ANNO DOM. 1550, 1551. 1. WE must begin this year with the deprivation of Bishop Gardiner, whom we left committed to the Tower the last of June in the year 1548. There he remained almost two years, without being pressed to any particular point, the yielding unto which might procure his liberty, or the refusal justify such a long imprisonment. On the tenth of June, this year, the public Liturgy, now being generally executed in all parts of the kingdom, was offered to his consideration; that some experiment might be made whether he would put his hand unto it, and promise to advance the service. Upon the fourth day after, the Duke of Somerset, with five other of the Lords of the Council, was sent unto the Tower to receive his answer. Which he returned to this effect — “that he had deliberately considered of all the Offices contained in the Common Prayer Book, and all the several branches of it: that, though he could not have made it in that manner, had the matter been referred unto him, yet that he found such things therein as did very well satisfy his conscience: and therefore, that he would not only execute it in his own person, but cause the same to be officiated by all those of his diocese.” But this was not the answer which the courtiers looked for. It was their hope, they should have found him more averse from the King’s proceedings; that, making a report of his perverseness, he might be lifted out of that wealthy bishopric: which, if it either were kept vacant, or filled with a more tractable person, might give them opportunity to enrich themselves by the spoil thereof. Therefore to put him further to it, the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Warwick, Sir William Herbert, Master of the Horse, and Mr Secretary Petre, are sent upon the ninth of July, with certain articles, which for that end were signed by the King and the Lords of the Council. According to the tenor hereof, he was not only to testify his consent to the establishing of the holy-days and fasting-days by the King’s authority, the allowance of the public Liturgy, and the abrogating of the statute for the Six Articles, etc., but to subscribe to the confession of his fault in his former obstinacy, after such form and manner as was there required. To which articles he subscribed without any great hesitancy; but refused to put his hand to the said confession: “there being no reason,” (as he thought, and so he answered those which came unto him from the court on the morrow after), “that he should yield to the confession of a guilt, when he knew himself innocent.” 2. He is now fallen into the toil, out of which he finds but little hope of being set free. For presently on the neck of this a book of articles is drawn up, containing all the alteration made by the King and his father, as well by Acts of parliament as their own Injunctions, from the first suppression of the monasteries to the coming out of the late form for the Consecration of Archbishops, Bishops, etc. Of all which doings he is required to signify his approbation, to make confession of his fault, with an acknowledgment that he had deserved the punishment which was laid upon him. Which articles (being tendered to him by the Bishop of London, the Master of the Horse, Mr Secretary Petre, and Goodrick, a Counselor at Law) appeared to him to be of such an hard digestion, that he desired first to be set at liberty before he should be pressed to make a particular answer. This being taken for a refusal, and that refusal taken for a contempt, the profits of his bishopric are sequestered from him for three months, by an order of the council-table, bearing date the nineteenth of the month; the said profits, in the mean time, to be collected or received by such person or persons as the King should thereunto appoint: with this intimation in the close — that, if he did not tender his submission at the end of that term, he should be taken for “an incorrigible person, and unmeet Minister of this Church, and finally, to be proceeded against to a deprivation.” The term expired, and no such humble submission or acknowledgment made, as had been required at his hands — a corn, mission is directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Ely, and Lincoln, Sir William Petre, etc, authorized thereby to proceed against him, upon certain articles in the same contained. Convented before whom at Lambeth, on the fifteenth of December, he received his charge. Which being received, he used so many shifts, and found so many evasions to elude the business, that, having appeared six days before them, without coming to a plain and positive answer, he was, upon the fourteenth of February, sentenced to a deprivation, and so remitted to the Tower. But Gardiner did not mean to die so tamely, and therefore had no sooner heard the definitive sentence, but presently he protesteth against the same, makes his appeal unto the King, and causeth both his said appeal and protestation to be registered in the acts of that court. Of all which he will find a time to serve himself, in the alteration of affairs. 3. It was presumed that the report of this severity against a man so eminent for his parts and place would either bring such other Bishops as had yet stood out to a fit conformity, or otherwise expose both them and their estates to the like condemnation. But some there were so stiff in their old opinions, that neither terror nor persuasion could prevail upon them, either to give their approbation of the King’s proceedings, or otherwise to advance the service. And some there were, who, though they outwardly complied with the King’s commands, yet was it done so coldly and with such reluctancy as laid them open to the spoil, though not to the loss , of their bishoprics. Of which last sort were Kitching, Bishop of Landaff, Salcot (otherwise called Capon), Bishop of Salisbury, and Sampson of Coventry and Litchfield. Of which the last, to keep his ground, was willing to fling up a great part of his lands; and, out of those which either belonged unto his see or the Dean and Chapter, to raise a Baron’s estate, (and the title of the barony too), for Sir William Paget, not born to any such fair fortunes as he thus acquired. Salcot of Salisbury, knowing himself obnoxious to some court-displeasure’s, redeems his peace, and keeps himself out of such danger, by making long leases of the best of his farms and manors; known afterwards most commonly by the name of Capon’s Feathers. But none of them more miserably dilapidated the patrimony of his see than Bishop Kitthing of Landaft. A church so liberally endowed by the munificence and piety of some great persons in those times, that, if it were possessed but of a tenth part of what once it had, it might be reckoned (as is affirmed by Bishop Godwin, one of Kitching’s successors) amongst the richest churches in these parts of Christendom. But whatsoever Kitching found it, it was made poor enough before he left it — so poor, that it is hardly able to keep the pot boiling for a parson’s dinner. 4. Of the first rank I reckon Voysie of Exeter, Heath of Worcester, and Day of Chichester, for the province of Canterbury: together with Bishop Tonstal of Durham, in the province of York. The first, once governor to the Princess Mary, preferred afterwards by King Henry to the Lord- Presidentship of Wales and the see of Exeter. Which see he found possessed, at his coming to it, of twenty-two goodly manors, and fourteen mansion-houses, richly furnished. But the man neither could approve the proceedings of the King in the Reformation, nor cared, in that respect, to preserve the patrimony of the Church for those who might differ in opinion from him. And being set upon the pin, he made such havoc of his lands, before he was brought under a deprivation, that he left but seven or eight of the worst manors, and those let out into long leases, and charged with pensions; and not above two houses, both bare and naked. Having lost so much footing within his diocese, it is no marvel if he could no longer keep his standing. For, being found an open hinderer of the work in hand, and secretly to have fomented the rebellion of the Devonshire men, in the year 1549, he either was deprived of, or, (as some say), resigned his bishopric, within few months after the sentence passed on Gardiner: but lived to be restored again (as Gardiner also was) in the time of Queen Mary. Of Day and Heath I have nothing to remember more particularly, but that they were both deprived on the tenth of October, and lived both to a restitution in Queen Mary’s reign: Heath, in the mean time, being liberally and lovingly entertained by the Bishop of London, and afterwards preferred to the archbishopric of York, and made Lord Chancellor of England. Nor shall I now say more of Tonstal, but that, being east into the Tower on the twentieth day of December, he was there kept until the dissolution of his bishopric by Act of parliament: of which we shall speak more at large in its proper place. 5. We must not leave these churches vacant; considering that it was not long before they were supplied with new incumbents. To Gardiner, in the see of Winton, succeeded Doctor John Poynet, Bishop of Rochester — a better scholar than a Bishop, and purposely preferred to that wealthy bishopric, to serve other men’s turns. For, before he was well warm in his see, he dismembered from it the goodly palace of Marwel, with the manors and parks of Marwel and Twiford, which had before been seized upon by the Lord Protector, to make a Knight’s estate for Sir Henry Seimour, as before was signified. The palace of Waltham, with the park and manor belonging to it, and some good farms depending on it, were seized into the hands of the Lord Treasurer Pawlet, Earl of Wiltshire; who, having got into possession so much lands of the bishopric, conceived himself in a fit capacity to affect, (as shortly after he obtained), the title of Lord .Marquess of Winchester. But this, with many of the rest of Poynet’s grants, leases, and alienation’s, were again recovered to the Church by the power of Gardiner, when, being restored unto his see, he was by Queen Mary made Lord Chancellor. To Voysie, in the see of Exeter, succeeded Doctor Miles Coverdale: one who had formerly assisted Tyndal in translating the Bible into English, and for the most part lived at Tubing, an university belonging to the Duke of Saxony; where he received the degree of Doctor.

Returning into England, in the first year of King Edward, and growing into great esteem for piety and diligent preaching, he was consecrated Bishop of this church, the thirtieth of August: the bones whereof were so clean picked that he could not easily leave them with less flesh than he found upon them. Nor have we more to say of Scory, who succeeded Day, but that, being consecrated Bishop of Rochester, in the place of Poynet, on the thirtieth of August also, he succeeded Day at Chichester in the year next following. Of which bishopric he was deprived in the time of Queen Mary; and afterwards preferred by Queen Elizabeth to the see of Hereford, in which place he died. To Heath, at Worcester, no successor was at all appointed: that bishopric being given in commendam to Bishop Hooper, who, having been consecrated Bishop of Glocester on the eighth of March, was made the commendatory of this see; to which he could not legally be translated, (as the case then stood), both Latimer and Heath being still alive, and both reputed Bishops of it by their several parties. And here we have a strange conversion of affairs: for whereas heretofore the county of Glocester was a part of the diocese of Worcester, out of which it was taken by King Henry, when first made a bishopric, — the diocese of Worcester was now laid to the see of Glocester. Not that I think that Hooper was suffered to enjoy the temporal patrimony of that wealthy bishopric: but that he was to exercise the jurisdiction and episcopality, with some short allowance for his pains. The pirates of the court were too intent on all advantages, to let such a vessel pass untouched, in which they might both and enough to enrich themselves, and yet leave that which was sufficient to content the merchant. And this perhaps may be one reason why Latimer was not restored unto his bishopric, upon this avoidance: not in regard of any sensible dislike which was taken at him by the court for his downright preaching, or that the Bishops feared from him the like disturbances which they had met withal in Hooper. But, I conceive, the principal reason of it might proceed from his own unwillingness to cumber his old age with the trouble of business, and to take that burthen on his shoulders which he had long before thrown off with such great alacrity.

And possible enough it is, that, finding his abilities more proper for the pulpit than they were for the consistory , he might desire to exercise himself in that employment in which he might appear most serviceable both to God and his Church. For both before and after this we find him frequent in the pulpit before the King, and have been told of his diligent and constant preaching in other places. His sermons, for the most part, (as the use then was), upon the Gospels of the Day: by which he had the opportunity of opening and expounding a greater portion of the Word of God than if he had confined his meditations to a single text. His entertainment generally with Archbishop Cranmer, where he found all necessary accommodation; and so extremely honored by all sorts of people, that he never lost the name of Lord, and was still looked on as a Bishop, though without a bishopric. 6. But, notwithstanding the remove of so many Bishops, there still remained one rub in the way, which did as much retard the progress of the Reformation as any of the rest, if not all together. The Princess Mary, having been bred up from her infancy in the Romish religion, could not be won by any arguments and persuasions to change her mind, or permit that any alteration should be made in those public offices to which she had so long been used. The King had writ many letters to her, in hope to take her off from those affections which she carried to the Church of Rome. The like done also by the Lords of the Council, and with like success. For, — besides that she conceived her judgment built on so good a foundation as could not easily be subverted, — there were some politic considerations, which possibly might prevail more with her than all other arguments. She was not to be told that, by the religion of the Protestants, her mother’s marriage was condemned; that by the same she was declared to be illegitimate, and consequently made incapable to succeed in the crown, in ease she should survive her brother. All which she must acknowledge to be legally and justly determined. Upon these grounds, she holds herself to her first resolution, keeps up the mass, with all the rites and ceremonies belonging to it, and suffers divers persons, besides her own domestic servants, to be present at it. The Emperor had so far mediated in her behalf, that her chaplains were permitted to celebrate the mass in her presence; but with this caution and restriction, — that they should celebrate the same in her presence only. For the transgressing of which bounds, Mallet and Barkley, her two chaplains, were committed prisoners, in December last; of which she makes complaint to the Lords of the Council, but finds as cold return from them as they did from her. 7. A plot is thereupon contrived for conveying her out of the realm by stealth; to transport her from Essex, where she then lay, to the court of the Queen Regent in Flanders; — some of her servants sent before, Flemish ships ready to receive her, and a commotion to be raised in that county, that in the heat and tumult of it she might make her escape. The King is secretly advertised of this design, and presently dispatcheth certain forces under Sir John Gates, then newly made Lieutenant of the Band of Pensioners, to prevent the practice, secures his coasts, orders his ships to be in readiness, and speeds away the Lord Chancellor Rich, with Sir William Petre, to bring the Princess to the court. Which being effected at the last, though not without extreme unwillingness on her part to begin the journey, Inglesfield, Walgrave, and Rochester, being all of principal place about her, on the thirtieth of October were committed to custody; which adds a new affliction to her, but there was no remedy. The Lords of the Council, being commanded by the King to attend upon her, declared in the name of his Highness how long he had permitted her the mass; that, finding how unmovable she was from her former courses, he resolved not to endure it longer, unless he might perceive some hope of her conformity within short time after. To which the Princess answered — that “her soul was God’s; and for her faith, that, as she could not change, so she would not dissemble it.” The council thereunto rejoin, that the King intended not to constrain her faith, but to restrain her in the outward profession of it, in regard of those many dangers and inconveniences which might ensue on the example. Which interchange of words being passed, she is appointed, for the present, to remain with the King; but neither Mallet nor any other of her chaplains permitted to have speech with her or access unto her. 8. The Emperor, being certified how all things passed, sends an Ambassador to the King, with a threatening message; even to the denouncing of a war, in case his cousin, the Princess Mary, were not permitted to enjoy the exercise of her own religion. To gratify whom in his desires the Lords of the Council generally seemed to be very inclinable. They well considered of the prejudice which must fall upon the English merchants, if they should lose their trade in Flanders, where they had a whole year’s cloth, besides other goods: and they knew well what inconvenience must befall the King, who had there five hundred quintals of powder and good store of armor; which would be seized into the Emperor’s hands, and employed against him if any breach should grow between them. The King is therefore moved, with the joint consent of the whole board, to grant the Emperor’s request, and to dispense with the utmost rigor of the law in that particular, for fear of drawing upon himself a greater mischief. But they found him so, well studied in the grounds and principles of his religion, that no consideration drawn from any reason of state could induce him to it. It was thereupon thought fit to send the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, being both members of that body, to try what they could do upon him in the way of argument.

By them, the point being brought unto such an issue as might give them some hopes of being admitted, it was propounded to him as their opinion, (after some progress made in the disputation,) that, though it were a sin to give license to sin, yet a connivance of it might be allowed, in case it neither were too long, nor without some probable hope of a reformation. With which nicety the young King was so unsatisfied, that he declared a resolution rather to venture life and all things else which were dear unto him, than to give way to any thing which he knew to be against the truth.

Upon which words, the King expressed his inward trouble by a flood of tears; and the Bishops on the sight thereof wept as fast as he: the King conceiving himself wronged, in being so unreasonably pressed; and the Bishops thinking themselves neglected, because unseasonably denied. Thus stood they silent for a time, — each party looking sadly on the apprehension of those extremities which this dispute had brought upon them: as certainly the picture of unkindness is never represented in more lively colors, than when it breaks out betwixt those who are most tenderly affected unto one another. The Bishops thereupon withdrew, admiring at such great abilities in so young a King; and magnified the name of God, for giving them a Prince of such eminent piety. 9. This being made known unto the council, it was thought necessary to dismiss the Emperor’s Ambassador with such an answer as should both give the English time to fetch off their goods, and let his master have the rest of the winter to allay his heats. It was therefore signified unto him, that the King would shortly send an agent to reside with the Emperor, authorized and instructed in all particulars which might beget a right understanding between both Princes. Thus answered, he returns to the Emperor’s court: whom Wotton shortly after followeth, sufficiently instructed, to desire the Emperor to be less violent in his requests; and to advertise him, that “the Lady Mary, as she was his cousin, so she was the King’s sister, and which is more, his subject: that, seeing the King was a sovereign Prince, without dependency upon any but God, it was not reason that the Emperor should intermeddle, either with ordering his subjects, or directing the affairs of his realm.” But so far he was authorized to offer, “that whatsoever favor the King’s subjects had in the Emperor’s dominions for their religion, the same should the Emperor’s subjects receive in England. Further than this, as the King, his master, would not go, so it would be a lost labor to desire it of him.” This was enough to let the Emperor see how little his threats were feared, which made him the less forward in sending more. Which passages relating to the Princess Mary I have laid together, for the better understanding how all matters stood about this time betwixt her and the King; though possibly the sending of Wotton to the Emperor might be the work of the next year, when the King’s affairs were better settled than they were at the present. 10. For the King, finding the extraordinary coldness of the Emperor, when his assistance was required for defense of Bulloign, and the hot pursuit of his demands of a toleration for the family of the Lady Mary, conceived it most expedient for his affairs to unite himself more strongly and entirely in a league with France. For entrance whereunto, an hint was taken from some words which fell from Guidotti at the treaty of Bulloign: when he propounded, that, instead of the Queen of Scots, whom the English Commissioners demanded for a wife to their King, a daughter of the French King might be joined in marriage with him: affirming merrily, that if it were a dry peace, it would hardly be durable. These words, which then were taken only for a sleight or diversion, are now more seriously considered; as many times the smallest overtures produce conclusions of the greatest consequence. A solemn embassy is thereupon directed to the court of France: the Marquess of Northampton nominated for the chief Ambassador, — associated with the Bishop of Ely, Sir Philip Hobby, Gentleman Usher of the Order, Sir William Pickering, Sir Thomas Smith, principal Secretary of State, and Sir John Mason, Clerk of the Council, as Commissioners with him. And, that they might appear in the court of France with the greater splendor, they were accompanied with the Earls of Arundel, Rutland, and Ormond, and the Lords Lisle, Fitzwater, Abergavenny, Bray, and Evers, with Knights and Gentlemen of note, to the number of six and twenty or thereabouts. Their train so limited, for avoiding of contention amongst themselves, that no Earl should have above four attendants, no Baron above three, nor any Knight or Gentleman above two apiece; the Commissioners not being limited to any number, as the others were. Setting forwards in the month of June, they were met by the Lord Constable Chastilion, and by him conducted to the court, lying at Chasteau Bryan: the nearer to which as they approached, the greater was the concourse of the French nobility to attend upon them. Being brought unto the King, then being in his bed-chamber, the Marquess first presented him, in the name of his Kings with the order of St George, called the Garter; wherewith he was presently invested by Sir Philip Hobby; who, being an officer of the order, was made Commissioner (as it seemed) for that purpose chiefly; rewarded for it by that King with a chain of gold, valued at two hundred pounds, and a gown richly trimmed with ayglets, which he had then upon his back. 11. This ceremony being thus performed, the Bishop of Ely, in a short speech, declared how desirous his master was, not only to continue, but to increase amity with the French King; that for this end he had sent the order of the Garter, to be both a testimony and tie of love between them — to which purpose principally those societies of honor were first devised: declaring, that they had commission to make overtures of some other matters, which was like to make the concord betwixt the Kings and their realms not only more durable, but in all expectation perpetual; and thereupon desired the King to appoint some persons, enabled with authority to treat with them. To which it was answered by the Cardinal of Lotrain, in the name of the King, that his master was ready to apprehend and embrace all offers tending to increase of amity; and the rather for that long hostility had made their new friendship both more were in itself, and more obnoxious unto jealousies and distrusts: and therefore promised on the King’s behalf, that Commissioners should be appointed to treat with them about any matters which they had in charge. In pursuance whereof, the said Cardinal, the Constable Chastilion, the Duke of Guise, and others of like eminent note, being appointed for the treaty, the English Commissioners first prosecute their old demand for the Queen of Scots. To which it was answered by the French, that they had parted with too much treasure, and spent too many lives, upon any conditions to let her go: and that conclusion had been made long before for her marriage with the Daulphin of France. The English upon this proposed a marriage between their King and the Lady Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of France, (who after was married to Philip the Second); to which the French Commissioners seemed very inclinable; with this proviso notwithstanding, that neither party should be bound, either in conscience or honor, until the Lady should accomplish twelve years of age. 12. And so far matters went on smoothly: but, when they came to talk of portion, there appeared a vast difference between them. The English Commissioners ask no more than fifteen hundred thousand crowns; but fell, by one hundred thousand after another, till they sunk to eight. The French, on the other side, began as low, at one hundred thousand, but would be drawn no higher than to promise two: that being, (as they affirmed), the greatest portion which ever any of the French Kings had given with a daughter. But at the last it was accorded, that the lady should be sent into England at the French King’s charges, when she was come within three months of the age of marriage, sufficiently appointed with jewels, apparel, and convenient furniture for her house; that at the same time bonds should be delivered for performance of covenants, at Paris by the French, and at London by the King of England; and that, in case the lady should not consent, after she should be of age for marriage, the penalty should be 150,000 crowns. The perfecting of the negotiation, and the settling of the lady’s jointure, referred to such Ambassadors as the French King should send to the court of England. Appointed whereunto were the Lord Marshal of France, the Duke of Guise, the President Mortuillier, the principal Secretary of that King, and the Bishop of Perigeux; who, being attended by a train of 400 men, were conducted from Gravesend by the Lord Admiral Clinton, welcomed with great shot from all the ships which lay on the Thames, and a volley of ordnance from the Tower, and lodged in Suffolk-place in Southwark. From whence, attended the next day to the King’s house at Richmond: his Majesty then remaining at Hampton Court, by reason of the sweating sickness, (of which more anon), which at that time was at the highest. 13. Having refreshed themselves that night, they were brought the next day before the King, to whom the Marshal presented, in the name of his master, the collar and habit of St Michael, — being at that time the principal order of that realm — in testimony of that dear affection which he did bear unto him; greater than which, (as he desired him to believe), a father could not bear unto his natural son. And then, addressing himself in a short speech unto his Highness, he desired him, amongst other things, not to give entertainment to vulgar rumors, which might breed jealousies and distrusts between the crowns; and that, if any difference did arise between the subjects of both kingdoms, they might be ended by commissioners, without engaging either nation in the acts of hostility. To which the King returned a very favorable answer, and so dismissed them for the present. Two or three days being spent in feasting, the commissioners on both sides settled themselves upon the matter of the treaty; confirming what had passed before, and adding thereunto the proportioning of the lady’s jointure.

Which was accorded at the last to the yearly value of ten thousand marks English; with this condition interposed, that, if the King died before the marriage, all her pretensions to that jointure should be buried with him. All matters being thus brought unto an happy conclusion, the French prepared for their departure: at which time the Marshal presented Monsieur Boys, to remain as Lieger with the King, and the Marquess presented Mr Pickering, to be his Majesty’s resident in the court of France. And so the French take leave of England, — rewarded by the King in such a royal and munificent manner as showed he very well understood what belonged to a royal suitor: those which the French King had designed for the English Ambassadors — (not actually bestowed, till all things had been fully settled and dispatched in England) — hardly amounting to a fourth part of that munificence which the King had showed unto the French. 14. Grown confident of his own security by this new alliance, the King not only made less reckoning of the Emperor’s interposing in the case of religion, but proceeded more vigorously than before in the Reformation: the building up of which upon a surer and more durable bottom was contrived this year, though not established till the next. Nothing as yet had been concluded positively and dogmatically in points of doctrine, but as they were to be collected from the Homilies and the public Liturgy; and those but few, in reference to the many controversies which were to be maintained against the Papists, Anabaptists, and other sectaries of that age.

Many disorders had grown up in this little time, in the officiating the Liturgy, the vestures of the Church, and the habit of the Churchmen; began by Calvin, prosecuted by Hooper, and countenanced by the large immunities which had been given to John a Lasco and his church of strangers. And unto these the change of altars into tables gave no small increase; — as well by reason of some differences which grew amongst the ministers themselves upon that occasion, as in regard of that irreverence which it bred in the people, to whom it made the Sacrament to appear less venerable than before it did. The people had been so long accustomed to receive that Sacrament upon their knees, that no rule or canon was thought necessary to keep them to it; which thereupon was not imprudently omitted in the public rubrics. The change of altars into tables, the practice of the church of strangers, and John a Lasto’s book in maintenance of sitting at the holy table, made many think that posture best which was so much countenanced; and what was like to follow upon such a liberty, the proneness of those times to heterodoxies and profaneness gave just cause to fear. Somewhat was therefore to be done to prevent the mischief: and nothing could prevent it better, than to reduce the people to their ancient custom by some role or rubric, by which they should be bound to receive it kneeling. So, for the ministers themselves, they seemed to be as much at a loss in their officiating at the table, as the people were in their irreverence’s to the blessed Sacrament. Which cannot better be expressed than in the words of some Popish prelates, by whom it was objected unto some of our chief reformers. Thus White of Lincoln chargeth it upon Bishop Ridley — (to omit his profane calling of the Lord’s Table, in what posture soever situated, by the name of an oyster-board,) — “That when their table was constituted, they could never be content in placing the same; now east, now north, now one way, now another: until it pleased God, of his goodness, to place it quite out of the church.” The like did Weston, (the Prolocutor of the Convocation, in the first of Queen Mary), in a disputation held with Latimer; telling him, with reproach and contempt enough, that the Protestants, having turned their table, “were like a company of apes, that knew not which way to turn their tails; looking one day east and another west, one this way and another that way, as their fancies led them.” Thus finally, one Miles Huggard, in a book called “The Display of Protestants,” doth report the business — “How long (say they) were they learning to set their tables to minister the Communion upon? First they placed it aloft, where the high altar stood; then must it be removed from the wall, that one might go between — the ministers being in contention on whether part to turn their faces, either toward the west, the north, or south; some would stand westward, some northward, some southward.” It was not to be thought but that the Papists would much please themselves in these disorders; and that this difference and diversity, though in circumstances only, might draw contempt upon the Sacrament itself, and give great scandal unto many moderate and wellmeaning men. A rubric therefore is resolved on, by which the minister which officiates should be pointed to a certain place; and, by the rubric then devised, the north side was thought fitter than any other. 15. But the main matters which were now brought under consideration, were the reviewing of the Liturgy, and the composing of a book of Articles: this last “for the avoiding diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion;” the other, for removing of such offenses as had been taken by Calvin and his followers at some parts thereof. For Calvin, having broke the ice, resolved to make his way through it to the mark he aimed at, which was, to have this Church depend upon his direction, and not to be less estimable here than in other places. To which end, as he formerly had applied himself to the Lord Protector, (as appears by his letter of the year anno 1549), so now he sets upon the King, the Council, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, in hope to bring them to his bent. In his letters to the King and Council, (as himself signified to Bullinger, on the 29th of August), he exciteth them to proceed to a reformation; that is to say, to such a reformation as he had projected, and without which his followers would not be contented. In his letters to the King alone, he lets him know that many things were still amiss in the state of the kingdom, which stood in need of reformation. And finally, in those to Cranmer, he certifies him, that in the service of this Church, as then it stood, there remained a whole mass of Popery, which did not only darken, but destroy God’s holy worship. But, fearing he might not edify with so wise a Prince, assisted by such a prudent Council and such learned prelates, he hath his agents in the Court, the country, and the Universities, by whom he drives on his design in all parts at once. And so far he prevailed in the first two years, that, in the Convocation which began in the former year, anno 1550, the first debate amongst the prelates was of such doubts as had arisen about some things contained in the Common Prayer Book: and more particularly touching such feasts as were retained and such as had been abrogated by the rules thereof; the form of words used at the giving of the bread, and the different manner of administering the holy Sacrament. Which being signified unto the Prolocutor and the rest of the clergy, who had received somewhat in charge about it the day before, — answer was made, that they had not yet sufficiently considered of the points proposed, but that they would give their lordships some account thereof in the following session. But what account was given, appears not in the acts of that Convocation; of which there is nothing left upon record but this very passage. 16. For the avoiding of these doubts, the satisfying of the importunities of some, and rectifying the disorders of others, rather than in regard of any impiety or impertinency in the book itself, in was brought under a review; and, being so reviewed, was ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament in the following year. By the tenor of which act it may appear, first, That there was nothing contained in the said first book but what was “agreeable to the Word of God, and the primitive Church, very comfortable to all good people desiring to live in Christian conversation, and most profitable to the estate of this realm:” secondly, That “such doubts as had been raised in the use and exercise thereof, proceeded rather from the curiosity of the minister and mistakers, than of any other worthy cause:” and therefore, thirdly, That “it was found expedient that the said book should be faithfully perused, explained, and made fully perfect in all such places in which it was necessary to be made more earnest and fit for the stirring up of all Christian people to the true honoring of Almighty God.” So far we are directed by the light of this Act of Parliament, 5, 6 Edw. VI. cap. 1. But if we would desire to know the names of those good and godly men by whom it was so explained and altered, in that it leaves us in the dark: none of them being named, nor any way laid open for the finding of them. So that the most that can be done is to go by conjecture, and to ascribe it to those men who had first composed it, and who were afterwards authorized for drawing up the Form of Consecration, etc., annexed to this new book as a part thereof, and so adjudged to be by two Acts of Parliament. 17. “For the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for establishing consent touching true religion,” it was thought necessary to compose a book of Articles: in which should be contained the common principles of the Christian faith, in which all parties did agree; together with the most material points in which they differed. For the better performing of which work, Melancthon’s company and assistance had been long desired. That he held correspondence once with the King and Archbishop Cranmer, appears by his epistles of the year 1549, 1550 and 1551; but that he came not over, as had been expected, must be imputed, either to our homebred troubles, or the great sickness of this year, or the deplorable death of the Duke of Somerset, on whose integrity and candor he did most rely. Yet the best was, that, though Erasmus was dead, and Melancthon absent, yet were they to be found both alive and present in their learned writings. By which, together with the Augustan Confession, the composers of those Articles were much directed; not that they looked upon them as the rule or canon, but only as subservient helps to promote the service. But who they were that labored in this weighty work, and made it ready for debate and conference in the next Convocation — as I have nowhere found, so I cannot conjecture: unless, perhaps, we may attribute the honor of it to those Bishops, and the other learned men, before remembered, whose hands and heads had before been exercised in the public formulas. That Cranmer had a great hand in them, is a thing past question; who therefore takes upon himself as the author of them: for which consult the Acts and Mon. fol. 1704. In which we are to understand him as the principal architect, who contrived the building, and gave the inferior workmen their several parts and offices in that great employment; and not that it was the sole work of his hands, or had been agitated and debated in no head but his. So did the Emperor Justinian, in the book of Institutes, and Theodosius in the Code, Boniface in the Decretals, and John the 22nd in that part of the Canon Law which they call the Extravagants: the honor of which works was severally arrogated by them, because performed by their encouragement and at their appointment. But whosoever labored in the preparation of these Articles, certain it is that they were only a rude draught, and of no signification, till they had passed the vote of the Convocation; and there we shall hear further of them. 18. In reference to the polity and good order of the commonwealth, there were two things done of great importance — the one redounding to the present, the other to the future, benefit of the English nation. Of which last sort was the suppressing of the corporation of Merchant-strangers, — the Merchants of the Steel-yard, as they commonly called them. Concerning which we are to know, that the English, in the times foregoing, being neither strong in shipping nor much accustomed to the seas, received all such commodities as were not of the growth of their own country from the hands of strangers, resorting hither from all parts to upbraid our laziness.

Amongst which, the merchants of the East-Land parts of Almain, or High Germany, (well known in former stories by the name of Easterlings), used to bring hither yearly great quantities of wheat, rye, and other grain, as also cables, ropes, masts, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, linen cloth, wainscots, wax, steel, and other profitable merchandises, for the use of this kingdom. For their encouragement wherein they were amply privileged, exempt from many impositions which Merchant-strangers use to pay in all other countries, erected into a corporation by King Henry the Third, commonly called Guilda Aula Theutonicorum: permitted first to carry out wools unwrought, and afterwards a certain number of cloths, when the English were grown skillful in that manufacture. Their court kept in a fair large house built near the Thames, which, from an open place wherein steel had formerly been sold, took the name of the Steel-yard. Grown rich, and driving a great trade, they drew upon themselves the envy (as all other Merchant-strangers did) of the Londoners chiefly, but generally of all the port. towns of England, who began now to think the seas as open to them as to any others. It was considered also by the Lords of the Council, that, by suffering all commodities of a foreign growth, and a great part of the commodities of the growth of England, to be imported and exported in outlandish bottoms, the English merchants were discouraged from navigation, whereby the shipping of the realm was kept low and despicable.

It was therefore thought expedient, in reason of state, to make void their privileges, and put the trade into the hands of the English merchant; for the doing whereof the Easterlings, or Merchants of the Steel-yard, had given cause enough. For, whereas they had anciently been permitted to ship away but eighty cloths, afterwards one hundred, and at last one thousand, — it was found that, at this time, they had transported in their own bottoms forty-four thousand English cloths, there being but eleven hundred shipped away by all strangers else. It was also found that, besides the native commodities of their own growth, they had brought in much strangers’ goods of other countries, contrary to their agreement made with King Edward the Fourth; and that, upon a further search, their corporation was found imperfect, their numbers, names, and nations not sufficiently known. This gave the Council ground enough for seizing all their liberties into the hands of the King, and never after to restore them, notwithstanding the great embassies and solicitations of the cities of Hamborough and Lubeck, and many other of the Hans-towns in Germany, who had seen their factories and factors. And hereunto the seasonable coming of Sebastian Cabot — (of which more anon) — gave no small advantage: by whose encouragement and example the English nation began to fall in love with the seas , to try their fortunes in the discovery of unknown regions, and consequently to increase their shipping; till by degrees they came to drive a wealthy trade in most parts of the world, and to be more considerable for their naval power than all their neighbors. 19. But because all things could not be so well settled at the first as not to need the help and correspondences of some foreign nations, it was thought fit to hearken to an intercourse with the crown of Sweden; which was then opportunely offered by Gustavus Ericus, the first of the family now reigning. By which it was agreed — First , that, if the King of Sweden sent bullion into England, he might carry away English commodities without custom.

Secondly , that he should carry bullion to no other Prince.

Thirdly , that, if he sent ozimus, steel, copper, etc., he should pay custom for English commodities as an Englishman.

Fourthly , that, if he sent other merchandise, he should have free intercourse, paying custom as a stranger. 20. Whereupon the mint was set on work, which brought the King, for the first year, the sum of twenty-four thousand pounds; of which the sum of fourteen thousand pounds was designed for Ireland, and the rest laid up in the exchequer. Some other ways were devised also, that the mint might be kept going, and some agreement made with the mint-masters in the point of coinage: which proved more to the advantage of the King than the present profit of the subject. For hereupon, on the ninth of July, the base money coined in the time of the king deceased was publicly decried by proclamation — the shilling to go for ninepence only, and the groat for threepence; and, on the seventeenth of August then next following, the nine-penny piece was decried to sixpence, the groat to twopence, the half groat to a penny. By means whereof, he that was worth one thousand pound on the eighth of July, without any ill husbandry in himself or diminution of his stock, was found, before the eighteenth day of August, to be worth no more than half that sum; and so proportionally in all other sums, both above and under. Which, though it caused many an heavy heart and much repining at the present, amongst all those whose wealth lay most especially in trade and money, — yet proved it by degrees a chief expedient for reducing the coin of England to its ancient value. For on the thirtieth of October, the subjects had the taste of the future benefit which was to be expected from it; there being then some coins proclaimed, both in gold and silver: — pieces of thirty shillings, ten shillings, and five shillings, of the finest gold; pieces of five shillings, two shillings sixpence, one shilling, sixpence, etc., of the purest silver. Which put the merchant in good hope, that he should drive as rich a trade under this young King as in the happiest days of his predecessors, before the money was debased. 21. And now we come to the great troubles in the Court, began in the destruction of the Duke of Somerset, but ending in the untimely death of this hopeful King; so signified (as it was thought, upon the post-fact) by two strange presages within the compass of this year, and one which followed in the next. The first of this year was a great and terrible earthquake, which happened on the twenty-fifth of May, at Croydon and some other villages thereabouts, in the county of Surrey. This was conceived to have prognosticated those concussions which afterwards happened in the Court, to the fall of the great Duke of Somerset, and divers gentlemen of note and quality who perished in the same ruin with him. The last was of six dolphins taken up in the Thames, three of them at Queenborough, and three near Greenwich; the least as big as any horse. The rarity whereof occasioned some grave men to dispense with their prudence, and some great persons also to put off their state, that they might behold a spectacle so unusual to them. Their coming up so far, beheld by mariners as a presage of foul weather at sea; but afterwards by statesmen, of those storms and tempests which afterwards befell this nation, in the death of King Edward and the tempestuous times of Queen Mary’s reign. 22. But the most sad presage of all was the breaking out of a disease called the Sweating Sickness; appearing first at Shrewsbury, on the fifteenth of April, and after spreading by degrees over all the kingdom; ending its progress in the north, about the beginning of October. Described by a very learned man to be a new, strange, and violent disease: wherewith if any man were attacked, he died or escaped within nine hours, or ten at most; if he slept, (as most men desired to do), he died within six hours; if he took cold, he died in three. It was observed to rage chiefly amongst men of strongest constitution and years: few aged men, or women, or young children, being either subject to it or dying of it. Of which last sort, those of most eminent rank were two of the sons of Charles Brandon: both dying at Cambridge, both Dukes of Suffolk (as their father had been before;) but the youngest following his dead brother so close at the heels, that he only out-lived him long enough to enjoy that title. And, that which was yet most strange of all, no foreigner which was then in England — (four hundred French attending here, in the hottest of it, on that King’s ambassadors) — did perish by it; the English being singled out, tainted, and dying of it, in all other countries, without any danger to the natives: called therefore in most Latin writers by the name of Sudor Anglicus , or The English Sweat. First known amongst us in the beginning of the reign of King Henry the Seventh; and then beheld as a presage of that troublesome and laborious reign which after followed: the King being for the most part in continual action, and the subjects either sweating out their blood or treasure. Not then so violent and extreme as it was at the present; such infinite multitudes being at this time swept away by it, that there died eight hundred in one week in London only. 23. These being looked on as presages, we will next take a view of those sad events which were supposed to be prognosticated by them; beginning first with the concussions of the Court by open factions, and ending in a sweating sickness, which drew out some of the best blood and most vital spirits of the kingdom. The factions headed by the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Warwick: whose reconciliation, on the Earl’s part, was but reigned and counterfeit, though he had both given and taken pledges for a faster friendship. The good success he found in his first attempt against the Duke, when he degraded him from the office of Lord Protector, emboldened him to make some further trial of his fortune; to which there could not be a stronger temptation than the servility of some great men about the Court, in prostituting their affection to his pride and tyranny.

Grown absolute in the Court, (but more by the weakness of others than any virtue of his own), he thought it no impossible matter to make that weakness an improvement of his strength and power. And, passing from one imagination to another, he fixed at last upon a fancy of transferring the imperial crown of this realm from the royal family of the Tudors unto that of the Dudleys. This to be done by marrying one of his sons to the Lady Jane, the eldest daughter of Henry, Lord Marquess Dorset, and of the Lady Frances his wife, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Charles Brandon, the late Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, Dowager of France, and the best beloved sister of King Henry the Eighth. In order whereunto, he must first oblige the Marquess by some signal favor; advance himself to such a greatness as might render any of his sons an agreeable match for either of the Marquess’s daughters; and, finally, devise some means by which the Duke of Somerset might be took out of the way: whose life he looked on as the principal obstacle to his great aspirings. By this design, he should not only satisfy his ambition, but also sacrifice to revenge. The execution of his father, in the first year of the reign of the late King Henry, would not out of his mind; and by this means he might have opportunity to execute his just vengeance on the King’s posterity for the unjust mother (as he esteemed it) of his innocent father. Confirmed in these resolves by Sir John Gates, Lieutenant of the Band of Pensioners; who was reported afterwards to have put this plot into his head at the first, as he stood to him in the prosecution of it to the very last 24. The Privy Council of his own thoughts having thus advised, the Privy Council of the King was in the next place to be made sure to him, — either obliged by favors, or gained by flatteries: those of most power to be most courted, through a smooth countenance, fair language, and other thriving acts of insinuation to be made to all. Of the Lord Treasurer Paulet he was sure enough, whom he had found to have so much of the willow in him, that he could bend him how he pleased. And, being sure of him, he thought himself as sure of the public treasure as if it were in his own pockets. The Marquess of Northampton was Captain of the Band of Pensioners, — increased in power, though not in place, by ranging under his command as well the light-horse as the men-at-arms which had served at Bulloign. With him the Earl had pieced before, drew him into his first design for bringing down the Lord Protector to a lower level; but made him faster than before, by doing so many good offices to Sir William Herbert, who had married his sister. Which Herbert, being son of Richard Herbert of Ewias, one of the bastards of William, Lord Herbert of Ragland, the first Earl of Pembroke of that house, was, of himself a man of a daring nature, boisterously bold, and upon that account much favored by King Henry the Eighth. Growing into more credit with the King, in regard of the Lady Ann his wife, the sister of Queen Katharine Parr, and having mightily raised himself in the fall of Abbeys, he was made chief Gentleman of the Privy-chamber, and by that title ranked amongst the executors of the King’s last will, and then appointed to be one of the Council to the King now reigning. Being found by Dudley a fit man to advance his ends, he is by his procurement gratified (for I know not what service, unless it were for furthering the sale of Bulloign) with some of the King’s lands, amounting to five hundred pounds in yearly rents, and made Lord President of Wales; promoted afterwards to the place of Master of the Horse, that he might be as considerable in the court as he was in the country. It was to be presumed that he would not be wanting unto him who had so preferred him. By these three all affairs of court were carried: plotted by Dudley, smoothed by the courtship of the Marquess, and executed by the bold hand of the new Lord President. 25. Being thus fortified, he revives his former quarrel with the Duke of Somerset; not that he had any just ground for it, but that he looked upon him as the only block which lay in the way of his aspirings, and therefore was to be removed by what means soever. Plots are laid therefore to entrap him, snares to catch him, reports raised of him, as a proud and ambitious person, of whose aspirings there would be no other end than the crown itself, and common rumors spread abroad, that some of his followers had proclaimed him King in several places, only to find out how well the people stood affected to it. His doors are watched, and notice taken of all that went in and out; his words observed, made much worse by telling, and aggravated with all odious circumstances to his disadvantage: no way untravelled in the arts of treachery and fraud, which might bring him into suspicion with the King and obloquy with the common people. The Duke’s friends were not ignorant of all these practices, and could not but perceive that his ruin and their own was projected by them. The law of nature bound them to preserve themselves: but their adversaries were too cunning for them at the weapon of wit, and had too much strength in their own hands to be easily overmastered in the way of power. Some dangerous counsels were thereupon infused into him, (more likely by his wife than by any other), to invite these Lords unto a banquet, and either to kill them as they sat, or violently to drag them from the table, and cut off their heads; the banquet to be made at the Lord Paget’s house, near St Clement’s church, and one hundred stout men to be lodged in Somerset Place, not far off, for the execution of that mother. This plot confessed — (if any credit may be given to such confessions) — by one Crane and his wife, both great in the favor of the Duchess, and with her committed; and after justified by Sir Thomas Palmer, who was committed with the Duke, in his examination taken by the Lords of the Council. There were said to be some consultations also for raising the forces in the north, for setting upon the gens d ’arms , — which served in the nature of a life-guard (as before was said) — upon some day of general muster; two thousand foot and one hundred horse of the Duke’s being designed unto that service: and, that being done, to raise the city, by proclaiming liberty. To which it was added by Hammond, one of the Duke’s false servants, that his chamber at Greenwich had been strongly guarded by night, to prevent the surprisal of his person. 26. How much of this is true, or whether any of it be true or not, it is not easy to determine, though possible enough it is that all this smoke could not be without some fire: which whosoever kindled first, there is no doubt but that Earl Dudley blew the coals, and made it seem greater than it was. Of all these practices and designs — (if such they were) — the Earl is constantly advertised by his espials whom he had amongst them; and gave them as much line and leisure as they could desire, till he had made all things ready for the executing of his own projectments. But first there must be a great day of bestowing honors; as well for gaining the more credit unto him and his ‘followers, as by the jollity of the time to take away all fear of danger from the opposite party. In pursuit whereof, Henry Lord Gray, Marquess of Dorset, descended from Elizabeth, wife of King Edward the Fourth, by her former husband, is made Duke of Suffolk: to which he might pretend some claim in right of the Lady Frances, his wife, the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and sister of Henry and Charles, the two late Dukes thereof, who died a few months since at Cambridge of the sweating sickness. The Earl himself, for some reasons very well known to himself, and not unknown to many others, is made Duke of Northumberland: which title had lain dormant ever since the death of Henry Lord Percy, the sixth Earl of that family, who died in the year 1537, or thereabouts; of whom more anon. The Lord Treasurer Paulet, being then Earl of Wiltshire, is made Marquess of Winchester: Sir William Herbert created at the same time Lord Herbert of Cardiff, and Earl of Pembroke. Some make Sir Thomas Darcy, Captain of the guard, to be advanced unto the title of Lord Darcy of Chich on the same day also; which others place, perhaps more rightly, on the fifth of April. The solemnity of which creations being passed over, the order of Knighthood is conferred on William Cecil, Esquire, one of the Secretaries of Estate; John Cheek, tutor or schoolmaster to the King; Henry Dudley and Henry Nevile, Gentlemen of the privy-chamber. At or about which time Sir Robert Dudley, the third son of the new Duke of Northumberland, (but one which had more of the father in him than all the rest,) is sworn of the bedchamber to the King; which was a place of greatest trust and nearness to his majesty’s person. 27. The triumphs of this day, being the eleventh day of October, were but a prologue to the tragedy which began on the fifth day after. At what time the Duke of Somerset, the Lord Gray, Sir Thomas Palmer, Sir Ralph Vane, Sir Thomas Arundel, together with Hammond, Newdigate, and two of the Seimours, were seized on and committed to custody; all of them, except Palmer, Vane, and Arundel, being sent to the Tower, and these three kept in several chambers, to attend the pleasure of the Council for their examinations. The Duchess of Somerset, Crane and his wife, above mentioned, and one of the gentlewomen of the chamber, were sent unto the Tower on the morrow next; followed not long after by Sir Thomas Holderoft, Sir Miles Partridge, Sir Michael Stan-hop, Wingfield, Banister , and Vaughan, with certain others; for whose commitment there was neither cause known, nor afterwards discovered. Only the greater number raised the greater noise, increased the apprehension of the present danger, and served to make the Duke more criminal in the eyes of the people, for drawing so many of all sorts into the conspiracy. Much time was spent in the examination of such of the prisoners as either had before discovered the practice — (if any such practice were intended) — or were now fitted and instructed to betray the Duke into the power and malice of his enemies.

The confessions which seemed of most importance were those of Palmer, Crane, and Hammond; though the truth and reality of the depositions may be justly questioned. For neither were they brought face to face before the Duke at the time of his trial, as in ordinary course they should have been; nor suffered loss of life or goods, as some others did who were no more guilty than themselves. And yet the business stayed not here; the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget, and two of the Earl of Arundel’s servants, being sent prisoners after the rest, upon Crane’s detection. It was further added by Palmer, that, on the last St George’s day, the Duke of Somerset, being upon a journey into the north, would have raised the people, if he had not been assured by Sir William Herbert that no danger was intended to him. 28. Six weeks there passed between the commitment of the prisoners and the Duke’s arraignment, which might have given the King more than leisure enough to find the depth of the design, if either he had not been directed by such as the new Duke of Northumberland had placed about him, or taken by a solemnity which served fitly for it. For so it happened, that the Queen Regent of Scotland, having been in France to see her daughter, and being unwilling to return by sea in that cold time of the year, obtained leave of the King (by the mediation of the French Ambassador)to take her journey through England. Which leave being granted, she put herself into the bay of Portsmouth, where she was honorably received, and conveyed towards London. From Hampton Court she passed by water, on the second day of November, to St Paul’s wharf, from whence she rode, accompanied with divers noblemen and ladies of England, besides her own train of Scotland, to the Bishop’s palace. Presented at her first coming thither, in the name of the city, with muttons, beefs, veals, poultry, wine, and all other sorts of provisions necessary for her entertainment, even to bread and fuel. Having reposed herself two days, she was conveyed in a chariot to the court at Whitehall, accompanied with the Lady Margaret Douglass, daughter of Margaret Queen of Scots, by her second husband; together with the Duchesses of Richmond, Suffolk, and Northumberland, besides many other ladies of both kingdoms, which followed after in the train. At the court-gate she was received by the Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland and the Lord High Treasurer, the guard standing on both sides as she went along; and, being brought unto the King, whom she found standing at the end of the great hall, she cast herself upon her knees, but was presently taken up, and saluted by him according to the free custom of the English nation. Leading her by the hand to the Queen’s chamber of presence, he saluted in like manner all the ladies of Scotland, and so departed for a while. Dinner being ready, the King conducted her to the table prepared for them, where they dined together, but had their services apart. The ladies of both kingdoms were feasted in the Queen’s great chamber, where they were most sumptuously served.

Dinner being done, that her attendants might have time to partake of the entertainment, the King showed her his gardens, galleries, etc., and about four of the clock he brought her down by the hand into the hall, where he saluted her, and so she departed to the Bishop’s palace, as before. 29. Departing towards Scotland, on the sixth of that month, she rode through all the principal streets of London betwixt the Bishop’s house and the church in Shoreditch, attended by divers noble men and women all the way she went. But more particularly the Duke of Northumberland showed himself with one hundred horse, each having his javelin in his hand, and forty of them appareled in black velvet guarded with white, and velvet caps and white feathers, and chains of gold about their necks. Next to those stood one hundred and twenty horsemen of the Earl of Pembroke’s, with black javelins, hats and feathers. Next to them one hundred of the Lord Treasurer’s gentlemen and yeomen, with javelins: — these ranks of horsemen reaching from the cross in Cheapside to the end of Birchinglane in Cornhill. Brought as far as Shoreditch church, she was committed to the care of the Sheriffs of London, by whom she was attended as far as Waltham. Conducted in like manner by the Sheriffs of all the counties through which she passed, till she came unto the borders of Scotland; her entertainment being provided by the King’s appointment, at the charge of the counties. Which passages, not being otherwise material in the course of this history, I have adventured to lay down, the better to express the gallantry and glory of the English nation, before Puritanism and the humor of parity occasioned the neglect of all the laudable solemnities which anciently had been observed, both in Church and State. 30. The discourse raised on this magnificent reception of the Scottish Queen so filled all mouths, and entertained so many pens, that the danger of the Duke of Somerset seemed for a time to be forgotten; but it was only for a time. For, on the first of December, the Duke, being brought by water to Westminster Hall, found all things there prepared for his arraignment. The Lord High Steward for the time was the Marquess of Winchester, who took his place under a cloth of estate, raised three steps higher than the rest of the scaffold — the Peers, to the number of twenty-seven, sitting one step lower. Amongst these were the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquess of Northampton, and the Earl of Pembroke: who, being parties to the charge, ought in all honesty and honor to have excused themselves from sitting in judgment on him at the time of his trial. But no challenge or objection being made or allowed against them, they took place with the rest. 1. The court being sat, and the prisoner brought unto the bar, the charge against him was divided into five particulars: viz. first, his design of raising men in the north parts of the realm, and of assembling men at his house, to kill the Duke of Northumberland. 2. A resolution to resist his attachment. 3. The plot for killing the gens d ’arms . 4. His intent for raising London. 5. His purpose of assaulting the Lords, and devising their deaths.

The whole impeachment managed in the name of treason and felony; because in all treasons the intent and purpose is as capital as the act itself, if once discovered, either by word or deed or any other material circumstance, though it go no further. But, though treason made the loudest noise, it was the felony which was especially relied upon for his condemnation. Two statutes were pretended for the ground of the whole proceedings — the first made in the time of King Henry the Seventh, by which it was enacted to be felony for any inferior person to contrive the death of a Lord of the Council: the second, that of the last session of parliament, by which it was declared to be treason for any twelve persons or more to assemble together, with an intent to murder any of the Lords of the Council, if, after proclamation made, they dissolved not themselves within the space of an hour. 31. The indictment being read, and the confessions of Palmer and the rest being produced, and urged by the King’s counsel (who spared not to press them, as is accustomed in such cases) to the best advantage — the Duke, though much dismayed, returned this answer to the branches of his accusation: viz. “That he never intended to raise the north parts of this realm; but that upon some bruits, he apprehended a fear, which made him send to Sir William Herbert, to remain his friend: that he determined not to kill the Duke of Northumberland, nor any other Lord; but spoke of it only, and determined the contrary: that it had been a mad enterprise, with his hundred men to assail the gens d ’arms , consisting of nine hundred; which, in case he had prevailed, would nothing have advanced the pretended purpose: that therefore this, being senseless and absurd, must needs discredit other matters which otherwise might have been believed: that at London he never projected any stir, but ever held it a good place for his security: that, for having men in his chamber at Greenwich, it was manifest that he meant no harm; because, when he might have done it, he did not.”

And further, against the persons of them whose examinations had been read, he objected many things; desiring that “they might be brought to his face; which, in regard of his dignity and estate, he conceived to be reasonable.” And so it happened unto him, as with many others; that, hoping to make his fault seem less by a fair confession, he made it great enough to serve for his condemnation. 32. For presently, upon these words, the counsel, thinking they had matter enough from his own confession to convict him of felony, insisted chiefly on that point, and flourished out their proofs upon it to their best advantage; but so that they neglected not to aggravate his offense in the treason also: that his Peers might be under some necessity of finding him guilty in the one, if they should find themselves unsatisfied for passing their verdict in the other. And though neither the one nor the other were so clear in law as to make him liable to a sentence of condemnation, if either the statute in the contents had been rightly opened, or the opinion of the judges demanded in them; yet what cannot the great wit of some advocates do, when they have a mind to serve their turn upon a statute, contrary to the mind and meaning of them that made it? The Duke of Northumberland thereupon, with a counterfeit modesty, (conceiving that he had him fast enough, in respect of the felony), desired their Lordships that no act against his life might be brought within the compass of treason: and they, who understood his meaning at half a word, after a full hearing of the evidence, withdrew themselves into a room appointed for them; and, after some conference amongst themselves, acquitting him of treason, they pronounced him guilty of the felony only: which being returned for their verdict by all the Lords, one after another, in their rank and order, and nothing objected by the Duke that judgment should not pass upon him, the Lord High Steward, with a seeming sorrow, gave sentence, “That he should be had to the place from whence he came, from thence to the place of execution, and there to hang while he was dead;” which is the ordinary form of condemning felons. A matter not sufficiently to be admired, that the Duke should either be so ignorant or ill advised, so destitute of present courage or so defective in the use of his wit and judgment, as not to crave the common benefit of his Clergy, which had he done, it must have been allowed him by the rules of the court: whether it were, that of his own misfortunes might render him incapable of laying hold on such advantages as the laws admitted; or that he thought it better to die once for all, than living in a perpetual fear of dying daily by the malicious practices and devices of his powerful adversaries; or that he might presume of a pardon of course, in regard of the nature of the offense, in which neither the King nor the safety of the kingdom was concerned, and that the law by which it was found guilty of felony had never been put in execution upon a man of his quality, if perhaps at all; or, finally, whether it were some secret judgment on him from above, (as some men conceived), that he who had destroyed so many churches, invaded the estate of so many cathedrals, deprived so many learned men of their means and livelihood, should want (or rather not desire) the benefit of the Clergy in his greatest extremity. Instead whereof he suffered judgment of death to pass upon him, gave thanks unto the Lords for his gentle trial, craved pardon of the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquess of Northampton, and the Earl of Pembroke, for his ill meaning towards them; concluding with an humble suit for his life, and pity to be showed to his wife and children. 33. It is an ancient custom in the trial of all great persons accused of treason, that the axe of the Tower is carried before them to the bar, and afterwards at their return from thence, on the pronouncing of the sentence of condemnation. Which ceremony not being performed at his going thence, in regard he was condemned of the felony only, gave an occasion unto such as had thronged into the hall, and knew not otherwise how things passed, to conceive that he had been acquitted absolutely of the whole indictment. And thereupon so loud a shout was made in the lower end of the hall that the noise thereof was heard beyond Charing Cross, to the great terror and amazement of his guilty adversaries. But little pleasure found the prisoner in these acclamations, and less the people, when they understood of his condemnation: so that departing thence with grief, they left the way open for the prisoner to be carried by water to the Cranes in the Vintry, and from thence peaceably conveyed to the Tower again. Not long after followed the arraignment of Sir Michael Stanhop, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Ralph Vane, and Sir Miles Partridge, on whom also passed the sentence of death; but the certain day and time of their trial I have nowhere found. Most probable it is that they were not brought to their trial till after the axe had done its part on the Duke of Somerset, which was on the twenty-third of January; because I find they were not brought to their execution till the twenty-sixth of February then next following, the two first being then beheaded, and the two last hanged: at what time they severally protested, (taking God to witness), that they never practiced treason against the King, or against the lives of any of the Lords of his Council; Vane adding after all the rest, that “his blood would make Northumberland’s pillow uneasy to him.” None of them less lamented by the common people than Sir Miles Partridge, against whom they had an old grudge, for depriving them of the best ring of bells which they had at that time, called Jesus Bells; which, winning of King Henry at a east of dice, he caused to be taken down, and sold or melted for his own advantage. If any bell tolled for him when he went to his death, or that the sight of an halter made him think of a bell-rope, it could not but remember him of his fault in that particular, and mind him of calling upon Christ Jesus for his grace and mercy. 34. But in the mean time care is taken that the King should not be too apprehensive of these misfortunes into which his uncle had been east; or enter into any inquiries, whether he had been east into them by his own fault or the practices of others. It was therefore thought fit to entertain him frequently with masks and dancing’s, brave challenges at tilts and barriers, and whatsoever sports and exercises which they conceived most pleasing to him. But nothing seemed more delightful to him than the appearing of his Lords and others in a general muster, performed on the twenty-third of December, in St James his Fields. At what time sitting on horseback with the Lords of his Council, the band of Pensioners in complete arms, with four trumpeters and the King’s standard going before them, first appeared in sight; each Pensioner having two servants waiting on him with their several spears. Next followed, in distinct companies of one hundred apiece, the troops of the Lord Treasurer Paulet, the Duke of Northumberland, the Lord Privy Seal, the Marquess of Northampton, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports — a trumpet and a standard carried before each troop; forty of the Duke of Northumberland’s men, and as many of the Earl of Pembroke’s, having velvet coats upon their harness. With these were mingled, in like equipage as to the trumpets and the standards, the distinct troops of the Earls of Rutland and Huntingdon and the new Lord Darcy, consisting each of fifty horse, and ranked according to the order and precedency of their several Lords. All which rode twice before the King, by five in a rank, all excellently well armed and bravely mounted, to the great contentment of the King, the delight of the people, and as much to the honor of the nation in the eye of all such strangers as were present at it. But then the Lords of England were Lords indeed, and thought it not consistent with a title of honor to walk the streets attended by a lacquey only, and perhaps not that .

The particulars of which glorious muster had not been specified, but for supplying the place of music, (as the solemn reception of the Queen Regent did before), betwixt the two last acts of this tragedy; to the last whereof we shall now come, and so end this year. 35. Two months had passed since the pronouncing of the fatal sentence of condemnation, before the prisoner was brought out to his execution. In all which time it may be thought that he might easily have obtained his pardon of the King, who had passed the first years of his reign under his protection, and could not but behold him with the eye of respect, as his nearest kinsman by the mother. But, first, his adversaries had so possessed the King with an opinion of his crimes and misdemeanors, that he believed him to be guilty of them: as appears by his letter to Fitz-Patrick, (for which consult the Church Historian, Lib. 7. fol. 409, 410) — wherein he summarily repeateth the substance of the charge, the proofs against him, the proceedings of the Lords in the arraignment, and his submiss carriage both before and after the sentence. They also filled his ears with the continual noise of the unnatural prosecuting of the late Lord Admiral; — inculcating how unsafe it was to trust to the fidelity of such a man, who had so lately washed his hands in the blood of his brother. And, that the King might rest himself upon these persuasions, all ways were stopped, and all the avenues blocked up, by which it might be possible for any of the Duke’s friends to find access, either for rectifying the King’s opinion, or obtaining his pardon. So that at last, upon the twenty-second of January, before remembered — (the King not being sufficiently possessed before of his crimes and cruelties) — he was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill.

Where he avouched to the people, that “his intentions had been not only harmless in regard of particular persons, but driving to the common benefit both of the King and of the realm.” Interrupted in the rest of his speech, upon the sudden fear of a rescue by the coming in of the hamlets on the one side, and the hopes of a pardon, which the people conceived to have been brought him by Sir Anthony Brown, who came speedily galloping on the other, he composed himself at last to make a confession of his faith, heartily praying for the King, exhorting the people to obedience, and humbly craving pardon both of God and man. Which said, he cheerfully submitted his head to the stroke of the axe, by which it was taken off at a blow; putting an end thereby to his cares and sorrows. 36. Such was the end of this great person, whose power and greatness may be best discerned by this following style, used by him in the height of his former glories: that is to say, — “Edward, by the grace of God, Duke of Somerset, Earl of Hartford, Viscount Beauchamp, Baron Seimour, Uncle to the King’s Highness of England, Governor to the King’s Highness’ person, Protector of all his realms, dominions, and subjects, Lieutenant- General of his Majesty’s Armies both by sea and land, Lord High Treasurer and Earl Marshal of England, Captain of the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and Knight of the most Honorable Order of the Garter.” As to his parts, person, and ability, there needs no other character of him than what was given in the beginning and may be gathered from the course of this present history. More moderate in carrying on the work of Reformation than those who after had the managing and conduct of it, as one that in himself was more inclinable to the Lutheran — (but where his profit was concerned in the spoil of images) — than the Zuinglian doctrines: so well beloved in general by the common people, that divers dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, to keep them in perpetual remembrance of him.

One of which, being a sprightly dame, about two years after, when the Duke of Northumberland was led through the city, for his opposing the title of Queen Mary, ran to him in the streets, and, shaking out her bloody handkerchief before him, “Behold (said she) the blood of that worthy man, that good uncle of that excellent King, which, shed by thy malicious practice, doth now begin apparently to revenge itself on thee.” The like opinion also was conceived of the business by the most understanding men in the court and kingdom; though the King seemed for the present to be satisfied in it. In which opinion they were exceedingly confirmed by the enlargement of the Earl of Arundel, and restoring of Crane and his wife to their former liberty; but most especially by the great endearments which afterwards appeared between the Duke of Northumberland and Sir Thomas Palmer, and the great confidence which the Duke placed in him for the advancement of his projects in behalf of the Duke of Suffolk: of which more hereafter. 37. But the malice of his enemies stayed not here, extending also to his friends and children, after his decease: but chiefly to the eldest son by the second wife; in favor of whom an Act of parliament had been passed in the thirty-second year of the late King Henry, for the entailing on his person all such lands, estates, and honors, as had been or should be purchased by his father, from the twenty-fifth day of May then next foregoing. Which Act they caused to be repealed at the end of the next session of parliament (which began on the morrow after the death of the Duke); whereby they stripped the young gentleman, being then about thirteen years of age, of his lands and titles: to which he was in part restored by Queen Elizabeth, who, in pity of his father’s sufferings and his own misfortunes, created him Earl of Hartford, Viscount Beauchamp, etc. Nor did the Duke’s fall end itself in no other ruin than that of his own house, and the death of the four Knights which suffered on the same account, but drew along with it the removal of the Lord Rich from the place and office of Lord Chancellor. For so it happened that the Lord Chancellor, commiserating the condition of the Duke of Somerset, though formerly he had showed himself against him, dispatched a letter to him, concerning some proceedings of the Lords of the Council which he thought fit for him to know. Which letter, being hastily superscribed “To the Duke,” with no other title, he gave to one of his servants, to be carried to him. By whom, for want of a more particular direction, it was delivered to the hands of the Duke of Norfolk. But, the mistake being presently found, the Lord Chancellor, knowing into what hands he was like to fall, makes his address unto the King the next morning betimes, and humbly prays, that, in regard Of his great age, he might be discharged of the Great Seal and office of Chancellor. Which being granted by the King, though with no small difficulty, the Duke of Northumberland and the Earl of Pembroke, (forward enough to go upon such an errand), are sent, on the twenty-first of December, to receive the seal; committed on the morrow after to Doctor Thomas Goodrick, Bishop of Ely, and one of the Lords of the Privy Council. Who afterwards, that is to say, on the two and twentieth of January, was sworn Lord Chancellor; the Lord Treasurer Paulet giving him the oath, in the Court of Chancery. 38. Next followed the losses and disgraces suffered by the Lord Paget on the Duke’s account. To whom he had continued faithful in all his troubles, when Sir William Cecil, who had received greater benefits from him, and most of the dependents on him, had either deserted or betrayed him.