not summoned to Parliament till 1529.

496 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
declare unto you, that they having understanding of this your
triumphant banquette, where was assembled such a number of
exceUent faire dames, could doe no lesse, under the supportation
of your grace, but to repaire hither to viewe as well their incom
parable beauty, as for to accompany them at mumchaunce3, and
then after to daunce with them and to have of their acquaintance.
And sir, furthermore they require of your grace licence to accom
plish the saide cause of their cominge." To whome the cardinall
saide, he was very well content they should so doe. Then went
the maskers and first saluted all the dames, and then returned to
the most worthiest, and there opened their great cup of gold,
filled with crownes, and other pieces of golde, to whome they set
certaine of the pieces of golde to cast at. Thus perusing aU the
ladies and gentlewomen, to some they loste, and of some they
wonne. And perusing after this manner all the ladies, they
returned to the cardinall, with great reverence, pouring downe all
the golde left in their cuppe, which was above two hundred
crownes. " At all," quoth the cardinall 4, and so cast the dice,
and wonne them, whereat was made great noyse and joie. Then
quoth the cardinall to my lord chamberlen, " I pray you," quoth
he, " that you will shew them, that mee seemeth, there should
be a noble man amongst them, who is more meete to occupy this
seate and place than am I ; to whome I would most gladly sur
render the same, according to my duty, if I knewe him." Then
spake my lord chamberlain unto them in French, declaring my
lorde cardinall's wordes, and they rounding 5 him againe in the
3 Mumchaunce.] Mum-chance, a game of hazard, with dice. — Warton's
History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 155.
" Silence seems to have been essential at it : whence its name :
" And for mum-chance, howe'er the chance do fall,
You must be mum, for fear of marring all.
"Machiavell's Dog. in Old Plays, xii. 423."
It seems to have been also played with cards :
" The cardes are fetch'd, and mumchance or decoy is the game."
Dekkar's Bellman of London.
Nares' Glossary, in v.
4 "At all," quoth the cardinall.]
"  There is my honour's pawn :
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.
Aumerle. Who sets me else ? By heaven, I'll throw at all:
I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
To answer twenty thousand such as you."
King Richard II. Act IV. Scene 1.
6 Rounding.] Whispering. See Life of Thorpe, in this vol. p. 348, note.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 497
eare, the lord chamberlen saide to my lord cardinall, "Sir, they
confesse," quoth he, " that among them there is such a noble
personnage, whome if your grace can appoint out from the rest,
he is content to disclose himselfe, and to take and accepte your
place, most worthely." With that the cardinall, taking a good
advisement among them, at the last quoth he, " Me seemeth the
gentleman with the black bearde should be even he." And with
that he rose out of his chaire, and offered the same to the same
gentleman in the blacke bearde, with his cap in his hande. The
person to whom he offered then his chaire was sir Edward
Neville6, a comely knight of a goodly personnage, that much
more resembled the kings person in that maske, than any other.
The king hearing and perceiving the cardinall so deceived in his
estimation and choice, could not forbear laughing, but pulled
down his visor, and Mr. Neville's also, and dashed out such a
pleasant countenance and cheare, that all the noble estates there
assembled, perceiving the kinge to be there amongst them,
rejoiced very much. The cardinaU eftsoones desired his highnesse
to take the place of estate, to whome the king answered, that he
would goe first and shifte his apparell ; and soe departed, and
went straighte into my lord cardinalls bed chamber, where was a
great fire prepared for him ; and there newe apparelled him with
riche and princely garments. And in the time of the kings
absence, the dishes of the banquette were cleane taken up, and
the table spreade againe with newe and cleane perfumed cloathes ;
every man sitting still untill the kings majesty with all his maskers
came in among them againe, every man newly apparelled. Then
the king tooke his seate under the cloathe of estate, comanding
every person to sit still, as they did before. In came a newe
banquette before the king's majesty, and to all the reste through-
Muttering. Shakspeare and others draw a distinction between whispering
and rounding. "They're here with me already, whispering, rounding."
Winter's Tale, act i. sc. 2.
c Sir Edward Neville.] He was third son of George, second lord Aberga
venny, and was one of Henry's choice friends and companions, partaking
alike of the king's pleasures and campaigns, if such they can be called. He
partook also of the fate which1 attended other of Henry's friends, for he was
indicted as a favourer of Reginald Pole, and was attainted and beheaded on
Tower Hill on the 9th Jan.1 1538. He is the direct ancestor of the earl of
Abergavenny and of the Nevilles of Bilhngbear, now represented by lord
Braybrooke. VOL. I. K k

498 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
out all the tables, wherein, I suppose, were served two hundred
divers dishes of wonderous costly devises and subtilties. Thus
passed they forthe the nighte with banquetting, dauncing, and
other triumphant devises, to the great comforte of the kinge, and
pleasaunt regarde of the nobility there assembled.
All this matter I have declared largely, because ye shall under
stande what joy and delight the cardinall had, to see his prince
and soveraigne lorde in his house, so nobely entertained and
placed, which was alwaies his only study, to devise things to his
comforte, not passing upon the charges or expenses. It delighted
him so much, to have the king's pleasaunt and princely presence,
that nothing was to him more delectable, than to cheare his sove
raigne lorde, to whome he owed so much obedience and loyalty ;
as reason required no lesse, all things well considered.
Thus passed the cardinall his time forthe, from daye to daye,
and yeare to yeare, in such great wealthe, joye, and triumphe,
and glory, having alwaies on his side the king's especiall favor ;
untill fortune, of whose favour no man is longer assured, than she
is disposed, began to waxe somethinge wrothe with his pros
perous estate. And for the better meane to bring him lowe, she
procured Venus, the insatiate goddess, to be her instrument;
who brought the kinge in love with a gentlewoman, that, after
she perceived and felt the king's goodwiU towards her, how glad
he was to please her, and to graunt all her requeste, wrought the
cardinall muche displeasure ; as hereafter shall be more at large
declared. This gentlewoman was the daughter of sir Thomas
Bulleine knight, being at that time but only a batchelor knight,
the which afterwards, for the love of his daughter, was promoted
to high dignities 7. He bare at diverse severall times for the most
parte all the great romes of the king's household, as comptroller,
and treasurer, and the like. Then was he made viscount Roche-
forde ; and at the last created earle of Wiltshire, and knight of
the noble order of the Garter ; and, for his more increase of
7 To high dignities.] Knight of the king's body and governor of Norwich
castle (3 Henry VIII.). Ambassador to the emperor (4 Henry VIII.).
Ambassador in France (11 Henry VIII.). Ambassador to the emperor (13
Henry VIII.). Treasurer of the household and ambassador to Spain (14
Henry VIII.). K. G. 1523. Created viscount Rochford (18 June, 17 Henry
VIII. 1525). Ambassador to France (19 Henry VIII.). Created earl of
Wiltshire and Ormond (8 Dec, 21 Henry VIII. 1529). Lord Privy Seal (24
Jan. 1530). He was again ambassador to Charles V. He died in 1538.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 499
honor and gaines, was made lorde keeper of the privy seale, and
one of the chiefest of the king's counsell ; thus continued he,
untill his sonne and daughter began to fall into the king's high
indignation and displeasure. The king during his favor fantased I
soe much his daughter, that almost all things began to growe out /
of frame.
To tell you howe the king's love began to take place, and what
followed thereof, I will doe even as much as I know to declare to
you. This gentlewoman was commonly called Mistress Anne
Bulleine. She being but very young 8, was sent into the realme
of Fraunce, and there made one of the french ' queene's women,
continuing there untill the french queen died. And then was she
sent for home againe ' ; and being againe with her father, he made

8 Very young.] "Not above seven years of age, anno 1514." MS. Twysd.
The above is taken from a small fragment of this Life, which has been very
recently printed, from a MS. in the handwriting of Sir Roger Twysden,
bart., in the margin of which fragment a few notes occur, from the pen of
the same eminent antiquarian.
1 One of the french.] " It should seeme by somme that she served three in
France successively; Mary of England maryed to Lewis the Twelfth an. 1514,
with whome she went out of England, but Lewis dying the first of January
following, and that queene (being) to returne home, sooner than either Sir
Thomas Bullen or some other of her frendes liked she should, she was pre
ferred to Clauda, daughter to Lewis XII. and wife to Francis I. then queene
(it is likely upon the commendation of Mary the dowager), who not long
after dying, an. 1524, not yet weary of France, she went to live with Mar
guerite, dutchess of Alancon and Berry, a lady much commended for her
favour towards good letters, but never enough for the Protestant religion then
in the infancy — from her, if I am not deceived, she first learnt the grounds of
Protestant religion ; so that England may seem to owe some part of her
happyness derived from that lady." — MS. Twysd.
2 Sent for home againe.] " Cavendish says that she returned after the
death of Clauda, which happened on the 20th July, 1524. Spelman
(p. 2) makes her remain in the family of the duchess of Alencon, who quitted
France in September, 1525, and was married to the nominal king of Navarre
in 1527. It is plain that neither of these dates can be correct. Herbert
assures us (and appeals for the assertion to ' our records') that she returned
to England in 1522, 'at the same time when our students at Paris were
remanded' (pp. 46 and 122). Fiddes informs us that Francis complained to
the English ambassador, that ' the English scholars and the daughter of Sir
Thomas Boleyn should return home' (p. 268). The cause of her recall ap
pears in the ' State Papers.'
" Lord Surrey, to put an end to the dispute between the Butlers and the
Boleyns, had suggested to Henry that the son of Sir Piers Butler should
K k 2

500 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
such meanes, that she was admitted one of queen Katherine's
women ; among whome, for her excellent gesture and behaviour,
she did exceU all other ; in so much that the kinge began to grow
enamoured with her 3 ; which was not known to any person, ne
scantly to her owne person.
Nowe was at that time the lorde Peircie 4, sonne and heire of
the earle of Northumberlande, attending upon my lord cardinaU,
and was his servaunte ; and when it chaunced the said lorde
cardinaU at any time to repaire unto the courte, the lord Percie
would resorte then for his pastime into queen Katherine's cham
ber, and there would he fall in dalliance among the maides, being
at the last more conversante with Mrs. Anne BuUeine, than with
any other, so that there grewe such a secrette love betweene them,
that at the length, they were insured together5, intending to
marry the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn (St. Pap. ii. 5). The plan was
approved by Henry after some hesitation ; and the Cardinal by his order un
dertook to bring about the marriage (ib. i. 91). The editors of the State
Papers suppose that the daughter in question was Mary Boleyn, because
Anne was in France at the date of Wolsey's letter, Nov. 1521. But they
were not aware that Mary was married nine months before, and that of course
the proposal could apply to no one but Anne. The dates also correspond.
Wolsey undertook the negotiation in November, and the order for Anne's
return reached Paris in the beginning ofthe next year." Lingard, vi. Ill, 112.
Mary Boleyn was married on the 31st Jan. 1521, to William Carey, gentle
man of the Privy Chamber.
3 To grow enamoured with her.] His passion for her endured nearly ten
years before he attained his wishes. It arose certainly not later than the
summer of 1 523, when she was sixteen years old ; she was not created mar
chioness of Pembroke till Sept. 1, 1532, nor crowned as queen till Easter,
1533. Lingard (vi. 113) says, " the king's passion for Anne must have begun
at the latest in the summer of 1526, probably much earlier." Lingard
had forgotten that by fixing the date of Percy's marriage in 1523-4, he had
proved it to be much earlier.
4 The lorde Peircie.] Henry Algernon Percy, who at the death of his father,
in 1527, became sixth earl of Northumberland. He married Mary, daughter
of George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury. By his death without issue, shortly
after the attainder and execution of his brother sir Thomas Percy in 1537,
the title of Northumberland became extinct until it was revived as a dukedom
by Edward VI. in 1551, in favor of John Dudley, earl of Warwick, the son
of that Dudley who was attainted with Empson. In two short years he was
attainted and executed, and in 1557 the son of sir Thomas Percy was restored
to the family honors and estates. Whilst reading the eventful history of Wol
sey, it is well to note the chequered fortunes of the other actors on the scene.
5 Insured together.] This expression, unless the author himself were mis
informed, must not be extended to imply an absolute pre-contract. For lord

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 501
marrye. The which thinge when it came to the king's know
ledge, he was therewith mightily offended. Wherefore he could
no longer hide his secret affection, but he revealed 6 his whole dis
pleasure and secrets unto the cardinall in that behalfe ; and willed
him to infringe the assuraunce, made then betweene the saide lord
Peircie and Mrs. Anne BuUeine : in somuch as, the cardinall,
after his retourne home from the courte to his house in West
minster, being in his gallery, not forgetting the king's commande
ment, called then the saide lord Peircie unto his presence, and
before us his servauntes, then attending upon him, saide unto
him thus.
"I marvaile not a little," quoth he, "of thy folly, that thou
wouldest thus entangle and ensure thyselfe with a foolish girle
yonder in the courte, Anne BuUeine. Doest thou not consider
the estate that God hath called thee unto in this worlde ? For
after thy father's death, thou art most like to inherit and enjoye
one of the noblest earledomes of this region. Therefore it had
bene most meete, and convenient for thee, to have sued for the
consent of thy father in that case, and to have also made the
King's Highness privy thereof, requiring therein his princely
favor, submitting thy proceedinge in all such matters unto his
Highness, who would not only thankfully have accepted thy sub
mission, but would, I am assured, have provided so for thy pur
pose therein, that he would have advaunced thee much more
nobly, and have matched thee according to thine estate, and
honor, whereby thou mightest have growne so by thy wise beha
viour in the king's high estimation, that it should have beene
much thine advauncement. But now see what ye have done,
through your wilfulness. You have not only offended your father,
but also your loving soveraigne lorde, and matched your selfe with
one, such as neither the king, nor your father will be agreeable to
the match. And hereof I put thee out of doubt, that I will
send for thy father, and at his coming, he shall either breake this
Herbert, in his Life of Henry VIII., p. 448, has published an original letter
from this nobleman, then earl of Northumberland, written in the year 1536,
a short time before queen Anne's suffering, in which he denies any such
contract, in the mo3t solemn terms.
6 He revealed.] This must have been in the summer of 1523. It was
not till the end of 1527, after the departure of Montmorency, that Wolsey
was astounded by Henry's information that he intended to marry Anne
Boleyn.

502 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
unadvised bargaine, or else disinherit thee for ever 7. The king's
majesty himselfe will complaine to thy father on thee, and require
no lesse than I have saide ; whose Highnesse intending to have
preferred Anne BuUeine unto another person8, wherein the kinge
hath already travelled, and being almost at a pointe with the same
person for her, although she knoweth not it, yet hath the kinge,
most like a politique and prudent prince, conveied the matter in
such sorte, that she, upon his Grace's motion, will be, I doubt
not, right glade, and agreeable to the same." " Sir," quoth the
lorde Piercie all weping, " I know nothing of the king's pleasure
herein, for the which I am very sorry. I considered I am of good
yeares, and thought myselfe sufficient to provide me a convenient
wife, whereas my fancy served me best, not doubting but that my
lorde my father would have bene right well contented. And
although she be but a simple maide, having but a knight to her
father, yet she is descended of right noble bloud and parentage.
As for her mother, she is nigh of the Norfolke's bloud ; and as for
her father, he is descended of the earle of Ormond, being one of
the earle's heirs generall. Why should I then, Sir, be any thing
scrupulous to matche with her, whose estate and descent is equall
with mine, even when I shall be in most dignity ? Therefore I
most humbly require your grace of your favor herein ; and also to
intreat the king's majesty most humbly on my behalfe, for his
princely favor in this matter, the which I cannot forsake." " Loe
Sirs," quoth the cardinall unto us, " ye may see what wisdome is
in this wiUfuU boies heade. I thought when thou heardest me
declare the king's pleasure and intendment herein, that thou
wouldest have relented, and put thyselfe and thy voluptuous acte
wholly to the king's will and pleasure, and by him to have been
ordered, as his grace should have thought good." " Sir," quoth
the lorde Piercie, " so I would, but in this matter I have gone so
far, before many worthy witnesses, that I know not how to dis-
7 Disinherit thee for ever.] This threat, coupled with blighted love, must
needs have embittered Percy's feelings towards Wolsey ; and when we know,
in addition, that his forced marriage with lord Shrewsbury's daughter was
unhappy, it seems strange that Fiddes, in his Life of Wolsey, should charge
Northumberland with ingratitude for taking part in the cardinal's arrest.
8 Unto another person.] Meaning the son of sir Piers Butler. Wolsey
evidently wished lord Percy to believe that the king's displeasure arose simply
from Percy's wish to marry a person inferior to himself, and who was des
tined for another. Percy's answer and lord Northumberland's rebuke imply
the same.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 503
charge my selfe and my conscience." " Whie, thinkest thou,"
saide the cardinall, " that the king and I know not what we have
to doe, in as weighty a matter as this ? Yes (quoth he), I warrant
thee. But I can see in thee no submission to the purpose."
" Forsothe, my lord," quoth the lord Peircy, " if it please your
grace, I will submit myself wholly unto the king's majestie, and
to your grace in this matter, my conscience being discharged of
the weighty burthen thereof." " Well then," quoth the cardinall,
" I will send for your father out of the North ' partes, and he and
we shall take suche order in this matter as shall be thought by
the king most convenient. And in the meane season, I charge
that thou resort no more into her company, as thou wilt abide the
king's indignation." And therewith he rose up, and went his way
into his chamber.
Then was the Earle of Northumberland sent for in the king's
name, who upon the receit of the king's letters, made all the
spede that he could unto the king, out of the north. At his
comyng, first he made his resorte unto my lord cardinall, as most
commonly did all other noble personages that were sent for in
such sorte, at whose hands they were advertised of the cause of
their sending for. But when the earle was come to my lord, he
was brought incontinent unto him in his gaUery*- After whose
meeting my lord cardinall and he were in secret communication a
long space. And after their long talke, and drinking of a cup of
wine, the earle departed. And in going his way, he sat down at
the galleries ende in the halfe pace upon a forme that was stand
ing there for the wayter's ease. And being there set called his
sonne unto him, we standing before him, and said thus in effecte
unto him. " Sonne," quoth he, " even as thou art, and aUwaies
hast bin a proude licentious disdainfuU and a very unthrifty waster2,

1 Out of the North.] Northumberland had been appointed, shortly before,
warden ofthe whole Marches, an office which he soon resigned. On or about
the 20th of October in 1523 he joined Surrey, who was then levying a force
against the duke of Albany. Albany made his sudden retreat before Surrey
on the 3rd November following.
2 Unthrifty waster] "This earl hath been called ' Henry the unthrifty.'"
. . . . " But when he found the attainder of his brother and his family un
avoidable (in 1537), in the last moments of his life he bequeathed all his
estates to the king, probably by the wise forecast of some eminent lawyers,
by whom he appears to have been directed (from his own letters), in order
that the great family estates, being vested in the crown, might be capable at

504 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
so hast thou now declared thyselfe. Wherefore what joy, what
comforte, what pleasure or solace shall I conceive of thee,
that thus without discretion hast misused thyselfe, having neither
regard unto me thy naturall father, nor unto thy naturall sove
raigne lorde, to whom all subjectes loyall beare faithfull obe
dience ; ne yet to the wealth of thine owne estate, but hast so
unadvisedly assured thy selfe unto her, for whome thou hast pur
chased the king's highe displeasure, intolerable for any subject
to sustaine ? And but that his grace doeth consider the lightness
of thy head, and wilful qualities of thy person, his displeasure and
indignation were sufficient to cast me and all my posterity into
utter ruine and destruction. But he being my singular good and
favorable prince, and my lord cardinall my good lord, hath and
doeth clearely excuse me in thy leaud fact, and doeth rather
lament thy lightness, than maligne me for the same ; and hath
devised an order to be taken for thee ; to whom bothe thou and I
be more bound than we be able weU to consider. I pray to God
that this may be unto thee a sufficient admonition to use thy selfe
more wisely hereafter : for that I assure thee, if thou doest not
amend thy prodegallity, thou wilt be the last earle of our house.
For of thy naturall inclination thou art disposed to be wastefuU
and prodigall, and to consume all that thy progenitors have with
great travaile gathered and kept together with honor. But having
the king's majesty my singular good and gracious lord, I trust, I
assure thee, so to order my succession, that ye shall consume
thereof but a little. For I doe not entend, I tell the truth, to
make thee mine heire ; for, thanks be to God, I have more boies,
that I trust wiU prove much better, and use themselves more like
unto wise and honest men : of whome I wiU chuse the most
likely to succede me. Nowe good masters and gentlemen," (quoth
he unto us,) " it may be your chaunces hereafter, when I am
deade, to see these things that I have spoken to my sonne prove
as true as I spake them. Yet in the meane season, I desire you
all to be his friends, and to teU him his fault, when he doeth
amisse, wherein you shall shew yourselves friendly unto him.
And here " (quoth he), " I take my leave of you. And sonne,
go your waies in to my lorde your master, and attend upon him,
according to thy duty." And so he departed, and went his waye
downe the hall into his barge.
some future period of being restored to his heirs, in which expectation he
was not disappointed." Collins, by Brydges, ii. 314.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 505
Then after long consultation and debating in this the lord
Percies late assurance, it was devised that the same should be
infringed, and dissolved, and that the lord Piercy should marry
one of the earle of Shrewsburies daughters. And so he did
indeede after all this 3 ; by meanes whereof the former contract
was dissolved ; wherewith Mistress Anne BuUeine was greatly
offended, promising if it ever lay in her power, she would worke
much displeasure to the cardinall ; as after she did in deede. And
yet was he not in blame altogether ; for he did nothing but by
the king's devised commaundement. And even as my lord Piercy
was commanded to avoide her company, so she was discharged of
the courte, and sent home to her father for a season ; whereat
she smoked : for all this while she knew nothing of the king's
entended purpose.
But ye may see, when fortune beginneth to lower, how she can
compasse a matter of displeasure by a faire fetche. For nowe,
marke the grudge howe it began, that in processe of time wrought
the cardinalls undoing. — 0 Lorde, what a God art thou ! that
workest thy secrets so wonderfully, that they be not perceived till
they be brought to passe and finished. Marke this story following, .
good reader, and note every circumstance, and then shalt thou
espy at thine eye a wonderf ull worke of God, against such persons
as forget God and his great benefits ! Mark therefore, I say, and
consider them well !
After these my lord Percies troublesome matters brought unto
3 And so he did indeede after all this.] " We know not the exact date of the
marriage of the young Percy to Mary Talbot : but I possess the copy of a
letter from the earl of Surrey to lord Darcy, 'scribbled the 12th day of
September,' in the year 1523, in which lord Surrey, having stated that he
forwarded to him a letter from the cardinal, adds — 'the marriage of my
lorde Percy shal be w' my lorde steward's doghter, wherof I am right glade,
and so I am sure ye be. Now the cheff baron [John Fitzjames] is with my
lorde of Northumberland to conclude the marriage.' We may therefore safely
infer that it took place about the end of 1523 or the beginning of 1524: another
proof that the historians who place the return of Anne in the year 1527 are
in error." Lingard, vi. 112. "Nor did the marriage prove happy, for she
was delivered of a dead child ; nor had ever any issue that survived. And in
the latter part of his life, he lived in a state of separation from her : drooping
with a broken constitution, till the execution of his brother, and the attainder
of his family, seem to have put an immediate end to his life, for he died (30
June, 1537) in the very same month in which his brother was executed."
Collins, by Brydges, ii. 313.

506 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
a good stay, and all things done that before were devised, Mistress
Anne BuUeine was revoked unto the court, whereas she florished
after in great estimation and favour ; having allwaies a privy
grudge against my lord cardinall, for breaking of the contract
made betweene my lord Peircy and her, supposing that it had bin
his devised will and none other, nor yet knowing the kings secret
mind thoroughly, who had a great affection unto her, more than
she knewe. But after she knewe the kings pleasure, and the
bottom of his secret stomacke, then she began to looke very
haughty and stoute, lacking no manner of Jewells, or riche
apparrel, that might be gotten for money. It was therefore
judged by and bye through the court of every man, that she
being in such favour, might worke masteries with the king, and
obteine any suite of him for her friend.
All this while, she being in this estimation in all places, it
is no doubt but good queene Katherine, having this gentlewoman
dayly attending upon her, both hearde by reporte, and sawe with
her eyes4, how it framed against her good ladyshippe : although
she shewed neither unto Mistress Anne BuUeine, ne unto the
king, any kinde or sparke of grudge or displeasure ; but accepted
all things in goode parte, and with wisdome and great pacience
dissimuled the same, having Mistress Anne in more estimation
for the kings sake, than she was with her before, declaring her
4 Both hearde by reporte, and sawe with her eyes.] It is clear that for how
ever long a time Katharine may have suspected or known of Henry's love
for Anne Boleyn, she was ignorant until shortly before Wolsey's embassy to
France in 1527 of his intention to institute measures for a divorce from her
self. On the 1 5th July secretary Knight writes to Wolsey that " Francoise
Phihp, Spagniard, server unto the quene " desired to go to Spain, but that
the queen refused him leave. Henry believed this refusal to be feigned,
gave him leave and safe conduct, desiring Wolsey to do the same; but
Knight adds : — " His pleasure ys, and allso he desireth and prayeth your
grace to use such policie, as notwithstanding any salve conduct that the
said Philip shall obteigne, ether by your graces meanes, or any other of the
Frensh king, he may be let, empesched, and deteigned in sum quartier of
Fraunce, so that it be not in any wyse knowen, that the said lett, arrest, or
deprehension, should cum by the king, by your grace, or any of the kinges
subgectes. The kinges highnesse doith perceyve, that the queene is thoonly
cawse of this mannys goyng into Spaigne, as he that is and hath bene allways
prive unto the quene his affaires and secretes." St. Pap. i. 215. This was
probably an attempt on the part of Katharine to communicate with the em
peror her nephew on the subject of the intended divorce.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 507
self'?, to be a very perfect Grisell 5, as her patient actes shall
hereafter more evidently to all men be declared.
The king waxed soe farre enamoured with this gentlewoman,
that he knewe not how much he might advaunce her. This per
ceiving the great lordes of the counsell, who bearing a secret
grudge against my lord cardinall, for that they could not rule for
him, as they would, in the world, because he bare all the stroake
with the king, and ruled as well the great lordes, as all other
meane subjects, they took an occasion to invent a meane to
bringe him out of the kings estimation, and themselves into more
authority of rule and governaunce. After long and secret con
sultation amongst themselves, howe to bringe this malice towards
the cardinall to effect, they knew right well that it was very
difficile for them to doe it directly of themselves. Wherefore
they perceiving the great affection and love that the king bare to
Mistress Anne BuUeine, supposing in their fantasies that she
should be for them an apt instrument to bring their long desired
intents to passe, consulted often with her in this matter. And
she having bothe a very good wit, and also an inward grudge and
displeasure unto my lord cardinall, was alwaies agreeable to their
requestes, as they were themselves. Wherefore there was no
more to doe, but only to imagine any occasion to worke their
malice by some presented circumstance. Then were there dayly
invented among them diverse imaginations and subtle devises,
how the matter should be brought about. The enterprize thereof
was so dangerous, that though they would fain have attempted
the matter with the king, yet they durst not ; for they knewe the
great zeal that the king bare to the cardinall, and also they feared
the wonderful wit of the cardinall. For this they knewe very
well, that if the matter that they should propose against him
were not grounded upon a just and urgent cause, the kings favor
was such towardes him, and his wit suche withall, that he would
with pollicy vanquish all their purpose and travaile, and then
lye in a-wait to worke them an utter destruction and eversion.
They were compelled, all things considered, to forbeare the
enterprize untU they might espy a more convenient time and
occasion. And yet the cardinall, espying the great zeale that the king
6 Perfect Grisell] See Chaucer, Clerk of Oxenford's Tale, which is founded
^on an incident first told by Boccacio, and afterwards by Petrarca.

508 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
had conceived in this gentlewoman, ordered himselfc -to ple.astf'as
weU the king as her, dissimuling the matter that lay hid in his
breast, and prepared great banquettes and high feastes to enter
taine the kinge and her at his owne house. And thus the world
beganne to grow to wonderfull inventions, not heard of before
in this realme. Love betwixt the king and this gorgeous lady,
grewe to such a perfection, that diverse imaginations were
imagined, whereof I leave here to speake, untiU I come to the
place where I may have more occasion.
Then 6 began a certaine grudge 7 to breake out betweene the
French king and the duke of Bourbonne, insomuche as the duke,
being vassaile to the house of Fraunce, was compeUed for the
safeguard of his life to flee and forsake the country, doubting
the king's malice and indignation. The cardinall, having intelli
gence of the case chaunced betweene them, compassed in his
head, that if the king our soveraigne lorde could obtain him to be
his general in the warres against the French king, with whome
the king our master had an occasion of warres, and considering
further that the duke of Bourbon was fled unto the emperor, to
invite him to like purpose : wherefore he having this imagination
in his head thought it good to move the king in the matter.
And after the king was once advertised hereof, and conceived the
cardinall's invention, he dreamed more and more in the same,
untill at the last it came to a consultation amongst the council, so
that it was concluded that an embassaye should be sent to the
emperor about this matter ; with whom it was concluded that the
king and the emperor should join in those warres against the
French king, and that the duke of Bourbon should be our
soveraigne lordes champion and general in the field, who had a
great nomber of good souldiours, over and besides the emperors
army which was not small ; and that the king should paye unto
6 Then.] In 1523.
7 A certaine grudge.] Arising from the intrigues of Louise of Savoy,
duchess of Angouleme, the king's mother, whose advances were slighted
by the duke, and who in revenge deprived him by an unjust process of law,
as he believed, of his estates. Bourbon considered himself not only aggrieved
but affronted, an indignity which he could not brook. Brantome relates,
that in reply to the king's message, demanding from him the sword of con
stable of France and his order, the duke answered, "For the constable's
sword, — it was taken from me at Valenciennes, when the king gave the com- ,
mand of the van, which was my right, to the duke d' Alencon ; for the order,— '
I left it hanging at my bed's head at Chantel le Chatel." , $¦

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 509
the duke monthly wages8, both for himselfe and his retinue. In
so muche as Sir John Russel, who was after made earle of Bed-
forde, lay continually beyond the seas, in a secret place, both to
receive money of the king, and to paye the some monthly
unto the duke. So that the duke began the warres with the
French king in his owne territory and dukedome, which the king
had confided in his owne hands 1 ; it being not perfectly knowne
unto the dukes enemies, that he had any ayde of our soveraigne
lord. And thus he wrought the French king much displeasure
and trouble, in so much that the French king was constrained to
prepare a puissant army, and in his own person to resist the
dukes power. And with force the king drave him to take Pavia,
a strong town in Italy, with his host, for their security ; whereas
the king encamped him wonderously strong, intending to enclose
the duke within this towne, that he should not issue forth. Yet
notwithstanding the duke would and did many times issue forth,
and skirmishe with the king.
Nowe let us leave the king in his campe before Pavia, and
retourne to the lord cardinall, who seemed to be more French
than Imperiall2. — But howe it came to passe, I cannot declare
s Monthly wages.} 100,000 crowns a month, or else to make a powerful
diversion in Picardy. The first month only was paid, and an expedition set
on foot against France. Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, headed a force of
13,000 men, which, joined with the Imperialists, took Bouchain, Bray,
Montdidier, Roye, and advanced within forty miles of Paris, but retreated
rapidly to Calais on the approach of the duke of Vendome and the Sire de la
Trimouille at the head of a superior force.
1 Owne hands.] The constable Bourbon also laid siege to Marseilles, but was
obliged to retire.
2 More French than Imperiall.] " For great and reasonable causes." See the
private article, dated 18 Nov. 1525, following the treaty of the Moore (p.
512. note).
Wolsey had been greatly disappointed at the end of 1521, when Leo X.
died. He hoped to have been chosen pope, but Adrian Florent, the tutor of
Charles V., was elected. At the death of Adrian VI. in 1523, Wolsey's
hopes were renewed, and he looked for the Imperial interest : either it was
withheld, or was not strenuously exerted on his behalf; for Giulio de' Medici
was elected pope as Clement VII. It is certain that Wolsey strongly re
sented this, and his after enmity against Charles V. was bitter. It sometimes
even broke out in words. "His majestie [the emperor Charles V.] seyd
allso that your grace hath namyd hym to be a lyar, observing no maner off
feith or promesse, my lady Margarete a ribawde ; Don Fernando, his brodyr,
a childe, and so governid ; the duke off Burbon a creature. And this re
porte was browghte be Monsr. de Bewreyne, now called Monsr. de Rieux, at his

510 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
unto you : but the French king lying in his campe, sent secretly
into England a privy person, a very witty man, to entreat of a
peace betweene the king of Fraunce, and our soveraigne lord.
This person was named John Jokin 3, who was kept as secretly
last being in England. When he desired eyde off the kings highnesse for
Monsr. de Burbon of ij. c. ma. ducats ffor his entree into Burgendie, afftir
the presence off the Ffrence king in Italia, then he seyd, that your grace aun-
sword that the kings highnesse had othir things to doo with his money, than
to spend it ffor the pleasor off such iiij. personages, expressing the forseyd
words." (Letter from the bishop of London (Cuthbert Tunstall), Sir Rd.
Wingfield, and Dr. Rd. Sampson, Engl. Ambrs. in Spain. Dat. Toledo, 2 June
(1525). Ill Ellis, ii. 12.) The battle of Pavia, which placed Francis I. as a
captive in the emperor's hands, rendered it no longer necessary for that mo
narch to court Wolsey as before ; and Wolsey himself had been gained over
by Giovanni Gioacchino di Passano, and had bound his fortunes in the
French alliance.
What the opinion of the emperor was, may be judged by the indignant
answer which he returned to Thomas Benolt, Clarencieux Herald, who, in
Jan. 1528, carried Henry's defiance to him. Charles sums up Wolsey's
conduct for two or three years, and adds : " en ce cas auroit plus juste cause
sa majeste de faire la guerre au dit roy vostre dit maistre, quelle foy, quelle
religion, quelle conscience, quel honneur il auroit devant ses yeulx, et
donneroit assez a, cognoistre l'intention qu'il auroit eu de bailler sa fille en
mariage a sa majeste, s'il tendoit a la faire bastarde, combien que sa ma
jeste ne peult, comme est dit, bien croire qu'il se laissast conduire a, chose de
si mauvaise exemple, s'il n'estoit par sinistre ou mauvaise information du car
dinal d' York, lequel par son ambition et cupidile, et pour ce que sa majeste
n'a voulu employer son arme'e d'ltalie a faire le dit cardinal pape par force,
comme luy avoitfait reque~rir par lettres de sa main, ny satisfere a son orgueil,
ambition et convoitise, s' est plusieurs fois vante" qu'il mettroit les affaires de sa
majeste" en tel brouillis, qu'il ne fut veu telle brouillerie en cent ans, et le
brouilleroit de sorte qu'il s'en repentiroit, encoires que le royaume d'Angletet-re
se deust perdre, que se ainsi estoit que le dit roy se laissast conduire a. croira
le mauvais conseil du dit Cardinal, ce seroit le vray chemin pour y parvenir, \
et seroit le vray brouillis qu'il y avoit mis, qu'il ne sauroit apres appaiser.
Et par toutes les justifications avant dictes, lesquelles Dieu qui est le juste
juge, et cognoist les cueurs d'hommes, pourra myeulx considerer que les
aultres, et espere sa majeste que la divine clemence ne luy fauldra a, sa justice
et a la defension de sa juste cause, comme a fait du passe : et puis qu'il
cognoist ceux qui ont bonne inclination a la paix, ne fait a doubter que en
son temps il le baillera a. ceux qu'ils seront de bonne voulunte et proteste sa
majeste devant Dieu et tout le monde que tous les maulx, dommages et
interests que des dites guerres se pourront ensuyr, soient a la coulpe et
charge de qui en est cause." Le Grand, iii. 45.
3 John Jokin.] Of Giovanni Gioacchino de' signori di Passano very little
is as yet known by English writers, although the transactions in which he was
engaged are of importance to our history. There is no doubt that he was a

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 511
as might be, no man having intelligence of his repaire ; for he
was no French-man borne, but an Italian, a man of no great
great agent in the change of Wolsey's policy, and that he was the means of
much secret communication between the cardinal and Francis, as well as
between the cardinal and Louise of Angouleme, Francis' mother. So far
from being a mere adventurer, G. G. di Passano was the head of a noble
family of Genoa, various members of which had filled high offices in that
republic. In 1512 he himself had been engaged by the state to negotiate a
reconciliation between Pope Julius II. and the duke of Urbino ; and soon
after, when Ottaviano Fregoso was made doge of Genoa, Passano was nomi
nated captain general of the galleys. He was then sent to Rome to forward
the elevation of Innocenzo Cibo to the purple, and by the pope he was ap
pointed captain of the papal galleys. He was taken prisoner in an engage
ment with the Turks, and thereby lost both of his naval commands. On his
liberation he was employed in a military capacity, and took the fortress della
Lanterna at Genoa, which had been built by Louis XII. to overawe the city.
He afterwards distinguished himself under that monarch in the campaign of
1515, having, with 4000 men under his command, besieged and taken Ales
sandria. In 1516 and 1518 he entered into politics, being sent by the repub
lic of Genoa as ambassador to Francis I., to justify their acquisitions in the
war. His negotiations during this period of his life have been printed at
Casale. He gave such satisfaction to Francis, that he conferred on him the
barony of Vaux in Dauphiny (which was afterwards erected into a marquisate
for his son), and also gave him an augmentation to his arms, viz. Azure a lion
crowned, and in chief three fleurs de lis, or. Francis invariably addressed him
by the title of Sieur de Vaulx. Another change soon took place in Passano's
fortunes ; for the Adorni obtained the chief power in Genoa. Fregoso was
deposed from the ducal dignity and imprisoned ; and, consequently, Passano's
functions in France ceased. He was, however, taken into Francis' own ser
vice, made master of the household to Louise of Savoy, the king's mother,
and " sent secretly into England," and as a " merchant-man," in the latter
part of 1 524, to make Wolsey " more French," and to work in favor of Francis,
then about to invade Italy. On his return to France he was appointed com
missary-general, and was on his way to the army in Italy, when he was de
tained at Lyons by Louise : whilst he was there, the battle of Pavia took place.
Passano was again sent secretly to England, and as on his own account, by
Louise, now regent of France, during her son's captivity. He succeeded in
his negotiations with Wolsey, and Brinon was sent to join him in June, when
Passano assumed his proper character as an accredited envoy. The treaty of
the Moore was concluded on the 30th August, 1525. Passano did not then
stay long in England, but he was anew accredited in March, 1526, and he
remained until, in conjunction with Grammont (bishop of Tarbes), Turenne, and
Le Viste, he had concluded the treaty of the 30th April, 1527. He then
returned to France, and was one of the negotiators with Wolsey for the treaty
of Amiens, in August, 1527. Later in that year, whilst Lautrec (Odet de
Foix) was in command of the French forces in Italy, Passano was sent as
Francis' commissioner to the pope, and was created count of Carinola. After

512 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
estimation in France, or knowne to be much in his master's
favor, but to be a merchant-man, and for his subtil wit elected to
intreat of suche embassage as the French king had given him in
commission. This Jokin was secretly conveyed unto Richmond,
and there remained tiU the cardinaU resorted thither unto him,
where, after Easter term was ended, he kept his feast of Whit-
sontide4 very solemnely. In which season my lord cardinall
caused divers times this Jokin to dine with him, who seemed to
be bothe witty, and of good behaviour. Thus continued this
Jokin in England long after, until at laste, as it should seeme, he
had brought to passe5 the matter he had in commission. After
this there was sent out immediately restraint unto sir John
Russell °, into those partes where he made his abiding beyound
the seas, that he should retaine that monthes wages still in his
handes, (untiU the king's pleasure were to him knowen) which
should have bin paide unto the duke of Burbon, being then
with his retinue encamped within the towne of Pavia ; for want
whereof at his day, the duke and his men were sore dismaide,
when they sawe there was not money brought, as it was wont to
be. And being in so dangerous a case, and where victuals began
to be scant, and very deare, they imagined many waies what
should be the lett. Some sayd this, and some sayd that ; so
that they mistrusted nothing lesse than the very cause thereof.
much employ in Italy, where he declined to accept a cardinal's hat, which is
said to have been asked for him both by Henry and Francis, he was again
accredited in February, 1530, as ambassador to England, where he remained
till 1534, when he finally returned to France. The city of Genoa, to which
he had been a great benefactor, erected a statue to him in his life time, and
high testimonies of honor were paid to him by others. He died in 1551,
aged 86.
4 Whitsontide.] Easter-day was April 1 6th, Whitsunday June 4th, 1525.^
s Brought to passe.] Embodied in six treaties, signed on the 30th August,
1525, at the Moore, near Rickmansworth, where Wolsey then resided, by
Jean Brinon, seigneur de Villaynes, premier president of the parhament of
Rouen, and G. G. de Passano, seigneur de Vaux, on the part of the regent of
France, Louise of Savoy ; and by Wolsey, Norfolk, and others, on the part of
Henry. These treaties were ratified by Francis on the 27th December. A
private article, dated 18th November, 1525, bound the regent to pay to
Wolsey the arrears of the pension of 12,000 frs., assigned to him in 1518, as
indemnity for the loss of the bishopric of Tournay, and in addition the sum
of 100,000 crowns of gold " for great and reasonable causes."
6 Russell.] See a long letter from Russell to Henry VIII. in Sir Henry
Ellis's Original Letters, second series, vol. i. p. 297.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 513
In so much as at the last, what for want of victuaUs and other
necessaries, which they could not get within the towne, the
souldiers and captaines began to grudge and mutter ; and at the
last, for lack of victualls, were like all to perish.
The souldiers, being in this extremity, came before the captaine,
the duke of Bourbonn, and saide, " Sir, we must be, of very
force and necessity, constrained to yield us up to our enemies.
And better it were for us so to doe, than to starve like dogges."
When the duke sawe their extremities, he said unto them with
weeping eyes, " Sirs," quoth he, " ye are bothe valiant men and
of noble heartes, who have served me here right worthily. And
for your necessity, whereof I am participant, I doe not a little
lament it. But I shall desire you, as ye are noble in heart and
courage, so to take pacyence for a day or twaine ; and if succour
come not then from the king of England, as I doubt nothing that
he will deceive us, I will well agree, that we shall all put ourselves
and our lives into the mercy of our enemies :" wherewith they
were all agreeable. And tarrying and expecting the coming of
the king's money, untill the terme of two daies was past, the
duke seeing no remedy, called his noble captaines and soul-
diours before him, and weeping saide, " Ye noble men and
companions, I see no remedy in this necessity, but either we
must yield us unto our enemies, or else famishe. And to
yeald the towne and ourselves, I know well the misery of
our enemies. As for my part I passe not for their cruelties,
for I knowe very well I shall suffer death most cruelly, if I come
once in their hands. It is not for my selfe therefore that I
doe lament ; but it is for your sakes ; it is for your own lives, and
safeguard of your persons. For so that ye might escape the
daunger of enemies hands, I would gladly suffer death. There
fore, good companions and noble souldiors, I shall require you
all, considering the dangerous misery and calamity that we stand
in at this present, to sell our lives most dearely, rather than to be
murdered like beastes. If ye will be agreeable, we will take upon
us this night to give our enemies an assault, and by that meanes
we may either escape, or else give them an overthrow. And
thus it were better to die in the field like men, than to live
as prisoners in captivity and misery." To the which they all
agreed. Then quoth the duke, " Ye perceive that our enemies campe
is stronge, and that there is no way to enter upon them but one,
vol. i. L '

514 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
and that entery is so planted with great ordinance, and strength
of men, that it is not possible to attaine to our enemies that way
to fight with them in their campe. And also, now of late ye
perceive they have had but small doubt of us, insomuch that they
have kept but very slender watch. Therefore my device shaU be
this. There shaU issue out of the towne, about the dead time of
the night, from us a nomber of you that be of the most likeliest
to assault their campe ; and they shall give the assault right
secretly, even directly against the place of the entry, which is
very stronge and invincible. Your force and valiant assault shaU
be to them of the campe so doubtfull, that they will torne their
strength of the entry that lyeth over against your assault, to
beate you from your purpose. Then will I issue out of the pos-
terne gate, and come to the place of their strength newly turned,
and there, or they be ware, wiU I enter and fight with them in
their campe, and winne their ordinance, which they have newly
turned, and beat them with their own pieces. And then may
you come and joine with me in the field." This device pleased
them wondrously well. Then prepared they aU that day for the
purposed device, and kept them secret and close, without any
noise or shot of pieces in the towne, which gave their enemies
the lesse feare of the assault, but at night went to their tentes,
and couched quietly, nothing mistrusting that which after hap
pened to them.
When the time came that all men were at rest, the assailants
issued out of the towne, and there, according to their appoint
ment, they gave so cruel and fierce assault, that they in the
campe had as much to doe as was possible to resist them ; and
even as the duke declared before to his souldiers, they within
were compeUed to turne their shot, that lay at the entry, against
the assailants. With that issued out the duke, and with him
about fifteen or sixteen thousand men or more, secretly in the
night, his enemies being not privy of his coining until he was
entered the field. And at his entry he took aU the ordinance
that lay there, and slew the gunners. Then he charged the
pieces against his enemies, and slew them wonderfully. He cut
down the tents and pavilions, and murdered many within them,
or they were ware of his coming, suspecting nothing lesse than
his entry ; so that he won the field or ever the king could arise
to the rescue ; insomuch as the king was taken in his lodging or
ever he was harnessed. And when the duke had obtained the

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 515
field, and the French king was taken, and his men slaine, his
tents were roobed and spoUed, which were wonderous riche.
And in the spoUe, and search of the king's coffers, the duke
Bourbonn found the league, under the great seale of England,
newly made betweene the king of England and the French king :
which once perceived by him, he began to smeU the impediment
of his money, which should have come to him from the king.
Having upon the due search of the matter further intelligence,
that aU the matter was devised by the cardinaU of England, the
duke conceived such an indignation hereupon against the cardi
nal!, that he went incontinent unto Rome, and there intended to
sack the towne, and to have taken the pope : where, at the first
assault of the waUes, the duke was the first man that was there
slaine7. Yet, notwithstanding his captaines continued their
assault, and at the last the towne was taken, and the pope fled
unto the castle of AngeU 8, where he continued long in calamity.
I have written this history more at large, because it was
thought the cardinaU was the chiefest occasion of aU this mis
chief. Wherefore ye may perceive that whatsoever a man doeth
purpose, be he prince or prelate, yet notwithstanding God dis-
poseth aU things at his wUl and pleasure. Wherefore it is great
foUy for any wise man to take upon him any weighty enterprize
at his owne wit, without calling upon God for his grace and
assurance in aU his doings and proceedings.
I have seen that princes when they would either caU a parha
ment, or any other great assembly, that they would first most
reverently caU to God for his grace therein. And now I see the
contrary. As it seems they trust more to their owne wit and
will, than they doe to God's grace, and even thereafter doe their
matters often times take successe ; whereof not only in this
history, but also in divers others may be perceived right evident
examples. And yet I see no man almost in authority or high
estate regarde the same ; the which is the greater pity, and the
more to be lamented. — Nowe here I leave to shew any more of
this matter, and wUl procede to others.
Upon the taking of the French king * many consultations and
divers opinions were then devised among the councU. Some held
7 Slaine.] Benvenuto Cellini says that his hand fired the shot which killed
the duke. Memoirs translated by Nugent, i. 120.
8 Castle of Angell.] See note to p. 408 of this volume.
9 The French king.] The battle of Pavia was fought Feb. 24, 1525.
Ll 2

516 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
opinion that if the king our soveraigne lorde would invade the
realme of France, he might easily conquer the same l, insomuch as
the king with the most part of the nobility of Fraunce were in
captivity. Some sayd againe that the king our master ought to
have had the French king prisoner, for as much as he was taken
by the kings champion and generaU captaine the duke of Burbonn,
and not the emperor. So that the same moved the king to take an
occasion of war against the emperor, because he kept the French
king out of his possession, with divers other imaginations and
devices, even as their fantasies served them, which were too long
here to be rehearsed : but I leave it to the chroniclers that write
stories. Thus were they in long consultations, whereof every man in the
courte had talked as their fantasies served them ; untiU at the
last it was devised, by meanes of divers ambassadors 2 sent from
the realmes of Fraunce unto the king our soveraigne lord, to

1 Conquer the same.] " I have heard that when the people be commanded to
make fires and tokens of joy for the taking ofthe French king, divers of them
have spoken that they have more cause to weep than to rejoice thereat. And
divers, as it hath been shewn me secretly, have wished openly that the French
king were at his liberty again, so as there were a good peace, and the king
should not attempt to win France, the winning whereof should be more charge-
ful to England than profitable, and the keeping thereof much more chargeful
than the winning. Also it hath been told me secretly, that divers have
recounted and repeated what infinite sums of money the king's grace hath
spent already in invading France, once in his own royal person, and two other
sundry times by his several noble captains, and little or nothing in comparison
of his costs hath prevailed; insomuch that the king's grace at this hour
hath not one foot of land more in France than his most noble father had,
which lacked no riches or wisdom to win the kingdom of France, if he had
thought it expedient." Archbishop Warham to Wolsey, in Hallam's Const.
Hist of England, i. 21. (4to. ed.)
2 Ambassadors.] Jean Brinon and Giov. Gioach. di Passano were then am
bassadors in England, but this treaty, concluded 30th April, 1 527, was the
result of a special mission from Francis, consisting of Gabriel de Gramont,
bishop of Tarbes, Francois de la Tour, vicomte de Turenne, Antoine le Viste,
premier president of the parliament of Paris, and G. G. di Passano. The
chief negotiator was Gramont, who, according to Henry VIII.'s own statement,
first, and at this time, infused doubts into his mind of the validity of his mar
riage with Katharine, by questioning the legitimacy of Mary. Gramont's
letters, some of which may be seen in Le Grand, are in the Bibliotheque du
Roi, at Paris. An account of the embassy, written by Claude Dodieu,
seigneur de Vely, secretary to the ambassadors, is preserved in the British
Museum.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 517
take order with the emperor for the French kings deliverance, as
his high wisdome could think best, wherein my lord cardinaU
bare a great stroke ; so that after longe deliberation and advice
taken in this matter, it was thought good by my lord cardinall,
that the emperor should deliver the French king out of his warde
upon sufficient pledges. Then was it, upon his advice, thought
meete that the kings two sonnes, that is to say, the Dolphin 3
and the duke Orleance, should be delivered in hostage for the
king their father ; which was in conclusion brought to passe.
After the kings delivery out of the emperors bondage 4, and
his sonnes received in hostage for the emperors and the kings
our soveraigne lordes security of all such demaunds and requestes
as should be demaunded of the French king, as weU as by the
emperor as our soveraigne lorde, the cardinall, lamenting the
French kings calamity, and the popes great adversity, who yet
3 Dolphin, &c.J Francis, the dauphin, who was poisoned by Montecuculli
in 1536, and Henry, duke of Orleans (who was afterwards Henry IL). On
the death of his elder brother Francis, Henry became dauphin, and the duke
dom of Orleans devolved upon Charles, duke of AngoulSme.
4 Out of the emperors bondage.] He entered his own territories 17th of
March, 1526. The arrival of Francis is thus described in a letter from Dr.
John Taylor, then ambassador in France, written to Cardinal Wolsey from
Bayonne, 18th of March, 1526. "Please it your grace to understand
that the xv day of March, very late in the evening by torch-light, my Lady
Regent came into Bayonne, and was received with great triumph of gunshot.
On the morrow after dinner I spake with her, and she desired me to have
patience for ii or iii days, she was in such great anxiety for the sending forth
of the dauphin and his brother, and for great desire to see the king her son,
that she could attend to no other thing. But she assured me that as soon as
the king was come, Mons. Joachyn should be despatched into England. The
xvii day the dauphin and his brother were delivered into the hands of the
Spaniards upon a bridge upon the river, called Andaye, betwixt Fontarabia
and St. Jean de Luz, and betwixt ii and iii of the clock the same day the
king was received into Bayonne with much shot of ordnance. Without the
town a quarter of a mile I was accompanied with the chancellor (Du Prat)
and many other spiritual men, by the command of my lady, and there abode
the coming of the king ; and after that the chancellor had saluted the king,
he shewed to him that I was the orator of England, the king took me in his
arms, whom I saluted in this manner : ' Christianissime rex, ex parte sere-
nissimi regis Anglice, defensoris fidei, domini mei potentissimi, ego congratulor
tua majestati in suum regnum salvo redilui; plura dicturus loco et tempore
magis opportunist His grace, with very favorable countenance, said how he
would more at large speak with me, and he would never forget the goodness
that he had found in the king's highness." — Ellis's Original Letters, 2nd
series, vol. i. p. 331 . The orthography is here modernized.

518 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
remained in the castle Angell, either as a prisoner or else for his
defence against his enemies, travailed all that he could 5 with the
king and his council to take some order for the quietness of
them bothe. At laste, as ye have hearde here before, how divers
of the great estates and lordes of the council, with my lady Anne
lay but in a-wait to espy a convenient time and occasion to take
the cardinall in a brake, they thought it now a necessary time to
cause him to take upon him the kings commission to traveU
beyond the seas in this matter, and by his high wit to compasse
\ a perfect peace among these great princes and potentates ; and
encouraging him thereunto alleged, that it was more meete for
his high wit, discretion and authority, to bring so weighty a
matter to passe, than any other man within this realme. Their
intent was none other but, if they might, to get him from the
king out of the realme ; then might they sufficiently adventure,
by the helpe of their chief mistress, to deprave him unto the
kings highness, and so in his absence to bring him in displeasure
with the king, or at the least to be of lesse estimation. — Well !
what wiU you have more ! This matter was so handled that the
cardinall was commanded to prepare himselfe to this journey ° ;
which he toke upon him ; but whether it were with his good will
or no, I am not able well to tell you. But this I knowe, that he
made a short abode, after the perfect resolution thereof, but
caused all things to be prepared onward toward his journey. And
every one of his servants were appointed that should attend upon
him in the same.
When all things were concluded, and for this noble ambassage

6 Travailed all that he could.] These intrigues, in which the cardinal bore
so large a part, did not redound to the glory of his country. Our merry
neighbours even then had begun to make our diplomatic inferiority the sub
ject of their sport and ridicule. William Tindall, in his Practice of Popish
Prelates, referring to these events, tells us, " The Frenchmen of late dayes
made a play or a disguising at Paris, in which the emperour daunsed with the
pope and the French king, and weried them, the king of England sitting on
a hye bench, and looking on. And when it was asked, why he daunsed not,
it was answered, that he sate there, but to pay the minstrels their wages onely :
as who should say, wee paid for all mens daunting." — Tindall's Works,
p. 375. a.d. 1572.
6 To prepare himselfe to this journey.] The instructions to Wolsey, who was
appointed in form ambassador extraordinary to France on the 18th of June,
are printed in the " State Papers," vol. i. p. 191, and are followed by much
of the correspondence which took place during his mission.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 519
provided and furnished, then was there no more to doe but
avaunce forwardes ' in the name of God. My lord had with him
such of the lordes and bishoppes and other worthy persons as
were not of the counsel or conspiracy.
Then marched he forwarde from his owne house at West
minster through aU London, over London Bridge, having before
him a great number of gentlemen, three in a rank with velvet
coates, and the most part of them with great chaines of gold
about their neckes. And all his yeomen followed him with
noblemens and gentlemens servaunts, all in orange tawny coates,
with the cardinalls hat, and a T and a C, for Thomas Cardinall,
imbrodered upon all the coates, as weU of his owne servauntes,
as aU the rest of his gentlemens servauntes : and his sumpter
mules, which were twentie or more in number. And when aU his
carriages and cartes and other of his traine were passed before,
he rode like a cardinall very sumptuously with the rest of his
traine, on his owne mule, with his spare mule and spare horse,
trapped in crimson, velvet upon velvet, and gilt stirrups, following
him. And before him he had his two great crosses of silver, his
two great pillars of silver, the kings broad seale of England, and
his cardinaUs hat, and a gentleman carrying his valence (otherwise
called his cloak bag) which was made of fine scarlet, altogether
embrodered very richly with gold, having in it a cloake. Thus
passed he forth through London ; as I said before ; and everie
day on his journey he was thus furnished, having his harbingers
in every place before, which prepared lodging for him and his
traine. C"""--
The first journey that he made was two miles beyond Dart-
ford in Kent, unto Sir Richard Wilshires house 8 ; and the rest of
7 Avaunce forwardes.] He took leave of the king, July 3, 1527. Herbert,
p. 205.
8 Sir Richard Wilshires house.] Who had been comptroller of Calais. His
house, Stone Place, was seventeen miles from London, two miles beyond
Dartford, and near Greenhithe. Wolsey slept here on the night of Wed
nesday, July 3, and he was met by Warham, archbishop of Canterbury,
" with whom," he writes to Henry, " after communication had of your secrete
matier, and such other thinges as have been hitherto doon therein, I shewed
him howe the knowleage therof is cumme to the Quenes Grace, and howe
displeasantly she takith it, and what your Highnes hath doon for the staying
and pacification of her ; ... . and soo proceding further with him in com
munication, I have sufficiently instructed him how he shall ordre himself, in
case the Quene doo demaunde his counsail in the said matier : which myn

520 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
his traine were lodged at Dartford, and in the country there
abouts. The next day he marched to Rochester, where he was
lodged in the bishoppes pallace, and the rest of his traine were
lodged in the citty, and in Stroud on this side of the bridge.
The third day he rode from thence to Fevershame, and there
was lodged in the abbey, and his traine in the towne there, and
some in the country there abouts. The fourth day he rode to
Canterbury, where he was encountred with the worshipful of the
towne, and country, and lodged in the abbey of Christ-churche
in the priors lodging. And all his traine were lodged in the city,
where he continued three or foure daies ; in which season there
was the jubilee, and a great faire in the towne, by the reason it
was the feast of St. Thomas their patron. At which very day in
the same abbey there was a solemne procession, wherein my lord
cardinall then went, appareUed in his legantine ornaments with
his hat upon his head : who commanded the monkes and the
quier to sing to litany after this sort, Sancta Maria ora pro
papa nostro Clemente, and in this manner perused the litany
throughe, my lord cardinall kneeling at a stool before the quier
dore, prepared for him with carpets and qusshions. All the while
the monks and their quier stoode in the body of the churche
singing this litany. At which time I sawe my lord cardinall
weepe tenderly, which as I and other tooke it, was for the heavi
ness to see the pope in such calamity and danger of the launce
knightes 9-
The next day I was sent with letters from my lord cardinall
unto CaUice in post, insomuch as I was that same night at Callice.
And at my arrival I found standing upon the piere, without the
advertisement he doth not oonly like, but also hath promised me to folowe
the same accordingly." On the Thursday he lodged at Rochester, where he
was entertained in the palace by bishop Fisher, with whom also he had a
long conference. On Friday, the 5th, he arrived at Feversham, having given
audience on the way to Hieronymus, count of Lasko, envoy from the Way-
wode, John of Zapolia, who claimed the throne of Hungary after the death
of his brother-in-law, Louis IL, and was opposed by the Palatine Stephen
Bathori on the part of Ferdinand of Austria. The Waywode, in order to
strengthen his position, wished to marry Renee of France, the sister-in-law of
Francis. On Monday, the 8th, Wolsey was at Canterbury, which he left on
the 9th for Dover. He arrived at Calais on the 11th. Wolsey's journey for
Henry VII. to Maximilian was made rather more rapidly.
9 Launce knightes.] Lanzen-Knechle, the German men-at-arms, called by
the French Lansquenets.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 521
lanterne gate 1, all the council of the towne, to whom I declared
my message, and delivered my letters or I entered the towne,
where I lay till my lord came there, who arrived in the haven 2
two daies after my coming, before eight of the clocke in the
morning ; who was received with all the noble officers and coun-
cU of the towne, the mayor of the towne, and the mayor of the
staple in procession, the clerkes being in rich copes, and having
many riche crosses. And in the lanterne gate a stool with
carpets and qusshions was set for him, whereat he kneeled, and
made his praiers. All which time they censed him with great
censers of silver, and sprinkled holy water. That done they
passed on before him in procession untill he came to St. Maries
churche, where at the high altar, tourning him to the people, he
gave them benediction and pardon. And then he repaired with
a great nomber of noblemen and gentlemen, being peeres of the
towne, unto a place called the Checquor 4, where he lay after and
kept his house, as long as he abode in the towne : going imme
diately to his naked bed, because he was somewhat troubled with
sickness upon his passage upon the seas.
That night unto this place called he unto him Mons. de Bees 5,
captaine then of BuUen, with a number of other gallant gentle
men who dined with him ; and after some consultation with my
lord cardinaU, he with the rest of the gentlemen departed againe
to BuUen. Thus my lord was daily visited with one or other of
the French nobility.
Then when all his traine and his carryage was landed, and
every thing prepared for his journey, his grace called all his
1 Without the lanterne gate.] The principal entrance from the harbour.
The modern gate, immortalised by Hogarth, was built about 1630 by D'Ar-
gencour, the engineer, who was employed in cardinal Richelieu's time, when
the new enceinte was made. The " Lanthern " was a common appellation
given to one of the gates or towers of a place. We have noticed it at Salt-
wood (see p. 344, note), and at Genoa (see p. 511, note) : in the Tower of
London, one of the towers still retains that name.
2 In the haven.] July 11, 1527. Herbert, 205.
4 The Checquor.] The Exchequer at Calais was a very extensive building,
and had been fitted up a few years before, in 1520, for the reception of
Henry VIII., with his queen Katharine, and Francis I., previous to the
meeting at the field of the Cloth of Gold. A very large plan of " Thes-
chaker," thus prepared, is in the British Museum. No vestiges of the
building now exist.
6 Mons. de Bees.] Oudard du Bies, afterwards a marshal of France.

522 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
noblemen and gentlemen, being servants, unto him into his privy
chamber; where they being all assembled before him, he saide :
" I have called you hither to the intent to declare unto you, that
I consider the duty ye bear unto mc, and the good will that I
semblably beare unto you for the same, seeing your intendment
to further the authority that I have by commission ; which your
diligent service I will have hereafter remember, and therefore I
meane to declare the same directly unto the king ; secondly, to
shew you the nature of the h'ronch men ; and thirdly, to shewo
you how, and with what reverence ye shall use me for the high
honor of tho kings majesty, and then, to inform you howe ye Hhall
entertaine and accompany tho French mon, when ye Hhall meet at
any time. To tho first point, ye shall understand that the kings
majestic, for certaine weighty affairs of his graces, hath for more
advauncement of his royal dignity, assigned me to be in this jour
ney his lieutenant ; and what reverence belongeth to the same I
will tell you. For my parte I must, by virtue of my commission
and of lieutenantship, assume and take upon mc, to be esteemed
in all honors and degrees of service, as to his highness' presence is
meete and due ; and that by mc nothing be neglected, that to his
royal estate is due and appurtenant. And for my parte ye shall
see, that I will not omit one jot thereof. Therefore, because that
ye should not bo ignorant of your duty in this case, is one of tbe
chief causes of this your assembly, willing you as you will havo
my favor, and also charging you all in the kings name;, that ye doo
not forget the same in time and place, but that every one of you
do observe your duty to mee accordingly, as ye will at your
returno avoide the king's indignation, or obtaine and deserve liin
highness' thanks, the which I will set forth, as each of you shall
deserve. " Nowe to the second pointe : The nature of Frenchmen is
suche, that at the first meeting they will be as familiar witli you,
as they had bine acquainted with you long before, and common
with you in their French tongue °, as though you understoodo
0 In their French tongue.] The reader, I think, will be amused with tho
following anecdote (from a very scarce book), sufficiently illustrative of the
present discourse of the cardinal, and, at the same time, very characteristic
of the noble old English spirit of a veteran warrior, of the genuine blood of
the Talbots. It was unquestionably the same George Talbot, carl of Shrews
bury, of whom Cavendish speaks, and who was born in 1471, and died in
1541, set. 70. Who the French ambassador was, is uncertain, but it probably

CARDINAL WOLSKY. 523
ovory wordo ; therefore use thom in liko manner, and bo as fami
liar with thom as they bo with you. If they spcako in their
was Guillaumo du liolluy, seigneur do Langcy, in 1533 ; at the last attempt to
reconcile Henry with Clement VII. Lord Shrewsbury would then be 62.
In 1518 tho admiral Honnivot had brought letters from Leo X., but tho
anecdote would not suit him, nor would the "greato ago" suit tho carl of
Shrewsbury, who was then only 47.
" I will toll you a talo by tho waio which I heard of as wise a manne as
ever ye be liko to be, for ought that yo have yet uttered, and as naturall a
manno to his ooiintroo of Unglando in deede, as yo braggo to bo in wordes,
which otoodo not full twontio footo off, whon the matter was firsto spoken
and uttered.
" It oliaunoed that thoro camo a French amliusNudour to tho kyngos high
nesse, kyng Henry tho eight, (1 trusto God hath his soule I ) with letters, I
ti-owe, from the French kyng, not long before that, sent to hym from tho
holy 1'uthur of Roino. This umhussudour silting at tho counsaile table beganne
to sotlo up a stouto counteiiuuneo, with a weako brainc, and carped French
oxeedingly Caul, whioh ho thought should have bcon his onely sufficient com
mendation of thom all thut woro at tho table, that ho could speake so readily.
The matter of his taiko was universall every where But tho substaunoo was
partly much noting the glnttonio of Knglishmon, which devoured so much
vituile in tho lande ; partly, magnifying tho greato utilitce and necessiteo of
tho I'Yenoh tongue, which ho noted to be ulmosto throughout the world fre
quented. And in his conference, he inarvoilod of diverse noblo men that
woro present, for that thoy could not koopo him talke, or yet could not so
much as understande hym, to porcoive his gaie witto. Among tho number
of Lordes there, satto tho old honourable oupituin the Lordo Erlo of Nhrowes-
bm-ie, lookyrig at his meato, and gave neither oaro nor countenaunce to this
j' 'In- man, hui. gavo other leave to taiko, and sat, us he might, shukyng hcado
unil hands in his palsey, whicho was tostimonie enough whether he were not
in his (hues a wuniour lying abrodo in the liclile to tuko aire of tho ground.
This I'Veneho uuibussadour was offended with hym, und said, ' What an
honour wore it for yonder olde noble man if ho couldo spouko tho Froncho
tonguo ; surely it is a groato lucko to his nobilitie' Ono of the lordes that
kept hym talke, asking firsto leavo of this mon sire to report part of tho
louimunioation to tho Lordo Shrowesburio, made reporte thereof; yet in
most courteous manor, with ousio und favorable rehearsal, as might toueii a
truth. " Whon ho hoard it, whoro before his head by groato ago was almosto gra-
vilyng on tho tablo, ho roused hym solf up in suoho wise that ho appeared iu
length ol' bodie us much as ho was thought ever iu all his life before. And
knittyng his brovvos, ho laid his hands ou his dagger, and sot his countenaunce
in suoho sort that tho l''ronch hardio amhassadour tourncd eolouro wonderfully.
' Suioth tho I'Vonoho whoreson so,' saioth he, 'Mario tell tho Fronoh doggo
iigaino, by sweete sainot Cuthbert, if I knewo that I hud but ono pcstilcnte
I'rcneh woorde in all my bodio, I would take my dagger and diggo it out
before I rose from tho tablo. And tell that tawnie whoreson againo, how-

524 y CARDINAL WOLSEY.
naturall tongue, speake you againe to them in the Englishe
tongue, for if you understande not them no more shall they
understande you." And speaking merrily to one of the gentle
men there, being a Welshman, he saide, "Biche," quoth he,
" speake thou Welche to him, and I doubt not but thy speache
shaU be more diffuse r to him than his Frenche shall be to thee :
and thus," quoth he againe to us all, "let all your enterteinement
and behaviour be according to the order of all gentleness and
humanity, that ye may be reported, after our departure from
hence, that ye be gentlemen of right good behaviour, and of
much gentleness, and that ye are men who knowe the duties to
your soveraigne lorde, and to your master, esteeming much your
great reverence. Thus shall ye not only obtaine to yourselves
great commendation and praise for the same, but also advaunce
the honor of your prince and country.
" Nowe goe your waies being admonished of all these pointes,
and prepare yourselves against tomorrow, for then we intend, Cod
willing, to set forward." And we his servauntes, being thus by
him instructed and informed, departed every man to his lodging,
making against the next day all things in a readinesse to avaunce
forward with my lord cardinall.
The next morning *, being Mary Magdalens day, all things fur-
soever he hath been hunger starved hym self at home in Fraunce, that if
we should not eate our beastes and make vitaile of them as faste as we doe,
they would so encrease beyond measure, that thei would make vitaile of us
and eate us up.'
" When these woordes were repeated again to this French gest, he spoiled
no more vittaile at the dinner after that, but dranke wonderous oft. Whiche
whether it was his countenaunce, because he had left talkyng, or whether
because he was inwardly drie, the reporter of this tale could tell me no fur
ther; but saied that his eye was never off hym, all that dinner while after."
Defence of Priests' Marriages, p. 127 — 9. 4to. black letter.
7 More diffuse.] " Cook. Then answere me, What sayest thou to the
blessed sacrament of the altar ? Tell me.
" Jackson. I answered ; it is a diffuse question, to aske me at the first
dash, you promising to dehver me." — Fox's Acts, p. 1769. See also p. 1574,
" diffuse and difficult."
8 The next morning.] Wolsey arrived at Calais, as we have seen, on
Thursday the 11th of July: he remained there until Monday, Mary
Magdalen's day, the 22nd, when he went to Boulogne; on the 23rd he
went to Montreuil, and on the 24th to Abbeville. He stayed at Abbeville
until Saturday the 3rd of August, when he proceeded to Picquigny, and on
the 4th to Amiens. He was at Amiens for a month : on the 5th September
he was at Compiegne, where he remained until Tuesday the 17th. On

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 525
nished, my lord cardinall advaunced out of Callaise with such a
number of black velvet coates as hath bin seldom sene with an
ambassador. All the peeres of Calaise and Cuines, with all other
gentlemen, besides his traine, being garnished in black velvet/
coates and chaines of gold.
Thus passed he forward with his traine of gentlemen before
him three in a ranke, which by supposall endured three quarters
of a mile or more in length, having his crosses, and all other his
accustomed and glorious furniture carried before him, even as I
have before rehearsed, except the broade seale 9, the which he left
in CaUaise with master doctor Tailor \ then master of the rolles,
untill his returne. Passing thus on his way, and being scantly
ridden a mile, it begane to raine so vehemently, that I have not
seene the like for the time ; which endured untill we came to
BuUen; and ere we came unto Sandingfield, the cardinall of
Loraine 2, a goodly young gentleman, encountered my lord, and
received him with great joye, and reverence, and so passed forthe
with my lorde, in communication, until we came nighe unto the
saide Sandingfield, which is a place of religion standing betweene
the Englishe, Frenche, and Emperor's dominions, being a neuter
holding of neither of them. There awaited for him Le County
Bryan 3, capitaine of Picardie, with a great number of Stradiates
the 21st he was at Boulogne. He arrived at court on the 30th Sept., at
AUington. His despatches to Henry, during his residence in France, will be
found in the "State Papers," vol. i. pp. 235 — 279.
9 Except the broade seale.] In his former embassy Wolsey carried with him
the great seal :
" In the reign of Henry the Eighth the Lord Chancellor appears to have
taken the great seal with him wherever he went, even when he quitted the
realm : but he seems to have possessed the power of entrusting it to another
person for a temporary purpose. Thus, secretary Pace informed Lord Chan
cellor Wolsey, who was at Calais in October, 1521, that the king said Trinity
term might be kept, if he would send home the master, of the rolls with the
great seal for that purpose. (State Papers, vol. i. p. 70.) It being, however,
determined to adjourn the term, in case the plague continued, the necessary
writs were sent to Wolsey, to be sealed and returned to the king. (State
Papers, vol. i. p. 76.)" — Sir Harris Nicolas's Remarks on the Great Seal, pre
fixed to the Proceedings of the Privy Council, vol. vii. Mr. Singer would
seem therefore to be in error, when he says that it was a violation of the laws
to carry the great seal out of the king's dominions.
1 Tailor.] Dr. John Taylor, archdeacon of Buckingham, who himself was
employed by Henry in political negotiations.
2 Loraine.] See note at p. 530.
3 Le County Bryan.] Philippe Chabot, count of Charny, and Buzancois,

526 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
or Arbenois \ standing in aray, in a great piece of green oates all
in harness, upon highe horses, passing on with my lord in a wing
unto BuUen, and so after through Picardy ; for my lord doubted
some-what the emperor that he should lay some ambushment for
to betray him; for which cause the French king commanded
them to attend upon my lordes grace, for the assurance of his
person, to conduct him without daunger of his enemies. Thus
rode he accompanied untill he came nighe BuUen, within an Eng
lish mile, where encountered him the worshipfullest citizens of the
towne of BuUen, having a learned man, that made before him an
oration in Latine, unto the which my lord semblably made an
answer. And that done monsieur de Bees 5, capitaine of BuUen,
with the retinue thereof gentlemen met with him on horseback ;
and then with all his assembly he rode into the towne, lighting at
the abbey gate, and from thence he was conveied with procession
streight into the abbey church there, and offered unto the image
of our Lady, most commonly called our Lady of BuUen, where was
aUwaies great offering. And that done he gave thence his bless
ing to the people, with certaine daies of pardon °. Then went he
/ - >S''^
seigneur de Brion, by which last name he was chiefly known. He was after-'?
wards governor of Burgundy and Normandy, and admiral of France^He
was at the battle of Pavia, was ambassador in England, and made a Knight
ofthe Garter, at Boulogne, in 1532. He died in 1543. His father was the
count of Jarnac, and the family name and title still exist. In 1525, after the
battle of Pavia, he, with Francois de Tournon, archbishop of Embrun, and
Jean de Selve, premier president of the parliament of Paris, had been sent by
Louise, the regent, to Spain, to treat for the liberation of Francis.
The copy of the statutes of the Garter which was sent to him, passed into
the possession of the dues de Montmorency ; from them it was inherited by
the princes de Conde", and it is now in the collection of the due d' Aumale.
4 Stradiates or Arbenois.] Stradiates, from the Italian, stradiotto (orpa-
nuinje), a hired soldier ; a Greek mercenary.
Arbenois is the reading of both MSS., as Arbenoyes is of the York MS. :
but the word is probably a corruption of Albanois, Albanians.
6 DeBees.] Seep. 521.
6 With certaine daies of pardon.] In like manner, we saw, a little above,
that at Calais he gave " benediction and pardon." From a letter to the
cardinal, from Humfrey Monmouth, confined in the Tower on suspicion of
heresy, we may gather what notion was entertained, even by comparatively
enlightened men, of the efficacy of these pardons. "If I had broken most
part of the Ten Commandments of God, being penitent and confessed (I should
be forgiven) by reason of certain pardons that I have, the which my company
and I had graunted, whan we were at Rome, going to Jerusalem, of the holy
father the pope, a poena et a culpa, for certain times in the year : and that, I

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 527
into the abbey into his lodging, and all his traine were lodged
within the highe and base townes.
The next morning, after he had heard masse, he rode unto
Muterell (Montreuil) sur la mer, where he was in like case
encountered with the worshipful of the towne, all in one like
livery, having a learned man to make an oration unto him in
Latine, whom he answered also againe in Latine ; and as he
entered in at the gate, there was a canopy made ready of silke
embroidered with like letters and hat, even as his men had on
their coates. And when that he was lighted his footemen had the
same as a fee due to their office. Nowe was there made divers
pageauntes for joy of his comming, who was called in the French
tongue there, and in all other places through the realme, where
he rode or came Le Cardinall Pacifick, and in Latine Cardinalis
Pacificus, who was accompanied all that night with the gentlemen
of the country there abouts.
The next day he tooke his journey towards Abbeville, where
he was encountered with diverse gentlemen of the towne and
country, and so conveied unto the towne, where he was most
honorably received with pageantes of diverse kindes wittely and
costly conveied at every turning of the streetes as he rode
through the towne, having a like canopy borne over him, being
of more richer sorte than the other was of Mutterell ; and so
brought him to his lodging, which was, as it seemed to be, a very
fair house newly built with brick, and within was all in manner of
galleries, notwithstanding it was faire and necessary. At which
house the French kinge Lewis was married to the kings sister,
which was after married7 to the duke of Suffolk. In this towne
of AbbeviUe he remained more than eight or nine daies, where
resorted unto him daily diverse of the French kings counsell,
sitting with him in counseU every day, and continually feasting
trust in God, I received at Easter last past. Furthermore I received, when
your grace was last at Pawles, I trust in God, your pardon of a poena et a
culpa : the which I believe verily, if I had done never so great offences, being
penitent and confessed, and axing forgiveness, that I should have forgiveness."
Strype's Ecclesiast. Memor. vol. i. p. 248. Appendix. The cardinal had also
a bull granted by pope Leo Xth. a.d. 1518, to give in certain cases and con
ditions plenary remission from all sins. — Fiddes, p. 48. Appendix.
7 Married.] In Oct. 1514. Louis was in his 53rd year, the princess Mary
in her 1 6th year. Within three months Louis died, and three months after
wards the widowed queen was married to her first lover, Charles Brandon,
duke of Suffolk.

528 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
them, and others of the lordes and gentlemen highely, both at
dinners and suppers.
Then when the time came of his departing out of the towne,
he rode to a castle beyond the waters of Some, called the Channel
de Picgeny* standing and adjoyning unto the saide water, upon a
greate hille and rocke, within the which there was a coUedge of
priestes ; the situation whereof was much like unto the castle of
Windsor in England ; and there he was received with a solemn
procession conveying him first into the church, and after into the
castell to his lodging. At this castell sometime9 upon the bridge
that goes over this water of Somme, King Edward the fourthe met
with the French kinge, as ye may read at large in the chronicles
of England.
When my lorde was settled in his lodging, I heard that the
French king should come that day into Amiens, which was not
past six English miles from thence ; and being desirous to see
his comming thither, I toke with me one or two of my lordes
gentlemen, and rode thither incontinent, as well to furnish me
with a convenient lodging, as to see the kinge. And when we came
thither, being but strangers, we tooke up our inne at the signe
of the Angell, directly against the west door of the cathedrall
church de noire Bame. After we had dined there, and tarried untill
three or four of the clock, expecting the king's coming, in came
the dame regent, the king's mother *, riding in a very riche
chariot ; and with her therein was the queen of Navarre 2, her
8 Picgeny.] Picquigny, near Amiens.
9 Sometime.] On the 2nd of August 1475, Edward IV. and Louis XI.
concluded, at Amiens, a treaty which they confirmed at Picquigny : they
agreed on a truce for seven years ; a marriage was arranged to take place be
tween the Dauphin (afterwards Charles VIII.) and the princess Elizabeth
of York (afterwards the queen of Henry VII.).
1 King's mother.] Louise of Savoy, duchess of Angoulime. See p. 508.
2 Queen of Navarre.] Margaret de Valois, daughter of Louise, and sister of
Francis I. She was born in 1492, and in 1509 married to the due d'Alencon,
who was killed in 1525 at the battle of Pavia, when Francis was taken prisoner.
The loss of her husband did not prevent her going in the same year to Spain to
plead with Charles for her brother's release. In this she was unsuccessful.
On the 24th Jan. 1527, she was remarried, in her 35th year, to Henri d'Albret,
king of Navarre. There can be no truth in what has been said by some,
amongst whom is Fuller in his Church History, that it was proposed by Wolsey
for her to marry Henry. It is probable however that some vague report was
current as to Henry's dissatisfaction with his marriage, and that rumours
were abroad as to another queen. Indeed some such supposition is necessary

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 529
daughter, furnished with a hundred and more of ladies and gentle
women following, every one riding upon white palfreies ; besides
diverse and many ladies, some in riche horse litters, and some in
chariots, who lighted at the next dore with all her traine of ladies
and gentlewomen, besides her garde, which was not small in
number. Then, within two houres after, the kinge came in with
a great shot of gunnes and diverse pageants, made only for joye
of his coming ; having about his person and before him, besides
the wonderfull number of noblemen and gentlemen, three great
guardes apparailed diversely. The first was of Switzers and
Burgonians with gunnes. The second was of Frenchmen, some
with bowes and arrows, and some with billes. The third guarde
pour le corps, was of taile Scots, which were more comlier persons
than all the rest. The French guard, and the guard of the Scots
had one livery, being apparailed with rich coates of white cloth,
guarded with a rich guard of silver bullion of an handful broade.
The king came riding on a goodly genet, and lighted at the saide
great church, and so was conveied with procession into the
bishopps pallace, where he was lodged, and also his mother.
The next morning I rode againe to Pickeney to attend upon
my lorde, at which time of my resorte my lorde was ready to go
to horseback towards Amiens ; and passing on his way, he was
encountered with diverse noble personnages, making unto him
diverse orations in Latine, to whom he made answer againe
extempore, which was very much. Then was worde brought him,
that the kinge was coming to incounter him ; wherefore he had
none other shifte but to light at an old chappell, that stoode
hard by the highe way, and there he new apparailed himselfe
into richer apparaille, and so mounted againe upon a new mule
very richly trapped, with a foote cloathe altogether of crimson
velvet, purled with gold,, and fringed about the edges with gold
fringe very costly, his stirroups of silver and gUt, the bosses of
the same, and the checkes of his mule's bit were all gilt with fine
gold. And by that time that he was thus mounted againe after
in order to reconcile conflicting statements. It has been seen that up to the
time of this embassy, several months after her second marriage, the question of
Henry's divorce had been scarcely broached. Margaret, the Marguerite des
Marguerites of her brother Francis, is unfavorably known by her "Heptameron"
and more favorably by her " Miroir de I'dmepe'cheresse," which has been trans>
lated into English by queen Elizabeth. In the latter part of her life she was
greatly attached to the reformation. She died 21 Dec. 1549.
vol. i. Mm

530 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
this gorgeous sorte, the kinge was come very near, within lesse
than a quarter of an English mile, mustering upon an hill,
his guarde standing in array upon the top of the same hiU,
expecting my lorde's coming ; to whome my lorde made as much
haste as he conveniently might, untill he came within a paire of
butt lengthes, and there staied. The king perceiving that, having
two worthy young gentlemen with him, the one caUed Monsieur
Vadamont, and the other Monsieur de Guise, bothe brethren
to the cardinall of Loraine, and to the duke of Lorain also 3,
being like apparailed as the king was, in purple velvet lined with
cloth of sUver, their coates cut, the king caused Monsieur Vada
mont to issue from him, and ride to my lorde cardinall, to knowe
the cause of his tarrying. And this monsieur, being mounted
upon a faire great genet, tooke his race with his horse, untUl he
came even to my lorde ; and there caused his horse to come
aloft twise or thrise, so nighe my lord's mule, that he was
in doubt of his horse : and with that he alighted, and doing
humble reverence, did his message to my lorde ; and that done,
he mounted againe, and made his horse to doe the same at his de
parting as before he did at his coming, and soe repaired againe unto
the king : and his aunswer ended to the king, the king advanced
forwardes. That seeing, my lorde did the like, and in the mid way
they met, embracing each other with amiable countenaunce and
entertainement. Then drewe into the place all noblemen and gentle
men on bothe parties, with wonderful cheere made one to another,
as though they had bine of an old acquaintance. The prease4 was
such and so thicke, that divers had their legges hurt with horses.
Then the king's officers cried, liMarche, marche, devaunt, allesde-
vauntr And the king, and my lord cardinaU on his right hand, rode
forth towardes Amiens, every Englishe gentleman accompanied
with an other of France. The traine of these two princes endured
two longe English miles, that is to say from the place of their
encountry unto Amiens ; whereas they were very nobly received
with shot of gunes and costly pageantes, until the king had
3 To the duke of Lorain also.] The four brethren were, Antoine, duke of
Lorraine, who married Renee de Bourbon, and continued the fine of the
reigning dukes ; Claude, duke of Guise, who married Antonie de Bourbon,
and was the progenitor of that family which so long troubled France ; John,
cardinal of Lorraine, who died in 1550; Louis, count of Vaudemont, who
was killed at the siege of Naples in 1528.
4 Prease.] Press, crowd.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 531
brought my lord to his lodging, and then departed for that night,
the king being lodged in the bishoppes palace. And the next
day after dinner, my lord rode with a great traine of English
gentlemen and noblemen unto the court to the king, at which time
the king kept his bed, yet nevertheless my lord came into his
bed chamber, where on the one side of his bed sate the king's
mother, and on the other side the cardinaU of Loraine, accom
panied with divers other gentlemen and noblemen of France.
And after a short communication, and drinking a cup of wine
with the king's mother, my lorde departed, and retourned againe
to his owne lodging, accompanied with diverse gentlemen and
noblemen, where they supped with him. Thus continued my
lorde and the king in Amiens for the space of two weekes and
more, consulting and feasting each other diverse times. In Amiens
then was the king and my lorde at masse, the which received
bothe the sacrament. And upon our Ladies day the Assumption,
my lorde saide masse before the Regent and queene of Navarre,
and gave them the sacrament. And there the king dressed a
number of sicke folkes5.
Then it was determined that the king and my lorde should
remove, and so they did, to a towne or citty caUed Campaigne,
which was more than twenty " English mUes from Amiens ; unto
the which towne I was sent to prepare my lord's lodging. And
as I rode on my journey, being a Friday, my horse cast a shoe
in a little village', where stode a faire castell. And as it
chaunced there dwelt a smithe, to whome I commanded my
servant to resorte, to shoe my horse, and standing bye while my
horse was a shoeing, there came to me a servant of the castell,
perceiving me to be an Englishman and one of my lorde legates
servauntes (as they then called my lorde,) requiring me to goe
into the castell to my lorde his master, who he thought would be
very glad of my company. To whom I consented, because I was
alwaies desirous to see and to be acquainted with strangers, and
in especiall with men in authority, and of honourable estate, soe
I went with him : who conducted me into the castell, and, at my
first entry, I was among the watch men that kept the first warde,
6 Dressed a number of sicke folkes.] The Assumption was 15th August,
when Francis performed the usual ceremonies.
6 Twenty.] Compiegne is about forty English miles from Amiens.
7 Little village.] Moreuil, about twelve miles from Amiens and nine miles
from Montdidier.
m m 2

532 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
being very taU men and comely persons. They saluted me very
reverently, and knowing the cause of my comming, desired me to
stay myselfe untill they had advertised my lorde their master ;
and soe I did. And incontinent the lorde of the casteU came
out unto me, who was called Monsieur Croky 8, a nobleman born,
and nighe of king Lewis's bloud, which was the last king before
king Fraunces that then reigned. And at his coming he embraced
me, saying that I was right hartely welcome, and thanked me
that I so gently would visit him and his casteU, saying unto me
that he was preparing him to encounter the king and my lord,
to desire them the next day to come to his castell, if he could so
intreat them. And in-deede he was in his riding coate of black
velvet, with a paire of ermine shoes of black velvet on his feete,
with a pair of gilt spurres, ready to ride. Then tooke he me
by the hand, and most gently led me into his castell through
an other warde. And being once entered within the castle,
within a base courte, I sawe all his family and servauntes in
goodly order, all in blacke gownes and coates, like mourners, who
led me into his hall which was hanged with haU hookes 9 upon
the walles, as thicke as one could hange by an other ; and in the
haU stode an hawkes pearche with three or foure faire goss
hawkes thereon. Then we entered into a faire parlour which was
hanged with faire clothes of fine old arras, and being there but a
while, communing together of my lord of Suffolk, how he was
there to have beseiged the same \ his servauntes brought in unto
him bread and wine of diverse sortes. And after we had
drunken of the same, "I will," quoth he, "shewe you the
8 Monsieur Croky.] Jean, sire de Crequi, surnamed the rich, had married
Jossine de Soissons, heiress of Jean de Soissons, prince of Poix, who brought
very large possessions to her husband, and, amongst others, the lordship of
Moreuil. He was governor of Montreuil, through which place Wolsey had
-just passed. It was his uncle, Antoine de Crequi, seigneur de Pontremi, who
: ujjhe ^jey^ous^yjary had so bravely defended Terouane against the united
forces of Henry and Maximilian. The family was long one of the most
illustrious in France.
9 Hall hookes.] Hand-guns. The Harl. MS. 428, has half -hakes; i. e.
axes, from the French hache ; the half-axe being a diminutive, like the half-
pike. 1 Beseiged the same.] Shortly before the peace Charles Brandon, duke of
Suffolk, with Florence of Egmond, the imperial commander, had taken
Montdidier, and other places, and approached within twenty leagues of Paris
itself. See p. 509.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 533
strength of my house, how hard it would have been for my lorde
of Suffolk to have won it." Then led he me upon the walls
which were marvaillous stronge, more than fourteen foote broade
of my feete, and well garnished with great battering pieces of
ordenaunce ready charged to be shot off against the king and my
lord their comming by, if they would not enter, whose way was
laid by the castle.
When he had shewed me all the walles and bullwarkes about
the castle, he descended from the walles, and came downe into a
faire inwarde courte, where his genet stode ready for him to
mount upon, with twelve other of the fairest genets that ever I
sawe, and in especial his owne, which was a mare genet, he
shewed me that he might have had for it four thousand crownes,
to the which I made no aunswer. But upon the other twelve
genets were mounted twelve goodly young gentlemen, called pages
of honour ; they rode all bare headed in coates of cloth of gold,
and black velvet paned, and on their legges bootes of red Spanish
lether, and spurres parcell gilt.
Then he tooke his leave of mee, and commanded his steward
and other of his gentlemen to attend upon me, and conduct me
unto my lady his wife, to dinner. And that done he mounted
upon his genet, and tooke his journey forth of his castle. Then
the steward, with the rest of his gentlemen, led me up to
one of the gatehouses, where then my lady their mistress was
lodged, for the time that the king and my lord should tarry
there. And I being there tarrying a while, my lady Madame Crokey 2
issued out of her chamber into her dining chamber, where I
attended her comming, who received me very gently like her
noble estate, having a traine of twelve gentlewomen. And when
she and her traine was come all out, she saide unto me, " For
as much," quoth she, " as ye be an Englishman, whose custome
is to kisse 3 all ladies and gentlemen in your country without
2 Madame Crokey.] See note at p. 532.
3 Whose custome is to kisse.] Erasmus appears to have been singularly
delighted with this Enghsh custom. " Quanquam si Britannise dotes satis
pernosses, Fauste, nse tu alatis pedibus hue accurreres ; et si podagra tua non
sineret, Dadalum te fieri optares. Nam ut e pluribus unum quiddam
attingam. Sunt hie nymphse divinis vultibus, blandee, faciles, et quas tu tuis
Camsenis facile anteponas. Est praiterea mos nunquam satis laudatus : Sive
quo venias omnium osculis exciperis ; sive discedas aliquo, oseulis dimitteris :

534 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
offense, although it is not soe here with us in this realme, yet I
wiU be so bould as kisse you, and so ye shaU doe aU my maides."
By meanes whereof I kissed her and aU her maides. Then
went she to her dinner, being as nobly served as I have seene
here any in England, having aU the dinner time pleasant commu
nication of the usage of our ladies and noblemen of England, and
commended the behaviour of them right excellently : for she was
with the king at Arde *, when the great encounter was between
the French king and the king our soveraigne lorde : At which
time she was, bothe for her person and goodly behaviour, ap
pointed to keepe company with the ladies of this realme. To be
short, after dinner pausing a little, I tooke my leave, and so
departed on my journey ; and by reason of my tracting of time
in castle Crokey, I was constrained that night to lye in a waUed
towne caUed Mondedri 5 and in Latine Mons desiderii, the suburbs
whereof my saide lorde of Suffolk had lately " burned.
And earely in the morning I rode to Campaigne, being Sat-
terday, and market day ; where at my first comming I toke up
my inne against the middest of the market place, and being set
at dinner in a faire chamber, that loked into the streete, I heard a
great rumour and clattering of biUes. With that I loked out of
the windowes, and espied where the officers of the towne brought
a prisonner to execution, and with a sworde stroke off his head.
And when I demaunded what his offense was, it was answered
me, that it was for killing of a red deare in the forest thereby.
And incontinent they had set up the poore man's heade upon a
pole in the market place, between the Stag's Homes ; and his
quarters in foure partes of the forest.
Then went I about to prepare my lorde's lodging, and to see it
redis ? reddunter suavia : venitur ad te ? propinantur suavia : disceditur abs
te ? dividuntur basia : occurritur alicubi ? basiatur affatim : denique, quo-
cunque te moveas, suaviorum plena sunt omnia. Quae si tu, Fauste, gustasses,
semel quam sint mollicula, quam fragrantia, profecto cuperes non decennium
solum, ut Solon fecit, sed ad mortem usque in Anglia peregrinari." Erasmi
Epistol. p. 315. edit. 1642. "It becometh nat therefore the persones religious
to folowe the maner of secular persones, that in theyr congresses and com
mune metyngs or departyng done use to kysse, take hands, or such other
touchings, that good religious persones shulde utterly avoyde." — Whytford's
Pype of Perfection, foi. 213. b. a.d. 1532.
4 Arde.] Meaning the field of the cloth of gold in 1520.
6 Mondedri.] Montdidier.
6 See p. 509.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 535
furnished, which was in the great castle of the towne, whereof
my lord had the one halfe assigned him for his lodging, and the
king the other halfe ; and in like wise they divided a long gallery
between them, where was made in the middest thereof a stronge
wall with a windowe and a dore. The kinge and my lorde would
many times meet at the same windowe and talke, and diverse
times would goe in the one to the other, at the said dore.
Nowe in this castle there was lodged Madame Begent, the
king's mother, and all her ladies and gentlewomen. Then came
there to my lorde the chaunceUor of France \ a very witty man,
with aU the king's grave counsellors, where they toke great paines
dayly in consultation. In so much that I heard and sawe my
lord fall out with the chaunceUor of France, laying to his charge,
that he went about to hinder the league, which was, before his
comming, concluded betweene the king our soveraigne lord and
the French king his master ; insomuch that my lord stomached
him stoutly, and tould him, " That it should not lie in his power
to infringe the amiable friendship. And if the king his master,
being there present, would foUowe his counsell, he shall not faile
shortly after his returne, but feele the smarte, what it is to
mainetaine warre against the king of England, and thereof ye
shall weU be assured." Soe that his stout countenance, and
bould wordes made them aU in doubt how to quiet him, and
revoke him againe to the counsell, who was then departed in
great fury. There was sending, there was coming, there was
intreating, and there was great submission, and intercession made
unto him, to reduce him to his former communication and con
clusion ; who would in no wise relent, untill Madame Begent
came to him herselfe, who handled the matter in such wise, that
she brought him againe to his former estate of communication.
And by that meanes he brought other things to passe, that
before he could not obtaine, which was more for feare, than for
any affection to the matter, he had the heades of the counsell so
under his girdle.
The next morning after this conflict, he rose earely about the
foure of the clocke, and sat him downe to write letters into
Englande unto the kinge, commanding one of his chaplains to
prepare him ready to masse, insomuch that the chaplaine stode
7 ChaunceUor of France.] Antoine du Prat, who was shortly afterwards
made a cardinal.

536 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
ready in his vestures, untill foure of the clocke, at afternoone ;
all which season my Lorde never rose, neither to make water,
nor yet to eat any meate, but continually wrote letters, with his
owne hand, having all that time his night cap, and his cherchief
on his head. And about the houre of foure of the clocke, at
afternoone, he made an end of writinge 8, commanding Christopher
Gunner, the king's servaunt, to prepare him without delay to ride
post into England with his letters, whom he dispatched away or
ever he dranke. And that done, he went to masse, and said his
mattins and other devotions with his chaplaine, as he was aceous-
tomed to doe ; and then went straight a walking in a garden ;
and after he had walked the space of an houre or more, and said
evensong, then went he bothe to dinner and supper aU at once.
And after supper, making but small tarrying, scant an houre, he
went to his bed, there to take his rest for that night.
The next night following my lord caused a great supper to be
made for Madame Regent, and for the queen of Navarre, and
other great estates of ladies and noble women.
There was also Madame Reine 9, one of the daughters of king
8 Made an end of writinge.] This long letter is printed in the St. Pa. i. 266 —
277. 9 Madame Heine.] Renee of France, youngest daughter of Louis XII. and
Anne of Bretagne, and sister of Claude, the deceased queen of Francis. She
was born at Blois in 1510. In 1514, when only four years old, she had been
offered to the archduke Charles, (afterwards emperor) with, as her dowry, the
French claim to the duchy of Milan, which Louis XII. had settled on her by
deed of gift, dated 16 Nov. 1513. This caused Henry VIII. to listen to Lon-
gueville's proposal (see p. 479), that his sister Mary, who in 1507 (see p. 469)
had been engaged to Charles, should marry Louis XII., as she did. Renee
had also been engaged to the Margrave of Brandenburg, and at this time
John Zapolia was soliciting her hand. At the time of this embassy she was
in her seventeenth year : her age, station, wealth, and claims appear to have
rendered her in Wolsey's eyes a fit match for Henry. " Either unapprised of
Henry's intentions in favor of Anne (Boleyn), or persuading himself that the
present amour would terminate like so many others, he looked forward to the
political consequences of the divorce ; and that he might ' perpetuate ' the
alliance between England and France, had already selected, for the successor
of Catherine, Renee, the daughter of Louis XII." Lingard, vi. 114 (on the
authority of du Bellay, bishop of Bayonne, in Le Grand, iii. 166, 168). Lin
gard then adds, " The public had indeed fixed on Margaret, duchess of Alencon,
but the letters to which I have referred show, that if he ever thought of her,
he soon renounced that idea in favor of Rene'e." In a note (D) at the end of
the volume, Lingard adds, however, " these stories, though frequently repeated
by succeeding writers, are undoubtedly fictions." That which in Wolsey's

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 537
Lewis, the last king, whose sister ', lately dead, king Frauncis had
married. These two sisters were, by their mother, inheritors of
the dutchy of Britaine, and for as much as the king had married
one of the sisters, by whome he had the one moitie of the said
dutchy ; to attaine to the other moiety, he kept the saide Madame
Reyne, the other sister, without marriage, to the intent the whole
duchy might discend unto him, or his successors, after her death,
for lack of issue of her.
But now let us return to the supper or rather banquet, where
aU these noble personages were highly feasted ; and at the
middest of the saide banquet, the king with the king of Navarre*,
came sodeinly in upon them, unlooked for, who toke their places
in the lowest parte thereof. There was not only plenty of fine
meates, but also much mirth with solace, as well in merry
communication, as with the noise of my lord's minstrells, who
plaied there aU that night soe cunningly, that the king took
therein great pleasure, insomuche as he desired my lorde to lend
them unto him for the next nighte. And after supper, their
banquet finished, the ladies and gentlemen fell to dauncing ;
amongst whom one Madame Fountaine 3, a maide, had the prize.
And thus passed they the most parte of the night ere they
departed. The next day the king toke my lord's minstreUs and rode to a
nobleman's house, where was some live image to whome he vowed
a night's pilgrimage, to perform his devotion. When he came
there, which was in the night, he daunced, and caused others to
doe the same, after the sound of my lord's minstrells, who plaied
there all night, and never rested, soe that, whether it were with
extreme labour of blowing, or with poisonning, as some judged,
because they were more commended by the king than his owne,
eyes might have rendered Renee a fit match for Henry, would on the other/
hand have rendered Henry a dangerous brother-in-law for Francis. Francis!
therefore forwarded her marriage in 1528 with Ercole d'Este, duke of Ferrara,
whose alliance might be serviceable and could not prove dangerous. Renee
became a zealous partisan of the reformation, first as a Lutheran, then as a
Calvinist. She died in 1575.
1 Whose sister.] Claude, elder daughter of Louis by Anne of Bretagne,
was the first wife of Francis I., to whom, when count of Angouleme, she was
married in 1514. She died in 1524.
2 Henri d'Albret.
3 Fountaine.] Probably one of the daughters of Georges de Bueil, seigneur
de Fontaines.

538 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
or of what other mischaunce, I cannot tell, but the plaier on the
shalme 4, who was very excellent in that kind of instrument, died
within a day or two after.
Then the king retourned unto Campaigne, and caused a wild
boar to be lodged for him in the forrest of Campaigne : and
thither my lorde rode with him, to see him hunt the wild swine ;
where my lady Regent, with a number of ladies and damoselles,
were standing in chariots, loking on the toile, on the out side,
which was pitched there for that purpose ; among whome stoode
my lorde CardinaU, to regarde the hunting, in Madame Regent's
chariot. And within the toile was the king with diverse minion
gentlemen 5 of Fraunce, ready furnished to this high and dan
gerous enterprize, of the hunting of the perrilous wild swine.
The king being in his doublet and hosen, aU of sheepe's colour
clothe, his hosen, from the knee upwarde, were thrummed very
thicke with silke of the same colour ; having in his slip a brace
of great white greyhoundes, who were armed, as the manner is
there, to defend them from the violence of the swines tuskes.
And the rest of the king's gentlemen, being appointed to hunt
this bore, were likewise in their dubblettes and hosen, holding
eache of them in their handes a very sharpe boare speare.
Then the king commanded the kepers to uncouch the boare,
and that every other person within the toile should goe to a
standing, among whom were divers gentlemen and yeomen of
England : and incontinent the boare issued out of his denne, and,
followed with an hound, came into the plaine, where being staied
a while, and gasing upon the people, and incontinent pursued by
the hound, he spied a little bushe standing upon a banke over a
ditche, under the which lay two French gentlemen, and thither
fled, trusting there to have defended himselfe, who thrust his
4 Shalme.] The base cornet. Ps. xcviii. ver. 6. " With trumpets also, and
shawms." Old Vers, in Common Prayer. " With trumpets and sound of
cornets." English Bible. In the Latin vulgate, " Tuba cornea." In a letter
(Calig. B. vi. f. 341.) from Magnus and Ratcliffe to Wolsey, it is said that
Henry VIII's letters were presented whilst 0.. Margaret and James V. were
going to mass amid the music of trumpets and shamulles : and in Cranmer's
letter to Hawkins, (I. Ellis, ii. 37.) describing Anne Boleyn's coronation, he
mentions "tromppets, shambes, etc."
6 Minion gentlemen.] Fr. Mignon, favourite ; originally from the old German Minna :
as used by Cavendish, it means, simply, a young gentleman of the king's court. After
wards, especially in Henry Hi's (of France) time, it was used unfavorably. Some of its
derivatives are still good : mignionette is a sweet flower, and minion type, in which this note
is printed, takes its name from its supposed elegant form.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 539
head snuffing into the same bushe. These two gentlemen fled
from thence, as men doe from the danger of death. Then was
the boare by violence and pursuite of the hunters and the
hounds, driven from thence, who ran straight to one of my lorde's
footmen, a very tall and comely yeoman, who had in his hands an
English javeUine, with the which he was faine to defend himselfe
from the boare, a great while, the boare continually foining at
him with his great tuskes, so that at the last he was faine to
pitche his javelin in the ground betwene him and the boare, the
which the boare brake with his force and foining. And with that
the yeoman drewe his sworde, and stode at his defence ; and
with that the hunters came to the rescue, and put him once
againe to flight. With that he fled to an other young gentleman
of England, called Mr. Ratcliffe, who was sonne and heire to the
lord Fitzwalter, and now earle of Sussex 6, who had borrowed by
chaunce of a French gentleman, a very fine and sharpe boare
speare, and therewith hee thrust the boare into the mouth, and
soe into his throate ; whereupon the sport was ended.
Now shortly after there were divers malicious practises pre
tended against us by the French, who by their theft somewhat
impayred us : whereupon one of them, being a man I was weU
acquainted with, maintained a seditious untruth, openly divulged,
and set forth by a subtile and traiterous subject of their realme,
saying also that he doubted not, but the like had bine attempted
within the king of England his majesty's dominions ; but to see
so open and manifest blasphemy to be openly punished, according
to their traiterous deserts, notwithstanding I sawe but smaU
redresse. This was one of the displeasures that the Frenchmen
shewed him, for aU the pains and traveU he toke for qualifying of
the king their soveraigne lord's ransome.
Also another displeasure was this. There was no place where
he was lodged, after he entered the territory of Fraunce, but
that he was robbed in his privy chamber, either of little things
or great ; and at Campaigne he lost his standishe, which was all
of silver, and gilt : and there it was espied, and the party taken,
which was but a little boy of twelve or thirteen yeares of age, a
ruffian's page of Paris, which haunted my lord's lodging without
any suspition, untill he was taken lying under my lords privy
6 Earle of Sussex.] Henry, the second earl of the Ratcliffe family. His
father Robert, viscount Fitzwalter, was created earl of Sussex in Dec. 1529.

540 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
staires ; upon which occasion he was apprehended, and examined,
and incontinent he confessed all things that he stole, the which
the ruffian his master received, maintained, and procured him soe
to doe. Then after the espiall of this boy, my lord revealed the
same unto the counseU, by meanes whereof the ruffian was
apprehended, and set on the pillory, in the middest of the market
place ; a goodly recompense for such an offense. Also another
displeasure was some lewd person, whosoever it was, had engraved
in my lord's windowe upon the leaning stone there, a cardinall's
hat with a paire of gaUowes over it, in derision of my lord ; with
diverse other unkinde demeanours, the which I omit here to write
them, being so slanderous matters.
Thus passing divers daies in consultation and in other matters,
expecting the return of Christopher Gunner, which was sent into
England with letters unto the king in post, as is before rehearsed,
at the last he returned with letters againe; upon the receipt
whereof my lord made haste to return into England.
In the morning that my lord intended to remove, being then
at masse in his closet, he consecrated the chaunceUor of Fraunce *
a cardinall, and put upon him his habit, his hat, and his cap of
scarlet ; and then toke his journey returning againe into England,
making such necessary expedition that he came to Guines, where
he was nobly received of my lord Sandes, then capitaine there,
with aU the retinue of the same. And from thence he rode to
CaUise, where he tarried the shipping of his stuff, horses and
traine ; and in the meane time he established there a marte, to
be kept for all nations ; but howe longe, and in what sorte it
continued I know not, for I never heard of any great good it did,
or any assembly there of merchants or merchandise, that was
brought thither, for the furniture of so great and weighty a
matter. These things and other for the weale of the towne and garrison
by him perfected and finished, as it was then thought, he tooke
shipping and arrived at Dover, from whence he rode to the court 8,
the king then being in his progress at Sir Henry Wiatt's house,
in Kent 9, of whom I and other of his servauntes thought, that he
should be there highly received at his home comming, as well of
' ChaunceUor of France.] Antoine du Prat.
8 To the court] Sept. 30, 1527. Herbert, p. 210.
9 Sir Henry Wiatt's house, in Kent.] Allington castle, near Aylesford and
Maidstone.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 541
the king as of others of the lordes. But we were deceived in our
expectation. Notwithstanding he went immediately after his
comming thither to the king, with whom he had long talke, and
continued two or three daies there in the court ; and then
returned to his house at Westminster, where he remained until
Michaelmas terme, which was within lesse than a fortnight after,
and exercised his high rome of chauncellorship, as he was accus
tomed. And immediately after the beginning of the terme, he caused \
to be assembled in the Star chamber all the noblemen, judges, and
justices of the peace of every shire throughout England that were
in Westminster hall at that present, and there made to them a
long oration, declaring unto them the cause of the embassage
into Fraunce, and his proceeding there ; amongst the which he
said, " he had concluded such an amity and friendship as never
was hearde of in this realme before, as weU betweene the Empe
ror and us, as also betweene the king our sovereign lord and the
French king, with a perpetuall peace, the which shall be con
firmed in writing eternally, sealed with the broade seales of both
the realmes graven in fine gold 1 ; affirming farther, that the king

1 Graven in fine gold.] " The ratification of this treaty is preserved in the
Chapter House at Westminster. It is written on ten leaves of vellum, signed
by the French king, ' Francoys' and countersigned ' Robertet.' The great
seal of France is appended to it, inclosed in a magnificent box of pure gold:
on the obverse of which Francis is represented sitting on his throne, under a
superb cloth of estate, the curtains of which are drawn back and held open by
two angels, and two smaller angels are assisting to keep them open at the
upper part. Two lions are crouching at the feet of Francis, and form the
footstools to the throne. The whole is surrounded by an inscription, on a broad
border, ' Plurima servantur fcedere, cunctafide.' The reverse has three Fleurs
de Lis on a plain shield (the arms of France) enclosed in the collar of the
order of St, Michael, exquisitely chased, surmounted by the crown, with the
style and titles of Francis, ' Franciscus primus Dei gratia Francorum rex
Christianissimus,' on a border similar to the former. The whole is finely exe
cuted, and is very inadequately, though not inaccurately, represented in
Rymer's engraving, vol. xiv. p. 227. The first page of the manuscript is illu
minated, and, at the beginning, exhibits a miniature of Francis in a suit of
Milan armour, with a surcoat of black, embroidered with gold. At the bot
tom is the Fleur de Lys, on a shield supported by two angels. The sides are
ornamented with birds, flowers, and insects, sustaining a motto on each ; that
of the dexter being ' Nutrisco et extinguo,' that on the sinister ' Extinguo
et nutrisco.' It is altogether one of the most beautiful manuscripts of the
age." St. Pap. i. 275. It may be as well to add that the motto refers to

542 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
shall receive yearly his tribute by that name out of the duchy of
Normandy, with all the costes which he hath sustained in the
warres. And also, where there was restraint made in Fraunce
of the French quene's dowry, whom the duke of Suffolk had
married, for diverse yeares during the warres, it was fuUy con
cluded, that she should not only receive the same again, accord
ing to her just right, but also the arrerages being unpaide during
the restrainte. All which things shall be perfected shortly at the
resort of the ambassadors out of Fraunce. In the which shaU be
such a great number of noblemen and gentlemen to conclude the
same, as hath not bine seen heretofore repaire hither out of one
/ realme. This peace thus concluded, there shaU be such an amity
/ between the gentlemen of each realme, and intercourse of mer
chandise, that it shall seeme to aU men, both territories to be but
\one monarchic Gentlemen may travaile from one country to
another for their recreation and pastime ; then merchaunts, being
in either country arrived, shall be assured to travaile about their
affaires in peace and tranquiUity : so that this realme shaU joye
and prosper for ever. Therefore it shall be well done of aU true
Englishmen to rejoice, and to set forthe the same, at the resort
of this great embassage, both in gesture and intertainement, that
it may be an occasion unto them, bothe to accept the same in
good parte, and also to use you with the semblable, and make of
the same a noble reporte in their countries.
" Now my masters I beseeche you, and require you on the
king's behalfe, that you shewe yourselves herein as loving and
obedient subjects, wherein the king wiU much rejoice at your
towardness." And here he ended his oration, and brake up the
courte, and soe every man departed his several waye.
This great long looked for embassage 2 was now come over with
a great retinue, which were in number eighty persons or above of
the most noblest and worthiest gentlemen in all Fraunce, who
Francis' well-known device of the Salamander, which doubtless figures among
the "insects."
5 Embassage.] The ambassadors were Anne de Montmorency, constable
and grand master of France; Jean du Bellay, bishop of Bayonne (who after
wards was bishop of Paris and cardinal) ; Jean Brinon, seigneur de Villaynes,
premier president ofthe parliament of Rouen ; and Jean, seigneur d'Humieres.
They were attended by a suite of about 600 persons, amongst whom were
many seigneurs and gentlemen. The memorials of this embassy are still
extant amongst the MSS. in the Bibtiotheque du Roi.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 543
were right honorably received from place to place after their
arrivall, and so conveyed through London the twentieth of Octo
ber a.d. 1527, unto the bishoppes pallace there in Paules churche
yarde, whereas they were lodged, or thereaboutes, for the time of
their abode. To whome diverse noblemen resorted and gave
them diverse goodly presents ; and in especiall the mayor and citty
of London, as wine, sugar, waxe, capons, wild fowle, beastes,
muttons, and other necessary things in great aboundaunce, for
the expences of their house. Then resorted they on the Sonday
unto the courte being at Grenewiche, and were there received by
the king's majesty, of whome they were highly entertained. They
had a commission to establish the king's highness in the order of
Fraunce * ; for whom they brought, for that intent, a collar of fine
gold, with the Michaell hanging thereat, and robes to the said
order appurtenant, the which was very comely, of blue velvet, and
richly embroidered, wherein I sawe the king passe into his closet,
and after in the same appareU at masse beneath in his chappell.
And to gratify the French king for his great honour with the
semblable, he sent incontinent a nobleman 4 of the order here in
England with Garter the Herald 5 into Fraunce unto the French
king, to establish him in the Order of the Garter, with a sem
blable collar, with a garter and robes according to the same ; the
ambassadors remaining here untill their retourne.
3 Order of Fraunce.] The order of St. Michael. In the year 1022, king
Robert of France instituted an order called that of the Star, whieh was en
larged by John, king of France, in 1350. This having become common and
somewhat debased, Charles VII., at the last chapter, which was held at
Clichy, in 1456, took his ribbon and badge from his neck and gave it to the
officer of the nightly watch then on duty, calling him in ridicule Chevalier
du Guet. From that time the order died away. In 1469, Louis XI. insti
tuted the order of St. Michael, which also, in its turn, became of little value.
In 1579, the order of the St. Esprit was founded by Henry III., in memory
of his elevation to the crown of Poland and succession to the crown of
France on the day of Pentecost. Those upon whom the order of the
St. Esprit was conferred bore, however, the collar of St. Michael within that
of the higher order, and were called knights of the king's orders. The order
of St. Michael was sometimes given separately to persons of an inferior class.
At the revolution all were abolished, and by Napoleon the Legion of Honor
was founded to replace them.
4 A nobleman.] Thomas Bullen, then viscount Rochford, afterwards created
earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, the father of queen Anne. See p. 498.
5 Garter the Herald.] Sir Thomas Writhe, or Wriothesley, uncle of the
first earl of Southampton.

544 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
AU things being then determined and concluded, concerning
the perpetuall peace upon solemn ceremonies and othes contained
in certaine instruments touching the same, it was therefore deter
mined, that there should be a solemne masse sung in the cathe-
drall church of Paules by the cardinall, the king being present at
the same in his traverse. To the performaunce of their determi
nation, and to the preparation thereof, there was made a gallery
from the west doore of Paule's churche, through the body of the
same, up to the quier doore, railed on every side, upon which
raUes stode swete burning perfumes. Then the king and my lord
cardinall, with their whole traine of noblemen and gentlemen,
went upon the saide gaUery into the quier, and so to the high
aulter unto the travers, my lord cardinaU preparing himself to
sing the masse, associated with twenty four miters of bishoppes,
and abbotes, who attended and served him, in such ceremonies as
to him were then due, by reason of his legatine prerogative.
And after the last agnus ", the king rose out of his travers and
kneled upon a carpett and cushions before the high aulter ; and
the like did the Graunde Master of Fraunce the cheife ambassa
dor, that represented the Frenche king, betwene whome my lord
cardinall divided the blessed sacrament, as a perfect oathe, and
bond of security of the saide covenante of perpetuall peace. That
done, the king resorted againe to his travers, and the Grand
Master to his. This masse being ended, which was solemnly
sung bothe with the quier of the same churche, and with the
king's chappell, my lord cardinall toke and read the instrument
of peace openly before the king and aU other bothe Frenche and
Englishe, and there in the sight of aU the people the king put his
hande to the seale of gold, and subscribed the same with his own
6 After the last agnus.] The book of ceremonies (compiled under the in
fluence of the bishops Gardiner and Tonstall, and in opposition to that of
Cranmer, about the year 1540, and designed to retain in the church many
operose and superstitious rites, by setting them off with the aids of a philo
sophical and subtle interpretation), describing in succession the different
parts of the .canon of the mass, proceeds thus : " Then saith the priest thrice,
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Sec, advertising us of three effects of
Christ's passion ; wherof the first is, deliverance from the misery of sin :
the second is from pain of everlasting damnation ; wherefore he saith twice
Miserere nobis, that is to say, Have mercy on us; and the third effect is,
giving of everlasting peace, consisting in the glorious fruition of God." —
Strype's Ecclesiast. Memorials, vol. i. p. 289. Records. See also Miror of
our Lady, foi. 189, and Becon's Works, vol. iii. foi. 49. a.o. 1564.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 545
hande, and delivered the same to Grand Master as his dede,
who semblably did the like ; and that done they departed.
And the king rode home with my lord cardinall to West
minster, and there dined with all the Frenchmen, passing all the
day after with consultation of weighty matters, touching the con
clusion of the saide articles of the saide perpetuall peace. The
king then departed by water to Greenwiche ; at whose departing
it was concluded by the king's devise, that all the Frenchmen
should resorte to Richmonde and hunt in every of the parks
there, and from thence to Hampton Courte, and therein likewise
to hunt, and my lord cardinall to make there a supper, or a
banquet, or bothe to them ; and from thence they should ride to
Windsor, and there to hunt, and after their retourne againe to
London, to resorte to the king at Greenwiche, and there to
banquet with him before their departure. This determined, they
all departed to their lodgings.
Then was there no more to doe but to make preparation of all
things for this great assembly at Hampton Courte, at the day
appointed. My lord cardinall called before him his principal
officers, steward, treasurer, controller, and the clerkes of his
kitchine, to whom he declared his full minde, touching the enter-
tainement of the Frenchmen at Hampton Courte ; whome he
commaunded neither to spare for any costes, expences or traveU,
to make them such a triumphant banquet, as they may not only
wonder at it here, but also make a glorious reporte thereof in
their country, to the great honor of the king and his realme. His
pleasure to them knowne, to accomplish his commaundement,
they sent out all the caterers, purveyors, and diverse other persons
to my lord's friends to prepare. Also they sent for all their ex
pert cokes, and cunning persons in the arte of cokery, which were
within London, or elsewhere, that might be gotten to beautify
this noble feast.
Then the purveiors provided, and my lords friendes sent such
provision, as you would wonder to have sene. The cokes wrought
both night and day in subtelties and many crafty devises ; where
lacked neither gold, silver, neither any costly thing mete for the
purpose. The yeomen and groomes of the wardrobes were busied in
hanging of the chambers with costly hangings, and furnished the
same with beddes of silke, and other furniture for the same in
every degree. Then my lord cardinaU sent me, being his gentle-
vol. i. N n

546 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
man usher, with two other of my fellows thither, to foresee all
things touching our roomes to be nobly garnished accordingly.
Our paines were not small nor light, but dayly travelling up and
downe from chamber to chamber. Then wrought the joiners,
carpenters, masons, painters, and aU other artificers necessary
to be had to glorify this noble feast. There was carriage and
re-carriage of plate, stuffe, and other riche implements, so that
there was nothing lacking to be devised or imagined for the
purpose. There were also provided two hundred and eighty
beddes, furnished with all manner of furniture to them belonging,
too long particularly here to be rehearsed. But all wise men may,
and doe sufficiently know what belongeth to the furniture thereof,
and that is sufficient at this time to be saide.
The day was come to the Frenchmen assigned, and they ready
assembled before the houre of their appointment. Wherefore
the officers caused them to ride to Hanworthe, a place and a
parke of the king's within three miles, there to hunt and spend
the day untill night. At which time they retourned againe to
Hampton Courte, and every of them was conveied to their seve
rall chambers, having in them great fires and wine for their com
forte and releife, remaining there untill the supper was ready.
The chambers where they supped and banquetted, were ordered
in this sorte. First, the great waitinge chamber was hanged
with rich arras ', as all other were, one better than another, and
furnished with tall yeomen to serve. There was set tables round
about the chamber, banquet wise covered. A cupboard was
there garnished with white plate, having also in the same cham
ber, to give the more light, fower great plates of silver set with
great lightes, and a great fire of wood and coales.
The next chamber, being the chamber of presence, was hanged
with very riche arras, and a sumptuous clothe of estate furnished
with many goodly gentlemen to serve. Tiie tables were ordered
in manner as the other chamber was, saving that the high table
was removed beneath the cloath of estate, towards the middest of
the chamber, covered. Then was there a cupboard in length as
broade as the chamber, with six deskes of height, garnished with
gilt plate, and the nethermost desk was garnished all with gold
plate, having with lightes one paire of candlestickes of silver and
gilt, being curiously wrought, which cost three hundred marks,
7 Rich arras.] Some of Wolsey's tapestry, with his arms interwoven, still
remains at Hampton Court, in a room at the east end ofthe great hall.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 547
and standing upon the same two lightes of waxe burning, as big
as torches, to set it forth. This cupboard was barred round
about that no man could come nighe it ; for there was none of all
this plate touched in the banquet, for there was sufficient besides.
The plates that hung on the walles to give light were of silver
and gilt, having in them great perchers5 of waxe burning, a
great fire in the chimney, and aU other things necessary for the
furniture of so noble a feast.
Nowe was all things in a readiness, and supper time at
hande. The principall officers caused the trumpetts to blowe
to warne to supper. The said officers right discreetly went and
conducted these noble-men from their owne chambers, into the
chambers where they should suppe. And they being there, caused
them to sit downe ; and that done, their service came up in such /
aboundance, both costly and full of subtilties, and with such a/
pleasant noise of instruments of musick, that the Frenchmen a$
it seemed, were rapt into a heavenly paradise.
Ye must understande that my lord cardinaU was not there, ne
yet come, but they were merry and pleasaunte with their fare,
and devised subtilties. Before the second course, my lord cardi
nall came in booted and spurred all sodenly among them, and
bade them proface 9 ; at whose comming there was great joye
with rising every man from his place. Whom my saide lorde
caused to sit still, and kepe their romes : and being in this ap-
parell as he rode, he called for a chaire, and sat down in the
middest of the highe table, laughing and being as merry as ever
I sawe him in my life. Anon came up the second course, with
many dishes, subtilties, and devises, about a hundred in number,
which were of so goodly proportion and costly devise, that I
thinke the Frenchmen never sawe the like. The wonder was no
lesse than it was worthy in deede. There were castles with
images in the same ; Paules churche for the quantity as well
counterfaited as the painter should have painted it on a cloath or
wall. There were beastes, birdes, fowles, and personnages, most
likely made and counterfaited, some fighting with swordes, some
with gunnes and cross bowes, some vaulting and leaping ; some
dauncing with ladies, some on horses, in compleit harnes, justing
with longe and sharpe speares, with many mo devises than I am
able to describe. Among all, one I noted. There was a chess
8 Perchers.] The large wax-candles usually set upon the altars.
9 Proface.] Much good may it do you ! Ital. profaccia, Lat. proficiat.
n n 2

548 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
borde made with spiced plate \ with men thereof to the same.
And for the good proportion, and because the Frenchmen be
very cunning and experte in that playe, my lord cardinall gave
the same to a gentleman of France, commaunding there should
be made a goodly case, for the preservation thereof, in all haste,
that he might convey the same safe into his country. Then toke
my lord a bowle of gold filled with hypocras, and putting off his
cap, saide, " I drink to the king my soveraigne lord, and next
unto the king your master," and therewith dranke a good draught.
And when he had done, he desired the Grand Master to pledge
him cup and aU, the which was weU worth five hundred marks ;
and so caused all the borde to pledge these two royal princes.
Then went the cuppes so merrily about, that many of the
Frenchmen were faine to be led to their beddes. Then rose up
my lord, and went into his privy chamber to pull off his bootes,
and to shifte him ; and then went he to supper in his privy
chamber, and making a very shorte supper, yea rather a short
repaste, retourned into the chamber of presence among the
Frenchmen, using them so lovingly and familiarly, that they
could not commend him too much.
And whilst they were in communication and other pastimes,
all their liveries were served to their chambers. Every chamber
had a basen and an ewer of silver, a great livery-pot of silver,
and some gilt ; yea and some chambers had two livery pots with
wine and beare, a bowle and a goblet, and a pot of silver to drink
in, bothe for their beare and wine ; a sUver candlestick, bothe
white and plaine, having in it two sizes, and a. staffe torche of
waxe ; a fine manchet, and a cheat loafe '. Thus was every
chamber furnished throughout all the house, and yet the cup-
boardes in the two banquetting chambers not once touched.
Thus when it was more than time convenient they were convaied
to their lodgings, where they rested at ease for the night. In
the morning after they had heard masse, they dined with my
lorde, and so departed towardes Windsor. They being then
departed, my lord retourned againe to London, because it was in
the middest of the tearme.
It is not to be doubted, but that the king was made privy of
1 Plate.] Q. paste?
2 Cheat loafe.] Todd derives cheat from achet, bought bread, as distinguished
from the coarser bread made at home ; others suppose it a diminutive of
manchet.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 549
all this worthy feast, who then intended far to excede the same ;
which I leave untiU the retourne of the Frenchmen ; who had
given an high commaundement to his officers to devise a farre
more sumptuous banquet for the strangers, than they had at
the cardinall's ; which was not neglected but pursued with all
dilligence. After the retourne of these straungers from Windsor, which
place with the order thereof they much commended, the day
approached that they were by the king invited to the courte ;
where first they dined, and after dauncing and other pastimes by
them done, the time of supper came on. Then was the ban-
quetting chamber in the tilt yarde at Greenwiche furnished for
the enterteinement of these strangers, to the which place they
were conducted by the noblest personnages then being in the
courte, where they did bothe sup and banquet. But to describe
unto you the order, the dishes, the subtilties, and strange devises
of the same, I lack both a head of fine wit, and also cunning in
my bowells to declare these wonderful devises. But thus ye shall
understande ; although it were marvaillous sumptuous at Hamp
ton Courte, yet that notwithstanding, this banquet excelled the
same, as farre as gold doeth exceed silver, in value of weight
for weight ; and for my parte I never sawe, heard nor read of
the like. Then in the middest of this banquet, there was tourn-
ing at the barriers with lusty gentlemen in compleat armour very
gorgious on foote ; then was there the like on horseback ; and
after all this the most goodly disguising or enterlude, made in
Lattine, that I have seen ; the plaiers apparell being so riche,
and of so strange devises, that it passeth my capacity to
expound. This done, there came a number of the fairest ladies and
gentlewomen, that bare any brute s of bewty in aU the realme, in
most richest apparell that their tailors coulde invent or devise to
set forthe their gesture, proportion and beauty, that they semed
to all men to be rather celestial angels descended from heaven,
than creatures of flesh and bone. Surely to me, simple soule, it
was inestimable ; and so I think it was to other of an higher
judgment : with whom these gentlemen of Fraunce daunced,
untill a gorgious maske came in of noble gentlemen, who daunced
and masked with these ladies, every man as his fantasy served
him. That done, and the maskers departed, came in an other
maske of ladies so costly and gorgeously appareUed, that it
3 Brute.] Bruit, reputation, fame.

550 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
passeth my wit to manifest and declare. Wherefore least I
) should rather deface their riches, I leave it untouched. These
ladies maskers toke each of them one of the Frenchemen to
daunce, and to maske. Ye shall understande, that these noble
women maskers spake good French unto the Frenchemen ;
which delighted them very much, to heare these ladies speake to
them in their owne tongue.
Thus was this night occupied and consumed from five of the
clock, untill two or three of the clock after midnight ; at which
' time it was convenient for all estates to drawe to their lodgings,
and take their rest. And thus every man departed, whereas
they had most releife. Then as nothing, either health, wealth, or
pleasure, can alwaies endure, so ended this triumphant banquette,
which in the morning seemed to all the beholders but as a phan-
tasticall dreame.
After all this solemne cheere, at a day appointed they prepared
them with bag and baggage to retourne into Fraunce. Then,
according to the order of aU honorable persons, they resorted in
good order unto the courte, to take their leave of the king, and
other noblemen then being there : to whom the king declared
first his princely pleasure of commendations unto the king their
master, and thanked them for their paines and traveU, and after
long communication had with the most honorable among them
of the embassage, he bad them adieu.
¦j Then came they to Westminster unto my lord to doe the like ;
(of whome they received the king's rewardes, the. which were
these ; every man of honour and estimation had plate, some to
the value of three or four hundred poundes, and some more, and
some lesse, besides other great giftes, received before of the
king's majesty, as gownes of velvet with rich furres, great chaines
of gold, and some had goodly horses, or geldings, of great price
and valewe, with diverse other giftes, which now I cannot call to
remembrance. And the least of them had an ounce of crownes
of gold : the worst page amonge them had twenty crownes for
his parte. And being thus nobly rewarded they departed. My
lorde after humble commendations had by them to the Frenche
king, bad them adieu. And the next day they were conveied
with aU their furniture, unto the sea side, with lusty young
gentlemen of Englande. And what praise, or commendation, or
salutation they made in their country at their retourne, in good
faithe I cannot shewe you, for I never heard any thing thereof.
For then began other matters to brue, that occupied our heades

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 551
and imaginations, wherewith all men's stomakes were full, with
kiii all digestion.
The long-hid and secret love that was betweene the king and
mistress Anne BuUen brake now out, and the matter was by the
king disclosed unto my lorde cardinall 4 ; whose persuasion upon
his knees long time before to the king to the contrary would not
serve : the king was so affectioned, that will bare place, and dis
cretion was banished cleane for the time. My lorde being pro
voked to declare his opinion and wisdome in the avauncement of
his desired purpose, thought it not mete to wade too farre alone,
or to give his hasty judgement or advice in so weighty a matter,
but desired of the king license to aske counsell of men of auncient
study, and famous learning, bothe in the divine and civil lawes.
That obteined, — by his legantine authority, he sent his commission
out for all the bishoppes of this realme, that were learned in
either of the saide lawes, or else had in any highe estimation for
their prudent counsaile and judgement in princely -affaires of long
experience. Then assembled these noble prelates at Westminster before my
lorde cardinall, as well auncient famous and notable clerkes of
bothe universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as also of divers
cathedrall colleges of this realme, reckoned and accompted learned
4 By the king disclosed unto my lorde cardinall.] " The first suggestion of the
divorce has been attributed to different persons. 1. By the public the credit
or infamy of it was given to Wolsey (instigator et auctor consilii existimabatur,
Poli Apol. ad Cms. 115, 116), and the Emperor, in his answer to Henry's
defiance, openly charges the cardinal with it (Le Grand, iii. 46). — 2. Wolsey
denied or admitted it, as best suited his purpose. He denied it in the pre
sence of the king in the legatine court (Cavendish, p. 560), and repeatedly
boasted of it to the French ambassador (Le Grand, iii. 186, 200, 318, 319).
— 3. Henry himself declared that the idea originated not with the cardinal,
but with himself, and that his scruples were confirmed by the bishop of Tarbes
(Cavendish, p. 560. Le Grand, iii. 218. Hall, 180): and Longland, the
king's confessor, agrees with him so far, as to say that he derived his first
information respecting it from Henry (Burnet's History, iii. App. p. 400).
But Cardinal Pole, who, writing to the king on such a subject, would
hardly venture to assert what, if it were not true, Henry must have known
to be false, assures us that it was first mentioned to the king by cer
tain divines, whom Anne Boleyn sent to him for that purpose. ' Ilia ipsa
sacerdotes suos, graves theologos, quasi pignora promptse voluntatis misit,
qui non modo tibi licere affirmarent uxorem dimittere, sed graviter etiam
peccare dicerent, quod punctum ullum temporis earn retineres ; ac nisi con-
tinuo repudiares, gravissimam Dei offensionem denuntiarent. Hie primus
totius fabulee exorsus fuit.' Pole, f. Ixxvi." Lingard, vi. 113.

552 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
and of witty discretion'in the determination of doubtful matters.
Then was this matter of the king's case debated, reasoned, argued,
and consulted of from day to day, and time to time, that it was
to the learned a goodly hearing, but in the conclusion, (as it
seemed to me, and other,) the auncient fathers of bothe the lawes,
(by my smaU estimation,) at their departure, departed with one
judgement, contrary to the principall expectation. I heard then
the opinion of some of the most famous persons amonge that
sorte, reporte, that the king's case was too obscure for any learned
man to discuss, the pointes therein were so doubtfull to have any
true understanding or inteUigence. And therefore they departed
without any resolution or judgement.
Then in this assembly of bishoppes it was thought most expe
dient, that the king should first send out his commissioners into
aU the universities of Christendome, as well here in Englande,
as into forraine regions, to have among them his grace's case
argued substauntially, and to bringe with them from thence the
very definition of their opinions in the same, under the seales of
'"every university. That for this time was their determination ;
and so aUowed, that diverse commisioners were incontinent
appointed to this matter, who were divided, as some to Oxon-
forde, some to Cambridge, some to Lovaine, some to Paris, some
to Orleaunce, some to Bononye, and some to Padway, and so
forthe. Although these commisioners had the traveU, yet was
the costes and charges the king's ; the which were no lesse than
great and notable sommes of money, and all went out of this
realme. For as I heard reported (and as it semed in deede)
besides the charges of the embassage, the famous and most
notable persons, and in especiall such as had any rule, or had the
custody of their universitie seales, were choked by the com
misioners with such notable sommes of money 5, that they were
the more glad to agree to their requestes, and to graunt to all
that they desired : by meanes whereof all the commisioners
retourned home againe with their purpose finished according to
their commision, under the particular seale of every severall
university, whereat there was no small joy conceived of the prin
cipall persons : in so much as the commisioners were not only
ever after in great estimation, but also most liberally advaunced
and rewarded, far beyond their worthy desertes. Notwithstanding,
6 Such notable sommes of money.] It is a question of fact which has been
warmly debated, whether the suffrages of the universities in Henry's favour
were purchased by money. It does not seem very necessary that we should enter

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 553
they prospered, and the matter went still forwarde, having now
(as they thought) a sure staffe to stand by.
These proceedings declared to my lord cardinall, he sent
againe for the bishoppes, to whom he declared the effect and
traveU of these commisioners, and for affirmaunce thereof shewed
them the instruments of every university 6 under the severall
seales. Then this matter brought to passe, they went once
againe to consultation, how it should be ordered to the purpose.
— It was then thought good and concluded, that the king should
send unto the pope, declaring the opinions of those universities,
which were manifestly authorized by their common seales ; to
the which it was thought that the consent of these worthy
prelates of this realme should be necessary to be sent also
thither, altogether comprised in an instrument, sealed with all
their seales annexed to the saide instrument, which was not long
in doing ; nor was long after, but the ambassadors were assigned
to travaille in this matter, and to take upon them this journey
accordingly, having furthermore certaine instructions, amonge
which one was this, that if the pope would not hereupon agree to
give judgement definitive in the king's case, then to require
another commision from his holiness, to be graunted under
leade' to establish a court to be kept in Englande for that
into this dispute. But any one who wishes so to do, may consult Burnet's
History of the Reformation, vol. iii. p. 401, appendix ; Harmer's [Wharton's]
Specimen of Errors, p. 7; Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, p. 420; Poli Epistolm, vol.
i. p. 238. A.D. 1744.
6 The instruments of every university.] Eight of these determinations, with
a long discourse in support of the judgments contained in them, were printed
soon afterwards, in one volume, under the following title : "The Determinations
of the moste famous and mooste excellent universities of Italy and Fraunce,
that it is so unlefull for a man to marry his brother's wyfe, that the pope hath
no power to dispence therewith : Imprinted by Thomas Berthelet the 7. day
of Novembre, 1531." They were also published in Latin : in which language
they are exhibited by Bishop Burnet, in his History of the Reformation, vol. i.
book ii. No. 34. Records.
7 Under leade.] Under a leaden seal or bull, bulla plumbea. In the course
of time the bulla gave its name to the document, to which it was, originally,
a mere appendage. The term is now restricted, by common usage, to the
chief documents issuing from the papal chancery, answering to the letters
patent of secular princes. Papal rescripts, however, as well as papal bulls,
are "under leade," and, like them, are divided into matters of grace and
matters of justice ; in the former the leaden bulla is attached by a silken cord,
in the latter by a hempen twist. Metallic bulla were anciently used by the
emperors of the East, and by many sovereigns of Europe. The doges of
Venice used them until the extinction of the republic. Sometimes the bullm

554 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
purpose, only directed to my lord cardinall and legate of Englande,
and to the cardinall Campaigne (who was then, although he were
a stranger, bishoppe of Bathe8, the which the king gave him at
a certaine time, being an ambassador from the pope,) to determine
and justly to judge according to their conscience and discretions.
^To the which after long sute made, and the good will of the sayd
cardinall by faire promises obteined to traveU into England, the
pope graunted to their sute. And this done and atcheved, they
made retourne unto the king, making relation unto him, that now
his graces pleasure and purpose should be brought substantially
to passe, being never more likely, considering the state of bothe
the judges.
Long was the expectation on all sides for the comming of this
legate from Rome, with his commision. After very long desire
this legate was arrived in England, and being sore vexed with the
disease of the goute 9, was constrained by force thereof to make a
longe journey or ever he came to London ; who should have bine
were of silver, sometimes of gold: the document by which, in 1356, the
emperor Charles IV. determined the mode of election of future emperors, and
established the constitution of the empire, is called, by way of pre-eminence,
the Golden Bull, the bulla being of that metal. It is still preserved at Frank
fort. A diminutive of the word remains in common use ; Napoleon employed
it for his official communications, or bulletins, of military news ; in England,
it is employed for the official announcement of a royal personage's state of
health. 8 Bishoppe of Bathe.] This appears to be an error : John Clerk was, at this
time, bishop of Bath and Wells. Campeggio was bishop of Salisbury, which
see had been given to him by Henry in 1 524, during a mission from the pope
to solicit aid against the Turk.
9 Disease ofthe goute.] Du Bellay insinuates that this gout served the
purpose sometimes of a convenient pretext. "Je luy diz mon advis estre
que, par envoyer le Cardinal Campege, il (le Pape) vouloit mener en bride
I'Empereur, et eulx attendront I'effect des choses d'ltalie, car il pourroyt
tousjours avancer ou retarder soulz umbres de ses gouttes, le dit Cardinal ac-
tendant la fin, et bailler pour benefice ce qu'il auroyt faict, auquel qu'il
vouldroyt des deulx princes, encores s'aydant la ou il vouldroyt de l'ombre
du personnage, ear il pourroyt dire a l'ung l'avoir bailie bon Anglois, a
l'autre bou Imperial." In the same letter he says : " Une des filles de
chambre, monseigneur, de mademoiselle de Boulan se trouva mardy actainte
de la suee, a grant haste le roy deslogea, et alia a douze milles d'icy, et
m'a-t-on-dict que la damoyselle fut envoyee pour le suspect au Viconte son
frere (pere) qui est en Cainet (Kent). Jusques icy, monseigneur, l'amour
n'a point prins de diminution. Je ne seay si l'absence avec les difficultes
de Rome pourroyt engendrer quelque chose." The Bishop of Bayonne to the
grand master Montmorency, Dat. London, viij. June. Le Grand, iii. 136, 136.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 555
most solemnely received at Blackheath, and so with triumph con
veied to London, but his desire was such, that he would not so be
entertained with pompe, and vaine glory, and therefore sodainly
came to his house without Temple barre, called then Bathe Place \
where he was lodged, which was furnished with aU manner of
stuffe and implements of my lord's provision.
So then after some deliberation, and consultation in the order
ing and using of the king's matters, and his commision and the
articles of his ambassage seene, read, and digested, it was deter
mined, that the king and the good queene, his just wife, should
be lodged at Bridewell. And then in the Black Friars a certaine
place was there appointed most convenient for the king and
queene's repaire to the courte, there to be kept for the disputa
tion and determination of the case, whereas these two legates sat
judges ; before whom the king and queene were asscited and'
summoned to appeare ; whieh was a strange sight, and the newest
device, that ever was read or heard of before, in any region, story
or chronicle, a king and a queene to be constrained by process
compellatory to appeare in any courte as common persons, within
their owne realme and dominion, to abide the judgements and
decres of their own subjects, being the royaU diademe and pre
rogative thereof.
Forsoothe it is a world to consider the desirous wiU of wilfull
princes, when they be set and earnestly bent to have their wiUs
fulfilled, wherein no reasonable persuasions will suffice ; and how
little they regard the dangerous sequell that may ensue as weU to
themselves as to aU their subjects. And above aU things, there
is nothing that maketh them more wiUfuU than carnaU love, and
sensuall affection of voluptuous desire, and pleasures of their
bodies, as was in this case ; wherein nothing could be of greater
experience than to see what inventions were furnished, what lawes
were enacted, what costly edifications of noble and auncient
monasteries were overthrowne 2, what diversity of opinions then

1 Bathe Place.] The Inn of the bishops of Bath was on the South side of
the Strand ; the site of it, and, probably, of other episcopal inns, of which
there were several near it, was afterwards occupied by Arundel House : the
space is now occupied by Howard Street, Arundel Street, Surrey Street, and
Norfolk Street.
2 Monasteries were overthrowne.] At the same time we must not forget the
example before set by Wolsey himself, in procuring the confiscation of some .
of these, for building and endowing his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. In
a letter from the king, given by Lord Herbert, highly honourable both to

556 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
rose, what executions were then committed, how many noble
clerkes and good men were then for the same put to deathe, and
what alteration of good, auncient, and holesome lawes, customes,
and charitable foundations were tourned from reliefe of the poore,
to utter destruction and desolation, almost to the subversion of
this noble realme. It is sure too much pitty to heare or under
stand the things that have since that time chaunced and happened
to this region. The profe thereof hath taught us all Englishmen
the experience, too lamentable of aU good men to be considered.
If eyes be not blind men may see, if eares be not stopped they
may heare, and if pitty be not exUed the inwarde man may
lament the sequeU of this pernicious and inordinate love.
Although it lasted but a whUe, the plague thereof is not yet
ceased, which our Lorde quenche, and take his indignation from
us ! Qui peccavimus cum patribus nostris, et injuste egimus.
Ye shall understande, as I saide before, that there was a courte
erected 3 in the Black Friars in London, whereas sat these two
cardinalls for judges in the same. Nowe I wUl set you out the
manner and order of the saide courte. First, there was a courte
planted with tables and benches, in manner of a consistory, one seat
raised higher (for the judges to sit in) than the other were. Then
as it were in the middest of the saide judges, aloafte above them
three degrees highe, was a cloath of estate hanged, with a chaire
royaU under the same, wherein sat the king ; and besides him,
some distaunce from him, sat the queene ; and under the judges
feete sat the scribes, and other necessary officers for the execu
tion of the process, and other things appertaining to such a

Henry's head and heart, he thus expresses himself, in a tone of friendly,
anxious apprehension and warning, on this particular subject.
"As touching the help of religious houses to the building of your college,
I would it were more, so it be lawfully : for my intent is none but that it
should so appear to all the world, and the occasion of all their mumbling
might be secluded and put away ; for surely there is great murmuring of it
throughout all the realm, both of good and bad. They say not, that all that
is ill gotten is bestowed upon the college, but that the college is the cloke
for covering all mischiefs. This grieveth me to assure you, to hear it spoken
of him which I so intirely love. Wherefore methought I could do no less
than thus friendly to admonish you." We shall see below, in the course of
the present narrative, that "all the revenues belonging to the college of
Oxenforde, and Ipswiche, the kinge toke into his owne handes."
3 A courte erected.] For " Proceedings relating to the dissolution of the
marriage between king Henry VIII. and Catharine of Arragon, 19 Hen. VIII.
1528," &c. See State Trials, vol. i. p. 299—368, from Lord Herbert, &c.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 557
courte. The chiefe scribe was Doctor Stevens 4 after bishoppe of
Winchester, and the apparitour, who was called doctor of the
courte, was one Cooke, most commonly called Cooke of Win
chester. Then, before the king and the judges, within the courte,
sat the archbishoppe of Canterbury doctor Warham, and aU the
other bishops. Then stoode at bothe endes within, the consellors
learned in the spirituaU lawes, as well the king's, as the queene's.
The doctors of lawe for the king was doctor Sampson s, that was
after bishoppe of Chichester, and doctor BeU °, which was after
bishoppe of Worcester, with diverse other : and procurators in
the same lawe, on that side, was doctor Peter 7, who was after
chiefe secretary, and doctor Tregonwell, with diverse others.
Nowe on the other side there was a councell for the queene
standing there ; that is to say, doctor Fisher *, bishop of Rochester,
and doctor Standishe ', bishop of Saint Asaphe in Wales, two
notable divines, and in especiall the bishop of Rochester, a very
godly man ; for whose deathe many noble clerkes and good men
lamented, who lost his heade for this cause ere it was ended, on
Tower hiU. There was also another auncient doctor, caUed doctor
Ridley 10, a very small person of stature, but surely a great and an
4 Was Doctor Stevens.] Doctor Stephen Gardiner, afterwards bishop of
Winchester, at this time in great estimation with Wolsey. In letters and
other documents of this period he is often called Doctor Stevens. Mr.
Granger, in the third volume of Bishop Burnet's History of the Reformation,
p. 385, appendix, intimates that this was a colloquial vulgarism, "vulgarly,
as Stephen Gardener was Mr. Stevyns, in Wolsey's Letter." But it is ques
tionable, I think, whether this is the true account of that name. The bishop
himself, in his Declaration of his Articles against George Joye, A.n. 1546,
foi. 3. b. of the 4to edition, thus speaks of it, " a booke, wherein he wrote,
how Doctor Stevens (by whiche name I was then called) had deceyved hym."
And Cavendish below adverts to this appellation in very similar terms. "To
this embassage was appointed Dr. Stephen Gardiner, then called by the name
of Doctor Stephens, and secretary to the king."
6 Doctor Sampson.] Richard Sampson, dean of Lichfield, and, in 1536,
dean of St. Paul's, and bishop of Chichester : translated to Lichfield and
Coventry in 1543, and made lord president of Wales. He died in 1554.
6 Doctor Bell] John Bell, archdeacon of Gloucester, elected bishop of
Worcester in 1539. He resigned his see in 1543, and died in 1556.
7 Doctor Peter.] Afterwards better known as Sir William Petre.
8 Doctor Fisher.] John Fisher, beheaded 22 June, 1536.
9 Doctor Standishe.] See note to Life of Dean Colet, p. 456.
1(1 Doctor Ridley.] " Doctor of Divinity, who, by the name of Robert Ridley,
was famous, not only at Cambridge, but at Paris, where he long studied ; and
throughout Europe, by the writings of Polydore Virgil. At the charges of
this doctor was our Nicholas [Ridley, his nephew, afterwards bishop of

558 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
excellent clerke in divinity. — Thus was the courte ordered, and
furnished. The judges commaunded ' the crier to proclaim silence, whilest
their commision was reade bothe to the courte and to the people
assembled. That done, then the scribes commaunded the crier
to call the king, by the name of " King Henry of England, come
into the courte," and with that the king aunswered and said
" Here." Then called he againe the queene by the name of
" Katherine queene of Englande, come into the courte," who
made no aunswer thereto, but rose incontinent out of her chaire,
whereas she sat, and because she could not come to the king
directly, for the distance severed betweene them, she toke paine
to goe about by the courte, and came to the king, kneeling downe
at his feete in the sight of all the courte and people, to whom she
sayd in effect these words2, in broken Englishe, as hereafter
followeth. " Sir," quoth she, " I beseeche you to doe me justice and right,
and take some pitty upon me, for I am a poore woman and a
straunger, borne out of your dominion, having here no indifferent
counsell, and lesse assuraunce of friendship. Alas ! Sir, what
London, and martyr] long maintained at Cambridge, afterwards at Paris,
and lastly at Louvain." — Strype's Eccl. Memor. iii. 229.
1 The judges commaunded.] May 21, 1529. Lord Herbert, in State Trials,
vol. i. p. 317. v-~' 
2 In effect these words.] Upon all this process the reader may consult
Burnet's History ofthe Reformation, vol. iii. p. 46 — 48. The bishop affirms
positively that the king did not appear personally, but by proxy ; and that the
queen withdrew after reading a protest against the competency of her judges.
" And from this it is clear (says the bishop), that the speeches that the his
torians have made for them, are all plain falsities." It is no easy matter to
contradict the confident affirmation of the historian, and the alleged autho
rity upon which he professes to rely, which is corroborated also by Fox's
Acts, p. 958 ; but at the same time, it must be observed, that the testimony
for the personal appearance of the king before the cardinals is surprisingly
powerful ; I mean, even though we do not go beyond Cavendish, and the
other ordinary historians. But in addition to these, we may refer to the
authority of William Thomas, clerk of the council in the reign of king
Edward VI., and a well-informed writer : who, in a professed Apology for
Henry VIII., addressed to the noted Peter Aretin, "the scourge of princes,"
which is still extant in MS. autogr. in the British Museum, in the Lambeth
and other libraries, and printed in the year 1774, speaking of this affair,
affirms, " that the cardinal (Campeggio) caused the king as a private partie
in person to appeare before him, and the ladie Katharin both." p. 31, MS.
(or p. 27, printed edition.) And yet Lord Herbert gathers from an " au
thentic record," that the king appeared (notwithstanding what the chronicles
say), only by his proctor. — See also State Trials, vol. i. p. 319.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 559
have I offended you, or what occaision of displeasure have I
shewed you, intending thus to put me from you after this sorte ?
I take God to my judge, I have bine to you a true and an humble
wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure, that never con
strained or gainesayd any thing thereof, and being alwaies con
tented with all things wherein you had any delight or daliaunce,
whether it were little or much, without grudge or countenaunce
of discontentation or displeasure. I loved for your sake all men
whome ye loved, whether I had cause or no cause ; or whether
they were my friends or enemies. I have bine your wife this
twenty yeares or more, and ye have had by me diverse children.
" And when ye had me at the first, I take God to my judge,
that I was a very maide ; and whether it be true or no, I put it
to your conscience. If there be any just cause that ye can
aUeadge against me, either of dishonesty or other matter lawfull
to put me from you, I am content to departe to my shame and
rebuke ; and if there be none, then I pray you let me have justice
at your handes. The king your father was in his time of such an
excellent wit, that he was accompted among all men for his wis
dome to be a second Solomon. And the king of Spaine my father
Ferdinand, was reckoned to be one of the wisest princes that
reigned in Spaine, many yeares before his daies : and so they were
bothe wise men and noble kings. It is not therefore to be doubted,
but that they had gathered together as wise counseUors unto them
of every realme, as to their wisdomes they thought meete. And,
as me semeth, there were in those daies as wise and well learned
men in bothe realmes as be now at this day, who thought the
marriage between You and Me good and lawfull. Therefore it is
a wonder to heare what new inventions are now invented .against
me, that never intended but honesty. And now to cause me to
stand to the order and judgement of this courte, it should, as
semeth me, doe me much wronge : for ye may condemne me for
lack of aunswer, having no counsell but such as you have assigned
me. Ye must consider that they cannot be indifferent on my
parte, when they be your own subjects, and such as ye have taken
and chosen out of your owne counsell, whereunto they are privy,
and dare not disclose your will and intent. Therefore I humbly
desire you, in the way of charity to spare me, untUl I may knowe
what counsell and advise my friends in Spaine will advise me to
take. And if you will not, then your pleasure be fulfilled." And
with that she rose up and made a low courtesy to the king, and
departed from thence, many supposing that she would have

560 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
resorted againe to her former place ; but she toke her way
streight out of the courte, leaning upon the arme of one of her
servauntes, who was her General Receiver, called Mr. Griffithe.
The king being advertised that she was ready to goe out of the
house whereas the courte was kept, commaunded the crier to call
her againe, who called her by these wordes, " Katherine queene
of Englande, come into the courte." With that quoth Mr.
Griffithe " Madame ye be called againe." " On, on," quoth she,
" it maketh no matter, it is no indifferent courte for me, therefore
I will not tarry. Goe on your waies." And thus she departed,
without any further aunswer, at that time, or any other, and
never would appeare after in any other courte.
The king perceiving she was departed thus, and considering
her wordes which she pronounced before time, saide to the
audience these wordes in effect. " For as much," quothe he, "as
the queene is gone, I will, in her absence, declare unto you aU,
that she hath bine to me as true, as obedient, and as conformable
a wife as I could wishe or desire. She hath all the virtuous
qualities that ought to be in a woman of her dignity, or in any
other of a baser estate. She is also surely a noble woman borne,
her conditions will well declare the same." With that quoth the
lord cardinall " Sir, I most humbly require your highness to
declare before all this audience, whether I have bine the cheife 3
and first mover of this matter unto your majesty or no ; for I
am greatly suspected of all men herein." " My lord cardinall"
quoth the king " I can well excuse you in this matter. Mary
(quoth he), ye have bine rather against me in the attempting
^hereof, than a setter forthe, or a mover of the same. The speciall
cause that moved -me unto this matter was, a certaine scrupu
losity that pricked my conscience, upon certaine wordes spoken
at a time by the bishop of Bayon 4, the Frenche ambassador, who
had bine hither sent upon the debating of a marriage to be con
cluded betweene the princess our daughter, the lady Mary, and
the duke of Orleaunce second sonne to the king of Fraunce.
And upon the consultation and determination of the same, he
desired respite to advertise the king his master thereof, whether
3 Whether I have bine the cheife.] See p. 551. See also Le Neve's Animad
versions on Phillips's Life of Cardinal Pole, p. 62.
4 Bishop of Bayon.] The Bishop of Bayonne was Jean du Bellay; see note
to p. 542. Bayon, however, is certainly a mistake, for it was not Du Bellay,
but Gabriel de Gramont, bishop of Tarbes, who, jointly with others, in April
1 527, negotiated this treaty. See note at p. 511.

f

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 561
our daughter Mary should be legitimate, in respect of this m
marriage with this woman, being sometime my brother's wife.
Which wordes once conceived in the secrete bottom of my con
science, engendered such a scrupulous doubt, that my conscience
was incontinently accombred, vexed, and disquieted ; whereby I
thought myself to be in great danger of God's indignation^
which appeared to me, as me semed, the rather for that he sent
us no issue male ; and all such issues male, as my said wife had
by me, died incontinent after they came into the world ; so that
I doubted the great displeasure of God in that behalfe. Thus
my conscience being tossed in the waves of scrupulous doubtes,
and partly in despaire to have any other issue than I had already
by this lady now my wife, it behoved me further to consider the
state of this realme, and the danger it stode in for lack of a
prince to succeede me. I thought it good therefore in release
of the weighty burden of my weak conscience, and also the quiet
state of this worthy realme, to attempt the lawe therein, whether
I may lawfully take an other wife more lawfull, without spot of
carnall concupisence, by whom God may send me more issue, in
case this my first copulation was not good : and not for any dis
pleasure or misliking of the queene's person and age, with whom
I could be as well contented to continue, if our marriage may
stande with the lawes of God, as with any woman alive ; in which
pointe consisteth aU this doubt that we goe nowe about to try by
the learning, wisedom, and judgement, of you our prelates and
pastors, of all this our realme and dominion, now here assembled
for that purpose ; to whose conscience and learning I have com
mitted the charge and judgement, according to the which I will
(God willing) be right well content to submit myselfe, and for
my parte obey the same. Wherein after I perceived my con
science so doubtfuU, I moved it in confession to you, my lord of
Lincolne s, then my ghostly father. And for as much as then
* To you, my lord of Lincolne.] John Longland. " In a manuscript Life of
Sir Thomas More, written not many years after Longland's death, this
account is given: 'I have heard Dr. Draycot, that was his' (Longland's)
' chaplain and chancellor say, that he once told the bishop, what rumour ran
upon him in that matter ; and desired to know of him the very truth. Who
answered, that in very deed he did not break the matter after that sort, as is
said ; but the king brake the matter to him first ; and never left urging him,
until he had won him to give his consent. Of which his doings he did fore-
think himself, and repented afterward.' MSS. Coll. Eman. Cantab." Baker's
Notes on Burnet's History of the Reformation ; in Burnet, vol. iii. p. 400,
VOL. I. 0 0

562 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
you yourself were in some doubt, you moved me to ask counsell
of all you my lordes ; whereupon I moved it to you my lorde of
Caunterbury, first to have your license, (in so much as ye were
metropolitaine) to put this matter in question ; and so I did of
you all, my lordes, to which all ye graunted under all your seales,
and that I have here to be shewed." " That is truth, if it please
your grace," quoth the bishoppe of Canterbury, " I doubt not but
that my brethren here present will acknowledge the same." " No
sir, not so, under your correction," quothe the bishoppe of Ro
chester, "for you have not mine, no." "Ah," quoth the king,
"loke here, is not this your hand and your seale?" and shewed
him the instrument with seales. " No forsoothe," quoth the
bishop. " How say you to that," quoth the king to my lord of
Caunturbury. "Sir, it is his hand, and his seale," said my
lorde of Caunterbury. " No, my lorde," quoth the bishop of
Rochester. " Indeede you were in hand with me to have bothe
my hand and seale, as other of my lordes have done ; but then I
saide againe to you, I would never consent to any such acte, for
it was much against my conscience ; and therefore my hand and
seale shall never be set to any such instrument, God willing,
with much more matter touching the same communication be
tween us." " You say truthe," quoth the bishop of Caunterbury,
" such wordes you had unto me ; but you were fully resolved at
last, that I should subscribe your name, and put to your seale
myselfe, and you would allowe the same." " All which," quoth
the bishop of Rochester, " under your correction, my lord, is not
true." " Well, well," quoth the king, " it maketh no great
matter ; we will not stand with you in argument : you are but
one man." — And with that the king rose up, and the courte was
adjourned untill an other day.
The next courte day the cardinall sat againe, at which time
the councell on both sides were there ready presently to aunswer.
The king's counsell alledged the matrimony not to be lawful at the
beginning, because of the carnall copulation had betwene prince
Arthur and the queene. This matter was very sore and vehe-
Appendix. The same life is among the MSS. in the Lambeth Library,
No. 827 (see foi. 12), and in the British Museum, Harleian 6253 (see foi. 19),
and, there is reason to think, was composed about the year 1556, and by Nicolas
Harpsfield. From these concurrent testimonies it should appear, that the
charge which has been often urged against Wolsey, that it was through his
intrigues that Longland first suggeste 1 his scruples to the king, is unfounded.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 563
mently touched on that side ; and to prove the carnall copulation
they alleadged many reasons and similitudes of truthe. And
being aunswered againe negatively on the other side, it seemed
that all their former allegations were very doubtfuU to be tried,
and that no man knewe the truth. " Yes," quoth the bishop of
Rochester, " I knowe the truth." " How knowe you," quoth
my lord cardinall, " more than any other person ?" " Yes for-
soothe my lorde," quoth he, " Quia ego sum professor veritatis,
therefore I knowe the truth. I know that God is truth itselfe,
and he never sayeth but truth ; and God saith, quos Beus con-
junxit, honi& non separet. And forasmuch as this marriage was
joined and made by God to a good intent, I say that I knowe the
truthe ; and that men Cannot break, upon any wilfull occaision,
that which God hath made and constituted." " Soe much doe all
faithful men," quoth my lord cardinall, " know as well as you.
Yet this reason is not sufficient in this case : for the king's-
counsell doe alleadge diverse presumptions, to prove that it was
not lawfull at the beginning, ergo, it was not ordained by God, for
God doeth nothing without a due order. Therefore it is not to
be doubted, but if the presumptions be true, which they alleadge
to be most true, then the conjunction was not, ne could be, of
God. Therefore I say unto you, my lord of Rochester, ye know
not the truthe, unless ye can avoide their presumption by just
reasons." " Then," quoth one Doctor Ridley, " it is a shame
and a great dishonour to this honorable presence, that any such
presumptions should be alleadged in this open courte, which be
too detestable to be rehearsed." " What," quoth my lord cardi
nall, " Bomine Boctor, magis reverenter."1' "No, no, my lord,"
quoth he, " there belongeth no reverence to be given to this
matter ; for an unreverent matter would be unreverently an
swered." And there they lefte, and proceeded forthe with other
matter. Thus this courte passed from session to session 6, and day to
8 From session to session.] — " Pour le jour que nous eusmes, monsieur le
legat et moy, nos disputes ensemble, nous demontasmes ung peu nous re-
gardans de coste ; le lendemain fusmes grands amys, et il me vint aprendre une
longue histoire de tous ses actes qu'il avoit fait contre I'opinion et vouloir de
toute Angleterre, et ce qu'il faisoit encore et avoit delibere continuer de faire,
qu'il luy falloyt user d'un terrible alquemye et dexterite en ses affaires ; car il
y avoit des gens qui l'esclairoient si pres, qu'a la moindre occasion du monde
qu'ils auroyent de calomnier ses diets actes, et de montrer qu'il fust trop for-
mel pour nostre party, oublyant le bien et proffit de son maistre, ils se y voul-
oo 2

564 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
day, till at a certaine day of their session the king sent for my
lord cardinaU to come to him to Bridewell ; who to accomplish
his commaundement went to him, and being there with him in
communication in his privy chamber from an eleven untiU twelve
of the clocke at noone, and past, my lord departed from the king
and toke his barge at the Blackfriars, and went to his house at
Westminster. The bishop of Carlile r being in his barge at that
time, saide unto him, (winding of his face,) " It is a very hot
> day." " Yea my lorde," quoth the cardinall, " if ye had bine as
weU chafed 8 as I have bine within this houre, ye would say it were
very hot." And as soon as he came home to his house at West
minster, he went incontinent to his naked bed, where he had not
lyen fully two houres, but that my lorde of Wiltshire, mistress
Anne BuUeines father, came to speake with him of a message
from the kinge. My lord, understanding of his comming, com
maunded he should be brought to his bedde's side ; and he being
there shewed them the king's pleasure was, that he should incon
tinently goe with the other cardinall to the queene whoe was then
droyent attacher s'il estoit possible qui ne seroyt nostre proffit, car la oil il luy
seroit diminue' de son credit, nous en sentirions assez tost, et pour ce qu'on
advise tousjours et qu'on pense bien que c'est que honnestement il peult
faire, et que le roy et madame jugent que c'est qu'ils prendroient a. bien etre
fait pour leur amy, par celluy a qui ils auroient bailie la totalle charge de
leurs affaires, et qu'ils n'en actendent plus que moins de luy, mais que quoy
qu'il y ait, il faut qu'il dresse ainsi tous ses faits, qu'il puisse monstrer au roy
son maistre et a son conseil, que ceste auntie ne leur est point desayanta-
geuse, et qu'il est soigneux et diligent de penser a son bien et honneur,
comme de fait il est, plusqu'a toutes aultres choses, ne voulant nyer, ains
affermant suz tout ce qu'il tient de Dieu, que apres le bien de son dit maistre
il a le nostre en recommandation plus que nul autre." Bishop of Bayonne
to Montmorency, 10 Aug. (1528.) Le Grand, iii. 157.
7 Bishop of Carlile.] John Kite, afterwards archbishop of Armagh.
8 As well chafed.] " Au demourant j'ay sceu que mademoiselle de Boulan
est retournee a la court; les lettres interceptees que m'envoyates de cette
matiere, leur ont donne a, penser. On m'a dit a propos de ce qu'en avois dit
a monsieur le Legat il y a plus d'ung mois comme vous escriviz, que je suis
mauvais devin, et pour vous dire ma fantaisie je croy que le roy en est si
avant, qu'aultre que Dieu ne l'en sgauroit oster. Quant a monsieur le legat,
je pense qu'il ne scayt pas bien oil il en est, quelque dissimulation qu'il en
faize, et m'a este" diet d'assez bon lieu, toutefois que je ne vouldroye bailler
pour tout certain, que ung peu devant ce sutin (this sweating sickness), le
roy luy usa de terribles termes a, cause qu'il sembloit l'en vouloir refroidir, et
luy monstrer que le pape ne se y vouloit condescendre." Bishop of Bayonne
to Montmorency, 20 Aug. 1528. Le Grand, iii. 164.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 565
in Bridewell, in her chamber there, to perswade with her by their
wisdomes, and to advise her to surrender the whole matter unto
the king's handes by her owne consent and wUl ; which should
be muche better to her honor, than to stande to the triall of
lawe, and thereby to be condemned, which would seem much to
her dishonour. To fulfiU the king's pleasure, my lord saide, he
was ready, and would prepare him to goe thither out of hande,
but quoth he farther to my lord of Wiltshire, " Ye and other
my lordes of the counsell, are not a little mis-advised, to put any,
such fantasy into the king's head, whereby you doe trouble ally
the realme ; and at length get you shall smaU thankes for your
laboures, both of God and the world," with many other vehement
wordes and reasons, which caused my lord of Wiltshire to weepe 9,
kneling by my lorde's bedde side, and in conclusion departed.
And then my lord arose, and made him ready, taking his barge,
and went streight to Bathe Place to cardinaU Campeigne 1 ; and so
9 To weepe.] "To be silent." MS. 250. Lamb. Libr.
1 To cardinall Campeigne.] " Au demourant, monseigneur, je vous advise que
Jeudy dernier fut apporte Campege faire la reverence au roy, et le print
monsieur le legat en son logis en passant. Nous fusmes tous a reparer
l'assistence, son secretaire feist une belle harengue, par laquelle apres les
deplorations de la ruine de Rome, et les grans et bons mercyemens des bons
offres faits, tant auparavant la dite ruine que du depuis, a nostre Saint Pere et
tout le Saint Siege, par le Deffenseur de la Foy, et quelques exhortemens a la
paix, il promit de la part de nostre-dit Saint Pere que, tant en general qu'en
particulier et mesmes es affaires dont il luy avoit fait toucher, tout ce que ung
bon fils peult et doibt actendre de grace d'ung tres indulgent et liberal pere,
comme plus privement et a part luy diroient les deux cardinaux la. presens
envoyez par sa dicte sainctete pour les choses susdites. II fut respondu par
docteur Fouques, celluy qui a. S. Paoul vous feist la harengue, bien assailly,
bien deffendu, ils entrerent en la chambre du roy, et furent longuement
ensemble. Depuis le roy est venu plusieurs fois a privee compagnie veoir
le dit cardinal, la royne pareillement une fois, monsieur le legat y est quasi
tous les jours. Hier se commencerent les approches, les deux cardinaux
ensemble vinrent .vers la dite royne qui ne leur faillyt de responce, se
plaignant fort, sans touttefois en riens s'eschauffer, qu'ils vinssent pour la
interroguer en si haulte et si pres touchante matiere, sans l'avoir advertye
devant, ne donne loisir de prendre conseil, mesmes estant femme et estran-
gere ; ils passerent plus avant en matiere et furent longtemps ensemble, y
ayant toutefois appeUe" monsieur de Londres, l'evesque cordelier, monsieur
de Cantorbery, et ung aultre. Ce jour a eu repos et n'a bouge monsieur le
legat d'avec le roy en conseil, la pluspart du temps ils ont, a ce que je voy,
assez affaire, si tiens-je, quoy qu'aucuns disent qu'ils passeront oultre et le
plustost qu'ils pourront. Je croy bien que Campege vouldroit differer, mais
la matiere est trop chaude." Bishop of Bayonne to Montmorency, Dat.
London, 18 Oct. 1528. Le Grand, iii. 189.

566 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
they went together to Bridewell, directly to the queene's lodging ;
and being in her chamber of presence they shewed the gentleman
usher that they came to speak with the queene's grace. The
gentleman usher advertised the queene, that the cardinalls were
come to speake with her. With that she rose up, and with a
skaine of white thread about her necke, came into her chamber
of presence, where the cardinalls were attending her comming.
At whose comming, quoth she, " Alack my lordes, I am very
sorry to make you attend upon me ; what is your pleasure with
mee ?" " If it please your grace," quoth my lorde, " to goe into
your privy chamber, we will shewe you the cause of our com
ming." " My lord," quoth she, " if you have any thing to say,
speake it openly before all these folkes ; for I feare nothing that
ye can say or alleadge against me, but that I would all the worlde
should bothe heare and see it : and therefore speake your minds
openly, I pray you." Then began my lorde to speake to her in
Latine. " Nay good my lorde," quoth she, " speake to me in
Englishe, for I can, I thanke God, both speake and understande
English ; although I doe understande some Latine." " For
soothe," quoth my lord, "good Madame, we come bothe to
knowe, if it please your grace, your minde, how you are dis
posed to doe in this matter betweene the king and you, and also
to declare secretly our opinions and counsell unto you, which we
doe only for very zeale and obedience we beare unto your grace."
" My lord," quoth she, " I thanke you for your good will ; but
to make an aunswer to your requestes I cannot so sodainly, for I
was set among my maides at worke, thinking full little of any
such mattere, wherein there nedeth a longe deliberation, and a
better heade than mine, to make aunswer ; for I nede of counsell
in this case, which toucheth mee too neare ; and for any coun
sell or friendship that I can find in Englande, they are not for
my proffit. What thinke you, I pray you, my lordes ; will any
Englishman counsell me, or be friendly to me against the king's
pleasure, that is his subject ? Nay forsoothe : and as for my
counsell in whom I will put my trust, they be not here ; they be
in Spaine in mine own country. Also my lordes, I am a poore
woman lacking wit, to aunswer to any such noble persons of
wisdome, as ye be, in so weighty a matter. Therefore I pray
you be good unto me, a poore woman destitute and barren of
friendship here in a forraine country : and your counsell also I
will be glad to heare."
And therewith she toke my lord cardinall by the hande, and

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 567
led him into her privie chamber, with the other cardinall ; where
they tarried a season talking with the queene, and we might hear
her very loude, but what she said we could not teU. The com
munication ended, they departed and went to the king, making
to him relation of her talke ; and after returned home to their
houses to supper.
Thus this strange case went forwarde from courte to courte,
untill it came to the judgment, so that every man expected the
judgment would be given the next court day. At which day the
king came thither, and sat him downe in a chaire, within a dore
in the ende of the gallery, which opened directly against the
judgment seate, to heare the judgment given ; at which time aU
their proceedings were openly read in Latine. That done, the
kings counsell at the barre, called fast for judgment. With that,
quoth cardinall Campaine, " I will not give judgement 2 till I
have made relation to the pope of all our proceedings, whose
counsell and commaundement in this case I will observe. The
matter is too highe for us to give any hasty judgement, con
sidering the highness of the persons, and the doubtful occasions
alleadged ; and also whose commisioners we be, under whose
authority we sit. It were therefore reason, that we should make
our chiefe head of counsell in the same, before we procede to
judgement definitive. I come not to speake for favour, mede, or
dread of any person alive, be he king or otherwise. I have no
such respect to the person that I will offend my conscience. I
will not for the favour or displeasure of any highe estate doe
that thing that should be against the will of God. I am an ould
man, bothe weake and sickly, that loketh daily for deathe. What
should it availe me to put my soule in daunger of Gods dis
pleasure, to my utter damnation, for the favour of any prince or
high estate in this world ! My being here is only to see justice
ministred according to my conscience, which thing myselfe
doe also most desyer. And forasmuch as I doe understande,
having perceivance by the aUegations in the matter, the case is
very doubtful, and also the party defendaunt will make no aunswer
here, but doth rather appeale from us, supposing that we be
not indifferent, considering the kings high dignity and authority
within his owne realme which he hath over his subjects ; and we
being his subjects, she thinketh that we cannot doe justice for
2 Will not give judgement.] Compare Lord Herbert, in State Trials, vol. i.
p. 333 and 338, 9. The date is July 23, 1529.

568 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
feare of displeasure; therefore to avoide all these ambiguities
and doubts, I wiU not damne my soule for any prince or poten
tate alive. Therefore, I intend not to wade any farther in this
matter, unies I have the just opinion and assent of the pope,
and such other of more auncient experience, or as be sene better
in such doubtful laws, than I am. Wherefore I will adjourne
this courte, for this time, according to the order of the courte of
Rome, from whence semblably our jurisdiction is derived. And
if we should goe further than our commision doeth warrant us,
it were great folly and much to our blames : and we may be
breakers of the order of the high courte from which (as I said)
our authorities be derived." — And with that the courte was dis
solved, and no more done.
Then stept forthe the duke of Suffolke 3 from the kinge, by his

3 The duke of Suffolke.] Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, the king's bro
ther-in-law. These proceedings led the way to the next great step in the
progress of the Reformation, the renunciation of the pope's authority, and
the establishment of the regal supremacy. The following account of the
manner in which these questions were first brought to the king's mind may
not be unacceptable to my readers.
" Now unto that you say, that because pope Clement would not dispense
with his second matrimonie, his majestie extirped out of England the papal
authoritie, a thinge of most auncient and godly reverence as you take it, I
aunsweare that after the kinges highness had so appeared in person before
the cardinal Campegio, one of the princes of his realme, named the duke of
Suffolk, a great wise man, and of more familiaritie with the kinge, than any
other person, asked his majestie ' how this matter might come to passe, that
a prince in his own realme should so humble himself before the feet of a vile,
strange, vitious priest,' (for Campegio there in England demeaned himself in
very deed most carnally  ). Whereunto the king aunswered, 'he could
not tell ; but only that it seemed unto him, the spiritual men ought to judge
spiritual matters ; and yet as you saye (sayd the king) me seemeth there
should be somewhat in it, and I would right gladly understand, why and
how, were it not that I would be loth to appeare more curious than other
princes.' ' Why sir (sayd the duke) your majestie may cause the matter to
be discussed secretly by your learned men, without any rumour at all.' ' Very
well (sayd the kinge), and so shall it be.' And thus inspired of God, called
he diverse of his trusty and great doctours unto him : charging them dis
tinctly to examine, what lawe of God should directe so carnal a man as Cam
pegio, under the name of spiritual, to judge a king in his owne realme. Accord
ing unto whose commandment, these doctors resorting together into an ap
pointed place, disputed this matter large et stride, as the case required. And
as the blacke by the white is knowen, so by conferring the oppositions toge
ther, it appeared that the evangelical lawe varied much from the canon lawes

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 569
commaundement, and spake with an hault countenaunce these
wordes, " It was never merry in Englande," (quoth he,) " while
in this pointe. So that in effect, because two contraries cannot stand in uno
subjecto, eodem casu et tempore, thej were constrained to recurre unto the
kinges majesties pleasure, to knowe whether of these two lawes should be
preferred, who smiling at the ignorance of so fonde a question aunsweared,
that the gospell of Christ ought to be the absolute rule unto all others ; com
manding them therefore to foUowe the same, without regard either to the
civile, canon, or whatsoever other lawe. And here began the quicke : for
these doctours had no sooner taken the gospel for their absolute rule, but
they found this popish authoritie over the kinges and princes of this earth to
be usurped : for Peter hymself, whose successor the pope presumeth to be,
commaundeth all Christians to obey and honour kynges or princes with feare
and reverence, because the kynges of the earth are ordeyned of God ; and so
sayth Paul, and so sayth Solomon : and so Chryst hymselfe by example hath /
commaunded, when entryng into Capernaum, he humbled hymself unto the
payment of the princes custome. And if Peter, Paul, Solomon, and Christ
hym self (sayd they) have directed us to the obedience of kynges in the tyme
when there was no Christian kynge in the world, how much more now ought
all Christians to obey their princes absolutely, when they, the kynges them
selves are not onely mernbres of the selfe body of Christ, butt also ministeres
of the Christian justice. And what greater dishonour (sayde they) can a
kynge receyve, than in his owne realme to be made a subjecte, and to appere
not before another vertuous kynge, or emperor, but before one growne of a
dung-hill, to answere in judgment ? Thys (sayde they) proceeded not of the
divine law, but rather the contrary, for as much as the spiritual office of the
Christian . religion procedeth altogether by charitable counsaile. From their
just and evangelical conclusion his highness resolved of that he had to do,
with patience of his passed errour, he licensed the sayde Cardinal Campegio
to return to Rome, not so highly rewarded as the sayde Cardinal loked for,
nor yet with such commission, as pope Clement thought should have mended
hys hungrye purse, for the new lycence that he had prepared unto the kynges
second marriage. For, incontinently after Campegio's departure, the kynge
assailed in conscience of his first divorced matrimonye, both by the law of God,
and also by the publique consent of the whole church of England, and hys
Barons, and hys Commons, proceded unto his second matrymonye, without
further bribe or sute unto the pope, so that Clement seyng hys lyne broken,
and the fish escaped with the hooke or bayte, like a mad ragyng dog vomited
his fulminacions, and by consistorial sentence excommunicated both kynge
and country; affirmyng that the kynge began to rebell agaynst the Romayne
see, for none other reason but because hys holy fatherhed woulde not graunte
hym the licence of the new mariage ; and with this new blesyng brought
the kynge in slaunder of the ignoraunt superstitious world." WiUiam Tho
mas's Apology for king Henry the Eighth, written a.o. 1547, p. 34. Lambeth
Library, MS. No. 464. The original, in the author's own hand, is in the
British Museum, Cotton MS. Vespas. D. xviii.
The work has been printed under the title of the " Works of William

570 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
we had any cardinalls 4 amongst us :" which wordes were set forthe
bothe with countenaunce and vehemency, that aU men marvailed
what he intended : to whome no man made aunswer. Then the
duke spake againe in great despight. To the which my lord cardinal
perceiving his vehemency, soberly maide aunswer, and saide,
" Sir, of all men within this realme, ye have least cause to dis
praise cardinalls : for, if I, poore cardinall, had not bine, you
should have had at this present no head upon your shoulders,
wherewith you might make any such bragge, in despight of us,
who intend you no manner of damage ; neither have we given
you any cause, to be with such despight offended. I would you
knew it my lord, I and my brother here intend the king and
this realme, as much honor, wealthe, and quietness, as you or
any other, of what degree soever he be, within this realme ; and
would as gladly accomplish his lawful desire. Sir, I pray you my
lord, shew me what you would doe in case you were the king3
commisioner in a forraine country, having a very weighty matter
to treat on : and upon the doubtful conclusion thereof, would you
Thomas, Clerk of the Privy Council in the year 1549, by Abraham D'Aubant,
Esq., London. 1774." 8vo. The passage here quoted will be found pp. 28 — 33.
In further pursuance of the main object of this note, I may remark, that
Lord Herbert, after describing the dismissal of the suits by "the sudden
advocation of the cause to the pope, and the inhibiting further proceedings in
England," subjoins a hint, that "the consequen ces thereof extended further
yet than our king then thought, or the pope would easily have imagined." Stale
Trials, vol. i. p. 334. 8vo. — The people too began to sympathize with the
king as an aggrieved person, and to resent the neglect and insult to the nation
by these subterfuges and delays, as in a case in which the stability of the
succession, and with that the peace and welfare of the whole kingdom, were
deeply interested. Hence the House of Lords, in a Declaration to the Pope
(July, 1530), subscribed by their own hands and seals, significantly reminded
him, (after complaining how long they had fruitlessly and in vain sought re
dress,) that the affair "will not be wholly desperate, since it is possible to find
relief some other way. Desperate remedies indeed are not without extremity
to be applied ; but he that is sick, will by any means get rid of his distemper."
Ibid. p. 344. — The Pope a " distemper," plainly indicated the probability of
an approaching crisis.
4 While we had any cardinalls.] The intrigues and other evils which car
dinals brought along with them wherever they came, had involved their name
in a degree of proverbial disrepute. Even so early as the days of Piers
Ploughman, written by Robert Longlande, about 1360, we learn, that there
was a general outcry against them.
" The commune clamat quotidie, ech a man to other,
The contry is the cursseder that cardinals comen in."
Vision of Piers Ploughman, foi. 1 10. edit. 1 550.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 571
not advertise the kings majesty or ere ye went through with the
same ? Yes, I doubt not. Therefore put your hasty malice and
despight away, and consider that we be but commisioners for a
time, and cannot, ne may not, by virtue of our commision
procede to judgement, without the knowledge and consent of the
heade of our authority, and licence of him obtained ; which is the
pope. Therefore we doe neither more nor lesse than our warrant
will beare us ; and if any man will be offended with us therefore,
he is an unwise man. Therefore hold your peace, my lord, and
pacify yourselfe, and speak like a man of honor and wisdome,
and speak not so quickly or reproachfully to your friends ; for
you know best what friendship s I have shewed you, which I
never yet revealed to any person alive before nowe, neither to my
glory, nor to your dishonor." And therewith the duke gave over
the matter, without any further wordes or aunswer, and went his
way. This matter continued thus a longe season, and my lord
cardinall was in displeasure ° with the king, for that the matter in
his sute toke no better successe to his purpose : notwithstanding,
my lord excused him by his commision, which gave him no
authority to procede in judgement, without knowledge of the
pope, who reserved the same to himselfe.
At the last they were advertised by their post, that the pope
would take deliberation in the matter, until his courtes opened,
which should not be before Bartholmewe tide next 7. The king
considering the same too long before it should be determined,
thought it good to send an ambassador to the pope, to perswade
with him to shewe such honorable favor to his majesty, that
the matter might sooner be ended, than it was like to be, or
else at the next courte to rule the matter over, according to his
request. To this embassage" was appointed doctor Stephen Gardiner,
5 You know best what friendship .] AUuding to the exercise of his influence
upon Henry, to reconcile that monarch to the duke's marriage with his sister,
the queen of France. For an account of this_great_obligation^of the duke of
Suffolk to the cardinal, see Grove's History oftheL^eand Times of Cardinal
Wolsey, vol. ii. p. 254.
6 Was in displeasure.] Compare Lord Herbert, in State Trials, vol. i. p.
338, 9.
7 Bartholmewe tide next.] August 24th, 1529.
8 To this embassage.] " Monseigneur, actendant de fermer mon pacquet
au partement de la maree, ay eu d'assez bon lieu que la charge du docteur

572 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
then called by the name of doctor Stephens, and secretary to the
king, who after was made bishop of Winchester. This doctor
Stephens went thither, and there tarried tiU the latter end of
sommer, as ye shall hear hereafter.
Then the king commanded the queene to be removed out of
the courte, and sent to another place ; and his highness rode in
his progress, with Mrs. Anne BuUen in his company " all that
season. Stephen est, entre autre chose, de dire a nostre Saint Pere que s'il ne fait pro-
ceder le cardinal Campege a ce divorce, et s'en depescher, le roy d'Angleterre
se levera de son obei'ssance, et qu'il le tienne pour tout certain, qui est chose
correspondante a ce que vous mets dans mes lettres : le diet Campege
m'estoit venu ce jour surprendre en mon logis, en ce quoy eu le loisir de luy
parler a part ; j'ai mis peine de l'enfoncer en cette matiere, mais je voy bien
qu'il n'ose parler, qui me fait presumer que par aventure le dit Stephen ne
vous aura aussi voulu tout dire, toutefois, s'il l'aura fait, j'ay pense ne pou-
voir faillir a vous en dire ce que j'en puis penser et entendre. Et croyez
monseigneur, que monsieur le legat est en grande peine, car la chose en est
si avant, que si elle ne vient en effet, le roy son maistre s'en prendra a luy, et
la ou elle s'achevera encore void il qu'il aura a faire a. forte partie. M. Cheny
que connoissez, avoit offense' ces jours passez le dit legat, et pour ce etoit
mis hors de la cour ; la damoiselle l'y a remis, voulsist ou non, et s'U n'a
ete sans luy mander rudes paroles, pensez que ce pourra estre apres l'effet.
Le due de Norfolk et sa bande commencent desja a parler gros, toutefois ils
ont affaire a. plus fin qu'eux sans datte." Bishop of Bayonne to Montmo
rency, early in Jan. 1529. Le Grand, iii. 295. From Lyons, on the 31st Jan.,
Gardiner wrote to Cardinal Wolsey, about the pope's illness, and the conse
quences that would attend his death.
9 In his company.] The way for this had been gradually preparing :
" Le roy est encores aUant et venant de Grinvich icy, je croy bien qu'il
pourra faire ung voyage a. Hampton-court ou Richemont, et la royne pareille-
ment, et pourra bien estre qu'elle ne retournera icy de long temps. Mada-
moiselle de Boulan a la fin y est venue, et l'a le roy logee en fort beau logis,
et qu'il a faict bien accoustrer tout aupres du sien, et luy est la cour faicte
ordinairement tous les jours plus grosse que de long temps elle ne fut faicte
a. la royne. Je croy bien qu'on veult accoustumer par les petiz ce peuple a
l'endurer, afin que quand viendra a donner les grans coups, il ne les trouve si
estrange ; toutefois il demoure tous jours endurcy, et croy bien qu'il feroit
plus qu'il ne faict, si plus il avoit de puissance, mais grand ordre se donne
journellement par tout." Bishop of Bayonne to Montmorency, Dat. London,
9 Dec. 1528. Le Grand, iii. 231. "Toute la cour s'est retiree a Grinvich,
et se tient maison ouverte, tant chez le roy que chez la royne, comme elle
a accoustume les aultres annees, aussi y est mademoiselle de Boulan ayant
son cas a part, qui ne se trouvera, comme je croy, gueres avec la dite royne,
et suys d'avis que les choses demoureront en ceste sorte jusques au retour de
maistre Bryant, et en ce propos est le Cardinal Campege, lequel me semble

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 573
It was so that the cardinall Campaigne made sute to be dis
charged, that he might returne to Rome. Then it chaunced
that Mr. secretary * was retourned home J from thence ; where
upon it was concluded that cardinaU Campaigne should come to
the king at Grafton in Northamptonshire, and to be conducted
by my lord cardinaU. And so they toke their journey from the
avoir bonne voulente en l'expedition de l'affaire, s'il trouve le Pape content."
Bishop of Bayonne to Montmorency, Dat. London, 25 Dec. 1528. Le
Grand, iii. 260. Du Bellay's letter ofthe 15th June, 1529, is very explicit.
1 Mr. secretary.] Stephen Gardiner. See note at p. 556.
* Retourned home.] Whence he wrote to the ambassadors at Rome thus : —
" Albeit ye be nowe advertised, as wel by this post as other lettres to you
bifore directed, howe ye shal demeane yourself in the letting of the advoca
tion of his graces cause at th' emperours agents or the quenes pursute.
Yet, I thought convenient by these my lettres to advertise youe that this
advocation of the cause is gretly pondred, and considred here not oonly with
the kings grace, but also with al other nobles of the realme ; for in case
the pope, as God forbydde, shulde advocate the said cause, not only therby
the king's grace and all his nobles shulde decline from the pope and see
apostolique, but also the same shulde redounde to my lord cardinall our
commen masters utter undoing. I doubte not therfor ye will forsee that
matier accordingly, and whereas by the kings lettres to youe directed synnes
my departing thens, it wos advised and instructed to make an appellation
and protestation tanquam a non vicario ad verum vicarium Jh'u Christi, be
cause the kings highnes perceyvith by your lettres wryten in tifre to his
grace, that the said appellation might irritate the popes holynes and rather
hindre his cause thenne doo good. His pleasur therfor is that ye shal for-
bere to make any such protestation or appeUation notwithstanding any
clause conteyned in his said lettres to the contrary, but that ye shal by al
dulce and plesaunte meanes enterteyne the popes holynes in good benevolence
and favor towards the king's highness ; for that by exasperating him he doo
noon acte anewe in the derogation of his commission and processe to be
made therupon here." Letter from Steven Gardyner to Sir Gr. de Cassalis
and Peter Vannes, Dat. Westminster, 25th June (1529). III. Ellis, ii. 157.
That Gardiner was right as to Wolsey's danger, is shewn by Du Bellay,
writing to Montmorency, at the end of May, as follows :
" Je vous asseure, monseigneur, que monsieur le Cardinal d'Yorc est en la
plus grant peine qu'il fut oncques. Les dues de Suffolk et Norfolk et les
autres mettent le roy d'Angleterre en opinion, qu'il n'a tant avance" le mari-
age qu'il eust fait, s'il eust voulu, et plus grant plaisir ne luy scauroient faire
le roy et madame que de donner par bons moyens a entendre au due de
Suffolk et a son compagnon, qu'il les a terriblement poursuivis de prendre la
chose en main jusques a cette heure, il s'en fault beaucoup par la raison
dessus dite qu'il manie le roy d'Angleterre comme il a fait. Ils se trouvent
par leurs derniers lettres de Rome en moindre seurete qu'ils n'estoient,
nource ils renvoyent en poste le docteur Benet, prians requerans, menassans,

574 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Moore 3 thitherward, and were lodged the first night at a towne
in Bedfordshire, caUed Leighton Bussarde, in the parsonage
there, being Mr. doctor Chambers's benefice, the kings phisition.
And from thence they rode the next day, which was Sonday, to
Grafton 4 ; before whose comming, there rose diverse opinions in
the courte, that the king would not speake with my lord cardinall ;
whereupon were laied many great wagers.
These two prelates being come to the gates of the courte, they
lighted from their horses, supposing they should have been
etc. Je scay de vray que le Pape est en grant fantaisie, plusqu'ils ne pen-
sent, de revoquer leur commission. Ils vouloient qu'il declarast dez cette
heure le brief amphatif estre nul, ce qu'il n'a voulu faire : sur le dit brief
giest un des grands neuf de la matiere ; ils font leur corapte que la dite ma
tiere entamee ne durera que deux mois : je vous responds qu'elle en durera
plus de quatre." Bishop of Bayonne to Montmorency, Dat. London, 29
May, 1529. Le Grand, iii. 313.
3 From the Moore.] This was on the 18th of September. The manor of
the Moore, in Rickmansworth, anciently belonged to the abbey of St. Alban's,
and afterwards to George Neville, archbishop of York, from whom it was
seized by Edward IV. in 1472. Henry VII. granted it to John de Vere, earl
of Oxford, with remainder to the issue of his countess Margaret, daughter of
Richard Neville, earl of Warwick and Salisbury. On the death of Oxford
in 1513, without issue, the Moore reverted to the crown. How it came to
Wolsey is not known ; whether he held it by grant, or whether he claimed it
as parcel of the ancient possessions of the abbey of St. Albans, which he held
in commendam. It is certain that he sometimes resided there, and there were
concluded the treaties of the 30th Aug. 1525 (see p. 512). On his disgrace
it reverted to the crown. After various grants and reversions, it was finally
given by James I., in 1614, to Edward Russell, third earl of Bedford, whose
countess, Lucy Harington, sold it to the earl of Pembroke. It has often
since changed owners : amongst them have been the duke of Monmouth,
who built a house there ; a speculator in the South Sea fraud, who built
the present house; lord Anson, who planted the weU-known Moor-park
apricot; Sir Thomas Dundas, &c. It now belongs, by purchase, to the
Grosvenor family.
4 Grafton.] The manor of Grafton had belonged to the Widviles, earls
Rivers, and it was in the manor-house there that Edward IV. first saw
Elizabeth Widvile, widow of Sir John Grey, whom he afterwards married.
Her grandson Thomas, the second marquess of Dorset, surrendered Grafton,
Hertwell, etc. in 1527, to Henry VIII., in exchange for Loughborough and
Shepsheved, in Leicestershire. Henry, as we see, was much pleased with his
acquisition, and, by act of parliament, passed in his 33rd year (1541-2),
Grafton, with Hertwell and many other manors, was erected into an honour,
by the name of Grafton Regis. Charles II. gave it to his son by Barbara
Villiers, duchess of Cleveland, from whom the present duke of Grafton in
herits it.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 575
received by the head officers of the household ; howbeit it fell out
nothing so. Nevertheless, for as much as cardinall Campaigne
was but a straunger, the sayd officers met him, with their white
staves in their handes, in the base courte, and so conveied him to
his lodging prepared for him only. And after my lord had brought
him to his lodging, he departed thinking to have gone likewise
directly to his chamber, as he was wont to doe. Then it was told
him, that he had no chamber nor lodging ordained or appointed
him in the courte. Being astonied with this newes, sir Henry
Norris, which was then grome of the stole to the king, came unto
him, desiring his grace to take his chamber for the time, untill
another might be provided for him," " For sir, I assure you,"
quoth he, " here is very little roome in this house for the king ;
therefore I beseech your grace to accept mine for the season."
And therewith my lord, thanking him for his gentleness, went
streight to Mr. Norris's chamber, where he shifted his riding
apparel ; and in the meane while, being thus in his chamber,
diverse of the noblemen and gentlemen, being his loving freindes,
came to welcome him to the courte, by whom my lord was adver
tised of all things touching the kings favor or displeasure towards
him ; which did him no small pleasure ; for being admonished of
the cause of the kings displeasure, he was the more ready to make
his excuse against the same.
Then was my lord advertised that he should prepare himselfe
to goe into the chamber of presence, there to attend the kings
comming, who was disposed there to talke with him. The other
cardinall came into my lords chamber, and bothe together went
into the said chamber of presence, where the lordes of the counsell
stode all in a rowe in order along the chamber. My lord cardinaU,
putting off his cappe, spake to every of them most gently, and soe
did they no lesse to him : at which time the chamber was fur
nished with noblemen and gentlemen, and others, that expected
the meting, countenaunce, and enterteinement of the king to-
wardes my lord cardinall.
Then immediately after, the king came into the chamber of
presence, and standing under the clothe of estate, my lord cardi
nall toke cardinall Campaigne by the hande, and kneled downe
before the king : but what he said unto him I know not : never-
thelesse the king, as amyably as ever he did before, stooped
downe, and with both his handes toke him up, and after toke

576 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
him aside by the hand, and led him to the windowe, where he
talked with him.
Then, to behold the countenaunce of the noblemen and others,
that had made their wagers, it would have made you smile ; and
speciaUy of those that laid their money, that the king would not
speake with him. Thus were they deceived. The king was in
earnest and long communication with him, in so much as I might
heare the king say, " How can that be ; is not this "your owne
hand ?" and pulled a letter or writing out of his bosome, and
shewed the same to my lord: and as I perceived my lord
aunswered the same, that the king had no more to say ; but said
to him, " My lord goe to dinner, and call my lordes here to
keepe you company ; and after dinner I will come to you againe,
and then we wiU common further with you ;" and so departed,
and dined himselfe that day with Mrs. Anne BuUen in her
chamber. Then was there set up in the chamber of presence a table for
my lord, and other lordes of the counseU, where they dined
together, sitting at dinner and commoning of divers matters.
" The king should doe well," quoth my lord cardinall, " to send
his bishops and chapleines home to their cures and benefices."
" Yea Mary," quoth my lord of Norfolke *, " and so it were mete
for you to doe also." " I should be well content therewith," quoth
my lord, " if it were the kings pleasure to licence me, with his
graces favor, to goe to my benefice at Winchester." " Nay,"
quoth my lord of Norfolke, " to your benefice at Yorke, whereas
is your greatest honor and charge." " Even as it shall please the
king," quoth my lord cardinall, and so fell into other matters.
For the lordes were lothe he should be so neare the king as to
continue at Winchester. Immediately after dinner they fell to
counseU untill the waiters had dined.
And as I heard it reported by them that waited on the king at
dinner, mistress Anne BuUen was much offended, as farre as she
durst, that the king did so gently entertaine my lord cardinall,
saying as she sat with the king at dinner, in communication of
my lord, " Sir," quoth she, " is it not a marvellous thing to see,
what debt and danger he hath brought you in with all your sub
jects V " How soe sweeteharte ?" quoth the king, " Forsothe,"

6 Lord of Norfolke.] Thomas Howard, third duke, who had succeeded his
father in 1524.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 577
quoth she, " there is not a man within all your realme, worth five
pounds, but he hath indebted you to him ;" (meaning a loane
which the king had of his subjects). " WeU," quoth the king,
" as for that, there was in him no blame ; for I know that matter
better than you, or any other." " Nay sir," quoth she, " besides
that, what things hath he wrought within this realme to your
great slander ? There is never a nobleman, but if he had done
halfe so much as he hath done, he were well worthy to lose his
heade. Yea, if my lord of Norfolke, my lord of Suffolke, my lord
my father, or any other nobleman within your realme, had done
much lesse than he hath done, they should have lost their heades
'eare this."
" Then I perceive," quoth the king, " you are not the cardi-
naUs friende?" "Why sir," saith she, "I have no cause6, nor
any that loveth you : no more have your grace, if ye consider
well his doings."
By that time the waiters toke up the table, and so ended their
communication. Nowe ye may perceive howe the olde malice
began to kindle, and to be set on fire, which was as much pro
voked by his auncient enemies (of whome I touched the cause,
and named to you the persons before in this treatise) as of
herselfe. Well, there is no more to doe, but after all this communica
tion, and the dinner thus ended, the king departed from her, and
went directly into his chamber of presence, whereas my lord and
the other lords were attending his comming. And when the king
was come into the chamber of presence, he called my lord unto
him into the great windowe, and talked with him a while very
secreetely. And at the last, the kinge tooke him by the hand, and
led him into his privy chamber, sitting in consultation with him
there all alone consulting without any other of the lords of the
counsell, untill it was dark night ; which blancked his enemies very
sore, and made them to stirre coals ; and being in doubt of them
selves, they had no other refuge but mistress Anne, in whom was
all their whole truste and affiaunce, to the accomplishing of their
enterprize ; for without her they doubted all their purpose was
but frustrate.
Then was I warned that there was no roome for my lord in
the courte ; and so was faine to provide him a lodging in the
country there about, which I found at a house of Mr. Empson's
6 I have no cause,] See p. 506.
vol. I. rp

578 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
caUed Euston 7, about three miles from Grafton, wheither my lord
came to supper, by torche light, it was so late ere he departed
from the king. At whose departing the king willed him to
resorte againe the sooner in the morning, for that he would talke
with him farther in such matters as they had commoned on
before. After my lord was departed from the king, and come to
Euston to his lodging, he had to supper with him diverse of his
freindes of the court ; and sitting at supper, in came doctor
Stephens, the king's secretary, whoe was late ambassador to
Rome ; but to what intent I know not : howbeit my lorde toke
it, that he came either to dissemble a love towards him, or else
to espy his behaviour, and to heare his communication at supper.
Whereupon my lorde went to him, and bade him welcome, and
willed him to sit downe at the table to supper, having all his
communication with him, under this manner. " Mr. secretary,"
quoth he, "ye be welcome home from Rome; when came ye
home ?" " Forsoothe," quoth he, " I came home almost a monthe8
7 Euston.] Euston is near Thetford in Norfolk : the place here meant is
Easton Neston, near Towcester, in Northamptonshire : it was purchased, 23
Henry VII., from Richard, lord Grey de Ruthyn, by the noted Sir Richard
Empson, one of the barons of the exchequer under Henry VII, whose agent
he had been, in conjunction with Dudley, for oppressing the people to enrich
the king's coffers. One of Henry VIII. 's first popular acts was to condemn
_both. Empson was tried and condemned at Northampton, but was exe
cuted with Dudley at London. Easton Neston and Towcester were granted
by Henry VIII. to Sir WiUiam Compton, who died of the sweating sickness,
in 1528. After a short time, Easton Neston was purchased by Richard
Fermor, a merchant, ancestor of the earl of Pomfret to whom it now belongs.
Wolsey slept here on the 1 9th of Sept.
8 Almost a monthe ] There is every reason to think that the mistrust which
Wolsey felt of Gardiner was well founded. Gardiner returned from his em
bassy in June, and instead of almost a month, he had been in England three
months before this conversation took place. It could have been no inad
vertent answer which he now gave. Gardiner was in Wolsey's secrets : on
the 3Jst of January, he had written from Lyons to the Cardinal about the
illness and expected death of Clement VII., and Wolsey, on the 7th of
February, had opened his mind to Gardiner as to the obtaining the Papal
Chair. Long instructions, signed by Henry, were also sent, at the same time
and to the same end ; and G. G. di Passano, then at Rome, was specially
ordered by Francis to co-operate with Gardiner on Wolsey's behalf. Clement
recovered, and Wolsey's ambitious hopes were once more defeated. On Gar
diner's return in June, he wrote to his colleagues at Rome that he foresaw the
Cardinal's approaching downfall, and although he wrote to Wolsey from
court on the 10th of August and on the 1st and 8th of September, he did not
come near him. For this studied absence there must have been reasons.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 579
" And where have you bine," quoth my lord, " ever
since?" "Forsoothe sir," quoth he, "following the court in
this progresse." " Then have you hunted, and had great pas
time," quoth my lord. " So I have had sir," quoth he. " What
good great houndes have you ?" quoth my lord. " I have some,
sir," quoth he. And thus in hunting, and like disportes, passed
they all their communication at supper; and after supper my
lord and he talked secretly together, till it was midnight ere they
sundred. The next morning my lord rose earely and rode to the courte 9 ;
at whose comming the king was ready to ride, willing my lord to
counsell with the lordes in his absence, and saide he would not
tarry with him, commanding my lord to retourne againe with car
dinall Campaigne, who had taken his leave of the king. Upon
which occasion my lord was constrained to take his leave of the
king ' also, with whome the king departed amyably in the sight of
all men. This sodein departing in the morning was by the espe-
ciall labour of Mrs. Anne, who rode with him, only to lead him
away, because he should not retourne until the departure of the
cardinaUs, the which retourned after dinner to the Moore.
The king rode that morning to view a place and ground to
make a newe parke, which was afterwardes, and is at this day
called Harewell Parke", where Mistress Anne had provided a
place for his grace to dine, fearing his retourne 3, ere the cardinalls
were gone.
Being secretary to the king, Gardiner in all probability had communicated to
him Wolsey's proceedings ; Wolsey certainly suspected his present visit to be
that of a spy. Indeed it may have been Gardiner rather than Bryan, who
placed in Henry's hands the fatal papers with which he charged the Cardinal;
" How can that be ? Is not this your own hand ? " The keen and penetrating
eye of Du Bellay saw that " Dr. Stephen" would take a great lead in affairs,
" especially if he would throw his cassock in the dirt," for no priest would get
the seal : the priests would have enough to do for themselves. In that opinion
Du BeUay was right : Sir Thomas More and not Stephen Gardiner was made
lord chancellor.
9 The courte.] At Grafton.
1 To take his leave of the king.] His final leave. They never met again.
2 Harewell Parke.] Or rather HartweU, close to Grafton. See note at p. 574.
This was on the 20th Sept.
3 Fearing his retourne.] " Le pis de son mal est que mademoiselle de Boulen
a faict promettre a son amy qu'il ne l'escoutera jamais parler; car elle pense
bien qu'il ne le pourroit garder d'en avoir pitie?'— Bp. of Bayonne to Mont
morency, 17th Oct. 1529- Le Grand, iii. 375.
p p 2

580 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Then rode my lorde and the other cardinall after dinner on
their way homewarde, and so came to St. Albones 4, and there lay
one day ; and the next day they rode together to the Moore ;
and from thence cardinall Campeignes toke his journey towards
Rome, with the kings rewarde ; but what it was I am uncertaine.
Nevertheless, after their departure, it was reported to the king
by the counsell, that cardinall Campeigne was departed, and car
ried with him great treasures of my lord cardinalls of England,
to be conveied in great sommes to Rome, whither they surmised
he would secretely repaire out of this realme. Insomuch as they
caused a post to ride after the cardinall to search him 5. And
4 St. Albones.] From here, on the 23rd Sept., Thomas Alward, keeper of
Wolsey's wardrobe, wrote a letter to Cromwell, with an account of the car
dinal's reception at Grafton. Alward says, that Wolsey had two interviews
with the king on the second day. " On Monday, in the mornyng, my lord,
leving the legat at his logyng, went again unto the kyng's grace, and after
long talkyng in his privie chamber togeder, the kyng, my lord, and all the
hole counsaile sat togeder all that for'none aboute the kyngs matiers and
affaires. In the after none, my lords grace having then with hym the legat
Campegius, went to the kyng's grace, and, after talkyng and communication
had a long whilis with the legat a parte, they both toke ther leve of the
kyngs highnes, in as good fascion and maner, and with as moche gentilnes,
as ever I saw bifor. This don, the kyngs grace went huntyng. The legate
retourned to maister Empson, and my lords grace taried ther in counsaile
til it was darke nyght. Further mor my lord of Suffolke, my lord of Roch-
ford, maister Tuke, and master Stevyns did as gently . . . have theymselfs,
with as moche observaunce and humy (lyte to) my lords grace as ever I sawe
theym do at any (time here) to for. What they here in ther harts I knowe
not. Of the premissis I have seen with mine ies." Lingard prefers the nar
rative of Cavendish. " Both were present, but though Alward's account was
written immediately, there is this to detract from its credit, that it was written
to enable Cromwell to contradict the report that Wolsey had left the king
in disgrace." vi. 157. Alward's letter is printed, I. Ellis, i. 307, where
by mistake the interview is said to have been at Greenwich, instead of
Grafton. The two cardinals slept at St. Alban's on the 20th Sept.
6 To search him.] " When he came to take ship, the searchers, upon pre
tence he carried either money or letters from England to Rome, ransacked all
his coffers, bags, and papers ; not without hope to recover that decretal bull
our king so much longed for. I find also, by some relations, that divers
love-letters betwixt our king and Mrs. BuUen, being conveyed out of the king's
cabinet, were sought for, though in vain ; they having been formerly sent to
Rome. Which usage so offended Campeius, that he complained immediately
to the king." — Lord Herbert, in State Trials, vol. i. p. 339. The king's love-
letters forsooth (and such love-letters !) stolen from his private cabinet, and
carried off to Rome ? Wherefore this ; but because fish of whatever kind
was fair game for the net of the Vatican fisherman, the self-styled successor
of St. Peter, and, so-caUed, vicar of Christ ? Scire volunt secreta domus, atque

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 581
when they overtoke him atCallis6, where he was staied untill search
was made, there was not found so much mone yas he received
of the kings rewarde ; and so he was dismissed and went his way .
And after that cardinal Campeigne was thus departed and
gone, Michaelmas terme drewe on, against which time my lord
cardinall resorted unto his house 7 at Westminster ; and when the
tearme began, he went unto the hall, in such like sorte and
inde timeri. We in England possess these letters, ages after, only from the
pope's stolen copy. See Harleian Miscellany, &c.
6 At Callis.] Lingard says that he was searched at Dover on Oct. 1st.
Du Bellay, writing from London, on the 12th of October, to Montmorency,
says, " Le cardinal Campege est encores a Douvres, et a ceste heure viens
d'entendre que soulz couleur de faute de navires, on ne le veult laisser passer
sans y prendre advis, de paeur qu'il n'emporte le thresor du cardinal d'Yorc."
Le Grand, iii. 369.
7 Resorted unto his house.] His state at this time is well described by Du
BeUay: — "Au demourent, j'ay este" voir le Cardinal en ses ennuis, ou que
j'y ay trouve" le plus grand exemple de fortune que on ne scauroit voir; il m'a
remonstre son cas en la plus mauvaise rethorique que je viz jamais, car cueur
et parole lui failloient entierement : il a bien ploure et prie que le roy et
madame voulsissent avoir pitid de luy, s'ils avoyent trouve qu'il leur eust
guarde promesse de leur estre bon serviteur autant que son honneur et
pouvoir se y est peu estendre, mais il me a a la fin laisse sans me pouvoir dire
autre chose qui vallist mieux que son visaige, qui est bien descheu de la moitie
de juste pris, et vous promets, monseigneur, que sa fortune est telle que ses
ennemis, encores qu'ils soyent Angloys, ne se scauroyent guarder d'en avoir
pitie'; ce nonobstant ne laisseront de le poursuivre jusques au bout, et ne
voyt de moyen de son salut, aussi ne fais-je, sinon qu'il plaise au roy et a
madame de l'ayder. De legation, de sceau d'auctorite, de credit, il re'en de-
mande point; il est prest de laisser tout jusques a la chemise, et que on le laisse
vivre en ung hermitaige, ne le tenant ce roy en sa malle grace. Je l'ay reconforte
au mieulx que j'ay peu, mais je n'y ay sceu faire grant chose ; depuys par un
en qui il se fie, il m'a mande ce qu'il vouldroit qu'on feist pour luy de la plus
grant partie, luy voiant qu'U ne touchoit au bien des affaires du roy qu'on luy
accordast la plus raisonnable chose qu'il demande, c'est que le roy escripvist
a. ce roy qu'il est ung grand bruict de par dela qu'il l'ait reculle d'autour de
luy, et fort eslongue" de la bonne grace, en sorte qu'on diet qu'il doibve estre
destruict, ce que ne pense totalement estre comme on le diet ; toutesfois pour
la bonne fraternite qu'ils ont ensemble, et si grant communication de tous
leurs plus grans affaires, l'a bien voulu prier de y avoir esgard, affin qu'il
n'en entre souldainement quelque mauvaise fantaisie envers ceulx qui out veu,
qu'en si grant solemnite et auctorite', il ait servy d'instrument en cette per-
petuelle amitie tant renommee par toute la Chrestiente : et que si d'aventure
il estoit entre" en quelque mal contentement de luy, il veuille ung peu moderer
son affection, comme il est bien seur que luy vouldront conseiller ceulx qui
sont autour de sa personne et au maniement de ses plus grandes affaires."
Letter from the Bishop of Bayonne to Montmorency, dat. London, 17th Oct.,
1 529. Le Grand, iii. 370.

582 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
gesture as he accustomed most commonly to doe, and sat in the
chauncery being then chaunceUor. After which day he never
sate more 8. The next day he tarried at home, expecting the
comming of the dukes of Suffolke and Norfolke, who came not
that day ; but the next day they came thither unto him ; to
whom they declared the kings pleasure ; which was that he should
surrender and deliver up the great seale into their hands, and to
8 He never sate more.] " Cardinal Wolsey being now divested of his late
power (wherein he had the glory, in some sort, to have been superior to his
king), and for the rest being left alone, and exposed not only to a general
hatred, but to the private machinations of the present and future queen,
became sensible of his ill estate : though yet he did not believe himself so
near his overthrow, as it appeared afterwards. But what could he hope for,
when such puissant enemies did procure his destruction ? Therefore, though
he received some advices from Rome, which might argue a care rather than a
power for his conservation, yet in effect what secret intelligence soever passed
betwixt the pope and him came to the emperor first, and after to queen
Catherine, who cunningly caused it to be whispered into the king's ears, by
some more indirect ways than it could possibly be imagined to proceed from
her. Likewise Mrs. Anne BuUen, having learned from some of the king's
wisest and gravest counsellors, divers malversations of the Cardinal, was so
far from disguising them, that she even misinterpreted his better actions.
Edmund Campian adds to these reasons, that Sir Francis Bryan being in
Rome, did by the means of a familiar one who kept the pope's papers,
obtain a letter of the cardinal's which wrought his ruin, — in this manner.
Having first shewed her the cardinal's hand-writing, and then corrupted her,
this courtesan so dexterously performed the rest, that upon pretence of visit
ing her servant in his study, she conveyed away this letter and gave it Bryan,
who failed not immediately to send it to our king. Which relation of Cam
pian, though I will not contradict, yet I suppose to be the more improbable,
that I find by original despatches, Bryan was come from Rome before any
argument of the king's disfavour to the cardinal appeared." Still, that the
king was in possession of some papers of the cardinal betraying his bad faith
is plain from what we have lately read : " How can that be ? Is not this your
own hand ?" and Lord Herbert himself tells us, in another place, that " the
king believed he held underhand intelligence with the pope, which might be
by some notice he might have of a joint dispatch (a minute whereof is extant
in our records), from Wolsey and Campeius, whereby they desired the pope
to avoke the cause to himself." State Trials, vol. i. p. 338—91. — "However,
the way the king took to overthrow him was merely legal; though approach
ing to summum jus after most men's opinions. In the carriage whereof yet
that secresy was used, that the cardinal did not, or perchance out of great
ness of mind, would not take notice of what was intended against him. So
that though the Bill or Indictment was put in, at the beginning of Michael
mas term, yet did he ride that day to the chancery with his accustomed pomp.
Of which our king being advertised, thought fit to forbid him the place,"
Lord Herbert, in State Trials, vol. i. p. 367 — 69.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 583
departe simply unto Ashere ", which was an house scituate nighe
unto Hampton Courte, belonging to the bishopricke of Win
chester. The cardinall demanded of them their commision, that
gave them such authority so to doe ; who aunswered him againe,
that they were sufficient commisioners, and had authority to doe
no lesse by the king's mouthe. Notwithstanding he would in no
wise agree to their saying in that behalfe, without further know
ledge of their authority, saying also, that for the greate seale, it
was delivered him by the kings person to enjoye the ministration
thereof, with the rome of the chaunceUor, for terme of his life,
whereof for his surety he had the kings letters patent to shewe.
Which matter was greatly debated betweene him and the dukes,
with many great and heinous wordes, all which he toke in pa
tience ; insomuch that the dukes were faine to departe againe
without their purpose, at that time ; and rode to Windsor to the
king from whence they came. And what reporte they made, I
am uncertaine ; howbeit, the next daye they retourned againe
from Windsor, from the king, bringing with them the king's letters.
Then my lorde delivered unto them the great seale ', and was
content to obey the kings commandement, and to departe simply *,
taking with him nothing but only certaine provision for his house ;
saying that the king intended to come thither within two or three
daies. And after longe talke between him and the dukes, they de
parted with the great seale of Englande unto Windsore, and
brought the same unto the king. Then went my lord cardinall,
and called his officers before him, and toke account of them for
all suche stuffe and things whereof they had charge. And in his
gaUery were set diverse tables, whereupon lay a great number of
goodly riche stuffes ; as whole pieces of silke of all coulores,
9 Ashere.] Esher.
1 The great seale.] Oct. 19, 1529. Herbert, p. 290.
2 To departe simply.] " Escripvant cette lettre ay sceu que monsieur le
legat vient d'etre mys hors de sa maison, et tous ses biens mis en main du
roy. Outre les pilleries dont on le charge, et les broiiilleries semees par son
moien entre les princes chrestiens, on luy meet encores tant d'aultres choses
suz, qu'il est du tout affole. Le due de Norfock est faict chef de ce conseil,
et en son absence celuy de Souffock, et pardessus tout mademoiselle Anne.
On ne scait encores qui aura le sceau, je croy bien que les prestres n'y
toucheront plus et que a. ce parlement ils auront de terribles alarmes. Je voy
que le docteur Stephen sera fort avant au manyement des affaires, principale-
ment s'il veult jetter le froe aux horties." Bishop of Bayonne to Montmo
rency, 22 Oct. 1528. Le Grand, iii. 377.

584 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
velvet, satten, damask, tufted taffeta, grograine, sarcenet, and
other things, now not in remembrance ; also there lay on these
tables a thousand pieces of fine hollande clothe, whereof as he
reported after, there was five hundred of the said pieces of clothe
stolne, and conveied away from the king and him ; yet there was
laide upon every table, bokes, made in manner of inventories,
reporting the number and contents of the same. And even so
there were bokes made in manner of inventories 3 of aU things
here after rehearsed, wherein he toke great paines to set all
things in order against the king's comming. Also he hanged all
the walls of the gallery on the one side, with clothe of golde,
clothe of tyssewe, clothe of silver, and with riche clothe of bod
kin 4 of divers colours. Also on the other side were hanged the
richest suite of copes of his owne provision (made for his col-
ledges of Oxenforde and Ipswiche) that ever I sawe in Englande.
Then had he two chambers adjoyning to the gallery, the one
called most commonly the gilt chamber, and the other the counsell
chamber, wherein were set up two broade and long tables, upon
tressels, whereupon was set suche a number of plate of aU sortes,
as was almost incredible. In the gilt chamber were set out upon
the table nothing but gilt plate ; and upon a eupboarde, and in a
windowe was set no plate but all gold very riche. And in the
counsell chamber was aU white and parcell gilt plate ; and under
the table in baskets was all olde broken sUver plate, not esteemed
worthy to be occupied, as plate, but as broken silver ; and bokes
set bye them, purporting every kinde of plate, and every parcell,
with the content of the ounces thereof. Thus was all things
furnished and prepared, giving the charge of all the saide stuffe
with aU other things remaining in every office to be delivered to
the king, as weU unto diverse persons, in whome he put his trust,
as to one in especiall of his officers, in every office of his house,
to make aunswer to their charge, charged in their indenture of
the parceUs; for the order was suche, that every officer was
charged with the receipt of the stuffe belonging to their office by
indenture. 3 Inventories.] The original inventory of his furniture, tapestry, and linen,
is amongst the MSS. of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, now forming part of the Har-
leian CoUection (No. 599) in the British Museum.
4 Clothe of bodkin.] "Baudekyn, Cloth of Gold." Phillip's World qf
Words. " Baldekinum — pannus omnium ditissimus, cujus utpote stamen ex
filis auri, subtegmen ex serico texitur. Clothe of baudkins dicitur in statutis
Parliamentary nostris." Wats' Glossary, subjoined to his edition of Mat
thew Paris.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 585
Then aU things being ordered as it is before rehearsed, my
lord prepared him to departe by water. And before his going,
sir William Gascoigne, being his treasurer, came unto him, to
whom he gave, among other, the charge of the delivery of the
saide goods, to be delivered unto the king, who saide unto the
cardinall, then being his lord and master, " Sir," quoth he, " I
am sorry for your grace, for ye shall go straightway to the Tower,
as I heard say." " Is this the goode counsell, and comforte,"
quoth my lord cardinall unto him, "that you can give your
master in adversity ? It hath alwaies been your naturall inclina
tion to be very lighte of credite ; and much more lighter of
reporting lies. I would you should knowe, sir William, and all
these reporters, that it is untrue ; for I never deserved to come
there, although it hath pleased the king, to take my house ready
furnished for his pleasure at this time. I would all the world
knewe that I have nothing, but it is his of right ; for by him,
and of him, I have received all that I have ; therefore it is of
convenience and reason, that I render unto his majesty the same
againe, with all my harte. Therefore goe your waies, and attend
well to your charge." And therewithall he made him ready to
ride ; and then with his traine of gentlemen and yeomen, whiche
was no small number, he toke his barge at his privy staires, and so
went by water unto Putney. At the taking whereof, there was
walking up and downe 5 on the Thames boates filled with people
of London, expecting the cardinalls departing by water, sup
posing that he should have gone to the Towre, whereat they joied
very much.
O wavering and new fangled multitude ! Is it not a wonder
to consider the mutability of this uncertaine worlde ! The common
people desireth allwaies those things for the newelties sake, which
after turneth them to small profit or commodity. For if the
sequell be well and directly weighed and considered, they had
but small cause to rejoice at his faU. What hath succeeded
wise men doe knowe, and the common sorte themselves have
felt. Wherefore to wonder at it, it were but a folly ; to study the
remedy it profiteth not ; for thus it hath ever bene, and will
alwaies : do what you will to redresse the same, it botethe not.
I cannot see, but alwaies men in authority be disdained with the
common sorte of people ; and they most of all, that doe observe
and minister justice. For where they please some one that
receiveth the benefit of the lawe at their hands according to
5 Walking up and downe.] Wqffeting. Singer's edit. p. 185.

586 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
justice, they doe in like wise displease the contrary parte,
supposing himselfe to sustaine wrong, where he hath righte.
Thus all justices be in some contempt with the people all waies,
for the ministration of their duty. Yet must some such be
alwaies elected and deputed soe to doe ; for else, if the world
should be without inquisitors and order, there should be too much
error and abomination.
When he was with all his traine arrived at Putney, being upon
the lande, he took his moile 6, and every man to their horses.
And riding not paste a paire of butt lengths, he espied a gentle
man come riding in poste downe the hiU, in the towne of Putney,
and demanding of his gentlemen aboute him, what he was, that
came riding downe so faste. " Forsooth sir," quoth they, " it
is Mr. Norris, as it seemeth to us." And by and by he came to
my lord saluting him, and sayd, " Sir, the kings majesty com
mendeth him unto you, and commaunded me to shewe you, that
you be as muche in his favor as ever you were, and so shall be.
Therefore he would that you should be of good cheere, and take
no thought, for ye shall not lacke. And although he hath done
thus unkindly towards you, it is more for the satisfying of some,
than for any indignation ; and yet you knowe well, he is able to
k recompence you againe, and to restore you to twise so much ;
and thus he bad me, that I should shewe you, and willed me to
bid you to take all this matter in patience. And sir, for my
parte, I truste to see you in better estate, than ever you were."
But when he heard Mr. Norris reporte the good and comfortable
words of the king, he quickly lighted off his mule, all alone, as
though he had bine the youngest amongst us, and incontinent
kneeled downe in the dirte upon bothe his knees, holding up his
hands for joye of the kings most comfortable message. Mr.
Norris alighted also, espying him so sone upon his knees, and
kneeled by him, and toke him in his armes, and asked howe he
did, calling upon him to credite his message. " Mr. Norris,"
quoth he, "when I consider the joyfull newes that yee have
brought to me, I could doe no lesse than greatly rejoice. Your
wordes pierced my harte, that the sodain joye, surmounted my
memory, having no regarde or respecte to the place, but I
thought it my duty, in the same place where I received this
comforte, to laud and praise God upon my knees, and most
humbly to render to my soveraigne lorde my harty thanks for the
same." 6 Moile.] Mule.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 587
And as he was thus talking upon his knees to Mr. Norris, he
would have pulled off a velvet night cap, which he wore under
his black hat, and scarlet cap ; but he could not undoe the knot
under his chin ; "wherefore with violence he rent the laces of his
cap, and pulled his said cap from his head, and kneeled bare
headed. And this done, he rose up and mounted upon his mule,
and so rode forthe up the high waye in the towne, talking with
Mr. Norris. And when he came unto Putney Heathe, where
Mr. Norris should departe from him, Mr. Norris gave him a ring
of gold with a stone, and sayd unto him, that the king sent him
the same for token of good will, " which ringe," quothe he, " the
king saith you know very weU." It was the privy token between
the king and him, when the king would have any especiall thing
sped at his hands. Then saide he to Mr. Norris, " If I were
lorde of a realme, the one halfe were too small a rewarde to
give you for your paines, and good newes. But, good Mr.
Norris, consider with me, that I have nothinge lefte me but my
clothes upon my backe. Therefore I shall desire you to take
this small rewarde at my hands ;" the which was a little chaine
of gold, made like a bottle chaine, with a crosse of gold,
wherein was a piece of the Holy Crosse 7, which he continuaUy
ware about his necke next his body; and saide furthermore,
" Master Norris, I assure you, when I was in prosperity, although
it seme but small in valeue, yet I would not gladly have departed
with the same for a thousand poundes. Therefore I shall require
you to take it in good worthe, and to weare it about your necke
continually for my sake, and to remember me to the king when
ye shall see opportunity, unto whose Highness I shall most
instantly require you, to have me most humbly commended ; for
whose charitable disposition to me, I can but pray for the pre
servation of his royall estate. I am his obedient subject, his
poore chaplaine, and beadman, and so will be during my life,
accompting myselfe nothinge, nor to have any thinge, but only of
him and by him, whome I have justly and truely served, to the
best of my grosse wit." And with that he toke Master Norris
by the hand bare headed, and so departed. And when he was
gone but a small distance, he returned againe, and caused Mr.
Norris to be called to him. When Master Norris was returned,
he said unto him, " I am sorry," quothe he, " that I have no
token to send to the king. But if you will at my request present
7 The Holy Crosse.] See **• — -, p. 383, note (').

588 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
the king, with this poore Foole8, 1 trust he will accept him, for he is,
for a nobleman's pleasure, forsoothe, worthe a thousand poundes."
So Master Norris toke the Foole ; with whom my lord was
faine to send sixe of his tallest yeomen, to help him to convaie
the Foole to the courte ; for the poore Foole toke on like a
tyrant, rather than he would have departed from my lord. Not
withstanding they convaied him away, and so brought him to the
courte, where the king received him very gladly. After departure
of Master Norris with his token to the kinge, my lorde rode
straight to Ashur, which is an house belonging to the bishopricke
of Winchester, situate in the county of Surry, not farre from
Hampton Courte, where my lord and his family continued the
space of three or fowre weeks, without either beds, sheets, table
clothes, or dishes to eat their meete in, or wherewith to buy any.
Howbeit, there was good provision of all kinds of victualls, and
of drinke, as bere and wine, whereof there was sufficient and
plenty enough. My lord was compelled of necessity to borrowe
of Mr. Arundell, and of the bishop of Carlile, plate and dishes,
bothe to drinke in, and to eate his meate in. Thus my lord
with his family continued in this strange estate, until after AU-
hallowne tide.
It chanced me upon AU-hallowne day 9 to come into the Great
Chamber at Assher, in the morning, to give mine attendance,
where I found Mr. Cromwell leaning in the great windowe with a
Primer in his hand, saying our Lady mattens ; which had bine a
strange sight 1 in him afore. — Well, what will you have more ? He
8 Poore Foole.] This is not to be taken to mean Will Somers, who was
not Henry VIII.'s jester till a later period, entering into the royal service
after his former master, Richard Fermor, the owner of Easton Neston, had
incurred prmmunire in 1540. Will Somers deserves to be honourably
recorded for his gratitude to his former master, whose estates, somewhat
shorn, were restored through his means.
9 AU-hallowne day.] November 1, 1529.
1 A strange sight.] " Dr. Wordsworth's edition," (says Mr. Singer, in his
edition of this Life, vol. i. p. 193, A.n. 1825,) "and the later manuscripts
read, ' which had been a strange sight in him afore ;' but this can hardly be
right." The reader's wishes unquestionably will go along with Mr. S. in the
opinion here expressed. But I see no sufficient reasons for entertaining it ;
or for any change in the text. I fear Cromwell, in his earlier years, may have
been a man to have given occasion for such a remark being made as that
objected to ; especially by a writer of George Cavendish's principles. What
is the account which Mr. S. gives us, in this same page, from Cardinal Pole,
another Roman Catholic writer? "Cardinal Pole relates that Cromwell
openly professed to him his Mac^JftveUian principles. He had learned, he

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 589
prayed no more earnestly, than he distUled teares as fast from his
eyes. Whom I saluted, and bad good morrowe. And with that
I perceived his moist chekes, the which he wiped with his napkine.
To whom I saide, " Why Mr. CromweU, what meaneth this
dole? Is my lord in any danger, that ye doe lament for him? or
is it for any other losse, that ye have sustained by misfortune ?"
" Nay," quoth he, " it is for my unhappy adventure. For I am
like to lose aU that I have laboured for, aU the daies of my life,
for doing of my master true and dUigent service." " Why Sir,"
quoth I, " I trust that you be too wise, to do any thing by my
lord's commaundement, otherwise than ye might doe, whereof
you ought to be in doubt or daunger for losse of your goods."
" WeU, weU," quoth he, "I cannot teU ; but this I see before
mine eyes, that every thing is as it is taken ; and this I knowe
well, that I am disdained withal for my master's sake ; and yet I
am sure there is no cause, why they should doe so. An evill
name once gotten will not lightly be put away. I never had pro
motion by my lord to the encrease of my living. But this much
I will say to you, that I wiU this afternoone, when my lord hath
dined, ride to London, and to the courte, where I wiU either make
or marre', or ever I come againe. I wUl put myselfe in prease3,
to see what they be able to lay to my charge." " Mary," quoth
I, " then in so doing you shall doe wisely, beseeching God to send
you good lucke, as I would myselfe." And with that I was caUed
into the closet, to see and prepare all things ready for my lord,
whoe intended to say masse there that day himselfe ; and so I did.
Then my lord came thither with his chaplaine, one doctor Mar
shall, and first said mattens, and heard two masses in the time of
his mattens saying. And that sayd, he prepared himselfe to
masse ; and so saide masse himselfe. And when he had finished
all his service, incontinent after he was returned into his chamber,
he caUed for his dinner, who was served into his privy chamber,
and there dined among diverse his doctors, among whome this
said, that vice and virtue were but names : fit indeed to amuse the leisure of
the learned in their colleges, but pernicious to the men who seek to rise in
the courts of princes." — But it is almost enough of itself, to advert merely
to the different sides in religion taken by CromweU and Cavendish. The
latter was a person who would naturally entertain a mean opinion of Crom-
weU's devotional habits and propensities.
2 Make or marre.] " What he made, and what he marred, has long been
matter of history." Maitland, Essays on the Reformation, p. 236.
3 In prease.] See p. 530, where it signifies a press or crowd, but that can
scarcely be its meaning here ; it may mean under arrest : French, prise.

590 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
master Cromwell dined ; and sitting at dinner, it came to passe
[that he fell] in communication of his gentlemen and servaunts,
whose true and faithful service my lord much commended.
Whereupon Mr. Cromwell toke an occasion to tell my lord, that
he ought in conscience to consider the true and good service that
they did him in this his necessity, the which doe never forsake
him in weale ne in woe, and saide.
" Sir, it should be weU done for your Grace to call them before
you, bothe gentlemen which be worthy personnages, and also your
yeomen, and let them understande, that ye righte well consider
their paines and truthe with their faithful service ; and to give
them your commendation, with good words, the which shaU be to
them great courage to sustaine your misery with paines and
patience, and to spend their life and substance in your service."
" Alas Thomas," quoth my lord, " ye knowe I have nothing to
give them, and wordes without deeds be not often well taken.
For if I had but as I late had, I would departe with them so
frankely, as they should be well contente : but nothing, hath no
savor ; and I am bothe ashamed, and also sorry that I am not
able to requite their faithful service. And although I doe rejoice
as I may, to consider the fidelity I see in a number of my
servants, who will not forsake me in my miserable estate, but be
as diligent and as serviceable about me as they were in my great
triumphe and glory, yet I doe lament againe, as vehemently, the
want of substance, to distribute among them." " Why Sir,"
quoth master Cromewell, " have ye not here a number of chap-
leines, to whom ye have departed liberally with spirituall promo
tions, in so much as some may dispend, by your Grace's prefer
ment, a thousand pounds by yeare, and some five hundred marks,
and some more and some lesse ; you have not a chapleine within
all your house, or belonging to you, but he may spend well at the
least (by your procurement and promotion) three hundred markes
yearely, who have had all the profit and gaines at your handes,
and other your servauntes nothing : and yet have your poore
servauntes taken much more paines in one day, than all your idle
chapleines have done in a yeare. Therefore if they will not
frankely and freely consider your liberallity, and departe with you
of the same goods gotten in your service, now in your great indi
gence and necessity, it is pitty that they live ; and all the world
wiU have them in indignation and hatred, for their ingratitude to
their master."
" I think no lesse Thomas," quoth my lord, " wherefore, I pray

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 591
you, cause all my servants to assemble without, in my great
chamber, after dinner, and see them stand in order, and I will
declare my mind unto them."
After that the borde's end was taken up, master Cromewell
came to me, and saide " Heard you not," quoth he, "what my
lorde saide?" " Yes Sir, that I did," quoth I. " Well, then,"
quoth he, " call all the gentlemen and yeomen up into the great
chamber ; and even so I did, commanding all the gentlemen to
stand on the right side of the chamber, and all the yeomen on the
other side. And at the laste my lord came out in his rochet upon
a violet gowne, like a bishop, who went streight to the upper ende
of the saide chamber, where was the great windowe. Standing
there a while, his chapleins about him, beholding this goodly
number of his servaunts, he could not speake unto them, untill'
the teares ran downe his chekes : which fewe teares perceived by
his servants, caused the fountaines of water to gusshe out of their
faithfull eyes, in such sorte as it would cause a cruell harte to
lament. At the last, after he had turned his face to the windowe,
and dried his moisted chekes, he spake to them in this sorte in
effect ;
" Most faithfull gentlemen, and true hearted yeomen, I doe not
lament to see you about me, but I lament in a manner a certaine
ingratitude on my behalfe towards you all, in whome hath bin a
great defaulte, that in my prosperity I have not done so much for
you, as I might have done, either in deede or worde, which lay in
my power then to doe : but then I knewe not the juell and
speciall treasure I had in my house of you my faithful servants ;
but now experience hath taught me, and with the eyes of my
discretion I doe well perceive the same. There was never thing
that repented me more that ever I did, than doeth the remem-
braunce of my great and most oblivious negligence, and unkinde
ingratitude, that I have not promoted, preferred or advaunced
you all, accordinge to your demerits. Howbeit, it is not unknowne
unto you all, that I was not so fully furnished of temporall promo
tions in my gifte, as I was of spiritual preferments. And if I
should have preferred you to any of the king's offices, then should
I have runne in the indignation of the king's servants, who would
not much let to reporte behinde my backe that there could no
office in the king's gifte escape the cardinall and his servants, and
thus should I have runne in open slaunder before all the world.
But now it is come to this passe, that it hath pleased the king to
take aU that ever I have into his hands, so that I have nothing

592 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
to give you ; for I have nothing lefte me but my bare clothes
upon my backe, the which are simple in comparison to that I had :
howbeit if it might doe you any good, I would not sticke to divide
the same among you, yea, and the skinne of my backe too, if it
might countervaile any value among you. But my good gentle
men and yeomen, my trusty and faithful servaunts, and of whome
no prince hath the like, I shall require you to take some patience
with me awhile, for I doubt not but that the kinge, considering
my suggested offence by mine enemies, which is put against me,
to be of small griefe or hurte, for so great and soddaine an over-
throwe, wiU shortely restore me to my living, so that I shaU be
more able to divide my substance among you, whereof ye shall not
lacke. For what-soever shall chaunce hereafter to be an overplus
and superfluity of my revenewes, at the determination of my
yearely accompt, it shall be distributed among you. For I wiU
never during my life esteeme the goods and riches of this world
any otherwise than which shaU be sufficient to mainetaine the
estate that God hath and shall call me unto. And if the kinge doe
not shortly restore me, then will I write for you, either to the king,
or to any noble man within this realme, to retaine your service ;
for I doubt not but the kinge or any noble man within this realme,
will credite my letter in your commendation. Therefore, in the
mean time, I would advise you to repaire home to your wives,
such as have wives ; and some of you that have no wives, to take
a time to visit your parents in the country. There is none of you
aU, but would once in a yeare require license to see and visit your
wife, and other of your friends : take this time therefore in that
respect, and in your retourne I will not refuse you, to beg with
you. I consider that your service in my house hath been such,
that ye be not apt to serve any man under the degree of a king ;
therefore I would advise you to serve no man but the king, who
I am sure will not refuse you. Therefore I shall desire you to
take your pleasure for a month, and then ye may come againe,
and by that time, I trust the king will extend his mercy upon me."
" Sir," quoth master Cromewell, " there be diverse of these
your yeomen, that would be glad to see their friends, but they
lacke money : therefore here be diverse of your chapleines that
have received at your hands great benefices and livings ; let them
shew themselves unto you as they be bound to doe. I think
their honesty and charity is such that they will not see you lacke
any thing that may doe you good or pleasure. And for my parte,
although I have not received of your graces gifte one penny

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 593
towards the increase of my livinge, yet wiU I give you this
towards the dispatch of your servantes," and therewith delivered
unto my lord five pounds in gold. " And now let us see what
your chapleines will doe. I think they will departe with you,
much more liberally than I, who be more able to give you a
pound than I a penny." " Goe to, my masters," quoth he to the
chapleines ; insomuch as they gave to my Lord liberally, some
ten pounds, some twenty nobles, some five pounds, and so some
more and some lesse, as their powers would extend, at that time ;
by means whereof my lord received among them as much as paid
the yeomen ten shillings the pece towardes their quarters wages,
and as much money as would pay every of them for a monthes
borde wages ; and then they departed downe into the hall, where
some determined to goe to their friends, and some would not
departe from my lorde, untiU they might see him in better estate.
My lord retourned into his chamber lamenting the departure
from his servants, making his mone to master Cromewell, who
comforted him the best he could, and desired my lord to give him
leave 4 to goe to London, whereas he would either make or marre
(the which was alwaies his common terme). Then after a little
communication with my lord in secret, he departed and toke his
horse, and rode to London, at whose departinge I was by, to
whome he saide, " Farewell, ye shall heare shortly of mee, and
if I speede well, I will not faile to be here againe, within these
two daies." And so I toke my leave of him, and he rode on his
journey. Sir Rafe Sadler, now knight, was then his clerke, and
rode with him.
After my lord had supped that night, and all men gonne to
bed, being AU-hallowne day, about midnight, one of the porters
came to my chamber dore, and knocked there to wake me. And
being once awake, and perceiving who was there, I asked him,
what he would have at that time of the night ? " Sir," quoth he,
" there be a great number of horsemen at the gate, that would
come in, saying that it is sir John Russell, and so it appeares by
his voice ; and what is your pleasure that I should doe?" said he,
"Mary," quoth I, "goe downe againe, and make a great fire in
your lodge, until I come, to drie them ;" for it rained all that
nighte most vehemently, as it did at any time the yeare before.
Then I arose and made me ready, and put on my night gowne,
4 Desired my lord to give him leave.] On this subject, and on Cromwell's
character, see Maitland's Essays on the Reformation, 8vo. pp. 228—236.
vol. I. o. q

594 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
and came to the gates, and asked who was there. With that
Mr. Russel spake to me, whom I knewe right well, and caused
the gates to be set open, and let them all come in, who were wet
to the very skin. I caused Mr. Russel to goe into the porter's
lodge to the fire to drie him ; and he shewed me that he was
come from the king unto my lord in message, with whom he
required me to speake. " Sir," quoth I, " I trust your newes be
good." " Yea, and so I promise you on my fidelity ; and so tell
him, that I have brought him such newes, as will please him right
weU." " Well then, I will goe," quoth I, " and wake him, and
cause him to rise." I went incontinent to my lord's chamber
dore, and knocked there, so that my lord spake to me, and asked
me what I would have. With that I tould him of the comming
of Sir John RusseU ; and then he called up to him one of his
gromes to let me in ; and when I was come to him, I tould him
againe of the journey that Sir John RusseU had taken that
troublesome night. " I pray God all be for the beste," quoth he.
" Yes Sir," quoth I, " he shewed me, and so bade me tell you,
that he had brought suche newes, as you would greatly rejoice
thereat." " Well then," quoth he, " God be praised, and well-
come be his grace ! Go ye and fetch him to me, and by that time
I wiU be ready to talke with him."
Then I returned into the lodge, and brought Mr. Russell from
thence unto my lord, who had cast about him his night gowne.
And when Mr. Russell was come before him, he most humbly
reverenced him, upon his knees, whome my lord stowped unto,
and toke him up, and bade him wellcome. " Sir," quoth he, "the
king commendeth him unto you ;" and delivered him a great ring
of gold with a Turkeis, for a token ; " and willed me, to bid you
be of good cheere ; for he loveth you as well as ever he did, and
is sorry for your trouble, whose minde runneth muche upon you.
Insomuch that before his Grace sat downe to supper, he called me
unto him, and desired me to take the paines secretly to visite
you, and to comforte you the best of my powre. And Sir, I have
had the sorest journey for so little a way, that ever I had to my
remembraunce." My lorde thanked him for his paines and good newes, and
demaunded of him if he had supped ; and he saide " Nay." " Well
then," quoth my lord, " cause the cookes to provide some meate
for him ; and cause a chamber to be provided for him, that he
may take his rest awhile upon a bed." AU which commaundement

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 595
I fulfiUed, and in the meane time my lord and master Russell
were in secret communication ; and in the ende, master RusseU
went to his chamber, taking his leave of my lord, and said he
would tarry but a while, for he would be at the courte at Green
wiche againe before day, and would not for any thing that it were
knowne, that he had bin with my lorde that night. And so being
in his chamber, liaving a small repaste, he rested him a while upon
a bed, whiles his servauntes supped and dried them; and that done,
incontinent he rode away againe with speede to the courte. And
after this within a while, my lord was restored to plate, vessells,
and householde stuffe, of every thing necessary some parte, so
that he was better furnished than before.
Now let us retourne againe to master Cromewell to see how he
hath spedde, since he departed. The case stode so, that the
parliament should begin crastino animarum s, or there abouts, and
he being within London devised with himself to be one of the
burgesses of the parliament, and chaunced to meete with one Sir
Thomas Rush, knighte, a speciall friend of his, whose son was
appointed to be a burgess, of whome he obtained his rome, and
so put his fete into the parliament house ; so that within two or
three daies after his departure from my lord, he came againe to
Asshere, with a pleasaunte countenaunce, and saide to me, that
he had once adventured to put in his feete, where he would
be better regarded, or ever the parliament were finished. Then
talked he with my lorde, and after his talke he rode againe to
London, because he would not be absent from the parliament.
There was nothing done against him in the parliament house,
but he sent to my lorde to knowe what answer he might make
in his behalfe ; insomuch that there was nothing alleadged
against my lord, but that he was ready to make aunswer thereto ;
insomuch that at the length his honest estimation and earnest
behaviour in his master's cause, grewe so in every man's opinion,
that he was reputed the most faithful servant to his master of all
other, wherein he was greatly of aU men commended.
Then was there brought in ' a bill of articles into the Parlia
ment house to have my lord condemned of treason; against
which bill Mr. Cromewell inveighed so discreetly, with such witty
persuasions and depe reasons, that the same could take no effect '.
6 Crastino animarum.] 3rd November, 1529.
6 Brought in.] Dec. 1529. Lord Herbert, p. 302.
7 The same could take no effect.] " I ascribe its rejection to the king, from
Q q 2

596 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Then were his enemies constrained to indight him 8 in apremunire,
and all was to intitle the king to his goods and possessions, the
which he had obtained and purchased for the maintenance of his
colledges in Oxonforde and Ipswiche, whereof he was then in
building in the most sumptuous wise 9. Wherein when my lord
was demaunded by the judges, which were sent unto him to
knowe his mind, and to take his aunswer therein, he aunswered
them in this wise, " My lordes, judges," quoth he, " the kings
highness knoweth, whether I have offended his majesty or no, in
using of my prerogative legantine, for which I am indighted. I
have the king's licence in my coffers under his hande and broad
seale for the exercising and using thereof, in the most largest
wise ; the which now are in the hands of my ennemies. There
fore, because I will not stande in question with the kinge in his
owne cause, I wiU here presently confesse before you the indight-
nient, and put me wholly into the mercy and grace of the kinge,
trusting that he hath a conscience and a discretion to consider
the truthe, and my humble submission and obedience ; wherein I
might right well stand to the triall thereof by justice. But thus
much ye may say to his highness, that I am wholly under his
obedience, and will ; and doe submit myselfe to aU things that
shall be his princely pleasure, whose will and commaundement I
never disobeied or repugned, but was alwaies contented and glad to
please him before God, whom I ought most chiefely to have obeied ;
the which now me repents. Notwithstanding, I most hartely
require you, to have me unto his royall majestie comended, for
whome I doe and will, during my life, pray to God, to send him
much prosperity, honour, and victory over his enemies." And
therewith they toke their leave, and departed.
the character of CromweU, and the general subserviency of the parhaments in
this reign. Cromwell would not have dared to oppose the biU, nor the com
mons to reject it, had they not received an intimation that such was the
royal pleasure." Lingard, vi. 160.
8 To indight him.] See State Trials, vol. i. p. 367 — 86.
9 Sumptuous wise.] Cavendish, it is much to be regretted, had no taste for
enlarging on his master's noble designs for the advancement of learning and
science. For instance, one of these was, to procure all the manuscripts in
the Vatican to be transcribed for the service of his country. — Grove's Life
of Wolsey, vol. ii. p. 313. A few years since, the English government pro
cured, chiefly through the intervention of Mr. W. R. Hamilton, whilst minis
ter at the court of Naples, transcripts from the archives of the Vatican of a
vast number of documents relative to the history of this country. The col
lection is now deposited in the British Museum for public use.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 597
Shortly after the king sent the duke of Norfolk unto him in
message ; but what it was I am not certaine ; therefore I omit
to speake thereof. But my lord being advertised, that my lord
of Norfolke was comming even at hand, he caused all his gentle
men to waite upon him downe through the hall into the base
courte, to receive the duke at the gates ; and commaunded all
his yeomen to stand in order stiU in the hall. And he himselfe,
with all his gentlemen, went to the gates, where he received my
lord of Norfolke bareheaded ; who imbraced each other ; and so led
him by the arm through the hall into his chamber. And when the
duke had passed through unto the upper end of the hall, regarding
the number of tall yeomen that stood on each side thereof ; he
tourned againe to the yeomen, and saide, " Sirs," quoth he,
"your diligent and faithful service unto your master in this his
calamity, hath purchased you of all men, noble and ignoble, much
honesty; in so much that the king comaunded me to say to
you in his name, that for your true and lovinge service that ye
have done to your master, his highness will see you aU at any
time furnished with services, according to your demerits." With
that my lorde put offe his cappe, and saide to my lorde of Nor
folke ; " Sir," quoth he, " these men be all approved men :
wherefore it were pitty they should want any service ; and being
sorry that I am not able to doe for them, as my harte wisheth, I
wiU therefore require you, my good lord, to be good lord unto
them, and extend your charity among them, where and when ye
shaU see occasion, at any time hereafter ; and that ye wiU pre-
ferre their dihgence and faithfull service unto the king." " Doubt
you not my lord," quoth my lord of Norfolke, " but I wUl doe for
them the beste in my powre ; and whereas I shall see cause, I
wiU be an earnest suter for them to the king ; and some of you
I wiU retaine my selfe in service for right honest men. And as
ye have begonne, so continue, untiU ye heare more of the king's
pleasure. God's blessing and mine be with you !" And so went
up into the great chamber to dinner, whom my lord cardinall
thanked ; and saide unto him, " Yet my lord, of all other noble
men, I have most cause to thanke you for your noble and gentle
harte, the which you have shewed me behinde my backe, as my
servante Thomas CromeweU weU hath reported unto me. But
even as ye be a noble man in dede, so have you shewed yourselfe
no lesse to all men in calamity, and in especiaU to me, whome ye
have brought downe, from my high estate, but now againe, being
in this my miserable estate, you have extended your favour most

598 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
honorably with great charity. Ye doe right well deserve to
beare in your armes 10 the noble and gentle hon, having the very
10 In your armes.] There is no hon in the arms of Howard, save the aug
mentation granted to the earl of Surrey for his victory in 1513 over James
IV., at Flodden; "X- 5T,> ' l .. <«. C^-jh'^ iv. >.
" Where in his banner's ample fold
The ruddy lion ramp'd in gold."
This augmentation, borne by all Surrey's descendants to this day, consists of
the Scottish banner, with this difference, that the ruddy lion is cut in half,
and pierced through the mouth with an arrow. Surrey was entitled, how
ever, to quarter with his own arms those of Mowbray (a silver lion on a red
field), and those of Segrave (a silver lion, with a crown of gold, on a black
field), and he therefore used as a device, and as a badge for his retainers, a
white lion tearing a red lion. Buchanan says : (lib. xiii. 38) " Magnam
ex Ula pugna contra Scotos Thomas Havartus Surriae comes gloriam reporta-
verat, si moderate suam fortunam tulisset. Sed homo secundarum rerum
successu quasi ebrius, et instabilitatis humanee parum memor, suis domes-
ticis ministris (ut mos est Anglis) notam qua agnoscerentur, in sinistris
brachiis ferendam dedit, leonem album (quo ipse insigni utebatur), qui
ruhrum superincumbens unguibus discerperet. Hanc ejus insolentem in-
sultationem velut numine plectente, nemo fere posterorum ejus alterutrius
sexus, sine insigni ignominia vel clade decessit." This judgment, as Bu
chanan would have it to be, was true to a certain extent, up to the time
when he wrote, viz. about 1 560.
Surrey's contemporaries allude to this badge, Skelton, in (an addition
to) his epitaph on Henry VII. says,
" Quern leo candidior rubeum necat ense leonem,"
And again in his lines " Against the Scottes,"
" The whyte lyon, there rampaunt of moode,
He ragyd and rent out your hart bloode,
He the whyte and ye the red :
The whyte there slew the red starke ded."
Roy, on the title page of his " Rede me and be not wrothe " (before men
tioned, see p. 491), has given a coarsely imagined shield of arms which he
calls Wolsey's, and which, in heraldic phrase, may be thus described : Quar
terly, i. and iv. three bulls' heads caboshed : ii. and iii. three butchers'
hatchets ; on an inescutcheon a mastiff passant, with part of a crown in his
mouth : at the back is a thick club : the whole surmounted by a cardinal's
cap. It is almost needless to add, that these arms are supposititious and in
tended to be satirical : Wolsey's real arms were those now used by Christ
Church CoUege, Oxford. Roy adds what is more to the purpose of this
note, viz.: — . " Of the prowde Cardinall this is the shelde,
Borne up betwene two angels off Sathan,
The sixe blouddy axes in a bare felde,
Sheweth the cruelte of the red man
< Whiche hathe devoured the beautiful swan ;
MortaU enmy unto the Whyte Lion, [Carter

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 599
property of the lion, whose naturall property is, when he hath
vanquished a crueU beaste, and seeth him yelded, lying prostrate
before him under his feete, then will he be merciful unto him,
and doe him no more hurte, ne suffer any ravenous beast to
devour him : all whose naturall inclination ye have : where I may
say these verses in your commendation,
" Parcere prostratis n seit nobiUs ira leonis :
Tu quoque fac simile, quisquis regnabis in orbe."
Carter of Yorcke : the vyle butchers sonne.
*******
The ban dog in the middes doth expresse
The mastiff curre bred in Ypswitch towne,
Gnawinge with his teth a kynges crowne."
The swan was the badge of the duke of Buckingham, (father-in-law of the
duke of Norfolk,) beheaded in 1521, at the instigation, Roy means to in
sinuate, of Wolsey.
It is this duke of Norfolk whom Wolsey here addresses, and who, though
not the commander at Flodden, yet bore a great share in the fight. He, being
then lord admiral of England, led the van, whilst his younger brother, lord
Edmund Howard, was marshal of the horse, and their father, the earl of
Surrey, commanded the centre.
The importance of heraldry in the days of which we speak must not be
measured by the little consideration given to it in modern times. To Henry
and to those of his court it had a meaning, and spoke of rights. We shaU
see the case of Anne Boleyn (p. 612); Henry himself chose arms for his
natural son, the duke of Richmond ; Wolsey found it necessary in order to
appease Henry, in 1523, to offer that his treasurer, Sir WUliam Gascoigne,
should make oath that the earl of Northumberland, whilst lord warden of
the North Marches, did not bear the cross keys, the badge of the church of
York, but the king's cognizance, and, under that, the Percy badge : and a
principal article in the indictment of treason against the celebrated earl of
Surrey, (son of the duke of Norfolk, whom Wolsey here addresses, and
grandson of the victor of Flodden-field,) was that he quartered the arms of
Edward the Confessor with those of the house of Howard.
11 Parcere prostratis.] Skelton alludes to these lines in his elegy on the
death of the earl of Northumberland, who was massacred by the mob in his
house at Cock-lodge, near Thirsk, on the 28th April, 1489, and apostro
phises the young earl as the lion, meaning the blue Hon, said to be the antient
coat of Brabant, which the Percies still use.
" O yonge lyon, but tender yet of age,
Grow and encrese, remember thyn estate ;
God the assyst unto thyn herytage,
And geue the grace to be more fortunate.
Agayn rebellyones arme the to make debate ;
And as the lyone, which is of bestes kynge,
Unto thy subiecles be curteis and benygne."
Percy's Reliques, i. 95, and Dyce, i. 12.
VOL. 1. G q 4 -r-

600 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
With these words the water was brought them to washe ; to
the which my lorde caUed my lorde of Norfolke, to washe with
him: but he refused so to doe of curtesy, and saide, "that it
became him no more to presume to washe with him now, than
it did before"." "Yes," quoth my lord, "for my legacy is
gone ', wherein stode all my high honnor." " A strawe," quoth my
lord of Norfolke, " for your legacy. I never esteemed your honnor
the higher for that. But I esteemed your honnor, for that ye
were archbishop of Yorke, and a cardinaU, whose estate and
honnor surmounteth any duke within this realme : and even so
will I honnor you, and acknowledge the same, in doing you
reverence and honnor accordingly. Therefore contente you, I
wiU not presume to washe with you ; and therefore I pray you
hold me excused." Then was my lord compeUed to wash aU alone ;
and when he had done, then my lorde of Norfolke washed by
himselfe. That done, my lord cardinall would have had him sit
downe on the chaire, in the inner side of the table, but he refused
the same with much humbleness. Then was there another chaire
set for my lorde of Norfolke, over against my lord cardinall, on
the outside of the table, the which he caused to be based some
thing beneathe, and would not sit directly against my lord :
having all their communication of the dUigent service of the
gentlemen, who waited upon him there at dinner, and how much
the king and all the other lordes did esteeme and commend them
in so doing ; and how little they are regarded in the courte that
are come to the king's service, and have forsaken their master in
12 Than it did before.] During the visit of the emperor Charles V. to
Henry VIII., in May, 1520. Henry went to meet "his nephew " at Canter
bury (a fact which was duly chronicled in the edition of Lily's Grammar
published that year, in the phrase " Audito regem Doroberniam prqficisci."
This phrase was transferred to the Eton Grammar, where it stiU exists, with
the marvellous translation, " It being heard that the king was set out for
Dover"). Stowe gives an account of the meeting, adding, " On Monday at
nine of the clocke at night, was begun a banquet, which endured till the
next morning at three of the clocke, at the which banquet the emperor, the
king, and the queene did wash together, the duke of Buckingham giving the
water, the duke of Suffolke holding the towel. Next them did washe the
Lord Cardinall, the queene of Fraunce, (Henry's sister Mary, wife of the
duke of Suffolk,) and the queene of Aragon (Juana, mother of the emperor).
At which banquet the emperor kept the estate, the king sitting on the left
hand, next him the French queene ; and on the other side sate the queene,
the cardinall, and the queene of Aragon ; which banquet was served by the
emperor's owne servants." Stowe's Annals, p. 510. Edit. 1615.
1 Legacy is gone.] Meaning his office of legate.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 601
this time of necessity ; whereof some he blamed by name. And
thus their dinner and conversation ended, they rose and went
into my lordes privy chamber, where they continued in consulta
tion. And being there, it chaunced Mr. Shelley 2, the judge, came
thither, who was sent from the king ; whereof relation was made
to my lord, which caused the duke and him to break up their
communication ; and the duke desired to goe to a chamber, to
repose him there for a while. And comming forthe of my lorde's
chamber, he met with Mr. SheUey, to whome Mr. Shelley resorted,
and after he had made relation of the cause of his comming, he
desired my lorde of Norfolke to tarry and to assist him in doing
of his message ; whom he denied and saide, " I have nothing to
doe with your message, wherein I will not meddle ;" and so
departed into a chamber, where he toke his rest for an houre or
two. And in the mean time my lorde issued out of his privy
chamber, and came to Mr. Shelley to knowe his message. Who,
after due salutation, did declare unto him, the king's pleasure was
to have my lorde's house, caUed York Place nere Westminster,
belonging to the bishopricke of Yorke, and to possess the same
according to the lawes of his realme. " His highness hath sent
for aU the judges, and aU the learned counsaile, to knowe their opi
nions for the assurance thereof ; whose opinions be fully resolved,
that your Grace must make a recognisaunce, and before a judge
acknowledge and confesse the right thereof to belong to the king
and his successors ; and so his highness shall be assured thereof.
Wherefore it hath pleased the king to appoint and send me hither,
to take of you the same recognisaunce, having in your grace such
affiaunce, as that ye will not refuse soe to doe. Therefore I shall
desire your grace to know your pleasure therein." — " Master
Shelley," quoth my lord, " I knowe that the king of his owne
nature is of a royall stomache, not willing more than justice shall
leade him unto by the lawe. And therefore, I counsaile you and
all other judges and learned men of his counsaile to put no mom
into his heade than lawe, that may stande with conscience ; for\(
when ye tell him this is the lawe, it were well done ye should tell
him also that although this be the lawe, yet this is conscience ;
for lawe without conscience is not mete to be given to a king by
his counsell, to be ministered by him, ne by any of his ministers:
for every counsellor to a king ought to have a respect to con-
2 Mr. Shelley.] Sir WiUiam Shelley, one of the judges of the Common
Pleas.

602 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
science, before the rigour of the lawe, for laus est facere quod
decet, non quod licet. The king ought for his royall dignity and
prerogative to mitigate the rigour of the lawe, where conscience
hath the more force : and therefore in his princely place, he hath
constituted a chaunceUor to order for him the same. And there
fore the courte of the chauncery hath been commonly caUed the
courte of conscience ; because it hath jurisdiction to command
the lawe in every case to desist from the execution of the rigour
of the same, whereas conscience hath most effect. Therefore I
say unto you in this case, although you and other of your pro
fession, perceive by the orders of the lawe, that the king may
lawfully doe the thing which ye require of me ; how say you Mr.
Shelley may I doe it with conscience, to give that away which is
none of mine, from me and my successors ? If this be the lawe
and conscience, I pray you shewe me your opinion." " Forsothe,
my lorde," quoth he, " there is no great conscience. But having
regarde to the king's high powre, and to a better purpose, it may
the better stand with conscience ; who is sufficient to recompense
the churche of Yorke with double the valewe." " That I knowe
well, but there is no such condition," quoth my lorde, " but only
a bare and simple departure with another's right. For if every
bishoppe that may, should so doe, then might every prelate give
away the patrimony of their churches ; and so in process leave
nothing for their successors to maintain their dignity ; which
should be but smally to the king's honnor. Well, I wUl not
stand long with you in this matter, let me see your commission."
To whome Mr. SheUey shewed the same, and that seene, " Mr.
SheUey," quoth he, " ye shall shewe the king's highness, that I
am his most faithfull subjecte, obediencer, and beadman, whose
royall commaundement and requeste I will in no wise disobey, but
fufill his pleasure in all such things, wherein ye fathers of the
lawe say I may lawfully doe. Therefore I charge your conscience
to discharge me. Howbeyt, shewe his highness from me, that I
most humbly desire his majestie to caU to his most gracious
remembrance, that there is both a heaven and a hell." And
herewithall the clerke toke and wrote the recognisaunce, and
after some secrete talke they departed. Then rose my lorde of
Norfolke from his repose, and after some communication with my
lorde he likewise departed.
Thus continued my lorde at Asshur, who- received daily mes
sages from the courte, some good and some as evil, but moe evil
than good. For his enemies, perceiving the good affection and

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 603
minde that the king bare aUwaies towards him, devised a mean
to disquiet his patience ; thinking thereby to give him an occasion
to fret and chafe, that death should rather ensue, than otherwise,
the which they most desired. They feared him more after his
fall, than they did in his prosperity, doubting his retourne againe
into authority by the kings favour ; whereby they might rather
be in daunger of their lives, than in any assuraunce, for their
cruelty ministered unto him by their malicious inventions, sur
mised and brought to passe against him.
Therefore they toke this order in their matters with him, that
daily they would send him something, or doe something against
him, wherein they thought they might give him an occasion of
heaviness. As some day they would cause the king to send for
fowre or six of his gentlemen from him to serve the king : and
some other day they would lay newe matters newely invented
against him. Another day they would take away some of his
promotions ; or some of their promotions from them whom he
had preferred before. Then would they fetch from him some of
his yeomen ; in somuche that the king toke sixteen of them at
one time into his garde.
This was his life continuaUy ; so that there was not one day
but, or ever he went to bed, he had an occasion greatly to chafe,
and to frete the harte out of his body, but that he was a wise
man, and bare aU things in patience.
At Christmas he feU very sore sicke, most likely to die.
Whereof the king being advertised, was very sorry, and sent
doctor Buttes 3, his phisition, unto him, to see in what estate he
was. Doctor Buttes came unto him, finding him lying very sicke
in his bed ; and perceiving the daunger retourned to the king.
Of whom the king demaunded, saying, " Have you seen yonder
man ?" " Yea, sir," quoth he. " How do you like him ?" quoth
the king. " Sir," quoth he, " if you wiU have him dead, I war
rant him he will be dead within these foure days, if he receive
no comforte from you shortly, and Mrs. Anne." " Marye,"
quoth the king, " God forbid that he should die. I pray you,
master Buttes goe againe unto him, and doe your care unto him ;
for I would not lose him for twenty thousande poundes." " Then
must your grace," quoth master Buttes, " send him first some
comfortable message, as shortly as ye can." " Even so I wiU,"
3 Doctor Buttes.] Sir William Buttes, knight, whose portrait is introduced
by Holbein, in the picture representing Henry VIII. giving a charter of in
corporation to the barber-surgeons' company.

604 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
quoth the king, " by you. And therefore make speede to him
againe, and ye shall deliver him this ring from me, for a token,"
(in the which ring was the king's image, engraved within a ruby,
as like the king as could be devised). " This ring he knoweth
right weU ; for he gave me the same ; and tell him, that I am
not offended with him in my harte nothing at all, and that shall
he knowe shortly. Therefore bid him pluck up his harte, and be
of good comforte. And I charge you come not from him, untill
ye have brought him out of the daunger of death." Then spake
the king to mistress Anne BuUen, saying, " Good sweete harte,
I pray you, as ye love me, send the cardinall a token at my desire,
with comfortable wordes ; and in so doing ye shall deserve our
thankes." She not being disposed to offend the king, would not
disobey his loving request, what soever in her harte she intended 4
towards the cardinall ; but toke incontinent her tablet of gold,
that hung at her girdle, and delivered it to master Buttes, with
4 What soever in her harte she intended.] " It was the providence and just
judgement of God, that that which he intended to the harme of others should
be the occasion of his owne overthrowe. For the king (the cardinall nothing
less expecting) had fallen in love with Ann BuUen, and upon her his heart was
so thoroughlie and entirely fixed, that he had, contrarie to his speeches to the
cardinall, resolutely determined to marry her. Wherefore there was a mes
senger dispatched with letters to the cardinall, willing and commanding him,
that of other matters he should breake with the French kinge, but in no cause
he should speake a word of the marriage. Yet the cardinall moved it, as
being the chief thing to bring his malicious drift to effect. Which Ladie Anne
understanding, afterwards never ceased to urge and press the king against him,
till he was utterlie overthrowne." — Life of Sir Thomas More, book iii.; in vol.
ii. of this coUection. Wolsey was fully conscious of this feeling towards him,
for in a letter written at this time from Esher to Cromwell, he desires to
know " specialness if the desspleasure of my lady Anne be sumwhat assuagyd,
as I pray God the same may be." — -II. EUis, ii. p. 28.
There were three grounds on which we may weU suppose Anne Boleyn's
enmity to be founded. 1. Wolsey, at the king's desire, had broken off
her engagement with the heir of the earl of Northumberland, for a cause
of which she, at least, was ignorant : and, in spite of Cavendish's expressions,
it is but fair towards Wolsey to infer, that he then believed in good faith the
king's intention to be (in accordance with his declaration) to marry her to
the son of Sir Piers Butler, and his anger to be caused solely by opposition to
his royal wishes. 2. When, at a later time, Wolsey could not but have known
of Henry's love for her, and when she was certainly acquainted with it, he
wished the king to marry a French princess. 3. When Henry had declared
his intention to marry her, and when, as there is but too much cause for be
lieving, she had yielded to his wishes, she considered (whether rightly or
wrongly is not of importance) that Wolsey was lukewarm in promoting
Henry's divorce from Katharine.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 605
very gentle and comfortable wordes. And so master Buttes
departed with speede to Asshur ; after whom the king sent doc
tor Cromer the Scot, doctor Clement5, and doctor Wotton6, to
consulte with master Buttes for my lordes recovery.
After that master Buttes had been with my lorde and delivered
the kings and mistress Annes tokens unto him, with the most
comfortable wordes that he could devise on the kings and mistress
Annes behalfe, he rejoiced not a little, and advaunced himselfe on
his bed, and received the tokens most joyfully, thanking master
Buttes for his paines and good comforte. Master Buttes tould
him furthermore that the kings pleasure was, that he should
minister unto him for his health : and to joine with him, for the
better and most assured waies, he hath sent heither doctor Cle
ment, doctor Cromer, and doctor Wotton. " Therefore my lorde,"
quoth he, " It were well done they were called in to visite you,
and to consulte with them, and to have their opinions of your
disease, trusting to Almighty God that we shall, through his
grace and helpe, ease you of your paines, and rid you of your
infirmities." To this motion my lorde was contented to hear
their judgement ; for he trusted more to doctor Cromer than to
all the rest, because he was the very meane to bring him from
Paris into Englande, and gave him partly his exhibition in Paris.
Then when they were come into his chamber, and had talked
with him, he tooke upon him to debate his disease learnedly, so
that they might perceive that he was sene in that arte. After
they had taken order for their ministration, it was not long ere
they brought him out of daunger ; and within foure daies they
set him on his feete, and got him a stomache to meate. All this
done, and he in a right good way of amendment, they toke their
leave to departe, to whome my lorde offered to each of them his
rewarde ; the which they refused, saying, that the king had given
them a speciall commaundement, that they should take of him
nothing for their paines and ministration ; for at their retourne
he himselfe would sufficiently rewarde them of his owne costes :
and with great thankes they departed, and lefte my lord in good
state of recovery.
After this time my lord amended daUy, and continued at
6 Clement.] " Dr. John Clement, famous for his singular skill in Greek
and in Phisicke." — Life of Sir Thomas More, in the second volume of this
collection. 6 Wotton.] Dr. Nicholas Wotton, afterwards dean of Canterbury and York.

606 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Asshur, untill Candlemas7 ; before and against which feaste, the
king caused to be sent unto my lorde three or foure carte loades
of stuffe, and most thereof, excepte beds and kitchin stuffe, was
loaded in great standards, wherein was bothe plate and rich
hangings and chappell stuffe. Then my lord, being thus fur
nished, was therewith contented ; although they whome the king
assigned did not deliver him so good, ne so riche stuffe, as the
kings pleasure was, yet was he weU contented, and rendered
most humble thanks to the king, and thanked them that ap
pointed the same for him, saying to us his servaunts, when those
appointed persons were gone, at the opening of the saide stand
ards, that he thought it might have bene better appointed.
" But sirs," quoth my lord, " he that hath nothing is glad of
somewhat : and though it be not in comparison so much, ne yet
in valewe so good as we had before, of aU the great aboundaunce
that then we had, yet we give the kinge our most humble thankes,
trusting after this to attaine to more. Therefore let us all
rejoice, and be glad that God and the king hath so graciously
favoured us to restore us to something to maintaine our estate
like a noble person."
Then commanded he master Cromwell to make earnest suite
to the kinge, that he might remove from thence to some other
house, for he was weary of the house of Asshur 8 ; for with con-
tinuall usage the house waxed unsavoury ; supposing that if he
might remove, he shoulde much sooner recover his healthe. And
also the counsell had put in the kings heade, that the newe gal
lery9, which my lorde had lately builded before his faU shoulde be
7 Candlemas^] 2nd February, 1530. On the first of Feb. Wolsey wrote to
Cromwell from Esher, that he could not remove to Richmond on that day,
not being prepared. State Papers, i. 361.
8 Weary of the house of Asshur.] In a letter to Gardiner, Wolsey thus
describes his feelings at Esher : " I pray you at the reverens of God to help,
that expedition be used in my presents, the delay wherof so replenyssheth my
herte with hevyness, that I can take no reste, nat for any vayne fere, but
onely for the miserabli condycion that I am presently yn, and lyclyhod to
contynue in the same onles that ye, in whom ys myn assuryd truste, do help
and releve me therein ; for fyrst contynuyng here in this moweste (moist) and
corrupt eyer, beyng enteryd in to the passyon of the dropsy, cum prostratione
appetitus, et continuo insompnus, I cannat lyve ; wherfor of necessyte I must
be removyd to summe other dryer eyer and place, wher I may have commo-
dyte of physycyans." — Ellis's Original Letters, 1st ser. vol. ii. p. 7.
9 The newe gallery.] The plans apparently of these galleries are preserved
in the British Museum, Cott. MS. Aug. I.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 607
very necessary for the king, to take it downe and set it at West
minster ; which standeth at this day there, from the old gallery
next the kings lodging, unto the first gatehouse. The taking
away whereof was a great course that his enemies daily invented
of new, to torment him, the which discouraged him any longer
to continue there.
Nowe master Cromewell thought it but folly and vaine to move
any of the king's counsell, who were my lordes ennemies, to
helpe his suite to the kinge for my lordes removing, for they
would rather have removed him further from the king, than to
have holpen him to come nearer unto him ; wherefore he made
suite to the kings person only ; whose suite the kinge graciously
heard, and thought it very convenient to be graunted ; and there
with, through the motion of master Cromewell, the kinge was
contented he should remove to Richmond, which place my lorde
had a little before repaired to his great costes ; for the king had
made tsO exchaunge thereof with him for Hampton-court. AU
this was done without knowledge of the kings counseU ; for if
they might have had understanding thereof before, then would
thay have persuaded the king to the contrary : but when they
knewe of the kings graunt and license, although they dissimuled
their mindes in the kings presence, yet were they afraide of him,
lest his nigh resorte to the king, might move the king at some
braide ", to have resorted unto him, and to have called him home
againe considering the great loving affection that the king daily
shewed unto him ; wherefore they doubted his rising up againe,
if they founde not the meanes shortly to remove him further from
the king. Insomuch that they thought it convenient for their
purpose to move the king, upon considerations, which they in
vented, that it were very necessary that my lorde should goe
downe into the North unto his benefice, where he should be a
good staye for the country ; to the whiche the king condescended,
thinking no lesse than all had been true as they had made rela
tion. Their suggestion was forced so with wonderful imagina-
10 Braide.] Quarrel, dispute, upbraiding.
So, in Roy's Satire against the CardinaU : the " Rede me and be not wrothe,"
before quoted. " If he had been at this brayde,
He would have made such a noyse
With his horrible shryll voyce,
Mete to have made them afrayde."

608 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
tions of depe considerations that the king was straightways per
suaded to their conclusion. Whereupon my lorde of Norfolke
bade master CromeweU, who daily resorted to my lord, to say to
him, that he must goe home to his benefice, and there looke to
his charge : who at his next repaire to my lorde, then lying at
Richmond, declared unto him, howe it was determined that he
should goe home to his benefice. " Well then Thomas," quoth
my lord, " we wiU go to Winchester." " I will," quoth master
CromeweU, " shewe my lorde of Norfolk what ye saye." And so
he did at his next meeting with him. " What should he doe
there ?" quoth the duke. " Nay, let him goe to his riche bishop
ricke of Yorke, where his honors and more charge lieth ; and so
shewe him." The lordes who were not his friends, perceiving
that my lorde was disposed to plant himselfe so nighe the kinge,
thought then to withdrawe his appetite from Winchester, and
then moved the king to give my lord a pension of four, thou sand
markes out of Winchester, and all the rest to distTibut<s_ambng
his nobility and servants ; and soe likewise to divide the revenues
of St. Albans : whereof some had three hundred marks, and some
a hundred pounds, and soe some more and some less ; and all
the revenues of the lands belonging to the coUedge of Oxenforde "
and Ipswiche, the kinge toke into his owne hands ; whereof mas
ter Cromewell had the receipt and government before by my
lorde his assignment ; wherefore it was thought very necessary
that he should so have still, who executed all things thereof so
exactly and wittily, that he was had in great estimation for his
behaviour therein, and also for the true and faithful demeanour
towards his lord and master.
Then it came to passe that those to whome the kings majestie
had given any annuities or fees, for terme of life, by patent could
11 The coUedge of Oxenforde.] "The revenues also of his two coUeges were
torn and divided, which grieved him more than any other affliction: insomuch
that he wrote to the king, humbly, as on his knees, with weeping eyes, that
the coUege of Oxford might stand, and importuned CromweU to this purpose,
Bince they are in a manner, saith he, opera manuum tuarum. But CromweU
returned him no comfort herein, saying, ' the king was determined to dissolve
them, though whether he meant to restore them again, and found them in
his own name, he knew not ; but wishes him to be content,' &c. Howsoever,
in the traffic concerning these and other lands, as well as negotiating his
master's business, Cromwell shewed that dexterity which at last won him
much credit both with the king and his principal counseUors." — Lord Herbert,
in State Trials, vol. i. p. 382.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 609
not be good, but only during my lords life, forasmuch as the king
had no longer estate therein, the which he had by reason of my
lord his attaynder in the premunire, and to make their estates
good and sufficient for the termes of their lives, there was none
other shifte but to obtaine my lords confirmation of their patents.
And this to be brought aboute, there was no meane, but to sue
to master Cromewell to obtaine the same at my lord his handes,
whom they thought the best instrument for their purpose.
Then began every man bothe noble and gentleman 12 who had
any patents of the kinge out of Winchester or St. Albans, to
make suite to Mr. Cromewell to solicit the cause to my lorde, to
get therein his confirmation ; and for his paines therein, bothe
worthely to rewarde him, and every man to shewe him such
pleasures, as should be at all times in their severall powers,
whereof they assured him. Wherein master Cromewell perceived
an occasion given him by time to help himselfe, and to bring to
passe that he long sought for ; intending to worke in this matter
according to their desires, the soner to bringe his owne enterprise
and purpose to passe.
Then at his next retourne to my lorde, he moved this matter
unto him, and so persuaded with him, that they bothe wrought
together to bringe in master Cromewell in place, where he might
doe good to my lorde, and to himselfe. Now began matters to
worke to bringe master Cromewell into estimation, in suche sorte
as was much hereafter to his increase of dignity ; and every man
having an occasion to have my lord his confirmation to their
pattents, made new earnest suite unto him, who undertooke to do
his beste. And having the ordering and disposition of the landes
of these coUeges, he had a great occasion of suitors, besides the
continual access to the king, by meanes whereof, and through his
witty demeanour, he grewe continually into the kings favour, as ye
shaU hereafter hear in this history. — But first let us retourne to
the business for the assuraunce of aU those great pattents, which
the king hath given and graunted to diverse noblemen and other
11 Both noble and gentleman.] These were the Lord Sandys and his son Sir
Thomas, Sir WiUiam FitzwiUiam (afterwards Earl of Southampton), Sir Henry
Guilford', Sir John Russell (afterwards Earl of Bedford), and Sir Henry Nor
ris. Their pensions ought to have ceased at the death ofthe cardinal, who
had only a life interest in the bishopric : but they were then settled on them
for life by act of parliament. RoUs, clxxxviii. St. 22 Henry VIII. 22.
State Papers, i. 355. Lingard, vi. 161.
vol. r. R r

610 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
gentlemen of his servants, wherein master CromeweU made great
suite to my lorde, so that in processe he served so their tournes
that they had their purpose, and he their good wiU. Thus rose
his name and friendly acceptaunce with all men. The fame of his
honesty and wisdome came to the king, and he perceived no lesse
by his wise demeanors in those receipts and governments that he
had of those landes as I shewed you before ; and the conference
that he had therein with the king, caused the king to repute him
to be a very wise man, and a mete instrument to serve his grace,
as after it came to passe.
Sir, nowe the lords thought very longe to have my lord re
moved further out of the kings way ; wherefore among other of
my lords, my lord of Norfolke saide to master Cromewell,
"CromeweU," quoth he, "me thinketh that the cardinall thy
master maketh no haste to goe northwarde. TeU him if he goe
not away but shall tarry, I shall teare him with my teethe1.
Therefore I would advise him to prepare himselfe away, as
shortly as he can, or else he shall be sent forwarde." These
wordes master CromeweU reported to my lord at his next repare
unto him, who then had an occasion to resort unto him, for the
dispatche of the noble and gentlemens pattents. And here I will
leave off this matter, and shewe you of my lord his comming and
continuing at Richmond.
My lord having license of the king, which master Cromewell
obtained for him, as I shewed you before in this history, to repare
unto Richmond, he made haste all that he could to prepare
thitherwarde ; and so he came and lodged there within the lodge
of the great parke, which was a very pretty house and neat, lack
ing no roomes that be convenient for so little a house, where was
also a very faire garden. There my lord lay 2 from the time of his
1 Teare him with my teeth.] An aUusion to his badge, see p. 598, note.
2 There my lord lay.] Whilst at Richmond, Wolsey earnestly requested
the help of Francis I., and of Louise of Savoy, that monarch's mother : " El
R. Card. d'Yorch qual hora si trova apresso di Richemont, qua. minio cinque
migha, instantemente solicita la sua causa apresso V. M. con ogni reverentia
pregando lei e Madama, col sovenir' alia sua indigentia, manifestare la lor
bonta, pieta, verso lui ; e memoria del suo prestato offitio e fatto servitio a V. M.
e in tempo opportuno e necessario, cossi disse, sogiogendo se da V. M. e da
Madama, si come lui non solo spera, ma al fermo si promette e expetta,
tenendoli promessa, che cossi disse, e alia sua miseria havendo compassione,
a questa sua indigentia sera sovenuti che quanto piu grande h stato ed e el
suo caso ed infortunio ed in consequentia la sua necessita, questa demon-

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 611
comming from Asshur unto Lent 3, with a pretty number of ser
vants, because the house was very small for his whole familie ;
and the rest of his servants went to borde wages.
I wiU tell you a pretty tale, by the way of communication. As
my lorde was accustomed to walke towardes the evening in his
garden there, and to say his evensonge, and other his divine ser
vice with his chapleine, it was my chaunce to waite upon him
there ; and standing in an aUey, whilst he in another alley walked
with his chapleine, saying his service, as is aforesaide ; as I stode,
I espied certaine images of beastes counterfeited in timber, stand
ing in a corner under the lodge, to the which I repared to behold.
Among whom I sawe stand there a dunne cowe, whereon I most
mused, because of the likely entailing 4 thereof. My lorde being
stration' ed effetto di V. M. sera, ascritta non solo a, maggior testimonio, ma
ad eterna memoria ed exempio della grandess. bonta, pieta e benignita de
V. M. e de Madama per el suo fidato homo; havendo me S. Sign, prettamente
ricercato per sua parte de quanto sopra avertire V. M. non gli possendo
mancar' de questo offitio, con ogni reverentia l'ho fatto; del detto homo
havuta promessa che le soprad. iij. quittancie fra quattro giorni mi seran
date." Letter from Giov. Gioac. di Passano to Francis I., 15 March, 1530.
Le Grand, iii. 411.
From Du Bellay's statement, it is clear that Wolsey had received
" presents " from the duchess of Angouleme, and was more French than
Imperial. "Je vous asseure que la plus grand prinse que ses ennemis
ayent eue sur luy, outre ceUe du mariage, ce a este de persuader ce roy qu'il
avoit tousjours eu en temps de paix et de guerre intelligence secrette a.
madame, de laquelle la dicte guerre durant il avoit eu de grans presens, qui
furent cause que Suffolc estant a. Montdidier, (see p. 509) il ne le secourut
d'argent comme il debvoit, dont advint qu'il ne print Paris : mais Us parlent
en l'oreille de ce propos, afin que je n'en sois adverty. Quant au dits presens,
il espere que madame ne luy nuira ou il en sera parte', de toultes aultres choses
1 s'en recommande en sa bonne grace." — Bishop of Bayonne to Montmo
rency, 17 Oct. 1529. Le Grand, iii. 373, 374.
Wolsey's pension appears to have been paid to him half-yearly, and up to
the time of his fall, even if not afterwards : Giov. Gioac. di Passano, through
whom, probably, the payments were made, writes from the Moore, on the 1 1 th
April, 1530, to Francis I., stating that he had obtained from Wolsey (who
was then at Richmond), two acquittances for May and November 1528, and
that he expected the acquittance for May, 1 529. " Dal. Card . Diorch finalmente
ho havuto le due quittancie de Magio e Novembre, 1528, et la terza de Magio,
1529, che per causa non m'ha mandate, procurero haver." Le Grand, iii. 419.
In April, 1530, Wolsey could not have given acquittances on the king's
account. 3 Unto Lent.] In 1530, Ash Wednesday feU on March 2.
4 Entailing.] From the Ital. intagliare, to cut, carve, &c.
r r 2

612 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
in the further side of the garden, espied me, howe I vewed and
surveied those beastes; and having finished his service, came
soddenly upon me, or I was ware, and speaking unto me, saide,
" What have you espied here, that you look so attentively upon ?"
" Forsoothe, if it please your grace," quoth I, " here I behold
these images ; the which I suppose were ordeined to be set up
within some place about the king's palace : howbeyt, sir, among
them aU, I have most considered this cowe, in which (as me
seemeth) the workman has most lively shewed his cunning."
" Yea, mary" quoth he, " upon this cowe hangeth a certain pro
phecy, the which is this ; because peradventure you never heard
it before, as I wiU shewe you. There is a saying,
" ' When the cowe rideth the buU,
Then, priest, beware thy scuU.' "
Of which prophecy neither my lord hath declared it, nor yet I
that heard it, understood the effecte ; although the compassing
thereof was at that present a-working, and about to be brought to
passe. This cowe the king gave by reason of the earldom of
Richmonde 5, which was his inheritance ; and this prophecy was
afterwards expounded in this wise. The dunne cowe, because it
was the kings beaste, betokened the king ; and the bull betokened
mistress Anne BuUeine, which was after queene, because that her
father gave a blacke buUs heade in his cognisaunce, and was his
beaste. So that when the king had married queen Anne, the
which was then unknowen to my lorde, or to any other that he
would doe so, then was this prophecy thought of aU men to be
fulfilled 6. For, what number of priestes, religious and seculers,
5 By reason of the earldom of Richmonde.] No trace of this badge or cog
nizance is to be found in Segar, Sandford, Gale, or Whittaker, nor in the
common sources of information.
6 Thought of all men to be fulfilled.] This curious story is singularly cor
roborated by some circumstances which appear hitherto to have escaped
notice, as indicating a desire, on the part of Henry, to avoid as far as possible
the use of the name and arms of BuUen. That it was not by reason of the
inferiority of the family of Anne is proved from Lord Percy's declaration, that
it was equal with his own : " although she be but a simple maid, having but a
knight to her father, yet she is descended of right noble blood and parentage.
As for her mother, she is nigh of the Norfolk's blood, and as for her father,
he is descended of the earl of Ormond, being one of the earl's heirs general.
Why should I then, sir, be any thing scrupulous to match with her, whose
estate and descent is equal with mine, even when I shall be in most dignity ? "
(See p. 498 of this volume.) Yet in the letters patent, by which she was

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 613
lost their heades for offending such lawes as were made to bring
this marriage to effect, is not unknowne to aU the worlde. There
fore it may well be judged that this prophecy is fulfiUed upon this
occasion. Nowe, what dark riddeUes and prophecies be, you may behold
in the same : for before it came to passe there was not the wisest
divinour, that could perfectly declare it, as it came to passe.
Trust not therefore to any kind of darke prophecies, wherein ye
may, as many have bene, be deceived ; and which hath brought
many to destruction. And often the imagining to avoide such
straunge prophecies hath bin the very occasion, the soner to bring
the same to performaunce and effect. Therefore let men beware
to deme and assure themselves upon any such prophecy ; for who
so doeth shall first deceive himselfe, and then bring many into
error with him ; whereof experience hath bin of late, the more
pitty. But if men wiU needes think themselves so wise, that they
think they be assured of such prophecies, and will worke their
wiUes therein, either to avoide or fulfill the same, God sende him
well to speede, for he may as well and much soner, take damage
than avoide the daunger thereof ! Therefore let prophecies alone,
a God's name, and apply your vocation, and commit such riddles
created marchioness of Pembroke, she is styled not Anna BuUen, but Anna
Rochford, which was not a name, but a title of her father. In the arms which
she bore as marchioness of Pembroke, her paternal coat of BuUen (being that
alluded to in the prophecy, argent a chevron gules between three bulls' heads
couped sable), is whoUy omitted. The arms granted to her as marchioness
consisted of four quarters, viz., Butler of Ormond ; Thomas of Brotherton,
earl of Norfolk ; Rochford ; and Warren and Surrey. As queen she bore
the same, with three additional quarters, granted to her as augmentations
by Henry, viz. Lancaster, Angouleme, and Guienne ; still omitting the coat
of BuUen. Now to Catherine Howard, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Parr,
Henry also granted augmentations, but in their several achievements the
coats of Howard, Seymour, and Parr formed the second quarter. Anne
Bullen's is the exception. It is not easy to account for this, save from a
probable desire, on the part of Henry, to nullify the coarse allusion in the
proverb repeated by Wolsey.
Amongst the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is a volume written
for Anne's use, when marchioness of Pembroke, with her arms in it (see an
account of it in the British Magazine, April, 1846, vol. xxix. pp. 361 — 368),
and in the Old Royal Library is another volume with her arms as queen.
These last occur also in the title-page of Marsilius's work, mentioned in a
former note at p. 199. A copy of her patent of peerage is in one of the
Harleian MSS. which also belonged to her, and which contains a recital of
the various grants made to her by Henry.

614 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
unto him that both knoweth the sequeU, and can torne the same
at his pleasure, and after all your enterprises to nothing, and
cause you to repent your foUy, the which you wiU confesse, when
you shaU smarte, for it yourselfe, and find it to be bothe great
folly and much more foolishness to trust in such fantasies. Com
mit therefore aU to God and to his disposition, who governeth
and punisheth according to his pleasure, and not to all men's
judgement. You have heard heretofore what wordes the duke of Norfolke
had to master Cromewell touching my lord his going unto his
benefice at Yorke. At such time as master CromeweU repaired
next to my lord, then shewed he him the wordes that my lorde
of Norfolke had commaunded him to say. " Mary, Thomas,"
quoth my lord, "then it is time to be going, if he take it so.
Therefore I pray you to go to the king, and ye may say that I
would goe to my benefice at Yorke, but for lacke of money ; de
siring his grace to helpe me with some. For ye may say, the last
money I received from his grace, hathe bin too little to paye my
old debts ; and to compeU me to the payment of the rest of my
debts hath bin too much extremity ; bothe to take from me aU
my goods, and to put me to the paiment of my debts also ;
wherein I trust his grace wiU have a charitable respect. Ye may
also shewe my lord of Norfolke, and other of the counsell, that I
would departe if I had money." " Sir," quoth master CromeweU,
" I shall doe my best." And after other communication he
departed againe, and went to London.
My lord then in the beginning of lent removed out of the Lodge
into the Charterhouse of Richmond, where he lay in a lodging,
which doctor CoUet made for himselfe r, untiU he removed north -
warde ; which was in the Passion Weeke 8 after ; and every day
resorted to the Charterhouse there, and in afternoones he would
sit in contemplation with one of the most auncient fathers of that
house in their celles, who converted him, and caused him to
despise the vaine glory of the world, and gave him shirtes of
heare to weare, the which he ware diverse times after. And thus
he continued for the time of his abode there in godly contem
plation. Whan master Cromewell came to the court, he shewed my
7 Collet made for himselfe.] See note to the Life of Colet, p. 444, in this
volume. 8 Passion Weeke.] Passion Sunday was April 3rd, 1530.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 615
lord of Norfolke that my lord would most gladly goe northwarde,
but for lacke of money, wherein he desired his helpe to the king.
Then was the king moved therein, as well by master CromeweU,
as by the counsell ; the which matter the king referred to deter
mine and assigne to the counsell ; who were in diverse opinions.
Some would he should have none, some would he should have
enough, and some would have him to have but a small somme ;
and some thought it should be much against the king's dignity
and honnor, and also very much against the counsellors honnor,
to see him want, that had bin in such estimation with the king,
and in great authority in this realme ; yea, and it should rather
be a slander to the kinge and his whole realme amonge forreine
potentates, to see him want that had so much, and now so little.
" Therefore," quoth one of them, " rather than he should lacke
(although he never did me a pleasure), yet would I lay aU my
plate to gage for him for a thousand poundes, rather than he
should departe northwarde, so bare and simply, as some would
have him to doe. Let us doe to him as we would be done unto ;
considering the lightness of his offense, and the greate inestim
able substaunce that he hathe departed withall, only for the
king's pleasure, rather than he would disobey his grace's will."
So after longe debate in this matter, it was concluded, that he |
should have by the way of a prest9, a thousand markes of his '
pension out of Winchester, the which the king had graunted him
out thereof, because the king had resumed the same bishopricke
whoUy into his hands ; and yet out of the same he had graunted
diverse other great pensions to many of the noblemen and other
of his counseU, so that I doe suppose, aU things accompted, the
least part was his. So, when this determination was concluded,
they declared the same to the king, who streightway commaunded
the said thousand markes to be delivered out of hand to master
CromeweU ; and so it was. The king commaunded Master Crome
weU to resorte to him againe, when he had received the same

9 By the way of a prest.] Prtft, Somme pretee. Fr. A sum in advance.
Imprest is a word still used officiaUy.
" Commend me to aU our faithfuU brethren, and bid them with a good
courage look for their redemption, and frame themselves to be hearty soul-
diours in Christ. They have taken his prest money a great whUe, and now
let them show themselves ready to serve him faithfully, and not to fly out of
the Lord's camp into the world, as many do." — Letter of John Philpot, Fox's
Acts, p. 1664.

616 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
somme of money. And according to the same commaundement,
when he had received the money, he repaired againe to the king ;
to whom the king saide, " Shewe my lord, although our counsell
have assigned no somme of money, for to beare his charge, yet
ye shall shewe him in my behalfe, that I have sent a thousand
poundes of my benevolence, and tell him that he shall not lacke,
and bid him be of good cheare." Master Cromewell most humbly,
on my lord his behalf, thanked the king for his noble harte and
great liberaUity, towardes my lord, " whose comfortable wordes of
your grace," quoth he, "shall rejoice him more than three times the
value of the money." And therewith departed, and came directly
unto my lord to Richmond ; to whom he delivered the money,
and shewed him of all the debate and progresse of all the matter
in counsell, and what money, and whereof it was levied that they
sent him ; and of the money which the king sent ; adding thereto
the kings comfortable sayings 10 and message, wherein my lord did
not a little rejoice, but toke thereof greate pleasure and comforte.
Then did master Cromewell counsell with him for the furniture
of his journey into the Northe : wherein they included many
things to be done, as I shaU recite hereafter.
Then prepared my lord aU things with speede for his journey,
and repaired into the Northe with all celerity, and sent to London
for livery clothes for his servants, that should ride with him
thither. Some of his servants he refused, suche as he thought were
not meete to serve ; and some againe of their own minde desired
his honnur to tarry stiU in the south, being very lothe to forsake
their native country, their parents, wives, and children, whom he
right gladly and with good will Ucensed so to doe, and rendered
unto them his harty thanks for their longe tarrying with him in
his trouble. So that, aU things being furnished towards his
journey, he tooke the same in the beginning of the Passion
Weeke, before Easter ; and so rode from Richmond to a place
which was the abbots of Westminster, called Hendon11 ; and the
10 The kings comfortable sayings.] On the 27th of March, 1530, Henry sent
from Windsor a letter to WiUiam, lord Dacre, warden of the North, recom
mending to him " the lord CardenaU archebisshop of York " . . . " mynding
to reside in that his province for the better administration of the cure to
hym committed, which now of a long season hath been orbate, and destitute
of an archebishop there resident." III. EUis, ii. 172.
" Hendon.] The manor of Hendon was given by Richard le Rous, in 1312,
to the abbot and convent of Westminster; at the dissolution of the monaste-

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 617
next day he removed to a place where my lady Parrey lay, called
the Rye12 ; the next day he rode to Royston, where he was lodged
in the priory there ; then went he the next day to Huntington,
and there lodged within the abbey ; and the next day he rode to
Peterborough, and there lodged in the abbey, makinge there his
abode aU the next weke, where he kept the solemne feast of
Easter, with aU his traine, (save a fewe in nomber, which were
continually attending on him) who were lodged in the towne,
and had borde wages ; his traine was in number a hundred and
three score persons, haveing with him twelve cartes to carry his
stuffe of his owne, which he sent for from his coUedge of Oxen
forde, that were there provided, besides three score other cartes
of his daily carriage of necessaries, for his buildings. Upon
Palme Sundaye ' he bare his palme, and went in procession, with
the monkes, setting forth the devine service right honourably,
with suche singing men, as he then had there of his owne. And
upon Maunday Thursday he made his Maundy there in our Ladies
chappeUe, having fifty-nine2 pore men, whose feet he washed, and
kissed ; and after he had wiped them, he gave every of the saide
pore men twelve pence in money, three ells of good canvass to
make them shirtes, a paire of new shoes, a cast of red herrings,
and three white herrings, and one of them had two shillings. Upon
Easter day3 he rose to the resurrection4, and that day he went in
ries, it was made part of the endowment of the new bishopric of Westmin
ster, which was resigned in 1550 by Thomas Thirlby, and the see sup
pressed. The manor of Hendon was granted in the same year to a layman,
Sir WUliam Herbert, afterwards earl of Pembroke.
12 The Rye.] In Stansted Abbot, near Hoddesdon. Sir Andrew Agard or
Ogard, who buUt the house, of which some part now remains, had license in
the time of Henry VI. to impark the site of the manor of the Rye, and to
erect a castle there. It is noted as the seene of the Rye House plot in 1683.
1 Palme Sundaye.] 10th April, 1530. Maunday Thursday the 14th April.
2 Fifty-nine.] This number denotes that he was now fifty-nine years old.
3 Easter day.] 17th April, 1530.
4 He rose to the resurrection.] The book of Ceremonies before cited, which
was compUed in the reign of Henry VIII. observes : " Upon Easter-day in
the morning the ceremonies of the resurrection be very laudable, to put us in
remembrance of Christ's resurrection, which is the cause of our justification."
Strvpe's Eccles. Memorials, vol. i. p. 294. Records. What these ceremonies
were we may collect from the Rubrics upon that day, in the Processionale
secundum usum Sarum, foi. 72, edit. 1555, which are to this effect : On Easter
day, before mass, and before the ringing of the beUs, let the clerks assemble,
and aU the tapers in the church be lighted. Then two persons shall draw

618 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
procession in his cardinaUs vesture, haveing his hat on his heade,
and sang the high masse there he himselfe solemnely. After his
masse he gave his benediction to all the hearers with cleane
remision 5 ; and there continued he till Thursday next.
My lord continuying there at Peterborough after this manner,
intending to remove from thence shortly, commaunded me to ride
to sir WUliam FitzwiUiams 6 knight, who dwelt within three or
foure miles from Peterborough, to provide him there a lodging,
for three or foure daies, in his journey north wardes. And being
with this sir WiUiam FitzwiUiams, I did my message accord
ingly ; whereof he was, as it appeared by his worde and dede,
the gladdest man alive, that my lord would so lovingly take his
house in his way ; saying that he should be most heartily wel-
nigh to the sepulchre, and after it is censed, let them take the cross out of
the sepulchre, and one of them begin Christus resurgens. Then let the
procession commence. After this let all worship (adorent) the cross. Then
let aU the crucifixes and images in the church be unveUed, &c. &c. In
like manner Good Friday also had its peculiar ceremonies. Bishop Longland
closes his sermon preached on that day before king Henry VIII., a.d. 1538,
in the foUowing manner : " In meane season I shaU exhorte you all in our
Lord God, as of old custome hath here this day bene used, every one of you or
ye departe, with moost entire devocyon, knelynge tofore our savyour Lorde
God, this our Jesus Chryst, whiche hath suffered soo muche for us, to whome
we are soo muche bounden, whoo lyeth in yonder sepulchre ; in honoure of
hym, of his passyon and deathe, and of his five woundes, to say five Pater
nosters, five Aves, and one Crede : that it may please his mercifuU goodness
to make us parteners of the merites of this his most gloryous passyon, bloode,
and deathe." Imprynted by Thomas Petyt. See also Michael Wood's Dia
logue, or Familiar Talks, a.d. 1554. Signat. D. 3.
6 With cleane remision.] See above, n. (6) p. 526.
6 Sir William FitzwiUiams.] He was sheriff of London in 1506, alderman
of Bread-street ward, high sheriff of Essex in 1514, and of Northampton
shire in 1521. Hi3 conduct to Wolsey was noble, and "when interrogated
by his majesty, how he durst entertain so great an enemy to the state ? he
answered, that he had not contemptuously or wilfully done it, in disobedi
ence to his majesty, but only as the cardinal had been his master, and
(partly) the means of his greatest fortunes : at which answer the king was so
weU pleased, that, saying he had few such servants, he immediately knighted
him, and made him one of his privy council." CoUins, by Brydges, iv. 387.
He is the lineal ancestor of the Earl Fitzwilliam. He is not to be con
founded with another Sir William FitzwiUiam, living at the same time, who
was not a merchant, but an ambassador, statesman, warrior, lord high admi
ral, and privy seal, K.G., and at last earl of Southampton, but died without
issue in 1543. He subscribed the articles exhibited against Wolsey, 21
Henry VIII.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 619
come of any man, the king his soveraigne except ; saying further
more that my lord should not nede to dislode or discharge any
parte of his stuffe and carriage for his owne use, during his abode
there ; but should have all necessary stuffe of his owne to occupy,
unies it were -my lordes bed for his own person. This upon re
porte made to my lord at my retourne, rejoiced him not a little :
and he commaunded me to give warning unto all his officers and
servauntes to prepare them to remove from Peterborough upon
Thursday next, which was in Easter weke. Then made every
man himself, and all things in such readiness, as was convenient,
paying in the towne for all such things as they had taken ; for
which cause my lord caused proclamation to be made in the
towne, that if any person or persons were greved by any of his
servants, they should resorte to his officers, and there they should
be answered, and have due remedy ; so that, all things redy
furnished, my lord toke his journey from the abbey of Peter
borough on the Thursday in Easter weeke ', to Mr. FitzwiUiams,
where he was joiously received, and had worthy and honorable
entertainement at the only costes and charge of the said Mr.
FitzwUliams aU the time of my lord his being there with him.
The occasion that moved Mr. FitzwiUiams thus friendly to doe,
was this : he was sometime a merchant of London, and sheriffe
thereof, and bore the charge of the same in the said city :- and
after there feU a great debate and grudge betweene the bench of
aldermen and the said sir William, for that he would have a new
corporation of Merchaunt Taylors, contrary to the order of the
citty, the which caused him to surender up his cloake, and gave
over his freedom of the citty ; against whose malice my lord bare
him much, and after received him into his service, whome he
made his treasurer, and after that his high chamberleine, and in
conclusion, for his wisdom, gravity, eloquence, and porte, being a
comely gentleman, my lord made him one of the king's counsell,
who so continued during all his life after. And for the speciall
goodness he alwaies found in my lord in his trouble with the
citty, like a faithful servant he was redy then most joyfully to
requite him with the semblable, and graunted to shew him any
pleasure that lay in him to doe.
Thus my lord continued there from Thursday in Easter weke,
at Mr. FitzwiUiams costes, untUl the Monday next8 foUowing ; at
7 Thursday in Easter weeke] 21 April, 1530.
8 Monday next.] 25th April, 1530.

620 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
which time he removed from thence unto Stamforde ; where he
lay all night, at the signe of the bull. And the next day he
removed from thence to Grantham, and was lodged in a gentle-
mans place whose name was Mr. HaU. And the next day he
rode to Newark, and lodged in the castle all that night, and the
next day also ; which is within four miles of SouthweU, whither
my lord intended to ride, and there to continue, as here after ye
shah heare.
I cannot chose but to declare unto you a notable communica
tion had at Mr. FitzwUliams house, between my lorde and me,
which was this j My lord walking in the garden at Mr. Fitz
wiUiams his house, saying his evensong with his chapleine, and I
being there attending upon him, after he had finished his praiers,
he commaunded his chapleine that bare up his gowne traine to
deliver the same to me, and to goe aside ; and after the chapleine
was gone, he spake to me in this wise, caUing me by my name,
" Ye have bine lately at London," quoth he ; " Forsoothe my
lord," quoth I, " not since I was there to buy your liveries for
your servants." " And what newes was there then," quoth he ;
" heard you no communication of me ? I pray you tell me." Then
perceiving that I had a good occasion to speake my mind unto
him, I said, " Sir, if it please your grace, it was my chaunce to
be at dinner in a certaine place, where I also supped, and many
honest worshipful gentlemen, who were for the most parte of
mine old acquaintance, and therefore durst the bolder participate
with me in conversation of your grace, knowing that I was stiU
your servant ; and they asking of me howe ye did, and how you
accepted your adversity and trouble ; I answered that you did
well, and accepted aU things in good parte ; and as it seemed
to me, they were your indifferent friends, of whome they said
none eviU, but lamented your decay and fall very sore, doubting
much the sequeU not to be good for the common wealth. Also
they mervailed much that you, being of such excellent witt, and
of such high discretion, would so simply confesse yourselfe guilty
unto the king, as you did. For, as they understode by reporte
of some of the kings counseU, your case being weU considered,
you have great wronge : to the which 1 could make no direct
answer." "Is this," quoth he, "the opinion of wise men?"
" Yea forsothe, my lord," quoth I, " and commonly of all men
else." " Well then," quoth he, " for aU their wisdome, they
perceived not so much as I. For I considered, that mine enemies

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 621
had brought the matter so to passe against me, that they con
veied and made it the kings matter and case, and caused the king
to take the matter into his owne hands ; and after he had once
the possession of all my goods, being the kings only case, rather
than he would have delivered me my goods againe, and taken a
foile or overthrow therein at my hands, without doubte he would
not have missed (by the setting forthe and procurement of my
evil-willers) to have imagined my undoing and destruction therein;
whereof the best had bine perpetual imprisonment, or the daunger
of my life. I had rather confesse the matter, as I did, and to
live at large, like a poor vicar, than to live in prison with all the
goods and honors I then had. And therefore it was for me the
better way to yeild me unto the kings mercy and clemency, than
to stand stiffe against him in triall of the wronge, which I sus-''
tained ; wherein the king would have bine bothe to have bine
noted, and in my submission, the king, I doubt not, had a con
science, wherein he would rather pitty me than maligne me. And
also there was the nighte-crowe, that cried ever 9 in his ears against
me ; and if she might have perceived any obstinacy in me ; she
would not have failed to have set it forthe with such vehemence,
that I should rather have obtained the kings indignation, than his
lawful favor : and his favor once lost (which I then knewe that
I then had done) would never have bin by me recovered. There
fore I thought it better to kepe stiU his favor, with losse of goods
and dignity, than to win his indignation with all my wit, truthe,
and policy. And this was the cause (which all men know not)
that I yealded myselfe so soone guilty to the premunire ; wherein
the king hath since conceived a conscience ; for he knoweth, and
allwaies did, more the effect thereof than any other person living,
and whether I offended him therein or no, to whose conscience I
commit the truthe of my cause." And thus we lefte the substance
of our communication in this matter ; although we had much
more talke : yet this is sufficient to make you understande, as well
bothe the cause of his confession in the premunire, as also the
occasion of the losse of his goods.
Now let us retourne where we lefte my lorde, being now at the
castle of Newarke, intending to ride to SouthweU, which was but
four miles from thence, as I shewed you before. He toke his
9 Nighte-crowe, that cried ever.] Evidently meaning Anne BuUen. See
note at p. 604.

622 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
journey thither against supper, where for lacke of reparation10 of
the bishoppe's place, which belonges to the see of Yorke, he was
compelled to lie in a prebendaries house, over against the
bishoppes place, and there kept house untill Whitsontyde ",
against which time he removed into the place, being then newly
repaired, and there continued all the most parte of that sommer,
not without great resorte of the most worshipful of the country.
And diverse noblemen, having occasion to repaire into the same
country there, thought it good to visit my lord, as they travaUed
through the country, of whom they were most gladly entertained,
and had right good chere, whose noble and gentle behaviour
caused him to have much love in the country of aU kinde of
people. He kept there a noble house, where was bothe plenty of
meate and drinke for all comers, and also muche almes givep, at
the gate to the poore of the towne and country. He usedmuch
charity and clemency among his tenants, and other of the kings
subjects. Although the hearinge thereof were not pleasaunt in
the eares of suche as bare him no good wUl, yet the country and
common people will say as they find cause ; for now he was very
much familiar among all persons, who then accustomably kept
him company, and glad at any time when he might doe them any
goode. He made many agreements and Concordes betweene
gentleman and gentleman, and betweene some gentlemen and
their wives, and other meane persons, the which had bin long
before a sunder in great trouble ; making for every of them, as
occasion did serve, great assemblies and feastes, not sparing his
purse, where he might make a peace and amity ; which gat him
much love " and friendshippe in the contry.
10 For lacke of reparation.] Wolsey, in consequence, had applied to Dr.
Thomas Magnus, warden of the coUegiate church of Sibthorpe (between Bing
ham and Newark), for leave to use the warden's house at Sibthorpe on this
journey, and so to avoid Southwell. Dr. Magnus wrote to the cardinal from
Windsor, on the 18th April, excusing himself from lending the house. III.
Ellis, ii. 174. Magnus had been much employed by Wolsey.
11 Whitsontyde.] June 5, 1530.
12 Him much love.] The favourable representation given of this portion of
the cardinal's life, notwithstanding what is said by Fox, p. 908, is fuUy con
firmed by an authority which cannot be suspected of partiality to his memory,
that of a State Book, which came out from the office of the king's printer in
the year 1536, entitled A Remedy for Sedition. " Who was lesse beloved in
the northe than my lord cardynall, God have his sowle, before he was amonges
them ? Who better beloved, after he had ben there a whyle ? We hate oft
times whom we have good cause to love. It is a wonder to see howe they

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 623
It chaunced so that upon Corpus Christi even ' my lord gave me
a warning, after supper, to prepare all things in a readiness ; for
he intended to sing high masse the next day following ; which I
did not forget, although it were late ; and I gave like warning to
the head officers and other of my fellowes, to see in their romes
aU things furnished accordingly. I was not after that scantly
laid in my bed, nor fully asleepe, but one of the porters came to
my chamber dore, calling for me, and sayd, that there were two
gentlemen at the gate, that would speake with my lord from
the king. I rose up incontinent, and went with the porter to the
gate. I demaunded who was there without. They made answer
and sayde, that there was Mr. Brereton 2, one of the gentlemen of
the kings privy chamber, and Mr. Wretherly ", who were come
from the kinge in post, to speake with my lorde. Then having
understanding what they were, I caused the porter to let them
in. And after their entry they desired me without delay to
speake with my lord ; whose request I endeavoured myselfe to
obey, and went to my lord his chamber, who was in his bed
a-sleepe. But when he heard me speake, he demaunded of me
what I would have. " Sir," said I, "there is beneathe in the
porter's lodge, Mr. Brereton of the kings privy chamber, and Mr.
Wretherly, come from the kinge to speake with you : they will
not tarry in any wise, but speake with you, and so departe."
" WeU then," quoth my lord, " bid them come up into the next
were turned ; howe of utter enemyes they becam his dere frendes. He gave
byshops a ryght good ensample, howe they might wyn mens hartys. There
was few holy dayes, but he would ride five or six myle from his howse, nowe
to this parysh churche, nowe to that, and there cause one or other of his
doctours to make a sermone unto the people. He sat amonges them, and
sayde masse before aU the paryshe. He sawe why churches were made. He
began to restore them to their ryght and propre use. He broughte his dinner
with hym, and bad dyvers of the parysh to it. He enquired, whether there
was any debate or grudge between any of them ; yf there were, after dinner
he sente for the parties to the churche, and made them all one. Men say
well that do well. Goddes lawes shal never be so set by as they ought,
before they be weU knowen." Signat. E. 2.
1 Corpus Christi even.] In 1530 Corpus Christi fell on the 16th June; the
eve was the 15th.
2 Brereton.] William Brereton, who was afterwards executed as a parti
cipator in queen Anne's supposed guilt.
3 Wretherly.] Meaning Thomas Wrethesly, or Wriothesly, afterwards
lord chancellor and earl of Southampton, who at this time was one of
the clerks of the signet, and king's attorney in the Court of Common Pleas.

624 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
chamber, and I will prepare myselfe to come to them." Then
departed I from my lord, and went downe, and shewed them
that my lord desired them to take the paines to come up into his
dining chamber ; to whome my lord shortly came. They seeing
him in night apparel, did to him due reverence ; whome he toke
by the hands, demaunding of them, how the king his sovereigne lord
did. " Sir," saide they, " right well and merry, thanks be to God.
Sir," sayd they, " we must desire you to talke with you aparte."
" With a right good will," quoth my lord. Then talked they
with him in secrette in a great windowe ; and after longe talke
they toke forthe of a little male a close thing, in manner of a
little coffer, covered with greene velvet, and bound with barres
of silver and gilt, with a locke on the same, having a gilt key,
with the which they opened the chest ; out of the which they
toke an instrument or writing 4, containing more than a skin of
great parchment, having many seales hanging to the same, where
unto they put more waxe for my lord his seale ; the which my
lord sealed, and subscribed his name with his own hande, and
delivered the same againe unto them, desiring them (for as much
as they made haste to departe) to tarry, and take a bed, for it
was very late, about midnight or something past. They thanked
him, and saide they might in no wise tarry, but saide they would
streightway ride to the Earl of Shrewsbury, and do as much as
they could to be there before he should be stirring. And my
lord, seeing their speedy haste, caused them to eate such cold
meate as there was ready in the house, and to drinke a boll or
two of wine. And that done, he gave each of them foure old
sovereignes of fine gold, desyring them to take it in gree 6, saying,
that if he had bin of greater hability, he would have given them
a better rewarde ; and so taking their leave they departed. And
after they were departed, as I heard say, they were not con
tented with their rewarde. Indede they were none of his indif
ferent friends, which caused them to accept the same so dis-
4 Instrument or writing.] Not improbably the indenture between the king
and the cardinal, that the latter should give up the bishoprick of Winchester
and the abbey of St. Alban's, in lieu of an annual aUowance of 1000 marks.
It is printed in Rymer's Fozdera, Holmes's edit. vol. vi. pt. ii. p. 147.
6 In gree.] Fr. gr£, good will.
"  We ought
Receiven aU in gree that God us sent."
Chaucer's Clerk's Tale.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 625
dainfuUy. Howbeit, if they had knowne what little store of
money he had at that time, being but his indifferent friends,
they would have given him great thanks : but nothing is more
lost or cast away, than such things as be given to such persons.
My lord went againe to bed ; and yet neverthelesse, for all his
disquietness and smalle rest that he had that night, he rose in
the morning betimes, and sang High Masse as he was appointed
the night before. There was fewe or none of all the house,
besides myself and the porter, that knewe of the going or com
ming of Mr. Brereton and Mr. Wretherly ; and yet there lay
in the house .many strangers and worshipfuU gentlemen of the
shire. After this sorte and manner my lord lay at SouthweU ", untill
about the latter end of grasse time ; at which time he intended
to remove to Scroby, which is an other house and lordeship
of the bishopricke of Yorke. And against the day of his
removing, he caused his officers to prepare all things in a readi
ness, as well provision to be made for him there, as also for his
carriage thither, and other matters concerning the same. His
removing and intente was not so secrete, but that it was abrode
knowne in the country ; which was not so muche sorrowe to aU
his neighbours there about Southwell, but it was as joyfuU to aU
the contry about Scroby r.
Against the day of his removing all the knightes and other
worshipfull gentlemen of the shire of that contry8 came unto
him to Southwell upon Sonday to dinner, and lay with him aU
that night, to accompany and attend upon him in that journey
6 Lay at Southwell.] In August, whilst at Southwell, Wolsey wrote to Sir
A. Wyngfeld, Sir William SheUey, and twice to CromweU, on behalf of his
colleges. See State Papers, i. 360 — 370.
7 Scroby.] Near Bawtry.
s Worshipfull gentlemen of the shire of that contry.] Wolsey was in his own
territory. The civil government of the soke or liberty of Southwell cum
Scrooby, comprehending twenty townships, is separated from that of the rest
of the county of Nottingham. The justices of the peace are appointed by the
archbishop of York, but are under a commission from the crown ; they hold
quarter sessions at Southwell and Scrooby. The chapter of SouthweU, by
their vicar, exercise all episcopal functions, except confirmation and ordination,
over the peculiar of SouthweU, which comprehends twenty-eight parishes.
The soke and the peculiar are not, however, co-extensive. Late acts of par
liament have somewhat interfered with these privileges. By the " worshipfull
gentlemen," we may understand the justices whom Wolsey had appointed.
VOL. I. S s

626 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
the next day, and so to conduct him through the forrest country
unto Scroby. But he being of their purpose advertised, and how
they intended to lodge a great stagge or twaine by the way,
where he should needes ride, purposing to shewe him all the
disporte and pleasure that they could devise for him, was very
lothe to use any such honnor and disporte, not knowing how the
king would take it; being also well assured how his enemies
would much rejoice, to understande, that he would take upon
him any such presumption, whereby they might finde an occasion
to persuade with the kinge how sumptuous he was notwith
standing his adversity and displeasure, and so to bring the king-
in a perfect ill opimon of him, and thereby brede smaU hope of
reconciliation, but rather to informe the king, that he sought a
meane to obtain the favor of the contry than of him ; with
diverse such imaginations, wherein he might rather obtaine dis
pleasure than honnor. And also he was lothe to make the wor
shipfull gentlemen privy of this his imagination, least they should
conceive any toy in their heades by meanes thereof, and so to
leave their accustomed accesse unto him, which was much to his
comforte. Therefore he devised an other way, which might be
taken rather for a laughing disporte, than otherwise. And thus
it was : he first called me unto him secretly at night, going to
rest, and commaunded me that I should in most secrette wise
that might be, cause six or seven horses, besides his mule, to be
in a readiness for him by break of the day, and such persons as
he appointed to ride with him to Newsted 9, an abbey in the which
he intended to lodge by the way to Scroby, willing me to be also
in a readiness to ride with him, and to call him so early that he
might hear masse or ever he went forwarde, and be on horse
back by the breake of "day. — What will ye have more ? All
things being accomplished and finished according to his pleasure,
he with those small number of persons appointed, mounted on
his mule, and set forwarde by the breaking of the day towards
Newstede, which was about sixteen miles from thence ; whither
9 To Newsted.] By which means Wolsey's purpose was effectuaUy an
swered, for Newstead is directly west of Southwell, whilst Rufford, which
was on his nearest road from SouthweU, through Shirewood (or Sherwood)
Forest and Worksop, to Blithe, is directly north-west of Southwell. The
difference between the two routes would be about 30 miles. Newstead came
afterwards into the possession of the Byron family, and was sold by the late
lord to Col. Wildman.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 627
my lord and we came before six of the clocke in the morning,
and so went incontinent unto his bed, leaving all the gentlemen
and his household at Southwell in their beddes, not knowing of
my lord his sodain departure, whoe expected his uprising untill
eight of the clocke. But after it was knowne unto them and to
all the rest, there was no more to doe, but every man to his
horse-backe, and so galloped after, supposing to overtake him.
But he was at his lodging at rest, ere they set forthe out of
Southwell, and so was their cheife hunting " laid aparte, and the
great stagges uncoursed. But at their thither repaire, sitting at
dinner, the matter was laughed at, and so merrily jested out, that
all was well taken.
Then my lord intending the next day to remove from thence,
there resorted to him the earle of Shrewesburys keepers and
gentlemen sent from him, to desire my lord, in their maisters
behalfe, to hunt in a parke of their maisters caUed Worsoppe
Parke,11 which was even at hand, and the nearest and best way for
my lord to travaile through in his journey, where was much
plenty of game, that was laide for him in a readiness to hunt.
Howbeit he thanked bothe my lord their maister for his gentle
ness, and them for their paines : and then saide, he was a man
not meete to receive any such pleasure : for such pastime was
mete for men of honnor, that delighted themselves therein, for
whome he saide it was more convenient than for him. Never -
thelesse he could doe no lesse than thinke my lorde of Shrews
bury to be much his friend, in whom he found such gentleness
and noble offer : and rendered also to him his most lowly thanks,
from the very bottom of his harte. But in no wise could they
intreat him to hunt. Although the worshipfuU men in his com-
10 Cheife hunting.] So the MSS. except Harl. 428, which has great hunting.
But perhaps the true reading is Cerf hunting, i. e. stag-hunting.
11 Worsoppe Parke.] The manor of Worksop is one of those held of the
crown by the honorary service of grand serjeanty. The duty consists in find
ing the king a right hand glove at his coronation, and supporting the king's
right arm whilst he holds the sceptre. Alethea Talbot, daughter and heiress
to Gilbert Talbot, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, married in the early part of
James I.'s reign, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, and so brought to the
Norfolk family the honour and manor of Worksop. It was sold a few years
since to the late Duke of Newcastle, whose son, the present Duke, is now
the owner. Cavendish's own niece, Mary, became Countess of Shrewsbury,
and of course mistress of Worksop, not many years after he wrote this life.
s s 2

628 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
pany did much provoke him thereto, yet he would not consent,
desiring them to be contented ; saying that he came not into the
contry, to frequent or foUowe any such pleasures, or pastimes,
but rather to attend to a greater care that he had in hand, which
was both his study and pleasure. And with such reasons and
persuasions he pacified them for the time. Howbeit as he rode
through the parke, both my lorde of Shrewesbury servants, and
also the aforesaid gentlemen moved him once againe, before
whome the deare lay very faire for all purposes of pleasure. But
it would not availe ; and therefore he made as much spede
through the parke as he could. And at the issue out he called
the gentlemen, and my lord of Shrewesbury's keepers unto him,
desiring them to commend him to my lord their master, thanking
him for his most honorable offer, trusting shortly to visite him at
his owne house : and gave the kepers forty shiUings for their
rewarde in conducting him through the parke. And so rode to
dinner to an other abbey called Rufford abbey1' ; and after dinner
he rode to an other abbey called Blithe, where he lay all nighte.
And the next day he came to Scroby ', where he continued tiU
after Michaelmas, exercising many dedes of charity. And most
commonly every Sonday (if the weather did serve) he would tra
vaile unto some pore parish churche there aboute, and there
would say his divine service, and either saie or heare masse, and
caused one of his chapleines to preach the word of God unto the
people. And that done, he would dine in some honest house in
the towne, where should be distributed to the people a great
almes of meate and drinke ; or of money to supply the want of
meate, if the nomber of the pore did so excede in necessity.
And thus with other good dedes practising and exercising him-
13 Rufford abbey.] Now belonging to the Earl of Scarborough, to whom it
has descended from the SavUes. After the suppression the abbey was granted
by Henry to George, Earl of Shrewsbury, whose grand-daughter, Mary
Talbot, conveyed it by marriage to Sir George Savile.
1 To Scroby.] From Scrooby, Edmond Bonner (afterwards bishop of Lon
don, but at this time holding in Wolsey's household the office of master of
faculties and spiritual jurisdictions,) wrote to CromweU, to borrow the Trionfi
of Petrarca, and the Cortegiano oi Baldesar Castiglione (which had been
printed by Aldus in 1528). CromweU, who had been long in Italy, had pro
mised to make " a good Italian " of Bonner. The letter was sent by a servant
of " Mr. Augustine," that is Agostino degli Agostini, the physician who,
together with Bonner, accompanied Wolsey to the north. III. Ellis, ii. 178.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 629
selfe during his abode there, as making of love daies and agree
ments betweene party and party, being at variance, he daily
frequented himself there abouts.
Then about the feast of St. Michaell 2 next after, he tooke his
journey to Cawood Castle, within seven miles of York ; and
passing thither he lay two nights and a day at St. Oswalde's
abbey, where he in proper person the next day confirmed chil
dren in the churche, from the houre of eight untill twelve of the
clocke at noon. And, making a short dinner, resorted thither
againe soon after one of the clocke, and for weariness, at the
last was constrained to call for a chaire ; and there confirmed
moe children from the saide hour unto six of the clocke towards
night, or ever he could finishe and make an ende, the number of
the children was suche. That done he went to his supper and
rested him there all that night. And the next morning he ap
plied himselfe to departe towards Cawood ; and or ever he went,
he confirmed almost an hundred children more ; and then rode
his way from thence. And in his journey at a plaine greene a
little beyonde Ferrybridge, within a quarter of a mile, there were
assembled, at a great crosse made of stone, a nomber of more
children, accompted by estimation to be about the number of
five hundred ; where he was faine to alighte, and from thence
never removed untill he had fully confirmed them every one ;
and then toke his mule and rode to Cawood : where he laye long
after with much honnor and love of the country, bothe of the
worshipfull and of the simple, doing of good deds of charity, and
held there an honnorable and plentiful household for all comers ;
and also built and repaired the castle, which was greatly in decay,
having a great multitude of artificers and labourers, about the
number of three hundred persons, dayly in wages.
Lying there at Cawood he had inteUigence by the gentlemen
of the contry, that repaired unto him, that there was sprung a
great variance and deadly hate betweene sir Richard Tempest 3,
2 Of St. Michaell.] 29th Sept. 1530.
3 Sir Richard Tempest.] Sir Richard Tempest of Bracewell, knt., who was
high sheriff for Yorkshire, 8 Henry VIII. He married Rosamond, daughter
and heiress of Tristram Bowling, of Bowling Hall, in the same county. He
had been one of the courtiers in the early part of Henry's reign ; and he was
one of those who took part in the splendid tournament which Henry gave
on the 12th and 13th Feb., 1511. See II. EUis, i. 183. His descendants
afterwards became possessed of Tong, and were created baronets.

630 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
knight, and one Mr. Brian Hastings, then being but an esquire,
betweene whome was like to ensue great murder, unless some
meane mighte be founde to redress the inconvenience that was
like to ensue. My lord being thereof advertised, lamenting the
case, made such meanes by his wise letters and other persuasions,
that these two gentlemen were contente to resorte unto my lord
at Cawood, and there to abide his order, highe and lowe. A day
was appointed of their thither resorte ; at which day they came
bothe to Cawood, not without great number on either parte
assembled. Wherefore against that day, my lord had required
many worshipful gentlemen to be there present, to assiste him
with their endevour to accorde these two gentlemen, being thus
at deadly feude. First my lorde commaunded no more to enter
the castle with these gentlemen but six of their menyall servants,
and aU the rest to remaine without in the towne, or where they
listed to repaire. And himselfe issuing forthe at the gates,
calling the nomber of bothe parties togeither before him, he
streightly charged them in the king's name firmely to keep the
peace, upon their perilles, without either bragging or quarreUing
either with other ; and caused them to have bothe bere and wine
sent them into the towne. And then he returned into the castle,
being about nine of the clocke in the morning. And because he
intended to have bothe these gentlemen to dine with him at his
owne table, he thought it good to appease the rumour before
dinner. Whereupon he called them into his chappell ; and, with
the assistance of the other worshipful gentlemen, he began to
fall to communication in the matter, declaring to them the dan
gers that were like to ensue by their wiUfull and stoute sto-
maches ; with many other good and wholesome exhortations.
Notwithstanding, the parties laying and alleadging many things
for their defense, sometime added stoute and despitefull words of
defiance eche to other, which my lord and the other there assem
bled had much adoe to qualify, their malice was so great. — What
will ye have more ? With long continuance and depe arguments
made unto them by my lorde, at last being there untill foure of
the clock in the afternone, my lord brought them to a final Con
corde and peace, concluding a certaine determinate ende betweene
them, the which I doe not now remember ; and so made them
friends. And as it seemed, they were bothe contented therewith,
and very joyous of the same. And then my lord caused them,
after they had shaken hands together, to goe arme in arme to

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 631
dinner ; the sight whereof pleased much the beholders : and so
went to dinner, although it were too late to dine 4, yet notwith
standing they dined with the other gentlemen at my lord his
table, where was drinking unto eche other, in great amity as the
manner is, and making great semblance of amity and love.
After dinner my lord caused eche of them to discharge their
route and assembly that remained without, out of the towne, and
to retaine with them no more than they were accustomed to ride
withall. And that done, these gentlemen, fulfilling his com
maundement, taryed with aU the rest at Cawood, and lay there
all that nighte ; whome my lorde entertained in suche sorte, that
they toke his gentleness in great nobleness and friendship,
trusting to have of him a speciaU Jewell in their country : and
so it proved after by their demeanour towardes him, as it shall
appeare by their giftes, which they prepared for him against his
stallation. It is not to be doubted but that the worshipful persons, as
doctors, and prebendaries of the close of Yorke, would resorte
unto my lord according to their duties, as unto the chiefe heade,
father and patron of their spirituall dignity, at his first comming
into the country so nighe their churche, which was but bare six
miles. Wherefore ye shall understande that Doctor Hickden 5,
then doctor of the churche6 of Yorke, a worshipfull man and a
divine, with the treasurer, and diverse other officers of the same
coUege, repaired to my lord, and most joyfully welcomed him into
4 Too late to dine.] " With us " (says Harrison, in the description of
Englande, prefixed to Holingshed's Chronicle, p. 171) "the nobilitie, gen-
trie, and students do ordinarilie go to dinner at eleven before noone, and to
supper at five, or betweene five and six at afternoone. The merchants dine
and sup seldome before twelve at noone, and six at night, especiallie in Lon
don. The husbandmen dine also at high noone, as they call it, and sup at
seven or eight : but out of the tearme in our universities the scholars dine at
ten. As for the poorest sort, they generaUy dine and sup when they may;
so that to talke of their order of repast, it were but a needlesse matter."
" Theophilus. You wente to dinner betyme I perceave. Eusebius. Even
as I doe commonly, when I have no busynes, betwene nyne and ten ; me
thinkes it is a good houre : for by that meanes I save a breakfast, whyche for
such idlers as I am, is most fittest." — Dialogue between Eusebius and Theo
philus. Signat. B. 4. a.d. 1556.
5 Doctor Hickden.] He was dean ofthe cardinal's coUege at Oxford.
6 Doctor of the churche.] So the MSS., excepting that the York copy, over
the word doctor, in another hand, has dean, which, perhaps, is the true read
ing. Dr. Brian Higden at that time bore the office.

632 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
those partes ; saying that it was to them no small comforte to
see their heade among them, who hath bine so long absent from
them, being aU the whUe like fatherless and comfortlesse children;
but they trusted shortly to see him among them in his owne
churche. To whome he aunswered, that it was the speciall cause
of his comming, not only to be among them for a time, but also
to continue his life among- them, as a father and as a natural
brother. " Sir then," quoth they, " ye must understande the
ordinaunces and rules of our churche, whereof although ye be
heade and govemour, yet ye be not therewith so weU acquainted
as we be. Therefore, if it please your grace, we shall, under
supportation of the same, open unto you some parte of our aun
cient lawes and customes of our churche. Sir, where ye doe
intend to repaire unto us, the old lawe and custome hath ever
more bin suche, that our head prelate and pastor, as ye now be,
could, ne ever mighte, come above our quier dore, nor have any
staU in the quire, untiU he by due order were there staUed. Nor,
if you should happen to die before your staUation, ye shall not
be buried above in the quier, but in the nether parte of the body
of the churche. Therefore we shall heartely desire, in the name
of all our brethren, that ye would vouchsafe to doe, herein, as our
honorable fathers your predecessors have done ; and that ye will
breake no laudable custome of our churche, to the which we be
obliged by othe at our first admittaunce, to observe that, and
diverse others, which in our chapiter remaine in recorde." " Those
recordes," quoth my lord, "would I faine see; and this sene
and digested, I shah then shewe you further of my minde." And
thus in this matter they ceased communication, and passed the
time with other matters ; so that a day was assigned to bringe in
their records to my lord. At which day they resorted unto him
with their register and booke of records, wherein were written
their constitutions and rules, which aU the ministers of their
churche were chearely bounde to observe on their behalfe, and to
see them kept inviolable. And when my lorde had seene and
reade those recordes, and debated the same substauntially with
them that brought these bookes, he determined to be stalled there
at Yorke Minster, the next Monday after Allhallowne day7.
7 Monday after Allhallowne day.] In 1530 Allhallows day (Nov. 1) fell on
Tuesday. It was Wolsey's intention, therefore, to be installed on Mondav
the 7th. 3

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 633
Against which time due preparation was made for the same, but
not in so sumptuous a wise, as were his predecessors before him ;
ne yet in such sorte as the fame and common reporte was after-
wardes made of him, to his great slaunder, and to the reporters
no small dishonesty, to reporte such lies as I am persuaded they
did, to the which I was made privy. I was sent by my lorde to
Yorke to foresee things there, that should be ordered and pro
vided for the solempnyty, which should have bin as meane as
could be, considering the former decent honors of the worthy
Minister of Yorke.
It came so to passe, that upon Allhallowne day, one of the
head officers of the church, which should have the most doing in
aU this staUation, was with my lorde at dinner, at his house at
Cawood ; and sitting at dinner they fell in communication of this
matter, and of the order thereof, saying that my lorde should goe
on foote from a chappell (which standeth without the gates of the
city called St. James's chappell,) unto the Minster upon clothe,
the which should be distributed to the pore after his passage.
My Lord hearing this made aunswer to the same in this wise.
" Although that our predicessors did goe upon clothe, soe we
intend to goe on foote from thence without any such glory 8, in
the vaumpes of our hosen. For I take God to my judge, I doe
not intend to goe thither for any triumphe or glorye, but only to
perform the rules of the churche, to the which I am bounde.
And therefore I will desire you all, and wiU commaund other of
my servants, to goe as humbly thither, without any sumptuous or
gorgious apparell, otherwise then in decent manner. For I doe
purpose to come unto Yorke upon Sonday next against nighte,
and to lodge in the deanes house, and upon Monday to be staUed ;
and there to make but one dinner for you all of the close, and for
other worshipful gentlemen that shall chance to come thither to
the same ; and to sup with some of the Residences ; and the next
day to dine with the mayor, and then to repaire home hither
8 Without any such glory.] The cardinal, perhaps, remembered the credit
which was gained by his successful rival, cardinal Adrian, who being elected
to the papacy by the conclave, through the influence of the emperor Charles V.,
"before his entry into the citie of Rome" (as we are told by one of Sir
Thomas More's biographers), " putting off his hose and shoes, (and as I have
credibly heard it reported) bare-footed and bare-legged, passed through the
streets towards his palace, with such humbleness, that all the people had him
in great reverence." — Harpsfield's Life of Sir Thomas More. Lambeth MSS.
No. 827. foi. 12.

634 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
againe ; and so to finish the same, whereby I may at aU times
resorte to Yorke."
The day being once knowne unto all the country, which could
not be hid, the worshipful gentlemen and other, as abbots and
priors, having notice of the day of my lord his staUation, sent in
such provision of victuall, that it is almost incredible ; wherefore
I omit to declare unto you the certainety thereof. But there
wanted no store of great and fat beastes and muttons, wildfowle,
and venison, bothe red and fallowe, and other dainty things such
as would have plentifully furnished his feaste, aU which things
were unknowne to my lorde : forasmuche as he being prevented
and disappointed of his purpose, by the reason that he was
arrested of highe-treason, as ye shall hereafter hear ; so that
most parte of this sommer provision, that I spake of before, was
sent unto Yorke the same day of his arrest, and the next day
foUowing ; for his arrest was kept as close and secrete from the
• country as might be, because they doubted the common people,
which had him in great estimation and love, for his great charity
and liberality, which he used dayly among them, with famUiar
gesture and behaviour, which be the very meanes to attaine the
love of the people of the northe partes.
Sir, or ever I wade any further in this matter, I doe intend to
declare unto you what chaunced before his last trouble at Ca
wood, as a signe or token given by God what should foUowe ;
which, at the doing of the very thing, no suche sequell was of any
man premeditate or imagined. Therefore, for as much as it is
a notable thing to be considered, I will (God willing) declare it as
truely as my memory can recorde ; the which thing I sawe my
selfe being then present.
My lord's enemies being then in the courte about the king in
good estimation and honnorable dignity, having now my lord in
more feare and doubte, than they had before his fall, considering
the perfect zeale and secrett favor that the king bare allwaies
towards him, thought at lengthe, the king might call him home
againe ; and then if he so did, they supposed, that he would
rather imagine vengaunce, than to remit and forget their cruelty,
which they wrought against him. Wherefore they compassed in
their heades, either by some meanes to dispatch him by accusa
tion of sinister treason, or to bringe him in the king's highe
indignation by some other meanes. This was dayly their study,
and consultation, having for their espialls as many vigilant eyes

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 635
attendant upon him, as the poet feigned Argus to have ; soe that
he could neither worke or doe any thing, but that his enemies
had knowledge thereof shortely after. Nowe at the last, they
espied a time wherein they caught an occasion to bring their
purpose to passe, thinking thereby to have of him a great advan
tage ; for the matter being once disclosed unto the king, in such
vehemency as they purposed, they thought the king would be
against him. And that done, and by them executed, the king,
upon other complaints moved with great displeasure, thoughte it
good that he should come up, and stand to his trial ; which thev
liked nothing at all ; notwithstanding, hereupon he was sent for
after this sorte. First, they devised that Sir Walter Walche,
knighte, one of the king's privy chamber, should be sent downe
with a commission into the northe, unto the earle of Northum
berland 9 (who was sometime brought up in house with my lord
cardinall), and they twaine being jointly in commision, to arrest
my lord of high treason. This conclusion fully resolved, they
caused Mr. Walche to prepare him to his journey with his com
mision, and certaine instructions annexed to the same ; who made
him ready to ride, and toke his horse at the courte gate about
noone of AU-hallowne day, towards my lord of Northumberland.
Nowe I am come to the place where I will declare that which I
promised in the latter ende of the last chapiter, of a certaine
signe or token of this my lord his trouble ; which thing was
this. My lord sitting at dinner upon AU-hallowne day, having at
his borde end 10 diverse of his worshipful chapleines, sitting at
9 The earle of Northumberland.] In the notes to the Northumberland
Household Book, p. 428 — 431, Bp. Percy has produced, from the letters of
this nobleman, some curious particulars illustrative of the harsh and unworthy
treatment which he had formerly received from the cardinal, and which, in
the bishop's mind, are " a full vindication of the earl from the charge of in
gratitude, in being the person employed to arrest the cardinal at his castle of
Cawood." 10 At his borde end.] " In the houses of our antient nobility, they dined at
long tables. The lord and his principal guests sate at the upper end of the
first-table, in the great chamber, which was therefore caUed the Lord's Board-
end. The officers of his houshold, and inferior guests, at long tables below
in the hall. In the middle of each table stood a great salt cellar; and as
particular care was taken to place the guests according to their rank, it
became a mark of distinction, whether a person sate above or below the salt."
Notes on the Northumberland Household Book, p. 419.

636 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
dinner to keep him company, for lacke of strangers, ye shall
understande, that accustomably my lord his great crosse stoode
in a corner, at the table's ende, leaning against the tappet11 or
hanging. And when the horde's ende was taken up, and a con
venient time for the chapleines to arise, they forsed themselves
to arise from the table ; and even as they rose one doctor
Augustine '2, a Venetian and physitian to my lorde, rising from
the table with the other, having upon him a greate gowne of
boysterous velvet, overthrew my lorde's great crosse, which stode
in the way at the horde's ende ; and trayling downe along the
tappet, it fell upon doctor Bonner's head, who stood by the
tappet ; and the point brake his head a little, that the blode ran
downe. The company there standing according to their duty
ready to give thanks to my lord for their dinner, were greatly
astonied with the chaunce. My lord sitting in his chaire, and
perceiving the same, demaunded of them being next him, what
the matter meant of their sodaine amase. I shewed him of the
fall of his crosse upon doctor Bonner's head. " Hathe it," quoth
he, " drawne any bloud?" "Yea forsothe my lord," quoth I.
With that he cast his heade aside, loking soberly upon me a cer
taine space and sayd unto me (shaking his heade), " malum
omen l ,-" and therewith said grace, and rose up from the table,
and went into his bed-chamber ; but what he did there I knowe
not. 11 Tappet.] Tapestry; Lot. Tapetum.
12 Doctor Augustine.] Agostino degli Agostini, or in Latin, Augustinus de
Augustinis. It was he who had written to Cromwell from Esher, earnestly
pressing for Dr. Butts and others to be sent to Wolsey's assistance. (See
p. 603.) His letter is in the Cottonian Collection, Titus B. I. foi. 365. He
was accused, as we shall presently see, of high treason, and arrested at the
same time with his master the cardinal, whom, it seems, he had betrayed ; he
did not remain long in custody, nor out of favour, for in 1531 and 1532 he was
employed on a mission in Italy, apparently to obtain information. See his
letters to the duke of Norfolk and Cromwell, in the Cottonian MSS. Galba,
B. x. foi. 8; Nero, B. xi. foi. 308; and Vitellius, B. xiii. fois. 217. 225. 236.
1 Malum omen.] The enemies of archbishop Laud, particularly in the time
of his troubles, were fond of comparing him with cardinal Wolsey : and there
is reason to think that this life was first printed in the year 1641, for the
purpose of prejudicing that great prelate in the minds of the people, by
insinuating a parallel between him and the cardinal. However this may have
been, the expression in the text recals to memory an affecting anecdote
respecting Laud, which the reader will not be displeased to find in this place.
The year 1639, we all know, was big with events calamitous to Laud, and

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 637
Nowe marke the signification, how my lorde expounded this
matter unto me at Pomfret, after his fall. Firste ye shaU
understande, that the crosse, which he bare as archebishope of
Yorke, signified himselfe ; and Augustine, the physitian, who
overthrewe the crosse, was only he that accused my lord2, where
by his enemies caught an occasion to overthrowe him. It feU
upon master doctor Bonner's heade, who was master of my lord's
Faculties and SpirituaU Jurisdictions, and was then damnified by
the overthrowe of the crosse ; yea, and moreover, drawing of the
bloud of him betokened deathe, which shortly after did ensue ;
about which time of this mischaunce, the same very day and
season, Mr. Walche tooke his horse at the courte gate, as nighe
as it could be judged. And so it must needes be taken for a
signe or token of that which after followed, if the circumstaunce
be equally weighed and considered ; wherein, as I suppose, God
shewed him some more secrette knowledge of his latter daies and
to the church and monarchy. In the Lambeth Ubrary is preserved a smaU
pane of glass, in which are written with a diamond pencU the following
words :

/ Memorand : Ecclesia de
Micham, Cheme et Stone, cum aliis
fulgure combustse sunt
Januar: 14, 163|
Omen avertat Deus.

On a piece of paper of the same size with the glass, and kept in the same
case with it, is written (and by the hand of abp. Wake, as my friend, Mr.
Todd MS. Librarian to his Grace, the present archbishop, informs me) as
foUows : " This glasse was taken out of the west- window of the gallery at
Croydon before I new built it ; and is, as I take it the writing of abp. Laud's
own hand." [Written by Dr. Wordsworth, in ISIS, when Dr. Charles Man
ners Sutton was archbishop of Canterbury. The Rev. Henry John Todd was
afterwards archdeacon of Cleveland.]
- He that accused my lord.] This may account for Augustine's speedy
release and favor.

638 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
ende of his troubles : wherein it was thought that he had further
inspiration, than all men did knowe ; which appeared righte well
by diverse speciall communications that he had with me at diverse
times of his last ende. And nowe that I have made manifest to
you the effect of this prodigie and signe, I will retourne againe to
my matter.
Nowe the appointed time drewe neare of his staUation ; and
sitting at dinner, upon the Friday next3 before the Monday on the
which he intended to be stalled at Yorke, the earle of Northum-
berlande and Mr. Walche, with a great company of gentlemen of
the earle's house, and of the country, whom he gathered together
in the king's name, to accompany them, not knowing to what
intent, came into the hall at Cawood, the officers being at dinner,
and my lord not fully dined, being then in his fruites, nor know
ing of the earle's being in the hall. The first thing that the earle
did, after he had set order in the hall, he commaunded the porter
of the gates to deliver him the keies thereof ; who would in no
wise obey his commaundement, althoughe he were roughely
threatened, and streightly commaunded in the king's name to
make delivery of them to one of the earle's servants, but perceiv
ing that, saide then unto the earle, " Sir, seeing that you doe but
intend to set one of your servants in my place, to kepe the gates
for your pleasure ; I knowe no servant that ye have, but that I
am as able as he to doe it, and keepe the gates to your purpose,
whatsoever it be. And also, the keies were delivered to me by
my lorde my master, who charged me with them, bothe by othe,
and other precept and commaundement. Therefore I pray you,
my goode lorde, to pardon me, though I doe not obey your com
maundement. For whatsoever ye shall commaunde me to doe in
the ministration of mine office, I shaU doe it with as good a will
and as justly, as any other of your servants, whatsoever he be."
With that quoth the gentlemen, being there with the earle, who
hearde him speake so stoutely, " Sir, he is a goode fellowe, and a
faithfull servaunte to his master ; and speaketh like an honest
man ; therefore give him your charge, and let him keepe still the
gates ; whome we doubte not but he will be obedient to your
commaundement." " Well then," quoth the earle, " holde him a
boke 4, and commaund him to lay his hand thereon." " Thou shalt
sweare," quoth the earle, " that thou shalt well and truly keepe
3 The Friday next.] Nov. 4, 1530.
1 A boke.] Of the Gospels.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 639
the gates, by our commaundement, to the king our soveraigne
lorde's use, being his graces commisioners ; and to doe all suche
things as we shall commaunde, and as to us shall seeme good,
for the time of our abode here ; and that ye shall let passe
neither in nor out at these gates, but such as you shall be com
maunded by us, from time to time," and with this othe he re
ceived the keies at the earle's and Mr. Walche's hands.
Of all these doings knewe my lord nothing ; for they stopped
the staire, so that none went up to my lorde his chamber, and
they that came downe could no more goe up againe. At the last
one escaped, who came up, and shewed my lorde that the earle of
Northumberland was in the hall ; whereat my lord marvailed, and
would not beleve him at the first ; but commaunded a gentleman,
being his gentleman usher s, to loke and bringe him the truthe,
whether it were he or no. Who going downe the staires, where
was a loop with a lattise, where through he looked into the haU,
he sawe my lord of Northumberlande ; and went no further, but
returned, and shewed my lorde it was very he. " Then," quoth »
my lorde, " I am sorry that we have dined ; for I feare that our
officers be not provided of any store of good fishe, to make him
some honnorable cheere, according to his estate ; notwithstanding
he shaU have suche as we have, with a righte good will. Let the
table stande," quoth he, " and we will goe downe, and mete him,
and bring him up ; and then shaU he see how farre forthe we be
at our dinner." With that he put the table from him, and rose
up ; and going downe the staires he encountered the earle, whome
he met upon the middest of the staires, comming up, with all his
men at his taile. And assone as my lorde espied the earle, he
put off his cappe, and saide, " My lord, ye are most heartely
welcome ;" (and so embraced eche other.) My lord cardinall
saide, " Although that I have often desired, and wished in my
harte to see you in my house e, yet if ye had loved me well, ye
6 A gentleman, being his gentleman usher.] Being Cavendish himself.
0 To see you in my house.] This was a very natural expression for Wolsey to
use, although it conveys somewhat of a reproof. Wressil Castle, where the*
Earl of Northumberland lived, was not more than 10 miles, in a direct line, J
from Cawood, and Wolsey might well have expected some mark of outward/
respect to have been paid to him after his arrival. The proximity of Wressil/
to Cawood may have been, and in all probability it was one of the main
reasons why the Earl of Northumberland was selected to arrest his former
master: Sir Walter Walche having called on the Earl in his way from
London. Of the princely castle of Wressil an account has been left by Leland

640 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
would have sent me word before of your comming, to the intente
I might have received you according to your honnor. Notwith
standing ye shall have suche cheere as I can make you, with a
righte good will ; trusting that ye wiU accept the same of me as
of your very loving friend, hoping hereafter to see you oftener,
when I shall be more able to entertaine you with better fare."
And this saide, my lorde toke the earle by the hande, and had
him up into the chamber ; whome followed all the number of the
earle's servants. And when my lorde came into the chamber, he
led the earle to the fire, and sayd, " Sir, my lord, ye shaU goe into
my bed chamber, where ye shaU have a good fire, untill your
chamber be made ready for you ; and let my lorde's male be
brought up : and or ever I goe, I pray you give me leave to take
these gentlemen, your servants, by the hands." And when he had
taken them all by the hands, he returned to the earle, saying, " I
perceive well, my lorde, that ye have not altogether forgot my
olde precepts, and counsell, which I gave you, when you were with
me in your youthe, to cherishe my lorde your father's olde serv
ants, which I see here present with you. Surely, my lorde, ye
doe therein very weU and nobly, like a wise gentleman. For
these be they who will not only love you, but also live and die
with you, and be true to you, and glad to see you prosper in
honnor ; the whiche I beseeche God to send you, with long life."
This saide, he toke the earle by the hand, and led him into his
bed chamber.
And they beinge there all alone, save only I, who kept the dore,
according to my duty, being gentleman usher ; these two lordes
standing at a windowe by the chimney, the earle trembling saide
unto my lorde, with a soft voice Gaymg his hand upon his arme),
" My lorde, I arrest you of highe treason." With which wordes
my lorde was marvailously astonied, standing bothe still without
any more wordes a good space. But at the last, quoth my lorde,
" What authority have you to arrest me ?" " Forsothe, my
lorde," quoth the earle, " I have a commision so to doe."
" Where is your commision," quoth my lord, " that I may see
it?" "Nay, sir, that you may not," saide the earle. "Well
then," quoth my lord, " hold you contented ; then I will not obey
your arrest : for there hath bine between your auncestors and my
in his Itinerary i. 59, whieh has been reprinted by Bishop Percy in his notes
to the Northumberland Household Book, p. 451.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 641
predicessors great contentions and debate of an auncient grudge,
which may succede in you, and growe unto the like inconvenience,
as it hath done betwene your auncestors and my predicessors.
Therefore, without I see your authority from above, I will not
obey you." Even as they were debating this matter betwene
them in the chamber, so busy was Mr. Walche in arresting of
doctor Augustine, at the dore in the pallace, saying unto him,
" Go in traitor, or I shall make thee." And with that, I opened
the portail dore, perceiving them both there. Mr. Walche thrust
doctor Augustine in before him with violence. These matters on
bothe sides astonied me very much, musing what all this should
meane ; untill at the last, Mr. Walche, being entered my lorde
his chamber, began to plucke off his hoode, which he had made
him of the same clothe, whereof his coate was, which was of
Shrewesbury cotton, to the intent he would not be knowne. And
after he had plucked off his hoode, he kneled downe to my lorde,
to whome my lord sayd, " Come hether, gentleman, and let me
speake with you," commanding him to stand up, saying thus,
" Sir, here my lorde of Northumberland hathe arrested me, but
by whose authority or commision he sheweth me not ; but saith,
he hath one. If ye be privy thereto, or be joined with him
therein, I pray you shewe me." " Indeede my lorde, if it please
your Grace," quoth Mr. Walche, " he sheweth you the truthe."
" Well then," quoth my lord, " I pray you let me see it." " Sir,
I beseeche you," quoth Mr. Walche, " hold us excused. There is
annexed to our commision certaine instructions which ye may not
see, ne yet be privy to the same." " Why," quoth my lorde, " be
your instructions suche that I may not see them ? peradventure,
if I mighte be privy to them, I could helpe you the better to per
form them. It is not unknowne, but I have been privy and of
counseU in as weighty matters as these be : and I doubte not for"
my parte, but I shall prove myselfe a true man, against the
expectation of all my cruell enemies. I see the matter where
upon it groweth. Well, there is no more to doe. I trowe ye are
one of the king's privy chamber ; your name is Walche. I am
content to yelde to you, but not to my lord of Northumberland,
without I see his commision. And also you are a sufficient com-
misioner in that behalfe, in as much as ye be one of the king's
privy chamber ; for the worst there is a sufficient warrant 7 to
7 A sufficient warrant.] " Strict personal attendance was required in the
Privy Chamber to execute the commands of their sovereigns, to convey their
VOL. I. T t

642 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
arrest the greatest pere in this realme, by the king's only com
maundement, without any commision. Therefore I am at your
will to order and to dispose : put therefore your commision and
authority in execution : spare not, and I will obey the king's wiU.
I feare more the malice and cruelty of my mortall enemies, than
I doe the untruthe of my allegiance ; wherein, I take God to my
judge, I never offended the king in worde ne dede ; and therein I
dare stand face to face with any man alive, having indifferency,
without partiality."
Then came my lord of Northumberland unto me, standinge at
the portail dore, and commaunded me to avoide the chamber ;
and being lothe to departe from my master, I stode still, and
would not remove ; to whome he spake againe, and said unto
mee, "There is no remedy, ye must departe." With that I
loked upon my lord (as whoe would say, shall I goe?), upon
whome my lorde loked very heavily, and shoke at mee his heade.
And perceiving by his countenaunce it boted me not to abide, I
departed the chamber, and went into' the next chamber, where
abode many gentlemen of my fellowes, and other, to learne of me
some newes ; to whome I made reporte what I sawe and hearde ;
which was great heaviness unto them all.
Then the earle called into the chamber diverse gentlemen of
his owne servants ; and after that he and Mr. Walche had taken
my lorde's keies from him, they gave the charge and custody of
my lorde unto five gentlemen. And then they went aboute the
house to set all things in order, intending to departe from thence
the next day (being Saturday) with my lord ; howbeyt it was
Sonday towards nighte or ever they coulde bringe all things to
passe to departe. Then went they busily about to convey doctor
Augustine away to London, with as much speede as they could,
sending with him diverse persones to conducte him, which was
bounde unto his horse like a traitor. And this done, when it
directions to their ministers and state officers and others, whether at home or
abroad, by word of mouth, where written orders might have been exposed to
the hazard of being discovered, as well as performing the accredited func
tions of ambassadors themselves, and in accompanying their prince, either
in their private interviews, or public progresses through their dominions.
But more especially were they regarded for that high distinction of bearing
the king's commands, on the faith and credentials of their appointment,
without a written or sealed commission." The office now exists only in
name. See Nicholas Carlile's Inquiry into the place and quality ofthe Gentle
men of the Privy Chamber. Lond. 1829. 8vo. p. 288.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 643
came to nighte, the commisioners assigned two gromes of my
lordes to attend upon him in the chamber where he lay that
nighte ; and all the rest of my lord of Northumberland's gentle
men watched in the next chamber ; and so was all the house
watched, and the gates verie surely kepte, that no man could
either passe or repasse, in or out, untiU the next morning. At
which time my lorde rose up about eighte of the clocke, and
made him ready to ride ; where he was kept stiU close in his
chamber, expecting his departing from thence.
Then the earle sent for me into his chamber, and being there
he commaunded me to goe to my lord, and give attendaunce
upon him, and charged me with an oathe upon certaine articles
to observe aboute him. And going my way toward my lorde, I
met with Mr. Walche in the courte, who called me unto him,
and led me into his chamber, and there shewed me how the
king's majestie bare towards me his princely favor, for my
dilligent and true service that I ministered daily to my lorde and
master. " Wherefore," quoth he, " the king's pleasure is, that
ye shall be aboute him, as most chiefe in whome his highness
putteth great confidence and trust ; and whose pleasure is there
fore, that ye shall be sworne unto him to observe certaine articles,
which you shall have delivered you in writinge." " Sir," quoth
I, "my lorde of Northumberlande hath already sworne me to
diverse articles." " Yea," quoth he, " but he could not deliver
you the articles in writinge, as I am commaunded speciaUy to
doe. Therefore, I deliver here unto you this biU with articles in
writinge ; loke upon them, whether ye can observe them or no ;
for ye shall not receive them of me without an oathe, for the
fulfilling of them." And when I had perused them, and sawe
them but reasonable and toUerable, I aunswered, that I was con
tented to obey the king's pleasure, and to be sworne to the per-
formaunce of them. And so he gave me a new othe : and then
I resorted unto my lorde, where he was sitting in a chaire, the
tables being spred for him to goe to dinner. But as soone as he
perceived me to come in, he feU out into suche a wofull lamenta
tion with such ruthefull teares and watery eies, that it would
have caused a flinty harte to mourne with him. And as I could,
I with others comforted him ; but it would not be. " For,"
quoth he, " Nowe I lament, that I see this gentleman " (meaning
me) "how faithefull, how dilligent, and how painefuU he hath
served me, abandonning his owne country, wife, and chUdren ;
t t 2

644 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
his house and family, his rest and quietnesse, only to serve me,
and I have nothinge to rewarde him for his highe merittes. And
also the sighte of him causeth me to call to my remembrance
the nomber of faithfuU servauntes, that I have here with me ;
whome I did intend to preferre and advaunce, to the best of my
powre, from time to time, as occasion should serve. But now,
alas ! I am prevented, and have nothing here to rewarde them ;
all is deprived me, and I am left here their miserable and wretched
master. Howbeyt," quoth he to me (calling me by my name),
"lama true man, and ye shaU never have shame of me for your
servise." " Sir," quoth I unto him (perceiving his heaviness),
" I doe nothinge mistruste your truthe : and for the same will I
depose bothe before the king, and his honnorable counsell. Where
fore, sir," (kneeling upon my knee) " comforte yourselfe, and be
of good cheere. The malice of your ungodly enemies can, ne
shall not prevaile. I doubt not but comming to your aunswer,
my hearte is suche, that ye shaU clearly acquit yourselfe, so to
your commendation and truthe, as that, I trust, it shall be much
to your great honnour, and restitution unto your former estate."
" Yea," quoth he, " if I may come to my aunswer, I feare no
man alive ; for he liveth not that shaU look upon this face "
(pointing to his owne face), " that shaU be able to accuse me of
any untruthe ; and that knowe well mine enemies, which will be
an occasion that they will not suffer me to have indifferent
justice, but seeke some sinister meanes to dispatch me." " Sir,"
quoth I, " ye neede not therein to doubte, the king being so
muche your good lorde, as he hath alwaies shewed himselfe to be,
in all your troubles." With that came up my lorde his meate ;
and so we lefte our former communication, and I gave my lorde
water, and set him downe to dinner ; who did eate very little
meate, but very many times sodainely he would burste out in
teares, with the most sorrowfuU words that have bine hearde of
any woefuU creature. And at the laste he fetched a great sighe,
and saide this texte of scripture ° in this wise, " 0 constantia
8 Texte of scripture.] The words which follow, I apprehend, are part of
some ecclesiastical hymn. It was not unusual to attribute the name of
Scripture to all such compositions ; and to whatever was read in churches.
"Also I said and affirmed" (the words are part of the recantation of a
Wickliffite) "that I held no Scripture catholike nor holy, but onely that is
contained in the Bible. For the legends and lives of saints I held hem
nought ; and the miracles, written of hem, I held untrue." — Fox's Acts,
p. 591.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 645
Martirum laudabilis ! 0 charitas inextinguibilis ! 0 pacientia
invincibilis, qua? licet inter pressuras persequentium visa sit despi-
cabilis, invenietur in laudem et gloriam ac honorem in tempore
tribulationis /" And thus passed he forthe his dinner in great
lamentation and heaviness, who was fed more with weping
teares, than with any delicate meates that were set before him. I
suppose that there was not a drie eie among all the gentlemen, that
were there attending upon him. And when the table was taken
up we expected continuaUy our removing, untiU it drewe to
nighte ; and then it was shewed my lorde, that he could not goe
away that nighte; but on the morrow, by God's grace, he
should departe. " Even then," quoth he, " when my lord of
Northumberland shall be pleased." Wherefore it was concluded
that he should tarry untill the next day, being Sonday.
On which day my lord rose in the morning, and prepared him
ready to ride, after he had hearde masse ; and by that time he
had saide all his divine service, it was dinner time ; and after
dinner the earle appointed all things, how it should be ordered ;
and by that time it was nere nighte. There were appointed to
waite upon him diverse persons, among whom I myselfe, and
foure more of his owne servaunts were assigned unto him. First
his chaplen, two groomes and his barber : and as we were going
downe out of the great chamber, my lorde demaunded where his
servaunts were become ; the which the earle and Mr. Walche
had inclosed within the chappel there, because they should not
trouble his passage. Notwithstanding my lord would not goe
downe untill he had a sighte of his servauntes ; to whom it was
aunswered that he might not see them. " Why so ?" then
quoth my lord. " I wiU not out of this house, but I wiU see my
servaunts, and take my leave of them before I will goe any
further." And his servauntes, being in the chappell, having
understanding that my lord was going away, and that they should
not see him before his departure, they began to grudge, and to
make suche a rutheful noise, that the commisioners were in
doubte of a tumulte, to tarry among them ; wherefore they were
let out, and suffered to repaire to my lord, in the great chamber ;
where they kneled downe before him; among whome was no
one drie eie, but earnestly lamented their master's fall and trouble.
To whome my lord gave comfortable wordes, and worthy praises
for their diligence, honesty, and truthe done to him heretofore,

646 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
assuring them, that what chaunce soever shall happen him, he
was a very true and a just man to his so ver eigne lord. And
thus with a lamentable manner, shaked every of them by the
hand. Then was he constrained to departe, the nighte drewe so faste
on. And so my lord his horse, and ours were ready brought into
the inner courte ; where we mounted, and comming to the gate to
ride out, which was shut, the porter opening the same to let us passe,
there was ready attending a great nomber of gentlemen with their
servauntes, such as the earle had appointed for that purpose, to
attend and conducte my lord to Pomfret that nighte, and so forthe,
as ye shaU hereafter heare. But to teU you of the nomber of the
people of the country that were assembled at the gate to lament
his departing, I suppose they were in nomber above three
thousand people ; which at the opening of the gates, after they
•had a sighte of him, cried with a loud voice, "God save your
Grace, God save your Grace ! The foul evUl take them that
have thus taken you from us ! We pray God that a very
vengeaunce may light upon them ! " Thus they ran after him,
crying through the towne of Cawood, they loved him so well. —
Surely they had a great losse of him, bothe riche and poore :
for the poore had by him great reliefe ; and the riche lacked not
his counsell and helpe in aU their troubles ; which caused him to
have such love among the people of the country.
Then rode he with his conductors towards Pomfret ; and by
the way as he rode, caUed me unto him, asking me if I had any
gentleman of mine acquaintance among the nomber that rode
with him. " Yea, sir," sayd I, " what is your pleasure ?" "Mary,"
quoth he, "I have left a thinge behinde that I would faine have ;
the whiche I would most gladly send for." " If I knewe," quoth
I, " what it were I should send one incontinent backe againe for
it." " Then," saide he, " let the messenger goe to my lorde of
Northumberlande, and desire him to send me the red buckram
bagge, lying in my almery in my chamber, sealed with my seale."
With that I departed from him, and went streight unto one sir
Roger Lassels 9, knighte, and stewarde with the earle (being one
among the route), and desired him to cause some of his servaunts
to return to my lord of Northumberland for that purpose ; who
graunted my requeste most gently, and thereupon sent incon-
9 Lassels.] Sir Roger LasceUes, of Sowerby and Brackenbury.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 647
tinent one of his trusty servaunts with aU spede back againe to
Cawood for the said bagge ; who did so honestly his message,
that he brought the same unto my lord shortly after he was in
his chamber at the abbey of Pomfret ; where he laye aU nighte.
In which bagge was no other thing inclosed but three sheartes of
heare, the which he delivered unto his chaplen and ghostly father
secretly. Furthermore, as he rode towarde Pomfret, he demaunded of
me, whither they would leade him that nighte. " Mary, sir,"
quoth I, " to Pomfret." " Alas !" quoth he, " shall I goe to the
castle ', and lie there, and dye like a beaste ?" " Sir, I can tell
you no more," quoth I, " what they intend to doe ; but sir, I will
enquire of a secret friend of mine in this company, who is chiefe
of all their counsells."
With that I repaired unto the saide Roger Lassels, and desired
him as earnestly as I could, that he would vouchsafe to shewe
me, whither my lord should go to be lodged that nighte ; who
aunswered me againe that my lord should be lodged in the
abbey of Pomfret, and in none other place ; the which I reported
to my lord, who was glad thereof ; so that within nighte we came
to Pomfret, and there lodged within the abbey as is aforesaide.
And my lord of Northumberland continued all that nighte at
Cawood, to see the dispatche of the household, and to establishe
all the stuffe within the same in security.
The next day my lord removed towards Doncaster, and came
into the towne by torche lighte, the which was his desire, be
cause of the people. Yet notwithstanding, the people were
assembled, and cried out upon him, " God save your Grace, God
save your Grace, my good lord cardinall ;" running before him
with candles in their hands ; who caused me to ride by his side
to shadowe him from the people ; and yet they perceived him,
and lamented his misfortune, cursing his accusers. And thus
1 To the castle.] Where so many executions for treason had taken place,
that Wolsey might well hold it in dread. So Lord Rivers exclaims : —
— " O Pomfret, Pomfret ! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers !
Within the guilty closure of thy walls,
Richard the Second here was hack'd to death :
And for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give thee up our guUtless blood to drink."
Rich. III. Act iii. sc. 3.

648 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
they brought him to the Black-friars, within the which he was
lodged. And the next day we removed and rode to Sheffilde parke 3,
where my lord of Shrewsbury lay within the lodge, the people all
the way thitherwarde still lamenting him, crying as they did
before. And when we came into the parke of Sheffild nighe to
the lodge, my lord of Shrewesbury, with my lady and a traine of
gentlewomen, and all other his gentlemen and servaunts, stode
without the gates, to attend my lordes comming, to receive him ;
at whose alighting the earle received him with much honnour,
and embraced my lord saying these wordes, " My lord," quoth
he, " your Grace is most hartely welcome unto me, and I am glad
to see you here in my pore lodge, where I have long desired to
see you, and should have been much more gladder, if you had
come after an other sorte." " Ay, my gentle lord of Shrewes
bury," quoth my lord, " I hartely thank you : and although I
have cause to lament, yet, as a faithfull harte may, I doe rejoice,
that my chaunce is to come unto the custody of so noble a
person, whose approved honnour and wisedome hath allwaies bin
right well knowne to all noble estates. And, sir, howsoever my
accusers have used their accusations against me, this I knowe
and soe before your lordship, and all the world, I doe protest,
that my demeanour and procedinges have allwaies bin both just
and loyaU towardes my sovereigne and leige lord ; of whose usage
in his grace's affaires your lordship hath had right good expe
rience ; and even accordinge to my truthe, so I beseeche God to
helpe me ! " "I doubt not," quoth my lord of Shrewesbury, " of
your truthe. Therefore, my lord, be of good cheere, and feare
not ; for I am nothing sorry, but that I have not wherewith to
entertaine you, according to my good will and your honnour ;
but such as I have, ye shall be wellcome to it ; for I will not
receive you as a prisonner, but as my good lord, and the king's
true and loving subject ; and sir, here is my wife 3 come to
salute you." Whome my lord kissed, with his cappe in his
hand bareheaded, and all the other gentlemen ; and tooke all the
2 To Sheffilde parke.] On Sunday the 6th November, where, as Cavendish
correctly says, he remained for eighteen days, till Thursday the 24th, when
he departed to Hardwicke.
3 My wife] His second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Walden.
The earl of Northumberland had married Mary, daughter of the earl of
Shrewsbury by his first wife. See pp. 500—505.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 649
earle's servants by the hands, as well gentlemen as yeomen. This
done, these two lordes went into the lodge arme in arme, and so
conducted my lord into a faire gallery, where was in the further
end thereof a goodly towre with lodgings, where my lord was
lodged. There was also in the middest of the same gallery a
traverse of sarsenet drawne ; so that the one end thereof was
preserved for my lord, and the other for the earle.
Then departed from my lord aU the great nomber of gentle
men and other that conducted him thither. And my lord, being
thus with my lord of Shrewsbury, continued there eighteen daies
after ; upon whome my lord of Shrewsbury appointed diverse
worthy gentlemen to attend continuaUy, to foresee that he should
lacke nothing that he would desire, being served in his owne
chamber at dinner, and supper, as honnorably, and with as many
dainty dishes, as he had in his owne house commonly being at
liberty. And once every day my lord of Shrewsbury would
repaire unto him, and common with him, sitting upon a bench in
a great windowe in the gaUery. And aUthoughe that my said
lord of Shrewsbury would right hartely comforte him, yet would
he lament so piteously, that it would make my lord of Shrews
bury to be very heavy, for his griefe. " Sir," said he, " I have
and doe daily receive letters from the king, commanding me to
entertaine you, as one that he highly favoureth and loveth;
whereby I doe perceive ye doe lament more than ye have cause
to doe. And although ye be accused 4 (as I trust wrongfuUy), yet
4 Ye be accused.] The following, written whUst Wolsey was at Sheffield,
shows that he was betrayed by some of his own dependents : " La presente des-
pachia s'e tenuta fin a mo, per intender', in questo mezo piu oltra sui fatto del
povero cardinale, sui quale questo ser. re et li sig. del suo consiglio m'han
assicurato et con juramento, che di me non solo non han alcuna umbra di sus-
pition, ma hanno ogni buona opinion, et che mi tengano per caro servitor' : etli
sig. di Norfolch et Suffolch, con ogni instantia, m'han pregato, cossi volermi
persuader' et fermamente creder', ma quanto al card, mi par', comprender'
chel povero sig. non la "debbi far bene, e dicono che contra di lui haveano et
hanno molte importante cause, et molti gravi juditii, et fra queUi, cossi mi
disse el re, che contra di S. M. el machinava net regno et fuori, e m'a delto dove
et come, et che un' etforsipiu dun' de' suoi servitori I' hanno et scoperto et accu-
sato. Basta ch'in questo non c'e mescolanza, ne pur umbra ne sentor'
d'alcun manegio de ni'un servitor' 6 ministro del Chr. re, et le cose vechie,
nel detto car. molto graveran le nuove ; a me sommamente duole el caso suo,
ma in mio poter' non essendo el remediarlo, ricorero aUa pacientia." Gio.
Gioac. di Passano, to the grand master Montmorency, Dat. London, 10 Nov.
1530. Le Grand, iii. 529.

650 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
the king can do no lesse but to put you to your trial, the which
is more for the satisfying of some persons, than for any mistrust
that he hath of your traiterous doings." " Alas ! my lord," quoth
my lord cardinall, " is it not a pitteous case, that any man should
so wrongfully accuse me unto the king, and not to come to the
king to my aunswer before his grace ? For I am well assured my
lord, that there is no man alive that loketh in this face of mine,
who is able to accuse me. It grieveth me very much that the
king should have any such opinion in me, to thinke that I would
be false or conspire any evill to his person ; who may weU consi
der, that I have no assured friends in all the world, but only his
grace ; soe that if I should go about to betray my sovereign lord
and prince, in whom is all my trust and confidence before aU other,
all men mighte justly thinke and say, that I lacked bothe grace,
wit, and discretion. Nay, nay my lord, I would rather adventure
to sheade my harte bloud in his defence, as I am bound, bothe
for my allegiance and for my safeguard ; for he is my staffe that
supporteth me, and the waU that defendeth me against aU these
my corrupt enemies, and all other ; who knoweth me, and my
true dilligent proceedings in all his affaires and doings, much
better than any of them. Therefore to conclude, it is not to be
thought that ever I would maliciously or traiterously travaill or
wishe any hurte or damage to his royall person or imperiaU dig
nity, but, as I saide before, defend it with the very sheading of
my harte bloud, and if it were but only for mine owne defense,
to preserve mine estate and simple life, that which mine enemies
thinke I doe so much esteeme ; having no other refuge to fly
unto for protection and defense, but only under the shadowe of
his wings. Alas ! my lord, I was in a good estate now, and lived
quietly, being right well contented with the same. But mine
enemies who never slepe, but continuaUy study both sleping and
waking to rid me out of the way, perceiving the contentation of
my mind, douted that if I lived, their mallicious and cruell
dealings would growe at lengthe to their shame, rebuke and open
slaunder ; and therefore would prevent the same with the shed
ding of my bloud. But from God, that knoweth the secret of
their hartes, and of all others, it cannot be hid, ne yet unre
warded, when he shall see opportunity. And, my good lord, if
/you would shewe yourself so much my good friend, as to require
j the king's majestie that mine accusers may come before my face
in his presence, and there that I may make aunswer, I doubte

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 651
not but ye shaU see me acquite myselfe of all their malicious
accusations, and utterly confound them ; for they shall never be
able to prove by any due probation, that ever I offended the king
either in thought, worde, or dede. Therefore I desire you, and
most hartely require your good lordship, to be a meane for me,
that I may aunswer unto my accusations before the king's ma
jestie. The case is his, and if their accusations were true, then
should it touche him more earnestly ; wherefore it were conve
nient that he should heare it himselfe. But I feare me, that
they intend to dispatche me rather then I should come before
his presence ; for they be well assured, and very certaine, that
my truthe should vanquishe all their accusations and untrue sur
mises ; which is the especiaU cause that maketh me so earnestly
desire to make mine aunswer before the king's majestie. The
losse of goods, the slaunder of my name, ne yet all my trouble
grieveth me any thing so much, as the losse of the king's favor,
and that he should have in me such an opinion, without deserte,
of untruthe, that have with such travaill and paines served the
king so justly, so paynfully, and with so good an harte, to his
profit and honnor at all times. And against the truthe of my
doings, their accusations proved by me to be unjust, should doe
me more pleasure and good, than the obteining much treasure ;
as I doubt not to doe, if the case might be indifferently heard.
Nowe my good lord, weighe my reasonable request, and let
charity and truthe move your harte with pitty, to helpe me in all
this my truthe, wherein you shall take no manner of rebuke or
slaunder, by the grace of God." " WeU then," saide my lord of
Shrewsbury, " I will write to the king in your behalfe, declaring
to him by my letters howe ye lament his indignation and displea
sure ; and also what request ye make for the triall of your truthe
towardes his highness." And after diverse other communica
tions as they were accustomed daily to have, they departed
asunder. Remayning there thus with my lord the space of a fortnight,
having goodly enterteinement, and often desired by the earle to
kiU a doe or harte in his parke there, who allwaies refused to take
any pleasure either in hunting or otherwise, but applied his praiers
continuaUy with great devotion ; so that it came to passe at a
certaine time as he sat at dinner in his owne chamber, having at
his hordes ende the same day, as he accustomably had every day,
a messe of gentlemen and chaplens to kepe his company, towardes

652 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
the ende of his dinner, when he came to the eating of his fruites,
I perceived his colour often to change, whereby I judged him not
to be in good health. With that I leaned over the table, and
speaking softly unto him, saide, " Sir, me seemeth your Grace is
not well at ease." To whom he aunswered and saide, with a
loude voice, " Forsothe, no more I am ; for I am, quoth he,
taken sodenly with a thing about my stomake, that lieth there
along, as could as a whetstone ; whiche is no more but winde ;
therefore I pray you take up the table, and make a short dinner,
and that done, resorte shortly againe." And after the meate was
carried out of the chamber, into the gallery, where all the waiters
dined, and every man set, I rose up and forsoke my dinner, and
came into the chamber unto my lord, where I found him still
sitting very ill at ease ; nothwithstanding he was commoning
with them at the borde's end, whome he had commaunded to sit
stiU. And as soone as I was entered the chamber, he desired
me to go to the poticary, and enquire of him if he had any thinge
that would make him breake winde upwarde. Then went I to the
earle, and shewed him what estate my lord was in, and what he
desired. With that my lord of Shrewsbury caused incontinent
the poticary to be called before him ; and at his comming he
demaunded of him, if he had any thinge that would break winde
upwarde in a man's body ; and he aunswered that he had such
geare. " Then," quoth the earle, " fetche me some." Then
departed the poticary, and brought with him a white confection
in a faire paper, and shewed it unto my lord, who commaunded
me to give the saye 5 thereof before him, and so I did. And I
toke the same and brought it to my lord, whereof also I tooke
the saye myself, and then delivered it to my lord, who received
it up all at once into his mouthe. But immediately after he
had received the same, surely he avoided much winde exceed-
ingely, upwarde. " Lo," quoth he, "you may see it was but
winde ; and nowe am I well eased, I thanke God :" and so rose
from the table, and went to his praiers, as he used every day
after dinner. And that done, there came upon him such a laske °,
that it caused him to go to the stole ; and being there, my lord
of Shrewsbury sent for me, and at my repaire to him he saide :
" For as much as I have alwaies perceived you to be a man, in
whome my lord your master hath great affiaunce ; and also
6 Saye.] Assay, trial by sample or tasting.
6 Laske.]. Laxe, looseness.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 653
knowing you to be an honest man" (with many more wordes of
commendation and praise, than becometh me here to recite),
"it is so, that my lord your master hath often desired me to
write to the king, that he mighte come before his presence, to
aunswer to his accusations ; and even so have I done ; and this
day have I received letters from the king's grace, by Sir William
Kingstone', whereby I perceive that the king hath in him a good
opinion : and by my request, he hath sent for him, by the same
Sir WiUiam, to come unto him ; who is in his chamber. Where
fore nowe is the time come that my lord hath often desired to
try himselfe, I truste, muche to his honnor ; and it shall be the
best journey that ever he made in his life. Therefore nowe
would I have you to play the parte of a wise man, to break this
matter wittily unto him, in suche sorte, that he may take it
quietly, and in good parte : for he is ever so full of sorrowe and
heaviness, at my being with him, that I feare me he will take it
in eviU parte, and then doeth he not well : for I assure you, and
so shewe him, that the king is his good lord, and hath given me
most worthy thanks for his enterteinement, desiring and com
manding me so to continue, not doubting but that he will right
nobly acquite himself towards his highness. Therefore, go your
waies to him, and perswade with him that I may finde him in
good quiet at my comming, for I will not tarry long after you."
" Sir," quoth I, " if it please your lordship, I shall endevour me
to the best of my powre, to accomplishe your lordship's com
maundement. But sir, I doubte, that when I shall name Sir
William Kingstone to him, he will mistrust that all is not weU ;
because Mr. Kingstone is constable of the towre, and capitaine
of the guarde, having with him, as I understande, twenty foure
of the guarde to attend upon him." " Mary it is truthe ;"
quoth the earle, " what thereof, although he be constable of the
towre ? he is the most meetest man for his wisdom and discretion
to be sent about any such message. And for the guarde, it is
for none other purpose but only to defend him against them that
would intend him any evill, either in worde or deede ; and they
be all, or for the most parte, such of his olde servants as the king
toke of late into his service, to the intent that they should attend

7 Sir William Kingstone.] He was appointed constable of the Tower for
life, by letters patent, dated 28 May 1524, soon after the death of Sir Thomas
Lovell. He was afterwards made a knight of the garter.

654 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
upon him most justly, knowing beste how to serve him." " Well
Sir," saide I, " I shall doe what I can," and so departed from
him towards my lord.
And as I repaired unto him, I found him sitting at the upper
ende of the gallery, upon a cheste, with his staffe and his beades
in his hands. And espying me comming from the earle, de
maunded of me what newes. " Forsoothe Sir," quoth I, " the
best newes that ever came to you ; if your Grace can take it
weU." "I pray God it be," quoth he, "what is it?" "Forsoothe
Sir," saide I, " my lord of Shrewsbury, perceiving by your often
communication with him, that ye were aUwaies desirous to come
before the king's majestie, he as your most assured friend hath
travailed so with his letters unto the king, that he hath sent for
you, by Mr. Kingstone and twenty four ofthe guarde, to conduct
you to his highness." " Mr. Kingstone," quoth he, rehersing his
name ' once or twise ; and with that clapped his hand on his
thighe, and gave a great sighe. " Sir," quoth I, " if it please
your Grace if you would or could take all things in good parte, it
should be much better for you. Content yourself for God's sake,
and thinke that God and your friends have wrought for you,
according to your owne desire. Did ye not allwaies wishe, that
ye might cleare yourselfe before the king ; and now that God and
your friends have brought your desire to passe, ye wUl not take it
thankfully ? If ye consider your truthe and loyalty to our sove
reign lorde, against the which your enemies cannot prevaile, the
king being your good lord as he is, ye know well, the king can
doe no lesse than he doeth to you, being to his highness accused
of some heinous crime, but cause you to be brought to your
tryaU, and there to receave according to your meritts ; the which
his highness trusteth, and saithe no lesse, but that you shall
prove yourselfe a just man to his majestie, wherein ye have more
8 Rehersing his name.] "I know not whether or no it be worth the mention
ing here (however we will put it on the adventure), but cardinal Wolsey, in his
hfetime, was informed by some fortune-tellers, that he should have his end at
Kingston. This, his credulity interpreted of Kingston-on-Thames; which
made him alwayes to avoid the riding through that town, though the nearest
way from his house to the court. Afterwards, understanding that he was to
be committed by the king's express order to the charge of Sir Anthony
Kingston (see Lord Henry Howard [Earl of Northampton], in his Book
. against Prophecies, chap, xxviii. foi. 130), it struck to his heart; too late
perceiving himself deceived by that father of lies in his homonymous predic
tion." — FuUer's Church History, book v. p. 178.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 655
cause to rejoice, than thus to lament, or to mistrust the favour
able ministration of due justice. For I assure you, your enemies
be more afraide of you, than you of them ; and doubting you so
much, they wishe the thinge, that they shaU never I truste bring
to passe with aU their wittes, the king (as I sayd before) being
your indifferent judge, and your earnest friend. And to prove
that he so is, see you not how he hathe sent gentle Mr. King
stone, to honnour you with as much honnour, as was due to you
in your high estate ; and to convey you by such easy journies, as
you will commaund him to doe ; and that ye shall have aU your
desires and requests by the way in every place, to your Grace's
contentation and honnour. Wherefore Sir, I humbly beseeche
your Grace, to imprinte aU these persuasions and many other
like, in your highe discretion, and be of good cheere ; wherewith
ye shall comforte yourselfe, and give aU your friends and servants
good hope of your good spede." " WeU, weU, then," quoth he,
" I perceive more than ye can imagine, or doe knowe. Expe
rience of olde hath taught me." And therewith he rose up, and
went into his chamber, and went to the stoole, the laske troubled
him so sore ; and when he had done, he came out againe ; and
immediately after my lord of Shrewsbury came into the gallery
unto him, with whome my lord met, and then sitting downe there
upon a benche in a great bay windowe, the earle asked him how
he did, and he most lamentably, as he was accustomed to do,
aunswered him, and thanked him for his gentle entertainment.
" Sir," quoth the earle, " if ye remember ye have often wished to
come before the king, to make your aunswer : and I perceiving
your often desire and earnest request, as one that beareth you
good wiU, have written especially unto the king in that behalfe ;
making him privy also of your lamentable sorrowe, that ye in
wardly have received of his displeasure ; who accepteth aU your
doings therein, as friends be accustomed to do in such cases.
Wherefore I would advise you to pluck up your harte, and be not
agast of your enemies, who I assure you be more in doubt of you,
than you would thinke, perceiving that the king is minded to
have the hearing of your case before his own person. Nowe, Sir,
if you can be of good cheere, I doubt not but this journey which
you shaU take up unto his highness, shall be much to your ad-
vauncement, and an overthrowe to your enemies. The king hath
sent for you by the worshipfull knight Mr. Kingstone, and with
him twenty four of your old servantes, nowe of the guarde, to

656 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
defend you against your enemies to the intent that ye may safely
come unto his majestie." " Sir," quoth my lord, " I trowe that
Mr. Kingstone is constable of the tower." " Yea, what of that ?"
quoth the earle, " I assure you he is elected of the king for one
of your friends, and for a discreete gentleman, most worthy to
take upon him the safeguarde and conduct of your person ; which
without faile the king much esteemeth, and secretly beareth you
speciall favor, far otherwise than ye doe take it." " WeU Sir,"
quoth my lord, " as God will, so be it. I am subjecte to fortune,
and to fortune I submit myselfe, being a true man ready to accept
such chaunces as shall followe, and there an ende ; Sir I pray
you, where is Mr. Kingstone ?" " Mary," quoth the earle, " if
you will, I will send for him, who would most gladly see you." " I
pray you then," quoth my lord, " send for him." At whose mes
sage he came ; and as soon as my lord espied him comming at
the gallery ende, he made haste to encounter him. Mr. King
stone came towards him with much reverence ; and at his coming
he kneeled downe unto him, and saluted him in the king's behalfe ;
whome my lorde bare-headed offered to take up, but he stiU re
fused. Then quoth my lord, " Mr. Kingstone, I pray you to
stand up, and leave your kneeling unto me ; for I am but a
wretch replete with misery not esteeming myselfe, but as a vile
abject utterly cast away, without deserte, as God knoweth. And
therefore, good Mr. Kingstone, stand up, or I will kneele downe
by you ;" whom he would not leave untiU he stode up. Then
spake Mr. Kingstone and saide, with humble reverence, " Sir,
the king's majestie hath him commended unto you." " I thank
his highness," quoth my lord, " I trust he is in health, and
merry." " Yea, without doubt," quoth Mr. Kingstone : " and
he commaunded me to say unto you, that you should assure
yourselfe, that he beareth unto you as much good will and favour
as ever he did ; and wiUeth you to be of good cheere. And where
reporte hath bin made unto him, that you should commit against
his royal majestie certain heinous crimes, which he thinketh per
fectly to be untrue, yet for the ministration of justice, in such
cases requisite, he can doe no lesse than send for you to your
triall, mistrusting nothing your truthe nor wisdome, but that ye
shall be hable to requite yourselfe of all complaints and accusa
tions exhibited against you ; and to take your journey to him at
your owne pleasure, commaunding me to attend upon you with
ministration of due reverence, and to see your person preserved

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 657
against all inconveniences that may ensue ; and to elect all such
your olde servauntes, nowe his, to serve you by the way, who
have most experience of your diet. Therefore, Sir, I beseeche
you be of good cheere ; and when it shall be your owne pleasure
to take your journey, I shall be ready to give attendaunce upon
you." " Mr. Kingstone," quoth my lord, " I thanke you for your
good newes : and Sir, hereof assure yourselfe, that if I were as able
and lusty as I have bin but of late, I would not fail to ride with
you in post : but Sir, I am diseased with a fluxe 9 that maketh me
very weake. But Mr. Kingstone, all the comfortable wordes
which ye have spoken unto me, be spoken but for a purpose to
bring me into a fooles paradise : 1 knowe what is provided for me.
Notwithstanding, I thank you for your good wiU, and paines
taken about me ; and I shall with aU spede make me ready to
ride with you to morrowe." And thus they fell into other com
munication, bothe the earle and Mr. Kingstone with my lorde ;
who commaunded me to foresee and provide that all things
mighte be made ready to departe the morrowe after. Then
caused I aU things to be trussed up, and made in readiness as
fast as they could conveniently.
When night came that we should goe to bed, my lorde waxed
very sicke with the laske, the which caused him stiU continually
from time to time to go to the stoole, all that night ; in somuch
that from the time that it tooke him, until the next morning he
9 Diseased with a fluxe.] In the printed editions the passage stands thus:
" But, alas ! I am a diseased man, having a flux : (at which time it was
apparent that he had poysoned himself) it hath made me very weak." p. 190,
edit. 1706. "It is highly probable (says Dr. Fiddes, in his Life of Wolsey,
p. 499), this expression ought to be taken in a softer sense than the words
strictly import, and that Cavendish only intended by it, that he was poisoned
by taking something prepared for him, by other hands." Dr. F. then pro
ceeds to invalidate by reasoning the story of the cardinal having hastened his
own death. But, I apprehend, it cannot be thought that there is much force
in the doctor's arguments. It is more important to observe, that it admits of
great question, whether the words in the parenthesis are not altogether an
interpolation. They do not occur in any MS. which I have seen. StUl it is
certain that the charge of his having poisoned himself was repeated by con
temporary writers, without scruple. — See TindaU's Works, p. 404 ; Supplica
tion to the Queen's Majesty, foi. 7. a.d. 1555 : Fox's Acts, p. 959.
"When good men die suddenly " (says David Lloyd, State Worthies, p. 23),
" it is said they are poisoned ; and when the bad faU unexpectedly, as Wolsey
did, it is said they poison themselves. He died unpitied, because he had
lived feared ; being the great bias of the Christian world ! "
VOL. I. U U

658 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
had fifty stooles, so that he was that day very weake. His matter
that he voided was wondrous blacke, the which the physition
caUed coller adustine ; and when he perceived it, he saide to me,
that if he had not some helpe shortly he shall die. With that I
caused one doctor Nicholas a doctor of phisicke, being with my
lord of Shrewesbury, to looke upon the grosse matter that he
avoided ; upon sight whereof he determined he should not live
four or five daies ; yet notwithstanding he would have ridden
with Mr. Kingstone that same daie, if my lord of Shrewesbury
had not beene. Therefore, in consideration of his infirmity they
caused him to tarry all that day.
And the next day he tooke his journey, with Mr. Kingstone
and them of the guarde. And as sone as they espied him, con
sidering that he was their olde master, and in such estate, they
lamented his misfortune, with weping eyes. Whome my lorde
toke by the hand, and many times, as he rode by the way, he
would talke, nowe with one, then with an other, until he came to
an house of my lord of Shrewesburys, called Hardwicke Hall ',
where he lay all that nighte very eviU at ease. The next day he
rode to Nottingham, and there lodged that nighte, more sicke,
and the next day he rode to Leicester abbey ; and by the way
he waxed so sicke, that he was almost fallen from his mule ; so
that it was nighte before we came to the abbey of Leicester, where
at his comming in at the gate the abbot with all his convent
met him with diverse torches lighte ; whom they right honorably
received and welcomed with great reverence. To whome my
lord saide, " Father Abbot, I am come hither to leave my bones
among you," riding so still until he came to the staires of his
chamber, where he alighted from his mule, and then master
Kingstone tooke him by the arme, and led him up the stairs ;
who tould me afterwardes, he never felt so heavy a burden in all
his life. And as sone as he was in his chamber, he went incon
tinent to his bed, very sicke. This was upon Satterday at nighte 2 ;
and then continued he, sicker and sicker.
Upon Monday in the morning, as I stoode by his bed side,
about eighte of the clocke, the windowes being close shut, and
1 Hardwicke Hall.] Not Hardwicke HaU, in Derbyshire, the seat of the
duke of Devonshire, which then belonged to a family of the name of Hard
wicke, but Hardwicke-upon-Line, about four miles from Newstead, in Not
tinghamshire. See Hunter's " Who wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey ? "
2 Satterday at nighte.] 26th November.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 659
having waxe lightes, burning upon the cupborde, I beheld him, as
me seemed, drawing faste towardes deathe. He perceiving my
shadowe upon the waU by the bed side, asked who was there ?
" Sir," quoth I, " I am here." " How doe you ? " quoth he to
me. " Very well, Sir," quoth I, " if I mighte see your grace
well." " What is it of the clocke ? " saide he to me. " Sir,"
said I, "it is past eight in the morning." "Eight ofthe clocke?"
quoth he, " that cannot be," rehearsing diverse times, "eighte
of the clocke," " eighte of the clocke," " nay, nay," quoth he at
last, " it cannot be eighte of the clocke : for by eighte of the
clocke shaU you lose your master : for my time draweth neare,
that I must departe this world." With that one doctor Palmes3,
a worshipful gentleman, being his chapleine and ghostly father,
standing by, bad me secretly demand of him if he would be
shriven, and so be in a readiness towardes God, whatsoever
should chaunce. At whose desire I asked him that question,
" What have ye to doe to aske me any suche question?" quoth
he, and began to be very angry with me for my presumption ;
untill at the laste master Doctor tooke my parte, and talked with
him in Lattine, and so pacified him.
At afternoone master Kingstone sent for me into his chamber,
and at my comming there saide to me, " So it is, that the king
hath sent me letters by master Vincent 4, one of your old com
panions, who hath bin in trouble in the towre for money that my
lord should have at his last departing from him, which cannot
nowe be found. Wherefore the king, at this Vincents request,
for the declaration of his truthe, hath sent him hither with his
grace's letters, that I should examine my lord in that behalfe,
and to have your counsell herein, to the intente my lorde may
take it well and in good parte. This is the cause of my sending
for you ; therefore I pray you of your counsell, what way is beste
to be taken therein, for the true acquittall of this pore gentleman,
master Vincent." " Sir," quoth I, " as touching that matter,
after mine advice, ye shah in your owne person resorte unto him
to visite him, and in communication breake the matter unto him.
And if he will not teU the truthe, there be that can satisfy the
kings minde therein. But in any wise, mention not, nor speake

3 Palmes.] John Palmes ? Dean of Alton, of which he was afterwards
deprived when blind. See Cotton MS. Titus, B. i. foi. 75.
4 Vincent] David Vincent, see p. 667.
u u 2

660 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
of my fellowe Vincent. And also I would advise you not to
tracte the time with him ; for he is very sicke, and I feare me
he will not live past a day." Then went master Kingstone to
visit him ; and asked him first howe he did, and so forthe pro
ceeded in conversation, wherein master Kingstone demaunded of
him of the sayd money saying, "that my lord of Northumber-
lande hath founde a booke at Cawood that reporteth that you
had but late fifteen hundred poundes ; and it will not be founde,
not so much as one penny thereof: who hath made the king
privy of the same. Wherefore the king hath written unto me,
to demaund of you where it is become ; for it were pitty that it
should be imbeseled from you bothe. Therefore I shall require
you, in the kings name, to teU me the truthe ; to the intent that
I may make just reporte unto his majestie of your aunswer
therein." With that my lorde paused a little and saide, " Oh
good Lorde ! how much doth it grieve me that the king should
think in me any such deceite, wherein I should deceive him of
any one penny that I have. Rather than I would, master King
stone, imbeazle, or deceive him of one penny, I would it were
moulten, and put into my mouthe;" which wordes he spake twise
or thrice very vehemently. " I have nothing, ne never had (God
be my judge), that I esteemed so much my owne, but that I
tooke it ever to be the kings goods, having but the bare use
k thereof during my life ; and after my death to leave it wholly to
Yiim ; where he hath but prevented my intent and purpose. And
for this money that ye demaund of me, I assure you that it is
none of mine ; for I borrowed it of diverse of my friends to burye
me, and to bestowe among my servantes, who have taken great
paines about me, like true and faithful servantes. Notwith
standing if it be his pleasure to have this money from me, I must
hold me contente. Yet I would most humbly beseeche his
majestie, to see that satisfied, for the discharge of my conscience
unto them that I owe it." " Who be they," quoth Mr. King
stone. " That shall I shewe you," saide my lorde. " I borowed
two hundred poundes thereof of sir John Allen5 of London ; and
an other two hundred poundes of sir Richard Gresham 6 of Lon-
6 Sir John Allen.] Sir John Allen was lord mayor of London in 1535.
6 Sir Richard Gresham.] On the Good Friday next following, Sir Richard
Gresham wrote to Cromwell, to move the king for the payment of a debt
due to him from the estate of the late lord cardinal. III. EUis, ii. 204. In
1537 he was lord mayor of London. He was father of Sir Thomas Gresham.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 661
don; also other two hundred poundes of the master of the
Savoie, also two hundred poundes of doctor Hickden, deane of
my colledge in Oxenforde ; and two hundred poundes of the
treasurer of the churche of Yorke ; and also two hundred
poundes of parson EUis my chaplen ; and another one hundred
poundes of a priest, that was then his stewarde, whose name I
have forgotten ; to whome I trust the king will restore the same
againe, for as much as it is none of mine." " Sir," quoth Mr.
Kingstone, "there is no doubte in the king; whom ye need not
to mistrust in that, but when the king shall be advertised hereof,
as I shall reporte, at my retourne, of your earnest request there
in, his grace will doe as shall become him. But sir, I pray you,
where is this money?" "Mr. Kingstone," quoth my lord, "I
wiU not conceale it from the king ; but will declare it unto you,
or I dye, by the grace of God. Take a little patience with me I
beseeche you." " Well sir, then will I trouble you no more at
this time, trusting that ye will tell me to morrowe." " Yea, that
I will, Mr. Kingstone, for the money is safe enoughe, and in an
honest man's keeping ; who will not kepe one penny thereof from
the king." And then the abbot of Leicester sent for Mr. King
stone to supper ; who then departed for that nighte.
Howbeyt my lord waxed very sicke, most likely to die that
nighte, and often swooned, and as me thought drewe on faste to
his ende, until it was foure of the clocke of the morning: at which
time I spake to him, and asked him how he did. " Well," quoth
he, " if I had any meate ; I pray you give me some." " Sir,
there is none redy," saide I. " I wis," quoth he, " ye be the more
to blame : for you should have alwaies meate for me in a readi
ness, to eate when my stomache serveth me ; therefore I pray you
get me some ; for I intend this day to make me strong, to the
intent that I may occupy myselfe in confession, and make me
ready to God." " Then sir," quoth I, " I will call up the cookes
to provide some meate for you ; and wiU also, if it be your plea
sure, call for Mr. Palmes, that ye may common with him, untill
your meate be ready." " With a good wiU," quoth he. And
therewith I went fast, and caUed up the cookes, bidding them to
prepare some meate for my lorde. Then went I to Mr. Palmes,
and tould him what case my lorde was in ; wiUing him to rise,
and resorte to him with specie. And then I went to Mr. King
stone, and gave him warning, that, as I thought, my lord would
not live ; advising him that if he had any thing to say to him, he

662 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
should make haste, for he was in great daunger. "In good faith,"
quoth Mr. Kingstone, "ye be to blame : for ye make him beheve
that he is sicker and in more daunger, than he is indeed."
" Well sir," quoth I, " ye shall not say another day but I have
given you warning, as I am bound to doe, and discharge myself
therein. Therefore I pray you, whatsoever shall chaunce, let no
negligence be ascribed to me herein ; for I assure you his life is
very shorte. Do therefore as ye thinke beste." Yet nevertheless
he rose, and made him ready, and came to him. After he had
eaten of a cullace 7 made of chicken a spoonfull or two, at the laste
quoth he, " Whereof was this cullace made ?" " Forsothe sir,"
quoth I, " of a chicken." " Why," quoth he, " it is fasting day,"
(being St. Andrews even.) " What though it be," quoth Dr.
Palmes, "ye be excused by reason of your sickness?" "Yea,"
quoth he, "what though? I will eate no more."
Then was he in confession the space of an houre. And when
he had ended his confession, master Kingstone came to him, and
bad him good morrowe ; for it was about six of the clocke, and
asked him how he did. " Sir," quoth he, " I tarry but the
pleasure of God, to render up my poore soule into his handes."
" Not so sir," quoth master Kingstone, " with the grace of God,
ye shall live, and do very well ; if ye wiU be of good cheere."
" Nay in good soothe, master Kingstone, my disease is suche that
I cannot live; for I have had some experience in phisicke. Thus
it is: I have a fluxe with a continuall feaver; the nature whereof
is, that if there be no alteration of the same within eight daies,
either must ensue excorrition of the entrailes, or frensy, or else
present deathe; and the best of these three, is deathe. And as I
suppose, this is the eight day : and if ye see no alteration in me,
there is no remedy, save that I may live a day or two after, but
deathe which is the beste of these three, must foUowe." " Sir,"
saide master Kingstone, " you be in such pensiveness, doubting
that thing that in good faithe ye need not." " Well, well, master
Kingstone," quoth my lord, " I see the matter maketh you much
worse than you should be against me ; howe it is framed I knowe
[not. But if I had served God, as diligently as I have done the
I king, he would not have given me over in my grey heares. But
this is the just rewarde that I must receive, for my diligent paines
and study, that I have had, to do him service ; not regarding my
7 Cullace.] A strong broth or gravy; from the French, coulis.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 663
service to God, but only to satisfye his pleasure. I pray you
¦have me most humbly commended unto his royall majestie ; and
beseech him in my behalfe, to call to his princely remembrance
all matters proceeding betweene him and me from the beginning
of the world, and the progresse of the same ; and most especially
in his waighty matter ;" (meaning the matter betweene good
queen Katherine and him,) " and then shall his graces conscience
knowe, whether I have offended him, or no. He is a prince of
royall courage, and hath a princely harte ; and rather then he
will miss or want any parte of his will or pleasure, he will endanger
the losse of the one halfe of his realme. For I assure you, I
have often kneeled before him, the space sometimes of three
houres, to persuade him from his will and appetite : but I could
never dissuade him therefrom. Therefore Mr. Kingstone, I
warne you, if it chaunce you hereafter to be of his privy counsell,
as for your wisdome ye are very mete, be well assured and
advised, what ye put in his head, for ye shah never put it out
againe. " And say furthermore, that I request his Grace, on God's
name, that he have a vigilant eye to depresse this newe sorte of
Lutherans s, that it doe not encrease, through his negligence, in
suche a sorte, as he be at length compelled to put on harnies
upon his backe to subdue them ; as the king of Boheme did, who
had good game, to see his commons, infected * with Wickliffes
heresies, to spoile the spirituall men of his realme ; who at the
last were constrained to call to the king and his nobles for succour
against their frantic rage ; of whom they could get no helpe ne
refuge, but they laughed and had good game, not regarding their
duty. But when these erroneous heretics had subdued all the
clerge, bothe churches, and monasteries, and all other spirituall
things, then having nothing more to spoile, they caught such a
courage of their former spoile, that then they disdained their
prince with his nobles, and the heades and governours of the
8 Newe sorte of Lutherans.] In the year 1521, the cardinal, by virtue of
his legatine authority, issued a mandate to all the bishops in the realm, to
take the necessary means for calling in and destroying aU books, printed or
written, containing any of the errors of Martin Luther : and further directing
processes to be instituted against all the possessors and favourers of such
books, heresies, &c. The mandate contained also a list of forty-two errors of
Luther. See Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 690 — 693 ; and Strype's Eccle
siastical Memorials, vol. i p. 36—40. For further proceedings of the same
description in 1526, and again in 1529, see Strype's Eccles. Mem. vol. i. p. 165.

664 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
country, and began to spoile and slay them. Insomuch as the
king and other noblemen were constrained to put harnies upon
them, to resist the power of those traiterous heretickes, and to
defend their lives ; who pitched a field against them ; in which
field the conflict was so vehement and cruell on the rebells parte,
that in fine they slewe the kinge, the nobles, and all the gentle
men of the realme, leaving not one person that bare the name of
a nobleman or gentleman, or any person that bare rule in the
common wealthe alive ; by meanes of which slaughter they have
lived ever since without an heade ; being brought into such
poverty and misery that they be abhorred of all Christian nations.
Let this be to him an example to avoide the like daunger, I pray
you. There is no trust to routes or to unlawfull assemblies in the
common people ; for when they be up, there is no mercy with
them. Let him consider the story of king Richard the second,
one of his progenitors, who lived in that same time also of Wick
liffe's seditions and erroneous opinions. Did not the commons, I
pray you, in his time arise against the nobles and head governors
of this realme of Englande; whereof some they apprehended,
whom without mercy or misery they put to deathe ? and did they
not fall to spoiling and robbery, which was their onlie pretence to
have all things in common ; and at the last, tooke the kings
person perforce out of the tower of London, and carried him
about the city presumptuously, making him obedient to their lewd
proclamations ? Did not also the traiterous hereticke, Sir John
Oldcastle, lord of Cobham, pitche a field with hereticks against
king Henry the fifth, where the king himselfe was personally, and
fought against them, to whom God gave the victory ? Alas ! if
these be not plaine presidents, and sufficient persuasions to
admonish a prince to be circumspect against the semblable mis
chiefe, then will God strike, and take from us our prudent rulers,
and leave us in the hands of our enemies ; and then shall ensue
mischiefe upon mischiefe, inconvenience upon inconvenience, and
barrenness and scarcity for lacke of good order in the common
weale, to the utter ruine and desolation of this realme, from the
which God of his tendre mercy defend us !
" Master Kingstone farewell ! I can no more saye, but I wish,
ere I dye, all things to have good successe. My time draweth on
faste. I may not tarry with you. And forget not what I have
saide and charged you withall ; for when I am dead, ye shall per
adventure remembre my words better." And even with those

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 665
wordes he began to draw his speche at lengthe, and his tongue to
faile ; his eyes being presently set in his head, whose sight faUed
him. Then began we to put him in remembrance of Christ's
passion ; and caused the yeomen of the guarde to stand bye
secretly, to see him dye, and to be witnesses of his wordes at his
departure ; who heard all his saide communication : and incon
tinent the clock struck eight, and then gave he up the ghost, and
thus he departed this present life 9. And calling to remembrance,
howe he saide the day before, that at eight of the clocke we should
lose our master, as it is before rehearsed, one of us looking upon
another, supposing that either he knewe or prophesied of his
departure, yet before his departure, we sent for the abbot of the
house, to annoyle him 1, whoe made all the spede he could, and
came to his departure, and so sayd certaine praiers, before the
breath was fuUy out of his body.
Here is the ende and faU of pride and arrogancy of men,
exalted by fortune to dignities : for I assure you, in his time, he
was the haughtiest man in all his proceedings alive ; having more
respect to the honor of his person than he had to his spirituall
profession ; wherein should be shewed aU meekness, humility, and
charity ; the discussing whereof any further I leave to divines.
After that he was thus departed, Mr. Kingstone sent a post to
the king, advertising him of the departure of the cardinall by one
of the guarde, that sawe and hearde him die. And then Mr.
Kingstone and the abbot calling me unto them went to consulta
tion of the order of his buriaU.
After diverse opinions, it was thought good that he should be
buried the next day following ; for Mr. Kingstone would not tarry
the returne of the poste. And it was further thought good that
the mayor of Leicester and his brethren should be sent for, to
see him personally dead, to avoide false rumours that might hap
pen, to say that he was still alive. Then was the mayor and his
brethren sent for ; and in the meane time, the body was taken
9 He departed this present life.] Tuesday, Nov. 29, 1530. Le Neve's Fasti,
p. 310.
1 To annoyle him.] To administer the extreme unction. " The fyfth sacra
ment is anoyntynge of seke men, the whiche oyle is halowed of the bysshop,
and mynystred by preestes to them that ben of lawfuU age, in grete peryll of
dethe : in lyghtnes and abatynge of theyr sikenes, yf God wyll that they
lyve ; and in forgyvynge of theyr venyal synnes, and releasynge of theyr
payn'e, yf they shal deve."— Festival, foi. 17 1.

666 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
out of the bed where he lay deade ; who had upon him, next his
body, a shirte of heare, besides his other shirte, which was of very
fine holland ; which was not known to any of his servaunts being
continually about him in his chambre, saving to his ghostly father;
which shirtes were laide in a coffin made for him of bordes,
having upon his dead corpse all such ornaments as he was pro
fessed in, when he was made bishop and archbishop, as miter,
crosse, ring, and palle, with aU other things due to his order and
dignity. And lying thus all day in his coffin open and barefaced,
every man that would might see him there deade without fayning,
even as the mayor, his brethren, and other did.
Lying thus untill foure or five of the clocke at nighte, he was
carried downe into the churche with great solemnity by the abbot,
and conducted with much torche lighte, and service songe, due for
such funeraUs. And being in the churche the corpse was set in
our Lady Chappell, with diverse tapers of waxe, and diverse poore
men sitting about the same, holding torches in their handes, who
watched about the corps all night, while the canons sang Birige,
and other devout oraisons. And about foure of the clocke in the
morning Mr. Kingstone and we his servants came into the churche,
and there tarried the executing of diverse ceremonies in such
cases used, about the corpse of a bishop. Then went they to
masse, at which masse the abbot and diverse other did offer.
And that done, they went about to bury the corps in the middest
ofthe sayd chappell, where was made for him a grave. And by
that time he was buried, and all ceremonies ended, it was six of
the clocke in the morning.
Then went we and prepared ourselves to horseback, being
Saint Andrews day the apostle, and so toke our journey to the
courte ; riding that same day, being Wednesday, to Northampton;
and the next day to Dunstable ; and the next day to London ;
where we tarried untill saint Nicholas even, and then we rode to
Hampton courte, where the king and counsel lay, giving all our
attendance upon them for our dispatche.
And the next day, being Saint Nicholas day, I was sent for,
being in Mr. Kingstone's chamber there in the courte, to come to
the king ; whom I found shooting at the roundes in the parcke,
on the backside of the garden. And perceiving him occupied in
shoting, thought it not good to trouble him ; but leaning to a
tree, attending there until he had made an ende of his disporte.
And leaning there, being in a great study, what the matter should

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 667
be that his grace should send for me, at the laste the king came
sodenly behind me, and clapped me upon the shoulder ; and when
I perceived him, I fell upon my knee. And he, calling me by
name, sayd unto me, " I will," quoth he, " make an ende of my
game, and then will I talk with you :" and so departed to the
marke where he had shot his arrowe. And when he came there
they were meeting of the shott that lay upon the game, which
was ended that shote.
Then delivered the king his bowe unto the yeoman of his
bowes, and went his waies inwarde ; whom I followed ; howbeit
he caUed for Sir John Gage, then his vice chamberlaine, with
whome he talked, untill he came to the posterne gate of his
garden ; the which being open against his comying, he entered ;
and then was the gate shute after him, which caused me to goe
my waies.
And ere ever I was past halfe a paire of butt lengths, the gate
opened againe, and Mr. Norris called me againe, commanding me
to come unto the kinge, who stoode behinde the doore in a night
gowne of russet velvet, furred with sables ; before whome I
kneled downe, being there with him all alone the space of an
houre or more, during which season he examined me of diverse
weighty matters, concerning my lord cardinall, wishing rather
than twenty thousand pounds that he had lived. He examined
me of the fifteen hundred poundes, which Mr. Kingstone moved
to my lord before his deathe, as I have before rehersed. " Sir,"
sayd I, " I thinke that I can tell your Grace partly where it is,
and who hathe it." " Yea, can you ?" quoth the king ; " then I
pray you tell me, and you shall doe much pleasure, and it shall
not be unrewarded." " Sir," sayd I, " if it please your high
ness, after the departure of David Vincent from my lord at
Scroby, who had the custody thereof, leaving the same with my
lord in diverse baggs, he delivered the same unto a certaine
priest safely to kepe to his use." " Is this true ?" quoth the
king. " Yea, sir," quoth I, " without all doubt. The priest shall
not be able to deny it in my presence, for I was at the delivery
thereof ; who hath gotten diverse other rich ornaments into his
hands, the which be not rehersed or registered in any of my lords
books of inventory, or other writings, whereby any man is able to
charge him therewith, but only I." " Well then," quoth the
king, " let me alone, and kepe this geare secrete betweene your
selfe and me, and let no man knowe thereof ; for if I heare any
more of it, then I knowe by whom it came out. Howbeit,"

668 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
quoth he, " three may kepe counseU, if two be awaye ; and if I
knewe that my cap were privy of my counsell, I would cast it in
the fire and burne it. And for your truthe and honesty ye shall
be our servant, and be in the same rome with us, wherein you
were with your old master. Therefore goe your waies unto Sir
John Gage our vice chamberlain, to whom I have spoken already
to give you your oathe, and to admit you our servaunt in the
sayd roome ; and then goe to my lord of Norfolke, and he shall
pay you your whole yeares wages, which is ten poundes, is it
not so ?" quoth the king. " Yea, forsoothe," quoth I, " and I am
behinde for three quarters of a yeare of the same wages." " That
is true," quoth the king, " therefore ye shaU have your whole
yeares wages, with our rewarde delivered you by the duke of
Norfolke ;" promising me furthermore, to be my singular good
lord, whensoever occasion should serve. And thus I departed
from the kinge.
And as I went to Mr. Gage to receive mine othe, I happened
to meete with Mr. Kingstone comming from the counsell, who
commaunded me in their name to goe straighte unto them, for by
him they had sent for me, " And in any wise take good hede,"
quoth he, " what ye say : for ye shall be examined of certaine
wordes spoken by my lord your master at his departure, the which
I knowe well enoughe ; and if I teU them the truthe," quoth he,
" what he said, I shall undoe myselfe ; for in any wise they may
not heare of it : therefore be circumspect what aunswer ye make
to their demaundes." " Why," quoth I, " how have you done
therein yourselfe ?" " Mary," quoth he, " I have utterly denied
that I heard any such wordes ; and he that opened the same first
is fled for feare ;" which was the yeomen of the guarde that rode
in post to the king from Leycester. " Therefore goe your waies,"
quoth he, " God send you good spede ; and when you have done,
come to me into the chamber of presence, where I will tarry to
see howe you speede, and to knowe how ye have done with the
king." Thus I departed and went directly to the counsell chamber
doore ; and as sone as I was come I was caUed in amongst them.
And being there, my lord of Norfolke first spake, and bad me
welcome to the courte, and saide, " My lordes, this gentleman
hath served the cardinall his master like an honest man ; there
fore I doubt not but of such questions as ye shall demaund of
him, he will make a just and a true aunswer, I dare be his surety.
Howe say you sir?" quoth he to me, " it is reported, that your

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 669
master spake such wordes and such even at his departure from
his life ; the truthe whereof I doubt not but you knowe ; and as
you knowe, I pray you reporte ; and feare for no man. It shall
not neede to sweare you, therefore go to, how say you, is this
true that is reported ?" " Forsoothe my lord," quoth I, " I was
so diligent about him, attending the preservation of his life, that
I marked not every worde that he spake ; and as for my parte,
I have heard him talke many idle wordes, as men do in such
extremities, the which I do not nowe remember. If it please
you to caU Mr. Kingstone before your lordshippes, he will not let
to tell you the truthe." " Mary so have we done already," quoth
they, " who hath bin here before us, and hath denied that ever
your master spake any such wordes, at the time of his deathe, or
at any time before." " Forsoothe my lordes," quoth I, " then I
can say no more ; for if he heard them not, I could not heare
them : for he heard as much as I, and I as much as he. There
fore my lordes, it were folly to say a thing of untruthe, which I
am not able to justify." " Loe !" quoth my lord of Norfolke.
" I tould you before, that he was a true man, and would tell the
truthe. Goe your waies : ye be discharged," quoth he, " and
come to my chambre sone, for I must talke with you."
I most humbly thanked them, and so departed ; and went into
the chamber of presence to mete with Mr. Kingstone, whom I
found standing in communication with an auncient gentleman,
one Mr. Radcliffe, gentleman usher of the kings privy chamber.
And at my comming, Mr. Kingstone demaunded of me, if
I had bin with the counseU; and what aunswer I made them.
I aunswered, that I had satisfied their lordshippes mindes
with mine aunswers ; and tould him even as I have rehersed
before. And then he asked me, how I sped with the king ; and
I tould him all our communications ; and of his Graces bene
volence and princely liberality towards me ; and howe he com
maunded me to goe to my lord of Norfolke. And even as we
were speaking of my lord of Norfolke, he came out from the
counsell chamber, into the chamber of presence ; and as sone as
he espied me, he came unto the windowe, where I stoode with
Mr. Kingstone and Mr. Radcliffe ; to whome I declared the
kings pleasure. And then these two gentlemen made interces
sion unto him to be good lord unto me. " Nay," quoth my lord
of Norfolke, " I will be better to him than he weneth ; for if I
could have spoken to him, or ever he came to the king, I would

670 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
have had him to my service ; and (the king excepted) he should
have done no man service in all Englande but me. And loke,"
quoth he, " what I may doe for you, I will doe it with all my
harte." " Sir then my desire is, that it would please your
grace," quoth I, " to move the kinge to be so much good lord as
to give me one of the cartes and horses that brought up my stuffe
with my lordes, (which is nowe in the Towre) to carry it home
into my country." " Yea mary will I," quoth he and retourned
into the kinge; for whom I tarried still with Mr. Kingstone.
" And," quoth Mr. Ratcliffe, " I will goe in, and helpe my lord of
Norfolke in your suite to the king." And incontinent my lord
came forthe, and tould me, that the king was my singular good
and gracious lord ; and had given me six of the beste horses I
could chose among all my lordes carte horses, and a carte to
carry my stuffe, and five markes for the costes homewardes ; and
hath commanded me," quoth he, " to deliver you ten poundes for
your wages, being behinde ; and twenty poundes for a rewarde ;"
and commaunded me to call Mr. Secretary unto him, to make a
warrant for all these things. Then was it tould him, that Mr.
Secretary was gone to Hamworthe for that nighte. Then com
maunded he one of the messengers of the chambre to ride to him
in all haste for those warrants ; and also wiUed me to mete with
him the next day at London ; and there I should receive both
my money and my stuffe, with the horses and carte, that the
king promised me : and so I did ; of whom I received all those
things, and then I retourned home into the country with the
same. And thus ended ' the life of the right triumphant car
dinall of England, on whose soule Jesus have mercy ! Amen.
2 And thus ended.] I subjoin the cardinal's character, as given by Lord
Herbert, in his Life and Reign of King Henry VIII. p. 342.
" And thus concluded that great cardinal : a man in whom ability of parts
and industry were equally eminent ; though, for being employed wholly in
ambitious ways, they became dangerous instruments of power, in active and
mutable times. By these arts yet he found means to govern not onely the
chief affairs of this kingdom, but of Europe ; there being no potentate, which,
in his turn, did not seek to him : And as this procured him divers pensions,
so, when he acquainted the king therewith, his manner was so cunningly to
disoblige that prince who did fee him last, as he made way thereby oftentimes
to receive as much on the other side. But not of secular princes alone, but
even of the pope and clergy of Rome, he was no little courted ; of which
therefore he made especial use, whUe he drew them to second him on most
occasions. His birth being otherwise so obscure and mean, as no man had

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 671
Who liste to reade and consider with a cleare eye this history,
may behold the mutability of vaine honors, and brittle assurance
ever stood so single : for which reason also his chief endeavour was not to
displease any great person ; which yet could not secure him. For as all things
passed through his hands, so they who failed in their suits generally hated
him : aU which, though it did but exasperate his ill nature, yet this good
resultance followed, that it made him take the more care to be just ; whereof
also he obtained the reputation in his publick hearing of causes : for as he
loved no body, so his reason carried him. And thus he was an useful minister
of his king, in all points, where there was no question of deserting the Roman
church ; of which (at what price soever) I finde he was a zealous servant ;
as hoping thereby to aspire to the papacy, whereof (as the factious times then
were) he seemed more capable than any, had he not so immoderately affected
it. Whereby also it was not hard to judge of his inclinations ; that prince,
who was ablest to help him to this dignity, being ever preferred by him ;
which therefore was the ordinary baite, by which the emperour and the
French king, one after the other did catch him. And, upon these terms, he
doubted not to convey vast treasures out of this kingdome, especially unto
Rome, where he had not a few cardinals at his devotion ; by whose help,
though he could not attain that supreme dignity he so passionately desired,
yet he prevailed himself so much of their favour, as he got a kinde of abso
lute power in spiritual matters at Rome : wherewith again he so served the
king's turn, as it made him think the less of using his own authority. One
error seemed common to both, which was, that such a multiplicity of offices
and places were invested in him. For as it drew much envy upon the car
dinal in particular, so it derogated no little from the regal authority, while
one man alone seemed to exhaust all : since it becometh princes to do like
good husbandmen, when they sow their grounds ; which is, to scatter, and
not to throw all in one place. He was no great dissembler for so qualified a
person ; as ordering his businesses (for the most part) so cautiously, as he
got more by keeping his word than by breaking it. As for his learning
(which was far from exact), it consisted chiefly in the subtUties of the Thom-
ists, wherewith the king and himself did more often weary than satisfie each
other. His stile, in missives, was rather copious than eloquent, yet ever
tending to the point. Briefly, if it be true (as Polydore observes) that no
man ever did rise with fewer virtues, it is true that few that ever fell from so
high a place had lesser crimes objected against him : though yet Polydore
(for being at his first coming into England committed to prison by him, as
we have said) may be suspected as a partial author. So that in aU probability
he might have subsisted longer, if either his pride and immense wealth had
not made him obnoxious, and suspected to the king, or that other than
women had opposed him : who, as they are vigilant and close enemies, so for
the most part they carry their businesses in that manner, as they leave fewer
advantages against themselves than men do. In conclusion, as I cannot
assent to those who thought him happy for enjoying the untimely compassion
of the people a little before his end, so I cannot but account it a principal
felicity, that during his favour with the king, aU things succeeded better than

672 CARDINAL WOLSEY.
of aboundaunce ; the uncertainety of dignities, the flattering of
feigned friends, and the fickle favor of worldly princes. Whereof
this lord cardinall hath felt and tasted bothe of the sweete and
soure in each degree ; as fleeting from honnors, losing of riches,
deposed from dignities, forsaken of friends, and the mutability
of princes favor ; of all which things, he had in this world the
full felicity, as long as fortune smiled upon him : but when she
began to frowne, how sone was he deprived of all these mundane
joyes, and vaine pleasures ! That which in twenty yeares with
great travaile and study he obtained, was in one yeare and lesse,
with great care and sorrowe lost and consumed. — 0, madness !
0, fond desire ! O, foolish hope ! 0, greedy desire of vaine
honnors, dignities, and riches ! Oh what unconstant hope and
trust is it in the false fayned countenaunce and promise of
fortune ! Wherefore the prophet saith fuU well, Thesaurizat, et
ignorat cui congregabit ea. Who is certaine that he shall leave
his riches which he hath gathered in this world, unto them whom
he hath purposed? The wise man saith, That an other, whom
peradventure he hated in his life, shall spende it out, and con
sume it.
afterwards : though yet it may be doubted whether the impressions he gave
did not occasion divers irregularities which were observed to foUow. He
died Nov. 29, 1529."
We may add here a few additional particulars from Lloyd's Slate Worthies.
" He had petty projects ; namely, that chUdren should foUow their fathers'
profession, saying that he observed, that the father's eminency in any act
begat in the chUd a propension to the same ; and where two or three suc
cessive generations happily insist in the steps one of another, they raise an
art to great perfection. He also liked well the prudence of our parliaments,
in permitting the eldest sons of barons to be present at their consultations, to
fit them by degrees for the person they are to sustain." P. 14, edit. 1670.
" One thing he advised young men to take care of in their public deliveries ;
namely, that they should rather proceed, though more inaccurately, than stop
sensibly : few being able to discern the failure of a continued speech, when
aU understand the mischance of a gross sUence." P. 22.

END OF VOL. I.

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