382 Ibid, p. 616.

383 The State Papers contain a piteous picture of this business, the hereditary feuds of centuries bursting out on the first symptoms of ill-will between the two governments, with fire and devastation.—State Papers, vol. iv. p. 620-644.

384 If the said Earl of Angus do make unto us oath of allegiance, and recognises us as Supreme Lord of Scotland, and as his prince and sovereign, we then, the said earl doing the premises, by these presents bind ourself to pay yearly to the said earl the sum of one thousand pounds sterling.—Henry VIII. to the Earl of Angus: State Papers, vol. iv. p. 613.

385 A letter of Queen Catherine to the Emperor, written on the occasion of this visit, will be read with interest:—

"HIGH AND MIGHTY LORD,—Although your Majesty is occupied with your own affairs and with your preparations against the Turk, I cannot, nevertheless, refrain from troubling you with mine, which perhaps in substance and in the sight of God are of equal importance. Your Majesty knows well, that God hears those who do him service, and no greater service can be done than to procure an end in this business. It does not concern only ourselves—it concerns equally all who fear God. None can measure the woes which will fall on Christendom, if his Holiness will not act in it and act promptly. The signs are all around us in new printed books full of lies and dishonesty—in the resolution to proceed with the cause here in England—in the interview of these two princes, where the king, my lord, is covering himself with infamy through the companion which he takes with him. The country is full of terror and scandal; and evil may be looked for if nothing be done, and inasmuch as our only hope is in God's mercy, and in the favour of your Majesty, for the discharge of my conscience, I must let you know the strait in which I am placed.

"I implore your Highness for the service of God, that you urge his Holiness to be prompt in bringing the cause to a conclusion. The longer the delay the harder the remedy will be.

"The particulars of what is passing here are so shocking, so outrageous against Almighty God, they touch so nearly the honour of my Lord and husband, that for the love I bear him, and for the good that I desire for him, I would not have your Highness know of them from me. Your ambassador will inform you of all."—Queen Catherine to Charles V. September 18.—MS. Simancas.

The Emperor, who was at Mantua, was disturbed at the meeting at Boulogne, on political grounds as well as personal. On the 24th of October he wrote to his sister, at Brussels.

Charles the Fifth to the Regent Mary.

Mantua, October 16, 1532.

I found your packets on arriving here, with the ambassadors' letters from France and England. The ambassadors will themselves have informed you of the intended conference of the Kings. The results will make themselves felt ere long. We must be on our guard, and I highly approve of your precautions for the protection of the frontiers.

As to the report that the King of England means to take the opportunity of the meeting to marry Anne Boleyn, I can hardly believe that he will be so blind as to do so, or that the King of France will lend himself to the other's sensuality. At all events, however, I have written to my ministers at Rome, and I have instructed them to lay a complaint before the Pope, that, while the process is yet pending, in contempt of the authority of the Church, the King of England is scandalously bringing over the said Anne with him, as if she were his wife.

His Holiness and the Apostolic See will be the more inclined to do us justice, and to provide as the case shall require.

Should the King indeed venture the marriage—as I cannot think he will—I have desired his Holiness not only not to sanction such conduct openly, but not to pass it by in silence. I have demanded that severe and fitting sentence be passed at once on an act so wicked and so derogatory to the Apostolic See.—The Pilgrim, p. 89.

386 There can be little doubt of this. He was the child of the only intrigue of Henry VIII. of which any credible evidence exists. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Blunt, an accomplished and most interesting person; and the offspring of the connection, one boy only, was brought up with the care and the state of a prince. Henry FitzRoy, as he was called, was born in 1519, and when six years old was created Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the title of the king's father.

In 1527, before the commencement of the disturbance on the divorce, Henry endeavoured to negotiate a marriage for him with a princess of the imperial blood; and in the first overtures gave an intimation which could not be mistaken, of his intention, if possible, to place him in the line of the succession. After speaking of the desire which was felt by the King of England for some connection in marriage of the Houses of England and Spain, the ambassadors charged with the negotiation were to say to Charles, that—

"His Highness can be content to bestow the Duke of Richmond and Somerset (who is near of his blood, and of excellent qualities, and is already furnished to keep the state of a great prince, and yet may be easily by the king's means exalted to higher things) to some noble princess of his near blood."—ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 121.

He was a gallant, high-spirited boy. A letter is extant from him to Wolsey, written when he was nine years old, begging the cardinal to intercede with the king, "for an harness to exercise myself in arms according to my erudition in the Commentaries of Cæsar."—Ibid. p. 119.

He was brought up with Lord Surrey, who has left a beautiful account of their boyhood at Windsor—their tournaments, their hunts, their young loves, and passionate friendship. Richmond married Surrey's sister, but died the year after, when only seventeen; and Surrey revisiting Windsor, recalls his image among the scenes which they had enjoyed together, in the most interesting of all his poems. He speaks of

387 Compare LORD HERBERT with A Paper of Instructions to Lord Rochfort on his Mission to Paris: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 427, etc.; and A Remonstrance of Francis I. to Henry VIII.: LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 571, etc. It would be curious to know whether Francis ever actually wrote to the pope a letter of which Henry sent him a draft. If he did, there are expressions contained in it which amount to a threat of separation. In case the pope was obstinate Francis was to say, "Lors force seroit de pourvoir audict affaire, par autres voyes et façons, qui peut etre, ne vous seroint gueres agreable."—State Papers, vol. vii. p. 436.

388 A nostre derniere entrevue sur la fraternelle et familiere communication que nous eusmes ensemble de noz affaires venant aux nostres, Luy declarasmes comme a tord et injustment nous estions affligez, dilayez, et fort ingratemeut manniez et troublez, en nostre dicte grande et pesante matiere de marriage par la particuliere affection de l'empereur et du pape. Lesquelz sembloient par leurs longues retardations de nostre dicte matiere ne sercher autre chose, sinon par longue attente et laps de temps, nous frustrer malicieusement du propoz, qui plus nous induict a poursuivir et mettre avant la dicte matiere; c'est davoir masculine succession et posterite en laquelle nous etablirons (Dieu voulant) le quiet repoz et tranquillite de notre royaulme et dominion. Son fraternel, plain, et entier advis (et a bref dire le meilleur qui pourroit estre) fut tel; il nous conseilla de ne dilayer ne protractor le temps plus longuement, mais en toute celerite proceder effectuellement a laccomplisment et consummation de nostre marriage.—Henry VIII. to Rochfort: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 428-9.

389 The extent of Francis's engagements, as Henry represents them, was this:—He had promised qu'en icelle nostre dicte cause jamais ne nous abandonneroit quelque chose que sen ensuyst; ainsi de tout son pouvoir l'establiroit, supporteroit, aideroit et maintiendroit notre bon droict, et le droict de la posterite et succession qui sen pourroit ensuyr; et a tous ceulz qui y vouldroyent mettre trouble, empeschement, encombrance, ou y procurer deshonneur, vitupere, ou infraction, il seroit enemy et adversaire de tout son pouvoir, de quelconque estat qu'il soit, fust pape ou empereur,—avecque plusieurs autres consolatives paroles. This he wished Francis to commit to paper. Car autant de fois, que les verrions, he says, qui seroit tous les jours, nous ne pourrions, si non les liscent, imaginer et reduire a notre souvenance la bonne grace facunde et geste, dont il les nous prononçait, et estimer estre comme face a face, parlans avecque luy.—State Papers, vol. vii. p. 437. Evidently language of so wide a kind might admit of many interpretations.

390 LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 571, etc.

391 Note of the Revelations of Eliz. Barton: Rolls House MS. Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 17.

The intention was really perhaps what the nun said. An agent of the government at Brussels, who was watching the conference, reported on the 12th of November:—"The King of England did really cross with the intention of marrying; but, happily for the emperor, the ceremony is postponed. Of other secrets, my informant has learned thus much. They have resolved to demand as the portion of the Queen of France, Artois, Tournay, and part of Burgundy. They have also sent two cardinals to Rome to require the Pope to relinquish the tenths, which they have begun to levy for themselves. If his Holiness refuse, the King of England will simply appropriate them throughout his dominions. Captain —— heard this from the king's proctor at Rome, who has been with him at Calais, and from an Italian named Jeronymo, whom the Lady Anne has roughly handled for managing her business badly. She trusted that she would have been married in September.

"The proctor told her the Pope delayed sentence for fear of the Emperor. The two kings, when they heard this, despatched the cardinals to quicken his movements; and the demand for the tenths is thought to have been invented to frighten him.

"They are afraid that the Emperor may force his Holiness into giving sentence before the cardinals arrive. Jeronymo has been therefore sent forward by post to give him notice of their approach, and to require him to make no decision till they have spoken with him."—The Pilgrim, p. 89.

392 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.

393 Revelations of Eliz. Barton: Rolls House MS.

394 State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 435, 468.

395 Letter from ——, containing an account of an interview with his Holiness: Rolls House MS.

396 This proposal was originally the king's (see chapter 2), but it had been dropped because one of the conditions of it had been Catherine's "entrance into religion." The pope, however, had not lost sight of the alternative, as one of which, in case of extremity, he might avail himself; and, in 1530, in a short interval of relaxation, he had definitely offered the king a dispensation to have two wives, at the instigation, curiously, of the imperialists. The following letter was written on that occasion to the king by Sir Gregory Cassalis:—

Serenissime et potentissime domine rex, domine mi supreme humillimâ commendatione premissâ, salutem et felicitatem. Superioribus diebus Pontifex secreto, veluti rem quam magni faceret, mihi proposuit conditionem hujusmodi; concedi posse vestræ majestati, ut duas uxores habeat; cui dixi nolle me provinciam suscipere eâ de re scribendi, ob eam causam quod ignorarem an inde vestræ conscientiæ satisfieri posset quam vestra majestas imprimis exonerare cupit. Cur autem sic responderem, illud in causâ fuit, quod ex certo loco, unde quæ Cæsariani moliantur aucupari soleo exploratum certumque habebam Cæsarianos illud ipsum quærere et procurare. Quem vero ad finem id quærant pro certo exprimere non ausim. Id certe totum vestræ prudentiæ considerandum relinquo. Et quamvis dixerim Pontifici, nihil me de eo scripturum, nolui tamen majestati vestræ hoc reticere; quæ sciat omni me industriâ laborâsse in iis quæ nobis mandat exequendis et cum Anconitano qui me familiariter uti solet, omnia sum conatus. De omnibus autem me ad communes literas rejicio. Optime valeat vestra majestas.—Romæ die xviii. Septembris, 1530.

Clarissimi vestrai Majestatis, Humillimus servus,

GREGORIUS CASSALIS,

—LORD HERBERT, p. 140.

397 State Papers, vol. vii. p. 394, etc.

398 The obtaining the opinion in writing of the late Cardinal of Ancona, and submitting it to the emperor. This minister, the most aged as well as the most influential member of the conclave, had latterly been supposed to be inclined to advise a conciliatory policy towards England; and his judgment was of so much weight that it was thought likely that the emperor would have been unable to resist the publication of it, if it was given against him. At the critical moment of the Bologna interview this cardinal unfortunately died: he had left his sentiments, however, in the hands of his nephew, the Cardinal of Ravenna, who, knowing the value of his legacy, was disposed to make a market of it. It was a knavish piece of business. The English ambassadors offered 3000 ducats; Charles bid them out of the field with a promise of church benefices to the extent of 6000 ducats; he did not know precisely the terms of the judgment, or even on which side it inclined, but in either case the purchase was of equal importance to him, either to produce it or to suppress it. The French and English ambassadors then combined, and bid again with church benefices in the two countries, of equal value with those offered by Charles, with a promise of the next English bishopric which fell vacant, and the original 3000 ducats as an initiatory fee. There was a difficulty in the transaction, for the cardinal would not part with the paper till he had received the ducats, and the ambassadors would not pay the ducats till they had possession of the paper. The Italian, however, proved an overmatch for his antagonists. He got his money, and the judgment was not produced after all.—State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 397-8, 464. BURNET, vol. iii. p. 108.

399 Bennet to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 402.

400 Sir Gregory Cassalis to the King: Rolls House M.S., endorsed by Henry, Litteræ in Pontificis dicta declaratoriæ quæ maxime causam nostram probant.

401 There was a tradition (it cannot be called more), that no Englishman could be compelled against his will to plead at a foreign tribunal. "Ne Angli extra Angliam litigare cogantur."

402 Henry VIII. to the Ambassadors with the Pope: Rolls House M.S.

403 Ibid.

404 So at least the English government was at last convinced, as appears in the circular to the clergy, printed in BURNET'S Collectanea, p. 447, etc. I try to believe, however, that the pope's conduct was rather weak than treacherous.

405 So at least Cranmer says; but he was not present, nor was he at the time informed that it was to take place.—ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 32. The belief, however, generally was, that the marriage took place in November; and though Cranmer's evidence is very strong, his language is too vague to be decisive.

406 Individual interests have to yield necessarily and justly to the interests of a nation, provided the conduct or the sacrifice which the nation requires is not sinful. That there would have been any sin on Queen Catherine's part if she had consented to a separation from the king, was never pretended; and although it is a difficult and delicate matter to decide how far unwilling persons may be compelled to do what they ought to have done without compulsion, yet the will of a single man or woman cannot be allowed to constitute itself an irremovable obstacle to a great national good.

407 It is printed by LORD HERBERT, and in LEGRAND, vol. iii.

408 LEGRAND, vol. iii. p. 558, etc.

409 Ye may show unto his Holiness that ye have heard from a friend of yours in Flanders lately, that there hath been set up certain writings from the See Apostolic, in derogation both of justice and of the affection lately showed by his Holiness unto us; which thing ye may say ye can hardly believe to be true, but that ye reckon them rather to be counterfeited. For if it should be true, it is a thing too far out of the way, specially considering that you and other our ambassadors be there, and have heard nothing of the matter. We send a copy of these writings unto you, which copy we will in no wise that ye shall show to any person which might think that ye had any knowledge from us nor any of our council, marvelling greatly if the same hath proceeded indeed from the pope; [and] willing you expressly not to show that ye had it of us.—State Papers, vol. vii. p. 421.

410 State Papers, vol. vii. p. 454.

411 Sir John Wallop to Henry: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 422.

412 Francis represented himself to Henry as having refused with a species of bravado. "He told me," says Sir John Wallop, "that he had announced previously that he would consent to no such interview, unless your Highness were also comprised in the same; and if it were so condescended that your Highness and he should be then together, yet you two should go after such a sort and with such power that you would not care whether the pope and emperor would have peace or else coups de baston."—Wallop to Henry, from Paris, Feb. 22. But this was scarcely a complete account of the transaction; it was an account only of so much of it as the French king was pleased to communicate. The emperor was urgent for a council. The pope, feeling the difficulty either of excluding or admitting the Protestant representatives, was afraid of consenting to it, and equally afraid of refusing. The meeting proposed to Francis was for the discussion of this difficulty; and Francis, in return, proposed that the great Powers, Henry included, should hold an interview, and arrange beforehand the conclusions at which the council should arrive. This naïve suggestion was waived by Charles, apparently on grounds of religion. LORD HERBERT, Kennet's Edit. p. 167.

413 The emperor's answer touching this interview is come, and is, in effect, that if the pope shall judge the said interview to be for the wealth and quietness of Christendom, he will not be seen to dissuade his Holiness from the same; but he desired him to remember what he showed to his Holiness when he was with the same, at what time his Holiness offered himself for the commonwealth to go to any place to speak with the French king.—Bennet to Henry VIII.; State Papers, vol. vii. p. 464.

414 The estrapade was an infernal machine introduced by Francis into Paris for the better correction of heresy. The offender was slung by a chain over a fire, and by means of a crane was dipped up and down into the flame, the torture being thus prolonged for an indefinite time. Francis was occasionally present in person at these exhibitions, the executioner waiting his arrival before commencing the spectacle.

415 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 13.

416 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 12

417 State Papers, vol. vii. p. 441.

418 D'Inteville to Francis the First: MS. Bibliothèque Impérial, Paris—Pilgrim, p. 92.

419 24 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.

420 He had been selected as Warham's successor; and had been consecrated on the 30th of March, 1533. On the occasion of the ceremony when the usual oath to the Pope was presented to him, he took it with a declaration that his first duty and first obedience was to the crown and laws of his own country. It is idle trifling, to build up, as too many writers have attempted to do, a charge of insincerity upon an action which was forced upon him by the existing relation between England and Rome. The Act of Appeals was the law of the land. The separation from communion with the papacy was a contingency which there was still a hope might be avoided. Such a protest as Cranmer made was therefore the easiest solution of the difficulty. See it in STRYPE'S Cranmer, Appendix, p. 683.

421 BURNET, Vol. iii. pp. 122-3

422 Bennet to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 402. Sir Gregory Cassalis to the same: Rolls House MS.

423 BURNET, vol. iii. p. 123.

424 Ibid. vol. i. p. 210.

425 See State Papers, vol. i. pp. 415, 420, etc.

426 BURNET'S Collectanea, p. 22. It is very singular that in the original Bull of Julius, the expression is "forsan consummavissetis;" while in the brief, which, if it was genuine, was written the same day, and which, if forged, was forged by Catherine's friends, there is no forsan. The fact is stated absolutely.

427 LORD HERBERT, p. 163. BURNET. vol. iii. p. 123.

428 State Papers, vol. i. pp. 390. 391.

429 Ye therefore duly recognising that it becometh you not, being our subject, to enterprise any part of your said office in so weighty and great a cause pertaining to us being your prince and sovereign, without our licence obtained so to do; and therefore in your most humble wise ye supplicate us to grant unto you our licence to proceed.—State Papers, vol. i. p. 392.

430 State Papers, vol. i. p. 392.

431 Cromwell to the King on his Committal to the Tower: BURNET, Collectanea, p. 500.

432 So at least she called him a few days later.—State Papers, vol. i. p. 420. We have no details of her words when she was summoned; but only a general account of them.—State Papers, vol. i. p. 394-5.

433 The words of the sentence may be interesting:—"In the name of God, Amen. We, Thomas, by Divine permission Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Legate of the Apostolic See, in a certain cause of inquiry of and concerning the validity of the marriage contracted and consummated between the most potent and most illustrious Prince, our Sovereign Lord, Henry VIII., by the grace of God King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, and the most serene Princess, Catherine, daughter of his Most Catholic Majesty, Ferdinand, King of Spain, of glorious memory, we proceeding according to law and justice in the said cause which has been brought judicially before us in virtue of our office, and which for some time has lain under examination, as it still is, being not yet finally determined and decided; having first seen all the articles and pleas which have been exhibited and set forth of her part, together with the answers made thereto on the part of the most illustrious and powerful Prince, Henry VIII.; having likewise seen and diligently inspected the informations and depositions of many noblemen and other witnesses of unsuspected veracity exhibited in the said cause; having also seen and in like manner carefully considered not only the censures and decrees of the most famous universities of almost the whole Christian world, but likewise the opinions and determinations both of the most eminent divines and civilians, as also the resolutions and conclusions of the clergy of both Provinces of England in Convocation assembled, and many other wholesome instructions and doctrines which have been given in and laid before us concerning the said marriage; having further seen and in like manner inspected all the treaties and leagues of peace and amity on this account entered upon and concluded between Henry VII., of immortal fame, late King of England, and the said Ferdinand, of glorious memory, late King of Spain; having besides seen and most carefully weighed all and every of the acts, debates, letters, processes, instruments, writs, arguments, and all other things which have passed and been transacted in the said cause at any time; in all which thus seen and inspected, our most exact care in examining, and our most mature deliberation in weighing them hath by us been used, and all other things have been observed by us, which of right in this matter were to be observed; furthermore, the said most illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., in the forementioned cause, by his proper Proctor having appeared before us, but the said most serene Lady Catherine in contempt absenting herself (whose absence we pray that the divine presence may compensate) [cujus absentia Divinâ repleatur præsentiâ. Lord Herbert translates it, "whose absence may the Divine presence attend," missing, I think, the point of the Archbishop's parenthesis] by and with the advice of the most learned in the law, and of persons of most eminent skill in divinity whom we have consulted in the premises, we have found it our duty to proceed to give our final decree and sentence in the said cause, which, accordingly, we do in this manner.

"Because by acts, warrants, deductions, propositions, exhibitions, allegations, proofs and confessions, articles drawn up, answers of witnesses, depositions, informations, instruments, arguments, letters, writs, censures, determinations of professors, opinions, councils, assertions, affirmations, treaties, and leagues of peace, processes, and other matters in the said cause, as is above mentioned, before us laid, had, done, exhibited, and respectively produced, as also from the same and sundry other reasons, causes, and considerations, manifold arguments, and various kinds of proof of the greatest evidence, strength, and validity, of which in the said cause we have fully and clearly informed ourselves, we find, and with undeniable evidence and plainness see that the marriage contracted and consummated, as is aforesaid, between the said most illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., and the most serene Lady Catherine, was and is null and invalid, and that it was contracted and consummated contrary to the law of God: therefore, we, Thomas, Archbishop, Primate, and Legate aforesaid, having first called upon the name of Christ for direction herein, and having God altogether before our eyes, do pronounce sentence, and declare for the invalidity of the said marriage, decreeing that the said pretended marriage always was and still is null and invalid; that it was contracted and consummated contrary to the will and law of God, that it is of no force or obligation, but that it always wanted, and still wants, the strength and sanction of law; and therefore we sentence that it is not lawful for the said most illustrious Prince, Henry VIII., and the said most serene Lady Catherine, to remain in the said pretended marriage; and we do separate and divorce them one from the other, inasmuch as they contracted and consummated the said pretended marriage de facto, and not de jure; and that they so separated and divorced are absolutely free from all marriage bond with regard to the foresaid pretended marriage, we pronounce, and declare by this our definitive sentence and final decree, which we now give, and by the tenour of these present writings do publish. May 23rd, 1533."—BURNET'S Collectanea, p. 68, and LORD HERBERT.

434 HALL.

435 Ibid.

436 Ibid. p. 801. Hall was most likely an eye-witness, and may be thoroughly trusted in these descriptions. Whenever we are able to test him, which sometimes happens, by independent contemporary accounts, he proves faithful in the most minute particulars.

437 FOXE, vol. v. p. III.

438 Northumberland to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. iv. pp. 598-9.

439 Hawkins to Henry VIII.: Ibid. vol. vii. p. 488.

440 BURNET. vol. iii. p. 115.

441 State Papers, vol. i. p. 398.

442 Papers relating to the Nun of Kent: Rolls House MS.

443 ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 43.

444 Cotton M.S. Otho X, p. 199. State Papers, vol. i. p. 397.

445 State Papers, vol. i. p. 403.

446 Cromwell had endeavoured to save Frith, or at least had been interested for him. Sir Edmund Walsingham, writing to him about the prisoners in the Tower, says:—"Two of them wear irons, and Frith weareth none. Although he lacketh irons, he lacketh not wit nor pleasant tongue. His learning passeth my judgment. Sir, as ye said, it were great pity to lose him if he may be reconciled."—Walsingham to Cromwell: M.S. State Paper Office, second series, vol. xlvi.

447 ELLIS, first series, vol. ii. p. 40.

448 "The natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven, and not here, it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one." The argument and the words in which it is expressed were Frith's.—See FOXE, vol. v. p. 6.

449 The origin of the word Lollards has been always a disputed question. I conceive it to be from Lolium. They were the "tares" in the corn of Catholicism.

450 35 Ed. I.; Statutes of Carlisle, cap. 1-4.

451 Ibid.

452 25 Ed. III. stat. 4. A clause in the preamble of this act bears a significantly Erastian complexion: come seinte Eglise estoit founde en estat de prelacie deins le royaulme Dengleterre par le dit Roi et ses progenitours, et countes, barons, et nobles de ce Royaulme et lours ancestres, pour eux et le poeple enfourmer de la lei Dieu. If the Church of England was held to have been, founded not by the successors of the Apostles, but by the king and the nobles, the claim of Henry VIII. to the supremacy was precisely in the spirit of the constitution.

453 38 Ed. III. stat. 2; 3 Ric. II. cap. 3; 12 Ric. II. cap. 15; 13 Ric. II. stat. 2. The first of these acts contains a paragraph which shifts the blame from the popes themselves to the officials of the Roman courts. The statute is said to have been enacted en eide et confort du pape qui moult sovent a estee trublez par tieles et semblables clamours et impetracions, et qui y meist voluntiers covenable remedie, si sa seyntetee estoit sur ces choses enfournee. I had regarded this passage as a fiction of courtesy like that of the Long Parliament who levied troops in the name of Charles I. The suspicious omission of the clause, however, in the translation of the statutes which was made in the later years of Henry VIII. justifies an interpretation more favourable to the intentions of the popes.

454 The abbots and bishops decently protested. Their protest was read in parliament, and entered on the Rolls. Rot. Parl. iii. [264] quoted by Lingard, who has given a full account of these transactions.

455 13 Ric. II. stat. 2.

456 See 16 Ric. II. cap. 5.

457 This it will be remembered was the course which was afterwards followed by the parliament under Henry VIII. before abolishing the payment of first-fruits.

458 Lingard says, that "there were rumours that if the prelates executed the decree of the king's courts, they would be excommunicated."—Vol. iii. p. 172. The language of the act of parliament, 16 Ric. II. cap. 5, is explicit that the sentence was pronounced.

459 16 Ric. II. cap. 5.

460 Ibid.

461 Ibid.

462 LEWIS, Life of Wycliffe.

463 If such scientia media might be allowed to man, which is beneath certainty and above conjecture, such should I call our persuasion that he was born in Durham.—FULLER'S Worthies, vol. i. p. 479.

464 The Last Age of the Church was written in 1356. See LEWIS, p. 3.

465 LELAND.

466 LEWIS, p. 287.

467 1 Ric. II. cap. 13.

468 WALSINGHAM, 206-7, apud LINGARD. It is to be observed, however, that Wycliffe himself limited his arguments strictly to the property of the clergy. See MILMAN'S History of Latin Christianity, vol. v. p. 508.

469 WALSINGHAM, p. 275, apud LINGARD.

470 5 Ric. II. cap. 5.

471 WILKINS, Concilia, iii. 160-167.

472 De Heretico comburendo. 2 Hen. IV. cap. 15.

473 STOW, 330, 338.

474 Rot. Parl. iv. 24, 108, apud LINGARD; RYMER, ix. 89, 119, 129, 170, 193; MILMAN, Vol. v. p. 520-535.

475 2 Hen. V. stat. 1, cap. 7.

476 There is no better test of the popular opinion of a man than the character assigned to him on the stage; and till the close of the sixteenth century Sir John Oldcastle remained the profligate buffoon of English comedy. Whether in life he bore the character so assigned to him, I am unable to say. The popularity of Henry V., and the splendour of his French wars, served no doubt to colour all who had opposed him with a blacker shade than they deserved: but it is almost certain that Shakspeare, though not intending Falstaff as a portrait of Oldcastle, thought of him as he was designing the character; and it is altogether certain that by the London public Falstaff was supposed to represent Oldcastle. We can hardly suppose that such an expression as "my old lad of the castle," should be accidental; and in the epilogue to the Second Part of Henry the Fourth, when promising to reintroduce Falstaff once more, Shakspeare says, "where for anything I know he shall die of the sweat, for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man." He had, therefore, certainly been supposed to be the man, and Falstaff represented the English conception of the character of the Lollard hero. I should add, however, that Dean Milman, who has examined the records which remain to throw light on the character of this remarkable person with elaborate care and ability, concludes emphatically in his favour.

477 Two curious letters of Henry VI. upon the Lollards, written in 1431, are printed in the Archæologia, vol. xxiii. p. 339, etc. "As God knoweth," he says of them, "never would they be subject to his laws nor to man's, but would be loose and free to rob, reve, and dispoil, slay and destroy all men of thrift and worship, as they proposed to have done in our father's days; and of lads and lurdains would make lords."

478 Proceedings of an organised Society in London called the Christian Brethren, supported by voluntary contributions, for the dispersion of tracts against the doctrines of the Church: Rolls House MS.

479 HALE'S Precedents. The London and Lincoln Registers, in FOXE, vol. iv.; and the MS. Registers of Archbishops Morton and Warham, at Lambeth.

480 KNOX'S History of the Reformation in Scotland.

481 Also we object to you that divers times, and specially in Robert Durdant's house, of Iver Court, near unto Staines, you erroneously and damnably read in a great book of heresy, all [one] night, certain chapters of the Evangelists, in English, containing in them divers erroneous and damnable opinions and conclusions of heresy, in the presence of divers suspected persons.—Articles objected against Richard Butler—London Register: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 178.

482 FOXE, vol. iv. p. 176.

483 MICHELET, Life of Luther, p. 71.

484 Ibid.

485 Ibid. p. 41.

486 WOOD'S Athenæ Oxonienses.

487 FOXE, vol. iv. p. 618.

488 The suspicious eyes of the Bishops discovered Tyndal's visit, and the result which was to be expected from it.

On Dec. 2nd, 1525, Edward Lee, afterwards Archbishop of York, then king's almoner, and on a mission into Spain, wrote from Bordeaux to warn Henry. The letter is instructive:

"Please your Highness to understand that I am certainly informed as I passed in this country, that an Englishman, your subject, at the solicitation and instance of Luther, with whom he is, hath translated the New Testament into English; and within few days intendeth to return with the same imprinted into England. I need not to advertise your Grace what infection and danger may ensue hereby if it be not withstanded. This is the next way to fulfil your realm with Lutherians. For all Luther's perverse opinions be grounded upon bare words of Scripture, not well taken, ne understanded, which your Grace hath opened in sundry places of your royal book. All our forefathers, governors of the Church of England, hath with all diligence forbid and eschewed publication of English Bibles, as appeareth in constitutions provincial of the Church of England. Nowe, sure, as God hath endued your Grace with Christian courage to sett forth the standard against these Philistines and to vanquish them, so I doubt not but that he will assist your Grace to prosecute and perform the same—that is, to undertread them that they shall not now lift up their heads; which they endeavour by means of English Bibles. They know what hurt such books hath done in your realm in times past."—Edward Lee to Henry VIII.: ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 71.

489 Answer of the Bishops: Rolls House MS. See cap. 3.

490 Answer of the Bishops, vol. i. cap. 3.

491 See, particularly, State Papers, vol. vii. p. 302.

492 Proceedings of the Christian Brethren: Rolls House MS.

493 See the letter of Bishop Fox to Wolsey: STRYPE'S Memorials, vol. i. Appendix.

494 Particulars of Persons who had dispersed Anabaptist and Lutheran Tracts: Rolls House MS.

495 Dr. Taylor to Wolsey: Rolls House MS. Clark to Wolsey: State Papers, vol. vii. pp. 80, 81.

496 ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 189.

497 Memoirs of Latimer prefixed to Sermons, pp. 3, 4; and see STRYPE'S Memorials, vol. i.

498 FOXE, vol. v. p. 416.

499 Tunstall, Bishop of London, has had the credit hitherto of this ingenious folly, the effect of which, as Sir Thomas More warned him, could only be to supply Tyndal with money.—HALL, 762, 763. The following letter from the Bishop of Norwich to Warham shows that Tunstall was only acting in canonical obedience to the resolution of his metropolitan:—

"In right humble manner I commend me unto your good Lordship, doing the same to understand that I lately received your letters, dated at your manor of Lambeth, the 26th day of the month of May, by the which I do perceive that your Grace hath lately gotten into your hands all the books of the New Testament, translated into English, and printed beyond the sea; as well those with the glosses joined unto them as those without the glosses.

"Surely, in myn opinion, you have done therein a gracious and a blessed deed; and God, I doubt not, shall highly reward you therefore. And when, in your said letters, ye write that, insomuch as this matter and the danger thereof, if remedy had not been provided, should not only have touched you, but all the bishops within your province; and that it is no reason that the holle charge and cost thereof should rest only in you; but that they and every of them, for their part, should advance and contribute certain sums of money towards the same: I for my part will be contented to advance in this behalf, and to make payment thereof unto your servant, Master William Potkyn.

"Pleaseth it you to understand, I am well contented to give and advance in this behalf ten marks, and shall cause the same to be delivered shortly; the which sum I think sufficient for my part, if every bishop within your province make like contribution, after the rate and substance of their benefices. Nevertheless, if your Grace think this sum not sufficient for my part in this matter, your further pleasure known, I shall be as glad to conform myself thereunto in this, or any other matter concerning the church, as any your subject within your province; as knows Almighty God, who long preserve you. At Hoxne in Suffolk, the 14th day of June, 1527. Your humble obedience and bedeman,

"R. NORWICEN."

500 FOXE, vol. iv.

501 The papal bull, and the king's licence to proceed upon it, are printed in Rymer, vol. vi. part ii. pp. 8 and 17. The latter is explicit on Wolsey's personal liberality in establishing this foundation. Ultro et ex propriâ liberalitate et munificentiâ, nec sine gravissimo suo sumptu et impensis, collegium fundare conatur.

502 Would God my Lord his Grace had never been motioned to call any Cambridge man to his most towardly college. It were a gracious deed if they were tried and purged and restored unto their mother from whence they came, if they be worthy to come thither again. We were clear without blot or suspicion till they came, and some of them, as Master Dean hath known a long time, hath had a shrewd name.—Dr. London to Archbishop Warham: Rolls House MS.

503 Dr. London to Warham: Rolls House MS.

504 DALABER'S Narrative.

505 Clark seems to have taken pupils in the long vacation. Dalaber at least read with him all one summer in the country.—Dr. London to Warham: Rolls House MS.

506 The Vicar of Bristol to the Master of Lincoln College, Oxford: Rolls House MS.

507 Dr. London to Warham: Rolls House MS.

508 Radley himself was one of the singers at Christchurch: London to Warham. MS.

509 Dr. London to Warham: Rolls House MS.

510 On the site of the present Worcester College. It lay beyond the walls of the town, and was then some distance from it across the fields.

511 Christchurch, where Dalaber occasionally sung in the quire. Vide infra.

512 Some part of which let us read with him. "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death; and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

513 Rector of Lincoln.

514 Warden of New College.

515 The last prayer.

516 Dr. Maitland, who has an indifferent opinion of the early Protestants, especially on the point of veracity, brings forward this assertion of Dalaber as an illustration of what he considers their recklessness. It seems obvious, however, that a falsehood of this kind is something different in kind from what we commonly mean by unveracity, and has no affinity with it. I do not see my way to a conclusion; but I am satisfied that Dr. Maitland's strictures are unjust. If Garret was taken, he was in danger of a cruel death, and his escape could only be made possible by throwing the bloodhounds off the scent. A refusal to answer would not have been sufficient; and the general laws by which our conduct is ordinarily to be directed, cannot be made so universal in their application as to meet all contingencies. It is a law that we may not strike or kill other men, but occasions rise in which we may innocently do both. I may kill a man in defence of my own life or my friend's life, or even of my friend's property; and surely the circumstances which dispense with obedience to one law may dispense equally with obedience to another. If I may kill a man to prevent him from robbing my friend, why may I not deceive a man to save my friend from being barbarously murdered? It is possible that the highest morality would forbid me to do either. I am unable to see why, if the first be permissible, the second should be a crime. Rahab of Jericho did the same thing which Dalaber did, and on that very ground was placed in the catalogue of saints.

517 A cell in the Tower, the nature of which we need not inquire into.

518 FOXE, vol. v. p. 421.

519 Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln: Rolls House MS.

520 Ibid.

521 Dr. Forman, rector of All Hallows, who had himself been in trouble for heterodoxy.

522 Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln, Feb. 20, 1528: Rolls House MS.

523 Now Cokethorpe Park, three miles from Stanton Harcourt, and about twelve from Oxford. The village has disappeared.

524 Vicar of All Saints, Bristol, to the Rector of Lincoln: Rolls House MS.

525 The Vicar of All Saints to the Rector of Lincoln: Rolls House MS.

526 Dr. London to the Bishop of Lincoln: Rolls House MS.

527 Long extracts from it are printed in FOXE, vol. iv.

528 Another of the brethren, afterwards Bishop of St. David's, and one of the Marian victims.

529 Bishop of Lincoln to Wolsey, March 5, 1527-8: Rolls House MS.: and see ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 77.

530 ELLIS, third series, vol. ii. p. 77.

531 With some others he "was cast into a prison where the saltfish lay, through the stink whereof the most part of them were infected; and the said Clark, being a tender young man, died in the same prison."—FOXE, vol. iv. p. 615.

532 London to Warham: Rolls House MS.

533 Petition of the Commons, vol. i. cap. 3.

534 Ibid. And, as we saw in the bishops' reply, they considered their practice in these respects wholly defensible.—See Reply of the Bishops, cap. 3.

535 Petition of the Commons, cap. 3.

536 Hen. V. stat. 1.

537 He had been "troublesome to heretics," he said, and he had "done it with a little ambition;" for "he so hated this kind of men, that he would fie the sorest enemy that they could have, if they would not repent."—MORE'S Life of More, p. 211.

538 See FOXE:, vol. iv. pp. 689, 698, 705.

539 2 Hen. V. stat. 1.

540 John Stokesley.

541 Petition of Thomas Philips to the House of Commons: Rolls House MS.

542 Ibid.

543 FOXE, vol. v. pp. 29, 30.

544 The circumstances are curious. Philips begged that he might have the benefit of the king's writ of corpus cum causâ, and be brought to the bar of the House of Commons, where the Bishop of London should be subpœnaed to meet him. [Petition of Thomas Philips: Rolls House MS.] The Commons did not venture on so strong a measure; but a digest of the petition was sent to the Upper House, that the bishop might have an opportunity of reply. The Lords refused to receive or consider the case: they replied that it was too "frivolous an affair" for so grave an assembly, and that they could not discuss it. [Lords' Journals, vol. i. p. 66.] A deputation of the Commons then waited privately upon the bishop, and being of course anxious to ascertain whether Philips had given a true version of what had passed, they begged him to give some written explanation of his conduct, which might be read in the Commons' House. [Lords' Journals, vol. i. p. 71.] The request was reasonable, and we cannot doubt that, if explanation had been possible, the bishop would not have failed to offer it; but he preferred to shield himself behind the judgment of the Lords. The Lords, he said, had decided that the matter was too frivolous for their own consideration; and without their permission, he might not set a precedent of responsibility to the Commons by answering their questions.

This conduct met with the unanimous approval of the Peers. [Lords' Journals, vol. i. p. 71. Omnes proceres tam spirituales quam temporales unâ, voce dicebant, quod non consentaneum fuit aliquem procerum prædictorum alicui in eo loco responsurum.] The demand for explanation was treated as a breach of privilege, and the bishop was allowed to remain silent. But the time was passed for conduct of this kind to be allowed to triumph. If the bishop could not or would not justify himself, his victim might at least be released from unjust imprisonment. The case was referred to the king: and by the king and the House of Commons Philips was set at liberty.

545 Petition of John Field: Rolls House MS.

546 Jan. 1529-30.

547 Illegal. See 2 Hen. V. stat. 1.

548 Seventh Sermon before King Edward. First Sermon before the Duchess of Suffolk.

549 FOXE, vol. iv. p. 649.

550 Articles against James Bainham: FOXE, vol. iv. p. 703.

551 FOXE, vol. iv. p. 702.

552 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 705.

553 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 694.

554 HALL, p. 806; and see FOXE, vol iv. p. 705.

555 Instructions given by the Bishop of Salisbury: BURNET'S Collectanea, p. 493.