While the government were prosecuting these inquiries at home, the law

at the Vatican had run its course; November passed, and as no submission

had arrived, the sentence of the 12th of July came into force, and the

king, the queen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury were declared to have

incurred the threatened censures.

[Sidenote: Measures of the Council.]

[Sidenote: Renewed suggestion of a Protestant league.]

The privy council met on the 2d of December, and was determined in

consequence that copies of the "Act of Appeals," and of the king's

"provocation" to a general council, should be fixed without delay on

every church-door in England. Protests were at the same time to be drawn

up and sent into Flanders, and to the other courts in Europe, "to the

intent the falsehood and injustice of the Bishop of Rome might appear to

all the world." The defences of the country were to be looked to; and

"spies" to be sent into Scotland to see "what they intended there," "and

whether they would confeder themselves with any outward princes."

Finally, it was proposed that the attempt to form an alliance with the

Lutheran powers should be renewed on a larger scale; that certain

discreet and grave persons should be appointed to conclude "some league

or amity with the princes of Germany,"--"that is to say, the King of

Poland, the King of Hungary,[222] the Duke of Saxony, the Duke of

Bavaria, the Duke of Brandenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, and other

potentates."[223] Vaughan's mission had been merely tentative, and had

failed. Yet the offer of a league, offensive and defensive, the

immediate and avowed object of which was a general council at which the

Protestants should be represented, might easily succeed where vague

offers of amity had come to nothing. The formation of a Protestant

alliance, however, would have been equivalent to a declaration of war

against Catholic Europe; and it was a step which could not be taken,

consistently with the Treaty of Calais, without first communicating with

Francis.

[Sidenote: The King writes to Francis, menacing him with this

expedient.]

[Sidenote: December 2.]

[Sidenote: A Protestant alliance highly desirable to put an end to the

usurpation of the pope.]

[Sidenote: He will not act, however, without first consulting his good

brother.]

Henry, therefore, by the advice of the council, wrote a despatch to Sir

John Wallop, the ambassador at Paris, which was to be laid before the

French court. He explained the circumstances in which he was placed,

with the suggestion which the council had made to him. He gave a list of

the princes with whom he had been desired by his ministers to connect

himself,--and the object was nothing less than a coalition of Northern

Europe. He recapitulated the injuries which he had received from the

pope, who at length was studying "to subvert the rest and peace of the

realm "; "yea, and so much as in him was, utterly to destroy the same."

The nobles and council, he said, for their own sake as well as for the

sake of the kingdom, had entreated him to put an end, once for all, to

the pope's usurpation; and to invite the Protestant princes, for the

universal weal of Christendom, to unite in a common alliance. In his

present situation he was inclined to act upon this advice. "As

concerning his own realm, he had already taken such order with his

nobles and subjects, as he would shortly be able to give to the pope

such a buffet as he never had heretofore; "but as a German alliance was

a matter of great weight and importance, "although," he concluded, "we

consider it to be right expedient to set forth the same with all

diligence, yet we intend nothing to do therein without making our good

brother first privy thereunto. And for this cause and consideration

only, you may say that we have at this time addressed these letters unto

you, commanding you to declare our said purpose unto our good brother,

and to require of him on our behalf his good address and best advice. Of

his answer we require you to advertise us with all diligence, for

according thereunto we intend to attemper our proceedings. We have

lately had advertisements how that our said good brother should, by the

labour of divers affectionate Papists, be minded to set forth something

with his clergy in advancement of the pope and his desires. This we

cannot believe that he will do."[224]

[Sidenote: Meaning of this letter. He will join Germany sooner than

yield to the pope, but he trusts that Francis will not drive him to it.]

The meaning of this letter lies upon the surface. If the European powers

were determined to leave him no alternative, the king was prepared to

ally himself with the Lutherans. But however he might profess to desire

that alliance, it was evident that he would prefer, if possible, a less

extreme resource. The pope had ceased to be an object of concern to him;

but he could not contemplate, without extreme unwillingness, a

separation from the orderly governments who professed the Catholic

faith. The pope had injured him; Francis had deceived him; they had

tempted his patience because they knew his disposition. The limit of

endurance had been reached at length; yet, on the verge of the

concluding rupture, he turned once more, as if to offer a last

opportunity of peace.

[Sidenote: Mission of the Bishop of Paris to England.]

The reply of Francis was an immediate mission of the Bishop of Bayonne

(now Bishop of Paris), first into England, and from England to Rome,

where he was to endeavour, to the best of his ability, to seam together

the already gaping rent in the church with fair words--a hopeless

task--the results of which, however, were unexpectedly considerable, as

will be presently seen.

[Sidenote: Threatening attitude of the Court of Brussels.]

[Sidenote: The English ambassador requests the queen-regent to forbid

the publication of the papal censures in Flanders. She refuses.]

[Sidenote: December 15.]

[Sidenote: December 23.]

[Sidenote: Proposal to make Catherine or Mary Regent of the

Netherlands.]

[Sidenote: Charles waiting upon events.]

Meanwhile, on the side of Flanders, the atmosphere was dubious and

menacing. The refugee friars, who were reported to be well supplied with

money from England, were labouring to exasperate the people, Father Peto

especially distinguishing himself upon this service.[225] The English

ambassador, Sir John Hacket, still remained at Brussels, and the two

governments were formally at peace; but when Hacket required the

queen-regent to forbid the publication of the brief of July in the

Netherlands, he was met with a positive refusal. "M. Ambassador," she

said, "the Emperor, the King of Hungary, the Queen of France, the King

of Portugal, and I, understand what are the rights of our aunt--our duty

is to her--and such letters of the pope as come hither in her favour we

shall obey. Your master has no right to complain either of the emperor

or of myself, if we support our aunt in a just cause."[226] At the same

time, formal complaints were made by Charles of the personal treatment

of Queen Catherine, and the clouds appeared to be gathering for a storm.

Yet here, too, there was an evident shrinking from extremities. A Welsh

gentleman had been at Brussels to offer his services against Henry, and

had met with apparent coldness. Sir John Hacket wrote, on the 15th of

December, that he was assured by well-informed persons, that so long as

Charles lived, he would never be the first to begin a war with England,

"which would rebound to the destruction of the Low Countries."[227] A

week later, when the queen-regent was suffering from an alarming

illness, he said it was reported that, should she die, Catherine or

Mary, if either of them was allowed to leave England, would be held

"meet to have governance of the Low Countries."[228] This was a generous

step, if the emperor seriously contemplated it. The failure of the Nun

of Kent had perhaps taught him that there was no present prospect of a

successful insurrection. In his conduct towards England, he was

seemingly governing himself by the prospect which might open for a

successful attack upon it. If occasion offered to strike the government

in connexion with an efficient Catholic party in the nation itself, he

would not fail to avail himself of it.[229] Otherwise, he would perhaps

content himself with an attitude of inactive menace; unless menaced

himself by a Protestant confederation.

[Sidenote: January 15. Meeting of parliament.]

Amidst these uneasy symptoms at home and abroad, parliament reassembled

on the 15th of January. It was a changed England since these men first

came together on the fall of Wolsey. Session after session had been

spent in clipping the roots of the old tree which had overshadowed them

for centuries. On their present meeting they were to finish their work,

and lay it prostrate for ever. Negotiations were still pending with the

See of Rome, and this momentous session had closed before the final

catastrophe. The measures which were passed in the course of it are not,

therefore, to be looked upon as adopted hastily, in a spirit of

retaliation, but as the consistent accomplishment of a course which had

been deliberately adopted, to reverse the positions of the civil and

spiritual authority within the realm, and to withdraw the realm itself

from all dependence on a foreign power.

The Annates and Firstfruits' Bill had not yet received the royal assent;

but the pope had refused to grant the bulls for bishops recently

appointed, and he was no longer to receive payment for services which he

refused to render. Peter's pence were still paid, and might continue to

be paid, if the pope would recollect himself; but, like the Sibyl of

Cuma, Henry destroyed some fresh privilege with each delay of justice,

demanding the same price for the preservation of what remained. The

secondary streams of tribute now only remained to the Roman See; and

communion with the English church, which it was for Clement to accept or

refuse.

[Sidenote: Opening business of the session.]

[Sidenote: Perils of the Reformation.]

The circumstances under which the session opened were, however, grave

and saddening. Simultaneously with the concluding legislation on the

church, the succession to the throne was to be determined in terms which

might, perhaps, be accepted as a declaration of war by the emperor; and

the affair of the Nun of Kent had rendered necessary an inquiry into the

conduct of honoured members of the two Houses, who were lying under the

shadow of high treason. The conditions were for the first time to be

plainly seen under which the Reformation was to fight its way. The road

which lay before it was beset not merely with external obstacles, which

a strong will and a strong hand could crush, but with the phantoms of

dying faiths, which haunted the hearts of all living men; the

superstitions, the prejudices, the hopes, the fears, the passions, which

swayed stormily and fitfully through the minds of every actor in the

great drama.

[Sidenote: Cromwell only sees his way clearly.]

The uniformity of action in the parliament of 1529, during the seven

years which it continued, is due to the one man who saw his way

distinctly, Thomas Cromwell. The nation was substantially united on the

divorce question, could the divorce be secured without a rupture with

the European powers. It was united also on the necessity of limiting the

jurisdiction of the clergy, and cutting short the powers of the

consistory courts. But in questions of "opinion" there was the most

sensitive jealousy; and from the combined instincts of prejudice and

conservatism, the majority of the country in a count of heads would

undoubtedly have been against a separation from Rome.

[Sidenote: Struggle in Henry's mind between light and darkness.]

[Sidenote: Danger of reaction.]

[Sidenote: Peculiarity of Cromwell's genius.]

The clergy professed to approve the acts of the government, but it was

for the most part with the unwilling acquiescence of men who were

without courage to refuse. The king was divided against himself. Nine

days in ten he was the clear-headed, energetic, powerful statesman; on,

the tenth he was looking wistfully to the superstition which he had

left, and the clear sunshine was darkened with theological clouds, which

broke in lightning and persecution. Thus there was danger at any moment

of a reaction, unless opportunity was taken at the flood, unless the

work was executed too completely to admit of reconsideration, and the

nation committed to a course from which it was impossible to recede. The

action of the conservatives was paralysed for the time by the want of a

fixed purpose. The various parts of the movement were so skilfully

linked together, that partial opposition to it was impossible; and so

long as the people had to choose between the pope and the king, their

loyalty would not allow them to hesitate. But very few men actively

adhered to Cromwell. Cromwell had struck the line on which the forces

of nature were truly moving,--the resultant, not of the victory of

either of the extreme parties, but of the joint action of their opposing

forces. To him belonged the rare privilege of genius, to see what other

men could not see; and therefore he was condemned to rule a generation

which hated him, to do the will of God, and to perish in his success. He

had no party. By the nobles he was regarded with the same mixed contempt

and fear which had been felt for Wolsey. The Protestants, perhaps, knew

what he was, but he could only purchase their toleration by himself

checking their extravagance. Latimer was the only person of real power

on whose friendship he could calculate, and Latimer was too plain-spoken

on dangerous questions to be useful as a political supporter.

The session commenced on the 15th of January.

[Sidenote: The clergy make their final submission.]

[Sidenote: Mixed Commission, intended for the revision of the Canon

law.]

The first step was to receive the final submission of convocation. The

undignified resistance was at last over, and the clergy had promised to

abstain for the future from unlicensed legislation. To secure their

adherence to their engagements, an act[230] was passed to make the

breach of that engagement penal; and a commission of thirty-two persons,

half of whom were to be laymen, was designed for the revision of the

Canon law.[231]

[Sidenote: Reform in the law for the prosecution of heretics.]

The next most important movement was to assimilate the trials for heresy

with the trials for other criminal offences. I have already explained at

length the manner in which the bishops abused their judicial powers.

These powers were not absolutely taken away, but ecclesiastics were no

longer permitted to arrest _ex officio_ and examine at their pleasure.

Where a charge of heresy was to be brought against a man, presentments

were to be made by lawful witnesses before justices of the peace; and

then, and not otherwise, he might fall under the authority of the

"ordinary." Secret examinations were declared illegal. The offender was

to be tried in open court, and, previous to his trial, had a right to be

admitted to bail, unless the bishop could show cause to the contrary to

the satisfaction of two magistrates.[232]

This was but a slight instalment of lenity; but it was an indication of

the turning tide. Limited as it was, the act operated as an effective

check upon persecution till the passing of the Six Articles Bill.

[Sidenote: The Annates Act having received the royal assent,]

[Sidenote: An alteration is necessary in the mode of electing bishops.]

[Sidenote: The Chapters had gradually lost the privileges granted to

them by the Great Charter.]

[Sidenote: The nomination had virtually rested with the crown.]

[Sidenote: Difficulty of re-arrangement. The _conge d'elire_.]

Turning next to the relations between England and Rome, the parliament

reviewed the Annates Act,[233] which had been left unratified in the

hope that the pope might have consented to a compromise, and that "by

some gentle ways the said exaction might have been redressed and

reformed." The expectation had been disappointed. The pope had not

condescended to reply to the communication which had been made to him,

and the act had in consequence received the royal assent. An alteration

had thus become necessary in the manner of presentation to vacant

bishoprics. The anomalies of the existing practice have been already

described. By the Great Charter the chapters had acquired the right of

free election. A _conge d'elire_ was granted by the king on the

occurrence of a vacancy, with no attempt at a nomination. The chapters

were supposed to make their choice freely, and the name of the

bishop-elect was forwarded to the pope, who returned the Pallium and the

Bulls, receiving the Annates in exchange. The pope's part in the matter

was now terminated. No Annates would be sent any longer to Rome, and no

Bulls would be returned from Rome. The appointments lay between the

chapters and the crown; and it might have seemed, at first sight, as if

it would have been sufficient to omit the reference to the papacy, and

as if the remaining forms might continue as they were. The chapters,

however, had virtually long ceased to elect freely; the crown had

absorbed the entire functions of presentation, sometimes appointing

foreigners,[234] sometimes allowing the great ecclesiastical ministers

to nominate themselves;[235] while the rights of the chapters, though

existing in theory, were not officially recognised either by the pope or

by the crown. The king affected to accept the names of the

prelates-elect, when returned to him from Rome, as nominations by the

pope; and the pope, in communicating with the chapters, presented them

with their bishops as from himself.[236] The papal share in the matter

was a shadow, but it was acknowledged under the forms of courtesy; the

share of the chapters was wholly and absolutely ignored. The crisis of a

revolution was not the moment at which their legal privileges could be

safely restored to them. The problem of re-arrangement was a difficult

one, and it was met in a manner peculiarly English. The practice of

granting the _conge d'elire_ to the chapters on the occurrence of a

vacancy, which had fallen into desuetude, was again adopted, and the

church resumed the forms of liberty: but the licence to elect a bishop

was to be accompanied with the name of the person whom the chapter was

required to elect; and if within twelve days the person so named had not

been chosen, the nomination of the crown was to become absolute, and the

chapter would incur a Premunire.[237]

[Sidenote: Peter's Pence and other forms of tribute paid to Rome

abolished.]

[Sidenote: Conditional abolition of the papal authority in England.]

[Sidenote: Three months allowed to the pope to decide.]

This act, which I conceive to have been more arbitrary in form than in

intention, was followed by a closing attack upon the remaining

"exactions" of the Bishop of Rome. The Annates were gone. There were yet

to go, "Pensions, Censes, Peter's Pence, Procurations, Fruits, Suits for

Provision, Delegacies and Rescripts in causes of Contention and Appeals,

Jurisdictions legatine--also Dispensations, Licenses, Faculties, Grants,

Relaxations, Writs called Perinde valere, Rehabilitations, Abolitions,"

with other unnamed (the parliament being wearied of naming them)

"infinite sorts of Rules, Briefs, and instruments of sundry natures,

names, and kinds." All these were perennially open sluices, which had

drained England of its wealth for centuries, returning only in showers

of paper; and the Commons were determined that streams so unremunerative

should flow no longer. They conceived that they had been all along

imposed upon, and that the "Bishop of Rome was to be blamed for having

allured and beguiled the English nation, persuading them that he had

power to dispense with human laws, uses, and customs, contrary to right

and conscience." If the king so pleased, therefore, they would not be so

beguiled any more. These and all similar exactions should cease; and all

powers claimed by the Bishop of Rome within the realm should cease, and

should be transferred to the crown. At the same time they would not

press upon the pope too hardly; they would repeat the same conditions

which they had offered with the Annates. He had received these revenues

as the supreme judge in the highest court in Europe, and he might retain

his revenues or receive compensation for them, if he dared to be just.

It was for himself to resolve, and three months allowed for a final

decision.

[Sidenote: The Commons make a general declaration that in separating

from the pope, they are not separating from the unity of the faith.]

In conclusion, the Commons thought it well to assert that they were

separating, not from the church of Christ, but only from the papacy. A

judge who allowed himself to be overawed against his conscience by a

secular power, could not any longer be recognised; but no thing or

things contained in the act should be afterwards "interpreted or

expounded, that his Grace (the king), his nobles and subjects, intended

by the same to decline or vary from the congregation of Christ's church

in anything concerning the articles of the Catholic faith of

Christendom, or in any other things declared by the Holy Scripture and

the Word of God necessary for salvation; but only to make an ordinance,

by policies necessary and convenient, to repress vice, and for the good

conservation of the realm in peace, unity, and tranquillity, from ravin

and spoil--ensuing much the old antient customs of the realm in that

behalf."[238]

[Sidenote: February 18.]

[Sidenote: Bill of attainder against the Nun of Kent and her

accomplices.]

The most arduous business was thus finished--the most painful remained.

The Nun of Kent and her accomplices were to be proceeded against by act

of parliament; and the bill of their attainder was presented for the

first time in the House of Lords, on the 18th of February. The offence

of the principal conspirators was plainly high treason; their own

confessions removed uncertainty; the guilt was clear--the sentence was

inevitable. But the fault of those who had been listeners only was less

easy of measurement, and might vary from comparative innocence to a

definite breach of allegiance.

[Sidenote: The Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas More]

The government were unwilling to press with severity on the noble lords

and ladies whose names had been unexpectedly brought to light; and there

were two men of high rank only, whose complicity it was thought

necessary to notice. The Bishop of Rochester's connexion with the Nun

had been culpably encouraging; and the responsibility of Sir Thomas More

was held also to be very great in having countenanced, however lightly,

such perilous schemers.

[Sidenote: Declared in the first reading of the bill guilty of

misprision of treason.]

[Sidenote: Private communications are made to them by Cromwell that the

king will accept their apology.]

In the bill, therefore, as it was first read, More and Fisher found

themselves declared guilty of misprision of treason. But the object of

this measure was rather to warn than to punish, nor was there any real

intention of continuing their prosecution. Cromwell, under instructions

from the king, had communicated privately with both of them. He had sent

a message to Fisher through his brother, telling him that he had only to

ask for forgiveness to receive it;[239] and he had begged More through

his son-in-law, Mr. Roper, to furnish him with an explicit account of

what had passed at any time between himself and the Nun,[240] with an

intimation that, if honestly made, it would be accepted in his favour.

[Sidenote: Sir Thomas More complies elaborately and reasonably.]

[Sidenote: More is pardoned.]

These advances were met by More in the spirit in which they were

offered. He heartily thanked Cromwell, "reckoning himself right deeply

beholden to him;"[241] and replied with a long, minute, and evidently

veracious story, detailing an interview which he had held with the woman

in the chapel of Sion Monastery. He sent at the same time a copy of a

letter which he had written to her, and described various conversations

with the friars who were concerned in the forgery. He did not deny that

he had believed the Nun to have been inspired, or that he had heard of

the language which she was in the habit of using respecting the king. He

protested, however, that he had himself never entertained a treasonable

thought. He told Cromwell that "he had done a very meritorious deed in

bringing forth to light such detestable hypocrisy, whereby every other

wretch might take warning, and be feared to set forth their devilish

dissembled falsehoods under the manner and colour of the wonderful work

of God."[242] More's offence had not been great. His acknowledgments

were open and unreserved; and Cromwell laid his letter before the king,

adding his own intercession that the matter might be passed over. Henry

consented, expressing only his grief and concern that Sir Thomas More

should have acted so unwisely.[243] He required, nevertheless, as

Cromwell suggested, that a formal letter should be written, with a

confession of fault, and a request for forgiveness. More obeyed; he

wrote, gracefully reminding the king of a promise when he resigned the

chancellorship, that in any suit which he might afterwards have to his

Grace, either touching his honour or his profit, he should find his

Highness his good and gracious lord.[244] Henry acknowledged his claim;

his name was struck out of the bill, and the prosecution against him was

dropped.

[Sidenote: Fisher is obstinate. His fault had been deeper than More's;

yet he undertakes to defend it.]

[Sidenote: Folly of his position;]

Fisher's conduct was very different; his fault had been far greater than

More's, and promises more explicit had been held out to him of

forgiveness. He replied to these promises by an elaborate and ridiculous

defence,--not writing to the king, as Cromwell desired him, but

vindicating himself as having committed no fault; although he had

listened eagerly to language which was only pardonable on the assumption

that it was inspired, and had encouraged a nest of fanatics by his

childish credulity. The Nun "had showed him not," he said, "that any

prince or temporal lord should put the king in danger of his crown." He

knew nothing of the intended insurrection. He believed the woman to have

been a saint; he supposed that she had herself told the king all which

she had told to him; and therefore he said that he had nothing for which

to reproach himself.[245] He was unable to see that the exposure of the

imposture had imparted a fresh character to his conduct, which he was

bound to regret. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had lent his countenance

to a conspiracy; and so long as he refused to acknowledge his

indiscretion, the government necessarily would interpret his actions in

the manner least to his advantage.

[Sidenote: Which Cromwell exposes,]

[Sidenote: And once more urges him to apologize.]

If he desired that his conduct should be forgotten, it was indispensable

that he should change his attitude, and so Cromwell warned him. "Ye

desire," the latter wrote, "for the passion of Christ, that ye be no

more quickened in this matter; for if ye be put to that strait ye will

not lose your soul, but ye will speak as your conscience leadeth you;

with many more words of great courage. My Lord, if ye had taken my

counsel sent unto you by your brother, and followed the same, submitting

yourself by your letter to the King's Grace for your offences in this

behalf, I would have trusted that ye should never be quickened in the

matter more. But now where ye take upon you to defy the whole matter as

ye were in no default, I cannot so far promise you. Wherefore, my Lord,

I would eftsoons advise you that, laying apart all such excuses as ye

have alleged in your letters, which in my opinion be of small effect, ye

beseech the King's Grace to be your gracious lord, and to remit unto you

your negligence, oversight, and offence committed against his Highness

in this behalf; and I dare undertake that his Highness shall benignly

accept you into his gracious favour, all matter of displeasure past

afore this time forgotten and forgiven."[246]

[Sidenote: Fisher again refuses, and sends in his defence to the House

of Lords.]

Fisher must have been a hopelessly impracticable person. Instead of

following More's example, and accepting well-meant advice, he persisted

in the same tone, and drew up an address to the House of Lords, in which

he repeated the defence which he had made to Cromwell. He expressed no

sorrow that he had been engaged in a criminal intrigue, no pleasure that

the intrigue had been discovered; and he doggedly adhered to his

assertions of his own innocence.[247]

[Sidenote: March 6. The bill passes.]

[Sidenote: The Nun and the monks to be executed. The Bishop of Rochester

and Father Abel to be imprisoned with forfeiture of goods.]

There was nothing to be done except to proceed with his attainder. The

bill passed three readings, and the various prisoners were summoned to

the Star Chamber to be heard in arrest of judgment. The Bishop of

Rochester's attendance was dispensed with on the ground of illness, and

because he had made his defence in writing.[248] Nothing of consequence

was urged by either of the accused. The bill was most explicit in its

details, going carefully through the history of the imposture, and

dwelling on the separate acts of each offender. They were able to

disprove no one of its clauses, and on the 12th of March it was read a

last time. On the 21st it received the royal assent, and there remained

only to execute the sentence. The Nun herself, Richard Masters, and the

five friars being found guilty of high treason, were to die; the Bishop

of Rochester, Father Abel, Queen Catherine's confessor, and four more,

were sentenced for misprision of treason to forfeiture of goods and

imprisonment. All other persons implicated, whose names did not appear,

were declared pardoned at the intercession of Queen Anne.[249]

[Sidenote: April 21.]

The chief offenders suffered at Tyburn on the 21st of April, meeting

death calmly, as it appears; receiving a fate most necessary and most

deserved,[250] yet claiming from us that partial respect which is due to

all persons who will risk their lives in an unselfish cause. For the

Nun herself, we may feel even a less qualified regret. Before her death

she was permitted to speak a few words to the people, which at the

distance of three centuries will not be read without emotion.

[Sidenote: Last words of the Nun at Tyburn.]

"Hither am I come to die," she said, "and I have not been the only cause

of mine own death, which most justly I have deserved; but also I am the

cause of the death of all these persons which at this time here suffer.

And yet I am not so much to be blamed, considering that it was well

known unto these learned men that I was a poor wench without learning;

and therefore they might have easily perceived that the things which

were done by me could not proceed in no such sort; but their capacities

and learning could right well judge that they were altogether feigned.

But because the things which I feigned were profitable unto them,

therefore they much praised me, and bare me in hand that it was the Holy

Ghost and not I that did them. And I being puffed up with their praises,

fell into a pride and foolish fantasye with myself, and thought I might

feign what I would, which thing hath brought me to this case, and for

the which I now cry God and the King's Highness most heartily mercy, and

desire all you good people to pray to God to have mercy on me, and on

all them that here suffer with me."[251]

[Sidenote: Fisher, in spite of himself, is left unpunished.]

The inferior confederates were committed to their prisons with the

exception only of Fisher, who, though sentenced, found mercy thrust upon

him, till by fresh provocation the miserable old man forced himself upon

his fate.[252]

[Sidenote: The Act of Succession.]

[Sidenote: The necessity of it.]

And now the closing seal was to be affixed to the agitation of the great

question of the preceding years. I have said that throughout these years

the uncertainty of the succession had been the continual anxiety of the

nation. The birth of a prince or princess could alone provide an

absolute security; and to beget a prince appeared to be the single feat

which Henry was unable to accomplish. The marriage so dearly bought had

been followed as yet only by a girl; and if the king were to die,

leaving two daughters circumstanced as Mary and Elizabeth were

circumstanced, a dispute would open which the sword only could decide.

To escape the certainty of civil war, therefore, it was necessary to lay

down the line of inheritance by a peremptory order; to cut off

resolutely all rival claims; and, in legislating upon a matter so vital,

and hitherto so uncertain and indeterminate, to enforce the decision

with the most stringent and exacting penalties. From the Heptarchy

downwards English history furnished no fixed rule of inheritance, but

only a series of precedents of uncertainty; and while at no previous

time had the circumstances of the succession been of a nature so

legitimately embarrassing, the relations of England with the pope and

with foreign powers doubly enhanced the danger. But I will not use my

own language on so important a subject. The preamble of the Act of

Succession is the best interpreter of the provisions of that act.

[Sidenote: Inasmuch as the only unquestioned title to the throne lies in

the king, and in his natural heirs;]

[Sidenote: And inasmuch as in times past a disputed succession has on

many occasions caused confusion and bloodshed in the realm,]

[Sidenote: Because there has been no fixed order or rule of

inheritance,]

[Sidenote: And because the intrigues of the popes and of foreign princes

have created sedition and confusion,]

"In their most humble wise show unto your Majesty your most humble and

obedient subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons, in

this present parliament assembled; that since it is the natural

inclination of every man gladly and willingly to provide for the safety

of both his title and succession, although it touch only his private

cause; we therefore, most rightful and dreadful Sovereign Lord, reckon

ourselves much more bounden to beseech and intreat your Highness

(although we doubt not of your princely heart and wisdom, mixed with a

natural affection to the same) to foresee and provide for the most

perfect surety of both you and of your most lawful successors and heirs,

upon which dependeth all our joy and wealth; in whom also is united and

knit the only mere true inheritance and title of this realm without any

contradiction. We, your said most humble and obedient servants, call to

our remembrance the great divisions which in times past hath been in

this realm by reason of several titles pretended to the imperial crown

of the same; which some time and for the most part ensued by occasion of

ambiguity, and [by] doubts then not so perfectly declared but that men

might upon froward intents expound them to every man's sinister appetite

and affection after their senses; whereof hath ensued great destruction

and effusion of man's blood, as well of a great number of the nobles as

of other the subjects and specially inheritors in the same. The greatest

occasion thereof hath been because no perfect and substantial provision

by law hath been made within this realm itself when doubts and questions

have been moved; by reason whereof the Bishops of Rome and See Apostolic

have presumed in times past to invest who should please them to inherit

in other men's kingdoms and dominions, which thing we your most humble

subjects, both spiritual and temporal, do much abhor and detest. And

sometimes other foreign princes and potentates of sundry degrees,

minding rather dissension and discord to continue in the realm than

charity, equity, or unity, have many times supported wrong titles,

whereby they might the more easily and facilly aspire to the superiority

of the same.

[Sidenote: The king's subjects intreat his Highness for their better

security after his death, that it may be enacted by authority of

parliament:]

"The continuance and sufferance of these things, deeply considered and

pondered, is too dangerous and perilous to be suffered any longer; and

too much contrary to unity, peace, and tranquillity, being greatly

reproachable and dishonourable to the whole realm. And in consideration

thereof, your said subjects, calling further to their remembrance, that

the good unity, peace, and wealth of the realm, specially and

principally, above all worldly things, consisteth in the surety and

certainty of the procreation and posterity of your Highness, in whose

most Royal person at this time is no manner of doubt, do therefore most

humbly beseech your Highness that it may be enacted, with the consent of

the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present

parliament assembled--

[Sidenote: 1. That the marriage with the Lady Catherine was invalid from

the beginning.]

"1. That the marriage between your Highness and the Lady Catherine,

widow of the late Prince Arthur, be declared to have been from the

beginning, null, the issue of it illegitimate, the separation pronounced

by the Archbishop of Canterbury good and valid.

[Sidenote: 2. That the marriage with Queen Anne is good and sincere.]

"2. That the marriage between your Highness and your most dear and

entirely beloved wife, Queen Anne, be established and held good, and

taken for undoubtful, true, sincere, and perfect, ever hereafter."[253]

[Sidenote: That the issue of the king by Queen Anne shall succeed,]

[Sidenote: And that whoever by word or deed impugned the legitimacy of

that issue, shall be held guilty of treason.]

The act then assumed a general character, laying down a table of

prohibited degrees, within which marriage might not under any pretence

be in future contracted; and demanding that any marriage which might

already exist within those degrees should be at once dissolved. After

this provision, it again returned to the king, and fixed the order in

which his children by Queen Anne were to succeed. The details of the

regulations were minute and elaborate, and the rule to be observed was

the same as that which exists at present. First, the sons were to

succeed with their heirs; if sons failed, then the daughters, with their

heirs. And, in conclusion, it was resolved, that any person who should

maliciously do anything by writing, printing, or other external act or

deed to the peril of the king, or to the prejudice of his marriage with

Queen Anne, or to the derogation of the issue of that marriage, should

be held guilty of high treason; and whoever should speak against that

marriage, should be held guilty of misprision of treason;--severe

enactments, such as could not be justified at ordinary times, and such

as, if the times had been ordinary, would not have been thought

necessary; but the exigencies of the country could not tolerate an

uncertainty of title in the heir to the crown; and the title could only

be secured by prohibiting absolutely the discussion of dangerous

questions.

The mere enactment of a statute, whatever penalties were attached to the

violation of it, was still, however, an insufficient safeguard. The

recent investigation had revealed a spirit of disloyalty, where such a

spirit had not been expected. The deeper the inquiry had penetrated, the

more clearly appeared tokens, if not of conspiracy, yet of excitement,

of doubt, of agitation, of alienated feeling, if not of alienated act.

All the symptoms were abroad which provide disaffection with its

opportunity; and in the natural confusion which attended the revolt from

the papacy, the obligations of duty, both political and religious, had

become indefinite and contradictory, pointing in all directions, like

the magnetic needle in a thunderstorm.

[Sidenote: All persons, at the king's pleasure, liable to be called upon

to swear to this act.]

It was thought well, therefore, to vest a power in the crown, of trying

the tempers of suspected persons, and examining them upon oath, as to

their willingness to maintain the decision of parliament. This measure

was a natural corollary of the statute, and depended for its

justification on the extent of the danger to which the state was

exposed. If a difference of opinion on the legitimacy of the king's

children, or of the pope's power in England, was not dangerous, it was

unjust to interfere with the natural liberty of speech or thought. If it

was dangerous, and if the state had cause for supposing that opinions of

the kind might spread in secret so long as no opportunity was offered

for detecting their progress, to require the oath was a measure of

reasonable self-defence, not permissible only, but in a high degree

necessary and right.

[Sidenote: A commission appointed to take the examination.]

Under the impression, then, that the circumstances of the country

demanded extraordinary precautions, a commission was appointed,

consisting of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the

Duke of Norfolk, and the Duke of Suffolk; and these four, or any three

of them, were empowered to administer, at the pleasure of the king, "to

all and singular liege subjects of the realm," the following oath:--

[Sidenote: March 30. Terms of the oath to the Statute of Succession.]

"Ye shall swear to bear your faith, truth, and obedience only to the

King's Majesty, and to the heirs of his body, according to the

limitation and rehearsal within the statute of succession; and not to

any other within this realm, or foreign authority, prince, or potentate:

and in case any oath be made or hath been made by you to any other

person or persons, that then you do repute the same as vain and

annihilate: and that to your cunning, wit, and utmost of your power,

without guile, fraud, or other undue means, ye shall observe, keep,

maintain, and defend this act above specified, and all the whole

contents and effects thereof; and all other acts and statutes made since

the beginning of this present parliament, in confirmation or for due

execution of the same, or of anything therein contained. And thus ye

shall do against all manner of persons, of what estate, dignity, degree,

or condition soever they be; and in no wise do or attempt, or to your

power suffer to be done or attempted, directly or indirectly, any thing

or things, privily or apertly, to the let, hindrance, damage, or

derogation thereof, by any manner of means, or for any pretence or

cause, so help you God and all saints."[254]

[Sidenote: April 7. The news arrives in England that the pope has given

sentence]

With this last resolution the House rose, having sat seventy-five days,

and despatched their business swiftly. A week later, the news arrived

from Rome that there too all was at length over; that the cause was

decided, and decided against the king. The history or the closing

catastrophe is as obscure as it is strange, and the account of the

manner in which it was brought about is unfortunately incomplete in many

important particulars. The outline only can be apprehended, and that

very imperfectly.

[Sidenote: Mission of the Bishop of Paris to Rome.]

[Sidenote: At first, with appearance of success.]

[Sidenote: The bishop makes terms of which Henry approves, and

despatches a courier with his consent.]

On the receipt in Paris of the letter in which Henry threatened to

organize a Protestant confederacy, Du Bellay, in genuine anxiety for the

welfare of Christendom, had volunteered his services for a final effort.

Not a moment was to be lost, for the courts at Rome were already busy

with the great cause; but the king's evident reluctance to break with

the Catholic powers gave room for hope that something might still be

done; and going in person to England, the bishop had induced Henry, at

the last extremity, either to entrust him with representative powers, or

else to allow him after all to make some kind of concession. I am unable

to learn the extent to which Henry yielded, but that an offer was made

of some kind is evident from the form of the story.[255] The winter was

very cold, but the bishop made his way to Rome with the haste of good

will, and arrived in time to stay judgment, which was on the point of

being pronounced. It seemed, for the moment, as if he would succeed. He

was permitted to make engagements on the part of Henry; and that time

might be allowed for communication with England, the pope agreed to

delay sentence till the 23d of March. The bishop's terms were approved

by the king, and a courier was sent off with letters of confirmation;

Sir Edward Karne and Dr. Revett following leisurely, with a more ample

commission. The stone which had been laboriously rolled to the summit of

the hill was trembling on the brink, and in a moment might rebound into

the plain.

[Sidenote: The courier is delayed on the road. The conclave are divided;

a majority decide against the king, and sentence is pronounced.]

[Sidenote: Henry must either submit, or is excommunicated.]

But this was not to be the end. Some accidental cause delayed the

courier; the 23d of March came, and he had not arrived. Du Bellay

implored a further respite. The King of England, he said, had waited six

years; it was not a great thing for the papal council to wait six days.

The cardinals were divided; but the Spanish party were the strongest,

and when the votes were taken carried the day. The die was cast, and the

pope, in spite of himself, his promises, and his conscience, drove at

length upon the rocks to which he had been so long drifting.[256] In

deference to the opinion of the majority of the cardinals, he pronounced

the original marriage to have been valid, the dispensation by which it

was permitted to have been legal; and, as a natural consequence, Henry,

King of England, should he fail in obedience to this judgment, was

declared to be excommunicate from the fellowship of the church, and to

have forfeited the allegiance of his subjects.

[Sidenote: The Imperialists engage that Charles shall enforce the

sentence.]

Lest the censures should be discredited by a blank discharge,

engagements were entered into, that within four months of the

promulgation of the sentence, the emperor would invade England, and

Henry should be deposed.[257] The imperialists illuminated Rome; cannon

were fired; bonfires blazed; and great bodies of men paraded the streets

with shouts of "the Empire and Spain."[258] Already, in their eager

expectation, England was a second Netherlands, a captured province under

the regency of Catherine or Mary.

Two days later, the courier arrived. The pope, at the entreaties of the

Bishop of Paris, reassembled the consistory, to consider whether the

steps which had been taken should be undone. They sat debating all

night, and the result was nothing. No dependence could be placed on the

cardinals, Du Bellay said, for they spoke one way, and voted

another.[259]

[Sidenote: Du Bellay says that the pope was "coacted" by the Spanish

party against his judgment.]

Thus all was over. In a scene of general helplessness the long drama

closed, and, what we call accident, for want of some better word, cut

the knot at last over which human incapacity had so vainly laboured. The

Bishop of Paris retired from Rome in despair. On his way back, he met

the English commissioners at Bologna, and told them that their errand

was hopeless, and that they need not proceed. "When we asked him," wrote

Sir Edward Karne to the king, "the cause of such hasty process, he made

answer that the imperialists at Rome had strengthened themselves in such

a manner, that they coacted the said Bishop of Rome to give sentence

contrary to his own mind, and the expectation of himself and of the

French king. He showed us also that the Lady Princess Dowager sent

lately, in the month of March past, letters to the Bishop of Rome, and

also to her proctors, whereby the Bishop of Rome was much moved for her

part. The imperials, before the sentence was given, promised, in the

emperor's behalf, that he would be the executor of the sentence."[260]

This is all which we are able to say of the immediate catastrophe which

decided the fate of England, and through England, of the world. The deep

impenetrable falsehood of the Roman ecclesiastics prevents us from

discovering with what intentions the game of the last few weeks or

months had been played; it is sufficient for Englishmen to remember,

that, whatever may have been the explanation of his conduct, the pope,

in the concluding passage of his connexion with this country, furnished

the most signal justification which was ever given for the revolt from

an abused authority. The supreme judge in Christendom had for six years

trifled with justice, out of fear of an earthly prince; he concluded

these years with uniting the extreme of folly with the extreme of

improbity, and pronounced a sentence, willingly or unwillingly, which he

had acknowledged to be unjust.

[Sidenote: Papal diplomacy.]

Charity may possibly acquit Clement of conscious duplicity. He was one

of those men who waited upon fortune, and waited always without success;

who gave his word as the interest of the moment suggested, trusting that

it might be convenient to observe it; and who was too long accustomed to

break his promises to look with any particular alarm on that

contingency. It is possible, also,--for of this Clement was

capable,--that he knew from the beginning the conclusion to which he

would at last be driven; that he had engaged himself with Charles to

decide in Catherine's favour as distinctly as he had engaged himself

with Francis to decide against her; and that all his tortuous scheming

was intended either to weary out the patience of the King of England, or

to entangle him in acknowledgments from which he would not be able to

extricate himself.

[Sidenote: Clement had formed a mistaken notion of the English temper,]

[Sidenote: But his true intentions are inscrutable.]

He was mistaken, certainly, in the temper of the English nation; he

believed what the friars told him; and trusting to the promises of

disaffection, insurrection, invasion--those _ignes fatui_ which for

sixty years floated so delusively before the Italian imagination, he

imagined, perhaps, that he might trifle with Henry with impunity. This

only is impossible, that, if he had seriously intended to fulfil the

promises which he had made to the French king, the accidental delay of a

courier could have made so large a difference in his determination. It

is not possible that, if he had assured himself, as he pretended, that

justice was on the side against which he had declared, he would not have

availed himself of any pretext to retreat from a position which ought to

have been intolerable to him.

[Sidenote: Francis warns Henry to prepare for danger.]

[Sidenote: Preparation in Flanders for an invasion of England.]

The question, however, had ended, "as all things in this world do have

their end." The news of the sentence arrived in England at the beginning

of April, with an intimation of the engagements which had been entered

upon by the imperial ambassador for an invasion. Du Bellay returned to

Paris at the same time, to report the failure of his undertaking; and

Francis, disappointed, angry, and alarmed, sent the Duke of Guise to

London with promises of support if an attempt to invade was really made,

and with a warning at the same time to Henry to prepare for danger.

Troops were gathering in Flanders; detachments were on their way out of

Italy, Germany, and Bohemia, to be followed by three thousand Spaniards,

and perhaps many more; and the object avowed for these preparations was

wholly incommensurate with their magnitude.[261] For his own sake,

Francis could not permit a successful invasion of England, unless,

indeed, he himself was to take part in it; and therefore, with entire

sincerity, he offered his services. The cordial understanding for which

Henry had hoped was at an end; but the political confederacy remained,

which the interests of the two countries combined for the present to

preserve unbroken.

[Sidenote: Proposal for a new meeting between Francis and Henry.]

[Sidenote: Which Henry is afraid to accept, lest there should be a

rising in his absence.]

[Sidenote: The French fleet guard the Channel.]

Guise proposed another interview at Calais between the sovereigns. The

king for the moment was afraid to leave England,[262] lest the

opportunity should be made use of for an insurrection; but prudence

taught him, though disappointed in Francis, to make the best of a

connexion too convenient to be sacrificed. The German league was left in

abeyance till the immediate danger was passed, and till the effect of

the shock in England itself had been first experienced. He gladly

accepted, in lieu of it, an offer that the French fleet should guard the

Channel through the summer; and meanwhile, he collected himself

resolutely to abide the issue, whatever the issue was to be.

[Sidenote: Effect of the sentence upon Henry.]

[Sidenote: April 7. Convocation declares the pope's authority

abolished.]

[Sidenote: The garrisons are strengthened along the coasts.]

The Tudor spirit was at length awake in the English sovereign. He had

exhausted the resources of patience; he had stooped even to indignity to

avoid the conclusion which had come at last. There was nothing left but

to meet defiance by defiance, and accept the position to which the pope

had driven him. In quiet times occasionally wayward and capricious,

Henry, like Elizabeth after him, reserved his noblest nature for the

moments of danger, and was ever greatest when peril was most immediate.

Woe to those who crossed him now, for the time was grown stern, and to

trifle further was to be lost. The suspended act of parliament was made

law on the day (it would seem) of the arrival of the sentence.

Convocation, which was still sitting, hurried through a declaration that

the pope had no more power in England than any other bishop.[263] Five

years before, if a heretic had ventured so desperate an opinion, the

clergy would have shut their ears and run upon him: now they only

contended with each other in precipitate obsequiousness. The houses of

the Observants at Canterbury and Greenwich, which had been implicated

with the Nun of Kent, were suppressed, and the brethren were scattered

among monasteries where they could be under surveillance. The Nun and

her friends were sent to execution.[264] The ordnance stores were

examined, the repairs of the navy were hastened, and the garrisons were

strengthened along the coast. Everywhere the realm armed itself for the

struggle, looking well to the joints of its harness and to the temper of

its weapons.

[Sidenote: The commission sits to receive the oaths of allegiance.]

The commission appointed under the Statute of Succession opened its

sittings to receive the oaths of allegiance. Now, more than ever, was it

necessary to try men's dispositions, when the pope had challenged their

obedience. In words all went well: the peers swore; bishops, abbots,

priors, heads of colleges, swore[265] with scarcely an exception,--the

nation seemed to unite in an unanimous declaration of freedom. In one

quarter only, and that a very painful one, was there refusal. It was

found solely among the persons who had been implicated in the late

conspiracy. Neither Sir Thomas More nor the Bishop of Rochester could

expect that their recent conduct would exempt them from an obligation

which the people generally accepted with good will. They had connected

themselves, perhaps unintentionally, with a body of confessed traitors.

An opportunity was offered them of giving evidence of their loyalty, and

escaping from the shadow of distrust. More had been treated leniently;

Fisher had been treated far more than leniently. It was both fair and

natural that they should be called upon to give proof that their lesson

had not been learnt in vain; and, in fact, no other persons, if they had

been passed over, could have been called upon to swear, for no other

persons had laid themselves open to so just suspicion.

[Sidenote: Sir Thomas More is required to swear.]

Their conduct so exactly tallied, that they must have agreed beforehand

on the course which they would adopt; and in following the details, we

need concern ourselves only with the nobler figure.

[Sidenote: He confesses at Chelsea church,]

[Sidenote: April 25. And goes by boat to Lambeth.]

[Sidenote: The oath is read to him, and he refuses it.]

[Sidenote: He is desired to retire and reconsider his answer. Fisher

follows his example, and refuses also. More again refuses.]

The commissioners sate at the archbishop's palace at Lambeth; and at the

end of April, Sir Thomas More received a summons to appear before

them.[266] He was at his house at Chelsea, where for the last two years

he had lived in deep retirement, making ready for evil times. Those

times at length were come. On the morning on which he was to present

himself, he confessed and received the sacrament in Chelsea church; and

"whereas," says his great-grandson, "at other times, before he parted

from his wife and children, they used to bring him to his boat, and he

there kissing them bade them farewell, at this time he suffered none of

them to follow him forth of his gate, but pulled the wicket after him,

and with a heavy heart he took boat with his son Roper."[267] He was

leaving his home for the last time, and he knew it. He sat silent for

some minutes, then, with a sudden start, said, "I thank our Lord, the

field is won." Lambeth Palace was crowded with people who had come on

the same errand with himself. More was called in early, and found

Cromwell present with the four commissioners, and also the Abbot of

Westminster. The oath was read to him. It implied that he should keep

the statute of succession in all its parts, and he desired to see the

statute itself. He read it through, and at once replied that others

might do as they pleased; he would blame no one for taking the oath; but

for himself it was impossible. He would swear willingly to the part of

it which secured the succession to the children of Queen Anne.[268] That

was a matter on which parliament was competent to decide, and he had no

right to make objections. If he might be allowed to take an oath to this

portion of the statute in language of his own, he would do it; but as

the words stood, he would "peril his soul" by using them. The Lord

Chancellor desired him to reconsider his answer. He retired to the

garden, and in his absence others were called in; them the Bishop of

Rochester, who refused in the same terms. More was then recalled. He was

asked if he persisted in his resolution; and when he replied that he

did, he was requested to state his reasons. He said that he was afraid

of increasing the king's displeasure, but if he could be assured that

he might explain himself safely, he was ready to do so. If his objection

could then be answered to his satisfaction, he would swear; in the

meantime, he repeated, very explicitly, that he judged no one--he spoke

only for himself.

[Sidenote: Cranmer tries to contrive an escape for him,]

An opening seemed to be offered in these expressions which was caught at

by Cranmer's kindhearted casuistry. If Sir Thomas More could not condemn

others for taking the oath, the archbishop said, Sir Thomas More could

not be sure that it was sin to take it; while his duty to his king and

to the parliament was open and unquestioned.

[Sidenote: But in vain.]

More hesitated for an instant, but he speedily recovered his firmness.

He had considered what he ought to do, he said; his conscience was clear

about it, and he could say no more than he had said already. They

continued to argue with him, but without effect; he had made up his

mind; the victory, as he said, had been won.

Cromwell was deeply affected. In his passionate regret, he exclaimed,

that he had rather his only son had lost his head than that More should

have refused the oath. No one knew better than Cromwell that

intercession would be of no further use; that he could not himself

advise the king to give way. The parliament, after grave consideration,

had passed a law which they held necessary to secure the peace of the

country; and two persons of high rank refused obedience to it, whose

example would tell in every English household. Either, therefore, the

act was not worth the parchment on which it was written, or the

penalties of it must be enforced: no middle way, no compromise, no

acquiescent reservations, could in such a case be admitted. The law must

have its way.

[Sidenote: More, with Fisher, is committed to the keeping of the Abbot

of Westminster.]

[Sidenote: Debate in the Council]

[Sidenote: Cranmer urges that they may take the oath in a modified

form.]

The recusants were committed for four days to the keeping of the Abbot

of Westminster; and the council met to determine on the course to be

pursued. Their offence, by the act, was misprision of treason. On the

other hand, they had both offered to acknowledge the Princess Elizabeth

as the lawful heir to the throne; and the question was raised whether

this offer should be accepted. It was equivalent to a demand that the

form should be altered, not for them only, but for every man. If persons

of their rank and notoriety were permitted to swear with a

qualification, the same privilege must be conceded to all. But there was

so much anxiety to avoid extremities, and so warm a regard was

personally felt for Sir Thomas More, that this objection was not allowed

to be fatal. It was thought that possibly an exception might be made,

yet kept a secret from the world; and the fact that they had sworn under

any form might go far to silence objectors and reconcile the better

class of the disaffected.[269] This view was particularly urged by

Cranmer, always gentle, hoping, and illogical.[270] But, in fact,

secresy was impossible. If More's discretion could have been relied

upon, Fisher's babbling tongue would have trumpeted his victory to all

the winds. Nor would the government consent to pass censure on its own

conduct by evading the question whether the act was or was not _just_.

If it was not just, it ought not to be maintained at all, if it was

just, there must be no respect of persons.

[Sidenote: The government cannot yield.]

The clauses to which the bishop and the ex-chancellor declined to bind

themselves were those which declared illegal the marriage of the king

with Catherine, and the marriage legal between the king and Queen Anne.

To refuse these was to declare Mary legitimate, to declare Elizabeth

illegitimate, and would do more to strengthen Mary's claims than could

be undone by a thousand oaths. However large might be More's estimate of

the power of parliament, he could have given no clear answer--and far

less could Fisher have given a clear answer--if they had been required

to say the part which they would take, should the emperor invade the

kingdom under the pope's sanction. The emperor would come to execute a

sentence which in their consciences they believed to be just; how could

they retain their allegiance to Henry, when their convictions must be

with the invading army?

[Sidenote: Cromwell explains to Cranmer that concession is impossible.]

What ought to have been done let those say who disapprove of what was

actually done. The high character of the prisoners, while it increased

the desire, increased the difficulty of sparing them; and to have given

way would have been a confession of a doubtful cause, which at such a

time would not have been dangerous, but would have been fatal. Anne

Boleyn is said to have urged the king to remain peremptory;[271] but the

following letter of Cromwell's explains the ultimate resolution of the

council in a very reasonable manner. It was written to Cranmer, in reply

to his arguments for concession.

[Sidenote: And begs that he will not urge it further.]

"My Lord, after mine humble commendation, it may please your Grace to be

advertised that I have received your letter, and showed the same to the

King's Highness; who, perceiving that your mind and opinion is, that it

were good that the Bishop of Rochester and Master More should be sworn

to the act of the king's succession, and not to the preamble of the

same, thinketh that if their oaths should be taken, it were an occasion

to all men to refuse the whole, or at least the like. For, in case they

be sworn to the succession, and not to the preamble, it is to be thought

that it might be taken not only as a confirmation of the Bishop of

Rome's authority, but also as a reprobation of the king's second

marriage. Wherefore, to the intent that no such things should be brought

into the heads of the people, by the example of the said Bishop of

Rochester and Master More, the King's Highness in no wise willeth but

that they shall be sworn as well to the preamble as to the act.

Wherefore his Grace specially trusteth that ye will in no wise attempt

to move him to the contrary; for as his Grace supposeth, that manner of

swearing, if it shall be suffered, may be an utter destruction to his

whole cause, and also to the effect of the law made for the same."[272]

[Sidenote: They are examined a last time, and again refusing, are sent

to the Tower.]

Thus, therefore, with much regret the council decided--and, in fact, why

should they have decided otherwise? They were satisfied that they were

right in requiring the oath; and their duty to the English nation

obliged them to persevere. They must go their way; and those who thought

them wrong must go theirs; and the great God would judge between them.

It was a hard thing to suffer for an opinion; but there are times when

opinions are as dangerous as acts; and liberty of conscience was a plea

which could be urged with a bad grace for men who, while in power, had

fed the stake with heretics. They were summoned for a last time, to

return the same answer as they had returned before; and nothing remained

but to pronounce against them the penalties of the statute, imprisonment

at the king's pleasure, and forfeiture. The latter part of the sentence

was not enforced. More's family were left in the enjoyment of his

property. Fisher's bishoprick was not taken from him. They were sent to

the Tower, where for the present we leave them.

[Sidenote: Directions to the clergy to explain in their churches the

changes which had taken place.]

[Sidenote: Noblemen and gentlemen to teach their servants.]

Meanwhile, in accordance with the resolution taken in council on the 2d

of December,[273] but which seems to have been suspended till the issue

of the trial at Rome was decided, the bishops, who had been examined

severally on the nature of the papal authority, and whose answers had

been embodied in the last act of parliament, were now required to

instruct the clergy throughout their dioceses--and the clergy in turn to

instruct the people--in the nature of the changes which had taken place.

A bishop was to preach each Sunday at Paul's Cross, on the pope's

usurpation. Every secular priest was directed to preach on the same

subject week after week, in his parish church. Abbots and priors were to

teach their convents; noblemen and gentlemen their families and

servants; mayors and aldermen the boroughs. In town and in all houses,

at all dinner-tables, the conduct of the pope and the causes of the

separation from Rome were to be the one subject of conversation; that

the whole nation might be informed accurately and faithfully of the

grounds on which the government had acted. No wiser method could have

been adopted. The imperial agents would be busy under the surface; and

the mendicant friars, and all the missionaries of insurrection. The

machinery of order was set in force to counteract the machinery of

sedition.

[Sidenote: Bishops sworn to the king as Head of the Church, and the

pope's name blotted out of the Mass books.]

Further, every bishop, in addition to the oath of allegiance, had sworn

obedience to the king as Supreme Head of the Church;[274] and this was

the title under which he was to be spoken of in all churches of the

realm. A royal order had been issued, "that all manner of prayers,

rubrics, canons of Mass books, and all other books in the churches

wherein the Bishop of Rome was named, or his presumptuous and proud pomp

and authority preferred, should utterly be abolished, eradicated, and

rased out, and his name and memory should be never more, except to his

contumely and reproach, remembered; but perpetually be suppressed and

obscured."[275]

Nor were these mere idle sounds, like the bellow of unshotted cannon;

but words with a sharp, prompt meaning, which the king intended to be

obeyed. He had addressed his orders to the clergy, because the clergy

were the officials who had possession of the pulpits from which the

people were to be taught; but he knew their nature too well to trust

them. They were too well schooled in the tricks of reservation; and, for

the nonce, it was necessary to reverse the posture of the priest and of

his flock, and to set the honest laymen to overlook their pastors.

[Sidenote: June 9. Circular order addressed to the sheriffs to see that

the clergy do their duty.]

[Sidenote: If they hear of any slackness, they are to report to the

Council,]

With the instructions to the bishops circulars went round to the

sheriffs of the counties, containing a full account of these

instructions, and an appeal to their loyalty to see that the royal

orders were obeyed. "We," the king wrote to them, "seeing, esteeming,

and reputing you to be of such singular and vehement zeal and affection

towards the glory of Almighty God, and of so faithful, loving, and

obedient heart towards us, as you will accomplish, with all power,

diligence, and labour, whatsoever shall be to the preferment and setting

forth of God's word, have thought good, not only to signify unto you by

these our letters, the particulars of the charge given by us to the

bishops, but also to require and straitly charge you, upon pain of your

allegiance, and as ye shall avoid our high indignation and displeasure,

[that] at your uttermost peril, laying aside all vain affections,

respects, and other carnal considerations, and setting only before your

eyes the mirrour of the truth, the glory of God, the dignity of your

Sovereign Lord and King, and the great concord and unity, and

inestimable profit and utility, that shall by the due execution of the

premises ensue to yourselves and to all other faithful and loving

subjects, ye make or cause to be made diligent search and wait, whether

the said bishops do truly and sincerely, without all manner of cloke,

colour, or dissimulation, execute and accomplish our will and

commandment, as is aforesaid. And in case ye shall hear that the said

bishops, or any other ecclesiastical person, do omit and leave undone

any part or parcel of the premises, or else in the execution and setting

forth of the same, do coldly and feignedly use any manner of sinister

addition, wrong interpretation, or painted colour, then we straitly

charge and command you that you do make, undelayedly, and with all speed

and diligence, declaration and advertisement to us and to our council of

the said default.

[Sidenote: And if they themselves fail in this duty, after the

confidence which the king has placed in them,]

[Sidenote: He will make them an example to all the world.]

"And forasmuch as we upon the singular trust which we have in you, and

for the special love which we suppose you bear towards us, and the weal

and tranquillity of this our realm, have specially elected and chosen

you among so many for this purpose, and have reputed you such men as

unto whose wisdom and fidelity we might commit a matter of such great

weight and importance: if ye should, contrary to our expectation and

trust which we have in you, and against your duty and allegiance towards

us, neglect, or omit to do with all your diligence, whatsoever shall be

in your power for the due performance of our pleasure to you declared,

or halt or stumble at any part or specialty of the same; Be ye assured

that we, like a prince of justice, will so extremely punish you for the

same, that all the world beside shall take by you example, and beware

contrary to their allegiance to disobey the lawful commandment of their

Sovereign Lord and Prince.

"Given under our signet, at our Palace of Westminster, the 9th day of

June, 1534."[276]

* * * * *

So Henry spoke at last. There was no place any more for nice

distinctions and care of tender consciences. The general, when the shot

is flying, cannot qualify his orders with dainty periods. Swift command

and swift obedience can alone be tolerated; and martial law for those

who hesitate.

[Sidenote: Death of Clement VII.]

This chapter has brought many things to a close. Before ending it we

will leap over three months, to the termination of the career of the

pope who has been so far our companion. Not any more was the distracted

Clement to twist his handkerchief, or weep, or flatter or wildly wave

his arms in angry impotence, he was to lie down in his long rest, and

vex the world no more. He had lived to set England free--an exploit

which, in the face of so persevering an anxiety to escape a separation,

required a rare genius and a combination of singular qualities. He had

finished his work, and now he was allowed to depart.

[Sidenote: His character.]

In him, infinite insincerity was accompanied with a grace of manner

which regained confidence as rapidly as it was forfeited. Desiring

sincerely, so far as he could be sincere in anything, to please every

one by turns, and reckless of truth to a degree in which he was without

a rival in the world, he sought only to escape his difficulties by

inactivity, and he trusted to provide himself with a refuge against all

contingencies by waiting upon time. Even when at length he was compelled

to act, and to act in a distinct direction, his plausibility long

enabled him to explain away his conduct; and, honest in the excess of

his dishonesty, he wore his falsehood with so easy a grace that it

assumed the character of truth. He was false, deceitful, treacherous;

yet he had the virtue of not pretending to be virtuous. He was a real

man, though but an indifferent one; and we can refuse to no one, however

grave his faults, a certain ambiguous sympathy, when in his perplexities

he shows us features so truly human in their weakness as those of

Clement VII.

NOTES:

[147] Mary, widow of Louis of Hungary, sister of the emperor, and Regent

of the Netherlands.

[148] She was much affected when the first intimation of the marriage

reached her. "I am informed of a secret friend of mine," wrote Sir John

Hacket, "that when the queen here had read the letters which she

received of late out of England, the tears came to her eyes with very

sad countenance. But indeed this day when I spake to her she showed me

not such countenance, but told me that she was not well pleased.

"At her setting forward to ride at hunting, her Grace asked me if I had

heard of late any tidings out of England. I told her Grace, as it is

true, that I had none. She gave me a look as that she should marvel

thereof, and said to me, 'Jay des nouvelles qui ne me semblent point

trop bonnes,' and told me touching the King's Highness's marriage. To

the which I answered her Grace and said, 'Madame, je ne me doute point

syl est faict, et quand le veult prendre et entendre de bonne part et au

sain chemyn, sans porter faveur parentelle que ung le trouvera tout

lente et bien raysonnable par layde de Dieu et de bonne conscience.' Her

Grace said to me again, 'Monsieur l'ambassadeur, c'est Dieu qui le scait

que je vouldroye que le tout allysse bien, mais ne scaye comment

l'empereur et le roy mon frere entendront l'affaire car il touche a eulx

tant que a moy.' I answered and said, 'Madame, il me semble estre

assuree que l'empereur et le roy vostre frere qui sont deux Prinssys

tres prudens et sayges, quant ilz auront considere indifferentement tout

l'affaire qu ilz ne le deveroyent prendre que de bonne part.' And

hereunto her Grace made me answer, saying, 'Da quant de le prendre de

bonne part ce la, ne sayge M. l'ambassadeur.'"--Hacket to the Duke of

Norfolk: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 452.

[149] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 457.

[150] Sir Gregory Cassalis to the Duke of Norfolk. Ad pontificem

accessi, et mei sermonis illa summa fuit, vellet id praestare ut

serenissimum regem nostrum certiorem facere possemus, in sua causa nihil

innovatum iri. Hic ille, sicut solet, respondit, nescire se quo pacto

possit Caesarianis obsistere.--_State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 461.

[151] Bennet to Henry: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 462.

[152] Ibid.

[153] Letter undated, but written about the middle of June: _State

Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 474.

[154] Of the Archbishop of York, not of Canterbury: which provokes a

question. Conjectures are of little value in history, but inasmuch as

there must have been some grave reason for the substitution, a

suggestion of a possible reason may not be wholly out of place. The

appeal in itself was strictly legal; and it was of the highest

importance to avoid any illegality of form. Cranmer, by transgressing

the inhibition which Clement had issued in the winter, might be

construed by the papal party to have virtually incurred the censures

threatened, and an escape might thus have been furnished from the

difficulty in which the appeal placed them.

[155] Publico ecclesiae judicio.

[156] Rymer, Vol. VI. part 2, p. 188.

[157] The French king did write unto Cardinal Tournon (not, however, of

his own will, but under pressure from the Duke of Norfolk), very

instantly, that he should desire the pope, in the said French king's

name, that his Holyness would not innovate anything against your

Highness any wise till the congress: adding, withal, that if his

Holyness, notwithstanding his said desire, would proceed, he could not

less do, considering the great and indissoluble amity betwixt your

Highnesses, notorious to all the world, but take and recognise such

proceeding for a fresh injury.--Bennet to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_,

Vol. VII. p. 468.

[158] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 469.

[159] Ibid.

[160] Ibid. p. 470.

[161] Ibid. p. 467, note, and p. 470.

[162] Burnet, Vol. I. p. 221.

[163] We only desire and pray you to endeavour yourselves in the

execution of that your charge--casting utterly away and banishing from

you such fear and timorousness, or rather despair, as by your said

letters we perceive ye have conceived--reducing to your memories in the

lieu and stead thereof, as a thing continually lying before your eyes

and incessantly sounded in your ears, the justice of our cause, which

cannot at length be shadowed, but shall shine and shew itself to the

confusion of our adversaries. And we having, as is said, truth for us,

with the help and assistance of God, author of the same, shall at all

times be able to maintain you.--Henry VIII. to Bonner: _State Papers_,

Vol. VII. p. 485.

[164] Bonner to Cromwell. _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 481.

[165] The proclamation ordering that Catherine should be called not

queen, but Princess Dowager.

[166] Catherine de Medici.

[167] Henry VIII. to the Duke of Norfolk: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p.

493.

[168] Sir John Hacket, writing from Ghent on the 6th of September,

describes as the general impression that the Pope's "trust was to assure

his alliance on both sides." "He trusts to bring about that his Majesty

the French king and he shall become and remain in good, fast, and sure

alliance together; and so ensuring that they three (the Pope, Francis,

and Charles V.) shall be able to reform and set good order in the rest

of Christendom. But whether his Unhappiness's--I mean his

Holiness's--intention, is set for the welfare and utility of

Christendom, or for his own insincerity and singular purpose, I remit

that to God and to them that know more of the world than I do."--Hacket

to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 506.

[169] John the Magnanimous, son of John the Steadfast, and nephew of the

Elector Frederick, Luther's first protector.

[170] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. pp. 499-501.

[171] Princeps Elector ducit se imparem ut Regiae Celsitudinis vel

aliorum regum oratores ea lege in aula sua degerent; vereturque ne ob id

apud Caesaream majestatem unicum ejus Dominum et alios male audiret,

possetque sinistre tale institutum interpretari.--Reply of the Elector:

_State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 503.

[172] Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 509.

[173] I consider the man, with other two--that is to say, the Landgrave

von Hesse and the Duke of Lunenberg--to be the chief and principal

defenders and maintainers of the Lutheran sect: who considering the same

with no small difficulty to be defended, as well against the emperor and

the bishops of Germany, his nigh and shrewd neighbours, as against the

most opinion of all Christian men, feareth to raise any other new matter

whereby they should take a larger and peradventure a better occasion to

revenge the same. The King's Highness seeketh to have intelligence with

them, as they conjecture to have them confederate with him; yea, and

that against the emperor, if he would anything pretend against the

king.--Here is the thing which I think feareth the duke.--Vaughan to

Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol VII. pp. 509, 510.

[174] Hall, p. 805.

[175] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 512.

[176] The Duke of Albany, during the minority of James V., had headed

the party in Scotland most opposed to the English. He expelled the

queen-mother, Margaret, sister of Henry; he seized the persons of the

two young princes, whom he shut up in Stirling, where the younger

brother died under suspicion of foul play (_Despatches of Giustiniani_,

Vol. I. p. 157); and subsequently, in his genius for intrigue, he gained

over the queen dowager herself in a manner which touched her

honour.--Lord Thomas Dacre to Queen Margaret: Ellis, second series, Vol.

I. p. 279.

[177] Ex his tamen, qui haec a Pontifice, audierunt, intelligo regem

vehementissime instare, ut vestrae majestatis expectationi satisfiat

Pontifex.--Peter Vannes to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p.

518.

[178] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 520.

[179] Hoc dico quod video inter regem et pontificem conjunctissime et

amicissime hic agi.--Vannes to Cromwell: Ibid.

[180] Vannes to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. pp. 522-3.

[181] Burnet, _Collectanea_, p. 436.

[182] Letter of the King of France: Legrand, Vol. III. Reply of Henry:

Foxe, Vol. V. p. 110.

[183] Commission of the Bishop of Paris: Legrand, Vol. III.; Burnet,

Vol. III. p. 128; Foxe, Vol. V. p. 106-111. The commission of the Bishop

of Bayonne is not explicit on the extent to which the pope had bound

himself with respect to the sentence. Yet either in some other despatch,

or verbally through the Bishop, Francis certainly informed Henry that

the Pope had promised that sentence should be given in his favour. We

shall find Henry assuming this in his reply; and the Archbishop of York

declared to Catherine that the pope "said at Marseilles, that if his

Grace would send a proxy thither he would give sentence for his Highness

against her, because that he knew his cause to be good and

just."--_State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 421.

[184] MS. Bibl. Imper. Paris.--_The Pilgrim_, pp. 97, 98. Cf. Foxe, Vol.

V. p. 110.

[185] I hear of a number of Gelders which be lately reared; and the

opinion of the people here is that they shall go into England. All men

there speak evil of England, and threaten it in their foolish

manner.--Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 511.

[186] Rymer, Vol. VI. part 2, p. 189.

[187] Parties were so divided in England that lookers-on who reported

any one sentiment as general there, reported in fact by their own wishes

and sympathies. D'Inteville, the French ambassador, a strong Catholic,

declares the feeling to have been against the revolt. Chastillon, on the

other hand, writing at the same time from the same place (for he had

returned from France, and was present with d'Inteville at the last

interview), says, "The King has made up his mind to a complete

separation from Rome and the lords and the majority of the people go

along with him."--Chastillon to the Bishop of Paris: _The Pilgrim_, p.

99.

[188] Strype, _Eccles. Memor._, Vol. I. p. 224.

[189] Instructions to the Earls of Oxford, Essex, and Sussex, to

remonstrate with the Lady Mary: _Rolls House MS._

[190] Instructions to the Earls of Oxford, Essex, and Sussex, to

remonstrate with the Lady Mary: _Rolls House MS._

[191] On the 15th of November, Queen Catherine wrote to the Emperor and

after congratulating him on his successes against the Turks, she

continued,

"And as our Lord in his mercy has worked so great a good for Christendom

by your Highness's hands, so has he enlightened also his Holiness; and I

and all this realm have now a sure hope that, with the grace of God, his

Holiness will slay this second Turk, this affair between the King my

Lord and me. Second Turk, I call it, from the misfortunes which, through

his Holiness's long delay, have grown out of it, and are now so vast and

of so ill example that I know not whether this or the Turk be the worst.

Sorry am I to have been compelled to importune your Majesty so often in

this matter, for sure I am you do not need my pressing. But I see delay

to be so calamitous, my own life is so unquiet and so painful, and the

opportunity to make an end now so convenient, that it seems as if God of

his goodness had brought his Holiness and your Majesty together to bring

about so great a good. I am forced to be importunate, and I implore your

Highness for the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in return for

the signal benefits which God each day is heaping on you, you will

accomplish for me this great blessing, and bring his Holiness to a

decision. Let him remember what he promised you at Bologna. The truth

here is known, and he will thus destroy the hopes of those who persuade

the King my Lord that he will never pass judgment."--Queen Catherine to

Charles V.: _MS. Simancas_, November 15, 1533.

[192] Letter to the King, giving an account of certain Friars Observants

who had been about the Princess Dowager: _Rolls House MS._

[193] We remember the Northern prophecy, "In England shall be slain the

decorate Rose in his mother's belly," which the monks of Furness

interpreted as meaning that "the King's Grace should die by the hands of

priests."--Vol. I. cap. 4.

[194] Statutes of the Realm, 25 Henry VIII. cap. 12. State Papers

relating to Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._ Prior of Christ Church,

Canterbury, to Cromwell: _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 20.

[195] Thus Cromwell writes to Fisher: "My Lord, [the outward evidences

that she was speaking truth] moved you not to give credence to her, but

only the very matter whereupon she made her false prophecies, to which

matter ye were so affected--as ye be noted to be on all matters which ye

once enter into--that nothing could come amiss that made for that

purpose."--_Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 30.

[196] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._

[197] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._

[198] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent.

[199] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.

[200] Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._ 25 Hen.

VIII. cap. 12. The "many" nobles are not more particularly designated in

the official papers. It was not desirable to mention names when the

offence was to be passed over.

[201] Report of the Commissioners--Papers relating to the Nun of Kent:

_Rolls House MS._

[202] Goold, says the Act of the Nun's attainder, travelled to Bugden,

"to animate the said Lady Princess to make commotion in the realm

against our sovereign lord; surmitting that the said Nun should hear by

revelation of God that the said Lady Catherine should prosper and do

well, and that her issue, the Lady Mary, should prosper and reign in the

realm."--25 Henry VIII. cap. 13.

[203] Report of the Proceedings of the Nun of Kent: _Rolls House MS._

[204] MS. Bibliot. Imper., Paris. The letter is undated, it was

apparently written in the autumn of 1533.

[205] Il a des nouvelles amours. In a paper at Simancas, containing

Nuevas de Inglaterra, written about this time, is a similar account of

the dislike of Anne and her family, as well as of the king's altered

feelings towards her. Dicano anchora che la Anna e mal voluta degli Si

di Inghilterra si per la sua superbia, si anche per l'insolentia e mali

portamenti che fanno nel regno li fratelli e parenti di Anna; e che per

questo il Re non la porta la affezione que soleva per che il Re

festeggia una altra Donna della quale se mostra esser inamorato, e molti

Si di Inghilterra lo ajutano nel seguir el preditto amor per deviar

questo Re dalla pratica di Anna.

[206] Hall.

[207] "I, dame Elizabeth Barton," she said, "do confess that I, most

miserable and wretched person, have been the original of all this

mischief, and by my falsehood I have deceived all these persons (the

monks who were her accomplices), and many more; whereby I have most

grievously offended Almighty God, and my most noble sovereign the King's

Grace. Wherefore I humbly, and with heart most sorrowful, desire you to

pray to Almighty God for my miserable sins, and make supplication for me

to my sovereign for his gracious mercy and pardon."--Confession of

Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._

[208] Papers relating to Elizabeth Barton: _Rolls House MS._

[209] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 415.

[210] A curious trait in Mary's character may be mentioned in connection

with this transfer. She had a voracious appetite; and in Elizabeth's

household expenses an extra charge was made necessary of 20_l._ a-year

for the meat breakfasts and meat suppers "served into the Lady Mary's

chamber."--Statement of the expenses of the Household of the Princess

Elizabeth: _Rolls House MS._

[211] He is called _frater consobrinus_. See Fuller's _Worthies_ Vol

III. p. 128.

[212] He was killed at the battle of Pavia.

[213] Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, married Catherine, daughter of

Edward.

[214] Believe me, my lord, there are some here, and those of the

greatest in the land, who will be indignant if the Pope confirm the

sentence against the late Queen.--D'Inteville to Montmorency: _The

Pilgrim_, p. 97.

[215] She once rode to Canterbury, disguised as a servant, with only a

young girl for her companion.--Depositions of Sir Geoffrey Pole: _Rolls

House MS._

[216] Confession of Sir William Neville: _Rolls House MS._

[217] Confession of Sir George Neville: Ibid.

[218] Confession of the Oxford Wizard: Ibid.

[219] Queen Anne Boleyn to Gardiner: Burnet's _Collectanea_, p. 355.

Office for the Consecration of Cramp Rings: Ibid.

[220] So at least the Oxford Wizard said that Sir William Neville had

told him.--Confession of the Wizard: _Rolls House MS._ But the authority

is not good.

[221] Henry alone never listened seriously to the Nun of Kent.

[222] John of Transylvania, the rival of Ferdinand. His designation by

the title of king in an English state paper was a menace that, if driven

to extremities, Henry would support him against the empire.

[223] Acts of Council: _State Papers_, Vol. I. pp. 414, 415.

[224] Henry VIII. to Sir John Wallop: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 524.

[225] Stephen Vaughan to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 517.

Vaughan describes Peto with Shakespearian raciness. "Peto is an ipocrite

knave, as the most part of his brethren be; a wolf; a tiger clad in a

sheep's skin. It is a perilous knave--a raiser of sedition--an evil

reporter of the King's Highness--a prophecyer of mischief--a fellow I

would wish to be in the king's hands, and to be shamefully punished.

Would God I could get him by any policy--I will work what I can. Be sure

he shall do nothing, nor pretend to do nothing, in these parts, that I

will not find means to cause the King's Highness to know. I have laid a

bait for him. He is not able to wear the clokys and cucullys that be

sent him out of England, they be so many."

[226] Hacket to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 528.

[227] Ibid. p. 530.

[228] Hacket to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 531.

[229] So at least Henry supposed, if we may judge by the resolutions of

the Council "for the fortification of all the frontiers of the realm, as

well upon the coasts of the sea as the frontiers foreanenst Scotland."

The fortresses and havens were to be "fortefyed and munited;" and money

to be sent to York to be in readiness" if any business should

happen."--Ibid. Vol. I. p. 411.

[230] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19.

[231] A design which unfortunately was not put in effect. In the hurry

of the time it was allowed to drop.

[232] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 14.

[233] 23 Henry VIII. cap. 20.

[234] At this very time Campeggio was Bishop of Salisbury, and Ghinucci,

who had been acting for Henry at Rome, was Bishop of Worcester. The Act

by which they were deprived speaks of these two appointments as

_nominations_ by the king.--25 Henry VIII. cap. 27.

[235] Wolsey held three bishoprics and one archbishopric, besides the

abbey of St. Albans.

[236] Thus when Wolsey was presented, in 1514, to the See of Lincoln,

Leo X. writes to his beloved son Thomas Wolsey how that in his great

care for the interests of the Church, "Nos hodie Ecclesiae Lincolniensi,

te in episcopum et pastorem praeficere intendimus." He then informs the

Chapter of Lincoln of the appointment; and the king, in granting the

temporalities, continues the fiction without seeming to recognise

it:--"Cum dominus summus Pontifex nuper vacante Ecclesia cathedrali

personam fidelis clerici nostri Thomae Wolsey, in ipsius Ecclesiae

episcopum praefecerit, nos," &c.--See the Acts in Rymer, Vol. VI. part I,

pp. 55-57.

[237] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 20. The preexisting unrealities with respect

to the election of bishops explain the unreality of the new arrangement,

and divest it of the character of wanton tyranny with which it appeared

_prima facie_ to press upon the Chapters. The history of this statute is

curious, and perhaps explains the intentions with which it was

originally passed. It was repealed by the 2d of the 1st of Edward VI. on

the ground that the liberty of election was merely nominal, and that the

Chapters ought to be relieved of responsibility when they had no power

of choice. Direct nomination by the crown was substituted for the _conge

d'elire_, and remained the practice till the reaction under Mary, when

the indefinite system was resumed which had existed before the

Reformation. On the accession of Elizabeth, the statute of 25 Henry

VIII. was again enacted. The more complicated process of Henry was

preferred to the more simple one of Edward, and we are naturally led to

ask the reason of so singular a preference. I cannot but think that it

was this. The Council of Regency under Edward VI. treated the Church as

an institution of the State, while Henry and Elizabeth endeavoured

(under difficulties) to regard it under its more Catholic aspect of an

organic body. So long as the Reformation was in progress, it was

necessary to prevent the intrusion upon the bench of bishops of

Romanizing tendencies, and the deans and chapters were therefore

protected by a strong hand from their own possible mistakes. But the

form of liberty was conceded to them, not, I hope, to place deliberately

a body of clergymen in a degrading position, but in the belief that at

no distant time the Church might be allowed without danger to resume

some degree of self-government.

[238] 25 Henry VIII. cap. 21.

[239] I sent you no heavy words, but words of great comfort; willing

your brother to shew you how benign and merciful the prince was; and

that I thought it expedient for you to write unto his Highness, and to

recognise your offence and to desire his pardon, which his Grace would

not deny you now in your age and sickness.--Cromwell to Fisher:

_Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 27.

[240] Sir Thomas More to Cromwell: Burnet's _Collectanea_, p. 350.

[241] Sir Thomas More to Cromwell: Burnet's _Collectanea_, p. 350.

[242] Ibid.

[243] More to Cromwell: Strype's _Memorials_, Vol. I. Appendix, p. 195

[244] More to the King: Ellis, first series, Vol. II. p. 47

[245] Cromwell to Fisher: _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 27, et

seq.

[246] _Suppression of the Monasteries_, p. 27, et seq.

[247] John Fisher to the Lords in Parliament: Ellis third series, Vol.

II. p. 289.

[248] _Lords' Journals_, p. 72.

[249] 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.

[250] In a tract written by a Dr. Moryson in defence of the government,

three years later, I find evidence that a distinction was made among the

prisoners, and that Dr. Bocking was executed with peculiar cruelty.

"Solus in crucem actus est Bockingus," are Moryson's words, though I

feel uncertain of the nature of the punishment which he meant to

designate. "Crucifixion" was unknown to the English law: and an event so

peculiar as the "crucifixion" of a monk would hardly have escaped the

notice of the contemporary chroniclers. In a careful diary kept by a

London merchant during these years, which is in MS. in the Library of

Balliol College, Oxford, the whole party are said to have been

hanged.--See, however, _Morysini Apomaxis_, printed by Berthelet, 1537.

[251] Hall, p. 814.

[252] Lord Herbert says he was pardoned; I do not find, however, on what

authority: but he was certainly not imprisoned, nor was the sentence of

forfeiture enforced against him.

[253] This is the substance of the provisions, which are, of course,

much abridged.

[254] _Lords' Journals_, Vol. I. p. 82. An act was also passed in this

session "against the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome." We trace it

in its progress through the House of Lords. (_Lords' Journals_,

Parliament of 1533-34.) It received the royal assent (ibid.), and is

subsequently alluded to in the 10th of the 28th of Henry VIII., as well

as in a Royal Proclamation dated June, 1534; and yet it is not on the

Roll, nor do I anywhere find traces of it. It is not to be confounded

with the act against payment of Peter's Pence, for in the _Lords'

Journals_ the two acts are separately mentioned. It received the royal

assent on the 30th of March, while that against Peter's Pence was

suspended till the 7th of April. It contained, also, an indirect

assertion that the king was Head of the English Church, according to the

title which had been given him by Convocation. (King's Proclamation:

Foxe, Vol. V. p. 69.) For some cause or other, the act at the last

moment must have been withdrawn.

[255] See Burnet, Vol. I. pp. 220, 221: Vol. III. p. 135; and Lord

Herbert. Du Bellay's brother, the author of the memoirs, says that the

king, at the bishop's entreaty, promised that if the pope would delay

sentence, and send "judges to hear the matter, he would himself forbear

to do what he proposed to do,"--that is, separate wholly from the See of

Rome. If this is true, the sending "judges" must allude to the "sending

them to Cambray," which had been proposed at Marseilles.

[256] See the letter of the Bishop of Bayonne, dated March 23, in

Legrand. A paraphrase is given by Burnet, Vol. III. p. 132.

[257] Promisistis predecessori meo quod si sententiam contra regem

Angliae tulisset, Caesar illum infra quatuor menses erat invasurus, et

regno expulsurus.--_State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 579.

[258] Letter of Du Bellay in Legrand.

[259] Ibid.

[260] Sir Edward Karne and Dr. Revett to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_,

Vol. VII. pp. 553, 554.

[261] _State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 560, et seq.

[262] His Highness, considering the time and the malice of the emperour,

cannot conveniently pass out of the realm--since he leaveth behind him

another daughter and a mother, with their friends, maligning his

enterprises in this behalf--who bearing no small grudge against his most

entirely beloved Queen Anne, and his young daughter the princess, might

perchance in his absence take occasion to excogitate and practise with

their said friends matters of no small peril to his royal person, realm,

and subjects.--_State Papers_, Vol. VII. p. 559.

[263] Lord Herbert.

[264] I mentioned their execution in connexion with their sentence; but

it did not take place till the 20th of April, a month after their

attainder: and delay of this kind was very unusual in cases of high

treason. I have little doubt that their final sentence was in fact

pronounced by the pope.

[265] The oaths of a great many are in Rymer, Vol. VI. part 2, p. 195 et

seq.

[266] His great-grandson's history of him (_Life of Sir Thomas More_, by

Cresacre More, written about 1620, published 1627, with a dedication to

Henrietta Maria) is incorrect in so many instances that I follow it with

hesitation; but the account of the present matter is derived from Mr.

Roper, More's son-in-law, who accompanied him to Lambeth, and it is

incidentally confirmed in various details by More himself.

[267] More's _Life of More_, p. 232.

[268] More held extreme republican opinions on the tenure of kings,

holding that they might be deposed by act of parliament.

[269] More's _Life of More_, p. 237.

[270] Burnet, Vol. I. p. 255.

[271] More's _Life of More_, p. 237.

[272] Cromwell to the Archbishop of Canterbury: _Rolls House MS._

[273] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 411, et seq.

[274] Royal Proclamation, June, 1534.

[275] Ibid.

[276] Foxe, Vol. V. p. 70.