Actes and Monuments

by John Foxe

Historical Account of the Progress of the Reformation in the Reign of King Henry VIII Part 2

It will now be proper to consider the rapid progress of the doctrines of the reformation among the people.

From the days of Wickliffe there were many that differed from the national faith. He wrote many books that gave great offence to the clergy, yet being powerfully supported by the duke of Lancaster, they could not have their revenge during his life; but as we have seen, he was after his death condemned, and his body was raised and burnt. The Bible which he translated into English, with the preface which he set before it, produced the greatest effects. In these he reflected on the ill lives of the clergy, and condemned the worship of saints and images, and the corporeal presence of Christ in the sacrament; but the most criminal part in the eyes of the papists was, exhorting all people to read the Scriptures.

Perhaps there cannot be a stronger proof of the depravity of the Roman catholic religion, or its perversion of truth, than denying to the laity the use of the sacred volume.;

"To the law and to the testimony," saith the prophet; "if they speak not according to this, it is because there is no light in them." "Search the Scriptures," saith the Lord. "These were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so," remarks the writer of the Acts of the Apostles.

The following article respecting Wickliffe and his followers, appeared in the 16th volume of the Monthly Magazine, and may be appropriately introduced in this place.

Wickliffe, the celebrated priest and reformer in the end of Edward III.'s reign, was not educated at Cambridge, but at Oxford; in which university, being a man of distinguished learning, he possessed considerable authority and influence: but his doctrines soon made their way among all ranks of people; and Cambridge, as may be supposed, was not behindhand in giving them a hearing; many of its members were foremost among Wickliffe's advocates, but as the Lollards, his followers, did not form themselves into societies or churches, they were obliged to maintain their opinions privately, and in the hearing only of their particular confidants; for besides the decree passed in the fourth council of Lateran, that all heretics should be delivered over to the civil magistrate to be burned, there were particular laws made in Richard II. and Henry IV.'s reign, which put them from under the king's protection, and left them at the mercy of the spiritual courts. We are not therefore to expect, under these circumstances, that Wickliffe's doctrines should be much agitated publicly at Cambridge. This, however, we collect, that about the year 1401, archbishop Arundel, with his commissioners, visited Cambridge; the archbishop personally, the collective body of the university in congregation, his commissioners every private college. One article of their inquiries was, whether there were any members suspected of Lollardism, or any other heretical pravity? and ten years after, Peter Hartford was, according to Dr. Fuller in his history of Cambridge, ordered to abjure Wickliffe's opinions in full congregation; and about twenty years after this, several Lollards of Chesterton were obliged to abjure. One of the opinions of the latter heretics will appear very singular, which was that priests were incarnate devils. They had, no doubt, poor creatures, been too painfully scorched with church discipline, and were too likely to become fuel for some future flame of their kindling.

The testimonies of this great man against those corruptions were such, that there was no way to deal with them but if possible to silence him. His followers were not men of letters, but being wrought on by the easy conviction of plain common sense, were quite determined in their persuasions. They did not form themselves into a body, but were contented to hold their opinions secretly, and did not spread them, but to their particular confidants. The clergy sought them out every where, and delivered them after conviction to the secular arm, that is, to the flames of martyrdom, the odium of which, by this fiction, they sought to avoid.

The canons of the council of the Lateran being received in England, the proceedings against heretics grew to be a part of the common law, and a writ for burning them was issued upon their conviction without reserve.

In the beginning of this reign, there were several persons brought into the bishop's courts for heresy, before Warham. Forty-eight were accused: but of these, forty-three abjured, twenty-seven men, and sixteen women, most of them inhabitants of Tenterden. Five of them, four men and one woman, were condemned; some as obstinate heretics, and others as relapses: and against the common ties of nature, the woman's husband, and her two sons, were suborned witnesses against her. Upon their conviction, a certificate was made by the archbishop to the chancery: upon which, since there is no pardon upon record, the writs for burning them must have gone out in course, and the execution of them is little to be doubted. The articles objected to them were, that they believed that in the eucharist there was nothing but material bread; that the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, confession, matrimony, and extreme unction, were neither necessary nor profitable; that priests had no more power than laymen; that pilgrimages were not meritorious; that the money and labour they required were spent in vain; that images ought not to be worshipped; that they were only stocks and stones; that prayers ought not to be made to saints, but only to God; that there was no virtue in holy water or holy bread. By this it will appear, that many in this nation were prepared to receive those doctrines, which were afterwards preached by the reformers, even before Luther commenced his more determined and successful career.

The rise and progress of the reformation under him are well known: the scandalous extolling of indulgences gave the first occasion to all that followed between him and the church of Rome; in which, had not the corruptions and cruelties of the clergy been so visible and scandalous, so small a matter could never have produced such a revolution. Even he himself did not expect so great a matter to be immediately kindled by this little fire.

The bishops were grossly ignorant; they seldom resided in their dioceses, except it was to riot at high festivals; and all the effect their residence could have was to corrupt others by their ill example. They followed the courts of princes, and aspired to the greatest offices. The abbots and monks were almost wholly given up to luxury and idleness; and their unmarried state gave infinite scandal to the world; for it appeared that restraining them from having wives of their own, made them conclude that they had a right to all other men's. The inferior clergy were no better; and not having places of retreat to conceal their vices, as the monks had, they became more public and shameless. In short, all ranks of churchmen were so generally despised and hated, that the world was very apt to be possessed with prejudice against their doctrines, for the sake of the men; and the worship of God was so defiled with gross superstition, that the people were easily convinced the church stood in great need of reformation. This was much increased when the books of the fathers began to be read, in which the difference between the former and latter ages of the church very evidently appeared. They found that a blind superstition came first in the room of true piety; and when by its means the wealth and interest of the clergy were highly advanced, the popes had upon that established their tyranny; under which, not only meaner people, but even crowned heads had long groaned. All these things concurred to make way for the advancement of the reformation: while the books of the Germans being brought into England and translated, many were prevailed on by them. Upon this, a hot persecution was vigorously set on foot, to such a degree that six men and women were burnt at Coventry in passion-week, only for teaching their children the creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments in English. Great numbers were every where brought into the bishops' courts; of whom some were burnt, while the greater part fearfully abjured.

The king laid hold of this occasion to become the champion of the church, and wrote against Luther in the manner already described. His book, besides the title of "Defender of the Faith," drew upon him all that flattery could invent to extol it; whilst Luther, not daunted with such an antagonist, answered it, and treated Henry as much below the respect due to a king, as his flatterers had raised him above it. Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, with some notes added to it, drew a severe condemnation from the clergy; there being nothing in which they were more concerned than to keep the people unacquainted with that book. Thus much may serve to shew the condition of affairs in England both in church and state, when the process of the king's divorce was first set on foot. This incident, so replete with consequences the most important to the reformation, shall now be laid before the reader with somewhat of particular detail.

Henry VII. had entered into a firm alliance with Ferdinand of Spain, and agreed to a match between his eldest son prince Arthur, and Katharine the Infanta of Spain. She came into England and was married in November; but on the second of the following April the prince died, leaving the throne as well as the lady open to his brother. Arthur and Katharine had lodged and even slept together, to carry on the farce of marriage; but such was their youth, and the feebleness of the young prince, that beyond this farce no effect detrimental to Henry's hopes, or of service to the nation, could be expected. The king, being unwilling to restore so great a portion as two hundred thousand ducats, which the princess brought as her dowery, proposed a second match for her with his younger son Henry. Warham objected to it as unlawful; but Fox, bishop of Winchester, was for it, and the opinion of the pope's authority was then so well established, that it was thought a dispensation from Rome was sufficient to remove all objections. Accordingly one was obtained, grounded upon a desire of the two young persons to marry together for preserving peace between the crowns of England and Spain.

The pope was then at war with Lewis XII. of France, and would refuse nothing to the king of England, being perhaps not unwilling that princes should contract such marriages, since the lawfulness of their issue depending on the pope's dispensation, they would be thereby obliged in interest to support that authority. Upon this a marriage followed, the prince being yet under age; but the same day in which he came to be of age, he did, by his father's orders, make a protestation that he retracted and annulled the contract. His father, at his death, charged his son to break it off entirely, being perhaps apprehensive of such a return of confusion upon a controverted succession to the crown, as had occurred during the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster; but the son being then eighteen years of age, married her and she bore him two children who died soon after they were born; and another, Mary, afterwards queen of England. After this Katharine contracted some diseases that made her unacceptable to the king; who, at the same time beginning or pretending to have some scruples of conscience with regard to the lawfulness of his marriage, determined to have the affair investigated.

He seemed to lay the greatest weight on the prohibition in the Levitical law of marrying the brother's wife, and being conversant in the writings of Thomas Aquinas, he found that he and the other schoolmen looked on those laws as moral, and for ever binding; and consequently the pope's dispensation was of no force, since his authority went not so far as to dispense with the laws of God. All the bishops of England, Fisher of Rochester only excepted, declared under their hands and seals that they judged the marriage unlawful. The ill consequences of wars that might follow upon a doubtful title to the crown, were also much considered. It is not certain that the king's affections for any other gave rise to all this. It is possible that, conceiving himself on the point of being freed of his former marriage, he gave a free scope to his affections, which settled on Anne Boleyn.

This lady was born in the year 1507, and at seven years of age was sent to France, where she remained twelve years, and then returned to England. She was much admired in both courts, was more beautiful than graceful, and more cheerful than discreet. She wanted none of the charms of wit or person, and must have had extraordinary attractions, since she could so long manage such a king's affection; for it is evident that in the long course of seven years' courtship she kept him at a due distance.

Knight, then secretary of state, was sent to Rome to prepare the pope to grant a dispensation from the former marriage. He made application to the pope in the most secret manner he could, and had a very favourable answer: for the pope promised frankly to dissolve the marriage; but another promise being exacted of him in the emperor's name, not to proceed in that affair, he was reduced to great straits, being then at the emperor's mercy, while he had no mind to lose the king of England; he therefore studied to gain time, and promised that if the latter would have a little patience, he should not only have that which he asked, but every thing that was in his power to grant. The chief cardinal, indeed, made some scruples concerning the bull that was demanded, till he had raised his price, and got a great present; then the pope signed both a commission for Wolsey to try the cause, and judge in it, and also a dispensation, and put them into Knight's hands; but with tears prayed him that there might be no proceedings upon them, till the emperor was incapable of executing his revenge upon him; and whenever that was done he would own this act of justice which he did in the king's favour.

The pope was at this time displeased with Cardinal Wolsey; for he understood that during his captivity, he had been in an intrigue to get himself chosen vicar of the papacy, and was to have sat at Avignon, which might have produced a new schism. Staphileus, dean of the Rota, being then in England, was wrought on by the promise of a bishopric, and a recommendation to a cardinal's hat, to promote the king's affair. By him the cardinal wrote to the pope, in a most earnest strain, for a dispatch of this business; and he desired, that an indifferent and tractable cardinal might be sent over, with a full commission to join with him, and to judge the matter; proposing to the king's ambassadors Campegio as the fittest man. Wolsey, in several letters to Cassali, who was in great favour with the pontiff, offered to take the blame on his own soul, if the pope would grant this bull; and with an earnestness, as hearty and warm and can be expressed in words, he pressed the thing, and added, that if the pope continued inexorable, he perceived the king would proceed another way.

These entreaties had such effect that Campegio was declared legate, and ordered to go to England, and join in commission with Wolsey for judging this matter. He accordingly set out from Rome, and carried with him a decretal bull for annulling the marriage, which he was authorized to shew to the king and Wolsey; but was required not to give it out of his hands to either of them. In fact the divorce was trusted to his authority. In October he arrived in England, and after the usual compliments were over, he first advised the king to give up the prosecution of his suit; and then counselled the queen, in the pope's name to enter into a religious life, and make vows: but both were in vain; and he, by affecting an impartiality, almost lost his ground on either side. But he in great measure pacified the king when he shewed him the bull he had brought over for annulling the marriage; yet he would not part with it either to the king or the cardinal; upon which, great instances were made at Rome, that Campegio might be ordered to shew it to some of the king's counsellors, and to go on and end the business, otherwise Wolsey would be ruined, and England lost. All this however did not prevail on the pope, who knew it was intended to get the bull out of the Campegio's hands, and then the king would leave him to the emperor's indignation: but though he positively refused to grant that, yet he said he left the legates in England free to judge as they saw cause, and promised that he would confirm their sentence.

The affair proceeding very slowly, ambassadors were dispatched to Rome with new propositions for a speedy termination. On this, the pope gave new assurances, that though he would not grant a bull, by which the divorce should be immediately his own act, yet he would confirm the legate's sentence. Just after he granted this boon, the pope was taken suddenly ill, upon which the Imperialists began to prepare for a conclave; but Farnese, and the cardinal of Mantua, opposed them, and seemed to favour Wolsey; whom, as his correspondents wrote to him, they reverenced as a Deity. Upon this he dispatched a courier to Gardener, then on his way to Rome, with large directions how to manage the election. It was reckoned, that the king of France, joining heartily with the king of England, the matter might be set at rest. There were only six cardinals wanting to make the election sure; and besides sums of money, and other rewards, which were to be distributed among them, he was to give them assurance that the cardinals' preferments should be equally divided. These were the secret methods of attaining the chair: and indeed it would puzzle a man of an ordinary degree of credulity, to think that one chosen by such means could presume to be Christ's vicar, and the infallible judge of controversies. The recovery, however, of the pope put an end to these intrigues.

At length the legates began the process, when the queen protested against them as incompetent judges. They, however, proceeded according to the forms of law, although the queen had appealed from them to the pope, and objected both to the place, to the judges, and her lawyers; when they pronounced her contumacious, and went on to examine witnesses, chiefly to the particulars of the consummation of her marriage with prince Arthur. But now since the process was thus going on, the emperor's agents pressed the pope vehemently for an avocation; and all possible endeavours were used by the king's agents to hinder it. They spared nothing that would work on the pope, either in the way of persuasion or threatening: it was told him there was a treaty set on foot between the king and the Lutheran princes of Germany; and that upon declaring himself so partial as to grant the avocation, he would certainly embark in the same interests with them. The pope however thought the king so far engaged in honour on points of religion, that he would not be prevailed upon to unite with Luther's followers; he did not imagine that the effects of his granting the avocation would be so fatal as the cardinal's agents represented them. In conclusion, therefore, after the emperor had engaged to restore his family to the government of Florence, he resolved to publish his treaty with him, and told the English ambassadors that he was forced to it; both because all the lawyers said it could not be denied, and that he could not resist the emperor's forces, which surrounded him on all hands. Their endeavours to gain a little time by delay were as fruitless as other artifices, for on the 15th of July, the pope signed the avocation, and on the 19th sent it by an express messenger to England.

The legates, Campegio in particular, drew out the matter with all the delay they could contrive, and gained much time. At last, it being brought to the point that sentence was to be pronounced, Campegio, instead of doing it, adjourned the court till October, and said, that as they were members of the consistory they must observe their times of vacation. This gave the king and his court great offence, when they saw what was like to be the issue of a process on which his majesty was so much bent, and in which he was so far engaged both in honour and interest. The king governed himself upon the occasion with more temper than was expected: he dismissed Campegio civilly, only his officers searched his coffers when he went beyond sea, with evident design to see if the decretal bull could be found. Wolsey was now upon the point of being disgraced, though the king seemed to treat him with all his former confidence.

At this period, Dr. Cranmer, a fellow of Jesus College in Cambridge, meeting accidentally with Gardener and Fox at Waltham, and entering into discourse upon the royal marriage, suggested that the king should engage the chief universities and divines of Europe, to examine the lawfulness of his marriage; and if they gave their resolutions against it, then it being certain that the pope's dispensation could not derogate from the law of God, the marriage must be declared null. This novel and reasonable scheme they proposed to the king, who was much pleased with it, and said, "He had the sow by the right ear." He saw this way was both better in itself and would mortify the pope. Cranmer was accordingly sent for, and on conversing with him, the king conceived a high opinion both of his learning and prudence, as well as of his probity and sincerity, which took such root in the king's mind, that no artifices nor calumnies were ever able to remove it. From this moment and these circumstances began the rise of Cranmer and the decline of Wolsey. The great seal was taken from the latter and given to Sir Thomas More; and he was sued in a praemunire, for having held the legatine courts by a foreign authority, to the laws of England. Wolsey confessed the indictment, pleaded ignorance, and submitted himself to the king's mercy: so judgment passed on him; when his rich palace and furniture were seized for the royal use. Yet the king received him again into his protection, and restored to him the temporalities of the sees of York and Winchester, and above 6000l. in plate and other goods; at which he was so transported, that it is said he fell down on his knees in a kennel before the messenger who brought him the news. Articles were put in against him in the house of lords for a bill of attainder, where he had but few friends: in the house of commons, Cromwell, who had been his secretary, so managed the matter, that it came to nothing. This failing, his enemies procured an order to be sent to him to go into Yorkshire: thither he went in great state, with one hundred and sixty horses in his train, and seventy-two carts following him, and there he lived some time. But the king being informed, that he was practising with the pope and the emperor, he sent the earl of Northumberland to arrest him of high treason, and bring him up to London. On the way he sickened and died at Leicester, making great protestations of his constant fidelity to the king, particularly in the matter of his divorce; and wishing he had served God as faithfully as he had done the king; for then he would not have cast him off in his grey hairs, as the king had done: words that declining favourites are apt to reflect on in adversity; but they seldom remember them in the height of their fortune.

The king intending to proceed in the method proposed by Cranmer, sent to Oxford and Cambridge to procure their conclusions. At Oxford it was referred by the major part of the convocation to thirty-three doctors and bachelors of divinity, whom that faculty was to name: they were empowered to determine the question, and put the seal of the university to their conclusion. They gave their opinions, that the marriage of the brother's wife was contrary both to the laws of God and nature. At Cambridge the convocation referred the question to twenty-nine; of which number, two-thirds agreeing, they were empowered to put the seal of the university to their determination. These agreed in opinion with those of Oxford. The jealousy of Cranmer's favouring Lutheranism caused the fierce popish party to oppose every thing in which he was engaged. They were also afraid of Anne Boleyn's advancement, who was believed to be tinctured with the reformed opinions. Crook, a learned man in the Greek tongue, was employed in Italy, to procure the resolution of divines there; in which he was so successful, that besides the great discoveries he made in searching the manuscripts of the Greek fathers concerning their opinions in this point, he engaged several persons to write for the king's cause. He also got the Jews to give their opinions of the laws in Leviticus, that they were moral and obligatory; that when a brother died without issue, his brother might marry his widow within Judea, for preserving their families and succession; although that might not be done out of Judea. The state of Venice would not declare themselves, but said they would be neutral; and it was not easy to persuade the divines of the republic to give their opinions, till a brief was obtained of the pope, permitting all divines and canonists to deliver judgment according to their consciences. The pope abhorred this way of proceeding, though he could not decently oppose it; but he said in great scorn, that no friar should set limits to his power. Crook was ordered to give no money, nor make promises to any, till they had freely delivered their opinion; which he faithfully observed. This man sent over to England a hundred various books, and papers, with many subscriptions; all condemning the king's marriage as unlawful in itself. At Paris, the Sorbonne made their determination with great solemnity; after mass of the Holy Ghost, all the doctors took an oath to study the question, and to give their judgment according to their consciences; and after three weeks study, the greater part agreed on this strange and contradictory decree;

"That the king's marriage was unlawful, and the pope could not dispense with it." At Orleans, Angiers, and Toulouse, they determined to the same purpose.

Calvin thought the marriage null, and they all agreed that the pope's dispensation was of no force. Osiander was employed to engage the Lutheran divines, but they were afraid of giving the emperor new grounds of displeasure. Melancthon thought the law in Leviticus was dispensable, and that the marriage might be lawful; and that in such matters, states and princes might make what laws they pleased. Though the divines of Leipsic, after much disputing about it, did agree that those laws were moral, yet they could never be brought to justify the divorce, with the subsequent marriage that followed upon it. And the king appeared very inclinable to receive their doctrine, so steadily did they follow their consciences even against their interests: but the pope was more compliant, for he offered to Cassali to grant his amorous petitioner dispensation for having another wife, with which the Imperialists seemed on the whole to be willing to comply.

The king's cause being thus fortified by so many resolutions in his favour, he made certain members of parliament sign a letter to the pope, complaining, that notwithstanding the great merits of their sovereign, the justice of his cause, and the importance of it to the safety of the kingdom, yet the pope made still new delays; they therefore pressed him to dispatch it speedily, otherwise they would be forced to seek other remedies, though they were not willing to drive things to extremities, till it was unavoidable. The letter was signed by the cardinal, the archbishop of Canterbury, four bishops, twenty-two abbots, forty-two peers, and eleven commoners. To this the pope wrote an answer, taking notice of the vehemence of their style, and freeing himself from the imputations of ingratitude and injustice. He acknowledged the king's great merits; and said, he had done all he could in his favour: he had granted a commission, but could not refuse to receive the queen's appeal; all the cardinals with one consent judging that an avocation was necessary. Since that time, the delays were not with him, but with the king; that he was ready to proceed, and would bring it to as speedy an issue as the importance of it would admit of; and as for their threatenings, they were neither proofs of their wisdom, nor of their religion.

The king, now disgusted at his dependence on the pope, issued a proclamation against any that should purchase, bring over, or publish any bull from Rome, contrary to his authority: and after that he made an abstract of all the reasons and authorities of fathers, or modern writers, against his marriage, to be published both in Latin and English. Both sides having produced the strength of their cause, it evidently appeared that, according to the authority given to tradition in the church of Rome, the king had clearly the right on his side. At the same time he was not exempt from opposition, even in England. The friends of Katharine were more numerous than he had all along imagined, and the queen herself, amidst these disputes, continued firm to her resolution leaving the matter in the pope's hands, and would hearken to no propositions that were made to her, for referring it to the arbitration of a number chosen on both sides.

The sovereigns of England claimed the same latitude of power in ecclesiastical matters, as the Roman emperors had exercised before the decline of their authority. Anciently they had divided bishoprics, granted investitures, and made laws relating both to ecclesiastical causes and persons. When the popes began to extend their power beyond the limits assigned them by the canons, great opposition arose to them in England; but they managed the advantages they found, either from the weakness or ill circumstances of princes, so steadily, that at length they subdued the world: and if they had not by their cruel exactions so oppressed the clergy, that they were driven to seek shelter under covert of the temporal authority, men generally were so absorbed by superstition and credulity, that not only the whole spiritual power, but even the temporal authority of the princes, was likely to have fallen under papal tyranny. But the discontented clergy now supported the secular power as much as they had before advanced that of the papal. Boniface VIII. had raised his pretensions to that impudent pitch, that he declared all power, both ecclesiastical and civil, was derived from him; and this he established as an article of faith, necessary to salvation; on which he, and his successors, took upon them, to dispose of all ecclesiastical benefices by their absolute bulls and provisions. To restrain these invasions of the rights of princes, laws were made in England against their authority; but no punishment being declared for transgressors, the courtiers at Rome were not frightened at their publication; so that the abuses still continued: but in the time of Edward III. a more severe act was made, by which all that transgressed were to be imprisoned, to be fined at pleasure, and to forfeit all their benefices.

These long forgotten statutes were now revived, to bring the clergy into a snare: it was designed by the terror of this proceeding to force them to an entire submission, and to oblige them to redeem themselves by the grant of a considerable subsidy. They pleaded ignorance; it was a public error, and they ought not therefore to be punished for it. To this it was answered, that the laws which they had transgressed were still in force and so no ignorance could excuse the violation of them. The convocation of Canterbury made their submission, and in their address to the king he was called the protector and supreme head of the church of England; but some objecting, it was added;

"In so far as it is agreeable to the law of Christ." This was signed by nine bishops, fifty abbots and priors, and the greater part of the lower house; and with it they offered the king a subsidy of 100,000l. to procure his favour, and promised for the future not to make nor execute any constitutions without his licence. The convocation of York did not pass this so easily; they objected the word head, as agreeing to none but Christ: whereupon the king wrote them a long expostulatory letter, and told them with what limitations those of Canterbury had passed that title; upon which they all submitted, and offered 18,840l. which was accepted: thus the clergy were again received into the king's protection, and received his precarious pardon for their heavy offences.

After the prorogation of this session of parliament, new applications were made to the queen to persuade her to depart from her appeal; but she remained fixed in her resolution, and said she was the king's lawful wife, and would abide by it till the court at Rome should declare the contrary. Upon that the king desired her to choose any of his houses in the country to live in, and resolved never to see her more. She chose the palace of Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, for her residence, and the monastery of Kimbolton, at no great distance, for her religious resorts. In these she passed the remainder of her life, beloved by all around her, and respected by none more than by the king himself, whose passions rather than judgment and conscience constrained him to prefer the youth and beauty of another.

In January 1532, the pope, on the motion of the Imperialists, wrote to the king, complaining that notwithstanding a suit was depending concerning his marriage, yet he had put away his queen and kept one Anne as his wife, contrary to a prohibition served on him; he therefore exhorted him to live with his queen again, and to put away Anne. Upon this the king sent Dr. Bennet to Rome with a dispatch in which he complained that the pope proceeded in that matter upon the suggestion of others, who were ignorant and rash men: that he had carried himself inconstantly and deceitfully in it, and not as became Christ's vicar: that he had granted a commission, had promised never to recall it, and had sent over a decretal bull defining the cause. Either these were unjustly granted, or unjustly recalled. It was plain that he acted more with regard to his interests, than according to conscience; and that, as the pope had often confessed his own ignorance in these matters, so he was not furnished with learned men to advise him, otherwise he would not defend a marriage which almost all the learned men and universities in England, France, and Italy, had condemned as unlawful. He would not question his authority without he was compelled to it, and would do nothing but reduce it to its first and ancient limits, which was much better than to let it run on headlong, and still do amiss. This high letter made the pope resolve to proceed and end the matter, either by a sentence or a treaty. The king was cited to answer to the queen's appeal at Rome in person, or by proxy: accordingly, Sir Edward Karne was sent thither in the new character of the king's apologist, to excuse the king's appearance, upon such grounds as could be founded on the canon law, and upon the privileges of the crown of England. The Imperialists pressed the pope much to give sentence, but all the wise cardinals, who observed by the proceedings of the parliament that the nation would adhere to the king, if he should be provoked to shake off the pope's yoke, suggested milder counsels.

In conclusion, the pope seemed to favour the king's plea, upon which the Imperialists made great complaints. But this amounted to no more than that the king was not bound to appear in person: therefore the cardinals, who were in his interest, advised the king to send over a proxy for answering the merits of the cause; and both the pope and the college wrote to him to finish the matter next winter. Bonner, at that time in Rome, was also sent to England to assure the king, that the pope was now so much in the French interest, that he might confidently refer this matter to him. On this the king sent for the speaker of the house of commons, and told him he found the prelates were but half subjects; for they swore at their consecration an oath to the pope, inconsistent with their allegiance and oath to him. By their oath to the pope, they swore to be in no council against him, nor to disclose his secrets; but to maintain the papacy, and the regalities of St. Peter against all men, together with the rights and authorities of the church of Rome; and that they should honourably entreat the legates of the apostolic see, and observe all the decrees, sentences, provisions, and commandments of that see; and yearly, either in person, or by proxy, visit the thresholds of the apostles. In their oath to the king, they renounced all clauses in their bulls contrary to his royal dignity, and swore to be faithful to him, and to live and die with him against all others, and to keep his counsel; acknowledging that they held their bishoprics only of him. By these it appeared they could not keep both their oaths, in case a breach should fall out between the king and the pope; a discovery which would have been of serious consequence, had not the plague broke off the consultations of parliament at this time. Soon after, Sir Thomas More, seeing a rupture with Rome coming on so fast, desired leave to lay down his office, which was upon that conferred on Sir Thomas Audley. More had been satisfied with the king's keeping up the laws formerly made in opposition to the papal encroachments, and had concurred in the suit of the praemunire; but now the matter went farther, and not being able to keep pace with the new order of things, he returned to a private life.

An interview soon followed between the kings of France and England; to which Anne Boleyn, now marchioness of Pembroke, was carried. After the first ceremonies and magnificence were over, Francis promised Henry to second him in his suit: he encouraged him to proceed to a second marriage without delay; and assured him he would stand by him in it: meantime, the pope offered to the king, to send a legate to any indifferent place, out of England, to form the process, reserving only the sentence himself to pronounce; and proposed to him and all princes a general truce, that so he might call a general council. The king answered, that such was the present state of the affairs of Europe, it was not seasonable to call a general council; and that it was contrary to his prerogative to send a proxy to appear at Rome: that by the decrees of general councils, all causes ought to be judged on the spot and by a provincial council; and that it was fitter to judge it in England than any where else: that by his coronation oath, he was bound to maintain the dignities of his crown, and the rights of his subjects, and not to appear before any foreign court. Sir Thomas Elliot was therefore sent over with instructions, to move that the cause might be judged in England. Soon after this, the king married Anne Beleyn; Rowland Lee, afterwards bishop of Coventry and Litchfield, officiated, none being present but the duke of Norfolk, and her father, her mother, her brother, and Cranmer. It was thought that the former marriage being null, the king might proceed to another: and perhaps they hoped, that as the pope had formely proposed this method, so he would now approve of it. But though the pope had joined himself to France, yet he was still so much in fear of the emperor that he resolved to continue resisting Henry's marriage, rather than provoke the imperial wrath. A new citation was therefore issued out, for the king to answer to the queen's complaints; but Henry's agents protested that their master was a sovereign prince, and England a free church, over which the pope had no just authority; and that the king could expect no justice at Rome, where the emperor's power and the pope's authority were paramount to all others.

At this time parliament met again, and passed an act condemning all appeals to Rome. In it they set forth; That the crown was imperial, and that the nation was a complete body, having full power to do justice in all cases, both spiritual and temporal; and that as former kings had maintained the liberties of the kingdom against the usurpations of the see of Rome, so they found the great inconvenience of allowing appeals in matrimonial causes; that they put them to great charges, and occasioned many delays: therefore they enacted, that thereafter those should be judged within the kingdom, and no regard be had to any appeals to Rome, or censures from it; but sentences given in England were to have their full effect; and all who executed any censures from Rome were to incur the pain of praemunire.

The archbishopric of Canterbury was now vacant by the decease of Warham, who died the previous year: he was a great patron of learning, a good canonist, and a wise statesman; but he was a cruel persecutor of heretics, and inclined to believe fanatical legends. Cranmer was in Germany, disputing in the king's cause with some of the emperor's divines, when the king resolved to advance him to that dignity; and sent him word of it, that he might make haste to return. But a promotion so far above his thoughts, had not its common effects on him: he had a true and primitive sense of so great a charge; and instead of aspiring to it, he was afraid of it, and he both returned very slowly to England, and used all his endeavors to be excused from the advancement. Bulls were sent for to Rome in order to his consecration, which the pope granted. On the 13th of March, Cranmer was consecrated by the bishops of Lincoln, Exeter, and St. Asaph. The oath to the pope was of hard digestion to one "almost persuaded" to be a protestant: he therefore made a protestation before he took it, that he conceived himself not bound by it in any thing that was contrary to his duty to God, to his king, or country; and this he repeated when he took it.

The convocation had then two questions before them; the first was concerning the lawfulness of the king's marriage, and the validity of the pope's dispensation; the other was a curious question of fact, whether prince Arthur had consummated the marriage. For the first, the judgments of nineteen universities were read; and after a long debate, there being twenty-three only in the lower house, fourteen were against the marriage, seven for it, and two voted dubiously. In the upper house, Stokesly bishop of London, and Fisher bishop of Rochester, maintained the debate at great length, the one for the affirmative, and the other the negative. At last it was carried nemine contradicente, the few that were of the other side it seems withdrawing, against the marriage, two hundred and sixteen being present. For the other, which concerned matter of fact, it was referred to the canonists; and they all, except five or six, reported that the presumptions were very strong; and these in a matter not capable of plain proof were always received as legally conclusive.

The convocation having thus judged in the matter, the ceremony of pronouncing the divorce judicially was now the only thing wanting. The new queen was reported to be in a promising condition for the future monarchy. On Easter-eve she was declared queen of England: and soon after, Cranmer, with Gardiner, who had succeeded Wolsey as bishop of Winchester, and the bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath and Wells, with many divines and canonists, went to Dunstable; queen Katharine living then near it, at Ampthill. The king and queen were cited; he appeared by proxy, but the queen refused to take any notice of the court: so after three citations, she was declared contumacious, and all the merits of the cause formerly mentioned were examined. At last, on the 23rd of May, sentence was given, declaring the marriage to have been null from the beginning. Among the archbishop's titles in the commencement of the judgment, he is called "Legate of the apostolic see," which perhaps was added to give it the more force in law. Some days after this, he gave another judgment, confirming the king's marriage with queen Anne, and on the first of June she was crowned queen. All people admired queen Anne's conduct, who in a course of so many years managed the spirit of so violent a king in such a manner, as neither to surfeit him with too many favours, nor to provoke him with too much rigour. They that loved the reformation looked for better days under her protection: but many priests and friars, both in sermons and discourses, condemned the king's proceedings. The king sent ambassadors to all courts to justify what he had done: he sent also two to queen Katharine, to charge her to assume no other title but that of princess dowager; but she would not yield; she said she would not take that infamy on herself; and so resolved that none should serve about her who did not treat her as queen.

At Rome the cardinals of the Imperial faction complained much of the attempt made on the pope's power, and urged him to proceed to censures. But there was only sentence given, annulling all that the archbishop of Canterbury had done; and the king was required, under pain of excommunication, to place things again in the state in which they formerly were: this decree was framed at Rome; and brought for publication to Dunkirk. The king sent a great embassy to the French monarch, who was then setting out to Marseilles to meet the pope: their errand was to dissuade him from the journey, unless the pope would promise to give the king satisfaction. Francis said, he was engaged in honour to go on; but assured them, he would mind the king's concerns with as much zeal as if they were his own. In September the queen brought forth a daughter, the renowned Elizabeth; and the king having before declared lady Mary princess of Wales, did now the same for the infant: though since a son might exclude her from it, she could not be heir apparent, but only heir presumptive to the crown. The eventful moment was nigh at hand, when the incident should take place that would cause the separation of England from the church of Rome.

There was a secret agreement between the pope and Francis, that if Henry would refer his cause to the consistory, excepting only to the cardinals of the Imperial faction, as partial, and would in all other things return to his obedience to the see of Rome, the sentence should be given in his favour. When Francis returned to Paris, he sent over the bishop of that city to the king, to tell what he had obtained of the pope in his favour, and the terms on which it was promised. This wrought so much on the king, that he presently consented to them; upon which the bishop of Paris, though it was now in the middle of winter, went to Rome with the welcome tidings. On his arrival there, the matter seemed agreed: for it was promised that upon the king's sending a consent under his hand to place things in their former state, and his ordering a proxy to appear for him, judges should be sent to Cambray for making the process, and then sentence should be given. Upon the notice given of this, and of a day that was prefixed for the return of the courier, the king dispatched him with all possible haste; and now the business seemed at an end. But the courier had a sea and the Alps to pass, and in winter it was not easy to observe a limited day so exactly. The appointed day came, and no courier arrived; upon which, the Imperialists gave out, that the king was abusing the pope's easiness; and pressed him vehemently to proceed to a sentence: the bishop of Paris requesting only a delay of six days. The design of the Imperialists was to hinder a reconciliation: for if the king had been set right with the pope, there would have been so powerful a league formed against the emperor as would have frustrated all his measures; and therefore it was necessary for his politics to embroil them. Seduced by the artifice of this intriguing prince, the pope, without consulting his ordinary prudence, brought in the matter to the consistory; and there the Imperialists being the greater number, it was driven on with so much precipitation, that they did in one day that which, according to form, should have extended at least to three.

They gave the final sentence, declared the king's marriage with queen Katharine good, and required him to live with her as his wife, otherwise they would proceed to censures. Two days after this, the courier came with the king's submission in due form; he also brought earnest letters from Francis in the king's favour. This wrought on all the indifferent cardinals, as well as those of the French faction, so that they prayed the pope to recall what was done. A new consistory was called, but the Imperialists urged with greater vehemence than ever, that they would not give such scandal to the world as to recall a definitive sentence of the validity of a marriage, and give heretics such advantage by their unsteadiness in matters of that nature; it was therefore carried that the former sentence should remain, and the execution of it be committed to the emperor. When this was known in England, it determined the king in his resolutions of shaking off the pope's yoke, in which he had made so great a progress, that the parliament had passed all the acts concerning it before he received the news from Rome; for he judged that the best way to secure his cause was to let Rome see his power, and with what vigour he could make war. All the rest of the world looked on astonished to see the court of Rome throw off England, as if it had been weary of the obedience and profits of so great a kingdom.

In England people of nearly all ranks had been examining the foundations on which the papal authority was built with extraordinary care for some years; and several books were written on that subject. It was demonstrated, that all the apostles were made equal in the powers that Christ gave them; that he often condemned their contests about superiority, but never declared in St. Peter's favour. St. Paul withstood him to his face, and reckoned himself not inferior to him. If the dignity of a person left any authority with the city in which he sat, then Antioch must carry it rather than Rome; and Jerusalem, where Christ suffered, was to be preferred to all the world, for it was truly the mother-church. Christ said to Peter, "Upon this rock will I build my church." The agents understood by the rock either the confession Peter had made, or, which is the same, Christ himself; and though it were to be meant of St. Peter, all the rest of the apostles are also called foundations; and the injunction, "Tell the church," was by many doctors of Rome turned against the pope for a general council. The other privileges ascribed to St. Peter, were either only a precedence of order, or were occasioned by his fall; as that, "Feed my sheep," being a restoration of him to the apostolic functions. St. Peter had also a limited province, the circumcision, as St. Paul had the uncircumcision, which was of far greater extent, and which shewed that Peter was not considered as the universal pastor.

Several sees, as Ravenna, Milan, and Aquilea, pretended exemption from the papal authority. Many English bishops had asserted that the popes had no authority against the canons, and to that day no canon made by the pope was binding till it was received, which shewed the pope's authority was not believed to be founded on divine authority; and the contests that the kings of England had with the popes concerning investitures, bishops doing the king homage, appeals to Rome, and the authority of papal bulls and provisions, shewed that the pope's power was subject to law and custom, and so not derived from Christ and St. Peter; and as laws had given them some power, and princes had been forced in ignorant ages to submit to their usurpations, so they might as they saw cause change those laws, and resume their rights.

The next point enquired into was, the authority that kings had in matters of religion and the church. In the New Testament, Christ was himself subject to the civil powers, and charged his disciples not to affect temporal dominion. The apostles also wrote to the churches to be subject to the higher powers, and to call them supreme; they charged every soul to be subject to them: in scripture the king is called head and supreme, and every soul is said to be under him, which joined with the other parts of their sage argument, brought the wise men of that day to the conclusion, that he is supreme head over all persons. In the primitive church the bishops only made rules or canons, but pretended to no compulsive authority, but what came from the civil magistrate. Upon the whole matter, they concluded that the pope had no power in England, and that the king had an entire dominion over all his subjects which extended even to the regulating of ecclesiastical matters. These questions being fully discussed in many disputes, and published in several books, all the bishops, abbots, and friars of England, Fisher only excepted, were so far satisfied with them, that they resolved to comply with the changes the king was determined to make.

At the next meeting of parliament there were but seven bishops and twelve abbots present, the rest it seems were unwilling to concur in making this change, though they complied with it when it was made. Every Sunday during the session a bishop preached at St. Paul's, and declared that the pope had no authority in England: before this, they had only said that a general council was above him, and that the exactions of that court, and appeals to it, were unlawful; but now they went a strain higher, to prepare the people for receiving the acts then in agitation. On the 9th of March the commons began the bill for taking away the pope's power, and sent it to the lords on the 14th, who passed it on the 20th without any dissent. In it they set forth the exaction of the court of Rome, grounded on the pope's power of dispensation; and that as none could dispense with the laws of God, so the king and parliament only had the authority of dispensing with the laws of the land: therefore such licences as were formerly in use, should be for the future granted by the two archbishops, to be confirmed under the great seal. It was moreover appointed that, thereafter, all commerce with Rome should cease. They also declared that they did not intend to alter any article of the catholic faith of Christendom, or that which was declared in the scripture necessary to salvation. They confirmed all the exemptions granted to monasteries by the popes, but subjected them to the king's visitation, and gave the king and his council power to examine and reform all indulgencies and privileges granted by the pope: the offenders against this law were to be punished according to the statutes of praemunire. This act subjected the monasteries entirely to the king's authority, and put them in no small confusion. Those who loved the reformation rejoiced to see the pope's power rooted out, and to find the scripture made the standard of religion.

After this act another passed both houses in six days' time without any opposition, settling the succession of the crown, confirming the sentence of divorce, and the king's marriage with queen Anne, and declaring all marriages within the degrees prohibited by Moses to be unlawful: all that had married within them were appointed to be divorced, and their issue illegitimatized; and the succession to the crown was settled upon the king's issue by the present queen, or in default of that to the king's right heirs for ever. All were required to swear to maintain the contents of this act; and if any refused the oath, or should say any thing to the slander of the king's marriage, he was to be judged guilty of misprision of treason, and to be punished accordingly.

About this time one Phillips complained to the house of commons of the bishop of London for using him cruelly in prison upon suspicion of heresy: the commons sent up this to the lords, but received no answer; they therefore sent some of their members to the bishop, desiring him to reply to the complaints put in against him: but he acquainted the house of lords with it; and they with one consent voted, that none of their house ought to appear or answer to any complaint at the bar of the house of commons. On this the commons let this case fall, and sent up a bill to which the lords agreed, regulating the proceedings against heretics: that whereas, by the statute made by Henry the Fourth, bishops might commit men upon suspicion of heresy; and heresy was generally defined to be whatever was contrary to the scriptures or canonical sanctions, which was liable to great ambiguity; therefore that statute was repealed, and none were to be committed for heresy but upon a presentment made by two witnesses; none were to be accused for speaking against things that were grounded only upon the pope's canons. Bail was to be taken for heretics, and they were to be brought to their trial in open court; and if upon conviction they did not abjure, or relapsed after abjuration, they were to be burnt; a royal writ being first obtained. This was a great check to the bishops' tyranny, and gave no small encouragement to all that favoured the reformation.

The convocation sent in a submission at the same time, by which they acknowledged that all the convocations ought to be assembled by the king's writ; and promised upon the words of priests, never to make nor execute any canons without the king's assent. They also desired, that since many of the received canons were found to be contrary to the king's prerogative and the laws of the land, there might be a committee named by the king of thirty-two, the one half out of the houses of parliament and the other from the clergy, empowered to abrogate or regulate them as they should see cause. This was confirmed in parliament, and the act against appeal to Rome was renewed; and an appeal was allowed from the archbishop to the king, upon which the lord chancellor was to grant a commission for a court of delegates.

Another act passed for regulating the elections and consecrations of bishops, condemning all bulls from Rome, and appointing that upon a vacancy the king should grant licence for an election, and should by a missive letter signify the person's name whom he would have chosen; and within twelve days after these were delivered, the dean and the chapter, or prior and convent, were required to return an election of the person named by the king under their seals. The bishop elect was upon that to swear fealty, and a writ was to be issued for his consecration in the usual manner; after that he was to do homage to the king, upon which both the temporalities and spiritualities were to be restored, and bishops were to exercise their jurisdictions as they had done before. All who transgressed this act were made guilty of a praemunire. A private act passed depriving cardinal Campegio and Jerome de Gainuccii of the bishoprics of Salisbury and Worcester: the reasons given for it were, because they did not reside in their dioceses, for preaching the laws of God, and keeping hospitality, but lived at the court of Rome, and drew 3,000l. a year out of the kingdom.

The last act of a particular nature, though relating only to private persons, was concerning the nun of Kent and her accomplices. It was the first occasion of shedding blood in these disputes, and it was much cherished by all the superstitious clergy who adhered to the queen's and the pope's interests. The nun, and many of her accomplices, came to the bar of the house of lords and confessed the whole matter. Among the concealers of this treason, Sir Thomas More and Fisher were named; the former of whom wrote a long letter upon the subject to Cromwell giving him a particular account of all the conversations he had with the nun: he acknowledged he had esteemed her highly, not so much out of any regard to her prophecies, but for the opinion he conceived of her holiness and humility. But he added, that he was then convinced that she was the most dissembling hypocrite he had ever known, and guilty of the most detestable hypocrisy and devilish falsehood: he also believed that she had communication with an evil spirit. This justification of More's prevailed so far, that his name was struck out of the bill.

The tale of the nun thus incidentally referred to is worth telling. Her name was Elizabeth Barton; she lived in Kent, and in occasional trances into which she fell, she spake such things as made those about her think she was inspired of God. The parson of her parish, named Master, hoping to draw advantage from this, informed archbishop Warham of it, who ordered him to watch her carefully, and bring him an account of whatever he should observe. But it seems she forgot all that she said in her fits when they were over. The artful priest however would not suffer his hopes thus to pass away, but persuaded her she was inspired, and taught her so to counterfeit those trances, that she became very expert in the trick, and could assume them at her pleasure. The matter was soon noised about, and the priest intended to raise the credit of an image of the blessed virgin, which stood in his church, that so pilgrimages and offerings might be made to it by her means. He accordingly associated to himself one Bocking, a monk of Canterbury, and they taught her to say in her fits, that the blessed virgin appeared to her, and told her she could not be well till she visited that image. She spake many good words against ill life, and also against heresy, and the king's suit of divorce then depending; and by many strange motions of her body she seemed to be inwardly possessed.

Soon after this, a day was appointed for her cure; and before an assemblage of two thousand people, she was carried to that image: and after she had acted over her fits, she seemed suddenly to recover, which was ascribed to the intercession of the virgin, and the virtue of her image. She then took the veil, and Bocking was her confessor: but between this wolf in sheep's clothing and Elizabeth many persons strongly suspected a criminal intercourse to subsist; while the esteem she was held in bore them down. Many thought her a prophetess, and Warham among the rest. A book was written of her revelations, and an epistle was shewed in letters of gold, pretended to be written to her from Heaven by Mary Magdalen. She said, that when the king was last at Calais, she was carried invisibly beyond sea, and brought back again; that an angel gave her the sacrament, and that God revealed to her that if the king went on in his divorce, and married another wife, he should fall from his crown and not live a month longer, but should die a villain's death.

Several monks of the Charter-house, and the observant friars, with many nuns, and bishop Fisher, came to give credit to all this, set a great value on the woman, and grew very insolent upon her visions. Friar Peyto, preaching in the king's chapel at Greenwich, denounced the judgments of God upon him; and said, though others as lying prophets deceived him, yet he, in the name of God told him, that dogs should lick his blood as they had done Ahab's. The king bore this patiently, contenting himself with ordering Dr. Corren to preach the next Sunday, and to answer all that he had said; who railed against Peyto as a dog and a traitor. Peyto had gone to Canterbury; but Elston, a Franciscan of the same house, interrupted him, and called him one of the lying prophets who went about to establish the succession of the crown by adultery, and spoke with such vehemence, that the king himself was forced to command silence. So unwilling was Henry to go to extremities, that all which was done upon so high a provocation was, that the parties were summoned before the council, and rebuked for their insolence. The nun's confederates proceeding to publish her revelations in all parts of the kingdom, she and nine of her accomplices were at length apprehended, when they all, without any rack or torture, discovered the whole conspiracy. Upon this confession they were appointed to go to St. Paul's, where, after a sermon preached upon the occasion by the bishop of Bangor, they repeated their confession in the hearing of the people, and were sent as prisoners to the Tower. It was given out of course by the papal party that all was extorted from them by violence, and messages were sent to the nun, inducing her to deny all that she had confessed. The king, on this, judged it necessary to proceed to further extremities: accordingly she and six of her chief accomplices were attainted of treason, and the bishop of Rochester and five more were attainted of misprision of treason. But at the intercession of queen Anne, as is expressed in the act, all others that had been concerned with her were pardoned.

After this, the nun with her coadjutors were executed at Tyburn. There she voluntary confessed herself to be an impostor, and acknowledged the justice of her sentence, laying the blame on those who suffered with her, by whom she had been seduced into the crime; adding, that they had exalted her for no other cause than for her having been of great profit to them, and they had presumed to say, that all she had done was through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, when they were sensible the whole was human artifice. She then begged pardon of God and the king, and resigned herself to her fate. Thus ended one of the vilest impostures ever known in this country. Had this fallen out in a darker age, in which the world went mad after visions, the king might have lost his crown by it. The discovery of it disposed all to look on older stories of the trances of monastical people, as contrivances to serve base ends, and made way for the ruin of that order of men in England; but all that followed at present upon it was, that the Observants were put out of their houses, and mixed with the other Franciscans and the Austin friars were put in their room.

On the first discovery of the imposture, Cromwell sent Fisher's brother to him to reprove him for his conduct in that business, and to advise him to ask the king's pardon for the encouragement he had given to the nun, which he was confident the king would grant him. But Fisher excused himself, and said he had only tried whether her revelations were true or not. He confessed, that upon the reports he had heard, he was induced to have a high opinion of her, and that he had never discovered any falsehood in her. It is true, she had said some things to him concerning the king's death which he had not revealed; but he thought it was not necessary to do it, because he knew she had told them to the king herself: she had named no person that should kill the king, but had only denounced it as a judgment of God upon him: and he had reason to think that the king would have been offended with him if he had spoken of it to him: he therefore desired to be no more troubled with that matter. On this statement Cromwell wrote him a sharp letter shewing him that he had proceeded rashly in that affair; being so partial in the matter of the king's divorce, that he easily believed every thing that seemed to make against it. Moreover, he told him how necessary it was to use great caution before extraordinary things should be received or spread about as revelations, since otherwise the peace of the world would be in the hands of every bold and crafty impostor; and in conclusion, he advised him again to ask the king's pardon for his rashness, and he assured him that the king was ready to forgive him. But Fisher would make no submission, and was in consequence included within the act; though it was not executed till a new provocation drew him into farther trouble. The secular and regular clergy every where took the oath of succession, which none more zealously promoted than Gardiner, who before the 6th of May got all his clergy to swear it: and the religious orders being apprehensive of the king's jealousies of them, took care to remove them by sending in declarations under the seals of their houses, that in their opinion the king's present marriage was lawful, and that they would always acknowledge him head of the church of England.

A meeting of the council was held at Lambeth, to which many were cited that they might take the oath, among whom were Sir Thomas More and Fisher. More was first summoned to take it: he answered, that he neither blamed those that made the acts, nor those that took the oath; and that he was willing to swear to maintain the succession to the crown, but could not take the oath as it was expressed. Fisher made the same answer, but all the rest that were cited before them took it. More was pressed to give his reasons against it: but he refused, for it might be called a disputing against law: yet he would put them into writing if the king commanded him to do it. Cranmer said, if he did not blame those that took it, it seems he was not persuaded it was a sin, and so was only doubtful of it; but he was sure he ought to obey the law, if it was not sinful: so there was a certainty on one hand, and only a doubt on the other, and therefore the former ought to determine him. This More confessed did shake him a little, but he said he thought in his conscience that it would be a sin in him. In conclusion, both he and Fisher declared that they thought it was in the power of the parliament to settle the succession to the crown, and so were ready to swear to that; but they could not take the oath that was tended to them, for by it they must swear to maintain the king's former marriage as unlawful, to which they could not assent; so they were both committed to the Tower, and denied the use of pen, ink, and paper. The old bishop was also hardly used both in his raiment and diet; he had only rags to cover him, and fire was often denied him; a cruelty not capable of excuse, and as barbarous as it was imprudent.

In winter parliament met again, and the first act that passed declared the king to be supreme head on earth of the church of England, which was ordered to be prefixed to other titles; and it was enacted, that he and his successors should have full authority to reform all heresies and abuses in the spiritual jurisdiction. By another act, parliament confirmed the oath of succession, which had not been specified in the former, though agreed to by the lords. They also gave the king the first-fruits and tenths of ecclesiastical benefices, as being the supreme head of the church; for the king being put in the pope's room, it was thought reasonable to give him the annats which the popes had formerly exacted. Another act passed, declaring some things treason; one of these was the denying the king any of his titles, or calling him heretic, schismatic, or usurper of the crown. By another act, provision was made for setting up twenty-six suffragan bishops over England, for the more speedy administration of the sacraments, and the better service of God. The supreme diocesan was to present two names to the king, and upon the king's declaring his choice, the archbishop was to consecrate the person, and then the bishop was to delegate such parts of his charge to his care as he thought fitting, which was to continue during his pleasure. The great extent of the dioceses in England made it difficult for one bishop to govern them with that exactness that was necessary; these were therefore appointed to assist them in the discharge of the pastoral care.

Fisher and More, by two special acts, were attainted of misprision of treason; five other clerks were in like manner condemned, all for refusing to take the oath of succession. The see of Rochester was declared void; yet it would seem that few were willing to succeed such a man, for it continued vacant two years, and was at last with difficulty filled.

But now a new scene commenced; and before we enter upon it we shall find it necessary to state the progress that the new opinions had made in England during the time of the king's suit of divorce. While Wolsey was a minister, the reformed preachers were gently used; and it is probable the king ordered the bishops to give over their enquiring after them, when the pope began to use him ill; for the progress of heresy was always reckoned at Rome among the mischiefs that would follow upon the pope's rejecting the king's suit. But More coming into favour, he offered new counsels, and thought the king's proceeding severely against heretics would be so meritorious at Rome, that it would work more effectually than all his threatenings had done. Upon this, a severe proclamation was issued both against their books and persons, ordering all the laws against them to be put in execution. Tyndale and others at Antwerp were every year either translating or writing books against some of the received errors, and sending them over to England: but his translation of the New Testament gave the greatest wound, and was much complained of by the clergy as full of errors. Tonstal, then bishop of London, being a man of great learning, returning from the treaty of Cambray, to which More and he were sent in the king's name, as he came through Antwerp, dealt with an English merchant who was secretly a friend of Tyndale's, to procure him as many of his Testaments as could be had for money.

Tyndale gladly received this; for being engaged in a more correct edition, he found he should be better able to proceed if the copies of the old were sold off; he therefore gave the merchant all he had, and Tonstall paying the price of them, got them over to England, and burnt them publicly in Cheapside. This was called a burning of the word of God: and it was said the clergy had reason to revenge themselves on it; for it had done them more mischief than all other books whatsoever. But a year after this, the second edition being finished, great numbers were sent over to England, when Constantine, one of Tyndale's partners, happened to be taken: believing that some of the London merchants furnished them with money, he was promised his liberty if he would discover who they were, when he told him the bishop of London did more than all the world beside; for he had bought up the greatest part of a faulty impression. The clergy, on their condemning Tyndale's translation, promised a new one; but a year after they said it was unnecessary to publish the Scriptures in English, and that the king did well not to set about it.

About this time a singular book written by one Fish, of Gray's Inn, was published. It was entitled, "The Supplication of the Beggars," and had a vast sale. The beggars complained that the alms of the people were intercepted by the mendicant friars, who were a useless burthen to the government; they also taxed the pope with cruelty for taking no pity on the poor, since none but those who could pay for it were delivered out of purgatory. The king was so pleased with this publication, that he would not suffer any thing to be done against the author. More answered it by another supplication in behalf of the souls in purgatory; setting forth the miseries they were in, and the relief which they received by the masses that were said for them: and therefore called upon their friends to support the religious orders which had now so many enemies.

Fish published a serious answer, in which he shewed that there was no mention made of purgatory in scripture; that it was inconsistent with the merits of Christ, by which upon sincere repentance all sins were pardoned; for if they were pardoned, they could not be punished; and though temporary judgments, either as medicinal corrections or a warning to others, do sometimes fall even on true penitents, yet fiery punishments in another state cannot consist with a free pardon and the remembering of our sins no more. In expounding many passages of the New Testament, he appealed to More's great friend Erasmus, and shewed that the fire spoken of by St. Paul, as that which would consume the wood, hay, and stubble, could only be meant of the fiery trial of persecution. He shewed that the primitive church did not receive the doctrine of purgatory. Ambrose, Jerome, and Austin did not believe it; the last having plainly said that no mention was made of it in scripture. The monks alone brought it in; and by many wonderful stories possessed the world of the belief of it, and had made a very profitable trade in it. This book so provoked the clergy, that they resolved to make the author feel a real fire, for endeavouring to extinguish their imaginary one. More objected poverty and want of learning to the new preachers; but it was answered, the same thing was made use of to disgrace Christ and his apostles; while a plain simplicity of mind, without artificial improvements, was rather thought a good disposition for men that were to bear a cross, and the glory of God appeared more eminent than the instruments seemed contemptible.

But the pen being thought too feeble and gentle a tool, the clergy betook themselves to persecution. Many were vexed with imprisonments for teaching their children the Lord's prayer in English, for harbouring the preachers, and for speaking against the corruptions in the worship, or the vices of the clergy; but these generally abjured and saved themselves from death. Others more faithful were honoured with martyrdom. One Hinton, formerly a curate, who had gone over to Tyndale, was seized on his way back with some books he was conveying to England, and was condemned by archbishop Warham. He was kept long in prison; but remaining firm to his cause, he was at length burned at Maidstone.

The Trials and Martyrdom of Thomas Bilney, John Lambert, Dr.Barnes, and other worthy Reformers