EDWARD VI.
{1549.} There is no abuse so great in civil society, as not to be
attended with a variety of beneficial consequence; and in the beginnings
of reformation, the loss of these advantages is always felt very
sensibly, while the benefit, resulting from the change is the slow
effect of time, and is seldom perceived by the bulk of a nation. Scarce
any institution can be imagined less favorable, in the main, to the
interests of mankind than that of monks and friars; yet was it followed
by many good effects, which, having ceased by the suppression of
monasteries, were much regretted by the people of England. The monks,
always residing in their convents, in the centre of their estates, spent
their money in the provinces and among their tenants, afforded a ready
market for commodities, were a sure resource to the poor and indigent;
and though their hospitality and charity gave but too much encouragement
to idleness, and prevented the increase of public riches, yet did
it provide to many a relief from the extreme pressures of want and
necessity. It is also observable, that as the friars were limited by
the rules of their institution to a certain mode of living, they had not
equal motives for extortion with other men, and they were acknowledged
to have been in England, as they still are in Roman Catholic countries,
the best and most indulgent landlords. The abbots and priors were
permitted to give leases at an under-value, and to receive in return a
large present from the tenant, in the same manner as is still practised
by the bishops and colleges. But when the abbey lands were distributed
among the principal nobility and courtiers, they fell under a different
management: the rents of farms were raised, while the tenants found not
the same facility in disposing of the produce; the money was often spent
in the capital, and the farmers, living at a distance, were exposed to
oppression from their new masters, or to the still greater rapacity of
the stewards.
These grievances of the common people were at that time heightened by
other causes. The arts of manufacture were much more advanced in other
European countries than in England; and even in England these arts had
made greater progress than the knowledge of agriculture; a profession
which of all mechanical employments, requires the most reflection and
experience. A great demand arose for wool both abroad and at home:
pasturage was found more profitable than unskilful tillage: whole
estates were laid waste by enclosures; the tenants, regarded as a
useless burden, were expelled their habitations; even the cottagers,
deprived of the commons on which they formerly fed their cattle, were
reduced to misery; and a decay of people, as well as a diminution of the
former plenty, was remarked in the kingdom.[*] This grievance was now
of an old date, and Sir Thomas More, alluding to it, observes in his
Utopia, that a sheep had become in England a more ravenous animal than a
lion or wolf, and devoured whole villages, cities, and provinces.
* Strype, vol. ii. Repository, Q.
The general increase, also, of gold and silver in Europe, after
the discovery of the West Indies, had a tendency to inflame these
complaints. The growing demand in the more commercial countries had
heightened every where the price of commodities, which could easily be
transported thither; but in England, the labor of men, who could not
so easily change their habitation, still remained nearly at the
ancient rates, and the poor complained that they could no longer gain a
subsistence by their industry. It was by an addition alone of toil and
application they were enabled to procure a maintenance; and though this
increase of industry was at last the effect of the present situation,
and an effect beneficial to society, yet was it difficult for the people
to shake off their former habits of indolence; and nothing but necessity
could compel them to such an exertion of their faculties.
It must also be remarked, that the profusion of Henry VIII. had reduced
him, notwithstanding his rapacity, to such difficulties, that he had
been obliged to remedy a present necessity by the pernicious expedient
of debasing the coin; and the wars in which the protector had been
involved, had induced him to carry still further the same abuse. The
usual consequences ensued: the good specie was hoarded or exported; base
metal was coined at home, or imported from abroad in great abundance;
the common people, who received their wages in it, could not purchase
commodities at the usual rates: a universal diffidence and stagnation
of commerce took place; and loud complaints were heard in every part of
England.
The protector, who loved popularity, and pitied the condition of the
people, encouraged these complaints by his endeavors to redress them.
He appointed a commission for making inquiry concerning enclosures; and
issued a proclamation, ordering all late enclosures to be laid open by
a day appointed. The populace, meeting with such countenance from
government, began to rise in several places, and to commit disorders;
but were quieted by remonstrances and persuasion. In order to give them
greater satisfaction, Somerset appointed new commissioners, whom he sent
every where, with an unlimited power to hear and determine all causes
about enclosures, highways, and cottages.[*] As this commission
was disagreeable to the gentry and nobility, they stigmatized it as
arbitrary and illegal; and the common people, fearing it would be
eluded, and being impatient for immediate redress, could no longer
contain their fury, but sought for a remedy by force of arms. The rising
began at once in several parts of England, as if a universal conspiracy
had been formed by the commonalty. The rebels in Wiltshire were
dispersed by Sir William Herbert: those in’ the neighboring counties,
Oxford and Glocester, by Lord Gray, of Wilton. Many of the rioters were
killed in the field: others were executed by martial law. The commotions
in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, and other counties, were quieted by gentler
expedients; but the disorders in Devonshire and Norfolk threatened more
dangerous consequences.
* Burnet, vol. ii. p. 115. Strype, vol. ii. p. 171.
The commonalty in Devonshire began with the usual complaints against
enclosures and against oppressions from the gentry; but the parish
priest of Sampford Courtenay had the address to give their discontent
a direction towards religion; and the delicacy of the subject, in the
present emergency, made the insurrection immediately appear formidable.
In other counties, the gentry had kept closely united with government;
but here many of them took part with the populace among others, Humphrey
Arundel, governor of St. Michael’s Mount. The rioters were brought
into the form of a regular army, which amounted to the number of ten
thousand. Lord Russel had been sent against them at the head of a small
force; but finding himself too weak to encounter them in the field,
he kept at a distance, and began to negotiate with them; in hopes of
eluding their fury by delay, and of dispersing them by the difficulty of
their subsisting in a body. Their demands were, that the mass should be
restored, half of the abbey lands resumed, the law of the six articles
executed, holy water and holy bread respected, and all other particular
grievances redressed.[*] The council, to whom Russet transmitted these
demands, sent a haughty answer; commanded the rebels to disperse, and
promised them pardon upon their immediate submission. Enraged at this
disappointment, they marched to Exeter, carrying before them crosses,
banners, holy water, candlesticks, and other implements of ancient
superstition; together with the host, which they covered with a
canopy.[**] The citizens of Exeter shut their gates; and the rebels, as
they had no cannon, endeavored to take the place, first by scalade, then
by mining; but were repulsed in every attempt. Russel meanwhile lay at
Honiton, till reënforced by Sir William Herbert and Lord Gray with some
German horse, and some Italian arquebusiers under Battista Spinola. He
then resolved to attempt the relief of Exeter, which was now reduced to
extremities. He attacked the rebels, drove them from all their posts,
did great execution upon them, both in the action and pursuit,[***] and
took many prisoners. Arundel and the other leaders were sent to London,
tried, and executed. Many of the inferior sort were put to death
by martial law:[****] the vicar of St. Thomas, one of the principal
incendiaries, was hanged on the top of his own steeple, arrayed in his
Popish weeds, with his beads at his girdle.[v]
* Hayward, p. 292. Holingshed, p. 1003. Fox, vol. ii, p.
€61[** Unreadable in the OCR Scan] Mem. Cranm. p. 186.
** Heylin, p. 76.
*** Stowe’s Annals. p. 597. Hayward, p. 295.
**** Hayward, p. 295, 296.
v Heylin, p. 76. Holingshed, p 1026.
The insurrection in Norfolk rose to a still greater height, and was
attended with greater acts of violence. The populace were at first
excited, as in other places, by complaints against enclosures; but
finding their numbers amount to twenty thousand, they grew insolent, and
proceeded to more exorbitant pretensions. They required the suppression
of the gentry, the placing of new counsellors about the king, and the
reëstablishment of the ancient rites. One Ket, a tanner, had assumed
the government over them; and he exercised his authority with the utmost
arrogance and outrage. Having taken possession of Moushold Hill near
Norwich, he erected his tribunal under an old oak, thence called the oak
of reformation; and summoning the gentry to appear before him, he gave
such decrees as might be expected from his character and situation. The
marquis of Northampton was first ordered against him; but met with a
repulse in an action, where Lord Sheffield was killed.[*] The protector
affected popularity, and cared not to appear in person against the
rebels; he therefore sent the earl of Warwick at the head of six
thousand men, levied for the wars against Scotland; and he thereby
afforded his mortal enemy an opportunity of increasing his reputation
and character. Warwick, having tried some skirmishes with the rebels,
at last made a general attack upon them, and put them to flight. Two
thousand fell in the action and pursuit: Ket was hanged at Norwich
Castle, nine of his followers on the boughs of the oak of reformation;
and the insurrection was entirely suppressed. Some rebels in Yorkshire,
learning the fate of their companions, accepted the offers of pardon,
and threw down their arms. A general indemnity was soon after published
by the protector.[**]
* Stowe, p. 597. Holingshed, p. 1030-34. Strype, vol. ii. p.
174.
** Hayward, p. 297, 298, 299.
But though the insurrections were thus quickly subdued in England,
and no traces of them seemed to remain, they were attended with bad
consequences to the foreign interests of the nation. The forces of the
earl of Warwick, which might have made a great impression on Scotland,
were diverted from that enterprise; and the French general had leisure
to reduce that country to some settlement and composure. He took the
fortress of Broughty, and put the garrison to the sword. He straitened
the English at Haddington; and though Lord Dacres was enabled to throw
relief into the place, and to reenforce the garrison, it was found at
last very chargeable, and even impracticable, to keep possession of that
fortress. The whole country in the neighborhood was laid waste by the
inroads both of the Scots and English, and could afford no supply to the
garrison: the place lay above thirty miles from the borders; so that a
regular army was necessary to escort any provisions thither: and as the
plague had broken out among the troops, they perished daily, and were
reduced to a state of great weakness. For these reasons, orders were
given to dismantle Haddington, and to convey the artillery and garrison
to Berwick; and the earl of Rutland, now created warden of the east
marches, executed the orders.
The king of France also took advantage of the distractions among the
English, and made an attempt to recover Boulogne and that territory
which Henry VIII. had conquered from France, On other pretences, he
assembled an army, and falling suddenly upon the Boulonnois, took the
castles of Sellaque, Blackness, and Ambleteuse, though well supplied
with garrisons, ammunition, and provisions.[*] He endeavored to surprise
Boulenberg, and was repulsed; but the garrison, not thinking the place
tenable after the loss of the other fortresses, destroyed the works, and
retired to Boulogne. The rains, which fell in great abundance during the
autumn, and a pestilential distemper which broke out in the French camp,
deprived Henry of all hopes of success against Boulogne itself; and
he retired to Paris.[**] He left the command of the army to Gaspar de
Coligny, lord of Chatillon, so famous afterwards by the name of Admiral
Coligny; and he gave him orders to form the siege early in the spring.
The active disposition of this general engaged him to make, during
the winter, several attempts against the place; but they all proved
unsuccessful.
Strozzi, who commanded the French fleet and galleys, endeavored to
make a descent on Jersey; but meeting there with an English fleet, he
commenced an action, which seems not to have been decisive, since the
historians of the two nations differ in their account of the event.[***]
* Thuanus, lib. vi. c. 6.
** Hayward, p. 300.
*** Thuan. King Edward’s Journal. Stowe, p. 597.
As soon as the French war broke out, the protector endeavored to fortify
himself with the alliance of the emperor; and he sent over Secretary
Paget to Brussels, where Charles then kept court, in order to assist
Sir Philip Hobby, the resident ambassador, in this negotiation. But that
prince had formed a design of extending his dominions by acting the part
of champion for the Catholic religion; and though extremely desirous
of accepting the English alliance against France, his capital enemy,
he thought it unsuitable to his other pretensions to enter into strict
confederacy with a nation which had broken off all connections with the
church of Rome. He therefore declined the advances of friendship from
England, and eluded the applications of the ambassadors. An exact
account is preserved of this negotiation in a letter of Hobby’s; and
it is remarkable, that the emperor, in a conversation with the English
ministers, asserted, that the prerogatives of a king of England were
more extensive than those of a king of France.[*] Burnet, who preserves
this letter, subjoins, as a parallel instance, that one objection which
the Scots made to marrying their queen with Edward was, that all their
privileges would be swallowed up by the great prerogative of the kings
of England.[**]
Somerset, despairing of assistance from the emperor, was inclined to
conclude a peace with France and Scotland; and besides that he was not
in a condition to maintain such ruinous wars, he thought that there no
longer remained any object of hostility. The Scots had sent away their
queen; and could not, if ever so much inclined, complete the marriage
contracted with Edward; and as Henry VIII. had stipulated to restore
Boulogne in 1554, it seemed a matter of small moment to anticipate a few
years the execution of the treaty. But when he proposed these reasons to
the council, he met with strong opposition from his enemies; who, seeing
him unable to support the war, were determined, for that very reason,
to oppose all proposals for a pacification. The factions ran high in
the court of England; and matters were drawing to an issue fatal to the
authority of the protector.
After Somerset obtained the patent investing him with regal authority,
he no longer paid any attention to the opinion of the other executors
and counsellors; and being elated with his high dignity, as well as with
his victory at Pinkey, he thought that every one ought, in every thing,
to yield to his sentiments. All those who were not entirely devoted to
him were sure to be neglected; whoever opposed his will received marks
of anger or contempt;[***] and while he showed a resolution to govern
every thing, his capacity appeared not in any respect proportioned to
his ambition. Warwick, more subtle and artful, covered more exorbitant
views under fairer appearances, and having associated himself with
Southampton, who had been readmitted into the council, he formed a
strong party who were determined to free themselves from the slavery
imposed on them by the protector.
* Burnet, vol. ii. p. 132, 175.
** Burnet, vol. ii. p. 133.
*** Strype, vol ii. p. 181.
The malecontent counsellors found the disposition of the nation
favorable to their designs. The nobility and gentry were in general
displeased with the preference which Somerset seemed to have given to
the people; and as they ascribed all the insults to which they had been
lately exposed to his procrastination, and to the countenance shown to
the multitude, they apprehended a renewal of the same disorders from his
present affectation of popularity. He had erected a court of requests
in his own house for the relief of the people,[*] and he interposed with
the judges in their behalf; a measure which might be deemed illegal, if
any exertion of prerogative at that time could with certainty deserve
that appellation. And this attempt, which was a stretch of power, seemed
the more impolitic, because it disgusted the nobles, the surest support
of monarchical authority.
* Strype, vol. ii. p. 183.
But though Somerset courted the people, the interest which he had formed
with them was in no degree answerable to his expectations. The Catholic
party who retained influence with the lower ranks, were his declared
enemies, and took advantage of every opportunity to decry his conduct.
The attainder and execution of his brother bore an odious aspect: the
introduction of foreign troops into the kingdom was represented in
invidious colors: the great estate which he had suddenly acquired at the
expense of the church and of the crown, rendered him obnoxious; and the
palace which he was building in the Strand, served by its magnificence,
and still more by other circumstances which attended it, to expose him
to the censure of the public. The parish church of St. Mary, with
three bishops’ houses, was pulled down, in order to furnish ground
and materials for this structure: not content with that sacrilege, an
attempt was made to demolish St. Margaret’s Westminster, and to employ
the stones to the same purpose but the parishioners rose in a tumult,
and chased away the protector’s tradesmen. He then laid his hands on
a chapel in St. Paul’s churchyard, with a cloister and charnel-house
belonging to it; and these edifices, together with a church of St. John
of Jerusalem, were made use of to raise his palace. What rendered the
matter more odious to the people was, that the tombs and other monuments
of the dead wore defaced; and the bones, being carried away, were buried
in unconsecrated ground.[*]
All these imprudences were remarked by Somerset’s enemies, who resolved
to take advantage of them. Lord St. John president of the council, the
earls of Warwick, Southampton and Arundel, with five members more, met
at Ely House and, assuming to themselves the whole power of the council,
began to act independently of the protector, whom they represented as
the author of every public grievance and misfortune. They wrote letters
to the chief nobility and gentry in England, informing them of the
present measures, and requiring their assistance: they sent for the
mayor and aldermen of London, and enjoined them to obey their orders,
without regard to any contrary orders which they might receive from the
duke of Somerset. They laid the same injunctions on the lieutenant of
the Tower, who expressed his resolution to comply with them. Next
day, Rich, lord chancellor, the marquis of Northampton, the earl of
Shrewsbury, Sir Thomas Cheney, Sir John Gage, Sir Ralph Sadler, and
Chief Justice Montague, joined the malecontent counsellors; and every
thing bore a bad aspect for the protector’s authority. Secretary Petre,
whom he had sent to treat with the council, rather chose to remain with
them: the common council of the city, being applied to, declared with
one voice their approbation of the new measures, and their resolution of
supporting them.[**]
* Heylin, p. 72, 73. Stowe’s Survey of London. Hayward,
p.308.
** Stowe, p. 597, 598. Holingshed, p. 1057.
As soon as the protector heard of the defection of the counsellors,
he removed the king from Hampton Court, where he then resided, to the
Castle of Windsor; and arming his friends and servants, seemed resolute
to defend himself against all his enemies. But finding that no man of
rank, except Cranmer and Paget, adhered to him, that the people did not
rise at his summons, that the city and Tower had declared against
him, that even his best friends had deserted him, he lost all hopes of
success, and began to apply to his enemies for pardon and forgiveness.
No sooner was this despondency known, than Lord Russell, Sir John Baker,
speaker of the house of commons, and three counsellors more, who had
hitherto remained neuters, joined the party of Warwick, whom every
one now regarded as master. The council informed the public, by
proclamation, of their actions and intentions; they wrote to the
princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the same purpose; and they made
addresses to the king, in which, after the humblest protestations
of duty and submission, they informed him that they were the council
appointed by his father for the government of the kingdom during his
minority; that they had chosen the duke of Somerset protector, under
the express condition that he should guide himself by their advice and
direction; that he had usurped the whole authority, and had neglected,
and even in every thing opposed, their counsel; that he had proceeded
to that height of presumption, as to levy forces against them and place
these forces about his majesty’s person: they therefore begged that they
might be admitted to his royal presence, that he would be pleased to
restore them to his confidence, and that Somerset’s servants might be
dismissed. Their request was complied with: Somerset capitulated only
for gentle treatment, which was promised him. He was, however, sent to
the Tower,[*] with some of his friends and partisans, among whom was
Cecil, afterwards so much distinguished. Articles of indictment were
exhibited against him;[**] of which the chief, at least the best
founded, is his usurpation of the government, and his taking into his
own hands the whole administration of affairs. The clause of his patent,
which invested him with absolute power, unlimited by any law, was never
objected to him; plainly because, according to the sentiments of those
times, that power was in some degree involved in the very idea of regal
authority.
* Stowe, p. 600.
** Burner, vol. ii. book i. coll. 46. Hayward, p. 308.
Stowe, p. 601 Holingshed, p. 1059.
The Catholics were extremely elated with this revolution; and as they
had ascribed all the late innovations to Somerset’s authority, they
hoped that his fall would prepare the way for the return of the ancient
religion. But Warwick, who now bore chief sway in the council, was
entirely indifferent with regard to all these points of controversy;
and finding that the principles of the reformation had sunk deeper into
Edward’s mind than to be easily eradicated, he was determined to comply
with the young prince’s inclinations, and not to hazard his new-acquired
power by any dangerous enterprise. He took care very early to express
his intentions of supporting the reformation; and he threw such
discouragements on Southampton, who stood at the head of the Romanists,
and whom he considered as a dangerous rival, that that high-spirited
nobleman retired from the council, and soon after died from vexation
and disappointment. The other counsellors, who had concurred in the
revolution, received their reward by promotions and new honors. Russel
was created earl of Bedford: the marquis of Northampton obtained the
office of great chamberlain; and Lord Wentworth, besides the office of
chamberlain of the household, got two large manors, Stepney and Hackney,
which were torn from the see of London.[*] A council of regency was
formed; not that which Henry’s will had appointed for the government of
the kingdom, and which, being founded on an act of parliament, was the
only legal one, but composed chiefly of members who had formerly been
appointed by Somerset, and who derived their seat from an authority
which was now declared usurped and illegal. But such niceties were,
during that age, little understood, and still less regarded, in England.
A session of parliament was held; and as it was the usual maxim of that
assembly to acquiesce in every administration which was established, the
council dreaded no opposition from that quarter, and had more reason to
look for a corroboration of their authority. Somerset had been prevailed
on to confess, on his knees, before the council, all the articles
of charge against him; and he imputed these misdemeanors to his
own rashness, folly, and indiscretion, not to any malignity of
intention.[**] He even subscribed this confession; and the paper was
given in to parliament, who, after sending a committee to examine him,
and hear him acknowledge it to be genuine, passed a vote, by which they
deprived him of all his offices, and fined him two thousand pounds a
year in land. Lord St. John was created treasurer in his place, and
Warwick earl marshal. The prosecution against him was carried no
further. His fine was remitted by the king: he recovered his liberty:
and Warwick, thinking that he was now sufficiently humbled, and that
his authority was much lessened by his late tame and abject behavior,
readmitted him into the council, and even agreed to an alliance between
their families, by the marriage of his own son, Lord Dudley, with the
Lady Jane Seymour, daughter of Somerset.[***]
* Heylin, p. 85. Rymer, tom. xv. p. 226.
** Heylin, p. 84. Hayward, p. 309. Stowe, p. 603.
*** Hayward, p. 309 * 3 and 4 Edward VI. c. 5.
During this session, a severe law was passed against riots.[*] It was
enacted, that if any, to the number of twelve persons, should meet
together for any matter of state, and being required by a lawful
magistrate, should not disperse, it should be treason; and if any broke
hedges, or violently pulled up pales about enclosures, without lawful
authority, it should be felony: any attempt to kill a privy counsellor
was subjected to the same penalty. The bishops had made an application,
complaining that they were deprived of all their power by the
encroachments of the civil courts, and the present suspension of the
canon law; that they could summon no offender before them, punish no
vice, or exert the discipline of the church; from which diminution of
their authority, they pretended, immorality had every where received
great encouragement and increase. The design of some was to revive the
penitentiary rules of the primitive church; but others thought, that
such an authority committed to the bishops would prove more oppressive
than confession, penance, and all the clerical inventions of the Romish
superstition. The parliament, for the present, contented themselves with
empowering the king to appoint thirty-two commissioners to compile a
body of canon laws, which were to be valid, though never ratified by
parliament. Such implicit trust did they repose in the crown, without
reflecting that all their liberties and properties might be affected by
these canons.[**] The king did not live to affix the royal sanction to
the new canons. Sir John Sharington, whose crimes and malversations had
appeared so egregious at the condemnation of Lord Seymour, obtained from
parliament a reversal of his attainder. This man sought favor with
the more zealous reformers; and Bishop Latimer affirmed that, though
formerly he had been a most notorious knave, he was now so penitent that
he had become a very honest man.
* 3 and 4 Edward VI. c. 2.
** 3 and 4 Edward VI. c. 13.
{1550.} When Warwick and the council of regency began to exercise their
power, they found themselves involved in the same difficulties that had
embarrassed the protector. The wars with France and Scotland could not
be supported by an exhausted exchequer; seemed dangerous to a divided
nation; and were now acknowledged not to have any object which even the
greatest and most uninterrupted success could attain. The project of
peace entertained by Somerset had served them as a pretence for clamor
against his administration; yet, after sending Sir Thomas Cheney to
the emperor, and making again a fruitless effort to engage him in the
protection of Boulogne, they found themselves obliged to listen to the
advances which Henry made them, by the canal of Guidotti, a Florentine
merchant. The earl of Bedford, Sir John Mason, Paget, and Petre, were
sent over to Boulogne, with full powers to negotiate. The French
king absolutely refused to pay the two millions of crowns, which his
predecessor had acknowledged to be due to the crown of England as
arrears of pensions; and said, that he never would consent to render
himself tributary to any prince: but he offered a sum for the immediate
restitution of Boulogne; and four hundred thousand crowns were at
last agreed on, one half to be paid immediately, the other in August
following. Six hostages were given for the performance of this article.
Scotland was comprehended in the treaty: the English stipulated to
restore Lauder and Dunglas, and to demolish the fortresses of Roxburgh
and Eymouth.[*] No sooner was peace concluded with France, than a
project was entertained of a close alliance with that kingdom; and Henry
willingly embraced a proposal so suitable both to his interests and his
inclinations. An agreement some time after was formed for a marriage
between Edward and Elizabeth, a daughter of France; and all the articles
were, after a little negotiation, fully settled:[**] but this project
never took effect.
* Burnet, vol. ii. p. 148. Hayward, p. 310, 811, 312. Rymer,
vol. xv. p. 211.
** Hayward, p. 318. Heylin, p. 104. Rymer, tom. xv. p. 293.
The intention of marrying the king to a daughter of Henry, a violent
persecutor of the Protestants, was nowise acceptable to that party in
England: but in all other respects the council was steady in promoting
the reformation, and in enforcing the laws against the Romanists.
Several prelates were still addicted to that communion; and though they
made some compliances, in order to save their bishoprics, they retarded,
as much as they safely could, the execution of the new laws, and gave
countenance to such incumbents as were negligent or refractory. A
resolution was therefore taken to seek pretences for depriving those
prelates; and the execution of this intention was the more easy, as
they had all of them been obliged to take commissions, in which it was
declared, that they held their sees during the king’s pleasure only. It
was thought proper to begin with Gardiner, in order to strike a terror
into the rest. The method of proceeding against him was violent, and had
scarcely any color of law or justice. Injunctions had been given him to
inculcate in a sermon the duty of obedience to a king, even during his
minority; and because he had neglected this topic, he had been thrown
into prison, and had been there detained during two years, without being
accused of any crime except disobedience to this arbitrary command. The
duke of Somerset, Secretary Petre, and some others of the council, were
now sent, in order to try his temper, and endeavor to find some grounds
for depriving him: he professed to them his intention of conforming to
the government, of supporting the king’s laws, and of officiating by
the new liturgy. This was not the disposition which they expected or
desired.[*] A new deputation was therefore sent, who carried him
several articles to subscribe. He was required to acknowledge his former
misbehavior, and to confess the justice of his confinement: he was
likewise to own, that the king was supreme head of the church; that
the power of making and dispensing with holydays was part of the
prerogative; that the book of common prayer was a godly and commendable
form; that the king was a complete sovereign in his minority; that the
law of the six articles was justly repealed; and that the king had
full authority to correct and reform what was amiss in ecclesiastical
discipline, government, or doctrine. The bishop was willing to set his
hand to all the articles except the first: he maintained his conduct
to have been inoffensive; and declared, that he would not own himself
guilty of faults which he had never committed.[**]
* Heylin, p. 99.
** Collier, vol. ii. p, 305., from the council books. Heylin,
p. 99.
The council, finding that he had gone such lengths, were determined to
prevent his full compliance by multiplying the difficulties upon him,
and sending him new articles to subscribe. A list was selected of such
points as they thought would be the hardest of digestion; and, not
content with this rigor, they also insisted on his submission, and
his acknowledgment of past errors. To make this subscription more
mortifying, they demanded a promise, that he would recommend and publish
all these articles from the pulpit: but Gardiner, who saw that they
intended either to ruin or dishonor him, or perhaps both, determined not
to gratify his enemies by any further compliance: he still maintained
his innocence; desired a fair trial; and refused to subscribe more
articles till he should recover his liberty. For this pretended offence
his bishopric was put under sequestration for three months; and as he
then appeared no more compliant than before, a commission was appointed
to try, or, more properly speaking, to condemn him.
{1551.} The commissioners were, the primate, the bishops of London, Ely,
and Lincoln, Secretary Petre, Sir James Hales, and some other lawyers.
Gardiner objected to the legality of the commission, which was
not founded on any statute or precedent; and he appealed from the
commissioners to the king. His appeal was not regarded: sentence was
pronounced against him; he was deprived of his bishopric, and committed
to close custody; his books and papers were seized; he was secluded from
all company; and it was not allowed him either to send or receive any
letters or messages.[*]
Gardiner, as well as the other prelates, had agreed to hold his office
during the king’s pleasure: but the council, unwilling to make use of a
concession which had been so illegally and arbitrarily extorted, chose
rather to employ some forms of justice; a resolution which led them to
commit still greater iniquities and severities. But the violence of
the reformers did not stop here. Day, bishop of Chichester, Heathe of
Worcester, and Voisey of Exeter, were deprived of their bishoprics, on
pretence of disobedience. Even Kitchen of Landaff, Capon of Salisbury,
and Samson of Coventry, though they had complied in every thing, yet,
not being supposed cordial in their obedience, were obliged to seek
protection, by sacrificing the most considerable revenues of their see
to the rapacious courtiers.[**]
These plunderers neglected not even smaller profits. An order was
issued by council for purging the library at Westminster of all missals,
legends, and other superstitious volumes, and delivering their garniture
to Sir Anthony Aucher.[***]
* Fox, vol. ii..p. 734, et seq. Burnet. Heylin. Collier.
** Goodwin de Præsul. Angl Heylin. p. 100.
*** Collier, vol. ii. p. 307.
Many of these books were plated with gold and silver, and curiously
embossed; and this finery was probably the superstition that condemned
them. Great havoc was likewise made on the libraries at Oxford. Books
and manuscripts were destroyed without distinction: the volumes of
divinity from the council books, suffered for their rich binding: those
of literature were condemned as useless: those of geometry and astronomy
were supposed to contain nothing but necromancy.[*] The university had
not power to oppose these barbarous violences: they were in danger of
losing their own revenues; and expected every moment to be swallowed up
by the earl of Warwick and his associates.
Though every one besides yielded to the authority of the council, the
lady Mary could never be brought to compliance; and she still continued
to adhere to the mass, and to reject the new liturgy. Her behavior was,
during some time, connived at; but at last her two chaplains, Mallet and
Berkeley, were thrown into prison;[**] and remonstrances were made to
the princess herself on account of her disobedience. The council
wrote her a letter, by which they endeavored to make her change her
sentiments, and to persuade her that her religious faith was very ill
grounded. They asked her what warrant there was in Scripture for prayers
in an unknown tongue, the use of images, or offering up the sacrament
for the dead; and they desired her to peruse St. Austin, and the other
ancient doctors, who would convince her of the errors of the Romish
superstition, and prove that it was founded merely on false miracles and
lying stories.[***] The lady Mary remained obstinate against all
this advice, and declared herself willing to endure death rather than
relinquish her religion; she only feared, she said, that she was not
worthy to suffer martyrdom in so holy a cause: and as for Protestant
books, she thanked God, that as she never had, so she hoped never to
read any of them. Dreading further violence, she endeavored to make
an escape to her kinsman Charles; but her design was discovered and
prevented.[****] The emperor remonstrated in her behalf, and even
threatened hostilities if liberty of conscience were refused her: but
though the council, sensible that the kingdom was in no condition to
support with honor such a war, was desirous to comply, they found great
difficulty to overcome the scruples of the young king. He had been
educated in such a violent abhorrence of the mass and other popish
rites, which he regarded as impious and idolatrous, that he should
participate, he thought, in the sin, if he allowed its commission: and
when at last the importunity of Cranmer, Ridley, and Poinet prevailed
somewhat over his opposition, he burst into tears; lamenting his
sister’s obstinacy, and bewailing his own hard fate, that he must suffer
her to continue in such an abominable mode of worship.
* Wood, Hist. and Antiq. Oxon. lib. i. p. 271, 272.
** Strype, vol. ii. p. 249.
*** Fox, vol. ii. Collier, Burnet.
**** Hayward, p. 315.
The great object, at this time, of antipathy among the Protestant
sects was Popery, or, more properly, speaking, the Papists. These they
regarded as the common enemy, who threatened every moment to overwhelm
the evangelical faith, and destroy its partisans by fire and sword: they
had not as yet had leisure to attend to the other minute differences
among themselves, which afterwards became the object of such furious
quarrels and animosities, and threw the whole kingdom into combustion.
Several Lutheran divines, who had reputation in those days, Bucer, Peter
Martyr, and others, were induced to take shelter in England, from the
persecutions which the emperor exercised in Germany; and they received
protection and encouragement. John Alasco, a Polish nobleman, being
expelled his country by the rigors of the Catholics, settled during
some time at Embden in East Friezland, where he became preacher to a
congregation of the reformed. Foreseeing the persecutions which ensued,
he removed to England, and brought his congregation along with him. The
council, who regard them as industrious, useful people, and desired to
invite over others of the same character, not only gave them the church
of Augustine Friars for the exercise of their religion, but granted them
a charter, by which they were erected into a corporation, consisting
of a superintendent and four assisting ministers. This ecclesiastical
establishment was quite independent of the church of England, and
differed from it in some rites and ceremonies.[*]
These differences among the Protestants were matter of triumph to the
Catholics; who insisted, that the moment men departed from the authority
of the church, they lost all criterion of truth and falsehood in matters
of religion, and must be carried away by every wind of doctrine. The
continual variations of every sect of Protestants afforded them the same
topic of reasoning. The book of common prayer suffered in England a
new revisal, and some rites and ceremonies which had given offence were
omitted.[**] * Mem. Cranm. p. 234.
** Mem. Cieum. p, 289.
The speculative doctrines, or the metaphysics of religion, were also
reduced to forty-two articles. These were intended to obviate further
divisions and variations; and the compiling of them had been postponed
till the establishment of the liturgy, which was justly regarded as a
more material object to the people. The eternity of hell torments
is asserted in this confession of faith; and care is also taken to
inculcate, not only that no heathen, how virtuous soever, can escape an
endless state of the most exquisite misery, but also that every one who
presumes to maintain that any pagan can possibly be saved, is himself
exposed to the penalty of eternal perdition.[*]
* Article xviii.
The theological zeal of the council, though seemingly fervent, went not
so far as to make them neglect their own temporal concerns, which seem
to have ever been uppermost in their thoughts: they even found leisure
to attend to the public interest; nay, to the commerce of the nation,
which was at that time very little the object of general study or
attention. The trade of England had anciently been carried on
altogether by foreigners, chiefly the inhabitants of the Hanse Towns,
or Easterlings, as they were called; and in order to encourage these
merchants to settle in England, they had been erected into a corporation
by Henry III., had obtained a patent, were endowed with privileges,
and were exempted from several heavy duties paid by other aliens.
So ignorant were the English of commerce, that this company, usually
denominated the merchants of the “stil-yard,” engrossed, even down to
the reign of Edward, almost the whole foreign trade of the kingdom;
and as they naturally employed the shipping of their own country, the
navigation of England was also in a very languishing condition. It was
therefore thought proper by the council to seek pretences for annulling
the privileges of this corporation, privileges which put them nearly on
an equal footing with Englishmen in the duties which they paid; and as
such patents were, during that age, granted by the absolute power of
the king, men were the less surprised to find them revoked by the same
authority. Several remonstrances were made against this innovation by
Lubec, Hamburgh, and other Hanse Towns; but the council persevered in
their resolution, and the good effects of it soon became visible to the
nation. The English merchants, by their very situation as natives, had
advantages above foreigners in the purchase of cloth, wool, and other
commodities; though these advantages had not hitherto been sufficient
to rouse then industry, or engage them to become rivals to this opulent
company: but when aliens’ duty was also imposed upon all foreigners
indiscriminately, the English were tempted to enter into commerce; and a
spirit of industry began to appear in the kingdom.[*]
About the same time a treaty was made with Gustavus Ericson, king
of Sweden, by which it was stipulated, that if he sent bullion into
England, he might export English commodities without paying custom;
that he should carry bullion to no other prince; that if he sent ozimus,
steel, copper, etc., he should pay custom for English commodities as an
Englishman; and that if he sent other merchandise, he should have free
intercourse, paying custom as a stranger.[**] The bullion sent over by
Sweden, though it could not be in great quantity, set the mint to work:
good specie was coined, and much of the base metal formerly issued was
recalled: a circumstance which tended extremely to the encouragement of
commerce.
* Hayward, p. 323 Heylin, p. 108. Strype’s Mem. vol. ii. p
295.
** Heylin p 109.
But all these schemes for promoting industry were likely to prove
abortive by the fear of domestic convulsions, arising from the ambition
of Warwick. That nobleman, not contented with the station which he had
attained, carried further his pretensions, and had gained partisans
who were disposed to second him in every enterprise. The last earl
of Northumberland died without issue; and as Sir Thomas Piercy, his
brother, had been attainted on account of the share which he had in the
Yorkshire insurrection during the late reign, the title was at present
extinct, and the estate was vested in the crown. Warwick now procured
to himself a grant of those ample possessions, which lay chiefly in the
north, the most warlike part of the kingdom; and was dignified with the
title of duke of Northumberland. His friend Paulet, Lord St. John,
the treasurer, was created, first, earl of Wiltshire, then marquis of
Winchester: Sir William Herbert obtained the title of earl of Pembroke.
But the ambition of Northumberland made him regard all increase of
possessions and titles, either to himself or his artisans, as steps only
to further acquisitions. Finding that Somerset, though degraded from
his dignity, and even lessened in the public opinion by his spiritless
conduct, still enjoyed a considerable share of popularity, he determined
to ruin the man whom he regarded as the chief obstacle to the attainment
of his hopes. The alliance which had been contracted between the
families had produced no cordial union, and only enabled Northumberland
to compass with more certainty the destruction of his rival. He secretly
gained many of the friends and servants of that unhappy nobleman: he
sometimes terrified him by the appearance of danger; sometimes provoked
him by ill usage. The unguarded Somerset often broke out into menacing
expressions against Northumberland: at other times he formed rash
projects, which he immediately abandoned his treacherous confidants
carried to his enemy every passionate word which dropped from him: they
revealed the schemes which they themselves had first suggested: and
Northumberland, thinking that the proper season was now come, began to
act in an open manner against him.
In one night, the duke of Somerset, Lord Grey, David and John Seymour,
Hammond, and Neudigate, two of the duke’s servants, Sir Ralph Vane, and
Sir Thomas Palmer, were arrested and committed to custody. Next day, the
duchess of Somerset, with her favorites Crane and his wife, Sir Miles
Partridge, Sir Michael Stanhope, Bannister, and others, was thrown
into prison. Sir Thomas Palmer, who had all along acted as a spy upon
Somerset, accused him of having formed a design to raise an insurrection
in the north, to attack the gens d’armes on a muster day, to secure
the Tower, and to raise a rebellion in London: but, what was the only
probable accusation, he asserted, that Somerset had once laid a project
for murdering Northumberland, Northampton, and Pembroke at a banquet
which was to be given them by Lord Paget Crane and his wife confirmed
Palmer’s testimony with regard to this last design; and it appears that
some rash scheme of that nature had really been mentioned, though no
regular conspiracy had been formed, or means prepared for its execution
Hammond confessed that the duke had armed men to guard him one night in
his house at Greenwich.
Somerset was brought to his trial before the marquis of Winchester,
created high steward. Twenty-seven peers composed the jury, among whom
were Northumberland, Pembroke, and Northampton, whom decency should have
hindered from acting as judges in the trial of a man that appeared to be
their capital enemy. Somerset was accused of high treason, on account of
the projected insurrections, and of felony in laying a design to murder
privy counsellors.
We have a very imperfect account of all state trials during that ago,
which is a sensible defect in our history; but it appears that some more
regularity was observed in the management of this prosecution than
had usually been employed in like cases. The witnesses were at least
examined by the privy council; and though they were neither produced in
court, nor confronted with the prisoner, (circumstances required by
the strict principles of equity,) their depositions were given in to the
jury. The proof seems to have been lame with regard to the treasonable
part of the charge; and Somerset’s defence was so satisfactory, that the
peers gave verdict in his favor: the intention alone of assaulting the
privy counsellors was supported by tolerable evidence; and the jury
brought him in guilty of felony. The prisoner himself confessed that he
had expressed his intention of murdering Northumberland and the other
lords; but had not formed any resolution on that head: and when he
received sentence, he asked pardon of those peers for the designs which
he had hearkened to against them. The people, by whom Somerset was
beloved, hearing the first part of his sentence, by which he was
acquitted from treason, expressed their joy by loud acclamations: but
their satisfaction was suddenly damped on finding that he was condemned
to death for felony.[*]
{1552.} Care had been taken by Northumberland’s emissaries to prepossess
the young king against his uncle; and lest he should relent, no access
was given to any of Somerset’s friends, and the prince was kept from
reflection by a continued series of occupations and amusements. At last
the prisoner was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill, amidst great
crowds of spectators, who bore him such sincere kindness, that they
entertained to the last moment the fond hopes of his pardon.[**] Many of
them rushed in to dip their hand-kerchiefs in his blood, which they
long preserved as a precious relic; and some of them soon after, when
Northumberland met with a like doom, upbraided him with this cruelty,
and displayed to him these symbols of his crime. Somerset indeed, though
many actions of his life were exceptionable, seems in general to have
merited a better fate; and the faults which he committed were owing to
weakness, not to any bad intention. His virtues were better calculated
for private than for public life; and by his want of penetration and
firmness, he was ill fitted to extricate himself from those cabals and
violences to which that age was so much addicted. Sir Thomas Arundel,
Sir Michael Stanhope, Sir Miles Partridge, and Sir Ralph Vane, all of
them Somerset’s friends, were brought to their trial, condemned, and
executed: great injustice seems to have been used in their prosecution.
* Hayward, p. 320, 321, 322. Stowe, p. 606. Holingshed, p.
1067.
** Hayward p. 324, 325.
Lord Paget, chancellor of the duchy, was on some pretence tried in the
star chamber, and condemned in a fine of six thousand pounds, with the
loss of his office. To mortify him the more, he was degraded from the
order of the garter; as unworthy, on account of his mean birth, to share
that honor.[*] Lord Rich, chancellor, was also compelled to resign his
office, on the discovery of some marks of friendship which he had shown
to Somerset.
The day after the execution of Somerset, a session of parliament was
held, in which further advances were made towards the establishment
of the reformation. The new liturgy was authorized; and penalties
were enacted against all those who absented themselves from public
worship.[**] To use the mass had already been prohibited under severe
penalties; so that the reformers, it appears, whatever scope they had
given to their own private judgment, in disputing the tenets of the
ancient religion, were resolved not to allow the same privilege to
others, and the practice, nay the very doctrine of toleration, was at
that time equally unknown to all sects and parties. To dissent from the
religion of the magistrate, was universally conceived to be as criminal
as to question his title, or rebel against his authority.
A law was enacted against usury; that is, against taking any interest
for money.[***] This act was the remains of ancient superstition; but
being found extremely iniquitous in itself, as well as prejudicial to
commerce, it was afterwards repealed in the twelfth of Elizabeth. The
common rate of interest, notwithstanding the law, was at this time
fourteen per cent.[****]
* Stowe, p. 608.
** 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 1
*** 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 20.
**** Hayward, p. 318.
A bill was introduced by the ministry into the house of lords, renewing
those rigorous statutes of treason which had been abrogated in the
beginning of this reign; and though the peers, by their high station,
stood most exposed to these tempests of state, yet had they so little
regard to public security, or even to their own true interest, that
they passed the bill with only one dissenting voice.[*] But the commons
rejected it, and prepared a new bill, that passed into a law, by which
it was enacted, that whoever should call the king, or any of his heirs
named in the statute of the thirty-fifth of the last reign, heretic,
schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper of the crown, should forfeit,
for the first offence, their goods and chattels, and be imprisoned
during pleasure; for the second, should incur a “præmunire;” for the
third, should be attainted for treason. But if any should unadvisedly
utter such a slander in writing, printing, painting, carving, or
graving, he was, for the first offence, to be held a traitor.[**] It
may be worthy of notice, that the king and his next heir, the lady Mary,
were professedly of different religions; and religions which threw on
each other the imputation of heresy, schism, idolatry, profaneness,
blasphemy, wickedness, and all the opprobrious epithets that religious
zeal has invented. It was almost impossible, therefore, for the people,
if they spoke at all on these subjects, not to fall into the crime so
severely punished by the statute; and the jealousy of the commons for
liberty, though it led them to reject the bill of treasons sent to
them by the lords, appears not to have been very active, vigilant, or
clearsighted.
* Parl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 258. Burnet, vol. ii. p. 190.
** 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 2.
The commons annexed to this bill a clause, which was of more importance
than the bill itself, that no one should be convicted of any kind of
treason, unless the crime were proved by the oaths of two witnesses,
confronted with the prisoner. The lords for some time scrupled to
pass this clause, though conformable to the most obvious principles of
equity. But the members of that house trusted for protection to their
present personal interest and power, and neglected the noblest and most
permanent security, that of laws.
The house of peers passed a bill, whose object was, making a provision
for the poor; but the commons, not choosing that a money bill should
begin in the upper house, framed a new act to the same purpose. By
this act the churchwardens were empowered to collect charitable
contributions; and if any refused to give, or dissuaded others from that
charity the bishop of the diocese was empowered to proceed against them.
Such large discretionary powers intrusted to the prelates seem as proper
an object of jealousy as the authority assumed by the peers.[*]
There was another occasion in which the parliament reposed an unusual
confidence in the bishops. They empowered them to proceed against such
as neglected the Sundays and holy-day.[**] But these were unguarded
concessions granted to the church: the general humor of the age rather
led men to bereave the ecclesiastics of all power, and even to pillage
them of their property: many clergymen, about this time, were obliged
for a subsistence to turn carpenters or tailors, and some kept
alehouses.[***] The bishops themselves were generally reduced to
poverty, and held both their revenues and spiritual office by a very
precarious and uncertain tenure.
* 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap. 2.
** 5 and 6 Edward VI. cap, 3.
*** Burnet, vol ii. p. 202.
Tonstal, bishop of Durham, was one of the most eminent prelates of that
age, still less for the dignity of his see, than for his own personal
merit, his learning, moderation, humanity, and beneficence. He had
opposed, by his vote and authority, all innovations in religion; but as
soon as they were enacted, he had always submitted, and had conformed to
every theological system which had been established. His known
probity had made this compliance be ascribed, not to an interested or
time-serving spirit, but to a sense of duty, which led him to think
that all private opinion ought to be sacrificed to the great concern of
public peace and tranquillity. The general regard paid to his character
had protected him from any severe treatment during the administration
of Somerset; but when Northumberland gained the ascendant, he was thrown
into prison; and as that rapacious nobleman had formed a design of
seizing the revenues of the see of Durham, and of acquiring to himself
a principality in the northern counties, he was resolved, in order
to effect his purpose, to deprive Tonstal of his bishopric. A bill
of attainder, therefore, on pretence of misprision of treason, was
introduced into the house of peers against the prelate; and it passed
with the opposition only of Lord Stourton, a zealous Catholic, and of
Cranmer, who always bore a cordial and sincere friendship to the bishop
of Durham. But when the bill was sent down to the commons, they required
that witnesses should be examined, that Tonstal should be allowed to
defend himself, and that he should be confronted with his accusers; and
when these demands were refused, they rejected the bill.
This equity, so unusual in the parliament during that age, was ascribed,
by Northumberland and his partisans, not to any regard for liberty
and justice, but to the prevalence of Somerset’s faction in a house of
commons which, being chosen during the administration of that nobleman,
had been almost entirely filled with his creatures. They were confirmed
in this opinion, when they found that a bill, ratifying the attainder of
Somerset and his accomplices, was also rejected by the commons, though
it had passed the upper house. A resolution was therefore taken to
dissolve the parliament, which had sitten during this whole reign; and
soon after to summon a new one.
Northumberland, in order to insure to himself a house of commons
entirely obsequious to his will, ventured on an expedient which could
not have been practised, or even imagined, in an age when there was any
idea or comprehension of liberty. He engaged the king to write circular
letters to all the sheriffs, in which he enjoined them to inform the
freeholders, that they were required to choose men of knowledge and
experience for their representatives. After this general exhortation,
the king continued in these words: “And yet, nevertheless, our pleasure
is, that where our privy council, or any of them, shall, in our behalf,
recommend within their jurisdiction men of learning and wisdom; in such
cases their directions shall be regarded and followed, as tending to the
same end which we desire; that is, to have this assembly composed of
the persons in our realm the best fitted to give advice and good
counsel.”[*] Several letters were sent from the king, recommending
members to particular counties; Sir Richard Cotton to Hampshire; Sir
William Fitzwilliams and Sir Henry Nevil to Berkshire; Sir William Drury
and Sir Henry Benningfield to Suffolk, etc. But though some counties
only received this species of congé d’élire from the king; the
recommendations from the privy council and the counsellors, we may
fairly presume, would extend to the greater part, if not the whole, of
the kingdom.
* Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 394.
It is remarkable, that this attempt was made during the reign of a minor
king, when the royal authority is usually weakest that it was patiently
submitted to; and that it gave so little umbrage as scarcely to be taken
notice of by any historian. The painful and laborious collector above
cited, who never omits the most trivial matter, is the only person
that has thought this memorable letter worthy of being transmitted to
posterity.
{1553.} The parliament answered Northumberland’s expectations. As
Tonstal had been in the interval deprived of his bishopric in an
arbitrary manner, by the sentence of lay commissioners appointed to
try him, the see of Durham was, by act of parliament, divided into two
bishoprics, which had certain portions of the revenue assigned them.
The regalities of the see, which included the jurisdiction of a count
palatine, were given by the king to Northumberland; nor is it to be
doubted but that noblemen had also purposed to make rich plunder of
the revenue, as was then usual with the courtiers whenever a bishopric
became vacant.
The commons gave the ministry another mark of attachment, which was
at that time the most sincere of any, the most cordial, and the most
difficult to be obtained: they granted a supply of two subsidies and
two fifteenths. To render this present the more acceptable, they voted
a preamble, containing a long accusation of Somerset, “for involving the
king in wars, wasting his treasure, engaging him in much debt, embasing
the coin, and giving occasion for a most terrible rebellion.”[*]
The debts of the crown were at this time considerable. The king
had received from France four hundred thousand crowns on delivering
Boulogne; he had reaped profit from the sale of some chantry lands; the
churches had been spoiled of all their plate and rich ornaments, which,
by a decree of council, without any pretence of law or equity, had been
converted to the king’s use: [**] yet such had been the rapacity of the
courtiers, that the crown owed about three hundred thousand pounds: and
great dilapidations were at the same time made of the royal demesnes.
The young prince showed, among other virtues, a disposition to
frugality, which, had he lived, would soon have retrieved these losses;
but as his health was declining very fast, the present emptiness of the
exchequer was a sensible obstacle to the execution of those projects
which the ambition of Northumberland had founded on the prospect of
Edward’s approaching end.
* 7 Edward VI. cap. 12., Heylin, p. 95, 132.
** Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 344.
That nobleman represented to the prince, whom youth and an infirm state
of health made susceptible of any impression, that his two sisters, Mary
and Elizabeth, had both of them been declared illegitimate by act of
parliament; and though Henry by his will had restored them to a place
in the succession, the nation would never submit to see the throne of
England filled by a bastard: that they were the king’s sisters by the
half blood only; and even if they were legitimate, could not enjoy
the crown as his heirs and successors: that the queen of Scots stood
excluded by the late king’s will; and being an alien, had lost by law
all right of inheriting; not to mention that, as she was betrothed to
the dauphin, she would, by her succession, render England, as she
had already done Scotland, a province to France: that the certain
consequence of his sister Mary’s succession, or that of the queen of
Scots was the abolition of the Protestant religion, and the repeal of
the laws enacted in favor of the reformation, and the reëstabishment of
the usurpation and idolatry of the church of Rome, that, fortunately for
England, the same order of succession which justice required, was also
the most conformable to public interest; and there was not on any
side any just ground for doubt or deliberation: that when these three
princesses were excluded by such solid reasons, the succession devolved
on the marchioness of Dorset, elder daughter of the French queen and the
duke of Suffolk: that the next heir of the marchioness was the lady Jane
Gray, a lady of the most amiable character, accomplished by the best
education, both in literature and religion, and every way worthy of a
crown; and that even if her title by blood were doubtful, which there
was no just reason to pretend, the king was possessed of the same
power that his father enjoyed, and might leave her the crown by letters
patent. These reasonings made impression on the young prince; and
above all, his zealous attachment to the Protestant religion made him
apprehend the consequences if so bigoted a Catholic as his sister Mary
should succeed to the throne. And though he bore a tender affection to
the lady Elizabeth, who was liable to no such objection means were found
to persuade him that he could not exclude the one sister, on account of
illegitimacy, without giving also an exclusion to the other.
[Illustration: 1-424-jane_grey.jpg LADY JANE GREY]
Northumberland, finding that his arguments were likely to operate on the
king, began to prepare the other parts of his scheme. Two sons of
the duke of Suffolk by a second venter having died this season of the
sweating sickness, that title was extinct; and Northumberland engaged
the king to bestow it on the marquis of Dorset. By means of this favor,
and of others which he conferred upon him, he persuaded the new duke
of Suffolk and the duchess, to give their daughter, the lady Jane,
in marriage to his fourth son, the Lord Guildford Dudley. In order to
fortify himself by further alliances, he negotiated a marriage between
the lady Catharine Gray, second daughter of Suffolk, and Lord Herbert,
eldest son of the earl of Pembroke. He also married his own daughter to
Lord Hastings, eldest son of the earl of Huntingdon.[*] These marriages
were solemnized with great pomp and festivity; and the people, who hated
Northumberland, could not forbear expressing their indignation at seeing
such public demonstrations of joy during the languishing state of the
young prince’s health.
* Heylin, p. 199. Stowe, p. 609.
Edward had been seized in the foregoing year, first with the measles,
then with the small-pox; but having perfectly recovered from both these
distempers, the nation entertained hopes that they would only serve to
confirm his health; and he had afterwards made a progress through some
parts of the kingdom. It was suspected that he had there overheated
himself in exercise; he was seized with a cough, which proved obstinate,
and gave way neither to regimen nor medicines: several fatal symptoms
of consumption appeared; and though it was hoped that, as the season
advanced, his youth and temperance might get the better of the malady,
men saw with great concern his bloom and vigor insensibly decay. The
general attachment to the young prince, joined to the hatred borne the
Dudleys, made it be remarked, that Edward had every moment declined in
health, from the time that Lord Robert Dudley had been put about him in
quality of gentleman of the bedchamber.
The languishing state of Edward’s health made Northumberland the more
intent on the execution of his project. He removed all, except his
own emissaries, from about the king; he himself attended him with the
greatest assiduity: he pretended the most anxious concern for his health
and welfare; and by all these artifices he prevailed on the young
prince to give his final consent to the settlement projected. Sir Edward
Montague, chief justice of the common pleas, Sir John Baker and Sir
Thomas Bromley, two judges, with the attorney and solicitor-general,
were summoned to the council, where, after the minutes of the intended
deed were read to them, the king required them to draw them up in the
form of letters patent. They hesitated to obey, and desired time to
consider of it. The more they reflected the greater danger they found in
compliance. The settlement of the crown by Henry VIII. had been made in
consequence of an act of parliament; and by another act, passed in the
beginning of this reign, it was declared treason in any of the heirs,
their aiders or abettors, to attempt on the right of another, or change
the order of succession. The judges pleaded these reasons before
the council. They urged, that such a patent as was intended would be
entirely invalid; that it would subject, not only the judges who drew
it, but every counsellor who signed it, to the pains of treason; and
that the only proper expedient, both for giving sanction to the new
settlement, and freeing its partisans from danger, was to summon a
parliament, and to obtain the consent of that assembly. The king said,
that he intended afterwards to follow that method, and would call a
parliament in which he purposed to have his settlement ratified; but in
the mean time he required the judges, on their allegiance, to draw the
patent in the form required. The council told the judges, that
their refusal would subject all of them to the pains of treason.
Northumberland gave to Montague the appellation of traitor; and said
that he would in his shirt fight any man in so just a cause as that of
Lady Jane’s succession. The judges were reduced to great difficulties
between the dangers from the law, and those which arose from the
violence of present power and authority.[*]
* Fuller, book viii. p. 2.
The arguments were canvassed in several different meetings between
the council and the judges, and no solution could be found of the
difficulties. At last, Montague proposed an expedient, which satisfied
both his brethren and the counsellors. He desired that a special
commission should be passed by the king and council, requiring the
judges to draw a patent for the new settlement of the crown; and that
a pardon should immediately after be granted them for any offence which
they might have incurred by their compliance. When the patent was drawn,
and brought to the bishop of Ely, Chancellor, in order to have the great
seal affixed to it, this prelate required that all the judges should
previously sign it. Gosnald at first refused; and it was with much
difficulty that he was prevailed on, by the violent menaces of
Northumberland to comply; but the constancy of Sir James Hales, who,
though a zealous Protestant, preferred justice on this occasion to
the prejudices of his party, could not be shaken by any expedient. The
chancellor next required, for his greater security, that all the privy
counsellors should set their hands to the patent: the intrigues of
Northumberland, or the fears of his violence, were so prevalent that the
counsellors complied with this demand. Cranmer alone hesitated during
some time, but at last yielded to the earnest and pathetic entreaties
of the king.[*] Cecil, at that time secretary of state, pretended
afterwards that he only signed as witness to the king’s subscription.
And thus, by the king’s letters patent, the two princesses, Mary and
Elizabeth, were set aside; and the crown was settled on the heirs of the
duchess of Suffolk; for the duchess herself was content to give place to
her daughters.
* Cranm. Mem. p. 295
After this settlement was made, with so many inauspicious circumstances,
Edward visibly declined every day, and small hopes were entertained of
his recovery. To make matters worse, his physicians were dismissed by
Northumberland’s advice, and by an order of council; and he was put
into the hands of an ignorant woman, who undertook in a little time
to restore him to his former state of health. After the use of her
medicines, all the bad symptoms increased to the most violent degree:
he felt a difficulty of speech and breathing; his pulse failed, his legs
swelled, his color became livid, and many other symptoms appeared of his
approaching end. He expired at Greenwich, in the sixteenth year of his
age, and the seventh of his reign.
All the English historians dwell with pleasure on the excellent
qualities of this young prince; whom the flattering promises of hope,
joined to many real virtues, had made an object of tender affection to
the public. He possessed mildness of disposition, application to study
and business, a capacity to learn and judge, and an attachment to equity
and justice. He seems only to have contracted, from his education,
and from the genius of the age in which he lived, too much of a narrow
prepossession in matters of religion, which made him incline somewhat
to bigotry and persecution: but as the bigotry of Protestants, less
governed by priests, lies under more restraints than that of Catholics,
the effects of this malignant quality were the less to be apprehended if
a longer life had been granted to young Edward.