CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Comall UnlvOTSlty Library JN181 .T16 1922 Tudor constitutional documertts olin 1924 030 504 322 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030504322 TUDOR CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, Manager LONDON : FETTER LANE, E.C. + MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. NEW YORK : THE MACMH.LAT>J CO. ' BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS TORONTO ! THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TOKYO ! MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Tudor Constitutional Documents A.D. 1485-1603 with an historical commentary by J. R. TANNER, Litt.D. Fellow and formerly Tutor of St John's College, Cambridge Cambridge at the University Press I 922 PREFACE TEACHERS of experience would probably agree that English Constitutional History should be studied in close connexion with documents. These serve a high educa- tional purpose, for they supply materials for constructing a proper historical background and creating the real historical atmosphere. With their aid it is possible for the student to test for himself the generalisations and epigrams of historians, and to find out what is really behind them. Instead of relying entirely upon eloquent modern statements in praise or in condemnation of the Tudor ecclesiastical policy, he can fol- low the genuine movement of Reformation thought ex- pressed in the language of the great churchmen of that age, and can trace in the Royal Injunctions^ and in Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity the reasonableness, moderation, and learning which came to be characteristic of the Anglican Church. The dry bones of Star Chamber history clothe themselves with flesh and blood in the records of actual cases in which human beings are concerned; and arid legal propositions about the Law of Treason take on a new character in the story of things that really happened in a treason trial. Ready-made summaries of the great constitu- tional statutes, memorised for examination purposes, cease to satisfy the student who has access to the statutes themselves, and can extract from their resounding phrases and intermin- able verbiage his own idea of their essential meaning. An experience of nearly forty years in preparing can- didates for the Cambridge Historical Tripos has, however, convinced the present writer that the documents will never be properly studied while they are divorced from the history and relegated to separate collections, often only to be read up in a hurry on the eve of an examination. To the collection of Tudor documents here printed there has therefore been 1 E.g. the Injunction of 1536 concerning pilgrimages (p. 93 below). vi PREFACE added a full historical commentary, dealing with the more important problems of the constitutional history of the 1 6th century. The work is feased upon a course of lectures on Later Constitutional History delivered to Tripos candidates at Cambridge. The texts of the documents selected are chosen mainly for their accessibility to the student in the University and College Libraries. Thanks are due to the foUowing for permission to print copy- right material. To the Controller of His Majesty's Stationery Office for extracts from the Calendar of Patent Roll's; Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII; Calendar of State Papers {Iiomiestic)r^ and Acts of the Privy Council, edited by Sir J. R. Dasent. To the President and Council of the Selden Society, for extracts from Select Cases in the Court of Requests and Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber, both edited by Mr I. S. Leadam. To the Somerset Record Society for permission to print cases from Pro- ceedings in the Court of Star Chamber in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, edited by Miss G, Bradford. To the Early English Text Society for extracts from The Supplication of Beggars, by Sipion Fish, edited by Dr F. J. Furnivall; and England in the reign of King Henry VIII, by Thomas Starkey, edited by Mr J. M. Cowper and by Mr S. J. Herrtage. To Mr J. E. Neale, and the editor and publishers of the English Historical RevieitC^i for permission to print better versions of two Elizabethan speeches than those given byD'Ewes. To Messrs G. Bell & Sons for qiaotations from a sermon printed in Lupton's. Life of Colet. To Messrs Macmillaar & Co. for permission to quote freely from the Royal Injunctions printed in Messrs Gee and Hardy's collection; of Documents illustrative of English Church History. Finally, to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for leave to use Mr L Alston's edition of Sir Thomas Smith's De Republica Anglorum. The writer also desires gratefully to acknowledge the kindness 1 of two personal friends, G. G. Coulton, M.A., Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, who read the section on the Dissolution of. the Monasteries and made some valuable suggestions; and H. D. Hazeltine, Litt.D., Downing Professor of the Laws of England, who went through the whole work in proof, and did all that a friend could do to rescue its author from the snares which beset the feet of a constitutional historian who is not also a lawyer.' 15 December 1921 J- °- T- CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE V LIST OF DOCUMENTS x LIST OF BOOKS xviii ,THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE TUDOR MONARCHY i ;rHE CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII . 13 § I Minor Ecclesiastical Reforms . . . . . 13 § 2 Submission of the Clergy ...... 16 § 3 Cessation of Payments to the See of Rome . . 25 § 4 Prohibition of Appeals to Rome .... 40 § 5 Dissolution of the Monasteries .... 50- §6 The Injunctions of 1536 AND 1538 .... 93 § 7 The Six Articles 95 ^HE CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI . 99 § I The Injunctions of 1547 lOO § 2 Statutes of the Protectorate .... 102 §3 Later Religious Changes, 1550-53 . . . . 113 THE CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF MARY . . 121 ^HE CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF ELIZABETH . 130 § I The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity . . .130 §2 The Injunctions of 1559 ...... 140 § 3 The Penal Laws against the Catholics . . .141 § 4 The Puritan Movement 163 THE KING'S SECRETARY 202 ^PHE PRIVY COUNCIL 213 § I Composition AND Procedure 216 § 2 Business of the Council 225 THE STAR CHAMBER 249 § I Composition 254 § 2 Procedure 255 § 3 Business of the Star Chamber 257 T.D. * Vlll CONTENTS THE COURT OF REQUESTS § I Procedure .... § 2 Business ..... § 3 Decline of the Court COUNCIL COURTS § I The Council of the North § 2 The Council of Wales § 3 The Council of the West FINANCIAL COURTS . § I Court of Augmentations . § 2 Court of First Fruits and Tenths § 3 Court of Wards and Liveries . § 4 Court of Surveyors . ANCIENT COURTS § I The Courts of Common Law § 2 Court of Admiralty § 3 Court of the Constable and Marshal FRANCHISE COURTS . § I The Palatine Courts § 2 The Stannary Courts ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS . § I The Archdeacon's Court § 2 Court of the Bishop . § 3 Courts of the Archbishop § 4 High Court of Delegates § 5 Court of High Commission THE LAW OF TREASON § I Constructive Treasons § 2 Statutory Treasons § 3 Procedure in Trials for Treason § 4 Attainder .... § 5 Court of the Lord Steward § 6 Punishment of Treason § 7 Trials for Treason . PAGE 299 300 301 301 3H 314 335 33^ 336 340 340 341 342 342 346 348 350 35° 354 357, 358 358 358 359 360 375 376 378 421 423 427 432 433 CONTENTS IX LOCAL GOVERNMENT § I The Commission of the Peace § 2 Judicial Functions of the Justices of the Peace § 3 Vagabonds, Beggars, and Poor Relief § 4 Roads and Bridges .... § ^ Licensing of Ale-houses § 6 Regulation of Labour and Wages § 7 Miscellaneous Police Duties § 8 The Ecclesiastical Parish "PARLIAMENT Composition of Parliament Sessions of Parliament Franchise and Qualifications . Influence of the Crown on Parliament (a) Interference in Elections (b) Choice of a Speaker (c) Influence of the Crown upon Legislation Parliamentary Procedure Privilege of Parliament . (a) The Speaker's claini of Privilege ~T (b) The Privilege of Freedom of Sipeech - (c) The Privilege of Freedom from Arrest -r- (d) The right of either House to commit to prison (e) The right to determine questions connected with membership of the House of Commons FINANCE .... § I Permanent Revenue . §5 §6 § 2 Parliamentary Revenue § 3 EXTRAOIIDINARY RSVfilJUE 4 § 4 Expenditure INDEX 452 453 463 469 495 500 502 506 508 511 5^3 517 518 518 527 529 541 550 550 554 578 589 595 598 598 603 619 625 627 bz LIST OF DOCUMENTS (A) STATUTES Star Chamber Act (3 Henr. VII, c 1} . Bail Act (3 Henr. VII, c. 4) ^ Justices Act (4 Henr. VJlyC. 12) .... ' Statute of Treason (,f-rlHenr. VII, c. i) . "1-^95 Beggars Act (11 Henr. VII, c. 2) . 1.^04 Act concerning Corporations (19 Henr. VII, c 7} . i5&)Statute of Liveries (19 Henr. VII, c. 14) ""1^64 Act for the Feudal Aid (19 Henr. VII, c. 32} . 1 5 10 Tonnage and Poundage Act (i Henr. VIII, c. 20^ . 1512 Strode's Act (4 Henr. VIII, c. 8) . 1512 Poll Tax Act (4 Henr. VIII, c. 19) . . . 1 523 Act for the Attainder of the Duke of Buckingham (14 & 15 ^r->t Henr. VIII, c. 20) I559NStar Chamber Act (21 Henr. VIII, c. 20) TJ^l'^Statute of Bridges (22 Henr. VIII, c. 5) 1 53 1 Act against Poisoners (22 Henr. VIII, eg). 1 53 1 Beggars Act (22 Henr. VIII, c. 1 2^ 1 53 1 Act for the Pardon of the Clergy of Canterbury (22 Henr, VIII, c. 15) Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates (23 Henr. VIII. 20) Act in Restraint of Appeals (24 Henr. VIII, c. 12) . >Act for the Submission of the Clergy (25 Henr. VIII, c. 19^ Act in Absolute Restraint of Annates (25 Henr. VIII, c. 20) )ispensations Acf (25 Henr. VIII, c. 21) )Firsf Succession Act (25 Henr. VIII, c. 22) . >Act of Supremacy (26 Henr. VIII, c. i) 1534 Act annexing First-fruits and Tenths to the Crown (26 Henr. VIII, c. 3) 1 534 Act concerning the Marches of Wales (26 Henr, VIII, c. 6) 1534 Treasons Act of Henry VIII (26 Henr. VIII, c. 13) 1536 Act annexing certain Franchises to the Crown (27 Henr. ,^,_^ VIII, c. 24) JKlM Beggars Act (27 Henr. VIII, c. 25) .... 1536 Act for the Court of Augmentations (27 Henr. VIII, c. 27) ^53^ PAGE 258 464 465 s 473 7 7 600 601 558 606 423 259 495 381 475 16 4 25 40 22 29 31 382 46 36 334, 388' 352 479 336 STATUTES DATE 1536 Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries (27 Henr VIII, c. 28) 1536 Second Succession Act (28 Henr. VIII, c 7) . 1536 Act against the Papal Authority (28 Henr. VIII, c. lo) 1536 Act for the Court of Admiralty (28 Henr. VIII, c. 15) 1539 Statute of Proclamations (31 Henr. VIFI^ c. 8) 1539 Bishoprics Act (31 Henr. VIII, c. 9)* . 1539 Act of Precedence (31 Henr. VIII, c. loj 1539 Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries (3 ^_^^_^^ Henry VIII, c. 13) 153^ Statute of Six Articles (31 Henr. VIII, c. 14) TJ40 Act concerning Liberties (32 Henr. VIII, c. 20) 1540 Act dissolving the Cleves Marriage (32 Henr. VIII, c. 25J 1540 Subsidy Act (32 Henr. VIII, c. 50) 1542 Act for the Attainder of Queen Catherine Howard (33 Henr. VIII, c. 21) 1542 Act for the Court of Surveyors (33 Henr. VIII, c. 39) 1 543 Act concerning the Principality of Wales (34 & 35 Henr VIII, c. 26) 1543 Third Succession Act (35 Henr. VIII, c. i) . 1547 First Treasons Act of Edw^ard VI (i Edw. VI, c. 12) K47 Act for the Dissolution of the Chantries (i Edw. VI, c. 14) ^^3> First Act of Uniformity (2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. i) I ^j'O Act against Superstitious Books and Images (3 & 4 Edw. VI c. 10) ■^J^Second Act of Uniformity (5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. i) ^5^ Second Treasons Act of Edward VI (5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 1 1, 1552 Licensing Act (5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 25) . 1553 First Treasons Act of Mary (i Mary, st. i, c. i) . f Mary's First Statute of Repeal (i Mary, st. 2, c. 2) . Xct concerning the Regal Power (i Mary, st. 3, c. i) Act reviving the Heresy Laws (i & 2 P. & M. c. 6) . 1555 Mary's Second Statute of Repeal (i & 2 P. & M. c. 8) 1555 Act against Traitorous Words (i & 2 P. & M. c. 9) 155*5 Second Treasons Act of Mary (1 & 2 P. & M. c. 10) Bail Act(i &2 P. &M. c. 13) . First Statute of Highways (2 & 3 P. & M. c. 8) ct of Supremacy ( I Eliz. c. i) ' • Act of Uniformity (i Eliz. c. 2) . Firit Treasons Act of Elizabeth (i Eliz. c. 5) . Act against Smuggling (i Eliz. c 11) Statute of Labour (5 Eliz, c. 4} . XI PAGE 48 347 532 68 204 63 95 339 395 328 425 340 335 397 401 103 107 "3 116 405 501 406 121 122 124 125 407 408 468 498 130 ^35 411 602 502 Xll LIST OF DOCUMENTS J PAGE Second Statute of Highways (5 Eliz. c. 1 3) . . . 499 Second Treasons Act of Elizabeth (13 Eliz. c. i) . . 413 Act against Bulls from Rome (13 Eliz. c. 2j . . . 146 Tillage Act (13 Eliz. c. 13) 329 Poor Relief Act (18 Eliz. c. 3) 48 1 Act against Reconciliation to Rome (23 Eliz. c. I ) . . 150 Act for the Surety of the Queen's Person (27 Eliz. c. i) . 417 Act against Jesuits and Seminary Priests (27 Elit. c. 2) . 1 54' Act for Redress of Erroneous Judgments (27 Eliz. c. 8) . 343 • Act for Appeals (31 Eliz. c. i) 345 ct against Seditious Sectaries (35 Eliz.' c. i j . . . 197 Act against Popish Recusants (35 Eliz. c. 2) . . .159' Poor Relief Act (39 Eliz. c. 3) 488^ Beggars Act (39 Eliz. c. 4) 484' Blackmail Act (43 Eliz. c. 1 3j 329 Clerical Subsidy Act (43 Eliz. c. 1 7) . . . . 616 Lay Subsidy Act (43 Eliz. c. 1 8) 610 (B) CASES Privy Council Cases from the Council Register (i 540-1 6o33' . Star Chamber Attorney-General v. Parre and others (fining of juries, 1489) Cpoper V. Gervaux and others (unjust tolls, 1493) Vale V. Broke (slander, 1493) .... Abbot of Eynesham-'y. Harcourt and others (riot, 1503) Walterkyn w. Lettice (trespass, 1503) Merchant Adventurers t;. Staplers (1504) Dobell V. Soley and others (assault, 1533) Cappis ti. Cappis (assault, ^. 1547) .... Court oj ReqMsts Amadas w. Williams and another (1519) . Peterson v. Frederick and others (1521) . Burges v. Lacy {c. 1 540) ..... Stannary Courts Trewynard's case in the Court of Chancery (1562) . Trewynai-d's case in the Star Chamber (1564) .229-42 263 276 275 265 272 260 269 270 303 304 305 ZS^ CASES AND EXTRACTS xiii PAGE Ecclesiastical Courts Select cases .......... "362—7 Cawdrey's case (1591) . 372 Treason Trials Sir Thomas More (1535) 433 The Duke of Norfolk (1572) 440 Mary Queen of Scots (1586) 443 The Earl of Essex (160 1 ) 448 Privilege of Parliament: Freedom from arrest Ferrers's case (1543) j;8o Wickham's case (1571) ^83 Lord Cromwell's case (1572) .' r83 Smalley's case (1576) ^84 Digges's case (1584) ^85 Case of Robert Finnies (1584) ^%^ Richard Cook's case (1585} ^86 Kyrle's case (1585) ^86 Martin's case (1587) 5B7 / Fitzherbert's case (1593) ^88 Tracy's case (1597) 588 Hogan's case (1601) ^89 Privilege of Parliament: The right to commit /-^'^'^ Caseof Arthur Hall (158 1 ) Cig^ Case of Dr Parry (1584) 593 » Case of John Bland (1586) 594 Privilege of Parliament: Membership Russell's case (1550) . . 596 Nowell's case (1553) 596 Case of the County of Norfolk (1586) ..... 596 (C) EXTRACTS Anonymous writer {c. i6oo): on the Court of Requests . . . . . .311 Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans (1621}: on Henry VII's Council 229 on the Star Chamber ....... 288 Henry Barrow (1590): on Independency . . . . . . .186 Nicholas Bownd (1595}: on the Sabbatarian Controversy 200 XIV LIST OF DOCUMENTS Sir Julius Caesar {c. 1597): on the Court of Requests Thomas Cartwright (1572): on Church government . Sir Edward Coke {c. 1628): on the Star Chamber on the Court of Requests on the Council of the North on the Duchy Chamber of Lancaster on Treason . . . ■ . ■ . on the Court of the Lord Steward on the election of the Speaker . n Colet, Dean of St Paul's (1.511): on clerical abuses on Fish (1528): on clerical abuses hard Hooker (1594-7): on Church government . William Hudson {c. 1633): on the Star Chamber William Lambarde: on the Justices of the Peace (1581) . on the Star Chamber (1591) on the Court of Requests (1591) Hugh Latimer (1548): in criticism of the Bishops Martin Marprelate (1588): in criticism of the Bishops Sir Thomas More: on clerical abuses (1528) in defence of the Church (1529) Francis Osborne (1658): on the Star Chamber John Rushworth (1680): on the Star Chamber Sir Thomas Smith (1565): on the Star Chamber on the Justices of the Peace on the procedure of the House of Commons on the claim of Privilege . Thomas Starkey (1535-6): on clerical abuses .... PAGE 308 167 289 318 351 377 428 517 70 76 17c 294 457 285 306 88 73 79 296 297 284 455 547 554 82 MISCELLANEOUS XV (D) MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS DATE Dissolution of the Monasteries IS21 Confession of St Andrew's Priory, Northampton Church Settlement of Edward VI 1550 Ridley's Injunction concerning the Altar Elizabeth and the Catholics 1570 The Bull of Excommunication . . . . . Elizabeth and the Puritans 1563 Puritan Articles in Convocation . . . . . 1574 Regulations for the Diocese of Lincoln concerning Prophesyings ........ 1576 Archbishop Grindal's Letter concerning Prophesyings 1577 Quscn Elizabeth's Letter for the suppression of Prophesyings 1584 Petition of the House of Commons for Ecclesiastical Reform The Kin£s Secretary 1 5 1 8 Letter from Henry VIII to Wolsey (relation of the Secretary to the King) ........ 1 52 1 Letter from Richard Pace to Wolsey (relation of the Secretary to the King) ........ 1526 Ordinances of Eltham ....... 1 540 Warrant for two Secretaries ...... c. 1544 Secretaries' 'Bouche of Court' . . . . . c. 1578 Queen Elizabeth's Annual Expenses (stipends of officials) 1 600 Dr John Herbert's Memorandum (duties of the Secretary) . Privy Council (rc^^Council Ordinances of Henry VIII Ijj^g Council Ordinances of Edward VI 1 554 Committees of the Council under Mary . 1558 Committees of the Council under Elizabeth 1566 Order against Seditious Books I j'70 The Oath of a Privy Councillor 1582, 1589 Orders concerning Private Suits . r 600 Dr John Herbert's Memorandum (concerning the distribu tion of Council business) ..... Star Chamber I ro9— 90 The Lords' Diet in the Star Chamber 1570 Letter from the Council to Sir William Paulet 89 143 164 179 182 184 190 211 211 207 206 208 208 212 220 221 224 224 245 225 243 247 263 261 XVI LIST OF DOCUMENTS DATE 1585 Star Chamber Decree concerning Printers 1597 Letter from Sir John Smyth to Lord Burghley 1 600 Speech in the Star Chamber ...... Court of Requests c. 1 5 1 8 Establishment of the Court of Requests at Westminster . Council of the North 1 545 Instructions for the Council of the North High Commission 1559 Ecclesiastical Commission ...... 584 Lord Burghley's criticism of the Ecclesiastical Commission. Justices of the Peace [^'90 Commission of the Peace ...... 1598, 1604 Testimonials for a Sturdy Rogue . Parliament 1 529- 1 601 Interference in Elections 1 542 Petition for Privilege 1 548 Passing of the Chantries Act 1 549 Seymour's case 1 5j;o Petition for Privilege ^55^^ 597 Election of a Speaker . 13^3 The Opening of Parliament . 1563 Proxies in the House of Lords 1563-93 The Queen's Marriage and the Succession to the Throne 1 57 1 First case of Bribery ...... 1 57 1 Lord Keeper's speech at the Dissolution of Parliament 1571-89 Privacy of Debate 1 57 1- 1 601 Ecclesiastical afeirs in Parliament 757 /2-1601 Attendance at the House of Commons . r 1 570 Case of Peter Wentworth 1576 Punishment of Assault . 1 58 1 Repression of Disorder 158 I Fining, of Absentees 1589 Procedure by writ of Supersedeas 1593 Answer to the Petition of Privilege 1593 Divisions in the House of Commons 1 593- 1 601 Change of tone in later Parliaments 1597 Subpoenas from the Chancery and the Star Chamber PAGE 279 262 278 302 320 373 461 494 520-6 S2S 513 S5^ 528 542 545 559 526 536 590 565 546 537 591 592 593 587 SS'^ 547 578 589 MISCELLANEOUS xvu DATE 1597 The Chaplain of the House of Commons 1 60 1 Answer to the Petition of Privilege 1 601 Trade Questions in Parliament Finance 149 1 The Benevolence of 149 1 1523 The Subsidy of 1523 . 1525 The 'Amicable Loan' . 1556 The Loan of 1556 1593 Subsidy Debate of 1593 546 573 621 608 621 624 610 LIST OF BOOKS */ The following are the full titles and editions of the works referred to in an abbreviated form in the foot-notes. Amos, A. Observations on the Statutes of the Reformation Parliament. . . Andrews, W. Bygone Lincolnshire (1891). Anson, Sir W. R. The Law and Custom of the Constitution: vol. i, Parlia- ment (4th edition, 1909}; vol. ii, The Crown, pts i and ii (3rd edition, 1907-8}. \.RBER, E. The English Scholar's Library (1880-4). Irchaeologia. . .{ijjo— ). Vrchbold, W. a. J. The Somerset Religious Houses (Cambridge Historical Essays, No. 6, 1892). \.scHROTT, P. F. The English Poor Law System ... trans. H. Preston- Thomas (ist edition, 1888). Jacon, Francis. Works, ed. J. Spedding (1857-9), 7 vols. Baldwin, J. F. The King's Council in England during the Middle Ages See also Select Cases before the King's Council, 1243-1482, ed. I. S. Leadam and J. F. Baldwin (Selden Society, 191 8). Barnard, F. P. Companion to English History: The Middle Ages (1902). A revised editioni under the title Mediaeval England is about to be published by the Oxford University Press. Bateson, Miss M. Preface to the Camden Miscellany, vol. ix (1893). Beard, C. The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. . .(Hibbert Lec- tures, 1883). Beard, C. A. The Office of Justice of the Peace in England. . .(Columbia University Studies, vol. xx, no. i, 1904). Benham, E. The Prayer Book of Queen Elizabeth. BiRT, H. N. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (1907). I Bradford, Miss G. (Mrs Temperley). Proceedings in the Court of the Star Chamber in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII (Somerset Record Society, vol. 27, 191 1). Brewer, J. S. The Reign of Henry VIII. . .to the death of Wolsey (1884), 2 vols. Bullarium Romanum (1727—53), 18 vols. Burn, J. S. The High Commission (1865). ' The Star Chamber (1870). BuscH, W. England under the Tudors, vol. i (Henrv VII): trans. Alice M. Todd (1895). Caesar, Sir Julius. The Ancient State ... of the Court of Requests (1597). Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VII, 1494— 1509 (1916). State Papers, Domestic [contracted as Cal. S. P. Dom.] Cambridge Modern History [contracted as C.M.H.] Cardwell, E. The two Books of Common Prayer set forth ... in the reign of Edward VI compared (1838). LIST OF BOOKS xix Cardwell, E. Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, 1546-1716 (1839), 2 vols. Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), 15 vols. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Coke, Sir Edward. The third and fourth parts of the Institutes of the LawfS of England (c. 1628: edition of 1669). Collectanea Anglo-Praemonstratensia, ed. F. A. Gasquet (Camden Society, 1904-6J, 3 vols. CouLTON, G. G. Medieval Studies (2nd revised edition, 19 15}. Craies, W. F. a Treatise on Statute Law (edition of 1907). Dasent, Sir J. R. Acts of the Privy Council of England, 1542- (1890- ). Denton, W. England in the Fifteenth Century (1888). D'EwES, Sir Simonds. A complete Journal of. . . both of the House of Lords and House of Commons throughout the whole reign of Queen Elizabeth. . .(1682: edition of 1693). DiCEY, A. V. The Privy Council (Arnold Prize Essay, i860: 2nd edition, 1887), The Law of the Constitution (ist edition, 1885). Dictionary of National Biography (ist edition, 1885— ) [contracted as Dixon, R. W. History of the Church of England, 1529-70 (i 878-1902}, 6 vols. DowELL, S. A History of Taxation and Taxes in England (and edition, 1888), 4 vols. English Historical Review [contracted as E.H.R.] Fisher, H. A. L, The History of England, 1 485-1 547 (The Political History of England, vol. v, 1906). FORTESCUE, Sir John. The Governance of England. . .(147 1-6: ed. C. Plummer, 1885). Foss, E. The Judges of England (1848-64), 9 vols. Freeman, E. A. The History of the Norman Conquest (3rd edition, 1877), 3 vols. Frere, W. H. The Use of Sarum (i 898). The Principles of Religious Ceremonial (Oxford Library of Practical Theology, 1906). Friedmann, p. Anne Boleyne. . .(1884), 2 vols. Froude, J. A. The Reign of Elizabeth (Everyman Library, 191 1), 5 vols. Fuller, Thomas. The Church History of Britain (1655: edition of 1837J, 3 vols. Gairdner, J. LoUardy and the Reformation in England (1908- ), 4 vols. Gardiner, S. R. Reports of cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission (Camden Society, 1886). Gascoigne, Thomas. Led e Libra Feritatum^ ed. Thorold Rogers (i88i). Extracts from the Diciionarium Theologicum, Gascoigne's principal work, written at various times between 1434 and 1457- Gasquet, F. A. Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (edition of 1 889}, 2 vols. Hampshire Recusants (1896). XX LIST OF BOOKS Gasqu£T^ F. a. Collectanea Anglo-Praemmstratenaa [y.w.J Gee, H. and Hardy, W. J. Documents illustrative of English Church History (1896). Gneist, R. The History of the English Constitution, trans. P. A. AshjKorth (ist edition, 1886), 2 vols. GoLDWiN Smith, see Smith. GwATKiN, H. M. Church and State in England to the death of Queen Anne (19 17). Hall, Edward. Henry VIII (1542: ed. C. Whibley, 1904), 2 vols. Hallam, Henry. The Constitutional History of England. . .(1827: 7th edition, 1854J, 3 vols. Harcourt, L. W. V. His Grace the Steward and Trial of Peers (1907). Harrison, William. Description of England (i577)> ^^- ^- J- Furnivall (New Shakspere Society, 1877). AYWARD, Sir John ((/. 1627). Annals of the first four years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, ed. J. Bruce (Camden Society, 1840). EARN, W. E. The Government of England (2nd edition, 1887). ERBERT OF Cherbury, Lord. The Life and Reign of King Henry VIII (1649: edition of 1672). iBBERT, F. A. Monasticism in Staffordshire (1909). — The Dissolution of the Monasteries as illustrated by the suppression of the Religious Houses of Staffordshire (19 10). HoLDSwoRTH, W. S. A History of English Law (1903), 3 vols. Holinshed, Raphael. Chronicles (1577: edition of 1807— 8), 6 vols. Hudson, William. Treatise of the Court of Star Chamber (written c. 1633: printed in Collectanea Juridica, 1792J. Jacob, Giles. Law Dictionary (1729: 7th edition, 1756). Jessopp, a. Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich, 1492—1532 (Camden .Society, 1888). Jusserand, J. A. A. J. English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages, trans. L. Toulmin Smith (ist edition, 1889). Kempe (Archbishop). Ifork Visitations, ed. A. H. Thompson (Surtees Society, vol. cxxvii, 1916J. Kenny, C. S. Outlines of Criminal Law (4th. edition, 19.09). Lambarde, William. Eirenarcha, or of the office of the Justices of Peace (1581 : edition of 1610). Archeion, or a commentary upon the High Courts of Justice in Eng- land (1591 : edition of 1635). Lapsley, G. T. The County JPalatine of Durham (Harvard Historical Studies, viii, igoo). Latimer, Hugh. Sermons (1548: Parker Society,, 1 844-5), 2 vols. Law, T. G. The Archpriest Controversy (Camden Society, 1896). Law Quarterly Review. Lea, H. C. History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church (1867: 3rd edition, 1907). Leach, A. F. Visitations. . .of Southwell Minster (Camden Society, 1891). Leadam, I. S. Select Cases in the Court of Requests, 1497-1569 (Selden Society, vol. xii, 1898). Select Cases... in the Star Chamber^, 1477-1544. (Selden Society, vols, xvi, XXV, 1902, 1 9 10), 2 vols. LIST OF BOOKS xxi Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII [contracted as L. and P.] Lewis, J. The Life of John Fisher. . .(1855}, 2 vols. Lincoln Visitations, see Thompson, A. H. McIlwain, C. H. The High Court of Parliament and its Supremacy (19 10). Macy, J. The English Constitution. . .(1897). Maitland, F. W. Roman Canon Law in the Church of England (1898). The Constitutional History of England (1908). Marsden, Ri G. Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty (Selden Society, vol. vi, 1894). May, Sir T. E. A treatise on the law, privileges, proceedings, and usage of Parliament (9th edition, 1883). Merewether, H. a. and Stephens, A. J. History of. . .Boroughs. . . (1835), 3 vols. Merriman, ,R. B. Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell (1902), 2 vols. Moore, A. L. Lectures. . .on the history of the Reformation. . .(1890}. More, Cresacre. The Life of Sir Thomas More {c. 1631 : edn of 1828). Naunton, Sir Robert. Fragmenta Regalia (written c. 1630: edn of 1653). Neal, D. History of the Puritans (1732-8: edition of 1822), 5 vols. Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris. Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England (1834-7), 7 vols. Observations on the offices of Secretary of State, etc. (1837}. Norwich Visitations, see Jessopp, A. Oman, [Sir] C. W. C. Warwick the Kingmaker (English Men of Action Series, 1891). Oxford English Dictionary. Paston Letters, 1422-1509: ed. J. Gairdner (1896}, 3 vols. Percy, Lord Eustace. The Privy Council under the Tudors (Stanhope Essay, 1907). Pike, L. O. A Constitutional History of the House of Lords (1894). Pollard, A. F. Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation, 1489- 1556 (Heroes of the Reformation, 1904). Henry VIII (new edition, 1905). Factors in Modern History (1907). The Reign of Henry VII from contemporary sources (1919), 3 vols. The Evolution of Parliament (1920J. Pollock, Sir F. and Maitland, F. W. The History of English Law before the time of Edward I (2nd edition, 1898), 2 vols. PoRRiTT, E. The Unreformed House of Commons (1903), 2 vols. Prothero, [Sir] G. W. Select Statutes and other Constitutional Documents illustrative of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I (3rd edn, 1906). Redlich, J. The Procedure of the House of Commons, trans. A. E. Steinthal (1908}, 3 vols. Reid, Miss R. R. The King's Council in the North (1921). RusHWORTH, John. Historical Collections (1659- ), 8 vols. Sanders, Nicholas. De Origine ac Progressu Schismatis Anglkani (1585): trans. D. Lewis (1877). Savine, a. English Monasteries on the eve of the Dissolution (Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, vol. i, 1909). Scofield, Miss C. L. A Study of the Court of Star Chamber (1900). xxii LIST OF BOOKS Scottish Historical Review. Seeley, Sir J. R. The Growth of British Policy (1895), 2 vols. Sinclair, Sir John. The History of the Public Revenue of the British Empire (2nd edition, 1 790). Skeel, Miss C. A. J. The Council in the Marches of Wales (Girton College Studies, ii, 1904). Smith, Goldwin. The United Kingdom: a political history (1899}, 2 vols. Smith, Sir Thomas, De Repuhlka Jnghrum: a discourse on the Common- wealth of England (written 1565; first published, 1583; edition by L. Alston, 1906J. Spectator, The. Spelman, Sir Henry. The History and Fate of Sacrilege {c. 1633; first published, 1698; edition of 1853). ite Papers. . .King Henry the Eighth (1830-52), 11 vols, ite Trials, ed. William Cobbett and T. B. Howell (1809), 34 vols. EPHEN, Sir J. F. A History of the Criminal Law. . .(1883), 3 vols. EPHENS, W. R. W. and Hunt, W. A History of the English Church (1899- ), 6 vols. RYPE, John. Annals of the Reformation. . .(1708-9: edition of 1725- 31), 4 vols. — The History of the Life and Acts of Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury (edition of 17 10). Stubbs, W. The Constitutional History of England (Clarendon Press Series, 1874-8; vol. i, 3rd edition, 1880), 3 vols. Report of the Ecclesiastical Courts Commission (1883}. Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History (edition of 1886). Tanner, Thomas. Notitia Monastica, or a short History of the Religious Houses in England and Wales (1695). Temperley, Mrs G. Henry VII (Kings and Queens of England, 19 14). Terry, C. S. John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee (1905). Thompson, A. H. (ed.). Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln. . .(Canterbury and York Series, vol. xvii— ,1915— j, vol. i- . Traill, H. D. Social England (edition of 1898}, 6 vols. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Trotter, Miss E. Seventeenth century life in the Country Parish; with special reference to local government (19 19). Usher, R. G. The Rise and Fall of the High Commission (19 13). f^alor Ecclesiasticus, ed. J. Hunter (Rolls Series, 1810—34}, 6 vols. Wakeman, H. O. The Church and the Puritans, 1 570-1 660 (Epochs of Church History, 1887). Walton, Izaak. Lives (1670: edition of 1796). West Riding Sessions Rolls, ed. J. Lister (Yorkshire ArchaeoIogicaLi. I Record Series, vol. iii, 1888). W1LK.INS, D. Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae. . .446—1717. (i737)>4vols. WiLLis-BuND, J. W. Trials for Treason, vol. i, 1 327-1 660 (1879). WiNFiELD, p. H. The History of Conspiracy and Abuse of Legal Pro- cedure (Cambridge Studies in English Legal History, 1921). York Visitations, see Kempe. TUDOR CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS A.D. 1485— 1603 The Foundations of the Tudor Monarchy In his treatise The Governance of England}- ^ Sir John Fortescue, who lived under Henry VI, recommends a policy which is not unlike that adopted and pursued with striking abihty by Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings. T he two main ev fl" prpwnt tr. VnrtfKirnc^ p iind are the power of the great no BIes and the po verty of t he Crown. He entitles -one of his chapters, 'Here he sheweth the peFllS tliat may come to the King by overmighty subjects'^; another, 'The harm that cometh of a King's poverty'^; and a third, 'How gre^j t good will ^row of the firm endowing of the Crow n.' * As Fortescue's editor points out, ' M any of the lords were. . . enormous ly rich. Their estates were concentrated in fiewer hands, and the lands o^ a man like Warwick represented the accumulations of two or three wealthy families. Th ey engrossed offices as g rcpHily p" lanHg, their pensions and an- nuities exhausted the revenues of the Crown, they made large fortunes out of the French wars which drained the royal exchequer, and they were among the chief wool-growers and sometimes wool-merchants in the kingdom.'^ They were rich enough to keep on foot small armies of retainers, and their influence in their localities was sufficient to enable them to control the nomination of local officers, and to pervert to their own ends the administra- tion of justice. The justices of the peace and even the royal judges could be corrupted, juries bribed or intimidated, and claims to property maintained by force. Thus came about the condition of things described in the Paston Letters, in which the law was powerless against great offenders, and open violence reigned supreme®. For this state of things Fortescue has remedies to propose, tt is irnportan t that 'the King' s livelihood, above such rever -'^g " s "t^a^' ^" -ipTTirnnri f i i. hi'iv ordi nary chatS fes. be greater tnan tne livelihood ot the greatest lord in Eng- land,'' for it IS necessary 'that the King have great possessions and peculiar livelihood for his own surety, namely, when any of his lords shall happen to be so excessively great as there might thereby grow peril to his estate. For certainly there may no greater peril grow to a prince than to have a subject ^ Hummer's edition. The full titles of the works referred to in the footnotes are printed on pp. xviii to zzii above. 2 Ch. ix. ' Ch. v. * Ch. xix. ^ Fortescue, p. 17. * The Paston Letters assume that it is useless to institute legal proceedings unless the sheriff and the jury can be secured beforehand. For instance, 'extorcious amercia- ments' were taken of the Prior of Westacre; he was also robbed of 'a flock of hogs,' and his man was set 'openly and shamefully' and with 'great oppressirai' in the stocks. But 'of these,' the letter-writer goes on to say, 'and of many more worse, it is a great folly to labour in as for any indictments but if ye be right sure of the sheriff's office' {Letters, 1, 191). ' p. 128. T.D. I 2 FOUNDATIONS OF THE TUDOR MONARCHY i equipollent to himself.'^ To this end there should be 'a general resumption, | made by authority of Parliament,'^ of lands alienated or given away by the^ Crown, and the establishment of 'a worshipful and a notable council' which could prevent fresh alienations and control future rewards. The council vyas no longer to be com posed 'of great princes and of the greatest lords oL the ^ land ^?Mt almost entirely of persons chosen because ot theiFbusinps cap a- j c ityC ^l jie King sh^^lll<^ aJso reclaim the patronage of the Crown and a epoint i to all offices himself...and no man should 'have any office of the k.mg^s g ift, '< but \^e be fir-ai- swnf " «-hot hp ic Bprxra nf to none other man^ or will se rve any other man or take his clothing or fee while he serveth the King.'^ The accumulation of offices is to be prevented, fnr jin man ig tn hav e 'more offic es t han one, except thq «- the Ttin^:'" Vii-g»Kr«.n may have two offices.'® 'And "'Tien the King, by the means aforesaid or otherwise, hath gotten again his ^elihood, if then it would like his most noble Grace to establish, and as ho saith, amortise the sahie livelihood to his Crown, so as it may never be ened therefrom without the assent of his Parliament, which then would ; as a new foundation of his crown, he shall be thereby the greatest founder the world.'' The Crown will then be endowed, as if it were a bishopric, 1 abbey, or a university, and the King will no longer have overmighty sub- :ts 'equipollent to himself.' We are scarcely justified in supposing that Henry VII consciously ap- propriated Fortescue's ideas, but circumstances, aided by his own policy, placed him in the position where Fortescue had desired the King to be. The conditi ons at his accession favoured a king who sought to build up a s trong mona rjTiy and w ent to work m the ri ght way . There had been a changciff* the balance ol' puwu wiihiii die kingdom, lor the great houses had bee^ exhausted and impoverished under the economic strain of the Civil Wars. And the impoverishment of the houses had been associated with the enrich- ment of the Crown, for both Yorkists and Lancastrians had confiscated the estates of their respective traitors and the gains of both dynasties had fallei? to the Tudors. The humiliation of the baronage had left the Church in isolation, and a secularised Papacy could no longer give it effective support. Finally, the Crown was now steadily supported by the people at large, for a strong monarchy vras a guarantee against a recrudescence of private war, and private war interfered in all kinds of ways with their common everyda^v happiness. The nation as a whole was weary of dynastic quarrels and eager for internal peace; and moreover it was now that Englishmen were finding new opportunities for commerce, and were beginning to open up the new worlds that lay on the other side of the sea. Given these favourable conditions, Henry VII was the kind of idng who could appreciate them, and use them for the building up of a strong monarchy. He was 'one of the best sort of wonders,' says Bacon, 'a wonder ^P-.i30;. * P- 143- *P-H5- ^ * 'zii spiritual men and su temporal men, of the wisest and best disposed men that can be found in all the parts of this land' (p. 146). These were to have' a per- manent tenure, and to them were to be added four lords spiritual and four lords temporal to be chosen every year. 5 p. 153. 'Clothing' is a reference to 'livery': see p. 8». below. *PI53- 'P-IS4- HENRY VirS POLICY 3 for wise men'^; and he classes him with Louis XI and Ferdinand of Aragon as 'the three Magi of kings of those ages.'^ Bacon was not a contemporary^ but Bishop Fisher, in a sermon preached on the occasion of the King's funeral, is quite as appreciative. ' His politic wisdom in governance it was singular; his wit always quick and ready; his reason pithy and substantial; his memory fresh and holding; his experience notable; his counsels fortunate and taken by wise deliberation; his speech gracious in diverse languages; his person goodly and amiable, his natural complexion of the purest mixture; his issue feir and in good number. . .his dealing in times of perils and dangers was cold and sober with great hardiness.'* He was deemed abroad one of the wisest of European princes; and his policy was his own — it was not minister- made. 'He was of an high mind, and loved his own will and his own viray; as one that revered himself, and would reign indeed, . . . not admitting any near or full approach either to his power or to his secrets.'* And, like the other members of his house, he knew how to establish and maintain full personal control of the business of government. ' He was a prince sad, serious, and full of thoughts and secret observations; and full of notes and memorials of his own hand, especially touching persons; as whom to employ, whom to reward, whom to inquire of, whom to beware of, what were the dependencies, what were the factions, and the like; keeping (as it were) a journal of his thoughts.'^ This industrious, skilful, secretive statesman is the founder of the Tudor character; and when Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth gave so much time to the mastery of the principles and details of government, &ey were only following in his steps. The policy of such a king would be characterised by precision, effective-] ness, a careful adaptation of adequate means to an end clearly conceived and well understood. Henr y VII perceived that what England needed in his day \ was a n eiScientcentr^administration controlled by a strnnp; and wealthy i roJ^Sl' house; and he set his policy steadily in this direction. It is true that \ avarice grew upon him with advancing years,, but the experience of the Lancastrians had shewn that royal power aepended upon wealth, and behind his 'miserliness' lay a principle of policy. Hfe aimed at making the Crown richer than any noble or group of nobles. AgJortescue had advised, the re wa s a resumption by Parl iam entary authority of alienated Crown lands". benevolences, heavy Compositions trom royal wards, the revival of dis- used feudal tenures, th e exaction of large sums for the removal of outlawry in pers onal actions, fine^ for breaches ot obsolete statutes, the systemati c pr ^in S: o fleiJal IKdmiLaliliKS a^siilltJl in div iduals^ a wholesale abuse of th e ordi narv p rocess of kw all di c iDc iiiLlli odSTsteadily and systematically "pr ac- tise3, brought vast sums into tne King's treasury. 1 he rebellions of the reign also served to enrich the Crown with forfeitures. 'The less blood he drew,' says Bacon, 'the more he took of treasure'^; an d^ so treason became a pro - fit able part of the ropl revenue But all this was not cflmmail gl-eedfit * was statesmanship pursuing an intelligible purpose. Empson and Dudley, 1 fForks, vi, 238. * li. vi, 244. 3 Quoted from Tie English Works of Join Fisher in H. A. L. Fisher, Polit. Hist. p. 125. « ^orix, vi, 240. ^ lb. y\,2^'i, « Fisher, Polit. Hist. p. 126. ^ Works, vi, 239. 4 FOUNDATIONS OF THE TUDOR MONARCHY the 'ravening wolvK,' were not simpl)^ the agente of an extortioner; they were impoverishing the great houses with a definite end in view. In another way also Empson and Dudley stand for a dehberate policy foreshadowed by ynrtpspiifv^-thp. PYrliisinn of the noble houses from d ie ?'^'^im^ti2nr^T}^ry VTTj n^ f-' " ^^ «^« ableto do so, employed on ly ch urg&ien and lawyers; and ch urchmen were cheap, tor they could be paicf by ecclesiastical promotion. 'He chose his ministers from churchmen, and made bishops of his ministers.'^ T y leading men of the reign werejot th ttJ^eat prinrt-fi' and 'the greatest loijcl?-of the la ndlreferred to by Fort^- rii pgj but rhurrhmen like Morton, Fox, and Warham, or laymen of the official class, such as Sir Reginald Bray, the son of a physician. Sir Thomas Lovell, whose mother was a Norwich alderman's daughter, or Sir Edward Poynin^, the son of Jack Cade's carver and sword-bearer. Dudley was at any rate 'of a good family,'^ but he was not a great noble, and Bacon's phrase concerning Empson, that he was 'the son of a sieve-maker,'* indicates his antecedents although it may not be literally true. T li£ g rowth of this rla« nf royal nffln'akj pnfiVply dependent upon the ki ng, and S serviHi as his pro i;gction'ajgainst the revival in the government of the power of the h^es,. is ^fact A f rr.nc;HpraVi1p I'mpnrfa hrp m the 1 udor period^^.Tii£ tho pr^lilf^ ^{p'Tit ■' r"Hfy which they hated was cnns piWry, but against successful canspiracy the king wa s protected byj i ja nffin'als, wh n first, en- tra tipEdi m tiaiuji ' i fui liim and then secu red theircondemnation under the foi^s of law. This was made all the easier by Henry VII's secret service, an institution which Bacon is disposed to justify. 'As for his secret spiak which he did employ both at home and abroad, by them to discover what practices and conspiracies were against him, surely his case required it; he had such moles perpetually working and casting to undermine him.'^ This system passed as an heirloom to his successors. It was of the greatest service both to Henry VIII and to the government of Edward VI; and it was carried to high efficiency by Burghley and Walsingham, who were able by its aid to protect the life of Elizabeth against the assassination plots by which it was so continually threatened. The reign of Henry VII suffers by contrast with the reigns that suc- ceeded it, and its importance is sometimes underrated. There is little in the period that is stirring and picturesque; the story is confused and difficult to understand; Mid there is a remarkable deficiency of the original material of history. But if the reign is studied from the constitutional standpoint it will be seen that the massive foundations of the Tudor monarchy are being silently but well and truly laid. The great position of Henry VIII and his. successors is, in piart at any rate, of the nature of an inheritance. Hen ry^ VII had done mi ifh tn pat^hUcVi -. n^'^y jradition for the Eng li^ mnnarrhy gnri t^ggi- it in ij pio ^e apart. He arranged royal marriages to his children instead of allowing them to marry among the EnglSh nobilit;^and although a king careful of money he deliberately spent money in keeping up a splendid court. Thus 'the Crown withdrew to a position of splendid isola- tion.'® But he was hampered by unpopularity and by a defective title, and he ^ Stubbs, Lectures, p. 342. ^ p_ j^j_ * Bacon, fForks, vi, 217. * H. 6 /i. vi, 241. * Temperley, p. 249; see also note on p. 12 below. POSITION OF HENRY VIII 5 had to face a series of rebellions before his authority was assured. For Henry VIII these difficulties scarcely existed. His title was never questioned, for he was 'of the progeny of the race of kings,' and in his person the York- ist and Lancastrian claims were blended. Bacon in one of his Fragments notes of his accession that there was now 'no such thing as any great or mighty subject who might eclipse or overshade the imperial power.'^ And the begin- ning of the new King's reign is ' the birthday of loyalty, in the sense of per* sonal devotion to the Crown.' ^ Foreign amba^dors in their private des- patches to their governments had no motive for flattering Henry VIII, but they comment with something approaching enthusiasm upon his beauty of person, his horsemanship, his skill as a jouster and tennis-player, and his kriowledge of music and lang]uages'. This young, gracious, magnificent figure struck the iniagination of his subjects, ahd the sovereign was no longer unpopular. Thus although the foundations of the Tudor monarchy werar laid by his father, Henry VIII made his own contribution to their stabilitjj and permanence. The constitutional documents of the reign of Henry VII* which are im- portant for the present purpose are the Star Chamb er Sta tute, th e Statute o f T reas on, the Act concerning Corporation'^ and the Statute of Liveries. 'I'lie firsTof these is printed in another section [p. 258 J; it snouid nowever be noted here that the preamble, irtdiciating the offences and abuses, with which the persons named in the statute were specially commissioned to deal, enu- merates exactly those which were characteristic of the social disorder de- scribed in the Paston Letters and alluded to by Fortescue — 'unlawful main- tenances, giving of liveries, signs, and tokens, and retainders by indenture/ 'untrue demeanings of sheriffs in making of panels, and other untrue re- turns,' 'taking of money by juries,' and 'great riots and unlawful assemblies.' Th £_statute is intended to furnish fresh facilities for dealing effectively wit h disacdei;, and cleanng up the troublesome situation which a period of civil war had created. ( i) Statute of Treason, 1495 This statute ordained, as Bacon puts it, 'that no person that did assist in arms or otherwise the king for the time being, should after be im- peached therefore or attainted . . . but if any such act of attainder did hap to be made, it should be void and of none effect.'^ Henry VII took theprecaution of excluding from the benefits of the Act all who should in future desert himself, but the intention was to do away with t^ie dynastic proscriptions of t he Civil Wars by protectin g from the vengeance of th ** '^'""g wn pfiyaff y^ar^ their number being evidence, not of the vigoUr of the law but of its ineffectiveness. Henry VII's Act inflicts a penalty upon persons giving or taking livery, and by making indentures of retainers void it destroys the le^l foundation upon which the system was based. The Act was limited to the life-time of the king, but larger causes were at work to end the abuse. The Tudor period supplied new outlets for lawless energy in the development of commerce and maritime enterprise, in the opening up of the New World, and finally in the war with Spain; and the retainers of the fifteenth century became the adventurers and mariner- pirates of the sixteenth. There were also new openings for the employment of capital, and great lords who had once spent their substance in the profuse hospitality which kept the private armies together, now found that they had something better to do with their money. Thus the problem of liveries solved itself. De Retentionibus illicitis The King our Sovereign Lord calleth to his remembrance that where before this time divers statutes^ for punishment of such persons that give or receive liveries, or that retain any person or persons or be retained with any person or persons.., have been made and established, and that notwithstanding divers per- sons have taken upon them some to give and some to receive liveries and to retain and be retained... and little or nothing is or hath been done for the puiiishment of the offenders in that behalf, Wherefore our Sovereign Lord the King, by the advice [etc.]... hath ordained, stablished, and enacted that all his statutes and ordinances afore this time made against such as make unlawful retainers and such as so be retained, or that give or re- ceive livery, be plainly observed and kept and put in due execution. n. And over that, our said Sovereign Lord the King ordain- eth, stablisheth, and enacteth by the said authority, that no person, of what estate or degree or condition he be,... privily or openly give any livery or sign or retain any person, other than such as he giveth household wages unto without fraud or colour, or that he by his manual servant^ or his officer or man learned in the one law or in the other^, by any writing, oath, promise, livery, sign, badge, token, or in any other manner wise unlawfully retain; and if any do the contrary, that then he run and fall in the pain and forfeiture for every such livery and sign, badge or token, so accepted, iocs., and the taker and acceptor of every such livery, badge, token, or sign, to forfeit and pay for every such livery and sign, badge or token, so accepted, iooj., and for every month that 1 Statutes were passed in 1399, 1401, 1406, 1411, 1414, 1429, and 1468; see Fortescue, pp. 27—8. * I.e. a. servant who works with his hands. * /. e. learned either in the civil or in the canon law. 10 FOUNDATIONS OF THE TUDOR MONARCHY he useth or keepeth such livery or sign, badge or token, after that he hath taken or accepted the same, to forfeit and pay iooj., and every person that [shall] by oath, writing, or promise, or m any other wise unlawfully retain, privily or openly, and also everjl such person that is so retained, to forfeit and pay for every sucfe, time I005., and as well every person that so retaineth as every person that is so retained to forfeit and pay for every month that such retainer is continued, lOOs — III. And also it is ordained and enacted that no person of what estate [or] condition he be... name or cause himself to be named servant or retained to or with any person, or buy or cause to be bought or wear any gown as a livery gown, sign, or token of the suit or livery of any person, or any badge, token, or sign of any person, upon pain of forfeiture for every da,y or tinie that he doth, 40J., and also to have imprisonment by the discretion of the judges or persons afore whom he shall be thereof convicted, and th^t without bail or mainprize^. ^P TT ^ * * ■«• , VI. Moreover the King our Sovereign Lord, by the advice, assent, and authority aforesaid, hath ordained, stablished, and en- acted, that every person that will sue or complain before the Chan- cellor of England or the Keeper of the King's Great Seal in the Star Chamber^, or before the King in his Bench, or before the King and his Council attending upon his most royal person wheresoever he be, so that there be 3 of the same Council at the least of the which two shall be lords spiritual or temporal, against any person or persons offending or doing against the form of this ordinance or any other of the premises, be admitted by thei;- dis- cretion to give information... And that upon the same all such persons be called by writ, subpoena, privy seal, or otherwise, And the said Chancellor or Keeper of the Seal, the King in his Bench^ or the said Council to have power to examine all persons de- fendants and every of them, as well by oath as otherwise, and to adjudge him or them convict or attaint, as well by such examina- tion as otherwise, in such penalties as is aforesaid as the case shall require;. . .And also the same party, plaintiff, or informer shall have such reasonable reward of that that by his complaint shall grow to the King as shall be thought reasonable by the discretion of the said Chancellor or Keeper of the: Great Seal,, Justices, pr Council. , VII. And also it is enacted by the said authority that the said 1 The old law drew a subde distinction between mainprize and bail; see Jacob, Law Dictionary, under 'mainprize.' ^ See p. 249 below. STATUTE OF LIVERIES ii Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal, Justices, or Council have full authority and power by this Statute to do send by writ, sub- poena, privy seal, warrant, or otherwise by their discretion, for any person or persons offending or doing contrary to the premises, without any suit or information made or put before them or any of them, and the same person or persons to examine by oath or otherwise by their discretions, and to adjudge all such persons as shall be found guilty in the premises by verdict, confession, ex- amination, proofs, or otherwise, in the said forfeitures and pains as the case shall require, as though they were condemned therein after the course of the common law, and to commit such offenders to ward and to award execution accordingly. VIII. ...And that all manner of writings or indentures between any person herebefore made, whereby any person is re- tained contrary to this Act, that indenture or writing, as touching any such retainder only and no further, be void and of none effect : This Act to take his effect and beginning for such retainers and offences and other misdemeanours as shall be done, had, or made contrary to the form of this Act after the Feast of Pentecost next coming only, and the same Act to continue and endure during the life of our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is and no longer. * * * * * * X. Provided also that this Act extend not to the punishment of any person or persons the which by the virtue of the King's placard^ or writing, signed with his hand and sealed with his privy seal or signet, shall take, appoint, or indent with any persons to do and to be in a readiness to do the King service in War, or otherwise at his commandment, so that they that shall have such placard or writing for their part use not by that retainer, service, attendance, or any other wise the person or persons that they shall take, appoint, or indent with, nor the persons that so do in- dent to do the King service use not themselves for their part in doing service or giving attendance to them that shall have author- ity by reason of the King's writing to take, appoint, or indent with them, in any thing concerning the said Act otherwise than shall be comprised in the same the King's placard or writing, and that placard or writing to endure during the King's pleasure and no longer. XI. Provided also that this Act extend not to any livery to be given by any Serjeants at the law at their making or creation, or to be given by any executors at the interment of any person for ^ /. e. warrant or licence. * 12 FOUNDATIONS OF THE TUDOR MONARCHY any mourning array, or to be given by any guild, fraternity, oi craft corporate, or by the Mayor and Sheriffs of the City of Lon- don, or by any other mayor or sheriff or chief officers of any city^ borough, town, or port of this realm of England, during the time of his office and by reason of the same, or to be given by any abbot or prior of or other chief head or governor or officer of any monastery, abbey, or priory, or other places corporate, given to their farmers or tenants or otherwise^ according as it hath been used and accustomed in the same monastery, abbey, or priory. 19 Henr. VII, c. 14: Statutes of the Realm, ii, 658, Note The exaltation of the Sovereign in Acts of Parliament begins with Henry VII. In 11 Henr. VII, c. 12, there is a reference to his 'most gracious disposition' (cf. also c. 24), and in 19 Henr. VII, c. 19, to his 'most noble Grace and great wisdoms.' Under Henry VIII the references become more laudatory. In 1534 the King is a 'most dread, benign, and graciou§,' a 'most rightful and dreadful Sovereign Lord' (pp. 38, 382 bdowt), who in 1536 is 'daily findiing and devising the increase, advancement^' and exaltation of true doctrine and virtue,' and ' the total extirping and destruction of vice and sin' (p. 59 below). Thus the Tudor doctrine; of indivisible sovereignty finds expression, even in formal legal documents. The glorifi- cation of Elizabeth, as in her Treasons Act of 157 1 (p. 413 below), rests upon a different consideration. As her threatened life alone stood between England and a Catholic reaction — a return under Mary St^iart to the evil days of Mary Tudor — ^it seemed infinitely precious; and we find Elizabethan lawyers saying in prose what the great Elizabethan writers say in pqetry| It is after all a political situation which accounts for Queen Elizabeth's plac^ in literature. The Church Settlement of Henry VIII T h^.fin p ;lish Reformation was accompl ished in two stages; for the Pap al au thority Was rejected first and doctrine arTd ritual vf&tt moditied afterwards. Thejeiection of the Pope was the work of Henry VTTT^ or.r< ha ^S^t^ impoct ant constitutional changes. The p erm anent doctrinal changes we re post po^ for near ly a generation, and hclnng to the rpign of Elizabet h. These two episodes of vast importance are separated by two minor move- ments — the premature doctrinal reformation of the reign of Edward VI, and the temporary reconciliation with Rome carried through in the reign of . Mary. § I. Minor Ecclesiastical Reforms ViILwece,eps^,l[n3ijjJyjy^s^^ diS^king^ 'masterpiece' to 'makfiJisexifhi&EadiatHieots.'^ The ' Reformation Parliament' met on Novem- ber 3, 1529, and the English Reformation began in a way peculiarly English — 'not with the enunciation of some new truth, but with an attack on clerical fees.*^ An Act of 1 529^ established a scale of fees to be charged by the Church courts for the probate of wills: nothing where the effects of the deceased were of the value of £^ and under, 'except only to the scribe to have for writing of the probate,' 6d. ; 3^. 6d. if over £s^ but not exceeding ;^4o; SJ. ifover;£40. Another Act of 1529* accomplished a similar reform in the case of 'mortuaries, otherwise called corpse-presents.' No mortuary is to be de- manded where the goods of the deceased at the time of death are less than ten marks. If their value is ten marks or more and under ;^30 the fee is fixed at 3J. 4(i; ii £10 or more and under ^^40, at bs. %d.i if ,^40 or over, at iQs. A third statute of 1529* restrains pluralities, deals with the clerical non- residence which the system of pluralities encouraged*, and forbids forming and trading by the clergy. The statute also deals with the special kind of absenteeism practised by parish priests who served chantries', forbidding spiritual persons, secular or regular, beneficed with cure, to 'take any particu- lar stipend' to 'sing for any soul' The Act is linked up with the greater Re- formation statutes by a clause providing that dispensations from its terms should be void, but that in certain circumstances dispensations might be 1 Lord Herbert of Cherbury, p. 539. 2 PoDard, He/iry VIII, p. 272. » 21 Henr. VIII, c. 5. * 21 Henr. VIII, c. 6. » 21 Henr. VIII, c. 13. * Latimer had nicknamed the absentees 'strawberries, which come but once a year, and tarry not long.' ' Cf. Chaucer's good parson in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, I. 507 if.: 'He set not his benefice to hire And left his sheep encumbered in the mire. And ran to London unto Saint Poules, To seeken him a chaunterie for soules.' 14 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII purchased — the prohibition being aimed at dispensations from Rome, and the permission contemplating dispensations from the Crown^- The poHcy of the Tudors which struck at the liberties of overmighty subjects was also directed against the immunities of an overmighty corpora- tion. Both Henry VII and Henry VIII attempted to deal with benefit of clergy and sanctuary — two evils by which 'all over England the arm of justice was paralysed.' ^ 'Privilege of clergy,' says Sir J. F. Stephen^,*' consisted originally in the right of the clergy to be free from the jurisdiction of lay courts.' This prin- ciple had in course of time been extended (l) by including among clerks entitled to the privilege 'secular clerks,' such as doorkeepers, exorcists, readers, and subdeacons; and (2) by allowing clergy to all who were capable of taking orders, i.e. to persons who could read Latin and were therefore able to go through a mass if required. In practice this latter extension meant ^ that clergy could be claimed by anyone who could stumble through the 'neck-verse.' On the other hand, at the beginning of the Tudor period there were three classes of persons who could not claim clergy: (i) high treason was not clergyable*; (2) felons committing highway robbery or the wilful burning of houses were excluded from benefit of clergy at common law^; (3) women could have no clergy because they were not capable of being ordained*. Nor was it the case that a criminal claiming clergy was allowed to go free. He was delivered after conviction to the representative of the bishop and detained in the bishop's prison until he could make his purgation by the oath of witnesses'. If he was unable to purge himself, he might be degraded or put to penance. If he was a notorious offender, the secular court might hand him over to the bishop absque purgatione, in which case he for- feited his lands, goods, and chattels, and was imprisoned in the bishop's prison for life. Tudor legislation on this question begins with an Act of 1488-98, which provided that a felon who claimed clergy should be branded, and that if he claimed it a second time he should be denied it, unless he could prove that hewas actuallyin orders. An Act of 1496— 7® had deprived of clergy laymen committing petty treason by 'prepensedly' murdering their 'lord, master, or sovereign immediate.' A temporary Act of 1 5 1 2^" toot a way benefit of clergy from persons 'such as be within holy orders only except committing murder or felony 'in any church, chapel, or hallowed place,' or who murder or rob any 'in the King's highway' or 'any person in his house.' The Re- formation Parliament, by an Act of 1531-2^^, provided that everyone con- victed of petty treason, or 'for any wilful murder of malice prepensed,' or for 'robbing of any churches, chapels, or other holy places,' or for burglary, or highway robbery, or for 'wilful burning of any dwelling-houses or barns > wherein any grain of corns shall happen to be' should lose his clergy, 'such as ^ Two such licences from the Crown, of 27 Henr, VIII, are quoted in Amos, p. 239. 2 Fisher, p. 19. ^ j^ ^j^, 4 Stephen, i, 464. 8 U. 6 16. i, 461. ' See Miss C. B. Firth in the English Historicai Revieai, xxxii, 187; also Stephen, i, 460-1. 8 ^ Henr. VII, c. 13. » 12 Henr. VII, c. 7. I" 4 Henr. VIII, c. 2. This Act was to last only until the next Parliament " 23 Henr. VIII, c. i. BENEFIT OF CLERGY; SANCTUARY 15 be within holy orders, thatis to say ofthe orders of sub-deacon or above, only except.' Clerks convicted of these offences, and then admitted to clergy ana delivered to the ordinary, were to remain in the bishop's prison, and were not to be admitted to purgation and liberated unless they could find sufficient sureties for good behaviour; and they could be degraded by the ordinaries to whose custody they were committed^ and handed over to the Justices of the King's Bench to be dealt with as if they had not been in orders. This Act, and later legislation of th^ reign^, effected considerable improvements in the law, but it is noteworthy that no attempt was made to repudiate the principle of benefit of clergy. In a way characteristic of English legislation one statute after another took away the privilege from particular crimes, until it was finally abolished in 1827*, The system of sanctuary had grown up out of the feet that in early times a criminal who took refuge in a church could not be taken from it^ but was allowed to take before the coroner an 'oath of abjuration,'^ by which he admitted his offence and swore to abjure the realm for life, proceeding for that purpose to a port appointed by the coroner. He was to go 'un-girt, un-shod, bare-headed, in his bare shirt, as if he were to be hanged on the gallows, having received a cross in his hands.'* In the case of the greater chartered sanctuaries, such as Beverley and Durham, an alternative to ab- juration was residence within the precincts ofthe sanctuary as a 'sanctuary man.' The first restriction upon sanctuary was established by the case of Humphrey Stafford in 1487, when the judges held that sanctuary could not afford protection in cases of high treason; and the position ofthe Crown in this matter was subsequently supported by bulls from the Pope which im- posed other limitations also upon the privilege. In the reign of Henry VIII /urther restrictions were established by legislation. An Act of 1529^ prO" vided that a criminal taking sanctuary for felony or murder should, 'imme- diately after his confession and before his abjuration,' be branded upon the thumb of the right hand 'with the sign of an A, to the intent that he may the better be known among the king's subjects that he was abjured.' Should he refuse to 'take his passage' out of sanctuary on the day appointed by the coroner for his abjuration, he was to lose the benefit of sanctuary altogether. Two years later an Act of 1 531* entirely revolutionised the law of sanctuary by abolishing abjuration. The preamble of the statute recites that sundry offenders abjuring the realm are 'very expert mariners,' and others 'very able and apt men for the wars,' who not only instruct the inhabitants of 'outward realms and countries' in archery, but 'have disclosed their know- ledges of the commodities and secrets of this realm, to no little damage and prejudice of the same.' The Act therefore provides that persons abjuring are no longer to be directed by the coroner to a port of embarkation but to 1 23 Henr- VIII, c. 11; 27 Henr. VIII, c. 17; 28 Henr. VIII, c. i. * By 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 28. An Act of 1547 (i Edw. VI, c. 12) gave every peer of the realm, 'though he cannot read,' a privilege equivalent to, though not identical with, benefit of clergy. This was overlooked when the Act of 1827 was passed, and was not abolished until 4 and 5 Vict. c. 22 (Stephen, i, 462). ' The form of oath temp. Edw. II is quoted in Jusserand, p. r6o. * Quoted from Fleta in Jusserand, p. 161 ». 5 21 Henr. VIII, c. 2. . » 22 Henr. VIII, c. 14. i6 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII a sanctuary within the realm, where they are to remain under penalty of death. An Act of 1534^ puts into statutory form the decision in Stafford's case; and an Act of 1536^ devises improved regulations for the control of 'sanctuary men.' Finally, by an Act of 1540^ all sanctuaries were abolished except churches and churdiyards and certain places named in the Act*; and sanctuary was not in future to protect persons guilty of murder, rape, burg- lary, robbery, arson, or sacrilege. Sanctuary was abolished in 1623®, but 'in a modified form sanctuaries continued, apparently in defiance of the law, for another century, so far at least as regards the execution of civil process'®; and debtors continued to find protection in Whitefriars, the Savoy, and the Rules of the Fleet. The last of the minor ecclesiastical reforms of the Reformation Parlia- ment was effected by the Act of 1532 'in restraint of citations.'' As the Court of the Archbishop was a court of first instance as well as of appeal for the whole province, it was possible for proceedings to be begun thercj and for the person proceeded against to be cited out of his own diocese to Can- terbury, London, or York, there to 'answer to surmised and feigned causes.' If the person so cited foiled to appear, he might be excommunicated, or at the least suspended from all divine service, and before he was absolved he was compelled to pay the fees of the court and the 'summoner, apparitor, or other light literate person'* by whom the citation was served, at the rate of id. a mile. If on the other hand he elected to appear before the court, he had to meet the expenses of the journey; and his absence, in days of poor communication, gave 'great occasion of misbehaviour and misliving' of his servants and household, 'to the great impairment and diminution of their good names and honesties.' To meet this grievance the statute provided that no one should be cited out of his own diocese, unless for a spiritual offence, except on appeal from his own bishop's court, saving the right of the arch- bishop to cite any person for heresy or in cases of probate of wills. Fees for citations were limited to 'three pence sterling.' § 2. Submission of the Clergy Before he opened his main attack upon the Papal jurisdiction, it was necessary for the King to secure himself in the rear by silencing Convocation. The documents associated with these operations may be grouped together under the head of 'the submission of the clergy.' (i) Act for the Pardon of the Clergy of Canterbury, 1531 Before the opening of the second session of the Reformation Parliament in January, 1531, the Attorney-General had been insitructed to proceed against the bishops on the ground that by acknowledging Wolsey's jurisdic- 1 26 Henr. VIII, c. 13. a 27 Henr. VIII, c. 10. » 32 Henr. VIII, c. 12. * Wells, Westminster, Manchester, Northampton, Norwich, York, Derbv, and Launceston. An account of each of the important chartered sanctuaries will be found in J. C. Cox, Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers. s By 21 Jae. I, c. 28. 6 Stephen, i, 492. » 23 Henr. VIII, c. 9. * Cf. the description of the 'somonour' in the Prologue to Chaucer's Canteriuri Tales. •' PARDON OF THE CLERGY 17 tion as papal legate the whole body of the clergy had incurred the penalties oi praemunire. The Great Statute of Praemunire of 1 393^ had provided, in lang|uage at once comprehensive and vague, 'that if any purchase or pursue ... in the Court of Rome or elsewhere . . . translations, processes, and sen- tences of excommunication, bulls, instruments, or any things whatsoever, which touch our Lord the King, against him, his crown, and his royalty, or his realm,' and 'they which bring the same within the realm or make thereof notification . . . that they, their notaries, procurators, maintainers, abettors, fevourers, and counsellor!, shall be put out of the kingf s protection, and their lands, tenements, goods, and chattels forfeited to our Lord the King, and that they be attached by their bodies. . .and bro,ught before the King and his Council ... or that process be made against them by praemunire facias.''^ Under a writ oi praemunire issued in accordance with this statute, the King had been able to confiscate Wolsey's vast possessions, on the ground that his exercise of authority as papal legate was a breach of the law, and this in spite of the fact that he had received that authority with the King's consent and had used it to carry put the King's policy. It was now contended that the whole body of the English clergy because they had accepted the legatine authority had shared as maintainers and abettors in Wolsey's offence. The Act of 1 53 1 granted the clergy of Canterbury pardon for the past on payment of a ransom or fine of ;^ 100,000'. Before he would accept the sub- sidy and promote the bill of pardon, tfie King also required an acknowledg- ment from Convocation that he was 'sole protector and Supreme Head of the Church and clergy of England.' This form of words was eventually altered by Convocation to 'their singular protector, only and supreme lord, and, ^s far as the law of Christ allows, even Supreme Head'*; but this, as the Em- peror's ambassador pointed out, was only an empty phrase, as no one would venture to dispute with the King where his supremacy ended and that of Christ began^. An Act concerning the pardon granted to the King's Spiritual Subjects of the Province of Canterbury for the Praemunire The King our Sovereign Lord, calling to his blessed and most gracious remembrance that his good and loving subjects the most Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops, suffragans, prelates, and other spiritual persons of the Province of the Archbishopric of Canterbury of this his realm of England, and the ministers underwritten which have exercised, practised, or executed in spiritual courts and other spiritual juris- dictions within the said Province, have fallen and incurrqid into divers dangers of his l^ws by things done, perpetrated, and com- 1 16 Rich. II, c. 5. " Gee and Hardy, p. 125. * Another Act (23 Henr. VIII, c. 19) passed in 1 532, granted a similar pardon to the clergy of the Province of York, on payment of a sum of ^^i 8,840. os. lod. * Fisher, p. 308. This qualification was afterwards omitted when the Act of Supremacy came to be drawn. 5 Polkrd, Cranmer, p. 70. T.D. * 1 8 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII mitted contrary to the order of his laws, and specially contrary to the form of the statutes of provisors, provisions, and praemunire ; and his Highness, having alwiiy tender eye with mercy and pity and compassion towards his said spiritual subjects, minding of his high goodness and great benignity so always to impart the same unto them as justice being daily administered all rigour be excluded, and the great and benevolent minds of his said subjects largely and many times approved towards his Highness, and specially in their Convocation and Synod now presently being in the Chapter House of the Monastery of Westminster, by correspondence of gratitude to them to be requited: Of his mere motion, benignity, and liberality, by authority of this his Parliament, hath given and granted his liberal and free pardon to his said good and loving spiritual subjects and the said ministers and to every of them^ to be had, taken, and enjoyed to and by them and every of them by virtue of this present Act in manner and form ensuing, that is to wit: The King's Highness, of his said benignity and high libera- lity, in consideration that the said Archbishop, Bishops, and Clergy of the said Province of Canterbury in their said Convoca- tion now being, have given and granted to him a subsidy of one hundred thousand pounds of lawful money current in this realm, to be levied and collected by the said clergy at their proper costs and charges and to be paid in certain form specified in their said grant thereof, is fully and resolutely contented and pleased that it be ordained, established, and enacted by authority of this his said Parliament, That the most Reverend Father in God, William^, Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan and Primate of All England, and all other bishops and suffragans, prelates, abbots, priors, and their convents and every person of the same convents, and convents corporate and every person, [etc.] . . . ab- besses, prioresses, and religious nuns, and all other religious and spiritual persons, deans and chapters and other dignities of cathe- dral and collegiate churches, prebendaries, canons and petty ^ 'Provisions' are appointments to sees or benefices not yet vacant, made by the Pppe ip derogation of the rights of the regular patrons. 'Provisors' are the holders of such providbns. 'Praemunire' is derived from the name of the writ, praemunire facias, by which the sheriff is charged to summon a person accused of prosecuting in a foreign court a suit cognisable by the law of England. The term is also applied to an offence against the Statute of Praemunire, the penalty being imprisonment and loss of goods. The first Statute of Provisors was passed in 1351, and the second in 1390. The first Statute of Praemunire was passed in 1353, and the second in 1393. For the terms of these statutes see Gee and Hardy, pp. 103, 112, 122. ^ Archbishop Warham. PARDON OF THE CLERGY 19 canons, vicars and clerks of the same and every person of the same, all archdeacons, masters, provosts, presidents, wardens of colleges and of collegiate churches, masters and wardens of hos- pitals, all fellows, brethren, scholars, priests, and spiritual con- ducts^, and every of the same, and all vicars-general of dioceses, chancellors, commissaries, officials, and deans rurals, and all ministers hereafter generally rehearsed of any spiritual court or courts within the said Province of Canterbury, that is to say: All judges, advocates, registers and scribes, proctors^ constituted to judgments and apparitors^, and all other which within the said Province of the Archbishopric of Canterbury at any time hereto- fore have administered, exercised, practised, or executed in any jurisdictions within the said Province as officers or ministers of the said courts or have been ministers or executors to the exercise or administration of the same; and all and singular politic bodies spiritual in any manner wise corporated, and all parsons, vicars, curates, chantry priests, stipendiaries, and all and every person and persons spiritual of the clergy of the said Province of Canter- bury in this present Act of pardon hereafter not excepted or to the contrary not provided for, by whatsoever name or surname, name of dignity, preeminence, or office they or any of them be or is named or called, the successors, heirs, executors, and ad- ministrators of them and of every of them, shall be by authority of this present pardon acquitted, pardoned, I'eleased, and dis- charged against his Highness, his heirs, successors, and executors, and every of them, of all and all manner offences, contempts, and trespasses committed or done against all and singular statute and statutes of provisors, provisions, and praemunire, and every of them, and of all forfeitures and titles that may grow to the King's Highness by any of the same statutes, and of all and singular trespasses, wrongs, deceits, misdemeanors, forfeitures, penalties and profits, sums of money, pains of death, pains cor- poral and pecuniary, as generally of all other things, causes, quarrels, suits, judgments, and executions in this present Act hereafter not excepted nor forprised*, which may or can be by his Highness in any wise or by any means pardonedj before and to the tenth day of the month of March in the twenty-second year of his most noble reign, to every of his said loving subjects, that ^ I.e. spiritual guides or directors. * Proctors in courts administering civil or canon law correspond to attorneys or solicitors in courts of common law or equity. * Officers or messengers of an ecclesiastical court. Cf. the Act of Citations (see p. 16 above). * Reserved. 20 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII is to say: To the said archbishop and other the said bishops, suffragans, prelates, abbots, priors, and convents and every person of the same convents, and convents corporate and every person of the same convents corporate, abbesses, prioresses, nuns, and spiritual persons in dignity, and all other religious and spiritual persons, deans, chapters, prebendaries, canons, petty canons, vicars choral and clerks, archdeacons, masters, provosts, presi- dents, wardens, fellows, brethren, scholars, priests and spiritual conducts, chancellors, vicars-general of dioceses, commissaries, officials, deans rurals, all judges, advocates, registers and scribes, proctors and apparitors, which have administered, practised, or executed any jurisdiction in any spiritual court within the said Province, and to the said politic bodies, spiritual persons, vicars, curates, chantry priests, stipendiaries, and to all and every person and persons spiritual of the clergy of the said Province, and to all and every other person or persons before named. . . . ****** 22 Henr. VIII, c. 15: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 334. When the bill for the pardon of the clergy of Canterbury was read in the Lower House, 'divers froward persons would in no wise assent to it except all men were pardoned, saying that all men which had anything to do with the Cardinal were in the same case.' The result was an Act of 1531^ by which the King, 'moved with most tender pity, love, and compassion,' 'of his mere motion and of his high benignity, special grace, pity, and liberality,' gave 'to all and singular his temporal and lay subjects' 'his most gracious, general, and free pardon' for all oiFences by them committed against the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire before March 30 in the twenty-sec6nd I year of his reign. A statutory pardon of a whole people has no parallel in history. The moral effect of these proceedings can scarcely be exaggerated. Con- vocation in particular, which had shewn signs of resisting the King's ecclesi- astical policy, now lay at his mercy. The clergy and laity were pardoiiied for the past, but what guarantee was there for the future? The Statute of Prae- munire was vague; there were daily dealings with Rome; who could say at what point these became illegal? Until the religious changes of Henry VIII were finally accomplished, die clergy lay under the sinister shadow of prae- munire, and all power of concentrated constitutional resistance to the King was broken down*. 1 22 Henr. VIII, c. 16. 2 'Henijs like a mighty hunter, resolved to subject to his authority the first- born of the kingdom of heaven By an act of tyranny never heard of before he had all the clergy indicted The terror inspired by this most iniquitous charge crushed ' them and ' bowed them down to the ground. . . . Seeing no hope of relief anywhere, they gave up the battle as lost and allowed themselves to be trodden under foot, as salt that has lost its strength' (Nicholas Sanders, De origine ac progressu sckismatis Anglkani,, 1585, trans. D. Lewis, p. 90). SUPPLICATION AGAINST THE ORDINARIES 21 (2) Supplication against the Ordinaries, 1532 In Mfirch, 1532, the Commons presented to the King their 'Supplica- tion against the Ordinaries. '^ After complaining in general terms of 'mjieh discord, variance, and debate' of late arisen in the realm, 'as well throu^ new, fantastical, and erroneous opinions, grown by occasion of frantic, seditious, and overthwartly framjed books, compiled, imprinted, published, and made into the English tongue, contrary and against tihe very true Catholic and Christian faith, as also by the extreme and uncharitable behaviour and dealing of divers ordinaries' which 'have the examination in and upon the said errors and heretical opinions,' the document goes on to enumerate cer- tain 'special particnlar griefs.' Of these the most important are: (i) the power of Convocation to make 'laws, constitutions, and ordinances' without the royal assent or the assent of the laity; (2) the delays of the Canterbury courts of^Archjesand Audience^^nd the vexatious exactions of the ordinaries and the ecclesiastical courts; (3) the ordinaries 'do daily confer and give sundry benefices wnto certain young folks, calling them their nephews or kinsfolK, being in thpir minority and within age, not apt ^or able to serve the cure pf any such Benefice,' whereby 'the poor silly spuls' of the king's subjects^ 'for lack of good curates, do perish without doctrine or any good teaching'; .(4) the excessive number of holy days kept 'with very small devotion'; (5) in cases of heresy the ordinaries or their ministers put to the accused 'such subtle interrogatories concerning the high mysteries of our faith as are able quickly to trap a simple, unlearned, or yet a vvell-witted layman without learning, and bring them by such sinister introduction soon to his own con- fusion. The importance of this document lies in what it omits rather than in what it contains. If other grievances had been seriously felt, they would probably have found their way into it. As it stands it may be regarded as xepresenting the worst that the more responsible critics of me bishops could say in public against them. The 'Answer of the Ordinaries'^ to these accusations was approved by Convocation in April, 1532, and. presented to the King at the end of tie month. The ordinaries, who describe themselves as the King's 'orators and daily bounden bedesmen,' begin by denying that there is any such 'discord, debate, variance, or breach of peace' as had been alleged against the King's subjects, their 'brethren in God ahd ghostly dhildren,' and then proceed to deal with the detailed accusations seriatim in vague terms and at inordina*e length. The general linfe of argument adopted is, that if the things com- plained of really happen, it is the fault of individuals and not of the whole order of the clergy. On April 30 the King delivered the document to the Speaker and a deputation of the Commons for their consideration, with a hint of his own opinion. 'We think,' he said, 'their answer will smally please you, for it seemeth to u? very slender. You be a great sort of wise }■ The fact that there are in the Record Office fpur corrected drafts of the 'supplication,' with coriectiQns iii Cromwell's own hand, has been taken as eiddence that it really emanated from the Court (Stephens and Hunt, iv, 114; but see Pollard, Henry Fill, p. 291). The 'supplication' is printed in full in Gee asd Hardy, pp. 145-153. * On these courts, see pp. 358-9 below. 3 Printed in Gee and Hardy, pp. 154-176. 22 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII men. I doubt not but you will look circumspectly on the matter, and we will be indifferent between you.'^ In a second answer Convocation oflfered not to publish canons henceforth without the King's consent, unless it were for the maintenance of the faith^. This also failed to satisfy the King; on May 10 he sent to Convocation three articles for their acceptance, and on the following day he sent for the Speaker and twelve of the Commons, and addressed them in words which shewed that to his mind the real issue was one of sovereignty. 'Well-beloved subjects, we thought that the clergy of our realm had been our subjects wholly; but now we have well perceived that they be but half our subjects — yea, and scarce our subjects. For all the pre- lates at their consecration make an oath to the Pope clean contrary to the oath they make to us, so that they seem his subjects and not ours.'^ On May 1 5 Convocation surrendered and accepted the three articles*, undertaking (i) not to make any new canons unless the King should license them to make such canons, and thereto should give his ropl assent and authority; and (2) to submit all canons heretofore enacted to the King and a commission: of 32 persons chosen by him; (3) canons determined by the majority of the com- mission 'not to stand with God's laws' and the laws of the realm, to be 'ab- rogated and taken away by your grace and the clergy,' and those approved by the commission 'to stand ih full strength and power, your grace's most royal assent and authority once impetrate^ and fully given to the same.' On May 16, the day on which this submission was presented to the King, Sir Thomas More resigned the Chancellorship and retired into private life. The proposed reform of ecclesiastical law was never carried into effect, but the first of the three articles gave the King all that he really wanted. Thequestion of sovereignty was settled in his favour, and he was now secure against any attempt on the part of Convocation to protest against the steps which he was proposing to take in the matter of the divorce. The permanent constitu- tional importance of the submission lies in this, that it put an end to the autonomy of the English Church. Chapuys, the Imperial ambassador, wrote: 'Churchmen will be of less account than shoemakers, who have the power of assembling and making their own statutes.'® (3) A ct for the Subm ission of the Clergy, 1534' 5iis Act embodied in statutory form the substance of the submission made by Convocation in 1532. It also modified the system of appeals set up by the Act of 1533 'for the restraint of appeals.'^ An Act for the submission of the Clergy to the King's Majesty Where the King's humble and obedient subjects the clergy of this realm of England have not only knowledged* according to the truth that the Convocations of the same clergy is always, hath 1 Quoted in Stephens and Hunt, iv, 118, a U. iv, 119. 3 /^_ jy^ 120, * 'Their submission is printed in Gee and Hardy, p. 176. 5 /.^.obtained. The word is used especially of anything obtained by request to an authority (Oxford Dictionary). 6 Quoted in Gairdner, i, 450. ' 24 Henr. VIII, c. 12; see p. 41 below. * Used in the sense of 'acknowledged.' SUBMISSION OF THE CLERGY 23 been, and ought to be assembled only by the King's writ, but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty hath promised in verba sacerdotii that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in ure^, or enact, promulge, or execute any new canons, constitutions, ordinance provincial, or other, or by whatsoever other name they shall be called, in the Convocation, unless the King's most royal assent and licence may to them be had to make, promulge, and execute the same, and that his Majesty do give his most royal assent and authority in that behalf: And where divers constitutions, ordinance, and canons, provincial or synodal, which heretofore have been enacted, and be thought not only to be much prejudicial to the King's preroga- tive royal and repugnant to the laws and statutes of this realm, but also overmuch onerous to his Highness and his subjects, the said clergy hath most humbly besought the King's Highness that the said constitutions and canons may be committed to the examination and judgment of his Highness and of 32 persons of the King's subjects., . .Be it therefore now enacted by authority of this present Parliament, according to the said submission and petition of the said clergy, that they nor any of them from hence- forth shall presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in ure any constitutions or ordinances, provincial or synodal, or any other canons, nor shall enact, promulge, or execute any such canons, constitutions, or ordinance provincial, by whatsoever name or names they may be called, in their Convocations in time coming, which alway shall be assembled by authority of the King's writ, unless the same clergy may have the King's most royal assent and licence to make, promulge, and execute such canons, constitutions, and ordinances, provincial or synodal; upon pain of everyone of the said clergy doing contrary to this Act and being thereof convict, to suffer imprisonment and make fine at the King's will. * * » * * # III. Provided alway that no canons, constitution, or ordin- ance shall be made or put in execution within this realm by au- thority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrariant or repugnant to the King's prerogative royal, or the customs, laws, or statutes of this realm; anything contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. IV. And be it further enacted . . . that ... no manner of appeals shall be had, provoked, or made out of this realm or out of any of the King's dominions to the Bishop of Rome nor to the see of 1 I.e. *put in .practice.' The word 'ure,' though now obsolete, was at this time in common use. 24 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Rbme in any causes or matters happening to be in contentioi and having their commencement and beginning in any ^of th courts within this realm or within any of the King's dominions i . .but that all manner of appeals. . .shall be made and had. . after such manner, form, and condition as is limited for appeals t be had and prosecuted within this realm in causes of matrimony tithes, oblations, and obventions, by a statute thereof made an( established since the beginning of this present Parliament^. . . Arid for lack of justice at or in any of the courts of the archbishop of this realm or in any the King's dominions, it shall be lawful t( the parties grieved to appeal to the King's Majesty in the King' Court of Chandery, and that upon every such appeal a commissioi shall be directed under the greit seal to such persons as shall bi named by the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, like a in case of appeal from the Admiral Court^, to hear and defini tively determine such appeals and the causes coniCerning th same. ... VI And if any person or persons ... provoke or sue an; Inanner of appeals. . .to the said Bishop of Rome or to the see o Rome, or do procure or execute any manner of process from thi see of Rohie or by authority thereof to the derogation or let o the due execution of this Act or contrary to the same, that thei every such' person or persons so doing, their aiders, counsellors and abettors, shall incur and run into the dangers, pains, an( penalties contained and limited in the Act of Provision and Prae munire made in the sixteenth year of. . . King Richard the secon( against such as sue to the Court of Rome against the King's crowi and prerogative royal. VI. Provided always that all manner of provocations and ap peals hereafter to be had, made, or taken from the jurisdiction o any abbots, priors, and other heads and governors of monasteries abbeys, priories, and other houses and places exempt^, in sucl cases as they were wont or might afore the making of this Act by reason of grants or liberties of such places exempt to have o make immediately any appeal or provocation to the Bishop c Rome, otherwise called the Pope, or to the see of Rome, that i: all these cases every person and persons having cause of appes or provocation shall may* take and make their appeals and pre 1 24 Henr. VIII, c. 12; see p. 41 below. 2 See p. 347 below, ^ See p. 36 ». below. * Cf. 'shaJl mowe,' on p. 6 above. 'Mowe' is an obsolete form of 'may': c 11 Henr. VII, c. 5^ 'No ship of great burden shall mowe come. . ..in the said havei (Oxford Dictionary). CONDITIONAL RESTRAINT OF ANNATES 25 vocations immediately to the King's Majesty of this realm into the Court of Chancery, in like manner and form as they used afore to do to the see of Rome; which appeals and provocations so made shall he definitively determined by authority of the King's commission in such manner and form as in this Act is above mentioned; so that no archbishop nor bishop of this realm shall intermit^ or meddle with any- such appeals otherwise or in any other manner than they might have done afore the making of this Act; any thing in this Act to the contrary thereof notwitli- standiner. ° * * * * * * 25 Henr. VIII, c. 19: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 460. § 3. Cessation of payments to the See of Rome (i) Act in conditional Restraint of Annates, issa-'^^t-^ The first sta.tute ot the Reformation Pailiaiiieul btiill'uig TTpon P^al finance is of the nature of a diplomatic manoeuvre. B ^. . wi|l j h](loldi ng Jthe ' pay ment^ ^ d ue and ^acgjBstQmEdL^'tbe-iiK^aa'«8eae^ to bring pressure toJMar^ on tneP^eto grant mmamvorce from Catharine of Aragon^. Annates had long been regarded as a grievance, and a statute of the reign of Henry IV' had referred to them as a 'horrible mischief and damnable custom,* but the preamble: of Henry VII I's statute exaggerate the grievance. It has been pointed out that the object of Tudor preamble is not to tell the truth but to make out a case, and the reference to 'great and inestimable sums of money' 'daily conveyed out of this realm to the impoverishment of the same' goes far beyond the facts. The King is authorised to compound with the Pope for annates, and pending some settlement, to declare by letters patent any time before the feast of Easter, 1533, or at any time before the beginning of the next Parliament, whether the Act should take effect or not. But in spite of its provisional character this legislation was opposed by all the bishops in the House of Lords, and by a considerable party in the House of Commons*. The most important feature in the Act, regarded as a step towrards the separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome, is that it sets up provisional machinery for the consecration of archbishops and bishops without the necessary bulls from Rome, and defies interdict, and excommunication in advance, requiring the clergy to administer the sacra- ments 'or any other thing or things necessary for the health of the soul of mankind,' interdict or excommunication notwithstanding. Nevertheless the King is careful to assert that he and all his subjects 'be as obedient, devout, , ^ Interfere. , . 2 The manoeuvre failed as far as the Divorce was concerned, but it succeeded at another point, for the hope that the King would suspend the Act was one of the considerations which obtained from Rome the bulls for Cranmer's consecration as Archbishop (Fisher, p. 3 17). 3 6 Henr. IV, c, i. * Fisher, p. 3 1 5. . 26 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Catholic, and humble children of God and Holy Church as any people .1 within any realm christened.' As soon as it became clear that concessions from Rome would not t forthcoming, the Act was allowed to take effect by letters patent date 9 July, 1533- An Act concerning restraint of payment of Annates^ to the See of Rome Forasmuch as it is well perceived by long approved exper: ence that great and inestimable sums of money be daily cor veyed out of this realm to the impoverishment of the same, an specially such sums of money as the Pope's Holiness, his prt decessors, and the Court of Rome by long time have heretofor taken of all and singular those spiritual persons which have bee named, elected, presented, or postulated to be archbishops c bishops within this realm of England, under the title of Annates otherwise called firstfruits; which Annates or firstfruits heretc fore have been taken of every archbishopric or bishopric withi this realm by restraint of the Pope's bulls for confirmations, elec tions, admissions, postulations, provisions, collations, disposition! institutions, installations, investitures, orders holy, benedictioni palls^, or other things requisite and necessary to the attaining c those their promotions, and have been compelled to pay befor they could attain the same great sums of money, before the might receive any part of the fruits of the said archbishopric c bishopric whereunto they were named, elected, presented, c postulated; By occasion whereof not only the treasure of thi realm hath been greatly conveyed out of the same, but also it hat happened many times by occasion of death unto such archbishop and bishops so newly promoted within two or three years aft« his or their consecration, that his or their friends by whom he c they have been holpen to advance and make payment of the sai Annates or firstfruits have been thereby utterly undone and in poverished; And for because the said Annates have risen, growi and increased by an uncharitable custom grounded upon no jui or good title, and the payments thereof obtained by restraint < bulls until the same Annates or firstfruits have been paid or surel made for the same, which declareth the said payments to be e: 1 'Annates' are the entire revenues of one year, and are here identical wi firstfruits. * The pallium was a woollen vestment worn by the Pope, and conferred by hi on certain ecclesiastics as a necessary preliminary to their exercising the functions their office. Cf. Fuller's description of it: 'The breadth exceeded not three fing( (one of our Bachelor's lamb-skin hoods in Cambridge would make three of thei having two labels hanging down before and behind' (i, 107). CONDITIONAL RESTRAINT OF ANNATES 27 acted and taken by constraint, against all equity and justice; The noblemen therefore of this realm and the wise, sage, politic com- mons of the same assembled in this present Parliament, consider- ing that the Court of Rome ceaseth not to tax, take, and exact the said great sums of money under the title of Annates or firstfruits as is aforesaid to the great damage of the said prelates and this realm, which Annates or firstfruits were first suffered to be taken within the same realm for the only defence of Christian people against the infidels^, and now they be claimed and demanded as mere duty, only for lucre, against all right and conscience, inso- much that it is evidently known that there hath passed out of this realm unto the Court of Rome since the second year of the reign of the most noble Prince of famous memory King Henry the vijth unto this present time, under the name of Annates or firstfruits paid for the expedition of bulls of archbishoprics and bishoprics, the sum of eight hundred thousand ducats, amounting in sterling money at the least to eight score thousand pounds^ besides other great and intolerable sums which have yearly been conveyed to the said Court of Rome by many other ways and means, to the great impoverishment of this realm; And albeit that our said Sovereign Lord the King and all his natural subjects as well spiritual as temporal be as obedient, devout, Catholic, and humble children of God and Holy Church as any people be within any realm christened, yet the said exactions of Annates or firstfruits be so intolerable and importable to this realm that it is considered and declared by the whole body of this realm now represented by all the estates of the same assembled in this present Parliament that the King's Highness before Almighty God is bound as by the duty of a good Christian prince, for the conservation and preserva- tion of the good estate and commonwealth of this his realm, to do all that in him is to obviate, repress, and redress the said abusions and exactions of Annates or firstfruits; And because that divers prelates of this realm be now in extreme age and in other debilities of their bodies, so that of likelihood bodily death in short time shall or may succeed unto them; by reason whereof great sums of money shall shortly after their deaths be conveyed unto the Court of Rome for the unreasonable and uncharitable causes abovesaid, to the universal damage, prejudice, and impoverishment of this 1 Cf. Dr Thomas Gascoigne {ob. 1458): 'Pope John XXII obtained' annates 'for the See of Rome to rescue the Land of Promise from the hands of Pagans and Gentiles, and since then these moneys remain to the Pope's Chamber, to be distri- buted among cardinals and chamberlains of the Pope. . ..' Quoted in Gairdner (i, 256). Annates really originated, however, in voluntary gifts made to the authorities by bishops receiving episcopal consecration at Rome. 28 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII realm, if speedy remedy be not in due time provided; It is ther fore ordained, established, and enacted by authority of this prese Parliament that the unlawful payments of Annates or firstfruits . , shall from henceforth utterly cease... and that no manner pe son or persons hereafter to be named, elected, presented, or po tulated to any archbishopric or bishopric within this realm shs pay the said Annates or firstfruits. . .upon pain to forfeit to oi said Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and successors, all manni his goods and chattels for ever, and all the temporal lands an possessions of the same archbishopric or bishopric during ti time that he or they which shall offend contrary to 'this presei Act shall have, possess, or enjoy the archbishopric or bishopr wherefore he shall so offend contrary to the form aforesaid. [II. If the Court of Rome should delay or deny the 'bulls apostolfe ar other things requisite' for the consecration of any prelate to be hereafter a| pointed by the Crown, he is to be consecrated without them; if a bisho, by the archbishop in whose province the bishopric happens to be, and if s archbishop, by a commission of two bishops appointed by the King.!] * * * * * * V. And if that upon the foresaid reasonable, amicable, an charitable ways and means by the King's -Highness to be exper mented, moved, and compounded or otherwise approved, it sha and may appear or be seen unto his Grace that this realm shall b continually burdened and charged with this and such other it tolerable exactions and demands as heretofore it hath bieen; An that thereupon for continuance of the same our said Holy Fath( the Pope or any of his successors or the Court of Rome will or d or cause to be done at any time hereafter so is as above rehearse( unjustly, uncharitably, and unreasonably vex, inquiet, moles trouble, or grieve our said Sovereign Lord, his heirs or successoi kings of England, or any of his or their spiritual or lay subjecl of this his realm, by excommunication, excommengement'-, intei diction, or by any other process, censures, cbmptilscriea, ways, c means; Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid that the King Highness, his heirs and successors kings of England, and all h spiritual and lay subjects of the same, without any scruple of coi science^ shall and may lawfully to the honour of Almighty Goc the increase and continuance of virtue and good example withi this realm,, the said censures, excommunications, interdiction compulsories, or any of them notwithstanding, minister or cauf ^ Ezcommunication. 2 For the State to be absolving scruples of conscience is a novel invasion of tl province of the Church. ABSOLUTE RESTRAINT OF ANNATES 29 to be ministered throughout this said realm and all other the dominions and territories belonging or appertaining thereunto, all and all manner sacraments, sacramentals, ceremonies, or other divine service of Holy Church, or any other thing or things necessary for the health of the soul of mankind^ as they heretofore at any time or times have been virtuously used or accustomed to do within the same. . . . 23 Henr. VIII, c. 20: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 385. (2JiAct in absolu te restraint of Anna tes, 1534 This Act recites and confirms the Act of 1532 and provides that, since the 'gentle ways' contemplated in that Act had proved ineffectual, no man should hereafter be presented to the 'Bishop of Rome, otherwise called the Pope,' for the dignity of an archbishop or bishop, nor should procure from Rome 'bulls, briefs, palls, or other things requisite for an archbishop or bishop,' nor shgul^, 'paji^ any sums, of .maDe};c;ti»«AaB^^ otheiwasB^fof ^.^l^jtw^ of^SHsJj,^ !su^iJaMlls, briefs, palls, annates, nrstfruits' and other payments to Rome 'shall utterly cease and no longer be used' within the realm, BBJJEtyg.Act gf /534 "'"~ been the custom m the case of a vacant abbey for the abbey chapter to apply to the founder or founder's heir for 'leave to elect' a new abbot; and in such a case the founder would'sometimes send with the conge ePilire a 'letter missive' recommending a particular candidate to the consideration of the chapter. As the kings of England claimed to be the founders of the English bishoprics, the same procedure was followed in the case of a vacant see. In theory the choice of the cathedral chapter was free, but in practice any re- commendation in a royal 'letter missive' would be received with great respect. What the Act4*U 51440fiW»Jtojaak&,o^^ \ habitual and to subject the dean and chapter to the penalties of praemunire I if TffiefTa'njd^'elecnte-'IKftg's homines they defer "or delay the' election Tof'^more'l^aiif^twelVisr'tHJIf'fRfe'^K^ is empowered to appoint by letters patent. Under the same penalties the archbishop is required to proceed to consecration. An Act restraining the payment of Annates, etc. [I. Recites 23 Henr. VIII, c. 20, and its confirmation by the King's letters patent.] II. And forasmuch as in the said Act it is not plainly and certainly expressed in what manner and fashion archbishops and 1 The legal position is exactly defined in Lord John Russell's reply to a member of the Cathedral Chapter of Hereford, who wrote to him in 1848 to say that he could not conscientiously vote for Dr Hampden: 'Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 20th instant in which you announce your intention of breating the law.' 30 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII bishops shall be elected, presented, invested, and consecrate within this realm and in all other the King's dominions: Be_ now therefore enacted. . .that the said Act and everything therei contained shall be and stand in strength, virtue, and effect; excep only that no person nor persons hereafter shall be presentee nominated, or commended to the said Bishop of Rome, othei wise called the Pope, or to the see of Rome, to or for the dignit or office of any archbishop or bishop within this realm or in an other the King's dominions, nor shall send nor procure there fo any manner of bulls, briefs, palls, or other things requisite for ai archbishop or bishop, nor shall pay any sums of money for An nates, firstfruits, or otherwise, for expedition of any such bulls briefs, or palls; but that by the authority of this Act such pre senting, nominating, or commending to the said Bishop of Romi or to the see of Rome, and such bulls, briefs, palls, annates, first fruits, and every other sums of money heretofore limited, accus tomed, or used to be paid at the said see of Rome for procuratioi or expedition of any such bulls, briefs, or palls, or other thiri^ concerning the same, shall utterly cease and no longer be usee within this realm or within any the King's dominions; anything contained in the said Act aforementioned, or any use, custom, oi prescription to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. III. And furthermore be.it ordained and established by th( authority aforesaid, that at every avoidance of any archbishopric or bishopric within this realm or in any other the King's domi- nions, the King our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, maj grant unto the prior and convent or the dean and chapter oi the cathedral churches or monasteries where the see of such archbishopric or bishopric shall happen to be void, a licence undei the great seal^, as of old time hath been accustomed, to proceed to election of an archbishop or bishop of the see so being void, with a letter missive^ containing the name of the person which they shall elect and chopse; By virtue of which licence the said dean and chapter or prior and convent to whom any such licence and letters missives shall be directed, shall with all speed and celerity in due form elect and choose the said person named in the said letters missives to the dignity and office of the arch- bishopric or bishopric so being void, and none other; and if they do defer or delay their election above 12 days next after such licence and letters missives to them delivered, that then for every 1 A congid'Mre for an election to the Bishopric of Ely, dated 18 July if eg and a letter missive recommending Dr Herbert Westphaling for election' to the Bishopric of Hereford, dated 23 November, 1585, are printed in Prothero, p 242 ABSOLUTE RESTRAINT OF ANNATES 31 such default the King's Highness, his heirs and successorsj at their liberty and pleasure shall nominate and present, by their letters patents under their great seal, such a person to the said office and dignity so being void as they shall think able and con- venient for the same. . . . ****** VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if the prior and convent of any monastery or dean and chapter of any cathedral church where the see of any archbishop or bishop is within any of the King's dominions, after such licence as is afore rehearsed shall be delivered to them, proceed not to election and signify the same according to the tenor of this Act within the space of 20 days next after such licence shall come to their hands, or else if any archbishop or bishop within any the King's dominions, after any such election, nomination, or pre- sentation shall besignified unto them bythe King's letters patents^, shall refuse and do not confirm, invest, and consecrate with all due circumstance as is aforesaid every such person as shall be so elected, nominate, or presented and to them signified as is above mentioned, within 20 days next after the King's letters patents of such signification or presentation shall come to their hands; or else if any of them or any other person or persons admit, maintain, allow, obey, do, or execute any censures, excommunications, in- terdictions, inhibitions, or any other process or act of what nature, name, or quality soever it be, to the contrary or let of due execution of this Act, that then every prior and particular person of his con- vent, and every dean and particular person of the chapter, and every archbishop and bishop and all other persons so offending and doing contrary to this Act or any part thereof, and their aiders, counsellors, and abettors, shall run into the dangers, pains, and penalties of the statute of the provision and praemunire made in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Edward the Third^ and in the sixteenth year of King Richard the Second^. 25 Henr, VIII, c. 20: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 462. (3) The Dispensations Act, 1534 . ^^^'l.t^^^^iB^MmSmMMmsUsi^'^^^^^-^^ «^er I rp pnsitinp s; Jef ePs Tence was an annual tribute to Rome, first paid m England, which originally took the form of a penny from each house- holder owning land of a certain value*. It has been variously attributed to 1 I.e. in the event of the Dean and Chapter failing to elect the King's nominee. 2 The First Statute of Provisors, 1351. ' The Second Statute of Praemunire, 1393. * See TAe Catholic Encyclopedia. 32 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Ine, King of Wessex (688-726'), to OfFa, King of Mercia (in 787), to Ethelvvulf, King of Kent (c. 855}. It was regularly paid from the i of WiUiani I, but some time in the, twelfth century the English bis compounded with the Papiacy for a fixed annual payment of ;£200; it therefore only a small part of^the revenue paid to Rome. Th e Act further provides t hat dispen s ationsj ,h.i thertQo]^_ Rome at a price, are in future to ^egi^eSTyt^ Cai burfoffTHPmriet-'fem' rn-'th^6~Act 'Mf thr^^ em^rBi^B?rm"fiafecrc^by the Papacy, is not assigned to the archbis but to 'the King's Highness' 'by commission under the great seal.' It ithis Act that a phrase occurs which suggests how little Henry VII I's formatioTnWIHtaWffirs^^ ¥^^'36 intentrnaTtrecnne or vary from the congregation 01 Cnrist s Ljimjgnm things cdncSTnmglKr^ylTficT^^^^ An Act j or the exoneration from exactions paid to the See of Rot Most humbly beseech your most Royal Majesty your obed and faithful subjects the Commons of this your present Pai ment assembled by your most dread commandment; That wl your subjects of this your realm, and of other countries dominions being under your obeisance, by many years past h been and yet be greatly decayed and impoverished by such tolerable exactions of great sums of money as have been claii and taken and yet continually be claimed to be taken out of your realm, and other your said countries and dominions, by Bishop of Rome called the Pope, and the see of Rome, as we] pensions, censes^, Peter pence, procurations, fruits, suits for j visions, and expeditions of bulls for archbishoprics and bishopr and for delegacies, and rescripts in causes of contentions appeals, jurisdictions legatine, and also for dispensations, licen faculties, grants, relaxations, writs called perinde valere^ rehal tations, abolitions, and other infinite sorts of bulls, briefs, instruments of sundry natures, names, and kinds in great ni bers heretofore practised and obtained otherwise than by the la laudable uses, and customs of this realm should be permitted, specialities whereof be over long, large in number, and tedi here particularly to be inserted; wherein the Bishop of Re aforesaid hath not been only to be blamed for his usurpatioi the premises but also for his abusing and beguiling your subje pretending and persuading to them that he hath full powei dispense with all human laws, uses, and customs of all rea in all causes which be called spiritual, which matter hath b usurped and practised by him and his predecessors by m 1 Census was a term applied to any kind of tribute or tax. THE DISPENSATIONS ACT 33 years in great derogation of your imperial Crown and authority royal, contrary to right and conscience; For where this your Grace's realm, recognising no superior under God but only your Grace, hath been and is free from subjection to any man's laws, but only to such as have been devised, made, and ordained within this realm for the wealth-"- of the same, or to such other as by sufferance of your Grace and your progenitors; the petaple of this your realm have taken at their free liberty by their own consent to be used amongst them, and have bound themselves by long use and custom to the observance of the same, not as to the observ- ance of the laws of any foreign prince, potentate, or prelate, but as to the accustomed and ancient laws of this realm originally established as laws of the same by the said sufferance^ consents, and custom, and none otherwise: It standeth therefore with natural equity and good reason that in all and every such laws human, made within this realm or induced into this realm by the said sufferance, consents, and custom, your Royal Majesty and your Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons, representing the whole state of your realm in this your most high Court of Parliament, have full power and authority not only to dispense but also to authorise some elect person or persons to dispense with those and all other human laws of this your realm and with every one of them, as the quality of the persons and matter shall require : And also the said laws and every of them to abrogate, annul, amplify, or diminish, as it shall be seen unto your Majesty and the Nobles and Commons of your realm present in your Parliament meet and convenient for the wealth of your realm, as by divers good and wholesome Acts of Parliament made and established as well in your time as in the time of your most noble progenitors it may plainly and evidently appear; And by cause that it is now in these days present seen that the state, dignity, superiority, reputation, and authority of the said imperial Grown of this realm, by the long sufferance of the said unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions practised in the times of your most noble progenitors, is much and sore decayed and dimin- ished, and the people of this realm thereby impoverished and so worse be like to continue if remedy be not therefor shortly provided : It may therefore please your most noble Majesty for the honour of Almighty God and for the tender love, zeal', and affec- tion that you bear and always have borne to the wealth of this your * 'Wealth' in the sense of welfare: cf. 'commonwealth' in the sense of 'com- monweal.' T.D. 3 34 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII realm and subjects of the same, forasmuch as your Majesty Supreme Head of the Church of England, as the prelates ar clergy of your realm representing the said Church in their syno( and convocations have recognised^, in whom consisteth full pow( and authority upon all such laws as have been made and use within this realm, to ordain and enact by the assent of your Lore spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this your presei Parliament assembled and by authority of the same, that no perso or persons of this your realm or of any other your dominions sha from henceforth pay any pensions, censes, portions, Peter pena or any other impositions to the use of the said Bishop or of th see of Rome, like as heretofore they have used by usurpation c the said Bishop of Rome and his predecessors and sufferance c your Highness and your most noble progenitors to do; but thj all such pensions, censes, portions, and Peter pence, which th said Bishop of Rome otherwise called the Pope hath heretofor taken and perceived^ or caused to be taken and perceived to hi use and his chambers which he calleth apostolic^ by usurpatio and sufferance as is abovesaid within this your realm or any othe your dominions, shall from henceforth clearly surcease and neve more be levied, taken, perceived, nor paid to any person or pei sons in any manner of wise; any constitution, use, prescriptior or custom to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid tha neither your Highness, your heirs nor successors, kings of thi realm, nor any your subjects of this realm nor of any other you dominions, shall from henceforth sue to the said Bishop of Rom called the Pope, or to the see of Rome, or to any person or per sons having or pretending any authority by the same, for licences dispensations, compositions, faculties, grants, rescripts, delegacies or any other instruments or writings of what kind, name, nature or quality so ever they be of, for any cause or matter for the whic) any licence, dispensation, [etc.]... heretofore hath been used anc accustomed to be had and obtained at the see of Rome or b^ authority thereof, or of any prelate of this realm, nOr for any man ner of other licences, dispensations, [etc.]. . .that in causes of neces sity may lawfully be granted without offending of the Hoi Scriptures and laws of God: But that from henceforth every sucj ^ By the Submission of the .Clergy: see p. 17 above. 2 'Perceive' is used in the sense of taking into possession: it was often applied t the recovering of rents or dues. 3 The Apostolic Camera was the central board of finance in the Papal adminis trative system. To this Peter's pence and other alms of the faithful were paid. THE DISPENSATIONS ACT 35 licence, dispensation [etc.]... necessary for your Highness, your heirs and successors, and your and their people and subjects, upon the due examinations of the causes and qualities of the persons procuring such dispensations, licences, [etc.].,. shall be grantedj had, and obtained from time to time within this your realm and other your dominions and not elsewhere in manner and form fol- lowing and none otherwise, that is to say; the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being and his successors shall have power and authority from time to time by their discretions to give, grant, and dispose by an instrument under the seal of the said Arch- bishop unto your Majesty and to your heirs and successors kings of this realm, as well all manner such licences, dispensations, [etc.]... for causes not being contrary or repugnant to the Holy Scriptures and laws of God, as heretofore hath been used and accustomed to be had and obtained by your Highness or any your most noble progenitors, or any of yours or their subjects, at the see of Rome or any person or persons by authority of the same, and all other licences, dispensations, [etc.]... in, for^ and upon all such causes and matters as shall be convenient and necessary to be had for the honour and surety of your Highness, your heirs and successors, and the wealth and profit of this your realm; so that the said Archbishop or any his successors in no manner of wise shall grant any dispensation, licence, rescript, or any other writing afore rehearsed for any cause or matter repugnant to the law of Almighty God. XIII. Provided always that this Act nor any thing or things therein contained shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your Grace, your nobles and subjects, intend by the same to de- cline or vary from the congregation of Christ's Church in any things concerning the very articles of the Catholic Faith of Chris-" tendom; or in any other things declared by Holy Scripture and the word of God necessary for your and their salvations; but only to make an ordinance by policies necessary and convenient to repress vice and for good conservation of this realm in peace, unity, and tranquillity from ravin and spoil, ensuing much the old ancient customs of this realm in that behalf, not minding to seek for any reliefs, succours, or remedies for any worldly things or human laws in any cause of necessity but within this realm at the hands of your Highness, your heirs and successors kings of this realm, which have and ought to have an imperial power and authority in the same and not obliged in any worldly causes to any other superior. 3—* 36 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII XIV. Provided alway that the said Archbishop of Canterburj or any other person or persons shall have no power or authority by reason of this Act to visit or vex any monasteries, abbeys, priories, colleges, hospitals, houses, or other places religious which be or were exempt^ before the making of this Act, anything in this Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding; but that redress, visitation, and confirmation shall be had by the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, by commission under the great seal to be directed to such persons as shall be appointed requisite for the same,^ in such monasteries, colleges, hospitals^ priories, houses, and places religious exempt; So that no visitation nor confirmation shall from henceforth be had nor made in or at any such monas^ teries, colleges, hospitals, priories, houses, and places religious exempt, by the said Bishop of Rome nor by any of his authority nor by any out of the King's dominions; Nor that any person BeKgious or other resiant^ in any the King's dominions shall from henceforth depart out of the King's dominions to or for any visita- tion, congregation, or assembly for religion, but that all such visitatio«is, congregations, and assemblies shall be within the King's dominions. XXI. And be it enacted by authority of this present Parlia- ment, that the King our Sovereign Lord by the advice of his honourable Council shall have power and authority from time to time for the ordering, redress, and reformation of all manner of indulgences and privileges thereof within this realm or within any the King's dominions heretofore obtained at the see of Rome or by authority thereof^ and of the abuses of such indulgences and privileges thereof, as shall seem good, wholesome, and reasonable for the honour of God and weal of his people. And that such order and redress as shall be taken by his Highness in that behalf shall be observed and firmly kept upon the pains limited in this Act for the offending of the contents of the same. * * * * # * 25 Henr. VIII, c. 21 : Statutes ^the Realm, iii, 464. (4) Act annexing Firstfruits and Tenths to the Crown, 1534 In March, 1533, the King had told Chapuys that he held himself bound by his coronation oath to unite to the Crown the goods which churchmen held of it*, and an extensive scheme of secularisation was prepared; but the * I.e. exempt from visitatipn by the Bishop of the diocese; see note on p. 51 below. * Resident. * Fisher, p. 345. FIRSTFRUITS AND TENTHS 37 only part of it which was carried into effect was the appropriation of first- fruits and tenths^ The Act in conditional restraint of annates had referred to firstfruits as now 'intolerable and importable,' having 'risen, grown, and increased by an uncharitable custom grounded upon no just or good title,' and had represented the realm as impoverished, and the bishops and their friends as 'utterly undone' by the burden laid upon them. Thus in annexing them to the Crown the King was in a position of some ddicacy, and the pre- amble of the statute is a triumph of rhetoriral skill and ingenuity. In 1703 firstfruits and tenths were assigned by the Crown to trustees, called the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, for the augmentation of poor livings. The burden is one now easily borne by the clergy, as firstfruits and tenths are calculated, not in modern values but in those fixed by the Valor Ecclesiasticus, a survey of ecclesiastical property throughout England and Wales compiled by Henry VIIFs direction in 1535^- An Act concetning the payment of First Fruits of all dignities, benefices, and promotions spiritual; and also concerning one annual pension of the tenth part of all the possessions of the Church, spiritual and tem- poral, granted to the King's Highness and his heirs Forasmuch as it is and of very duty ought to be the natural inclination of all good people, like most faithful, loving, and obedient subjects, sincerely and willingly to desire to provide not only for the public weal of their native country but also for the ^ A later statute, 27 Henr. VIII, c. 42 (1536), exempts the Universities and Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and the Colleges of Eton and Winchester, and the oiBcers and students of the same, from the payment of firstfruits and tenths, out of the King's 'most excellent goodness and divine charity, with the fervent zeal which his Majesty hath conceived and beareth, as well prindpaUy to the advance- ment of the sincere and pure doctrine of God's Word and Holy Testament, as to the increase of the knowledge in the seven liberal sciences, and the three tongues of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, to be by his people applied and learned.' The 'seven liberal sciences' were those of the trivium (Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric) and the quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy). In consideradon of this, each University was to maintain 'one discreet and learned personage to read one open and public lecture' in *any such science or tongue' as the King might appoint, and the Chancellors of the Universities, the Provost of Eton, and the Warden of Winchester were to cause two masses to be sung yearly, on May 8 and October 8, and after the King's death to keep these days as 'solemn anniversaries, that is to say, dirige overnight and mass of requiem in the next morrow.' 2 The survey was the work of a Commission, appointed 30 January, 1535, under Sections 9 and 10 of the Act, and was completed in about six months. It superseded the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV, made in 1291. It is printed in the Rolls Series, but see the criticism of this edition by Dr A. Savine {Oxford Studies, i, 22). The difference between this valuation and modern figures may be illustrated by the case of the Rectory of Hockwdd in Norfolk, now worth abouit ,^500 a year. This is valued in the Faior Ecclesiasticus at £9. ly. ii\d.\ the Rector therefore pays £a. 13/. lid. to the Governors erf" Queen Aane's Bounty as firstfruits on insti- tution, and 19/. 4 p e' 'T^ ^ei3*irrxr?|^l'dHtt' Wag-fj^t { Supreme 1HS3sEip!/Scc^!Wvirtue of his Supreme Headship of the whole of \ Christendom, but a practical jurisdiction controlling a large part of the H^"''" ' lire or men. Or tniS he had been deprivea alreaay^Dyuie Tar more important i f I . 1 I ( ir — ( '!' ' " I '•' ""i"'"-i 1 I III III III I I iii | iiii II r " ' "n i ' i ' I ' "r 1 Act Or*App.'g "s. 1 he Kmg places on nis wonTsm ornamentaTcopmg-stone, j but the foundations had been already laid and the building erected. The view ' of the statesmen who supported the Supremacy is indicated by Cranmer. 'The Bishop of Romcj' he said, 'treadeth under foot God's laws and the King's'^; and a little later he declared that the clergy maintained the Pope 'to the intent they might have as it were a kingdom and lavre within them- selves, distinct from the laws of the Crown, and wherewith the Crown may not meddle; and so being exempt from the laws of the realm, might live in this realm like lords and kings without damage or fear of any man, so that they please their high and supreme head at Rome.'^ ^n Act concerning the King^s Highness to be Supreme Head of the Church of England and to have authority to reform and redress all errors^ heresies^ and abuses in the same Albeit the King's Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought; to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England, and so is recognised by the clergy of this realm in their Convocations; yet nevertheless for corroboration and confirmation thereof, and for increase of virtue in Christ's religion within this realm of Eng- land, and to repress and extirp all errors, heresies, and other enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same. Be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament that the King our Sove- reign Lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia, and shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial Crown of this realm as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity of Supreme Head of the sairie Church belonging and appertaining : And that our said Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, re- press, redress, reform, orderj correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and 1 C. M. H. i, 646. * Pollard, Cranmer, p. 351. s U. p. 352. 48 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII for the conservation of the peace, unity, and tranquillity of t realm: any usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, p scription, or any other thing or things to the contrary hereof n Wl s an mg. ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^ ^ _ Statutes of the Realm^ iii, 4 (3) Act against the Papal Authority, 1536 In connexion with the Act of Supremacy should be studied the rat full-blooded preamble of the Act against the Papal Authority. It ma another stage in the progressive rudeness to the Pope which can be tra throughout the Reformation of Henry VHP. An Act extinguishing the authority of the Bishop of Rome Forasmuch as notwithstanding the good and wholesome k] ordinances, and statutes heretofore enacted, made, and establisl: for the extirpation, abolition, and extinguishment, out of t ealm and other his Grace's dominions, seignories, and countri f the pretended power and usurped authority of the Bishop ome, by some called the Pope, used within the same or el where concerning the same realm, dominions, seignories, countries, which did obfuscate and wrest God's holy word a testament a long season from the spiritual and true meani thereof, to his worldly and carnal affections, as pomp, glo avarice, ambition, and tyranny, covering and shadowing the sa: with his human atad politic devices, traditions, and inventio set forth to promote and stablish his only dominion, both up the souls and also the bodies and goods of all Christian peop excluding Christ out of his kingdom and rule of man his s< as much as he may, and all other temporal kings and princes ( of their dominions which they ought to have by God's law up the bodies and goods of their subjects; wherebyjig-did not oj ^ob the King's Majesty, being only the Supreme Head of t his realm of England immediately under God, of his hoiio -right, and pweeminence due unto him by the law of God, \ spoiled this his realm yearly of innumerable treasure, and w the^loss of the same deceived the King's loving and obedient s; jects, persuading to them, by his laws, bulls, and other his ( 1 In 1 527 Henry, writing to Cardinal Cibo concerning the sack of Rome, re to the Pope as 'our most holy Lord, the true and only Vicar of Jesus Christ u earth.' In the Act of Annates he becomes 'the Bishop of Rome, otherwise called Pope.' In the Dispensations Act he is charged with 'abusing. and beguiling' the Kii subjects; and this charge is amplified in the Act against the Papal authority. Fins in a letter written shortly after the passing of the Act of Supremacy, the Pop referred to as 'the pestilent idol, enemy of all truth, and usurpator of princes.' ACT AGAINST THE PAPAL AUTHORITY 49 ceivable means, such dreams, vanities, and phantasies as by the same many of them were seduced and conveyed unto super- stitious anderroneous opinions; so that the King's Majesty, the LorHs spiritual and temporal, and the Commons in this realm, being overwearied and fatigatedTwith the experience of the infinite abominations and mischiefs proceeding of his impostures and craftily colouring of his deceits, to the great damages of souls, bodies, arid goods, were forced of necessity for the public weal of this realm to exclude that foreign pretended power, jurisdiction, and authority, used and usurped within this realm, and to devise such remedies for their relief in the^ame aS-doth not only redound to the honour of God, the high praise and advancement of the King's Majesty and of his realm, but also to the great and inestim- able utility of the same; and notwithstanding the said wholesome laws so made and heretofore established, yet it is come to the knowledge of the King's Highness and also to divers and many his loving, faithful, and obedient subjects, how that divers sedi- tious and contentious persons, being imps^ of the said Bishop of Rome and his see, and in heart members of his pretended mon- archy, do in corners and elsewhere, as they dare, whisper, in- culce^, preach, and persuade, and from time to time instil into the ears and heads of the poor, simple, and unlettered people the advancement and continuance of the said Bishop's feigned and pretended authority, pretending the same to have his ground and original of God's law, whereby the opinions of many be sus- pended, their judgments corrupted and deceived, and diversity in opinions augmented and increased, to the great displeasure of Almighty God, the high discontentation of our said most dread Sovereign Lord, and the interruption of the unity, love, charity, concord, and agreement that ought to be in a Christian region and congregation : For avoiding whereof, and repression of t'He follies of such seditious persons as be the means and authors of such inconveniences, Be_it enacted, ordained, and established. . . That if any person or persons, dwelling, demurring^, inhabiting, or resiant* within this realm or within any other the King's domi- nions, seignories, or countries, or the marches of the same, or else- where within or under his obeisance^ and power, of what estate, dignity, preeminence, order, degree, or condition soever he or ■ ^ 'Imp' is here used in the sense of 'offshoot.' The sense of the term is not necessarily bad, as the expression 'an imp of Glory' occurs in Quarles, 1621 {(Oxford Dictionary). ^ A form of 'ineulk,' a word in frequent use in the sense of 'inculcate.' * In the sense of staying or remaining. * Resident. * Jurisdiction. T. D. 4 50 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII they be, after the last day of July which shall be in the year of ou Lord God 1536 shall, by writing, ciphering, printing, preaching or teaching, deed," or act, obstinately or maliciously hold or stani with to extol, set forth, maintain, or defend the authority, juris diction, or power of the Bishop of Rome or of his see, heretofor used, claimed, or usurped within this realm or in any dominioi or country being of, within, or under the King's power or obeis ance, or by any pretence obstinately or maliciously invent any thing for the extolling, advancement, setting forth, maintenance or defence of the same or any part thereof, or by any pretenci Ot(stinately or maliciously attribute any manner of jurisdiction authority, or preeminence to the said see of Rome, or to anj Bishop of the same see for the time being, within this realm or in an) the King's dominions or countries, that then every such person 01 persons so doing or offending, their aiders, assistants, comforters, abettors, procurers, maintainers, fautors^, counsellors, concealorSj and every of them, being thereof -lawfully convicted according tc the laws of this realm, for every such default and offence shalj incur and run into the dangers, penalties, pains, and forfeitures ordained and provided by the Statute of Provision and Prae- munire made in the sixteenth year of the reign of the noble and valiant prince King Richard the Second^ against such as attempt^ procure, or make provision to the see of Rome or elsewhere for any thing or things to the derogation, or contrary to the preroga* tive royal or jurisdiction, of the Crown and dignity of this realm* ****** 1 28 Henn VIII, c. 10: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 663. § 5. Dissolution of the Monasteries The problem of the moral condition of the English monasteries at the time of the Dissolution has not yet been completely solved. It is clear that in certain houses 'vicious, carnal, and abominable living' had 'shamelessly increased and augmented '^j but the study of particular cases may give a felse impression, and it is only by a survey of large groups of monasteries that a charge of -general corruption can be sustained. For this purpose the episcop^ registers are of great importance, but even these do not contain detail^ 1 The Second Statute of Praemunire, 1393. 2 For instance. Archbishop Morton's letter to the Abbot of St Albans in 1490 is a terrible indictment (Wilkins, iii, 632; see also Gairdner, i, 269). The visitatjoti of the Abbey of Thame, a 'monastery exempt,' in 1526 discloses grave disorders (JEhglisk Historical Review, iii, 704). The condition of the house of secular canons at Southwell (1469^1542) was simply shocking, not only for the multitude and gravity of the offences but for the trivial nature of the punishments inflicted (Leach, pp. Ixxiv-kxxvii), and both the offehces and the lack of punishment are charac- teristic of other houses under regular monastic rule. DISSOLUTION OF. THE MONASTERIES 51 accounts of the visitations, but only references to the comperta or records of evidence. The actual visitation records have seldom survived. Nevertheless, the episcopal injunctions which are entered in the registers, being founded on the comperta and directed to delinquencies proved to the Bishop, serve as reliable evidence, as far as they go, about the internal condition of a monastery^. In the worst cases, however, the criticisms of the Bishop are likely to be within the mark, owing to the difficulty of obtaining evidence in a corrupt community^ and to the tendency of some episcopal pronouncements to avoid scandal by minimising evils and hushing up the facts. In approaching the problem it is necessary also to bear in mind that long before the Reformation the kind of public opinion which expressed itself in medieval literature had pronounced an adverse judgment upon monasticism as it then appeared. In this connexion ordinary satirists may be neglected, but the charges are made by some of the greater churchmen. In one of his fragments, written in 1271 or 1272, Roger Bacon had attacked the cler^ and the monastic orders as the enemies of true learning. In 141 4 the Uni- versity of Oxford, at the request of Henry V, put forward articles for the reformation of the Church, in which the open profligacy of ecclesiastics is declared to be a scandal, and it is urged that priests guilty of immorality should be suspended or severely punished, instead o( being sentenced to pecuniary fines too paltry to act as a deterrent^ Thomas Gascoigne, Chan- cellor of Oxford in 1434, a vehement opponent of the teaching of WycliflFe, is as vigorous as Wycbffe in his denunciation of clerical abuses — pluralities, non-residence, ignorant, worldly, and luxurious bishops* and clergy, who lived at Court or in the household of great noblfes; the avarice of the bishops' officials; the idleness and gluttony of the monks, who have ceased to be chroniclers or scribes or to labour with their hands, and neglect their duty; and last of all, the crowning abuse of the Church, the Papacy itself*. The same points are made by John Colet, Sir Thomas More, and Thomas Starkey [pp. 69, 73, 82], all writing on the eve of the Dissolution. The evidence of the episcopal visitations can be conveniently studied in ^ AU religious houses were liable to periodical visitation by the Bishop, except those of the 'exempt' orders — the Cistercian, Praemonstratensian, and GUbertine — the friaries, -and individual monasteries which were influential enough to obtain exemption from episcopal jurisdiction. These exempt houses were not necessarily unvisited, for the exempt orders held their own visitations, and other houses were liable to visitation by the Papacy. The Praemonstratensian order had its own Visitor, who held triennial visitations. An account of the procedure at an episcopal visitation will be found in the Introduction to the Lincoln Visitations, vol. i, pp. ix-xiii. The Bishop of Norwich visited the non-exempt houses in his diocese once in every six years. 2 In the Norwich visitations there is a reference to a conspiracy among the brethren of St Benet's, Hulme, to report nothing to the Bishop (Jessppp, p. 126). ^ Lea, ii, 9. * 'Alas, how unlucky are the times in which we live, when the prelates give themselves up to delights. . .' (Gascoigne, p. Ixviii). See also Gairdner, i, 243-67. * 'Rome, as a special and principal wild beast, has laid waste the vineyard of the Church' (quoted in Gairdner, i, 255). See also Coulton, pp. 14-17, 57. 4—2 52 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII three groups^ which are now easily accessible — those of Lincoln, Norw) and of the Praemonstratensian order throughout England. The great diocese of Lincoln possessed no less than 1 36 religious hou exclusive of hospitals and houses of friars, but the exempt orders were larg represented, especially the Cistercians. The visitations at present publisl extend only from 1420 to 1449, but even a hundred years before the I solution the decay of religious zeal is manifest. The injunctions^ printed the first volume relate to 27 houses, and in four cases, Caldwell, Daveni Huntingdon, and St Neots^ the preamble selected by the Bishop as m appropriate to the facts disclosed by his visitation is 'a sweeping indictm of a state of utter slackness and degeneracy.' The rule of the order is longer observed, the divine offices are neglected, alms are wasted, and h pitality is not kept. 'There is nothing else here but drunkenness and surf disobedience and contempt, private aggrandisement and apostasy, drow ness — we do not say incontinence — ^but sloth, and every other thmg wh is on the downward path to evil and drags man to hell.'* In three other ca also the injunctions suggest a bad state of things. At Ramsey^ the open junctions were accompanied by others, sealed up, dealing with certain '( faults, transgressions, and offences' discovered to the Bishop, 'concern! the which,' he says, 'we here keep silence, that we may spare your fame s honesty.' At Godstow nunnery^ it was found that 'certain things forbidc and contrary to holy religion' were 'shamelessly committed therein'; ai in particular, there was trouble with 'the scholars of Oxford.' At Elsti nunnery^ the Bishop found it necessary to provide that 'no nun convict publicly defamed, or manifestly suspect of the crime of incontinency, deputed to any office within the monastery, and especially to that of ga keeper.' At the nunneries of Heynings and Markyate* there were scand affecting individuals — in the latter case no less a person than the prior herself. At Sewardsley'' the Bishop authorised an enquiry into general charf of a formidable kind, but the result does not appear. Three houses recei good reports: Fineshade, Missenden, and the nunnery of St Mary Delap near Northampton*. In the case of the remaining nouses the injunctic ^ See also Hibbert, Kempe, and Coulton. The last-named gives notes on so: of the visitations of Exeter (p. 4), and the Sussex Cluniacs (p. 57); also on particu visitations of Wigmore (p. 8 8) and Sinningthwaite (p. 90). * As these injunctions are based upon the cemperta, or matters actually discovei by the Bishop on his visitation, they are reliable evidence of the internal condition a monastery, and not, as is sometimes supposed, mere formal exhortations tl have no relation to actual facts. On this see the editor's Introduction to vol. pp. xi and xii, and to vol. ii, p. xlviii. * Daventiy belonged to the Cluniacs, St Neot's to the Benedictines, and Ca well and Huntingdon were houses of Augustinian canons. They were all sn houses with 9 or 10 inmates. * p. 76 and n. * Ramsey was one of the larger abbeys and had 44 monks in 1439; Godst and Elstow, though well knovm, could not at this time have had more than inmates each. They were all Benedictine houses. « Heynings was a small Cistercian house of 13 nuns, and Markyate a s smaller Benedictine priory of only 7 nuns. 1 Sewardsley was Cistercii * Fineshade and Missenden were houses of Augustinian canons, and the 'Ni of the Meadows, Northampton,' was the only house of Cluniac nuns in England DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES 53 point rather to laxity and general secularisation. They refer to 'the frequent access of secular folk, especially women' to the cloister; to absence from divine service without due cause; to 'talkings together' and 'drinkings' after compline. There is a hint of quarrelling^ and the use of 'disdainful and despiteful words of insolence and reproach.' The monks possess private property in violation of the rule of their order. There is trouble at several houses because the inmates 'gad about and wander' and visit the neighbour- ing towns; and at Newnham Priory the Bishop forbids it altogether except with proper permission, and then only with someone 'of ripe age and dis- cretion' and 'other honest company,' care being taken that 'in such towns they have no leisure for eatings, drinkings, or trifles, nor vrander or gad about through the streets or open places, nor haunt the public taverns, but that, having despatched their aflEiirs and the reasons of their coming, they return at once to the cloister without delay.' References also occur to 'un- seemly games,' 'hunting^, hawking, and other lawless wanderings abroad,' and 'archery with secular folk' without proper permission. The ostentatious Prior of Canons Ashby wore 'short and tight doublets' with several ties to his hose, and rode abroad in a showy and gaudy habit; he was advised to practise 'a devout gait or manner of riding.' At Elstow the nuns wore silver head-pins and silken gowns, with several rings on their fingers^. At Hum- berstone the monks were addicted to flesh-meat at prohibited seasons; and at St Frideswide's, Oxford, the Prior was instructed no longer to allow 'the superfluous and luxurious expenses whereby your house has been brought to poverty.' The 'common barber' at Croyland was to be 'obedient and more ready to do service to the monks in his art with all humility, putting aside all his rebelliousness and sauciness'; and the corresponding functionary at Bardney was to 'shave at a fitting season all the monks, both old and young, so that the juniors, while their elders are being shaved, may give their time meanwhile to books and study, and no wise to idleness or frivolities'; and the young monks were warned 'in no wise' to 'shave one another, as has been their wont, on account of the serious dangers which may arise from want of skill in that art.' The second volume of the Lincoln visitations, containing the visitations of Bishop Alnwick from 1436 to 1449, confirms the conclusions suggested by the first volume, but the delinquencies now appear rather more frequent and the complaints of waste and dilapidation more insistent. The penalties inflicted appear, as before, to be inadequate, but the documents illustrate the difficulties with which the Bishop had to contend. A secular canon at Irthlingborough who was threatened with deprivation produced letters of absolution from the agent of the Pope, and the Bishop could go no further; and in another case proceedings were stayed by an appeal to the Court of Arches. Thus the Bishop was not always master in his own house, and in ^ At Newnham Priory an encounter between two of the canons had led to the 'forcible shedding of blood' (p. 92). 2 At St Frideswide's, Oxford, 'hounds for hunting' are not to be 'nourished' within the precincts of the monastery (p. 97). * Cf. also vol. ii, p. 3, recording the proceedings of the Prioress of Ankerwyke in 1441, who wore 'golden rings exceeding cosdy with divers precious stones, and also girdles silvered and gilded over, and silken veils' and 'furs of vair.' 54 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII exercising authority he had to proceed with caution, lest he should find himself in conflict with Eternal powers. The Norwich visitations, 1492-1532S are much later in date and Cover a good deal of ground, as there were only seven exempt houses in the diocese, and the number reported on is 42. Bishop Goldwell's visitation of Wymondham in 1492 discloses dilapidation and an utter decay of discipline. The abbot was got rid of, but there was no improvement, and on Bishop Nicke's visitation in 15 14 the condition of the house was disgraceful. Al- though the community consisted only of eleven monks, there were cas^ of insubordination, free fights in the cloister, drunkenness, peculation, dilapida^ tion, and immorality. The prior had abstracted documents; had tried to kill two fellow monks with a sword; had thrown a stone at another in the presence of the abbot; and had not been to confession for 12 months. But a better abbot took the place in hand; in 1520 there were only complaints of drinking, and in 1526 there were no serious charges. The visitation of Norwich Priory in 1514 shews that the house was in a scandalous state, both morally and financially, Westacre was in an unsatisfactory state in 1 5 1 4, and greatly in debt; in 1520 things were worse on the financial side; and in 1526 the Bishop had to deal with a serious scandal. The famous Priory of Wailsingham was the worst of all. In 15 14 the prior was a dissolute and scandalous person who dressed as a layman and kept a jester; he appropriated money and jewels; and he was suspected of immorality. The canons were dissipated and noisy; they frequented taverns, hawked and hunted, and stole the prior's wine. A new prior effected an improvement, but the numbers declined and there was no pretence of piety or learning. y The rest of the evidence in these visitations points mainly to secularisa^* tion. Some Augustinian communities were living harmlessly as resident land- lords or country gentlemen, keeping up the services in the church regularly and doing a certain amount of educational work. Some of the smaller and poorer houses with half-a-dozen inmates or less were merely useless, as they had hard work to live at all. The nunneries appear to have been on the whole decent but poor. At Carrow Priory the nuns wear silk waistbands, go outside the precincts without veils, and the younger sort are addicted to gossip. At Campsey the prioress is described as austere, mean, and stingy, and too strict with her nuns; and the cooking is bad. But in a period of 40 years only one serious scandal comes to light at the visitations, although there are cases of suspicion. In Bishop Nicke's visitations altogether 33 monks or nuns are suspected of immorality, and in 15 of these cases the charge was held to be well-founded^. But the great majority of the complaints recorded are of a different kind. The rule of silence is broken; there is quarrelling and ill- feeling among the brethren; the psalms are sung badly, the mass is said and not sung, and certain of the monks are so ignorant that they can scarcely read or sing; the vestnients are dilapidated and the service-books out of repair. The monks go out \yithout leave; they are lazy and get up late; agriculture is neglected. There is disobedience; the servants of the monastery are inso- lent; the faults of the brethren are not sufficiently punished; the common seal of one monastery is not properly kept. It is complained of several houses that there is no schoolmaster, and at two that there is no convent tailor. At 1 Ed. A. Jessopp. 2 Coulton, p. 3. DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES 55 Woodbridge there is disorder and drunkenness; at St Benet's, Hulme, the third prior is addicted to hunting, and too many dogs are kept, which devour the food that ought to have been distributed to the poor; at Buckenham one of the canons insisted on wearing pointed shoes; and at Redlingfield ?riory the sisters complain that there are no curtains in the dormitory. Even if many of the houses are to be acquitted of the graver vices, every- thing points to a relaxation of discipline and a notable decay of high religious feeling. Another consideration which suggests a general lowering of the tone of monastic life is the inadequacy of the punishments inflicted. One of the nuns of Crabhouse, who confessed to a breach of her vow of chastity, was ordered by the Bishop to sit for a month below the other nuns and to repeat the Psalter seven times^. The Prior of Walsingham, who had embezzled money, stolen jewels and plate, and committed both manslaughter and adultery, was allowed to retire from office on a pension for life^. The Praemonstratensian visitations (1475— 1503)' disclose a condition of things in some respects scarcely better than in the monasteries of the Norwich diocese. The visitations cover the last 25 years of the fifteenth centuryand include all the35 English housesof the order, which weresupposed to be visited by the commissary of the Abbot of Pr6montr6 every three years. These visitations are regular from 1488 onwards, but before that date there are only two general visitations recorded — in 1478 and in 1482; although visitations of particular houses occur. It is also the case as else- where that part of the visitation material is missing*. The total number of the inmates of the houses at any particular time was about 420. Out of these 48 were accused of immoraHty, 29 of them being undoubtedly guilty, and the rest, though not actually convicted, were suspect^. Other serious offences were theft, embezzlement, apostasy, and murderous assaults. The standing abuse of the inadequacy of the punishments inflicted appears in these visita- tions also. A canon who had pawned three books was condemned to recite seven penitential psalms'. Four canons who went out at night without leave to frequent taverns, were each to recite the whole Psalter within a week. The abbot of Langley, a very scandalous person, was deposed but received a large pension for life. The abbot of St Radegund's in 1500 was accused by the brethren of immorality, of frequenting taverns on Sundays and holy days, there indulging in evil conversation, and of wasting the goods of his house upon women of bad character. The Visitor contents himself with for- bidding him to frequent taverns or assemblies of the laity. In this case there is always the possibility that the other charges were regarded as not proved; but in 1488 he had been excommunicated as an apostate and a sower of . discord, and at the visitation of 1497 ^^ virhole convent had brought serious charges against him. About 38 sentences of banishment to other abbeys were pronounced, but 28 of these were mitigated, and in some cases where there 1 Cf. the visitations of Southwell, where immorality was punished in 1478 by suspension for three days from office and benefice (Leach, p. 37); and in 1503 by a fine of 2 lb. of wax. (p. 72.) 2 See also Coulton, p. 3. * Collectanea Anglo-Praemonstratemia. In connexion with these should be read Dr G. G. Coulton's criticisms in Medieval Studies (2nd edition), pp. 92 and 126. * Coulton, p. 127. * Il>- * See also Coulton, p. 129. 56 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII was no such mitigation the sentence was not actually carried out. In 1489 a canon of Cockersand was sentenced to be banished to Croxton for three years for immorality, but in 1491 he was still at Cockersand, and was now sub-prior. Another Cockersand canon was sentenced for the same offence to banishment to Sulby for seven years; in 1491 he was still at Cockersand, and in 1 502 he became abbots The minor complaints indicating secularisation and relaxation of dis- cipline are frequent, although less so than in the Norwich visitations. The most common breach of discipline relates to the rule of silence, which the Visitor describes as the key of religious life. Another is the practice of going out of bounds without leave — sometimes for the purpose of drinking at the neighbouring town, and in one case in order to 'attend spectacles.' There is also eating and drinking in the dormitory, and Saturday suppers have to be forbidden. Cases of quarrelling and fighting occur; the canons of Tupholme are not to be allowed to carry long knives, and at West Dereham one brother had struck another with a weapon and had then thrown him into a pond. Injunctions are issued against hunting, fishing, the keeping of birds, dogsj and rabbits, and games for money, especially dice and cards. In some hoases it is difficult to get all the brethren up in time for matins. The Visitor has also something to say about the introduction of new fashions in dress, of habits not worn long enough, of large sleeves and slippers^, of the shape of the tonsure, and of the use of skull caps. On the other hand at many visitations the Visitor commends the house for its good order. It should be observed that the evil of secularisation was not confined to the monasteries; the clergy generally were infected by it. On the eve of the Reformation the bishops were either ministers managing affairs of state, or courtiers waiting for livings to be held in commendam with their bishopric or for translation to a richer see. It was not learning, or eloquence, or a saintly life that obtained promotion, but administrative ability applied to the King's service. The type is Morton or Wolsey-^ — the statesman who is in orders and can be rewarded with church preferment. Under this system the bishops were many of them non-resident', and delegated their duties to suffragans; the higher clergy tended to become mere country gentlemen; and the parish priests were often idle and ineflFective. Indications of contemporary opinion on this question will be found in the extracts printed below [pp. 69-88]. To this general secularisation must be added another evil which was itself a contributory cause of it. The Norwich visitations suggest a wide- spread dilapidation of monastic buildings and property. In several of the Lincoln visitations an injunction forbids the abbot to grant corrodies, liveries, pensions, or annuities, or to sell or cut down 'the old copses of the monastery which are not in decay' without the licence of the bishop and the consent of the whole convent. There are also references to jewels in pawn ^ Coulton, p. 130. 2 These 'slippers' were the long fashionable pointed shoe — a standing offence to the medieval moralist. * Richard Fox, consecrated Bishop of Exeter in 1487, translated to Bath and Wells in 149 1, and to Durham in 1494, 'never saw his cathedral at Exeter, nor set foot in his diocese of Bath and Wells' (Gasquet, i, 24). DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES 57 and to a burden of debt. This raises the important question of the financial condition of the houses. It has been said that the monasteries in general were heavily in debt at the time of the Dissolution; but a recent investigation^ suggests a different conclusion. The details given in the Valor Ecclesiasticus shew that few houses owed more than one year's gross income^ but as it was difficult for them to obtain credit when the Dissolution was known to be im- pending, a great stimulus was given to an earlier tendency towards 'waste' of monastic goods. The monks were obliged to sell their moveables in order to raise money, and in that way insolvency came very near^. This was specially the case with the smaller monasteries, the convents of nuns*, and the houses of friars^. They were without resources, either of money or of administrative ability, and had, as a rule, been badly managed. The preamble of the first Dissolution Statute [p. 59], although it begins with morality, makes almost as strong a point of 'waste.' The loss of public faith in monasticism due to secularisation also influenced finance in another way, for voluntary offerings almost ceased. In 1535 they only amounted to £"]. igj. %d. for the whole county of Stafford®. In the 30 years before Henry VIII's accession no new monastery had been founded in England', for the more advanced thinkers were beginning to use their money in a different way. Bishop Smythe, the founder of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1495 converted «ie Austin Priory at Lichfield into a grammar school and almshouses^. Bishop Alcock in 1497 suppressed the Cambridge nunnery of St Radegund in order to found Jesus College; and Wolsey dissolved 29 of the smaller houses for the benefit of his new colleges at Oxford and Ipswich* — whereby he 'made all the forest of religious foundations in England to shake, justly fearing the King would finish to fell the oaks, seeing the Cardinal began to cut the underwood. 'i" The attitude of enlightened opinion towards monasticism in the early part of the sixteenth century is expressed by Bishop Oldham: 'Shall we build houses and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing monks, whose end and fall we ourselves may live to see? No, no: it is meet to provide for the increase of learning, and for such as by learning shall do good to Church and commonwealth.'^^ To the greater churchmen of the time monastic life was out of date; the future lay with collegiate life and the New Learning. It has been argued in defence of the monasteries that they never really recovered from the shock of the Black Death. This not only affected num- bers, but also discipline, tradition, and learning. But serious as the blow was, the decline went steadily on after the effects of the plague should have worn off, and the houses could only be kept up by reducing the number of their inmates. Losses which in earlier times would have been repaired by the abundant vitality of monasticism, proved fatal to a movement which had already spent itself 1 Savine in Oxford Studies, vol. i. 2 lb. i, 217; cf. also Hibbert, Dissolutions, pp. 185-7. 3 Savine, p. 211. * Gasquet, ii, 213. B lb. ii, 256. ^ Hibbert, Monasticism, p. 102. ' Traill, iii, 35 ». * Hibbert, Dissolution, p. 20. 9 Gwatkin, p. 167. On Wolsey's dissolutions see also Hibbert, Dissolution, pp. 20-29. 1" Fuller, ii, 202. " Quoted in Creighton, Wolsey, p. 141. 58 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII (i) Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries, 1536 As early as March, 1533, the King was beginning to contemplate an extensive secularisation of Church property, and a scheme of 1534 included the confiscation of the lands of monasteries with fewer than 1 3 inmates^- It was, however, decided to proceed by visitation, and in July, 1535} ^^^ com- missioners began their work. They proceeded on the lines of the episcopal visitations, which were suspended during the royal visitation^, accumulating data, formulating compertOy and issuing injunctions. The result was an in- dictment of the most formidable kind, which would have furnished ample justification for the harshest measures against the monks*. There are still extant results of this visitation of three kinds: (i) some of the informal letters written to Cromwell by the Visitors; (2) a formal compendium compertorum for the Province of York, and for the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, and the diocese of Norwich; and (3) seven 'confessions,' or perhaps more properly surrenders, the fullest of which is that from St Andrew's Priory, Northampton [p. 89]. These not only accuse the monks of the vilest prac- tices, but they incriminate the 'great, honourable, and solemn monasteries' of the realm quite as seriously as the smaller houses, and so expose the bad faith of the preamble of the first Dissolution Statute. All this evidence is in fact worthless. The Visitors were men of doubtful character. 'They were men who well understood the message they went on,' says Fuller, himself no friend to the monks, 'and would not come back without a satisfactory answer to him that sent them, knowing themselves were likely to be no losers thereby.'* The number of houses actually visited was not one-third of the whole number^; and the rapidity of the visitation deprived it of alt claim to be regarded as a judicial proceeding*. Again, the comperta do not always agree with the reports of the local commissions of country gentry appointed to superintend the actual process of dissolution. It should also be noticed that a number of monasteries purchased temporary exemption from the Act, and among these were some houses which the visitation had pro- fessed to convict of serious vice. In one way, however, the work of Crom- well's commissioners throws light upon the monastic problem. It shews that in the current state of opinion about monasticism, the most damaging state- ments did not appear utterly incredible. ^ Fisher, p. 345. Thirteen had long been the nominal 'conventual' quorum. 2 Authority to visit exempt monasteries had been vested in the King by 25 Henry VIII, c. 21 (see p. 36 above).. The visitation of those not exempt was undertaken by Cromwell in his capacity of the King's vicegerent. * 'When their enormities were first read in the Parliament House they were 50 great and abominable that there was nothing but "Down with them'" (Latimer, Sermons, ed. Parker Society, 1844-5), i> 123- It is, however, an open question whether the 'Black Book' ever really existed. * ii, 214. ^ Gairdner, ii, 87. * E.g. for the pace of the Staffordshire visitations see Hibbert, Dissolution,T). 136. Cf. also Fisher, p. 374. FIRST ACT OF DISSOLUTION 59 An Act whereby all Religious Houses of monks, canons, and nuns which may not dispend manors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments above the clear yearly value of £200 are given to the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, for ever Forasmuch as manifest sin, vicious, carnal, and abominable living, is daily used and committed amongst the little and small abbeys, priories, and other religious houses of monks, canons, and nuns, where the congregation of such religious persons is under the number of 12 persons, whereby the governors of such re- ligious houses and their convent^ spoil, destroy, consume, and utterly waste, as well their churches, monasteries, priories, prin- cipal houses, farms, granges, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as the ornaments of their churches and their goods and chattels^, to the high displeasure of Almighty God, slander of good religion, and to the great infamy of the King's Highness and the realm if redress should not be had thereof; And albeit that many continual visitations hath been heretofore had by the space of two hundred years and more^ for an honest and charitable reformation of such unthrifty, carnal, and abominable living, yet nevertheless little or none amendment is hitherto had, but their vicious living shame- lessly increaseth and augmenteth, and by a cursed custom so rooted and infested* that a great multitude of the religious persons in such small houses do rather choose to rove abroad in apostasy than to conform them to the observation of good religion; so that without such small houses be utterly suppressed and the religious persons therein committed to great and honourable monasteries of religion in this realm, where they may be compelled to live religiously for reformation of their lives, there can else be no reformation in this behalf: In consideration whereof the King's most Royal Majesty, being Supreme Head in earth under God of ^ the Church of England, daily finding and devising the increase, advancement, and exaltation of true doctrine and virtue in the said Church, to the only glory and honour of God and the total extirping and destruction of vice and sin, having knowledge that the premises be true, as well by the compts^ of his late visitations as by sundry credible informations, considering also that divers and great solemn monasteries of this realm wherein, thanks be to 1 See note on p. 62 below. 2 On the charge of waste, see p. 57 above. * Grosseteste had visited the monasteries of his diocese of Lincoln as far back as 1235. * Fixed, rooted, inveterate. The printed copies of the statute usually amend this, quite unnecessarily, into 'infected.' ® Accounts. 6o CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII God, religion is right well kept and observed, be destitute of such full numbers of religious persons as they ought and may keep, hath thought good that a plain declaration should be made of the premises as well to the Lords spiritual and temporal as to other his loving subjects the Commons in this present Parliament as- sembled; whereupon the said Lords and Commons by a great deliberation finally be resolved that it is and shall be much more to the pleasure of Almighty God and for the honour of this his realm that the possessions of such spiritual religious houses, now being spent, spoiled, and wasted for increase and maintenance of sin, should be used and converted to better uses, and the unthrifty religious persons so spending the same to be compelled to reform their lives; And thereupon most humbly desire the King's High- ness that it may be enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that his Majesty shall have and enjoy to him and to his heirs for ever all and singular such monasteries, priories, and other religious houses of monks, canons, and nuns, of what kinds or diversities of habits, rules, or orders so ever they be called or named, which have not in lands and tenements, rents, tithes, portions, and other hereditaments, above the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds; And in like manner shall have and enjoy all the sites and circuits of every such religious houses, and all and singular the manors, granges, meses^, lands, tenements, reversions, rents, services, tithes, pensions, portions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patron- ages, annuities, rights, entries, conditions, and other heredita- ments appertaining or belonging to every such monastery, priory, or other religious house, not having as is aforesaid above the said clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, in as large and ample manner as the abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, or other governors of such monasteries, priories, and other religious houses now have or ought to have the same in the right of their houses; And that also his Highness shall have to him and to his heirs all and singular such monasteries, abbeys, and priories which, at any time within one year next afore the making of this Act, hath been given and granted to his Majesty by any abbot, prior, abbess, or prioress under their convent seals, or that otherwise hath been suppressed or dissolved; And all and singular the manors, lands, [etc.] ... to the same monasteries, abbeys, and priories or to any of them appertaining or belonging; To have and to hold all and singular the premises with all their rights, profits, jurisdictions, and commodities, unto the King's Majesty and to his heirs and ^ Messuages. FIRST ACT OF DISSOLUTION 6i assigns for ever, to do and use therewith his or their own wills to the pleasure of Almighty God and to the honour and profit of this realm. ****** IV. Provided always and be it enacted that forasmuch as divers of the chief governors of such religious houses, determin- ingi the utter spoil and destruction of their houses, and dreading the suppressing thereof, for the maintenance of their detestable lives have lately fraudulently and craftily made feoffments^, estates, gifts, grants, and leases under their convent seals, or suffered recoveries^ of their manors, lands, tenements, and here- ditaments in fee simple, fee tail, for term of life or lives, or for years, or charged the same with rents or corrodies*, to the great decay and diminution of their houses, that all such crafty and fraudulent recoveries, feoffments, estates, gifts, grants, and leases, and every of them, made by any of the said chief governors of such religious houses under the convent seals within one year next afore the making of this Act, shall be utterly void and of none effect.. . . V. And it is also enacted by authority aforesaid, that the King's Highness shall have and enjoy to his own proper use all the ornaments, jewels, goods, chattels, and debts which apper- tained to any of the chief governors of the said monasteries or religious houses in the right of their said monasteries or houses at the first day of March in the year of our Lord God I535[— 6] or any time since, wheresoever and to whose possession soever they shall come or be found : Except only such beasts, grain, and woods, and such like other chattels and revenues, as have been sold in the said first day of March or since for the necessary or reasonable expenses or charges of any of the said monasteries or houses.. . . VIII. In consideration of which premises to be had to his Highness and to his heirs as is aforesaid, his Majesty is pleased and contented of his most excellent charity to provide to every 1 Deciding. * A 'feoffment' is a mode of conveyance by which a person is invested v^ith freehold land by livery of seisin. It could be used to effect a mortgage. ' A 'recovery' was a method of alienating land by a collusive action. By the Tudor period it had become a regular method of conveyance. * 'Corrody' was 'originally the right of free quarters due from the vassal to the lord on his circuit; but later applied especially to certain contributions of food, pro- visions, etc., paid annually by religious houses. . . . Sometimes the contribution might be commuted, and then it would be practically undistinguishable from an annuity or pension' (Fortescue, p. 337). 62 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII chief head and governor of every such religious house during their lives such yearly pensions or benefices as for their degrees and qualities shall be reasonable and convenient; wherein his Highness will have most tender respect to such of the said chief governors as well and truly conserve and keep the goods and ornaments of their houses to the use of his Majesty, without spoil, waste, or embezzling the same; And also his Majesty will ordain and provide that the convents^ of every such religious house shall have their capacities, if they will, to live honestly and virtuously abroad, and some convenient charity disposed to them toward their living, or else shall be committed to such honourable great monasteries of this realm wherein good fdigion is observed as shall be limited by his Highness, there to live religiously during their lives. IX. And it is ordained by authority aforesaid that the chief governors and convents of such honourable great monasteries shall take and accept into their houses from time to time such number of the persons of the said convents as shall be assigned and appointed by the King's Highness, and keep them religiousiy during their lives within their said monasteries in like manner and form as the convents of such great monasteries be ordered and kept. ^ ^ ^ ¥^ ^ ¥k ^ XII I. Provided always that the King's Highness, at any time after the making of this Act, may at his pleasure ordain and de- clare, by his letters patents under his great seal, that such of the said religious houses which his Highniess shall not be disposed to have suppressed nor dissolved by authority of this Act shall still continue, remain, and be in the same body corporate and in the said essential estate, quality, and condition, as well in possessiohs as otherwise, as they were afore the making of this Act, withotii any suppression or dissolution thereof or any part of the same by authority of this Act. . . . ****** XVII. And further be it enacted, ordained, and established by authority aforesaid, that all and singular persons, bodies politic, and corporate, to whom the King's Majesty, his heirs or successors, hereafter shall give, grant, let, or demise any site or precinct, with the houses thereupon builded, together with the 1 The word 'convent' was applied in the Middle Ages to the whole community of monks, friars, or nuns living in a single house, not to the building in which they lived. It is only by a later usage that it has been specially assigned to a house of nuns. SECOND ACT OF DISSOLUTION 63 demesnes of any monasteries, priories, or other religious houses that shall be dissolved or given to the King's Highness by this Act, And the heirs, successors, executors, and assigns of every such person, body politic, and corporate, shall be bounden by authority of this Act, under the penalties hereafter ensuing, to keep or cause to be kept an honest continual house and household in the same site or precinct, and to occupy yearly as much of the same demesnes in ploughing and tillage of husbandry, that is to say, as much of the said demesnes which hath been commonly used to be kept in tillage by the governors, abbots, or priors of the same houses, monasteries, or priories, or by their farmer or farmers occupying the same, within the time of 20 years next before this Act : And if any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, that shall be bounden by this Act do not keep an honest house, household, husbandry, and tillage in manner and form as is aforesaid, that then he or they so offending shall forfeit to the King's Highness for every month so offending ^6. 13J. ^d. to be recovered to his use in any of his Courts of Record. 27 Henr. VIII, c. 28: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 575. (2) Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries, 1539 'The fourth day of February' [1536J, says the chronicler Hall, 'the King held his High Court of Parliament at Westminster, in the which was many good and wholesome statutes and laws made and concluded. And in this time was given unto the King by the consent of the great and fat abbots all religious houses that were of the value of 300 mark and under, in hope that their great monasteries should have continued still. But even at that time one said in the Parliament House that these were as thorns, but the great abbots were putrified old oaks, and they must needs follow. . . .'^ But in the case of the greater abbeys, many of whose mitred abbots sat in the House of Loi'ds, it was desirable that all appearance of confiscation should be avoided. The houses were approached singly by Cromwell, and either ^ Hall, ii, 267. The same point is put in a fictitiotis speech in Convocation attributed to Bishop Fisher: 'Wherefore the manner of these proceedings puts me in mind of a fable, how the axe which wanted a handle came upon a time unto the wood making his moan to the great trees how he wanted a handle to work withal, and for that cause was constrained to sit idle. Wherefore he made it his request unto them, that they would be pleased to grant him one of their small saplings within the wood to make him a handle, who, mistrusting no guile, granted him one of the smaller trees, wherewith he made himself a handle; so becoming a complete axe, he so fell to work within the same wood that in process of time there was neither great nor small tree to be found in the place where the wood stood. And so, my Lords, if you grant the King these smaller monasteries, you do but make him a handle, whereby at his own pleasure he may cut down all the cedars within your Libanus, and then you may thank yourselves after ye have incurred the heavy displeasure of Almighty God' (Lewis, ii, 42). 64 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII bullied or persuaded into signing deeds of voluntary surrender. Some house concealed their valuables; others made over their lands to laymen in the hop) of saving them; some offered gifts to Cromwell and the King. But these wen determined, as Cromwell said, 'to taste the fat priests,' and although then was no legal power to suppress, between 1537 ^"'^ ^539 ^ ^^""S^ number ol the greater monasteries surrendered to the King^. The movement was stimu- lated by another visitation of January, 1538, and steps were also taken against the friaries^. Twelve of the more powerful houses still held out, and these were involved in charges of treason. The abbots were accused of com- plicity in rebellion, and by a novel interpretation of the law, their abbe)^ were declared forfeited to the Crown by their attainder, as if they had been their private estates. Thus, in connexion with the Pilgrimage of Grace, Jervaux, Whalley, Barlings, Kirkstead, and Bridlington were dissolved; the abbot of Furness was forced to surrender; and the Cistercian abbey of Holm Cultram was involved in the Lincolnshire rebellion^ The abbots of Glastonbury, Reading, and Colchester, three of the most famous houses in England, were all hanged. The last abbey to surrender was Waltham — on March 23, 1540. The Act of 1539 for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries recognised what had been done, and to prevent any doubts as to legal titles, vested the surrendered houses, and such as should hereafter be surrendered, in the King, his heirs and successors, for ever. An Act for dissolution of Abbeys Where divers and sundry abbots, priors, abbesses, pri- oresses, and other ecclesiastical governors and governesses of divers monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hos? pitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places within this our Sovereign Lord the King's realm of England and Wales, of their own free and voluntary minds, good wills, and assents, without constraint, coaction, or compulsion of any manner of person or persons, since the fourth day of February, the 27th year* of the reign of our now most dread Sovereign Lord, by the due order and course of the common laws of this his realm of England, and by their sufficient writings of record under their convent and common seals, have severally given, granted, and by the same their writings severally con- firmed all their said monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . , and alt their sites, circuits, and precincts of the same, and all and singular their manors, lordships, granges, meses^, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, woods, tithes, pen- sions, portions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patronages, an- nuities, rights, entries, conditions, commons, leets^, courts, 1 Between 1537 and 1540 surrenders were obtained from 158 abbeys and 30 nunneries (Gwatkin, p. 166). 2 Fisher, p. 425. 3 /^ p ^jg « February 4, 1536. ^ Messuages. « Jurisdictions of court leet. SECOND ACT OF DISSOLUTION 65 liberties, privileges, and franchises, appertaining or in any wise belonging to any such monastery, abbacy [etc] . . . or to any of them, by whatsoever name or corporation they or any of them were then named or called, and of what order, habit, religion, or other kind or quality soever they or any of them then were re- puted, known, or taken; To have and to hold all the said monas- teries, abbacies [etc.] . . . sites, circuits [etc.] . . . and all other the premises to our said Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, for ever; and the same their said monasteries, abbacies, [etc.] , . . sites, circuits [etc.], . .and other the premises, voluntarily as is afore- said have renounced, left, and forsaken, and every of them hath renounced, left, and forsaken: Be it therefore enacted. . .That the King our Sovereign Lord shall have, hold, possess, and enjoy to him, his heirs and successors, for ever all and singular such late monasteries, abbacies [etc.]. . .which since the said fourth day of February the 27th year of the reign of our said Sovereign Lord have been dissolved, suppressed, renounced, relinquished, for- feited, given up, or by any other mean^ come to his Highness; arid by the same authority and in like manner shall have, hold, possess, and enjoy all the sites, circuits [etc.] . . . and other what- soever hereditaments which appertained or belonged to the said late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] ... or to any of them, in as large and ample manner and form as the late abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, and other ecclesiastical governors and governesses of such late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . . had, held, or occupied, or of right ought to have had, holden, or occupied, in the rights of their said late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] ... at the time of the said dissolution, suppression, renouncing, relinquishing, forfeit- ing, giving up, or by any other manner of mean coming of the same to the King's Highness, since the fourth day of February above specified. n. And it is further enacted by the authority abovesaid, that not only all the said late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . . sites, cir- cuits [etc.] . . . and all other the premises, forthwith, immediately, and presently^, but also all other monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . . which hereafter shall happen to be dissolved, suppressed, [etc.] . . . and also all the sites, circuits [etc.]. . . and other hereditaments, whatsoever they be, belonging or appertaining to the same or any of them, whensoever and as soon as they shall be dissolved, sup- pressed, [etc.] . . . shall be vested, deemed, and adjudged by author- ity of this present Parliament in the very actual and real seisin 1 'Mean' in the singular was in common use. * Immediately. T. D. 5 66 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII and possession of the King our Sovereign Lord, his heirs a successors, for ever, in the state and condition as they now be a as though all the said late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . .so d solved, suppressed [etc.] ... as also the said monasteries, abbac [etc.] . . . which hereafter shall happen to be dissolved, suppress [etc.]. . .sites, circuits [etc.]. . .and other the premises whatsoe^ they be and every of them, were in this present Act specially a particularly rehearsed, named, and expressed, by express won names, titles, and faculties, and in their natures, kinds, and qualitii III. And be it also enacted by authority aforesaid, that all t said late monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . . which be dissolved, su pressed [etc.] . . . and all the manors, lordships, granges, lane tenements, and other the premises, Except such thereof as come to the King's hands by attainder or attainders of treasc And all the said monasteries, abbacies [etc.] . . . which hereaft shall happen to be dissolved, suppressed [etc.] . . , and all t manors, lordships, granges, lands, tenements, meadows, pastun rents, reversions, services, woods, tithes, portions, pensions, pj sonages, appropriate vicarages^, churches, chapels, advowsor nominations, patronages, annuities, rights, interests, entries, co ditions, commons, leets, courts,, liberties, privileges, franchise and other hereditaments whatsoever they be, belonging to i. same or to any of them (except such thra-eof which shall happi to come to the King's Highness by attainder or attainders treason), shall be in the order, survey, and governance of our sa Sovereign Lord the King's Court of Augmentations of tJ Revenues of his Crown. . . , XVIIL And be it further enacted by authority of this prese Parliament, that such of the said late monasteries, abbacies [etc . , , and all churches and chapels to them or any of them belongin which before the dissolution, suppression [etc.] . , . were exempt! from the visitation or visitations and all other jurisdiction of tl ordinary or ordinaries^ within whose diocese they were situate set, shall from henceforth be within the jurisdiction or visitatit of the ordinary or otdinaries within whose diocese they or any them be situate and set, or within the jurisdiction and visitatic 1 The word 'appropriate' is here used in a technical ecclesiastical sense, o benefice annexed to a religious Corporation. * In ecclesiastical law the 'ordinary' is one who has of his own right, and i by special deputation, immediate jurisdiction in ecclesiastical causes. In pract this would usually, but not invariably, be the bishop of the diocese. RESULTS OF THE DISSOLUTION 67 of such person or persons as by the King's Highness shall be limited or appointed; This Act or any other exemption, liberty, or jurisdiction to the contrary notwithstanding. * * * in # * 31 Henr, VIII, c. 13: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 733, The number of the smaller religious houses affected by the First Act of Dissolution was 376. Under the Second Act about 200 greater houses^^ and 200 friaries were acquired by the King. From the Valor Ecclesiasticus particu- lars of the income of 553 monasteries can be obtained, and this works out at a total of ;^i6o,ooo gross or £135,000 net^. This income was derived from a variety of sources — ^tithe, voluntary offerings, glebe, leases of bene- fices, rents, minerals (salt-works, quarries, and mines), mills, markets, fisheries, fines and fees and the income from manorial courts, rights of com- mon, cattle and sheep farming, and the sale of timber. In addition to the monastic income and the landed and other property which produced it, the Crown acquired under the Dissolution Acts a considerable quantity of plate, ornaments, vestments, and other moveable property, in spite of the fact that as the Dissolution drew near the monks sold off their cattle, grain, and timber, and tried to conceal their jewels and plate^. Further, although they ceased to spend money on keeping up their buildings, which tended to fe.ll into decay, it was found vi^hen the architectural tragedy of the Dissolution was consummated that a good deal of money could be realised by the sale of building materials, bells, and lead from the roofs. Of the value of this mis- cellaneous property no very satisfactory calculation has yet been made*. The effects of the Dissolution upon education, the poor, and social life belong properly to the province of economic and social history. The most important result from the point of view of constitutional history was the endowment of a new nobility out of the spoils. The approximate yearly value of lands granted by free gift, or by sale, sometimes at a nominal price, was ;^90,ooo, the number of grantees being about 1000*. A great part of what remained was let out by the Crown on lease. The largest grantees — those receiving lands worth more than ;^200 a year — were 1 5 peers and 30 commoners, nearly all of the latter being in the service of the King*. Thus ^ Professor Savine (pp. 1 14-1 5) points out that this classification into 'smaller' and 'greater' houses is of the roughest kind. The houses realty fall into five groups — 53 with less than ;£20 a year; 188 from £,^0 to £100; 199 from £icxo to ^^306; 89 from ;f300 to £1000; and 24 with more than j^iooo — reckoning by the net in- come. The monasteries with a net income from ;^20 to ,£300 are almost z\ times the number of all the rest. 2 Savine, p. 100. ' Savine, p. 189. * Gasquet (ii, 438) gives ,£1,423,500, as the c^h value of the spoils to the King, of which £8 5,000 was the melting-price of gold and silver plate. * These figures, from Dr Savine's researches, are given in Fisher, p. 497. They do not include grants of monastic land in Wales. The sales and leases greatly pre- ponderated over the gifts (p. 482). * ' If ever the poet's fiction of a golden shower rained into Danae's lap found a moral or rear performance, it was now, at the dissipation of abbeys-lands. . .it is certain that in this age small merits of courtiers met with a prodigious recompense for their service' (Fuller, ii, 248). s— « 68 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII an influential dass of English society was committed to the support of the King's ecclesiastical policy', and the arrangement was not upset, even in the reign of Mary. (3) Bishoprics Act, 1539 The preamble of this statute, which passed through all its stages in both Houses in one day, suggests various ways in which the spoils of the monas- teries might have been employed for the benefit of the Church and of educa- tion. The need for new bishoprics was urgent, and the first schemej that of 1534, provided for 26 new suffragan sees'^. In 1539 the number of new bishoprics contemplated was 1 8. The number actually founded was only six — Chester, Peterborough, Gloucester, Oxford, Bristol, and Westminster; and the last did not long survive its foundation. An Act for the King to make Bishops Forasmuch as it is not unknown the slothful and ungodly life which hath been used amongst all those sort which have borne the name of religious folk, and to the intent that from henceforth many of them might be turned to better use as hereafter shall follow, whereby God's word might the better be set forth, children brought up in learning, clerks nourished in the Univer- sities, old servants decayed to have livings, almshouses for poor folk to be sustained in. Readers of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin to have good stipend, daily alms to be ministered, mending of high- ways, exhibition^ for ministers of the Church; It is thought there- fore unto the King's Highness most expedient and necessary that more bishoprics, collegiate and cathedral churches shall be estab- lished, instead of these foresaid religious houses, within the foundation whereof these other titles afore rehearsed shall be established; Be it therefore enacted by authority of this present Parliament that his Highness shall have full power and authority from time to time to declare and nominate, by his letters patents or other writings to be made under his great seal, such number of bishops, such number of cities sees for bishops, cathedral churches, and dioceses, by meets* and bounds for the exercise and ministration of their episcopal offices and administration as shall appertain, and to endow them with such possessions after such manner, form, and condition as to his most excellent wisdom ^Bishop Creighton suggested that many of the grants were disposed by design so as to form a barrier to protect London from the rebels of the North and West (Gwatkin, p. 169). ^Traill, iii, 65. * 'Exhibition* could be applied to any kind of maintenance or stipport; it was not limited to that assigned to students at the Universities. ^ 'Mete' is a boundary or limit. 'Meets and bounds' is a common legal phrase. BISHOPRICS ACT 69 shall be thought necessary and convenient; and also shall have power and authority to make and devise translations, ordinances, rules, and statutes concerning them all and every of them, and further to do all and every other thing and things whatsoever it shall be which shall be devised and thought requisite, convenient^ and necessary by his most excellent wisdom and discretion for the good perfection and accomplishment of all and singular his said most godly and gracious purposes and intents touching the premises, or any other charitable or godly deeds to be devised by his Highness concerning the same; And that all and singular such translations, nominations of bishops cities sees and limitation of dioceses for bishops, erections, establishments, foundations, ordinances, statutes, rules, and all and every other thing and things which shall be devised, comprised, and expressed by his Grace's sundry and several letters patents or other writings under his great seal touching and concerning the premises or any of them, or any circumstances or dependences thereof necessary and requisite for the perfection of the premises or any of them, shall be of as good strength, force, value, and effect to all intents and purposes as if such things that shall so be devised, expressed, and mentioned in his letters patents or other writings under his great seal had been done, made, and had by authority of Parliament. ' 31 Henr. VIII, c. 9: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 728. (4) Extracts The extracts which follow indicate the attitude with regard to ecclesi- astical abuses adopted by the greater contemporary churchmen, and aidis^ tinguished layman like Sir Thomas More. The Supplication of Beggars has been includea to show the worst that hostile critics said of the Church. I. John Colet, 151 i John Colet, the friend of Erasmus, Dean of St Paul's and founder of St Paul's School, was an unsparing critic of clerical abuses. The sermon of 151 1, preached before Convocation in St Paul's, is directed against the shortcomings of the secular clergy; but something must be allowed for the rhetorical form naturally adopted by a preacher. Colet's attitude towards monasticism is shewn by the quotation from Erasmus printed below (p. 73). . . , To exhort you, reverend fathers, to the endeavour of reformation of the Church's estate (because that nothing hath so disfigured the face of the Church as hath the fashion of secular and worldly living in clerks and priests) I know not where more conveniently to take beginning of my tale than of the Apostle Paul, in whose temple ye are gathered together. . ..'Be you not' (saith he) 'conformable to this world.' 70, CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII The apostle calleth the world the ways and manner of secular living, the which chiefly doth rest in four evils of this world: that is to say, in devilish pride, in carnal concupiscence, in worldly covetousness, in secular business. These are in the world, as St John the apostle witnesseth in his epistle canonical. For he saith: 'All thing that is in the world' is either the 'concupiscence of the flesh' or the 'concupiscence of the eyes,' or 'pride of life.' The same are now and reign in the Church, and in men of the Church; that we may seem truly to say, all thing that is in the Church is either concupiscence of flesh or eyes, or pride of life. And first for to speak of pride of life: how much greediness and appetite of honour and dignity is now-a-days in men of the Church.? How run they, yea, almost out of breath, from one benefice to another; from the less to the more, from the lower to the higher.'' Who seeth not this.? Who seeing this sorroweth not.? Moreover, these that are in the same dignities, the most part of them doth go with so stately a countenance and with so high looks, that they seem not to be put in the humble bishopric of Christ, but rather in the high lordship and power of the world, . . . The second secular evil is carnal concupiscence. Hath not this vice so growen and waxen in the Church as a flood of their lust, so that there is nothing looked for more diligently in this most busy time of the most part of priests than that that doth delight and please the senses ? They give themselves to feasts and banquetting; they spend themselves in vain babbling; they give themselves to sports and plays; they apply themselves to hunting and hawking; they drown themselves in the delights of this world. Procurers and finders of lusts they set by. . . . Covetousness is the third secular evil, the which St John the apostle calleth concupiscence of the eyes. St Paul calleth it idolatry. This abominable pestilence hath so entered in the mind almost of all priests^ and so hath blinded the eyes of the mind, that we are blind to all things but only unto those which seem to bring unto us some gains. For what other thing seek we now-a-days in the Church than fat benefices and high promotions .? Yea, and in the same promotions, of what other thing do we pass upon than of our tithes and rents ? that we care not how many, how chargeful, how great benefices we take, so that they be of great value. O covetousness 1 St Paul justly called thee the root of all evil. Of thee cometh this heaping of benefices upon benefice. Of thee, so great pensions assigned of many benefices resigned. Of thee, all the suing for tithes, for offering, for mortuaries, for dilapidations, by the right and title of the Church. For the which EXTRACTS: JOHN COLET 71 thing we strive ho less than for our own life. O covetousness ! of thee Cometh these chargeful visitations of bishops. Of thee Cometh the corruptness of courts, and these daily new inventions wherewith the silly^ people are so sore vexed. Of thee cometh the busyty^ and wantonness of officials. O covetousness 1 mother of all iniquity, of thee cometh this fervent study of ordinaries to dilate their jurisdictions. Of thee cometh this wood^ and raging contention in ordinaries; of thee, insinuation* of testaments; of thee cometh the undue sequestration of fruits; of thee cometh the superstitious daserving of all those laws that sound^ to any lucre, setting aside and despising those that concern the amendment of manners. What should I rehearse the rest.'' To be short, and to conclude at one word: all corruptness, all the decay of the Church, all the offences of the world, come of the covetousness of priests; according to that of St Paul, that here I repeat again and beat into your ears, ' Covetousness is the root of all evil.' The fourth secular evil that spotteth and maketh ill-favoured the face of the Church, is the continual secular occupation wherein priests and bishops now-a-days doth busy themselves, the servants rather of men than of Gk)d; the warriors rather of this world than of Christ. . . . ... In this time also we perceive contradiction of the lay people. But they are not so much contrary unto us as we are our- -selves; nor their contrariness hurteth not us so much as the con- trariness of our evil life, the which is contrary both to God and Christ. . . . . . . The way whereby the Church may be reformed into better fashion is not for to make new laws. For there be laws many enough and out of number. . . . Therefore it is no need that new laws and constitutions be made, but that those that are made already be kept. ... First, let those laws be rehearsed that do warn you fathers that ye put not over soon your hands on every man, or admit unto holy orders. For there is the well of evils, that, the broad gate of holy orders opened, every man that ofFereth himself is allwhere^ admitted without pulling back. Thereof springeth and cometh out the people that are in the Church both of unlearned and evil priests''. . . . Let the laws be rehearsed that command that benefices of the 1 Unlearned, simple, ignorant. ^ Officiousness, fussiness. * Mad. * In the legal sense, tie production of a will for registration with a view to obtaining probate. * Tend. 6 Everywhere. ' Cf. Sir Thomas More, p. 74 below. 72 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Church be given to those that are worthy; and that promotions be made in the Church by the right balance of virtue, not by carnal affection, not by the acception of persons^; whereby ■ it happeneth now-a-days that boys for old men, fools for wise men, evil for good, do reign and rule. Let the laws be rehearsed that warreth against the spot of simony. The which corruption, the which infection, the which cruel and odible^ pestilence, so creepeth now abroad, as the canker evil in the minds of priests, that many of them are not afraid now-a-days both by prayer and service, rewards and pro- mises, to get them great dignities. Let the laws be rehearsed that command personal residence of curates in their churches. For of this many evils grow, because all things now-a-days are done by vicars and parish priests; yea, and those foolish also and unmeet, and oftentimes wicked; that seek none other thing in the people than foul lucre, whereof Cometh occasion of evil heresies and ill Christendom* in the people. Let be rehearsed the laws and holy rules given of fathers, of the life and hooesty of clerks; that forbid that a clerk be no merchant, that he be no usurer, that he be no hunter, that he be no common player, that he bear no weapon; the laws that forbid clerks to haunt taverns, that forbid them to have suspect familiar- ity with women; the laws that command soberness, and a measure- ableness in apparel, and temperance in adorning of the body. Let be rehearsed also to my lords these monks, canons, and religious men the laws that command them to go the strait way that leadeth unto Heaven, leaving the broad way of the world; that commandeth them not to turmoil themselves in business, neither secular nor other; that command that they sow not in princes' courts for earthly things. For it is in the Council of Chalcedon that monks ought only to give themselves to prayer and fasting, and to the chastening of their flesh, and observing; of their rules, • , Above all things, let the laws be rehearsed that pertain and concern you, my reverend fathers and lords bishops, laws of your just and canonical election in the chapters of your churches with the calling of the Holy Ghost. For because that is not done now- a-days, and because prelates are chosen oftentimes more by favour of men than by the grace of God, therefore truly have we not a few times bishops full little spiritual men, rather worldly than ^ Corrupt acceptance, or favouritism. ^ Hateful. * Christianity. EXTRACTS: SIR THOMAS MORE 73 heavenly, savouring more the spirit of this world than the spirit of Christ. Let the laws be rehearsed of the residence of bishops in their dioceses; that command that they look diligently and take heed to the health of souls; that they sow the word of God; that they shew themselves in their churches at the least on great holy days; that they do sacrifice for their people; that they hear the causes and matters of poor men; that they sustain fatherless children and widows; that they exercise themselves in works of virtue. Let the laws be rehearsed of the good bestowing of the patrimony of Christ: the laws that command that the goods of the Church be spent, not in costly building, not in sumptuous apparel and pomps, not in feasting and banquetting, not in excess and wantonness, not in enriching of kinsfolk, not in keeping of dogs, but in things profitable and necessary to the Church. . . . J. H. Lupton, Life of John Colet (1887), pp. 293-304. Erasmus . . . Though no one approved of Christian devotion more than [Colet], yet he had but very little liking for monasteries — un- deserving of the name as many of them now are. The gifts he bestowed upon them were either none, or the smallest possible; and he left them no share of his property even at his death. The reason was not that he disliked religious orders, but that those who took them did not come up to their profession. It was, in fact, his own wish to disconnect himself entirely from the world, if he could only have found a fraternity anywhere really bound together for a Gospel life. . . . Quoted in J. H. Lupton, Life of John Colet, p. 216. 2. Sir Thomas More, 1528 More's Dialogue, completed in 1528, is chiefly directed against Luther and Tindal. He was hostile to Luther*s attempt to reform the Church from withoutj but he admitted the existence of abuses. . . . But yet where ye speak of other countries, making an argument that our clergy is the worst of all other, I wot well the whole world is so wretched that spiritual and temporal everywhere all be bad enough, God make us all better. But yet for that I have myself seen and by credible folk have heard, like as ye say by our temporalty that we be as good and as honest as anywhere else, so dare I boldly say that the spiritualty of England, and specially that part in which ye find most fault, that is to wit that part which we commonly call the secular clergy, is in learning 74 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII and honest living well able to match, and (saving the comparisons be odious, I would say farther) far able to overmatch, number for number, the spiritualty of any nation christened. I wot well there be therein many very lewd and naught; and surely wheresoever there is- a multitude it is not without miracle well possible to be otherwise. But now if the bishops would once take unto priest- hood better laymen and fewer (for of us be they made) all the matter were more than half amended. Now where ye say that ye see more vice in them than in ourselves, truth it is that everything^ in them is greater because they be more bounden to be better^. But else the things that they misdo be the selfsame that we sin in ourselves, which vices that, as ye say, we see more in them than in ourselves; the cause is, I suppose, for we look more upon theirs than on our own. . . . Would God we were all of the mind that every man thought no man so bad as himself, for that were the way to mend both them and us. Now, they blame us, and we blame them, and both blameworthy, and either part more ready to find others' faults than to- mend their own. For in reproach of them we be so studious that neither good nor bad passeth unre- proved. If they be familiar, we call them light. Ifthey.be solitary, we call them fantastic^. If they be sad, we call them solemn, if they be merry, we call them mad. If they be comprynable^, we call them vicious. If they be holy, we call them hypocrites. If they keep few servants, we call them niggards. If they keep many, we call them pompous. If a lewd priest do a lewd deed, then we say, Ipl see what sample the clergy giveth us, as though that priest were the clergy. But then forget we to look what good men be therein, and what good counsel they give us, and what good ensample they shew us. But we fare as do the ravens and the carrion crows, that never meddle with any quick flesh, but where they may find a deadjdog in a ditch thereto they flee and thereon they feed apace. So where we see a good man, and hear and see a good thing, there we take little heed. But when we see once an evil deed, thereon we gape, thereof we talk, and feed ourselves all day with the filthy delight of evil communication. Let a good man preach, a short tale shall serve us thereof, and we shall neither much regard his exhortation nor his good examples. But let a lewd friar be taken with a wench,: we will jest and rail 1 This point is also taken by Thomas Starkey; see p. 84 below. 2 Fanciful or capricious; the sixteenth century sense of the word is much less strong than the modern sense. * Probably an error for 'compynable,' a variant of 'companable' = sociable, friendly. EXTRACTS: SIR THOMAS MORE 75 upon the whole order all the year after, and say, lol what sample they give us. . .(p. 225). . . , And whereof is there now such plenty as of priests ? , . . Now runneth every rascal and boldly ofFereth himself for able. And where the dignity passeth all prince's, and they that lewd^ be desireth it for worldly winning, yet cometh that sort thereto with such a mad mind that they reckon almost God much bounden to them that they vouchsafe to take it. But were I Pope-r- By my soul, quoth he^, I would ye were, and my lady your wife Popess too. Well, quoth I, then should she devise for nuns. And as for me, touching the choice of priests, I could not well devise better provisions thai), are by the laws of the Church pro-\^ded already, if they were as well kept as they be well made. But for the number, I would surely see such a way therein that we should not have such a rabble that every mean man must have a priest in his house to wait upon his wife, which no man almost lacketh now, to the contempt of priesthood in as vile office as his horse-keeper. That is, quoth he, truth indeed — and in worse too, for they keep hawks and dogs. And yet meseemeth surely a more honest service to wait on an horse than on a dog. And yet I suppose, quoth I, if the laws of the Church which Luther and Tindal would have all broken were all well observed and kept, this gear should not be thus, but the number of priests would be much minished and the remnant much better. For it is by the laws of the Church provided, to the intent no priest should unto the slander of the priesthood be driven to live in such lewd manner or worse, there should none be admitted unto priest- hood until he have a title of a sufficient yearly living, either of his own patrimony or otherwise. Nor at this day they be none otherwise accepted. t Why, quoth he, wherefore go there then so many of them a begging ? Marry, quoth I, for they delude the law and themselves also. For they never have grant of a living that may serve them in 1 'Lewd' here='lay' — used in the common medieval sense oilaicus, 'unlearned.' Probably the sense is that the dignity of the priesthood is so high that laymen ('they that lewd be') seek it for worldly advantage. 2 The other party to the dialogue is supposed to be a young university student who had been attracted by the teaching of Tindal, and is now sent by 'a worshipful friend' of More's, 'with certain credence,' to discuss vidth him the matters to which the book refers and so to be won back from error. The whole conversation is imagin- ary, but it is a vehicle for More's views. The scene of the dialogue is his library at Chelsea. 76 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII sight for that purpose but they secretly discharge it ere they have it, or else they could not get it. And thus the Bishop is blinded by the sight of the writing, and the priest goeth a-begging for all his grant of a good living, and the law is deluded, and the order is rebuked by the priest's begging and levid living, which either is fain to walk at rovers^ and live upon trentals^ or worse, or else to serve in a secular man's house, which should not need if this gap were stopped. For ye should have priests few enough if the law were truly observed that none were made but he that were without collusion sure of a living already. Then might it hap, quoth he, that ye might have too few to serve the rooms and livings that be provided for them, except the prelates would provide that orders were not so commonly given, but alway receive into orders as rooms and livings fall void to bestow them in, and no faster. Surely, quoth I, for aught I see suddenly^, that would not be much amiss. For so should they need no such titles at all, nor should need neither run at rovers nor live in laymen's houses, by reason whereof there groweth among* no little corruption in the priests' manners by the conversation of lay people and company of women in their houses. Nay, by our Lady, quoth he, I will not agree with you therein. For I think they cannot lightly^ meet with much worse company than themselves, and that they rather corrupt us than we them . . . (pp. 227-8). Sir Thomas More, ji Dialogue concerning Heresies {Works, ed. i557)- 3. Simon Fish, 1528 A Supplication for the Beggars, written in 1528, is one of the most violent attacks upon the Church and the clergy that the Reformation produced — ^indeed, it is so violent as to suggest deliberate exaggeration with humorous intent. Many copies of it were circulated in London just before the meetjng of the Reformation Parliament, as it was excellent propaganda, and expressed in a popular form the general dissatisfaction with the Church which was prevailing at the time. It is impossible to accept the statements of the author^ but the interest of his work lies in the fact that diere was something in the public mind whic;h responded to if. The Supplication for the Beggars was of sufficient importance to draw a reply from Sir Thomas More entitled A Supplication of Souls (p. 79), and it served as a model for a series of pamphleteers*. Most lamentably complaineth their woeful misery unto your Highness your poor daily bedemen, the wretched, hideous mon- ^ At random, without any definite object. ^ /. e. live by saying requiem masses. See note on p. 104 below. ^ /. e. on the spur of the moment. * Meanwhile. ^ Easily. « Z).iV.5. xix, 51. EXTRACTS: SIMON FISH 77 sters (on whom scarcely for horror any eye dare look), the foul, unhappy sort of lepers and other sore people, needy, impotent, blind, lame, and sick, that live only by alms, how that their num- ber is daily so sore increased that all the alms of all the well-dis- posed people of this your realm is not half enough for to sustain them, but that for very constraint they die for hunger. And this most pestilent mischief is come upon'your said poor bedemen by the reason for that there is, in the times of your noble predecessors passed, craftily crept into this your realm another sort, not of im- potent, but of strong, puissant, and counterfeit holy and idle beggars and vagabonds, which, since the time of their first entry by all the craft and wiliness of Satan, are now inqreased under your sight, not only into a great number but also into a kingdom. These are not the herds^ but the ravenous wolves going in herds' clothing devouring the flock — ^the bishops, abbots, priors, deacons, archdeacons, suffragans, priests, monks, canons, friars, pardoners, and sumners^* And who is able to number this idle, ravenous sort, which (setting all labour aside) have begged so importunately that they have gotten into their hands more than the third part of all your realm. The goodliest lordships, manors, lands, and territories are theirs. Besides this they have the tenth part of all the corn, meadow, pasture, grass, wool, colts, calves, lambs, pigs, geese, and chickens. Over and besides, the tenth part of every servant's wages, the tenth part of the wool, milk, honey, wax, cheese, and butter. Yea, and they look so narrowly upon their profits that the poor wives must be countable to them of every tenth egg, or else she getteth not her rights at Easter, shall be taken as an heretic. . . . What money pull they in by probates of testaments, privy tithes, and hymen's offerings to their pilgrimages and at their first masses ? Every man and child that is buried must pay somewhat for masses and diriges to be sung for him, or else they will accuse the dead's friends and executors of heresy. What money get theyby mortuaries^, by hearing of confessions (and yet they will keep thereof no counsel), by hallowing of churches, altars, super- altars*, chapels, and bells, by cursing of men and absolving them again for money.? What a multitude of money gather the par- doners in a year ? How much money get the sumners by extortion in a year, by citing the people to the commissary's court^ and afterwards releasing the appearance for money? Finally, the 1 Shepherds. * A summoning officer in an ecclesiastical court. ' See p. 1 3 above. * A portable stone slab consecrated for use upon an unconsecrated altar or table. * The court of a bishop's commissary; see p. 358 below. 78 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII infinite number of begging friars; what get they in a year?. . . Is it any marvel that the taxes, fifteenths, and subsidies that yoUi- Grace most tenderly of great compassion hath taken among yout people to defend them from the threatened ruin of their common- wealth have been so slothfiiUy, yea, painfully levied, seeing that almost the utmost penny that might have been levied hath been gathered before yearly by this ravenous, cruel, and insatiable generation?. . .(pp. 1-3). And what do all these greedy sort of sturdy, idle, holy thieves with these yearly exactions that they take of the people? Truly nothing but exempt themselves from the obedience of your Gracdi Nothing but translate all rule, power, lordship, authority, obedi- ence, and dignity from your Grace unto them. Nothing but that all your su^'ects should fall into disobedience and rebellion against your Grace, and be under them. As they did unto youf noble predecessor, King John; which for because that he would have punished certain traitors that had conspired with the French king to have deposed him from his crown and dignity, . . . inter- dicted his land. For the which matter your most noble realm wrongfully (alas, for shame I) hath stood tributary, not unto any kind temporal prince but unto a cruel, devilish bloodsupper, drunken in the blood of the saints and martyrs of Christ, ever since. Here were an holy sort of prelates, that thus cruelly could punish such a righteous King, all his realm and succession, for doing right!... (pp. 4-5) . . . Yea, and what do they more ? Truly nothing but apply them- selves, by all the sleights they may, to have to do with every man's wife, every man's daughter, and every man's maid.. . .These h6 they that by their abstaining from marriage do let^ the generation of the people, whereby all the realm at length, if it should be con- tinued, shall be made desert and inhabitable^. ... (p. 6). What remedy make laws against them? I am in doubt whether ye be able. Are they not stronger in your own Parliament House than yourself? What a number of bishops, abbots, and priors are Lords of your Parliament?. . .Who is he (though he be grieved never so sore) . . . dare lay it to their charge by any way of action ? And if he do, then is he by-and-by^ by their wiliness accused of heresy. . . . So captive are your laws unto them, that no man that they list to excommunicate may be admitted to sue any action in any of your courts*. If any man in your sessions dare be so hardy to indict a priest, ... he hath, ere the year go out, such 1 Hinder. 2 Uninhabited. » Immediately. * Seep. 357 below. EXTRACTS: SIMON FISH 79 a yoke of heresy laid in his neck that it maketh hirp. wish he had not done it.. . .(p. 8). . . . This is the great scab^ why they will not let the New Testament go abroad in your mother tongue, lest men should espy that they by their cloaked hypocrisy do translate thus fast your kingdom into their hands, that they are not obedient unto your high power^, that they are cruel, unclean, unmerciful, and hypocrites, that they seek not the honour of Christ but their own, that remission of sins are not given by the Pope's pardon but by Christ, for the sure faith and truth that we have in him. . . . Set these sturdy loobies^ abroad in the world. . . to get their Uving with their labour in the sweat of their faces according to the command- ment of God, Gen. iii, to give other idle people by their example occasion to go to labour. Tie these holy, idle thieves to the carts to be whipped naked about every market town till they will fall to labour, that they by their importunate begging take not away the alms that the good Christian people would give unto us sore, impotent, miserable people your bedemen. Then shall as well the number of our foresaid monstrous sort, as of the bawds, whores, thieves, and idle people decrease. Then shall these great yearly exactions cease. Then shall not your sword, power, crown, dignity, and obedience of your people be translated from you. Then shall you have full obedience of your people. Then shall the idle people be set to work. Then shall matrimony be much better kept. Then shall the generation of your people be increased. Then shall your commons increase in riches. Then shall the gospel be preached. Then shall none beg our alms from us. Then shall we have enough and more than shall suffice us; which shall be the best hospital that ever was founded for us. Then shall we daily pray to God for your most noble estate long to endure, (pp. il, 14—15.) Simon Fish, Z4 Supplication for the Btggeiri (ed. F. J. Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 1871, esrtra series, No. 13, pp. i— 15). Also printed in Arber's Envlish Scholar's Library, No. 4, 1878. 4. Sir Thomas More, 1529 More's Supplicatien of Souls is a reply to Fish. The souls in purgatory discuss various questions, and among them the arguments of Fish in favour of a general confiscation of the property of the Church. . . . And yet as though because he hath said it he had therefore proved it, he runneth forth in his railing rhetoric against the 1 Here applied figuratively, as to moral or spiritual disease. * Cf. Henry VIII's speech to the Commons (p. 22 above). * Louts. 8o CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII whole clergy, and that in such a sort and fashion that very hard it were to discern whether it be more false and more foolish. For first, all the faults that any lewd priest or friar doeth, all that layeth he to the whole clergy, as well and as wisely as though he would lay the faults of some lewd lay people to the default and blame of all the whole temporalty. But this way liketh him so well, that thus laying to the whole clergy the faults of such as be simple and faulty therein, and yet not only laying to their charge the breach of chastity and abuse in fleshly living of such as be naught, but also madly like a fond^ fellow laying much more to their charge, and much more earnestly reproving the good and honest living of those that be good, whom he rebuketh and abhorreth because they keep their vows and persevere in chastity (for he sayeth that they be the marrers and destroyers of the realm, bringing the land into wilder- ness for lack of generation by their abstaining from wedding) then aggrieveth^ he his great crimes with heinous words, gay repeti- tions, and grievous exclamations, calling them bloodsuppers, and drunken in the blood of holy martyrs and saints, which he meaneth for the condemning of holy heretics. Greedy golophers* he calleth them and insatiable whirlpools, because the temporalty hath given them possessions and give to the friars their alms. . . (p. 295). . . . Like truth is there in this that he saith, if any man trouble a priest for any temporal suit, the clergy forthwith will make him an heretic and burn him, but if he be content to bear a faggot for their pleasure. The falsehood of this cannot be unknown. For men know well in many a shire how often that many folk indict priests of rape at the sessions*. And as there is sometime a rapie committed in deed, so is there ever a rape surmised were the woman never so willing, and oftentime where there was nothing done at all. And yet of any such that so procured priests to be indicted, how many have men heard taken and accused for here- tics. . .(p. 297). . . . He layeth unto the charge of the clergy that they live idle all, and that they be all bound to labour and get their living in the sweat of their faces by the precept that God gave to Adam in the first chapter of Genesis. . . (p. 303). . . . But it is good to look betime what this beggar's proctor^ meaneth by this commandment of hand labour that he speaketh of. For if he confess that it bindeth not every man, then is it laid to no purpose against the clergy; for there was a small clergy 1 Foolish. 2 Aggravates. s Gluttons. * In successfully meeting the argument that the law of heresy is used to protect the priests, More here makes an important admission. * Advocate. EXTRACTS: SIR THOMAS MORE 81 when that word was said to our first father Adam. But now if ye call it a precept, as he doth, and then will that it extend unto all the whole kind^ of man, as a thing by God commanded unto Adam and all his offspring, then, though he say little now, he meaneth to go farther hereafter than he speaketh of yet. For if he might first have the clergy put out of their living and all that they have clean taken from them, and might have them joined to these beggars that be now, and over that added unto them and send a-begging too all those that the clergy find^ now full honestly — this pageant once played, and his beggars' bill so well sped, then when the beggars should have so much less living and be so many more in multitude, surely likewise as for the beggars he now maketh his bilP to the King's Highness against bishops,, abbots, priors, prelates, and priests, so would he then within a while after make another bill to the people against merchants^ gentlemen, kings, lords, and princes, and complain that they have all, and say that they do nothing for it but live idle, and that they be commanded in Genesis to live by the labour of their hands in the sweat of their faces^ as he saith by the clergy now. Wherein if they ween that they shall stand in other case than the clergy doth now, they may peradventure sore deceive themselves. For if they will think that their case shall not be called all one because they have lands and goods to live upon, they must consider so hath the clergy too. But that is the thing that this beggars' proctor com- plaineth upon, and would have them taken away. Now if the landed men suppose that their case shall not seem one with the case of the clergy, because they shall haply think that the Church hath their possessions given them for causes which they fulfil not, and that if their possessions happen to be taken from them it shall be done upon that ground, and so the lay landed men out of that fear, because they think that such like occasion and ground and consideration faileth and cannot be found in them and their in- heritance — surely if any man, clerk or lay, have lands in the gift whereof hath been any condition adjoined which he fulfilleth not, the giver may well with reason use therein such advantage as the law giveth him. But on the other side, whoso will advise princes or lay people to take from the clergy their possessions, alleging matters at large, as laying to their charge that they live not as they should nor use not well their possessions, and therefore it were well done to take them from them by force and dispose them better — we dare boldly say, whoso giveth this device, as 1 Race. ^ Provide for. ^ Plea or indictment. T.D. 6 82 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII now doth this beggar's proctor, we would give you counsel; to look well, what will follow. For he shall not fail, as we said before, if this bill of his were sped, to find you soon after in a new suppli- cation new bald^ reasons enough that should please the people's ears, wherewith he would labour to have lords' lands and all honest men's goods to be pulled from them by force and dis- tributed among beggars. . .(p. 304—5). Sir Thomas More, A Supplication of Souls {Works^ ed. 1557). 5. Thomas Starkey, 1535 and 1536 With the diatribes of Simon Fish should be compared the judicious, statesman- like, and temperately-expressed views of Thomas Starkey* These are contained in an imaginary dialogue between Thomas Lupsetand Cardinal Pole, probably written in the early part of 1535^ for the satisfaction of Henry VIII, and also in a letter addressed to the King in 1536*. Lupset, a friend of Pole, and also of More and Erasmus, died in 1 530, five years before the dialogue was written. Pole. ... A great part of these people which we have here in our country is either idle or ill occupied. . . . First, look what an idle rout our noblemen keep and nourish in their houses, which do nothing else but carry dishes to the table and eat them when they have done; and after, giving themselves to hunting, hawking^ dicing, carding, and all other idle pastimes and vain, as though they were born to nothing else at all. Look to our bishops and prelates of the realm, whether they follow not the same trade in nourishing such an idle sort, spending their possessions and good^, which were to them given to be distributed among them which were oppressed with poverty and necessity. Look, furthermore, to priests, monks, friars, and canons, with all their adherents and idle train, and you shall find also among them no small number idle and unprofitable, which be nothing but burdens to the earth. Insoniuch that if you after this manner examine the multitude in every order and degree, you shall find, as I think, the third part of our people living in idleness, as persons to the common weal utterly unprofitable; and to all good civihty much like unto the drone bees in a hive, which do nothing else but consume and devour all such thing as the busy and good bee with diligence and labour gathereth together. . .(pp. 76—7). , ,, . . . Princes and lords seldom look to the good order and wealth of their subjects; only they look to the receiving of their rents and revenues of their lands, with great study of enhancing thereof to the further maintaining of their pompous state Bishops also and prelates of the Church, you see how little regard 1 Trivial, paltry. 2 Gairdner, iii, p. xixvii. 3 Z>.Af.5.1iv, no. EXTRACTS: THOMAS STARKEY 83 they have of their flock. So that they may have the wool, they little care for the simple sheep, but let them wander in wild forests in danger of wblves daily to be devoured. . .(p. 85). . . . And how think you by the law which admitteth to religion^ of all sorts, youth of all age almost; insomuch that you shall see some friars whom you would judge to be born in the habit, they are so little and young admitted thereto.''. . .(p. 127). . . . How think you by the manner used with our bishops, abbots, and priors touching the nourishing also of a great sort of idle abbey-lubbers which are apt to nothing but, as the bishops and abbots be, only to eat and drink.? Think you this a laudable custom and to be admitted in any good policy? Lupset. Nay, surely this I cannot allow, it is so evident a fault to every man's eye; for by this mean^ all the possessions of the Church are spent as ill as the possessions of temporal men, contrary to the institution of the law and all good civility. . . . Pole. There is another great fault which is the ground of all other almost, and that is concerning the education of them which appoint themselves to be men of the Church. They are not brought up in virtue and learning, as they should be, nor well approved therein before they be admitted to such high dignity. It is not convenient men without learning to occupy the place of them which should preach the word of God, and teach the people the laws of religion, of the which commonly they are most ignor- ant themselves; for commonly you shall find that the^ can nothing do but patter up their matins and mass, mumbling up a certain number of words nothing understood. ' Lupset. Sir, you say in this plain truth; I cannot nor .will not this deny. Pole.' Yeaj and yet another thing. Let it be that the priests were unlearned, yet if they were of perfect life and studious of virtue, that by their example they might teach other, this ignor- ance yet might be the better suffered; but now to that ignorance is joined all kind of vice, all mischief and vanity, insomuch that they are example of all vicious life to the lay people. How say you, Master Lupset, is not this also a plain truth and manifest } Lupset. Yes, truly, insomuch that almost the infants now born into the light perceive it plainly. There is no man that Iboketh into our manner of living that may doubt of this . . . (pp. 131 -3). Pole. And as for this ignorance arid vicious life of the clergy, no man can it deny but he that, perverting the order of all things, 1 /. e. to the cloister. ^ See note on p. 65 above. 6—2 84 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII will take vice for virtue and virtue for vice. And though it be so that the temporalty live much after the same trade, yet meseemeth they are not so much to be blamed as they which for the purity of life are called spiritual^; forasmuch as they should be the light, as it is said in the Gospel, unto the other, and not only by word, but much more by example of life, whereby chiefly they should induce the rude people to the train of virtue^. Wherefore surely this is no small fault in our custom of life. To the which we may join also another ill custom, that priests be not resident upon their benefices, but either be in the Court or in great men's houses, there taking their pleasure ; by the reason whereof the people lack their pastors, which gather the wool diligently without regard of the profit of their sheep. Lupset. Sir^ this is as clear as the light of the sun. Wherefore I will not repugn therein; but I would wish that you might as easily hereafter see the way to amend such fault as we may see it... (p. 133). Lupset. I have thought long and many a day a great let to the increase of Christian people the law of chastity ordained by the Church, which bindeth so great a multitude of men to live thereafter; as all secular priests, monks, friars, canons, and nuns, of the which, as you know, there is no small number, by the reason whereof the generation of man is marvellously let and minished^. Wherefore, except the ordinance of the Church were (to the which I would never gladly rebel) I would plainly judge that it should be very convenient something to release the band of this law ... (p. 148). Pole. ... In this matter I think it were necessary to temper this law, and, at the least, to give and admit all secular priests to marry at their liberty, considering now the great multitude and number of them. But as touching monks, canons, friars, and nuns, I hold for a thing very convenient and meet, in all well-ordained commonweals, to have certain monasteries and abbeys, to the which all such as after lawful proof .of chastity before had may retire, and from the business and vanity of the world may with- draw themselves, wholly giving their minds to prayer, study, and high contemplation. . .(pp. 149—150). -; Lupset. Sir, of this there is no doubt but that this ordinance* ^ Cf. Sir Thomas More, p. 74 above. * The way of virtue. j ^ The slow growth of population in the Middle Ages was not infrequent^ ascribed to the ascetic teaching of the Church. See Lea, i, 449. * The appointment of officers in every town 'for the taking away' of 'ill-occu- pied persons in vain crafts,' and providing for the employment of the people *in honest and profitable crafts to the common weal' (p. 155). EXTRACTS: THOMAS STARKEY 85 should be very profitable. But yet you have left the one half of the ill-occupied persons and nothing touched them at all. That is to say, these religious persons in monasteries and abbeys. Pole, Surely you say truth. Of them there is a great number and unprofitable; but, Master Lupset, as touching them, as I said before, I would not that these religious men with their monas- teries should utterly be taken away but only some good reforma- tion to be had of them. And, shortly to say, I would think in that behalf chiefly this to be a good remedy, that youth should have no place therein at all, but only sUch men as by fervent love of religion moved thereto, flying the dangers and snares of the world, should there have place. And if that gap were once stopped I dare well say their number would not be over-great: we should have fewer in number religious men but better in life. ... I can- not tell how you brought them in and numbered them among idle and ill-occupied persons. Howbeit, to say the truth, they are neither idle, as they say, neither yet well occupied. . .(p. 156). Lupset. Sir, ... I pray you tell me one thing that I shall ask of you here. What difi^erence is in this matter to send the first- fruits to Rome, and spend it in triumph^ here at home among whores and harlots and idle lubbers serving to the same purpose in our own nation ?^ Fole. Difference there is; for yet this it is spent at home in our own country. Howbeit, Master Lupset, here you touch another great fault which we noted also before in our bishops and abbots, which triumph no less than the temporal lords. . . .And, briefly to say, I would nothing in this matter but only provision that the order of the common law of the Church might have place; that is to say, that bishops should divide their possessions in' four parts to the use appointed by the authority of the law: the first to build churches and temples ruinate in their dioceses; the second to maintain the poor youth in study; the third to the poof maids and other poverty; and the fourth to find himself and his household with a mean^ number convenient to his dignity. Other provision than this needeth not at all, saving that I would have them to be resident upon their sees, except such as were necessary about the prince. And as touching abbots and priors in our country, I would none other but only the order of the monks of '^ Pomp or show. * This is the only reference to the more serious charges brought against some of the clergy, but it regards them as something notorious, and Pole is represented as offering no contradiction. ^ Moderate. 86 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Italyi; that is to say, that every three years to choose their abbots and priors, and there to give reckoning of their offices cornmonly, and to live among his brethren and not to triumph in their chambers as they do, which camseth all the envy in the cloisters and is the occasion of the great expense of the intrate^ of the monas- tery, for to his table resorteth the idle company dwelling about him. This manner surely should be a great reformation in the monasteries of England. . .(p. 200). Thomas Starkey, England in the Reign of King Henry Fill (Early English Text Society, extra series, No. 32, 1878, Part II ed. J. M. Cowper). To the King's Highness . . . And first herein this is certain, that many there be which are moved to judge plainly this Act of Suppression of certain abbeys both tp be against the order of charity and injurious to them which be dead, because the founders thereof and the souls departed seem thereby to be defrauded of the benefit of prayer and^lmsdeeds there appointed to be done for their relief by their last will and testament; and also the common weal and politic order appeareth to be much hindered. and troubled by the same, because many poor men thereby are like to be deprived of their Hying and quietness, wherein lieth, as they think, no sniall in- jury : howbeit, as touching these causes commonly alleged, though they seem to be of no small weight, yet they are objected in this matter by manifest lack of judgment and consideration, fpr to me a little considering with myself the nature of this. Act, it appeareth plainly neither to be utterly against the order of chajrity neither yet the founders' wills to be broken thereby with any notable injury, for this is a sure ground by the order of all laws and by the consent of all men of learning and judgment approved, that though great respect ever hath been had of the last will of testators and much privilege granted thereto, specially when it pertained and tended to matters of religion, yet this I trow was never thought of any men of wisdom and prudence that all their posterity should be bounden of high necessity to the sure accom- plishment and full observation of their wills prescribed in testa- ment, and that by no means they might be changed and ordered to other purpose, for this is a sure truth that the will and deed of every private man for a common weal may be altered by the supreme authority in every country and kind of policy, forasmuch ^ This is a reference to the great reform of the Congregation of Sta. Giustin* at Padua, * Income. EXTRACTS: THOMAS STARKEY 87 as every man by the order of God is subject thereto and his will ever presupposed to be obedient to the same, insomuch that though he be either absent or dead yet it is alway by reason thought that if he were present he would give his consent to all such things as be judged by common authority to be expedient to the public weal, to the which no private will may be lawfully repug- nant. Wherefore albeit the last will of the testator's be by this Act altered with authority yet it is not broken with injury, because the consent of the testator is presupposed to be contained therein. Insomuch that it may surely be thought that if they were now living again and saw the present state of this world now in our days, how under the pretence of prayer much vice and idleness is nourished in these monasteries institute and founded of them, and how little learning and religion is taught in the same, yea, and how little Christian hospitality is used therein, they would per- adventure cry out with one voice, saying after this manner to princes of the world, — 'Alter these foundations which we of long time before did institute, and turn them to some better use and commodity. We never gave our possessions to this end and pur- pose to the which by abuse they be now applied. We thought to stablish houses of virtue, learning, and religion, the which now by the malice of man in process of time we see turned to vice, blindness, and superstition. We thought to stablish certain com- panies to live together in pure and Christian charity, wherein we see now reigneth much hate, rancour, and envy, much sloth, idle- ness, and gluttony, much ignorance, blindness, and hypocrisy, wherefore we cry, alter these foundations and turn them to better use; provide they may be as common schools to the education of youth in virtue and religion, out of the which you may pick men apt to be ordained bishops and prelates for their perfection; pro- vide they may be some ornament to the common weal and not as they be now, slanderous and therewith great detriment.' This per- adventure they would say unto your Highness, requiring your wisdom to call this matter to some like consideration, whereby it may appear that their wills are not utterly frustrate and broken by your Grace's acts. ... Thomas Sterkey, England in the Reign of King Henry VI 11 (Early English Text Society, extra series, No. 32, 1878, Part I ed. S. J. Herrtage), p. Iv. S8 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII 6. Hugh Latimer, 1548 Latimer's Sermon on the Plough was preached at St Paul's before Edward VI, 18 January, 1548. Latimer was an honest partisan, and in his denunciation of current abuses he was carried away by the fervour of the preacher and the lure of alliteration; but the evils to which he refers were real, and in general he represents the attitude of the reformers towards them. . . . This much I dare say, that since lording and loitering hath come up, preaching hath come down, contrary to the apostles' times, for they preached and lorded not, and now they lord and preach not For ever since the prelates were made lords and nobles the plough standeth; there is no work done, the people starve. They hawk, they hunt, they card, they dice; they pastime in their prelacies with gallant gentlemen, with their dancing minions, and with their fresh companions, so that ploughing is set aside; and by their lording and loitering, preaching and ploughing is clean gone. . .(p. 66). . . . And now I Would ask a strange question : who is the most diligentest bishop and prelate in all England, that passeth all the rest in doing his office.? I can tell for I know him who it is; I know hirii well. But now I think I see you listening and hearkening that I should name him. There is one that passeth all the other, and is the most diligent prelate and preacher in all England. And will ye know who it is.? I will tell you: it is the Devil. He is the most diligent preacher of all other; he is never out of his diocese; he is never from his cure; ye shall never find him unoccupied; he is ever in his parish; he keepeth residence at all times; ye shall never find him out of the way, call for him when you will he is ever at home; the diligentest preacher in all the realm; he is ever at his plough; no lording nor loitering can hinder him; he is ever applying his business, ye shall never find him idle, I warrant you. And his office is to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry, to teach all kind of popery. He is ready as he can be wished for to set forth his plough; to devise as many ways as can be to deface and obscure God's glory.. . .0 that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as Satan is to sow cockle and darnel. . . (p. 70). . . .But in the mean time the prelates take their pleasures. They are lords and no labourers; but the Devil is diligent at his plough. He is no unpreaching prelate; he is no lordly loiterer from his cure, but a busy ploughman; so that among all the pre- lates, and among all the pack of them that have cure, the Devil shall go for my money, for he still applieth his business. Therefore, ye unpreaching prelates, learn of the Devil. . .(p. 77). Latimer, Sermons (ed. G. E. Cprrie, Parker Society, 1844). CONFESSIONS OF THE MONKS 89 (5) Confessions of the Monks The language of these confessions is quite inconsistent with the theory that they were genuine 'confessions' in the ordinary sense of the term. They were more probably the work of some expert draughtsman in Cromwell's office, and were placed before the monks for signature ready-drawn. In form they are reasoned surrenders rather than confessions. St Andrew^! Priory, Northampton, ^-537 The following extracts are from the longer form of confession. One in the short form, that of the Friary of St Francis, Stamford, is also printed in Weever, Funeral Monuments, p. no. Most noble and virtuous Prince, our most righteous and gracious Sovereign Lord and undoubted Foundqrji and in earth, next under God, Supreme Head of this Enghsh Church. We, your Grace's poor and most unworthy subjects, Francis, Prior of your Grace's Monastery of Saint Andrew the Apostle yrithin your Grace's town of Northampton, and the whole convent of the saine^, being stirred by the grief of our conscience unto great contrition for thei manifold negligence, enormities, and abuses of long time, by us and other our predecessors, under the pretence and shadow of perfect religion, used and comnjitted,, to the grievous displeasure of Almighty God, the crafty deception and subtle seduction of the pure and simple minds of the good Chris- tian people of this your noble realm, knowledgen^ ourselves to have grievously offended God and your Highness our Sovereign Lord and Founder, as well in corrupting the conscience of your good Christian subjects with vain, superstitious, and other un- profitable ceremonies, the very means and plain inductions^ to the abominable sin of idolatry, as in omitting the execution of such devout and due observances and charitable acts as we were bounden to do by the promises and avows* made by us and our predecessors unto Almighty God, and to your Grace's most noble progenitors, original founders of your said monastery; for the which observances and deeds of charity only your said monastery was endowed with sundry possessions, jewels, ornaments, and other goods, moveable and unmoveable, by your Grace's said noble progenitors. The revenues of which possessions we, the said Prior and convent, voluntarily only by our proper conscience compelled, do recognise neither by us nor our predecessors to have been employed according to the original intent of the founders of your said monastery, that is to say, in the pure observ- 1 See note on p. 62 above. ^ Confessing, acknowledging. * Inducements. * I-e. vows. 90 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII ance of Christ's Religion, according to the devout rule and doc- trine of holy Saint Benedict, in virtuous exercise and study accord- ing to our profession and avow, nor yet in the charitable sustaining, cojnforting, and relieving of the poor people by the keeping of good and necessary hospitality. But as well we as others our pre- decessors called religious persons within your said monastery, taking on us the habit or outward vesture of the said rule only to the intent to lead our lives in an idle quietness and not in virtuous exercise, in a stately estimation and not in obedient humility, have under the shadow or colour of the said rule and habit vainly, detestably, and also ungodly employed, yea rather devoured^ the yearly revenues issuing and coming of the said possessions in con- tinual ingurgitations^ and farcings^ of our carayne^ bodies, and df others the supporters of our voluptuous and carnal appetite, with other vain and Ungodly expenses, to the manifest subversion of devotion and cleanness of li^^ng, and to the most notable slander of Christ's holy Evangel, which in the form of our pro- fession we did ostentate* and openly advaunt^ to keep most ex- actly; withdrawing thereby from the simple and pure minds of your Grace's subjects the only truth and comfort which they ought: to have by the true faith of Christ, and also the divine honour and glory only due to the glorious majesty of God Al- mighty, steering them with all persuasions, engines^, and policy, to dead images and counterfeit relics for our damnable lucre. Which our most horrible abominations and execrable persuasions of your Grace's people to detestable errors, and our long covered hypocrisy cloaked with fiMgned sanctity, we revolving daily and continually pondering in our sorrowful hearts, and thereby per- ceiving the bottomless gulf of everlasting fire ready to devour us if persisting in this state of living we should depart from this uncertain and transitory life; constrained by the intolerable anguish of our conscience; called as we trust by the grace of God, who would have no man to perish in sin; with hearts most con- trite and repentant, prostrate at the noble feet of your most royal Miajesty, most lamentably do crave of your Highness, of your abundant mercy, to grant unto us most grievous against God and your Highness your most gracious pardon for our said sundry offences, omissions, and negligences committed as before by us is confessed against your Highness and your most noble pro- genitors. 1 'Ingurgitation' is used of excessive eating or drinking in the sense of greedy swallowing. " Stuffing or cramming. * An obsolete form of 'carrion.' ♦ In the sense of displaying ostentatiously. ^ Boast. * Tricks or artifices. CONFESSIONS OF THE MONKS 91 And, where your Highness, being Supreme Head, immedi- ately next after Christ, of his Church in this your realm of Eng- land, so consequently general and only reformator of all religious persons there, have full authority to correct or dissolve at your Grace's pleasure and liberty all convents and religious companies abusing the rules of their profession; and, moreover, to your Highness, being our Sovereign Lord and undoubted founder of your said monastery, by dissolution whereof appertaineth only the original title and proper inheritance, as well of all other goods, moveable a;nd unmoveable, to the said monastery in any wise ap- pertaining or belonging, to be disposed and employed as to your Grace's most excellent wisdom shall seem expedient and neces- sary; all which possessions and goods your Highness, for our said offences, abuses, omissions, and negligences, being to all men obedient^ and by us plainly confessed, now hath, and of long time past hath had, just and lawful cause to resume into your Grace's hands and possession at your Grace's pleasure; the resumption whereof your Highness nevertheless, like a most natural, loving Prince and clement governor over us your Grace's poor and for our offences most unworthy subjects, hath of long season de- ferred, and yet doth, in hope and trust of our voluntary reconcilia- tion and amendment, by your Grace's manifold, loving, and gentle admonishments shewed unto us by divers and sundry means. We therefore considering with ourselves your Grace's ex- ceeding goodness and mercy extended at all times unto us most miserable trespassers against God and your Highness, for a per- fect declaration of our unfeigned contrition and repentance, feeling ourselves very weak and unable to observe and perform our aforesaid avows and promises made by us and our predeces- sors to God and your Grace's noble progenitors, and to employ the possessions of your said monastery according to the first will and intent of the original founders; And to the intent that your Highness, your noble heirs and successors, with the true Christian people of this your Grace's realm of England, be not from hence- forth eftsoons? abused with such feigned devotion and devilish persuasions, under the pretext and habit of religion, by us or any other which should happen to bear the name of religious within your said monastery; And, moreover, that the said possessions and goods should be no longer restrained from a better or more necessary employment; Most humbly beseechen your Highness our most gracious Sovereign Lord and Founder that it might 1 The sense would appear to be 'evident.' ' Obedient' may be a misreading. * A second time. 92 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII like your Majesty, for the discharging and exonerating us of the most grievous burden of our pained conscience to the imminent peril and danger of our own damnation that we should be in if by persisting in the state that we now rest in we should be the let^ of a more godly and necessary ettiploynient, graciously to accept our free gifts without coercion, plersuasion, or procure- ment of any creature livihg other than of our voluntary free will, of all such possessions, right, title, or interest as we the said Prior and convent hath or ever had or are supposed, to have had in or to your said Monastery of Northampton aforesaid.; And all and every parcel^ of the lands, advowsons, commodities, and other revenues, whatsoever they be, belonging to the same; And all manner of goods, jewels, ornaments, with all other manner of chattels, moveable and unmoveable, to the said monastery in any wise appertaining or belofiging, into whose hands or possession soever they be come into, to be employed and disposed as to your Grace's most excellent wisdom shall seem expedient and necessary. And although, most gracious Sovereign Lord, that the thing by us given unto your Highness is properly and of right ought to be your Grace's own, as well by the merits of our offences as by the order of your Grace's laws, yet, notwithstanding, we eftsoons most humbly beseechen your Highness graciously and benevo- lently to accept our free will with the gift thereof, nothing re- quiring of your Majesty therefor other than -your most gracious pardon, with some piece of your Grace's alms, and abundant charity towards the maintenance of our poor living, and licence henceforth to live in such form in correcting the rest of our lives as we hope to make satisfaction thereby to God and your Highness for our hypocrisy and other our grievous offences by us committed as well against his Deity as your Majesty.... . . . And finally we most humbly and reverently, with abund- ant tears proceeding from our hearts, having before our eyes our detestable offences, submit ourselves totally to the order of God and your merciful and benign Majesty, most heartily beseeching Almighty God to grant your Highness, with the noble Prince Edward your Grace's most noble and natural son, next unto your Grace the most precious jewel and chief comfort of this your Grace's realm, long to live among us your natural and true sub- jects, with prosperous and fortunate success of all your Grace's honourable and devout proceedings, which hitherto through your ^ In the scriptural sense of 'hindrance.' 2 'Parcel of land,' in the sense of a piece of land, is a technical legal expression well known in conveyancing. INJUNCTIONS OF 1536 AND 1538 93 Grace's most excellent wisdom and wonderful industry, assidu- allyi solicited about the confirming and stablishing men's con- science, continually veied with sundry doubtful opinions and vain ceremonies, have taken both good and laudable efi^ect, to the un- doubted contentation^ of Almighty God, the great renown and immortal memory of your Grace's high wisdom and excellent knowledge, and to the spiritual weal of all your Grace's subjects. Dated and subscribed in our Chapter the first day of March in the 29th year of your Grace's reign. By the hands of your Grace's poor and unworthy subjects [The confession is signed by the Prior, the Sub-prior, and eleven brethren^. Weever, Funeral Monuments (1631), p. 106. § 6. The Injunctions of 1536 and 1538 In August, 1536, Cromwell, as the King's vice-gerent, issued the first Tudor Injunctions in matters of i-eligion. 'This,' says Wriotheslejr^, 'was the first act of pure supremacy done by the King, for in all that had gone before he had acted with the concurrence of Convocation.' Some of the Injunctions are only administrative, and have small historical importance, although one of them reflects the revolt from Rome, since it requires the clergy 'to the uttermost of their wit, knowledge, and learning, purely, sincerely, and without any colour or dissimulation' to preach once every Sunday for the next three months, 'and after that at the leastwise twice every quarter,' against 'the Bishop of Rome's usurped power and jurisdiction.' At two points, however, the Injunctions exhibit in a remark- able way the influence of the New Learning, (i) In language that is in striking reaction against medieval superstition, they forbid the clergy to 'set forth or extol any images, relics, or miracles for any superstition or lucre, nor allure the people by any enticements to the pilgrimage of any saint,. . . as though it were proper or peculiar to that saint to give this commodity or that, seeing all goodness, health, and grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God, as of the very Author of the same, and of none other, for without Him that cannot be given; but they shall exhort as well their par- ishioners as other pilgrims that they do rather apply themselves to the keeping of God's commandments and fulfilling of His works of charity, persuading them that they shall please God more by the true exercising of their bodily labour, travail, or occupation, and providing for their families, than if they went about to the said pilgrimages; and that it shall profit more their soul's health if they do bestow that on the poor and needy which they would have bestowed upon the said images or relics.' (2) The clergy are required 'dili- gently' to 'admonish the fathers and mothers, masters and governors of youth, being within their cure, to teach or cause to be taught their children and servants, even from their infancy, their Pater noster, the Articles of our 1 Constantly, continually. ^ Pleasure, satisfaction. 3 Quoted in Gee and Hardy, p. 269, where the Injunctions of 1536 will be found printed in full. 94 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII faith, and the Ten Commandments in their mother tongue; and the same so taught, shall cause the said youth oft to repeat and understand.' In October, 1 538, Cromwell issued, with the authorisation and approval of Cranmer, a second set of Injunctions^ in which the reaction against medieval superstition was carried still further. The clergy once a quarter were to warn their hearers from the pulpit 'not to repose their trust or affiance i« any other works devised by men's phantasies beside Scripture; as in vrandering to pilgrimages, offering of money, candles, or tapers to images or rebcs,, . , saying over a number of beads not understood or minded on, or in such-like superstition.' 'For avoiding that most detestable offence of idolatry,' images were to be taken down, and the clergy were to 'suffer from henceforth no candles, tapers, or images of wax to be set afore any image or picture, but only the light that commonly goeth across the church by thfc rood loft, the light before the Sacrament of the Attar, and the light about the sepulchre, which for the adorning of the church and divine service you shall suffer to remain; still admonishing yoUr parishioners that images serve for none other purpose but as to be books of unlearned men that cannot know letters, whereby they might be otherwise admonished of the lives and conversation of them that the said images do represent; which images if they abuse for any other intent than for slich remembrances, they commit idolatry in the same to the great danger of their souls. . . . ' The Injunctions require the clergy to provide 'on this side the Feast of Easter next coming, one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English^, and the same set up in some con- venient place within the said church that you have cure of, whereas your parishioners piay most commpdiousty resort to the same and read it'*; and they are to 'discourage no man' from 'the reading or hearing of the said Bible, but shall expressly provoke, stir, and exhort every petson to read the same, as that which is the very lively word of God, that every Christian man is bound to embrace, believe, and follow, if he look to be saved.' It is probable that when Henry VIII authorised the reading of the Bible, he was thinking mainly of the support which he inight obtain from the fact that it did not mention monasticism and said nothing to sustain the claims of the Papacy. But consequences followed which he had not foreseen. The Bible promoted diversity of belief, and the general permission to read it couM be represented as encouraging the promulgation of 'strange and contra- dictory doctrines.' By an Act of 1543* 'for the advancement of true religion and for the abolishment of the contrary' this general permission was with- drawn. Noblemen, gentlemen, and merchant householders might read it privately, but w^omen, artificers, apprentices, and others were forbidden to read it either privately or openly. Noblewomen or gentlewomen might read it to themselves, but not to others. 1 Printed in Gee and Hardy, p. 275. 2 This 'Bible of the largest volume' was the 'Great Bible' which Covefdale was now passing through the press at Paris. It was completed in haste in 1 539 for use as required hy the Injunctions (Gairdner, ii, 287). It is familiar as the source of the Prayer-Book version of the Psalms. » A similar provision had appeared in the Injunctions of 1536 as first drafted, but it was eventually omitted {ii. ii, 277). * 34 & 35 Henr. VIII, c. i. STATUTE OF SIX ARTICLES 95 Although the. Injunctions of 1536 and 1538 suggest that Henry VIII, like most eoucated laymen of his day, was influenced by the New Learning, the Statute of Jix Articles J^^ • nevmTTeleiOrepaMTp^ enforce ^un^^^ doofirTneTof tHe Uhurc ^n'lS'tJSSSfillCftional impo^ of the statute li modifies arid coiisolii^tes me exilfi It ,„^.-.,^,,,,,,,it^..,.M,f,^a^M^.4S^ ihe rule ot the canorriaxr'pWit8!ifM^%eff« by pi^ andthe cSse^ of Sawtrey in 1401 shews that the common law recognised the rule of the canon law, and there- fore that a writ de haeretico comburendo could be issued at common law^. This was reinforced by the Heresy Acts of 14012 arid 1414^ the first of which provided that heretics might be a:rrested on suspicion by the bishop, and those refusing to abjure or relapsing after abjuration were to be burned; and the second enabled the bishops to call upon the civil power for assistance, and authorised courts of quarter sessions to receive indictments for heresy and to deliver persons so irraicted to the bishops to be tried*. The law against heresy was, however, considerably modified by Henry VIII. An Act of 1533^ repealed the Act of 1401, and so deprived the bishops of their power to arrest on suspicion; but it confirmed the Act of 1414, and so made it necessary for proceedings in heresy cases to begin by indictment. This had the effect of discouraging prosecutions, and between 1533 and 1539 the cases were not numerous*. But the Act of 1533 also furnishes 'a kind of negative definition of heresy,' for it provides that speaking against the authority of the Pope, or against spiritual laws made by the see of Rome repugnant to the laws of the realm or the authority of the King, shall not be deemed heresy. The Statute of Six Articles should be read in close connexion with this Act of i533j to which it is supplementary. ItJgwgdra^^jjg^gMdg h er^y, and establish es a special procedur e for th"e"pf6secution of hi comniissforis were to beTs'sWd"m"'l\?el7'^fc^ftSrTO€"Ms!^'1ffi9'o3i^^ enquire into offences against the Act, and the commissioners were em- powered to compel the attendance of accused persons before them and to try them with a jury. The efect of t he^e two Acts taken together wa s/ o make heresy 'in great measMT&T^^^^^^^^^^^S^^^^mm of «wn3WTr^iaWf^^ffl8rirWoWf!!?f^ heresy by the Statute of Six AftM¥(rwttfdirthe*%ishop would not have held to be heresy under the Act of 1 40 1, and the procedure was far less oppressive than that established by the Acts of 1 40 1 and 1414. Statute of Six Articles, 1539 An Act ahoHshing diversity in Opinions Where the King's most excellent Majesty is by God's law Supreme Head immediately under him of this whole Church and ereticsTfor 1 Holdsworth, i, 385. » 2 Renr. V, st. i, c, 7. 6 25 Henr. VIII, c. 14. ' Hale, quoted in Stephen, ii, 458. 2 2Henr. IV, c. 15. * Stephen, ii, 450. * Stephen, ii, 455. 96 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII Congregation of England, intending the conservation of the same Church and Congregation in a true, sincere, and uniform doctrine of Christ's Religion, calling also to his blessed and most gracious remembrance as well the great and quiet assurance, prosperous increase, and other innumerable commodities which have ever ensued, come, and followed of concord, agreement, and unity in opinions, as also the manifold perils, dangers, and inconveniences which have heretofore in many places and regions grown, sprung, and arisen of the diversities of minds and opinions, especially of matters of Christian Religion; And therefore desiring that such an unity might and should be charitably established in all things touching and concerning the same, as the same so being establish- ed might chiefly be to the honour of Almighty God, the very author and fountain of all true unity and sincere concord, and consequently redound to the common wealth of this his Highness's most noble re^lm and of all his loving subjects and other resiants and inhabitants of or in the same: Hath therefore caused and commanded this his most high Court of Parliament, for sundry and many urgent causes and considerations, to be at this time summoned, and also a Synod and Convocation of all the arch- bishops, bishops, and other learned men of the clergy of this his realni to be in like manner assembled; And forasmuch as in the said Parliament, Synod, and Convocation there were certain articles, matters, and questions proponed^ and set forth touching Christian Religion. . , . The King's most royal Majesty, most prudently pondering and considering that by occasion of variable and sundry opinions and judgments of the said articles, great discord and variance hath arisen as well amongst the clergy of this his realm as amongst a great number of vulgar people his loving subjects of the same, and being in a full hope and ttust that a full and perfect resolution of the said articles should make a perfect concord and unity generally amongst all his loving and obedient subjects; Of his most excellent goodness not only com- manded that the said articles should deliberately and advisedly by his said archbishops, bishops, and other learned men of his clergy be debated, argued, and reasoned,' and their opinions therein to be understood, declared, and known, but also most graciously vouchsafed in his own princely person to descend and come into his said high Court of Parliament^ and Council, and ^ Put forward, 2 The King had come into the House of Lords to argue against the reformers. Cranmer afterwards stated that but for this the bill would not have been passed (Fisher, p. 435). STATUTE OF SIX ARTICLES 97 there like a prince of most high prudence and no less learning ppened and declared many things of high learning and great knowledge touching the said articles, matters, and questions, for an unity to be had in the same; Whereupon, after a great and long deliberate and advised disputation and consultation had and made concerning the said articles, as well by the consent of the King's Highness as by the assent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and other learned men of his clergy in their Convocation and by the consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, it was and is finally resolved, accorded, and agreed in manner and form following, that is to say; First, that in the niost blessed Sacrament of the Altar, by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty word, it being spoken by the priest, is present really, under the form of bread and wjne, the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesu Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary, and that after the consecration there reniaineth no substance of bfead and wine, nor any other substance but the substance of Christ, God and man; Secondly, that communion in both kinds is not heces sary ad salutem by the law of God to all persons; And that it is to be believed and not doubted of but that in the flesh under form of bread is the very blood, and with the blood under form of wine is the very flesh, as well apart as though they were both together; Thirdly, that priests after the order of priesthood re- ceived as afore may not m'arry by the law of God; Fourthly, that vows of chastity or widowhood by man or woman made to God advisedly ought to be observed by the law of God, and that it exempteth them from other liberties of Christian people which without that they might enjoy; Fifthly, that it is meet and neces- sary that private masses be continued and admitted in this the King's English Church and Congregation as whereby good Christian people ordering themselves accordingly do receive both godly and goodly consolations and benefits, and it is agreeable also to God's law; Sixthly, that auricular confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued, used, and frequented, in the Church of God : ... It is therefore ordained and enacted. . . . The enacting ckuses provided (i) that persons who 'by word, writing, imprint- ing, ciphering^, or in any other wise, do publish, preach, teach, say, affirm, declare, dispute, argue, or hold,' any opinion contrary to the first article, together with 'their aiders, comforters, counsellors, consenters, and abettors therein,' shall be 'deemed and adjudged heretics,' and 'shall therefor have and suffer judgment, execution, pain, and pains of death by way of burning'; (2) that persons who preach in any ^ I.e. by writing in cipher. T. D. 7 98 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF HENRY VIII public sermon or 'teach in any common school or to other congregation of people' or 'do obstinately affirm' opinions contrary to the other five articles, shall be 'deemed and adjudged' felons, and shall 'suffer pains of death as in cases of felony' with forfeiture of lands and goods; (3) persons publishing, declaring, or holding such opinions 'by word. Writings printing, ciphering^ or otherwise than is above' re- hearsed,' were to forfeit their goods and chattels and the profits of their lands, offices, and benefices during life, and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure, and on a second offence to suffer death as felons with forfeiture of lands and goods'. yi. And be it further enacted. . .that if any person or per- sons, . .contemn^ or contemptuously refuse, deny, or abstain to be confessed at the time commonly accustomed within this realm and Church of England, or contemn or contemptuously refuse, deny, or abstain to receive the holy and blessed sacrament above- said at the time commonly used and accustomed for the same, that then' every such offender. . .shall suffer such imprisonment and make such fine and ransom to the King our Sovereign Lord and his heirs as by his Highness or by his or their Council shall be ordered and adjudged in that behalf; And if any such offender. . . do eft- soons^. . . refuse. . . to be confessed or to be communicate. . . that then every such offence shall be deemed and adjudged felony, and the offender. . .shall suffer pains of death and lose and forfeit all his . . . goods, lands, and tenements, as in cases of felony. 31 Henr. VIII, c. 14: Statutes of the Realm, iii, 739^ ^ Scorn. * A second time. The Church Settlement of Edward VI The Tudor Monarchy assumed that the Sovereign exercised a personal control over the business of government, and on the death of Henry VIII this personal control passed into the hands of a boy of nine, who would be likely to become what older people cared to make him. The religious policy of the future was therefore closely bound up with the question of the young King's education. It is possible that Henry VIII did not intend his own Church settlement to be final. At any rate he chose men of the New Learn- ing to be his son's tutors — Richard Cox, with John Cheke 'as a supple- ment to Mr Cox,' and afterwards Anthony Cooke, while Roger Ascham gave lessons in penmanship^ And when he made provision in his will for a Council of Regency the majority of the members were of the same way of thinking, and the name of Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, the strongest man on the other side, was left out. The King's chief preoccupation may have been to take guarantees that his own religious policy would not be reversed, but he must have foreseen other possibilities; indeed, according to Cranmer, he was actually engaged, during the last few months of his life, in devising a scheme for destroying roods, suppressing bell-ringing, and turning the mass into a communion service^- And when he died, circumstances favoured the reformers, for it was found necessary to choose a Protector, and the tradition of the English constitution indicated the person on whom the choice must fell. The young King's uncle', the Earl of Hertford, after- wards Duke of Somerset, brother to Queen Jane Seymour, was appointed by the Privy Council on the day of the King's proclamation, and in his hands all power was soon afterwards gathered, for the Protector took out a new patent for his office which made him independent of the Council, and the executors and assistant-executors appointed by Henry were amalgamated into a single privy council appointed by Edward VI*- It was known that Hertford was 'well disposed to pious doctrine, and abominated the fond in- ventions of the Papists,' 5 and by Henry's death he had become a 'rank Calvinist,' who soon opened up a correspondence with Geneva®. At the beginning of Edward VI's reign sharp lines between Protestant and Catholic had not been drawn, for the Council of Trent had not yet defined heresy. There was only a confused welter of embittered controvei;sy out of which various doctrinal views were beginning to emerge. The funda- mental division was that between the Old Learning and the New — the one appealing to the decisions of an infallible Church, and the other resting upon 1 D.N.B. xvii, 85. 2 CM.H. ii, 479. ' Cf. Richard III, n, iii, where Shakespeare makes the third citizen say of the minority of Henry VI 'For then this land was famously enriched With politic, grave counsel; then the King Had virtuous uncles to protect his Grace.' * Pollard, Polit. Hist. p. 8. ^ See Pollard, Cranmer, p. 187. « D.N.B.U, 303. 7—2 100 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI the private interpretation of an infallible Book. The Sacrament of the Altar was the centre of controversy, but out of this there grew the question of the celibacy of the consecrating priesthood, and the proper amount of reverence to be paid in worship to images, and reliiSi and to the sacred elements them- selves. There was also a further question of a highly abstract character, whether justification was by faith alone, or by faith and charity together. On all these vital matters the Protector and those who were associated with him held advanced views and were prepared to carry through further religious changes, but the precise form which these were to take was mainly deter^ mined by Cranmer, who in the Church Settlement of Edward VI plajrs^ most important part. He was not, like many of those who surrounded aiiit, a. greedy and unscrupulous politician, but a learned and conscientious theo- logian, whose sti^y of theological questions had led him to change his opinions, from one point of view the importance of Henry's death and Edward's minority was that it gave Cranmer a free hand. The Church Settlement of Henry VIII and J:hat of Edward VXwere based (JfinaffferenT viir was simr t the _] iction, and is Dy rlenry ^^^5uprOT|acY-^y govdrnmenTcTlBelCii^^ Craitii iV f ' ' Wm i!^tmth'*fi Sfi^v ee'-lim^ use the .l^yal Supremacy itself, during a minority, to mak>i'^^fli!^(^W1^£i^^mSti coM'ifat'vceestmmiserever^: -Thtis whferi Sbiiher'felfusea to fetl^^ PauTs C'ros's 'ffl'4't'lfB'd"'Kttllg^f%thority was as great during his minority, as if he were thirty or forty years old^, and when Gardiner protested that the Council had no right to make alterations in religion until the King came of age% they were taking up a strong position and defending the Royal Supr^m*? acy as Henry VlII had understood it^. But unfortunately for them the power was in the hands of their opponents, and Gardiner went to the Tower anil Bonner to the Marshalsea prison. § I. The Injunctions of 1547 As lojig as Somerset was in power the process of doctrinal change was carried out gradually and with caution, and it may be redded as a natural development of what had gone befpre. The method, a combination of in- junction and statute, was the method of Henry VlII. The Injunctions of 1547 were moderate in tone, and contain little \^hich is not 'in keeping with that aspiration for a purging of the practice of 1 D.N.B.v,3ig. 8 28 Henr. VlII, 1 * Gairdner, iii, 55. , c. 17, taking the view that the personal authority of the sove- reign was necessary to the validityof legislation, had provided that 'as lawsand statutes may happep herrafter to be made within this realm as Parliaments holden at such times as the kings of the same shall happen to be within age, having small knowledge and experience of their afeirs,' successors who came to the throne under 24 years of age should have power to annul by letters patent statutes passed during their minority as soon as they reached that age. This statute would have checked religious changes by making them only povisional, but it was repealed in the first Parliament of die reign. INJUNCTIONS OF 1547 loi the Church which supplied the moral force of the Reformation.'^ They followed closely the Injunctions of 1 536 and 1 538% adc^ting at many points the same phrases, but they also contain certain features that are new. (i) The policy of discouraging a superstitious use of images and cere- monies is carried much further than heretofore. The Dissolution of the Monasteries had been accompanied by a crusade against relics and shrines, and the images with which shrines were adorned, for Henry VIII was not unwilling to destroy the popular reverence for anything which brought credit to the monks. The Injunctions of 1538 had ordered the destruction of 'such feigned images' as were 'abused widi pilgrimages, or offerings of anything made thereunto,' and had forbidden 'candles, tapers, or images of wax' being 'set afore any image or picture.' The Injunctions of 1 547^ repeat these precepts and prohibitions, and further instruct the clergy to .'take away, utterly extinct, and destroy' all shrines, candlesticks, picture, and 'all other monuments of feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatry, and super- stition,' and to warn their parishioners against misuse of 'the laudable cere- monies of the Church,' 'as in casting holy water upon his bed, upon images^ and other dead things, or bearing about him holy bread, or St John's Gospel . , .or blessing with the holy candle, to the intent thereby to be discharged of the burden of sin, or to drive away devils.' The injunction against images was found difficult to enforce, as it was not easy to say what came into the category of images 'abused,' and in February, 1548, the Council ordered the bishops to give instructions for removing them all*. The Act of 1550, Against Books and Images [p. 1 13J, should be read in connexion with this. It orders the destruction of all images under penalties by a given date, except those of 'any king, prince, nobleman, or other dead person, which hath not been common^'^ reputed and taken for a saint.' ^ (2) The Injunctions of 1547 *^s° further develop the study of the Scriptures and the use of the vulgar tongue in the services of the Church. The Injunctions of 1536 had required children and servants to be taught the Paternoster, the Articles of Faith, and the Ten Commandments in Eng- lish, and those of 1538 had extended this to all parishioners and had included the Creed. They had also provided for the setting up of the Great Bible in the churches. The Injunctions of 1547 associate with the Bible the Paraphrase of Erasmus, and require 'every parson, vicar, curate, chantry priest, and stipendiary, being under the degree of a Bachelor of Divinity' to 'provide and have of his own' the Paraphrase and the New Testament 'both in Latin and in English'; and they are to be examined by the bishops on their visitations 'how they have profited in the study of Holy Scripture.' The Epistle and Gospel for the day are to be read in English and not in Latin; and a chapter of the New Testament in English is to be read at matins and a chapter of the Old Testament at evensong. Processions 'about the church or churchprd' are forbidden, but 'immediately before high mass the priests, with other of the choir, shall kneel in the midst of the church and sing or ^ Pollard, Cranmer, p. 196. * See p. 93 above. * See Cardwell (i, 4-23), where these Injunctions are printed in full. 4 Cardwell, i, 38. 5 'Thus Oswald and Wulfstan vanished from Worcester cathedral, while King John remained' (Gwatkin, p. 185). 102 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI say plainly and distinctly the Litany which is set forth in English.'^ Anodi«r injunction requires the churchwardens, at the common charge of the parish- ioners, to provide 'a comely and honest pulpit' for the preaching of God's word. It should, however, be observed that the Injunctions of 1547 do not interfere with the use of the confessional as an habitual practice; the termin- ology of the old order, 'high mass,' 'matins,' and 'evensong,' is still employed; and prayeris for the dead are exprrasly retained. § 2. Statutes of the Protectorate So far the government had acted without Parliament, but in November, 1547, Edward VI's first Parliament met, and the next innovations were made by statute. The Statute of Treasons, which repealed the heresy laws and the Statute of Six Articles^ and removed all restrictions upon the use of the Bible, is discussed below [p. 380] in a different connexion. The Act of 1547 against reviling the Sacrament and for communion in both kinds^ declared that the Sacrament of the Altar 'hath been of late marvellously abused' by those who 'of wickedness or else of ignorance and want of learning, for certain abuses heretofore committed of some in misusing thereof, have condemned in their hearts and speech the whole thing, and contemptuously depraved, despised, or reviled the same most holy and blessed Sacrament, and not only disputed and reasoned unreverently and ungodly of that most high mystery, but also in their sermons, preachings, reading, lectures, communications, arguments, talks, rhymes, songs,- plays, or gests^, name or call it by such vile and unseemly words as Christian ears do abhor to hear rehearsed'; it was therefore provided that persons who 'shall deprave, despise, or contemn' the Sacrament, shall 'suffer imprison- ment of . . .their bodies and make fine and ransom at the King's will and pleasure.' The same Act declared it to be 'more agreeable both to the first institution of the said Sacrament. . .and also more conformable to the com- mon use and practice both of the Apostles and of the primitive Church by the space of five hundred years and more after Christ's Ascension' that the Sacrament should be 'ministered to all Christian people under both the kinds of bread and wine than under the form of bread only'; it was therefore pro- vided that the Sacrament should be administered in both kinds, and should not be denied 'to any person that will devoutly and humbly desire it.'* The Act of 1547 'for the election of Bishops'^ substitutes for congi ^ The English Litany had been printed in 1545, and had been first sung in St Paul's on Sunday October 1 8 of that year- (Pollard, Cranmer, p. 1 74). At the date of the Injunctions it was already in use in the churches; the novelty lay in the requirement that it should no longer be sung in procession but kneeling. On the relation of this to our present Litany see Gwatkin, p. 177. 2 j E,j-yy_ yj^ {.. i. * 'Gest,' in the sense of a story or romance in verse, was beginning to be used in the later sense of a satirical utterance or lampoon. * 'This made the whole of the Canon Law inoperative, and put a stop to any requirement of fasting or confession as a condition of communion' (Gwatkin, p. 183). s I Edw. VI, c. 2. DISSOLUTION OF THE CHANTRIES 103 d'elire nomination by the King's letters patent, on the ground that elections to archbishoprics and bishoprics are long delayed, and involve those appointed to them in 'great costs and charges,' and also that such elections 'be in very deed no elections but only by a writ of congi tfelire have colours, shadows, or pretences of elections, serving nevertheless to no purpose and seeming also derogatory ... to the King's prerogative royal, to whom only appertaineth the collation and gift.' Henry VIII had at any rate retained the form of an election. Appointment by the King's letters patent reduced the bishops to die position of mere state officials liable to summary deprivation, for letters patent could be at any time withdrawn. The Act represents the most ad- vanced conception of"^ the Royal Supremacy which appears in any of the Reformation statutes. (i) Act for the Dissolution of the Chantries, 1547 This ^ct not only carried through the dissolution of 2374 chantries or small foundations endowing a priest or priests to say masses for ever for the repose of the founder's soul, but it also confiscated that part of the funds of guilds and corporations assigned to superstitious objects, the payments hither- to made for these purposes being now converted into a rent-charge payable to the Crown. The preamble of the Act speaks of the erection of grammar schools, the augmentation of the Universities, and the relief of die poor; but the first use of the funds produced by the sale of chantry lands under the Act was 'specially for the relief of the King's Majesty's charges and eScpenses, which do daily grow and increase by reason of divers and sundry fortifications, garrisons, levying of men and soldiers,' etc.^ Schools kept by chantry priests were continued by the commissioners appointed under the Act, but a bill to found grammar schools, introduced a year later, disappeared after its first reading in the Lords on February 18, 1549^. -^ ^^''g^ P*""* °^ the chantry endowments eventually went to the harpies who surrounded the young king^ An Act whereby certain Chantries^ Colleges^ Free Chapels^ and the possessions of the same, be given to the King's Majesty The King's most loving subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, considering that a great part of superstition and errors in Christian Religion hath been brought into the minds and estimation of men by reason of the ignorance of their very true and perfect salvation through the death of Jesus Christ, and by devising and phantasing vain opinions of purgatory and masses satisfactory* to 1 Dasentjii, 184-5. ^ C.M.H.ii, \%2. 8 'Now, all scruples removed, chantry-land went down without any regret. Yea, such who mannerly expected till the King carved for them out of abbey-lands, scrambled for themselves out of chantry-revenues, as knowing this was the last dish of the last course, and after chantries as after cheese, nothing to be expected' (Fuller, "' 275)- . . r . r ■ * I.e. making satisfaction or atonement.lor sin. 104 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI be done for them which be departed, the which doctrine and vain Opinion by nothing more is maintained and upholden than by the abuse of trentals^, chantries, and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and ignorance; And further considering and understanding that the alteration, change, and amendment of the same, and converting to good and godly uses, as in erecting of grammar schools to the education of youth in virtue and godliness, the further augmenting of the Universities, and better provision for the poor and needy, cannot in this present Parliament be provided and conveniently done, nor cannot nor ought to any other manner person be committed than to the King's Highness, whose Majesty^with and by the advice of his Highness's most prudent Council can and will most wisely and beneficially, both for the honour of God and the weal of this his Majesty's realm, order, alter, convert, and dispose the same; And calling further to their remembrance. . . [here follows a recital of 37 Henri VIII, c. ^,for the Dissolution of the Chantries^']. It is now ordained and enacted. . .that all manner of colleges, free chapels, and chantries, having being or in esse^ within five years next before the first day of this present Parliament, which were not in actual and i:eal possession of the said late King, nor in the actual and real possession of the King our Sovereign Lord that now is, nor ex- cepted in the said former Act. . . . Andall manors, lands, tenements, irents, tithes, pensions, portions, and other hereditaments and things above mentioned belonging to them or any of them, and also all manors, knds, tenements, rents, and other hereditaments and things above mentioned, by any manner of assurance, con- veyance, will, devise*, or otherwise had, made, suffered, know- ledged, or declared, given, assigned, limited, or appointed to the finding of any priest to have continuance for ever, and wherewith or whereby any priest was sustained, maintained, or found within five years next before the first day of this present Parliament, which were not in the actual and real possession of the said late King nor in the actual and real possession of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, and also all annual rents, profits, and emolu- ^ 'Trentals' are requiem masses, usually collected in sets of thirty. 2 Commissioners were appointed under this Act to survey the possessions of the chantries, but although there were some voluntary surrenders, it is doubtful if any dissolutions took place under it (Gee and Hardy, p. 328; but see Diron, ii, 381). This Act had now expired, so it was necessary to deal vdth the question afresh by a new statute. ■ * 'In actual existence,' as opposed to in posse, 'in potentiality' (Oxford Dictionary). * A testamentary disposition, usually of real property. DISSOLUTION OF THE CHANTRIES 105 ments at any time within five years next before the beginning of this present Parliament employed, paid, or bestowed toward or for the maintenance, supportation, or finding of any stipendiary priest intended by any act or writing to have continuance for ever, shall by authority of this present Parliament, immediately after the Feast of Easter next coming, be adjudged and deemed and also be in the very actual and real possession and seisin of the King our Sovereign Lord and his heirs and successors for ever; without any office^ or other inquisition thereof to be had or found, and in as large and ample manner and form as the priests, wardens, masters, ministers, governors, rulers, or other incumbents of them or any of them at any time within five years next before the beginning of thjs present Parliament had occupied or enjoyed, or now hathj occupieth, and enjoyeth the same; and as though all and singular the said colleges, free chapels, chantries, stipends, salaries of priests, and the said manors, lands, tenements, here- ditaments, and other the premises whatsoever they be, and every pf them, were in this present Act specially, peculiarly, and cer- tainly rehearsed, named,, and expressed, by express words, names, surnames, corporations, titles, and faculties, and in their natures, kinds, and qualities. ^ n* ^» ^» "ff ^P VII. And furthermore be it ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the King our Sovereign Lord shall from the said Feast of Easter next coming have and enjoy to him, his heirs and successors, for ever, all fraternities, brotherhoods, and guilds being within the realm of England and Wales and other the King's dominions, and all manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments belonging to them or any of them, other than such corporations, guilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts, and the manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments pertaining to the said corporations, guilds, fraterni- ties, companies, and fellowships of mysteries^ or crafts above mentioned, and shall by virtue of this Act be judged and deemed in actual and real possession of our said Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and successors, from the said Feast of Easter next coming for ever, without any Inquisitions or office thereof to be had or found. [VIII-XII. The King may appoint commissioners under the great seal with power to survey all lay corporations, guilds, fraternities, companies, ^ This term is used of an official enquiry concerning any matter that entitles the Crown to the possession of lands or goods. * Handicrafts or trades. io6 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI and fellowships of mysteries or crafts incorporate' as well as 'all other the said fraternities, brotherhoods, and guilds within the limits of their com- mission,' 'to the intent thereby to know what money and other thmgs was paid or bestowed to the findmg or maintenance of any priest or priests, anniversary or obit^, or other like thing, light or lamp^, by theni or any of them,' and also to enquire what lands, etc., are vested in the King by this Act. The commissioners are also empowered to assign, 'in every such place where guild, fraternity, the priest or incumbent of any chantry in esse the first day of this present Parliament, by the foundation, ordinance, or first institution thereof should or ought to have kept a grammar school or a preacher, and so hath done since the Feast of St Michael the Archangel last past,' the lands of every such chantry or guild 'to remain and continue in succession to a schoolmaster or preacher for ever, for and toward the keeping of a grammar school or preaching.' They are also empowered 'to make and ordain a vicar to have perpetuity in every parish church the first day of this present Parliament being a coUegej free chapel, or chantry, or appropriated and annexed ... to any college, free chapel, or chantry' coming to die King's hands by virtue of the Act, and 'to endow every such vicar sufficiently, having respect to his cure and charge.' They" are further empowered to assign chantry lands for the maintenance of additional priests in any parish; to make rules 'concerning the service, user, and demeanours' of priests or schoolmasters appointed by them; and to grant pensions to the priests of dissolved chantries and to poor persons hitherto dependent on them for 'yearly relief.'] XIII. And also be it ordained and enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, that our Sovereign Lord the King shall have and enjoy all such goods, chattels, jewels, plate, orna- ments, and other moveables as were or be the common goods of every such college, chantry, free chapel, or stipendiary priest, be- longing or annexed to the furniture or service of their several foundations, or abused of any of the said corporations in the abuses aforesaid, the property whereof was not altered or changed before the 8 th day of December in the year of our Lord God 1 547. ****** XV. . Provided always and be it ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid. That this Act or any article, clause, or matter contained in the same, shall not in any wise extend to any college, hostel, or hall being within either of the Universities of Cam- bridge and Oxford; nor to any chantry founded in any of the colleges, hostels, or halls being in the same universities; nor to the free chapel of St George the Martyr, situate in the Castle of Windsor; nor to the college called St Mary College of Winchester 1 An 'obit' is a mass said for the soul of a deceased founder or benefactor on the anniversary of his death. * E.g. the chantry at Burton-on-Trent paid 2s. a year towards the maintenance of a lamp in the church of Allestree (Hibbert, Dissolution, p. 69). FIRST ACT OF UNIFORMITY 107 besides "Winchester of the foundation of Bishop Wykeham; nor to the College of Eton; nor to the parish church commonly called the Chapel in the Sea^, in Newton within the Isle of Ely in the county of Cambridge; nor to any manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments to them or any of them pertaining or belonging; nor to any chapel made or ordained for the ease of the people dwelling distant from the parish church, or such like chapel whereunto no more lands or tenements than the churchyard or a little house or close doth belong or pertain; nor to any cathedral church or college where a bishop's see is within this realm of Eng- land or Wales, nor to the manors, lands, tenements, or other hereditaments of any of them, other than to such chantries, obits, lights, and lamps, or any of them, as at any time within five years next before the beginning of this present Parliament have been had, used, or maintained within the said cathedral churches or within any of them, or of the issues, revenues, or profits of any of the said cathedral churches; to which chantries, obits, lights, and lamps it is enacted by the authority aforesaid that this Act shall extend. I Edw. VI, c. 14: Statutes of the Realm, iv, 24. First A ct of Uni f ormity,,^^ j|;.|Ua.^ The revolution in-^^SC^^EsbiB, which this Act accompUs loc arana d i occsai} ^ ^ L\Piii te''HrMri.?:.^ singfe _form ^^^^^ ^^ ki ngdom . I'ne most wiHelylEnbwnor me oKl^^^^ of Sarum, anftfii^ was adopted as the basis of the hew prayer-book; but the drafting commission had before it much other material, including in particular the reformed Breviary published by Cardinal Quignon in 1535. Cranmer had made a profound study of existing liturgies, Eastern as well as Western^, and thus it was from a variety of sources that the compilers of the first Eng- lish Prayer-Book drew their inspiration. (2) The use^fdie vernacular throui by the Act. Ihis w an Roman riifs was on the whole JLutheran rather than Komap, py resembling in some 1 This was a college or large chantry, consisting of a warden and several chap- lains, founded by Sir John Colvill in the reign of Henry IV (Tanner, Notitia Monastica, p. 54). "The lands of the chantry were afterwards annexed to the rectory of Newton. * A catalogue of Granmer's library has been reconstructed which shews that it contained a number of books on the eucharistic controversy and was rich in works bearing on liturgical questions. These books shew signs of having been carefully studied, and many are underhned and annotated with marginal notes. * Wherie the vernacular is a translation from the Latin it is often much more than a mere translation. See Gwatkin, p. 1 86. io8 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI Mass of 1526; and the reduction of the Roman daily service arranged in Hours to Matins and Evensong is in particular characteristically Lutheran. The influence is also apparent of the liturgy prepared by Hermann von Wied, the deprived Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, with the assistance of Luther himself. But the resemblances are due 'not so niuch to conscious imitation as to the common conservatism which characterised the Lutheran and Anglican service-books, and led to the retention in them of many Catholic usages which Reformed churches in Europe rejected.'^ An Act for the Uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm Where of long time there hath been had in this realm of England and Wales divers forms of common prayer commoidy called the service of the Church, that is to say, the use of Sarum, of York, of Bangor, and of Lincoln^; And besides the same now of late much more divers and sundry forms and fashions have been used in the cathedral and parish churches of England and Wales, as well concerning the matins or morning prayer and the evensong, as also concerning the Holy Communion commonly called the Mass, with divers and sundry rites and ceremonies con- cerning the same, and in the administration of other sacraments of the Church; And as the doers and executors of the said rites and ceremonies in other form than of late years they have been used were pleased therewith, so other not using the same rites and ceremonies were thereby greatly offended; And albeit the King's Majesty, with the advice of his most entirely beloved uncle the Lord Protector and other of his Highness's Council, hath heretofore divers times assayed to stay innovations or new rites concerning the premises, yet the same hath not had such good success as his Highness required in that behalf; whereupon his Highness by the most prudent advice aforesaid, being pleased to bear with the frailty and weakness of his subjects in that behalf, of his great clemency hath not been only content to abstain from punishm^t of those that have offended in that behalf, for that his Highness taketh that they did it of a good zeal, but also to the intent a uniform, quiet, and godly order should be had concerning the premises, hath appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury and cer- tain of the most learned and discreet bishops andxpther learhed 1 Pollard, Cranmer, p. 220. ^ 2 The Use of Sarum prevailed in the south of England and ovW the greater part of Scodand and Ireland. The not very dissimilar uses of York, Lincoln, Bangor, and Hereford were adopted in the north of England and in Wales. Thfe Sarum Use represents the Roman rite of the eleventh century, before the changes introduced by Gregory VII and his successors {Catholic Encyclopedia; see also W. H. Frere, Tk Use of Sarum). FIRST ACT OF UNIFORMITY 109 men of this realm to consider and ponder the premises, and there- upon having as well eye and respect to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Scripture as to the usages in the primitive Church, should draw and make one convenient and meet order, rite, and fashion of common and open prayer and administration of the sacraments, to be had and used in his Majesty's realm of England and in Wales; the which at this time, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement is of them concluded, set forth, and delivered to his Highness, to his great comfort and quietness of mind, in a book entitled The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the Use of the Church of England : Wherefore the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, con- sidering as well the most godly travail of the King's Highness, of the Lord Protector, and other of his Highness's Council, in gather- ing and collecting the said archbishop, bishops, and learned men together, as the godly prayers, orders, rites, and ceremonies in the said book mentioned, and the considerations of altering those things which be altered and retaining those things which be retained in the said book, but also the honour of God, and great quietness which by the grace of God shall ensue upon the one and uniform rite and order in such common prayer and rites and extern ceremonies^, to be used throughout England and in Wales, at Calais, and the marches of the same, do give to his Highness most hearty and lowly thanks for the same, and humbly pray that it may be ordained and enacted by his Majesty, with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, that all and singular person and persons that have offended concerning the premises, other than such person and persons as now be and remain in ward in the Tower of London or in the Fleet, may be pardoned thereof: and that all and singular ministers in any cathedral or parish church, or other place within this realm of England, Wales, Calais, and marches of the same, or other the King's dominions, shall from and after the Feast of Pentecost next coming be bounden to say and use the matins, evensong, celebra- tion of the Lord's Supper commonly called the Mass, and admin- istration of each of the sacraments, and all their common and open prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the said book and none other or otherwise. IL And albeit that the same be so godly and good that they ^ Outward ceremonies. no CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI give occasion to every honest and conformable man most willingly to embrace them, yet lest any obstinate person who willingly would disturb so godly order and quiet in this realm should not go unpunished, that it may also be ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any manner of parson, vicar, or other whatsoever minister that ought or should sing or say common prayer mentioned in the said book or minister the sacraments, shall after the said Feast of Pentecost next coming refuse to use the said common prayers or to minister the sacraments in such cathedral or parish church or other places as he should use or minister the same, in such order and form as they be mentioned and set forth in the said book, or shall use, wilfully and obstinately standing in the same, any other rite, ceremony, order, form, or manner of mass, openly or privily, or matins, evensong, admin- istration of the sacraments, or other open prayer than is mentioned and set forth in the said book; open prayer in and thrbughout this Act is meant that prayer which is for other to come unto and hear, either in common churches or private chapels or oratories, commonly called the Service of the Church; or shall preach, de- clare, or speak anything in the derogation or depraving^ of the said book or anything therein contained or of any part thereof, and shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the laws of this realm by verdict of twelve men, or by his own confession, 6r by the notorious evidence of the fact, shall lose and forfeit to the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, for his first oiFencei the profit of such one of his spiritual benefices or promotions as it shall please the King's Highness to assign or appoint coming and arising in one whole year next after his conviction; and also that the same person so convicted shall for the same offence suffer imprisonment by the space of six months without bail or main- prize^; and if any such person once convict of any offence con- cerning the premises shall after his first conviction eftsoons^ offend and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convict, that then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment by the space of one whole year, and also shall therefor be deprived ipso facto of all his spiritual promotions; and that it shall be lawful to all patrons, donors, and grantees of all and singular the same spiritual promotions to present to the same any other able clerk in like manner and form as though the party so offending were dead : And that if any such person or persons, after he shall be twice convicted in form aforesaid, shall offend against any of the 1 Vilifying or disparaging 2 See note on p. 10 above. * A second time. FIRST ACT OF UNIFORMITY iii premises the third time and shall be thereof in form aforesaid law- fully convicted, that then the person so offending and convicted the third time shall suffer imprisonment during his life : And if the person that shall offend or be convict in form aforesaid con- cerning any of the premises shall not be beneficed nor have any spiritual promotion, that then the same person so offending and convict shall for the first offence suffer imprisonment during six months without bail or mainprize; and if any such person not having any spiritual promotion after his first conviction shall eftsoons offend in anything concerning the premises and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convicted, that then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment during his life. III. And it is ordained and enacted bythe authority above-said, that if any person or persons whatsoever, after the said Feast of Pentecost next coming, shall in any interludes, plays, songs, rhymesj or by other open words, declare or speak anything in the derogation, depraving, or despising of the same book or of anything therein contained or any part thereof, or shall by open fact'-, deed, or by open threatenings compel or cause or otherwise procure or main- tain any parson, vicar, or other minister, in any cathedral or parish church or in any chapel or other place, to sing or say any common and open prayer or to minister any sacrament otherwise or in any other manner or form than is mentioned in the said book, or that by any of the said means shall unlawfully interrupt or let^ any parson, vicar, or other ministers in any cathedral or parish church, chapel, or any other place to sing or say common and open prayer or to minister the sacraments or any of them in any such manner and form as is mentioned in the said book, That then every person being thereof lawfully convicted in form above- said shall forfeit to the King our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, for the first offence ten pounds; And if any person or persons, being once convict of any such offence, eftsoons offend against any of the premises and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convict, that then the same person so offending and con- vict shall for the second offence forfeit to the King our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, twenty pounds; And if any person, after he in form aforesaid shall have been twice convict of any offence concerning any of the premises, shall offend the third time and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convict, that then every person so offending and coQvict shall for his third offence ^ In the sixteenth century the commonest sense of 'fact' was an evil deed or crime. * Hinder or obstruct. 112 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI forfeit to our Sovereign Lord the King all his goods and chattels and shall suffer imprisonment during his life : And if any person or persons that for his first offence concerning the premises shall be convict in form aforesaid do not pay the sum to be paid by virtue of his conviction, in such manner and form as the same bught to be paid, within six weeks next after his conviction. That then every person so convict and so not paying the same shall for the same first offence, instead of the said ten pounds, suffer imprisonment by the space of three months without bail or main- prize; And if any person or persons that for his second offence concerning the premises shall be convict in form aforesaid do not pay the sum to be paid by virtue of his conviction, in such manner and form as the same ought to be paid, within six weeks next after his said second conviction. That then every person so convict and not so paying the same shall for the same second offence, instead of the said twenty pounds, suffer imprisonment during six months without bail or mainprize. ****** VI. Provided always that it shall be lawful to any man that understandeth the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew tongue, or other strange tongue, to say and have the said prayers heretofore speci- fied of matins and evensong in Latin or any such other tongue, saying the same privately as they do understand: And for the further encouraging of learning in the tongues in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, to use and exercise in their common and open prayer in their chapels, being no parish churches or other places of prayer, the matins, evensong, litany, and all other prayers, the Holy Communion commonly called the Mass ex- cepted, prescribed in the said book, in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew; Anything in this present Act to the contrary notwithstanding. ****** 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. I : Statutes vf the Realm, iv, 37. The year 1549 *^so saw the paj^ing of an Act^ legalising the marriage of priests. This had been approved by Convocation as early as December, 1547, and Parliament now gave statutory authority to the change. The preamble of the Act affirms the desirability of celibacy for the clergy but admits its difficulties, and all positive laws prohibiting the marriage of ecclesi- astical or spiritual persons are therefore declared void. A proviso was, how- ever, inserted that nothing in the Act should 'extend to give any liberty to any person to marry without asking in church or without any other cere- mony being appointed' in the Book of Common Prayer. 1 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 21. The Act is printed in Gee and Hardy, p. 366. ACT AGAINST IMAGES 113 § 3. Later Religious 'Changes, 1550-53 The first phase of Edward VI's reign was now drawing to an end. In October 1 549 Somerset fell, the Protectorate was abolished, and the pre- ponderant influence in the government passed to the Earl of Warwick, afterwards Duke of Northumberland — 3. statesman as rapacious and more unscrupulous than Somerset,jand without his:}argeness of view. The result was a complete chanige of policy. In the constitutional sphere Warwick gradually ;«iipplanted .die Regency .which the will , of Henry VIII had set up, and brought the young King himself to the front in thegovernment. In the sphere of religion he abandoned the more cautious policy of the Pro- tector, and greatly accelerated the pace of the Reformation. He played the part assigned to him by Hooper df a 'faithful and intrepid soldier of Christ' and a' 'most hrily and "fearless instrument of the word of God'^; and when his policy had disclosed itself John ab Ulmis wroteof himtwo yrars later, 'He is manifestly the thunderboltand terror of the papists.'^ As far as religion is concerned, Cranmer ,is the link ,be.twefn the two periods, but .Cranmer had been carrying his ^edlqgical .speculations farther, and was prepared to travel on the road df innovation .far beyond the point which he had reached under the Protectorate. '{i) Act against superstitious Books and Images, 1550 This Act is one of the consequences of the First Act df Untforniity. As the useof the new Prayer Book was now established by law, the older service-books were unnecessary and were to be given up to be destroyed, -and the opportunity was taken to continue the, crusade against superstitious images in. churches. • An Actjor the abolishing and putting away of divers Books and Images Where tke King's most excellent Majesty hath of late set forth and established by authority iof Parliament an uniform, quiet, and godly order for common and open prayer, in a book entitled, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the Church df England, to be used and observed in the said Church of England, agreeable to the order of the primitive Church, much more conformable^ unto his loving subjects than other diversity of service as heretofore of long time hath been used, being in the said book ordained nothing to 'be read but the very pure word of God, or which is evidently grounded upon the same, And in the other things corrupt, untrue, vain, and superstitious, and as it were a preparation to superstition, which for that they be not called in but permitted to remain undefaced, do not only give occasion to such perverse persons as do impugn 1 Pollard, Polit. Hist. p. 46. * Gairdner, iii, 294. * Suitable. T. D. ^ 114 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI the order and godly meaning of the King's said Book of Common Prayer to continue in their old accustomed superstitious service, but also minister great occasion to diversity of opinions, rites, ceremonies, and services: Be it therefore enacted. . . that all books called antiphoners^, naissals, grails^, processionals, manuals, leg- ends^, pies^ portuises^, primers^ in Latin or English, couchers', journals^, ordinals^, or other books or writings whatsoever here- tofore used for service of the Church, written or printed in the English or Latin tongue, other than such as are or shall be set forth by the King's Majesty, shall be by authority of this present Act clearly and utterly abolished, extinguished, and forbidden for ever to be used or kept in this realm or elsewhere within any the King's dominions. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons of what estate, degree, or condition soever he, she, or tjiey be, body politic or corporate, that now have or hereafter shall have in his, her, or their custody any the books or writings of the sorts aforesaid, or any images of stone, timber, alabaster, or earth^", graven, carved, or painted, which heretofore have been taken out of any church or chapel, or yet stand in any church or chapel, and do not before the last day of June next ensuing deface and destroy or cause to be defaced and destroyed the same images and every of them, and deliver or cause to be delivered all and every the same books to the mayor, bailiff, con- stable, or churchwardens of the town where such books shall then be, to be by them delivered over openly within three months next following after the said delivery to the archbishop, bishop, chan- cellor, or commissary of the same diocese, to the intent the said archbishop^ bishop, chancellor, or commissary and every of them ^ Chant-books. , ^ A 'grail' 6r 'gradual' was an antiphon sung between the Epistle and the Gospel at the Eucharist from the steps of the altar. The reference here is to books of such antiphons. * Books of lessons, containing passages from Scripture or from the lives of the saints, for use at divine service. * 'Pies' were collections of rules for dealing with the concurrence of more than one office on the same day in consequence of the variations of Easter {Oxford Dic- tionary). ^ 'Poftuises' were portable breviaries. ' ' 8 'Primers' were prayer-books or devotional manuals. ' 'Couchers' were large breviaries which could not be held in the hand but had to be kept lying down on a desk or table. * Service-books containing the canonical day-hours. 8 'Ordinals' are here service-books setting forth the order of the service. " Clay. INJUNCTION CONCERNING THE ALTAR 115 cause them immediately either to be openly burnt or otherways defaced and destroyed, shall for every such book or books willingly retained in his, her, or their hands or custody within this realm or elsewhere within any the King's dominions, and not delivered as is aforesaid after the said last day, of June, and be thereof lawfully convict, forfeit and lose to the King our Sovereign Lord for the first offence twenty shillings, and for the second offence shall for- feit and lose being thereof lawfully convict four pounds, and for the third offence shall suffer imprisonment at the King's will. ****** V. Provided alway and be it enacted by the authority afore- said, That any person or persons may use, keep, have, and retain any primers in the English or Latin tongue set forth by the late King of famous memory, King Henry the Eighth^; so that the sentences of invocation or prayer to saints in the same primers be blotted or clearly put out of the same; anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. VI. Provided always, That this Act or anything therein con- tained shall not extend to any image or picture set or graven upon any tomb in any church, chapel, or churchyard only for a monu- ment of any king, prince, nobleman, or other dead person, which hath not been commonly reputed and taken for a saint; but that such pictures and images may stand and continue in like manner and form as if this Act had never been had or made; anything in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 10: Statutes of the Realm, iv, no. (2) Ridley's Injunction concerning the Altar, 1550 The Injunction concerning the Altar, included among the injunctions issued by Ridley at his visitation 'for an uniformity in his Diocese of London,' effected a visible change in public worship. The demolition of the altars had begun as early as 1548, when the altars of the dissolved chantries had been taken down; and now a general destruction of altars in the diocese took place, beginning with the removal of the High Altar in St Paul's Cathedral. , . . Whereas in divers places some use the Lord's board after the form of a table, and some of an altar, whereby dissension is perceived to arise among the unlearned; therefore, wishing a godly unity to be preserved in all our diocese, and for that the form of a table may more move and turn the simple from the old superstitious opinions of the Popish Mass, and to the right use of the Lord's Supper, we exhort the curates, churchwardens, and questmen^ here present, to erect and set up the Lord's board after ^ Henry VIII's Primer, a private prayer-book, had been set forth by authority in 1545. ^ Sidesmen. 8—2 ii6 CHURCH SETTUE]\;iENT OF EDWARD VI the form of an honest table decently covered, in such place bf the choir or chancel as Shall be thoiight most meet'by their discretion and agreemertt, so that the ministigrs mth the communicants may have their place separated from the rest of the people; and to take dotvn and abolish all other by^ltars or tables.. . . Burnet, Hhtiry'ofthe Reformation, pt li, bk. i, no. Hi. The policy df'RiUley was finally adopted by' the Council and applied to the whole kingdom. On November 24, 1550, an instruction was serit in the King's name to every bishop 'to give substantial order' that 'with all diligence all the altars in every church or chapel . . . within your said diocese to be taken down, and instead of them a table to be set up in some convenient part of the chancel within every such church or chapel, to serve for the ministration of the blessed comrtiUnion.'^ (3LSecondjLsUjLUiufQiUJ3it^^ This Act inip(^g^diiggg,jjTi^.^^2XH)rider penalties a revisedPrayCT^ook, and siibjeJSed' to imprisonment laymen wfio snouM'tf^^'^S'^TS^^^^'^han tho se'goi3S n&a'in"fflrrre^^ was lEffin^TIiewoFlfSrcranmer, assisted by Ridley. Bucer and Peter Martyr gave advice and criticism, but itis probable that the influence of foreign divines in its compilation has been much racaggerated. It is neitherLutheran, nor Calvinistic, nor even 2Jwinglian, although the alterations in the Com- munion Service Isrought it very near to the Zwinglian conception of the Lbrd's Supper as a rite thit was merely commemorative^. As' Convocation was not consulted and the book was not modified by Parliament, it may 'be f^artlfed as reflectingi»^ei»a*n««lwafiSSMt^ If the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI is compared with the First?, a number of differences will be observed, but the following are perhaps the most significant: (i) In the First Prayer Book Matins and Evensong had begun with the Lord's Prayer; in the Second Book in Morningiand Evening Prayer there are inserted before it the Sentences, the Exhortation, the Cteneral Confession, and the Absolution, as they stand in the Prayer Book now — for the First Book had contemplated auricular confession, and the General Confession in the Second Bpok is the reformers' substitute for it. .(2) In the First Book, in the service for 'The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion commonly called the Mass,' the priest had been instructed to stand 'humbly afore the midst of the altar'; in the Second Book, in 'The Order for Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion,' he is to stand^'at the north side of the table,' and the word 'altar' is changed wherever it occurs. Further, it was only by the resistance of Cranmer to a determined effort on the part of Knox and Hooper that the rubric was re- tained which required the communicants to receive the sacrament kneeling. ^ This instruction is printed in Cardwell, i, 89. " 'It is dear that whatever foreign inspiration there may have been was Zwing- lian rather than Calvinistic, and that the point of view adopted was not exactly that of any foreign church or any foreign divine in England' (Pollard, Polit. Hist. p. 69). * See Cardwell, TAe two Booh. . .compared. Cheap reprints of both books have been published by Messrs Griffith, Farran, Browne & Co., 35, Bow Street, E.C. SECOND ACT OF UNIFORMITY 117 These changes shew hpw hr Cranmer had.moved from the doctrine of the Real Presence which he formerly held, towards a communion of simple remembrance*. (3) The First Book, in a rubric concerning vestments pre- fixed to the Communion Service, had i^equired'the officiating priest to wear 'a white alb plain, with a vestment or cope'5 the Second Book, in a rubric prefixed to the Order for Morning Prayer, had ordered 'that the minister at the time of the Communion and at all other times in his ministration shall use neither alb, vestment, nor cope; but being archbishop or bishop, he shall haye and wear a rochet; and being a priest or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only;' (4) The First Book retained while the second exr eluded prayers for the dead. In the First Book the prayer for all men in the Communion Service had been introduced by the words 'Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church,' and it had offered 'most high praise and hearty thanks .for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all; Thy saints from the h@ginning of the world: And chiefly in the glorious and most blessed; Virgiij, Mary, Mother of Thy Son jesu Christ our Lordf^ndOpdj and in the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs.' It also con- tained the petition, 'We commend unto Thy mercy, O Lord, all other Thy servants which are departed hence from us with the sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace.' In the Second Book these passages are omitted*, and in order to, give no colour to the idea that prayers fbr the dead are in- ti^ded, the opening phrase is amended so as to read: 'Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in ^rth.' (5) The direction to reserve the Sacrament for the sick is withdrawn; the anointing of the child in Baptism- is abolished; and the Bishop is no longer to sign with the cross in confirmation. An Att.for the Uniformityi of Common Ptof^er and Administration' of the Sacraments Where there hath been a very godly order set fprth^ by authority of Parliament for common prayer and the administra- tion of the sacraments, to be used in the mother tongue within the Church of England, agreeablte. to the word of God ai^d the primitive Church, very comfortablte to. all good' people desiring to live in Christian conversation, and most profitable to the estate of this realm, upon the which the mercy, ^vour, and bltessing of Almighty God is in no wise so readily and' plenteously poured as by common prayers, due using of the sacrariients, and often 1 'The best summing up of Cranmer'si views may ... be given in his own word? : "figuratively He is the bread and wine, and spiritually He is in them that worthily eat and drink the bread and wine; but reallyj carnally, and corporally He is only in Heaven, from whence Hie shall come to judge the quick and the dead." These words represent Cranmer's mature opinion, from which he only varied, during some six weeks in 1556; and when that moment of weakness, had passed he returned to the position here indicated. . .' (PoUardi Cranmer, p. 243). 2 The sentence beginning 'We bless Thy most Holy name for all Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear' was not inserted in the Prayer Book until 1662. ii8 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF EDWARD VI preaching of Gospel, with the devotion of the hearers; And yet this notwithstanding, a great number of people in divers parts of this realm, following their own sensuality and living either without knowledge or due fear of God, do wilfully and damnably before Almighty God abstain and refuse to come to their parish churches and other places where common prayer, administration of the sacraments, and preaching of the word of God is used, upon the Sundays and other days ordained to be holy days: For reforma- tion hereof be it enacted. . .that from and after the Feast of All Saints next coming, all and every person and persons inhabiting within this realm or any other the King's Majesty's dominions, shall diligently and faithfully, having no lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent, endeavour themselves to resort to their parish church or chapel accustomed, or upon reasonable let^ thereof to some usual place where common prayer and such service of God shall be used in such time of let, upon every Sunday and other da,ys ordained and used to be kept as holy days, and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the common prayer, preachings, or other service of God there to be used and ministered; upon pain of punishment by the censures of the Church. II. And for the due execution hereof the King's most ex- cellent Majesty, the Lords temporal, and all the Commons in this present assembled, doth in Gfod's name earnestly require and charge all the archbishops, bishops, and other ordinaries^ that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their know- ledge that the due and true execution hereof may be had through- out their dioceses and charges, as they will answer before God for such evils and plagues wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his people for neglecting this good and wholesome law. III. And for their authority in this behalf, be it further like- wise enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all and singular the same archbishops, bishops, and all other their officers exercisifig ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as well in place exempt as not exempt^ within their diocese, shall have full power and authority by this Act to reform, correct, and punish by censures of the Church all and singular persons which shall offend within any their juris- dictions or dioceses after the said Feast of All Saints next coming against this Act and Statute; any other law, statute, privilege, liberty, or provision heretofore made, had, or suffered to the con- trary notwithstanding. 1 Hindrance. 2 See note on p. 66 above. ^ See note on p. 51 above. SECOND ACT OF UNIFORMITY 119 IV. And because there hath arisen in the use and exercise of the foresaid common service in the Church heretofore set forth, divers doubts for the fashion and manner of the ministration of the same, rather by the curiosity of the minister, and mistakers, than of any other worthy cause; therefore as well for the more plain and manifest explanation hereof as for the more perfection of the said order of common service, in some places where it is necessary to make the same prayers and fashion of service more earnest and fit to stir Christian people to the true honouring of Almighty God; The King's most excellent Majesty, with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, hath caused the fore- said order of common service entitled The Book of Common Prayer to be faithfully and godly perused, explained, and made fully perfect, and by the foresaid authority hath annexed and joined it so explained and perfected to this present Statute^, adding also a form and manner of making and consecrating arch- bishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, to be of like force, author- ity, and value as the same like foresaid book entitled The Book of Common Prayer was before, and to be accepted, received, used, and esteemed in like sort and manner, and with the same clauses of provisions and exceptions to all intents, constructions, and purposes, as by the Act of Parliament made in the second year of the King's Majesty's reign was ordained and limited, expressed and appointed, for the Uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm^, upon such several pains as in the said Act of Parliament is expressed : And the said former Act to stand in full force and strength to all intents and constructions, and to be applied, practised, and put in ure^ to and for the establishing of the Book of Common Prayer now explained and hereunto annexed ^, and also the said form of making of archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons hereunto annexed, as it was for the former book. V. And by the authority aforesaid it is now further enacted, that if any manner of person or persons inhabiting and being within this realm or any other the King's Majesty's dominions shall after the said Feast of All Saints willingly and wittingly hear and be present at any other manner or form of common prayer, of administration of the sacraments, of making of ministers in the churches, or of any other rites contained in the book annexed to this Act^ than is mentioned and set forth in the said book or that 1 The Book is not on the Parliament Roll nor in the Parliament Office. ^ See p. 108 above. ' See note on p. 23 above. 120 CHURCH SETTEEMENT OF EDWARD VI is contrary to'thp form of sundry provisions and exceptions con- tained in the foresaid former Statute;, and shall be thereof con- victed, according; to the laws of this realm beefore- the JJustieey ©£ Assize, Justices of Oyer and Terminer, Justices of Peace in their sessions, or any of themi, by the verdict of twelve men or by his or their own confession or otherwise, shall for the first offence suffer imprisonment for six months without bail or mainprize^, and for the second offence being likewise convicted as is above- said imprisonment for one whole year, and for the third offeruee in. like manner imprisonment during his or their lives. VI. And for the more knowledge tO' be given hereof and better observation of this law, be it enacted by the authority afore*- said that all and singular curates shall upon one Sunday every quarter of the year, during; one whole year next following the foresaid Feast of All Saints next coming, read this present Act in' the church at theitime of the most assembly, and likewise onee in every year following; At the same time declaring unto the people by the authority of the Scripture how the mercy and good- ness of God hath in all ages been shewed to his people in- theiu necessities and extremities by means of hearty and faithful prayers made- to Almighty God; especially where people be gathered together with one faith) and mind to offer up their hearts by prayer, as the best sacrifices that Christian men can. yield. 5 & &< Edw. VI, c. I : Statutes of the Realm, iv> 130^ * See n'oteon' p. 10 sbore. The Church Settlement of Mary bases. T he firefc, ^Bishop of The religious; history of Mary?s. reign from 1553. to 1554, was presmea over oy Stephen Winchester, who in the reign ofi the Queen's predecessor had specially re presented the policy of Henry VIII. The second,. from 1-554. to 1558, saw the Spanish marriage, and the eclipse of Gardiner's influence by that of Cardinal P&le, who as Papal Legate carried great weight with the Queen. In the first Dha5i(;iitlafii,iMiflidr>.iafcMTWflid.-iSTiiiiyi^^^ hj the Papal authority operating by m^ns of bulls from Ro^gy^e>m^^ tut iortai process wiu j ^ Ji^tLMi ^S w^P^^^SX^^^^^^^^ — "'" '"" statutes passed in Parliamgql^^Qd P3rtly,_fay die Ro" by visitation'aSiT1!l|tinctioa undoing of the work of Henry VllK am schisSiiirsfstg-'*-"*'^^^"*^^ san nee— partly by remacy wonsif^g the This Act 'involved the renunciatioj eftorts dunHg Tttff'llreCEflmiV reign- — the m Mary's First Statut£LQLRfineaL-XS.S.q ^)jbj^P^«te«£C.Scpn^er's feign- — the iietomied Liturgy, the First and Second-BoSls'SFX^iSmBin^ra^i^'^T^ both kinrCandirrFeeogSmffif^ not allowed to pass without considerable opposition.'^ /in Act for the Repeal of certain Statutes made in the time of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth Forasmuch as by dlvetrs and. several Acts hereafter metir- tioned^! as well the divine service and good administration of the sacraments as divers other matters of religion' which we and our forefathers found in- this Church of England to us left by the authority of the Catholic Church, be partly altered and in some part, taken from us, and in place thereof new things imagined and set forth by the said Acts, such as a few of singularity have of themselves, devised, whereof hath ensued, amongst us in very short time numbers of divers and strange opinions; and diversities of sects, and thereby growni great unquietness and much discord", to the great disturbance of the common wealth^ of this realmi,and in very short time like to grow to extreme peril and utter confusion of the same, unltess some remedy be in that behalf provided, which thing all true, loving, and obedient subjects ought and are bounden to foresee and provide to the uttermost of their power : In consideration whereof Be it enacted [here follows- the repeal of i Edw. VI, c. i, concerning the Sacrament: af the Altar; ^ C.M.H. ii, 522. * See note on p. 33 above. 122 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF MARY I Edw. VI, c. 2, concerning the Election of Bishops; 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. I, the First Act of Uniformity ; 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 21, con- cerning the Marfiage of Priests; 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 10, concerning Images; 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 12, 'An Act for the ordering of Ecclesi- astical Ministers'; 5 Si 6 Edw. VI, c. i, the Second Act of Uni- formity; 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 3, 'An Act for the Keeping of Holy Days and Fasting Days' ; and S ^ ^ Edw. VI, c. 12, a declaratory Act concerning the Marriage of Pries ts'\. II. And Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all such Divine Service and Administration of Sacraments as were most commonly used in the realm of England in the last year of the reign of our late Sovereign Lord King Henry the Eighth, shall be, from and after the 20th day of December in this present year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred fifty and three, used and frequented through the whole realm of England and all other the Queen's Majesty's dominions; And that no other kind nor order of Divine Service nor Administration of Sacra- ments be after the said 20th day of December used or ministered in any other manner, form, or degree within the said realm of England or other the Queen's dominions than was most com- monly used, ministered, and frequented in the said last year of the reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth. ^ ^ ^|t ^ # # I Mary, St. 2, c. 2: Statutes of the Realm, iv, 202. The Statute of Repeal was followed by the Marian Injunctions of 1 554^ which are probably the work of Bonner. They were sent by the Queen to the bishops for enforcement in Malrch. Unlike the important constructive injunctions of Henry VIII and Edward VI, these merely require the bishops to restore the old order within their respective jurisdictions. They are to 'have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight' to see that heretics are not admitted to benefices; they are 'diligently' to 'travail for die repressing of heresies and notable crimes, especially in the clergy' and ' for the condemning and repressing of corruptand naughty opinions, unlawful books, ballads, and other perriicious and hurtful devices^ engendering hatred among the people and discord among the same'; and they are to punish and remove 'schoolmasters, preachers, and teachers' who set forth 'any evil or corrupt doctrine.' Married priests are to be deprived 'with all celerity and speed'; Latin processions are to be revived; such holy days and fasting days are to be kept as in ' the latter time of King Henry VI 11 ' ; and ' laudable and honest ceremonies' are to be revived. X^ljActj^oncerning^^ The Spanish marriage wasweiywTieiFmwtunpo^S. 'ffle marriage treaty was signed at Westminster on January 1 2, 1 554, and was immediately ^ Printed in Gee and Hardy, p. 380. ACT CONCERNING THE REGAL POWER 123 followed by Sir Peter Carew's insurrection in Devonshire, and by the much more formidable rising, under Sir Thomas Wyatt in Kent. When Parlia- ment met on April 2 to confirm the treaty, the precaution was taken of vesting the regal power by statute in the Queen as fully as it had ever been vested in a king, so as to remove all excuse for foreign meddling. The con- stitutional importance of this statute lies in the fact that it finally disposed of the doctrine that a woman could not succeed to the throne of England in her own right. An Act declaring that the Regal Power of this Realm is in the Queen's Majesty as fully and absolutely as ever it was in any of her most noble Progenitors, Kings of this Realm Forasmuch as the imperial Crown of this realm, with all dignities, honours, prerogatives, authorities, jurisdictions, and preeminences thereunto annexed, united, and belonging, by the Divine Providence of Almighty God is most lawfully, justly, and rightfully descended and come unto the Queen's Highness that now is, being the very true and undoubted heir and inheritrix thereof, and invested in her most Royal Person, according unto the laws of this realm; And by force and virtue of the same all regal power, dignity, honour, authority, prerogative, preemi- nence, and jurisdictions doth appertain, and of right ought to apper- tain and belong unto her Highness, as to the sovereign supreme Governor and Queen of this realm and the dominions thereof, in as full, large, and ample manner as it hath done heretofore to any other her most noble progenitors, kings of this realm: Never- theless the most ancient statutes of this realm being made by Kings then reigning, do not only attribute and refer all preroga- tive, preeminence, power, and jurisdiction royal unto the name of King, but also do give, assign, and appoint the correction and punishment of all offenders against the regality and dignity of the Crown and the laws of this realm unto the King; By occasion whereof the malicious and ignorant persons may be hereafter in- duced and persuaded unto this error and folly, to think that her Highness could nor should have, enjoy, and use such like royal aulJbority, power, preeminence, prerogative, and jurisdiction, nor do nor execute and use all things concerning the said statutes, and take the benefit and privilege of the same, nor correct and punish offenders against her most Royal Person and the regality and dignity of the Crown of this realm and the dominions thereof, as the kings of this realm her most noble progenitors have here- tofore done, enjoyed, used, and exercised: For the avoiding and clear extinguishment of which said error or doubt, and for a plain declaration of the laws of this realm in that behalf; Be it declared 124 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF MARY and enacted: by the authority of this present Parliament, that the law of this realm is and ever hath been- and ought to be under- stood, that the kingly or regal' office of the realm, and.' all dignities, prerogative royal^ power, preeminences, privilfeges, authorities,, and jurisdictions thereunto annexed, united, or ber longing, being invested either in male or femaJe,. are and, be and ought to be as fully, wholly, absolutely, and entirely deemed, judged, accepted, invested, and taken in the one as in the other; so that what and whensoever statute or law doth limit and appoint that the King of this realm may or shall have, executCj and do anything as King, or doth give any profit or commodity to the King, or doth limit or appoint any pains or punishment for the correction of offenders or transgressors against the regality and dignity of the King or of the Crown, The same the Queen (being supreme Governess, possessor, and inheritor to the imperial Crown of this realm as our said Sovereign Lady the Queen most justly presently is) may by the same authority and power like- wise have, execcise, execute^ punish, correct, and do, to all intents, constructions, and purposes, without doubt, ambiguity, scruple, or question: Any custom, use, or scEuplCj or any other thing whatsoever tobe made to the contrary notwithstanding. I Mary, st. 2i c i : Statutes of the R^a/m',.ivj 222. (3) Act reviving the Heresy Laws, 1554 An attempt to restore the heresy laws hadi already been, made in the Queen's secojtjd-Parliapient,, where two bills, one reviving; the statutes: against the LoUards and the other the Act of Six Articles>,had. passed the. Commons, but had failed to pass the Lords. In the third Parliament this question g^ye little trouble and thus the way was prepared for the Marian persecution. A^ Act. for) the renemmg of three Statutes made for the pumshmenti of Uemsiest For the eschewing and avoiding of errors and heresies which of late have risen, grown, and much increased within this realm, for that the ordinariies^' have wanted authority to proceed against those that were infected therewith : Be it therefore ordained and enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, That the Statute made in the fifth year of the neign of King Richard the Second concerning the arresting and apprehension of erroneous and heretiiea-I preachers^, And one other Statute made in the '^ See.note on p.. 66. ' * 5 Rich. IT, c. 5, the forged Act of 1 3 82, authorising the secular, authorities, on the certificate of the bishops, to arrest heretical; preachers. For an account of this Act see Stephen, ii, 443. SECOND STATUTE OF REPEAL 125 second year of the reign of King Henry the Fourth concerning the repressing of heresies and punishment of heretics^, And also one other Statute made in the second year of the reign of King Henry the Fifth concerning the suppression of heresy and iLoUardy^, and every article, branch, and sentence contained in the same three several Acts and every of them, shall from the '2oth day off January next coming be revived and be in full force, strength, and effect, to all intents, constructions, and purposes for I & 2 Philip & Mary, c. 6: Statutes of the Realm, iv, 244. (4) Mary's Second Statute of Repeal, 1555 On November: 29, 1554, Mary's third Parliament passed a petition for reconciliation with Rome, and on St Andrew's Day (November 30J the "King and Queen in Parliament assembled received at Whitehall solemn ■absolution at the harids of Cardinal Pole as Papal Legate. On the following Sunday, being the First Sunday in Advent, even Gardiner abandoned his position as the defender of the work of Henry VIII in a sermon at St Paul's •from the text, 'Now it is high time to awake out of sleep!' The Second Statute of Repeal may be regarded as embodying the terms of the bargain with the Papacy. It made a clean sweep of all the Acts passed against Rome since the year 1528, with an important exception — it did not repeal the Dissolution Acts. Indeed, a considerable part of the enacting clauses of the Statute is devoted to securing'the rights of the holders of the abbey lands.- This was the price which Mary had to pay to the English nobility for the reconciliation with Rome. An Act repealing all Statutei, Articles, and Provisions made against the See Apostolic of Rome since the 20th year of King Henry the Eighth, and also for the establishment of all Spiritual and •Ecclesiastical Possessions and Hereditaments conveyed to the Laity Whereas since the 20th year of King Henry the Eighth of famous memory, father unto your Majesty our most natural Sovereign and gracious Lady and Queen, much false and errone- ous doctrine hath been taught, preached, and written, partly by divers the natural-born sub^'ects of this realm, and partly being bi-ought in hither from sundry other foreign countries, hath been sown and spread abroad within the same; By reason whereof as -well the spiritualty as the temporalty of your Highness's realms fand dominions have swerved from the obedience of the See ■Apostolic and declined from the unity of Christ's Church, and so have continued, until such time as your Majesty being first raised up by God and set in the seat royal over us, and then by 1 2 Henr. IV, c. 1 5 (1401): see p. 95 above. 2 2 Henr. V, st. i, c. 7(1414): see p. 95 above. 126 CHURCH SETTLEMENT OF MARY his divine and gracious Providence knit in marriage with the most noble and virtuous prince, the King our Sovereign Lord your husband, the Pope's Holiness and the See Apostolic sent hither unto your Majesties (as unto persons undefiled and by God's goodness preserved from the common infection aforesaid) a,nd to the whole realm, The most Reverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pole, Legate de latere, to call us home again into the right way, from whence we have all this long while wandered and strayed abroad: And we after sundry long and grievous plagues and calamities, seeing by the goodness of God our own errors, have acknowledged the same unto the said most Reverend Father, and by him have been and are the rather at the con- templation of your Majesties received and embraced into the unity and bosom of Christ's Church; and upon our humble sub- mission and promise made, for a declaration of our repentance, to repeal and abrogate such acts and statutes as had been made in Parliament since the said 20th year of the said King Henry, the Eighth against the Supremacy of the See Apostolic, as in our submission exhibited to the said most Reverend Father in God by your Majesties appeareth: The tenor whereof ensueth: We the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons assembled in this present Parliament, representing the whole body of the realm of England and the dominions of the same, In the name of ourselves particularly and also of the said body univer- sally in this our supplication directed to your Majesties, with most humble suit that it may by your Graces' intercession and meani be exhibited to the most Reverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pole, Legate sent specially hither from our most Holy Father the Pope Julius the Third and the See Apostolic of Rome, Do declare ourselves very sorry and repentant of the schism and disobedience committed in this realm and dominions aforesaid against the said See Apostolic, either by making, agreeing, or executing any laws, ordinances, or commandments against the Supfeniacy of the said See, or otherwise doing or speaking that might impugn the same; offering ourselves and promising by this our supplication that for a token and knowledge of our said repentance we be and shall be always ready, under and with the authorities of your Majesties, to the utmost of our powers, to do that shall lie in us for the abrogation and repealing of the said laws and ordinances in this present Parliament as well for our- selves as for the whole body whom we represent: Whereupon we most humbly desire your Majesties, as personages undefiled in ^ See note on p. 65 above. SECOND STATUTE OF REPEAL 127 the oiFence of this body towards the said See, which nevertheless God by his Providence hath made subject to you, To set forth this our most humble suit that we may obtain from the See Apos- tolic by the said most Reverend Father, as well {particularly as generally, absolution, release, and discharge from all danger of such censures and sentences^ as by the laws of the Church we be fallen into: And that we may as children repentant be received into the bosom and unity of Christ's Church, so as this noble realm with all the members thereof may in this unity and perfect obedience to the See Apostolic and Popes for the time being serve God and your Majesties to the furtherance and advancement of his honour and glory, We are at the intercession of your Majesties by the authority of our Holy Father Pope Julius the Third and of the See Apostolic assoiled, discharged, and delivered from excommunication, interdictions, and other censures ecclesiastical which hath hanged over our heads for our said defaults since the time of the said schism mentioned in our supplication. It may now like your Majesties that for the accomplishment of our promise made in the said supplication, that is to repeal all laws and statutes made contrary to the said Supremacy and See Apos- tolic during the said schism, the which is to be understood since the 20th year of the reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth, and so the said Lord Legate doth accept and recognise the same. [II repeals the clauses of 21 Henr. VIII, c. 13 (in restraint of plurali- ties) which forbade the procuring from Rome of dispensations for pluralities or non-residence.] [Ill repeals 23 Henr. VIII, c. 9, in restraint of citations; 24 Henr. VIII, c. 1 2, in restraint of appeals; 23 Henr. VIII, c. 20, for the conditional restraint of annates; 25 Henr. VIII, c. 19, for the submission of the clergy; 25 Henr. VIII, c. 20, in absolute restraint of annates and for the election of bishops; and 25 Henr. VIII, c. 21, the Dispensations Act.] [IV repeals 26 Henr. VIII, c. i, the Act of Supremacy; 26 Henr. VIII, c. 14, for the consecration of suffragans; 27 Henr. VIII, c. 15, for the appointment of a commission of 32 persons for the making of ecclesiastical laws; 28 Henr. VIII, c. 10, 'extinguishing the authority of the Bishop of Rome'; 28 Henr. VIII, c. 16, 'for the release of such as have obtained pre- tended licences and dispensations from the see of Rome'; 28 Henr. VIII, c. 7, § 7, i.e. that part of the Second Succession Act which 'concerneth a prohibition to marry within the degrees expressed in the said Act '2; 31 Henr. VIII, c. 9, authorising the King to erect new bishoprics and to appoint bishops to them by letters patent; 32 Henr. VIII, c. 38, ' concerning 1 'Sentence' is applied technically to the judgment of an ecclesiastical court. ^ This had contained a provision that persons marrying within the prohibited degrees should be separated by judgment of the Bishop's Court, without any appeal to Rome. raS CHURCH SETHLEMENT OF MARY pre-contracts of marriages and degrees of consanguinity''.; and 35 Henr. Vm,