History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. III

440

The late parliament had become a byword among the Catholics and reactionaries. Pole speaks of the “Conventus malignantium qui omnia illa decreta contra Ecclesiæ unitatem fecit.” —Epist. Reg. Pol. Vol. II. p. 46.

441

“For your Grace’s parliament I have appointed (for a crown borough) your Grace’s servant Mr. Morison, to be one of them. No doubt he shall be able to answer or take up such as should crack on far with literature of learning.” – Cromwell to Henry VIII.: State Papers, Vol. I. p. 603.

442

Letter to Secretary Cromwell on the Election of the Knights of the Shire for the County of Huntingdon: Rolls House MS.

443

Lady Blount to the King’s Secretary: Ibid.

444

The Earl of Southampton to Cromwell: MS. Cotton. Cleopatra, E 4.

445

The two persons whom Cromwell had previously named.

446

Letters of the Mayor of Canterbury to Cromwell: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. V.

In the first edition this affair is referred to the election of 1539. We are left almost invariably to internal evidence to fix the dates of letters, and finding the second of those written by the Mayor of Canterbury, on this subject, addressed to Cromwell as Lord Privy Seal, I supposed that it must refer to the only election conducted by him after he was raised to that dignity. I have since ascertained that the first letter, the cover of which I did not see, is addressed to Sir Thomas Cromwell, chief secretary, &c. It bears the date of the 20th of May, and though the year is not given, the difference of the two styles fixes it to 1536. The election was conducted while Cromwell was a commoner. He was made a peer and Privy Seal immediately on the meeting of parliament on the 2d of July.

447

Cromwell to Henry VIII.: State Papers, Vol. I. p. 693.

448

“The King’s Highness desiring that such a unity might be established in all things touching the doctrine of Christ’s religion, as the same so being established might be to the honour of Almighty God, and consequently redound to the commonwealth of this his Highness’s most noble realm, hath therefore caused his most High Court of Parliament to be at this time summoned, and also a synod and convocation of all the archbishops, bishops, and other learned men of the clergy of this his realm to be in like manner assembled.” – 31 Henry VIII. cap. 14.

449

“Post missarum solemnia, decenter ac devote celebrata, divinoque auxilio humillimi implorato et invocato.” —Lords Journals, 31 Henry VIII.

450

Lords Journals, 31 Henry VIII.

451

A Device for extirpating Heresies among the People: Rolls House MS.

452

“Nothing has yet been settled respecting the marriage of the clergy, although some persons have very freely preached before the king upon the subject.” – John Butler to Conrad Pellican, March 8, 1539: Original Letters on the Reformation, second series, p. 624.

453

Lady Exeter was afterwards pardoned. Lady Salisbury’s offences, whatever they were, seem to have been known to the world, even before Lord Southampton’s visit of inspection to Warblington. The magistrates of Stockton in Sussex sent up an account of examinations taken on the 13th of September, 1538, in which a woman is charged with having said, “If so be that my Lady of Salisbury had been a young woman as she was an old woman, the King’s Grace and his council had burnt her.” —MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. XXXIX. The act of attainder has not been printed (31 Henry VIII. cap. 15: Rolls House MS.); so much of it, therefore, as relates to these ladies is here inserted: —

“And where also Gertrude Courtenay, wife of the Lord Marquis of Exeter, hath traitorously, falsely, and maliciously confederated herself to and with the abominable traitor Nicholas Carew, knowing him to be a traitor and a common enemy to his Highness and the realm of England; and hath not only aided and abetted the said Nicholas Carew in his abominable treasons, but also hath herself committed and perpetrated divers and sundry detestable and abominable treasons to the fearful peril of his Highness’s royal person, and the loss and desolation of this realm of England, if God of his goodness had not in due time brought the same treason to knowledge:

“And where also Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and Hugh Vaughan, late of Bekener, in the county of Monmouth, yeoman, by instigation of the devil, putting apart the dread of Almighty God, their duty of allegiance, and the excellent benefits received of his Highness, have not only traitorously confederated themselves with the false and abominable traitors Henry Pole, Lord Montague, and Reginald Pole, sons to the said countess, knowing them to be false traitors, but also have maliciously aided, abetted, maintained, and comforted them in their said false and abominable treason, to the most fearful peril of his Highness, the commonwealth of this realm, &c., the said marchioness and the said countess be declared attainted, and shall suffer the pains and penalties of high treason.” I find no account of Vaughan, or of the countess’s connexion with him. He was probably one of the persons employed to carry letters to and from the cardinal.

454

“Immediate post Billæ lectionem Dominus Cromwell palam ostendit quandam tunicam ex albo serico confectam inventam inter linteamina Comitissæ Sarum, in cujus parte anteriore existebant sola arma Angliæ; in parte vero posteriore insignia illa quibus nuper rebelles in aquilonari parte Angliæ in commotione suâ utebantur.” —Lords Journals, 31 Henry VIII.

455

In quoting the preambles of acts of parliament I do not attach to them any peculiar or exceptional authority. But they are contemporary statements of facts and intentions carefully drawn, containing an explanation of the conduct of parliament and of the principal events of the time. The explanation may be false, but it is at least possible that it may be true; and my own conclusion is, that, on the whole, the account to be gathered from this source is truer than any other at which we are likely to arrive; that the story of the Reformation as read by the light of the statute book is more intelligible and consistent than any other version of it, doing less violence to known principles of human nature, and bringing the conduct of the principal actors within the compass of reason and probability. I have to say, further, that the more carefully the enormous mass of contemporary evidence of another kind is studied, documents, private and public letters, proclamations, council records, state trials, and other authorities, the more they will be found to yield to these preambles a steady support.

456

31 Henry VIII. cap. 8.

457

The limitation which ought to have been made was in the time for which these unusual powers should be continued; the bill, however, was repealed duly in connexion with the treason acts and the other irregular measures in this reign, as soon as the crisis had passed away, or when those who were at the head of the state could no longer be trusted with dangerous weapons. – See 1 Edward VI. cap. 7. The temporary character of most of Henry’s acts was felt, if it was not avowed. Sir Thomas Wyatt in an address to the Privy Council, admitted to having said of the Act of Supremacy, “that it was a goodly act, the King’s Majesty being so virtuous, so wise, so learned, and so good a prince; but if it should fall unto an evil prince it were a sore rod:” and he added, “I suppose I have not mis-said in that; for all powers, namely absolute, are sore rods when they fall into evil men’s hands.” – Oration to the Council: Nott’s Wyatt, p. 304.

458

The same expressions had been used of the Lollards a hundred and fifty years before. The description applied absolutely to the Anabaptists; and Oliver Cromwell had the same disposition to contend against among the Independents. The least irregular of the Protestant sects were tainted more or less with anarchical opinions.

459

A considerable part of this address is in Henry’s own handwriting See Strype’s Memorials, Vol. II. p. 434.

460

See Fuller, Vol. III. p. 411.

461

31 Henry VIII. cap. 9

462

In some instances, if not in all, this was actually the case. – See the Correspondence between Cromwell and the Prior of Christ Church at Canterbury: MS. State Paper Office, second series.

463

Oxford, Peterborough, Bristol, Gloucester, Chester, and Westminster.

464

Canterbury, Winchester, Ely, Norwich, Worcester, Rochester, Durham, and Carlisle.

465

“Per Dominum cancellarium declaratum est quod cum non solum proceres spirituales verum etiam regia majestas ad unionem in precedentibus articulis conficiendam multipliciter studuerunt et laboraverunt ita ut nunc unio in eisdem confecta sit regia igitur voluntatis esse ut penale aliquod statutum efficeretur ad coercendum suos subditos, ne contra determinationem in eisdem articulis confectam contradicerent, aut dissentirent, verum ejus majestatem proceribus formam hujusmodi malefactorum hujusmodi committere. Itaque ex eorum communi consensu concordatum est quod Archiepiscopus Cant., Episcopus Elien., Episcopus Menevensis et Doctor Peter, unam formam cujusdam actus, concernentem Punitionem hujusmodi malefactorum dictarent et componerent similiterque quod Archiepisc. Ebor., Episc. Dunelm., Episc. Winton et Doctor Tregonwell alteram ejusmodi effectus dictitarent et componerent formam.” —Lords Journals, 31 Henry VIII.

466

Foxe’s rhetoric might be suspected, but a letter of Melancthon to Henry VIII. is a more trustworthy evidence: “Oh, cursed bishops!” he exclaims; “oh, wicked Winchester!” – Melancthon to Henry VIII.: printed in Foxe, Vol. V.

467

“The judge shall be bounden, if it be demanded of him, to deliver in writing to the party called before him, the copy of the matter objected, and the names and depositions of the witnesses … and in such case, as the party called answereth and denyeth that that is objected, and that no proof can be brought against him but the deposition of one witness only, then and in that case, be that witness never of so great honesty and credit, the same party so called shall be without longer delay absolved and discharged by the judge’s sentence freely without further cost or molestation.” – The Six Articles Bill as drawn by the King: Wilkins’s Consilia, Vol. III. p. 848.

468

Act for Abolishing Diversity of Opinions: 31 Henry VIII. cap. 14.

469

Printed in Strype’s Cranmer, Vol. II. p. 743.

470

Philip Melancthon to Henry VIII., Foxe, Vol. V.

471

Foxe, Vol. V. p. 265.

472

Hall’s Chronicle, p. 828. Hall is a good evidence on this point. He was then a middle-aged man, resident in London, with clear eyes and a shrewd, clear head, and was relating not what others told him, but what he actually saw.

473

In Latimer’s case, against Henry’s will, or without his knowledge. Cromwell, either himself deceived or desiring to smooth the storm, told Latimer that the king advised his resignation; “which his Majesty afterwards denied, and pitied his condition.” —State Papers, Vol. I. p. 849.

474

Hall.

475

Notes of Erroneous Doctrines preached at Paul’s Cross by the Vicar of Stepney: MS. Rolls House.

476

Henry Dowes to Cromwell: Ellis, third series, Vol. III. p. 258.

477

Richard Cromwell to Lord Cromwell: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. VII. p. 188.

478

More’s Utopia, Burnet’s translation, p. 13.

479

Respectable authorities, as most of my readers are doubtless aware, inform us that seventy-two thousand criminals were executed in England in the reign of Henry VIII. Historians who are accustomed to examine their materials critically, have usually learnt that no statements must be received with so much caution as those which relate to numbers. Grotius gives, in a parallel instance, the number of heretics executed under Charles V. in the Netherlands as a hundred thousand. The Prince of Orange gives them as fifty thousand. The authorities are admirable, though sufficiently inconsistent, while the judicious Mr. Prescott declares both estimates alike immeasurably beyond the truth. The entire number of victims destroyed by Alva in the same provinces by the stake, by the gallows, and by wholesale massacre, amount, when counted carefully in detail, to twenty thousand only. The persecutions under Charles, in a serious form, were confined to the closing years of his reign. Can we believe that wholesale butcheries were passed by comparatively unnoticed by any one at the time of their perpetration, more than doubling the atrocities which startled subsequently the whole world? Laxity of assertion in matters of number is so habitual as to have lost the character of falsehood. Men not remarkably inaccurate will speak of thousands, and, when cross-questioned, will rapidly reduce them to hundreds, while a single cipher inserted by a printer’s mistake becomes at once a tenfold exaggeration. Popular impressions on the character of the reign of Henry VIII. have, however, prevented inquiry into any statement which reflects discredit upon this; the enormity of an accusation has passed for an evidence of its truth. Notwithstanding that until the few last years of the king’s life no felon who could read was within the grasp of the law, notwithstanding that sanctuaries ceased finally to protect murderers six years only before his death, and that felons of a lighter cast might use their shelter to the last, – even those considerable facts have created no misgiving, and learned and ignorant historians alike have repeated the story of the 72,000 with equal confidence.

I must be permitted to mention the evidence, the single evidence, on which it rests.

The first English witness is Harrison, the author of the Description of Britain prefixed to Hollinshed’s Chronicle. Harrison, speaking of the manner in which thieves had multiplied in England from laxity of discipline, looks back with a sigh to the golden days of King Hal, and adds, “It appeareth by Cardan, who writeth it upon report of the Bishop of Lexovia, in the geniture of King Edward the Sixth, that his father, executing his laws very severely against great thieves, petty thieves, and rogues, did hang up three score and twelve thousand of them.”

I am unable to discover “the Bishop of Lexovia;” but, referring to the Commentaries of Jerome Cardan, p. 412, I find a calculation of the horoscope of Edward VI., containing, of course, the marvellous legend of his birth, and after it this passage: —

“Having spoken of the son, we will add also the scheme of his father, wherein we chiefly observe three points. He married six wives; he divorced two; he put two to death. Venus being in conjunction with Cauda, Lampas partook of the nature of Mars; Luna in occiduo cardine was among the dependencies of Mars; and Mars himself was in the ill-starred constellation Virgo and in the quadrant of Jupiter Infelix. Moreover, he quarrelled with the Pope, owing to the position of Venus and to influences emanating from her. He was affected also by a constellation with schismatic properties, and by certain eclipses, and hence and from other causes, arose a fact related to me by the Bishop of Lexovia, namely, that two years before his death as many as seventy thousand persons were found to have perished by the hand of the executioner in that one island during his reign.”

The words of some unknown foreign ecclesiastic discovered imbedded in the midst of this abominable nonsense, and transmitted through a brain capable of conceiving and throwing it into form, have been considered authority sufficient to cast a stigma over one of the most remarkable periods in English history, while the contemporary English Records, the actual reports of the judges on assize, which would have disposed effectually of Cardan and his bishop, have been left unstudied in their dust.

480

As we saw recently in the complaints of the Marquis of Exeter. But in this general sketch I am giving the result of a body of correspondence too considerable to quote.

481

In healthier times the Pope had interfered. A bull of Innocent VIII. permitted felons repeating their crimes, or fraudulent creditors, to be taken forcibly out of sanctuary. – Wilkins’s Concilia, Vol. III. p. 621.

482

The Magistrates of Frome to Sir Henry Long: MS. Cotton. Titus, B 1, 102. Mr. Justice Fitzjames to Cromwell: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. XI. p. 43.

483

The letter which I quote is addressed to Cromwell as “My Lord Privy Seal,” and dated July 17. Cromwell was created privy seal on the 2d of July, 1536, and Earl of Essex on the 17th of April, 1540. There is no other guide to the date.

484

The Magistrates of Chichester to my Lord Privy Seal: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. X.

485

23 Henry VIII. cap. 1.

486

Humfrey Wingfield to my Lord Privy Seal: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. LI.

487

Richard Layton to Cromwell: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. XX.

488

MS. State Paper Office, second series.

489

Correspondence of the Warden and Council of the Welsh Marches with the Lord Privy Seal: MS. State Paper Office, second series.

490

MS. Rolls House, first series, 494.

491

At the execution, Latimer’s chaplain, Doctor Tailor, preached a sermon. Among the notes of the proceedings I find a certain Miles Denison called up for disrespectful language.

“The said Miles did say: The bishop sent one yesterday for to preach at the gallows, and there stood upon the vicar’s colt and made a foolish sermon of the new learning, looking over the gallows. I would the colt had winced and cast him down.” – “Also during the sermon he did say, I would he were gone, and I were at my dinner.” —MS. State Paper Office.

492

Sir Thomas Willoughby to Cromwell: MS. Cotton. Titus, B 1, 386.

493

The Sheriff of Hampshire to Cromwell: MS. State Paper Office, first series, Vol. IX.

494

The traditions of severity connected with this reign are explained by these exceptional efforts of rigour. The years of licence were forgotten; the seasons recurring at long intervals, when the executions might be counted by hundreds, lived in recollection, and when three or four generations had passed, became the measure of the whole period.

495

“These three abbots had joined in a conspiracy to restore the Pope.” – Traherne to Bullinger: Original Letters on the Reformation, second series, p. 316.

496

“Yesterday I was with the Abbot of Colchester, who asked me how the Abbot of St. Osith did as touching his house; for the bruit was the king would have it. To the which I answered, that he did like an honest man, for he saith, I am the king’s subject, and I and my house and all is the king’s; wherefore, if it be the king’s pleasure, I, as a true subject, shall obey without grudge. To the which the abbot answered, the king shall never have my house but against my will and against my heart; for I know, by my learning, he cannot take it by right and law. Wherefore, in my conscience, I cannot be content; nor he shall never have it with my heart and will. To the which I said beware of such learning; for if ye hold such learning as ye learned in Oxenford when ye were young ye will be hanged; and ye are worthy. But I will advise you to confirm yourself as a good subject, or else you shall hinder your brethren and also yourself.” – Sir John St. Clair to the Lord Privy Seal: MS. State Paper Office, second series, Vol. XXXVIII. The abbot did not take the advice, but ventured more dangerous language.

“The Abbot of Colchester did say that the northern men were good men and mokell in the mouth, and ‘great crackers’ and nothing worth in their deeds.” “Further, the said abbot said, at the time of the insurrection, ‘I would to Christ that the rebels in the north had the Bishop of Canterbury, the lord chancellor, and the lord privy seal amongst them, and then I trust we should have a merry world again.’” – Deposition of Edmund – : Rolls House MS. second series, No. 27.

But the abbot must have committed himself more deeply, or have refused to retract and make a submission; for I find words of similar purport sworn against other abbots, who suffered no punishment.

497

Lords Journals, 28 Henry VIII.

498

“The Abbot of Glastonbury appeareth neither then nor now to have known God nor his prince, nor any part of a good Christian man’s religion. They be all false, feigned, flattering hypocrite knaves, as undoubtedly there is none other of that sort.” – Layton to Cromwell: Ellis, third series, Vol. III. p. 247.

499

Confession of the Abbot of Barlings: MS. Cotton. Cleopatra, E 4.

500

“And for as much as experience teacheth that many of the heads of such houses, notwithstanding their oaths, taken upon the holy evangelists, to present to such the King’s Majesty’s commissioners as have been addressed unto them, true and perfect inventories of all things belonging to their monasteries, many things have been left out, embezzled, stolen, and purloined – many rich jewels, much rich plate, great store of precious ornaments, and sundry other things of great value and estimation, to the damage of the King’s Majesty, and the great peril and danger of their own souls, by reason of their wilful and detestable perjury; the said commissioners shall not only at every such house examine the head and convent substantially, of all such things so concealed or unlawfully alienated, but also shall give charge to all the ministers and servants of the same houses, and such of the neighbours dwelling near about them as they shall think meet, to detect and open all such things as they have known or heard to have been that way misused, to the intent the truth of all things may the better appear accordingly.” – Instructions to the Monastic Commissioners: MS. Tanner, 105, Bodleian Library.

501

Pollard, Moyle, and Layton to Cromwell: Burnet’s Collectanea, p. 499.

502

Pollard, Moyle, and Layton to Cromwell: State Papers, Vol. I. p. 619.

503

Ibid. 621.

504

Butler, Elliot, and Traherne to Conrad Pellican: Original Letters, second series, p. 624.