The progress of the Reformation in England must have been greatly affected
by the extent to which the art of printing was brought to bear upon the
popular mind. Before the charms of Anne Boleyn could have had much effect,
or "doubts" had troubled the royal conscience, Wolsey had been compelled to
forbid the introduction or printing of books and tracts calculated to
increase the unsettled condition of the faith.
The following proclamation, now for the first time printed, may have
originated in the ineffectual result of the cardinal's directions. The
readers of Strype and Fox will see that the threats which both contain were
no idle ones, and that men were indeed "corrected and punisshed for theyr
contempte and disobedience, to the terrible example of other lyke
trangressours."
The list of books prohibited by the order of 1526 contains all those
mentioned by name in the present proclamation, except the _Summary of
Scripture_; and it will be seen that such full, general terms are used that
no obnoxious production could escape, if brought to light. The _Revelation
of Antichrist_ was written by Luther.
Strype does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this particular
proclamation, which was issued in the year 1530. Under the year 1534
(_Ecclesiastical Memorials, &c._, Oxford, 1822, vol. i. part i. p. 253.),
he thus refers to what he thought to be the first royal proclamation upon
the subject:
"Much light was let in among the common people by the New Testament and
other good books in English, which, for the most part being printed
beyond sea, were by stealth brought into England, and dispersed here by
well-disposed men. For the preventing the importation and using of
these books, the king this year issued out a strict proclamation, by
the petition of the clergy now met in Convocation, in the month of
December.
"Nor was this the first time such books were prohibited to be brought
in: for us small quantities of them were secretly conveyed into these
parts from time to time, for the discovering, in that dark age, the
{422} gross papal innovations, as well in the doctrine of the Sacrament
as in image-worship, addressing to saints, purgatory, pilgrimages, and
the like.
"A previous order (in the year 1526) was issued by the Bishop of
London, by the instigation of Cardinal Wolsey, calling in all English
translations of the Scripture. And other books of this nature were then
forbid."
This proclamation, therefore, well merits preservation in your pages, as
one of the hitherto unknown "evidences" of the terrible and trying times to
which it refers.
It shows, too, the value of the class of papers upon which the Society of
Antiquaries are bestowing so much attention. The original was found among a
miscellaneous collection in the Chapter House, Westminster.