[96] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 13.
[97] ROY'S _Satire against the Clergy_, written about 1528, is so
plain-spoken, and goes so directly to the point of the matter, that it is
difficult to find a presentable extract. The following lines on the bishops
are among the most moderate in the poem:--
"What are the bishops divines--
Yea, they can best skill of wines
Better than of divinity;
Lawyers are they of experience,
And in cases against conscience
They are parfet by practice.
To forge excommunications,
For tythes and decimations
Is their continual exercise.
As for preaching they take no care,
They would rather see a course at a hare;
Rather than to make a sermon
To follow the chase of wild deer,
Passing the time with jolly cheer.
Among them all is common
To play at the cards and dice;
Some of them are nothing nice
Both at hazard and momchance;
They drink in golden bowls
The blood of poor simple souls
Perishing for lack of sustenance.
Their hungry cures they never teach,
Nor will suffer none other to preach," etc.
[98] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, pp. 70, 71.
[99] A peculiarly hateful form of clerical impost, the priests claiming the
last dress worn in life by persons brought to them for burial.
[100] Fitz James to Wolsey, FOXE, vol. iv. p. 196.
[101] _Supplication of the Beggars_; FOXE, vol. iv. p. 661. The glimpses
into the condition of the monasteries which had been obtained in the
imperfect visitation of Morton, bear out the pamphleteer too completely.
See chapter x. of this work, second edition.
[102] FOXE, vol. iv. p. 658.
[103] 13 Ric. II. stat. ii. c. 2; 2 Hen. IV. c. 3; 9 Hen. IV. c. 8. Lingard
is mistaken in saying that the Crown had power to dispense with these
statutes. A dispensing power was indeed granted by the 12th of the 7th of
Ric. II. But by the 2nd of the 13th of the same reign, the king is
expressly and by name placed under the same prohibitions as all other
persons.
[104] HALL, p. 784.
[105] 25 Hen. VIII. c. 22.
[106] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24. Speech of Sir Ralph Sadler in parliament,
_Sadler Papers_, vol. iii. p. 323.
[107] Nor was the theory distinctly admitted, or the claim of the house of
York would have been unquestionable.
[108] 25 Hen. VIII. c. 22, Draft of the Dispensation to be granted to Henry
VIII. _Rolls House MS._ It has been asserted by a writer in the _Tablet_
that there is no instance in the whole of English history where the
ambiguity of the marriage law led to a dispute of title. This was not the
opinion of those who remembered the wars of the fifteenth century. "Recens
in quorundam vestrorum animis adhuc est illius cruenti temporis memoria,"
said Henry VIII. in a speech in council, "quod a Ricardo tertio cum avi
nostri materni Edwardi quarti statum in controversiam vocâsset ejusque
heredes regno atque vitâ privâsset illatum est."-WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol.
iii. p. 714. Richard claimed the crown on the ground that a precontract
rendered his brother's marriage invalid, and Henry VII. tacitly allowed the
same doubt to continue. The language of the 22nd of the 25th of Hen. VIII.
is so clear as to require no additional elucidation; but another distinct
evidence of the belief of the time upon the subject is in one of the papers
laid before Pope Clement.
"Constat, in ipso regno quam plurima gravissima bella sæpe exorta,
confingentes ex justis et legitimis nuptiis quorundam Angliæ regum
procreatos illegitimos fore propter aliquod consangunitatis vel affinitatis
confictum impedimentum et propterea inhabiles esse ad regni
successionem."--_Rolls House MS._; WILKINS'S _Concilia_, vol. iii. p. 707.
[109] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24.
[110] _Appendix 2 to the Third Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public
Records_, p. 241.
[111] _Sadler Papers_, vol. iii. p. 323.
[112] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24.
[113] _Four Years at the Court of Henry the Eighth_, vol. ii. pp. 315-16.
[114] Sir Charles Brandon, created Duke of Suffolk, and married to Mary
Tudor, widow of Louis XII.
[115] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24.
[116] The treaty was in progress from Dec. 24, 1526, to March 2, 1527 [LORD
HERBERT, pp. 80, 81], and during this time the difficulty was raised. The
earliest intimation which I find of an intended divorce was in June, 1527,
at which time Wolsey was privately consulting the bishops.--_State Papers_
vol. i. p. 189.
[117] It was for some time delayed; and the papal agent was instructed to
inform Ferdinand that a marriage which was at variance a jure et
laudabilibus moribus could not be permitted nisi maturo consilio et
necessitatis causâ.--Minute of a brief of Julius the Second, dated March
13, 1504, _Rolls House MS_.
[118] LORD HERBERT, p. 114.
[119] LORD HERBERT, p. 117, Kennett's edition. The act itself is printed in
BURNET'S _Collectanea_, vol. iv. (Nares' edition) pp. 5, 6. It is dated
June 27, 1505. Dr. Lingard endeavours to explain away the renunciation as a
form. The language of Moryson, however, leaves no doubt either of its
causes or its meaning. "Non multo post sponsalia contrahuntur," he says,
"Henrico plus minus tredecim annos jam nato. Sed rerum non recte inceptarum
successus infelicior homines non prorsus oscitantes plerumque docet quid
recte gestum quid perperam, quid factum superi volunt quid infectum.
Nimirum Henricus Septimus nullâ ægritudinis prospecta causâ repente in
deteriorem valetudinem prolapsus est, nec unquam potuit affectum corpus
pristinum statum recuperare. Uxor in aliud ex alio malum regina omnium
laudatissimia non multo post morbo periit. Quid mirum si Rex tot irati
numinis indiciis admonitus coeperit cogitare rem male illis succedere qui
vellent hoc nomine cum Dei legibus litem instituere ut diutius cum homine
amicitiam gerere possent. Quid deinceps egit? Quid aliud quam quod decuit
Christianissimum regem? Filium ad se accersiri jubet, accersitur. Adest,
adsunt et multi nobilissimi homines. Rex filium regno natum hortatur ut
secum una cum doctissimis ac optimis viris cogitavit nefarium esse putare
leges Dei leges Dei non esse cum papa volet. Non ita longâ oratione usus
filium patri obsequentissimum a sententiâ nullo negotio abduxit. Sponsalia
contracta infirmantur, pontificiæque auctoritatis beneficio palam
renunciatum est. Adest publicus tabellio--fit instrumentum. Rerum gestarum
testes rogati sigilla apponunt. Postremo filius patri fidem se illam uxorem
nunquam ducturum."--_Apomaxis_ RICARDI MORYSINI. Printed by Berthelet,
1537.
[120] See LINGARD, sixth edition, vol. iv. p. 164.
[121] HALL, p. 507.
[122] He married Catherine, June 3, 1509. Early in the spring of 1510 she
miscarried.--_Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. i. p. 83.
Jan. 1, 1511. A prince was born, who died Feb. 22.--HALL.
Nov. 1513. Another prince was born, who died immediately.--LINGARD, vol.
iv, p. 290.
Dec. 1514. Badoer, the Venetian ambassador, wrote that the queen had been
delivered of a still-born male child, to the great grief of the whole
nation.
May 3, 1515. The queen was supposed to be pregnant. If the supposition was
right, she must have miscarried.--_Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._
vol. i. p. 81.
Feb. 18, 1516. The Princess Mary was born.
July 3, 1518. "The Queen declared herself quick with child." (Pace to
Wolsey: _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 2,) and again miscarried.
These misfortunes we are able to trace accidentally through casual letters,
and it is probable that these were not all. Henry's own words upon the
subject are very striking:--
"All such issue male as I have received of the queen died incontinent after
they were born, so that I doubt the punishment of God in that behalf. Thus
being troubled in waves of a scrupulous conscience, and partly in despair
of any issue male by her, it drove me at last to consider the estate of
this realm, and the danger it stood in for lack of issue male to succeed me
in this imperial dignity."--CAVENDISH, p. 220.
[123] "If a man shall take his brother's wife it is an unclean
thing. He hath uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be
childless."--_Leviticus_ xx. 21. It ought to be remembered, that if the
present law of England be right, the party in favour of the divorce was
right.
[124] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii.
[125] Legates to the Pope, printed in BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 40.
[126] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 117.
[127] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii.; HALL, 669.
[128] They were shut up in the Castle of St. Angelo.
[129] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 18, 19.
[130] The fullest account of Wolsey's intentions on church reform will be
found in a letter addressed to him by Fox, the old blind Bishop of
Winchester, in 1528. The letter is printed in STRYPE'S _Memorials Eccles._
vol. i. Appendix 10.
[131] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. It is not
uncommon to find splendid imaginations of this kind haunting statesmen of
the 16th century; and the recapture of Constantinople always formed a
feature in the picture. _A Plan for the Reformation of Ireland_, drawn up
in 1515, contains the following curious passage: "The prophecy is, that the
King of England shall put this land of Ireland into such order that the
wars of the land, whereof groweth the vices of the same, shall cease for
ever; and after that God shall give such grace and fortune to the same king
that he shall with the army of England and of Ireland subdue the realm of
France to his obeysance for ever, and shall rescue the Greeks, and recover
the great city of Constantinople, and shall vanquish the Turks and win the
Holy Cross and the Holy Land, and shall die Emperor of Rome, and eternal
blisse shall be his end."--_State Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31.
[132] Knight to Henry: _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 2, 3.
[133] Wolsey to Cassalis: Ibid. p. 26.
[134] The dispensing power of the popes was not formally limited. According
to the Roman lawyers, a faculty lay with them of granting extraordinary
dispensations in cases where dispensations would not be usually
admissible--which faculty was to be used, however, dummodo causa cogat
urgentissima ne regnum aliquod funditus pereat; the pope's business being
to decide on the question of urgency.--Sir Gregory Cassalis to Henry VIII.,
Dec. 26, 1532. _Rolls House MS._
[135] Knight and Cassalis to Wolsey: BURNET'S _Collect._ p. 12.
[136] STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i., Appendix p. 66.
[137] Sir F. Bryan and Peter Vannes to Henry; _State Papers_, vol. vii. p.
144.
[138] STRYPE'S _Memorials_, Appendix, vol. i. p. 100.
[139] Ibid. Appendix, vol. i. pp. 105-6; BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 13.
[140] Wolsey to the Pope, BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 16: Vereor quod tamen
nequeo tacere, ne Regia Majestas, humano divinoque jure quod habet ex omni
Christianitate suis his actionibus adjunctum freta, postquam viderit sedis
Apostolicæ gratiam et Christi in terris Vicarii clementiam desperatam
Cæsaris intuitu, in cujus manu neutiquam est tam sanctos conatus reprimere,
ea tunc moliatur, ea suæ causæ perquirat remedia, quæ non solum huic Regno
sed etiam aliis Christianis principibus occasionem subministrarent sedis
Apostolicæ auctoritatem et jurisdictionem imminuendi et vilipendendi.
[141] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 20. Wolsey to John Cassalis: "If his
Holyness, which God forbid, shall shew himself unwilling to listen to the
king's demands, to me assuredly it will be but grief to live longer, for
the innumerable evils which I foresee will then follow. One only sure
remedy remains to prevent the worst calamities. If that be neglected, there
is nothing before us but universal and inevitable ruin."
[142] Gardiner and Fox to Wolsey; STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. i. Appendix,
p. 92.
[143] His Holiness being yet in captivity, as he esteemed himself to be, so
long as the Almayns and Spaniards continue in Italy, he thought if he
should grant this commission that he should have the emperour his perpetual
enemy without any hope of reconciliation. Notwithstanding he was content
rather to put himself in evident ruin, and utter undoing, than the king or
your Grace shall suspect any point of ingratitude in him; heartily desiring
with sighs and tears that the king and your Grace which have been always
fast and good to him, will not now suddenly precipitate him for ever: which
should be done if immediately on receiving the commission your Grace should
begin process. He intendeth to save all upright thus. If M. de Lautrec
would set forwards, which he saith daily that he will do, but yet he doth
not, at his coming the Pope's Holiness may have good colour to say, "He was
required of the commission by the ambassador of England, and denying the
same, he was, eftsoons, required by M. de Lautrec to grant the said
commission, inasmuch as it was but a letter of justice." And by this colour
he would cover the matter so that it might appear unto the emperour that
the pope did it not as he that would gladly do displeasure unto the
emperour, but as an indifferent judge, that could not nor might deny
justice, specially being required by such personages; and immediately he
would despatch a commission bearing date after the time that M. de Lautrec
had been with him or was nigh unto him. The pope most instantly beseecheth
your Grace to be a mean that the King's Highness may accept this in a good
part, and that he will take patience for this little time, which, as it is
supposed, will be but short.--Knight to Wolsey and the King, Jan. 1,
1527-8: BURNET _Collections_, 12, 13.
[144] Such at least was the ultimate conclusion of a curious discussion.
When the French herald declared war, the English herald accompanied him
into the emperor's presence, and when his companion had concluded, followed
up his words with an intimation that unless the French demands were
complied with, England would unite to enforce them. The Emperor replied to
Francis with defiance. To the English herald he expressed a hope that peace
on that side would still be maintained. For the moment the two countries
were uncertain whether they were at war or not. The Spanish ambassador in
London did not know, and the court could not tell him. The English
ambassador in Spain did not leave his post, but he was placed under
surveillance. An embargo on Spanish and English property was laid
respectively in the ports of the two kingdoms; and the merchants and
residents were placed under arrest. Alarmed by the outcry in London, the
king hastily concluded a truce with the Regent of the Netherlands, the
language of which implied a state of war; but when peace was concluded
between France and Spain, England appeared only as a contracting party, not
as a principal, and in 1542 it was decided that the antecedent treaties
between England and the empire continued in force.--See LORD HERBERT;
HOLINSHED; _State Papers_, vols. vii. viii. and ix.; with the treaties in
RYMER, vol. vi. part 2.
[145] Gardiner to the King: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 426.
[146] Duke of Suffolk to Henry the Eighth: _State Papers_, vol. vii, p.
183.
[147] Duke of Suffolk to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 183.
[148] HALL, p. 744.
[149] When the clothiers of Essex, Kent, Wiltshire, Suffolk, and other
shires which are clothmaking, brought cloths to London to be sold, as they
were wont, few merchants or none bought any cloth at all. When the
clothiers lacked sale, then they put from them their spinners, carders,
tuckers, and such others that lived by clothworking, which caused the
people greatly to murmur, and specially in Suffolk, for if the Duke of
Norfolk had not wisely appeased them, no doubt but they had fallen to some
rioting. When the king's council was advertised of the inconvenience, the
cardinal sent for a great number of the merchants of London, and to them
said, "Sirs, the king is informed that you use not yourselves like
merchants, but like graziers and artificers; for where the clothiers do
daily bring cloths to the market for your ease, to their great cost, and
then be ready to sell them, you of your wilfulness will not buy them, as
you have been accustomed to do. What manner of men be you?" said the
cardinal. "I tell you that the king straitly commandeth you to buy their
cloths as beforetime you have been accustomed to do, upon pain of his high
displeasure."--HALL, p. 746.
[150] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 157. By manners and customs he was referring
clearly to his intended reformation of the church. See the letter of Fox,
Bishop of Winchester (STRYPE'S _Memorials_, vol. ii. p. 25), in which
Wolsey's intentions are dwelt upon at length.
[151] Ibid. pp. 136, 7.
[152] _State Papers_, vol. vii. pp. 96, 7.
[153] Wolsey to Cassalis: Ibid. p. 100.
[154] State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 106, 7
[155] Ibid. p. 113.
[156] Ibid. vii. p. 113.
[157] Take the veil.
[158] Instruction to the Ambassadours at Rome: _State Papers_, vol. vii. p.
136.
[159] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayanne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii.
[160] LEGRAND, vol. iii. 231.
[161] Instrucion para Gonzalo Fernandez que se envoie a Ireland al Conde de
Desmond, 1529.--MS. Archives at Brussels.--_The Pilgrim_, note 1, p. 169.
[162] Henrici regis octavi de repudiandâ dominâ Catherinâ oratio Idibus
Novembris habita 1528.
Veneranda et chara nobis præsulum procerum atque consiliariorum cohors quos
communis reipublicæ atque regni nostri administrandi cura conjunxit. Haud
vos latet divinâ nos Providentiâ viginti jam ferme annis hanc nostram
patriam tantâ felicitate rexisse ut in illâ ab hostilibus incursionibus
tuta semper interea fuerit et nos in his bellis quæ suscepimus victores
semper evasimus; et quanquam in eo gloriâri jure possumus majorem
tranquillitatem opes et honores prioribus huc usque ductis socculis,
nunquam subditis a majoribus parentibusque nostris Angliâ regibus quam a
nobis provenisse, tamen quando cum hâc gloriâ in mentem una venit ac
concurrit mortis cogitatio, veremur ne nobis sine prole legitimâ
decedentibus majorem ex morte nostrâ patiamini calamitatem quam ex vitâ
fructum ac emolumentum percepistis. Recens enim in quorundam vestrorum
animis adhuc est illius cruenti temporis memoria quod a Ricardo tertio cum
avi nostri materni Edwardi Quarti statum in controversiam vocasset ejusque
heredes regno atque vitâ privâsset illatum est. Tum ex historiis notæ sunt
illæ diræ strages quæ a clarissimis Angliæ gentibus Eboracensi atque
Lancastrensi, dum inter se de regno et imperio multis ævis contenderent,
populo evenerunt. Ac illæ ex justis nuptiis inter Henricum Septimum et
dominam Elizabetham clarissimos nostros parentes contractis in nobis inde
legitimâ natâ sobole sopitæ tandem desierunt. Si vero quod absit, regalis
ex nostris nuptiis stirps quæ jure deinceps regnare possit non nascatur,
hoc regnum civilibus atque intestinis se versabit tumultibus aut in
exterorum dominationem atque potestatem veniet. Nam quanquam formâ atque
venustate singulari, quæ magno nobis solatio fuit filiam Dominam Mariam ex
nobilissimâ foeminâ Dominâ Catherinâ procreavimus, tamen a piis atque
eruditis theologis nuper accepimus quia eam quæ Arturi fratris nostri
conjux ante fuerat uxorem duximus nostras nuptias jure divino esse vetitas,
partumque inde editum non posse censeri legitimum. Id quod eo vehementius
nos angit et excruciat, quod cum superiori anno legatos ad conciliandas
inter Aureliensem ducem et filiam nostram Mariam nuptias ad Franciscum
Gallorum regem misissemus a quodam ejus consiliario responsum est,
"antequam de hujusmodi nuptiis agatum inquirendum esse prius an Maria
fuerit filia nostra legitima; constat enim 'inquit,' quod exdominâ
Catherinâ fratris sui viduâ cujusmodi nuptiæ jure divino interdictæ sunt
suscepta est." Quæ oratio quanto metu ac horrore animum nostrum turbaverit
quia res ipsa æternæ tam animi quam corporis salutis periculum in se
continet, et quam perplexis cogitationibus conscientiam occupat, vos quibus
et capitis aut fortunæ ac multo magis animarum jactura immineret, remedium
nisi adhibere velitis, ignorare non posse arbitror. Hæc una res--quod Deo
teste et in Regis oraculo affirmamus--nos impulit ut per legatos
doctissimorum per totum orbem Christianum theologorum sententias
exquireremus et Romani Pontificis legatum verum atque æquum judicium de
tantâ causâ laturum ut tranquillâ deinceps et intergâ conscientiâ in
conjugio licito vivere possimus accerseremus. In quo si ex sacris litteris
hoc quo viginti jam fere annis gavisi sumus matrimonium jure divino
permissum esse manifeste liquidoque constabit, non modo ob conscientiæ
tranquillitatem, verum etiam ob amabiles mores virtutesque quibus regina
prædita et ornata est, nihil optatius nihilque jucundius accidere nobis
potest. Nam præterquam quod regali atque nobili genere prognata est, tantâ
præterea comitate et obsequio conjugali tum cæteris animi morumque
ornamentis quæ nobilitatem illustrant omnes foeminas his viginti annis sic
mihi anteire visa est ut si a conjugio liber essem ac solutus, si jure
divino liceret, hanc solam præ cæteris foeminis stabili mihi jure ac
foedere matrimoniali conjungerem. Si vero in hoc judicio matrimonium
nostrum jure divino prohibitum, ideoque ab initio nullum irritumque fuisse
pronuncietur, infelix hic meus casus multis lacrimis lugendus ac
deplorandus erit. Non modo quod a tam illustris et amabilis mulieris
consuetudine et consortio divertendum sit, sed multo magis quod specie ad
similitudinem veri conjugii decepti in amplexibus plusquam fornicariis tam
multos annos trivimus nullâ legitimâ prognatâ nobis sobole quæ nobis
mortuis hujus inclyti regni hereditatem capessat.
Hæ nostræ curæ istæque solicitudines sunt quæ mentem atque conscientiam
nostram dies noctesque torquent et excurciant, quibus auferendis et
profligandis remedium ex hâc legatione et judicio opportunum quærimus.
Ideoque vos quorum virtuti atque fidei multum attribuimus rogamus ut certum
atque genuinum nostrum de hâc re sensum quem ex nostro sermone percepistis
populo declaretis: eumque excitetis ut nobiscum una oraret ut ad
conscientiæ nostræ pacem atque tranquillitatem in hoc judicio veritas
multis jam annis tenebris involuta tandem patefiat.--WILKINS'S _Concilia_,
vol. iii. p. 714.
[163] HALL, _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii.
[164] LEGRAND, vol. iii.
[165] Ibid. vol. iii. pp. 232, 3.
[166] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 120; Ibid. p. 186.
[167] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 41.
[168] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 193.
[169] The Emperor could as little trust Clement as the English, and to the
last moment could not tell how he would act.
"Il me semble," wrote Inigo di Mendoza to Charles on the 17th of June,
1529,--"il me semble que Sa Sainteté differe autant qu'il peut ce qu'
auparavant il avoit promis, et je crains qu'il n'ait ordonné aux legatz ce
qui jusques à present avoit resté en suspens qu'ils procedent par la
première commission. Ce qui faisant votre Majesté peut tenir la Reine
autant que condamné."--_MS. Archives at Brussels._
The sort of influence to which the See of Rome was amenable appears in
another letter to the Emperor, written from Rome itself on the 4th of
October. The Pope and cardinals, it is to be remembered, were claiming to
be considered the supreme court of appeal in Christendom.
"Si je ne m'abuse tous ou la pluspart du Saint College sont plus
affectionnez à vostre dite Majesté que à autre Prince Chrestien: de vous
escrire, Sire, particulièrement toutes leurs responses seroit chose trop
longue. Tant y a que elles sont telles que votre Majesté a raison doubt
grandement se contenter d'icelles.
"... Seulement diray derechief à vostre Majesté, et me souvient l'avoir
dict plusieurs fois, qu'il est en vostre Majesté gaigner et entretenir
perpetuellement ce college en vostre devotion en distribuant seulement
entre les principaulx d'eulx en pensions et benefices la somme de vingt
mille ducas, l'ung mille, l'autre deulx ou trois mille. Et est cecy chose,
Sire, que plus vous touche que à autre Prince Chrestien pour les affaires
que vostre Majesté a journellement à despescher en ceste court."--M. de
Præt to Charles V. August 5th, 1529. MS. Ibid.
[170] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 377.
[171] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 374.
[172] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 355.
[173] Ibid.
[174] Memorandum relating to the Society of Christian Brethren. _Rolls
House MS._
[175] DALABER'S _Narrative_, printed in FOXE, vol. iv. Seeley's Ed.
[176] All authorities agree in the early account of Henry, and his letters
provide abundant proof that it is not exaggerated. The following
description of him in the despatches of the Venetian ambassador shows the
effect which he produced on strangers in 1515:--
"Assuredly, most serene prince, from what we have seen of him, and in
conformity, moreover, with the report made to us by others, this most
serene king is not only very expert in arms and of great valour and most
excellent in his personal endowments, but is likewise so gifted and adorned
with mental accomplishments of every sort, that we believe him to have few
equals in the world. He speaks English, French, Latin, understands Italian
well; plays almost on every instrument; sings and composes fairly; is
prudent, and sage, and free from every vice."--_Four Years at the Court of
Henry VIII._ vol. i. p. 76.
Four years later, the same writer adds,--
"The king speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish; is very religious; hears
three masses a day when he hunts, and sometimes five on other days; he
hears the office every day in the queen's chamber--that is to say, vespers
and complins."--Ibid. vol. ii. p. 312. William Thomas, who must have seen
him, says,
"Of personage he was one of the goodliest men that lived in his time; being
high of stature, in manner more than a man, and proportionable in all his
members unto that height; of countenance he was most amiable; courteous and
benign in gesture unto all persons and specially unto strangers; seldom or
never offended with anything; and of so constant a nature in himself that I
believe few can say that ever he changed his cheer for any novelty how
contrary or sudden so ever it were. Prudent he was in council and
forecasting; most liberal in rewarding his faithful servants, and even unto
his enemies, as it behoveth a prince to be. He was learned in all sciences,
and had the gift of many tongues. He was a perfect theologian, a good
philosopher, and a strong man at arms, a jeweller, a perfect builder as
well of fortresses as of pleasant palaces, and from one to another there
was no necessary kind of knowledge, from a king's degree to a carter's, but
he had an honest sight in it."--_The Pilgrim_ p. 78.
[177] Exposition of the Commandments, set forth by Royal authority, 1536.
This treatise was drawn up by the bishops, and submitted to, and revised
by, the king.
[178] SAGUDINO'S _Summary. Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII._ vol. ii.
P. 75.
[179] "The truth is, when I married my wife, I had but fifty pounds to live
on for me and my wife so long as my father lived, and yet she brought me
forth every year a child."--Earl of Wiltshire to Cromwell: ELLIS, third
series, vol. iii. pp. 22, 3.
[180] BURNET, vol. i. p. 69.
[181] Thomas Allen to the Earl of Shrewsbury: LODGE'S _Illustrations_, vol.
i. p. 20.
[182] Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell: printed by LORD HERBERT and by
BURNET.
[183] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7.
[184] Since these words were written, I have discovered among the Archives
of Simancas what may perhaps be some clue to the mystery, in an epitome of
a letter written to Charles V. from London in May, 1536:---
"His Majesty has letters from England of the 11th of May, with certain news
that the paramour of the King of England, who called herself queen, has
been thrown into the Tower of London for adultery. The partner of her guilt
was an organist of the Privy Chamber, who is in the Tower as well. An
officer of the King's wardrobe has been arrested also for the same offence
with her, and one of her brothers for having been privy to her offences
without revealing them. They say, too, that if the adultery had not been
discovered, the King was determined to put her away, having been informed
by competent witnesses that she was married and had consummated her
marriage nine years before, with the Earl of Northumberland."
[185] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 131.
[186] Wyatt's Memorials, printed in Singer's CAVENDISH, p. 420.
[187] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 132.
[188] ELLIS, first series, vol. i. p. 135. "My Lord, in my most humblest
wise that my poor heart can think, I do thank your Grace for your kind
letter, and for your rich and goodly present; the which I shall never be
able to deserve without your great help; of the which I have hitherto had
so great plenty, that all the days of my life I am most bound of all
creatures, next to the King's Grace, to love and serve your Grace. Of the
which I beseech you never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought
as long as any breath is in my body."
[189] CAVENDISH _Life of Wolsey,_ p. 316. Singer's edition.
[190] CAVENDISH, pp. 364, 5.
[191] _Letters of the Bishop of Bayonne_, LEGRAND, vol. iii. pp. 368, 378,
etc.
[192] See HALE'S _Criminal Causes from the Records of the Consistory Court
of London._
[193] Petition of the Commons, infra, p. 191, etc.
[194] Reply of the Ordinaries to the petition of the Commons, infra, p.
202, etc.
[195] Petition of the Commons. 23 Hen. VIII. c. 9.
[196] HALE'S _Criminal Causes,_ p.4.
[197] An Act that no person committing murder, felony, or treason should be
admitted to his clergy under the degree of sub-deacon.
[198] In May, 1528, the evil had become so intolerable, that Wolsey drew
the pope's attention to it. Priests, he said, both secular and regular,
were in the habit of committing atrocious crimes, for which, if not in
orders, they would have been promptly executed; and the laity were
scandalised to see such persons not only not degraded, but escaping with
complete impunity. Clement something altered the law of degradation in
consequence of this representation, but quite inadequately.--RYMER, vol.
vi. part 2, p. 96.
[199] Thomas Cowper et ejus uxor Margarita pronubæ horribiles, et instigant
mulieres ad fornicandum cum quibuscunque laicis, religiosis, fratribus
minoribus, et nisi fornicant in domo suâ ipsi diffamabunt nisi voluerint
dare eis ad voluntatem eorum; et vir est pronuba uxori, et vult relinquere
eam apud fratres minores pro peccatis habendis.--HALE, _Criminal Causes,_
p. 9.
Joanna Cutting communis pronuba at præsertim inter presbyteros fratres
monachos et canonicos et etiam inter Thomam Peise et quandam Agnetam,
etc.--HALE, _Criminal Causes,_ p. 28.
See also Ibid. pp. 15, 22, 23, 39, etc.
In the first instance the parties accused "made their purgation" and were
dismissed. The exquisite corruption of the courts, instead of inviting
evidence and sifting accusations, allowed accused persons to support their
own pleas of not guilty by producing four witnesses, not to disprove the
charges, but to swear that they believed the charges untrue. This was
called "purgation."
Clergy, it seems, were sometimes allowed to purge themselves simply on
their own word.--HALE, p. 22; and see the Preamble of the 1st of the 23rd
of Henry VIII.
[200] Complaints of iniquities arising from confession were laid before
Parliament as early as 1394.
"Auricularis confessio quæ dicitur tam necessaria ad salvationem hominis,
cum fictâ potestate absolutionis exaltat superbiam sacerdotum, et dat illis
opportunitatem secretarum sermocinationum quas nos nolumus dicere, quia
domini et dominæ attestantur quod pro timore confessorum suorum non audent
dicere veritatem; et in tempore confessionis est opportunum tempus
procationis id est of wowing et aliarum secretarum conventionum ad
peccata mortalia. Ipsi dicunt quod sunt commissarii Dei ad judicandum de
omni peccato perdonandum et mundandum quemcunque eis placuerint. Dicunt
quod habent claves coeli et inferni et possunt excommunicare et benedicere
ligare et solvere in voluntatem eorum; in tantum quod pro bussello vel 12
denariis volunt vendere benedictionem coeli per chartam et clausulam de
warrantiâ sigillitâ sigillo communi. Ista conclusio sic est in usu quod non
eget probatione aliquâ."--Extract from a Petition presented to Parliament:
WILKINS, vol. iii. p. 221.
This remarkable paper ends with the following lines:--
"Plangunt Anglorum gentes crimen Sodomorum
Paulus fert horum sunt idola causa malorum
Surgunt ingrati Giezitæ Simone nati
Nomine prælati hoc defensare parati
Qui reges estis populis quicunque præstis
Qualiter his gestis gladios prohibere potestis."
See also HALE, p. 42, where an abominable instance is mentioned, and a
still worse in the _Suppression of the Monasteries,_ pp. 45-50.
[201] HALE, p. 12.
[202] Ibid. pp. 75, 83; _Suppression of the Monasteries,_ p. 47.
[203] Ibid. p. 80.
[204] Ibid. p. 83.
[205] I have been taunted with my inability to produce more evidence. For
the present I will mention two additional instances only, and perhaps I
shall not be invited to swell the list further.
1. In the State Paper Office is a report to Cromwell by Adam Bekenshaw, one
of his diocesan visitors, in which I find this passage:--
"There be knights and divers gentlemen in the diocese of Chester who do
keep concubines and do yearly compound with the officials for a small sum
without monition to leave their naughty living."
2. In another report I find also the following:--
"The names of such persons as be permitted to live in adultery and
fornication for money:--
"The Vicar of Ledbury.
The Vicar of Brasmyll.
The Vicar of Stow.
The Vicar of Cloune.
The Parson of Wentnor.
The Parson of Rusbury.
The Parson of Plowden.
The Dean of Pountsbury.
The Parson of Stratton.
Sir Matthew of Montgomery.
Sir ---- of Lauvange.
Sir John Brayle.
Sir Morris of Clone.
Sir Adam of Clone.
Sir Pierce of Norbury.
Sir Gryffon ap Egmond.
Sir John Orkeley.
Sir John of Mynton.
Sir John Reynolds.
Sir Morris of Knighton, priest.
Hugh Davis.
Cadwallader ap Gern.
Edward ap Meyrick.
With many others of the diocese of Hereford."
The originals of both these documents are in the State Paper Office. There
are copies in the Bodleian Library.--_MS. Tanner,_ 105.
[206] Skelton gives us a specimen of the popular criticisms:--
"Thus I, Colin Clout,
As I go about,
And wondering as I walk,
I hear the people talk:
Men say for silver and gold
Mitres are bought and sold:
A straw for Goddys curse,
What are they the worse?
"What care the clergy though Gill sweat,
Or Jack of the Noke?
The poor people they yoke
With sumners and citacions,
And excommunications.
About churches and markets
The bishop on his carpets
At home soft doth sit.
This is a fearful fit,
To hear the people jangle.
How wearily they wrangle!
But Doctor Bullatus
"Parum litteratus,
Dominus Doctoratus
At the broad gate-house.
Doctor Daupatus
And Bachelor Bacheleratus,
Drunken as a mouse
At the ale-house,
Taketh his pillion and his cap
At the good ale-tap,
For lack of good wine.
As wise as Robin Swine,
Under a notary's sign,
Was made a divine;
As wise as Waltham's calf,
Must preach in Goddys half;
In the pulpit solemnly;
More meet in a pillory;
For by St. Hilary
He can nothing smatter
Of logic nor school matter.
"Such temporal war and bate
As now is made of late
Against holy church estate,
Or to mountain good quarrels;
The laymen call them barrels
Full of gluttony and of hypocrisy,
That counterfeits and paints
As they were very saints.
"By sweet St. Marke,
This is a wondrous warke,
That the people talk this.
Somewhat there is amiss.
The devil cannot stop their mouths,
But they will talk of such uncouths
All that ever they ken
Against spiritual men."
I am unable to quote more than a few lines from ROY'S _Satire_. At the
close of a long paragraph of details an advocate of the clergy ventures to
say that the bad among them are a minority. His friend answers:--
"Make the company great or small,
Among a thousand find thou shall
Scant one chaste of body or mind."
[207] Answer of the Bishops to the Commons' Petition: _Rolls House MS._
[208] Joanna Leman notatur officio quod non venit ad ecclesiam parochialem;
et dicit se nolle accipere panem benedictum a manibus rectoris; et vocavit
eum "horsyn preste."--HALE, p. 99.
[209] HALE, p. 63.
[210] Ibid. p. 98.
[211] Ibid. p. 38.
[212] Ibid. p. 67.
[213] Ibid. p. 100.
[214] CAVENDISH, _Life of Wolsey_, p. 251.
[215] HALL, p. 764.
[216] Ibid. p. 764.
[217] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 361.
[218] 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 16.
[219] The session lasted six weeks only, and several of the subjects of the
petition were disposed of in the course of it, as we shall see.
[220] The MS. from which I have transcribed this copy is itself imperfect,
as will be seen in the "reply of the Bishops," which supplies several
omitted articles. See p. 137, et seq. It is in the Rolls House.
[221] The penny, as I have shown, equalled, in terms of a poor man's
necessities, a shilling. See chap. i.
[222] See instance's in HALE: p, 62, _Omnium Sanctorum in muro_.--M.
Gulielmus Edward curatus notatur officio quod recusat ministrare sacramenta
ecelesiastica ægrotantibus nisi prius habitis pecuniis pro suo labore: p.
64, _St. Mary Magdalen_.--Curatus notatur officio prbpter quod recusavit
solemnizare matrrimonium quousque habet pro hujusmodi solemnizatione, _3s.
8d._; and see pp. 52, 75.
[223] I give many instances of this practice in my sixth chapter. It was a
direct breach of the statute of Henry IV., which insists on all
examinations for heresy being conducted in open court. "The diocesan and
his commissaries," says that act, "shall openly and judicially proceed
against persons arrested."--2 Hen. IV. c. 15.
[224] Again breaking the statute of Hen. IV., which limited the period of
imprisonment previous to public trial to three months.--2 Hen. IV. c. 15.
[225] To be disposed of at Smithfield. Abjuration was allowed once. For a
second offence there was no forgiveness.
[226] Petition of the Commons. _Rolls House MS._
[227] See STRYPE, _Eccles. Memorials_, vol. i. p. 191-2,--who is very
eloquent in his outcries upon his subject.
[228] _Answer of the Bishops_, p. 204, etc.
[229] Explanations are not easy; but the following passage may suggest the
meaning of the House of Commons:--"The holy Father Prior of Maiden Bradley
hath but six children, and but one daughter married yet of the goods of the
monastery; trusting shortly to marry the rest."--Dr. Leyton to Cromwell:
_Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 58.
[230] Reply of the Bishops, infra.
[231] CAVENDISH, _Life of Wolsey_, p. 390. MORE'S _Life of More_, p. 109.
[232] Populus diu oblatrans. Fox to Wolsey. STRYPE, _Eccl. Mem._ vol. i.
Appendix, p. 27.
[233] RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 119.
[234] The answer of the Ordinaries to the supplication of the worshipful
the Commons of the Lower House of Parliament offered to our Sovereign Lord
the King's most noble Grace.--_Rolls House MS._
[235] The terms of the several articles of complaint are repeated verbally
from the petition. I condense them to spare recapitulation.
[236] 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15; 2 Hen. V. cap. 7.
[237] An Act that no person shall be cited out of the diocese in which he
dwells, except in certain cases. It received the Royal assent two years
later. See 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 9.
[238] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 5. An Act concerning fines and sums of money to be
taken by the ministers of bishops and other ordinaries of holy church for
the probate of testaments.
[239] HALE, _Precedents_, p. 86.
[240] Ibid.
[241] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 6. An Act concerning the taking of mortuaries, or
demanding, receiving, or claiming the same.
In Scotland the usual mortuary was, a cow and the uppermost cloth or
counterpane on the bed in which the death took place. A bishop reprimanding
a suspected clergyman for his leaning toward the Reformation, said to
him:--
"My joy, Dean Thomas, I am informed that ye preach the epistle and gospel
every Sunday to your parishioners, and that ye take not the cow nor the
upmost cloth from your parishioners; which thing is very prejudicial to the
churchmen. And therefore, Dean Thomas, I would ye took your cow and upmost
cloth, or else it is too much to preach every Sunday, for in so doing ye
may make the people think we should preach likewise."--CALDERWOOD, vol. i.
p. 126.
The bishop had to burn Dean Thomas at last, being unable to work conviction
into him in these matters.
[242] 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. An Act that no spiritual person shall take
farms; or buy and sell for lucre and profit; or keep tan-houses or
breweries. And for pluralities of benefices and for residence.
[243] HALL, p. 767.
[244] Ibid. 766
[245] Ibid. 767.
[246] Ibid. 766.
[247] Ibid. 768.
[248] So reluctant was he, that at one time he had resolved, rather than
compromise the unity of Christendom, to give way. When the disposition of
the court of Rome was no longer doubtful, "his difficultatibus permotus,
cum in hoc statu res essent, dixerunt qui ejus verba exceperunt, post
profundam secum de universo negotio deliberationem et mentis agitationem,
tandem in hæc verba prorupisse, se primum tentâsse illud divortium
persuasum ecclesiam Romanam hoc idem probaturum--quod si ita ilia
abhorreret ab illâ sententiâ ut nullo modo permittendum censeret se nolle
cum eâ contendere neque amplius in illo negotio progredi."
Pole, on whose authority we receive these words, says that they were heard
with almost unanimous satisfaction at the council board. The moment of
hesitation was, it is almost certain, at the crisis which preceded or
attended Wolsey's fall. It endured but for three days, and was dispelled by
the influence of Cromwell, who tempted both the king and parliament into
their fatal revolt.--POLI _Apologia ad Carolum Quintum_.
[249] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 446. The censures were threatened in the first
brief, but the menace was withdrawn under the impression that it was not
needed.
[250] Ibid. The second brief is dated March 7, and declares that the king,
if he proceeds, shall incur ipso facto the greater excommunication; that
the kingdom will fall under an interdict.
[251] Cranmer was born in 1489, and was thus forty years old when he first
emerged into eminence.
[252] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 226.
[253] Je croy qu'il ne feist en sa vie ceremonie qui luy touchast si prés
du coeur, ne dont je pense qu'il luy doive advenir moins du bien. Car
aucunes fois qu'il pensoit qu'on ne le regardast, il faisoit de si grands
soupirs que pour pesante que fust sa chappe, il la faisoit bransler à bon
escient.--_Lettre de M. de Gramont, Evêque de Tarbès._ LEGRAND, vol. iii.
p. 386.
[254] ELLIS, _Third Series_, vol. ii. p. 98. "In the letters showed us by
M. de Buclans from the emperor, of the which mention was made in ciphers,
it was written in terms that the French king would offer unto your Grace
the papalite of France vel Patriarchate, for the French men would no more
obey the Church of Rome."--Lee to Wolsey.
[255] A ce qu'il m'en a declaré des fois plus de trois en secret, il seroit
content que le dit mariage fust ja faict, ou par dispense du Legat
d'Angleterre ou autrement; mais que ce ne fust par son autorité, in aussi
diminuant sa puissance, quant aux dispenses, et limitation de droict
divin.--_Dechiffrement de Lettres de M. de Tarbès._--LEGRAND, vol. iii. p.
408.
[256] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 408.
[257] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 230.
[258] The Bishop of Tarbès to the King of France. LEGRAND, vol. iii. p.
401.
[259] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 234.
[260] Ibid. p. 235.
[261] We demand a service of you which it is your duty to concede; and your
first thought is lest you should offend the emperor. We do not blame _him_.
That in such a matter he should be influenced by natural affection is
intelligible and laudable. But for that very reason we decline to submit to
so partial a judgment.--Henry VIII. to the Pope: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p.
431.
[262] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 394.
[263] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 317.
[264] For Croke's Mission, see BURNET, vol. i. p. 144 e.
[265] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 241.
[266] Friar Pallavicino to the Bishop of Bath. _Rolls House MS._
[267] Croke and Omnibow to the King. _Rolls House MS._
[268] Generalis magister nostri ordinis mandavit omnibus suæ religionis
professoribus, ut nullus audeat de auctoritate Pontificis quicquam loqui.
Denique Orator Cæsareus in talia verba prorupit, quibus facile cognovi ut
me a Pontifice vocari studeat et tunc timendum esset saluti meæ. Father
Omnibow to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._
[269] BURNET'S _Collect._ p. 50. Burnet labours to prove that on Henry's
side there was no bribery, and that the emperor was the only offender; an
examination of many MS. letters from Croke and other agents in Italy leads
me to believe that, although the emperor only had recourse to intimidation,
because he alone was able to practise it, the bribery was equally shared
between both parties.
[270] LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 458. The Grand Master to the King of
France:--De l'autre part, adventure il n'est moins a craindre, que le Roy
d'Angleterre, irrité de trop longues dissimulations, trouvast moyen de
parvenir a ses intentions du consentement de l'Empereur, et que par
l'advenement d'un tiers _se fissent ami, Herode et Pilate_.
[271] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 467, etc.
[272] Letter from the King of France to the President of the Parliament of
Paris. _Rolls House MS._
[273] Letter from Reginald Pole to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._
[274] Pole to Henry VIII. _Rolls House MS._
[275] BURNET, _Collectanea_, p. 429.
[276] _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 377.
[277] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 436; _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 378.
[278] It is not good to stir a hornet's nest.
[279] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 431.
[280] Ibid. p. 48.
[281] Preface to LATIMER'S _Sermons_. Parker Society's edition, p. 3.
[282] "King Harry loved a man," was an English proverb to the close of the
century. See SIR ROBERT NAUNTON'S _Fragmenta Regalia_, London, 1641, p. 14.
[283] Sir George Throgmorton, who distinguished himself by his opposition
to the Reformation in the House of Commons.
[284] BURNET'S _Collect_, p. 429.
[285] _A Glasse of Truth._
[286] Ibid. p. 144.
[287] 35 Ed. I.; 25 Ed. III. stat. 4; stat. 5, cap. 22; 27 Ed. III. stat.
1; 13 Ric. II. stat. 2, cap. 2; 16 Ric. II. cap. 5; 9 Hen. IV. cap. 8.
[288] CAVENDISH, p. 276.
Gardiner has left some noticeable remarks on this subject.
"Whether," he says, "a king may command against a common law or an act of
parliament, there is never a judge or other man in the realm ought to know
more by experience of that the laws have said than I.
"First, my Lord Cardinal, that obtained his legacy by our late Sovereign
Lord's requirements at Rome, yet, because it was against the laws of the
realm, the judges concluded the offence of Premunire, which matter I bare
away, and took it for a law of the realm, because the lawyers said so, but
my reason digested it not. The lawyers, for confirmation of their doings,
brought in the case of Lord Tiptoft. An earl he was, and learned in the
civil laws, who being chancellor, because in execution of the king's
commandment he offended the laws of the realm, suffered on Tower Hill. They
brought in examples of many judges that had fines set on their heads in
like cases for transgression of laws by the king's commandment, and this I
learned in that case.
"Since that time being of the council, when many proclamations were devised
against the carriers out of corn, when it came to punish the offender, the
judges would answer it might not be by the law, because the Act of
Parliament gave liberty, wheat being under a price. Whereupon at last
followed the Act of Proclamations, in the passing whereof were many large
words spoken."
After mentioning other cases, he goes on:--
"I reasoned once in the parliament house, where there was free speech
without danger, and the Lord Audely, to satisfy me, because I was in some
secret estimation, as he knew, 'Thou art a good fellow, Bishop,' quoth he;
'look at the Act of Supremacy, and there the king's doings be restrained to
spiritual jurisdiction; and in another act no spiritual law shall have
place contrary to a common law, or an act of parliament. And this were
not,' quoth he, 'you bishops would enter in with the king, and by means of
his supremacy order the laws as ye listed. But we will provide,' quoth he,
'that the premunire shall never go off your heads.' This I bare away then,
and held my peace."--Gardiner to the Protector Somerset: _MS. Harleian_,
417.
[289] 13 Ric. II. stat. 2, cap. 2. Et si le Roi envoie par lettre on en
autre maniere a la Courte du Rome al excitacion dascune person, parount que
la contrarie de cest estatut soit fait touchant ascune dignité de Sainte
Eglise, si celuy qui fait tiel excitacion soit Prelate de Sainte Eglise,
paie au Roy le value de ses temporalitees dun an. The petition of
parliament which occasioned the statute is even more emphatic: Perveuz tout
foitz que par nulle traite ou composition a faire entre le Seint Pere le
Pape et notre Seigneur le Roy que riens soit fait a contraire en prejudice
de cest Estatute a faire. Et si ascune Seigneur Espirituel ou Temporel ou
ascune persone quiconque de qu'elle condition q'il soit, enforme, ensence
ou excite le Roi ou ses heirs, l'anientiser, adnuller ou repeller cest
Estatut a faire, et de ceo soit atteint par due proces du loy que le
Seigneur Espirituel eit la peyne sus dite, etc.--_Rolls of Parliament_,
Ric. II. 13.
[290] Even further, as chancellor the particular duty had been assigned to
him of watching over the observance of the act.
Et le chancellor que pur le temps serra a quelle heure que pleint a luy ou
a conseill le Roy soit fait d'ascunes des articles sus ditz par ascune
persone que pleindre soy voudra granta briefs sur le cas ou commissions a
faire au covenables persones, d'oier et terminer les ditz articles sur
peyne de perdre son office et jamais estre mys en office le Roy et perdre
mille livres a lever a l'oeps le Roy si de ce soit atteint par du
proces.--_Rolls of Parliament_, Ric. II. 13.
[291] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 77. See a summary of the acts of this
Convocation in a sermon of Latimer's preached before the two Houses in
1536. LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 45.
[292] The king, considering what good might come of reading of the New
Testament and following the same; and what evil might come of the reading
of the same if it were evil translated, and not followed; came into the
Star Chamber the five-and-twentieth day of May; and then communed with his
council and the prelates concerning the cause. And after long debating, it
was alleged that the translations of Tyndal and Joy were not truly
translated, and also that in them were prologues and prefaces that sounded
unto heresy, and railed against the bishops uncharitably. Wherefore all
such books were prohibited, and commandment given by the king to the
bishops, that they, calling to them the best learned men of the
universities, should cause a new translation to be made, so that the people
should not be ignorant of the law of God.--HALL, p. 771. And see WARHAM'S
_Register_ for the years 1529-1531. MS. Lambeth.
[293] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 15.
[294] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 78.
[295] _State Papers_, vol. vii. 457.
[296] Memoranda relating to the Clergy: _Rolls House MS._
[297] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 80.
[298] The King's Highness, having always tender eyes with mercy and pity
and compassion towards his spiritual subjects, minding of his high goodness
and great benignity so always to impart the same unto them, as justice
being duly administered, all rigour be excluded; and the great benevolent
minds of his said subjects [having been] largely and many times approved
towards his Highness, and specially in their Convocation and Synod now
presently being in the Chapter House of Westminster, his Highness, of his
said benignity and high liberality, in consideration that the said
Convocation has given and granted unto him a subsidy of one hundred
thousand pounds, is content to grant his general pardon to the clergy and
the province of Canterbury, for all offences against the statute and
premunire.--22 Hen. VIII. cap. 15.
[299] BURNET, vol. 1. p. 185.
[300] An instance is reported in the Chronicle of the Grey Friars ten years
previously. The punishment was the same as that which was statutably
enacted in the case of Rouse.
[301] HALL, p. 781.
[302] Most shocking when the _wrong persons_ were made the victims; and
because clerical officials were altogether incapable of detecting the
_right persons_, the memory of the practice has become abhorrent to all
just men. I suppose, however, that, if the _right persons_ could have been
detected, even the stake itself would not have been too tremendous a
penalty for the destroying of human souls.
[303] 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 10.
[304] See a very curious pamphlet on this subject, by SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE.
It is called _The Confessions of Richard Bishop, Robert Seymour, and Sir
Edward Neville, before the Privy Council, touching Prophecie, Necromancy,
and Treasure-trove_.
[305] Miscellaneous Depositions on the State Of the Country: _Rolls House
MS._
[306] See the Preamble of the Bill against conjurations, witchcraft,
sorceries, and enchantments.--33 Hen. VIII. cap. 8.
Also "the Bill touching Prophecies upon Arms and Badges."--33 Hen. VIII.
cap. 14.
A similar edict expelled the gipsies from Germany. At the Diet of Spires,
June 10, 1544.
Statutum est ne vagabundum hominum genus quos vulgo Saracenos vocant per
Germaniam oberrare sinatur _usu enim compertum est eos exploratores et
proditores esse.--State Papers_, vol. ix. p. 705.
[307] ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 101.
[308] Bulla pro Johanne Scot, qui sine cibo et potu per centum et sex dies
vixerat.--RYMER, vol. vi. part 2, p. 176.
[309] BUCHANAN, _History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 156.
[310] _Letter of Archbishop Cranmer._--ELLIS, second series, vol. ii. p.
314.
[311] _Statutes of the Realm._ 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.
[312] Extracts from a Narrative containing an Account of Elizabeth Barton:
_Rolls House MS._
[313] _Statutes of the Realm._
[314] _Rolls House MS._
[315] Ibid.
[316] _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 19.
[317] Ibid.
[318] Proceedings connected with Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._
[319] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.
[320] Ibid.
[321] Ibid.
[322] _Cranmer's Letter._ ELLIS, third series, vol. iii. p. 315.
[323] More to Cromwell: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 350.
[324] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.
[325] Confessions of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ Sir Thomas More
gave her a double ducat to pray for him and his. BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p.
352. Moryson, in his _Apomaxis_, declares that she had a regular
understanding with the confessors at the Priory. When penitents came to
confess, they were detained while a priest conveyed what they had
acknowledged to the Nun; and when afterwards they were admitted to her
presence, she amazed them with repeating their own confessions.
[326] The said Elizabeth subtilly and craftily conceiving the opinion and
mind of the said Edward Bocking, willing to please him, revealed and showed
unto the said Edward that God was highly displeased with our said sovereign
lord the king for this matter; and in case he desisted not from his
proceeding in the said divorce and separation, but pursued the same and
married again, that then within one month after such marriage, he should no
longer be king of this realm; and in the reputation of Almighty God he
should not be a king one day nor one hour, and that he should die a
villain's death. Saying further, that there was a root with three branches,
and till they were plucked up it should never be merry in England:
interpreting the root to be the late lord cardinal, and the first branch to
be the king our sovereign lord, the second the Duke of Norfolk, and the
third the Duke of Suffolk.--25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.
[327] Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ In the epitome of
the book of her Revelations it is stated that there was a story in it "of
an angel that appeared, and bade the Nun go unto the king, that infidel
prince of England, and say that I command him to amend his life, and that
he leave three things which he loveth and pondereth upon, _i.e._, that he
take none of the pope's right nor patrimony from him; the second that he
destroy all these new folks of opinion and the works of their new learning;
the third, that if he married and took Anne to wife, the vengeance of God
should plague him; and as she sayth she shewed this unto the king."--Paper
on the Nun of Kent: _MS. Cotton, Cleopatra_, E 4.
[328] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 137. Warham had promised to marry
Henry to Anne Boleyn. The Nun frightened him into a refusal by a pretended
message from an angel.--_MS._ ibid.
[329] The Nun hath practised with two of the pope's ambassadors within this
realm, and hath sent to the pope that if he did not do his duty in
reformation of kings, God would destroy him at a certain day which he had
appointed. By reason whereof it is supposed that the pope hath showed
himself so double and so deceivable to the King's Grace in his great cause
of marriage as he hath done, contrary to all truth, justice, and equity. As
likewise the late cardinal of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury,
being very well-minded to further and set at an end the marriage which the
King's Grace now enjoyeth, according to their spiritual duty, were
prevented by the false revelations of the said Nun. And that the said
Bishop of Canterbury was so minded may be proved by divers which knew then
his towardness.--Narrative of the Proceedings of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls
House MS._
[330] Note of the Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._
[331] HALL, p. 780.
[332] RYMER, vol. vi. p. 160. We are left to collateral evidence to fix the
place of this petition, the official transcriber having contented himself
with the substance, and omitted the date. The original, as appears from the
pope's reply (LORD HERBERT, p. 145), bore the date of July 13; and unless a
mistake was made in transcribing the papal brief, this was July, 1530. I
have ventured to assume a mistake, and to place the petition in the
following year, because the judgment of the universities, to which it
refers, was not completed till the winter of 1530; they were not read in
parliament till March 30, 1531; and it seems unlikely that a petition of so
great moment would have been presented on an incomplete case, or before the
additional support of the House of Commons had been secured. I am far from
satisfied, however, that I am right in making the change. The petition must
have been drawn up (though it need not have been presented) in 1530; since
it bears the signature of Wolsey, who died in the November of that year.
[333] Mademoiselle de Boleyn est venue; et l'a le Roy logée en fort beau
logis; et qu'il a faict bien accoustrer tout auprés du sien. Et luy est la
cour faicte ordinairement tous les jours plus grosse que de long temps elle
ne fut faicte a la Royne. Je crois bien qu'on veult accoutumer par les
petie ce peuple à l'endurer, afin que quand ivendra à donner les grands
coups, il ne les trouve si estrange. Toutefois il demeure tous jours
endurcy, et croy bien qu'il feroit plus qu'il ne faict si plus il avoit de
puissance; mais grand ordre se donne par tout.--Bishop of Bayonne to the
Grand Master: LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 231.
[334] HALL, p. 781.
[335] It seems to have been his favourite place of retirement. The gardens
and fishponds were peculiarly elaborate and beautiful.--Sir John Russell to
Cromwell: _MS. State Paper Office._
[336] Also it is a proverb of old date--"The pride of France, the treason
of England, and the war of Ireland, shall never have end." _State Papers_,
vol. ii. p. 11
[337] There was a secret ambassador with the Scots king from the emperour,
who had long communicated with the king alone in his privy chamber. And
after the ambassador's departure the king, coming out into his outer
chamber, said to his chancellor and the Earl Bothwell, "My lords, how much
are we bounden unto the emperour that in the matter concerning our style,
which so long he hath set about for our honour, that shall be by him
discussed on Easter day, and that we may lawfully write ourself Prince of
England and Duke of York." To which the chancellor said, "I pray God the
pope confirm the same." The Scots king answered, "Let the emperour
alone."--Earl of Northumberland to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, vol. iv. p.
599.
[338] HALL, p. 783.
[339] "The bishop was brought in desperation of his life."--_Rolls House
MS._, second series, 532. This paper confirms Hall's account in every
point.
[340] HALL, p. 796.
[341] BURNET, vol. iii. p. 115.
[342] Warham was however fined £300 for it.--HALL, 796. A letter of Richard
Tracy, son of the dead man, is in the _MS. State Paper Office_, first
series, vol. iv. He says the King's Majesty had committed the investigation
of the matter to Cromwell.
[343] LATIMER'S _Sermons_, p. 46.
[344] Cap. iii.
[345] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 1.
[346] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 9.
[347] Be it further enacted that no archbishop or bishop, official,
commissary, or any other minister, having spiritual jurisdiction, shall
ask, demand, or receive of any of the king's subjects any sum or sums of
money for the seal of any citizen, but only threepence sterling.--23 Hen.
VIII. cap. 9.
[348] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 10.--By a separate clause all covenants to defraud
the purposes of this act were declared void, and the act itself was to be
interpreted "as beneficially as might be, to the destruction and utter
avoiding of such uses, intents, and purposes."
[349] Annates or firstfruits were first suffered to be taken within the
realm for the only defence of Christian people against infidels; and now
they be claimed and demanded as mere duty only for lucre, against all right
and conscience.--23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
[350] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
[351] It hath happened many times by occasion of death unto archbishops or
bishops newly promoted within two or three years after their consecration,
that their friends by whom they have been holpen to make payment have been
utterly undone and impoverished.--23 Henry VIII. cap. 20.
[352] _M. de la Pomeroy to Cardinal Tournon._
"London, March 23, 1531-2.
"My Lord,--I sent two letters to your lordship on the 20th of this month.
Since that day Parliament has been prorogued, and will not meet again till
after Easter.
"It has been determined that the Pope's Holiness shall receive no more
annates, and the collectors' office is to be abolished. Everything is
turning against the Holy See, but the King has shown no little skill; the
Lords and Commons have left the final decision of the question at his
personal pleasure, and the Pope is to understand that, if he will do
nothing for the King, the King has the means of making him suffer. The
clergy in convocation have consented to nothing, nor will they, till they
know the pleasure of their master the Holy Father; but the other estates
being agreed, the refusal of the clergy is treated as of no consequence.
"Many other rights and privileges of the Church are abolished also, too
numerous to mention."--MS. Bibliot. Impér. Paris.
[353] STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. part 2, p. 158.
[354] Ibid.
[355] Sir George Throgmorton, Sir William Essex, Sir John Giffard, Sir
Marmaduke Constable, with many others, spoke and voted in opposition to the
government. They had a sort of club at the Queen's Head by Temple Bar,
where they held discussions in secret, "and when we did commence," said
Throgmorton, "we did bid the servants of the house go out, and likewise our
own servants, because we thought it not convenient that they should hear us
speak of such matters."--Throgmorton to the King: _MS. State Paper Office._
[356] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
[357] Printed in STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. p. 201. Strype, knowing
nothing of the first answer, and perceiving in the second an allusion to
one preceding, has supposed that this answer followed the third and last,
and was in fact a retractation of it. All obscurity is removed when the
three replies are arranged in their legitimate order.
[358] STRYPE, _Eccles. Mem._, vol. i. p. 199, etc.
[359] 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
[360] STOW, p. 562.
[361] "In connection with the Annates Act, the question of appeals to Rome
had been discussed in the present session. Sir George Throgmorton had
spoken on the papal side, and in his subsequent confession he mentioned a
remarkable interview which he had had with More.
"After I had reasoned to the Bill of Appeals," he said, "Sir Thomas More,
then being chancellor, sent for me to come and speak with him in the
parliament chamber. And when I came to him he was in a little chamber
within the parliament chamber, where, as I remember, stood an altar, or a
thing like unto an altar, whereupon he did lean and, as I do think, the
same time the Bishop of Bath was talking with him. And then he said this to
me, I am very glad to hear the good report that goeth of you, and that ye
be so good a Catholic man as ye be. And if ye do continue in the same way
that ye begin, and be not afraid to say your conscience, ye shall deserve
great reward of God, and thanks of the King's Grace at length, and much
worship to yourself."--Throgmorton to the King: _MS. State Paper Office_.
[362] In part of it he speaks in his own person. Vide supra, cap. 3.
[363] BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 435.
[364] Note of the Revelations of Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._
[365] It has been thought that the Tudor princes and their ministers
carried out the spy system to an iniquitous extent,--that it was the great
instrument of their Machiavellian policy, introduced by Cromwell, and
afterwards developed by Cecil and Walsingham. That both Cromwell and
Walsingham availed themselves of secret information, is unquestionable,--as
I think it is also unquestionable that they would have betrayed the
interests of their country if they had neglected to do so. Nothing, in
fact, except their skill in fighting treason with its own weapons, saved
England from a repetition of the wars of the Roses, envenomed with the
additional fury of religious fanaticism. But the agents of Cromwell, at
least, were all volunteers;--their services were rather checked than
encouraged; and when I am told, by high authority, that in those times an
accusation was equivalent to a sentence of death, I am compelled to lay so
sweeping a charge of injustice by the side of a document which forces me to
demur to it. "In the reign of the Tudors," says a very eminent writer, "the
committal, arraignment, conviction, and execution of any state prisoner,
accused or _suspected, or under suspicion of being suspected_ of high
treason, were only the regular terms in the series of judicial
proceedings." This is scarcely to be reconciled with the 10th of the 37th
of Hen. VIII., which shows no desire to welcome accusations, or exaggerated
readiness to listen to them.
"Whereas," says that Act, "divers malicious and evil disposed persons of
their perverse, cruel, and malicious intents, minding the utter undoing of
some persons to whom they have and do bear malice, hatred, and evil will,
have of late most devilishly practised and devised divers writings, wherein
hath been comprised that the same persons to whom they bear malice should
speak traitorous words against the King's Majesty, his crown and dignity,
or commit divers heinous and detestable treasons against the King's
Highness, where, in very deed, the persons so accused never spake nor
committed any such offence; by reason whereof divers of the king's true,
faithful, and loving subjects have been put in fear and dread of their
lives and of the loss and forfeiture of their lands and chattels--for
reformation hereof, be it enacted, that if any person or persons, of what
estate, degree, or condition he or they shall be, shall at any time
hereafter devise, make, or write, or cause to be made any manner of writing
comprising that any person has spoken, committed, or done any offence or
offences which now by the laws of this realm be made treason, or that
hereafter shall be made treason, and do not subscribe, or cause to be
subscribed, his true name to the said writing, and within twelve days next
after ensuing do not personally come before the king or his council, and
affirm the contents of the said writings to be true, and do as much as in
him shall be for the approvement of the same, that then all and every
person or persons offending as aforesaid, shall be deemed and adjudged a
felon or felons; and being lawfully convicted of such offence, after the
laws of the realm, shall suffer pains of death and loss and forfeiture of
lands, goods, and chattels, without benefit of clergy or privilege of
sanctuary to be admitted or allowed in that behalf."
[366] Accusation brought by Robert Wodehouse, Prior of Whitby, against the
Abbot, for slanderous words against Anne Boleyn: _Rolls House MS._
[367] Deposition of Robert Legate concerning the Language of the Monks of
Furness: _Rolls House MS._
[368] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 254.
[369] Father Forest hath laboured divers manner of ways to expulse Father
Laurence out of the convent, and his chief cause is, because he knoweth
that Father Laurence will preach the king's matter whensoever it shall
please his Grace to command him.--Ibid. p. 250.
[370] Ibid. p. 251.
[371] Lyst to Cromwell. Ibid. p. 255. STRYPE, _Eccles. Memor._, vol. i.
Appendix, No. 47.
[372] STOW'S _Annals_, p. 562. This expression passed into a proverb,
although the words were first spoken by a poor friar; they were the last
which the good Sir Humfrey Gilbert was heard to utter before his ship went
down.
[373] Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers,_ vol. vii. p. 489-90. "I learn
that this book was first drawn by the Bishop of Rochester, and so being
drawn, was by the said bishop afterwards delivered in England to two
Spaniards, being secular and laymen. They receiving his first draught,
either by themselves or some other Spaniards, altered and perfinished the
same into the form that it now is; Peto and one Friar Elstowe of
Canterbury, being the only men that have and do take upon themselves to be
conveyers of the same books into England, and conveyers of all other things
into and out of England. If privy search be made, and shortly, peradventure
in the house of the same bishop shall be found his first copy. Master More
hath sent oftentimes and lately books unto Peto, in Antwerp--as his book of
the confutation of Tyndal, and of Frith's opinion of the sacrament, with
divers other books. I can no further learn of More's practices, but if you
consider this well, you may perchance espy his craft. Peto laboureth
busylier than a bee in the setting forth of this book. He never ceaseth
running to and from the court here. The king never had in his realm
traitors like his friars--[Vaughan wrote "clergy." The word in the original
is dashed through, and "friars" is substituted, whether by Cromwell or by
himself in an afterthought, I do not know]--and so I have always said, and
yet do. Let his Grace look well about him, for they seek to devour him.
They have blinded his Grace."
[374] ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 262, etc.
[375] The wishes of the French Court had been expressed emphatically to
Clement in the preceding January. Original copies of the two following
letters are in the Bibliothèque Impérial at Paris:--
_The Cardinal of Lorraine to Cardinal ---- at Rome._
"Paris, Jan. 8, 1531-2.
"RIGHT REVEREND FATHER AND LORD IN CHRIST.--After our most humble
commendations--The King of England complains loudly that his cause is not
remanded into his own country; he says that it cannot be equitably dealt
with at Rome, where he cannot be present. He himself, the Queen, and the
other witnesses, are not to be dragged into Italy to give their evidence;
and the suits of the Sovereigns of England and France have always hitherto
been determined in their respective countries.
"Nevertheless, by no entreaty can we prevail on the Pope to nominate
impartial judges who will decide the question in England.
"The King's personal indignation is not the only evil which has to be
feared. When these proceedings are known among the people, there will,
perhaps, be a revolt, and the Apostolic See may receive an injury which
will not afterwards be easily remedied.
"I have explained these things more at length to his Holiness, as my duty
requires. Your affection towards him, my lord, I am assured is no less than
mine. I beseech you, therefore, use your best endeavours with his Holiness,
that the King of England may no longer have occasion to exclaim against
him. In so doing you will gratify the Most Christian King, and you will
follow the course most honourable to yourself and most favourable to the
quiet of Christendom.
"From Abbeville."
_Francis the First to Pope Clement the Seventh._
"Paris, Jan. 10, 1531-2.
"MOST HOLY FATHER,--You are not ignorant what our good brother and ally the
King of England demands at your hands. He requires that the cognisance of
his marriage be remanded to his own realm, and that he be no further
pressed to pursue the process at Rome. The place is inconvenient from its
distance, and there are other good and reasonable objections which he
assures us that he has urged upon your Holiness's consideration.
"Most Holy Father, we have written several times to you, especially of late
from St. Cloud, and afterwards from Chantilly, in our good brother's
behalf; and we have further entreated you, through our ambassador residing
at your Court, to put an end to this business as nearly according to the
wishes of our said good brother as is compatible with the honour of
Almighty God. We have made this request of you as well for the affection
and close alliance which exist between ourselves and our brother, as for
the filial love and duty with which we both in common regard your Holiness.
"Seeing, nevertheless, Most Holy Father, that the affair in question is
still far from settlement, and knowing our good brother to be displeased
and dissatisfied, we fear that some great scandal and inconvenience may
arise at last which may cause the diminution of your Holiness's authority.
There is no longer that ready obedience to the Holy See in England which
was offered to your predecessors; and yet your Holiness persists in citing
my good brother the King of England to plead his cause before you in Rome.
Surely it is not without cause that he calls such treatment of him
unreasonable. We have ourselves examined into the law in this matter, and
we are assured that your Holiness's claim is unjust and contrary to the
privilege of kings. For a sovereign to leave his realm and plead as a
suitor in Rome, is a thing wholly impossible,[377] and therefore, Holy
Father, we have thought good to address you once more in this matter. Bear
with us, we entreat you. Consider our words, and recall to your memory what
by letter and through our ministers we have urged upon you. Look promptly
to our brother's matter, and so act that your Holiness may be seen to value
and esteem our friendship. What you do for him, or what you do against him,
we shall take it as done to ourselves.
"Holy Father, we will pray the Son of God to pardon and long preserve your
Holiness to rule and govern our Holy Mother the Church.--FRANCIS."
[376] _State Papers_, vol. vii. p. 428. LEGRAND, vol. iii.
[377] Chose beaucoup plus impossible que possible.
[378] LORD HERBERT, p. 160. RYMER, vol. vi. part ii. p. 171.
[379] Francis seems to have desired that the intention of the interview
should be kept secret. Henry found this impossible. "Monseigneur," wrote
the Bishop of Paris to the Grand Master, "quant à tenir la chose secrette
comme vous le demandez, il est mal aisé; combien que ce Roy fust bien de
cest advis, sinon qu'il le treuve impossible; car a cause de ces provisions
et choses, qu'il fault faire en ce Royaulme, incontinent sera sceu a
Londres, et de la par tout le monde. Pourquoy ne faictes vostre compte
qu'on le puisse tenir secret.
"Monseigneur, je sçay veritablement et de bon lieu que le plus grant
plaisir que le Roy pourroit faire au Roy son frere et a Madame Anne, c'est
que le dit seigneur m'escripre que je requiere le Roy son dit frere qu'il
veuille mener la dicte Dame Anne avec luy a Callais pour la veoir et pour
la festoyer, afin qu'ils ne demeurrent ensembles sans compagnie de dames,
pour ce que les bonnes cheres en sont tous jours meilleures: mais il
fauldroit que en pareil le Roy menast la Royne de Navarre à Boulogne, pour
festoyer le Roy d'Angleterre.
"Quant à la Royne pour rien ce Roy ne vouldroit qu'elle vint: Il häit cest
habillement à l'Espagnolle, tant qu'il luy semble veoir un diable. Il
desireroit qu'il pleust au Roy mener à Boulogne, messeigneurs ses enfans
pour les veoir.
"Surtout je vous prie que vous ostez de la court deux sortes de gens, ceulx
qui sont imperiaulx, s'aucuns en y a, et ceux qui ont la reputation d'estre
mocqueurs et gaudisseurs, car c'est bien la chose en ce monde autant häie
de ceste nation."--Bishop of Paris to the Grand Master: LEGRAND, vol. iii.
pp. 555, 556.
[380] Sir Gregory Cassalis to Henry VIII.: BURNET'S _Collectanea_, p. 433.
Valde existimabam necessarium cum hoc Principe (_i.e._, Francis) agere ut
duobus Cardinalibus daret in mandatis ut ante omnes Cardinalis de Monte
meminissent, eique pensionem annuam saltem trium millium aureorum ex
quadraginta millibus quæ mihi dixerat velle in Cardinales distribuere,
assignaret. Et Rex quidem hæc etiam scribi ad duos Cardinales jussit
secretario Vitandri. Quicum ego postmodo super iis pensionibus sermonem
habui, cognovique sic in animo Regem habere ut duo Cardinales cum Romæ
fuerint, videant, qui potissimum digni hâc Regiâ sint liberalitate; in
eosque quum quid in Regno Galliæ ecclesiasticum vacare contigerit ex
meritis uniuscujusque pensiones conferantur. Tunc autem nihil in promptu
haberi quod Cardinali de Monte dari possit--verum Regio nomine illi de
futuro esse promittendum quod mihi certe summopere displicuit; et
secretario Vitandri non reticui ostendens pollicitationes hujusmodi centies
jam Cardinali de Monte factas fuisse; et modo si iterum fiant nihil
effecturas nisi ut illius viri quasi ulcera pertractent; id quod Vitandris
verum esse fatebatur pollicitusque est se, quum Rex a venatu rediisset
velle ei suadere ut Cardinalem de Monte aliquâ presenti pensione
prosequatur; quâ quidem tibi nihil conducibilius aut opportunius fieri
possit.
[381] _State Papers_, vol. iv. p. 612.
[382] Ibid, p. 616.
[383] The _State Papers_ contain a piteous picture of this business, the
hereditary feuds of centuries bursting out on the first symptoms of
ill-will between the two governments, with fire and devastation.--_State
Papers_, vol. iv. p. 620-644.